Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
October 25, 2017
Hello All – Last Saturday CFOW focused its weekly rally/protest on the crisis in Puerto Rico. As you know, the foreground of the crisis is the horrible devastation caused by two hurricanes, and by the inept efforts of FEMA and the Trump administration to bring relief supplies to the Island. But in the background of this disaster is the near bankruptcy of Puerto Rico, referenced by President Trump to supposedly justify FEMA's failure to do what needs to be done. But Puerto Rico's debt is simply unpayable; it's getting blood from a stone. And so there is a growing movement in Congress and among Puerto Rican and other organizations to cancel this debt.
A feature of Puerto Rico's economic crisis is that a large portion of its $74 billion debt is held by hedge funds that specialize in buying the debt of failing economies at pennies on the dollar, and then using their lawyered-up economic and political power to get repaid in full. As one of the owners of such a hedge fund is David E. Shaw of Hastings, last Saturday's CFOW rally/protest included a march to Shaw's home, the $75 million mansion on Broadway, to deliver a letter asking Mr. Shaw to forgive that part of Puerto Rico's debt held by his company. Readers who also get Westchester News 12 can see some good video of our march here; some video and many pictures of the rally and march are posted on the CFOW Facebook page.
The crisis in Puerto Rico teaches us many things about our country and the nature of our economic system. At a time when the Trump administration is proposing a federal budget and tax cuts that will enrich the One Percent, and when our government is planning to spend more than one trillion dollars on the military and related activities, it is simply perverse to say that restoring Puerto Rico to economic health is somehow unaffordable. Aiding Puerto Rico in its time of need, and standing up to the militarized plutocracy that is taking over our country, are two sides of the same coin. Please join us next Saturday, at the VFW Plaza in Hastings (Warburton and Spring St.) at 12 noon, to demand once again that Congress cancel Puerto Rico's debt,
News Notes
Governor Cuomo has finally signed a law passed in the closing hours of the state's legislative session that will empower the Department of Environmental Conservation to establish regulations governing if and where oil tankers and barges may navigate or anchor on the Hudson River. While this in itself will not stop the Coast Guard's proposed 43 long-term anchorages proposal from going forward, it will prove a barrier to the oil/maritime industrial complex. For more information, go here.
So who will decide if you can fly your drone from here to Newark? It turns out that there is a Committee working on this and similar issues. Its meetings are secret, and according to this article from the Washington Post, the "process" is a case study in how industry people take over the agencies that are supposed to regulate the industry.
Our friends at Grassroots Environmental Education have put together an excellent 16-minute film
called "The Gas Rush," which exposes the gas-industry propaganda that is being used to justify fracking and our pipeline infrastructure. See it and share it!
In its so-called news pages, the New York Times has carried out a vicious propaganda war against Venezuela, beginning with the election of Hugo Chavez in 1999. Therefore, it was not surprising that The Times had no useful explanation for how the incumbent government, so unpopular according to the "Newspaper of Record," swept the nationwide elections for governors 10 days ago; so we offer a more useful analysis here. Due in part to the collapse of the price of oil, Venezuela's main export, the country is suffering from severe economic stress, compounded by a US-led effort to hurt Venezuela's economy. Here is a useful article that looks at "the economic war against Venezuela."
In the fall of 2014, protesters attempting to stop construction of the Spectra gas pipeline were arrested and charged with disorderly badness, etc. At their trial, the "Montrose Nine" pleaded the "necessity defense," claiming that their actions were justified because they were attempting to stop a greater harm, a possible pipeline explosion next to the Indian Point nuclear plant. The judge allowed the defense to be presented, but was not persuaded, and the defendants were found guilty. Now a judge in Minnesota has stated that he will allow the necessity defense to be used by climate activists who temporarily shut down two crude oil pipelines last year. Read more here.
Things to Do/Coming Attractions
Saturday, October 28th – This will be the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. The People's Climate March will hold an event on this day to demand that our government take serious steps to stop global warming/climate breakdown. The People's Climate March will hold an event on this day to demand that our government take serious steps to stop global warming/climate breakdown. The plan is to gather at 11 a.m. at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn and march over the Brooklyn Bridge to the Alfred E. Smith Houses to call for bigger and bolder climate action.
Monday, October 30th – As part of County Legislature action by Catherine Parker and other opponents of gun shows, there will be a vigil beginning at 5:30 p.m. outside the County Legislature (Martine Ave. and Court St.) People who wish to speak can sign up starting at 6 p.m., and the Legislature begins its deliberations at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, November 1st – Westchester for Change, WESPAC, and many more groups will host a County Executive Candidate Forum on Housing, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Yonkers Riverfront Library. The organizers write: "Westchester is ranked one of the 5th most expensive places to live in the United States. At the same time, nearly 100,000 of its residents live below the poverty line and 1,797 residents are homeless. Join us to ask County Executive Candidates George Latimer (confirmed) and Rob Astorino (invited) how they plan to address the housing crisis in Westchester County." For more information, go here.
Saturday, November 4th – A demonstration – "It Begins NYC - The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!" will start at Times Square at 2 p.m. Organized by RefuseFascism.org, endorsed by Veterans for Peace, Rise and Resist, etc. For more info, go here.
Sunday, November 5th – CFOW's monthly meeting is held at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, from 7 to 9 p.m. All are welcome at these meetings; please join us!
Sunday, November 19th – Save the date for WESPAC's "night of comedy, dance, and music," "Made in Palestine." It's at the Tarrytown Music Hall; doors open at 5 p.m. For more information, including ways you can help support/sponsor this program, go here.
This Newsletter
Articles linked in the CFOW newsletter are intended to illuminate some of the main action-issues about which we are concerned. Coming mostly from the "dissenting media," they provide an alternative to the perspectives of the mainstream media. In addition to some excellent "Featured Essays," this newsletter includes a section of articles investigating/explaining the crisis in Puerto Rico; a useful guide to what's really included in Trump's tax-cut proposal; a set of good articles on why police "reform" is going nowhere; an excellent article by Amira Hass on the rise and fall and rise of the restriction of movement for Palestinians in Israel's occupied territories; and Middle Eastern journalist Robert Fisk's report on visit to one of Hitler's headquarters. In the section on War & Peace, I especially recommend the interesting article by former CIA analyst Paul Pillar on why Americans are so accepting of endless wars; a set of articles on civilian casualties and the destruction of Raqqa in Syria, and details on the shock-shocking news (to consumers of the mainstream media) that the USA has hundreds of troops in Niger.
Rewards!
Stalwart readers are encouraged to take a short break before forging ahead to the hard stuff. A change of pace in the "rewards" section this week is prompted by a letter from a Hastings HS student saying that rock 'n' roll and jazz may be all very well for older radicals, but what about Mozart? And so here we have the lovely Horn Concerto #1 with Sir Dennis Brain. (There are four horn concertos – collect them all!). And an older stalwart suggests Harry Belafonte and Danny Kaye in Hava Nagila. And from the editor comes the familiar twaddle: Tom Tomorrow contributes his insights on the Trump White House, and Australia's climate-denial policies are given a fair-and-balanced review in this short video. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CRISIS IN PUERTO RICO
Imagine a Puerto Rico Recovery Designed by Puerto Ricans
By Elizabeth Yeampierre and Naomi Klein, The Intercept [
---- It's tough to shock Puerto Ricans. Not after the presidential paper-towel toss. Not after Donald Trump repeatedly attacked San Juan's mayor for daring to fight for her people's lives. Not after he threatened to skip out on the island in its hour of need at the earliest excuse. Still, the fact that the House-approved relief package contains $5 billion in loans for the island, rather than grants, is a special kind of cruelty. Because on an island already suffering under an un-payable $74 billion debt (and another $49 billion in unfunded pension obligations), Puerto Ricans understand all too well that debt is not relief. On the contrary, it is a potent tool of perpetual impoverishment and control from which relief is urgently needed. … Puerto Ricans are wise to shock doctrine tactics. They know all too well that their island's debt crisis, fueled by Wall Street's hunger for tax-exempt bonds, was systematically exploited to extract brutal "reforms" from workers and students who played no part in driving up the debt. They know that the debt crisis was used to strip Puerto Ricans of their most basic democratic rights, putting the island's finances in the hands of an unelected Financial Oversight and Management Board — referred to locally as "La Junta." [Read More]
Puerto Ricans Must Come First, Not Wall Street Vultures
By
---- I still cry when I talk to my family back in Puerto Rico. I am from a small town in Puerto Rico called Naranjito. My family members, like many on the island, are still waiting for distribution of basic supplies. They are in desperate need of water, gas, and food. They wait up to 15 hours in line only to receive two water bottles and scraps of food. My sister is struggling with diabetes and cannot get the help she needs. My niece was dismissed from a hospital because of lack of equipment and overcrowding. In New York City, where I live now, I feel powerless to help them. It is heartbreaking and it is shameful. "Every dollar that goes to Wall Street vultures is a dollar taken away from saving lives in Puerto Rico." This is why on this past Wednesday, I got up at the crack of dawn to meet my comrades from New York Communities for Change and take a four-hour bus trip to Washington, D.C. We joined people from Texas and Florida who have also been ravaged by climate disasters. Our demand was simple: an equitable recovery for our communities and the cancellation of the Puerto Rican debt. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who rallied alongside us, said that "not one cent should go to the vulture funds." She is 100% right. [Read More]
Also useful/interesting about Puerto Rico's crisis – Joan Carlos Dávila, "A People's Recovery: Radical Organizing in Post-Maria Puerto Rico," The Indypendent [NYC] [October 18, 2017] [Link]; Debora Acosta and Frances Robles, "Puerto Ricans Ask: When Will the Lights Come Back On?" [Link]. from The Center for Journalist Investigation, "Who Owns Puerto Rico's Debt, Exactly? We've Tracked Down 10 of the Biggest Vulture Firms," October 2017] [Link]; and Lauren Lluveras, "Is racial bias driving Trump's neglect of Puerto Rico?," October 18, 2017] [Link]. On this latter point, NB that FEMA is not doing all that well in Florida and Texas either, according to an investigation by The New York Times [Link].
FEATURED ESSAYS
Blueprint for a Progressive US: A Dialogue With Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin
October 17, 2017]
---- [Chomsky] Whether by design, or simply inertia, the Republican wrecking ball has been following a two-level strategy. Trump keeps the spotlight on himself with one act after another, assuming (correctly) that yesterday's antics will be swept aside by today's. And at the same time, often beneath the radar, the "respectable" Republican establishment chips away at government programs that might be of benefit to the general population, but not to their constituency of extreme wealth and corporate power. They are systematically pursuing what Financial Times economic correspondent Martin Wolf calls "pluto-populism," a doctrine that imposes "policies that benefit plutocrats, justified by populist rhetoric." An amalgam that has registered unpleasant successes in the past as well. Meanwhile, the Democrats and centrist media help out by focusing their energy and attention on whether someone in the Trump team talked to Russians, or [whether] the Russians tried to influence our "pristine" elections -- though at most in a way that is undetectable in comparison with the impact of campaign funding, let alone other inducements that are the prerogative of extreme wealth and corporate power and are hardly without impact. [Read More]
Why the Democrats and Movements Need Each Other
By
---- A striking feature of the current political moment is that many activists on the Left are flocking to the Democratic Party. At first glance, this makes sense simply as a reaction to the narrow and disputed electoral victory of the bizarre and dangerous Donald Trump. But the Democrats are not merely gaining voters. They are gaining activists, people who are committing not only to pull the party lever in the voting booth, but who are determined to rejuvenate and transform the party, beginning at the local level. This development is encouraging, and not only because it could make a difference in the 2018 midterms and the next presidential election. Until the shock and fear of a Trump-led government took center stage, some on the Left viewed elections and movement building as separate, even irreconcilable, paths to reform. While their skepticism about the Democratic Party was not misplaced, we argue that movements also depend on electoral politics. The growth, morale and effectiveness of today's movements will depend on the success of the current surge of enthusiasm for Democratic Party activism. [Read More]
We Need a New Political Story of Empathy and Sharing to Replace Neoliberalism
Geroge Monbiot interviewed by Mark Karlin, Truth Out [October 2017]
---- Over the past 20 years or so, there has been a remarkable convergence of findings in neuroscience, psychology, anthropology and evolutionary biology. They all point to the fact that humankind, as an article in the journal Frontiers in Psychology puts it, is "spectacularly unusual when compared to other animals" in our degree of altruism. There's a list of references to scientific papers on this subject in Out of the Wreckage. We also have an astonishing capacity for empathy, and a tendency toward cooperation that is rivaled among mammals only by the naked mole rat. These tendencies are innate. We evolved in the African savannahs: a world of fangs and claws and horns and tusks. We survived despite being weaker and slower than both our potential predators and most of our prey. We did so through developing, to an extraordinary degree, a capacity for mutual aid. As it was essential to our survival, this urge to cooperate was hard-wired into our brains through natural selection. [Read More] Of course, the Russian anarchist prince Kropotkin explained all this in 1902 in his book, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, in which he showed that in the "struggle of the species," those that "survived" were able to do so because they evolved or deployed techniques of cooperation. You can read about this important book here.
(Video) Will Catalonia Declare Independence After Spain Moves to Impose Direct Rule, Oust Catalan Leaders?
From Democracy Now! [October 23, 2017]
---- Spain is plunged into a political crisis as the Spanish government moves to impose direct rule over Catalonia, following the region's independence referendum. On Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the move, stripping the northeastern region of its autonomy in an effort to crush Catalonia's independence movement. Following an emergency Cabinet meeting on Saturday, Rajoy said he will invoke Article 155 of the Constitution, which has never been used in Spain's modern democratic history. The speaker of the Catalan Parliament has called Spain's move to seize political control of the region a "de facto coup d'état." Puigdemont said that Catalonia's Parliament will meet in the coming days, amid speculation he might unilaterally declare Catalan independence. [See the Program]
WAR & PEACE
Permanent Warfare as Normality
By Paul Pillar, The National Interest [October 20, 2017]
---- The pattern of permanent U.S. involvement in warfare, which has prevailed for the past sixteen years, departs markedly from what had been the traditional American approach toward war and peace, and therein lies an additional set of reasons why Americans at home are not now up in arms over how fellow citizens have had to take up arms and fight endlessly overseas. That tradition grew up throughout the nineteenth century and was cemented by America's greatest overseas military effort ever: World War II. The tradition was one of war being a relatively infrequent necessity that involved the United States sallying forth to slay a clearly defined monster of the moment and then, after a clear and victorious ending, returning to peacetime pursuits. [Read More]
Trump Plans to Make It Easier to Kill Civilians with Drones. Sadly, We Can Thank Obama for That.
October 20, 2017]
---- Barely a month after President Donald Trump announced plans to deepen and extend the now 16-year-old U.S. war in Afghanistan, reports surfaced of plans to expand another signature Obama-era policy: the drone war. Specifically, The New York Times reported in late September that the administration is relaxing Obama-era restrictions on who can be targeted and removing a requirement that strikes receive high-level vetting before they're carried out. According to the paper, the new rules would also "ease the way to expanding such gray-zone acts of sporadic warfare" into new countries, expanding the program's already global footprint. Across administrations, the use of drones has increased exponentially throughout the course of the war on terror. [Read More]
The War in Afghanistan
With Restrictions Loosened and Increased US Bombings, Afghan Civilian Deaths Surge
By
---- Days after the U.S. military said the number of airstrikes its coalition carried out in Afghanistan had soared, United Nations data released Thursday spotlights the human cost of the escalated bombing. From the beginning of January until the end of September, UNAMA said, over 200 civilians died and 261 were injured from aerial attacks—a 52 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The strikes have taken a particular toll on women and children, as they make up 68 percent of the victims. The U.N. put the blame for 38 percent of the casualties from the airstrikes at the hands of the U.S.-led coalition, with Afghan forces, who are now carrying out their own airstrikes, being responsible for the bulk. Their own fleet is being beefed up thanks to the U.S. military, which in turn is looking to carry out more strikes. [Read More] The US is expanding the war in Afghanistan on several fronts. Now we have the CIA jumping in to claim a bigger share of the action. Read "A Newly Assertive C.I.A. Expands Its Taliban Hunt in Afghanistan," by [Link].
Will the United States Make War on Iran?
Trump Trashes Iran Deal to Satisfy Netanyahu
By October 20, 2017]
---- President Donald Trump's new Iran policy clearly represents a dangerous rejection of diplomacy in favor of confrontation. But it's more than that: It's a major shift toward a much closer alignment of U.S. policy with that of the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Whether explicitly or not, Trump's vow to work with Congress to renegotiate the Iran nuclear agreement, and his explicit threat to withdraw from the deal if no renegotiation takes place, appear to be satisfying the hardline demands Netanyahu has made of Washington's policy toward Tehran. [Read More] Despite the Trump administration's rhetoric against the Iran nuclear agreement, the US public is not convinced. Read "Iran Deal: 67% of US Citizens Don't Want to Pull Out," TeleSur [October 21, 2017] [Link]
The War in Syria
More than 1,800 civilians killed overall in defeat of ISIS at Raqqa, say monitors
By Samuel Oakford, Airwars [October 19, 2017]
---- US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have announced the capture of Raqqa from so called Islamic State (ISIS) fighters — and while Coalition officials say small pockets of resistance remain, it is now possible to assess the significant civilian toll of the four month battle. … Overall, local monitors say at least 1,800 civilians were killed in the fighting. Fadel Abdul Ghany, Director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, said his researchers estimated a civilian death toll in Raqqa since June of 1,854, of which 1,058 were the responsibility of Coalition forces. According to the Network's estimates, ISIS was responsible for 311 deaths, and SDF ground forces for 191 civilian fatalities. … "There is barely a building that has been left unscathed, some of them have been pulverized by artillery and by fighting, others have been flattened by US airstrikes," Holly Williams, a journalist in Raqqa, told the BBC World Service on an October 17th broadcast. "It is a terrible irony that in order to retake Raqqa, they've had to destroy the city." UN officials have been cited as saying that as much as 80 per cent of Raqqa city is now uninhabitable. [Read More]
Also important in reframing the "victory" in Raqqa - Hassan Hassan, "Raqqa: Only those who are out of touch would say ISIL has been vanquished," The National [UAE] [October 18, 2017] [Link]; and Patrick Cockburn, "The defeat of Isis in Raqqa will bring problems for the victorious Syrian Kurds," The Independent [UK] [October 16, 2017] [Link].
Surprise! US Troops are in Niger!
[FB – When four US soldiers were killed in Niger recently, it was a surprise to most people that there were any US troops in Niger at all. Among those who were surprised were members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, including SuperHawk Sen. Lindsey Graham. But as Juan Cole points out, Graham could have learned all he needed to know by reading some of the many publications of Nick Turse; in fact, he could have read about this in the CFOW newsletter. (He is not a subscriber.) Here are your answers to "What are US troops doing in Niger, anyway?" along with updates on some new developments. (Remember, read your newsletter; don't get caught napping like Lindsey Graham!)]
What Are U.S. Forces Doing in Niger Anyway?
By October 20, 2017]
---- On October 4, four U.S. troops and five Nigerians were killed in ambush by heavily armed ISIS-affiliated fighters near the restive Mali border in Niger. While the press has been obsessed with how President Donald Trump has handled it politically back home, it's important to note that this event not only marked the first U.S. combat deaths in Niger, but the first public revelation that the Pentagon was carrying out anything close to combat operations there at all. … Niger provides a terrifying reminder of how far we are from being an informed American public that serves as a check and balance on what our military is doing in our name. We can't have a debate on U.S. intervention overseas if we don't even know where our forces are, let alone to what end. [Read More]
For new developments in the US military in Africa – Nick Turse, "U.S. Military Is Building a $100 Million Drone Base in Africa," The Intercept [September 29, 2017] [Link]; and Jason Ditz, "Niger Ambush Serves as Excuse for AFRICOM to Seek More Funds," Antiwar.com [October 22, 2017] [Link].
GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE BREAKDOWN
Democrats Are Letting the Climate Crisis Go To Waste
By Kate Aronoff, The Intercept [
---- What should be a sparkling opportunity to push forward an ambitious agenda on climate — to condemn Republicans for not just ignoring but fueling a crisis with increasingly human and economic consequences — is going quite literally up in smoke. Even the most dogged climate champions in Congress are doing something Republicans would never dream of: letting a crisis go to waste. It's not often that planetary devastation is so omnipresent. … But the bigger reason climate isn't a hot-button issue in America goes deeper. While it's important not to discount the impact of the well-funded propaganda machine that's helped make climate denial mainstream, climate change also occupies an odd spot in the country's political landscape. A majority of Americans and even Republicans now acknowledge the existence of manmade climate change and are eager for the government to do something about it. Yet it's a reliably low-salience issue, meaning people believe in climate change at an intellectual level but that fact is unlikely to influence how they vote. [Read More]
(Video) Major Victories for Climate Movement, But Global Chaos Grows: Roundtable with Leaders on What's Next
From Democracy Now! [[October 20, 2017]
---- After a summer of extreme weather around the world, we host a roundtable discussion with environmental leaders on next steps: Lindsey Allen, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network; Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network; and May Boeve, executive director of 350 Action, the political arm of the climate organization 350.org. [See the Program]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
An Independent Thinker's Guide to the Tax Debate
By
---- For 40 years, tax cutters in Congress have told us, "we have a tax cut for you." And each time, they count on us to suspend all judgment. In exchange, we've gotten staggering inequality, collapsing public infrastructure, a fraying safety net, and exploding deficits. … Now, Trump and congressional Republicans have rolled out a tax plan that the independent Tax Policy Center estimates will give 80 percent of the benefits to the richest 1 percent of taxpayers. The good news is the majority aren't falling for it this time around. Recent polls indicate that over 62 percent of the public oppose additional tax cuts for the wealthy and 65 percent are against additional tax cuts to large corporations. [Read More]
Government Study Confirms $7.25 Minimum Wage Is Poverty Trap for Millions of Americans
By
---- Bolstering arguments that the minimum wage in the United States is a "starvation wage" that must be lifted, a new study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that millions of families with a worker earning the federal minimum or just above it are living in poverty. Specifically, the GAO report discovered that "about 20 percent of families with a worker earning up to the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25 per hour), 13 percent of families with a worker earning above federal minimum wage to $12.00 per hour, and 5 percent of families with a worker earning $12.01 to $16 per hour were in poverty" between 1995 and 2016. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who commissioned the study, argued that the GAO's findings amount to overwhelming evidence that $7.25 "is not enough to keep working families out poverty," and that "Congress must raise the minimum wage to a living wage." [Read More]
Our Ever-Deadlier Police State
By Chris Hedges, Truth Dig [October 22, 2017]
---- None of the reforms, increased training, diversity programs, community outreach and gimmicks such as body cameras has blunted America's deadly police assault, especially against poor people of color. Police forces in the United States—which, according to The Washington Post, have fatally shot 782 people this year—are unaccountable, militarized monstrosities that spread fear and terror in poor communities. By comparison, police in England and Wales killed 62 people in the 27 years between the start of 1990 and the end of 2016. Police officers have become rogue predators in impoverished communities. Under U.S. forfeiture laws, police indiscriminately seize money, real estate, automobiles and other assets. In many cities, traffic, parking and other fines are little more than legalized extortion that funds local government and turns jails into debtor prisons. [Read More]
For more on the police – Alex Vitale, "The police are not here to protect you," Red Pepper [UK] [October 17, 2017] [Link]; and Michelle Alexander talks with Paul Butler about the latter's new book, "'Chokehold: Policing Black Men'," billmoyers.com [October 22, 2017] [Link].
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
In America, Self-declared Nazis Can Get State Aid. Israel Boycotters Increasingly Can't
By Simone Zimmerman, Haaretz [Israel] [October 23, 2017]
---- What this tells us - once again - is that to its defenders, Israel and West Bank settlements are one and the same enterprise. Far from posing a threat to the project of Jewish statehood, the settlements are a core expression of their Zionism. By targeting those who are inclined to a partial – settlements-only – boycott, with Israel-as-a-whole boycotters – all differences and borders are erased. While defenders of Israel often decry those who conflate Israel and the occupation, perhaps they should take a look in the mirror; no one is doing that more effectively than they are. [Read More] Simone Zimmerman makes these points on video here.
'A legal shield for the Palestine movement in the U.S.'
An interview with Dima Khalidi, (head of the US organization Palestine Legal), +972 Magazine [October 18, 2017]
---- We always go back to why people are motivated to speak out and engage in BDS, which are central to why we have the right to do it. Boycotts are a means for people who don't necessarily have access to power to take collective action in order to influence change – as was done with the civil rights boycotts, boycotts of apartheid South Africa, and boycotts for farm workers' rights. The U.S. Supreme Court itself recognized this as a legitimate activity protected by the First Amendment in 1982. "In this case, the goal of boycotts is to achieve justice, freedom, and equality for Palestinians, who have been continuously dispossessed of their land, livelihoods, dignity, and agency for over seven decades. Those opposed to Palestinian rights try to claim otherwise; so it's imperative to the legal argument that we return to the key issues that describe the Palestinian experience." [Read More]
West Bank and Gaza Closed for 26 Years
By Amira Hass, Haaretz [Israel] [October 19, 2017]
---- The closure has not been lifted since it was imposed on the population in the Gaza Strip and West Bank (not including East Jerusalem) on January 15, 1991. How should we define it today, more than 26 years on? The closure is the reinstatement of the Green Line – but only in one direction, and for one people. … For almost two decades, and for its own political calculations, Israel respected the Palestinians' right to freedom of movement – with a few exceptions – and they entered Israel and traveled between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank without requiring a time-limited permit. Since 1991, though, Israel has denied the right to freedom of movement to all Palestinians in these areas, with a few exceptions, according to criteria and quotas that it determines and changes as it sees fit. [Read More]
---- The closure has not been lifted since it was imposed on the population in the Gaza Strip and West Bank (not including East Jerusalem) on January 15, 1991. How should we define it today, more than 26 years on? The closure is the reinstatement of the Green Line – but only in one direction, and for one people. … For almost two decades, and for its own political calculations, Israel respected the Palestinians' right to freedom of movement – with a few exceptions – and they entered Israel and traveled between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank without requiring a time-limited permit. Since 1991, though, Israel has denied the right to freedom of movement to all Palestinians in these areas, with a few exceptions, according to criteria and quotas that it determines and changes as it sees fit. [Read More]
OUR HISTORY
There's No Defense for Founding Fathers Who Practiced Slavery
---- This summer, on the very day that white supremacists rioted in Charlottesville, Virginia, I was down the road visiting Montpelier — the home of James Madison, our fourth president. On the house tour, we stopped in Madison's upstairs library, where he spent hundreds of hours reading about earlier attempts at self-governance. There, he imagined the previously unimaginable: freedom of religion, freedom of expression, the right to a jury of one's peers. Madison would go on to write those amendments into the Constitution, earning him the name "Father of the Bill of Rights." As we stepped outside to Montpelier's beautiful grounds, we learned something else: To keep his small family of four white people in the height of 18th century luxury, James Madison enslaved 100 black people. [Read More]
Inside Hitler's Office: Still Lessons to be Learned From World War II
---- The lady came down the corridor with a big smile and gave us the key to Hitler's room. It was an old brass key – I'm sure he had flunkies to open the door for him – but it was the original all right, and when we pushed open that door, there it was, all wooden paneling, wooden floors and there was the marble mantelpiece I had seen so many times in those familiar newsreels. For this wasn't just Hitler's party office – the Fuehrerhaus in Koenigsplatz. This was the room where they signed the Munich agreement in 1938, this was where we – in the shape of Chamberlain and Halifax – and the French (Daladier) and the Italians (Mussolini, of course, and Count Ciano) signed away the Czechs. [Read More]
