A View From The Left-WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME

*   *   *   *

WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME

 

In Boston only, QUESTION 5 would enact the Community Preservation Act (CPA) in the city, which would allocate a small real estate tax surcharge (with matching state funds) to finance affordable housing, preserve open space and historic sites, and develop outdoor recreational opportunities.  More information at Yes for a Better Boston. DPP’s neighborhood allies like New England United for Justice (NEU4J) and Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA) support this measure as a (very modest) measure to address the housing crisis. NEU4J is organizing door-to-door canvasing, which it invites DPPers to join. 

 

DPPers opposed Statewide Question 2, which would, if passed, allow for an exponential expansion of publicly-funded but privately-run Charter Schools, and which represents an attack on public education and public school teachers (and their unions).  QUESTION 2 IS BAD FOR OUR SCHOOLS:  it would allow the state to approve 12 new Commonwealth charter schools every year forever, eventually draining billions of dollars from our schools. Charter school proponents have millions of dollars from hedge funds and corporate backers, including the chair of the state board of education. People power needs to stand up for children in our public schools.

Sign up to volunteer at https://saveourpublicschoolsma.com/.

 

'TAKING TO THE STREETS' for Affordable Rental Housing

Hundreds of folks in Boston STOOD UP for Renters, Homeowners and Tenant Protections and Resources. We took to our Land to declare Public Land for Public Use!  And, we highlighted the ERROR of ways that City Officials have been WRONG in giving Tax Breaks and Back-Door deals with developers, planners and corporations with giving away Boston for Profit.  We were heard Loud and Far!  Across the county thousands of people took to the streets for the Renters Day Of Action. Statewide Rent Control campaigns launched in Oregon and Colorado. 4 cities (Portland, Santa Rosa, Boston (300+) and LA (300+)) took the fight directly to Landlord Lobbyists that are funding displacement, gentrification, evictions and profiting off of rising rents (in LA they occupied the offices of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles).  More

*   *   *   *

WILLIAM BARBER II: Why We Are Protesting in Charlotte

Since a police officer shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday afternoon, the ensuing protests have dominated national news. Provocateurs who attacked police officers and looted stores made headlines. Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency, and the National Guard joined police officers in riot gear, making the Queen City look like a war zone…  Charlotte’s protests are not black people versus white people. They are not black people versus the police. The protesters are black, white and brown people, crying out against police brutality and systemic violence. If we can see them through the tear gas, they show us a way forward to peace with justice…  As a pastor and an organizer, I do not condone violent protest. But I must join the Charlotte demonstrators in condemning the systemic violence that threatened Mr. Scott’s body long before an officer decided to use lethal force against him. And I must condemn the militarization of Charlotte by the authorities who do not want to address the fundamental concerns of protesters. For black lives to matter in encounters with the police, they must also matter in public policy.   More

 

REPARATIONS:  U.S. owes black people for a history of ‘racial terrorism,’ says U.N. panel

"In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent," the report stated. "Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching."  Citing the past year's spate of police officers killing unarmed African American men, the panel warned against "impunity for state violence," which has created, in its words, a "human rights crisis" that "must be addressed as a matter of urgency." … Separately, a coalition of Caribbean nations is calling for reparations from their former European imperial powers for the impact of slavery, colonial genocide and the toxic racial laws that shaped life for the past two centuries in these countries. Their efforts are fitful, and so far not so fruitful.  More

 

UNDERMINING DEMOCRACY:

Corporations Pouring Millions into Local Ballot Fights

This election cycle, corporate donors are not just beefing up the war chests of their most-favored politicians. According to a new study, industry is flexing its Supreme Court- approved political power to dominate local democracy, as well.  In the study, Big Business Ballot Bullies (pdf), Public Citizen examined eight state-level ballot initiatives and referenda that have seen an outsized amount of political spending. According to the research, published Wednesday, the corporate-backed campaigns have an average of 10-to-1 financial advantage over their mostly grassroots opponents, with total corporate spending in those races topping $139 million. "These findings should be deeply disturbing to anyone who is concerned about the power of corporate money to distort our democracy," wrote report author and Public Citizen research director Rick Claypool in a Thursday op-ed.  More

 

How Democrats Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Big Donor Money

Democrats denounced it as an assault on democracy and a sop to billionaires when the Supreme Court issued a ruling two years ago that loosened limits on campaign giving. But Hillary Clinton and Democratic Party leaders are now exploiting the decision, funneling tens of millions of dollars from their wealthiest donors into a handful of presidential swing states. The flow of money, documented in Federal Election Commission reports, shows Democrats expanding their fund-raising advantage in the final phase of the presidential race, defying expectations at the beginning of the campaign that Republicans would dominate the money chase…  Like other candidates for federal office this year, Mrs. Clinton can accept only up to $5,400 from any one donor over the course of her campaign. But after the McCutcheon decision, Mrs. Clinton established an agreement last year with the Democratic Party under which she asked her wealthiest patrons to write checks in excess of $300,000, more than double the old limit, to the Hillary Victory Fund, an account made up of the national and state parties and the Clinton campaign.   More

 

US AT THE CROSSROADS:

Start a New Nuclear Arms Race? Or Address Climate Change and Human Needs?

Under the benign or even positive heading of “nuclear modernization,” the United States plans to spend an estimated $1 trillion (it will surely be more than that – when was the last time an exorbitant military project came in under budget?) to overhaul every part of our nuclear weapons enterprise over the next three decades. Weapons laboratories, warheads, missiles, planes and submarines are all slated to be upgraded...  Besides  the opportunity cost of investing in new nukes – money that won’t go to cancer research, affordable housing, health care for all, infrastructure repair and building the green economy – what baffles is the lack of democracy and accountability. Did anybody vote for this? Did any politicians run on this platform? Certainly not President Obama, who ran on reducing and eventually eliminating nuclear weapons worldwide, yet agreed to The New Nuclear Arms Race proposal in exchange for ratification of the modest New START agreement with Russia, a very poor trade-off.   More

 

Trump Promises No First Nuclear Strike, Sort of; New Bill Would Make it Illegal

Responding to the majority of Americans who say they would not trust Trump with the nuclear arsenal, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., introduced legislation Tuesday that would bar the president from conducting a nuclear strike unless Congress had issued a formal declaration of war. “Our Founding Fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they knew the President could launch a massive, potentially civilization-ending military strike without authorization from Congress,” Lieu said in a statement. “The current nuclear launch approval process, which gives the decision to potentially end civilization as we know it to a single individual, is flatly unconstitutional.”  Whatever Trump actually believes about nuclear weapons, neither Clinton nor President Obama nor any former president has ever adopted a firm “no first use” policy…  In the closing months of Obama’s presidency, some media outlets have speculated that the Obama administration might revise its policy and issue a “no first use” pledge. But the New York Times reported in September that such a proclamation was unlikely, given strong opposition from Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry.   More

 

The Markey (S 3400 text and info here) and Lieu (H.R. 6179 text and info here) bills that would require a congressional declaration of war before any nuclear first strike. Here calls to your House and Senate contacts asking members to cosponsor the bill would be good.

 

*   *   *   *

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

 

U.S. To Send 600 More Troops To Iraq

President Obama has authorized sending an additional 600 American troops to Iraq to assist Iraqi forces in the looming battle to take back the city of Mosul from the Islamic State, United States officials said on Wednesday. The announcement means that there will soon be 5,000 American troops in Iraq, seven years after the Obama administration withdrew all American troops from the country…  “These are military forces that will be deployed to intensify the strategy that’s in place, to support Iraqi forces as they prepare for an offensive,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday.  More

 

Afghanistan War Supplemental Request Coming in November

Defense Secretary Ash Carter plans to present Congress with a request for a supplemental spending measure to fund US troops in Afghanistan come November, he said Monday.  However, Carter would not give a sense of how large the monetary request may be, saying only that there is a “range” that the department’s budgetary experts are considering. “We have a range. We’re going to refine it. And they’ll get a refined number when [Congress members] return in November, hopefully to pass a budget for the federal government,” Carter told reporters during a visit to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. President Barack Obama in July announced plans to leave 8,400 service members in Afghanistan through the end of the year, rather than the 5,500 that were initially budgeted for fiscal year 2017.   More

 

HOW THE US ARMED-UP SYRIAN JIHADISTS

“No one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort”, a former Green Beret writes of America’s covert and clandestine programs to train and arm Syrian insurgents, “they know we are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, ‘Fuck it, who cares?’”. “I don’t want to be responsible for Nusra guys saying they were trained by Americans,” the Green Beret added.  In a detailed report, US Special Forces Sabotage White House Policy gone Disastrously Wrong with Covert Ops in Syria, Jack Murphy, himself a former Green Beret (U.S. Special Forces), recounts a former CIA officer having told him how the “the Syria covert action program is [CIA Director John] Brennan’s baby …Brennan was the one who breathed life into the Syrian Task Force … John Brennan loved that regime-change bullshit.”  In gist, Murphy tells the story of U.S. Special Forces under one Presidential authority, arming Syrian anti-ISIS forces, whilst the CIA, obsessed with overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad, and operating under a separate Presidential authority, conducts a separate and parallel program to arm anti-Assad insurgents…  Buried in the text is this stunning one-line conclusion: “after ISIS is defeated, the real war begins. CIA-backed FSA elements will openly become al-Nusra; while Special Forces-backed FSA elements like the New Syrian Army will fight alongside the Assad regime. Then the CIA’s militia and the Special Forces’ militia will kill each other.”     More

 

Syria Rebels Draw Closer to al Qaeda-Linked Group

Some of Syria’s largest rebel factions are doubling down on their alliance with an al Qaeda-linked group, despite a U.S. warning to split from the extremists or risk being targeted in airstrikes. The rebel gambit is complicating American counterterrorism efforts in the country at a time the U.S. is contemplating cooperation with Russia to fight extremist groups…  Some rebel groups already aligned with Syria Conquest Front responded by renewing their alliance. But others, such as Nour al-Din al-Zinki, a former Central Intelligence Agency-backed group and one of the largest factions in Aleppo, pledged allegiance for the first time to the front in recent days. A second, smaller rebel group joined the alliance known as Jaish al-Fateh, which is dominated by Syria Conquest Front and includes another major Islamist rebel force, Ahrar al-Sham.    More

 

When Is Direct Military Intervention Not Direct Military Intervention?

“President Obama has long refused to approve direct military intervention in Syria,” the New York Times asserted in an editorial (9/29/16) about “Vladimir Putin’s Outlaw State.”  That’s a peculiar thing to say, given that the Times regularly covers the United States’ ongoing direct military intervention in Syria. Since 2014, according to official Pentagon figures, the US has carried out 5,337 airstrikes in Syria. According to the monitoring group Airwars, these airstrikes (along with a few hundred strikes by US allies) have likely killed between 818 and 1,229 Syrian civilians. Nor is direct US military intervention in Syria limited to aerial attacks. In May 2015, the New York Times (5/16/15) reported on a combat raid by US Delta Force commandos in eastern Syria. Later that year, the Times (10/30/15) observed that President Barack Obama had announced he was sending (in the paper’s words) “several dozen” special forces troops on an “open-ended mission” inside Syria.  More

 

US Threatens to Arm Al Qaeda, ISIS with Anti-Air Missiles
US officials have threatened Syria and its allies – including Russia specifically – that the collapse of a US-proposed ceasefire will lead “Gulf states” to arm militants with shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles… One U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss American policy, said Washington has kept large numbers of such man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, out of Syria by uniting Western and Arab allies behind channeling training and infantry weapons to moderate opposition groups while it pursued talks with Moscow.
But frustration with Washington has intensified, raising the possibility that Gulf allies or Turkey will no longer continue to follow the U.S. lead or will turn a blind eye to wealthy individuals looking to supply MANPADS to opposition groups.“The Saudis have always thought that the way to get the Russians to back off is what worked in Afghanistan 30 years ago – negating their air power by giving MANPADS to the mujahideen,” said a second U.S. official.  More

U.S. and EU Sanctions Are Punishing Ordinary Syrians and Crippling Aid Work

The sanctions and war have destabilized every sector of Syria’s economy, transforming a once self-sufficient country into an aid-dependent nation. But aid is hard to come by, with sanctions blocking access to blood safety equipment, medicines, medical devices, food, fuel, water pumps, spare parts for power plants, and more…  In 2013 the sanctions were eased but only in opposition areas. Around the same time, the CIA began directly shipping weapons to armed insurgents at a colossal cost of nearly $1 billion a year, effectively adding fuel to the conflict while U.S. sanctions obstructed emergency assistance to civilians caught in the crossfire…  Such conditions would be devastating for any country. In war-torn Syria, where an estimated 13 million people are dependent on humanitarian assistance, the sanctions are compounding the chaos. More

 

THE US, ISRAEL, SAUDI ARABIA – AND IRAN

As the US alliance with reactionary Saudi Arabia begins to show some signs of strain, Israel and its American cheerleaders are anxious to keep those relations on-track. Senators closely associated with unstinting support for Israel were among the votes to sustain massive arms sales to Saudi Arabia. There is also a relentless flood as anti-Iran resolutions, letters and hearings in Congress, mostly spearheaded by Republican allies of Israel. (On the recent contentious issue of a Congressional bill to allow lawsuits against see here and here; somewhat surprisingly, many progressive Members of Congress voted against the successful over-ride of President Obama’s veto.)

Israel itself barely conceals its growing de facto partnership with Saudi Arabia and the other reactionary Gulf monarchies, as highlighted in this prominent op-ed piece by former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Why Iran is more dangerous than Islamic State. Israel’s strategic concerns coincide with the sectarian project of the Sunni monarchies, especially in Syria.  Foreign intervention in Syria has everything to do with breaking that country’s alliance with Iran and Hezbollah rather than any concern for democracy or human rights.

 

The Outdated Special Relationship with Saudi Arabia

Like other longstanding American relationships in the Middle East, the ties between Washington and Riyadh have nothing to do with human rights or democracy. The alliance rests mostly on two key factors: natural resources and regional stability… In the past two weeks, Congress has adopted a contradictory posture toward Saudi Arabia. It has pressed for both the declassification of a report that details the potential Saudi connection to the 9/11 attacks and on human rights violations within the Kingdom. It also overrode an Obama veto for the first time to pass a bill allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government as a potential enabler of the attacks. At the same time, Congress blocked an attempt to undermine a $1.15 billion sale of military tanks to Riyadh. In the post-Cold War world, the interests of Riyadh and Washington have increasingly diverged in the region… If the next administration continues to free US Middle East policy from its Saudi-centric, Cold-War-era thinking, Washington will find that it has more flexibility in making a strategic approach to Iran, advance human rights in the region, and effectively counter political and religious extremism, whether Sunni, Shia, or any other variety.   More

 

Angered by 9/11 Victims Law, Saudis Rethink U.S. Alliance

Saudis responded to the passage of the bill, after both houses of Congress voted on Wednesday to override Mr. Obama’s veto, with a mix of anger and disappointment, while many have already begun thinking about how their country will need to adjust. Passage of the law was a huge blow to the Saudis, who have long maintained strong ties in Washington though close cooperation with the American government on a range of issues, from economic and oil policy to counterterrorism to shared intelligence and military programs. Saudi diplomats, and a range of public relations companies hired by the Saudi government, lobbied hard against the bill, with Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister and former Saudi ambassador to Washington, leading the effort. But that failed to persuade enough lawmakers to vote against a bill promoted by the families of victims of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.   More

 

U.S. MILITARY IS BUILDING A $100 MILLION DRONE BASE IN AFRICA

Niger has positioned itself to be the key regional hub for U.S. military operations, with Agadez serving as the premier outpost for launching intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions against a plethora of terror groups…  The U.S. military activity in Niger is not isolated. “There’s a trend toward greater engagement and a more permanent presence in West Africa — the Maghreb and the Sahel,” noted Adam Moore of the department of geography at the University of California in Los Angeles and the co-author of an academic study of the U.S. military’s presence in Africa.   More

 

*   *   *   *

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

 

SHIMON PERES

 

U.S. President Barack Obama stands next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the funeral of former Israeli president Shimon Peres at Mount Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem, September 30.

The press has been serving up non-stop tributes to the deceased Israeli leader.  Perhaps it reflects the more urbane and liberal persona Peres had projected during the many decades of his public life.  Of course, he benefitted by comparison to the crude nationalistic and bullying style of current rightwing Israeli politicians.  A low bar.    The presence of so many world leaders at his funeral was perhaps meant to highlight this contrast, at least in image and rhetoric. (The ceremony was attended by, President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Bill Clinton and up to 50 Members of Congress).   Palestinians, of course had a different experience with the late Israeli leader.  Peres, the “peacemaker” was the founding father of the Israeli settlement project in the lands conquered in 1967.

 

Few tributes note the efforts of Peres “the peacemaker” to develop Israel’s nuclear weapons in the 1960’s – with the help of the French and stolen fissionable material from the US; his key role in Israel’s breaking of the international arms embargo against Apartheid South Africa; the wars against Israel’s neighbors, including the infamous Qana massacre in 1986; the many slaughters in Gaza.

 

As President Obama commented, with unintended irony, when he awarded Peres the US Medal of Freedom in 2012: “In him, we see the essence of Israel itself.” Indeed.

 

Media Hails Shimon Peres as Man of Peace — But Doesn’t Bother to Ask Arabs

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres’s death unleashed an outpouring of adoration from American media outlets, with major newspapers and broadcast media calling Peres a great man of peace, almost exclusively quoting Israelis and Americans who shared that view.

Lost in the rush to praise Peres were the voices of Arabs such as the Palestinians who lived under the Israeli occupation he expanded, the Lebanese civilians who survived the massacre his military perpetrated, or the Arab representatives in Israel’s Knesset who boycotted his funeral over his support for policies that suppress the Palestinian population.   More

 

A Palestinian perspective on the legacy of Shimon Peres

The peace project, which has become inextricably interwoven with Peres’s own political career, provided him with a clear sense of purpose and a not inconsiderable level of international acclaim…  The belief that the conditions and consequences of the occupation can be overcome through a range of semantic devices and illusionary hopes has since been exposed as the cruel fiction that it always was. It is no coincidence that the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement should now demand and assert Palestinian rights with such intensity.

I­t would perhaps be appropriate to speak of a Palestinian rejection of the style of politics with which Peres’s career was so tied – a style which speaks the language of universalism while promoting exclusivism; a style which holds out the hand of peace while simultaneously extending a clenched fist; a style which acknowledges Palestinian rights, but which does so in a way that is conditional, contingent and subject to the dictates of Israeli politicians.   More

 

WHY IS CONGRESS FIGHTING NETANYAHU’S BATTLE?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have learned a thing or two from his frenzied attempts to mobilize the US Congress against the nuclear deal with Iran behind President Barack Obama’s back. Netanyahu is now waging a battle to foil recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN Security Council during the period between the November elections in the United States and the presidential inauguration in January…  Netanyahu has 88 of the 100 US senators hitched to his wagon. This bipartisan group wrote Obama on Sept. 19 demanding that he veto any unilateral move at the UN Security Council in the coming months on a permanent arrangement concerning the territories that Israel controls or its settlements. That is how things work when you have billionaire friends like gambling tycoon Sheldon Adelson and you have at your disposal a powerful lobbying group like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee…Congress could make life miserable for any president who permits UN recognition of a Palestinian state to pass. US lawmakers cannot force an administration to use its veto power in the Security Council or to withhold it, but Congress does control the federal budget, including foreign aid allocations.  More

 

Donald Trump backers also trying to get vote out in Israeli settlement

Trump, however, remains in my life, this time very close to home. Israeli supporters of the Republican presidential nominee have opened an office in the occupied West Bank. The first office was placed in Karnei Shomron in the north West Bank. This settlement and the more than 140 other Israeli settlements are rejected by nearly all, if not all, countries around the world.  A nonprofit group, Republican Overseas Israel, was established for the purpose of getting out the Republican vote in Israel – and now in the occupied West Bank. Marc Zell serves as its co-chairman and proudly claims that they are serving all of Israel from this "logistical jumping-off point."  As if having Trump in the presidential race is not enough, we now have "close coordination" of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee with Israeli settlers who not only violate international law, but are also in direct contradiction with U.S. foreign policy.  More

 

*    *    *    *

OTHER EVENTS

 

Saturday-Sunday, October 1 –2:  HOMELAND (IRAQ YEAR ZERO) BY ABBAS FAHDEL,  The Harvard Film Archive is pleased to present HOMELAND (IRAQ YEAR ZERO) BY ABBAS FAHDEL from October 1 – October 2, 2016 with filmmaker Abbas Fahdel in person. $12 Special Event Tickets.  Abbas Fahdel in person, Saturday October 1 at 7pm, Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) – Part 1. Before the Fall, Sunday October 2 at 7pm, Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) – Part 2. After the Battle http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2016sepnov/homeland.html  Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) is a riveting home-movie chronicle of life in Iraq before and after the US invasion. Offering all-too-rare images of everyday life in Iraq, the film closely follows extended family members and friends of director Abbas Fahdel as they brace for the long impending attack and then struggle to survive the disastrous consequences of American imperialism. Leaving the invasion itself eerily absent, Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) is cleaved into two epic chapters starkly separated by a dark, gaping chasm. Before the Fall offers a touching portrait of middle-class Iraq, assembled from extended domestic scenes and debates among Baghdad friends and neighbors, as well as a wedding that becomes an emotional centerpiece of the entire film. After the Battle bravely takes to the street to survey, with shock and unspoken outrage, the ruthless destruction of public and private space wrought by the occupying US forces.

 

Wednesday, October 5: Greening the Global (and Massachusetts) Economy,  7- 9pm, Cambridge Friends Meeting, 

5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge. We can stop climate catastrophe  If we are up to the challenge!  Here’s How:  An Open Forum with Dr. Robert Pollin: Co-director, Political Economy Research Institute and Professor of Economics @ UMASS-Amherst;  Author: Greening the Global Economy (M.I.T. Press);   Come hear Robert Pollin lay out his economic plan for how we can meet the carbon reduction targets that will actually avert climate catastrophe, generate vast numbers of new jobs and protect those employed by fossil fuel energy companies.

 

Friday, October 7:  ROCK AGAINST THE TPP,  6-10pm,  Spontaneous Celebrations,  45 Danforth St
Jamaica Plain.   Rock Against the TPP is a nationwide uprising to stop the biggest corporate power grab in history: the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The tour comes to Boston on Friday, October 7th with an all-star lineup of musicians helping sound the alarm about this toxic deal. Featuring: Mirah, Debo Band, Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde, Foundation Movement, bell's roar, + more TBA! FREE! All ages. RSVP for your free tickets here: https://www.rockagainstthetpp.org/boston-ma

 

Tuesday-Thurs, October 11-14:  PHYLLIS BENNIS: Ending the Many Wars in Syria

Is the war in Syria a civil war? Is it a proxy war between the US and Russia ? Is it also a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey? Can ISIS be reined in? Should Assad go? Or stay?  Should the US "do more"?  Or is it already doing too much by arming and training rebel groups? What will be the likely outcome of the current cease fire negotiations?  Tuesday, October 11, 7:00 pm ~ Boston College, Gasson Hall, room 305;  Wednesday, October 12, noon ~ Tufts University, Meyer Campus Center room 112. Lunch and Learn sponsored by Peace & Justice Studies; Wednesday, October 12, 4:00 pm ~ Salem State University, Marsh Hall 210 (Petrowski Room). Sponsored by History Dept & Center for Community Engagement; Thursday, October 13, 12:15 pm ~ Emmanuel College, Room TBA. Sponsored by Emmanuel Peace Action

Thursday, October 13, 7:00 pm ~ Brandeis University, Mandel G12. Sponsored by Peace, Conflict & Coexistence Studies program; Brandeis Peace Action, Graduate Program in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence, Schusterman Center, Social Justice and Social Policy, and Sociology

Find out more »

 

Saturday, October 15: Climate Change and the Growing Risk of Nuclear War -- A Health Care Perspective, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm, Tufts University School of Medicine, Sackler Auditorium, Boston (Map/Directions).  A one-day Symposium to examine the catastrophic public health consequences of climate change and the ways that climate change will increase the risk of conflict, including nuclear war.   More info here: http://www.psr.org/chapters/boston/events/symposium/

 

Saturday, October 15: MUSIC FOR PEACE: An Evening of French Music, 7:30pm at the Harvard-Epworth Methodist Church, 1555 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge.  A Fundraiser for Mass Peace Action. Featuring  Ayano Ninomiya, violin, Carol Ou, cello, Mana Tokuno, piano. Poulenc Sonata for violin and piano, Pierné Sonata for cello and piano, Chausson piano trio. More Details Here ~ Purchase Tickets  First concert of MUSIC FOR PEACE 2016-2017 SERIES, Three Sundays of chamber music to support our work for a more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Victor Rosenbaum, Music Director. Cost for the series of 3 concerts: $60 for Massachusetts Peace Action members, $85 for non-members, $25 for students.  Purchase tickets for the series or join Massachusetts Peace Action now!) Cost for a single concert: $25 for members, $35 for non-members, $10 for students.

 

Friday-Sat, October 21-22: MEDEA BENJAMIN – “Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the US-Saudi Connection”,  

MEDEA BENJAMIN is the author of a new book on Saudi Arabia and Co-Founder of the Organization Code Pink.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 First Church in Cambridge, Jewett Hall 7:00 p.m. • 11 Garden Street, Cambridge. Admission: Free (donations for Code Pink accepted) ; SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22. Community Church of Boston. 6:30 p.m. Reception • 7:30 p.m. Event • 565 Boylston Street, Boston. Admission: $20 www.brownpapertickets.com • www.communitychurchofboston.org  Contact: CHRIJ 617.552.8491 | humanrights@bc.edu | www.bc.edu/humanrights  

 

Friday-Sat, October 21-22: “WHITE LIKE ME: A Honky Dory Puppet Show", Mass. College of Art  (details can be found specifically at www.puppetshowplace.org/zaloom).  The (in)famous puppeteer Paul Zaloom, of Bread & Puppet and Beakman's World fame, will be presenting his latest outrageous political comedy " which basically blasts white privilege into the stratosphere. The NY Times has dubbed Zaloom as “one of the most original and talented political satirists working in the theater.”  Zaloom's "White Like Me," produced by Puppet Showplace Theater, will take place October 21-22 at. Further details can be found specifically at www.puppetshowplace.org/zaloom with an advance tix discount code available (good thru Oct. 11th) by entering the code ZALOOM when ordering tix. Sen. John McCain has called Zaloom's "White Like Me" a "questionable puppet show,” so what's not to like?

 

 

SAVE THE DATE!

 

Saturday, December 3: The Next Four Years: Building Our Movements in Dangerous Times, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm ~ Simmons College, Boston.  Regardless of the outcome of the November, 2016 elections, the peoples’ movements and the political revolution will face enormous challenges in the next four years. We therefore call for a post-election conference on Saturday December 3 to identify and capitalize on all opportunities for organizing open to us in an increasingly undemocratic, hawkish and xenophobic environment. “The Next Four Years: Building Our Movements in Dangerous Times” will help us to frame our issues and public messaging, to forge a common vision, to increase greater integration of our movements, and to build an action plan that will inspire and motivate more and more people to get involved.