[pjw] REPORT BACK: spiraling wars: Friday rally #199 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi again IAG supporters

We had both relatively warm and very dry weather at the Friday Rally for 
Peace and Justice last night. Seven of us rallied, one dropped out at the 
start of the march but another joined exactly one block later (!), so a 
total of eight people but not all at once.*

We had a good smattering of supportive honks, and quite a few people who 
took flyers for next week's 200th PJW-hosted rally for the anniversary of 
the opening of Guantanamo. You'll be getting two more reminders for that 
but just in case, remember we're starting early (4:30 PM) and the other 
info can be found here:

  https://pjw.info/guantanamo22yl.html

Managed to hold onto my "cheat sheet" last night, used the desk lamp on 
the wagon to read it, and relayed these stories of the week's news:

--Israel says it is ok with Palestinians running Gaza after (IF) the war 
ends, just not Hamas. Very democratic of them! This same article says that
80% of the population of Gaza has been displaced.

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/4/israeli-defence-minister-outlines-new-phase-in-gaza-war

---As if they WANT to up the ante, Israel used a drone to kill a Hamas 
leader who was in Lebanon. Hezbollah is likely to retaliate. Who came up 
with this idea of just assassinating people with drones instead of, I 
don't know, trying to use the courts? OH YEAH it was the USA! USA! USA!

  https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/explosion-southern-beirut-suburb-dahiyeh-two-security-sources-2024-01-02/

---Israel's Supreme Court knocked down the judicial reform law that was 
designed to help Netanyahu and his cronies wield unchecked power. The 
corrupt officials' response? "You shouldn't hamper us while we're at war." 
When you're warmongers, I guess there's never a good time for hampering.

  https://www.axios.com/2024/01/01/israel-supreme-court-judicial-overhaul-netanyahu-gaza

---In a great twist of history, South Africa, whose apartheid government 
received support (and info about nuclear weapons) from Israel, now has a 
NON-apartheid government which has filed charges of genocide against 
Israel in international court for what's happening in Gaza.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-south-africa-launches-international-court-justice-case-accusing-israel-genocide

--As mentioned earlier this week, the US sank three Houthi boats in the 
Red Sea on December 31. While not the first boat-sinkings, it was the 
first time they killed all the people aboard. The Houthis are vowing 
revenge. Are we seeing a pattern here?

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/31/us-forces-sink-houthi-boats-in-red-sea-after-attack-on-maersk-vessel

--Meanwhile, in more war news spun off from the Israeli war, the US 
launched a drone strike in Iraq, killing a militia leader who's actually 
part of the states overall security apparatus. The Iraqis condemned the 
violation of sovereignty... I'm still hoping they'll boot the Americans. 
Oh by the way the Iraqi government called the US strike "terrorism."

  https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/040120245

--Not (directly) related, the US joined the Philippines in patrolling the 
South China Sea as part of their ongoing provocation of hostilities with 
China.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/01/04/us-aircraft-carrier-conducts-joint-patrol-with-philippines-in-south-china-sea/

--Some good news: You all may remember that the IAG works with other 
groups each year to ask Oregon's governor not to send the National Guard 
to undeclared war zones.** This week the New Hampshire House voted
187-182 for such a "Guard Home" provision. Strangely, though this 
should be a bipartisan issue, 163 of the Yes votes were Republicans 
and 156 of the No votes were Democrats.

  https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2024/01/04/new-hampshire-house-of-representatives-passes-defend-the-guard/

In local news, we're still waiting for more info about why police killed 
shoplifting suspect Tyrone Johnson II on December 27, but his family held 
a vigil in his honor the other day demanding justice.

  https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/gun-violence/family-man-shot-killed-portland-police-mall-205-vigil-tyrone-johnson/283-234b8f7d-0550-4dba-bafe-0a4a6ba08f4c

...and the City Council is about to shell out another $158,000 for 
injuring a protestor at the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, this time 
to Angelica Clark, a Black woman hit by batons and pepper spray.

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/ordinance/settlement-angelica-clarks-bodily-injury-lawsuit

Someone at the rally asked me and the answer is they've now spent about $2 
million on compensating people for the violence by police against people 
protesting police violence.

Along the march route, the other Israel/Palestine update I gave was that 
Sen. Bernie Sanders is telling his colleagues in Congress to block 
funding to Israel. He says Hamas' attack was wrong but the response is 
disproportionate and violates international law. This is a big step for 
Sanders who's been reluctant to criticize Israel.

  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/02/bernie-sanders-reject-aid-to-israel

Believe it or not, the story about money for human needs not war this week 
came from none other than Fox News. But that's probably for the wrong 
reason: they are shocked that government spending has led the National 
Debt to go past $34 TRILLION for the first time. But they also 
happily support our $886 B military spending. Interest payments will be 
$1.4 trillion a year in a decade. Maybe if we cut "defense" dollars and 
helped ordinary people with housing, health care and education...?

  https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/us-national-debt-tops-34t-first-time-history

For the first time ever, the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign went out 
_while I was testing it after setting it up in the parking garage._ It 
came back to "life" at the Square and then did its usual conking out by 
the Gucci Store at Pioneer Place mall.

Please join us any time you can (and are feeling up to it and safe with 
all the respiratory illnesses out there), maybe even help us build our 
numbers at the Guantanamo event on the 12th (just six days away!).

Oh, and special side note (especially important if for some reason you 
were headed there in an hour from when I'm writing this): The Saturday 
sign holding at the east end of the Burnside Bridge hosted by Alliance for 
Democracy is on hiatus until April.

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

* This reminds me of one of my favorite Steven Wright jokes, where 
someone's closing up a business that says "open 24 hours" and he asks "hey 
I thought you were open 24 hours" and the person answers "yeah, not in a 
row."

** Oops, I need to update this page 
https://pjw.info/troopshomecampaign.html
with the 2023 letter to Gov Kotek
https://pjw.info/guardhomeletter2023.html