[pjw] REPORT BACK: cut it out!: Friday rally #202 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Supporters of peace

This week's Friday Rally for Peace and Justice was met with persistent 
rain, which I guess is an improvement over the ice and snow? Nine of us 
rallied, and seven went on the full march (two took off early). One person 
came from an earlier pro-ceasefire rally for Palestine, hung out with us 
and decided to pick up a sign and march on.

We had a lot of support, including some comments about how important it is 
for us to be out there with our message. A California man who was at a 
national convention downtown said their mostly progressive organization 
was split generationally over the Israel/Palestine issue, but hearing the 
earlier rally led to a good conversation on the topic, so, he said, keep 
it up (even though it wasn't our rally he heard... but you get the point.)

We also got a good number of honking horns, particularly right as I was 
starting to read the week's news into our "bullhorn." I don't mind-- those 
are welcome interruptions.

Here's what we talked about this week:

--The International Court of Justice, which I was surprised to find is led 
by someone from the USA (what do they know about international law?) and 
has one of its 17 judges from Israel (ditto), ordered Israel to follow six 
of the provisions proposed by South Africa in its genocide case, but said 
"you don't have to do a ceasefire but just don't do genocide."

  https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/key-takeaways-world-court-decision-israei-genocide-case-2024-01-26/

(Side note: Uganda was the only country to vote against all the measures; 
the Israeli rep voted for two of them.)

---But in typical thumbing-of-the-nose, the US won't say if it will 
support the ruling.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/01/25/us-refuses-to-say-if-it-will-respect-icj-ruling-on-genocide-case-against-israel/

--I took a side trip from Israel/Palestine news to note that state power 
is enforced through violence not only by the military and police, but by 
the death penalty. This week, Alabama used nitrogen to kill a man on 
their third attempt to commit state-sanctioned murder. It was untested, 
accused of being cruel and unusual, but the Supreme Court OK'd it. 
Warning: DO NOT READ THIS FULL ARTICLE if descriptions of someone being 
deprived of oxygen in a public execution upset you.

  https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/us/alabama-execution-nitrogen-what-we-know/index.html

--OK, back to the heart of most of the world's crises: The US is planning 
to sell billions of dollars more in jets, helicopters and munitions to 
Israel, which is really a genius way to de-escalate (NOT).

  https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-advancing-deals-with-us-to-purchase-fighter-jets-attack-helicopters-and-munitions/

---Israeli protestors blocked aid trucks from going into Gaza three days 
in a row. I often comment how many countries, unlike most Americans, have 
populations who know the difference between the government and the people. 
Some Israelis like these are exceptions to that rule.

  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68103641

--Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin re-emerged from the 
hospital and says the US is considering withdrawing from Iraq at that 
government's request, and may also leave Syria. But don't hold your 
breath, you might also end up in the hospital.

  https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/01/25/u-s-wont-leave-iraq-or-syria-any-time-soon-00137640

---This announcement came after another attack on a US military base in 
Iraq last Saturday, the 151st attack on such bases in Iraq and Syria since 
the October 7 Hamas incursion led to the Israeli massacre of Palestinians.

  https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/01/22/troops-evaluated-for-tbi-following-attack-on-iraq-base/

---Following that attack was another US "retaliatory strike"

  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68077560

--Next door, the US claims it had intelligence about the attack that ISIS 
claimed responsibility for earlier this month where a bombing killed 80 
people and warned the Iranians about it. Hmm, curious how they knew this 
would happen and would warn their sworn enemy about it.

  https://apnews.com/article/kerman-us-warning-isisk-bombings-bcb47f04165b3eb7b9bc7b4868c8399c

--The US and the UK dropped bombs in Yemen nine times over the course of 
12 days.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/01/24/us-bombs-yemen-for-9th-time-houthis-attack-us-commercial-ship/

---They have named their "not-a-war" Operation Poseidon Archer, maybe 
because they're launching "arrows" from the water to the land? Or maybe 
they just pick random words from a hat.

  https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/22/politics/us-uk-strikes-yemen-iraq/index.html

By the way, you might want to play a "fun game" by counting how many times 
the mainstream media adds "Iran-backed" when talking about the Houthis or 
the militias in Iraq. It's a fun way to see government propaganda put on 
people who are making their own decisions. The US likes pointing to Iran 
greasing the wheels for war.

--Two Navy Seals died boarding a boat off Somalia's coast, which may or 
may not have had something to do with the Houthis' attacks on commercial 
ships.

  https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/21/politics/navy-seals-dead-somalia/index.html

--NATO, that lovely cold war relic, has started drills this week that will 
last UNTIL MAY involving 90,000 troops. They say this is the largest 
operation since 1988-- you know, before the Berlin wall fell. I guess 
we're being readied for wars with Russia and China (the latter of which is 
decidedly not in the North Atlantic).

  https://www.reuters.com/world/natos-largest-exercise-since-cold-war-kicks-off-2024-01-24/

In local news, you all may know that Portland Copwatch discovered in 2000, 
a year before 9/11, that the Portland Police had assigned officers to the 
FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Long story short, the JTTF annual report 
is out and will be considered at City Council this Wednesday, January 31 
in the morning. The report is a "nothing burger," noting they can't talk 
about the three cases the FBI asked for help with because they're open, 
and revealing that most of the cases from 2022 previously unreported were 
either about people with mental health issues or suspects they can't find.

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/report/jttf-2024

Along the march route I talked about how Israel has destroyed roughly half 
the buildings in a new "militarized zone" along the edge of Gaza, over the 
(weak) objections of the US. If they want to build a buffer zone, why not 
make it INSIDE THEIR OWN TERRITORY instead of shrinking Gaza even more?

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/01/25/israel-demolishing-buildings-in-gaza-on-israeli-border-to-create-buffer-zone/

Finally, while the Catholic Church has a decidedly mixed record, it's 
heartening that 19 US Bishops signed a letter asking for money currently 
spent on the military to instead be used to fund human needs. That's a 
familiar sounding refrain around here.

  https://angelusnews.com/news/nation/bishops-letter-military-spending/


The Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign was back in action, but froze up 
again by the Gucci Store and went out by the Apple Store. Back to 
"normal."

Feel free to join us any week at 5 PM down at the SW corner of Pioneer 
Square, help us get the word out and spread nonviolence.

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