Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
November 20, 2022
Hello All – On Tuesday a missile from the Ukraine war hit Poland, killing two people. The initial reporting stated that the missile was a Russian one. Poland called for a NATO meeting to be convened. Immediately, the world had a real-time focus on one of the dangers raised by the Russian aggression against Poland from the start: what if an accident brought the nuclear might of Russia and the United States/NATO face-to-face. Would it escalate to using nuclear weapons? Would humanity survive?
As it turned out, by Wednesday the official story was that it was a Ukrainian missile that struck Poland, an accident in the course of attempting to counter a Russian missile barrage. All is well … nothing to see here.
But of course we saw it and experienced the foreboding of what might be to come. Presumably the war planners and deep thinkers on all sides of the conflict did also. What lessons, what conclusions might they have drawn? Will there be new openings for diplomacy, for compromise? Some of the reading linked below addresses this question.
And this week the COP 27 in Egypt concluded its work. While some useful things happened (see below), the world remains on its steady march to unacceptable, un-survivable global heating. As another article linked below (by professor Rajan Menon) details, the long-term damage of the Ukraine war – whoever "wins" – is likely to be that the world will have lost precious time in responding to the existential crisis of our climate crisis. The collateral damage done by the war to our world food supply will bring millions face-to-face with famine and death. Do the contending war parties have the right to inflict this terror on the world? Millions of people think not.
Some useful/insightful reading on the Ukraine war
Chomsky: Options for Diplomacy Decline as Russia's War on Ukraine Escalates
An interview with C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout [November 16, 2022]
---- Let's briefly look back at what we've been discussing for months. Prior to Putin's invasion there were options based generally on the Minsk agreements that might well have averted the crime. There is unresolved debate about whether Ukraine accepted these agreements. At least verbally, Russia appears to have done so up until not long before the invasion. The U.S. dismissed them in favor of integrating Ukraine into the NATO (that is, U.S.) military command, also refusing to take any Russian security concerns into consideration, as conceded. These moves were accelerated under Biden. Could diplomacy have succeeded in averting the tragedy? There was only one way to find out: Try. The option was ignored. [Read More]
For more on the (im)possibility of diplomacy – "Why a Diplomatic Solution to the Ukraine War is Getting More and More Elusive," b [Link]; and "Biden proves progressives were right all along on diplomacy with Russia," by Trita Parsi, MSNBC Opinion Columnist [November 15, 2022] [Link].
Fighting a War on the Wrong Planet: What Climate Change Should Have Taught Us
By
[FB] – Rajan Menon is a professor at City College and Columbia University. He has written many books, and writes frequently for Tom Dispatch].
---- Washington's vaunted "rules-based international order" has undergone a stress test following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and here's the news so far: it hasn't held up well. In fact, the disparate reactions to Vladimir Putin's war have only highlighted stark global divisions, which reflect the unequal distribution of wealth and power. … Worse yet, the divisions Vladimir Putin's invasion has highlighted have only made it more difficult to take the necessary bold steps to combat the greatest danger all of us face on this planet: climate change. Even before the war, there was no consensus on who bore the most responsibility for the problem, who should make the biggest cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, or who should provide funds to countries that simply can't afford the costs involved in shifting to green energy. Perhaps the only thing on which everyone agrees in this moment of global stress is that not enough has been done to meet the 2015 Paris climate accord target of ideally limiting the increase in global warming to 1.5 degrees Centigrade. That's a valid conclusion. According to a U.N. report published this month, the planet's warming will reach 2.4 degrees Centigrade by 2100. This is where things stood as the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference kicked off this month in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. [Read More]
The Cost of Russia's War to Ukraine's Economy
By Rajan Menon, New York Times [November 17, 2022]
---- Despite the Ukrainian Army's battlefield advances and Russia's retreats, most recently from parts of Kherson Province, Ukraine's economy has been left in tatters. A prolonged war of attrition — which seems likely — will subject it to additional strain. … Ukraine's biggest problem may not be the military threat posed by Mr. Putin's army, significant though that will remain, but rather coping with the destruction Russia's attacks wreak on its economy — and at a time when the prospects for the large and continuing flow of aid Kyiv desperately needs could diminish because of deteriorating economic conditions in the West. Despite its recent military reverses, Russia retains immense destructive power. Just within recent weeks, its missiles and drones have struck 40 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, triggering rolling blackouts across the country. Missile barrages left about 4.5 million Ukrainians without electricity. Eighty percent of Kyiv's denizens were deprived of water; 350,000 homes lost power. As this week's missile strikes show, Russia is not about to let up. Amid all this, Ukraine's leaders must meet the many basic needs of their people, whose lives have been upended. [Read More]
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, starting with December 5th, from 5:30 to 6:00 pm in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell.
To learn about our new project, "Beauty as Fuel for Change," go here; and to make a financial contribution to the project, go here. (And for Susan Rutman's video of October 2022 in Vermont, go here.)
If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. Another Facebook page focuses on the climate crisis. 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 Newsletter readers focus on the music of Eva Cassidy, whose beautiful voice we lost 26 years ago. This entry was prompted by SR, who sent me to Eva's beautiful "Over the Rainbow." I think you will also like "Autumn Leaves" and "True Colors." (And The Historian reminds me to mention that "Over the Rainbow" was written by lifelong socialist Yip Harburg.) Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW Weekly Reader
Featured Essays
Extreme Heat Will Change Us
From The New York Times [November 18, 2022]
---- Half the world could soon face dangerous heat. We measured the daily toll it is already taking. Just how bad it gets will depend on how much humanity curbs climate change. But some of the far-reaching effects of extreme heat are already inevitable, and they will levy a huge tax on entire societies — their economies, health and way of life.
While people in hot climates can build up tolerance to heat as their bodies become more efficient at staying cool, that can protect them only so much. We measured heat and humidity for the scenes in this story to broadly show heat exposure. We also recorded other factors that determine physical risk, including sun exposure, wind and exertion. As we tracked the daily activities of people in Basra and Kuwait City, we documented their heat exposure and how it had transformed their lives. [Amazing Article - Read More[. Also of (scary) interest – "The Amazon forest is reaching a tipping point and starting to collapse," by Terrence McCoy, Washington Post [November 18, 2022] [Link]. For some more insights, "Ending Amazon deforestation: 4 essential reads about the future of the world's largest rainforest," from The Conversation [November 18, 2022] [Link].
How Saidiya Hartman Changed the Study of Black Life
By Elias Rodriques, The Nation [November 3, 2022'
---- Saidiya Hartman has shaped studies of Black life for over two decades. Her first book, 1997's Scenes of Subjection, argued that slavery was foundational to the American project and its notions of liberty. Her follow-up, 2006's Lose Your Mother, combines elements of historiography and memoir in exploring the experience and legacy of enslavement. Here she first used a speculative method of writing history given the silences of the archive. And her most recent book, 2019's Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, examines the revolution of everyday life enacted in the practices of young Black women and queer people that created and sustained expansive notions of freedom. After 25 years, Hartman's influence is everywhere. Her coining of the phrase "the afterlife of slavery" changed the ways that historians consider the long ramifications of the chattel regime on Black life. … I spoke with Hartman earlier this year about the republication of Scenes of Subjection on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, about the ways that people in the 1990s misunderstood race and slavery, and about the expansive visions of freedom that enslaved people cultivated. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. [Read More]
War & Peace
Will Biden Sell Advanced Drones to Ukraine?
By Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept [
---- The appetite for more powerful armaments and advanced technologies, engulfed in an atmosphere of insatiable "must-have" thinking in Washington, D.C., has heralded a new golden age for the manufacturers of war. At times, Congress has allocated billions of dollars more in defense authorizations than the record-shattering budgets requested by the president. In addition to direct sales for Ukraine, the war industry is getting showered with contracts to replace the weapons that the Pentagon is transferring from its own stockpiles to Kyiv. The White House this week officially requested nearly $40 billion in new aid to Ukraine to fight its war against Russia's invasion, which would — in a single piece of legislation — double the total amount of overt military aid allocated to Kyiv by the U.S. since Joe Biden took office. It is no coincidence that the defense industry is on track to spend less money lobbying the federal government than at any point since the initial years of the Iraq War. Business is booming. …Since Russia launched its invasion in February, the only consequential debates on support for Ukraine have revolved around whether the U.S. and NATO should get more directly involved in confronting Moscow (which Biden has consistently rejected) and, in specific cases, whether the U.S. should give Ukraine sensitive defense technology and weapons systems. The Ukraine war has presented the defense industry the opportunity to have its latest innovations tested on a real battlefield against a powerful nation-state, with the added perceived geopolitical bonus of significantly degrading the war capabilities and stockpiles of Russia, a country the U.S. has, once again, declared its arch-nemesis. At the same time, the Pentagon has expressed clear reservations about how high up the proprietary defense technology chain this trend should extend. [Read More]
Additional info on the merchants of death – "Corporate Weapons Heaven Is a Hell on Earth: Joe Biden, the National Security State, and Arms Sales," by[Link]; and "Why the War Party is the real winner of the midterms," by Connor Echols, Responsible Statecraft [November 14, 2022] [Link].
The Climate Crisis – The COP27 in Egypt
FB – The COP 27 is over. Two issues of great interest were the near-death fate of Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abd Ed Fattah and the question of whether the richer countries of the world would pay the poorer countries "loss and damage," perhaps amounting to tens of billions of dollars, for the impact of the climate crisis, which the poorer countries have (for the most part) done little to bring about.
To follow developments at the COP 27, no better sources can be found than the daily reports from 350.org founder Bill McKibben and the daily broadcasts from Democracy Now! from the COP itself (here, here, here, and here).
And for a useful overview of how & where the US climate movement is going, read "How Young Climate Activists Built a Mass Movement to Be Reckoned With," by
----- When I became a climate organizer in college in the early 2000s, the words "youth climate movement" referred more to something activists hoped to bring into existence than a real-world phenomenon. Growing numbers of young people were concerned about the climate crisis and had begun organizing in small groups on college campuses and in communities throughout the U.S. But as much as we talked about building a mass movement, it was mainly just a dream at that point. Almost 20 years later it's impossible to deny a very real, vibrant youth climate movement has become an important force in national politics. … This week, all eyes are on world leaders meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt for the latest round of international climate talks — but whatever agreements come out of that gathering will ultimately be less important than how activists respond. This makes now a particularly good time to share some lessons from the last two decades of climate organizing. [Read More]
The State of the Union
Black Liberation Elder to Be Freed From Prison — but Only on His Deathbed
By Natasha Lennard, The Intercept [
---- Mutulu Shakur will not die in prison. Once he is free, though, he will only be free to die. On Thursday, the U.S. Parole Commission confirmed that the Black liberation elder and stepfather of rapper Tupac will be permitted, after more than 36 years behind bars, to spend his final days outside of prison walls. Shakur's belated release is a poignant example of the criminal punishment system's breathtaking cruelty. While Shakur's case turned on an obscure parole commission that today directly affects several hundred people, the broader forces behind his unnecessary and protracted imprisonment cast a shadow over America's entire sprawling mass incarceration system. [Read More] To learn more about the fate of older prisoners facing the likelihood of dying in prison, check out "Release Aging People in Prison / RAPP," the movement "To End Elder Incarceration and Build Racial Justice." [Link].
Israel/Palestine
Reflections on a Decade: when a youth movement attempted to redefine Palestinian politics
ByNovember 16, 2022]
[FB] - Mariam Barghouti introduces Mondoweiss' "Reflections on a Decade" series, a collection of personal narratives by Palestinians who participated in a youth movement that attempted to redefine Palestinian politics in the wake of the Arab uprisings.
---- My aunts and cousins all gather in our humble home located at the entrance of our village, Aboud, 18 km northwest of Ramallah. Our grandfather, 94, sits on the couch as dementia eats away at what little remains of his memory. We remind him of who we are, and in the evenings we reflect on who we were. My younger cousin, now in her mid-twenties, finds old images of us at a protest in Ramallah. It was 2012, and I was barely 18. Defiant and roaring, erupting with inspired courage, I remember frantically looking for my cousin, Sabi, in between the chanting crowds — she was 14 at the time and visiting Palestine for the summer — when we were suddenly caught in a wave of flying batons, the shouts and screams of protestors' anger and pain, the piercing sirens of the ambulances, the journalists trying to protect their cameras from police confiscation, and the rush of Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces coming in from every direction. … Today, ten years after the brutal beatings and the repression that left us bruised and heartbroken, we face the terrible realization that what was broken cannot be mended except through change. [Read More]
Israeli Raids in the West Bank Push Palestinians to Brink Again
By Alice Speri, The Intercept [
----- For three weeks this fall, Israeli forces closed all roads leading in and out of Nablus, a Palestinian city of 170,000 people and the economic hub of the occupied northern West Bank. While Israel partially lifted the road closures earlier this month, the 21-day lockdown signaled a remarkable escalation of Israeli force in a part of the West Bank that is — at least nominally — under the control of the Palestinian Authority. But the incursions and blockade of Nablus were only the latest in a growing series of Israeli acts of aggression in the West Bank that have put Palestinians on edge even before an Israeli election returned right-wing former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power this month. … Outside the West Bank, however, few people took notice. …Both the recent siege of Nablus and a stream of military incursions over the last months in other cities in the West Bank have largely been aimed at suppressing a new crop of armed Palestinian groups that have emerged in response to both the protracted occupation and growing frustration with the Palestinian Authority. The groups — including Nablus's "Lion's Den" and Jenin's "Hornet's Nest" — represent a continuation of a long tradition of Palestinian militant resistance but also a remarkable departure from earlier iterations of it. Made up mostly of young men who were not around during, or are too young to remember, the Second Intifada, these groups conceive of themselves as local defense units, targeting Israeli forces from within the occupied territory. Crucially, they also propose an alternative to long-entrenched factionalism that has dominated Palestinian politics and armed resistance in the past. [Read More]
Our History
Staughton Lynd, ¡Presente!
From the Zinn Education Project [November 17, 2022]
[FB] – One of my heroes. A scholar turned activist, never losing his connection to "peoples' history." Learn more about him.]
---- People's historian Staughton Lynd died on Nov. 17 after an extraordinary life as a conscientious objector, peace and civil rights activist, tax resister, professor, author, and lawyer. Lynd inspired us with his role as a people's historian, always working in solidarity with struggles for justice today. Lynd served as director of the Freedom Schools in the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project. He worked with prisoners and challenged the prison-industrial complex. While teaching at Spelman College, his family and Howard Zinn's developed a lifelong friendship. Zinn said of Lynd, "He is an exemplar of strength and gentleness in the quest for a better world." Among Lynd's many books is Doing History from the Bottom Up, in which he described three key perspectives that are guides for any teacher or student of history.
1. History from below is not, or should not be, mere description of hitherto invisible poor and oppressed people: it should challenge mainstream versions of the past.
2. The United States was founded on crimes against humanity directed at Native Americans and enslaved African Americans.
3. Participants in making history should be regarded not only as sources of facts but as colleagues in interpreting what happened.
[Read More] ZNet has posted excerpts from the Introduction to A Staughton Lynd Reader [Link]. A writer for Mondoweiss recalls Staugton's concern about Palestinian rights. Lots more about Staughton Lynd coming soon on-line.
