Dear All, The continuing crisis in Iraq has been driven from the headlines as the nation’s attention has shifted to the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza but the imminent danger of a new U.S. war in Iraq remains. Sunni forces led by the militant group Islamic State (IS) control the north, the Kurds have extended their control of Kurdistan into disputed territories, and the Shia led central government has strengthened its control of the South.  President Obama has  already deployed around 750 American troops to Iraq in response to the crisis. While some of these troops were sent to protect our gargantuan embassy, hundreds were sent as 'advisers’ to the Iraqi security forces and to plan further 'effective' military intervention.. Click here to ask Congress to vote against allowing the President to introduce more U.S. troops without a congressional vote. The American public has been clear: the Iraq War was a mistake and we don't want to send our troops back into the middle of a civil war. As more and more Americans are sent into harm's way in Iraq, Congress needs to hear from you. Thankfully, Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), Walter Jones (R-NC), and Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced legislation to force a debate and a vote on a buildup of U.S. troops in Iraq.  This now amended legislation, H Con Res 105, would require a vote if the President wanted to send combat troops to Iraq.  The bill is now scheduled to be voted on Friday, July 25. Click here to send an email to your representative to ask him to vote yes to require Congressional debate and vote before additional combat troops can be sent to Iraq. The news is full of Israel's murderous invasion of Gaza, the highest daily death toll so far in Syria's civil war and growing conflict in Libya, Yemen, and Iraq.  The last thing the people of the region need is the reintroduction of U.S. combat troops in Iraq and a possible repeat of the 8 1/2 year war that cost so much in human life and suffering. Please act now to support a resolution which will prevent reintroduction of U.S. combat troops without a new debate and vote in Congress. This may be the only vote to thwart another war in Iraq. The situation in Iraq is difficult as the nation continues to be roiled in a complex sectarian crisis. But the solution is not American bombs or troops. Help make clear that America will not go back to war in Iraq by asking your Representative to vote for this  important resolution. For Peace, Shelagh Foreman Program Director

Join Massachusetts Peace Action - or renew your membership today!   Dues are $40/year for an individual, $65 for a family, or $10 for student/unemployed/low income.  Members vote for leadership and endorsements, receive newsletters and discounts on event admissions.  Donate now and you will be a member in good standing through December 2014!  Your financial support makes this work possible! Massachusetts Peace Action, 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 617-354-2169  • info@masspeaceaction.org • Follow us on Facebook or Twitter Click here to unsubscribe

Dear All, Last week, I wrote that our hill allies, Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Walter Jones (R-NC), and Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced legislation to force a debate and a vote on a buildup of U.S. troops in Iraq.  This now amended legislation, H Con Res 105, would require a vote if the President wanted to send combat troops to Iraq.  The bill will be voted on tomorrow morning. Call Now!  (202) 224-3121  Tell your Representative: I am a constituent and I would like Representative __________ to vote for H Con Res 105 and to speak out against another Iraq War. Your opposition to the Iraq War forced the Bush administration to lie and dupe the American public to allow the invasion.  Our opposition ended that war earlier than the Bush administration wanted, though at the cost of many American and Iraqi lives as well as trillions of tax payer dollars.  Don’t let the Obama Administration make the same mistake. Dial (202) 224-3121 and tell your Representative: I am a constituent and I would like Representative __________ to vote for H Con Res 105 and to speak out against another Iraq War. The current situation in Iraq has grabbed the nation’s attention, and President Obama has already deployed around 750 American troops to Iraq in response to the crisis. While some of these troops were understandably sent to protect our embassy, hundreds were sent as 'advisers’ to the Iraqi security forces. The American public has been clear: the Iraq War was a mistake and we don't want to send our troops back into the middle of a civil war. As more and more Americans are sent into harms way in Iraq, Congress needs to hear from you.  Pick up your phone!  (202) 224-3121  Tell your Representative: I am a constituent and I would like Representative __________ to vote for H Con Res 105 and to speak out against another Iraq War. This may be the only vote to thwart another war in Iraq.  Please take action now. In Peace, Kevin Martin Peace Action P.S.  We helped end the Iraq War and we don’t want the U.S. embroiled in another war there again.  Call Now!  (202) 224-3121  Tell Your Representative: I am a constituent and I would like Representative __________ to vote for H Con Res 105 and to speak out against another Iraq War. After calling, please forward this important email. Take Action: Tell Your Rep. No Iraq War!  (202) 224-3121 CONNECT TO US:  Find us on Facebook  Follow us on Twitter  Read our blog  Contact us You are subscribed to Peace Action's Action Alert Network. You can unsubscribe here.

 

Defend The Palestinian People! No U.S. Aid To Israel !

 

 

Tell Our Government:

 “LET GAZA LIVE”

Stop the Bombing! 

End the Blockade!

Israel has created a massive humanitarian disaster in Gaza.  At least 700 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured.  According to the UN, three-quarters of the dead are civilians, including hundreds of children and women.  Tens of thousands have been made homeless.

 

Yet our Congress has unanimously passed resolutions blaming only the victims and calling the firing of ineffective mortars and rockets from Gaza “an unprovoked attack” on Israel.  This ignores decades of Israeli Occupation and a brutal 8-year Israeli siege of Gaza that has left 1.8 million Palestinians penned up and blockaded in an area only slightly larger than the city of Boston, with no place to run, no place to hide from Israeli bombs.

 

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE - and Senators Markey and Warren - to say that this is unacceptable!  Israel must be held accountable and our government should stop supplying the $billions, the planes and the bombs it is using to destroy Gaza.

 

TELL THE US STATE DEPT to demand the bombing stop and the Israeli blockade of Gaza end!

 

Congressional Switchboard:  (202) 224-3121

(Find your Member of Congress at

www.govtrack.us/congress/members)

US State Department:  (202) 647-3672

 

 

(617) 354-2169 / pi@masspeaceaction.org

Tell Our Government:

Defend The Palestinian People! No U.S. Aid To Israel 

In Boston 

“LET GAZA LIVE”

Stop the Bombing! 

End the Blockade!

 

Standout/Flyering

SATURDAY, July 26

11:30am-1pm

Roxbury Crossing

 

Dear Friends,

Many of you have read about or participated in protests against the Israeli attack on Gaza in Copley Square and downtown Boston.  Now it’s time to bring the message to our neighborhoods!

 

Please join members of DORCHESTER PEOPLE FOR PEACE and local residents this Saturday.

 

And whether you can come or not on Saturday, please make calls to Washington tomorrow/Friday and feel free to print out copies of the flyer (attached)

 

Israel has created a massive humanitarian disaster in Gaza.  At least 700 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured.  According to the UN, three-quarters of the dead are civilians, including hundreds of children and women.  Tens of thousands have been made homeless.

 

Yet our Congress has unanimously passed resolutions blaming only the victims and calling the firing of ineffective mortars and rockets from Gaza “an unprovoked attack” on Israel.  This ignores decades of Israeli Occupation and a brutal 8-year Israeli siege of Gaza that has left 1.8 million Palestinians penned up and blockaded in an area only slightly larger than the city of Boston, with no place to run, no place to hide from Israeli bombs.

 

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE - and Senators Markey and Warren - to say that this is unacceptable!  Israel must be held accountable and our government should stop supplying the $billions, the planes and the bombs it is using to destroy Gaza.

 

TELL THE US STATE DEPT to demand the bombing stop and the Israeli blockade of Gaza ended!

Congressional Switchboard:  (202) 224-3121

(Find your Member of Congress at

www.govtrack.us/congress/members)

US State Department:  (202) 647-3672

Jeff Klein

Dorchester People for Peace (617) 282-3783 / info@dotpeace.org

 

 

 

 

On The 75^th Anniversary Year Of The Defeat Of The Spanish Revolution- The Lessons Learned

 

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

In July 1936 General Franco led a military uprising against the legally elected Popular Front government in Spain which set off three years of war, set off the Spanish Civil War, which proved to be a prelude, a “dress rehearsal” for World War II. That uprising, the initial massively popular fight against it by the leftist workers and peasants, and the ultimate victory by Franco’s forces and a forty year “night of the long knives” reign of terror in 1939 is filled with lessons for leftists today. Therefore it seems fitting to me that while we are sadly commemorating the 75^th anniversary of the defeat I can pass on some lessons that others have drawn from that experience both while the events were unfolding and later.  

********

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By- Woody Guthrie's Spanish Civil War Salute "Jarama Valley"
In this series, presented under the headline “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”, I will post some songs that I think will help us get through the “dog days” of the struggle for our communist future. I do not vouch for the political thrust of the songs; for the most part they are done by pacifists, social democrats, hell, even just plain old ordinary democrats. And, occasionally, a communist, although hard communist musicians have historically been scarce on the ground. Thus, here we have a regular "popular front" on the music scene. While this would not be acceptable for our political prospects, it will suffice for our purposes here.

"Jarama Valley" Lyrics- Woody Guthrie

there's a valley in spain called Jarama
its a place that we all know so well
it was there that we fought against the fascists
we saw a peacful valey turn to hell

from this valley they say we are going
but dont hasten to bid us adue
even though we lost the battle at jarama
we'll set this valley free before we're through

we were men of a laken battelion
we're proud of the fight that we made
we know that you people love the valley
we're remember a laken vrigade

from this valley they say we are going
but dont hasten to bid us adue
even though we lost the battle at jarama
we'll set this valley free before we're through

you will never find peace with these fascists
you'll never find friends such as we
so remember that valley iof jarama
and the people that'll set that valley free

from this valley they say we are going
but dont hasten to bid us adue
even though we lost the battle at jarama
we'll set this valley free before we're through

all this world is like this valley called jarama
so green and so bright and so fair
no fascists can dwell in our valley
nor breathe in our new freedoms air

from this valley they say we are going
but dont hasten to bid us adue
even though we lost the battle at jarama
we'll set this valley free before we're through

As The 100th Anniversary Of World War I Approaches -Lenin On The Tasks Of Social-Democrats 

Workers Vanguard No. 1049	11 July 2014

TROTSKY

LENIN

World War I and the Betrayal by Social Democracy

(Quote of the Week)

At the outbreak of World War I on 4 August 1914, the German Social Democratic Party voted to fund the war effort of its “own” ruling class. This historic betrayal of the proletariat by the largest party of the Second International was repeated by “socialists” in almost all other combatant countries. In response, Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin launched a fight to break revolutionaries away from the social chauvinists of the Second International and regroup them around a proletarian internationalist program, as expressed in the excerpt below. This sharp fight, which hammered on the need to turn the interimperialist slaughter into civil war pitting the proletariat against the capitalists, was essential in preparing the Bolshevik Party to lead the working class to power in the socialist revolution of October 1917 in Russia.

 

It is the duty of every socialist to conduct propaganda of the class struggle, in the army as well; work directed towards turning a war of the nations into civil war is the only socialist activity in the era of an imperialist armed conflict of the bourgeoisie of all nations. Down with mawkishly sanctimonious and fatuous appeals for “peace at any price”! Let us raise high the banner of civil war! Imperialism sets at hazard the fate of European culture: this war will soon be followed by others, unless there are a series of successful revolutions. The story about this being the “last war” is a hollow and dangerous fabrication, a piece of philistine “mythology”.... The proletarian banner of civil war will rally together, not only hundreds of thousands of class-conscious workers but millions of semi-proletarians and petty bourgeois, now deceived by chauvinism, but whom the horrors of war will not only intimidate and depress, but also enlighten, teach, arouse, organise, steel and prepare for the war against the bourgeoisie of their “own” country and “foreign” countries. And this will take place, if not today, then tomorrow, if not during the war, then after it, if not in this war then in the next one.

 

The Second International is dead, overcome by opportunism. Down with opportunism, and long live the Third International, purged not only of “turncoats”...but of opportunism as well.

The Second International did its share of useful preparatory work in preliminarily organising the proletarian masses during the long, “peaceful” period of the most brutal capitalist slavery and most rapid capitalist progress in the last third of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. To the Third International falls the task of organising the proletarian forces for a revolutionary onslaught against the capitalist governments, for civil war against the bourgeoisie of all countries for the capture of political power, for the triumph of socialism!

 

—V.I. Lenin, “The Position and Tasks of the Socialist International” (November 1914), Collected Works, Vol. 21

 

Defend The Palestinian People! No U.S. Aid To Israel 

Video-Photos: Boston Silent Vigil For Peace In Palestine/Israel
by anti-war guy	23 Jul 2014
Click on image for a larger version
Boston Common-July 23, 2014: About 200 people held a silent vigil at Park St. in Boston, Mass. to call for peace and a ceasefire between Israel/Palestine. VIDEO-PHOTO MONTAGE: http://youtu.be/DoSR5DXMG3o PHOTOS: https://www.flickr.com/photos/protestphotos1/sets/72157645469707167/ TEXT FROM THE ORGANIZERS: Boston Workmen’s Circle Invites you to join us for an Interfaith Silent Vigil To call for an end to the violence in Israel / Palestine Wednesday, July 23, 2014 5:30 – 7:00 pm Park Street Station, downtown Boston Please join Boston’s Workmen’s Circle http://www.workmenscircleboston.org/mideast-peace for a vigil that recognizes the common humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians and the complexity of resolving the cycle of violence. If you are in agreement with the following general concepts, we urge you to join us. · End the violence on both sides. Negotiated ceasefire now! · All lives are equally precious and worthy of respect, Palestinian and Israeli · It’s not possible to understand the current violence in a vacuum and without considering the complex narratives of both Palestinians and Israelis · There is no military solution · More than ever we need a comprehensive diplomatic solution; ending the Occupation is part of that solution. · Palestinians and Israelis both have a right to security and a viable homeland Signs consistant with the above concepts will be provided. Please do not bring your own signs or organizational banners. Thank you for respecting this request. For more information contact Boston Workman’s Circle at: info(no spam)circleboston.org Our work in support of a just peace between Israel and the Palestinian people is guided by principles developed by the Middle East Working Group and adopted by the Board of Boston Workmen’s Circle: • Ending the occupation • Establishing two viable states, a homeland for the Jewish people and a homeland for the Palestinian people • An end to the violence on all sides • Making room for a diversity of views We are proud to stand up as a progressive voice on Israel/Palestine in the Greater Boston Jewish community. But that doesn’t mean we all agree on the path to security and peace. We strive to foster an open and respectful environment in which a range of views can be aired and discussed. Through educational programs, dialogue groups, and membership forums, we grapple with many of the tough issues Jews face today concerning the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Click on image for a larger version
Click on image for a larger version
Click on image for a larger version

Defend The Palestinian People! No U.S. Aid To Israel 

2,000 Bostonians March from Copley to State House, Oppose US Complicity in Israel’s Assault on Gaza
by Jewish Voice for Peace	23 Jul 2014
Protesters Block Beacon Street for three hours at sixth #Boston4Gaza rally in two weeks.
Click on image for a larger version Photo by Mariliyn Humphries
Boston, MA - 2,000 activists from 14 local student, faith, and political organizations marched from Copley Square to the Massachusetts State House yesterday to protest Israel’s continued military assault on Palestinians in Gaza. This was Boston's sixth demonstration for Gaza in Boston in two weeks, and the largest. Protesters condemned the complicity of U.S. lawmakers at every level of government in this violence, shutting down Beacon Street for over three hours yesterday evening. Protesters staged a “die-in” in the street and read the names of all 630 Palestinians who have been killed since Israel’s attacks began on July 8. Protesters highlighted the role that U.S. taxpayer dollars play in funding the Israeli military. "I'm tired of paying for oppression and racism, here and in Palestine,” said Chelsea Noriega, of Jewish Voice for Peace Boston, who participated in the die-in, “Not in my name." They also emphasized that the Palestinians' suffering is not new. “Gaza has been under siege for 8 years,” said Naila Jirmanus of Boston BDS. “The blockade created deprivation, unemployment, shortages of food and medical supplies, lack of clean water and electricity. Sewage flows in the streets and children are stunted by malnutrition. Israel has created a massive humanitarian problem in Gaza, which will only be resolved when Israel not only ceases its bombing but ends the blockade and occupation.”
Click on image for a larger version Photo by Mariliyn Humphries
Click on image for a larger version Photo by Mariliyn Humphries
Click on image for a larger version Photo by Mariliyn Humphries

Defend The Palestinian People! No U.S. Aid To Israel 

View this message in your browser.

Holding the US Government to Account for Its Role in Keeping Gaza a Prison Marches across the globe, mostly buoyed by young Palestinians, are responding to the ground war begun by Israel last week in Gaza. FULL international list of protests. San Francisco July 20: Sunday’s March for Palestine in San Francisco drew an estimated  4000 people into the streets. This powerful and diverse response to the human rights crisis in Gaza needs to grow in proportion to the magnitude of the crimes being committed against humanity. World Can't Wait activists made a paper ribbon hundreds of feet long with names & ages of some of the 600+ people killed in Gaza since July 7 by the U.S.-backed Israeli assault. They reported: The ribbon was simplicity of form; a real community-builder.  People could quickly see what to do with it, and were reaching up to help hold it, winding it back thru the marchers and trees and other people's heads carefully.  People of many different kinds and political trends were reaching to each other to unroll (it takes a lot of people to completely unroll it even with only about 50 names on each of two rolls).  Muslims, 60's generation peace activists, Occupy, a woman in Che shirt, women in hejab, a homeless teenager, all kind of marchers.  Parents with toddlers in arms were helping them to put a hand on it and "help hold it."  Teenage guys in kaffiyeh pointing, taking pix, some coming over to help carry it.  Many others were photographing or filming it as it streamed past them. We found it was a way to influence how people think.  To the "audience": stop thinking like Americans, start thinking about humanity." And the participants were acting to express that challenge to the "audience" whether shoppers or thru media -- and also to the people in Palestine and elsewhere who may see pictures. One woman afterwards thanked us for bringing it.  "It was an HONOR to help carry these names today, I can barely think about what Israel is doing without shaking with anger..." [And about the responsibility of the United States in supporting it all?] "To think about America being behind Israel I am even angrier...THESE PEOPLE (pointing at the ribbon) ARE DEAD and that is who killed them."  A young woman in tears told me seeing the names and ages of the babies on the ribbon. ► Watch Brett Wilkins' video of the march & ribbon. Chicago July 20:  Friends in Chicago report: Many Palestinian-Americans thanked us for being at the march today. One young Palestinian woman with her small daughter and a woman from Bosnia with her teen-ager beside her both gave me hugs along with their thanks.  We responded that this is OUR responsibility, everyone in this country with a conscience, to #ActForGaza, and we should apologize to *them* for not mobilizing more people who are not Muslims or Arab Americans to be in the streets. We have so much more to do to change the thinking of millions in this country so they understand that these war crimes are committed with the backing of the US (not just the $$) for the interests of U.S. imperialism and to ACT to stop them! Above, right: brilliant edit of World Can't Wait's "Crimes are Crimes" banner by Chicago activists, replacing Bush with Netanyahu. Alan Goodman writes in Revolution, Challenging Israel's Crimes on Campus: A Breath of Fresh Air in a Stifling Academic Environment: Throughout society in the last few days, figures in sports, science, and entertainment who have spoken out against Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian people or even simply expressed a desire for an end to violence have come under intense attack. (Unfortunately—in the face of vicious attacks on these postings via celebrity gossip networks that are essentially ruling class ideological propaganda—some of these tweets and postings have been taken down.) But these attacks have failed to silence a growing tide of exposure, outrage, and protest worldwide, and in the U.S. World-renowned scientist Steven Hawking has refused to back off his pledge to boycott scientific conferences in Israel. When such prominent figures stick to their principles and do the right thing, they must be backed up, supported, and defended! Continue reading... Stop Patriarchy: Emergency in Texas Stop Forced Motherhood Abortion on Demand and Without Apology In the last few days, Mark Ruffalo, Gloria Steinem, Cindy Sheehan, and Dr. Cornel West, first wave feminists, and members of the punk band War on Women have signed, with hundreds of others. Our aim in circulating and publishing it is to "recast the moral and political terms and the thinking of millions." The impact of this statement will be even more amplified because the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride 2014 will be on the ground in Texas - with weekly People's Hearings webcast around the country, determined acts of resistance and work to change people's thinking about abortion. We plan to publish on August 4, as the final court proceedings in Austin determine whether almost all women in Texas will lose access to abortion by September 1.   With your involvement, this statement can reach a critical mass of signers & funds. Donate here. Please share this message with others. Save the Date! Join Contingent at the People’s Climate March Sunday, September 21, 2014 in NYC Stop the Crimes Against Our Planet Humanity and the Planet Must Come First! The World Can't Wait! World leaders have called for yet another International Conference at the UN in September. Their meeting will, however, do nothing to stop the global environment's escalating destruction. Using the justifications of “national security” and "business necessities," the US government itself has consistently sabotaged climate talks, supported dangerous drilling, fracking, plunder and exploitation of non-renewable energy resources here and around the world. It has also ruthlessly prosecuted and jailed environmental and animal rights activists explicitly as “terrorists.” Only the direct action of thousands and eventually millions of people can create a movement that will stem nature's systemic abuse and its dire consequences for the planet. Politics as usual has not and will not reverse this disastrous direction. As World Can't Wait's Mission Statement warns: "That which we do not resist and mobilize to stop, we will learn - or be forced - to accept." We must act to protect and preserve the world's fast-vanishing natural ecosystems and stem climate change catastrophe. If not, this planet could very well become uninhabitable for billions of people, and possibly all of humanity, as well as for much of the world's flora and fauna. The United States government leads in crimes against the planet: The Obama administration opposes any serious curbing of fossil fuel use in this country. The new rules on power plant emissions will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only four percent below the levels measured in 1990, although scientists and climate studies have shown that massive cuts of 25 to 40 percent are needed by 2020 if there is to be any hope of preventing the very worst impacts of climate change. In fact, the Pentagon is the world's biggest single user of fossil fuel, fueling illegitimate wars to maintain and expand the US empire. Oil is a strategic resource and the US government acts to control it at all costs, including the planet's very viability. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for example, has been a cheerleader for US oil companies exploiting melting polar ice caps to drill in the Arctic Sea to pre-empt Russia. Fossil fuels are only part of the engine of destruction. US government policy subsidizes large factory “farming” to produce meat, eggs and dairy resulting in 18 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Animal waste leaches antibiotics and hormones into ground and water; pesticides and fertilizers find their way into streams, rivers and coastal water thereby adding to ocean acidification. Truly, the WORLD CAN'T WAIT! March with the Stop the Crimes on Our Planet Contingent on September 21, 2014 in NYC for the People's Climate March. We bring a vision of a society built on sustainable resources and justice for all the world's peoples from right here in the heart of one of the main countries responsible for climate catastrophe. Share this message! Share this message: Scroll down for updates on the abortion rights emergency in Texas... Join the World Can't Wait Conversation Thursday, July 24 10pm Eastern / 7pm Pacific We will discuss the role of the US in the horrific deaths in Gaza. Also. organizers of the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride will join the conversation. Register for dial-in info. Download here: posters & flyer in English & Spanish. Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can't Wait

If you were forwarded this message and would like to subscribe directly, sign up here. World Can't Wait | (866) 973-4463 | 305 West Broadway #185 NY, NY 10013 Make a donation online | Make a tax-deductible donation online Send checks or money orders, payable to "World Can't Wait": World Can't Wait 305 W. Broadway #185 New York, NY 10013 To make a tax-deductible donation of $100 or more in support of World Can't Wait's educational activities, please make checks out to "World Can't Wait/Alliance for Global Justice," a 501(3)(c) organization. You are receiving this email because alfredjohnson34@comcast.net is subscribed to this email announcement list. If you would like to unsubscribe click here.