[Peace-discuss] Memo to Prairie Greens: local Democrat legislators

[Eric Sizemore]

Carl,

You make valid points, but I feel you are becoming a one-issue voter.
I've seen too many one-issue types on all political sides, and after a
while, I stop taking them seriously. From outside, it appears you've
picked your battle.

I, like all of us here, hate apartheid, and I'm sure, see various
Israeli actions as highly offensive.

But, speaking for myself, I cannot judge a person based on a single
issue. I see you r point, but I'm moving on.

-Eric

On 7/15/15, C. G. Estabrook <carl at newsfromneptune.com> wrote:
> Elizabeth—
>
> Do you realize that Rep. Ammons, a Democrat, refused to vote against a bill
> - promoted by the Israeli government - that uses Illinois funds to support
> Israeli apartheid?
>
> That’s hardly a position that the Green party can support.
>
> —CGE
>
>
>> On Jul 14, 2015, at 11:21 AM, elizabeth kirby <ekirby28 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I know that I am a newer member of the group, but I wanted to say that I
>> thought that Representative Ammons handled herself beautifully last night.
>>  I very much appreciated her coming to the meeting and I also appreciated
>> her explanation of the political process and the rationale that went into
>> to her decision to abstain from voting.
>>
>>  I also was very impressed when she made it clear that, if she had it to
>> do over again, what she would really like to have done is have access to a
>> fair and impartial fact sheet with information about the situation in
>> Israel and concerns that she could have persuasively shared with others in
>> order to form a coalition to defeat the bill.
>>
>> I am very new to politics and political process, but it does seem to me
>> that the behaviors we should be looking at and criticizing are not those
>> of the two people who abstained, but the behavior of the many who voted
>> for the bill.  I also think that we should be looking more closely at the
>> process by which the bill seems to have been railroaded though and what we
>> can do as citizens and a party to develop strategies to insure that these
>> sorts of political maneuvers are not allowed to take place within our
>> governmental bodies.
>>
>> The group seems very focused on running candidates for office in upcoming
>> elections.  It is my understanding that a big part of effective government
>> is coalition building.  If and when we do get candidates elected to
>> office, if our attitudes and treatment of those who disagree with us or
>> belong to a different political party, is similar to how we treated
>> Representative Ammons, it seems to me highly likely that we will be
>> effective.
>>
>> I was impressed with Representative Ammons and what she had to say.  I
>> will vote for her in upcoming elections and also others of other parties
>> who strike me as candidates of integrity.  I think that a big part of
>> reforming government and the two-party system is judging people not by
>> their political affiliation, but by what they say and what they do.  There
>> are two ways to look at the question that was asked, what impressed me is
>> that Representative Ammons refused to vote "Yes".
>>
>> I want to make it clear that I speak here only for myself.
>>
>> Elizabeth
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 14, 2015 at 10:26 AM, C. G. Estabrook <cge at shout.net
>> <mailto:cge at shout.net>> wrote:
>> State rep. Ammons’ presentation on SB1761 (see below) to the July 13
>> meeting of the Prairie Greens was evasive and self-serving, a fabric of
>> fustian and fantasy.
>>
>> She began by asserting that not many opponents of the bill had contacted
>> her before the vote. It later emerged that she had been lobbied by a
>> representative of the Israeli consulate in Chicago and consulted with
>> retired UI professor Belden Fields, who apparently advised her not to vote
>> against the bill.
>>
>> She refused to answer directly the question, “If you had it to do over
>> again, would you vote against SB1761?” She said she would have to consult
>> with staff and see how others were voting.
>>
>> She refused to answer directly the question, “If the bill had defended
>> South African apartheid rather than Israeli apartheid, would you have
>> voted against it?” She asserted with some heat that she was not a racist.
>>
>>
>> —CGE
>>
>>> On Jul 13, 2015, at 1:31 PM, C. G. Estabrook <cge at shout.net
>>> <mailto:cge at shout.net>> wrote:
>>>
>>> MEMO TO PRAIRIEGREENS: LOCAL DEMOCRAT LEGISLATORS, 1 - RACISM
>>>
>>> [1.1] Carol Ammons, state representative for this district, has asked to
>>> speak to a meeting of the Prairie Greens. Carol refused to vote against
>>> SB1761, a shameful measure supporting apartheid by US client Israel. She
>>> would not have voted in favor of South African apartheid.
>>>
>>> [1.2] The Salaita affair at UIUC shows that Israeli apartheid has a more
>>> effective lobby in Illinois than South African apartheid did a generation
>>> ago, although both racist regimes were supported by the US government for
>>> its own foreign policy purposes.
>>>
>>> [1.3] Both our local legislators, Democrat state senator Scott Bennett
>>> and Democratic state representative Carol Ammons, refused to vote against
>>> Senate Bill 1761. Both were recorded as “NV” - not voting on the measure.
>>> It should be clear that they refused to vote against racism.
>>>
>>> [1.4] The bill, actively promoted by the government of Israel, directed
>>> that state monies (like university pension funds) be removed from
>>> companies that observed the boycott of business conducted in the
>>> territories illegally occupied by Israel.
>>>
>>> [1.5] SB1761 is part of the attack by the government of Israel, repeated
>>> across the US, on the BDS (boycott/divestment/sanctions) movement. While
>>> the BDS movement is not above criticism, it should lead to a discussion
>>> of Israeli apartheid - and its support by our government - and that is
>>> what the government of Israel wants to avoid, by the circuitous route of
>>> passing laws like SB1761 through US state legislatures. (Compare the
>>> resolution - HR35 - passed by the California state legislature, which
>>> condemns racism and anti-Semitism at schools in the State of California:
>>> it conflates anti-Semitism and protected speech critical of Israel; the
>>> University of Illinois is hardly unfamiliar with that stratagem
>>> <http://mondoweiss.net/2012/08/california-state-assembly-passes-resolution-equating-criticism-of-israel-with-hate-speech
>>> <http://mondoweiss.net/2012/08/california-state-assembly-passes-resolution-equating-criticism-of-israel-with-hate-speech>>.)
>>>
>>> [1.6] “Within Israel, discrimination against non-Jews is severe; the land
>>> laws are just the most extreme example. But it is not South African–style
>>> apartheid. In the occupied territories, the situation is far worse than
>>> it was in South Africa, where the white nationalists needed the black
>>> population: it was the country’s workforce, and as grotesque as the
>>> bantustans were, the nationalist government devoted resources to
>>> sustaining and seeking international recognition for them. In sharp
>>> contrast, Israel wants to rid itself of the Palestinian burden. The road
>>> ahead is not toward South Africa, as commonly alleged, but toward
>>> something much worse.”
>>> [Noam Chomsky]
>>>
>>> [1.7] “The Israeli state has never been more violent, the blood toll of
>>> Palestinian civilians never so high. In 2014, the Israeli military and
>>> security forces killed more than 2,300 Palestinians and wounded another
>>> 17,000. That’s the worst carnage since 1967, when the occupation of the
>>> West Bank and Gaza intensified in the wake of the Six Day War. During the
>>> height of the last Israeli rampage in Gaza last summer, more than 500,000
>>> Palestinians were displaced from their homes. And, according to a recent
>>> UN Report titled Fractured Lives, more than 100,000 of them remain
>>> homeless. Detentions of Palestinians inside Israeli prisons are also on
>>> the rise. As of the end of February of this year, more than 6,600
>>> Palestinians were being held in Israeli prisons and IDF detention
>>> centers, the most in five years. So the gears of the killing machine
>>> grind on with impunity, each slaughter only serving to embolden more
>>> killing.” [J. St. Clair]
>>>
>>> MEMO TO PRAIRIEGREENS: LOCAL DEMOCRAT LEGISLATORS, 2 - TAXES
>>>
>>> [2.1] After 40 years of  accelerating increase in inequality in the US -
>>> and the craven surrender of the Democratic party (see Walter Benn
>>> Michaels, “The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity
>>> and Ignore Inequality,” 2007) - the solution is nevertheless clear
>>> enough: tax the possessors of  wealth - “high net worth individuals”
>>> (HINWIS). In Illinois, the Democrats tried to do that in the last
>>> session, with their (limited) "millionaires tax," but there's some
>>> question how serious they were. But it is the right approach: we should
>>> simply distinguish for tax purposes the income people need to live and
>>> the income used to play the stock market - “investable assets.”
>>>
>>> [2.2] We should resist any proposal to expand property taxes or the sales
>>> tax - or to start taxing retirement income. That confuses the two types
>>> of income. Illinois is fifth in the list of states with number of people
>>> with a net worth of $30 million or more - UHINWIs, "ultra-high net worth
>>> individuals" (after CA, NY, TX, and FL). These are the Illinoisans who
>>> should be taxed, not those with investable assets less than $1 million.
>>>
>>> [2.3] Democratic state senator Scott Bennett and Democratic state
>>> representative Carol Ammons held a 'Joint Town Hall' rally last Thursday
>>> (7/9). They blamed the wretched Governor Rauner for the state's budget
>>> impasse. In fact, it's entirely in the Democrats' hands. As Paul Mueth
>>> pointed out at the meeting, the Democrats have veto-proof majorities in
>>> both houses. They could pass a budget and the taxes - primarily a
>>> financial-transactions tax (HB 106) - necessary to fund it. Ammons
>>> replied that not all those Democrat votes can be counted on. Thus the
>>> Democrats can have it both ways - they can say that they're in favor of
>>> the spending and the taxes, but then allow enough no votes so that they
>>> won't pass. The same thing happened with Speaker Madigan's 'millionaires'
>>> tax.' In both cases the Democrats can tell the public they're interested
>>> in solving the problem - and then quietly show their 1% donors that they
>>> won't do it.
>>>
>>> [2.4] “It is absolutely bizarre to live in Illinois and watch the hand
>>> wringing and the pitiful cries of the workers and the endless articles on
>>> the budget crisis and to NEVER hear a word about HB 106, the solution to
>>> the problem. A one dollar tax on each trade on the Chicago Board of
>>> Trade, which works out to about one thousandth of one percent tax.
>>> Meanwhile, average Illinoisans are paying 8.75% sales tax! But our
>>> legislators, our pundits, our union leaders, our media just can't imagine
>>> bringing up HB 106, because rich people are immune to taxes. Screw you,
>>> teachers! Screw you, nurses! Screw you, social workers! The rich must be
>>> coddled. The Tax That Must Not Be Named - HB 106: Revenue - Financial
>>> Transactions” [Paula Densnow].
>>>
>>> [2.5]  “The Illinois Green Party has long proposed far better answers to
>>> our state’s fiscal problems ... [They include a financial transactions
>>> tax], a sales tax on speculative trading at the Chicago Mercantile
>>> Exchange, Board Options Exchange and other trading houses – a measure
>>> that could dramatically raise billions of dollars in new revenue, simply
>>> by taxing the sale of options, futures and derivatives at an
>>> infinitesimally small rate. Proposals for creation of a public bank, and
>>> for implementation of a sales tax on speculation have been introduced by
>>> State Representative Mary Flowers, in H.B. 107 and H.B. 106,
>>> respectively. The Illinois Green Party urges support for these bills.”
>>>
>>> MEMO TO PRAIRIEGREENS: LOCAL DEMOCRAT LEGISLATORS, 3 - ELECTIONS
>>>
>>> [3.1] As the Obama administration drags on to its murderous conclusion,
>>> it’s clear that it’s even more neocon (secret war around the world) and
>>> more neolib (secret TPP, TTIP, etc.) than its predecessor was. (To be
>>> clear, neoliberalism means using the government to secure the profits of
>>> the 1%; neoconservatism means using the military to secure the profits of
>>> the 1%. Both major parties are of course neoliberal and neoconservative.)
>>>
>>>
>>> [3.2] The state Democratic party is a continuation of the national party
>>> by local means: it is
>>>  ~ pro-war (not opposing SB 1761 - support for Israeli apartheid = the
>>> way the Obama admin. supports its stationary aircraft carrier), and
>>>  ~ pro-Wall St. (not approving HB 106 - the financial transaction tax =
>>> the way to end the state’s fiscal problems).
>>> It’s time to reject pro-war/pro-Wall St. parties and their candidates.
>>> We’ve killed a lot of people at home and abroad by not doing so.
>>>
>>> [3.3] SB1761 - like a similar measure in Congress - is a law with some
>>> teeth. The legislation requires pension funds to stop investing money in
>>> foreign companies that have boycotted Israel or businesses that operate
>>> in ‘territories under the control of Israel’ [i.e., the territories
>>> illegally occupied by Israel]. Illinois should not be shielding Israel
>>> from boycotts protesting human rights abuses and settlements that are
>>> illegal under international law. (See more at: “Congress and state
>>> legislatures are on the warpath against BDS”
>>> <http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/congress-legislatures-against
>>> <http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/congress-legislatures-against>>.)
>>>
>>> [3.4] A boycott is a tactic (not a principle) and so must be
>>> efficaciously in the interest of the victims, in this case the victims of
>>> Israeli apartheid. But the effectiveness of this particular tactic is
>>> indicated by the lengths to which the Israeli government (and its US
>>> sympathizers) are willing to go to stop it. Even the South African
>>> government a generation ago didn’t go so far as to pressure US state
>>> legislators to stop boycotts of South African apartheid. Scott Bennett,
>>> Carol Ammons, and other Illinois legislators have timidly given in to
>>> bullying, aided Israeli oppression, and should be ashamed.
>>>
>>> [3.5] Some of our colleagues and comrades in the PrairieGreens think the
>>> party should not run candidates in the local legislative elections in
>>> 2016, because Bennett [52nd district] and Ammons [103rd district] are
>>> liberals. SB 1761 - and the behavior of the Democrats in the legislature
>>> in regard to the budget and taxes - argue that not to do so would be a
>>> mistake. The Illinois state democrats are Syriza - the latter as tragedy,
>>> the former as farce...
>>>
>>> [3.6] “The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a green political
>>> party in the United States founded in 1984 as a federation of state green
>>> parties. With its founding, the Green Party of the United States became
>>> the primary national Green organization in that country, eclipsing the
>>> Greens/Green Party USA, which emphasized non-electoral movement building
>>> ... The party promotes environmentalism and social justice with policy
>>> principles in nonviolence, grassroots democracy and participatory
>>> democracy, etc…”
>>>
>>> {C. G. Estabrook ~ 13 July 2015}
>>
>>
>