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
Hosted By: Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases
Thirteen prominent peace and justice organizations in the United States are collectively organizing a 3-day national conference on U.S. Foreign Military Bases on January 12-14, 2018, at the University of Baltimore, Maryland:
Alliance for Global Justice
Black Alliance for Peace
CODEPINK
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
International Action Center
MLK Justice Coalition
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Popular Resistance
United National Antiwar Coalition
U.S. Peace Council
Veterans For Peace
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
World Beyond War
The conference will feature national and international experts. Several expert panels will discuss the economic, political, environmental and health costs and impact of U.S. foreign military bases in various regions of the world, including South America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Read about all the speakers on the website.
Last week, with great fanfare, Donald Trump rolled out his new National Security Strategy (NSS). Its guiding theme is “America First.” An analysis of the 55-page document, however, reveals a program that renders the United States more unpopular and vulnerable to external threats.
Trump’s plan takes Barack Obama’s policy of “American exceptionalism” to a new level. In his speech accompanying the NSS’s release, Trump stated,
“America has been among the greatest forces for peace and justice in the history of the world.”
Yet Trump has not only continued but also escalated the Bush-Obama wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, dropped Tomahawk missiles on Syria, threatened North Korea and Iran, intensified airstrikes against Muslim countries, and fanned the flames of conflict in the Middle East.
Trump’s NSS stresses military might but makes scant reference to diplomacy. His administration is building 10 new aircraft carriers worth $13 billion each as a counterweight to China, and expanding the US nuclear weapons program to the tune of $1 trillion over the next 30 years.
Nuclear weapons are “the foundation of our strategy to preserve peace and stability by deterring aggression against the United States, our allies, and our partners,” according to the NSS. But Trump has dangerously escalated tensions with North Korea, providing that country [and every other
country worried about US aggression]with increasing incentives to develop nuclear weapons that reach around the world.
And by refusing to recertify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement, in spite of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency’s finding to the contrary, Trump is further imperiling peace.
The NSS’s brief mention of working with international organizations is belied by the Trump administration’s abiding contempt for the United Nations. The UN Charter was created in 1945 by the countries of the world to collectively restore and maintain international peace and security.
As with Trump’s domestic program, the NSS makes no pretense of concern for human rights in other countries. This is evidenced in practice by Trump’s unwavering support for Israel‘s brutal occupation of Palestinian lands, including, most recently, his declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The NSS accurately states,
“for generations the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant preventing peace and prosperity in the region.”
But the NSS minimizes Israel’s central responsibility for the conflict, stating,
“the threats from radical jihadist terrorist organizations and the threat from Iran are creating the realization that Israel is not the cause of the region’s problems.”
In defiance of nearly all other nations, Trump’s Jerusalem declaration endangers world peace. Indeed, last week, the UN Security Council voted 14-1, with a US veto, to condemn Trump’s characterization of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. And in a rarely used procedure called Uniting for Peace (UFP), the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly followed suit. UFP allows the General Assembly to take measures to restore international peace and security when the Security Council is unable or unwilling to act. By utilizing UFP, which requires a two-thirds vote, this resolution has greater force than other General Assembly decisions. The International Court of Justice upheld the legality of UFP in its 1962 advisory opinion.
Richard Falk, former UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Human Rights, told Truthout that,
“What is already evident on the basis of [Trump’s Jerusalem] decision itself is the severe damage done to the global and regional leadership reputation of the United States.”
While setting forth the goal of being an “energy-dominant nation,” the NSS gives short shrift to “the importance of environmental stewardship.” Obama’s 2015 NSS, on the other hand, correctly stated that climate change was an “urgent and growing threat to our national security.” Yet Trump’s NSS does not recognize the threat of climate change. And in spite of increasingly extreme and unseasonal weather events such as recent hurricanes and wildfires, Trump has alarmingly and irresponsibly pulled out of the Paris climate accord.
The four pillars of the NSS, according to Trump, are protecting the US homeland, promoting US prosperity, achieving peace through strength and advancing US influence in the world.
Pillar I: Protect the Homeland
The NSS singles out unauthorized immigration as a threat to the homeland, but also implicitly attacks authorized immigration as well. It states that residency and citizenship decisions “should be based on individuals’ merits and their ability to positively contribute to US society, rather than chance or extended family connections.” This policy leads to the separation of families and makes us no safer.
Pillar I stresses securing our borders “through the construction of a border wall,” embodying Trump’s campaign mantra. There is no evidence that an expensive border wall will secure US borders or make us safer.
“The United States rejects bigotry and oppression,” according to Pillar I. Yet Trump has instituted three iterations of a Muslim ban, which would exclude from the United States immigrants from six Muslim-majority countries, as well as North Korea and Venezuela.
The Trump administration has also drastically cut back on accepting refugees from Syria, whose people are suffering from a prolonged, tragic civil war.
Pillar I pledges the US government will “help communities recover and rebuild” after natural and other disasters. Yet Trump has failed to meaningfully respond to the devastation wrought by the recent hurricane in Puerto Rico, which is part of the United States.
Pillar II: Promote American Prosperity
One subsection of Pillar II, called “Reduce the Debt Through Fiscal Responsibility,” cites “modernizing our tax system” as a way to “make the existing debt more serviceable.” Ironically, at Trump’s urging, the GOP-controlled Congress passed a radical tax overhaul that will reportedly add $1.5 trillion (or more) to the debt in the next 10 years. This is the height of irresponsibility.
Moreover, the United Nations has just conducted an investigation of extreme poverty in the United States, with disturbing results. It concluded that the prevalence of poverty and inequality “are shockingly at odds with the [US’s] immense wealth and its founding commitment to human rights.” The report documented a rise in poverty that disproportionately affects women and people of color as well as many white Americans. Homelessness, police surveillance, criminalization of poverty and unsafe sanitary practices were also flagged as problems.
Yet documentation of poverty in the United States is conspicuously absent from Trump’s NSS. In fact, Pillar II cites “unnecessary regulations” as problematic. Deregulation serves the interest of the wealthy. Since he took office, Trump has eliminated hundreds of regulations that protect health, safety and workers.
Pillar III: Preserve Peace Through Strength
This pillar identifies China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and jihadist terrorist groups as “actively competing against the United States and our allies and partners.” It stresses diplomacy “short of military involvement” as “indispensable.” Yet Trump castigated Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for pursuing diplomacy with North Korea while escalating the war of words and pushing punishing sanctions against that emerging nuclear power. Although Pillar III pays lip service to the “law of armed conflict,” Trump’s actions have violated those rules.
Pillar IV: Advance American Influence
Pillar IV states, “Around the world, nations and individuals admire what America stands for. We treat people equally and value and uphold the rule of law.” But since taking office, Trump has celebrated white supremacists, pardoned racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio and ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He has also consistently violated US and international law.
The United States sells weapons and provides military advisers to Saudi Arabia, which enables the Saudis’ illegal bombing and medical/food/fuel blockade of Yemen, the poorest Arab country. This has resulted in famine and an outbreak of cholera affecting millions of Yemenis, particularly children. California Democratic Representatives Ted Lieu and Ro Khanna both warned that such actions expose US officials to criminal liability for aiding and abetting Saudi war crimes in Yemen.
This pillar admits that the UN “can help contribute to solving many of the complex problems in the world.” It emphasizes that the “United States supports the peaceful resolution of disputes under international law.” Yet the administration reacted to the Security Council and General Assembly’s rejections of Trump’s Jerusalem-as-capital-of-Israel declaration by threatening countries that voted against it with loss of foreign aid. Moreover, Trump threatened to cut off funding to the UN itself, the most significant peacekeeping organization in the world.
Resist Trump’s Agenda
Increasing disillusionment with Trump’s policies and, most recently, his unpopular new tax bill, may lead to the loss of a Republican majority in one or both houses of Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. It is incumbent on us all to continue and escalate our resistance to the Trump regime. The future of the United States and indeed, the world, depends on it.
The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has moved administrative detainee and Addameer field researcher Salah Hammouri (33 years old) from al Naqab prison to Megiddo prison under the pretext that he has been engaged in incitement.
Salah had participated in an interview with a French journalist where he discussed visits from his lawyer, the process of administrative detention, and the techniques used by the IPS against administrative detainees. He was informed of his being transported on 28 December 2017.
Hammouri was initially arrested from his home in Kufar Aqab during the early hours of the morning of 23 August 2017. His arrest was in response to the issuing of a 6-month administrative detention order.
Hammouri has previously been held in Israeli prisons twice, with the first time amounting to around two years. Subsequently, in 2005, Salah was sentenced to seven years. He was released after six and a half years as a result of the ‘Shalit’ agreement in 2011.
Following his release, he began studying law at al Quds University in Abu Dis. He had completed his degree, and passed the Palestinian Lawyers Union exam three days prior to his arrest.
The Israel authorities have banned his wife and son from entering Palestine under the pretext of security
Will The Real James Bond
Stand Up-Pierce Brosnan’s “Goldeneye” (1995) –A Film Review
DVD Review
By former Associate Film
Critic Alden Riley
[I personally do not like
the new regime’s, under Greg Green’s steady
guidance, policy of getting rid of titles
which were the hallmark of the now
safely departed and exiled Allan Jackson who used to run the show here. It took
many years for me to get it and I resent being thrown on the dung heap and
placed with everybody else with just their names on the by-line line. For now I
will use my old title in the past tense until we go back to titles or Greg make
a big deal out of my moniker and tries to shut it down. Then I will go back to
being an Everyman like Sandy Salmon and Si Lannon have mentioned elsewhere.
Alden Riley]
Goldeneye, starring
Pierce Brosnan, based on the character created by Ian Fleming although not on
any of his novel series plot-lines, 1995
Sometimes writers, especially
a coterie of writers of film reviews, will sometimes come up with the screwiest
things to argue about in those dark getting to dawn hours when the booze has
been flowing generously and the dregs of writing under deadline have passed by
without comment. Especially when there are other disputes hanging in the
shadows making things tense before the storm like the big blow we just went
through at this site which basically came down to a battle royal against the
old guard caught in their daydreams of 1960s growing up in turbulent times
grandeur by the “Young Turks” whose frame of reference is later times and later
connections, Reagan “trickle down” times, post-Soviet monster Clinton times,
Bush-Obama boom and bust times, hip-hop, techno, social media explosion times.
That shadow battle got
exploded a few months ago when I, ignorant of the hagiology of the 1960s
musical scene which all the older guys carry with them like a lodestone,
mentioned to then Senior Film Critic Sandy Salmon that I did not know who Janis
Joplin was. Sandy, to be fair, was willing to forgive me my transgression but
Pete Markin, the “boss” got wind of it and “forced” me to do a review of a
Joplin bio-pic over Sandy’s head. That was one is a series of grievances we
younger non-1960s devotees had built up inside.
The way these “troubles”
hit before getting resolved was the big blow-out Sandy and I did have over
reviewing the myriad James Bond, you know, 007, films. Sandy has started
reviewing the first four Sean Connery films, I don’t think in order which he
usually doesn’t give a fuck about, Doctor
No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and Thunderball and had asked me to continue the series, at least the
Sean Connery part which is all he cared about covering since for him Connery
was Bond, was James Bond end of discussion.
When I mentioned that I
thought Sean Connery was probably a good Bond for the 1960s although I hadn’t
seen any of his films except Goldfinger
where I thought he was a little over the top Sandy flipped. I figured I was going to be assigned the
litany without any recourse or appeal especially if fellow Sean Connery devotee
Peter Markin got wind of my ignorance and would have probably added that I had
to review Ian Fleming’s books as well. I finally was able to get Sandy to see
reason, to see that a younger man whose frame of Bond reference was not Connery
but the man who played 007 in the film under review Goldeneye the beautiful rather than handsome Pierce Brosnan should
have an opportunity to compare the two or at least to show that different
actors working in different times would have a different sensibility. Once he
saw reason he mentioned that he would finish up the Sean Connery films and I
could do “pretty boy” Brosnan (Sandy’s term) and we would fight out the battle
when the reviews were done. Fair enough.
Now everybody knows that
there will be plenty of high tech gadgetry, plenty of physically over-the-top
action and plenty of sexy women either chasing or being chased by any actor who
plays Bond. That goes with the territory even though this first Pierce Brosnan
Bond vehicle was not created out of Fleming’s stockpile. Brosnan brings not
only a “pretty boy” as against Connery’s dashingly handsome demeanor but is
much more physically agile and adept than Connery ever was. And plays the role
with more cheek.
Of course each film has
a storyline roughly similar, some criminal operation here the nefarious Janus
syndicate which wants to create a meltdown of the London stock exchange and the
British economy in general. Reason: the head of the organization who is MI6
turned rogue had Cossack parents in Russia who collaborated with the Nazis
against Stalin and the British after the war sent them back to Uncle Joe after falsely
promising asylum. WTF. What did the parents, what did the rogue MI6 expect with
Uncle Joe an ally then before Winston Churchill pulled the “iron curtain” down.
In any case to create
the meltdown Janus steals a super Euro helicopter which he will use to help
when he with inside help is able to use a Russian space probe to deflect some
action and destroy London for good measure. Come hell or high water he will not
get away with such a dastardly deed not if Bond and his fetching Russian
super-technician have anything to say about it. And they do- God Save The Queen
or something like that. Pierce does it in style.
Just Before The Sea Change, The Big
1960s Mix And Match-Up - With The Dixie Cups Going To TheChapel Of Love In
Mind
By Lance Lawrence
[As of December 1, 2017 under the new regime of Greg Green, formerly of the
on-line American Film Gazette website, brought in to shake
things up a bit after a vote of no confidence in the previous site
administrator Allan Jackson (aka Peter Paul Markin in the blogosphere) was
taken among all the writers at the request of some of the younger writers
abetted by one key older writer, Sam Lowell, the habit of assigning writers
solely to specific topics like film, books, political commentary, and culture
is over. Also over is the designation of writers in this space, young or old,
by job title like senior or associate. After a short-lived experiment by Green
designating everybody as “writer” seemingly in emulation of the French
Revolution’s “citizen” or the Bolshevik Revolution’s “comrade” all posts will
be “signed” with given names only. The Editorial Board]
[Although I am a much younger writer I today stand in agreement
with Bart Webber and Si Lannon, older writers who I admire and whom I have
learned a lot from about how to keep it short and sweet but in any case short
on these on-line sites. Originally I had agreed with both men as far as Phil
Larkin’s, what did Si call them, yes, rantings about heads rolling, about
purges and would have what seems like something out of Stalin’s Russia from
what I have read about that regime were dubious at best. Now I am
not sure as I have heard other younger writers rather gleefully speaking around
the shop water cooler about moving certain unnamed writers out to pasture-“finally”
in the words of one of them.
In any case the gripe the former two writers had about the appropriateness
of this disclaimer above or whatever it purports to be by the
"victorious" new regime headed by Greg Green and his so- called
Editorial Board is what I support. As Bart first mentioned, I think, if nothing
else this disclaimer has once again pointed told one and all, interested or
not, that he, they have been “demoted.” That I too, as Si pointed out,
chafed as an Associate Book Critic and didn’t like it am now just another
Everyman and don’t like it. This is the second time I have had the disclaimer
above my article so I plead again once should be enough, more than enough.
In the interest of transparency I was among the leaders, among the
most vociferous leaders, of what has now started to come down in the shop as
urban legend “Young Turks” who fought tooth and nail both while Alan Jackson
(aka Peter Paul Markin as blog moniker for reasons never made clear, at least
to me) was in charge and essentially stopped young writers from developing
their talents and later when we decided that Allan had to go, had to “retire.”
(I am sure Phil Larkin will take those innocent quotation marks as definite
proof that Allan was purged although maybe I should reevaluate everything he
has said in a new light.) But I agree with Bart and Si’s sentiment that those on
the “losing” end in the fierce no-holds barred internal struggle had taken
their "beating" and have moved on as far as I can tell. That fact
should signal the end of these embarrassing and rather provocative disclaimers.
Done. Lance Lawrence]
*********
There were some things about Edward
Rowley’s youthful activities that he would rather not forget, things that
defined his life, gave him that fifteen minutes of fame, if only to himself and
his, that everybody kept talking about that everyone deserved before they departed
this life. That is what got him thinking one sunny afternoon in September about
five years ago as he waited for the seasons to turn almost before his eyes
about the times around 1964, around the time that he graduated from North
Adamsville High School, around the time that he realized that the big breeze
jail-break that he had kind of been waiting for was about to bust out over the
land, over America. It was not like he was some kind of soothsayer, could read
tea leaves or tarot cards like some latter day Madame La Rue who actually did
read his future once down at the Gloversville Fair, read that he was made for
big events anything like that back then. No way although that tarot reading
when he was twelve left an impression for a while.
Edward’s take on the musical twists and
turns back then is where he had something the kids at North Adamsville High
would comment on, would ask him about to see which way the winds were blowing,
would put their nickels, dimes and quarters in the jukeboxes to hear. See his
senses were very much directed by his tastes in music, by his immersion into
all things rock and roll in the early 1960s where he sensed what he called
silly “bubble gum” music that had passed for rock (and which the girls liked,
or liked the look of the guys singing the tunes) was going to be buried under
an avalanche of sounds going back to Elvis and forward to something else,
something with more guitars all amped to bring in the new dispensation. More
importantly since the issue of jailbreaks and sea changes were in the air he
was the very first kid to grasp what would later be called the folk minute of
the early 1960s (which when the tunes, not Dylan and Baez at first but guys
like the Kingston Trio started playing on the jukebox at Jimmy Jack’s Diner
after school some other girls, not the “bubble gum” girls went crazy over). So
that musical sense combined with his ever present sense that things could be
better in this wicked old world drilled into him by his kindly old grandmother
who was an old devotee of the Catholic Worker movement kind of drove his
aspirations. But at first it really was the music that had been the cutting
edge of what followed later, followed until about 1964 when that new breeze
arrived in the land.
That fascination with music had
occupied Edward’s mind since he had been about ten and had received a
transistor radio for his birthday and out of curiosity decided to turn the dial
to AM radio channels other that WJDA which his parents, may they rest in peace,
certainly rest in peace from his incessant clamoring for rock and roll records
and later folk albums, concert tickets, radio listening time on the big family
radio in the living room, had on constantly and which drove him crazy. Drove
him crazy because that music, well, frankly that music, the music of the Doris
Days, the Peggy Lees, The Rosemary Clooneys, the various corny sister acts like
the Andrews Sisters, the Frank Sinatras, the Vaughn Monroes, the Dick Haynes
and an endless series of male quartets did not “jump,” gave him no “kicks,’
left him flat. As a compromise, no, in order to end the family civil war, they
had purchased a transistor radio at Radio Shack and left him to his own
devises.
One night, one late night in 1955, 1956
when Edward was fiddling with the dial he heard this sound out of Cleveland,
Ohio, a little fuzzy but audible playing this be-bop sound, not jazz although
it had horns, not rhythm and blues although sort of, but a new beat driven by
some wild guitar by a guy named Warren Smith who was singing about his Ruby,
his Rock ‘n’ Roll Ruby who only was available apparently to dance the night
away. And she didn’t seem to care whether she danced by herself on the
tabletops or with her guy. Yeah, so if you need a name for what ailed young
Edward Rowley, something he could not quite articulate then call her woman,
call her Ruby and you will not be far off. And so with that as a pedigree
Edward became one of the town’s most knowledgeable devotees of the new sound.
Problem was that new sound, as happens frequently in music, got a little stale
as time went on, as the original artists who captured his imagination faded
from view one way or another and new guys, guys with nice Bobby this and Bobby
that names, Patsy this and Brenda that names sang songs under the umbrella name
rock and roll that his mother could love. Songs that could have easily fit into
that WJDA box that his parents had been stuck in since about World War II.
So Edward was anxious for a new sound
to go along with his feeling tired of the same old, same old stuff that had
been hanging around in the American night since the damn nuclear hot flashes
red scare Cold War started way before he had a clue about what that was all
about. It had started with the music and then he got caught later in high school
up with a guy in school, Daryl Wallace, a hipster, or that is what he called
himself, a guy who liked “kicks” although being in high school in North
Adamsville far from New York City, far from San Francisco, damn, far from
Boston what those “kicks” were or what he or Eddie would do about getting those
“kicks” never was made clear. But they played it out in a hokey way and for a
while they were the town, really high school, “beatniks.” So Eddie had
had his short faux “beat” phase complete with flannel shirts, black chino
pants, sunglasses, and a black beret (a beret that he kept hidden at home in
his bedroom closet once he found out after his parents had seen and heard Jack
Kerouac reading from the last page of On The Road on the Steve Allen
Show that they severely disapproved on the man, the movement and anything
that smacked of the “beat” and a beret always associated with French bohemians
and foreignness would have had them seeing “red”). And for a while Daryl and
Eddie played that out until Daryl moved away (at least that was the story that
went around but there was a persistent rumor for a time that Mr. Wallace had
dragooned Daryl into some military school in California in any case that
disappearance from the town was the last he ever heard from his “beat”
brother). Then came 1964 and Eddie was fervently waiting for something to
happen, for something to come out of the emptiness that he was feeling just as
things started moving again with the emergence of the Beatles and the Stones as
a harbinger of what was coming.
That is where Eddie had been
psychologically when his mother first began to harass him about his hair.
Although the hair thing like the beret was just the symbol of clash that Eddie
knew was coming and knew also that now that he was older that he was going to
be able to handle differently that when he was a kid. Here is what one
episode of the battle sounded
like:
“Isn’t that hair of yours a little long
Mr. Edward Rowley, Junior,” clucked Mrs. Edward Rowley, Senior, “You had better
get it cut before your father gets back from his conference trip, if you know
what is good for you.”
That mothers’-song was being endlessly repeated in North
Adamsville households (and not just those households either but in places like
North Adamsville, Hullsville, Shaker Heights, Dearborn, Cambridge any place
where guys were waiting for the new dispensation and wearing hair a little
longer than boys’ regular was the flash point) ever since the British invasion
had brought longer hair into style (and a little less so, beards, that was
later when guys got old enough to grow one without looking wispy, had taken a
look at what their Victorian great-grandfathers grew and though it was “cool.”
Cool along with new mishmash clothing and new age monikers to be called by.).
Of course when one was thinking about
the British invasion in the year 1964 one was not thinking about the American
Revolution or the War of 1812 but the Beatles. And while their music has taken
1964 teen world by a storm, a welcome storm after the long mainly musical
counter-revolution since Elvis, Bo, Jerry Lee and Chuck ruled the rock night
and had disappeared without a trace, the 1964 parent world was getting up in
arms.
And not just about hair styles either.
But about midnight trips on the clanking subway to Harvard Square coffeehouses
to hear, to hear if you can believe this, folk music, mountain music, harp
music or whatever performed by long-haired (male or female), long-bearded
(male), blue jean–wearing (both), sandal-wearing (both), well, for lack of a
better name “beatniks” (parents, as usual, being well behind the curve on teen
cultural movements since by 1964 “beat” except on silly television shows
and “wise” social commentary who could have been “Ike” brothers and sisters,
was yesterday’s news).
Mrs. Rowley would constantly harp about
“why couldn’t Eddie be like he was when he listened to Bobby Vinton and his Mr.
Lonely or that lovely-voiced Roy Orbison and his It’s Over and other
nice songs on the local teen radio station, WMEX (he hated that name Eddie by
the way, Eddie was also what everybody called his father so you can figure out
why he hated the moniker just then). Now it was the Beatles, the Rolling Stones
and a cranky-voiced guy named Bob Dylan that has his attention. And that damn
Judy Jackson with her short skirt and her, well her… looks” (Mrs. Rowley like
every mother in the post-Pill world refusing to use the “s” word, a throw-back
to their girlish days when their mothers did not use such a word.)
Since Mrs. Rowley, Alice to the
neighbors, was getting worked up anyway, she let out what was really bothering
her about her Eddie’s behavior, "What about all the talk about doing right
by the down-trodden Negros down in Alabama and Mississippi. And you and that
damn Peter Dawson, who used to be so nice when all you boys hung around
together at Jimmy Jacks’ Diner [Edward: corner boys, Ma, that is what we were]
and I at least knew you were no causing trouble, talking about organizing a
book drive to get books for the little Negro children down there. If your
father ever heard that there would be hell to pay, hell to pay and maybe a
strap coming out of the closet big as you are. Worst though, worst that
worrying about Negros down South is that treasonous talk about leaving this
country, leaving North Adamsville, defenseless against the communists with your
talk of nuclear disarmament. Why couldn’t you have just left well enough alone
and stuck with your idea of forming a band that would play nice songs that make
kids feel good like Gale Garnet’s We’ll Sing In The Sunshine or that
pretty Negro girl Dionne Warwick and Her Walk On By instead of getting
everybody upset."
And since Mrs. Rowley, Alice, to the
neighbors had mentioned the name Judy Jackson, Edward’s flame and according to
Monday morning before school girls’ “lav” talk, Judy’s talk they had “done the
deed” and you can figure out what the deed was let’s hear what was going on in
the Jackson household since one of the reasons that Edward was wearing his hair
longer was because Judy thought it was “sexy” and so that talk of doing the
deed may well have been true if there were any sceptics. Hear
this:
“Young lady, that dress is too short
for you to wear in public, take it off, burn it for all I care, and put on
another one or you are not going out of this house,”
barked Mrs. James Jackson,
echoing a sentiment that many worried North Adamsville mothers were feeling
(and not just those mothers either but in places like Gloversville, Hullsville,
Shaker Heights, Dearborn, Cambridge any place where gals were waiting for the
new dispensation and wearing their skirts a little longer than mid-calf was the
flash point) about their daughters dressing too provocatively and practically
telling the boys, well practically telling them you know what as she suppressed
the “s” word that was forming in her head.
She too working up a high horse head
of steam continued, "And that Eddie [“Edward, Ma,” Judy keep repeating
every time Mrs. Jackson, Dorothy to the neighbors, said Eddie], and his new
found friends like Peter Dawson taking you to those strange coffeehouses in
Harvard Square with all the unwashed, untamed, unemployed “beatniks” instead of
the high school dances on Saturday night. And that endless talk about the
n-----s down South, about get books for the ignorant to read and other trash
talk about how they are equal to us, and your father better not hear you talk
like that, not at the dinner table since has to work around them and their
smells and ignorance over in that factory in Dorchester. And don’t start
with that Commie trash about peace and getting rid of weapons. They should
draft the whole bunch of them and put them over in front of that Berlin Wall.
Then they wouldn’t be so negative about America."
Scene: Edward, Judy and Peter Dawson
were sitting in the Club Nana in Harvard Square sipping coffee, maybe pecking
at the one brownie between, and listening to a local wanna-be folk singing
strumming his stuff (who turned out to be none other than Eric Von Schmidt).
Beside them cartons of books that they are sorting to be taken along with them
when head South this summer after graduation exercises at North Adamsville High
School are completed in June. (By the way Peter’s parents were only slightly
less irate about their son’s activities and used the word “Negro” when they
were referring to black people, black people they wished their son definitely
not to get involved with were only slightly less behind the times than Mrs.
Rowley and Mrs. Jackson and so requires no separate screed by Mrs. Dawson. See
Peter did not mention word one about what he was, or was not, doing and thus
spared himself the anguish that Edward and Judy put themselves through trying
to “relate” to their parents, their mothers really since fathers were some
vague threatened presence in the background in those households.)
They, trying to hold back their
excitement have already been to some training sessions at the NAACP office over
on Massachusetts Avenue in the Roxbury section of Boston and have purchased
their tickets for the Greyhound bus as far as New York’s Port Authority where
they will meet others who will be heading south on a chartered bus. But get
this Pete turned to Edward and said, “Have you heard that song, Popsicles
and Icicles by the Mermaids, it has got great melodic sense.” Yes, we are
still just before the sea change after which even Peter will chuckle about
“bubble gum” music. Good luck though, young travelers, good luck.
Reality Winner, charged with one count of giving a classified document to a news outlet, will be spending Thanksgiving in jail as she awaits trial.
Meanwhile, both of the former Trump campaign officials recently arrested in the investigation into collusion with Russia, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, will be spending Thanksgiving with their families.
Both men are accused of secretly working for a foreign government to influence the United States, a charge usually referred to as “spying.”
Despite having multiple passports, millions of dollars in hidden assets, and highly-placed connections all over the world, they’re considered safe enough to enjoy the holidays with their loved ones.
Reality is accused of informing the American people of what their government was hiding -- widespread hacking of election systems by the Russian government in the months before last year’s elections. The only government she’s ever worked for is the government of the United States. And the court considers her so dangerous that she’s being held behind bars until her trial in March.
Reality is also a vegan. Last year around this time, she was re-tweeting articles from PETA about the number of turkeys slaughtered for Thanksgiving every year, along with angry tweets about Trump, and news articles about the protesters at Standing Rock.
Lots of us probably have an outspoken person like Reality at our Thanksgiving table, who only want to talk about politics and refuse to eat the turkey. Maybe you are that person. And the only thing worse than arguments around the dinner table is that person’s chair sitting empty.
All of the resources Reality and her legal team have to work with come from her family, and the few thousand people reading this email. But they’re making the most of them -- laying out a defense that aims to make it better for all the whistleblowers who come after her.
So in honor of the empty chair around Reality’s family’s table this Thanksgiving, please make a donation to her legal defense fund, and consider becoming a monthly sustainer through her trial in March. Donating just an hour of your labor a month makes a real difference.
Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist, Project Director Stand with Reality Winner Support Group
P.S. If you donate, please include a note with your Thanksgiving wishes. The jail holding Reality hasn’t been accommodating her diet, so it’s likely she’ll be eating peanut butter for Thanksgiving this year. We want to make sure her morale stays high, and that she knows we’re out here supporting her.
P.S.S.For up-to-date information about Reality Winner, and to donate to her defense online, visit standwithreality.org. To donate by check to Reality Winner's defense fund, send to Courage to Resist, 484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610, and note "Reality Winner" on the memo line.
