PETER BERGEL: I have recently become increasingly critical of the strategy and tactics that have guided the peace movement for the last decade or more. The dangers that threaten the human race have multiplied rapidly, even as our ability to address them has weakened, yet we continue to invest the bulk of our resources in approaches that are not working — exactly the error we regularly criticize the military and the government for making. It is time — past time — for a major strategic overhaul based on a broad peace vision.
Category: Oct 2009
The Afghanistan Gap: Press vs. Public
NORMAN SOLOMON: This month, a lot of media stories have compared President Johnson’s war in Vietnam and President Obama’s war in Afghanistan. The comparisons are often valid, but a key parallel rarely gets mentioned the media’s insistent support for the war even after most of the public has turned against it.
Spooks on the Loose
KEN MCCORMACK: The CIA and over 20 other such agencies are rapidly spreading our national disease — much more dangerous than the flu — diagnosed by doctors “terminal hypocrisy.” Hypocrisy syndrome appears with two levels of truth. Truth one is public. Truth two is simply the dirty laundry.
Recovering to Death
TOM H. HASTINGS: If stimulus packages for corporate sinkholes are good enough for the American taxpayer, why can’t we find $5.4 billion to create minimum wage jobs, with full health care benefits, for the 216,000 Americans who lost their jobs in August? Coincidentally, $5.4 billion is the amount the Pentagon will spend next year on unmanned vehicles, such as the Predator, which is killing so many civilians in Pakistan and turning our friends into our sworn enemies.
When “Public Options” Serve the Public — and When They Don’t
LAWRENCE S. WITTNER: Currently, there is nothing more controversial in President Barack Obama’s health care reform proposal than the “public option.” Much of the controversy, of course, has been generated by private insurance companies, determined to safeguard their hefty profits, and by Republican politicians, eager to destroy anything that might redound to the benefit of the Democrats. Even so, a little clear thinking on the subject of public programs might illuminate their advantages and disadvantages.
Major Religions Call for Investigation into Torture
CHARLES BUSCH: Our nation is presently involved in a debate about the sanctioned use of torture by the United States since 9/11. Is it enough to denounce torture and focus on the future, or do we need to investigate the past and seek accountability?
Letters to the Editor
This months LETTERS include: 1) Resist Tearing the Tops Off Mountains to Mine Coal; 2) Recruiters: Replacing Those They Have Killed; and 3) Obstructionists Ignore American Health and Well-Being.
Insitu Deserves a Harder Look
SUSAN GARRETT CROWLEY: Insitu, a local drone developer now owned by Boeing, has recently approached cities in the Columbia River Gorge as a part of a public relations campaign to develop public support for its operations. Since Boeing/Insitu has initiated this discussion, Washington and Oregon citizens may want to carefully consider the true nature of what it is designed to do for the U.S. military.
News That’s Not Fit to Print
PROJECT CENSORED: Some news is just too hot to cover and Project Censored for 34 years has been exposing the most under-covered censored news stories of the year with their annual release of the Censored yearbooks.
Racial Profiling and Domestic Terrorism: Making White Terror Invisible While Blaming the Victim
DR. BEAU GROSSCUP: Since the 9/11 attacks, racial profiling has become an accepted component of the War on Terror. Given that the perpetrators of 9/11 were assumed to be members of Al Qaeda, anyone looking “Middle Eastern” or Arab or Muslim was/is racially profiled as suspicious. But in combating domestic terrorism, racial profiling of people of color makes no objective sense.
Beltway Bulletin
PHIL CARVER: This month’s Beltway Bulletin includes: 1) Ending the Afghanistan War; 2) The Health Care Bill; 3) Debunking Climate Change Deniers; and 4) More Information.
Confronting an Evil Past
JORGE HEINE: The initial trickle of evidence about the many illegal ways in which Washington pursued its counterterrorist offensive from 2001 to 2008, first exposed by the pictures from Abu Ghraib in 2004, has turned into a veritable flood.
Blackwater’s Private Spies
JEREMY SCAHILL: Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman’s ongoing investigations into its activities. Its forces remained deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and business continued to pour in.
Covert Action 101
J. V. GRADY: It is quite possible, even probable, that many of the bombings against the Shi’ia and Sunni populations have been carried out by American, British, and even Israeli operatives.
The Illegal Spying Game, Played Over and Over
GLENN GREENWALD: Ever since The New York Times revealed in December, 2005 that the Bush administration had spent the last four years illegally spying on Americans’ communications without warrants, there have been numerous additional revelations of various types of massive illegal government spying.
Brief-ings
Brief insights: 1) Despite Slump U.S. Role As Top Arms Supplier Grows; 2) Intelligence Agencies Say No New Nukes in Iran; 3) Radio Play for Peace – Get Your Free Copy; 4) U.S. Dominates Arms Sales; 5) Keeping Nuclear Abolition on the Agenda; and 6) Think Outside the Box.
OPW Welcomes Leonard Perez as 5% Solution Staff
LEONARD PEREZ: Oregon PeaceWorks is delighted to once again have a staff person working on its 5% Solution to the Climate Crisis program.
Two Events to Feature Claude AnShin Thomas
CLAUDE ANSHIN THOMAS: Highly decorated combat veteran, zen priest, world renowned retreat leader, and public speaker Claude AnShin Thomas will facilitate a meeting with soldiers/veterans and peace activists to address the painful alienation often existing between them at 4 p.m. Sunday November 22, 2009 above the Tea Party Bookshop, 210 Liberty Street N.E. Salem, OR.
Iconic Farm Worker Organizer to Speak in Salem Oct. 21
DOLORES HUERTA: The annual Salem Peace Lecture will celebrate its 20th year by presenting United Farm Worker union organizer Dolores Huerta on Wednesday, October 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University. Ms. Huerta will speak on “Immigration Reform and Farm Worker Justice.” The lecture is free and open to the public.
If Peace Broke Out, What Would It Look Like?
PETER BERGEL: Response to OPW’s call for better peace movement strategy has been warm. What’s it all about? Read my editorial (include link here) in this month’s PeaceWorker or visit OPW’s blog at http://oregonpeaceworks.org/wordpress/?cat=4.
Are You Getting OPW’s Emails?
OREGON PEACEWORKS: OPW periodically sends out information about current events, OPW projects, new PeaceWorker postings, other groups’ projects, and more. If we have your email address, we have added it to our lists, but if we don’t, we can’t send you any of this great stuff.
Coming Soon: the Great Getaway Raffle
OREGON PEACEWORKS: Tickets for OPW’s popular Great Getaway Raffle will be available as soon as we secure all our great getaway packages. Watch your email for details.
Calendar
To offer calendar items, post them at www.oregonprogressivenetwork.org or email them to: updates@oregonpeaceworks.org before the 12th of the month for following month’s issue.