CFOW Weekend Update - vigil Saturday; rally Monday in White Plains

CFOW Weekend Update

April 14, 2017

 

Hello Stalwarts – Two big events coming up.  Please join us Saturday at the VFW Plaza at noon for our weekly antiwar/pro-peace vigil/protest.  Our protest will focus on military spending (Tax Day is coming up) and on the threat of war.  Trump's bombing of Syria and then Afghanistan and the looming collision with North Korea make this moment an especially dangerous one.  Please come to the rally, not only to raise an antiwar voice, but so we can talk together about what's happening and what we might do.

 

And on Monday, CFOW will be the host/lead organization for the "Justice Monday" demo/rally in White Plains at noon.  Please make a big effort to be there for this important event.  This is a weekly event organized by a coalition of Westchester progressive groups (including CFOW).  Past Justice Monday's have focused on refugees, environmental and housing issues, etc.  This is the first Justice Monday to focus on antiwar.  We will be meeting at noon at the Renaissance Plaza (Main St. and Mamaroneck Ave.), at the fountain.  Linda Snider and Nick Mottern are coordinating our presentation.  Nick will have his drone, and Nick, Susan Rutman, and I will be among the speakers.  One of our leaflets will be a version of our statement opposed to bombing Syria, and one will be about military spending.  For more information, or if you need a ride/can offer a ride, please send a return email.

 

Our statement opposing the bombing of Syria has generated some controversy.  In preparation for Monday's rally, we sent the statement to all the organizations in the Westchester coalition (15-20), and to other peace and justice organizations in/near the Rivertowns.  WESPAC, Indivisible Rivertowns, and Social Action 10591 (Sleepy Hollow) have endorsed the statement, but no others.  A half-dozen organizations have informed us that they can't or won't endorse the statement.  Some have said they have problems making a decision, others have stated objections. – I find this very interesting and food for thought.  Undoubtedly other organizations will endorse the statement in the coming days, but it is clear that war/antiwar is for many organizations not an issue about which they have been thinking, and/or about which they do not have unity.  To me this says that we may be optimistic when we sometimes complain that we are only "preaching to the choir."  The non-response of many progressive organizations to the plea to protest against the Syria bombing indicates that "the choir" may not be in the church at all.  We will learn more about this in the days & weeks to come.

 

Last night the CFOW healthcare committee met.  It was a small but good meeting, following up on last Saturday's rally in Hastings for "Improved Medicare for All" or "Single-Payer."  After considering several options, the committee decided to focus its work in the coming months on pushing for the "Single-Payer" healthcare legislation now pending in Albany, This means local education (e.g. leafleting at the farmers market) and targeting legislators about the importance of Single Payer, especially the state senators who are members of the Independent Democrat Caucus (IDC), the nine (I think) members of the Senate who are elected as Democrats but work with the Republicans to control the Senate.  Although the IDC senators are supposedly in favor of Single Payer, by working with the Republicans they allow the Republicans to determine what legislation does, and what does not, get to be voted on. So far the Republicans and the IDC are not letting the Single Payer legislation come to a vote. – As some members of the healthcare committee are also members of NYS CD16 Indivisible (Engel's district), we will be exploring the possibility of working with their health committee on this particular project, as we believe the Indivisible group has the same goal and tactics in mind. – If you would like to work with the Healthcare Committee, please send a return email.  Our next meeting is on Wednesday, May 3^rd.

 

We had an interesting discussion at last Sunday's CFOW meeting about flying the American flag upside down at our vigils.  We began doing this a few weeks ago.  Under the flag code, etc., flying the flag upside down is a symbol of distress, a warning/plea that we are in danger. – However, at the healthcare rally, several participants said that they were unhappy with the upside down flag, and there is a letter in The Enterprise this week from some friends at the rally saying the same thing.  It is "disrespectful," "unpatriotic." – The discussion at our meeting revealed that we had a broad and evenly divided range of views on this question.  The upside down flag strongly stated our distress at the state of our country, but it appeared to turn some people off and may interfere with getting out our primary message.  In the end we brought in Solomon's Sword and agreed that we would fly the upside down flag (but only at our antiwar events, not at events with others such as the healthcare rally), and that we would attach a sign to the flag explaining what we were doing and why, and that the street leafletters would have a short leaflet explaining the use of the upside down flag for anyone who wanted to discuss it. – And so the Great Flag Experiment begins, and we agreed we would see what happens and modify our plans if need be. – To me it was a very interesting discussion.  I remember in the first weeks of CFOW in September 2001 when many people were flying American flags on their cars.  Should we do that?  We were patriotic too.  But how could we make people understand that we were patriotic AND opposed war? – We ended up fllying UN flags, kindly produced by one of our early members who worked at the UN.

 

That's all I'm writing for now.  Below I'm pasting in a few articles that imo are illuminating with our current military escalations and the dangerous possibility of a military conflict with North Korea, leading to who knows what?

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

478-3848

 

SOME GOOD/USEFUL WEEKEND READING

 

New Revelations Belie Trump Claims on Syria Chemical Attack

By Gareth Porter, Truthout [April 13, 2017]

---- Two new revelations contradict the Trump administration's line on the April 4 attack. A former US official knowledgeable about the episode told Truthout that the Russians had actually informed their US counterparts in Syria of the Syrian military's plan to strike the warehouse in Khan Sheikhoun 24 hours before the strike. And a leading analyst on military technology, Dr. Theodore Postol of MIT, has concluded that the alleged device for a sarin attack could not have been delivered from the air but only from the ground, meaning that the chemical attack may not have been the result of the Syrian airstrike.  …An internal administration paper on the issue now circulating in Washington, a copy of which Truthout obtained, clearly refers to "a regime airstrike on a terrorist ammunition dump in the eastern suburbs of Khan Sheikhoun." [Read More]

 

The War Danger on the Korean Peninsula

[FB – It is now Saturday in Korea.  Some observers were predicting that North Korea would test a nuclear weapon on Saturday.  President Trump has said that a North Korean test would be met by a US military response.  North Korea has stated that US military bases, including the ones in South Korea, would be at risk if the US attacked North Korea.  A US naval "armada" was reported several days ago heading towards North Korea.  (Where is it now?  No longer in the news….)  We now know that at least two US destroyers are off Korea, one within shooting distance of the North Korean nuclear test site.  (It was a destroyer that fired the Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian air base.) – South Korea has impeached its president, and new elections will be held in three weeks.  The leading presidential candidates have spoken out against military action against North Korea, but the incumbent substitute president is supposedly cooperating with the United States…; in any case, not someone likely to speak up/out against the Godfather. – One of the articles linked (reprinted) below is by Bruce Cumings, the leading US historian of Korea.  An historical perspective is important because, for Americans, Korean history started about three days ago, while for Koreans, the memories of the destruction of North Korea between 1950 and 1953 are kept intensely alive. – The other article is by military expert Bill Arkin, the most useful writing I could find about the military options now in play.]

 

This Is What's Really Behind North Korea's Nuclear Provocations

By Bruce Cumings, The Nation [March 23, 2017]

---- North Korea is the only country in the world to have been systematically blackmailed by US nuclear weapons going back to the 1950s, when hundreds of nukes were installed in South Korea. … Why on earth would Pyongyang not seek a nuclear deterrent? But this crucial background doesn't enter mainstream American discourse. History doesn't matter, until it does—when it rears up and smacks you in the face. [Read More]

 

U.S. may launch strike if North Korea reaches for nuclear trigger

By William M. Arkin, etal., NBC News [April 13, 2017]

---- The U.S. is prepared to launch a preemptive strike with conventional weapons against North Korea should officials become convinced that North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test, multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News. North Korea has warned that a "big event" is near, and U.S. officials say signs point to a nuclear test that could come as early as this weekend.

The intelligence officials told NBC News that the U.S. has positioned two destroyers capable of shooting Tomahawk cruise missiles in the region, one just 300 miles from the North Korean nuclear test site.

[Read More]

 

Some Useful/important Stories from Democracy Now!

(Video) Only Mass Disruption From Below Can Stop Right-Wing Revolution & Trump's Absolute Power

An interview with journalist Alan Nairn [April 12, 2017]

---- As President Trump's administration continues to be rocked by investigations and scandals, we continue our conversation with award-winning investigative journalist Allan Nairn. We asked him to talk more about his assessment of the opening months of the Trump presidency. [Link]

 

(Video) U.S. Drops Its Biggest Non-Nuclear Bomb on Afghans, Already Traumatized by Decades of War

Including an interview with peace activist Kathy Kelly [April 14, 2017]

---- In Afghanistan on Thursday, the United States military dropped its most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever—the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, nicknamed "The Mother of All Bombs." The 21,600-pound bomb reportedly unleashed an explosion equivalent to 11 tons of TNT with a mile-wide blast radius. This comes as the United Nations recently published a report saying airstrikes from the Afghan government forces and the U.S.-led coalition killed nearly 600 civilians in 2016—almost twice as many than in 2015. The U.S. war in Afghanistan is the longest war in U.S. history, extending into its 16th year. We are joined by Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare. She just returned from Afghanistan earlier this month. We also speak with Wazhmah Osman, professor of media and communication at Temple University and member of the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association. [Link]

 

(Video) This is Most Dangerous Moment in U.S.-Russian Relations Since Cuban Missile Crisis

An interview with Prof. Stephen Cohen [April 13, 2017]

---- On Wednesday during a press conference, President Trump said relations with Russia had reached a new low point. Trump's comments came a day after the White House accused Russia of attempting to cover up the role of the Syrian government in the recent chemical attack in Syria that killed 87 people. Russia has rejected the claim, saying the U.S. has been too quick to blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. We speak to Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University. [Link]

 

 

CFOW Statement on the Bombing of Syria

From Concerned Families of Westchester

April 11, 2017

 

We Oppose the US Attack on Syria

 

Concerned Families of Westchester strongly opposes the Trump administration's aggression against Syria. Opposition is doubly important now because of the bi-partisan support bombing Syria has received from our nation's mainstream media and political elite.  We call on organizations and individuals throughout Westchester to join us in rejecting this immoral and unwarranted use of force and not allow such a dangerous development to go unchallenged.

 

Our reasons for opposing the April 6, 2017 bombing of the Syrian airbase are as follows:

1. The bombing was an act of aggression under international law and the UN Charter, and an unconstitutional act under US law.
   

1. Under the UN Charter, the use of force or the threat of the use of force in international disputes is legal only if a) the use of force is done in self-defense in response to an attack; or b) the use of force is in accord with a resolution of the UN Security Council. The US bombing met neither of these requirements.
   

2. Since 2001, Presidents Bush and Obama justified military action by using the congressional resolution passed after 9/11, which authorizes the use of "necessary and appropriate force" against those who "planned, authorized, committed, or aided" the al-Qaeda attacks of 9/11.  There is no way that Syria can be connected with 9/11 and al-Qaeda. Without explicit congressional authorization, the attack on Syria was unlawful.
   

2. The US act of aggression preceded and interrupted attempts to determine just what happened in Syria on April 4, 2017, and just who was responsible for the release of poison gas that killed dozens of civilians. The Syrians and their Russian allies claim that the Syrian bomb hit a target in a rebel area that was either a bomb storage facility or a bomb manufacturing facility.  What is the truth?  Following the chemical weapons incident on April 4^th, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a Fact Finding Mission to Syria. The US attack on the airbase negated   the possibility that the UN might take informed action on this question.
   

3. US aggression against Syria only prolongs a war that has already killed more than 500,000 Syrians and displaced millions. Moreover, US military action in Syria raises the dangerous possibility of a military conflict with Russian forces there. A ceasefire and negotiations, not military action for "regime change," should shape US policy in Syria, as should greater efforts to help refugees and those displaced in Syria itself.
   

Discussion and Request for Endorsement

Opposition from progressive organizations to Trump's attack on Syria is especially important now because leaders of both the Democrat and Republican parties and almost all of the mainstream media have been strongly supportive of the use of force against Syria.  If the "progressive" base of our country does not take a strong public stand against Trump's aggression against Syria, this will signal the US political elite that aggression – not only against Syria, but possibly against North Korea, Iran, etc. – will be politically rewarded.  The path to ending the conflict in Syria is clear: an end to efforts to overthrow the Assad government, the establishment of a ceasefire, and renewed peace negotiations. War has been tried, but it doesn't work; give peace a chance!

We ask our friends and allies throughout Westchester to endorse this statement and/or to draft their own statement in opposition to the US bombing of Syria.  We think it is incumbent on all progressive organizations to take a stand against war in this moment of peril, whatever the primary focus of the organization happens to be. More generally, we cannot have the goods and services we want and need at home if we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year on wars abroad.  Without constraining and eventually ending our nation's drive for worldwide domination, the need for real "human security" at home will remain unsatisfied.

 

 

References

 

What Happened on April 4^th?

Phyllis Bennis, "Trump, Syria, and Chemical Weapons: What We Know, What We Don't, and the Dangers Ahead," Common Dreams [April 6, 2017] [Link]

 

Vijay Prashad, "Is Trump Going to Commit the Next Great American Catastrophe in Syria?" Alternet

[April 5, 2017] [Link]

 

Kevin Gosztola, "How Do Media Outlets Know Source Of Chemical Attack Was Syrian Government?"

ShadowProof [April 5, 20107] [Link]

 

By Col. W. Patrick Lang, "US Intelligence Already Knows Assad Did Not Drop Chemical Weapons," Popular Resistance [April 9, 2017] [Link].

 

Scott Ritter, "Wag The Dog — How Al Qaeda Played Donald Trump And The American Media," Huffington Post [April 9, 2017] [Link].

 

The Attack on Syria was Illegal and an Act of Aggression

Joshua Keating, "Are Donald Trump's Airstrikes on Syria Legal?" Slate [April 7, 2017] [Link]

 

Alex Emmons, "Legal Experts Question Whether Trump's Syria Strike Was Constitutional," The Intercept [

[April 7, 2017] [Link]

 

Some Responses to the Attack

Glenn Greenwald, "The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria,"' The Intercept [April 7, 2017] [Link].

 

Norman Solomon, "Russia-Baiting Pushed Trump to Attack Syria—and Increases the Risks of Nuclear Annihilation," Common Dreams [April 10, 2017] [Link]

 

[Statement by Veterans for Peace], "Veterans For Peace Condemns U.S. Actions In Syria" [Link].

 

CFOW Monthly Meeting tonight Sunday April 9, 2017

Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm Street, Dobbs Ferry, NY, 7 – 9 PM.

CFOW Weekend Update - Rally Saturday! Meeting Sunday!

CFOW Weekend Update

April 6, 2017

 

Hello Stalwarts – We have another busy weekend ahead of us.  On Saturday, instead of our usual vigil in Hastings, the CFOW Healthcare Committee will hold a rally in support of "Improved Medicare for All" or "Single-Payer Health Insurance." – This is part of a "National Day of Action" sponsored by about 20 healthcare-focused organizations that are advocating a "single-payer" healthcare program.  NB – the rally starts at 11:00 a.m. at the VFW Plaza.  We need the help of many people to pull this off – sign holding, leafleting, literature table, etc. – so please come 15 minutes early if you can.

 

ALSO, we are short of speakers.  In addition to a few real speeches, we plan to have an "open mic" to allow people to speak from their own experience about why "Improved Medicare for All" is important to them.  However, medical people seem to be shy about speaking in public; so if you can step up and speak from the heart for a few minutes about this issue, it would be a boost to the rally.  Please consider it; and please send a return email if you will speak.  Thanks!

 

And on Sunday we have our CFOW monthly meeting!  As usual, we'll be at the Dobbs Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, starting at 7 pm and ending promptly at 9 pm.  In addition to a review of our recent and current activity, there are several events coming up for us to discuss.

 

ALSO, several people have suggested that it would make our meetings more interesting if we had a chance for some good discussion. One topic on my mind (and see below) is the escalation of our several wars, the possibility of serious warfighting in Syria and/or North Korea, and the general lack of interest in opposition to war on the part of the newly mobilized anti-Trump Resistance.  How can we change this?  What are the barriers that prevent people from thinking/acting about war when they are mobilized to think and act about other parts of the Trump Agenda? Thoughts about this, or suggestions for other topics for discussion at our meeting?  Please send a return email.  Thanks.

 

An issue of great concern

With barely a pause for breath, the mainstream media and political/military elite opinion has generated immense pressure on President Trump to "take action" against Syria for their alleged responsibility for the chemical attack against civilians a few days ago. – As the article linked below by V. J. Prashad argues, a thorough investigation re: responsibility should be conducted before Trump takes military action. – We have been here before: in August 2013 a chemical attack was similarly ascribed to Syria's President Assad, and we were within hours of a US bombing campaign against Syria before Russia proposed, and the United States accepted, a deal by which Syria would rid itself "voluntarily" of its chemical weapons stockpiles. Months later, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh published an article in The London Review of Books [publication in the United States proved impossible] that called the official account into question, and provided lots of evidence that the attack was the responsibility of the anti-Assad Islamic rebels. – While the question of responsibility for the 2013 chemical attack remains controversial, the controversy is a reminder that an investigation of responsibility should be completed before any other measures are taken.

 

As V. J. Prashad points out in his article linked below, for the Syrian government to launch a chemical attack on civilians – an attack with zero military significance – makes no sense, especially at this moment.  Just days after leading foreign policy figures in the Trump administration, including the president himself, were announcing that the United States no longer considered regime change in Syria to be its objective – rather, the objective was combating ISIS, etc. – why would Syria take the one step that would snatch great danger from the jaws of (to the Assad government) "victory"?  Common sense suggests that the actions of those entities that have a clear interest in continuing the war against Syria/Assad should be thoroughly examined, as well as the actions of Syria itself.  But will the US political climate allow this to happen?  I am not optimistic.

 

Enough for today.  See you Saturday!

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

For CFOW

478-3848

 

Coming Attractions

Saturday, April 8^th – CFOW and its new Healthcare Committee will sponsor a rally in Hastings, at the VFW Plaza, in support of "Improved Medicare for All," or "Single-Payer."  The rally will begin at 11 a.m. and will focus on legislation now pending in Albany.  Please join us!

 

Sunday, April 9^th – The next CFOW monthly meeting will be held at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, for 7 to 9 p.m.  Wall-to-wall excitement; don't miss it!

 

Monday, April 10^th – This week's "Justice Monday" will focus on the lack of affordable housing in Westchester.  Sponsored by "the Westchester Social Justice Community" (of which CFOW is a member), the rally will be held from 12 to 1 pm at the Renaissance Plaza in White Plains (Main St. and Mamaroneck Ave.). – For more information, go here.

 

Wednesday, April 12^th – The CFOW Election Integrity group will meet at the Hastings Community Center (lower level) starting at 7 p.m.  (NB this is a change of date from 4/19 – for more info and to double check on the starting time, contact Allegra Dengler at allegrad@aol.com.)

 

Thursday, April 13^th – The CFOW Healthcare group will meet at the Hastings Community Center (lower level) at 7 p.m.  On the agenda will be furthering cause of "Improved Medicare for All," with legislation pending in both Congress and the state legislature in Albany.

 

Monday, April 17^th – CFOW will be the organizing group for this week's "Justice Monday," with a focus on war and the cost of our wars, just two days before people pay their income tax (60% going to war).  Justice Monday events take place in White Plains from 12 to 1 pm at the fountain at Renaissance Plaza, at the corner of Mamaroneck Ave. and Main St.  If you can help organize this event, and/or if you need a ride or can offer a ride, please send a return email.

 

Saturday, April 29^th – Hundreds of thousands of people will be in Washington, DC for the Peoples Climate March.  As the world rockets toward self-destruction and the Trump Agenda eliminates the few feeble protections set up by the Obama administration against global warming and climate change, humanity is on our own to save our civilization.  To learn about the Climate March, go here.  To get a seat on a Climate March bus leaving Hastings Saturday morning, email Tara Herman (Indivisible CD16) at taraherman@mac.com , and she will send you a reservation link and more information.  The cost of the bus is $57.87 per person. There is also a bus from North White Plains. And plans are developing for rallies in both NYC (Washington Square Park) and White Plains (Renaissance Plaza, 11 a.m. to 12 noon).

 

Saturday, May 6^th – The 6^th annual "River Sweep" – organized by the Riverkeeper – will include 90 cleanups and tree planting projects from NYC to Albany.  Last year, Over 2,200 volunteers removed 49 tons of debris from the Hudson River Estuary. To learn more, and to get hooked up with local projects in Yonkers, Hastings, Dobbs, Irvington, etc., go here.

 

Saturday, May 20^th – CFOW will be one of the organizations participating in the Westchester Social Forum, at the New Rochelle High School, starting at 10 a.m. For more information, go here.

 

Saturday, June 3^rd – CFOW will once again lead off the River Arts Music Tour.  As those with working memories will recall, for the last two years we kicked off the Music Tour in Hastings with some peace and justice songs, starting at 12 and going to 1 pm, under the leadership/direction of Jenny Murphy.  So we're signed up for this again. Please start vocalizing and get ready to join our Stalwart Chorus.

 

SOME USEFUL/INTERESTING WEEKEND READING

 

Is Trump Going to Commit the Next Great American Catastrophe in Syria?

By Vijay Prashad, AlterNet [April 5, 2017]

---- [Recently,] the administration of Donald Trump said plainly what had been clear since the Russian intervention of September 2015: that regime change in Damascus was off the table. This had been the policy of the Obama administration for the past two years, but it did not directly say so. Trump's people acknowledged reality: with Russia and Iran in the picture, removal of Assad would take a fierce international conflict far greater than the tragedy that has befallen Syria. With Turkey now drifting towards the Russian-Iranian narrative and Jordan dragged into chaos by the refugee crisis, easy borders to resupply the rebels are no longer available. The defeat of the armed opposition—including the al-Qaeda proxies and others—in Aleppo was the greatest blow. For the Syrian government—at this time—to use chemical weapons in such a public way would not only have been foolhardy but it would have welcomed a U.S. attack. It seems only an utterly arrogant and blind leadership in Damascus would have committed such a crime. But the leadership in Damascus has shown that it is crafty, using openings of all kinds of ensure its survival. This is not to say that it would not have necessarily done such an attack. Eagerness to end the war before it can impose a political settlement on the rebels could have led to the use of such weapons. But this is not considered likely. [Read More]

 

(Video) Noam Chomsky on Trump's First 75 Days & Much More

From Democracy Now! [April 4, 2017]

[Q. Could you talk about the—what you're seeing now as the potential in terms of the healthcare system in the country, what they will try to do and what the potential is there?]

Noam Chomsky: Actually, there was a pretty interesting poll about it that came out a couple of days ago, simply asking people what they preferred. The Republican proposal was the lowest of the choices available. I think about 15 percent of the population were willing to accept it. Somewhat higher was the existing system, so-called Obamacare. And on that, it's worth bearing in mind that a lot of people don't know that Obamacare is the Affordable Care Act. So you have negative attitudes towards Obamacare, thanks to lots of propaganda, but more positive attitudes towards the Affordable Care Act, because of what people see. Most popular of all—over half—was the so-called public option, a government-guaranteed healthcare program, which is pretty remarkable because no one publicly advocates that. But it's been a consistent polling result for decades, that when people are asked what they want, they say that's their choice. [See the Program]

 

Teach-Ins Helped Galvanize Student Activism in the 1960s. They Can Do So Again Today.

By Marshall Sahlins, The Nation [April 6, 2017]

[FB – Marshall Sahlins was one of the initiators of the teach-in movement 62 years ago. This article might contribute to a discussion at our meeting about why antiwar mobilization is not happening now among the newly energized Resistance to the Trump Agenda.]]

---- In February of 1965, just a few months after successfully campaigning for president against Barry Goldwater on a platform that declared "peace is our first concern," Lyndon Johnson dramatically escalated the Vietnam War by ordering a sustained bombing of the North and dispatching the first American combat troops to the South. The effect of the bait-and-switch in dissident university circles was redoubled opposition to American imperial policies, ultimately culminating in a campus-specific mode of political resistance. We were fewer than thirty, the faculty who called a strike against the University of Michigan in mid-March of 1965. … By contrast to the counter-cultural rebels of the 1960s, the university student body in 2017 is in great part a bourgeoisie-in-training. The students acquire business skills in classes and upscale consumption habits in campus amenities—only then to acquire an indebtedness that puts them in precarious dependence on the wage system for many years to come. [Read More]

 

 

CFOW Newsletter - "Medicare for All" rally Saturday in Hastings

Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter

April 3, 2017

 

Hello All – We learned a lot about America's healthcare crisis during the foolish and unsuccessful attempt of the Trump administration to end "Obamacare" and replace it with something worse.  We learned that there were still millions of people without health insurance, and that the Republicans wanted to add millions more to this number.  We learned that "healthcare reform" was basically a backdoor trick to give rich people a massive tax cut.  And we learned that the Republicans had spent eight years complaining about "Obamacare" without a clue about what they wanted instead. – Now may be a propitious time to bring up the simple and practical idea of addressing our healthcare crisis by expanding Medicare to include everyone from birth, and to improve Medicare by adding features that it now lacks. – There is now legislation in both the US Congress and the New York State legislature that would do this; and in support of "Improved Medicare for All," the CFOW healthcare committee and many friends will hold a rally next Saturday, April 8^th, at the VFW Plaza in Hastings (Warburton and Spring St.) starting at 11 a.m. – We'll have some good speakers and an open mic to talk about your own healthcare needs or experiences.  Please spread the word and join us next Saturday!

 

It is now clear that President Trump's criticisms of the war policies of the Obama administration do not extend to ending the wars.  As several articles linked below show, the Trump Agenda calls for escalating the wars begun or sustained by Obama: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.  (To which we might add the threats of war with North Korea, Iran, etc.)  This is not happening with dramatic headlines, but with incremental troop deployments of 500 here, 1000 there, and by "loosening the rules" that somewhat restricted when and who US military commanders could bomb without White House approval.  The result can be seen in the massive civilian casualties suffered by people living in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan in the last few weeks. – It is tragic that, despite all this carnage, the United States has only a miniscule antiwar movement and that none of the developing anti-Trump movements (Indivisible, etc) include antiwar perspectives and activities in their agendas.  How can we change this?

 

Tomorrow, April 4^th, is the 49^th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  It is also the 50^th anniversary of Dr. King's great speech as the Riverside Church in New York City called "Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break the Silence."  In this speech, King not only made a clear statement against the war then raging in Vietnam, but spoke of the importance of demolishing the underpinnings that led the United States to wage this illegal and immoral war. Hear this speech here. And this morning, on Democracy Now!, Rev. William Barber of North Carolina ("Moral Mondays") talks about the speech and what it meant for King and for later generations. [Link].

 

News Notes

Opponents of the Spectra pipeline in northern Westchester have been holding periodic prayer vigils outside Governor Cuomo's house.  Yesterday's vigil was the front-page, main story in today's Journal News. One of the speakers at the vigil, Sr. Bette Ann Jaster, also had an op-ed in The Journal News last week, "Tell Cuomo to ensure smart energy choices, nun says," [Link]

 

Ninety-eight-year-old Ben Ferencz is the last living prosecutor from the Nuremburg Nazi trials after World War II.  In this short but powerful video interview, he tells a BBC audience what he has learned about war and about evil in his long life. [Link].

 

Westinghouse, once the world's leading manufacturer of nuclear power plants, has filed for bankruptcy. The final straw was its inability to complete several projects underway, most notably in Georgia, which are expected to have cost over-runs of as much as $8 billion.  While nuclear power has been held out as an alternative source of electricity that would contribute less than oil or gas to global warming, it seems that they just can't be built economically.

 

Action Needed

The NY Energy Democracy Alliance will be going to Albany on Thursday to demand that Gov. Cuomo appoint "People's Commissioners" to the NY Public Service Commission to speed the transition to a clean-energy economy.  They will bring with them a petition that they hope will have 1,000 signatures; and you can add your name here.  To learn more about this issue and why it's important, go here.

 

Coming Attractions

Saturday, April 8^th – CFOW and its new Healthcare Committee will sponsor a rally in Hastings, at the VFW Plaza, in support of "Improved Medicare for All," or "Single-Payer."  The rally will begin at 11 a.m. and will focus on legislation now pending in Albany.  Please join us!

 

Sunday, April 9^th – The next CFOW monthly meeting will be held at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, for 7 to 9 p.m.  Wall-to-wall excitement; don't miss it!

 

Monday, April 17^th – CFOW will be the organizing group for this week's "Justice Monday," with a focus on war and the cost of our wars, just two days before people pay their income tax (60% going to war).  Justice Monday events take place in White Plains from 12 to 1 pm at the fountain at Renaissance Plaza, at the corner of Mamaroneck Ave. and Main St.  If you can help organize this event, and/or if you need a ride or can offer a ride, please send a return email.

 

Saturday, April 29^th – Hundreds of thousands of people will be in Washington, DC for the Peoples Climate March.  As the world rockets toward self-destruction and the Trump Agenda eliminates the few feeble protections set up by the Obama administration against global warming and climate change, humanity is on our own to save our civilization.  To learn about the Climate March, go here.  To get a seat on a Climate March bus leaving Hastings Saturday morning, email Tara Herman (Indivisible CD16) at taraherman@mac.com , and she will send you a reservation link and more information.  The cost of the bus is $57.87 per person. There is also a bus from North White Plains.

 

Saturday, May 6^th – The 6^th annual "River Sweep" – organized by the Riverkeeper – will include 90 cleanups and tree planting projects from NYC to Albany.  Last year, Over 2,200 volunteers removed 49 tons of debris from the Hudson River Estuary. To learn more, and to get hooked up with local projects in Yonkers, Hastings, Dobbs, Irvington, etc., go here.

 

Saturday, May 20^th – CFOW will be one of the organizations participating in the Westchester Social Forum, at the New Rochelle High School, starting at 10 a.m. For more information, go here.

 

Rewards!

This week stalwart readers get some old favorites in their Xmas stocking.  First up is The Real Tuesday Weld with "The Show Must Go On."  Next up is the documentary film "Wasn't That A Time," about The Weavers. Most readers of this newsletter know about Pete Seeger, but I suspect fewer know about the group that he sang with in the 1940s and 1950, "The Weavers."  Enjoy!

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

For CFOW

 

FEATURED ESSAYS

Noam Chomsky: Trump's First 100 Days Are Undermining Our Prospects for Survival

An interview with By C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout [March 28, 2017]

---- What is happening before our eyes appears to be a two-pronged operation, I presume planned.

Bannon/Trump (and the pathetic Sean Spicer, who has to defend the latest shenanigans in public) have the task of dominating TV and headlines with one wild performance after another. …  Meanwhile, the real work is going on more quietly, spearheaded by Paul Ryan, a different and more malicious kind of posturer, who represents the most brutal fringe of the Republican establishment. … The ideas are quite familiar. They are the standard fare of the component of the Republican establishment dedicated with unusual ferocity to enriching the rich and powerful — bankers, CEOs, and other types who matter — while kicking in the face the vulnerable, the poor and Trump's rural and working-class constituency. All of this abetted by the ultra-right billionaire cabinet and other appointees, selected very carefully to destroy whatever within their domains might be helpful to mere humans, but not to the chosen few of extreme wealth and power. The consistency is impressive, if not breathtaking. [Read More]

 

Donald Trump's Election Was Part of a Startling Global Trend in 2016

By Alfred McCoy, Tom Dispatch [April 3, 2017

---- In 2016, something extraordinary happened in the politics of diverse countries around the world. With surprising speed and simultaneity, a new generation of populist leaders emerged from the margins of nominally democratic nations to win power.  In doing so, they gave voice, often in virulent fashion, to public concerns about the social costs of globalization. Even in societies as disparate as the affluent United States and the impoverished Philippines, similarly violent strains of populist rhetoric carried two unlikely candidates from the political margins to the presidency. On opposite sides of the Pacific, these outsider campaigns were framed by lurid calls for violence and even murder. … The rise of these political soulmates and populist strongmen not only resonated deeply in their political cultures, but also reflected global trends that made their bloodstained rhetoric paradigmatic of our present moment. After a post-Cold War quarter-century of globalization, displaced workers around the world began mobilizing angrily to oppose an economic order that had made life so good for transnational corporations and social elites. [Read More]

 

From Pink Collars to Pink Hats: Working-Class Feminism and the Resistance

By Lane Windham, The American Prospect [April 3, 2017]
---- The robust working-class feminism bubbling up among women, particularly young women workers and women of color, holds the power to reshape the nation's economic and political landscape. Young women are leading the most exciting and dynamic aspects of the 21st-century progressive movement, and they've been at this for a while now—well before the sea of pink pussy hats riveted the world's attention. Progressives who seek to oust Trump should nurture and support today's intersectional working-class feminism; far from elitist, it speaks for so many Americans that it may provide the key to long-lasting change. [Read More]

 

Feds, states target Southern 'sanctuary cities,' leaving local officials in a bind

By Allie Yee, Facing South [March 31, 2017]

---- The Trump administration has continued its crackdown on immigration this week, most recently taking aim at so-called "sanctuary cities." In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening to withhold federal funding from these cities which, to varying degrees, limit their entanglement in federal immigration enforcement to promote local public safety and community trust. The administration has followed up on Trump's directive, with the Department of Homeland Security recently releasing a list of jurisdictions it said didn't comply with the agency's requests to detain undocumented immigrants in local custody beyond their scheduled release. … Nationwide, at least 18 states considered policies prohibiting local measures to limit federal immigration enforcement in 2016, and 29 are considering them in 2017. [Read More]

 

An American Century of Carnage: Measuring Violence in a Single Superpower World

By John W. Dower, Tom Dispatch [April 1, 2017]

[This essay is adapted from "Measuring Violence," the first chapter of John Dower's new book, The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War Two.]

---- On February 17, 1941, almost 10 months before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Life magazine carried a lengthy essay by its publisher, Henry Luce, entitled "The American Century." The son of Presbyterian missionaries, born in China in 1898 and raised there until the age of 15, Luce essentially transposed the certainty of religious dogma into the certainty of a nationalistic mission couched in the name of internationalism. Luce acknowledged that the United States could not police the whole world or attempt to impose democratic institutions on all of mankind. Nonetheless, "the world of the 20th Century," he wrote, "if it is to come to life in any nobility of health and vigor, must be to a significant degree an American Century." The essay called on all Americans "to accept wholeheartedly our duty and our opportunity as the most powerful and vital nation in the world and in consequence to exert upon the world the full impact of our influence, for such purposes as we see fit and by such measures as we see fit." Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor propelled the United States wholeheartedly onto the international stage Luce believed it was destined to dominate, and the ringing title of his cri de coeur became a staple of patriotic Cold War and post-Cold War rhetoric. [Read More]

 

WAR & PEACE

With Trump approval, Pentagon expands warfighting authority

By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press [April 2, 2017]

---- Week by week, country by country, the Pentagon is quietly seizing more control over warfighting decisions, sending hundreds more troops to war with little public debate and seeking greater authority to battle extremists across the Middle East and Africa. This week it was Somalia, where President Donald Trump gave the U.S. military more authority to conduct offensive airstrikes on al-Qaida-linked militants. Next week it could be Yemen, where military leaders want to provide more help for the United Arab Emirates' battle against Iranian-backed rebels. Key decisions on Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are looming, from ending troop number limits to loosening rules that guide commanders in the field. The changes in Trump's first two months in office underscore his willingness to let the Pentagon manage its own day-to-day combat. [Read More]  Also useful reading is Ben Hubbard and Michael R. Gordon, "U.S. War Footprint Grows in Middle East, With No Endgame in Sight," New York Times [March 29, 2017] [Link].  For more on the expanding military fronts, see (video) Phyllis Bennis, "US Escalates Wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen," Rising Up With Sonali  [March 29, 2017] [Link]; and Nick Cumming-Bruce, "U.N. Urges Iraq and Allies to Rethink Tactics as Airstrikes Kill Civilians," New York Times [March 28, 2017] [Link].

 

The War in Syria

White House Accepts 'Political Reality' of Assad's Grip on Power in Syria

By Michael R. Gordon, The New York Times [March 31, 2017]

---- President Trump has abandoned the goal of pressing President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to leave power, marking a sharp departure from the Middle East policy that guided the Obama administration for more than five years, the White House said on Friday. "With respect to Assad, there is a political reality that we have to accept," said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary. "The United States has profound priorities in Syria and Iraq, and we've made it clear that counterterrorism, particularly the defeat of ISIS, is foremost among those priorities," he added, using the acronym for the Islamic State. In a sense, Mr. Spicer's comments — and similar comments on Thursday by Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Nikki R. Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations — have merely made explicit an assumption that has guided the Trump administration's policy toward the region in recent months. [Read More]

 

The War in Yemen

(Video) Yemen: Trump Expands U.S. Military Role in Saudi War as Yemenis Brace for Famine

From Democracy Now! [March 30, 2017]

---- The U.S. is also rapidly expanding military operations in Yemen. The U.S. has reportedly launched more than 49 strikes across the country this month—according to The New York Times, that's more strikes than the U.S. has ever carried out in a single year in Yemen. More than 10,000 people have been killed since the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen began two years ago this month. Meanwhile, The New York Times is reporting today that the Trump administration has approved the resumption of sales of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia. President Obama froze some of these weapons sales last year due to concern about civilian casualties in Saudi Arabia's expanding war in Yemen. We speak to Iona Craig, a journalist who was based in Sana'a from 2010 to 2015 as the Yemen correspondent for The Times of London. [See the Program]

 

The War in Iraq

The Bodies of Mosul

By Robin Wright, The New Yorker [March 30, 2017]

---- The struggle for Mosul is unlike any other battle since ISIS seized a third of Iraq (and a third of Syria) to create its pseudo-caliphate, in 2014. In cities like Fallujah and Ramadi, the vast majority of civilians fled as the Iraqi Army fought to take back territory. In Mosul, however, the Iraqi government appealed to more than a million residents still living under Islamic State rule last fall not to leave, partly because of the challenge of caring for so many displaced people. Iraq was already struggling to accommodate some three million people displaced by the war, plus a quarter of a million refugees from neighboring countries. To cope with the strain on resources, electricity, water, and other services are now limited. [Read More] Also illuminating is the article (part of a series) by Patrick Cockburn, "People in besieged Mosul Old City 'dying of starvation' as Isis shoots anyone who tries to flee," The Independent [UK] [March 30, 2017] [Link]; and a photo essay from The New York Times, "Engulfed in Battle, Mosul Civilians Run for Their Lives," [March 28, 2017] [Link].

 

CLIMATE CHANGE/GLOBAL WARMING

Trump v. the Earth [the EPA]

By Amy Davidson, The New Yorker [April 3, 2017]

---- President Trump said that his order puts "an end to the war on coal." In reality, it is a declaration of war on the basic knowledge of the harm that burning coal, and other fossil fuels, can do. Indeed, it tells the government to ignore information. The Obama Administration assembled a working group to determine the "social cost" of each ton of greenhouse-gas emissions. Trump's executive order disbands that group and tosses out its findings. Scott Pruitt, the new E.P.A. administrator—who, as attorney general of Oklahoma, had joined a lawsuit attempting to undo the endangerment finding—announced that the agency was no longer interested in even collecting data on the quantities of methane that oil and gas companies release. [Read More]  And for more about Trump's climate-suicide plan, read Emily Wirzba, "'Energy Independence' Executive Order Dismantles Climate Action," Friends Committee on National Legislation [March 28, 2017] [Link].

 

THE CAMPAIGN FOR "IMPROVED MEDICARE FOR ALL'

Bernie Sanders Wants to Expand Medicare to Everybody — Exactly What Its Architects Wanted

By Zaid Jilani, The Intercept [March 31 2017]

---- Bernie Sanders doesn't just want to play defense on health care — he's introducing a bill that would expand the Medicare program to everybody in America, creating a single-payer health care system. Such a system would wipe out inefficiencies in our current, private insurance-run system, and polls very well — yet it is opposed by the health care industry and the Democratic and Republican establishments that relies on them for campaign cash. But creating a "Medicare-for-all," single-payer health insurance system for all Americans would be fulfilling the dream of those who created the Medicare system in the first place in 1965. Medicare's architects ended up compromising with Congress and establishing a system that offered public-run health insurance just for the elderly, but they never intended for only retirees to benefit from the program. [Read More]

 

Medicaid saved ObamaCare from repeal, not the Freedom Caucus

By Mark Weisbrot, The Hill [March 31, 2017]

---- A lot of the reporting on Trump's epic failure on the attempted repeal of Obamacare has focused on the Freedom Caucus, a group of libertarian-minded representatives for whom the administration's bill did not go far enough in obliterating the gains from the Obama administration's expansion of health care coverage. But the defeat of Trump's American Health Care Act (AHCA) may have had more to do with the pressure — including grassroots organizing — and risks faced by many Republican representatives who feared taking away insurance that most voters want. And one cannot assume that all members of the Freedom Caucus acted out of ideological concerns; they too have constituents that need health care. [Read More]

 

THE STATE OF THE UNION

"FBI's Comey, not Russia, Tilted the Election Toward Trump:" Interview with Dennis Kucinich  

By Mike Whitney, Counterpunch [April 3, 2017]

---- Dennis Kucinich: The Director of the FBI is not beyond accountability. President Obama should have demanded Director Comey's resignation immediately after Comey interfered in the 2016 Presidential election with his October 28, 2016 pronouncement of the discovery of new emails in the Clinton case.   Comey breached protocol, bypassed channels, and tilted the outcome away from Clinton and toward Trump. If Comey refused a presidential demand that he resign, then President Obama should have dismissed him.  There is a precedent.  President Clinton dismissed FBI Director Session in 1993. Also The FBI Director can also be subject to impeachment by the House and removal by the Senate. Given his role in upending the 2016 President election, it is astonishing that Director Comey is being given a chance to prove it was 'the Russians what did it.' [Read More] And for more about the Russia/US election conundrum, see this Democracy Now! program, (Video) "Moscow Sees Hypocrisy in Allegations After U.S. Interfered in Russian Elections in 1990s" [March 31, 2017] [Link].

 

Why Is This Hate Different From All Other Hate?

By Michelle Goldberg, New York Times [April 1, 2017]

---- The Israeli bomb threat hoax does force some reassessment. Perhaps we have given Trump-era anti-Semitism more emphasis than it deserves. …For example, while synagogues have been threatened, at least four mosques have been burned. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, there have been 35 attacks on mosques — including vandalism, break-ins and death threats — in the first three months of this year, compared with 19 over the same period in 2016. … The various strands of renascent bigotry in Mr. Trump's America are intertwined, and anti-Semitism is only part of the tapestry. Yet Americans, for good historical reasons, tend to have a particularly heightened sensitivity toward anti-Semitism. All 100 senators signed a letter calling on the Trump administration to take "swift action" against the anti-Semitic bomb threats. There has been no similar political urgency in demanding protection for other harassed minorities. [Read More]

 

Black Lives Matter Just Launched a Major Campaign for the Age of Trump

By Collier Meyerson, The Nation [April 1, 2017]

---- Welcome to the newest iteration of Black Lives Matter. On Thursday, the Majority, a coalition that includes more than 50 organizations and groups, including the movement's founding organization, Black Lives Matter Network, announced its first national campaign: Beyond the Moment. From April 4th to International Workers Day on May 1, participating organizations will hold a series of actions across the country aimed at raising awareness around issues including white supremacy, economic justice, reproductive justice, immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, indigenous rights and attacks on Muslim communities. It appears to be one of the largest national campaigns to come out of Black Lives Matter, and it's one that focuses on bringing together activists, organizers and groups with different missions—from the Fight for $15 to indigenous land rights. [Read More].  One campaign will start tomorrow in Memphis on the 49^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, with the intention of continuing Dr. King's "Poor People's Campaign" [Link]. The campaign will culminate with nationwide demonstrations on Mayday: read Nadia Prupis, "With Trump As "Final Straw," Immigrant and Workers' Rights Groups Gear Up for May Day Strikes," Common Dreams [April 3, 2017] [Link]

 

Democrats Should Do Everything They Can To Block Neil Gorsuch

By Ari Berman, The Nation [April 3, 2017

--- Forty-one Senate Democrats have now pledged to oppose Neil Gorsuch's nomination, given them the votes necessary to block him. If Democrats filibuster, Republicans say they'll invoke the nuclear option for Supreme Court nominations and confirm Gorsuch with a simple majority of 51 votes. … There are at least five good reasons to oppose Gorsuch now. … Democrats might not be able to ultimately block Gorsuch but they at least need to try, as my colleague Joshua Holland writes. Put pressure on moderate Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Energize the Democratic base. Shine a spotlight on the importance of the courts. Show the public they stand for something. Caving on Gorsuch will make it harder, not easier, to wage future battles. [Read More]. For more about this important issue, read Joshua Holland, "Democrats Need to Call Mitch McConnell's Bluff and Filibuster Neil Gorsuch," The Nation [March 31, 2017 [Link].

 

ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Israel Hits Back Against Boycott

By Marjorie Cohn March 30, 2017

[FB – This article includes a good summary of the many accomplishments of the BDS movement over the past few years.]

---- According to the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, the "inflammatory fabrications" against Omar Barghouti constitute the "latest chapter of repression and intimidation" against him. For years, various arms of the far-right Israeli government have subjected Barghouti to intense threats, intimidation and repression. The investigation of Barghouti is part of Israel's "systematic efforts to criminalize the BDS movement, intimidate activists and stop free speech," the Committee said. "After failing to intimidate them through the threat of revoking Omar's permanent residence in Israel, and after the effective travel ban imposed on him proved futile in stopping his human rights work," the Committee stated, "the Israeli government has resorted to fabricating a case related to Omar's alleged income outside of Israel to tarnish his image and intimidate him." [Read More]  And for what Omar Barghouti has to say about his arrest and the BDS movement, go here.

 

OUR HISTORY

Labor and the Legacies of World War I

By Elizabeth McKillen, Labor and Working Class History [March 20, 2017]

---- April 2017 marks the 100^th year anniversary of U.S. entrance into World War I. Most European labor and socialist groups reluctantly chose to support their nations' war efforts in order to avoid government repression and to protect workers' rights during wartime.  By contrast, the prolonged period of U.S. neutrality between August 1914 and April 1917 afforded American workers and labor activists a unique opportunity to debate the war and to develop plans for thwarting U.S. intervention in the conflict in venues that ranged from neighborhood union halls and city labor councils, to Socialist street rallies, immigrant fraternal meetings, national trade union conventions, and the pages of the vibrant labor and socialist press. [Read More]

 

The Red Emigrant [Issac Deutscher]

By Bruce Robbins, The Nation [March 30, 2017]

---- Exile spelled the end of the Eastern European phase of Deutscher's career, but he didn't allow it to define him. In his own eyes, he was rooted—and proudly so—in the tradition of Spinoza, Heine, Marx, Luxemburg, Trotsky, and Freud, the "non-Jewish Jews" he discusses in the title essay of this still-sparkling reprint. He was also rooted in leftist internationalism, a tradition that provided him with a home wherever he happened to live.  Deutscher's political commitments and his experiences with the Polish Communist Party also gave him an activist's sense that timing was at least as important as principle, a sense that subtly relativized his judgments and clearly informed everything he went on to write, whether it was his journalism as a Russian-speaking commentator on the Kremlin, his political criticism, or the works of history that subsequently made him famous. [Read More]