[pjw] REPORT BACK: What youth learn: Friday rally #151 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello PJW supporters

At last night's Friday Rally for Peace and Justice, 10 of us got together, 
masked up and distanced, to share information, educate the public and be a 
visible presence. Despite what the groundhog said, it was about 53 degrees 
out, not raining. There were a mild number of horns honking in support, 
one man who came by saying "yeah, no war!!", a number of people who took 
fact sheets about Guantanamo, and little if any negativity.

I forgot to make more flyers for the March 17 "20 Years Later, the US is 
Still in Iraq" event, but did make 11x17 enlargements to hang on the 
little green wagon of peace.

On that note, there's now a web page devoted to the event:
  https://pjw.info/iraq20yl.html

Here are some of the headlines we talked about:

--As part of their mission creep / creepy mission, the US is now providing 
intelligence directly to Ukraine about where they can target the 
rockets... that the US gave them. Can you say escalation?

  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/09/ukraine-himars-rocket-artillery-russia/
  https://archive.is/csVol

--The Presbyterian Church USA called for the end to sanctions on Syria, 
noting not only that they're impeding aid after the giant earthquake but 
that they're hurting the ordinary people there.

  https://www.christianpost.com/news/pcusa-urges-biden-to-lift-sanctions-on-syria-after-earthquake.html

---Speaking of which, until the last few days media was mostly talking 
about the death toll overall or in Turkey, but this article breaks it down 
(as of Thursday): over 17,500 in Turkey and about 3500 in Syria have died, 
as mother earth continues to push back against humans.

  https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-02-09/more-than-20-000-confirmed-killed-in-turkey-syria-quake

--Joe Biden caved to Republican demands and shot down that Chinese balloon 
earlier this week, to which the Republicans said "it was too late." For 
all the freaking out over this one balloon, did you know the US flew 512 
reconnaissance balloons over Russia and China in 1956?

  https://theintercept.com/2023/02/07/china-balloon-soviet-union/

--The US has slapped more sanctions on Iran's oil sector, keeping up with 
its efforts to escalate tensions while perpetually postponing talks on the 
"nuclear deal."

  https://news.antiwar.com/2023/02/09/us-hits-iran-with-fresh-sanctions-that-target-petrochemicals/

--And again for those who say (like someone did on the radio as I pulled 
up to park before the rally) that the US is "not at war," military 
operations against "ISIS" in Iraq an Syria were up in January-- 43, as 
opposed to the average of 26 a month in 2022.

  https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-military-operations-isis-iraq-syria-january-2023/

--And the newest branch of the military, the Space Force, spilled 700 
gallons of fuel in Hawaii, claiming it was due to a faulty generator. All 
the people whose drinking water keeps getting contaminated from military 
fuel spills don't really care why.

  https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/02/08/space-force-vows-above-and-beyond-cleanup-of-maui-spill/

In local news, I could barely tell this story about how two (presumably 
white) Sylvan Middle School students attacked a Black student, tied his 
hands behind his back, kneeled on him and said they were "George Floyding" 
him. They made "jokes" about turning off their body cameras. Remember, 
this is a case in which the perpetrators were indicted and convicted, but 
instead of teaching these kids about equity and justice, they were driven 
to re-enact state violence. That's why we always say the state should not 
use violence because it teaches people that's how you solve problems.

  https://katu.com/news/local/district-officials-respond-to-horrific-hate-based-incident-at-portland-middle-school-west-sylvan-public-schools-pps-pretend-george-floyd

Along the march route I mentioned that in January, the Israelis demolished 
29 Palestinian homes, which doesn't seem like a lot in the overall scheme 
of things, but represents a tripling of the pace of house demolitions in 
2022.

  https://apnews.com/article/politics-israel-government-palestinian-territories-jerusalem-bab35518d9b80ce4c7d1513edb163e2d

And, continuing the recent weird trend, the money for human needs not war 
piece this week was again about Republicans, where the extreme right wing 
led by Florida alleged pedophile Matt Gaetz filed a resolution to stop 
funding the war in Ukraine, which has already cost taxpayers $110 billion. 
The resolution noted how the US said they would not escalate the conflict 
because it could lead to World War III. But, their point isn't to redirect 
that money to helping people in need, just to "tighten our belts."

  https://news.antiwar.com/2023/02/09/rep-matt-gaetz-leads-resolution-calling-to-end-support-for-ukraine-pushes-for-peace/

No change in the behavior of the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign this 
week, that Pioneer Place Mall must be haunted, I guess.

Feel free to join us if you are feeling up to it any Friday at 5 PM down 
at SW Yamhill and Broadway.

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