[pjw] REPORT BACK: Occupation by proxy? Friday rally #59 under stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Supporters of peace and justice

As our county re-entered "high risk" (down from "extreme risk" last week), 
four people attended the weekly Friday rally and march for peace and 
justice last night. We once again had many people expressing support, with 
only one or two negative reactions.

Here are some of the news headlines we talked about at the rally:

--The US is talking about doing military training for Afghans outside the 
country, which I referred to as an occupation by proxy.

  https://thehill.com/policy/defense/552206-top-general-us-considering-training-afghan-forces-in-other-countries

---And meanwhile, the US used airstrikes to bomb Taliban fighters, 
continuing to claim this is consistent with the withdrawal agreement. 
Expect continued US airstrikes even after the ground forces are gone.

  https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/05/us-launches-new-airstrikes-on-taliban-as-us-troops-begin-withdrawal-reports/

--In Iraq, there were three attacks on US bases within a week; so far I 
haven't heard talk of retaliatory violence (like the bombs that fell on 
Syria in February).

  https://www.timesofisrael.com/3rd-rocket-attack-in-3-days-targets-us-forces-in-iraq/

--Broadly speaking, President Biden is still pondering how to change 
Trump's revised rules on drone strikes. You know, the ones that changed 
Obama choosing who to assassinate to Trump letting military (and CIA) kill 
anyone as long as they tried to avoid killing women and children.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2021/05/03/biden-discloses-some-trump-era-drone-strike-rules/

--Ramping up the US' new cold war with Russia and China, Defense Secretary 
Austin says the next war will look different, and involved "all 5 arenas" 
of the military's scope: land, sea, air, space and cyberspace. Yikes. Did 
anyone see the "Terminator" movies?

  https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/460480/Pentagon-Chief-next-major-war-will-be-much-different

--In local news, I noted that the District Attorney had quietly hired a 
defense lawyer to help investigate the officer involved shooting of Israel 
Berry, which happened in Portland city limits but Berry was killed by a 
Gresham cop with Portland officers on the scene.

  https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2021/05/05/33245226/da-schmidt-hires-outside-attorney-to-investigate-gresham-officer-shooting

When we got to the part of the march where we talk about Israel/Palestine, 
I noted that the President of Israel (Reuven Rivlin, not a household name, 
really) had asked Netanyahu's chief rival to form a government after 
Netanyahu failed to do so by the required deadline

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-president-taps-centrist-yair-lapid-form-unity-government

In the final stretch to cover the theme of "Money for Human Needs, Not 
War," I talked about how three Commissioners including the Mayor have now 
said they don't want to fully fund the Portland Street Response program 
which is meant to divert most mental health-related calls away from the 
police. They say they want to let the program take more time to "get it 
right." This makes me wonder why those same people would keep throwing 
money at the Portland Police who (charitably) have been trying to "get it 
right" around mental health response for 9 years under the DOJ agreement, 
but keep killing people. This is not to count that all officers have been 
given Crisis Intervention Training since 2007 after the death of James 
Chasse or that there's been a CIT team since shortly after the death of 12 
year old Nathan Thomas and the man who was holding Thomas at knifepoint in 
1992.

  https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/05/commissioner-dan-ryan-supports-slow-methodical-expansion-of-portland-street-response-program.html

The Gucci store continues to emit some kind of radiation (just kidding, 
we haven't done any tests... yet) causing the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial 
Sign to go blank again on SW 4th Ave.

We hope that our continued presence will keep issues of war and peace in 
people's minds while reports are saying people consuming news has 
plummeted since the end of the Trump presidency... Please join us if you 
can/ feel safe doing so, 5 PM any Friday at SW Yamhill and Broadway!

peace

dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group