Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
April 17, 2018
Hello All – It was excusable last weekend to fear the worst from the Trump & Co. attack on Syria. Nervous Nellies such as me feared that an attack on Russian air defense installations might prompt – as the Russians warned – an attack on the "source" of the missile strike, and that a shooting match between Russia and the United States might ensue, with who knows to what end. In the event, however, Trump's war cabinet produced a primarily symbolic attack, threading the needle between World War III and assuaging the Godfather's blustering outrage. Will we be so lucky next time?
Several articles and essays linked below provide a good overview of the attack on Syria. If I may add a few observations:
Whether or not there was a gas attack by the Assad regime is still an open question, imo. Writers who I admire have expressed views both yea and nay. Yet, logically, why would Syria risk the injury that has now come at it at a time when the armed opposition that it was supposedly attacking had agreed to abandon the city the following day? The article linked below by Middle East expert Robert Fisk captures the many unknowns. In any case, the attack was deliberately launched before UN chemical weapons inspectors could arrive on-site. Why was this?
The illegality of the attack, under US law, international law, and the UN Charter, was clear. Interestingly, both in the UK and the USA the political leadership says that it received the legal AOK from their in-house legal people, but they refuse to share the written legal authorization with Parliament or Congress. In the USA, some members of Congress are complaining that the attack should have first been approved by Congress under the War Powers Act. International law has barely been mentioned in Congress or in the media, and little opposition has been expressed to the attack itself.
It is significant, imo, that none of the members of NATO except the UK and France agreed to participate in the attack. Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, etc., all refused. Both the UK and France, of course, were involved in carving Syria out of the collapsing Ottoman Empire in 1916, and so as former colonial powers have always assumed the right of intervention.
And there are many more questions. Perhaps the most pressing issue in the short term, analyzed in an article linked just below, is the decision by Israel to prevent Iranian forces – now numbering some 2,000 – to remain in Syria, viewing this as a threat to itself. If Iran retaliates for the Israeli killing of several Iranian soldiers last week, or if Israel attacks another Iranian military site, it could easily escalate to a disastrous war.
Adding to last weekend's mayhem was the third "March of Return" protest in Gaza. This weekly activity marks an important development in the Palestinian protest against Israel's 70-year occupation of Palestinian lands; and a great many of the two million people living in Gaza are either refugees or of the families of refugees who were forced from their ancestral homes and villages in 1948. Originating among non-governmental activists over the course of the last year, the protests mark an important turn towards non-violent, popular, direct action, rejecting both the fruitlessness of "armed struggle" or the failed negotiations of the Arafat-Abbas eras. The basic problem is to gain access to the outside world, and to try to save Gaza's rapidly deteriorating economy and environment (drinking water, etc.) Whether this will make any headway, of course, is a long shot; but as many Gazans have stated, what else can they do?
Over three Friday's of protest, Israel army shooters have killed more than more than 30 Gazans and wounded several hundred. According to Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, "There are no innocent people in the Gaza Strip," and that pretty sums up the Israeli response to the protests. Senator Bernie Sanders has initiated a congressional letter urging Trump to change the US policies that support Israel in Gaza, stressing Gaza's "lack of power, clean water, adequate medical care and other necessities not only exacerbates the hardships faced by Gaza's population, but redounds to the benefit of extremist groups who use this deprivation and despair to incite violence against Israel." There is a virtual absence of news reporting in the USA that would allow people to learn why Gazans are protesting and why Israel is so threatened by the protests. Could the United States do anything if it wanted to? Sure; according to Alex Kane writing in The Nation, "American Laws Can Help Stop Israeli Massacres in Gaza." [Link]. But this is not too likely very soon, certainly not before next Friday's protest in Gaza and (probably) more killing. I have linked several good/useful articles and essays down below, under "Israel/Palestine."
News Notes
Despite the fact that the Democrats soundly defeated the Trump people in New York in the 2016 election, thousands of liberals and radicals have mobilized to move the party to the left and return it to its historic connection with progressive issues. The latest iteration of this locally is Cynthia Nixon's primary campaign against incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo. For some useful updates on how this is going, check out "Andrew Cuomo Sees What's Coming" by The Intercept's Kate Aronoff [Link], and "The Working Families Party Backs Cynthia Nixon Against Andrew Cuomo," by Nation writer John Nichols [Link].
Activist lawyer David Buckel killed himself last week in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. He set himself on fire to protest environmental destruction and the failure of people and nations to stop it. Some information about his suicide and his admirable lifetime work in making the world better can be read here. His suicide recalls the self-immolation of Norman Morrison in 1965. A Quaker, Morrison's suicidewas a protest against the war in Vietnam, then raging and, at that time, being protested in Vietnam itself by the self-immolation of several Buddhist monks. In the note he left to his wife, Morrison expressed the pain of living without being able to stop the horrible war. Perhaps David Buckel experienced a similar pain about the destruction of our world.
Whatever its entertainment value, there was something bizarre about the rallying of liberals to the defense, and to a fawning admiration, of former FBI Director James Comey, as he did battle with The Godfather in his book and on the major news programs. After all, as Juan Cole pointed out at Informed Comment, this was the FBI Director who led a major assault on civil liberties and inaugurated a whole new era of diminished personal privacy in the USA. And it hasn't been that long ago since liberals and radicals (and people with common sense) in our country viewed the FBI with alarm as the nation's political police, something that didn't end with the death of J. Edgar Hoover. For a useful history of the decidedly anti-civil libertarian deeds of the FBI, go here.
And finally, the Factoid of the Week Award concerns President Trump's abiding concern for the well being of the oppressed Syrian people. Oxfam America announced that, so far this year, the Trump administration has let into the USA just 11 Syrian refugees. The number in 2016, the last year of the Obama administration, was 15,479. For 2017, the first year of the Trump era, the number dropped to 3,024. [Read More]
Things to Do/Coming Attractions
Ongoing – CFOW holds a vigil/rally each Saturday at the VFW Plaza in Hastings (Warburton and Spring) from 12 to 1 p.m. Everyone invited; please join us!
Ongoing – CFOW stalwart Elisa Zazzera manages Hastings' "Community Supported Agriculture" (CSA). The CSA partners with an upstate farm to provide fresh vegetables each Wednesday. Highly recommended. To learn more about this, and/or to sign up for the next growing season, go here.
Monday, April 23rd – In Albany, a march and rally will demand that Gov. Cuomo do the right thing, fight climate chaos, and bring our state's energy profile into the 21st century. The demands are stop the pipelines and power plants, 100 percent renewable energy, and make the polluters pay. For more information about the event, go here.
Tuesday, April 24th – The Hudson Valley Community Coalition will hold a rally in Port Chester to protest increased ICE presence in Westchester County. This "Rally for Solidarity and Resistance: Not one more deportation," will be held at Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, 181 Westchester Ave. in Port Chester, starting at 7 p.m. For more information, go to the event Facebook page.
Thursday, April 26th – This year's WESPAC Annual Awards Dinner will honor three stalwarts for peace and justice: Laura Case, Zelltzyn Sanchez, and Tomiko Morimoto West, with a keynote address by The Peace Poets. At the Women's Club of White Plains at 6 p.m. This is a last call to purchase tickets. To do so, and for more information, go here.
Sunday, April 29th. – Hastings Takes Action/NYCD16 Indivisible Environment Committee invites us to a forum on "Indian Point: An Ever-Present Danger." It will take place at the Hastings Community Center from 2 to 4 p.m. Speaking will be Karl Rabago, Executive Director of Pace Energy and Climate Center; Manna Jo Greene, Environmental Action Director of Clearwater; and Richard Webster, Legal Director of Riverkeeper. Peter D. Wolf (of Hastings), the CEO of Center for Sustainable Development, will moderate. For more information, go to the event Facebook page.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. We meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, from 12 to 1 p.m., at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) Our leaflet and posters for our rallies are usually about war or climate change, but issues such as racial justice or Trump's tax cut legislation are often targeted, depending on current events. We meet on the first Sunday of each month, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society. Our weekly newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. If you would like to make a financial contribution to our work, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
This is one of those weeks that need some humor; and so first up for a Reward for the stalwart readers is some fair-and-balanced commentary about Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's "mystery client" - by Stephen Colbert. Next, and ripped from today's headlines, is some documentary footage of Trump and Bolton planning to attack Syria. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
FEATURED ESSAYS
"I Need to Know the Place Where I Stand and Why I Stand There"
An interview with Arundhati Roy, by Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept [
---- Twenty years ago, Indian writer Arundhati Roy published her debut novel, "The God of Small Things." It won the ultra-prestigious Man Booker prize and propelled her to international fame. But it was not until last year that her second novel, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness," was published. Both her novels are beautiful, powerful epic stories. So what did Roy do for those 20 years besides working on her latest novel? She used her very significant platform to fight for justice in causes and movements across the world. And she has published many nonfiction books and collections of her speeches, including such titles as "Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers," "War Talk," "Walking with the Comrades," "The End of Imagination". Most recently, she and actor John Cusack published a book on their meeting with National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, whom they traveled to see with Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. That is called "Things That Can and Cannot Be Said." Roy is going to be coming to the U.S. in May and will be speaking in a number of cities [Read More]
A Tale of American Hubris
By Tom Engelhardt, Tom Dispatch [April 15, 2018]
---- The lessons of history? Who needs them? Certainly not Washington's present cast of characters, a crew in flight from history, the past, or knowledge of more or less any sort. Still, just for the hell of it, let's take a few moments to think about what some of the lessons of the last years of the previous century and the first years of this one might be for the world's most exceptional and indispensable nation, the planet's sole superpower, the globe's only sheriff. Those were, of course, commonplace descriptions from the pre-Trump era and yet, in the age of MAGA, already as moldy and cold as the dust in some pharaonic tomb. … Almost 17 years after 9/11, the parts of the planet that "the greatest force, etc., etc." was loosed upon remain in remarkable upheaval and disarray, while failed states and terror groups multiply, producing more displaced people and refugees than at any time since the end of World War II. Another great power, China, is rising, and an economically less than great Russia continues to hang in there militarily and strategically by force of Putinian chutzpah. Not surprisingly, American decline has become a topic of the moment. What conclusions, then, might be drawn from the era of folly that led us to this Trumpian moment? Here are my suggestions for five possible lessons from the American experience of war in the 21st century…. [Read More]
How the CIA's secret torture program sparked a citizen-led public reckoning in North Carolina
---- President Donald Trump's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, is reported to have overseen a U.S. site in Thailand where torture of a suspected terrorist took place. Later she allegedly helped destroy evidence of torture. Her nomination, pending congressional approval, is viewed by many as further evidence of this administration's support of torture and an undoing of Obama-era efforts to end it. Her work was allegedly part of a program the CIA launched after 9/11 called Rendition, Detention and Interrogation. From 2002 to at least 2006, the CIA orchestrated disappearances, torture and indefinite detention without charge of suspected terrorists. What can a small group of committed citizens who oppose these practices do to push back? A commission against torture in North Carolina may serve as a model for how citizen-led initiatives can create transparency and accountability for abuses of power in government. … Over more than a decade, it has evolved into a forceful voice against the use of torture. In 2017, organizers created the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry of Torture, an independent and nonpartisan group dedicated to transparency and accountability for the state's role in the CIA program. [Read More]
Here Are 7 Brilliant Insights From Noam Chomsky on American Empire
By Laura Gottesdiener, AlterNet [April 14, 2018]
---- Noam Chomsky is an expert on many matters -- linguistics, how our economy functions and propaganda, among others. One area where his wisdom especially shines through is in articulating the structure and functioning of the American empire. Chomsky has been speaking and publishing on the topic since the '60s. Below are seven powerful quotes on the evils, atrocities and ironies of the American empire taken from his personal site and from a fan-curated Web site dedicated to collecting Chomsky's observations.
1. [In early 2007] there was a new rash of articles and headlines on the front page about the "Chinese military build-up." The Pentagon claimed that China had increased its offensive military capacity -- with 400 missiles, which could be nuclear armed. Then we had a debate about whether that proves China is trying to conquer the world or the numbers are wrong, or something. Just a little footnote. How many offensive nuclear armed missiles does the United States have? Well, it turns out to be 10,000. China may now have maybe 400, if you believe the hawks. That proves that they are trying to conquer the world. … So who is trying to conquer the world? -- from "We Own the World" January 1, 2008. [And six more observations.] [Read More]
BOMBING SYRIA
Diplomacy, and not bombing, is the way to end Syria's agony
---- Saturday's attack on sites thought to be linked to Syria's chemical weapons capability was both wrong and misconceived. It was either purely symbolic – a demolition of what appear to be empty buildings, already shown to be entirely ineffective as a deterrent – or it was the precursor to wider military action. That would risk a reckless escalation of the war and death toll, and the danger of direct confrontation between the US and Russia. Neither possibility offers an end to the war and suffering, or any prospect of saving lives – rather the opposite. The intensification of military action will simply lead to more deaths and more refugees. … We have to remove the scourge of chemical weapons but also use our influence to end the still greater scourge of the Syrian war. A diplomatic solution that will allow for the country to be rebuilt, for refugees to be able to return home and for an inclusive political settlement that allows the Syrian people to decide their own future could not be more urgent. All this, and not a fresh bombing campaign, is what the British people want from their government. Now is the moment for moral and political leadership, not kneejerk military responses. [Read More]
The search for truth in the rubble of Douma – and one doctor's doubts over the chemical attack
By Robert Fisk, The Independent [UK] [April 17, 2018]
---- This is the story of a town called Douma, a ravaged, stinking place of smashed apartment blocks – and of an underground clinic whose images of suffering allowed three of the Western world's most powerful nations to bomb Syria last week. There's even a friendly doctor in a green coat who, when I track him down in the very same clinic, cheerfully tells me that the "gas" videotape which horrified the world – despite all the doubters – is perfectly genuine. War stories, however, have a habit of growing darker. For the same 58-year old senior Syrian doctor then adds something profoundly uncomfortable: the patients, he says, were overcome not by gas but by oxygen starvation in the rubbish-filled tunnels and basements in which they lived, on a night of wind and heavy shelling that stirred up a dust storm. As Dr Assim Rahaibani announces this extraordinary conclusion, it is worth observing that he is by his own admission not an eyewitness himself and, as he speaks good English, he refers twice to the jihadi gunmen of Jaish el-Islam [the Army of Islam] in Douma as "terrorists" – the regime's word for their enemies, and a term used by many people across Syria. Am I hearing this right? Which version of events are we to believe? [Read More]
After Coalition Strike, Israel Fears New Rules by Iran and Russia in Syria
By Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz [Israel] [April 15, 2018]
---- Israeli defense officials are refraining to the extent that they can from commenting on the attack in Syria carried out by the United States, Britain and France early Saturday, but they are preparing to address the consequences of the strike and its significance for the military's operational policies in the region. Army officials understand that the choice of targets was carefully made for their connection to the presence of chemical weapons in Syria rather than in an effort to strike at the regime of President Bashar Assad himself or attempts by Iran to establish a presence in the country. The assessment of defense officials is that Israel has been left on its own when it comes to the Iranian presence in Syria, and there is concern that the Russian, Iranian and Syrian response to Saturday's attack will primarily result in a change in the Israeli army's freedom of action in the region. [Read More]
Media Tutorial
[FB – As was true throughout all the wars since 9/11, during times of crisis the mainstream TV news outlets present almost exclusively pro-war analysis. In the majority of cases, "experts" are former generals or people with long-established reputations as "hawks." The media "analysis" of Trump on Syria followed this well-trodden path, but the results are still worth looking at to remind us of the importance of dissenting media, and of course the CFOW newsletter.]
Few To No Anti-Bombing Voices As Trump Prepared To Escalate Syria War
By Adam Johnson, FAIR [Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting] [April 16, 2018]
---- The curators of American public opinion at the three most influential broadsheets in the United States decided that dissent from the build-up to new airstrikes on Syria was not really an opinion worth hearing. Of 16 columns leveling an opinion about "fresh" airstrikes on the Syrian regime in the coming days, only two—both in the Washington Post (4/12/18, 4/12/18)—opposed the airstrikes. No New York Times or Wall Street Journal opinion piece came out against a renewed attack on Syria. Ten expressly supported the airstrikes (three in the Times, five in the Post and two in the Journal), two did so by implication (both in the Times, both lamenting the US "doing nothing" in Syria), two were ambiguous and two were opposed to the airstrikes. … As Trump and leaders from France and Britain gear up for war in the coming days, if not hours, perhaps opinion editors could make a little more space for those who oppose the possible opening up of a whole new theater of war. [Read More]
WAR & PEACE
No Endgame [The Middle East]
By John Morrissey, ZNet [April 16, 2018]
---- The establishment of United States Central Command, or CENTCOM, in 1983 was arguably the most important moment for the US military and indeed US foreign policy since World War II. Its initiation signalled a new era of US global ambition in the aftermath of the failure of the Vietnam War, and it solidified a new focus of US foreign policy on the most energy-rich region on earth, the Middle East … CENTCOM's rationale for its repeated interventions in the Middle East and Central Asia over the last 30 years tells us much about the kind of American leadership of global security we are witnessing today. … "Our global responsibilities are significant, we cannot afford to fail" concludes a recent DoD pronouncement on global security. For over 30 years, its key military instrument, CENTCOM, has executed a military-economic security mission in the most energy-rich region on earth. It forms part of a grand strategy of military interventions and forward deterrence that the DoD calls "shaping activities". Imperialism has always been about 'shaping', and there is no endgame. [Read More]
---- The establishment of United States Central Command, or CENTCOM, in 1983 was arguably the most important moment for the US military and indeed US foreign policy since World War II. Its initiation signalled a new era of US global ambition in the aftermath of the failure of the Vietnam War, and it solidified a new focus of US foreign policy on the most energy-rich region on earth, the Middle East … CENTCOM's rationale for its repeated interventions in the Middle East and Central Asia over the last 30 years tells us much about the kind of American leadership of global security we are witnessing today. … "Our global responsibilities are significant, we cannot afford to fail" concludes a recent DoD pronouncement on global security. For over 30 years, its key military instrument, CENTCOM, has executed a military-economic security mission in the most energy-rich region on earth. It forms part of a grand strategy of military interventions and forward deterrence that the DoD calls "shaping activities". Imperialism has always been about 'shaping', and there is no endgame. [Read More]
Two Koreas Discuss Official End to 68-Year War, Report Says
By Jiyeun Lee, Bloomberg [April 17, 2018]
---- South and North Korea are discussing plans to announce an official end to the military conflict between the two countries that are still technically at war, the Munhwa Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified South Korean official. At next week's summit between South Korea President Moon Jae-in and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, the two neighbors may release a joint statement saying they will seek to ease military tension and to end confrontation, according to the report. A direct phone line between Moon and Kim may be connected around Friday, Moon's chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, told a briefing Tuesday, adding that it hadn't been decided when they would hold their first conversation. No peace treaty has been signed to replace the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, and the U.S. and North Korea have been at loggerheads since formal hostilities ended. A successful summit between Moon and Kim could pave the way for a meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump -- the first between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader. [Read More]
GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHAOS
Demanding Renewables Not Pipelines, Environmentalists are Heading to Albany
By Kim Fraczek, SANE Energy [April 10 2018]
---- That's it, we're storming the castle. On April 23, thousands of New Yorkers are showing up at Gov. Andrew Cuomo's front door in Albany to demand genuine action on climate change. We're not going to bus up just to go "rah-rah-rah" on the steps of the statehouse for the press and going home. We have three specific demands: halt of all fracking infrastructure now, a just transition to 100 percent renewables, and make corporate polluters pay into a transition fund. We will meet in Albany at noon, at the site of a proposed fracked-gas plant slated to power Empire State Plaza and hear from local residents on Sheridan Avenue. Then we will march to the Capitol building and peacefully walk through its doors. How did we go from congratulating Gov. Cuomo for banning fracking, vetoing the Port Ambrose LNG terminal and stopping two pipelines to storming his castle? [Read More]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
50 Years Later, The Poor People's Campaign Continues [Podcast]
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance [April 9, 2018]
---- This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Poor People's Campaign, called for by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Although Dr. King was murdered a month prior to the Poor People's Campaign, it happened anyway. Resurrection City was built on the Mall in Washington, DC and people stayed there for six weeks. Fifty years later, widespread poverty exists and the "evils" of racism, capitalism and militarism are still in crisis. Two major campaigns are organizing poor people across the country. We speak with Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic and Human Rights Campaign and Rev. Robin Tanner of the Repairers of the Breach. [Hear the Program]
(Video) Nearly 4 People Are Evicted Every Minute: New Project Tracks U.S. Eviction Epidemic & Effects
From Democracy Now! [April 13, 2018]
---- A new project called the Eviction Lab examined more than 80 million eviction records going back to 2000 and found that in 2016 alone there were nearly four evictions filed every minute. More than 6,300 Americans are evicted every day. Studies show that eviction can lead to a host of other problems, including poor health, depression, job loss and shattered childhoods. Having an eviction on one's record also makes it far more difficult to find decent housing in the future. Now the Eviction Lab's database is being shared with the public in an interactive website that allows people to better track and understand evictions in their own communities. [See the Program]
Amid School Closures, Puerto Rico's Teachers Fight Privatization
By Emily Wells, Truth Dig [April 6, 2018]
---- Puerto Rico's Department of Education announced Thursday it will close 283 schools this summer after a sharp drop in enrollment, thought to be partly a result of displacement of families after Hurricane Maria. However, many teachers in the island's school system say the issue might be more complicated and believe the system's recent acceptance of charter schools and voucher programs could be contributing to the deprioritizing of public schools. … Some critics have voiced concern that public school closures are being used as cover for a total overhaul of Puerto Rico's education system. Lawmakers and the island's governor recently approved legislation to allow charter schools and voucher programs throughout the territory, and in response, a teachers union filed a lawsuit aiming to stop the island from further privatizing its school system. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Undemocratic From the River to the Sea
By Gideon Levy, Haaretz [Israel] [April 15, 2018]
---- With the approach this week of celebrations marking Israel's 70th birthday, 12 million people live in the country. Some of them are citizens, some are residents, some are detainees, and all are subjects. Everyone's fate has been determined by the country's governing institutions. On this Independence Day, we have to acknowledge that the country's genuine borders are the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Jordan River to the east, including not only the West Bank but also the Gaza Strip. Israel controls all this territory and everyone who lives there through various and sundry means, even if from a legal standpoint there's no mention of this. …It was only in the state's first 19 years, a blink of an eye from a historical perspective, that the country existed without the territories. For the balance of its history, the occupation has been an inseparable part of it, its character, its government, its essence, its DNA. What existed here for a brief time and is gone will not be coming back. It's critical that we rip the cover off the alleged transience of the occupation, which for some Israelis has been a sweet delusion and for others a dangerous threat. There is an abyss dividing a temporary occupation and a permanent one. [Read More]
Gaza Protests: Week Three
With the Great Return March, Palestinians Are Demanding a Life of Dignity
By Ahmad Abu Rtemah, The Nation [April 6, 2018]
---- Over the past eight days, tens of thousands of protesters in Gaza have breathed life into a place that is slowly being depleted of it. We have come together, chanting and singing a lullaby we've all longed for—"We will return"—bringing all that we have left to offer in an attempt to reclaim our right to live in freedom and justice. Despite our peaceful marches, we have been met with and clouds of tear gas and live fire from Israeli soldiers. Unfortunately, this is not new to Palestinians in Gaza, who have lived through many wars and a brutal siege and blockade. … I was born in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. My parents are from the city of Ramle, in what is now known as Israel. Like most Palestinian refugees, I heard the stories from my older family members about being brutally displaced from their homes during the Nakba. No matter how many decades pass, they, like hundreds of thousands of others, are never able to forget the horrors they witnessed during their dispossession and all the violence and pain that came with it. I have never seen my family's home in Ramle, and my children have never seen anything beyond the confines of Gaza and the siege. [Read More]
(Video) Gaza: Palestinians Continue "Great March of Return" Protests for Third Straight Week
From Democracy Now! [April 16, 2018]
---- Palestinians gathered at the Israeli-Gaza border for a third Friday in a row as part of the ongoing "Great March of Return" protests. Paramedics say at least 30 Palestinians were injured by Israeli soldiers during Friday's protest. Israeli soldiers have killed at least 34 Palestinians since the wave of protests against Israel's occupation began on March 30. We get response from Ramah Kudaimi, director of grassroots organizing at US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. She is also a member of the Syrian Solidarity Collective and on the National Committee of the War Resisters League. She calls for the U.S. to end its military support for Israel, and argues that Palestinian rights cannot be separated from U.S. actions in the region. [See the Program]
Also useful/illuminating on the Gaza Protests – Uri Avnery, "Israelis Kill Unarmed Protesters, Barely Notice," Antiwar.com [April 17, 2018] [Link]; Ben White, "Palestinians are killed not because Israeli soldiers disobey orders but because they follow them," Middle East Eye [April 16, 2018] [Link]; Hagai El-Ad, "Palestinians in Gaza are reminding us that they exist," +972 Blog [Israel] April 17, 2018] [Link].
OUR HISTORY
Deir Yassin: The Zionist Massacre That Sparked the Nakba
April 14, 2018]
---- This week marks the 70th anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre, in which Jewish militias murdered over 100 Palestinian men, women and children as part of a self-described "cleansing" campaign to expel indigenous Arabs to make way for the nascent state of Israel. One of the key ideological elements of Zionism – the movement for the re-establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine – is the premise of what literary theorist Edward Said called "the excluded presence" of the indigenous population of Palestine. From its earliest days, Zionism, which is at its core a settler colonial movement of white Europeans usurping Arabs they often viewed as inferior or backwards, propagated the myth of "a land without a people for a people without a land." Theodore Herzl, the father of modern political Zionism, argued that a Jewish state in Palestine would "form a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism." … When it was all over, over 100 men, women and children of Deir Yassin lay dead, while the village's defenders managed to kill four of the attacking Jews. Word of the massacre spread like wildfire and succeeded in the stated goal of terrorizing Arabs in other towns and villages throughout Palestine into permanently fleeing their homes and their homeland. Haganah psychological warfare operators approaching Arab villages often broadcast over loudspeakers recordings of shrieking Arab women accompanied by exhortations to leave immediately or face a similar fate as Deir Yassin. The massacre was a major motivator of Arab flight from Palestine, the beginning of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or "catastrophe;" the ethnic cleansing of some 750,000 Arabs from Palestine during Israel's war for independence. [Read More]
The Historic 1968 Struggle Against Columbia University
---- The Columbia University Struggle of 1968, 50 years ago, was in fact a Struggle against Columbia University—as a ruling class slumlord, a racist gentrifier against the people of Harlem and Morningside Heights, and a genocidal war criminal carrying out weapons research against the People of Vietnam. It was one of the great miracles of the times that students who had been recruited to support The System turned against it and sided with the Black community and the people of Vietnam. The Struggle against Columbia was carried out by The Movement—a Black United Front in Harlem including Harlem Tenants Association, Morningsiders United and Harlem CORE, the Students' Afro-American Society and Black Students of Hamilton Hall, Students for a Democratic Society at Columbia, and national groups like Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, SDS, with support from the national civil rights and anti-war movements. The Movement demanded that the University stop the construction of a gentrifying gymnasium in Morningside Park opposed by the residents of Harlem and Morningside Heights, who called it Gym Crow, and withdraw all institutional ties to the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA)—a Department of Defense think-tank that developed weapons to use against national liberation and communist insurgencies including the people of Vietnam. The Columbia University administration, after a two month struggle, acceded to the core demands of the struggle—-an unequivocal victory for The Movement at the time. [Read More]
