CFOW Emergency Update - War in Korea? Rally Monday in White Plains

CFOW Emergency Update

April 16, 2017

 

Hello All – We may look back on this warm Easter Sunday as a moment of calm before the storm.  Needless to say, the danger of war breaking out in Korea is very high. What can we do?

 

There are many things we don't know.  We don't know if North Korea attempted yesterday's missile launch over the strong objections of China.  We don't know what the response of the United States would have been if the launch had succeeded.  What don't know about communications presumably going on between the United States and China, China and North Korea, and perhaps even the United States and North Korea.  We don't know if the across-the-board opposition of leading South Korean politicians to US military action against North Korea has any impact.  We don't know if North Korea's stated intention to go ahead with another (underground) nuclear weapon test is going forward, and we don't know if the US has any contingency plans to "preempt" the test by military action, or to respond with military action after such a test has been done.

 

We can assume – or at least hope – that the Trump team would not initiate a war with North Korea while Vice President Pence is in Seoul, South Korea.

 

The long-term problem for the United States in thinking about military action against North Korea is that much of the country's governing infrastructure and military facilities is underground; and it is likely that the United States doesn't have a complete map of where things are. Because much of North Korea's artillery is near the border with South Korea, and within easy shooting distance of the 10 million people – and US bases with thousands of US soldiers – in the area. 

 

This military-hostage standoff has been compounded in recent years with North Korea's development of missiles that could reach Japan and US bases in Okinawa.  Thus a "first strike" by the United States against North Korea would have to have a high certainty of destroying almost everything that could shoot back – or risk a retaliatory strike from North Korea that might kill many thousands of people. – In other words, it seems to me that much of the war will be done/not done in the first hour.

 

The path towards a peaceful resolution of the US-North Korea standoff over the latter's nuclear program has always been open and clear.  It was successfully initiated in the 1990s, with North Korea dismantling or freezing the bulk of its nuclear program in exchange for economic assistance and a promise from the United States that it would not attack.  The economic assistance part of this pact lapsed after President Bush was inaugurated in 1991; and after unsuccessful efforts by North Korea to persuade the United States to resume aid, they started up their nuclear program again.  Needless to say, the "Axis of Evil" speech by President Bush didn't help; and to my knowledge the Obama administration relied on economic sanctions, rather than renewed negotiations, to attempt to force North Korea to end its nuclear and missile programs.  The same strategy has been the stated aim of the Trump administration, now interrupted by this New Course.

 

What to Do

At this point, citizen protest will be only a tiny voice in the cataract of war noise.  Still, we must do what we can.  One thing we can do is to call our elected representatives and demand that they speak out against war with North Korea, and pursue negotiations instead.  Here are their phone numbers:

 

Senator Charles Schumer: 212-486-4430

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: 212-688-6262

Congresswoman Nita Lowey: 914-428-1707

Congressman Eliot Engel: 718-796-9700

 

A second thing that we can do is come to an antiwar rally tomorrow, Monday, at noon, in White Plains.  The rally is at the fountain at Renaissance Plaza, at the intersection of Main St. and Mamaroneck Ave.  This is part of the weekly "Justice Monday" organized by the Westchester Social Justice Coalition.  By chance, tomorrow is CFOW's turn to lead the rally, with a focus on the military budget and the threat of war.  Please try to attend.  A big rally, a good turnout, will be a sign that, at least in Westchester, people oppose the war danger brought on by the reckless actions of President Trump.

 

I linked below two pieces of good/useful reading about the Korea crisis. Some of you may have seen these articles before, but so far they are the most useful that I know of.

 

A newsletter will be coming along one of these days, but that's it for this weekend.

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

For CFOW

 

SOME GOOD/USEFUL READING ON KOREA

 

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]

 

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]