[pjw] REPORT BACK: 78 years of radiation: Friday rally #176 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi again Iraq Affinity Group supporters

At the Friday Rally for Peace and Justice last night, seven rallied and 
six marched. We had several people stop to thank us, three specifically 
for signs calling to end the occupation of Palestine. One asked about the 
signs that say "The US has nuked two cities- Never again!"* and asked how 
we planned to make that happen. They took a flier for Wednesday's 
Hiroshima / Nagasaki memorial** and thanked us.

*- I wrote "countries" last week, proving I need more sleep

**- link to event info: https://www.oregonpsr.org/h_n_memorial_2023

We also had a moderate amount of honking horns, and a car full of "dudes" 
parked along the march route who thanked us and said "Yeah, make love not 
war!!!"

So... what did we talk about from the headlines?

First, some history about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan 78 years ago 
this week. They killed hundreds of thousands instantly and hundreds of 
thousands more through radiation poisoning and cancer. Even if there was 
any military purpose to the first bomb (which there wasn't, Japan was 
ready to surrender already), there surely was none for the second. So 
we must seek the end of nuclear weapons along with the 100 medical 
journals who have published articles this week calling for abolition.

  https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/08/02/leading-medical-journals-call-for-abolition-of-nuclear-weapons/

Second, I talked about the letter Peace and Justice Works sent, along with 
13 other Oregon groups, to Governor Kotek asking to keep the National 
Guard in Oregon and not deploy them to undeclared war zones. Copies of the 
letter are now in the distribution rack on the wagon of peace, but you can 
also see it here:

  https://pjw.info/guardhomeletter2023.html

(I still need to add links to this around the rest of the website.)

Also

--Ukrainian drones hit a warship docked at a Russian commercial port, the 
first such attack in the war and yet another escalation.

  https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-drones-black-sea-407a02ccfb2b1951c5afe9ec2269eed8

--The Taliban and US State Department officials met to discuss issues. 
Tellingly, the US report-back talks about expressing human rights 
concerns and the Afghan one talks about dire financial needs requiring the 
release of Afghan funds held by the US. Hmm.

  https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/us-taliban-official-meet-washington-slams-kabul-over-human-rights/

--Despite US sanctions, the amount of oil Iran has sent to China since 
2020 has tripled.

  https://new.thecradle.co/articles/defying-us-sanctions-iranian-oil-exports-to-china-triple-since-2020

--And speaking of America's great propensity for diplomacy, top "diplomat" 
Anthony Blinken says he is ok with African nations threatening force in 
Niger following the coup there.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2023/07/31/blinken-backs-west-african-nations-threat-to-use-force-against-niger-coup/

--Two years after the US' first war on Iraq in 1991, a border was drawn 
between Iraq and Kuwait in the waters of the Persian Gulf which has led to 
an ongoing dispute. They're now working to resolve the problem through 
diplomacy. (No mention of the US being involved.)

  https://www.newarab.com/news/iraq-and-kuwait-seek-solve-dispute-over-contested-border

--The Australian Prime Minister reasserted his position that the US 
should not prosecute Julian Assange, much to America's dismay.

  https://apnews.com/article/wikileaks-founder-assange-prosecution-dfcd2e2ef3047b9ffbdfad1c1ff303db

In local "news," I talked about comments I made to the Compliance Officer 
("COCL") who reviews the 2012 (!) US Department of Justice lawsuit making 
the Portland Police use less force. First I mentioned that the PPB hadn't 
shot any Black men between January 2019 and November 2022, but have shot 
three since then, killing two. No response. I also noted that the new 
civilian "dean" of training who is listed in the COCL's report as the 
"Director of Education" was instead labeled the "Director of Police 
Education" by the Bureau, probably purposefully calling her a "DOPE." Also 
got no response on that one. The compliance report is here (it's long):

  https://www.portland.gov/pccep/documents/cocl-draft-quarterly-report-2023-quarter-1-updates-analysis/download

As we marched up 4th Ave, I noted that thousands of Israeli military 
reservists are refusing to show up for duty following the vote to gut the 
country's judicial role. I joked that maybe we should encourage Netanyahu 
to go further, then nobody would be available to enforce the occupation 
against Palestine any more if all the military quits.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-army-unprecedented-cracks-emerging

And while we headed up Yamhill back to the Square I reported that a 
strange law allows the US President to "draw down" millions of 
discretionary dollars to aid other countries militarily, and Biden is 
sending $345 million in such aid to Taiwan. Compared to the $886 billion 
military budget it's not much, but no such support has gone to Taiwan 
since 1979. In the future, the American government is talking about tying 
Taiwan aid to Ukraine's??? And of course, think of the good that money 
could do for people sruggling here at home.

  https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3229361/us-approves-us345-million-landmark-military-aid-package-taiwan?module=lead_hero_story&pgtype=homepage

This week the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign just plain conked out by 
the Gucci Store like it always used to do. Some Trimet officials 
(including, I think, the two who got away from me by jawalking last week) 
came by the rally and told us to have a nice day. I didn't act quickly 
enough to see if they could explain the mystery of the sign suppression.

Please join us any Friday at 5 PM at SW Yamhill and Broadway to help 
spread the word of peace. Do think about masking up as most of us do-- two 
more people in my immediate circle said they came down with COVID this 
week--nobody I see face to face, but still that makes five people I know 
in about three weeks, so, it's out there! Stay safe.

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