With US Military Bases surrounding Iran, Who is threatening Who?
This article by Margaret Kimberley is re-posted from Black Agenda Report.
The United States has already declared a de facto war on Iran. The partners in crime in the European Union and the NATO alliance have joined in, and are ganging up on Iran as instructed by Washington. The EU voted to ban imports of Iranian oil and the Obama administration is attempting to extract similar promises from Asian nations.
Obama has succeeded in doing what George Bush never could. For the second time in less than one year he has managed to get nearly all western nations on board with his plans for conquest. Regime change in Libya has not been without complications for the west, but Gaddafi was not just overthrown, he was killed, and as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointed out, Washington could not have been happier with that outcome.
The writing is on the wall, and Americans can expect to see a presidential address within the next few months, announcing bombings, drone attacks or an outright invasion with ground troops against Iran. The thought of this crime is enough to make any conscious individual sick with anger, but with no power in the world capable of stopping the United States, the die are cast.
When George W. Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, millions of people around the world took to the streets. Bush was discredited because of his fraudulent election and his ham-fisted treatment of even allied nations. Obama is hampered by none of these complications. He is loved by Democrats who hated Bush and was likewise welcomed by people around the world who shared that antipathy to his predecessor. He was awarded a Nobel peace prize merely on the basis of having been elected president. Such accolades give him a protective Teflon coating that would have made Ronald Reagan jealous.
After claiming that an Iranian used car salesman hatched a bizarre assassination plot, and lying about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and threatening that nation for pledging to defend itself, the question is not whether there will be an attack, but when. The other question is what the people of this country and this world will say and do when that occurs. Iran has been demonized so thoroughly that only the most ardent peace activists will come to its defense, but defend it they must.
Iran has done nothing to warrant the enmity expressed by the west and its people have the right to live free from yet another American attack on their nation and on their lives. Thirty years ago another American president, Ronald Reagan, supported Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran. This sorry episode has been largely forgotten, but it should be pointed out that more than one million people died in the decade long conflict which would not have taken place without America’s arms and money.
Who in America will speak up for the Iranian people and their government? There should be no hesitancy and no wavering. America’s violence and wars of aggressions should be condemned, and individual opinions about the nation in question should not keep anyone who marched in the streets in 2003 from doing the same thing again in 2012.
It doesn’t matter if president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that “there are no gay people in Iran” or that Islamic law restricts women’s legal rights. Any short-comings we may observe in that society don’t give Americans the right to commit war crimes and kill thousands of people. Lest we forget, Iran had a secular and democratically elected government sixty years ago and that government was destroyed by the United States and Great Britain, who are once again working hand in had to deny other nations the right to self-determination.
There should be no qualifications because of phony stories about “wiping Israel off the map.” That canard has long been discredited and in any case it is Israel that has a nuclear arsenal capable of wiping Iran off the map. It doesn’t matter who won the disputed election in 2009. The United States does not have the right to kill people based on another country’s internal disputes. We must also remember that undemocratic and even oppressive rule have never been obstacles to winning American support if the right interests want that to happen.
Libya has been laid waste because of tall tales perpetrated by the West. Tales of civilian slaughter in Benghazi are Obama’s WMD, that is to say outright falsehoods. There will be more such story telling in the coming weeks and months, but it should not matter to anyone who claims to want peace.
Peace makers must defend Iran and condemn the American government when it launches its violence. Such actions will be the true determination of who is civilized and who is not. Our government is definitely uncivilized and we shall see how many of its people also fit that description.
More than Just a Game: A conversation on sports and politics with Dave Zirin and John Carlos
Next Thursday, the Women’s Resource Center, the LGBT Resource Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs will host left sportswriter Dave Zirin and 1968 Olympic athlete John Carlos.
John Carlos, along with Tommy Smith, was part of an organizing effort called the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). This campaign involved numerous athletes who were attempting to draw global attention to racism and other human rights violations.
The OPHR was not only protesting South African apartheid, they were demanding the re-instatement of boxer Muhammad Ali and condemning the 1968 student massacre in Mexico City that took place just prior to the 1968 Olympics.
This was the backdrop to the action that John Carlos and Tommy Smith took, when they raise their fists demonstrating Black Power.
More than four decades later Carlos, along with sportswriter Dave Zirin have written an autobiography entitled the John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment that Changed the World. Carlos and Zirin bring their message of how sports and politics have always intersected to the downtown campus of GVSU, where Carlos will tell his life story and Zirin will talk about his most recent film, Not Just a Game: Power, Politics and American Sports.
This event is free and open to the public.
Not Just a Game: Politics and Power in American Sports
Dave Zirin & John Carlos
Thursday, February 2
4:00PM
Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center
GVSU Allendale Campus
Kids Count Michigan data shows an increase in child poverty, but no one is asking why?
Just a few days ago the annual Michigan Kids Count report was released to the news media. The annual report is produced by the Michigan League for Human Services and highlights several social indicators for children.
As could be expected all the major daily news sources in West Michigan reported on the Kids Count report. MLive was the first, reporting the data in a story early this morning, with an emphasis on the increase in numbers of children living in poverty. They report that 32,000 children in Kent County live in poverty.
The local TV stations also reported on the new data with WOOD TV 8 emphasizing the increase in child abuse and neglect in their headlines over poverty. WZZM 13 led with an emphasis on the increase of child poverty, as did WXMI 17. WOOD radio, with the shortest story of all local news media cited, focused on child abuse and neglect.
Most of the local news agencies sourced a representative from the Michigan League for Human Services, but only MLive used additional sources such as a spokesperson from the groups Family Futures, Michigan’s Children and the Great State Collaborative in Ottawa and Allegan County.
In a few of the stories there is mention from the Michigan League for Human Services spokesperson that the increase in poverty has resulted from cuts in public spending. The MLive story states:
“The banks were bailed out, but now when we have budget talks it’s all about how we can’t afford to have these (social support) programs go on forever,” said Jane Zehnder-Merrell, Kids Count in Michigan director. “Instead of helping families we are actually hindering families from meeting the needs of their children in times of economic crisis.
“If we don’t provide a solid socioeconomic foundation for children, they’re going to have 50 years of not being productive adults.”
None of the other news agencies provided any commentary or bothered to ask WHY so many children are living in poverty. Certainly, the huge cuts to welfare, unemployment benefits and the austerity measures put in place in recent years, beginning under Gov. Granholm and continuing under Gov. Snyder are significant. However, the point that the spokesperson for the Michigan League for Human Services made about bailing out the Banks is more relevant to what is at issue.
Children live in poverty because of policy and priorities. The federal government, at the urging of the financial sector, bailed out the banks with billions of dollars. Some sources put the number at $800 billion dollars, while others put it as high as $12.8 Trillion. This all happens, we are told, to save the economy. At the same time the Pentagon budget increases and the federal government siphons off billions to pay for war and militarism.
However, when it comes to paying for unemployment benefits, domestic partner benefits, children’s educational programs, child poverty programs and children’s health, we are told there are not sufficient funds. From some circles on the far right we are told that you just can’t throw money at poverty to solve the problem, but these same sources didn’t have a problem with the federal government throwing money at the banks.
So while it is important that the new Kids Count Michigan data has been reported on, the local news agencies do all of us a disservice by not asking why so many children in Michigan are living in poverty.
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sherry Wolf Interview: Lessons Learned from the Occupy Movement
While Sherry Wolf was in Grand Rapids we had an opportunity to sit down with her and do an interview.
During our 30 minute interview we talked about the early days of the Occupy Wall Street Movement and its connection to an encampment of activists last summer protesting Mayor Bloomberg’s policies in New York.
We also talked about some of the challenges of the Occupy movement, both in New York and around the country…….danger of being co-opted, connection to other struggles, the need for demands, the role it can play in an election year and its relationship to international struggles, particularly the Arab Spring.
Sherry also addressed the importance of having revolutionary patience and the great possibilities that the Occupy Movement can have for real revolutionary change in the US.
[vimeo 35568498]Egyptians prepare for one year anniversary of uprising
This video is re-posted from The Real News Network.
Millions of Egyptians are preparing to commemorate the one year anniversary of their uprising, which led to the overthrow of the three-decade dictatorship of Mubarak.
In the video below by The Real News Network, viewers will learn about the ongoing organizing being done, the role of youth, women and how the Egyptians are resisting the current military regime in their country.
This video also addresses the role of Indy media in Egypt and the vital role it plays in the ongoing push for liberation.
Norman Finkelstein to speak on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in West Michigan next week
Middle East scholar Norman Finkelstein will be speaking on three separate occasions next week in West Michigan on the theme of “Solving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”
Finkelstein, author of numerous books that challenge the Zionist policies of the State of Israel and the US support for such policies, is on a speaking tour. The well known academic has been the subject of a recent documentary and has written two books since the 2009 Israel bombing of Gaza; This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion and Goldstone Recants: Richard Goldstone Renews Israel’s License to Kill.
All three of the lectures are free and open to the public. The Grand Rapids group Healing Children of Conflict is also a co-sponsor of all three lectures.
Norman Finkelstein
Tuesday, January 31st
6:00PM
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Western Michigan University
Burnhard Center North Ballroom
Hosted by the Justice For Palestine Club
Wednesday, February 1st
3:00PM
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Calvin College Recital Hall
Hosted by the Middle East Club
Wednesday, February 1st
7:00PM
Loosemore Auditorium
GVSU Downtown Campus
Hosted by Peace M.E. ans
Snyder interview on channel 8 not an example of journalism holding power accountable
On Sunday, WOOD TV 8 aired an interview with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on the weekly show To the Point. To the Point is hosted by former Pete Hoekstra aid Rick Albin.
The first question was about the Democrats urging the Governor to use surplus money for public education. Snyder did say he would consider investing State funds on education, but not without some “criterion.” However, the Governor only offered up a vague notion of “student growth,” growth that could be measured.
Albin followed up those comments by asking what Snyder would do to make sure schools were increasing the amount of high school graduate who were college ready. Snyder responded with rather vague commentary about how not all schools have come on board with adopting practices suggested by the state to receive funds based on performance.
The Michigan Governor then went on to compare school funding with local revenue sharing. He talked about how revenue sharing was based on “best practices,” which is code for downsizing & privatizing government, and then he said that the state also encouraged local governments to come up with innovative ideas that could also land them more funds. The example Snyder gave was the decision of Grand Rapids, Flint and Lansing to process tax returns collectively. What Snyder failed to mention was that this $550,00 state grant would be used to pay JP Morgan Chase Bank to process the tax returns instead of having City employees do it.
Snyder never really answered Albin’s question about education and instead of challenging the Governor on this issue Albin just goes along with Snyder’s desire to talk about “innovative ideas.” Again, the only thing that Snyder could say about more funding for education was for school districts to adopt an innovative approach in the same ways that municipalities have.
Albin does bring the conversation back to education and asks Snyder to respond to the Democrats proposal for funding higher education. Snyder admitted that he had not really looked at the Democrats proposal, but he did say he thinks that we have to figure out ways to make college tuition affordable. However, the Governor did not provide any specifics except to say that one way that students could save money was to allow more high school students to take college courses and get credit for them before they finish high school.
The discussion then shifted to the idea of Michigan trying to balance its budget and what kinds of things the state should be investing on. Snyder says he wants to think long term, but the only concrete investment he could offer was road repair in Michigan. He said that investing in Michigan roads would do two things. First, it would put more unemployed people back to work and secondly, it would support commerce, particularly with more emphasis on exporting to Canada via the bridge. Again, Albin did not challenge the Governor on such claims.
The next question that the WOOD TV reporter posed to Snyder had to do with reducing crime in the state of Michigan. Snyder said that Michigan has 4 of the top 10 most violent cities in the country; Flint, Saginaw, Pontiac and Detroit, based on FBI data. Snyder believes there are three things that Michigan can do to respond to this problem. First, the Governor thinks we need to put more police on the streets. Second, Michigan needs to reform its criminal justice system to make it more efficient and third, Snyder thinks we can stop crime by creating jobs. Once again, Rick Albin did not question the Governor on his responses. Albin did not talk about the racial reality of crime reporting and crimes statistic in Michigan and why a disproportionately high number of racial minorities were in the criminal justice system, particularly for drug related crimes. Albin also did not challenge the Governor around job creation and crime reduction, especially on the matter of job creation within the prison/jail expansion within the state. Here it seems that jobs are being created because of the criminal justice system.
The last question from the WOOD TV reporter had to do with personal property tax. Snyder said there were three areas of the personal property tax that are distinct, but the emphasis should be on reducing industrial property tax. Snyder believes that if businesses have less industrial property tax they will come to Michigan and create more jobs. As was the pattern, Rick Albin did not question the Governor on this question and the online interview ended there.
Essentially the interview was a version of the State of the State address, which may have been the agreement between Governor Snyder’s office and channel 8. Even if this wasn’t the case it omitted numerous issues that Rick Albin could have pressed the Governor on. For instance, Albin could have asked questions about the tax benefits for wealthy Michiganders, the further privatization of government services, the status of the Emergency Financial Management policy and many more critical areas that may have been equally relevant to Michigan residents.
New Media We Recommend
Below is a list of new materials that we have read/watched in recent weeks. The comments are not a “review” of the material, instead sort of an endorsement of ideas and investigations that can provide solid analysis and even inspiration in the struggle for change. All these items are available at The Bloom Collective, so check them out and stimulate your mind.
On the Ground: An Illustrated Anecdotal History of the Sixties Underground Press in the US, edited by Sean Stewart – As someone who used to edit an independent newspaper, I can appreciate the effort it takes to put one together. On the Ground is a fabulous collection of reflections, graphics, cartoons and artwork from some of the best radical left newspapers in the US during the 1960s. What made this book so interesting was a combination of the stories by those involved and the images provided that presents a rich visual history of what people were thinking and organizing around during that period. The book includes examples from underground papers such as the Berkley Barb, The Black Panther, East Village Other, Rag, Screw, Seed, the Liberation News Service and Up Against the Wall Motherfucker. A fabulous account of what Indy Media looked like in the 1960s. Every page is a delight.
Love, Race & Liberation: Til the White Day is Done, edited by JLove Calderon and Marcella Runell Hall – Having participated in numerous workshops and forums on issues of racism and White privilege, it has been my experience that the material often used is either too superficial or doesn’t honestly address the real causes of racism, particularly institutional racism. Love, Race & Liberation is a collection of lesson plans, interviews and love letters put together my some of the most committed racial justice educators/activists in the country. The lesson plans address issues such as history, White privilege, being an ally, affirmative action, media, cultural appropriation and the prison industrial complex. In addition to these fabulous lessons plans there are numerous letters, what the editors have dubbed love letters, from seasoned anti-racism activists such as Sonia Sanchez and Tim Wise to a group of young activists who are breaking new ground doing the hard work of anti-racism education and organizing. A great resource for anyone serious about confronting White privilege and institutional racism.
About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War, edited by Buff Whitman-Bradley, Sarah Lazare and Cynthia Whitman-Bradley – The courage and actions of US war veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are sometimes the subject of commercial news, but on one condition. Those veterans have to be supporters of the ongoing wars. Rarely do we hear the voices and perspectives of US war veterans who have become opponents of US policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. About Face is a collection of such stories, where we hear from men and women who are now some of the most articulate and passionate anti-war resisters in the country. These stories are a necessary component for creating a viable anti-war movement in the US, one that has been stagnant at best since the election of Obama. These stories tell how US soldiers became radicalized by witnessing first hand the brutality of US policy abroad. In addition, the collection of war resister stories includes a great interview with Noam Chomsky in the beginning and ends with an interview with Daniel Ellsberg talking about the courage of Bradley Manning.
The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You, by Eli Pariser – Daily we are told that the Internet has done so many wonderful things for humanity. In fact, anyone even hinting at the potential downsides of living in the digital world are quickly branded as Luddites. This is why Eli Pariser’s book The Filter Bubble is so important. Pariser, who does online advocacy work, wrote this book through his own investigation on who companies like Google and Facebook have an increasing influence over online content. Going directly to the sources, Pariser unearths’ information about how these giant information age companies are determining what kind of information we see. The books addresses the fact that the public has virtually no say in the structural dynamics of information access, even though we often assume that the major Internet content providers are content neutral. Pariser not only debunks that myth, he demonstrates how these companies are constantly collecting personalized data to determine even more of what content we will be exposed to. All of this is of course in the service of capital, which Pariser doesn’t address adequately. The other downfall of the book is that it offers very weak suggestions about what we can do to challenge the growing power of the likes of Google and Facebook. However, despite its shortcomings, the book is valuable in helping us come to terms with the function of Internet content providers and other social media networks, a function which has little to do with democracy.
This article by Ali Abunimah is re-posted from Electronic Intifada.
Is Barack Obama running for reelection as President of the United States or Prime Minister of Israel? A new Obama campaign video makes it increasingly hard to tell, and even more ominously ratchets further the Israelization of US politics.
False hopes of change
US President Barack Obama was elected in 2008 amid expectations that he would be the president who would at last bring some balance – and less abject subservience – to the US relationship with Israel.
I knew this consensus was wrong, as I had documented Obama’s early pandering to extreme Zionists from the moment he decided to seek the US Senate seat he won in 2004, and wrote about it in “How Barack Obama learned to love Israel.”
Now as Obama faces a tough reelection – and accusations from Republicans that he is insufficiently subservient to a foreign state – Obama is doubling down with a shocking video in which leaders of a foreign state – many themselves responsible for war crimes – are drafted in to attest to the US president’s commitment to this foreign state and his willingless to do whatever it takes in its service.
It’s all part of a “phony war over which US party loves Israel most.”
America & Israel: An Unbreakable Bond
The 7-minute film titled America & Israel: An Unbreakable Bond alternates video and audio of Obama speaking before the Israel lobby, AIPAC, and other Zionist groups, and clips of Israeli leaders endorsing Obama’s leadership. It begins and ends with the US flag and the Israeli flag side by side – thus bringing the Israeli flag directly into the US election campaign.
Although the clips of Israeli leaders, including President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy and Ambassador Michael Oren appear to have been taken from interviews, they are cut to look as if they were provided specifically for the purpose of endorsing the president.
The film even includes a clip of Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister from the Yisrael Beitenu party whose extreme anti-Palestinian policies include advocating the transfer of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Obama wants us to know he is proud to have the support of Israeli ethnic cleansers.
As such, Obama is legitimizing the role of foreign – although certainly only Israeli leaders – to participate directly in US campaigns. Can we imagine Obama issuing a video in which he is endorsed as pro-Mexican by the President of Mexico, or pro-Canadian by Canada’s prime minister? It’s inconceivable.
And suppose any of the Israeli leaders featured in the video feel their words were twisted by the Obama campaign. Should they now be asked whether or not they were indeed endorsing Obama’s re-election as the video appears to suggest? It’s an open secret that Netanyahu does not want to see Obama reelected. So this only invites Israel deeper into US politics.
Recently, Sheldon Adelson a US-Israeli billionaire, whose main issue is support for Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, donated $5 million to a campaign organization linked to Republican contender Newt Gingrich.
Putting Israel first
The themes of the video touch all the familiar messaging of extreme Zionist groups that Obama has used from his early AIPAC speeches: There is a focus on the Holocaust, Hamas rockets, Israeli children suffering, and Iran, Iran, Iran.
Who can now doubt that US Iran policy is largely about appeasing Israel lobbyists, when Obama is heard boasting in a campaign video that his administration has imposed “the hardest hitting sanctions the Iranian regime has ever faced”? Confrontation if not outright war with Iran is a key message of the Israel lobby these days.
Of course there’s no word about Israel’s war crimes, occupation, routine murder and imprisonment of Palestinian civilians and children, the siege of Gaza or the ongoing theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank for Jews-only colonies.
On the contrary, Obama boasts in the video about how he helped stymie justice and torpedo the Goldstone report, and pulled the US out of participation in the UN Durban conference on racism.
The video also reassures viewers that:
Under Obama, US military aid to Israel increased to “unprecedented levels”
“Obama 2012 budget has rise in US aid to Israel”
“We are making our most advanced technologies available to our Israeli allies.”
While Obama boasts of his willingness to cut the federal budget – even as services for Americans are being slashed – he obviously feels politically safe increasing foreign aid, as long as the recipient is Israel.
Fighting for lobby support
Obama’s video comes as Republicans have intensified their attacks on the president, including a smear campaign on Obama-linked think tank the Center for American Progress alleging that some of its bloggers used “anti-Semitic” language.
It also follows anti-Palestinian statements by Republican contenders. Newt Gingrich notoriously declared that Palestinians are an “invented people” and that he would order the CIA to murder freed Palestinian prisoners, and Rick Santorum one-upped him, saying Palestinians don’t exist at all.
Tariq Ali on the Obama administration’s Af-Pak war
This interview with Tariq Ali is re-posted from Democracy Now.
Yesterday on Democracy Now, noted Pakistani author and activist Tariq Ali was interviewed.
In the 12-minute interview Ali talks about recent US drone attacks in Pakistan and the growing anti-American sentiment in his native country. In addition, the Pakistani writer addresses the escalation of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan and what this could mean for long-term relation in the region. Ali also addresses the Israeli push for war with Iran and the US response.
Traiq Ali has written several books of fiction, plays and non-fiction works such as The Duel: Pakistan on the flight path of American power and The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at home, war abroad.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 