[pjw] REPORT BACK: Fuel on the Fire: Friday rally #104 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Iraq Affinity Group supporters

With a first-time attendee at last night's Friday Rally for Peace and 
Justice, the eight people there ranged in age from tweens to 80+. Masked 
up and distanced, we gave out quite a few leaflets for next week's special 
event on the Iraq invasion-- admittedly I didn't bring all the copies I'd 
made and we ran out early on! We got a reasonable amount of support from 
drivers and pedestrians (including thumbs up from bar patrons) but it felt 
like a little less than usual.

And while I still feel like I'm tempting fate to say this, it was the 10th 
week in a row without rain.

So again the flyer for next Friday can be found on the event info page 
here:

https://pjw.info/iraq19yl.html

What headlines did we discuss? Let's see...

--That great arbiter of nonviolence, Facebook, has ok'd posts that call 
for violence against Russians including President Putin:

  https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-facebook-instagram-temporarily-allow-calls-violence-against-russians-2022-03-10/

---The US is claiming Russia may use biological weapons (WMDs anyone) 
while Russia is saying the pathogens the US has in Ukranian labs are the 
things to worry about (they're supposedly for non-human animals):

  https://news.antiwar.com/2022/03/09/white-house-claims-russia-could-launch-biological-or-chemical-attack-in-ukraine/

---The US doesn't want Poland sending planes to Ukraine for fear of 
escalation

  https://www.axios.com/pentagon-poland-mig-planes-ukraine-5b05aaba-4172-47a9-9555-26e4f1a8ffa2.html

---And meanwhile Ukrainian video of crying Russian troops could violate 
the Geneva conventions about prisoners of war:

  https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/ukraine-s-videos-of-crying-russian-prisoners-could-violate-the-geneva-conventions-20220307-p5a2f7.html

--Elsewhere, in Iraq the US has now decided to back Moqtada Al Sadr, the 
defacto upcoming new Prime Minister, because he opposes Iranian militias. 
The enemy of my enemy is... bad, inconsistent policy. Well, maybe this 
means they will pull out all 2500 remaining US troops.

  https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/10/why-muqtada-al-sadr-failed-to-reform-iraq/

--As the Iran nuclear deal is almost ready to finalize, 12 Democrats and 9 
Republicans criticized technical aspects of the deal. We need peace, 
folks!

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-nuclear-deal-us-house-democrats-oppose-agreement

--The UN called on the United States to investigate its own airsrtikes 
in Syria for possible war crimes. I don't think asking the guilty party to 
be their own jury is a workable accountability system.

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/9/un-war-crimes-panel-urges-us-to-probe-deadly-syria-air-raids

--In a possible sign of thawing relations, Venezuela released two American 
prisoners. Maybe that's because the US wants Venezeulan oil to flow while 
Russia's supply is being boycotted.

  https://thehill.com/policy/international/597441-venezuela-releases-two-american-prisoners-after-talks-with-us-report

In local news, I noted that a woman who was hit with a "flash bang" by 
police at a protest in 2020 is scheduled to receive $12,000 at Council on 
Wednesday morning. Warning: graphic photo in this article:

  https://katu.com/news/local/psu-student-protester-sues-says-police-weapon-injured-her

Council item:

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/ordinance/148-settlement-julia-leggett-bodily-injury-lawsuit-12000

On Wednesday afternoon, Council is planning to renew the ability for 
Downtown Clean and Safe, a program run by businesses that includes 
security guards, to pay for and direct the activities of four police 
officers. It's supposed to be that everyone pays taxes and gets the same 
protection. I guess some people are more equal than others. To be fair, 
one of the documents acknowledges that having a private entity pay for 
police is problematic, so they're going to figure out another deal two 
years from now.

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/ordinance/clean-safe-portland-police-bureau-contract

Along the march route, I talked about yet another unjust, 
apartheid-furthering law in Israel which bans naturalizaiton of 
Israeli citizens' spouses from the West Bank or Gaza:

  https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/israels-parliament-passes-law-barring-palestinian-spouses

And in a primo example of "money used for war instead of human needs," 
Congress ok's a $1.5 trillion package with $10 billion for war in Ukraine 
but cutting the $22 Billion (which would have been 1.5% of the package) 
for further COVID relief:

  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-passes-15-trillion-spending-bill-avert-government-shutdown-pr-rcna19608

Third week in a row, the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign went out right 
at the corner of Pioneer Place Mall, not even in front of the Gucci 
store. I also realized that since I used the sign at the Keaton Otis vigil 
last month I'd only had the police accountability message scrolling for 
three weeks. Oh well, I hope I'll remember to fix it again after tonight's 
vigil (12th of every month at NE 6th and Halsey).

While the indoor mask mandate is now lifted, the transit mask mandate has 
been extended until April 18. Still, we welcome folks to come down to the 
rally who are willing to do so.

https://www.transit.dot.gov/TransitMaskUp

peace
--dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group