"That which you do not resist and mobilize to stop you will learn – or be forced – to accept.”
To the Anti-War Movement in the United States:
Barack Obama is sending a surge of 20,000 troops to Afghanistan.
An antiwar movement that does not move immediately to oppose the Obama doctrine of shifting the central front of the war on terror to Afghanistan, no longer deserves to be called an anti-war movement.read more...
The World Can’t Wait organizes people living in the United States to repudiate and stop the fascist direction initiated by the Bush Regime, including: the murderous, unjust and illegitimate occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan; the global “war of terror” of torture, rendition and spying; and the culture of bigotry, intolerance and greed. This direction cannot and will not be reversed by leaders who tell us to seek common ground with fascists, religious fanatics, and empire. It can only be possible by the people building a community of resistance - an independent mass movement of people - acting in the interests of humanity to stop, and demand prosecution, of these crimes.
(editors note – the U.S. military took over control of the airport at Port-au-Prince within hours of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. BBC news reports today that at least 2,000 more U.S. marines have landed in Haiti to provide “security”.
Yet a plane filled with desperately needed medical supplies was turned away Sunday and forced to land in the Dominican Republic – it could take days for the medical supplies on this plane to reach Haiti, at a time when every minute counts in saving lives. The following statements on this situation are from Doctors Without Borders.)
Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman, who is widely admired for his virtuosic performances and who famously tours with his own custom-altered Steinway, created a furor at Disney Hall on Sunday night when he stopped his recital to announce that this would be his last American appearance -- in protest of the nation's military policies overseas.
In a low voice that could not be heard throughout the auditorium, Zimerman, universally considered among the world's finest pianists, made reference to Guantanamo Bay and U.S. military policies toward Poland.
"Get your hands off my country," he said.
Then he turned to the piano and played Szymanowski's "Variations on a Polish Folk Theme" with such passion and intensity that the stunned audience gave him multiple ovations.
Earlier, about 30 or 40 people in the audience had walked out after Zimerman's declaration, some shouting obscenities.
"Yes," the pianist, known in Poland as "King Krystian the Glorious," answered, "some people, when they hear the word military, start marching."
Indian Springs, NV – Earlier this week, fourteen peace activists were arrested at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada. The arrests occurred during a ten-day vigil whose goal is to raise public awareness of the increasing use of unmanned drones in the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Air Force personnel based at Creech pilot the Predator and Reaper drones being used in Central Asia.
The 14 people walked through the open main gate shortly after 3:00 p.m. Air Force security personnel stopped them after they walked into the base. They were seeking to engage in dialogue with the Air Force service members controlling the Predators and Reapers used in Central Asia. In a gesture of good will, they offered to break bread and share pizza with Air Force personnel.
Diplomacy as a Weapon: Hillary Clinton at the Hague
On Tuesday, March 31st, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a speech at an international conference on Afghanistan at The Hague in the Netherlands. Representatives of more than 70 countries are attending the conference which is underway as of the writing of this article. Already the U.S. is actively putting forth its agenda for “victory” in that war-torn country.
The U.S., under the new commander-in-chief Obama, will significantly escalate the war and killing by deploying at least 30,000 additional U.S. troops to the war zone there in 2009. The Obama administration is also actively stepping up diplomacy to encourage its allies and others to contribute to the U.S. war effort, with additional troops and economic aid. Clinton’s attendance at the conference is part of this diplomatic offensive. Obama will also attend a NATO conference this week to further pressure NATO allies into supporting the U.S. war as well.
Israel charged with violating international law by Physicians for Human Rights
On Monday, March 23rd Israel’s army was charged in a report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) of violating codes of ethics and international law during its war against Gaza. According to the report, “Israel placed numerous obstacles in the course of the operation that impeded emergency medical evacuation of the sick and wounded and also caused families to be trapped for days without food, water and medications. The actions … violate directives of international law which forbid attacks on medical centres and medical teams during fighting” and “blatantly violated codes of ethics.”
Rev. Luis Barrios recently began a two month sentence for "trespassing" at the School of the Americas. Like the infamous torture facility in Guantanamo, the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia is associated with torture and crimes against humanity. While the Guantánamo crimes take place “on site” at Guantánamo, for over 25 years the School of the Americas has been a “training” facility, where military personnel from all over Latin America have been given instruction that they then put to use once they return to their respective countries.
On January 26, a federal judge in Georgia declared the 6 people - the SOA 6 - “guilty” of trespassing for carrying protest against the School of the Americas (SOA) onto the Fort Benning military base. The six were among the thousands who gathered on November 22 and 23, 2008 outside the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia to demand the closure of the School of the Americas. The six carried out a non-violent civil disobedience action, stepping onto the grounds of Fort Benning, at the front of the march. The judge sentenced Fr. Luis Barrios; Kristin Holm; Sr. Diane Pinchot, OSU; Al Simmons and Theresa Cusimano to two months each in jail for carrying the protest against the School of the Americas onto the Fort Benning military base. A sixth defendant, Louis Wolf, was sentenced to six months of house arrest.
Has Obama put an end to torture, rendition, and indefinite detention? Nothing could be further from the truth. Facts you need to know:
1) Obama admits Bush officials tortured, but refuses to prosecute them.
Cheney has bragged about authorizing waterboarding — suffocating by water — of detainees. On January 11, 2009, Obama told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “From my view, waterboarding is torture.” Under the UN Convention Against Torture, torture is a crime and each state that signed the treaty—including the U.S.—is required to investigate and prosecute torturers.
The Obama administration is therefore required, not only morally, but legally, to prosecute Bush Regime officials for torture.
Imagine a serial murderer kills in broad daylight. If, instead of arresting the killer, the local police department issued a statement saying, “From this day forward, we will not allow murder. But we are not going to prosecute the murderer.” This is what Obama has done by refusing to prosecute the Bush Regime. If the Bush regime can get away with openly violating the law then there is no “rule of law.” Any president can henceforth break the law without any consequences.
This article originally was published on the web site of Revolution newspaper.
U.S. attacks in Afghanistan and in Pakistan are escalating. Recently the Obama administration announced it will send another 17,000 US troops (joining 36,000 already there) to Afghanistan with perhaps more to come later.
Yet there’s been far too little outrage and protest over U.S. crimes in Afghanistan, especially since Obama became President. I have run into a lot of different questions (and misunderstandings) about what the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan are really all about, and will be addressing them in the pages of Revolution. Readers no doubt have—or hear—others. Send those questions to Revolution so we can learn from and address them.
Here’s the first series of questions:
1) I don’t like the U.S. invading countries, and I know that those who make these decisions have their own agenda. But the Taliban are totally brutal toward women and enshrine it in law. So even if the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan isn’t perfect and innocent people get killed, isn’t the U.S. improving things at least a little bit for women in Afghanistan?
A very important case is unfolding in Minnesota—eight people are being singled out by the government for their role in the political protests at the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC).
At the September ’08 RNC in St. Paul, war criminal John McCain and right-wing religious fundamentalist Sarah Palin were being selected as the Republican ticket for the presidential race.
The national media spent endless hours on things like Palin’s unmarried pregnant daughter. Meanwhile, the streets of St. Paul were turned into a militarized zone with massive police mobilization. Over the course of four days, thousands defied the armed clampdown to make known their opposition to U.S. wars-torture-spying and the imperialist globalization that has brought suffering to a huge section of humanity and caused catastrophic environmental damage. Over 800 people were arrested and scores were brutalized by the police.
STATEMENT OF JOEL KOVEL REGARDING HIS TERMINATION BY BARD COLLEGE Introduction
In January, 1988, I was appointed to the Alger Hiss Chair of Social Studies at Bard College. As this was a Presidential appointment outside the tenure system, I have served under a series of contracts. The last of these was half-time (one semester on, one off, with half salary and full benefits year-round), effective from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2009. On February 7 I received a letter from Michèle Dominy, Dean of the College, informing me that my contract would not be renewed this July 1 and that I would be moved to emeritus status as of that day. She wrote that this decision was made by President Botstein, Executive Vice-President Papadimitriou and herself, in consultation with members of the Faculty Senate.
This document argues that this termination of service is prejudicial and motivated neither by intellectual nor pedagogic considerations, but by political values, principally stemming from differences between myself and the Bard administration on the issue of Zionism. There is of course much more to my years at Bard than this, including another controversial subject, my work on ecosocialism (The Enemy of Nature).
George W. Bush must be proud of his successor, Barack Obama, for following in his footsteps. In a three day period, Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has twice echoed the legal arguments of the Bush regime in defending the police state created under Bush. In the latest court case, DOJ defended Bush regime wiretapping. While a candidate, Obama condemned the wiretapping program, but now when his administration is in charge of the massive surveillance programs either initiated or expanded under Bush, apparently his views have changed. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
DOJ filed a legal brief on February 11th requesting that Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco suspend action on a lawsuit that challenged the legality of one of Bush’s wiretapping programs. Just like it did in court on Monday in a case suing a private contractor that was heavily involved in the illegal CIA rendition/kidnapping program, DOJ argued that allowing such a suit would jeopardize national security. DOJ also argued that only the executive branch of the government could control access to the classified material in this case. The DOJ challenged the judge and threatened to go to the federal appellate court unless Walker suspended the case no later than three P.M. Friday, February 13, 2009.
Johannes Mehserle, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer filmed shooting Oscar Grant in the back on New Year's Day, was arrested on January 13th, one day before a planned protest in Oakland. Mehserle was arrested in Nevada and charged with murder. He currently is being held without bail.
Mehserle’s cold blooded execution of Oscar Grant at a BART station in Oakland was captured by several people on video, and quickly spread over the internet. Throughout this country, and the world, countless people were outraged at the murder of yet another young Black man at the hands of the police. People in Oakland and throughout the San Francisco area have rallied almost daily demanding justice for Oscar Grant. And finally, more than two weeks after a cop shot a man to death in full view of numerous witnesses, the District Attorney in Oakland charged Mehserle.
On New Year’s Eve, this nation may well have witnessed its most horrific police murder ever.
That is obviously quite a statement, given the long, blood-soaked history of police brutality and murder in this country—the vast majority directed against persons of color. Furthermore, the execution I am about to discuss involved a single bullet, not the 41 sprayed at Amadou Diallo or the 50 spewed at Sean Bell. And the victim was not 13 years old, like Devin Brown was when the LAPD killed him in 2005, or 12 years old, as DeAunta Farrow was when West Memphis police gunned him down in 2007.
However, as absolutely shocking to the conscience as each of those instances of police murder were, none were committed in plain view of hundreds of people, with the perpetrators presumably fully aware that they were being videotaped. And in each of the above-mentioned cases, police at least invented a pretext for their actions, as absurd, fraudulent, and morally reprehensible as that pretext might have been: “We thought Amadou Diallo was reaching for a gun”; “We thought someone in Sean Bell’s car had a gun”; “Devin Brown tried to ram us with his car;” “We thought DeAunta Farrow’s toy gun was a real gun.”
An extraordinary artistic event is underway as the year draws to an end. In each of the 50 states, plus Washington D.C., each starting at a different hour, a dancer will begin a performance aimed at "underscoring a solidarity with the thousands of people who have been affected by these horrible wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and solidarity with the community of people who still resist and reject the U.S.' interventionist tactics abroad." Titled "Freedom of Information 2008," the series of dance was initiated by Miguel Gutierrez of Brooklyn, who will represent New York at the Barn in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Seven years ago, at the beginning of the Bush years, Gutierrez undertook a similar performance - except he did it himself, in his apartment, moving continuously for 24 hours, wearing blindfolds and earplugs, to make a statement against "this Bush thing of just creating a state of terror."
The performances will take place in venues as diverse as a bookstore in Birmingham, Alabama, an apartment in Chicago, and a center for the Arts and Culture in Bozeman, Montana. The performers come from a wide range of political viewpoints and perspectives, and bring different experiences in and approaches to dance into their contributions. In a recent New York Times article, Mr. Gutierrez spoke to what he and the other dancers are trying to achieve: "What I can be direct about is a sense of solidarity with the other artists who are doing this, and, at least, a shared commitment to saying, 'we will take these 24 hours together to go through some intense state of contemplation. I'm inviting people to consider displacement and war. I am sure a ton of other things will enter people’s thought processes: about their lives, about death, about life, about all kinds of things. And that's exciting to me".
Imagine going to a bank and asking for a few billion dollars. When the banker asks what you are going to do with it, you tell him to go screw himself. He then gives you the money anyway. Yes, that is hard to imagine. But if you are the bank, and the institution giving you the bucks is Congress, it is perfectly plausible.
A recent article written by the Associated Press (AP) indicates that the tax payers were given the royal screwing by the banks. (original story here)
The AP contacted 21 banks that were beneficiaries of the recent government bailout. Each of the banks received at least $1 billion from our taxpayer dollars. Four questions were asked and the answers, in effect, were “go screw yourself.” The questions were, “How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?
Vice President Dick Cheney has admitted to authorizing torture.
Dick Cheney has publicly confessed to ordering war crimes. Asked about waterboarding in an ABC News interview, Cheney replied, "I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared." He also said he still believes waterboarding was an appropriate method to use on terrorism suspects. CIA Director Michael Hayden confirmed that the agency waterboarded three al-Qaeda suspects in 2002 and 2003.
US courts have long held that waterboarding, where water is poured into someone's nose and mouth until he nearly drowns, constitutes torture. Our federal War Crimes Act defines torture as a war crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty if the victim dies.
Under the doctrine of command responsibility, enshrined in US law, commanders all the way up the chain of command to the commander in chief can be held liable for war crimes if they knew or should have known their subordinates would commit them and they did nothing to stop or prevent it.
Why is Cheney so sanguine about admitting he is a war criminal? Because he's confident that either President Bush will preemptively pardon him or President-elect Obama won't prosecute him.
Lawyers for 8 people arrested at the Republican National Convention last September were recently informed that the Ramsey County (Minnesota) District Attorney's office has added three additional felony charges to the case. The amended charges brought by D.S. Susan Gaertner contain 4 felony counts of conspiracy: conspiracy to riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism (the original charge); conspiracy to riot in the second degree (without terrorism enhancement); conspiracy to damage property in furtherance of terrorism: conspiracy to damage property (without terrorism enhancement).
If convicted, the 8 people face over 2 decades in prison.
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi reporter called visiting U.S. President George W. Bush a "dog" in Arabic on Sunday and threw his shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad.
Iraqi security officers and U.S. secret service agents leapt at the man and dragged him struggling and screaming out of the room where Bush was giving a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
The shoes missed their target about 15 feet (4.5 metres) away. One sailed over Bush's head as he stood next to Maliki and smacked into the wall behind him. Bush smiled uncomfortably and Maliki looked strained.
"It doesn't bother me," Bush said, urging everyone to calm down as a ruckus broke out in the conference room.
When asked about the incident shortly after, Bush made light of it. "I didn't feel the least threatened by it," he said.
Other Iraqi journalists apologised on behalf of their colleague, a television journalist.
Bush arrived in Baghdad earlier on Sunday on a farewell visit before he leaves office in January. The U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein triggered years of sectarian bloodshed and insurgency in Iraq, killing tens of thousands
This is the question now raised in Iraq: If they throw shoes at your face are you a combat troop or a noncombat troop? The answer may be important in helping to guide President Elect Obama's strategy of reducing but continuing the genocidal occupation that has made a shoeless journalist one of the most beloved, if little known, people in the world overnight.
A related dilemma is this: If shoes become weapons, were the metal detectors, searches, and bribes to phony journalists successful? This strikes me as a similar question to the following: if box cutters become weapons, were the nuclear arsenal, the missile offense shield, and the empire of bases successful?
That all depends upon what the goal was, I suppose. If the goal encompassed the well-being of only one person, then success may have been achieved. Dallas mansion, six-figure speeches, and drunk golfing here I come! But no dog's goal would ever be so narrow, and animal rights groups can be expected to speak out against Muntadar al-Zeidi's comparison of George W. Bush to a dog. I also hope human rights groups will be closely monitoring the well-being of this shoe-throwing hero to billions.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
night when he stopped his recital to announce that this would be his last American appearance -- in protest of the nation's military policies overseas.
public awareness of the increasing use of unmanned drones in the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Air Force personnel based at Creech pilot the Predator and Reaper drones being used in Central Asia..jpg)
crimes take place “on site” at Guantánamo, for over 25 years the School of the Americas has been a “training” facility, where military personnel from all over Latin America have been given instruction that they then put to use once they return to their respective countries.
Yet there’s been far too little outrage and protest over U.S. crimes in Afghanistan, especially since Obama became President. I have run into a lot of different questions (and misunderstandings) about what the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan are really all about, and will be addressing them in the pages of Revolution. Readers no doubt have—or hear—others. Send those questions to Revolution so we can learn from and address them. 
.jpg)
year-round), effective from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2009. On February 7 I received a letter from Michèle Dominy, Dean of the College, informing me that my contract would not be renewed .jpg)
