A View From The Left-Stop Racial and Religious Profiling in Massachusetts-And Other Matters

Stop Racial and Religious Profiling in MassachusettsA federal surveillance program called Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) is targeting Massachusetts, and it endangers Muslims, people of color, and political dissidents . The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) has announced it will work with federal prosecutors to carry out this campaign, and health and social service workers may soon be encouraged to profile their clients for signs of so-called "radicalization" or "extremism." Similar programs in the United Kingdom didn't stop violence: they only brought widespread racial and religious profiling.

Ask EOHHS not to participate in the federal program. A sample letter is online at http://org.salsalabs.com/o/301/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=19411.

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The Clinton-Backed Honduran Regime Is Picking Off Indigenous Leaders

Hillary Clinton will be good for women. Ask Berta Cáceres. But you can’t. She’s dead. Gunned down yesterday, March 2, at midnight, in her hometown of La Esperanza, Intibuca, in Honduras. Cáceres was a vocal and brave indigenous leader, an opponent of the 2009 Honduran coup that Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, made possible. In The Nation, Dana Frank and I covered that coup as it unfolded. Later, as Clinton’s emails were released, others, such as Robert Naiman, Mark Weisbrot, and Alex Main, revealed the central role she played in undercutting Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president, and undercutting the opposition movement demanding his restoration. In so doing, Clinton allied with the worst sectors of Honduran society.   More 

 

Tell Congress: Vote for the People's Budget!

Each year, the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) offers an alternative budget resolution to the “austerity” budgets supported by the House Majority and Speaker Ryan. The People's Budget offers a solid blueprint to:

·                     Invest more than $1 trillion in housing, education, transportation, clean energy and safe water to create millions of jobs

·                     Prevent cuts, restore social spending and reduce poverty by half in 10 years

·                     Increase educational opportunities, provide Pre-K and debt-free college for all

·                     Increase, not cut, Social Security and health care

·                     Close corporate tax loopholes, tax Wall Street speculation and raise taxes on the top 2%

·                     Redirect wasteful Pentagon spending and direct to peoples needs, ending Pentagon pork and the overseas contingency "slush fund" 

The People's Budget is backed by hard numbers and research by the Economic Policy Institute.

Send your message to Congress here.

 

And tell Mayor Walsh and Governor Baker: Make GE Pay Its Taxes!

On April 4, Mayor Walsh and Gov. Baker are hosting a Public Forum with GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt at 60 State Street in Boston.  Let’s welcome GE to Boston and tell our mayor and governor: Make GE Pay Its Taxes!

 

Demonstration: Monday April 4, 3:30-6 pm, 60 State Street (near City Hall and the Orange Line State Street stop)

 

Mayor Walsh promised GE a $25 million tax break and a $90 million bridge over Fort Point Channel. $25 million could stop budget cuts in the Boston Schools or provide rent vouchers for the homeless.   And $90 million would be better spent to rebuild the bridge to Long Island to reopen facilities for people in recovery.  

 

Governor Baker promised GE $125 million in tax breaks.  $125 million would help reduce MBTA fare hikes, lower public college costs, move homeless families out of motels, and support jobs, not jails!  Not a penny for GE until it cleans up its pollution of the Housatonic River in Western MA!

 

Meanwhile, GE has parked $119 billion in profits overseas, avoiding over $30 billion in federal taxes. If GE paid their fair share, billions would be available for public schools, low cost housing, fixing the T, renewable energy, green jobs and countless other needs.  GE also receives federal funds for weapons used to commit war crimes in the Middle East.

 

April 4 is the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. 

 Dr. King died protesting racial and economic injustice and misplaced budget priorities. 

 

Sponsors: Union of Minority Neighborhoods • Budget for All Campaign • Jewish Voice for Peace –Boston • Neighbor to Neighbor • Right to the City/Boston • Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants • Progressive Mass American Friends Service Committee • Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom • Unitarian Universalist Mass Action Network • New England War Tax Resistance • Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine • United for Justice with Peace • Massachusetts Peace Action Boston Homeless Solidarity Committee • Housatonic River Initiative • NoBoston2024

 

 

INVESTING IN PEOPLE MATTERS: A Black Man’s perspective on The People’s Budget

If adopted by Congress, The People’s Budget would reduce poverty by half in ten years, fund DOJ programs that reduce recidivism, and provide investment in communities of color. While many argue that investing in law enforcement and prisons increase safety and promote law and order, the evidence proves otherwise…  True crime deterrence relies on our ability to provide opportunities (mental health services, drug treatment, employment, etc.) to all members of society; this is why investing in people matters.  To solve the challenges created by the historic marginalization of the urban poor, and current trends in criminal justice policy, we must stop dealing with social challenges such as homelessness, mental illness, drug abuse, and poverty through incarceration.  Instead, we must recognize the value of all members of our society and addresses social issues in a humane and thoughtful way.  The People’s Budget is a good first step in reducing the nation’s incarceration rate and increasing access to opportunity for all.    More

  

Survey: AMERICAN VOTERS WOULD CUT DEFENSE SPENDING BY AT LEAST $12B

While some Republican presidential candidates have called for increased defense spending, a new survey shows that a majority of American voters would actually decrease it by at least $12 billion.  They would also cut the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and one aircraft carrier, showed the survey, which was conducted by the University of Maryland's non-partisan Program for Public Consultation, between Dec. 20 and Feb. 1.   "There's been some surprise that there hasn't been more support for increases, particularly on the Republican side...given how much the Republican candidates have emphasized that," said the survey's director, Dr. Steven Kull.  In the survey, a representative sample of approximately 7,000 registered voters across the country were given detailed, non-partisan information vetted by congressional staffers and experts about the 2016 defense budget.  The majority trimmed the 2016 defense budget by $12 billion, including cutting $4 billion for ground forces, $3 billion for nuclear weapons, $2 billion for air power, $2 billion for naval forces and $1 billion for missile defense.   More

 

F-35: Trillion Dollar Warplane’s Radar Doesn’t Work

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of austerity, it was the age of a trillion dollar warplane that no one could make work.   The financial sink hole known as the F-35 continues to fail the most basic flight and sensor tests. The warplane, estimated to have a total cost around $1.5 trillion, has already come up short in simulated dogfights with the F-16. Yes, the new and improved model is worse than a plane introduced in 1978… Now, The Guardian is reporting the plane’s radar does not operate effectively and often requires the pilots to “turn it off and on again.” Might that be important for a fighter jet?  … The costs continue to spiral on this trillion dollar turkey. Even if the plane worked, no one needs it nor does it fulfill any current combat missions, such as striking terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda which have no air force.   More

 

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PRIMARY SEASON . .  after Michigan

 

The Transformative Power of Democratic Uprisings

Bernie Sanders's insurgent presidential campaign has opened up a debate about how social change happens in our society. The official version of how progress is won -- currently voiced by mainstream pundits and members of a spooked Democratic Party establishment -- goes something like this: politics is a tricky business, gains coming through the work of pragmatic insiders who know how to maneuver within the system. In order to get things done, you have to play the game, be realistic, and accept the established limits of debate in Washington, D.C… Social change is seldom either as incremental or predictable as many insiders suggest. Every once in a while, an outburst of resistance seems to break open a world of possibility, creating unforeseen opportunities for transformation…  The beauty of impractical movements is that they confound established expectations about the political future, which means it’s difficult to predict when and where new outbreaks of defiance and hope will succeed in capturing the public imagination.   More

  

Majority US Public Opinion is Mocked by the Ongoing Presidential Election

Most Americans continue to favor real national health insurance on the single-payer Canadian model over corporate health insurance; large-scale government job programs over “deficit reduction;” a significant “peace dividend” to move federal resources from the giant Pentagon budget to meeting social needs; serious environmental regulation and protection over the destruction of livable ecology; and a significantly more democratic distribution of wealth and income.  The United States’ unelected and interrelated “deep state” dictatorships of money and empire go back long before Trump came on the scene as a serious presidential candidate. They have always given a cold response to such popular sentiments: So what? Who cares?   More

 

Andrew Bacevich: Why Is No Candidate Offering an Alternative to Militarized U.S. Foreign Policy?

Well, if we look at the remaining Republican candidates, they are all clearly different flavors, but they’re all militarists. I would certainly evaluate Secretary Clinton as an exceedingly hawkish Democrat. Her principal achievement, if you want to call it that, as secretary of state was in pushing the intervention in Libya, which has produced catastrophic consequences.  Senator Sanders, however, is largely—it seems to me, hasn’t laid out his position. One might anticipate that given his general left-leaning view of the world, that he might be somewhat less inclined to rely on U.S. military power, might be more willing to consider alternatives to military power, but he has not yet, at least to my knowledge, really spelled out in detail where he stands on these matters. And frankly, I wish he would. I think he—I think he needs to, in order to move his candidacy beyond the economic and social justice themes that have been the core of his campaign thus far.   More

TWILIGHT OF THE NEOCONSERVATIVES?

The once-fringe neoconservative movement, in the space of a few short years, had seized first their party's intellectual power centers, then its legislative agenda, and now the commanding heights of American leadership itself. Against all odds, they had won.  Today, less than two decades after seizing the Republican Party, they are on the verge of losing it. The party's two leading presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, are promising to break from neoconservatism — and voters seem to be responding.  Neoconservatives are fighting back, but they're losing. Republican elites might still support them, but the voters do not seem to…  Neoconservative party elites are now announcing they will vote against Trump if he wins the primary, and that they may even leave or seek to divide the party itself. But it appears possible it is the party that is leaving them.    More

 

Hedge Funds Pumping Money into 2016 Election

Hedge fund managers are upping their game in this election season, with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and Republican Ted Cruz the biggest beneficiaries, Reuters' review of Federal Election Commission filings found. "About $47 million has been lavished on presidential candidates and lawmakers and the political action committees that support them by two dozen of the industry's top managers in the first 13 months of this election season," the news agency reports. In fact, hedge fund managers are on track "to more than double the amount they gave in the 2012 election campaign."   More

 

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NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

 

'Iraq syndrome' will limit new president's options

For a generation, the so-called Vietnam syndrome kept the United States from undertaking any large-scale foreign military operations. The mere suggestion that a conflict could become "another Vietnam" was enough to galvanize public opinion against the dispatch of U.S. troops to some far corner of the world.  It wasn't until the end of the 1991 Gulf War that President George H.W. Bush could say, "By God, we've kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all!"  Today, 25 years later, U.S. public opinion has turned against the Iraq war, which is widely viewed as a "big, fat mistake," as Trump put it during the Feb. 13 Republican debate in North Carolina. Trump's criticism of the Iraq war puts him at odds with the other Republican candidates, as well as the establishment wing of the party.  The split is just as pronounced in the Democratic race.   More

 

We Are Witnessing the Decline of Saudi Arabia as a Major Power

Just as the Arab Spring provided the opportunity for the Saudis to intervene in Libya, so too did it provide the Saudis with the pretext for regime change in Syria and in other theaters where it fantasized about Iranian influence (Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon). The Saudi ambition was to erase Iran’s presence. Five years later, the detritus of that policy is clear: Libya, Syria and Yemen are destroyed, whereas Bahrain has been reduced to a prison of dreams…  But much of the Saudi dream, given encouragement by the United States, has now turned. Syria and Yemen have been destroyed, but they remain standing. Iran has been welcomed into the fraternity of nations, whether with the slow erasure of the nuclear sanctions regime or integration into the Chinese and Russian networks. Saudi Arabia’s oil civil war has served to bankrupt Saudi Arabia as much as its adversaries.   More

 

ENERGY WARS OF ATTRITION

U.S. and Canadian producers were adding millions of barrels a day in new production to world markets at a time when global demand was incapable of absorbing so much extra crude oil.  An unexpected surge in Iraqi production added additional crude to the growing glut.  Meanwhile, economic malaise in China and Europe kept global oil consumption from climbing at the heady pace of earlier years and so the market became oversaturated with crude…  Threatened by this new reality, the Saudis and their allies faced a painful choice.  Accounting for about 40% of world oil output, the OPEC producers exercise substantial but not unlimited power over the global marketplace.  They could have chosen to rein in their own production and so force prices up.  There was, however, little likelihood of non-OPEC producers like Brazil, Canada, Russia, and the United States following suit, so any price increases would have benefitted the energy industries of those countries most, while undoubtedly taking market share from OPEC. However counterintuitive it might have seemed, the Saudis, unwilling to face such a loss, decided to pump more oil.  Their hope was that a steep decline in prices would drive some of their rivals, especially American oil frackers with their far higher production expenses, out of business.    More

 

Iran Deal Opponents Keep Trying. . .

Leading Democrats and Republicans join forces on Iran sanctions

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) are preparing legislation to slap additional sanctions on Iran in response to a recent spate of ballistic missile launches. While the tests do not themselves violate the Iranian nuclear deal that took effect in January, officials believe they fly in the face of other international prohibitions and weaken the spirit of compliance needed to sustain the nuclear pact… If the Senate can produce a package of sanctions, it stands a good chance of getting an audience in the House, where Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said Tuesday that Congress would “continue to press for new sanctions against Tehran” in light of the most recent ballistic missile tests.   More

 

Iran's latest missile test launches do not violate nuclear deal, U.S. says

The Obama administration labeled the missile launches provocative, but said the firings did not violate the terms of last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including the United States… Biden told reporters in Jerusalem that U.S. officials were closely watching Iran’s “conventional activity outside the [nuclear] deal.” He repeated U.S. vows to take action should Tehran be found to be violating the terms of the nuclear pact… The high-profile tests, analysts said, have a dual purpose: to demonstrate Iran’s missile capabilities to outside adversaries — including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States — while reassuring a domestic constituency that the nation’s military might remains robust, despite the nuclear pact, at a moment of high regional tension.    More

 

Your Tax Dollars Are Enabling Police Brutality in Egypt

Ever since the Black Lives Matter movement exploded into the headlines, violence by American police officers has come under fire from activists and ordinary citizens alike. Less discussed, however, is how the U.S. government winks at the police brutality of its client states abroad.  The military government in Egypt, for example, is cracking down hard on its restive citizenry — harder than any time in memory. And the United States, which sends the country over a $1 billion a year in security aid, is looking the other way. The cops on the beat in Egyptian cities are a menace. They demand bribes from motorists on any pretense and mete out lethal violence on a whim. On February 18, a Cairo policeman shot 24-year-old Muhammad Sayed in the head because the youth asked him for a few extra dollars to do the cop a favor. The policeman is facing murder charges. But, as in the United States, it’s common for Egyptian courts to acquit officers or send them away with a slap on the wrist.  Beatings and other abuses are rampant at the country’s police stations.  More

 

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ISRAEL, PALESTINE . . . and the U.S.

 

48% of Israeli Jews Back ‘Expulsion’ or ‘Transfer’ of Arabs, New Pew Survey Says

Almost half of all Israeli Jews are in favor of transferring or expelling the state’s Arab population, a major U.S. survey of Israeli public opinion has found.  That staggering statistic comes from the Pew Research Center’s report on Israel’s religiously divided society, released on March 8. The Israelis polled were not responding to an Israeli government policy proposal, but rather the broad concept of transfer and expulsion. Forty-eight percent of Israeli Jews strongly agree or agree with the idea while 46% strongly disagree or disagree… According to Steven M. Cohen, a research professor of Jewish social policy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and an adviser on the Pew study, in addition to the implications inside Israel, the new data on transfer could further alienate American Jews from the Jewish state.

“American Jews project their view of the world on Israelis and when you have something so intolerant and anti-democratic, it runs counter to the American Jewish ethos,” he said.   More

 

The Campaign to Legislate Support for Settlements: Taking the Battle to the States

In 2014, opponents of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel began promoting legislation in various U.S. states denouncing the BDS movement.  In 2015, these efforts shifted/expanded to mirror efforts in the U.S. Congress to hijack concerns about BDS against Israel in order to pass legislation mandating that Israeli settlements be treated, in effect, as part of sovereign Israel. At the outset of 2016, it is already clear that these efforts are continuing and building. Indeed, the clear trend at the state-level is moving away from anti-BDS resolutions in favor of binding legislation to – in effect – have states boycott, divest from, and sanction companies that engage in BDS against Israel, or that in any concrete way differentiate between Israel and the settlements.   More

 

Second Massachusetts anti-boycott bill in the works

Rep. Steven Howitt (R-Seekonk) introduced HD4156, “An Act relative to pension divestment from companies that boycott, divest, and sanction the State of Israel” to the House Rules Committee on Oct. 1, 2015. It has languished in the joint House-Senate Public Service committee since Oct. 31… According to one Jewish legislator, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston is working with Howitt to revise his bill. The council frequently works with legislators on issues related to the Massachusetts Jewish community.

  

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OTHER EVENTS

 

Saturday, April 2: Reducing the Dangers of Nuclear War, @ 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, MIT Room 34-101, 50 Vassar St, Cambridge. + Google Map Responding to the continuing risk of nuclear war or accident, this conference is intended to focus on reducing the risks of a nuclear event. The conference will address the political and economic realities and will attempt to energize a local, social movement that will ultimately influence national policy.  Locating it at MIT builds on the long tradition of support for nuclear disarmament by MIT faculty including Vicki Weisskopf, Philip Morrison, Herman Feshbach, Randall Forsberg, Bernard Feld, Henry Kendall, Kosta Tsipis, Aron Bernstein and… Find out more »

 

Tuesday-Thursday, April 5-7: Mirna Perla on Human Rights in Central America

Mirna Antioneta Perla Jimenez is a human rights activist from El Salvador, a lawyer and a teacher. Ms. Perla has been a judge in Youth Court and Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice. Currently, she is a member and co-founder of the “Herbert Anaya Sanabria” Human Rights Collective and works with youth at risk, gang members and families in urban and rural communities throughout the country. She traveled to Honduras after the assassination of Berta Cáceres.

 

Tuesday April 5, from 5:30-7:30, at the Chelsea Collaborative: Fighting Gang Violence, Defending Human Rights: A Conversation between Community Organizers and Human Rights Activists from Central America and Chelsea Mass

 

Wednesday, April 6, from 6:30-9:00, at Encuentro5, 9 Hamilton Pl, Suite 2A, Boston (close to Park St Station and the OrpheumTheater)

An evening with Mirna Perla. In the light of Berta Cáceres’ assassination, raids targeting Central American families and the militarization of the Border.  An informal gathering and discussion to share experiences, ideas and strategies with Mirna Perla. Snacks will be provided.

 

Thursday, April 7, from 6:00-7:30 at 250 Dockser Hall at Northeastern University: The Human Rights of Migrants: A Central American Perspective. Presented at part of: Transcending Borders: Human Rights and Migration Week at Northeastern.

Sponsored by the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, Northeastern University School of Law and Boston CISPES. Participation is free but you need to register at mirnaperla.eventbrite.com.

 

For more information and questions, contact boston@cispes.org.

 

 

Saturday, April 9: Music for Peace: The Three Brahms Violin Sonatas,  @ 7:30 pm, Harvard-Epworth Methodist Church, 1555 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge. + Google Map  In the final concert of our 2015-16 Music for Peace Concert Series, two of America's leading chamber musicians perform the Three Brahms Violin Sonatas.Sonata in G major, Opus 78Sonata in A major, Opus 100Sonata in D minor, Opus 108Benefits Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund; part of the Music for Peace Series. Reserve seats for $25 in advance for Mass. Peace Action members, $35 for non-members, $10 for students, $35 at the door. Series of 3 concerts: member $65, non-member $80, student $25.

 

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CONTACTING DPP and Joining Our Work:

 

To make it easier to get involved with DPP, we've decided to publish contact info for our coordinators in every issue of this update. We will also regularly publish upcoming meetings of work committees, create a brochure or flyer about DPP, and greet new people at monthly meetings with an explanation of how we work. Here's how to reach them.