[pjw] REPORT BACK: US for Nazism?: Friday rally #92 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Supporters of peace, supporters of justice:

Our Christmas ever Friday Rally last night was cold and wet, yet we still 
had five people holding signs and telling the somewhat sparse crowds that 
we want peace. Many people were appreciative of that message and honked 
their horns for us, buoying our spirits. The rain actually stopped just as 
we began the march, which was nice. This was the 1052nd Friday Rally for 
Peace and Justice-- I know this because last year on Christmas day it was 
rally #1000.

We started the rally a few minutes early to get out of the weather, and 
talked about these news tidbits:

--In Afghanistan, a huge portion of the child population is facing acute 
malnutrition (because the US won't release $9 billion of Afghan money that 
is in our banks):

  https://tolonews.com/health-176014

--A White House official has said there will be a deadline for Iran to 
make an agreement over the "nuclear deal" that will come within weeks:

  https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-national-security-adviser-says-us-deadline-for-iran-talks-coming-within-weeks/

--Slightly good news? Airstrikes (conventional and drone) are down 54% 
under President Biden. However the usually reliable Airwars left off the 
strike in Yemen on Nov. 15. They specifically say, though, that bombings 
went down from 660 to 372 in Afghanistan (of course, the last four months 
of the year had zero), from 201 to 58 in Iraq and Syria, and from 72 to 9 
in Somalia.

  https://airwars.org/news-and-investigations/how-do-the-forever-wars-look-under-president-biden/

--Not-so-good news: a UN Resolution to oppose Nazism and neonazism 
proposed by Russia had just two "No" votes, the US and Ukraine. I guess 
our country likes Nazis? The vote was 130-2-49 abstentions. Believe it or 
not, Israel voted for this resolution even though the US voted against it 
(likely because of who proposed it).

  https://twitter.com/RussiaUN/status/1471589093305954310

  UN official link

  https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/76/149

--In November, we relayed info that Iraq still had $3.8 billion to pay 
Kuwait in reparations for the 1990 invasion. This week, the Iraqis made 
their final payment. Now maybe the US can pay to fully repair all the 
damage done to Iraq.

  https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/221220211

--Russia says that the US has put missiles "at its doorstep" and, 
regarding the conflict with Ukraine, seems to only want war:

  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/23/putin-accuses-west-coming-with-missiles-doorstep

In local news, City Council did, as I predicted last week, pay $100,000 to 
a man who was attacked by police when he was doing nothing more than 
holding a "Register to vote" sign at a racial justice protest last year. 
The police pepper sprayed and kicked him. I noted this is evidence of the 
political bias that's being investigated now, where cops go after leftists 
but not (for instance) neo-fascists who they know are carrying firearms. 
Registering people to vote tends to be a strong progressive value.

  https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2021/12/city-of-portland-set-to-pay-100k-to-settle-suit-filed-by-man-arrested-after-refusing-to-relinquish-sign-during-protest.html

Along the route, regarding the conflict in the "Middle East," I noted that 
the Israeli Defense Forces have been given the go-ahead to shoot at people 
who throw rocks at them and run away. The article quotes someone who notes 
this is against the law. Even in the US the Supreme Court found years ago 
that someone who is fleeing but no longer poses an immediate threat can' 
be shot by police.

  https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-begins-allowing-troops-to-shoot-at-fleeing-rock-throwers/

And in the last few blocks to highlight money spent on war rather than 
human needs I pointed to this article from Vox that points out the US 
should be enjoying a "peace dividend" with the Afghan war "over," but 
instead congress voted to increase the "defense" budget. Mostly because of 
China.

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/why-the-us-is-paying-more-for-the-military-after-the-afghanistan-war-is-over/ar-AAS3zuf

I still have the message on the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial sign about 
9/11 20 years later, which is where it froze up by the Gucci store last 
night. (I was hoping the evil security guards in the basement watching 
their video surveillance cameras had the night off.) It went off a few 
yards later.

As we wrapped up I made another announcement about our Guantanamo 
20 years later extended Friday rally (4:30 start time rather than 5) on
January 7. That's just two weeks away!

  https://pjw.info/guantanamo20yl.html

This coming Friday is New Year's Eve and we hope to see some folks out 
with us to bid good riddance to another year filled with war and police 
brutality, hoping 2022 will bring us better news. If you do attend, please 
remember your mask (especially with Omicron out there!).

Thanks

--dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group