Monday, December 02, 2019

Some anniveraries and events this December

This is list of some upcoming protests and political, cultural and art events, news, and historical events.  More items will be added during the month.

Publication news

The current issue of the US Marxist-Leninist Organization's Voice of Revolution newspaper is being distributed at the usual locations in the Triangle and possibly at some events.  Many back issues are available at:  www.usmlo.org and some are also available locally.    

Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity, an unrelated communist journal started this year in New York City, is online at:  redstarpublishers.org/TMLU.htm

David Price [D-NC] on Trump Impeachment

Here is a press release announcing Price's support for the impeachment of Trump in 2019.  He refused public pressure to support the impeachment of George W Bush and Cheney in about 2006, encouraging the continuation of Bush administration policies under Obama and Trump.  The impeachment articles against Trump are also very narrow, ignoring all of the other possibly illegal things he has ordered, but many Democrats are guilty of the same crimes.    


Support the Venezuela Embassy Protectors; journalist Max Blumenthal Arrested

The Embassy Protectors, Americans who occupied Venezuela's embassy in Washington with the permission of the elected Maduro administration, to prevent the US government and coup supporters from seizing the building, were removed by the US and now face trials on various charges.  Some could be imprisoned for up to a year and fined $100,000 dollars.  They are seeking tax-deductible donations to pay for legal fees as well as solidarity messages and actions by other groups.  For more information see:  defendembassyprotectors.org/

Journalist and author Max Blumenthal was arrested early in the morning on October 25th for alleged assault committed May 7th while delivering supplies to the Embassy.  Others were charged months ago and at the time people delivering supplies were attacked by coup supporters, with the complicit of the DC Police, or directly attacked by the officers.  Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting points out that this story has been buried in the mainstream US media, which likes to talk about defending journalists from governmental repression, but mostly confines its coverage to allegations that involve governments targeted by the US:  fair.org/home/max-blumenthal-arrest-exposes-hypocrisy-of-western-media-and-human-rights-ngos/

Still Spying on Dissent:  The Enduring Problem of FBI First Amendment Abuse

This is a report from Defending Rights and Defense (a merger of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the Defending Dissent Foundation) on FBI surveillance of political and social groups and movements over the last decade:   rightsanddissent.org/fbi-spying/

Chapel Hill Organization for Clean Energy vigils in Chapel Hill

CHOCE is holding vigils every Friday morning 8 - 10am outside UNC's coal-fired Co-generation Plant (504 Cameron Avenue, near the intersection with South Graham, a short distance west of the main campus; I think the municipal parking lots in Carrboro are free during the day and there is a paved trail along the railroad tracks to the facility).  For more information contact Richard (period) Gary 057 (at gmail).

Leaving fallen leaves

Durham is asking people not to put leaves in streets and they also should not be dumped in waterways.  Leaves naturally enter waterways and support aquatic life, but dumping large amounts could cause jams, carry in pollutants, and degrade water quality as the masses of leaves decay.  For biodiversity it would be best to let fallen leaves remain on the ground or use them for mulch.  For example, some charismatic giant and colorful Saturniid moths (such as tuliptree moths) attach their cocoons to leaves while they are still on the branches and then spend the winter on the ground, leaf litter encourages earthworms and enriches the soil, and leaf litter probably also insulates dormant plants on the coldest winter days.  Here is an article on leaving fallen leaves:  globalnews.ca/news/6060276/dont-rake-your-leaves/

Petition to Save the Catsburg Country Store

This iconic building with a black cat logo has been a landmark on Old Oxford Road near Penny's Bend on the Eno in East Durham for 100 years, and is to be demolished for construction.  A petition is being circulated to support moving it a short distance to a site by the new Sandy Ridge Elementary School and renovate it as a community center.  Closer to the Eno River there are several threatened plant species, and hopefully someone checked the Catsburg area before the new project was approved, though endangered plants have fewer protections than endangered animals due to the historical development of the legal system. 

Ten years after the US-supported Honduran coup

School of the Americas Watch is urging support for HR1945, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, to end "security aid:" www.soaw.org/take-action-on-the-10th-anniversary-of-the-military-coup-in-honduras/  There are currently 73 co-sponsors, none from North Carolina.   

For more information see:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/28/honduras-at-ten-years-after-the-coup-a-critical-assessment/

Also:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/11/the-honduran-coup-one-decade-later/

2020 Cuba Agroecology Tour

The Organic Growers School in Asheville organizes an annual tour looking at sustainable agriculture in Cuba, and the next tour will be January 7 - 16th, but the deadline to pay for 2020 was November 1st:  organicgrowersschool.org/events/travel-to-cuba-2020.  Despite the Trump administration's efforts to chill improving relations with Cuba, the tour will still go on.

Similar visits coming up January through March to Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are listed in email updates from the Alliance for Global Justice:  afgj.org/

Local farm worker solidarity events

See below for information on carpooling to Tarboro from Durham [and Chapel Hill] on December 11th to show solidarity with FLOC organizers charged with trespassing at the Greenleaf Nursery in Edgecombe County and the TFF meeting in Durham on December 16th. 

Library booksales

The last 2019 Friends of the Durham Library will be December 7 - 8th, and the hours will be 10am - 12pm members only and 12 - 4pm open to all on Saturdays and 1 - 4pm $10 paper grocery bag sales open to all on Sundays.  The sales are at Books Among Friends (Suite 252) inside Northgate Mall (1058 West Club Boulevard, Durham), formerly next to Sears (with Sears closed, people will have to enter through Entrance 8, between Foot Locker and Plato's Closet; Books Among Friends has a back service door, but it probably won't be left open).  There are small satellite sales at each branch daily ( durhamcountylibrary.org/friends/ ).

The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library's last sale in 2019 will be December 6 - 8th ( friendschpl.org/FCHPLevents ).

The Wake County Public Library's gigantic Annual Book Sale will be April 30 - May 3, 2020 in the Expo Center at the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh:  www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/booksale.aspx

Friends of the Chatham Community Library sales are announced at:  friendsccl.org/

Friends of the Lee County Library has occasional weekend book sales and a continuous book sale:  library.leecountync.gov/friends 

Many library book sales are listed at:  www.booksalefinder.com/NC.html

Mark Twain (Samuel L Clemens), acclaimed author as well as vice president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, was born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri.

The People's Republic of Southern Yemen (South Yemen) gained independence from the UK November 30, 1967.  North Yemen had been independent since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after WWI. 

November 30, 1981 the Reagan administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation, making Israel a strategic partner of the US.  The partnership was suspended after Israel annexed the Golan Heights December 14th, but it came back into force in 1983.  This is described in Fifty Years of Israel by Donald Neff, published in 1998.  This could bring to mind the way Democrats in the House of Representatives proclaim Ukraine a vital partner and the proposal to absorb the Republic of Georgia into NATO, both increasing the likelihood of bloodshed between the USA and Russia. 

Tens of thousands of people, many anarchists, protested the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle November 30th - December 1st, sometimes called the Battle of Seattle and N30.  It was a major event of the anti-globalization movement, later overshadowed by the need for anti-war organizing after 9/11.  There was a lot of organizing against globalization at UNC-Chapel Hill around then and some concessions against sweatshops overseas were gained from the administration.  The Battle of Seattle also included features such as the black bloc, heavy police repression, bans on protesting, etc. seen in many large protests in the early 2000's. 

Rosa Parks refused to yield her bus seat December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama.  Her trial began December 5th and there was a bus boycott for over a year. 

The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), the first and so far only Arab Marxist state, was founded December 1, 1970.  It merged with the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) in 1990, creating the Republic of Yemen.  There is currently a civil war and armed intervention by other Arab states and the USA and there are Southern Yemen secessionist movements.

December 1st is World AIDS Day, the first global health day ( www.worldaidsday.org/about/ )

The 2020 election filing deadlines are December 2nd - 20th:  www.ncsbe.gov/Elections/Candidate-Filing

The Obama administration's UN ambassador Samantha Power will speak at Duke's Penn Pavilion Tuesday, December 3rd 5 - 6:15pm:  ags.duke.edu/mc-events/samantha-power/?mc_id=101

Impeachment: Then and Now

Michael Gerhardt, Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence in UNC's School of Law and CNN's legal expert on impeachment; William Leuchtenburg, William Rand Kenan Jr Professor Emeritus of History at UNC; and moderator Martin Brinkley, Dean and Arch T Allen Distinguished Professor of Law at UNC will discuss the historical and legal context of impeachment at UNC's FedEx Global Education Center (in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium) Tuesday, December 3rd at 5:30pm.  There will be a reception afterward in the Center's Atrium.  For more information see:  www.unc.edu/event/impeachment-then-and-now/

Black Panther leader Fred Hampton was killed by the Chicago Police December 4, 1969. 

Plowshares Number Seven

The first Plowshares direct action disarmament in Europe and 7th in all was carried out December 4, 1983 in West Germany.  Carl Kabat, one of the Plowshare Eight defendants from the first action, in Pennsylvania, and Herwig Jantschik, Dr Wolfgang Sternstein, and Karin Vix of Germany cut through a fence at a US Army base in Schwabisch-Gmund, Federal Republic of Germany and damaged a Pershing II missile launcher.  The deployment of these American intermediate-range nuclear missiles in West Germany was apparently very unpopular and they no longer exist, thanks to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which Trump wants to withdraw from (Russia and China support the INF Treaty).  Kabat left the country while the three Germans were charged with trespassing, attempted sabotage, and destruction of property.  The defendants had the option of imprisonment or fines, so Jantschik was imprisoned for 90 days, Vix for 60 days, and Dr Sternstein paid 1800 Deutsche Marks.  Similar direct actions are still going on today.  See Swords Into Plowshares:  Nonviolent Direct Action for Disarmament, edited by Arthur J Laffin and Anne Montgomery, published in 1987.

Soviet Constitution Day was December 5th from 1936 until 1977, when a new constitution was promulgated (October 7th, the more recent Soviet Constitution Day).

The DPRK's Korean Central New Agency (KCNA) was founded December 5, 1946 ( www.kcna.kp ; includes sections in English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Japanese).

Imprisoned Japanese anti-imperialist Tsutomu Shirosaki was born December 5, 1947 in Toyoma, Japan.  A few years ago he was released from US custody, but is now finishing a previous prison sentence somewhere in Japan.  It might be possible to write to prisoners in Japan, but I haven't come across any information about where he is being held.  For background, see a previous post ( durhamspark.blogspot.com/2015/01/tsutomu-shirosaki-japanese-anti.html ) and denverabc.wordpress.com/prisoners-dabc-supports/political-prisoners-database/tsutomu-shirosaki/ .  If there is any news, it will probably be posted at: throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/tag/tsutomu-shirosaki/

The UN's International Volunteer Day (for Economic and Social Development) is December 5th:  www.un.org/en/observances/volunteer-day 

December 5th is also World Soil Day, raising awareness about soil erosion, depletion, and the importance of healthy soil for humanity and other species:  www.un.org/en/observances/world-soil-day

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is December 7th, marking the 1941 attack.  There are allegations of conspiracy on the part of the Roosevelt administration.  Many (but not all) citizens of Japanese descent and Japanese nationals were later interned in the US and Canada and their property taken (Wikipedia seems to indicate that other countries were involved as well).  The last people were freed in 1946 in the US and 1949 in Canada.

Apollo 17, the last mission of the Apollo program, was December 7 - 19, 1972.  Apollo 17 was the last time a human mission left Earth orbit, the only time a Saturn V was launched at night, it was the first and only time a professional geologist went to the Moon, it returned the largest lunar sample, had the most orbits and longest time in lunar orbit, the longest total time doing EVAs on the surface of the Moon, etc. (according to Wikipedia).  The crew included Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, Ronald Evans, and five pocket mice.

The First Palestinian Intifada began December 9, 1987.  There wasn't a single trigger, but on December 8th an Israeli military truck hit Palestinians close to the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza, killing four and injuring seven, and many thought it was retaliation for the killing of an Israeli salesman in Gaza a few days earlier.

International Civil Aviation Day is December 7th:  www.un.org/en/observances/civil-aviation-day

The 27th annual Chatham Studio Tour will be December 7-8 and 14-15:  www.facebook.com/events/chatham-county-north-carolina/2019-chatham-studio-tour/409473116262398/

The Treaty of Paris, ending the Spanish-American War, was signed December 10, 1898. 

Human Rights Day is December 10th (www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/ ) , marking the UN General Assembly's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 ( www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html ).  December as a whole is Human Rights Month.  The US and its allies often use "human rights" as justification for wars and policies carried out for economic or geopolitical reasons.  In addition, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights goes beyond the rights the US government talks about most prominently.

Environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill occupied an 180' tall coast redwood in California for 738 days, starting December 10, 1997, to save a forest from being clearcut by Pacific Lumber Co.  She endured winter storms and company harassment from the air and ground.  The tree was named Luna and is thought to have sprouted 1000 years ago.   

Carolina Wetlands Association Meet and Greet in Durham

Informally meet members of CWA's board of directors and hear about upcoming plans Tuesday, December 10th between 6:30 and 8:30pm at Durham's Fullstream Brewery.  For more information and RSVP see:  www.facebook.com/events/413987219485034/ 

International Mountain Day is December 11th and this year's theme is "Mountains Matter for Youth:"  www.un.org/en/observances/mountain-day

Hundreds of civilians were killed in El Mozote, El Salvador by the US Army-trained Atlacatl Battalion December 11, 1981.  There were other massacres nearby before and after the El Mozote Massacre.  This was during the Salvadoran Civil War, but El Mozote was seen as a neutral village. 

The DPRK launched its Kwangmyŏngsŏng [Bright Star or Lodestar]-3 Unit 2 Earth observation satellite into polar orbit December 11, 2012, making the DPRK one of the few countries able to independently send satellites into orbit.  There is tracking information online at  www.heavens-above.com if you want to look for it. 

Solidarity with FLOC Staff

As mentioned several weeks ago, organizers were charged with second-degree trespassing October 25th when they tried to talk with farmworkers at Greenleaf Nursery (near Tarboro), which gets workers through Salvador Barajas.  The organizers will be on trial Wednesday, December 11th at the Edgecombe County Courthouse in Tarboro (301 St Andrew Street).  There will be a carpool from Student Action with Farmworkers' Durham office (1317 West Pettigrew Street) at 7am, organized by Triangle Friends of Farmworkers and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee:  www.facebook.com/events/720491565105843/

TFF's December business meeting will be December 16th at 7pm at 130 Hunt Street in Durham (parking is available at a senior center across the road). 

December 12, 1954 Israel forced a Syrian Airways Dakota passenger plane to land at Israel's Lydda airport.  The four passengers and five crew were held and investigated for two days before being freed.  Allegedly Israel wanted hostages to bargain for the release of five Israeli soldiers captured a few days earlier inside Syria while retrieving equipment being used to wiretap Syrian phone lines.  This also comes from Donald Neff's Fifty Years of Israel.

December 11, 1955 paratroops, artillery, and mortar units under Ariel Sharon invaded Syria, killing 56 (including three women), injuring nine, and capturing 30, later exchanged for the Israeli soldiers captured in Syria's Golan Heights.  There was speculation that Israel also wanted to provoke a war with Egypt (Syria and Egypt were unified as the United Arab Republic).

The Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (National Agrarian Bank) on Milan's Piazza Fontana was bombed December 12, 1969, killing 12 and wounding 88; there were other bombings and attempted bombings elsewhere in Italy the same day.  Initially more than 80 anarchists were arrested, and late on December 15th anarchist railroad worker Giuseppe Pinelli fell to his death from a fourth-floor window at a police station, which was ultimately ruled an accident.  Later fascists were charged.  There are allegations that intelligence agencies of NATO countries, including the CIA, abetted the bombings to stop massive strikes and keep the Communist Party of Italy (PCI) out of the government.  This also relates to NATO's formerly secret terrorist network, called Gladio in Italy.  Italy's Years of Lead began in fall 1969 and lasted until the late 80's.  The PCI was the largest "Western" communist party and scared the bourgeoisie, but it took a revisionist course and became a prominent example of Eurocommunism.  In 1991 it became the social-democratic (or "democratic socialist") Democratic Party of the Left.  See:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/20/gladio-the-story-of-a-conspiracy/  

There was a military coup in the Republic of Korea December 12, 1979, followed by a bloodier coup beginning May 17, 1980. 

December 12th is the International Day of Neutrality ( www.un.org/en/events/neutralityday/ ) and International Universal Health Coverage Day ( www.un.org/en/events/universal-health-coverage/ ).

The Nanking Massacre or Rape of Nanking began December 13, 1937 and continued into January during the Second Sino-Japanese War.  Nanking (or Nanjing) was the capital of China at the time. 

Plowshares Number Two

December 13, 1980 Peter De Mott damaged the USS Florida (SSBN-728), an Ohio-class submarine originally equipped with Trident nuclear missiles, just before it was launched at the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut.  DeMott was a member of Jonah House in Baltimore, Maryland and a former seminarian and Vietnam veteran.  During the launch ceremony for the USS Baltimore (SSN-704), a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, DeMott came upon a security van left unlocked and with its keys in the ignition, and spontaneously used it to dent the USS Florida's rudder.  He was convicted of criminal mischief and criminal trespass and was imprisoned for one year (Swords Into Plowshares).  According to Wikipedia, the USS Florida launched Tomahawk cruise missiles to disable Libyan air defenses at the start of Obama's 2011 war, the first military action by that submarine or any of its sister ships.  For more on DeMott see: www.commondreams.org/news/2009/02/21/peace-activist-peter-demott-dead-after-fall and www.ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/committed-life-peter-demott

CommunEcos - "Radioactive Wolves:  Chernobyl's Radioactive Wilderness"

From the announcement email:  

"A quarter century after the Chernobyl disaster, forests around the shuttered reactor in the Ukraine remain too deadly for humans to live [I think people have moved back to some areas in the exclusion zone without official permission and visitors and workers are allowed entry]. This 60 min. film asks what happens when humans disappear from nature? – Researchers in the dead-zone are finding that populations of top predators like wolves, and the complex ecosystem they depend on, are surprisingly healthy. The philosophical question this poses is provocative: What if humans are worse for nature than radioactivity!  This PBS Nature documentary resonates with findings from Alan Weisman’s book The World without Us – which has a chapter on post-human nuclear zones, and many other abandoned area that Gaia has been busy reclaiming. [December 13th at 6:30pm] Location: the EcoLounge, at 2811 Hillsborough Rd. Durham, NC. Use side entrance"

CommunEcos' annual Solstice Potluck will be Friday, December 20th at 6:30pm at a different location in Durham.  
December 14, 1981 the Israeli Knesset passed the Golan Heights Law, applying Israeli laws to the Golan Heights, Syrian and disputed Lebanese territory occupied by Israel, and this was seen as annexation and condemned even by the Reagan administration.

Muntadhar al Zaidi famously threw his shoes at George W Bush December 14, 2008 in Baghdad, among other things saying "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq!"

Durham's annual Holiday Parade and Fun Fest will be Saturday, December 14th starting at 10am rain or shine, and includes contingents from community organizations:  www.dprplaymore.org/309/Holiday-Parade-and-Fun-Fest   

The Chapel Hill - Carrboro Holiday Parade will be Saturday, December 14th 10am - 12pm:  www.chapelhillarts.org/calendar/chapel-hill-carrboro-holiday-parade/

Bill of Rights Day is December 15th (the US Bill of Rights was ratified December 15, 1791).  Durham City and County used to make annual proclamations for December 15th, thanks to a campaign by the Durham Bill of Rights Committee, but that might not be done now.  The DBORDC no longer exists, but there might still be an Orange County BORDC, and there is a national organization (it changed names in 2016):  rightsanddissent.org/news/bill-rights-day-celebrate-mobilize-remember/  There is usually a public reading of the Bill of Rights at Chapel Hill's Peace and Justice Plaza on the 15th.

December 15, 1970 the Soviet space probe Venera 7 (Venus 7) was the first human spacecraft to land on another planet and send telemetry, confirming that Venus is a hell of runaway greenhouse warming, sulfuric acid, and crushing atmospheric pressure, rather than a pleasant and watery, cloud-covered world. 

The US and UK bombed Iraq December 16 - 19, 1998, calling it Operation Desert Fox.  This occurred during the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton.  The US attacked Iraqi military and civilian targets off and on throughout the period between the two US-Iraq wars (1991 to 2003).

Durham City Workers and Community Speak-Out!

From the Facebook announcement: 

City Workers and Community are calling for:
- a Fair Grievance Procedure
- No more Hostile Work Environment
- Safe Parks & Rec Programs for Youth

For the past 2 months, City workers have been campaigning for a fair grievance procedure to give them needed protections on the job from unwarranted discipline and retaliation for reporting concerns. Parks & Rec workers have been leading the way and are particularly concerned about the erosion of the School Age Care programs. Join us in this public forum to hear the stories of workers across the city, as well as parents who will be speaking out

This will be Monday, December 16th 7 - 9pm at the Tobacco Workers International Union Local 176 (205 South Gregson Street) and is hosted by UE150 NC Public Service Workers Union:  www.facebook.com/events/757514854717605/

Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest outside a government office in Tunisia December 17, 2010, setting in motion the protest movement that overthrew authoritarian President Ben Ali January 14, 2011 and spread to other countries, becoming the Arab Spring.  Bouazizi was left comatose and died January 4, 2011.  Many others in Tunisia and a few people in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Europe set themselves on fire in similar acts of protest in early 2011. 

The Cuban 5 political prisoners were all free by December 17, 2014.  They had been arrested in 1998 while monitoring anti-Cuban terrorist groups in Florida.

BAJ - Judith Ferster:  One Democratic State

Balance and Accuracy in Journalism's email announcement:  



SAVE THE DATE

           7:30 pm {{{TUESDAY}}} December 17

       at the Community Church of Chapel Hill, UU

                      106 Purefoy Road

                     

    Balance & Accuracy in Journalism 
                      presents

                 Judith Ferster:
           ONE DEMOCRATIC STATE
Report from recent Palestine encounters
  with grassroots democracy leaders
           

As the beautiful carols of Christmas echo around the world,
Bethlehem and other familiar Holy Land sites are scenes
of dispossession and armed occupation.  How do the people 
who lived through Roman, Ottoman and other regimes 
and occupations cope and strive for return of their rights 
and dignity today?

NCSU Professor emerita Judith Ferster
was one of six people recently traveling with Miko Peled
to visit with grassroots equal rights leaders 
across Palestine.  

Judith brings photos and observations, reporting to us 
on prospects for security, diversity and inclusion 
for all the people of the region.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


   [    ]


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


DIRECTIONS TO BAJ MEETING SITE
106 Purefoy Road, Chapel Hill
  Community Church, Unitarian Universalist       
  FROM EITHER DIRECTION ON THE CHAPEL HILL BYPASS:
  take 15-501 [or NC 54] to the 15-501 Pittsboro exit
  As you exit, TURN at the traffic light toward Chapel Hill.
  Almost immediately TURN RIGHT just short of the convenience store.
  That's PUREFOY ROAD, and you take it almost half a mile,
  passing two stop signs as it curves left  up the hill
  until you can - just - see the third stop sign ahead of you.
  At that point, there is a driveway on the left
  with a subtle, tan sign for the church.
  That driveway takes you to the parking lot and the Community Church.

  ~~~~~~~~ 


In Operation Linebacker II the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was heavily bombed (with about the same explosive force as the two nuclear bombs used on Japan) from December 18 - 29, 1972, hitting a hospital, residential areas, dikes, electrical facilities, etc. and killing over one to two thousand civilians just weeks before the Paris Peace Accords were signed to end the Vietnam War ( revcom.us/a/574/american-crime-case-number-34-1972-christmas-bombings-of-north-vietnam-en.html ). 

International Migrants Day is December 18th:  www.un.org/en/events/migrantsday/

There are UN days celebrating several languages, and Arabic Language Day is December 18th.

According to The Long Surrender, by Burke Davis, Walter Williams of Houston was the last veteran of the Civil War, dying December 19, 1959 at age 117.  He had served under Confederate General John Hood.  The last Federal veteran was Albert Woolson of Duluth, who died about three years earlier.  According to Wikipedia, the last known widow of a veteran of the Civil War died August 17, 2008, but someone receiving a Civil War pension was still alive more recently.  The last people enslaved prior to Emancipation also probably lived well into the 20th century.  Forced prison labor remains legal (forced labor or not, products made by prisoners are regularly used by state entities in North Carolina, such as the state parks), and people are illegally enslaved in the US today.    

The 6th Democratic presidential primary debate will be Thursday, December 19th in Los Angeles.  The other six official Democratic National Committee approved debates will be in early 2020, in addition to ongoing independent forums with the candidates. 

South Carolina was the first state to secede, December 20, 1860.

George HW Bush attacked Panama December 20, 1989, resulting in hundreds to thousands of civilian deaths, including American civilians and a Spanish journalist.  Poor neighborhoods were burned and demolished, thousands were deprived of work, and churches, embassies, unions, and other institutions were violated by searches and seizures ( revcom.us/a/540/american-crime-case-43-the-US-invasion-of-panama-1989-1990-en.html ).  The war also allowed the USA to test new weapons, including the Humvee, AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, and F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter.

Portugal restored Macau to Chinese sovereignty December 20, 1999.

The UN's International Human Solidarity Day is December 20th:  www.un.org/en/events/humansolidarityday/

The winter solstice is December 21st this year.

Georgian Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet statesman Joseph Stalin (Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili) was born December 21, 1879 or 1878 in Gori, now in the Republic of Georgia, but at the time part of the Russian Empire.  Many of his writings are available online at www.marx2mao.com/Stalin/Index.html and www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/decades-index.htm     

Thomas Sankara, called Africa's Che Guevara, was president of Burkina Faso from 1983 until he was assassinated October 15, 1987.  Sankara was born December 21, 1949, in the northern town of Yako, in what was then the French colony of Upper Volta.  Some of his writings are posted at:  www.marxists.org/archive/sankara/index.htm

Soldiers organized informal Christmas truces during WWI (especially on the Western Front, but also on the Eastern Front), especially early in the war (1914) and less so in later years.  In many cases these truces were repressed and covered up by those in power.   

Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were executed December 25, 1989

Romanian President and General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party Nicolae Ceaușescu, his wife Elena, Romania's Deputy Prime Minister, and others were captured December 22, 1989.  Whatever their revisionism or alleged crimes, the Ceaușescus were barely given a trial before being executed by firing squad on the 25th (Christmas).  The Romanian Communist Party vanished, but former members continued to run Romania.  Apparently the Ceaușescus were the last people killed before Romania abolished the death penalty.

Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics December 25, 1991, one of the last events after many years of active destruction and dismantling, not passive and inevitable "collapse" of the Soviet project.

Sen Katayama, co-founder of the Japanese Communist Party and an official in the Comintern, was born December 26, 1859.  He was also one of the first members of the CPUSA and is buried in Moscow's Kremlin Wall Necropolis.  Some of his writings are available at:  www.marxists.org/archive/katayama/index.htm 

December 26, 1862, following the Dakota War, 38 Dakota or Dakota Sioux were hung, the largest mass execution in US history.  303 Dakota were convicted of murder or rape, some in trials lasting less than 5 minutes, and without defense attorneys, but Lincoln commuted 264 prisoners and one more received a reprieve.  They were buried in a mass grave, possibly after skin was taken from some of the bodies, and graverobbers later stole some of the bodies for anatomy specimens.  Except for a group that helped the American settlers, the rest of the Dakota lost their reservation and were exiled from Minnesota over the next few months, and many died during the journey.  Any Dakota found in Minnesota could be killed for a bounty of $25 dollars.  The unrelated Ho-chunk tribe was also expelled.  Some Dakota remained in Minnesota or returned 20 years later.

Chinese revolutionary and statesman Mao Zedong (or Mao Tsetung) was born December 26, 1893 in Hunan Province, People's Republic of China.  Many of his writings are available online at www.marx2mao.com/Mao/Index.html and at  www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/date-index.htm  

The 40th anniversary of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan

The USSR intervened in Afghanistan December 27, 1979, killing President Hafizullah Amin, accused of conspiring with the CIA, and installing Babrak Karmal.  The Afghan government had previously requested additional Soviet military support, but obviously not the overthrow of the Khalq faction of the People's Democractic Party of Afghanistan, in favor of Karmal's Parcham faction.  The US and other countries were materially supporting Afghan Islamists before December 1979, ultimately leading to the creation of al-Qaida, the Taliban, the Afghan branch of ISIS, and fueling the civil wars that destroyed Afghanistan.  Getting involved in Afghanistan was also disastrous for the USSR.  During this period the US, UK, China, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt aided anti-government forces, often brutal Islamic fundamentalist warlords, though there were also Maoists. 

Israel attacked Gaza from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009 (Operation Cast Lead), killing or displacing thousands of Palestinians, mostly civilians, while 10 Israeli soldiers were killed, four by friendly fire.  Rockets fired by various armed resistance groups killed three Israeli civilians and injured or scared hundreds.  Israel was accused of using white phosphorus as a weapon, as well as depleted uranium, and birth defects and blood cancer became more common after the war.  Palestinian civilians were used as human shields, Israeli soldiers robbed homes, etc. though there was some prosecution in Israel later.  Agricultural, fisheries, and humanitarian aid facilities, universities, schools, mosques, hospitals, and civilian shelters were damaged or destroyed, including the UN Relief and Works Agency headquarters in Gaza City where tons of food, medicine, and fuel were stored (the building was hit by white phosphorus munitions, and the chemical fires could not be extinguished).  As in Yemen today, much of this was done with American weapons, which supposedly are not to be used to commit war crimes.  The Gaza War was followed by a joint Israeli and Egyptian blockade.  At the time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said "We support Israel, very strongly as a national policy, because it is in our national interest to do so" (and the Democratic Party still has this in its platform, as well as an "undivided" Jerusalem that is the capital of Israel, giving Israel state of the art weapons, and condemnation of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement:  democrats.org/about/party-platform/#middle-east ).  In June 2010 Chuck Schumer endorsed Israel's policy of collective punishment, saying "...since the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, while certainly there should be humanitarian aid and people not starving to death, to strangle them economically until they see that's not the way to go, makes sense."  He also said Hamas was waging "total war."  Pelosi and Schumer both have long advocated moving the US embassy in Israel to disputed Jerusalem, as Trump has now done.  In the summer of 2008 and again in 2013 Obama went to southern Israel and said war is justified over rockets fired from Gaza, while doing little to end the suffering of the Palestinian people, and Trump is even less interested in appearing even-handed ( revcom.us/a/574/american-crime-case-30-us-armed-backed-massacre-in-gaza-en.html and Wikipedia). 

The Apollo 8 mission was December 21 - 28, 1968, and was the first Saturn V launch with a crew and the first crewed mission to leave Earth orbit and orbit the Moon.  The three crew members, Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, were the first to visit another celestial body and see the Earth 'rise.'  An influential photo taken on the 24thby Anders might have helped the development of environmental protection movements.

The anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, itself in danger from Trump and Republicans, but also from Democrats, is December 28th. 

The Wounded Knee Massacre was December 29, 1890 in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  US soldiers went to disarm a camp of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Lakota and it became a massacre of 300 men, women, and children, with an additional 51 wounded, some fatally.  25 soldiers were killed and 39 wounded, some fatally.  Many of the soldiers received the Medal of Honor.   

December 29th a Free Gaza ship carrying relief supplies, doctors, journalists, and others, including former Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney was intercepted by the Israeli navy.  Free Gaza says their ship was in international waters when shots were fired and it was rammed after refusing to turn back. Another Free Gaza ship was intercepted January 15th.

The Communist Party of Germany's founding congress was December 31, 1918 to January 1, 1919 in Berlin.

The Cuban Revolution overthrew Fulgencio Batista January 1, 1959.

Jewish terrorist group Irgun Zvai Leumi carried out a truck bombing outside the city hall in Jaffa January 4, 1948 killing 26 and injuring about 100 civilians.  The driver wore a uniform of the British army, occupying Palestine at the time. 

The last recorded sighting of the Las Vegas (or Vegas Valley) leopard frog, native to Clark County, Nevada, was January 13, 1942, when 10 were collected at Tule Springs.  It was thought to be extinct, due to habitat loss, making it the only frog native only to the USA to have become extinct in historical times, but a 2011 study argued that the Las Vegas leopard frog was genetically to the Chiricahua leopard frog, which still exists and inhabits a larger area, but is also imperiled, by habitat destruction and the chytrid fungus epidemic.

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were tortured and killed in Berlin January 15, 1919 by the Freikorps working with the Social-Democratic government of Germany.

January 15th is Chosŏn'gŭl Day in the DPRK, celebrating the creation of Korea's writing system in the 15th century. 

 George HW Bush launched the Gulf War against Iraq, over its occupation of Kuwait, January 16, 1991. 

A peasant uprising began in western El Salvador January 22, 1932 but it was quickly defeated.  Afterward the government killed tens of thousands of alleged communists and Indians.

NC Green Party Winter Gathering 2020

The NC Green Party's Winter Gathering will be January 25 - 26th at The Seedbed in Mebane, Alamance County (6602 Nicks Road), which has limited sleeping space.  Non-members are probably welcome to attend as in previous years.  Among other things, any revisions to the party platform and bylaws will be considered, if they are signed by three members and submitted to the secretary at least 14 days in advance.  There will probably also be social events.   

The Vietnam War ended January 27, 1973, from the US point of view, with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, but fighting continued in divided Vietnam.

During the night on January 29, 2001 someone used a commandeered bulldozer to destroy the Vietnam Veterans Living Memorial, near the Museum of Life and Science in Durham.  A few days later the memorials US flag was stolen.  Except for the granite base, the memorial had to be rebuilt from scratch, and was re-dedicated that November.  No suspects were arrested.  The memorial was first dedicated August 8, 1992.  For more information see:  docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/195/

According to Wikipedia, the first and only time a submarine has sunk another submarine while both were underwater happened February 9, 1945, when HMS Venturer sank U-864 off Norway.  U-864 was carrying jet engine and missile guidance system components, as well as mercury, to aid Japan. 

Playwright Bertolt Brecht was born February 10, 1898 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. 

Hungarian revolutionary Béla Kun (Béla Kohn) was born February 20, 1886 in a Transylvanian village that was part of Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time and is now in Romania.  Some of his writings are posted at:  www.marxists.org/archive/kun-bela/index.htm and otheraspect.org/bela-kun-and-hungarian-soviet-republic/

UNAC 2020 National Conference

The United National AntiWar Coalition's 2020 Conference:  Rise Against Militarism, Racism, and the Climate Crisis - Building Power Together will be February 21 - 23 at The People's Forum in New York City.  For more information see:  www.unacconference2020.org and www.facebook.com/events/1031747913836142/

Super Tuesday 2020 Primary Election

The presidential primary elections for various parties will be on Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020, so North Carolina has much more influence in the presidential primaries this time.

The NC Board of Elections now certifies voting machines that could steal the vote electronically, but Durham is still using machines that collect a paper ballot marked by the voter, leaving a voter-marked paper trail for manual recounting.

International Days of Action Against Sanctions and Economic War

The UNAC is calling for actions March 13 - 15th against the economic warfare being conducted by the USA and its allies to dominate the world, most effecting the poorer and weaker parts of a country's population.  UNAC says 39 countries are being targeted, equaling a third of the world's population:  sanctionskill.org



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