[pjw] REPORT BACK: it's science! Friday rally #247 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Peaceful people:

Although it was rather rainy, we managed to have nine people at the height 
of the Friday Rally for Peace and Justice Last night, though only seven 
went on part or all of the march. There were noticeably few horns honking 
in support and only a handful of pedestrians giving positive feedback. One 
or two also brought the negative comments which we just let slide. We had 
one enthusiastic patron at the Rialto room who told a kind of long and 
almost relevant story so we waited a full cycle of the walk light, handed 
him a Friday rally flyer and headed on.

Another newbie security guard tried to convince us we had to move across 
the street. I asked to see the regulation that he was citing. He started 
coming up with all sorts of excuses-- claiming we were blocking the 
crosswalk (not really, and even if so an easy jump to the left or step to 
the right would fix it), it was a bummer for people to see our signs on 
the way to their holiday event (!!!) and that we needed a permit. He 
offered to get his supervisor and I said "OK, remind them to look up 
Charlie Grossman v. City of Portland" (a case from around 1990 where 
Grossman won the right to be protesting in Waterfront Park even though 
people had it reserved for an event). He went away and never came back. 23 
years' experience at work folks.


Up front I announced that on January 10 we'll be doing the special Friday 
Rally on Guantanamo that I posted yesterday. Sadly due to the rain the 
only flyers for that event that we handed out were to each other.

  https://pjw.info/guantanamo23yl.html

OK, so, what were the news headlines we talked about?

--First, Science Friday on NPR, which often is just about, you know, 
science, had a piece on with the author of the book "The Burning Earth" 
talking about how every war since WWI at least has been a huge contributor 
to climate change, and how the two issues are interlinked. We need to talk 
about that more!

  https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/the-burning-earth-a-history/
--A Hiroshima survivor representing the group that received the Nobel 
Peace Prize used the acceptance speech to express deep concern about 
Russia and Israel threatening to use nuclear weapons.

  https://apnews.com/article/norway-nobel-japan-peace-prize-nuclear-9f39bcd5d6035fb1e75ac2030cf5c009

--Meanwhile, just on Thursday, over 20 more Palestinians were killed in 
new US-backed Israeli Defense Force airstrikes. And this was after over 
150 people were killed in the days before.

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/11/israeli-attacks-on-gaza-residential-areas-kill-dozens

---Though Israel withdrew troops from an area of Lebanon and let their 
military take control, they conducted an airstrike the next day, killing 
one person and injuring another. Cease fire indeed.

  https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/309787-2-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-khiam-mikati-asks-committee-for-quick-and-firm-action

OK, this next set of headlines all relates to the huge news that happened 
the day after the last Friday rally but again, I wrote about earlier in 
the week: A coalition of Islamist militants considered to be terrorists by 
the US overthrew the Assad government in Syria. Assad fled to Russia.

And...

--Israel proudly announced that they launched 480 airstrikes after Assad 
fell. They also grabbed more land even outside the "buffer zone" next to 
the occupied Golan Heights.

  https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/10/middleeast/israel-syria-assad-strikes-intl/index.html

---The US launched dozens of strikes, allegedly against ISIS, as well, 
seemingly immune to being thrown out of the country by the new leadership. 
Hmm.

  https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-strikes-dozens-isis-camps-operatives-syria-amid-assads-downfall

---The Syrian Kurds who are supported by the US reached out to Israel for 
military aid after they realized they will not necessarily be safe under 
the new regime. Which I know seems a contradiction after what I just wrote 
about the US, but they don't really care about the Kurdish people, they 
just want access to oil fields.

  https://thecradle.co/articles/us-proxies-in-syria-plea-with-israel-for-help-after-hts-led-extremists-attack-isis-prisons

--Elsewhere in SW Asia/the "Middle East," both President-elect Trump and 
Israel's Netanyahu are saying that after the fall of Assad, it seems a 
good time to bomb Iran to create regime change. Yeah, no, it's not your 
job to do that and especially not with violence and scattering nuclear 
materials all over the region.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/12/13/trump-team-considering-strikes-on-iran/

--Russia says Ukraine has used US missiles to again strike deep 
into Russian territory.

  https://tass.com/politics/1886029

--Here in the states, the National Defense Authorization Act had a clause 
to automatically register all people of draft age. It was removed, but War 
Resisters League points out that still leaves the possibility of a draft 
in place.

  https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2024/12/09/proposal-for-automatic-draft-registration-removed-from-ndaa/

--Interestingly, after a long history of solidarity, Iraq won't grant 
asylum for about 3000 Syrian soldiers who fled there.

  https://www.newarab.com/news/iraq-rejects-asylum-syria-ex-regime-soldiers-maher-al-assad

In local news, City Council rushed into place (using a special "4/5ths 
Agenda trick to add it on Monday for the Wednesday meeting) at $100,000 
settlement for a young Black man who was 25 in 2020 when he was injured by 
Portland Police. They were trying to grab his sister, and when he objected 
they threw him to the pavement, broke a tooth and gave him a concussion... 
then they put him in the squad car, took him out and place him in various 
choke holds, according to the lawsuit. Portland Copwatch got these details 
from court paperwork, as usual the Council item is much more vague.

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/ordinance/settlement-zaire-wellmons-bodily-injury-lawsuit

Also, a man who allegedly stabbed someone at a convenience store early 
Thursday morning died mysteriously in police custody. The Medical Examiner 
says there's no sign of external trauma, but then again, their salary is 
paid by the Oregon State Police, so take it with a grain of unscientific 
salt.

  https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/12/no-traumatic-injuries-found-in-north-portland-stabbing-suspect-who-died-in-custody-police-said.html

Along the march route I relayed the sad news that due to 93 settler 
attacks and 20 by the (US-backed) IDF during the olive harvest season, 
Palestinians in the West Bank were unable to harvest all their crops this 
year at a cost of $10 million.

  https://www.972mag.com/olive-harvest-west-bank-deadly-violence/

And while we keep hoping money will be spent on housing and health care 
and the environment, the house passed a new $895 billion defense bill on a 
vote of 281-140, with 81 Democrats saying yes to more war spending.

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/house-passes-nearly-1-trillion-defense-spending-bill-adding-to-us-debt-of-36-trillion/ar-AA1vHOWo

I saw the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign was rolling when I got to 
the Apple Store on the way to the protest and stopped to "tie my 
shoe," but it went out as soon as I pulled the wagon to a safe spot. 
The sign went out again when we passed by that same area across the 
street when we were marching.

You may have seen that on the flyer for the January 10 event we are still 
requesting (though not requiring) people to mask up and stay distanced at 
Friday rallies. It seems the right thing to do to ensure everyone's 
health.

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