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Court Files: Coal CEO Robert Murray Unearths Lease from Aubrey McClendon's New Fracking Company
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
DeSmogBlog has obtained a copy of a sample hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) lease distributed to Ohio landowners by embattled former CEO and founder of Chesapeake Energy, Aubrey McClendon, now CEO of American Energy Partners.
Student Peace Activists and Teacher Are ‘Inspiration To The World’, says U.N. Sec. General
David Hartsough Book Tour
FALL BOOK TOUR PUBLIC EVENTS
OCTOBER 1-14th NEW ENGLAND STATES
Oct. 2 Thursday
7pm Cambridge Friends Meeting, 5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge, MA Contact Skip Schiel 617-441-7756
October 3 Friday
7:00pm WAGING PEACE book talk and discussion at First Universalist Church, 59 Main Street in Essex, MA. Co-sponsored by North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice, Merrimack Valley People for Peace, Amesbury Peace Center, Samantha Smith Chapter Veterans for Peace.
Rev. Art McDonald 978-768-3690 or 978-745-9019
October 5 Sunday
11am New England Peace Pagoda,100 Cave Hill Road, Leverett ,MA (just N. of Amherst) 25th Anniversary celebration with David offering keynote address. Ceremony, Interfaith Prayers, Lunch, Cultural Program.
Sr. Clare Carter 413-357-2202
October 6 Monday
Noon-1pm Hampshire College in Amherst, MA talk sponsored by Office on Sustainability and Spiritual Life Hampshire c/o Susal Stebbins Collins, 413-559-5282
4-5:30pm World Eye Bookstore, 156 Main St. in Greenfield,MA sponsored by Traprock Peace Center. Randy Kehler, 413-624-8858
7:30pm Putney Friend’s Meeting talk and discussion in Putney, VT (need street address) Contact Nancy Lang 802-365-0247
October 7 Tuesday
7pm Broadside Bookshop, 247 Main Street in Northampton, MA Andrea Ayvazian 413-584-5666 (Bookstore -413-586-4235)
October 9 Thursday
7pm Burlington Friends Meeting, 173 North Prospect, Burlington, VT Jean McCandless 802-862-8665
October 12 Sunday
10:30am Acadia Friends Meeting, Neighborhood House on Main Street, Northeast Harbor, Maine organizer: Martha Dickinson 207-667-5863
4pm College of the Atlantic student gathering at COA McCormick Lecture Hall, Bar Harbor. Contact Gray Cox or 667-5863
OCTOBER 14-27 PACIFIC NORTHWEST
October 15 Wednesday
7:30pm Annual Peace Lecture in Salem, OR at Hudson Recital Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center, Willamette University, 900 State Street Contact Peter Bergel 503-428-4280
October 16 Thursday
7pm Eugene Friends Meetinghouse, 2274 Onyx Street, Eugene, OR contact Peg Morton 541-342-2914
October 18 Saturday
2-4pm Discussion at Salem Friends Meetinghouse, 490 19th Street in Salem, OR
7:30pm Multnomah Friends Meeting, 4312 South East Stark, Portland, OR Joyce Zerwekh 503-282-0118
October 19 Sunday
7-9pm First Unitarian Church of Portland, Rm B 202, Buchan Bldg, Co-sponsored by Peace Action Group of Church and Veterans for Peace Chapter 72
October 20 Monday
6 pm Portland State Univ. Students United for Nonviolence (SUN) discussion in Rm. 333, Smith Memorial Student Union Building contact Adam Vogal 503-864-5910
October 21 Tuesday
7:30am – 8:30 AM Portland Pearl Rotary Club at 721 NW 9th Ave in Portland. Contact Jim Bowman
7:30 pm Olympia Friends Meetinghouse, 3201 Boston Harbor Road N.E., Olympia, WA
October 22 Wednesday
7pm University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 N.E. 43rd St, Seattle, WA sponsored by University Bookstore, Eileen Harte 206-632-5167
October 23 Thursday
7pm Port Townsend, WA talk at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Avenue, PT, co-sponsored with local Quakers.
October 24 Friday
1pm radio phone interview in Port Townsend
7pm Whidbey Island gathering with Tom Ewell – details to follow
October 26 Sunday
EAST COAST WAGING PEACE Book Tour
November 18-24 WASHINGTON, D.C.
**still working on tour details
November 18 Tuesday
11am-12:30pm Montgomery Community College in Rockville,MD Contact Alonzo Smith 240-994-0115
November 24-December 6 PHILA AREA
November 25 Tuesday
7pm Medford Leas talk, 661 Medford Leas, Medford, NJ 08055
Toby Riley 609-654-3661 or 609-556-3207
November 26 Wednesday
1:30pm Crosslands talk, William Penn Room at 16 Kendal Drive, Kennett Square, PA Oranizers: Clarkson Palmer and
Jean Barker, 484-770-8184
4 pm Kendal talk, Kennett Square, PA Organizers: Peggy Brick and Carlie Numi 610-388-1869 or cell 301-502-5349
November 30 Sunday
12:30 pm Central Philadelpia Quaker Meeting, 15th and Cherry Streets, Phila George Lakey 215-729-7458 or cell 610-95-6165
December 1 Monday
7 pm Talk at Pendle Hill, 338 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, PA
December 2 Tuesday
2pm assembly at the theatre of Westtown School – Westtown, PA
December 4 Thursday
5pm book talk at Swarthmore (place to be announced) Lee Smithey
December 8-11 NEW YORK CITY
***We welcome ideas and contacts!!
CALIFORNIA Book Talks for Nov/Dec
Nov 2 Sunday
San Francisco 1pm SF Friends Meetinghouse, 65 9th Street
David Hartsough 415-751-0302
Nov 5 Wednesday
Chico 7pm Chico State University & Chico Peace Center
Dan Eberhardt 214-476-5846
November 9 Sunday
Berkeley 7pm Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, Cedar and Bonita, Berkeley Cynthia Johnson 510-495-5132
December 16 Tuesday
Santa Rosa 7:15pm Friends House, 684 Benicia Drive, Santa Rosa Ann Scott, coordinator 707-573-4564
December 18 Thursday
Sacramento 7-9pm The Marxist school of Sacramento organized by PM Press – Sierra 2 Center, 2791 – 24th Street, Classroom 9 (between Castro Way and 4th Avenue)
For info or changes, contact: janhartso@gmail.com
The Cenotaph – Remembrance Sunday 9 November
Veterans For Peace UK
Sunday 9 November 2014
1330 HRS
Whitehall Place, London
On Remembrance Sunday, Veterans For Peace UK will walk to The Cenotaph under the banner “NEVER AGAIN”.
We will hold a ceremony at The Cenotaph to remember all of those killed in war.
Supporters of VFP UK are invited and encouraged to follow us to The Cenotaph.
Timings
1330 hrs Meet at Whitehall Place
1400 hrs Form up at Whitehall place
1410 hrs Move off from Whitehall Place
1415 hrs Arrive at The Cenotaph and carry out the ceremony.
1430 hrs Depart from The Cenotaph
1435 hrs Arrive back at Whitehall Place
1500 hrs Disperse from Whitehall Place
The Ceremony
VFP UK enter the enclosure and line up facing the Cenotaph.
The song “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” will be sung, followers are encouraged to join in.
(Lyrics at the bottom of this page).
The poem “The Cenotaph” will be read
The Wreath will be laid.
The Last Post.
One minutes silence.
Reveille
VFP will move off out of the enclosure and back towards Whitehall Place.
Dress
VFP Members – VFP UK Hoody, Shirt, Black Tie, Dark Trousers, Dark Shoes. Poppy (White / Red / Both / None).
Followers – As if you are attending a funeral.
Equipment
Never Again Banner – To be carried by two VFP members at the front.
Wreath – To consist of 90% White Poppies and 10% Red to mark the huge proportion of civilians killed in modern warfare.
VFP UK Banner – To be carried by two VFP members at the rear and before the followers.
Media
Only the designated film-makers Shaun Dey and Guy Smallman can enter the enclosure of The Cenotaph.
VFP Members will not be conducting interviews on the day.
Instructions for Followers
All are invited to follow us to The Cenotaph.
Followers are not to enter the enclosure of The Cenotaph.
No banners, placards or megaphones are to be carried by those following VFP UK.
Dress must be smart / sombre as if you are attending a funeral.
All attending agree to conform to the VFP UK Statement of Nonviolence
Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls picked them everyone
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone to young men everyone
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the young men gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young men gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers everyone
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, everyone
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?
Protest Obama's Wars in San Francisco Tomorrow
Protesters Meet Obama at SF Fundraiser:
No More War on Iraq, Stop Bombing Syria, U.S. Out of the Middle East
Emergency Protest Demonstration
Friday October 10: 3:30 PM into evening
At Obama’s Speech at the Democratic Party Fundraiser
3rd Street at Mission (outside the W HOTEL, 3rd and Howard)
San Francisco
President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak in San Francisco, addressing a Democratic Party fundraiser -- at the very moment that American air strikes are bombing Syria and Iraq.
World Can’t Wait and others (Code Pink, ANSWER Coalition) will demonstrate to denounce U.S. air strikes and other war moves, aggression, and military action in Syria, Iraq, and the entire region. They also demand an end to U.S. aid to Israel in the wake of the latest assault on Gaza this summer.
A replica of a war-fighting drone will fly over the protest.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, a renowned homebase of protest against U.S. wars over decades, protesters will gather at the fundraiser site for a rally. They will denounce this current air strike escalation , and all U.S. military action in the Middle East, both for its immediate stated motive and for its long-term impact.
In response to the Obama argument that renewed U.S. war in the region is necessary because of the aggressive moves by ISIS/ISIL/IS, the protesters dispute every citation by the government. World Can’t Wait states: “ISIS is bad, but the U.S. war for empire is even worse.”
Is Ferguson Is Just the First Wave of Escalating Riots and Police Repression?
Originally posted at AcronymTV
The murder of Michael Brown by Ferguson Police Office Darren Wilson set off and wave of protests, the majority of which were non violent. The militarized police response and the violent repression of peaceful protestors will only get worse if the economic conditions of this country do not change radically and quickly, says David DeGraw, author of the new book, The Economics of Revolt. “If you want to change things through non-violent methods, the window of opportunity is closing fast. Very fast,” says DeGraw.
We Would Have Revolution Overnight If People Understood This One Thing
Martin Luther King, Jr. was working towards a guaranteed basic income for all when he was killed. Wealth inequality, neoliberalism, the actions of the Federal Reserve, along with the greed and theft of the global elite have made the call for a guaranteed basic income for all even more urgent in 2014 than in the 1960s.
David DeGraw, interviewed here by Dennis Trainor, Jr. of Acronym TVclaims the alternative is a violent revolution.
In his new book, The Economics of Revolution, DeGraw writes:
The Green Shock Doctrine: a Decade of False Climate Solutions
Originally posted at AcronymTV
Anne Petermann, has been banned from future U.N. Climate Conferances for her vocal activism. Here, she outlines the last decade of U.N. Climate Conference failures and false solutions.
About Anne Petermann |
Anne Petermann is the Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project. She is also the Coordinator of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees; the North American Focal Point for the Global Forest Coalition; and a member of the Board of Directors of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series.
Ferguson Flash Mob! Requiem for Mike Brown Confronts White Privilege at St. Louis Symphony
Originally posted at AcronymTV
About 50 protesters seeking justice for Mike Brown delayed the start of the second act of Brahms requiem on Saturday night at the St. Louis Symphony in a brilliantly executed creative protest captured by Rebecca Rivas of the St. Louis American.
(read more: http://www.popularresistance.org/demonstrators-disrupt-st-louis-symphony-singing-a-requiem-for-mike-brown/)
Vietnam in Virginia
Wednesday, Oct 15 at 7:15 p.m. at Naro Cinema in Norfolk, Va.
LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM
Award-winning independent filmmaker Rory Kennedy’s new film chronicles a story few of us have heard before. During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbles. The prospect of an official evacuation of the remaining Americans and their South Vietnamese allies becomes hopelessly delayed by Congressional gridlock and a delusional U.S. Ambassador. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, a number of Americans take matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible. (98 mins)
http://lastdaysinvietnam.com
David Swanson, RootsAction campaign coordinator and WorldBeyondWar director, will return to speak at the Naro from his home in Charlottesville. He is a nationally renowned journalist, teacher, peace activist, and author of War Is A Lie, When The World Outlawed War, and War No More: The Case For Abolition.
Visit http://narocinema.com
A Call to Action from Tim DeChristopher and Rev Lennox Yearwood
After the historic and inspiring People’s Climate March and Flood Wall Street actions showed the potential of our growing movement, discussion is taking place about how to put that power into action. The power demonstrated on the streets of New York was a signal that we are big enough and strong enough to take our government out of the grip of the fossil fuel industry. Without question we need to step it up and organize campaigns and actions that are at the scale and boldness needed, including multi-day direct action at specific targets.
We are writing to urge participation by as many people as possible in one such initiative: a week-long series of confrontational activities in Washington, D.C. November 1-7—Beyond Extreme Energy.
By taking these actions during election week, we will be sending a message to both parties in Washington that supporting extreme energy extraction is no longer the path of least political resistance. We recognize that party loyalty is incompatible with political power for a social movement, and we have been taken for granted for too long by politicians who are scared to stand up to the fossil fuel industry. It’s time to make it clear that a politician who green lights the fossil fuels industry’s attempts to poison our communities and ruin our climate will not get our votes under any circumstances.
The week will begin on Saturday, November 1, as the Great March for Climate Action concludes its cross-country walk, begun in early March in Los Angeles. These heroic marchers have inspired us with their determined, day-after-day commitment over what will be eight months when they march into DC.
Then, from November 3-7, following a day of meeting, planning and training on November 2, there will be nonviolent direct actions every morning to block the two entrances to FERC. On July 14th 25 people did this and were successful in disrupting business-as-usual for two hours until they were arrested. That experience will inform the bigger and stronger actions being planned for November.
There will also be demonstrations at other locations—perhaps the Energy Department, Dominion Resources, the White House, the American Petroleum Institute, Democratic National Committee headquarters, and neighborhoods in DC impacted by environmental and racial injustices—in the afternoon, challenging the web of denial throughout the government and industry about the seriousness of the emergency we are in.
Our invitation to you is this: Join the Beyond Extreme Energy actions for one or more days in Washington DC, November 1-7. Help sound a call for stepped-up multi-day actions and campaigns commensurate with the scale of escalating fossil fuel extraction, rampant environmental injustices in low-income and people of color communities throughout the world, and the emergencies inherent in climate change. Help model for others what necessary and effective climate action looks like as atmospheric carbon climbs ever faster on its way past 400 parts per million. Help build a movement that is more committed to climate justice than the fossil fuel industry is to profits.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Oh my friends, there are resources in us on which we have not drawn.” Let’s engage those vast resources of people power in our struggle for climate justice so we can keep fossil fuels in the ground. We know we have the power to stop extreme energy extraction, and now is the time to use it.
In solidarity,
Tim DeChristopher and Rev Lennox Yearwood
Tim DeChristopher is a co-founder of Peaceful Uprising. His trial and subsequent two year prison sentence for disrupting a 2008 federal auction of oil and gas leases was the subject of the award winning documentary "Bidder 70".
The Reverend Lennox Yearwood is the President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, a national nonprofit organization that equips young people to participate in elections, policy analysis, and service project.
Force Feeding on Trial
Forced-Feeding is Torture! No Secret Courts!
Emergency Call to Action and Solidarity Fast – Witness Against Torture
Gather at the US Federal District Court (333 Constitution Ave) on October 6 and 7
8:30 am. 333 Constitution Ave, Washington, D.C.
On Monday October 6 a trial will begin in which attorneys for Wa-ei Dhiab will seek a stop to the brutal forced-feeding of men at Guantánamo protesting their indefinite detention and abuse at the prison. Witness Against Torture is calling for a public presence at the courthouse to demand an end to forced-feeding and the closing of Guantánamo.
Dhiab is a Syrian man held without charge or trial at Guantánamo since 2002 and cleared for release in 2009 by the US government. He has, according to his attorneys, been forcibly extracted from his cell and force-fed as many as three times a day since the start of the most recent Guantanamo hunger strike in the winter/spring 2012.
Dhiab’s lawsuit seeks an end to forced-feeding. Justice Gladys Kessler, who is hearing the case, has described forced-feeding at the prison as “painful, humiliating, and degrading.” The lawsuit is our best chance to have the courts do what President Obama has been unwilling to do — end forced-feeding.
------------------------------
Pack the Court – No Secret Trials Dhiab’s attorneys will present as evidence videotapes showing Dhaib being violently extracted from his cell and/or force-fed. The government has petitioned that the trial be held entirely in secret so that the press and public may not see or otherwise learn about the gruesome reality of forced-feeding. Judge Kessler has denied the request, describing the government’s request of a secret trial as “deeply troubling.” As of today, portions of the trial will be open to the public. We need to pack the courthouse and demonstrate that the torture of forced-feeding is immoral, illegal, and unacceptable. Plan on attending the hearing. The attorneys for Dhiab have requested that there be no signs or anything else that may irritate the judge. Our presence, and gestures of our protest such as orange ribbons on our clothes, will convey our protest. Click here to read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/ ------------------------------ Fast for Dhiab and the Hunger Strikers — Fast for Justice Witness Against Torture is calling for an emergency fast in solidarity with Wa-ei Dhiab, other hunger strikers, and all the men at Guantánamo. Please consider fasting on October 6 and/or October 7. If you plan to fast, send an email to witnesstorture@gmail.com. Please included in the email where you live and a brief statement as to why you are fasting. Witness Against Torture will report to the media, Dhiab’s attorneys, and the public the numbers of those fasting and convey, through attorneys, your messages to Dhiab and others at Guantánamo. Furthermore, please consider making two phone calls to: 1. Cliff Sloan at the State Department (202-647-4000) to insist he tells the military to stop the inhumane practice of force feeding prisoners on hunger strike and to work more quickly to shut the doors and empty the cells of the prison. 2. U.S. Southern Command (305-437-1213) to decry the conditions at Guantánamo, especially the force feeding. Example script: I am fasting for 24 hours in solidarity with the prisoners at Guantánamo, especially for those who are on hunger strike and being force fed. I am particularly mindful of Wa-ei Dhiab, a prisoner who is being represented by attorneys in Federal District Court October 6th and 7th. His attorneys are seeking a stop to the brutal force-feeding of men at Guantánamo protesting their indefinite detention and abuse at the prison I am calling today out of concern for him and for the rest of the prisoners. I am asking you to stop the inhumane practice of force feeding and resume releasing the number of prisoners on hunger strike. The men at Guantánamo have repeatedly expressed how important it is to them to know that people in the United States and the world fast in solidarity with them. Join us on Monday, October 6th at 8:30 am. 333 Constitution Ave, Washington, D.C. ------------------------------ Witness Against Torture on Social Media: Please "like us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter & Instagram Post any pictures of your local activities to our flicker account and we will help spread the word on Tumblr. ------------------------------ Donate to support our work: Witness Against Torture is completely volunteer driven and run. We have no paid staff, but do have expenses associated with our organizing work. If you are able, please donate here. www.witnesstorture.org
Libeling a movement and its activists: Accusing Hong Kong Activists of Being Tools of US Policy is Both Ignorant and Dangerous
By Dave Lindorff
A number of progressive and left-leaning writers in the US have jumped on a report by Wikileaks that the neo-con dominated National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and various other US-government linked organizations with a history of subversion and sowing discord abroad are operating in Hong Kong to make the leap of “logic” that the democracy protests in Hong Kong must therefore be a creation of US policy-makers.
IN MEMORIAM: A LOSS FOR HUMANITY
by Debra Sweet It was heartbreaking to hear of the suicide of Jacob David George last week. He had been sent to Afghanistan three times with the Marines, from the age of 19-22. We met him in NYC on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, just on the even of OWS. An Arkansan, he rode his bike with the Guitarmy. I last saw him playing his guitar and singing at the Ft. Meade rally for Chelsea Manning.Most significantly, Jacob was one of the veterans who threw their medals toward the NATO meeting in Chicago, at the 2012 antiwar protest in Chicago.
A Bold New Chapter in the Climate Justice Movement | Acronym TV 018
Originally posted at AcronymTV
Part 1: (00:59) A dispatch from The People's Climate March featuring interviews with Immortal Technique (Hip Hop legend) Kshama Sawant (Socialist City Council member Jill Stein (for Green Party Presidential candidate), Pat Scanlon (Vets for Peace) Art Shegonee (Federation of United Tribes), Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese (Popular Resistance) and other artists, activist, children, and street revelers!
Part 2: (10:18) A dispatch from the Flood Wall Street day of action, featuring exclusive footage, analysis and interviews with Clayton Thomas-Muller (Idle No More), Tim DeChristopher (Peaceful Uprising), Andy Bichlbaum (The Yes Men), Arun Gupta (Counterpunch), and Flood Wall Street organizer Goldi Guerra.
Confronting White Privilege in the Climate Justice Movement
Originally posted at AcronymTV
Speaking at the opening plenary of the New York City Global Climate Convergence in the days before the People’s Climate March, Nastaran Mohit told the assembled crowd that the revolution “and this (Climate Convergence) movement is not going to be spawned from the activist white community. It is going to be led front and center by marginalized and the most directly affected communities.”
Mohit, a New York City based labor organizer who was instrumental in the success of Occupy Sandy, went on:
“For these communities, Climate Change is not a far off thing, it is right at their backyard. For these communities it is an issue of survival. Climate organizing is not a privilege for them, it is a life and death matter.”
“Unreasonable” Women for The Planet, Peace, and Justice | Medea Benjamin Interview
Originally posted at AcronymTV
Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, sits down with Dennis Trainor, Jr. of Acronym TV on the eve of the largest Climate march in history to discuss the climate justice. “”If you care about the planet, you care about people, workers, immigrants, and you care about whether we are destroying the planet whether by polluting or by polluting through war, says Benjamin, who went on to describe the founding of Code Pink as a climate Justice group. “We started as a group of women who came together around the environment. We were called Unreasonable Women for the planet.”
Corporations Causing Climate Change Should Be Taken Over By The Public | Howie Hawkins Interview
Originally posted at AcronymTV.com
Howie Hawkins, Green Party Candidate for N.Y. Governor, sits down with Dennis Trainor, Jr. of Acronym TV on the eve of the largest Climate march in history to discuss his campaign.
From HowieHawkins.org:
The richest 1% own the two major parties. It's time working people had one of our own.
That's why I'm running for Governor. My name is Howie Hawkins. I'm a working Teamster and my running mate, Brian Jones, is a teacher and union member.
The U.N. is an Apologist for False Climate Solutions| Jill Stein Interview
Originally posted at AcronymTV
A day before the People’s Climate March drove 400,000 people into the streets of New York City, Jill Stein sat down with Dennis Trainor, Jr of Acronym TV and outlined what she sees as the coming green revolution.
“The U.N. has sold us out,” says Stein “The UN has become the apologists for false solutions (like) nuclear power, fracking, and so-called clean coal,” says Stein. “The U.N. has sold us out, and it is really important that we take a new direction, with a very clear goal (…) one which puts people, planet and peace over profit.”
Freedom’s just another word: US Launches Wars and Backs Coups in the Name of Democracy, but Won’t Back Real Democracy Activists
By Dave Lindorff
The US claims to be supporting democracy from Ukraine to Cuba, and from Somalia to Iraq, often by bombing the alleged opposition, or by supporting proxy wars and subversion. But one place where real democracy activists are battling against the forces of repression they are curiously getting no backing from the United States: Hong Kong.
St. Petersburg FLA Protest: Say No To War In Syria!
St. Pete for Peace
St. Petersburg, FL – Activists from the Tampa Bay area will protest the new US war in Syria this Saturday, September 27 from 2:00-4:00pm at the corners of Dale Mabry Highway and Gandy Blvd in Tampa. The protest location was chosen due to its proximity to MacDill Air Force Base, which acts as Central Command for the war in Syria.
US airstrikes in Syria have already killed innocent civilians. In its first day of launching bombs, the US killed 8 civilians, including children in Aleppo province, and 5 more civilians were killed on Wednesday.
"ISIS, which formed in response to the US invasion of Iraq, exists because of US military interventions. For the US to say it is trying to solve the problem it created is duplicitous," said Dwight Lawton of Veterans for Peace.
"The US attack is happening without the approval of the Syrian government which is a violation of Syria's sovereignty and is against international law," according to Marianne Huber of St. Pete for Peace. "There is no doubt that the Assad government in Syria will ultimately be a target of US airstrikes in the near future."
"For over 20 years the US has relentlessly bombed Iraq and now it is bombing Syria -- two countries that have never attacked the United States," said Jared Hamil of Students for a Democratic Society at USF. "The US has used money, guns, bombings, occupations, economic sanctions and puppet-governments to control the peoples of the world. None of these things have resulted in peace or have brought humanitarian aid to anyone - only violence and instability."
The protest is sponsored by St. Pete for Peace, Students for a Democratic Society at USF, Friends of Human Rights, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Florida State Progressive Democrats of America, NatureCoast Coalition for Peace and Justice, The Refuge, Students for a Democratic Society St Pete, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, and the Revolutionary Caucus of Tampa Bay.
Webpage: http://stpeteforpeace.org/
Save the Climate or Save Capitalism? | #FloodWallStreet Dispatch
Originally posted at AcronymTV
An exclusive Acronym TV dispatch from the Flood Wall Street day of action, featuring exclusive footage, analysis, and interviews with Adam Clayton Muller (Idle No More), Tim DeChristopher (Peaceful Uprising), Andy Bichlbaum (The Yes Men), Arun Gupta (Counterpunch), and Flood Wall Street organizer Goldi Guerra.
***
The positive momentum generated by the People’s Climate Parade spilled over into a massive direct action on Monday.
Wall Street is fertile ground for a movement: Liberals and Liberation on a Weekend of Climate Action in New York
By Dave Lindorff
Turn Left for Earth
I appreciate that there's more happening than just a march for the climate today on the International Day of Peace, and I get the idea that keeping the safe and obedient march-to-nowhere separate from protests actually at the United Nations where our corporate overlords are determining the rate of the earth's demise is intended to please all of the people some of the time, but I can't help wishing that the march would just turn left instead of right when it reaches 42nd Street, in order to march to the United Nations rather than to nowhere.
This is not a radical idea. A nonviolent protest march expressing popular opinion should be allowed to march to the place it is protesting. The idea that insisting on that constitutes something radical or extremist bewilders me. The New York Times refers to "protest or terror groups" as a category of people, but has a protest group ever engaged in terrorizing and has a terrorist ever joined a protest? Would protesting the United Nations at the United Nations somehow be an act of violence, perhaps purely because it would be an act of disobedience? You've got to be kidding me.
I'm in favor of mixed-use protests, not just urban developments. Don't just let the conservative marchers know about opportunities for more direct protest, but get them involved. Take a safe march to a resistance action, where its size will keep it safe and its members will be energized. Let the crowd demonstrate within sight and sound of the people it is petitioning for a redress of grievances, and let those who are ready join in disruptive protest actions.
Of course turning left in order to go where needed makes a nice metaphor for what our whole culture must do if it is to cease destroying the earth's climate. Paul Krugman figured out this week that green energy pays for itself, but he seems to imagine that therefore it will be created, as if the corrupting influence of the fossil fuel profiteers just doesn't exist. We need to turn so far left that we abandon such naiveté, stop yammering about transition fuels, abandon all talk of "peak oil" as if existing oil isn't sufficient to kill us all, and forswear all pointless pursuit of the political "center."
Naomi Klein's new book does a much better job of identifying the corrupting influence of profiteers. She also points out that the sooner we act to slow down climate change the less radical our actions will need to be. The longer we wait to take meaningful action, the more drastic our actions will have to be when we finally do something. Green energy, Klein's book makes clear for anyone who was unaware, is not failing in a marketplace. It is being killed by political corruption, loan conditions, corporate trade agreements, penalties and disincentives, and the subsidies given to the fossil fuel corporations.
Klein notes that activist movements around trade and climate have, oddly, progressed while virtually ignoring each other. Klein comes closer than most environmentalists to not ignoring another big question, that of war. The military is the elephant in the room in terms of both economics and climate destruction, but is largely ignored by activists and the broader public.
In a common delusion, the government tells the truth about war, and war is worth giving up freedoms for, but scientists lie about the climate and do so in order to (somehow) attack our freedoms. In other words, the fears of bureaucrats and of limits to plutocracy are strong but perhaps not as strong as the fear of terrorists. And the fear of bureaucrats is augmented by a fear of being insignificant, because when nuclear energy or geo-engineering is proposed as a solution, those who like those ideas also see their recognition of the climate crisis increase.
When Klein mentions the military, she first proposes that the weapons companies pay their fair share toward climate protection, and then proposes (along with a bunch of other good ideas) cutting the military by 25% -- while calling that proposal "the toughest sell." The U.S. military budget has doubled in the past decade. The idea that it can't be seriously cut is ridiculous. It is not a question of selling the idea to the public. Go back and look at the public's preferred solutions to the supposed financial crisis in Congress a few years back. The problem is in the corruption of the U.S. government.
Elsewhere Klein says that large public sector expenditures will be needed to save the climate, but surely not as large as the military. So why talk about increasing, rather than changing, expenditures? And then again, elsewhere, Klein says what we need is "wartime levels of spending," even though base military spending is about 10 times as much as war spending. Klein also cites a study suggesting that $1.9 trillion a year, or exactly what the planet now spends on war preparations, would solve the climate and various other crises and human needs.
Congress members have skipped town in order to avoid voting on war. You can find them in their districts. November 6th will be the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. The two movements named in this holiday should be combined and our actions should escalate. A slight left turn won't be enough to save us.
Last Days in Vietnam in Norfolk
LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM Award-winning independent filmmaker Rory Kennedy’s new film chronicles a story few of us have heard before. During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbles. The prospect of an official evacuation of the remaining Americans and their South Vietnamese allies becomes hopelessly delayed by Congressional gridlock and a delusional U.S. Ambassador. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, a number of Americans take matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible. (98 mins)
David Swanson will return to speak at the Naro from his home in Charlottesville. He is a nationally renowned journalist, teacher, peace activist, and author of War Is A Lie, When The World Outlawed War, and War No More: The Case For Abolition.
Visit http://narocinema.com
Taking the Climate March to the U.N.
OCCUPY THE U.N. CLIMATE SUMMIT
9.21.14
Join us at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
Between 46th & 47th Sts and 1st and 2nd Aves, across from U.N.
The Climate March is only the prelude.
Throughout the day people will be leaving the March to assemble in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across the avenue from the U.N. While it is impossible to predict how events there will unfold, there will be a significant number who will attempt to occupy the plaza for the duration of the U.N. Climate Summit, which ends on Wednesday, September 24.
This action is not intended to compete with the messages of either the People's Climate March on Sunday the 21st or the FLOOD WALL STREET action the following day, Monday the 22nd. Please feel free to join any two or all three. All three actions amplify a common message:
THE PEOPLE DEMAND ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
AND ITS ROOT CAUSES
Why demonstrate at the UN?
The UN represents the nations of the world. Nations are not people. They are political constructs that reflect the interests of those who keep them in power. WE ARE PEOPLE. We want our presence felt throughout the Summit. We want the world to see our resolve and understand our sense of urgency.
PLEASE JOIN US & PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD
New York Event: Celebrating 10 Years of Resistance: Iraq Veterans Against the War
Iraq Veterans Against the War was founded by 6 members of the US military who felt that they could not remain silent about what they had witnessed during the war in Iraq. Since then, our membership has expanded into the thousands and our work has evolved to address militarism at its root. On October 2, we will be celebrating 10 years of resistance against US occupations and militarism at home and abroad.
The event includes music and poetry performances by members and supporters as well as updates on our work, a light buffet and drinks. Each guest can enter a drawing to win a door prize with IVAW shirts, books, and other merchandise. There will be opportunities to contribute to our work by participating in our silent auction, the pre-sale of the ground-breaking Fort Hood Report, art created by IVAW members and other artists, and by taking part in our community. We hope to see you there!
Go here.
