WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME
What does it say about our country that it takes a racist, misogynist sociopath to articulate what most people know – that our political (and economic) system is rigged? Of course it’s not rigged in the way Donald Trump asserts, against him, but against the majority of our people. The money primary and elite dominance insure an electoral contest that pits a billionaire against a multi-millionaire and guarantee that the issues important to most Americans are invisible or misidentified. What Trump represents is certainly more threatening and disastrous for our country in most ways, but neither does Clinton promise real solutions to the challenges facing ordinary people. Is it any wonder then that -- in the absence of any other plausible explanation and in the face of Democratic Party “pay-to-play” politics -- many confused and insecure (white) people are led by the siren song of racism to explain their insecurities? What I wrote a few years back is still relevant: “Malefactors of Great Wealth” On the issue of wars, it also took Donald Trump, not Hillary Clinton, to point out the futility and waste of the $trillions spent on US wars in the Middle East – under both Democrats and Republicans. The “rabble” are treated with contempt and condescension in various ways by elites in both parties.
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‘Do Not Resist’ Confronts the Frightening Militarization of American Police
In the days following last year’s Charleston church shooting, in which nine African-Americans were murdered by a white supremacist, an armored vehicle rolled up to a modest home in nearby Richland County, S.C. Fifteen SWAT team cops in body armor jumped out and smashed the windows of the house… According to Eastern Kentucky University criminologist Peter Kraska, there are 50,000 to 80,000 raidslike this per year, up from 3,000 per year in the 1980s. The turning point came in the 1990s with the 1208 program, which authorized the Department of Defense (DOD) to transfer to federal and state police any weaponry and supplies “suitable for use by such agencies in counter-drug activities.” The 1208 was expanded into the 1033 Programin 1997, and the new policy gave police the right to asset forfeiture… Overly aggressive tactics were stoked by the DOD’s 2013 decision to give MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles) to local law enforcement agencies. Within a year, more than 600 MRAPs were distributed, along with 11,595 bayonets, 205 grenade launchers, 79,288 assault rifles and 479 bomb-detonator robots that have been distributed since 2006. More
TAKE AWAY MILITARY WEAPONS FROM POLICE!
Throughout the Black Lives Matter movement, nonviolent protesters have been bombarded with armed tanks, rubber bullets, and grenade launchers containing toxic tear gas. As we witnessed in Ferguson, Baltimore, Charlotte and elsewhere, peaceful demonstrations for racial justice and police accountability have been routinely met with large trucks of law enforcement officers dressed and armed for war-like combat. Police do not typically address white protesters in the same manner. The utilization of military equipment and tactics in local police departments fuels the widespread mentality that law enforcement officers, meant to protect and serve, are mere combatants in black and brown communities.
RIGGED
The 2016 Republican presidential primary was rigged. It wasn’t rigged by the Republicans, the Democrats, Russians, space aliens, or voters. It was rigged by the owners of television networks who believed that giving one candidate far more coverage than others was good for their ratings…. The 2016 Democratic presidential primary was rigged. It wasn’t rigged by bankers, misogynists, Russians, Republicans, or computer hackers. It was rigged by the Democratic National Committee and its co-conspirators in the media, many of whom have helpfully confessed (in case it wasn’t obvious) in emails leaked from the DNC and from John Podesta. The DNC chose Hillary Clinton and worked hard to make sure that she “won.” Nobody has produced a hint of evidence as to who leaked the emails that added unnecessary confirmation of this rigging, but they should be thanked for informing us, whoever they are. More
Extremist militias recruiting in fear of Clinton winning election, activists say
When Trump started talking about rigged elections and how a Clinton win would show that democracy was broken, “it was just amazing seeing how that resonated with people – a sense of democracy being broken, feeling like the candidates don’t represent them or anything they want to see happen in this country,” she added… In some Oregon counties, as in other rural areas, libraries are shutting, and sheriff’s departments can’t provide 911 dispatch after dark. Dwindling services lead to a sense of abandonment. The right can easily step in and provide both a clear political narrative to explain this, and a set of simple-seeming solutions. “The Patriot movement is attracting people who feel disenfranchised. It’s real out here, where people feel like they have not been listened to at the state level, and particularly by Democrats,” Campbell says. More
THE $5 TRILLION WARS
This October marks 15 years since American troops entered Afghanistan. It was a precursor to the occupation of Iraq and is the longest military conflict in US history. Yet the trillions of dollars and thousands of lives expended in these wars have rated barely a mention in the presidential campaign. The most recent estimates suggest that war costs will run to nearly $5 trillion — a staggering sum that exceeds even the $3 trillion that Joseph Stiglitz and I predicted back in 2008. Yet the cost seems invisible to politicians and the public alike… In earlier wars, the government routinely raised taxes, slashed nonmilitary spending, and sold war bonds. Taxes were raised to pay for the Spanish-American War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World War I and World War II. Top rates of federal income taxes climbed to 70 percent during Vietnam and to over 90 percent during the Korean War. These policies were all part of an explicit strategy of engaging the American public in the war efforts. In sharp contrast, the George W. Bush administration cut taxes after the invasion of Afghanistan, in 2001 and again, in 2003, when we invaded Iraq. Most Americans pay lower taxes now than they did 15 years ago. More
The Democrats’ Joe McCarthy Moment
When Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has one of his few lucid moments and suggests that the U.S. should cooperate with Russia rather than provoke more confrontations, he is denounced from many political quarters. But these attacks against Trump are most feverish from Democrats looking to give Hillary Clinton a boost politically and a diversionary excuse for her Wall Street speeches that she tried so hard to keep hidden until they were released by WikiLeaks from hacked emails of her longtime adviser John Podesta… Rather than seeking to explain Clinton’s paid speeches to Wall Street bigwigs and other special interests, Podesta and other Democrats have simply piled on the Russia-bashing with suggestions that Trump is consorting with America’s enemies. In Wednesday night’s debate, Clinton referred to Trump as Vladimir Putin’s “puppet.” More
The Hawk on Russia Policy? Hillary Clinton, Not Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton made it abundantly clear Wednesday night that if she defeats Donald J. Trump next month she will enter the White House with the most contentious relationship with Russia of any president in more than three decades, and with a visceral, personal animus toward Vladimir V. Putin, its leader… Privately, some of her longtime advisers are already thinking about what mix of sanctions, diplomatic isolation and international condemnation they might put together if they take office to deal with Mr. Putin and the fragile economic state he runs, an update of the “containment” strategy that George F. Kennan formulated for President Harry S. Truman in 1947. Equally surprising is the Republican reversal of tone… Most of the Republican Party remains firmly distrustful of Russia. But not Mr. Trump, its standard-bearer. More
Berniecrats & Clintonites Clash Over Rent Control
In Richmond [California], the scene of an epic electoral battle between local progressives and Chevron-backed candidates in 2014, two would-be city councilors are getting OR [Our Revolution] fund-raising and publicity help… Melvin Willis and Ben Choi are leaders of the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA), a force for change in their majority minority city of 110,000 for the last 13 years… Like political insurgents elsewhere who identify more with Sanders personally than the Democratic Party, Willis and Choi are clashing with local Clintonites. In Richmond, leading Democrats, including Mayor Tom Butt and his longtime council rival, Nate Bates, are against rent control. As an organizer for the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), 25-year old Willis helped spearhead the effort to get a city council majority to approve rent regulation in 2015, before a California Apartment Association (CAA) petition drive triggered suspension of that local ordinance. Rent control and the requirement of just cause for eviction are now on the Richmond ballot Nov. 8, in revised form. More
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NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
I’ve posted the accompanying cartoon here many times. Events of the past few weeks continue to underline that a coherent US policy in Iraq and Syria is impossible – even with the best will (which there is not) – given the conflicting 
commitments and alliances in the region. In Iraq, the US is working side-by-side against ISIS with a government supported by neighboring Iran; in Syria the US and its allies combine to arm and finance armed Islamic extremists seeking to overthrow a government supported by Iran (and Russia); US planes bombed Syrian troops which were defending Syrian Deir ez-Zor against ISIS attackers; US NATO ally Turkey bombed and killed 200 fighters of the Kurdish-Syrian forces confronting ISIS, who are armed and financed by the US; Turkish armed forces have also occupied parts of northern Iraq and claim to participate in the anti-ISIS fight, against the wishes of the Iraqi government. There is no US solution to these wars except to stop fueling them and stop trying to bomb away “terrorism.”
commitments and alliances in the region. In Iraq, the US is working side-by-side against ISIS with a government supported by neighboring Iran; in Syria the US and its allies combine to arm and finance armed Islamic extremists seeking to overthrow a government supported by Iran (and Russia); US planes bombed Syrian troops which were defending Syrian Deir ez-Zor against ISIS attackers; US NATO ally Turkey bombed and killed 200 fighters of the Kurdish-Syrian forces confronting ISIS, who are armed and financed by the US; Turkish armed forces have also occupied parts of northern Iraq and claim to participate in the anti-ISIS fight, against the wishes of the Iraqi government. There is no US solution to these wars except to stop fueling them and stop trying to bomb away “terrorism.”
THE ALEPPO / MOSUL RIDDLE
The Pentagon plan is deceptively simple; erase any signs of Damascus and the SAA east of Palmyra. And this is where the Battle of Mosul converges with the recent Pentagon attack on Deir Ezzor. Even if we have an offensive in the next few months against Raqqa – by the YPG Kurds or even by Turkish forces - we still have a “Salafist principality” from eastern Syria to western Iraq all mapped up, exactly as the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was planning (dreaming?) in 2012. London-based Syrian historian Nizar Nayouf, as well as unnamed diplomatic sources, have confirmed that Washington and Riyadh closed a deal to let thousands of phony Caliphate jihadis escape Mosul from the west, as long as they head straight to Syria. A look at the battle map tells us that Mosul is encircled from all directions, except west. More
Turkey kills 'up to 200' US-backed Kurdish rebels in Syria
Turkish warplanes have struck Kurdish militia targets in northern Syria and killed up to 200 fighters, state media quoted the military as saying on Thursday. The jets hit 18 targets in Maarrat Umm Hawsh, a region north of the city of Aleppo, the official news agency Anadolu said.
The army claimed 160 to 200 members of the YPG (People's Protection Units) militia were killed in the strikes on Wednesday night… Ankara sees the YPG and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as terror groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The PKK, proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Tensions between Turkey and the US have increased over the YPG whom Washington views as an effective force against the Islamic State group in Syria. More
US Allies are Funding ISIS (and Hillary Knew All Along)
The memo says: “We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to Isis and other radical groups in the region.” This was evidently received wisdom in the upper ranks of the US government, but never openly admitted because to it was held that to antagonise Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies, Turkey and Pakistan would fatally undermine US power in the Middle East and South Asia. For an extraordinarily long period after 9/11, the US refused to confront these traditional Sunni allies and thereby ensured that the “War on Terror” would fail decisively; 15 years later, al-Qaeda in its different guises is much stronger than it used to be because shadowy state sponsors, without whom it could not have survived, were given a free pass. More
Why Is the Truth on Syria Difficult To Decipher?
“the truth on Syria”, has been segmented into many self-tailored “truths,” each promoted by one of the warring party to be the one and only, absolute and uncontested reality. But since there are many parties to the conflict, the versions of the “truth” communicated to us via copious media, are numerous and, most often, unverifiable. The only truth that all parties seem to agree upon is that hundreds of thousands are dead and Syria is shattered. But, of course, each points to the other side for culpability of the ongoing genocide. An oddly refreshing, although disturbing “truth” was articulated by Alon Ben-David in the Israeli Jerusalem Post last year. The title of his article speaks volumes: “May it never end: The uncomfortable truth about the war in Syria.” “If Israel’s interest in the war in Syria can be summarized in brief, it would be: That it should never end,” Ben-David wrote. More
State Dept. warned that U.S. might be complicit in Saudi war crimes in Yemen
Government lawyers warned officials that the United States might be implicated in Saudi war crimes in Yemen, according to internal records obtained by Reuters. Yet the Obama administration continued to sell billions of dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia anyway. For 19 months, a Saudi-led coalition of Middle Eastern countries, armed and supported by the U.S. and the United Kingdom, has been bombing Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East… Since the U.S.-backed bombing campaign was launched in March 2015, the Obama administration has authorized more than $22.2 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia — including a $1.3 billion sale of precision munitions to be used in Yemen. Since 2009, the U.S. has offered Saudi Arabia more than $115 billion in weapons and support. More
Do Western Nations Care about Yemeni Lives or Saudi Blood Money?
How much is the life of a Yemeni worth? Not much, according to the Saudi regime that has been bombing and starving the people of Yemen for since March 2015, or to the Saudi’s western backers, particularly the US and UK, which have been supplying the Saudi regime with weapons, military training, logistical support and diplomatic cover for its dirty interventionist war. The latest outrage is the October 8 bombing of a packed funeral hall in Yemen’s capital city of Sanaa. This horrendous attack killed more than 140 people and injured about 600 more… What has been the US and UK governments’ response to the funeral bombing? The British government announced UK arms sales to the Saudis is “under careful and continual review”, while the Obama administration issued a statement that US support for Saudis is not a “blank check” and that the US was “prepared to adjust our support so as to better align with US principles, values and interests.” The “principles, values and interests” of the Western powers, however, have been to buy cheap Saudi oil and make record profits by selling massive quantities of weapons to one of the most repressive countries in the world. More
America’s Outdated Alliance 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. First, in addition to being the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the House of Saud is the custodian of a singular holy resource: oil. Saudi Arabia’s role as the largest exporter of the crucial fossil fuel, as well as its cultural and political influence over other six other Arab OPEC members, makes friendship with the kingdom a valuable, and seemingly indispensable, asset for a fuel-thirsty superpower. Second, in the Cold-War era, maintaining a balance of power between Western allies such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and Soviet allies such as Iran and Syria, was central to US policy in the region. More
Tonkin Gulf Revisited?
Was a U.S. Ship Attacked by a Missile off the Coast of Yemen... or Not?
U.S. officials recently invoked self-defense to justify ratcheting up participation in the war. Last week, the U.S. military launched multiple bombings targeting Houthi-held territory within Yemen, allegedly in retaliation for “attempted missile attacks in recent days against the USS Mason and other vessels in the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb,” as Pentagon spokesperson John Cook put it October 13. Cook called the bombings “self-defense strikes.” Notably, no U.S. vessels were struck. Houthi rebels denied firing at the USS Mason, issuing a statement which declares, “Those claims are baseless.” Speaking with reporters in Baltimore Saturday, Navy Admiral John Richardson claimed, without presenting evidence, that the USS Mason “once again appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defense cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen.” Now it seems that even those claims are wearing thin. More
HOW WAR DEHUMANISES EVERYONE IT TOUCHES
Dehumanisation—the process of debasing one's perceived enemy—is not the preserve of evil people: humiliation, alienation, non-recognition, exclusion, the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, and even campaigns of genocide, all fall well within the realm of possibility for the majority of human beings. There are many examples since WW2 of dehumanization at the extreme: Vietnam, Indonesia, Rwanda, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine, Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan and Syria, where populations have also been described as less than human, and where civilians have been killed as a result of so-called 'precision bombing' or drowned in their attempts to flee from war and persecution. The treatment of other people as lesser beings has been the subject of research within the field of social psychology for over half a century, but whilst this work helps to explain the proclivities of our darker side, the solution to dehumanization, and ultimately annihilation, lies within the broader context of history, politics, philosophy and social activism—in struggles for emancipation from oppression or dehumanization in all its forms. More
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ISRAEL, PALESTINE . . . and the U.S.
SANDY TOLAN: The Death of the Two-State Solution
Washington has finally thrown in the towel on its long, tortured efforts to establish peace between Israel and the Palestinians. You won’t find any acknowledgement of this in the official record. Formally, the U.S. still supports a two-state solution to the conflict. But the Obama 
administration’s recent 10-year, $38-billion pledge to renew Israel’s arsenal of weaponry, while still ostensibly pursuing “peace,” makes clear just how bankrupt that policy is. For two decades, Israeli leaders and their neoconservative backers in this country, hell-bent on building and expanding settlements on Palestinian land, have worked to undermine America’s stated efforts -- and paid no price. Now, with that record weapons package, the U.S. has made it all too clear that they won’t have to. Ever… Not long after the funeral, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brazenly approved a new settlement deep in the West Bank, prompting the State Department to “strongly condemn” the action as “deeply troubling.” Such scolding words, however, shrivel into nothingness in the face of a single number: 38 billion. More
administration’s recent 10-year, $38-billion pledge to renew Israel’s arsenal of weaponry, while still ostensibly pursuing “peace,” makes clear just how bankrupt that policy is. For two decades, Israeli leaders and their neoconservative backers in this country, hell-bent on building and expanding settlements on Palestinian land, have worked to undermine America’s stated efforts -- and paid no price. Now, with that record weapons package, the U.S. has made it all too clear that they won’t have to. Ever… Not long after the funeral, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brazenly approved a new settlement deep in the West Bank, prompting the State Department to “strongly condemn” the action as “deeply troubling.” Such scolding words, however, shrivel into nothingness in the face of a single number: 38 billion. More
In email, Clinton calls for a ‘Potemkin’ peace process
Last week we picked up the emails showing the Clinton team’s knee-jerk responsiveness to prodding by megadonor Haim Saban: Clinton must not “rebuke” Netanyahu over his opposition to Obama over the deal, but send positive signals re Israel, including opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement– statements that could then be sent out to “thousands” of donors to help them understand where Hillary is on Israel. The emails keep coming, and in the last day or so, Israeli publications have picked up a Clinton comment approving the idea of a “Potemkin” peace process... A Potemkin process is of course just what the United States has had for twenty years or so. It is our contribution to the managed conflict undertaken by the Israelis; we never put any real pressure on the Israelis, and yet, affirming the Potemkin process gives the U.S. cover to claim that it is working hard to bring about a two-state solution. Even as apartheid solidifies across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. More
Palestinian teen shot dead for throwing stones; wounded Palestinian woman executed
The Israeli military claimed that Bahr was killed after he threw stones at an army patrol jeep. “After being hit with the stones, the soldiers exited the jeep and were again pelted with rocks, injuring one lightly,” the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz reported. “According to the [Israeli military], the soldiers initiated the army’s arrest protocol, at which point the Palestinian was killed,” Haaretz added. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has previously stated that the military’s “open-fire regulations permit shooting at the legs of a suspect in order to facilitate his arrest.”
Referring to a February 2015 incident in which a Palestinian was killed after being shot in chest and head, the group added, “They do not permit killing him by firing three shots at his upper body.” Palestinian health officials claimed that Israeli forces prevented Palestine Red Crescent emergency medics from gaining immediate access to Bahr, who was already dead by the time they were able to reach him. More
Why refugees in this West Bank camp are rebelling against the Palestinian Authority
Palestinian authorities consider the camp on the edge of Nablus city a den of lawless gangs and illicit guns that is sowing instability throughout the area, and are trying to tame it. Many Balata residents, meanwhile, vow they won’t submit to authorities they accuse of corruption, brutality, collaboration with Israel, and the economic neglect of a neighborhood that is home to about 27,000 people living in an area less than one square mile. The tension has been deadly in some cases: Since June, four police officers have been killed by gunmen and four Nablus residents have died at the hands of police, according to the Independent Commission for Human Rights, a Palestinian human rights watchdog based in the West Bank, and the Nablus governorate… The impoverished camp illustrates a festering problem for Abbas, who has led the Palestinian Authority for more than a decade. Critics say Abbas has failed on many fronts, including not achieving statehood for Palestinians or peace with Israel. More
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OTHER EVENTS
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?
Wednesday, October 26: Dorchester Food Co-op Celebration & Member Challenge, 6pm to 8pm
Cesaria Resturante, Bowdoin St, Dorchester. We are now 500 members-owners strong and growing. Thanks to your belief, passion and investment, this project is moving closer to the reality of opening a community-owned grocery store. Let's celebrate this important milestone together with delicious food, great music and wonderful people! Free appetizers, DJ, Cash Bar. RSVP today so we know how many people we are feeding!
Friday-Sat, October 28: Standing Rock Teach-In, 12:30pm Friday, 10am Saturday, Tufts University, Medford. Please join us for a two day teach-in on the protective actions at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline. More info, details: http://masspeaceaction.org/event/standing-rock-teach-in/
Saturday, October 29: The Right to Boycott: DEFENDING BDS TO PRESSURE ISRAEL, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm, Central Sq Branch Public Library, 45 Pearl St. Cambridge. A Forum to Educate, Discuss and Strategize: Today, across the country, state and federal lawmakers are attempting to suppress the Palestinian-led campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. The forum will strategize ways to protect our right to free speech. More info: http://masspeaceaction.org/event/right-to-boycott/
Tuesday, November 1: IYAD BURNAT: Bil’in and The Nonviolent Resistance, 7pm at Encuentro 5
9A Hamilton Place, Boston (near Park St. T Station). Iyad Burnat is the coordinator for the Popular Committee in Bil'in, Palestine. For 10 years, Iyad and the Popular Committee of this small village have held weekly non-violent demonstrations against the confiscation of their land. They have repeatedly been met with violence by the Israeli military. Iyad is coming to the Boston area to describe what life is like under Israeli occupation, his village's ongoing struggle for justice and freedom, and what inspires him to continue non-violent resistance.
9A Hamilton Place, Boston (near Park St. T Station). Iyad Burnat is the coordinator for the Popular Committee in Bil'in, Palestine. For 10 years, Iyad and the Popular Committee of this small village have held weekly non-violent demonstrations against the confiscation of their land. They have repeatedly been met with violence by the Israeli military. Iyad is coming to the Boston area to describe what life is like under Israeli occupation, his village's ongoing struggle for justice and freedom, and what inspires him to continue non-violent resistance.
Iyad is the winner of the 2015 James Lawson Award for Achievement bestowed by the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict during its summer institute at Tufts University.
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.
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CONTACTING DPP and Joining Our Work:
To make it easier to get involved with DPP, we've decided to publish contact info for our coordinators in every issue of this update. We will also regularly publish upcoming meetings of work committees, create a brochure or flyer about DPP, and greet new people at monthly meetings with an explanation of how we work. Here's how to reach them.
Facilitation Team:
Sydney Miller sydsail@gmail.com
Alison Gottlieb: asgottlieb1@gmail.com
