From davidgreen50 at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 00:12:18 2018 From: davidgreen50 at gmail.com (David Green) Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:12:18 -0600 Subject: [Peace] peace demonstration tomorrow, Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm, downtown Champaign, Main and Neil streets In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Unfortunately, according to the forecast, this will be a tough one; not just rain but thunderstorms possible all day. On Fri, Nov 30, 2018 at 5:48 PM Karen Medina via Peace < peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > Peace demonstration / Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm > > Forecast said something about rain so dress to keep dry. And warm > because it does get windy on those corners. (gloves. hat. layers.) > > "Which corners?" you ask. The 4 corners of Neil Street and Main Street > in downtown Champaign Illinois. > > Come prepared to talk about Yemen*, or peace, or your values, or your > politics -- or all of the above. We shall try to make the conversation > worth your time and discomfort. GET OFF YOUR couch and join us. > > If you can't make it, please devote 2 hours to using your MIGHTY PEN > to denounce war -- you have to share it to make it count. > > You have been invited!** > -karen medina > -- -- > Footnotes: > * or any other war in which the United States government is invested. > ** I apologize for the reference to an ancient parable, but even > agnostics and atheists can enjoy the power of a good story sometimes. > The invitation is a reference to Luke 14:16-17, "A certain man > prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. When it was time for > the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, > ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’" All of those invited were too > busy to come. // "Then the owner of the house became angry and said to > his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, > and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ... > "For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my > banquet.’”… // In this case, if you decline the invitation to be part > of anti-war movement, then you are joining the "good people" who do > nothing -- which refers to the line "All that is necessary for the > triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." which is often > attributed to Edmund Burke. > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From james.manrique at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 00:32:29 2018 From: james.manrique at gmail.com (James M) Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:32:29 -0600 Subject: [Peace] peace demonstration tomorrow, Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm, downtown Champaign, Main and Neil streets In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Unfortunately I will be unable to attend this demonstration, I have some out-of-town plans that came up. I wish you all the best, and that hopefully the cold, rain, and wind isn't too bad. 🕊 -James Manrique On Fri, Nov 30, 2018 at 6:13 PM David Green via Peace < peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > Unfortunately, according to the forecast, this will be a tough one; not > just rain but thunderstorms possible all day. > > > On Fri, Nov 30, 2018 at 5:48 PM Karen Medina via Peace < > peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > >> Peace demonstration / Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm >> >> Forecast said something about rain so dress to keep dry. And warm >> because it does get windy on those corners. (gloves. hat. layers.) >> >> "Which corners?" you ask. The 4 corners of Neil Street and Main Street >> in downtown Champaign Illinois. >> >> Come prepared to talk about Yemen*, or peace, or your values, or your >> politics -- or all of the above. We shall try to make the conversation >> worth your time and discomfort. GET OFF YOUR couch and join us. >> >> If you can't make it, please devote 2 hours to using your MIGHTY PEN >> to denounce war -- you have to share it to make it count. >> >> You have been invited!** >> -karen medina >> -- -- >> Footnotes: >> * or any other war in which the United States government is invested. >> ** I apologize for the reference to an ancient parable, but even >> agnostics and atheists can enjoy the power of a good story sometimes. >> The invitation is a reference to Luke 14:16-17, "A certain man >> prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. When it was time for >> the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, >> ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’" All of those invited were too >> busy to come. // "Then the owner of the house became angry and said to >> his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, >> and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ... >> "For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my >> banquet.’”… // In this case, if you decline the invitation to be part >> of anti-war movement, then you are joining the "good people" who do >> nothing -- which refers to the line "All that is necessary for the >> triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." which is often >> attributed to Edmund Burke. >> _______________________________________________ >> Peace mailing list >> Peace at lists.chambana.net >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace >> > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kmedina67 at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 00:37:41 2018 From: kmedina67 at gmail.com (kmedina67) Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:37:41 -0600 Subject: [Peace] peace demonstration tomorrow, Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm, downtown Champaign, Main and Neil streets Message-ID: <5c01d7d7.1c69fb81.3a5b1.1f20@mx.google.com>  As always, personal safety takes priority. Live to demonstrate peace another day.  - Karen Medina null -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susanroseparenti at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 00:44:27 2018 From: susanroseparenti at gmail.com (Susan Parenti) Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:44:27 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fantastic Live Performances at this Sunday's An Evening of Fun for Care! Message-ID: Hi friends---Come to this Sunday's extravaganza --it's free--- *An Evening of Fun for Care, 6-9pm, IMC 202 S.Broadway Urbana. * As part of the evening, at 7:30--9pm we'll have live performance by *The Rational Dress Society *and poetry by *Shaya Robinson and Rachel Lauren Storm. * They're *local *performers---the word 'local' is just a short version of saying that they're excellent/inspiring/sincere/imaginative/comical/ anti-isolationist/ anti-depressive/ anti-trauma. Phew. And they're great to listen to, too! [image: IMG_1620.JPG] -- *Susan Parenti* *Educational Coordinator * *The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net *Like us on Facebook !* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IMG_1620.JPG Type: image/jpeg Size: 72852 bytes Desc: not available URL: From kmedina67 at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 18:52:40 2018 From: kmedina67 at gmail.com (kmedina67) Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 12:52:40 -0600 Subject: [Peace] peace demonstration tomorrow, Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm, downtown Champaign, Main and Neil streets In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <5c02d87a.1c69fb81.b25e4.6d33@mx.google.com> I have the signs loaded. If the weather is bad, we might dive inside and work on coming up with new messages for signs for these times, and possible articles to sharpen our pens with.  Inside wood probably be the coffee house where Doug, Dan, and Annie go after demos. What is the name of that place? - Karen Medina"The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great" - Mark Twain -------- Original message --------From: Karen Medina Date: 11/30/18 17:48 (GMT-06:00) To: Peace List Subject: peace demonstration tomorrow, Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm,   downtown Champaign, Main and Neil streets Peace demonstration / Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm Forecast said something about rain so dress to keep dry. And warm because it does get windy on those corners. (gloves. hat. layers.) "Which corners?" you ask. The 4 corners of Neil Street and Main Street in downtown Champaign Illinois. Come prepared to talk about Yemen*, or peace, or your values, or your politics -- or all of the above. We shall try to make the conversation worth your time and discomfort.  GET OFF YOUR couch and join us. If you can't make it, please devote 2 hours to using your MIGHTY PEN to denounce war -- you have to share it to make it count. You have been invited!** -karen medina -- -- Footnotes: * or any other war in which the United States government is invested. ** I apologize for the reference to an ancient parable, but even agnostics and atheists can enjoy the power of a good story sometimes. The invitation is a reference to Luke 14:16-17, "A certain man prepared a great banquet and invited many guests. When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’" All of those invited were too busy to come. // "Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ... "For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”… // In this case, if you decline the invitation to be part of anti-war movement, then you are joining the "good people" who do nothing -- which refers to the line "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." which is often attributed to Edmund Burke. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kmedina67 at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 18:54:21 2018 From: kmedina67 at gmail.com (kmedina67) Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 12:54:21 -0600 Subject: [Peace] peace demonstration tomorrow, Saturday, December 1, 2018; 2pm-4pm, downtown Champaign, Main and Neil streets Message-ID: <5c02d8de.1c69fb81.b25e4.6d57@mx.google.com>  Typos would be eliminated. "Would", not "wood" in the last email.  - Karen Medina"The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great" - Mark Twain null -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From davidgreen50 at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 18:59:17 2018 From: davidgreen50 at gmail.com (David Green) Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2018 12:59:17 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Demo In-Reply-To: <5c02d53a.1c69fb81.23be5.6e79@mx.google.com> References: <5c02d53a.1c69fb81.23be5.6e79@mx.google.com> Message-ID: OK, see you then, looks like the weather is cooperating for now. On Sat, Dec 1, 2018 at 12:38 PM kmedina67 wrote: > Thanks. I just got some signs packed in the car. > If only a few people show up, i might suggest we go inside some place and > talk about what writing we might do. The pen is mighty. > > > > > - Karen Medina > "The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great" - Mark > Twain > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: David Green > Date: 12/1/18 11:46 (GMT-06:00) > To: Karen Medina , Stuart Levy > > Subject: Demo > > Are you in town, Stuart? Karen, let everyone know if you're going to the > demo; otherwise, not enough participants I don't think. > > DG > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susanroseparenti at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 19:12:51 2018 From: susanroseparenti at gmail.com (Susan Parenti) Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2018 13:12:51 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Mosaics to bid on at Silent Auction---this Sunday's 'Evening of Fun for Care!" Message-ID: Come out to a crazy evening of Drag Queen Story Telling, live music by the Rational Dress Society, poetry by Rachel Storm and Shaya Robinson, silent auction that includes Naughty Items, Patch Adams (as in, 'the real') doing a 'what is your love strategy' workshop, tarot reading, and more------a fun-raiser to finish our teaching center in West Virginia! *Sunday Dec. 2, 6-9pm, IMC (Independent Media Center) 202 S. Broadway urbana* PLUS, *Mosaics to bid on at the silent auction!* [image: IMG_1491.JPG] [image: IMG_1492.JPG] -- *Susan Parenti* *Educational Coordinator * *The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net *Like us on Facebook !* -- *Susan Parenti* *Educational Coordinator * *The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net *Like us on Facebook !* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susanroseparenti at gmail.com Sat Dec 1 19:35:38 2018 From: susanroseparenti at gmail.com (Susan Parenti) Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2018 13:35:38 -0600 Subject: [Peace] and here are photos of the Mosaics! Message-ID: [image: IMG_1491.JPG] [image: IMG_1492.JPG] -- *Susan Parenti* *Educational Coordinator * *The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net *Like us on Facebook !* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IMG_1492.JPG Type: image/jpeg Size: 1982933 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IMG_1491.JPG Type: image/jpeg Size: 2297036 bytes Desc: not available URL: From susanroseparenti at gmail.com Sun Dec 2 21:43:09 2018 From: susanroseparenti at gmail.com (Susan Parenti) Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2018 15:43:09 -0600 Subject: [Peace] An Evening of Fun for Compassionate Care--Today, 6-9pm Message-ID: Come out to a crazy evening of Drag, live music by the Rational Dress Society, , silent auction that includes Naughty Items, Patch Adams (as in, 'the real') doing a 'what is your love strategy' brief workshop, Rachel and Shaya doing spoken word, tarot reading, etc---a fun-raiser to finish our teaching center in West Virginia! *Sunday Dec. 2, 6-9pm, IMC (Independent Media Center) 202 S. Broadway urbana* -- *Susan Parenti* *Educational Coordinator * *The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net *Like us on Facebook !* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Gesundheit.fundraiser.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1223773 bytes Desc: not available URL: From galliher at illinois.edu Fri Dec 7 02:45:47 2018 From: galliher at illinois.edu (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2018 20:45:47 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Noam Chomsky is 90 on Pearl Harbor Day Message-ID: QUESTION: Alexander Cockburn likes to tell the joke that the two greatest disasters that befell U.S. power in the twentieth century were the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [in 1941] and your birthday [in 1928], both on December 7. About the Pearl Harbor attack: you have a kind of non-traditional view of the events leading up to that. CHOMSKY: I wrote about it a long time ago, in the 1960s. What I think is not very far from what is actually in the scholarly literature. First of all, let’s be clear about what happened. It’s not quite the official picture. About an hour before Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked Malaya. That was a real invasion. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the colony, the military base on a colony of the United States. An act of aggression, but on the scale of atrocities, attacking the military base on the colony is not the highest rank. The big Japanese atrocities in fact had already taken place. There were plenty more to come, but the major ones, the invasion of China, the rape of Nanking, the atrocities in Manchuria, and so on, had passed. Throughout that whole period the U.S. wasn’t supportive, but it didn’t oppose them very much. The big issue for the United States was: will they let us in on the exploitation of China or will they do it by themselves? Will they close it off? Will they create a closed co-prosperity sphere or an open region in which we will have free access? If the latter, the United States was not going to oppose the Japanese conquest. There were other things going on in the background. By the 1920s, which was of course the period when Britain was still the dominant world power, Britain had found that they were unable to compete with Japanese manufacturers. Japanese textiles were outproducing Lancashire mills. As soon as that became evident, Britain dropped its fancy rhetoric about the magnificence of free trade. Nobody supports free trade unless they think they’re going to win the competition. Britain hadn’t supported it before it had won the industrial game, and it was now going to withdraw its support. In 1932 there was an important conference in Ottawa, still the British Empire then, remember. There was an empire conference and they basically decided in effect to close off the empire to Japanese exports. They raised the tariff 25 percent, or something absurd. This in effect closed off India, Australia and Burma and other parts of the British Empire. Meanwhile the Dutch had done the same thing. This is the 1930s. The Dutch had done the same with Indonesia, the Dutch East Indies. The United States, which was a smaller imperial power at that time, had also done the same with the Philippines and Cuba. The Japanese imperialists’ story was they were being subjected to what they called A, B, C, D encirclement: America, Britain, China, which was not being penetrated properly, and the Dutch. There was some truth to that. The Japanese idea was: they’re just denying us our place in the sun. They’ve already conquered what they wanted, and now when we’re trying to get into the act as latecomers, they’re closing off their imperial systems so we can’t compete with them freely. That being the case, we’ll go to war. It didn’t happen like that mechanically. The invasion of Manchuria preceded the Ottawa conference, but these things were going on. There was an interaction of that sort which continued up until 1941. The Japanese were being constrained by the imperial powers. They were carrying out more aggression to create for themselves a domain that they would control. That aggression led to more retaliation from the imperial powers. Things got pretty tight. At the end there were negotiations between the United States and Japan with Cordell Hull, [who was the U.S.] Secretary of State, and Admiral Nomura. They went on until very shortly before Pearl Harbor, and the issue was always basically the same: will Japan open up its imperial system to U.S. penetration? At the very end they actually made some kind of an offer to do that, but they insisted on a quid pro quo, namely, that the United States reciprocate. That led to a very sharp response from the Americans. They’re not going to be told anything by these little yellow bastards, is what it came to. Shortly after came Pearl Harbor. There is a complicated interaction throughout the Pacific War. Had the Japanese not been so murderous and near genocidal in their conquest of Asia, they might have had more Asian support. They did gain a lot of support in the countries that they invaded, like Indonesia. A lot of the Asian nationalists supported them. It was only when they showed themselves to be so utterly brutal that they lost most but not all of that support. They were regarded in essence as liberators, getting rid of the white man who’d been on our neck forever. So it’s a complicated story. --Noam Chomsky, from 'Chronicles of Dissent’ (1992) From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 7 13:02:55 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2018 13:02:55 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Noam Chomsky is 90 on Pearl Harbor Day In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Just my opinion: Having spent time, first studying in Japan, then living and working in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, it is difficult imagining such a polite, honest, peaceful people as the Japanese, being as brutal as they were when at war. I’ve studied their culture and though they had a history of “militarism” which is a contributing factor, their brutality towards other Asians, is still difficult to comprehend, unless we look at “war” and recognize it brings out the worse in everyone. Everyone in Asia, when the topic arose, expressed anger and hatred of the Japanese as recent as the nineties. Those of Chinese descent though always cautious expressing opinions, would if the topic of WW2 came up, eventually show their anger over what they had read or heard from grandparents. In spite of this, they do and did a lot of business with the Japanese, as business is the one thing in Asia, that over rides all. We should use today to look at ourselves and our actions related to “war,” and know that we are hated by so many in at least 8 nations in the middle east. Our provocations in Asia and towards Russia, are not endearing us to anyone, and that includes Europeans. Our sanctions related to Iran, our support for Israel destroying the Palestinians, and the Saudi’s in Yemen, and yes war brings out the worse in people and it is getting worse all the time. > On Dec 6, 2018, at 18:45, C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > > QUESTION: Alexander Cockburn likes to tell the joke that the two greatest disasters that befell U.S. power in the twentieth century were the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [in 1941] and your birthday [in 1928], both on December 7. About the Pearl Harbor attack: you have a kind of non-traditional view of the events leading up to that. > > CHOMSKY: I wrote about it a long time ago, in the 1960s. What I think is not very far from what is actually in the scholarly literature. First of all, let’s be clear about what happened. It’s not quite the official picture. About an hour before Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked Malaya. That was a real invasion. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the colony, the military base on a colony of the United States. An act of aggression, but on the scale of atrocities, attacking the military base on the colony is not the highest rank. The big Japanese atrocities in fact had already taken place. There were plenty more to come, but the major ones, the invasion of China, the rape of Nanking, the atrocities in Manchuria, and so on, had passed. Throughout that whole period the U.S. wasn’t supportive, but it didn’t oppose them very much. > > The big issue for the United States was: will they let us in on the exploitation of China or will they do it by themselves? Will they close it off? Will they create a closed co-prosperity sphere or an open region in which we will have free access? If the latter, the United States was not going to oppose the Japanese conquest. > > There were other things going on in the background. By the 1920s, which was of course the period when Britain was still the dominant world power, Britain had found that they were unable to compete with Japanese manufacturers. Japanese textiles were outproducing Lancashire mills. As soon as that became evident, Britain dropped its fancy rhetoric about the magnificence of free trade. Nobody supports free trade unless they think they’re going to win the competition. Britain hadn’t supported it before it had won the industrial game, and it was now going to withdraw its support. In 1932 there was an important conference in Ottawa, still the British Empire then, remember. There was an empire conference and they basically decided in effect to close off the empire to Japanese exports. They raised the tariff 25 percent, or something absurd. This in effect closed off India, Australia and Burma and other parts of the British Empire. Meanwhile the Dutch had done the same thing. This is the 1930s. The Dutch had done the same with Indonesia, the Dutch East Indies. The United States, which was a smaller imperial power at that time, had also done the same with the Philippines and Cuba. The Japanese imperialists’ story was they were being subjected to what they called A, B, C, D encirclement: America, Britain, China, which was not being penetrated properly, and the Dutch. > > There was some truth to that. The Japanese idea was: they’re just denying us our place in the sun. They’ve already conquered what they wanted, and now when we’re trying to get into the act as latecomers, they’re closing off their imperial systems so we can’t compete with them freely. That being the case, we’ll go to war. > > It didn’t happen like that mechanically. The invasion of Manchuria preceded the Ottawa conference, but these things were going on. There was an interaction of that sort which continued up until 1941. The Japanese were being constrained by the imperial powers. They were carrying out more aggression to create for themselves a domain that they would control. That aggression led to more retaliation from the imperial powers. Things got pretty tight. > > At the end there were negotiations between the United States and Japan with Cordell Hull, [who was the U.S.] Secretary of State, and Admiral Nomura. They went on until very shortly before Pearl Harbor, and the issue was always basically the same: will Japan open up its imperial system to U.S. penetration? At the very end they actually made some kind of an offer to do that, but they insisted on a quid pro quo, namely, that the United States reciprocate. That led to a very sharp response from the Americans. They’re not going to be told anything by these little yellow bastards, is what it came to. Shortly after came Pearl Harbor. > > There is a complicated interaction throughout the Pacific War. Had the Japanese not been so murderous and near genocidal in their conquest of Asia, they might have had more Asian support. They did gain a lot of support in the countries that they invaded, like Indonesia. A lot of the Asian nationalists supported them. It was only when they showed themselves to be so utterly brutal that they lost most but not all of that support. They were regarded in essence as liberators, getting rid of the white man who’d been on our neck forever. So it’s a complicated story. > > --Noam Chomsky, from 'Chronicles of Dissent’ (1992) > > > > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Dec 8 12:11:52 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2018 12:11:52 +0000 Subject: [Peace] See it live: the people aren't backing down Message-ID: https://www.rt.com/news/445934-tear-gas-protest-paris/ From brussel at illinois.edu Sun Dec 9 03:34:02 2018 From: brussel at illinois.edu (Brussel, Morton K) Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2018 03:34:02 +0000 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Immaculate Conception In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56112418-C472-4ADB-998C-C9ACF0217792@illinois.edu> I could use stronger terms, but “incredible” seems appropriate. —mkb And why do we get this sermon on this list? > On Dec 8, 2018, at 9:13 PM, C G Estabrook via Peace-discuss wrote: > > [In the Roman Catholic calendar, December 8 is the feast of the Immaculate Conception] > > I suppose for ordinary civilized and liberal people of our time, one of the most repulsive dogmas by which the Catholic Church oppresses her people is the doctrine that innocent babies are somehow born in sin. The doctrine of original sin is thought of as primitive, irrational and deeply pessimistic. Quite a number of Christinas themselves seem to have quietly dropped it, and many of the rest find it embarrassing. Depressing as this must be for traditional Catholics, we can perhaps at least take some comfort from the newly widespread belief in the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic church modestly proposes that just two people, Jesus and his mother, were immaculately conceived: for the modern liberal world, the immaculately conceived runs into millions - indeed, everybody is immaculately conceived. The humbler, more cautious, but perhaps more realistic view of the traditional Catholic is that that thrilling vision is not yet, but is somehow to be realized only after a great transformation in the future. > > The Immaculate Conception means nothing but the irrelevance of original sin, so let’s take a quick look at that. > > First of all, original sin does not mean that babes are born sinners; it means that they are born into a human race , a human world already distorted by sin by rejection of God’s friendship - not by their own sin, of course, but the sin of others before them. Through no fault of their own, human babies begin life in an emotionally maladjusted world and are handicapped in coping with the attacks that life will make on them - and, most importantly, lack the power of the Holy Spirit of divine love which is the only way of coping with the pressure of their situation. > > In all this, Catholics do not differ much from other critics of liberal progressive optimism - Marxists, for example, and Freudians. All three of us think that it is not much use trying to tackle serious human problems piecemeal, as they occur; we need to go back to a root cause in the past. Marxists trace it to our origin in an inhuman and disabling economic order, and Freudians, if I understand them, to our origin in an inhuman and disabling family structure. Catholics have the more cheerful doctrine that it is due to sin, the inhuman and disabling sin of the world. More cheerful because we can and have been liberated from this inhumanity by forgiveness of sin; by the forgiveness that comes to us through the cross of Christ. More cheerful because while Freudians see our disablement as being only ameliorated, and only by long and expensive therapy, and Marxists by long and even more expensive revolution, for traditional Catholics (though they may also be Marxists and/or Freudians, and so may think both their techniques valuable in helping with the remaining left-over effects of original sin) the root cause itself has already been dealt with as a gift and for free. What is required us is that we accept the gift of faith in the Healer and his saving passion and death. Then, although we may (and will) still suffer somewhat from these leftover effects of original sin for a while, in suffering and temptation and struggle in this intermediate life, we are destined to be totally liberated from sin in the future with our victory over death and sin by our sharing in Christ’s resurrection, by our own bodily assumption into heaven. > > And God has given us a pledge of this future in the Mother of Jesus. She is the sign and sacrament of the coming destiny of our virgin mother the church, from whose immaculate womb we were reborn in baptism (as we sing in the Easter Vigil). The mother of Jesus is, in scriptural terms, the sign of what God does in Christ for those he loves, the sign of what it will be to be fully redeemed. In the Mother of Jesus is the promise that when we are assumed bodily into our new life (a life that is to be not only at last a fully human life but also a sharing in the eternal life which is God himself), when this happens, our rebirth, begun in baptism, will come to fulfillment and we shall be indeed as though immaculately conceived - freed from sin as though it has never been. Not that our past life could be cancelled or forgotten, but that our past sinful deeds will come to be seen as God always saw them, through their forgiveness, as ‘felices culpae’ - happy faults as we call the sin of Adam, at the Easter Vigil, as themselves part of the whole mysterious story of grace by which God has brought us forgiven sinners to himself in Christ. It is this future glory of the human race that we celebrate during the season of Advent, when we look to the future coming of the Kingdom, as we thank God, make eucharist to God, for the coming Immaculate Conception and Assumption of our Virgin Mother Church, prefigured and promised in the Virgin Mother Mary. > > --Herbert McCabe > > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss From karenaram at hotmail.com Sun Dec 9 18:23:20 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2018 18:23:20 +0000 Subject: [Peace] My plea, related to the Yellow Vest movement in France Message-ID: This is major, governments of the world are watching in fear, because it could happen to them. A couple months ago, Macron had no idea such a rebellion could take place, he has been doing what most governments including the US tell their people to do, "eat cake," while increasing profits for the rich, while taxing the poor. The people of France understand class and class warfare. Between 70 to 80% of the people support the "yellow vest" movement, because they tried voting, they tried the various Party's, and its gotten them nowhere. They've finally banded together, the working class and poor of both left and right using the power of the people, as they know they have, which we have forgotten. No one knows the outcome, but there is no turning back, a bridge has been crossed and the people of Europe recognize capitalism doesn't work, and governments that oppress the people need to be taken down. It has already spread to Belgium, and fires are igniting in other parts of Europe. Brexit in the UK is just one such example of people wanting change. When GM closed down recently, putting people out of work, after we bailed them out due to the crash of 2008, with no conditions, we should be advocating take overs of GM properties by the workers, nationalization of these corporations rather than just focusing on "he said, she said," and the upcoming elections of 2020. As long as we allow these patriarchal governments, whether one Party or the other, we will continue to massacre vulnerable people around the world, bringing the death and destruction home to reign on the poor. Rise up America because the time is now, if not now, when? We have too little time before its too late to save the planet and life as we know it. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Dec 10 17:01:10 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2018 17:01:10 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Counter Inaugural on the 20th References: Message-ID: "When Trump and the 1% attack, we will fight back! We will be assembling at the Champaign City Building at University and Neil at 1pm and marching to Alma Mater at Green and Wright. Two years into his presidency, Trump, the 1% and the establishment, feeling more confident that they will not have to face resistance in the streets, have gone on the offensive, tear gassing women and children at the United States-Mexico border, empowering racist police departments and ICE, attacking Indigenous sovereignty and land rights in Maine and Louisiana, threatening the safety of LGBTQ people by removing protections on government documents, funding Saudi genocide in Yemen, continued bombing of Syria, supporting the fascist Bolsonaro government in Brazil, and continuing to support Israel’s ongoing genocide against Indigenous Palestinians. As the Democratic party drops their facade of any meaningful opposition to the Trump administration, we will not be idle! We will not wait another minute, month, or year to take action. We will march in the largest numbers possible. Spread the word! Bring your signs, banners and voices of resistance! Organizing co-sponsors of this march are Party for Socialism and Liberation - Champaign-Urbana, Illini Young Democratic Socialists of America, UIUC Undergraduate-Graduate Alliance, Prairie Greens, and UMMA UIUC. Please contact Party for Socialism and Liberation - Champaign-Urbana through their Facebook page or pslchampaignurbana at gmail.com if your organization would like to co-sponsor as well! Trump and the congress of millionaire's agenda of unrestrained capitalism and white supremacy and the warmongering and fake resistance of Democratic politicians can only be defeated by a united people's movement to stop racist police terror, imperialist war, environmental destruction, fascist mobilization and the attacks on immigrants and all oppressed people. We stand with and will continue to defend immigrants, LGBTQ people, Muslims, People of Color, women, workers, the youth, poor people, those with disabilities, and all those who are under attack!” [https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/c0.11.624.329a/47377738_345017059410494_1619538163372392448_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=54592799f141d79230a3266285df52ce&oe=5C69237B] SUN, JAN 20, 2019 AT 1 PM CST Unite Against Trump: 2 Years in Office Champaign City Building · Champaign, IL [https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/p40x40/45219405_10101192043369334_5779230563827187712_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=7f421573c88a062d105661b3dca4b7b9&oe=5C9B4B3A][https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/p40x40/34811363_10155562133493848_2879951244720340992_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=e831565d29fd470c25e064af40048744&oe=5C93F964][https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/c0.7.40.40a/p40x40/12208589_10156304222685232_2863612345280164542_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=ba2bce8c98b5d95d0ed4b5a8483894e0&oe=5C9E2622] Mike, Brandon and 9 friends -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Dec 10 17:01:10 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2018 17:01:10 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Counter Inaugural on the 20th References: Message-ID: "When Trump and the 1% attack, we will fight back! We will be assembling at the Champaign City Building at University and Neil at 1pm and marching to Alma Mater at Green and Wright. Two years into his presidency, Trump, the 1% and the establishment, feeling more confident that they will not have to face resistance in the streets, have gone on the offensive, tear gassing women and children at the United States-Mexico border, empowering racist police departments and ICE, attacking Indigenous sovereignty and land rights in Maine and Louisiana, threatening the safety of LGBTQ people by removing protections on government documents, funding Saudi genocide in Yemen, continued bombing of Syria, supporting the fascist Bolsonaro government in Brazil, and continuing to support Israel’s ongoing genocide against Indigenous Palestinians. As the Democratic party drops their facade of any meaningful opposition to the Trump administration, we will not be idle! We will not wait another minute, month, or year to take action. We will march in the largest numbers possible. Spread the word! Bring your signs, banners and voices of resistance! Organizing co-sponsors of this march are Party for Socialism and Liberation - Champaign-Urbana, Illini Young Democratic Socialists of America, UIUC Undergraduate-Graduate Alliance, Prairie Greens, and UMMA UIUC. Please contact Party for Socialism and Liberation - Champaign-Urbana through their Facebook page or pslchampaignurbana at gmail.com if your organization would like to co-sponsor as well! Trump and the congress of millionaire's agenda of unrestrained capitalism and white supremacy and the warmongering and fake resistance of Democratic politicians can only be defeated by a united people's movement to stop racist police terror, imperialist war, environmental destruction, fascist mobilization and the attacks on immigrants and all oppressed people. We stand with and will continue to defend immigrants, LGBTQ people, Muslims, People of Color, women, workers, the youth, poor people, those with disabilities, and all those who are under attack!” [https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/c0.11.624.329a/47377738_345017059410494_1619538163372392448_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=54592799f141d79230a3266285df52ce&oe=5C69237B] SUN, JAN 20, 2019 AT 1 PM CST Unite Against Trump: 2 Years in Office Champaign City Building · Champaign, IL [https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/p40x40/45219405_10101192043369334_5779230563827187712_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=7f421573c88a062d105661b3dca4b7b9&oe=5C9B4B3A][https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/p40x40/34811363_10155562133493848_2879951244720340992_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=e831565d29fd470c25e064af40048744&oe=5C93F964][https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/c0.7.40.40a/p40x40/12208589_10156304222685232_2863612345280164542_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=ba2bce8c98b5d95d0ed4b5a8483894e0&oe=5C9E2622] Mike, Brandon and 9 friends -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cgestabrook at gmail.com Mon Dec 10 17:03:32 2018 From: cgestabrook at gmail.com (C G Estabrook) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2018 11:03:32 -0600 Subject: [Peace] AWARE ON THE AIR, noon Tuesday at UPTV Message-ID: <41CA75A5-4776-499A-8A16-CF4EB1C451EB@gmail.com> Members and friends of AWARE, the Ant-War Anti-Racism Effort of C-U, will record an unrehearsed panel discussion on US war-making at noon on Tuesday, December 11, in the studios of Urbana Public TV, in the Urbana City Council chambers. Arrive by 11:45 if you wish to participate. We will begin with the topic, “Voting will save us - and others.” --CGE From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Dec 11 12:54:31 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:54:31 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Join the Yellow Vests movement in Champaign, Thursday Message-ID: Message from Socialist Alternative: ...and War and the big one: Capitalism, itself. BRING A YELLOW VEST and meet in DOWNTOWN CHAMPAIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEIL AND MAIN/CHURCH ST. on THURSDAY AT 6:00 PM to join us for a peaceful rally in solidarity with our fellow working people abroad and to protest the same things that many of them are protesting. The French yellow vests (gilets jaunes) protest movement is an erupting movement pointing to the need to oppose neo-liberalism and capitalism in today's society. It started out as a popular protest against a gasoline tax, with close to 500,000 people blockading roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November (the day the protests started); and, since forcing French President Emmanuel Macron to back down on implementing the gasoline tax, the protests have turned into a movement with much wider demands. One of the main demands, at the moment, is for President Macron to step down. Since it erupted three weeks ago, the wave of protests against the so-called “environment tax” on diesel fuel has become a massive anti-government force. This tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after a spate of cuts in social spending, including on pensions and a big increase in the unemployment rate (with ten million unemployed or under-employed). This was at the same time as the bosses and the rich were given massive new tax breaks. The protests have opposed other austerity measures, which cut the living standards of working class people. For example, a hundred schools were blockaded by students protesting against president Macron’s education “reforms" which are aimed at increasing school fees and tightening university entrance selection in order to further exclude children from low-income families. And paramedics blocked the approaches to the National Assembly in protest against changes in their working conditions, with at least a hundred ambulances involved. The gasoline tax would have made it increasingly prohibitively expensive for French people to drive their cars to work. In a society that is always increasingly engineered for car travel, working class people often have very little choice of how to travel to work each day. So the Yellow Vest movement, in many ways, started as a movement against the mainstream propensity for blaming working class people for the climate crisis and forcing workers to make changes instead of forcing the rich and the capitalist class to make the big changes that it will take to stop climate change. The climate crisis is NOT the fault of the working class, and individual solutions (like changing your light bulbs), are ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH! The recent UN climate report says we have 12 YEARS LEFT TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS TO CARBON EMISSIONS. And if we don't do so, CLIMATE CHANGE IS ON THE VERGE OF EFFECTIVELY BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO VERY LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD POPULATION! So massive systemic changes are needed NOW, not at the snail's pace that has been set forth by the previous international climate agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement!! There are large sections of the movement which are explicitly left-wing. Many unions and left-wing organizations have joined and called actions in support of the movement, including former presidential candidate and leader of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) Jean-Luc Melenchon.. But there are also large parts of the right-wing and the extreme racist and xenophobic right-wing which support the protest, like the main far right-wing party, Rassemblement National (formerly the National Front), led by Marine Le Pen. Here at home, in the US, we face many of the same problems: cut backs on social programs, a mainstream attitude that blames the working class for climate change and pushes individualist solutions (which are not real solutions), and a growing racist, xenophobic far right. Meanwhile the mainstream US media is barely even covering the Yellow Vest protests, some of the biggest protests in France in 5 decades. So join us in showing our solidarity with the French protesters and our opposition to these massive ills of society, brought to you by capitalism, itself. *It is important that there is no intimidation by any member and zero violence or vandalism. *Record every interaction with authorities, and with any right-wingers who come out to intimidate us. *Your actions will reflect on the movement and we will not be responsible for aggressive behavior on the part of anyone present. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Dec 11 12:54:31 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:54:31 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Join the Yellow Vests movement in Champaign, Thursday Message-ID: Message from Socialist Alternative: ...and War and the big one: Capitalism, itself. BRING A YELLOW VEST and meet in DOWNTOWN CHAMPAIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEIL AND MAIN/CHURCH ST. on THURSDAY AT 6:00 PM to join us for a peaceful rally in solidarity with our fellow working people abroad and to protest the same things that many of them are protesting. The French yellow vests (gilets jaunes) protest movement is an erupting movement pointing to the need to oppose neo-liberalism and capitalism in today's society. It started out as a popular protest against a gasoline tax, with close to 500,000 people blockading roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November (the day the protests started); and, since forcing French President Emmanuel Macron to back down on implementing the gasoline tax, the protests have turned into a movement with much wider demands. One of the main demands, at the moment, is for President Macron to step down. Since it erupted three weeks ago, the wave of protests against the so-called “environment tax” on diesel fuel has become a massive anti-government force. This tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after a spate of cuts in social spending, including on pensions and a big increase in the unemployment rate (with ten million unemployed or under-employed). This was at the same time as the bosses and the rich were given massive new tax breaks. The protests have opposed other austerity measures, which cut the living standards of working class people. For example, a hundred schools were blockaded by students protesting against president Macron’s education “reforms" which are aimed at increasing school fees and tightening university entrance selection in order to further exclude children from low-income families. And paramedics blocked the approaches to the National Assembly in protest against changes in their working conditions, with at least a hundred ambulances involved. The gasoline tax would have made it increasingly prohibitively expensive for French people to drive their cars to work. In a society that is always increasingly engineered for car travel, working class people often have very little choice of how to travel to work each day. So the Yellow Vest movement, in many ways, started as a movement against the mainstream propensity for blaming working class people for the climate crisis and forcing workers to make changes instead of forcing the rich and the capitalist class to make the big changes that it will take to stop climate change. The climate crisis is NOT the fault of the working class, and individual solutions (like changing your light bulbs), are ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH! The recent UN climate report says we have 12 YEARS LEFT TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS TO CARBON EMISSIONS. And if we don't do so, CLIMATE CHANGE IS ON THE VERGE OF EFFECTIVELY BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO VERY LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD POPULATION! So massive systemic changes are needed NOW, not at the snail's pace that has been set forth by the previous international climate agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement!! There are large sections of the movement which are explicitly left-wing. Many unions and left-wing organizations have joined and called actions in support of the movement, including former presidential candidate and leader of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) Jean-Luc Melenchon.. But there are also large parts of the right-wing and the extreme racist and xenophobic right-wing which support the protest, like the main far right-wing party, Rassemblement National (formerly the National Front), led by Marine Le Pen. Here at home, in the US, we face many of the same problems: cut backs on social programs, a mainstream attitude that blames the working class for climate change and pushes individualist solutions (which are not real solutions), and a growing racist, xenophobic far right. Meanwhile the mainstream US media is barely even covering the Yellow Vest protests, some of the biggest protests in France in 5 decades. So join us in showing our solidarity with the French protesters and our opposition to these massive ills of society, brought to you by capitalism, itself. *It is important that there is no intimidation by any member and zero violence or vandalism. *Record every interaction with authorities, and with any right-wingers who come out to intimidate us. *Your actions will reflect on the movement and we will not be responsible for aggressive behavior on the part of anyone present. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Dec 11 14:53:23 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2018 14:53:23 +0000 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Join the Yellow Vests movement in Champaign, Thursday In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: As you say Wayne, you know nothing about this group supporting the Yellow Vest. I do, and I will be joining them. On Dec 11, 2018, at 06:50, E. Wayne Johnson > wrote: Actually I dont know much about them but I rather doubt that these are the brethren and cistern of that crowd that they call snowflakes in the usa. On Dec 11, 2018, at 8:54 PM, Karen Aram via Peace-discuss > wrote: Message from Socialist Alternative: ...and War and the big one: Capitalism, itself. BRING A YELLOW VEST and meet in DOWNTOWN CHAMPAIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEIL AND MAIN/CHURCH ST. on THURSDAY AT 6:00 PM to join us for a peaceful rally in solidarity with our fellow working people abroad and to protest the same things that many of them are protesting. The French yellow vests (gilets jaunes) protest movement is an erupting movement pointing to the need to oppose neo-liberalism and capitalism in today's society. It started out as a popular protest against a gasoline tax, with close to 500,000 people blockading roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November (the day the protests started); and, since forcing French President Emmanuel Macron to back down on implementing the gasoline tax, the protests have turned into a movement with much wider demands. One of the main demands, at the moment, is for President Macron to step down. Since it erupted three weeks ago, the wave of protests against the so-called “environment tax” on diesel fuel has become a massive anti-government force. This tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after a spate of cuts in social spending, including on pensions and a big increase in the unemployment rate (with ten million unemployed or under-employed). This was at the same time as the bosses and the rich were given massive new tax breaks. The protests have opposed other austerity measures, which cut the living standards of working class people. For example, a hundred schools were blockaded by students protesting against president Macron’s education “reforms" which are aimed at increasing school fees and tightening university entrance selection in order to further exclude children from low-income families. And paramedics blocked the approaches to the National Assembly in protest against changes in their working conditions, with at least a hundred ambulances involved. The gasoline tax would have made it increasingly prohibitively expensive for French people to drive their cars to work. In a society that is always increasingly engineered for car travel, working class people often have very little choice of how to travel to work each day. So the Yellow Vest movement, in many ways, started as a movement against the mainstream propensity for blaming working class people for the climate crisis and forcing workers to make changes instead of forcing the rich and the capitalist class to make the big changes that it will take to stop climate change. The climate crisis is NOT the fault of the working class, and individual solutions (like changing your light bulbs), are ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH! The recent UN climate report says we have 12 YEARS LEFT TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS TO CARBON EMISSIONS. And if we don't do so, CLIMATE CHANGE IS ON THE VERGE OF EFFECTIVELY BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO VERY LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD POPULATION! So massive systemic changes are needed NOW, not at the snail's pace that has been set forth by the previous international climate agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement!! There are large sections of the movement which are explicitly left-wing. Many unions and left-wing organizations have joined and called actions in support of the movement, including former presidential candidate and leader of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) Jean-Luc Melenchon.. But there are also large parts of the right-wing and the extreme racist and xenophobic right-wing which support the protest, like the main far right-wing party, Rassemblement National (formerly the National Front), led by Marine Le Pen. Here at home, in the US, we face many of the same problems: cut backs on social programs, a mainstream attitude that blames the working class for climate change and pushes individualist solutions (which are not real solutions), and a growing racist, xenophobic far right. Meanwhile the mainstream US media is barely even covering the Yellow Vest protests, some of the biggest protests in France in 5 decades. So join us in showing our solidarity with the French protesters and our opposition to these massive ills of society, brought to you by capitalism, itself. *It is important that there is no intimidation by any member and zero violence or vandalism. *Record every interaction with authorities, and with any right-wingers who come out to intimidate us. *Your actions will reflect on the movement and we will not be responsible for aggressive behavior on the part of anyone present. ________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Dec 11 14:53:23 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2018 14:53:23 +0000 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Join the Yellow Vests movement in Champaign, Thursday In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: As you say Wayne, you know nothing about this group supporting the Yellow Vest. I do, and I will be joining them. On Dec 11, 2018, at 06:50, E. Wayne Johnson > wrote: Actually I dont know much about them but I rather doubt that these are the brethren and cistern of that crowd that they call snowflakes in the usa. On Dec 11, 2018, at 8:54 PM, Karen Aram via Peace-discuss > wrote: Message from Socialist Alternative: ...and War and the big one: Capitalism, itself. BRING A YELLOW VEST and meet in DOWNTOWN CHAMPAIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEIL AND MAIN/CHURCH ST. on THURSDAY AT 6:00 PM to join us for a peaceful rally in solidarity with our fellow working people abroad and to protest the same things that many of them are protesting. The French yellow vests (gilets jaunes) protest movement is an erupting movement pointing to the need to oppose neo-liberalism and capitalism in today's society. It started out as a popular protest against a gasoline tax, with close to 500,000 people blockading roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November (the day the protests started); and, since forcing French President Emmanuel Macron to back down on implementing the gasoline tax, the protests have turned into a movement with much wider demands. One of the main demands, at the moment, is for President Macron to step down. Since it erupted three weeks ago, the wave of protests against the so-called “environment tax” on diesel fuel has become a massive anti-government force. This tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after a spate of cuts in social spending, including on pensions and a big increase in the unemployment rate (with ten million unemployed or under-employed). This was at the same time as the bosses and the rich were given massive new tax breaks. The protests have opposed other austerity measures, which cut the living standards of working class people. For example, a hundred schools were blockaded by students protesting against president Macron’s education “reforms" which are aimed at increasing school fees and tightening university entrance selection in order to further exclude children from low-income families. And paramedics blocked the approaches to the National Assembly in protest against changes in their working conditions, with at least a hundred ambulances involved. The gasoline tax would have made it increasingly prohibitively expensive for French people to drive their cars to work. In a society that is always increasingly engineered for car travel, working class people often have very little choice of how to travel to work each day. So the Yellow Vest movement, in many ways, started as a movement against the mainstream propensity for blaming working class people for the climate crisis and forcing workers to make changes instead of forcing the rich and the capitalist class to make the big changes that it will take to stop climate change. The climate crisis is NOT the fault of the working class, and individual solutions (like changing your light bulbs), are ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH! The recent UN climate report says we have 12 YEARS LEFT TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS TO CARBON EMISSIONS. And if we don't do so, CLIMATE CHANGE IS ON THE VERGE OF EFFECTIVELY BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO VERY LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD POPULATION! So massive systemic changes are needed NOW, not at the snail's pace that has been set forth by the previous international climate agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement!! There are large sections of the movement which are explicitly left-wing. Many unions and left-wing organizations have joined and called actions in support of the movement, including former presidential candidate and leader of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) Jean-Luc Melenchon.. But there are also large parts of the right-wing and the extreme racist and xenophobic right-wing which support the protest, like the main far right-wing party, Rassemblement National (formerly the National Front), led by Marine Le Pen. Here at home, in the US, we face many of the same problems: cut backs on social programs, a mainstream attitude that blames the working class for climate change and pushes individualist solutions (which are not real solutions), and a growing racist, xenophobic far right. Meanwhile the mainstream US media is barely even covering the Yellow Vest protests, some of the biggest protests in France in 5 decades. So join us in showing our solidarity with the French protesters and our opposition to these massive ills of society, brought to you by capitalism, itself. *It is important that there is no intimidation by any member and zero violence or vandalism. *Record every interaction with authorities, and with any right-wingers who come out to intimidate us. *Your actions will reflect on the movement and we will not be responsible for aggressive behavior on the part of anyone present. ________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Dec 12 02:05:30 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 02:05:30 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Joining the Yellow Vests Thursday in Champaign/time change References: Message-ID: BRING A YELLOW VEST and meet in DOWNTOWN CHAMPAIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEIL AND MAIN/CHURCH ST. on THURSDAY AT 4:00 PM to join us for a peaceful rally in solidarity with our fellow working people abroad and to protest the same things that many of them are protesting. The French yellow vests (gilets jaunes) protest movement is an erupting movement pointing to the need to oppose neo-liberalism and capitalism in today's society. It started out as a popular protest against a gasoline tax, with close to 500,000 people blockading roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November (the day the protests started); and, since forcing French President Emmanuel Macron to back down on implementing the gasoline tax, the protests have turned into a movement with much wider demands. One of the main demands, at the moment, is for President Macron to step down. Since it erupted three weeks ago, the wave of protests against the so-called “environment tax” on diesel fuel has become a massive anti-government force. This tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after a spate of cuts in social spending, including on pensions and a big increase in the unemployment rate (with ten million unemployed or under-employed). This was at the same time as the bosses and the rich were given massive new tax breaks. The protests have opposed other austerity measures, which cut the living standards of working class people. For example, a hundred schools were blockaded by students protesting against president Macron’s education “reforms" which are aimed at increasing school fees and tightening university entrance selection in order to further exclude children from low-income families. And paramedics blocked the approaches to the National Assembly in protest against changes in their working conditions, with at least a hundred ambulances involved. The gasoline tax would have made it increasingly prohibitively expensive for French people to drive their cars to work. In a society that is always increasingly engineered for car travel, working class people often have very little choice of how to travel to work each day. So the Yellow Vest movement, in many ways, started as a movement against the mainstream propensity for blaming working class people for the climate crisis and forcing workers to make changes instead of forcing the rich and the capitalist class to make the big changes that it will take to stop climate change. The climate crisis is NOT the fault of the working class, and individual solutions (like changing your light bulbs), are ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH! The recent UN climate report says we have 12 YEARS LEFT TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS TO CARBON EMISSIONS. And if we don't do so, CLIMATE CHANGE IS ON THE VERGE OF EFFECTIVELY BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO VERY LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD POPULATION! So massive systemic changes are needed NOW, not at the snail's pace that has been set forth by the previous international climate agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement!! There are large sections of the movement which are explicitly left-wing. Many unions and left-wing organizations have joined and called actions in support of the movement, including former presidential candidate and leader of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) Jean-Luc Melenchon.. But there are also large parts of the right-wing and the extreme racist and xenophobic right-wing which support the protest, like the main far right-wing party, Rassemblement National (formerly the National Front), led by Marine Le Pen. Here at home, in the US, we face many of the same problems: cut backs on social programs, a mainstream attitude that blames the working class for climate change and pushes individualist solutions (which are not real solutions), and a growing racist, xenophobic far right. Meanwhile the mainstream US media is barely even covering the Yellow Vest protests, some of the biggest protests in France in 5 decades. So join us in showing our solidarity with the French protesters and our opposition to these massive ills of society, brought to you by capitalism, itself. *It is important that there is no intimidation by any member and zero violence or vandalism. *Record every interaction with authorities, and with any right-wingers who come out to intimidate us. *Your actions will reflect on the movement and we will not be responsible for aggressive behavior on the part of anyone present. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Dec 12 02:05:30 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 02:05:30 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Joining the Yellow Vests Thursday in Champaign/time change References: Message-ID: BRING A YELLOW VEST and meet in DOWNTOWN CHAMPAIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEIL AND MAIN/CHURCH ST. on THURSDAY AT 4:00 PM to join us for a peaceful rally in solidarity with our fellow working people abroad and to protest the same things that many of them are protesting. The French yellow vests (gilets jaunes) protest movement is an erupting movement pointing to the need to oppose neo-liberalism and capitalism in today's society. It started out as a popular protest against a gasoline tax, with close to 500,000 people blockading roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November (the day the protests started); and, since forcing French President Emmanuel Macron to back down on implementing the gasoline tax, the protests have turned into a movement with much wider demands. One of the main demands, at the moment, is for President Macron to step down. Since it erupted three weeks ago, the wave of protests against the so-called “environment tax” on diesel fuel has become a massive anti-government force. This tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after a spate of cuts in social spending, including on pensions and a big increase in the unemployment rate (with ten million unemployed or under-employed). This was at the same time as the bosses and the rich were given massive new tax breaks. The protests have opposed other austerity measures, which cut the living standards of working class people. For example, a hundred schools were blockaded by students protesting against president Macron’s education “reforms" which are aimed at increasing school fees and tightening university entrance selection in order to further exclude children from low-income families. And paramedics blocked the approaches to the National Assembly in protest against changes in their working conditions, with at least a hundred ambulances involved. The gasoline tax would have made it increasingly prohibitively expensive for French people to drive their cars to work. In a society that is always increasingly engineered for car travel, working class people often have very little choice of how to travel to work each day. So the Yellow Vest movement, in many ways, started as a movement against the mainstream propensity for blaming working class people for the climate crisis and forcing workers to make changes instead of forcing the rich and the capitalist class to make the big changes that it will take to stop climate change. The climate crisis is NOT the fault of the working class, and individual solutions (like changing your light bulbs), are ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH! The recent UN climate report says we have 12 YEARS LEFT TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS TO CARBON EMISSIONS. And if we don't do so, CLIMATE CHANGE IS ON THE VERGE OF EFFECTIVELY BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO VERY LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD POPULATION! So massive systemic changes are needed NOW, not at the snail's pace that has been set forth by the previous international climate agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement!! There are large sections of the movement which are explicitly left-wing. Many unions and left-wing organizations have joined and called actions in support of the movement, including former presidential candidate and leader of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) Jean-Luc Melenchon.. But there are also large parts of the right-wing and the extreme racist and xenophobic right-wing which support the protest, like the main far right-wing party, Rassemblement National (formerly the National Front), led by Marine Le Pen. Here at home, in the US, we face many of the same problems: cut backs on social programs, a mainstream attitude that blames the working class for climate change and pushes individualist solutions (which are not real solutions), and a growing racist, xenophobic far right. Meanwhile the mainstream US media is barely even covering the Yellow Vest protests, some of the biggest protests in France in 5 decades. So join us in showing our solidarity with the French protesters and our opposition to these massive ills of society, brought to you by capitalism, itself. *It is important that there is no intimidation by any member and zero violence or vandalism. *Record every interaction with authorities, and with any right-wingers who come out to intimidate us. *Your actions will reflect on the movement and we will not be responsible for aggressive behavior on the part of anyone present. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Dec 12 17:54:51 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 17:54:51 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Joining the Yellow Vests in Champaign (Date and Time change) References: Message-ID: ...and War and the big one: Capitalism, itself. BRING A YELLOW VEST and meet in DOWNTOWN CHAMPAIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEIL AND MAIN/CHURCH ST. on Saturday AT 4:00 PM to join us for a peaceful rally in solidarity with our fellow working people abroad and to protest the same things that many of them are protesting. The French yellow vests (gilets jaunes) protest movement is an erupting movement pointing to the need to oppose neo-liberalism and capitalism in today's society. It started out as a popular protest against a gasoline tax, with close to 500,000 people blockading roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November (the day the protests started); and, since forcing French President Emmanuel Macron to back down on implementing the gasoline tax, the protests have turned into a movement with much wider demands. One of the main demands, at the moment, is for President Macron to step down. Since it erupted three weeks ago, the wave of protests against the so-called “environment tax” on diesel fuel has become a massive anti-government force. This tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after a spate of cuts in social spending, including on pensions and a big increase in the unemployment rate (with ten million unemployed or under-employed). This was at the same time as the bosses and the rich were given massive new tax breaks. The protests have opposed other austerity measures, which cut the living standards of working class people. For example, a hundred schools were blockaded by students protesting against president Macron’s education “reforms" which are aimed at increasing school fees and tightening university entrance selection in order to further exclude children from low-income families. And paramedics blocked the approaches to the National Assembly in protest against changes in their working conditions, with at least a hundred ambulances involved. The gasoline tax would have made it increasingly prohibitively expensive for French people to drive their cars to work. In a society that is always increasingly engineered for car travel, working class people often have very little choice of how to travel to work each day. So the Yellow Vest movement, in many ways, started as a movement against the mainstream propensity for blaming working class people for the climate crisis and forcing workers to make changes instead of forcing the rich and the capitalist class to make the big changes that it will take to stop climate change. The climate crisis is NOT the fault of the working class, and individual solutions (like changing your light bulbs), are ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH! The recent UN climate report says we have 12 YEARS LEFT TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS TO CARBON EMISSIONS. And if we don't do so, CLIMATE CHANGE IS ON THE VERGE OF EFFECTIVELY BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO VERY LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD POPULATION! So massive systemic changes are needed NOW, not at the snail's pace that has been set forth by the previous international climate agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement!! There are large sections of the movement which are explicitly left-wing. Many unions and left-wing organizations have joined and called actions in support of the movement, including former presidential candidate and leader of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) Jean-Luc Melenchon.. But there are also large parts of the right-wing and the extreme racist and xenophobic right-wing which support the protest, like the main far right-wing party, Rassemblement National (formerly the National Front), led by Marine Le Pen. Here at home, in the US, we face many of the same problems: cut backs on social programs, a mainstream attitude that blames the working class for climate change and pushes individualist solutions (which are not real solutions), and a growing racist, xenophobic far right. Meanwhile the mainstream US media is barely even covering the Yellow Vest protests, some of the biggest protests in France in 5 decades. So join us in showing our solidarity with the French protesters and our opposition to these massive ills of society, brought to you by capitalism, itself. *It is important that there is no intimidation by any member and zero violence or vandalism. *Record every interaction with authorities, and with any right-wingers who come out to intimidate us. *Your actions will reflect on the movement and we will not be responsible for aggressive behavior on the part of anyone present. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Dec 12 17:54:51 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 17:54:51 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Joining the Yellow Vests in Champaign (Date and Time change) References: Message-ID: ...and War and the big one: Capitalism, itself. BRING A YELLOW VEST and meet in DOWNTOWN CHAMPAIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF NEIL AND MAIN/CHURCH ST. on Saturday AT 4:00 PM to join us for a peaceful rally in solidarity with our fellow working people abroad and to protest the same things that many of them are protesting. The French yellow vests (gilets jaunes) protest movement is an erupting movement pointing to the need to oppose neo-liberalism and capitalism in today's society. It started out as a popular protest against a gasoline tax, with close to 500,000 people blockading roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November (the day the protests started); and, since forcing French President Emmanuel Macron to back down on implementing the gasoline tax, the protests have turned into a movement with much wider demands. One of the main demands, at the moment, is for President Macron to step down. Since it erupted three weeks ago, the wave of protests against the so-called “environment tax” on diesel fuel has become a massive anti-government force. This tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It came after a spate of cuts in social spending, including on pensions and a big increase in the unemployment rate (with ten million unemployed or under-employed). This was at the same time as the bosses and the rich were given massive new tax breaks. The protests have opposed other austerity measures, which cut the living standards of working class people. For example, a hundred schools were blockaded by students protesting against president Macron’s education “reforms" which are aimed at increasing school fees and tightening university entrance selection in order to further exclude children from low-income families. And paramedics blocked the approaches to the National Assembly in protest against changes in their working conditions, with at least a hundred ambulances involved. The gasoline tax would have made it increasingly prohibitively expensive for French people to drive their cars to work. In a society that is always increasingly engineered for car travel, working class people often have very little choice of how to travel to work each day. So the Yellow Vest movement, in many ways, started as a movement against the mainstream propensity for blaming working class people for the climate crisis and forcing workers to make changes instead of forcing the rich and the capitalist class to make the big changes that it will take to stop climate change. The climate crisis is NOT the fault of the working class, and individual solutions (like changing your light bulbs), are ABSOLUTELY NOT ENOUGH! The recent UN climate report says we have 12 YEARS LEFT TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS TO CARBON EMISSIONS. And if we don't do so, CLIMATE CHANGE IS ON THE VERGE OF EFFECTIVELY BECOME AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO VERY LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD POPULATION! So massive systemic changes are needed NOW, not at the snail's pace that has been set forth by the previous international climate agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement!! There are large sections of the movement which are explicitly left-wing. Many unions and left-wing organizations have joined and called actions in support of the movement, including former presidential candidate and leader of France Insoumise (France Unbowed) Jean-Luc Melenchon.. But there are also large parts of the right-wing and the extreme racist and xenophobic right-wing which support the protest, like the main far right-wing party, Rassemblement National (formerly the National Front), led by Marine Le Pen. Here at home, in the US, we face many of the same problems: cut backs on social programs, a mainstream attitude that blames the working class for climate change and pushes individualist solutions (which are not real solutions), and a growing racist, xenophobic far right. Meanwhile the mainstream US media is barely even covering the Yellow Vest protests, some of the biggest protests in France in 5 decades. So join us in showing our solidarity with the French protesters and our opposition to these massive ills of society, brought to you by capitalism, itself. *It is important that there is no intimidation by any member and zero violence or vandalism. *Record every interaction with authorities, and with any right-wingers who come out to intimidate us. *Your actions will reflect on the movement and we will not be responsible for aggressive behavior on the part of anyone present. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Dec 12 23:41:03 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 23:41:03 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Two good articles related to the uprisings in France. Message-ID: https://www.liberationnews.org/french-mass-rebellion-grows-and-deepens http://socialistworld.net/…/e…/france/10045-france-in-revolt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Dec 12 23:41:03 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 23:41:03 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Two good articles related to the uprisings in France. Message-ID: https://www.liberationnews.org/french-mass-rebellion-grows-and-deepens http://socialistworld.net/…/e…/france/10045-france-in-revolt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Dec 13 00:16:09 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 00:16:09 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Another good article....this one in Counterpunch by Paul Street. Message-ID: https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/12/12/blacking-out-the-yellow-vests-on-cable-news-corporate-media-doing-its-job/ From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Dec 13 00:16:09 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 00:16:09 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Another good article....this one in Counterpunch by Paul Street. Message-ID: https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/12/12/blacking-out-the-yellow-vests-on-cable-news-corporate-media-doing-its-job/ From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Dec 13 20:03:31 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 20:03:31 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Another major happening!!! Message-ID: * Print * Leaflet * Feedback * Share » A significant step forward: Detroit meeting of autoworkers resolves to form rank-and-file committees by Joseph Kishore 13 December 2018 On Sunday, more than 80 autoworkers and other workers and youth from throughout the US Midwest resolved at a meeting in Detroit to form rank-and-file factory committees, independent of the unions, to fight against plant closures, layoffs and other attacks on the working class. Following the meeting, a steering committee was established to carry forward the struggle against plant closures. The action taken at the meeting, organized by the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter and the Socialist Equality Party, is a major step forward. With mounting signs of a renewed economic downturn, the capitalist ruling elites are going on the offensive. The announcement by General Motors that it will close five plants in the US and Canada and eliminate at least 15,000 jobs is part of a global restructuring aimed at making the working class pay for the funneling of ever larger sums into the financial markets. There are growing expressions of working class opposition to this social counterrevolution. In every country, however, the working class confronts trade unions that are actively collaborating in plant closures, layoffs and other attacks by the ruling class. The past year has seen a significant increase in working class struggles in the United States, including strikes by teachers and the rejection of a national contract by UPS workers, with the unions functioning as strikebreakers. Now, in the center of world capitalism, the working class is beginning to establish the necessary organizational and political framework for a counter-offensive. The attendees at the meeting included delegations of autoworkers and other workers from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio, as well as an Amazon worker from Texas. Among the participants were several autoworkers from the GM Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, one of those set to be closed, as well as many Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler workers from throughout the region. The delegates to the meeting represented much broader layers of workers in the United States and Canada. They included black workers and white workers, men and women, young workers and older workers. The issues that dominated the meeting were class issues, not the issues of race and gender promoted by the media and the Democratic Party and its appendages. It was, moreover, an international meeting. It included a report from Alex Lantier, the leader of the Parti de l’égalité socialiste (PES) in France, who spoke on the significance of the “yellow vest” protests against the banker-president Emmanuel Macron. It was readily recognized by all those participating that the issues facing workers in France, the United States and all over the world are essentially the same. The meeting was the only gathering of workers to organize serious opposition to plant closures and do so independently of the United Auto Workers. For this reason, it could give genuine expression to the growing anger of workers and their determination to fight. Following an opening political report by World Socialist Web Site Labor Editor Jerry White, workers engaged in a full and open democratic discussion. They spoke of the real conditions in the plants, including extreme exploitation, sexual harassment and victimization. The delegates to the meeting unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the formation of “rank-and-file committees, independent of the UAW, Unifor [in Canada] and other unions, in all the affected workplaces and neighborhoods, to organize opposition to the plant closures.” The committees, the resolution stated, will “advance the interests of workers in opposition to the dictates of corporate management,” “mobilize workers on the basis of their own demands,” “demand that workers have unrestricted access to all corporate and union financial records and oversight over all negotiations and contract votes,” and “fight for the unity of American workers with our class brothers and sisters in Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world.” Hostility to the UAW was universal. The anti-working class character of the union—its theft of workers’ wages, its corruption and its role in imposing attacks on the working class through threats and fraud—was not questioned by any of the participants. [https://www.wsws.org/en/media/photos/legacy/frontpage/utc-bookad490.jpg] One Chrysler worker called the UAW the “controlled opposition” against workers, where “every concession is nothing more than an aspect of attrition in their war.” Another worker explained that at her plant, workers have already begun to “meet outside of union meetings, outside of work, in order to come together and get resolutions and solutions.” Another declared, “We’re going against management and the people that are supposed to be protecting us [the unions], but they really aren’t. They’re working with management.” Delegates also heard a powerful contribution from Shannon Allen, the Texas Amazon worker who has emerged as a leader of opposition to conditions at Amazon facilities after her experience with being injured and forced into homelessness. “We’re the ones who make the world go ’round,” Shannon declared to applause. “It’s not the Jeff Bezoses of the world. It’s us!” She made a powerful appeal for the unity of all workers. “Without you, there is no us,” she said, “without us, there is no you.” The meeting marked a significant development not only of class, but also of political consciousness. It marked a turn by workers to a political struggle against capitalism and for socialism. The central role of the World Socialist Web Site in organizing and providing political leadership to the developing movement of the working class was recognized by those attending, many of whom spoke about the influence of the WSWS in the plants. One worker asked whether the rank-and-file committees “would be permitted to use the WSWS as a communicating tool, as a voice and unique educator? And will the Socialist Equality Party provide the leadership so that we can go on and function on a strategic level?” The answer is “Yes.” The role of the SEP and the WSWS in giving political direction to the developing movement of the working class is critical. The growth of the class struggle is an objective process. However, the task of imparting to this movement independent organization and socialist consciousness requires the construction of a socialist political leadership in the working class. As WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North, speaking to the meeting from New Zealand, emphasized, “It isn’t enough to point to the betrayal of other organizations. What we have to come to grips with is what it means to build another leadership. That is our responsibility.” The meeting in Detroit marked a major step forward. It was infused by a determination to fight, a confidence in the immense power of the working class, and an understanding of what is necessary to unify and mobilize this power—the greatest revolutionary force on the planet. The initiative taken at this meeting must be expanded. It must serve as a rallying point for the formation of independent workers’ organizations and the conscious development of the class struggle in the United States and throughout the world. WSWS.ORG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Dec 13 20:03:31 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 20:03:31 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Another major happening!!! Message-ID: * Print * Leaflet * Feedback * Share » A significant step forward: Detroit meeting of autoworkers resolves to form rank-and-file committees by Joseph Kishore 13 December 2018 On Sunday, more than 80 autoworkers and other workers and youth from throughout the US Midwest resolved at a meeting in Detroit to form rank-and-file factory committees, independent of the unions, to fight against plant closures, layoffs and other attacks on the working class. Following the meeting, a steering committee was established to carry forward the struggle against plant closures. The action taken at the meeting, organized by the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter and the Socialist Equality Party, is a major step forward. With mounting signs of a renewed economic downturn, the capitalist ruling elites are going on the offensive. The announcement by General Motors that it will close five plants in the US and Canada and eliminate at least 15,000 jobs is part of a global restructuring aimed at making the working class pay for the funneling of ever larger sums into the financial markets. There are growing expressions of working class opposition to this social counterrevolution. In every country, however, the working class confronts trade unions that are actively collaborating in plant closures, layoffs and other attacks by the ruling class. The past year has seen a significant increase in working class struggles in the United States, including strikes by teachers and the rejection of a national contract by UPS workers, with the unions functioning as strikebreakers. Now, in the center of world capitalism, the working class is beginning to establish the necessary organizational and political framework for a counter-offensive. The attendees at the meeting included delegations of autoworkers and other workers from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio, as well as an Amazon worker from Texas. Among the participants were several autoworkers from the GM Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, one of those set to be closed, as well as many Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler workers from throughout the region. The delegates to the meeting represented much broader layers of workers in the United States and Canada. They included black workers and white workers, men and women, young workers and older workers. The issues that dominated the meeting were class issues, not the issues of race and gender promoted by the media and the Democratic Party and its appendages. It was, moreover, an international meeting. It included a report from Alex Lantier, the leader of the Parti de l’égalité socialiste (PES) in France, who spoke on the significance of the “yellow vest” protests against the banker-president Emmanuel Macron. It was readily recognized by all those participating that the issues facing workers in France, the United States and all over the world are essentially the same. The meeting was the only gathering of workers to organize serious opposition to plant closures and do so independently of the United Auto Workers. For this reason, it could give genuine expression to the growing anger of workers and their determination to fight. Following an opening political report by World Socialist Web Site Labor Editor Jerry White, workers engaged in a full and open democratic discussion. They spoke of the real conditions in the plants, including extreme exploitation, sexual harassment and victimization. The delegates to the meeting unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the formation of “rank-and-file committees, independent of the UAW, Unifor [in Canada] and other unions, in all the affected workplaces and neighborhoods, to organize opposition to the plant closures.” The committees, the resolution stated, will “advance the interests of workers in opposition to the dictates of corporate management,” “mobilize workers on the basis of their own demands,” “demand that workers have unrestricted access to all corporate and union financial records and oversight over all negotiations and contract votes,” and “fight for the unity of American workers with our class brothers and sisters in Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world.” Hostility to the UAW was universal. The anti-working class character of the union—its theft of workers’ wages, its corruption and its role in imposing attacks on the working class through threats and fraud—was not questioned by any of the participants. [https://www.wsws.org/en/media/photos/legacy/frontpage/utc-bookad490.jpg] One Chrysler worker called the UAW the “controlled opposition” against workers, where “every concession is nothing more than an aspect of attrition in their war.” Another worker explained that at her plant, workers have already begun to “meet outside of union meetings, outside of work, in order to come together and get resolutions and solutions.” Another declared, “We’re going against management and the people that are supposed to be protecting us [the unions], but they really aren’t. They’re working with management.” Delegates also heard a powerful contribution from Shannon Allen, the Texas Amazon worker who has emerged as a leader of opposition to conditions at Amazon facilities after her experience with being injured and forced into homelessness. “We’re the ones who make the world go ’round,” Shannon declared to applause. “It’s not the Jeff Bezoses of the world. It’s us!” She made a powerful appeal for the unity of all workers. “Without you, there is no us,” she said, “without us, there is no you.” The meeting marked a significant development not only of class, but also of political consciousness. It marked a turn by workers to a political struggle against capitalism and for socialism. The central role of the World Socialist Web Site in organizing and providing political leadership to the developing movement of the working class was recognized by those attending, many of whom spoke about the influence of the WSWS in the plants. One worker asked whether the rank-and-file committees “would be permitted to use the WSWS as a communicating tool, as a voice and unique educator? And will the Socialist Equality Party provide the leadership so that we can go on and function on a strategic level?” The answer is “Yes.” The role of the SEP and the WSWS in giving political direction to the developing movement of the working class is critical. The growth of the class struggle is an objective process. However, the task of imparting to this movement independent organization and socialist consciousness requires the construction of a socialist political leadership in the working class. As WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North, speaking to the meeting from New Zealand, emphasized, “It isn’t enough to point to the betrayal of other organizations. What we have to come to grips with is what it means to build another leadership. That is our responsibility.” The meeting in Detroit marked a major step forward. It was infused by a determination to fight, a confidence in the immense power of the working class, and an understanding of what is necessary to unify and mobilize this power—the greatest revolutionary force on the planet. The initiative taken at this meeting must be expanded. It must serve as a rallying point for the formation of independent workers’ organizations and the conscious development of the class struggle in the United States and throughout the world. WSWS.ORG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 12:47:55 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 12:47:55 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Yellow Vest Rally in Downtown Champaign References: <1ee8c70695a68a45ed15267a3.f2549fa6b1.20181214072610.564ce46d88.fa5d2433@mail141.atl121.mcsv.net> Message-ID: View this email in your browser [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/1ee8c70695a68a45ed15267a3/images/e5f343b2-6f6a-47ab-add9-7fd7b2d0147a.png] Weekly Update THIS WEEK for SA CU: Saturday, 12/15, at 5PM Join us this Saturday in downtown Champaign for a rally in solidarity with the French Yellow Vests movement! With Rahm Emanuel's recent proposal to fund a transportation bill via a statewide 20 to 30 cent tax increase on gasoline, we feel it is more important than ever to push back against our politicians' insistence that everyday people must foot the bill for the vital repairs our nation's crumbling infrastructure needs. Instead, we should tax the rich to fund the green jobs initiatives we need in order to transition into a fully renewable future. Standing alongside us as co-sponsors will be the CU chapters of Young Democratic Socialists of America, International Socialist Organization, and Party for Socialism and Liberation. Bring a yellow vest! Yellow Vest Rally Against Austerity, Fascism, Eco-Catastrophe Hope to see you out there! In solidarity, Socialist Alternative CU [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-twitter-48.png] [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-facebook-48.png] [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-link-48.png] Copyright © 2018 Socialist Alternative CU, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Socialist Alternative CU P.O. Box 17121 Urbana, Il 61803 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. [Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 12:47:55 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 12:47:55 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Yellow Vest Rally in Downtown Champaign References: <1ee8c70695a68a45ed15267a3.f2549fa6b1.20181214072610.564ce46d88.fa5d2433@mail141.atl121.mcsv.net> Message-ID: View this email in your browser [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/1ee8c70695a68a45ed15267a3/images/e5f343b2-6f6a-47ab-add9-7fd7b2d0147a.png] Weekly Update THIS WEEK for SA CU: Saturday, 12/15, at 5PM Join us this Saturday in downtown Champaign for a rally in solidarity with the French Yellow Vests movement! With Rahm Emanuel's recent proposal to fund a transportation bill via a statewide 20 to 30 cent tax increase on gasoline, we feel it is more important than ever to push back against our politicians' insistence that everyday people must foot the bill for the vital repairs our nation's crumbling infrastructure needs. Instead, we should tax the rich to fund the green jobs initiatives we need in order to transition into a fully renewable future. Standing alongside us as co-sponsors will be the CU chapters of Young Democratic Socialists of America, International Socialist Organization, and Party for Socialism and Liberation. Bring a yellow vest! Yellow Vest Rally Against Austerity, Fascism, Eco-Catastrophe Hope to see you out there! In solidarity, Socialist Alternative CU [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-twitter-48.png] [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-facebook-48.png] [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-link-48.png] Copyright © 2018 Socialist Alternative CU, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Socialist Alternative CU P.O. Box 17121 Urbana, Il 61803 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. [Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 15:12:42 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 15:12:42 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Have we really ended the war in Yemen? Message-ID: No, we've just taken a first step in the process. Over 80,000 people have died in this war since early 2015, with 85,000 children starving to death, how many more people will die while the US plays games with our “good institutions." The Republicans produced a bill to stop the war in Yemen, by attaching it to an unrelated "farm bill," the irony is inescapable. I frequently hear statements saying, “the US has good institutions.” Really? If it’s so easy to game them, they aren’t good, if its so easy to buy them off, they aren’t good, just as our unions have betrayed the people, they aren't good. GM workers are now forming their own community unions, and all I can say is "it's about time." It’s about time the people take over institutions that aren't working. "The Senate vote to end U.S. involvement in the #Saudi #Yemen War is a big step forward, and the House should do the same in early 2019. But to actually force an end to the Saudi war, Congress must cut off the Saudi Air Force’s spare parts, without which it can’t fly.." — Gareth Porter (@GarethPorter) December 14, 2018 Yes, we cut off their refueling in air, but that is a minimal cut off, when we keep supplying them with weapons, training, and logistics, and spare parts. When we keep supplying them with the right to bomb “Al Qaida” with drones, we know what happens, “Oops, a wedding, a school, a hospital, sorry about that." (sarcasm) I think its a bit premature to celebrate, for anti-war activists who are serious about ending the death and destruction being perpetrated by our “democratically elected government.” (More sarcasm) As death will continue while we watch the games. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 15:12:42 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 15:12:42 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Have we really ended the war in Yemen? Message-ID: No, we've just taken a first step in the process. Over 80,000 people have died in this war since early 2015, with 85,000 children starving to death, how many more people will die while the US plays games with our “good institutions." The Republicans produced a bill to stop the war in Yemen, by attaching it to an unrelated "farm bill," the irony is inescapable. I frequently hear statements saying, “the US has good institutions.” Really? If it’s so easy to game them, they aren’t good, if its so easy to buy them off, they aren’t good, just as our unions have betrayed the people, they aren't good. GM workers are now forming their own community unions, and all I can say is "it's about time." It’s about time the people take over institutions that aren't working. "The Senate vote to end U.S. involvement in the #Saudi #Yemen War is a big step forward, and the House should do the same in early 2019. But to actually force an end to the Saudi war, Congress must cut off the Saudi Air Force’s spare parts, without which it can’t fly.." — Gareth Porter (@GarethPorter) December 14, 2018 Yes, we cut off their refueling in air, but that is a minimal cut off, when we keep supplying them with weapons, training, and logistics, and spare parts. When we keep supplying them with the right to bomb “Al Qaida” with drones, we know what happens, “Oops, a wedding, a school, a hospital, sorry about that." (sarcasm) I think its a bit premature to celebrate, for anti-war activists who are serious about ending the death and destruction being perpetrated by our “democratically elected government.” (More sarcasm) As death will continue while we watch the games. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman at justforeignpolicy.org Fri Dec 14 15:22:46 2018 From: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (Robert Naiman) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 09:22:46 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Have we really ended the war in Yemen? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: It would be premature to celebrate if that meant we were going to stop pushing. But we're not going to stop pushing. === Robert Reuel Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1 On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:13 AM Karen Aram via Peace-discuss < peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > > No, we've just taken a first step in the process. > > Over 80,000 people have died in this war since early 2015, with 85,000 > children starving to death, how many more people will die while the US > plays games with our “good institutions." > > The Republicans produced a bill to stop the war in Yemen, by attaching it > to an unrelated "farm bill," the irony is inescapable. > > I frequently hear statements saying, “the US has good institutions.” > Really? If it’s so easy to game them, they aren’t good, if its so easy to > buy them off, they aren’t good, just as our unions have betrayed the > people, they aren't good. GM workers are now forming their own community > unions, and all I can say is "it's about time." It’s about time the people > take over institutions that aren't working. > > "The Senate vote to end U.S. involvement in the #Saudi > # > Yemen > War > is a big step forward, and the House should do the same in early 2019. But > to actually force an end to the Saudi war, Congress must cut off the Saudi > Air Force’s spare parts, without which it can’t fly.." > > — Gareth Porter (@GarethPorter) December 14, 2018 > > Yes, we cut off their refueling in air, but that is a minimal cut off, > when we keep supplying them with weapons, training, and logistics, and > spare parts. When we keep supplying them with the right to bomb “Al Qaida” > with drones, we know what happens, “Oops, a wedding, a school, a hospital, > sorry about that." (sarcasm) > > I think its a bit premature to celebrate, for anti-war activists who are > serious about ending the death and destruction being perpetrated by our > “democratically elected government.” (More sarcasm) As death will continue > while we watch the games. > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman at justforeignpolicy.org Fri Dec 14 15:22:46 2018 From: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (Robert Naiman) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 09:22:46 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Have we really ended the war in Yemen? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: It would be premature to celebrate if that meant we were going to stop pushing. But we're not going to stop pushing. === Robert Reuel Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1 On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:13 AM Karen Aram via Peace-discuss < peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > > No, we've just taken a first step in the process. > > Over 80,000 people have died in this war since early 2015, with 85,000 > children starving to death, how many more people will die while the US > plays games with our “good institutions." > > The Republicans produced a bill to stop the war in Yemen, by attaching it > to an unrelated "farm bill," the irony is inescapable. > > I frequently hear statements saying, “the US has good institutions.” > Really? If it’s so easy to game them, they aren’t good, if its so easy to > buy them off, they aren’t good, just as our unions have betrayed the > people, they aren't good. GM workers are now forming their own community > unions, and all I can say is "it's about time." It’s about time the people > take over institutions that aren't working. > > "The Senate vote to end U.S. involvement in the #Saudi > # > Yemen > War > is a big step forward, and the House should do the same in early 2019. But > to actually force an end to the Saudi war, Congress must cut off the Saudi > Air Force’s spare parts, without which it can’t fly.." > > — Gareth Porter (@GarethPorter) December 14, 2018 > > Yes, we cut off their refueling in air, but that is a minimal cut off, > when we keep supplying them with weapons, training, and logistics, and > spare parts. When we keep supplying them with the right to bomb “Al Qaida” > with drones, we know what happens, “Oops, a wedding, a school, a hospital, > sorry about that." (sarcasm) > > I think its a bit premature to celebrate, for anti-war activists who are > serious about ending the death and destruction being perpetrated by our > “democratically elected government.” (More sarcasm) As death will continue > while we watch the games. > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 15:28:45 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 15:28:45 +0000 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Have we really ended the war in Yemen? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Bob, no criticism meant towards you, I know you will continue to push. My statement is meant for others who seem to think we have “ended the war,” posting announcements on FB as if its all over. On Dec 14, 2018, at 07:22, Robert Naiman > wrote: It would be premature to celebrate if that meant we were going to stop pushing. But we're not going to stop pushing. === Robert Reuel Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1 On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:13 AM Karen Aram via Peace-discuss > wrote: No, we've just taken a first step in the process. Over 80,000 people have died in this war since early 2015, with 85,000 children starving to death, how many more people will die while the US plays games with our “good institutions." The Republicans produced a bill to stop the war in Yemen, by attaching it to an unrelated "farm bill," the irony is inescapable. I frequently hear statements saying, “the US has good institutions.” Really? If it’s so easy to game them, they aren’t good, if its so easy to buy them off, they aren’t good, just as our unions have betrayed the people, they aren't good. GM workers are now forming their own community unions, and all I can say is "it's about time." It’s about time the people take over institutions that aren't working. "The Senate vote to end U.S. involvement in the #Saudi #Yemen War is a big step forward, and the House should do the same in early 2019. But to actually force an end to the Saudi war, Congress must cut off the Saudi Air Force’s spare parts, without which it can’t fly.." — Gareth Porter (@GarethPorter) December 14, 2018 Yes, we cut off their refueling in air, but that is a minimal cut off, when we keep supplying them with weapons, training, and logistics, and spare parts. When we keep supplying them with the right to bomb “Al Qaida” with drones, we know what happens, “Oops, a wedding, a school, a hospital, sorry about that." (sarcasm) I think its a bit premature to celebrate, for anti-war activists who are serious about ending the death and destruction being perpetrated by our “democratically elected government.” (More sarcasm) As death will continue while we watch the games. _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 15:28:45 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 15:28:45 +0000 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Have we really ended the war in Yemen? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Bob, no criticism meant towards you, I know you will continue to push. My statement is meant for others who seem to think we have “ended the war,” posting announcements on FB as if its all over. On Dec 14, 2018, at 07:22, Robert Naiman > wrote: It would be premature to celebrate if that meant we were going to stop pushing. But we're not going to stop pushing. === Robert Reuel Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1 On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:13 AM Karen Aram via Peace-discuss > wrote: No, we've just taken a first step in the process. Over 80,000 people have died in this war since early 2015, with 85,000 children starving to death, how many more people will die while the US plays games with our “good institutions." The Republicans produced a bill to stop the war in Yemen, by attaching it to an unrelated "farm bill," the irony is inescapable. I frequently hear statements saying, “the US has good institutions.” Really? If it’s so easy to game them, they aren’t good, if its so easy to buy them off, they aren’t good, just as our unions have betrayed the people, they aren't good. GM workers are now forming their own community unions, and all I can say is "it's about time." It’s about time the people take over institutions that aren't working. "The Senate vote to end U.S. involvement in the #Saudi #Yemen War is a big step forward, and the House should do the same in early 2019. But to actually force an end to the Saudi war, Congress must cut off the Saudi Air Force’s spare parts, without which it can’t fly.." — Gareth Porter (@GarethPorter) December 14, 2018 Yes, we cut off their refueling in air, but that is a minimal cut off, when we keep supplying them with weapons, training, and logistics, and spare parts. When we keep supplying them with the right to bomb “Al Qaida” with drones, we know what happens, “Oops, a wedding, a school, a hospital, sorry about that." (sarcasm) I think its a bit premature to celebrate, for anti-war activists who are serious about ending the death and destruction being perpetrated by our “democratically elected government.” (More sarcasm) As death will continue while we watch the games. _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 16:27:00 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 16:27:00 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: More changes: [Yellow Vest Rally Against Austerity, Fascism, Eco-Catastrophe] UPDATE: References: <533eabdaffbc11e8b912000af7c220c8-19396680@e782be1fa24f8c3bf4f0221ddc3c69be5c1551e1eb4ede2c231c3a62c274e761> Message-ID: "UPDATE: We met with other so-sponsoring orgs and decided to push the rally back to 5:00. So that it would be more available to people getting off work at 5:00-ish. We have it set to go to 6:30. So that people will be able to make some part of it if they can't make it to the beginning. Thanks, Socialist Alternative CU” [https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yL/r/vd4aB0GIe9z.png] Facebook Socialist Alternative Champaign-Urbana posted in Yellow Vest Rally Against Austerity, Fascism, Eco-Catastrophe. [https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/p100x100/17796254_1398048790238825_7308308815009118226_n.png?_nc_cat=110&_nc_ad=z-m&_nc_cid=0&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=6faac9f201f4cf99c7f2a016de618082&oe=5CAEA017] Socialist Alternative Champaign-Urbana December 14 at 8:21 AM UPDATE: We met with other so-sponsoring orgs and decided to...See More [https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yn/r/A9uao6Uj7et.png] Like [https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/y9/r/2St6pqDd5yX.png] Comment [https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yl/r/lIocuW4K69q.png] Share View on Facebook Edit Email Settings Reply to this email to comment on this post. This message was sent to karenaram at hotmail.com. If you don't want to receive these emails from Facebook in the future, please unsubscribe. Facebook, Inc., Attention: Community Support, 1 Facebook Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025 To help keep your account secure, please don't forward this email. Learn more. [https://www.facebook.com/email_open_log_pic.php?mid=57cfd89878254G59f6997cG57cfdd31d8526G3f3] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 16:27:00 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 16:27:00 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: More changes: [Yellow Vest Rally Against Austerity, Fascism, Eco-Catastrophe] UPDATE: References: <533eabdaffbc11e8b912000af7c220c8-19396680@e782be1fa24f8c3bf4f0221ddc3c69be5c1551e1eb4ede2c231c3a62c274e761> Message-ID: "UPDATE: We met with other so-sponsoring orgs and decided to push the rally back to 5:00. So that it would be more available to people getting off work at 5:00-ish. We have it set to go to 6:30. So that people will be able to make some part of it if they can't make it to the beginning. Thanks, Socialist Alternative CU” [https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yL/r/vd4aB0GIe9z.png] Facebook Socialist Alternative Champaign-Urbana posted in Yellow Vest Rally Against Austerity, Fascism, Eco-Catastrophe. [https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/p100x100/17796254_1398048790238825_7308308815009118226_n.png?_nc_cat=110&_nc_ad=z-m&_nc_cid=0&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=6faac9f201f4cf99c7f2a016de618082&oe=5CAEA017] Socialist Alternative Champaign-Urbana December 14 at 8:21 AM UPDATE: We met with other so-sponsoring orgs and decided to...See More [https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yn/r/A9uao6Uj7et.png] Like [https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/y9/r/2St6pqDd5yX.png] Comment [https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yl/r/lIocuW4K69q.png] Share View on Facebook Edit Email Settings Reply to this email to comment on this post. This message was sent to karenaram at hotmail.com. If you don't want to receive these emails from Facebook in the future, please unsubscribe. Facebook, Inc., Attention: Community Support, 1 Facebook Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025 To help keep your account secure, please don't forward this email. Learn more. [https://www.facebook.com/email_open_log_pic.php?mid=57cfd89878254G59f6997cG57cfdd31d8526G3f3] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman at justforeignpolicy.org Fri Dec 14 17:26:15 2018 From: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (Robert Naiman) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 11:26:15 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Have we really ended the war in Yemen? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: You know what's really encouraging to me? Check out the hashtag #FamineFive. https://twitter.com/search?q=%23FamineFive === Robert Reuel Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1 On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:28 AM Karen Aram wrote: > Bob, no criticism meant towards you, I know you will continue to push. My > statement is meant for others who seem to think we have “ended the war,” > posting announcements on FB as if its all over. > > On Dec 14, 2018, at 07:22, Robert Naiman > wrote: > > > It would be premature to celebrate if that meant we were going to stop > pushing. > > But we're not going to stop pushing. > > === > > Robert Reuel Naiman > Policy Director > Just Foreign Policy > www.justforeignpolicy.org > naiman at justforeignpolicy.org > (202) 448-2898 x1 > > > > > > On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:13 AM Karen Aram via Peace-discuss < > peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > >> >> No, we've just taken a first step in the process. >> >> Over 80,000 people have died in this war since early 2015, with 85,000 >> children starving to death, how many more people will die while the US >> plays games with our “good institutions." >> >> The Republicans produced a bill to stop the war in Yemen, by attaching it >> to an unrelated "farm bill," the irony is inescapable. >> >> I frequently hear statements saying, “the US has good institutions.” >> Really? If it’s so easy to game them, they aren’t good, if its so easy to >> buy them off, they aren’t good, just as our unions have betrayed the >> people, they aren't good. GM workers are now forming their own community >> unions, and all I can say is "it's about time." It’s about time the people >> take over institutions that aren't working. >> >> "The Senate vote to end U.S. involvement in the #Saudi >> # >> Yemen >> War >> is a big step forward, and the House should do the same in early 2019. But >> to actually force an end to the Saudi war, Congress must cut off the Saudi >> Air Force’s spare parts, without which it can’t fly.." >> >> — Gareth Porter (@GarethPorter) December 14, 2018 >> >> Yes, we cut off their refueling in air, but that is a minimal cut off, >> when we keep supplying them with weapons, training, and logistics, and >> spare parts. When we keep supplying them with the right to bomb “Al Qaida” >> with drones, we know what happens, “Oops, a wedding, a school, a hospital, >> sorry about that." (sarcasm) >> >> I think its a bit premature to celebrate, for anti-war activists who are >> serious about ending the death and destruction being perpetrated by our >> “democratically elected government.” (More sarcasm) As death will continue >> while we watch the games. >> _______________________________________________ >> Peace-discuss mailing list >> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss >> > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman at justforeignpolicy.org Fri Dec 14 17:26:15 2018 From: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (Robert Naiman) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 11:26:15 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Have we really ended the war in Yemen? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: You know what's really encouraging to me? Check out the hashtag #FamineFive. https://twitter.com/search?q=%23FamineFive === Robert Reuel Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1 On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:28 AM Karen Aram wrote: > Bob, no criticism meant towards you, I know you will continue to push. My > statement is meant for others who seem to think we have “ended the war,” > posting announcements on FB as if its all over. > > On Dec 14, 2018, at 07:22, Robert Naiman > wrote: > > > It would be premature to celebrate if that meant we were going to stop > pushing. > > But we're not going to stop pushing. > > === > > Robert Reuel Naiman > Policy Director > Just Foreign Policy > www.justforeignpolicy.org > naiman at justforeignpolicy.org > (202) 448-2898 x1 > > > > > > On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:13 AM Karen Aram via Peace-discuss < > peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > >> >> No, we've just taken a first step in the process. >> >> Over 80,000 people have died in this war since early 2015, with 85,000 >> children starving to death, how many more people will die while the US >> plays games with our “good institutions." >> >> The Republicans produced a bill to stop the war in Yemen, by attaching it >> to an unrelated "farm bill," the irony is inescapable. >> >> I frequently hear statements saying, “the US has good institutions.” >> Really? If it’s so easy to game them, they aren’t good, if its so easy to >> buy them off, they aren’t good, just as our unions have betrayed the >> people, they aren't good. GM workers are now forming their own community >> unions, and all I can say is "it's about time." It’s about time the people >> take over institutions that aren't working. >> >> "The Senate vote to end U.S. involvement in the #Saudi >> # >> Yemen >> War >> is a big step forward, and the House should do the same in early 2019. But >> to actually force an end to the Saudi war, Congress must cut off the Saudi >> Air Force’s spare parts, without which it can’t fly.." >> >> — Gareth Porter (@GarethPorter) December 14, 2018 >> >> Yes, we cut off their refueling in air, but that is a minimal cut off, >> when we keep supplying them with weapons, training, and logistics, and >> spare parts. When we keep supplying them with the right to bomb “Al Qaida” >> with drones, we know what happens, “Oops, a wedding, a school, a hospital, >> sorry about that." (sarcasm) >> >> I think its a bit premature to celebrate, for anti-war activists who are >> serious about ending the death and destruction being perpetrated by our >> “democratically elected government.” (More sarcasm) As death will continue >> while we watch the games. >> _______________________________________________ >> Peace-discuss mailing list >> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss >> > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Sat Dec 15 11:28:54 2018 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2018 05:28:54 -0600 Subject: [Peace] please sign Barbara Lee's petition to bring Yemen vote to House floor Message-ID: It may work, it may not work; in the category of can't hurt, might help. Please sign Rep. Barbara Lee is pushing for Ryan to bring Yemen to the floor: https://go.barbaraleeforcongress.org/page/s/add-your-name-demand-paul-ryan-bring-the-yemen-resolution-to-a-vote?source=em-181214-yemen Thanks, Deb From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Dec 15 15:17:52 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2018 15:17:52 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Veterans for Peace, worth a listen..... Message-ID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3R83qwN0Ds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Dec 15 15:17:52 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2018 15:17:52 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Veterans for Peace, worth a listen..... Message-ID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3R83qwN0Ds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman at justforeignpolicy.org Sun Dec 16 15:09:55 2018 From: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (Robert Naiman) Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2018 09:09:55 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Apartheid not possible without US support In-Reply-To: <78AB918D-E536-449E-98F5-E3EA0F81FCE3@gmail.com> References: <78AB918D-E536-449E-98F5-E3EA0F81FCE3@gmail.com> Message-ID: "for its own geopolitical purposes" Yes, but who does "its" refer to? Exactly whose geopolitical purposes? Who is "the United States"? Exactly who is calling the shots on this policy, and in exactly whose interests are they doing so? I think we Americans have a important new vantage point right now from which to try to examine these important questions with more specificity. Let's temporarily substitute the words "Saudi Arabia" for the word "Israel" in this discussion. The "U.S. government" also supports the Saudi government "for its own geopolitical purposes." But between September 2016, when only 27 Senators voted against the Saudi tank deal, and last week, when 56 Senators voted to pass the Sanders-Lee-Murphy Yemen War Powers Resolution to end unconstitutional U.S. participation in the Saudi regime's war-famine-genocide in Yemen, there has been a historic shift. *Still *the Saudi regime's war-famine-genocide in Yemen continues, as Karen pointed out. *Still "*U.S." participation the Saudi regime's war-famine-genocide in Yemen continues. Why does "U.S." participation in the Saudi regime's war-famine-genocide in Yemen continue? "For its own geopolitical purposes." But now there's a split. Part of the U.S. government - the U.S. Senate - doesn't want to participate any more. The part of the U.S. government that doesn't want to participate any more is trying to grab the steering wheel from the part that does. Now, in the Saudi case, the specificity of who "its" refers to, the specificity of what "geopolitical purposes" of "its" might be at stake, lie much greater exposed. Separate from the urgency of ending the Yemen war, isn't that a welcome development? Shouldn't Americans who care what happens to Palestinians in Palestine as a result of U.S. foreign policy be having a thousand conversations with each other about how to try to retrace the arc of debate in Washington on the U.S. relationship to Saudi Arabia since September 2016 with respect to the relationship between the U.S. and Israel? To narrow the question a bit: what's a bone we could fight with AIPAC over in the U.S. Senate now, with the goal that in the next while we'd get 27 Senators, and two years from now we'd get 56? It should be something that matters. It should be something that activists care about. But also, it shouldn't be "shooting the moon." It should be something where we have a plausible path to getting 27 Senators in the next while, and 56 Senators in the not-too-distant future. I have an idea. Let's turn opposition to the Cardin bill into an affirmative declaration of the First Amendment right of Americans to participate in boycotts to reform U.S. foreign policy to bring it into compliance with respect for internationally-recognized universal human rights that are also recognized in U.S. law. Tracking the position of the ACLU that the Cardin bill is an unconstitutional abridgment of Americans First Amendment protected free speech rights. Four of the five Senate Democrats mooted as candidates for POTUS are good on this. Only Booker is bad. Let's use this as a wedge. === Robert Reuel Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1 On Sat, Dec 15, 2018 at 7:58 PM C G Estabrook via Peace-discuss < peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > …for its own geopolitical purposes. > > ================================= > Opinion I Feel No Sympathy for the Settlers > > Beneath the veil of sanctimonious and hypocritical unity, and the media’s > fake show of national grief to advance its own commercial goals, the truth > must be told: Their tragedy isn’t ours > > Gideon Levy > Dec 16, 2018 2:32 AM > > I do not sympathize with people who profiteer from tragedy. I have no > sympathy for robbers. I have no sympathy for the settlers. I have no > sympathy for the settlers not even when they are hit by tragedy. A pregnant > woman was wounded and her newborn baby died of its wounds – what can be > worse than that? Driving on their roads is frightening, the violent > opposition to their presence is growing – and I feel no sympathy for their > tragedy, nor do I feel any compassion or solidarity. > > They are to blame, not I, for the fact that I cannot feel the most humane > sense of solidarity and pain. It’s not just that they’re settlers, > violators of international law and universal justice; it’s not just because > of the violence of some of them and the settling of all of them – it’s also > the blackmail with which they respond to every tragedy, which prevents me > from grieving with them. But beneath the veil of sanctimonious and > hypocritical unity, and the media’s fake show of national grief to advance > its own commercial goals, the truth must be told: Their tragedy isn’t ours. > > Their tragedy isn’t ours because they’ve brought the tragedy upon > themselves and the entire country. It’s true that the main blame goes to > the governments that gave into them, either eagerly or out of weakness, but > the settlers cannot be absolved of blame, either. The extorter – and not > just those who have given into extortion – is also to blame. But they are > there, generations born on stolen land, children raised in an apartheid > existence and trained to think it is biblical justice, and with government > support. Perhaps we cannot blame those who are sitting on land usurped by > their parents. But their tragedy is not ours because they exploit every > tragedy to advance their aims in the most cynical of ways. > > When a baby dies they install trailer homes, when soldiers are killed > defending them – they do not seek forgiveness from the families of these > soldiers, despite their blame for the lives that have been cut short – they > only present demands so as to whitewash their crimes. And with these > demands the appetite for revenge grows: to imprison even more of their > neighbors, to destroy their homes, to kill, to arrest, block roads and > exact more revenge. And if that, too, is not enough, their own wild > militias raid the Palestinians, throw stones at their vehicles, set their > fields on fire and wreak terror on their villages. They are not satisfied > with the collective punishment imposed by the army and the Shin Bet > security service, exercised with cruelty and sometimes criminality. The > settlers’ lust for revenge is never satisfied. How is it possible to > identify with the grief of people who behave like that? > > It’s impossible to identify with their bereavement, because Israel has > decided to avoid looking at all that is done there in the land of Judea. > When you are capable of being indifferent to the execution of a > psychologically impaired young man by soldiers, you can also be indifferent > to the shooting of a pregnant woman by Palestinians. When you ignore the > goings on at the Tulkarm refugee camp, you can also ignore what takes place > at the Givat Assaf junction. It’s moral blindness to everything. Yesha > isn’t here, that’s the price being paid for the lack of interest in what is > going on in the territories and for ignoring the occupation, under whose > sponsorship the settlements are based. Giant budgets are poured out there > without any public opposition – so there is also indifference to the fate > of the settlers and their tragedies. The piece of land they have taken over > doesn’t interest most Israelis living in the land of denial, and that’s the > price. > > We have no reason to apologize for the lack of interest and > identification. The settlers have brought it on themselves. Those who have > never shown any interest in the suffering of their Palestinian neighbors, > which they have caused, those who preach all the time that the iron fist > must always be tightened, to torture them even more – don’t deserve to be > identified with, not even in the hour of their grief. I take no joy in > their suffering but I have no sympathy for their pain. The real pain is > borne by their victims, those who moan submissively and those who take > their fate in their hands and try to resist a violent reality violently and > sometimes also murderously. The Palestinians are the victims deserving of > pity and solidarity. > > [Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, and > analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive > and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, > including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, > Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, > Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza > Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the > Diaspora.] > © Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sun Dec 16 15:17:16 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2018 15:17:16 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Worthwhile Interview with Medea Benjamin by Ben Norton. Medea really nails it in respect to Yemen Message-ID: https://therealnews.com/stories/how-us-saudi-war-turned-yemen-into-the-biggest-crisis-on-earth From karenaram at hotmail.com Sun Dec 16 15:17:16 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2018 15:17:16 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Worthwhile Interview with Medea Benjamin by Ben Norton. Medea really nails it in respect to Yemen Message-ID: https://therealnews.com/stories/how-us-saudi-war-turned-yemen-into-the-biggest-crisis-on-earth From stuartnlevy at gmail.com Mon Dec 17 15:43:54 2018 From: stuartnlevy at gmail.com (stuartnlevy) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2018 09:43:54 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The newest Jim Crow - ask our Sens.: vote No on First Step Act criminal justice reform Message-ID: <5c17c43e.1c69fb81.99164.1ece@mx.google.com> Criminal justice "reform" is in the news, and a vote is expected in the Senate this week, maybe today. I just called the offices of Sen. Durbin (202-224-2152) and Sen. Duckworth (202-224-2854).   They haven't been getting many calls on this. If you can, please urge our Senators to vote No on the First Step Act.  Though it has bipartisan support and does make some actual improvements, it includes some poison pills - entrenching mass supervision and biased risk-assessment algorithms which are based on data from decades of past discrimination, among others. Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow" on mass incarceration, wrote a Nov 8 2018 NY Times op-ed, "The Newest Jim Crow": https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/sunday/criminal-justice-reforms-race-technology.html A detailed review of the First Step Act's provisions, pro and con, from Just Leadership USA:https://www.justleadershipusa.org/first-step-act-and-sentencing-reform-and-corrections-act/ It provides for moving low-risk prisoners out of prisons and onto "home confinement" - electronic monitoring.  They are still effectively incarcerated, but at their own expense.   (Electronic monitoring can cost more than rent.)    Risk assessment algorithms look race-blind and  dispassionate, but they are built using data from a criminal justice system with a long discriminatory history, using factors that correlate with race and class. As it stands, this bill will do far more long-term harm than good.  -- Stuart -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Dec 17 15:51:26 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2018 15:51:26 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Americans being required to sign loyalty oaths to Israel, "is McCarthyite and Orwellian" to the extreme. Message-ID: https://theintercept.com/2018/12/17/israel-texas-anti-bds-law/ From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Dec 17 15:51:26 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2018 15:51:26 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Americans being required to sign loyalty oaths to Israel, "is McCarthyite and Orwellian" to the extreme. Message-ID: https://theintercept.com/2018/12/17/israel-texas-anti-bds-law/ From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Mon Dec 17 16:37:36 2018 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2018 10:37:36 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The newest Jim Crow - ask our Sens.: vote No on First Step Act criminal justice reform In-Reply-To: <5c17c43e.1c69fb81.99164.1ece@mx.google.com> References: <5c17c43e.1c69fb81.99164.1ece@mx.google.com> Message-ID: <0B98C736-E6B2-4CB3-9A2E-CFEE818F2771@gmail.com> Yeah it’s a bad bill. Done. Who’s next? Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 17, 2018, at 9:43 AM, stuartnlevy via Peace wrote: > > Criminal justice "reform" is in the news, and a vote is expected in the Senate this week, maybe today. > > I just called the offices of Sen. Durbin (202-224-2152) and Sen. Duckworth (202-224-2854). They haven't been getting many calls on this. > > If you can, please urge our Senators to vote No on the First Step Act. Though it has bipartisan support and does make some actual improvements, it includes some poison pills - entrenching mass supervision and biased risk-assessment algorithms which are based on data from decades of past discrimination, among others. > > Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow" on mass incarceration, wrote a Nov 8 2018 NY Times op-ed, "The Newest Jim Crow": > > https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/sunday/criminal-justice-reforms-race-technology.html > > A detailed review of the First Step Act's provisions, pro and con, from Just Leadership USA: > https://www.justleadershipusa.org/first-step-act-and-sentencing-reform-and-corrections-act/ > > It provides for moving low-risk prisoners out of prisons and onto "home confinement" - electronic monitoring. They are still effectively incarcerated, but at their own expense. (Electronic monitoring can cost more than rent.) > > Risk assessment algorithms look race-blind and dispassionate, but they are built using data from a criminal justice system with a long discriminatory history, using factors that correlate with race and class. > > As it stands, this bill will do far more long-term harm than good. > > > -- Stuart > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Dec 19 14:47:54 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2018 14:47:54 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Glen Greenwald on Democracy Now Message-ID: https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/18/glenn_greenwald_congress_is_trying_to From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Dec 19 14:47:54 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2018 14:47:54 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Glen Greenwald on Democracy Now Message-ID: https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/18/glenn_greenwald_congress_is_trying_to From naiman at justforeignpolicy.org Thu Dec 20 20:58:08 2018 From: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (Robert Naiman) Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2018 14:58:08 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?=5BPeace-discuss=5D_Fwd=3A_Reactions_To_Trump?= =?utf-8?q?=E2=80=99s_Syria_Withdrawal_Plan_Say_More_Than_The_Plan_?= =?utf-8?q?Itself?= In-Reply-To: <1A7FE421-40B4-4D96-88B4-019C86CC382B@gmail.com> References: <139971992.5723.0@wordpress.com> <1A7FE421-40B4-4D96-88B4-019C86CC382B@gmail.com> Message-ID: Ted Lieu and Ro Khanna have praised Trump's announcement. Khanna: https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/1075570933237202944 Lieu was first. We did a petition in support of Lieu's statement yesterday. Stand w @TedLieu: Back @POTUS move to end unconstitutional Syria war, bring troops home https://www.change.org/p/stand-w-tedlieu-back-potus-move-to-end-unconstitutional-syria-war-bring-troops-home === Robert Reuel Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1 On Thu, Dec 20, 2018 at 2:02 PM C G Estabrook via Peace-discuss < peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > > > Begin forwarded message: > > *From: *Caitlin Johnstone > *Subject: **[New post] Reactions To Trump’s Syria Withdrawal Plan Say > More Than The Plan Itself* > *Date: *December 20, 2018 at 8:26:15 AM CST > *To: *cgestabrook at gmail.com > > New post on *Caitlin Johnstone* > Reactions To Trump’s Syria > Withdrawal Plan Say More Than The Plan Itself > > by Caitlin Johnstone > > President Trump has ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, which > is reportedly expected to take 60-100 > > days or 30 days > > depending on who you ask. According to Kurdish forces in eastern Syria > the withdrawal of American as well as French > > troops is already underway, though France is saying it's staying > . The number of troops to be withdrawn > which keeps getting repeated in the news is 2,000, but there've been > reports > that > the actual number of US ground troops in Syria is closer to 4,000. The > US-led airstrike campaign against Islamic State will reportedly continue > . > > Trump says > the > withdrawal is because ISIS has been defeated in Syria, but others are > pointing to the conspicuous timing of his recent chat with Turkey's > President Tayyip Erdoğan, who has announced a coming military operation > > against Kurdish forces in Syria east of the Euphrates in the near > future, as the more likely reason. An anonymous senior US official has > told *Reuters* > > that the two leaders didn't discuss a US withdrawal from Syria, but the > timing of the conversation as well as a recent $3.5 billion arms deal > with > Turkey indicates the the US withdrawal and Erdoğan's planned military > assault could very well be related. The Kurds put all their eggs in the > basket of US support out of a desire to create their own nation, and a US > withdrawal means they'll be forced to either court an alliance with > Damascus, as some analysts > believe > will happen, or risk being trapped between hostile Turkish forces and > hostile Syrian coalition forces as the Assad government races to reclaim > Syrian territory > > . > > Beyond that, it's hard to tell what's actually happening. I'll be > astonished if there is an actual US withdrawal from Syria without any > residual or proxy forces left behind, and it remains extremely possible > that US troops won't leave at all, especially if another conveniently timed > "chemical weapons attack" gets attributed to Damascus. This administration > has been going back and forth and back and forth about what its Syria > policy actually is ever since Trump took office, and it won't be the least > bit surprising if we end up seeing very little change in US military > presence. Things could very well just get shuffled around a bit and then > re-settle as power struggles are sorted out within an administration that > is endlessly in conflict with itself. > > Everything I've just typed is basically a jumbled information salad of > possibilities and speculation; it's just me saying "Here's what little we > know, now we wait and see" and then shrugging. The real information that we > can look at right now is the absolutely bizarre bipartisan response that > Trump's announcement has elicited. > > Trump gave Putin a big Christmas present this year: Syria. > > — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) December 19, 2018 > > > As soon as Trump announced via Twitter his intent to withdraw troops from > Syria, everyone has been losing their minds. Virtually every liberal media > outlet has reacted hysterically, with the *New York Times* editorial board > condemning the decision , along with multiple > CNN and MSNBC releases and Rachel Maddow going full Rachel Maddow > but with > Turkey this time. Senators Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Jeanne Shaheen, Tom > Cotton, Angus King and Joni Ernst wrote Trump a bipartisan letter warning > that a US withdrawal "may embolden Bashar al Assad to take further actions > to solidify his power" inside the country he is the president of. Hollywood > celebrities like Bette Midler > , Mia Farrow > and Cher > burst out of their > dust pods of irrelevance to scream at everyone that limitless US military > expansionism is glorious and desirable. Max Boot, the legendary Man Who Is > Always Wrong About Everything, declared > that Trump is > giving a "gift to Iran, Russia, ISIS, and Assad" by exiting. > > That word "gift" appeared again and again and again and again. The *New > York Times*editorial board declared "An American withdrawal would also be > a gift to Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, who has been working hard to > supplant American influence in the region, as well as to Iran, which has > also expanded its regional footprint." Victoria Nuland in the Washington > Post declared > > that "With his decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria, > President Trump hands a huge New Year’s gift to President Bashar al-Assad, > the Islamic State, the Kremlin and Tehran." The *New York Times*' Bret > Stephens called it > "A gift > to Iran, Hezbollah, and Putin." > > And all the rank-and-file consumers of mass media are now parroting that > talking point at every opportunity. Do a Twitter search for the words > "gift" and "Syria" together as of this publishing and you'll come across > not just blue-checkmarked establishment mouthpieces teaching that slogan to > their followers, but countless ordinary people regurgitating it as well. > Not because they believe in endless US military expansionism, not because > they truly understand what's going on and take issue with it, but because > they hate Trump and they were taught to repeat a specific line in order to > criticize him. > > Trump's Syria strategy as a house sale: > > "Great, we are negotiating our departure from the house in hopes of > protecting our interests in the neighborhood. Ok, the house is yours. We > are moving out. Once we are gone, we'll start negotiating price." > > Art of the Idiotic Deal. > > — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 19, 2018 > > > The thing about this "gift" idea, and really with all the criticisms that > are being leveled against Trump's supposed troop withdrawal, is that they > all have as their premise the assumption that Syria belongs to America. > #Resistance pundit and tentacle porn aficionado Kurt Eichenwald even compared > the withdrawal to a homeowner > giving > away their home without negotiating a price first. All across the board in > these criticisms there is this one bizarre assumption that is going > completely unquestioned: that Syria is America's property, and ceasing to > treat it as such would be giving that property away to someone else, > whether it be Russia, Iran, or Syria's own government. > > But Syria is not America's property, and the US has never had any right to > be there at all. Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, unlike the US, are in Syria at > the invitation of the nation's only legitimate government. They are there > fighting back the extremist forces which had captured large territories with > the backing of the US and its allies > > in an attempted regime change intervention which was planned long before > violence erupted in 2011 > . > All these pundits pontificating from their armchairs about retaining > control of Syrian land in order to "counter the influence" of Iran or > Russia are claiming that an invading, occupying force should retain control > of a third of Syria > in order to > control what a sovereign nation does with its own allies. > > And that just says so much about the mentality of the American elite class > and its lackeys. For the thought leaders of the US global order, and for > the unthinking human livestock who follow their decrees, America is the > only sovereign nation on earth. If China invaded the US and occupied a > third of its territory in order to counter Canadian and British influence > we'd be looking at World War Three that very day, but doing exactly that in > a disobedient Middle Eastern country is looked at as so normal and routine > that any apparent deviation from that strategy is regarded with shock and > outrage. And the only thing that keeps this obvious discrepancy from being > treated like the ridiculous power-serving double standard that it is is a > claim to moral authority by a government which literally armed terrorists > in Syria. > > Syria is not a "gift" that can be "given" to Putin, despite the blinkered > American political climate which places everything in that asinine context. > It's a country over which the United States has no legal authority, and > never did, despite years of casualties and billions spent > pic.twitter.com/7WztDNedt5 > > — Michael Tracey (@mtracey) December 19, 2018 > > > So while the jumble of information and speculation about Trump's possible > Syria maneuverings doesn't necessarily tell us a whole lot, the reaction to > it tells us why the world looks the way it looks. The most powerful > military force in the history of civilization inflicts violence and > domination with total impunity and total disregard for national > sovereignty, demanding total respect for its own borders and total > compliance from all nations outside its borders. Nations which obey are > absorbed into an alliance that is so tight and streamlined it can > effectively be called an empire, while nations which disobey are invaded, > occupied, disrupted and destroyed. > > I write about the United States so much partly for the same reason I'd > keep an eye on a guy at the bar who was always walking around knocking > people off their chairs and drinking their beer, and partly because a > conscious relationship with the concept of sovereignty is so very, very > important if we're to learn to survive the troubles we're facing as a > species. Sovereignty is what personal, political, and societal problems all > ultimately boil down to. Becoming conscious of all the myriad ways we > extend beyond our own sovereign boundaries and intrude into the sovereignty > of others, be they personal, ideological, national, or ecosystemic, is the > path toward creating a world wherein we can all collaborate with each other > and with our environment in the interests of the greater good. > > We've got to evolve beyond this mentality of intrusive domination which is > so aggressively promoted as normal by the mass media. The idea that it's > okay for a powerful nation to insert its military force into a weaker > nation in order to manipulate geopolitical dynamics to its advantage is a > sickness, and we need to heal it. > > ______________________ > > *That was fun. So, the best way to get around the internet censors and > make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list > for my* *website* *, which will get you an > email notification for everything I publish. My articles are entirely > reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it > around, liking me on* *Facebook* > *, following my antics on* > *Twitter* *, **throwing some money into my > hat on **Patreon* * or* *Paypal* > , *purchasing some of my sweet new > merchandise > , **buying > my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone > , or my previous book **Woke: A Field > Guide for Utopia Preppers* > > *.* > > *Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2* > *Caitlin Johnstone * | December > 20, 2018 at 2:25 pm | Tags: #Trump > , government > , media > , Politics > , Syria > , withdrawal > | > Categories: Article > | URL: > https://wp.me/p9tj6M-1uj > > Comment > > See all comments > > > Unsubscribe > > to no longer receive posts from Caitlin Johnstone. > Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions > . > > *Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser: > > https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/12/20/reactions-to-trumps-syria-withdrawal-plan-say-more-than-the-plan-itself/ > > > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ben at peartreestudio.net Fri Dec 21 15:44:57 2018 From: ben at peartreestudio.net (Ben Galewsky) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2018 09:44:57 -0600 Subject: [Peace] 13th Congressional District could be sacrificed after 2020 census Message-ID: <2038541D-C7D6-41FD-8BBA-C2411BD1B5F2@peartreestudio.net> From Today’s Politco: New data this week shows Illinois is certain to lose a congressional seat after the 2020 census, and that's prompted a political parlor game of how redistricting might play out. With Democrats in control of state government , observers expect consolidation of districts now held by GOP lawmakers. Two possibilities: the 15th and 16th districts could merge, forcing incumbents John Shimkus and Adam Kinzinger to compete. Or the 13th and 18th districts might combine, which would have incumbent Republicans Rodney Davis and Darin LaHood going head to head. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Dec 25 18:29:47 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2018 18:29:47 +0000 Subject: [Peace] "Peace in Syria" by Phyllis Bennis on Democracy Now. Message-ID: https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/20/the_bombings_will_continue_phyllis_bennis From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Dec 29 18:55:33 2018 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2018 18:55:33 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: For a full withdrawal - U.S. out of the Middle East! References: <5c27b6e6e2731_10035aaef6082420@asgworker-qmb3-1.nbuild.prd.useast1.3dna.io.mail> Message-ID: [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/15163347090_c1e2617f8c_k.jpg] Statement: For a full withdrawal — U.S. out of the Middle East! [Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] The slogan “U.S. Out of the Middle East” should not be controversial for any leftist or class-conscious worker. The decision to remove 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria must be extended to include the over 5,000 estimated “contractors” — i.e. mercenaries — in Syria. U.S. bombing anywhere in Syria is a violation of the country’s sovereignty and of international law. The retreat and departure of U.S. forces confirms Western imperialism’s defeat in Syria, after seven years of catastrophic war. That is why the U.S. ruling class — from liberal to conservative — is up in arms about Trump’s decision, and why the corporate media howls as if the sky is falling. It also creates a new grave political crisis for the Trump administration. Although Trump is technically the “commander-in-chief,” the president functions primarily as a manager for the collective interests of the bourgeoisie. Those collective interests are primarily safeguarded through the permanent bureaucracy of the institutions of the state, and for U.S. imperialism chief among those institutions is the military high command. The resignation of Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis signals that this sector of the ruling class has begun to rebel against him as well and that Trump’s destabilization of the Empire is intolerable for them; whether he can survive this struggle within the ruling class amid a plummeting stock market, a likely government shutdown and multiple corruption investigations, is an open question. Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Du9hiNDVYAA13fE.jpg] Speech pathologist challenges Texas anti-BDS law Bahia Amawi, a speech pathologist in Round Rock, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against a 2017 Texas law that requires all state contractors to pledge not to boycott the state of Israel during the term of their contract. The nature of anti-BDS laws is to suppress voices of opposition to Israeli treatment of the Palestinian people. Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] 'Hey Klobuchar, don't you know? The border wall has got to go!' On December 20, activists converged on Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s Minneapolis office to demand NO border wall funding. Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/20181220_171437.jpg] [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Caroling-Action-1.jpg] New Jersey immigrant rights carolers demand: 'Shut ICE down!' Activists and community members gathered at the Essex County Freeholders meeting on December 19 to demand the immediate shut down of the Essex County ICE Center in northern New Jersey. Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] Blog Trump administration wages war on meatpacking industry workers By Eugene Puryear The Trump administration has made a point to eviscerate regulations of all types. One area where this is the case, which has flown well-below the radar, are attempts by the United States Department of Agriculture to make major changes to the rules governing chicken and pork processing plants under the guise of updating and modernizing rules that are allegedly outdated. Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/27007559560_0a87c01711_o.jpg] Video [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2018-11-21-at-9.34.15-PM-1-920x510.png] The New Nepal: Forging an Independent Path of Peace By Liberation Staff Nepal is a society in transition: in 2018, Nepal celebrated its tenth year as a republic, having ended its theocratic, feudal monarchy in 2008. Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] En Español [http://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Drummers-Marriott-strike.jpg] Victoria para obreros hoteleros: contrato en San Francisco Leer más[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [http://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/saudi.jpg] Los lazos EEUU-SAUDI: empadados en sangre, petróleo y engaño Leer más[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [http://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/25cities-caravan.jpg] 25 ciudades se movilizan en solidaridad con la caravana Leer más[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] Militant Journalism [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/smiths-union-vote-to-strike-conference-hall.jpg] New Mexico Smith's supermarket workers authorize one day strike Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/48332802_2242062822511523_662757386993270784_n.jpg] Community defends affordable housing in SeaTac, Washington Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/lancaster-city-council-meeting.jpg] Community asks Lancaster City Council 'Which side are you on?' Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [http://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/utla-march3.jpg] 50,000 teachers take over Los Angeles streets as union votes to strike Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/1200px-MJK49374_Silent_Sam.jpg] Teaching assistants' strike stops rehabilitation of Confederate statue Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/group.jpg] 'No new home for Amazon in NYC' campaign takes the struggle to the mayor's mansion Read more[Share on Facebook][Share on Twitter] Catch up on all of Liberation News analysis and militant journalism in our Archive. 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