[Peace-discuss] AWARE flyer from eight years ago

[Carl G. Estabrook]

Yes, indeed, particularly as the outgoing administration is moving heaven and earth to convince the new administration to follow its war plans.

Those policies are so bad that “Obama" can be replaced with “Trump” in the following flyer, and it would unfortunately make sense.

I.e., the Obama administration primarily made things worse. Compare the depredations the USG is responsible for today with eight years ago: <http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2016/01/07/how-many-bombs-did-the-united-states-drop-in-2015/ <http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2016/01/07/how-many-bombs-did-the-united-states-drop-in-2015/>>

That testifies to the continuity of US war policy, even under an agreeable mask. And now the political establishment is trying to make sure that Trump changes nothing.

But the self-proclaimed “most transparent administration in history” was far from that, and did an excellent job of hiding the crimes it was committing.

E.g., most Americans have no idea how many people Obama has killed with his drone assassinations. (It’s a “secret” program.) 

—CGE


> On Jan 7, 2017, at 7:30 AM, Stuart Levy <salevy at illinois.edu> wrote:
> 
> Here's another flyer from eight years ago (December, 2008).   As Obama did then, Trump now needs a protest movement.
> 
> =============================================================
>         AWARE calls on the Obama administration
>           to live up to the promise of change
> 
> Do we need to do this?  Shouldn't we just wait and see what he does?  No!
> There's a great deal of power and trillions of dollars of money at stake in
> keeping things as they are, from the military industry, the new "security"
> industry, the media industry, the oil industry, the banking industry, from many
> sorts of powerful constituencies.  They speak with confidence, calling Obama's
> Bush- and Clinton-era appointments "pragmatic" and "non-ideological".
> 
> Beware of such labels: "pragmatism" implies not questioning assumptions, such as the
> assumption that the US has an inalienable right to use military force anywhere in
> the world, that major changes to the way we use energy or provide health care are
> just not feasible, that "free market" practices serve our people well, that erosion
> of civil liberties and use of torture are regrettable but necessary.  That's why...
> 
>          Obama Needs a Protest Movement [*]
> 
> Obama is being compared with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who brought in the New Deal,
> the fruits of which (Social Security, labor protections, infrastructure creation, ...)
> we still depend on.  But as Frances Fox Piven[*] and others argue, FDR didn't and
> wouldn't have done it alone: "mass protests [...] forced him to make choices he
> would otherwise have avoided [...] the rise of protest movements forced the new
> president and the Democratic Congress to become bold reformers."
> 
> Obama and the Congress need our pressure now to resist pressure from our opponents,
> who are not waiting.  We must call on the Administration to carry out the best of
> Obama's promises, and to do other things which he has not promised.  Join us [**],
> join other groups, act on your own, but act.  Write letters to the editor, to the new
> Administration, to Congress.  Make signs and demonstrate.  Talk with your neighbors.
> 
> Some things AWARE [**] calls on the new Administration and Congress to do:
> 
>   - Withdraw from Iraq *all* US troops, *and* all military contractors.
>     The Iraqi Parliament agreed to a 2011 deadline, but don't wait.
>     Make it plain that the US will keep no military bases there.
> 
>   - End the war in Afghanistan.  As in Iraq, our invasion violates international law;
>     and as in Iraq, our violent presence there only strengthens our opponents.  Even
>     our own military have acknowledged that military means will not suffice in
>     Afghanistan.  Encourage the Afghan government's efforts to negotiate with the
>     Taliban, including all who are willing to talk.
> 
>   - Cease illegal and counterproductive incursions into Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, ...
> 
>   - Renew US efforts to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including dismantling
>     West Bank settlements.  Support the 2002 Arab League offer for peace in exchange
>     for a return to the 1967 borders and agreement on refugee status.  Negotiate with
>     Hamas (as 64% of Israelis support doing) -- they won free and fair elections.
> 
>   - Put our vast military spending, including our own weapons of mass destruction,
>     on the table for cuts.
> 
>   - Close Guantanamo Bay, and end use of torture, as promised, and promptly.
> 
>   - Whether by prosecution of those who created and justified the policies, or by a
>     Truth Commission, ensure that the world and the US people know we understand that
>     wars of aggression, torture and arbitrary imprisonment are never acceptable.
> 
>   - Talk with Iran, as promised, without preconditions.  Reestablish US diplomatic
>     representation.  Make clear that the US will accept a peaceful Iranian nuclear power
>     program under international supervision.  Seek Iran's help in resolving Middle East
>     conflicts, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, and Lebanon.
> 
>   - Rethink our policies toward Central America and Latin America.  End our
>     long-running, counterproductive embargo against Cuba, and open a dialog
>     with the Cuban government.   Repair relations with Venezuela and Bolivia,
>     including restoring Bolivia's preferential access to US markets.
> 
>   - Repudiate the Bush Administration's signing statements, and the whole notion
>     that a President can override laws by fiat.  Stop this terrible precedent now.
> 
> [*]  http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081201/piven <http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081201/piven>
>      Article by Frances Fox Piven's in the Dec. 1, 2008 issue of The Nation
> 
> [**] http://www.anti-war.net/ <http://www.anti-war.net/>   AWARE meets every Sunday at 5PM in the basement
>      of the Independent Media Center, Broadway & Elm, Urbana.
> ==========================================

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