Dahr Jamail on Iraq Eyewitness to Occupation at Socialism 2008
“Over half the total population of the country are either refugees, in need of emergency aid or dead.”
Dave Jamail gave a riveting talk on the occupation of Iraq at Socialism 2008 in Chicago on June 20. (Websites may embed this video.) (more…)
August 9, 2008
The Big Voice
by Kathy Kelly
About six months ago, Dan Pearson, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, swiveled around in his office chair in our tiny “headquarters” to ask what we thought about organizing a walk from Chicago to St. Paul, arriving just before the Republican National Convention. (see www.witnessagainstwar.org). Our dedicated group of volunteers joined Dan to plan a project, which, to me, is one of the best organized efforts I’ve ever encountered, all aimed at voicing a witness against war, which particularly in Wisconsin, where 3,500 National Guard troops are on alert for a call-up to combat duty, in Iraq, in 2009. Generally, three to five “day walkers” will join our core group of nine walkers. We walk about fifteen miles each day carrying signs that call for an end to the war and for keeping Wisconsin National Guard troops home. The sign I carry on this walk reads “Rebuild Iraq, rebuild the U.S.” Another of our signs, decorated with the obligatory elephant and donkey, reads “We hold both parties responsible.” We began walking on July 12, 2008 and will arrive in St. Paul Minnesota on August 30th. (more…)
Cold Shoulders
by Kathy Kelly
July 5, 2008
Over the past two years, here in Amman, Jordan, I’ve regularly visited the family of Umm Hamdi, an Iraqi woman forced out of her native Iraq four years ago by terrifying death threats after her husband, very likely prey to that same threatened violence, disappeared. Although often met with the proverbial “cold shoulder” when trying to improve conditions for her family, she persists,–in the daytime she does child care for another family and, in the evening, she knits, sews, and makes handicrafts to sell in a local market. Umm Hamdi is tough, strong and fiercely determined to provide for her children. Nevertheless, she’s wretchedly insecure as a single mother and one more refugee among thousands in a country where resources to cope with her anxious needs are very slim. And she is worried for her son who is still in Iraq. (more…)
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On May 25, 2007 Andrew Card faced hundreds of boos and catcalls as he was given an honorary degree during the graduate school commencement at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Before the commencement, over a hundred protesters staged a rally and press conference outside the Mullin Center on the UMass campus. Hundreds more students and faculty who opposed the honorary degree would later protest inside the hall.Card, former Bush Administration Chief of Staff and chief salesman for the invasion of Iraq as head of the White House Iraq Group, faced signs calling him a war criminal. People are now calling on UMass to rescind the honorary degree. (more…)
Newsflash: Members of the UMass faculty senate voted 31-0 to oppose an honorary degree for Andrew Card. The vote was not ‘official’ as it missed a quorum by 1 member.Action Announcements at UMass - May 21, 23, 25thOn May 15, 2007, hundreds of students, faculty and staff protested the decision by the University of Massachusetts to give an honorary degree to Andy Card, and former head of the Bush Administration’s White House Iraq Group. Students held a rally outside the Whitmore administration building. When they went to enter the building, they found that the university had closed it. They then marched to the graduate school administration building and held a sit-in. They marched across campus back to the Whitmore building, and heard from a university spokesperson - standing outside - who said that the university had not changed its mind. Students then marched around the administration building, symbolically knocked on the locked doors, and held a rally, with students taking turns speaking out.Please call and tell Chancellor John Lombardi what you think - 413-545-2211.Previously, on May 10th, more than 300 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students marched to Chancellor Lombardi’s office and demanded that University of Massachusetts administrators revoke the offer of the honorary degree.Students are planning followup protests. See an article by UMass student Charles Peterson that gives background and covers the May 10th protest at http://www.socialistworker.org/2007-1/632/632_15_NewsAndReports.shtmlThis video was edited into two parts for YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/TraprockPeaceTVVideo recorded and edited by Charles Jenks. © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved.
Petition to Revoke Offer of Honorary Degree to Andrew H. Card, Jr.
On May 15, 2007, students, faculty and staff protested the decision by the University of Massachusetts to give an honorary degree to Andy Card, and former head of the Bush Administration’s White House Iraq Group. Students held a rally outside the Whitmore administration building. When they went to enter the building, they found that the university had closed it. They then marched to the graduate school administration building and held a sit-in. They marched across campus to the Whitmore building, and heard from a university spokesperson - standing outside - that the university had not changed its mind. Students then marched around the administration building, symbolically knocked on the locked doors, and held a rally, with students taking turns speaking out.
Please call and tell Chancellor John Lombardi what you think - 413-545-2211.
This is Part 2 of the video coverage, from the statement of the university spokesperson to the end rally. Due to storms, we had difficulty uploading the longer Part 1 (which we were able to accomplish on May 16th.) We are also uploading a higher quality single video of the protest to Google.
Previously, on May 10th, more than 300 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students marched to Chancellor Lombardi’s office and demanded that University of Massachusetts administrators revoke the offer of the honorary degree.
Students are planning followup protests.
Video recorded and edited by Charles Jenks. © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved.
Street Heat
Cindy Sheehan
When we left Lafayette Park yesterday there were 3396 Americans dead in Iraq. When we got to the Capitol about 45 minutes later, the count was up to 3498 and when we got out of jail 8 hours later, 3401 were gone.
Three-hundred amazing Americans joined us yesterday in The Mother of a March which was sponsored by The Camp Casey Peace Institute and supported and co-sponsored by many other peace groups. (more…)
Andy Jacobs, former Indiana Congressperson, decried the unconstitutional and illegal war against Iraq and exposed the bi-partisan sellout of the US to foreign investors. Foreign investment - and US budget deficits - have financed US wars, including the war against Iraq. This sellout - started during the Reagan administration - rescinded tax withholding from foreign investments. This reduced interest rates, but also led to a skyrocketing of foreign debt. Most media - such as Washington Post and the Today Show - chose to remain silent on this sell-out. See Time article.
Jacobs further examined the unconstitutional abdication of war powers authority by Congress in October, 2002. Unilateral war making by rulers is the most oppressive of the kingly oppressions, said Jacobs.
Jacobs, a Koren War veteran, spoke on April 18, 2007 on “US Policy in the Middle East: Diplomacy, Foreigh Debt and War Powers.” He spoke in the General Pershing Room of the War Memorial, Indianapolis, Indiana. He shared the podium with Scott Ritter, former Major of the US Mariens and former UN Chief UNSCOM Weapons Inspector in Iraq. See Ritter’s talks at http://www.youtube.com/TraprockPeaceTV
The program was sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Indiana Chapter #49, Indianapolis Peace House & Plowshares, Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center, and Traprock Peace Center.
Moderator: Pierre Atlas
Political Science Professor and Director of Franciscan Center for Global Studies at Marian College
Video recorded and edited by Charles Jenks; © 2007 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved. Contact: charles@traprockpeace.org
*** Please forward widely ***
May 8, 2007
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi:
We are students from Bay Area colleges and universities and part of the Campus Antiwar Network. We are concerned about the state of the war and occupation in Iraq as well as the effect that this is having on our schools and our communities. We are furthermore concerned that the debate about the war has been hamstrung by political maneuvering rather than principled commitments to peace and justice. In that vein, we believe that any meaningful solution in the Middle East requires the following:
1) Immediate withdrawal of all US forces, personnel, and contractors from Iraq
2) Iraqi control over Iraq: no permanent military bases, no control over Iraqi oil, no US intervention in their political process
3) Full funding of veterans’ benefits and health care, including mental health care
4) Reparations to the Iraqi people
5) Ban on the use of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq
6) Redistribution of the war budget towards jobs and education (more…)
Get Off it Bill O’Reilly
Cindy Sheehan
A recent Harris Poll indicated that only 22% of Americans support George’s war of terror. I suspect that the less than one-fourth of our country who are still in favor of the hopeless mess BushCo has tragically involved the USA in get all of their “news” from Fox News. (more…)
Four Dead in Ohio
Cindy Sheehan
May 4th, 2007 will be the 37th year since the Kent State, Ohio, massacre where four anti-war protesters were killed by Ohio National Guardsmen during a protest against Richard Nixon’s announced escalation in Vietnam.
On that day in 1970, anti-Vietnam war sentiment in the entire nation was high as hundreds of soldiers were coming home in flag-draped coffins every week and we were bombarded daily with images of burning villages and screaming Vietnamese children. The images were harsh, but what was even harsher was the Nixon regime escalating a war in a Johnsonian way when he had promised that he would end the quagmire in Vietnam if elected. (more…)
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