Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
August 21, 2022
Hello All – On Tuesday, August 23rd, we hope that you will join us in voting for Jamaal Bowman in the Democratic primary election. Though a "primary," the winner of this election will almost certainly win the general election in November, and go on to represent our district in Congress, as the Republicans are unlikely to have much of a campaign. Concerned Families of Westchester has endorsed Bowman. Here's why:
In 2020, Concerned Families of Westchester joined the movement to elect Jamaal Bowman to represent our district in Congress. As a peace & justice group, we were especially anxious to unseat the incumbent, Eliot Engel, who had represented our district for decades, and who had never seen a war or a military budget that he did not like. In meeting several times with Jamaal Bowman to learn he stood on the issues, and what kind of person he was, we learned that he was not only an educator who had started a middle school in the Bronx, but that he shared most of our values regarding peace and justice. We felt that Bowman would give our district the kind of representation we needed and deserved in Washington, and that he would help to advance the agendas of antiwar forces towards a more peaceful world.
After nearly two years in office, we know now that we were right to support Jamaal Bowman in 2000. His issues are our issues; and many of our issues are issues for him also. Where we are not always on the same page, we know that we can ask for a meeting, make a suggestion, and/or ask that an issue be considered. The articles in this Newsletter are illustrative: this week we write about Afghanistan, Ukraine, Yemen, Julian Assange, Iran's nuclear program, Palestinian rights, compassion for elderly prisoners, military veterans, and unwarranted police power. In Congress, Rep. Bowman has spoken out about these issues, initiating or supporting legislation, and has supported the work of grassroots movements fighting the good fight.
There are many good reasons to re-elect Jamaal Bowman to Congress. Perhaps his work on education, job development, or the Green New Deal ranks near the top of your priorities. Perhaps his constituent services, his deepening connection with our communities, and his outspoken commitment to multi-racial democracy are what most concern you. In Rep. Bowman, Westchester has a congressional representative of national stature, who has addressed issues of the greatest importance. On Tuesday, please cast your vote to re-elect Jamaal Bowman to Congress. Thank you.
News Notes
"One hundred days after Israeli forces killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the Biden administration has made no concrete effort to secure accountability for her killing," writes Alice Speri in The Intercept. Speri reminds us that a similar US gov. moral failure has happened before, recalling the US refusal to take any action in the case of the Israel murder of US human rights worker Rachel Corrie in Gaza in 2003. To learn some of the tortured reasoning behind US inaction, read Speri's excellent report.
In New York and elsewhere, there has been publicity and agitation for compassionate release of elderly prisoners as they approach their death. Putting a human face on these campaigns, see the Democracy Now! program broadcast this week about political prisoner Mutulu Shakur, "Calls Grow for Compassionate Release for Dying Black Liberation Activist" [Link].
In the fall of 1973, Apache activist and actress Sacheen Littlefeather was asked by Marlon Brandon to speak for him at the Academy Awards ceremony, in case he was awarded "best actor" for his role in "The Godfather" (which he was). Speaking through Littlefeather, Brando rejected the Academy award, stating that he could not accept the award because of "the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry," and because of recent events at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Littlefeather was booed and cheered when she made her statement on behalf of Brando; and this month the Academy Awards issued an apology to her. Missing from the reporting of this feel-good step was any mention of the 1973 occupation and standoff at Wounded Knee. You can see a good short documentary about these dramatic events here, of great importance in our history.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Weather permitting, we meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil is held each Monday from 5:30 to 6:00 pm in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. To learn about our new project, "Beauty as Fuel for Change," go here; and to make a financial contribution to the project, go here. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. Our 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!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW Weekly Reader
(Video) As Afghan People Boil Grass to Eat, U.S. Refuses to Release $7 Billion of Frozen Afghan Assets
From Democracy Now! [August 17, 2022]
---- The Biden administration has ruled out releasing roughly $7 billion of frozen U.S.-held Afghan assets, a year after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and occupation, even as the United Nations warns a staggering 95% of Afghans are not getting enough to eat. "This money belongs to the Afghan people. And the U.S., for 365 days, has been holding their money in a New York vault while Afghan people are boiling grass to eat, are selling their kidneys, are watching their children starve," says Unfreeze Afghanistan co-founder Medea Benjamin. [See the Program] For more detail on this crime against the Afghanistan people, read "Joe Biden's Senseless Economic Strangulation of Afghanistan," by Ryan Cooper, American Prospect [August 16, 2022] [Read More] The Biden people justify the withholding half the sum owed Afghanistan by saying it is reserved for the US victims of 9/11; our friends at September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows reject this evil nonsense. Read "'Morally wrong': 9/11 families urge Biden to return $3.5B to Afghans," by Alexander Ward, Politico [August 16, 2022] [Link].
What Do We Owe Afghanistan?
By Nathan J. Robinson and Noam Chomsky, Current Affairs [August 3, 2022]
---- The 20-year war in Afghanistan is often spoken of as a well-intentioned failure. In fact, it was a major crime originating in bloodlust and an indifference to Afghan lives. The U.S. bears a major responsibility for the present suffering of Afghans and has an obligation to undo the damage it has inflicted. … The 9/11 attacks could have been dealt with as a crime. This would have been sane and consistent with precedent. When lawbreaking occurs, we seek the perpetrators, rather than starting wars with unrelated parties. When the IRA set off bombs in London, nobody called for air strikes on West Belfast (or on Boston, where a great deal of IRA funding came from). When the Oklahoma City bombing was found to have been perpetrated by a white supremacist associated with ultra-right militias, there was no call to obliterate Idaho or Montana. Instead, the attacker was searched for, found, apprehended, brought to court, found guilty, and sentenced. This was not the approach taken by the Bush administration. Rather than seek out and punish the guilty—and only the guilty—it swiftly launched a "global war on terror" that led to the deaths of millions. [Read More]
Featured Essays
Salman Rushdie Joins Indian Writers on 75 Years of Independence
By Pranay Somayajula, The Nation [August 18, 2022]
---- As India celebrated the 75th anniversary of its independence from British colonial rule this Monday, August 15, PEN America launched India at 75, an anthology of reflections on Independence and Indian democracy from some of the country's most prominent literary voices. … This year's Independence Day celebrations came at a time when India, often referred to as "the world's largest democracy," is experiencing a pronounced deterioration in the strength and stability of its democratic institutions. Since 2014, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country has experienced a sharp rise in intercommunal tensions between its Hindu majority and Muslim minority. [Read More] A pleasant surprise in reading about this anthology was to learn about "the Polis Project," which keeps its eye on India's deteriorating democracy/rise of fascism. Honoring Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, historian Juan Cole reposts his essay/speech from 2003, "Midnight's Other Children: Reading Rushdie in the Middle East"; interesting, imo [Link].
Is Moral Clarity even Possible anymore in Donald Trump's America?
By Kelly Denton-Borhaug, Tom Dispatch [August 8, 2022]
---- How many who were initially enthusiastic about the Afghan and Iraq wars would now, like their former president, admit we were wrong? How many people who supported those conflicts have taken what happened to heart and are thinking more deeply about an American propensity for war and the war culture that goes with it? Like George W. Bush, too few, I'm afraid. This past July 24th, the New York Times featured "I was wrong" op-ed pieces by a number of its columnists. The editors defined "being wrong" as "incorrect predictions and bad advice," as well as "being off the mark." Of course, one of the definitions of the Greek word for "sin" (amartia) in the New Testament is "missing the mark." Often, the problem isn't simply that people lack the best, most up-to-date information or data. Only by digging into ethics and social psychology will we better understand why people deceive not just others but even themselves with lies, slippery rationalizations, or comedic attempts at distraction to cover up deeper dynamics that have to do with privilege and power, or what religious traditions sometimes call "worshipping false idols." [Read More]
Meet the veterans who chose 'paths of dissent'
By Dan McKnight, Responsible Statecraft [August 10, 2022]
---- One of my heroes, Major General Smedley Butler, said "We Americans who will protect our flag should have a voice in where it is flown." The two-time Medal of Honor recipient and author of War is a Racket exemplifies the model of a dissident soldier. Voices of today's soldiers, all veterans of the Global War on Terror, have been collected in a new anthology, Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Misguided Wars, edited by (Ret.) Maj. Danny Sjursen and (Ret.) Col. Andrew Bacevich, President of the Quincy Institute. The book shares fifteen individual stories of how soldiers — in some ways big, in some ways small — dissented from what their high command, their government, and in many ways society expected of them as they advocated to bring our troops home. … For several years, polls have demonstrated that veterans support military withdrawals from the Middle East at higher percentages than the civilian population. We witnessed firsthand the failures of nation-building, the ineffectiveness of raw military power to solve political problems, and the lack of coherent strategy or victory conditions. [Read More]
War & Peace
Playing With Fire in Ukraine: The Underappreciated Risks of Catastrophic Escalation
By John J. Mearsheimer, Foreign Affairs [August 17, 2022]
---- In essence, Kyiv, Washington, and Moscow are all deeply committed to winning at the expense of their adversary, which leaves little room for compromise. Neither Ukraine nor the United States, for example, is likely to accept a neutral Ukraine; in fact, Ukraine is becoming more closely tied with the West by the day. Nor is Russia likely to return all or even most of the territory it has taken from Ukraine, especially since the animosities that have fueled the conflict in the Donbas between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government for the past eight years are more intense than ever. These conflicting interests explain why so many observers believe that a negotiated settlement will not happen any time soon and thus foresee a bloody stalemate. They are right about that. But observers are underestimating the potential for catastrophic escalation that is built into a protracted war in Ukraine. [Read More] For some dissent, read "John Mearsheimer's latest article on Ukraine in Foreign Affairs – a critique," by Gilbert Doctorow [August 20, 2022] [Link]. For those keeping score at home, read "Pentagon Announces New $775 Million Weapons Package for Ukraine" [the 18th US military aid package], by Kyle Anzlone, Antiwar.com [August 19, 2022] [Link].
How Long Will The Fragile Truce in Yemen Last?
By Shireen Al-Adeimi, Responsible Statecraft [August 16, 2022]
---- This month, Yemen's warring parties agreed to another two-month renewal of the truce that was first reached in April and later extended to August, thus marking the longest ceasefire in Yemen's 7-year-long war. With Saudi Arabia exhausted by years of stalemate and faced with increasing threats to its internal security, and the Houthis failing to capture the oil-rich province of Marib from the coalition, parties agreed to a truce that finally brought about a perceptible shift in conditions on the ground. Despite the truce, the blockade has yet to be lifted completely, thereby further deteriorating the humanitarian condition and putting into question both the viability of the truce and Yemen's long-term political and economic stability. … The War Powers Resolution — previously passed in a historic bipartisan vote then vetoed by then-President Trump in 2019 — has once again been gaining momentum in Congress, this time to end President Biden's involvement in the war in Yemen. … For Yemeni civilians who have suffered the brunt of this protracted conflict, the road to recovery and stability will be long. To ensure a permanent truce and long lasting peace, however, a complete end to foreign involvement, both politically and militarily, is essential. This can begin with the passing of the War Powers Resolution, which will not only deprive Saudi Arabia of the U.S. military capabilities it has come to rely upon, but will also pave the way for further dialogue and concessions among parties in Yemen. [Read More]
Iran Nuclear Deal 'Imminent' with Crippling Sanctions Removed
From Al Jazeera [August 19, 2022]
---- A European proposal to revive the nuclear agreement between Western countries and Iran is imminent and includes the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds and oil exports in return for the scaling back of its nuclear programme. The new deal will be carried out in four phases over two 60-day periods, sources with knowledge of the proposed agreement told Al Jazeera Arabic. Iran recently voiced optimism about an agreement on a renewed version of the 2015 nuclear deal with the United States and other foreign powers, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran's negotiating team adviser Mohammad Marandi said earlier this week "we're closer than we've been before" to securing a deal and the "remaining issues are not very difficult to resolve". The European Union's "final text" proposal for the accord, submitted last week, was approved by the US, which says it is ready to quickly seal the agreement if Iran accepts it. [Read More] But will Israel allow this? Read "With Iran deal closer than ever, Israel presses for war," by Mitchell Plitnick, Mondoweiss [August 21, 2022]
The Climate Crisis
What the U.S. climate law means for the world
---- The Inflation Reduction Act is a very big deal for the United States. It's the biggest climate law in the country's history. It's a lot of money, nearly $370 billion, for all kinds of tax incentives for American consumers and businesses. We've explained that from several different angles and we'll continue to explore the package in the coming weeks. But what does it mean for the rest of the world? That's what I want to talk about today. Here's what the law does, and one thing it doesn't: It puts the United States on course to sharply reduce its own pollution, which is good for every living creature on Earth. … It's likely to make renewable energy cheaper worldwide. … It keeps the United States in the game in the run-up to international climate talks [and many more pluses and minuses.] [Read More]
Julian Assange Update
The Biden-Trump Persecution of Julian Assange
---- For a good while one could blame Trump for the prosecutorial monstrosity perpetrated on journalist Julian Assange. But now it's time for Trump to move over. The single worst assault on the first amendment and a free press in recent centuries is no longer solely his. Biden owns it. Biden could end this state persecution of a journalist today, if he felt like it. A persecution that a U.N. expert has called torture. A persecution that could easily lead to Assange's death. But maybe that's the point. Indeed, if killing Assange isn't the point, Biden should prove it, by pardoning him now. Biden doesn't feel like it. Unlike Jamal Khashoggi, whose murder he deplored before he didn't, Biden never censured the years of abuse heaped on Assange by the U.S. government. He enabled it. Unlike Trump, who may very well have been threatened with impeachment by senators like Mitch "Democracy's Gravedigger" McConnell, if Trump dared dream of pardoning Assange, Biden was never vulnerable to such a hypothetical menace. In fact, he's in McConnell's corner. By his inaction, it's clear that Biden approves of the criminal state attack on Assange. [Read More]
The State of the Union
(Video) "There Are Good Reasons to Defund the FBI. They Have Nothing to Do with Trump": Professor Alex Vitale
From Democracy Now! [August 16, 2022]
---- "Defund the FBI" is the growing call by Republicans after the FBI searched former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. We get response from Alex Vitale, author of "The End of Policing," who lays out reasons to defund the FBI that have nothing to do with Trump. Vitale reviews the history of the FBI, which he says has "always been a tool of repression of left-wing movements," and calls the FBI investigation into Trump a "shortsighted" attempt to shut down some of the most extreme parts of the right wing. He uplifts efforts to "reduce the power and scope of the FBI in ways that limit their ability to demonize and criminalize those on the left." [Read More] Also of interest is Alex Vitale's article in Truthout, "There Are Good Reasons to Defund the FBI. They Have Nothing to Do With Trump."
Israel/Palestine
(Video) Palestinian NGOs Speak Out After Israeli Forces Raid Offices & Declare Them to Be "Terrorist" Groups
From Democracy Now! [August 19, 2022]
---- Israeli forces raided and closed the offices of seven Palestinian civil society rights groups in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, six of which Israeli authorities had designated as terrorist groups last year. The raid came as the United Nations condemned Israel for killing 19 Palestinian children in recent weeks, and 100 days after Israeli forces shot dead Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp. We speak to Sahar Francis and Brad Parker, with two of the human rights groups Israel raided. Parker, senior adviser for policy and advocacy at Defense for Children International – Palestine, describes how 100 Israeli soldiers gathered outside his organization's building before dozens broke into the offices to confiscate items and files, sealed the building and left behind notices declaring the organization unlawful. He calls the raid "part of a years-long campaign to delegitimize and essentially criminalize the work that we do to expose grave violations against Palestinians at the hands of Israeli authorities." In Ramallah, Sahar Francis of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association says the attack "aims to silence us." [See the Program]. Also of interest is "UN, Britain Denounce Israeli Jackboot Assaults on Offices of Palestinian Human Rights Organizations," b[Link].
