Bay . Area . United . Against . War
|
||
|
BAUAW NEWSLETTER Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Thursday, June 23, 2005
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2005
1) Cut all Public School Ties to the Military!
Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education the Fourth Tuesday of Each Month Starting: June 28TH, 7:00 P.M. 555 Franklin St., S.F, To get on the speakers list call: 415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000 2) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN 16TH & MISSION STREET SATURDAY JUNE 25, 12:30 P.M. TUESDAY JUNE 28 AND THURSDAY JUNE 30, 5 & 7 P.M. 3) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN JULY 2,3 & 4 WEEKEND SCHEDULE *SHOW UP TO PETITION: SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, JULY 2, 3 & 4, 1:00 P.M. DOLORES PARK, 18TH AND DOLORES STS, SF *SEE THE SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE'S PLAY "DOING GOOD" MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. - SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (THEN GATHER SIGNATURES AFTER THE SHOW) 4) HANDS OFF VENEZUELA SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM SHOWING: 7:00 PM, FRIDAY JULY 15 Center for Political Education 522 Valencia, Third Floor, Near 16th Street, SF (not wheelchair accessible) Close the 16th Street BART $5/$3 Students, Seniors, Unemployed 5) SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE PRESENTS: "DOING GOOD" A play based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. JULY 16, PRECITA PARK MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake!...BW) SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR Help get the word out about the ballot proposition and upcoming antiwar events. Free antiwar posters! FREE! 6) SAVE THE DATES: AUGUST 4, 5 & 6, 2005 FOR PRESENTATION OF HOWARD ZINN'S ONE MAN SHOW, "MARX IN SOHO" PERFORMED BY JERRY LEVY LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED TO BENEFIT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR WWW.BAUAW.ORG (FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-824-8730) 7) Censorship Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches June 23, 2005 http://dahrjamailiraq.com 8) Justices, 5-4, Back Seizure of Property for Development By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 23, 2005 "As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/politics/23wire- scotus.html?hp&ex=1119585600&en=5036788eb4cc9d17&ei=5094&partner=home page 9) Feds Target Calif. Marijuana Dispensaries By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 23, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Medical-Marijuana.html 10) Timeline for Iraq Pullout Would Aid Insurgents, Rumsfeld Says By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS Published: June 23, 2005 "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that setting a timeline for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq would give a "lifeline for terrorists." And in a spirited defense of the war, he invoked Abraham Lincoln and the American revolution. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/international/middleeast/23cnd-rums.html 11) House Again Backs Ban on Flag Desecration By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK Published: June 22, 2005 "WASHINGTON, June 22 - Voting once again today on an issue blending emotion, patriotism and politics, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly endorsed a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to outlaw debasing the American flag." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/politics/22cnd- flag.html?hp&ex=1119499200&en=964c8d03d8a28062&ei=5094&partner=homepa ge 12) A Joint Public Statement by the National Council of Arab Americans & the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation on the September 24 March on Washington From: "NCA National Office" nationaloffice@arab-american.net 13) Anti-war groups call for massive September mobilization By Askia Muhammad White House Correspondent Updated Jun 16, 2005, 09:17 am 14) Vets hold ground at regional military recruiting station, ignore threats of arrest to reach young recruits FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, June 21, 2005 Contact: George Main 916.505-4869 or Cres Vellucci 916.996-9170 Attention: News Desk SACRAMENTO - A military veterans organization claimed a major victory Early Tuesday after members - despite repeated police warnings of immediate arrest - were able to virtually swarm a bus carrying potential military recruits and distribute literature encouraging them to not enlist to fight in the war in Iraq. 15) Crisis in California: WHAT'S THE SOLUTION? June 24, 2005 http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/549/549_08_PeterCamejo.shtml 16) On June 29 2004, Gus Rugley, 21 yr African American Youth was shot more than a hundred times on Alemany Boulevard, San Francisco, after what SFPD described as a high speed chase. According to the corporate press, Rugley would have opened fire at a police car. However, the autopsy report released nearly 9 months after Rugley's homicide, revealed that Gus had no gun powder traces on his skin or clothing, therefore Gus could not have used a weapon. The toxicological screen also revealed that Gus Rugley was not under the influence of alcohol or any drugs at the time of his death. Please take a moment to post a message of support to Gus' courageous mom, Elvira Pollard. In 7 days the anniversary of Gus' killing is coming up ! Join our campaign for Justice4GusRugley! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Gus/ Cordially, mesha monge-irizarry Idriss Stelley Foundation (415) 595-8251 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis Line ACORN Campaign to End the Death Penalty SF Youth Empowerment Funding Advisory Board member (Youth Commission) 17) Justice4JulioAyala Press conference &Protest, The Heat is ON ! (mesha Monge-Irizarry, Idriss Stelley Foundation) 18) Pentagon to Gather Data on Students Opponents Contend Move may Illegally Bypass Privacy Laws Jonathan Krim, Washington Post Thursday, June 23, 2005 "Washington -- The Defense Department began working Wednesday with a private marketing firm to create a database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all college students to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches." http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/23/MNGRODDG201.DTL 19) U.S. doctors linked to POW `torture' Guantanamo medical records misused Basis of interrogators' strategy: Report TANYA TALAGA AND KAREN PALMER STAFF REPORTERS "Medical records compiled by doctors caring for prisoners at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay are being tapped to design more effective interrogation techniques, says an explosive new report." http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/ Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1119477015095&call_pageid=9683321 20) Military Enlists Marketer to Get Data on Students for Recruiters By Mark Mazzetti Times Staff Writer June 23, 2005 "WASHINGTON - With the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan making it increasingly hard for the U.S. military to fill its ranks with recruits, the Pentagon has hired an outside marketing firm to help compile an extensive database about teenagers and college students that the military services could use to target potential enlistees." http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na- privacy23jun23,1,5537670,print.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0623-03.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) Cut all Public School Ties to the Military! Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education the Fourth Tuesday of Each Month Starting: June 28TH, 7:00 P.M. 555 Franklin St., S.F, To get on the speakers list call: 415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000 Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) will be picketing the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Board of Education meetings the 4th Tuesday of each month beginning June 28th until the district cuts all school ties to the military. San Francisco voters passed Proposition N for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq by a 63 percent majority last November. And this November 2005 we will pass an anti-recruitment resolution initiated by College Not Combat, a coalition of groups and individuals opposed to the U.S. militaries' school recruitment program. We are currently gathering the necessary signatures to place this counter-recruitment proposition on the ballot. The proposition says, "The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!" Proposition N, passed last November, already mandates the SFUSD to cut all school ties to the military. Yet S.F. children are still being actively recruited at schools throughout the district by direct military recruitment, and through the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs. Many students are forced into JROTC in order to get the necessary Physical Education credits they need to graduate High School. JROTC now fulfills this requirement-and the district actually pays a million dollars a year to the Army to support JROTC. (JROTC, by the way, is totally managed and controlled by the U.S. Army. The Army writes the curriculum and appoints the teachers. The district has no say in this program.) In fact, the U.S. military maintains a presence in the schools at all grade levels from kindergarten on up. And now the Military is beginning to set up JROTC "Military Academies" in the Middle Schools. At these "academies" children are taught how to obey orders and to practice military maneuvers with realistically functioning toy guns. As a result of the board's open door military policy, many San Francisco high school graduates are currently serving in Iraq. This must end. Schools must not be used to recruit youngsters to kill or be killed in this illegal, immoral war! The following resolution was presented to the board several months ago. They still have not acted on it! CUT ALL SCHOOL TIES TO THE MILITARY! Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education WHEREAS, the United States military is actively recruiting high school students into the military to fight in Iraq; and WHEREAS, many young San Francisco high school alumni are presently serving in military units fighting in Iraq; and WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq now; and WHEREAS, over 1,700 U.S. soldiers and approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S. soldiers and unknown thousands of Iraqis have been wounded; and WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the war have robbed our children of resources that should be spent on education and other human needs; and WHEREAS, military presence in our schools legitimizes the message that violence is acceptable; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: It shall be the policy of the San Francisco Board of Education to cut all ties with the United States military, including, but not limited to: Ending military recruitment on campuses; ending the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students and parents are informed of their right to deny military recruiters access to their names, addresses and telephone numbers. Come to the next planning meeting of Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) Saturday, July 9, 11:30 a.m. at 474 Valencia Street between 15th & 16th Streets, S.F. Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) • www.bauaw.org P.O. Box 318021, San Francisco, CA 94131-8021 • 414-824-8730 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 2) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN 16TH & MISSION STREET SATURDAY JUNE 25, 12:30 P.M. TUESDAY JUNE 28 AND THURSDAY JUNE 30, 5 & 7 P.M. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 3) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN JULY 2,3 & 4 WEEKEND SCHEDULE *SHOW UP TO PETITION: SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, JULY 2, 3 & 4, 1:00 P.M. DOLORES PARK, 18TH AND DOLORES STS, SF *SEE THE SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE'S PLAY "DOING GOOD" MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. - SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (THEN GATHER SIGNATURES AFTER THE SHOW) Based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake! SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR (BAUAW) BAUAW is setting up a COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN table by invitation from the Mime Troupe. THERE WILL BE AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE STAGE. We will be able to gather signatures before and after the performance. After the performance we will also fan out over the city to give this petition drive a big push over the July 4th weekend. COME HELP GATHER SIGNATURES FOR THE COLLEGE NOT COMBAT BALLOT INITIATIVE FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO, NOVEMBER 2005, ELECTIONS: "The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!" LOOK FOR OUR TABLE TO PICK UP PETITIONS. FREE ANTIWAR POSTERS! WE ONLY HAVE A FEW WEEKS TO GO! GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS! MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT FOR WAR! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 4) HANDS OFF VENEZUELA SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM SHOWING: 7:00 PM, FRIDAY JULY 15 Center for Political Education 522 Valencia, Third Floor, Near 16th Street, SF (not wheelchair accessible) Close the 16th Street BART $5/$3 Students, Seniors, Unemployed With the Poor of the World Con los pobres de la Tierra (2003) 56 minutes. by Marta Harnecker on Venezuela In Spanish with English Subtitles This video gives the background and context of the current struggles in Venezuela since 1993. Using TV news footage and archival video, this film documents the rise of Chavez and the Oligarchy's three attempts to overthrow him. May Day in Caracas (2005) 22 minutes. by a J. Carlos Flores. In Spanish with English Subtitles A short documentary about international labor day in Venezuela Hands off Venezuela will show these films as a benefit to bring Stalin Peres Borges, a leader of the National Union of Workers of Venezuela (UNT) a dynamic new Venezuelan Trade Union federation. Call Adam at 415 864 3537 or email sfbay@ushov.org for more info or to arrange a speaker to talk about the inspiring events in Venezuela and the need to protect it from US attack. Also Come To The Next Hands Off Venezuela Organizing Meeting (all welcome): 7:00 PM, Thursday, June 30, Socialist Action Bookstore, corner Valencia and 14th, SF www.handsoffvenezuela.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 5) SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE PRESENTS: "DOING GOOD" A play based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. JULY 16, PRECITA PARK MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake!...BW) SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR Help get the word out about the ballot proposition and upcoming antiwar events. Free antiwar posters! FREE! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 6) SAVE THE DATES: AUGUST 4, 5 & 6, 2005 FOR PRESENTATION OF HOWARD ZINN'S ONE MAN SHOW, "MARX IN SOHO" PERFORMED BY JERRY LEVY LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED TO BENEFIT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR WWW.BAUAW.ORG (FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-824-8730) ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 7) Censorship Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches http://dahrjamailiraq.com June 23, 2005 At long last, the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq is upon us. As a witness providing testimony, like the other witnesses I'm being interviewed by many outlets. Today, one of them was by reporters for one of the larger newspapers in Turkey, the Yeni Safak Newspaper. I'll leave the reporters nameless, for reasons you'll soon see. The newspaper has been translating various articles of mine into Turkish and running them, particularly those concerning the most recent Fallujah massacre. The report who was interviewing me today told me that the former American consulate here, Eric Edelman, asked the Prime Minister of Turkey to pressure his paper to not run so many of my stories. "Why did he do this," I asked him. "Edelman said it was the wrong news," he told me with a smile. Turns out Edelman also asked that articles by Robert Fisk and Naomi Klein not be run so often in Yeni Safak either. He smiled at me while he watched the wheels turning in my head before I smiled back and said, "That makes me very happy, it means I'm doing my job as a journalist." We laughed heartily together at this, as did everyone else at the table. Reminds me of the obtuse hate mails I sometimes receive-confirmation that I am doing my job-they always make me smile. So the American government is pressuring foreign countries to censor their news. Aside from the fact that this act is the height of arrogance by the United States, it makes it exceedingly clear why so many Americans who rely on the corporate media for their news continue to be so misinformed/un-informed about the goings on in Iraq. If the American government is attempting to censor the news in foreign countries, you can imagine what they are doing at home. Because people like Edelman don't want citizens of the United States to know that events like the massacre of Fallujah or the atrocities in Abu Ghraib are not isolated incidents. People like Edelman don't want people to know what one of my sources in Baquba just told me today. His email reads: "Near the city of Buhrez, 5 kilometers south of Baquba, two Humvess of American soldiers were destroyed recently. American and Iraqi soldiers came to the city afterwards and cut all the phones, cut the water, cut medicine from arriving in the city and told them that until the people of the city bring the "terrorists" to them, the embargo will continue." The embargo has been in place now for one week now, and he continued: "The Americans still won't anyone or any medicines and supplies into Buhrez, nor will they allow any people in or out. Even the Al-Sadr followers who organized some help for the people in the city (water, food, medicine) are not being allowed into the city. Even journalists cannot enter to publish the news, and the situation there is so bad. The Americans keep asking for the people in the city to bring them the persons who were in charge of destroying the two Humvees on the other side of the city, but of course the people in the city don't know who carried out the attack." People like Edelman don't want people to know about the recent US attacks in Al-Qa'im and Haditha either. Attacks that Iraqis are describing as just as bad as the massacre of Fallujah. On Haditha and Al-Qa'im, an Iraqi doctor sent me this email yesterday: "Listen...we witnessed crimes in the west area of the country of what the bastards did in Haditha and Al-Qa'im. It was a crime, a really big crime we have witnessed and filmed in those places and recently also in Fallujah. We need big help in the western area of the country. Our doctors need urgent help there. Please, this is an URGENT humanitarian request from the hospitals in the west of the country. We have big proof on how the American troops destroyed one of our hospitals, how they burned the whole store of medication of the west area of Iraq and how they killed a patient in the ward...how they prevented us from helping the people in al-Qa'im. This is an URGENT Humanitarian request. The hospitals in the west of Iraq ask for urgent help...we are in a big humanitarian medical disaster..." People like Edelman don't want the public to know that the same tactics used in Fallujah by the US military-posting snipers around the city to shoot anyone who moves, targeting ambulances, impeding medical care, or the detaining of innocent civilians en masse. After all, Fallujah is the model. Fallujah is our Guernica. And now, Haditha, Al-Qa'im can be added to the list, with Baquba and Buhrez under deconstruction. More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com Iraq_Dispatches mailing list http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 8) Justices, 5-4, Back Seizure of Property for Development By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 23, 2005 "As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/politics/23wire- scotus.html?hp&ex=1119585600&en=5036788eb4cc9d17&ei=5094&partner=home page ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 9) Feds Target Calif. Marijuana Dispensaries By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 23, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Medical-Marijuana.html? ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 10) Timeline for Iraq Pullout Would Aid Insurgents, Rumsfeld Says By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS Published: June 23, 2005 "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that setting a timeline for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq would give a "lifeline for terrorists." And in a spirited defense of the war, he invoked Abraham Lincoln and the American revolution. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/international/middleeast/23cnd-rums.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 11) House Again Backs Ban on Flag Desecration By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK Published: June 22, 2005 "WASHINGTON, June 22 - Voting once again today on an issue blending emotion, patriotism and politics, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly endorsed a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to outlaw debasing the American flag." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/politics/22cnd- flag.html?hp&ex=1119499200&en=964c8d03d8a28062&ei=5094&partner=homepa ge ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 12) A Joint Public Statement by the National Council of Arab Americans & the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation on the September 24 March on Washington From: "NCA National Office" nca-general@arab-american.net For immediate release and wide distribution Washington, DC - The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (MAS Freedom) and the National Council of Arab-Americans (NCA) stand united with our Muslim American and Arab American communities throughout the United States in calling on all to join and support the A.N.S.W.E.R. initiated September 24 mobilization against war and colonial occupations that will take place in Washington, DC with parallel actions in San Francisco and Los Angeles. We are proud to announce that MAS Freedom and the NCA have both joined the September 24 National Coalition for the March on Washington, which also currently includes in its leadership the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Haiti Support Network, Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). More than 4,000 organizations and individuals have thus far signed on to the coalition's Call to Action, and significant organizing has created enthusiasm for the mobilization all over the country. Under the overarching auspices of the September 24 National Coalition, we believe that various communities and organizations will come together in a genuine reflection of the grassroots mosaic that constitutes this society. We echo the grave concerns of our communities at the relentless efforts by some to remove the Palestinian struggle and its anchoring principle, the right of return, from the anti-war movement. We are reminded of the overwhelming support that our communities received when we called for an all- inclusive non-racist political program for the March 20, 2004 mobilization in New York City. On that day, over 100,000 people turned out in New York City - the first anniversary of the war and occupation of Iraq - under the slogan: "Bring the Troops Home Now! End Colonial Occupation from Iraq to Palestine to Haiti and Everywhere!" In the same context, our communities and the movement at large turned out in massive numbers on April 20, 2002 in Washington, DC, signaling that a principled unity is enthusiastically welcomed by the movement. Communities and organizations have worked too hard over many years to build bridges of solidarity and reciprocal respect between peoples for us to allow some to turn us back now to the time when Arabs and Muslims were placed on the margin. The planting of divisive seeds by some against our targeted communities during a time when we are facing continued governmental persecution and institutional racism is a dangerous endeavor that must be stopped. Capitalizing on fear from persecution to attain forced complacency and acquiescence to any offered exclusionary political program must be exposed by the movement as a whole. Time and again, the movement has made it clear that the struggles of dispossessed and colonized people from Iraq, to Palestine, to Haiti, to the Philippines and beyond, are inextricable from the struggles of communities and the working families of this country. It is time that our communities are fully respected as equal partners, as we will not accept being objects of discussions nor will we be observers of a movement about our very own lives. Let us all stand together on September 24 in a non-segregated mobilization that cuts across all color lines, religious beliefs and ethnic backgrounds, to raise our voices in unison as we march hand in hand against injustice here in the United States and abroad. And let us shun all efforts to pit our communities against each other. Let us refuse all attempts to segregate the movement on that day or any other. ALL OUT ON SEPTEMBER 24! The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation The National Council of Arab Americans June 20, 2005 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 13) Anti-war groups call for massive September mobilization By Askia Muhammad White House Correspondent Updated Jun 16, 2005, 09:17 am After seizing Baghdad, U.S. military is deep in a quagmire (FCN, 06-13-2005) International A.N.S.W.E.R. (InternationAnswer.org) WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - A broad anti-war coalition is planning a mass march, encircling the White House September 24. The International ANSWER Coalition-along with a diverse group of civil rights, religious and community organizations-plans to mobilize 100,000 opponents to the U.S. occupation and war in Iraq here and in several other cities, they announced at the National Press Club on June 1. "We will, on September 24, surround the White House with a sea of anti-war demonstrators," Brian Becker, ANSWER's national coordinator, said at the news conference. "And this will be a graphic demonstration ... that the White House is surrounded by opposition all around the country and this opposition grows day in and day out." The demonstrations will also demand an end to U.S. threats against North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, and an end to the "colonial-style occupation in Palestine and in Haiti," the group said. This "will be the largest anti-war demonstration to take place since the second election, or selection, of George W. Bush" in November, said Mr. Becker. There is now a changed mood inside the United States, he said. "At this point, we believe the majority sentiment in the country not only disapproves of George Bush's handling of the White House, but has turned decisively against the war in Iraq." Others at the press conference agreed. "From a theological perspective, we all admit that war is a terrible sin within the human community. It is a sin that must be challenged. It is a sin that must be lifted up. It is a sin that we must push to find another way," said Reverend Graylan Hagler, senior minister of Plymouth Congregational Church in Washington. The Iraq conflict is similar in many ways to the Vietnam War, including the way the war affects domestic politics, according to Vanessa Dixon, of the D.C. Healthcare Coalition. "The obscene amounts of money that have been, and will be, allocated to the Iraqi occupation, should instead be spent on domestic priorities, such as health care, education, affordable housing, veterans benefits and other social programs," Ms. Dixon argued. "As a result of such narrow and mercenary interests, the American public is paying a terrible price for such wrong-headed priorities. We suffer from a President with painfully limited wisdom and woefully inadequate compassion. While waging a war against Iraq, the Bush administration wages another war against America, by requiring massive cuts in social spending for programs that benefit U.S. residents." Central American and Mexican immigrants are also victims of the racist U.S. war policy, according to Macrina Cardenas of the Mexico Solidarity Network. "The Bush administration has made a mess, and it gets worse every day," she said. "It's long past time for the people of this country to say, 'No more.' It's time for us to take this country back from the politicians who sacrifice our children and our future to the profits of a few oil companies. "And now, in the name of fighting terrorists, the Bush administration is building a wall along the Southern Border, the latest step in the racist war that touches immigrant workers," she continued, referring to aggressive border tactics in the Southwest. Instead of receiving gratitude in this country for the good they do, immigrants support families at home and, at the same time, they pay taxes in this country. Immigrants face their own racist discrimination, Ms. Cardenas charged. "They pay taxes, including Social Security, with no chance of enjoying social services. And for these contributions, they are treated like criminals, under constant threat of deportation. This is the racist war at home against people who work hard in our homes and communities." The only solution is massive mobilization of the U.S. public, according to the ANSWER Coalition. "If it's left to the Bush administration, the United States will never leave Iraq," said Mr. Becker. "They have no intention of leaving Iraq. The Bush administration has no intention of leaving the Middle East. That's what the American people have to really recognize. They went in and destroyed the Iraqi government, not because it posed a grave and imminent danger to the people of the United States, but because it was an impediment, and an obstacle to the full take-over of that oil-rich region." Mr. Becker believes that, if the public continues to wait for the U.S. to leave Iraq, the bloodshed will only continue to grow. "The Bush administration will go all the way to World War III in order to win in Iraq, and yet you have the Iraqi people who are determined to drive the Americans out, and the people of the Middle East who stand with them and are sympathetic to their cause," he said. "The people of the United States have to fully realize the dangerous consequences of the Bush administration policies. The U.S. will only leave Iraq when the people of the United States and the people of the Middle East show that we have a commonality in opposition to the Empire." Other participants at the press conference included Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice; Mahdi Bray, executive director, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; and Chuck Kaufman, Nicaragua Network. Messages of support were sent from Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney-general; Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg; Ben Dupuy, general-secretary, National Popular Party of Haiti (PPN); and Kathy Boylan, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, D.C. ANSWER is reaching out to churches, mosques, youth and student organizations and others, providing them with logistical information on the demonstrations. It will hold teach-ins this summer that aim to bring together organizers, religious and academic leaders, and elected officials to discuss U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. C Copyright 2005 FCN ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 14) Vets hold ground at regional military recruiting station, ignore threats of arrest to reach young recruits FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, June 21, 2005 Contact: George Main 916.505-4869 or Cres Vellucci 916.996-9170 Attention: News Desk SACRAMENTO - A military veterans organization claimed a major victory Early Tuesday after members - despite repeated police warnings of immediate arrest - were able to virtually swarm a bus carrying potential military recruits and distribute literature encouraging them to not enlist to fight in the war in Iraq. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 15) Crisis in California: WHAT'S THE SOLUTION? June 24, 2005 http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/549/549_08_PeterCamejo.shtml THE GOVERNATOR came into office thinking he could escalate the attack on working people in California. But Arnold Schwarzenegger has run into a wall of resistance--rising anger and protests over his attacks on pensions, health care, education and more. Once considered one of the most popular politicians in the U.S., Schwarzenegger's approval ratings now run below George Bush's. Still, the drive to make workers pay for California's multi-billion-dollar budget crisis will continue--led by both Republicans and Democrats. PETER CAMEJO was Ralph Nader's running mate in his 2004 independent presidential campaign. Before that, he ran twice for governor of California as the Green Party candidate, winning the highest number of votes of any Green Party candidate in the country after Nader. In the 2003 recall election, Camejo was included in the televised debates between the major candidates--and was widely acknowledged to have beaten Schwarzenegger and the Democratic candidates with his anti-corporate, pro-labor, pro-environment proposals. Peter is a featured speaker at Socialism 2005 on July 1-4 in Chicago, where he will speak on "How Do We Solve the Crisis in California?" For more about information about this event, go to www.socialismconference.org. Here, he talks to Socialist Worker's ALAN MAASS about California's crisis. CAN YOU talk about the scale of the crisis in California? THE CRISIS that exists now in California was created by the Republicans and Democrats. What they did was dramatically lower the taxes collected from corporations and the wealthy. The actual amount now taxed from the wealthiest people in California--the wealthiest 1 percent, who have incomes equal to 75 percent of the people of California--is at a rate which is substantially below what it's been for the poorest people. The poor in California--that is the bottom 20 percent--pay a 57 percent higher tax rate than the richest 1 percent. The poor pay 11.3 percent of their income in state and local taxes, and the wealthiest 1 percent pay 7.2 percent. And even that figure is slightly exaggerated because the official figures don't calculate capital gains in a manner that's really appropriate. Twenty or 25 years ago, the taxes of the corporations used to be close to 10 percent. Today, their taxes are below 6 percent. That's a 43 percent drop in the taxes they're obligated to pay. Fifty-two percent of the corporations in California that are profitable pay no taxes. They pay only an $800 annual fee. This has created a deficit along with a shift of money from the poor to the rich, and the way that the Democrats and Republicans are trying to overcome this is by increasing taxation on the average person. They've increased what you pay to cross bridges--from $2 to $3, a 50 percent increase. They increased community college fees by 100 percent. They've increased college tuition by about 30 to 40 percent and plan for the next two years to increase it by about 10 percent per year. On the other hand, they're cutting back essential services. Education is the most extreme case. According to the tests done throughout the country, California came in 48th out of the 50 states. Forty or fifty years ago, California was considered to have the best education system in the United States and was the envy of the world. It had free education at the University of California system. Now you have to pay substantial tuition at the University of California, and the schools are falling apart. California is now only ahead of Mississippi and Louisiana. The right wingers claim that this is in part due to a large number of immigrants, who come across the border from Mexico primarily. But according to a study, if you factor out the immigrants, California comes in 50th in the nation--the immigrants are actually holding California up. That study was reported at the state annual conference of the in the California Budget Project--which said to the shock of the people listening that California had fallen to 48th. Part of the reason for this is that wealthy people--people with higher incomes--are now sending their children to private schools. For instance, in the city of San Francisco, 30 percent of young people go to private schools. So people with money are no longer interested in public education, and they oppose funding it to the extent that's necessary. In 1960, there were 15.7 million people in California. In 2003, there were 35.4 million. If you look at the rise in gross domestic product (GDP), it rose much faster than the growth in population. Today, there's more money per person in California than there was in 1960--yet our education system is collapsing. This is a direct result of policies that are aimed at lowering taxes for the wealthiest people. The profits of American corporations in the last two years are the highest when measured as a percentage of GDP than at any time in the history of the United States. Part of that is due to the U.S. government deliberately permitting the value of the dollar to drop. Since most international corporations now do a lot of business abroad, this creates a jump in their profits. But it actually lowers the standard of living of the actual working person. In the New York Times, the journalist David Cay Johnston pointed out that since 1980, the share of income of 90 percent of the people in the United States has declined--in one of the periods of the greatest rise in GDP in the history of the United States. What this shows you is that this divergence between what's happening to the wealthiest people and what's happening to the mass of the people in the United States is not accidental. And this is happening across the whole nation--California is not the worst. California is in the upper end in terms of how regressive its taxes are, but many states are even worse. AFTER WINNING the recall election, Arnold Schwarzenegger has seen his popularity plummet--particularly as a result of labor-led campaigns to protest his policies. How has this opposition developed? THE TRUTH is that there's an enormous vacuum. The fact that working people in California have accepted lower pay in the midst of a massively rising economy is quite unusual in American history. If you go back to other periods, you will see a rise in the standard of living of working people pretty much running parallel to the rise in the GDP. And the unions were quite aggressive in fighting for it. But now, it was only when the Republican became governor and when the California state government wasn't totally in the hands of the Democrats--which it was before Schwarzenegger--that the unions even began to do anything about this. Yet since they have begun this--especially the California Nurses Association, which is led by more progressive leaders--there has been an enormous response and a very sharp drop in the governor's popularity. Part of what happened, I think, is that the corporations and the lobbyists who run California overplayed their hand. They thought that they could move to end pensions in California. That's what Arnold actually proposed to do. People don't always realize this, but that's what his proposal was--to end a guaranteed pension benefit by law, according to a set formula. The governor also attempted to change the rules for when teachers get tenure, and to treat their pay as if it was the private sector. So teachers wouldn't be guaranteed their pay, but it would depend on test results, which in many cases are completely beyond the control of teachers, because of socioeconomic reasons and so on. This is all an attack on working people. And Schwarzenegger overplayed his hand. His popularity is dropping. But the Democrats have no real counterproposal. The only thing they've said so far is to talk about some very minimal increases in taxes on the rich. But in other cases, they've joined in on the attack--even progressive Democrats, like [State Assemblyman] Mark Leno, who is generally doing good work, especially on the rights of gays and lesbians. Leno has proposed increasing taxes on the poor by re-establishing the car tax, which was abolished. This is a tax that effects primarily the poor. It's similar to the national situation with George Bush's tax cuts. No one challenged those either. The Democrats went along with the Republicans because they fear the reaction from the corporate world and from the lobbyists who finance their campaigns. ONE OTHER factor in the crisis has been a polarized atmosphere in which the right wing gets more of a hearing. Can you talk about the attack on immigrant rights in California? THERE IS a very important campaign now against the rights of immigrants. It's popular among the public and among many working people, who accept these attacks against undocumented workers--as somehow responsible for the problems we see. The politicians making these attacks on immigrants have absolutely no intention of stopping undocumented workers from living in California. From George Bush down to the lowest-level Democrat and Republican, not a single politician has come out publicly and said, "Let's round up 11 million people and deport them." So it is very odd that they continue to refer to people as being illegal and do negative things to them, like deny them drivers licenses, while they all insist that undocumented workers remain in the country. This becomes a violation of the United Nations Human Rights charter. You cannot have people living in your country that you accept as being part of your community who do not have equal rights. This is creating a second-class grouping, and it's obviously being done to continue to super-exploit them and to make them the scapegoat for social problems. Now in the case of Mexicans, the contradiction is rather extreme--because the people who are making statements against Mexicans are primarily people of European descent. And if there's one group of people who came to America illegally--without any visas or any rights or anything that justifies them coming into America and taking it--it's the Europeans. Every state in the Southwest, including California, was once part of Mexico. The people living in this area never chose to become part of the United States. It was militarily occupied and conquered, and the people who lived here were denied their rights. They were often disenfranchised. And there was actually a program in California--organized by the Democratic Party, back in the 1860s--in which people were actually paid to kill indigenous people. Today, these immigrants are descendents of the indigenous people of this continent. From their point of view, all they are is refugees from poverty. It's very important to deal with this for there to be any unity inside the working class to rebuild the unions. If the unions don't defend immigrant workers, this division will weaken all workers and will lead to the lowering of the standard of living. Globalization is a massive economic fact which, unless the labor movement can politically defend itself, leads to a lower standard of living in all the advanced countries. Which is what happened in the United States, because the labor movement has no political arm. This has to be fought politically. It can't be fought at the level of the factory or the industry, through strikes or demonstration. Marxism mailing list Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 16) On June 29 2004, Gus Rugley, 21 yr African American Youth was shot more than a hundred times on Alemany Boulevard, San Francisco, after what SFPD described as a high speed chase. According to the corporate press, Rugley would have opened fire at a police car. However, the autopsy report released nearly 9 months after Rugley's homicide, revealed that Gus had no gun powder traces on his skin or clothing, therefore Gus could not have used a weapon. The toxicological screen also revealed that Gus Rugley was not under the influence of alcohol or any drugs at the time of his death. Please take a moment to post a message of support to Gus' courageous mom, Elvira Pollard. In 7 days the anniversary of Gus' killing is coming up ! Join our campaign for Justice4GusRugley! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Gus/ Cordially, mesha monge-irizarry Idriss Stelley Foundation (415) 595-8251 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis Line ACORN Campaign to End the Death Penalty SF Youth Empowerment Funding Advisory Board member (Youth Commission) ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 17) Justice4JulioAyala Press conference &Protest, The Heat is ON ! (mesha Monge-Irizarry, Idriss Stelley Foundation) On Wednesday 6-21, the family and friends of Julio Ayala, Latino and Police Accountatibility activists gathered at 8:30 am in front of Redwood City City Hall, holding the October 22 Against Police Brutality Coalition banners, chanting "No justice, No Peace !" and "Justicia para Julio Ayala". The corporate press was at the rendez-vous, City Bay, the Examiner, La Prensa Grafica Salvadorena, Channel 2 &7. Julio Ayala, 26 yr. Salvadoreno legal US resident, who lived on Jamestown Avenue in SF Bayview Hill until his tragic fate, died at the hands of 13 police officers at the SF Airport Inn on 6-3-05, allegedly "stopping to breathe" after being restrained in a body wrap for 15 minutes. Before stepping into the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Chamber, we were forwarned by a city official that although the board was aware that a group was planning to address them in public comments, no disturbance would be tolerated, "fill out your slips, no more than 2 minutes per comment!". Reminiscent of the former apathic SF Police Commission before November 03 Police reform, Supervisors Mark Church, Jerry Hill, Rich Gordon, Adrienne Tissier (all of European descent) and Rose Jacobs Gibson (African American), stood motionless, strictly sticking to the 2 minutes imposed time limit, "Next !", and did not care to ask any questions to Tanya (Julio's sister), Julio and Mirna Ayala (his parents), who made a moving appeal to the board, often breaking into heartwrenching tears (which prompted each time for the corporate press to swirm upclose, avid for sensational material). Mr. Ayala presented the board with close to 1000 petitions (some from 32 states outside of California, and 11 foreign countries),demanding all reports pertaining to the death of his son, release of the 911 dispatching tape and an independent federal investigation, along with a letter to the Board, portraying his family as "Law abiding, hard working Latinos" who fled disaster, oppression and war in El Salvador to seek refuge in the Land of Opportunity, where they ended up loosing their beautiful son at the hands of SSF PD. Juio's friends described him as a children loving, conscencious worker, undeserving of such horrible fate, and pleaded the board for their serious consideration of Julio's death matter. Union workers, peace activists calmly reiterated the same request: "Do the right thing! Give us Justice 4 Julio"! "Any more comments?". "well, we do not have authority to settle this issue at this hearing, we will review the evidence and get back to you in 2 weeks". The whole matter was wrapped up in less than 15 minutes before the board moved on to the next agenda item,without another glance toward the Ayala's. Board President Mark Church did, for whatever that was worth, pay respect to the grieving family. On our way back to San Francisco, Mirna and Julio Ayala alternatively break into tears. Waves of wrenching pain and despair constantly tear them apart, over and over, compiled with the total absence of information, disrespect and diregard inflicted upon them for the past two and a half month. Each unanswered appeal to let them know what happened to their son takes a terrible toll on their emotional health and hope that our community will honnor their beautiful child... But the struggle for Justice4Julio will go on ! To send a message of support to the Ayala family, you can write to Ayalajulio2@aol.com _xIHonLFVWzf_gsYzvjshKE_mG4n9M> or post a message on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Julio/ If you have been assaulted by PD, please call (415) 595-8251 Idriss Stelley Foundation 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis line or write to iolmisha@cs.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Julio/ post?postID=i1UIo34ZldzOXjWQHaaoBau2lOcLaxssqtuPfZS1yKNKEiVKqxvlHwjjs2BPqF Qrz3fe-v5qSX-M ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 18) Pentagon to Gather Data on Students Opponents Contend Move may Illegally Bypass Privacy Laws Jonathan Krim, Washington Post Thursday, June 23, 2005 "Washington -- The Defense Department began working Wednesday with a private marketing firm to create a database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all college students to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches." http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/23/MNGRODDG201.DTL ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 19) U.S. doctors linked to POW `torture' Guantanamo medical records misused Basis of interrogators' strategy: Report TANYA TALAGA AND KAREN PALMER STAFF REPORTERS "Medical records compiled by doctors caring for prisoners at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay are being tapped to design more effective interrogation techniques, says an explosive new report." http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/ Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1119477015095&call_pageid=9683321 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 20) Military Enlists Marketer to Get Data on Students for Recruiters By Mark Mazzetti Times Staff Writer June 23, 2005 "WASHINGTON - With the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan making it increasingly hard for the U.S. military to fill its ranks with recruits, the Pentagon has hired an outside marketing firm to help compile an extensive database about teenagers and college students that the military services could use to target potential enlistees." http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na- privacy23jun23,1,5537670,print.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0623-03.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2005
WINTER SOLDIER (1972, 96 min)
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts presents Friday, July 1, 7:30 pm A rarely screened, devastating documentary classic, Winter Soldier captures the testimonies of ex-GIs at the 1971 Detroit Winter Soldier Investigation concerning American atrocities in Vietnam. The soldiers, including Senator John Kerry, are riveting as they provide eye-witness testimony to war crimes and atrocities they either participated in or witnessed. The film evokes all of the sorrow and pain that Vietnam has come to represent. Tickets: $8 regular; $5 YBCA members, students, seniors Tickets can be purchased online at www.YBCA.org, by telephone at 415.978.ARTS, or in person at the box office. Screening location: YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission Street (at Third) San Francisco, CA, 94103-3138 P: 415.321.1323 F: 415.978.9635 www.YBCA.org Imagine a whole new way to see. LIFE AMPLIFIED ************************************************************ TAKE ACTION: ************************************************************ 1) Cut all Public School Ties to the Military! Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education the Fourth Tuesday of Each Month Starting: June 28TH, 7:00 P.M. 555 Franklin St., S.F, To get on the speakers list call: 415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000 2) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN 16TH & MISSION STREET SATURDAY JUNE 25, 12:30 P.M. TUESDAY JUNE 28 AND THURSDAY JUNE 30, 5 & 7 P.M. 3) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN JULY 2,3 & 4 WEEKEND SCHEDULE *SHOW UP TO PETITION: SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, JULY 2, 3 & 4, 1:00 P.M. DOLORES PARK, 18TH AND DOLORES STS, SF *SEE THE SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE'S PLAY "DOING GOOD" MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. - SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (THEN GATHER SIGNATURES AFTER THE SHOW) 4) HANDS OFF VENEZUELA SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM SHOWING: 7:00 PM, FRIDAY JULY 15 Center for Political Education 522 Valencia, Third Floor, Near 16th Street, SF (not wheelchair accessible) Close the 16th Street BART $5/$3 Students, Seniors, Unemployed 5) SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE PRESENTS: "DOING GOOD" A play based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. JULY 16, PRECITA PARK MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake!...BW) SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR Help get the word out about the ballot proposition and upcoming antiwar events. Free antiwar posters! FREE! 6) SAVE THE DATES: AUGUST 4, 5 & 6, 2005 FOR PRESENTATION OF HOWARD ZINN'S ONE MAN SHOW, "MARX IN SOHO" PERFORMED BY JERRY LEVY LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED TO BENEFIT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR WWW.BAUAW.ORG (FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-824-8730) ************************************************************ 1) Cut all Public School Ties to the Military! Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education the Fourth Tuesday of Each Month Starting: June 28TH, 7:00 P.M. 555 Franklin St., S.F, To get on the speakers list call: 415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000 Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) will be picketing the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Board of Education meetings the 4th Tuesday of each month beginning June 28th until the district cuts all school ties to the military. San Francisco voters passed Proposition N for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq by a 63 percent majority last November. And this November 2005 we will pass an anti-recruitment resolution initiated by College Not Combat, a coalition of groups and individuals opposed to the U.S. militaries' school recruitment program. We are currently gathering the necessary signatures to place this counter-recruitment proposition on the ballot. The proposition says, "The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!" Proposition N, passed last November, already mandates the SFUSD to cut all school ties to the military. Yet S.F. children are still being actively recruited at schools throughout the district by direct military recruitment, and through the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs. Many students are forced into JROTC in order to get the necessary Physical Education credits they need to graduate High School. JROTC now fulfills this requirement-and the district actually pays a million dollars a year to the Army to support JROTC. (JROTC, by the way, is totally managed and controlled by the U.S. Army. The Army writes the curriculum and appoints the teachers. The district has no say in this program.) In fact, the U.S. military maintains a presence in the schools at all grade levels from kindergarten on up. And now the Military is beginning to set up JROTC "Military Academies" in the Middle Schools. At these "academies" children are taught how to obey orders and to practice military maneuvers with realistically functioning toy guns. As a result of the board's open door military policy, many San Francisco high school graduates are currently serving in Iraq. This must end. Schools must not be used to recruit youngsters to kill or be killed in this illegal, immoral war! The following resolution was presented to the board several months ago. They still have not acted on it! CUT ALL SCHOOL TIES TO THE MILITARY! Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education WHEREAS, the United States military is actively recruiting high school students into the military to fight in Iraq; and WHEREAS, many young San Francisco high school alumni are presently serving in military units fighting in Iraq; and WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq now; and WHEREAS, over 1,700 U.S. soldiers and approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S. soldiers and unknown thousands of Iraqis have been wounded; and WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the war have robbed our children of resources that should be spent on education and other human needs; and WHEREAS, military presence in our schools legitimizes the message that violence is acceptable; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: It shall be the policy of the San Francisco Board of Education to cut all ties with the United States military, including, but not limited to: Ending military recruitment on campuses; ending the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students and parents are informed of their right to deny military recruiters access to their names, addresses and telephone numbers. Come to the next planning meeting of Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) Saturday, July 9, 11:30 a.m. at 474 Valencia Street between 15th & 16th Streets, S.F. Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) • www.bauaw.org P.O. Box 318021, San Francisco, CA 94131-8021 • 414-824-8730 ************************************************************ 2) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN 16TH & MISSION STREET SATURDAY JUNE 25, 12:30 P.M. TUESDAY JUNE 28 AND THURSDAY JUNE 30, 5 & 7 P.M. ************************************************************ 3) COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN JULY 2,3 & 4 WEEKEND SCHEDULE *SHOW UP TO PETITION: SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, JULY 2, 3 & 4, 1:00 P.M. DOLORES PARK, 18TH AND DOLORES STS, SF *SEE THE SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE'S PLAY "DOING GOOD" MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. - SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (THEN GATHER SIGNATURES AFTER THE SHOW) Based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake! SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR (BAUAW) BAUAW is setting up a COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN table by invitation from the Mime Troupe. THERE WILL BE AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE STAGE. We will be able to gather signatures before and after the performance. After the performance we will also fan out over the city to give this petition drive a big push over the July 4th weekend. COME HELP GATHER SIGNATURES FOR THE COLLEGE NOT COMBAT BALLOT INITIATIVE FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO, NOVEMBER 2005, ELECTIONS: "The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!" LOOK FOR OUR TABLE TO PICK UP PETITIONS. FREE ANTIWAR POSTERS! WE ONLY HAVE A FEW WEEKS TO GO! GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS! MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT FOR WAR! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! ************************************************************ 4) HANDS OFF VENEZUELA SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM SHOWING: 7:00 PM, FRIDAY JULY 15 Center for Political Education 522 Valencia, Third Floor, Near 16th Street, SF (not wheelchair accessible) Close the 16th Street BART $5/$3 Students, Seniors, Unemployed With the Poor of the World Con los pobres de la Tierra (2003) 56 minutes. by Marta Harnecker on Venezuela In Spanish with English Subtitles This video gives the background and context of the current struggles in Venezuela since 1993. Using TV news footage and archival video, this film documents the rise of Chavez and the Oligarchy's three attempts to overthrow him. May Day in Caracas (2005) 22 minutes. by a J. Carlos Flores. In Spanish with English Subtitles A short documentary about international labor day in Venezuela Hands off Venezuela will show these films as a benefit to bring Stalin Peres Borges, a leader of the National Union of Workers of Venezuela (UNT) a dynamic new Venezuelan Trade Union federation. Call Adam at 415 864 3537 or email sfbay@ushov.org for more info or to arrange a speaker to talk about the inspiring events in Venezuela and the need to protect it from US attack. Also Come To The Next Hands Off Venezuela Organizing Meeting (all welcome): 7:00 PM, Thursday, June 30, Socialist Action Bookstore, corner Valencia and 14th, SF www.handsoffvenezuela.org ************************************************************ 5) SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE PRESENTS: "DOING GOOD" A play based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. JULY 16, PRECITA PARK MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (This play is fresh, new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is the icing on the cake!...BW) SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR Help get the word out about the ballot proposition and upcoming antiwar events. Free antiwar posters! FREE! ************************************************************ 6) SAVE THE DATES: AUGUST 4, 5 & 6, 2005 FOR PRESENTATION OF HOWARD ZINN'S ONE MAN SHOW, "MARX IN SOHO" PERFORMED BY JERRY LEVY LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED TO BENEFIT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR WWW.BAUAW.ORG (FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-824-8730) ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* BAUAW NEWSLETTER – JUNE 22, 2005 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) Picture-perfect killers Military weapons are often technological marvels but always instruments of death Norman Solomon Sunday, June 19, 2005 2) Holocaust Survivor Says He's Leaving The US by Joey Picador http://www.justicefornone.com 3) "by slow degrees we learn the full extent . . . " From: "Barbara Deutsch" 4) Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/reports/HealthcareUnderOccupationDahrJamail.pdf 5) HIP HOP SHOW AND RALLY TO CLOSE CYA YOUTH PRISONS Saturday, July 16, noon-2pm Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th St. and Broadway (Downtown Oakland) 4th Annual "Not Down with the Lockdown" Hip Hop Show and Rally to Close the CYA Youth Prisons FREE! All ages! 6) National Council of Churches urges grassroots campaign To call on Congress to pass bi-partisan 'end the war' resolution New York, June 16, 2005 - The National Council of Churches USA has welcomed bi- partisan legislation introduced in Congress today urging President Bush "to announce a plan for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of the year." Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) introduced the legislation. http://www.ncccusa.org/news/050617BipartisanResolution.html 7) A VICTORY FOR SHEILA DETOY 8) A.M.A. to Study Effect of Marketing Drugs to Consumers By STEPHANIE SAUL Published: June 22, 2005 "The American Medical Association, the nation's largest organization of physicians, agreed yesterday to study whether consumer drug advertising leads to unnecessary prescriptions, potentially harming patients and driving up health costs....Many critics say advertising fueled the widespread use of cox-2 painkillers, recently linked to serious cardiovascular problems. Vioxx, the cox-2 drug that Merck withdrew from the market in September, was widely advertised to consumers. Studies later indicated that, for many patients, it was no more effective than other, safer pain killers." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/business/media/22adco.html 9) Tales of the Poor, Working to Survive in America By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS June 22, 2005 http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/movies/22wagi.html 10) Iraqi Rebels Refine Bomb Skills, Pushing Toll of G.I.'s Higher By DAVID S. CLOUD Published: June 22, 2005 "WASHINGTON, June 21 - American casualties from bomb attacks in Iraq have reached new heights in the last two months as insurgents have begun to deploy devices that leave armored vehicles increasingly vulnerable, according to military records." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/international/middleeast/ 22bomb.html?hp&ex=1119499200&en=4de3c8b99cb57c82&ei=5094&partner=hom epage 11) Social Security Opened Its Files for 9/11 Inquiry By ERIC LICHTBLAU Published: June 22, 2005 "WASHINGTON, June 21 -The Social Security Administration has relaxed its privacy restrictions and searched thousands of its files at the request of the F.B.I. as part of terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, newly disclosed records and interviews show." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/politics/ 22terror.html?hp&ex=1119499200&en=f4bb907c3b74271d&ei=5094&partner=hom epage 12) Muni drivers threaten walkout at month's end By Marisa Lagos Staff Writer Published: Thursday, June 16, 2005 10:57 PM PDT Some rank and file members of Muni's drivers union are threatening to walk off the job June 30, saying union leadership has not held strong opposing layoffs and service cuts as its membership asked. http://sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/06/17/news/20050617_ne11_muni.txt 13) NYT Editorial Abu Ghraib, Rewarded Published: June 22, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22wed1.html 14) Posts Considered for Commanders After Abuse Case By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER Published: June 20, 2005 WASHINGTON, June 19 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is considering new top command assignments that would possibly include promoting Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former American commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, Pentagon and military officials say. Such a move, which has been urged by senior Army officers and civilian officials now that an Army inquiry has cleared General Sanchez of wrongdoing, seems to reflect a growing confidence that the military has put the abuse scandal behind it. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/politics/20military.html 15) Extending Democracy to Ex-Offenders Published: June 22, 2005 "The laws that strip ex-offenders of the right to vote across the United States are the shame of the democratic world. Of an estimated five million Americans who were barred from voting in the last presidential election, a majority would have been able to vote if they had been citizens of countries like Britain, France, Germany or Australia. Many nations take the franchise so seriously that they arrange for people to cast ballots while being held in prison. In the United States, by contrast, inmates can vote only in two states, Maine and Vermont. This distinctly American bias - which extends to jobs, housing and education - keeps even law- abiding ex-offenders confined to the margins of society, where they have a notoriously difficult time building successful lives. A few states, at least, are beginning to grasp this point. Some are reconsidering postprison sanctions, including laws that bar ex-offenders from the polls." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22wed3.html 16) The crisis in United Russia By Misha Steklov in Moscow http://www.marxist.com/Russia/crisis-united-russia220605.html 17) Russia after the war in Iraq By Alan Woods http://www.marxist.com/Russia/after_war_in_iraq.html 18) The crisis in United Russia By Misha Steklov in Moscow http://www.marxist.com/Russia/crisis-united-russia220605.html 19) Insurgents killed in Afghan fighting 5 U.S. soldiers wounded in gunbattle in south of country The Associated Press Updated: 1:09 p.m. ET June 22, 2005 "KABUL, Afghanistan - American warplanes pounded a suspected Taliban safe haven in the mountains of southern Afghanistan during an assault that killed up to 76 insurgents and 12 security forces, officials said Wednesday. Five American soldiers were wounded. The bodies of those killed in Tuesday's fighting littered a rugged Afghan mountainside. The surge in violence has raised fears that an Iraq-style quagmire is developing here, just months ahead of key legislative elections." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8197613/ 20) Current, former Walgreen workers file suit Drugstore chain accused of discriminating against black employees The Associated Press Updated: 6:51 p.m. ET June 21, 2005 "ST. LOUIS - Eleven black current and former Walgreen Co. workers in Michigan and six other states sued the nation's top-selling drugstore chain Monday, accusing it of having a policy of discriminating against black employees. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, Ill., says the company has a "pervasive policy" of steering black employees to work in stores in areas that have mostly black or poorer customers, using an internal system to categorize stores based on race and income." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8307598/ 21) Marines win Iraq desert battle, war far from over By Peter Graff Tue Jun 21, 2005 08:08 AM ET KARABILA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines claimed success on Tuesday in another battle against insurgents in the Iraqi desert but acknowledged that the war was far from over and that guerrillas would soon recover lost ground. http://www.reuters.com/ newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8850204&src=eDialog/GetContent 22) The Washington Post and the Downing Street memo http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/post-j22.shtml 23) From Marti Hiken of the Military Law Task Force (MLTF) of the National Lawyers' Guild Two MLTF members in the Bay Area have formed the Berkeley Draft Information Project and have published a booklet for [school] counselors, parents and young people: "FAST FAXTS about "Military Recruitment, The Potential for a Draft and Related Issues." Their address is: Berkeley Draft Information Project, 2124 Kittredge St., #66, Berkeley, CA 94704.? info@berkeleydraftinformationproject.org www.berkeleydraftinformationproject.org 24) Vote on this online poll to help protect student's privacy! Hi Everyone, I received a note saying that New York State School Boards Association is considering supporting changing federal law to not send student contact information to military recruiters without their consent. All you have to do is vote on their online poll: http://www.nyssba.org/ScriptContent/Index.cfm 25) Mass Mobilizing Meeting Wednesday, July 6 at 7 PM Global Exchange: 2017 Mission St. #303, San Francisco (across the street from the 16th St. BART station) ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) Picture-perfect killers Military weapons are often technological marvels but always instruments of death Norman Solomon Sunday, June 19, 2005 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/19/INGK0D963N1.DTL ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 2) Holocaust Survivor Says He's Leaving The US by Joey Picador http://www.justicefornone.com One of our neighbors is moving. I've been in this neighborhood for about six years now, but didn't really know them very well at all - just waves and nods, mostly. So I heard the moving van pull up this morning. When I got home this evening I happened to spy my neighbor (he's like 85 years old - I don't know exactly, but he's old, talks and moves very slowly) standing on the sidewalk next to the van. I walked over and shook his hand, and we started talking. I asked him where he was moving, and he said, "Back to Germany." I had been stationed in Germany for two years while in the military, so I lit up, and commented about how beautiful the country was, and inquired if he was going back because he missed it. "No," he answered me. "I'm going back because I've seen this before." He then commenced to explain that when he was a kid, he watched with his family in fear as Hitler's government committed atrocity after atrocity, and no one was willing to say anything. He said the news refused to question the government, and the ones who did were not in the newspaper business much longer. He said good neighbors, people he had known all his life, turned against his family and other Jews, grabbing on to the hate and superiority "as if they were starved for it" (his words). He said he was too old to see it happen right in front of his eyes again, and too old to do anything about it, so he was taking his family back to Europe on Thursday where they would be safe from George W. Bush and his neocons. He seemed resolute, but troubled, nonetheless, as if being too young on one end and too old on the other to fight what he saw happening was wearing on him. I gotta tell you - it was chilling. I let him talk, and the whole time, my gut was churning, like I had mutated butterflies in my stomach. When he was finished, he shook my hand, gripping it really hard, until his knuckles turned white and he was shaking. He looked me in the eyes, hard, and said, "I will pray for your family and your country." He let go of my hand and hobbled away. I have related this event to you in the hopes it will serve as a cautionary anecdote about the state of our Union, and to illustrate the path we Americans are being led down by a group of fanatics bent on global economic and military dominion. When a man who survived the fruits of fascism decides its time to leave THIS country because he's seeing the same patterns that led to the Holocaust and other Nazi horrors beginning to form here, it is time for us to recognize the underlying evil inherent in the actions of those who claim they work for all Americans, and for all mankind. And it is incumbent upon all Americans, Red and Blue, Republican and Democrat, to stop them. http://www.justicefornone.com/handbills/leaving1.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 3) "by slow degrees we learn the full extent . . . " From: "Barbara Deutsch" : My source adds the following as preface to the INDEPENDENT story George Weller was the first Western journalist in Nagasaki after we dropped the plutonium bomb. [General Douglas] Macarthur [who was in charge of US occupation of Japan, a country which had never before known military defeat, and who, according to Stephen Bezruchka – www.alternativeradio.org/programs/BEZS001.shtml -- by prescribing for Japan a demilitarized, democratic, decentralized society with universal education, strong collective rights and protections for workers, and restrictions on private wealth and power, caused a rather mediocre life expectancy rate, even without any appreciable change in health care or delivery (and even despite effects of bombs and the contamination from them) to become the highest in the world] censored Weller's reports, but Weller's son just discovered the original stories in cartons. The NYT coverage of this story omitted this information: William Laurance, a science reporter with The New York Times and - it later emerged - someone also paid by the White House as a "consultant," was among a group of reporters taken to the atomic testing site in New Mexico to demonstrate there was no lingering radiation. Laurance's subsequent story said: "This historic ground in New Mexico, scene of the first atomic explosion on earth and a cradle of a new era in civilisation, gave the most effective answer today to Japanese propaganda that [radiation was] responsible for deaths even after the day of the explosion . . . . Awestruck, we watched it shoot upward like a meteor coming from the earth instead of from outer space, becoming ever more alive as it climbed skyward through the white clouds . . . . it was a living thing, a new species of being, born right before our incredulous eyes." For which reporting Laurance won the Pulitzer prize. The article below, unlike the NYT coverage, quotes Gregg Mitchell, co-author of Hiroshima in America: A Half Century of Denial , and explains the theme of his book: [it] details the official suppression of the effect of the atomic weapons and the controversy surrounding America's decision to use them . . . . http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=648484 Nagasaki: Wasteland of war, by the first Western reporter to witness it The American journalist George Weller was the first Allied observer to see the devastation wreaked by the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. But his account was censored at the command of General MacArthur, and only now, three years after his death, have his astonishing reports finally been published. Independent (London) 21 June 2005 By Andrew Buncombe The scenes that confronted the reporter George Weller would fill his dispatches with horror and stay with him for life. The first Western reporter into the bombed and off-limits city of Nagasaki in September 1945, Weller encountered sickness and suffering of a kind never seen before. He described the cityscape though which he passed as a "wasteland of war". But his unflinching reports written a month after the atomic bomb had dropped caught the eye of General Douglas MacArthur's US military censors. Concerned at the effect Weller's reporting would have on worldwide opinion as well as his subsequent political ambitions, the general ensured that none of the reportage he filed from Nagasaki would be published. Until now. Three years after Weller's death at the age of 95, and 60 years after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing more than 200,000 people and ushering the world into the nuclear era, some of those first-hand dispatches have been published in a Japanese newspaper. They provide a raw and unique insight into the bomb's devastation and the horrifying effect of radiation poisoning, known to the author of the reports and the bewildered doctors he spoke to simply as "Disease X." In a report filed from Nagasaki on 8 September 1945, Weller wrote: "In swaybacked or flattened skeletons of the Mitsubishi arms plants is revealed what the atomic bomb can do to steel and stone, but what the riven atom can do against human flesh and bone lies hidden in two hospitals of downtown Nagasaki. Look at the pushed-in faÁade of the American consulate, three miles from the blast's centre, or the face of the Catholic cathedral, one mile in the other direction, torn down like gingerbread, and you can tell that the liberated atom spares nothing in the way." Weller's remarkable dispatches might not have been discovered but for his son Anthony, also a writer and journalist, who was dealing with his father's belongings after his death in 2002. At his father's home in San Felice Circeo, Italy, Mr Weller was working his way through a box of papers when he came across 75 typed pages of carbon-paper copies containing reports from the war in the Pacific, which his father had believed lost. The reports ran to about 25,000 words. Speaking yesterday by telephone from his father's home, Mr Weller, 47, told The Independent: "My father had spoken of these reports many times over the years and it was a source of great frustration to him [to be censored]. It was one of the biggest stories of his life. "It was very poignant to find his carbons no more than 20 ft. from where he was sitting. One of the rooms in his house was overflowing with papers from his more than 65 years as a foreign correspondent. There were boxes and crates with these papers jammed into them. I spent some time going through a crate full of mildewed papers from the Pacific war and there they were. The crate was a few feet from the chair in which he used to sit. He did not know they were there." The story of Weller's suppressed dispatches from the southern coastal city of Nagasaki - devastated by the 4.5-ton "Fatman" nuclear device that was exploded at a height of 1,500ft at 11.02am on 9 August - are made all the more remarkable for the effort it took him to get into the city. With the city and much of southern Japan placed off-limits by MacArthur, commander of the US forces, Weller, already a Pulitzer Prize winner with the now defunct Chicago Daily News, made his way to the distant island of Kyushu. There, with official permission, he visited what had been a Japanese kamikaze base. But he also noticed that the town on the mainland - just a few hundred yards from the island - was connected to Nagasaki by railroad. Using a combination of boat, train and a bravura performance in which he impersonated a senior US officer and commandeered two military cars, he was able to get into Nagasaki several days before any other Western reporters. Weller, who had earlier been among the very last journalists to leave Singapore and then Indonesia in the face of the Japanese advance, was not at the time particularly opposed to the atomic bomb. "I think the Japanese military had cleared any sense of remorse out of him," said his son, who usually lives in Annisquam, Massachusetts. And his initial reports from Nagasaki suggested that he believed the atomic weapon, while clearly deadly, had worked with a rare degree of precision. He started one early dispatch by writing: "The atomic bomb may be classified as a weapon capable of being used indiscriminately, but its use in Nagasaki was selective and proper and as merciful as such a gigantic force could be expected to be. The following conclusions were made by the writer - as the first visitor to inspect the ruins - after an exhaustive, though still incomplete study of this wasteland of war." He suggested that the death toll stood at no more than 24,000 and that this number (later shown to be more than 75,000, with another 75,000 injured and countless more left to die later from radiation sickness) was largely the result of poorly designed civilian air shelters and a refusal by the local authorities to take air-raid warnings seriously. He later added in his report: "Nobody here in Nagasaki has yet been able to show that the bomb is different than any other, except in a broader extent flash and a more powerful knock-out." But as he travelled more around Nagasaki, visiting hospitals filled with sick and dying people, witnessing the flattened city and talking to the baffled Japanese doctors unable to help so many of the sick, Weller became aware that something was terribly wrong. Many of those brought into the hospitals were not responding to treatment. He witnessed children with red blotches on their skin, people who had lost their hair, patients with blackened tongues, patients with lock-jaw. Doctors at one hospital told him that a month after the explosion, people were dying at a rate of 10 a day. He noted that the doctors had performed precise assessments of the patients brought to them. Their hair had fallen out, they had skin haemorrhages, lip sores, diarrhoea, swelling of the throat. There had been a fall in the number of their red blood cells and there was an almost absence of white blood cells. He wrote in another dispatch: "The atomic bomb's peculiar 'disease', uncured because it is untreated and untreated because it is not diagnosed, is still snatching away lives here. Men, women and children with no outward marks of injury are dying daily in hospitals, some after having walked around for three or four weeks thinking they have escaped. The doctors here have every modern medicament, but candidly confessed in talking to the writer - the first Allied observer to Nagasaki since the surrender - that the answer to the malady is beyond them. Their patients, though their skin is whole, are all passing away under their eyes." After his achievement of entering Nagasaki and acting as an eye-witness to the destruction, Weller's mistake was to send his reports back to Tokyo by hand, to be approved by the military censor. Concerned about their potential effect on public opinion, MacArthur ordered that that they be destroyed. Weller's son said his father later believed he had lost the carbon copies and would go to his grave summarising his experience with the censors simply as "They won." Indeed, at the same time as it was suppressing Weller's reports and denying similar reports filed from Hiroshima by the Australian reporter Wilfred Burchett and published by the Daily Express in London, the Pentagon was actively going to great lengths to persuade its own citizens that there was no danger of radiation poisoning from the atomic bombs. William Laurance, a science reporter with The New York Times and - it later emerged - someone also paid by the White House as a "consultant", was among a group of reporters taken to the atomic testing site in New Mexico to demonstrate there was no lingering radiation. Laurance's subsequent story said: "This historic ground in New Mexico, scene of the first atomic explosion on earth and a cradle of a new era in civilisation, gave the most effective answer today to Japanese propaganda that [radiation was] responsible for deaths even after the day of the explosion." Laurance was so liked by the military that he was even taken in the squadron of planes accompanying the B-29 bomber from Tinian Island near Guam, which dropped the Nagasaki bomb. In contrast to Weller's reports of suffering and sickness, Laurance described the bomb's explosion thus: "Awestruck, we watched it shoot upward like a meteor coming from the earth instead of from outer space, becoming ever more alive as it climbed skyward through the white clouds ... It was a living thing, a new species of being, born right before our incredulous eyes." Ironically, such reporting won Laurance himself a Pulitzer prize. Gregg Mitchell, co-author of Hiroshima in America: A Half Century of Denial and editor of the magazine Editor and Publisher, said the story of Weller's suppressed and then lost dispatches was one of journalism's more considerable mysteries. "It's different to Deep Throat, but in nuclear history and journalism history, [it is important]," said Mr Mitchell, whose book details the official suppression of the effect of the atomic weapons and the controversy surrounding America's decision to use them when many in the West believed Japan was already ready to surrender. "It is one of the great mysteries. People have always wondered what was in those reports. For them to emerge intact solves it." Weller's son, who has also discovered a cache of his father's photographs, said his father had believed his reports from Nagasaki would not be censored. He believed that during the three weeks he spent in Nagasaki he was there "as a witness". "He had been fighting the censors for four years," he said. "[The censors] did not want the US people to get a bad impression of the bombs, and that it was not MacArthur who had won the war but a bunch of scientists in New Mexico." Indeed, the conclusion to one of his father's most moving dispatches relates to some of those very scientists, the effect of whose labours he had just witnessed, and who were about to arrive in the city to measure the radiation. "Twenty-five Americans are due to arrive September 11 to study the Nagasaki bombsite. Japanese hope they will bring a solution for Disease X." ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 4) Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/reports/HealthcareUnderOccupationDahrJamail.pdf ** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches ** ** http://dahrjamailiraq.com ** Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/reports/HealthcareUnderOccupationDahrJamail.pdf Or visit: www.dahrjamailiraq.com and click on the 'reports' section. Dahr Jamail reports on the struggling health care situation in Iraq. The report surveys 13 Iraqi Hospitals, examines the actions taken by US military against hospitals and care workers that constitute war crimes as defined by the Geneva conventions, discusses and documents cases of US medical personnel complicit in torture through failures to document the visible signs of torture on their patients, and much more. This report is endorsed by the B/Russell/s Tribunal, El Taller International, Asian Women's Human Rights Council, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers, SOS Iraq, and Medical Aid for the Third World, a.o. I'd also like to thank 11.11.11 (a consortium of NGO's.), who offered their facilities for the presentation of this report to the press. /** This report is submitted as evidence to the Jury of conscience during the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com You are subscribed to the Dahr Jamail's email Iraq Dispatches because you requested a subscription at some point. You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe or unsubscribe to the email list. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 5) HIP HOP SHOW AND RALLY TO CLOSE CYA YOUTH PRISONS Saturday, July 16, noon-2pm Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th St. and Broadway (Downtown Oakland) 4th Annual "Not Down with the Lockdown" Hip Hop Show and Rally to Close the CYA Youth Prisons FREE! All ages! Join us as we bring the community together with amazing Bay Area talent to speak out against the California Youth Authority and the prison industrial complex! Sponsored by Books Not Bars and Let's Get Free ( http://www.booksnotbars.org ) Contact Books Not Bars: e-mail: bnb@ellabakercenter.org phone: 510.428.3939 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 6) National Council of Churches urges grassroots campaign To call on Congress to pass bi-partisan 'end the war' resolution New York, June 16, 2005 - The National Council of Churches USA has welcomed bi- partisan legislation introduced in Congress today urging President Bush "to announce a plan for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of the year." Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) introduced the legislation. http://www.ncccusa.org/news/050617BipartisanResolution.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 7) A VICTORY FOR SHEILA DETOY Yesterday a San Francisco Superior Court Judge ruled on the side of the people. The judge threw out the argument presented by the Police Officers Union that it was too late to discipline the officers that killed this seventeen year-old child. The charges against Gregory Breslin and his cronies will not be dismissed!!!! This victory is a step towards discipline for the officers that not only committed murder, but then covered it up. Discipline of these officers will be a step towards peaceful streets in San Francisco free from abusive cops like Gregory Breslin. The fight is not over, now we must demand that the San Francisco Police Commission remove Gregory Breslin from the San Francisco Police Department IMMEDIATELY!!! SIX YEARS - NO JUSTICE FOR SHEILA DETOY * May 13, 1998: San Francisco police officers shot up a car full of unarmed teenagers and killed 17-year-old Sheila Detoy. SFPD then blamed her friends for her death. * The Office of Citizen Complaints found that Officer Gregory Breslin is responsible for her death. The OCC also sustained complaints against the other officers involved in Sheila's killing. In 2003 the San Francisco Police Commission decided they wanted to file charges against the officers, but the Police Officers Association tried to block discipline, but they failed. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS CASE AND OTHER ISSUES RELATED TO POLICE BRUTALITY IN THE BAY AREA PLEASE CONTACT BAY AREA POLICEWATCH AT malaika@ellabakercenter.org or (510)428-3939 x. 224 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 8) A.M.A. to Study Effect of Marketing Drugs to Consumers By STEPHANIE SAUL Published: June 22, 2005 "The American Medical Association, the nation's largest organization of physicians, agreed yesterday to study whether consumer drug advertising leads to unnecessary prescriptions, potentially harming patients and driving up health costs....Many critics say advertising fueled the widespread use of cox-2 painkillers, recently linked to serious cardiovascular problems. Vioxx, the cox-2 drug that Merck withdrew from the market in September, was widely advertised to consumers. Studies later indicated that, for many patients, it was no more effective than other, safer pain killers." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/business/media/22adco.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 9) Tales of the Poor, Working to Survive in America By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS June 22, 2005 http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/movies/22wagi.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 10) Iraqi Rebels Refine Bomb Skills, Pushing Toll of G.I.'s Higher By DAVID S. CLOUD Published: June 22, 2005 "WASHINGTON, June 21 - American casualties from bomb attacks in Iraq have reached new heights in the last two months as insurgents have begun to deploy devices that leave armored vehicles increasingly vulnerable, according to military records." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/international/middleeast/ 22bomb.html?hp&ex=1119499200&en=4de3c8b99cb57c82&ei=5094&partner=hom epage ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 11) Social Security Opened Its Files for 9/11 Inquiry By ERIC LICHTBLAU Published: June 22, 2005 "WASHINGTON, June 21 -The Social Security Administration has relaxed its privacy restrictions and searched thousands of its files at the request of the F.B.I. as part of terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, newly disclosed records and interviews show." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/politics/ 22terror.html?hp&ex=1119499200&en=f4bb907c3b74271d&ei=5094&partner=hom epage ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 12) Muni drivers threaten walkout at month's end By Marisa Lagos Staff Writer Published: Thursday, June 16, 2005 10:57 PM PDT Some rank and file members of Muni's drivers union are threatening to walk off the job June 30, saying union leadership has not held strong opposing layoffs and service cuts as its membership asked. http://sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/06/17/news/20050617_ne11_muni.txt ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 13) NYT Editorial Abu Ghraib, Rewarded Published: June 22, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22wed1.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 14) Posts Considered for Commanders After Abuse Case By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER Published: June 20, 2005 WASHINGTON, June 19 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is considering new top command assignments that would possibly include promoting Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former American commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, Pentagon and military officials say. Such a move, which has been urged by senior Army officers and civilian officials now that an Army inquiry has cleared General Sanchez of wrongdoing, seems to reflect a growing confidence that the military has put the abuse scandal behind it. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/politics/20military.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 15) Extending Democracy to Ex-Offenders Published: June 22, 2005 "The laws that strip ex-offenders of the right to vote across the United States are the shame of the democratic world. Of an estimated five million Americans who were barred from voting in the last presidential election, a majority would have been able to vote if they had been citizens of countries like Britain, France, Germany or Australia. Many nations take the franchise so seriously that they arrange for people to cast ballots while being held in prison. In the United States, by contrast, inmates can vote only in two states, Maine and Vermont. This distinctly American bias - which extends to jobs, housing and education - keeps even law- abiding ex-offenders confined to the margins of society, where they have a notoriously difficult time building successful lives. A few states, at least, are beginning to grasp this point. Some are reconsidering postprison sanctions, including laws that bar ex-offenders from the polls." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/opinion/22wed3.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 16) The crisis in United Russia By Misha Steklov in Moscow http://www.marxist.com/Russia/crisis-united-russia220605.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 17) Russia after the war in Iraq By Alan Woods http://www.marxist.com/Russia/after_war_in_iraq.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 18) The crisis in United Russia By Misha Steklov in Moscow http://www.marxist.com/Russia/crisis-united-russia220605.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 19) Insurgents killed in Afghan fighting 5 U.S. soldiers wounded in gunbattle in south of country The Associated Press Updated: 1:09 p.m. ET June 22, 2005 "KABUL, Afghanistan - American warplanes pounded a suspected Taliban safe haven in the mountains of southern Afghanistan during an assault that killed up to 76 insurgents and 12 security forces, officials said Wednesday. Five American soldiers were wounded. The bodies of those killed in Tuesday's fighting littered a rugged Afghan mountainside. The surge in violence has raised fears that an Iraq-style quagmire is developing here, just months ahead of key legislative elections." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8197613/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 20) Current, former Walgreen workers file suit Drugstore chain accused of discriminating against black employees The Associated Press Updated: 6:51 p.m. ET June 21, 2005 "ST. LOUIS - Eleven black current and former Walgreen Co. workers in Michigan and six other states sued the nation's top-selling drugstore chain Monday, accusing it of having a policy of discriminating against black employees. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, Ill., says the company has a "pervasive policy" of steering black employees to work in stores in areas that have mostly black or poorer customers, using an internal system to categorize stores based on race and income." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8307598/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 21) Marines win Iraq desert battle, war far from over By Peter Graff Tue Jun 21, 2005 08:08 AM ET KARABILA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines claimed success on Tuesday in another battle against insurgents in the Iraqi desert but acknowledged that the war was far from over and that guerrillas would soon recover lost ground. http://www.reuters.com/ newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8850204&src=eDialog/GetContent ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 22) The Washington Post and the Downing Street memo http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/post-j22.shtml ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 23) From Marti Hiken of the Military Law Task Force (MLTF) of the National Lawyers' Guild Two MLTF members in the Bay Area have formed the Berkeley Draft Information Project and have published a booklet for [school] counselors, parents and young people: "FAST FAXTS about "Military Recruitment, The Potential for a Draft and Related Issues." Their address is: Berkeley Draft Information Project, 2124 Kittredge St., #66, Berkeley, CA 94704.? info@berkeleydraftinformationproject.org www.berkeleydraftinformationproject.org Kristin & Dianne "work from a slightly different angle on this project: attempting to engage high school advisors and college counselors, who have a lot of influence with students about the 'next step' in student lives. They also do some of the same sort of things by engaging sports coaches, by using school e-listings, and by having a 'hard copy' book-style product available in bookstores to catch the eye of people who are not explicitly searching the internet for information. It is an important information tool for those doing counter-recruitment/draft counseling. Marti National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force? Marguerite Hiken, co-chair 318 Ortega Street San Francisco, CA 94122 415-566-3732 mlhiken@pacbell.net www.nlg.org/mltf Kathleen Gilberd, co-chair 1168 Union Street, Ste. 302 San Diego, CA 92101 619-233-1701 KathleenGilberd@aol.com * To visit your group on the web, go to: * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOOS-BAY/ * ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 24) Vote on this online poll to help protect student's privacy! Hi Everyone, I received a note saying that New York State School Boards Association is considering supporting changing federal law to not send student contact information to military recruiters without their consent. All you have to do is vote on their online poll: http://www.nyssba.org/ScriptContent/Index.cfm The law they are considering supporting, written by Mike Honda (D-CA), would not release student information to recruiters unless they "opt-in". Please vote on this online poll to urge NYSSBA to support protecting student privacy. While it is New York State, it has important implications for the rest of the nation as well. http://www.nyssba.org/ScriptContent/Index.cfm thanks, josh santa cruz, ca From the Web Site: Military recruiters have access to students' names, addresses and phone numbers unless parents "opt out" by asking schools to withhold the information. Should federal law be changed to an "opt in" system? (See news link, below) Yes (376) 89.74% No (43) 10.26% Total Votes: 419 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/college_not_comba ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 25) Mass Mobilizing Meeting Wednesday, July 6 at 7 PM Global Exchange: 2017 Mission St. #303, San Francisco (across the street from the 16th St. BART station) Dear Friends, Please join us for a mass mobilizing meeting on July 6 to build the Seeds of Change: NO NUKES! NO WARS! rally and march to the Livermore nuclear weapons lab. • Find out why, in the midst of ongoing • slaughter in Iraq, we must call for nuclear abolition; • Stop the Bomb Where it Starts! • For the 60th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima, Help Organize the March to the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab! RSVP: Tara Dorabji, Tri-Valley CARES, (925) 443-7148, tara@trivalleycares.org ACTION ALERT*Tri-Valley CAREs* www.trivalleycares.org* 925-443-7148 SATURDAY AUGUST 6: SEEDS OF CHANGE: NO NUKES! NO WARS! RALLY AND MARCH TO THE LIVERMORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS LAB. On the 60th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima... ACT to abolish nuclear weapons and war PROTEST new, earth-penetrating nuclear weapons at Livermore Lab CELEBRATE your vision of a peaceful, just and nuclear-free world Livermore Lab is one of the world's primary sites for the creation and development of nuclear weapons. WHEN: Saturday, August 6, 2005 at 5 PM WHERE: William Payne Park, 5800 Patterson Pass Rd. Livermore, CA (BART shuttles provided by the Peace and Freedom Party) To volunteer and for more info: (925) 443-7148 Tri-Valley CAREs www.trivalleycares.org (510) 839-5877 Western States Legal Foundation www.wslfweb.org Livermore Conversion Project (510) 663-8065. BACKGROUND The Bay Area's Livermore Lab is one of the three national laboratories that serve as the brain of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, which today is modernizing and developing nuclear weapons to support U.S. wars of empire. August 6 and 9, 2005 mark the 60th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. Join with thousands of people at four central US nuclear weapons sites to call for an end to the development and production of nuclear warheads. In the Bay Area, the Livermore Lab continues to contaminate the water, air and soil. Over 1 million curies of airborne radiation have leaked from the site. That is roughly equal to the amount of radiation deposited in the bombing of Hiroshima. The Dept. of Energy declared the fifty-mile radius surrounding the facility as the affected population. This includes over 7 million people from San Francisco, to Stockton, to San Jose. The storage and use of nuclear materials at Livermore Lab continues to increase despite safety and security issues. The limit for plutonium at Livermore Lab has just been doubled to 3,080 pounds -- enough for 300 nuclear bombs! Plutonium was recently found on site to be absurdly stored in paint cans and food cans. In Iraq, they never found nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, yet the daily reality of death and destruction continues, sparked by the Bush administration's invasion and fueled by the ongoing U.S. military occupation. A majority of people in this nation now oppose the war, but the White House and most members of Congress are resisting the only solution to the crisis: bring the troops home immediately. We will send our message loud and clear to decision -makers and the public at large: End the war in Iraq, End the threat of nuclear annihilation! We found the missing weapons of mass destruction. On August 6, we will take our voices to the active nuclear weapons sites across the country. We demand an end to US nuclear weapons development, production and testing. We demand an end to wars of empire and an end to nuclear excuses for war. NO NUKES! NO WARS! *SEND SUNFLOWERS TO LIVERMORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS LAB* The sunflower is the international symbol for the abolition of nuclear weapons. We invite you to create paper sunflowers to be planted at the gates of Livermore Lab. Sunflowers can be large or small, painted, be creative. Make sure to include your name and hometown on the sunflower. For full instructions and mailing directions: www.wagingpeace.org/sunflower AUGUST 6 NATIONAL ACTIONS March and Rally at core nuclear weapons sites across the United States. Join the global majority in saying "Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Never Again!!!" MAJOR RALLIES AT: Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab in CALIFORNIA Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Lab in NEW MEXICO Nevada Nuclear Test Site in NEVADA Y-12 Nuclear Production Facility in TENNESSEE For more info on each major rally: http://www.abolitionnow.org/augustactions.html TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, NAGASAKI NEVER AGAIN!!! NOVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION AT THE LIVERMORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS LAB WHEN: Tuesday, August 9 at 8AM WHERE: Meet at William Payne Park, 5800 Patterson Pass Rd. Livermore Take I-580 exit Vasco Rd. go South. Take a right on Patterson Pass Rd. Music at the gates will be provided by Clan Dyken. NONVIOLENCE GUIDELINES: Nonviolence has always been a core value of the anti-nuclear movement. Details about the nonviolence guidelines and a complete list of sponsors and endorsers are available at: www.trivalleycares.org www.wslfweb.org TUESDAY AUGUST 9, NATIONALLY COORDINATED CANDLELIGHT VIGILS Organize a candlelight vigil at your city hall on the 60^th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. In addition, you can organize readings, lantern lighting ceremonies, the shadow projects and more. In support of the Mayors for Peace, we are calling on local groups to invite their Mayors to participate in the vigils and read out proclamations. Contact: Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation, wslf@earthlink.net, (510) 839-5877, *www.wslfweb.org* ASK CONGRESS TO CUT $2 BILLION FROM THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS BUDGET http://capwiz.com/wagingpeace/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7565846 Act now to stop a new generation of nuclear bombs. Ask Congress to cut $2 billion to restrain dangerous nuclear weapons programs. Donations should be made out and mailed to: Livermore Conversion Project, PO Box 31835, Oakland, CA 94604. Checks of more than $50 are tax-deductible if made out to Agape. To Volunteer Contact: Tara Dorabji, Tri-Valley CAREs, tara@trivalleycares.org, (925) 443-7148, *www.trivalleycares.org* Initial Cosponsors and Endorsers: Alameda County Green Party, American Friends Service Committee, Bay Area United for Peace and Justice, Bill O'Donnell Social Justice Committee, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, California Peace Action, Bay Area United for Peace and Justice, Fiat Pax Berkeley, Green Party California, Livermore Conversion Project, Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center, the Northern California Communist Party, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Peace and Freedom Party, Peace Fresno, Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs), Veterans for Peace San Francisco Chapter 69, Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club , Western States Legal Foundation, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and Women for Peace. -- Tara Dorabji Outreach Director Tri-Valley CAREs www.trivalleycares.org tara@trivalleycares.org ph: (925) 443-7148 fax: (925) 443-0177 Before the word, was the silence. In this silence existed neither thought nor judgment. First came laughter,then the tears, and the sound was born. With the sound, the world flooded with memories. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Monday, June 20, 2005
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2005
************************************************************
Cut all Public School ties to the military! Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education the fourth Tuesday of each month starting, June 28TH, 7:00 P.M. 555 Franklin St., S.F, To get on the speakers list call: 415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000 Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) will be picketing the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Board of Education meetings the 4th Tuesday of each month beginning June 28th until the district cuts all school ties to the military. San Francisco voters passed Proposition N for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq by a 63 percent majority last November. And this November 2005 we will pass an anti-recruitment resolution initiated by College Not Combat, a coalition of groups and individuals opposed to the U.S. militaries' school recruitment program. We are currently gathering the necessary signatures to place this counter-recruitment proposition on the ballot. The proposition says, "The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military's "economic draft" by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!" Proposition N, passed last November, already mandates the SFUSD to cut all school ties to the military. Yet S.F. children are still being actively recruited at schools throughout the district by direct military recruitment, and through the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs. Many students are forced into JROTC in order to get the necessary Physical Education credits they need to graduate High School. JROTC now fulfills this requirement-and the district actually pays a million dollars a year to the Army to support JROTC. (JROTC, by the way, is totally managed and controlled by the U.S. Army. The Army writes the curriculum and appoints the teachers. The district has no say in this program.) In fact, the U.S. military maintains a presence in the schools at all grade levels from kindergarten on up. And now the Military is beginning to set up JROTC "Military Academies" in the Middle Schools. At these "academies" children are taught how to obey orders and to practice military maneuvers with realistically functioning toy guns. As a result of the board's open door military policy, many San Francisco high school graduates are currently serving in Iraq. This must end. Schools must not be used to recruit youngsters to kill or be killed in this illegal, immoral war! The following resolution was presented to the board several months ago. They still have not acted on it! CUT ALL SCHOOL TIES TO THE MILITARY! Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education WHEREAS, the United States military is actively recruiting high school students into the military to fight in Iraq; and WHEREAS, many young San Francisco high school alumni are presently serving in military units fighting in Iraq; and WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq now; and WHEREAS, over 1,700 U.S. soldiers and approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S. soldiers and unknown thousands of Iraqis have been wounded; and WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the war have robbed our children of resources that should be spent on education and other human needs; and WHEREAS, military presence in our schools legitimizes the message that violence is acceptable; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: It shall be the policy of the San Francisco Board of Education to cut all ties with the United States military, including, but not limited to: Ending military recruitment on campuses; ending the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students and parents are informed of their right to deny military recruiters access to their names, addresses and telephone numbers. Come to the next planning meeting of Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) Saturday, July 9, 11:30 a.m. at 474 Valencia Street between 15th & 16th Streets, S.F. Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW) • www.bauaw.org P.O. Box 318021, San Francisco, CA 94131-8021 • 414-824-8730 ************************************************************ Phil Ochs "I Ain't Marching Anymore" Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans At the end of the early British war The young land started growing The young blood started flowing But I ain't marchin' anymore For I've killed my share of Indians In a thousand different fights I was there at the Little Big Horn I heard many men lying I saw many more dying But I ain't marchin' anymore (chorus) It's always the old to lead us to the war It's always the young to fall Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun Tell me is it worth it all For I stole California from the Mexican land Fought in the bloody Civil War Yes I even killed my brothers And so many others But I ain't marchin' anymore For I marched to the battles of the German trench In a war that was bound to end all wars Oh I must have killed a million men And now they want me back again But I ain't marchin' anymore (chorus) For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky Set off the mighty mushroom roar When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning That I ain't marchin' anymore Now the labor leader's screamin' when they close the missile plants, United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore, Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason," Call it "Love" or call it "Reason," But I ain't marchin' any more, No I ain't marchin' any more Of course, this has to be the best Soldier's songs (at leats my dad sez so): Creedence Clearwater Revival "Fortunate Son" Some folks are born, made to wave the flag, Ooh, they're red, white and blue. And when the band plays "Hail to the chief", Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord, It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son. It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no, Yeah! Some folks are born silver spoon in hand, Lord, don't they help themselves, oh. But when the taxman comes to the door, Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes, It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no. It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no. Yeah! Some folks inherit star spangled eyes, Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord, And when you ask them, "How much should we give?" Ooh, they only answer More! more! more! yoh, It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son. It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, one. It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no no no, It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son, no no no, ************************************************************ COLLEGE NOT COMBAT PETITION CAMPAIGN 16TH & MISSION STREET SATURDAYS, 12:30 P.M. TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS, 5 & 7 P.M. ************************************************************ HANDS OFF VENEZUELA SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FILM SHOWING: 7:00 PM, FRIDAY JULY 15 Center for Political Education 522 Valencia, Third Floor, Near 16th Street, SF (not wheelchair accessible) Close the 16th Street BART $5/$3 Students, Seniors, Unemployed With the Poor of the World Con los pobres de la Tierra (2003) 56 minutes. by Marta Harnecker on Venezuela In Spanish with English Subtitles This video gives the background and context of the current struggles in Venezuela since 1993. Using TV news footage and archival video, this film documents the rise of Chavez and the Oligarchy's three attempts to overthrow him. May Day in Caracas (2005) 22 minutes. by a J. Carlos Flores. In Spanish with English Subtitles A short documentary about international labor day in Venezuela Hands off Venezuela will show these films as a benefit to bring Stalin Peres Borges, a leader of the National Union of Workers of Venezuela (UNT) a dynamic new Venezuelan Trade Union federation. Call Adam at 415 864 3537 or email sfbay@ushov.org for more info or to arrange a speaker to talk about the inspiring events in Venezuela and the need to protect it from US attack. Also Come To The Next Hands Off Venezuela Organizing Meeting (all welcome): 7:00 PM, Thursday, June 30, Socialist Action Bookstore, corner Valencia and 14th, SF www.handsoffvenezuela.org ************************************************************ SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE PRESENTS: "DOING GOOD" A play based loosely on the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", by John Perkins. July 2, 3 & 4, DOLORES PARK JULY 16, PRECITA PARK MUSIC: 1:30 P.M. SHOW: 2:00 P.M. (I saw a preview of this play. It's fresh and new, brilliantly performed, insightful, full of content, and the music is great!...BW) SPONSORED BY BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR COME HELP GATHER SIGNATURES FOR THE COLLEGE NOT COMBAT BALLOT INITIATIVE TO GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS AND PROVIDE SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS TO STUDENTS WHO CAN'T AFFORD TO GO TO COLLEGE SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO JOIN THE MILITARY DUE TO ECONOMIC HARDSHIP. WE WILL BE PETITIONING BEFORE AND AFTER THE PERFORMANCES. LOOK FOR OUR TABLE TO PICK UP PETITIONS. FREE ANTIWAR POSTERS! WE ONLY HAVE A FEW WEEKS TO GO! FREE! ************************************************************ SAVE THE DATES: AUGUST 4, 5 & 6, 2005 FOR PRESENTATION OF HOWARD ZINN'S ONE MAN SHOW, "MARX IN SOHO" PERFORMED BY JERRY LEVY LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED TO BENEFIT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR WWW.BAUAW.ORG (FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-824-8730) ************************************************************ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* BAUAW NEWSLETTER UPDATE-MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2005 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) INTERNATIONALIZING U.S. ROADS Phyllis Spivey June 10, 2005 NewsWithViews.com Imagine this: your state government puts a transportation corridor in your neighborhood. It's nearly a quarter-mile wide. It will serve vehicles and trains and incorporate oil, gas, electric and water lines. Try to fight it and you'll not only face the combined might of your local, state, and federal governments, but foreign interests as well. The internationalization of U.S. roads has begun. We're not just talking about isolated instances of privately-built toll roads with foreign management, as we've seen in Southern California. We're talking about networks of toll roads that may be built by foreign builders, managed by foreign operators, function primarily to accommodate foreign goods, and connect U.S. roads to similar networks in Canada, Mexico and, later, Central and South America. Interstate 69, for example, is a planned 1600 mile national highway connecting Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. Eight states are involved in the project: Once completed, I-69 will extend from Port Huron, Michigan to the Texas/Mexico border. http://www.newswithviews.com/Spivey/phyllis3.htm 2) US lied to Britain over use of napalm in Iraq war By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor 17 June 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=647397&host=3&dir=62 3) Halliburton to build new $30 mln Guantanamo jail Thu Jun 16, 2005 07:21 PM ET http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8817044 4) Telling the Story 5) Radioactive contamination at Hanford is on the move It is 'not just staying in place,' warns report by watchdog group By LISA STIFFLER SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Wednesday, June 15, 2005 http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/228573_hanford15.html 6) City Schools and Teachers Revise Plan on Workday By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN Published: June 17, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/education/17teach.html? 7) THE STATE OF OUR MOVEMENT by Van Gosse [Based on a talk given at Purdue University, April 20, 2005] published by portside June 17, 2005 http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20050613/015410.html 8) Building Unity at a Time of Possibility By Ted Glick Future Hope column, June 20, 2005 9) The Thinking Behind a Close Look at a C.I.A. Operation By BYRON CALAME June 19, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/opinion/19public.html 10) To Fill Ranks, Army Acts To Retain Even Problem Enlistees By GREG JAFFE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL June 3, 2005 To keep more soldiers in the service, the Army has told battalion commanders, who typically command 800-soldier units, that they can no longer bounce soldiers from the service for poor fitness, pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse or generally unsatisfactory performance. Typically such decisions are made at that level. Instead, the battalion commanders must send the problem soldiers' cases up to their brigade commander, who typically commands about 3,000 soldiers. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB111776400852250138-rYue9OsHO9i0IaNz4uApoo5WJ80_20060603,00.html?mod=rss_free 11) Supreme Court Orders New Trial in 17-Year-Old Murder Case By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 20, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scotus-Death-Penalty.html?hp&ex=1119326400&en=82194b1d0546fa1a&ei=5094&partner=homepage 12) Someone Else's Child By BOB HERBERT June 20, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/opinion/20herbert.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1119285163-kNizkcTjuoB851nYp3vQ6g 13) Libraries Say Yes, Officials Do Quiz Them About Users By ERIC LICHTBLAU Published: June 20, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/politics/20patriot.html 14) G-8 Draft on Global Warming Is Weakened at U.S. Behest By ANDREW C. REVKIN Published: June 18, 2005 "WASHINGTON, June 17 - Drafts of a joint statement being prepared for the leaders of the major industrial powers show that the Bush administration has succeeded in removing language calling for prompt action to control global warming." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/18/politics/18climate.html 15) The Asbo Generation More children than adults given antisocial orders By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent 20 June 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=648302&host=3&dir=60 15) The Asbo Generation More children than adults given antisocial orders By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent 20 June 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=648302&host=3&dir=60 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) INTERNATIONALIZING U.S. ROADS Phyllis Spivey June 10, 2005 NewsWithViews.com Imagine this: your state government puts a transportation corridor in your neighborhood. It's nearly a quarter-mile wide. It will serve vehicles and trains and incorporate oil, gas, electric and water lines. Try to fight it and you'll not only face the combined might of your local, state, and federal governments, but foreign interests as well. The internationalization of U.S. roads has begun. We're not just talking about isolated instances of privately-built toll roads with foreign management, as we've seen in Southern California. We're talking about networks of toll roads that may be built by foreign builders, managed by foreign operators, function primarily to accommodate foreign goods, and connect U.S. roads to similar networks in Canada, Mexico and, later, Central and South America. Interstate 69, for example, is a planned 1600 mile national highway connecting Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. Eight states are involved in the project: Once completed, I-69 will extend from Port Huron, Michigan to the Texas/Mexico border. http://www.newswithviews.com/Spivey/phyllis3.htm ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 2) US lied to Britain over use of napalm in Iraq war By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor 17 June 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=647397&host=3&dir=62 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 3) Halliburton to build new $30 mln Guantanamo jail Thu Jun 16, 2005 07:21 PM ET http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8817044 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 4) Telling the Story Those of us who are still alive carry the burden of telling the story. Because this life that we follow, this reality, gets sliced, quartered and salted by unexpected tears, from songs long forgotten, like haunting lullabies conjuring up vengeful hopes betrayed by the collective amnesia. Yet the story must be told. Because time is relentless and memory is fragile...so fragile. I weave bits and pieces, each strand, a chord, a muscle, a piece of flesh, tightened to remake the world that once was. I sing those songs, and the words, oh those precious words, uprooted, torn out, taken someplace to die have come back like zombies in Ford commercials. And in my rage, my voice has forgotten how to sing. Like a Rock. It gets stuck in my throat. There's no way to make those sounds. I can only hear them in my heart. Yet the story must be told. Because before this cold, calculated first, second, third strike world, there was warmth. Even amidst the blinding heat of that war, there were hands that held each other, eyes that cried for napalmed children across the sea, and hearts that became horrified by the true white face of hatred. Televised lairs lost their masks and truth in all its painful courage ran in our young blood. Our young eyes cared not what color the flag only that they were draped over coffins of someone's brother, father, son. In telling this story I am not alone. Thousands of silent partners pull me from different directions, each with their own dreams of the lives they led and of the future that should have been, and of the lessons we should have learned by now. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 5) Radioactive contamination at Hanford is on the move It is 'not just staying in place,' warns report by watchdog group By LISA STIFFLER SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Wednesday, June 15, 2005 http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/228573_hanford15.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 6) City Schools and Teachers Revise Plan on Workday By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN Published: June 17, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/education/17teach.html? ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 7) THE STATE OF OUR MOVEMENT by Van Gosse [Based on a talk given at Purdue University, April 20, 2005] published by portside June 17, 2005 http://people-link5.inch.com/pipermail/portside/Week-of-Mon-20050613/015410.html I want to begin this talk by focusing on the notion of a 'conjuncture,' or what dictionaries call rather blandly 'A critical set of circumstances; a crisis.' This is a term widely used in Latin America and Europe to get at the particular 'balance of forces,' what I would call the set of contingencies, that define a historical moment. And not just any and all moments either (as in daily life)-but those important defining periods when things change decisively. For historians, there are no 'models' to understand reality, there is no predictability: contingency is all. So no matter how eerily familiar a time might seem, we have to always begin with the understanding that it is truly new. Which is why the emphases on specificity, originality and exceptionality built into the concept of the conjuncture are really useful. Let me give an example to underline how new is our particular conjuncture. We all know how the war in Iraq is constantly, even necessarily compared with the U.S. war in Vietnam. But let's imagine that right now, we could actually reproduce all the key circumstances of that disastrous military adventure: * Not 150,000 but 535,000 troops 'in country' at peak * Not over 1,700 dead Americans and at least 20,000 total casualties so far, but eventually over 58,000 dead and over 200,000 total casualties * Instead of the probably tens of thousands of dead Iraqis (no one will tell us the numbers, they refuse to count), the three million who eventually died in the Indochinese wars * Not a decentralized, mostly anonymous, ideologically fragmented insurgency with no political program but one of the most tightly-organized, popular and disciplined political-military movements in modern history, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, backed by a sovereign state, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, with a very clear program for national unification and independence Well, let's suppose that Iraq escalates into a similar situation. And it could, possibly, if this war lasts as long as Vietnam. But even if it does, it will make no difference: our movement must and will be completely different. Think about all the other factors: * The Vietnam war has already happened and the U.S. has been defeated, an experience from which in a literal sense we have never recovered * the Soviet Union no longer exists as an insurance agency for both grassroots revolutions like Vietnam's and military dictatorships like Saddam Hussein's that need a friend * the Left and the antiwar movement no longer face a powerfully hegemonic New Deal Democratic Party in power, to say the least * the civil rights movement is now a great but fading memory of mass mobilization and political victory instead of being as immediate as Terry Schiavo's passing, and so on and on. So what is the current conjuncture in U.S. politics? And why should we start there? Why not just pass over to the state of our antiwar movement? Isn't the U.S. political scene always somewhere between 'bad' and 'worse,' and we can't really do much about it? That was apparently the response when an outline of this talk was given at a meeting of the new Steering Committee of United for Peace and Justice on April 8. I had five minutes, and started off talking about 'the conjuncture,' and the leader of an important national organization jumped in as soon as I finished, saying 'I thought we were going to hear about the state of the antiwar movement!' Well, that's my point. If all we do is talk about our movement, and in passing refer to the larger political world, we have begun wrong and are unlikely to right ourselves. We have to start with the larger frame of politics, because it almost totally defines our space for effective action, our possibilities for intervention. That may mean paying close attention to people we don't like, and politics that many among us find unpleasant, meaningless and seedy, but if we don't pay attention, we're flying blind. Thus, the importance of 'the conjuncture.' Right now, U.S. politics is exceptionally and dangerously fluid. We have clearly passed into what the great Marxist theorist Perry Anderson, building on older texts of military and political theory, called the 'war of maneuver.' In electoral democracies with highly institutionalized political systems like ours, politics is almost always defined as the 'war of position,' akin to trench warfare: a small gain here, pushing a salient out there, the occasional large-scale offensive (as in a presidential campaign) that costs a great deal but may or may not pay off. Not that much changes in any short- term. Occasionally, however, things break apart and down, and the 'war of maneuver' begins: the rapid charges, chaotic routs, and amazing changes of fortune that characterize great battles. This is the situation we have faced since George W. Bush got his war vote in late October 2002, and two weeks later won control of both houses of Congress-but by what is historically a very narrow margin in the Senate, and the most precarious margin imaginable in the House (essentially the same bare majority they've held since 1994, but never been able to build on). Since then, he and his cohort of rightist operatives have skated on the thinnest of ice, and yet have always managed to avoid falling through-if only by skating faster. You may not be surprised that this is the most controversial of my many speculations: that the Republican hold on power, while apparently commanding, is extremely fragile, as I argued last January in a web- essay called 'Twelve Theses on the War in Iraq and the Future of U.S. Politics.' Many people on the Left are shocked and humbled, and for good reason, by the scope and determination of the right, how they operate effectively at every level of our politics, how they seem to command everything. Yet I'll still reiterate my thesis: the Right's apparent hegemony is illusory, there is no realignment (yet), their control of the institutional levers of power is real but insecure. This is not a matter of the raw numbers last November 4. Certainly it matters that GW Bush's majority of 51% was the narrowest re-election victory by a Republican in a century, and shockingly narrow for a 'war president.' That's beside the point, however. We should concentrate on Congress, where exists the real power to implement, to delay, to harass, to force change. By any historical standard, the Republican control of the upper and lower houses hangs by a thread-what would normally be considered a mere handful of seats. Remember: in the New Deal years, the Democrats had a 3 to 1 majority in the House over three terms, peaking at 334 to 88 in 1937-39. Well into most of our lifetimes, we took for granted huge Democratic majorities. Between the fabled Watergate class of 1974 (that produced a better than 2-1 majority) and 1994, the Democrats had an average margin of 88 seats-a figure beyond Tom Delay's wildest dreams. But we all know there was no real parliamentary discipline. After all, Bill Clinton entered the White House in 1993 with solid Democratic majorities in both houses-and what good did it do him? They disappeared in 1994. That would be a useful lesson for GWB, if he was prepared to listen. Under political pressure, the center will not hold, and I think the debacle over Social Security, Bush's 'cratering' poll numbers, the Schiavo fiasco, Delay's mess, and more to come all suggest that this wafer-thin political dominance may well prove its fragility over the next two years. To complicate matters even more, we have the first really 'open' presidential campaign approaching since 1952: not only no incumbent, but no heir apparent in the form of a vice-president eager to run (as in 2000, 1988, 1968, and 1960). Under these circumstances, the degree of self-interested maneuvering we can normally anticipate with no incumbent running will be many times greater. 2008 will be a circus and the lions and tigers in the Republican hierarchy are already lining up, red in tooth and claw, ready to climb over each other to power. My main point is that we should be very careful about assuming any stability at all to the current alignment of power in U.S. national politics. If past patterns mean anything, one can easily imagine yet another Democratic president, with a Democratic majority in one if not both houses of Congress, come 2008. But this 'fragility,' if reassuring, is very much a two- edged sword. Simply because of all the advantages of being the default party, as the Republicans were for so long, there are powerful compulsions encouraging the Democrats to find the easiest common denominator (as in Social Security), and the simplest kind of populistic appeal (Republicans as out of touch with ordinary Americans and too long in power, as corrupt 'big government' and so on, all the charges Gingrich used to undermine the Democrats over the years). With all these easy outs, why would the Democratic leadership ever confront an aggressive Republican machine around a complex, dangerous issue like the war in Iraq? If history tells us anything, it is that politicians dependent on votes will only take that kind of stand when the crisis is compelling enough to knock them adrift from their traditional moorings, or when they feel intense anger and pressure from engaged constituencies. Minus the latter, what we can expect from many Democrats is the kind of opportunism manifested by John F. Kennedy in 1960, when he relentlessly attacked Richard Nixon as soft on Red China (Quemoy and Matsu), the Soviet Union (the phony 'missile gap') and Cuba ('I am not the Vice President who lost Cuba'). It was a long, drawn-out exercise in avoidance until now-President Kennedy finally faced the great domestic political crisis of his time on June 10, 1963, and spoke with passion of the 'peaceful revolution' in civil and human rights that all Americans had to accept and undertake. And he got there only because of a movement that never let up and because southern Democratic leaders like George Wallace were openly defying federal authority. All these contingencies contribute to the regime of brutal or vulgar partisanship which has reigned in national politics since the mid-1990s at least. Rather than ideological conflict, the confrontation is reduced to strictly personal terms: Bill Clinton's sexual dalliances, for instance. This is the worst possible scenario for the Left in general, and certainly for the antiwar movement. It reduces politics to simple polarities: no matter how much I wanted Bush repudiated for his war upon the world, an 'ABB' attitude was foolish. Let's turn to the state of the antiwar movement, the historical subject seeking to act within the apparently objective frame of US politics. We have to begin by with a proviso, and a warning: our opponents devoutly want to 'Iraqize' this war, and at every point we have to be ready for a strategy which will seek visible reductions in the US troop presence to placate domestic opinion, just as Richard Nixon 'Vietnamized' his failing war in 1969 and after. Having made that stipulation, there are three criteria for a successful movement to oppose US foreign policy, as I see it. First, a successful movement is one that constantly spreads into new geographic and demographic spaces (and sectors), so as to keep structures of power on the defensive, and hem them in. Second, it will manifest a multi-strategy and multi- tactics approach to swarm conventional structures of power and policy-making elites, never letting up and wearing them down, in the political equivalent of guerrilla warfare. Third, it will focus on opportunities to connect to so- called 'mainstream,' more properly called conventional, legislative and electoral politics, since this is the arena where a movement must register its gains--and if it doesn't, it can win only by dumb luck or the intervention of an exterior force, the proverbial act of god. Where is the antiwar movement today, by these benchmarks? First, let's openly acknowledge the astonishing weakness and failure exhibited by the various national organizations and networks of the peace and solidarity movement in the 1990s, which allowed for the rise of ANSWER. Like nature, sectarians are eager to fill a vacuum, and they did so with great energy. Since 2002, United for Peace and Justice and a host of new organizations (most of which belong to UFPJ) have worked to overcome that entropy, with considerable success. The need to come together as a broad and nonsectarian movement in the streets, to find a unity in action, helps explain why the overwhelming emphasis since late 2002 has been on large mobilizations (like February 15, 2003 and August 29, 2004), but now we need to move beyond that stage of organizing and greatly diversify both our overall strategies and our specific tactics for ending the war. Second, having largely overcome the problem posed by ANSWER and the absence of a genuine, democratically-run coalition, we can see that our movement is clearly consolidating for the long haul. It is spreading steadily into new spaces and sectors. But we have a very long way to go-we as a movement have to take seriously the challenge of simultaneous growth in all these areas: *becoming a truly multiracial movement, a real necessity if we ever hope to change the direction of US foreign policy; *consolidating a national student infrastructure with staff and funding that will build upon the leadership of the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition; *making the various communities of faith a highly visible component of our movement, a process now under way with the founding of Clergy and Laity Concerned About Iraq; *developing targeted organizing and real outreach to all those people and groups in the South, the mountain West and rural areas in general who agree with us but are surrounded by 'red state' rightists, and need support. Third, we are still at a very early stage of developing a sophisticated multi-strategy, multi-tactical approach. In this regard the most positive signs are the strong growth of groups like Military Families Speak Out, the National Guard campaigns, and the burgeoning counter- recruitment campaigns aimed at high school youth. The decision by UFPJ to commit to a multi-pronged fall mobilization in Washington DC, embracing a mass rally, an interfaith service, large-scale civil disobedience, and a coordinated national lobby day, is a major step in the right direction. Finally, in terms of leveraging our weight into the conventional political (electoral and legislative) arena, our movement has a long way to go, but is making rapid steps. The recent vote on Rep. Lynne Woolsey's amendment requesting that the President "develop a plan as soon as practicable ... to provide for the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq" and "transmit to the congressional defense committees a report that contains the plan" showed how much space actually exists to surface dissent within Congress and the structures of power. Despite the near-absence of any coordinated congressional pressure strategy, 122 Democrats (that's a majority of their caucus) and 5 Republicans voted 'yes.' We should take this as a clear signal that Congress is prepared to respond to the mounting public dissatisfaction, if given the kind of hard push that is needed. Indeed, we should take this vote as a signal that victories are ready to be won, if we will act audaciously. To push along an audacious perspective, here's a kind of provocation. I want to pose a set of possible tactical wins that would actually have an impact on the world of conventional politics. Plenty of people assert that thinking in these terms is premature, but to me if we don't start thinking in these terms we will never really move forward. So here goes: A state legislature passes an 'Out Now' resolution calling for immediate withdrawal (even getting a vote on such a resolution is a victory of sorts) A command rank officer resigns as an act of dissent from the war A prominent Republican elected official breaks ranks with the President A member of Congress loses his or her seat because of support for the war A major national institution (a large religious denomination, a big union, a major association) calls for immediate withdrawal A citywide campaign gets recruiters kicked out of schools Celebrities from the (poor, people of color and/or rural) constituencies that provide the troops speak directly to potential volunteers, urging them not to participate in an unjust occupation More state legislatures follow Montana's lead and call for bringing home their National Guard units Churches start creating sanctuaries for soldiers who refuse to fight A top religious leader urges youths not to enlist, and the right of military dissent from an unjust war The count of members of Congress who oppose so-called 'supplemental aid' to fund the war consistently increases A resolution supporting immediate withdrawal is placed on the ballot in California or elsewhere-and wins More and more state Democratic Party organizations follow California's in calling for immediate withdrawal [kudos to Progressive Democrats of America on that win!] Congress passes a non-binding resolution opposing 'stop loss' orders as a form of involuntary servitude The biggest win of all, of course, would be a candidate in 2008 who repudiates not only this war, but the entire doctrine of pre-emptive military domination of the world, as immoral and disastrous-and not only gets the Democratic nomination but wins the general election. A pipe dream? Certainly, at this point, but this is how we need to start thinking about ourselves; this is the level of responsibility we need to accept for what our government is doing to the world. In conclusion, let's think about the challenge that faces us now, not just the antiwar movement but the Left as a whole, the challenge to take ourselves completely seriously. This is the painful lesson we need to learn from the no-longer-New Right's fifty-year process of movement-building, ever since Joe McCarthy drank himself to death and a new type of 'Southern Republicanism' began to stir, seeking to pick up the pieces of the Dixiecrat revolt. The first lesson we can learn from the New Right is that they have never allowed the immediate constraints of the mainstream political world to define or limit them, while at the same time they have remained intensely focused on every possible gain and intervention in (and manipulation of) that world. And bit by bit they have taken it over, first within the Republican Party, and then through the Republican Party. Contrast this with the Left. On the one hand, we have many formations and organizations wholly defined by and limited by the constraints of institutional Democratic Party politics. On the other, we have whole swathes of activists who are deeply anti-electoral and even abstentionist, preferring to stand aside from the impure world of partisan activism. I know activists with decades of experience who have never met a Member of Congress, and know very little about how our government actually works, its gears and levers. And there are lots of people in-between, who participate in conventional politics while holding their noses, wading in only up to their knees (I would have to answer to this description, if I'm being honest). This is why the Right, and even many in the anemic Democratic center, mock us-and they are correct to do so. The second lesson is that even though the Right is just as divided up into many different movements as we are, with their own decades of sectarian baggage, they have learned over time how to bring their movements together into a common front. It would behoove us to study how they did that-what kinds of compromises, and institutional adjustments were necessary. At the same time, we have to recognize that their common glue is largely unavailable to us. In fundamental ways, people on the right are linked by race, and by a racially and ethnically-based (and sexualized) fear and loathing of a whole set of 'others.' We may have common fears and antipathies on the Left, we may all detest oppression and militarism, but these are of a different order. So we have to find our own common vision, one based not in fear and the narrowest definitions of community and patriotism, but in hope and an expansive, internationalist love of the country we want to become, not the country we have been. That's a tall order but again, utterly necessary. To really learn this second lesson, we're going to have do something to which we as Americans are almost congenitally averse. To build the powerful, united, broad Left the world demands of us we are going to have to embrace complexity-our own complexity as the historic Left in America. We aren't at all the same kinds of people, not just racially or sexually but in terms of our ideologies, even our spiritualities. Pluralism is here with a vengeance. Under no foreseeable circumstances are we all going to become socialists, or pacifists, or anarchists. We are Christian and Muslim and Jewish and Buddhist, atheist and nationalist (of one sort or another), black, brown, yellow, red and white, working-class and middle-class. But if we can actually come together as a movement, we have a world to gain-or save. Van Gosse teaches history at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. He serves on the Steering Committees of Historians Against the War and United for Peace and Justice. The views expressed in this essay are entirely personal. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 8) Building Unity at a Time of Possibility By Ted Glick Future Hope column, June 20, 2005 "Narrow approaches are a dead-end for our movement. . . What is needed is an approach that can appeal to millions of people, that connects with and draws strength from the deep-seated traditions of struggle for justice among the peoples who make up this country. This is what we need to fight against the sham 'war on terrorism,' U.S. support of Israeli occupation, attacks on our civil liberties and civil rights, racism in all its forms, and the economic terrorism experienced by people from Watts to the Mississippi Delta to Harlem to Colombia, Africa, Argentina, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world." I wrote these words in a column, "On Leftist Parties," in January of 2003. They're still very relevant. Since that time there have been a number of changes as far as the make-up of the national peace and justice movement. Back then United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) was just getting off the ground, and International ANSWER was the predominant national coalition mobilizing anti-war demonstrations. But today, following a split about a year ago within the Workers World Party-a group with significant influence within ANSWER--there is now a Workers World Party-less ANSWER, and there is a newly-formed Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) within which WWP and its International Action Center play a major role. Both coalitions are significantly weaker, even taken together, than they used to be before the WWP split. UFPJ, on the other hand, has become the major national peace and justice coalition. It has more than 1,000 member groups and a million dollar budget. 10 months ago it organized a demonstration of ∏ million people outside the Republican National Convention, and on May 1st of this year it organized an anti-nuke, anti-war demonstration in New York City of approximately 30,000. On the same day in NYC, the Troops Out Now Coalition organized a demonstration of around 1,000. UFPJ is also undergoing some qualitative changes. One example is the election a couple of months of ago of three national co-chairs of color, George Friday, George Martin and Judith LeBlanc. At its national assembly in St. Louis in February, it adopted as one of its top priorities a Grassroots Education Campaign "to reach potential new allies and expand our base. . . An education working group will be created to develop the long-term educational strategy to reach new constituencies." This decision was made, and there has been follow-up since, in response to internal criticism that UFPJ was not taking seriously enough the importance of outreach to communities of color and a linking of international and domestic issues as they are experienced by people at the grassroots. It is within this context that, once again, there is contention over UFPJ and ANSWER/TONC calls for a massive demonstration on September 24th in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. There's a lot of "déjà vu all over again" to this contention. It reminds me of an extremely difficult and problematic political process in the first part of 2002 as various groups struggled to organize a united mass action on April 20th of that year. We ended up doing so, with great difficulty, but two aspects to the way ANSWER, supported by TONC, are attempting to build support for their approach are very similar to what they did then. It is troubling that ANSWER/TONC is, ostensibly, conducting what it calls a quest for "unity" via the internet. So far this spring I've received at least five emails from one or the other group trumpeting how committed they are to achieving "unity" with UFPJ as they put forward the correctness of their approach to making it happen. Three and a half years ago, following some initial contact between reps of ANSWER and reps of the April 20th Mobilization coalition (the predecessor of UFPJ), ANSWER sent out an email announcing that a "unity statement" had been adopted. This false email was issued rather than ANSWER responding to the April 20th Mobilization's putting forward of several ideas on a possible way to have a unified day of action on April 20th. These ideas were given with an explicit request/understanding that ANSWER would respond to them so that we could further process this question within our coalition. And up until two weeks before April 20th, ANSWER continued to use the internet to attempt to force a "unity" on terms most favorable to them. This is most definitely not the way to build principled and effective unity, if that is truly the objective. It is also troubling that ANSWER has put forward the demand, "Support the Palestinian People's Right of Return" as a major demand. TONC held a conference earlier this month on the topic, "Building a United Front to Stop the War," and the first bulleted point that they made in their website report of that conference was that "Support for the Right of all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to their original homes and property in all of historic Palestine is not negotiable." I personally understand and support the right of Palestinian organizations to put this demand forward as they struggle to end the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. When the state of Israel has been aggressively acting upon the position that any Jew anywhere in the world has the right to emigrate to Israel and take up residence there, creating "facts on the ground" that lead to more land grabs and building of settlements to accommodate these immigrants, no one can legitimately deny this just demand of the Palestinians. It must be dealt with as part of the process of serious negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli government representatives, leading to an end to the Israeli occupation. But to put this particular demand forward rather than, say, a demand to end U.S. support for Israeli occupation, can only have the effect of confusing, alienating or turning away potential participants in and organizers of September 24th, and not just in the white community. It is not a demand broadly understood or supported within the United States, even within the U.S. progressive movement. In the context of the movement to force the United States to pull its military troops and military bases out of Iraq and end its neo-colonial plans to control Iraqi oil, this is a demand that will weaken and narrow that movement. It is just plain strategically wrong for ANSWER/TONC to put this forward in the way that they are. This is a very key political moment for our movement to get the U.S. out of Iraq. The conservative North Carolina Republican Congressman Walter Jones, who got "French fries" in the Congressional cafeteria changed to "freedom fries," has joined with another Republican and two Democrats to put forward a bill calling for a plan to begin withdrawing U.S. troops next year. John Conyers has just convened a very successful public hearing in Congress calling attention to the Downing Street memo which has led to widespread media coverage about that memo and has helped to strengthen the peace movement. Public opinion polls report that almost 60% of the U.S. American people are against the war and want to begin bringing troops home. Amnesty International is standing up to Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and their ilk and calling them out for the systematic torture and abuse in their gulag of prisons at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. The Bush/Cheney gang is on the defensive. The last thing any group on the left which purports to be against the war should be doing right now is conducting itself in such a way that it divides, not unites, the broad range of people of all colors and cultures who are prepared to come out in massive numbers to demand an end to this war. Ted Glick works with the Independent Progressive Politics Network (www.ippn.org) and the Climate Crisis Coalition (www.climatecrisiscoalition.org), although these ideas are solely his own. He can be reached at indpol@igc.org or P.O. Box 1132, Bloomfield, N.J. 07003. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 9) The Thinking Behind a Close Look at a C.I.A. Operation By BYRON CALAME June 19, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/opinion/19public.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 10) To Fill Ranks, Army Acts To Retain Even Problem Enlistees By GREG JAFFE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL June 3, 2005 To keep more soldiers in the service, the Army has told battalion commanders, who typically command 800-soldier units, that they can no longer bounce soldiers from the service for poor fitness, pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse or generally unsatisfactory performance. Typically such decisions are made at that level. Instead, the battalion commanders must send the problem soldiers' cases up to their brigade commander, who typically commands about 3,000 soldiers. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB111776400852250138-rYue9OsHO9i0IaNz4uApoo5WJ80_20060603,00.html?mod=rss_free ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 11) Supreme Court Orders New Trial in 17-Year-Old Murder Case By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 20, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scotus-Death-Penalty.html?hp&ex=1119326400&en=82194b1d0546fa1a&ei=5094&partner=homepage ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 12) Someone Else's Child By BOB HERBERT June 20, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/opinion/20herbert.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1119285163-kNizkcTjuoB851nYp3vQ6g It has become clearer than ever that Americans do not want to fight George W. Bush's tragically misguided war in Iraq. You can still find plenty of folks arguing that we have to stay the course, or even raise the stakes by sending more troops to the war zone. But from the very start of this war the loudest of the flag-waving hawks were those who were safely beyond military age themselves and were unwilling to send their own children off to fight. It's easy to be macho when you have nothing at risk. The hawks want the war to be fought with other people's children, while their own children go safely off to college, or to the mall. The number of influential American officials who have children in uniform in Iraq is minuscule. Most Americans want no part of Mr. Bush's war, which is why Army recruiters are failing so miserably at meeting their monthly enlistment quotas. Desperate, the Army is lowering its standards, shortening tours, increasing bonuses and violating its own recruitment regulations and ethical guidelines. Americans do not want to fight this war. Times Square in Midtown Manhattan is the most heavily traveled intersection in the country. It was mobbed on V-E Day in May 1945 and was the scene of Alfred Eisenstaedt's legendary photo of a sailor passionately kissing a nurse on V-J Day the following August. There is currently an armed forces recruiting station in Times Square, but it's a pretty lonely outpost. An officer on duty one afternoon last week said no one had come in all day. Vince Morrow, a 10th grader from Allentown, Pa., was interviewed across the street from the recruiting station, on Broadway. He said he had once planned to join the military after graduating from high school, but had changed his mind. "It's the war," he said. "Going over and never coming back. Before the war you'd just go to different places and help people. Now you go over there and you fight." His mother, Michelle, said: "I'd like to see him around awhile. It was different before the war. It's the fear of not coming home. Our other son just graduated Saturday and he was planning to go into the Air Force. They told him college was included and made him all kinds of promises. They almost made him sign papers before we had decided. We thought about it and researched it and decided against it." Last week's New York Times/CBS News Poll found that the mounting casualties and continuing turmoil in Iraq have made Americans increasingly pessimistic about the war. A majority said the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq and only 37 percent approved of the president's handling of the war. What hasn't changed is the fact that the vast majority of the parents who support the war do not want their children to fight it. A woman in the affluent New York suburb of Ridgewood, N.J., who has a daughter in high school and a younger son, said: "I would not want my children to go. If there wasn't a war it would be different. I support the war and I think we need to be there. But it's not going well. It's becoming like Vietnam. It's a very bad situation. But we can't leave." I don't know how you win a war that your country doesn't want to fight. We sent too few troops into Iraq in the first place and the number of warm bodies available for Iraq and other military missions going forward is dwindling alarmingly. The Bush crowd may be bellicose, but for most Americans the biggest contribution to the war effort is a bumper sticker that says "support our troops," and maybe a belligerent call to a talk radio station. The home-front "warriors" who find it so easy to give the thumbs up to war endanger the truly valorous men and women who are actually willing to put on a uniform, pick up a weapon and place their lives on the line. The president and these home-front warriors got us into this war and now they don't know how to get us out. Nor do they have a satisfactory answer to the important ethical question: how do you justify sending other people's children off to fight while keeping a cloak of protection around your own kids? If the United States had a draft (for which there is no political sentiment), its warriors would be drawn from a much wider swath of the population, and political leaders would think much longer and harder before committing the country to war. E-mail: bobherb@nytimes.com Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 13) Libraries Say Yes, Officials Do Quiz Them About Users By ERIC LICHTBLAU Published: June 20, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/politics/20patriot.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 14) G-8 Draft on Global Warming Is Weakened at U.S. Behest By ANDREW C. REVKIN Published: June 18, 2005 "WASHINGTON, June 17 - Drafts of a joint statement being prepared for the leaders of the major industrial powers show that the Bush administration has succeeded in removing language calling for prompt action to control global warming." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/18/politics/18climate.html ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 15) The Asbo Generation More children than adults given antisocial orders By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent 20 June 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=648302&host=3&dir=60 Children are the subject of more antisocial behaviour orders than adults, leading commentators to warn that the Government is in danger of making it a "crime to become a child". Latest figures show that children have become the prime target of antisocial behaviour orders with more than half of Asbos issued between June 2000 and March 2004 against children - 1,177 against children and 1,143 against adults. Childcare charities are concerned that some of the orders, which if breached can result in detention in a young offenders' institution, are being imposed for inappropriate reasons. One 15-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome was given an Asbo which stated he was not to stare over his neighbours' fence into their garden. Another 15-year-old with Tourette's syndrome, which can involve an inability to stop shouting profanities, received an Asbo banning him from swearing in public. Children aged between 10 and 15 are now four times more likely to be the subject of an Asbo than when the orders were first used in 1999. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "In Britain today there is no question that people need protecting from crime, but we must not become an Asbo land, where it is a crime to be irritating and a crime to become a child." Juvenile justice groups and childcare organisations say that it is too easy for the courts to impose these civil orders on children which result in criminal punishments if breached. Neighbourhood groups and community leaders are urging police and local authorities to make greater use of Asbos in an effort to stamp out nuisance behaviour. But what worries children's groups and civil rights organisations is that this policy is criminalising misbehaviour by imposing orders against the softest targets - children. In the past few months, boys as young as 10 have been served with Asbos. This month Siobhan Blake became the youngest girl to be served with an Asbo. The 11-year-old was given a two-year order banning her from throwing missiles, spitting, assaulting anyone, using abusive language, damaging property and harassing people. Blake had "terrorised" residents in Hastings, East Sussex, by smashing windows and hurling eggs and stones. The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, Alvaro Gil-Robles, said this month that Britain's policy on antisocial behaviour was criminalising children. He said no juvenile under 16 should be at risk of imprisonment for breaching an antisocial behaviour order. Asbos should be "restricted to serious cases". Civil liberties groups have raised concerns that local authorities are using the powers of the orders as a short cut to imposing criminal punishments. An Asbo is granted as a civil power, but a breach of the order is treated as an offence punishable by up to five years in prison, or a young offenders' institution. The wide terms of the legislation mean that a magistrate can grant an Asbo by being satisfied only on a balance of probabilities that the accused's behaviour is "likely to cause alarm, harassment or distress". Groups such as the British Institute for Brain Injured Children, a charity working with young people with behavioural difficulties, say that the Government's targeting of "families from hell" could lead to the demonising of children with Asperger's syndrome or other problems. In the first year of the Asbo, 1999, only a few dozen applications were made to the courts. Since then, Labour has introduced laws to strengthen their use while giving councils and police more money to fund applications. In many cases, an Asbo against a child is now accompanied by a naming and shaming order. The Children's Society has said that it is "very concerned about the Government policy to "name and shame" children who receive Asbos. Liz Lovell, a policy adviser at the society, said: "The policy is not only counter-productive, it puts children and young people at risk. We are also opposed to the proposed extension of this policy in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill. "Although an Asbo is a civil order, breaching it is a criminal offence, the penalty for which can be imprisonment. Asbos were not designed with children in mind." In the six years since the first Asbos were granted, evidence is emerging that they no longer have a deterrent impact on antisocial behaviour. Children are more likely to breach an order - resulting in a criminal record - than an adult, figures show. Liberty has told the Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs that such an "indiscriminate and excessive" use of the legislation is "undermining any benefit they might bring". Ms Chakrabarti said: "We are aware of anecdotal evidence of Asbos being treated as a badge of honour. If that is so, then what must be the principal purpose of Asbos, deterrence from antisocial behaviour, is undermined. Displacement of aggressive youths from one estate to a neighbouring one does not address the cause of their behaviour." Earlier this year, the Home Affairs Select Committee concluded that the Government's Asbo policy was about right. A spokesman for the Home Office said: "Asbos are about the protection of the community. They are civil orders, not criminal. As long as a young person abides by the order, there are no further consequences and they will not get a criminal record. "Asbos are not the first stop on the line. There have usually been a range of interventions to attempt to modify behaviour. "There's no evidence that Asbos are leading to an increase in youth custody. Individual support orders and parent orders are used to help modify youngsters' antisocial behaviour when they are given an Asbo." The spokeswoman added: "Breaching an Asbo is a serious offence and it's important for the confidence of the community that breaches are acted upon." The Home Office was conducting research on the impact of Asbos on the individual and the community, the spokeswoman said, although it was important to understand that Asbos were a "relatively new tool". Asbo facts * Of those who breached Asbos in 2004, 46 per cent were given custodial sentences * Forty-two per cent of all Asbos were breached up to December 2003, compared to 36 per cent for the period up to December 2002 * A Mori poll this month found that while 89 per cent of people support Asbos, only 39 per cent feel they are effective * The British Institute for Brain-Injured Children says at least five children with autism and other brain disorders have been given Asbos Eoghan Williams Also in Legal The Asbo Generation U-turn on cannabis law by Clarke They're happy, they're humanist... and they're a British legal landmark Lineker libel trial collapses after jury fails to reach verdict Central government 'still obstructive' over FOI (c) 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
|
|