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

MSNBC's sole Palestinian voice takes on Pro-Israeli bias in US media

A week after public outrage helped force NBC’s reversal of a decision to pull veteran reporter Ayman Mohyeldin out of Gaza, the sole Palestinian contributor to sister network MSNBC has publicly criticized its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict. "We are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue," Rula Jebreal said Monday on MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow Daily, citing a disproportionate amount of Palestinian voices and a preponderance of Israeli government officials and supporters. Jebreal joins us to discuss her decision to speak out against MSNBC and her broader criticism of the corporate media’s Israel-Palestine coverage. An author and political analyst who worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, Jebreal also shares her personal story as a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who is married to a Jewish man and has a Jewish sister.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to the controversies around media coverage of the crisis here in the U.S. Over the weekend, NBC reversed its decision to remove veteran correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin from Gaza. Mohyeldin was removed shortly after he reported on witnessing Israel’s killing of four boys on a Gaza beach. His reports gave voice to Palestinian victims and placed the siege in the wider context of Israeli occupation, drawing criticism from supporters of Israel’s offensive. NBC’s decision to remove one of its top reporters sparked a massive backlash on social media, with the hashtag #LetAymanReport becoming a trending topic on Twitter. Days later, NBC backed down, and Ayman Mohyeldin resumed his reporting on Sunday. In a Twitter post, Mohyeldin acknowledged the social media campaign that demanded his return, saying, quote, "Thanks for all the support. Proud of NBC’s continued commitment to cover the #Palestinian side of the story."

AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, one of MSNBC’s frequent contributors, Rula Jebreal, took to the network’s airwaves to criticize the initial decision to remove Ayman and the broader exclusion of Palestinian voices. Jebreal was speaking on MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow Daily.

RULA JEBREAL: We’re ridiculous. We are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue. Look at how many airtime Netanyahu and his folks have on air on a daily basis, Andrea Mitchell and others. I never see one Palestinian being interviewed on these same issues, not even for—

RONAN FARROW: Well, I’ll push back on that a little. We have had Palestinian voices on our show.

RULA JEBREAL: Maybe for 30 seconds, and then you have 25 minutes for Bibi Netanyahu and half an hour for Naftali Bennett and many others. Listen, the Ayman Mohyeldin story, let’s talk about this. We are home, and we can discuss this. Ayman Mohyeldin is covering the Palestinian side, and we get upset. It’s too pro-Palestinian. We don’t like it. We push him back. And thanks for social media, that brought him in. Let’s talk about these issues, and came home.

RONAN FARROW: Point taken, but doesn’t it reveal equally our thinking that we now have Ayman Mohyeldin on air? And I think there’s been very fair and balanced coverage of this.

RULA JEBREAL: Just thanks to social media and thanks for the pushback from the public opinion. And I’m not saying that everybody is like this, but it’s one-tenth is given to the Palestinian voice and 99 percent of the Israeli voice, and that’s why the public opinion is pro-Israeli, which is the opposite in the rest of the world.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Shortly after the interview, Jebreal tweeted, quote, "My forthcoming TV appearances have been cancelled! Is there a link between my expose and the cancellation?" On Tuesday night, she appeared on MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by Rula Jebreal to talk about what happened. Rula Jebreal is an author and political analyst who frequently appears on MSNBC. She worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, where she also covered the Middle East. She is the author of Miral, which was made into a film by Julian Schnabel.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

RULA JEBREAL: Thank you for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Can you talk about what happened and the decision you made to speak out on your own network?

RULA JEBREAL: Well, I decided to speak on my own network because we are liberal Democrats, and part of the debate of any media in the liberal Democratic landscape is to discuss our own flaws as well as others, not only Bridgegate, but also Mediagate, I would say, a media scandal regarding the biased covering of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And I looked at studies, and the studies that were made by many scholars, respected American scholars—Juan Cole and others—who are referring to the covering of the media, how much airtime is given to the Israeli officials and how much airtime is given to the Palestinian officials. And it’s a U.S. landscape that is so biased. So, for example, in 2012 you had, on CNN alone, 45 Israeli officials interviewed versus 11 Palestinians. And when it comes to this conflict today in 2014, you have 17 Israeli politicians, official interviewed versus one Palestinian. So we are going backwards regarding this issue. And that forms and shape the public opinion in America, that then transfer and become political support, unconditional, to Israel, to a policy that is very destructive both to the Israelis and to American stands in the world and their credibility.

AMY GOODMAN: Were you the only Palestinian consultant or contributor on MSNBC?

RULA JEBREAL: Absolutely, yes.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So what happened after, after your appearance on Ronan Farrow where you said what you said, criticizing their coverage?

RULA JEBREAL: I just received emails of cancellation. And I asked question about whether these cancellation are related to what I said earlier. I never had any—tried to call the producers, and nobody answered the phone. Then I tweeted what I tweeted, and immediately there was a social media uproar. I understood—listen, I worked in Egypt. I was kicked out of the country because I interviewed Omar Suleiman, the head of secret Service. I asked him about torturing. I interviewed Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. I’m accustomed with this. When I pushed Silvio Berlusconi on corruption and scandals, my TV show was shut down. I’m accustomed to this. I did not, with all honesty, expect this from us, liberal media, and us who are advocating, telling—going out, saying, "We tell the truth, and we cover this in an unbiased way," I did not expect that.

AMY GOODMAN: The AlterNet writer Max Blumenthal spoke to an anonymous NBC producer who, he said, described, quote, "a top-down intimidation campaign aimed at presenting an Israeli-centric view of the attack on the Gaza Strip," unquote. In his piece for AlterNet, Blumenthal wrote, quote, "The NBC producer told me that MSNBC President Phil Griffin and NBC executives are micromanaging coverage of the crisis, closely monitoring contributors’ social media accounts and engaging in a [quote] 'witch hunt' against anyone who strays from the official line," Blumenthal wrote. The producer told Blumenthal, quote, "Loyalties are now being openly questioned." Did you have any experience of that, Rula? How long were you a contributor at MSNBC?

RULA JEBREAL: I have to say, I’ve been there for two years, and—I’ve been there for two years. And I have to say, I was talking about the American landscape, not only MSNBC, which has been actually a little bit better than others. But I never experienced anything like this. I mean, I understood doing what I did in Egypt would lead me to be kicked out of the country. I understood in Italy, where Berlusconi controlled most of the media. I was shocked, because most of my friends in the Middle East would tell me, "You know, you will have an issue in America." And I always thought, "No way. We are truth tellers. We are fact checkers. We are people that actually cover both sides. This is what America stands for." And I hope that MSNBC and other networks will actually revise their policies and will have more voices. It doesn’t have to be me. It’s not about me. We have a media scandal that we need to expose. We are responsible of these failing policies in Gaza and in Israel.

AMY GOODMAN: Had you tried to raise this before in the two years that you were a contributor?

RULA JEBREAL: Oh, privately, I raised it with so many, many, many, many people in the inside. I’ve been pitching myself to talk about these issues on many shows, and I’ve been privately meeting with producers and others. And I told them. I said, "Listen, you have an issue there. Our credibility here at stake. We can’t talk about Bridgegate for six months, and then, when it comes to this, we decide we duck our heads, and we decide to be exactly like the other networks. We can be different. We can be much more bolder, and we can be aggressive. And then maybe the rates are this way because of this." I think most of them were agreeing privately with me, but then, when it comes to what goes on air, I don’t think they did have any power.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, you did go on Chris Hayes last night.

RULA JEBREAL: Absolutely. Chris Hayes contacted me late in the afternoon, and so his producers—

AMY GOODMAN: And he’s on MSNBC.

RULA JEBREAL: And he’s on MSNBC. Of course, we disagreed, but, you know, in the media, we can agree to disagree. We have Joe Scarborough criticizing over and over, and he’s fine, and he’s OK. But one thing is to criticize certain things, but is this a hot issue that nobody can touch? Is this what America’s becoming about?

AMY GOODMAN: So did you lose your job as a contributor?

RULA JEBREAL: I have no idea. I still don’t know. My contract is up, and we’re negotiating still.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And following your appearance on the show, you said one of the things that you hoped your comments would precipitate would be a national debate on the question of Israel-Palestine and how it’s covered. What kind of shape do you think that debate would take? And if it were up to you, what kinds of issues should be raised more frequently in the mainstream media on this particular issue?

RULA JEBREAL: I think what we need to ask: Are we really guaranteeing—by supporting unconditionally this Israeli government, right-wing government, are we really helping Israel being more secure in the long term, and ultimately, American interest and stand in the world? Is that what’s happening? And look, this policy with Gaza has been failing for the last eight years. We had six bombardments in the last eight years, and this did not topple Hamas and did not limit, weaken Hamas. Actually, it empowered more and more Hamas. And moderates like myself—and, for me, Hamas is the ultimate liability for the Palestinian people—but this did not empower moderates. Moderates have been telling Israel over and over, "We want a peace deal. We will agree on most conditions that you want." And as Gideon Levy said in this venue, in this same venue, the problem with our policy, that we want to keep the status quo. That means military occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Gaza under siege.

And we want—and what we are doing in the media, we are portraying actually a false image where what’s happening in Israel—and if you ask anybody, whether in New York, in D.C., in other places, "What do you think is happening?" they will tell you, "Well, Israel was minding its own business. The Palestinians started shooting missiles out of the blue." This is not the reality. This is not what’s going on. And the context of this is what’s leading the public opinion to support unconditionally Israel. And politicians will do what’s popular, not what’s right. We need to do what’s right. We, in the media, have a mission. Whether it’s MSNBC, Democracy Now!, CNN, we have a mission. We are truth tellers, and we can shape public opinion to protect public interest.

AMY GOODMAN: Rula, you have a fascinating story yourself, which you wrote about in your book Miral, which was made into a film. Can you talk about where you were born and your own life story?

RULA JEBREAL: Look, I was born in Haifa. I am an Arab Israeli. I’m a holder for an Israeli citizen—I have. My family lived all their lives in East Jerusalem. I was raised in an orphanage. My family is both Muslims and Christians. I am married to a Jewish man. And I really believe in two-state solutions. A year ago, I discovered that I have a Jewish sister, because my mother, that died when I was five years old, actually had a relationship, and I discovered a year ago that she had—I have a Jewish sister, that is tweeting today, in these days, killing Arabs is a value. This is the reality that I live in.

And I have to be truth—because of what I’ve seen in the Middle East, and because of what I witness, whether it’s in refugee camps, under military occupation, under siege, I’ve seen how pain, grief, and when you keep 60 percent of the population that go almost hungry to bed, and 90 percent without clean water, the only thing that can rise is extremism. And the solution to this is not to bombard them altogether in one place. The solution to this is actually lifting the siege, empowering them financially and let them, themself, you know, create a moderate leadership that eventually can take over. We didn’t manage to topple Hamas, and this is fact. We are failing in our strategy in how to contain extremists. Hamas was dead politically. We will manage, with this war, actually, to revive Hamas and its power and its grip on the Palestinian coast.

AMY GOODMAN: How did you end up going from Haifa, growing up in an orphanage, to becoming a broadcaster in Italy?

RULA JEBREAL: Simply when I was 17-and-a-half, I won a scholarship from the Italian government. I went to Italy. I studied there. I attended college. I became the first anchorwoman on the Italian television—first foreign anchorwoman, black anchorwoman, on the Italian television. I was attacked by the right, especially during the Iraqi War, because I challenged their views on the Iraqi War. When I visited Iraq, it was clear to me that there was no way that a military solution will be met with cheering. And it was clear to me that the country would be divided immediately and the Shiites will take over. So I wrote about this. I was challenged by the right-wing government in Italy on these views. I was even called the N-word on air by one of the ministers of Silvio Berlusconi, who actually was pushed to resign three days after because of the uproar of the media, because of that. Then I worked for so many years in Italy. I was a reporter. I read the news. And then I decided to go to my own world. I went to Egypt. I worked there for three months. I was on-air journalist. I broadcast a TV show—until I started asking the wrong question and tough question to the establishment. After that, I was off air, kicked out of the country. And I hope to find a platform somewhere.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And you’ve worked—you just talked about your work in Italy. How would you say the reporting in Europe on Israel-Palestine compares to what you’ve seen since you’ve come to the U.S.?

RULA JEBREAL: Oh, day and night, day and night, day and night—and simply because of the images that reporters bring from the ground and are allowed to show on air. Here, you know, we have a problem with what we show. The tipping point for me is when people like Rihanna and Selena Gomez are not even—celebrities—allowed to sympathize with the people that are dying—not with Hamas. When they wrote their Twitter and saying, you know, "We pray for peace in Gaza, and we sympathize with the victims," and everybody backlashed on them. And even John Kerry was scared when his microphone was open on Fox, and then he had to actually walk back that line. That shows you something: Everybody is scared when it comes to these issues. It’s time that we in the media have the courage. We expose so many wrongdoing from our own government here and their wrongdoing abroad. It’s time to—it’s time, really, to do a service, not a disservice, to our audience and to our interests in the world—and also to the Israeli, many Israeli people that—and Jewish people, as you showed in your network—that are today calling on Israel to stop their policies.

AMY GOODMAN: Rula, we want to thank you for being with us. Rula Jebreal, author, political analyst, frequently appears on MSNBC. She worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, where she also covered the Middle East, is the author of Miral, which was also made into a film. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, a debate on the U.S. media coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Stay with us.

 

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

Exactly Right! ​

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

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We can do this, but not without you Dear pf, I am writing to ask you to help the upcoming August 2 National March on Washington to Stop the Massacre in Gaza. This is one of those moments in history that grassroots actions can become a real factor in the calculations and policies of governments. Buses are coming to DC on August 2 from all over. People are also coming by car, car caravans, train and many are even flying to join this historic event in solidarity with the besieged Palestinian people. Each bus from New York City costs $2,400. From New Haven the cost is $2,500. From Philadelphia it is about $1,500. We are also producing materials: flyers, posters, logistical materials and more.  Volunteers are working around the clock to make this happen. There is now an amazing grassroots response as people are taking to the streets throughout the country and the world. Please do your part and make as large a contribution as possible. All contributions are tax deductible. You can make your tax-deductible donation online right now to help this mobilization of the people succeed. If you prefer to write a check you can do by making it payable to ANSWER/Progress Unity Fund and mail to 617 Florida Ave., NW, Lower Level, Washington DC 20001. Again, all donations are tax-deductible. We must continue to act together to stop the war crimes and crimes against humanity being perpetrated against our sisters and brothers in Gaza by the Israeli war machine. We, the people of the United States, will stand together on August 2 in front of the White House and demand an end to all U.S. aid to Israel. Please take a moment and show your support. Let Gaza Live! Brian Becker National Coordinator ANSWER Coalition

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition http://www.AnswerCoalition.org/ info@AnswerCoalition.org National Office in Washington DC: 202-265-1948 Boston: 857-334-5084 | New York City: 212-694-8720 | Chicago: 773-463-0311 San Francisco: 415-821-6545| Los Angeles: 213-687-7480 | Albuquerque: 505-268-2488 If this message was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive future ANSWER updates, click here to subscribe. Having trouble viewing this message? Click here.

 

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

The Palestinians’ Right to Self-Defense

[we have to explain this to americans? !$%#@!


If Israel insists, as the Bosnian Serbs did in Sarajevo [Serbs? bring NATO's involvement and purpose to light!  google for MORE insight on Kosovo] , on using the weapons of industrial warfare against a helpless civilian population then that population has an inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. The international community will have to either act to immediately halt Israeli attacks and lift the blockade of Gaza or acknowledge the right of the Palestinians to use weapons to defend themselves.
No nation, including any in the Muslim world, appears willing to intervene to protect the Palestinians. No world body, including the United Nations, appears willing or able to pressure Israel through sanctions to conform to the norms of international law. And the longer we in the world community fail to act, the worse the spiral of violence will become.
Israel does not have the right to drop 1,000-pound iron fragmentation bombs on Gaza. It does not have the right to pound Gaza with heavy artillery and with shells lobbed from gunboats. It does not have the right to send in mechanized ground units or to target hospitals, schools and mosques, along with Gaza’s water and electrical systems. It does not have the right to displace over 100,000 families from their homes. The entire occupation, under which Israel has nearly complete control of the sea, the air and the borders of Gaza, is illegal.
Violence, even when employed in self-defense, is a curse. It empowers the ruthless and punishes the innocent. It leaves in its aftermath horrific emotional and physical scars. But, as I learned in Sarajevo during the 1990s Bosnian War, when forces bent on your annihilation attack you relentlessly, and when no one comes to your aid, you must aid yourself. When Sarajevo was being hit with 2,000 shells a day and under heavy sniper fire in the summer of 1995 no one among the suffering Bosnians spoke to me about wanting to mount nonviolent resistance. No one among them saw the U.N.-imposed arms embargo against the Bosnian government as rational, given the rain of sniper fire and the 90-millimeter tank rounds and 155-millimeter howitzer shells that were exploding day and night in the city. The Bosnians were reduced, like the Palestinians in Gaza, to smuggling in light weapons through clandestine tunnels. Their enemies, the Serbs—like the Israelis in the current conflict—were constantly trying to blow up tunnels. The Bosnian forces in Sarajevo, with their meager weapons, desperately attempted to hold the trench lines that circled the city. And it is much the same in Gaza. It was only repeated NATO airstrikes in the fall of 1995 that prevented the Bosnian-held areas from being overrun by advancing Serbian forces. The Palestinians cannot count on a similar intervention. The number of dead in Gaza resulting from the Israeli assault has topped 650, and about 80 percent have been civilians. The number of wounded Palestinians is over 4,000 and a substantial fraction of these victims are children. At what point do the numbers of dead and wounded justify self-defense? 5,000? 10,000? 20,000? At what point do Palestinians have the elemental right to protect their families and their homes?
Article 51 does not answer these specific questions, but the International Court of Justice does in the case of Nicaragua v. United States. The court ruled in that case that a state must endure an armed attack before it can resort to self-defense. The definition of an armed attack, in addition to being “action by regular armed forces across an international border,” includes sending or sponsoring armed bands, mercenaries or irregulars that commit acts of force against another state. The court held that any state under attack must first request outside assistance before undertaking armed self-defense. According to U.N. Charter Article 51, a state’s right to self-defense ends when the Security Council meets the terms of the article by “tak[ing] the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.”
The failure of the international community to respond has left the Palestinians with no choice. The United States, since Israel’s establishment in 1948, has vetoed in the U.N. Security Council more than 40 resolutions that sought to curb Israel’s lust for occupation and violence against the Palestinians. And it has ignored the few successful resolutions aimed at safeguarding Palestinian rights, such as Security Council Resolution 465, passed in 1980.
Resolution 465 stated that the “Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 is applicable to the Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.” The resolution went on to warn Israel that “all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity and that Israel’s policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and also constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Israeli academic: raping Palestinian women would deter attacks

[thanks for this, Sarah!]

Published on 21 July 2014 Written by Connie Hackbarth

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an Israeli scholar of Arabic literature and lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, declared Monday that raping the wives and mothers of Palestinian combatants would deter attacks.

"The only thing that could deter a suicide bomber is knowing that if caught, his sister or his mother would be raped," said Kedar during a radio talk show.

Listen to Hebrew-language radio show ; Kedar's comment begins at 1:35:00:

Kedar, who is an academic expert on the Palestinian population within Israel, served for twenty-five years in the military intelligence, where he specialized in Islamic groups.

He is a researcher at the right-wing Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies of Bar Ilan University, as well as the founder and current director of the Israel Academia Monitor, a neo-McCarthyst website that follows alleged "anti-Israel activities of Israeli academics".

During the interview on the Hakol Diburim national daily talk programme of Israel Radio Bet,  the interviewer, Yossi Hadar, responded that Kedar's proposal "sounds bad [...] We can not of course take such measures."

These remarks did not deter Kedar, who responded that "it is culture..." and "this is the Middle East", before adding that "I did not speak about what we are doing or not doing. I am speaking about the reality: the only thing that will deter a suicide bomber - if he knew that if he pulls the trigger, his sister will be raped."

Bar Ilan University is a Jewish religious university situated in a Tel Aviv suburb. In November 1995, Yigal Amir, a student at the institution, assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

 A Song For The Struggle-

delightful HK & LES SALTIMBANKS "On Lâche Rien" "Here is On Lache Rien ! (We Don't Give Up!), a great French revolt song by the French band HK et Les Saltimbanks. They come from around Lille and they've just released their first album Citoyen du Monde (Citizen of the World) on January 31, 2011. Uploaded on Oct 17, 2011 "Here is On Lache Rien ! (We Don't Give Up!), a great French revolt song by the French band HK et Les Saltimbanks. They come from around Lille and they've just released their first album Citoyen du Monde (Citizen of the World) on January 31, 2011. After subtitling it in Japanese, here it is in English (thanks to Maja and David). As one of the Saltimbanks' lines goes: "The alarm clock has gone off/It's time to reset the counters to zero!" Peoples of Europe wake up! Thank you to our brothers and sisters in the Arab world who have broken the ice! You are our sparks! Thousands of young people in Spain are on a war footing! Hats off to the youths in the U.K. and the people occupying Wall Street...! Down with the capitalist leaches! Eat the rich! Ya Basta! Enough is Enough! Y'en a marre! Kfa!" Translation: Brkic Sulejman see also: World Citizen for a world without borders

 




 

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

 Firsthand report from Jerusalem and analysis of Iraq and Syria

The US and turmoil in the Middle East: an update on the latest crises

 

When: Thursday, August 7, 2014, 7:00 pm

Where: Cambridge • 5 Longfellow Park • off Brattle St - Harvard T • Cambridge

Firsthand report from Jerusalem and analysis of Iraq and Syria

Raed Jarrar, policy impact coordinator for AFSC, was in Jerusalem July 10-17 as Israel launched the attack on Gaza.  Raed will report on his experiences and also focus on analysis of the current situation in Iraq.  The presentation will describe overarching US policy in the Middle East including Syria and Egypt, and how the peace movement can take action.

Jarrar was born and educated in Baghdad and currently lives in Washington D.C.  He has been a leading commentator on the US in Iraq since the invasion of 2003.
 

Sponsored by United for Justice with Peace

United for Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic justice. Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP today.
info@justicewithpeace.org	617-383-4857	www.justicewithpeace.org

On The 75^th Anniversary Year Of The Defeat Of The Spanish Revolution- The Lessons Learned-THE FIFTH COLUMN AND 49 OTHER STORIES, ERNEST HEMNGWAY

 

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.  

********
Book Review

THE FIFTH COLUMN AND 49 OTHER STORIES, ERNEST HEMNGWAY, P.F. COLLIER&SON, NEW YORK, 1950
I have written reviews of many of Ernest Hemingway’s major novels elsewhere in this space. I have reviewed his major novel on the Spanish Civil War For Whom the Bells Toll, as well. Here I review a short play of his concerning that same event. This play is the main item of interest for me in an anthology that also includes his first 49 short stories. I will make a few minor comments on them at the end. However, here I wish to address the main issue that drives the play, The Fifth Column. I believe that this is fitting in the year of the 75th anniversary of the Barcelona May Days-the last chance to save the Spanish Revolution.

The main action here concerns the actions, manners, and love life of a seemingly irresolute character, Phillip, in reality is a committed communist who has found himself wrapped up intensely in the struggle to fight against Franco’s counter-revolution. His role is to ferret out the fifth columnists that have infiltrated into Madrid for intelligence/sabotage purposes on behalf of the Franco forces in the bloody civil war that was shaking Republican Spain. The term “fifth column” comes from the notion that not only the traditional four columns of the military are at work but a fifth column of sympathizers who are trying to destabilize the Republic. What to do about them is the central question of this, or any, civil war.

At the time there was some controversy that swirled around Hemingway for presenting the solution of summary executions of these agents as the correct way of dealing with this menace. I have questioned some of Hemingway’s political judgments on Spain elsewhere, particularly concerning the role of the International Brigades, but he is right on here. Needless to say, as almost always with Hemingway, a little love interest is thrown into the mix to spice things up. However, in the end, despite the criminal Stalinist takeover of the Spanish security apparatus and its counter-revolutionary role in gutting the revolutionary promise there this play presents a question all militants today need to be aware of.

49 short stories
I recently reviewed this same compilation of short stories in an edition that included the short play The Fifth Column that I was interested in discussing concerning the problem of spies and infiltrators from the Franco-led Nationalist side-and what to do about them- in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. This edition does not contain that play and therefore I can discuss the short stories on their own terms. Although Hemingway wrote many novels, most of which I have read at one time or another, I believe that his style and sparseness of language was more suitable to the short story. This compilation of his first forty-nine although somewhat uneven in quality, as is always the case with any writer, I think makes my point. In any case they contain not only some of his most famous short stories but also some of the best.

The range of subjects that interested Hemingway is reflected here, especially those that defined masculinity in his era. Included here are classics such as The Snows of Kilimanjaro about the big game hunt, The Killers- a short and pungent gangster tale that was made into a much longer movie much in the matter of his novel To Have Or Have Not, many of the youthful Nick Adams stories tracing his adventures from puberty to his time of service in World War I, stories on bullfighting- probably more than you will ever want to know about that subject but reflecting an aficionado’s appreciation of the art form, a few on the never-ending problems of love and its heartbreaks including a metaphorical one, reflecting the censorious nature of the times, on the impact of abortion on a couple’s relationship, and some sketches that were included in A Farewell to Arms. Well worth your time. As always Hemingway masterly wields his sparse and functional language to make his points. Again, as always read this man. This work is part of our world literary heritage.

***A Pauper Comes Of Age- For the Adamsville South Elementary School Class Of 1958-Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen

 

 

 

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

This is the way my old corner boy, Fritz Taylor, from down in “the projects” told me the story one night years later when we were sitting on the grey granite steps of North Adamsville High. Sitting there, no dough in our pockets, our main guy for a ride out of town on a family vacation, no girls in hand, talking slowly, kind of softly for us, kind of dreamy really about the first times we had been smitten by a girl, not necessarily a forever smitten thing (forever then being maybe a month or six weeks) but with a bug that disturbed our sleep. Yeah, that is exactly the way to put it, when some frail disturbed our sleep, the first of many sleepless nights on that subject.  (That “frail” a localism for girl, heavily influenced by watching too many 1930s and 1940s gangster and hard-boiled private detective movies.) So we were sitting there thinking about how we were now chasing other dreams, well, maybe not other dreams but older versions, sweet sixteen versions of that same dream.  Of course at sixteen it was all about girls but as it turned out that subject had its own pre-history way back when. Just ask Fritz Taylor if you see him.

Fritz Taylor, if he thought about it at all and at times like that dream vision night at sixteen on the step in front of the high school he might have, probably would have said that he had his history hat on again  like when he was a kid, loving history or even the thought of history since some teacher blew him away with talk of ancient Greeks and Roman, blew him away more when she freaked him out with talk of Egypt Pharaoh time and he ran all the way over to the art museum in Boston to look at old  Pharaoh.  That sixteen summer night when out of the blue, the memory time blue, he thought about more modern history, thought about her, thought about fair Rosimund.

No, before you get all set to turn to some other thing, some desperate alternate other thing, to do rather than read Fritz’s poignant little story, this is not some American Revolution founding fathers (or mothers, because old-time Abigail Adams may have been hovering in some background granite-chiseled slab grave in very old-time Adamsville cemetery while the events to be related occurred) or some bold Massachusetts abolitionist regiment out of the American Civil War 150th anniversary memory history like Fritz used to like to twist the tail around when you knew him, or his like. This is about first love so rest easy.

Fritz, that early summer’s night, was simply trying to put his thoughts together and figured that he would write something, write something for those who could stand it, those fellow members of his who could stand to know that the members of the North Adamsville High School Class of 1963 were that year celebrating the 5th anniversary of their graduation from elementary school. In Fritz’s case not North Adamsville Elementary School like many of his fellows but from Adamsville South Elementary School across town on the “wrong side of the tracks.” And although, at many levels that was a very different experience from that of the average, average North Adamsville class member the story had a universal quality that he thought might amuse them, amuse them that is until the name, the thought of the name, the mist coming from out of his mouth at the forming of the name, holy of holies, Rosimund, stopped him dead in his tracks and forced him to tell me that story and to write that different story later.

Still, once the initial trauma wore off, Fritz thought what better way to celebrate that milestone on the rocky road to surviving childhood than to take a trip down memory lane, that Rosimund-strewn memory lane. Those days although they were filled with memorable incidents, good and bad, paled beside this Rosimund-related story that cut deep, deep into his brown-haired mind, and as it turned out one that he have not forgotten after all. So rather than produce some hokey last dance, last elementary school sweaty-palmed dance failure tale, some Billie Bradley-led corner boy down in the back of Adamsville South doo wop be-bop into the night luring stick and shape girls like lemmings from the sea on hearing those doo wop harmonies, those harmonies meant for them, the sticks and shapes that is, or some wannabe gangster retread tale, or even some Captain Midnight how he saved the world from the Cold War Russkies with his last minute-saving invention Fritz preferred to relate a home truth, a hard home truth to be sure, but the truth Here is his say:

At some point in elementary school a boy is inevitably supposed to learn, maybe required to, depending on the whims of your school district’s supervisory staff and maybe also what your parents expected of such schools, to do two intertwined socially-oriented tasks - the basics of some kind of dancing and to be paired off with, dare I say it, a girl in that activity. After all that is what it there for isn’t it. At least it was that way in then a few years back, and if things have changed, changed dramatically in that regard, you can fill in your own blanks experience. But here that is where fair sweet Rosimund comes in, the paired-off part.

I can already hear your gasps, dear reader, as I present this scenario. You are ready to flee, boy or girl flee, to some safe attic hideaway, to reach for some dusty ancient comfort teddy bear, or for the venturesome, some old sepia brownie camera picture album safely hidden in those environs, but flee, no question, at the suggestion of those painful first times when sweaty-handed, profusely sweaty-handed, boy met too-tall girl on the dance floor (age too-tall girls hormone shooting up first, later things settled down, a little). Now for those who are hopped up, or even mildly interested, in such ancient rituals you may be thinking, oh well, this won’t be so bad after all since I am talking about the mid-1950s and they had Dick Clark’s American Bandstand on the television to protect us from having to dance close, what with those funny self-expression dance moves like the Stroll and the Hully-Gully that you see on re-runs. And then go on except, maybe, the last dance, the last close dance that spelled success or failure in the special he or she night so let me tell you how really bad we had it in the plaid 1960s. Wrong.

Oh, of course, we were all after school black and white television-addled and addicted making sure that we got home by three in the afternoon to catch the latest episode of the American Bandstand saga about who would, or wouldn’t, dance with that cute girl in the corner (or that leering Amazon in the front). That part was true, true enough. But here we are not talking fun dancing, close or far away, but learning dancing, school-time dancing, come on get with it. What we are talking about in my case is that the dancing part turned out to be the basics of country bumpkin square-dancing (go figure, for a city boy, right?). Not only did this clumsy, yes, sweaty-palmed, star-crossed ten-year-old boy have to do the basic “swing your partner” and some off-hand “doze-zee dozes(sic)” but I  also had to do it while I was paired, for this occasion, with a girl that I had a “crush” on, a serious crush on, and that is where Rosimund really enters the story.

Rosimund see, moreover, was not from “the projects” but from one of the new single-family homes, ranch-style homes that the up and coming middle-class were moving into up the road. In case you didn’t know, or have forgotten since elementary school days, I grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks” down at the Adamsville Housing Authority apartments. The rough side of town, okay. You knew that the minute I mentioned the name, that AHA name, and rough is what you thought, and that is okay. Now. But although I had started getting a handle on the stick "projects" girls I was totally unsure how to deal with girls from the “world.” And Rosimund very definitely was from the world. I will not describe her here; although I could do so even today, but let us leave it at her name. Rosimund. Enchanting name, right? Thoughts of white-plumed knighted medieval jousts against some black-hooded, armored thug knight for the fair maiden’s hand, or for her favors (whatever they were then, mainly left unexplained, although we all know what they are now, and are glad of it)

Nothing special about the story so far, though. Even I am getting a little sleepy over it. Just your average one-of-the-stages-of-the-eternal-coming-of-age-story. I wish. Well, the long and short of it was that the reason we were practicing this square-dancing was to demonstrate our prowess before our parents in the school gym. Nothing unusual there either. After all there is no sense in doing this type of school-time activity unless one can impress one's parents. I forget all the details of the setup of the space for demonstration day and things like that but it was a big deal. Parents, refreshments, various local dignitaries, half the school administrators from downtown whom I will go to my grave believing could have cared less if it was square-dancing or basket-weaving because they would have ooh-ed and ah-ed us whatever it was. But that is so much background filler. Here is the real deal. To honor the occasion, as this was my big moment to impress Rosimund, I had, earlier in the day, cut up my dungarees to give myself an authentic square-dancer look, some now farmer brown look but back then maybe not so bad.

I thought I looked pretty good. And Rosimund, looking nice in some blue taffeta dress with a dark red shawl thing draped and pinned across her shoulders (although don’t quote me on that dress thing, what did a ten-year old boy, sister-less, know of such girlish fashion things. I was just trying to keep my hands in my pockets to wipe my sweaty hands for twirling time, for Rosimund twirling time) actually beamed at me, and said I looked like a gentleman farmer. Be still my heart. Like I said I though I looked pretty good, and if Rosimund thought so well then, well indeed. And things were going nicely. That is until my mother, sitting in a front row audience seat as was her wont, saw what I had done to the pants. In a second she got up from her seat, marched over to me, and started yelling about my disrespect for my father's and her efforts to clothe me and about the fact that since I only had a couple of pairs of pants how could I do such a thing. In short, airing the family troubles in public for all to hear. That went on for what seemed like an eternity. Thereafter I was unceremoniously taken home by said irate mother and placed on restriction for a week. Needless to say my father also heard about it when he got home from that hard day’s work that he was too infrequently able to get to keep the wolves from the door, and I heard about it for weeks afterward. Needless to say I also blew my 'chances' with dear, sweet Rosimund.

Now is this a tale of the hard lessons of the nature of class society that I am always more than willing to put in a word about? Just like you might have remembered about me back in the day. Surely not. Is this a sad tale of young love thwarted by the vagaries of fate? A little. Is this a tale about respect for the little we had in my family? Perhaps. Was my mother, despite her rage, right? Well, yes. Did I learn something about being poor in the world? Damn right. That is the point. …But, oh, Rosimund.

15,000 Protest in London: "Stop the Israeli War Machine - Defend the Palestinians!"
by Rt	21 Jul 2014
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London streets were swarmed by a pro-Palestinian demonstration which gathered nearly 15,000 participants Saturday. Marching down to the Israeli Embassy from Downing Street, they chanted “Israel is a terror state,” slamming Tel Aviv’s offensive in Gaza. David Cameron’s office is located about 5km (3 miles) from the embassy. While the march itself was peaceful, several key roads downtown were closed. The death toll from the operation launched by Israel -- the overwhelming majority of them civilians. Similar to other major cities across the world, demonstrators held signs and banners asking the Jewish State to “Stop the bombing, free Palestine”, “Stop Israeli terror,” "Defend the Palestinians," "Stop the Israeli War Machine" and so on. Some called it the “apartheid” state, according to the AP. The march was organized in part by the left-wing Stop the War Coalition, whose belief it is that political cooperation with Israel is “nothing less that collusion with war crimes killing women, children and disabled people.” The UK Socialist Workers Party dominates the 'Stop the War Coalition.' A similar voice was heard from one of the demonstrators, a Leila White, who told the Daily Mail that “by allowing arms exports to Israel to flourish, the UK Government is providing material and political support for Israel's violent oppression and collective punishment of Palestinians, including the current massacre in Gaza.” She backs a boycott of Israel. “There has not been enough condemnation of Israel's military action. Basically, we want the UK government to invoke an arms embargo against Israel.” Her group, the London Palestine Action, posted photos on Facebook of its members sitting with linked hands in the lobby of the Whitehall office building at around 4-5pm. They were chanting anti-Israel slogans and were promptly removed by the police. Some even locked or cuffed themselves to nearby railings, unfurling Palestinian flags and banners while demanding that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg or another official from the Cabinet Office come out. Unlike in violent Paris, however, no London arrests were made. Politicians could be seen in the crowd as well. MP George Galloway strongly advocated the Palestinian cause, saying in a speech that “We are here to stay. As long as one Palestinian remains alive we will be with them.” Another figure present was the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Sarah Colborne, who told the press that “today’s national demonstration will give people from across the country the chance to say enough is enough, Israel’s siege of Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian land has to end now. People want justice and freedom for the Palestinians, and they will be voicing this in their thousands.” Everyone voiced their protest also against the French ban on demonstrations in several key cities, following fears that they are a threat to public order.
See also: http://rt.com/uk/174188-gaza-israel-london-palestine/

Statement on the Gaza Genocide
by Party of the Laboring Masses (PLM)	22 Jul 2014
In the past week, Israeli military forces have escalated their offensive on the Gaza Strip. Israeli warplanes have increasingly targeted houses, civilian-populated areas and civilian facilities in the Gaza strip. Israeli warplanes have destroyed a number of houses while their residents were inside, without any prior warnings, killing and wounding many Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli government has cynically exploited the killing of three Israeli youth and used this to whip up a racist hysteria against Palestinians and the Hamas government in Gaza. It has done this without producing any evidence about who was responsible for those killings. A campaign of indiscriminate violence against Palestinians has been incited and one Palestinian boy has been tortured and burnt to death. Now even more indiscriminate retribution has been inflicted on the civilian residents of Gaza. Israeli occupation forces have also targeted the campuses of Birzeit University near Ramallah and the Arab American University in Jenin, resulting in the detention and arrest of students and staff and greatly infringing the Palestinian right to education. Israel's actions are designed to terrorize and impose a collective punishment on the Palestinian people in a blatant violation of international humanitarian law. The Party of the Laboring Masses (PLM): -- Strongly condemns Israel's latest attack on Gaza, Palestine and demands that it stop its attacks on Gaza and respect international law including the UN resolution 242 which demands Israel withdraw from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories which Israel has illegally occupied since 1967. -- Calls on the Philippine government to immediately withdraw its ambassador from Israel, cut diplomatic ties and end any military and defence ties with Israel. -- Supports calls for the intensification of the economic boycott, disinvestment and sanctions campaign against Israel. Stop Israeli Bombing of Gaza-Palestine! No to Israel's Terrorism, Collective Punishment and Genocide! Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) Manila, Philippines

Boston Remembers Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Moving from Violence to Unity

69 years later, it’s time to fund jobs in Boston’s communities – not militarism and violence

Memorial Procession Music Dance Talks Action

  Wednesday, August 6, 3:00 to 5:30 pm

Assembly and Invocation:

First Church in Boston, Berkeley & Marlborough Streets

Procession through Public Garden, Boston Common, past State House

Ceremony at Boston City Hall

Tina Chery, Louis D. Brown Peace Institute

Elaine Scarry, Harvard University

Anna Baker, Pilgrim Coalition

“Soran Bushi” Japanese Dancers

Taiko Drumming 

Please join us for the 2nd annual memorial procession to take action in building a non-violent world free of the atrocities of nuclear weapons, militarism, and oppression. 

We will bring together music, dance and talks to commemorate the 69th year of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki tragedies. Almost 7 decades later, it's time to fund jobs in Boston's communities, not militarism and violence! Let's show that there is a connection between violence in the community, assaults on mother earth, and the mass destruction caused by these weapons.

Speaking during the ceremony will be Tina Chery, President and CEO of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute. After her oldest son passed away due to gun violence, she founded this institute to educate and outreach to the families of homicide victims. She subsequently developed the Peace Curriculum with the aim of creating a safe environment for young people. Integrating classroom discussions and community service with an emphasis on peace and peacemaking, this curriculum is an effective intervention for reducing juvenile crime. 

Massachusetts Peace Action initiated this event; Dorchester People for Peace helped bring it to Boston. The First Church in Boston generously opened its doors and embraced Boston Remembers Hiroshima & Nagasaki. 

Sponsors: Massachusetts Peace Action, Dorchester People for Peace, First Church in Boston, American Friends Service Committee, Arlington Street Church Social Justice Committee, Arlington UJP, Bikes Not Bombs, Boston Mobilization, Cape Cod Fellowship of Reconciliation, Cape Codders for Peace & Justice, Cape Downwinders, Leverett Peace Pagoda, Massachusetts Senior Action (Cambridge chapter), Newton Dialogues on Peace & War, On Behalf of Planet Earth, Pilgrim Coalition, United for Justice with Peace, Veterans for Peace/Smedley Butler Brigade, Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom – Boston Branch (list in formation)

Download the Flyer: Boston Remembers Hiroshima

Read:  Cambridge Chronicle coverage of last year's event and Watch: Cambridge Cable TV coverage

Take Action for a Nuclear Free Future - Additional Events, August 3-6

Sunday 8/3 Tina Chery will preach at the First Church in Boston

Sunday 8/3 Community Church of Boston – Hiroshima/ Nagasaki Commemoration – Georges Island 10am to 3pm

Sunday 8/3 Watertown Film and Candle Ceremony at Grace Vision Church 5:30-9:00pm 

Tuesday 8/5 Nuclear Savage: Film Screening and Potluck at the First Church in Boston 6:00-9:30pm

 Wednesday 8/6 Vigil at the corner of Main and Moody streets, Waltham Common 7:45-8:30am 

Wednesday 8/6 Boston Remembers Hiroshima and Nagasaki Memorial Procession 3:00-5:30pm

Wednesday 8/6 – Andover Vigil – Time and place TBA

contact: Massachusetts Peace Action, 11 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 · www.masspeaceaction.org · 617-354-2169 

United for Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic justice. Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP today.
info@justicewithpeace.org	617-383-4857	www.justicewithpeace.org