This space is dedicated to the proposition that we need to know the history of the struggles on the left and of earlier progressive movements here and world-wide. If we can learn from the mistakes made in the past (as well as what went right) we can move forward in the future to create a more just and equitable society. We will be reviewing books, CDs, and movies we believe everyone needs to read, hear and look at as well as making commentary from time to time. Greg Green, site manager
Sunday, April 14, 2013
***From The Pen Of Ernest Hemingway- The Moveable Feast
Up Close and Personal with the Lost Generation
This book, published after
the death of Ernest Hemingway, but written in 1960 is a little gold mine of
insights about the personalities and places that made Paris in the 1920’s the
home of the post World War I ‘lost generation’. Hemingway notes that these
memoirs can be treated as fiction but that one can still gain some insight even
through that lens. Certainly the writing is as sparse and well turned as any of
his short stories, including the characteristic last sentence or two of each
section built to sharply give the point he was trying to get across.
Of course Hemingway was young
, newly married and fairly poor in this Paris but apparently his reputation was
such that all the great American and British expatriates crossed his path (or
he theirs). Gertrude Stein (and Alice) gets a nod. As does Ford Maddox Ford,
T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Ezra Pound and a smaller group of secondary writers
and poets. Hell, I believe that you had to be in Paris at that time if you
wanted to fertilize your work.
A special note should be
taken of the sections dealing with his relationship with Scott Fitzgerald. From
Hemingway’s perspective this was a very difficult man but one who he tried to
befriend. And of course there, as always, was the Zelda problem. If you want to
understand the inner strain of Fitzgerald’s Tender is The Night read to
Hemingway’s tidbits. At some level Hemingway was trying to ‘save’ Fitzgerald as
a writer but as we know it was not to be. Read here and then go out and read
other books on the ‘lost ‘generation. Some of it will make more sense
then.
***From The Pen Of Hunter S. Thompson- Doctor Gonzo-Hey,
Rube
Make no mistake the late,
lamented Hunter Thompson was always something of a muse for me going way back
to the early 1970’s when I first read his seminal work on the outlaw bikers the
Hell’s Angels. Since then I have devoured, and re-devoured virtually everything
that he has written. However the present book leaves me cold. This is a case
where ‘greed’ (on whose part I do not know although the proliferating pile of rememberances
of Thompson may give a hint) got the better of literary wisdom. This compilation
of articles started life as commentary on the ESPN.com, part of the cable
sports network. And perhaps that is where the project should have ended. Hey,
this stuff has a half life in cyberspace so not would have been lost.
So what is the basis for my
objection? Part of Hunter’s attraction always has been a fine sense of the hypocrisy
of American politics. Although we march to different drummers politically I have
always appreciated his ability to skewer the latest political heavyweight- in-
chief, friend or foe. That is missing here although he does get a few whacks in
on the current child-president Bush. But this is not enough. What this screed
is really about is the whys and wherefores of his life long addiction to sports
betting and particularly professional football, the NLF. A run through the ups
and downs of previous seasons’ (2000-2003) gambling wins and loses, however, does
not date well. Hell, I can barely remember last week’s bets. But the real
problem is that like in politics we listen to different drummers. I am a long
time fan of ‘pristine and pure’ big time college football and would not sully
my hands to bet on the NFL so his whining about the San Francisco 49’ers or the
Denver Broncos is so much hot air. However, I will take Ohio State and 3 points
against LSU in the 2007 college championship game. That’s the ticket. I miss
Hunter and his wild and wooly writing that made me laugh many a time when I was
down and needed a boost but not here. Enough said.
***On Garry Wills’ Nixon
Agonistes- The Fate Of One Richard Milhous Nixon
The English poet and
Cromwellian revolutionary John Milton had his Samson struggling against forces
that he did not understand and that in the end he was unable to overcome.
Professor Wills in his seminal contemporaneous study of the career through his
successful run in 1968, up close and personal, of one Richard Milhous Nixon,
former President of the United, common criminal and currently resident of one
of Dante’s Circles of Hell tries to place the same spin on the vices and
virtues of this modern “Everyman”. He takes us through the hard scrabble
childhood, the formative Quaker background in sunny California, the post World
War II start of Nixon’s rapidly advancing political career, his defeats for
president in 1960 and for California governor in 1962 and his resurrection in
1968. And through his discourse, as is his habit, Professor Wills runs through
every possible interpretation of his rise and what Nixon symbolized on the
American political landscape. If one has a criticism of Wills it is exactly
this overkill to make a point but make your own judgment on this one as you
read through this tract.
However, as well written and
well researched as this exposition is it will just not wash. Nixon knew what
the score was at all times and in all places so that unlike old Samson there
was no question of his not understanding. As Wills points out Nixon had an
exceptional grasp of the ‘dark side’ of the American spirit in the middle third
of the 20th century and he pumped that knowledge for all it was
worth. Moreover, rather than cry over his self-imposed fate one should
understand that he liked it that way. There is no victim of overwhelming and
arbitrary circumstances clouding his fate.Enough said.
It is perhaps hard for those
who were not around then, or older folks who have forgotten, just what Nixon
meant as a villainous political target to those of us of the Generation of ‘
68for all that was wrong with American
political life (although one Lyndon Johnson gave him a run for his money as
demon-in-chief). Robert Kennedy had it, as he did on many occasions, very
eloquently right when he said that Richard Nixon represented the ‘dark side of
the American spirit’. For those who believe that all political evil started
with the current President George W. Bush, think again. Nixon was the
‘godfather’ of the current ilk. Some have argued that in retrospect compared to
today’s ravenous beasts that Nixon’s reign was benign. Believe that at your
peril. Just to be on the safe side let’s put another stake through his heart.
And read this book to get an idea of what a representative of a previous generation
of political evil looked like.
From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007)
- On American Political Discourse
Markin comment:
In the period 2006-2008 I, in
vain, attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American
presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed
election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the
event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious,
in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who
really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the
Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world
politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially
the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois
commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things
to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies,
the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for
a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some
of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on.
************ ORGANIZE THE COAL
MINERS!
COMMENTARY
DON’T MOURN,
ORGANIZE!
In my recent Labor Scorecard 2007 commentary (see September
2007 archives) and elsewhere I have noted that a key to the revitalization of
the American labor movement is the organization of Wal-Mart and the South two
giant tasks that would go a long way to a return of labor militancy. In short,
organize the unorganized. Those tasks are still central to recovery, however,
the recent mine disaster at the Crandall Canyon Mines in Utah andlast year’s disaster at Sago, West Virginia
have brought to mind how precarious conditions are in the mines. And that is
not even to speak of the seemingly daily disasters in the Chinese mines and
elsewhere. Tunneling underground is just not a safe operation under any
circumstances. Impelled by the profit motive, as CrandallCanyon
so graphically demonstrated, it can be nothing short of industrial murder I
have also read a recent article on the state of unionization in the American automobile
industry which was at one time almost totally unionized. The most dramatic
statistic that I gathered from that article was that while there are almost as
many auto workers as there were at the height of the unions today only one
third of that work force is unionized. Thus, an expansion of organization of
these previously militant unions is on the agenda today.
Historically some of the most dramatic labor battles in America
involved the United Mine Workers and other miners’ unions. One need only think
of the “Molly McGuires” in the Pennsylvania coal fields, the names Ludlow, Butte, Coeur d’Alene, the Western
Federation of Miners led by the legendary “Big” Bill Haywood and of other
lesser class struggle led by him and the International Workers of the World
(IWW, Wobblies). The names roll off the tongue in endless succession.More recently one remembers the great battles
in the Eastern mines, especially West
Virginia, up to the 1970’s. If one location epitomized
theses long struggles one need only mention one name Harlan, famous in story
and song, in the hills of Kentucky to
knowmilitant miners knew how to fight
(as well as the built-in limitations to success, as well). My father, before he
escaped the coal fields by joining the Marines in World War II and thereafter settling
in Boston, ‘worked the coal’ as a boy around Hazard, Kentucky, another
legendary mining town. He had many a story to tell about those experiences and
it is a measure of how bad it was that he happily went into the service in
order to escape that life. One lesson that he imparted to me and one that
offers us hope is the tradition, honored more in the breech that the observance
now, of the miners-Picket lines mean don’t cross. Every militant needs to have
that slogan etched in his or her brain.
That said, today’s coal economics do not make the task any
easier than in earlier times. Coal production has had a very stormy and topsy-turvy
history and unemployment and abandonment of worked-over mines is only part of
the story. Recently, with the increased price of other fossil fuels, mainly
oil, however the coal ‘clean or dirty’ has become more valuable. Thus, old
unsafe mines and other formerly forgotten fields are being worked today by the
same old greedy capitalist investors that we all remember from the ‘age of the
robber barons’. Moreover the location of the fields in remote areas and,
frankly, the parochialism and localism of the workforce make organizing as
difficult as it always has been. Add to
the mix, as noticeable in CrandallCanyon, the waves of
immigrants swarming to the fields in search of desperately needed work and
there is a handful. Yes, those are all problems to be confronted but the most
serious problem is the lack of interest of today’s leadership of the Mine
Workers and of the AFL-CIO to make this fight. And that is where the fight has
to begin.
Lest I be accused of the dreaded sin of ‘dual unionism’ let
me make clear that this fight to reorganize the miners has to begin with the
current organized union structures as a matter of common sense. Tackling the
individual disparate owners piecemeal with local unions is not the way forward.
Yes, we want one big industry-wide, nation-wide (or for that matter,
world-wide) union. What we do not want to do is rely on the good graces of
governmental agencies, in this case, the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
As the results of CrandallCanyon demonstrate
reliance on this toothless (for labor) agency is a sure sign of defeat before
we start.
Furthermore, a central demand beyond the tradition ones of
union recognition, wages and working conditions is the absolute necessity to
fight for a workers safety committee with the union that would prohibit work in
unsafe mines and address other mine safety issues. Let us be clear this is not
some tripartite (labor, capitalist, government) committee but a union one. If
one wants to know what the embryonic stages of workers control of production under
capitalism but before socialism that should be our model. It is a life and
death struggle. All trade union militants should be demanding that instead of
using your hard earned dues to elect one or another of the bourgeois candidates
in 2008 that those dues go to organizing the mines. That, my friends, is the
beginning of labor wisdom now. Don’t mourn, Organize!
From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007)
- On American Political Discourse
Markin comment:
In the period 2006-2008 I, in
vain, attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American
presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed
election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the
event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious,
in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who
really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the
Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world
politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially
the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois
commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things
to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies,
the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for
a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some
of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on.
************
LABOR AND THE WAR IN IRAQ
This diary entry (very
slightly edited) is from my blog, dated January 19, 2007. It should be read as
part of, and in connection with, my first two dairy entries- An Open Letter to
All Anti-war Activists and An Open Letter to the Rank and File Troops in Iraq.
Also see note on first diary entry as an introduction to my purpose on this
site. That said, this entry as the others is a little jagged for being dated.
However, as in those entries I stand by the political points presented.
Sometimes the big issues of war and peace can only be resolved in the
workplace, in the barracks and in the streets. Now is such a time.
LABOR-SUPPORT YOUR CLASS BROTHERS AND SISTERS-BUILD
ANTI-WAR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS SOLIDARITY COMMITTEES-IMMEDIATE UNCONDITIONAL
WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ!
As readers of this space are
aware over the last year I have been running a propaganda campaign for the
anti-war movement to change its focus and concentrate on winning over the rank
and file troops that are fighting the bloody war in Iraq. Readers will also
note that these commentaries are part of a byline dedicated to fighting for a
workers party here in America. Recently I received a rather surprising
communication from a young militant who, in essence, accused me of having a
‘military’ deviation on the war question. The basis for this comment is the
notion that propaganda for a workers party- a political solution to the crisis
of leadership in the American labor movement and thus ultimately the question
of the war in Iraq- precludes my so-called ‘military’ solution. Needless to say
this calls for some commentary, or rather clarification, on my part.
Politics, including left-wing propaganda
politics, is about timing as much as any other factor. A realistic look at the
political landscape of the organized labor movement today shows no particular
movement at the base to defend itself against the onslaught of effective wage
and benefit cuts. Nor is there a serious commitment to massively organize the
working class into trade unions, particularly the critical Wal-Mart and
Southern labor forces that would go a long way to reversing the decline in the
power of the organized labor movement. Given those conditions what is the
likelihood today of galvanizing organized labor for meaningful political action
in opposition to the Iraq war? While many unions and labor federations,
including my union, have gone on record in ‘paper’ opposition to the war, it
remains a paper position except for support to bourgeois , mainly Democratic
Party, ‘anti-war’ candidates.This
abject support is the labor equivalent of those meaningless non-binding
resolutions that the Congress is so fond of, and by the way requires no heavy
lifting.
A look at the general
political scene is even more depressing, if not down right embarrassing to
those in the anti-war movement who, unlike me, took the mid-term 2006 elections
as good coin. After six years of getting hammered by the likes of Dick Cheney
and Karl Rove one would think that those esteemed bourgeois politicians from
Hillary “Hawk” to Obama the “Charma” would be able to ratchet up the courage to
say no. No, not meaningless non-binding resolutions gently chiding President
Bush for his ‘surge’ strategy. No, not trying to have one’s cake and eating it
too by supporting the troops and opposing the war policy. The only meaningful
anti-war parliamentary maneuver is to vote NO on the war budget. That
proposition will come up for a vote (maybe) soon. Watch all the rats deserting
ship on that one after the great political courage they summoned up to vote for
the non-binding resolution. It will not be pretty and it is not recommended for
the faint-hearted.
If one takes a look at the
causality lists from the war or reads the seemingly endless local news profiles
of those who have died or been severely wounded (a more difficult number to
digest) it is plain as day that working people from the cities and small towns
of America have taken the brunt of the beating in Iraq. While my appeals to
form ant-war solidarity committees have been generic one thing is clear the
class brothers and sisters of those soldiers and sailors have a very deep
interest in getting their people the hell out of Iraq. Thus, the dragging out
of the war, the average citizen’s frustrated desire to get out, the bourgeois
parties political impasse, the anti-war leadership’s parliamentary cretinist strategy
and labor’s unwillingness to take decisive action at this time makes it
necessary to call for the troops to take action as the short way home. We must
not let our anti-war class brothers and sisters in uniform stand alone.Yes, in a beautiful, politically conscious
labor movementwe should be calling for
political strikes against thewar and
calling on dockworkers and othersnot
handle military goods to Iraq but that is not the case right now (although it
might be latter). Until then I can take the heat on my ‘military’ deviation-as
long as we get those anti-war solidarity committees up and running- and those
troops out.
***In Honor Of The Republican Side In The
Spanish Civil War (1936-39) - A 50th Anniversary, Of Sorts
I have noted on other occasions posts that
some of our working- class anniversaries like the March 18thcommemoration of the start of Paris Commune
of 1871, the Bolshevik Russian Revolution of October 1917, and the
establishment of the Communist International in March of 1919 are worthy of
yearly commemoration. So, let us say, the 96th anniversary of the Russian October
while awkward as a milestone is nevertheless, because of its world-historic
importance (both in its establishment and its demise), an appropriate yearly
commemoration. Others, like the Russian Revolution of 1905 are worthy of the
more traditional five, ten and multiples observations. I have also noted
previously my dismay (although that may be too strong a word) at the rise of
odd-ball year anniversaries (30th, for example) and rise in the number of
mundane occasions for such celebrations although I am not immune to that fever
myself. Here, as the headline notes, I am observing a traditional milestone.
However, the event itself, that I am observing has far less historic importance
(actually far, far less importance) than as an occasion to make some point
about the Spanish Civil War. The 50th anniversary designation is to commemorate
the first time that I seriously studied the “lessons” of the Spanish Civil War.
And the form that that study took was as the subject my very first high school
term paper in 9th grade Civics class. I can hear the air being let out of the
tires now. But hear me out on this one.
I make no pretense that I can zero in on when
I first became interested in the subject of the Spanish Civil War but I was
driven by two things in that direction- the general hatred of fascism as
transmitted by family and others, the other, and this one is less precise as to
origin, was a devotion to the fighters in the American-led Abraham Lincoln
battalion of the 15th Brigade of the International Brigades. I believe it may
have been hearing Pete Seeger doing a version of Viva La Quince Brigada
but I am just not sure. In any case by the spring of 1961 I was knee-deep in
studying the subject, including time after school up at the North Adamsville
branch of the town’s Thomas Crane Public Library. My first stop, I remember,
was looking through the Encyclopedia Americana for the entry on the
Spanish Civil War for sources and then turning to the card catalogue. For those
not familiar with those ancient forms of research the Encyclopedia was
like the online Wikipedia today (except no collective editing, for good
or evil, at a touch) and the card catalogue was just a paper version on, well,
3X5 cards, of the computerized systems in most libraries today. But enough of
this history of research back in the Dark Ages because what this entry is about
is the lessons of that event.
I have noted before, although here too I
cannot remember all the details of the genesis of the notion, that on the
subject of the Spanish Civil War I have been “haunted” (and still am) by the
fact of the lost by the Republican side when in July and August of 1936 (and
for about a year thereafter as well) victory against Franco’s brutal
counter-revolutionary forces seemed assured. In a sense Spain, and the various
stages of my interpretation of events there, represented kind of a foundation
stone for my political perspectives as I gained more understanding of the
possibilities. I have, more recently, characterized 1930s Spain as the last
serious chance to create a companion to the original Bolshevik Revolution of
1917 in Russia and so we had best look at its lesson closely, very closely.
Of course as a 9th grade political neophyte I
was not even close to making that kind of observation just mentioned. I
distinctly recall, and it was reflected in my liberal politics at that time,
that the center of my argument on that term paper was the perfidy of the
Western democracies in not coming to the aid of the Spanish republicans and
further in not allowing the republicans to get arms from them or other sources,
other sources than the Soviet Union. Mainly I was incensed that the British and
French did not do more except cave in to Hitler when he called a tune. Now that
was pretty raw stuff, pretty raw analysis, although probably not bad coming from
that perspective. But depending on outside forces to save your bacon (or
revolution) is always tricky and so as I moved leftward in my own political
perspective I spent more time looking at the internal political dynamics
driving the revolution. For an extremely long time I was under the spell (the
proto-Stalinist derived spell) as articulated by the majority of the
pro-republican organizations.- it was first necessary to win the war against
Franco and then the revolution, presumably socialist, would be pursued under
which all manner of good things like workers control of production, land to the
tiller, some justice on the various national questions (Catalonia, Basque
country) could take place, co-operative and collective government established,
etc.
As I moved further leftward, leftward not
just politically but also organizationally away from left-liberal and social
democratic operations, and began to study more closely radical and
revolutionary movements for social change I began to chaff under that war-revolution
dichotomy and looked more closely as the
policies of the various organization within the republican camp. That was
rather more eye-opening than not. The gist of it was that all the major
organizations were working at cross purposes but most importantly they were
putting brakes on the continuation of a revolutionary thrust in Spain. An so in
the final analysis, although this was hardest to finally see in the cases of
the CGT-FAI (anarchist) and POUM (some kind of communist-orientation) organizations
and some individual militants, it was the failure to seek revolutionary
solutions that would have galvanized the masses (or could have, rather than
after 1937 left them indifferent, mainly, to the republican cause).
What was lacking? Obviously since even
opponents agree there was a revolutionary situation in that period a party
willing to go right to the end to achieve its goals, its socialist goals, a
Bolshevik-style party. Such things, such parties, as we are painfully aware of
from the failures of the POUM, characterized even by Leon Trotsky as the most honest
party in Spain at the time, as we are now painfully aware of, make all the
different. And it is that little pearl of wisdom that makes this anniversary
entry worth thinking about for the future.
From The Boston
Bradley Manning Support Committee Archives (September2012)
Của tăng gấp đôi nỗ lực để Lưu tin Bradley Manning-Hãy Mỗi
quảng trường Town Ở Mỹ (và Thế giới) Một Bradley Manning Quảng trường từ Boston
Để Berkeley để Berlin-Tham gia hệ Fields Corner (Corner Dorchester Ave Và Adams
đường), Dorchester-Bắt đầu từ thứ Ba ngày 24 tháng 7 từ 4:00-05:00
Nhấp chuột vào tiêu đề liên kết với tư nhân Bradley Manning
Thỉnh Nguyện Thư trang website.
Markin bình luận:
trường hợp cá nhân Bradley Manning là đầu hướng tới một thử
nghiệm cuối mùa thu / mùa đông đầu. Những người trong chúng ta, những người ủng
hộ sự nghiệp của mình nên nỗ lực hơn nữa để bảo đảm quyền tự do của mình. Trong
vài tháng qua có một tuần đứng ở Greater Boston diện Davis Quảng trường Redline
MBTA dừng (đổi tên thành Quảng trường Bradley Manning cho thời gian của buổi
cầu nguyện) trong Somerville vào các buổi chiều thứ sáu, nhưng chúng tôi đã
thay đổi thời gian từ 4:00 -5:00 PM ngày thứ Tư. Đứng ra này, để nói rằng ít
nhất, được tham dự rất thưa thớt. Chúng ta cần phải xây dựng nó với những người
ủng hộ nhiều hơn hiện nay. Xin vui lòng tham gia với chúng tôi khi bạn có thể.
Hoặc tốt hơn nếu bạn không thể tham gia chúng tôi bắt đầu Hỗ trợ Bradley
Manning buổi cầu nguyện hàng tuần ở một số vị trí trong thị trấn của bạn cho dù
đó là trong khu vực Boston, Berkeley hay Berlin. Và xin vui lòng ký đơn yêu cầu
phát hành của mình. Tôi đã đặt liên kết đến Mạng Manning và Manning trang web
quảng trường dưới đây.
Tin tức đã đạt đến tôi rằng một số người ở nhân dân
Dorchester vì Hòa bình (DPP) đang bắt đầu đứng ra đầu Manning tư nhân thứ ba 24
tháng 7 năm 2012 lúc 4:00 ở góc Dorchester Avenue và Adams Street ( Cựu chiến
binh Tam giác) ở Fields Corner. Hãy tham gia cùng họ.
Sau đây là nhận xét mà tôi đã được tập trung vào cuối năm để
xây dựng hỗ trợ cho nguyên nhân của Bradley Manning.
Cựu chiến binh vì Hòa bình tự hào đứng trong tình đoàn kết
với, và bảo vệ, tư nhân Bradley Manning.
Chúng tôi của phong trào chống chiến tranh là không thể làm
được gì nhiều để ảnh hưởng đến thời gian biểu chiến Iraq Bush-Obama, nhưng
chúng ta có thể tiết kiệm được một người anh hùng của cuộc chiến tranh đó,
Bradley Manning.
Tôi đứng trong tình đoàn kết với các hành động của cá nhân
Bradley Manning bị cáo buộc trong việc đưa ra ánh sáng, chỉ cần một chút ánh
sáng, một số cuộc chiến tranh liên quan đến những việc làm bất chính của chính
phủ này, theo Tổng thống Bush và Obama. Nếu ông đã làm hành vi đó là không có
tội phạm. Không có tội phạm ở tất cả trong mắt tôi, trong mắt của đại đa số
những người biết về vụ việc và có tầm quan trọng của nó như là một hành động cá
nhân của khả năng chống bất công và man rợ do Mỹ đứng đầu cuộc chiến tranh ở
Iraq và Afghanistan. Tôi ngủ chỉ là một chút bóng râm dễ dàng hơn những ngày
này biết rằng Manning tư nhân có thể đã tiếp xúc với những gì tất cả chúng ta
đều biết, hoặc đã được biết đến cuộc chiến tranh Iraq và các luận cứ cuộc chiến
tranh Afghanistan dựa trên một ngôi nhà của thẻ. Chủ nghĩa đế quốc Mỹ của nhà
lạm dụng súng của thẻ, nhưng thẻ vẫn.
Tôi đang đứng trong tình đoàn kết với tư nhân Bradley Manning
vì tôi đang bị xúc phạm bởi điều trị lan ra Manning tư nhân, có lẽ là một người
đàn ông vô tội, bởi một chính phủ cáo buộc chính nó là một số "ngọn hải
đăng" của thế giới văn minh. Bradley Manning đã được tổ chức trong tinh
thần đoàn kết ở Quantico và miền địa phương khác trong hơn hai năm, và đã được
tổ chức mà không cần xét xử trong thời gian dài, như các chính phủ và quân sự
của mình cố gắng để keo một trường hợp lại với nhau. Quân sự, và bọn tay sai
của nó trong Bộ Tư pháp, đã nhận được quanh co hơn mặc dù không thông minh hơn
kể từ khi tôi là một người lính trong crosshairs của họ hơn bốn mươi năm trước
đây.
Đây là những nhiều hơn lý do đủ để đứng trong sự liên đới
với Manning tư nhân và sẽ được cho đến ngày ông được tự do cai ngục của mình.
Và tôi sẽ tiếp tục đứng trong đoàn kết tự hào với Manning tin cho đến khi mà
ngày tuyệt vời.
Thu hồi ngay lập tức vô điều kiện Tất cả các binh sĩ Mỹ /
Đồng minh và lính đánh thuê Từ Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran! Manning tin miễn
phí ngay!
From The Boston
Bradley Manning Support Committee Archives (September2012)
Vamos a redoblar nuestros esfuerzos para salvar privado
Bradley Manning-Que todas las Plaza de la Ciudad en América (y El Mundo) Un
Bradley Manning Square De Boston a Berkeley para nosotros Berlín-Join In Fields
Corner (Rincón de Dorchester Ave. y la calle Adams), Dorchester-A partir del
martes 24 de julio de 4:00-5:00 pm
Haga clic en el titular para enlazar con el privado Bradley
Manning Petición página web.
comentario Markin:
El caso de Bradley Manning privada se dirige hacia un otoño
/ invierno temprano ensayo. Aquellos de nosotros que apoyan su causa, debemos
redoblar nuestros esfuerzos para asegurar su libertad. Para los últimos meses
ha habido una semana de espera en el área metropolitana de Boston frente a la
Plaza de Davis Redline MBTA parada (rebautizada Plaza de Bradley Manning para
la duración de la vigilia) en Somerville viernes por la tarde, pero ahora hemos
cambiado el tiempo de 4:00 5:00 pm los miércoles. Esta posición de salida
tiene, por decir lo menos, ha sido muy poca asistencia. Tenemos que construir
con más seguidores presentes. Por favor, únase a nosotros cuando pueda. O mejor
aún si usted no puede unirse a nosotros iniciar una vigilia de apoyo Bradley
Manning la semana en algún lugar en su ciudad ya sea en el área de Boston,
Berkeley o Berlín. Y por favor, firmen la petición para su liberación. He
puesto enlaces a la red de Manning y Manning sitio web de la plaza de abajo.
Noticias que me ha llegado a que algunos de los chicos de
las personas Dorchester por la Paz (PDP) está comenzando un stand-out para el
comienzo de Manning el martes 24 de julio 2012 a las 4:00 PM en la esquina de
Dorchester Avenida y la calle Adams (el Veteranos de triángulo) en Fields
Corner. Por favor, únete a ellos.
Los siguientes son comentarios que se han centrado en los
últimos tiempos para conseguir apoyo para la causa Bradley Manning.
Veteranos por la Paz se yergue en la solidaridad y la
defensa de los soldado Bradley Manning.
Nosotros, los del movimiento anti-guerra no pudieron hacer
mucho para afectar el gobierno de Bush-Obama Irak calendario guerra, pero
podemos salvar uno de los héroes de esa guerra, Bradley Manning.
Estoy en solidaridad con las supuestas acciones de soldado
Bradley Manning en sacar a la luz, sólo un poco de luz, algunos de los nefastos
hechos relacionados con la guerra de este gobierno, el gobierno de Bush y
Obama. Si lo hiciera tales actos no son delito. Ningún crimen en absoluto en
mis ojos o en los ojos de la gran mayoría de la gente que conoce del caso y de
su importancia como un acto individual de resistencia a las injustas y bárbaras
encabezadas por Estados Unidos las guerras en Irak y Afganistán. Duermo un poco
de sombra más fácil en estos días a sabiendas de que Manning podría haber
expuesto lo que todos sabían, o debían haber sabido, la guerra de Irak y de las
justificaciones de la guerra afgana se basaba en un castillo de naipes. El
imperialismo estadounidense pistolero castillo de naipes, pero las tarjetas,
sin embargo.
Estoy de pie en solidaridad con el soldado Bradley Manning,
porque estoy indignado por el trato dado a Manning, presumiblemente un hombre
inocente, por un gobierno que afirma a sí misma como un "faro" del
mundo civilizado. Bradley Manning se había celebrado en la solidaridad en
Quantico y otras localidades de más de dos años, y ha sido detenido sin juicio
durante más tiempo, ya que el gobierno y sus fuerzas armadas tratan de pegar un
caso juntos. Los militares y sus secuaces en el Departamento de Justicia, se
han vuelto más tortuosa, aunque no más inteligente desde que era un soldado en
la mira más de cuarenta años.
Estas son razones más que suficientes para estar en
solidaridad con el soldado Manning y lo será hasta el día en que es liberado
por sus carceleros. Y voy a seguir para estar en solidaridad con el soldado
Manning orgullosos hasta ese gran día.
La retirada inmediata e incondicional de todas las tropas
estadounidenses / Allied y mercenarios de Afganistán! Manos Fuera de Irán!
Manning gratis PRIVADAS ahora mismo!
Let’s Redouble Our Efforts To Free Private Bradley Manning-President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning -Make Every Town Square In America (And The World) A Bradley Manning Square From Boston To Berkeley to Berlin-Join Us In Central Square, Cambridge, Ma. For A Stand-Out For Bradley- Wednesdays From 5:00-6:00 PM ******** Plan to come to Fort Meade outside of Washington, D.C. on June 1st for an international day of solidarity with Bradley before his scheduled June 3rd trial.If you can’t make it to Fort Meade plan a solidarity event locally in support of this brave whistle-blower.
********** Stop The Media Blackout of The Bradley Manning Trial
Despite the unprecedented and historic nature of Army whistleblower Bradley Manning’s trial, journalists have thus far been banned from recording the proceedings. Because Americans more commonly get their news through television than from any other media source, this presents a major barrier to the American public staying informed on a trial that will profoundly affect the future of our country.
It’s outrageous that the American public is being denied the right to view the trial of U.S. vs. Bradley Manning. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was appointed by President Obama to ensure civilian oversight of the U.S. military.
Go To the Bradley Manning Support Network http://www.bradleymanning.org/ and sign the petition to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hageldemanding that he ensure journalists can record Bradley Manning’s court martial proceedings! When you sign the petition the network e-mail system will send a message on your behalf to the office of Secretary of Defense.
******** Beginning in September 2011, in order to publicize Private Manning’s case locally, there have been weekly stand-outs (as well as other more ad hoc and sporadic events) in various locations in the Greater Boston area starting in Somerville across from the Davis Square Redline MBTA stop on Friday afternoons and later on Wednesdays. Lately this stand-out has been held each week on Wednesdays from 5:00 to 6:00 PM at Central Square, Cambridge, Ma. (small park at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Prospect Street just outside the Redline MBTA stop, renamed Manning Square for the duration of the stand-out) in order to continue to broaden our outreach. Join us there in calling for Private Manning’s freedom. President Obama Pardon Private Manning Now! ******** Those who have followed the heroic Wikileaks whistle-blower Private Bradley Manning’s case over the past year or so, since about April 2012 when the pre-trial hearings began in earnest, know that last November the defendant offered to plead guilty to a few lesser included charges in his indictment, basically taking legal and political responsibility for the leaks to WikiLeaks that had been the subject of some of the government’s allegations against him. Without getting into the arcane legal maneuvering on this issue the idea was to cut across the government’s pretty solid case against him being the leaker of information and to have the now scheduled for June trial be focused on the substantive question of whether his actions constituted “material aid to terrorism” and “aiding the enemy” which could subject Private Manning to life in prison. We noted then that we needed to stay with Bradley on this and make sure people know that what he admitted to was that he disclosed information about American military atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan and other diplomatic high crimes and misdemeanors and only that. We also noted that he was, and is, frankly, in trouble, big trouble, and needs our support more than ever. Especially in light of the following:
After enduring nearly three years of detention, at times under torturous conditions, on February 28, 2013 Bradley Manning confessed that he had provided WikiLeakswith a trove of military and diplomatic documents that exposed U.S. imperialist schemes and wartime atrocities. Private Manning’s guilty plea on ten of 22 counts against him could land him in prison for 20 years. A day after Bradley confessed, military prosecutors announced plans to try him on the remaining counts, including “aiding the enemy” and violating the Espionage Act. Trial is expected to begin in early June, now scheduled for June 3rd.
In exposing the secrecy and lies with which the American government cover their depredations, Bradley Manning performed a great service to workers and oppressed around the world. All who oppose the imperialist barbarity and machinations revealed in the material he provided must join in demanding his immediate freedom. Also crucially important is the defense of Julian Assange against the vendetta by the U.S., Britain and their cohorts, who are attempting to railroad him to prison by one means or another for his role in running WikiLeaks.
In a 35-page statement he read to the military court after entering his plea (written summary available at the Bradley Manning Support Network and an audio transcript as well), Manning told of his journey from nearly being rejected in basic training to becoming an army intelligence analyst. In that capacity he came across mountains of evidence of U.S. duplicity and war crimes. The materials he provided to WikiLeaks included military logs documenting 120,000 civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and a formal military policy of covering up torture, rape and murder. A quarter-million diplomatic cables address all manner of lethal operations within U.S. client states, from the “drug war” in Mexico to drone strikes in Yemen. He also released files containing assessments of detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. These documents show that the government continued to hold many who, Manning stated, were believed or known to be innocent, as well as “low level foot soldiers that did not have useful intelligence.”
The Pentagon and the Obama Administration declared war against WikiLeaks following the release of a video, now entitled Collateral Murder and widely available, conveyed by Manning, of a 2007 U.S. Apache helicopter airstrike in Iraq that killed at least 12 people, including two Reuters journalists. American forces are then shown firing on a van that pulled up to help the victims. Manning said he was most alarmed by the“bloodlust they appeared to have.” He described how instead of calling for medical attention for a seriously wounded individual trying to crawl to safety, an aerial crew team member “asks for the wounded person to pick up a weapon so that he can have a reason to engage.”
By January 2010, Manning said, he“began to become depressed with the situation that we found ourselves increasingly mired in year after year” and decided to make public many of the documents he had backed up as part of his work as an analyst. Manning first offered the materials to the Washington Post and the New York Times. Not getting anywhere with these pillars of the press establishment, the latter apparently not considering war crimes of its government, as opposed to all manner of foreign state activities, news fit to print in February 2010 he made his first submission to WikiLeaks. He attached a note advising that “this is possibly one of the more significant documents of our time removing the fog of war and revealing the true nature of twenty-first century asymmetric warfare. Have a good day.”
The charge of “aiding the enemy”—i.e., Al Qaeda—is especially ominous. This used to mean things like military sabotage and handing over information on troop movements to a battlefield enemy. In Manning’s case, the prosecution claims that the very act of publicizing U.S. military and diplomatic activities, some of which took place years before, amounted to “indirect” communication with Al Qaeda. Manning told the court that he believed that public access to the information “could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general.” He hoped that this “might cause society to reevaluate the need or even the desire to engage in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations that ignore the complex dynamics of the people living in the affected environment every day.” But by the lights of the imperialists’ war on terror, any exposure of their depredations can be construed as support to the “terrorist”enemy, whoever that might be.
The Pentagon intends to call no fewer than 141 witnesses in its show trial, including four people to testify anonymously. One of them, designated as “John Doe,” is believed to be a Navy SEAL who participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. “Doe” is alleged to have grabbed three disks from bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound on which was stored four files’ worth of the WikiLeaks material provided by Manning.
Nor do charges under the Espionage Act have to have anything to do with actual spying. The law was one of an array of measures adopted to criminalize antiwar activity after U.S. imperialism’s entry into the First World War. It mandated imprisonment for any act deemed to interfere with the recruitment of troops. Among its first and most prominent victims was Socialist Party spokesman Eugene V. Debs, who was jailed for a June 1918 speech at a workers’ rally in Canton, Ohio, where he denounced the war as capitalist slaughter and paid tribute to the leaders of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Dozens of Industrial Workers of the World organizers were also thrown into prison.
In the early 1970s, the Nixon government tried, unsuccessfully, to use this law to go after Daniel Ellsberg, whose release of the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times shed light on the history of U.S. imperialism’s losing war against the Vietnamese workers and peasants. Obama has happily picked up Nixon’s mantle. Manning’s prosecution will be the sixth time the Obama administration has used the Espionage Act against the source of an unauthorized leak of classified information—more than the combined total under all prior administrations since the law’s enactment in 1917. ******* The Private Bradley Manning case is headed toward an early summer trial. The news on his case over the past several months has centered on the many pre-trial motion hearings including defense motions to dismiss for lack of speedy trial. Private Manning’s pre-trial confinement is now well over 1000 days. That dismissal motion was ruled on by Military Judge Lind. On February 26, 2013 she denied the defense’s motion for dismissal, the last serious chance for Bradley Manning to go free before the scheduled June trial. She ruled furthermore that the various delays by the government were inherent in the nature of this case and that the military authorities, except in one short instance, had been diligent in their efforts to move the proceedings along. For those of us with military experience this is a classic, if perverse, case of that old army slogan-“Hurry up, and wait.” This is definitely tough news for Private Manning although perhaps a good appeal point in some future civilian court review.
The defense had contended that the charges should be dismissed because the military by its own statutes (to speak nothing of that funny old constitutional right to a speedy trial guarantee that our plebeian forbears fought tooth and nail for against the bloody British and later made damn sure was included in the Amendments when the founding fathers“forgot” to include it in the main document) should have arraigned Private Manning within 120 days after his arrest. They hemmed and hawed for almost 600 days before deciding on the charges and a court martial. Nobody in the convening authority, as required by those same statutes, pushed the prosecution forward in a timely manner. In fact the court-martial convening authority, in the person of one Colonel Coffman, seemed to have seen his role as mere “yes man” to each of the government’s eight requests for delays without explanation. Apparently the Colonel saw his role as a mere clearing agent for whatever excuse the government gave, mainly endless addition time for clearing various classified documents a process that need not have held up the proceedings. The defense made timely objection to each governmental request to no avail.
Testimony from military authorities at pre-trial hearings in November 2012 about the reasons for the lack of action ranged from the lame to the absurd (mainly negative responses to knowledge about why some additional delays were necessary. One “reason” sticks out as a reason for excusable delay -some officer needed to get his son to a swimming meet and was thus “unavailable” for a couple of days. I didn’t make this up. I don’t have that sense of the absurd. Jesus, a man was rotting in Obama’s jails and they let him rot because of some damn swim meet). The prosecution, obviously, argued that the government has moved might and main to move the case along and had merely waited until all leaked materials had been determined before proceeding. The judge saw it the government’s way and ruled according as noted above. ******* The defense had also pursued a motion for a dismissal of the major charges (espionage/ indirect material aid to terrorists) on the basis of the minimal effect of any leaks on national security issues as against Private Manning’s claim that such knowledge was important to the public square (freedom of information issues important for us as well in order to know about what the hell the government is doing either in front of us, or behind our backs). Last summer (2012) witnesses from an alphabet soup list of government agencies (CIA, FBI, NSA, Military Intelligence, etc., etc.) testified that while the information leaked shouldn’t have been leaked that the effect on national security was de minimus. The Secretary of Defense at the time, Leon Panetta, also made a public statement to that effect. The prosecution argued, successfully at the time, that the mere fact of the leak of classified information caused irreparable harm to national security issues and Private Manning’s intent, even if noble, was not at issue.
The recent thrust of the motion to dismiss has centered on the defense’s contention that Private Manning consciously and carefully screened any material in his possession to avoid any conflict with national security and that most of the released material had been over-classified (received higher security level than necessary). Much of the materials leaked, as per those parts published widely in the aftermath of the disclosures by the New York Times and other major outlets, concerned reports of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan and diplomatic interchanges that reflected poorly on that profession. The Obama government has argued again that the mere fact of leaking was all that mattered. That motion has also not been fully ruled on and is now the subject of prosecution counter- motions and has been a cause for further trial delay. ******** A defense motion for dismissal based on serious allegations of torturous behavior by the military authorities extending far up the chain of command (a three-star Army general, not the normal concern of someone so far up the chain in the matter of discipline for enlisted personal) while Private Manning was first detained in Kuwait and later at the Quantico Marine brig for about a year ending in April 2011 has now been ruled on. In late November and early December Private Manning himself, as well as others including senior military mental health workers, took the stand to detail those abuses over several days. Most important to the defense was the testimony by qualified military mental health professionals citing the constant willful failure of those who held Private Manning in close confinement to listen to, or act, on their recommendations during those periods
Judge Lind, the military judge who has heard all the pre-trial arguments in the case thus far, has essentially ruled unfavorably on that motion to dismiss given the potential life sentence Private Manning faces. As she announced at an early January pre-trial hearing the military acted illegally in some of its actions. While every Bradley Manning supporter should be heartened by the fact that the military judge ruled that he was subject to illegal behavior by the military during his pre-trial confinement her remedy, a 112 days reduction in any future sentence, is a mere slap on the wrist to the military authorities. No dismissal or, alternatively, no appropriate reduction (the asked for ten to one ratio for all his first year or so of illegal close confinement which would take years off any potential sentence) given the seriousness of the illegal behavior as the defense tirelessly argued for. And the result is a heavy-handed deterrent to any future military whistleblowers, who already are under enormous pressures to remain silent as a matter of course while in uniform, and others who seek to put the hard facts of future American military atrocities before the public. ******* An important statement in November 2012 was issued by three Nobel Peace Laureates (including Bishop Tutu from South Africa) calling on their fellow laureate, United States President Barack Obama, to free Private Manning from his jails. (Available on the Support Bradley Manning Network website.) ************ On February 23, 2013, the 1000th day of Private Bradley Manning’s pre-trial confinement, an international day of solidarity was observed with over seventy stand-outs and other demonstration held in America and internationally. Bradley Manning and his courageous stand have not been forgotten. Go to the Bradley Manning Support Network for more details about the events of that day. Another international day of solidarity is scheduled for June 1, 2013 at Fort Meade, Maryland and elsewhere just before the scheduled start of his trial on June 3rd. Check the support network for updates on that event as well. ********
6 Ways To Support Heroic Wikileaks Whistle-blower Private Bradley Manning
*Urgent: The government has announced, in the wake of Bradley Manning’s admission of his part in the Wikileaks expose in open court on February 28th, its intention to continue to prosecute him for the major charges of “aiding the enemy” (Espionage Act) and “material aid to terrorism.” Everyone should contact the presiding officer of the court –martial process, General Linnington, at 1-202-685-2807 and tell him to drop those charges. Once Maj. Gen. Linnington’s voicemail box is full – you can also leave a message at the DOD: (703) 571-3343 – press “5″ to leave a comment.*If this mailbox is also full, leave the Department of Defense a written message.Do it today.
*Urgent: The military authorities at Fort Meade, the site of Bradley Manning’s impending June 3rd court-martial are attempting to limit media coverage of the trial.Go to the Bradley Manning Support Network http://www.bradleymanning.org/and sign the petition to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hageldemanding that he ensure journalists can record Bradley Manning’s court martial proceedings! When you sign the petition the network e-mail system will send a message on your behalf to the office of Secretary of Defense.
*Come to our stand-out in support of Private Bradley Manning in Central Square, Cambridge, Ma (corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Prospect Street near MBTA Redline station) every Wednesday between 5-6 PM. For other locations in Greater Boston, nationally, and internationally check the Bradley Manning Support Network -http://www.bradleymanning.org/ and for details of the current status of the case and future event updates as well. Also plan to come to Fort Meade outside of Washington, D.C. on June 1st for an international day of solidarity with Bradley before his scheduled June 3rd trial.If you can’t make it to Fort Meade plan a solidarity event locally in support of this brave whistle-blower.
*Contribute to the Bradley Manning Defense Fund- as the trial date approaches funds are urgently needed! The government has unlimited financial and personnel resources to prosecute Bradley. And the Obama government is fully using them. We have a fine defense civilian lawyer, David Coombs, many supporters throughout America and the world working hard for Bradley’s freedom, and the truth on our side. Still the hard reality of the American legal system, civilian or military, is that an adequate defense cost serious money. So help out with whatever you can spare. For link go to http://www.bradleymanning.org/
*Sign the online petition at the Bradley Manning Support Network (for link go to http://www.bradleymanning.org/ )to the Secretary of the Army to free Bradley Manning-1000 plus days is enough! The Secretary of the Army stands in the direct chain of command up to the President and can release Private Manning from pre-trial confinement and drop the charges against him at his discretion. For basically any reason that he wishes to-let us say 1000 plus days is enough. Join the over 25,000 supporters in the United States and throughout the world clamoring for Bradley’s well-deserved freedom.
*Call (Comments”202-456-1111), write The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, e-mail-(http://www.whitehouse.gov’contact/submitquestions-and comments) the White House to demand President Obama pardon Bradley Manning- The presidential power to pardon is granted under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution:
“The President…shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in case of impeachment.”
In federal cases, and military cases are federal cases, the President of the United States can, under authority granted by the U.S. Constitution as stated above, pardon the guilty and the innocent, the convicted and those awaiting trial- former President Nixon and former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, for example among others, received such pardons for their heinous crimes- Now that Bradley Manning has pleaded guilty to some lesser charges and is subject to further prison time (up to 20 years) this pardon campaign is more necessary than ever. Free Bradley Manning! Free the whistleblower!
***From The May Day 2012 Organizing Archives –May Day 2013 Needs The Same Efforts
Boston's International Workers Day 2013
BMDC International Workers Day Rally Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at Boston City Hall Gather at 2PM - Rally at 2:30PM (Court St. & Cambridge St.) T stops Government Center (Blue line, Green line)
Revere - @ City Hall - gather at 3:pmbegin marching at 3:30 (to Chelsea) Everett - @ City Hall - gather at 3:pm begin marching at 3:30 (to Chelsea) Chelsea - @ City Hall - rally a 3:pm (wait for above feeder marches to arrive) will begin marching at 4:30 (to East Boston) East Boston - @ Central Square - (welcome marchers) Rally at 5:pm
BMDC will join the rally in East Boston immediately following Boston City Hall rally
Supporters: ANSWER Coalition, Boston Anti Authoritarian Movement, Boston Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Committee, Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition, Harvard No-Layoffs Campaign, Industrial Workers of the World, Latinos for Social Change, Mass Global Action, Sacco & Vanzetti Commemoration Society, Socialist Alternative, Socialist Party of Boston, Socialist Workers Party, Student Labor Action Movement, USW Local 8751 - Boston School Bus Drivers Union, Worcester Immigrant Coalition, National Immigrant Solidarity Network, Democracy Center - Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridge/Somerville/Arlington United for Justice with Peace, International Socialist Organization, Community Church of Boston
Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade: A Day When The Words Veterans and Peace Came Together –Came Together Very Nicely- The Struggle Continues –On To May Day 2012
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2ndAnnual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours.A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later.For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW. In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day. EVERYONE TO THE STREETS! We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
***When Young Women’s Voices Ruled the Airwaves Before The British Rock Invasion, Circa 1964
From The Pen Of Frank Jackman Early Girls, Volume One, various singers, Ace Records , 1997
I mentioned one time in a review of a two-volume set of, for lack of a better term, girl doo wop (1950s stuff, okay where the lead singer, a girl singer, sang some sad tale, usually about some lost boy, Johnny or Jimmy, who cheated on her, left her high and dry for another girl, stood her up or, worse, much worse, failed to make that midnight phone call she had been waiting by the phone for hours to pick up, pick up and hear, uh, his voice, his manly voice, and a group of two or three other girls just kind of say-do lang, do lang, sha na na or stuff like that. Look it up on Wikipedia if you don’t get it, or don’t believe me that humans being could make such sounds and make beautiful music. ), I have, of late, been running back over some rock material that formed my coming of age listening music and that of my generation, the generation of ’68 (on that ubiquitous, and very personal, iPod, oops, battery-driven transistor radio that kept those snooping parents out in the dark, clueless, about what I was listening to, and that was just fine, as I am sure you will agree whatever generation you inhabit these days).
Naturally one had to pay homage to the blues influences from the likes of Muddy Waters, Big Mama Thornton, and Big Joe Turner. And, of course, the rockabilly influences from Elvis, Carl Perkins, Wanda Jackson, and Jerry Lee Lewis on. Additionally, I have spent some time on the male side of the doo wop be-bop Saturday night led by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers on Why Do Fools Fall In Love? (good question, right). I noted there that I had not done much with the female side of the doo wop night, the great "girl" groups that had their heyday in the late 1950s and early 1960s before the British invasion, among other things, changed our tastes in popular music. I would expand that observation here to include girls’ voices generally. As there, I make some amends for that omission here.
As I also noted in that earlier review one problem with the girl groups, and now girl vocals for a guy, me, a serious rock guy, me, was that the lyrics to many of the girl group songs, frankly, did not “speak to me.” After all how much empathy could a young ragamuffin of boy brought up on the wrong side of the tracks looking wistfully over to the girls on the right side of the tracks like this writer have for a girl who breaks a guy's heart after leading him on, yes, leading him on, just because her big bruiser of a boyfriend is coming back and she needs some excuse to brush the heartbroken lad off in the Angels' My Boyfriend’s Back. Or some lucky guy, some lucky Sunday guy, maybe, who breathlessly catches the eye of the singer in the Shirelles' Met Him On Sunday from a guy who, dateless Saturday night, was hunched over some misbegotten book, some study book, on Sunday feeling all dejected. And how about this, some two, or maybe three-timing gal who berated her ever-loving boyfriend because she needs a good talking to, or worst, a now socially incorrect "beating" in Joanie Sommers’ Johnny Get Angry.
Reviewing the material again gave me the same flash-back feeling I felt listening to girl doo wop sounds back then. I will give examples of that for this volume, and this approach will drive the reviews of all five of these volumes in the series. Yah, for starters what is a girl-shy boy to make of a song that when some big-voiced woman is telling one and all that her man is no good just because he was catting around on her in Betty Everett’s Your No Good; or some girl all chained up by a guy (not S&M stuff but worst, in a way, chains of mixed-up love) in Chains by The Cookies; or get all weepy about the trauma of a girl who is boy-less all summer by a girl-less guy for all seasons in It Might As Well Rain Until September by Carole King.
And how could a young ragamuffin get catch a break listening to some girl spreading the glad tidings about her new found love in the girls' lav Monday morning before school when one and all bared their trophy weekends in I'm Into Something Good by Earl-Jean; or, the same kind of message, except maybe at the local pizza parlor, in I've Told Every Little Star by Linda Scott. And it goes on and on. Christ, even guys wearing pink shoe laces and looking like some goof had their devotees in Pink Shoe Laces by Dodie Stevens (but what about no song poor boy, plaid flannel-shirted, black chinos with cuffs, Thom McAn-shoed guy, no way right). And the love eternal love-style songs were worst, for example, a giggling, gaffing girl all plushed up by her boy in I Love How You Love Me by The Paris Sisters. Jesus, that could have been me.
And is there a place for such a lad even in the love’s trials and tribulations-type songs like when the moon took a holiday from looking out for lovers in Dark Moon by Bonnie Guitar; or when it didn’t in You by The Aquatones and was absolutely beaming in the incredible paean to everlasting love, 'Til by The Angels. Hell, even no account, long gone, no stamps, no stationary, no pen, no time to write Eddie has someone pining over him, pining big time, in Eddie My Love by The Teen Queens. And Eddie was nothing but long gone and never coming back guy who took what he could take, took it easy, and left no forwarding address. But the one that gets me, gets me big time, is a total song homage by some sweet girl just because he is her guy in Dedicated To The One I Love by The Shirelles. Lordy, lord.
So you get the idea, this stuff could not “speak to me.” Now you understand, right? Except, surprise, surprise foolish, behind the eight- ball, know-nothing youthful guy had it all wrong and should have been listening, and listening like crazy, to these lyrics because, brothers and sisters, they held the key to what was what about what was on girls’ minds back in the day, and maybe now a little too, and if I could have decoded this I would have had, well, the beginning of knowledge, girl knowledge. Damn. But that is one of the virtues, and maybe the only virtue of age. Yah, and also get this- you had better get your do-lang, do-lang, your shoop, shoop, and your best be-bop, be-bop into that good night voice out and sing along to the lyrics of the songs presented here. This, fellow baby-boomers, was the time of our teen angst, teen alienation, teen love youth and now this stuff sounds great. And from girls even.