Showing posts with label Honduras. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honduras. Show all posts

Saturday, September 23, 2023

September 2023 issue of Torch published

The September issue of The Torch, newspaper of the Independent Workers' Party, has been published and will be available online at:  www.independentworkersparty.org/  This is a united front and welcomes anyone who agrees with the basic principles listed on the website.  People can contribute articles, poetry, and photos; donations and volunteer distributers are also needed.  The IWP has held webinars on the second Great Depression and the continuing struggle in Haiti (available on YouTube, in French and English, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jSqjdJGlH4 )



Contents:


The Military Insurrection in Niger 


Lahaina tragedy 


Russia and America / An Interpretation Dr W.E.B Du Bois 1950 Chapter 1  – A Quest for Clarity (continued)


A letter to Canadian legislator Annie Koutrakis against Canada's role in the proxy war in Ukraine  


Haitian letter to Russia's UN ambassador against foreign intervention, in French and English


27th Latin American and Caribbean Brigade of Solidarity with Cuba stem in the U.S. [, in Spanish and English]

180,000 UPS part-timers left out of Teamsters' Deal

Friday, December 03, 2021

BAP: Democracy scores another victory over the US in Honduras

This is a statement from the Black Alliance for Peace ( blackallianceforpeace.com ) on the victory of Xiomara Castro, presidential candidate of the Libre Party, in the Sunday, November 28th Honduran election.  She will be the country's first female president and its first leader in decades not from the Liberal or National parties.  Honduras has been led by the National Party, including current president Juan Orlando Hernandez, for most of the years since the June 28, 2009 US-abetted coup against Manuel Zelaya, Castro's spouse [There was an anti-"JOH" contingent at the Women's March on the Pentagon in October 2018:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2018/10/reportback-from-womens-march-on.html ; for more details about the election see:  www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/02/libre-party-and-presidential-candidate-xiomara-castro-win-big-in-honduras-elections/ ].  


Democracy Scores Another Victory Over the U.S. in Honduras

Black Alliance for Peace Statement on Honduran Elections

The anti-colonial, pro-human rights members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) welcome the resounding victory of the people of Honduras. “Again, the people of our region have registered their unwavering commitment to authentic democracy and the right to national self-determination with the victory of President-elect Xiomara Castro in Honduras,” states Jemima Pierre, coordinator of BAP’s Haiti/Americas committee. 

The people of our region and the world remember the criminal assault on democracy that took place in Honduras in 2009 as one of the first acts of the newly elected Obama/Biden Administration. But with the election of Xiomara Castro, it is clear the coup stalled but did not reverse the momentum in Honduras for national independence, despite the death and systematic repression unleased on the population by the U.S. backed fascist regime.  

“Just over the last two months, from Nicaragua to Venezuela and now Honduras, it is clear that the dogs of war and repression represented by the gringos from the North are unable to squash the spirit of the peoples of our region for People(s)-Centered Human Rights and national liberation. When we free Haiti and remove the illegal and immoral blockade against Cuba, the momentum for finally ejecting the U.S. and its antiquated fantasies of continued domination of our region and peoples will be unstoppable,” according to Ajamu Baraka, Black Alliance for Peace National Organizer. 

BAP salutes the people of Honduras for this incredible victory and pledges to fight with them to protect their hard-won victory, a victory that is really a triumph for all of us. 

No compromise, no retreat! 
 

"The Democratic Party wants war with Russia, the Trump administration wants war with China, so it's up to the people to demand and struggle for peace against both pro-imperialist war parties."

- Ajamu Baraka, National Organizer


ICMLPO Europe: Communiqué on the border "crisis" in Poland

Below is a November statement from the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations in Europe on the border/migration crisis involving three members of the EU, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, and Belarus.  The EU accuses Belarus of luring people from Iraq and elsewhere who seek to immigrate to the EU into the country and then pushing them across the border into EU member states, to retaliate against the EU for supporting the overthrow of the Belarusian government.  The migrants would probably prefer to settle in a country such as Germany rather than Poland.  Media such as the BBC talked about migrants being inhumanely or violently treated by Belarus and wandering in Polish border forests without adequate gear for the cold, food, or medical attention and later migrants were stuck in camps along the border, not being allowed to enter Poland or re-enter Belarus.  The EU talks about the rights of migrants, but supports its members in forcefully keeping migrants out and not allowing them to present their case for asylum.  On the other side of Europe there is a dispute between the UK and France over migration across the English Channel into the UK, often resulting in death as unseaworthy boats provided by smugglers sink, as also happens in the Mediterranean Sea as people try to reach EU members Italy and Greece [as well as the Republic of Malta, south of Sicily and also an EU member].  


It could be noted that the Biden administration recently reinstated the Trump policy requiring would be immigrants to wait in Mexico and it never ended other policies.  The US funnels undocumented immigrants into the desert and criminalizes the offer of aid, such as water or transportation, and any supplies found by the Border Patrol are destroyed, resulting in a large death toll.  EU countries have also tried to prevent humanitarian aid to migrants, including in Poland.  The US government under Obama and Biden supported the 2009 coup in Honduras and US meddling in Haiti and then they act surprised when corruption, violence, economic problems exascerbated by the US, and possibly climate change cause mass migration northward.  Despite the example of Honduras Biden is still trying to the overthrow the governments of Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela and using economic warfare to make life difficult for the people.  Australia also has a history of using harsh measures against unauthorized migrants.  It could be asked what will be done if or when climate change causes millions to migrate within and between countries as the climate becomes intolerable and low-lying areas are inundated by the ocean?  [See also:   www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/03/let-them-drown-let-them-freeze-to-death-just-keep-them-out/ ]


This month another European border crisis is being created, as the EU and USA accuse Russia of threatening to attack Ukraine, which borders Russia and Belarus and had its government overthrown under Obama and Biden.  On the other hand the mainstream media says it is totally baseless to consider military manuevers by the US and its allies on the borders of DPR Korea, China, Russia, etc. as threatening or intimidating those countries.


The ICMLPO statement was originally posted in English:  cipoml.net/en/?p=302 and in Turkish at:  www.cipoml.net/tr/?p=474




ICMLPO Europe: Communiqué on the border "crisis" in Poland  

 

Stop using migrants as sacrificial pawns for the interests of the ruling class!  

The migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland is in the public spotlight.  

Workers and peoples are witnessing the dramatic conditions of thousands of migrants coming mainly from the Middle East, trapped in the cold, between a barbed wire fence and the armed forces on the same border of the two countries, while international tension grows.  

Poland and the EU are accusing Belarus of sending in an intentional and organized form migrants in retaliation for sanctions, while Belarus is denying such charges and is threatening to cut off Russian gas supplies to the EU countries.  

It is clear that immigrants are victims of the "geopolitical" disputes between Belarus and Russia, on the one hand, and Poland and the EU, on the other.  

No bourgeois power cares about the people fleeing their countries to achieve a better life, devastated by decades of imperialist policies, aggression, oppression and misery.  

Poland's government, after refusing for a year to redistribute immigrants arriving to Italy, Greece, Spain, etc., has fenced off its border, even though it is a member of the EU, "defender of freedom and democracy."  

The imperialist leaders of the EU are now expressing solidarity with Morawiecki [Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish Prime Minister from the Law and Justice Party], after having accused him for months of trampling on the "rule of law" in Poland and extending sanctions to Belarus.  

These hypocritical evildoers are the same ones who paid Erdogan to stop migration to Europe; who put pressure on countries in Africa and the Middle East to take similar measures; who did nothing to deal with a problem that had been known for months.  

The facts confirm that bourgeois freedoms and human rights are just words; that in practice all the principles touted by the ruling class are thrown overboard.  

This is also true for Belarus and Russia, which not only take into account their own bourgeois-state interests in rivalry and competition with the Western imperialist powers, but also against the workers and oppressed peoples.  

The European members of the ICMLPO:  

  • Denounce the repressive actions of the Armed Forces and the violence of the State against migrants, which are acts of aggression against the workers and peoples of the world and increase the danger of war.  
  • Call on the workers and peoples to raise their voices against the reactionary, provocative and warmongering policy of the bourgeoisie, and to stand in solidarity with the immigrants, who have the right to be assisted and accepted in the EU.  
  • Condemn the imperialist and capitalist states as responsible for the drama on the border between Belarus and Poland, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Balkans and on other migratory routes.  

The cause of the problems affecting humanity is the capitalist-imperialist system, and the solution can only come from the revolutionary establishment of a new and superior social order: socialism!  

ICMLPO Europe  


Saturday, October 31, 2020

Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity volume 2, issue 3 out, etc.

A new issue of Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity, a Journal of Discussion and Debate, came out today, though it has not yet been posted online, at:  redstarpublishers.org/TMLU.htm

 

Contents:

On the US Presidential Elections.

Elections Won’t Defeat Fascism, Only We Can

Communist (PCUSA) for Congress in Vermont!

Poem: The Carpet Weavers of Kuyan-Bulak Honor Lenin 

Natural History Museum’s Racist Statue Still Stands

Fully Reopen the Libraries, and more

Cuomo and New York State Legislature Make Ballot Access More Difficult for Third Parties

Humor and Stupidity Article

Is There a Need for a Marxist-Leninist International?

 

Artículo en español  

 

¿Hace falta la Internacional Marxista-Leninista?

 

Also, here are a few corrections to previous posts, notes on Tuesday's elections, etc.: 

 

Bush and Obama tried to overthrow the government of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, first elected when Bill Clinton was the US president, and almost succeeded in the spring of 2002. Nicolas Maduro was first elected in April 2013 and has been targeted by both Democrats and Republicans ever since.  

 

Trump almost started a disastrous war with Iran at the start of 2020, but it could also be mentioned that, if not for Russian diplomacy, Obama seemed to be about to start a direct war against Syria in 2013, and the US has been waging a proxy war against Syria.  Since I wrote that post it could be noted that while Obama and Hillary Clinton supported the 2009 coup in Honduras and successful removed president Zelaya, a year ago Trump supported the coup in Bolivia against Venezuela ally Evo Morales of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) and, though Morales is still in exile, a recent election again gave the presidency and legislative majority to MAS.   

 

Also, did NCCU's WNCU 90.7 FM censor Democracy Now! shortly after 7:30pm Monday, October 19th because Jeremy Scahill (?) was rightly condemning Obama for killing American citizens, some minors not accused of any crime, overseas, as well as condemning Trump's violence?  The broadcast was interrupted and did not continue, without explanation.

 

Supposedly China, Iran, and Cuba want Biden elected, which would be some of his best endorsements if true (yet Biden attacks Trump from the right on China and the media is media is beginning to talk about the possibility of a war with geographically huge, populous, technologically sophisticated, and nuclear-armed China in the near future, such as on the BBC yesterday).  After a prolonged period of silence, a new issue of the Revolutionary Organization Labor, USA's newsletter is calling for voting for Biden, as are some other Marxist groups (ROL supported Jill Stein of the Green Party in 2016).  That could be the correct course, but on the other hand the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (publisher of Fight Back!) supported the Obama campaign (I think beyond just voting), and then the Obama-Biden administration spied on and harassed them for anti-imperialist organizing.  Every four years the line from some is that we have to vote for some awful Democrat, because the "ultra-right," greatest mass murderers in history (whatever Noam Chomsky has been saying) Republican Party is worse, and we can vote for a better candidate in some future election that will never come (in the meantime holding the awful Democrat's 'feet to the fire,' but more effort and money is put into electing Democrats than to criticism and holding them accountable, organizing a better option, or demonstrating when they engage in "humanitarian interventionist" wars, "pivot to Asia," shield CIA torture and NSA domestic surveillance, push "free trade" agreements and austerity, engaged in mass deportations, broke up Occupy Wall Street, wouldn't consider Medicare for All or a real Green New Deal, etc. ).       

 

Before the primary election, I think the Independent Weekly said Democratic US Senate candidate Cal Cunningham had been involved in the 751 South project, which would explain why his name seemed familiar and would be a large negative mark if true.  

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Some July events and anniversaries

More items will be added during coming weeks.

Marxism-Leninism Today

Hari Kumar, primary instigator of the groups Alliance Marxist-Leninist and International Struggle Marxist-Leninist, has set up a new blog focusing on Marxist-Leninist history and analysis of current news:  ml-today.com/

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 61 co-sponsors, but none representing North Carolina.  Demonstrations and deadly repression is going on in Honduras now, though it is not often mentioned by the mainstream media.   


RSN article:  "Why is NPR Carrying Water for Trump on Venezuela?"

readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/57038-rsn-why-is-npr-carrying-water-for-trump-on-Venezuela

NPR station WUNC 91.5 FM's FCC license is coming up for renewal after 8 years this December, and comments can be made (until November) about whether it is serving the public interest, such as in its coverage of the plot against Venezuela, attempts to cool down relations with the DPRK, and attempts to inflame relations with Iran.  [I think the renewal application will be around August 1st and comments can be made until November 1st, and information can be found at WUNC's office at the Friday Center or at the FCC, but I will have to check the details.]

Support the Venezuela Embassy Protectors

The Embassy Protectors, who occupied Venezuela's embassy in Washington with the permission of the legitimate government, to prevent its seizure by the US government and coup supporters, were removed and now face trials on various charges, and some could be imprisoned for up to a year and fined $100,000 dollars.  They are seeking tax-deductible donations to pay $50,000 in legal fees and solidarity messages and actions by other groups.  For more information see:  defendembassyprotectors.org/

NPR and the Democratic presidential primary

As always there is the question of how much a candidate's popularity is influenced by the mainstream media.  NPR has been covering some of the candidates for a few months.  I might have missed more extensive reporting about Tulsi Gabbard ( www.tulsi2020.com/ ), but it is hard to recall any mention of her candidacy until a few days ago, maybe on July 10th's Morning Edition, when a woman reporter called Gabbard an isolationist, a negative term like "populist" for NPR, the BBC, PBS, etc., rather than using a term like non-interventionist, anti-imperialist, anti-war, or foreign relations "dove."  A warmongering "hawk" who supported the Iraq War or advocates war with Iran now is respectable, but an "isolationist" is suspect, though diplomacy is engagement with the world.  The very brief mention was reporting Gabbard's support for Trump's recent meeting with Kim Jong Un, but also mentioned her own meeting with something like "the dictator of Syria" (no name was given).  On foreign policy Gabbard seems to be left of Bernie Sanders ( berniesanders.com ).  Some on the left have criticized her record and positions, but she seems to be generally on the left of the Democratic Party, and I appreciate her condemnation of the plot against Venezuela, rare among national Democrats, and support for peaceful relations.  Mike Gravel ( www.mikegravel.org/ ; his campaign store is at secure.actblue.com/donate/gravelmerch and has ""Compost the Rich" stickers, "Send Dick Cheney to the Hague" hats, etc.) might be most progressive of all, but is apparently getting fewer donations.  During a national election in Japan a few years ago an English-language news show from the NHK (Japan's public media) carried on NC's PBS station reported on candidates from something like 10 or 15 parties, including the social democratic Communist Party of Japan.  On the other hand US media says very little about what a candidate proposes to do or has done when in office and talks mostly about a few candidates.  The left candidates are generally ignored or talked about in ways that let you know where the big media and Democratic Party establishment stand.  Maybe there are studies of media coverage of Sanders in the 2016 election to demonstrate this rigorously.  20-something major Democratic candidates is a lot, but NPR has enough time to give them all extensive coverage and it would be a public service (for more information see:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries and there is a linked page about policy, but information on Wikipedia should be taken with a grain of salt).  Once the primaries end, the media mostly ignores third parties (less so the Libertarians), except to blame them for taking votes 'owned' by a Democrat or Republican.  I can't recall hearing any major mention of the Green Party's Jill Stein in mainstream media before November 2016, but I have after the election, even about a week or two ago.  Howie Hawkins seeks to be the Green Party's 2020 candidate, but I don't know if anyone else is running. The Socialist Party and others should also field candidates, but then there is the issue of whether votes for them will count, due to oppressive ballot access laws in various states.  In 2016 some third parties nominated candidates who were constitutionally ineligible to serve, and they lacked ballot access.  Greens (as well as Libertarians and the Constitution Party) will appear on North Carolina's ballot and votes for them should be counted under the law.    

Library booksales

The Friends of the Durham Library will have booksales August 3 - 4, October 5 - 6, and December 7 - 8, and the hours for all of these sales 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 a space inside Northgate Mall, next to the former location of Sears (with Sears closed, people will probably have to enter through a side entrance and the FODL store's back service door won't be open).  There are small satellite sales inside the library branches daily ( durhamcountylibrary.org/friends/ ). 

The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library will have book sales September 13 - 15 and December 6 -8 ( friendschpl.org/FCHPLevents ).

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

Three cosmonauts on Soyuz 11 were killed in space June 30, 1971 due to depressurization through a damaged valve as they prepared to leave orbit after being the first (and only) crew on Salyut 1, humanity's first space station.  Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to have been killed in space.

International Asteroid Day is June 30th.  That day in 1908 there was a massive explosion over Siberia, leveling about 830 square miles of forest in a sparsely inhabited region.  The night sky was unusually bright in parts of Europe and Asia for several days after the event.  More recently an asteroid exploded high above the city of Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains of Russia February 15, 2013 with the force of 440 kilotons of TNT, far more powerful than the atomic bomb used on Hiroshima, and caused many injuries and damage ( www.un.org/en/events/asteroidday/ ).

Around June 30th or between July 1st and 4th, 1520 Spanish conquistadores under Hernando Cortés and a much larger force of native allies were driven out of the Aztec/Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan with heavy losses (what the Spanish called La Noche Triste).  They also lost much of their stolen gold, heavy weapons, and horses.  The retreating invaders were constantly harassed, but won the Battle of Otumba in July and were able to escape from the Valley of Mexico to friendly Tlaxcala.  Shortly before La Noche Triste Mexican ruler Moctezuma II (also known as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin) was killed.    

The Battle of Gettysburg was July 1 - 3, 1863 in Pennsylvania, and was the Civil War battle with the most casualties, missing, wounded, or killed.  Together with the Federal capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4th July 1863 is seen as a turning point in the War.  

Canada Day is July 1st, marking the Constitution Act, 1867.

Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control July 1, 1997 and the "One Country, Two Systems" policy is supposed to continue until 2047 in Hong Kong.  Protests have been going on in Hong Kong, often mentioned by the BBC. 

World UFO Day is marked July 2nd or June 24th.  Something crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947 and Kenneth Arnold's famous sighting in Washington state, which resulted in the coining of the term "flying saucer," was June 24, 1947. 

July 3, 1988 the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in Iranian airspace while the cruiser was in Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War.  Everyone onboard was killed, a total of 290 civilians (66 children), mostly from Iran, but including people from the UAE, India, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, and Italy.  Allegedly the climbing Airbus A300 airliner was mistaken for an F-14 fighter descending for an attack.  The US government expressed regret and paid restitution in 1996, but refused to apologize and the captain and crew of the Vincennes later received various awards.

March 10, 1989 the captain's minivan, driven by his wife, was set on fire by a pipebomb in San Diego and who set the bomb remains unknown. 

See also:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/17/remember-the-vincennes-the-uss-long-history-of-provoking-iran/

The Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, passed the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776. 

Trident Nein

Two years after the Plowshares Number Two protest, on July 4, 1982 nine peace activists entered the General Dynamics Electric Boat facility in Groton, Connecticut to declare independence from the Trident program and nuclear weapons (thus nein, no in German).  Four canoed over to the USS Florida submarine, hammered at its missile hatches, spread blood, and spraypainted "U.S.S. Auschwitz" on the side in about 30 minutes before being arrested.  The other group of five went to the south storage yard to hammer and pour blood on two Trident sonar spheres and were arrested three hours later.  Their jury trial lasted two weeks, but they weren't allowed to make a justification defense or have expert witnesses testify about the risks or legality of Trident.  The nine were sentenced to imprisonment for up to a year and had to pay $1386.67 to the Navy for criminal, mischief, conspiracy, and criminal trespass.  This description is from the book Swords Into Plowshares:  Nonviolent Direct Action for Disarmament, edited by Arthur J Laffin and Anne Montgomery, published in 1987.      

Fourth of July festivities

There will be readings, tabling, etc. at Carrboro Town Hall Wednesday, July 4th 11am - 4pm:  www.facebook.com/events/198813814360336/

Chapel Hill will have a fireworks show July 4th in Southern Village 6 - 10pm:  www.facebook.com/events/351184608922912/

Pittsboro Summer Fest will be Sunday, July 7th 4:30 - 9:30pm:  www.facebook.com/events/251396195738237/

The annual Festival for the Eno [the 40th] will be July 4th and 6th:  www.enoriver.org

German communist Clara Zetkin was born July 5, 1857 in what is now Königshain-Wiederau in Saxony, Germany.  She was a founder of the Spartacist League and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, a member of the Communist Party of Germany and represented it in the Reichstag from 1920 to 1933, on the Comintern's executive committee, and she helped found International Women's Day (March 8th).  She died July 20, 1933, exiled in the USSR following the Nazi seizure of power, and her ashes are interred in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.  Many places in the German Democratic Republic were named after her posthumously.     

International Co-operative Day is July 6th (the first Saturday in July).


The next Carrboro Really, Really Free Market will be Saturday, July 6th 2 - 4pm at the Carrboro Town Hall Commons:  www.facebook.com/events/430848741090732/ and it is Tomato Day 2019! at the Carrboro Farmers' Market 8:30 - 11:30am:  www.facebook.com/events/432525447571058/  

The Second Sino-Japanese War began with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, near Beijing, July 7, 1937 (and ended in 1945).  The First Sino-Japanese War began July 25, 1894 and ended in April 1895. 

Charles Emil Ruthenberg, a founder and executive secretary of what is now called the Communist Party USA was born July 9, 1882 in Cleveland, Ohio.  He was jailed more than once for anti-war, labor, and just left political organizing.  He died in March 1927 in Chicago, but his ashes are interred in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

BAJ: A GOOD AMERICAN + Special Guest Ray McGovern ["95% certain" he will be able to attend]

       7:30 PM Wednesday July 10, at the 
Community Church of Chapel Hill, 106 Purefoy Road

          Balance [and] Accuracy in Journalism
                          presents
            A stunning documentary on 
         NSA mathematician Bill Binney
     and his terrorism tracking software
                        ThinThread

     
 Friedrich Moser and Oliver Stone's
             A GOOD AMERICAN


A post 9/11 test of ThinThread on pre 9/11 data
   found the highjackers’ activities and more.  
But Binney's cutting edge system that preserved 
U.S. citizens’ privacy had been shut down in an act of 
reckless privatization.  Higher budget, outsourced software 
that unconstitutionally invades the privacy of us all, had
failed to see 9/11 coming. Soon Binney and his team 
were raided by the FBI to seize all records of ThinThread’s 
effectiveness and to cover up the greatest NSA failure 
in its history. 

Trailer: 
http://agoodamerican.org/trailer

BAJ programs routinely feature principled examples 
of service to others.  This documentary exemplifies 
why Ray McGovern, Bill Binney and others created 
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
The project is comprised of former US intel officers 
with decades of experience in the CIA, FBI, NSA 
and other agencies.  We have heard before from Ray 
McGovern.  He described for us the meeting of Tom Drake,
one of the ThinThread team targeted by false charges, 
with Edward Snowden when the Sam Adams Integrity 
in Intelligence award was presented to Snowden in Moscow 
by VIPS.  “At least our suffering was not wasted” was 
in Drake’s expression, as Snowden personally met 
the people whose experience had forewarned him 
what his internal whistleblower experience would
have been.

The most recent VIPS memo to the White House is on Iran: 
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/06/21/vips-memo-to-the-president-is-pompeos-agenda-the-same-as-yours/ 
Full list of prior memos:
https://consortiumnews.com/vips-memos/

[ ]

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

What happens when the UN Special Rapporteur on torture
Prof. Nils Melzer offers an opinion piece on the treatment 
of Julian Assange to major publications?
Melzer is the Human Rights Chair of the Geneva Academy 
 of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and 
 Professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow. 
 
Read about it at the Irish Indymedia site:
Or down the page at https://raymcgovern.com/
   It begins, 
On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Torture Victims, 26 June 2019
I know, you may think I am deluded. How could life in an Embassy 
with a cat and a skateboard ever amount to torture? That’s exactly 
what I thought, too, when Assange first appealed to my office for protection. 
Like most of the public, I had been subconsciously poisoned by 
the relentless smear campaign, which had been disseminated 
over the years. So it took a second knock on my door to get 
my reluctant attention. But once I looked into the facts of this case, 
what I found filled me with revulsion and disbelief.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 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.
 ~~~~~~~~

Mexico's National Tree Day (arbor day) is July 11th (the second Thursday in July).

VUSE Boycott actions

Join twenty Student Action with Farmworkers ( www.saf-unite.org/ ) 2019 interns in picketing a Circle K in Raleigh (4100 Western Boulevard, park at the nearby Food Lion) Thursday, July 11th 3:30 - 4:15pm.

Triangle Friends of Farmworkers is giving Circle K stores low ratings on review sites and plans to meet Wednesday, July 17th, probably at Duke's Center for Documentary Studies, to write more, details TBA.  

Here is an example: 

Circle-K REVIEW:  Location:  5009 Fayetteville Road, Garner/Raleigh, NC                     July 7, 2019
“This Circle K always has a wide variety of snacks, and a gal can’t live without her favorite snacks and a sturdy cup of coffee.  Add to that the convenient location, chit-chatty workers and my loyalty is hooked.  It is a source of frustration to me, however, that Circle K continues to stock VUSE e-cigarettes in defiance of a nationwide boycott supporting FLOC, the farm workers union, which means, by extension, that Circle K also supports the inhumane treatment those workers endure from Reynolds Tobacco.  Since I, a stubborn Missouri Mule in Garner, refuse to support cruelty in any form, this means I can no longer stop here even if I am craving a Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème cookie.   So instead of the high grade I would like to give this business,  I must give a "one" until such time as the corporate values of Circle K align with my personal values regarding the way farm workers are treated.  Please pressure your management to support this move for justice.  Please hurry - ease your conscience and my withdrawal symptoms.       Thank you for your consideration”.  

The Storming of the Bastille fortress in Paris was July 14, 1789 during the French Revolution and July 14th is the French National Day. 

Apollo 11 lifted off July 16, 1969 and lunar module Eagle touched down on the Moon July 20th.  On July 21st Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on another celestial body.  Later they rejoined Michael Collins in the orbiting command module and returned to Earth July 24th, landing in the Pacific Ocean.  Apparently Michael Collins lived in North Carolina recently, in Avon, a town on the Outer Banks north of Cape Hatteras.

Pantex Disarmament Action

July 16, 1985 Richard Miller of Des Moines, Iowa working alone for seven hours removed 39 feet of rails from a spur connecting the Department of Energy's Pantex Nuclear Weapons Assembly Plant to the main Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.  Precautions were taken to prevent a crash or injury.  At that time if not today the assembly of all US nuclear weapons was finished at this plant in Amarillo, Texas.  Miller also displayed a banner saying "Pantex=Auschwitz . Stop the Trains."  He is quoted as saying "At Auschwitz the trains carried the people to the crematoria; at Pantex, the trains carry the crematoria to the people."  He received a Federal jury trial on the charges of wrecking trains and destroying national defense materials and was sentenced November 8, 1985 to two concurrent four-year prison sentences and did not appeal.  This information comes from the Swords Into Plowshares book referred to above.     

According to Wikipedia, the Japanese city of Numazu was firebombed July 17, 1945, the largest raid on that city during WWII.  130 B-29s dropped 1,039 tons of incendiaries at night, creating a firestorm, thought to have destroyed 9523 houses and killed about 274 civilians.  In all Numazu was bombed eight times during the War, in all killing 322 people, seriously injuring 634, destroying 11, 883 houses, and demolishing almost 90% of the city.  The city wasn't very large (www.ditext.com/japan/napalm.html says Numazu was comparable to Waco, Texas), but included industrial and transportation targets and was used as an alternative target for bombers using nearby Mount Fuji for navigation.  Large parts of many cities in Japan were burned, requiring many bombers, but by August 1945 the US military would be able to destroy cities with just one airplane and one bomb, and the USA and UK contemplated launching a nuclear attack against their Soviet ally.  Numazu is in Shizuoka Prefecture, on the coast relatively close southwest of Tokyo.  Modern-day Numazu has become more famous in Japan and the US as the setting for the TV anime Love Live! Sunshine!!, which has nothing to do with war and peace, but does relate to problems caused by Japan's ageing and decreasing population.

The Nicaraguan Revolution overthrew the Somoza government July 19, 1979.  The main revolutionary organization, the FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front), was founded July 19, 1961.  The US supported the rightist Contras, including with the Iran-Contra deal, eventually leading to the electoral defeat of the FSLN.     
 
NC Green Party Summer Gathering

The NC Green Party ( www.ncgreenparty.org/ ) will have a statewide summer meeting July 20 - 21 at the Seedbed in Mebane (6602 Nicks Road on the east side of Alamance County).  I think non-members are welcome to attend Saturday, July 20th, which will include a presentation on building independent political power, skills building sessions, sessions to establish several issue-based working groups, a dinner, etc.  July 21st will be about strategy.  There are some rudimentary accommodations at the Seedbed and nearby motels/hotels.    

National Moth Week is July 20 – 28 www.nationalmothweek.org/ ).  There will be events at the NC Botanical Garden and other parks. 

The Downing Street Memo records a meeting off high level British officials July 23, 2002 about US plans to attack Iraq.  These minutes and other documents were part of the case for impeaching President GW Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes relating mostly to the Iraq War, but that campaign didn't get as far as the effort to impeach Trump over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, etc.  Powerful Democrats in Congress were against impeaching Bush and Cheney and the result is that few were punished for what happened during the "War on Terror" and now some of the same people have national power again under Trump and might be engineering an even bigger war with Iran.  Crimes against peace aren't treated as an impeachable offense in the USA. 

July 24th marks 10 years since the minimum wage was last increased, though if it was tied to inflation it would be far higher than $15/hour now. 

The Annual National Meeting of the Green Party US will be July 25 - 28 in Salem, Massachusetts and the registration cost will increase July 1st:  salem.gp.org

Apollo 15 launched July 26th and returned August 7, 1971, and was the 4th human landing on the Moon, the 9th crewed Apollo launch, the first mission to drive a Lunar Roving Vehicle, demonstrated that a hammer and a feather fall together in the absence of air resistance, collected the Genesis Rock, etc., though Apollo 15 was also tarnished by controversies, such as the selling of postage stamps carried on the mission. 

Apollo 17 at the end of 1972 was the last mission, though more had been planned and some hardware was leftover.  Apollo components were used in the Skylab space station and the joint Apollo-Soyuz Test Program with the USSR and there was an idea for a human flyby of Venus.  Despite frequently talking about it, decades later no country has launched a human mission to Mars, a near-Earth asteroid, back to the Moon, or anywhere else (and the US has to rely on much reviled Russia to get astronauts to the ISS, though maybe soon the government will pay a private corporation to get  its astronauts into space).  It seems like a crewed successor to Apollo could have been done by now or in the near future if a government, not necessarily the USA, had committed to a plan and funded it.  On the other hand many discoveries have been made by the fleet of robotic spacecraft launched by several countries over the decades.   

Balance and Accuracy in Journalism meeting in Durham:  Media Bias on Palestine

"August-in-July Balance & Accuracy in Journalism program
                6-7:30 THIS TUESDAY July 30th IN DURHAM
      at the Stanford L. Warren branch of the Durham County Library
                         1201 Fayetteville Street, Durham  
 
Speaking to BAJ audiences at important junctures, Dr. Rania Masri 
has shared her research with us on US and Mideast policies.  
Her analysis has been durable, even predictive, and on the side 
of humane outcomes.  Does justice or peace have a chance
in severely rigged media dynamics?  How can struggles for fair dealings 
be supported by readers, listeners and viewers? 
What does the Palestine issue have in common with our 
fight for clean air, democracy, demilitarized community policing 
and climate stability?
 
BAJ joins the Demilitarize Durham 2 Palestine Coalition in presenting this program:
 
Palestinians usually make it into mainstream coverage only 
when they are protesting or physically confronting Israeli aggression. 
How does media bias seep into the way they are covered and 
how does this effect the global perception of Israeli occupation? 
 
Come join us Tuesday, July 30th from 6 to 7:30 PM at the 
Stanford L. Warren branch of the Durham County Library (1201 Fayetteville St.)
 for an interactive media bias workshop, led by Dr. Rania Masri, 
a political ecologist and activist scholar. Dr. Masri has presented 
at hundreds of speaking engagements around the world and has 
more than 20 years of experience speaking to the press across 
various platforms. People of all levels of knowledge and 
awareness on Palestine are welcome. 
 
And there will be free food & refreshments!
 
This event is brought to you by the Demilitarize from Durham2Palestine coalition, 
Muslims for Social Justice, Balance and Accuracy in Journalism, 
Migrant Roots Media, Duke Students for Justice in Palestine, and 
the Jewish Voice for Peace Triangle NC chapter. 

   [  ]
   Balance & Accuracy in Journalism

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I plan to bring related disks and info for sharing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DIRECTIONS TO BAJ MEETING SITE

This special 6-7:30PM program is at the Stanford L. Warren branch of the Durham County Library (1201 Fayetteville St.)
The library is a few blocks north of NC Central University, on Fayetteville Street, and a few blocks south of the Durham expressway.
 ~~~~~~~~"

SAF End of Summer Celebration

This fundraiser for Student Action with Farmworkers will be Sunday, August 11th 1 - 4pm at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh.  Meet the community of SAF supporters and enjoy food, music, and art, and the announcement says something about the opening of NCSU's corn maize:  www.saf-unite.org/content/saf-end-summer-celebration

Triangle Friends of Farmworkers late summer activities

TFF will cook for the FLOC Black-Brown Unity Tour bus coming to North Carolina from Toledo, Ohio August 27th.  To help, come to 130 Hunt Street in Durham anytime 1 - 6pm August 26th, possibly also August 27th, and the morning of August 29th members will go to the FLOC office in Dudley to set up a lunch. 

The next anti-VUSE picket at a Circle K, in Chapel Hill or Carrboro, is tentatively scheduled for September 3rd, details TBA.

The campaign to give Circle K one-star reviews on Google and Yelp continues.  If you do it at home, let them know your name, the store's address, the date, and optionally your review.  Just on July 17th members left about 60 reviews.   

TFF's next business meeting will be September 23rd at 7pm at 130 Hunt Street in Durham.

The 62nd Annual Convention of the NC AFL-CIO will be September 19 - 20 in Charlotte.

The Global Climate Strike will be September 20.

The NC Museum of Natural History's BugFest will be September 21st and this year's theme is beetles (almost 1/4th of all known animal species are beetles).

Demand an End to War:  Rage Against the War Machine

This sequel to the March on the Pentagon last fall ( durhamspark.blogspot.com/2018/10/reportback-from-womens-march-on.html ) will be Friday, October 11th in front of the White House and the Anti-Imperialist Revolution Summit will be Saturday, October 12th ( marchonpentagon.com/demand-an-end-to-war-rage-against-the-war-machine/ ).

Close the School of the Americas

School of the Americas Watch is organizing a demonstration outside Fort Benning, Georgia (near Columbus and the border with Alabama) November 15 - 17.  November 16th is the 30th anniversary of a massacre at the Central American University in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1989. 

Saturday, June 01, 2019

Reportback from Mayday in Durham and some summer events and anniversaries




Rallying in front of the downtown Durham McDonald's ©. 

Reportback from the Durham May 1st March

I wasn't there for the entire event, but I saw groups or people from Fight for $15, IWW, Durham Workers Assembly (the initiating organizer of the march), the Socialist Party (there were several flags and their 2016 presidential candidate supported it), the NC Green Party, and probably the WWP.  There must have been more groups represented (see the cosponsor list).  I didn't count, but there seemed to be roughly 50 people (possibly more, but fewer than 100) at the ending rally, which is small compared to events elsewhere, but large for a local labor demonstration on a Wednesday and maybe transportation is an issue or local activists went to the larger statewide teacher demonstration all day in Raleigh.  I think some Fight for $15 organizers went into the McDonald's while the main rally stayed on the road that evening.  As we arrived someone, possibly the manager, was gesturing futilely from inside for the marchers to go away.  I don't know of any mainstream media coverage.  Marchers were in the street but the Durham Police stayed out of view.  The organizers plan to march again next year.

Midsummer Calendar

This calendar lists regional events of general left interest and cultural events, along with notable historical anniversaries and news.  More items will be added during coming weeks.

RSN article:  "Why is NPR Carrying Water for Trump on Venezuela?"

readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/57038-rsn-why-is-npr-carrying-water-for-trump-on-Venezuela

NPR station WUNC 91.5 FM's FCC license is coming up for renewal after 8 years this December, and comments can be made (until November) about whether it is serving the public interest, such as in its coverage of the plot against Venezuela, attempts to cool down relations with the DPRK, and attempts to inflame relations with Iran. 

Library booksales

The Friends of the Durham Library will have booksales June 1 - 2, August 3 - 4, October 5 - 6, and December 7 - 8, and the hours for all of these sales 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 a space inside Northgate Mall, next to the former location of Sears (with Sears closed, people will probably have to enter through a side entrance and the FODL store's back service door won't be open).  There are small satellite sales inside the library branches daily ( durhamcountylibrary.org/friends/ ).   

The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library will have book sales September 13 - 15 and December 6 -8 ( friendschpl.org/FCHPLevents ).

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

During the Tulsa Race Riot May 31 - June 1, 1921 in Oklahoma there was fighting on the ground and firebombing using private airplanes.

National Trails Day is June 1st.

Controversial project 751 South (Ryan Homes) near New Hope Creek has an opening event Saturday, June 1st 12 - 4pm at 812 Watercolor Way ( www.facebook.com/events/473807706720241/ ).

World Bicycle Day in June 3rd ( www.un.org/en/events/bicycleday/ ).

The International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is June 4, and was created in 1982 following the deaths of many Palestinian and Lebanese children due to Israeli aggression.

General Francisco "Pancho" Villa was born June 5, 1878 (under the name José Doroteo Arango Arámbula).  He sent a raiding party into Columbus, New Mexico March 9, 1916 during the Mexican Revolution, and was accused of being behind raids in Texas.  A US Army force was sent into Mexico for a year and was the first to use motorized transport and aircraft, but failed to find Villa.  He was assassinated July 20, 1923.

Irish revolutionary James Connolly was born June 5, 1868 in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He was executed by firing squad May 12, 1916 after the Easter Rising against British rule was crushed.

Naksa Day is June 5th, marking the beginning of the Six-Day War. 

World Environment Day is June 5th ( www.un.org/en/events/environmentday/ ) and the International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, for example the plundering of fisheries around war-torn or weak countries that can't adequately patrol their coastlines ( www.un.org/en/events/illegalfishingday/ ).

The first playable version of Soviet videogame Tetris was created June 6, 1984.  It went on to become one of the most popular videogames ever made and may be useful therapeutically and have health benefits.

World Food Safety Day is June 7thwww.un.org/en/events/foodsafetyday/ ).

Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats repeatedly attacked the signals intelligence gathering ship USS Liberty in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War, killing 34 and injuring 171 personnel.  The ship was decommissioned and later scrapped.  Israel provided compensation for the casualties and the damage to the Liberty. 

World Oceans Day is June 8th ( www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/ ).

Italian-American anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti was born June 11, 1888 in Villafalletto, Italy and was executed with Nicola Sacco August 23, 1927 for an alleged armed robbery and murder. 

The World Day against Child Labor is June 12th (  www.un.org/en/events/childlabourday/index.shtml ).

Chapel Hill Town Council to discuss coal ash dump 

The Friends of Bolin Creek ( bolincreek.org/blog/ ; includes a petition on the coal ash) is asking people to attend the Town Council meeting Wednesday, June 12th at 7pm at the Town Hall (405 MLK Jr. Boulevard) and demand that there be regular monitoring, a long-term solution to the problem, and budgeting to solve the problem instead of putting it off again.  The coal ash is buried at the Chapel Hill Police headquarters up the road from the Town Hall and near Bolin Creek and a trail, and apparently there is a cliff of toxic coal ash bordering Bolin Creek and in places the layer of coal ash is 40' thick.  The government of Chapel Hill wants to let a company build social service facilities or housing on the site under the Brownfields Program.  I haven't been following the issue closely, but I wonder if the ash is from UNC's Co-Generation Plant, in a residential area on Cameron Avenue, the only place burning coal that I know of within a large area ( www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/31/putting-values-into-action/ ).  A train can occasionally be seen trundling slowly through crowded central Carrboro carrying loads of coal, a still active remnant of Carrboro's industrial past.  It's possible that UNC isn't the only entity that still uses coal, for example there is a cement plant nearby.  Under an agreement with student groups many years ago, UNC's coal-burning was probably supposed to have been ended by now or soon (Missy Comley Beattie's article posted on Counterpunch refers to an end in 2020, but I don't know if that is the same agreement).   


BAJ's June meeting:  Climate Action Confronts Economics of Crisis

From Balance and Accuracy in Journalism:

"7:30 PM Wednesday June 12, at the 
Community Church of Chapel Hill, 106 Purefoy Road
           Balance & Accuracy in Journalism
                            presents
      Tana Hartman Thorn and Betsey Downing
                          of the local 
         Citizens Climate Collective (CCC)
                                 on
            Economics Driving the Crisis
The smallest of climate response groups can draw on the strongest and clearest analysis to support responsible action.  Tana Hartman Thorn, a member of the local Citizens Climate Collaborative (CCC), will introduce a video spotlighting a deep problem:  the current market system that promotes insatiable growth, profligate production of cheap goods, gluttonous consumption, and generation of toxic waste.  In the words of Douglas Brown, “Insatiable is not sustainable.” Tana and climate educator Betsey Downing will lead the discussion.
Australian military researchers now say drastic large scale changes are necessary if human civilization is to survive.  What are those changes and what can individuals and communities do to counter the disinformation spread by Fox News and much social media plus mainstream media indifference?  
Can Greta Thunberg and our own children save us? 
What can we do to protect their future?  
We make the path by walking.


    [ ]
Balance & Accuracy in Journalism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alternative Radio’s recent broadcast of Dahr Jamail’s talk,
Climate Disruption, presents the realities seen by the scientists 
most closely tracking the melting of ice. We’ll share CDs of his talk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 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.
~~~~~~~~ "

June 14th is the USA's Flag Day, marking a resolution by the Second Continental Congress in 1777, the US Army was founded June 14, 1775, and apparently Donald Trump was born June 14, 1946.  Americans often have issues with people burning or otherwise mistreating the national flag in protest, even though it is also put on all sorts of things, often violating official flag etiquette and even civic virtue.  Other countries don't seem to have so many controversies over how their national flag is treated, or it is rarely reported in English-speaking media. 

Ernesto (Che) Guevara was born June 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina, but became famous for his role in the Cuban Revolution, and also fought in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bolivia, and traveled to many other countries.

CommunEcos:  "A Simpler Way:  Crisis as Opportunity" screening

From CommunEcos:

"Friday June 14, 6:30 pm Join us to watch: 
'A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity'
In 2014 a call was put out in Australia for volunteers to join a 12-mo. project called 'A Simpler Way,' with the goal of finding alternatives to modern society in response to environmental and economic crises. The participants formed an intentional rural community in Gippsland, Victoria. This 2016 film uses interviews and discussions with residents to tell the story of their motivation and discoveries. Their thoughtful commentary, combined with input from experts like permaculture expert David Holmgren and Nicole Foss (The Automatic Earth), help make a  compelling case for rethinking our way of life. 1 hr. 19 min. Location: The EcoLounge. 2811 Hillsborough Rd., Durham, NC 27705.  The spring green house (across from ABC Store) w/ 'Friends of the Earth' sign (although they are not us);  Use side entrance (to right of porch);  Park next door in supermarket lot for best lighting. Light refreshments served, and we pass the hat for suggested donations, no one turned away.
 
Next week:  Fri. June 21, 6:30 pm – Screening of a new and highly controversial film Sexy Killers, exposing the devastating impacts of the still expanding coal industry in Indonesia. The film has “gone viral” with millions of viewers despite attempts by authorities to suppress it.  (scroll down for more)
 
CommunEcos, (former home of the Recyclique creative reuse shop) is a non-profit that hosts films and educational events on sustainability and community empowerment!
2811 Hillsborough Rd., Durham, NC 27705
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Community News:
 
From Dogwood Alliance: Just days after woodchip industry giant Enviva settled a lawsuit over its air pollution practices,  NC's Department of Environmental Quality released draft permits for yet another expansion at one of Enviva's facilities in Sampson County, NC (public hearing - July 15th). The Dogwood Alliance continues to push back against the expansion of this harmful, climate-disrupting industry, and they need your help. Read Dogwood Alliance's full statement here.  Amplify on Twitter! 
 
Join Common Cause NC at the home of Eric and Erika Braun for a Supreme Court Countdown house party on June 27 in Raleigh! Visit our website for more info and to register to attendOn the eve of a momentous Supreme Court decision in Common Cause v. Rucho, our lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s congressional districts as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders, join us for the latest updates and hear what happens next.  We will get a Supreme Court decision in June and we remain optimistic that we’ll get a favorable ruling forcing new, fair districts for 2020.
 
In the news: From the UK:  New rules give households right to sell solar power back to energy firms https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/09/energy-firms-buy-electricity-from-household-rooftop-solar-panels?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
 
CommunEcos Calendar
Friday, June 21, 6:30 pm Sexy Killers-- A new documentary exposing the devastating impacts of the coal industry in Indonesia. The film swept the country with millions of viewers and over 1000 spontaneous community screenings in a two week period, despite attempts by police and local authorities to ban the screenings. The film has clearly struck a chord in a country facing huge expansion of a polluting and irresponsible industry that is impacting communities land rights, agriculture, fishing industry, health and safety. A whopping 58 new coal-fired power stations are due to come online between now and 2027. Don Nonini will introduce the film and set it in the context of environmental advocacy and violence in Indonesia.
 
Join our 'Friends' list (or unsubscribe): yikes [period] contact [at gmail period comto stay informed on events, most of which are held on Friday evenings at 6:30. (But we sometimes have Saturday afternoon how-to workshops).
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unless otherwise noted, events are at 2811 Hillsborough Rd., Durham 27705.  Most events have suggested donations, usually $5, or as noted. Park in rear or next door in Food Lion lot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CommunEcos is a non-profit environmental education organization
The Magna Carta Libertatum was enacted June 15, 1215 near the English town of Windsor.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is June 15th ( www.un.org/en/events/elderabuse/ ).

Pollinator Festival at Lake Crabtree

Lake Crabtree County Park (1400 Aviation Parkway, Morrisville in Wake County) is hosting its 7th annual Pollinator Festival Saturday, June 15th 10am - 2pm, with exhibits, expert talks, games, crafts, giveaways, prizes, and food vendors:  www.wakegov.com/parks/lakecrabtree/events/Pages/default.aspx

June 16th is Father's Day in the USA, and seems to be more of a holiday for retailers than Mother's Day, but according to Wikipedia it could relate to a major coal mine disaster in Monongah, West Virginia December 6, 1907 that killed 361 people, many immigrants from all over Europe, and leaving about 250 widows and 1000 children.

Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to go into space, on June 16, 1963, piloting Vostok 6 and spending about three days in orbit.  According to Wikipedia, with this mission, Tereshkova logged more time in space than the entire US astronaut corps at the time.  

The International Day of Family Remittances is June 16th ( www.un.org/en/events/family-remittances-day/ ).

The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is June 17th ( www.un.org/en/events/desertificationday/ ).

National Pollinator Week is June 17 – 23 ( www.pollinator.org/pollinator-week ).

Bulgarian communist Georgi Dimitrov was born June 18, 1882 and was a general secretary of the Comintern during the struggle against fascism, often quoted on the definition of fascism, and was later prime minister of Bulgaria.  

Juneteenth is June 19th, marking the declaration of abolition throughout Texas in 1865 by the Federal occupation force that landed in Galveston following the surrender of most of the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi on June 2nd (a Cherokee regiment surrendered June 23rd). 

R (Rajani) Palme Dutt, a leading official of the Comintern, general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and editor of the CPGB's Weekly Worker and founder of the Labour Monthly, was born June 19, 1896 in Cambridge, England, UK.  He is well-known for his analysis of fascism. 

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed June 19, 1953.   

The International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict is June 19th ( www.un.org/en/events/elimination-of-sexual-violence-in-conflict/index.shtml ).

World Refugee Day is June 20th ( www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday/ ).

The summer solstice is June 21st. 

The Korean War officially began June 25, 1950, but fighting was already going on between revolutionary and counterrevolutionary forces; for example the Jeju Uprising officially began April 3, 1948.  

Where Was Scott's Hole?  A Chapel Hill/Morgan Creek Mystery

In the 1800's a location on Morgan Creek in Chapel Hill called Scott's Hole (after someone who drowned there) was apparently a popular swimming and fishing spot, but is now lost to history.  Botanists are interested in finding it because rare plants grew nearby and it is cited as the location where many samples in the UNC Herbarium were collected.  Chapel Hill Historical Society Vice-President Carl W Anderson and NC Botanical Garden Director of Conservation Johnny Randall will talk about this local mystery and perhaps the site can be rediscovered.  This is part of the NCBG's Lunchbox Talk series, so I think participants are welcome to bring lunch.  It will be Thursday, June 27th 12 - 1pm and is free, but registration is required:  ncbg.unc.edu/calendar/

Author and speaker Helen Keller, famous for overcoming both blindness and deafness, becoming the first deaf-blind person to get a BA, was born June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama.  She was a prominent member of the Socialist Party and the International Workers of the World, a founder of the ACLU and the Helen Keller International.  She passed away June 1, 1968 at her home in Easton, Connecticut and is buried at the Washington National Cathedral in DC.    

The Stonewall riots or rebellion took place June 28 - 29, 1969 in New York City. 

10th anniversary of the coup in Honduras

Manuel Zelaya, the elected president of Honduras was arrested and expelled from the country June 28, 2009, a coup abetted by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  The US-supported coup is rarely mentioned as a reason for Honduran emigration to the US and the current demonstrations and killings of protesters by the rightist government that resulted from the coup aren't mentioned very often or in detail, especially when compared to the amount of (negative) coverage of Venezuela and even Nicaragua.  

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 61 co-sponsors, but none representing North Carolina.  


The International Day of the Tropics is June 29th ( www.un.org/en/events/tropicsday/ ). 

Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with Mir June 29, 1995, the first time a space shuttle docked with the Soviet/Russian space station (shuttle mission STS-71).  I think I saw this televised, and it seemed to crawl along at a snail's pace, which is understandable given the massive vehicles involved, traveling around the Earth at thousands of miles per hour.  In July 1975 an Apollo module and Soyuz-19 docked in orbit, the first joint US-Soviet crewed spaceflight.      

Triangle Friends of Farmworkers

There was a business meeting June 26th at 7pm in Durham and a picket at a Circle K in Hillsborough (500 South Churton Street) Saturday, June 29th 9:30 - 10:15am.     

Three cosmonauts on Soyuz 11 were killed in space June 30, 1971 due to depressurization through a damaged valve as they prepared to leave orbit after being the first (and only) crew on Salyut 1, humanity's first space station.  Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to have been killed in space.

International Asteroid Day is June 30th.  That day in 1908 there was a massive explosion over Siberia, leveling about 830 square miles of forest in a sparsely inhabited region.  The night sky was unusually bright in parts of Europe and Asia for several days after the event.  More recently an asteroid exploded high above the city of Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains of Russia February 15, 2013 with the force of 440 kilotons of TNT, far more powerful than the atomic bomb used on Hiroshima, and caused many injuries and damage ( www.un.org/en/events/asteroidday/ ).

The Battle of Gettysburg was July 1 - 3, 1863 in Pennsylvania, and was the Civil War battle with the most casualties, missing, wounded, or killed.  Together with the Federal capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4th July 1863 is seen as a turning point in the War.  

July 3, 1988 the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in Iranian airspace while the cruiser was in Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War.  Everyone onboard was killed, a total of 290 civilians (66 children), mostly from Iran, but including people from the UAE, India, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, and Italy.  Allegedly the climbing Airbus A300 airliner was mistaken for an F-14 fighter descending for an attack.  The US government expressed regret and paid restitution in 1996, but refused to apologize and the captain and crew of the Vincennes later received various awards.

March 10, 1989 the captain's minivan, driven by his wife, was set on fire by a pipebomb in San Diego and who set the bomb remains unknown. 


The Fourth of July festivities

There will be readings, tabling, etc. at Carrboro Town Hall Wednesday, July 4th 11am - 4pm:  www.facebook.com/events/198813814360336/

Chapel Hill will have a fireworks show July 4th in Southern Village 6 - 10pm:  www.facebook.com/events/351184608922912/

Pittsboro Summer Fest will be Sunday, July 7th 4:30 - 9:30pm:  www.facebook.com/events/251396195738237/

The annual Festival for the Eno will be July 4th and 6th:  www.enoriver.org

German communist Clara Zetkin was born July 5, 1857 in what is now Königshain-Wiederau in Saxony, Germany.  She was a founder of the Spartacist League and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, a member of the Communist Party of Germany and represented it in the Reichstag from 1920 to 1933, on the Comintern's executive committee, and she helped found International Women's Day (March 8th).  She died July 20, 1933, exiled in the USSR following the Nazi seizure of power, and her ashes are interred in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.  Many places in the German Democratic Republic were named after her posthumously.     

The next Carrboro Really, Really Free Market will be Saturday, July 6th 2 - 4pm at the Carrboro Town Hall Commons:  www.facebook.com/events/430848741090732/ and it is Tomato Day 2019! at the Carrboro Farmers' Market 8:30 - 11:30am:  www.facebook.com/events/432525447571058/  

National Moth Week is July 20 – 28 www.nationalmothweek.org/ ).  There will be events at the NC Botanical Garden and other parks. 

The Annual National Meeting of the Green Party US will be July 25 - 28 in Salem, Massachusetts and the registration cost will increase July 1st:  salem.gp.org

The 62nd Annual Convention of the NC AFL-CIO will be September 19 - 20 in Charlotte.

The Global Climate Strike will be September 20.

The NC Museum of Natural History's BugFest will be September 21st and this year's theme is beetles (almost 1/4th of all known animal species are beetles).

Demand an End to War:  Rage Against the War Machine

This sequel to the March on the Pentagon last fall ( durhamspark.blogspot.com/2018/10/reportback-from-womens-march-on.html ) will be Friday, October 11th in front of the White House and the Anti-Imperialist Revolution Summit will be Saturday, October 12th ( marchonpentagon.com/demand-an-end-to-war-rage-against-the-war-machine/ ).