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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Jan.27: A swell of Opposition to the war

 Just weeks after Bush announced his escalation of the Iraq war, massive numbers of people came out to protest to demand the war stop on January 27.  The rally in Washington, DC brought people from 40 states, with crowd estimates ranging from tens of thousands (by the mainstream news media) to hundreds of thousands.  In Los Angeles and San Francisco thousands came out to protest, and rallies were held in cities and towns across the country.
Video and speakers here

Andrew Roth and Peter Phillips from Project Censored were interviewed by Riz Kahn on Al Jazeera English Jan. 1 2007. The interview is available on YouTube at the link below.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=V6bV5XQcxFc

posted by: Whitebeard at 19:09 | link | comments |
us, censored news


Norman Finkelstein

Never Again!
(Except for the Palestinians, of course.)

The Holocaust Industry

The Holocaust only emerged in American life after Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Day war against its Arab neighbours. [Since then] too many public and private resources have been invested in memorialising the Nazi genocide. Most of the output is worthless, a tribute not to Jewish suffering but to Jewish aggrandisement. The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon. Through its deployment, one of the world's most formidable military powers, with a horrendous human rights record, has cast itself as a "victim" state, and the most successful ethnic group in the US has likewise acquired victim status. Considerable dividends accrue from this specious victimhood — in particular, immunity to criticism, however justified.

The time is long past to open our hearts to the rest of humanity's sufferings. This was the main lesson my mother imparted. I never once heard her say: "Do not compare." My mother always compared. In the face of the sufferings of African-Americans, Vietnamese and Palestinians, my mother's credo always was: "We are all holocaust victims."

Here

posted by: Whitebeard at 11:21 | link | comments |
us, israel, palestine

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

IF HISTORY IS TO BE CREATIVE
 
 America’s future is linked to how we understand our past. For this reason, writing about history, for me, is never a neutral act. By writing, I hope to awaken a great consciousness of racial injustice, sexual bias, class inequality and national hubris. I also want to bring into the light the unreported resistance of people against the power of the Establishment: the refusal of the indigenous to simply dis­appear; the rebellion of black people in the antislavery movement and in the more recent movement against racial segregation; the strikes carried out by working people all through American history in attempts to improve their lives.
To omit these acts of resistance is to support the official view that power only rests with those who have the guns and possess the wealth. I write in order to illustrate the cre­ative power of people struggling for a better world. People, when organized, have enormous power more than any gov­ernment. Our history runs deep with the stories of people who stand up, speak out, dig in, organize, connect, form networks of resistance, and alter the course of history. I don’t want to invent victories for people’s movements. But to think that history writing must aim simply to recapit­ulate the failures that dominate the past is to make histori­ans collaborators in an endless cycle of defeat. If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without deny­ing the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, and occasionally to win. I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past’s fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare.
History can help our struggles, if not conclusively, then at least suggestively. History can disabuse us of the idea that the government’s interests and the people’s interests are the same.
History can tell how often governments have lied to us, how they have ordered whole populations to be massacred, how they deny the existence of the poor, how they have led us to our current historical moment—the “Long War,” the war without end.
True, our government has the power to spend the coun­try’s wealth as it wishes. It can send troops anywhere in the world. It can threaten indefinite detention and deportation of 20 million immigrant Americans who do not yet have green cards and have no constitutional rights. In the name of our “national interest,” the government can deploy troops to the U.S.-Mexican border, round up Muslim men from certain countries, secretly listen in on our conversations, open our e-mails, examine our bank transactions, and try to intimidate us into silence.
The government can control information with the collab­oration of a timid mass media. Only this accounts for the popularity—waning by 2006 (33percent of those polled), but still significant—of George W. Bush. Still, this control is not absolute. The fact that the media are 95 percent in favor of continuing the occupation of Iraq (with only super­ficial criticism of how it is done), while more than 50 percent of the public are in favor of withdrawal, suggests a commonsense resistance to official explanations.
Consider also the volatile nature of public opinion, how it can change with dramatic suddenness. Note how the large majority of public support for George Bush the elder quickly collapsed once the glow of victory from the First Gulf War (1990—91) faded and the reality of economic trouble set in.
Think of how, near the start of the Vietnam War in 1965, two-thirds of Americans supported the war. A few years later, two-thirds of Americans opposed the war. What hap­pened in those three or four years? A gradual osmosis of truth seeped through the cracks of the propaganda system— a realization of having been lied to and deceived. That is what is happening in America as I write this in the summer of 2006.
It is easy to be overwhelmed or intimidated by the real­ization that the war makers have enormous power. But some historical perspective can be useful, because it tells us that at certain points in history governments find that all their power is futile against the power of an aroused citizenry.
There is a basic weakness in governments, however mas­sive their armies, however vast their wealth, however they control images and information, because their power depends on the obedience of citizens, of soldiers, of civil servants, of journalists and writers and teachers and artists. When the citizens begin to suspect they have been deceived and withdraw their support, government loses its legitimacy and its power.
We have seen this happen in recent decades all around the globe. Awaking one morning to see a million angry people in the streets of the capital city,  the leaders of a coun­try begin packing their bags and calling for a helicopter.
This is not fantasy; it is recent history. It’s the history of the Philippines, of Indonesia, of Greece, Portugal and Spain, of Russia, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania. Think of Argentina and South Africaand other places where change looked hopeless and then it hap­pened. Remember Somoza in Nicaragua scurrying to his private plane, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos hurriedly assembling their jewels and clothes, the shah of Iran des­perately searching for a country that would take him in as he fled the crowds in Tehran, Duvalier in Haiti barely managing to put on his pants to escape the wrath of the Haitian people.
We can’t expect George Bush to scurry off in a helicopter. But we can hold him accountable for catapulting the nation unto two wars, for the death and dismemberment of tens of thousands of human beings in this country, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and for his violations of the U.S. Constitution and international law. Surely these acts meet the constitutional requirement of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for impeachment.
Indeed, people around the country have begun to call for his impeachment. Of course we cannot expect a craven Congress to impeach him. Congress was willing to impeach Nixon for breaking unto a building, but will not impeach Bush for breaking into a country. They were willing to impeach Clinton because of his sexual shenanigans, but will not impeach Bush for turning the wealth of the country over to the superrich.
There has been a worm eating at the innards of the Bush administration’s complacency all along: the knowledge of the American public—buried, but in a very shallow grave, easy to disinter—that this government came to power not by popular will but by a political coup. So we may be seeing the gradual disintegration of the legitimacy of this admin­istration, despite its outward confidence.
There is a long history of imperial powers gloating over victories, becoming overextended and overconfident, and not realizing that power is not simply a matter of arms and money. Military power has its limits—limits created by human beings, their sense of justice, and capacity to resist. The United States with 10,000 nuclear weapons could not win in Korea or Vietnam, could not stop a revolution in Cuba or Nicaragua. Likewise, the Soviet Union with its nuclear weapons and huge army was forced to retreat from Afghanistan and could not stop the Solidarity movement in Poland.
A country with military power can destroy but it cannot build. Its citizens become uneasy because their fundamen­tal day-to-day needs are sacrificed for military glory while their young are neglected and sent to war. The uneasiness grows and grows and the citizenry gathers in resistance in larger and larger numbers, which become too many to con­trol; one day the top-heavy empire collapses.
Change in public consciousness starts with low-level dis­content, at first vague, with no connection being made between the discontent and the policies of the government. And then the dots begin to connect, indignation increases, and people begin to speak out, organize, and act.
Today, all over the county there is growing awareness of the shortage of teachers, nurses, medical care, and affordable housing, as budget cuts take place in every state of the union. A teacher recently wrote a letter to the Boston Globe:
“I may be one of 6oo Boston teachers who will be laid off as a result of budget shortfalls.” The writer then connects it to the billions spent for bombs, for, as he puts it, “sending innocent Iraqi children to hospitals in Baghdad.”
There are millions of people in this country opposed to the current war. When you see a statistic  “40 percent of Americans support the war,” that means that 6o percent of Americans do not. I am convinced that the number of people opposed to the war will continue to rise while the number of war supporters will continue to sink. Along the way, artists, musicians, writers, and cultural workers lend a special emotional and spiritual power to the movement for peace and justice. Rebellion often starts as something cultural.
The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people of the world and a power greater than money or weapons: the truth.
Truth has a power of its own. Art has a power of its own. That age-old lesson—that everything we do matters—is the meaning of the people’s struggle here in the United States and everywhere. A poem can inspire a movement. A pam­phlet can spark a revolution. Civil disobedience can arouse people and provoke us to think. When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together we can create a power no government can suppress.
We live in a beautiful country. But people who have no respect for human life, freedom, or justice have taken it over. It is now up to all of us to take it back.
(Howard Zinn, A Power governments cannot suppress, City Lights books, San Francisco, 2007 - cpt 1)
Note - The book of Mr.Howard Zinn is on my bedside table. A holy bible, indeed. Thank you, prof. (even about Sacco and Vanzetti, cpt 34) - Thank also to you, Mr. Ferlinghetti, that I and my wife met in Columbus street, in front of City lights library april 2001.
I left my hearth in S.Francisco.
American people, stand up and many wishes to all of us  for 2007.

posted by: Whitebeard at 18:15 | link | comments |
iraq, us, civil rights, peace, war, torture, censored news, world trade, nineleven

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Stop this madness

Dear friends,
 
Just when we thought the war in Iraq couldn't get any worse—it has. Last night, President Bush rejected reality, spurned the American people's verdict, and announced his new policy: military escalation in Iraq.
 
The newly elected United States Congress has the power to stop this madness, but it's critical to show immediate, unified opposition from the international community.

So MoveOn is helping launch Avaaz, a new international partnership to mobilize progressive global voices. We're starting with an emergency worldwide petition to the U.S. Congress and a powerful full-page ad in "Roll Call"—the Washington DC newspaper read by every member of Congress and their staff.

Click below to see the ad and sign the petition:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/iraq_campaign_jan_2007/

After years of failed occupation, it's clear to everyone but George Bush that the US cannot solve this civil conflict through force. As Bush's own top military advisors and commanders in the field have said, sending tens of thousands more American troops will only fan the flames of this war.

World opinion matters: The American people understand the US can't police the globe by itself. That's why, before the original invasion, Bush worked so hard to promote the involvement of Tony Blair and a few other select world leaders to win over reluctant members of Congress.

Today, Bush stands completely alone—but it's our job to bring this point home in Washington. The ad in Roll Call highlights Tony Blair's decision to withdraw troops in direct opposition to Bush's proposed escalation. And the petition will help show where the global public stands.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/iraq_campaign_jan_2007/

The Bush administration is already twisting arms and doing everything it can to push this escalation through. Congress may yet find the courage to resist—if we help them—but there's no time to lose.

Add your name to the petition. Spread the word to your friends. The Iraq crisis is a global problem. Together we have the power, and the responsibility, to help change course.
 
Sincerely,

–Eli Pariser
  MoveOn.org Political Action
  January 11, 2006
  
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

American people, stand up!

posted by: Whitebeard at 08:30 | link | comments |
iraq, us, civil rights, peace, war, torture, censored news

Thursday, January 11, 2007

posted by: Whitebeard at 23:13 | link | comments |
civil rights, world trade

Dear Mr. President: Send Even MORE Troops (and you go, too!) ...
from Michael Moore

1/10/07

Dear Mr. President,

Thanks for your address to the nation. It's good to know you still want to talk to us after how we behaved in November.

Listen, can I be frank? Sending in 20,000 more troops just ain't gonna do the job. That will only bring the troop level back up to what it was last year. And we were losing the war last year! We've already had over a million troops serve some time in Iraq since 2003. Another few thousand is simply not enough to find those weapons of mass destruction! Er, I mean... bringing those responsible for 9/11 to justice! Um, scratch that. Try this -- BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE MIDDLE EAST! YES!!!

You've got to show some courage, dude! You've got to win this one! C'mon, you got Saddam! You hung 'im high! I loved watching the video of that -- just like the old wild west! The bad guy wore black! The hangmen were as crazy as the hangee! Lynch mobs rule!!!

Look, I have to admit I feel very sorry for the predicament you're in. As Ricky Bobby said, "If you're not first, you're last." And you being humiliated in front of the whole world does NONE of us Americans any good.

Sir, listen to me. You have to send in MILLIONS of troops to Iraq, not thousands! The only way to lick this thing now is to flood Iraq with millions of us! I know that you're out of combat-ready soldiers -- so you have to look elsewhere! The only way you are going to beat a nation of 27 million -- Iraq -- is to send in at least 28 million! Here's how it would work:

The first 27 million Americans go in and kill one Iraqi each. That will quickly take care of any insurgency. The other one million of us will stay and rebuild the country. Simple.

Now, I know you're saying, where will I find 28 million Americans to go to Iraq? Here are some suggestions:

1. More than 62,000,000 Americans voted for you in the last election (the one that took place a year and half into a war we already knew we were losing). I am confident that at least a third of them would want to put their body where there vote was and sign up to volunteer. I know many of these people and, while we may disagree politically, I know that they don't believe someone else should have to go and fight their fight for them -- while they hide here in America.

2. Start a "Kill an Iraqi" Meet-Up group in cities across the country. I know this idea is so early-21st century, but I once went to a Lou Dobbs Meet-Up and, I swear, some of the best ideas happen after the third mojito. I'm sure you'll get another five million or so enlistees from this effort.

3. Send over all members of the mainstream media. After all, they were your collaborators in bringing us this war -- and many of them are already trained from having been "embedded!" If that doesn't bring the total to 28 million, then draft all viewers of the FOX News channel.

Mr. Bush, do not give up! Now is not the time to pull your punch! Don't be a weenie by sending in a few over-tired troops. Get your people behind you and YOU lead them in like a true commander in chief! Leave no conservative behind! Full speed ahead!

We promise to write. Go get 'em W!

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

American people stand up!
Thank you Michael.

posted by: Whitebeard at 22:54 | link | comments |
iraq, us, war, torture

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Click the poster
American people, wake up!

posted by: Whitebeard at 16:06 | link | comments |
us, war

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Bolivia diario de lucha
Che Guevara

Aqui

posted by: Whitebeard at 19:06 | link | comments |

 

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User: Whitebeard
Name: Urbano Cipriani
A retired teacher of history and litterature.

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