[pjw] REPORT BACK: Friday rally #16 under stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello again PJW supporters

We had a record (for the pandemic) seven people at the weekly Friday rally 
for Peace and Justice last night. We had a truncated announcements section 
because there was a simultaneous event in the main part of Pioneer 
Courthouse Square by people of the Oromo community calling for the end of 
oppression of their people in Ethiopia.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protesters-decry-violent-unrest-in-ethiopia/283-b51f81c8-b7e1-4652-b427-9ab94f72577a

This follows the killing of musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa late last month.

There were also a few European American motorcyclists with Black Lives 
Matter slogans on their "bikes" who parked physically on the corner of the 
Square next to us.

While we received a number of supportive honking horns and thumbs-ups, it 
seemed a bit less than usual. A young Iranian American man saw a "No War 
on Iran" sign and was impressed by our knowledge of what is going on over 
there (in contrast to the Kurdish Iranian man who argued with us a few 
weeks ago). On the way to the protest a man outside the ice cream shop on 
SW Yamhill said "I should set my watch by you guys, you are here every 
week at the same time, good for you!"

We did talk briefly along the way about the fact that the American Israeli 
Political Action Committee (AIPAC) didn't overtly oppose Israel's plan to 
annex a portion of the West Bank, but did tell Congress they would not 
object to those lawmakers to _do_ oppose it. Progress.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-aipac-gives-us-lawmakers-green-light-to-criticize-israel-on-annexation/

Also of note, President Trump is saying he wants to take another 4000 
troops out of Afghanistan... but of course that still leaves 4600 troops 
there.

https://newsdio.com/trump-administration-finalizes-plan-to-withdraw-4000-soldiers-from-afghanistan/129810/

And... flipping the expected narrative on its head, the Democratically 
controlled House is proposing legislation to stop troops from being 
removed from several African countries and South Korea.


https://thehill.com/policy/defense/504629-house-defense-bill-targets-potental-troop-drawdowns-in-africa-south-korea

Wha? I believe what we said was "Bring all the troops home now!!!"

Anyway, we also talked about redirecting military money to human needs. 
This is a prominent issue right now since this Wednesday is this year's 
Tax Day-- did you forget? The War Resisters League is doing a "burma 
shave" sign on downtown bridges early that morning (7:30 AM) -- let us 
know if you want more information and can join them.

The Ann Huntwork Memorial Sign got knocked out by mysterious means both at 
the end of the rally and over by the Apple store. I still haven't had time 
to investigate the cause but am convinced this is electronic interference 
and not a flaw in the design of either the sign itself or our portable 
set-up.

As a reminder, we're allowed to have as many as 25 people at the events 
not under "Phase 1" reopening rules, so if you want to be part of the 
event let us know so we have a count.

--dan handelman
Peace and Justice Works
       Iraq Affinity Group
       PO Box 42456
       Portland, OR   97242
       (503) 236-3065
       iraq at pjw.info
       http://www.pjw.info/Iraq.html
       Donate on line: http://www.pjw.info/pjwdonate.html