DPP Update - February 10, 2012
This Monday, February 13, DPP Monthly Meeting, 7-9pm, Vietnamese American Community Center, 42 Charles St., Fields Corner (just behind the Red Line station). We’ll be following up on our previous discussions in laying out plans for upcoming campaigns. Linking the fight against MBTA cutbacks and fare increases to the war budget; stopping a war with Iran; discussion about increasing DPP membership. We’ll also evaluate our long-standing school “Opt-Out” of military recruiting campaign and make decisions about the future. And there will also be report-backs from recent actions, including MBTA campaign and “Occupy Dorchester.”
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Campaign to STOP T CUTS and FARE INCREASES
DON’T STARVE THE MBTA. . .
PUT THE PENTAGON ON A DIET!
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For the price of one of these
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F-35 “Joint Strike Fighter” |
We could cover the entire MBTA deficit without raising fares or cutting service.
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Next week is critical. We need volunteers to build and attend the campaign’s two climactic protests:
-Monday February 13: leaflet Ashmont and JFK in the morning (7-8:30) -- Here’s the 2-sided flyer
-Monday February 13: join the DPP contingent at a big rally at the Boston Public Library’s main facility in Copley Square, 4:30 to 6. Then we’ll take the T to the monthly DPP meeting in Fields Corner.
-Tuesday February 14: help the campaign deliver Valentine’s Day candies and messages to the Governor, Senate President, Speaker of the House, and other legislators at 1 pm at the State House, and return at 4:30 pm for a “die-in” at State House entrances
DPPers made a good showing at the neighborhood hearings in Mattapan and Dorchester.
LET’S KEEP UP THE MOMENTUM!
Leafleting at the T this morning!
Denise writes:
Margaret and I were at Ashmont Station this morning bright and early.
Great response to the flyer. T employees were also asking for the flyer and putting some in their buses.
We gave out almost all the flyers that Mike gave me.
And Betty adds:
Mike, Christine and I ran out of flyers at JFK. Didn't think to ask T drivers to put in buses - the employee who showed me where I could stand was also very warm and receptive.
We have postcards demanding a stop to the cuts and fare increases, while making the connection with military spending.
You can download a copy of the postcard here.
Occupy Boston takes on MBTA fare hikes, service cuts
Ariadne Ross, a member of Occupy MBTA, said the group began taking shape online within an hour of the proposals being announced. A Lynn resident who takes public transportation into Boston each day for her job as a database administrator, Ross said the proposed cuts would affect her personally, as well as other members of the Occupy Movement. But those most affected would be those at “the lowest income levels of the 99 percent,” she said. Rather than taking away service or charging higher fares to those citizens, Ross would like to see massive changes at the MBTA and the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad… “There’s trillions of dollars for war,” he said. “Why can’t we have a few millions for something people actually need?” More
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Tuesday, February 14: 11:45am-1pm, Downstairs from Sen. John Kerry's office, One Bowdoin Square (Gov’t Center or Bowton (T)
Senators Kerry & Brown: Don't Break Our Hearts!
On Valentine’s Day—Tell Senators Kerry & Brown
No More Cuts! Tax the 1%!
End the Wars! Invest in Jobs!
On November 15th, 2011 we delivered over 4,500 letters from tenants, peace groups, labor unions, commu- nity organizations, and Boston voters to Senators Kerry and Brown. TOGETHER we called for both Senators to make positive decisions about the Budget Cuts in Washington DC. Our demands:
• Make the wealthy 1% and corporate tax cheats pay their fair share
• No cuts to Social Security, Medicare, housing & other vital programs
• End the wars, bring the troops home and cut military spending
• Create jobs and get people back to work
SENATORS KERRY AND BROWN, STOP BREAKING OUR HEARTS!
BOTH Senators PROMISED to answer EVERY letter!
We have yet to hear from Sen. Kerry, and Sen. Brown’s response was not good enough!
Meanwhile, Congress has ALREADY VOTED to cut 9% from EVERY federal discretionary program—from Section 8, education, unemployment, veterans, Public Housing and more!
SO WE ARE BACK! OUR Senators need to hear from us!
Sponsors: Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants, Massachusetts Peace Action, ARISE for So- cial Justice (Springfield), Mary Ellen McCormick Tenant Task Force, American Friends Service Committee, Chinatown Residents Association, Union of Minority Neighborhoods, Progressive Democrats of America, Dominican Development Center, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, AFGE Local 3258, UJP Afghanistan/Pakistan Task Force
Contact: MAHT at maht@saveourhomes.org, 617.267-2949/617-233-1885
Mass Peace Action at info@masspeaceaction.org, 617-354-2169
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and SAVE the POST OFFICE Too!
More news and info on the National Post Office Campaign: http://www.saveamericaspostalservice.org/
Dorchester’s Rep. Stephen Lynch has introduced legislation in Congress to save the post office: HR1351
All Mass Congressional Reps have signed on to the bill among the 228 co-sponsors. The financial trouble at the Post Office is a manufactured crisis resulting from previous efforts to cripple the agency with billions in annual prepaid pension set-asides not required by other public agencies or private corporations. Lynch’s bill would fix this and return the Post Office to fiscal solvency situation without appropriating more federal dollars.
It would be appropriate to thank Rep. Lynch for his initiative, especially as we have often disagreed over other issues (DC: (202) 225-8273; Local: 617-428-2000)
A similar bill, S.1853, was introduced in the Senate by Bernie Sanders, but has not been co-sponsored by either Sen. Kerry or Brown. Let them know how you feel: Kerry (202) 224-2742; Brown (202) 224-4543
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AFAB Asks for Our Help
Carline Desire writes:
Our large Haitian American community, based primarily but not exclusively in Boston and surrounding areas, has long been a vibrant part of our local, state, and national scene. Haitian professionals came to Massachusetts fleeing the Duvalier dictatorship in the late 1950s and subsequent decades… Ms. Linda Dorcena-Forry, a Haitian-American Massachusetts State Representative, has launched a petition campaign to President Obama urging a creation of a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program. This program would extend humanitarian parole to Haitians with pending family-based visa petitions.
TODAY, WE NEED YOUR HELP. We ask that you support the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program which is easily implementable by the Obama Administration without any need for congressional action.
Several members of the Massachusetts Delegation have already expressed support for this initiative including United States Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown, U. S. Representatives Michael Capuano, Barney Frank, James McGovern, Edward Markey, John Olver, and Stephen Lynch. Governor Deval Patrick also recently submitted a letter urging Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, to implement a HFRPP. Additionally, members of the Massachusetts State Legislature including the entire Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus have sent letters requesting such a program.
"It takes just a minute to read and sign; here it is http://lindadorcenaforry.org/haiti-action-updates/
Thank you very much for your support.
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PETITION: "Say NO to "3 Strikes" Habitual Offender Law" here
(More on the bill: 3 Strikes Primer: All The Info You Need)
“Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb IRAN?” – Brinkmanship Leading to War?
With a second third aircraft carrier group steaming toward the Persian Gulf, tens of thousands of US troops stationed throughout the region, and the sale of tens of billions of dollars in US weapons to Iran's neighbors in the Gulf region, it seems that war with Iran could be imminent.
We also have on hand a quantity of postcards from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) demanding
“Diplomacy –NOT WAR – With Iran” (you can see what it looks like online here)
US Foreign Policy “Realist”: WE NEED TO TALK TO IRAN
It was easy enough to miss amid all the chest-thumping, threats, and talk of imminent strikes filling the airways, but last week, Iran signaled its willingness to restart talks with the P5+1 (the five U.N. Security Council members plus Germany) about its nuclear program. "We hope the P5+1 meeting will be held in near future," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said, as a group of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) toured the country… The United States should be wary of overplaying its hand -- something it often accuses the Iranians of doing. It should be realistic about the effectiveness of so-called "punishing" and "biting" sanctions. Just who gets punished and bitten by these measures? Such actions may have their effects, though perhaps not on those in Tehran whom America is seeking to influence… More
“The growing Iranian military behemoth”
That Ahmadinejad claims that Iran will increase its military budget for next year by 127% was widely reported this week… According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Military Expenditure Database, Iran’s total annual military spending is $7 billion; an increase of 127% would take it to $15.8 billion — also known as: less than 2% of total U.S. military spending (which was $698 billion for fiscal year 2010). More
Some basic facts: (More background here; and for the Iranian government view here; Daily Iran news roundup here)
--The considered assessment of US intelligence agencies, unchanged since 2007: Iran does not have an active nuclear weapons development program. (This is also the view Israeli intelligence, when they are not trying to inflate the Iranian “threat”)
--Iran, along with every other country in the Middle East and North Africa – except Israel – is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
--Iran is allowed under the NPT to process low-enriched uranium for power generation and medical research. ALL of Iran’s uranium is under continuous inspection and monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
--The only nuclear weapons in the Middle East belong to Israel (an estimated 200-300 warheads) -- and the US at its many bases in the region and on the ships of The Fifth Fleet headquartered in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.
[Incidentally, during the 1970s-1980s Israel was selling nuclear weapons technology to South Africa, among its major arms deals with the Apartheid State. See here.]
--A Nuclear Weapons Free Middle East has the overwhelming support of the United Nations and has been endorsed by every nation in the region – again except for Israel. Israel and the US say they would support a NWFME sometime in the distant future when the region is “at peace” – meaning essentially never.
OBAMA'S SUPER-BOWL FUMBLE ON IRAN: “US, Israel in 'Lockstep'”
Before President Barack Obama’s interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer, aired before the Super Bowl on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu probably hoped that, if Obama discussed Iran, he would give him the strong backing that Israeli leaders crave, freeing them to lash out at Iran — militarily, if they so choose… Obama is reportedly hopeful that a peaceful settlement can still be reached over Iran’s nuclear program, but he understands that he has little margin for error in this high-wire act of political diplomacy – especially with so many crosswinds in an election year. So, President Obama decided to forgo his best chance to inject a loud, unmistakable note of caution into recent warmongering over Iran, not only in Israel but also among influential neocons in the United States who have been jumping up and down, demanding another preemptive war over hypothetical WMDs, much as they did with Iraq. When the interview was over, Netanyahu could breathe a sigh of relief. With Obama’s words and body language, there was nothing that would constitute a red light and some things that Netanyahu might interpret hopefully as nearly a green light. More
TIMELINE of Israeli/US attacks and assassinations against Iran here
Imminent Iran Nuclear Threat? A Timeline Of Warnings Since 1979
Breathless predictions that the Islamic Republic will soon be at the brink of nuclear capability, or – worse – acquire an actual nuclear bomb, are not new. For more than quarter of a century Western officials have claimed repeatedly that Iran is close to joining the nuclear club. Such a result is always declared "unacceptable" and a possible reason for military action, with "all options on the table" to prevent upsetting the Mideast strategic balance dominated by the US and Israel. And yet, those predictions have time and again come and gone. This chronicle of past predictions lends historical perspective to today’s rhetoric about Iran. More
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DPPers were there. . .
Last Saturday’s NO WAR on IRAN protest. (Here’s a VIDEO of the march and rally)
Jeff said, in part:
We need to do a better job of explaining to our neighbors and our co-workers that these wars don’t just happen. . . They are the result of a system of militarism and corporate greed that has continued to produce one war after another in the past and will do so again in Iran and certainly elsewhere. . . We need to go back to our communities and explain again and again that we have a choice. We can build up our neighborhoods – or we can build more nuclear aircraft carriers. But we can’t do both. . . If you care about education, know that we can create more smart students -- or more smart weapons. But we can’t do both. . . If you care about access to medical care, know that we can have more healthcare -- or more Hellfire missiles. But not both. . . If you care about affordable public transportation, we need to explain that we can have more buses -- or more bombers. But not both. . . If we fail to convince our neighbors of this, and if we fail to create the kind of movement that can achieve real change, then we are condemning our children and grandchildren to live in a world of permanent warfare, with diminished opportunity for them, and on a planet that may be dying. . .
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DPPers were also at the first meeting of OCCUPY DORCHESTER this past Wednesday.
Mike writes:
Four DPPers attended Occupy Dorchester's first meeting this week, and two are quoted in this Boston Globe online article. http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/dorchester/2012/02/occupy_movement_spreads_to_dor.html . Most of the 20 people in the room belonged to existing organizations. In many ways they were where DPP was when it started, and they asked a lot of the questions you hear at a DPP meeting: how can we involve more Dorchester people, what issues should we focus on, who's going to coordinate what. They will continue to meet Wednesdays from 7 to 9 pm in the Physical Therapy wing of Dorchester House (go up the driveway and walkway to the right of the health center).
Rosemary adds:
Probably it was pretty good for a first meeting. Mike cautioned people not to think that Dorchester is not already organized and mentioned New England United for Justice and Boston Workers' Alliance. One young member of the OB people of color working group invited people to a meeting concerning prisons this Sunday afternoon. People noted the problem of an awful lot of meetings. It ended with an attempt to plan support for the T rally and hearing on Monday. Of course DPP already had that covered!
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BUDGET BATTLE and the PENTAGON
MIKE PROKOSCH: 'Starve the Beast' -- The Pentagon
Some Americans want to starve our cities, close our schools, and knock away the ladder that our children are supposed to climb to economic security. Your lawmakers may be among them… Our cities and towns need a helping hand from Washington. Instead, Congress is cutting funding they depend on. Under last year’s deficit-reduction deal, domestic spending is dropping about one-quarter from 2010 levels. Meanwhile, military spending, which is supposed to be cut equally, is barely being nicked.
Now a crack team led by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) is trying to exempt the Pentagon from further cuts. What are they thinking? More
ALERT! - Hawks taking military spending off the table
On Feb. 2 Sen. John McCain unveiled a bill that will stop next year’s automatic cuts in military and domestic spending – and make federal workers pay for the deficit instead. There’s a similar bill in the House. It’s part of a huge right-wing push to stop any further Pentagon cuts.
Bait And Switch: GOP Leaders Renege On Debt Limit Deal Defense Cuts
Republican leaders in Congress have all but reneged on a key agreement they reached with the White House last summer rather than reconsider their unwavering stance against new tax revenue… “I’ve got concerns about the sequester,” House Speaker John Boehner told reporters Thursday. “I’ve made that pretty clear. And replacing the sequester certainly has value. The defense portion of the sequester, in my view, would clearly hollow our military. The Secretary of Defense has said that, members of Congress have said it. But the question I would pose is, where’s the White House? Where’s the leadership that should be there to ensure that this sequester does not go into effect.” More
TAKE URGENT ACTION NOW!
Under last year’s deficit deal, military and domestic programs are supposed to be cut equally over the next ten years. The Pentagon has barely been nicked. Its budget will shrink for one year, then start growing again. But domestic programs have suffered massive cuts.
Now McCain wants to stop the clock, suspend next year’s cuts, and establish the principle that military spending cannot be touched.
It’s up to us to say: NO!
McCain is just one loud voice in a huge pro-war choir. The whole military-industrial-Congressional complex is rejecting limits on military spending. They’ve churned out a distortion-packed video, filed “stop the cuts” legislation in the House, and released a study on the economic impact of Pentagon cuts.
If they succeed, we’re cooked. The Pentagon will keep growing and eating up more of the federal budget. There is no way we can recover from the recession if we don’t cut military spending and shift hundreds of billions of dollars to the jobs and services we need in our communities.
The hawks are drawing a clear line. It’s the Pentagon or us. Let’s help Congress make the right choice.
1. Write your Senators and Representative. Click here for a sample email to your Senators and Representative. Tell them to speak out for real Pentagon cuts and real domestic spending increases.
2. Write a letter to the editor. Click here for a sample letter, talking points, a fact sheet, and tips for writing letters to the editor. Click here for a link to your local newspaper and a template letter.
And please forward this to everyone you can. Together we can win this one. Almost half of Americans say we can cut military spending safely. Let’s get that message to Congress and into the media.
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Updates and Calendar at http://www.occupyboston.org/
More National “OCCUPY” News:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/greg-mitchell
http://firedoglake.com/state-of-the-occupation/
“Occupy Dorchester” Wednesdays, 7-9pm at Dorchester House.
Krugman: Money and Morals
Lately inequality has re-entered the national conversation. Occupy Wall Street gave the issue visibility, while the Congressional Budget Office supplied hard data on the widening income gap. And the myth of a classless society has been exposed: Among rich countries, America stands out as the place where economic and social status is most likely to be inherited. So you knew what was going to happen next. Suddenly, conservatives are telling us that it’s not really about money; it’s about morals. Never mind wage stagnation and all that, the real problem is the collapse of working-class family values, which is somehow the fault of liberals. More
Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor
Education was historically considered a great equalizer in American society, capable of lifting less advantaged children and improving their chances for success as adults. But a body of recently published scholarship suggests that the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects… “We have moved from a society in the 1950s and 1960s, in which race was more consequential than family income, to one today in which family income appears more determinative of educational success than race,” said Sean F. Reardon, a Stanford University sociologist. Professor Reardon is the author of a study that found that the gap in standardized test scores between affluent and low-income students had grown by about 40 percent since the 1960s, and is now double the testing gap between blacks and whites. More
What Occupy Taught the Unions
Across the country unions threw resources into community organizing, aiming to build a broad-based constituency outside of the workplace for progressive politics. In cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Portland, Ore., newly formed community groups found ready support for organizing around issues of economic justice, but they were stymied by a national debate dominated by voices blaming government spending for an economic crisis caused by Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street changed that. It flipped the debate from austerity to inequality, uncorked a wellspring of creative energy and started taking creative risks that unions typically shun… More
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WARS – Old and New – GRIND ON. . . Are you feeling safer now?
OFFSHORE EVERYWHERE: Drones, Special Operations Forces, and an End “National Sovereignty” As We Know It
…we’re entering a new world of military planning… the cuts that matter are already in the works, the ones that will change the American way of war. They may mean little in monetary terms -- the Pentagon budget is actually slated to increase through 2017 -- but in imperial terms they will make a difference. A new way of preserving the embattled idea of an American planet is coming into focus and one thing is clear: in the name of Washington's needs, it will offer a direct challenge to national sovereignty… even if the U.S. military is dragging its old habits, weaponry, and global-basing ideas behind it, it’s still heading offshore. There will be no more land wars on the Eurasian continent. Instead, greater emphasis will be placed on the Navy, the Air Force, and a policy “pivot” to face China in southern Asia where the American military position can be strengthened without more giant bases or monster embassies. More
U.S. likely to scale down plans for bases in Japan and Guam
The U.S. military will probably scale back plans to build key bases in Japan and Guam because of political obstacles and budget pressures, according to U.S. and Japanese officials, complicating the Obama administration’s efforts to strengthen its troop presence in Asia. Under a deal announced Wednesday with Japanese officials, the U.S. government said it will accelerate plans to withdraw 8,000 Marines from the island of Okinawa. The decision came after several years of stalled talks to find a site for a new Marine base nearby. Washington’s inability to resolve its basing arrangements on Okinawa, as well as the rising price tag of a related plan for a $23 billion military buildup on Guam, underscore the challenges facing the Obama administration as it seeks to make a strategic “pivot” toward the Pacific after a decade of fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More
In Afghan War, Officer Becomes a Whistle-Blower
“How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding?“ Colonel Davis asks in an article summarizing his views titled “Truth, Lies and Afghanistan: How Military Leaders Have Let Us Down.” It was published online Sunday in The Armed Forces Journal, the nation’s oldest independent periodical on military affairs. “No one expects our leaders to always have a successful plan,” he says in the article. “But we do expect — and the men who do the living, fighting and dying deserve — to have our leaders tell us the truth about what’s going on.” Colonel Davis says his experience has caused him to doubt reports of progress in the war from numerous military leaders, including David H. Petraeus, who commanded the troops in Afghanistan before becoming the director of the Central Intelligence Agency in June. More
Tiny fraction of Afghan forces self-sufficient, US says
Just 29 Afghan army units and seven Afghan police units - together about 1 percent of total security forces - are now deemed "independent," U.S. Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti told reporters at the Pentagon. He said even the independent units require limited combat and logistical support from NATO-led forces. Almost half of Afghan forces, 42 percent, are rated "effective with advisers," the second-highest rating that Western forces give to local troops, said Scaparrotti, who commands day-to-day U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan. More
AFGHANISTAN WEEKLY READER: Another $88 Billion, For What?
Military leaders like to tell us that we’re making progress in Afghanistan. Some politicians and pundits say that if we just stay the course, leave the troops there, then we might “succeed.” But it seems that the outlook in Afghanistan isn’t as rosy as we have been lead to believe. A new intelligence estimate calls the war a stalemate. A NATO report details pervasive corruption in Afghanistan. And now a US Army officer is speaking out about how what he saw in Afghanistan in no way matches what officials have been telling the American public. As these facts pile up, it becomes harder and harder to justify the bloated war budget. $120 billion in 2011, $110 billion in 2012, and now the Defense Department wants $88 billion for war costs in 2013. We keep spending, but by all accounts we’re not getting much out of it. How much evidence do we need before coming up with a smarter strategy? More opinion and news here
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ISRAEL/PALESTINE and the MIDDLE EAST
Why Israel's rattling sabers
In about nine months, the US will hold a general election to decide who shall be its President and all the noise about striking Iran could have more to do with American domestic politics than any real or perceived threat to the Israelis. It is no secret that the right-wing government in Israel led by Netanyahu would prefer a new US president in January 2013. This is not simply because Netanyahu had some tense moments with President Obama, but also because in a second term Obama would not face the type of electoral constraints he faces in his first term… No one benefits from Israel actually striking Iran, except for the military industrial complex, but the Netanyahu government has a great deal to gain from hanging the possibility of a unilateral strike ominously over the head of President Obama before an election. They are hedging their bets for November in the hopes that they will either get a first-term Republican facing domestic constraints that prevent him from pressuring Israel, or a docile Obama, who has already given away the house on Jerusalem and settlements. More
Palestinian Factions Reach Unity Deal
The leaders of the rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas announced on Monday that they have broken a long political deadlock to form an interim unity government led, at least at first, by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank. The announcement at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, which was broadcast live across the region, signaled a significant step toward reconciling the two movements as they prepare for elections, adding one more element to the region’s shifting political landscape. More
TAKE ACTION: Egyptian Workers Call to Stop U.S. weapons to Egypt
Stop the Import of US "Tear Gas" and all other weapons to Egypt -- We are all the 99% On November 28, 2011, five workers at the Port of Suez took a stand for justice by officially refusing to allow a U.S. shipment of lethal tear gas into Egypt. According to documents seen by the workers and leaked to the media, the port of origin was Wilmington, Delaware. Although the Egyptian government later ordered the shipment released, the workers' courageous action reflects widespread anger over growing repression by the ruling Supreme Council Armed Forces (SCAF) against "25 January Revolution" protesters. Click here to sign on now! More
Patrick Seale: "The Syrian Crisis and the New Cold War"
At the heart of the international struggle is a concerted attempt by the United States and its allies to bring down the ruling regimes in both Iran and Syria. Iran’s ‘crime’ has been to refuse to submit to American hegemony in the oil-rich Gulf region and to appear to pose a challenge, with its nuclear programme, to Israel’s regional nuclear monopoly. At the same time, Iran, Syria and Hizballah -- partners for the past three decades -- have managed to make a dent in Israel’s military supremacy. They have in recent years been the main obstacle to U.S-Israeli regional dominance. More
US Labor Against the War Urges Action:
No Military Action in Syria
Reports are circulating that the U.S. and Turkey (and perhaps others) may be planning to establish a "no-fly" zone in Syria to provide Syrian rebels with a safe haven from which to overthrow their government. Whatever one thinks of the al-Assad regime in Syria, on what basis in either U.S. or international law could such an action be justified without consent of Congress and the United Nations? Syria has not attacked the U.S. or U.S. interests. Syria represents no threat to U.S. national security. Take Action here
Libya Begets Syria?
A little over a year ago, as members of the Obama administration were pondering military intervention in Libya, skeptics (including [3] The [4] Skeptics [5]) pressed them to explain how that situation differed from other comparable cases elsewhere in the world. If Libya, why not Yemen? Why not Bahrain? Why not Syria? We may soon learn the answer to that last question. And their too-permissive—or merely haphazard—approach a year ago might pave the way for an intervention in Syria that would be ill-advised, if not disastrous. More
Libya Struggles to Curb Militias as Chaos Grows
The country that witnessed the Arab world’s most sweeping revolution is foundering. So is its capital, where a semblance of normality has returned after the chaotic days of the fall of Tripoli last August. But no one would consider a city ordinary where militiamen tortured to death an urbane former diplomat two weeks ago, where hundreds of refugees deemed loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi waited hopelessly in a camp and where a government official acknowledged that “freedom is a problem.” …“People are turning up dead in detention at an alarming rate,” said Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who was compiling evidence in Libya last month. “If this was happening under any Arab dictatorship, there would be an outcry.” More
(See various Boston actions in the body of the email, above!)
Thursday, February 16: YOUTH MOVEMENT ASSEMBLY - A New Generation is Finding Its Power! 4-7:30pm, Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley Street in Roxbury (followed by a half hour of dancing!) DPPer Angela Kelly (ne of the organizaers) writes: Adult allies always welcome and opp to link cut the military $ to local funding needs… A mass gathering of youth and adult allies across the city to discuss what issues are important to our communities!
Youth are joining the long movement for racial, gender, and economic justice. Join us to look at ALL the issues & create a MULTI-ISSUE YOUTH AGENDA. Inspiration, food, and dancing provided! Contact us for childcare or interpretation. @youthmoveboston #bostonyouthmovement #youthmoveboston
Sunday, February 19: Chocolates and History with the Dorchester Historical Society, 2 pm. 195 Boston Street, Dorchester. Production and Tastings by Rebecca Scheier, Chef at Tie Your Apron Cooking School. After the winners are announced, we get to eat the contest submissions. There will be a Sampling of colonial chocolate and a Children’s Corner for reading a book about cocoa called “Cocoa and Ice”.
Wednesday, February 29: Drones: the New Frontier of Warfare and Spying, 7pm, Friends Meeting, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge, U.S. use of drones for warfare and spying has become routine. The use of drones increased dramatically under the Obama administration. Pentagon funding for drones is scheduled to increase by up to 60 percent while other programs are being cut. Drones have been used for targeted killings in Pakistan,. Afghanistan and Yemen. One in three U.S. warplanes are now drone piloted. Drones have also been used for surveillance in the U.S. Bruce Gagnon - Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space; Nancy Murray - American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts; Matthew Hoey - Military Space Transparency Project.
Saturday’Sunday, March 3-4: “OneStateConference”: Israel/Palestine and the One-State Solution, Harvard University will be hosting a conference on the one state solution. Registration Feb 2. The conference takes place on March 3rd and 4th at the Harvard Kennedy School. Speakers include: Ilan Pappe, Stephen Walt, Timothy McCarthy, Susan Akram, Duncan Kennedy and Ali Abunimah. For more information, please visit:
http://onestateconference.org/program.html for more information or to register for the conference.
Wednesday, March 7: The “Self-Made Myth” - the Truth about How Government Helps Individuals and Businesses Succeed, 6pm, Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall, 700 Boylston St. By now, you may have heard about the upcoming March release of our new book, The Self-Made Myth: And the Truth about How Government Helps Individuals and Businesses Succeed. Written by co-authors Brian Miller (Executive Director, United for a Fair Economy) and Mike Lapham (Project Director, Responsible Wealth), with forewards by Chuck Collins and Bill Gates, Sr., the book exposes the societal damage wrought by the myth of "self-made" success—a myth that rationalizes extreme inequality while undercutting progressive taxation and investments in the common good. We’re kicking off a national book tour in—you guessed it—our hometown of Boston!
Saturday, March 10: Come and Commemorate International Women’s Day! 9am-12 Noon, Boston Public Library/Mattapan Branch, 1350 Blue Hill Ave. Mattapan. Met Kò Veye Kò: Defann Tèt Ou/Protecting Your Body: Self Defense. Guest Speaker: Natacha Clerger, US Army/USAR
Tuesday, March 13: “Challenging the Pivot,” US, China & Alternatives to Asia-Pacific Militarization, 7:30-9pm, Episcopal Divinity School, 99 Brattle St. (Harvard Sq.), Cambridge. With Jason Tower (AFSC International Affairs rep. in Beijing; Joe Gerson, NE AFSC Peace and Economic Security Program.
Wednesday, March 14: Obama and Iran: A Single Roll of the Dice, 7-9pm, First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church • 3 Church St • Harvard Sq T • Cambridge Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, assesses the high-stakes diplomatic sparring between Washington and Teheran. Sponsored by Cambridge Forum
Sunday, March 18: SAINT PATRICK'S PEACE PARADE: Peoples Parade for Peace, Equality, Jobs, Social and Economic Justice, 2-5pm, Meeting details: Broadway, MBTA Redline (Look for Vets For Peace flags). Please join Veterans For Peace and other peace and social justice organizations for this historic alternative “people’s parade” following the official Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Background: Again this year we were denied permission to walk in the “Official Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.” This year, as last year, we will march immediately following the “official parade.” Our parade is a “people’s parade for peace and justice.” We invite all progressive groups (peace, environmental, women’s rights, civil rights, Occupy Boston, labor, LGBTQ, communities of faith/congregations, etc.) in the greater Boston area to please join us as we follow behind the official parade. Video from last year. For more info: VFP: Pat Scanlon, 978-475-1776, info@massvfp.org
Monday, January 9, DPP Monthly Meeting, 7-9pm, Vietnamese American Community Center, 42 Charles St., Fields Corner (just behind the Red Line station). PRELIMINARY AGENDA: Assessment of the Fall’s work, the Kerry/Supercommittee campaign, Occupy Boston. . . and where we go from here. Please send additional suggestions, agenda items to Rosemary (rosemarykean@yahoo.com), Denise (denisezwahlen@yahoo.com) or Jeff (jjk123@comcast.net).
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Saturday, January 7: 1-4:30pm, Dudley Library 65 Warren St. Roxbury, MA (Dudley Sq.)
Community responds to proposed Habitual Offender Legislation;
plans action steps to oppose “3 Strikes Law” in Massachusetts
Community activists, clergy, elected officials, representatives from local civil rights organizations and concerned citizens will gather to address proposed Habitual Offender legislation in Massachusetts, commonly referred to as the 3 Strikes Law. The proposed law will have a devastating impact on communities of color throughout the commonwealth as well as present a new and unparalleled financial strain on an already struggling MA economy. Opponents of the proposed legislation plan to express their concerns, draft alternatives and implore Gov. Deval Patrick to veto this bill.
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Saturday, January 14: 10am, 647 Warren St, Dorchester (in Grove Hall)
DEMONSTRATE AT GROVE HALL POST OFFICE
In his final days, Dr. King planned a mass OCCUPATION FOR JOBS Make MLK Day. Demand jobs, housing, education and people's rights!
SAVE JOBS AND SERVICES IN OUR COMMUNITIES! Stop the Post Office shutdowns!
Stop the fraudulent, disastrous & totally unnecessary attack on our postal services!
• Rightwingers want to kill Postal Service: slash 200,000+ jobs or close 3,700 stations
• Most shutdowns are in poor communities, where service is needed most.
• The postal service is NOT in financial crisis. It is subject to ridiculous and unfair requirements imposed by a rightwing Congress in 2006.
Let your voice be heard:
ü No reduction in postal service – keep 6-day delivery!
ü No Post Office Closings – expand the postal service, don’t destroy it!
ü Stop the PRIVATIZATION – the postal services belong to the people!
ü Jobs for Youth – NOT JAILS!
Boston Metro Local 100 APWU 137 South St 4th fl Boston MA 02111 617-423-2798
Occupy 4 Jobs Network c/o USW 8751 25 Colgate Rd, Roslindale, MA 02131 occupy4jobsboston@gmail.com
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Saturday, January 14: 1-4pm, First Parish Church • 3 Church St - Helverson Parlor • Harvard Sq T • Cambridge
GETTING THINGS STRAIGHT ON IRAQ: A Peace Movement Briefing with Raed Jarrar and Terry Rockefeller
UJP's quarterly strategy session will feature a briefing on just what is happening in Iraq and its implications for peace activists. The briefing will be provided by Raed Jarrar and Terry Rockefeller. Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi-Palestinian architect, blogger and political analyst who was in Iraq during the U.S. invasion in 2003 and has recently returned from another trip. Read Raed's blog posts. All those interested in Iraq, whether members of UJP groups or not, are welcome to participate.
The Forgotten Wages of War
THE end of the Iraq war occasioned few reflections on the scale of destruction we have wrought there. As is our habit, the discussion focused on the costs to America in blood and treasure, the false premises of the war and the continuing challenges of instability in the region. What happened to Iraqis was largely ignored. And in Libya, the recent investigation of civilian casualties during NATO’s bombing campaign was the first such accounting of what many believed was a largely victimless war. We rarely question that wars cause extensive damage, but our view of America’s wars has been blind to one specific aspect of destruction: the human toll of those who live in war zones… Ignoring the extent of civilian casualties and the damage they cause is a moral failing as well as a strategic blunder. We need to adopt reliable ways to measure the destruction our wars cause — an “epistemology of war,” as another general, William Tecumseh Sherman, called it — to break through the collective amnesia that has gripped us. More
The Price of War That is Still Being Borne by the Iraqi People
Even when the war's critics slam the blood and treasure squandered, they usually refer only to American lives and American money. This is also the way pollsters frame it. A recent CBS poll asked: "Do you think removing Saddam Hussein from power was worth the loss of American life and other costs of attacking Iraq, or not?" (50% no, 41% yes), and "Do you think the result of the war with Iraq was worth the loss of American lives and other costs of attacking Iraq, or not?" (67% no, 24% yes). The cost to Iraqis simply does not feature. "It is the end for the Americans only," wrote Emad Risn, argued an Iraqi columnist in a government-funded newspaper. "Nobody knows if the war will end for Iraqis too." And few Americans seem to care. It's been some time since Iraq featured at all on the nation's priorities, let alone high. Rightly Americans fret about the fate of veterans returning to a depressed economy with a range of both physical and mental disabilities. But Iraqi civilians barely get a look-in. More
ROSS CAPUTI: “I am sorry for the role I played in Fallujah”
What we did to Fallujah cannot be undone, and I see no point in attacking the people in my former unit. What I want to attack are the lies and false beliefs. I want to destroy the prejudices that prevented us from putting ourselves in the other's shoes and asking ourselves what we would have done if a foreign army invaded our country and laid siege to our city. More
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Sunday, January 15: 12-3pm, Great Hall, Codman Sq.
DPPers to Staff Winter Farmers Market with Message for Peace and Justice,
“Honoring Dr. King's Vision of Peace in the World and Peace in our Neighborhoods” ---make origami paper cranes and “Peace Affirmations” to string up in our market (call Rosemary 617-282-7449 to volunteer) More info on the farmers market and Dorchester Food COOP (founded in part by DPP activists): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dotcommcoop/dorchester-winter-farmers-market
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BUDGET BATTLE and the PENTAGON
Obama Unveils “Austere” Pentagon Strategy
…the Pentagon will invest more heavily in Special Operations forces, which have a smaller footprint and require less money than conventional units, as well as drone aircraft and cybersecurity, defense officials said. The military will also shift its focus to Asia to counter China’s rising influence and North Korea’s unpredictability. Despite the end of the Iraq war, administration officials said they would keep a large presence in the Middle East, where tensions with Iran are worsening. More
Full Text: “SUSTAINING US GLOBAL LEADERSHIP - Priorities for 21st Century Defense” here
CHINA WARNS US ON ASIA MILITARY STRATEGY
China's state media have warned the US against "flexing its muscles" after Washington unveiled a defence review switching focus to the Asia-Pacific… "While boosting its military presence in the Asia-Pacific, the United States should abstain from flexing its muscles, as this won't help solve regional disputes. "If the United States indiscreetly applies militarism in the region, it will be like a bull in a china shop, and endanger peace instead of enhancing regional stability." More
How Could the Pentagon Possibly Defend Us With the Budget It Had Four Years Ago?
Because those savings represent reductions in projected spending, as opposed to actual cuts, the defense budget would continue rising, but not as fast as it would under current law. Assuming all the "cuts" are enacted, total military spending will be about 8 percent less than currently projected. If you add the $500 billion in "automatic" defense cuts imposed by the legislation that resolved last summer's debt-limit dispute, the total reduction from projected spending is about 17 percent, bringing the Pentagon's base budget all the way down to a level last seen in 2007, when the country was not exactly helpless against its adversaries. Yet Panetta says that result would be "catastrophic," and every Republican presidential candidate, with the notable exception of Ron Paul, agrees, promising to prevent or reverse the cuts. More
Military Spending Cuts Go “Mainstream”
BOSTON GLOBE: Pentagon should do more cutting, less complaining about budget
AS CONGRESS wrangles over how to rein in the federal debt, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has been ringing the alarm bells about what will happen if the Pentagon is asked to cut more than the $450 billion that it has already agreed to shave off its planned budget over the next ten years. Deeper cuts, he has warned Congress, will turn the world’s greatest military into a “paper tiger.’’ He has used the word “catastrophic’’ to describe just how bad it will be. …US taxpayers should be wary of such hyperbole. More
KRUGMAN: Nobody Understands Debt
In 2011, as in 2010, America was in a technical recovery but continued to suffer from disastrously high unemployment. And through most of 2011, as in 2010, almost all the conversation in Washington was about something else: the allegedly urgent issue of reducing the budget deficit. This misplaced focus said a lot about our political culture, in particular about how disconnected Congress is from the suffering of ordinary Americans. But it also revealed something else: when people in D.C. talk about deficits and debt, by and large they have no idea what they’re talking about — and the people who talk the most understand the least… So yes, debt matters. But right now, other things matter more. We need more, not less, government spending to get us out of our unemployment trap. And the wrongheaded, ill-informed obsession with debt is standing in the way. More
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The “MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX” Then and Now. . .
President Obama referred to President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address in announcing the new military strategy for the US. But he chose to quote one of the blandest statements in Eisenhower’s speech warning of the rise of a new and potentially anti-democratic “Military-Industrial Complex.”
“I’d encourage all of us to remember what President Eisenhower once said -- that ‘each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs.’ After a decade of war, and as we rebuild the source of our strength -- at home and abroad -- it’s time to restore that balance.” But earlier in his speech, Obama also had this to say: “We have to remember the lessons of history. We can’t afford to repeat the mistakes that have been made in the past -- after World War II, after Vietnam -- when our military was left ill prepared for the future. As Commander in Chief, I will not let that happen again. Not on my watch… As I made clear in Australia, we will be strengthening our presence in the Asia Pacific, and budget reductions will not come at the expense of that critical region. We’re going to continue investing in our critical partnerships and alliances, including NATO, which has demonstrated time and again -- most recently in Libya -- that it’s a force multiplier. We will stay vigilant, especially in the Middle East. [Full Text of Obama’s speech Here]
It’s well worth the time to read Eisenhower’s Farewell Address in full – or even better listen to the audio on line – to compare Obama’s remarks and see how far we have regressed from the time a Republican president warned about a permanent war economy and the dangers of the Military-Industrial Complex almost exactly 50 years ago.
Eisenhower’s Farewell Speech (and audio) is available HERE
“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual--is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
BU professor and former military officer ANDREW BACEVICH, recalls Eisenhower’s prophetic words on war and democracy:
The Tyranny of Defense Inc.
If anything, Eisenhower’s characterization of the cozy relations between the military and corporate worlds understates the contemporary reality. C. Wright Mills came closer to the mark when he wrote of “a coalition of generals in the roles of corporation executives, of politicians masquerading as admirals, of corporation executives acting like politicians.” Add to that list the retired senior officers passing as pundits (often while simultaneously cashing the checks of weapons manufacturers), policy wonks pretending to be field marshals, and journalists eagerly competing to carry water for heroic field commanders. Throw in the former members of Congress who lobby their successors on behalf of defense contractors, and the serving members who vote in favor of any defense appropriations that send money to their districts, and one begins to get a sense of the true topography. More
Next week, we’ll highlight MARTIN LUTHER KING on war, military spending and morality -- so very different in substance and spirit from Obama’s
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OCCUPY BOSTON
Updates and Calendar at http://www.occupyboston.org/
Have the Super-Rich Seceded from the United States?
…millions of Americans who do not pay federal income taxes pay federal payroll taxes. These taxes are regressive, and the dirty little secret is that over the last several decades they have made up a greater and greater share of federal revenues. In 1950, payroll and other federal retirement contributions constituted 10.9 percent of all federal revenues; by 2007, the last “normal” economic year before federal revenues began falling, they made up 33.9 percent. By contrast, corporate income taxes were 26.4 percent of federal revenues in 1950; by 2007 they had fallen to 14.4 percent. More
Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs
Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe. The mobility gap has been widely discussed in academic circles, but a sour season of mass unemployment and street protests has moved the discussion toward center stage… “It’s becoming conventional wisdom that the U.S. does not have as much mobility as most other advanced countries,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institution. “I don’t think you’ll find too many people who will argue with that.” More
BUYING CONGRESS IN 2012
The Chamber of Commerce spent more money on the 2010 elections than the Republican and Democratic National Committees combined… Public financing of campaigns would cost a little money, but endlessly less than paying for the presents these guys give their masters. And it would let you watch what was happening in Washington without feeling as disgusted. Even legislators, once they got the hang of it, might enjoy neither raising money nor having to pretend it doesn’t affect them. To make this happen, however, we may have to change the Constitution, as we’ve done 27 times before. This time, we’d need to specify that corporations aren’t people, that money isn’t speech, and that it doesn’t abridge the First Amendment to tell people they can’t spend whatever they want getting elected. Winning a change like that would require hard political organizing, since big banks and big oil companies and big drug-makers will surely rally to protect their privilege. More
Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents
Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home equity. Over the same period, the wealth of an American family has declined slightly, with the comparable median figure sliding from $20,600 to $20,500, according to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from the University of Michigan…The growing disparity between the representatives and the represented means that there is a greater distance between the economic experience of Americans and those of lawmakers. More
GREENWALD: Democratic Priorities and the Two-Party Status Quo
… supporting one of the two major-party candidates in the 2012 presidential campaign as the principal form of activism offers no solution. That’s not an endorsement for resignation, apathy, non-voting, voting for a third party, or anything else. It’s just a simple statement of fact: on many issues that progressives themselves have long claimed are of critical, overarching importance (not all, but many), there will be virtually no debate in the election because there are virtually no differences between the two candidates and the two parties on those questions. In the face of that fact, there are two choices: (1) simply accept it (and thus bolster it) on the basis that the only political priority that matters is keeping the Democratic Party and Barack Obama empowered; or (2) searching for ways to change the terms of the debate so that critical views that are now excluded by bipartisan consensus instead end up being heard. More
Iowa: The Electoral Sideshow Begins
The auctioned election process is designed to reduce the field to two candidates who will each receive hundreds of millions of dollars apiece from the same pool of [Wall Street] donors… Obama’s list included all the major banks and bailout recipients, plus a smattering of high-dollar defense lawyers from firms like WilmerHale and Skadden Arps who make their money representing those same banks. McCain’s list included exactly the same banks and a similar list of law firms, the minor difference being that it was Gibson Dunn instead of WilmerHale, etc… Those numbers tell us that both parties rely upon the same core of major donors among the top law firms, the Wall Street companies, and business leaders – basically, the 1%... There are obvious, even significant differences between Obama and someone like Mitt Romney, particularly on social issues, but no matter how Obama markets himself this time around, a choice between these two will not in any way represent a choice between “change” and the status quo. This is a choice between two different versions of the status quo, and everyone knows it. More
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“WAR ON TERROR” . . . War on Civil Liberties
ACLU: He signed it. We’ll fight it.
President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. It contains a sweeping worldwide indefinite detention provision.
The dangerous new law can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield. He signed it. Now, we have to fight it wherever we can and for as long as it takes.
Sign the ACLU's pledge to fight worldwide indefinite detention for as long as it takes HERE
IN ERODING CIVIL LIBERTIES, BARACK OBAMA FINISHES WHAT GEORGE BUSH BEGAN
We have now arrived at the state where an American citizen may be arrested on American soil and held without trial indefinitely. Obama blithely tags an American citizen as a terrorist sympathizer and has him taken out by drone in a foreign country. The police-state refinements of the Bush years -- the warrantless wiretaps and e-mail searches, for instance -- remain in place. Guantanamo Bay, which was supposed to be an early casualty of the Obama administration, continues its grisly work. More
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WARS – Old and New – GRIND ON. . . Are you feeling safer now?
BOMB IRAN BANDWAGON ROLLS ON. . .
Slip-Sliding to War with Iran
There is now a cascading of allegations regarding Iran, as there was with Iraq, with the momentum rushing toward war. Just as with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, the U.S. news media treats Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a designated villain whose every word is cast as dangerous or crazy… Also, as happened with Iraq – when harsher economic sanctions merged with a U.S. troop build-up, making an escalation toward war almost inevitable – tougher and tougher Western sanctions against Iran have pushed the various sides closer to war. … whether Obama can head off a violent conflict with Iran remains to be seen. As the presidential election grows nearer – and the likely GOP’s nominee hammers at Obama as soft on Iran – a preemptive Israeli attack or a miscalculation by Iran could make war unavoidable. For its part, the major U.S. news media has done its best, again, to line up the American people behind another war. More
Obama Resists Israeli Pressure on Iran
In a sign that the Obama administration is worried that Netanyahu is contemplating an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta tried and failed in early October to get a commitment from Netanyahu and Barak that Israel would not launch an attack on Iran without consulting Washington first… The Obama administration considers the newest phase of sanctions against Iran, aimed at reducing global imports of Iranian crude oil, as an alternative to an unprovoked attack by Israel. But what Netanyahu had in mind in proposing such an initiative was much more radical than the Obama administration or the European Union could accept… But Netanyahu used the power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) over congressional action related to Israel to override Obama’s opposition. The Senate unanimously passed an amendment representing Netanyahu’s position on sanctions focused on Iran’s oil sector and the Central Bank, despite a letter from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner opposing it. More
UNACCOUNTABLE KILLING MACHINES: The True Cost of U.S. Drones
The enormous expansion of drone operations has been a success in the narrowest sense of killing some bad guys. But it has come at an enormous cost: to our reputation, to our morals, to our relationship and status with countries we need to work with to contain and defuse terrorism, and in the lives of the many innocent people we've killed through either sloppiness or ignorance. Rather than asking the difficult questions of whether the success of the drone program has been worth it, though, President Obama has chosen instead to amplify its operations and thus claim victory in killing bad guys, even while he distances himself from the knowledge and personal responsibility for who these dead people are and what crimes they may have committed. More
NEVER FORGET THE IRAQ WAR
The war was the project of a small, mostly neoconservative cabal that wanted to use Iraq as an experiment to inject democracy and free enterprise into the Middle East through the barrel of a gun. The cabal got much of the rest of the country to go along with their scheme by exploiting national anger and anguish over the 9/11 terrorist attack and by conjuring up scary tales of dictators giving weapons of mass destruction to terrorists… Many of those cheerleaders are still prominent members of the policy-influencing Washington elite and still writing and talking about the very sorts of things on which they showed such terrible judgment in the case of Iraq. Some of them are even cheering for yet another war, against another Middle Eastern country with a four-letter name starting with I, and with their cheering featuring familiar old themes about weapons of mass destruction, links with terrorism and the like. Those people ought to be reminded at every turn about the Iraq War and their role in promoting it, and asked repeatedly why anyone should believe a word of what they are saying now. More
Paying the Costs of War
Recognition of lingering problems of veterans, including especially PTSD, fortunately has been earlier and more complete with our most recent wars than it was with the Vietnam War. But the problems are no less serious, and no less chronic and lingering, for being recognized.
Problems both invisible, including the psychological demons, and visible, including lost limbs, are long lasting or permanent and will be part of the legacy of the wars for decades to come. The medical care and other economic costs entailed by that legacy are large and important in their own right, of course. They also can serve as a metaphor for the broader political and other consequences of our most recent wars. Those consequences include the short-term and the long-term, the visible and the invisible, the expected and the unexpected. More
AFGHANISTAN WEEKLY READER: Perspectives on the Peace Process
The announcement that the Taliban will open a political office in Qatar in exchange for the release of Taliban officials from Guantanamo Bay has been alternately hailed as a dramatic breakthough and criticized as a surrender. Whatever the spin, this development indicates that the process for a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan is moving forward. Unfortunately, U.S. military involvement in the region is far from over and strong support still remains for maintaining troop levels through 2014 and after. Although U.S. troops are expected to shift to an advisory role over the next year, peace negotiations are progressing slowly as the cost of war continues to increase. More opinion and news here
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ISRAEL/PALESTINE and the MIDDLE EAST
ISRAEL, US TO STAGE MAJOR DEFENSE DRILL
Thousands of Israeli, US troops to take part in largest-ever joint drill… The IDF is gearing up together with US forces for a major missile defense exercise, the army announced Thursday, as tension between Iran and the international community escalates. The drill is called "Austere Challenge 12" and is designed to improve defense systems and cooperation between the US and Israeli forces. More
AVNERY: How Israel Empowers Islamist Movements
If Islamist movements come to power all over the region, they should express their debt of gratitude to their bete noire, Israel. Without the active or passive help of successive Israeli governments, they may not have been able to realize their dreams. That is true in Gaza, in Beirut, in Cairo and even in Tehran… Perhaps some day a fundamentalist Israel will make peace with a fundamentalist Muslim world, under the auspices of a fundamentalist American president. Unless we do something to stop the process before it is too late. More
Obama's Ominous Arming Of Despots in the Gulf
A White House spokesman boasted last week that the Saudi arms sales would give the US economy a $3.5 billion annual boost and help bolster exports and jobs. Needless to say, that's not the kind of cynical message many people expected from the Administration they helped elect three years ago. However, it sweet music in the ears of the U.S. armaments s industry.
As if the pot had not been sweetened enough, last week the U.S. sold the United Arab Emirates an advanced antimissile interception system for $3.5 billion as part of what Reuters described as "an accelerating military buildup of its friends and allies near Iran." The deal includes a contract with Lockheed Martin to produce the highly sophisticated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, weapon system. The White House has also formally proposed to sell 600 "bunker buster" bombs and other munitions to UAE for $304… Evidently, the Obama Administration's commitment to the notion of "Arab Spring" and promoting "democracy" in the Middle East is quite selective. While acting boldly to shore up the autocracies in the Gulf region, "senior U.S. officials are reported to be quietly preparing options to help dissident groups seeking to topple the reactionary government of Syrian President Bashar Assad," according to UPI. There are also reports of "a 2,500-person Arab intervention force" - mainly Libyan and Iraqis-on tap in Qatar, ready to invade Syria. More
END OF THE PRO-DEMOCRACY PRETENSE
…one of the prime aims of America’s support for Arab dictators has been to ensure that the actual views and beliefs of those nations’ populations remain suppressed, because those views are often so antithetical to the perceived national interests of the U.S. government. The last thing the U.S. government has wanted (or wants now) is actual democracy in the Arab world, in large part because democracy will enable the populations’ beliefs — driven by high levels of anti-American sentiment and opposition to Israeli actions – to be empowered rather than ignored. So acute is this contradiction — between professed support for Arab democracy and the fear of what it will produce — that America’s Foreign Policy Community is now dropping the pro-freedom charade and talking openly (albeit euphemistically) about the need to oppose Arab democracy… The Obama administration paid pretty lip service to the Egyptian revolution but then worked to install Mubarak’s chief torturer Omar Suleiman in power, who, for obvious reasons, is viewed with great disfavor among Egyptians. That propaganda ruse fooled one of its chief targets (the American electorate) but failed miserably among Egyptians… More
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Next DPP MEETING
Monday, November 14
(Note: The meeting will be in a new space, on the second floor)
AGENDA: TBA
7-9 pm, Vietnamese American Community Center, 42 Charles St., Fields Corner.
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DPP Tabling, Kerry postcard gathering:
Friday, October 7, Ashmont/Peabody Square Farmer’s Market, 4-6pm at the Ashmont T-station. Call Denise: 617-721-9606
Saturday, October 8, Fields Corner Farmers Market, 9-11am parking at Dot Ave. & Park St. Call Jeff – 617-288-4578
Thursday, October 13: DPP Anti-War/Campaign Planning Committee, 6:30 pot luck; 7-9pm meeting, 123 Cushing Ave. Dorchester (call 617-288-4578 if you need directions) Organize and map out the rest of the Fall budget campaign, targeting Sen. John Kerry and taking our message to the streets of Dorchester.
Two Other Kerry Postcard Opportunities:
Boston Workers Alliance are doing door-to-door voter registration every day from 4 to 6:30. Great opportunity to bring the Target Kerry Postcard Campaign to our neighborhood. Contact Denise at 617-721-9606
New England United for Justice (NEU4J) will be doing the same soon in Dorchester. Call Phyllis 617-825-7843
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Sunday, October 16: Cookout / Pot Luck for DPP & Friends
3pm-? “Rain or Shine.” At Jeff’s House, 123 Cushing Ave., Jones Hill (up behind the Strand Theater), Dorchester.
“No Agenda” – just good food and good company to relax and share, take a breather from the very busy fall schedule of activism.
We’ll have hamburgers and hotdogs – you can bring something to eat or drink. Weather permitting, in the back yard -- but there is plenty of room inside and on the porches if necessary. Please come and invite a friend. Call 617-288-4578 for directions or to RSVP.
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People Take To The Streets:
RIGHT TO THE CITY. . . OCCUPY EVERYWHERE!
Are the peoples’ resistance movements reaching a critical point? We hope so! Coming from diverse perspectives and communities, Anti-war protesters, neighborhood activists, the jobless, poor people facing the loss of their homes, students and unions are beginning to coalesce. The process is halting and uneven – not astro-turfed like the heavily right-wing bankrolled “Tea Party. Divisions remain, but increasingly people are recognizing a common enemy in The Banks and Wall Street. And, ironically, many are drawing inspiration from the popular movements of The Arab Spring.
Last Friday, thousands of people, led by community organizations like City Life/Vida Urbana and the Boston Workers Alliance and supported by the SEIU-backed MassUniting, marched downtown to demand “The Right to the City.” The protest ended at the looming, Darth Vader-ish Bank of America headquarters, where people chanted “Bank of America – Bad for America” as activists blocking the entrance were arrested (including DPP’s Becky Pierce). Earlier, at the Boston Common rally, DPPer (and Boston 25% Coalition leader) Daryl Wright spoke for the campaign to pressure the Congressional budget SuperCommittee, as peace activists distributed forms to send postcards to Senator Kerry, some with the printed message “Don’t Balance the Budget on Our Backs.” On the way to the Bank of America, the marchers passed by Verizon offices and a Hyatt Hotel, where they chanted solidarity with union workers waging labor struggles. See VIDEOs here and here.
That evening – inspired by OCCUPY WALL STREET – mostly young people set up their OCCUPY BOSTON encampment near South Station. Spirited and spontaneous actions took place all week, as news came that “Occupy” movements were springing up all over the country – in LA and Seattle, Philadelphia and DC. Several of us from DPP and some veterans of the Labor Movement attended on Wednesday as the crowd – along with hundreds Mass Nurses Association members -- surged through the Financial District shouting, among other chants:
How do we Fix the Deficit?
Stop the Wars!
Tax the Rich!
In New York that same day thousands of other union members marched with the Occupy Wall Street protesters as labor organizations increasingly began to endorse the movement. Next Wednesday, OCCUPY BOSTON has agreed to highlight the contract struggle of Verizon workers, as the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) march to South Station and then lead the protesters back to the corporate headquarter. Heady stuff.
OCCUPY BOSTON news and updates: here
Tonight (Friday), October 7: Marking the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
5pm, peace movement activists will highlight the issue of the on-going wars at the Occupy Boston encampment.
OccupyBoston site, Dewey Square • Atlantic & Summer Streets, Boston • South Station T
Participate in an anti-war demo at 5 p.m. Friday--marking the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The gathering point is in Dewey Square by the statue of Gandhi. (Dewey Square is the portion of the Greenway directly across from South Station - see map.)
Something Big Is Happening: Occupy Together
While the establishment is befuddled by the plethora of issues and slogans within the protest, confused by the absence of hierarchical order and put off by its festive spirit, that's their problem. The 20- and 30-somethings who are driving this movement know what they're doing and are far more organized (but much differently organized) than their snarky critics seem able to comprehend… Far from "dwindling" in numbers, the New York protest continues to grow. Moreover, the movement has now spread to more than 50 cities, from major hubs like Chicago to such smaller places as McAllen, Texas. All across the U.S.A., "something is happening here" - something that might be big. Link into it at www.OccupyTogether.com. More
KRUGMAN: Confronting the Malefactors
There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear, but we may, at long last, be seeing the rise of a popular movement that, unlike the Tea Party, is angry at the right people… First things first: The protesters’ indictment of Wall Street as a destructive force, economically and politically, is completely right. More
Actions Now in 841 Communities Across U.S. and Canada
http://www.meetup.com/occupytogether/
List and map of over 250 U.S. solidarity events and Facebook pages
Keith Olbermann Reads The Statement Released By The Wall Street Protesters - 2011-10-05
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Can the #Occupy Movement Be a Turning Point? As the Wall Street occupation continues, Boston residents are sitting in to save their homes—and providing a lesson in how to sustain the powerful spark of the #Occupy movement… We have an opportunity to offer a narrative explaining what has happened, how we got here, and how we can move forward together. We are faced with the potential of rooting this insurrectional energy into a strong social movement that can rival the Tea Party and change the story about our economic system—a movement that could unite behind real solutions to the economic and democratic crises we face. The actions by Right to the City this past weekend in Boston offer us an instructive model on the kind of analysis and organizing strategy that is necessary now. More
BLACK AGENDA REPORT: Wall Street as Public Enemy Number One They are very young, very white, and largely inexperienced in organizing. But the Occupy Wall Street crew has picked the right target… the core is clearly comprised of serious people determined to end the rule of the “One Percent.” The 99% versus 1% formula is quite powerful, directing the people’s anger towards the class that conducts its oppressive business on Wall Street: finance capitalists. More
‘Ready for a Tahrir moment?’ Although it has become a bit of a mainstream media cliche to say that the Occupy Wall Street protest is an American "Arab Spring," it is undeniable that the Egyptian revolution, and other protests across the Middle East have inspired the protesters… The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants. More
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THE BUDGET BATTLE, THE ECONOMY and the WARS
AMERICA'S LOST DECADE
Consider this statistic: between 1999 and 2009, the net jobs gain in the American workforce was zero. In the six previous decades, the number of jobs added rose by at least 20% per decade. Then there's income. In 2010, the average middle-class family took home $49,445, a drop of $3,719 or 7%, in yearly earnings from 10 years earlier. In other words, that family now earns the same amount as in 1996… The swelling ranks of the American poor tell an even more dismal story. In September, the Census Bureau rolled out its latest snapshot of poverty in the United States, counting more than 46 million men, women, and children among this country's poor. In other words, 15.1% of all Americans are now living in officially defined poverty, the most since 1993… As for this decade, less than two years in, we already know that the news isn't likely to be much better. The problems that plagued Americans in the previous decade show little sign of improvement. More
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THE BUDGET DEAL EXPLAINED The COALITION ON HUMAN NEEDS (http://www.chn.org/), an alliance of national organizations working together to promote public policies that address the needs of low-income and other vulnerable people, produced a background briefing. -Deficit Deal Explained Webinar (download)
“SUPERCOMMITTEE” -- Short Version The Congressional SuperCommittee includes six Republicans, six Democrats, six Senators and six Representatives (including Mass Senator John Kerry). They must start meeting by September 16, and they may begin with public hearings on the national debt. By November 23 they are supposed to create a plan to reduce the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over ten years, on top of the $1 trillion in cuts already set. The Senate and House must vote that plan up or down (no amendments) by December 23.
If the Supercommittee or Congress fail to agree on a plan, automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion are supposed to go into effect in January 2013, half defense-related and half domestic. With five of the six Republicans having pledged not to raise taxes, deadlock and defense cuts may be the best outcome we can work for. |
Senator Kerry, Represent US!
“Don’t Balance the Budget on Our Backs!”
Senator Kerry is on the SuperCommittee. Will he cut the most wasteful agency in Washington – the Defense Department? Or will he propose a deal to cut Social Security and Medicare? It depends on YOU!
Send an online postcard to Sen. Kerry! It's important that he hear from as many people in Massachusetts as possible this week -- so he knows we are paying attention.
The media reaches millions. Writing letters to the editor is super-easy with our online letters tool! We'll keep the tool up to date with current talking points, so return to it frequently.
Can you contact your town officials, gather signatures or organize events? Sign up to volunteer and tell us what you can do!
JOHN KERRY is asking for input from constituents: Let Him Know What You Think!
“Now, with the committee's negotiations about to get into full swing, I really need to hear from you - I need your input about the choices we face and the consensus we need to build to create jobs, fix the deficit, and get America growing again. Every decision I make is guided by Massachusetts, and whether you're a small business owner or out in the job market, I want to bring your firsthand viewpoint with me to the discussions and negotiations in Washington. So if you have ideas or suggestions about how to reduce the deficit, create jobs, and get our country back on track, I'm setting up a special form at Kerry.senate.gov where you can send me your ideas.”
These proposals are a good starting point:
1. More (not less!) money for jobs
2. No cuts to Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid or other programs people need.
3. End the wars, close foreign bases and reduce military spending at least 25%
4. Tax Wall Street, the rich and corporations
The Center for American Progress has produced some useful background for each of the of the Supercommittee members showing how their constituents would be affected by proposed budget cuts: Senator Kerry’s fact sheet is here.
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The Elites and the Pentagon Budget
The stench of elitism is permeating Washington, just as it did a decade ago when everyone of consequence bought the proposition that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction-and even if there was room for doubt, he was a threat and “had to go.” Today, the subject matter is different, but the methods are the same: say things that are demonstrably false but use enough extreme rhetoric from four star admirals, cabinet secretaries and congressional chairmen to establish a middle ground that eliminates opposition. Those who fear being labeled out of the mainstream, especially the major media, are buying it just as mindlessly as they did before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. This time the subject matter is the defense budget. Cutting it is the target of rhetorical gibberish, just as President George Bush warned of a “mushroom cloud” over America if we didn’t invade Iraq. Nonetheless, it is politically potent and intimidating to opponents who might otherwise speak up. More
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NEW PRIORITIES PROJECT Guide to the Budget Process and Advocacy
As Congress returns from its August recess, Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations work will begin in earnest -- even as the "Super Committee" attempts to chart the next decade of federal spending. National Priorities Project's Guide to the Budget Process and Advocacy will shed some light on the budget process with the goal of helping our constituents advocate effectively for their federal budget priorities.
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RESOURCES: FUND OUR COMMUNITIES, REDUCE MILITARY SPENDING 25% |
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DO WE LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY?
Recent polls confirm what has been true for the past few years: Large and consistent pluralities say that “jobs/unemployment” is the number-one problem we face; only around 12% choose “Federal Budget Deficit/Federal Debt” as the most important issue; “Taxes” are chosen by just 2%. (see for example here). Yet – at least until recently -- Taxes and The Deficit were almost all we heard about in public.
As for solving that deficit, again polls are consistent when people are asked to choose. Here are some recent results:
The most popular measure is to raise taxes on those with an income over $250,000 – the people whose tax reductions were recently protected in a deal between the President and the Congress. The most supported bipartisan change is to “reduce military commitments overseas.” Of course big majorities have long opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recall that polling also indicated the most popular measure to reform our health care system was to institute a single-payer system akin to Medicare – a reform that never even came up for a vote in Congress.
Would you know any of this if you got all your news from the mainstream media? Not likely.
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CLASS WARFARE INDEED Over the last two decades or more, Republicans have been denouncing as “class warfare” any attempt at criticizing and restraining their mean one-sided system of capitalist financial expropriation. The moneyed class in this country has been doing class warfare on our heads and on those who came before us for more than two centuries. But when we point that out, when we use terms like class warfare, class conflict, and class struggle to describe the system of exploitation we live under—our indictments are dismissed out of hand and denounced as Marxist ideological ranting, foul and divisive… More
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Obama: A New Beginning?
Many citizens are so disheartened that they do not believe government has the capacity to be responsive to their needs. Although our transportation systems, schools, and other infrastructure are in a sad state, these citizens have no faith that their tax dollars will be used to repair them. In short, while America is rapidly deteriorating, there is a widespread fear that Washington, D.C., is indifferent to its plight. Many Americans see government as an insurance agency for rich and powerful people and corporations, who deploy lobbying dollars and campaign contributions to take care of their interests but not those of others. Faced with the choice of having their tax dollars spent for the benefit of elites or demanding that taxes be radically reduced, they see cutting taxes as the only rational course of action… President Obama, like all elected officials, has to deal with the two currencies of electoral politics: money and votes. He plans to raise $1 billion, and much of it will have to come from the small part of the electorate in which prosperous members of the corporate world are prominent. There is an obvious difficulty for Obama in getting the well-to-do to support spending on health and education systems to strengthen an American workforce on which many of them do not depend for their livelihood. More
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YARD SIGNS ARE BACK!
Yes, we have a new order of yard signs, and some cardboard window signs as well.
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“SAVE Our Libraries, Schools, & Youth Jobs---CUT MILITARY SPENDING 25%” |
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WARS – Old and New – GRIND ON. . . Are you feeling safer now?
TEN YEARS OF WAR AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
This month marked ten years since the World Trade Center was decimated in a terrorist attack. The Bush administration responded with its so-called "War on Terror" - a war of aggression designed to turn the oil-rich Middle East into a U.S. neo-colony and entrench U.S. dominance across the globe. Accompanied and justified by a culture of fear, xenophobia and anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism, this war undermined human rights at home and solidified right-wing rule for a generation. Ten years later, the world doesn't look at all like the fantasy that the architects of the War on Terror dreamed up. More
Poll: Nearly 2 in 3 want troops in Afghanistan decreased
After 10 years of war in Afghanistan, nearly two-thirds of Americans want troop levels in the country to be reduced, a new CBS News poll shows. Sixty-two percent said troop levels should be decreased immediately, according to the poll, conducted Sept. 28 - Oct. 2. Twenty-four percent want troop levels kept the same for now, while 7 percent want them increased. In 2009, as discussions to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan were underway, about a third supported increasing the number of U.S. troops there. More
The Secret Memo That Explains Why Obama Can Kill Americans
Months ago, the Obama Administration revealed that it would target al-Awlaki. It even managed to wriggle out of a lawsuit filed by his father to prevent the assassination. But the actual legal reasoning the Department of Justice used to authorize the strike? It's secret. Classified. Information that the public isn't permitted to read, mull over, or challenge. Why? What justification can there be for President Obama and his lawyers to keep secret what they're asserting is a matter of sound law? More
A Nation of "Suspects"
During a decade of relentless fearmongering about the terrorist threat, most Americans appear to have accommodated themselves to the visible signs of change without questioning their broad implications. If searches on the subway, body scans at the airport and a Special Operations military drill [10]targeting a Boston neighborhood are presented as necessary to keep the nation safe, they are for them. But what would they make of the largely invisible architecture of surveillance that treats everyone as a potential suspect? Anyone who has a bank account and makes a financial transaction, or uses a phone or a computer to send emails or browse web sites, or visits a library, books a rental car, or purchases a airline ticket is within the surveillance net. More
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PALESTINE, ISRAEL and the MIDDLE EAST
Five lessons learned from Palestinian UN bid
The shift away from the cost-free occupation dynamic has to happen immediately and Palestinians can begin to do this in the way their counterparts across the Arab world made revolutionary change happen. Through mass mobilisation, ending no-strings-attached security collaboration and encouraging sanctions on the state and popular level against Israel until it meets it obligations, the Palestinians can begin to do to the Israelis what the so-called broker Washington failed to do: make them realise the occupation has to end. The UN statehood bid didn’t change the world -- it didn’t even change things on the ground in occupied Palestine -- but what it did do is make a number of international players show their cards. The Palestinians would be remiss if they did not use this information to build strategies for the future. More
RASHID KHALIDI: The Palestinians' Next Move
As the dust settles after last week’s “showdown” at the United Nations over the Palestinian application for membership, several initial conclusions can be drawn.
First, the United States now is thoroughly out of touch with most of the international community when it comes to Palestine and Israel. It has positioned itself to the right of the most right-wing, pro-settler government in Israeli history. This was reflected in the joyful reception of President Obama’s speech by Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and his right-wing foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, as well as in the Israel lobby’s satisfied response to Obama’s caving in to Israeli demands all along the line. http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-palestinians-next-move-5959More
Don't Punish Palestinians for Seeking Freedom; Punish Israel for Denying It.
The United States claims to support Palestinian statehood but Congress is now threatening sanctions against Palestinians for seeking UN membership. Last weekend, The Independent reported that even before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas submitted Palestine's UN membership application, Members of Congress had quietly placed "holds" on spending already allocated U.S. assistance to Palestinians. Tell Congress: Sanction Israel, Not Palestinians.
Foreign Aid Set to Take a Hit in U.S. Budget Crisis – Except for Israel
As lawmakers scramble to trim the swelling national debt, both the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate have proposed slashing financing for the State Department and its related aid agencies at a time of desperate humanitarian crises and uncertain political developments. The proposals have raised the specter of deep cuts in food and medicine for Africa, in relief for disaster-affected places like Pakistan and Japan, in political and economic assistance for the new democracies of the Middle East, and even for the Peace Corps… The Republicans also attach conditions on aid to Pakistan, Egypt and the Palestinians, suspending the latter entirely if the Palestinians succeed in winning recognition of statehood at the United Nations. However, one of the largest portions of foreign aid — more than $3 billion for Israel — is left untouched in both the House and Senate versions, showing that, even in times of austerity, some spending is inviolable. More
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EVENTS
Wednesday, October 12: The Pentagon’s R&D Enterprise – an $80 billion boondoggle
Cambridge, , 1pm. First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, 11 Garden St.
Subrata Ghoshroy, MIT Science, Technology and Security Working Group
The Pentagon spends over $80 billion per year in the name of R&D. While a small amount of this money supports the majority of university research in physical sciences like electrical engineering, most of the money is given to military contractors for weapons development and is greatly wasted. Subrata Ghoshroy breaks down how this massive budget is spent and addresses its impact on the political support for military spending, the research priorities of U.S. academic scientists, and the quality of science.
A Peace Action Lunchtime seminar. A light lunch will be served, and a $5 donation is requested to cover the food.
Thursday, October 13: Scarred Lands, Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War
Brookline: 6:30pm. Coolidge Corner Library, 31 Pleasant St.
When we make war, we destroy not only the enemy, we destroy our earth as well. In all its stages - from the production of weapons through combat to clean up - war entails actions that pollute land, air and water, destroy biodiversity and drain natural resources. Yet the environmental damage caused by war (and preparations for war) is underreported, even ignored. The environment is war's silent casualty.
Using specialist and eyewitness accounts from Vietnam and Afghanistan to Australia and the Pacific Islands and supported by on-site and archival footage, the film shows how war and preparations for war further compromise the environmental health of a planet already under stress from massive population increases, unsustainable demands on natural resources, and ruinous environmental practices. In the context of today's growing awareness and alarm about global climate change, the film shows that natural security is an essential component of national security.
Wednesday-Saturday, October 12-15: THE SPEAKER’S PROGRESS: Jenin Freedom Theatre Troupe visiting Boston next weekend! THE SPEAKER'S PROGRESS uses Twelfth Night as a starting point to explore events in the Middle East, transforming Shakespeare’s comedy into a satire on the decades of political inertia that have fed recent revolts across the Arab region and a daring theatrical metaphor for the mechanisms of dissent. The piece will evolve as circumstances in the region change, emphasizing the rapid pace of revolution among courageous citizens seeking freedom. This is a rare chance to see a major Middle Eastern theatre company’s provocative and inspiring work. Get $10 off by using promo code CGTSP10 when purchasing tickets online, over the phone or at the box office. Buy tickets at artsemerson.org/617.824.8400. For more info visit http://artsemerson.org
SAT, OCT 15: Post-Matinee Forum with SABAB and Freedom Theatre Members of Palestine’s Jenin Freedom Theatre will join actors from SABAB in a moderated discussion about freedom of artistic expression in the Arab world, hosted by Tufts Professor Amahl Bishara.
Extras
Stick around for the following audience enrichment events following these performances!
• WED, OCT 12: WBUR Sponsored Opening Night Post-Performance Discussion
Tom Ashbrook of WBUR’s On Point will discuss the relation of current events to the production with writer/director Sulayman Al-Bassam. Join the conversation on how the play has evolved with the ongoing changes in the Arab world.
• THURS, OCT 13: Post-Performance Discussion
Join playwright/director Sulayman Al-Bassam, Arabic drama scholar Margaret Litvin, and writer, critic and leading international Shakespeare scholar Graham Holderness for a frank post-show conversation about intercultural Shakespeare, theatre-making amid the "Arab Spring," and the ways in which Al Bassam's Shakespeare Trilogy has played to—and with—his western and Middle Eastern audiences.
Saturday, October 15: Association of Haitian Women (AFAB): Annual Fundraising Dinner, 6pm, Cedars Hall, 61 Rockwood St., JP. $65 per person/$`20 per couple. For more info contact AFAB 617-287-0096; cdesire@afab-kafanm.org
Tuesday, October 18: Afghanistan: Why Obama Must Change Course
Jamaica Plain:, 7pm. 6 Eliot St.. Cosponsored with Jamaica Plain Forum and UJP Afghanistan/Pakistan Task Force.
Jonathan Steele has covered Afghanistan for the Guardian (London) for more than thirty years, and was part of the Guardian team which published the Wikileaks Afghanistan cables. He will sign copies of his latest book, Ghosts of Afghanistan: The Haunted Battleground, which will be published by Counterpoint this month.
October 2011 marks ten years of U.S. war and occupation in Afghanistan. Steele was one of the few Western analysts who predicted that a US invasion of Afghanistan would be a disaster. Although President Obama has announced withdrawal of some troops, the Administration’s plan really envisions a long-term military occupation. So Afghanistan should remain high on everyone's agenda as the 2012 election campaign approaches.
Steele will explain the strategic partnership agreement that the Obama administration wants to sign with Karzai's government and argue that it is a disaster for Afghanistan and the US. Instead he calls for peace talks and an agreement that will end the country's thirty-five years of civil war. The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh strongly endorses Ghosts of Afghanistan as an “original look at the West's obsession with Afghanistan,” in which “Steele...puts to rest the notion that America had no choice but to go to war after Osama bin Laden's orchestration of the 9/11 attacks."
Sunday, October 23: Walk 'n Talk on Beacon Hill, noon - 3:30pm. We will begin with lunch at noon in the Community Change Library: 14 Beacon St. Room 605, Boston; We will conclude with a visit to the Museum of Afro-American History's fine exhibition at the 170-year-old Smith School on Joy Street. Explore the 19th Century Free Black Community of Boston with Horace Seldon. Tickets: $35 (more if you can, less if you can't) Space is limited! RSVP required. RSVP pmarcus@communitychangeinc.org
SAVE THE DATE!
Sunday, September 11
Next DPP MEETING (“Fall Retreat”)
--There will be an extended discussion of where we go from here, and how we can meet the challenges ahead.
--Rather than detailed planning for concrete actions, we hope for a more relaxed conversation about the health and future of DPP, choosing priorities and how we can build our organization’s effectiveness in view of the current “political moment”
--At the start we will ask people to comment on “What sustains you in DPP and how does it relate to the other work you do?”
1:30-5:30pm, First Church Parish House, Meeting House Hill.
Midway break with snacks – please contact Denise (617-983-5383) if you can bring food or drink.
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Dues for DPP!
Hayat Imam writes from Bangladesh:
Dear Peace-makers,
I have spent most of my time since March in Bangladesh caring for my mother as she slowly recovers from an illness. I have been following all your good work even though I have not been able to join you in your endeavors. I feel deeply appreciative for all your efforts.
I wanted to let you know that Gerry Bilodeau gbilodeau@boston.k12.ma.us has kindly agreed to take over as DPP Treasurer for the time being. Thank you Gerry!
I'd like to ask all of you to please send in your Annual DPP member contribution (suggested amount of $20) to Gerry Bilodeau, at his address: 26 Midland St., Dorchester, MA 02125 (or give it to him at the next DPP meeting). Even though we get some grants from time to time, relying on our own steam feels really great! If 30 of us sent in $20, it would go a long way towards our annual expenses.
Thanks all and goodbye for now,
Hayat
Hope to see you. Meanwhile, happy summer!
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: A TALE OF FOUR PROTESTS
As we prepare for DPP’s annual retreat, some recent events illustrate a thing or two about the political moment.
This past week was a busy one of political and budget-related actions which highlighted the breadth and diversity of opposition to the current status quo – but also the weaknesses of a fragmented and parochial people’s movement.
On Tuesday, members of DPP and the UJP coalition joined to support a local MoveOn standout in front of Senator John Kerry’s office to push him to advocate for jobs, not cuts in his role as a member of the Congressional budget “super-committee”. The crowd was sparse – numbering maybe 40– with people we recognized from the peace movement probably making up the largest single contingent. The message of the organizers was good, as far as it went, though despite the high visibility of “25% Coalition” signs demanding that we “Bring the War Dollars Home,” perspective was not reflected by any of the speakers MoveOn had chosen. Several of our activist friends from Veterans for Peace also attended, holding signs for Republican libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul – who is by far the most outspoken anti-war and anti-empire candidate in either party, but is also a full-fledged reactionary crank on every other issue.
There were two demonstrations downtown on Thursday which I assumed – naively – had been coordinated.
At 11:30am, the Mass Nurses Association organized a sizeable turnout in front of the JFK Federal Building targeting Senator Scott Brown as part of the National Nurses United Main Street Contract for the American People (see more here). The theme was “Heal America: Tax Wall Street” and it was attended by a maybe a hundred or more nurses, nurse union organizers and a sprinkling of activists from other unions and other progressive organizations (Rosemary and I were there from DPP. The spirit was lively and the demand was a good one – though, again, nobody mentioned the wars and military spending. Not only that, but although the demonstrators were demanding that Scott Brown pledge to support a Wall Street stock trading tax (see more on this below), the organizers declined to lead the crowd one block over to make the same point in front of Senator John Kerry’s office. Kerry, of course, is in a much more powerful position to do something about this than Scott Brown, and he has not endorsed taxing Wall Street either.
At 12:30, just a few blocks away in the Financial District, City Life led another of its spirited rallies of activists and homeowners threatened with eviction in front of the offices of Fannie Mae at 265 Franklin St. True to form, the City Life action was diverse and loud, demanding loan modification or negotiations to let people pay rent to stay in their homes. (Many of the locals out for lunch in their business suits were perplexed by the noisy crowd, but there was a lot of support from the less nattily dressed). Bicycling over from Government Center, it was a joy as usual to march with the City Life folks – but I also found myself the sole person who attended both actions that day.
Finally, Thursday evening, there was a Community Meeting at the Kroc Center on Dudley St. in Uphams Corner organized by MassUniting (mainly initiated the Service Employees International Union). The theme was “Are You Tired of Big Business Walking All Over You?” About 50 people turned out, predominantly African-Americans, including several activists from City Life and possibly other organizations (three of us from DPP were also there, wearing “Bring the War Dollars Home” buttons). A positive aspect of the program was that the organizers offered an interactive presentation tying the economic distress of working people to the attacks on the labor movement and its consequent weakening as a source of people power; there was also a focus on corporations – and especially the big banks – as a cause of the economic crisis and a target for organizing. However, in the time allotted for discussion and action there was little time for the promotion of specific measures – especially as a few attendees spoke at length and took up most of the time; one speaker alluded to the bad effects of the Iraq War, to general nods and murmurs of assent The written material distributed at the meeting proposed a “Week of Action to hold Banks Accountable” around September 27. There was very little emphasis on electoral/political strategies or changing government policy.
Clearly there is a lot of work to do in building a broad and united movement that can successfully challenge the attack on our communities and press for solutions that focus on creating jobs, making the wealthy and the corporations pay, defending Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, ending the wars and reducing military spending. But many of the building blocks are already in place.
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Hear FDR for Yourself
Last week the DPP Update highlighted Franklin Roosevelt’s stirring 1936 Madison Square Garden speech, which you can read in full here. A live recording is also available via a link at the same site. When FDR pronounced the famous lines
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. . .
“Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.”
you can hear the crowd cheering wildly.
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US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation:
10TH ANNUAL NATIONAL ORGANIZERS' CONFERENCE, 2011
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Once a year, activists and member groups of our coalitions come together to discuss the current work of the movement and to help shape the work of the US Campaign. Join us for our 10th Annual National Organizers' Conference in Washington, DC, September 16-19, 2011 at the historic Thurgood Marshall Center! I’m going! More Info here |
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THE BUDGET BATTLE, THE ECONOMY and the WARS
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THE BUDGET DEAL EXPLAINED The COALITION ON HUMAN NEEDS (http://www.chn.org/), an alliance of national organizations working together to promote public policies that address the needs of low-income and other vulnerable people, produced a background briefing. -Deficit Deal Explained Webinar (download) |
“SUPERCOMMITTEE” -- Short Version
The Congressional Supercommittee includes six Republicans, six Democrats, six Senators and six Representatives (including Mass Senator John Kerry). They must start meeting by September 16, and they may begin with public hearings on the national debt. By November 23 they are supposed to create a plan to reduce the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over ten years, on top of the $1 trillion in cuts already set. The Senate and House must vote that plan up or down (no amendments) by December 23.
If the Supercommittee or Congress fail to agree on a plan, automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion are supposed to go into effect in January 2013, half defense-related and half domestic. With five of the six Republicans having pledged not to raise taxes, deadlock and defense cuts may be the best outcome we can work for.
Mass SENATOR JOHN KERRY, who has been appointed to the Congressional “Super Committee,” is asking for input from constituents:
“Now, with the committee's negotiations about to get into full swing, I really need to hear from you - I need your input about the choices we face and the consensus we need to build to create jobs, fix the deficit, and get America growing again. Every decision I make is guided by Massachusetts, and whether you're a small business owner or out in the job market, I want to bring your firsthand viewpoint with me to the discussions and negotiations in Washington. So if you have ideas or suggestions about how to reduce the deficit, create jobs, and get our country back on track, I'm setting up a special form at Kerry.senate.gov where you can send me your ideas.”
Check out the form at the link above and let him know what you think! The proposals circulated by the Boston 25% Coalition are a good starting point:
1. More (not less!) money for jobs
2. No cuts to social programs
3. Cut military spending at least 25%
4. Tax the rich and corporations (see more on this below!)
The DPP Anti-War Committee is working on a petition we can use to make those points and pressure Kerry before the deadline for the Supercommittee’s recommendations.
The Center for American Progress has produced some useful background for each of the of the Supercommittee members showing how their constituents would be affected by proposed budget cuts: Senator Kerry’s fact sheet is here.
Whose Interests Will the Super Committee Members Represent?
The deal to raise the debt ceiling set up a bipartisan “super committee” comprised of six members of the House and six members of the Senate tasked with finding $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in additional budget savings over the next 10 years. Everything from raising taxes to cutting Social Security and Medicaid will be on the table. A “cuts only” approach to deficit reduction, pursued thus far by conservatives, would force painful cuts in effective programs that strengthen the middle class and protect the most vulnerable, while leaving tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations off the table. Super committee members have a choice: to represent the interests of their constituents or protect the wealthy and special interests. With so many of their constituents living in poverty, struggling to access good quality jobs, and relying on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other effective services, the choice is clear. More
The Impact of Cuts to the Military Budget
The Post reported on a speech that General David Petraeus gave at the ceremony marking his retirement from the military. It noted that he warned against excessive cuts in the military. The piece notes that cuts in the range of $400 billion to $1 trillion over the next decade have been suggested by President Obama and members of Congress.
It would have been helpful to put these numbers in context for readers. The current projections show a baseline where the government will spend just under $8 trillion on the military over the next decade. This is approximately 4 percent of GDP and 17.0 percent of the total budget. (this does not count many military related expenditures like veterans benefits.)
If the larger $1 trillion sum was deducted from projected spending, the country would still be spending roughly 3.5 percent of GDP on the military. By contrast, it was spending just 3.0 percent in 2000. At the time, spending was projected to fall relative to the size of the economy. This means that even with the larger cuts mentioned in the article the country would still be spending far more on the military than was envisioned before the September 11th attacks. Link
Let's Have a Budget War on War Budgets
As the congressional debt-reduction "supercommittee" begins work next week, it had better take into account trillions of dollars in anticipated war costs that no one in Washington seems willing to acknowledge. For decades now (and probably much longer) government estimates of war costs have strived not to count numerous secondary expenses that result from combat, like veterans' health care -- or the $20 billion wasted in Pakistan. Officials find the real numbers embarrassing. A recent Congressional Budget Office report, for example, placed the total costs of the Iraq and Afghan wars at $1.415 trillion, based solely on congressional appropriations specifically dedicated to those wars. More
"Super Committee" Should Cut the War Budget
Urge your representatives and the President to support an end to spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the debt deal.
Executive Pay and the Great Tax Dodge
Before the deficit reduction “super-committee” embarks on a $1–2 trillion course of human slashonomics, it should take a hard look at the Institute for Policy Studies’ (IPS) eighteenth annual executive compensation report, which details how corporations are rewarding CEOs for aggressive tax avoidance—to the tune of at least $100 billion in lost tax revenues every year. Executive Excess 2011: The Massive CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging reveals that last year twenty-five of the 100 most highly paid CEOs took home salaries greater than the amount their companies paid in 2010 federal income taxes. And it wasn’t because the corporations weren’t making dough—they averaged global profits of $1.9 billion, and only seven reported losses in US pre-tax income. But these twenty-five companies shielded their profits in 556 tax haven subsidiaries in places like the Cayman Islands, Isle of Man, and Singapore, which proved to be a lucrative tax dodging strategy for the CEOs themselves: the twenty-five CEOs averaged $16.7 million in compensation, compared to $10.8 million for their peers in the S&P 500. More
Meanwhile, back where the rest of us live. . .
Job Growth at Halt in U.S.; Worst Showing in 11 Months
The economy failed to add new jobs in August, the first time there has been no increase in net jobs in the United States in 11 months. The flat performance was down sharply from a revised 85,000 gain of jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday, and was far below a consensus forecast by economists of 60,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate stayed constant at 9.1 percent in August… The number of long-term unemployed — people out of work for 27 weeks or more — remained about the same as in July, at 6 million, as did the median duration of unemployment, at 19.6 weeks compared with 19.7 weeks in July. More
How Will We Pay for Obama's New Jobs Push? Answer: Tax Wall Street
The most frustrating reality of the current moment is that the federal government places too much of the tax burden on working families, small farmers and small business owners—all of whom contribute mightily to society while struggling to make ends meet—and too little on the Wall Street speculators whose greed and irresponsibility has done so much to destabilize the economy.
Obama’s increased focus on jobs is important. But it is not enough at a moment when Republicans in Congress—and their echo chamber in the media—refuse to allocate the resources that are necessary to fund jobs initiatives. The demand for a jobs programs must be coupled with demands for better budgeting priorities and for new sources of revenue. More
A Sales Tax on Wall Street Transactions
Most of us pay state and local sales taxes on most things we buy, and most casino gambling is subject to state taxes ranging from up to 6.75 percent in Nevada to 55 percent on slot machines in Pennsylvania. But speculative purchases of stocks, bonds and other financial instruments in the United States go untaxed but for a tiny fee (less than a half-cent) on stock trades that helps finance the Securities and Exchange Commission. In Britain, by contrast, a 0.5 percent tax on stock transactions raises about $40 billion a year. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany recently announced plans to introduce a similar tax in the 27 nations of the European Community. More
Congress isn't broken - it's fixed by special interests
Barely 1 percent of our citizens fund campaigns today. In fact, less than a quarter of 1 percent (0.24 percent) provided 90 percent of campaign money in 2010, with lobbyists and special interests in Washington, D.C., alone accounting for more than 32 states combined. In such a system, it is little surprise that members of Congress spend more time raising money from a wealthy few than working with bipartisan colleagues to solve the nation’s fiscal crisis and start creating jobs for the good of all Americans. Indeed, Washington isn’t broken – it’s fixed… Our problem today is not a broken government but a beholden one: government is more beholden to special-interest shareholders who fund campaigns than it is to ordinary voters. Like any sound investor, the funders seek nothing more and nothing less than a handsome return – deficits be darned – in the form of tax breaks, subsidies and government contracts. More
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Taxes Comparison. . . Low Level in US
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The Truth about the “Debt Crisis” There is one simple truth about the discussion of the looming U.S. debt crisis: it is largely a compendium of half-truths, distortions, myths and outright lies… If you really believe shrinking the debt is an imperative, then there are easier ways to do it then stealing grandma’s meds. The Bush wars and tax cuts – which are still going – cost $3.3 trillion from 2002 to 2009. Cutting the trillion-dollar war budget in half, ending the Bush tax cuts (which Obama could have done with no sweat when he was bursting with political capital in early 2009 or by calling the GOP bluff before or after the 2010 midterm elections) and raising tax rates on corporations would pretty much wipe out the deficit over the next decade. In the case of corporate taxes, during the last decade it averaged only 10.7 percent of federal revenues – and since 2008 it’s shrunk to barely 5 percent – versus 29.8 percent in the 1950s. More Deficit Myths The well-funded demagogues who have dominated current debates over budget deficits and the national debt … have helped usher in what Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman calls a “Dark Age of macroeconomics” where many of the most basic facts of economics have been drowned out by ridiculous but useful myths. The country’s news media have lent credibility to these myths. For instance, at the most liberal end of the media spectrum, New York Times coverage implies that tax cuts for the rich are just as likely, or maybe more likely, to create jobs as the alternative route of increasing social spending—a claim recognized as false by most independent economists. More RESOURCES: FUND OUR COMMUNITIES, REDUCE MILITARY SPENDING 25% |
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YARD SIGNS ARE BACK!
Yes, we have a new order of yard signs, and some cardboard window signs as well.
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SAVE Our Libraries, Schools, & Youth Jobs---CUT MILITARY SPENDING 25%” |
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WARS – Old and New – GRIND ON. . . Are you feeling safer now?
"HOMELAND SECURITY" - The decade's biggest scam
Exaggerating, manipulating and exploiting the Terrorist threat for profit and power has been the biggest scam of the decade; only Wall Street's ability to make the Government prop it up and profit from the crisis it created at the expense of everyone else can compete for that title. Nothing has altered the mindset of the American citizenry more than a decade's worth of fear-mongering So compelling is fear-based propaganda, so beholden are our government institutions to these private Security State factions, and so unaccountable is the power bestowed by these programs, that even a full decade after the only Terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, its growth continues more or less unabated. More
Poll: Americans Say Wars In Iraq, Afghanistan Haven’t Made U.S. Safer
On the eve of the ten year anniversary of 9/11, the Pew Research Center has released new data on Americans' reaction to the attacks, and the foreign and national security policies pursued in the post 9/11 era. They show a country with views that have evolved on the relationship between civil liberties and the tools given to government to fight terrorism, and a disbelief that the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan helped to lessen the chance there will be another terrorist attack on the United States. The Pew survey showed a large shift in the number of Americans who are willing to see some of their civil liberties go out the window in the name of fighting terrorism. Directly after 9/11, Americans were willing to make the deal, as 55 percent thought it was necessary, against 35 percent who felt the opposite. Now, only 40 percent felt that giving up some civil liberties is necessary to curb terrorism, with 54 percent against. More
How Safe Are You?
WHAT ALMOST $8 TRILLION IN NATIONAL SECURITY SPENDING BOUGHT YOU
… in the vast majority of cases, the plots we know about were broken up by "law enforcement" or civilians, in no way aided by the $7.2 trillion that was invested in the military -- or in many cases even the $636 billion that went into homeland security. And while most of those cases involved federal authorities, at least three were stopped by local law enforcement action… It’s possible that all that funding, especially the moneys that have gone into our various wars and conflicts, our secret drone campaigns and “black sites,” our various forays into Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and other places may actually have made us less safe. Certainly, they have exacerbated existing tensions and created new ones, eroded our standing in some of the most volatile regions of the world, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the misery of many more, and made Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places, potential recruiting and training grounds for future generations of insurgents and terrorists. More
Libyan bombing illegal says concerned group of African Leaders
A group of concerned African leaders have issued a statement warning about Africa being re-colonised as Nato continues its support of the Libyan rebels. Speaking to media in Johannesburg today, leaders released a letter lamenting "misuse of the United Nations Security Council to engage in militarised diplomacy to effect regime change in Libya" and the "marginalisation of the African Union"… The letter was signed by more than 200 prominent Africans, including former African National Congress president Thabo Mbeki , Prof Shadrack Gutto of the University of SA, former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, Prof Chris Landsberg the head of the Department of Politics at the University of Johannesburg, Prof Mahmood Mamdani from the University of Columbia, former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad , author and poet Dr Wally Serote and many other influential Africans. More
The New Libya: Better Not Be Black
Black African immigrants in the past benefited from Gaddafi’s aspiration to be a pan-African leader. The position of illegal immigrants was always uncertain, but they were essential to the economy. With the fall of Gaddafi, those who have not already fled face persecution or even murder. Last weekend 30 bodies of mostly black men, several of them handcuffed and others already wounded, were found after an apparent mass execution at a roundabout near Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya headquarters. More
Female Trafficking Soars in Iraq
Before the Gulf War in 1991, Iraq enjoyed the highest female literacy rate across the Middle East, and more Iraqi women were employed in skilled professions, like medicine and education, than in any other country in the region. Twenty years later Iraqi women experience a very different reality… "The US-led war and the chaos it has generated; the growing insecurity and lawlessness; corruption of authorities; the upsurge in religious extremism; economic hardship; marriage pressures; gender based violence and recurrent discrimination suffered by women; kidnappings of girls and women; the impunity of perpetrators of crimes, especially those against women; and the development of new technologies associated with the globalisation of the sex industry." More
Who Funds Muslim-baiting In The US?
The report, "Fear Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America," demonstrates that a small group of self-proclaimed experts (Frank Gaffney, David Yerushalmi, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Steve Emerson) backed by a host of foundations and donors (many of which also fund the [Israel] lobby) have put Islamophobia on the map. To put it simply, without these "experts," their donors, and Fox News (their media mouthpiece) you would never have heard that a Muslim community center (the "Ground Zero Mosque") was being constructed in New York City. And the center certainly would not have become a major news story. Nor would Republican (and even a few Democratic) candidates for president, Congress, and even village councils be called upon to condemn Islam and "Sharia Law" or face being labeled a supporter of terrorism. Nor would Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum have made hatred of American Muslims such an integral part of their campaigns. More
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ISRAEL/PALESTINE
CODEPINK Files Ethics Complaint Over Congressional Israel Junkets
81 Representatives are touring Israel this month, compliments of an affiliate of the Israel lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) but still clocked in on the taxpayer’s dime. This is shameful at a time when lawmakers are needed at home to deal with the economic crisis. In response, CODEPINK has filed a complaint to the House Ethics Committee. Congress is prohibited from participating in any multiple-day trip that is planned, organized, requested, or arranged by a lobbyist. AIPAC has gotten around this by funding trips like this one through the 501(c)(3) organization the American Israel Education Foundation. More
An invitation Rep. Jackson should have declined
Jackson also approvingly quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has called for the forcible transfer of Israel's Palestinian citizens and whose stances have regularly been criticized internationally for their thinly veiled bigotry. The day that a prominent African-American and the son of a civil rights icon embraces a man like Lieberman for the sole purpose of greasing wheels in Washington is a sad one for anyone who cares about equality and justice. Jackson's submission to the lobby of a foreign state is a tragic illustration of the abdication of progressives and others in the United States over the rights of Palestinians. Such behavior is one of the reasons Israel has been able to dominate Palestinians for decades with little protest from the United States. More
Ankara: UN report exposes Israel’s crimes
Despite expressing regret that a long-awaited UN report on bloodshed aboard a Gaza-bound protest flotilla last year deemed Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip legal, Turkish officials nonetheless maintained on Friday that the report clearly exposes Israel's crimes. “The report clearly determines the crimes committed by Israeli soldiers and other officials, and voices these crimes,” Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said at a press conference on Friday… “The loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force by Israeli forces during the takeover of the Mavi Marmara was unacceptable. Nine passengers were killed and many others seriously wounded by Israeli forces. No satisfactory explanation has been provided to the panel by Israel for any of the nine deaths. Forensic evidence showing that most of the deceased were shot multiple times, including in the back, or at close range has not been adequately accounted for in the material presented by Israel,” says the report. More
Turkey downgrades diplomatic ties with Israel after UN report leak
Ankara has slammed Israel with sanctions of reduced diplomatic ties and a hold on all military agreements in the immediate aftermath of the leaked details of a UN report… Ankara announced the sanctions to be imposed on Israel due to the country's refusal to comply with Turkish demands for compensation, an apology and the lifting of the Gaza blockade. Turkey considers the demands critical for the normalization of relations between the two countries, which experienced their all-time low following the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound charity ship the Mavi Marmara in international waters. The flotilla raid killed eight Turkish and one Turkish-American peace activists onboard the ship, which was carrying humanitarian aid to the Gazans. More
Why Palestinians can't recognize a 'Jewish state'
For the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is to declare their surrender, meaning, to waive their group dignity by negating their historical narrative and national identity. This recognition would affirm that since the rebirth of Israel is a "natural" and exclusive right, the first revolt in "our" history as Palestinians - against the British Mandate in the 1930s for encouraging Jewish immigration, as well as our resistance to Israel's establishment in 1948 - were mistakes. Thus, the Nakba is "our" fault only.
By this recognition, we would accept the rationale of the Law of Return, and as a result, we would waive our right to return, even in principle. Further, since the historical masters of the land possess rights a priori, the confiscation of Palestinian land and its designation as "absentee property" makes sense, even when members of this group are "present absentees" in Israel… With this recognition, the Palestinian citizens of the state in Nazareth and Haifa, who remained in their homes in 1948, cannot demand a "state for all of its citizens" and full equality because they do not enjoy the same original rights as Jews. More
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EVENTS
Monday, September 5: Cambridge, LABOR DAY MARCH & RALLY! 10 a.m. (March kicks off at 10:30 a.m.), Cambridge City Hall, 795 Mass Ave. September 5th is more than just another holiday, it is a day dedicated to the achievements of all workers in America. We march to honor the history of working people and to continue the fight for a just economy for all!
Join us in support of good jobs! We will be marching through Harvard University to highlight the struggles of workers and our communities. For more information, call (617) 523-6150
Saturday, September 10: KIP TIERNAN MEMORIAL SERVICE, 11 am at Old South Church in Copley Square. Kip Tiernan, advocate for fairness, person of enormous hope, faith and love died on July 2nd after a long struggle with cancer. Kip was a founding member of Community Works, founder Poor People's United Fund, Rosie's Place, Greater Boston Food Bank as well as many other Boston non-profits working for Social Justice. Her voice and vision will be deeply missed. We are determined to keep her legacy alive by mirroring Kip's courage, focus, compassion and ability to cut to the chase and get things done for the people who need it most. Please join us in a celebration of Kip's life at Memorial Service on Saturday, September 10th at.
Thursday, September 15: Demonstrate at the UN for Palestine, 4:30 pm gather at Times Sq.; 5:30 pm march to Grand Central & the U.N.. Palestinians Tell the World: Sovereignty Means Securing ALL Our Rights! Palestinians everywhere are mobilizing to remind the world of their right to self-determination. In New York we are marching to the United Nations because the world’s attention is focused on the vote on Palestine scheduled to take place there. For over six decades, the U.N. has approved numerous resolutions promising Palestinians their basic rights, none of which have been implemented. We come to the U.N. to demand: Sovereignty, Equality, and the Right of Return for Palestinians NOW!
SAVE THE DATE!
Saturday, October 1: Ending the Endless Wars and Occupations, 9am- 5pm • Suffolk University, Boston. Keynote speaker Noam Chomsky; The Conference marks ten years since 9/11, the War on Terror, the Afghanistan War, and the founding of UJP. The US/NATO bombing of Libya is the latest in the series of wars. Domestically, greed is rampant and serious problems are getting worse. Few peace and justice activists can remember a more troubling time. How did we get here and how can we change things? What can we learn from the historic events in Egypt, where the people triumphed against huge odds, and the workers of Wisconsin? How can the peace movement continue its work to end the wars and cut the military budget while also building cooperation with the economic and racial justice movements? We want a peaceful foreign policy based on democracy to focus on the pressing economic and human problems that must be solved. Featuring Presentations by: Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence: Report from Afghanistan and Iraq; Ann Wright, former U.S. Army Colonel: Report on the Gaza Flotilla and Palestine; Michael McPhearson, National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice: Connecting to the War and Home; Will Hopkins, Iraq Veterans Against the War and New Hampshire Peace Action: The crisis and youth today
SAVE THE DATE!
The Next DPP MEETING (“Fall Retreat”)
will be an extended discussion of where we go from here, with an assessment of our work so far this year.
Weekend of September 10-11, Look for details of time and place (either Saturday or Sunday) in upcoming DPP emails.
Monday, August 29: DPP 25% Committee, 7-8:30 PM 41A Brent St., , on ---this will serve as our Aug. and Sept. meeting.We will review what's going on with the 25% Coalition and with DPP and Coalition efforts re Kerry, Lynch, Capuano and outreach via workshops and tabling, and anything else we need to think about re the big questions to be discussed at DPP's early fall retreat. (We decided we need one at last night's DPP meeting; probably happening Sat. or Sun.
Sept. 10 or 11.)
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Dues for DPP!
Hayat Imam writes from Bangladesh:
Dear Peace-makers,
I have spent most of my time since March in Bangladesh caring for my mother as she slowly recovers from an illness. I have been following all your good work even though I have not been able to join you in your endeavors. I feel deeply appreciative for all your efforts.
I wanted to let you know that Gerry Bilodeau gbilodeau@boston.k12.ma.us has kindly agreed to take over as DPP Treasurer for the time being. Thank you Gerry!
I'd like to ask all of you to please send in your Annual DPP member contribution (suggested amount of $20) to Gerry Bilodeau, at his address: 26 Midland St., Dorchester, MA 02125 (or give it to him at the next DPP meeting). Even though we get some grants from time to time, relying on our own steam feels really great! If 30 of us sent in $20, it would go a long way towards our annual expenses.
Thanks all and goodbye for now,
Hayat
Hope to see you. Meanwhile, happy summer!
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SUPPORT THE VERIZON STRIKERS!
On Saturday August 6th, workers at Verizon were forced to make a difficult choice: accept a contract with over 100 concessions, or go on strike. As members of CWA and IBEW, these workers knew that accepting the contract wouldn't merely affect their own pay, benefits and security- it would lower standards for working people across the country. To stand up for themselves, and for all of us, 45,000 workers walked out in protest at midnight.
*Verizon, a highly profitable company that paid no taxes last year, is looking to bust the union. Their final contract proposal includes the elimination of pensions, work outsourcing, and unaffordable health care.
*Verizon negotiators have even gone so far as to attack Martin Luther King Day and Veterans’ Day as being “unimportant holidays”.
*Verizon workers have spent decades fighting to win the kind of jobs we all need: jobs with good pay, decent benefits and job security. Today, these jobs are disappearing.
Workers need people to join them on their picket lines. Can you adopt one of these locations and join the workers on a regular basis? Can you pledge to bring lunch one day a week or hold a fund raiser for their strike fund? Every bit of solidarity helps and we everything to win. Visit Mass JWJ or the Mass AFL-CIO for picket line locations
Pickets at Verizon Wireless stores are putting a serious dent in the company's income. This weekend is a state tax holiday, which means lots of shoppers going out to spend money. We need to ramp up our efforts Saturday and Sunday to cover all Verizon Wireless stores across Massachusetts from 10am until 10pm, and make sure Verizon really feels the heat. Click here for store locations and more info.
ON THE PICKET LINES: Issues in strike affect more than Verizon workers
A victory by Verizon would send a powerful message of encouragement to every other unionized employer seeking “contract relief,’’ based on balance sheets far less impressive than Verizon’s. In the majority of workplaces, where pay, benefits, and personnel policies can be changed unilaterally by management - without any prior discussion with affected employees - non-union employers would be similarly emboldened to lower their employment standards. On the other hand, if widespread labor and community support helps Verizon strikers maintain a model contract, all Massachusetts workers would have something to celebrate on Labor Day, for the first time in a long while. More
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“MALEFACTORS OF GREAT WEALTH”
I remembered this phrase recently, sure that it had been coined by Franklin D. Roosevelt to castigate the Big Business opponents of the New Deal. In fact, when I looked it up I was surprised to learn that the memorable words were used by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt in a speech at Provincetown, Mass, to describe the “Trusts” which caused the financial “panic” of 1907. He went on to say:
“. . . [these men] combine to bring about as much financial stress as possible, in order to discredit the policy of the government and thereby secure a reversal of that policy, so that they may enjoy unmolested the fruits of their own evil-doing. . . I regard this contest as one to determine who shall rule this free country—the people through their governmental agents, or a few ruthless and domineering men whose wealth makes them peculiarly formidable because they hide behind the breastworks of corporate organization.”
Not a bad description of the political/class war being waged by Wall Street and the Republican Party against the people a century later.
It’s an old idea – confirmed by modern social science – that people are much more willing to take action when they can identify who is to blame for their troubles. Otherwise, without a clear target, they may tend to accept their bad situation as a kind of natural disaster with no fault and no solution. Our friends at City Life understand this, which is why they rightly point the finger at the Banks, rather than just focus on the hard luck of the families facing foreclosure. .
Why can’t a Democratic President speak about the “Malefactors of Great Wealth” who are responsible for the economic catastrophe we face today? Could it have something to do with the fact that wealthy individuals and corporations fund the expensive electoral campaigns of both political parties, and so ensure that the solutions supported by the majority of people are simply off the agenda? Fake Republican populism is allowed in our system, since it is easily deflected (by racism, among other means) away from the real perpetrators; a Democratic populism is unacceptable, because people might take it seriously.
(Versions of the commentary here and below were published on-line and have been submitted as an op-ed to the Dorchester Reporter)
What Happened to Obama?
What makes the “deficit debate” we just experienced seem so surreal is how divorced the conversation in Washington has been from conversations around the kitchen table everywhere else in America… The average voter is far more worried about jobs than about the deficit, which few were talking about while Bush and the Republican Congress were running it up. The conventional wisdom is that Americans hate government, and if you ask the question in the abstract, people will certainly give you an earful about what government does wrong. But if you give them the choice between cutting the deficit and putting Americans back to work, it isn’t even close. But it’s not just jobs. Americans don’t share the priorities of either party on taxes, budgets or any of the things Congress and the president have just agreed to slash — or failed to slash, like subsidies to oil companies. … The president tells us he prefers a “balanced” approach to deficit reduction, one that weds “revenue enhancements” (a weak way of describing popular taxes on the rich and big corporations that are evading them) with “entitlement cuts” (an equally poor choice of words that implies that people who’ve worked their whole lives are looking for handouts). But the law he just signed includes only the cuts. More
ROBERT REICH: Why the President Doesn’t Present a Bold Plan to Create Jobs
So rather than fight for a bold jobs plan, the White House has apparently decided it’s politically wiser to continue fighting about the deficit. The idea is to keep the public focused on the deficit drama – to convince them their current economic woes have something to do with it, decry Washington’s paralysis over fixing it, and then claim victory over whatever outcome emerges from the process recently negotiated to fix it. They hope all this will distract the public’s attention from the President’s failure to do anything about continuing high unemployment and economic anemia. … At a time when the nation’s eyes were on him, seeking an answer to what was happening, he chose not to talk about the need for a bold jobs plan but to talk instead about the budget deficit – as if it were responsible for the terrible economy, including Wall Street’s plunge. He spoke of Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the nation’s debt as proof that Washington’s political paralysis over deficit reduction “could do enormous damage to our economy and the world’s,” and said the nation could reduce its deficit and jump-start the economy if there was “political will in Washington.” More
Obama's Bad Bargain
Obama helped conservatives concoct the debt crisis on false premises, promoting a claim that Social Security and other entitlement programs were somehow to blame while gliding over the real causes and culprits. Social Security has never contributed a dime to the federal deficits (actually, the government borrows the trust fund’s huge surpluses to offset its red ink)… Whatever supposed solutions Congress eventually enacts, the misleading quality of the debt crisis should become widely understood once the action is completed. The debt and deficits will probably keep expanding, because the economy will remain stagnant or worse, with near 10 percent unemployment and falling incomes, and that is fundamentally what drives deficits higher. It should become obvious that deficit reduction did nothing to revive economic growth or to create jobs. More
We need a jobs bill, Mr. President
We don’t need the president to start talking about jobs again. We need him to start doing something about jobs — something that will capture the attention of the American people and the media, something that will change the debate in a city that has lost its way… Let’s be clear: There is a limit to what the president can do. To succeed, he must be a joined by a movement. But there is a movement afoot, one that is prepared to take on this fight. The American Dream Movement is mobilizing tens of thousands of people in all 435 congressional districts with a simple message: jobs, not cuts. That is a message the American people support by more than a 2 to 1 margin. On Monday, the organizers released a job-creation plan written by 127,000 Americans. More
FREE MONEY for Job Creation!
So how do we pay for a jobs program with big investments in infrastructure and education that will put people back to work? After all, we have a “debt crisis” with the credit rating of the US government downgraded and the stock market tanking because of excessive deficit spending, right? Actually not. Those right-wing fundamentalists who claim to believe in the magic of the market are willing to ignore its message when it challenges their cherished fantasies. The stock market is falling because of the pessimistic outlook for the US economy. Meanwhile, mountains of cash are streaming into the safe haven of “downgraded” US treasury notes – so much so that the government can now borrow whatever it needs at virtually no (or even negative!) interest rates when adjusted for inflation. That is, cash-flush individuals, banks and corporations are paying the US government to hold their money safely. There are just no mattresses big enough! See here.
There has never been an easier time for the government to borrow what it needs to invest in our economy -- and the resulting growth is calculated to more than pay for the money we spend today as the jobs picture and the economy improve. Moreover, those infrastructure projects in mass transportation, clean energy, rebuilt roads and bridges (you name it) will continue to pay off well into the future. Think of it as a home improvement loan.
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Haymarket offers anti-racism training – sign up now
Haymarket People’s Fund, which recently gave a grant to support DPP’s work, is hosting an Undoing Racism Workshop on September 22-24 at Simmons College. Many of us have taken this workshop with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, and it is excellent.
The deadline to register is Wednesday September 7. Partial scholarships are available to DPP members, but resources are limited. Please contact mikeprokosch@verizon.net ASAP if you want to attend.
Undoing Racism™ Workshops last for two and one half days and include a historical and institutional analysis of racism, understanding the structure of oppression, defining and sharing culture, leadership development and principles of accountability and networking. Trainers are experienced community organizers.
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US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation:
10TH ANNUAL NATIONAL ORGANIZERS' CONFERENCE, 2011
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Once a year, activists and member groups of our coalitions come together to discuss the current work of the movement and to help shape the work of the US Campaign. Join us for our 10th Annual National Organizers' Conference in Washington, DC, September 16-19, 2011 at the historic Thurgood Marshall Center! More Info here |
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THE BUDGET BATTLE, THE ECONOMY and the WARS
A Note on “ENTITLEMENTS”. . .
Words matter. When politician talk about cutting programs overwhelmingly supported by the public they say “entitlement reform” to mask what they are about. It’s not surprising that the Right and its media supporters would use that slippery euphemism, but the expression has also become the standard term in political discourse and the mainstream press. It is even regularly used by those on the Left who should know better. “Entitlement reform” allows some, especially white and middle class voters, to imagine that politicians are talking about ending giveaways to some “other” undeserving people.
We always need to be specific. What the so-called “reformers” want is to cut Social Security and Medicare . Social Security, by the way, is paid for out of its own payroll taxes and has so far contributed not one dime to the deficit; Medicare costs are rising rapidly because of the inefficiencies and waste in our privately-run healthcare system, which costs on average double what any other country pays per capita and yields worse results in all the health indices that can be measured.
Should anyone be surprised that the core of the Tea Party caucus in Congress is from the “Solid South” states of the old Confederacy?
The Tea Party, the debt ceiling, and white Southern extremism
The Tea Party movement takes its name from the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when American patriots dumped British tea into Boston Harbor to protest British imperial power. But while New England was the center of resistance to the British empire, there are few New Englanders to be found in today's Tea Party movement. It should be called the Fort Sumter movement, after the Southern attack on the federal garrison in Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12-13, 1861, that began the Civil War. Today's Tea Party movement is merely the latest of a series of attacks on American democracy by the white Southern minority… More
As high-stakes budget blackmail continues, and neoliberals sharpen their knives for the social programs most of us want, now is the moment to call talk shows, write letters to the editor, call Congress, talk to your neighbors to demand: Jobs Now! Don’t Cut Social Security – Cut the Pentagon!
Poll: Spreading gloom about government
In the aftermath of the tumultuous debate over raising the debt ceiling, Americans give Washington a strong vote of no confidence, with barely a quarter saying the federal government can fix the nation’s economic problems and a large majority agreeing that the policymaking process is unstable and ineffective… More than seven in 10 say Washington is focused on the “wrong things.” More
Democracy is the Hidden Casualty of the Debt Deal
The debt deal’s final resolution to what essentially amounted to a hostage crisis by that minority represents a complete unmooring of official decision-making from the will of the American people. The last few weeks could be the final straw that leads to a collapse of confidence not just in this government but in the American project of self-governance. When citizens don’t participate, democracy is in peril. At a time of so much great need in our country, sending the message that citizen involvement is futile is dangerous not just to the substance of one debate but to the core principles that allow us to call ourselves a democracy. More
Budget Deal Vote in the House: Passes 268-161: Democrats evenly divided for and against
MASS: Lynch, Keating, Tsongas YES; Capuano, Frank, Markey, McGovern, Neal, Olver, Tierney NO. . . Link
(Kerry and Brown both voted in favor in the Senate)
A Double Looting of the State and the Working Class
Despite this double looting of working people and the state, many victims direct their anger at the government instead of those who control the government. Unemployed millions fired by private capitalist employers (or suffering wage and benefits cuts imposed by them) blame the government, not their employers. Millions foreclosed out of their homes by private capitalist banks blame the government. They want the government punished, made smaller and weaker, and they are desperate to avoid further taxes. Republicans promise to do all that. Those who fear that a smaller, tax-starved government will do even less for them hear Democrats promising to cut less than Republicans. This is politics disconnected from economic realities (for example, high unemployment) and twisted into a contest between more and less government spending cuts imposed on a working class already reeling from economic crisis. More
The 'Super Congress' Is Designed to Force Cuts To Popular Programs
In the months ahead, we're going to be treated to an endless parade of process stories about the Gang of 12 “super congress” that emerged from the debt ceiling deal. Each time a staffer leaks some bit of trivia about the internal machinations of this opaque committee, the Beltway media will write a flurry of stories about it, lawmakers will signal whether they might support this provision or that one and the pundits will sift through the tea leaves trying to predict whether this time the kind of “grand bargain” the Washington Post editorial board lusts after will finally come to pass.
It will all be a piece of Kabuki theater. The way this deal ends is fairly easy to predict – it's a set-up that will result in fairly deep cuts to domestic spending, won't raise taxes on the wealthy and will leave “defense” spending largely untouched – a process that will force cuts to important public services. More
Sen. Kerry “Open” to Cuts in Social Security, Medicare
Kerry spoke favorably of a grand bargain that President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had tried to reach, noting it would have included “a mix of reductions and, and reforms in Social Security." Kerry alarmed liberals by repeating the standard argument of Washington’s deficit hawks. “The real problem for our country is not the short-term debt. We can deal with that. It's the long-term debt. It's the structural debt of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid measured against the demographics of our nation,” Kerry said… “Like President Obama, Kerry is fatally attracted to the notion of a grand bargain, sacrificing cuts in Medicare and Social Security in exchange for increased revenues to reduce long term deficits. And he is simply wrong-headed about what the nation must do in order to get the economy on track,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of Campaign for America’s Future, a progressive advocacy group. More
Defense Budget Hysteria
…the "doomsday mechanism" would reduce the Pentagon's "base" (non-war) budget to about $472 billion, the approximate level of the base DOD budget in 2007. I do not recall anyone declaring our national security being "imperiled" at that spending level in 2007… If returned to the $472 billion 2007 level, the base DOD budget would be $73 billion higher than it was in 2000, the year before our various interventions started to occur. If spending were to be continued at the $472 billion level for the next 10 years, base Defense Department spending would be three quarters of a trillion dollars above the levels extant in 2000. And, not a penny of the additional monies to be spent on the wars would be eliminated. More
AFL-CIO: Fake Political Crises and Real Economic Crises - A Call for Leadership and for Action
In an economy beset by mass unemployment, inadequate demand, tight credit and asset deflation, massive cuts in government spending will be disastrous - particularly cuts that cause layoffs or reduce Americans' incomes, such as cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These deep cuts could easily catapult our economy straight into a double-dip recession, if not a Great Depression. And we run the risk of dragging the rest of the global economy down with us… There is no way to fund what we must do as a nation without bringing our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The militarization of our foreign policy has proven to be a costly mistake. It is time to invest at home. …Working people do not want a kinder, gentler or more reasonable version of the policies that caused the economic crisis, that dismantled the American Dream and that have undermined our democracy for a generation. We demand a completely different approach - we want jobs, prosperity, fairness and, most of all, a future for all of us. More
Rep. Frank says US credit downgraded because of excessive military engagement in world
The liberal Massachusetts Democrat says $200 billion could be saved “without in any way endangering our security” by dialing back U.S. military involvement in the world, including operations in Western Europe. Frank says the military establishment has always had this “great momentum” in politics, but says the credit reversal “could change our thinking.” Frank calls the military a logical target “if we’re looking for something that breaks the mold” on spending. More
WHAT ARE YOUR BUDGET PRIORITIES?
Let your voice be heard in the federal budget debate! VOTE HERE
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Taxes Comparison. . . Low Level in US
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The Truth about the “Debt Crisis” There is one simple truth about the discussion of the looming U.S. debt crisis: it is largely a compendium of half-truths, distortions, myths and outright lies… If you really believe shrinking the debt is an imperative, then there are easier ways to do it then stealing grandma’s meds. The Bush wars and tax cuts – which are still going – cost $3.3 trillion from 2002 to 2009. Cutting the trillion-dollar war budget in half, ending the Bush tax cuts (which Obama could have done with no sweat when he was bursting with political capital in early 2009 or by calling the GOP bluff before or after the 2010 midterm elections) and raising tax rates on corporations would pretty much wipe out the deficit over the next decade. In the case of corporate taxes, during the last decade it averaged only 10.7 percent of federal revenues – and since 2008 it’s shrunk to barely 5 percent – versus 29.8 percent in the 1950s. More
Deficit Myths The well-funded demagogues who have dominated current debates over budget deficits and the national debt … have helped usher in what Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman calls a “Dark Age of macroeconomics” where many of the most basic facts of economics have been drowned out by ridiculous but useful myths. The country’s news media have lent credibility to these myths. For instance, at the most liberal end of the media spectrum, New York Times coverage implies that tax cuts for the rich are just as likely, or maybe more likely, to create jobs as the alternative route of increasing social spending—a claim recognized as false by most independent economists. More |
TELL CAPUANO AND LYNCH: TAKE A NEW LOOK AT MILITARY SPENDING
Barney Frank and five other Congresspeople are circulating a "Dear Colleague" letter to the president and leaders of the House and Senate that calls for a "comprehensive reevaluation of U.S. worldwide military commitments." It is clear to most people that we will not have the resources we need to create jobs, fund healthcare and education, protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid - and address all the other urgent social needs we have - without ending the wars and redirecting funds from the bloated and wasteful Pentagon budget to meet our domestic priorities.
Please take a moment to ask your own member of Congress to sign onto this letter. We've made it very easy. You can send this letter drafted by US Labor Against the War or modify it to reflect your own views.
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RESOURCES: FUND OUR COMMUNITIES, REDUCE MILITARY SPENDING 25%
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WARS – Old and New – GRIND ON. . . Are you feeling safer now?
The war without end is a war with hardly any news coverage
The United States is bogged down in a 10-year-old war in Afghanistan in which 100,000 American troops and 40,000 other NATO personnel are fighting at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of $2 billion a week in a country beset by grinding poverty and ever-increasing civilian and military casualties… Perhaps no story other than the nation’s continuing economic, jobs and housing crisis is as worthy of extensive reportage as this major and unpopular war in Afghanistan/Pakistan – but to say that the press overall is barely covering it is unfortunately all too true. The Pew Charitable Trust reported in January that for all of 2010 only 4 percent of the news hole in the nation’s newspapers was devoted to war news originating either in Afghanistan or the United States. (The ongoing war in Iraq fared even worse, with 1 percent coverage in 2010.) More
How many secret wars are we fighting?
Somewhere on this planet an American commando is carrying out a mission. Now, say that 70 times and you’re done... for the day. Without the knowledge of the American public, a secret force within the U.S. military is undertaking operations in a majority of the world’s countries. This new Pentagon power elite is waging a global war whose size and scope has never been revealed, until now… While it’s well known that U.S. Special Operations forces are deployed in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, and it’s increasingly apparent that such units operate in murkier conflict zones like Yemen and Somalia, the full extent of their worldwide war has remained deeply in the shadows. More
Stop Dithering in Iraq
The Americans have been bullying the Iraqis to let them stay, and now the Iraqis have agreed to negotiate a continued U.S. troop presence. But it is time to get out. After almost 10 years, the new Iraq is what it is, and we Americans should take Iraqi ambivalence for what it represents. Some Iraqis may want U.S. troops to stay on out of understandable fear for the future, but other Iraqis, notably Moktada al-Sadr, violently oppose any hint of a continued occupation. A continued U.S. presence will be resisted. American soldiers will die, and most importantly, the goal of an Iraq able to make its own decisions and stand on its own feet will be yet again postponed. More
Waging a Savage War on Libyan People
More bombs drop on Tripoli and across Libya tonight. Theses bombs dropped by the British government whose own youth are setting that country on fire in protest at their abandonment… And on the day that NATO massacred 85 Libyan civilians, the images of Britain on fire can garner little sympathy amongst outraged Libyans. More
Return of the Bomb Iran Crowd?
Iran Strategy On Sanctions Mirrors Run-Up To Iraq War Tactics
The decision of more than 90 U.S. senators to press President Obama for Iraq-style sanctions on Iran flew in the face of what some observers warned could be the beginning of a stress test of the international support for pressuring Iran and another step closer to a potential war with the Islamic Republic. But a Tuesday press release [PDF] from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) brings to mind eery parallels between the escalation of sanctions against Iran and the slow lead up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. More
U.S. politicians' favorite terrorist group
Given the supreme importance of the fight against terrorism and the terrible ramifications which ostensibly exist for providing material support to terrorists, it is puzzling to see prominent individuals within the U.S. political establishment openly lobbying for, and taking money from, an Iranian organization which is designated by the State Department as a terrorist group… That these politicians are engaged in providing support for an FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organization), an activity for which countless individuals have been interned, tortured and killed, further illustrates that "supporting terrorism" in today’s parlance simply refers to providing support to an organization which commits violence of which the U.S. does not approve. More
Americans Have the Clock, But the Taliban Have the Time
Obama can truthfully say he inherited this mess from a strategically inept predecessor, but he is not blameless, because his actions of the last eighteen months have made the Afghan predicament much worse. Recent events have placed the dilemma created by . Obama's the surge and de-surge strategy into sharp relief and illustrate how the dangerous reinforcing dynamic introduced above is now locking itself into place. There were 32,000 troops in Afghanistan when Barack Obama became President in January 2009. However, another 11,000 troops had been approved by the Bush Administration in its final months and were in the pipeline to deploy to Afghanistan. Obama ordered his first escalation of 21,700 more troops in March 2009, and he added another 33,000 with his much ballyhooed surge decisions finalized in December 2009. So, by the end of this first year in office, Obama had more than doubled down on the American commitment to what was clearly a failing war in Afghanistan. While he bought off the hawks with these escalations, he sweetened the deal for the doves by promising he would begin reducing our deployed troop levels within eighteen months, beginning in July 2010, together with a vague albeit quickly forgotten promise to withdraw the rest by 2014. More
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ISRAEL/PALESTINE
A fifth of all US congressmen visiting Israel this summer
A fifth of members of the House of Representatives will be taking their summer holidays in Israel this year with almost all the trips being paid for by one of America's most powerful lobby groups.
The [tax exempt] American Israel Education Foundation is shelling out to take around eighty congressmen to Israel during the summer recess period. The group is supporting organisation to the American Israel Public Affair Committee (AIPAC) which describes itself as 'America's leading pro-Israel lobby'. According to the Jerusalem Post, 55 of the holidaymakers will be Republicans while 26 will be Democrats. Many will be visiting Israel for the first time. More
Does your Congressperson represent you – or Israel?
In this time of economic austerity, when jobs are being slashed and Americans are fearful about their future, the Congressional recess is the time for our elected representatives to be home in their districts, reaching out to their constituents and servicing the people they are paid to represent. Instead, this August one out of every five representatives will be taking a junket to Israel, compliments of an affiliate of the Israel lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) but still clocked in on the taxpayer’s dime… Not surprisingly, trip expenses are being paid by an affiliate of the all-powerful AIPAC lobby, the American Israel Educational Foundation. AIPAC lobbies hard to ensure that Israel is kept on the U.S. dole, with $3 billion of US taxpayers’ dollars a year going to the Israeli military. Without AIPAC and the financial contributions to Congressional campaigns made by its affiliate organizations, our representatives would be freer to speak out against funneling precious taxdollars to this already wealthy nation. This junket goes to show that those who claim AIPAC has a stranglehold over our Congress are not far off the mark. More
In Tumult, New Hope for Palestinian Cause
In all the tumult of the Arab revolts, one of the most striking manifestations of change is a rejuvenated embrace of the Palestinian cause. The burst in activism in Egypt, Lebanon and even Tunisia has offered a rebuttal to an old bromide of Arab politics, that authoritarian leaders cynically inflamed sentiments over Israel and Palestine to divert attention from their own shortcomings… All across the region, popular uprisings have most insistently looked inward, at issues of democracy, social justice and dignity. But for many, dignity is a notion defined both individually and collectively. And even in the most idealistic moments of the Arab revolts, the weakness of their own governments was often a focus of protesters’ ire. In Tahrir Square in Cairo, anger at America and Israel was less pronounced than resentment of the subservience of Egyptian leaders to their policies, namely the blockade of Gaza. More
'Israel trying to fix social ills at Palestinians' expense'
Fatah on Thursday responded to the Interior Ministry's approval of housing units in east Jerusalem, accusing Israel of attempting "to solve its social and economic problems at the expense of the Palestinian peoples’ rights and their occupied territory,” Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. In a nod to the hundreds of tents across the country, Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) approved 1,600 apartment units in the east Jerusalem haredi neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo late on Wednesday night. The Hebrew media reported that the Interior Ministry was working to prepare two additional projects in east Jerusalem, including 2,000 projects in Givat Hamatos and 625 units in Pisgat Zeev. More
Palestinians will soon come full circle
The Palestinian national liberation movement has reached its end. As the Palestinian leadership – if there is such a legitimate body today – prepares to bring the issue of statehood to the UN this September, the weeks and months ahead will witness the last desperate attempt to get the international community to assume their responsibilities and ensure that a Palestinian state becomes a reality in the occupied territories… After struggling to revive the peace process for two decades, the Palestinians have lost faith in the process as well as in those tasked with overseeing it, namely the Quartet – United States, Russia, the EU and the UN. For the entire period of the peace process, Israel ploughed forward with more land confiscations, more settlement building, more death and more destruction. More
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EVENTS
Monday, August 15: National Call-in Day: Oppose “Secure Communities!” Line is open 9am-5pm Eastern | 8am-4pm Central | 6am-2pm Pacific
Join us in raising our voices to urge President Obama and the Administration to heed the call from community members, advocates, faith leaders and elected officials around the country to put an end to the misnamed "Secure Communities" (S-comm) program. National Call-in Day to the White House: Suspend "Secure Communities." Stop the Detentions & Deportations. Restore our Rights. Investigate the Abuses. White House Comment Line: 202-456-1111 Enough is enough! Our communities will not be silenced or appeased. DHS announced last Friday that they would continue to rollout S-comm nationally and rescinded all MOU's with states, effectively closing all doors for opting out of the deportation program. Most troubling is the announcement was made in the face of widespread opposition by a broad echo of voices including elected officials and members of Congress who called for an investigation into the program.
Wednesday, August 17: Sen. Scott Brown: Listen to the People! Noon, @ Scott Brown’s Boston Office, JFK Federal Building, 15 New Sudbury Street, Boston. Please join us for a demonstration on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 to tell Scott Brown: “We can’t afford the Bush tax handouts to the wealthy and
super-rich anymore. Stand up for health care and education. Don’t sell out seniors and kids.” As the next round of federal budget negotiations. approaches, Scott Brown is telling Massachusetts families
that he’ll consider Social Security and Medicare cuts, but he’s rejecting any call for shared sacrifice from millionaires and billionaires. To RSVP or for more info, call FayeRuth: 617-284-1152
August 18 – September 11: (Play Rehearsals-Free!) HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH: OUR VALUES IN QUESTION, Paramount Center. 559 Washington St. A play exploring our relationship to money from The Foundry Theater and ArtsEmerson. Written by Kirk Lynn with artistic direction from Melanie Joseph. How Much Is Enough cannot be rehearsed without a live audience! Community groups and organizations all over Boston are needed to start the conversation. Be a part of the Foundry’s first ever audience performance company and help deepen our inquiry and find the structure of this unusual interactive theatrical event. How Much is Enough: The Rehearsals (Free!) (start times vary, runtime approx. 2 hrs) Sign up here: http://bit.ly/VALUESrehearsals FMI: Contact Susie Husted at susie_husted@yahoo.com or Heidi Nelson at heidi_nelson@emerson.edu If you would like to attend a performance, please visit artsemerson.org for details or call the Box Office at 617.824.8400.
Saturday, September 10: KIP TIERNAN MEMORIAL SERVICE, 11 am at Old South Church in Copley Square. Kip Tiernan, advocate for fairness, person of enormous hope, faith and love died on July 2nd after a long struggle with cancer. Kip was a founding member of Community Works, founder Poor People's United Fund, Rosie's Place, Greater Boston Food Bank as well as many other Boston non-profits working for Social Justice. Her voice and vision will be deeply missed. We are determined to keep her legacy alive by mirroring Kip's courage, focus, compassion and ability to cut to the chase and get things done for the people who need it most. Please join us in a celebration of Kip's life at Memorial Service on Saturday, September 10th at.
Thursday, September 15: Demonstrate at the UN for Palestine, 4:30 pm gather at Times Sq.; 5:30 pm march to Grand Central & the U.N.. Palestinians Tell the World:
Sovereignty Means Securing ALL Our Rights! Palestinians everywhere are mobilizing to remind the world of their right to self-determination. In New York we are marching to the United Nations because the world’s attention is focused on the vote on Palestine scheduled to take place there. For over six decades, the U.N. has approved numerous resolutions promising Palestinians their basic rights, none of which have been implemented. We come to the U.N. to demand: Sovereignty, Equality, and the Right of Return for Palestinians NOW!
SAVE THE DATE!
Saturday, October 1: Ending the Endless Wars and Occupations, 9am- 5pm • Suffolk University, Boston. Keynote speaker Noam Chomsky; The Conference marks ten years since 9/11, the War on Terror, the Afghanistan War, and the founding of UJP. The US/NATO bombing of Libya is the latest in the series of wars. Domestically, greed is rampant and serious problems are getting worse. Few peace and justice activists can remember a more troubling time. How did we get here and how can we change things? What can we learn from the historic events in Egypt, where the people triumphed against huge odds, and the workers of Wisconsin? How can the peace movement continue its work to end the wars and cut the military budget while also building cooperation with the economic and racial justice movements? We want a peaceful foreign policy based on democracy to focus on the pressing economic and human problems that must be solved. Featuring Presentations by: Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence: Report from Afghanistan and Iraq; Ann Wright, former U.S. Army Colonel: Report on the Gaza Flotilla and Palestine; Michael McPhearson, National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice: Connecting to the War and Home; Will Hopkins, Iraq Veterans Against the War and New Hampshire Peace Action: The crisis and youth today