Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
May 14, 2023
Hello All – After five days of bombs on Gaza and rockets into Israel, a shaky ceasefire has descended on Israel/Palestine. 33 people were killed in Gaza and 2 people were killed in Israel. More than 100 people were wounded in Gaza, and hundreds were displaced from their bombed homes. The war, whose immediate roots lie in the death of a Palestinian hunger striker in Jerusalem and the assassination by Israel of there resistance leaders in Gaza, comes at a time of extreme turmoil in Israel itself and after several months of settler/military terror against Palestinians in the West Bank. How long "peace" will last is questionable.
Tomorrow, across Palestine and around the world, Palestinians and their supporters will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the "Nakba," or "catastrophe" in Arabic. The mirror image of Israel's celebration of 75 years of statehood, the Nakba remembers the thousands of Palestinians who were killed and the 750,000 Palestinians who were driven from their homes – and in many cases from Palestine – in the course of the events of 1947-49 and the establishment of the State of Israel. The organizers of this year's events use the phrase "Israel's Ongoing Nakba," to underscore that terror against Palestinians continues, now driven in part by the greatly enlarged role of "settlers" (or squatters on Palestinian land) within the Netanyahu governing coalition. Palestinian poet and activist Muhammad El Kurd is featured in a short, powerful video and about what "the Nakba" means for the daily lives of Palestinians today. Please join a Nakba march and rally that will be held in White Plains on Monday, assembling at 4 pm at the fountain at the corner of Main St. and Mamaroneck Ave.
In Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib has introduced a resolution calling on Congress to recognize "the ongoing Nakba and Palestinian refugee rights." The resolution is co-sponsored by Rep. Jamaal Bowman and several other progressive Democrats, and recounts the history of the mass expulsion that led to millions of Palestinians living in refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, and neighboring countries like Jordan.
Finally, this is the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli soldier. There has still been no justice in this case, and the Biden administration has failed to make a serious investigation. While the White House speaks out loudly about "freedom of the press" and the Russian arrest of Wall St. Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Shireen Abu Akleh is an "unworthy" victim, for whom "freedom of the press" does not apply.
Mother's Day – A Day for Peace
Not just Cards and Flowers: The 1st 'Mother's Day for Peace' was Held in New York in 1872
---- The first public "Mother's Day for Peace" rally was held in New York City on June 2, 1872 at the inspiration of Julia Ward Howe, an ardent anti-war activist and promoter of world peace. Her 1870 Mother's Day Proclamation passionately lamented the futile deaths in war and heralded action to stop future wars: [Read the Mother's Day Proclamation of 1870]
News Notes
Moms Demand Action is a national organization that speaks out against gun violence. This weekend, in the wake of several mass shootings, they organized hundreds of events across the USA. Several events took place in New York, including one on the
Tappan Zee Bridge that called for a ban on assault rifles.
It appears that much of the USA Southwest will be without sufficient water soon. For this reason, the statistics about the proportion of available water going to meat-producing crops such as alfalfa, or the fact that to produce just one almond requires 3.2 gallons of water, indicates that the struggle over "who gets how much water" will be a fierce one. I found an article by The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof this week to be illuminating – and scary. (To access the article past this link you're your browser - https://archive.ph/NdDE4).
An important piece of voting-rights legislation now pending in Albany is called The Voting Integrity and Voter Verification Act of NY (VIVA). The bill attempts to ensure that paper ballots will be used in New York in the future, guarding against the introduction of touch-screens or other unsafe ways of casting votes. You can read a useful summary of the bill here. Please call Sen. Andrea Stewart Cousins (581-455-2585) and Assembly member MaryJane Shimsky (518-455-5753) and ask them to support this legislation. The bill in the Assembly is A5934A; the bill in the Senate is S6169A.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Weather permitting, we meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil is held in Yonkers on Monday from 5:30 to 6:00 pm at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. Another Facebook page focuses on the climate crisis. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. If you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
This week's rewards for stalwart readers come from Nina Simone, a resident of Mt. Vernon from 1961 to 1974. First up is "Four Women." And now, "Ain't Got No, I Got Life." One of Nina Simone's early favorites was "My Baby Just Cares for Me." Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW Weekly Reader
Featured Essays
AI machines aren't 'hallucinating'. But their makers are
By Naomi Klein, The Guardian [May 8, 2023]
---- There is a world in which generative AI, as a powerful predictive research tool and a performer of tedious tasks, could indeed be marshaled to benefit humanity, other species and our shared home. But for that to happen, these technologies would need to be deployed inside a vastly different economic and social order than our own, one that had as its purpose the meeting of human needs and the protection of the planetary systems that support all life. And as those of us who are not currently tripping well understand, our current system is nothing like that. Rather, it is built to maximize the extraction of wealth and profit – from both humans and the natural world – a reality that has brought us to what we might think of it as capitalism's techno-necro stage. In that reality of hyper-concentrated power and wealth, AI – far from living up to all those utopian hallucinations – is much more likely to become a fearsome tool of further dispossession and despoilation. [Read More]
More thoughts on "Artificial Intelligence" – "[Link]; and "Whose Planet Are We On? What Happens When LTAI (Less Than Artificial Intelligence) Gives Way to AI?" by[Link].
The Most Disturbing Thing About Jordan Neely's Killing
May 12, 2023]
---- Much of the writing on Neely's death has been about the mundane nature of his presence on that F train, his status as one of many mentally ill and homeless people whose erratic behavior might frighten others. … It is a testament to how inured we've become to the sight of public suffering. We step around or over people who appear as obstacles to the smooth unfolding of our days. We prefer that their misery not impinge on our own lives. But the indifference and fear that maintain this border can be as lethal as a chokehold. That's what frightens me about this footage: Without anyone seeming to act with the intention to kill, a man winds up dead. … When I first watched the video, I did not think of it in relation to those numerous and familiar videos of killings by police officers. I thought of it in relation to drone-strike footage. In those videos, we see killings that are cool in their affect, presentation and execution — even though, in reality, we are watching the kinds of violence reserved for those who do not enjoy the protections we accord to American citizens. [Read More]; and "One Man Killed Jordan Neely—but We All Failed Him," by Elie Mystal, The Nation [May 4, 2023] [Link].
Neither Here nor There: The Shrinking Physical Space for Palestinians
By Zaha Hassan, Democracy in Exile [May 12, 2023]
---- The confluence of Ramadan, Passover and Easter in the city of Jerusalem, a place the three monotheistic faiths hold sacred, should have also filled the season with a measure of hope. This year, however, tension shrouded communities and landscapes, traversing checkpoints and the Green Line nominally separating Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories. Physical space has been shrinking for Palestinians between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River for 75 years—sometimes in fits, like after the founding of the state of Israel, when three-quarters of the Palestinian population was forcibly displaced, and sometimes in creeping fashion, like in recent decades as Palestinians have been relegated to isolated enclaves within the West Bank and in Gaza. And now, Israel's new ultranationalist government has indicated an intention to accelerate the process of consolidating Jewish settlements in the West Bank to take advantage of its newfound political power, heightening the risk of a second, mass Palestinian displacement. [Read More]
War & Peace
By Nick Mottern, Common Dreams [May 10, 2023]
---- As the Russian military intensifies its drone attacks on Kyiv and Ukraine's troops increase usage of homemade drones to hit Russian targets, the region and the world acutely need a proposal calling on both sides to negotiate an end to the war. A first step could be for both sides to agree to stop using weaponized drones. Current commentary discusses advantages—for one side or the other—of reliance on weaponized drones. But, the history of drone warfare in the Ukraine and in earlier wars reveals two crucial points. First, the notion that using killer drones will somehow provide the winning edge in combat is magical thinking. In reality, their use only prolongs war and piles up dead bodies. … Second, the use of weaponized drones spreads war geographically and politically into areas in which generals, independent military leaders, and politicians would not dare to send ground forces. [Read More]
To Avoid a War With China Over Taiwan, the US Needs To Back Down
May 12, 2023]
---- Unlike Ukraine, President Biden has vowed to send troops to fight in Taiwan if the island is invaded, and US military leaders are speaking openly about the fact they are getting ready for a direct clash with the People's Liberation Army. Often missing from the conversation is that – just like a direct war between the US and Russia – a head-on conflict between the US and China risks nuclear escalation. While Beijing has a vastly smaller nuclear arsenal than Russia, they have enough nuclear-tipped ICBMs that a nuclear exchange between the US and China could end life as we know it. …. The Biden administration constantly claims it does not want to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, but these policies are doing just that. The US needs to back way down on its support for Taiwan and seriously engage with Beijing on the issue if it truly wants to prevent war. China has every incentive not to launch an invasion but doesn't rule out the use of force to achieve "reunification." At some point, the increasing US support for Taiwan will become intolerable for Beijing. Whether the China hawks like it or not, that's the reality, and arming Taiwan to the teeth will only make a catastrophic war in East Asia more likely. [Read More]
The U.S. Still Spends More on Its Military Than Over 144 Nations Combined
By Ashik Siddique, National Priorities Project [May 4, 2023]
---- World military spending has reached a new record high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, according to new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). That's up 3.7% since the previous year, including the steepest increase among European nations since the end of the Cold War over 30 years ago. The United States remains the world's largest military spender by far, with its $877 billion representing 39% of global military spending. That's three times as much as the second largest spender, China, which spent $292 billion in 2022. And it's about ten times as much as the next largest spender, Russia, which spent about $86 billion in the same year. [Read More]. Also of interest is "Getting the defense budget right: A (real) grand total, over $1.4 trillion," by Andrew Cockburn, Responsible Statecraft [May 7, 2023] [Link].
---- World military spending has reached a new record high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, according to new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). That's up 3.7% since the previous year, including the steepest increase among European nations since the end of the Cold War over 30 years ago. The United States remains the world's largest military spender by far, with its $877 billion representing 39% of global military spending. That's three times as much as the second largest spender, China, which spent $292 billion in 2022. And it's about ten times as much as the next largest spender, Russia, which spent about $86 billion in the same year. [Read More]. Also of interest is "Getting the defense budget right: A (real) grand total, over $1.4 trillion," by Andrew Cockburn, Responsible Statecraft [May 7, 2023] [Link].
The War in Ukraine
(Video) Phyllis Bennis on Ukraine War & Why a Ceasefire Is the First Step Toward Lasting Peace
From Democracy Now! [May 9, 2023]
---- As Russia marks the Soviet Union's defeat of the Nazis 78 years ago, Ukraine is preparing to launch a major counteroffensive, which has forced Moscow to issue an evacuation order for thousands of residents in areas occupied by Russian forces. Meanwhile, international actors are calling for negotiations, possibly brokered by China or Brazil, to end the war. For more on the prognosis for peace in Ukraine, we're joined by Phyllis Bennis, author and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. [See the Program]
The Climate Crisis
The Ocean Heat Bomb Ignites
Pressenza [May 13, 2023]
---- Global warming and extensive overfishing have damaged ocean ecosystems well beyond recognition from only a few decades ago. Still, on its own accord, the ocean stood tall for over 3 billion years. But, alas, in less than one human lifetime it is teetering like never before, and credible studies claim the world's oceans could be devoid of life within only three decades. This is one of the most troubling transformations of all time, nothing compares to it, absolutely nothing! …. Scientists are now warning that human-generated greenhouse gases are demonstrably exposing the worst possible scenario with the ocean turning into a global warming "heat bomb." [Read More]
Divest, decarbonize and disassociate — inside the bold new push to get fossil fuels off campus
May 12, 2023]
---- From late November through early March of this year, visitors to the University of Washington Career Center in Seattle would have found students sitting in a circle on the floor, some doing homework on laptops as they participated in one of the longest-running recent climate protests at the school. Their goal: to convince the UW administration to establish a policy banning fossil fuel companies from coming to campus to recruit students to work for them. … In the 1960s and '70s, college peace activists protested the presence on their campuses of recruiters for the U.S. Army and companies like Dow Chemical, maker of the napalm used in Vietnam. By challenging the military and weapons manufacturers' license to operate at higher education institutions, young activists helped position the anti-war movement of that time as a response against not just a single war, but the violence of the larger military-industrial complex. The effects of their activism continue to reverberate in U.S. politics today. Now, climate activists have embarked on a similar mission to damage coal, oil and gas companies' reputation. [Read More]
The State of the Union
(Video) As Title 42 Ends, Asylum Seekers Face Inhumane Border Conditions, New Restrictions & Fast Deportation
From Democracy Now! [May 12, 2023]
---- The Trump-era Title 42 policy has come to an end, but the Biden administration has instituted what human rights advocates say amounts to a new asylum ban. We get an update from the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego, California, where hundreds of asylum seekers have been sleeping on the ground under trash bags and foil blankets, with many reporting they've not eaten in days. Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee's U.S.-Mexico Border Program, says Biden's anti-asylum policies are "reconfiguring the concept of asylum to a point where it no longer offers the promise that it did post-World War II." [See the Program]
The Debt Ceiling Debate Is a Massive Deception of the American Public
May 10, 2023]
---- Future historians will likely look back at the debt ceiling rituals being reenacted these days with a frustrated shaking of their heads. That otherwise reasonable people would be so readily deceived raises the question that will provoke those historians: How could this happen? … when borrowing approaches any ceiling, the policy choices are these three: raise the ceiling (to borrow more), raise taxes, or cut spending. Of course, combinations of them would also be possible. In contrast to this reality, U.S. politics deceives by constricting its debate. Politicians, the mainstream media, and academics simply omit—basically by refusing to admit or consider—tax increases. … The unspoken agreement between the two major parties is to omit any serious discussion of raising taxes to avoid hitting the debt ceiling. That omission entails deception. [Read More]
How to Win a Green New Deal in Your State
By Ashley Dawson, The Nation [May 11, 2023]
---- New York just became the first US state to pass a major Green New Deal policy. After four years of organizing, the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA) is now in the New York state budget. Passage of the act is a massive challenge to fossil fuel hegemony and a major victory for public power. The BPRA authorizes and directs the state's public power provider—the New York Power Authority (NYPA)—to plan, build, and operate renewable energy projects across the state to meet the ambitious timetable to decarbonize the grid mandated by the Climate Act of 2019. The NYPA, the largest public utility in the country, provides the most affordable energy in the state, but until now, it has been prohibited from building and owning new utility-scale renewable generation projects because of lobbying by profit-seeking private energy companies.
How did we win passage of this plan to start a publicly funded renewable energy program? [Read More]
Our History
Another Side of W.E.B. Du Bois
By Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, The Nation [May 10, 2023]
---- One of the most significant American political thinkers of the 20th century, W.E.B. Du Bois is perhaps best known for his books The Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Black Reconstruction in America (1935). The former is considered a classic sociological study of the Black experience in the United States, while the latter is a landmark history of the Reconstruction era. Du Bois was also one of the founders of the NAACP in 1909. As all this suggests, Du Bois is principally known for his domestic activism and his works addressing racial inequality in the United States. But his criticism of racial inequality at home was always rooted in the international realities of European and US economic imperialism. Indeed, a recent collection of Du Bois's writings, edited by Adom Getachew and Jennifer Pitts, shows him to be an essential thinker of international relations. W.E.B. Du Bois: International Thought consists of 24 of his essays and speeches on international themes, spanning the years from 1900 to 1956. In them, readers will encounter Du Bois's unique perspective on the relationship between empire and democracy, the development of his anti-imperial thought, and his vision for transnational solidarity. To further understand this side of Du Bois's thinking, I interviewed Getachew and Pitts about their new book. [Read More]
