[pjw] REPORT BACK: saying something: Friday rally #260 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello again people who believe in peace

It was a drizzly and relatively (to the last few weeks) cold evening last 
night, so we only had four people at the Friday Rally for Peace and 
Justice. With just one week to go until our special event marking 22 years 
since the invasion of Iraq, we were only able to pass out a few flyers, in 
part because foot traffic was slow. We did get a lot of supportive honks 
from cars and a few positive comments from pedestrians, thin as that crowd 
was. (An unhelpful commenter by the Rialto said "you say 'Free Palestine,' 
I say 'free lunch.'" ??)

I was glad, though, to find that all of the extra flyers for the 21st were 
gone from the office door (assuming they went to people who actually 
wanted them), so keep circulating the news!

https://pjw.info/iraq22yl.html

"Gah!," I think is the proper term for trying to digest this week's news. 
Here are some samples of things we talked about:

--The US Department of Justice has established an "antisemitism task 
force" which is starting its national reign of terror in New York, Boston, 
Chicago and LA, looking to root out universities who... allow free speech? 
Probably coming to your town soon. Related: Trump signed an executive 
order to adopt the too-broad definition of antisemitism that equates 
criticism of the Israeli government with prejudice against Jewish people.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/13/doj-deploys-antisemitism-task-force-to-four-us-cities-as-part-of-crackdown-on-pro-palestine-protests/

--With the ceasefire supposedly entering its second phase, Israel killed a 
three year old with a drone strike in Gaza.

  https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/155543

---They also cut off electricity to Gaza and continued to block aid from 
getting in, violating international law through collective punishment. As 
pointed out by Doctors Without Borders.

  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-genocidal-acts-sexual-violence-gaza-war-hamas-un-experts-rcna196396

---The UN Human Rights Commission found that Israel used sexual violence 
in its response to the attack on October 7, as part of a means to 
degradate Palestinians.

  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-genocidal-acts-sexual-violence-gaza-war-hamas-un-experts-rcna196396

---Up north, Israel also continues to violate the Lebanon ceasefire, 
killing at least two people in airstrikes this week.

  https://thecradle.co/articles/deadly-israeli-airstrikes-hit-south-lebanon

--While Trump is trying to end the war in Ukraine, NATO has pulled that 
country's application for membership. Too bad they didn't think about the 
ramifications of pushing NATO up to Russia's borders BEFORE the war 
started three years ago.

  https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/1055716.html

---For its part, Russia might ok the US' proposed 30 day ceasefire but 
they want there no be weapons whipped to or military training  in Ukraine 
during that time. Will that also apply to Russia? If there's not a mutual 
de-escalation, it's not peace. Notably, all the right wing pundits using 
the word "peace" is making me anxious, because they mean absence of war 
and not the presence of justice.

  https://www.rt.com/russia/614167-putin-ukraine-ceasefire-guarantees/

--Some countries aren't falling for Trump's "I am a peaceful guy" 
rhetoric, as Iran's leaders rejected his written offer to negotiate a new 
nuclear deal. They noted that Trump is the one who tore up the 
then-existing deal in 2018, so why trust him now?

  https://www.axios.com/2025/03/12/trump-khamenei-iran-nuclear-negotiations

--Good old days, national version: Trump is invoking the Alien Enemies 
Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelans to Guantanamo. I am not a Venezuelan 
"gang member" but I just want Martin Neimoller to know that I am speaking 
up and saying this is wrong.

  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-alien-enemies-act-1798-deportations-guantanamo/

--In Syria, the new (former Al Qaeda) government announced a 5 year 
transitional constitution, which seems a long time. However, it 
reportedly includes guarantees for women's rights, so maybe it will turn 
out better than the Taliban's rules for Afghanistan. (Which is still not 
an excuse for the US to be holding $7 billion of Afghan money.)

  https://www.barrons.com/news/syria-leader-signs-constitutional-declaration-hailing-new-history-6ff9caa7

--In Iraq, the US has refused to renew the waiver for electricity coming 
from Iran, which has been in place since 2018. Which was during Trump's 
first presidency. So his "reluctant" turning up the heat on Iran with 
more sanctions was just crocodile tears.

  https://www.newarab.com/news/iran-us-decision-not-renew-iraq-sanctions-waiver-illegal

Good old days, local version: In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Portland 
Police would often crack down on people trying to help marginalized 
communities, such as Food Not Bombs and the May Day marches expressing 
solidarity with immigrants.

In the last few weeks, the police cracked down on a modern-day group 
offering food and supplies to houseless people, Portland FreeStore, 
arresting three and confiscating their items before they finished setting 
up...

  https://www.instagram.com/r3volutiondaddy/p/DG6iPMTSy6W/

...and harassed, hit with bicycles and fined marchers with Extinction 
Rebellion PDX who were marching in solidarity with immigrants.

  https://www.instagram.com/p/DGoZFAzSiJ9/

Along the march route, I talked about how five or more people were killed 
in a 24 hour period by the US-backed Israeli Defense Forces in their 
ongoing escalated raids. One of the dead was a 60 year old woman. Your tax 
dollars at work!

  https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/six-killed-west-bank-israeli-troops-clamp-down-2025-03-11/

Speaking of your tax dollars, the Democrats had a chance to block the 
"emergency" spending bill to avoid government shutdown by providing fewer 
than seven votes to the heartless plan. The bill increases the military 
budget by $100 billion while cutting money for things that help, rather 
than kill, people. So how did the Democrats, after years of having the 
other major party shut down all their efforts for years respond? By 
providing nine votes and letting the bill move forward.

  https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-advanced-gop-bill-avoid-221456398.html

Wow, I got through a whole report back without mentioning the name Elon 
Musk, but I'm sure you've all heard how he lost over $16 billion in worth 
as Tesla stocks are tumbling. Unfortunately that's like if you had $400 
and someone stole $16 from you. It would be a problem, but you'd still 
have $384.

  https://www.axios.com/2025/03/10/tesla-stock-twitter-down-musk

The Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign has been running a message about 
Guantanamo since early January, mostly because I wasn't paying close 
attention for about six weeks. I went back to the standards about "US out 
of" and "Justice 4." The sign turned off this week about four feet _ahead 
of_ the Mystery Spot rather than four feet _after_ as in the past few 
weeks.

This week marked five years since the World Health Organization pronounced 
COVID a pandemic. I remember the day that happened, Portland Copwatch was 
marching with allies outside the Portland Police Association headquarters 
in North Portland demanding a contract that benefits the community, not 
just the cops. What's changed since then? The pandemic's been declared 
endemic, the flu has overtaken COVID as this year's deadly virus, and the 
PPA moved their headquarters to Milwaukie. Hmm. Anyway, be safe out there, 
and feel free to join us sometime-- particularly next week for the special 
Iraq-focused event.

thanks
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group