Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
April 1, 2018
Hello All – Yesterday, CFOW's weekly rally/vigil focused on the danger of war with Iran. Many informed commentators fear that the appointment of John Bolton to be President Trump's National Security Adviser makes the likelihood of US aggression against Iran a near certainty. Though the alleged justification for war will focus on the supposed danger of Iran's nuclear program, and on the supposed inadequacies of the 2013 Iran nuclear agreement, these claims are simply false. The next phase of this crisis will culminate on May 12th, when President Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the nuclear agreement and restore sanctions against Iran. – CFOW will continue to agitate and educate about the danger of war in the weeks ahead. To learn more about this vitally important issue, please attend the talk to be given by Code Pink's Medea Benjamin, author of the recently published book Inside Iran, at the First Unitarian Society of Westchester, 25 Old Jackson Rd. in Hastings, on Friday, April 13th, starting at 7 p.m. – And please join us next Saturday for our weekly vigil/protest in Hastings, at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.), starting at 12 noon.
The Massacre in Gaza
The number of people killed and injured last Friday in Gaza is simply staggering. Palestinian medical/health reports state that 17 people were killed and more than 1,400 were injured, including more than 700 who were hit by live ammunition. As made clear in the reading and videos about the massacre linked below, none of the demonstrators in Gaza were a threat to the 100 Israeli snipers stationed nearby; and it appears that all the killed and wounded were hit by bullets while inside the Israeli fence that encloses the Gaza strip.
As explained in the Gaza reading linked below, last Friday's demonstration was the first day of what is anticipated to be a weeks-long protest against the prison-state of Gaza, culminating in May with the commemoration of "Nakba Day," the expulsion in 1948 of some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and homeland. The Israeli government has indicated that if there are more demonstrations, Israel may send soldiers into Gaza to attack the protesters. Presumably this will be stage one for war, which many informed commentators believe the Netanyahu government would welcome.
During the Israeli war against Gaza in 2008-2009, the Bush administration blocked all UN action, preventing even discussion of the war by the Security Council. During the 2014 Israeli attack on Gaza, the Obama administration took no action until Israel bombed several UN installations, with heavy casualties. It is likely that the Trump administration will take a similar supportive stance on behalf of Israel in the next war. Will Americans speak out against this cruel injustice? As Martin Luther King, Jr. preached in his church in 1967, "there comes a time when silence is betrayal." "The ultimate tragedy," he said, "is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." Will Americans be silent again?
News Notes
The Nation has begun a poster/graphic weekly series, "posting a new image every week until sane gun laws are enacted." Their database is the Gun Violence Archive. At the time of writing this, the number of US gun deaths in 2018 was 3,523.
Three weeks ago, a jury found former Cuomo aide Joe Percoco guilty on several counts that related to his (compensated) work to get permits approved for CPV and Cor Development, which were building a giant power plant in Wawayanda (Orange County), New Jersey. Local residents fought the plant for several years, without success. Among the reasons for protests was the anticipated noise from the giant plant; and it started last night. Listen to it yourself on this Facebook post.
This useful article claims that "The Largest Protests In US History Are Happening Now." Along with some good protest pictures, it has some interesting things to say about how crowds are measured.
Local author and New York Times writer Lisa Foderaro has put together a helpful article on the faux "Democrats" known as the Independent Democratic Caucus, and the challenges they are facing in the forthcoming primary elections.
Yesterday, as part of the burgeoning peace diplomacy between North and South Korea, the South send a contingent of performing acts to the North as part of their "cultural exchange." Needless to say, bridging the cultural gap between the North and South is not that simple. Among the groups acceptable to the North was the K-Pop group "Red Velvet," whose music video with the same name has 75 million views on YouTube. Unacceptable, however, was the global star Psy, whose "Gangnam Style" video has 3.1 billion views. We report, you decide.
Things to Do/Coming Attractions
Ongoing – CFOW holds a vigil/rally each Saturday at the VFW Plaza in Hastings (Warburton and Spring) from 12 to 1 p.m. Everyone invited; please join us!
Ongoing – CFOW stalwart Elisa Zazzera manages Hastings' "Community Supported Agriculture" (CSA). The CSA partners with an upstate farm to provide fresh vegetables each Wednesday. Highly recommended. To learn more about this, and/or to sign up for the next growing season, go here.
Saturday, April 7th – Col. Ann Wright, active in so many things, will speak about the 2018 Gaza Freedom Flotilla at the Unitarian Church of All Souls, 1157 Lexington Ave. in NYC, starting at 7 p.m. Her talk is sponsored by Jews Say No! and Vets for Peace, Chapter 34 in NYC.
Sunday, April 8th – The CFOW monthly meeting will be held at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, from 7 to 9 p.m. At these meetings we review what we've done over the past month and make plans for the next month. Everyone is welcome at these meetings.
Thursday, April 12th – Speaking at WESPAC will be Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo. He will speak about the militarization of the African Continent, the scramble for natural resources, and people's resistance movements. The program starts at 7 p.m. at WESPAC's office, 77 Tarrytown Rd, Suite 2W, in White Plains. For more information, go here.
Friday, April 13th – Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, has just published a book called "Inside Iran." She will be speaking about Iran, and about the dangers of war, at the First Unitarian Society of Westchester, 25 Old Jackson Rd. in Hastings, starting at 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 14th - "Know Drones" (Nick Mottern), Code Pink, WESPAC, and several other organizations will hold a "Rally/Teach-In on Peace & Economic Justice" in Greenwich, CT from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The program will take place at Greenwich Commons, 290 Greenwich Ave. Speaking will be Code Pink's Medea Benjamin; Maurice Carney (Friends of the Congo); Rabyaah Althaibani ("Peace in Yemen and You"), and Carl Dix ("Saving Lives in Black and White"). For more information email marchgreenwich@gmail.com.
Sunday, April 29th. – Hastings Takes Action/NYCD16 Indivisible Environment Committee invites us to a forum on "Indian Point: An Ever-Present Danger." It will take place at the Hastings Community Center from 2 to 4 p.m. Speaking will be Karl Rabago, Executive Director of Pace Energy and Climate Center; Manna Jo Greene, Environmental Action Director of Clearwater; and Richard Webster, Legal Director of Riverkeeper. Peter D. Wolf (of Hastings), the CEO of Center for Sustainable Development, will moderate.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. We meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, from 12 to 1 p.m., at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) Our leaflet and posters for our rallies are usually about war or climate change, but issues such as racial justice or Trump's tax cut legislation are often targeted, depending on current events. We meet on the first Sunday of each month, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society. Our weekly newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. If you would like to make a financial contribution to our work, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
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 the excellent "Featured Essays," I especially recommend the cluster of articles about the massacre in Gaza; the set of articles about Trump's "war cabinet" (Pompeo, Bolton, and Mattis); the set of articles about "the necessity defense" re: anti-pipeline protests; the two articles on why teachers are striking; and the article ("Our History") by Christian Appy about the Vietnam War and its lessons for war today.
Rewards!
Wednesday, April 4th, will be the 50th anniversary of the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. King had gone to Memphis to support the sanitation workers, who were on strike there; and the night before his murder he gave one of his greatest speeches, continuing along the path of economic justice that was intended to culminate in the Poor Peoples' Campaign in Washington, D.C. Recently, The New York Times published an illuminating article on the economic background of the events in Memphis. And here's some music from Sweet Honey in the Rock to take us home. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
MASSACRE IN GAZA!
Gaza's March of Return Reflects a Desire for New Palestinian Politics
By Amira Hass, Haaretz [Ap;ril 1, 2018]
---- It's not Palestinian nationalism that is dying (a view expressed by observers in Israel, who attribute it to the political failures of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas). What is dying is the traditional organization that represented it until now – the PLO – and Hamas is failing in its attempts to become the alternative that is acceptable for everyone. Palestinian society, which is sick and tired of its leadership and the political split, is teeming with initiatives. People are feeling around for something new that will break down both the physical and psychological barriers that divide the various parts, while basing it on the components of national Palestinian identity acceptable to all. This is also how we must look at the March of Return this year – whether Israel continues and succeeds in its fatal repression of it, or not.
Violence Continues in Palestine, Israel Denounced
From Al Jazeera [March 31, 2018]
---- Yesterday's slaughter by Israel was on the "2nd anniversary of Land Day, when six Palestinian protesters were gunned down by Israeli forces in 1976, as they were protesting the Israeli government confiscation of thousands of dunums of Palestinian land." The Guardian reports that "Gaza hospitals, running low on blood and overstretched by the huge number of wounded, were reeling after one of the enclave's bloodiest days outside of open war…" Yesterday's protest was called "The Great March of Return," hundreds of thousands of refugees peacefully demonstrated in Gaz for the right to return to their original homelands which were stolen from and is now occupied by Zionists call their illegitimate nation Israel. Two million people live in Gaza, 70 percent are refugees who have been forced to leave their homes. Ma'an reports that The Great March of Return will continue for six weeks until May 15, which marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their lands. Palestinians "have set up tents near the border and plan to and move gradually closer to the border fence and erected dozens of signs in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, saying 'We are not here to fight; we are here to return to our lands.'" Human rights organizations are condemning Israel's slaughter of unarmed, nonviolent protesters. [Read More]
To read more about the Gaza massacre - The UK newspaper The Guardian has a good overview of the events on Friday; and this article from The Intercept has many pictures and short videos. You can compare these reports with the pro-Israel report ("clashes broke out," etc.) from The New York Times. Here is a report from CNN on the action the Trump administration took to block any UN fact-finding inquiry. Israel's defense minister also ruled out an Israeli inquiry, as their soldiers did nothing wrong [Link]. If you're looking for a heated exchange of views, Ali Abuminah ("Electronic Intifada") is among the panelists on this (Video) "Inside Story" segment from Aljazeera.
FEATURED ESSAYS
Congress, Not Trump, Has the Authority Over War
By Bernie Sanders, Foreign Policy [March 29, 2018]
---- On March 20, by a vote of 55-44, the U.S. Senate tabled a resolution that I introduced along with two of my colleagues, Republican Mike Lee of Utah and Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut, calling on the president to withdraw U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. We offered this resolution for two reasons. First, the Saudi-led war in Yemen has led to one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. Second, the time is long overdue for Congress to reassert its constitutional authority in matters of war. Article I of the U.S. Constitution states clearly that the people's representatives in Congress, not a single person residing in the White House, shall have the power to declare war. Though a majority of our Senate colleagues voted to table our resolution — that is, they chose to avoid taking a vote on the issues it raised — I am more convinced than ever of the need to go forward aggressively on this matter. We must never forget that the two most significant foreign-policy disasters in the modern history of the United States, the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam, occurred when Congress sat back and allowed two administrations, one Republican and one Democrat, to lie to the American people as they led us into conflicts with horrific consequences. We must never allow that to happen again. [Read More]
Big Brother Isn't Watching You. You're Watching Him!
By Tom Engelhardt
By Tom Engelhardt
---- Who doesn't sense just how unprecedented the media spectacle of our moment is? Every single day is a new Trump dawn, a new firing or appointment at the White House, a new tweet storm, a new outrageous statement or policy, a new insult, a new lie or misstatement, a new bit of news about Stormy Daniels or other women who — your choice — had affairs with, were groped by, defamed by, or silenced by him, and so on down an endlessly repetitive list of what has become "the news" more or less 24/7 or perhaps more accurately 24/365 (with not a holiday in sight). Who wouldn't agree with that? And yet have you noticed how little such coverage is itself actually covered? At least during the election campaign you could get some overview numbers on the blitz of attention the media was giving candidate Trump. It was regularly said, for instance, that he had gotten $5 billion in free advertising in those endless months in which his face, rants, tweets, nicknames, his… well, you name it… was eternally front and center in our media lives. Post-election, nothing has really changed and yet when was the last time you saw a mainstream news article on such an unprecedented phenomenon? When did anyone front page the fact that no human being in history has ever been covered in this fashion, a fashion that gives the very word "cover" a grim new meaning? [Read More]
Three Years Into the Yemen War, a Collective of Women Street Artists Cope With the Destruction
By Sarah Aziza, The Intercept [
---- The women behind #SilentVictims derive purpose, camaraderie, and courage from their work, but admit that the larger questions of Yemen's future still plague them. "The war has changed everything. It is impossible to go on this way," said Mubarak. "We are desperate for peace." Yet after three years, said Subay, peace seems more distant than ever. "To be honest, I feel very hopeless from day to day. I do what I can, and I'm working for peace, but the situation in Yemen is very depressing," she said. "When people ask me if I think things will improve, I say inshallah — God willing — but it depends on the people with political power. If they choose peace, they can make it happen. But if they ignore us, if they think only of themselves, nothing will change." [Read More]
Lessons from the Iraq War After 15 Years by Javier Solana
Javier SolanaThe author is a former Secretary-General of NATO and Foreign Minister of Spain.
---- We now know that the war, in addition to causing many of the Middle East's current troubles, marked the beginning of the end of America's post-Cold War hegemony. We also know that, though it was sold as part of the "war on terror," the groundwork for the invasion had been laid well before 9/11. … But if the mission was to free Iraq from terror, reconstruct the country, and enhance security on all levels, it was an absolute failure. It is generally agreed that the war in Iraq caused many more problems than it resolved. Prominent US politicians who supported the 2003 invasion – including many Republicans – now admit that it was a mistake, as do a majority of Americans. But, while the 2003 invasion was a profoundly misguided policy, both in form and in substance, the chaos that consumed Iraq and the rest of the region stem from additional mistakes made by US policymakers after Saddam had been removed from power. …For the US, in particular, one of the most important lessons of the past 15 years is that military interventions aimed at regime change will almost always lead to disaster, especially in the absence of a sensible plan for what comes next. The Iraq War showed that the cost of unilaterally forsaking diplomatic channels can be enormous. [Read More]
WAR & PEACE
Trump's Recycling Program:; War Crimes and War Criminals, Old and (Potentially) New
By Rebecca Gordon, Tom Dispatch [March 30, 2018]
By Rebecca Gordon, Tom Dispatch [March 30, 2018]
---- Fifteen years is an eternity in what Gore Vidal once called "the United States of Amnesia." So why resurrect the ancient history of George W. Bush in the brave new age of Donald Trump? The answer is simple enough: because the Trump administration is already happily recycling some of those Bush-era war crimes along with some of the criminals who committed them. And its top officials, military and civilian, are already threatening to generate new ones of their own. … "I'm good at war," Trump told an Iowa rally in 2015. "I've had a lot of wars of my own. I'm really good at war. I love war in a certain way, but only when we win." With Mike Pompeo whispering in one ear and John Bolton in the other, it's frighteningly likely Trump will soon commit his very own war crime by starting an aggressive war against Iran. [Read More]
Appointments of Bolton and Pompeo bring us closer to war
By Patrick Cockburn, The Independent [UK] [March 30, 2018]
---- Armed conflict between the US and Iran is becoming more probable by the day as super-hawks replace hawks in the Trump administration. The new National Security Adviser, John Bolton, has called for the US to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 and advocated immediate regime change in Tehran. The new Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has said the agreement, which Trump may withdraw from on 12 May, is "a disaster". Trump has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will not accept a deal with "cosmetic changes" as advocated by European states according to Israeli reporters. If this is so, then the deal is effectively dead. The escalating US-Iran confrontation is causing menacing ripples that could soon become waves across the Middle East. The price of crude oil is up because of fears of disruption of supply from the Gulf. In Iran, the value of the rial is at its lowest ever, having fallen by a quarter in the last six months. In Iraq, the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi admits that his greatest fear is a confrontation between the US and Iran fought out in Iraq. [[Read More]
---- Armed conflict between the US and Iran is becoming more probable by the day as super-hawks replace hawks in the Trump administration. The new National Security Adviser, John Bolton, has called for the US to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 and advocated immediate regime change in Tehran. The new Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has said the agreement, which Trump may withdraw from on 12 May, is "a disaster". Trump has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will not accept a deal with "cosmetic changes" as advocated by European states according to Israeli reporters. If this is so, then the deal is effectively dead. The escalating US-Iran confrontation is causing menacing ripples that could soon become waves across the Middle East. The price of crude oil is up because of fears of disruption of supply from the Gulf. In Iran, the value of the rial is at its lowest ever, having fallen by a quarter in the last six months. In Iraq, the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi admits that his greatest fear is a confrontation between the US and Iran fought out in Iraq. [[Read More]
For more about these warmongers – Good introductions to what we now face are Marjorie Cohn, "Trump Finds Fellow Bully in Bolton," ZNet [April 1, 2018] [Link]; and Mitchell Plitnick, "John Bolton: The Essential Profile," LobeLog [March 22, 2018]. [Link]. Robert Worth has a lengthy and useful article about Defense Secretary James ("Mad Dog") Mattis – the only remaining adult in the War Cabinet? – in this week's New York Times Magazine. In this useful (Video) interview with Phyllis Bennis, she recounts the time in 2006 when "Bolton Acted Against US Interests to Push Israel's Agenda in Lebanon" [Link]. (Important for Westchester stalwarts, the interview also recounts the role of Senator Chuck Schumer in protecting Bolton from Senate inquiry, telling fellow Democrats [during the Bush presidency] that "a vote against John Bolton is a vote against Israel.") Finally, Nation writer John Feffer has some fair-and-balanced comments in "What Congress Can Do to Check a Warmongering Lunatic" [Link].
Trump's Silence on a Saudi Nuclear Bomb
By Joe Cirincione, Ploughshares Foundation [March 30, 2018]
---- It's said that the only two people Donald Trump does not criticize are Vladimir Putin and Stormy Daniels. You can add Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) to that list. With the prince's two week trip to the United States coming to a close, Trump remained stone silent after the heir apparent to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced his nuclear plans on American television. "Without a doubt," MbS told CBS host Norah O'Donnell, "if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible." Not a single voice of protest was heard from the Trump administration. For that matter, the rolling shocks of the Trump presidency seem to have dulled the response mechanisms of most of America's national security establishment. Very few have objected to the prince's statement that he would break his treaty commitments and go nuclear if his neighbor did. Just so you know: this is not normal.
There is no excuse for any nation under any circumstances getting a nuclear weapon. There is no exception allowed in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Saudi Arabia has signed. There is no Get A Bomb Free Card in international law. U.S. policy for over 72 years has been to oppose any nation from getting the bomb. Period. [Read More]
War with North Korea?
South Korean Progressives to Washington: Support Peace Talks and Halt the War Exercises
From Zoom in Korea [Mar 27, 2018]
---- President Xi Jinping reportedly telephoned Trump after the meeting to report it was a positive meeting and that Kim Jong Un was looking forward to meeting with Trump. He also reported North Korea favored denuclearization but it needed to be part of movement toward peace. Kim said "The issue of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace." This is consistent with North Korea's long term call for a freeze-for-freeze approach where the US and South Korea suspend joint military practice military attacks against on North Korea in return for North Korea suspending weapons testing. The United States has refused to stop the military exercises and Trump has called for a policy of continued maximum pressure. [Read More]. Also useful/interesting is Joseph Essertier, "The Madness of the American Ruling Class vs. the Sanity of the People of South Korea," March 27, 2018] [Link].
GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHAOS
Nations Won't Reach Paris Climate Goal Without Protecting Wildlife and Nature, Warns Report
By Ashley Braun, DeSmogBlog [March 23, 2018]
---- Three years in the making, the study concluded humans are causing the planet to lose species at such a rapid clip that the resulting risks are on par with those presented by climate change. On top of being unfortunate for those species that no longer exist, these losses also endanger people's access to food, clean water, and energy, according to the report. "We must act to halt and reverse the unsustainable use of nature or risk not only the future we want but even the lives we currently lead," Robert Watson, current IPBES chair and former IPCC chair, told The Guardian. In addition, by 2050, the report found that under a "business as usual" scenario for greenhouse gas emissions, climate change could jump ahead of other threats, such as habitat loss and change in land use, as the primary cause of extinctions in North and South America. [Read More]
The Boston climate trial that might have been
By
---- On Tuesday, a climate civil-disobedience trial centered on resistance to one such fracked-gas pipeline, the West Roxbury Lateral, was all set to begin in Boston. It was highly anticipated among the climate informed—and not simply because the scenario McKibben describes is playing out in Massachusetts right now, with political, corporate, and media powers-that-be, including Red Sox/Boston Globe owner John Henry's pipeline-friendly editorial page, promoting the carbon lobby's fracked-gas con. It was also highly anticipated because the 13 defendants going to trial for peacefully blocking construction of the high-pressure pipeline through West Roxbury in 2016—as part of a sustained campaign of nonviolent resistance in which nearly 200 were arrested over the course of a year—were poised to make history as they mounted a necessity defense before a jury of their peers. If District Court Judge Mary Ann Driscoll had instructed jurors to consider necessity (which looked like a possibility), it would have been the first time a jury in the United States received that instruction in a climate-related trial [Read More]
Some useful reading about the "necessity defense" – Michael Mayer, "What Is The Necessity Defense, And What Are Its Limits?" Sightline.org [March 31, 2018] [Link]; from Vice News, "Pipeline protesters just got a new legal defense," [March 31, 2018] [Link]; and Kevin Zeese, "Defendants Acquitted Based On Climate Necessity Defense," Popular Resistance [March 28, 2018] [Link]. The latter article has some links to good videos, and you can see a video interview with one of the defendants, Karenna Gore, here.
THE STATE OF THE UNION
'Are You a Citizen?': The Dangerous Question Coming to the Next Census
The decision to add a citizenship question will have consequences long after Trump leaves office.
By Julianne Hing, The Nation [March 27, 2018]
---- After months of preparation—and despite plenty of pushback—Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced Monday night that the 2020 Census will include a question about respondents' immigration status. State attorneys general and immigration and civil-rights groups were quick to slam the move and within hours of the announcement, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit challenging the decision. The move will have profound consequences for US democracy. The Census, which happens only once every 10 years, is used to determine the allocation of $700 billion in federal grant money, apportion representatives in Congress, and determine how electoral boundaries are drawn and how many votes each state is given in the Electoral College. Critics have long warned that a question about people's immigration status will depress participation and lead to inaccurate responses, both of which could warp the administration of these immensely consequential programs and institutions. [Read More]
Same Old Media Parade: Why Are Liberals Cheering?
By Jeff Cohen March 26, 2018
---- When the "War on Terror" was launched in 2001, mainstream media – especially cable TV news – started a parade. It was a narrow parade of hawkish retired military and intelligence brass promoting war as the response to the crime of 9/11, predicting success and identifying foreign enemies to attack. We can look back at this parade and laugh at the total nonsense dispensed. But the more human response is to cry – over the toll, still mounting, of hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths from Afghanistan to Iraq and beyond, and violent instability across the region, including countries that were relatively stable and prosperous on Sept. 10, 2001. (Not to mention militarization and loss of civil liberties at home.) … Just as they did in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion, MSNBC and CNN now serve up a steady parade of war hawks, spies and liars, presenting them as credible and almost heroic as long as they criticize the despicable man in the White House. [Read More]
Teachers and Why They Strike
No Wonder Teachers Are Saying Enough Is Enough
By Bryce Covert, The Nation [March 29, 2018]
---- West Virginia teachers made history when they went on strike for nine days, shuttering schools from February 22 to March 6 over their dismal pay and shoddy benefits. Teachers in the state do not have a legal right to strike or to collectively bargain; still, they walked off the job to demand better compensation and walked back into their classrooms with a 5 percent raise. The unrest, however, is not over. Teachers in Oklahoma have promised to strike beginning April 2 if their Legislature doesn't give them a raise and increase money for schools. Striking is also illegal for Oklahoma's teachers, but school superintendents have indicated they'll shut down the schools to allow the educators to walk off the job. Teachers in Kentucky and Arizona are also considering walkouts. It shouldn't be shocking that teachers across the country are so fed up that they're ready to strike. Teachers in West Virginia and Oklahoma may be among the worst-paid in the nation, but over the last decade, educators everywhere have been asked to do more for less. [Read More]
It's Oklahoma's Turn to Strike
By Eric Blanc, Jacobin Magazine [March 2018]
---- The historic victory in West Virginia has inspired teachers and staff across the United States. Marches, rallies, and sickouts in defense of public schools have spread to Kentucky, Arizona, Wisconsin, and beyond. Whether this movement becomes a bona fide strike wave will depend to a significant degree on what happens in Oklahoma over the coming days. Demanding major increases in pay and school funding, Oklahoman educators are set to strike on April 2. The similarities with West Virginia are obvious. In a Republican-dominated state with a decimated education system and a ban on public employee collective bargaining, an indignant workforce teetering on the edge of poverty has initiated a powerful rank-and-file upsurge. But history never repeats itself exactly. To strike and win, Oklahoma workers will have to overcome a range of distinct challenges and obstacles. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
'Such a state is not a democracy': Israeli citizens respond on proposed amendments to Anti-Boycott Law
A statement from "Boycott from Within," [Israel] [March 26, 2018]
---- In 2011, Israel passed the 'Boycott Law'. The law makes Israeli citizens legally liable if they boycott, or encourage a boycott of an Israeli product, company, or institution, if that boycott "harms the state". Since then, Israel has been piling up amendments to the original law, and additional legislation that aims to silence opposition to its systematic abuses of the human rights of the indigenous Palestinian people. … As of March 2018, Israel seems determined to erode the political rights of its recognized citizens, and to further trample the hardly-existent rights of the Palestinian subjects of its military occupation regime. If passed, a new amendment to the law will see the 'damages-without-proven-damage' clause reinstated, with the sum to be paid in fines raised three times over. Israel has narrowed the role of its citizens' participation in its politics by making them choose between keeping silent about its systematic human rights violations against the indigenous Palestinian people, or participating directly in the settler-colonization of Palestinian land. [Read More]
OUR HISTORY
What Was the Vietnam War About?
By Christian G. Appy, New York Times [March 26, 2018]
---- Was America's war in Vietnam a noble struggle against Communist aggression, a tragic intervention in a civil conflict, or an imperialist counterrevolution to crush a movement of national liberation? Those competing interpretations ignited fiery debates in the 1960s and remain unresolved today. How we name and define this most controversial of American wars is not a narrow scholarly exercise, but profoundly shapes public memory of its meaning and ongoing significance to American national identity and foreign policy. … If we continue to excuse American conduct in Vietnam as a well-intentioned, if tragic, intervention rather than a purposeful assertion of imperial power, we are less likely to challenge current war managers who have again mired us in apparently endless wars based on false or deeply misleading pretexts. Just as in the Vietnam era, American leaders have ordered troops to distant lands based on boundless abstractions ("the global war on terror" instead of the global threat of "international Communism"). And once again, their mission is to prop up governments that demonstrate no capacity to gain the necessary support of their people. Once again, the United States has waged brutal counterinsurgencies guaranteed to maim, kill or displace countless civilians. It has exacerbated international violence and provoked violent retaliation. [Read More]
