Tax Day and The Pentagon. Op-Ed on Common Dreams

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/14-1

Published on Sunday, April 14, 2013 by Common Dreams

Tax Day and the Pentagon

by Kevin Martin

This month, as budget and policy issues in Washington muddle along inconclusively as usual, grassroots peace activists are busy organizing, educating, protesting and lobbying.

Last weekend, Historians Against the War hosted an ambitious, illuminating conference at Towson University north of Baltimore on “The New Faces of War” with speakers and participants examining rapidly-changing foreign and domestic policies.

Anti-Nuclear activists will converge on Washington next week for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability’s D.C. Days, for strategizing, training and lobbying on nuclear weapons, power, waste and cleanup issues.

Around the country, peace and social justice organizers will convene local actions on Tax Day, April 15, to educate taxpayers on the country’s skewed budget priorities that favor the Pentagon over human and environmental needs. This year, April 15 is also the Global Day of Action on Military Spending, with activities around the world and in over 30 U.S. states drawing attention to the world’s addiction to militarism and exorbitant “defense” budgets. If you can’t organize or attend a Tax Day event, you can still join our Thunderclap “It’s Our Tax Day, Not Theirs” online social media action.

The prestigious, independent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) will release its annual report on world military expenditures on Monday, which will show the United States continues to spend over 40% of the world’s $1.7 trillion annually allocated to weapons and war. Randy Schutt of Cleveland Peace Action put together an impressive article titled Our Tax Dollars are off the War – 2013 edition on Daily Kos with charts, graphs and citations comparing U.S. military spending to the rest of the world, and to domestic spending, which serves as a nice complement to the upcoming SIPRI report.

Lastly, an impressive national coalition has come together to organize days of action throughout the month to stop U.S. drone warfare.

All these actions focus on crucial issues, and they come at a time when there is hope not just to impact those specific policies, but when a confluence of events give us an opportunity not seen in at least a decade to fundamentally question the mission and role of the U.S. military in both domestic and foreign policy.

In short, it’s time for the Pentagon to stop weaving all over the road, to get back in its lane, and to stay there.

On domestic policy, the most obvious issue is the metastasis of the Pentagon budget, which has doubled since 9/11. The total “national security budget,” which includes not just the Pentagon but also intelligence agencies, Department of Homeland Security and nuclear weapons spending under the Department of Energy is over $1 trillion per year. Globally, the U.S. accounts for about 43% of total military spending, and more than the next 13 countries (most of which are U.S. allies) combined. The opportunity cost of this Pentagon pig-out is investment in the things we really need to make our country more secure – improved education, health care, jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure and addressing climate change.

While not necessarily the fault of the Pentagon, a creeping militarization of social policy, as seen in policing, prisons, the “war on drugs” and immigration, among other areas, is cause for grave concern and corrective action.

Constitutionally, the arrogation of power by the Obama Administration to assassinate anyone, anywhere on the planet, anytime it wants to by drones or other weapons with little or no congressional or judicial oversight can hardly be what the president ran on as “change you can believe in.”

(The president’s home state senator and former colleague, Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, plans a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing later this month to address this issue, including the Administration’s assertion of the Authorization of the Use of Military Force after 9/11 as the legal justification for drone strikes in countries with which we are not at war.)

Militarization of U.S. foreign policy has been a bipartisan project since at least the end of World War II. And perhaps that’s not surprising for a country founded on and consolidated by the extreme violence of the genocide of the First Americans and imposition of slavery on Africans brought here in chains.

Quick, name the last real diplomatic success by the United States. Anything really significant since Carter’s Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel? That was in 1978 (and of course Palestine is still waiting for justice while Israel gets over $3 billion in U.S. military aid annually).

Look at U.S. foreign policy under our current Nobel Peace Prize laureate president. It’s less obviously and ham-handedly belligerent than Bush’s, okay. But in addition to ongoing drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and other countries, he says “all options are on the table” with regard to Iran’s nuclear program, when even military leaders themselves say there is no military solution, only a diplomatic one. The U.S. and South Korea evidently think putting out the fire with gasoline is the right approach to North Korea’s nuclear test and recent threats, evidenced by ongoing war games, simulated nuclear attacks on the North using B-2 and B-52 bombers, and rushing F-22 fighter jets to South Korea to beef up the already robust U.S. military presence in the region as part of the “Asia-Pacific Pivot” aimed at isolating our main banker, China. And last but not least, despite voting for the Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations this week, the U.S. remains the world’s number one exporter of conventional weapons.

Certainly the tens of millions of dollars annually spent on lobbying and campaign contributions by the largest war profiteers — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon and others — have a toxic effect on our national priorities. It’s doubly galling, in that their profits come almost entirely from military contracts paid for by our tax dollars, which they then use to impact legislation and elections to benefit their interests, to the detriment of those of the taxpaying public.

It is not necessary to pinpoint cause and effect on this state of affairs, where Pentagon interests and macho militarist approaches seemingly run roughshod over everything else, to declare that it is wrong, and needs to be changed. And there is no blame, only respect, for those serving in the military, who need the very best care we can provide as they return home from our misguided wars and far-flung military bases abroad (over 800 of them!).

So what is the mission of the U.S. military supposed to be? According to United States law, it is “Preserving the peace and security and providing for the defense of the United States, the Commonwealths and possessions and any areas occupied by the United States; Supporting the national policies; Implementing the national objectives; Overcoming any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the United States.”

I see nothing there about “full-spectrum dominance” of the rest of the world, as the Pentagon’s joint Vision 20/20 doctrine released in 2000 advocates, and which has seemingly become the military’s de facto mission.

Regardless of what anyone in the military says its mission is, they work for us, the taxpayers that provide their salaries and buy their weapons. So we can overrule them and force the Pentagon to reduce its role and get back in its lane.

It shouldn’t be hard to see how we can get the Pentagon back in its lane, and let more peaceful, just and sustainable priorities prevail in our domestic and foreign policies. Slash the Pentagon budget by at least 25%, and invest those savings in human and environmental needs in order to jump start our economy. Let diplomacy take precedence in foreign policy over military threats and false solutions. I suspect many people, even in the military hierarchy, might welcome such a reduced role in U.S. policy, and in the world. It must be tiring driving all over the road. Staying in one’s own lane can have its advantages.

Kevin Martin is Executive Director of Peace Action, the country’s largest peace and disarmament organization with 100,000 members and over 70,000 on-line supporters.

.

Good, Concise Analysis of President Obama’s State of the Union Speech by The Progressive’s Matthew Rothschild

Mixed Messages in Obama’s State of the Union

http://www.progressive.org/mixed-messages-in-obama-state-of-the-union

By Matthew Rothschild, February 13, 2013

President Obama’s State of the Union Address provided some solace to progressives on some issues, but left a lot to be desired on others.

He was right to point out that we can’t keep “drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next”—a good, clean shot at Republican obstructionism on the fiscal cliff and sequestration.

But for the longest time in the first part of his speech, he focused on deficit reduction, which is an exaggerated problem. He said that “economists” say we need $2 trillion more in deficit reduction “to stabilize our finances.” Which economists was he talking about? Not Nobel Prize-winners Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, who have urged him not to focus so much on deficit reduction but rather on job creation.

And in his discussion of deficit reduction, Obama hinted that most people are going to suffer. “We can’t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and most powerful,” he said. That doesn’t sound like he’s making a good bargain to me. Instead, it sounds like he’s going to ask “senior citizens and working families” to shoulder a big part of the deficit burden, which they can’t afford to do.

His endorsement of universal pre-kindergarten was a positive step. But he acted like that would even the playing field by itself, saying, “Let’s . . . make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.” Actually, children in poverty are already behind, so how about tackling poverty in America? But Obama didn’t talk about eliminating poverty in the American context, only in the global context.

And as for high schools, he boasted about Race to the Top, which has been a nightmare, and said he now wanted to “redesign America’s high schools” so they can give students “the skills today’s employers are looking for.” What about giving students the skills to be engaged learners or thoughtful citizens?

On the positive side, he did come out for raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour. But why $9 an hour instead of the $10 an hour that Ralph Nader has been calling for?

He did give some welcome shout outs to LGBTS and women and the cause of equality for all.

He did come out strongly for a fairer tax code, for gun control, and for protecting voting rights.

And he spoke forcefully for action on global warming, though he favored a “market-based solution.”

He proposed to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, which was welcome.

And he said he wanted to fix the housing market by allowing “every responsible homeowner in America” to refinance at today’s rates. The problem is, he seems to be calling anyone who ever missed a payment an irresponsible homeowner, when they may have been unable to pay because they got sick or got laid off. Is he not going to help them at all?

He talked about comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship, as he did in his Inaugural address. Fortunately, he added the need to “cut waiting periods,” which can be 20 years or longer right now. Some people will die on that path to citizenship.

On foreign and military policy, he was the most disappointing. He threatened Iran again, saying, “Now is the time for a diplomatic solution,” and warning: “We will do what is necessary to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon.”

He was blatantly one-sided on the Israel-Palestinian issue, saying, “We will stand steadfast with Israel in pursuit of security and a lasting peace.” He didn’t even bother to mention the Palestinians at all.

And appallingly, he defended his drone warfare and assassination policy. “Where necessary, through a range of capabilities, we will continue to take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat to Americans,” he said. And in the very next sentence, he had the chutzpah to add: “As we do, we must enlist our values in the fight.”

He said his Administration “has worked tirelessly to forge a durable legal and policy framework to guide our counterterrorism operations.” But is it “legal” just because he and his Justice Department say it is?

He also said, in a bald-faced lie, that “throughout, we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts.” Try running that past Sen. Ron Wyden, who for months has been trying to get his questions answered on the Administration’s assassination doctrine.

He also sang from the hymnal of American exceptionalism. “America must remain a beacon to all who seek freedom during this period of historic change,” he said. “In the Middle East, we will stand with citizens as they demand their universal rights.” Tell that to the people of Bahrain.

This was neither Obama’s most eloquent defense of an affirmative role for government, nor was it close to his most honest discussion of U.S. foreign policy.

Instead, it was lukewarm liberalism at home coupled with Bush-league justifications for lawlessness and hypocrisy abroad.

Towards a Foreign Policy for the 99%

published by Foreign Policy in Focus

Towards a Foreign Policy for the 99 Percent

By Kevin Martin, December 18, 2012

Relief, rather than elation, was probably the emotion most U.S. peace activists felt when President Barack Obama won re-election. While Obama has been very disappointing on most peace issues, Mitt Romney would have been all the worse. So what now to expect from a second Obama term?

Most likely, more of the same; anyone expecting Obama to be decidedly more pro-peace this time around is likely to be sorely dispirited. However, there is a diverse, growing peoples’ movement in the United States linking human and environmental needs with a demand to end our wars and liberate the vast resources they consume. This, combined with budgetary pressures that should dictate at least modest cuts in the gargantuan Pentagon budget, could lead to serious constraints on new militaristic ventures such as an attack on Iran, “modernization” of the entire U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise at a cost of over $200 billion, a permanent U.S. force of up to 25,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, or an absurd military “pivot” toward the Asia-Pacific aimed at isolating Russia and especially China.

We in the peace movement need to be able to think, and act, with both a short- and long-term perspective. In the near term, swiftly ending the war in Afghanistan and ensuring no long-term U.S./NATO troop presence, stopping drone strikes, preventing a war with Iran and building support for a WMD-free zone in the Middle East, pushing for serious cuts to the Pentagon budget, and advocating progress toward nuclear disarmament will consume most of our energies. Renewed emphasis on a just and lasting peace between Palestine and Israel should also garner more attention and activism. Finally, peace activists will need to lend solidarity those working to save social programs from austerity-minded elites and to address climate chaos.

In the longer term, we need to hasten what Professor Johann Galtung calls “The Decline of the U.S. Empire and the Flowering of the U.S. Republic.” We have an opportunity in opposing the outrageous “Asia-Pacific Pivot,” which the military-industrial complex has concocted without asking the American people if we support it or want to continue borrowing from China to pay for it (too weird, right?). We can point out the insanity of this policy, but we can also devise a better alternative, including building solidarity with the peoples of Okinawa, Jeju Island, Guam, the Philippines, Hawaii, and other nations in the region opposing the spread of U.S. militarism and advocating peaceful relations with China.

Defining the Democratic Deficit

This pivot is just the latest example of the fundamentally undemocratic nature of U.S. foreign policy.

The more we in the peace movement can point out that our tax dollars fund policies contrary to our interests, the easier it will be not just to build specific campaigns for more peaceful and just policies, but also to create a new vision for our country’s role in the world—to create a new foreign policy for the 99 percent.

So we peace activists need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. We need to offer credible, sustainable alternatives on the issues listed above, with specific actions ordinary people can take that make a difference. But we must go further and advocate a foreign and military policy that is in the interest of the majority of this country, one that comports with widely shared ideals of democracy, justice, human rights, international cooperation, and sustainability.

It’s no news flash that elite and corporate interests have long dominated U.S. foreign policy. Illustrating this democratic deficit has two related aspects. The first is the question of access: “he who pays the piper calls the tune.” Currently, although it technically foots the bill, Congress—let alone the public—has barely any say in how U.S. foreign policy is set or implemented. On a second and integrally related note, in whose interest is it to perpetuate a gargantuan military budget, maintain a vast and expensive nuclear arsenal, or start an arms race with our banker, China? It’s hard to imagine that any ordinary person could conclude these policies serve anyone but the 1 percent.

Notions of justice and human rights are widely resonant in the United States, but they require careful consideration and explanation. “Justice” should not be invoked simply as it concerns parties to a conflict, but rather should entail racial, social, and economic fairness for all those who are affected by the grinding military machine. Emphasizing the broader social consequences of militarism will be key for growing our ranks, especially among people of color, community activists, and human needs groups. And while “human rights” is a no-brainer, it requires courage and commitment to communicate how U.S. foreign policy constantly contradicts this ideal abroad, even as our government selectively preaches to other countries on the subject.

International cooperation, while it can seem vague or milquetoast—especially given the neglect or outright stifling of “global governance” structures by the United States—is a highly shared value among people in this country and around the world. Selling cooperation as a meaningful value is fundamentally important for undermining the myth of American exceptionalism, which so many politicians peddle to sell policies that only harm our country in the long run.

Finally, while the environmental movement still has loads of work to do, the successful promulgation of the concept of sustainability is an important achievement, one we can easily adapt to military spending, the overall economy, and a longer-term view of what kind of foreign policy would be sustainable and in the interest of the 99 percent. Climate activists and peace activists need to know that they have a vital stake in each other’s work.

A glimpse of the power of democracy was in evidence on Election Day, and not just in the legalization of gay marriage and recreational marijuana in a few states. When given a choice, as in referenda in Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut advocating slashing military spending and funding human needs, people will choose the right policies and priorities; both initiatives won overwhelmingly.

Contrary to the hopes many people in this country and around the world invested in Barack Obama (which he didn’t deserve and frankly he never asked for), it’s never been about him. It’s about the entrenched power of the U.S. war machine, and about how we the peoples of this country and around the world can work together to create more peaceful, just, and sustainable policies. We can do it; in fact we have no choice but to do it.

Kevin Martin has served as Executive Director of Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund since September 4, 2001, and has worked with the organization in various capacities since 1985. Peace Action is the country’s largest peace and disarmament organization with 90,000 members nationwide.

Recommended Citation:

Kevin Martin, “Towards a Foreign Policy for the 99 Percent” (Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus, December 18, 2012)

Interview on Chicago Public Radio from Monday

This program, Worldview, with host Jerome McDonnell, is one of the best on public radio. It’s on five days a week, focusing on international affairs. I’ve known Jerome for over 20 years, he’s a good egg, very sharp, asks good questions, good politics. Not a bad segment I don’t think, we covered a lot of issues of import to the peace movement. Feel free to give me feedback on my “performance” if you like!

Updates: Gaza Flotilla, Windows and Mirrors on Afghanistan War, Workers Held Hostage to Military Spending, Peace Action on C-SPAN

Busy, busy time these days for Peace Action and our colleagues, here are a few updates of interest.

Our brave sisters and brothers on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla have faced threats to their lives and  suspected sabotage of their boats (carrying only letters of support and solidarity to the people of Gaza) and are now being held up by the Greek government. Reuters has a recent report on Greece’s interception of the U.S. boat The Audacity of Hope, and stay up to date on developments at http://www.freegaza.org/

Our friends at the American Friends Service Committee have a terrific exhibit on the cost of the war to Afghan civilians called Windows and Mirrors, just opened in Chicago. Read more about it from a New York Times report.

Our colleagues at Labor Against War are a stalwart ally in working to end the wars and Move the Money from war and militarism to human needs, job creation and environmental protection. If you know of people who think military production jobs are a sure thing in this economy, tell them to check out this article by Jeff Klein, a former machinist at the GE plant in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Last but not least, Peace Action national board member Joshua Cooper and I will be on C-SPAN (we were taped earlier today, we don’t know yet when the program will air but when we find out we’ll let you know, or you can check on their website).

The event was the Tenth Annual University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law International Human & Peoples’ Rights Law Program – Human Rights on the Hill – in collaboration with the Hawaii Institute for Human Rights and the Four Freedoms Forum.

Joshua, a professor at the University of Hawai’i, puts together this terrific, wide ranging program every year here in Washington at the University of the District of Columbia Law School. I think I’ve spoken at 7 or 8 of the 10 events, always a lot of fun with interesting students and attendees asking good questions. Hopefully (if we looked and sounded good!) it will also be good publicity for Peace Action this year.

Peace and Independence (from militarism of course!),

Kevin Martin

Executive Director

Summary of Peace Action’s 2011-2016 Strategic Plan

Building a grassroots movement for peace and justice:

Peace Action’s Long-Range Strategic Plan, 2011-2016

Summary and Overview

 

Our Vision

 

Peace Action is a grassroots-based national organization, committed to building a peaceful world. We share a vision of world peace, in which: the menace of nuclear weapons has forever been erased; war has been abolished as a method of solving conflicts; all human beings are assured the wherewithal to live in health and dignity; and no one is denied the opportunity to participate in decisions that affect the common good.

 

Our Mission

 

The most important threats to the people of this country are not terrorists or foreign enemies but joblessness, foreclosures, gaping holes in the safety net, the climate crisis, concentration of wealth, influence of major corporations, and absence of true democracy. Our current foreign policy and military spending threaten our democracy at home and our security abroad. Abolition of nuclear weapons, an end to the international arms trade and reductions in military spending will

free up resources to address our real needs at home. Support for international law, humanitarian aid, and diplomacy will save lives and promote peace with justice abroad

 

Peace Action seeks: (1) the global abolition of nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction; (2) the end of the international arms trade; (3) significant reductions in worldwide military expenditures and implementing an effective program of economic conversion.

 

Peace Action supports: (1) the development of creative, democratic international non-military peacekeeping initiatives and institutions; (2) globally sustainable and economically just societies dedicated to ensuring basic human rights.

 

Peace Action will mobilize Americans to secure:

 A demilitarized, sustainable economy;

 A nuclear weapons-free world; and

 An end to U.S.-supported wars and occupations.

 

Policy and Program Goals and Objectives

 

A. A Demilitarized, Sustainable Economy

 

 Reduce the military budget by 25%

 Reduce the number of U.S. foreign military bases by 30%

 Reduce the amount of the military budget that goes to contractors by 35%

 Demilitarize public schools by increasing to twelve the number of states with legislation prohibiting the use of military testing for recruitment purposes.

 

 

 

B. A Nuclear Weapons-Free World

 

 Prevent “modernization” of the U.S. nuclear weapons production complex and upgrading of delivery systems;

Ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

 Achieve progress towards nuclear disarmament outside the treaty process.

 Negotiate three international treaties to end the threat of nuclear war: Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone in the Middle East; abolish nuclear weapons worldwide; stop production of nuclear weapons-grade materials worldwide

C. An End to U.S.-Supported Wars and Occupations

 In Afghanistan and Pakistan, end U.S. military operations, support regional peace-making: bring home all U.S. military personnel and close all U.S. military bases, and contribute to the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

 In Israel/Palestine, promote sustainable peace with justice by supporting peacemakers in both communities and by pressing for an end to U.S. financial and military aid to the Israeli government until it complies with international law.

 Defuse the U.S./Iran conflict, as reflected in the creation of a regional security network with participation from all Middle East countries.

 End the U.S. occupation of Iraq by the end of 2011: bring home all U.S. military personnel and all contractors, close all military bases in Iraq, and contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq.

 Support and strengthen the United Nations as a guarantor of international security, human rights and social progress.

 

Detroit City Council Honors Peace Action’s Al Fishman

By coincidence, I was with Al at two of the three actions he was arrested at mentioned in the City Council resolution.

Al Fishman Presente! – Long-time Peace Activist and Socialist

Memorial service will be held May 27, 2011 at 12:00 noon at Central United Methodist Church, Woodward at Adams in Detroit.

Detroit City Council Memorial Resolution for Mr. Al Fishman, Peace and Human Rights Activist [Adopted unanimously May 24, to be read at May 27 memorial meeting]

WHEREAS, Al Fishman was a leading peace and justice activist since being discharged from the U.S. Army in 1947 after which he organized countless picket lines, marches, rallies, teach-ins, and forums;

and WHEREAS, Al Fishman was involved in opposition to the Korean War, including the defense of Lt Gilbert, an African American officer who was court-martialed for refusing to order his men into a “suicide mission”. He also served as the Michigan coordinator of the Vietnam Moratorium;

and WHEREAS, Mr. Fishman, as a supporter of human rights, participated in protests against the racist murder of Emmett Till; the racist frame-ups of Willie McGee, The Trenton Six and the Martinville Seven; the political frame-up of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. He was a member of the National Negro Labor Council and it’s campaigns for jobs and helped force Black representation in trade union leadership. He was a member of the Michigan Congress Against Repression, participating in its activities against police brutality, and in the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression , and the campaigns to free Angela Davis and Rev. Benjamin Chavis;

and WHEREAS, Al Fishman, notwithstanding, the corrupt and undemocratic aspects of our electoral system – about which he spoke frequently – was a dedicated participant in the process of advancing peace and social economic justice through electoral politics. He was proud of the fact that he participated in breaking racist barriers in landmark campaigns to advance the political representation of African Americans, including the campaigns of Charles Diggs, William T. Patrick, John Conyers, Richard Austin, Erma Henderson , and Coleman A. Young. He was organizer and State Co-Chair of the New Democratic Coalition, which served as a unifying force for progressives in the Democratic Party. He was an active supporter of George McGovern for President;

and WHEREAS, Al Fishman was part of the campaign, led by the Honorable Erma Henderson, to eliminate redlining. He helped to organize the Michigan Coalition on Utilities and Energy, which opposed unwarranted utility rate increases;

and WHEREAS, In the spirit of the Ghandi-Martin Luther King teachings about non-violent resistance, he risked arrest in a number of peace and justice actions. He was arrested protesting apartheid at the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C., for protesting the Indonesian massacre in Dili, East Timor, for protesting the continuing development of nuclear weapons at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Nevada, in support of the striking Detroit newspaper workers, and against the then imminent US invasion of Iraq;

and WHEREAS, Detroit’s Al Fishman co-chaired a coalition opposed to the first Persian Gulf War. After the attack on the World Trade Center, he co-convened the twenty organizations of the Detroit Area Peace With Justice Network, which was part of dozens of protests against the war on Iraq; he led annual events to commemorate the horrors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki;

and WHEREAS, Since the early 1980′s, he was a member of Peace Action – at that time called the Nuclear Freeze Campaign. He served Peace Action of Michigan for many years as a Co-Chair and as its representative on the National Board of Directors. He served as a member of the local Board of Directors, writing frequent articles for its quarterly newsletter;

and WHEREAS, Al was a member of the New Jewish Agenda, the first, and for some time the only, Jewish American organization that supported Palestinian statehood. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the Detroit City Council mourns and honors Al Fishman, one of our City’s finest Peace, Civil and Human Rights, and Labor activists, advocates and champions, one of our true Citizens of the World.

Let Them Eat Tanks, and an update on Mazin Qumsiyeh’s detention in Israel

The June issue of Sojourners has a cover story about the Pentagon budget titled “Let Them Eat Tanks: How the Pentagon’s binge spending is starving the rest of us.” It’s an interview, with some good charts on military spending, between Sojourners founder Jim Wallis and Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream fame. Ben has long campaigned for cutting military spending through his Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities. (To read the article online you need to sign up for Sojourners email action alerts, which are very good.)

You may have heard about the deaths and arrests over the weekend relating to protests around the anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe, dating to the founding of Israel. Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian-American peace activist and advocate of nonviolence, and a former Peace Action Education Fund board member, was detained by Israeli authorities. Here is an update on his status, as well as videos from the region:

PNN journalist Ghassan Bannoureh took the following video which documented

Mazin

’s arrest yesterday:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD06coIJWQs&amp;feature=player_embedded&gt&gt;

&amp;feature=player_embedded&gt

The latest from the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem (USCG) is that Mazin

is being held in Ofer prison as a detainee, and a hearing is scheduled on 19

May 2011. They are aware of the many calls people made calling for Mazin’s

release. They said at this moment, any additional calls would not change

Mazin’s status. Regardless of that statement, I urge people to continue to

file complaint to President Obama and to the US State Department of the

ongoing discrimination against US citizens of Palestinian decent. Two other

US citizens were also detained with Mazin at Al-Walaja but were released at

1 a.m. this morning, while Mazin is continued being held. Let’s also

demand our government to stop supporting Apartheid Israel in our names and

demand justice for all Palestinian nonviolent protesters being detained.

The following compilation of videos, pictures and some articles on Nakba

Demonstration yesterday was forwarded from a friend and I include them here

for your information:

COMPILATION OF VIDEOS, PICTURES AND SOME ARTICLES ON NAKBA

DEMONSTRATIONS YESTERDAY

QALANDIA

- – video of the morning and early afternoon by Haitham Khatib

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y43IqA7B4I&gt;

- – video by I. Putterman:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buGYv35X1yE&gt;

- – video by The Al3ned

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPrh1xN1LIA&feature=share&gt;

- – video by cnn:

<http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2011/05/15/vo.israel.nakb

a.kalandia.clash.cnn.html>

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2011/05/15/vo.israel.nakba

.kalandia.clash.cnn.html

- – interview w journalist Joe Elmer by Electronic Intifada:

<http://electronicintifada.net/content/interview-undercover-israeli-soldiers

-arrest-west-bank-demonstrators/9958>

http://electronicintifada.net/content/interview-undercover-israeli-soldiers-

arrest-west-bank-demonstrators/9958

- – pictures on <http://www.flickr.com/activestills&gt;

http://www.flickr.com/activestills

EAST JERUSALEM

- – video by RT:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoCHwCpawjo&feature=youtu.be&gt;

LEBANON

- – video by al Jazeera English w Matt Cassel:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYM-soef3c4&feature=player_embedded&gt;

IN FRONT OF ISRAELI EMBASSY IN CAIRO:

- – video by rnnnews1

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESzXTyP0XYQ&feature=player_embedded&gt;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESzXTyP0XYQ&feature=player_embedded -

graphic video of protestor shot in the stomach by Midan al Tahrir

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4QIXJravCo&gt;

- – video and article by AJE:

<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/05/2011515131427646668.html&gt;

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/05/2011515131427646668.html

- – video of protestors showing US made tear-gas projectile by 3arabawy:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Xx_bv6CG4&feature=player_embedded&gt;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Xx_bv6CG4&feature=player_embedded – video

of ambulance transferring injured by 3arabawy:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfQLG-KSO1M&gt;

- – video of ambulances by 3arabawy:

- – video of Protesters during clashes with army and police outside

Israeli embassy in Cairo by 3arabawy:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQkSaoiOdd0&feature=player_embedded&gt;

- – video of clashes by moftasa:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF5UaKiFlq4&feature=player_embedded&gt;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF5UaKiFlq4&feature=player_embedded -

picture by <http://3arabawy.org&gt; 3arabawy.org (more pics and posts on his

site)

<http://www.arabawy.org/2011/05/16/photography-nakba-cairo/&gt;

http://www.arabawy.org/2011/05/16/photography-nakba-cairo/

JORDAN:

- – by Klashenkoof1

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypg5AepqAqQ&feature=player_embedded#at=208&gt;

PPL ENTERING OCCUPIED JOLAN HEIGHTS (MAJDAL SHAMS)

- – by baladeenet

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekgkuAaTjPg&feature=player_embedded&gt;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekgkuAaTjPg&feature=player_embedded – other

video by baladeenet:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekgkuAaTjPg&feature=player_embedded#at=484&gt;

&feature=player_embedded#at=484

- – article by Ali Abunimah on ei:

<http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/dramatic-video-shows-palest

inians-syrians-entering-israeli-occupied-golan-heights>

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/dramatic-video-shows-palesti

nians-syrians-entering-israeli-occupied-golan-heights

AL WALLAJE:

eight Palestinians were arrested yesterday, four early on, four later when

during clashes and while the army searched each house and had sealed off

the village; six or seven internationals were arrested; the internationals

were reportedly released at 1 a.m., a Palestinian with Jerusalem ID

released at 4am, 12 year-old twins released at one point last night, so

that the remaining detainees are: Basel al ‘Araj (26 yo), Ahmad al ‘Araj (24

yo), Ahmad

Abu Khiyera (22 or 23 yo), Mohammad al ‘Araj and Mazin Qumsiyeh

video by English PNN:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD06coIJWQs&feature=player_embedded&gt;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD06coIJWQs&feature=player_embedded –

Video by Mazin Qumsiyeh prior to his arrest:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfizCh0TaZE&gt;

GAZA (IN FRONT OF ERETZ):

(I still don’t know if and how many people were killed, last I heard, around

60 were injured, 15 seriously, and friends reported that army shot to

kill; also, I am not sure what the situation is now, I had heard that people

were staying in the buffer zone and that Israel had threatened with some

military action if they didn’t move.

- – video by <http://vik2gaza.org&gt; vik2gaza.org:

<http://vik2gaza.org/2011/05/15/manifestazione-al-valico-di-erez/&gt;

http://vik2gaza.org/2011/05/15/manifestazione-al-valico-di-erez/

- – pictures by vik2gaza.org <http://lockerz.com/s/101878010&gt;

http://lockerz.com/s/101878010

- – pictures by Shady Alassar

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1532993784616.63643.1827938682 -

more videos and pics to follow, I think, on vik2gaza.org

SAFAD:

apparently 6 got arrested, there will be a demo today to demand their

release; I AM NOT CERTAIN THAT THE BELOW VIDEOS ARE ACTUALLY FROM SAFAD,

IF THEY ARE NOT AND YOU KNOW, PLEASE LET ME KNOW

- – video by Nooly1 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP-c_TfO2Qo&gt;

- -

<http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174670432587923&ref=notif&notif_t=eve

nt_invite>

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174670432587923&ref=notif¬if_t=event_i

nvite

SAN FRANCISCO:

- – video by Tom Vee

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0NzW6Z8AOw&feature=share&gt;

MIXED:

- – (Golan Hights and West Bank) by RT:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgnMczQAIGs&feature=youtube_gdata&gt;

- – pictures by AJE:

<http://english.aljazeera.net/photo_galleries/middleeast/20115141283124773.h

tml>

http://english.aljazeera.net/photo_galleries/middleeast/20115141283124773.ht

ml

Obama’s Prague Plus Two Years Agenda on Nuclear Disarmament

(And now for something completely different – a respite from the criticisms peace activists justifiably level at President Obama over Libya, Afghanistan, Iran, military spending, Israel-Palestine, Guantanamo, continued support for nuclear power even after the Fukushima disaster and many other issues, for a consideration of his steps in the last two years on nuclear weapons issues.)

On April 5, 2009, President Barack Obama delivered a well-received speech in Prague on his vision for nuclear disarmament. The speech maintained consistency with positions he had taken as a candidate for president, and was noteworthy for specific incremental steps toward a nuclear weapons-free world as well as the president’s advocacy of nuclear weapons abolition (though he disappointingly said it would perhaps not happen in his lifetime – the president is a relatively young man, only a year older than me, and I certainly intend to see the scourge of nuclear weapons eliminated in my lifetime!).

Today, the Associated Press published a concise report card on the state of play of the objectives Obama set out in the Prague speech. This list omits the very bad “nuclear modernization” funding issue (the promised $185 billion over the next decade for “modernizing” the nuclear weapons production complex and delivery systems, supposedly necessary to secure Senate ratification of New START). However, there are two potentially promising (unsourced) tidbits regarding possible further cuts in strategic nuclear weapons independent of Russia and a fissile material cut-off outside the stalled Conference on Disarmament process.

Our colleague Stephen Young at the Union of Concerned Scientists proposed concrete, achievable next steps regarding the doctrine or underlying purposes and policies for U.S. nuclear weapons in a blog post on All Things Nuclear.

My own view, held for some time now, is the president and his administration need to become more assertive on executive actions the president can take that don’t necessitate long, difficult treaty negotiations and then extortionist Senate ratification battles. If this doesn’t happen, and the administration stays wedded to an incremental process of checking off things Bill Clinton didn’t get done in the 90’s (such as Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ratification, which looks very unlikely given the make-up of the Senate), the Prague agenda may well stall with fairly little progress toward the laudable goals outlined in the speech.

In addition to the two possible steps mentioned in the AP article and others in Stephen’s blog post, President Obama could reverse course and state that “nuclear modernization” is not in our country’s interest, in security or financial terms; throw real political and diplomatic support behind next year’s planned conference on a Weapons of Mass Destrcution-Free Zone (the only real solution to concerns about Iran’s possible pursuit of nuclear weapons and Israel’s actual arsenal of over 200 nukes); and announce the initiation of international negotiations for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons (under which subsidiary or incremental issues could be addressed).

Taking these bold initiatives would certainly invite howls of protest from the Right and from the nuclear priesthood, but it would put them on the defensive and force them to defend their indefensible “nuclear weapons forever” policies, and put the U.S. in the leadership role it should be playing, not just on non-proliferation or incremental nuclear arms cuts, but for abolishing nuclear weapons globally.

 

Memo to President Three Wars – New Tools Other Than Hammers Needed ASAP!

President Barack “Three Wars” Obama (Nixon, Reagan and even G.W. Bush could only dream of conducting three wars at once!) was unconvincing in making his case for war in Libya last night in his speech to the country. Of course, he side-stepped the constitutional war powers question – consulting with bipartisan Congressional leadership doesn’t cut the mustard, as even he knew before becoming president, as Bob Naiman of Just Foreign Policy recounted on Huffington Post.

And, as his predecessor loved to do, he mightily slew his own Straw Man, setting up and then knocking down the argument that because the U.S. can’t intervene militarily everywhere in the world where people are being brutally suppressed, we can’t intervene anywhere. I haven’t seen opponents or skeptics of the Libya intervention making that argument.

What I have seen is the hypocrisy and inconsistency of U.S. Middle East policy being challenged, most succinctly by The Daily Show’s devastating “America’s Freedom Packages” sketch last week. Without going into a huge laundry list of inconsistencies, how about this one – protesters are being killed in Bahrain and Yemen by U.S.-allied regimes, and I’ve heard of no calls for no-fly zones or even cutting off weapons to those regimes.

Some Libya war opponents claim the humanitarian justification for the intervention are bogus, that oil or some other U.S./Western imperial interest must really be behind this. That may well be true, but I don’t know that for certain. Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies thinks access to or domination of Libya’s oil is not the main reason for U.S./NATO intervention, as we have been buying oil from the Gaddafi government since 2003.

The problem is, because of a long history of imperial wars and military and foreign policies, the U.S., even under a president thought to be more peaceful and less unilateral than his predecessor, has little credibility left when it comes to waging war, especially when it selectively preaches nonviolence to some who seek democracy while arming others.

The awe-inspiring, mostly nonviolent, secular and entirely indigenous revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, which captivated the world and inspired protest in other countries, were slow to receive support from President Three Wars and his Cabinet. As they embarrassingly fumbled for days (Vice-President Biden saying Egyptian President for Life Hosni Mubarak was not a dictator, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opining that Mubarak really did have the interests of his people at heart) to get on the side of the people and the right side of history, I almost felt sorry for them (almost but not quite!).

What could they have said? The truth, that our foreign policy in the Middle East has been morally bankrupt and cynical for decades, and that we would gladly have kept supporting and arming Mubarak (as we had for thirty years) and his son (his chosen successor) ad infinitum had it not been for the heroic Tahrir Square protesters standing up and saying, “Enough!”? I’d love to have seen that speech!

At least the Administration is consistent, though in a bad way, in being slow to support nonviolent movements. It could have supported the initial nonviolent resistance campaign in Libya, as University of San Francisco Professor (and former Peace Action Education Fund board member) Stephen Zunes noted on truthout. It didn’t, choosing instead to support the armed rebels, perhaps missing a chance to intervene non-militarily before the armed conflict escalated.

But of course U.S. foreign policy is best summed up by Mark Twain’s adage, “When your only tools are hammers, all problems look like nails.”

In a rapidly changing world, one of whose dominant features is the decline of U.S. Empire, we need new tools. Offering rhetorical and material support to nonviolent democratic forces seeking emancipation from despots (especially ones the U.S. has supported) would be a great start. A serious commitment to emphasizing diplomacy and just economic development over military strategies, in Libya, Afghanistan, Palestine and Israel and many other countries, would do wonders to lessen armed conflict.

Shutting down the U.S. arms bazaar (we are the world’s number one weapons pusher, and weapons are the country’s number one manufactured export to the world) would do wonders for global peace and stability. While we’re at it, let’s take a look at our $1.2 trillion annual “national security” budget and 900 foreign military bases and consider how that is crippling our domestic economy by hoarding resources needed for human and environmental needs programs and job creation. Creating a standing United Nations peacekeeping force, under the aegis of the Secretary-General and not subject to the Security Council veto, is long overdue, and would have much more credibility than U.S./NATO or other “great power” militaries claiming to intervene for humanitarian purposes.

As long as the U.S. thwarts those and other needed changes in policy, we appear to be doomed to more wars, many to be justified as “humanitarian” in nature. My children, ages 17 and 13, think the U.S. is always at war, and of course they would, that has been true since they were old enough to be aware of such things, and it’s been true the overwhelming majority of the time since 1776. Isn’t it well past time for new tools?