VIEW ONLINE: http://dev.portside.org/2012-07-31/tidbits-and-announcements-july-30-2012 SUBSCRIBE: http://portside.org/subscribe VISIT PORTSIDE.ORG: http://portside.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tidbits and Announcements - July 30, 2012 <span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-07-30T00:00:00-05:00">July 30, 2012</span> <p>* Re: Rebuilding the Dream Through the Democratic Party? (Marc <br /> Beallor)<br /> * Re: Racial Tensions & Questionable Killings by Police in<br /> Anaheim (Joe Maizlish)<br /> * Re: Let Chicago's Anti-Torture Resolution Inspire Your Own<br /> City (Carolyn Eisenberg)<br /> * Re: A Sensible "Deal for All" Challenges the Dreaded<br /> "Simpson-Bowles" (Ed Geffner)<br /> * REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons is on holiday.<br /> * BALTIMORE HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI COMMEMORATIONS - August 6<br /> * Statement of Veterans For Peace: The Solution to the Nuclear<br /> "Crisis" with Iran is not Sanctions and War, It is a Middle East Free of All Nuclear Weapons</p> <p>==========</p> <p>* Re: Rebuilding the Dream Through the Democratic Party?</p> <p>Ted Glick's Review Misrepresents Van Jones' Views:</p> <p>Ted Glick's review of Van Jones' "Rebuild the Dream" is troubling because it distorts some of Jones' main premises. The title of the review is itself misleading because Jones does not, as Glick alleges, propose "Rebuilding the dream through the Democratic Party."</p> <p>Jones' book deals with what he sees as three major political developments that have had primary influence on the US political scene over the past few years. The first is the election of Obama and the movement that was created around his campaign (and then disappeared). The second is the Tea Party which dominated the political landscape for quite some time until along came the third, the Occupy Wall Street movement, which Jones extols. Jones' book is essentially his proposed strategy for building on and broadening the Occupy movement.</p> <p>Jones proposes a "four square" paradigm for creating a winning movement. He envisions four contingent spaces (squares in his diagram) in which activity needs to take place in order for a movement to win implementation of a political agenda (such as the 10 point "Contract for the American Dream" that Glick references):</p> <p>* The Heart Space is an arena in which new political ideas bubble up (emotional reaction to issues).</p> <p>* The Head Space is the arena belonging to think tanks, organizations, journalists, blogs, websites etc. - proposal generators.</p> <p>* The Outside Game is independent movement building (e.g. Occupy Wall Street) which, as Glick rightly points out, Jones sees as paramount.</p> <p>* The Inside Game is the electoral system ("national, tribal, local") which Jones considers to be an absolutely necessary (even if distasteful) part of the political process.</p> <p>And here is where Glick misrepresents Jones. Glick wrote in his review that "the overall strategic approach of Rebuild the Dream when it comes to the electoral process is that this independent movement should primarily work within the Democratic Party." But nowhere does Jones say that, nor does he even imply it.</p> <p>Jones very clearly, in his discussion of the Inside Game, calls for moving the Democratic and Republic parties away from Tea Party/conservative influence and towards support of progressive policies. He calls for the support and recruitment of candidates who are critical, from the left, of the Democratic and Republican Party majorities and suggests no preference for whether those candidates happen to be independent or running in the Democratic or Republican primaries. He specifically calls for using the primary process (Democratic or Republican) to support progressive candidates.</p> <p>Moving on, Glick found Jones' call for a 99% movement which "defines itself as the 99% for the 100% to be . . . both troubling and unclear." But Glick neglects to describe Jones' nuanced explanation of changing an "us against them" (the 99% vs. the 1%) slogan to a slogan that promotes inclusion - "99% for the 100%" or "us for the entire society."</p> <p>Glick asks "Does Van really believe that the 1/10th of the 1% which really dominates the US government and much of the world's economy are potential allies in a struggle for a truly just world?" But that very question in a sense reveals the basis of Van Jones' take on the 1%: Jones makes it crystal clear that there are "villains" whom he describes as "the worst of the 1%" - and many of those "villains" that Jones has in mind are undoubtedly in that "1/10 of the 1%" (like George Romney and the Koch brothers) not just the 1%.</p> <p>As a recent Portside article by Mark Zimmerman pointed out, many elected union leaders have salaries that place them in the 1%. There's a big difference between the bottom end of the 1%, whose members need not even be millionaires, and the upper crust. But even in that .1% tier we find billionaires like George Soros and Peter B. Lewis who have made it clear which side they are on.</p> <p>Glick also calls out Jones for "his pretty explicit pro- capitalist orientation" citing Jones' statement that "We need to advance toward a better capitalism." Well, the last time I looked I noticed that there really are "better capitalisms" in this world - Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, to name a few - where inequality is much less pronounced and where poverty is virtually nonexistent.</p> <p>Marc Beallor, Brooklyn, NY</p> <p>==========</p> <p>* Re: Racial Tensions & Questionable Killings by Police in Anaheim</p> <p>Note that among the many factors in the Diaz killing was the drug war and the police behavior that it encourages, and the profiling and bias that it opens the door to.</p> <p>"In some reports, police claim they approached Diaz for "suspicious" behavior -- hurling something they "believe" to have been heroin onto nearby roofs."</p> <p>The drug war madness was a critical ingredient in the tragedy, as it is in the imprisonment figures and the racialized justice system.</p> <p>Joe Maizlish, Los Angeles</p> <p>==========</p> <p>* Re: Let Chicago's Anti-Torture Resolution Inspire Your Own City</p> <p>I wanted to bring to you attention that in re-printing the article from Truthout, name of the author was accidentally changed. Note the correct author is Margaret Power.</p> <p>Carolyn Eisenberg Historians Against the War.</p> <p>Let Chicago's Anti-Torture Resolution Inspire Your Own City By Margaret Flowers* (Correction - should be Margaret Power) Truthout | Report 28 July 2012 http://truth-out.org/news/item/10398-let-chicagos-anti-torture-resolution-inspire-your</p> <p>==========</p> <p>* Re: A Sensible "Deal for All" Challenges the Dreaded "Simpson-Bowles"</p> <p>Keller is a true representative of the establishment journalist's credo: present all sides as if they are entitled to equal consideration regardless of the facts and the justice of the positions. I shudder when I think about what could happen if that "grand bargain" ever becomes law. I would like to see Friedman and his ilk try to live on $1100/month. Thanks for your fine work!</p> <p>Ed Geffner</p> <p>==========</p> <p>* REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons is on holiday.</p> <p>Will return around Labor Day.</p> <p>==========</p> <p>* BALTIMORE HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI COMMEMORATIONS - August 6</p> <p>For the 28th year, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee will remember the atomic bombings of Japan on August 6 & 9, 1945, which killed more than 200,000 people. Other organizations involved in the commemorations are Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Crabshell Alliance and Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore.</p> <p>HIROSHIMA COMMEMORATION on Monday, August 6, 2012 at 34th & N. Charles Streets</p> <p>5 PM Demonstrate against Johns Hopkins University's weapons contracts, including research on killer drones, commemorate the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and remember the nuclear energy disaster at Fukushima, Japan.</p> <p>6 PM There will be a potluck dinner at Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles Street.</p> <p>7 PM Hibakusha from Hiroshima, Mr. Yoshio Sato, 81 years old, bombed just over a half mile from the epicenter, and Ms. Kuniko Kimura, 72 years old, bombed one mile from the epicenter will speak about the atomic bombing. Ms. Hiromi Abe will provide details about the nuclear energy disaster at Fukushima.</p> <p>NAGASAKI COMMEMORATION on Friday, August 10, 2012 at Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles Street.</p> <p>5 PM Join the silent vigil. 6 PM Enjoy a potluck dinner. 7 PM Remember Nagasaki with an evening of music and poetry. Would you like to perform?</p> <p>HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE</p> <p>325 East 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218 Ph: 410-366-1637 Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net</p> <p>==========</p> <p>* Statement of Veterans For Peace: The Solution to the Nuclear "Crisis" with Iran is not Sanctions and War, It is a Middle East Free of All Nuclear Weapons</p> <p>July 26, 2012</p> <p>http://www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2012/07/ 26/statement-of-veterans-for-peace-the-solution-to-the- nuclear-crisis-with-iran-is-not-sanctions-and-war,-it- is-a-middle-east-free-of-all-nuclear-weapons</p> <p>We are once again on the verge of another disastrous war in the Middle East. The United States and its allies in Europe and the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are consciously pushing Syria toward a destructive civil war. The objective is to bring down the Assad regime, an ally of the Iranian government, as a stepping-stone toward further isolation of Iran and preparation of the ground for a military attack on that country.</p> <p>At the same time, the United States, European Union and Israel are using Iran's civilian nuclear program as an excuse to impose devastating economic sanctions against the people of Iran. According to various sources, the sanctions have already wreaked havoc on the Iranian economy, leading to inflation rates of 50 to 100 percent, youth unemployment rate of over 22 percent, drastic reduction of Iran's domestic production to 40 percent of its capacity, massive closure of economic enterprises and widespread layoffs, and 40 percent drop in the Iranian oil exports during 2012, resulting in a loss of $32 billion in oil income since last year alone. It is expected that the new round of expanded sanctions, which started on July 1st of this year, will further reduce the Iranian oil exports to a mere 1.5 million barrels a day, thus pushing Iran into a fatal economic crisis.</p> <p>This is nothing but a clear declaration of economic war on Iran. These devastating sanctions are not an "alternative" to war; they are part and parcel of a war aimed at forcing a regime change in Iran as an integral part of the US plan for a "Greater Middle East." Let us not forget the case of Iraq. There, too, a decade of devastating sanctions was used as a "softening period" that would weaken Iraq's economic infrastructure; make the population desperate enough to welcome any foreign intervention; and reduce Iraq's military capability to resist an invasion - i.e., making Iraq an easy military target. Now the same scenario is being repeated with Iran.</p> <p>All this is being done in the name of removing the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle East. But this is just a cover. Iran is already surrounded by the US and Israeli nuclear weapons. The very forces that are threatening Iran over its civil nuclear program are themselves responsible for nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle East. A US/Israeli military attack on Iran will have disastrous, unpredictable consequences for the peoples of the Middle East region and the world, and will be a serious threat to peace and security of all nations.</p> <p>The real solution lies not in selective targeting of Iran with sanctions and threats of war, but in complete removal of all nuclear weapons from the Middle East region.The Middle East, like Latin America and Africa, must be declared as a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) calls for both the liquidation of nuclear weapons by states and the discouragement of non-nuclear states from obtaining or developing nuclear weapons; and the UN General Assembly has repeatedly called for the establishment of a Nuclear-Free Zone in the Middle East. As an urgent response to the nuclear crisis in the Middle East, the 2010 NPT Conference has called for the convening of a Conference in December 2012, in Helsinki, Finland, for the establishment of a WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East. This initiative must be supported and its success must be guaranteed.</p> <p>[thanks to Georgia Wever for sharing this with Portside readers.]</p> <p>==========</p> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. 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