Saturday, June 03, 2017

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

WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME

Related image“YOU’RE FIRED, PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD!”
Trump’s announcement of the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement  --  as usual before an audience that included an applause claque of administration supporters – was full of lies and distortions.  Partial fact checks here and here.

BILL MCKIBBEN:
Trump's Stupid and Reckless Climate Decision
The Paris accord was a high achievement of the diplomatic art, a process much messier than science, and inevitably involving compromise and unseemly concession… Those changes, and similar ones agreed to by other nations, would not have ended global warming. They were too small. But the hope of Paris was that the treaty would send such a strong signal to the world’s governments, and its capital markets, that the targets would become a floor and not a ceiling; that shaken into action by the accord, we would start moving much faster toward renewable energy, maybe even fast enough to begin catching up with the physics of global warming. There are signs that this has been happening: The plummeting price of solar energy just this spring persuaded India to forgo a huge planned expansion of coal plants in favor of more solar panel arrays to catch the sun. China is shutting coal mines as fast as it can build wind turbines. And that’s precisely the moment President Trump chose to make his move.  More

Could Trump and his Climate Deniers Kill the Planet?
Not only has Trump previously dismissed climate change as a “hoax,” but he has already taken a series of steps that will ensure the ongoing warming of the planet. Trump has filled his administration with men who deny that human activity is causing global warming… Trump’s actions have already had serious consequences. Perhaps most significant is the weakening of the Paris Agreement, one of the last, best hopes to slow global warming. “Mr. Trump has not yet decided whether to formally withdraw from the Paris agreement,” The New York Times reported in March. “But by rolling back the policies needed to meet American commitments, the United States essentially announced that it would not comply.”  As the crisis worsens, the fate of the world grows increasingly precarious. Global warming is continuing at record levels, but the leaders of the United States are ignoring this existential threat to the planet…  The denialist attitude does not bode well for the future of the planet. With temperatures rising and greenhouse gases still being pumped endlessly into the atmosphere, the planet appears to be heading for a major catastrophe.  More

http://www.truthdig.com/images/made/images/cartoonuploads/KamenskyTrumpForest_1000_361_261.jpgNAOMI KLEIN: Will Trump Finally Provoke Consequences for Planetary Arson?
The power of the Paris Agreement was always in what social movements resolved to do with it. Having a clear commitment to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing “efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 C,” means there is no room left in the global carbon budget to develop new fossil fuel reserves…  And this was always the task for the global climate justice movement when it came to Paris: to try to hold governments to the strong spirit, rather than the weak letter, of the agreement. The trouble is that as soon as Trump moved into the White House, it was perfectly clear that Washington was no longer susceptible to that kind of pressure… And there is another call that is increasingly being heard from social movements around the world — for economic sanctions in the face of Trump’s climate vandalism. Because here’s a crazy idea: Whether or not it’s written into the Paris Agreement, when you unilaterally decide to burn the world, there should be a price to pay. And that should be true whether you are the United States government, or Exxon Mobil — or some Frankenstein merger of the two.  More

Bucking Trump, These Cities, States and Companies Commit to Paris Accord
Representatives of American cities, states and companies are preparing to submit a plan to the United Nations pledging to meet the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions targets under the Paris climate accord, despite President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement.  The unnamed group — which, so far, includes 30 mayors, three governors, more than 80 university presidents and more than 100 businesses — is negotiating with the United Nations to have its submission accepted alongside contributions to the Paris climate deal by other nations.    More

TRUMP'S BUDGET PLAN LANDS WITH A THUD IN MIDDLE AMERICA
When Trump promised to bring back manufacturing jobs, voters there lined up behind him.  But last week when Trump released his budget, the message they got from the president was that they were on their own…  “The federal budget is not just a national story, it really is a state-by-state story,” said Anne Stauffer, director of Pew’s Fiscal Federalism program. “When people think about the federal budget they don’t connect it to their lives or the services they get from their state or their city.”  … Rural America in particular — where Trump got more than 60 percent of the vote — is struggling with high unemployment, slow economic growth and tepid home price appreciation. Three in four rural counties still haven’t fully recovered from the recession, according to the National Association of Counties.  More
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/kevin-siers/7g1pcm/picture152432469/ALTERNATES/FREE_960/SIERS052517
Class, race and politics in the rust belt
It is arguable that the campaign had—and the corporate wing of the Democratic Party has—little to offer voters in the rust belt…  a small but significant slice of working class rust belt voters voted against business as usual. Again, as Davis points out, “several hundred thousand white, blue-collar Obama voters, at most, voted for Trump’s vision of fair trade and reindustrialization, not the millions usually invoked.” In a narrow race, that provided the margin of defeat… Beltway insiders in the Democratic Party are ready to throw over the traditional Democratic base in the rust belt. They can dismiss working class Trump supporters as inveterate racists, as “deplorables.” … If you believe Trump’s working class base voted for him because of his racist appeals, and all you are interested in is electoral victory, then looking away from this fraction of the working class makes sense. This is certainly true of a portion of them but it is our contention that a significant element of that base voted against Clinton, against Washington, against business as usual. They were, in fact, so disaffected with Washington that they were willing to overlook Trump’s racism and misogyny: They voted Trump in spite of his crass scapegoating and hubris, not because of them.   More

The Numbers Don’t Lie: White Far-Right Terrorists Pose a Clear Danger to Us All
Compare and contrast: Islamist terrorists are depicted as wild-eyed fanatics driven to kill by their religious faith or ideology, while far-right terrorists — be it the shooter of two Hindus in a bar in Kansas in February, or the killer of nine black worshippers in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, or the murderer of six Sikh worshippers in a temple in Duffy’s own state of Wisconsin in 2012 — are almost always “mentally ill.” After the recent double murder in Oregon, it didn’t take long for Portland police spokesperson Pete Simpson to announce: “We don’t know if [the suspect] has mental health issues.”  …Today, the terror threat from far-right white supremacists is the terror threat that dare not speak its name… Yet the numbers don’t lie — even if the Islamophobes do. “Since September 12, 2001,” noted a recent report prepared for Congress by the Government Accountability Office, “the number of fatalities caused by domestic violent extremists has ranged from 1 to 49 in a given year. … Fatalities resulting from attacks by far-right wing violent extremists have exceeded those caused by radical Islamist violent extremists in 10 of the 15 years, and were the same in 3 of the years since September 12, 2001.”   More

Cut Corporate Taxes? This Is How the Biggest Companies Cheated on Taxes in 2016
Donald Trump wants to cut what some call the "highest corporate tax rate in the world." The tax cut will, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, "pay for itself with economic growth."  "Corporations make billions from U.S. research and education, but then they turn around and cheat us on taxes."Two delusions in one. The realities are far different for anyone who actually considers the facts. And some of the facts about 2016 tax avoidance are shocking and depressing. For example, two of the big banks (JP Morgan and Bank of America) together underpaid their taxes by more than Trump's proposed $10.6 billion education cuts, which would eliminate or reduce after-school programs, work-study programs, state grants, teacher training, arts programs, and physical education. The two banks combined to DEFER nearly $10 billion…  Ten companies mentioned in this report collectively withheld nearly $15 billion in tax money in 2016.   That's as much as Trump's proposed cut for Health and Human Services, which carries out essential research on cancer and deadly threats like the Ebola and Zika viruses.   More

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

Europe May Finally Rethink NATO Costs
Over time, even the most sophisticated propaganda wears thin, and more and more Europeans will realize that NATO, in its present form, is an unnecessary, vestigial organ already a quarter-century beyond its expiration date – and that it can flare up painfully, like a diseased appendix. At a time when citizens of many NATO countries are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet, they will be reluctant to sink still more money into rehab for a vestigial organ.  That there are better uses for the money is already clear, and President Trump’s badgering of NATO countries to contribute ever more for defense may well backfire. Some are already asking, “Defense against what?” Under the painful austerity that has been squeezing the Continent since the Wall Street crash nearly a decade ago, a critical mass of European citizens is likely to be able to distinguish reality from propaganda – and perhaps much sooner than anyone anticipates.   More

In Praise of a Transatlantic Divorce
The foreign-policy establishment is in a dither this week over Donald Trump’s recent truculent, bumbling, and boorish conduct in Europe. Their concerns hit a new high when German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a speech back homedeclaring “the times in which we could rely fully on others” are “somewhat over” and suggesting Europe “really take our fate into our own hands.”  The reaction back in the United States was swift and bordered on hysterical…  Donald Trump is a symptom of the larger crisis that has been brewing for NATO ever since the Cold War ended. Alliances are first and foremost a collective response to threats, and NATO’s primary rationale disappeared when the Soviet Union collapsed. Attempts to give NATO important new missions “out of area” did not go well, whether one looks at Libya or Kosovo or Afghanistan, and some of America’s other initiatives — most notably the invasion of Iraq — did considerable damage to transatlantic solidarity as well.   More

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAjCK8HXgAAIcn9.jpgLibya’s Link to Manchester’s Tragedy
The alleged suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, was part of an extremist group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, that thrived in Manchester and was cultivated and used by MI5 for more than 20 years. The LIFG is proscribed by Britain as a terrorist organization, which seeks a “hardline Islamic state” in Libya and “is part of the wider global Islamist extremist movement, as inspired by al-Qaida.”  The “smoking gun” is that when Prime Minister Theresa May was Home Secretary, LIFG jihadists were allowed to travel unhindered across Europe and encouraged to engage in “battle”: first to remove Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, then to join al-Qaida affiliated groups in Syria…  The Manchester atrocity lifts the rock of British foreign policy to reveal its Faustian alliance with extreme Islam, especially the sect known as Wahhabism or Salafism, whose principal custodian and banker is the oil kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Britain’s biggest weapons customer.  More

After two years of war, Yemenis face cholera, famine and state collapse
Yemen and its people are engulfed by utter devastation. In the two-plus years of the conflict between the Houthi movement and its allies, including ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and an interim government supported by a Saudi-led military coalition, more than 10,000 people have died – and not just because of violence.  Two thirds of Yemen’s 26m people live with the reality of famine, with around 7m already suffering from acute malnutrition. Of this number, more than 3m face acute malnourishment. In these conditions, a child under five dies every 10 minutes. What’s more, the World Health Organisation is sounding the alarm over a new cholera outbreak in the country, which has killed hundreds of people and put some 150,000 at risk…  The situation could deteriorate further yet. The Saudis and their allies have long been preparing an attack on the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeida, so far a crucial supply route and lifeline for Yemenis, and have requested direct US military aid. In response to that request, a bipartisan group of members of Congress wrote to Donald Trump and his defence secretary, James Mattis, demanding that they end the US’s support for the Saudi campaign.   More

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy ruled by Wahhabism, an intolerant form of Sunni Islam, and the Saudi state has supported movements such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban. The Saudi government fiercely discriminates against Muslims of other sects, bans public worship by Christians, and supports gender inequality. The Saudis opposed the 2015 U.S.-Iran nuclear deal even though it guarantees a world with fewer nuclear weapons.
Image result for cartoon U.S. saudi allianceSaudi Arabia invaded Bahrain to support that country's rulers during the 2011 Arab Spring, and it is presently making war in Yemen, where its airstrikes have led to many thousands of civilian deaths and risks a serious famine. Our country is providing indispensable military aid and support for the Saudi war in Yemen; in the last two years our government has sold over $20 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia. We refuel Saudi warplanes that have bombed schools, hospitals, marketplaces, weddings, and funerals.
Additionally, Saudi military actions have disrupted the food supply in Yemen. Yemen  imports nearly 90% of its food; according to the UN, 17 million Yemenis suffer from severe food insecurity.

Will America Once Again Undermine Iran’s Pro-Democracy Movement?
Washington’s approach is motivated by an irrational fear of losing Iran as an enemy. Instead of welcoming the country’s courageous democratic steps—which Washington for decades has claimed it desires—President Trump clenched his fist and doubled down on enmity by calling for regime change and Iran’s isolation. Only Saudi Arabia and hard-line elements of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet in Israel welcomed this belligerent move—the same two countries that also opposed the nuclear deal.
But it isn’t just the path to US-Iran reconciliation that Trump is blocking by outsourcing Middle East policy to Saudi Arabia and Israel. He also risks jeopardizing Iran’s path toward reform and democratization. And it wouldn’t be the first time the United States stood in the way of the Iranian people’s yearning for democracy…  Just as the Iranian people sent an unmistakable invitation for further engagement and dialogue, Trump took the United States back to the Bush-era policy of confrontation. It’s a policy with only one clear winner: Iran’s hard-line elements, who oppose both Iranian society’s desire for more democracy and closer relations with the United States.   More

US boosts 'combat power' in south Syria
The US military says it has bolstered its "combat power" in southern Syria, warning that it viewed Iran-backed fighters in the area as a threat to nearby coalition troops fighting Islamic State.  The remarks by a Baghdad-based spokesman for the US-led coalition battling Islamic State was the latest sign of tension in the region, where the United States has forces at the base around the Syrian town of Tanf supporting local fighters.  "We have increased our presence and our footprint and prepared for any threat that is presented by the pro-regime forces," said the US army spokesman Ryan Dillon on Thursday, referring to Iran-backed forces supporting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.   More


In Boston-Come to the next monthly Dorchester Standout for Black Lives Thursday June 15, 5:30-6:30 PM

Come to the next monthly 
Dorchester Standout for Black Lives
Thursday June 155:30-6:30 PM 
(and the third Thursday of every month)
at Ashmont T station plaza

We will hold a big banner saying "We Believe that Black Lives Matter" Black Lives Matter and signs (including about a variety of issues that impact Black lives), and hand out fliers to pedestrians and drivers stopped at red lights.  Please join us; all are welcome! Remaining dates this spring and summer are: June 15, July 20, August 17, and September 21.  For more info: writeKelley or Becky, kelready@msn.com,beckyp44@verizon.net, or call Dorchester People for Peace 617-282-3783
*   *   *   *

In Massachusetts- State House Hearing Friday, June 9 SAFE COMMUNITIES ACT-Defend Immigrants-Join The Resistance!

State House Hearing Friday, June 9
SAFE COMMUNITIES ACT
SafeCommunitiesCoalition
Take Action - Testify or attend the hearing
The Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) seeks compelling testimony and support to educate the Joint Committee about the impact that Trump's aggressive enforcement and rhetoric are having on the ground, driving immigrants away from seeking public services and assistance, including public school, healthcare, and police assistance. Written testimony is also needed.

IF YOU WISH TO TESTIFY:
Arrive by 9:15 a.m. to sign up as an individual or a panel (3 or 4 people testifying together - sign all your names together). Expect to wait in line - it's first come, first serve. Three minute maximum per person. IF YOU ARE UNABLE OR DON'T WANT TO TESTIFY it's critical that you come to show your support. Plan to stay all day if you can. If the hearing room is full, use that time to visit your legislators. Find out who your representatives are here. No signs allowed in the building, but MIRA will have stickers to wear inside. EITHER WAY, PLEASE SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY. THE COMMITTEE NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU.

June 11: Ban the Bomb! Celebrating Sister Megan Rice’s Activism, In support of the Women’s March to Ban the Bomb: NYC

To  act-ma  
http://masspeaceaction.org/event/ban-the-bomb-calling-attention-to-womens-march-to-ban-the-bomb/

Ban the Bomb! Celebrating Sister Megan Rice’s Activism, In support of the
Women’s March to Ban the Bomb: NYC
Sunday, June 11 @ 4:00 pm - All Saints Parish, Brookline
[image: Sister Megan Rice with her two associates in the Oak Ridge action]

- Film, Dr. Ira Helfand, MD, Chair, Security Committee, *Physicians for
Social Responsibility: **The increasing threat of nuclear weapons**.*
- Subrata Ghoshroy, MIT research affilliate and frequent contributor to
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: The current state of nuclear disarmament
negotiations.
- Joan Ecklein, WILPF, Boston organizer of The Women’s March to Ban the
Bomb <http://masspeaceaction.org/event/womens-march-to-ban-the-bomb/>,
NYC: Why we should support the UN Nuclear Disarmament negotiations by
marching in NYC, June 17.
- Patricia McSweeney: on Plowshares actions and introducing her long
time friend, Sister Megan
- Meet Sister Megan Rice, and converse with her.
- Joseph Gerson, AFSC: In closing: Nuclear Disarmament, its necessity,
and what forms can our activism take?

1) March
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=17&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.womenbanthebomb.org%2F>
in
NYC on June 17, Bus information above.

2) Sign a petition to Congressman Joe Kennedy

3) Join a group, sign up sheets available.

Sponsored by Brookline PeaceWorks, Women’s International League for Peace
and Freedom, Massachusetts Peace Action, PAX Christi, and Greater Boston
Physicians for Social Responsibility.

— More info: Amy Hendrickson, 617 738-8029 <(617)%20738-8029>
amyh@texnology.com
+ GOOGLE CALENDAR
<https://www.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE&text=Ban+the+Bomb%21++Celebrating+Sister+Megan+Rice%27s+Activism%2C+In+support+of+the+Women%27s+March+to+Ban+the+Bomb%3A+NYC&dates=20170611T160000/20170611T160000&location=1773+Beacon+St%2C+Brookline%2C+MA%2C+02445%2C+United+States&trp=false&sprop=website:http://masspeaceaction.org&ctz=America%2FNew_York&details=Film,+Dr.+Ira+Helfand,+MD,+Chair,+Security+Committee,+Physicians+for+Social+Responsibility:+The+increasing+threat+of+nuclear+weapons.Subrata+Ghoshroy,+MIT+research+affilliate+and+frequent+contributor+to+Bulletin+of+Atomic+Scientists:+The+current+state+of+nuclear+disarmament+negotiations.Joan+Ecklein,+WILPF,+Boston+organizer+of+The+Women%E2%80%99s+March+to+Ban+the+Bomb,+NYC:+Why+we+should+support+the+UN+Nuclear+Disarmament+negotiations+by+marching+in+NYC,+June+17.Patricia+McSweeney:+on+Plowshares+actions+and+introducing+her+long+time+friend,+Sister+MeganMeet+Sister+Megan+Rice,+and+converse+with+her.Joseph+Gerson,+AFSC:+In+closing:+%C2%A0Nuclear+Disarmament,+its+necessity,+and+what+forms+can+our+activism+take?1)%C2%A0March%C2%A0in+NYC+on%C2%A0June+17,+Bus+information+above.+2)+Sign+a+petition+to+Congressman+Joe+Kennedy+3)+Join+a+group,+sign+up+sheets+available.+Sponsored+by+Brookline+PeaceWorks,+Women%E2%80%99s+International+League+for+Peace+and+Freedom,%C2%A0Massachusetts+Peace+Action,+PAX+Christi,++(View+Full+Event+Description+Here:+http://masspeaceaction.org/event/ban-the-bomb-calling-attention-to-womens-march-to-ban-the-bomb/)>+
ICAL EXPORT
<http://masspeaceaction.org/event/ban-the-bomb-calling-attention-to-womens-march-to-ban-the-bomb/?ical=1&tribe_display=>
DetailsDate:June 11Time:
4:00 pm
Event Tags:ban the bomb <http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/ban-the-bomb/>,
Event <http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/event/>, Ira Helfand
<http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/ira-helfand/>, Joseph Gerson
<http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/joseph-gerson/>, Megan Rice
<http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/megan-rice/>, new york city
<http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/new-york-city/>, peace activism
<http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/peace-activism/>, wilpf
<http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/wilpf/>, women's march
<http://masspeaceaction.org/tag/womens-march/>
OrganizerWomen Ban the Bomb
<http://masspeaceaction.org/organizer/women-ban-the-bomb/>Website:
http://www.womenbanthebomb.org/
VenueAll Saints Parish
<http://masspeaceaction.org/venue/all-saints-parish/>1773
Beacon St
Brookline, MA 02445 United States+ Google Map
<https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1773+Beacon+St+Brookline+MA+02445+United+States>
<https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.337177,-71.142162&z=16&t=m&hl=en-US&gl=US&mapclient=apiv3>
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Related Events

- <http://masspeaceaction.org/event/womens-march-to-ban-the-bomb/>
Women’s March to Ban the Bomb
<http://masspeaceaction.org/event/womens-march-to-ban-the-bomb/>June 17
@ 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm

--
Cole Harrison
Executive Director
Massachusetts Peace Action
11 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138
w: 617-354-2169 <(617)%20354-2169>
m: 617-466-9274 <(617)%20466-9274>
f: /masspeaceaction
t: @masspeaceaction
--
Cole Harrison
Executive Director
Massachusetts Peace Action
11 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138
w: 617-354-2169
m: 617-466-9274
f: /masspeaceaction
t: @masspeaceaction
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In Boston-6/02 Salt of the Earth (tonight)

This weekend we are lucky to host Joe Bernick, the director of the Salt
of the Earth Labor College in Tucson, not far from the current border
with Mexico.

Showing of Salt of the Earth with the director.

Fri. June 2nd 630
Encuentro 5
9A Hamilton Place. (near Park St.)

Joe worked many years with leaders of the great Salt of the Earth
strike. He has had time to mull over tasks of Chicano/Mexicano
liberation, one of the important questions the US working class faces.

At 6:30 this coming Saturday eve, we plan an informal discussion of the
Chicano/Mexicano question at the CME. The historian John Womack, author
of Zapata and the Mexican Revolution and an old friend of the CME, has
agreed to join in the discussion.

The drama film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism> social and political point of
view. Its plot centers on a long and difficult strike
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action>, based on the 1951 strike
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Zinc_Strike> against the Empire
Zinc Company <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Zinc_Company> in
Grant County, New Mexico
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_County,_New_Mexico>. In the film,
the company is identified as "Delaware Zinc," and the setting is
"Zinctown, New Mexico." The film shows how the miners, the company, and
the police react during the strike. In neorealist
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neorealism_%28art%29> style, the
producers and director used actual miners and their families as actors
in the film.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_of_the_Earth_(1954_film)

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Stolen Generations: Rally and March Against Israeli Occupation When: Monday, June 5, 2017, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm Where: Cambridge City Hall • Cambridge


Stolen Generations: Rally and March Against Israeli Occupation

When: Monday, June 5, 2017, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Where: Cambridge City Hall • Cambridge
STOLEN GENERATIONS
After 50 years of Israeli occupation, Palestinians should be free.  As of June 2017, Palestinian men, women and children have endured 50 years of military occupation of their lands in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, as well as an ongoing siege and blockade of Gaza. Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel has systematically colonized Palestinian lands and established hundreds of illegal settlements, off-limits to Palestinians. Israel has forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and subjected these victims to harsh conditions in refugee camps and exile. Here’s a taste of what Israel has done with over $230 billion of your tax dollars:
• Demolished over 48,000 Palestinian homes and related structures in the West Bank and Gaza.
• Stolen over 586,000 acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank.
• Colonized the West Bank with over 600,000 Jewish settlers in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
• Established an apartheid legal system with civil courts for Jewish settlers and separate military courts for 4.5 million Palestinians, who are subjected to indefinite detentions.

Now is the time to escalate campaigns in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice, and equality. 2017 not only marks 50 years occupation. It has also been 10 years since Israel’s blockade of Gaza70 years since the Nakba and ethnic cleansing of Palestine began following the partition of the land against the will of the indigenous people; and 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, which set the stage for the Zionist movement to colonize Palestine and later to establish a Jewish state. 
Cosponsored by: Palestine Advocacy Project, Mass Against HP, Jewish Voice for Peace Boston, United for Justice with Peace as part of a nationally coordinated actions called by the US Campaign for Palestinian rights.
Upcoming Events: 
Newsletter: 

An Encore -Out In The Be-Bop 1950s Night- The Time Of Motorcycle Bill-Take Two

An Encore -Out In The Be-Bop 1950s Night- The Time Of Motorcycle Bill-Take Two



From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin

[My old friend, Sam Lowell, whom I have known since the summer of love days out in Frisco days in the late 1960s when we though all the world could be turned upside down and we were the hail fellows, well met who were going to help do it and all we got for our troubles was tear gas, cops' nightsticks and the bastinado for our efforts, oh yeah, and forty year blow-back from the night-takers, and who hails from Carver down in Massachusetts asked me to fill in a few more details about this relationship between Motorcycle Bill and Lily. He thought I was originally kind of skimpy on why a nice Catholic girl would go all to pieces over a motorcycle guy, would get on his bike like she was some low-rent tart from the wrong side of town the usual type that went for motorcycle guys in his book. Sam didn’t get the idea that when that cycle surge came along just like us with the heroic antics of the summer of love lots of ordinary teens went with the flow. So here is a little extra, a take two for Sam, and maybe for others who missed that big motorcycle moment.]      

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There was a scourge in the land, in the 1950s American land. No, not the one you are thinking of from your youth or from your history book, not the dreaded but fatalistically expected BIG ONE, the mega-bomb that would send old mother earth back to square one, or worst, maybe only the amoebas would survive to start the long train of civilization up the hill once again. Everybody expected that blow to come if it did come and we in America were not vigilant, did not keep our shoulders to the wheel and not ask questions from the nefarious Russkies (of course we that were just coming to age in the rock and roll night would not have had a clue as to what questions to ask if asking questions was acceptable then and it was not and we as young as were knew that it was not from parents to teachers to Grandpa Ike and his cabinet). We, if not vigilant, would take it in the back from a guy named Joe Stalin which one of our teachers said meant “steel” in Russian but it could have been from any Russian guy as we learned later after Stalin died and other atomic bomb-wielding guys took over in Red Square.

Sure that red scare Cold War was in the air and every school boy and girl had their giggling tales of having to hide, hide ass up, under some desk or other useless defense in air raid drill preparations for that eventually. I wasn’t any revolutionary or radical or “red” although one teacher looked at me kind of funny when I mentioned it but I couldn’t get behind the purpose of hiding under some old-timey elementary school wooden desk when every film I ever saw of what an atomic blast looked like said you might as well not have your ass sticking up in the air when Armageddon came. Like I said one teacher looked at me very funny. So sure the air stunk of red scare, military build-up cold war “your mommy is a commie turn her in" (and there were foolish kids who did try to use that ploy when dear mother said no to some perfectly reasonable request and junior thought to get even he would rat her out).

But the red scare, the Cold War ice tamp down on society to go along to get along was not the day to day scare for every self-respecting parent from Portsmouth to the Pacific. That fear was reserved for the deadly dreaded motorcycle scare that had every father telling his son to beware of falling under the Marlon Brando sway once they had seen the man complete with leather jacket, rakish cap and surly snarl playing Johnny Bad in The Wild One at the Strand Theater on Saturday afternoon and deciding contrary to the cautionary tale of the film that these Johnnies were losers spiraling down to a life, a low life of crime and debauchery (of course said son not knowing of the word, the meaning of debauchery, until much later) just shrugged his innocent shoulders.

More importantly, more in need of a five alarm warning, every mother, every blessed mother, self-respecting or not, secretly thinking maybe a toss in the hay with Marlon would bring some spice to her otherwise staid ranch house with breezeway existence warned off their daughters against this madness and perversity in leather. Warned those gleaming-eyed daughters also fresh from the Saturday afternoon matinee Stand Theater to not even think about hanging with such rascals contrary to the lesson that cute waitress in the film gave about blowing Johnny off as so much bad air. (Of course forgetting, as dad had with junior, to bring up the question of sex which is what Sissy had on her mind after one look at that cool attire of Johnny and her dream about how she could get that surly smirk off of his face.)     

Of course that did not stop the wayward sons of millworkers slated for work in the mills when their times came from mooning over every Harley cat that rode his ride down Main Street, Olde Saco (really U.S. Route One but everybody called it Main Street and it was) or the daughters slated for early motherhood under proper marriage or maybe sales clerks in the Monmouth Store from mooning (and maybe more) over the low- riders churning the metal on those bad ass machines when they went with their girlfriends over to Old Orchard Beach on sultry sweaty weekend nights in summer.

This is how bad things were, how the cool cats on the bikes sucked the air out of any other guys who were looking for, well, looking whatever they could get from the bevies of girls watching their every move like hawks. Even prime and proper Lily Dumont, the queen of Saint Brigitte’s Catholic Church rectitude on Sunday and wanna-be “mama” every other waking minute of late. Now this Lily was “hot” no question so hot that my best friend in high school Rene Dubois, the best looking guy around the Acre where we all lived and who already had two girlfriends (and later in life would have four, count them, four wives before he gave the marriage game up and just shacked up with whatever romantic interest he had at the moment), would go to eight o’clock Mass every Sunday and sit a couple of rows in back of her and just watch her ass. (I know because I was sitting beside him watching that same ass).

He never got anywhere with her, she knew about the two girlfriends since they were friends of hers, and neither did I. Lily was a classic French-Canadian beauty long thin legs, petite shape but with nice curves, long black hair and pop-out blue eyes. Nice but like I said but strictly the ice queen as far as we could tell. Especially when she would constantly talk about her friendship with Jesus and the need to say plenty of rosaries and attend many novenas to keep in touch with him.        

In this time of the motorcycle craze though something awoken in her, maybe just the realization that Jesus was okay but guys who thought she was hot maybe needed some tending too. In any case, and I didn’t find this out until several years later after Lily had left town, my sister who was one of Lily’s close friends then and Lily could confide girl talk to her during this motorcycle dust up Lily would find herself restless at night, late at night and contrary to all good Catholic teachings would put her hand in a place where she shouldn’t (this is the way my sister put it you know Lily was just playing  with herself a perfectly natural feeling for teenagers, and older people too) and she was embarrassed about it, didn’t know if she could go to confession and say what sin she committed to old Father Pierre. I don’t know if she ever did confess or things got resolved a different way and that idea was out of play but there you have it.     

And the object of her desire? One “Motorcycle Bill,” the baddest low- rider in all of Olde Saco. Now baddest in Olde Saco (that’s up in ocean edge Maine for the heathens and others not in the know) was not exactly baddest in the whole wide world, nowhere as near as bad as say Sonny Barger and his henchmen outlaws-for- real bikers out in Hell’s Angels Oakland as chronicled by Doctor Gonzo (before he was Gonzo), Hunter S. Thompson in his saga of murder and mayhem sociological- literary study Hell’s Angels. But as much is true in life one must accept the context. And the context here is that in sleepy dying mill town Olde Saco mere ownership, hell maybe mere desire for ownership, of a bike was prima facie evidence of badness. So every precious daughter was specifically warned away from Motorcycle Bill and his Vincent Black Lightning 1952 (although no mother, and maybe no daughter either, could probably tell the difference between that sleek English bike and a big pig Harley). But Madame Dumont felt no need to do so with her sweet sixteen Lily who, maybe, pretty please maybe was going to be one of god’s women, maybe enter the convent over in Cedars Of Lebanon Springs in a couple of years after she graduated from Olde Saco High along with her Class of 1960.

But that was before Motorcycle Bill appeared on the horizon. One afternoon after school walking home to Olde Saco’s French- Canadian (F-C) quarter, the Acre like I said where we all lived, all French-Canadians (on my mother’s side, nee LeBlanc for me) on Atlantic Avenue with classmate and best friend Clara Dubois (my sister was close to Lily but not as close as Clara since they had gone to elementary school together), Lily heard the thunder of Bill’s bike coming up behind them, stopping, Bill giving Lily a bow, and them revving the machine up and doing a couple of circle cuts within a hair’s breathe of the girls. Then just a suddenly he was off, and Lily, well, Lily was hooked, hooked on Motorcycle Bill, although she did not know it, know it for certain until that night in her room when she tossed and turned all night and did not ask god, or any of his associates, to guide her in the matter (the matter of that wayward hand for those who might have forgotten).

One thing about living in a sleepy old town, a sleepy old dying mill town, is that everybody knows everybody’s business at least as far as any person wants that information out on the public square. Two things are important before we go on. One is that everybody in town that counted which meant every junior and senior class high schooler in Olde Saco knew that Bill had made a “play” for Lily. And the buzz got its start from none other than Clara Dubois who had her own hankerings after the motorcycle man (her source of wonder though was more, well lets’ call it crass than Lily’s, Clara wanted to know if Bill was build, build with some sexual power, power like his motorcycle. She had innocently, perhaps, understood the Marlon mystique). The second was that Bill, other than his bike, was not a low life low- rider but just a guy who liked to ride the roads free and easy. See Bill was a freshman over at Bowdoin and he used the bike as much to get back and forth to school from his home in Scarborough as to do wheelies in front of impressionable teenage girls from the Acre.

One day, one afternoon, a few days after their Motorcycle Bill “introduction,” when Lily and Clara were over at Seal Rock at the far end of Olde Saco Beach Bill came up behind them sans his bike. (Not its real name but had been given the name Seal Rock because the place was the local lovers’ lane at night and many things had been sealed there including a fair share of “doing the do,” you know hard and serious sex. During the day it was just a good place to catch a sea breeze and look for interesting clam shells which washed up in the swirling surf there.) Now not on his bike, without a helmet, and carrying books, books of all things, he looked like any student except maybe a little bolder and a little less reserved.

He started talking to Lily and something in his demeanor attracted her to him. (Clara swore, swore on seven bibles, that Lily was kind of stand-offish at first but Lily said no, said she was just blushing  a lot.) They talked for a while and then Bill asked Lily if she wanted a ride home. She hemmed and hawed but there was just something about him that spoke of mystery (who knows what Clara thought about what Lily thought about that idea). She agreed and they walked a couple of blocks to where he was parked. And there Lily saw that Vincent Black Lightning 1952 of her dreams. Without a word, without anything done by her except to tie her hair back and unbutton a couple of buttons from her starched white shirt she climbed on the back of the bike at Bill’s beckon. And that is how one Lily Dumont became William Kelly’s motorcycle “mama” when the high tide of the motorcycle as sex symbol hit our town.