[pjw] REPORT BACK: bonus news/strange day: Friday rally #182 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hey PJW supporters

This report back will include bonus headlines because I grabbed a "to-do 
list" that was on the same kind of paper as the notes for the rally, and 
had to reconstruct the rally talk from memory... so a few headlines I 
forgot as well. This came on the tail end of a day where one PJW person 
passed out in the heat, another was stuck in traffic for several hours 
when their vehicle broke down on the way to deliver food to a food pantry, 
and various other appointments got jumbled around or changed. And more 
(see the report back on the peace wagon below).

Maybe all of this has to do with the heat (it was 95 degrees in 
Portland... IN SEPTEMBER) but we also only had a total of six people at 
the rally (one for just a few minutes) and so five on the march. There was 
noticably a smaller amount of foot and vehicle traffic than usual, but we 
still got appreciative feedback. One man stopped to ask why we were 
protesting. At first I thought he was going to be argumentative, but when 
I told him there are still 2500 US troops in Iraq and 26 bases in Syria he 
said "I learned something," took a flyer, and headed off. That's what our 
educational events are all about!

We handed out more flyers for the September 29 rally about Syria and 
Afghanistan. I had hoped to have an updated flyer and web page done by 
now, if you're checking this after 6 PM Saturday you may see that we have 
an endorser in the Resist US-Led War Movement. But for now the flyer's the 
same:

https://www.pjw.info/afghanistan22yl.html

Moreover we decided at the meeting Tuesday to make the focus of the 
October 6 rally to be on Ukraine in solidarity of the week of action for 
peace in Ukraine. (I have to remember to report that to the national 
organizers... it's been a busy week.)

OK, so I think I'll start with the bonus headlines because one of them is 
really troubling:

__Ukraine is charging a peace activist (who's affliiated with World Beyond 
War, the group that David Swanson is part of) with providing support to 
Russia by... I dunno, advocating against war (see Zelensky story below).

  https://worldbeyondwar.org/act-now-to-save-ukrainian-peace-activist-from-prosecution/

__Trying to bolster its anti-Iran, anti-Russia and pro-Israel agenda, 
the US signed a defense pact with Bahrain.

  https://www.reuters.com/world/us-bahrain-sign-strategic-security-economic-agreement-2023-09-13/

__Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin and talk weapons 
supply, humanitarian aid, and why they both hate the US so much. This is 
how US "diplomacy" leads to alliances against whatever we do.

  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66787449

OK, now on to the report I actually gave at the rally:

--Ever diplomatic, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken basically gave a 
green light for Ukraine to use US missiles to directly attack Russia. 
Nothing like starting WWIII to make sure you go down in history!

  https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2023/09/11/blinken-us-does-not-oppose-ukrainian-attacks-inside-russia-with-us-supplied-missiles/

---President Zelenskyy said something very "Bush-ian," that either 
coutries are with Ukraine or against them. He sort of hinted that if 
Eueope cuts support, Ukrainian refugees may rise up in revolt.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2023/09/14/zelensky-implies-ukrainian-refugees-in-europe-will-resort-to-terrorism-if-west-curtails-aid/

--The US is now talking about moving its drone base out of Niger 
altogether as their "missions" have dwindled after the military coup 
there. The article also says the drones have been used not just for 
anti-"terrorism" but also to attack Russian targets. Who knew?

  https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2023/09/after-niger-coup-air-force-looks-other-countries-host-drone-base/390288/

--Ever cognizant of climate change (sarcasm), the US is clearing jungles 
on Pacific islands near Guam to make more landing strips for their 
imaginary war againt China.

  https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2023/09/air-force-clearing-out-jungles-pacific-bolster-airfield-options/390210/

--In actual warfare, another Israeli airstrike killed two Syrian soldiers 
this week. And not a peep out of the US, the UN, or those who finger point 
at others as war criminals.

  https://sana.sy/en/?p=316725

--Iran and the US are going to go ahead and each swap five prisoners with 
the other, and the US will waive sanctions to allow $6 billion in oil 
revenue currently held in third nations to be released for Iranian aid.

  https://apnews.com/article/us-iran-prisoners-blinken-3e834df0a845ef2cc5c52af14598c66f

--In Iraq, rather than disarm the Kurdish militants near the Iranian 
border (as discussed previously), Iraq has instead moved the armed 
independence fighters. Not sure how they "removed" them from the border, 
but it seems less escalating than plan A.

  https://news.yahoo.com/iraq-starts-relocating-iranian-kurdish-111851375.html

In local news (and more on this tomorrow) it's confirmed now that the 
Police Accountability Commission's report outlining the new oversight 
system will go to City Council on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 2 PM. Portland 
Copwatch is encouraging people to sign up to testify.

  https://www.portland.gov/council/agenda

And PCW turned its summary web page into a fact sheet that was available 
at the rally yesterday.

  https://portlandcopwatch.org/new-police-oversight-system-2023.pdf

Along the march route, shortly after the problem I'll again get to in a 
minute, I mentioned that six Israeli police are now facing charges for 
branding a Palestinian man's face with the star of David. This is an 
unfathomable piece of degrading violent behavior, and... the US said zero.

  https://www.newarab.com/news/israeli-police-questioned-suspended-over-branding-case

And as we got close to the end, I noted that if Congress fails to pass a 
budget by Sept. 30, all departments get an automatic 1% cut. The Navy 
calculates this to be $15 to $26 Billion just for them (even though 1$% of 
$886 B is $8.86 B) and they can't build their new submarines. BOO HOO. 
Maybe you should think about building housing, health clinics and schools.

  https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2023/09/navys-plans-three-new-submarines-could-be-held-budget-drama/390277/

OK, so, the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign rides around on the 
little green wagon of peace, and the literature rack hangs just above 
it. The wagon was a little lopsided this week and crashed into a 
parking stantion just before we got to 4th Ave, knocking the lit rack 
to the ground (because one of the two hooks holding it in place fell 
out). Argh! What a day. Then the when we got to the Gucci store at SW 
4th and Morrison, as I reached for the (now detached) lit rack so it 
wouldn't slide off the back of the wagon, the sign went out. Does anybody 
study planetary alignments?

At the very end I announced that some groups including CODEPINK, the 
aforementioned Resist US-Led War Movement and Veterans For Peace Chap. 72 
are marking international Peace Day on Thursday the 21st with a rally that 
will go from 6-8 PM at SW 6th and Yamhill. Note: the web page 
isn't working right now but here's a link:

  https://www.codepink.org/intlpeaceor

Do join us sometime if you can-- maybe at one of the special events on the 
29th or the 6th? And if you can do mask up, though we're still calling it 
optional, the number of people I know who've gotten COVID since July is 
now up to 14. Yikes.

Remember to hydrate, take care, and promote peace!

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