New breed of climate protesters vows to take fight to ‘cowards’ of US politics
The Guardian – December 26, 2023 – Callum Jones
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/26/climate-defiance-change-protesters-confrontation
“The reason they’re willing to meet with us is they know we are really intense and really strident,” said Greenberg. He said the fundamental goal of his group was to build the climate crisis into a top US political issue, “along with racial justice and kitchen table economic issues”… Climate Defiance, which disrupted events featuring a string of Biden administration officials this year, and targeted Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, in December, will consider protesting at events staged by both Democrats and Republicans on the campaign trail after concluding that its “very disruptive” action was bearing fruit.
We Must Reckon With the Most Dangerous System of Extinction Humans Ever Created
Truthout – December 30, 2023 – Peter Handel
https://truthout.org/articles/we-must-reckon-with-the-most-dangerous-system-of-extinction-humans-ever-created/
Capitalism is killing us. That’s the unequivocal message of a new book, “Dying for Capitalism: How Big Money Fuels Extinction and What We Can Do About It” by Charles Derber and Suren Moodliar. The authors draw critical links between capitalism, militarism and environmental destruction to show how nothing short of radical change is required to shift the deadly course humanity as a whole is now on… Dying for Capitalism shows the existential threat has grown faster than I had imagined. This is not simply because of the acceleration of climate tipping points but the escalating risk of nuclear war arising from an increasingly unstable and militarized international and American world order.
In Christmas Day Blessing, Pope Francis Denounces the Weapons Industry and Appeals For World Peace
Time Magazine – December 25, 2023 – Nicole Winfield
https://time.com/6550941/pope-francis-christmas-blessing/
Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its “instruments of death” that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for peace in the world and in particular between Israel and the Palestinians… Francis devoted his Christmas Day blessing to a call for peace in the world, noting that the biblical story of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem sent a message of peace. But he said that Bethlehem “is a place of sorrow and silence” this year… He took particular aim at the weapons industry, which he said was fueling the conflicts around the globe with scarcely anyone paying attention.
Congressional stalemate: $858 billion for military, yet $12 billion child poverty aid stalled
Nation of Change – December 29, 2023 – Ruth Milka
https://www.nationofchange.org/2023/12/29/congressional-stalemate-858-billion-for-military-yet-12-billion-child-poverty-aid-stalled/
The deadlock over the Child Tax Credit boost reflects a deep partisan divide. According to a spokesperson for Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Republicans have been unyielding in their stance against the CTC expansion, which they unanimously opposed as part of the American Rescue Plan. Ashley Schapitl, Wyden’s spokesperson, underscored the GOP’s refusal to negotiate, stating, “Republicans have refused to engage at all on the Child Tax Credit.”… ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Representative Kevin Brady (R-Texas) have publicly declared their disapproval of the CTC boost, with Brady stating that the country lacks the resources for such “partisan, expensive provisions.”… The Congressional Progressive Caucus highlighted the urgency of reinstating the program, citing its effectiveness in reducing child poverty by over 40% and cutting child hunger by a third.
How US Media Fed the Stream of Militarism in 2023
Common Dreams – December 31, 2023 – Ben Armbruster
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-media-militarism-2023
American militarism has many authors. From lawmakers on Capitol Hill and policy makers in the executive branch to the defense industry and its army of lobbyists, many in Washington and beyond have an interest, whether political or financial (or both), in keeping the Pentagon’s coffers overstuffed and the global U.S. military machine humming. Unfortunately America’s fourth estate doesn’t do a very good job of keeping an overly militaristic U.S. foreign policy in check. On the contrary, it too is a key pillar that buttresses America’s dependence on aggression abroad. Looking back at much of the mainstream media’s national security coverage this past year—from Ukraine and Gaza to China and the military industrial complex—2023, with few exceptions, was no different.
California becomes first state to offer health insurance to all undocumented immigrants
ABC News – December 29, 2023 – Mary Kekatos
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/california-1st-state-offer-health-insurance-undocumented-immigrants/story?id=105986377
The final expansion going into effect Jan. 1 will make approximately 700,000 undocumented residents between ages 26 and 49 eligible for full coverage, according to California State Sen. María Elena Durazo. “This historic investment speaks to California’s commitment to health care as a human right,” Durazo said in a statement in May… When California expanded health care coverage in 2019 to include undocumented young adults, then-President Donald Trump blasted the plan, calling it “very unfair to our citizens.”
Zapatistas at 30: Building and Inspiring Autonomy
NACLA – December 22, 2023 – Raúl Zibechi
https://nacla.org/zapatistas-at-30-building-and-inspiring-autonomy
The uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) 30 years ago managed to put autonomy at the top of the agenda of some social movements in Latin America… For decades, the EZLN has informed struggles down and up the continent. Amid climate chaos and endless war, they continue to imagine and create better worlds… It… demonstrated the leading role of Indigenous peoples, who are the most prominent subjects of the fight for autonomy… Perhaps the most important point is that they propose to “be a good seed” of a new world that they will not personally see in order to “pass down life,” rather than war and death, to future generations.
Why We’ve Gotten ‘Custer’s Last Stand’ Wrong for Nearly 150 Years
Time Magazine – June 25, 2023 – Olivia B. Waxman
https://time.com/6288437/custer-last-stand-history-education/
“When we think of Custer’s Last Stand or the Battle of Little Bighorn… we should think of it as a successful defense by Native people against an attempted act of genocide,” says Lindsay Stallones Marshall, assistant professor of history at Illinois State University, who got her start teaching about Custer as an AP U.S. History teacher. Marshall is writing a book on how distorted narratives about the “Indian wars” after the Civil War made their way into schools. The answer reveals a potent mix of the powerful who engage in history making: soldiers burnishing their own reputations, loved ones honoring family members, lawmakers lobbying for federal dollars, and textbook writers mythologizing American Manifest Destiny… Marshall hopes illuminating how Custer became a heroic fixture in American memory will help Americans think more critically about their monuments, their reenactments, their oral histories, and their textbooks. “The stories we tell give us the reasons for acting the way that we do,” says Marshall. “So I think it’s really important to understand where our stories come from, so that we can correct them when they lead us astray.”
What are the Motivations behind Israel’s Genocide in Gaza, and what is the Way Forward?
Informed Comment – December 24, 2023 – Yoav Litvin, an Israeli-American doctor of psychology/neuroscience
https://www.juancole.com/2023/12/motivations-israels-genocide.html
the world continues to watch a genocide unfold in real time. Examining these events through a behavioural-neuroscientific lens could offer insights into the Zionist settler colonialist dynamic in general and the particular motivations behind Israel’s current genocidal acts in Gaza, as well as potential paths forward… In response to historical trauma, Jewish people have a deep fear of anti-Semitism… Zionism, a European colonial movement… birthed a new, nationalist Jewish identity that equates Jewish safety with the construction of an exclusivist homeland in Palestine through the displacement of the region’s Indigenous populations. Settler colonial endeavours typically depend on depicting the targeted territory as “uninhabited”, and its existing inhabitants as inhuman barbarians unworthy of any land. This portrayal allowed Zionists to displace the Indigenous population of Palestine without moral qualms, portraying the establishment of Israel not as the destruction of a people but as the construction of a “villa in the jungle”… For Zionists to break their addiction to aggression, they would need to go through a process of deprogramming and decolonisation. This would require them to embrace the truth about the history and nature of Zionism, commit to sincere accountability, recognise the humanity of Palestinians, and empathise with their suffering and plight.
In the Israel-Hamas war, children are the ultimate pawns – and ultimate victims
The Conversation – October 30, 2023 – Omer Bartov
https://theconversation.com/in-the-israel-hamas-war-children-are-the-ultimate-pawns-and-ultimate-victims-216411
I am a scholar of the Holocaust and genocide. When thinking about the unfolding Israel-Hamas war, I am reminded of this Bialik poem, “On the Slaughter.” It laments Jewish helplessness and victimhood – and condemns apathy to violence, including the murder of children. Bialik writes:… “And damned be he who says: Avenge! Such vengeance, for the blood of a small child, Satan has yet to devise.”… Both sides in this war have focused on the deaths and kidnapping of children, sharing images and videos of the children as a testament to the other side’s cruelty. Particularly, Hamas’ slaughter of Israeli children evokes collective Jewish memories of pogroms and the Holocaust – and the attempt to annihilate the Jewish people. For Palestinians, too, the killing of their children represents both the injustice of Israeli rule and occupation, and the perceived attempt to stop Palestinians from having their own country. The collective Palestinian memory of the Nakba in 1948, when Israeli forces killed thousands of Palestinians and pushed out 750,000 people from their homes, is replete with tales of children who lost both their homeland and their parents… In his deepest hour of despair, Bialik never hoped for more violence as a response to a massacre. As he wrote 120 years ago:
Netanyahu Advocates Ethnically Cleansing Palestinians of Gaza: Believe him the First Time
Informed Comment – December 26, 2023 – Juan Cole
https://www.juancole.com/2023/12/netanyahu-ethnically-palestinians.html
After the end of WW II, world authorities attempted to forestall such atrocities, creating or strengthening International Humanitarian Law. In the Rome Statute, which went into effect in 2002 and has been signed by 124 countries, one of the offenses constituting “Crimes Against Humanity” is: “Deportation or forcible transfer of population”… the Palestine Authority correctly recognized that Netanyahu is using revenge on Hamas as a cover story, and that the actual purpose of his total war on the civilians of Gaza is to ethnically cleanse them. The Foreign Ministry called on other countries roundly to condemn Netanyahu’s grotesque remarks.
Stunning Atrocities in Gaza Funded by US Taxpayers
Common Dreams – December 26, 2023 – Ralph Nader
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/atrocities-gaza-us-complicity
The unstoppable Israeli U.S. armed military juggernaut continues its genocidal destruction of Gaza’s Palestinians. The onslaught includes blocking the provision of “food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel,” openly genocidal orders decreed by Netanyahu and his extreme, blood-thirsty ministers… Seventy-five years of Israel military violence against defenseless Palestinians and fifty-six years of violently and illegally occupying their remaining slice of the original Palestine provides some background for Israel’s Founder, David Ben-Gurion’s candid statement: “We have taken their country.”… Congress is poised to send $14.3 billion to Israeli militarism—a “genocide tax” on U.S. taxpayers—without public hearings. While growing public opinion in the U.S. is against unconditional backing of the Israeli regime, it has not changed a single vote in Congress. Someday, more organized support for America’s national interest will.
In Campus Protests Over Gaza, Echoes of Outcry Over Vietnam
The New York Times – December 24, 2023 – Michael Wines
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/24/us/gaza-vietnam-student-protest.html
The war in Vietnam ignited a protest movement that helped define a generation. Is the war between Israel and Hamas doing the same thing?… It is too early to know whether the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will define this generation as opposition to the Vietnam War did for many young people more than a half century ago. But to many who have studied or lived through the Vietnam era, the parallels to the Gaza protests are compelling: a powerful military raining aerial destruction on a small, underdeveloped nonwhite land; a generational divide over the morality of the conflict; a sense that the war represented far broader political and cultural currents; an unswerving confidence — critics might say sanctimony — among students that their cause is righteous.
Why US double standards on Israel and Russia play into a dangerous game
The Guardian – December 26, 2023 – Patrick Wintour
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/26/why-us-double-standards-on-israel-and-russia-play-into-a-dangerous-game
The west’s equivocation on Gaza exposes a global order facing mutiny over its domination of the international discourse… Timothy Kaldas, deputy director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said: “If you are arguing for a rules-based international order, if you want to be pushing back against countries taking territory with the use of force, then Ukraine should not be seeing itself as aligned with the Israelis.” For others such as Borrell, the worry is that the pre-existing trends towards a more more multi-polar, yet less multilateral world will accelerate. Only the memoirs will reveal how much senior figures in the Biden administration feared, in real time, about the scale of the cumulative reputational damage being inflicted not just on Biden but to American prestige. For the moment they give the impression of an administration slowly realising the limits of their ability to direct not just the outcome of this war, but what global order will come in its aftermath.
Middle East is sliding closer to the edge of a wider regional conflict
The Guardian – December 31, 2023 – Julian Borger
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/31/middle-east-sliding-closer-wider-regional-conflict-israel-iran-us
The Middle East has been slipping towards the precipice of a regional war ever since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and the ferocious Israeli response in Gaza. The past week has shown how the cliff edge keeping it from that abyss could quickly crumble away… “It is Netanyahu, frankly, who is dictating the terms on all fronts – in Gaza, on the Lebanon border, across the region – for Netanyahu’s reasons. This is his war,” Elgindy said. He added: “ I think every day that this goes on, you get closer to regional expansion of this whole mess.”… An escalation could spark a conflagration that would bring Israel into open confrontation with Iran, and suck in the US too
Congress’ “Christian fascist” caucus: Mike Johnson brings MAGA fully into the House
Salon – December 22, 2023 – Chauncey DeVega
https://www.salon.com/2023/12/22/congress-christian-fascist-caucus-mike-johnson-brings-maga-fully-into-the/
Christian nationalists are key, if not indispensable, members of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and the larger neofascist coalition. In Trump, they see a type of martyr and prophet who is a weapon for them and their God to create a Christofascist theocracy and Apartheid state. Christian Nationalists sincerely and deeply believe that they are fighting to preserve “their way of life” and “traditional American values” in a titanic battle between “good and evil” – where, of course, like other religious zealots, they are God’s elect as opposed to villains and evildoers… January 6 was in many ways a religious crusade. If you look closely at the symbols present on January 6, you will see of course American flags, but you’ll also see Confederate flags. You’ll see Christian flags. You’ll see the Appeal to Heaven flag. You’ll see people who are carrying icons of Mary and statues of Christ. You will see people who are praying at almost every stage of the insurrection, whether that is outside the building or inside the Senate chamber. January 6 was for many of the rioters a chance to take back the country for God. And for the people whom God had rightly given the country too… These are people who are openly saying that it would be better if we had a Christian Prince or another form of an autocratic leader, because that would mean a Christian nation operating according to their Christian values. Thus, democracy would be done away with, in the name of a godly country.
5 moments of hope for reproductive rights in 2023
Salon – December 26, 2023 – Nicole Karlis
https://www.salon.com/2023/12/26/5-moments-of-hope-for-reproductive-rights-in-2023/
Despite all the darkness in reproductive progress, you might be surprised to hear there were some moments of hope. As Guttmacher Institute also noted, in 2023, 22 states and the District of Columbia had enacted 129 measures to protect access to abortion, which was the highest number of protections ever enacted in a single year. As anti-abortion activists further restrict access, abortion rights advocates are fighting back harder than ever. Yes, 2023 was certainly not a year to celebrate reproductive rights progress in America, but there were moments of hope that make us believe it can get better.
2023, a Year of Progress: Expanding Voting Rights Across the Country
The Sentencing Project – December 28, 2023 – The Sentencing Project
https://www.sentencingproject.org/newsletter/2023-a-year-of-progress-expanding-voting-rights-across-the-country/
These inspiring developments serve as powerful reminders that by working together in pursuit of progress, we can manifest meaningful criminal legal reform that makes our country more humane, more just, and more democratic.
10 Victories of the American Worker in 2023
Informed Comment – December 31, 2023 – Sarah Anderson
https://www.juancole.com/2023/12/victories-american-worker.html
Looking for something positive to celebrate on New Year’s Eve? Consider lifting a glass to the hardworking people behind these inspiring victories of 2023… The ‘Year of the Strike’… Black worker organizing in the south… A crack in the anti-union tech sector… New trifecta states: This year Michigan became the first state in six decades to roll back anti-union “right-to-work” laws…. Cities lead the way on low-wage worker protections… College campuses as labor hotbeds… Stock buyback blowback… Collective bargaining requirements on federally funded construction projects… Trashing “junk” fees… NLRB rulings on Amazon and Starbucks.
2024 and the Future of American Democracy
Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner substack blog – December 27, 2023
https://steady.substack.com/p/2024-and-the-future-of-american-democracy
As Benjamin Franklin famously quipped (in a phrase he popularized but didn’t coin), “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” It’s a quote you hear a lot, and for good reason. Its humor is rooted in its truth. But there is more to that quote, and to the story behind it, that makes it particularly relevant in our current historical moment… Today, we are sadly at another such inflection point. What lies before us in the year ahead is the very question that vexed Franklin, Lincoln, and many other national leaders — the endurance of our republic. The grand temples to our democracy in Washington — the majestic Capitol dome, the imposing Supreme Court chamber, the manicured grounds of the White House — are meant to evoke a sense of permanence with the populace. But these are all just buildings. Whether we can long endure is up to us. It is vital that we remember that both Franklin and Lincoln were not passive commentators, like some talking heads on cable television wringing their hands about the fate of the future. One would be hard-pressed to find two people who did more, and gave more of themselves, in service to our country. They knew that because democracy is precarious, they had to do all they could to keep it as permanent as possible. As another American statesman, the late George Shultz, had emblazoned on his favorite necktie: “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”…. The United States is entering a year when service to the cause of democracy is desperately needed once more. A former president seeks to destroy the very Constitution he swore to uphold. The threat is real. But so is the opportunity to once again defeat forces that would end America’s often painful and circuitous path toward a more perfect union.
Christmas Is a Reminder To Keep the Faith in the Face of Overwhelming Odds
Jacobin – December 26, 2023 – Nick French
https://jacobin.com/2023/12/christmas-kierkegaard-hagglund-faith-socialism-gaza
The Christmas story reminds us that the hope of the world may come from the least likely places. Being a socialist means holding fast to this possibility… Beyond the recent balance sheet of socialist highs and lows, my big-picture reason for thinking socialism is a not-quite-rational hope is just its world-historic ambition. Socialists want to do away with class domination and establish a truly democratic society. When one looks at the current state of the world, or the history of failed attempts to move beyond capitalism — even by movements much larger and stronger than ours — it can be hard to feel optimistic about future chances of success… If there are any bright spots in this deep darkness, it’s that the tide of US public opinion on Israel-Palestine may finally be changing. A majority of US voters now supports a permanent cease-fire, and to my eyes the young socialist left looks more united than it has in years in its support of Palestine. Compared to the rubble in Gaza and the general wreckage of history, that’s not a lot. But I take Christmas as a reminder that the hope of the world might come from the least likely of places — and that, sometimes at least, we need to fight against our more reasoned judgments to hold on to that hope.
The Idea of the Beloved Community
Psychology Today – January 13, 2023 – Susan M. Pollak MTS, Ed.D.,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-of-now/202301/the-idea-of-the-beloved-community
The idea of the Beloved Community originated with Harvard philosophy professor Josiah Royce… Martin Luther King Jr. developed the idea as vision for how we could all live in harmony… Zen monk and meditation teacher Thich Nhat Hanh expanded on the concept to include all forms of life… The world we’ve built feels increasingly fragile as we face new and more severe forms of climate change, political upheavals, and ongoing wars. As I reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, I am inspired by his focus on the importance of joining together to work for common humanity, what he called the “Beloved Community.” Without community, we can’t go very far. And without a harmonious community, he stated, we won’t be able to realize our dream… As we step back and look at the evolution of this inspiring idea, we realize that, at its core, it is about all of us. It is about relationships and their depth. It means that we all matter. And that we are all Beloved.