Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
November 29, 2020
Hello All – Our vigil/rally last Saturday in Hastings focused on the crisis of making ends meet, now being experienced by tens of millions of Americans. Our leaflet was headed, "American Goes Hungry; Congress Goes Home." Our posters reflected our anger at the fact that, according to many reports, some 54 million Americans suffer from "food insecurity." What this means in the flesh-and-blood world is that tens of millions of children are missing meals, that millions of families – often headed by single mothers – suffer the daily terror of not knowing how much longer they can put food on the table. One study found that in the often miles-long lines outside food banks, four in ten people had never used a food bank before. People can't – won't – continue to live this way.
This crisis will only get worse. Thanks to killer-in-chief Donald Trump, some 200,000 people are infected each day by the Covid-19 virus. As a result, our economy is in shambles, with nearly a million people applying for unemployment benefits each weak. The great majority of lay-offs, accounting for the majority of people either seeking work or giving up, are people of color and in the service and manufacturing sectors: i.e., people who can't work from home. Critical unemployment assistance programs are set to expire at the end of the year, leaving approximately 10 million additional people without any income at all. And tragically, the end of the year is when the CDC ban on tenant evictions will expire. Landlords will file millions of eviction cases across the USA. One estimate is that more than 12 million households will owe an average of $5,500 in back rent. Yet Republicans and Democrats in Congress cannot agree on a stimulus plan that would prevent disaster by early 2021.
This crisis of dislocation and impoverishment is above all a crisis of justice. The people who are suffering the most have done nothing to bring this crisis about. If it takes disruptive social movements to get Congress to do something, so be it. The injustice in our so-called "system" cannot stand. Let's strongly support the movements of the poor that are sure to come soon.
Editorial
Helping out in Georgia
Both Democrats and Republicans are raising zillions of dollars and phoning Georgia residents on the hour to win the two run-off races for Senate, which will be held on January 5th. The ability of the national Democrats to enact their legislative program depends on winning both elections, and it is for this reason that the Republicans want to stop them. To help out, you can send money directly to the candidates, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. The organization Reclaim Our Vote uses phone-banking and postcards to contact low-income voters of color who may have been removed from the voting rolls. After she was cheated out of the Georgia governorship a few years ago, Stacey Abrams formed "Fair Fight," now a leading force in taking the Senate for the Georgia Democrats. And at CFOW, some of us are donating to the Southwest Georgia Project, a 60-year-old community-based project with roots in the Civil Rights era. In a conference call with black community organizers last week, the project's director, Shirley Sherrod, stressed the importance of voter mobilization in poor, rural parts of southwest Georgia, generally neglected by Atlanta-based organizations and the Democratic Party leadership, but now a target of GOP big money.
News Notes
Progressives are not doing so well among the early appointments of Joe Biden to his Cabinet and higher administrative posts. A remaining hope is that Joaquin Castro may win the chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a post held for a zillion years by our own Eliot Engel, before his defeat by Jamaal Bowman. For some explanation of why Castro at the Foreign Affairs Committee would be a big boost for world peace and justice, read ""Progressives Look to Wield Power in a New Place: The Foreign Affairs Committee" by Alex Emmons (The Intercept) [Link], and "Joaquin Castro aims to bring the progressive wave to the House Foreign Affairs Committee" by [Link].
This week climate activist/writer Bill McKibben has put up a thought-provoking essay about a new "science fiction" book that I like very much called The Ministry of the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson. Set in the not-too-distant future, the book describes the efforts of (very) assorted climate activists, including a NGO called "the Ministry of the Future," to rescue the world from climate apocalypse. As McKibben puts it, "climate change is the crisis that finally forces mankind to deal with global inequality." Naomi Klein has been over some of this road before; Kim Stanley Robinson fills in hundreds of fascinating details. Check out McKibben's essay here.
Tuesday, December 1, is a day of global giving-back, as an alternative to Black Friday and insane personal consumption. CFOW encourages you to "give back" this year to Veterans for Peace. VfP is an international organization made up of military veterans, military family members, and allies. They are dedicated to building a culture of peace, exposing the true costs of war, and healing the wounds of war. Please go here to learn more about VfP and to make a donation. Thanks!
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, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) Another vigil takes place on the first Monday of the month (December 7th, etc.), from 5 to 5:30 pm, in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. In this time of coronavirus, we are meeting by Zoom conference; if you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, Tuesday and Thursday at noon and/or Saturday at 5 pm, please send a return email. 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 support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
Thank you for reading our Newsletter. As a first Reward, here is a link to Stevie Wonder's 1973 classic, "Living for the City." And this week I was listening to some music from the same era by Dory Previn, the writer/singer of many clever songs. For example, in "Beware of the Young Girls," she memorializes some mistakes by her former friend Mia Farrow. In 1970 she captured some emotions very relevant to today in "Twenty-Mile Zone." And I think you will also like "Going Home," from her most popular album, "Mythical Kings and Iguanas." Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
THE IRAN CRISIS
Frank Brodhead
---- Last Friday unknown assailants murdered Iran's leading nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. At our CFOW meeting yesterday, we affirmed our agreement with the Code Pink statement on the attack and its significance; the Code Pink statement is linked below. Also linked below are a few articles analyzing the background of the murder. The news media generally attribute the assassination to Israel. If this true, the fact that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Saudi Arabia just a few days before the assassination suggests that Pompeo/the USA gave Israel the green light for the murder. Code Pink suggests that the motivation for the murder was to cause Iran to respond with an attack on US military forces, perhaps leading to a US war on Iran; and/or to put additional obstacles in the way of a Biden-era attempt to restore the Iran nuclear agreement.
So far, president-elect Biden has not condemned (or even commented on) the murder of the Iranian nuclear scientist. From members of Congress I only know of condemnations from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Chris Murphy of Connecticut; and our newly elected congressional representative Jamaal Bowman just condemned the assassination. But at the moment the silence of most of the USA governing class is deafening. Why is this? Please ask Mondaire Jones to speak out (info@mondaireforcongress.com), and do the same with our Senators: Chuck Schumer (202) 224-6542 and Kirsten (202) 224-4451.
Code Pink Statement on Iran
---- The assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist is a vile assault on diplomacy and dangerous action, risking escalation and the possibility of dragging the U.S. into a new Middle East war. On Friday, November 27, 2020, in an act of flagrant disregard for international law, Israel carried out the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. The assassination takes place during an extremely sensitive time as the U.S. is in its last days of the Trump administration and President-elect Joe Biden is hoping to reengage diplomatically with Iran. The attack follows: … If Iran retaliates quickly and directly to the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, it could result in rapid violent escalation between Israel and Iran that could draw the U.S. into an all-out war. Even if Iran waits until later to respond, either directly or indirectly, the effects of Israel's actions will be significant in hindering the incoming Biden administration's efforts to successfully engage diplomatically with Iran, including reentering the Iran Nuclear Deal. To mitigate the effects of this vile assault on diplomacy, world leaders must condemn the assassination of Fakhrizadeh and its illegality under international law…. [Read the complete statement here and further useful commentary from Code Pink here.]
Some useful analysis – "Killing of Top Iranian Scientist Raises Risk of Regional War" by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com [November 27, 2020] [Link]; "In Bid to Kill a Biden return to Iran nuclear Deal, Israel Assassinates Leading Nuclear Scientist" by [Link]; "Saudi crown prince was reluctant to back US attack on Iran" bDavid Hearst, Middle East Eye [November 27, 2020] [Link]; "Why Biden May Try to Return to Iran Nuclear Deal Before Renegotiating It" by Laura Rozen, Just Security [November 22, 2020] [Link], and (from today's New York Times) "A Scorched Earth Strategy on Iran" by Barbara Slavin of the (Establishment) Atlantic Council [Link].
FEATURED ESSAYS
"Trump Has Revealed the Extreme Fragility of American Democracy": An interview with Noam Chomsky:
By C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout [November 25, 2020]
---- Whatever the validity of my speculation about the goals and success of the Trump strategy, the whole election reveals the extreme fragility of American democracy. It is amazing enough that someone whose malevolent decision to provoke an out-of-control pandemic has just killed tens of thousands of Americans can even run for office, even carry much of the country with him, and that the political party that virtually shines his shoes can win a resounding victory at every level apart from the White House. That's putting aside Trump's major "achievements": driving to near-term environmental catastrophe and sharply increasing the threat of terminal war, crimes that scarcely registered in the electoral process. Trump's rejection of the election results is just the coda to his quite impressive campaign to accomplish an authoritarian takeover…. I think both Trump and Trumpism will remain with us for a long time, both the individual himself and the poisonous currents he has unleashed. These poisons may be virulent enough to bring civilization to a horrifying end. There are workable solutions to the crises that humans face in this uniquely dangerous moment of human history. What happens within the most powerful country in human history cannot fail to have an overwhelming impact on what eventuates — an impact even on survival of human society in any recognizable form. [Read More]
How do we avoid future authoritarians? Winning back the working class is key
By Bernie Sanders [November 24, 2020]
---- If the Democratic Party wants to avoid losing millions of votes in the future it must stand tall and deliver for the working families of our country who, today, are facing more economic desperation than at any time since the Great Depression. Democrats must show, in word and deed, how fraudulent the Republican Party is when it claims to be the party of working families. And, in order to do that, Democrats must have the courage to take on the powerful special interests who have been at war with the working class of this country for decades. I'm talking about Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry, the health insurance industry, the fossil fuel industry, the military industrial complex, the private prison industrial complex and many profitable corporations who continue to exploit their employees. If the Democratic party cannot demonstrate that it will stand up to these powerful institutions and aggressively fight for the working families of this country – Black, White, Latino, Asian American and Native American – we will pave the way for another rightwing authoritarian to be elected in 2024. And that president could be even worse than Trump. … Democrats' job during the first 100 days of the Biden administration is to make it absolutely clear whose side they are on, and who is on the other side. That's not only good public policy to strengthen our country. It's how to win elections in the future. [Read More]
Like a Rocket in the Garden: The Unending War in Afghanistan
---- Under President Donald Trump, the United States signed a "peace" deal with the Taliban in February 2020. It pertains to troop withdrawal and a Taliban pledge to cut ties with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The agreement hasn't contributed toward a more peaceful life for Afghans, and already a U.N. report indicates the Taliban has continued its ties with insurgent groups. Now, Afghans face constant battles between insurgent groups, U.S. forces, Afghan government forces, NATO forces, various powerful Afghan warlords and paramilitaries organized by various mafias which control the drug industry and other profitable enterprises. Under President Biden, the United States would likely abide by Trump's recent troop withdrawals, maintaining a troop presence of about 2,000. But Biden has indicated a preference for intensified Special Operations, surveillance and drone attacks. These strategies could cause the Taliban to nullify their agreement, prolonging the war through yet another presidency. … For Afghan civilians, ongoing war means continued bereavement, displacement, and despair. Bereft of income or protection, many Afghan householders join militias, pledging their support and possibly their willingness to fight or even die. Hence the rise of the Afghan Local Police, numerous militias fighting for various warlords, the Afghan governments' fighting forces, including "ghost soldiers" who appear in name only, CIA-trained paramilitaries, and military contractors working for NATO contingents. Afghanistan is a cauldron waiting to explode. [Read More]
WAR & PEACE
Generation Forever War: Biden's National Security Picks Herald Return to Hawkish Normalcy
By Nick Turse, Tom Dispatch [November 24, 2020]
---- President-elect Joe Biden's first picks for senior national security posts — Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, and Avril Haines as director of national intelligence — served in the Obama administration and are now being hailed as the sort of steady hands that America needs after the chaotic Trump administration. But that's not the good news it seems to be. The Biden plan, outlined on his presidential transition website, suggests a "normal" version of national security that includes the deep flaws of the centrist-liberal approach. There is a call for continued mammoth Pentagon budgets ("the investments necessary to equip our troops for the challenges of the next century") with an emphasis on emerging battlespaces ("cyberwarfare … new challenges in space"), the endorsement of ossified Cold War-era security partnerships ("keeping NATO's military capabilities sharp"), and veiled references to confronting China ("strengthen our alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and other Asian democracies"), as well as business as usual in the Middle East ("ironclad commitment to Israel's security"). [Read More]
Can Progressives Push Biden to take on Washington's Sacred Cows: Foreign Policy and the Pentagon?
[FB –Danny Sjursen is a recently retired US Army Major and the author of Patriotic Dissent.]
---- The national security bio of the archetypal Biden bro (or sis) would go something like this: she (he) sprang from an Ivy League school, became a congressional staffer, got appointed to a mid-tier role on Barack Obama's national security council, consulted for WestExec Advisors (an Obama alumni-founded outfit linking tech firms and the Department of Defense), was a fellow at the Center for New American Security (CNAS), had some defense contractor ties, and married someone who's also in the game. It helps as well to follow the money. In other words, how did the Biden bunch make it and who pays the outfits that have been paying them in the Trump years? None of this is a secret: their two most common think-tank homes — CNAS and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) — are the second- and sixth-highest recipients, respectively, of U.S. government and defense-contractor funding. The top donors to CNAS are Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and the Department of Defense. Most CSIS largesse comes from Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon. [Read More] For some interesting details on how the Deep State works, read "How Biden's Foreign-Policy Team Got Rich" by Jonathan Guyer, American Prospect [July 6, 2020] [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Moving past apartheid: A one-state Solution for Israel-Palestine is not ideal justice, but it is just and possible
---- Now that public opinion in Palestine is shifting, mainly against the two-state solution, but also, though gradually, in favor of a one-state, one is able to publicly take this stance as well. We should support the one democratic state because Palestinians in Palestine itself are increasingly advocating such a rightful and natural demand. I believe it is only a matter of time before equal rights within a one-state paradigm become the common cause of all Palestinians. Advocating dead 'solutions', as the Palestinian Authority, the EU and others continue to do, is a waste of precious time and effort. All attention should now focus on helping Palestinians obtain their rights, including the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees and holding Israel morally, politically and legally accountable for failing to respect international law. Living as equals in one state that demolishes all walls, ends all sieges and breaks all barriers is one of these fundamental rights that should not be up for negotiations. [Read More] Ramzy Baroud wrote another interesting article this week, "Expansion and Mass Eviction: Israel 'Takes Advantage' of Trump's Remaining Days in Office" [Link].
OUR HISTORY
The Freedom of the Press
By George Orwell, unpublished Preface to Animal Farm [1943]
[FB – When part of the Spanish army under General Franco rose up to overthrow the newly elected Spanish republic in 1936, thousands of people from many countries went to Spain to defend the Republic against the fascists. Their ranks came to be called the International Brigades. Among those going to aid Spain was the writer known as George Orwell. During the months he was in Spain (esp. Barcelona), Orwell came to see the Soviets, though aiding the Republic with military equipment, was determined to crush the revolutionary aspects of the civil war – a war within the war – that accompanied the defense of the Republic. And so Orwell came to be one of a handful of 1930s intellectuals who maintained a radical vision that rejected both Stalin and Hitler. Orwell later transformed his experiences in Spain into his book "Animal Farm." – The original preface to his book, which was published in 1943 when the USSR was leading the fight against Hitler's Europe, was not acceptable to the "pro-Soviet" British publishers. Thus Orwell writes:
---- "This book was first thought of, so far as the central idea goes, in 1937, but was not written down until about the end of 1943. By the time when it came to be written it was obvious that there would be great difficulty in getting it published (in spite of the present book shortage which ensures that anything describable as a book will 'sell'), and in the event it was refused by four publishers. Only one of these had any ideological motive. Two had been publishing anti-Russian books for years, and the other had no noticeable political colour. One publisher actually started by accepting the book, but after making the preliminary arrangements he decided to consult the Ministry of Information, who appear to have warned him, or at any rate strongly advised him, against publishing it. Here is an extract from his letter:" …. [Read More]
