Baltimore Activist Alert - Dec. 10-12, 2013

40] “Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity” – Dec. 10 41] “Avoiding Future Irans” – Dec. 11 42] Green Bag Lunch – Dec. 11 43] There’s a new book of poetry -- Dec. 11 44] Catholics Confront Global Poverty discussion – Dec. 11 45] Catholic Church and Universal Health Care – Dec. 11 46] HIV/AIDS activism in Brazil – Dec. 11 47] Fast4Families – Dec. 12 48] "Critical Mass: Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East" – Dec. 12 ---- 40] – Race—more than any other demographic factor—determines levels of individual educational achievement, health and life expectancy, possibility of incarceration, and wealth in the United States. See “Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity” and participate in a community dialogue with filmmaker and racial justice educator Shakti Butler. This event is part of OSI-Baltimore’s Talking About Race series and is co-sponsored by Baltimore Racial Justice Action and the University of Baltimore. It is happening on Tues., Dec. 10 at 7 PM at Langsdale Library Auditorium, University of Baltimore, Baltimore 21201. Call 410-234-1091. 41] – On Wed., Dec. 11 from 11:45 AM to 1:30 PM, Rep. Lleana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Rep. Brad Sherman (CA); Sen. Ed Markey (MA) (invited); Mark Wallace, former Ambassador to the U.N., Daryl Kimball, Arms Control Association, Kingston Reif, Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Christopher Paine, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Robert Zarate, Foreign Policy Initiative, will speak about “Avoiding Future Irans: A New Course for U.S. Nonproliferation Policy." The forum is sponsored by Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, and will take place at B338 Rayburn House Office Building, WDC. RSVP at https://www.formstack.com/forms/?1396304-jkRN0PgDdC. 42] – Amazon Watch Invites You for a "Green-Bag Lunch" Presentation: Indigenous Rights Risk Report, Leveraging the Market for Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, with Nick Pelosi, First Peoples Worldwide Amazon Watch, on Wed., Dec. 11 at 12:30 PM at Amazon Watch/CIEL conference room, 1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, #1100, (south of DuPont, above Panera/Cosi), WDC. He will discuss its newly-released report, which analyzed 370 extractive projects on or near Indigenous territories, and assigned a risk score to each based on its chances of violating or upholding the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). The report aims to strengthen Indigenous Peoples' control over their lands and natural resources by leveraging the power of capital markets, and to provide investors and shareholders with the information they need to incorporate Indigenous Peoples' rights into their portfolios. Pelosi is a Corporate Engagement Associate at First Peoples Worldwide, where he conducts research and analysis on extractive industries and Indigenous Peoples. He has a BA in Political Science from Hunter College. Email andrew@amazonwatch.org. 43] – The author of “My Voice Sought the Wind” will appear on Wed., Dec. 11 from 12:30 to 2 PM at The Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, WDC 20037. "I wrote poetry before I wrote anything else," says Susan Abulhawa, esteemed Palestinian-American author and social activist, in the introduction to her first book of poems. This new work follows her highly acclaimed novel, “Mornings in Jenin,” which has been translated into 32 languages since it was published in 2010. “My Voice Sought the Wind” represents five years of poems on the themes of love, loss, identity, and family, brought to life through vivid observations and intimate personal reflections. The five sections of the book echo her personal journey, from the pain of separation from her homeland and her nostalgic memories of the past, through various phases of love and regret, through the experience of mortality, and finally to her reconciliation with the future and hope of new birth. Visit http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/EventDetails/i/43282. 44] – On Wed., Dec. 11 from 1 to 1:30 PM, join Catholic Relief Services and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for an online Catholics Confront Global Poverty discussion - What You Did to Confront Global Poverty in 2013: Celebrating Your Advocacy Successes. Making presentations will be Dr. Stephen M. Colecchi - director, Office of International Justice and Peace, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Bill O'Keefe - vice president, Government Relations and Advocacy, Catholic Relief Services. RSVP at http://www.confrontglobalpoverty.org/. 45] – On Wed., Dec. 11 at 7:30 PM at St. Mark’s Catholic Church, Cassidy Activities Center, 9970 Vale Road, Vienna, VA 22181, catch the presentation– The Catholic Church and Universal Health Care – by William J. Barbieri, Jr., PHD, associate professor of Ethics, CUA and director of Peace Studies Program. Are you interested in knowing more about Catholic teaching on the need of health coverage for all? Should everyone have access to health care? Are poor people entitled to health care according to Catholic teaching? What are the limits to our supporting health care for all? 46] – On Wed., Dec. 11 at 7:30 PM @ Red Emma's, Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave. Rafaela Seixas discusses HIV/AIDS activism in Brazil. Half of the people living with HIV today are women. This epidemic continues to become increasingly feminized around the world, due primarily to the lack of power women have to determine their sexual relations, and the lack of dialogue around the problem. Seixas will discuss her work as a policy analyst with the Ministry for Women's Affairs in Bahia, Brazil, where she coordinates a popular education program for women's sexual empowerment in an effort to combat this trend. Workshops are organized in prisons and front-line rural communities, where participants work through theater of the oppressed techniques to analyze sexual power dynamics and discuss strategies for protection from infection. She will share the stories of the women (who presented these stories through forum theater) and highlight what they identify as the causes of HIV feminization. Call 410-230-0450. See http://www.redemmas.org. 47] – The Franciscan Action Network is working with allies to help make immigration reform a reality with the #Fast4Families. This kind of sensible reform is desperately needed to help end the cycle of torn families and injustice surrounding our broken immigration system. Join fast before the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe--on Thurs., Dec. 12. To register for the fast, email events@franciscanacton.org. 48] – On Thurs., Dec. 12 at 10 AM, Rep. Jim Cooper (TN), Rep. Mac Thornberry (TX), and Andrew Krepinevich, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, examine "Critical Mass: Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East." The talk is sponsored by Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and it will be at 2218 Rayburn House Office Building, WDC. RSVP to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/critical-mass-nuclear-proliferation-in-the-middle-east-tickets-9512747885. To be continued. Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

In an Israeli Plan, Bedouins See a Threat to Their Way of Life

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/world/middleeast/in-an-israeli-plan-bedouins-see-a-threat-to-their-way-of-life.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131208 December 7, 2013 In an Israeli Plan, Bedouins See a Threat to Their Way of Life By JODI RUDOREN JERUSALEM — As Israel prepares to force thousands of Bedouins to give up land that their families have lived on for generations, officials have struggled to convince residents of the ramshackle communities scattered across the vast Negev desert that moving to new, legal homes will pave a path to a better future. But after decades of discrimination and neglect, many Bedouins and their supporters see only a plot to destroy their way of life. “I don’t need gutters,” complained one man during a recent meeting with government representatives in a tin-roofed tent in Abdeh, one of many villages in the desert that Israel does not recognize. “I don’t want a road,” added another. Finally, to be perfectly clear, 70-year-old Swellem al-Kallab, the tribal elder, leaned into his visitors’ faces, took the toothpick from his mouth and traced a circle on the concrete floor. “Where we sit right now, you just draw a line around it,” he seethed. “I want to stay here.” The fundamental disconnect reflects the increasingly contentious dispute over Israel’s $2 billion plan to resettle its Bedouin citizens as part of a major redevelopment initiative as it moves two huge military bases into the Negev. The plight of the Bedouins has in many circles become a proxy for the broader Arab-Israeli conflict, prompting condemnation from human rights groups, European lawmakers and cultural celebrities. Demonstrations against the plan last weekend left 15 police officers injured and 48 protesters arrested. As right-wing lawmakers threatened to kill the plan because of the Bedouins’ unwillingness to make concessions, Arab members of Israel’s Parliament sent a letter on Thursday asking Secretary of State John Kerry to help block it. Proponents of the project say that no state can abide people’s building where and what they wish without approval, and that it promises the Bedouins, by far Israel’s poorest sector, clinics, jobs, education and infrastructure that they sorely lack. Opponents call it insidious racism, ethnic cleansing or even apartheid; complain that the Bedouins were not consulted enough in the plan’s construction; and accuse Israel of a land grab that ignores their culture and traditions. It would be difficult to overstate the level of distrust underlying the dispute. But there is no denying the hardship that Bedouins face: Their infant mortality rate is seven times that in Tel Aviv, illiteracy and unemployment are rampant, and many live without water, electricity, phone and sewage services. “They deserve more, and they can be given more,” said Clinton Bailey, an Israeli scholar who has studied the Bedouins for 45 years. “If the government just realizes that it has to think it out and decide what it can give them and specify it and then talk to people, they’ll find much less opposition than they have today.” The Bedouins, seminomadic Arab Muslims, trace their history in the 4,700-square-mile Negev to the seventh century. When Israel became a state in 1948, all but 11,000 of the 90,000 Bedouins fled. Those who remained were granted citizenship but concentrated under military rule in about 10 percent of the area known as the Siyag — Arabic for “fence” — that their advocates liken to a Native American reservation in the United States. Today, that area is home to 200,000 Bedouins, whose birthrates are the world’s highest. Roughly a third of them are polygamous, and about half live in seven towns that Israel built between 1968 and 1989, where crime is high and streets are strewn with garbage. Israel has in recent years recognized 13 villages, legalizing dwellings long slated for demolition, but has moved slowly, if at all, to modernize them. There remain 35 unrecognized villages like Abdeh, with a total of 70,000 residents, who could face forced relocation. The most contested element of the plan — known as Prawer-Begin after its authors, Ehud Prawer, the government’s director of planning, and Benny Begin, a former cabinet minister — is its proposed resolution of nearly 3,000 land claims totaling 230 square miles. After Israeli courts rejected 200 such claims, most based on handwritten deeds, the government created a complex formula to compensate Bedouins based on the location of the land, whether they are still cultivating it and how quickly they apply. Most would get half or a quarter of the land, plus some cash. The rest of the land would be seized by the state for its own use, or redistributed to Bedouins from far-flung areas of what officials call “the diaspora.” “We are not against development,” said Thabet Abu Rass of Adalah, an advocacy group for Arab rights in Israel. “The question is why, whenever the State of Israel wants to develop the Negev, it’s always at the expense of the Bedouin.” The Bedouins and their advocates say that they simply want to maintain their small agricultural villages, and have developed an alternative plan to put them on the grid, but that the government has ignored it. One such place is Alsra, whose residents had a sign made to mark it that uses the same colors and fonts of those that the government places on roads across Israel. But the Bedouins added the phrase “established in the Ottoman Empire,” along with a picture of a bulldozer and a house to symbolize the demolition orders pending since 2006 against the village’s 70 structures. Khalil Alamour, a high school teacher and father of seven, persuaded Waze, the popular Israeli GPS system, to put Alsra on its maps, and he provides pirated Wi-Fi to his neighbors. A one-inch pipe brings a trickle of water to the 500 residents, who dug 10 cisterns and pay to have sewage pumped out every 18 months. There is no garbage collection, but solar panels are everywhere: Eight recharge Mr. Alamour’s 12 two-volt batteries, which serve his three-bedroom stucco house, behind which are satellite dishes and the 10 hens that provide his daily breakfast. A math and computer teacher, he said that Israel wanted to condense the Bedouins in urban centers “like a zip drive to compress files.” “They will take me into a cage and build a house and put me inside of these four walls and say, ‘You are modernized, now you have electricity and washing machine,’ ” Mr. Alamour said. “I have that already. I don’t even need the services, just to live in peace in my father’s land.” Ami Tesler, who is promoting the plan for the prime minister’s office, said about a dozen such villages would probably be recognized, though he would not say which — the lack of specifics has infuriated the Bedouins. On a recent tour of the area he said he hoped that 80 percent of the Bedouins would remain in place, but added, “You cannot make infrastructure to one tent here and one tent 200 meters or 400 meters there — they give you models that cannot work.” Mr. Tesler drove to El Sayed, a village of 5,000 officially recognized a decade ago, yet still without a sewage system, electric lines or the promised strip of shops and schools, which he attributed to “bureaucracy.” Then he went to Hura, a Bedouin city of 17,500, where bulldozers were busy carving a new subdivision, with concrete blocks on each lot to house utilities — this he called “the beginning of modernity.” Bedouins displaced by the plan will be given lots of 5,400 to 8,600 square feet in places like Hura, Mr. Tesler said, plus at least $28,000 to build. The government also promises investment in job training, education, health care and transportation. The next stop was Abdeh, one of four villages slated to become a new municipality on a dirt expanse a couple of miles away. The steepness of the challenge spilled out in a mix of Hebrew and Arabic as the government representatives tried to explain taxes, urban planning and parliamentary processes to men unwilling to leave their homes. “If we need to move you, we’ll move you,” warned Eli Azmon, a government consultant. “You live in Zinco,” he said, referring to the corrugated metal that constitutes many Bedouin walls. “What’s the problem to move you a few hundred meters?” The conversation, like two before it in Abdeh, broke up without progress. “We have our own way of thinking, and you have your way of thinking,” said Labad Tasan, 45, after telling the visitors that Abdeh wanted to develop a tourism business but did not need toilets. “It will be a confrontation.” This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: Correction: December 8, 2013 An earlier version of a picture caption in a slide show with this article referred imprecisely to the number of Bedouins who are likely to be relocated against their will. It is some of the 70,000 Bedouins who are living in 35 unrecognized villages, not about 70,000. © 2012 The New York Times Company Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Dismissing Free Speech Claims, Justices Turn to Plain Line-Drawing

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/us/politics/supreme-court-prepares-to-set-a-line-this-time-literal.html?src=recg December 4, 2013 Dismissing Free Speech Claims, Justices Turn to Plain Line-Drawing By ADAM LIPTAK WASHINGTON — John D. Apel says his First Amendment rights were violated when he was convicted of breaking federal law by entering an area set aside for protests near the main entrance to Vandenberg Air Force Base, from which he had been banned. But the Supreme Court justices did not seem interested in Mr. Apel’s free speech rights on Wednesday during arguments in his case. Mr. Apel had been barred from the base, in Santa Barbara County, Calif., after earlier convictions for vandalism and trespass. But he said those orders should not apply to an area open to the public on the other side of a painted green line that separates the closed part of the base from the Pacific Coast Highway. “This is a case about the right to peacefully protest on a fully open public road, in a designated protest zone,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, a lawyer for Mr. Apel and dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine. But Justice Antonin Scalia said the question before the court did not involve the First Amendment. “You can raise it,” he said, “but we don’t have to listen to it.” That left a much narrower question about the reach of the federal law under which Mr. Apel was convicted. It forbids people to re-enter military installations from which they have been barred. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in California, ruled for Mr. Apel on statutory rather than constitutional grounds. It said the federal government could not enforce the law because Mr. Apel had been standing on property partly controlled by the state and county. “The federal government lacks the exclusive right of possession in the area on which the trespass allegedly occurred,” said the unsigned opinion, which overturned Mr. Apel’s conviction. It was that ruling that interested the justices, and there seemed to be a consensus that the Ninth Circuit had gotten it wrong. Benjamin J. Horwich, a lawyer for the federal government, said nothing should turn on whether the base had allowed some public access or granted state and local governments some rights to the stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway that crosses the base. So long as a military commander has authority over the property, Mr. Horwich said, the law under which Mr. Apel was convicted applies. He added that various military and government activities occur on the base, including a rocket launch scheduled for Thursday. Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested that Mr. Apel could not pose much of a threat. “It seems such an odd thing for a Class B misdemeanor to be used to protect the national security,” she said. Mr. Apel’s punishment was $355 in fines and fees. Mr. Horwich was asked no direct questions about the First Amendment. In its brief, the federal government urged the justices to clarify the scope of the law under which Mr. Apel was convicted and to return the case to the lower courts for a ruling on his First Amendment defense if the government prevailed on its statutory argument. When Mr. Chemerinsky tried to invoke the First Amendment, he was rebuffed. “You have a First Amendment argument,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said. “I understand that. But let’s just concentrate on the property ownership.” Justice Scalia also admonished Mr. Chemerinsky. “You keep sliding into the First Amendment issue,” he said. “We’re only interested in whether the statute applies.” When Mr. Chemerinsky turned to the question of how to determine the reach of the law, he said, “The United States wants to have it both ways.” The federal government gave the state responsibility for the road, “but they also want to claim that they have all of the control over that public road as they would within the base,” he said. Justice Scalia was not convinced. “They’re entitled to have it both ways,” he said. “It’s their base.” Justice Elena Kagan said Mr. Chemerinsky’s position amounted to “sort of a ‘use it or lose it’ argument.” “The government has this commanding authority,” she said, but “unless the government uses it to its full extent every day of the week, it loses it.” Mr. Chemerinsky replied that Justice Kagan was in a sense right, given that the government had “decided to create a public road with a protest zone outside of it.” He concluded his argument in the case, United States v. Apel, No. 12-1038, with an expression often heard at the Supreme Court in a figurative sense. But Mr. Chemerinsky was also being literal. “Like so many cases to come before you, this one is about where do you draw the line,” he said. “Here the government has drawn the line, and it’s a green line. Now, on this side of the green line, there is a First Amendment right to speak.” © 2012 The New York Times Company Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

THREE ARRESTED DEC 9 TRYING TO DELIVER AN ORDER OF PROTECTION TO THE 174TH REAPER DRONE ATTACK WING AT HANCOCK AIR BASE

THREE ARRESTED DEC 9 TRYING TO DELIVER AN ORDER OF PROTECTION TO THE 174TH REAPER DRONE ATTACK WING AT HANCOCK AIR BASE http://warisacrime.org/content/three-arrested-dec-9-trying-deliver-order-protection-174th-reaper-drone-attack-wing-hancock- This afternoon, December 9, 2013, two Yale Divinity School students and a Catholic Worker were arrested as they attempted to deliver an Order of Protection on behalf of Afghan children and their families at the Hancock Air Base main entrance on East Molloy Rd. near Syracuse, NY. Since October 25, 2012, over 50 citizens have been arrested – and issued Orders of Protection – for protesting the killing of children by Reaper drones piloted from Hancock Air Base. The local DeWitt Town Court has issued these Orders at the request of the Hancock colonels. Such Orders suppress the First Amendment right of all those arrested to petition their government for redress of grievances at Hancock. The grievance is that Hancock’s 174th Attack Wing technicians pilot weaponized Reaper drones over Afghanistan, engaged in the targeted killing of civilians. The three declared, “This is the season for naming and wrestling with the reality of death in our life together. Advent’s austere themes of Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell challenge us to see, to mourn and to resist the forces of death that hold our age in their power, forces that murder children overseas (and on our own streets) for the sake of corporate profit and the military-industrial complex. We are engaged in this action because we believe we can only see Christian hope when we confront the reality of bombs being dropped on children by remote-controlled killing machines.” The three are Mark Colville of the new Haven Catholic Worker, Greg Williams and Creighton Chandler both of Yale Divinity school. They were arrested and charged with obstruction of governmental administration, trespass, and disorderly conduct. Mark was given an additional charge of Criminal Contempt for violating his order of protection that was issued from a year ago for a Commander at the base. They tried to deliver this: THE PEOPLE’S ORDER OF PROTECTION FOR THE CHILDREN OF AFGHANISTAN AND THEIR FAMILIES: TO: President Obama; The United States Military; Col. Greg Semmel; Col. Earl Evans; The 174th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard. Whereas good cause has been shown for the issuance of this order of protection, the people of all nations committed to peace, having overwhelmingly made a determination in accordance with both the Spirit of and the Letter of the United Nations Charter do hereby order that the above named, and more specifically their Hell Fire missiles and 500 pound bombs fired from the MQ9 Reaper drones operated at Hancock Airfield, home of the 174th Attack wing of the New York State Air National Guard, are to stay away from the Children of Afghanistan and their families, and: Their homes; Their schools; Their places of play; and Their places of work (ie., the forests where they gather wood, the fields where they tend their vegetables and flocks) And further the above named shall refrain from: Assault, stalking, harassment, menacing, bombing, killing, maiming and terrorizing, criminal obstruction of breathing or circulation, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief, forcible touching, intimidation, threats or any criminal offense or interference with the victims of the alleged offenses perpetrated by the offenders named in this order. There shall be no more improper touching of the Children of Afghanistan or their families with your Hell Fire missiles and your 500 pound bombs. There Shall be no more menacing and reckless endangerment of the children and their families. It is further ordered that this order of protection shall remain in force forever. Failure to comply with this order will result in the people’s continued nonviolent resistance to this illegal and immoral behavior. And further please see attached plea from the people of Afghanistan making this request. ORDER personally served at the gates of Hancock Air Base, site of where war crimes are being committed. -- David Swanson's new book is War No More: The Case for Abolition. He blogs at http://davidswanson.org and http://warisacrime.org and works for http://rootsaction.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio.

Solar Would Be Cheaper

Published on Portside (https://portside.org) Solar Would Be Cheaper http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/cheaper-pentagon-trillion.html Juan Cole Sunday, December 8, 2013 Informed Comment Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel [1] was in the Gulf on Friday at a conference of defense ministers from the region, including the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iran. Hagel underlined American commitment to the security of the Arab states on the littoral of the Gulf, including Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait (the six of which make up the Gulf Cooperation Council) and toward which he said the military balance of power had shifted. He said the US had sold $75 billion in sophisticated military equipment to those countries in recent years, more than in the previous 15. Hagel said that the US had and would keep 35,000 military personnel in the Gulf region, some 10,000 of whom were army soldiers with armor or helicopter gunships. In addition, some 40 US naval vessels patrol the Gulf waters, including an aircraft carrier battle group. The US commitment to the Gulf is because some 22% of the world’s petroleum is shipped out through its Strait of Hormuz. Qatari and other Liquefied Natural Gas is also shipped out by this route. While the US imports relatively little from this region, its military allies, including Japan and the NATO countries of Europe, heavily depend on it. (But so too does China, which imports from Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries and is now the world’s largest oil importer. Beijing is getting a free ride on energy security because the US is paying for the costs of providing it.) The GCC and other Arab states wanted to hear these reassurances from Hagel, since they’re as nervous about American negotiations with Iran as long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs. In fact, the idea of the GCC as a military power in the Gulf is darkly humorous. These are countries with small populations, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, which probably has 22 million citizens. Qatar has 250,000. None of them could defend themselves from Iran or Iraq, the other states on the littoral, which are bigger and have proper military establishments, though Iraq’s is fragile from having been recently rebuilt from scratch. While the Saudi military is well equipped, it is small and lacks combat experience or, from all accounts, much practical know-how or esprit de corps. I wouldn’t count on them being able actually to deploy all those shiny weapons W. sold to them. It has cost the United States $8 trillion to provide [2] military security in the Gulf since 1976. According to Roger Stern, a Princeton economist, the US has spent as much on Gulf security as it spent on the entire Cold War with the Soviet Union! In recent years through 2010 it has been $400 billion a year, though the US withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011 and the gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan this year and next presumably means that the figure is substantially reduced. Still, we have bases in Kuwait, Qatar and elsewhere, and a Naval HQ in Bahrain, none of which is cheap. If it were $200 billion a year, that is a fair chunk of the budget deficit the Republican Party keeps complaining about. And if we could get that $8 trillion back, it would pay down half of the national debt. Some argue that since the US itself imports relatively little petroleum from the Gulf, we’re crazy to pay for policing it. But this argument seems to me not the right one for several reasons. First, petroleum is more or less a single global market (with a spread of say $10 in different spot markets). If the Gulf couldn’t export petroleum, it would put the price up so much that everyone’s economy would collapse, including that of the US. Second, US policy has been to encourage Germany and Japan not to militarize, in return for an American security umbrella. American geopolitical power benefits from having fewer credible rivals, and that is part of what we are paying for. The US has to police the Gulf if Japan is to stay strong in the face of a rising China, and if Germany is not to be Ukrainized. The right argument is that we shouldn’t be using petroleum and nor should our allies. The supreme tragedy is that the US has bankrupted itself ensuring military security for the oil-producing nations of the Gulf when oil production is destroying the world. We need a crash program to get the world off petroleum, some 70% of which is used to power automobiles. People should be given incentives to move back to cities so they don’t have to commute. Better public transport is needed. Portland is an example of how a concerted push can change the urban transportation situation quickly. 8% of commuters in Portland now get to work on bicycle, 10 times more than any other American city. Portland adopted a global warming action plan in 1993 [3] and has renewed it, and demonstrates what can be accomplished in only 20 years if a city puts its mind to it. And, we should move as quickly as possible to hybrid plugins or where practical electric vehicles (EVs). Moreover, we should be pressuring our allies in this direction (Germany doesn’t need any encouragement but Japan and others do). Otherwise we are locking the world into as much as a 9 degrees Fahrenheit increase in average surface temperature over the next century, which could well destabilize our climate. And we are paying through the nose for the privilege! It would be like paying hundreds of billions of dollars a year to ensure that people can get access to meth, which then ruins their health. A tiny fraction of the $8 trillion we spent through 2010 (surely it is up near $10 trillion now) on Gulf security would, if invested in research and development in solar energy and other renewables, and in reformulating our urban transportation systems, save the world. We are told we don’t have money for that effort. But we had plenty of money for aircraft carriers and wars in the Gulf. Getting some of this security investment back by selling the Gulf nations sophisticated weaponry is a very bad idea. The bigger the conventional arms stockpiles, the greater the likelihood they will be deployed in war. The US is destabilizing the region, not stabilizing it. That would not be necessary if we weren’t dependent on petroleum. The answer to the security dilemmas of the Oil Gulf is not aircraft carriers, 39 other big naval vessels, over a dozen military bases, and 35,000 troops garrisoned there. It is a crash program to get off petroleum and to get our allies off petroleum. Buy a Chevy, Ford or Toyota plug-in hybrid for your next car. They’re coming down in price, they are dream cars, and there’s a big Federal tax rebate. You’d be saving the world and also helping bring some of our young men and women home from al-Udeid and other bases in the Gulf. Source URL: https://portside.org/2013-12-08/solar-would-be-cheaper Links: [1] http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=366404 [2] http://nation.time.com/2011/04/24/a-question-for-the-obama-administration/ [3] http://www.cereplast.com/portland-or-one-of-the-greenest-cities-in-us/ Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Baltimore Activist Alert - Dec. 10-11, 2013

26] Slash military spending – Dec. 10 27] Colombia Solidarity Vigil – Dec. 10 28] Protest at Algerian embassy -- Dec. 10 29] "Making Sense of Nuclear Negotiations with Iran: A Good Deal or a Bad Deal?" – Dec. 10 30] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – Dec. 10 31] Protest JHU’s drone research – Dec. 10 32] Shop for a Cause – Dec. 10 33] Film "Mandela Long Walk to Freedom” – Dec. 10 34] Progressive Maryland's Awards Dinner – Dec. 10 35] "How To Grow Baltimore's Economy" -- Dec. 10 - 11 36] The Truth about Syria – Dec. 10 37] Film "The House I Live In" -- Dec. 10 38] Encrypt the Hood Workshop – Dec. 10 39] Amnestea -- Dec. 10 ---- 26] – On Tues., Dec. 10 at 10 AM on International Human Rights Day, be at Congressperson John Conyer's office, 2426 Rayburn House Office Building, to criticize Runaway Military Spending in order to Meet Dire Domestic Needs. Peace, anti-hunger, anti-poverty, environmental and community groups will gather for a news conference and then deliver letters and petitions signed by more than one hundred organizations and 7,000 individuals to Rep. Ryan and Sen. Murray, the co-chairs of the Congressional budget committee charged with passing a budget resolution by December 13. The Committee is seeking to reduce the nominal defense cuts presently required under the sequestration agreement. The UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in 1950. In 2006 the UN focused on the issue of poverty, declaring the poverty prevails as the gravest human rights challenge in the world. The massive expenditures on the military are a significant factor in poverty and income inequality in America. Human rights also include the right to be free from the threat of violence and war. Consuming more than half of all discretionary federal spending, the US military budget is roughly equal to the rest of the world combined. The groups charge that the military budget has become primarily corporate welfare and a tool to further the interests of multinational corporations. A hundred billion dollars is spent to maintain more than one thousand military bases in 130 countries, including Europe, Japan and Korea. Much of the Pentagon spending is wasted, with high levels of graft, overhead, outside consultants, and duplicative and unnecessary weapon systems. Rather than having an energy policy creating resource wars and climate chaos, the US should invest in renewable energy to create jobs, avert climate disaster, and make wars for oil obsolete. The groups want Congress to cut military spending by 25 to 50%, using the savings to Adequately funding critical social needs, including food stamps, Social Security, improved and expanded Medicare for all, and public education including college; Creating a full employment public jobs program to jump start the green economy (a Green New Deal); and Rebuilding vital infrastructure. Call David Swanson, Roots Action, at 202-329-7847. 27 ] – There is a Colombia Solidarity Vigil starting Tues., Dec. 10 from noon until 1 PM on Wed., Dec. 11 at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Civil society throughout Colombia will demonstrate their support and fervent hope for peace, gathering in cities across the country, dressed in white. In D.C., activists will gather at 11:45 AM for a lunch-hour vigil in solidarity with Colombian civil society seeking peace. Please come wearing white, if you can. Contact Walker Grooms, National Grassroots Organizer with Witness for Peace, at walker@witnessforpeace.org. 28 ] – An innocent man’s life is on the line. Djamel Ameziane had been imprisoned at Guantánamo without charge since 2002 and cleared for release since 2008. But on Dec. 5th, he was forcibly transferred from Guantánamo to Algeria, where he is being held in secret detention. Despite being cleared by both President Bush and President Obama and offers of asylum from Luxembourg and other countries, the US government callously chose to send him to the one place he dreaded more than Guantánamo. Join CODEPINK, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Witness Against Torture in front of the Algerian embassy at 2118 Kalorama Rd. NW, WDC on Tues., Dec. 10 at 2 PM. Demand that the Algerian government immediately release Djamel Ameziane from detention and ensure that his human rights are respected and protected. Go to http://www.ccrjustice.org/ameziane. Contact Noor at Noor@codepink.org. 29] – On Tues., Dec. 10 from 2 to 3 PM, Alireza Nader, RAND; Daryl Kimball, Arms Control Association; and Paul Pillar, Georgetown University, will address "Making Sense of Nuclear Negotiations with Iran: A Good Deal or a Bad Deal?" Sponsored by RAND, it will take place at 2168 Rayburn House Office Building, WDC. RSVP to Kurt Card at 703-413-1100, ext. 5259, or Kurt_Card@rand.org. 30 ] – Each Tuesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the Catholic Peace Fellowship-Philadelphia for peace in Afghanistan and Iraq gathers at the Suburban Station, 16th Street & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine. The next vigil is Dec. 10. Call 215-426-0364. 31] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 34th & North Charles Sts. Join this ongoing vigil. The next vigil is Dec. 10 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Call Max at 410-366-1637. 32] – Shop for a Cause at the 2013 Holiday Shopping Night. Support the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, give fair trade gifts this season, and meet other Latin America advocates at Ten Thousand Villages in Old Town Alexandria, 915 King St., Alexandria, VA 22314, on Tues., Dec. 10 from 6 to 8 PM. The store is near the King Street Metro on the Blue Line. A percentage of proceeds will go towards the LAWGEF’s work promoting peace and justice in U.S. policies towards Latin America. Light refreshments will be provided. Contact Ruth Turaew at rturaew@lawg.org. 33 ] – There is a "Mandela Long Walk to Freedom” screening on Tues., Dec. 10 at 6:30 PM at the Gallery Place Stadium Theater, WDC. TransAfrica is pleased to invite you to a showing at 6:30 PM and the reception afterwards at Clyde's 7th Street Parlour. See http://transafrica.org/. 34] – Meet hundreds of Maryland activists, lawmakers and candidates at the 2013 Awards Gala on Tues., Dec. 10 from 6:30 to 9 PM at Martin's Crosswinds, Greenbelt (snow or shine). Progressive Maryland's Awards Dinner takes place with the idea of "celebrating the past and motivating for the future." Begin with hors d'oeuvres and relaxed mingling among friends and fellow activists, followed by the sit-down multi-course banquet. Radio host Marc Steiner will emcee the program, and the awardees are NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous and heroic Wal-Mart activists Lana Stewart and Tonya C., fired for their efforts to organize for better conditions and livable wages. Individual tickets are $125 each, and $20 for students and Young Dems. Go to http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5206/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9864. Also you can email for pay what you can tickets to kate@progressivemaryland.org. 35] – Do you have ideas on how to improve business and commercial development where you live? Participate in "How To Grow Baltimore's Economy" hosted by CPHA and the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) at the behest of Mayor Rawlings-Blake. On Tues., Dec. 10 from 6 to 8 PM at the University of Baltimore, Learning Commons Town Hall, 1415 Maryland Ave. On Wed., Dec. 11 from 7 to 9 PM at Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church, 4640 Edmondson Ave. Call 410.539.1369 EXT 101. RSVP at michael@cphabaltimore.org. 36] – Mother Agnes-Mariam of the Cross of the Melkite Catholic Monastery and Convent of St. James the Mutilated in Qara, Syria will speak about The Truth about Syria, and how the U.S. Media has overlooked it almost entirely on Tues., Dec. 10 at 6:30 PM at the National Press Club, 13th Floor, 529 14th St. NW, WDC. There is free parking after 5 PM with a National Press Club dinner validation of your parking receipt at the PMI Garage on G Street (between 13th & 14th). Mother Agnes-Mariam is a leading spokeswoman for peace, reconciliation, religious tolerance, and human rights in Syria and the neighboring countries, and has provided briefings on Syria to the Vatican Secretariat of State and the United Nations Human Rights Authorities in Geneva. On the humanitarian front, she is seeking support for five mobile hospitals to be sent to war-stricken areas starting with Homs and Aleppo to provide emergency assistance to all religious and ethnic groups where existing hospitals have been destroyed. 37] – Movies that Move Us Presents: "The House I Live In" on Tues., Dec. 10 from 6:30 to 9:30 PM at the Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Road NW, WDC. The screening is hosted by the Unbinding Lazarus Spiritual Support Group for Racial Reconciliation (of the Former Church of the Savior}. Contact: Louisa 703-860-1203. 38] – Encrypt the Hood Workshop Regarding NSA on Tues., Dec. 10 from 7 to 9 PM at the Emergence Community Arts Collective, 733 Euclid St. NW, WDC. To learn about private and secure Internet usage, bring your laptops, tablets, and phones to install free open source software. Contact Jabari Zakiya at 202.390.6398 or jzakiya@gmail.com. 39] – Baltimore's Local Group in collaboration with Goucher College is organizing Amnestea. Let's take action to protect human rights over a cup of tea! This event is part of Amnesty International's largest letter writing campaign - Write for Rights (http://www.amnestyusa.org/writeforrights). There will also be a collection of funds for Amnesty International. So please feel free to donate, even if only a few cents. The event takes place on Tues., Dec. 10 at 9:15 PM at the Gopher Hole at Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd., Baltimore 21204. The building does not have its own address but it is in the Pearlstone Student Center. Call/text Zaineb Majoka at 443-743-4416. To be continued. Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/. "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Women named priest, deacons

Women named priest, deacons http://www.courier-journal.com/louisville-news Written by Charlie White The Courier-Journal Dec. 08, 2013 courier-journal.com Five Roman Catholic women were ordained (four as deacons and one as a priest) at Central Presbyterian Church in Louisville by the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests. As priest candidate Mary Sue Barnett lay prostrate in the aisle, deacon candidate Betty H. Smith got some help getting into position. Dec. 08, 2013 / David R. Lutman/Special to The Courier-Journal Mary Sue Barnett lay prostrate Sunday before members of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and others laid their hands on her in solemn reverence and prayer. They had a clear message for the Vatican on Sunday, ordaining Barnett as its latest woman priest. “The time has come for a holy shake¬up that will bring new life, creativity and justice to the church and beyond,” the Rev. Bridget Mary Meehan, the ordaining bishop, said during the ceremony. More than 200 people attended the afternoon ceremony for Barnett at Central Presbyterian Church in Old Louisville. Four other women were ordained as deacons: Denise Menard Davis and Betty Smith of Louisville, Mary Weber of Indianapolis and Ann Harrington of Greenville, N.C. It was the second such ceremony in Louisville in the past year. “It’s a very natural next step for me, a joy-filled step,” Barnett, 51, said after the ceremony, adding there are “women of all ages who need to be visible and need to be heard.” She will give her first liturgies at First Unitarian Church on Fourth Street at 5 p.m. Dec. 21. Barnett, who is married, has two sons and lives in the Lyndon area, was born and raised in the traditional Roman Catholic Church, attending St. Athanasius, Mother of Good Counsel and Church of Epiphany in Louisville. She also has taught at Catholic institutions, including Presentation Academy, Assumption High School, Spalding University and St. Catharine College. There are now more than 160 women priests in the association, said Meehan, of Mother Mary of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Sarasota, Fla. The association’s first seven women were ordained as priests in 2002 on the Danube River in Europe, and a dozen more were ordained in the first U.S. ordination in Pittsburgh in 2006. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville officials have said Catholics should not support or participate in events held by the association, maintaining it has no connection to the Roman Catholic Church. Some association supporters who attended Sunday’s ceremony sat on the upper level to avoid having their photos taken because they said they would be excommunicated if they were seen at the ceremony. Pope Francis, like other pontiffs before him, has rejected the idea of women priests, although he is trying to include them more in the church. The Rev. Janice Savre-Duszynska, an association member, said priesthood “goes beyond gender.” She’s among those who say frescoes the Vatican recently restored in the Catacomb of Priscilla — including one that appears to show a woman being ordained by a bishop — are evidence of women deacons and priests. But the Vatican has a different interpretation. “This is an elaboration that has no foundation in reality,” Barbara Mazzei of the Pontifical Commission on Sacred Archaeology told Reuters last month. Reach Charlie White at (812) 949-4026 or @c_write. Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Researchers Link Earthquakes in Texas to Fracking Process

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/20843-researchers-link-earthquakes-in-texas-to-fracking-process Valentine reports: "Researchers at Southern Methodist University have linked a string of 2009 and 2010 earthquakes in Texas to the injection of fracking wastewater into the ground, according to a new study." Floor hands connect sections of steel pipe at a natural gas well-site in Texas where hydraulic fracturing is used. (photo: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images) Researchers Link Earthquakes in Texas to Fracking Process By Katie Valentine, ThinkProgress 08 December 13 Researchers at Southern Methodist University have linked a string of 2009 and 2010 earthquakes in Texas to the injection of fracking wastewater into the ground, according to a new study. The researchers examined the group of more than 50 earthquakes that hit the area of Cleburne, Texas in 2009 and 2010, and found that they could have happened because of wastewater injection wells associated with fracking operations. Before 2008, the Fort Worth Basin of Texas had never experienced an earthquake. "Because there were no known previous earthquakes, and the located events were close to the two injection wells and near the injection depth, the possibility exists that earthquakes may be related to fluid injection," the authors write in their report. In Cleburn, injections of fracking wastewater began in 2005, but earthquakes didn't start until 2009. This doesn't rule out the potential for wastewater injection to have caused the quakes, however - scientists believe the fracking process makes it more likely in general that an earthquake will happen, even if there is a delay. "The model I use is called the air hockey table model," Cliff Frohlich, a research scientist at the Institute for Geophysics at the University of Texas at Austin, told StateImpact Texas. "You have an air hockey table, suppose you tilt it, if there's no air on, the puck will just sit there. Gravity wants it to move but it doesn't because there friction [with the table surface]." Once the air is turned on, the puck slips - the same way, he says, if you pump wastewater into a fault, the fault can slip and cause an earthquake. The presence of the fluid could make it much easier for an earthquake to happen, even years later when an external force becomes strong enough to move the earth. Brian Stump, chairman of Geological Sciences at SMU, said he thinks an earthquake can only be triggered if the fluid reaches an underground fault. In general, linking wastewater injection to earthquakes isn't uncommon (wastewater injection has been confirmed as a possible trigger of earthquakes by the U.S. Geological Survey). In 2010, researchers from SMU and UT-Austin determined that a wastewater injection well was a "plausible cause" for the series of earthquakes in North Texas in 2008 and 2009. Earlier this year in Ohio, fracking wastewater disposal was also linked to the 109 earthquakes that shook Youngstown in 2011 - an area that hadn't ever experienced an earthquake before an injection well came online in December 2010. After a 3.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Ohio city on Dec. 31, 2011, the injection well was shut down. This also probably isn't the last time we'll hear about the link between wastewater injection and earthquakes in Texas in particular. Last month, North Texas was hit by more than 20 earthquakes, prompting calls for an investigation into a possible wastewater disposal link. "If it is determined that quakes are caused by the disposal wells, then the disposal wells need to stop. It's that simple," the city of Azle's Mayor Alan Brundrett said. © 2013 Reader Supported News Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Geneva-Iran, Geneva-Syria: Why not a Geneva Conference for Palestine?

Published on Portside (https://portside.org) Geneva-Iran, Geneva-Syria: Why not a Geneva Conference for Palestine? http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.561976 Muhammad Shtayyeh Thursday, December 5, 2013 Haaretz (Israel) The decision to accept the two-state solution was not easy for the people of Palestine. Our declaration of independence in 1988 - the acceptance of a State of Palestine on the 1967 border - was a huge and painful concession for the sake of achieving peace with Israel. To this day, we have not seen any such process of compromise on the Israeli side - quite the opposite, in fact. And unfortunately we have seen little in the way of international intervention. The historic Palestinian compromise has never been matched by any Israeli government. Since 1967, Israel’s policy has been guided by one aim: to take as much Palestinian land with the lowest number of Palestinians, while making life so unbearable for Palestinians that they are directly or indirectly forced to leave. This colonization process, a war crime under international law, is the biggest obstacle to achieving the two-state solution, a solution born out of international consensus. The Israeli government is fully committed to this illegal enterprise, de facto rejecting the two-state solution. Employing empty rhetoric and diversionary tactics, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offers negotiations without parameters and draws attention to Iran. These disingenuous statements continue while his cabinet is split between those promoting the expansion of settlements and those joining demonstrations against the release of Palestinian prisoners. We are committed not to release details from the negotiating process, but I think my resignation betrays the lack of seriousness on the Israeli side. And it was not an easy decision. When I meet people I always remind them that no one stands to benefit more from peace than the Palestinians - we are the occupied people, after all. My decision to leave the negotiating table would not have been necessary in the presence of a serious Israeli partner, one that was ready and able to make the decisions needed to prepare Israelis for a final-status agreement with Palestine. We challenge Netanyahu to hold a cabinet vote, with the parties he chose for his government, on ending the occupation that began in 1967 and accepting a sovereign Palestinian state. Netanyahu's inability to support the two-state solution rests not only on his ideological commitment to colonization but also the fact that, if his cabinet voted, it would show itself in favor of an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people. Twenty years after the signing of the Oslo Accords, Israel’s behavior has not changed. It's time to officially accept the reality: A nuclear occupying power like Israel is comfortable in the current setting of negotiations. The Israeli government is not pushed to move because of the huge disparity in power between Israel and Palestine and the Israeli lobby's strength with the majority of the U.S. Congress that fully backs the Israeli position. The success of the Geneva talks over the Iran issue, and the possibility of success for the Syrian issue, makes us wonder why there is no talk about a Geneva–Palestine discussion. We would exchange the current bilateral situation for a multilateral forum where other powers, including Russia, China, the European Union, the Union of South American Nations and the BRICS countries can contribute to a just and lasting peace for Israel, Palestine and the rest of the region. This proven process would mean the internationalization of the solution. The international community would not only play the role of donor, it would have to be active in implementing resolutions on Israel-Palestine. To reach a final-status agreement, both Israelis and Palestinians must agree on the endgame. It cannot be denied: This most fundamental requirement for negotiations is missing. An active international role under the framework of a multilateral conference could set and implement requirements and obligations for peace rather than granting impunity to the stronger party so it can violate agreements without any sort of arbitration mechanism. Everyone but Israel has accepted the formula of a two-state solution on the 1967 borders. All regional blocs agree that the basis for regional stability depends on the end of the Israeli occupation. But as long as Israel continues to be treated with impunity, it will have no incentive to accept the internationally recognized framework for peace. Israeli policies on the ground continue to reject the historic Palestinian compromise. These policies clearly aim to undermine U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts and put the nail in the coffin of the internationally endorsed two-state solution. This is no longer a secret but the official position voiced by the majority of the Israeli government. To conclude, Israel is asked to decide whether it wants the two-state solution on the 1967 borders. At the same time, the world must realize that bilateral negotiations are not the answer. If the multilateral framework of the Geneva talks worked elsewhere, why not for Palestine? _______________ Dr. Muhammad Shtayyeh is minister in charge of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and a former negotiator in the talks with Israel. Source URL: https://portside.org/2013-12-07/geneva-iran-geneva-syria-why-not-geneva-conference-palestine Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Judge's acquittal of drone protesters 'a small miracle'

Published on National Catholic Reporter (http://ncronline.org) ________________________________________ Judge's acquittal of drone protesters 'a small miracle' Claire Schaeffer-Duffy | Dec. 6, 2013 Linda LeTendre expected to spend the last week of October and the first week of November in the clinker. The licensed social worker from Albany, N.Y., was one of five Catholic activists who stood trial Oct. 24 in DeWitt, N.Y., for disorderly conduct, a charge stemming from an anti-drone protest at nearby Hancock Field Air National Guard Base last Ash Wednesday. Located in Syracuse, Hancock is home to the 174th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard and a "drone hub" where operators remotely guide unmanned, weaponized aerial vehicles to launch strikes in Afghanistan. Anti-drone activists have been protesting at the base since 2009, and Judge Robert L. Jokl Jr., who tried LeTendre's case, has sentenced some of them to 15 days in the Onondaga County jail. According to LeTendre, Jokl hinted during a pretrial meeting the same fate awaited the Ash Wednesday activists. Instead, after declaring he wanted to find the five guilty, Jokl sent them home. The prosecutor, he noted, had failed to prove mens rea Latin for "guilty mind," or in this case, criminal intent. "It was shocking, a small miracle," LeTendre said. The "miracle" in DeWitt came amid a time of unusual public scrutiny of U.S. drone strikes, a counterterrorism tactic that has remained shrouded in secrecy even as its use has expanded. In October: • There were five reports by U.N. investigators and human rights organizations, all released days before the U.N. General Assembly met to discuss, for the first time, the implications of remotely targeting and killing people suspected of terrorism. • Filmmaker Robert Greenwald launched his new investigative documentary, "Unmanned: America's Drone Wars." • Pakistani victims of U.S. drone attacks testified in Congress. • GQ published "Confessions of a Drone Warrior [1]," Matthew Power's evocative profile of Brandon Bryant, an American drone operator who suffers from PTSD. • And in DeWitt, a town so small trials are a weekly, evening occurrence, five ordinary Americans spoke at great length before a courtroom packed with supporters about "the illegality and immorality" of drones to a judge who seemed to listen. Oct. 24 was the second night of the World Series, and although prosecutor and defendants joked about getting home in time to watch the game, no one did. The trial, which began at 5 p.m., ran into the night. Some present attributed Jokl's remarkable verdict to an unusually convivial atmosphere in the courtroom, one that allowed for candid exchanges between defendants and judge. Others noted that legal technicalities assisted the activists' case. "I think we wore the judge down," said defendant Bill Frankel-Streit, who likened the hours in the courtroom to the Gospel story of the unjust judge and the importunate widow. A founding member of the Little Flower Catholic Worker in Trevilians, Va., Frankel-Streit estimates he has been on trial at least 25 times for nonviolent protests. "DeWitt was one of the better trial scenes," he said. "We were all on the same page. We were all coming at it from a faith-based perspective." Others on trial that night were Carmen Trotta of St. Joseph Catholic Worker in New York City; Ellen Grady of the Ithaca, N.Y., Catholic Worker; and Fr. Bill Pickard, a chaplain at St. Joseph's Center, Scranton, Pa. All five defendants opted to argue their case pro-se -- without a lawyer -- giving their testimonies in long narratives. Frankel-Streit said they had little time for pretrial planning and "spoke from impromptu inspiration. The prosecutor did not object. The judge let us go on and on. There was an awful lot of witnessing as well as testifying." The long narratives enabled the activists to speak often of their intent -- a key detail in determining conviction. The New York statute defines disorderly conduct as acting "with intent" to cause public inconvenience or alarm. "We told the judge we had gone to Hancock not to be disorderly but to bring order to a disordered place," Frankel-Streit said. LeTendre's testimony emphasized a technical point: The Ash Wednesday arrest occurred at the gate of a military base, not in a public setting, as the disorderly charge required. "Had we been accused with trespassing we would have gone to jail," she said. But the DeWitt trial seemed to involve more than a parsing of legal technicalities. Several present that evening described pointed and earnest exchanges between the judge and defendants. LeTendre told Jokl she believed "the first victims of an unjust law are those who have to enforce it. I told him people were praying for him. He tried to laugh it off a bit. 'You mean people are praying for me right now?' he asked and then, after a couple of seconds of silence, said, 'This is not easy.' I said I knew it wasn't, and that's why I asked people to pray for him. What I said after that was, 'What legacy do you want to be able to say you left your grandchildren?' " Sporadically used during the Bush administration, drone strikes dramatically increased in frequency and scope under the Obama presidency and are now a key component of the U.S. counterterrorism strategy. The U.S. has conducted drone attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and, most notably, Pakistan. By 2009, the U.S. carried out between 45 and 52 drone attacks in Pakistan. That number reportedly increased fivefold, to 292, during the first three and a half years of Obama's presidency, according to a 2012 drone report by Stanford University and New York University. Prior to 2007, U.S. drone use was confined to "personality strikes" directed at allegedly high-value militants. Under Obama, the program has expanded its reliance on "signature strikes," targeting people based on what U.S. authorities call a "pattern of life" analysis. Until recently, this expansion occurred covertly with the U.S. government refusing to publicly acknowledge the strikes. To date, crucial details about the drone program remain secret. The two U.N. reports, issued in October, specifically criticized this lack of transparency. "Drones are not inherently illegal weapons," said Christof Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions and author of one of the reports. "But we need to focus on their use. A world where multiple states use such weapons in secrecy is a less secure world." Human rights researchers in Yemen were far more unequivocal in their October report on U.S. drone strikes, calling them "targeted assassinations" that should be qualified as extrajudicial executions, a violation of international human rights law. But the Catholic activists were most concerned about the killing of human beings by these weapons. An excerpt from their statement delivered to the military base on the day of the February protest read: "We come to Hancock Airfield ... this Ash Wednesday, to remember the victims of our drone strikes and to ask God's forgiveness for the killing of other human beings, most especially children." At the trial, Grady held up three photos to Jokl. Two were of children killed by U.S. drone strikes, which included Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen and 16-year-old son of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni cleric and U.S. citizen also killed by a drone strike in a separate incident. The third photo was of Abdulai, a member of the Afghan Youth Volunteers for Peace. Grady told the judge, "[Abdulai] is still alive, and he wants peace." Jokl's acquittal is believed to be a first for anti-drone protests. That it indicates a new judicial sympathy for the activists, who are showing up with increasing frequency in the DeWitt courthouse, is doubtful. Days after the Oct. 24 trial, Judge David S. Gideon, who also rules in the DeWitt circuit, reissued an "order of protection" against a group of anti-drone activists arrested during a wave of protests at Hancock in the fall of 2012. The group has yet to go to trial. Typically used in circumstances of domestic abuse, the restraining order was imposed at the behest of Col. Earl Evans, a base commander at Hancock. It prohibits the activists from being in the environs of Evans personally as well as the military base and comes with a maximum penalty of seven years in jail. Mary Ann Grady Flores, Grady's sister, was among those Gideon called to court in late October. Grady Flores said the activists, who include grandparents, retirees and a former mayor, were asked to sign a document agreeing to abide by the order. "It was an insult, an improper application of the law. We told the judge we were at the base to call to attention to the drones, not to 'molest, sexually assault, annoy, or harm' Col. Evans. In fact, we were trying to prevent harm for Pakistani and Afghan children living under drones. So everybody refused to sign," she said. Gideon also gave the group a Dec. 12 trial date for their October 2012 protest at Hancock. The assistant district attorney has since requested the trial be postponed until January. The recently exonerated Grady says more protests at Hancock are in the making. [Claire Schaeffer-Duffy is a longtime NCR contributor.] Anti-drone activists, from left, Bill Frankel-Streit, Matt Ryan and Jim Clune hold signs in front of the 174th Attack Wing of the Air National Guard on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 13, in DeWitt, N.Y. (Daniel Burns) ________________________________________ Source URL (retrieved on 12/07/2013 - 19:13): http://ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/judges-acquittal-drone-protesters-small-miracle Links: [1] http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201311/drone-uav-pilot-assassination Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Can you sign this letter?/Can you help deliver it to Rep. Sarbanes' Towson office?

Friends, Can you sign on to this letter? Can you join us in delivering the letter to the Towson office? We have an option to go Dec. 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17 or 18. If you are interested in delivering the letter, let me know the days you can go. Thanks. Kagiso, Max Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 Rep. John Sarbanes 600 Baltimore Ave. Suite 303 Baltimore, MD 21204 December 10, 2013 Dear Representative Sarbanes: Members of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore are voters and supporters of Progressive Democrats of America. We are writing to you to raise three issues. As citizen activists, we ask you first to oppose “Fast Track” authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and to vote against the TPP. We also ask you to oppose any cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aka Food Stamps, and to vote in favor of fully funding SNAP, i.e. to reverse all previously enacted cuts. While we support giving, we strongly oppose special gifts to huge multinational corporations paid for by we the people. The TPP would have severe negative impact on the people. Members of Congress and trade officials report that the TPP is likely to • Send millions of jobs overseas and remove accountability from abusers. • Ban efforts to save jobs such as the "Buy America" campaign. • Block green job creation and other needed economic development. • Overrule local, state and federal laws and regulations, and strip away consumer, labor, and environmental protections. Please oppose “fast track” authority, and oppose the TPP whenever it comes up for vote. Also, demand withdrawal from the TPP process in favor of a transparent negotiating paradigm. During this holiday season, it’s a national tragedy that millions of Americans don’t have enough food to eat. Proposed cuts to SNAP are cruel, shortsighted, and make no sense economically. • Every $1 spent on SNAP returns $1.85 to the economy, and costs only $1.50 per meal. • Proposed cuts to SNAP would throw 40 MILLION hungry people off the program including working families, veterans, the elderly, disabled people and 7 million children. • In this wealthy nation, we should ensure everyone has adequate food to eat. • It's a disgrace that Congress would even consider cuts to basic nutrition programs. • SNAP promotes better health and farming practices while supporting farmers. Please oppose any cuts to SNAP, and vote to restore full funding to essential nutrition programs. Also, unless it contains provisions to fully restore funding for SNAP, we call upon you to join with Rep. Jim McGovern and the growing movement in Congress to vote against the Farm Bill. Third, we are seeking an end to the use of killer drone strikes, which we believe to be illegal and unconstitutional. We ask you to speak out against this assassination program, which ignores any veneer of due process. Consider as well a request for the full, unclassified release of information surrounding the administration’s drone policy. Rep. Barbara Lee, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Peace and Security Task Force, has reminded the president that he has full rein to protect the United States as Commander in Chief, but Congress has a vital oversight role in this issue. We look forward to your response. And when you are ready, we would like to meet with you, preferably in Baltimore. But if necessary, we will travel to your D.C. office. We thank you for your consideration regarding these critically important issues, and look forward to ongoing discussion and engagement with you in the New Year. Happy Holidays! Peace, Max Obuszewski, on behalf of Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore/Fund Our Communities Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

88 Percent of Congress On Gas Industry Payroll as Campaign Donations Hit Record Level

88 Percent of Congress On Gas Industry Payroll as Campaign Donations Hit Record Level By Farron Cousins As elected officials in Washington continue to mull the possibilities of setting stricter standards for fracking, the natural gas industry has decided to pull out all the stops to defeat these standards before they can even see the light of day. A new report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shows that the industry’s campaign contributions are now at record levels as they battle politicians wishing to tighten the reins on fracking. According to the report, natural gas campaign donations to politicians in states where fracking is taking off have risen by 231% in the last eight years. But the industry is also hedging its bets in non-fracking states, as donations to politicians in those areas saw an increase in donations of 131%. Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, isn’t surprised by the increase. Of the report, Sloan said, “Like many industries under increasing scrutiny, the fracking industry has responded by ratcheting up campaign donations to help make new friends in Congress…As CREW’s report shows, the fracking boom isn’t just good for the industry, but also for congressional candidates in fracking districts.” CREW goes on to explain where the bulk of the money is going: The top 10 recipients of fracking industry contributions are a mix of strong industry supporters and Republican leadership. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), chairman emeritus of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, received the most contributions, raking in $509,447 between the 2004 and 2012 election cycles — over $100,000 more than the next closest recipient, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who received $384,700. While serving as chairman of the committee, Rep. Barton sponsored the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which exempted fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Overall, nearly 80 percent of fracking industry contributions went to Republican congressional candidates. CREW also compiled a chart listing every member of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate (a grand total of 535 elected officials) show how much each representative received from the natural gas fracking industry in the form of campaign donations. The chart shows just how much influence the industry has purchased: Of the 535 elected officials in the House and Senate, only 67 have not received any money from the natural gas industry. Only 5 Republicans in Washington have not received money, with 62 Democrats being stiffed by the industry as well. It’s clear which political party the industry favors when it comes to buying off politicians. And House Republicans continue to deliver for the industry. In just the last few weeks, they have introduced legislation that would open up more public lands for drilling, and they are attempting to make it even more difficult for the public to challenge new drilling permits. Less than 13% of America’s elected representatives have not taken money from the natural gas industry, and that is a very staggering and depressing number. And as we approach next year’s midterm elections, my prediction is that the percentage of politicians with no financial ties to the industry will fall even lower. MEANWHILE, Jason Lange of Reuters reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is warning the EPA not to release a fracking study that could hurt the country's energy boom: America's largest business lobby group warned the Obama administration on Tuesday against snuffing out the country's energy boom with regulations on new oil and natural gas drilling technologies. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study due next year could be used to justify clamping down on drilling techniques that have sparked a surge in U.S. oil and natural gas output. "This could short-circuit America's absolute explosion in energy opportunity that is creating millions of jobs," he told a meeting of business executives. A major force in U.S. politics, the Chamber of Commerce is the biggest business lobbying group in the country and has been a steady critic of President Barack Obama. In his comments, Donohue railed against the Obama administration's efforts to increase regulations on businesses and appealed to the media to get his message out that the rules were hurting the economy and "undermining freedom." "They are costing jobs and growth in our country," he said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The EPA's study, first requested by Congress in 2010, may prove pivotal in the government's regulation of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves forcing large volumes of water laced with chemicals and sand deep underground to crack rock and free oil and natural gas. Currently, fracking is largely regulated by states, rather than the federal government. In its first major regulation on the energy boom, the EPA finalized a rule last year that targets smog-forming pollutants from fracking wells. It allows drillers to flare the gases until 2015. Critics of fracking, including many environmentalists, worry that drilling operations near schools and homes could pollute water and air. The United States overtook Russia as the top producer of natural gas last year and surged past Saudi Arabia this year as the world's biggest oil producer. Some companies, however, worry the EPA study could lead to added regulations that crimp America's energy bounty. "Many believe it will be the rationalization of new federal fracking regulations before the end of this administration," Donohue said. AT THE SAME TIME THIS WEEK, Katie Auth reporting for the Worldwatch Institute revealed that global greenhouse gas emissions have reached a record high: The disappointing climate conference in Warsaw, Poland — which was intended to lay the groundwork for a global climate agreement in 2015 — stands in sharp contrast to the continued growth in emissions of greenhouse gases. Negotiators and activists alike confront not only the fact that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reached the highest annual total to date, but also a shifting geographic distribution of emissions. The international community must take swift action, concludes a new Vital Signs Online trend released by the Worldwatch Institute. According to the Global Carbon Project, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached 9.7 gigatons of carbon (GtC) in 2012, with a ±5 percent uncertainty range, and may reach 9.9 GtC in 2013. The 2012 value is 58 percent higher than emissions in 1990, the year often used as a benchmark for emissions trends. Coal (43 percent) and oil (33 percent) accounted for the majority of these emissions, with natural gas (18 percent), cement production (5 percent), and flaring (1 percent) making up the remainder. Recent U.S. government and World Bank moves to limit international financing for new coal projects signal a desire to shift away from this particularly carbon-intensive resource. For now, however, coal remains a major driver of CO2 emissions, accounting for 54 percent of the emissions increase in 2012. Coal use is rising in countries currently undergoing energy sector transitions. Coal-related emissions increased in Germany (4.2 percent) and Japan (5.6 percent)-both of which are phasing out nuclear power plants. Oil, gas, and cement accounted for 18 percent, 21 percent, and 6 percent of the global increase in 2012 respectively. Although CO2 is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, it is not the only one with significant warming effects. Other major long-lived greenhouse gases include methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Each gas's contribution to climate change depends on such factors as the length of time it remains in the atmosphere, how strongly it absorbs energy, and its atmospheric concentration. Fossil fuel combustion, together with deforestation and land use change, has pushed the mean atmospheric concentration of CO2 to approximately 393.9 parts per million (ppm) in 2012, an increase of more than 40 percent since 1750 and of 24 percent since the Scripps Institution of Oceanography began keeping detailed records in 1959. Scientists have suggested that the CO2 concentration will need to be reduced to at least 350 ppm if we hope to maintain a climate similar to that which has supported human civilization to date. Atmospheric CO2 concentration increased by 2.2 ppm in 2012 alone, exceeding the average annual increase over the past 10 years. And the Scripps Institution's measurements indicate an average of 396.2 ppm for the period of January to September 2013, implying an even greater increase this year. Although the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed in 2010 that the increase in average global temperature since the pre-industrial period must be kept below 2 degrees Celsius, many projections now put the climate on track for warming that is significantly above that. The Global Carbon Project foresees a "likely" increase in temperature of 3.2-5.4 degrees Celsius. A World Bank report projects an approximate 20 percent likelihood of exceeding a 4 degrees Celsius increase by 2100 if current mitigation commitments and pledges are not fully implemented. Emissions data also highlight the shifting geographical and historical complexity that makes international negotiations so contentious. The global distribution of emissions in 2012 looked very different than it did in 1990, when the Kyoto Protocol was established. At that time, industrial countries accounted for 62 percent of emissions; by 2012, that figure had dropped to 37 percent, reflecting rapid industrialization and development in emerging economies and shifting patterns in production and consumption. Additionally, although international climate negotiations have focused traditionally on the role and responsibility of nation states, new analyses point to the significant role of corporate entities in emitting greenhouse gases. According to painstaking work by Richard Heede of the Climate Accountability Institute, investor-owned corporations have been responsible for 21.7 percent of CO2 and CH4 fossil fuel and cement emissions since 1750, with state-owned corporations responsible for an additional 19.8 percent, highlighting potential new ways to frame responsibility for climate mitigation. As climate negotiators, experts, and activists leave Warsaw and gear up to work on forging a global deal in Paris in 2015, they will have to grapple with these changing complexities. Further highlights from the report: CH4 is the third most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, after CO2 and water vapor, on a per molecule basis. Although atmospheric CH4 levels declined during 1983-99 and remained relatively constant during 1999-2006, they have been increasing since 2007. China's emissions rose by 5.9 percent in 2012, an increase that accounted for 71 percent of that year's global increase. The United States and Australia, although both still major emitters, experienced reductions of 0.05 percent and 11.6 percent respectively. In 2012, the top four emitters of CO2 were China (2,626 million tons of carbon, or MtC), the United States (1,397 MtC), India (611 MtC), and the Russian Federation (492 MtC). Originally published by DeSmogBlog This article was published at Nation of Change at: http://www.nationofchange.org/88-percent-congress-gas-industry-payroll-campaign-donations-hit-record-level-1386519789. All rights are reserved. Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Rising From The Ashes: Miraculous Tale Of Man Who Survived Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb A Mile From Explosion

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) AlterNet [1] / By Jodie Gummow [2] Rising From The Ashes: Miraculous Tale Of Man Who Survived Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb A Mile From Explosion December 6, 2013 | It was 1945 and 19-year-old Shinji Mikamo was on the rooftop of his Hiroshima house helping his father just like any other day when there was a blinding flash. As Shinji turned toward the noise, a fireball sent him into darkness. An atomic bomb less than a mile away had just shattered Hiroshima, instantly killing 140,000 people. Yet, Shinji miraculously managed to survive. While he experienced severe burns and wounds and watched his city crumble around him, Shinji managed to overcome extensive physical injuries and extreme hardships that plagued him for decades to come, by adopting a philosophy that allowed him to see past the cruelties to which he was exposed. Much like many Americans felt following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were filled with resentment and bitterness which prevented many from moving forward from the disaster. Yet, Shinji managed to rise above the hate and forgive those who were accountable, offering a perspective that went against his strictly controlled military regime. ‘Rising from the Ashes [3]’ is Shinji’s personal story of survival and forgiveness, written by his daughter, Dr. Mikamo Akiko, in a bid to carry on his message of peace and humanity. On the anniversary weekend of Pearl Harbor, AlterNet sat down with Akiko to talk about the book, Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima and the psychological impact of forgiveness. JODIE GUMMOW:Take us through the journey of writing this book. What compelled you to tell this story? AKIKO MIKAMO:I grew up listening to my father’s stories. Since I was a child, I always wanted to re-tell the narrative of how my father survived his ordeal. My father offered a unique perspective in that he was less than a mile away from the explosion and yet survived. My father always raised me to believe it was wrong to hate America or any other nation who commits war atrocities. He would say, ‘You have to understand the bigger picture of what was happening in the world at that time. Blame the war on people’s unwillingness to understand another person’s perspective, not on the individual.’ He wanted me to learn English and about foreign culture to act as a bridge across oceans to help people from other premises with different values understand and empathize with one another so that no one would ever suffer from a nuclear bombing again. So I grew up thinking I am going to write this book and tell the world the story of my family and how they survived. If we have to go through such a terrible tragedy, what can we learn from this? First and foremost, we can hold hands in unity and never allow this to happen again. Our worst enemy of yesterday can be our best friend of tomorrow. It was because of my father’s words that I moved to the United States twenty-five years ago and studied multicultural psychology. It took me three years of comprehensive research before the book came together. JG:The book is written in the first person as though you are your father telling the story yourself. Why did you write this book from Shinji’s perspective and not your own? AK: I wanted Shinji to talk to the readers and talk to everybody in the world. I knew that this would ultimately have the strongest impact on the readers. This is a person who went through unbelievable physical pain, underwent numerous surgeries without anesthesia, suffered radiation poisoning, lost his entire family to the war and endured extreme poverty and hardships in a tightly controlled strict societal structure where he was considered an orphan, street rat and discriminated against by the Japanese Hiroshima survivors. Yet, he still had hope and managed to build a family. He never hated Americans like so many others around him and instead tried to teach people about the power of forgiveness. He got bashed for doing so and for not expressing hate towards the United States. He would say that the events in history, what happened in China and Pearl Harbor, were not because one person was wrong and the other right. Rather, humans have a tendency and weakness to lash out and retaliate against others because we believe in our righteousness. But the paradox is that this is what got us into the disaster in the first place. JG: Your father, who at 87-years-old is still alive and well, lost his entire family to the war. How did he manage to survive? AK:How he survived on the rooftop less than a mile away from the explosion is a miracle. In an explainable sense, my father’s father was a really strong man and pulled him from the rubble literally. He put my father first and refused to let him give up, even when everything looked bleak. He convinced my father that it was impossible for him to think he could die. A father in Japan has much authority over the family. His father ultimately pushed him through and physically dragged him across Japan looking for help. From a practical sense, my father heard from medical specialists that radiation intensity is not evenly distributed at all distances. Some spots have higher levels and lower levels, with the debris in the air affecting its distribution differently. My father thinks he must have been in the shadow of such debris. But he did suffer from radiation sickness and tuberculosis. Yet somehow, he found a lot of angels who were kind and really self-sacrificing and after five days my father was transported to a military hospital alongside other injured civilian employees. The military came and picked him up to take him to the temporary shelter but his father was unable to go. That was the last time he ever saw his father. JG: You talk about the political situation in the book and say the public was led to believe the actual reverse of what was really going on. Can you take us through the scene of Japan during that period? AK:After the Midway battles in the Second World War, Japan started to lose. However, the media was heavily censored and anyone who uttered or talked independently was severely punished by authorities. It was totally military controlled. Anyone who expressed doubt was punished for treason. At that time Japan was so scarce with materials, they put every metal into the forge to make ammunition. Pots and pans were taken, nails, all metals were to be donated or sold to the government forcefully or at very cheap rates. When my father saw a statue of a prominent prime minster laying on the ground to forge into metal, he thought to himself, ‘We’re not going to win’. Placing a statue or picture of a person on the ground is the ultimate disrespect in Japan. If we have to put this prime minister into the forge to melt him to make ammunition, then such scarcity certainly could not point to success. Yet, when you’re taught that Japan is going to win and the media only shows success of that kind, in consciousness you still believe it. Right after the attack, there were no newspapers, no radios and everything was burned. Hiroshima got the news much, much later. They didn’t know what the bomb was. They thought it was a series of bombs, not one single powerful bomb. My father didn’t hear the news about surrendering until days after. In the nation, after the bomb, the media changed. And all of the sudden, there was Emperor Hirohito surrendering in his most famous line telling the Japanese people that we 'bear the unbearable' and we 'tolerate the intolerable' but as a nation we have decided to surrender for our future. The whole country was devastated. He was a living God. Nobody had even ever heard the Emperor's voice up until that point. It was only then that he became a living person. And the whole nation fell apart. JG:You include both the historical aspect of what transpired and also an ultimate message of forgiveness in your book. Why is this message of forgiveness so important for society today in the current political climate in the context of war? AM: As a clinical psychologist, I have seen firsthand the hatred and grudges that people on an individual level to a country level hold when they don’t understand things or each other, whether it’s religious, cultural or language. And it’s all based on fear. People strike out with hatred when they feel threatened or deprived or damaged or attacked. It’s universal. It’s not about an atomic bomb or an attack on Pearl Harbor. It all falls under an umbrella of human emotion, which is what gets us into trouble as a society. Every time there is bombing or hate crime, it hurts all of us in one way or another. Holding a grudge is poisonous to our souls. Spiritually and psychologically, it is proven that grudges hurt us but forgiveness helps us heal and sends a positive message to offenders and to our children and generations to come and that has a ripple effect. Forgiveness is the key to solving conflict on all levels. JG:In the media today, what do you think is greatest misconception about what happened during that period in World War II? AK:From the Japanese perspective, our government continues to minimize what the Japanese were doing in the Pacific and even now debates the facts surrounding Pearl Harbor. As for American history, it seems some believe that it was necessary to use the atomic bomb to end the war, but this is not quite true. If you look at historical and legal documentation, Japan had already begun peace talks with the Soviet Union to mediate with the allies before the bombings. The atomic bomb was not done to end the war. If that had been the case, the second bomb in Nagasaki would never have been dropped. In fact, both cities were much more smaller in size than larger cities which had been air-raided many times before, yet remained untouched. JG: In the book your father says that in terms of who is to blame, the fault lay with the war itself, not the United States. How was your dad able to push aside any feelings of resentment, and instead show the world that it's important for us all to strive to understand each other? AK: One big factor which shaped his ideology was his own father. In the first couple of days after the bombing, his father saved him and pushed him to live. His father was in a way a renaissance man. He had this foresight and insight and advocated against the government. The reason my father and his father were on the top of the roof in the first place when the bomb struck was because of the government’s ridiculous strict demolition order to destroy certain houses, which my father and his father opposed. The government believed that with all the ongoing air strikes, our homes spread fires. Shinji and his father were forced to take down their home even though they knew it made no logical sense. But nobody could question the government. The government didn’t concern itself with where we would go or make any housing arrangements for its people. They were able to brainwash the masses because everybody believed the Emperor was God. Those who wanted to leave the city were prevented. JG:Tell us about your non-profit organization, San Diego Worldwide Initiative to Safeguard Humanity [4] (San Diego-WISH). Did this arise from feeling a sense of responsibility to carry on your father’s legacy? AK:Yes, I set up this organization to carry on my father’s philosophy. I started WISH three years ago after I felt I had gained enough perspective, insight and understanding of humanity to put the message of forgiveness and peace together. The message of WISH is to raise awareness for peace education and promotion. We want to educate children so that we will never have a mass disaster like this again. We do a lot of activities and workshops to teach people how to get along. I feel I was born for that purpose to carry out this legacy to send a message that would positively impact upon people. JG: Do you have concerns for the future of your own children in today’s world? AK:I have serious concerns. There is so much hatred in the world. So much premature judgment and people not willing to hear the other person’s point of view. In my work, I teach empathy which is different from sympathy. Empathy means that you can have different opinions but put away your own subjective feelings and judgment even if you think the other side is wrong. Empathy is the essence of providing psychotherapy. My father chose to empathize with Americans to understand the context and environment they were in which led them to drop the bomb. I want people to know that there are ways to let go and find peace and that we can promote love and forgiveness and develop empathy to forge a healthy mental state. JG:With Pearl Harbor anniversary this weekend, and a film adaptation of the book in the works, what are you hoping Americans might take away from this story in commemorating history? AK: My message is that while we must commemorate those whose lives were lost, we don’t have to hold resentment and we don’t have to hate, because if we love ourselves, if we strive to believe in our children and the next generation, then such action is counter-intuitive. If someone killed my children, sure, I might want to be bitter too. It’s natural. I have a complete understanding for people who may still feel resentment toward the Japanese for bombing Pearl Harbor. People use grudges as a crutch to live on when have a big blow of huge loss in their life. But the fact is, that’s not going to bring back the lost ones and holding on to hatred will not make you stronger inside. I really invite people to read this story, relate to the universal notions of forgiveness and find a means to apply it to their own lives. ‘Rising from the Ashes’ by Dr. Akiko Mikamo can be purchased online here [5]. Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/world/rising-ashes-miraculous-tale-man-who-survived-hiroshimas-atomic-bomb-mile-explosion Links: [1] http://alternet.org [2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/jodie-gummow [3] http://www.risinghiroshima.com [4] http://sdwish.org [5] http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/dr-akiko-mikamo/rising-from-the-ashes/paperback/product-21190708.html Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs