Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
November 13, 2017
Hello All – Suddenly it appears that a new and dangerous war may be just around the corner. The instability in Saudi Arabia, the detention of Lebanon's prime minister by/in Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi call for its citizens now in Lebanon to leave the country portend a military attack on Lebanon under the guise of a war against Hezbollah. This newsletter includes a cache of good/useful reading that tries to clarify this dangerous situation. In a nutshell, I believe the Saudi/Israeli goal is to suck Iran into the Lebanese cauldron in defense of its ally Hezbollah. Whether Iran would do this, and whether Israel would see this as an opportunity to launch a war against both Hezbollah and Iran "in self-defense," would determine whether the war could be confined to Lebanon. And if war should spread beyond Lebanon's boundaries, what roles would be played by Syria, Russia, and the United States?
Confining our remarks just to the possible/likely paths open to the Trump administration, we note that Trump and his son-in-law have spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia, that contracts for $100 billion in arms sales have been signed between the two countries, that the Trump administration has continued President Obama's policies of supporting the Saudi war against Yemen, and that Trump has loudly focused on Iran and Hezbollah as dangers to the United States and its interests in the Middle East. Moreover, the Trump administration has given strong support to the blooming alliance between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Under all these circumstances, I fear that Trump will use the US veto-power at the United Nations to prevent peace efforts in the Security Council if Saudi Arabia should attack Lebanon. I also fear that the Trump people have made a commitment to Saudi Arabia and/or Israel to come to their support if Iran becomes militarily involved. And I fear that the United States will continue to support the Saudi genocidal war in Yemen, now completely blockaded by Saudi Arabia with US support, and with the threat of famine just around the corner.
Antiwar people in the Rivertowns: please let our congressional representatives know that these are terrible developments, that the United States should give no cover to Saudi Arabia at the UN if hostilities break out, and that our country must immediately stop its assistance to the war against Yemen. As you may (or may not) know, Representatives Lowey and Engel, and Senator Schumer, have supported strong measures against Iran and Hezbollah, and have refused to speak out against the genocidal war in Yemen. This week, before it's too late, please send an antiwar message to Schumer (212-486-4430), Gillibrand (212-688-6262), Lowey (914-428-1707) and Engel (718-796-9700).
News Notes
Project SHARE seeks "to end social stigma surrounding homelessness and share in our common humanity." Among their many projects is the Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless; and on November 21st some 800 people will share a Thanksgiving dinner at Hastings High School Project SHARE needs some financial help asap to make this work. If you can afford a donation, please send a check to SHARE the Project, inc., 161 Broadway, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Or you can use their GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/tdfth2017.
Among the nice things about last Tuesday's election was the Peekskill victory of some friends we made during the fight to stop the Spectra pipeline in northern Westchester. Here's a happy video shot just after our friends learned they had won the election.
The New York Times' headline was something like "Trump Sends Conspiracy Theorist to CIA …." Etc.] The man in question was William Binney, who had worked for US intelligence for many years and was among the former intelligence professionals who had put forward strong claims that the alleged Russian hack of the DNC's emails was a myth/understanding. Why did Trump send him to talk to the head of the CIA? Will this have any effect on the CIA's endorsement of the Russiagate story? Read about this strange twist of fate here.
Why does the United States have more mass shootings than any other country? After a lot of deep thinking, the experts have decided that it is because we had so many, many guns. A no-brainer you might say, but some of the charts and thoughts used to arrive at this conclusion are interesting and scary.
Things to Do/Coming Attractions
November 14th – Our friends in Croton will be showing the film, "SEED: The Untold Story." They write: "Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. They've been worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. The film, SEED: The Untold Story, follows passionate seed keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy." It's at the Croton Free Library at 7 p.m. "Discussion and refreshments to follow the screening."
Sunday, November 19th – Save the date for WESPAC's "night of comedy, dance, and music," "Made in Palestine." It's at the Tarrytown Music Hall; doors open at 5 p.m. For more information, including ways you can help support/sponsor this program, go here.
Sunday, December 3rd – CFOW's monthly meeting is held this day from 7 to 9 p.m. Everyone is welcome at these meetings.
Ongoing – Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct has a new exhibition at the Keeper's House called "Existing Conditions," photographs of the trail from 20 years ago. The fixed-up Keeper's House is also interesting, imo. – The building is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It's at 15 Walnut St. in Dobbs Ferry.
This Newsletter
Articles linked in the CFOW newsletter are intended to illuminate some of the main action-issues about which we are concerned. Coming mostly from the "dissenting media," they provide an alternative to the perspectives of the mainstream media. In addition to the "Featured Essays" and the collection of articles about Saudi Arabia's war drive, I especially recommend Frieda Berrigan's article on the war budget and the austerity crisis at home; two good articles about Iran and the Iran nuclear agreement; Bernie Sanders' comments on the need to change the Democratic Party; and (under "Our History") China Miéville's autopsy on the Russian Revolution in the years after 1917.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. We meet for a vigil/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 vigils are usually about war or climate change, but issues such as racial justice or the Puerto Rico crisis are targeted from time to time, 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.
Contributions, Please
Our treasury is getting a little low, so if you are able to support our work, please make your check out to "CFOW" and mail it to PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
This week's rewards for stalwart readers include some songs by Tom Neilson, new to me (h/t JG). Here's just a sampling: [The Pipeline] "Ain't Gonna Pass," "Only Outlaws Will Be Free," "Heroes of the Cold War." And check out his website for much more. And for something completely different, here is an Everly Brothers tune, requested by old friend DM. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
FEATURED ESSAYS
Meet the Courageous Woman Standing Up to All Sides in Yemen's Conflict
By Sarah Aziza, The Nation [November 10, 2017]
---- In the final days of August 2017, a coalition of over 60 nongovernmental organizations submitted an urgent letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council, urging action on what they called the "world's largest humanitarian crisis," in Yemen. After more than two of civil war, at least 3 million Yemenis have been displaced, 7 million are on the brink of famine, and at least 20 million are in need of humanitarian aid. With the widespread collapse of sanitation and basic services, hundreds of thousands have been stricken by cholera in a country where fewer than half the health-care facilities are operational. … At the forefront of the campaign for this independent inquiry was Radhya al-Mutawakel, a self-described "human-rights defender" and the co-founder of Mwatana, a civilian-led organization working to document human-rights violations on the ground in Yemen. [Read More]
Reviving the Spirit of Existential Rebellion in a World of Propaganda, Lies and Self Deception
---- Like existential freedom, honesty and truth-seeking demand a perpetually renewed commitment. No one ever fully arrives, and all of us are blown off course on the journey. Even when we think we have reached our destination, we are often startled by the enigma of arrival, and must set sail again. We are all in the same boat. The search for truth is a process, an experiment, an essay – a trying without end. … Those of us who write about the U.S.-led demented wars and provocations around the world and the complementary death of democracy at home are constantly flabbergasted and discouraged by the willed ignorance of so many Americans. For while the mainstream media does the bidding of the power elite, there is ample alternative news and analyses available on the internet from fine journalists and writers committed to truth, not propaganda. … The problem is the will to know. But why, why the refusal to investigate and question; why the indifference?
SAUDI ARABIA'S DRIVE TOWARD WAR
(Video) Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman Consolidates Power & Purges Rivals Under "Anti-Corruption" Pretense
From Democracy Now! [November 9, 2017]
---- Saudi authorities arrested scores of prominent officials over the weekend, including 10 princes, four ministers and dozens of former ministers, in a massive shakeup by King Salman aimed at consolidating power for his son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the main architect of the kingdom's war in Yemen. Among those arrested was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest people, with an estimated net worth of at least $17 billion. Talal has investments in many well-known U.S. companies, like Apple, Twitter, Citigroup—and Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corp. The arrests, on unspecified "corruption" charges, came just hours after the crown prince convened a new anti-corruption committee with wide-ranging powers to detain and arrest anyone accused and to search their homes and seize their assets. Meanwhile, the White House said President Trump called King Salman to offer thanks for the kingdom's purchases of billions of dollars in U.S. weaponry, while praising what it called the kingdom's "modernization drive." [See the Program]
Saad Hariri's resignation as Prime Minister of Lebanon is not all it seems
By Robert Fisk, The Independent [UK] [November 9, 2017]
---- When Saad Hariri's jet touched down at Riyadh on the evening of 3 November, the first thing he saw was a group of Saudi policemen surrounding the plane. When they came aboard, they confiscated his mobile phone and those of his bodyguards. Thus was Lebanon's prime minister silenced. It was a dramatic moment in tune with the soap-box drama played out across Saudi Arabia this past week: the house arrest of 11 princes – including the immensely wealthy Alwaleed bin Talal – and four ministers and scores of other former government lackeys, not to mention the freezing of up to 1,700 bank accounts. Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman's "Night of the Long Knives" did indeed begin at night, only hours after Hariri's arrival in Riyadh. So what on earth is the crown prince up to? Put bluntly, he is clawing down all his rivals and – so the Lebanese fear – trying to destroy the government in Beirut, force the Shia Hezbollah out of the cabinet and restart a civil war in Lebanon. [Read More]
Also interesting/useful about the turmoil in Saudi Arabia - Patrick Cockburn, "The anti-corruption drive in Saudi Arabia," The Independent [UK] [November 12, 2017][Link]; Paul Pillar, "Saudi Arabia, Wellspring of Regional Instability," The National Interest [November 7, 2017] [Link]; and Beverley Milton-Edwards, "Contagion effect and the Saudi grand game in the Middle East," ] [Link]
The Saudi War Against Yemen
Saudi Arabia urged to end Yemen blockade: Fear of Unprecedented Famine, Disease
By Jonathan Fenton-Harvey, Informed Comment [November 9, 2017
---- In a move to further suffocate Yemen, Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it would close all land, air and sea borders to Yemen. Now the UN and others have warned that the blockade will harm restrict vital humanitarian aid to Yemen's civilians. A statement from Saudi news agency SPA reported it was to stem the flow of arms to Houthi rebels. "The Coalition Forces Command decided to temporarily close all Yemeni air, sea and land ports," the statement on SPA said, adding that aid workers and humanitarian supplies would continue to be able to access and exit Yemen. … The country suffers from the fast growing and largest ever recorded cholera crisis, which is predicted to reach a million cases by Christmas. NGOs widely blame it on a breakdown of Yemen's healthcare system – caused by the bombing campaign. [Read More]
Also useful/insightful about the blockade of Yemen - Bonnie Kristian, "The Saudi blockade of Yemen is starving kids and killing thousands, so why is Washington still defending it?" Rare [November 2017] [Link]; and from Democracy Now! (Video) "Yemeni Journalist: Saudi Arabia's Total Blockade on Yemen is "Death Sentence" for All" [November 9, 2017] [See the Program].
US Policy towards Saudi Arabia v. Iran
Does Trump Want a New Middle East War?
By Bob Dreyfuss, Rolling Stone [November 9, 2017]
---- Does Donald Trump want a new Middle East war, pitting Saudi Arabia against Iran in a conflict that could lay waste to the world's oil region and drag the United States into a conflict that would make the war in Iraq look like a minor skirmish? It sure looks like it. ... It's reasonable to suspect the Trump administration had a direct hand in Saudi Arabia's newfound muscular policies. ,,, It seems clear beyond any doubt that Trump, who has a penchant for foreign dictators and authoritarian rulers, sees Saudi Arabia as a vital part of his ill-conceived anti-Iran jihad. Perhaps Trump and Kushner, neither of whom have the slightest experience in world affairs, believe that by buddying up with the Saudis they can put pressure on Iran to reign in its actions in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. But it's a risky strategy, since Iran is certain not to accede to Saudi threats and bluster, and it's very possible the two Persian Gulf powers could find themselves quickly entangled in a regional war that would draw the United States in on Saudi Arabia's side. [Read More] For some dissent in Congress, read "Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna: Stop All Weapons Sales to Saudi Arabia Now," The Intercept [ [Link]
Israel's Policy towards Saudi Arabia's Drive for Regional Power
Israel instructs diplomats to support Saudis: Cable
By Jonathan Cook, Aljazeera [November 10, 2017]
----Israel has instructed its overseas embassies to lobby their respective host countries in support of Saudi Arabia and its apparent efforts to destabilise Lebanon, a recently leaked diplomatic cable shows. The cable appears to be the first formal confirmation of rumours that Israel and Saudi Arabia are colluding to stoke tensions in the region. … In a column in Israeli daily Haaretz this week, Daniel Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, argued that the Saudis were trying to move the battlefield from Syria to Lebanon after their failure to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. … Analysts have suggested that renewed sectarian conflict in Lebanon - a possible outcome of Hariri's resignation - could also leave it more vulnerable to Israeli aggression. In September, in a sign that Israel may be preparing for a confrontation on its northern border, the Israeli army held its biggest military drill in 20 years, simulating an invasion of Lebanon. [Read More]
WAR & PEACE
How can we turn military spending into a budget for the people?
By Frida Berrigan, Waging Nonviolence [October 20, 2017]
---- Connecticut is the only state in the union that does not have a budget, and the state's bills are being paid in emergency supplementals — or going past due. The state is budget-less, so my town of New London — one of its smaller urban communities — doesn't have a budget either. That means a hiring freeze at our local schools, budget cuts and tax increases from City Council, the farmer's markets not accepting senior citizen vouchers this summer, the downtown library cutting its hours, a smaller pool of money to pay for the heating needs of low-income people this winter and several other important city-funded offerings. … The General Dynamics Electric Boat corporation isn't tightening its belt or trimming its excess or trying to make more with less. It just got a $5 billion contract to build a new class of nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed submarines. Have you been worried about the United States not having enough nuclear submarines? Me neither. But Electric Boat is booming. The same can be said for most of the bad old military-industrial complex. [Read More]
The War in Afghanistan
Into the Afghan Abyss (Again)
By Alfred W. McCoy, Tom Dispatch [November 13, 2017]
By Alfred W. McCoy, Tom Dispatch [November 13, 2017]
---- After nine months of confusion, chaos, and cascading tweets, Donald Trump's White House has finally made one thing crystal clear: the U.S. is staying in Afghanistan to fight and -- so they insist -- win. "The killers need to know they have nowhere to hide, that no place is beyond the reach of American might," said the president in August, trumpeting his virtual declaration of war on the Taliban. Overturning Barack Obama's planned (and stalled) drawdown in Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced that the Pentagon would send 4,000 more soldiers to fight there, bringing American troop strength to nearly 15,000. … So why has America's ambitious $9 billion counter-narcotics program fallen into failure again and again? When such illegality corrupts a society as thoroughly as opium has Afghanistan, then drug trafficking comes to distort everything -- giving even good programs bad outcomes and undoubtedly twisting Trump's headstrong plans for victory into certain defeat. Think of the never-ending war in Afghanistan as Washington's drug of choice of these last 16 years. [Read More]
War with Iran?
How US Blunders Strengthened Iran
By Jonathan Marshall, Consortium News [November 5, 2017]
---- Behind only North Korea, Iran is the country the Trump administration vilifies most. The White House endorses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's injunction that "We must all stand together to stop Iran's march of conquest, subjugation and terror." Parroting Netanyahu's claim that Iran is "busy gobbling up the nations" of the Middle East, CIA Director and conservative GOP stalwart Mike Pompeo warned in June that Iran — which he branded "the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism" — now wields "enormous influence . . . that far outstrips where it was six or seven years ago." In an interview with MSNBC, Pompeo elaborated, "Whether it's the influence they have over the government in Baghdad, whether it's the increasing strength of Hezbollah and Lebanon, their work alongside the Houthis in Iran, (or) the Iraqi Shias that are fighting along now the border in Syria . . . Iran is everywhere throughout the Middle East." [Read More]
Can we survive Trump's Rage-Based Iran Policy?
By Daniel Brumberg, Informed Comment [November 8, 2017]
---- One can't help feeling that the an emerging media campaign against the nuclear agreement is creating a war drumbeat not unlike that which led to, or helped justify, the 2003 US Iraq invasion. Perhaps this is alarmist, but a sense of déjà vu seems justified. This is all the more reason to recognize the hazards that could ensue from an anger-driven, a-strategic Iran policy. … The menu of policy options is short and not very enticing: diplomacy/engagement, containment/deterrence or military confrontation/war. Containing Iran is unlikely to succeed if the US simply keeps selling more arms to our Arab Gulf allies—especially Saudi Arabia. More weapons, as I have noted above in reference to Yemen, often only encourages escalation which in turn emboldens Tehran's allies. … But the prospects for a serious US-Iran collision, or a wider war, will accelerate if the US abandons the nuclear agreement. Indeed, war with Iran will intensify internal conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, sending violent tremors throughout the region. [Read More]
The War in Syria
Syria: If ISIL is dire threat, why isn't its Defeat bigger News?
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment [November 9, 2017]
---- The Syrian regime announced Wednesday that its army, supported by the Lebanese Shiite militia, Hizbullah and Iraqi Shiite militia, took control of the city of Al-Bu Kamal, the last base for ISIL on the Syrian-Iraqi border, after battles with the terrorist organization. At the same time, an Iranian official affirmed that these forces, having proven victorious in the far east of the country, will now be redeployed to the northwest, to Idlib province, the last bastion of the armed resistance (which is dominated in Idlib by the al-Qaeda-linked Syrian Conquest Front or Nusra Front. … As ISIL declines into insignificance as a military force even as it remains a significant terrorist threat, I expect the hype around it to survive, like a ghost haunting us. [Read More]
Did Al Qaeda Dupe Trump on Syrian Attack?
By Robert Parry, Consortium News [November 9, 2017]
---- A new United Nations-sponsored report on the April 4 sarin incident in an Al Qaeda-controlled town in Syria blames Bashar al-Assad's government for the atrocity, but the report contains evidence deep inside its "Annex II" that would prove Assad's innocence. If you read that far, you would find that more than 100 victims of sarin exposure were taken to several area hospitals before the alleged Syrian warplane could have struck the town of Khan Sheikhoun. Still, the Joint Investigative Mechanism [JIM], a joint project of the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW], brushed aside this startling evidence and delivered the Assad guilty verdict that the United States and its allies wanted. [Read More]
Armistice Day and Veterans Day
Bring Back Armistice Day and Honor the Real Heroes
November 11, 2017]
---- How in heck did Armistice Day become Veterans Day? Established by Congress in 1926 to "perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations, (and later) a day dedicated to the cause of world peace," Armistice Day was widely recognized for almost 30 years. As part of that, many churches rang their bells on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – the hour in 1918 that the guns fell silent on the Western Front by which time 16 million had died in the horror of World War I. To be blunt about it, in 1954 Armistice Day was hijacked by a militaristic US congress and renamed Veterans Day. Today few Americans understand the original purpose of Armistice Day, or even remember it. The message of peace seeking has been all but erased. Worst of all, Veterans Day has devolved into a hyper-nationalistic quasi-religious celebration of war and the putatively valiant warriors who wage it. [Read More] Also interesting/useful on 11/11 are Kathy Kelly, "Let's Celebrate Peace," [Link]; and "The Best Way to Honor a Vet is With the Truth"November 9, 2017] [Link] The Nation has a list with links to the top-ten-veterans-day-songs/
GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE BREAKDOWN
Climate change victims need official refugee status: Oxfam
By Marion Candau, EURACTIV [November 12, 2017]
---- With the COP23 climate conference ongoing in Bonn, Oxfam published a troubling report on people displaced by climate change. EURACTIV France reports. Since 2008, about 26 million people have been displaced each year due to natural disasters. The figure for 2016 was 23.5 million, according to Oxfam's report "Uprooted by climate change", published on 6 November. This figure doesn't take into account all people displaced by "slow" catastrophes, like progressive drought and rising sea levels. Oxfam reports that people in developing countries are five times more at risk than people in developed countries, who are largely responsible for man-made climate change. "It is not up to poorer countries to deal with climate change impacts for which they are not responsible." [Read More] Another and interesting perspective re: climate refugees is this essay by and 'Climate Justice Means No Walls': Sharing Untold Stories of Climate Migration," [Link]
(Video) Bill McKibben on Future of the Paris Climate Accord & U.S. Role at COP23 Climate Talks in Germany
From Democracy Now! [November 10, 2017]
---- As Democracy Now! heads to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, we speak with 350.org's Bill McKibben. Several U.S. delegations are scheduled to attend despite the fact that President Donald Trump says he is pulling the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. The Trump administration is sending officials to push coal, gas and nuclear power during a presentation at the U.N. climate summit. Meanwhile, a coalition of U.S. cities, companies, universities and faith groups have opened a 2,500-square-meter pavilion outside the U.N. climate conference called "We are Still In"—an effort to persuade other countries that wide swaths of the United States are still committed to the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. [See the Program]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
We Need a Truly Grassroots Democratic Party: A Call for DNC Chair Tom Perez To Implement Findings Of #UnityReformCommission
By
---- In an email sent on Monday, November 6, 2017, Senator Bernie Sanders emphasized that we need to rebuild the Democratic Party. We need a Democratic Party that is as open, as inclusive, and as progressive as it can possibly be. In the email, he also asked supporters to sign a petition calling on DNC Chairman Tom Perez to accept, support, and implement the findings of the Unity Reform Commission.
The text from the email in full follows: "Politics is not a baseball game, and it is not a soap opera. People are hurting in this country, and our job is not to be distracted by political gossip and Donald Trump's tweets. Our job is to revitalize American democracy and bring millions of people into the political process who today do not vote and who do not believe that government is relevant to their lives." [Read More]
Drilling, Drilling, Everywhere... Will the Trump Administration Take Down the Arctic Refuge?
By Subhankar Banerjee, Tom Dispatch [November 2017]
By Subhankar Banerjee, Tom Dispatch [November 2017]
---- What happens in the Arctic doesn't just stay up north. It affects the world, as that region is the integrator of our planet's climate systems, atmospheric and oceanic. At the moment, the northernmost places on Earth are warming at more than twice the global average, a phenomenon whose impact is already being felt planetwide. Welcome to the world of climate breakdown -- and to the world of Donald Trump. The set of climate feedbacks contributing to further warming in the Arctic are about to be aided and abetted by President Trump, his Interior Department, and a Republican-controlled Congress. The impact of their decisions will be experienced around the world. [Read More]
We're Sick of Racism, Literally
---- More than 700 studies on the link between discrimination and health have been published since 2000. This body of work establishes a connection between discrimination and physical and mental well-being. With all of these effects, it is no wonder that more than 100,000 black people die prematurely each year. … We shouldn't need the specter of disease to denounce hatred in all its forms. Racism, bigotry, sexism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, xenophobia, should have no place in our society. But the illness associated with discrimination adds injury to insult and magnifies the suffering of these times. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
UN rapporteur urges sanctions on Israel for driving Palestinians 'back to the dark ages'
By Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss [October 31, 2017]
---- Last week [i.e. the week of 10/22] there was a significant development in the international response to the Israeli occupation when the UN rapporteur for human rights in the occupied territories came out with a harsh report saying the world was too passive about the occupation. The "duration of this occupation is without precedent or parallel in today's world," the report said. Israel has "driven Gaza back to the dark ages" due to denial of water and electricity and freedom of movement. There is a "darkening stain" on the world's legal framework because other countries have treated the occupation as normal, and done nothing to resist Israel's "colonial ambition par excellence," which includes two sets of laws for Israelis and Palestinians. [Read More]
Israel's New Historians, Hamas, and the BDS Movement
An interview with Avi Shlaim, from Jadaliyya [October 23, 2017]
[FB – During the first intifada – the late 1980s and early 1990s – a number of Israeli historians used newly opened archives to initiate a painful discussion in Israel and among many historians about the true nature of Israel's borning moment in 1947, 1948, and 1949. The research results were not a pretty picture, and were available to attack the legitimacy of the State of Israel, and to support the Palestinian narrative of a "nakbah" (disaster) in 1948-49. Among these "new historians" was Avi Shlaim, whose book The Iron Wall, a history of Israel and the Arab world from 1948 to 1998, is a standard and very readable text.]
---- Avi Shlaim is Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. One of Israel's foremost "New Historians", he is the author of, among other works, Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (1988), and The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2000). A vocal critic of Israel and its policies and despite acknowledging the "gross injustice" that befell the Palestinians in 1948, Shlaim nevertheless insists there are fundamental distinctions between Israel before and after 1967. In this wide-ranging interview with Jadaliyya, he discusses Israel's New Historians, his current support of a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his Iraqi heritage, and his troubled relationship with Israel of which he remains a citizen. [Read More]
OUR HISTORY
Epilogue to a Revolution
By China Miéville,
[FB – China Miéville is best known (to me at least) as a writer of strange and interesting science fiction novels. So it was a surprise to learn that he had written a "straight" history of the Russian Revolution. This is an excerpt from his new book, October: The Story of the Russian Revolution. It is the last chapter, in which the author attempts to account for how and when the revolution went off the rails, and degenerated into "Stalinism." – Back in the day, among some leftists there was a heated discussion about how? why? and especially when? the radical hopes of the 1917 revolutionaries were lost. Was it during the Civil War and thus in Lenin's lifetime? Or was it not until Stalin gained complete domination over the Party and the bureaucracy, say in 1929? Or was it …? I think the author has produced a lucid picture of the odds against the revolution's success, and how these long odds couldn't be overcome. But we report and you decide.]
---- Late evening of October 26, 1917. Lenin stands before the Second Congress of Soviets. He grips the lectern. He has kept his audience waiting — it is nearly 9 PM — and now he waits himself, silent, as applause rolls over him. At last he bends forward and, in a hoarse voice, speaks his first, famous words to the gathering. "We shall now proceed to construct the socialist order." That provokes new delight. A roar. … "The war is ended!" comes a hushed exclamation. "The war is ended!" …But the war is not yet ended, and the order that will be constructed is anything but socialist. Instead, the months and years that follow will see the revolution embattled, assailed, isolated, ossified, broken. We know where this is going: purges, gulags, starvation, mass murder. October is still ground zero for arguments about fundamental, radical social change. Its degradation was not a given, was not written in any stars. The story of the hopes, struggles, strains, and defeats that follow 1917 has been told before and will be again. That story, and above all the questions arising from it — the urgencies of change, of how change is possible, of the dangers that will beset it — stretch vastly beyond us. These last pages can only offer a fleeting glance.
