Immediate Release
Sana Javed
sanajaved7@gmail.com
www.gazafreedommarch.org
UMD Students to Participate in International Delegation
Gaza Freedom March, December 31
1,000 Delegates from 42 Countries
Over one hundred students from around the world will be traveling to Gaza this winter to participate in the Gaza Freedom March, among them Sana Javed a senior Government and Politics and Spanish major at UMD and Matt Johnson who graduated from UMD in May 2008. On December 31, over 1,000 international delegates will join Palestinians in a non-violent march from Northern Gaza to the Israeli border calling for an end to the siege. The march is an historic initiative to break the ongoing US-backed Israeli blockade against Gaza.
Javed and Johnson will be part of a group of over 100 students that plans to meet with their peers at Gazan universities who will have a chance to share their experiences as youth in the war-torn territory. Earlier this year, Javed helped organize the first annual Palestinian Solidarity Week, during which thirteen different social and cultural groups on campus aimed to raise awareness about the suffering of the Palestinian people, especially after the War on Gaza in January 2009. Javed was also one of the founding members for the new campus organization, UMD Students for Justice in Palestine, which recently organized a show featuring local spoken word and hip-hop artists called, "We Will Not Be Silent: Voices for Justice".
Javed hopes that with this trip, she will be able to bring back a firsthand account of life under the Israeli occupation, "While there are many things about this conflict that can be debated, the one thing that cannot be is the overwhelming suffering of the Palestinian people. It is hard for us Americans, and as students, to imagine what life under occupation must be like so I hope to bring back the stories and photos we rarely hear or see. One of the biggest obstacles in this conflict is the demonization of Arabs and Muslims and I hope that this trip will bring back the human element that is missing from our dialogue and discussion on campus". Johnson, who currently works as an assistant teacher in a juvenile detention center, says marching in solidarity with the Palestinians is the "least I can do to oppose the U.S. government's funding of the illegal occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem with my tax dollars and the collusion of the United States and Israel in violating international law and the basic human rights of Arabs in the Middle East."
For more information see www.gazafreedommarch.org
Sana Javed sanajaved7@gmail.com
Matt Johnson mattjohnsonlove@gmail.com
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Free Gaza for Christmas!
Dear Friends:
I hope this holiday season is bringing you plenty of love and good cheer. I have found myself totally unable to relax...and not because of holiday shopping...but because I'm leaving tomorrow for Egypt and then Gaza.
You may have already heard that the Egyptian government has stated it will prevent the march from occurring. We're hoping that it will change it's mind. See below for how you can help.
Peace and love,
Matt
-------------------------------------------------
Egypt bans march into Gaza Strip
CAIRO - Cairo on Monday rejected a request by international activists to organise a march to the Gaza Strip via Egypt to mark one year since an Israeli attack on the enclave.
"Some international organisations have requested permission for a solidarity march -- the Gaza Freedom March -- into the Gaza Strip," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Egypt finds it difficult to cooperate with this march considering the sensitive situation in the Gaza Strip," which faces a stringent Israeli blockade, the statement said.
It warned that "any attempts to violate the law or public order by any group whether local or foreign on Egyptian soil will be dealt with in conformity with the law."
Over 1,000 international delegates from 42 countries have signed up to join the Gaza Freedom March which was due to enter Gaza via Egypt during the last week of December.
In the morning of December 31, participants were due to join Palestinians "in a non-violent march from Northern Gaza to the Erez/Israeli border," organisers said on their website.
http://business.maktoob.com/20090000410006/Egypt_bans_march_into_Gaza_Strip/Article.htm
THE MARCH WILL GO ON
Gaza Freedom March
UPDATE
December 21, 2009
We are determined to break the siege We all will continue to do whatever we can to make it happen
Using the pretext of escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed us yesterday that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege, that we do not feel threatened, and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take. We also said that it was too late for over 1,300 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans now. We both agreed to continue our exchanges.
Although we consider this as a setback, it is something we've encountered-and overcome--before. No delegation, large or small, that entered Gaza over the past 12 months has ever received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border. Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.
Our efforts and plans will not be altered at this point. We have set out to break the siege of Gaza and march on December 31 against the Israeli blockade. We are continuing in the same direction.
Egyptian embassies and missions all over the world must hear from us and our supporters (by phone, fax and email)** over the coming crucial days, with a clear message: Let the international delegation enter Gaza and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed.
Contact your local consulate here:
http://www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/mfa_websits/
Contact the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo
Ahmed Azzam, tel +202-25749682 Email: ahmed.azzam@mfa.gov.eg
In the U.S., contact the Egyptian Embassy, 202-895-5400 and ask for Omar Youssef or email omaryoussef@hotmail.com
The GFM Steering Committee
Sample text:
I am writing/calling to express my full support for the December 31, 2009 Gaza Freedom March. I urge the Egyptian government to allow the 1,300 international delegates to enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt.
The aim of the march is to call on Israel to lift the siege. The delegates will also take in badly needed medical aid, as well as school supplies and winter jackets for the children of Gaza.
Please, let this historic March proceed.
Thank you.
I hope this holiday season is bringing you plenty of love and good cheer. I have found myself totally unable to relax...and not because of holiday shopping...but because I'm leaving tomorrow for Egypt and then Gaza.
You may have already heard that the Egyptian government has stated it will prevent the march from occurring. We're hoping that it will change it's mind. See below for how you can help.
Peace and love,
Matt
-------------------------------------------------
Egypt bans march into Gaza Strip
CAIRO - Cairo on Monday rejected a request by international activists to organise a march to the Gaza Strip via Egypt to mark one year since an Israeli attack on the enclave.
"Some international organisations have requested permission for a solidarity march -- the Gaza Freedom March -- into the Gaza Strip," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Egypt finds it difficult to cooperate with this march considering the sensitive situation in the Gaza Strip," which faces a stringent Israeli blockade, the statement said.
It warned that "any attempts to violate the law or public order by any group whether local or foreign on Egyptian soil will be dealt with in conformity with the law."
Over 1,000 international delegates from 42 countries have signed up to join the Gaza Freedom March which was due to enter Gaza via Egypt during the last week of December.
In the morning of December 31, participants were due to join Palestinians "in a non-violent march from Northern Gaza to the Erez/Israeli border," organisers said on their website.
http://business.maktoob.com/20090000410006/Egypt_bans_march_into_Gaza_Strip/Article.htm
THE MARCH WILL GO ON
Gaza Freedom March
UPDATE
December 21, 2009
We are determined to break the siege We all will continue to do whatever we can to make it happen
Using the pretext of escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed us yesterday that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege, that we do not feel threatened, and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take. We also said that it was too late for over 1,300 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans now. We both agreed to continue our exchanges.
Although we consider this as a setback, it is something we've encountered-and overcome--before. No delegation, large or small, that entered Gaza over the past 12 months has ever received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border. Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.
Our efforts and plans will not be altered at this point. We have set out to break the siege of Gaza and march on December 31 against the Israeli blockade. We are continuing in the same direction.
Egyptian embassies and missions all over the world must hear from us and our supporters (by phone, fax and email)** over the coming crucial days, with a clear message: Let the international delegation enter Gaza and let the Gaza Freedom March proceed.
Contact your local consulate here:
http://www.mfa.gov.eg/MFA_Portal/en-GB/mfa_websits/
Contact the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo
Ahmed Azzam, tel +202-25749682 Email: ahmed.azzam@mfa.gov.eg
In the U.S., contact the Egyptian Embassy, 202-895-5400 and ask for Omar Youssef or email omaryoussef@hotmail.com
The GFM Steering Committee
Sample text:
I am writing/calling to express my full support for the December 31, 2009 Gaza Freedom March. I urge the Egyptian government to allow the 1,300 international delegates to enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt.
The aim of the march is to call on Israel to lift the siege. The delegates will also take in badly needed medical aid, as well as school supplies and winter jackets for the children of Gaza.
Please, let this historic March proceed.
Thank you.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
John Judge's Planned Introduction for Cynthia McKinney (Dec. 12 Anti-War Demonstration)
A BIGGER LIE
WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT THE PEOPLE OF D.C. HAVE BEEN OPPOSING THE WAR ON AFGHANISTAN SINCE IT WAS FIRST SUGGESTED, AND BEFORE IT BEGAN. ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2001 THE WASHINGTON PEACE CENTER ORGANIZED A RALLY AND MARCH OF 5,000 PEOPLE FROM MALCOLM X PARK TO THE CAPITOL TO SAY NO TO THIS WAR, AND WE HAVE RESISTED IT SINCE. AS WE PUT IT THEN, OUR GRIEF WAS NOT A CRY FOR WAR. ON THE NIGHT OF OBAMA’S ELECTION ADAM KOKESH, FROM IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR SAID, “WE JUST ELECTED A PRO-WAR PRESIDENT AND WE CAN’T HAVE AN ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATION AT HIS INAUGURATION”. NOW WE CAN AND WE MUST.
THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN, WHICH HAS GONE ON NOW FOR EIGHT LONG YEARS WITH NO END IN SIGHT, IS BASED ON A BIGGER LIE THAN THE WAR ON IRAQ WAS. THE U.S. MILITARY INVASION INTO AFGHANISTAN WAS NOT A RESPONSE TO THE ATTACKS ON 9/11, IT WAS ALREADY PLANNED AND IN PROGRESS BY THAT POINT. ALL THE SURROUNDING COUNTRIES HAD BEEN WARNED IN THE SUMMER OF 2001 BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL THAT THE U.S. AND BRITAIN PLANNED TO INTERVENE MILITARILY IN MID-OCTOBER TO REMOVE THE TALIBAN LEADERSHIP IN AFGHANISTAN.
WHY? IN THE TESTIMONY TO THE HOUSE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE IN 1999 A REPRESENTATIVE OF UNOCAL, A HUGE CALIFORNIA OIL CORPORATION, IT WAS REVEALED THAT THEIR PLAN WAS TO RUN AN OIL PIPELINE FROM THE LARGEST OIL DEPOSIT IN THE WORLD AT THE TIME, THE CASPIAN SEA BASIN INSIDE RUSSIA, SOUTH THROUGH AFGHANISTAN TO THE GULF, TO LOAD TANKERS AVAILABLE TO THE HIGHEST BIDDING PORTS. THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE HAD ALREADY AGREED, BUT THE TALIBAN BALKED AT THE PRICE THEY WERE OFFERED, SO UNOCAL ASKED CONGRESS TO REMOVE THEM. BY THE SUMMER OF 2001 THE U.S. AND BRITISH CARRIERS AND TROOPS WERE ALREADY DEPLOYED TO THE GULF IN PREPARATION FOR THIS ILLEGAL AND PRE-EMPTIVE WAR. 9/11 WAS JUST A CONVENIENT EXCUSE.
OF COURSE THE TALIBAN WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN IN POWER AT ALL HAD THE UNITED STATES NOT ARMED AND TRAINED AN ILLEGAL INSURGENCY AT THE END OF THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION AND THROUGH THE REAGAN/BUSH YEARS AT THE COST OF $6 BILLION, SHARED WITH SAUDI ARABIA, TO DESTABLIZE A DEMOCRATIC AND SECULAR GOVERNMENT THERE THAT WAS PART OF THE SOVIET UNION AND THAT RESPECTED THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AS WELL. WILLIAM CASEY’S CIA RAN FUNDS THROUGH PAKISTANI MILITARY INTELL.IGENCE, ISI, WHICH IS CURRENTLY BEING BLAMED FOR WORKING WITH THE SAME ELEMENTS WE DID. THE MONEY AT BOTH ENDS CAME FROM THE SALE OF THE MAIN EXPORT PRODUCT OF AFGHANISTAN FOR THE LAST THREE DECADES, OPIUM, WHICH IS WORTH MORE THAN OIL OR GOLD. THE CIA MONEY WENT DIRECTLY TO MR. HEKMYATAR, THE LARGEST OPIUM DEALER AT THE TIME, AND TO HIS PROTÉGÉ, OSAMA BIN LADEN TO TRAIN AND CARRY OUT THAT DESTABLIZATION, WHICH LED TO THE RISE OF THE TALIBAN AFTER THE SOVIET UNION PULLED OUT.
MORE RECENTLY, WE HAVE INSTALLED A GOVERNMENT IN AFGHANISTAN, RUN BY THE BROTHER OF A LEADING OPIUM RUNNER AND CIA ASSET. THE OPIUM PRODUCTION HAS RISEN EVEN MORE, ACCOUNTING NOW FOR 95% OF THE WORLD MARKET. THE ADDICTIONS FROM HEROIN JUST MADE RUSSIA THE AIDS CAPITAL OF THE WORLD FROM DIRTY NEEDLES, AND IT HAS FLOODED THE STANS AND EUROPE. GENERAL JAMES JONES, OBAMA’S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR, STATED, WHEN HE WAS IN CHARGE OF THE AFGHANISTAN OPERATIONS UNDER PRESIDENT BUSH, THAT HE DID NOT WANT TO INTERFERE WITH OPIUM PRODUCTION THERE SINCE IT MIGHT RUIN THEIR ECONOMY - NOT TO MENTION OURS FOR COVERT OPERATIONS.
IF OSAMA BIN LADEN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE 9/11 ATTACKS, AND THERE IS LITTLE TO PROVE HE WAS, THEN WE HAVE DONE LITTLE TO CAPTURE HIM SINCE. WE SAID HE WAS HIDING IN CAVES TO AVOID US, BUT THE PENTAGON AND THE CIA PAID OSAMA BIN LADEN AND HIS UNCLE’S CONSTRUCTION COMPANY TO DIG OUT AND ARM THOSE CAVES FOR THE MUJAHEDDIN WAR. AFTER 9/11 THE TALIBAN OFFERED THREE TIMES TO TURN BIN LADEN OVER TO U.S. AUTHORITIES TO BE TRIED IN AN INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, BUT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION SAID THEY WOULD NOT NEGOTIATE WITH “TERRORISTS” AND APPLIED ILLEGAL MILITARY FORCE INSTEAD OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. A CHANCE TO SURROUND AND CAPTURE BIN LADEN AND HIS ASSOCIATES AT TORA BORA WAS UNDERMINED, AND SHORTLY AFTER THAT VP DICK CHENEY AND PRESIDENT BUSH SAID THAT CAPTURING HIM WAS NOT THEIR MAIN OBJECTIVE. AT LEAST THEY WERE HONEST ONCE. RECENTLY U.S. AUTHORITIES STATED THEY HAVE NOT HAD ANY GOOD INTELLIGENCE ON BIN LADEN’S WHERABOUTS. FOR ALL WE KNOW HE IS DEAD, BUT WORTH MORE TO US ALIVE AS A THREAT.
WE DO NOT KNOW TO THIS DAY WHO ACTUALLY CARRIED OUT THE ATTACKS AND HIJACKINGS ON 9/11, NOR WHO SPONSORED THEM. THE SUSPECTS NAMED BY THE FBI ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, WERE MOSTLY SAUDI ARABIAN AND EGYPTIAN, NOT AFGHANIS. EIGHT PEOPLE CAME FORWARD FROM THOSE COUNTRIES TO SAY THAT THE NAMES AND PICTURES PRINTED IN THE PRESS WERE THEIR OWN, BUT THEY HAD NOT BEEN PART OF ANY PLOT, ON A PLANE OR IN AMERICA. FIVE OF THOSE WHOSE IDENTITIES WERE STOLEN WORKED FOR SAUDI AIRLINES, WHICH BENEFITTED FROM THE OPENING OF AIR TRADE WITH AFGHANISTAN AFTER THE U.S. INVADED.
AND FINALLY, THE ONLY, AND I MEAN ONLY EVIDENCE LINKING THOSE 19 SUSPECTS TO OSAMA BIN LADEN IS THE TESTIMONY OF THREE PEOPLE. KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED, RAMSI YUSEF AND RAMSI BIN AL SHIBH. THREE PEOPLE WHO WERE BEING HELD IN INDEFINITE DETENTION IN UNDISCLOSED LOCATIONS AND BEING WATERBOARDED MULTIPLE TIMES AND TORTURED. THE 9/11 COMMISSION GOT THEIR STATEMENTS IN ENGLISH AND ASKED TO SPEAK TO THEM, TO THEIR JAILERS, TO THEIR INTERROGATORS OR EVEN THE TRANSLATORS WHO WORKED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES OR TEXT, AND THEY WERE DENIED. NO AMERICAN COURT WOULD ALLOW SUCH EVIDENCE INTO THE RECORD, UNLESS IT WAS A MILITARY TRIBUNAL OR A FISA COURT HELD IN SECRET. THE DIRECTOR OF THE 9/11 COMMISSION, PHILIP ZELIKOW WROTE A MEMO CONDEMNING THE TORTURE OF PRISONERS BY U.S. FORCES OR AGENCIES AS ILLEGAL. BUT THEN HE SUBMITTED MORE QUESTIONS TO THESE SAME INTERROGATORS FOR THESE THREE PRISONERS, SUBORNING THEIR FURTHER TORTURE IN MY VIEW.
THIS IS THE PACK OF CARDS ON WHICH THE WAR ON AFGHANISTAN RESTS, ALONG WITH THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE REASONS THE PUBLIC HAS BEEN FED AND BOUGHT INTO, SUCH AS “WE HAVE TO FIGHT THEM OVER THERE OR WE WILL HAVE TO FIGHT THEM HERE”, AND “WE HAVE TO GO IN THERE AND GET THE JOB DONE”. WE HAVE BEEN SOLD A LARGER MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE BUDGET BY BOTH BUSH AND OBAMA THAN WE HAVE EVER HAD BEFORE, IN ORDER TO FIGHT SOME UNIDENTIFIED TERRORISTS ABROAD, LARGER THAN WE NEEDED TO DEFEND OURSELVES AGAINST A NUCLEAR-ARMED CONTINENT DURING THE COLD WAR. WE HAVE BEEN ASKED TO SUSPEND OUR CONSTITUTION ALONG WITH OUR COMMON SENSE. WE WERE TOLD WE WOULD BE GOING INTO A WAR THAT WOULD NOT END IN OUR LIFETIME AFTER 9/11, A WAR INTO AS MANY AS 60 COUNTRIES, AND IF WE LEAVE IT UP TO THE PENTAGON AND THE CIA, DOUBTLESS THAT IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN, AS LONG AS WE ARE WILLING TO USE ALL OUR RESOURCES FOR WAR INSTEAD OF HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION, FOOD AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE PLANET.
OBAMA’S WAR
MANY PEOPLE ARE NOW EXPRESSING SURPRISE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA WOULD CALL FOR AN ESCALATION OF 30,000 TROOPS INTO AFGHANISTAN, BUT IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE AT ALL. HE HIMSELF STATED THAT HIS OPPOSITION TO THE WAR IN IRAQ WAS BASED ON THE WASTE OF MILITARY RESOURCES THAT WERE BETTER USED AGAINST AFGHANISTAN, AND APPARENTLY PAKISTAN AS WELL. HE CONDEMNED THE USE OF PRE-EMPTIVE WAR BY BUSH AND CONTINUED IT WITH DRONES INSIDE PAKISTAN AND NOW THIS ESCALATION. THESE WARS ARE PLANNED AT THE PENTAGON WELL IN ADVANCE, AND THE PRESIDENTS INHERIT THEM AND THEY COME AND GO. NO SOONER HAD OBAMA ANNOUNCED HIS QUICK SURGE AND WITHDRAWAL BY 2011 THAN SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES SPOKE UP TO SAY THAT WAS THE BEGINNING NOT THE END OF THE WITHDRAWAL AND GENERAL MCCHRYSTAL, IN CHARGE OF THE AFGHANISTAN WAR SAID IT WOULD BE A MATTER OF YEARS, NOT MONTHS. THE TIMETABLE DISCUSSED AT THE PENTAGON HAS ALWAYS BEEN 2017, NOT 2011. OBAMA WILL BE OUT OF OFFICE BEFORE THIS WAR ENDS, IF IT DOES. THE U.S. WILL NOT LEAVE THE WHOLE REGION UNTIL PERMANENT BASES ARE ESTABLISHED AND CONTROL OF KEY RESOURCES, OIL, NATURAL GAS AND OPIUM IS ASSURED.
REMEMBER “HOPE” AND “CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN”? REMEMBER “WE WILL HAVE TO HOLD HIS FEET TO THE FIRE”? THE PROBLEM IS WE HAVE HAD NO FIRE AND WE DON’T HAVE HOLD OF HIS FEET. PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS NOT CHANGED ONE MAJOR ASPECT OF THE BUSH AGENDA. ALMOST EVERY GROUND FOR IMPEACHMENT BROUGHT TO THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS BY REPRESENTATIVES MCKINNEY AND KUCINICH STILL APPLIES TO THE NEW PRESIDENT’S ADMINISTRATION. HE HAS NOT ENDED SURVEILLANCE, SIGNING STATEMENTS, INDEFINITE DETENTION, RENDITIONS, STATE SECRECY, MILITARY TRIBUNALS, ILLEGAL WARS AND WEAPONS, PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKES, ASSASSINATIONS, VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES, THE UN CHARTER AND THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS, AND VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS INCLUDING HARSH INTERROGATION AND ABUSE INSIDE U.S. MILITARY PRISONS IN IRAQ. JUST THIS WEEK OBAMA FOLLOWED BUSH’S LEAD IN REFUSING TO SIGN ON TO TREATIES BANNING CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS THAT OVER 130 COUNTRIES HAVE AGREED TO.
A WAY OUT
WE HAVE BEEN IN SERIOUS TROUBLE IN AMERICA FOR A LONG TIME. NO PRESIDENT CAN CHANGE THE PATH THIS SYSTEM IS ON. TOTAL AND GLOBAL MONOPOLIZATION OF CAPITAL AND RESOURCES, THE MERGER OF CORPORATIONS AND THE STATE, THE RISE OF THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-INTELLIGENCE COMPLEX, PERMANENT WAR, A RUINED ECONOMY IN WHICH PEOPLE ARE EXPENDABLE. THIS IS GLOBAL FASCISM AND GENOCIDE RISING ALONG WITH WHAT CAN ONLY BE CALLED GLOBICIDE, DESTRUCTION OF LIFE ON THE PLANET.
WE AND THE WORLD HAVE BEEN INTENTIONALLY SOLD HOPE AND CHANGE THAT HAS NO BASIS IN REALITY NOR EVEN IN OBAMA’S INTENTIONS. OBAMA IS A MARKETED SYMBOL AND IMAGE THAT LEADS TO THE CONFUSION THAT HE COULD GET INTO THAT POSITION OF POWER AND REALLY EFFECT THE CHANGE WE NEED IN THIS COUNTRY. FOR PEOPLE ABROAD HIS PRESIDENCY WAS MEANT TO CHANGE THE IMAGE OF THE UNITED STATES, GIVE THE FALSE HOPE THAT OUR FOREIGN POLICY WOULD REVERSE ITSELF, OUR WARS ABROAD WOULD END AND THE MASS MOVEMENTS RISING AGAINST THE NEOLIBERAL AGENDA OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTROL FOR GLOBAL CORPORATIONS AND PROFIT WERE NO LONGER NEEDED.
AT HOME THE NOVELTY OF A PRESIDENT OF AFRICAN ORIGIN SOMEHOW MADE US FORGET THE LEGACY OF COLIN POWELL, CONDOLEEZA RICE, CLARENCE THOMAS AND OTHERS WHO HAVE CREATED THE ILLUSION THAT ANYONE CAN HOLD THE REINS OF POWER OR REVERSE THE DIRECTION OF THIS COUNTRY AND SYSTEM MERELY BY THEIR LEVEL OF APPOINTMENT IN IT. WE FORGET WHO PUTS THEM THERE, AND WHOSE AGENDA THEY MUST AGREE TO IN ADVANCE AND MUST FOLLOW TO REMAIN IN THAT POSITION. OBAMA WAS CHOSEN BY THOSE IN THE POSITIONS OF PRIVILEGE AND CONTROL IN THIS COUNTRY, FUNDED AND PROMOTED BY THEM, AND FAVORED BY THE MEDIA THEY MANIPULATE US WITH. HIS MAJOR FUNDERS WERE THE VERY BANKS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES WHO HAVE BEEN BAILED OUT IN THE RECENT CRISIS BY GOVERNMENT FUNDS, AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY APPOINTED BY OBAMA TO SOLVE THE DILEMMA THEY CREATED.
THERE IS A WAY OUT OF HERE, BUT IT MUST COME FROM THE BOTTOM, NOT FROM THE TOP. THE WAY OUT IS THE ONE WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD, THE ONE FREDERICK DOUGLASS TALKED ABOUT WHEN HE SAID, “POWER CONCEDES NOTHING WITHOUT DEMAND, IT NEVER DID AND IT NEVER WILL.” WE MUST RESTORE THE SENSE OF HUMAN COMMUNITY THIS SYSTEM HAS TRIED TO DESTROY, THROUGH DECENTRALISM, LOCAL ECONOMIES AND ALTERNATE ENERGY, ARABLE LANDS AND FOOD. THE PEOPLE MUST RISE AND RESTORE THE COMMONWEALTH OF OUR HISTORY, OUR MEDIA, OUR SCHOOLS AND OUR RESOURCES, LAND AND EVEN WATER. THOMAS JEFFERSON SAID WE WOULD HAVE TO ENVISION OUR LIBERATION ANEW AND MAKE REVOLUTION EVERY TWENTY YEARS, AND IT IS OVERDUE.
WE ARE AT THE CROSSROADS NOW, AND WE MUST ACT TO SAVE NOT ONLY OURSELVES, BUT OTHER SPECIES AND OUR PLANET. WE MUST CREATE REAL, PARTICIPATORY AND DIRECT DEMOCRACY SO THAT THE EXPRESSION OF POPULAR WILL IS NOT REDUCED TO STANDING IN THE COLD AND COMPLAINING OUTSIDE THE MACHINERY OF POWER CONTROLLED BY THE FEW. INSTEAD OF A MILITARIZED DEMOCRACY AT WAR WITH THE WORLD, WE NEED A DEMOCRATIC MILITARY THAT ACTS IN OUR NAME ONLY WITH OUR SANCTION, PERMISSION AND WILLING PARTICIPATION, IF IT ACTS AT ALL. THIS IS OUR COUNTRY, OUR MILITARY, OUR LIVES AND OUR DECISION, NOT THE PREROGATIVE OF A FEW BEHIND CLOSED DOORS WHO CLAIM TO REPRESENT US. TO REPRESENT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’S WILL, THIS SYSTEM WOULD HAVE ENDED THESE WARS LONG AGO, BEFORE BANKRUPTING OUR WHOLE ECONOMY IN THE SERVICE OF THOSE WHO PROFIT FROM THEM AND THEIR OUTCOMES.
INTRODUCTION
IN RECENT YEARS I HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO WORK WITH AND TO CALL A FRIEND OUR NEXT SPEAKER. SHE IS AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSON, AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN WHO BROKE THE BARRIERS, BECOMING THE FIRST ONE SEATED IN THE GEORGIA LEGISLATURE, THE FIRST TO SERVE SIX TERMS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM GEORGIA, A NATIONALLY KNOWN FIGURE AT TIMES, AND ALMOST INVISIBLE AT OTHERS. BUT UNLIKE MANY WHO ACHIEVE GREATNESS AND GET NOTICED, SHE CONSTANTLY USED HER POSITION TO WORK ON BEHALF OF HER CONSTITUENTS, TO ADDRESS THE REAL ISSUES AT HAND, TO BRING A COURAGEOUS, PROGRESSIVE AND AGGRESSIVE VOICE TO THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS, TO EXPOSE WRONGDOING AND TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER. BECAUSE SHE SAID ALOUD THAT THE EMPEROR HAD NO CLOTHES, THE EMPEROR TOOK NOTICE AND TRIED TO CRUSH HER.
THOUGH THEY TOOK AWAY HER SEAT IN CONGRESS AND THE POWERS THEY GRANTED HER, SHE IS FAR FROM POWERLESS. SHE BROKE ANOTHER BARRIER AS THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT WITH ANOTHER WOMAN OF COLOR AS VICE PRESIDENT, TO SET UP A THIRD PARTY IN THE UNITED STATES. BUT IF YOU ONLY WATCH TV AND READ THE MAINSTREAM PRESS YOU WOULD HARDLY KNOW IT. SOME CAUGHT UP IN THE SWEEP OF OBAMAMANIA ARE WAKING UP FROM THE DREAM NOW WITH BUYER’S REMORSE.
SINCE ELECTION NIGHT IN 2008, WHEN WE REALIZED THEY HAD PUT A “CLEAN, BLACK” FACE ON FASCISM IN THIS COUNTRY, SHE HAS NOT STOPPED WORKING FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD. SHE HAS TRAVELLED AROUND THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD SPREADING THIS MESSAGE. IN MANY PLACES, NOT HIGH PLACES OF POWER AND PRIVILEGE, BUT AMONG THOSE PEOPLE WHO SUFFER INJUSTICE, RACISM, POVERTY AND WAR, SHE IS KNOWN, RESPECTED AND LOVED. AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE HIP HOP GENERATION AND OLDER PEOPLE FROM THE 60S STRUGGLES, AND PEOPLE IN PALESTINE, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN AND EVEN MALAYSIA AND SOUTH AFTRICA, SHE IS A SYMBOL OF WHAT LEADERSHIP IN THIS COUNTRY SHOULD BE.
MORE RECENTLY, SHE TRIED TO BRING HUMANITARIAN AID TO THE BESIEGED PEOPLE OF GAZA BY BOAT. BOTH TIMES THE ISRAELI NAVY STOPPED HER, ILLEGALY IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS, THE FIRST TIME RAMMING THE BOAT AND LEAVING IT TO SINK, THE NEXT TIME BOARDING AND SIEZING THE BOAT AND PUTTING HER IN AN ISRAELI JAIL, THEN BANNING AND DEPORTING HER. DID OBAMA OR HILLARY CLINTON CONDEMN THIS ACTION OR ADMONISH THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT? NO, SILENCE WHEN AN AMERICAN CONGRESSWOMAN IS HELD HOSTAGE ILLEGALLY BY A FOREIGN COUNTRY. THAT MUST BE ANOTHER FIRST. DESPITE ALL THIS OUR SISTER GOT FREE TO CONTINUE TO SPEAK OUT AND WORK FOR EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS TODAY.
I HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO WORK AS HER SPECIAL PROJECTS ASSISTANT IN HER LAST TERM IN THE HOUSE ON ALL THE ISSUES I CARE ABOUT, AND I GOT TO BE HER PRESS SECRETARY IN HER RUN FOR HER PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, AND TO CALL HER MY FRIEND, AND SHE IS A FRIEND TO US ALL. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE HER IT IS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW HER. I GIVE YOU, CYNTHIA MCKINNEY.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT THE PEOPLE OF D.C. HAVE BEEN OPPOSING THE WAR ON AFGHANISTAN SINCE IT WAS FIRST SUGGESTED, AND BEFORE IT BEGAN. ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2001 THE WASHINGTON PEACE CENTER ORGANIZED A RALLY AND MARCH OF 5,000 PEOPLE FROM MALCOLM X PARK TO THE CAPITOL TO SAY NO TO THIS WAR, AND WE HAVE RESISTED IT SINCE. AS WE PUT IT THEN, OUR GRIEF WAS NOT A CRY FOR WAR. ON THE NIGHT OF OBAMA’S ELECTION ADAM KOKESH, FROM IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR SAID, “WE JUST ELECTED A PRO-WAR PRESIDENT AND WE CAN’T HAVE AN ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATION AT HIS INAUGURATION”. NOW WE CAN AND WE MUST.
THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN, WHICH HAS GONE ON NOW FOR EIGHT LONG YEARS WITH NO END IN SIGHT, IS BASED ON A BIGGER LIE THAN THE WAR ON IRAQ WAS. THE U.S. MILITARY INVASION INTO AFGHANISTAN WAS NOT A RESPONSE TO THE ATTACKS ON 9/11, IT WAS ALREADY PLANNED AND IN PROGRESS BY THAT POINT. ALL THE SURROUNDING COUNTRIES HAD BEEN WARNED IN THE SUMMER OF 2001 BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL THAT THE U.S. AND BRITAIN PLANNED TO INTERVENE MILITARILY IN MID-OCTOBER TO REMOVE THE TALIBAN LEADERSHIP IN AFGHANISTAN.
WHY? IN THE TESTIMONY TO THE HOUSE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE IN 1999 A REPRESENTATIVE OF UNOCAL, A HUGE CALIFORNIA OIL CORPORATION, IT WAS REVEALED THAT THEIR PLAN WAS TO RUN AN OIL PIPELINE FROM THE LARGEST OIL DEPOSIT IN THE WORLD AT THE TIME, THE CASPIAN SEA BASIN INSIDE RUSSIA, SOUTH THROUGH AFGHANISTAN TO THE GULF, TO LOAD TANKERS AVAILABLE TO THE HIGHEST BIDDING PORTS. THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE HAD ALREADY AGREED, BUT THE TALIBAN BALKED AT THE PRICE THEY WERE OFFERED, SO UNOCAL ASKED CONGRESS TO REMOVE THEM. BY THE SUMMER OF 2001 THE U.S. AND BRITISH CARRIERS AND TROOPS WERE ALREADY DEPLOYED TO THE GULF IN PREPARATION FOR THIS ILLEGAL AND PRE-EMPTIVE WAR. 9/11 WAS JUST A CONVENIENT EXCUSE.
OF COURSE THE TALIBAN WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN IN POWER AT ALL HAD THE UNITED STATES NOT ARMED AND TRAINED AN ILLEGAL INSURGENCY AT THE END OF THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION AND THROUGH THE REAGAN/BUSH YEARS AT THE COST OF $6 BILLION, SHARED WITH SAUDI ARABIA, TO DESTABLIZE A DEMOCRATIC AND SECULAR GOVERNMENT THERE THAT WAS PART OF THE SOVIET UNION AND THAT RESPECTED THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AS WELL. WILLIAM CASEY’S CIA RAN FUNDS THROUGH PAKISTANI MILITARY INTELL.IGENCE, ISI, WHICH IS CURRENTLY BEING BLAMED FOR WORKING WITH THE SAME ELEMENTS WE DID. THE MONEY AT BOTH ENDS CAME FROM THE SALE OF THE MAIN EXPORT PRODUCT OF AFGHANISTAN FOR THE LAST THREE DECADES, OPIUM, WHICH IS WORTH MORE THAN OIL OR GOLD. THE CIA MONEY WENT DIRECTLY TO MR. HEKMYATAR, THE LARGEST OPIUM DEALER AT THE TIME, AND TO HIS PROTÉGÉ, OSAMA BIN LADEN TO TRAIN AND CARRY OUT THAT DESTABLIZATION, WHICH LED TO THE RISE OF THE TALIBAN AFTER THE SOVIET UNION PULLED OUT.
MORE RECENTLY, WE HAVE INSTALLED A GOVERNMENT IN AFGHANISTAN, RUN BY THE BROTHER OF A LEADING OPIUM RUNNER AND CIA ASSET. THE OPIUM PRODUCTION HAS RISEN EVEN MORE, ACCOUNTING NOW FOR 95% OF THE WORLD MARKET. THE ADDICTIONS FROM HEROIN JUST MADE RUSSIA THE AIDS CAPITAL OF THE WORLD FROM DIRTY NEEDLES, AND IT HAS FLOODED THE STANS AND EUROPE. GENERAL JAMES JONES, OBAMA’S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR, STATED, WHEN HE WAS IN CHARGE OF THE AFGHANISTAN OPERATIONS UNDER PRESIDENT BUSH, THAT HE DID NOT WANT TO INTERFERE WITH OPIUM PRODUCTION THERE SINCE IT MIGHT RUIN THEIR ECONOMY - NOT TO MENTION OURS FOR COVERT OPERATIONS.
IF OSAMA BIN LADEN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE 9/11 ATTACKS, AND THERE IS LITTLE TO PROVE HE WAS, THEN WE HAVE DONE LITTLE TO CAPTURE HIM SINCE. WE SAID HE WAS HIDING IN CAVES TO AVOID US, BUT THE PENTAGON AND THE CIA PAID OSAMA BIN LADEN AND HIS UNCLE’S CONSTRUCTION COMPANY TO DIG OUT AND ARM THOSE CAVES FOR THE MUJAHEDDIN WAR. AFTER 9/11 THE TALIBAN OFFERED THREE TIMES TO TURN BIN LADEN OVER TO U.S. AUTHORITIES TO BE TRIED IN AN INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, BUT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION SAID THEY WOULD NOT NEGOTIATE WITH “TERRORISTS” AND APPLIED ILLEGAL MILITARY FORCE INSTEAD OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. A CHANCE TO SURROUND AND CAPTURE BIN LADEN AND HIS ASSOCIATES AT TORA BORA WAS UNDERMINED, AND SHORTLY AFTER THAT VP DICK CHENEY AND PRESIDENT BUSH SAID THAT CAPTURING HIM WAS NOT THEIR MAIN OBJECTIVE. AT LEAST THEY WERE HONEST ONCE. RECENTLY U.S. AUTHORITIES STATED THEY HAVE NOT HAD ANY GOOD INTELLIGENCE ON BIN LADEN’S WHERABOUTS. FOR ALL WE KNOW HE IS DEAD, BUT WORTH MORE TO US ALIVE AS A THREAT.
WE DO NOT KNOW TO THIS DAY WHO ACTUALLY CARRIED OUT THE ATTACKS AND HIJACKINGS ON 9/11, NOR WHO SPONSORED THEM. THE SUSPECTS NAMED BY THE FBI ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, WERE MOSTLY SAUDI ARABIAN AND EGYPTIAN, NOT AFGHANIS. EIGHT PEOPLE CAME FORWARD FROM THOSE COUNTRIES TO SAY THAT THE NAMES AND PICTURES PRINTED IN THE PRESS WERE THEIR OWN, BUT THEY HAD NOT BEEN PART OF ANY PLOT, ON A PLANE OR IN AMERICA. FIVE OF THOSE WHOSE IDENTITIES WERE STOLEN WORKED FOR SAUDI AIRLINES, WHICH BENEFITTED FROM THE OPENING OF AIR TRADE WITH AFGHANISTAN AFTER THE U.S. INVADED.
AND FINALLY, THE ONLY, AND I MEAN ONLY EVIDENCE LINKING THOSE 19 SUSPECTS TO OSAMA BIN LADEN IS THE TESTIMONY OF THREE PEOPLE. KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED, RAMSI YUSEF AND RAMSI BIN AL SHIBH. THREE PEOPLE WHO WERE BEING HELD IN INDEFINITE DETENTION IN UNDISCLOSED LOCATIONS AND BEING WATERBOARDED MULTIPLE TIMES AND TORTURED. THE 9/11 COMMISSION GOT THEIR STATEMENTS IN ENGLISH AND ASKED TO SPEAK TO THEM, TO THEIR JAILERS, TO THEIR INTERROGATORS OR EVEN THE TRANSLATORS WHO WORKED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES OR TEXT, AND THEY WERE DENIED. NO AMERICAN COURT WOULD ALLOW SUCH EVIDENCE INTO THE RECORD, UNLESS IT WAS A MILITARY TRIBUNAL OR A FISA COURT HELD IN SECRET. THE DIRECTOR OF THE 9/11 COMMISSION, PHILIP ZELIKOW WROTE A MEMO CONDEMNING THE TORTURE OF PRISONERS BY U.S. FORCES OR AGENCIES AS ILLEGAL. BUT THEN HE SUBMITTED MORE QUESTIONS TO THESE SAME INTERROGATORS FOR THESE THREE PRISONERS, SUBORNING THEIR FURTHER TORTURE IN MY VIEW.
THIS IS THE PACK OF CARDS ON WHICH THE WAR ON AFGHANISTAN RESTS, ALONG WITH THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE REASONS THE PUBLIC HAS BEEN FED AND BOUGHT INTO, SUCH AS “WE HAVE TO FIGHT THEM OVER THERE OR WE WILL HAVE TO FIGHT THEM HERE”, AND “WE HAVE TO GO IN THERE AND GET THE JOB DONE”. WE HAVE BEEN SOLD A LARGER MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE BUDGET BY BOTH BUSH AND OBAMA THAN WE HAVE EVER HAD BEFORE, IN ORDER TO FIGHT SOME UNIDENTIFIED TERRORISTS ABROAD, LARGER THAN WE NEEDED TO DEFEND OURSELVES AGAINST A NUCLEAR-ARMED CONTINENT DURING THE COLD WAR. WE HAVE BEEN ASKED TO SUSPEND OUR CONSTITUTION ALONG WITH OUR COMMON SENSE. WE WERE TOLD WE WOULD BE GOING INTO A WAR THAT WOULD NOT END IN OUR LIFETIME AFTER 9/11, A WAR INTO AS MANY AS 60 COUNTRIES, AND IF WE LEAVE IT UP TO THE PENTAGON AND THE CIA, DOUBTLESS THAT IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN, AS LONG AS WE ARE WILLING TO USE ALL OUR RESOURCES FOR WAR INSTEAD OF HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION, FOOD AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE PLANET.
OBAMA’S WAR
MANY PEOPLE ARE NOW EXPRESSING SURPRISE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA WOULD CALL FOR AN ESCALATION OF 30,000 TROOPS INTO AFGHANISTAN, BUT IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE AT ALL. HE HIMSELF STATED THAT HIS OPPOSITION TO THE WAR IN IRAQ WAS BASED ON THE WASTE OF MILITARY RESOURCES THAT WERE BETTER USED AGAINST AFGHANISTAN, AND APPARENTLY PAKISTAN AS WELL. HE CONDEMNED THE USE OF PRE-EMPTIVE WAR BY BUSH AND CONTINUED IT WITH DRONES INSIDE PAKISTAN AND NOW THIS ESCALATION. THESE WARS ARE PLANNED AT THE PENTAGON WELL IN ADVANCE, AND THE PRESIDENTS INHERIT THEM AND THEY COME AND GO. NO SOONER HAD OBAMA ANNOUNCED HIS QUICK SURGE AND WITHDRAWAL BY 2011 THAN SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES SPOKE UP TO SAY THAT WAS THE BEGINNING NOT THE END OF THE WITHDRAWAL AND GENERAL MCCHRYSTAL, IN CHARGE OF THE AFGHANISTAN WAR SAID IT WOULD BE A MATTER OF YEARS, NOT MONTHS. THE TIMETABLE DISCUSSED AT THE PENTAGON HAS ALWAYS BEEN 2017, NOT 2011. OBAMA WILL BE OUT OF OFFICE BEFORE THIS WAR ENDS, IF IT DOES. THE U.S. WILL NOT LEAVE THE WHOLE REGION UNTIL PERMANENT BASES ARE ESTABLISHED AND CONTROL OF KEY RESOURCES, OIL, NATURAL GAS AND OPIUM IS ASSURED.
REMEMBER “HOPE” AND “CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN”? REMEMBER “WE WILL HAVE TO HOLD HIS FEET TO THE FIRE”? THE PROBLEM IS WE HAVE HAD NO FIRE AND WE DON’T HAVE HOLD OF HIS FEET. PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS NOT CHANGED ONE MAJOR ASPECT OF THE BUSH AGENDA. ALMOST EVERY GROUND FOR IMPEACHMENT BROUGHT TO THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS BY REPRESENTATIVES MCKINNEY AND KUCINICH STILL APPLIES TO THE NEW PRESIDENT’S ADMINISTRATION. HE HAS NOT ENDED SURVEILLANCE, SIGNING STATEMENTS, INDEFINITE DETENTION, RENDITIONS, STATE SECRECY, MILITARY TRIBUNALS, ILLEGAL WARS AND WEAPONS, PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKES, ASSASSINATIONS, VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES, THE UN CHARTER AND THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS, AND VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS INCLUDING HARSH INTERROGATION AND ABUSE INSIDE U.S. MILITARY PRISONS IN IRAQ. JUST THIS WEEK OBAMA FOLLOWED BUSH’S LEAD IN REFUSING TO SIGN ON TO TREATIES BANNING CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS THAT OVER 130 COUNTRIES HAVE AGREED TO.
A WAY OUT
WE HAVE BEEN IN SERIOUS TROUBLE IN AMERICA FOR A LONG TIME. NO PRESIDENT CAN CHANGE THE PATH THIS SYSTEM IS ON. TOTAL AND GLOBAL MONOPOLIZATION OF CAPITAL AND RESOURCES, THE MERGER OF CORPORATIONS AND THE STATE, THE RISE OF THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-INTELLIGENCE COMPLEX, PERMANENT WAR, A RUINED ECONOMY IN WHICH PEOPLE ARE EXPENDABLE. THIS IS GLOBAL FASCISM AND GENOCIDE RISING ALONG WITH WHAT CAN ONLY BE CALLED GLOBICIDE, DESTRUCTION OF LIFE ON THE PLANET.
WE AND THE WORLD HAVE BEEN INTENTIONALLY SOLD HOPE AND CHANGE THAT HAS NO BASIS IN REALITY NOR EVEN IN OBAMA’S INTENTIONS. OBAMA IS A MARKETED SYMBOL AND IMAGE THAT LEADS TO THE CONFUSION THAT HE COULD GET INTO THAT POSITION OF POWER AND REALLY EFFECT THE CHANGE WE NEED IN THIS COUNTRY. FOR PEOPLE ABROAD HIS PRESIDENCY WAS MEANT TO CHANGE THE IMAGE OF THE UNITED STATES, GIVE THE FALSE HOPE THAT OUR FOREIGN POLICY WOULD REVERSE ITSELF, OUR WARS ABROAD WOULD END AND THE MASS MOVEMENTS RISING AGAINST THE NEOLIBERAL AGENDA OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONTROL FOR GLOBAL CORPORATIONS AND PROFIT WERE NO LONGER NEEDED.
AT HOME THE NOVELTY OF A PRESIDENT OF AFRICAN ORIGIN SOMEHOW MADE US FORGET THE LEGACY OF COLIN POWELL, CONDOLEEZA RICE, CLARENCE THOMAS AND OTHERS WHO HAVE CREATED THE ILLUSION THAT ANYONE CAN HOLD THE REINS OF POWER OR REVERSE THE DIRECTION OF THIS COUNTRY AND SYSTEM MERELY BY THEIR LEVEL OF APPOINTMENT IN IT. WE FORGET WHO PUTS THEM THERE, AND WHOSE AGENDA THEY MUST AGREE TO IN ADVANCE AND MUST FOLLOW TO REMAIN IN THAT POSITION. OBAMA WAS CHOSEN BY THOSE IN THE POSITIONS OF PRIVILEGE AND CONTROL IN THIS COUNTRY, FUNDED AND PROMOTED BY THEM, AND FAVORED BY THE MEDIA THEY MANIPULATE US WITH. HIS MAJOR FUNDERS WERE THE VERY BANKS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES WHO HAVE BEEN BAILED OUT IN THE RECENT CRISIS BY GOVERNMENT FUNDS, AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY APPOINTED BY OBAMA TO SOLVE THE DILEMMA THEY CREATED.
THERE IS A WAY OUT OF HERE, BUT IT MUST COME FROM THE BOTTOM, NOT FROM THE TOP. THE WAY OUT IS THE ONE WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD, THE ONE FREDERICK DOUGLASS TALKED ABOUT WHEN HE SAID, “POWER CONCEDES NOTHING WITHOUT DEMAND, IT NEVER DID AND IT NEVER WILL.” WE MUST RESTORE THE SENSE OF HUMAN COMMUNITY THIS SYSTEM HAS TRIED TO DESTROY, THROUGH DECENTRALISM, LOCAL ECONOMIES AND ALTERNATE ENERGY, ARABLE LANDS AND FOOD. THE PEOPLE MUST RISE AND RESTORE THE COMMONWEALTH OF OUR HISTORY, OUR MEDIA, OUR SCHOOLS AND OUR RESOURCES, LAND AND EVEN WATER. THOMAS JEFFERSON SAID WE WOULD HAVE TO ENVISION OUR LIBERATION ANEW AND MAKE REVOLUTION EVERY TWENTY YEARS, AND IT IS OVERDUE.
WE ARE AT THE CROSSROADS NOW, AND WE MUST ACT TO SAVE NOT ONLY OURSELVES, BUT OTHER SPECIES AND OUR PLANET. WE MUST CREATE REAL, PARTICIPATORY AND DIRECT DEMOCRACY SO THAT THE EXPRESSION OF POPULAR WILL IS NOT REDUCED TO STANDING IN THE COLD AND COMPLAINING OUTSIDE THE MACHINERY OF POWER CONTROLLED BY THE FEW. INSTEAD OF A MILITARIZED DEMOCRACY AT WAR WITH THE WORLD, WE NEED A DEMOCRATIC MILITARY THAT ACTS IN OUR NAME ONLY WITH OUR SANCTION, PERMISSION AND WILLING PARTICIPATION, IF IT ACTS AT ALL. THIS IS OUR COUNTRY, OUR MILITARY, OUR LIVES AND OUR DECISION, NOT THE PREROGATIVE OF A FEW BEHIND CLOSED DOORS WHO CLAIM TO REPRESENT US. TO REPRESENT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’S WILL, THIS SYSTEM WOULD HAVE ENDED THESE WARS LONG AGO, BEFORE BANKRUPTING OUR WHOLE ECONOMY IN THE SERVICE OF THOSE WHO PROFIT FROM THEM AND THEIR OUTCOMES.
INTRODUCTION
IN RECENT YEARS I HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO WORK WITH AND TO CALL A FRIEND OUR NEXT SPEAKER. SHE IS AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSON, AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN WHO BROKE THE BARRIERS, BECOMING THE FIRST ONE SEATED IN THE GEORGIA LEGISLATURE, THE FIRST TO SERVE SIX TERMS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM GEORGIA, A NATIONALLY KNOWN FIGURE AT TIMES, AND ALMOST INVISIBLE AT OTHERS. BUT UNLIKE MANY WHO ACHIEVE GREATNESS AND GET NOTICED, SHE CONSTANTLY USED HER POSITION TO WORK ON BEHALF OF HER CONSTITUENTS, TO ADDRESS THE REAL ISSUES AT HAND, TO BRING A COURAGEOUS, PROGRESSIVE AND AGGRESSIVE VOICE TO THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS, TO EXPOSE WRONGDOING AND TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER. BECAUSE SHE SAID ALOUD THAT THE EMPEROR HAD NO CLOTHES, THE EMPEROR TOOK NOTICE AND TRIED TO CRUSH HER.
THOUGH THEY TOOK AWAY HER SEAT IN CONGRESS AND THE POWERS THEY GRANTED HER, SHE IS FAR FROM POWERLESS. SHE BROKE ANOTHER BARRIER AS THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT WITH ANOTHER WOMAN OF COLOR AS VICE PRESIDENT, TO SET UP A THIRD PARTY IN THE UNITED STATES. BUT IF YOU ONLY WATCH TV AND READ THE MAINSTREAM PRESS YOU WOULD HARDLY KNOW IT. SOME CAUGHT UP IN THE SWEEP OF OBAMAMANIA ARE WAKING UP FROM THE DREAM NOW WITH BUYER’S REMORSE.
SINCE ELECTION NIGHT IN 2008, WHEN WE REALIZED THEY HAD PUT A “CLEAN, BLACK” FACE ON FASCISM IN THIS COUNTRY, SHE HAS NOT STOPPED WORKING FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD. SHE HAS TRAVELLED AROUND THE COUNTRY AND THE WORLD SPREADING THIS MESSAGE. IN MANY PLACES, NOT HIGH PLACES OF POWER AND PRIVILEGE, BUT AMONG THOSE PEOPLE WHO SUFFER INJUSTICE, RACISM, POVERTY AND WAR, SHE IS KNOWN, RESPECTED AND LOVED. AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE HIP HOP GENERATION AND OLDER PEOPLE FROM THE 60S STRUGGLES, AND PEOPLE IN PALESTINE, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN AND EVEN MALAYSIA AND SOUTH AFTRICA, SHE IS A SYMBOL OF WHAT LEADERSHIP IN THIS COUNTRY SHOULD BE.
MORE RECENTLY, SHE TRIED TO BRING HUMANITARIAN AID TO THE BESIEGED PEOPLE OF GAZA BY BOAT. BOTH TIMES THE ISRAELI NAVY STOPPED HER, ILLEGALY IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS, THE FIRST TIME RAMMING THE BOAT AND LEAVING IT TO SINK, THE NEXT TIME BOARDING AND SIEZING THE BOAT AND PUTTING HER IN AN ISRAELI JAIL, THEN BANNING AND DEPORTING HER. DID OBAMA OR HILLARY CLINTON CONDEMN THIS ACTION OR ADMONISH THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT? NO, SILENCE WHEN AN AMERICAN CONGRESSWOMAN IS HELD HOSTAGE ILLEGALLY BY A FOREIGN COUNTRY. THAT MUST BE ANOTHER FIRST. DESPITE ALL THIS OUR SISTER GOT FREE TO CONTINUE TO SPEAK OUT AND WORK FOR EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS TODAY.
I HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO WORK AS HER SPECIAL PROJECTS ASSISTANT IN HER LAST TERM IN THE HOUSE ON ALL THE ISSUES I CARE ABOUT, AND I GOT TO BE HER PRESS SECRETARY IN HER RUN FOR HER PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, AND TO CALL HER MY FRIEND, AND SHE IS A FRIEND TO US ALL. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE HER IT IS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW HER. I GIVE YOU, CYNTHIA MCKINNEY.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
A little late but CRUCIAL
HAVE A WONDERFUL VETERANS' DAY!
Gulf War Vet turned DC Sniper Executed by Lethal Injection
The man known as the DC sniper has been executed for the October 2002 killings of ten people in DC, Virginia and Maryland. John Allen Muhammad was killed by lethal injection Tuesday after Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine denied a last-minute appeal for clemency... Defense attorneys had argued for sparing Muhammad’s life on grounds he suffered mental illness worsened by the Gulf War syndrome he developed while serving in the first US invasion of Iraq.
Army Psychiatrist who massacred 13 at Fort Hood out of Coma
President Obama visited Fort Hood, Texas on Tuesday to pay tribute to the thirteen soldiers and civilians killed in a shooting rampage last week. The suspect, Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan, remains hospitalized after emerging from a coma.
Anti-Arab Marine Reservist Assaults Greek Priest
In Florida, a Marine reservist has been arrested after allegedly attacking a Greek Orthodox priest he mistook to be of Arabic descent.
Parents of deceased Iraq Veteran Receive VA letter asking son to show up for PSTD treatment
The parents of US Army Reserve Specialist Chancellor Keesling, an Iraq war veteran, received a letter yesterday from the VA asking that their son complete his “Post Deployment Adjustment.” The only problem is, Chance Keesling had killed himself in Iraq nearly five months ago.
US Blackwater Mercenaries who killed 17 Civilians in Nisoor Massacre prepared bribes
Former executives at the private military firm Blackwater have revealed the company authorized around $1 million to bribe Iraqi officials in the aftermath of the September 2007 killings of seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.
US Citizen Sues FBI for Kidnapping, Mistreatment in Africa
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit on behalf of a US citizen over the FBI’s alleged role in his imprisonment and mistreatment abroad. Amir Mohamed Meshal was detained in Kenya, transferred to Somalia, and then sent to Ethiopia, where he wasjailed for three months without charge. Meshal says US interrogators held him in inhumane conditions and threatened him with torture, forced disappearance and execution unless he confessed to belonging to a militant Islamic group.
Obama to send 30,000 Additional Troops in Afghanistan
Reports continue to surface that the Obama administration has decided on a major troop increase in Afghanistan.
Sexual Assaults, Inadequate Healthcare Among Spate of Issues Facing Women Servicemembers
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/11/sexual_assaults_inadequate_healthcare_among_spate
The rate of sexual assaults within the US military also exceeds that of the general population. A Pentagon report earlier this year found one in three female servicemembers are sexually assaulted at least once during their enlistment. Sixty-three percent of nearly 3,000 cases reported last year were rapes or aggravated assaults. Despite what some have called an epidemic of military sexual trauma, the delivery of healthcare to women veterans remains grossly inadequate.
Unfortunately, health insurance is just one of many serious problems vets face. Veterans account for up to a quarter of all homeless in the country. Up to one-in-five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and male vets face suicide rates double the national average.
Meanwhile, the rate of sexual assaults within the US military also exceeds that of the general population. A Pentagon report earlier this year found one in three female service members are sexually assaulted at least once during their enlistment. Sixty-three percent of nearly 3,000 cases reported last year were rapes or aggravated assaults. Despite what some have called an epidemic of military sexual trauma, the delivery of health care to women veterans remains grossly inadequate.
Veterans Day or Rulers Day?
Wednesday 11 November 2009
by: Bob Richards, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
How is it that Veterans Day gets turned around into US Military Hegemony Day? The airwaves were buried under an avalanche of lip service about veterans, but the moving lips were all about the myth that the warfare decisions this country's rulers make have something to do with anyone's freedom. Just as soldiers and sailors are doing around the world today, I did in my time. I was there as a teenager, ignorant of the forces moving me, believing whatever line I was being fed.
I grew up on the hundreds of war/propaganda movies that came out of WWI, WWII and Korea. Today we are deluged with more nationalistic propaganda than ever before in my lifetime. It can't be avoided. The TV spews the images nearly nonstop. Recruiters are in our schools, along with the pop machines. The words Army, Navy and National Guard are on race cars at the drags and the ovals. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" has been replaced with "America the Beautiful" with cordons placed at Yankee Stadium to keep fans from going to the bathroom while the dose of nationalism is served up.
Once a year the veterans are rolled out, but without a real veterans' voice. The physical support for veterans comes nowhere near what is needed. Suicides of veterans always wind up taking more lives than the wars that set them up.
It is important to some vets to keep believing the myth they fought for, that going into that foreign country had a bearing on anyone's freedom here. These are the vets who get a voice, as this is the only voice acceptable to the ruling powers. The Revolutionary War and the Civil War may have had some bearing on someone's freedoms, but even then, not everyone's. The former held only for white male property holders, and the latter for humans who were property themselves. In both of these cases, those native to these lands could not be included, as they were busy at the time being relieved of their homelands and freedom.
If you want to thank anyone for your rights and freedoms, thank an activist. No soldier ended segregation in the 1960's. No sailor got women the vote. No National Guardsman got you the 40-hour week or took children off the shop floors or out of the mines. No, they were called out by the states to kill the very people who were fighting for the rights they eventually won for you.
Mostly what the vets have done is to be tricked into serving the forces that have used them, and in many cases, used them up. The vets deserve your support mostly because they believed, and gave what was asked, and were promised something in exchange. When promise-keeping time comes up, they find they have to get in a line and wait and then they must fight to receive what was promised. In many cases, what they get is enough for a little cheap wine and a bed at a shelter. These aren't the vets that get dragged out before the game or race, or at half-time. Nope, those vets are the believers. The "presentable" ones.
So, here we are at war to get Unocal's dream pipeline route across Afghanistan secured and prop up that ex-Unocal employee's stolen election. Then there's still that war we don't talk about so much anymore. The one that the lie to get us in there changed nearly every day, when the truth may have been as simple as the Decider told us himself, that Saddam tried to kill his daddy, and that he would use that war for his own ends.
These two wars send home more corpses and vets every day. These vets are more often acute cases needing the highest levels of attention, overloading the system and triaging the old farts back down the waiting lines. The government will front load the wars with the drones, missiles, guns, mines, ships, planes and trained bodies as its priority. It will use up more than it gets from its taxpayers and hand the debts to the future, and vets will fight for crumbs. This is the record from every war the country has ever done. Still, its propaganda works, and it won't have any trouble finding believers to march in the parades. It can parlay that percentage into a rock-solid myth and keep the guns-and-butter gravy train rolling along.Ha
Gulf War Vet turned DC Sniper Executed by Lethal Injection
The man known as the DC sniper has been executed for the October 2002 killings of ten people in DC, Virginia and Maryland. John Allen Muhammad was killed by lethal injection Tuesday after Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine denied a last-minute appeal for clemency... Defense attorneys had argued for sparing Muhammad’s life on grounds he suffered mental illness worsened by the Gulf War syndrome he developed while serving in the first US invasion of Iraq.
Army Psychiatrist who massacred 13 at Fort Hood out of Coma
President Obama visited Fort Hood, Texas on Tuesday to pay tribute to the thirteen soldiers and civilians killed in a shooting rampage last week. The suspect, Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan, remains hospitalized after emerging from a coma.
Anti-Arab Marine Reservist Assaults Greek Priest
In Florida, a Marine reservist has been arrested after allegedly attacking a Greek Orthodox priest he mistook to be of Arabic descent.
Parents of deceased Iraq Veteran Receive VA letter asking son to show up for PSTD treatment
The parents of US Army Reserve Specialist Chancellor Keesling, an Iraq war veteran, received a letter yesterday from the VA asking that their son complete his “Post Deployment Adjustment.” The only problem is, Chance Keesling had killed himself in Iraq nearly five months ago.
US Blackwater Mercenaries who killed 17 Civilians in Nisoor Massacre prepared bribes
Former executives at the private military firm Blackwater have revealed the company authorized around $1 million to bribe Iraqi officials in the aftermath of the September 2007 killings of seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.
US Citizen Sues FBI for Kidnapping, Mistreatment in Africa
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit on behalf of a US citizen over the FBI’s alleged role in his imprisonment and mistreatment abroad. Amir Mohamed Meshal was detained in Kenya, transferred to Somalia, and then sent to Ethiopia, where he wasjailed for three months without charge. Meshal says US interrogators held him in inhumane conditions and threatened him with torture, forced disappearance and execution unless he confessed to belonging to a militant Islamic group.
Obama to send 30,000 Additional Troops in Afghanistan
Reports continue to surface that the Obama administration has decided on a major troop increase in Afghanistan.
Sexual Assaults, Inadequate Healthcare Among Spate of Issues Facing Women Servicemembers
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/11/sexual_assaults_inadequate_healthcare_among_spate
The rate of sexual assaults within the US military also exceeds that of the general population. A Pentagon report earlier this year found one in three female servicemembers are sexually assaulted at least once during their enlistment. Sixty-three percent of nearly 3,000 cases reported last year were rapes or aggravated assaults. Despite what some have called an epidemic of military sexual trauma, the delivery of healthcare to women veterans remains grossly inadequate.
Unfortunately, health insurance is just one of many serious problems vets face. Veterans account for up to a quarter of all homeless in the country. Up to one-in-five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and male vets face suicide rates double the national average.
Meanwhile, the rate of sexual assaults within the US military also exceeds that of the general population. A Pentagon report earlier this year found one in three female service members are sexually assaulted at least once during their enlistment. Sixty-three percent of nearly 3,000 cases reported last year were rapes or aggravated assaults. Despite what some have called an epidemic of military sexual trauma, the delivery of health care to women veterans remains grossly inadequate.
Veterans Day or Rulers Day?
Wednesday 11 November 2009
by: Bob Richards, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
How is it that Veterans Day gets turned around into US Military Hegemony Day? The airwaves were buried under an avalanche of lip service about veterans, but the moving lips were all about the myth that the warfare decisions this country's rulers make have something to do with anyone's freedom. Just as soldiers and sailors are doing around the world today, I did in my time. I was there as a teenager, ignorant of the forces moving me, believing whatever line I was being fed.
I grew up on the hundreds of war/propaganda movies that came out of WWI, WWII and Korea. Today we are deluged with more nationalistic propaganda than ever before in my lifetime. It can't be avoided. The TV spews the images nearly nonstop. Recruiters are in our schools, along with the pop machines. The words Army, Navy and National Guard are on race cars at the drags and the ovals. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" has been replaced with "America the Beautiful" with cordons placed at Yankee Stadium to keep fans from going to the bathroom while the dose of nationalism is served up.
Once a year the veterans are rolled out, but without a real veterans' voice. The physical support for veterans comes nowhere near what is needed. Suicides of veterans always wind up taking more lives than the wars that set them up.
It is important to some vets to keep believing the myth they fought for, that going into that foreign country had a bearing on anyone's freedom here. These are the vets who get a voice, as this is the only voice acceptable to the ruling powers. The Revolutionary War and the Civil War may have had some bearing on someone's freedoms, but even then, not everyone's. The former held only for white male property holders, and the latter for humans who were property themselves. In both of these cases, those native to these lands could not be included, as they were busy at the time being relieved of their homelands and freedom.
If you want to thank anyone for your rights and freedoms, thank an activist. No soldier ended segregation in the 1960's. No sailor got women the vote. No National Guardsman got you the 40-hour week or took children off the shop floors or out of the mines. No, they were called out by the states to kill the very people who were fighting for the rights they eventually won for you.
Mostly what the vets have done is to be tricked into serving the forces that have used them, and in many cases, used them up. The vets deserve your support mostly because they believed, and gave what was asked, and were promised something in exchange. When promise-keeping time comes up, they find they have to get in a line and wait and then they must fight to receive what was promised. In many cases, what they get is enough for a little cheap wine and a bed at a shelter. These aren't the vets that get dragged out before the game or race, or at half-time. Nope, those vets are the believers. The "presentable" ones.
So, here we are at war to get Unocal's dream pipeline route across Afghanistan secured and prop up that ex-Unocal employee's stolen election. Then there's still that war we don't talk about so much anymore. The one that the lie to get us in there changed nearly every day, when the truth may have been as simple as the Decider told us himself, that Saddam tried to kill his daddy, and that he would use that war for his own ends.
These two wars send home more corpses and vets every day. These vets are more often acute cases needing the highest levels of attention, overloading the system and triaging the old farts back down the waiting lines. The government will front load the wars with the drones, missiles, guns, mines, ships, planes and trained bodies as its priority. It will use up more than it gets from its taxpayers and hand the debts to the future, and vets will fight for crumbs. This is the record from every war the country has ever done. Still, its propaganda works, and it won't have any trouble finding believers to march in the parades. It can parlay that percentage into a rock-solid myth and keep the guns-and-butter gravy train rolling along.Ha
Friday, November 27, 2009
Family Warmth on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving used to be one of my favorite holidays, but after becoming a vegetarian two and a half years ago and learning the true history of the tradition, I became disillusioned.
But none of that stopped me from having a wonderful time with family this year. I was relieved to get a couple of days off work, and I've used them for the most part to relax, enjoy, and catch up. I am thankful for this and MANY other things including
1) Love
2) Warmth
3) Food (mostly of the plant variety)
4) Appreciation
5) Energy
6) Health (crucial considering the backward health care legislation)
7) Purpose (the most essential ingredient for life)
8) Music
9) Information
10) Opportunity
11) Relationships
12) Inner peace
13) Consciousness
14) Adulthood
15) Compassion
But none of that stopped me from having a wonderful time with family this year. I was relieved to get a couple of days off work, and I've used them for the most part to relax, enjoy, and catch up. I am thankful for this and MANY other things including
1) Love
2) Warmth
3) Food (mostly of the plant variety)
4) Appreciation
5) Energy
6) Health (crucial considering the backward health care legislation)
7) Purpose (the most essential ingredient for life)
8) Music
9) Information
10) Opportunity
11) Relationships
12) Inner peace
13) Consciousness
14) Adulthood
15) Compassion
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Justice on Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving, let's give a thought to the people who process turkeys
By David L. Ostendor
The Progressive
November 22, 2009
http://www.progressive.org/mposten112209.html
We should know where our turkeys come from, and who
processes them for us.
The turkeys piled into supermarket freezers carry their
own stories. Raised primarily in massive confinement
buildings by low-paid growers under contract to
corporate food giants, they are genetically designed
for plentiful breast meat to grace our Thanksgiving
platters. They are then trucked to a processing plant,
where they meet their demise.
Reflecting the racial structure of the nation's entire
food system, turkey processing relies largely on the
hard labor of low-wage workers of color. On plant
floors across the country, a predominantly black,
Latino and Asian work force kills, guts, cleans,
processes and packages the Thanksgiving centerpiece
along fast-moving production lines.
Injuries are commonplace. Thousands of individual
repetitive motions every shift raise the probability of
chronic pain for line workers.
Federal safety inspectors are spread thin, and when
they do arrive it is not unusual for supervisors to
silence workers. At a recent meeting of Somali
immigrants with an Occupational Safety and Health
Administration representative, workers were shocked to
learn that they had the right to speak when an
inspector came to their workplace.
Every day of the year, and especially on Thanksgiving,
no one in this country eats without the labor of
immigrants, refugees and other workers of color. This
is not a new reality.
When President Theodore Roosevelt pushed his "cheap
food" policy in order to feed a growing and politically
volatile urban population a century ago, the cost was
imposed on both family farmers and food sector workers.
A cheap food system is fundamentally based on low
commodity prices and low-wage workers, and little has
changed since Roosevelt's policy came into play.
This Thanksgiving, we should give thanks to the low-
wage workers, many of them immigrant and refugee, who
enable us to have our feast.
Thanksgiving turkey comes laden with human stories of
struggle and hope and dangerous, hard work. With
stories of immigrants and refugees still seeking an
American dream. With stories from many countries
blending to become one nation. With stories in many
languages seeking to become one voice.
So let's give thanks. Eat well. Celebrate. And seek
justice for the workers who feed us.
David L. Ostendorf is executive director of the
Chicago-based Center for New Community, a national
organization dedicated to building community, justice,
and equality nationwide (www.newcomm.org). He is a
minister in the United Church of Christ. He can be
reached at pmproj@progressive.org.
By David L. Ostendor
The Progressive
November 22, 2009
http://www.progressive.org/mposten112209.html
We should know where our turkeys come from, and who
processes them for us.
The turkeys piled into supermarket freezers carry their
own stories. Raised primarily in massive confinement
buildings by low-paid growers under contract to
corporate food giants, they are genetically designed
for plentiful breast meat to grace our Thanksgiving
platters. They are then trucked to a processing plant,
where they meet their demise.
Reflecting the racial structure of the nation's entire
food system, turkey processing relies largely on the
hard labor of low-wage workers of color. On plant
floors across the country, a predominantly black,
Latino and Asian work force kills, guts, cleans,
processes and packages the Thanksgiving centerpiece
along fast-moving production lines.
Injuries are commonplace. Thousands of individual
repetitive motions every shift raise the probability of
chronic pain for line workers.
Federal safety inspectors are spread thin, and when
they do arrive it is not unusual for supervisors to
silence workers. At a recent meeting of Somali
immigrants with an Occupational Safety and Health
Administration representative, workers were shocked to
learn that they had the right to speak when an
inspector came to their workplace.
Every day of the year, and especially on Thanksgiving,
no one in this country eats without the labor of
immigrants, refugees and other workers of color. This
is not a new reality.
When President Theodore Roosevelt pushed his "cheap
food" policy in order to feed a growing and politically
volatile urban population a century ago, the cost was
imposed on both family farmers and food sector workers.
A cheap food system is fundamentally based on low
commodity prices and low-wage workers, and little has
changed since Roosevelt's policy came into play.
This Thanksgiving, we should give thanks to the low-
wage workers, many of them immigrant and refugee, who
enable us to have our feast.
Thanksgiving turkey comes laden with human stories of
struggle and hope and dangerous, hard work. With
stories of immigrants and refugees still seeking an
American dream. With stories from many countries
blending to become one nation. With stories in many
languages seeking to become one voice.
So let's give thanks. Eat well. Celebrate. And seek
justice for the workers who feed us.
David L. Ostendorf is executive director of the
Chicago-based Center for New Community, a national
organization dedicated to building community, justice,
and equality nationwide (www.newcomm.org). He is a
minister in the United Church of Christ. He can be
reached at pmproj@progressive.org.
Protect Our Food Producers!
New York Daily News
This must be New York's final harvest of shame:
Let us finally protect exploited farmworkers
By Kerry Kennedy
Thursday, November 26th 2009
There's near-slavery in New York, and it'll be served up across the state today in turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and corn bread.
Thanksgiving is a time to join family and friends, reflect on the past year and express gratitude for all the blessings in our lives. We are fueled in this ritual self-examination by traditional holiday fare: Turkey smothered in gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, winter squash, creamed onions, peas, carrots, corn and more. But while these foods comfort me, I am horrified by the haunting stories of the women and men whose seemingly endless toil provides us such a wonderful and colorful bounty.
Farmworkers in New York State - who deliver to us so many of the foods we eat - labor every day without the basic rights that are afforded all other workers. They are denied the right to a day of rest per week and to overtime pay for extra work hours. They are excluded from disability and unemployment insurance coverage. And they can be legally fired for organizing a union.
The history of denying farmworkers basic rights stretches back to the Jim Crow era, when Dixiecrats in Congress refused to include the primarily African-American farm labor force in the New Deal labor regime - but the the tragic results of historical racism and political expediency are alive and kicking today.
New York farmworkers live in overcrowded barracks, work incredibly long hours (many work 12- to 14-hour days, seven days a week) for poverty wages, and suffer frequent repetitive-stress and other serious injuries. When their bodies inevitably break under the stress of the work, they are shown the door - kicked out of employer-provided housing.
Farmworkers' daily lives are subject to the whims of their employers - a power dynamic that often results in extreme abuse and exploitation. On a recent visit with farmworkers in, of all places, Liberty, N.Y., every female farmworker I spoke with told me she had been sexually assaulted by her boss.
We must put a stop to this.
Fortunately, there is reason for hope. Under the leadership of Rural & Migrant Ministry, many thousands in upstate churches and synagogues have marched side by side with the state's farmworkers, seeking to honor the dignity and equal worth of all people. They have been joined in this long journey by allies in the labor movement and youth organizations. This year, I am proud to report that the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights joined the campaign in a big way, and we are on the verge of major progress.
In June, the Assembly passed the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act, which would finally offer a measure of justice to farmworkers by extending them basic rights and protections. Gov. Paterson has repeatedly pledged to sign the bill. All that is left to do is for Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson to allow the bill to the Senate floor for a vote, where it will surely pass.
Tomorrow marks the 49th anniversary of Edward R. Murrow's shocking documentary, "Harvest of Shame," which depicted the horrible living and working conditions, conditions that legally persist today.
Forty-nine Thanksgiving meals, and still farmworkers are denied a seat at the table. Forty-nine years of pumpkin pie, and still farmworkers are denied a piece. Sen. Sampson, let the 50th anniversary never come. Before the year is out, bring the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act to a vote. For that we will be eternally thankful.
This must be New York's final harvest of shame:
Let us finally protect exploited farmworkers
By Kerry Kennedy
Thursday, November 26th 2009
There's near-slavery in New York, and it'll be served up across the state today in turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and corn bread.
Thanksgiving is a time to join family and friends, reflect on the past year and express gratitude for all the blessings in our lives. We are fueled in this ritual self-examination by traditional holiday fare: Turkey smothered in gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, winter squash, creamed onions, peas, carrots, corn and more. But while these foods comfort me, I am horrified by the haunting stories of the women and men whose seemingly endless toil provides us such a wonderful and colorful bounty.
Farmworkers in New York State - who deliver to us so many of the foods we eat - labor every day without the basic rights that are afforded all other workers. They are denied the right to a day of rest per week and to overtime pay for extra work hours. They are excluded from disability and unemployment insurance coverage. And they can be legally fired for organizing a union.
The history of denying farmworkers basic rights stretches back to the Jim Crow era, when Dixiecrats in Congress refused to include the primarily African-American farm labor force in the New Deal labor regime - but the the tragic results of historical racism and political expediency are alive and kicking today.
New York farmworkers live in overcrowded barracks, work incredibly long hours (many work 12- to 14-hour days, seven days a week) for poverty wages, and suffer frequent repetitive-stress and other serious injuries. When their bodies inevitably break under the stress of the work, they are shown the door - kicked out of employer-provided housing.
Farmworkers' daily lives are subject to the whims of their employers - a power dynamic that often results in extreme abuse and exploitation. On a recent visit with farmworkers in, of all places, Liberty, N.Y., every female farmworker I spoke with told me she had been sexually assaulted by her boss.
We must put a stop to this.
Fortunately, there is reason for hope. Under the leadership of Rural & Migrant Ministry, many thousands in upstate churches and synagogues have marched side by side with the state's farmworkers, seeking to honor the dignity and equal worth of all people. They have been joined in this long journey by allies in the labor movement and youth organizations. This year, I am proud to report that the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights joined the campaign in a big way, and we are on the verge of major progress.
In June, the Assembly passed the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act, which would finally offer a measure of justice to farmworkers by extending them basic rights and protections. Gov. Paterson has repeatedly pledged to sign the bill. All that is left to do is for Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson to allow the bill to the Senate floor for a vote, where it will surely pass.
Tomorrow marks the 49th anniversary of Edward R. Murrow's shocking documentary, "Harvest of Shame," which depicted the horrible living and working conditions, conditions that legally persist today.
Forty-nine Thanksgiving meals, and still farmworkers are denied a seat at the table. Forty-nine years of pumpkin pie, and still farmworkers are denied a piece. Sen. Sampson, let the 50th anniversary never come. Before the year is out, bring the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act to a vote. For that we will be eternally thankful.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
This is embarrassing...What good is a government that can't even feed its people?
The White House, Washington
Tomorrow, many of us will gather around the table with family and friends to give thanks over a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy -- and let’s not forget pumpkin pie!
But for some in this country, the feast will not be as bountiful. In fact, it won’t be much of a feast at all. Hunger is on the rise in America -- hitting its highest levels in nearly 15 years. A recent report released by the USDA reveals that in 2008 an estimated 1.1 million children were living in households that experienced hunger multiple times over the past year.
To combat hunger this winter, we’re launching, in coordination with the Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United We Serve: Feed a Neighbor initiative -- a program that empowers you with all the resources you need to mobilize against the hunger crisis in your community. Learn how you can get started today:
Get Started
Barack and I are committed to doing all we can to end hunger by making food programs more accessible to eligible families. But government can only do so much -- it will take all of us working together to put an end to hunger in America.
That’s why we’ve made it easy for you to get involved at Serve.gov. Find local volunteer opportunities like delivering meals to homebound seniors, offering your professional skills at a food pantry, or planting a community garden and sharing produce with your neighbors. You can also create your own volunteer opportunity using our anti-hunger toolkit.
This holiday season let’s recommit to serving our communities and working together to feed American families. Get started giving back today.
Thank you,
Michelle
First Lady Michelle Obama
The White House
Visit WhiteHouse.gov
Tomorrow, many of us will gather around the table with family and friends to give thanks over a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy -- and let’s not forget pumpkin pie!
But for some in this country, the feast will not be as bountiful. In fact, it won’t be much of a feast at all. Hunger is on the rise in America -- hitting its highest levels in nearly 15 years. A recent report released by the USDA reveals that in 2008 an estimated 1.1 million children were living in households that experienced hunger multiple times over the past year.
To combat hunger this winter, we’re launching, in coordination with the Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United We Serve: Feed a Neighbor initiative -- a program that empowers you with all the resources you need to mobilize against the hunger crisis in your community. Learn how you can get started today:
Get Started
Barack and I are committed to doing all we can to end hunger by making food programs more accessible to eligible families. But government can only do so much -- it will take all of us working together to put an end to hunger in America.
That’s why we’ve made it easy for you to get involved at Serve.gov. Find local volunteer opportunities like delivering meals to homebound seniors, offering your professional skills at a food pantry, or planting a community garden and sharing produce with your neighbors. You can also create your own volunteer opportunity using our anti-hunger toolkit.
This holiday season let’s recommit to serving our communities and working together to feed American families. Get started giving back today.
Thank you,
Michelle
First Lady Michelle Obama
The White House
Visit WhiteHouse.gov
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Support the Soldiers at Ft. Hood
Dear Supporter,
Update on the situation at Ft. Hood
In the wake of the killings at Ft. Hood, Iraq Veterans Against the War has confirmed that all of our chapter members there are safe. None were injured, but some of them knew some of the shooting victims. As you can imagine, many on the base are quite shaken by the shootings, especially after serving in combat situations themselves. Base Commanders at Ft. Hood must do more to step up mental health outreach and care for all GIs, especially after this horrific incident. "There is still a strong stigma against seeking help," said Chance Mills, an IVAW member stationed at Ft. Hood. "It is considered a weakness, like if your health care appointments are scheduled during the workday, people look at it as you're scamming out of duty."
Mike Kern, IVAW Ft. Hood chapter president spoke yesterday along with independent journalist Dahr Jamail on Democracy Now. Check out the clip here.
IVAW will be sending a mental health professional down to Ft. Hood this week to provide support to our members there. In addition, the Field Organizing Team Leader, Aaron Hughes, will arrive at Ft. Hood today. Working with the Warrior Writers Project, we will provide an opportunity to use the arts for healing and strengthening the active duty and veteran community in and around Ft. Hood this week through writing workshops at Under The Hood, the local GI coffeehouse. On Veterans Day, IVAW will host a memorial and candlelight vigil outside the gates of Ft. Hood.
What you can do to help:
1) Life on a military base can be pretty isolating. GIs at Ft. Hood would appreciate hearing from civilian supporters so they know they are not alone. Send letters of solidarity and moral support to the GIs and Veterans of IVAW Fort Hood via postal mail to:
IVAW Ft. Hood c/o Fort Hood Support Network
P.O. Box 16174
Austin, TX 78761-6174
2) Help cover the costs of flying our mental health therapist down to Ft. Hood. She has extensive experience working with veterans suffering from PTSD and is volunteering her services. Make a donation here to cover her airfare.
During the rest of November, we will be highlighting the issues of veteran and GI health. Stay tuned for podcasts and blog posts highlighting the human costs of war from our members' experiences.
We appreciate your support.
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Update on the situation at Ft. Hood
In the wake of the killings at Ft. Hood, Iraq Veterans Against the War has confirmed that all of our chapter members there are safe. None were injured, but some of them knew some of the shooting victims. As you can imagine, many on the base are quite shaken by the shootings, especially after serving in combat situations themselves. Base Commanders at Ft. Hood must do more to step up mental health outreach and care for all GIs, especially after this horrific incident. "There is still a strong stigma against seeking help," said Chance Mills, an IVAW member stationed at Ft. Hood. "It is considered a weakness, like if your health care appointments are scheduled during the workday, people look at it as you're scamming out of duty."
Mike Kern, IVAW Ft. Hood chapter president spoke yesterday along with independent journalist Dahr Jamail on Democracy Now. Check out the clip here.
IVAW will be sending a mental health professional down to Ft. Hood this week to provide support to our members there. In addition, the Field Organizing Team Leader, Aaron Hughes, will arrive at Ft. Hood today. Working with the Warrior Writers Project, we will provide an opportunity to use the arts for healing and strengthening the active duty and veteran community in and around Ft. Hood this week through writing workshops at Under The Hood, the local GI coffeehouse. On Veterans Day, IVAW will host a memorial and candlelight vigil outside the gates of Ft. Hood.
What you can do to help:
1) Life on a military base can be pretty isolating. GIs at Ft. Hood would appreciate hearing from civilian supporters so they know they are not alone. Send letters of solidarity and moral support to the GIs and Veterans of IVAW Fort Hood via postal mail to:
IVAW Ft. Hood c/o Fort Hood Support Network
P.O. Box 16174
Austin, TX 78761-6174
2) Help cover the costs of flying our mental health therapist down to Ft. Hood. She has extensive experience working with veterans suffering from PTSD and is volunteering her services. Make a donation here to cover her airfare.
During the rest of November, we will be highlighting the issues of veteran and GI health. Stay tuned for podcasts and blog posts highlighting the human costs of war from our members' experiences.
We appreciate your support.
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Health Care Betrayal
Congressman Kucinich addresses vote on H.R. 3962
While the political process in Washington suffers through its grotesque pantomime on health care, let us prepare our neighborhoods, our communities, our states for the eventual triumph of single payer health care.
(November 7, 2009)
Congressman Dennis Kucinich after voting against H.R. 3962 addresses why he voted NO, stating:
"We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system."
"Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick."
"But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care. In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers. This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies - a bailout under a blue cross."
"By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions, the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal. The Center for American Progress' blog, Think Progress, states, 'since the President signaled that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks have been on the rise.' Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago that 'money will start flowing in again' to health insurance stocks after passage of the legislation. Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration policy."
"During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The 'robust public option' which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies."
"Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the finance economy and the real economy. The finance economy considers the health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks' hoarding of cash, much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the real economy - in which most Americans live - the recession is not over. Rising unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering Main Street."
"This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America's manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care."
"Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America's businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance and pharmaceuticals."
Please know the struggle for real health care reform will continue. Contribute, we can make a difference.
Thank you.
The Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee
While the political process in Washington suffers through its grotesque pantomime on health care, let us prepare our neighborhoods, our communities, our states for the eventual triumph of single payer health care.
(November 7, 2009)
Congressman Dennis Kucinich after voting against H.R. 3962 addresses why he voted NO, stating:
"We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system."
"Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick."
"But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance, H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care. In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers. This inevitably will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for insurance companies - a bailout under a blue cross."
"By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions, the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal. The Center for American Progress' blog, Think Progress, states, 'since the President signaled that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks have been on the rise.' Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago that 'money will start flowing in again' to health insurance stocks after passage of the legislation. Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration policy."
"During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The 'robust public option' which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies."
"Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the finance economy and the real economy. The finance economy considers the health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks' hoarding of cash, much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the real economy - in which most Americans live - the recession is not over. Rising unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering Main Street."
"This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America's manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health care."
"Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America's businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance and pharmaceuticals."
Please know the struggle for real health care reform will continue. Contribute, we can make a difference.
Thank you.
The Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee
Friday, November 6, 2009
Kucinich vs. Congress
Dennis Kucinich - www.Kucinich.us
Kucinich Addresses UN Goldstone Gaza Resolution
November 3, 2009, Congressman Dennis Kucinich addresses H.RES. 867 on the House Floor. H.RES. 867 condemns the UN Goldstone Gaza Fact Finding Mission Report.
Congressman Kucinich stated:
"Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt. Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist."
"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."
"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."
"The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes, including both Hamas and Israel, may as well be called the "Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right: resolution."
"Because if this Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution."
"How can we ever expect there to be peace in the Middle East if we tacitly approve of violations of international law and international human rights, if we look the other way, or if we close our eyes to the heartbreak of people on both sides by white-washing a legitimate investigation?"
"How can we protect the people of Israel from existential threats if we hold no concern for the protection of the Palestinians, for their physical security, their right to land, their right to their own homes, their right to water, their right to sustenance, their right to freedom of movement, their right to human security of jobs, education and health care?".
"We will have peace only when the plight of both Palestinians and Israelis is brought before this House and given equal consideration in recognition of that principle that all people on this planet have a right to survive and thrive, and it is our responsibility, our duty to see that no individual, no group, no people are barred from this humble human claim."
Please, join with Dennis in the fight for Human Rights. Contribute, you can make a difference.
Thank You
The Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee
Kucinich Addresses UN Goldstone Gaza Resolution
November 3, 2009, Congressman Dennis Kucinich addresses H.RES. 867 on the House Floor. H.RES. 867 condemns the UN Goldstone Gaza Fact Finding Mission Report.
Congressman Kucinich stated:
"Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt. Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist."
"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."
"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."
"The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes, including both Hamas and Israel, may as well be called the "Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right: resolution."
"Because if this Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution."
"How can we ever expect there to be peace in the Middle East if we tacitly approve of violations of international law and international human rights, if we look the other way, or if we close our eyes to the heartbreak of people on both sides by white-washing a legitimate investigation?"
"How can we protect the people of Israel from existential threats if we hold no concern for the protection of the Palestinians, for their physical security, their right to land, their right to their own homes, their right to water, their right to sustenance, their right to freedom of movement, their right to human security of jobs, education and health care?".
"We will have peace only when the plight of both Palestinians and Israelis is brought before this House and given equal consideration in recognition of that principle that all people on this planet have a right to survive and thrive, and it is our responsibility, our duty to see that no individual, no group, no people are barred from this humble human claim."
Please, join with Dennis in the fight for Human Rights. Contribute, you can make a difference.
Thank You
The Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Diversity and Equity Under Fire at University of Maryland
For background:
Students furious over diversity official’s ousting
Protest march planned for today at noon
By Adele Hampton for the Diaomondback School Newspaper
Published: Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Nyumburu Cultural Center’s multipurpose room pulsed with anger last night as hundreds of students and faculty members vented their frustrations about the removal of Assistant Provost of Equity and Diversity Cordell Black from his longtime position.
“If someone has given to this university their blood, sweat and tears as he has, they should be able to walk out the door on their own terms and not because of back-door dealings that some folks did in terms of plotting and removing him from his position,” Student Involvement and Public Relations Director for the Nyumburu Cultural Center Solomon Comissiong said. “We need to mobilize and organize around one single thing and that is reinstating Dr. Black ... by any means necessary.”
Last Thursday, Black was called into a meeting with Provost Nariman Farvardin, where he was informed that as a result of budget cuts he would be replaced at the end of this fiscal year — June 30, 2010. The Office of the Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity, which Black oversees, houses the Nyumburu Cultural Center, the Office of LBGT Equity and the Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education. Farvardin said these departments will not be cut or altered in any way.
“I have three units that report to me and [Farvardin] says, ‘Nyumburu, I can’t touch that because that’s student fees and not state money, and LGBT Office of Equity, that’s much too political for me to touch, and OMSE because that’s crucial to our drive to [increase] the retainment of black and Latino males,’” Black said of his conversation with the provost last week.
But for many, these concessions are not enough. The announcement, coming a week after a diversity town hall where officials asserted their commitment to diversity, came as a shock.
Student activists are planning a march from Nyumburu to the Main Administration Building at noon today to show their contempt with the administration for its decision and to push for Black’s reinstatement.
“I honestly think the university is going on a drastic, drastic decline,” senior communication major Justin Dailey said. “I definitely think this needs to be addressed beyond College Park because this is an issue that a lot of people are invested in.”
Farvardin, who did not attend last night’s rally, said Black would be replaced by a part-time faculty member who will oversee the various diversity departments, while Black maintains a teaching role at the university. The provost said the position will be reinstated as a full-time job when the university’s budget stabilizes.
Though Black will no long serve in an administrative position — a job he has held for 18 years — he is a tenured faculty member, and therefore cannot be fired. Farvardin said Black has the option to remain a professor of 17th century French literature, if he so chooses.
Despite accusations from students who claimed the administration was using a tightening budget as an excuse to cut from diversity programs, the provost insisted the decision to remove Black’s position was strictly budgetary.
“We have to deal with our $40 million budget drop,” Farvadin said. “Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of decisions like that to make. It’s very painful. ...But when you’re in these positions you have to make difficult decisions.”
Others, including Black, said the move was personal.
“It’s fundamentally disingenuous because it appears that his aim was to move me out of the office and to bring somebody else in because at no time did he say, ‘I’d like to bring you back in when things improve,’” Black said. “I would’ve appreciated honesty and not the duplicity of the whole situation.”
Last night, more than 300 people packed the cultural center, filling the multipurpose room to capacity and flooding the adjacent lobby. After two hours, during which attendees drafted a document many called “our diversity plan,” they left, ready to fight.
No matter the outcome of today’s protest, Black said he’s not sure if he has a reason to stay.
“I’m not one to bite my tongue and if I think something’s wrong I will say so as forcefully and as coherently as I can, irrespective of who’s in the room,” Black said. “And so, that’s what I’ve done for 18 years and I have no regrets.”
My response to the firing as a University of Maryland 2008 alumnus and friend of Dr. Black:
Dr. Cordell Black is not only one of the most important and effective administrators at the University of Maryland (in this 2008 alumnus's humble opinion), he is a great mentor, advocate, and friend. As a former student radical, if someone had told me five years ago that I would be taking time out of my busy schedule as a now-young professional radical to defend a top administrator at my university, I would have laughed it off. This is but one indicator of Dr. Black's exceptional attributes. And I'm far from the only alumnus who is speaking out.
I met Dr. Black in the midst of a campaign to challenge the university's investments in Sudan in 2005. At the time I did not expect much from Dr. Black or the administration as a whole. I could never have imagined then how much the two of us would have in common politically: We both believed strongly in social justice and dedicated much of our energy and resources to progressive causes. The only difference between us, I quickly learned, was rank and experience.
I saw Dr. Black several times after that. Progressive causes and events kept bringing us together. I set up appointments with his office in order to request funding for programs such as Alternative Spring Break and Tunnel of Oppression. I will never forget how his generous contribution in the spring of 2006 allowed a dozen students including myself to travel to New Orleans for post-Katrina reconstruction for free or at a reduced cost.
Dr. Black also served as a personal mentor for at least one passionate, dedicated (but young and confused) college student - yours truly. He was always encouraging and helpful, giving me second thoughts about my sophomoric structural analysis in the early days that was often limited to "students good, administrators evil." Soon enough, whenever my fellow student activists would condemn the entire administration, I would take exception.
Whether he's advocating, funding programs, introducing enlightening speakers at the Provost Conversations on Diversity (which I attended religiously), or just being his warm and pleasant self, Dr. Black has proven time and time again his genuine commitment to the University of Maryland community - black, red, brown, white, and yellow. I can't think of a better man for the position, and I can't think of a better position for the man. He has earned his keep and deserves to retire when he wants and how he wants.
Students furious over diversity official’s ousting
Protest march planned for today at noon
By Adele Hampton for the Diaomondback School Newspaper
Published: Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Nyumburu Cultural Center’s multipurpose room pulsed with anger last night as hundreds of students and faculty members vented their frustrations about the removal of Assistant Provost of Equity and Diversity Cordell Black from his longtime position.
“If someone has given to this university their blood, sweat and tears as he has, they should be able to walk out the door on their own terms and not because of back-door dealings that some folks did in terms of plotting and removing him from his position,” Student Involvement and Public Relations Director for the Nyumburu Cultural Center Solomon Comissiong said. “We need to mobilize and organize around one single thing and that is reinstating Dr. Black ... by any means necessary.”
Last Thursday, Black was called into a meeting with Provost Nariman Farvardin, where he was informed that as a result of budget cuts he would be replaced at the end of this fiscal year — June 30, 2010. The Office of the Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity, which Black oversees, houses the Nyumburu Cultural Center, the Office of LBGT Equity and the Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education. Farvardin said these departments will not be cut or altered in any way.
“I have three units that report to me and [Farvardin] says, ‘Nyumburu, I can’t touch that because that’s student fees and not state money, and LGBT Office of Equity, that’s much too political for me to touch, and OMSE because that’s crucial to our drive to [increase] the retainment of black and Latino males,’” Black said of his conversation with the provost last week.
But for many, these concessions are not enough. The announcement, coming a week after a diversity town hall where officials asserted their commitment to diversity, came as a shock.
Student activists are planning a march from Nyumburu to the Main Administration Building at noon today to show their contempt with the administration for its decision and to push for Black’s reinstatement.
“I honestly think the university is going on a drastic, drastic decline,” senior communication major Justin Dailey said. “I definitely think this needs to be addressed beyond College Park because this is an issue that a lot of people are invested in.”
Farvardin, who did not attend last night’s rally, said Black would be replaced by a part-time faculty member who will oversee the various diversity departments, while Black maintains a teaching role at the university. The provost said the position will be reinstated as a full-time job when the university’s budget stabilizes.
Though Black will no long serve in an administrative position — a job he has held for 18 years — he is a tenured faculty member, and therefore cannot be fired. Farvardin said Black has the option to remain a professor of 17th century French literature, if he so chooses.
Despite accusations from students who claimed the administration was using a tightening budget as an excuse to cut from diversity programs, the provost insisted the decision to remove Black’s position was strictly budgetary.
“We have to deal with our $40 million budget drop,” Farvadin said. “Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of decisions like that to make. It’s very painful. ...But when you’re in these positions you have to make difficult decisions.”
Others, including Black, said the move was personal.
“It’s fundamentally disingenuous because it appears that his aim was to move me out of the office and to bring somebody else in because at no time did he say, ‘I’d like to bring you back in when things improve,’” Black said. “I would’ve appreciated honesty and not the duplicity of the whole situation.”
Last night, more than 300 people packed the cultural center, filling the multipurpose room to capacity and flooding the adjacent lobby. After two hours, during which attendees drafted a document many called “our diversity plan,” they left, ready to fight.
No matter the outcome of today’s protest, Black said he’s not sure if he has a reason to stay.
“I’m not one to bite my tongue and if I think something’s wrong I will say so as forcefully and as coherently as I can, irrespective of who’s in the room,” Black said. “And so, that’s what I’ve done for 18 years and I have no regrets.”
My response to the firing as a University of Maryland 2008 alumnus and friend of Dr. Black:
Dr. Cordell Black is not only one of the most important and effective administrators at the University of Maryland (in this 2008 alumnus's humble opinion), he is a great mentor, advocate, and friend. As a former student radical, if someone had told me five years ago that I would be taking time out of my busy schedule as a now-young professional radical to defend a top administrator at my university, I would have laughed it off. This is but one indicator of Dr. Black's exceptional attributes. And I'm far from the only alumnus who is speaking out.
I met Dr. Black in the midst of a campaign to challenge the university's investments in Sudan in 2005. At the time I did not expect much from Dr. Black or the administration as a whole. I could never have imagined then how much the two of us would have in common politically: We both believed strongly in social justice and dedicated much of our energy and resources to progressive causes. The only difference between us, I quickly learned, was rank and experience.
I saw Dr. Black several times after that. Progressive causes and events kept bringing us together. I set up appointments with his office in order to request funding for programs such as Alternative Spring Break and Tunnel of Oppression. I will never forget how his generous contribution in the spring of 2006 allowed a dozen students including myself to travel to New Orleans for post-Katrina reconstruction for free or at a reduced cost.
Dr. Black also served as a personal mentor for at least one passionate, dedicated (but young and confused) college student - yours truly. He was always encouraging and helpful, giving me second thoughts about my sophomoric structural analysis in the early days that was often limited to "students good, administrators evil." Soon enough, whenever my fellow student activists would condemn the entire administration, I would take exception.
Whether he's advocating, funding programs, introducing enlightening speakers at the Provost Conversations on Diversity (which I attended religiously), or just being his warm and pleasant self, Dr. Black has proven time and time again his genuine commitment to the University of Maryland community - black, red, brown, white, and yellow. I can't think of a better man for the position, and I can't think of a better position for the man. He has earned his keep and deserves to retire when he wants and how he wants.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Support the Peace Community in Colombia!
Dear Friend,
“We know that has great respect for the community and has walked with us throughout these past years... It cannot be doubted that their physical presence has helped to stop killing, stop torture and stop displacement. This has not only been achieved as a product of a presence in the field, which is vital, but comes from the effort made together by many people of FOR working arduously from afar. There is a deep feeling of solidarity because FOR understands our struggle for life. And that is why it is so effective, because they are not only there but also share our dreams for peace and for a better world lived here on earth.”
- San Jose de Apartadó Peace Community Internal Council
As you know, I have been involved in the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Colombia Program over the last ___X__ years, including [member of Colombia committee/serving on team/participating in delegation/working as an intern] in [dates]. During this time, I have witnessed the impact of the program…(fill in here what you would like to say!) And its effect on me…(here too!) For these reasons, I am taking a moment to reach out to all my friends and family and ask for your support as the FOR Colombia Peace Presence works to become an independent entity.
As you may know, the Colombia Peace Presence is a program of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest peace and social justice organization in the US, and began working in Colombia in 2002 when the peace community of San José de Apartadó requested FOR's ongoing presence as a way to protect them from violence. FOR responded to their request and established a team of two volunteers to carry out nonviolent protective accompaniment, has maintained a year-round physical presence ever since, as well as carried out political work to ensure the community's safety. Since 2002, the project has grown to a team of five volunteers that also accompanies the Red Juvenil (Medellín Youth Network), a dynamic organization that works to protect the rights of Colombian conscientious objectors and carries out arts-based organizing with youth. In 2005, a Bogota team was established to coordinate our work with political authorities, host delegations, and work with the Red Juvenil and other groups. FOR has also carried out grassroots organizing and lobbying in the US to end US military aid to Colombia. The project produces a monthly newsletter, takes two delegations a year, organizes speaking tours and participates in national coalitions that work to change US policy towards Colombia. Just this year, through a process of mutual discernment with FOR-USA, we’ve decided to make the Colombia accompaniment project an independent organization. We will remain a close member of the FOR family (our name will continue to be associated with FOR) in philosophy and shared vision for a world of justice, peace and freedom.
The newly independent organization’s mission is to support nonviolent resistance to the militarization of land and life in Colombia. We will accompany the peace community and campesino organizations as they resist the militarization of their land and youth organizers as they resist the militarization of their lives. We stand beside them, physically and politically, within Colombia and around the globe, our accompaniment providing safety and space that allows them to continue their work and live their vision for a different world. We hope to expand our work in the coming years to support other communities and organizations doing work to resist the militarization of their territories.
This is extremely important work that can only continue with your help! There are three different ways you can lend your support to this project:
1. Become a monthly sustainer: with a monthly donation of $10 your bank account won't be too squeezed, while at the same time you can help us establish long-term sustainability. Go to www.forcolombia.org and click on the "donate" button.
2. Become an angel: with an annual donation of $500-$1000 over the next two years, your gift will help launch the newly independent organization to success! Go to www.forcolombia.org and click on the "donate" button.
3. Join our Facebook cause at: www.causes.com/collectivateforcolombia and make a donation to help us reach our $10,000 goal by July 1st, 2010!
“We know that has great respect for the community and has walked with us throughout these past years... It cannot be doubted that their physical presence has helped to stop killing, stop torture and stop displacement. This has not only been achieved as a product of a presence in the field, which is vital, but comes from the effort made together by many people of FOR working arduously from afar. There is a deep feeling of solidarity because FOR understands our struggle for life. And that is why it is so effective, because they are not only there but also share our dreams for peace and for a better world lived here on earth.”
- San Jose de Apartadó Peace Community Internal Council
As you know, I have been involved in the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Colombia Program over the last ___X__ years, including [member of Colombia committee/serving on team/participating in delegation/working as an intern] in [dates]. During this time, I have witnessed the impact of the program…(fill in here what you would like to say!) And its effect on me…(here too!) For these reasons, I am taking a moment to reach out to all my friends and family and ask for your support as the FOR Colombia Peace Presence works to become an independent entity.
As you may know, the Colombia Peace Presence is a program of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest peace and social justice organization in the US, and began working in Colombia in 2002 when the peace community of San José de Apartadó requested FOR's ongoing presence as a way to protect them from violence. FOR responded to their request and established a team of two volunteers to carry out nonviolent protective accompaniment, has maintained a year-round physical presence ever since, as well as carried out political work to ensure the community's safety. Since 2002, the project has grown to a team of five volunteers that also accompanies the Red Juvenil (Medellín Youth Network), a dynamic organization that works to protect the rights of Colombian conscientious objectors and carries out arts-based organizing with youth. In 2005, a Bogota team was established to coordinate our work with political authorities, host delegations, and work with the Red Juvenil and other groups. FOR has also carried out grassroots organizing and lobbying in the US to end US military aid to Colombia. The project produces a monthly newsletter, takes two delegations a year, organizes speaking tours and participates in national coalitions that work to change US policy towards Colombia. Just this year, through a process of mutual discernment with FOR-USA, we’ve decided to make the Colombia accompaniment project an independent organization. We will remain a close member of the FOR family (our name will continue to be associated with FOR) in philosophy and shared vision for a world of justice, peace and freedom.
The newly independent organization’s mission is to support nonviolent resistance to the militarization of land and life in Colombia. We will accompany the peace community and campesino organizations as they resist the militarization of their land and youth organizers as they resist the militarization of their lives. We stand beside them, physically and politically, within Colombia and around the globe, our accompaniment providing safety and space that allows them to continue their work and live their vision for a different world. We hope to expand our work in the coming years to support other communities and organizations doing work to resist the militarization of their territories.
This is extremely important work that can only continue with your help! There are three different ways you can lend your support to this project:
1. Become a monthly sustainer: with a monthly donation of $10 your bank account won't be too squeezed, while at the same time you can help us establish long-term sustainability. Go to www.forcolombia.org and click on the "donate" button.
2. Become an angel: with an annual donation of $500-$1000 over the next two years, your gift will help launch the newly independent organization to success! Go to www.forcolombia.org and click on the "donate" button.
3. Join our Facebook cause at: www.causes.com/collectivateforcolombia and make a donation to help us reach our $10,000 goal by July 1st, 2010!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Honduras Settled?
Agreement to Restore Zelaya, if Honored, Will Be a Victory for Democracy in the Hemisphere, CEPR Co-Director Says
For Immediate Release: October 30, 2009
Washington, D.C. - News of a deal that would effectively end the coup d'etat in Honduras and restore democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya to office would be a "victory for democracy in the hemisphere" resulting from the continued resistance of the Honduran people and pressure from Latin American governments, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said today. The deal reportedly includes a plan for a "unity government," a "verification commission" to be made up of two respected international figures and two respected national figures to enforce the terms of the agreement, recognition of the planned November 29 elections, and a truth commission to investigate the coup d'etat and subsequent events. According to negotiations agreed by both sides, the Honduran congress must approve Zelaya's reinstatement.
The coup regime - and regime head Roberto Micheletti in particular - has been erratic and unpredictable in its approach to the negotiations, having edged close to an agreement before, only to reverse course at the last minute.
"If the coup government sticks to the agreement and Zelaya returns to office, then it will be a victory for democracy in the Western Hemisphere," Weisbrot said. "This shows that international pressure really matters. Despite the fact that the U.S. blocked stronger action by the Organization of American States, it ultimately had to go along with the rest of the hemisphere."
Last week, Marco Aurelio Garcia, the top foreign affairs advisor to Brazilian president Lula da Silva said, "I believe the United States could put more pressure on the putschists."
"This shows that Latin America is not going back to the days when U.S.-trained and funded military forces could overturn the will of the electorate," Weisbrot said.
Weisbrot also noted the importance of the Honduran resistance movement in achieving an apparent resolution to the crisis that favored democracy over dictatorship: "The Honduran people never gave up, defying repression every day to demonstrate in favor of democracy. The National Resistance Front was disciplined and organized." This also helped make it clear that any elections held under the dictatorship would never be seen as legitimate.
Weisbrot noted that there were important political divisions within the Honduran elite: "[Conservative, National Party candidate] Porfirio Lobo wants the elections to be considered legitimate, since he's projected to win."
The Obama administration did not initially condemn the coup, and in the nearly four months since the coup occurred never made a legal determination as to whether a military coup had actually transpired. Such a determination would require, under the U.S. Foreign Appropriations Act, a cut off of all forms of non-humanitarian aid.
The administration wavered back and forth in its support for Zelaya's return. While it did enact some pressure on the coup regime through the freezing of visas and limited cuts in aid; on September 28, the U.S. blocked the OAS from passing a resolution that would have committed the OAS member countries from recognizing the November 29 elections without the prior restoration of Zelaya to office. U.S. State Department officials also condemned Zelaya's efforts to return to Honduras. When Zelaya first attempted to return in July, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented that his actions were "reckless". On August 4, the State Department sent a letter to Senator Richard Lugar that seemed to blame Zelaya for the coup. Just a few weeks ago, U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, Lewis W. Anselem said "The return of Zelaya absent an agreement is irresponsible and foolish."
But Zelaya's return to Honduras was clearly a catalyst to this negotiated settlement.
For Immediate Release: October 30, 2009
Washington, D.C. - News of a deal that would effectively end the coup d'etat in Honduras and restore democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya to office would be a "victory for democracy in the hemisphere" resulting from the continued resistance of the Honduran people and pressure from Latin American governments, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said today. The deal reportedly includes a plan for a "unity government," a "verification commission" to be made up of two respected international figures and two respected national figures to enforce the terms of the agreement, recognition of the planned November 29 elections, and a truth commission to investigate the coup d'etat and subsequent events. According to negotiations agreed by both sides, the Honduran congress must approve Zelaya's reinstatement.
The coup regime - and regime head Roberto Micheletti in particular - has been erratic and unpredictable in its approach to the negotiations, having edged close to an agreement before, only to reverse course at the last minute.
"If the coup government sticks to the agreement and Zelaya returns to office, then it will be a victory for democracy in the Western Hemisphere," Weisbrot said. "This shows that international pressure really matters. Despite the fact that the U.S. blocked stronger action by the Organization of American States, it ultimately had to go along with the rest of the hemisphere."
Last week, Marco Aurelio Garcia, the top foreign affairs advisor to Brazilian president Lula da Silva said, "I believe the United States could put more pressure on the putschists."
"This shows that Latin America is not going back to the days when U.S.-trained and funded military forces could overturn the will of the electorate," Weisbrot said.
Weisbrot also noted the importance of the Honduran resistance movement in achieving an apparent resolution to the crisis that favored democracy over dictatorship: "The Honduran people never gave up, defying repression every day to demonstrate in favor of democracy. The National Resistance Front was disciplined and organized." This also helped make it clear that any elections held under the dictatorship would never be seen as legitimate.
Weisbrot noted that there were important political divisions within the Honduran elite: "[Conservative, National Party candidate] Porfirio Lobo wants the elections to be considered legitimate, since he's projected to win."
The Obama administration did not initially condemn the coup, and in the nearly four months since the coup occurred never made a legal determination as to whether a military coup had actually transpired. Such a determination would require, under the U.S. Foreign Appropriations Act, a cut off of all forms of non-humanitarian aid.
The administration wavered back and forth in its support for Zelaya's return. While it did enact some pressure on the coup regime through the freezing of visas and limited cuts in aid; on September 28, the U.S. blocked the OAS from passing a resolution that would have committed the OAS member countries from recognizing the November 29 elections without the prior restoration of Zelaya to office. U.S. State Department officials also condemned Zelaya's efforts to return to Honduras. When Zelaya first attempted to return in July, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented that his actions were "reckless". On August 4, the State Department sent a letter to Senator Richard Lugar that seemed to blame Zelaya for the coup. Just a few weeks ago, U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, Lewis W. Anselem said "The return of Zelaya absent an agreement is irresponsible and foolish."
But Zelaya's return to Honduras was clearly a catalyst to this negotiated settlement.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Update: Single-Payer Sit-ins a Success!
Dear Matt,
Yesterday, the next wave of the Mobilization for Health Care for All began with great success. See below for a list of media coverage of the actions.
In 11 cities across the country, hundreds of everyday Americans who want Medicare for All confronted the insurance companies and demanded that they redirect the money they're spending to control our democracy to pay for the care they deny to their members. Almost every company refused to even talk to us, and 37 people were arrested including doctor Matt Hendrickson at a Cigna office in Glendale, California. Dozens more - like the 30 people who blockaded the Blue Cross office in San Francisco for hours - sat in but weren't arrested. In Rhode Island, however, the protestors who joined cancer patient Robert Darling in occupying the UnitedHealthcare office won the first concessions of our campaign - a company representative agreed to give an answer to Robert about paying for his previous bone marrow transplant within 24 hours and to arrange a meeting for the group with the UnitedHealthcare CEO within a week! After 115 arrests in 18 cities, these companies are starting to feel the heat of our movement. And with more than 900 people now signed up to sit-in, this battle is just beginning.
Today, the Mobilization continued in Louisville, Kentucky and Baltimore, Maryland. The brave folks in Louisville are in the 9th hour of their sit-in inside the Humana headquarters as we send out this email. Humana is trying to wait them out, but may are prepared to stay overnight if they have to.
In Baltimore, four people were arrested at a CareFirst (Blue Cross) office including two doctors. One of those doctors, Margaret Flowers of the "Baucus 8," has withheld her name and is planning to stay in jail until the CEO of CareFirst, Chet Burrell, agrees to a public meeting with her.
Please call Mr. Burrell immediately and regularly at 410-528-2222 to demand that he agree to meet publicly with Margaret.
You can also email CareFirst by going to http://www.carefirst.com/email/html/ContactMediaRelations.html. Send the following message in your email:
I am writing to urge CEO Chet Burrell to agree to a public meeting with Dr. Margaret Flowers who was arrested at the CareFirst office in Baltimore while demanding to meet with Mr. Burrell about CareFirst business practices. She is going to stay in jail until Mr. Burrell agrees to a public meeting with her. CareFirst must publicly account for the serious concerns that citizens have about your company's practices.
Also, please donate generously today so we can be prepared to pay any bail that is set for Margaret's release. She decided to risk arrest and stay in jail despite a possible 6 month jail sentence for violating probation from her previous arrest in the fight for real health care reform - let's show her that we've got her back. Please donate today to support Margaret and post messages of support for her at our Facebook page (we'll read all messages to her over the phone when she calls from jail).
The Mobilization continues in Philadelphia tomorrow, and in more cities across the country next week. Click here for updated lists of all the upcoming actions and info about how you can plug in and participate. The insurance companies, the politicians in their pockets, and even some of the corporate media apparently want our movement to go away. But it's just getting started and spreading across America. Let's show them we're not going anywhere and we won't stop until health care is a right for everyone in America.
Thanks for everything you do.
- Katie, Kevin, Kai, Julia, Lacy, and the Mobilization team
Press Coverage from 10/28:
San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/chronrx/detail?&entry_id=50532
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/sunrise/sfl-insurance-sit-in-bn102809,1,4196723.story
NJ.com (Star-Ledger / Trenton Times / Jersey Journal blog)
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2009/10/7_prosters_arrested_after_bloc.html
projo.com
(Providence Journal blog):
http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/10/protesters-occupy-lobby-at-uni.html
Glendale News-Press:
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2009/10/28/news/gnp-sitin102909.art.txt
National Public Radio, Topics
http://topics.npr.org/photo/0fbsfkh3Qq8CV
Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/28/headlines
Free Speech Radio News:
http://www.fsrn.org/audio/activists-push-keep-public-option-health-care-reform/5664
Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/nine-arrested-at-wellpoin_n_337326.html
Institute for Public Accuracy:
http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=2105
Atlas Press Photo:
http://www.atlaspressphoto.com/_ATLASPRESS_/ga_multi_list.asp?ga_id=confirm&adSearch=&ga_category=0&ga_category2=0&cType=1&ga_country=&within=0&fDate=1900-01-01&tDate=2009-10-29&orient=0&color=0&photographer=&imageNo=&ds=off&orderDir=desc&ssSearchType=2&searchtype=2&searchText=Health+Care+protests+lead+to+arrests+in+downtown+NYC
La Jornada (Mexico)
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/10/28/index.php?section=economia&article=044n1eco
OpEdNews (featured story about doctors, by Kevin Gosztola):
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Doctors-Risking-Arrest-for-by-Kevin-Gosztola-091028-46.html
OpEdNews (about Philadelphia rally):
http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=14748
Bay Area Indymedia (quality article, good for reference):
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/28/18627006.php
Press Coverage from 10/29:
Southern Maryland Online
http://somd.com/news/headlines/2009/10714.shtml
Wave3.com
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=11410405
WFPL News
http://www.wfpl.org/2009/10/29/demonstrators-sit-in-at-humana/
Yesterday, the next wave of the Mobilization for Health Care for All began with great success. See below for a list of media coverage of the actions.
In 11 cities across the country, hundreds of everyday Americans who want Medicare for All confronted the insurance companies and demanded that they redirect the money they're spending to control our democracy to pay for the care they deny to their members. Almost every company refused to even talk to us, and 37 people were arrested including doctor Matt Hendrickson at a Cigna office in Glendale, California. Dozens more - like the 30 people who blockaded the Blue Cross office in San Francisco for hours - sat in but weren't arrested. In Rhode Island, however, the protestors who joined cancer patient Robert Darling in occupying the UnitedHealthcare office won the first concessions of our campaign - a company representative agreed to give an answer to Robert about paying for his previous bone marrow transplant within 24 hours and to arrange a meeting for the group with the UnitedHealthcare CEO within a week! After 115 arrests in 18 cities, these companies are starting to feel the heat of our movement. And with more than 900 people now signed up to sit-in, this battle is just beginning.
Today, the Mobilization continued in Louisville, Kentucky and Baltimore, Maryland. The brave folks in Louisville are in the 9th hour of their sit-in inside the Humana headquarters as we send out this email. Humana is trying to wait them out, but may are prepared to stay overnight if they have to.
In Baltimore, four people were arrested at a CareFirst (Blue Cross) office including two doctors. One of those doctors, Margaret Flowers of the "Baucus 8," has withheld her name and is planning to stay in jail until the CEO of CareFirst, Chet Burrell, agrees to a public meeting with her.
Please call Mr. Burrell immediately and regularly at 410-528-2222 to demand that he agree to meet publicly with Margaret.
You can also email CareFirst by going to http://www.carefirst.com/email/html/ContactMediaRelations.html. Send the following message in your email:
I am writing to urge CEO Chet Burrell to agree to a public meeting with Dr. Margaret Flowers who was arrested at the CareFirst office in Baltimore while demanding to meet with Mr. Burrell about CareFirst business practices. She is going to stay in jail until Mr. Burrell agrees to a public meeting with her. CareFirst must publicly account for the serious concerns that citizens have about your company's practices.
Also, please donate generously today so we can be prepared to pay any bail that is set for Margaret's release. She decided to risk arrest and stay in jail despite a possible 6 month jail sentence for violating probation from her previous arrest in the fight for real health care reform - let's show her that we've got her back. Please donate today to support Margaret and post messages of support for her at our Facebook page (we'll read all messages to her over the phone when she calls from jail).
The Mobilization continues in Philadelphia tomorrow, and in more cities across the country next week. Click here for updated lists of all the upcoming actions and info about how you can plug in and participate. The insurance companies, the politicians in their pockets, and even some of the corporate media apparently want our movement to go away. But it's just getting started and spreading across America. Let's show them we're not going anywhere and we won't stop until health care is a right for everyone in America.
Thanks for everything you do.
- Katie, Kevin, Kai, Julia, Lacy, and the Mobilization team
Press Coverage from 10/28:
San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/chronrx/detail?&entry_id=50532
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/sunrise/sfl-insurance-sit-in-bn102809,1,4196723.story
NJ.com (Star-Ledger / Trenton Times / Jersey Journal blog)
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2009/10/7_prosters_arrested_after_bloc.html
projo.com
(Providence Journal blog):
http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/10/protesters-occupy-lobby-at-uni.html
Glendale News-Press:
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2009/10/28/news/gnp-sitin102909.art.txt
National Public Radio, Topics
http://topics.npr.org/photo/0fbsfkh3Qq8CV
Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/28/headlines
Free Speech Radio News:
http://www.fsrn.org/audio/activists-push-keep-public-option-health-care-reform/5664
Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/nine-arrested-at-wellpoin_n_337326.html
Institute for Public Accuracy:
http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=2105
Atlas Press Photo:
http://www.atlaspressphoto.com/_ATLASPRESS_/ga_multi_list.asp?ga_id=confirm&adSearch=&ga_category=0&ga_category2=0&cType=1&ga_country=&within=0&fDate=1900-01-01&tDate=2009-10-29&orient=0&color=0&photographer=&imageNo=&ds=off&orderDir=desc&ssSearchType=2&searchtype=2&searchText=Health+Care+protests+lead+to+arrests+in+downtown+NYC
La Jornada (Mexico)
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/10/28/index.php?section=economia&article=044n1eco
OpEdNews (featured story about doctors, by Kevin Gosztola):
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Doctors-Risking-Arrest-for-by-Kevin-Gosztola-091028-46.html
OpEdNews (about Philadelphia rally):
http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=14748
Bay Area Indymedia (quality article, good for reference):
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/28/18627006.php
Press Coverage from 10/29:
Southern Maryland Online
http://somd.com/news/headlines/2009/10714.shtml
Wave3.com
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=11410405
WFPL News
http://www.wfpl.org/2009/10/29/demonstrators-sit-in-at-humana/
Adore the Baltimore Four!
Video: “Baltimore Four” Arrested--Health Care for All
On Oct. 29, 2009, four activists, who support a Medicare for All solution to our healthcare crisis, were arrested in Baltimore, MD, for trespassing. They were engaged in a “patients before profits sit-in” at a 17-story tower, which houses an office of the insurance giant, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. It’s located in the Canton area of the city. The demonstration was part of an ongoing national campaign by the “Mobilization for Health Care for All” group. The protest included the staging of a 15 ft. vampire, “Count Bleed Ya Dry,” that represented the Insurance Industry. For more more details on the Single Payer issue, the arrests and the exact charges placed against each defendant, check out: http://mobilizeforhealthcare.org/ One of the protesters arrested was Dr. Margaret Flowers. She is a member of the “Baucus Eight,” and an unrepentant advocate of a Single Payer System. Another physician, Dr. Eric Naumburg, was also arrested, along with an 81 year-old retiree, Mr. Charles Laubert, and a school teacher, Ms. Patty Courtney.
On Oct. 29, 2009, four activists, who support a Medicare for All solution to our healthcare crisis, were arrested in Baltimore, MD, for trespassing. They were engaged in a “patients before profits sit-in” at a 17-story tower, which houses an office of the insurance giant, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. It’s located in the Canton area of the city. The demonstration was part of an ongoing national campaign by the “Mobilization for Health Care for All” group. The protest included the staging of a 15 ft. vampire, “Count Bleed Ya Dry,” that represented the Insurance Industry. For more more details on the Single Payer issue, the arrests and the exact charges placed against each defendant, check out: http://mobilizeforhealthcare.org/ One of the protesters arrested was Dr. Margaret Flowers. She is a member of the “Baucus Eight,” and an unrepentant advocate of a Single Payer System. Another physician, Dr. Eric Naumburg, was also arrested, along with an 81 year-old retiree, Mr. Charles Laubert, and a school teacher, Ms. Patty Courtney.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Don't Feel Sorry, Feel Solidarity
I have been struggling with an issue as of late: feeling sorry for my family and friends who are struggling through life's hardships.
This is alarming to me because I have counseled people who have been through the most unimaginable hell and have managed not to feel sorry for them. I never want to feel sorry for anyone. I think it is condescending at best. Besides, I think it's fair to say that no one wants someone to feel sorry for him or her. A person wants (and needs) love, understanding, and support. But not pity.
Maybe my recent feelings are a mask for my own fragile situation. I hope I, too, am not on the verge of breakdown, a delicate position so many of my brothers and sisters find themselves in. It would be easy for me to project my weaknesses on others.
The last month and a half has not been easy. I have lost my grandmother, which connects me tightly to others' losses - including the recent death of one of my other's former students of swine flu - and my life is rapidly restructuring around a full-time job and a return to solitude after my girlfriend's month-long visit. Have I had the adequate time and space to mourn and to accept?
I know that if I am to turn the corner sharply, it will be thanks to the warm feeling of solidarity that links me to the pain and struggles of others. I must acknowledge my own pain first, and then connect it to that of others. My understanding must be deep; I must be willing to share both smiles and tears. Only the foolish suffer alone.
I already feel better now that I am aware of this option.
This is alarming to me because I have counseled people who have been through the most unimaginable hell and have managed not to feel sorry for them. I never want to feel sorry for anyone. I think it is condescending at best. Besides, I think it's fair to say that no one wants someone to feel sorry for him or her. A person wants (and needs) love, understanding, and support. But not pity.
Maybe my recent feelings are a mask for my own fragile situation. I hope I, too, am not on the verge of breakdown, a delicate position so many of my brothers and sisters find themselves in. It would be easy for me to project my weaknesses on others.
The last month and a half has not been easy. I have lost my grandmother, which connects me tightly to others' losses - including the recent death of one of my other's former students of swine flu - and my life is rapidly restructuring around a full-time job and a return to solitude after my girlfriend's month-long visit. Have I had the adequate time and space to mourn and to accept?
I know that if I am to turn the corner sharply, it will be thanks to the warm feeling of solidarity that links me to the pain and struggles of others. I must acknowledge my own pain first, and then connect it to that of others. My understanding must be deep; I must be willing to share both smiles and tears. Only the foolish suffer alone.
I already feel better now that I am aware of this option.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Update on Honduras
Smashing the Silence: Indy reporting from Joseph Shansky
Oct. 16
Since the few days of renewed excitement around the “secret” return to Honduras of democratically-elected President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, there has been a disturbing omission of the Honduran political crisis in the international news. It would be reasonable to think that with each passing day an exiled president was camped in a foreign embassy (as Zelaya has been in the Brazilian embassy since September 21st), tensions would rise and all eyes of the world would be on that lone building. Instead the opposite has occurred and it appears as though the international press had lost interest without action to follow. The subsequent collapse and renewal (and collapse again, etc.) of ongoing “negotiations” with Roberto Micheletti’s coup government did little to breathe life into this story.
Here in Tegucigalpa, life continues under subtle siege for ordinary citizens. The city gets dark faster at night now and the people seem more frightened in general. The curfew remains. Small groups huddle together and glance around anxiously, couples hug closer, young girls grasp hands tighter and walk faster. Militia is everywhere of course, made up of young, mostly uneducated kids who twirl their guns with abandon, dig their batons into the dirt and wait for a notice for action. It can come at a whistle’s call here, and sometimes it feels as though the entire country is poised, frozen in battle.
The most recent momentous note in this political standoff occurred when Micheletti declared an impromptu State of Emergency following the massive street rallies on the day Zelaya returned. He then imposed a “decree” which stripped Hondurans of almost all basic civil liberties, including the right to assemble freely and access to media outlets which did not strictly toe the coup government line. He also imposed a continuous and rather vague curfew, allowing open interpretation for street police to constantly monitor and harass citizens. After a brief but immediate international outcry, Micheletti apologized and promised to withdraw the decree, but has done no such thing. Instead, he’s used this legal loophole to clean house by first attacking the primary ingredient of a democracy: the free press.
The studios of Radio Globo and Channel 36 were assaulted in the middle of the night and their transmitters were sabotaged and taken, thus leaving the majority of the country without access to the few independent news sources they had depended on for so long. He then forcibly evicted 55 local farm workers who had occupied the headquarters of the National Agrarian Institute for months since the June coup. According to Honduras Resists, a leading online source for Resistance support, the Institute “houses the land titles that had been attained by small rural farmers and communities through years of struggle, many of which were finally granted under the Zelaya administration, angering the powerful landholders who are responsible for the coup and now want to halt and reverse the process of land reform in Honduras.”[1]
One major effect of this curfew and the violations that it brings is that Micheletti has unwittingly drawn people to the resistance movement against the coup government who may not have otherwise been involved. The demonstrations have continued daily for four months now, sometimes taking on different forms.
An example of the varied support for Zelaya’s restoration (and against the coup in general) has been factions of the religious community. A few days ago, a group of Evangelical Christians gathered together in front of the abandoned Channel 36 television station. They planted themselves there to sing and pray for the station, for the resistance, and for Honduras. Several speeches were also made by organizers and religious figures, including priests.
When they had completed the blessing of this censored independent media outlet, they continued making the rounds, next going to Radio Globo to perform the same songs, the same prayers. It was a striking image, the Bible lying on the table next to the microphones in the studio. It conjured up big notions of God and Information and Truth and good people who believe that these ideas are not mutually exclusive.
Under the decree, the military domination has also expanded into lesser populated areas. The police have stormed neighborhoods ranging from inside the city center all the way to Greater Tegucigalpa and its outskirts. The same has happened around the country. In turn, these remote and generally much poorer neighborhoods have begun organizing independently, as they now feel the effects of constant police raids on houses and communities. These barrios, usually ignored and left to their own devices, have begun to take action.
I recently traveled one night with several other foreign journalists to a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. Arriving amid mountains of trash, I immediately heard a cacophony of homemade percussive sounds, people drumming on whatever was freely available. We came upon hundreds of people of all ages marching in the dark together – families shouting, singing, chanting, blowing whistles, banging on nearby doors to rouse their neighbors. Along the sidelines, others watched from windows and front steps, staring fearfully and somewhat enviously at their neighbors’ courage in defying the curfew. This was just one of many similar nightly neighborhood rallies since the decree banning such gatherings.
The crowd surged up a hill and turned into an alley where a car was parked with a film projector sitting atop. After a few minutes, the organizers were able to project the image onto the side of a nearby house. The video was a compilation of homemade footage documenting many of the recent abuses their peers had suffered at the hands of the police. In one scene, the camera followed a single police officer from behind as he ran with his gun drawn directly at group of demonstrators nearby, shooting wildly and recklessly. Others showed the police randomly isolating and dragging non-violent protesters out of the street and into unmarked cars.
The images were designed to enrage the crowd, and it worked. Cries of “¡Asesinos!” (Murderers!) rang out in the night, the excitement and anger grew to a palpable climax, and for a moment I was sure that we’d soon be experiencing our own live replay of the scenes in front of us as soon as the local police took notice. These people were loud.
But aside from provocation, the video was also used as a tool to educate people who live in outlying areas to the realities of what much of the city was going through on a daily basis. It was a form of the news which had been missing from the public since Radio Globo and Channel 36 were taken off air.
This kind of sudden unity is not a novelty limited to one area of the city. The day after the decree, twenty four separate neighborhoods were listed as openly defying the curfew to protest the coup d’état. The resistance which has held steadfast for almost four months now has grown in true grassroots style. Like a domino effect, as the coup’s fear tactics increase, the opposition grows tremendously.
Regardless of what happens from the top-down politically, it would be wise to take note of the remarkable manner in which these communities have come together at ground level. On a very fundamental level, this is innovative democracy in action. Using any means possible, these citizens are courageously breaking through the information blockade that has paralyzed so much of the country and isolated much of the world from the events taking place in Honduras.
Oct. 16
Since the few days of renewed excitement around the “secret” return to Honduras of democratically-elected President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, there has been a disturbing omission of the Honduran political crisis in the international news. It would be reasonable to think that with each passing day an exiled president was camped in a foreign embassy (as Zelaya has been in the Brazilian embassy since September 21st), tensions would rise and all eyes of the world would be on that lone building. Instead the opposite has occurred and it appears as though the international press had lost interest without action to follow. The subsequent collapse and renewal (and collapse again, etc.) of ongoing “negotiations” with Roberto Micheletti’s coup government did little to breathe life into this story.
Here in Tegucigalpa, life continues under subtle siege for ordinary citizens. The city gets dark faster at night now and the people seem more frightened in general. The curfew remains. Small groups huddle together and glance around anxiously, couples hug closer, young girls grasp hands tighter and walk faster. Militia is everywhere of course, made up of young, mostly uneducated kids who twirl their guns with abandon, dig their batons into the dirt and wait for a notice for action. It can come at a whistle’s call here, and sometimes it feels as though the entire country is poised, frozen in battle.
The most recent momentous note in this political standoff occurred when Micheletti declared an impromptu State of Emergency following the massive street rallies on the day Zelaya returned. He then imposed a “decree” which stripped Hondurans of almost all basic civil liberties, including the right to assemble freely and access to media outlets which did not strictly toe the coup government line. He also imposed a continuous and rather vague curfew, allowing open interpretation for street police to constantly monitor and harass citizens. After a brief but immediate international outcry, Micheletti apologized and promised to withdraw the decree, but has done no such thing. Instead, he’s used this legal loophole to clean house by first attacking the primary ingredient of a democracy: the free press.
The studios of Radio Globo and Channel 36 were assaulted in the middle of the night and their transmitters were sabotaged and taken, thus leaving the majority of the country without access to the few independent news sources they had depended on for so long. He then forcibly evicted 55 local farm workers who had occupied the headquarters of the National Agrarian Institute for months since the June coup. According to Honduras Resists, a leading online source for Resistance support, the Institute “houses the land titles that had been attained by small rural farmers and communities through years of struggle, many of which were finally granted under the Zelaya administration, angering the powerful landholders who are responsible for the coup and now want to halt and reverse the process of land reform in Honduras.”[1]
One major effect of this curfew and the violations that it brings is that Micheletti has unwittingly drawn people to the resistance movement against the coup government who may not have otherwise been involved. The demonstrations have continued daily for four months now, sometimes taking on different forms.
An example of the varied support for Zelaya’s restoration (and against the coup in general) has been factions of the religious community. A few days ago, a group of Evangelical Christians gathered together in front of the abandoned Channel 36 television station. They planted themselves there to sing and pray for the station, for the resistance, and for Honduras. Several speeches were also made by organizers and religious figures, including priests.
When they had completed the blessing of this censored independent media outlet, they continued making the rounds, next going to Radio Globo to perform the same songs, the same prayers. It was a striking image, the Bible lying on the table next to the microphones in the studio. It conjured up big notions of God and Information and Truth and good people who believe that these ideas are not mutually exclusive.
Under the decree, the military domination has also expanded into lesser populated areas. The police have stormed neighborhoods ranging from inside the city center all the way to Greater Tegucigalpa and its outskirts. The same has happened around the country. In turn, these remote and generally much poorer neighborhoods have begun organizing independently, as they now feel the effects of constant police raids on houses and communities. These barrios, usually ignored and left to their own devices, have begun to take action.
I recently traveled one night with several other foreign journalists to a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. Arriving amid mountains of trash, I immediately heard a cacophony of homemade percussive sounds, people drumming on whatever was freely available. We came upon hundreds of people of all ages marching in the dark together – families shouting, singing, chanting, blowing whistles, banging on nearby doors to rouse their neighbors. Along the sidelines, others watched from windows and front steps, staring fearfully and somewhat enviously at their neighbors’ courage in defying the curfew. This was just one of many similar nightly neighborhood rallies since the decree banning such gatherings.
The crowd surged up a hill and turned into an alley where a car was parked with a film projector sitting atop. After a few minutes, the organizers were able to project the image onto the side of a nearby house. The video was a compilation of homemade footage documenting many of the recent abuses their peers had suffered at the hands of the police. In one scene, the camera followed a single police officer from behind as he ran with his gun drawn directly at group of demonstrators nearby, shooting wildly and recklessly. Others showed the police randomly isolating and dragging non-violent protesters out of the street and into unmarked cars.
The images were designed to enrage the crowd, and it worked. Cries of “¡Asesinos!” (Murderers!) rang out in the night, the excitement and anger grew to a palpable climax, and for a moment I was sure that we’d soon be experiencing our own live replay of the scenes in front of us as soon as the local police took notice. These people were loud.
But aside from provocation, the video was also used as a tool to educate people who live in outlying areas to the realities of what much of the city was going through on a daily basis. It was a form of the news which had been missing from the public since Radio Globo and Channel 36 were taken off air.
This kind of sudden unity is not a novelty limited to one area of the city. The day after the decree, twenty four separate neighborhoods were listed as openly defying the curfew to protest the coup d’état. The resistance which has held steadfast for almost four months now has grown in true grassroots style. Like a domino effect, as the coup’s fear tactics increase, the opposition grows tremendously.
Regardless of what happens from the top-down politically, it would be wise to take note of the remarkable manner in which these communities have come together at ground level. On a very fundamental level, this is innovative democracy in action. Using any means possible, these citizens are courageously breaking through the information blockade that has paralyzed so much of the country and isolated much of the world from the events taking place in Honduras.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
And the REAL Peace Prize Goes to...
(Taken from CubaDebate)
IF Obama was awarded the Prize for winning the elections in a racist society despite being African-American, then Evo deserves it for winning in his country despite being an indigenous man, and moreover for keeping his promises.
It was the first time in the two countries that someone from each of their respective ethnic groups became president.
More than once, I noted that Obama was an intelligent, educated man in a social and political system in which he believes. He aspires to extend health services to almost 50 million U.S. people, to pull the economy out of the profound crisis it is experiencing, and to improve the image of the United States, deteriorated due to its genocidal wars and torture. He does not conceive of or desire, nor can he change, his country’s political and economic system.
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to three U.S. presidents, a former president and a presidential candidate.
The first was Theodore Roosevelt, elected in 1901, the man of the Rough Riders that landed their riders – without their horses -- in Cuba for the U.S. intervention in 1898 to prevent our country’s independence.
The second was Thomas Woodrow Wilson, who took the United States into the first war to divvy up the world. In the Treaty of Versailles, he imposed such harsh conditions on defeated Germany, that it laid the foundations for the emergence of fascism and the breakout of World War II.
The third is Barack Obama.
Carter was the former president who, several years after ending his mandate, was awarded the Nobel Prize. Without a doubt, one of the few presidents of that country incapable of ordering the assassination of an adversary, as others did; he returned the Canal to Panama, created the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, and avoided falling into large budget deficits or squandering money for the benefit of the military-industrial complex like Reagan did [some have pointed out the post-WWII US military budget really began its current rampant expansion under Carter - MS].
The candidate was Al Gore when he was already vice president, the U.S. politician who knew the most about the terrible consequences of climate change [sic]. He was the victim of electoral fraud when he was a presidential candidate and had victory snatched away from him by W. Bush.
Opinions about the awarding of this prize have been very much divided. Many are based on ethical concepts or reflect evident contradictions in the surprising decision.
They would have preferred that prize to be the fruit of a task fulfilled. The Nobel Peace Prize is not always awarded to people who deserve that distinction. Sometimes individuals have received it who are resentful, arrogant or even worse. Lech Walesa, upon hearing the news, said disdainfully, "Who, Obama? It’s too fast. He hasn’t had time to do anything."
In our press and on CubaDebate, honest and revolutionary comrades have been critical. One of them said, "In the same week that Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the U.S. Senate passed the largest military budget in history: $626 billion". During the television newscast, another journalist commented, "What has Obama done to achieve such a distinction?" Others asked, "And what about the war in Afghanistan and the increase in bombings?" Those are viewpoints based on reality.
In Rome, the filmmaker Michael Moore made a lapidary statement: "Congratulations, President Obama, on the Nobel Peace Prize; now, please, earn it."
I am sure that Obama would agree with Moore’s statement. He possesses sufficient intelligence to understand the circumstances surrounding the case. He knows that he has not yet earned that prize. That morning, he stated, "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize."
It is said that there are five members on the famous committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize, all of them members of the Swedish Parliament. A spokesperson said that it was unanimous. One question fits here: did they or did they not consult the winner? Can a decision of this type be made without first notifying the winning individual? This cannot be judged morally in the same way if the person knew or did not know beforehand about the awarding of the prize. It is also fitting to affirm that about those who decided to award it to him.
Perhaps it is necessary to create a Nobel Prize for Transparency.
Bolivia has major gas and oil deposits and holds the largest known reserves of lithium, a mineral greatly needed in our era for storing and using energy.
Evo Morales, a very poor indigenous farmer, traveled throughout the Andes, together with his father, before he was six years old, shepherding the llamas of an indigenous group. They led them for 15 days to reach the market where they sold them to buy food for the community. Responding to a question of mine about that unique experience, Evo told me that at the time, "they stayed in the 1,000-star hotel," a beautiful way of referring to the clear skies of the mountains where telescopes are sometimes placed.
During those hard years of his childhood, the alternative for the farmers in the community where he was born was to cut sugar cane in the Argentine province of Jujuy, where part of the Aymara community sometimes took refuge during the sugar cane harvest.
Not very far from La Higuera, where Che, wounded and disarmed, was murdered on October 9, 1967, was Evo, who was born on the 26th of that same month in 1959, not yet 8 years old. He learned to read and write in Spanish, walking to a little public school five kilometers from the hut where, in a rustic room, he lived with his brothers and sisters and parents.
During his eventful childhood, wherever there was a teacher, Evo was there. From his race, he acquired three ethical principles: not to lie, not to steal, and not to be weak.
When he was 13, his father permitted him to move to San Pedro de Oruro to go to high school. One of his biographers tells how he was better in geography, history and philosophy than in physics and mathematics. The most important thing is that Evo, to pay for his studies, would wake up at 2 a.m. to work as a baker, construction worker, or in other physical labor. He attended classes in the afternoon. His classmates admired him and helped him. From the very start, he learned to play wind instruments and was a trumpet player in a prestigious band in Oruro.
When he was still an adolescent, he organized his community’s soccer team, and was its captain.
Access to the university was not within his reach, being an Aymara Indian and poor.
After his last year of high school, he served his mandatory military term and returned to his community, located high up in the mountains. Poverty and natural disasters forced his family to migrate to the subtropical region of El Chapare, where they were able to obtain a small land parcel. His father died in 1983 when he was 23 years old. He worked hard on the land, but he was a born fighter; he organized all of the workers, created labor unions and with them filled the vacuums to which that the state was not paying attention.
The conditions for a social revolution in Bolivia had been created over the last 50 years. On April 9, 1952, before the start of our armed struggle, the revolution broke out in that country with the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement of Víctor Paz Estenssoro. The revolutionary miners defeated the forces of repression and the MNR took power.
Revolutionary objectives in Bolivia were far from being met. In 1956, according to well-informed people, the process began to fall apart. On January 1, 1959, the Revolution was victorious in Cuba. Three years later, in January 1962, our country was expelled from the OAS. Bolivia abstained. Later, all of the governments except for Mexico broke off relations with Cuba.
Divisions in the international revolutionary movement made themselves felt in Bolivia. Still to come were 40 years more of blockading Cuba, neoliberalism and its disastrous consequences, The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela and the ALBA; still to come, above all, were Evo and the MAS in Bolivia.
It would take to long to sum up that rich history on a few pages.
All I will say is that Evo was able to overcome the terrible and slanderous campaigns of imperialism, its coups d’état and interference in internal affairs, and to defend Bolivia’s sovereignty and the right of its millenary people to have respect for their customs. "Coca is not cocaine," he exclaimed to the largest marijuana producer and largest consumer of drugs in the world, whose market has maintained the organized crime that costs thousands of lives every year in Mexico. Two of the countries where the yanki troops and their military bases are located are the largest producers of drugs on the planet.
Bolivia, Venezuela and Ecuador are not falling into the deadly trap of drug trafficking; they are revolutionary countries that, like Cuba, are members of the ALBA. They know what they can and should do to bring health, education and well-being to their peoples. They do not need foreign troops to combat drug trafficking.
Bolivia is going forward with a program of its dreams under the leadership of an Aymara president who has his people’s support.
In less than three years, he eradicated illiteracy: 824,101 Bolivians learned to read and write; 24,699 did so in the Aymara language and 13,599 in Quechua; it is the third country to be free of illiteracy after Cuba and Venezuela.
Free medical attention is provided to millions of people who had never received it. It is one of seven countries in the world that in the last five years has most reduced its infant mortality rate, with the possibility of reaching the Millennium Goals before 2015, and it is the same case with maternal deaths, in a similar proportion. Restorative eye surgery has been performed on 454,161 people, 75,974 of them Brazilians, Argentines, Peruvians and Paraguayans.
An ambitious social program has been established in Bolivia: all of the children in public schools from first to eighth grade receive an annual donation to help pay for their school materials, benefiting almost two million students.
More than 700,000 people over the age of 60 receive a voucher for the equivalent of some $342 annually.
All pregnant women and children under the age of 2 receive assistance of approximately $257.
Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, has placed under state control the country’s principal energy and mineral resources, respecting and compensating each one of the interests affected. It marches along carefully, because it does not wish to retreat a single step. Its hard currency reserves have been growing. Evo has no less than three times what the country had at the beginning of his administration. It is one of the countries that makes the best use of foreign cooperation and firmly defends the environment.
In a very short time, he has been able to establish the Biometric Electoral Register, and approximately 4.7 million voters have been registered, almost one million more than on the last electoral register, which in January 2009 had 3.8 million.
On December 6, there will be elections. It is a sure thing that the people’s support for their president will grow. Nothing has been able to stop his growing prestige and popularity.
Why isn’t he awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
I understand his big disadvantage: he is not a U.S. president.
Fidel Castro Ruz
October 15, 2009
4:25 p.m.
Translated by Granma International
IF Obama was awarded the Prize for winning the elections in a racist society despite being African-American, then Evo deserves it for winning in his country despite being an indigenous man, and moreover for keeping his promises.
It was the first time in the two countries that someone from each of their respective ethnic groups became president.
More than once, I noted that Obama was an intelligent, educated man in a social and political system in which he believes. He aspires to extend health services to almost 50 million U.S. people, to pull the economy out of the profound crisis it is experiencing, and to improve the image of the United States, deteriorated due to its genocidal wars and torture. He does not conceive of or desire, nor can he change, his country’s political and economic system.
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to three U.S. presidents, a former president and a presidential candidate.
The first was Theodore Roosevelt, elected in 1901, the man of the Rough Riders that landed their riders – without their horses -- in Cuba for the U.S. intervention in 1898 to prevent our country’s independence.
The second was Thomas Woodrow Wilson, who took the United States into the first war to divvy up the world. In the Treaty of Versailles, he imposed such harsh conditions on defeated Germany, that it laid the foundations for the emergence of fascism and the breakout of World War II.
The third is Barack Obama.
Carter was the former president who, several years after ending his mandate, was awarded the Nobel Prize. Without a doubt, one of the few presidents of that country incapable of ordering the assassination of an adversary, as others did; he returned the Canal to Panama, created the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, and avoided falling into large budget deficits or squandering money for the benefit of the military-industrial complex like Reagan did [some have pointed out the post-WWII US military budget really began its current rampant expansion under Carter - MS].
The candidate was Al Gore when he was already vice president, the U.S. politician who knew the most about the terrible consequences of climate change [sic]. He was the victim of electoral fraud when he was a presidential candidate and had victory snatched away from him by W. Bush.
Opinions about the awarding of this prize have been very much divided. Many are based on ethical concepts or reflect evident contradictions in the surprising decision.
They would have preferred that prize to be the fruit of a task fulfilled. The Nobel Peace Prize is not always awarded to people who deserve that distinction. Sometimes individuals have received it who are resentful, arrogant or even worse. Lech Walesa, upon hearing the news, said disdainfully, "Who, Obama? It’s too fast. He hasn’t had time to do anything."
In our press and on CubaDebate, honest and revolutionary comrades have been critical. One of them said, "In the same week that Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the U.S. Senate passed the largest military budget in history: $626 billion". During the television newscast, another journalist commented, "What has Obama done to achieve such a distinction?" Others asked, "And what about the war in Afghanistan and the increase in bombings?" Those are viewpoints based on reality.
In Rome, the filmmaker Michael Moore made a lapidary statement: "Congratulations, President Obama, on the Nobel Peace Prize; now, please, earn it."
I am sure that Obama would agree with Moore’s statement. He possesses sufficient intelligence to understand the circumstances surrounding the case. He knows that he has not yet earned that prize. That morning, he stated, "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize."
It is said that there are five members on the famous committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize, all of them members of the Swedish Parliament. A spokesperson said that it was unanimous. One question fits here: did they or did they not consult the winner? Can a decision of this type be made without first notifying the winning individual? This cannot be judged morally in the same way if the person knew or did not know beforehand about the awarding of the prize. It is also fitting to affirm that about those who decided to award it to him.
Perhaps it is necessary to create a Nobel Prize for Transparency.
Bolivia has major gas and oil deposits and holds the largest known reserves of lithium, a mineral greatly needed in our era for storing and using energy.
Evo Morales, a very poor indigenous farmer, traveled throughout the Andes, together with his father, before he was six years old, shepherding the llamas of an indigenous group. They led them for 15 days to reach the market where they sold them to buy food for the community. Responding to a question of mine about that unique experience, Evo told me that at the time, "they stayed in the 1,000-star hotel," a beautiful way of referring to the clear skies of the mountains where telescopes are sometimes placed.
During those hard years of his childhood, the alternative for the farmers in the community where he was born was to cut sugar cane in the Argentine province of Jujuy, where part of the Aymara community sometimes took refuge during the sugar cane harvest.
Not very far from La Higuera, where Che, wounded and disarmed, was murdered on October 9, 1967, was Evo, who was born on the 26th of that same month in 1959, not yet 8 years old. He learned to read and write in Spanish, walking to a little public school five kilometers from the hut where, in a rustic room, he lived with his brothers and sisters and parents.
During his eventful childhood, wherever there was a teacher, Evo was there. From his race, he acquired three ethical principles: not to lie, not to steal, and not to be weak.
When he was 13, his father permitted him to move to San Pedro de Oruro to go to high school. One of his biographers tells how he was better in geography, history and philosophy than in physics and mathematics. The most important thing is that Evo, to pay for his studies, would wake up at 2 a.m. to work as a baker, construction worker, or in other physical labor. He attended classes in the afternoon. His classmates admired him and helped him. From the very start, he learned to play wind instruments and was a trumpet player in a prestigious band in Oruro.
When he was still an adolescent, he organized his community’s soccer team, and was its captain.
Access to the university was not within his reach, being an Aymara Indian and poor.
After his last year of high school, he served his mandatory military term and returned to his community, located high up in the mountains. Poverty and natural disasters forced his family to migrate to the subtropical region of El Chapare, where they were able to obtain a small land parcel. His father died in 1983 when he was 23 years old. He worked hard on the land, but he was a born fighter; he organized all of the workers, created labor unions and with them filled the vacuums to which that the state was not paying attention.
The conditions for a social revolution in Bolivia had been created over the last 50 years. On April 9, 1952, before the start of our armed struggle, the revolution broke out in that country with the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement of Víctor Paz Estenssoro. The revolutionary miners defeated the forces of repression and the MNR took power.
Revolutionary objectives in Bolivia were far from being met. In 1956, according to well-informed people, the process began to fall apart. On January 1, 1959, the Revolution was victorious in Cuba. Three years later, in January 1962, our country was expelled from the OAS. Bolivia abstained. Later, all of the governments except for Mexico broke off relations with Cuba.
Divisions in the international revolutionary movement made themselves felt in Bolivia. Still to come were 40 years more of blockading Cuba, neoliberalism and its disastrous consequences, The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela and the ALBA; still to come, above all, were Evo and the MAS in Bolivia.
It would take to long to sum up that rich history on a few pages.
All I will say is that Evo was able to overcome the terrible and slanderous campaigns of imperialism, its coups d’état and interference in internal affairs, and to defend Bolivia’s sovereignty and the right of its millenary people to have respect for their customs. "Coca is not cocaine," he exclaimed to the largest marijuana producer and largest consumer of drugs in the world, whose market has maintained the organized crime that costs thousands of lives every year in Mexico. Two of the countries where the yanki troops and their military bases are located are the largest producers of drugs on the planet.
Bolivia, Venezuela and Ecuador are not falling into the deadly trap of drug trafficking; they are revolutionary countries that, like Cuba, are members of the ALBA. They know what they can and should do to bring health, education and well-being to their peoples. They do not need foreign troops to combat drug trafficking.
Bolivia is going forward with a program of its dreams under the leadership of an Aymara president who has his people’s support.
In less than three years, he eradicated illiteracy: 824,101 Bolivians learned to read and write; 24,699 did so in the Aymara language and 13,599 in Quechua; it is the third country to be free of illiteracy after Cuba and Venezuela.
Free medical attention is provided to millions of people who had never received it. It is one of seven countries in the world that in the last five years has most reduced its infant mortality rate, with the possibility of reaching the Millennium Goals before 2015, and it is the same case with maternal deaths, in a similar proportion. Restorative eye surgery has been performed on 454,161 people, 75,974 of them Brazilians, Argentines, Peruvians and Paraguayans.
An ambitious social program has been established in Bolivia: all of the children in public schools from first to eighth grade receive an annual donation to help pay for their school materials, benefiting almost two million students.
More than 700,000 people over the age of 60 receive a voucher for the equivalent of some $342 annually.
All pregnant women and children under the age of 2 receive assistance of approximately $257.
Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, has placed under state control the country’s principal energy and mineral resources, respecting and compensating each one of the interests affected. It marches along carefully, because it does not wish to retreat a single step. Its hard currency reserves have been growing. Evo has no less than three times what the country had at the beginning of his administration. It is one of the countries that makes the best use of foreign cooperation and firmly defends the environment.
In a very short time, he has been able to establish the Biometric Electoral Register, and approximately 4.7 million voters have been registered, almost one million more than on the last electoral register, which in January 2009 had 3.8 million.
On December 6, there will be elections. It is a sure thing that the people’s support for their president will grow. Nothing has been able to stop his growing prestige and popularity.
Why isn’t he awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
I understand his big disadvantage: he is not a U.S. president.
Fidel Castro Ruz
October 15, 2009
4:25 p.m.
Translated by Granma International
Saturday, October 17, 2009
If we want Policy instead of Speeches
If we want Policy instead of Speeches
Vers La Verité Speech in Paris
by Cynthia McKinney
.
Global Research, October 11, 2009
President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was not the only news yesterday. And in my opinion, it’s not even the biggest news. It’s not even the saddest news. But it does provide us with some critical information as we move forward. The three-part question for us, tonight however, is “What are we moving forward TO; is that the place we want to go; and if not, what do we do about it?
In other words, “What is our vision for the future and how do we define success?”
I have been and am still in deep pain over the institutional homicide of my aunt and in my grief, I’ve considered giving up.
But then, I wiped the tears from my eyes long enough to remember communities of people that I’ve been blessed enough to get to know, from Toronto, Canada to Cape Town, South Africa; from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Valdosta, Georgia, there are people struggling through their own pain, their own deep personal disappointments to reach a better place—not just for themselves, but for the global community of man. And I know deep in my own heart, as broken as it is, that I cannot give up. My brain tells me that the struggle for truth, justice, peace, and dignity is too important to lose because of heartbreak.
The one thing that probably best defines everyone in this room are our search for and activities on behalf of principles that are bigger than ourselves. We want our governments to tell us the truth; we want them to deliver justice; we want our global community to live in peace; and we want respect for the dignity of all humankind.
So if these are the ingredients of our vision, what tools do we need to produce the desired result?
Well, first of all, the desired result has to have definition.
I mentioned in one of my messages to a dear friend in response to the Nobel award to President Barack Obama that we needed to keep our eyes on the prize and then I erased it because I don’t think we’ve sufficiently defined what the prize is.
So there must be a small, cohesive, international group of rock-solid people feverishly working to redefine for all who want to be active, and a part of our vision, just what the prize is. And this “prize,” our vision, must be repeated and explained often so people can differentiate our vision, from their reality.
Here is where language becomes important. If we want policy instead of speeches, then this must be repeated early and often because what I’m alarmed by is that in the absence of us providing real definition, and there are reasons for that, people are beginning to think that a speech IS policy.
But, as I said earlier, there was a lot of news yesterday. Some of it even more important than the Nobel Peace Prize Award, but the award certainly overshadowed all other stories.
And I’m always searching for context. Because, as the U.S. military puts it, “perception management” is important. And we must understand the context of what happens and when it happens, in order to understand why.
I always say that we must see the invisible, hear the unspoken, and read the unwritten. That’s what some of the organizers of Vers La Verité were professionally trained to do, before they became whistleblowers, and now our leaders.
Now, what were some of those other interesting news items?
Well, at a Native American Lodge located next to Senator John McCain’s ranch, two people died and several others were hospitalized following a hazardous materials situation at the Sweat Lodge, which is like a spiritual retreat led by Native Americans. I’ve even been invited to participate in one upon my return to the U.S.
Now, I find this interesting and a story that should be followed up on and I will be doing that because I want to make sure there’s no bigger story hidden in an important cultural ritual of the Native Americans who are victims of a genocide in North America that continues to this day.
On the day that the Nobel Prize was announced, we also learned that the U.S. bunker buster bomb will be ready in a few more months.
This is the bomb that holds over 5,000 pounds of explosives and is designed to penetrate hardened facilities, including those underground. Some brilliant people in the U.S. even want to put nuclear tips on bunker buster bombs. However, in announcing the near deployment of the project that pays McDonnell Douglas to adapt the B-2 bomber so it can deliver the Boeing-made bomb to its intended target, the Pentagon press secretary said, "The reality is that the world we live in is one in which there are people who seek to build weapons of mass destruction and they seek to do so in a clandestine fashion." The article noted that the Obama Administration had not ruled out military action against Iran.
Another story noted that hours after winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama met with his military advisors about troop levels in Afghanistan. The troop increase requested by the U.S. Commander ranged, it is reported, from 10,000 to 60,000—although the top number isn’t listed in that news report. One has to go to another news item to see the true top number. At any rate, it seems that the choices confronting U.S. and European leaders is whether to increase the current 68,000 U.S. boots on the ground in Afghanistan or to merely increase the number of drone attacks. Decreasing death and destruction and bringing our young men and women home is not on the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s agenda for discussion.
The last article of note is about a restaurant in west Georgia that is using the “N-word” on its marquee to describe President Obama. It reminds me of the Atlanta area restaurant that put on its marquee that I was Buckwheat with Boobs. Now, those of you who are from the U.S. will know what that means and the depth of insult that was intended. The article notes that I’ve made this restaurant’s marquee, too. Both restaurant owners claim to not be racists and to be protected by free speech.
My point in including this particular news item is that we still have so far to go just in terms of our human relations. It is imperative that we do what we can to spread our message and our vision and reach those who can be reached.
Which brings me to who can be reached.
Those with enough discernment to know that what is being pronounced from on high is not their reality. And rather than accept or discount the contradictions, we want them to join us and struggle for a better reality for everybody.
I am saddened beyond belief that on the day of the Peace Prize award, a struggling democracy in Honduras was besieged with U.S. supplied weapons and U.S.-trained paramilitaries and snipers in support of coup leaders over the democratically-elected people’s leaders. In fact, the latest dispatch from Honduras is that many of the snipers and paramilitaries—now descending on Honduras from all over Latin America—were trained in my home state of Georgia.
More and more people are experiencing cognitive dissonance and rightly so. Our leaders and respected organizations are lying to us! One friend and former Congressional Staffer of mine puts it this way: we need a democratic military instead of a militarized democracy.
The United States, with the help of its European and Asian allies maintains over 700 bases around the world. The number is increasing under President Obama.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that we must combat racism, poverty, and militarism. Our movement cannot struggle against militarism and fail to address racism. We must be comprehensive and to racism, militarism, and poverty, we must now add gaining control of a media that will allow us to communicate to a broader community and not just within our small spheres, and regaining control of education so that people are not so dumbed down that they actually believe that war is peace, slavery is freedom, ignorance is strength, and lies are truth.
And if we are right, then others will join us. They will share with us their dreams and their passions and we will help to empower them.
Global resistance combined with local action, organization, vision, commitment, and resources will allow us to have significant victories in the future.
Vers La Verité understands that the foundation of all of this action, attainment of the prize, can only happen with truth as our foundation.
It’s already a brave new world, let’s get busy and make it ours!!!
Vers La Verité Speech in Paris
by Cynthia McKinney
.
Global Research, October 11, 2009
President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was not the only news yesterday. And in my opinion, it’s not even the biggest news. It’s not even the saddest news. But it does provide us with some critical information as we move forward. The three-part question for us, tonight however, is “What are we moving forward TO; is that the place we want to go; and if not, what do we do about it?
In other words, “What is our vision for the future and how do we define success?”
I have been and am still in deep pain over the institutional homicide of my aunt and in my grief, I’ve considered giving up.
But then, I wiped the tears from my eyes long enough to remember communities of people that I’ve been blessed enough to get to know, from Toronto, Canada to Cape Town, South Africa; from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Valdosta, Georgia, there are people struggling through their own pain, their own deep personal disappointments to reach a better place—not just for themselves, but for the global community of man. And I know deep in my own heart, as broken as it is, that I cannot give up. My brain tells me that the struggle for truth, justice, peace, and dignity is too important to lose because of heartbreak.
The one thing that probably best defines everyone in this room are our search for and activities on behalf of principles that are bigger than ourselves. We want our governments to tell us the truth; we want them to deliver justice; we want our global community to live in peace; and we want respect for the dignity of all humankind.
So if these are the ingredients of our vision, what tools do we need to produce the desired result?
Well, first of all, the desired result has to have definition.
I mentioned in one of my messages to a dear friend in response to the Nobel award to President Barack Obama that we needed to keep our eyes on the prize and then I erased it because I don’t think we’ve sufficiently defined what the prize is.
So there must be a small, cohesive, international group of rock-solid people feverishly working to redefine for all who want to be active, and a part of our vision, just what the prize is. And this “prize,” our vision, must be repeated and explained often so people can differentiate our vision, from their reality.
Here is where language becomes important. If we want policy instead of speeches, then this must be repeated early and often because what I’m alarmed by is that in the absence of us providing real definition, and there are reasons for that, people are beginning to think that a speech IS policy.
But, as I said earlier, there was a lot of news yesterday. Some of it even more important than the Nobel Peace Prize Award, but the award certainly overshadowed all other stories.
And I’m always searching for context. Because, as the U.S. military puts it, “perception management” is important. And we must understand the context of what happens and when it happens, in order to understand why.
I always say that we must see the invisible, hear the unspoken, and read the unwritten. That’s what some of the organizers of Vers La Verité were professionally trained to do, before they became whistleblowers, and now our leaders.
Now, what were some of those other interesting news items?
Well, at a Native American Lodge located next to Senator John McCain’s ranch, two people died and several others were hospitalized following a hazardous materials situation at the Sweat Lodge, which is like a spiritual retreat led by Native Americans. I’ve even been invited to participate in one upon my return to the U.S.
Now, I find this interesting and a story that should be followed up on and I will be doing that because I want to make sure there’s no bigger story hidden in an important cultural ritual of the Native Americans who are victims of a genocide in North America that continues to this day.
On the day that the Nobel Prize was announced, we also learned that the U.S. bunker buster bomb will be ready in a few more months.
This is the bomb that holds over 5,000 pounds of explosives and is designed to penetrate hardened facilities, including those underground. Some brilliant people in the U.S. even want to put nuclear tips on bunker buster bombs. However, in announcing the near deployment of the project that pays McDonnell Douglas to adapt the B-2 bomber so it can deliver the Boeing-made bomb to its intended target, the Pentagon press secretary said, "The reality is that the world we live in is one in which there are people who seek to build weapons of mass destruction and they seek to do so in a clandestine fashion." The article noted that the Obama Administration had not ruled out military action against Iran.
Another story noted that hours after winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama met with his military advisors about troop levels in Afghanistan. The troop increase requested by the U.S. Commander ranged, it is reported, from 10,000 to 60,000—although the top number isn’t listed in that news report. One has to go to another news item to see the true top number. At any rate, it seems that the choices confronting U.S. and European leaders is whether to increase the current 68,000 U.S. boots on the ground in Afghanistan or to merely increase the number of drone attacks. Decreasing death and destruction and bringing our young men and women home is not on the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s agenda for discussion.
The last article of note is about a restaurant in west Georgia that is using the “N-word” on its marquee to describe President Obama. It reminds me of the Atlanta area restaurant that put on its marquee that I was Buckwheat with Boobs. Now, those of you who are from the U.S. will know what that means and the depth of insult that was intended. The article notes that I’ve made this restaurant’s marquee, too. Both restaurant owners claim to not be racists and to be protected by free speech.
My point in including this particular news item is that we still have so far to go just in terms of our human relations. It is imperative that we do what we can to spread our message and our vision and reach those who can be reached.
Which brings me to who can be reached.
Those with enough discernment to know that what is being pronounced from on high is not their reality. And rather than accept or discount the contradictions, we want them to join us and struggle for a better reality for everybody.
I am saddened beyond belief that on the day of the Peace Prize award, a struggling democracy in Honduras was besieged with U.S. supplied weapons and U.S.-trained paramilitaries and snipers in support of coup leaders over the democratically-elected people’s leaders. In fact, the latest dispatch from Honduras is that many of the snipers and paramilitaries—now descending on Honduras from all over Latin America—were trained in my home state of Georgia.
More and more people are experiencing cognitive dissonance and rightly so. Our leaders and respected organizations are lying to us! One friend and former Congressional Staffer of mine puts it this way: we need a democratic military instead of a militarized democracy.
The United States, with the help of its European and Asian allies maintains over 700 bases around the world. The number is increasing under President Obama.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that we must combat racism, poverty, and militarism. Our movement cannot struggle against militarism and fail to address racism. We must be comprehensive and to racism, militarism, and poverty, we must now add gaining control of a media that will allow us to communicate to a broader community and not just within our small spheres, and regaining control of education so that people are not so dumbed down that they actually believe that war is peace, slavery is freedom, ignorance is strength, and lies are truth.
And if we are right, then others will join us. They will share with us their dreams and their passions and we will help to empower them.
Global resistance combined with local action, organization, vision, commitment, and resources will allow us to have significant victories in the future.
Vers La Verité understands that the foundation of all of this action, attainment of the prize, can only happen with truth as our foundation.
It’s already a brave new world, let’s get busy and make it ours!!!
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