Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
January 29, 2023
Hello All – The recently murders of Jews and Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank seems only the prelude to a serious escalation, perhaps to a new Intifada, and certainly to a spasm of bloody repression by the new rightwing government of Israel. The context for this coming terror is described in some useful articles linked below.
Americans, both supporters of the Palestinian resistance and those yearning for some semblance of democracy in Israel, have important roles to play in mitigating this violence. In the days to come, the overwhelming bias of mainstream news media in the USA is likely to downplay or marginalize Palestinian voices. We need to denounce this bias and do what we can to ensure a hearing for Palestinian witnesses against Israel's apartheid regime. For supporters of Zionist Israel, the protests against the Netanyahu government's plans to essentially abolish a role for Israel's supreme court, and the obvious declining international legitimacy of Israel in the face of media exposure of Israel's deadly terror (Shareen Abu Akleh, attacks on Palestinians by settlers, the raids in Jenin, etc.) should lead to raised voices against those who demand loyalty to "Israel, right or wrong."
The Biden administration, holding the purse strings on an annual donation of $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel, and a vital veto at the United Nations and other forums where criticism of Israel might arise, can obviously play a role in this crisis if it wishes to do so. While there is little reason for optimism, we must do what we can to support Palestinian rights and democracy in Israel.
Some Useful Reading on the Crisis in Israel/Palestine
A day of protest and resistance across Palestine following 'massacre' in Jenin
By
---- On Thursday, January 26, Israeli forces invaded Jenin refugee camp and killed nine Palestinians in what became called by residents of the camp 'a massacre.' Later that day, 22-year-old Yousef Abedalkarim Muhsein became the 10th Palestinian killed when he was shot by Israeli forces in Al-Ram, near Ramallah. On Friday, Palestinians responded. Throughout Friday, Palestinians across historic Palestine rose in protests. These confrontations were driven by the massacre in Jenin specifically, and the routine provocations from Israeli settlers, intelligence, and armed forces engaged in the illegal annexation of the little which remains of the West Bank. [Read More]
Israeli analysts worry the US-Israel 'special relationship' is waning as American Jews abandon Israel
By Jonathan Ofir, Mondoweiss [January 24, 2023]
---- The main takeaway from the report is that Israel's "special relationship" with the US is in danger. The report attributes the reason for this change to a generational shift in American politics, expressed in "the influence that the progressive young generation has had in denying the legitimacy of Israel and Zionism, which they see as expressions of white-colonialist supremacy." The report speaks of being "challenged by social-political developments which are internal to America, and are due to the distancing of Jewish [American] communities from Israel, due, among other reasons, to what goes on in the country [Israel]." This threat, of course, represents Israel's greatest strategic threat above the danger of a third Palestinian Intifada and above the supposedly ever-looming "Iranian nuclear threat." [Read More]
The Israeli right is the minority — the left need only realize it
By Meron Rapoport, +972 Magazine [January 12, 2023[
---- Recognizing that a firm majority between the river and the sea is opposed to the Israeli occupying regime does not necessitate a joint struggle. The situation for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are under siege and ruled by Hamas, is clearly different from that of Palestinians in the West Bank under direct Israeli military occupation, and of course different from that of the Jews and Palestinians within the Green Line who have Israeli citizenship. The struggle will therefore look different for each of these groups. But it is also possible to determine points of collaboration and coordination. Nor does this mean that the goal is necessarily a single state between the river and the sea. A huge majority of Israel Jews do not accept this idea, nor do the majority of Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line. But what it does mean is that we need to look ahead to a shared future of Jews and Palestinians in this land, because the fates of the two peoples are irreversibly intertwined. [Read More]
Take Action for Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter NW Yonkers will hold an emergency vigil on Monday, January 30, to protest the murders of Tyre Nichols (29 years old) and Manuel "Tortuguita" Estaban Paez Teran (26 years old). The vigil will be at the intersection of Odell and Warburton Ave. in NW Yonkers, from 5:30 to 6 pm. Information about the murder of Tyre Nichols can be found here. Information about the murder of Manuel Teran can be found here, and in two articles linked below.
New Danger at Indian Point
Almost beyond belief, the decommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear plant is planned to include the discharge of millions of gallons of radioactive nuclear waste water into the Hudson River. Needless to say, this has generated hair-on-fire opposition from both community residents and experts on nuclear-power things. [Link]. A public forum heard testimony about these plans last week, where – not to worry, folks – a spokesperson for the owner said such emissions "are typically indistinguishable from the natural radioactivity present in the environment." (Read coverage from The Peekskill Herald here and information from Grassroots Environmental Education here.)
Beauty as Fuel for Change
A new project for CFOW is "Beauty as Fuel for Change." This is an arts project that brings together creators in many media around the theme of Beauty as an essential part of enabling work for positive social change. Several dozen artists are represented, including many Masters School art students. Tthe exhibit will continue until February 17 at the Wenberg Family Art Gallery, Fonseca Center, Masters School, 49 Clinton Ave. in Dobbs Ferry. The exhibit is open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 am to 4 pm.
News Notes
India's Prime Minister Modi is instituting a fascist regime in India. But there is strong resistance to this, and this week it took the form of demanding access to a new documentary film from the BBC about Modi's criminal actions in permitting a massive pogrom of Moslems while he was the chief executive of the state of Gujarat. To learn the background about this controversy, go here. To see Part I of the two-part documentary (the only part I could find on line) go here.
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 (winter schedule) on the first Monday of each month; the next vigil will be February 4th, from 5:30 to 6:00 pm in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. Another Facebook page focuses on the climate crisis. 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. 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!
This week's Rewards for stalwart readers bring back Amy Rigby, who last appeared in these pages (along with Reckless Eric) with the anti-Trump anthem "Vote That Fucker Out." I especially like her for her songs of sort-of-real life, such as "Summertime in '83," "Do You Remember That?" "Last I Was Dancing with Joey Ramone," and "Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?" Amy Rigby recently published a memoir, Girl to City, very entertaining, and you can hear some chapters in this podcast.
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW Weekly Reader
Featured Essays
Why CRT [Critical Race Theory] Belongs in the Classroom, and How to Do It Right
---- Right wing politicians in eight states have enacted laws and mandates banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) from their schools, and since 2021 an astounding total of 42 states have seen bills introduced in their legislatures that would restrict the teaching of CRT and limit how teachers can discuss the history of racism and sexism in public schools. This has been done on the dubious grounds that such teaching amounts to left wing indoctrination, which they denounce as divisive, anti-American, racist, and damaging to white students' self-esteem. … We are convinced that CRT, with its controversial assertion that racism is a permanent feature of American society, is a powerful tool that enables students to analyze, discuss, and debate the meaning of some central events and institutions in US history, including slavery, Indian Removal, Jim Crow, Chinese Exclusion, Japanese internment, mass incarceration of Black men, and the Trumpist movement to bar Latinx immigrants. Those seeking to ban CRT either do not understand it or distort its meaning to obfuscate the educational benefits of discussing and debating its provocative perspective. We witnessed this positive impact firsthand as we piloted a unit on the uses and debates about and criticism of CRT in a high school class. [Read More]
The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism
By Alberto Toscano, Boston Review [October 28, 2020]
[FB – Angela Davis celebrates her 79th birthday this month, so the Boston Review posted several articles by her and about her work, including this one.]
---- In the wake of the 2016 election, public intellectuals latched onto the new administration's organic and ideological links with the alt- and far right. But a mass civic insurgency against racial terror—and the federal government's authoritarian response—has pushed hitherto cloistered academic debates about fascism into the mainstream. …Notwithstanding the changing terrain, talk of fascism has generally stuck to the same groove, asking whether present phenomena are analogous to those familiar from interwar European dictatorships. … But what if our talk of fascism were not dominated by the question of analogy? Attending to the long history of Black radical thinking about fascism and anti-fascist resistance—to what Cedric Robinson called a "Black construction of fascism" alternative to the "historical manufacture of fascism as a negation of Western Geist"—could serve to dislodge the debate about fascism from the deadlock of analogy, providing the resources to confront our volatile interregnum. [Read More]
War & Peace
What Can the United States Bring to the Peace Table for Ukraine?
---- So what can the United States bring to the table to help move towards peace in Ukraine and to de-escalate its disastrous Cold War with Russia? Like the Cuban Missile Crisis during the original Cold War, this crisis could serve as a catalyst for serious diplomacy to resolve the breakdown in U.S.-Russian relations. Instead of risking nuclear annihilation in a bid to "weaken" Russia, the United States could instead use this crisis to open up a new era of nuclear arms control, disarmament treaties and diplomatic engagement. … Here are some steps the US could consider putting on the table to start de-escalating these ever-rising tensions and improve the chances for a lasting ceasefire and peace agreement in Ukraine…. If the United States is willing to put these policy changes on the table in negotiations with Russia, it will make it easier for Russia and Ukraine to reach a mutually acceptable ceasefire agreement, and help to ensure that the peace they negotiate will be stable and lasting. De-escalating the Cold War with Russia would give Russia a tangible gain to show its citizens as it retreats from Ukraine. It would also allow the United States to reduce its military spending and enable European countries to take charge of their own security, as most of their people want. [Read More]
(Video) "20 Days in Mariupol": Meet the Ukrainian Filmmaker Who Risked His Life Documenting Russian Siege
From Democracy Now! [January 26, 2023]
---- Ukrainian Associated Press journalist Mstyslav Chernov joins us for an in-depth interview about how he and others risked their lives to document the Russian invasion. He is the director of the new documentary, "20 Days in Mariupol," which has just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It tells the story of how Chernov and his colleagues documented the first three weeks of Russia's siege of the strategic eastern port city of Mariupol, even after many international journalists had fled. "The whole city spiraled down into complete chaos. People were in shock, in panic. They didn't know what to do," says Chernov, whose team was helped by locals in evading Russian soldiers and later escaping the city with their footage. The film is a co-production by the Associated Press and PBS Frontline. [See the Program]
For more information/discussion about the war in Ukraine – "Mission Creep? How the US role in Ukraine has slowly escalated," by Branko Marcetic, Responsible Statecraft [January 23, 2023] [Link]; "Will Ukraine Wind Up Making Territorial Concessions to Russia?" from Foreign Affairs [[Link]; "Why a Small City in Ukraine Is a Focal Point in the War," b , Counterpunch [January 27, 2023] [Link]; and "How Biden Reluctantly Agreed to Send Tanks to Ukraine," by David Sanger, et al., New York Times [January 25, 2023] [Link].
The Climate Crisis
The Department of Defense Has Delivered Another Massive Intelligence Failure
By Michael T. Klare, The Nation [January 25. 2-23]
---- Why should climate change be included in a Department of Defense report on security developments in relation to the People's Republic? There are three reasons why it should not only have been included but given extensive coverage. First, China is now and will remain the world's leading emitter of climate-altering carbon emissions, with the United States—though historically the greatest emitter—staying in second place. So any effort to slow the pace of global warming and truly enhance this country's "security" must involve a strong drive by Beijing to reduce its emissions as well as cooperation in energy decarbonization between the two greatest emitters on this planet. Second, China itself will be subjected to extreme climate-change harm in the years to come, which will severely limit the PRC's ability to carry out ambitious military plans of the sort described in the 2022 Pentagon report. Finally, by 2042, count on one thing: The American and Chinese armed forces will be devoting most of their resources and attention to disaster relief and recovery, diminishing both their motives and their capacity to go to war with one another. [Read More]
Free Julian Assange!
(Video) Will Julian Assange ever be freed? | The Chris Hedges Report
From The Real News Network [January 27, 2023]
---- Chris Hedges speaks with film producer and brother of Julian Assange, Gabriel Shipton, on his new film about his family's journey to get Julian freed. [See the Program] The video of the "Belmarsh Tribunals" on the case of Julian Assange – with Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, et al. – noted in last week's Newsletter, is now up on Democracy Now!
The State of the Union
The Crackdown on Cop City Protesters Is So Brutal Because of the Movement's Success
By Natasha Lennard, The Intercept [
---- The movement to stop the construction of a $90 million police training center atop vast acres of Atlanta forest has been extraordinarily successful over the last year. With little national fanfare, Defend the Atlanta Forest/Stop Cop City activists nimbly deployed a range of tactics: encampments, tree-sits, peaceful protest marches, carefully targeted property damage, local community events, investigative research, and, at times, direct confrontation with police forces attempting to evict protesters from the forest. The proposed militarized training compound known as Cop City has thus far been held at bay. The Atlanta-based movement should be seen as an example of rare staying power, thoughtful strategizing, and the crucial articulation of environmentalist politics situated in anti-racist, Indigenous, and abolitionist struggle. Unsurprisingly, however, significant national attention has only been drawn to the forest defenders in the last week thanks to the extreme law enforcement repression they are now facing. … The Defend the Atlanta Forest movement endeavors to combine the tactics of, and to learn from, previous struggles — including the 2016 encampments at Standing Rock and the 2020 George Floyd uprisings — while experimenting with novel resistance compositions. The escalatory response from police and prosecutors, on the other hand, reveals a new and troubling combination of counterinsurgent strategies. [Read More] Also of interest, for context, is "The Forest for the Trees," by David Peisner, The Bitter Southerner.
Debt, Crowdfunding, or Death: America's Very Broken Healthcare System
January 24, 2023]
---- The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without universal healthcare. Instead, Americans are forced to rely on a mixture of profit and nonprofit private and public healthcare insurers and providers. The United States federal government provides healthcare coverage through Medicare to individuals ages 65 years and older, and to some individuals with disabilities, military veterans, and children through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Around 26 million Americans, about 8% of the population, including just under 2% of children, have no health insurance coverage at all. … Despite the lack of universal healthcare coverage in the US, the country spends significantly more on healthcare related costs than comparable countries. [Read More] Also of interest is "Healthcare Against Black Americans: A History of Medical Maltreatment Continues to Kill Black Americans," by Mark Kreidler, LA Progressive [January 20, 2023] [Link].
Our History
It Was The Workers Who Brought Us Democracy
By Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research [January 27, 2023]
---- Democracy has a dream-like character. It sweeps into the world, carried forward by an immense desire by humans to overcome the barriers of indignity and social suffering. When confronted by hunger or the death of their children, earlier communities might have reflexively blamed nature or divinity, and indeed those explanations remain with us today. … Habits of colonial thought mislead many to assume that democracy originated in Europe, either in ancient Greece or through the emergence of a rights tradition, from the English Petition of Right in 1628 to the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789. But this is partly a retrospective fantasy of colonial Europe, which appropriated ancient Greece for itself, ignoring its strong connections to North Africa and the Middle East, and used its power to inflict intellectual inferiority on large parts of the world. In doing so, colonial Europe denied these important contributions to the history of democratic change. People's often forgotten struggles to establish basic dignity against despicable hierarchies are as much the authors of democracy as those who preserved their aspirations in written texts still celebrated in our time. [Read More]
