CFOW Newsletter - Focus on Solidarity with Portland and Black Lives Matter

Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter

July 27, 2020

 

Hello All – It is hard to exaggerate the importance of the struggle now underway in the USA.  On the nightly news it is encapsulated in the stand-off between federal police and protesters in Portland.  At a deeper level, the struggle is about the threat of fascism and the control of the state.  While the congressional Republicans are beginning to waver in their fealty to the madman in the White House, Trump retains a significant base of support that he intends to use to ensure his re-election, his only discernable policy goal.

 

What make this larger struggle so significant are the ticking clock of our climate crisis and the possibility of nuclear war.  This week on Democracy Now! Noam Chomsky was uncharacteristically emotional in stressing the historical uniqueness of this crisis – "nothing like this before in human history" - and similar attempts to get through to his audience that, if Trump is re-elected (or stays in office), we may be approaching humankind's last stand.

 

While Joe Biden is currently leading in the polls, there are many reasons to think/fear that November's presidential election will end up in a mess, with the outcome disputed.  This gives extra importance to the efforts election/voting integrity activists to prevent intentional or "accidental" disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people and to ensure an accurate vote count.  Based on recent experience, however, both in Westchester and in the USA, it is hard to be optimistic that this goal can be fully realized by November.  A contested election outcome seems possible.

 

It is possible that the Black Lives Matter movement and a city-by-city conflict with Trump's federal police force may frame the election campaign until November.  Certainly for Trump, this would be preferable to a focus on Covid-19 or unemployment.  Will spectacular displays of police violence and citizen resistance on the nightly news work for Trump, spreading the fear of chaos among "moderate" and conservative voters?  Non-violence activist and theorist George Lakey thinks the outcome will depend on whether protesters can force the mass-media framing to reflect that their cause is defensive and in support of basic rights, and he cites lots of history in support of this argument.

 

A second framing of "Portland" is that Trump and his federal police are rehearsing counter-insurgency strategies and tactics to use if/when a disputed election outcome results in Trump refusing to leave office, amidst nationwide protests against this de facto coup. The Pentagon's military has repeatedly signaled that they are not going to defend Trump's attempt to involve them in his political fights; thus Trump's recourse to police units that he personally can control, and well as his support from right-wing militia groups.  But will these be enough?

 

The success of the grassroots mobilizations for Black Lives Matter and against the federal police, therefore, are not incidental to the defense of democracy this November, but are at the very center of the struggle.  They are Democracy's "first-responders"; we owe them a lot and must defend/support/join them.

 

Some useful reading on Portland and "Portland"

Why Portland Became the Test Case for Trump's Secret Police

By Zoë Carpenter, The Nation [July 22, 2020] [Link]

 

In Portland, Questions Swirl Around Local Police's Coordination With Federal Officers By Arun Gupta, The Intercept [July 24, 2020] [Link].

 

Before Portland, Trump's Shock Troops Went After Border Activists

By Ryan Devereaux, The Intercept [July 25 2020] [Link]

 

Why Are Mayors Inviting Trump's Federal Agents Into Their Cities?

By Alex S. Vitale, The Nation [July 24, 2020] [Link]

 

News Notes
One of the innovations of the Portland protests is the Wall of Moms, with mothers forming a front-line of defense between the police and the protests.  The Wall of Moms has gone viral, and is being imitated in many areas, including Westchester.  Moms who would like to join/check out a now-in-formation Westchester group should email brookita@protonmail.com.

 

Kamal Flowers of New Rochelle was shot and killed by police on June 5^th.  The killing was immediately protested in New Rochelle, but the Mayor and police claimed that Flowers had a gun and the police shot in self-defense.  The stalwart community newspaper "Talk of the Sound" has followed the case closely, and last week published a summary of the evidence so far showing that both the Mayor and the police are lying.  Read about it here and in earlier issues of the paper.

 

The Westchester Board of Elections is poised to purchase voting machines regarded by election experts as insecure.  Why they want to do this – and not use the machines currently available – is unclear, though Wednesday's meeting of the Board of Legislators (see below) may clarify this.  In the meantime, two dozen Westchester organizations (including CFOW) have sent a letter to the BoL demanding that the new, insecure machines not be funded.  The letter is posted on the CFOW Facebook page.

 

Today is the 67^th anniversary (1953) of the Armistice that ended the fighting of the Korean War. Yet there is still no peace treaty – one of the perennial demands by North Korea in its negotiations with the USA.  Why is this? What was/is it about the Korean War that has makes it invisible in our public memory?  One of the best books on the subject is by Bruce Cumings; here is a short book review that I hope will stimulate curiosity.

 

Finally, this week congresswoman Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez gave one of the great speeches in the History of Congress, delivering a crisp and cogent analysis of the deeper issues behind Rep. Yoho's calling her a "Fucking Bitch" on the steps of the Capitol.  If you are one of the few people in the USA who hasn't seen/heard it yet, click here.

Things to Do/Coming Attractions

Monday, July 27^th – CFOW/Yonkers and friends will hold a Black Lives Matter vigil from 6 to 6:30 pm on Warburton Ave. at Odell Ave. in Yonkers.

 

Monday, July 27^th – The Institute for Policy Studies (Wash., DC) presents a zoom/webinar, "No Warming, No War: Connecting Militarism with the Climate Crisis" – 5 to 6:30 pm.  For more info, and to register, go here.

 

Tuesday, July 28^th – Smart Elections (Lulu Friestadt) continues its Election Security webinars this evening at 7 pm.  The webinar wil feature two election-security experts and include a clip from the film "Killchain."  For more information and to register, go here.

 

Tuesday, July 28^th – The Sister District Project for the Bronx & Westchester [Link] will host Dr. John Kennedy, speaking on "The Fight for Fair Redistricting" [gerrymandering, etc.] on Zoom from 7 to 8 pm.  For more info and to register, go here.

 

Wednesday, July 29^th – The Westchester Board of Legislators will hear from the county's Board of Elections Commissioners at 10 a.m. The discussion will be about how to improve Westchester voting conditions in light of the disaster of June 23^rd.  To listen in (no speaking), the BOL writes: "A live link to the stream will appear on the Upcoming Events section of our online meeting calendar at https://westchestercountyny.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=1 when the meeting begins."

 

Saturday, July 30^th – CFOW will continue its 18-year tradition of a weekly vigil/rally for peace and justice, convening from 11 to 11:30 at the VFW Plaza in Hastings (Warburton and Spring St.)  This week's focus (probably), "Solidarity with Portland – Black Lives Matter."

 

CFOW Nuts & Bolts

Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester.  Taking the Covid Crisis into account, we meet (with safe distancing) for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, from 11 to 11:30 a.m., at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.)  Another vigil takes place on Mondays, from 6 to 6:30 pm, in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell.  In this time of coronavirus, we are meeting (by Zoom conference) each Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.  If you would like to join our meeting, please send a return email to get the meeting's access code. Our weekly newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page.  And if you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706.  Thanks!

 

Rewards!

While late-nite comedians find scads of good material in Donald Trump's antics, comedienne Sarah Cooper finds it easier just to be Donald Trump. Sarah started out working in the corporate world, and so – like Dilbert – gained valuable experience in the b.s. that passes for Deep Thinking among our leaders.  In an interview with the Washington Post, Sarah describes how natural it was to make the transition from corporate drone to stand-up comedy.  As for example, here is her latest oeuvre, an appreciation of Donald Trump's cognitive skills.  Enjoy!

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

For CFOW

 

FEATURED ESSAYS

(Video) Noam Chomsky on Trump's Troop Surge to Democratic Cities & Whether He'll Leave Office if He Loses

From Democracy Now! [July 24, 2020]

---- President Trump is desperate. His entire attention is—there's one issue on his mind; that's the election. He has to cover up for the fact that he is personally responsible for killing tens of thousands of Americans. It is impossible to conceal that much longer. Just compare the United States with Europe or even Canada; it's becoming a pariah state to the point where Americans aren't even permitted to travel to Europe. Europe won't accept them. His chances of victory depend on his doing something dramatic. He was trying very hard to set up military confrontations that you mentioned, martial law. It's moving toward martial law. He might even be able to try to cancel the elections. There is no telling what he would do. He is completely desperate. This is like the actions of some tin-pot dictator in a neo-colony somewhere, small country that has a military coup every couple of years. There is no historical precedent for anything like this in a functioning democratic society. If he could send Blackshirts out in the streets, he would be happy to do that. Exactly how this will eventuate is very hard to say. The courts are unlikely to do anything. We may even get to a point where the military command has to decide which side they are on. The man is desperate. He is psychotic. He is in extreme danger of losing his position in the White House and will do anything he can to prevent it. [See the Program]

 

King Joe and the Round Table: Biden's America in a Multipolar World

By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies, Code Pink [July 23, 2020]

---- In an article in Foreign Affairs in March titled, "Why America Must Lead Again," Joe Biden claimed that "the world doesn't organize itself," and promised to "put the U.S. back at the head of the table" among the nations of the world. But the premise that the world can only organize itself under the direction of the United States and Biden's ambition to restore the U.S. to such a dominant position at this moment in history are out of touch with global reality. This view is already being challenged by governments and social movements around the world, and Americans should also challenge it if we mean to avoid endless war and a debilitating new arms race. … The continuing chaos caused by the U.S.'s wars in the Greater Middle East, the guerrilla wars now raging across much of Africa, and the rubble and unmarked graves of Ramadi, Kobane, Mosul, Raqqa and other cities in Iraq and Syria are a damning testimony to the cynicism of the Obama and Trump administrations' war policies. They have succeeded in reducing U.S. casualties and shifting America's wars off our TV and computer screens, but only at the cost of hundreds of thousands of largely uncounted civilian deaths. … Biden's past loyalty to military-industrial interests does not bode well for the kind of leadership we need, and which we have not seen from any U.S. president of this generation. So if Biden is elected, it will be up to peace-loving Americans to demand a foreign policy that takes illegal military "options," brutal sanctions and a new arms race off the table and replaces them with a new commitment to the rule of law and "Round Table" diplomacy. [Read More]

 

(Video) How Trump Stole 2020 [Election/Voting Integrity]

[FB – To mark publication of Greg Palast's new book, How Trump Stole 2020: The Hunt for America's Vanishing Voters, Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, and LaTosha Brown join Palast in a video roundtable to discuss his book and the threat to USA elections.] [See the Program]

 

Yavne: A Jewish Case for Equality in Israel-Palestine

By Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents [July 7, 2020]

[FB – This article by Peter Beinart has become a lightening rod for debate within liberal Zionism on "Israel as a Jewish state."]

---- What makes someone a Jew – not just a Jew in name, but a Jew in good standing—today? … In the broad center of Jewish life—where power and respectability lie—being a Jew means, above all, supporting the existence of a Jewish state. In most Jewish communities on earth, rejecting Israel is a greater heresy than rejecting God. … I grew up with these assumptions, and they still surround me. They pervade the communities in which I pray, send my children to school, and find many of my closest friends. Over the years, I've learned how to live in these spaces while publicly questioning Israel's actions. But questioning Israel's existence as a Jewish state is a different order of offense—akin to spitting in the face of people I love and betraying institutions that give my life meaning and joy. Besides, Jewish statehood has long been precious to me, too. So I've respected certain red lines. Unfortunately, reality has not. With each passing year, it has become clearer that Jewish statehood includes permanent Israeli control of the West Bank. With each new election, irrespective of which parties enter the government, Israel has continued subsidizing Jewish settlement in a territory in which Palestinians lack citizenship, due process, free movement, and the right to vote for the government that dominates their lives. … Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annex parts of the land that Israel has brutally and undemocratically controlled for decades. And watching all this unfold, I have begun to wonder, for the first time in my life, whether the price of a state that favors Jews over Palestinians is too high. After all, it is human beings—all human beings—and not states that are created b'tselem Elohim, in the image of God.  [Read More]

 

Full Steam Ahead on Reopening Schools? No Way, Say Teachers

By Monique Dols and Peter Lamphere, Labor Notes [July 21, 2020]

---- Donald Trump has launched an all-out war to reopen schools across the country this fall. Educators are standing up to resist plans that would put our students, their families, or our co-workers in danger.  … Teachers recognize the educational and socioemotional damage that is being done to students through remote learning, and we desperately miss our students and classrooms. But many of us are coming to the conclusion that any opening of school buildings, however partial or "hybrid," carries tremendous risks and can't be achieved safely—especially while the community spread is increasing nationally. Calls to refuse to return to unsafe conditions in school buildings are gathering steam. There is a growing sentiment among educators across the country that if the politicians won't keep our communities safe, we will. … All of these scenarios and problems point back to the elephant in the room: that as long as there is community spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., as long as the government continues to mishandle the crisis and refuses to learn from other countries' successes, opening schools will be unsafe. Educators now have the opportunity to lead the way in changing the course of how this country deals with this crisis. We do not have to live with the deaths and the suffering. Those in power have made it unsafe for us to return to school this fall, and it's up to us to force the government to change course and pay people to stay home with their kids. [Read More] For another perspective, check out ""I Love My Students. I Also Want to Live": Teachers Demand Safety as Trump Pushes Schools to Reopen," from Democracy Now! [Link].

 

OUR HISTORY

July 26^th – The Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution

[FB – Cuba celebrated the anniversary of its revolution yesterday, July 26^th.  On this day in 1953, Fidel Castro and his comrades attacked the Cuban military barracks at Moncada, Cuba, seeking to oust the recently installed dictator of the country, Battista.  They were unsuccessful.  Castro, age 27, and other survivors were sentenced to prison; some years later were pardoned, went to Mexico, and started again.  On January 1, 1959, the victorious rebels rolled into Havana, toppling the US-supported dictator.  So Cuba celebrates its Revolution on the anniversary of the Moncada attack -  here and  here are some visuals from the years of struggle; below, on the death of Fidel Castro in 2016, is a overview of Cuba's revolutionary arc in "imperialism's backyard."]

 

The Cuban Revolution: Defying Imperialism From Its Backyard

By Vijay Prashad, Counterpunch [December 9, 2016]

---- Fidel Castro died at age 90. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States and Cuban exiles had tried for decades to kill him. In the U.S. Congress' Church Committee Report (1975), U.S. politicians wrote: "The proposed assassination devices ran the gamut from high-powered rifles to poison pills, poison pens, deadly bacterial powders and other devices which strain the imagination." One of these devices was an exploding cigar, which was to be given to Castro at the United Nations. None of these succeeded. … Cuba's new revolutionary government in 1959 made noises that sounded awfully familiar to the elites in Washington, D.C. They did not hear echoes from the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR) since Castro had not made his intentions towards communism clear. What they found objectionable was Castro's agenda: to conduct land reforms, to expropriate the entrenched elite and to expel the American mafia. The template for the U.S.' displeasure at the Castro government was set in Guatemala, where the CIA conducted a coup in 1954 against the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz. [Read More]

 

Present Absences - A century of struggle in Palestine.

By Kaleem Hawa, The Nation [July 27, 2020]

---- The Hundred Years' War on Palestine [by Rashid Khalidi] proves once again [that history is] the key to understanding the present. He builds on his previous work, interspersing personal and family stories with political ones and tracing the lineage of violence that has engulfed a land that has been known by many different names. In doing so, Khalidi identifies many of the actors who have been instrumental to the Palestinian cause, the revolutionaries, women, and young people who helped build the fabric of Palestinian life within the shadow of endless war, displacement, and occupation. The "war" in Khalidi's title is conceived as both singular and plural. It includes but also transcends the military conflicts most commonly used to narrate Palestinian history. He chooses to tell this story through six distinct periods, beginning with the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and moving on to the UN General Assembly's 1947 resolution on the partition of Palestine and the ensuing Arab–Israeli War and the Nakba. Charting Palestinian life after the Six-Day War in 1967, he considers Israel's de facto control over all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean and then turns to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the first intifada of 1987, and finally the ceaseless bombings of Gaza and the expanding occupation of the West Bank today. … Ultimately, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is a pessimistic book, a catalog of a century of sad stories. While this outcome is partly a result of the failures of the Western media and its abetting of Palestinian erasure, it is also the logical result of an ossified power imbalance that will finally crack only under the pressure exerted by a popular campaign of moral condemnation and economic nonparticipation. [Read More]

CFOW Newsletter - Remembering John Lewis, the Rev. C. T. Vivian, and the Civil Rights Movement

Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter

July 19, 2020

 

Hello All – Last Friday the world lost two giants of the US civil rights movement, John Lewis and

the Rev. C. T. Vivian.  Vivian was some 15 years older than Lewis, and during the early civil rights movement Vivan was an organizer and mentor, while Lewis joined the newly-formed Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), soon becoming a leader.  Both had found a path to Gandhi's ideas of non-violent civil disobedience as a mode of struggling for freedom, and both became Freedom Riders in 1961.  And both were severely beaten by white mobs and police, not once, but many times.  They were so brave.

 

Bernice Reagon Johnson, founder of the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, once described the early civil rights movement as "a borning struggle," "breaking new ground and laying the foundation for ever-widening segments of the society to call for fundamental rights and human dignity.  Few forces have created as many ripples that crossed racial, class and social lines as did the Civil Rights Movement." This was the experience of many people, I believe, whose learning during the civil rights movement became embedded in their DNA and carried over to many movements down the line.  Perhaps the Black Lives Matter movement is playing a similar role today, teaching techniques of struggle and amplifying the courage to overcome that will reap significant change in the future.

 

Recently, John Lewis tweeted some thoughts that could be his legacy: "Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."  Amen.

 

News Notes

Almost 60 years ago, in the same year that John Lewis was boarding a bus as a Freedom Rider, another movement – to abolish nuclear testing in the atmosphere – was gaining traction.  My first March on Washington demanded an end to testing, which both moved the world towards nuclear war and poisoned our atmosphere with radioactive dust.  JFK soon ended testing in the atmosphere, but testing underground continued until 1996, when it was banned by Treaty.  Now President Trump wants to resume nuclear testing.  Why?  What's the point?  For insights, read "Making America Feared Again: The Trump Administration Considers Resuming Nuclear Weapons Testing" by our main expert on nuke history, Lawrence Wittner [Link].

 

Not only in Georgia, but in NY (and Westchester) as well, the June 23^rd congressional election was seriously mismanaged, resulting in many voters being unable to vote and raising concerns whether all votes cast would be counted.  Several groups, such as Citizens for Voter Integrity and Concerned Voters of Westchester [no relation] are organizing locally to prevent voting disaster in November.  For an example of what we will be up against, read "New York Could Throw Out 1 in 5 Mail-in Ballots in One District, Disproportionately Hitting Brooklyn" by Ryan Grim, The Intercept [July 16, 2020] [Link].

 

After a 17-year pause in federal (not state) executions, the Trump administration murdered three men last week.  This useful article from The Nation ("The Trump Administration Is on a Capital Punishment Killing Spree") illuminates some of the thinking of the Supreme Court and Attorney General William Barr that has renewed this bloodbath. The lawyers for the first man to be executed, Daniel Lee, who was on death row for 17 years and for whom the family of his victims urged clemency, wrote an article for The Times that I encourage everyone to read ("The Justice Department's Shameful Rush to Federal Executions"). [Link]

 

At our weekly CFOW meeting yesterday, we learned about the Sister District Project of the Bronx and Westchester.  In a nutshell, the Project is part of a national effort to pair progressive activists in 'safe" electoral districts with state-legislature campaigns for progressive Democrats in critical elections in other states.  The Bronx-Westchester group, for example, is supporting two state assembly candidates in suburban Philadelphia, who are in close elections, but have a good chance.  The Sister District Project enlists volunteers to help with fund-raising, phone-banking, etc.  Some thoughts about choosing to work on state-legislature campaigns include the importance of these legislatures in the coming redistricting (gerrymandering), the current attacks on many basic rights or benefits that the Right is deploying via state legislatures, and the relatively small changes (e.g. several hundred votes) that can make a difference.   To learn more, check out the Project here.

 

CFOW Nuts & Bolts

Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester.  Until shut down by the virus, we have been meeting for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, from 12 to 1 p.m., at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) In this time of coronavirus, we are meeting (by Zoom conference) each Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.  If you would like to join our meeting, please send a return email to get the meeting's access code. Our weekly newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page.  And if you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706.  Thanks!

 

Rewards!

The passing of John Lewis and the Rev. C.T. Vivian this week put the gospel and freedom songs of the civil rights era on my mind.  There was a lot of singing during civil rights events, sometimes in Black churches (a stretch for a suburban white boy).  There are zillions of great songs on-line; here are a few:  The Staples Singers with Freedom Highway (1965);  Nina Simone with Mississippi Goddam (1964, after the murder of Goodman, Cheney, and Schwerner); The Freedom Singers (out of SNCC) with Woke Up This Morning; and The Golden Gospel Singers with Oh Freedom!  Enjoy!

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

For CFOW

 

REMEMBERING JOHN LEWIS, FREEDOM FIGHTER

John Lewis Risked His Life for Justice

Editorial, New York Times [July 17, 2020]

---- The passing of John Lewis deprives the United States of its foremost warrior in a battle for racial justice that stretches back into the 19th century and the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Americans — and particularly his colleagues in Congress — can best honor his memory by picking up where he left off. [Read More] To read The Times' obituary of John Lewis, recounting his long life-struggle for justice, go here.

 

How We Remember a Prophet

By Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, The Nation [July 18, 2020]

---- As this nation mourns the loss of one of her most faithful sons, we should beware of those in power who issue statements praising the memory of John Lewis while they continue to stand in the way of the genuine democracy he risked his own life to press toward over and again. Jesus was right: In decorating the grave of John Lewis with flowery words, Republicans who refuse to restore the Voting Rights Act testify against themselves that they are the descendants of Bull Conner and Jim Clark, George Wallace, and Strom Thurmond. … A prophet has crossed over from this broken world to the other side of life's river, but his vision of a New Jerusalem right here and now is needed now more than ever. If we would honor him, let us commit ourselves to the radical revolution of values he saw the need for in 1963. Let us love this nation enough to insist that it must be born again. Let us organize and mobilize ourselves in this election year to transform our imagination of what is possible. If our current representatives in statehouses and in the Congress cannot pass a John Lewis omnibus bill, then let us pursue a nonviolent movement with the fire of love, truth, and justice burning in our hearts until we purge this land of the racism and injustice that have lasted far too long. [Read More]

 

UPRISING AND CRISIS

(Video) The Left Remakes the World: Amna Akbar on Canceling Rent, Defunding Police & Where We Go from Here

From Democracy Now! [July 15, 2020]

---- We look at another looming crisis for the American public: mass evictions. More than four months into a pandemic that has left millions unemployed, eviction freezes across the country are ending, even as case numbers rise and states reimpose lockdown measures. As the Cancel the Rent movement inspires rent strikes and protests nationwide, a coalition of labor unions, workers and racial and social justice groups in 25 states plans to stage a mass walkout this Monday called the "Strike for Black Lives." We speak with Amna Akbar, law professor at Ohio State University, who wrote about how to respond to all of this in her op-ed in Sunday's New York Times headlined "The Left Is Remaking the World." [Read More]  Amna Akbar's New York Times article, highly recommended, can be read here.

 

America Is on Track for a Million Coronavirus Cases a Day, and at Least 800,000 Deaths, by the End of 2020

By Irwin Redlener, The Daily Beast [July 17, 2020]

[FB - Dr. Redlener is President Emeritus and a co-founder of the Children's Health Fund.]

---- If someone had suggested five months ago that we would be seeing more than 3 million cases and 135,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. by mid-July, I wouldn't have believed it. But now it's distinctly possible that, five months from now, half of all Americans could have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, and more than 800,000 Americans may die in this extraordinary outbreak. That is what many of our most prominent public-health experts now expect.  Could their projection models be off base? Maybe. But don't count on it. As bad as the health consequences, disruptions, restrictions, and fear of the last five months have been, things could get a whole lot worse. … As for a vaccine, you can bet that Donald Trump's "October surprise" will include an announcement that a new vaccine will be ready for the public by year's end. But here's why you should be skeptical. While there may be innovative technologies for producing a coronavirus vaccine, there is simply no shortcutting the time it takes to test any new vaccine for efficacy and, especially safety. … Maybe there is a middle ground. If we could manage to create the tools (accurate, ubiquitous testing and effective contact tracing) and rules, including consistent use of masks and social separation, and, if necessary, return to sheltering in place, at least in some places, we could have a shot at getting America's outbreak under control. Unfortunately, though, if Donald Trump is once again inaugurated in January 2021, all bets are off. [Read More]

 

More on the Covid-19 Plague – "Inside Trump's Failure: The Rush to Abandon Leadership Role on the Virus" by Michael D. Shear, et al., New York Times [July 18, 2020] [Link]; and "As Trump Moves to Hide Covid-19, We Already Know Which Communities Are Suffering Most" by [Link].

 

Federal Agents Invade Portland, Citing Trump's Executive Order Protecting Statues

By Dan Friedman, Mother Jones [July 2020]

---- Portland has been invaded by federal agents—including unidentified, camouflage-clad officers who have emerged from unmarked minivans to arrest protesters. These officers have reportedly refused to say what agency they work for. But their supposed authority to police Oregon's largest city and make arrests appears to rest on a June 26 executive order by President Donald Trump calling for the protection of statues, monuments, and federal property. Black Lives Matter protests in Portland have continued this month, drawing attention from Trump, who falsely described the city as "totally out of control." Trump also threatened this week to "take over" cities he claims are suffering from crime sprees. Agents from US Marshals Service, Federal Protective Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have been in Portland since early this month. But on July 14, protesters began to document instances in which armed agents wearing masks and military-style fatigues emerged from unmarked vehicles, detained protesters with no explanation, and drove away. [Read More]

 

For more perspectives on Portland – "The Border Patrol Was Responsible for an Arrest in Portland" by Ken Klippentein, The Nation [July 17, 2020] [Link]; and "Trump Unleashes His Secret Police in Portland" by Jeet Heer, The Nation [July 17, 2020] [Link].

 

FEATURED ESSAYS

The Case to Defund the Pentagon

By Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont [July 19, 2020]

---- Fifty-three years ago Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged all of us to fight against three major evils: "the evil of racism, the evil of poverty and the evil of war." If there was ever a moment in American history when we needed to respond to Dr. King's clarion call for justice and demand a "radical revolution of values," now is that time. … [When the Senate returns from vacation], its first order of business will be to pass a military spending authorization that would give the bloated Pentagon $740 billion—an increase of more than $100 billion since Donald Trump became president. … If the horrific pandemic we are now experiencing has taught us anything it is that national security means a lot more than building bombs, missiles, nuclear warheads and other weapons of mass destruction. National security also means doing everything we can to improve the lives of tens of millions of people living in desperation who have been abandoned by our government decade after decade. That is why I have introduced an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act that the Senate will be voting on during the week of July 20th, and the House will follow suit with a companion effort led by Representatives Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). Our amendment would reduce the military budget by 10 percent and use that $74 billion in savings to invest in communities that have been ravaged by extreme poverty, mass incarceration, decades of neglect and the Covid-19 pandemic. [Read More]

 

With Fear and Favor: The Russophobia of 'The New York Times'

By David S. Foglesong, The Nation [July 18, 2020]

---- In recent years the Times has committed itself to relentless, hyper-partisan demonization of Russia as a deadly threat to America. The sensational story that Russia paid bounties for the killing of American soldiers in Afghanistan is just the most recent example. The Times articles were based on anonymous intelligence officials' statements about interrogations of captured Taliban militants or criminals in Afghanistan. The National Security Agency strongly dissented from the reported intelligence assessment. The Pentagon, which used a route across Russia to supply US forces in Afghanistan, said that it "has no corroborating evidence" to validate the allegations. The Taliban indignantly denied the claims. George Beebe, former head of Russia analysis at the CIA, and constitutional lawyer David Rivkin argued that the sources for the story were not very credible, particularly because the Afghan government, which oversaw the interrogations, had a clear motive: It "desperately wants the U.S. military to remain in Afghanistan." By July 7, even the Times belatedly acknowledged that "there's a lot missing from the reports that Russia paid for attacks on American and other coalition forces in Afghanistan." It then urged that "emotions and politics be kept at bay," yet it was the Times itself that had inflamed emotions and stoked partisan controversy.  [Read More]

 

The U.S. struggle for justice for Palestine begins a new chapter

By Ariel Gold and Mary Miller, Code Pink [July 14, 2020]

---- 2020 has indisputably been a chaotic year. From the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent disruption of daily life, to the killing of George Floyd and the passionate resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement that followed, to the looming general election: there has been plenty occupying the minds and newsfeeds of Americans. … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to announce plans to annex parts of the West Bank on July 1. That date has come and gone, and still no formal announcement has been made. But what is perhaps most noteworthy about this incident isn't that Netanyahu almost moved from de facto to de jour annexation of the West Bank, but that the response from influential members of Congress made it clear that, should Israel plan to move forward with annexation, it would not go without consequence. … The progress and victories of recent years absolutely are a cause for celebration. But it is important to keep in mind that the fight is far from over. Regardless of whether or not Israel moves forward with formal annexation any time soon, there still remains the constant threat of creeping annexation and the endless, everyday violence and discrimination imposed by Israel. The past several months have been exhausting for everyone, but the people of Palestine need support now more than ever. This is the time to escalate our activism, not let it fade away. [Read More[

 

Other perspectives on this important issue – "J Street Is Facing New Pressure to Back Conditioning Aid to Israel" by Ryan Grim and Maryam Saleh, The Intercept [June 30 2020] [Link]; and from Haaretz [Israel], "'We'll be here as long as it takes:' Anti-Netanyahu protests grow across 200 junctions in fourth week" [July 19, 2020] [Link].

 

OUR HISTORY

Who Were the Freedom Riders?

By Derrick Bryson Taylor, New York Times [July 18, 2020]

---- Representative John Lewis was among the 13 original Freedom Riders, who encountered violence and resistance as they rode buses across the South, challenging the nation's segregation laws. … Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, was among the original 13 Freedom Riders who rode buses across the South in 1961 to challenge segregation in public transportation. The riders were attacked and beaten, and one of their buses was firebombed, but the rides changed the way people traveled and set the stage for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [Read More]

 

Edward Said and the 'rendezvous of victory'

By Haidar Eid, Mondoweisss [July 15, 2020]

---- Since the beginning of the formation of his political consciousness in 1967, Edward Said emerged as the world's most significant moral intellectual since Jean Paul Sartre and Bertrand Russel. As professor of literature and literary criticism and spiritual figurehead of the Palestinian cultural landscape, together with Ghassan Kanafani, Mahmoud Darwish, and countless others, he was instrumental in making Palestine one of the predominant moral causes of our time. His dedication to fundamental Palestinian human rights elevated him to a status of icon and inspiration. After the official leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the infamous Oslo Accords in 1993, Said began to argue that it was high time that the Palestinian people moved away from the illusion of the two-state solution and advocate a democratic approach, one that could guarantee their basic rights, namely freedom, equality, and justice. I was inspired by Edward Said because I belong to a generation that did not witness the Nakba. I am part of a generation that was thought to be resigned to more than 50 years of military occupation, and more than 70 years of dispossession and apartheid. Herein comes Edward Said, a member of the Nakba generation with a different world-view, telling us something "new," or rather reminding us and the world about the basics of human rights — that Palestinians are worthy of freedom and self-determination like the rest of the peoples of the world. [Read More]

CFOW Newsletter - Focus on Voter Suppression and How to Fight It

Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter

July 6, 2020

 

Hello All – The key to a Trump win in November 2020 is voter suppression.  The Trump oligarchy is favored by the Electoral College, gerrymandering of election districts, and other things that can't be changed by next November, but voter suppression is the battleground where fights can be won and lost between now and then.  Some voter suppression is intentional, such as voter ID laws or felon-voter laws that are known to lower the voter participation rate of lower-income voters.  In the midst of the Covid-19 crisis and the historic incompetence of state and county Boards of Election, we also face what may be charitably called unintentional voter suppression, such as we have witnessed in recent primary elections. While there is little danger of Trump winning the November election in New York, the incompetence displayed by state and county Boards of Elections could have important (and negative) outcomes for local and state government.  And, for traditionalists, it would be nice if we could make our election system work for establish some semblance of Democracy, a step on the road to a Just Society.

 

In Westchester, problems that voters experienced before or during the June 23^rd elections have brought forth several efforts and many proposals to fix what is broken about our election system before Chaos descends in November.  A new coalition, Concerned Voters of Westchester, has been started to coordinate and energize grassroots participation and advocacy for better election procedures.  CFOW is a member of this coalition. Here is the Coalition's Mission Statement:

 

Elections, a non-partisan issue, are the bedrock of our republic's democracy. This diverse coalition of citizen voters and organizations are vested in accurate, fair, fully accessible, safe and secure elections. We are dedicated to ensuring that the Westchester County Board of Elections fulfills its obligation to conduct fully compliant, legal elections that provide confidence to the electorate that elections are fair, fully accessible, safe and secure. The mission of this group is to exert extraordinary pressure on, and advocate for action by all elected officials and authorities who are both vested in and responsible for accurate, fair, fully accessible, safe and secure elections in November 2020 and beyond.

Organizations interested in joining the Coalition should email  concernedvotersofwestchester@gmail.com. A first project is a petition, "Urgent Call to Hold Public Hearings About Voting in Westchester."  To sign the petition, go here.

    

At the County level, responding to public outrage, the Board of Legislators has three initiatives:

 

• A new Election Information Gathering Task Force has been established by Board Chairman Ben Boykin. [Link]. The Task Force will obtain public input about the June 23 Primary Election and about pro-active steps that can be taken for the November 3 General Election.  It will hold a public input session on Wednesday, July 8, at 7 pm. [Link]. The session will be streamed live and archived on the Board's website.. The Task Force will provide a report to the Board of Legislators by August 7, 2020.

 

• Additionally, the Board of Legislators would like to hear first-hand experiences from those who voted in the June primary. The deadline for comments is July 15. They are asking voters to share their experiences, as specifically as possible, by email.

 

• The Board of Legislators is also planning a Committee of the Whole for the week of July 20 (specific date to be determined) with County Board of Elections Commissioners and staff. In future meetings, the BOL is also planning to speak with voters, advocates, State Board of Elections representatives and others to help ensure that clear and pro-active steps are taken before November.

 

Righting the many wrongs of our state and county election systems will be a long-term task, but there are many important changes that can made between now and November.  Please, everyone pitch in!

 

News Notes

CFOW and friends hold a vigil in Yonkers, at the Hudson-Fulton Park (Warburton and Odell Aves.) every Monday from 6 to 6:30 pm.  The focus is on "Say Their Names," "Black Lives Matter," and "End Police Violence," and includes a Silent Vigil for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in honor of George Floyd.  Please join us!

 

Many news reports and articles published this weekend noted the irony in celebrating the July 4^th holiday in the midst of an uprising against Unfreedom in the USA.  Here is James Earl Jones reading Frederick Douglass's famous speech from 1852, "(Video) "What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?" [Link].

 

Earlier this month, West Point's graduating class, who had been sheltering at home as protection against the Pandemic, were called back to The Point so that they could be the audience for a bombastic "graduation speech" by The Orange One.  Some West Point graduates issued a speech of their own, stating "We are concerned that Black Cadets are experiencing racism in a manner inconsistent with the statement made by the Superintendent in a USA Today interview that the Academy "does not have a systemic problem with racism." We hope for West Point to become a place where that statement rings true and therefore want to partner with the Academy in striving for that."  Read more here.

 

Read all about it!  The latest Extinction Rebellion newsletter is out.  Citing a report by the UK government's Climate Change Committee that we need to prepare for a much warmer world, XR states: "We cannot carry on like this. This system is killing us. We want to live. And that's why we need to bring the Rebellion back to our streets. From 1 September, we will peacefully blockade the UK Parliament in London until they act on the climate emergency, passing our 3 demands into law." [Link].

 

CFOW Nuts & Bolts

Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester.  Until shut down by the virus, we have been meeting for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, from 12 to 1 p.m., at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) In this time of coronavirus, we are meeting (by Zoom conference) each Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.  If you would like to join our meeting, please send a return email to get the meeting's access code. Our weekly newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page.  And if you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706.  Thanks!

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

For CFOW

 

BOWMAN BEATS ENGEL IN CD-16

FB - Beyond simply celebrating Jamaal Bowman's defeat of 16-term congressman Eliot Engel last month, the victory is inspirational and instructive because it illustrates how a AOC-style grassroots campaign can be organized by progressives to defeat well-entrenched incumbents. Here is a useful article that explains in some detail how this Miracle happened:

 

How Jamaal Bowman Beat Rep. Eliot Engel In The Bronx

By Daniel Marans , Huffinigton Ppost – June 30, 2020

---- The all-but-official victory is a testament not just to the salience of Bowman's progressive platform and the hunger for new representation in a majority-minority district, but also the maturation of a progressive insurgency that boasted a fraction of the sophistication and resources just two years ago.  Despite an electoral record that is mixed at best, the left wing of the Democratic Party has been busy learning from its mistakes and building professional tools capable of matching the establishment's might. "We've been intentional about building infrastructure and an ecosystem that can take on decades worth of the establishment's," said Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats. "As progressives, if we're not investing in media apparatus, polling apparatus, our ability to do research, in addition to the incredible field work that prioritizes talking to voters, then we're not going to be able to mount serious challenges." [Read More]

 

CFOW's opposition to Engel, and support for Bowman, was motivated in large part by Engel's Democratic Party leadership in promoting a hawkish – and especially an anti-Palestinian – foreign policy.  This was true not only when, as the Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 elections, Engel because the head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but earlier as well, when Engel was the "Ranking Member" during the presidency of Barack Obama.  To help our memories a bit, here are some good summaries of Engel's record:

 

Rep. Eliot Engel's Positions on Foreign Policy Are Hawkish — and Shameful

By Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept [June 19, 2020]

---- Is there a House Democrat who better personifies the more aggressive and amoral wing of the Democratic Party than Eliot Engel? The House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, who has been representing New York's 16th Congressional District since 1989, has one of the most hawkish — and shameful — Democratic foreign policy records on Capitol Hill. Let's start with Iraq. Engel was among a minority of House Democrats to vote for the illegal invasion of Iraq. "It would be a monumental mistake not to support" George W. Bush, he proclaimed on the House floor in October 2002, as he disingenuously tried to link Saddam Hussein's Iraq to Al Qaeda and the wider "war on terror." He told his colleagues, "In this era of terrorism, the U.S. has to be proactive." Lest we forget, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed as a result of that vote." [And the record goes on and on.] [Read More]

 

It's bad politics for Democrats to be hawkish on foreign policy

By Stephen Miles, Win Without War [July 1, 2020]

---- For three years, my organization, Win Without War, and others helped pro-diplomacy activists make their voices heard in Congress in support of President Obama's diplomatic efforts with Iran. Hundreds of thousands of them.  It says something about House Democrats that they would let their most senior foreign policy position be filled by someone who, like Engel, was so at odds with the Democratic caucus on numerous foreign policy issues. … For years, the conventional wisdom was that such heresy simply didn't matter if it was confined to foreign policy. The Democratic primary voters of New York's 16th Congressional District just helpfully reminded everyone just how wrong that particular conventional wisdom was. [Read More]

 

CFOW endorsed Jamaal Bowman (our first & only endorsement in 19 years) in last month's primary.  We have a lot of hope for what he will do in Congress; check out his "Reconstruction Agenda" to see if you agree.

 

UPRISING AND CRISIS

(Video) "America's Moment of Reckoning": Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor & Cornel West on Uprising Against Racism

From Democray Now! [July 3, 2020]

---- Scholars Cornel West and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor respond to the global uprising against racism and police violence following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. "We're seeing the convergence of a class rebellion with racism and racial terrorism at the center of it," said Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. "And in many ways, we are in uncharted territory in the United States." [See the Program]  Also interesting/informative is "The White Left Needs to Embrace Black Leadership" by Barbara Ransby, The Nation [July 2, 2020] [Link].

 

You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument

By Caroline Randall Williams, New York Times [June 26, 2020]

---- I have rape-colored skin. My light-brown-blackness is a living testament to the rules, the practices, the causes of the Old South. If there are those who want to remember the legacy of the Confederacy, if they want monuments, well, then, my body is a monument. My skin is a monument. … What is a monument but a standing memory? An artifact to make tangible the truth of the past. My body and blood are a tangible truth of the South and its past. The black people I come from were owned by the white people I come from. The white people I come from fought and died for their Lost Cause. And I ask you now, who dares to tell me to celebrate them? Who dares to ask me to accept their mounted pedestals? [Read More]  And for more about Confederate monuments (and much more), recommended is (Video) "Angela Davis on Abolition, Calls to Defund Police, Toppled Racist Statues & Voting in 2020 Election," from Democracy Now! [July 3, 2020] [Link].

 

Protesters Attacked by Police Are Suing to Vindicate Their Constitutional Rights

By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout [July 3, 2020]

---- Protesters demonstrating against white supremacy and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's public lynching have been met with illegal repression by law enforcement. Police have utilized toxic chemical and sonic weapons, dangerous projectiles, intrusive surveillance, physical violence and "kettling" to trap demonstrators after dispersal orders are given. In a study conducted by the University of Chicago Law School's International Human Rights Clinic, researchers found not one police department in the 20 largest U.S. cities in compliance with minimum human rights standards governing use of lethal force. They called the use of force by police "state-sanctioned violence." … Since the Black Lives Matter uprisings began, qualified immunity has become a hot-button issue. Colorado made history on June 19 by banning the qualified immunity defense. Congress is considering proposals that could abolish or water down the defense. [Read More]  For another perspective on police violence, read "The Police and the Pentagon Are Bringing Our Wars Home" by William J. Barber and Phyllis Bennis, Informed Comment [July 4, 2020] [Link].

 

'We Are Not Even Beginning to Be Over This Pandemic'

By Gregg Gonsalves, The Nation [July 2, 2020]

---- Just this week, something startling occurred. We heard the unvarnished truth about Covid-19 in the United States from a major public health official, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's principal deputy director Anne Schuchat. … What did Dr. Schuchat say that was so remarkable?

We're not in the situation of New Zealand or Singapore or Korea where a new case is rapidly identified, and all the contacts are traced, and people are isolated who are sick, and people who are exposed are quarantined, and they can keep things under control. We have way too much virus across the country for that right now, so it's very discouraging.

In other words, the Covid-19 epidemic in the United States is out of control, erupting on a massive scale in many different places across the country, and attempts to rein it in will be difficult. … Yet the path forward remains clear. In terms of public health, it's set out in the hymnal many of us have been singing from for some time: more social distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing, test-trace-isolate, and yes, probably more lockdowns—with the proviso that these need to come with real economic and social support for ordinary Americans, not bailouts for corporations and the rich. Responding to this pandemic is going to be much harder now, and will require far more resources than we needed only a few weeks ago. We've also got to stop the lies, challenging every one of them, whether from the administration or from news sources that parrot them or give them any safe harbor out of some misplaced desire to be fair and balanced, setting truths and falsehoods thus on equal footing. [Read More]

 

(Video) Barbara Ransby on the Biden Problem: Social Movements Must Defeat Trump & Also Hold Dems Accountable

From Democracy Now! [July 2, 2020]

---- Amid a mass uprising against racism and state violence, social movements are not just fighting hostility and backlash from President Trump, but also dealing with a "Biden problem," according to historian, author and activist Barbara Ransby. "I think it's fair to say that Joe Biden is not our dream candidate, by any means," she says. "We should be critical of Joe Biden. We should be ready to hold Joe Biden accountable come January. But we should be clear about the need to defeat Trump in November." [See the Program]

 

FEATURED ESSAYS

America's Enduring Caste System

By Isabel Wilkerson, New York Times [July 1, 2020]

---- A caste system is an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits, traits that would be neutral in the abstract but are ascribed life-and-death meaning in a hierarchy favoring the dominant caste, whose forebears designed it. A caste system uses rigid, often arbitrary boundaries to keep the ranks apart, distinct from one another and in their assigned places. Throughout human history, three caste systems have stood out. The lingering, millenniums-long caste system of India. The tragically accelerated, chilling and officially vanquished caste system of Nazi Germany. And the shape-shifting, unspoken, race-based caste pyramid in the United States. Each version relied on stigmatizing those deemed inferior to justify the dehumanization necessary to keep the lowest-ranked people at the bottom and to rationalize the protocols of enforcement. … As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power — which groups have it and which do not. It is about resources — which groups are seen as worthy of them and which are not, who gets to acquire and control them and who does not. It is about respect, authority and assumptions of competence — who is accorded these and who is not. [Read More]

 

The Racist Underpinnings of the American Way of War

By Walden Bello, Foreign Policy in Focus [July 1, 2020]

---- The U.S. military command's pushback against President Donald Trump's attempt to use the military against people demanding racial justice has received a lot of good press. But let's not overdo the praise. For most of their existence, the U.S. Armed Forces were racially segregated. It was only in the 1950s that the slow process of integration began, with racial discrimination still a major problem in the ranks today. While race has been widely discussed with respect to the composition and organization of the military, much less attention has been paid to the way racism has been a central feature of how the United States has waged its wars. … What we might call the "American Way of War" has emerged from a convoluted historical and ideological process. This war-making cannot be divorced from the racism that is fundamentally inscribed in the capitalist political economy of the United States and is structurally reproduced in its growth and expansion. This structural inscription stems from two original sins: the genocide of Native Americans to clear the social and natural path for the rise and consolidation of capitalism, and the slave labor of African Americans that played an essential role in laying the foundations for industrial capitalism. … Finally, the American Way of War is marked by the marriage of advanced technology and racism that is intended to limit the expenditure of lives on one's side while inflicting massive devastation on the other side — under the guiding assumption that white lives are precious and colored lives are cheap. [Read More]

 

War and peace under Trump – "Trump's Record on Foreign Policy: Lost Wars, New Conflicts, and Broken Promises" by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, Jacobin Magazine [June 30, 2020] [Link]; "A Russian Bounty Is Bad. What's Shocking and Outrageous Is the War" by Andrew McCormick, The Nation [July 2, 2020] [Link]; and "House Democrats, Working With Liz Cheney, Restrict Trump's Planned Withdrawal of Troops From Afghanistan and Germany" by Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept [July 2, 2020] [Link].

 

The Democrats' New Climate Plan Is Weirdly Isolationist

By Kate Aronoff, The New Republic [July 1, 2020]

---- A new 538-page report adopts an America First strategy to solve a global problem. There's a lot to like in the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis's 538-page climate plan. Put together by nine Democratic majority members of the committee through hearings and consultations, the document released Tuesday is more ambitious than anything that could have come out of Capitol Hill even a few years ago—thanks largely to pressure coming from inside and outside the halls of power. The plan, though, also imagines the United States fighting climate change alone, an isolated government with an economy broadly resembling the one it had half a century ago… The plan touches on the Paris Agreement and the Green Climate Fund set up under its auspices. But its discussion of the international aspects of climate change largely ignores pressing global governance questions and conjures up images of an America under attack, fending off hordes of climate refugees with a military that's procuring green tanks. … As green groups have noted in the last few days, the House committee's hefty climate plan is a step in the right direction. For now, though, Democrats are still holding fast to George H.W. Bush's bipartisan wisdom, dispensed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992: "The American way of life is not up for negotiation." [Read More]

 

When will Palestine have its Declaration of Independence?

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment [July 5, 2020]

---- If you read the grievances of the founding generation of Americans in the Declaration of Independence, many of them mirror the grievances of Palestinians today. Israeli Occupation authorities decide on the framework of Palestinian lives and make the important decisions for them. But Palestinians cannot vote in Israeli elections and have no say in those decisions. There isn't any doubt that at least free American colonists had far more rights from the British crown than Palestinians have from Israel. As Americans commemorate the Fourth of July, they should have a thought for those in the world who still lack the rights guaranteed in the US constitution. Some of those are African-Americans, who de facto are denied what they should have de jure. Others are like the Palestinians, who do not even have a de jure claim on basic human rights.  Many Americans are now saying they do not want to be part of the oppressive white power structure that denies African Americans their rights. Too few are saying that they can no longer be part of an international policy that keeps Palestinians stateless for geopolitical aims or the propitiation of domestic constituencies. [Read More]