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.
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