[pjw] REPORT BACK: Climate change: Friday rally #132 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello again Iraq Affinity Group supporters

While it's starting to cool off here in late September/early October, it 
was still quite humid last night and is supposed to be 80 degrees plus all 
this week. Hmm. Last night at the Friday Rally for Peace and Justice, we 
had seven people at the rally, five of whom went on the march. There was a 
noticeable uptick in positive feedback, though, with many pedestrians 
voicing support and cars honking their horns for us. We remained masked up 
and distanced for safety, though apparently the CDC has now said people in 
hospitals do not have to wear masks (I expect most of them will do so 
anyway).

There was a Native American festival in the Square, so as I began the 
announcements I noted that Indigenous People's day is coming up soon, that 
we are standing on stolen land, that the Ann Huntwork sign calls for US 
out of occupied countries and the continent of North America, and that, 
inexplicably, the City of Portland has told its advisory groups they are 
not allowed to offer land acknowledgments any more. ??? I think they're 
worried that a bad land acknowledgment is worse than none, but on the 
other hand sometimes people can get participant ribbons just for trying.

ANYWAY, last night was the last time to pre-announce next week's special 
Friday rally calling for the US to "Send Aid, Not Bombs" in Afghanistan 
and Syria. As mentioned in an earlier email, this event is in 
solidarity with actions called by the United National Antiwar Coalition; 
our event is now on their website:

https://unac.notowar.net/back-to-the-streets-october-15-23/

And here's the flyer for next week, hope you've been circulating it!

  https://www.pjw.info/afghan21yl_flyer.pdf

These were the headlines we talked about at the rally:

--Russia annexed four areas of Ukraine, and the US called them out for 
violating international law. See, because the US just invades, sets up its 
own giant embassies and military bases, and takes control of the country's 
money, which is SOOO different.

  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63095436

--Speaking of how the US takes over and never leaves, in Iraq, at the 
behest of the Iraqi government (allegedly) Americans shot down an Iranian 
drone to stop them from bombing in Kurdistan.

  https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/29588-US-shoots-down-Iranian-drone-threatening-Erbil:-CENTCOM

---Earlier, at least one US citizen was killed by an (alleged) Iranian 
drone; no information on whether this was someone from the CIA or a 
private contractor, it's just said it was not a member of the military.

  https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-confirms-american-citizen-killed-rocket-attack-iraqi-kurdistan-2022-09-29/

--The US has also increased sanctions against Iran's oil sales, which 
could be a signal the nuclear deal is off. Or, best case scenario, they're 
piling sanctions on so they can take them off when the deal is struck and 
make it look like they're giving something up?

  https://news.yahoo.com/us-sanctions-traders-iranian-oil-183303845.html

--At the United Nations, Syria called on the US to leave their country, 
and... well, nobody did anything about it.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-general-assembly-syria-calls-us-leave-oman-praises-yemen-peace-efforts

---Meanwhile, Jordan has re-recognized Syria's leadership (many countries 
stopped doing so after the civil war started in 2011). The US is not 
pleased.

  https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/us-still-against-normalising-ties-assads-syria

--And after the assassination of a top "terrorist" last month, the US is 
now saying Afghanistan is harboring more and more terrorists, paving the 
way for more intervention. Based on lies.

  https://www.voanews.com/a/us-voices-terrorism-concerns-in-afghanistan-opts-for-taliban-engagement-/6767158.html

In local news, while dozens of people have settled out of court for police 
brutality inflicted during the racial justice uprising of 2020, the first 
civil suit has landed in court, with a woman whose arm was broken seeking 
$500,000. It'll be interesting to see how the jury rules, since so many 
Portlanders put out Black Lives matter signs in 2020 but have swung back 
the pendulum to oppose more cuts to the police.

  https://www.opb.org/article/2022/09/27/portland-racial-justice-protester-civil-trial-police-use-of-force/

Along the march route, I relayed a Jerusalem Post article that says 
Israel's Defense Forces have OK'd plans to use armed drones for targeted 
killings in the West Bank. Remember, there was no drone war until the US 
attacked Yemen in 2002. So we can thank US policy for this too.

  https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-718422

As we got closer to the end point, I talked about the Senate's recent 
approval of another $16 billion for Ukraine, $8 billion of which is for 
weapons and $3 billion for moving US troops to eastern Europe. You 
wouldn't want to spend that money, I don't know, on preventing climate 
change when 1/2 of Florida is now under water???

  https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/09/29/republicans-push-biden-to-use-21-billion-ukraine-aid-set-to-expire/


This week, the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign made it past the Gucci 
store. I'm not sure if it's related but there were delivery trucks parked 
up the entire block... which also means nobody driving could see it 
anyway. However, we got past that block and halfway between 4th and 5th on 
Yamhill when it went out.

Hoping folks who are willing and able can join us next week in particular, 
but any Friday to keep the word out that war is not the answer.

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