| 4308+US TROOPS DEAD, 31, 312 WOUNDED. 155,259 IRAQIS DEAD (MIN), EXCESS IRAQI DEATHS: 655,000 IN the IRAQ WAR BASED ON LIES. ENTER www.costofwar.com |
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Those who cast the votes decide
nothing. Those who count the votes
decide everything.”
—Josef Stalin
”Fascism should rightly be called
corporatism as it is a merger of state
and corporate power,”
—Benito Mussolini
”Behind the ostensible government
sits enthroned an invisible
government owing no allegiance and
acknowledging no responsibility to
the people. To destroy this invisible
government, to befoul the unholy
alliance between corrupt business
and corrupt politics is the first task
of the statesmanship of the day.” —
Theodore Roosevelt ,1906
Only because our elections
have become so dependent
on television and its emphatic
emptiness, could a man of
such sublime and complacent
ignorance assume the
highest office in the land.
--(I lost the author of this one
that I found on the ‘net.
I think it was Mark Crispin Miller.)
Former Senator William Fullbright
succinctly expressed
the type of leadership
we need: “The age of warrior kings
and of warrior presidents has passed
The nuclear age
calls for a different kind
of leadership, a leadership
of intellect, judgment,
tolerance and rationality,
a leadership committed
to human values, to world peace,
and to the improvement
of the human condition.
The attributes upon
which we must draw
are the human attributes
of compassion and common sense,
of intellect and creative imagination,
and of empathy and understanding
between cultures.” —Mark Crispin
Miller(author of Bush Dyslexicon)
”I am a firm believer in the people.
If given the truth, they can be
depended upon to meet any
national crisis.
The great point is to bring them the
real facts.” - Abraham Lincoln
| It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country.” - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1908 |
| ENTER PEACE ACTION Y-TOWN PROGRESSIVE'S past issues OCT,'06 1989-2007 |
| "Loyalty to country, always. Loyalty to the government, when it deserves it." Mark Twain |
REPRESENTATIVE Robert F. Hagan (D) District 60 77 S. High St 11th Floor Columbus, OH 43215-6111 (614) 466-9435 |
197 West Market Street Warren, OH 44481-0074 Phone: (330) 373-0074 Fax: (330) 373-0098 241 Federal Plaza West Youngstown, OH 44503 Phone: (330) 740-0193 Fax: (330) 740-0182 1030 Tallmadge Avenue Akron, OH 44310 Phone: (330) 630-7311 Fax: (330) 630-7314 |
| Governor Ted Strickland Riffe Center, 30th Floor 77 South High Street Columbus, OH 43215-6108 Phone/Fax: (614) 466-3555 Fax: (614) 466-9354 |
| Speak Out!! Congressman Tim Ryan 222 Cannon Office Building Wash, DC 20515 Toll Free: 1-800-856-4152 Office: 202-225-5261 Fax: 202-225-3719 |
| REP. Robert F. Hagan (D) District 60 77 S. High St 11th Floor Columbus, OH 43215-6111 (614) 466-9435 |
| Governor Ted Strickland Riffe Center, 30th Floor 77 South High Street Columbus, OH 43215-6108 (614) 466-3555 Fax: (614) 466-9354 |
| Speak Out!! Congressman Tim Ryan 222 Cannon Office Building Wash, DC 20515 Toll Free: 1-800-856-4152 Office: 202-225-5261 Fax: 202-225-3719 |
| Click on image below to hear Neil Young's song 'Living with War.' |
| ACLU: US Constitution in Grave Danger United Press International Washington - The American Civil Liberties Union Wednesday said it is "do or die time" to save the U.S. Constitution. The ACLU in a statement urged the U.S. Congress to "vote to hold White House officials in contempt for refusing to cooperate with legitimate congressional subpoenas." The ACLU statement said the issue had become "a constitutional crisis that threatens to destroy the separation of powers." "Presidents have tried in the past to overreach in claiming executive privilege," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "However, Congress has long served as a check to such abuses of power, slapping the president's hand when needed and pursuing contempt or enforcement actions that eventually resulted in the release of crucial information. Today's Congress must do the same if it wishes to remain a meaningful and independent branch of govenment." The ACLU said it "rejected claims that Congress' responsibility to conduct oversight or investigate executive misconduct was somehow less important than its legislative function and therefore not worthy of compulsory enforcement." "It's do-or-die time for the separation of powers," Fredrickson said. "Congress is facing a historic moment when it can fight for its rightful place in our Constitution or accept the president's continued and sweeping claims of supremacy." The ACLU noted that U.S. courts "have long supported Congress' authority not only to pass laws, but also to investigate their application. The courts have asserted that claims of executive privilege are a potentially dangerous proposition that should only be applied, and can only be upheld, under narrow circumstances." The confrontation between the Democratic-controlled 110th Congress and the Bush administration on warrantless surveillance has been escalating in recent weeks, with both sides hardening their positions. |
| SPEAK OUT! CONTACT Senator George Voinovich (R- OH) 202-224-3353 FAX 202-228-1382 http://voinovich.senate.gov Senator Sherrod Brown (D- OH) 202-224-2315 FAX 202-228-6321 http://brown.senate.gov |
| IF YOU WANT IT.. JOHN LENNON |
| To thine own self be true and it shall follow as the night to the day that thou canst not be false to any man __Shakespeare |
| Over 4325 U.S. dead .... and over 33,000 wounded. Between 100,000 &1,000,000 Iraqis dead... & 4,000,000 displaced. Almost $1,000,000,000,000 spent.... where is your rage!!?? |
| TELL CONGRESS TO END THE WAR! Program this number into your cell phone. Call your Senators and Representative one time a week until this war is ended! CAPITAL OPERATOR 1-800-828-0498 |
| HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED Current military” includes Dept. of Defense ($653 billion), the military portion from other departments ($150 billion), and an additional $162 billion to supplement the Budget’s misleading and vast underestimate of only $38 billion for the “war on terror.” “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.* These figures are from an analysis of detailed tables in the “Analytical Perspectives” book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009. The figures are federal funds, which do not include trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised and spent separately from income taxes. What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2008, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining trust and federal funds began during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller |
ENTER
| WRL ESTIMATES A TOTAL OF $200 BILLION WILL BE AUTHORIZED TO BE SPENT IN fy2009 |
| Soldier's Heart OUR MISSION: Soldier’s Heart is a veterans’ return and healing project addressing the emotional and spiritual needs of veterans, their families and communities. Soldier’s Heart promotes and guides community-based efforts to heal the effects of war based on strategies presented in “War and the Soul”. Soldier’s Heart 500 Federal St., Suite 303 Troy, NY 12180 518.274.0501 |
| The key to healing, says psychotherapist Ed Tick, is in how we understand PTSD. In war’s overwhelming violence the true self flees and can become lost for life. War and the Soul will change the way we think about war, for veterans and for all those who love and want to help themIt shows how to make the wounded soul whole again. When this work is achieved, PTSD vanishes and the veteran can truly return home. |
| "We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders and we need to raise hell. " Molly Ivins |
| Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. |
An experiment in provocation - Stealing Gaza By BRIAN ENO Counterpunch Jan 2 - 4, 2009 It's a tragedy that the Israelis - a people who must understand better than almost anybody the horrors of oppression - are now acting as oppressors. As the great Jewish writer Primo Levi once remarked "Everybody has their Jews, and for the Israelis it's the Palestinians". By creating a middle Eastern version of the Warsaw ghetto they are recapitulating their own history as though they've forgotten it. And by trying to paint an equivalence between the Palestinians - with their homemade rockets and stone-throwing teenagers - and themselves - with one of the most sophisticated military machines in the world - they sacrifice all credibility. The Israelis are a gifted and resourceful people who fully deserve the right to live in peace, but who seem intent on squandering every chance to allow that to happen. It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that this conflict serves the political and economic purposes of Israel so well that they have every interest in maintaining it. While there is fighting they can continue to build illegal settlements. While there is fighting they continue to receive huge quantities of military aid from the United States. And while there is fighting they can avoid looking candidly at themselves and the ruthlessness into which they are descending. is now an experiment in provocation. Stuff one and a half million people into a tiny space, stifle their access to water, electricity, food and medical treatment, destroy their livelihoods, and humiliate them regularly...and, surprise, surprise - they turn hostile. Now why would you want to make that experiment? Because the hostility you provoke is the whole point. Now 'under attack' you can cast yourself as the victim, and call out the helicopter gunships and the F16 attack fighters and the heavy tanks and the guided missiles, and destroy yet more of the pathetic remains of infrastructure that the Palestinian state still has left. And then you can point to it as a hopeless case, unfit to govern itself, a terrorist state, a state with which you couldn't possibly reach an accommodation. And then you can carry on with business as usual, quietly stealing their homeland. Brian Eno is a musician and music producer. http://www.counterpunch.com /eno01022009.html |
| VIGILS FOR PEACE FRIDAYS 4:30- 5:30pm \Ray Nakley for info - 330.746.1797 or Martha Katz 330.743.5602 JULY: 3rd FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, DOWNTOWN YOUNGSTOWN 10th COLUMBIANA - PAMIDA PLAZA- (RTS 14 & 46) 17th WICK & RAYEN (NEAR YSU & MAIN LIBRARY) 24th TIBETS-WICK & RT 422 (McKINLEY HTS / NILES) 31st DOWNTOWN STRUTHERS (RT 616 NEAR RR TRACKS) Dear Friends and Colleagues, After much consideration and discussion, our consensus is to continue vigiling for peace and justice publicly and regularly. Our decision was based on the following rationale: 1. Despite our hopefulness for the Obama administration, and some positive movement which we commend, the fact remains that Obama's timetable for US troop removal from Iraq is essentially the same as Bush's or McCain's: 16-18 months. Even the Iraqis have said this could be done sooner. 2. The troops are not necessarily coming home (for good) but being recycled back to Afghanistan to follow in the bloodily defeated footsteps of the Soviets, the British and every other whipped and expelled would-be conqueror back to Alexander. 3. Israel's recent criminal assault on Gaza (as on Lebanon in 2006) is actually supported by Obama [check out his website]. Although his immediate attention to the region, along with his appointment of George Mitchell are hopeful signs, Obama and Clinton's refusal to deal with the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinians, i.e. Hamas, is disappointing. Obama understands that he has to talk to Iran ("You make peace with your enemies"), but he has yet to extend the logic to Hamas preferring to deal with the thoroughly corrupt and discredited Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Palestinians will interpret this as an expectation for them to accept the Apartheid of the so-called peace deals offered by the Quartet. There can be no good faith negotiations as Israel continues, in flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions, the World Court and the UN, to build the Apartheid Wall, thousands of illegal settlements, steal Palestine's resources (primarily land and water) and to starve or slaughter the Palestinians, at will, as the political calculus suggests a benefit. 4. Despite our real hopes for Obama, it remains our job to organize, educate and agitate at all levels available. Our government officials, especially Obama, need us (per FDR) to pressure them to adopt what we believe to be the right course. Therefore, vigils need to continue for Iraq, Afghanistan and especially Palestine as all of these occupations are directly conducted or supported by the U.S. government. 5. However, we also recognize the need to vary our activities to attract new support and keep the struggle fresh and interesting. Thus, on some occasions, instead of vigiling, we will show films, hold panel discussions, host guest speakers and sponsor other activities to educate ourselves and others to be ready to improve our access and ability t influence policy-makers, especially our new president. Thanks for your continued commitment and support. Ray Nakley |
We must be
the change
we wish to see in the world
the change
we wish to see in the world
| Music playing: Original song ' Good Dog' written and sung by Terry Murcko |
| Our 44th president Barak Obama and wife Michelle |
Obama's Bubble of Ignorance... Solving Palestine While Israel Destroys It By KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON April 15, 2009 To a greater degree than perhaps ever before, Washington today is engulfed in denial about Israel and its stupefying behavior, about its murderous policies toward the Palestinians, about the efforts of Israel and its U.S. defenders to force us to ignore its atrocities. Blinders have always been part of the attire of U.S. policymakers and politicians with regard to Israel and Israeli actions, but in the wake of the three-week Israeli assault that laid waste to the tiny territory of Gaza -- an assault ended very conveniently just before Barack Obama was inaugurated, so that he has been able to act as though it never occurred -- the perspective from which Washington operates is strikingly more blinkered than ever in the past. At a symposium on Capitol Hill sponsored by the Middle East Policy Council just days before Obama took office, Ali Abunimah, a sharp Palestinian- American commentator who runs the website ElectronicIntifada. net, declared frankly that Washington exists in a bubble of ignorance and denial. While the rest of the world, particularly at the level of civil society, is talking about war crimes tribunals for Israeli leaders and about sanctions against Israel, Abunimah observed, Washington and those world leaders beholden to it are trying to move ahead as if nothing had changed. “We have to expect,” he said, “that the official apparatus of the peace-process industry -- the Hillary Clintons, the Quartets, the Tony Blairs, the Javier Solanas, the Ban Ki-Moons, the whole panoply of official and semi-official Washington think tanks -- will carry on with business as usual, trying to make believe that, through their ministrations, a Palestinian state will come into being.” But in the real world, this state won’t happen, he said, and the time has come to speak frankly about what is going on. So far, three months into the Obama administration, there is little evidence that Obama sees clearly or is ready to speak frankly. Another very savvy Palestinian political commentator and activist, Haidar Eid, who lives and endures Israel’s constant punishments in Gaza, recently told an interviewer that the international reaction to Israel’s Gaza assault was like the reaction to some kind of natural disaster -- as if no human hand had had a role in the destruction and nothing but money and aid was required to resolve the problem. As if, he said, the disaster had not been “created by the state of Israel to annihilate the Palestinian resistance and Palestinian society.” Eid was commenting on an international conference of donors that convened in Sharm el- Sheikh in early March and made themselves feel magnanimous by pledging almost $5 billion in aid to relieve the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza -- but not to do anything to resolve the political reality of Israeli occupation that is at the root of Gaza’s humanitarian plight. The donors -- the same “peace-process industry” leaders Abunimah spoke of -- were there only to pretend concern and to dole out money, always the easiest way in the minds of political elites to make messy human problems go away. Thus do they relieve their own consciences and at the same time tell Israel it can proceed with impunity to destroy Palestine and Palestinians; the international community will pick up the pieces and pick up the tab. Israel has not failed to get the picture. Any thought of forcing Israel to cease its gross oppression of Palestinians, any thought of doing anything to deprive Israel of the carte blanche it enjoys, was apparently beyond these do-gooders. Any realization that their aid pledge was merely part of an endless destructive cycle was also lost on them -- a cycle in which these same donors, led by the United States, arm Israel with the world’s most advanced weapons and the absolute political power that comes with the weapons, and Israel then uses the arms and the political license to destroy the Palestinians, and the donors convene again to pay to repair the destruction. The hypocrisy was further underlined by the firm U.S. demand that, before Gazans receive any of this international largesse, Hamas must recognize Israel’s right to exist -- in other words, Hamas must recognize the right to exist of the very state that just tried to destroy it and its people, and even the land they live on. Were Israel’s behavior not so loathsome, the U. S. and international denial would be something to laugh at. But the aid pledge and the endless loop of Western-financed misery -- and the myopia they signify -- together constitute but one striking example of the willful ignorance, arising from a thought process wholly oriented toward Israel’s perspective, from which the United States and the international community always approach this conflict. The end of George W. Bush’s long tenure and the advent of Barack Obama have now given rise to other initiatives that are as naïve and myopic as the aid pledges -- myopic because, wittingly or not, they come from a starting point that is totally centered on Israel and its demands and totally oblivious to Israel’s barbaric behavior. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton speak earnestly of the “inevitability” and the “inescapability” of a solution based on two states, without regard to the growing impossibility of a real Palestinian state or to the fact that Israel is killing off any prospect for such a state and is in fact openly killing off the Palestinians. The early months of the administration, and the appointment of George Mitchell as special Middle East envoy, are bringing out others who, more enamored of the process than of any prospect of genuine peace, blindly pursue the “peace-process industry” regar virtual guarantee of failure. Probably the most detailed plan purporting to lay out a path toward a two-state solution was actually written before Obama took office and is only now being publicized. This plan -- entitled “A Last Chance for a Two-State Israel-Palestine Agreement” -- was drawn up in December by a group of well meaning U.S. elder statesmen, including Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Lee Hamilton, and Paul Volcker, the only one of the ten to enter the Obama administration. The elders were drawn together by Henry Seigman, a former head of the American Jewish Committee and scholar of the Palestinian- Israeli conflict who has distinguished himself in recent years by his frank, realistic criticism of the Israeli occupation. The proposal is a 17-page blueprint for achieving the impossible. It approaches the conflict from an Israel-centered perspective and indeed, by heavily emphasizing the need to meet Israel’s security needs, contains the prescription for its own failure. The report devotes a remarkable one-fifth of its entire length to an annex on “Addressing Israel’s Security Challenges,” in addition to considerable verbiage devoted to this subject in the body of the document. There is no mention whatsoever of any need to ensure Palestine’s security against threats from Israel. The impulse behind this plan is admirable: it recognizes the centrality of the Palestinian- Israeli conflict to other issues and U.S. interests in the Middle East; it urges that the new administration overturn the Bush administration’ s eight years of disengagement from the conflict and do so quickly; it calls for engaging Hamas; and it urges that the peace effort be undertaken even at the cost of angering “certain domestic constituencies.” But the plan itself is naïve and oblivious to the brutal realities of the situation, which existed even before the Gaza assault. Because it takes no account of Israel’s lethal intentions toward the Palestinians or its responsibility for the current level of violence, the report actually encourages Israeli intransigence while blithely assuming that this rigidity can be overcome by issuing a plan on a few pieces of paper while the U.S. continues to send Israel the arms necessar to destroy Palestine. The report exists in a never-never land in which Israel has no responsibility for occupying Palestinian land and has concerns only for its own security but no obligations to the Palestinians. The report refers repeatedly to the “chicken and egg” security situation in the occupied territories -- as if it cannot be determined whether Israel’s occupation or Palestinian resistance to it came first, as if the occupation is not the reason for Palestinian resistance, as if the Palestinian suicide bombings that the report says cause Israel “understandable anxiety” might have arisen out of nowhere rather than precisely out of Israel’s oppression. The plan addresses the requirements of peace between the two envisioned states almost solely in terms of Israel’s needs -- not only its security needs, but its settlements needs and its concerns about Palestinian refugees’ right of return. For instance, while it calls for the border between the two states to be “based on” the lines of June 1967 with only minor reciprocal modifications, it recommends that the United States “take into account areas heavily populated by Israelis in the West Bank.” Although the language minimizes the magnitude of this issue, this passage means that accommodation must be made for major Israeli settlement blocs, which include approximately ten percent of the small Delaware-sized West Bank, cover virtually the entirety of East Jerusalem, and include fully 85 percent of the 475,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In April 2004, George Bush gave Ariel Sharon a letter that officially granted U.S. approval to Israel’s retention of what Bush called “major [Jewish] population centers” in the West Bank, thus altering what had been almost 40 years of U.S. policy supporting a virtually full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. Bill Clinton’s “parameters” outlined in 2000 had done the same on a somewhat smaller scale by proposing to allow Israel to retain its settlements -- referred to by the anodyne term “neighborhoods” -- in East Jerusalem. The latest proposal by the elder statesmen repeats this Clinton dictum and in general endorses both Clinton’s and Bush’s declarations unilaterally ceding Palestinian land to Israel, without negotiation or consultation with Palestinians. This proposal also gives away the Palestinians’ right of return. Although it gives a nod to the refugees’ “sense of injustice” and calls for “meaningful financial compensation,” it declares, again unilaterally and pre-emptively, that resolution of the refugee problem should “protect Israel from an influx of refugees” -- meaning that the right would not be available to all or even most refugees who might choose to return to the homes and land inside Israel from which they were expelled. This provision would “protect” Israel from any requirement that it rectify the massive injustice it perpetrated in 1948 and would require that the victims be satisfied, after 60-plus years, with a little money and a home somewhere outside their own homeland. The major element of the elders’ report proposes that the Palestinian state would be non-militarized and would be policed by a U.S.- led, UN-mandated multinational force that would function for five years but would have a renewable mandate, the intention being to permit Palestinians to control their own security affairs (and of course be able to guarantee Israel’s security) within 15 years. The force would be a NATO force supplemented by Jordanian, Egyptian and -- amazingly enough -- Israeli troops. The Alice-in-Wonderland aspect of this particular proposal is the elders’ assumption that Palestinian sovereignty would somehow be respected even as the Palestinians were being forced to turn their security over to a multinational force that included not merely elements of multiple outside armies, but troops from the very oppressor the Palestinians are presumed to have just shed by attaining statehood. This is the kind of “peace-process industry” nonsense that renders proposals such as this utterly meaningless. The proposal gives away, before negotiations have begun, more than any state-to-be could ever possibly afford to give. It cedes territory in what would be the Palestinian state before Palestinians are even able to sit down at the negotiating table. It cedes, without cavil or apology, the Palestinians’ right to redress of a gross injustice that is, and has been from the beginning 60-plus years ago, the fundamental Palestinian grievance against Israel. It cedes Palestinian sovereignty and security by inviting in an international security force including troops of precisely the occupying force that the Palestinians seek to be rid off. And it cedes any viability in the new so-called state. The elders who composed this document should know better. Some of them have actually worked as specialists on the Arab- Israeli conflict in the past, and the proposal’s convener Henry Siegman has been working on this issue for decades. But the proposal exhibits so little understanding of the extent to which Israel has already absorbed the West Bank into itself that it would appear that none of these individuals has ever even visited the region. Nor, in its blithe assessment that it will be possible to induce Israel to agree to any withdrawal at all from the occupied territories, is there much understanding that no Israeli government of any political stripe, and particularly none of the rightwing governments that have led Israel for the last decade and more, has any intention of permitting the Palestinians any degree of true independence and sovereignty anywhere in Palestine. Finally, just like the donors’ conference that treated the Gaza disaster as if some natural force beyond human control had descended like a hurricane on the territory, this proposal gives no sign of recognition that Israel is the responsible party in this conflict. Israel is the party with all the power, controlling all the territory; Israel is the party that is in occupation over the Palestinians, in defiance of international law; Israel is the party that demolishes homes, bombs civilian residential neighborhoods, drops white phosphorus on civilians, imposes checkpoints and roadblocks and other movement restrictions, builds walls to close off Palestinians, blocks imports of food to an entire Palestinian population, confiscates land to build settlements and roads for Israeli Jews only. Israel is the party that has carried out 85 percent of the killings in the conflict since the intifada began eight and a half years ago. But the ignorance of these statesmen and their denial of the realities of Israeli occupation, Israeli brutality, Israeli aggression are indicative of just how much Israel is able to get away with in the atmosphere of adulation for Israel that prevails in the United States. One wonders, in fact, if these people are truly as ignorant as they seem to be of what is going on, with U.S. facilitation, in Palestine. Do they believe it is all right and that it advances U.S. national interests in some way to continue arming Israel and grant it total carte blanche to continue oppressing Palestinians? Or have they been so sucked into the Israel-centered discourse in this country that they are literally afraid to oppose Israel and confront its U.S. lobbyists? The house of cards that is the “peace-process industry” that Abunimah referred to -- that house of cards that pretends Israel is not a rogue nation rampaging through its neighborhood whenever it feels like it -- must soon collapse. As Abunimah told the Capitol Hill conference, what people know in Europe and in Chicago, where he lives and works, is quite different from what people in Washington and New York think they know and, as he noted, silence about the realities on the ground in Palestine is no longer an option. When the history of this period is written, Abunimah said, “Gaza will be seen as the moment after which it became impossible for Israel to be integrated into the region as a so- called Jewish-Zionist state.” Kathleen and Bill Christison have been writing on the Middle East for several years and have co-authored a book, forthcoming in June from Pluto Press, on the Israeli occupation and its impact on Palestinians. Thirty years ago, they were analysts for the CIA. They can be reached at kb.christison@ earthlink. net._._,_. ___ |
| Monday, June 1, 2009 TruthDig.com War Is Sin by Chris Hedges The crisis faced by combat veterans returning from war is not simply a profound struggle with trauma and alienation. It is often, for those who can slice through the suffering to self- awareness, an existential crisis. War exposes the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. It rips open the hypocrisy of our religions and secular institutions. Those who return from war have learned something which is often incomprehensible to those who have stayed home. We are not a virtuous nation. God and fate have not blessed us above others. Victory is not assured. War is neither glorious nor noble. And we carry within us the capacity for evil we ascribe to those we fight. Those who return to speak this truth, such as members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, are our contemporary prophets. But like all prophets they are condemned and ignored for their courage. They struggle, in a culture awash in lies, to tell what few have the fortitude to digest. They know that what we are taught in school, in worship, by the press, through the entertainment industry and at home, that the melding of the state's rhetoric with the rhetoric of religion, is empty and false. The words these prophets speak are painful. We, as a nation, prefer to listen to those who speak from the patriotic script. We prefer to hear ourselves exalted. If veterans speak of terrible wounds visible and invisible, of lies told to make them kill, of evil committed in our name, we fill our ears with wax. Not our boys, we say, not them, bred in our homes, endowed with goodness and decency. For if it is easy for them to murder, what about us? And so it is simpler and more comfortable not to hear. We do not listen to the angry words that cascade forth from their lips, wishing only that they would calm down, be reasonable, get some help, and go away. We, the deformed, brand our prophets as madmen. We cast them into the desert. And this is why so many veterans are estranged and enraged. This is why so many succumb to suicide or addictions. War comes wrapped in patriotic slogans, calls for sacrifice, honor and heroism and promises of glory. It comes wrapped in the claims of divine providence. It is what a grateful nation asks of its children. It is what is right and just. It is waged to make the nation and the world a better place, to cleanse evil. War is touted as the ultimate test of manhood, where the young can find out what they are made of. War, from a distance, seems noble. It gives us comrades and power and a chance to play a small bit in the great drama of history. It promises to give us an identity as a warrior, a patriot, as long as we go along with the myth, the one the war-makers need to wage wars and the defense contractors need to increase their profits. But up close war is a soulless void. War is about barbarity, perversion and pain, an unchecked orgy of death. Human decency and tenderness are crushed. Those who make war work overtime to reduce love to smut, and all human beings become objects, pawns to use or kill. The noise, the stench, the fear, the scenes of eviscerated bodies and bloated corpses, the cries of the wounded, all combine to spin those in combat into another universe. In this moral void, naively blessed by secular and religious institutions at home, the hypocrisy of our social conventions, our strict adherence to moral precepts, come unglued. War, for all its horror, has the power to strip away the trivial and the banal, the empty chatter and foolish obsessions that fill our days. It lets us see, although the cost is tremendous. The Rev. William P. Mahedy, who was a Catholic chaplain in Vietnam, tells of a soldier, a former altar boy, in his book "Out of the Night: The Spiritual Journey of Vietnam Vets," who says to him: "Hey, Chaplain ... how come it's a sin to hop into bed with a mama-san but it's okay to blow away gooks out in the bush?" "Consider the question that he& I were forced to confront on that day in a jungle clearing," Mahedy writes. "How is it that a Christian can, with a clear conscience, spend a year in a war zone killing people and yet place his soul in jeopardy by spending a few minutes with a prostitute? If the New Testament prohibitions of sexual misconduct are to be stringently interpreted, why, then, are Jesus' injunctions against violence not binding in the same way? In other words, what does the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill' really mean?" Military chaplains, a majority of whom are evangelical Christians, defend the life of the unborn, tout America as a Christian nation and eagerly bless the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as holy crusades. The hollowness of their morality, the staggering disconnect between the values they claim to promote, is ripped open in war. There is a difference between killing someone who is trying to kill you and taking the life of someone who does not have the power to harm you. The first is killing. The second is murder. But in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the enemy is elusive and rarely seen, murder occurs far more often than killing. Families are massacred in airstrikes. Children are gunned down in blistering suppressing fire laid down in neighborhoods after an improvised explosive device goes off near a convoy. Artillery shells obliterate homes. And no one stops to look. The dead and maimed are left behind. The utter failure of nearly all our religious institutions-whose texts are unequivocal about murder-to address the essence of war has rendered them useless. These institutions have little or nothing to say in wartime because the god they worship is a false god, one that promises victory to those who obey the law and believe in the manifest destiny of the nation. We all have the capacity to commit evil. It takes little to unleash it. For those of us who have been to war this is the awful knowledge that is hardest to digest, the knowledge that the line between the victims and the victimizers is razor-thin, that human beings find a perverse delight in destruction and death, and that few can resist the pull. At best, most of us become silent accomplices. Wars may have to be fought to ensure survival, but they are always tragic. They always bring to the surface the worst elements of any society, those who have a penchant for violence and a lust for absolute power. They turn the moral order upside down. It was the criminal class that first organized the defense of Sarajevo. When these goons were not manning roadblocks to hold off the besieging Bosnian Serb army they were looting, raping and killing the Serb residents in the city. And those politicians who speak of war as an instrument of power, those who wage war but do not know its reality, those powerful statesmen-the Henry Kissingers, Robert McNamaras, Donald Rumsfelds, the Dick Cheneys-those who treat war as part of the great game of nations, are as amoral as the religious stooges who assist them. And when the wars are over what they have to say to us in their thick memoirs about war is also hollow, vacant and useless. "In theological terms, war is sin," writes Mahedy. "This has nothing to do with whether a particular war is justified or whether isolated incidents in a soldier's war were right or wrong. The point is that war as a human enterprise is a matter of sin. It is a form of hatred for one's fellow human beings. It produces alienation from others and nihilism, and it ultimately represents a turning away from God." The young soldiers and Marines do not plan or organize the war. They do not seek to justify it or explain its causes. They are taught to believe. The symbols of the nation and religion are interwoven. The will of God becomes the will of the nation. This trust is forever shattered for many in war. Soldiers in combat see the myth used to send them to war implode. They see that war is not clean or neat or noble, but venal and frightening. They see into war's essence, which is death. War is always about betrayal. It is about betrayal of the young by the old, of cynics by idealists, and of soldiers and Marines by politicians. Society's institutions, including our religious institutions, which mold us into compliant citizens, are unmasked. This betrayal is so deep that many never find their way back to faith in the nation or in any god. They nurse a self-destructive anger and resentment, understandable and justified, but also crippling. Ask a combat veteran struggling to piece his or her life together about God and watch the raw vitriol and pain pour out. They have seen into the corrupt heart of America, into the emptiness of its most sacred institutions, into our staggering hypocrisy, and those of us who refuse to heed their words become complicit in the evil they denounce. © 2009 TruthDig.com Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. Hedges graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of many books, including: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should Know About War, and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. His most recent book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, will be out in July, but is available for pre-order. |
| Goodbye, GM "It's a new day and a new century. The President – and the UAW – must seize this moment and create a big batch of lemonade from this very sour and sad lemon." – Michael Moore "It is a sad irony that the company which invented 'planned obsolescence' ... has now made itself obsolete." TO CONTINUE... ENTER MICHAEL MOORE'S SITE HERE |
| The Silence of Move On by Tom Hayden The Nation, Wed, May 27th, 2009 When he met with Obama in February, Jason Ruben, executive director of MoveOn, told the president it was "the moment to go big," then indicated that MoveOn would not oppose the $94 billion war supplemental request, nor the 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, nor the increased civilian casualties from the mounting number of Predator attacks. What was MoveOn's explanation for abandoning the peace movement in a meeting with a president the peace movement was key to electing? According to Ruben and MoveOn, it was the preference of its millions of members, as ascertained by house meetings and polls. The evidence, however, is otherwise. Last December 17, 48.3 percent of MoveOn members listed "end the war in Iraq" as a 2009 goal, after healthcare (64.9 percent), economic recovery and job creation (62.1 percent) and building a green economy/stopping climate change (49.6 percent--only 1.5 percent above Iraq.) This was at a moment when most Americans believed the Iraq War was ending. Afghanistan and Pakistan were not listed among top goals which members could vote on. Then on May 22 MoveOn surveyed its members once again, listing ten possible campaigns for the organization. "Keep up the pressure to the end the war in Iraq" was listed ninth among the options. Again, Afghanistan and Pakistan were not on the MoveOn list of options. Nor was Guantánamo nor the administration's torture policies. ("Investigate the Bush Administration" was the first option.) MoveOn is supposed to be an Internet version of participatory democracy, but the organization's decision-making structure apparently assures that the membership is voiceless on the question of these long wars. What if they included an option like "demanding a diplomatic settlement and opposing a quagmire in Afghanistan and Pakistan"? Or "shifting from a priority on military spending to civilian spending on food, medicine and schools?" This is no small matter. MoveOn has collected a privately held list of 5 million names, most of them strong peace advocates. The organization's membership contributed an unprecedented $180 million for the federal election cycle in 2004- 2006. Those resources, now squelched or sequestered, mean that the most vital organization in the American peace movement is missing in action. What to do? There is no point raving and ranting against MoveOn. The only path is in organizing a dialogue with the membership, over the Internet, and having faith that their voices will turn the organization to oppose these escalating occupations. The same approach is necessary towards other vital organs of the peace movement including rank-and-file Democrat activists and the post-election Obama organization (Organizing for America) through a persistent, bottom-up campaign to renew the peace movement as a powerful force in civil society. This is not a simple matter of an organizational oligarchy manipulating its membership, although the avoidance by MoveOn's leadership is a troubling sign. There is genuine confusion over Afghanistan and Pakistan among the rank and file. The economic crisis has averted attention away from the battlefront. Many who voted for Obama understandably will give him the benefit of the doubt, for now. Silence sends a message. The de facto MoveOn support for the $94 billion war supplemental reverberates up the ladder of power. Feeling no pressure, Congressional leadership has abdicated its critical oversight function over the expanding wars, not even allowing members to vote for a December report on possible exit strategies. In the end, a gutsy sixty voted against HR 2346 on May 14, but many defected to vote for the war spending, including Neil Abercrombie, Jerry Nadler, David Obey, Xavier Becerra, Lois Capps, Maurice Hinchey, Jesse Jackson, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Patrick Kennedy, Charles Rangel, Lucille Roybal- Allard, Loretta Sanchez, Rosa De Lauro, Bennie Thompson, Jerry McNerney, Robert Wexler and Henry Waxman. (Bill Delahunt, Linda Sanchez and Pete Stark were not recorded.) If there were significant pressures from networks like MoveOn in their Congressional districts, the opposition vote might have approached 85. Appropriations chair David Obey in essence granted Obama a one-year pass to show results in Afghanistan. If the war appears to be a quagmire by then, he claimed, the Democrats will become more critical. Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered the same message; according to the Washington Examiner, May 6: "There won't be any more war supplementals, so my message to my members is, this is it." Pelosi's words were carefully parsed, saying that the White House would not be allowed another supplemental form of appropriation, which is different from an actual pledge to oppose war funding. This one-year pass means that the grassroots peace movement has a few months to light a fire and reawaken pressure from below on the Congress and president. In the meantime, here are some predictions for the coming year: • Iraq: Will Obama keep his pledge to withdraw combat forces from Iraq on a sixteen-month timetable, and all forces by 2011? At this point, the pace is slowing, and the deadline being somewhat extended, under pressure from US commanders on the ground. Sunnis are threatening to resume their insurgency if the al-Maliki regime fails to incorporate them into the political and security structures. The president insists however, that he is only making adjustments to a timetable that is on track. Prognosis: Precarious. • Afghanistan: Will the Obama troop escalation deepen the quagmire or become a successful surge against the Taliban by next year? Another 21,000 troops and advisers are on their way to the battlefield. Civilian casualties are mounting, causing the besieged Karzai government to complain. Preventive detention of Afghans will only expand. US deaths, now over 600, are sure to increase this summer. Taliban may hold out and redeploy in order to stretch US forces thin. Prognosis: Escalation into quagmire. • Pakistan: US policies have driven Al Qaeda from Afghanistan into Pakistan's tribal areas, where the United States is attacking with Predators and turning Pakistan's US-funded armed forces towards counterinsurgency. Public opinion is being inflamed against the US intervention. Prognosis: An expanding American war in Pakistan with greater threats to American security. • Iran: With or without US complicity, Israel may attack Iran early next year, with unforeseeable consequences in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prognosis: Crisis will intensify. • Global: The United States will fail to attract more combat troops to fight in Afghanistan and Pakistan from Europe or elsewhere, causing pressure to increase for a non-military negotiated solution. Prognosis: Obama still popular, US still isolated. • Budget priorities: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan will deeply threaten the administration's ability to succeed on the domestic front with stimulus spending, healthcare, education and alternative energy. Prognosis: false hope for "guns and butter" all over again |
What we do at Peace Action…
We are the nation's largest grassroots peace
network, with chapters and affiliates in 30
states. We organize our grassroots network
to place pressure on Congress and the
Administration through write-in campaigns,
internet actions, citizen lobbying and direct
action. Through a close relationship with
progressive members of Congress, we play
a key role in devising strategies to move
forward peace legislation, and, as a leading
member of United for Peace and Justice and
the Win Without War coalition, we lend our
expertise and large network to achieving
common goals.
At Peace Action, we recognize that real
change comes from the bottom up and we are
committed to educating and organizing at the
grassroots level. Together, we have the power
to change the world.
We are the nation's largest grassroots peace
network, with chapters and affiliates in 30
states. We organize our grassroots network
to place pressure on Congress and the
Administration through write-in campaigns,
internet actions, citizen lobbying and direct
action. Through a close relationship with
progressive members of Congress, we play
a key role in devising strategies to move
forward peace legislation, and, as a leading
member of United for Peace and Justice and
the Win Without War coalition, we lend our
expertise and large network to achieving
common goals.
At Peace Action, we recognize that real
change comes from the bottom up and we are
committed to educating and organizing at the
grassroots level. Together, we have the power
to change the world.
| "No matter how cynical you get, it's almost impossible to keep up." - Lily Tomlin |
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articles or essays that you
feel would contribute towards
balancing our website and
thereby making it better .
We would appreciate any
and all feedback.
Contact us....people@paytown.org
| Social Justice and Peace Studies Website Resource List sorted Alphabetically Whenever possible the descriptions of the following resources have been taken directly from their source. This list is by no means exhaustive. Suggestions for additions can be sent to people@paytown.org Adbusters: Adbusters offers incisive philosophical articles as well as activist commentary from around the world addressing issues ranging from genetically modified foods to media concentration. In addition, our annual social marketing campaigns like Buy Nothing Day and TV Turnoff Week have made us an important activist networking group. Ultimately, though, Adbusters is an ecological magazine, dedicated to examining the relationship between human beings and their physical and mental environment. We want a world in which the economy and ecology resonate in balance. We try to coax people from spectator to participant in this quest. We want folks to get mad about corporate disinformation, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that pollutes our physical or mental commons.www.adbusters.org Alternatives: Alternatives meets the needs and responds to the demands of progressive Canadians, and tries to create a more equitable and sustainable country for all. Through innovative and comprehensive programming, we will continue building our base, so that the alternatives we propose, truly mirror the expectations of all Canadians. www.alternatives.ca Alternet: AlterNet's online magazine provides a mix of news, opinion and investigative journalism on subjects ranging from the environment, the drug war, technology and cultural trends to policy debate, sexual politics and health issues. The AlterNet article database includes more than 7,000 stories from over 200 sources. A nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting independent and alternative journalism. www.alternet.org Amnesty International: Amnesty promotes awareness of the full range of human rights. It takes direct action to free prisoners of conscience, ensure fair trials for political prisoners, abolish the death penalty and torture, and end political killings and "disappearances." Amnesty's 1.4 million supporters include 55,000 across Canada. Amnesty Canada is known for its youth program and online human rights activism. www.amnesty.ca www.usc.uwo.ca/clubs/amnesty Antiwar.com: From a lone protest against the NATO-crats' brutal war against Serbia, to a website dedicated to fighting interventionism on every front -- building an international movement against the would-be overlords of a "New World Order." www.antiwar.com Ashoka Canada: This global non-profit organization invests in social entrepreneurs - people with the creativity to envision better ways to address persistent social problems ... and the skill and determination to make it happen. Ashoka has helped more than 1,100 social entrepreneurs in 42 countries by providing needs-based financing, connections to an international network of peers, and an array of non-financial services. In 2002, Ashoka is looking to invest in its first Canadian Fellows. www.ashoka.org Campaign for Labor Rights: Mission of the Campaign for Labor Rights (CLR) : to mobilize grassroots support throughout the United States to promote economic and social justice by campaigning to end labor rights violations around the world. CLR educates about, and advocates against, the underlying causes of the global sweatshop. Its campaign strategies are designed in collaboration with workers struggling to gain the right to organize, the right to earn a living wage in a clean, safe work environment, and the right to bargain collectively with their bosses. CLR's goal is to empower workers. http://campaignforlaborrights.org/ Catalyst Centre: This non-profit worker co-op promotes innovative learning, popular education, research and community development to advance positive social change. Their Website features an online bookstore with hard-to-find texts in popular education. www.catalystcentre.ca Catholic New Times: This publication is available in the King's Library. Catholic New Times is Canada’s award-winning faith and social justice journal. Our examination of Canadian and world issues is rooted in the spirit of Vatican II and the radical liberating message of the Gospel. We value our independence as it allows us to offer a unique perspective in the Canadian and world church. www.catholicnewtimes.org Catholic Social Teaching Documents: This web site hosts a number of very detailed documents from the last 100 years that have to do with catholic social teachings. www.osjspm.org/cst/index.html Catholic Worker Movement: The Catholic Worker Movement, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933, is grounded in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every human person. Catholic Worker communities are committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and forsaken. Catholic Workers continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms. www.catholicworker.org Center for Social Concerns: Rooted in the Gospel and Catholic social tradition, the Center for Social Concerns of the University of Notre Dame creates formative educational and service experiences in collaboration with diverse partners, calling us all to action for a more just and humane world. http://centerforsocialconcerns.nd.edu/ Centre for Social Justice: We are committed to working for change in partnership with various social movements and recognize that effective change requires the active participation of all sectors of our community. There is an on-going interest in working strategically to narrow the gap between rich and poor, challenging the corporate domination of Canadian politics, and pressing for policy changes that promote economic and social justice. www.socialjustice.org Center of Concern: Since 1971, the Center of Concern has offered moral vision and provided effective leadership in the struggle to end hunger, poverty, environmental decline, and injustice in the United States and around the world. Our goal is to provide individuals and organizations with basic tools to address universal injustices. We provide reliable information and analysis on development issues, practical alternatives to current development policies and practices, suggestions for personal action, and faith reflections on this work for justice. www.coc.org Christian Peacemaker Teams: Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) offers an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and other forms of lethal inter-group conflict. CPT provides organizational support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy. CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations. www.cpt.org Common Dreams: Common Dreams is a national non-profit citizens' organization working to bring progressive Americans together to promote progressive visions for America's future. Founded in 1997, we are committed to being on the cutting-edge of using the internet as a political organizing tool - and creating new models for internet activism. www.commondreams.org Corporate Watch: Corporate Watch supports grass-root and direct activism against large corporations, particularly multinationals. Our approach is to investigate, corporate structures and the system that supports them more broadly, rather than solely criticizing the individual companies for bad behavior. We are committed to ending the ecological and social destruction wrought by the corporate profit motive. www.corpwatch.org Democracy Now! Democracy Now! is a national, listener-sponsored public radio and TV show online, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the country. A national news show committed to bringing the voices of the marginalized to the airwaves on issues ranging from the global to the local. It brings to life the ideas and voices of some of the best minds of this generation (and previous ones), including activists, muckrakers, visionaries, artists, risk-takers, academics and "just folks" who share a commitment to truth, democracy, justice, diversity, equality and peace. www.democracynow.org Development and Peace: Development and Peace is the official international development agency of the Canadian Catholic Church. It is a membership-based organization founded in 1967 by Canada's bishops, laity and clergy to fight poverty in developing countries and to promote greater international justice. Inspired by Gospel values, particularly "the preferential option for the poor," the goals of Development and Peace are to support initiatives by Third World people to take control of their lives and to educate Canadians about North-South issues. www.devp.org Just Youth Development and Peace at: http://youth.devp.org/ Enough Anti-consumerism Campaign: To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all people, states should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. Enough takes a critical look at consumption, poverty and the planet. www.enough.org.uk Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR): Advocating for greater diversity in the press and scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. As an anti-censorship organization, we expose neglected news stories and defend working journalists when they are muzzled. www.fair.org Feminist Majority Foundation: The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), which was founded in 1987, is a cutting edge organization dedicated to women's equality, reproductive health, and non-violence. In all spheres, FMF utilizes research and action to empower women economically, socially, and politically. Our organization believes that feminists - both women and men, girls and boys - are the majority, but this majority must be empowered. www.feminist.org Food Not Bombs News: Food Not Bombs believes that society and government should value human life over material wealth. Many of the problems in the world stem from this simple crisis in values. By giving away food to people in need in public places, we directly dramatize the level of hunger in this country and the surplus of food being wasted. We also call attention to the failures of this society to support those within it while funding the forces of war and violence, including the police. We are committed to the use of non-violent direct action to change society. It is by working today to create sustainable institutions that prefigure the kind of society we want to live in, and that build a vital and caring movement for progressive social change. www.fnbnews.org Free the Children: Free The Children is an international network of children helping children at a local, national and international level through representation, leadership and action. It was founded by Craig Kielburger in 1995, when he was 12 years old. The primary goal of the organization is not only to free children from poverty and exploitation, but to also free children and young people from the idea that they are powerless to bring about positive social change and to improve the lives of their peers. www.freethechildren.com Friends of the Earth International: Friends of the Earth International is a federation of autonomous environmental organizations from all over the world. Our members, in 66 countries, campaign on the most urgent environmental and social issues of our day, while simultaneously catalyzing a shift toward sustainable societies. www.foei.org Global Education Network: The Global Education Network consists of teachers, students, and members of the Community at large who believe that teaching and learning must integrate the interdependency of the social, economic, environmental, and political aspects of our world. As citizens of the world we have responsibilities towards our global community; a global education approach to teaching focuses on the students' place in the world community. Globally aware students will be more inclined to take responsible action to change their world for the better of all. To that end, we are creating an on-line directory of resources to be used in any curriculum area at any level. www.global-ed.org Global Trade Watch (GTW): Promotes democracy by challenging corporate globalization, arguing that the current globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor “free trade.” Our work seeks to make the measurable outcomes of this model accessible to the public, press, and policy-makers, while emphasizing that if the results are not acceptable, then the model can and must be changed or replaced. GTW works on an array of globalization issues, including health and safety, environmental protection, economic justice, and democratic, accountable governance. www.citizen.org/trade Greenpeace Canada: Greenpeace is an independently funded organization that works to protect the environment. We challenge government and industry to halt harmful practices by negotiating solutions, conducting scientific research, introducing clean alternatives, carrying out peaceful acts of civil disobedience and educating and engaging the public. www.greenpeace.ca Greenpeace International is found at: www.greenpeace.org Halifax Initiative: Halifax Initiative is a Canadian coalition of development, environment, faith, rights and labour groups. Our goal is to contribute to the fundamental transformation of the international financial system and its institutions to achieve poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and the equitable re-distribution of wealth. http://halifaxinitiative.org/ Human Rights Watch: Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We work to end a broad range of abuses, including summary executions, torture, arbitrary detention, restrictions on the freedom of expression, association, assembly and religion, violations of due process, and discrimination on racial, gender, ethnic and religious grounds. www.hrw.org Independent Media Centres: International: www.indymedia.org or Ontario: http://ontario.indymedia.org/ The Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as a tool for promoting social and economic justice. It is our goal to further the self-determination of people under-represented in media production and content, and to illuminate and analyze local and global issues that impact ecosystems, communities and individuals. We seek to generate alternatives to the biases inherent in the corporate media controlled by profit, and to identify and create positive models for a sustainable and equitable society. To link to the Seattle Media Center click here. International Centre For Human Rights and Democratic Development: The ICHRDD organization is a Canadian institution with an international mandate. It is an independent organization, which promotes, advocates and defends the democratic and human rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights. In cooperation with civil society and governments in Canada and abroad, Rights & Democracy initiates and supports programs to strengthen laws and democratic institutions, principally in developing countries. Rights & Democracy focuses its work on four thematic priorities: Democratic Development, Women's Rights, the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Globalization and Human Rights. www.ichrdd.ca International Forum on Globalization: The International Forum on Globalization advocates equitable, democratic, and ecologically sustainable economics. It is formed in response to the present worldwide drive toward a globalized economic system dominated by supranational corporate trade and banking institutions that are not accountable to democratic processes or national governments. These current trends toward globalization are neither historically inevitable nor desirable. www.ifg.org Institute for Global Communications: This database hosts four major social justice web sites, Peacenet, Womensnet, Econet and Anti-Racismnet. IGC shares the vision to actively promote change toward a healthy society, one which is founded on principals of social justice, broadly shared economic opportunity, a robust democratic process, and sustainable environmental practices. The Mission is to advance the work of progressive organizations and individuals for peace, justice, economic opportunity, human rights, democracy and sustainable environmental practices through strategic use of online technologies. www.igc.org Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice: The Jesuit Centre, through social faith, promotes ecological, economic, and political justice. The Centre engages in spiritual exercises, social analysis, research, public education, pastoral ministry, policy advocacy and action on issues of justice as they affect Canada and the world. www.jesuits.ca/justicecr/Default.htm Leaders Today: Dedicated to helping young people realize their fullest potential through leadership education and development using innovative, youth inspired curriculum. Leaders Today administers one, two and five day workshops around the world, holds annual leadership training academies, facilitator training programs and college prep courses in Toronto. It also organizes amazing overseas volunteer spring break and summer trips to Nicaragua, India, Kenya and Thailand. www.leaderstoday.com Maquila Solidarity Network: A Canadian network promoting solidarity with groups in Mexico, Central America, and Asia organizing in Maquiladora factories and export processing zones to improve conditions and win a living wage. In a global economy it is essential that groups in the North and South work together for employment with dignity, fair wages and working conditions, and healthy workplaces and communities. www.maquilasolidarity.org McSpotlight: The McInformation Network is dedicated to compiling and disseminating factual, accurate, up-to-date information about the workings, policies and practices of the McDonald's Corporation and all they stand for. The Network also highlights opposition to McDonald's and other transnational companies. Issues discussed are: employment, nutrition, environment, advertisement and animals. Under the link ‘Beyond McDonalds’ there is a great wealth of information about multinationals and there unjust actions around the world. This web site is also a good link to other sites encouraging social justice. www.mcspotlight.org Media Channel: On Media Channel, you will find original news, opinions and reports. You will also have access to hundreds of media issues organizations from all points on the globe. These include media watch groups, university journalism departments, professional organizations, anti-censorship monitors, and trade publications. This supersite is a reading room, a research center, and a meeting place for everyone with an interest in the media. www.mediachannel.org Michael Moore: Author of “Globalize This” and “Stupid White Men,” and Director of "Bowling for Columbine," Michael Moore has put up this web site in order to inform people about social justice issues. This is a very enjoyable web site that provides in-depth analysis into big business and undemocratic government. www.michaelmoore.com Mobilization For Global Justice: Toronto Mobilization for Global Justice, commonly known as mob4glob, is a coalition of progressive organizations and individuals dedicated to combating corporate globalization. We organize demonstrations, educational, and outreach events against the WTO, IMF, World Bank, and FTAA among others. www.mob4glob.ca Monthly Review: The first issue of Monthly Review appeared in 1949 with an article by Albert Einstein titled, "Why Socialism?" In the decades since, MR has proven to be one of the most respected voices of the left due to the consistent quality of their articles, reviews, and analysis. Their website includes articles from recent issues as well as an archive and sample chapters from their books. www.monthlyreview.org Mothers Are Women: This Canadian-based feminist support and advocacy group seeks equality, choice and recognition for mothers doing unpaid work. MAW mothers believe that the work of caring for our children, our families (however we define them) and our communities must be recognized and valued. www.mothersarewomen.com New Internationalist: New Internationalist exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless in both rich and poor nations; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary if the basic material and spiritual needs of all are to be met. www.newint.org To link directly to the NI back issues and the NI mega keyword index click here. Octopus Books: Providing a space for people to access books on social justice issues, to obtain alternative news and information and to articulate a better vision of the future. This is a really excellent site for finding relevant books to Social Justice and Peace Studies. www.octopusbooks.org Office for Social Justice: Changing people’s hearts and challenging corporate structures on behalf of social justice. They believe that the Christian faith requires a personal commitment to work actively for a more just world. www.osjspm.org One World: We are acutely aware of the injustices and unnecessary suffering in the world. Our aim is to bear witness to this injustice and to help people shed whatever light they can on it. But we don't see injustice and suffering as somehow 'belonging' to just one part of the world: they can be found everywhere. That's why we carry features about the way people are disempowered and marginalized in the "developed" as well as the "developing" world. www.oneworld.org One World Global Education Programs: This organization determines to help North Americans discover that their lives are interconnected with those of developing nations by immersion living and working among the Third World poor. www.oneworlded. com Oxfam Canada: Oxfam Canada is an international development agency committed to the equitable distribution of wealth and power through fundamental social change. We work in relationships of solidarity and partnership to eradicate poverty, underdevelopment and powerlessness. Oxfam Canada is engaged in a development process which recognizes the imperative of social justice, a sustainable environment and the equality of all people. www.oxfam.ca Pax Christi: Pax Christi International is a non-profit, non-governmental Catholic peace movement that began in France at the end of World War II. Today, it is comprised of autonomous national sections, local groups, and affiliated organisations spread over 30 countries and 5 continents, with over 60,000 members worldwide. The movement works in all areas of peace but has a specific focus on demilitarisation, security and arms trade, development and human rights, and ecology. www.paxchristi.net People's Movement for Human Rights Education: The People's Decade of Human Rights Education (PDHRE- International) is a non-profit, international service organization that works directly and indirectly with its network of affiliates — primarily women's and social justice organizations — to develop and advance pedagogies for human rights education relevant to people's daily lives in the context of their struggles for social and economic justice and democracy. www.pdhre.org Probe International: Probe International exposes the environmental, social, and economic effects of Canada's aid and trade abroad, revealing the devastating effects of our international projects. We monitor and expose the devastating effects of projects financed by Canadian tax dollars through international financial institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and through bilateral agencies like the Canadian International Development Agency and the Export Development Corporation. These national and international agencies have financed the world's worst environmental, social and economic disasters in the name of aid and trade. www.probeinternational.org Project Censored: The Primary Objective is to explore and publicize the extent of censorship in our society by locating stories about significant issues of which the public should be aware, but is not, for one reason or another. Thereby, the project hopes to stimulate responsible journalists to provide more mass media coverage of those issues and to encourage the general public to demand mass media coverage of those issues or to seek information from other sources. www.projectcensored.org Project Plowshares: The mission of Project Ploughshares, rooted in the faith commitment to seek peace and to pursue it, is to carry out research, analysis, dialogue, and public education on peace and security issues to advance our understanding and knowledge of the roots and causes of armed conflict, and the measures and policies that are conducive to achieving a more peaceful world. www.ploughshares.ca Polaris Institute: As its stated objective, Polaris is designed to enable citizen movements to re-skill and re-tool themselves to fight for democratic social change in an age of corporate driven globalization. Essentially, the Institute works with citizen movements in developing the kinds of strategies and tactics required to unmask and challenge the corporate power that is the driving force behind governments concerning public policy making on economic, social and environmental issues. www.polarisinstitute.org Program on Law, Corporations and Democracy: We are thirteen activists who have spent the last several years researching corporate, labor and legal histories, rethinking our past organizing strategies and talking with people about democracy movements. We work in the tradition of people's struggles to replace illegitimate and tyrannical institutions with democratic ones that disperse, rather than concentrate, wealth and power. www.poclad.org Rabble.ca: Rabble.ca will interest all those who are looking for alternatives to mainstream media. We hope to reflect the energy of the exciting democracy movement emerging around the world. At the same time, Rabble will be building on the strengths of the diverse movements for equality and social justice that have contributed so much over the years. Finally, this is a place where the creative spirit of our enormously talented cultural communities will be celebrated. www.rabble.ca Rainforest Action Network: Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action. www.ran.org Reclaim The Streets: We are about taking back public space from the enclosed private arena. It’s about reclaiming the streets as public inclusive space from the private exclusive use of the car. But we believe in this as a broader principle, taking back those things which have been enclosed within capitalist circulation and returning them to collective use as a commons. www. reclaimthestreets.net Resource Center of the Americas: The Resource Center of The Americas is a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization that enables U.S. citizens to join the struggle for peace, justice and human rights across the hemisphere. This group publishes periodicals, has excellent labor/education workshops and resources (pertaining to the global economy) and more. www.americas.org Ruckus Society: The Ruckus Society provides environmental and human rights organizers with the tools, training, and support needed to achieve their goals. Working with a broad range of communities, organizations, and movements - from high school students to professional organizations - Ruckus facilitates the sharing of information and expertise that strengthens the capacity to change our relationship with the environment and each other. www.ruckus.org Salt of the Earth: your on-line resource for social justice: This is an on-line Christian resource for social action. It is a journal reviewing Catholic social teaching and parish-based organizing for social justice. This online archive includes a selection of some of our finest feature stories on the pressing social issues of our times and what you and your community can do about them. http://salt. claretianpubs.org/ Save the Children: Save the Children was founded on 19th May 1919. Working in over 100 countries across the globe and comprising 30 organizations, Save the Children is the largest independent movement for children. Save the Children is leading the fight towards making a reality of a world which respects and values each child, which listens to children and learns and where all children have hope and opportunity. www.savethechildren.net Scarboro Missions: Scarboro Missions is a Canadian society of Catholic priests and laity. Motivated by the Spirit, we dedicate ourselves to the person, teaching and mission of Jesus Christ. This is an active community that publishes a magazine every month in which ideas and writings about social justice can be found. www.scarboromissions.ca School of the Americas Watch: SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work. www.soaw.org Social Edge, The : We're a monthly online social justice and faith magazine. Our goal is to provide our readers with a vibrant mix of articles, columns, commentary, editorials, book reviews, and interviews usually not found in the mainstream news media. As a journal of faith we're ecumenical in outlook. Although we follow the Catholic Church closely, we're interested in matters connected to other Christian churches and faiths. Whatever issues we address, we'll be searching and broadening our scope, unwilling to settle for easy answers. www.thesocialedge.com Social Justice Committee: The SJC is committed to recognizing the root, global causes of poverty, social injustice, and environmental degradation; recognizing the links among the above problems, global corporate and financial institutions, and governments in the North and South; educating the public about these issues; and focusing on proactive, long-term action, while at the same time undertaking vital reactive, short-term action. This is also where you find the Upstream Journal on human rights, international development and global justice. www.s-j-c.net Sojourners is a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice. In our lives and in our work, we seek to be guided by the biblical principles of justice, mercy, and humility. www.sojo.net Solidarity: We're about working for a society based on human need and democratic collective decision-making in our communities and workplaces. We want to end capitalism and the exploitation, discrimination and hierarchy that characterizes such a profit-driven system. We are committed to building a society that rejects racism, sexism, and homophobia. www.igc.org/solidarity/ South End Press: Our goal is to publish books that encourage critical thinking and constructive action on the key political, cultural, social, economic, and ecological issues shaping life in the United States and in the world. In this way, we hope to give expression to a wide diversity of democratic social movements and to provide an alternative to the products of corporate publishing. www.southendpress.org Straight Goods: Straight Goods is a watchdog working for Canadian consumers and citizens. The purpose of Straight Goods is to help you save money, protect your rights and untangle spin with investigative reports, features, forums, archives, and links to many others who share our values. www.straightgoods.com Ten Thousand Villages: Ten Thousand Villages provides vital, fair income to Third World people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America. www.tenthousandvillages.org Third World Network: The Third World Network is an independent non-profit international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the Third World and North- South issues. Its objectives are to conduct research on economic, social and environmental issues pertaining to the South; to publish books and magazines; to organize and participate in seminars; and to provide a platform representing broadly Southern interests and perspectives at international fora such as the UN conferences and processes. www.twnside.org.sg Transnational Institute: In the spirit of public scholarship, and aligned to no political party, TNI seeks to create and promote international co-operation in analyzing and finding possible solutions to such global problems as militarism and conflict, poverty and marginalization, social injustice and environmental degradation. www.tni.org UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Here you will find the most comprehensive collection of translations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 Dec 1948. www.unhchr.ch/udhr Video Activist Network: The Video Activist Network is an informal association of activists and politically conscious artists using video to support social, economic and environmental justice campaigns. www.videoactivism.org Whispered Media: The corporate-owned media is increasingly producing news coverage that lacks substance and truth. Now is the time for the grassroots movements to reclaim our history and our vision and create our own media. To this end, Whispered Media was founded as a collective that promotes the use of video, and other media tools, in progressive grassroots movements. www.whisperedmedia.org Women's Human Rights Resources: The purpose of the Women's Human Rights Resources Web Site is to provide reliable and diverse information on international women's human rights via the Internet. www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana Women Watch: Women Watch is a gateway to the information and resources on the promotion of gender equality throughout the United Nations system. It is a joint United Nations project which was created in March 1997 to provide internet space for global gender equality issues and to support implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. The website also now provides information on the outcomes of, as well as efforts to incorporate gender perspectives into, follow-up to global conferences, such as the International Conference on Financing for Development, the World Summit on Ageing, the Children's Summit and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. www.un.org/womenwatch Working TV: We are primarily a labour show, focusing on union issues. This derives from our original mandate: to counter the marginalization and censorship of labour by mainstream television broadcasters, with labour positive programming produced by working people, for working people. As the years have gone by, we have been producing more and more programming on broader community, political and social justice issues. www.workingtv.com World Organization Against Torture: is the largest international coalition of NGOs fighting against torture, summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in order to preserve Human Rights. It has at its disposal a network, SOS Torture, consisting of some 240 non-governmental organisations which act as sources of information. Its urgent interventions reach daily more than 90,000 governmental and intergovernmental institutions, non-governmental associations, pressure and interest groups. www.omct.org World Revolution: The World Revolution is an idea for a new, global grassroots social movement for progressive social change. It aims to resolve in a definitive and comprehensive manner the major social problems of our world and our era. Major issue areas of the World Revolution include: peace, human rights, the environment, and world poverty. www.worldrevolution.org World Social Forum Website: The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society directed towards fruitful relationships among Mankind and between it and the Earth. www. forumsocialmundial.org.br Znet: ZNet intends to become a community of mutually supportive actors in the struggle to make the world a better place for human beings and other living things. It focuses largely, though not exclusively, on issues of class, race, gender, political power, ecology, and international relations as they affect people throughout the world and mainly in the U.S. ZNet presents analyses, but also vision. It provides diagnosis but also prescription. www.zmag.org |
| “Of course the people don’t want war... that is understood. But voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That’s easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. ” -HERMANN GOERING, at the Nuremberg Trials |
| FALLOUT: COMING HOME FROM THE WAR IN IRAQ Watch the full film now Enter IRAQ FALLOUT.COM |
| Walk To End The Wars My name is Bill McDannell. I am a father of five and grandfather of four. I am a Vietnam era veteran and a former pastor of the United Methodist Church. On Saturday, November 4th, 2006 I began a walk from my home in Lakeside, California to Washington, D.C. carrying with me a petition to Congress and the President requesting an immediate acknowledgement that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are ended and the re-establishment of the Constitutional balance of powers between the Executive and Legislative branches of our government. I completed my walk on Saturday, August 18th, 2007. My wife, Jonna O'Dell and I sold our home and most of our possessions in order to accomplish this. We purchased a 24 year old camper which served as my "support vehicle" on the walk and now serves as our home. Jonna (accompanied by our two Shetland Sheepdogs) would drive the camper a few miles ahead of me and I would walk until I caught up to her. We would repeat this process throughout the day. Along the way we would stop to speak to any individuals or groups that were interested in what we had to say. While we expected that the proceeds from our possessions would be sufficient to see us through the entire journey, a series of incidents caused our funds to be depleted by the time we reached Missouri. We were only able to complete the journey because of the generosity of people we met along the way and those who have come to be aware of our endeavor through this website. We are deeply indebted to each and every one of them. As I write this, we are now in Washington, D.C. where we will remain until at least the middle of September. We will be spending this time attempting to meet with as many of our legislators as we can in order to present our petition to them, discuss the rationale behind it, and tell them of the experience of our journey. What we do after the middle of September is currently up in the air, but will involve our continued efforts to end the present wars and to re-establish a Constitutional balance in our governance. As we are still offering our petition to our elected officials, your signature is still very much desired and appreciated. On the Petition page of the website you will find the petition itself, the rationale behind it, and be able to sign it if you so desire. As I hope you will realize, while our efforts are highly political, they are in no way partisan: it matters little to us whether our nation is in the hands of a majority of either - or any - political party. But it matters greatly that, whoever may hold positions of power, they are guided at all times and in all things by principles that reflect faithful adherance to our Constitution, and conduct the affairs of state in a manner that is truly consistent with both common sense and the ethical and moral values that have made our nation great. It has become clear to us that my walk across the continent has served as a prelude to further action. Over the next month, Jonna and I will be working on how best to transition from this beginning to an ongoing effort to promote our goals. We welcome your input and also welcome any opportunities to participate as speakers, writers or contributors to forums on Constitutional issues or issues of peace. Briefly stated, some of our main assertions are: 1. Governance of the United States of America must always be consistent with and faithful to our Constitution. It is never acceptable to curtail, remove or otherwise circumvent Constitutional directives in response to any perceived threat or desire to address a particular concern. 2. The true power of our nation lies in the hands of her individual citizens - and must remain firmly in the hands of the citizens. It is therefore necessary for each and every citizen to actively assume the responsibilities inherent in such power and to remain active, vocal and forceful in conscientiously exercising that power. We must foster a renewed effort to promote rational, responsible and respectful dialogue and debate that will afford our citizens both the opportunity to be heard and to participate meaningfully in our governance. 3. In order to continue to pursue her vision of greatness, our nation must continue forward - as she has struggled to do in the past - with a clear distinction and separation between matters of governance and matters of faith. While in our pursuit of the highest standards of human ethics and moral principles we may find ourselves convergent with certain elements of certain faiths, it is incumbent upon both our citizens and our leadership to continually ensure that our nation makes no law or institutes no structure that either gives preference to or hinders the free practice of religion by her citizens. 4. War, as it has been defined and exercised up to this point in human history has now become an anachronism, no longer capable of achieving its historic purposes. With the advent of the nuclear age - as well as the adoption of terror tactics - historical methods of waging war have been stripped of their effectiveness and must be abandoned. We must begin to lead a global search for an effective alternative to war that will accomplish the necessary objectives of sovereignty and security for all nations and peoples apart from the slaughter and destruction that can no longer secure those objectives. 5. We must call upon our nation's fourth estate - the national press, televised and electronic media - to resume their mandate to foster an informed citizenry. Our media, while pursuing the profitable avenue of entertainment, must not be permitted to abandon their crucial responsibility to provide impartial and accurate information to the public that is necessary in order to promote the general welfare of the republic. This is what we are about. We hope that you will join us in our efforts to re-emphasize and restore the principles which serve as the foundation of our great and beautiful nation. In the near future we will be announcing more specifics of our small effort. We will also be making major revisions to our website that will reflect and facilitate our ongoing work. Please visit us soon. www.walktoendthewars.com Peace, Bill McDannell |
| Documentary made by Eva Lowery of Peace Takes Courage.com |
| Ten Key Values of the Green Party 1. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives and not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process. 2. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large, barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and homophobia, ageism and disability, which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law. 3. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society which utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end we must practice agriculture which replenishes the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems. 4. NON-VIOLENCE It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize, and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace. 5. DECENTRALIZATION Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. Therefore, we support a restructuring of social, political and economic institutions away from a system which is controlled by and mostly benefits the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local level, while assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens. 6. COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE We recognize it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system, one that can create jobs and provide a decent standard of living for all people while maintaining a healthy ecological balance. A successful economic system will offer meaningful work with dignity, while paying a “living wage” which reflects the real value of a person’s work. Local communities must look to economic development that assures protection of the environment and workers’ rights; broad citizen participation in planning; and enhancement of our “quality of life.” We support independently owned and operated companies which are socially responsible, as well as co-operatives and public enterprises that distribute resources and control to more people through democratic participation. 7. FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want. 8. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and to promote the development of respectful relationships across these lines. We believe that the many diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms than our own and the preservation of biodiversity. 9. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet. 10. FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing of or “unmaking” all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions. |
| A CHANGE IS GOING TO COME |
| The Inspiration Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world. |
| IVAW Member Victor Agosto Refuses Deployment to Afghanistan "It’s a matter of what I’m willing to live with," Specialist Victor Agosto of the U.S. Army, who is refusing orders to deploy to Afghanistan, explained to IPS. "I’m not willing to participate in this occupation, knowing it is completely wrong." Agosto, who returned from a 13-month deployment to Iraq in November 2007, is based at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. While in Iraq, Agosto never left his base, located in northern Iraq. "I never had any traumatic exper-iences, never fired my weapon," Agosto told IPS in a phone interview. "I mostly worked in information technology, working on computers and keeping the network functioning well. But it was in Iraq that I turned against the occupations. Through my reading, and watching what was going on, I started to feel very guilty." Agosto added, "What I did there, I know I contributed to death and human suffering. It’s hard to quantify how much I caused, but I know I contributed to it." Having served three years and nine months in the U. S. Army, Agosto was to complete his contract and be discharged on Aug. 3. But due to his excellent record of service and accrued leave, he was to be released the end of June. Nevertheless, due to the stop-loss programme, the Army decided to deploy him to Afghanistan anyway. Stop-loss is a programme the military uses to keep soldiers enlisted beyond the terms of their contracts. Since Sep. 11, 2001, more than 140,000 troops have had tours extended by stop-loss. A copy of his Counseling Form from the Army, dated May 1, reads, "You will deploy in support of OEF [Oper-ation Enduring Freedom] on or about [XXXXX] with 57th ESB. This is a direct order from your Company Commander CPT Michael J. Pederson." Agosto posted copies of the Counseling Statements issued by the Army on his Facebook page. Counseling Statements outline actions taken by the Army to discipline Agosto for his refusal to obey a direct order from his company commander. On one of them, dated May 1, Agosto’s written statement appears: "There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect." In another, dated May 18, he wrote: "I will not obey any orders I deem to be immoral or illegal." On that day, Agosto was ordered to get his medical records in preparation to deploy to Afghanistan. He refused to do so. The Army threatened to take punitive measures, but Agosto wrote on the Counseling Statement, "I am not going to Afghanistan. I will not take part in SRP [Sealift Readiness Programme]." If Agosto continues to refuse orders, he almost assuredly will face court martial, and likely jail time. When IPS asked Agosto if he is willing to take whatever consequences the Army is prepared to mete out, he replied, "Yes. I’m fully prepared for this. I have concluded that the wars [in Iraq and Afghanistan] are not going to be ended by politicians or people at the top. They are not responsive to the people, they are responsive to corporate America." Agosto added, "The only way to make them responsive to the needs of the people is if soldiers won’t fight their wars, and if soldiers won’t fight their wars, the wars won’t happen. I hope I’m setting an example for other soldiers." Agosto has overtly refused to follow any order that has anything to do with his taking an action that would support the occupation of Afghanistan. For a time, according to Agosto, he was given simple orders to clean the motor pool, or pull weeds. "They switched that recently," he told IPS, "I’ve continued to be fairly defiant, so on Tuesday I have to meet with Trial Defense Services, which then begins the process of getting an Article 15, which is movement towards being court-martialed, if these reprimands continue." "If I take the Article 15, I’ll take a reduction in rank and pay. I don’t’ know what is going to happen. I agreed to sweep the motor pool and pull weeds, but nothing else that I feel directly supports the war. I’m not going to follow orders I’m not comfortable with." Agosto’s case is not unique. The group Courage to Resist, based in Oakland, California, actively engages in assisting soldiers who refuse to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. "Although the efforts of Courage to Resist are primarily focused on supporting public GI resisters, the organization also strives to provide political, emotional, and material support to all military objectors critical of our government's current policies of empire," reads a portion of the group's mission statement. IPS spoke with Adam Szyper-Seibert, an office manager and counselor with Courage to Resist. "Currently we are actively supporting over 50 military resisters like Victor Agosto," Szyper-Seibert told IPS, "They are all over the world, including André Shepherd in Germany, and several people in Canada. We are getting five to six calls a week just about the IRR [Individual Ready Reserve] recall alone." U.S. Army Specialist André Shepherd, who went AWOL after serving in Iraq, has applied for asylum in Germany after refusing military service because he is morally opposed to the occupation of Iraq. The IRR is composed of former military personnel who still have time remaining on their enlistment agreements but have returned to civilian life. They are eligible to be called up in "states of emergency." The Army is currently undertaking the largest IRR recall since 2004, despite the recent inauguration of a so-called anti-war president. Szyper-Seibert said that the number of soldiers contacting Courage to Resist has been increasing dramatically in the last year, and particularly in recent months. "The number of soldiers contacting us is increasing," he explained, "With five to six IRR’s contacting us a week, plus others going absent without leave [AWOL], the numbers are all climbing, as compared to a year ago. Since May 2008, we’ve had a 200 percent jump in how many soldiers are contacting us." According to Courage to Resist, there have been at least 15,000 IRR call-ups since Sep. 11, 2001, for deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. Sgt. Travis Bishop, who served 14 months in Baghdad and is also stationed at Fort Hood, recently went AWOL when his unit deployed to Afghanistan. Like Agosto, Bishop feels it is immoral for him to deploy to support an occupation he morally opposes. "I love my country, but I believe that this particular war is unjust, unconstitutional and a total abuse of our nation’s power and influence," Bishop’s blog reads, "And so, in the next few days, I will be speaking with my lawyer, and taking actions that will more than likely result in my discharge from the military, and possible jail time... and I am prepared to live with that." The reason he made this decision is addressed in his blog. "My father said, ‘Do only what you can live with, because every morning you have to look at your face in the mirror when you shave. Ten years from now, you’ll still be shaving the same face.’ If I had deployed to Afghanistan, I don’t think I would have been able to look into another mirror again." |
visits to this site this year.
| So far, there have been |
| Thursday, June 25th, 2009 Victory in the Amazon ...by Laura Carlsen Center for International Policy Thousands of indigenous people from the Amazon jungle of Peru accomplished the unthinkable early this month. Their movement to save the Amazon and their communities forced the Peruvian government to roll back implementing legislation for the U.S.- Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that would have opened up the vast jungle to transnational oil and gas, mining, and timber companies. The decision did not come without blood. Police attacked indigenous roadblocks and sit-ins in Bagua in Northern Peru, killing some 60 indigenous protestors, members of a 300,000 strong interethnic association of Amazon groups. The Peruvian government claims that 24 police officers and nine civilians died in the violence. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur, and other human rights and environmental organizations throughout the world have initiated investigations into the massacre. Peru's Congress, deep in a political crisis of national and international legitimacy, voted 82 to 12 to repeal Legislative Decree 1090, the Forestry and Wildlife Law, and 1064, the reform to permit changes in agrarian land use without full prior consent. As President Alan Garcia went on national television to admit errors in not consulting with the indigenous groups of the Amazon, Daysi Zapata, representative of the association celebrated the triumph: "Today is an historic day, we are thankful because the will of the indigenous peoples has been taken into account and we just hope that in the future, the governments attend and listen to the people, that they don't legislate behind our backs." Zapata called to lift roadblocks and other actions throughout the country, while anticipating more battles to come over the repeal of seven related decrees, reinstatement of legislators suspended for protesting government actions, and the safe return of the president of the association, Alberto Pizango, forced to seek asylum in Nicaragua. Indigenous women fought at the forefront of protests against the displacement of indigenous communities in the Amazon in the interests of foreign-led development plans. A Spanish sub-titled video of an Aguaruna mother provides a rare glimpse of how the Amazon communities view these plans—even if you don't understand her language, her anguish and anger cut straight to the heart. Other videos taken by journalists who risked their lives as police fired on demonstrators, quickly circulated in the cyber world, raising global indignation. Washington's "New" Trade Policy Leads to Amazon Massacre The recent clash between indigenous peoples and the Peruvian national police sends a powerful message from the Amazon jungle straight to Washington. The enormous social, political, and environmental costs of the free trade model are no longer acceptable. In addition to the dead, hundreds remain missing and reports that the police threw the bodies of the protestors in the river to hide the real death toll have begun to circulate. Survival International and Amazon Watch have deplored the violence, the subsequent crackdown on NGOs in Peru, and the role that the free trade agreement played in the crisis. In May 2004 the U.S. and Peruvian governments began negotiations for a free trade agreement and signed the bilateral agreement on December 8, 2005. The signing provoked the first round of widespread protests, led by small farmers. Demonstrations against the agreement continued up through the signing of the ratified version by former President Bush and President Garcia in January of this year; four protestors were killed in 2008. No doubt exists about the connection between the protests, the executive decrees, and the U.S. free trade agreement. In his televised mea culpa, Garcia began by stating that the repudiated measures were designed to eliminate illegal logging and informal mining (by legalizing it in the hands of transnationals, according to critics) and was "a demand of ecologist and progressive sectors in the North American Congress in negotiations to pass the Free Trade Agreement." The U.S.-Peru trade agreement is held up as a model of the new trade agreement developed through a compromise between free-trade Republicans and Democrats with growing anti-free trade constituencies. To avoid the negative connotations of free trade agreements it was redubbed a "Trade Promotion Agreement" and incorporates environmental and labor standards into the text. These are the standards Garcia says he was complying with when he passed the decrees to open up 45 million hectares of Peruvian jungle to developers. The Democratic leadership in Congress pushed the new model that looks remarkably like the old model, although the majority of Democrats voted against it. At the Pathways to Prosperity meeting, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton hailed the agreement as "good environmental stewardship"—just four days before Peruvian police shot indigenous activists protesting invasion of the Amazon jungle. The Obama administration has so far avoided commenting on the conflict. But neither the battle for the Amazon nor the debate over free trade's role in indigenous displacement and environmental destruction are likely to go away any time soon, despite repeal of the decrees. A planetary lung and a legendary reserve of culture and biodiversity, the Amazon region embodies conflicting values and views of human progress. For Peruvian President Alan Garcia, in an editorial in El Comercio, the jungle is currently just a big waste: "There are millions of hectares of timber lying idle, another millions of hectares that communities and associations have not and will not cultivate, hundreds of mineral deposits that are not dug up, and millions of hectares of ocean not used for aquaculture. The rivers that run down both sides of the mountains represent a fortune that reaches the sea without producing electricity." Garcia argues that indigenous peoples, just because they were born in the Amazon, do not have special land-use rights on the land. Instead, the Amazon should be carved up into large plots and sold to investors with the capital to exploit it. The Peruvian government coveted the free trade agreement with the United States because, along with the required changes in national legislation, it opens up the Amazon to foreign investment. In contrast, the indigenous communities and their supporters seek to conserve the Amazon jungles and preserve traditional knowledge and cultures, all of which would be threatened by exploitation, bio-prospecting, and patent law changes under the FTA. This contest between oil wells and jungles, foreign engineers, and Amazon inhabitants has spread to the rest of Peru and the world. On June 11, tens of thousands of people marched in support of the indigenous protests in cities and towns across the country, chanting, "In defense of the jungle—the jungle is not for sale." Simultaneously, demonstrators hit the streets to show support for the indigenous communities in cities throughout the world. And it follows similar battles in other countries. In Mexico, hundreds of thousands of farmers marched to protest NAFTA's agricultural chapter; in Colombia, indigenous and farm organizations marched to oppose a U.S.- Colombia free trade agreement; in Costa Rica, nearly half the population voted against CAFTA; and in Guatemala, CAFTA protesters were killed in the streets. Yet somehow these voices never make it into the U.S. trade debate. The assumption that a free trade agreement is a gift to a developing country continues to be enforced by a U.S. government refusal to listen to voices other than national economic elites. Meanwhile, the New York Times echoes accusations that foreign countries or terrorist organizations have duped these thousands of women, farmers, indigenous groups, and workers into opposing progress. As long as providing clear access and mobility for transnational companies and financial capital is accepted as the sole measure of progress, concerns for the earth and human beings with little economic power and a different view of development won't be part of the discussion. We have to rethink the free- trade model and listen to the men, women, and children on the bottom of the economic ladder who sacrifice their lives to help save the Amazon jungles they call home. We owe them an enormous debt. The global crisis compels a new vision of sustainable growth and social equity. The Obama administration has noted the need for changes—reviewing trade policy should be at the top of the agenda. Laura Carlsen (lcarlsen(a)ciponline.org) is the Director of the Americas Program (www.americaspolicy.org) for the Center for International Policy in Mexico City. |
| TO SEND EASY PRE-WRITTEN MESSAGES THAT SPEAK FOR YOU ON KEY ISSUES AND LEGISLATION, GO TO www.peace-action.org or to Friends Committee on National Legislation, www.capwiz.com/fconl/home |
| ”If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." -- Samuel Adams |
| How Goldman Sachs and Citi Run the Show The Wall Street White House By ANDREW COCKBURN counterpunch.org July 2, 2009 Robert Hormats, Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs, is to be installed as Under Secretary of Economics, Business, and Agricultural Affairs. This comes as one more, probably unnecessary reminder of the total control exercised by Wall Street over the Obama administration’s economic and financial policy. True, Hormats is “a talker rather than a decider” according to one former White House official, but he will find plenty of old friends used to making decisions, almost all of them uniformly disastrous for the U.S. and global economy. Among the familiar Wall Street faces that Hormats will encounter in his new post will that of Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew, lately Chief Financial Officer of Citigroup Alternative Investments Group which lost $509 million in the first quarter of 2008 alone. On visits to the White House he is sure to bump into Michael Froman, who also tore a swath through the Citi balance sheet at the alternative investments shop (they specialized in “esoteric” investments such as private highways) but is now Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs. If Froman is otherwise engaged, Hormats can interface with Froman’s deputy, David Lipton, who was until recently running Citi’s global country risk management effort. Citigroup is also well represented at Treasury, in the form of Lewis Alexander, formerly the bank’s chief economist and now Counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Given the role played by all of the above in bankrupting us all, Alexander’s 2007 verdict on the onset of the mortgage crash, “I think that’s not going to spill more broadly into the economy and so I think we’re going to have a normal kind of housing cycle though the middle of this year,” can only have been a recommendation in the eyes of his current employer. Alexander’s function at Citi may have been merely to endorse the financial depredations of colleagues with economic blather, rather than exercise loss-making functions personally. Not so Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin, who has moved ove r to the number two job at the department from the Hartford Insurance Company, where he served as president and chief operating officer of the Property and Casualty Group. Hartford was one of the insurance companies that got suckered by the banks into backing their ruinous investments in real estate and other esoterica, but Wolin’s Treasury has just handed Hartford $3.4 billion of our money in the form of TARP funds. Hormats’ agricultural responsibilities will of necessity bring him into frequent contact with the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Gary Gensler – a former Goldman partner. As Assistant Secretary of Treasury in the Clinton Adminsitration Gensler played a key role in greasing the skids for the notorious Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which set the stage for the great credit default swaps scam that underpinned the recent bubble and subsequent collapse. News of the appointment did generate threats of obstruction in the Senate – any one of the senators could have blocked the appointment had they really wished to do so – but such threats proved predictably hollow. Had they been otherwise, Treasury Chief of Staff Mark Patterson could of course have lent the expertise he gained as Goldman’s lobbyist to overcome the obstacle. For sheer gall it would be hard to equal the appointment of Gensler, one of the engineers of this catastrophe, but the administration has managed it with the selection of Linda Robertson, formerly a key Enron lobbyist and intimately involved in pushing through the commodity futures act as chief flack for the Federal Reserve. Prior to joining the crooked energy-trading firm, Robertson was an important figure in the Clinton Treasury Department, latterly serving her friend Larry Summers and before him Robert Rubin during their terms as Treasury Secretaries. Such connection to the key enablers of our bankrupt casino helps explain many of the other hires listed above. Michael Froman was Chief of Staff to Robert Rubin at Treasury before following Rubin to his reward at Citigroup. Most significantly, it was Froman who first introduced Rubin to his Harvard classmate Barack Obama. David Lipton also served in the Rubin Treasury, as deputy under secretary for international affairs. Neal Wolin, on the other hand, appears to have more an acolyte of Summers, who cherished him as Treasury General Counsel from ’99 to ’01. Summers and Robertson were similarly close, and certainly he raised no objection to her fatal submissions on behalf of her paymasters at Enron. Recent reports suggest that financial industry lobbying in Washington, at $104.7 million for the first three months of 2009, is 8% down on last year. But that is to be expected – why should Wall Street continue paying top dollar for a wholly owned subsidiary? Andrew Cockburn writes about national security and related matters. His most recent book is Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall and Catastrophic Legacy. He is the co-producer of American Casino, the feature documentary on the ongoing financial collapse. He can be reached at amcockburn@gmail.com. |
"No matter how cynical
you get,
it's almost impossible
to keep up." - Lily Tomlin
you get,
it's almost impossible
to keep up." - Lily Tomlin
| "No matter how cynical you get, it's almost impossible to keep up." - Lily Tomlin |
Turning Crisis
Into Opportunity
California's
Empty Wallet
By ELLEN HODGSON BROWN
“Our wallet is empty, our bank is closed and
our credit is dried up.”
– Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, June 2,
2009
July 2, 2009 California State Controller John
Chiang has warned that without a balanced
budget in place by July 1, he will begin using
IOUs to pay most of the state’s bills.
On June 25, California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger rejected a plan that would
save the state $3 billion by cutting school
spending, saying he would rather see the
state issue IOUs than delay the funding
problem with a piecemeal approach. The
state’s total budget deficit is $24.3 billion.
Meanwhile, other funding doors are
slamming closed. The Obama
administration has said it will not use federal
stimulus money to prop up California;
and Fitch Ratings, a bond rating agency,
announced that it was downgrading the
credit rating of the state, which already has
the lowest in the nation. Once downgraded,
California’s rating is likely to fall below the
minimum level legally required for most
money market funds, forcing the funds to
sell their California bonds. The result could
be a cost of millions of additional dollars in
higher interest rates for the state.
What to do? Perhaps California could take
a lesson from the island state of Guernsey,
located in the English Channel off the French
Coast, which faced similar funding problems
in the 19th century. Toby Birch, an asset
manager who hails from there, tells the
story in Gold News:
“As weary troops returned from a protracted
foreign war [the Napoleonic Wars ending in
1815], they encountered a land racked with
debt, high prices and a crumbling
infrastructure, whose flood defenses were
about to be overwhelmed . . . . While 1815
brought an end to the conflict on the
battlefront, . . . severe austerity ensued
on the home front. The application of the
Gold Standard meant that loans issued over
many years were then recalled to balance the
ratio of money to precious metals. This led to
economic gridlock as labor and materials
were abundant, but much-needed projects
could not be funded for want of cash.
“This led to a period of so-called ‘poverty
amongst plenty’. . . . The situation seemed
insoluble; existing borrowing costs were
consuming 80% of the island’s revenues.
What was already an unsustainable debt
burden would need to be doubled to fund the
two most essential infrastructure projects.
This was when a committee of States
members was formed . . . . The committee
realized that if the Guernsey States issued
their own notes to fund the project, rather
than borrowing from an English bank, there
would be no interest to pay. This would lead
to substantial savings. Because as anyone
with a mortgage should understand, the
debtor ends up paying at least double the
amount borrowed over the long-term.”
To prevent an unwanted inflation of the
money supply, the Guernsey States issued
the notes with a date due, and on that date
the bearer was paid in gold. The money
came from rents on the finished
infrastructure, supplemented with a tax on
liquor. Birch goes on:
“The end result of the Guernsey Experiment
was spectacular – new roads, sea defenses
and public buildings were established,
fostering widespread trade and prosperity.
Full employment was achieved, no deficits
resulted and prices were stable, all without a
penny paid in interest. What started as a trial
led to a string of construction projects, which
still stand and function to this day. Money
was used in its purest form: as a convenient
mechanism for oiling the wheels of
commerce and development.”
Like Guernsey, California is facing “poverty
amidst plenty.” The state has the eighth
largest economy in the world, larger than
Russia’s, Brazil’s, Canada’s and India’s. It
has the resources, labor, and technical
expertise to make just about anything its
citizens put their minds to. The only thing
lacking is the money to do it. But money is
merely a medium of exchange, a means of
getting suppliers, laborers and customers
together so that they can produce and
exchange products.
As has been explained elsewhere, today
money is simply credit. All of our money
except coins is created by banks when they
make loans. The current crisis stems from a
credit freeze that began on Wall Street in the
fall of 2007, when banks were required to
revalue their assets due to a change in
accounting rules, from “mark to fantasy” to
“mark to market.” Banks that were previously
considered in good shape, with plenty of
capital for making loans, suddenly came up
short. Lending fell off, and so did the
available money supply.
Just understanding the problem is enough to
see the solution. If a private bank can create
credit on its books, so can the mighty state of
California. It merely needs to form its own
bank. Under the “fractional reserve” lending
system, banks are allowed to extend credit –
or create money as loans – in a sum equal to
many times their deposit base.
Congressman Jerry Voorhis, writing in 1973,
explained it like this:
“[F]or every $1 or $1.50 which people – or the
government – deposit in a bank, the banking
system can create out of thin air and by the
stroke of a pen some $10 of checkbook
money or demand deposits. It can lend all
that $10 into circulation at interest just so
long as it has the $1 or a little more in
reserve to back it up.”
The 10 percent reserve requirement is now
largely obsolete, in part because banks have
figured out how to get around it. What chiefly
limits bank lending today is the 8 percent
capital requirement imposed by the Bank for
International Settlements, the head of the
private global central banking system in
Basel, Switzerland. With an 8 percent capital
requirement, a state with its own bank could
fan its revenues into 12.5 times their face
value in loans (100 ÷ 8 = 12.5). And since the
state would actually own the bank, it would
not have to worry about shareholders or
profits. It could lend to creditworthy borrowers
at very low interest, perhaps limited only to a
service charge covering its costs; and on
loans the bank made to the state, the state
would ultimately get the interest, making the
loans essentially interest-free.
Precedent for this approach is to be found in
North Dakota, one of only three states
currently able to meet its budget. North
Dakota is not only solvent but now boasts the
largest surplus it has ever had. The Bank of
North Dakota, the only state-owned bank in
the nation, was established by the legislature
in 1919 to free farmers and small
businessmen from the clutches of out-of-
state bankers and railroad men. By law, the
state must deposit all its funds in the bank,
and the state guarantees its deposits. The
bank’s surplus profits are returned to the
state’s coffers. The bank operates as a
bankers’ bank, partnering with private banks
to loan money to farmers, real estate
developers, schools and small businesses.
It makes 1% loans to startup farms, has a
thriving student loan business, and
purchases municipal bonds from public
institutions.
Looking at California’s budget figures,
projected state revenues for 2009 are $128
billion. At a reserve requirement of 10%, if
California deposited all $128 billion in its
own state-owned bank, it could issue $1.28
trillion in loans, far more than it would need
to cover its $23 billion budget shortfall. To
lend itself the money to cover the shortfall, it
would need only $2.3 billion in deposits and
about $2 billion in capital (assuming an 8%
capital requirement). What Sheldon Emry
wrote of nations is equally true of states:
“It is as ridiculous for a nation to say to its
citizens, ‘You must consume less because
we are short of money,’ as it would be for an
airline to say, ‘Our planes are flying, but we
cannot take you because we are short of
tickets.’”
As a card-carrying member of the banking
elite, California could create all the credit it
needs to fund its operations, with money to
spare.
Ellen Hodgson Brown is the author of Web of
Debt: the Shocking Truth About Our Money
System and How We Can Break Free. She
can be reached through her website.
"Give em hell!"
MOLLY IVINS
MOLLY IVINS
Democracy
and Geography
Between Tel Aviv
and Tehran
By URI AVNERY
June 29, 2009 Hundreds of thousands of
Iranian citizens pour into the streets in order
to protest against their government! What a
wonderful sight! Gideon Levy wrote in
Haaretz that he envies the Iranians.
And indeed, anyone who tries these days to
get Israelis in any numbers into the streets
could die of envy. It is very difficult to get even
hundreds of people to protest against the evil
deeds or policies of our government –
and not because everybody supports it.
At the height of the war against Gaza, half
a year ago, it was not easy to mobilize ten
thousand protesters. Only once a year does
the peace camp succeed in bringing a
hundred thousand people to the square –
and then only to commemorate the
assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
The atmosphere in Israel is a mixture of
indifference, fatigue and a “loss of the belief
in the ability to change reality”, as a Supreme
Court justice put it this week. A very dramatic
change is needed in order to get masses of
people to demonstrate for peace.
* * *
FOR MIR-HOSSEIN MOUSAVI hundreds
of thousands have demonstrated,
and hundreds of thousands have
demonstrated for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
That says something about the people
and about the regime.
Can anyone imagine a hundred thousand
people gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to
protest against the official election results?
The police would open fire before a thousand
had assembled there.
Would even a thousand people be allowed to
demonstrate in Amman against His Majesty?
The very idea is absurd.
Some years ago, the Saudi security forces
in Mecca opened fire on unruly pilgrims.
In Saudi Arabia, there are never protests
against election results – simply because
there are no elections.
In Iran, however, there are elections,
and how! They are more frequent than
elections in the US, and Iranian presidents
change more often than American ones.
Indeed, the very protests and riots show
how seriously the citizens there treat
election results.
* * *
OF COURSE, the Iranian regime is not
democratic in the way we understand
democracy. There is a Supreme Guide who
fixes the rules of the game. Religious bodies
rule out candidates they do not like.
Parliament cannot adopt laws that contradict
religious law. And the laws of God are
unchangeable - at most, their interpretation
can change.
All this is not entirely foreign to Israelis. From
the very beginning the religious camp has
been trying to turn Israel into a religious
state, in which religious law (called Halakha)
would be above the civil law. Laws
“revealed” thousands of years ago and
regarded as unchangeable would take
precedence over laws enacted by the
democratically elected Knesset.
To understand Iran, we have only to look at
one of the important Israeli parties: Shas.
They, too, have a Supreme Guide, Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef, who decides everything.
He appoints the party leadership, he selects
the party’s Knesset candidates, he directs
the party faction how to vote on every single
issue. There are no elections in Shas.
And in comparison with the frequent
outbursts of Rabbi Ovadia, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad is a model of moderation.
* * *
ELECTIONS DIFFER from country to country.
It is very difficult to compare the fairness of
elections in one country with those in another.
At one end of the scale were the elections in
the good old Soviet Union. There it was joked
that a voter entered the ballot room, received
a closed envelope from an official and was
politely requested to put it into the ballot box.
“What, can’t I know who I am voting for?”
the voter demanded.
The official was shocked. “Of course not! In
the Soviet Union we have secret elections!”
At the other end of the scale there should
stand that bastion of democracy, the USA.
But in elections there, only nine years ago,
the results were decided by the Supreme
Court. The losers, who had voted for Al Gore,
are convinced to this very day that the results
were fraudulent.
In Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and now,
apparently, also in Egypt, rule is passed from
father to son or from brother to brother.
A family affair.
Our own elections are clean, more or less,
even if after every election people claim that
in the Orthodox Jewish quarters the dead
also voted. Three and a half million
inhabitants of the occupied Palestinian
territories also held democratic elections in
2006, which former President Jimmy Carter
described as exemplary, but Israel, the US
and Europe refused to accept the results,
because they did not like them.
So it seems that democracy is a matter
of geography.
* * *
WERE THE election results in Iran falsified?
Practically no one of us – in Tel Aviv,
Washington or London – can know. We have
no idea, because none of us – and that
includes the chiefs of all intelligence
agencies – really knows what is happening
in that country. We can only try to apply our
common sense, based on the little
information we have.
Clearly, hundreds of thousands of voters
honestly believe that the results were faked.
Otherwise, they would not have taken to the
streets. But this is a quite normal among
losers. During the intoxication of an election
campaign, every party believes that it is about
to win. When this does not happen, it is quite
sure that the results are forged.
Some time ago, Germany’s excellent 3Sat
television channel broadcast an arresting
report about Tehran. The crew drove through
the main street from the North of the city to
the South, stopping frequently along the way,
entering people’s homes, visiting mosques
and nightclubs.
I learned that Tehran is largely similar to Tel
Aviv at least in one respect: in the North there
reside the rich and the well-to-do,
in the South the poor and underprivileged.
The Northerners imitate the US, go to
prestigious universities and dance in the
clubs. The women are liberated.
The Southerners stick to tradition, revere
the ayatollahs or the rabbis, and detest
the shameless and corrupt North.
Mousavi is the candidate of the North,
Ahmadinejad of the South. The villages and
small towns – which we call the “periphery” –
identify with the south and are alienated
from the north.
In Tel Aviv, the South voted for Likud, Shas
and the other right-wing parties. The North
voted for Labor and Kadima. In our elections,
a few months ago, the Right thus won a
resounding victory.
It seems that something very similar
happened in Iran. It is reasonable to assume
that Ahmadinejad genuinely won.
The sole Western outfit that conducted a
serious public opinion poll in Iran prior to the
elections came up with figures that proved
very close to the official results. It is hard to
imagine huge forgeries, concerning many
millions of votes, when thousands of polling
station personnel are involved. In other
words: it is entirely plausible that
Ahmadinejad really won. If there were
forgeries – and there is no reason to
believe that there were not – they probably
did not reach proportions that could swa
y the end result.
There is a simple test for the success of
a revolution: has the revolutionary spirit
penetrated the army? Since the French
Revolution, no revolution has succeeded
when the army was steadfast in support of
the existing regime. Both the 1917 February
and October revolutions in Russia
succeeded because the army was in a state
of dissolution. In 1918, much the same
happened in Germany. Mussolini and Hitler
took great pains not to challenge the army,
and came to power with its support.
In many revolutions, the decisive moment
arrives when the crowds in the street confront
the soldiers and policemen, and the
question arises: will they open fire on their
own people? When the soldiers refuse, the
revolution wins. When they shoot, that is the
end of the matter.
When Boris Yeltsin climbed on the tank,
the solders refused to shoot and he won.
The Berlin wall fell because one East-
German police officer refused at the decisive
moment to give the order to open fire. In Iran,
Khomeini won when, in the final test, the
soldiers of the Shah refused to shoot. That
did not happen this time. The security forces
were ready to shoot. They were not infected
by the revolutionary spirit. The way it looks
now, that was the end of the affair.
* * *
I AM not an admirer of Ahmadinejad. Mousavi
appeals to me much more.
I do not like leaders who are in direct contact
with God, who make speeches to the
masses from a balcony, who use demagogic
and provocative language, who ride on the
waves of hatred and fear. His denial of the
holocaust – an idiotic exercise in itself –
only adds to Ahmadinejad’s image as a
primitive or cynical leader.
No doubt, he is a sworn enemy of the state
of Israel or – as he prefers to call it –
the “Zionist regime”. Even if he did not
promise to wipe it out himself,
as erroneously reported, but only expressed
his belief that it would “disappear from the
map”, this does not set my mind at rest.
It is an open question whether Mousavi,
if elected, would have made a difference as
far as we are concerned. Would Iran have
abandoned its efforts to produce nuclear
weapons? Would it have reduced its support
of the Palestinian resistance? The answer
is negative.
It is an open secret that our leaders hoped
that Ahmadinejad would win, exacerbate the
hatred of the Western world against himself
and make reconciliation with America more
difficult.
All through the crisis, Barack Obama has
behaved with admirable restraint. American
and Western public opinion, as well as the
supporters of the Israeli government, called
upon him to raise his voice, identify with the
protesters, wear a green tie in their honor,
condemn the Ayatollahs and Ahmadinejad
in no uncertain terms. But except for minimal
criticism, he did not do so, displaying both
wisdom and political courage.
Iran is what it is. The US must negotiate with
it, for its own sake and for our sake, too.
Only this way – if at all – is it possible to
prevent or hold up its development of nuclear
weapons. And if we are condemned to live
under the shadow of an Iranian nuclear
bomb, in a classic situation of a balance of
terror, it would be better if the bomb were in
the hands of an Iranian leadership that
keeps up a dialogue with the American
president. And of course, it would be good for
us if - before reaching that point - we could
achieve, with the friendly support of Obama,
full peace with the Palestinian people,
thus removing the main justification for
Iran’s hostility towards Israel.
The revolt of the Northerners in Iran will
remain, so it seems, a passing episode.
It may, hopefully, have an impact in the long
run, beneath the surface. But in the
meantime, it makes no sense to deny the
victory of the Iranian denier.
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace
activist with Gush Shalom. He is a
contributor to CounterPunch's book The
Politics of Anti-Semitism.
| Published on Monday, June 29, 2009 by TruthDig.com The Truth Alone Will Not Set You Free by Chris Hedges The ability of the corporate state to pacify the country by extending credit and providing cheap manufactured goods to the masses is gone. The pernicious idea that democracy lies in the choice between competing brands and the freedom to accumulate vast sums of personal wealth at the expense of others has collapsed. The conflation of freedom with the free market has been exposed as a sham. The travails of the poor are rapidly becoming the travails of the middle class, especially as unemployment insurance runs out and people get a taste of Bill Clinton's draconian welfare reform. And class warfare, once buried under the happy illusion that we were all going to enter an age of prosperity with unfettered capitalism, is returning with a vengeance. Our economic crisis-despite the corporate media circus around the death of Michael Jackson or Gov. Mark Sanford's marital infidelity or the outfits of Sacha Baron Cohen's latest incarnation, Brüno-barrels forward. And this crisis will lead to a period of profound political turmoil and change. Those who care about the plight of the working class and the poor must begin to mobilize quickly or we will lose our last opportunity to save our embattled democracy. The most important struggle will be to wrest the organs of communication from corporations that use mass media to demonize movements of social change and empower proto-fascist movements such as the Christian right. American culture-or cultures, for we once had distinct regional cultures-was systematically destroyed in the 20th century by corporations. These corporations used mass communication, as well as an understanding of the human subconscious, to turn consumption into an inner compulsion. Old values of thrift, regional identity that had its own iconography, aesthetic expression and history, diverse immigrant traditions, self-sufficiency, a press that was decentralized to provide citizens with a voice in their communities were all destroyed to create mass, corporate culture. New desires and habits were implanted by corporate advertisers to replace the old. Individual frustrations and discontents could be solved, corporate culture assured us, through the wonders of consumerism and cultural homogenization. American culture, or cultures, was replaced with junk culture and junk politics. And now, standing on the ash heap, we survey the ruins. The very slogans of advertising and mass culture have become the idiom of common expression, robbing us of the language to make sense of the destruction. We confuse the manufactured commodity culture with American culture. How do we recover what was lost? How do we reclaim the culture that was destroyed by corporations? How do we fight back now that the consumer culture has fallen into a state of decay? What can we do to reverse the cannibalization of government and the national economy by the corporations? All periods of profound change occur in a crisis. It was a crisis that brought us the New Deal, now largely dismantled by the corporate state. It was also a crisis that gave the world Adolf Hitler and Slobodan Milosevic. We can go in either direction. Events move at the speed of light when societies and cultural assumptions break down. There are powerful forces, which have no commitment to the open society, ready to seize the moment to snuff out the last vestiges of democratic egalitarianism. Our bankrupt liberalism, which naively believes that Barack Obama is the antidote to our permanent war economy and Wall Street fraud, will either rise from its coma or be rolled over by an organized corporate elite and their right-wing lap dogs. The corporate domination of the airwaves, of most print publications and an increasing number of Internet sites means we will have to search, and search quickly, for alternative forms of communication to thwart the rise of totalitarian capitalism. Stuart Ewen, whose books "Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture" and "PR: A Social History of Spin" chronicle how corporate propaganda deformed American culture and pushed populism to the margins of American society, argues that we have a fleeting chance to save the country. I fervently hope he is right. He attacks the ideology of "objectivity and balance" that has corrupted news, saying that it falsely evokes the scales of justice. He describes the curriculum at most journalism schools as "poison." " ‘Balance and objectivity' creates an idea where both sides are balanced," he said when I spoke to him by phone. "In certain ways it mirrors the two-party system, the notion that if you are going to have a Democrat speak you need to have a Republican speak. It offers the phantom of objectivity. It creates the notion that the universe of discourse is limited to two positions. Issues become black or white. They are not seen as complex with a multitude of factors." Ewen argues that the forces for social change-look at any lengthy and turgid human rights report-have forgotten that rhetoric is as important as fact. Corporate and government propaganda, aimed to sway emotions, rarely uses facts to sell its positions. And because progressives have lost the gift of rhetoric, which was once a staple of a university education, because they naively believe in the Enlightenment ideal that facts alone can move people toward justice, they are largely helpless. "Effective communication requires not simply an understanding of the facts, but how those facts will take place in the public mind," Ewen said. "When Gustave Le Bon says it is not the facts in and of themselves which make a point but the way in which the facts take place, the way in which they come to attention, he is right." The emergence of corporate and government public relations, which drew on the studies of mass psychology by Sigmund Freud and others after World War I, found its bible in Walter Lippmann's book "Public Opinion," a manual for the power elite's shaping of popular sentiments. Lippmann argued that the key to leadership in the modern age would depend on the ability to manipulate "symbols which assemble emotions after they have been detached from their ideas." The public mind could be mastered, he wrote, through an "intensification of feeling and a degradation of significance." These corporate forces, schooled by Woodrow Wilson's vast Committee for Public Information, which sold World War I to the public, learned how to skillfully mobilize and manipulate the emotional responses of the public. The control of the airwaves and domination through corporate advertising of most publications restricted news to reporting facts, to "objectivity and balance," while the real power to persuade and dominate a public remained under corporate and governmental control. Ewen argues that pamphleteering, which played a major role in the 17th and 18th centuries in shaping the public mind, recognized that "the human mind is not left brain or right brain, that it is not divided by reason which is good and emotion which is bad." He argues that the forces of social reform, those organs that support a search for truth and self-criticism, have mistakenly shunned emotion and rhetoric because they have been used so powerfully within modern society to disseminate lies and manipulate public opinion. But this refusal to appeal to emotion means "we gave up the ghost and accepted the idea that human beings are these divided selves, binary systems between emotion and reason, and that emotion gets you into trouble and reason is what leads you forward. This is not true." The public is bombarded with carefully crafted images meant to confuse propaganda with ideology and knowledge with how we feel. Human rights and labor groups, investigative journalists, consumer watchdog organizations and advocacy agencies have, in the face of this manipulation, inundated the public sphere with reports and facts. But facts alone, Ewen says, make little difference. And as we search for alternative ways to communicate in a time of crisis we must also communicate in new forms. We must appeal to emotion as well as to reason. The power of this appeal to emotion is evidenced in the photographs of Jacob Riis, a New York journalist, who with a team of assistants at the end of the 19th century initiated urban-reform photography. His stark portraits of the filth and squalor of urban slums awakened the conscience of a nation. The photographer Lewis Hine, at the turn of the 20th century, and Walker Evans during the Great Depression did the same thing for the working class, along with writers such as Upton Sinclair and James Agee. It is a recovery of this style, one that turns the abstraction of fact into a human flesh and one that is not afraid of emotion and passion, which will permit us to counter the force of corporate propaganda. We may know that fossil fuels are destroying our ecosystem. We may be able to cite the statistics. But the oil and natural gas industry continues its flagrant rape of the planet. It is able to do this because of the money it uses to control legislation and a massive advertising campaign that paints the oil and natural gas industry as part of the solution. A group called EnergyTomorrow.org, for example, has been running a series of television ads. One ad features an attractive, middle-aged woman in a black pantsuit-an actor named Brooke Alexander who once worked as the host of "WorldBeat" on CNN and for Fox News. Alexander walks around a blue screen studio that becomes digital renditions of American life. She argues, before each image, that oil and natural gas are critical to providing not only energy needs but health care and jobs. "It is almost like they are taking the most optimistic visions of what the stimulus package could do and saying this is what the development of oil and natural gas will bring about," Ewen said. "If you go to the Web site there is a lot of sophisticated stuff you can play around with. As each ad closes you see in the lower right-hand corner in very small letters API, the American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying group for ExxonMobil and all the other big oil companies. For the average viewer there is nothing in the ad to indicate this is being produced by the oil industry." The modern world, as Kafka predicted, has become a world where the irrational has become rational, where lies become true. And facts alone will be powerless to thwart the mendacity spun out through billions of dollars in corporate advertising, lobbying and control of traditional sources of information. We will have to descend into the world of the forgotten, to write, photograph, paint, sing, act, blog, video and film with anger and honesty that have been blunted by the parameters of traditional journalism. The lines between artists, social activists and journalists have to be erased. These lines diminish the power of reform, justice and an understanding of the truth. And it is for this purpose that these lines are there. "As a writer part of what you are aiming for is to present things in ways that will resonate with people, which will give voice to feelings and concerns, feelings that may not be fully verbalized," Ewen said. "You can't do that simply by providing them with data. One of the major problems of the present is that those structures designed to promote a progressive agenda are antediluvian." Corporate ideology, embodied in neoconservatism, has seeped into the attitudes of most self-described liberals. It champions unfettered capitalism and globalization as eternal. This is the classic tactic that power elites use to maintain themselves. The loss of historical memory, which "balanced and objective" journalism promotes, has only contributed to this fantasy. But the fantasy, despite the desperate raiding of taxpayer funds to keep the corporate system alive, is now coming undone. The lie is being exposed. And the corporate state is running scared. "It is very important for people like us to think about ways to present the issues, whether we are talking about the banking crisis, health care or housing and homelessness," Ewen said. "We have to think about presenting these issues in ways that are two steps ahead of the media rather than two steps behind. That is not something we should view as an impossible task. It is a very possible task. There is evidence of how possible that task is, especially if you look at the development of the underground press in the 1960s. The underground press, which started cropping up all over the country, was not a marginal phenomenon. It leeched into the society. It developed an approach to news and communication that was 10 steps ahead of the mainstream media. The proof is that even as it declined, so many structures that were innovated by the underground press, things like The Whole Earth Catalogue, began to affect and inform the stylistic presentation of mainstream media." "I am not a prophet," Ewen said. "All I can do is look at historical precedence and figure out the extent we can learn from it. This is not about looking backwards. If you can't see the past you can't see the future. If you can't see the relationship between the present and the past you can't understand where the present might go. Who controls the past controls the present, who controls the present controls the future, as George Orwell said. This is a succinct explanation of the ways in which power functions." "Read ‘The Gettysburg Address,' " Ewen said. "Read Frederick Douglass' autobiography or his newspaper. Read ‘The Communist Manifesto.' Read Darwin's ‘Descent of Man.' All of these things are filled with an understanding that communicating ideas and producing forms of public communication that empower people, rather than disempowering people, relies on an integrated understanding of who the public is and what it might be. We have a lot to learn from the history of rhetoric. We need to think about where we are going. We need to think about what 21st century pamphleteering might be. We need to think about the ways in which the rediscovery of rhetoric-not lying, but rhetoric in its more conventional sense-can affect what we do. We need to look at those historical antecedents where interventions happened that stepped ahead of the news. And to some extent this is happening. We have the freest and most open public sphere since the village square." The battle ahead will be fought outside the journalistic mainstream, he said. The old forms of journalism are dying or have sold their soul to corporate manipulation and celebrity culture. We must now wed fact to rhetoric. We must appeal to reason and emotion. We must not be afraid to openly take sides, to speak, photograph or write on behalf of the disempowered. And, Ewen believes, we have a chance in the coming crisis to succeed. "Pessimism is never useful," he said. "Realism is useful, understanding the forces that are at play. To quote Antonio Gramsci, ‘pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.' " © 2009 TruthDig.com Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. Hedges graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of many books, including: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should Know About War, and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. His most recent book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, will be out in July, but is available for pre-order. |
| Published on Friday, July 3, 2009 by CommonDreams.org Letter to Obama from a Dying Man With an Introduction by Paul Rogat Loeb by Robert Gordon My friend Robert Ellis Gordon is dying of lupus, with months left to live. He's spent more than a decade teaching writing to prison inmates, written a terrific book called The Fun House Mirror from those experiences and crafted a rave-reviewed novel, When Bobby Kennedy was a Moving Man, on Kennedy being sent back to earth to determine whether he deserved Heaven or Hell. I often quote something Robert said to a group of fellow prison teachers, which seems an apt metaphor for any effort at change: "Some of the people we work with will already have redeemed their lives. Others, no matter what we do, will be back in here again. And for some, our efforts will make all the difference. We will never know which group is which, but that should not serve as a deterrent to our efforts." Robert just wrote this open letter to Obama, challenging him to reach for his deepest levels of courage in being honest about what we face after decades of pillaging our economy. I'll miss his wise voice. -Paul Rogat Loeb Dear Mr. President: I am one, among millions, who recently received an email regarding your health care plan. Mr. Plouffe's email requested personal stories. As a fifty-five year old man who has lived with a rare and serious illness since 1989, and who was recently referred to hospice, I am, I suppose, no less qualified than others to write about the challenges and unlooked-for blessings that accompany a fatal disease. Upon reflection, however, I realized my story would be less compelling than others. For I come from a generous family. True, we were raised to make our way in the world and I started to work at age fourteen. Some forty years later, however, when it became evident that I could no longer hold down a job, my family cut back on their expenses so that my basic needs would be met. Hence I will not die, as thousands of my counterparts do, alone and anonymous in a hospital room or in the streets. So? I deleted Mr. Plouffe's email and returned to the task at hand. But deleted or not I was distracted by the email, so much so that I left the computer and took my dog for a walk. At the park, as I tossed the squeaky ball to Rose, I asked myself a question: if given the opportunity to write a letter to the President -- a letter in which illness and impending death served a larger agenda-- what would I say to him? The answer was immediate and impassioned: "Please level with the people. Now." What do I mean by level? And why this sense of urgency? The urgency stems from the peril I see in an unbalanced presentation of your economic scenario. I do not mean to suggest that you speak only of the most dire predictions. We need a substantive message of hope. It's been a long forty years since we heard one. But authentic hope, as you know better than most, is founded upon truth. You had the courage to speak it throughout your campaign, and the magnitude of your victory revealed a public yearning to hear it. In order to sustain the trust of the people, it is imperative that you continue to feed this yearning. That you do as you did in your speech on race: speak to us as adults. Speak even more deeply from the heart as well as the head. Above all, speak in the spirit of Judge Learned Hand: "The spirit of liberty is the spirit of not being too sure. So even as you speak words of hope and quell our fears with your steady presence, let us know that you proceed in the spirit of not being too sure because you cannot be; because no one can be; because a global economic meltdown is unprecedented in scope and nature. Tell the people, as FDR did, in a style that is true to yourself, that there's no panacea for this catastrophe. A catastrophe that was decades in the making and is not yet fully understood. And that your approach, therefore, must be a flexible one that allows for a sliding scale of eventualities, among which is the possibility-remote or not-- that this economic Katrina may outrace your best efforts to both remedy the cause and mitigate the effects. What is to be gained by leveling with the people now? And what are the consequences if you do not do so? Your most precious resource, Mr. President, is neither your brilliance nor the elegance with which you wield the language. Your most precious resource is your credibility. The consequences of an unbalanced presentation, one that tilts too heavily toward the rosy? No adverse consequences if that scenario unfolds. But if worse continues to lead to worse as numerous economists predict, and you deny yourself political cover by not allowing for that eventuality? Your popularity will prove thin and short-lived. You will lose your credibility. Quickly. And once relinquished, it can't be restored. Should you lose your credibility the people will, at the least, dismiss you as yet another president in a long line of presidents who opted to not be statesmen. As for your ability to summon our better angels? That remarkable gift will be squandered. And that's the best case scenario, Mr. President. The worst? If , in the absence of a credible President, tens of millions- millions who are ill-prepared for adversity-find themselves living in a state of deprivation and want? And if fear of the unknown starts feeding upon itself? The people may, as they have in the past, turn to a leader who uses the energy of ignorance and fear to summon our darkest impulses. We don't have to travel back to the Trail of Tears to recognize our capacity for looking the other way while our government pursues a policy of genocide. We don't have to travel back to the torture and murder of Emmett Till to recognize our capacity for denying the humanity of a child. Joe McCarthy's sheet of paper? Ancient history. A mere nine months ago John McCain chose a running mate who proved masterful at inciting fear and hatred of "the other." And if worse continues to lead to worse in the absence of a credible president, the hatred we saw on the periphery of her crowds could move to the center and burst into flames that consume our better angels s they fan out. On June 2nd the headline for the New York Times lead story ran beneath this headline: "Obama Is Upbeat For G. M. Future On A Day Of Pain." Upbeat on a day when the lives of 21,000 autoworkers and their families were shattered. Upbeat on a day in which the closing of seven plants will translate into tens of thousands of shattered lives in other sectors of the auto industry. Upbeat on a day when the Times ran an editorial devoted to yet a new wave of home foreclosures. There's a dissonance here, Mr. President. And even from the standpoint of political calculation- of the coldest Machiavellian calculation-this dissonance does not have to be. Last November the people rejected the politics of fear, rigidity, half-truths and lies, and embraced the politics of unity and truth. This was a tribute to our ability to discern and to the authentic nature of your message. A message of hope to be sure, but one that calls not for ease but sacrifice. And perhaps above all we came to appreciate a creative and compassionate vision that is tempered, at long last, by reality. Your vision represents the best and perhaps last hope for our children and for theirs. You forged a bond with the people, Mr. President. But the glue hasn't set and the glue will not set if you do no t re-calibrate your message. The last and most important question: what is to be gained by leveling? Perhaps the best way for me to address the positive, the potential for realizing your vision, is to circle back to Mr. Plouffe's request, and speak to you in personal terms about the lessons of illness and impending death. You may be familiar with this quote from the poet, Sylvia Plath. "If only you could see me forge my soul, fighting and fighting to forge my soul." Sylvia Plath succumbed to her despair, committed suicide in 1963. But her words still stand, maybe now more than ever, as tens of millions face the potential, at least, of entering the forging fire. And should that come to pass the people will look to you, just as the British looked to Churchill, for guidance, solace, and above all hope in the midst of their despair. And where does my twenty-year dance with the fire fit into all of this? Where do you and I intersect? What have I learned that could possibly be of use to the President of the United States? What have I learned that might help this good man forge the soul of a nation? Maybe something. Maybe nothing. But for what it's worth I offer a glimpse of my journey and a couple of nuggets I've picked up along the way. The first nugget? That we forge our souls not for ourselves but in order to be better disciples of compassion. And how does an obscure writer and former prison teacher make a contribution this late in the day with a timeline, in all likelihood, of months? Below, an excerpt from a recent note to the doctor who saved my life on numerous occasions over the past two decades. ... Suffering may teach but it is not an end in and of itself. And when the pain abates, during windows of peace, I write. I have a book to complete before I die. It is different from the others. I want to leave something behind that may serve as a source of solace to a reader here or there; a reader who wrestles with despair during this era of incomprehensible suffering. All those high-risk infusions? The fatal infection you warn me about? And my choice to continue, to run the risk, in order to buy time to write? Like any man I fear a painful death. But after receiving Extreme Unction on multiple occasions, I no longer fear death itself. What I fear is a life not well-lived. And the best way for me to do so during the time that remains is to complete that manuscript. It's just my body (not my soul) that is weary... So that is my final task: to forge my soul on the page. I may die before I finish. Or I may risk all on the page and find that my skill is wanting; that the story implodes on itself. But if I fail in this task, I will do so in obscurity. Because you sit where you sit, you don't have that luxury. What you do have is the opportunity and responsibility to explain how we got here and the full panoply of outcomes. If the rosy scenario comes to pass? The people will know, by dint of your honesty, that you are neither above nor below but of them. And if worse continues to lead to worse? If tens of millions find themselves living at the extremes of deprivation and want? And you've retained your credibility? The dreams you've resurrected may still be realized. Realized in ways and to a degree that would be unlikely during less uncertain times. You'll be able to protect us, protect the children, from those who would prey upon fear and unleash violent thought, language and deed. And as this economic Katrina continues to strengthen? As the people become increasingly aware that economic security is not a birthright? And are overwhelmed by a sense of vulnerability? As the people walk through the fire together, the differences so artfully exploited by your predecessor will assume their proper perspective. And compassion may well fill the void. Shared adversity has a way of doing that. And after the worst has passed, Mr. President? And the people, having been tempered by the fire, emerge stronger and more compassionate? Emerge with a visceral understanding of what it means to be dispossessed? That, Mr. President, is when your vision may be realized. For the people who revealed a desire to serve at the outset of your candidacy, during times of relative prosperity, will still be here when the fire is extinguished. But the people will not be the same. They'll be more able and willing to answer your call. And their progeny will learn through their example. This is not to say that the fire is pleasant. At times it's excruciating. I know that well. At times I want nothing more than to escape, and it is only faith that sustains me. Faith in God, yes, but also in man. Indeed, as I approach the River's edge, the distinction between divinity without and divinity within seems merely to be one of choice. And a simple choice at that: towards violence or towards compassion. This is your hour, Mr. President. I, like you, am both a child of God and a member of the body politic. And as I ready myself to leave this bittersweet world, I want you to know that it affords me much peace to know that you are the President. A President who quietly rescued the Constitution. Who can forge the nation's soul if the need arises. And who re-ignited the flame of hope and compassion months before the general election. A flame that was muted but not extinguished some forty years ago. And this speaks to the most important lesson I've learned from my twenty-year dance with the fire. Certainly all people wish and deserve to be treated with dignity and compassion. But the human heart is bigger than that. We wish, as well, to experience our magnanimous natures, the divinity within. This is what Gandhi knew and tapped into. This is what my favorite saint knew: "It is in the giving that we receive." And this, Mr. President, is what you know. So. A dying man's prayer for you and the nation: that the light that burns so brightly in you and your family will extend through generations. And if the children of the children choose to be their brothers and sisters' keepers simply because they listen to their hearts; hearts that tell them they're here to improve the lot of others? Well, they may never know it was you who reminded their forbears of who they truly are. They may never even know your name. But what of it? If the words you spoke on election night come to fruition, they will not bring an end to suffering. But they will bring forth the better angels of which you speak; of which the last great candidate for president spoke. And when I hear you summon our better angels forth, I hear echoes of the poet Robert Kennedy quoted on the darkest night of his brief campaign. And what greater legacy could he ask of you, and you, in turn, ask of us, than a renewed commitment to the age-old call to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world? Sincerely, Robert Ellis Gordon Seattle, Washington robertegordon@mac.com Robert Gordon is the author of When Bobby Kennedy Was a Moving Man and The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison. He’s written for Esquire, the Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Ploughshares, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and taught writing in Washington State prisons, juvenile institutions and inner-city high schools. He wrote Funhouse Mirror while undergoing chemotherapy, collaborating with six of his incarcerated students to let their voices be heard. The book won the 2000 Washington State Book Award. As one critic wrote of Bobby Kennedy, “Gordon’s vision is at once radical and healing. It teaches us a little about Heaven and a lot about Hell.” Robert can be reached at robertegordon@mac.com |