Published on Portside (https://portside.org)
What the Twin Plagues of ISIS and Ebola Have in Common
http://www.thenation.com/blog/181415/what-twin-plagues-isis-and-ebola-have-common
John Feffer and Foreign Policy in Focus
Sunday, September 28, 2014
The Nation/Blog
In his novel The Plague, Albert Camus describes how death comes to an ugly French port in Algeria.
Thanks to an infestation of rats and the fleas they carry, the bubonic plague descends upon the city in the spring and intensifies during the hot summer. After a short period of denial, the residents panic, then sink into despondency and alcoholism. The port is put under quarantine. Undeterred by the apathy of the population and the danger of exposure, a small number of courageous individuals mobilize to fight the epidemic and eventually beat back the invader.
Camus took great care to detail the symptoms of the disease. But for all his medical exactitude, the French writer was not primarily interested in epidemiology. His inspiration was a different kind of infection. The novel is set some time in the 1940s. The plague is Nazism, and those who fight the disease stand in for the heroes of the French Resistance. It is a supremely apt allegory, for did not the Nazis claim that their victims were vermin? Camus surely must have enjoyed reincarnating the German fascists as the lowest of the low: bloodsucking fleas and desperate rats.
The twin plagues of Nazism and bubonic plague, except for some isolated cases [1], are behind us. But now it seems that a different pair of plagues is in our midst.
Today’s headlines are filled with similar stories of the spread of death and destruction in the Middle East and Africa. American commentators worry that these plagues will burst their borders and somehow spread to these shores [2]. And, as in Camus’s novel, these diseases point to something larger, not the imposition of a new malignant system but the breakdown of the existing order.
In West Africa, the plague is Ebola, a terrifying fever that ends in massive hemorrhaging. The mortality rate, if untreated, is as high as bubonic plague. But at least with the modern version of the Black Death, treatment brings the mortality rate down to 15 percent. Ebola, by contrast, resists treatment. There are no vaccines for this hemorrhagic fever—though there’s promising news [3] out of Canada—and the few treatments that have been used remain highly experimental. Doctors and officials establish quarantines and hope the disease will burn itself out. With airlines shutting down service to the infected region, hampering efforts to deliver medical supplies [4], the disease continues to rage on.
Ebola has so far claimed around 1,500 lives. This is terrible, of course, but it pales in comparison to how many children succumb to diarrhea in Africa. According to a 2010 report, 2,000 African children die every day [5] of a disease that can be prevented through relatively cheap methods: safe water and hygiene. But diarrhea is not a communicable disease in the same sense as the plague or Ebola. And no one in the United States worries that a summit of African leaders or the repatriation of infected patients will spread an epidemic of diarrhea stateside. Ebola monopolizes the headlines because what grabs attention is fear (along with the usual colonial images [6] of Africans as dirty and irresponsible).
The panic is, of course, more acute in the areas hardest hit by Ebola. Consider the case of Kandeh Kamara, a brave 21-year-old who volunteered to help fight the disease in Sierra Leone. He was promptly drafted to become a “burial boy” responsible for dealing with the corpses of the infected. “In doing their jobs, the burial boys have been cast out of their communities because of fear that they will bring the virus home with them,” writes Adam Nossiter and Ben Solomon in a powerful piece [7] in The New York Times. Talk about thankless tasks. Kandeh Kamara initially received no payment for his work and had to beg for food on the street. He now gets $6 a day and hopes to rent an apartment, though landlords often refuse to lease to the burial boys.
Ebola is bad news, but it hasn’t generated the same kind of fury as that other fast-spreading scourge, namely the Islamic State (IS). The recent beheading of US journalist James Foley has ratcheted up the outrage of American observers.
It’s certainly not the first beheading that IS has done.
The group specializes in meting out barbarous punishments [8]—decapitations, crucifixions, amputations. But just as Ebola’s impact became real for Americans when it infected people “like us”—two US missionaries in Liberia—the United States was prompted to act against IS when it began killing non-Muslims, first the stranded Yazidis and then the abducted journalist.
IS has spread quickly, and so has the panic that has accompanied its territorial acquisition. There have been the inevitable analogies to Nazism [9]. But even those who don’t invoke Hitler are quick to use Manichean language to describe the IS challenge.
“We can see evil through the eye slits of the ski mask worn by Foley’s killer,” writes David Ignatius in a Washington Post commentary titled “The New Battle Against Evil [10].” “But stopping that evil is a harder task.”
The IS killers are a nasty piece of work, and their ideology is thoroughly malign. But I hesitate to use the language of good and evil. Such moralistic terminology presumes that they, the beheaders, are a Satanic force that can only be exorcised with whatever version of holy water our angelic forces dispense—air strikes, boots on the ground, military aid to the Kurdish peshmerga, efforts in the community to dissuade angry young men from taking the next flight to Mosul.
We, on the other hand, are good. We would never behead anyone. Those we execute “deserve” their punishment (though the occasional innocent person [11] might inadvertently fall through the cracks). And the civilian casualties from our military offensives, because we are by definition good, are simply mistakes. After all, we don’t publicly celebrate the deaths of Afghan civilians from our drone strikes (forty-five in 2013 [12] alone) or the deaths of over 400 children in Gaza [13]. But our protestations of innocence are little consolation to the families of the victims.
At what point do mistakes aggregate into something evil?
At the very least, do they prevent us from claiming the mantle of good? And, of course, it’s not just the mistakes that are problematic but also the deliberate policies that, for instance, align Washington with dictators and other murderous actors. American disgust with IS may already have prompted intelligence sharing [14] with the regime in Damascus, though the Obama administration has denied such deals [15].
Camus had some choice words for those who are reluctant to call evil by its name. “Our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words they were humanists: they disbelieved in pestilences,” he wrote in The Plague. “A pestilence isn’t a thing made to man’s measure; therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn’t always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away, and the humanists first of all, because they haven’t taken their precautions.”
Humanists perhaps disbelieve in pestilences. “I used to not believe in evil,” confesses Richard Cohen this week in a Washington Postcolumn [16] declaring a “return of evil” with ISIS. Once a liberal humanist, Cohen long ago remade himself into a liberal hawk.
I still consider myself a humanist. But my brand of humanism sees pestilence everywhere. Indeed, I tend to see pestilence not only in the acts of individuals but in the structures within which the plague takes root and spreads. And this is where the two plagues intersect, Ebola and IS. They both prosper where the immune system is weak.
When it comes to medical infrastructure, Africa definitely has a compromised immune system. The continent has been hit hard by HIV/AIDS (70 percent [17] of those living with HIV are in Africa), cholera (major outbreaks took place recently in Senegal, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone), and malaria (an African child dies every minute [18] from this disease). Ebola has spread rapidly because of critical shortages in medical staff and supplies.
But the deeper reason is environmental: the clear-cutting of forests [19] that have served as a traditional barrier to pathogens. West Africa has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world, losing nearly a million hectares a year. The forests are Africa’s natural defenses, and Ebola is a sign that these defenses have been fatally weakened. What used to stay in remote villages now spreads quickly to urban areas.
The recent victories of IS in Syria and Iraq, meanwhile, suggest not a breakdown in the environmental system but in the political one. IS is not simply a band of serial killers. They have a distinct ideology and set of political motives. Nor does it matter whether they are operating in a formally dictatorial or democratic environment. IS thrives both where Assad rules with an iron fist and where Saddam is long gone.
The common denominator is chaos. IS has ruthlessly expanded in the gray areas beyond the reach of the rule of law. In Syria, it has prospered in regions that already broke loose from the country during the uprising. In Iraq, it took advantage of a paralyzing conflict between Shi’a and Sunni that left the northern reaches of the country tenuously connected to the central government.
Local governance, whether it’s democratic or authoritarian, serves the same function as the forests of West Africa. Such governance holds society together. When it deteriorates, the very cellular structure breaks down. In Ebola, the cell walls fray and the patient bleeds out. With a virus like IS, the fibers of the social fabric fray and large sections of the country bleed out.
There are, of course, many differences between a pestilence like Ebola and a movement like IS. But they are both the result of systemic breakdown. They are opportunistic infections.
In both cases there are no magic pills. Even if we come up with an antidote to this version of Ebola, as long as we continue to cut down the forests of Africa, more potent versions will continue to appear and spread. And if we attempt to obliterate IS only with bombs or boots on the ground, it will simply pop up somewhere else where the conditions favor such desperate efforts to create a totalitarian order. Instead we should focus on the conditions that give rise to these phenomena—and our role in helping to perpetuate these conditions.
Camus recommended vigilance. Pestilence, he concluded, “bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, and bookshelves and…perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city.” The current plagues have certainly been a bane. Whether they also help to enlighten us remains to be seen.
Copyright c 2014 The Nation. Reprinted with permission. May not be reprinted without permission. Distributed by Agence Global. Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription to The Nation for just $9.50.
Source URL: https://portside.org/2014-09-02/what-twin-plagues-isis-and-ebola-have-common
Links:
[1] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bubonic-plague-outbreak-china-leads-quarantine-180952136/?no-ist
[2] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/05/already-deadly-in-africa-could-ebola-hit-america-next.html
[3] http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/ebola-outbreak-canadian-company-says-its-vaccine-looks-promising-1.2746313
[4] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/isolation-and-cancelled-flights-hamper-ebola-efforts-in-africa/article20202513/
[5] http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/295031
[6] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/08/25/othering-ebola-and-the-history-and-politics-of-pointing-at-immigrants-as-potential-disease-vectors/
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/world/africa/sierra-leone-if-they-survive-in-ebola-ward-they-work-on.html?_r=0
[8] http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/06/13/isis-beheadings-and-the-success-of-horrifying-violence/
[9] http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/isis-through-a-nazi-mirror-darkly/
[10] http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-obamas-correct-approach-to-battling-the-evil-islamic-state/2014/08/21/4fdef9ea-296a-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html
[11] http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/08/03/fresh-doubts-over-a-texas-execution/
[12] http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2014/02/08/civilian-drone-deaths-triple-in-afghanistan-un-agency-finds/
[13] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israelgaza-conflict-names-of-373-children-killed-by-bombing-released-in-charity-plea-for-permanent-ceasefire-9651400.html
[14] https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/561546-us-giving-syria-intelligence-on-jihadists-say-sources
[15] http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-rules-out-coordinating-with-assad-on-airstrikes-against-islamists-in-syria/2014/08/26/cda02e0e-2d2e-11e4-9b98-848790384093_story.html
[16] http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-the-islamic-state-is-evil-returned/2014/08/25/93eccd9c-2c85-11e4-9b98-848790384093_story.html
[17] http://www.avert.org/africa-hiv-aids-statistics.htm
[18] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/
[19] http://guardianlv.com/2014/07/ebola-the-origin-of-west-africas-deadly-epidemic/
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
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Beekeepers File Suit Against Pesticide Makers Over Bee Deaths
ednews.org/news-section2/312-16/25679-beekeepers-file-suit-against-pesticide-makers-over-bee-deaths
A worker from Chile helps move hives at Dr. Lin's farm in Pitt Meadows, B.C., on June 4, 2013. Honeybee colonies across Canada and the world are seeing a huge decline in numbers. (photo: Ben Nelms/The Globe and Mail)
Beekeepers File Suit Against Pesticide Makers Over Bee Deaths
By Eric Atkins, The Globe and Mail
04 September 14
Beekeepers in Ontario have launched a lawsuit against two big chemical companies, alleging their pesticides have caused widespread bee deaths that have driven up costs and reduced honey production.
The honey makers allege Syngenta AG and Bayer CropScience were “negligent” in the “design, sale manufacture and distribution” of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are used to grow corn, soybeans and many other crops.
The lawsuit, which seeks $450-million in damages, alleges beekeepers experienced damaged or lost bee colonies, lost profits and unrecoverable costs as a result of neonic use on plants and crops. None of the allegations have been proven.
The case marks an escalation in the battle between Ontario beekeepers and chemical companies, two groups farmers rely on for pollination and crop protection.
The lead plaintiffs in the suit are Sun Parlor Honey Ltd. and Munro Honey, both of which are family-owned business in southwestern Ontario, the heart of the province’s agriculture sector.
In the statement of claim filed Wednesday, both companies allege they respectively lost more than $2-million in bees and honey production because of neonics between 2013 and 2006, when the pesticides became widely used in Canada.
Tom Congdon, whose grandfather started Sun Parlor Honey 89 years ago, said Health Canada has confirmed dead and dying honeybees at some of his 1,950 hives. In an interview, he said his business has sustained widespread bee losses all summer, and he has no doubt the neonic pesticides are to blame.
In the statement of claim, Sun Parlor Honey alleges neonic-related bee deaths have cost the company 139,000 pounds of honey over the past seven years worth more than $700,000. Replacing dead bees and hives has cost more than $2-million, Sun Parlor alleges.
Mr. Congdon, whose bees feed on a variety of crops, said bee deaths have worsened in recent years as corn and soybeans have become more widely grown due to rising demand for biofuels.
Syngenta and Bayer did not respond to interview requests on Wednesday about the lawsuit. The chemical companies have said that honeybees do not absorb enough neonics in the field to suffer ill effects, and the pesticides are safe if used as directed.
A spokesman for Bayer Cropscience said the company has not been served with the lawsuit and had no comment on it.
"We believe the products we develop, market and steward represent the latest innovations in crop protection that have helped make Canadian agriculture productive and sustainable," Derrick Rozdeba said.
Dimitri Lascaris, a lawyer with the firm representing the plaintiffs, said he has been retained by many large Ontario beekeepers that represent the majority of the country’s honeybee industry. He said he plans to seek Canada-wide certification for the class action, which can take more than a year.
Neonics are systemic pesticides that farmers use to protect their crops against insects. The pesticides are temporarily banned in Europe and their approval is being reassessed by Health Canada. The Ontario government says it plans to regulate the use of neonics, which have been cited as contributing to the 58-per-cent bee mortality rate in Ontario over the past winter.
Health Canada has blamed the planting of corn in Ontario for honeybee deaths, and directed farmers and chemical companies take steps to reduce the amount of pesticide-laden dust that is kicked up during seeding.
Honeybees are important pollinators, responsible for helping produce about one-third of the food we eat. This amounts to $1.5-billion worth of food in Canada every year, and $150-billion globally, said Ernesto Guzman, a scientist who studies honeybees at Ontario’s University of Guelph.
Over the past six years, honeybee losses in Canada have averaged 30 per cent annually. Causes for the decline include pesticides, parasitic mites, viruses, cold winters and the stresses placed on colonies when they are moved among farms. Scientists and bee experts believe neonics weaken the bees and make them more vulnerable to the pathogens.
“Neonic poisoning is, of course, a factor, but it is not the only factor,” Mr. Guzman said.
The Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, which tracks bee mortality rates, says normal winter losses are 15 per cent.
Mr. Congdon said the virus-bearing mites are under control in his hives, and are not to blame for the piles of dead bees he sees near hives, nor for the many that never return home.
“The mites have contributed to winter loss, there’s no debate about that,” Mr. Congdon said in an interview. “But it’s nothing compared to what we’ve been seeing. All summer long we’re fighting to keep the colonies in shape. [Neonics] just weaken them down and make them susceptible to other pathogens.”
A group of European scientists known as the Task Force on Systemic pesticides reviewed 800 scientific papers that studied neonics and found clear evidence they pose serious risks to bees and other pollinators. They found the use of the pesticide is unsustainable.
Neonics are applied to the seed or sprayed on fields. They become present in all parts of the plant and are 20 times stronger than DDT, a pesticide that was banned decades ago, Mr. Guzman said.
© 2014 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
A worker from Chile helps move hives at Dr. Lin's farm in Pitt Meadows, B.C., on June 4, 2013. Honeybee colonies across Canada and the world are seeing a huge decline in numbers. (photo: Ben Nelms/The Globe and Mail)
Beekeepers File Suit Against Pesticide Makers Over Bee Deaths
By Eric Atkins, The Globe and Mail
04 September 14
Beekeepers in Ontario have launched a lawsuit against two big chemical companies, alleging their pesticides have caused widespread bee deaths that have driven up costs and reduced honey production.
The honey makers allege Syngenta AG and Bayer CropScience were “negligent” in the “design, sale manufacture and distribution” of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are used to grow corn, soybeans and many other crops.
The lawsuit, which seeks $450-million in damages, alleges beekeepers experienced damaged or lost bee colonies, lost profits and unrecoverable costs as a result of neonic use on plants and crops. None of the allegations have been proven.
The case marks an escalation in the battle between Ontario beekeepers and chemical companies, two groups farmers rely on for pollination and crop protection.
The lead plaintiffs in the suit are Sun Parlor Honey Ltd. and Munro Honey, both of which are family-owned business in southwestern Ontario, the heart of the province’s agriculture sector.
In the statement of claim filed Wednesday, both companies allege they respectively lost more than $2-million in bees and honey production because of neonics between 2013 and 2006, when the pesticides became widely used in Canada.
Tom Congdon, whose grandfather started Sun Parlor Honey 89 years ago, said Health Canada has confirmed dead and dying honeybees at some of his 1,950 hives. In an interview, he said his business has sustained widespread bee losses all summer, and he has no doubt the neonic pesticides are to blame.
In the statement of claim, Sun Parlor Honey alleges neonic-related bee deaths have cost the company 139,000 pounds of honey over the past seven years worth more than $700,000. Replacing dead bees and hives has cost more than $2-million, Sun Parlor alleges.
Mr. Congdon, whose bees feed on a variety of crops, said bee deaths have worsened in recent years as corn and soybeans have become more widely grown due to rising demand for biofuels.
Syngenta and Bayer did not respond to interview requests on Wednesday about the lawsuit. The chemical companies have said that honeybees do not absorb enough neonics in the field to suffer ill effects, and the pesticides are safe if used as directed.
A spokesman for Bayer Cropscience said the company has not been served with the lawsuit and had no comment on it.
"We believe the products we develop, market and steward represent the latest innovations in crop protection that have helped make Canadian agriculture productive and sustainable," Derrick Rozdeba said.
Dimitri Lascaris, a lawyer with the firm representing the plaintiffs, said he has been retained by many large Ontario beekeepers that represent the majority of the country’s honeybee industry. He said he plans to seek Canada-wide certification for the class action, which can take more than a year.
Neonics are systemic pesticides that farmers use to protect their crops against insects. The pesticides are temporarily banned in Europe and their approval is being reassessed by Health Canada. The Ontario government says it plans to regulate the use of neonics, which have been cited as contributing to the 58-per-cent bee mortality rate in Ontario over the past winter.
Health Canada has blamed the planting of corn in Ontario for honeybee deaths, and directed farmers and chemical companies take steps to reduce the amount of pesticide-laden dust that is kicked up during seeding.
Honeybees are important pollinators, responsible for helping produce about one-third of the food we eat. This amounts to $1.5-billion worth of food in Canada every year, and $150-billion globally, said Ernesto Guzman, a scientist who studies honeybees at Ontario’s University of Guelph.
Over the past six years, honeybee losses in Canada have averaged 30 per cent annually. Causes for the decline include pesticides, parasitic mites, viruses, cold winters and the stresses placed on colonies when they are moved among farms. Scientists and bee experts believe neonics weaken the bees and make them more vulnerable to the pathogens.
“Neonic poisoning is, of course, a factor, but it is not the only factor,” Mr. Guzman said.
The Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, which tracks bee mortality rates, says normal winter losses are 15 per cent.
Mr. Congdon said the virus-bearing mites are under control in his hives, and are not to blame for the piles of dead bees he sees near hives, nor for the many that never return home.
“The mites have contributed to winter loss, there’s no debate about that,” Mr. Congdon said in an interview. “But it’s nothing compared to what we’ve been seeing. All summer long we’re fighting to keep the colonies in shape. [Neonics] just weaken them down and make them susceptible to other pathogens.”
A group of European scientists known as the Task Force on Systemic pesticides reviewed 800 scientific papers that studied neonics and found clear evidence they pose serious risks to bees and other pollinators. They found the use of the pesticide is unsustainable.
Neonics are applied to the seed or sprayed on fields. They become present in all parts of the plant and are 20 times stronger than DDT, a pesticide that was banned decades ago, Mr. Guzman said.
© 2014 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
US Court Sets Precedent by Ruling Guatemalan Domestic Violence Victim Can Seek Asylum
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25958-us-court-sets-precedent-by-ruling-guatemalan-domestic-violence-victim-can-seek-asylum
US Court Sets Precedent by Ruling Guatemalan Domestic Violence Victim Can Seek Asylum
Wednesday, 03 September 2014 09:35By Cyril Mychalejko, teleSUR | Report
(Image: Nick Kenrick)The top U.S. immigration court ruled this week that women from other countries fleeing domestic violence and fearing for their lives can now legally seek asylum in the United States.
The Board of Immigration Appeals issued its decision in the case of Aminta Cifuentes, a Guatemalan woman whose husband repeatedly raped and beat her, and who burned her with paint thinner. Cifuentes was able to prove to the court, through documentation, that the Guatemalan government also failed to protect her from her abuser.
The immigration court noted in its decision that women domestic violence victims in the country constituted a "particular social group," which is one of five legally protected grounds for qualifying for refugee status. Foreigners can also apply for asylum if they can prove a "well-founded fear of persecution" based on race, religion, nationality, and political opinion.
The court further noted in its decision that Guatemala has "a culture of machismo and family violence," that "spousal rape remains a serious problem," and that Guatemala's "National Civilian Police often failed to respond to requests for assistance related to domestic violence."
"It becomes clear with this decision what women's organizations have been saying for many years regarding the state's inability to protect women's lives. Even if it was possible to move forward in the legislative and institutional fields, violence against women in all its forms continues being a serious problem for women in this country," Ada Valenzuela, president of the board of directors of the National Union of Guatemalan Women (UNAMG), told teleSUR English.
UNAMG is a Guatemalan feminist organization that was founded in 1980 amid one of the most violent periods during the country's bloody 36 year civil war. In addition to genocide, it has been documented that the Guatemalan state used femicide, violence that specifically targets women, as a tool of repression and terror in its counterinsurgency campaign. Some of the acts of gender-based violence included rape, sexual mutilation, and forced abortions.
"Against this background, this may be an important step for women who have not found any answers from the Guatemalan State or any Central American States," added UNAMG's Valenzuela.
"From a political standpoint it is an acknowledgment that violence against women does not constitute a 'private' problem – as the immigration court has previously understood it – but a social and political issue that affects many women who do not get a response from the state."
A Step Forward
"This is a really important legal precedent, but there are still a lot of factors lined up against women who may try to make this legal argument," Aviva Chomsky, a professor of Latin American history at Salem State University told teleSUR English.
She said that women like Cifuentes, who entered the United States without documentation in 2005, face many hurdles and may not be as fortunate as she was. For example, other women may not be fortunate enough to have access to legal representation.
Meanwhile, many others may not be able to acquire documentation proving the incapacity of their respective governments to protect them, or even state complicity. Karen Musalo, a legal adviser in the Cifuentes case, explained to teleSUR English that these are prerequisites for acquiring asylum.
"The applicant for asylum has the 'burden of proof' to establish all of the required elements of his or her claim. When an individual is persecuted by a 'non-state actor' – such as in this case where the persecutor was her husband – she is required to show that her government is 'unable or unwilling' to protect her," said Musalo, a professor and director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law.
According to Grahame Russell, director of the Canadian and U.S.-based NGO Rights Action, one shortcoming of this development is that it does nothing for women in Guatemala, where impunity, corruption and violence, especially gender violence, are the norm. Guatemala has one of the highest femicide rates in the world.
However, while the impact will more or less be felt mainly inside U.S. borders, the court decision will still make an impact on people's lives, he added.
"The decision of the court will strengthen the hand of advocacy groups, human rights groups, lawyers, and legal aid clinics who are fighting for women who are trying to stay in the United States because they fear for their lives," said Russell, who has been working with communities in Guatemala for more than 25 years.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license.
Cyril Mychalejko is an editor at www.UpsideDownWorld.org
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
US Court Sets Precedent by Ruling Guatemalan Domestic Violence Victim Can Seek Asylum
Wednesday, 03 September 2014 09:35By Cyril Mychalejko, teleSUR | Report
(Image: Nick Kenrick)The top U.S. immigration court ruled this week that women from other countries fleeing domestic violence and fearing for their lives can now legally seek asylum in the United States.
The Board of Immigration Appeals issued its decision in the case of Aminta Cifuentes, a Guatemalan woman whose husband repeatedly raped and beat her, and who burned her with paint thinner. Cifuentes was able to prove to the court, through documentation, that the Guatemalan government also failed to protect her from her abuser.
The immigration court noted in its decision that women domestic violence victims in the country constituted a "particular social group," which is one of five legally protected grounds for qualifying for refugee status. Foreigners can also apply for asylum if they can prove a "well-founded fear of persecution" based on race, religion, nationality, and political opinion.
The court further noted in its decision that Guatemala has "a culture of machismo and family violence," that "spousal rape remains a serious problem," and that Guatemala's "National Civilian Police often failed to respond to requests for assistance related to domestic violence."
"It becomes clear with this decision what women's organizations have been saying for many years regarding the state's inability to protect women's lives. Even if it was possible to move forward in the legislative and institutional fields, violence against women in all its forms continues being a serious problem for women in this country," Ada Valenzuela, president of the board of directors of the National Union of Guatemalan Women (UNAMG), told teleSUR English.
UNAMG is a Guatemalan feminist organization that was founded in 1980 amid one of the most violent periods during the country's bloody 36 year civil war. In addition to genocide, it has been documented that the Guatemalan state used femicide, violence that specifically targets women, as a tool of repression and terror in its counterinsurgency campaign. Some of the acts of gender-based violence included rape, sexual mutilation, and forced abortions.
"Against this background, this may be an important step for women who have not found any answers from the Guatemalan State or any Central American States," added UNAMG's Valenzuela.
"From a political standpoint it is an acknowledgment that violence against women does not constitute a 'private' problem – as the immigration court has previously understood it – but a social and political issue that affects many women who do not get a response from the state."
A Step Forward
"This is a really important legal precedent, but there are still a lot of factors lined up against women who may try to make this legal argument," Aviva Chomsky, a professor of Latin American history at Salem State University told teleSUR English.
She said that women like Cifuentes, who entered the United States without documentation in 2005, face many hurdles and may not be as fortunate as she was. For example, other women may not be fortunate enough to have access to legal representation.
Meanwhile, many others may not be able to acquire documentation proving the incapacity of their respective governments to protect them, or even state complicity. Karen Musalo, a legal adviser in the Cifuentes case, explained to teleSUR English that these are prerequisites for acquiring asylum.
"The applicant for asylum has the 'burden of proof' to establish all of the required elements of his or her claim. When an individual is persecuted by a 'non-state actor' – such as in this case where the persecutor was her husband – she is required to show that her government is 'unable or unwilling' to protect her," said Musalo, a professor and director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law.
According to Grahame Russell, director of the Canadian and U.S.-based NGO Rights Action, one shortcoming of this development is that it does nothing for women in Guatemala, where impunity, corruption and violence, especially gender violence, are the norm. Guatemala has one of the highest femicide rates in the world.
However, while the impact will more or less be felt mainly inside U.S. borders, the court decision will still make an impact on people's lives, he added.
"The decision of the court will strengthen the hand of advocacy groups, human rights groups, lawyers, and legal aid clinics who are fighting for women who are trying to stay in the United States because they fear for their lives," said Russell, who has been working with communities in Guatemala for more than 25 years.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license.
Cyril Mychalejko is an editor at www.UpsideDownWorld.org
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
Israel takes land, Palestine loses land; that’s the way it works
commondreams.org/views/2014/09/03/israels-land-lives-theft-pure-and-simple
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
The Independent/UK
Israel’s ‘Land for Lives’ Is Theft. Pure and Simple
Israel takes land, Palestine loses land; that’s the way it works
Robert Fisk
"If an innocent Israeli life – cruelly taken – is worth around 330 acres of land," argues Fisk, "then an innocent Palestinian life – equally cruelly taken – must surely equal the same." (Photo: Archive/The Independent)
So a bit more of Palestine has slidden down the plughole. A thousand more acres of Palestinian land stolen by the Israeli government – for “appropriation” is theft, is it not? – and the world has made the usual excuses. The Americans found it “counter-productive” to peace, which is probably a bit less forceful than its reaction would be if Mexico were to bite off a 1,000-acre chunk of Texas and decided to build homes there for its illegal immigrants in the US. But this is “Palestine” (inverted commas more necessary than ever) and Israel has been getting away with theft, albeit not on quite this scale – it is the biggest land heist in 30 years – ever since it signed up to the Oslo agreement in 1993.
The Rabin-Arafat handshake, the promises and handovers of territory and military withdrawals, and the determination to leave everything important (Jerusalem, refugees, the right of return) to the end, until everyone trusted each other so much that the whole thing would be a doddle – no wonder the world bestowed its financial generosity upon the pair. But this latest land-grab not only reduces “Palestine” but continues the circle of concrete around Jerusalem to cut Palestinians off from both the capital they are supposed to share with Israelis and from Bethlehem.
It was instructive to learn the Israeli-Jewish Etzion council regarded this larceny as punishment for the murder of three Israeli teenagers in June. “The goal of the murders of those three youths was to sow fear among us, to disrupt our daily lives and to call into doubt our right [sic] to the land,” the Etzion council announced. “Our response is to strengthen settlement.” This must be the first time that land in “Palestine” has been acquired not through excuses about security or land deeds – or on God’s personal authority – but out of revenge.
And it raises an interesting precedent. If an innocent Israeli life – cruelly taken – is worth around 330 acres of land, then an innocent Palestinian life – equally cruelly taken – must surely equal the same. And if even half the 2,200 Palestinian dead of Gaza last month – and this is a conservative figure – were innocent, then the Palestinians presumably now have the right to take over 330,000 acres of Israeli land, in reality much more. But however “counter-productive” this might be, I’m sure America would not stand for it. Israel takes land, Palestinians lose land; that’s the way it works. And thus it has been since 1948, and that is how it will continue.
There will never be a “Palestine” and the latest territorial robbery is merely another small punctuation mark in the book of sorrow which the Palestinians must read as their dreams of statehood wither. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman for the Palestinian “President”, Mahmoud Abbas, said his boss and the “moderate forces” in Palestine had been “stabbed in the back” by the Israeli decision, which is putting it mildly. Abbas has a back covered in knife wounds. What else did he expect when he wrote a book about Palestinian-Israeli relations without once using the word “occupation”?
So we’re back to the same old game. Abbas cannot negotiate with anyone unless he speaks for Hamas as well as the Palestinian Authority. As Israel knows. As America knows. As the EU knows. But each time Abbas tries to put together a unity government, we all screech that Hamas is a “terrorist” organisation. And Israel says it cannot talk to a “terrorist” organisation which demands the destruction of Israel – even though Israel used to say the same of Arafat and, in those days, helped Hamas to build more mosques in Gaza and the West Bank as a counterweight to Fatah and all the other “terrorists” up in Beirut.
Of course, if Abbas speaks only for himself, Israel will tell him what it has told him before: that without his control of Gaza, Israel has no one to negotiate with. But does it matter any more? There should be a special strap headline above all reports of this kind: “Goodbye, Palestine”.
© 2014 The Independent
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
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
The Independent/UK
Israel’s ‘Land for Lives’ Is Theft. Pure and Simple
Israel takes land, Palestine loses land; that’s the way it works
Robert Fisk
"If an innocent Israeli life – cruelly taken – is worth around 330 acres of land," argues Fisk, "then an innocent Palestinian life – equally cruelly taken – must surely equal the same." (Photo: Archive/The Independent)
So a bit more of Palestine has slidden down the plughole. A thousand more acres of Palestinian land stolen by the Israeli government – for “appropriation” is theft, is it not? – and the world has made the usual excuses. The Americans found it “counter-productive” to peace, which is probably a bit less forceful than its reaction would be if Mexico were to bite off a 1,000-acre chunk of Texas and decided to build homes there for its illegal immigrants in the US. But this is “Palestine” (inverted commas more necessary than ever) and Israel has been getting away with theft, albeit not on quite this scale – it is the biggest land heist in 30 years – ever since it signed up to the Oslo agreement in 1993.
The Rabin-Arafat handshake, the promises and handovers of territory and military withdrawals, and the determination to leave everything important (Jerusalem, refugees, the right of return) to the end, until everyone trusted each other so much that the whole thing would be a doddle – no wonder the world bestowed its financial generosity upon the pair. But this latest land-grab not only reduces “Palestine” but continues the circle of concrete around Jerusalem to cut Palestinians off from both the capital they are supposed to share with Israelis and from Bethlehem.
It was instructive to learn the Israeli-Jewish Etzion council regarded this larceny as punishment for the murder of three Israeli teenagers in June. “The goal of the murders of those three youths was to sow fear among us, to disrupt our daily lives and to call into doubt our right [sic] to the land,” the Etzion council announced. “Our response is to strengthen settlement.” This must be the first time that land in “Palestine” has been acquired not through excuses about security or land deeds – or on God’s personal authority – but out of revenge.
And it raises an interesting precedent. If an innocent Israeli life – cruelly taken – is worth around 330 acres of land, then an innocent Palestinian life – equally cruelly taken – must surely equal the same. And if even half the 2,200 Palestinian dead of Gaza last month – and this is a conservative figure – were innocent, then the Palestinians presumably now have the right to take over 330,000 acres of Israeli land, in reality much more. But however “counter-productive” this might be, I’m sure America would not stand for it. Israel takes land, Palestinians lose land; that’s the way it works. And thus it has been since 1948, and that is how it will continue.
There will never be a “Palestine” and the latest territorial robbery is merely another small punctuation mark in the book of sorrow which the Palestinians must read as their dreams of statehood wither. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman for the Palestinian “President”, Mahmoud Abbas, said his boss and the “moderate forces” in Palestine had been “stabbed in the back” by the Israeli decision, which is putting it mildly. Abbas has a back covered in knife wounds. What else did he expect when he wrote a book about Palestinian-Israeli relations without once using the word “occupation”?
So we’re back to the same old game. Abbas cannot negotiate with anyone unless he speaks for Hamas as well as the Palestinian Authority. As Israel knows. As America knows. As the EU knows. But each time Abbas tries to put together a unity government, we all screech that Hamas is a “terrorist” organisation. And Israel says it cannot talk to a “terrorist” organisation which demands the destruction of Israel – even though Israel used to say the same of Arafat and, in those days, helped Hamas to build more mosques in Gaza and the West Bank as a counterweight to Fatah and all the other “terrorists” up in Beirut.
Of course, if Abbas speaks only for himself, Israel will tell him what it has told him before: that without his control of Gaza, Israel has no one to negotiate with. But does it matter any more? There should be a special strap headline above all reports of this kind: “Goodbye, Palestine”.
© 2014 The Independent
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 - Sept. 5 - Sept. 21, 2014
36] Silent peace vigil/potluck dinner – Sept. 5
37] Film THE CONSPIRATOR – Sept. 5
38] Film THE HARVEST – Sept. 5
39] Fractured Spring – Sept. 5
40] Film A BETTER LIFE – Sept. 5
41] Pace e Bene – Sept. 5
42] Ballroom Dancing – Sept. 5
43] Breakfast with the Animals – Sept. 6 - 7
44] The Opportunity Collaborative – Sept. 6
45] Olney Peace vigil – Sept. 6
46] West Chester, PA demo – Sept. 6
47] Shrouded Narrative – Sept. 6
48] Silent peace vigil – Sept. 6
49] Drone Death Walk – Sept. 6
50] Benefit for Casa Baltimore/Limay – Sept. 6
51] Rally for Michael Brown – Sept. 6
52] GAZA: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? – Sept. 20
53] People’s Climate March – Sept. 21
54] Ronda Cooperstein on social media
55] Sign up with Washington Peace Center
56] Join Fund Our Communities
57] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records
58] Do you need any book shelves?
59] Join Global Zero campaign
60] War Is Not the Answer signs for sale
61] Join Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil
----
36] – There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, outside the Cathedral of the Incarnation, University Parkway and St. Paul St. The Sept. 5 vigil, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, reminds us that War Is Not the Answer and that there is the need to stop torture. After the vigil, there will be a potluck dinner at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.
37] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES. After the potluck dinner at 7:15 PM, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow. There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. The series theme is SEEKING THE TRUTH. The first film in the series will be shown on FRI., SEPT. 5, and it is THE CONSPIRATOR [USA, 2011].
On April 14, 1865, there was a plot to kill Secretary of State William Seward, Vice President Andrew Johnson and President Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln's death, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton orders all suspects, including Mary Surratt, arrested. THE CONSPIRATOR, directed by Robert Redford, tells Surratt's story. As the only female charged in the conspiracy, she would become the first woman to be executed by the United States government. It stars James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Evan Rachel Wood and Tom Wilkinson, and is a thinly veiled condemnation of the military tribunals at Guantanamo.
38] – Come to the American Public Health Association, 800 I St. NW, on Fri., Sept. 5 from 5:30 to 8 PM, and join the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association (MWPHA) in a night of networking, film, and discussion in honor of their 2014 Annual Conference "Transforming Our Food System: Creating More Just and Sustainable Communities." Whether you are an MWPHA member or guest, you will have the opportunity to mix and mingle with other public health advocates and community leaders over complimentary refreshments during their networking reception. They will then watch the documentary "The Harvest/La Cosecha", a story about child migrant farm workers in the United States (Website: http://theharvestfilm.com/). The film screening will be followed by an interactive, facilitated discussion about the experiences of and justice for laborers in the farm and food service industries. Visit http://www.eventbrite.com/e/mwpha-networking-reception-with-film-and-discussion-the-harvestla-cosecha-tickets-12790636137?aff=eorg.
39] – The solo exhibition Fractured Spring is the latest in Helen Zughaib’s ongoing series about the implications of the Arab Spring. Her new work consists of paintings, calligraphy and installations, most of them diptychs, triptychs or multiple pieces, "fractured" in some way to indicate her concern with the consequences of the movements across the Arab world. See the exhibition at the Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, from 6 to 8 PM on Fri., Sept. 5. Call 202-338-1958, or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.
40] – The First-Friday Free Large Screen Film Series continues at the Peace Center of Delaware County, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, PA 19064. On Fri., Sept. 5 at 7 PM see A BETTER LIFE. Doors open at 6:30 PM for light refreshments. After the film, engage in a discussion. Go to http://www.delcopeacecenter.org/ or call 610-544-1818. The event is co-sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community.
The film is a slice of a very personal side of the immigration debate! It is a touching, poignant, and multigenerational story about a father’s devotion to making a life far better for his son. Directed by Chris Weitz, it stars a Mexican film star, Demian Bichir. Carlos is an undocumented Mexican immigrant, a gardener tending the lawns of Los Angeles residents who are rich from his point of view. He lives from hand to mouth, day to day, in a tiny house whose garden is used to raise starter plants for his clients. His wife left years before, and he’s raising his 15-year-old son, Luis, on his own. Father and son, meanwhile, are being pulled apart by the hard realities of Los Angeles, the lure of gangs and the daily risk of Carlos' 'undocumented' status. A BETTER LIFE has an almost entirely Hispanic cast. Catholic priest Gregory Boyle of LA's Homeboy Industries, a service agency run by former gang members, helped Weitz and his crew find locations to make the film as authentic as possible in exploring the culture of Los Angeles. See film trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaLSBdL-zCY.
41] – On Fri., Sept. 5 at 7:30 PM at Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, 503 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW, WDC 20010., the Clarification of Thought presentation will be about Campaign Nonviolence, a new long-term project initiated by Pace E Bene to help bring nonviolence to the forefront of our culture and society. Its first year will be marked by well over one hundred actions in every state of the union during the week of Sept 21-27 with the themes of ending poverty, war and environmental degradation.
Presenters are Bob Cooke, a CNV volunteer and former regional coordinator for Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore and long-time peace activist Judith Kelly, who served as a Pace e Bene regional associate and is a former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience. They will share Campaign Nonviolence's long term vision and September events - both locally and nationally. The CNV web site is http://paceebene.org/programs/campaign-nonviolence/. Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649.
42] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM. Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St. Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Sept. 5. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.
43] – Eat breakfast alongside some of your favorite animals, including penguins, giraffes, and elephants. A same-day entry to the zoo is included with ticket price. The Breakfast with the Animals takes place through Sept. 20, Saturdays & Sundays, 8:30 to 10 AM at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1876 Mansion House Drive. Call 410-366-7102 or see http://www.marylandzoo.org. The cost for non-members is $65, and children under 2 get in for free.
44] – On Sat., Sept. 6 from 9 AM to 1:30 PM, the Opportunity Collaborative will be hosting a community summit designed to get your input on how to give everyone in the region a chance. Workshops, small group sessions, and scenario exercises will allow participants to truly engage with the findings of the Collaborative thus far, as well as to share your knowledge and ideas for improving our regional plans. Learn about the regional housing plan, the opportunities and challenges that we face, potential investment initiatives, and more. Lunch will be provided, as well as a continental breakfast. The event is free, and all are welcome. “Giving Our Region a Chance” will take place at Coppin State University, Physical Education Complex, Gwynn Falls Parkway and Warwick Ave. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-opportunity-collaborative-community-summit-giving-our-region-a-chance-tickets-12450621143.
45] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. [Route 97] in Olney, MD. The next vigil is Sept. 6. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167.
46] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com.
47] – Get over to a TEACH IN on Sat., Sept. 6 at 11 AM at American University, Kay Spiritual Life Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW, WDC 20016. There are various speakers covering several issues. For example, from 11:15 to 11:45 AM, William Blum will examine “The Limits of Benevolence.” There is a break from 2:45 to 3 PM. From 3 to 3:55 PM, there is a discussion about “Propaganda and Media” led by Chris Simpson and Jared Ball. See a screening of “The Untold History of the United States" from 5:50 to 6:50 PM, and then Peter Kuznick will lead a Q&A. The Shrouded Narrative can be found at http://pub.lucidpress.com/682a0222-e901-4a59-a1c8-cf02705e7ab2/#WAJXhCzh5biG.
48] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sat., Sept. 6. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com.
49] – It can be argued that the drone war is the most extreme terrorist war in history according to Noam Chomsky. On Sat., Sept. 6 from noon to 1 PM, join the Philadelphia Center City Monthly Drone Death Walk and Vigil. Gather at 12th & Market Sts and bring signs and banners. White Masks will be provided. RSVP Marge Cleef at 267-763-1644.
50] – Come to a PARTY on SAT., SEPT. 6 [rain or shine] from 5 to 10:30 PM. This is a fundraiser to benefit Casa Baltimore/Limay sister-city projects--scholarships, farm animals, food for the elderly, medical fund, child care nutrition center, & microcredit in Limay, Nicaragua. The party is at the home of Joanne Capizzi and Howdy Burns, 5 Candlestick Drive, Lutherville 21093.
Enjoy the tranquility of Dipping Pond Run, a beautiful trout stream in a gorgeous valley. Recharge your energy! Renew your faith in the universe! Join in music- and merry-making! No donation is too large, but no one is turned away! Bring your checkbook.
Donations are also taken online at www.CasaBaltimoreLimay.org. BRING a Potluck dish, lawn chair, blanket & a musical instrument. Live music provided by YOU & others TBA. Can you offer a carpool ride? Do you need a ride? RSVP at 410-435-0392 or Info |at| CasaBaltimoreLimay.org. From Greenspring Station, take Greenspring Valley Road west one mile. Turn right/ north on Greenspring Avenue. Go half a mile to Highview Dr. (1st right, top of hill). Turn right again on Candlestick Dr. (2nd right). Go to the end of court on right, #5.
51] – Rally at the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum, 1925 Vermont Ave. NW, on Sat., Sept. 6 at 7 PM. Then march to U Street for Mike Brown. The gathering is sponsored by many groups, including the American Muslim Alliance. The rally’s demands are as follows: 1] The Arrest of Officer Wilson; 2] the creation of a Civilian Review Boards with subpoena power and 3] The de-militarization of the police department. Go to www.nbufdc.org. Email nbufdc@gmail.com. Call 347-422-7823.
52] – On Sat., Sept. 20 at 3:30 PM, the Committee for Palestinian Rights invites you to the Howard County East Columbia Library, 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia, MD 21045, for GAZA: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Discussion themes are Israel’s Assault – the Role of the United States – How We Can Take Action. The featured speakers are Laila El-Haddad, Palestinian author, blogger, political analyst and social activist, and Mark Gunnery, Jewish Voices for Peace, activist and reporter. Email CPR_Maryland@yahoo.com.
53] – Join an historic march for climate action on Sun., Sept. 21 in New York City. Next month, President Obama, along with hundreds of other heads of state from around the world, will attend the UN Climate Summit 2014 in New York City. Demand that our leaders commit to bold action to address the climate crisis. The People’s Climate March on Sept. 21 will be the largest mobilization to date for climate action. There will be a bus from Baltimore. To reserve a seat contact Regina at rminniss at cbmove.com.
54] -- Ronda Cooperstein has taken to social media, and is recording her opinion pieces on You Tube. Check out her latest essay - THE WASHINGTON POST WITH TOAST: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffj-Scno-5Q.
55] -- The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.
56] -- Fund Our Communities campaign is a grass roots movement to get support from local organizations and communities to work together with their local and state elected officials to pressure Congresspersons and senators to join with Congresspersons Barney Frank and Ron Paul, who have endorsed a 25% cut to the federal military budget. Bring home the savings to state and county governments to meet the local needs which are under tremendous budget pressures. Go to www.OurFunds.org.
57] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
58] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
59] -- Join an extraordinary global campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.globalzero.org/sign-declaration. A growing group of leaders around the world is calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and a majority of the global public agrees. This is an historic window of opportunity. With momentum already building in favor of Zero, a major show of support from people around the world could tip the balance. When it comes to nuclear weapons, one is one too many.
60] -- WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER signs from Friends Committee on National Legislation are again for sale at $5. To purchase a sign, call Max at 410-366-1637.
61] – A Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil takes place every day in Lafayette Park, 1601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 24 hours a day, since June 3, 1981. Go to http://prop1.org; call 202-682-4282.
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/.
"One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better" - Daniel Berrigan
37] Film THE CONSPIRATOR – Sept. 5
38] Film THE HARVEST – Sept. 5
39] Fractured Spring – Sept. 5
40] Film A BETTER LIFE – Sept. 5
41] Pace e Bene – Sept. 5
42] Ballroom Dancing – Sept. 5
43] Breakfast with the Animals – Sept. 6 - 7
44] The Opportunity Collaborative – Sept. 6
45] Olney Peace vigil – Sept. 6
46] West Chester, PA demo – Sept. 6
47] Shrouded Narrative – Sept. 6
48] Silent peace vigil – Sept. 6
49] Drone Death Walk – Sept. 6
50] Benefit for Casa Baltimore/Limay – Sept. 6
51] Rally for Michael Brown – Sept. 6
52] GAZA: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? – Sept. 20
53] People’s Climate March – Sept. 21
54] Ronda Cooperstein on social media
55] Sign up with Washington Peace Center
56] Join Fund Our Communities
57] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records
58] Do you need any book shelves?
59] Join Global Zero campaign
60] War Is Not the Answer signs for sale
61] Join Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil
----
36] – There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, outside the Cathedral of the Incarnation, University Parkway and St. Paul St. The Sept. 5 vigil, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, reminds us that War Is Not the Answer and that there is the need to stop torture. After the vigil, there will be a potluck dinner at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.
37] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES. After the potluck dinner at 7:15 PM, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow. There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. The series theme is SEEKING THE TRUTH. The first film in the series will be shown on FRI., SEPT. 5, and it is THE CONSPIRATOR [USA, 2011].
On April 14, 1865, there was a plot to kill Secretary of State William Seward, Vice President Andrew Johnson and President Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln's death, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton orders all suspects, including Mary Surratt, arrested. THE CONSPIRATOR, directed by Robert Redford, tells Surratt's story. As the only female charged in the conspiracy, she would become the first woman to be executed by the United States government. It stars James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Evan Rachel Wood and Tom Wilkinson, and is a thinly veiled condemnation of the military tribunals at Guantanamo.
38] – Come to the American Public Health Association, 800 I St. NW, on Fri., Sept. 5 from 5:30 to 8 PM, and join the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association (MWPHA) in a night of networking, film, and discussion in honor of their 2014 Annual Conference "Transforming Our Food System: Creating More Just and Sustainable Communities." Whether you are an MWPHA member or guest, you will have the opportunity to mix and mingle with other public health advocates and community leaders over complimentary refreshments during their networking reception. They will then watch the documentary "The Harvest/La Cosecha", a story about child migrant farm workers in the United States (Website: http://theharvestfilm.com/). The film screening will be followed by an interactive, facilitated discussion about the experiences of and justice for laborers in the farm and food service industries. Visit http://www.eventbrite.com/e/mwpha-networking-reception-with-film-and-discussion-the-harvestla-cosecha-tickets-12790636137?aff=eorg.
39] – The solo exhibition Fractured Spring is the latest in Helen Zughaib’s ongoing series about the implications of the Arab Spring. Her new work consists of paintings, calligraphy and installations, most of them diptychs, triptychs or multiple pieces, "fractured" in some way to indicate her concern with the consequences of the movements across the Arab world. See the exhibition at the Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, from 6 to 8 PM on Fri., Sept. 5. Call 202-338-1958, or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.
40] – The First-Friday Free Large Screen Film Series continues at the Peace Center of Delaware County, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, PA 19064. On Fri., Sept. 5 at 7 PM see A BETTER LIFE. Doors open at 6:30 PM for light refreshments. After the film, engage in a discussion. Go to http://www.delcopeacecenter.org/ or call 610-544-1818. The event is co-sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community.
The film is a slice of a very personal side of the immigration debate! It is a touching, poignant, and multigenerational story about a father’s devotion to making a life far better for his son. Directed by Chris Weitz, it stars a Mexican film star, Demian Bichir. Carlos is an undocumented Mexican immigrant, a gardener tending the lawns of Los Angeles residents who are rich from his point of view. He lives from hand to mouth, day to day, in a tiny house whose garden is used to raise starter plants for his clients. His wife left years before, and he’s raising his 15-year-old son, Luis, on his own. Father and son, meanwhile, are being pulled apart by the hard realities of Los Angeles, the lure of gangs and the daily risk of Carlos' 'undocumented' status. A BETTER LIFE has an almost entirely Hispanic cast. Catholic priest Gregory Boyle of LA's Homeboy Industries, a service agency run by former gang members, helped Weitz and his crew find locations to make the film as authentic as possible in exploring the culture of Los Angeles. See film trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaLSBdL-zCY.
41] – On Fri., Sept. 5 at 7:30 PM at Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, 503 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW, WDC 20010., the Clarification of Thought presentation will be about Campaign Nonviolence, a new long-term project initiated by Pace E Bene to help bring nonviolence to the forefront of our culture and society. Its first year will be marked by well over one hundred actions in every state of the union during the week of Sept 21-27 with the themes of ending poverty, war and environmental degradation.
Presenters are Bob Cooke, a CNV volunteer and former regional coordinator for Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore and long-time peace activist Judith Kelly, who served as a Pace e Bene regional associate and is a former SOA Watch prisoner of conscience. They will share Campaign Nonviolence's long term vision and September events - both locally and nationally. The CNV web site is http://paceebene.org/programs/campaign-nonviolence/. Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649.
42] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM. Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St. Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Sept. 5. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.
43] – Eat breakfast alongside some of your favorite animals, including penguins, giraffes, and elephants. A same-day entry to the zoo is included with ticket price. The Breakfast with the Animals takes place through Sept. 20, Saturdays & Sundays, 8:30 to 10 AM at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1876 Mansion House Drive. Call 410-366-7102 or see http://www.marylandzoo.org. The cost for non-members is $65, and children under 2 get in for free.
44] – On Sat., Sept. 6 from 9 AM to 1:30 PM, the Opportunity Collaborative will be hosting a community summit designed to get your input on how to give everyone in the region a chance. Workshops, small group sessions, and scenario exercises will allow participants to truly engage with the findings of the Collaborative thus far, as well as to share your knowledge and ideas for improving our regional plans. Learn about the regional housing plan, the opportunities and challenges that we face, potential investment initiatives, and more. Lunch will be provided, as well as a continental breakfast. The event is free, and all are welcome. “Giving Our Region a Chance” will take place at Coppin State University, Physical Education Complex, Gwynn Falls Parkway and Warwick Ave. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-opportunity-collaborative-community-summit-giving-our-region-a-chance-tickets-12450621143.
45] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. [Route 97] in Olney, MD. The next vigil is Sept. 6. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167.
46] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com.
47] – Get over to a TEACH IN on Sat., Sept. 6 at 11 AM at American University, Kay Spiritual Life Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW, WDC 20016. There are various speakers covering several issues. For example, from 11:15 to 11:45 AM, William Blum will examine “The Limits of Benevolence.” There is a break from 2:45 to 3 PM. From 3 to 3:55 PM, there is a discussion about “Propaganda and Media” led by Chris Simpson and Jared Ball. See a screening of “The Untold History of the United States" from 5:50 to 6:50 PM, and then Peter Kuznick will lead a Q&A. The Shrouded Narrative can be found at http://pub.lucidpress.com/682a0222-e901-4a59-a1c8-cf02705e7ab2/#WAJXhCzh5biG.
48] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sat., Sept. 6. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com.
49] – It can be argued that the drone war is the most extreme terrorist war in history according to Noam Chomsky. On Sat., Sept. 6 from noon to 1 PM, join the Philadelphia Center City Monthly Drone Death Walk and Vigil. Gather at 12th & Market Sts and bring signs and banners. White Masks will be provided. RSVP Marge Cleef at 267-763-1644.
50] – Come to a PARTY on SAT., SEPT. 6 [rain or shine] from 5 to 10:30 PM. This is a fundraiser to benefit Casa Baltimore/Limay sister-city projects--scholarships, farm animals, food for the elderly, medical fund, child care nutrition center, & microcredit in Limay, Nicaragua. The party is at the home of Joanne Capizzi and Howdy Burns, 5 Candlestick Drive, Lutherville 21093.
Enjoy the tranquility of Dipping Pond Run, a beautiful trout stream in a gorgeous valley. Recharge your energy! Renew your faith in the universe! Join in music- and merry-making! No donation is too large, but no one is turned away! Bring your checkbook.
Donations are also taken online at www.CasaBaltimoreLimay.org. BRING a Potluck dish, lawn chair, blanket & a musical instrument. Live music provided by YOU & others TBA. Can you offer a carpool ride? Do you need a ride? RSVP at 410-435-0392 or Info |at| CasaBaltimoreLimay.org. From Greenspring Station, take Greenspring Valley Road west one mile. Turn right/ north on Greenspring Avenue. Go half a mile to Highview Dr. (1st right, top of hill). Turn right again on Candlestick Dr. (2nd right). Go to the end of court on right, #5.
51] – Rally at the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum, 1925 Vermont Ave. NW, on Sat., Sept. 6 at 7 PM. Then march to U Street for Mike Brown. The gathering is sponsored by many groups, including the American Muslim Alliance. The rally’s demands are as follows: 1] The Arrest of Officer Wilson; 2] the creation of a Civilian Review Boards with subpoena power and 3] The de-militarization of the police department. Go to www.nbufdc.org. Email nbufdc@gmail.com. Call 347-422-7823.
52] – On Sat., Sept. 20 at 3:30 PM, the Committee for Palestinian Rights invites you to the Howard County East Columbia Library, 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia, MD 21045, for GAZA: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Discussion themes are Israel’s Assault – the Role of the United States – How We Can Take Action. The featured speakers are Laila El-Haddad, Palestinian author, blogger, political analyst and social activist, and Mark Gunnery, Jewish Voices for Peace, activist and reporter. Email CPR_Maryland@yahoo.com.
53] – Join an historic march for climate action on Sun., Sept. 21 in New York City. Next month, President Obama, along with hundreds of other heads of state from around the world, will attend the UN Climate Summit 2014 in New York City. Demand that our leaders commit to bold action to address the climate crisis. The People’s Climate March on Sept. 21 will be the largest mobilization to date for climate action. There will be a bus from Baltimore. To reserve a seat contact Regina at rminniss at cbmove.com.
54] -- Ronda Cooperstein has taken to social media, and is recording her opinion pieces on You Tube. Check out her latest essay - THE WASHINGTON POST WITH TOAST: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffj-Scno-5Q.
55] -- The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.
56] -- Fund Our Communities campaign is a grass roots movement to get support from local organizations and communities to work together with their local and state elected officials to pressure Congresspersons and senators to join with Congresspersons Barney Frank and Ron Paul, who have endorsed a 25% cut to the federal military budget. Bring home the savings to state and county governments to meet the local needs which are under tremendous budget pressures. Go to www.OurFunds.org.
57] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
58] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.
59] -- Join an extraordinary global campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.globalzero.org/sign-declaration. A growing group of leaders around the world is calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and a majority of the global public agrees. This is an historic window of opportunity. With momentum already building in favor of Zero, a major show of support from people around the world could tip the balance. When it comes to nuclear weapons, one is one too many.
60] -- WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER signs from Friends Committee on National Legislation are again for sale at $5. To purchase a sign, call Max at 410-366-1637.
61] – A Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil takes place every day in Lafayette Park, 1601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 24 hours a day, since June 3, 1981. Go to http://prop1.org; call 202-682-4282.
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/.
"One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better" - Daniel Berrigan
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Baltimore Activist Alert - Sept. 3 - 5, 2014
26] Organizers Meeting/Support $15/hour – Sept. 3 - 4
27] Interfaith Happy Hour – Sept. 4
28] "Go Orange" for Hunger – Sept. 4
29] GMOM meeting – Sept. 4
30] GMOM talk – Sept. 4
31] Pax Christi meeting – Sept. 4
32] Mourn the dead in Gaza – Sept. 4
33] Vigil for peace at White House – Sept. 5
34] Vigil for Justice in Palestine – Sept. 5
35] Political and humanitarian implications of the latest conflict in Gaza – Sept. 5
--
26] – On Wed., Sept. 3 from 7 to 8:30 PM be at the Monthly Organizers Meeting at 2011 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218 (near North Ave. & N. Charles St., #3 bus line.) Meeting will begin on time with a short video from a Peoples Power Assembly delegation that went to Ferguson and to the Oakland Block the Boat protest. Along with a number of important agenda items, the workers at Jimmy John’s Restaurant will be giving a special report on their fight for justice and how we can support them. Car pool rides will be available after the meeting for anyone who comes by bus.
On Thurs., Sept. 4 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, there is a Baltimore Support Action for National Fast Food Workers Strike and Civil Disobedience. There is a Need for $15 & a Union, Not Police Terror from Ferguson to Baltimore! Join with the “We Deserve Better” Workers Assembly and others at the McDonald’s at North Ave. & Maryland Ave. See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/business/fast-food-workers-seeking-higher-wages-plan-another-strike.html?_r=0. Call 410-218-4835.
27] – Join Interfaith Power and Light for a Happy Hour to Say Welcome and Farewell on Thurs., Sept. 4 from 6:30 to 9 PM at The Land of Kush, 840 N. Eutaw St., Baltimore. Enjoy delicious vegan soul food, and bid farewell to Chiquita Younger and appreciate her two years of fantastic work as the Baltimore organizer. Welcome Clara Summers, who'll be joining the team this year through Episcopal Service Corps Maryland. Connect with good folks from Baltimore-area congregations that are working together to go green and respond to climate change. This will also be a great opportunity to learn more about the Baltimore Interfaith Solar Co-op that is helping Baltimore-area homeowners come together to purchase solar panels for their homes as a group this fall. RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/677905615619688/.
28] – "Go Orange" for Hunger on Thurs., Sept. 4 at 6:30 PM at McHenry Row, 1713 Whetstone Way, Baltimore 21230. Go to http://www.cphabaltimore.org/2014/08/go-orange-with-charm-city-run/?utm_source=Eblast+8%2F28%2F14&utm_campaign=eblast+8%2F28%2F14&utm_medium=email. The Maryland Food Bank has partnered with Charm City Run for this year’s “Go Orange Day,” which is part of a national initiative aimed at raising hunger awareness in the month of September. Marylanders within Charm City Run’s five locations are invited to wear orange, bring canned food donations, and join together in a 3-5 mile run. Roughly 773,200 people in Maryland are affected by hunger every day.
29] – Enjoy wine, refreshments, discussion and a presentation by GMOM (Get Money Out - Maryland), specifically for Baltimore County residents. Learn about an exciting new way to get money out of politics. We all know about the problem of corruption in our political system. But getting Congress to fix it seems impossible. It turns out the solution need not involve Congress. We can do this in the individual states. Vermont & California have done it, and a dozen states are poised to join them, including Maryland.
All-volunteer GMOM (Get Money Out - Maryland) has grown and is now forming *local* groups across the state. This is the Maryland affiliate of www.Wolf-Pac.com. Call 410-849-0670 or contact Joe Adams (joeadamsmd [at] gmail.com). Baltimore County residents can come to a meeting on Thurs., Sept. 4 at 7 PM at the home of Mark Patro at 9100 Ramblebrook Rd., Nottingham, MD 21236. Contact Mark Patro at markpatro [at] gmail.com. Call 410-849-0670.
If you can't make it, let them know of your interest at 410-849-0670 or admin@GetMoneyOutMD.org. The group would like your phone number, and where you live. Go to http://www.getmoneyoutmd.org/.
30] – Peace Action Montgomery is hosting Charlie Cooper of "Get Money Out Maryland" on Thurs., Sept. 4 at 7 PM at 2305 Gold Mine Rd., Brookeville. Go to http://www.getmoneyoutmd.org/.
31] – On Thurs., Sept. 4 at 7:30 PM, the Pax Christi group at St. Francis of Assisi will meet. You are welcome if you believe in nonviolence as demonstrated by Jesus’ life. The kick-off meeting will be held in the basement of the rectory building at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 6701 Muncaster Mill Rd., Derwood 20855.
32] – On Thurs., Sept. 4 at 8 PM, join American University Students for Justice in Palestine to mourn and pay respects to the over 2100 victims of the attacks on Gaza that occurred between July 8 and August 25. Help read the names of the victims to honor the lives lost. The vigil will be located on the center of campus at the steps of the Kay Spiritual Life Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. Visit www.visualizingpalestine.org and www.electronicintifada.net.
33] – On Fri., Sept. 5 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! The vigil takes place at the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contact Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416.
34] – A vigil for Justice in Palestine/Israel takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at 19th & JFK Blvd., Philadelphia, across from Israeli Consulate. It is sponsored by Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East. Email cswartz@pil.net. Go to http://phillyjewishpeace.org/.
35] – At 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW on Fri., Sept. 5 from noon to 1:30 PM, the Middle East Institute and the Foundation for Middle East Peace will host experts Khaled Elgindy (The Brookings Institution), Michael Koplow (The Israel Institute), and Joe Stork (Human Rights Watch) for a discussion about the political and humanitarian implications of the latest conflict in Gaza. Matthew Duss, president, Foundation for Middle East Peace, will moderate the discussion. After seven weeks of conflict, Israel and Hamas have reached yet another cease-fire. But what will it take to translate this truce into an enduring agreement? What is the likelihood that the demands of the respective parties will be addressed in future talks, including an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas? RSVP at http://www.mei.edu/events/after-gaza-finding-way-forward. Email programs@mei.edu.
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
27] Interfaith Happy Hour – Sept. 4
28] "Go Orange" for Hunger – Sept. 4
29] GMOM meeting – Sept. 4
30] GMOM talk – Sept. 4
31] Pax Christi meeting – Sept. 4
32] Mourn the dead in Gaza – Sept. 4
33] Vigil for peace at White House – Sept. 5
34] Vigil for Justice in Palestine – Sept. 5
35] Political and humanitarian implications of the latest conflict in Gaza – Sept. 5
--
26] – On Wed., Sept. 3 from 7 to 8:30 PM be at the Monthly Organizers Meeting at 2011 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218 (near North Ave. & N. Charles St., #3 bus line.) Meeting will begin on time with a short video from a Peoples Power Assembly delegation that went to Ferguson and to the Oakland Block the Boat protest. Along with a number of important agenda items, the workers at Jimmy John’s Restaurant will be giving a special report on their fight for justice and how we can support them. Car pool rides will be available after the meeting for anyone who comes by bus.
On Thurs., Sept. 4 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, there is a Baltimore Support Action for National Fast Food Workers Strike and Civil Disobedience. There is a Need for $15 & a Union, Not Police Terror from Ferguson to Baltimore! Join with the “We Deserve Better” Workers Assembly and others at the McDonald’s at North Ave. & Maryland Ave. See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/business/fast-food-workers-seeking-higher-wages-plan-another-strike.html?_r=0. Call 410-218-4835.
27] – Join Interfaith Power and Light for a Happy Hour to Say Welcome and Farewell on Thurs., Sept. 4 from 6:30 to 9 PM at The Land of Kush, 840 N. Eutaw St., Baltimore. Enjoy delicious vegan soul food, and bid farewell to Chiquita Younger and appreciate her two years of fantastic work as the Baltimore organizer. Welcome Clara Summers, who'll be joining the team this year through Episcopal Service Corps Maryland. Connect with good folks from Baltimore-area congregations that are working together to go green and respond to climate change. This will also be a great opportunity to learn more about the Baltimore Interfaith Solar Co-op that is helping Baltimore-area homeowners come together to purchase solar panels for their homes as a group this fall. RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/677905615619688/.
28] – "Go Orange" for Hunger on Thurs., Sept. 4 at 6:30 PM at McHenry Row, 1713 Whetstone Way, Baltimore 21230. Go to http://www.cphabaltimore.org/2014/08/go-orange-with-charm-city-run/?utm_source=Eblast+8%2F28%2F14&utm_campaign=eblast+8%2F28%2F14&utm_medium=email. The Maryland Food Bank has partnered with Charm City Run for this year’s “Go Orange Day,” which is part of a national initiative aimed at raising hunger awareness in the month of September. Marylanders within Charm City Run’s five locations are invited to wear orange, bring canned food donations, and join together in a 3-5 mile run. Roughly 773,200 people in Maryland are affected by hunger every day.
29] – Enjoy wine, refreshments, discussion and a presentation by GMOM (Get Money Out - Maryland), specifically for Baltimore County residents. Learn about an exciting new way to get money out of politics. We all know about the problem of corruption in our political system. But getting Congress to fix it seems impossible. It turns out the solution need not involve Congress. We can do this in the individual states. Vermont & California have done it, and a dozen states are poised to join them, including Maryland.
All-volunteer GMOM (Get Money Out - Maryland) has grown and is now forming *local* groups across the state. This is the Maryland affiliate of www.Wolf-Pac.com. Call 410-849-0670 or contact Joe Adams (joeadamsmd [at] gmail.com). Baltimore County residents can come to a meeting on Thurs., Sept. 4 at 7 PM at the home of Mark Patro at 9100 Ramblebrook Rd., Nottingham, MD 21236. Contact Mark Patro at markpatro [at] gmail.com. Call 410-849-0670.
If you can't make it, let them know of your interest at 410-849-0670 or admin@GetMoneyOutMD.org. The group would like your phone number, and where you live. Go to http://www.getmoneyoutmd.org/.
30] – Peace Action Montgomery is hosting Charlie Cooper of "Get Money Out Maryland" on Thurs., Sept. 4 at 7 PM at 2305 Gold Mine Rd., Brookeville. Go to http://www.getmoneyoutmd.org/.
31] – On Thurs., Sept. 4 at 7:30 PM, the Pax Christi group at St. Francis of Assisi will meet. You are welcome if you believe in nonviolence as demonstrated by Jesus’ life. The kick-off meeting will be held in the basement of the rectory building at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 6701 Muncaster Mill Rd., Derwood 20855.
32] – On Thurs., Sept. 4 at 8 PM, join American University Students for Justice in Palestine to mourn and pay respects to the over 2100 victims of the attacks on Gaza that occurred between July 8 and August 25. Help read the names of the victims to honor the lives lost. The vigil will be located on the center of campus at the steps of the Kay Spiritual Life Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. Visit www.visualizingpalestine.org and www.electronicintifada.net.
33] – On Fri., Sept. 5 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! The vigil takes place at the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contact Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416.
34] – A vigil for Justice in Palestine/Israel takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at 19th & JFK Blvd., Philadelphia, across from Israeli Consulate. It is sponsored by Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East. Email cswartz@pil.net. Go to http://phillyjewishpeace.org/.
35] – At 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW on Fri., Sept. 5 from noon to 1:30 PM, the Middle East Institute and the Foundation for Middle East Peace will host experts Khaled Elgindy (The Brookings Institution), Michael Koplow (The Israel Institute), and Joe Stork (Human Rights Watch) for a discussion about the political and humanitarian implications of the latest conflict in Gaza. Matthew Duss, president, Foundation for Middle East Peace, will moderate the discussion. After seven weeks of conflict, Israel and Hamas have reached yet another cease-fire. But what will it take to translate this truce into an enduring agreement? What is the likelihood that the demands of the respective parties will be addressed in future talks, including an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas? RSVP at http://www.mei.edu/events/after-gaza-finding-way-forward. Email programs@mei.edu.
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
Climate Activists Stage Resistance at Rail Yard to Protest 'Fossil Fuel Takeover'
commondreams.org/news/2014/09/03/climate-activists-stage-resistance-rail-yard-protest-fossil-fuel-takeover
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Climate Activists Stage Resistance at Rail Yard to Protest 'Fossil Fuel Takeover'
“People in the Northwest are not going to allow this region to become a fossil fuel superhighway”
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Activists thwart work at a rail yard in Everett, Washington to protest the "fossil fuel takeover" threatening their communities and the climate. (Photo: Rising Tide Seattle)
Climate activists in Everett, Washington on Tuesday offered a "sampling of the resistance" that could be on its way if the fossil fuel industry continues to threaten the future of communities in the Northwest.
Working with the environmental and social justice group Rising Tide Seattle, five Everett and Seattle residents staged a protest at the Burlington Northern Santa-Fe rail yard in the city by erecting a tripod-structure over the tracks, according to a statementfrom the group.
Abby Brockway hung from the top of the tripod, while the other four, Jackie Minchew, Patrick Mazza, Liz Spoerri and Mike LaPoint, locked themselves to the legs.
Their action, which successfully stalled a train carrying crude, led to the arrest of the five.
“People in the Northwest are not going to allow this region to become a fossil fuel superhighway,” LaPoint said in a statement. “This is just a sample of the resistance that will happen if any large fossil fuel project is permitted.”
The group is urging Governor Jay Inslee to stop new fossil fuel projects in the state, and cited "an explosion in proposed fossil fuel infrastructure in the Northwest." These proposals, Spoerri said, would put "our future...on the chopping block."
“If elected officials won’t stop the fossil fuel takeover," LaPoint added, "we’ll have to do it for them.”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
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
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Climate Activists Stage Resistance at Rail Yard to Protest 'Fossil Fuel Takeover'
“People in the Northwest are not going to allow this region to become a fossil fuel superhighway”
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Activists thwart work at a rail yard in Everett, Washington to protest the "fossil fuel takeover" threatening their communities and the climate. (Photo: Rising Tide Seattle)
Climate activists in Everett, Washington on Tuesday offered a "sampling of the resistance" that could be on its way if the fossil fuel industry continues to threaten the future of communities in the Northwest.
Working with the environmental and social justice group Rising Tide Seattle, five Everett and Seattle residents staged a protest at the Burlington Northern Santa-Fe rail yard in the city by erecting a tripod-structure over the tracks, according to a statementfrom the group.
Abby Brockway hung from the top of the tripod, while the other four, Jackie Minchew, Patrick Mazza, Liz Spoerri and Mike LaPoint, locked themselves to the legs.
Their action, which successfully stalled a train carrying crude, led to the arrest of the five.
“People in the Northwest are not going to allow this region to become a fossil fuel superhighway,” LaPoint said in a statement. “This is just a sample of the resistance that will happen if any large fossil fuel project is permitted.”
The group is urging Governor Jay Inslee to stop new fossil fuel projects in the state, and cited "an explosion in proposed fossil fuel infrastructure in the Northwest." These proposals, Spoerri said, would put "our future...on the chopping block."
“If elected officials won’t stop the fossil fuel takeover," LaPoint added, "we’ll have to do it for them.”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
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
Fast Food Workers to Strike Thursday as Fight for $15 and Union Rights Intensifies
commondreams.org/newswire/2014/09/02/fast-food-workers-strike-thursday-fight-15-and-union-rights-intensifies
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - 10:00am
Fast Food Workers to Strike Thursday as Fight for $15 and Union Rights Intensifies
McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s workers among those to walk off their jobs as movement continues to grow; home care workers join as movement spreads to new industry
“All across the country right now there’s a national movement going on made up of fast-food workers organizing to lift wages so they can provide for their families with pride and dignity. There is no denying a simple truth. America deserves a raise. Give America a raise. …You know what, if I were looking for a job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union. If I were busting my butt in the service industry and wanted an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, I’d join a union. …I’d want a union looking out for me.” -- President Obama, Sept 1, 2014, Milwaukee, WI
Coming off a convention at which they vowed to do “whatever it takes” to win $15 and the right to form a union, fast-food workers in more than 150 cities will walk off their jobs Thursday as their movement intensifies and continues to spread.
A day after President Obama praised their campaign, workers from Oakland, Calif. to Opelika, Ala., said they will strike at the country’s major fast-food restaurants, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC. Workers in Little Rock, Ark. Minneapolis, Minn; and Rochester, NY are among those who will walk off their jobs for the first time.
Fast-food workers from four continents are expected to travel to the U.S. to support strikers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Raleigh.
Given recent events in Ferguson, MO and the desire for a sense of peace and normalcy in the community, fast-food workers decided not to hold a Thursday strike action in the St. Louis area, but to take their fight for $15 an hour and the right to form a union on the road. St. Louis fast-food workers will travel to join their fellow fast-food workers on the strike lines in New York City, Memphis, Nashville and Little Rock.
Inspired by the actions of fast-food workers, home care workers have decided to join the nationwide movement for higher pay and better rights on the job. In several cities, both nonunion and union home care workers will join striking fast-food workers, as the Fight for $15 spreads to a new, fast-growing service industry.
WHO: Workers from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, KFC, Domino’s and other fast-food restaurants; Home Care Workers; Community Supporters; Clergy; Elected officials
WHAT: Fast-Food Worker Strike
WHEN & WHERE: For information on times and locations for strike lines in a particular city, please contact Laura or Alex.
Thursday’s strike comes a little more than a month after the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel determined that, despite McDonald’s repeated claims, the company is a joint employer that exerts substantial power over its employees’ working conditions. For nearly two years, McDonald’s and other fast-food workers have been joining together and going on strike, calling for $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation. But time and time again, the company and other industry players have tried to sidestep workers’ calls, inventing a make-believe world in which responsibility for wages and working conditions falls squarely on the shoulders of franchisees.
A campaign that started in New York City in November 2012, with 200 fast-food workers walking off their jobs demanding $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation, has since spread to more than 150 cities in every region of the country, including the South. The growing fight for $15 has been credited with elevating the debate around inequality in the U.S. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said that it has “entirely changed the politics of the country.” Since the campaign launched, nearly 7 million low-wage workershave seen their wages rise. What seemed like a far-fetched goal--$15 an hour—is now a reality in Seattle, where Bloomberg News said the city adopted “the rallying cry of fast-food workers.”
As it spreads, the movement is challenging fast-food companies’ outdated notion that their workers are teenagers looking for pocket change. Today’s workers are mothers and fathers struggling to raise children on wages that are too low. And they’re showing the industry that if it doesn’t raise pay, it will continue to be at the center of the national debate on what’s wrong with our economy.
Follow all of the action on strike day at www.strikefastfood.org and #StrikeFastFood.
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
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - 10:00am
Fast Food Workers to Strike Thursday as Fight for $15 and Union Rights Intensifies
McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s workers among those to walk off their jobs as movement continues to grow; home care workers join as movement spreads to new industry
“All across the country right now there’s a national movement going on made up of fast-food workers organizing to lift wages so they can provide for their families with pride and dignity. There is no denying a simple truth. America deserves a raise. Give America a raise. …You know what, if I were looking for a job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union. If I were busting my butt in the service industry and wanted an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, I’d join a union. …I’d want a union looking out for me.” -- President Obama, Sept 1, 2014, Milwaukee, WI
Coming off a convention at which they vowed to do “whatever it takes” to win $15 and the right to form a union, fast-food workers in more than 150 cities will walk off their jobs Thursday as their movement intensifies and continues to spread.
A day after President Obama praised their campaign, workers from Oakland, Calif. to Opelika, Ala., said they will strike at the country’s major fast-food restaurants, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC. Workers in Little Rock, Ark. Minneapolis, Minn; and Rochester, NY are among those who will walk off their jobs for the first time.
Fast-food workers from four continents are expected to travel to the U.S. to support strikers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Raleigh.
Given recent events in Ferguson, MO and the desire for a sense of peace and normalcy in the community, fast-food workers decided not to hold a Thursday strike action in the St. Louis area, but to take their fight for $15 an hour and the right to form a union on the road. St. Louis fast-food workers will travel to join their fellow fast-food workers on the strike lines in New York City, Memphis, Nashville and Little Rock.
Inspired by the actions of fast-food workers, home care workers have decided to join the nationwide movement for higher pay and better rights on the job. In several cities, both nonunion and union home care workers will join striking fast-food workers, as the Fight for $15 spreads to a new, fast-growing service industry.
WHO: Workers from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, KFC, Domino’s and other fast-food restaurants; Home Care Workers; Community Supporters; Clergy; Elected officials
WHAT: Fast-Food Worker Strike
WHEN & WHERE: For information on times and locations for strike lines in a particular city, please contact Laura or Alex.
Thursday’s strike comes a little more than a month after the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel determined that, despite McDonald’s repeated claims, the company is a joint employer that exerts substantial power over its employees’ working conditions. For nearly two years, McDonald’s and other fast-food workers have been joining together and going on strike, calling for $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation. But time and time again, the company and other industry players have tried to sidestep workers’ calls, inventing a make-believe world in which responsibility for wages and working conditions falls squarely on the shoulders of franchisees.
A campaign that started in New York City in November 2012, with 200 fast-food workers walking off their jobs demanding $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation, has since spread to more than 150 cities in every region of the country, including the South. The growing fight for $15 has been credited with elevating the debate around inequality in the U.S. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said that it has “entirely changed the politics of the country.” Since the campaign launched, nearly 7 million low-wage workershave seen their wages rise. What seemed like a far-fetched goal--$15 an hour—is now a reality in Seattle, where Bloomberg News said the city adopted “the rallying cry of fast-food workers.”
As it spreads, the movement is challenging fast-food companies’ outdated notion that their workers are teenagers looking for pocket change. Today’s workers are mothers and fathers struggling to raise children on wages that are too low. And they’re showing the industry that if it doesn’t raise pay, it will continue to be at the center of the national debate on what’s wrong with our economy.
Follow all of the action on strike day at www.strikefastfood.org and #StrikeFastFood.
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
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Challenge to Sweeping NSA Dragnet Reaches Highest Court Yet
commondreams.org/news/2014/09/02/challenge-sweeping-nsa-dragnet-reaches-highest-court-yet
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Challenge to Sweeping NSA Dragnet Reaches Highest Court Yet
Bulk collection of telephone metadata threatens constitutional rights in 'unimaginable' ways, says ACLU
Nadia Prupis, staff writer
CrimethInc. sticker on a telephone warning users of phone tapping by the U.S. government. (Photo: Lotus Carroll)
Lawyers for the ACLU on Tuesday presented arguments before a federal court as they challenged the U.S. government's claimed authority to bulk collect and search America's cell phone data, which the group argues is unconstitutional and exceeds Congressional authority provided by the Patriot Act.
“The government cannot demonstrate, as the statute requires it to, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that all Americans’ call records, over a twelve-year period (and counting), are ‘relevant’ to an ongoing investigation,” the ACLU wrote in its brief (PDF) to the court.
By hearing the case, ACLU vs. Clapper, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals becomes the highest level federal court yet to consider the Obama administration's claims that it can warrantlessly collect the phone records of tens of millions of Americans based on secret approval by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) or whether its interpretation of the 2012 FISA Amendment, which governs the court, comports with Congressional intent.
The NSA program, which the government has justified under the Patriot Act’s Section 215, collects records of calls and metadata— such as information about the callers, when calls were placed, and how long they lasted — made by millions of U.S. citizens every day. Phone companies like Verizon handed over the records by order of the FISA court, which required them to give up the data on an “ongoing daily basis.” Under 215, other companies could also be compelled to produce “any tangible thing” that is “relevant” to foreign intelligence or terrorism investigations.
In June 2013, the NSA files leaked by former agency contractor Edward Snowden were published, leading to widespread public outcry against the program and enabling the ACLU, as Verizon customers, and other surveillance targets to prove that they had been monitored.
“The phone-records program… is perhaps the most sweeping surveillance operation ever directed against the American public by our government,” Alex Abdo, ACLU staff attorney, said in a blog post. “And it threatens our constitutional rights in ways unimaginable by the founders of our country.”
Abdo continues:
The legal challenges are also significant for the simple fact that they have forced the government to defend its program in public. For over a decade, the government has thwarted all attempts at public judicial review of the legality of the surveillance programs it inaugurated in the aftermath of 9/11. It erected procedural barriers and invoked the state-secrets doctrine to have those challenges thrown out of court.
But today, we're one step closer to having a definitive ruling on the legality of at least one of those programs. We are optimistic that the court will agree with us that the bulk collection of sensitive information on millions of innocent Americans is unlawful.
Government officials have claimed the collection of their private data is not damaging to Americans, but ACLU argues that it is both unlawful and unconstitutional, involving “collection on a scale far beyond what the statute permits on its face, and far beyond what Congress intended.”
The lawsuit states:
[T]he program violates the Fourth Amendment. Phone records reveal personal details and relationships that most people customarily and justifiably regard as private. The government’s dragnet collection of this information invades a reasonable expectation of privacy and constitutes a search.
[T]he program violates the First Amendment. Government surveillance that substantially burdens First Amendment rights, as this program does, must survive “exacting scrutiny.” A program on this scale, however—one that involves the indefinite and dragnet collection of sensitive information about hundreds of millions of Americans—simply cannot survive that scrutiny.
In a previous court challenge to NSA warrantless surveillance brought by the ACLU in 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case as it ruled the rights group did not have standing. The ACLU, however, does not believe the issue of standing will be a problem in ACLU v. Clapper because of the FISC order showing that the NSA is collecting the telephone records of all Verizon Business customers – which happens to include the ACLU.
Last week, in yet another challenge to NSA spying, the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a brief in a separate lawsuit, Klayman vs. Obama, which charges that the NSA's bulk collection of both online and telephone metadata violates the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution.
"Dragnet surveillance is and has always has been illegal in the United States," Abdo said in the context of the Klayman. "As even the president himself has recognized, we can keep the nation safe without surrendering our privacy."
Tuesday's arguments in front of the Second Circuit were streamed live on C-SPAN and may be viewable here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
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
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Challenge to Sweeping NSA Dragnet Reaches Highest Court Yet
Bulk collection of telephone metadata threatens constitutional rights in 'unimaginable' ways, says ACLU
Nadia Prupis, staff writer
CrimethInc. sticker on a telephone warning users of phone tapping by the U.S. government. (Photo: Lotus Carroll)
Lawyers for the ACLU on Tuesday presented arguments before a federal court as they challenged the U.S. government's claimed authority to bulk collect and search America's cell phone data, which the group argues is unconstitutional and exceeds Congressional authority provided by the Patriot Act.
“The government cannot demonstrate, as the statute requires it to, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that all Americans’ call records, over a twelve-year period (and counting), are ‘relevant’ to an ongoing investigation,” the ACLU wrote in its brief (PDF) to the court.
By hearing the case, ACLU vs. Clapper, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals becomes the highest level federal court yet to consider the Obama administration's claims that it can warrantlessly collect the phone records of tens of millions of Americans based on secret approval by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) or whether its interpretation of the 2012 FISA Amendment, which governs the court, comports with Congressional intent.
The NSA program, which the government has justified under the Patriot Act’s Section 215, collects records of calls and metadata— such as information about the callers, when calls were placed, and how long they lasted — made by millions of U.S. citizens every day. Phone companies like Verizon handed over the records by order of the FISA court, which required them to give up the data on an “ongoing daily basis.” Under 215, other companies could also be compelled to produce “any tangible thing” that is “relevant” to foreign intelligence or terrorism investigations.
In June 2013, the NSA files leaked by former agency contractor Edward Snowden were published, leading to widespread public outcry against the program and enabling the ACLU, as Verizon customers, and other surveillance targets to prove that they had been monitored.
“The phone-records program… is perhaps the most sweeping surveillance operation ever directed against the American public by our government,” Alex Abdo, ACLU staff attorney, said in a blog post. “And it threatens our constitutional rights in ways unimaginable by the founders of our country.”
Abdo continues:
The legal challenges are also significant for the simple fact that they have forced the government to defend its program in public. For over a decade, the government has thwarted all attempts at public judicial review of the legality of the surveillance programs it inaugurated in the aftermath of 9/11. It erected procedural barriers and invoked the state-secrets doctrine to have those challenges thrown out of court.
But today, we're one step closer to having a definitive ruling on the legality of at least one of those programs. We are optimistic that the court will agree with us that the bulk collection of sensitive information on millions of innocent Americans is unlawful.
Government officials have claimed the collection of their private data is not damaging to Americans, but ACLU argues that it is both unlawful and unconstitutional, involving “collection on a scale far beyond what the statute permits on its face, and far beyond what Congress intended.”
The lawsuit states:
[T]he program violates the Fourth Amendment. Phone records reveal personal details and relationships that most people customarily and justifiably regard as private. The government’s dragnet collection of this information invades a reasonable expectation of privacy and constitutes a search.
[T]he program violates the First Amendment. Government surveillance that substantially burdens First Amendment rights, as this program does, must survive “exacting scrutiny.” A program on this scale, however—one that involves the indefinite and dragnet collection of sensitive information about hundreds of millions of Americans—simply cannot survive that scrutiny.
In a previous court challenge to NSA warrantless surveillance brought by the ACLU in 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case as it ruled the rights group did not have standing. The ACLU, however, does not believe the issue of standing will be a problem in ACLU v. Clapper because of the FISC order showing that the NSA is collecting the telephone records of all Verizon Business customers – which happens to include the ACLU.
Last week, in yet another challenge to NSA spying, the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a brief in a separate lawsuit, Klayman vs. Obama, which charges that the NSA's bulk collection of both online and telephone metadata violates the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution.
"Dragnet surveillance is and has always has been illegal in the United States," Abdo said in the context of the Klayman. "As even the president himself has recognized, we can keep the nation safe without surrendering our privacy."
Tuesday's arguments in front of the Second Circuit were streamed live on C-SPAN and may be viewable here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
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
WildLeaks: A Hub for Witnesses of Poaching to Anonymously Report Wildlife Crimes
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/25604-wildleaks-a-hub-for-witnesses-of-poaching-to-anonymously-report-wildlife-crimes
(photo: Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images)
WildLeaks: A Hub for Witnesses of Poaching to Anonymously Report Wildlife Crimes
By Deutsche Welle
30 August 14
Many witnesses of poaching or other wildlife crimes remain silent, fearing retribution. An anonymous whistlebower platform aims to change that. The WildLeaks project is turning information into action on the ground.
WildLeaks is the first secure and anonymous platform for wildlife and forest crime whistleblowers. Its goal is to create a safe, secure and anonymous online platform for individuals to send information about wildlife crime. The tips are then used for on-the-ground action. The WildLeaks project is funded by the Elephant Action League.
DW: What kind of leaks are you receiving?
Andrea Crosta: All kinds. We've received leaks about the poaching of tigers in northern Sumatra; the smuggling of apes, in particular chimps, in Central Africa; elephant poaching and ivory trafficking; illeg al logging in central Mexico, Malawi, Russia; illegal fishing off the coast of Alaska. On average we receive between 5 and 7 leaks per week, of which, at the moment, at least three or four are usually assessed as reliable, as good - as a possible basis for investigations.
How do the leaks get investigated? And who's investigating them?
Once the leak has been assessed as good and reliable, we basically have three options: We can start an investigation on our own with our human resources in collaboration with our partners; we can share this leak with another organization - another NGO more expert than us, and we then help them; or we can share the leak with selected law enforcement agencies.
For example, a lot ivory exits Africa from the ports of Mombasa [Kenya] or Dar es Salaam [Tanzania], so in these countries, we're active - proactive actually. We're in the field, we try to build networks of potential whistleblowers, we recruit sources, we investigate with other partners, and we try to get as much information as possible on the criminal networks.
Sounds like a fairly delicate operation?
Extremely delicate. Some of my team, including myself, come from security and private intelligence and homeland security. So personally, I've been doing this for almost 20 years. And we know how to start an investigation below the radar, how to use local resources, how not to attract attention - unwanted attention.
Why are locals so afraid?
People are making a lot of money out of wildlife crime. It's a multibillion-dollar industry. And both in origin countries in Africa - talking about ivory, for example - or destinations like Asia/China, there are powerful people involved: organized criminal groups, corrupt government officials, corrupt politicians, corrupt security officers, and also very well-known, legitimate businesses behind the scenes, using import-export licenses to smuggle ivory or rhino horn. In certain countries, like in Africa, these people are able to control the police, are able to control corrupted parts of the security agencies. So I fully understand why people who live there do not report. It's a very risky business to report, unless you have an anonymous way to do it.
Is WildLeak anonymous?
It's totally anonymous. We don't have any idea who's sending the links or where they come from. It's based on this technology called Tor, which is the best available on the market to protect users from monitoring by external entities.
How big a problem is poaching and the trafficking of animals?
A pair of tusks in Kenya is worth three, four years' of salary. It depends where, of course, but we know that poachers can get a few hundred dollars. And a few hundred dollars in those areas - it's a lot of money. Then, as the ivory travels all the way to Asia, which is the final destination, the price keeps rising. And on the black market in China now, we're talking about $3,000 (2,300 euros) per kilo.
What's changed is that, in the last three-to-five years, the price of ivory and rhino horn has again skyrocketed. It became, once again, very, very profitable to traffick in ivory. One of the reasons, for example, is the destination market, the consumer market, in particular China, grew a lot. So the middle class can afford more, can spend more. And there is a huge demand for ivory.
Criminal networks that smuggles ivory are also into other kinds of crimes, like human trafficking, or like drug trafficking. So it's a very, very complex issue that requires a highly collaborative approach, which I'm afraid, at the moment, we don't have.
Are you confident you'll see some good results?
We've launched our own investigations, three of them, all in Africa, and all on ivory trafficking. We'll see the results probably in a few months. We're targeting the upper layers of wildlife crime, and we're trying to get a better understanding of their networks. We're not after easy catches.
© 2014 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
(photo: Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images)
WildLeaks: A Hub for Witnesses of Poaching to Anonymously Report Wildlife Crimes
By Deutsche Welle
30 August 14
Many witnesses of poaching or other wildlife crimes remain silent, fearing retribution. An anonymous whistlebower platform aims to change that. The WildLeaks project is turning information into action on the ground.
WildLeaks is the first secure and anonymous platform for wildlife and forest crime whistleblowers. Its goal is to create a safe, secure and anonymous online platform for individuals to send information about wildlife crime. The tips are then used for on-the-ground action. The WildLeaks project is funded by the Elephant Action League.
DW: What kind of leaks are you receiving?
Andrea Crosta: All kinds. We've received leaks about the poaching of tigers in northern Sumatra; the smuggling of apes, in particular chimps, in Central Africa; elephant poaching and ivory trafficking; illeg al logging in central Mexico, Malawi, Russia; illegal fishing off the coast of Alaska. On average we receive between 5 and 7 leaks per week, of which, at the moment, at least three or four are usually assessed as reliable, as good - as a possible basis for investigations.
How do the leaks get investigated? And who's investigating them?
Once the leak has been assessed as good and reliable, we basically have three options: We can start an investigation on our own with our human resources in collaboration with our partners; we can share this leak with another organization - another NGO more expert than us, and we then help them; or we can share the leak with selected law enforcement agencies.
For example, a lot ivory exits Africa from the ports of Mombasa [Kenya] or Dar es Salaam [Tanzania], so in these countries, we're active - proactive actually. We're in the field, we try to build networks of potential whistleblowers, we recruit sources, we investigate with other partners, and we try to get as much information as possible on the criminal networks.
Sounds like a fairly delicate operation?
Extremely delicate. Some of my team, including myself, come from security and private intelligence and homeland security. So personally, I've been doing this for almost 20 years. And we know how to start an investigation below the radar, how to use local resources, how not to attract attention - unwanted attention.
Why are locals so afraid?
People are making a lot of money out of wildlife crime. It's a multibillion-dollar industry. And both in origin countries in Africa - talking about ivory, for example - or destinations like Asia/China, there are powerful people involved: organized criminal groups, corrupt government officials, corrupt politicians, corrupt security officers, and also very well-known, legitimate businesses behind the scenes, using import-export licenses to smuggle ivory or rhino horn. In certain countries, like in Africa, these people are able to control the police, are able to control corrupted parts of the security agencies. So I fully understand why people who live there do not report. It's a very risky business to report, unless you have an anonymous way to do it.
Is WildLeak anonymous?
It's totally anonymous. We don't have any idea who's sending the links or where they come from. It's based on this technology called Tor, which is the best available on the market to protect users from monitoring by external entities.
How big a problem is poaching and the trafficking of animals?
A pair of tusks in Kenya is worth three, four years' of salary. It depends where, of course, but we know that poachers can get a few hundred dollars. And a few hundred dollars in those areas - it's a lot of money. Then, as the ivory travels all the way to Asia, which is the final destination, the price keeps rising. And on the black market in China now, we're talking about $3,000 (2,300 euros) per kilo.
What's changed is that, in the last three-to-five years, the price of ivory and rhino horn has again skyrocketed. It became, once again, very, very profitable to traffick in ivory. One of the reasons, for example, is the destination market, the consumer market, in particular China, grew a lot. So the middle class can afford more, can spend more. And there is a huge demand for ivory.
Criminal networks that smuggles ivory are also into other kinds of crimes, like human trafficking, or like drug trafficking. So it's a very, very complex issue that requires a highly collaborative approach, which I'm afraid, at the moment, we don't have.
Are you confident you'll see some good results?
We've launched our own investigations, three of them, all in Africa, and all on ivory trafficking. We'll see the results probably in a few months. We're targeting the upper layers of wildlife crime, and we're trying to get a better understanding of their networks. We're not after easy catches.
© 2014 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
4 Reasons Water Advocates Should Join the People's Climate March September 21st
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/25645-4-reasons-water-advocates-should-join-the-peoples-climate-march-september-21st
For several decades scientists have known and studied historic 'megadroughts' in the Southwest U.S. and Colorado River basin, but not until last week did a scientific paper directly connect potential future megadroughts to climate change. (photo: Peoples Climate March)
4 Reasons Water Advocates Should Join the People's Climate March September 21st
By Gary Wockner, EcoWatch
02 September 14
I inhabit the river-activist wing of the climate movement, and if you’re a river activist like me, please come to the People’s Climate March in New York City on Sept. 21. The future of the rivers of America is directly tied to our ability to control climate change.
I run organizations that work to protect and restore the Colorado River of the Southwest U.S. and the Cache la Poudre River of Northern Colorado. Both are at extreme risk as global warming increases.
For several decades scientists have known and studied historic “megadroughts” in the Southwest U.S. and Colorado River basin, but not until last week did a scientific paper directly connect potential future megadroughts to climate change. The scientific paper, published in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate, puts the chance of a climate-change caused megadrought between 20 percent and 50 percent over the next century.
Toby Ault, who is a Cornell University assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences and lead author of the paper, directly ties this risk to human-caused climate change when he says: “As we add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere—and we haven’t put the brakes on stopping this—we are weighting the dice for megadrought conditions.”
This risk of a megadrought is now added on top of the prolonged drought that is currently grippingthe Colorado River basin. Over the last 15 years, the amount of water flowing in the Colorado River—which comes from snowpack in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado—has decreased by about 15 percent (see page 10), and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell has publicly stated that she thinks this recent drought is the “new normal.”
As another example how river health interacts with climate change, we also now know that dams themselves cause climate change. Reservoir operations cause methane emissions, and in some cases the methane-related greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric dams can be as bad or worse than from a coal-fired powerplant. Scientists in Brazil have gone so far as to say: “Dams are the largest single anthropogenic source of methane, being responsible for 23 percent of all methane emissions due to human activities.”
At the other end of the spectrum, scientists are predicting significantly more climate variability as global warming increases, which can lead to droughts in some places but massive rains and flooding in others. Here along the Front Range of Colorado where I live, in the last five years we’ve seen near record flooding, drought, heat waves, forest fires and snowpack, all of which have dramatically impacted our regional rivers. The Cache la Poudre River basin has been especially hard hit with forest fires, flooding and drought in recent years.
If all of that is not bad enough, the future of the rivers of the Southwest U.S. and all across America is also directly tied to fracking and other dirty energy extraction that leads to climate change. Here in Colorado, fracking has resulted in oil spills in rivers, benzene leaking into streams, and massive risks and impacts when flooding has occurred in oil and gas fields. All across the Southwest U.S.—but especially in Utah—dirty energy extraction including fracking, oil shale, coal and tar sands is impacting and further threatening the health of local and regional rivers. Much has been said about the tar sands in Canada, but Utah has its own tar sands mining threat that is moving forward right now.
© 2014 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
For several decades scientists have known and studied historic 'megadroughts' in the Southwest U.S. and Colorado River basin, but not until last week did a scientific paper directly connect potential future megadroughts to climate change. (photo: Peoples Climate March)
4 Reasons Water Advocates Should Join the People's Climate March September 21st
By Gary Wockner, EcoWatch
02 September 14
I inhabit the river-activist wing of the climate movement, and if you’re a river activist like me, please come to the People’s Climate March in New York City on Sept. 21. The future of the rivers of America is directly tied to our ability to control climate change.
I run organizations that work to protect and restore the Colorado River of the Southwest U.S. and the Cache la Poudre River of Northern Colorado. Both are at extreme risk as global warming increases.
For several decades scientists have known and studied historic “megadroughts” in the Southwest U.S. and Colorado River basin, but not until last week did a scientific paper directly connect potential future megadroughts to climate change. The scientific paper, published in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate, puts the chance of a climate-change caused megadrought between 20 percent and 50 percent over the next century.
Toby Ault, who is a Cornell University assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences and lead author of the paper, directly ties this risk to human-caused climate change when he says: “As we add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere—and we haven’t put the brakes on stopping this—we are weighting the dice for megadrought conditions.”
This risk of a megadrought is now added on top of the prolonged drought that is currently grippingthe Colorado River basin. Over the last 15 years, the amount of water flowing in the Colorado River—which comes from snowpack in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado—has decreased by about 15 percent (see page 10), and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell has publicly stated that she thinks this recent drought is the “new normal.”
As another example how river health interacts with climate change, we also now know that dams themselves cause climate change. Reservoir operations cause methane emissions, and in some cases the methane-related greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric dams can be as bad or worse than from a coal-fired powerplant. Scientists in Brazil have gone so far as to say: “Dams are the largest single anthropogenic source of methane, being responsible for 23 percent of all methane emissions due to human activities.”
At the other end of the spectrum, scientists are predicting significantly more climate variability as global warming increases, which can lead to droughts in some places but massive rains and flooding in others. Here along the Front Range of Colorado where I live, in the last five years we’ve seen near record flooding, drought, heat waves, forest fires and snowpack, all of which have dramatically impacted our regional rivers. The Cache la Poudre River basin has been especially hard hit with forest fires, flooding and drought in recent years.
If all of that is not bad enough, the future of the rivers of the Southwest U.S. and all across America is also directly tied to fracking and other dirty energy extraction that leads to climate change. Here in Colorado, fracking has resulted in oil spills in rivers, benzene leaking into streams, and massive risks and impacts when flooding has occurred in oil and gas fields. All across the Southwest U.S.—but especially in Utah—dirty energy extraction including fracking, oil shale, coal and tar sands is impacting and further threatening the health of local and regional rivers. Much has been said about the tar sands in Canada, but Utah has its own tar sands mining threat that is moving forward right now.
© 2014 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
BALTIMORE ACTIVIST ALERT - Sept. 2 - 3, 2014
17] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – Sept. 2
18] No Drone Research at JHU – Sept. 2
19] Monthly pet bereavement support group meeting – Sept. 2
20] Join Pax Christi – Sept. 2
21] Iraq in Crisis – Sept. 3
22] Show solidarity with Ferguson – Sept. 3
23] "National Service of Mourning" for Gaza – Sept. 3
24] Baltimore's Youth Dreamers at Red Emma’s – Sept. 3
25] Web Workshop: Divestment as a Solidarity Tactic – Sept. 3
--
17] – 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 St. & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine. The next vigil is Sept. 2. Call 215-426-0364.
18] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. Join this ongoing vigil on Sept. 2 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Call Max at 410-366-1637.
19] – Andrew Mazan leads a free monthly pet bereavement support group that meets the first Tuesday of every month at 7 PM at Baltimore Humane Society, 1601 Nicodemus Road. RSVP at 410-833-8848. Private counseling is also available. Go to http://www.baltimorehumane.org.
20] – On Tues., Sept. 2 at 7:30 PM, attend the St. Rose of Lima Pax Christi re-organization meeting at 11701 Clopper Rd., Gaithersburg 20878, in Duggan Room 2 (library) in the parish basement. ALL ARE WELCOME! Whether or not you are a St. Rose of Lima parishioner or a Catholic, if you are interested in Christian nonviolence from a Catholic perspective you are welcome. Call 301-948-7545.
21] – On Wed., Sept. 3 from 1 to 2 PM, hear Iraq in Crisis: Understanding the Challenges Confronting the Nation with Raed Jarrar, Policy Impact Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee, Adil Shamoo, Associate Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies, & Sami Albanna, Iraq Analyst & Commentator. After an invasion and occupation in 2003, Iraq has faced many challenges stemming from regime change, sectarianism and political division. Today, Iraq reels from the emergence and advance of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria which has entered and controlled large swaths of Iraqi territory leaving death and destruction in its wake. It has further targeted many traditional Iraqi minority communities. The United States is once again conducting air strikes in Iraq after withdrawing combat troops who were there for nearly a decade on the ground and there is no clear end in sight for this renewed military involvement. Shifts in leaders have also taken place, possibly advancing prospects for a more unified Iraqi political establishment. This briefing will be held at The Palestine Center, 2425 Virginia Ave., WDC 20037. RSVP at http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/RegisterForEvent/i/47743.
22] – Come to the Washington Ethical Society, 7750 16th St. NW, WDC, on Wed., Sept. 3 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, as there will be an action showing solidarity with Ferguson and with every community affected by systemic racist violence and injustice. This is an ongoing witness started Wed., Aug. 27 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM in front of the Washington Ethical Society and continuing every week at the same time. Participants will be holding signs affirming that this problem is larger than Ferguson as Black lives matter and that Justice is for ALL! This action is co-sponsored by Family and Friends of Incarcerated People and the Washington Ethical Society. See https://www.facebook.com/events/838475379543281/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming.
23] – On Wed., Sept. 3 at 6 PM join an Ecumenical "National Service of Mourning" for Gaza. This community event will allow you to grieve at the senseless loss of so many innocents in the current Gaza conflict. This Mourning will be done in remembrance of those who have died in Palestine and Israel in the current conflict, and will be held at the Calvary Baptist Church, 755 8th St. N.W. (between G and H Sts.), WDC 20001. Use the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro Station--Red, Green and Yellow Lines.
The loss and suffering resulting from the latest conflict between the Israeli military and Palestinian groups in Gaza is staggering. More than 1,400 civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced. Weeks of overwhelming destruction have devastated land, homes, and infrastructure. The siege of Gaza and the military occupation of Palestinian territory cripple normal life. As the people of the region cry, "How long, O Lord?," join in prayers in a service of worship. There are several groups co-sponsoring this event, including the American Friends Service Committee. Contact Mike Merryman-Lotze at MMerryman-Lotze@afsc.org.
24] – On Wed., Sept. 3 at 7 PM @ Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, Baltimore's Youth Dreamers will present their new book “I Am Not a Test Score: Lessons Learned from Dreaming.” The evening will feature readings, opportunities for audience input, and a short presentation from United Opt Out on resisting standardized testing. The book is a collaborative effort written by Youth Dreamers themselves, young people who have grown up in Baltimore City schools and believe in alternatives to standardized testing. This 9 x 9, full color, image heavy, 371 page, hardback coffee table book shares what Youth Dreamers and allies learned from dreaming and building Baltimore’s only youth-run youth center—The Dream House. Call 443-602-7585. Go to http://www.redemmas.org.
25] – GoFossilFree.org [mailto:350@350.org] is hosting a Web Workshop: Divestment as a Solidarity Tactic on Wed., Sept. 3 at 8:30 PM EDT. Two fossil fuel divestment leaders will discuss how divestment can be used as a solidarity tactic, and how climate change is innately intertwined with social justice. Joshua Kahn Russell is the Global Trainings Manager at 350.org. He has trained thousands of activists, and will offer insights about building relationships of solidarity with integrity and power. Sachie Hopkins Hayakawa is a Youth and Student Organizer with the New Economy Coalition, and helped organize the country's first fossil fuel divestment campaign with Swarthmore Mountain Justice. Sachie will speak to the implications and possibilities for divestment campaigns standing in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of fossil fuel impacts. RSVP at http://act.350.org/signup/webinars_solidaritytactic/?t=2&akid=5008.75494.n0a9i2, and you will be sent the link to view the workshop.
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
18] No Drone Research at JHU – Sept. 2
19] Monthly pet bereavement support group meeting – Sept. 2
20] Join Pax Christi – Sept. 2
21] Iraq in Crisis – Sept. 3
22] Show solidarity with Ferguson – Sept. 3
23] "National Service of Mourning" for Gaza – Sept. 3
24] Baltimore's Youth Dreamers at Red Emma’s – Sept. 3
25] Web Workshop: Divestment as a Solidarity Tactic – Sept. 3
--
17] – 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 St. & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine. The next vigil is Sept. 2. Call 215-426-0364.
18] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. Join this ongoing vigil on Sept. 2 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Call Max at 410-366-1637.
19] – Andrew Mazan leads a free monthly pet bereavement support group that meets the first Tuesday of every month at 7 PM at Baltimore Humane Society, 1601 Nicodemus Road. RSVP at 410-833-8848. Private counseling is also available. Go to http://www.baltimorehumane.org.
20] – On Tues., Sept. 2 at 7:30 PM, attend the St. Rose of Lima Pax Christi re-organization meeting at 11701 Clopper Rd., Gaithersburg 20878, in Duggan Room 2 (library) in the parish basement. ALL ARE WELCOME! Whether or not you are a St. Rose of Lima parishioner or a Catholic, if you are interested in Christian nonviolence from a Catholic perspective you are welcome. Call 301-948-7545.
21] – On Wed., Sept. 3 from 1 to 2 PM, hear Iraq in Crisis: Understanding the Challenges Confronting the Nation with Raed Jarrar, Policy Impact Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee, Adil Shamoo, Associate Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies, & Sami Albanna, Iraq Analyst & Commentator. After an invasion and occupation in 2003, Iraq has faced many challenges stemming from regime change, sectarianism and political division. Today, Iraq reels from the emergence and advance of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria which has entered and controlled large swaths of Iraqi territory leaving death and destruction in its wake. It has further targeted many traditional Iraqi minority communities. The United States is once again conducting air strikes in Iraq after withdrawing combat troops who were there for nearly a decade on the ground and there is no clear end in sight for this renewed military involvement. Shifts in leaders have also taken place, possibly advancing prospects for a more unified Iraqi political establishment. This briefing will be held at The Palestine Center, 2425 Virginia Ave., WDC 20037. RSVP at http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/RegisterForEvent/i/47743.
22] – Come to the Washington Ethical Society, 7750 16th St. NW, WDC, on Wed., Sept. 3 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, as there will be an action showing solidarity with Ferguson and with every community affected by systemic racist violence and injustice. This is an ongoing witness started Wed., Aug. 27 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM in front of the Washington Ethical Society and continuing every week at the same time. Participants will be holding signs affirming that this problem is larger than Ferguson as Black lives matter and that Justice is for ALL! This action is co-sponsored by Family and Friends of Incarcerated People and the Washington Ethical Society. See https://www.facebook.com/events/838475379543281/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming.
23] – On Wed., Sept. 3 at 6 PM join an Ecumenical "National Service of Mourning" for Gaza. This community event will allow you to grieve at the senseless loss of so many innocents in the current Gaza conflict. This Mourning will be done in remembrance of those who have died in Palestine and Israel in the current conflict, and will be held at the Calvary Baptist Church, 755 8th St. N.W. (between G and H Sts.), WDC 20001. Use the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro Station--Red, Green and Yellow Lines.
The loss and suffering resulting from the latest conflict between the Israeli military and Palestinian groups in Gaza is staggering. More than 1,400 civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced. Weeks of overwhelming destruction have devastated land, homes, and infrastructure. The siege of Gaza and the military occupation of Palestinian territory cripple normal life. As the people of the region cry, "How long, O Lord?," join in prayers in a service of worship. There are several groups co-sponsoring this event, including the American Friends Service Committee. Contact Mike Merryman-Lotze at MMerryman-Lotze@afsc.org.
24] – On Wed., Sept. 3 at 7 PM @ Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, Baltimore's Youth Dreamers will present their new book “I Am Not a Test Score: Lessons Learned from Dreaming.” The evening will feature readings, opportunities for audience input, and a short presentation from United Opt Out on resisting standardized testing. The book is a collaborative effort written by Youth Dreamers themselves, young people who have grown up in Baltimore City schools and believe in alternatives to standardized testing. This 9 x 9, full color, image heavy, 371 page, hardback coffee table book shares what Youth Dreamers and allies learned from dreaming and building Baltimore’s only youth-run youth center—The Dream House. Call 443-602-7585. Go to http://www.redemmas.org.
25] – GoFossilFree.org [mailto:350@350.org] is hosting a Web Workshop: Divestment as a Solidarity Tactic on Wed., Sept. 3 at 8:30 PM EDT. Two fossil fuel divestment leaders will discuss how divestment can be used as a solidarity tactic, and how climate change is innately intertwined with social justice. Joshua Kahn Russell is the Global Trainings Manager at 350.org. He has trained thousands of activists, and will offer insights about building relationships of solidarity with integrity and power. Sachie Hopkins Hayakawa is a Youth and Student Organizer with the New Economy Coalition, and helped organize the country's first fossil fuel divestment campaign with Swarthmore Mountain Justice. Sachie will speak to the implications and possibilities for divestment campaigns standing in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of fossil fuel impacts. RSVP at http://act.350.org/signup/webinars_solidaritytactic/?t=2&akid=5008.75494.n0a9i2, and you will be sent the link to view the workshop.
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
Monday, September 1, 2014
Making a Living on a Living Planet
Published on Portside (https://portside.org)
Making a Living on a Living Planet
Joe Uehlein
Friday, August 29, 2014
On Labor Day 1940, American workers faced the aftermath of the Great Depression, with mass unemployment persisting and a divided labor movement facing a renewed counterattack from corporate America. They were barely becoming aware of an even greater threat, one that would determine the future of their country and their labor movement: the threat of Nazi armies mobilizing for war.
On Labor Day 2014, American workers face the lingering results of the Great Recession, with unemployment still at historic highs, burgeoning inequality, and attacks on the very right to have a union. But, like workers in 1940, we are being pressed by another threat, one that will far overshadow our current problems if we do not take it on.
Today the American labor movement -- like the rest of American society and like labor movements throughout the world -- is being forced to grapple with global warming, climate chaos, and climate protection strategies. The future of labor’s growth and vitality will depend on its ability to play a central role in the movement to build a sustainable future for the planet and its people.
Climate change changes everything: Everything about how we organize society, how we conduct politics, even how we think of progress. For us in the labor movement, it must change how we envision the role of an organized labor movement in society.
Society will change – either through the effects of climate degradation or through a colossal struggle to avert it. Labor has to decide whether to fight the transition to a climate-safe society or to help lead it.
It is in the self-interest of the trade union movement to become a part of the solution to the climate crisis. Climate change is the real job killer and poses a serious thereat to jobs in every sector. This means supporting a just transition away from a carbon-based economy toward a carbon-neutral economy. The stakes are way too high to do otherwise. Our society is transitioning before our eyes to a sustainable future, and the struggle for this transition is intense, with the forces of capital arrayed against us.
Change is never welcome, and for good reason. Working people, and communities, have always been the road kill on the path of change. Our nation, our society, has never provided a just transition for working people. This must change. If working people are to support climate protection, then climate protection must mean a way to make a living on a living planet.
Labor is rightly concerned with our society’s growing inequality. Indeed, American workers face two great crises: global warming and the resulting climate chaos, and the crisis of income inequality and the crushing deficit in family supporting jobs. The good news is, we can solve these two crises with the same set of policies – creating jobs by making the transition to a climate-safe economy.
Labor movement and environmental movement
There have never been more compelling reasons for the labor and environmental movements to work together. Global warming and the resulting climate chaos poses a real and present danger to work and working people. The destinies of these two movements are truly intertwined. Yet today the obstacles to collaboration are greater than perhaps ever in history. These two movements are not succeeding on their own. They would benefit immensely from a shared vision; but they remain far away from achieving that vision. Over the past 40 years these two movements have worked together, and they have fought against one another. They have formed coalitions around mutual interests, and have offered aid in certain struggles. Today not only are they divided over a host of issues both national and local, but a fissure has opened up within the labor movement over global warming. There’s little disagreement on the importance of the issue, but sharp disagreement over what to do about it. There’s only one problem with simply letting this disagreement play out the way such issues have in the past: The timeline to disaster science tells us we’re already on. And the climate fight may not be won without labor.
Unfortunately, many proposals for climate protection are not labor-friendly. Those in organized labor who are skeptical about climate protection efforts identify genuine problems in the policies proposed by environmentalists. They point out that the closing of coal-fired power plants, for example, will lead miners, truck drivers, and utility workers to lose their jobs -- in many cases, the only well-paid union jobs in their localities. They argue that projects like the Keystone XL pipeline will provide jobs for workers who are suffering from historic rates of unemployment. They maintain that a prosperous economy depends on cheap and abundant energy -- so that restrictions on fossil fuel energy could well lead to economic catastrophe. And they point out that restrictions on fossil fuel energy are likely to lead to rising prices for the energy to heat our houses, run our appliances, and drive our cars -- price increases that will hurt workers and the poor most and further increase our society's unjust economic inequality.
Much in this critique is valid. But criticizing the weaknesses in mainstream climate policy proposals is not a strategy for combating climate change. Labor needs to propose a climate protection strategy of its own -- one that realistically protects the livelihood and wellbeing of working people and helps reverse America's trend to greater inequality while reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the speed scientists say is necessary to reduce climate catastrophe. A strategy designed to provide full employment and rising living standards by putting millions of people to work on the transition to a climate-safe economy could transform the politics of climate by shattering the "jobs vs. the environment" frame. And it could provide a common platform around which climate protection advocates at every level of the labor movement could rally.
The future of labor
Organized labor’s approach to climate change has been primarily employment based. Unions like the green job gains from climate protection measures; but they fear the potential job losses from phasing out carbon-fueled industries. This should not be surprising since unions are organized primarily to look after the specific employment interests of workers.
Even the most far sighted trade union leaders have a very difficult job: They must represent the immediate interests of existing members, some of whom may face job losses in the transition to a low carbon economy, while keeping in mind the longer term economic, social, and ecological concerns.
But a narrow focus on the short term has led some unions to neglect the longer-term effects of climate change on jobs, workers, and their communities and the action needed to address them. Unless labor develops a full-fledged response to climate change, it is likely to be left by the roadside in what will be the pivotal challenge of the 21st century.
All workers, no matter what industry they work in and no matter what harm their industry may do to society, deserve union representation. But in an age of global warming and climate disruption labor can no longer advocate for every possible job regardless of its impact on the world around us. Instead we need to seek jobs that help build a livable future while protecting workers against being the victims of change.
The proportion of unionized workers has continued to fall; by 2011 fewer than 12 percent of all workers and fewer than 7 percent of private sector workers were members of unions. Rightwing attacks in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have rolled back basic union rights, and some rightwing leaders speak openly of simply eliminating unionism.
Yet we greet Labor Day 2014 with hope for the labor movement’s growth. Recent years have seen a series of “mini-revolts” representing the eruption of new constituencies and forms of working class organization. These have included the massive resistance to the effort to destroy public sector unionism in Wisconsin; the explosion of Occupy Wall Street and its equivalents in 600 cities around the US; the rise of militant coalitions of teachers, parents, and students in defense of public education; and the emergence of organization and strikes in rapidly expanding low-wage industries like fast food, retail sales, and home care with high concentrations of young, minority, and immigrant workers. Worker centers and new forms of labor organization are proliferating among domestic workers, taxi cab drivers, day laborers, immigrant workers, restaurant workers, and more. Many of these new forces within the labor movement have expressed strong concern for climate protection.
Scores of unions have endorsed the big climate march in New York City on September 21. Some unions like the Nurses (NNU), Transportation Workers (ATU), and Communications Workers (CWA) are taking strong action on climate and sustainability issues. Some unions, like the Steelworkers (USW), have formed the Blue Green Alliance with large environmental partners and unions to work for green jobs, infrastructure and to generally improve relationships so that a more fertile ground may be realized. The Laborer’s Union (LiUNA) has chartered locals for green work and are scanning the construction industry with a careful eye for opportunities.
We also greet Labor Day this year with very real fear because we are at the precipice. Having wasted more than three decades, it’s now time for dramatic action on global warming. We’ve done tremendous damage to this planet and we know it. For shame; for bitter shame. But we can find a way to lead on the climate issue and help roll-back the damage done, adjust to the new bleak realities, and build a better world. This is our chance. Now is the time start.
Aggressive action is needed to curb carbon emissions. Three decades of ignoring this problem and relying on normal measures has failed us at every level. A climate movement is building with serious verve and vigor, fueled not only by the young who are leading it, but people of all ages, races, colors, and creeds.
This is not only an environmental and economic issue, but one that strikes at the very heart of our concept of humanity – and of labor. How we rise to this challenge will define who we are as human beings.
Like Labor Day 1940 with its growing awareness of the Nazi threat, this is one of those times when you have to ask yourself, in the words of a famous labor anthem, “which side are you on?” Your children and grandchildren will ask you that question, and will follow up with “what did you do when you knew? Did you march and go to the rallies? Did you chain yourself to the white house fence? Did you protest the Keystone Pipeline?” Or did you say, “we can’t do anything until national and international agreements are reached?” Today you can change how those questions will be answered by engaging within the trade union movement for a vision of the future where labor is a part of the answer to the climate crisis, not a part of the problem. You can engage with the environmental movement to help them understand the primacy of family-supporting work in people’s lives, and to honor all work as a fundamental aspect of humanity that must be protected and enhanced.
Joe Uehlein is Founding President and Executive Director of the Labor Network for Sustainability, the former secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union Department, and former director of the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Campaigns He spent over 30 years doing organizing, bargaining, and strategic campaign work in the labor movement.
Source URL: https://portside.org/2014-08-30/making-living-living-planet
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
Making a Living on a Living Planet
Joe Uehlein
Friday, August 29, 2014
On Labor Day 1940, American workers faced the aftermath of the Great Depression, with mass unemployment persisting and a divided labor movement facing a renewed counterattack from corporate America. They were barely becoming aware of an even greater threat, one that would determine the future of their country and their labor movement: the threat of Nazi armies mobilizing for war.
On Labor Day 2014, American workers face the lingering results of the Great Recession, with unemployment still at historic highs, burgeoning inequality, and attacks on the very right to have a union. But, like workers in 1940, we are being pressed by another threat, one that will far overshadow our current problems if we do not take it on.
Today the American labor movement -- like the rest of American society and like labor movements throughout the world -- is being forced to grapple with global warming, climate chaos, and climate protection strategies. The future of labor’s growth and vitality will depend on its ability to play a central role in the movement to build a sustainable future for the planet and its people.
Climate change changes everything: Everything about how we organize society, how we conduct politics, even how we think of progress. For us in the labor movement, it must change how we envision the role of an organized labor movement in society.
Society will change – either through the effects of climate degradation or through a colossal struggle to avert it. Labor has to decide whether to fight the transition to a climate-safe society or to help lead it.
It is in the self-interest of the trade union movement to become a part of the solution to the climate crisis. Climate change is the real job killer and poses a serious thereat to jobs in every sector. This means supporting a just transition away from a carbon-based economy toward a carbon-neutral economy. The stakes are way too high to do otherwise. Our society is transitioning before our eyes to a sustainable future, and the struggle for this transition is intense, with the forces of capital arrayed against us.
Change is never welcome, and for good reason. Working people, and communities, have always been the road kill on the path of change. Our nation, our society, has never provided a just transition for working people. This must change. If working people are to support climate protection, then climate protection must mean a way to make a living on a living planet.
Labor is rightly concerned with our society’s growing inequality. Indeed, American workers face two great crises: global warming and the resulting climate chaos, and the crisis of income inequality and the crushing deficit in family supporting jobs. The good news is, we can solve these two crises with the same set of policies – creating jobs by making the transition to a climate-safe economy.
Labor movement and environmental movement
There have never been more compelling reasons for the labor and environmental movements to work together. Global warming and the resulting climate chaos poses a real and present danger to work and working people. The destinies of these two movements are truly intertwined. Yet today the obstacles to collaboration are greater than perhaps ever in history. These two movements are not succeeding on their own. They would benefit immensely from a shared vision; but they remain far away from achieving that vision. Over the past 40 years these two movements have worked together, and they have fought against one another. They have formed coalitions around mutual interests, and have offered aid in certain struggles. Today not only are they divided over a host of issues both national and local, but a fissure has opened up within the labor movement over global warming. There’s little disagreement on the importance of the issue, but sharp disagreement over what to do about it. There’s only one problem with simply letting this disagreement play out the way such issues have in the past: The timeline to disaster science tells us we’re already on. And the climate fight may not be won without labor.
Unfortunately, many proposals for climate protection are not labor-friendly. Those in organized labor who are skeptical about climate protection efforts identify genuine problems in the policies proposed by environmentalists. They point out that the closing of coal-fired power plants, for example, will lead miners, truck drivers, and utility workers to lose their jobs -- in many cases, the only well-paid union jobs in their localities. They argue that projects like the Keystone XL pipeline will provide jobs for workers who are suffering from historic rates of unemployment. They maintain that a prosperous economy depends on cheap and abundant energy -- so that restrictions on fossil fuel energy could well lead to economic catastrophe. And they point out that restrictions on fossil fuel energy are likely to lead to rising prices for the energy to heat our houses, run our appliances, and drive our cars -- price increases that will hurt workers and the poor most and further increase our society's unjust economic inequality.
Much in this critique is valid. But criticizing the weaknesses in mainstream climate policy proposals is not a strategy for combating climate change. Labor needs to propose a climate protection strategy of its own -- one that realistically protects the livelihood and wellbeing of working people and helps reverse America's trend to greater inequality while reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the speed scientists say is necessary to reduce climate catastrophe. A strategy designed to provide full employment and rising living standards by putting millions of people to work on the transition to a climate-safe economy could transform the politics of climate by shattering the "jobs vs. the environment" frame. And it could provide a common platform around which climate protection advocates at every level of the labor movement could rally.
The future of labor
Organized labor’s approach to climate change has been primarily employment based. Unions like the green job gains from climate protection measures; but they fear the potential job losses from phasing out carbon-fueled industries. This should not be surprising since unions are organized primarily to look after the specific employment interests of workers.
Even the most far sighted trade union leaders have a very difficult job: They must represent the immediate interests of existing members, some of whom may face job losses in the transition to a low carbon economy, while keeping in mind the longer term economic, social, and ecological concerns.
But a narrow focus on the short term has led some unions to neglect the longer-term effects of climate change on jobs, workers, and their communities and the action needed to address them. Unless labor develops a full-fledged response to climate change, it is likely to be left by the roadside in what will be the pivotal challenge of the 21st century.
All workers, no matter what industry they work in and no matter what harm their industry may do to society, deserve union representation. But in an age of global warming and climate disruption labor can no longer advocate for every possible job regardless of its impact on the world around us. Instead we need to seek jobs that help build a livable future while protecting workers against being the victims of change.
The proportion of unionized workers has continued to fall; by 2011 fewer than 12 percent of all workers and fewer than 7 percent of private sector workers were members of unions. Rightwing attacks in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have rolled back basic union rights, and some rightwing leaders speak openly of simply eliminating unionism.
Yet we greet Labor Day 2014 with hope for the labor movement’s growth. Recent years have seen a series of “mini-revolts” representing the eruption of new constituencies and forms of working class organization. These have included the massive resistance to the effort to destroy public sector unionism in Wisconsin; the explosion of Occupy Wall Street and its equivalents in 600 cities around the US; the rise of militant coalitions of teachers, parents, and students in defense of public education; and the emergence of organization and strikes in rapidly expanding low-wage industries like fast food, retail sales, and home care with high concentrations of young, minority, and immigrant workers. Worker centers and new forms of labor organization are proliferating among domestic workers, taxi cab drivers, day laborers, immigrant workers, restaurant workers, and more. Many of these new forces within the labor movement have expressed strong concern for climate protection.
Scores of unions have endorsed the big climate march in New York City on September 21. Some unions like the Nurses (NNU), Transportation Workers (ATU), and Communications Workers (CWA) are taking strong action on climate and sustainability issues. Some unions, like the Steelworkers (USW), have formed the Blue Green Alliance with large environmental partners and unions to work for green jobs, infrastructure and to generally improve relationships so that a more fertile ground may be realized. The Laborer’s Union (LiUNA) has chartered locals for green work and are scanning the construction industry with a careful eye for opportunities.
We also greet Labor Day this year with very real fear because we are at the precipice. Having wasted more than three decades, it’s now time for dramatic action on global warming. We’ve done tremendous damage to this planet and we know it. For shame; for bitter shame. But we can find a way to lead on the climate issue and help roll-back the damage done, adjust to the new bleak realities, and build a better world. This is our chance. Now is the time start.
Aggressive action is needed to curb carbon emissions. Three decades of ignoring this problem and relying on normal measures has failed us at every level. A climate movement is building with serious verve and vigor, fueled not only by the young who are leading it, but people of all ages, races, colors, and creeds.
This is not only an environmental and economic issue, but one that strikes at the very heart of our concept of humanity – and of labor. How we rise to this challenge will define who we are as human beings.
Like Labor Day 1940 with its growing awareness of the Nazi threat, this is one of those times when you have to ask yourself, in the words of a famous labor anthem, “which side are you on?” Your children and grandchildren will ask you that question, and will follow up with “what did you do when you knew? Did you march and go to the rallies? Did you chain yourself to the white house fence? Did you protest the Keystone Pipeline?” Or did you say, “we can’t do anything until national and international agreements are reached?” Today you can change how those questions will be answered by engaging within the trade union movement for a vision of the future where labor is a part of the answer to the climate crisis, not a part of the problem. You can engage with the environmental movement to help them understand the primacy of family-supporting work in people’s lives, and to honor all work as a fundamental aspect of humanity that must be protected and enhanced.
Joe Uehlein is Founding President and Executive Director of the Labor Network for Sustainability, the former secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union Department, and former director of the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Campaigns He spent over 30 years doing organizing, bargaining, and strategic campaign work in the labor movement.
Source URL: https://portside.org/2014-08-30/making-living-living-planet
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"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
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