Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
December 5, 2021
Hello All – The Supreme Court appears ready to take away women's legal right to abortion. Observers of the Court's discussion this week generally conclude that the conservative majority of the Court will uphold the Mississippi law that criminalizes abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and may well overturn the Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which has been the legal basis for the right to abortion.
I think it is important to understand that what is happening re: abortion rights is the outcome of a political struggle that has been in the works for the last 50 years. At the time of Roe v. Wade, while there was opposition to abortion, mainly on religious grounds, there was relatively widespread for the legalization of abortion on the grounds of a woman's right to privacy, to self-determination. As we know now, following Roe the abortion issue was weaponized by Republican strategists and fundamentalist religious organizations as a "wedge issue," a way to mobilize grassroots support not just against abortion rights, but in support of the Republicans' programs to suppress minority rights and in support of big business and wealthy individuals.
In the mid- and late-1970s the attack on abortion rights became a key weapon in the attack on women, and especially Black and Hispanic women. At the time, we characterized of this movement as "the New Right." In Boston, where I was living at that time, for example, opposition to busing for school integration and to the women's liberation movement had similar constituencies. Why? To oversimplify, the women's liberation movement and the African-American movement for civil rights and "Black Power" terrified millions of white Americans, who (especially men) saw the world in which they imagined they were living collapsing before their eyes. Initiated substantially by the upsurge of women claiming control over their own lives, Wealthy America poured millions of dollars in a metastasizing networks of organizations fighting to preserve traditional patriarchal ways of life and (of course) white supremacy.
This movement once called "the New Right" developed over the decades to become the Tea Party movement and then the movement that brought Donald Trump to power and that supports him still. Thus the lesson for Our Time, as the Supreme Court stands poised to end abortion rights and thus a building block for women's rights, is that we are engaged in a titanic struggle to block the movements of what might be called "authoritarian fascism," which have their roots in racism and the suppression of women. We need a strategic vision as broad and as powerful as what we are fighting against.
Some useful reading/viewing on abortion rights and the Supreme Court
(Video) Planned Parenthood CEO: If SCOTUS Restricts Abortion Access, Marginalized People Will Be Hurt Most, from Democracy Now! [December 2, 2021] [Link].
(Video) From Abortion Bans to Anti-Trans Laws, a Christian Legal Army is Waging War on America, from Democracy Now! [December 3, 2021] [Link]. The guest on this program, the Nation's Amy Littlefield, has written several informative articles on abortion, the abortion-rights movement, and the anti-abortion movement. Recommended are "The Christian Legal Army Behind the Ban on Abortion in Mississippi," [November 30, 2021] [Link]; "Where the Pro-Choice Movement Went Wrong," New York Times [December 1, 2021] [Link]; and "Thinking Beyond Roe," The Nation [December 2, 2021] [Link].
The Supreme Court Gaslights Its Way to the End of Roe, by Linda Greenhouse, New York Times [December 3, 2021] [Link].
A 'fundamental' right: a timeline of US abortion rights since Roe v Wade, by Jessica Glenza, The Guardian [UK] [December 1, 2021] [Link].
News Notes
Last week, after GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert (CO) made bigoted attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar, Congressman Jamaal Bowman demanded that Boebert be condemned and removed from her committee assignments. "The cultural climate under Trump laid the foundation for and created a dangerous precedent that has emboldened members of the Trump Party to launch blatantly Islamophobic and xenophobic attacks on Congresswoman Omar and others simply because of who they pray to and what they look like," Bowman said. On Tuesday, Bowman added, "The fact is that Congresswoman Omar is a Black, immigrant, and visibly Muslim woman with power—and this is too much to handle for people who refuse to live in a society that celebrates diversity and abhors white supremacy." For more, go here.
Progressive movements in the USA are not likely to go very far without the support of the large trade unions. Recently this Newsletter reported on the successful campaign to elect a progressive slate to lead the Teamsters union. Last week, a referendum in the United Auto Workers returned a 2-1 majority to move to a direct voting system for choosing their union leadership. The fact that this victory was the outcome of decades of organizing indicates the sorry state of our unions and how much remains to be done! (Both these reports were produced by Labor Notes, to go-to place to learn about fights for union democracy.)
Wednesday was World AIDS Day. The AIDS epidemic, still far from over, is a case study in the disastrous results of vaccine/medical inequality, and thus a warning that history is repeating itself in the Time of Covid. It is estimated, for example, that in Africa alone up to 12 million people died in the time it took to make HIV treatment universally available. Today, billions of people in low-income countries are unable to be vaccinated against Covid, while richer countries have surpluses and are giving third/booster shots to its adult population. For more on these issues, go here.
The murder of three Michigan high school students last week by a gun-toting student prompts another look at the basics of gun violence in the USA. In 2020, there were 13, 620 gun homicides in the US; in England there were 30 (and correcting for population size, that would be about 167 US equivalent). Professor Juan Cole writes: "The US policy of constantly endangering our children is enacted by a bought-and-paid-for Congress on behalf of 10 major gun manufacturers with an $8 billion industry. Most Americans don't have or want a gun, and 50% of all guns in the US are owned by 3% of Americans, i.e. some 6 million people out of 330 million." As the Gun Violence Archive reports, so far in 2021 there have been 19,176 gun homicides, 22,374 suicides by guns, and 654 mass shootings. Gun homicides are up more than 50 percent since 2014. We have a serious problem.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. 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 will be held on Monday from 5:30 to 6:00 pm in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. (In December, January, and February, vigils will be held on the first Monday of each month.) If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email. 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!
Rewards!
Often more powerful than carefully researched documents and Deep Reasoning, satire works wonders in framing attacks on the Rich and Powerful. I was reminded of this when I came across another "Honest Government Ad," this one focusing on "Net Zero by 2050" and featuring Greta Thunberg. So this week's Rewards for stalwart readers include clips from some classics -- "Dr. Strangelove" and "Wag the Dog" – and some more recent episodes from Samantha Bee ("Trump Can't Read") and South Park ("Marijuana-Free Christmas Snow from Tegridy Farms"). And satire can be a do-it-yourself mode of expression: here are the "Billionaires for Bush" in action. Lot's more of this on-line, collect them all and share 'em with friends!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW WEEKLY READER
Facing Economic Collapse, Afghanistan Is Gripped by Starvation
---- An estimated 22.8 million people — more than half the country's population — are expected to face potentially life-threatening food insecurity this winter. Many are already on the brink of catastrophe. … Nearly four months since the Taliban seized power, Afghanistan is on the brink of a mass starvation that aid groups say threatens to kill a million children this winter — a toll that would dwarf the total number of Afghan civilians estimated to have been killed as a direct result of the war over the past 20 years. While Afghanistan has suffered from malnutrition for decades, the country's hunger crisis has drastically worsened in recent months. This winter, an estimated 22.8 million people — more than half the population — are expected to face potentially life-threatening levels of food insecurity, according to an analysis by the United Nations World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization. Of those, 8.7 million people are nearing famine — the worst stage of a food crisis. … Thirty percent more Afghans faced crisis-level food shortages in September and October compared with the same period last year, according to the United Nations. In the coming months, the number of Afghans in crisis is expected to hit a record high. [Read More] Also valuable is the author's recent article, "Afghan Economy Nears Collapse as Pressure Builds to Ease U.S. Sanctions" New York Times [Link], also in last week's Newsletter. Some European human rights groups warn, "Aid cut-off may kill more Afghans than war," Aljazeera [Link].
Standing With Nurses Is a Feminist Project
By Silvia Federici, The Nation [December 3, 2021]
---- What is the enduring image of the Covid-19 pandemic? For me, it is the nurse at the bedside, on the front lines of this global emergency, overcoming her own fear of illness to provide care to patients and to offer comfort in the face of likely death. For millions of nurses living in countries where Covid-19 vaccines continue to be scarce, this is an image of everyday life. But even in countries where the worst of the illness has dissipated, we are only beginning to understand the toll that this work—day after day—has taken on nurses' lives. We are in their debt, and that is why we must follow their lead. Right now, nurses unions from 28 different countries are rising up to defend their lives and to protect their patients by taking some of the world's most powerful governments to court with a simple demand: Waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines, and end the pandemic now. [Read More] And from the Progressive International,
read "Carers of the World vs. Covid-19 Criminals" [Link].
War & Peace
---- The recent breaching of the United States' embassy in Yemen's capital city of Sanaa by rebel forces, and the detaining of Yemeni employees of the embassy, is the latest escalation in a war that has gone on for far too long. It is a war that the United States has supported and remains deeply involved in. It's time for that complicity to end. For more than six years, Saudi-led military intervention into Yemen's civil war on behalf of Yemen's exiled government against Yemeni rebels has been a key driver of the largest humanitarian disaster in the world. … The US may not be able to stop all the violence it helped create, but it can stop enabling Saudi warplanes to bomb Yemeni civilians. Doing so will save lives – not only the Yemenis spared in Saudi bombing runs, but also by utilizing its leverage to pressure Saudi Arabia to lift the blockade on Yemen, which continues to block fuel and other essential imports into the country, pushing millions of Yemenis toward the brink of starvation. Lifting the blockade must happen immediately and be delinked from final peace negotiation talks. [Read More]
Additional articles about Saudi Arabia, USA, & Yemen – "Human Rights Groups Call on Pentagon to Reinvestigate Civilian Deaths in Yemen" by Nick Turse, The Intercept [Link]; and "Saudis used 'incentives and threats' to shut down UN investigation in Yemen," The Guardian [Link].
War With China in 2027?
, Tom Dispatch [December 3, 2021]
---- When the Department of Defense released its annual report on Chinese military strength in early November, one claim generated headlines around the world. By 2030, it suggested, China would probably have 1,000 nuclear warheads — three times more than at present and enough to pose a substantial threat to the United States. As a Washington Post headline put it, typically enough: "China accelerates nuclear weapons expansion, seeks 1,000 warheads or more, Pentagon says." The media, however, largely ignored a far more significant claim in that same report: that China would be ready to conduct "intelligentized" warfare by 2027, enabling the Chinese to effectively resist any U.S. military response should it decide to invade the island of Taiwan, which they view as a renegade province. To the newsmakers of this moment, that might have seemed like far less of a headline-grabber than those future warheads, but the implications couldn't be more consequential. Let me, then, offer you a basic translation of that finding: as the Pentagon sees things, be prepared for World War III to break out any time after January 1, 2027. [Read More]
Civil Liberties
Anti-BDS Laws Could Upend the Constitutional Right to Engage in Boycott
By Alice Speri, The Intercept [November 29, 2021]
---- A new film details how several U.S. states passed laws punishing boycotts of Israel. "Boycott," a new film released this month, documents U.S. legislative efforts to repress criticism of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. … Arkansas is one of 33 states that have passed legislation punishing boycotts of Israel by U.S. state legislatures since 2015. The bills came in response to growing worldwide support for a Palestinian-led, peaceful movement to oppose the occupation through boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel, known as BDS. The film, produced by the nonprofit Just Vision, details the insidiousness of legislation passed with virtually no public scrutiny or pushback and the fragility of the constitutional protections meant to safeguard Americans' right to hold and express political opinions contrary to those of their government. [Read More]. To learn more about the film, the film makers, and the boycott issue,
Israel/Palestine
The Reconstruction of Gaza Has Been a Failure
By Ariel Gold, Code Pink [December 3, 2021]
---- Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders criticized his colleagues for supporting such a bloated military budget, given the deficit and national debt, as well as the lack of political will to expand Medicare, guarantee paid family leave, and address the climate crisis. He then introduced an amendment to the bill that would address the pressing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the seemingly intractable conflict…. Amid multiple all-out wars, ongoing skirmishes, and a 14-year blockade, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is now so severe that about 50 percent of children suffer from water-related infections and 12 percent of deaths of young children in Gaza are linked to intestinal infections from contaminated water. Gaza never should have gotten to this point. … As the UN predicted in 2018, Gaza is today, by all measures, unlivable. The coastal aquifer has been so polluted by over-pumping and wastewater contamination that 97 percent of the water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption. More than half of Gaza's population lives in poverty; unemployment is around 50 percent; 62 percent of Gazans are food insecure; and electricity is sporadic. [Read More]
Our History
Reflecting on the Dawn of Everything
By David Swanson, ZNet [December 4, 2021]
[FB – Antiwar activist David Swanson here reviews a new book co-authored by the late David Graeber, an anthropologist and one of the founders of Occupy, called The Dawn of Everything. A CFOW book group is reading it with pleasure and interest.]
---- When Europeans learned about Native Americans, they also learned directly from them, through debates and discussions, written works and exchanges, public and private seminars, both in the Americas and in Europe. The indigenous critique of European society included its lack of freedom, equality, or fraternity, its shocking willingness to leave people poor and suffering, and its obsession with wealth at the expense of time and leisure. This critique was the origin of a great strain of thought in the European "Enlightenment," to which a major response was the Rousseauhobbesian infantilization of the people who had just made a wise, coherent, and articulate critique, as well as the invention of false claims of the necessity to sacrifice freedom for safety, of the supposed decrease rather than increase in hours worked in shifting to a European way of life, etc. Prior to the critique made by the residents of Turtle Island, European intellectuals didn't bother to make excuses for inequality as an inevitable sign of progress, because the notion that there was anything wrong with inequality hadn't much occurred to them. Many of the societies that were in great part wiped out for the creation of the United States were mutually recognized by both themselves and Europeans as free in comparison with Europe and its colonies; the only dispute was whether freedom was a good thing or not. Today, the Native Americans have basically won the rhetorical debate, while the Europeans have won the lived reality. Everybody loves freedom; few have it. [Read More]
