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18th Annual CODEPINK Mother’s Day Bridge Walk for PEACE!
Sunday, May 12, Noon
11:45: Gather at the Welcome Center Plaza, on the East (Hill) side of the San Francisco end of bridge.
(IMPORTANT: Arrive 30-40 min. EARLY, as “The Authorities” purposely close nearby parking lots to discourage participation!)
NOON: March Begins
1:30 P.M.: Short Rally after the March on the bridge.
In light of U.S. complicity in the ongoing genocide and forced starvation of the people of Gaza, we will put Palestine front and center. With over 12 thousand children killed and tens of thousands of children hungry and near famine in Gaza alone, not to mention the urgent crisis for the children of Sudan, Ukraine, and Haiti, this is an urgent call for the global family to rise up for humanity.
· FOOD NOT BOMBS! DEMILITARIZE NOW!
· FOOD to GAZA, not Weapons to Israel.
· NO TAX $$ for GENOCIDE
· Not Another Nickel, Not Another Dime, No more Money for Israel’s Crimes.
· Diplomacy Not War!
Let’s again pay tribute to the original meaning of “Mother’s Day,” a global call to ABOLISH WAR:
We’ll read: Julia Ward Howe’s (1870) Mother’s Day Proclamation
Bring your mamas and grandmamas, sons, daughters, and grandchildren—the entire family, and friends too! War is not healthy for children and other living things!
Bring your Kaffiyeh’s, Palestinian Flags, and signs that speak for you.
(Note: Authorities may restrict you from taking flags on the bridge—wear it as a cape!)
Signs larger than 2x3 ft. may also be restricted.
Bring a simple treat to share to celebrate 18 years of CODEPINK bridge walks, and our Bay Area community’s commitment to peace and justice.
We’ll sing John Lennon’s Imagine, one of Bay Area Troubadour Francis Collin’s favorite songs!
Francis Collins Presente!
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See Gaza Strip Access Restrictions.pdf since 2007 at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gaza_Strip_Access_Restrictions.pdf** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”
*** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on April 5, this is the latest figure.
Source: mondoweiss.net
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Boris Kagarlitsky is in Prison!
On February 13, the court overturned the previous decision on release and sent Boris Kagarlitsky to prison for five years.
Petition in Support of Boris Kagarlitsky
We, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison.
Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles.
The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested.
On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release.
The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison.
The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences.
There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering.
Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course.
We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally.
We also call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to reverse their growing repression of dissent and respect their citizens' freedom of speech and right to protest.
Sign to Demand the Release of Boris Kagarlitsky
https://freeboris.info
The petition is also available on Change.org
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*Major Announcement*
Claudia De la Cruz wins
Peace and Freedom Party primary in California!
We have an exciting announcement. The votes are still being counted in California, but the Claudia-Karina “Vote Socialist” campaign has achieved a clear and irreversible lead in the Peace and Freedom Party primary. Based on the current count, Claudia has 46% of the vote compared to 40% for Cornel West. A significant majority of PFP’s newly elected Central Committee, which will formally choose the nominee at its August convention, have also pledged their support to the Claudia-Karina campaign.
We are excited to campaign in California now and expect Claudia De la Cruz to be the candidate on the ballot of the Peace and Freedom Party in November.
We achieved another big accomplishment this week - we’re officially on the ballot in Hawai’i! This comes after also petitioning to successfully gain ballot access in Utah. We are already petitioning in many other states. Each of these achievements is powered by the tremendous effort of our volunteers and grassroots organizers across the country. When we’re organized, people power can move mountains!
We need your help to keep the momentum going. Building a campaign like this takes time, energy, and money. We know that our class enemies — the billionaires, bankers, and CEO’s — put huge sums toward loyal politicians and other henchmen who defend their interests. They will use all the money and power at their disposal to stop movements like ours. As an independent, socialist party, our campaign is relying on contributions from the working class and people like you.
We call on each and every one of our supporters to set up a monthly or one-time donation to support this campaign to help it keep growing and reaching more people. A new socialist movement, independent of the Democrats and Republicans, is being built but it will only happen when we all pitch in.
The Claudia-Karina campaign calls to end all U.S. aid to Israel. End this government’s endless wars. We want jobs for all, with union representation and wages that let us live with dignity. Housing, healthcare, and education for all - without the lifelong debt. End the ruthless attacks on women, Black people, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. These are just some of the demands that are resonating across the country. Help us take the next step:
Volunteer: https://votesocialist2024.com/volunteer
Donate: https://votesocialist2024.com/donate
See you in the streets,
Claudia & Karina
Don't Forget! Join our telegram channel for regular updates: https://t.me/+KtYBAKgX51JhNjMx
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We are all Palestinian
Listen and view this beautiful, powerful, song by Mistahi Corkill on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQwuhbLczgI
Greetings,
Here is my new song and music video, We are all Palestinian, linked below. If you find it inspiring, please feel free to share with others. All the best!
Mistahi
We are all Palestinian
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Labor for Palestine
Thousands of labor representatives marched Saturday, December 16, in Oakland, California. —Photo by Leon Kunstenaar
Video of December 16th Labor rally for Palestine.
Bay Area Unions and Workers Rally and March For Palestine In Oakland
https://youtu.be/L9k79honqIA
For More Information:
bayarealabor4palestine@gmail.com
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net
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Just Like The Nazis Did
By David Rovics
After so many decades of patronage
By the world’s greatest empire
So many potential agreements
Were rejected by opening fire
After crushing so many uprisings
Now they’re making their ultimate bid
Pursuing their Final Solution
Just like the Nazis did
They forced refugees into ghettos
Then set the ghettos aflame
Murdering writers and poets
And so no one remember their names
Killing their entire families
The grandparents, women and kids
The uncles and cousins and babies
Just like the Nazis did
They’re bombing all means of sustaining
Human life at all
See the few shelters remaining
Watch as the tower blocks fall
They’re bombing museums and libraries
In order to get rid
Of any memory of the people who lived here
Just like the Nazis did
They’re saying these people are animals
And they should all end up dead
They’re sending soldiers into schools
And shooting children in the head
The rhetoric is identical
And with Gaza off the grid
They’ve already said what happens next
Just like the Nazis did
Words of war for domestic consumption
And lies for all the rest
To try to distract our attention
Among their enablers in the West
Because Israel needs their imports
To keep those pallets on the skids
They need fuel and they need missiles
Just like the Nazis did
They’re using food as a weapon
They’re using water that way, too
They’re trying to kill everyone in Gaza
Or make them flee, it’s true
As the pundits talk of “after the war”
Like with the Fall of Madrid
The victors are preparing for more
Just like the Nazis did
But it’s after the conquest’s complete
If history is any guide
When the occupying army
Is positioned to decide
When disease and famine kills
Whoever may have hid
Behind the ghetto walls
Just like the Nazis did
All around the world
People are trying to tell
There's a genocide unfolding
Ringing alarm bells
But with such a powerful axis
And so many lucrative bids
They know who wants their money
Just like the Nazis did
There's so many decades of patronage
For the world's greatest empire
So many potential agreements
Were rejected by opening fire
They're crushing so many uprisings
Now they're making their ultimate bid
Pursuing their final solution
Just like the Nazis did
Just like the Nazis did
Just like the Nazis did
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Free Julian Assange
Immediate Repeated Action Needed to Free Assange
Please call your Congressional Representatives, the White House, and the DOJ. Calls are tallied—they do count. We are to believe we are represented in this country. This is a political case, so our efforts can change things politically as well. Please take this action as often as you can:
Find your representatives:
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Leave each of your representatives a message individually to:
· Drop the charges against Julian Assange
· Speak out publicly against the indictment and
· Sign on to Rashida Tlaib's letter to the DOJ to drop the charges:
202-224-3121—Capitol Main Switchboard
Leave a message on the White House comment line to
Demand Julian Assange be pardoned:
202-456-1111
Tuesday–Thursday, 11:00 A.M.–3:00 P.M. EST
Call the DOJ and demand they drop the charges against Julian Assange:
202-353-1555—DOJ Comment Line
202-514-2000 Main Switchboard
Sign the petition:
https://dontextraditeassange.com/petition/
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Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical Defense Fund, Official 2024
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
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Leonard Peltier Update—Experiencing the Onset of Blindness
Greetings Relatives,
Leonard is in trouble, physically. He is experiencing the onset of blindness. He is losing strength in his limbs. His blood sugar is testing erratically. This, on top of already severe conditions that have become dire. Leonard has not seen a dentist in ten years. His few remaining teeth are infected. He is locked down, in pain.
As always, Leonard’s fortitude remains astonishing. He is not scared of dying. He does not want to die in lockdown.
Our legal team has an emergency transfer underway. They are going to extraordinary lengths. We must get a top ophthalmologist to him. Thanks to your calls, the BOP did see him. They told him a specialist would be 8 - 10 weeks out.
Leonard does not have eight to ten weeks. He needs emergency care immediately.
If you can, please donate to this GoFundMe. Every penny matters. If you cannot, please share. If you are so inclined, go to www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org and contact the officials listed.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-leonard-peltier-get-medical-care-freedom?utm_campaign=p_cp+fundraiser-sidebar&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
As always, thank you for your support.
Dawn Lawson
Personal Assistant Leonard Peltier
Executive Assistant Jenipher Jones, Esq.
Secretary Leonard Peltier Ad Hoc Committee
1-800-901-4413
dawn@allfiredup.blue
www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org
Leonard Peltier Update - Not One More Year
Coleman 1 has gone on permanent lockdown.
The inmates are supposed to be allowed out two hours a day. I have not heard from Leonard since the 18th.
The last time I talked to Leonard, he asked where his supporters were. He asked me if anyone cared about these lockdowns.
Leonard lives in a filthy, cold cell 22 to 24 hours a day. He has not seen a dentist in ten years. I asked him, “On a scale of 1 to 10, is your pain level at 13?” He said, “Something like that.” Leonard is a relentless truth-teller. He does not like it when I say things that do not make sense mathematically.
That is why Leonard remains imprisoned. He will not lie. He will not beg, grovel, or denounce his beliefs.
Please raise your voice. Ask your representatives why they have abdicated their responsibility to oversee the Bureau of Prisons and ensure they adhere to Constitutional law.
Uhuru, The African People’s Socialist Party, has stepped up for Leonard. NOT ONE MORE YEAR.
Fight for Free Speech – YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM8GDeGv90E
Leonard should not have spent a day in prison. Click “LEARN” on our website to find out what really happened on that reservation:
www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org
Write to:
Leonard Peltier 89637-132
USP Coleman 1
P.O. Box 1033
Coleman, FL 33521
Note: Letters, address and return address must be in writing—no stickers—and on plain white paper.
Sign our petition urging President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier:
https://www.freeleonardpeltier.com/petition
Email: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Address: 116 W. Osborne Ave. Tampa, Florida 33603
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Updates From Kevin Cooper
A Never-ending Constitutional Violation
A summary of the current status of Kevin Cooper’s case by the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
On October 26, 2023, the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP wrote a rebuttal in response to the Special Counsel's January 13, 2023 report upholding the conviction of their client Kevin Cooper. A focus of the rebuttal was that all law enforcement files were not turned over to the Special Counsel during their investigation, despite a request for them to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office.
On October 29, 2023, Law Professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever, who run the six member panel that reviews wrongful convictions for the San Francisco County District Attorney's office, published an OpEd in the San Francisco Chronicle calling the "Innocence Investigation” done by the Special Counsel in the Cooper case a “Sham Investigation” largely because Cooper has unsuccessfully fought for years to obtain the police and prosecutor files in his case. This is a Brady claim, named for the U.S. Supreme court’s 1963 case establishing the Constitutional rule that defendants are entitled to any information in police and prosecutor's possession that could weaken the state's case or point to innocence. Brady violations are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Special Counsel's report faults Cooper for not offering up evidence of his own despite the fact that the best evidence to prove or disprove Brady violations or other misconduct claims are in those files that the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office will not turn over to the Special Counsel or to Cooper's attorneys.
On December 14, 2023, the president of the American Bar Association (ABA), Mary Smith, sent Governor Gavin Newsom a three page letter on behalf of the ABA stating in part that Mr.Cooper's counsel objected to the state's failure to provide Special Counsel all documents in their possession relating to Mr.Cooper's conviction, and that concerns about missing information are not new. For nearly 40 years Mr.Cooper's attorneys have sought this same information from the state.
On December 19, 2023, Bob Egelko, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about the ABA letter to the Governor that the prosecutors apparently withheld evidence from the Governor's legal team in the Cooper case.
These are just a few recent examples concerning the ongoing failure of the San Bernardino County District Attorney to turn over to Cooper's attorney's the files that have been requested, even though under the law and especially the U.S. Constitution, the District Attorney of San Bernardino county is required to turn over to the defendant any and all material and or exculpatory evidence that they have in their files. Apparently, they must have something in their files because they refuse to turn them over to anyone.
The last time Cooper's attorney's received files from the state, in 2004, it wasn't from the D.A. but a Deputy Attorney General named Holly Wilkens in Judge Huff's courtroom. Cooper's attorneys discovered a never before revealed police report showing that a shirt was discovered that had blood on it and was connected to the murders for which Cooper was convicted, and that the shirt had disappeared. It had never been tested for blood. It was never turned over to Cooper's trial attorney, and no one knows where it is or what happened to it. Cooper's attorneys located the woman who found that shirt on the side of the road and reported it to the Sheriff's Department. She was called to Judge Huff's court to testify about finding and reporting that shirt to law enforcement. That shirt was the second shirt found that had blood on it that was not the victims’ blood. This was in 2004, 19 years after Cooper's conviction.
It appears that this ongoing constitutional violation that everyone—from the Special Counsel to the Governor's legal team to the Governor himself—seems to know about, but won't do anything about, is acceptable in order to uphold Cooper's conviction.
But this type of thing is supposed to be unacceptable in the United States of America where the Constitution is supposed to stand for something other than a piece of paper with writing on it. How can a Governor, his legal team, people who support and believe in him ignore a United States citizen’s Constitutional Rights being violated for 40 years in order to uphold a conviction?
This silence is betrayal of the Constitution. This permission and complicity by the Governor and his team is against everything that he and they claim to stand for as progressive politicians. They have accepted the Special Counsel's report even though the Special Counsel did not receive the files from the district attorney that may not only prove that Cooper is innocent, but that he was indeed framed by the Sheriff’s Department; and that evidence was purposely destroyed and tampered with, that certain witnesses were tampered with, or ignored if they had information that would have helped Cooper at trial, that evidence that the missing shirt was withheld from Cooper's trial attorney, and so much more.
Is the Governor going to get away with turning a blind eye to this injustice under his watch?
Are progressive people going to stay silent and turn their eyes blind in order to hopefully get him to end the death penalty for some while using Cooper as a sacrificial lamb?
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Mr. Kevin Cooper
C-65304. 4-EB-82
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, CA 94974
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
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The writers' organization PEN America is circulating this petition on behalf of Jason Renard Walker, a Texas prisoner whose life is being threatened because of his exposés of the Texas prison system.
See his book, Reports from within the Belly of the Beast; available on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Reports-Within-Belly-Beast-Department-ebook/dp/B084656JDZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/protect-whistleblowers-in-carceral-settings
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Daniel Hale UPDATE:
In February Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale was transferred from the oppressive maximum-security prison in Marion, Illinois to house confinement. We celebrate his release from Marion. He is laying low right now, recovering from nearly 3 years in prison. Thank goodness he is now being held under much more humane conditions and expected to complete his sentence in July of this year. www.StandWithDaniel Hale.org
More Info about Daniel:
“Drone Whistleblower Subjected To Harsh Confinement Finally Released From Prison”
https://thedissenter.org/drone-whistleblower-cmu-finally-released-from-prison/
“I was punished under the Espionage Act. Why wasn’t Joe Biden?” by Daniel Hale
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Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
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1) Israel Strikes Iran, but Scope of Attack Appears Limited
By Farnaz Fassihi, Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley, April 19, 2024
Iranians at an anti-Israel rally after Friday prayers in Tehran on Friday. Credit...Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times
The Israeli military struck Iran early on Friday, according to two Israeli and three Iranian officials, in what appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s attack last weekend but one whose scope, at least initially, appeared to be limited.
The Iranian officials said that a strike had hit a military air base near the city of Isfahan, in central Iran. Initial reaction in both Israel and Iran was muted, which analysts said was a sign that the rivals were seeking to de-escalate tensions. World leaders, who for nearly a week have urged Israel and Iran to avoid sparking a broader war in the region, called for both sides to de-escalate tensions on Friday.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the attack. A senior U.S. official said that Israel had notified the United States through multiple channels shortly before the attack. All the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The explosions came less than a week after Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel — nearly all of which were shot down — in response to an April 1 strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed seven Iranian officials. That attack brought the decades-long shadow war between Israel and Iran — waged on land, at sea, in air and in cyberspace — more clearly into the open.
Here’s what else to know:
· Israeli leaders came close to ordering widespread strikes in Iran on the night Iran attacked, officials said, but after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with President Biden, and because the damage was limited, the war cabinet postponed a decision. Mr. Biden and other world leaders urged Israel for days not to retaliate in a way that would inflame a wider Middle East war while it fights on two other fronts — against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both allies of Iran.
· Details of the Friday attack remained unclear. Iranian officials told The New York Times that it had been carried out by small drones, possibly launched from inside Iran, and that radar systems had not detected unidentified aircraft entering Iranian airspace. They said that a separate group of small drones was shot down in the region of Tabriz, roughly 500 miles north of Isfahan.
· In public, Iranian officials sought to downplay the strike. Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, said explosions heard early Friday in Isfahan “were from our air defense firing at a suspicious object,” and that there had been “no damage.” Iranian news agencies reported that nuclear facilities in Isfahan had not been hit.
· President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran had warned that “the tiniest act of aggression” on his country’s soil would draw a response. But in the hours after Israel’s strike, there have been no public calls for retribution by Iranian officials.
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2) War in Gaza Causes Surprising Rift Within Japanese American Group
Activists in the Asian American community are pressuring organizations to re-evaluate their partnerships and to call for a cease-fire.
By Amy Qin, Reporting from Washington, April 18, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/us/israel-hamas-asian-american-japanese.html
KC Mukai, who helped draft the letter calling for the J.A.C.L. to support Palestinians, said Japanese American organizations have power but have not said anything about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Credit...Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times
In the 1970s, leaders at the Japanese American Citizens League, one of the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organizations, felt the prospect of reparations for their wartime incarceration was out of reach.
Many Americans knew little about how the government had imprisoned more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, most of whom were American citizens, during World War II. Large civil rights organizations were preoccupied with the broader fight for gender and racial equality, and even other Asian American groups were reluctant to support reparations.
Then came a surprising endorsement from the American Jewish Committee. It was the start of a decades-long bond between two of the country’s most established Jewish and Japanese American civil rights groups — a relationship cherished by both of their communities.
But a new generation of Japanese Americans is now pushing to sever ties with two prominent Jewish American organizations. In a recent letter, a group of mostly young activists calling themselves Nikkei4Palestine urged the Japanese American Citizens League to take a stronger stance in support of Palestinians by calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and renouncing affiliations with Jewish groups they labeled “Zionist.”
It was the latest example of how the Israel-Hamas war has roiled cultural and political institutions far beyond the Middle East, and not just among groups with direct ties to the region. While most Japanese Americans vote Democratic, an increasingly vocal generation of young activists is trying to push their parents’ and grandparents’ civil rights group further to the left.
The Nikkei4Palestine leaders wrote in late December that the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League had promoted human rights “while consciously omitting calls for equal and fair treatment of Palestinians” and conflating any criticism of Israeli government policies with antisemitism. They argued that Japanese Americans were being complicit with the Israeli military attacks in Gaza by standing with those organizations and not denouncing U.S. financial support for Israel.
“I think it is important to help build bridges,” Riki Eijima, 26, one of the letter’s organizers, said in an interview last month. “I think you can also hold your colleagues accountable.”
In the letter, the activists called Israel’s actions in Gaza — which have killed more than 33,000 people, according to Gazan health authorities — a “genocidal campaign.” They drew a comparison between the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans and the dire living conditions that Palestinians in Gaza experienced before the war.
“In our community, we often say ‘never again,’” they wrote in the letter, which has been signed by more than 360 people, including many young J.A.C.L. members. “But we must ask, ‘never again’ for whom?”
Many older members believe the situation is more complex. They reasoned in meetings that Japanese Americans had a unique understanding of what it was like to be blamed for the actions of a country that was not their own. Denouncing Israel, they worried, would only inflame the hatred amid reports of rising antisemitism and Islamophobia across the United States.
And, they argued, the American Jewish Committee’s unexpected support helped to change the tide of their movement and paved the way for the Japanese American community to secure redress in 1988, which gave $20,000 in reparations and a formal apology to those who were incarcerated during World War II. The Anti-Defamation League, another prominent Jewish organization, had also provided crucial backing.
How could the Japanese American community turn its back on those same groups now?
“There’s no reason the A.J.C. or the Jewish community had to be concerned about the redress campaign,” recalled John Tateishi, 84, an incarceration camp survivor and community leader who helped spearhead the effort and the author of “Redress: The Inside Story of the Successful Campaign for Japanese American Reparations.” “I think they felt a kind of obligation because they understood our experience.”
Community leaders are as mindful of the political arithmetic as they are about values. Japanese Americans constitute only 0.4 percent of the country’s population and has to build coalitions to have influence, leaders said.
“The reality is that Asian Americans remain a very small part of this country, and it’s only by working with members from these other communities that we can truly make progress on things,” David Inoue, the league’s executive director, said.
The Nikkei4Palestine activists urged their community to seek partnerships with Palestinian American and Muslim American groups, along with Jewish organizations calling for a cease-fire, such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. The activists accused the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee of hurting marginalized communities and falsely labeling any critic of Israel as an antisemite.
In separate statements, the two prominent Jewish groups rejected the accusations, citing their decades-long efforts fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate and bigotry. The American Jewish Committee called the activists “a fringe minority” that was “seeking to sever relationships while oversimplifying extremely complex issues rather than engaging in thoughtful discussion.”
Jewish American organizations have long said they believed their fate as a minority group was tied to that of other communities of color. Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, said that organizations should be able to work together without being aligned on every issue.
“I don’t say, ‘Let me sit back and review all the particular policy decisions of all the organizations we work with,’” Mr. Greenblatt said in an interview.
The Israel-Hamas war has widened divisions in other Asian American communities, with members likewise viewing the Middle East crisis through their own experiences. In the South Asian community, for example, pro-Palestinian progressive organizations have drawn parallels between the ideology of a Jewish state and Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist agenda espoused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Other groups have taken a more pro-Israel stance, seeing a connection between antisemitism and anti-Hindu sentiment.
Founded in 1929 as an advocacy organization for Japanese Americans, the Japanese American Citizens League has been a hub to connect and learn about the community’s culture and history. Today, the San Francisco-based group has more than 8,000 members, with 99 local chapters across the country as well as offices in Washington.
Over the years, the league has supported other vulnerable communities. It was one of the first organizations to condemn bigotry against Muslim Americans and Sikhs after the Sept. 11 attacks, speaking with the authority of Americans who had unfairly been demonized during World War II.
It spoke out again when former President Donald J. Trump banned immigration from a group of Muslim-majority countries, recalling the nation’s history of exclusionary acts against immigrants from Japan and China. And it has been active in helping the Black community seek reparations for slavery and Jim Crow.
Activists said the league’s outsize influence was precisely why they were pressing the group to do more.
“We were talking about all the ways that large Japanese American organizations that very much do have a lot of power have not been saying anything, most prominently, the J.A.C.L.,” said KC Mukai, 24, a young Japanese American and third-generation group member who helped draft the open letter. The letter has prompted discussions in several of the group’s meetings, with the divide mostly falling along generational lines.
In presenting their case, the younger members reminded leaders that the Japanese American Citizens League had been on the “wrong side of history” at least once before. During World War II, the organization’s leaders — after failing to prevent the government’s incarceration order — felt they had no choice but to advise the community to cooperate. They also ostracized draft resisters of conscience and feared that resistance could result in even harsher conditions for the larger Japanese American community. (The league later issued a formal apology to the resisters.)
“I think our community sometimes forgets that we have that history of resistance to incarceration as well,” Ms. Mukai said.
The issue will most likely be hashed out at the group’s annual convention in Philadelphia in July. In the meantime, the activists have vowed to keep up the pressure campaign.
Mr. Inoue, the executive director, said that the membership was more divided than it had been in decades.
“It’s been upsetting,” Mr. Inoue said.
Then he paused. “Actually, I take that back,” he said.
While the conversations had been difficult and, at times, confrontational, there seemed to be a genuine desire among members to listen actively and understand where others were coming from, Mr. Inoue said.
“It’s important,” he said. “It’s why we value democracy in this country.”
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3) Israeli Weapon Damaged Iranian Air Defenses Without Being Detected, Officials Say
By Farnaz Fassihi and Ronen Bergman, April 20, 2024
An Israeli weapon deployed in a retaliatory strike against Iran on Friday damaged a defense system responsible for detecting and destroying aerial threats near Natanz, a central Iranian city critical to the country’s secret nuclear weapons program, according to two Western officials and two Iranian officials.
The strike, the Western officials said, was calculated to deliver a message to Iran that Israel could bypass Iran’s defense systems undetected and paralyze them, using a fraction of the fire power Iran deployed last week when it launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel. That attack, intercepted by Israel and its allies, caused minimal damage.
The two Iranian officials said the weapon had struck an S-300 antiaircraft system at a military base in the nearby province of Isfahan. The officials’ account is supported by satellite imagery analyzed by The New York Times, which showed damage to the radar of an S-300 system at the Eighth Shekari Air Base in Isfahan.
It was unclear what sort of weapon struck the Iranian air defense system. Three Western and two Iranian officials confirmed on Friday that Israel had deployed aerial drones and at least one missile fired from a warplane. Previously, Iranian officials said the attack on the military base had been conducted by small drones, most likely launched from inside Iranian territory.
A missile, two Western officials said, was fired from a warplane far from Israeli or Iranian airspace and included technology that enabled it to evade Iran’s radar defenses. Neither the missile nor the aircraft that fired it entered Jordanian airspace, the Western officials said, a gesture meant to keep the kingdom out of the conflict after it helped shoot down Iranian weapons last week.
The two Iranian officials said that Iran’s military had not detected anything entering Iran’s airspace on Friday, including drones, missiles and aircraft. Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, reported that no missile attacks had occurred and that Iran’s air defense system had not been activated.
Tensions between Iran and Israel, longtime foes, increased this month in a series of strikes. On April 1, Israeli warplanes struck an Iranian Embassy building in Damascus, killing several Iranian armed forces commanders. Iran retaliated last weekend, firing a large salvo of weapons at Israel, almost all of which were intercepted.
Israel, the two Western officials said, had scrapped an earlier plan to fire back on Iran with a large-scale attack. That plan, they said, was replaced with a strike intended to send a quiet but decisive message with the aim of ending the cycle of reprisal.
Israel’s use of drones launched from inside Iran and a missile that it could not detect, the Western officials said, was intended to give Iran a taste of what a larger-scale attack might look like. The attack, they said, was calibrated to make Iran think twice before launching a direct attack on Israel in the future.
Officials from both Iran and Israel refrained from speaking publicly about Friday’s attack, a move that appeared aimed at de-escalating a conflict some fear could spiral into a broader regional war. Israel’s silence on the attack, an Iranian official said, would allow Tehran to treat the strike as it had previous clandestine attacks in the countries’ long-running shadow war and not prompt an immediate response.
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4) Deadly Israeli airstrikes again hit Rafah.
By Raja Abdulrahim, April 20, 2024
People mourning relatives in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday killed several civilians, including women and children, according to Palestinian state media, sending more fear through an area where over one million displaced Palestinians are crowded into tents and temporary quarters.
For many weeks, Palestinians have been bracing for an announced Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, the southernmost part of Gaza, where more than half of the strip’s 2.2 million residents fled after being forced from their homes by more than six months of Israeli bombardment and a ground invasion.
The airstrikes hit two family homes, killing 10 residents, and missiles and artillery also struck other areas of Rafah and the surrounding area, according to the Wafa news agency.
The Israeli military would not immediately comment on the strikes. It has said the goal of its offensive in Gaza is to eradicate Hamas, the armed group that has controlled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades.
“It was like an earthquake,” Mohammad al-Masri, a 31-year-old accountant who is sheltering with his family in a tent in a large Rafah encampment, said of the shaking from the strikes.
The first strike hit at a little past midnight, shaking the earth and lighting up the night sky, and a second one came soon after, he said.“When we hear these strikes we don’t know what to do,” he said. “Everyone is saying the same thing, ‘Where can we go?’”
President Biden and other world leaders have urged Israel not to invade Rafah because it would make an already dire humanitarian crisis even worse.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not heeded those calls and claims a ground offensive is necessary to “complete the elimination of Hamas’s battalions” and to destroy its tunnel networks.
Saturday’s strikes stoked fears for Palestinians in Rafah that an invasion could be imminent.
In a briefing to the Security Council this week, Secretary-General António Guterres said that Israel’s military offensive in Rafah would “compound this humanitarian catastrophe.”
Rahaf Al-Madhoun, 17, was streaming live on TikTok to talk about the living conditions in Rafah, when the first airstrike hit very close, she said. She stopped to collect herself before continuing. Then she described the terror sown by the strikes and the ever-present buzz of surveillance drones overhead.
“We’re at a loss, I swear,” she said. “The fear itself is killing us.”
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting.
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5) Liberal Democrats urge ‘no’ vote on Israel aid to pressure Biden on Gaza.
By Kayla Guo Reporting from the Capitol, April 20, 2024
Some Democrats are fine sending defensive weapons to Israel, but want to see some limits on offensive weapons, which could be used against civilians in Gaza. Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A group of left-leaning House Democrats is urging its colleagues to oppose the $26 billion aid package for Israel, hoping to maximize the number of “no” votes from the party and send a warning to President Biden about the depth of his political coalition’s discontent over his support for Israel’s tactics in Gaza.
Framing the upcoming vote as a make-or-break moral choice akin to Congress’s votes to authorize and fund the Iraq war, progressive leaders in the House are working to muster a sizable bloc of Democratic opposition to the aid measure, which is expected to pass on Saturday and become law in the coming days.
“In the wake of those votes, people came around much, much later and said, ‘We shouldn’t have allowed that to go forward,’” Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said of the decades-ago debate over Iraq. “And I think that this is that moment.”
Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas, called it a “defining vote,” adding, “We’re either going to participate in the carnage, or we’re not.”
There is little doubt that the bill, which would send roughly $13 billion in military assistance to Israel as it continues its offensive in Gaza, will pass the House, along with money for Ukraine, Taiwan and other American allies.
But progressive Democrats estimated that 40 to 60 members of their party may oppose it on the House floor on Saturday. That would be a striking signal from Congress, where ironclad bipartisan backing for Israel has long been the norm. And it would highlight the fraught divisions the war in Gaza has sown within the Democratic Party, even as more Democrats including Mr. Biden have begun to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the conflict and urge him to better protect civilians.
The legislation would allocate $5 billion to Israel’s defense capabilities and $9 billion for “worldwide humanitarian aid,” including for civilians in Gaza. But it would not place further conditions on how Israel could use American military aid, nor block future arms transfers from the United States as an increasing number of Democrats have sought to do.
Democrats who are leading the push against the Israel aid bill said they strongly supported the Jewish state and its right to defend itself, and would vote in favor of sending military aid that supports Israel’s defense capabilities, such as by replenishing the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Iron Beam defense systems. They also denounced the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that prompted the war, and said the hostages taken by Hamas must be released.
But they argued that approving more offensive weaponry without conditions was an untenable moral and political position that would amount to an endorsement of Mr. Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war, including his intention to invade Rafah over the objections of the Biden administration. More than 33,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the start of the conflict, according to the health ministry there, and the population is facing a hunger crisis.
“I understand the need for defensive weapons for Israel, particularly in light of the attack by Iran,” said Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, who ran his first campaign on an antiwar platform and helped lead efforts to end U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. “But there is no justification to provide bombs and weapons to Netanyahu to continue the war in Gaza that is killing thousands of innocent Palestinian women and children.”
Saturday’s vote will recall a similar situation from 2007, when the speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, split a piece of spending legislation to allow Democrats to register their opposition to funding the Iraq war while backing a domestic funding bill. Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, similarly divided the foreign aid package to be considered on Saturday in order to get each element across the finish line in the face of distinct coalitions of resistance to different pieces of the bill.
In a critical test vote on Friday, the House agreed, 316 to 94, to bring up the package, with 39 Democrats — mostly progressives — joining 55 Republicans in opposition.
“This is a moment for members of Congress who support a safe and secure Israel to send a message that giving Netanyahu more offensive weapons is not a path for peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians,” Representative Becca Balint, Democrat of Vermont and the first Jewish member of Congress to call for a cease-fire, said in an interview. “To give Netanyahu more offensive weapons at this stage, I believe, is to condone the destruction of Gaza that we’ve seen in the last six months. And it’s also a green light for an invasion of Rafah.”
Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who led the opposition to funding for the Iraq war in 2007, said the conversations among Democrats in Congress opposing continued U.S. backing for the war in Gaza were “not unlike” those that took place 17 years ago.
“We may well be casting the vote on whether a much wider war takes place, and whether American weapons go that result in the death of thousands of innocent people,” Mr. Doggett said.
The Democrats who oppose the aid package for Israel represent a minority of their caucus. But they see a “no” vote as part of a strategy to pressure Mr. Biden to condition aid and halt future offensive weapons transfers. Through many meetings, text chains and conversations with the administration, they have worked to shift the president’s approach to Israel, while underscoring the electoral risks Mr. Biden faces among voters who helped power him to the White House in 2020 and are now furious over his handling of the war.
“The only way to get a course correction is for a sizable number within the Democratic caucus to say it must shift,” Ms. Balint said.
Representative Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat who has been pressing Mr. Biden to withhold offensive weapons from Israel, said a big “no” vote would strengthen the president’s hand to do so.
“It helps the administration to have some number of Democrats express ourselves in this way,” he said.
Representative Greg Casar, Democrat of Texas, said he hoped a substantial number of Democrats opposing the bill would give the Biden administration greater leverage to influence the Israeli government’s approach to the war.
“I hope this vote will show the world that there is a really significant segment of the United States that doesn’t want to see expanded and widening wars,” he said.
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6) VW Workers in Tennessee Vote for Union, a Labor Milestone
The Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga is set to become the first unionized auto factory in the South not owned by one of Detroit’s Big Three.
By Neal E. Boudette, Published April 19, 2024, Updated April 20, 2024
Volkswagen automobile plant workers celebrated after a majority voted to join the United Automobile Workers union. Credit...George Walker IV/Associated Press
In a landmark victory for organized labor, workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee have voted overwhelmingly to join the United Automobile Workers union, becoming the first nonunion auto plant in a Southern state to do so.
The company said in a statement late Friday that the union had won 2,628 votes, with 985 opposed, in a three-day election. Two earlier bids by the U.A.W. to organize the Chattanooga factory over the last 10 years were narrowly defeated.
The outcome is a breakthrough for the labor movement in a region where anti-union sentiment has been strong for decades. And it comes six months after the U.A.W. won record wage gains and improved benefits in negotiations with the Detroit automakers.
The U.A.W. has for more than 80 years represented workers employed by General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the producer of Chrysler, Jeep, Ram and Dodge vehicles, and has organized some heavy-truck and bus factories in the South.
But the union had failed in previous attempts to organize any of the two dozen automobile factories owned by other companies across an area stretching from South Carolina to Texas and as far north as Ohio and Indiana.
With the victory in Chattanooga, the U.A.W. will turn its focus to other Southern plants. A vote will take place in mid-May at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala., near Tuscaloosa. The U.A.W. is hoping to organize a half-dozen or more plants over the next two years.
“Tonight you all together have taken a giant, historic step,” Shawn Fain, the president of the U.A.W., said at a celebratory gathering in Chattanooga. “Tonight we celebrate this historic moment in our nation’s and our union’s history. Let’s get to it and go to work and win more for the working class of this nation.”
A string of victories for the U.A.W. could have profound effects for Southern auto workers and the broader auto industry. Nonunion auto workers typically earn significantly lower wages than those in U.A.W.-represented plants, and collective bargaining could bring them substantial increases in pay, benefits and job security.
“Volkswagen workers will have a chance for better pay and working conditions under a collective bargaining agreement,” said Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “They’ll have a lot of job protections under a union contract that they don’t have now.”
At G.M., Ford and Stellantis, any layoffs have to be planned with advance notice to the union, and workers get supplemented unemployment benefits. Nonunion plants don’t have to take such measures.
A large U.A.W. presence in the South would also upset an automotive landscape in which U.A.W. contracts have left G.M., Ford and Stellantis with higher labor costs than nonunion rivals like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Tesla and Hyundai.
“This is a watershed moment for the industry,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who has followed the U.A.W. for more than three decades. “It sets an example that would resonate across the industry, and across other industries where there’s a large presence of nonunion workers.”
The U.A.W.’s success in the negotiations with the Big Three in the fall set off a surge in interest among Southern autoworkers in organizing their own plants, the union said, and prompted the U.A.W. to kick off a $40 million effort to support them.
Volkswagen workers who voted in favor of U.A.W. representation said they hoped the union would help them win higher wages and more paid time off. The Chattanooga factory currently pays a top wage of about $35 an hour, compared with the top wage of more than $40 an hour that G.M., Ford and Stellantis now pay U.A.W. workers.
The U.A.W. contracts also provide health care coverage that is almost entirely paid by the companies, substantial profit-sharing bonuses, cost-of-living adjustments to insulate workers from inflation and generous retirement programs.
Among those voting for the U.A.W. in Chattanooga was Tony Akridge, 48, who is in his second year at the VW plant, working on motors and transmissions on the night shift. His $23 hourly wage exceeded what he earned in previous jobs, he said, but he voted for the U.A.W. in hopes that the union could help improve workers’ living standards.
“It gives us a better opportunity,” Mr. Akridge said. “They pay us OK, but it’s not good enough for the things they need done. Noting the rising cost of living, he added that the union “will get better benefits toward that, making life just a little bit more easy.”
Others are counting on U.A.W. representation to bring more paid time off. Most VW workers must either take unpaid time off when the plant shuts down in the summer and around the holidays, or use paid time off to cover those periods. If they do, many are left with only a few days to cover any sick days or family leave the rest of the year, workers said.
“We’re forced to use our P.T.O. a lot instead of using it on our own terms sometimes,” said Craig Jackson, 56, who voted for the union.
At the Detroit automakers, U.A.W. workers get up to five weeks of vacation and 19 paid holidays, and are allowed two weeks for parental leave.
Workers who opposed the union at VW said they were unsure what gains the U.A.W. could bring them.
“You really don’t have any kind of guarantee with them,” said Darrell Belcher, 54, who has worked on the assembly floor for 13 years and voted against the U.A.W. in the two previous elections at the plant. “I’m not saying we won’t gain anything, but we are probably going to lose something just to gain it.”
As the voting was about to start, the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas — all Republicans — issued a statement on Tuesday saying unionizing would jeopardize auto jobs in their states.
“We want to keep good-paying jobs and continue to grow the American auto manufacturing sector here,” the governors said. “A successful unionization drive will stop this growth in its tracks, to the detriment of American workers.”
But even some VW workers who opposed the U.A.W. said they did not think union representation would endanger the Chattanooga plant. “I do not feel that the plant will leave Chattanooga or the South,” said Cody Rose, 34, a 13-year veteran of the plant who works in body shop production. “Volkswagen has too much invested in this area.”
The Chattanooga plant opened in 2011, and employs 5,500 people, of whom about 4,300 were eligible to vote in the union election. The plant produces the VW Atlas, a large sport utility vehicle, and an electric vehicle, the ID.4. It is Volkswagen’s only plant in the United States, and was the only VW plant in the world that was not unionized.
The U.A.W. had some advantages in winning support at Volkswagen. Its effort had the support of IG Metall, the powerful union that represents autoworkers in Germany. German companies also have a strong tradition of giving workers a voice. Under German law, worker representatives must hold half the seats on a company’s supervisory board, the equivalent of a board of directors.
The U.A.W. can now turn its attention to the Mercedes plant in Alabama, which employs about 6,100 people. The union tried to organize that plant once before, but the effort died out before coming to a vote.
Jamie McGee contributed reporting.
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