RIGHTS OF
MOTHER EARTH:An
agreement between the Maori and the Crown government recognizes that the land
and all its riches are not property to be owned but are human’s living
ancestors to whom we bear the responsibility of care.
These
agreements—for Te
Urewera, formerly a national park in
the territory of the Tuhoe iwi (tribe); and the Whanganui
River settlement in the territory of the Whanganui
iwi—also come with an official apology from the Crown for historic crimes
against the land and the Maori people, and redress funding for new management
based on Maori cosmology, community education and cultural revitalization.
These laws are deeply rooted in the ancient culture and spiritual
traditions of the Maori, but as we learned, they are for everyone.
More
than 350 events have been planned nationwide by Resistance Recess together
with a coalition of 21 resistance organizations opposing the Trump agenda.
Nationwide
demonstrations take place marking “presidents’” day.
New Mexico
just joined ten other states, among them California passing a bill which, if
enough states join can to form a majority abolishing the electoral college so
that a constitutional amendment would not be required.
This
week more than 100,000 people organized and joined more than 600 events during
resistance recess. Their resistance may present Obamacare repeal.Vets
and water protectors bond in mutual aid and understanding
In her scathing resignation letter,
Labowitz argues that Exxon Mobil’s approach undermines democratic principles.
“I am disappointed that instead of examining its own record and seeking to
restore a respected place for itself in the public debate, Exxon has chosen to
turn up the temperature on civil society groups,” the letter reads.
The proposed changes would limit
contract negotiations only to base wages, cutting out negotiations over issues
such as health insurance, evaluation procedures, seniority-related benefits,
vacation and overtime policies.
From
#DayWithoutLatinos to Response Teams, massive anti-deportation resistance
builds across borders.
More
than 120 Wisconsin business close down to protest to Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke’s immigration crackdown
CHELSEA MANNING
Letter to President Barack Obama
If
you deny my request for a pardon, I will serve my time knowing that sometimes
you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society. I will gladly pay that
price if it means we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition that all women and men are created equal.
Chelsea
Manning, Military and State Department Whistleblower [Chelsea Manning's
sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama as one of his last acts in
office.]
WHAT AILS US AND WHAT WE CAN DO TO CHANGE IT: THIS WEEK’S MUST READ (SERIOUS READERS ONLY).
The Hubris Of Endless Wars Brings Down
Empires -- In The End
Reprinted by permission from Went 2 the Bridge
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| Image courtesy Anthony Freda |
No war is really endless, though it can seem that way in comparison with the puny life span of humans. A span which wars typically make even more puny; just ask the relatives of nine babies, toddlers and children killed in Yemen by U.S. special forces on January 29.
Back in 2003 when Bush Jr. proposed to attack Iraq on the basis of lies about
their offensive capabilities, millions around the globe poured into the streets
to protest. The invasion happened anyway, and the U.S. is still there.
During the Obama years, liberals in the U.S. went silent. We were still in Iraq and Afghanistan (and building bases as fast as we could in Somalia and Sudan, and bombing Libya, and arming "moderate" rebels in Syria and "pivoting" toward Asia) and the Pentagon's share of budget was still climbing upwards from 50% of the total. But the commander in chief was handsome and his wife and daughters were beautiful and, besides, "terror" and "9/11" were words often heard from his lips.
During the Obama years, liberals in the U.S. went silent. We were still in Iraq and Afghanistan (and building bases as fast as we could in Somalia and Sudan, and bombing Libya, and arming "moderate" rebels in Syria and "pivoting" toward Asia) and the Pentagon's share of budget was still climbing upwards from 50% of the total. But the commander in chief was handsome and his wife and daughters were beautiful and, besides, "terror" and "9/11" were words often heard from his lips.
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| Image courtesy Anthony Freda |
So with the ascendance of the demogogue with bad hair I've been curious to see
if people would flood back into the streets to protest the crippling costs --
environmental, f inancial or spiritual -- of U.S. wars
that now seem designed to be endless.
Not seeing it.
Masses of white middle class women whose reproductive rights are threatened will not come out against wars. They mostly supported Hillary or Bernie, both of whom had long pedigrees as warmongers. Their privilege and lack of initiative in finding real news for themselves will continue to blind them.
But there are glimmers of hope.
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| (photo: Nony Dutton) |
Alli McCracken and associates January 20, 2017 in Washington DC
A 20-something friend who recently left her job at an NGO reported that she has found plenty of young people in Washington DC organizing around anti-imperialism and committed to opposing wars and occupations. Pushing back against U.S. enabling of Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine is one aspect of their work, and this will surely become more important under the current regime.
Today I'm taking a meeting with two young people in Maine who responded to my "Open Letter to Young Organizers: I'm Against Imperial Wars, How About You?". My pitch was basically, I'll gladly support your issues and I invite you to consider supporting my opposition to wars.
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| Image courtesy Anthony Freda |
Environmental advocacy is what young people care fervently about as they contemplate their future on a devastated planet. My job in my remaining years here is to connect the dots between militarism and pollution.
Decades of failing to count the carbon output (and other pollutants) generated by the Pentagon and its contractors has enabled the elephant in the room to evade notice. As Professor Tom Hastings of Portland State University noted, each time a new administration comes into office, advances in holding the Pentagon accountable for its carbon footprint are swept away by the "new" regime.
Plenty of signals indicate the waging of war will continue apace no matter whether the occupant of the White House has a D or an R after his or her name.
An inaugural promise by the demagogue with bad hair to "eradicate completely from the face of the Earth" the threat of "radical Islamic terrorism" is idiotic of course. For one thing, terrorism is a strategy and not a thing that can be eradicted. Secondly, our relentless bombing and invading of oil-rich nations and strategically located nations has only produced (as predicted) far more radical Islamic warriors. As intended. How else to keep the profit mills spinning so that the CEOs of war profiteers like General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin can continue to rake in the spoils of war?
Conversion to a peace economy is the only path forward out of this wilderness, but that possibility will be squelched and silenced by squeals about terror.
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| cartoon by Will Park
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Are the powers that be just waiting until the elderly voters of the baby boom generation are out of the picture? I predict they will be amazed at the rising generations of resistance.
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| Kecia Lewis as Mother Courage in a 2016 production by the Classic Stage Company |
German playwright Bertolt Brecht created his historical play Mother Courage and
Her Children to comment on how a society at war makes everyone dependent upon
the conflict even as it consumes its own young. Created in resistance to the
rise of Fascism and Nazi warmongering, the setting is the Thirty Years' War
that engulfed Europe from 1618 to 1648. It probably seemed endless to those who
endured it.
In 2002 then U.S. Ambassador Richard Haass laid out the master plan in effect to this day:
There can be no exit strategy in the war against terrorism. It is a war that will persist. There is unlikely to be an Antietam, a decisive battle in this war. An exit strategy, therefore, will do us no good. What we need is an endurance strategy.
Ours is not the first empire to fall prey to this kind of hubris. Romans, Ottomans, Persians, Nazis, Japanese imperialists: all thought they were mighty unto eternity, and all wheezed to a halt when their resources had been exhausted.
In 2002 then U.S. Ambassador Richard Haass laid out the master plan in effect to this day:
There can be no exit strategy in the war against terrorism. It is a war that will persist. There is unlikely to be an Antietam, a decisive battle in this war. An exit strategy, therefore, will do us no good. What we need is an endurance strategy.
Ours is not the first empire to fall prey to this kind of hubris. Romans, Ottomans, Persians, Nazis, Japanese imperialists: all thought they were mighty unto eternity, and all wheezed to a halt when their resources had been exhausted.
 |
| Image courtesy Anthony Freda |
This time the resource we exhaust may be the capacity of the planet to support our form of life. Earth may have the ultimate endurance strategy, and it many very well not include us.
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