New US/NATO Offensive in Afghanistan results in Civilian Deaths
Yesterday the Grand Rapids Press ran a front-page story about a US/NATO military campaign in one of the Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan. The article came from the New York Times and was headlined, “Allies gain control of Afghan City.”
The story states, “More than 6,000 American, Afghan and British troops came in fast early on Saturday, overwhelming most immediate resistance. But as the troops began to fan out on searches, fighting with Taliban insurgents grew in frequency and intensity across a wide area.”
Two paragraphs later the article notes that an American and British soldier were killed in this attack and that “Three American soldiers were killed and seven wounded when they were attacked by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle during a foot patrol in neighboring Kandahar Province.” The death of US troops is mentioned early on and the Press even used their deaths as the sub-heading for the story, which read as, “Two soldiers killed amid light resistance in Taliban stronghold.”
The NYT article continues by stating, “NATO officials said that no civilian casualties had been reported. In the chaos, the claim was impossible to verify.”
This is an interesting, since Reuters news service reported yesterday that 12 Afghan civilians were killed in the US/NATO attack in Helmand, Afghanistan. The article states that US/NATO forces told Afghan residents of Helmand to stay in their homes and not leave the area, which is when “NATO rockets killed 12 Afghan civilians on Sunday, missing Taliban militants attacking NATO and Afghan troops as they press ahead with a major offensive that must win over the local population to succeed.” Of the 12 civilians killed, several of them were a family.
US military commander, Gen. Stanley McCrystal said, “It’s regrettable that in the course of our joint efforts, innocent lives were lost. We extend our heartfelt sympathies and will ensure we do all we can to avoid future incidents.” The Reuters story also states that Afghani President Hamid Karzai is calling for an investigation of the deaths.
So how is it that the New York Times missed reporting that a dozen Afghan civilians were killed in this US/NATO offensive? In today’s New York Times, they do report that Afghan civilians were killed, but they list the number as 9 and said Afghan insurgents had forced the civilians to give them refuge. While the Times acknowledged there were civilian deaths, the tone seems to be different than when US soldiers are killed, as we noted from a study of news coverage from the summer of 2009.
The reporting of civilian deaths may increase in the coming weeks and months and the US/NATO offensive is just beginning. We will continue to monitor the coverage and see if civilian deaths are reported on.
Food Justice Potluck 2/20
This Saturday, the Bloom Collective will host one of its monthly potlucks on the theme of Food Justice. Members of the Grand Rapids-based group Our Kitchen Table will lead a discussion on food justice issues, particularly how it relates to West Michigan.
The Potluck is open to anyone and begins at 3pm in the Bloom Collective space at 1134 Wealthy. Bloom Collective members will have vegan and vegetarian options. There will also be books, zines and documentaries available for people wanting to explore more around the topic of food justice.
Food Justice Potluck
Saturday, February 20
3pm
1134 Wealthy
The 2010 Winter Olympic Tragedy
In the past 24 hours the news coverage of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics In Vancouver, Canada has included the tragic death of one of the athletes. While the death of this athlete is tragic, the greater tragedy is what has happened to the people and the city of Vancouver.
Left sportswriter Dave Zirin has noted in several of his weekly columns in the past year that any city, which has hosted an Olympics in the past 30-years has incurred a massive debt. The 2010 Winter Olympics has been no different, with Vancouver Sun reporting a year ago that an estimated $6 billion dollars had already been spent in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Some estimates put the total between 10-15 billion and still rising.
The incredible cost of these Olympics begs the question – who is paying the bill? According to the 2010 Olympic Watch Committee the city of Vancouver and Canadian taxpayers are picking up the tab. But the monetary costs of the 2010 Olympics are not the only costs.
The group no2010 reports that the construction of roads, ski resorts and other Olympic facilities is causing a tremendous amount of deforestation, soil erosion and providing the British Colombian government greater access to Native land. The Canadian government never signed formal agreements with Native communities in the Northwest part of Canada and now Native people fear that the Olympics provides a cover for more government and corporate intrusion into their traditional lands.
Local News Coverage
As would be expected, the local news coverage of the 2010 Olympics is nothing short of adulation. The Grand Rapids Press front page for February 12 is devoted to the opening of the Winter Olympics with the headline, It’s A Five-Ring Circus. MLive.com has a 2010 Olympics features section and WOOD TV 8 has major online coverage to add to their broadcast coverage, which is not surprising since NBC is the US network host of the 2010 Olympics.
The only critical murmur about the Olympics in local news was a very brief online posting by Press writer Troy Reimink, which raises the cost of the Olympic games question, but ultimately dismisses this criticism in light of the greatness of the US athletes.
This dismissal is in contrast to the Indy media coverage of the opening ceremonies, which included 2,000 protestors being confronted by police. Democracy Now! also reported the protests and a people’s summit that took place in contrast to the pomp and circumstance of the opening ceremony.
The no2010 committee put out this excellent video that provides some historical context to Olympic resistance and what people have been doing in preparation of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
A call for zines, art and film from Think Outside the Bomb
A national organization called Think Outside the Bomb (TOTB) is organizing a national tour around the US beginning in April. TOTB, an anti-nuclear youth network, is inviting people to submit zines, artwork or film that will be used during their national tour.
The TOTB tour will include a traveling art exhibit that will show two things: (1) the horrors of nuclear weapons and energy systems, and (2) active resistance to nuclear weapons and energy systems.
The national anti-nuclear youth network is also wants to hear from you and your community about the anti-oppression struggles you are engaged in, whether they be against nuclearism, militarism & war, patriarchy, racism, capitalism, etc.
Their promotional material states, “This summer we are going on a three-month, 40-city tour of the USA, where we will distribute a tour zine. This zine will feature submitted poetry, essays, photos, action and campaign information, and a tour CD containing spoken word, spoken essays, and music.”
For anyone wanting to submit art, zines, spoken word or film for the TOTB 2010 Tour, the submission deadline is March 15. You can send you submissions via e-mail to thinkoutsidethebombtour@gmail.com. Hard copies of original artwork can be sent to: TOTB 1925 Five Points Road SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105.
The tour is scheduled to come to Grand Rapids on May 18. We will post more information about the TOTB visit to Grand Rapids once we have more details, but if you want to participate in organizing the GR part of the tour contact Kyla Sisson sissokyl@aquinas.edu.
What we can learn from the Press about Vern Ehlers
For the past two days the local news media has been running stories about the decision of Representative Vern Ehlers to decline another run at the 3rd Congressional District seat.
On Thursday, the Grand Rapids Press continued this coverage with three additional articles, one on who might declare candidacy for the 3rd Congressional District and two that wax fondly about the soon to be retired Congressman.
The first piece was an opinion piece by editorial writer Jeff Cranson, with the headline “We can learn from Vern.” The story reads as a sort of farewell piece where Congressman Ehlers says, “In the old days, they (congressional representatives) played golf together, they had dinner at each other’s houses. That adds a lot to the civility. That just doesn’t happen, anymore.” I’m not sure what the point of this statement is, but does it mean that when members of Congress played golf together they treated each other with more respect?
The rest of the opinion piece reflects on Ehlers refusal to seek the spotlight, his love of science and his willingness to speak with the media.
The second piece from Press reporter Jim Harger, in many ways reads like the piece from Jeff Cranson. The story reflects on Ehlers sense of civility, but it also talks about how Ehlers felt proud to be compared to former President Gerald Ford. “Probably the greatest honor I’ve had is when people tell me I resemble Jerry Ford.”
It seems a bit premature to be waxing eloquently about Congressman Ehlers, especially since he has 10 more months to serve in Congress. You would think that the Press would wait til then to shower praises on the former Calvin College professor.
All of this positive coverage of Ehlers seems to conflict with a fundamental tenet of journalism, which is to be a watchdog of political power. Ehlers has a voting record and should be held accountable to that record.
In the stories that have run in the past few days the only concrete comments about Ehlers voting record was to say that Ehlers was an environmentalist. According to the League of Conservation Voters Ehlers only scored a 69% when voting on environmental issues in 2008, compared to the 100% score that Senators Stabenow and Levin scored.
This is the kind of information that the Press should be sharing with its readers, information that is based on Ehlers track record as a representative for the 3rd District, not his love of science and what he thinks about civility.
The Press could be sharing with its readers a regular summary of Ehlers voting record by using the resources at Project Vote Smart, which has an archive of Ehlers’ voting record. The only daily newspaper in the 3rd Congressional District could also provide the area voters with information on who has provided money to Ehlers over the years and how that has influenced his voting decisions. This is the kind of journalism Grand Rapids needs, not stories praising public servants because they take calls from the media on Saturday mornings.
Bloom Movie Nite – The Black Panthers – What We Want, What We Believe
The Bloom Collective is hosting a screening of several short archival films that deal with the philosophy and practices of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. What We Want, What We Believe is a 4-DVD collection that looks at the Black Panthers. The Bloom Collective will be showing 3 archival newsreels entitled Off the Pig, Mayday, and Repression.
Following the 3 short films there will be discussion on the message and practices of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and its relevance for today.
Where: Bloom Collective 1134 Wealthy
Friday, February 12 7PM
$3 suggested donation
Here is a clip from the newsreel film called MayDay:
Angela Davis and the Struggle for Freedom
Last night, author, activist and abolitionist Angela Davis spoke at Fountain Street Church as part of the Grand Rapids Community College’s Diversity Lecture Series. Davis’s talk dealt with the theme of freedom, which is based on her forthcoming book from City Lights Books entitled, The Meaning of Freedom.
Professor Davis began her remarks by acknowledging the land where people gathered to hear her and who this land used to belong to. Davis thinks that it is important to always practice this kind of historical memory, so that we do not forget the genocidal realities of the history of repression against Indigenous peoples.
Davis said that her understanding of Black history month “is a time when we are able to talk about the history of freedom, not just for Black people, but for all people.” She said we also use this time to celebrate the resistance to slavery, to colonialism even the resistance to capitalism, which perpetuated slavery. “We also should remember the slave uprisings around the country and around the world.” Davis then goes on to say that Haiti gave us the best example of a slave uprising, a particularly important point considering what is happening in Haiti right now.
Professor Davis continued with other examples of resistance to slavery, such as the Underground Railroad and the Abolitionist Movement. She says that W. E. B. DuBois book on reconstruction has been deeply influential with her understanding of the Civil War and its aftermath. DuBois argued that it was Black soldiers who really won the war. The Civil War really has to do with the economic future of the country. Davis said that DuBois section in the book called “The General Strike” deals with the economic transition from slavery to northern industrialism.
Davis went on to say that the narrative of the Civil War is usually around the Great Emancipator, Lincoln. For Davis, Lincoln was not an emancipator. The author/activist stressed that the real Civil War narrative was primarily about self-emancipation, meaning that Black primarily liberated themselves. She also mentions that these self-emancipators were inspired by the Haitian slave rebellion.
Professor Davis then talked about what she called the Master/Slaver narrative, where the Master is always dependent on the slave, a notion that even influenced the writings of Hegel. Davis asserts that Black people would not be where they are today if it were not for the Haitian rebellion and how interesting it is that there is no discussion of the history of US relations with Haiti from the past two centuries. The news media, Davis said, does not discuss the US military occupations, the support of dictatorships and the collusion of US-based corporations in the exploitation and repression of Haiti.
The author then says that the theme of her talk was around the idea that slavery was never abolished. “What DuBois says was that in abolition democracy, slavery was never ended, which is why people then had to struggle and fight for civil rights.” As a person who came of age during the civil rights era, what she sought to do was not to just achieve civil rights or full citizenship. This is why King was organizing the Poor People’s Campaign, because economic freedom was also necessary if people were really going to be liberated.
The Civil Rights Movement, Davis said, was actually called the Freedom Movement, because it was much more than just gaining civil rights. It was a freedom movement that was organized by women and participated in by women. This is the only reason it succeeded is because of the women, the poor black women. “It is hard for us to imagine that we are where we are today because of the work that these Black women/domestic workers did to liberate us all. Even when we talk about the Civil Rights Movements we generally don’t recall these people, we don’t keep them in our historical memory.”
“Civil Rights,” Davis said, “is of course still a struggle today in the US. We have not won the civil rights of prisoners and former prisoners, undocumented immigrants, and of course there is the question of gay marriage. So we can see that the struggles that began with the Haitian revolution continues to today with the various civil rights movements. This is why when we talk about freedom and the freedom movement is much broader than people’s individual rights.”
Because our notion of freedom needs to be expanded, Davis thinks we need to talk about how we did not recognize the importance of thinking about gender in the struggle for freedom. “We began to realize if the movement were to look different, with women as leaders that it would mean that the movement would look different. Then we realized that a gendered lens is not enough, with our growing understanding of trans-gendered and non-gendered people. And what do we do as a society with these people in the prison system, which loves to categorize everything? We put them in either male or female cells.”
“Our sense of freedom has to be large enough to contain the dreams and aspirations of everyone. Justice is indivisible and freedom is indivisible. We therefore should discuss the ongoing struggle of freedom around the world since our understanding needs to always expand.” Davis even mentions the struggle for the freedom of Palestine, which she acknowledges people are afraid to address for fear of being label anti-Semitic.
Davis also said that this struggle for freedom must also include the disability struggle for freedom and the struggle for how we see our environment and that freedom struggles also apply to non-human species.
Professor Davis then talked about an issue that her last two books have dealt with, the idea of the need to recognize that the current punishment industry is really a perpetuation of slavery. Davis thinks it is important for us to call it the prison industrial complex. She mentions how many states still shackle women during labor in prison and then recounts the story of a woman who was shackled during delivery, who could not open her legs during delivery. “If this does not force us, compel us to think about slavery, I don’t know what will.”
Davis concluded her remarks by talking a bit about the significance of the election of Barack Obama. “I know that this time last year there was a state of collective euphoria because they thought that one Black man in the White House would do away with all of the violence. It was probably the only time in the history of this country that people felt so connected. The problem was that we had a Messiah complex. We projected all of our power onto one individual. We did not do what we should have done to prevent him from not sending more troops to Afghanistan.
She also mentioned the incident where Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested trying to get into his own home. Davis felt that it was a very disturbing moment when Obama invited Gates and the cop to talk about racialized state violence. “First, it was a masculinist approach. And then when the media talked about it, it was about the beer. It was designed to shut down the discussion of institutional racism.”
There was a Q&A session in which Professor Davis addressed a variety of topics, from reparations to gang violence, Black identity and the importance of education. One of the most inspiring things she said was, “In the process of struggling together we learn how to glimpse new possibilities, which we never would have thought about had we not come together in our struggle for freedom. So, our job is to continue to narrativize and engage in struggles for a radical democracy, indeed a radical socialist democracy!”
Super Bowl Ads, Attack Ads and the Michigan Governor’s Race
In the past few days there has been plenty of coverage of candidates running for the Michigan Governor’s seat. The Democrats have a new candidate and the GOP field seems to be spending a great deal of time attacking each other.
However, let’s start with a look at the 60-second political ad that Rick Snyder ran during the Super Bowl. Snyder, a self-proclaimed venture capitalist, aired his first TV ad of the campaign.
The Grand Rapids Press published a story about the ad in Monday’s paper. In this story, writer Jeff Cranson begins the story by talking about how people who attended a Super Bowl party he was at reacted to Snyder’s political ad. The story provides a very brief overview of the ad, but does not investigate any of the claims made by Snyder.
In Tuesday’s Press, political writer Peter Luke has an analysis piece on the same Snyder ad. Luke discusses the strategic merits of Snyder’s campaign message, which presents himself as a smart nerd and successful businessman in contrast to career politicians. However, Luke spends a great deal of time quoting John Weaver, Snyder’s campaign strategist instead of actually analyzing the candidate’s campaign.
Rick Snyder says on his website that Michigan needs to “re-invent itself,” not just fix it. Snyder has a 10-point plan that he believes can “create an era of innovation in Michigan.” The 10-point plan reads like a typical political campaign with lots of rhetoric and little substance.
The first point for Snyder is to Create More and Better Jobs. While no one would likely dispute the need for more jobs in Michigan, Snyder doesn’t really say how his administration would create more jobs other than reform the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Snyder also touts his own record of “creating jobs” as the former CEO of Gateway, but neither of these points are enough to guarantee employment for the tens of thousands of unemployed and underemployed in Michigan.
Another point in Snyder’s 10-point plan is to protect Michigan’s environment. Snyder’s White Paper on this matter primarily promotes tourism and developing new technologies & renewable energy. Snyder does not address water diversion, sulfide mining in the UP, or pollution caused by the coal powered electricity plants in Michigan. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of analysis you will find in the local news media at this point in the campaign season.
Other Candidate Coverage
MLive.com has posted two stories in the past few days about the announcement of Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero as a Democratic candidate for the Governor’s seat. In both posting, there is no substantive information about what Bernero’s campaign strategy is, just that he has been a strong voice for auto workers in the past.
MLive.com also has a “guest column” by GOP candidate Mike Bouchard who says the state needs more public/private partnerships. Bouchard’s idea – turn the state’s rest stops over the private hands in order to make them “a productive, revenue-generating asset.” There is also a story about Bouchard hiring a media consultant known for attack ads. The article is based on a story from the independent news source, the Michigan Messenger.
The Michigan Messenger article is a good example of the type of investigative reporting that would be beneficial to Michigan voters. This is in contrast to the weak articles that MLive.com has run about GOP attack ad starting “too soon” or a story with the Snyder campaign responding to ads from the Cox campaign. What voters in West Michigan have not seen so far is much investigative coverage into the platforms and voting records of the numerous candidates running for the Michigan Governor’s seat.
Media Bites – Coca Cola & The Simpsons
In this week’s Media Bites we dissect a Coca Cola commercial that aired during the 2010 Super Bowl. The Coke ad shows the Billionaire businessman Mr. Burns as down on his luck, so the people of Springfield give him a Coke to make him feel all better.
In the real world, it is working class families who are losing their homes and taxpayers are bailing out the very financial institutions that brought about the economic collapse in the first place, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity.
According to a new project from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation the US government has already promised the State of Israel $30 billion in military aid from FY 2009 – 2018.
The campaign now has a new online resource to help people in the US figure out how much of their tax dollars will be used to fund Israel. According to this new resource taxpayers from the state of Michigan will give $728,813,339.85 in Military Aid to Israel over the next 10 years.
This money could have been spent instead to:
Provide 8,849 households per year w/affordable housing grants OR
Provide 12,098 job seekers per year w/green jobs training OR
Provide 21,549 children per year w/ early reading education OR
Provide 590,228 people per year w/primary health care.
The US Campaign to end the Israeli Occupation also is encouraging people to sign a petition to send to Senators Levin, Stabenow and the Congressperson representing your district.
We also encourage you to share this information with people through your own networks. How many people do you know who are hurting economically would be supportive of this much of their tax dollars going to Israel?
