Showing posts with label national liberation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national liberation. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

"8 Glorious Years of the Great Nepalese People's War!" DVD

From nepali_pla [at] yahoo [periodco [perioduk on the morning oMarch 16thI have not done business with the seller before and so cannot vouch for them; note that DVDs are formatted for different regions and might be hard to play if you have DVD formatted for a region other than the region of your player or your computer's disk drive (the region is not listed below); if I recalcorrectly, the UK and the USA for example are in different regions for DVDs (but nofor Blu-ray disks).  [Or was I  thinking of the US and Japan?  This DVD iformatted for the UK and EU, Region 2 (the USA is in Region 1)but there are wayto play ioutside of that region.  See:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray#Region_A ] 


The Nepalese People's War was February 13, 1996-November 21, 2006, ending in partial success, revisionism, and splintering; during the War the CPN(M) had an English-language website with documents, music (think including from the US, France, and China), etc.  There were many "Communist parties" in Nepal even before the 90's.  I followed the newand wrote about it back then en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_Civil_War and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Nepal_(Maoist_Centre)






"The DVD  '8 Glorious Years of the Great Nepalese People's War' was distributed and sold throughout the world from 2004. Despite the People's War having ended in 2006, the DVD's remaining stock is still available for sale.

The original text during the original sale of the DVD is below and hasn't been altered in any form.

Should you wish to buy a copy of the DVD, please reply to this email.

The cost of the DVD is £ 20.00 (GBP)

* Euro (22.97) - As at 11/02/2026 (Subject to change)
* USD (27.28) - As at 11/02/2026 (Subject to change)

Postage is added in accordance with the location.



EIGHT GLORIOUS YEARS OF THE GREAT NEPALESE PEOPLE'S WAR !

An almost 4 Hour film produced by the Cultural Branch, Central Cultural Department of the Communist Party Of Nepal (Maoist). ENGLISH subtitled throughout and includes over 30 audio visual song's of Revolutionary music.

This documentary is suitable for everyone, whether you're a committed Maoist Revolutionary, anti-imperialist, democrat and for human rights activists who question the People's War in Nepal.

What do the Maoists do? What is their strategy, Politics, Ideology? How do they transform society, mobilize broad Masses of the People to carry through the Revolution to the current stage of Strategic offensive (the last stage prior to the Nation wide seizure of Power)? Can this really be achieved by a 'handful of roaming bandits with no popular support'?

This documentary answers all these questions, shows the relationship that the Party members and cadres have with the broad Masses of Revolutionary People in Nepal.

Images in the video documentary include:
    Mass rallies of 100, 000's of Masses in cities throughout Nepal during both the negotiation process and the waves of announcements of country wide district level People's Governments, ushering in a new Democratic Political Power on the ashes of the old reactionary state now covering over 80 % of Nepalese territory. Scenes of intense Military training by the People's Liberation Army. Includes filmed direct confrontations with the Royal enemy, the famous destruction of the camp at Gam and the subsequent seizure of arms to the People. On the destruction of the old ... and the construction of the New: Roads, bridges, development of agricultural cooperatives, schools, hospital, electricity, irrigation, collective farming, People's doctors, People's radio stations... Welcoming and farewell scenes to doctors, professors, Engineers, Artists who have begun to leave cities for the Countryside to serve the People under Revolutionary Political power and start the process breaking down the Class divisions once perpetuated by reactions grip. Cultural troupe's celebrating Revolutionary festivals with participation of the Masses and the ushering in of new culture. Arts and literature have also been transformed according to the spirit of revolution as opposed to the reactionaries and revisionists line of 'culture for the sake of culture'. Women's Participation in the People's War: Members and activists of the Mass Movements, People's Liberation Army...

Thursday, February 05, 2026

An Ghrian Dhearg (The Red Sun) issues #4 and 5 published

I received these announcements from the Irish Maoist or MLM publication An Ghrian Dhearg the afternoon of November 25th and late on July 18th.  



June 5, 1868 – May 12, 1916:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Connolly [ and www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/index.htm 


Born April 9, 1944:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leila_Khaled


May 25, 1892 – December 8, 1922:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Mellows


March 10, 1809 – December 27, 1849:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fintan_Lalor


February 8, 1939 – December 16, 2022:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Maria_Sison or Joma? [ and www.marxists.org/archive/sison/index.htm ]


October 7, 1934 – May 9, 1976:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrike_Meinhof


February 22, 1893 – May 13, 1986:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peadar_O%27Donnell


June 14, 1894 – April 16, 1930:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Carlos_Mariátegui [ and www.marxists.org/archive/mariateg/index.htm ]






An Ghrian Dhearg (The Red Sun) – Issue 5 
“Voice of MLM [Marxism-Leninism-Maoism] Ireland”.

* Front Cover: RESISTANCE IS NOT TERRORISM!

* Editorial:

* James Connolly: Irish Republican and Scientific Socialist

* Revolutionary Contributions Of LEILA KHALED

* AR SON NA POBLACHTA: Putting Politics in Command

* Revolutionary Contributions Of COMRADE NORAH

* Doctor Who: And the Horror of Liberalism

* Against the Sex Trade

* Revolutionary Contributions Of LIAM MELLOWS

* Class Structure And Mode Of Production In IRELAND

Available at the following bookshops. Should the bookshops not be close at hand, you can call them or email to arrange a purchase (contact details below). 

Alternatively contact An Ghrian Dhearg (The Red Sun) direct (contact details below).

An Ghrian Dhearg (The Red Sun)
Send all correspondence and other materials to:
email: isrmedia [at] protonmail [ ] com

Connolly Books
43 East Essex Street
Temple Bar
Dublin
D02 XH96
Ireland
(01) 6729274
email: connollybooksdublin [at] gmail [ ] com

Housmans Books
5 Caledonian Road,
King's Cross
London 
N1 9DX
Tel: +44 (0)20 7837 4473 
email: shop [at] housmans [ ] com






An Ghrian Dhearg (The Red Sun) – Issue 4
“Voice of MLM [Marxism-Leninism-Maoism] Ireland”.

* Editorial:

* NATO: Happy Birthday to the Beast:

* The Revolutionary Contributions Of JAMES FINTAN LALOR:

* Palestine Shakes the World:

* The Revolutionary Contributions Of JOSE MARIA SISON:

* NI SAOIRSE GO SAOIRSE NA mBAN:
(No Freedom Without The Freedom Of Women)
For a Proletarian Feminist Line!

'Without the participation of women, mother Ireland was going into battle with one arm tied behind her back' - Maud Gonne

* The Revolutionary Contributions Of PEADAR O'DONNELL:

* RAF to the Future:
(The Life and "Crimes" of Ulrike Meinhof as a Lesson For Today)

* The Revolutionary Contributions Of THOMAS MUIR:

* When the Andes Roared
(Part 4: Marching on Lima)

* The Revolutionary Contributions Of JOSE MARIATEGUI:

Available at the following bookshops. Should the bookshops not be close at hand, you can call them or email to arrange a purchase (contact details below). 

Alternatively contact An Ghrian Dhearg (The Red Sun) direct (contact details below).

An Ghrian Dhearg (The Red Sun)
Send all correspondence and other materials to:
email: isrmedia [at] protonmail [ ] com

Connolly Books
43 East Essex Street
Temple Bar
Dublin
D02 XH96
Ireland
(01) 6729274
email: connollybooksdublin [at] gmail [ ] com

Housmans Books
5 Caledonian Road,
London 
N1 9DX
Tel: +44 (0)20 7837 4473 
email: shop [at] housmans [ ] com

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Toufan: The road to a Palestinian state is not paved with roses

Originally posted on Facebook? --


Posted by Party of Labor of Iran Toufan

The road to a Palestinian state is not paved with roses

By Ali Al-Baazawi
What is certain is that the Al-Aqsa Intifada has put the Palestinian issue back on the agenda of the international community—its institutions, regimes, and peoples—after it had been on the verge of being lost amid waves of normalization, Zionist arrogance, and unconditional support for the Zionist entity by imperialist powers, primarily the United States and Europe. This is considered a significant gain for the Palestinian people, their just cause, and the resistance forces that have persevered and fought with all their strength and determination to achieve their goals. This round of resistance, which lasted for nearly a year and a half, has exposed the fragility of this entity, considered a paper tiger that lives off aid, donations, and imperialist military and political support, and thrives on the complicity and betrayal of the client and normalizing Arab regimes. Facts on the ground have also confirmed that this entity cannot endure and continue to live without this support and official complicity. The irreversible flight of tens of thousands of settlers to Western countries and the insistence of thousands of others not to return to their homes in northern occupied Palestine for fear of strikes by the Lebanese resistance, despite the penetration of the Zionist occupation army into some villages in southern Lebanon and its formation of a kind of protective belt against the infiltration of resistance fighters into the areas of Metula, Shebaa Farms and other areas adjacent to southern Lebanon, confirms this new reality, which constitutes a strategic gain for the resistance that can be built upon on the road to liberation.
A foundling and hybrid entity
The Zionist entity is an artificial entity planted by colonial powers on Arab Palestine, which is not their own land. Cities, villages, schools, universities, and hospitals were built for it, providing it with all the means of life and prosperity in a region considered one of the most fertile and beautiful in the Arab East, overlooking the sea and boasting beautiful beaches that annually welcome millions of vacationers and tourists from all over the world. The colonial powers planned to make this usurping entity a "model" of liberal democracy that could serve as an example and a destination for the peoples of the region, so that they would emulate this fabricated state/entity tailored to the whims and whims of the Western bourgeoisie. It has become required of Arab countries to respect this "model" and emulate it, promoting the values ​​of democracy, human rights, tolerance, and coexistence within their societies in exchange for aid and material and military support. Obtaining a loan from predatory financial institutions has become conditional upon coexistence with the Zionist entity, normalization with it, and emulating its model. But this fabricated image quickly collapsed in the face of the escalating pace of resistance activity, and the Zionist “model” became a fascist and war criminal, committing massacres against children (17,000 children were martyred in Gaza and 39,000 lost one of their parents during the war on Gaza) and women, deliberately killing relief workers and journalists, demolishing hospitals over the heads of patients, bombing universities, schools and water wells, abusing prisoners and detainees, trampling on international law and human rights instead of promoting and supporting them, raping women, seizing land, erecting barriers and separation walls between regions, preventing the historical owners of the land from communicating with each other, exploiting their lands and harvesting their crops, forcing them to live in camps or emigrate. Today, an institution for “voluntary” emigration has been established that will work to provide the requirements for emigration, including grants, work contracts and other things, in order to get rid of the original owners of the land, similar to what happened to the Native Americans in America when the Europeans invaded it in the late fifteenth century. The Zionists have bared their fangs and returned to their original essence as invaders, occupiers and fascist gangs funded by colonial powers.
The Zionist entity is an arm of imperialism
The implantation of Zionist gangs in the Arab land of Palestine was planned by the extremist Western colonialists, who were forced to withdraw by the struggles of the Arab peoples in Syria, Egypt, Iraq, North Africa and elsewhere, enabling them to achieve freedom and independence. This cancerous, alien entity was necessary to ensure control over the wealth of the Arab countries and prevent their unification into a strong nation that naturally possesses the elements of progress and advancement, including vast resources (oil, gas, phosphate, fertile agricultural lands, thousands of kilometers of coastline, etc.), a vast geographic area, and the diverse and rich culture of its peoples and the capabilities of its elites, in addition to its strategic location. According to these facts, it is considered a serious competitor to the European colonial powers and poses a strategic threat to them.
From this perspective, the colonial powers defined the goal of implanting this illegitimate entity and outlined the roles it must undertake to ensure its survival and continuity on the one hand, and to secure the interests of the colonial powers and their major plundering companies and financial institutions in the region on the other. Within this framework, the entity's attacks on the nuclear reactors in Iraq and Syria, the assault on Nasserist Egypt, and the destruction of its military capabilities were carried out with the aim of subjugating it and forcing it to normalize relations. This occurred during the era of the late President Anwar Sadat and continues to this day. Within the same framework, the strike on Hammam al-Shatt in Tunisia, the repeated attacks on southern Lebanon were carried out to undermine the foundations of the resistance's rise, and finally, the invasion of Syria after the overthrow of the Assad family regime and the destruction of its military arsenal. The invasion of Gaza, waging a war of extermination and displacement of Palestinians, aimed at realizing the Greater Israel project, which covers all of historic Palestine and nibbles away at parts of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, are all part of the New Middle East project in which American imperialism dominates the entire region by relying on its agent, the Zionist entity. For this reason, it supplies it with the most modern weapons of mass destruction to ensure its military superiority and provide it with the means to withstand the escalating and growing resistance, both geographically and humanly, in addition to the incubating and supportive environment that continues to expand.
Client regimes are an obstacle to the liberation of Palestine.
The client Arab regimes constitute a stabilizing force for the Zionist entity. They support it financially, logistically, and militarily, confronting resistance missiles directed from Yemen and Iraq toward the occupied territories, providing it with water, fuel, goods, and all the necessities of life. They normalize relations with it secretly and publicly, allowing ships carrying weapons to dock at their ports before reaching Israeli ports, besieging the resistance in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and wherever else, preventing their people from expressing support for it. They refuse the flow of aid and essential goods into the Gaza Strip, and reluctantly accept the blockade and the closure of the crossings, thus contributing to the policy of starvation and genocide of the Palestinian people. The Zionist entity's participation in its crimes against the Palestinian people is achieved in return for support from the colonial powers that sponsor the entity through aid, loans, investments, and guarantees of its continued rule. Imperialism has, on more than one occasion, rushed to the aid of these regimes against attempts to overthrow them and the threats to their strategic interests in the region. It intervened in Tunisia in 2011 to maintain the change in the form of power without compromising its class essence, which is subservient to and protects the interests of the major corporations and institutions of the colonial powers. It intervened in Syria to divert the revolution from its natural course and achieve its goals. It divided Yemen, helped bring about the overthrow of Gaddafi's regime, and enabled King Mohammed VI to annex Western Sahara to the Kingdom of Morocco in exchange for normalization.
The client and normalizing Arab regimes have posed a real obstacle to the liberation of Palestine and have prevented the undermining of imperialist interests in the region, which conflict with the interests of the Arab peoples yearning for independence, liberation, and emancipation.
The liberation of Palestine depends on liberation from imperialist domination.
Zionist settler colonialism poses a threat to everyone. It is primarily a threat to the Palestinians, as it continues to subjugate them, confiscate their lands, exploit their resources, and attempt to humiliate, displace, and kill them. It is also a threat to the Arab peoples who yearn for independence and sovereignty over their countries' resources and to free themselves from the imperialist hegemony that hinders their independent advancement and development. It is also a threat to the client regimes themselves if they do not fully respond to the demands of imperialism and refuse to submit to and serve the Zionist-imperialist agendas. The liberation of Palestine and the defeat of the Zionist gangs inevitably requires the liberation of the remaining Arab peoples from neo-colonial hegemony and its local tools, the client big bourgeoisie. This liberation and independence open the way to liberation and emancipation for the Palestinian people, because an environment free from imperialist dependency and hegemony will constitute an incubator for resistance, supporting it financially, militarily, politically, and morally. Conversely, it is an environment hostile to Zionism and imperialism, the enemies of the people. The Zionist entity, in this new environment, will be unable to survive and continue. It will be like a foreign entity called to vanish and collapse, like a hybrid plant that cannot germinate, grow, and blossom in an environment that does not accept it or provide it with the necessary conditions for survival.
The liberation of the Palestinian people from Zionist settler colonialism depends on the liberation of the Arab peoples from neo-colonial hegemony and the establishment of their own independent, democratic, and popular states dedicated to national sovereignty and social justice. Outside this framework, a radical and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue, the central Arab issue, remains difficult to achieve, if not impossible. The struggles of the Arab peoples are interconnected and integrated and cannot be separated from one another. The liberation of historic Palestine is linked to the liberation of the remaining Arab countries. On this basis, the Arab peoples are called upon to continue the struggle on two fronts: the struggle against imperialist hegemony over their countries and supporting the Palestinian people and assisting them in their efforts to achieve their independence and liberation from the domination of the Nazi Zionist gangs.

Friday, December 20, 2024

IFCO-Pastors for Peace solidarity letter against the US blockade on Cuba and its inclusion on the "SSTL"

Marcha Contra El Bloqueo – Y la permanencia de Cuba en la lista de paises supuestamente patrocinadores del terrorismo


At 4pm on December 20, 2024 on Havana, Cuba's seaside Malecon Habanero there was a march against the US blockade and the charge that Cuba sponsors terrorism.  The US has a history of carrying out and supportinterrorism against Cuba, such as the bombing of a civilian airliner and the blockade itself, which aims to harm and impoverish the Cuban people until they surrender, as with the sanctions on Iraq in the 90's and probably the continuing sanctions against Syria and other countries.  If not for the sanctions and the US occupation of Syria's eastern oil fields, maybe Syria would have been able to restore its economy in recent years and there might have been greater resistance to the foreign-backed Islamist "rebel" takeover.  Apparently HTS is too weak to impose its will on Syria alone – so who will decide the future of the country?  The US and Turkey?  Members of the former "Assad regime" the "rebels" just supposedly overthrew?  Other Islamists?  ISIS?  A democratic constitutional convention, no doubt carrying out the plans of the US, Turkey, the EU, etc. Does it fall apart?   Someone suggested that Syria could go the way of Yugoslavia rather than Libya.  Regarding Cuba, people in the US are urged to lobby the Biden administration to improve relations with Cuba; an initiative even the Obama-Biden administration was able and willing to try:  IFCO/P4P  ifconews.org


Actions to take and information at:  acere.org/acere-advocacy-toolkit/ , nnoc.org , ifconews.org , etc.  There might be coverage of the events in Cuba at cpcml.ca soon.  


["Half a Million People March in Havana to Demand Lifting of U.S. Blockade and Sanctions"  cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/TS5450.HTM ]


The current issue – "Stand with Palestine!  Unrelenting Palestinian Resistance:"  cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/TS5449.HTM


Friendship Caravans IFCO/Pastors for Peace founder Bill Hill was born December 20, 1945 and passed away September 10, 2024.


Sent out in an email the evening of December 20th: 




Solidarity Letter from IFCO Board Member, Dr. Rosemari Mealy and NY Delegate Leader, Dr. Sam Anderson



We extend Our solidarity to the thousands of Patriotic and Revolutionary Cuban Youth, Women and Men who will converge on December 19th, 2024, in front of the United States Interest Section in Havana, demonstrating unwavering support for the defense of the homeland and for their Leaders. We categorically denounce the U.S. blockade against Cuba— where for three generations, the consequences of Washington’s unjust, brutal, immoral and illegal economic policies have egregiously impacted every Cuban citizen. This blockade perpetuates a colonial logic, it is an imperial structure which undermines Cuba’s right to self-determination and stifles the nation’s capacity to prosper and was further exacerbated in 2021, when Donald Trump designated Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorist List (SSTL) and continues under President Joe Biden.



We are witnessing the melt-down of a globally driven economy, The entire geopolitical reality thrust upon us requires our framing this dangerous sphere against the rise of right-wing populism and its fascist underpinnings that create social and political turmoil such as the rise of racism, hatred against immigrants, and the Israeli genocide being carried out daily against the people of Palestine. Fascism is being consolidated in the US by the Republicans in projects and plans that will reverse all democratic gains won over centuries of civil and human rights struggles for freedom.



We recognize in a profound way that this is the moment to fortify our alliance and solidarity with Cuba from a place where we have historically refused to be silent, separated or alienated from our histories, a history that was fused in the keen sense of an immediate bond developed between Malcolm X and Fidel, when they met in 1960 in Harlem NY, them as leaders and now, we as the heirs of Malcolm and Fidel, both of whom taught us to recognize and understand the oneness of the struggle of the African American people, the people of Asia, Africa, Latin America and particularly Cuba.



Today, we call for the immediate end to the US blockade. The time is now for responsible leaders in the United States to engage a new era of diplomatic relations based on respect for Cuba’s sovereignty, mutual cooperation and genuine partnership.



President Joseph Biden, with a swipe of your pen, leave an honorable legacy, Remove Cuba Now from the State Sponsors of Terrorist List.



We join others in unapologetically bearing Witness to the Truth about Cuba. Long Live the Solidarity between the US African American People and the People of Cuba.



Venceremos !



Dr. Rosemari Mealy

Cuba Solidarity Activist US

IFCO Pastors for Peace Board Member

Author: Fidel and Malcolm X-Memories of a Meeting.



Dr. Sam Anderson

New York Delegation Leader and

Member Organizations-Participants to

Cuba 2024- Decade of the Afrodesciendants Conference

December 9-16. Havana




[Reposting:


We extend Our solidarity to the thousands of Patriotic and Revolutionary Cuban Youth, Women and Men who will converge on December 19th, 2024, in front of the United States Interest Section in Havana, demonstrating unwavering support for the defense of the homeland and for their Leaders. We categorically denounce the U.S. blockade against Cuba— where for three generations, the consequences of Washington’s unjust, brutal, immoral and illegal economic policies have egregiously impacted every Cuban citizen. This blockade perpetuates a colonial logic, it is an imperial structure which undermines Cuba’s right to self-determination and stifles the nation’s capacity to prosper and was further exacerbated in 2021, when Donald Trump designated Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorist List (SSTL) and continues under President Joe Biden.


We are witnessing the melt-down of a globally driven economy, The entire geopolitical reality thrust upon us requires our framing this dangerous sphere against the rise of right-wing populism and its fascist underpinnings that create social and political turmoil such as the rise of racism, hatred against immigrants, and the Israeli genocide being carried out daily against the people of Palestine. Fascism is being consolidated in the US by the Republicans in projects and plans that will reverse all democratic gains won over centuries of civil and human rights struggles for freedom.


We recognize in a profound way that this is the moment to fortify our alliance and solidarity with Cuba from a place where we have historically refused to be silent, separated or alienated from our histories, a history that was fused in the keen sense of an immediate bond developed between Malcolm X and Fidel, when they met in 1960 in Harlem NY, them as leaders and now, we as the heirs of Malcolm and Fidel, both of whom taught us to recognize and understand the oneness of the struggle of the African American people, the people of Asia, Africa, Latin America and particularly Cuba.


Today, we call for the immediate end to the US blockade. The time is now for responsible leaders in the United States to engage a new era of diplomatic relations based on respect for Cuba’s sovereignty, mutual cooperation and genuine partnership.


President Joseph Biden, with a swipe of your pen, leave an honorable legacy, Remove Cuba Now from the State Sponsors of Terrorist List.


We join others in unapologetically bearing Witness to the Truth about Cuba. Long Live the Solidarity between the US African American People and the People of Cuba.


Venceremos !


Dr. Rosemari Mealy

Cuba Solidarity Activist US

IFCO Pastors for Peace Board Member

Author: Fidel and Malcolm X-Memories of a Meeting.



Dr. Sam Anderson

New York Delegation Leader and

Member Organizations-Participants to

Cuba 2024- Decade of the Afrodesciendants Conference

December 9-16. Havana


Saturday, November 30, 2024

ADC statements on the ceasefire in Lebanon and the November 20th Senate vote on blocking weapon shipments to Israel

Hezbollah is claiming victory, while the US and Israel claim that the agreement allowIsrael to bomb Lebanon as it wishes, it just has to say that Hezbollah is violating the agreement.  And, when inevitablIsrael violates the agreement?  I think it was reported that lawless Israel shot at returning refugees and carried out another major bombing, during the "ceasefire," because it can do as it wishes Will the war resume after Trump is sworn in?  Suddenly Hezbollah is an 'Iran-backed militant group' in every report again.  The BBC makes sure to talk to Lebanese figures who want Hezbollah to disarm and be weakened, and neither the BBC nor NPR covers the actual war, only the passive suffering of the poor civilians in Lebanon and Palestine, caught in a war, backed by Iran, that has nothing to do with them.  Nothing abut people fighting back against what the "Western" powers and their Israeli operative have been doing to them for many decades, following direct British and French rule between the world wars and Ottoman Turkisrule before that.  No explanation of why the Lebanese military is unable to stop an Israeli invason.  Biden's Amos Hochstein ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Hochstein ), who served in the Israeli military (in a tank?), though he is apparently not a dual citizenhas been in the news a lot over the past few days, on how the Biden-Harris administration wants a similar agreement in Gaza.  Israel claims that it doesn't have a disageement with Lebanon and is open to a peace treaty, after it tore up the country.  I think Hezbollah claims that Israel halong been occupying Lebanese territory.    I recently noticed that a Bible shows Israelite territory in modern southern Lebanon, western Jordan, [Egypt's Sinai Peninsula,] and probably Syria, and I think Zionists have even claimed that they should rule some part of Iraq, the Zionist "from the river to the sea," though that is also the homeland of IS.  Israel reportedly got along with Islamist rebels during the Syria civil war.  November 30th, conveniently during a major holiday weekend in the US, it was reported that Israel bombed a World Central Kitchen vehicle, claiming that jusone of about five people in it had been involved in al-Aqsa Flood October 7, 2023.   Five or more people were killed and I think more injured.  Earlier this year it was a big scandal for the Biden-Harris administration when Israel attacked a WCK vehicle, and the US forced Israel to make a few gestures at reform.  There was a report that Gazans are camping on a beach and being inundated by tides or storms, in cold weather, without winter gear, and that there are enough supplies near Gaza, but at the current rate it will take two years to distribute the aid.  I think it was NPR that failed to explictly note why this is happening.  For example, private Israelis and their government are preventing humanitarian aid shipments into Gaza, with defacto US support, and the report said that gangs are stealing aid that gets into Gaza -- which could be expected, given that Israel targets the Hamas-associated security forces and probably any Palestinians who try to take charge of the security situation in Gaza.  Is Israel now doing to WCK what it did to UNRWA and the UN force in Lebanon, and the US government does nothing or very little in response?  It is being reported this weekend that a coalition of Turkey-backed Islamist rebelled by a 'formerly' al Qaida affiliated group has just launched an offensive out of Idlib in Syria, retaking parts of the major city of Aleppo, and that recent Israeli bombing of Syrian government forces and the wars in Lebanon and Ukraine are factors in the sudden rebel successes.  Again the Syrian government is being called a "regime" on the BBC and NPR to be overthrown by the "West," whether as in Ukraine in 2014 or in Iraq in 2003.  Is this weekend reminiscent of the rapid expansion of ISIS about a decade ago, and the plan if the war in Ukraine is "frozen" for a few years?  There are also reports of a worsening crisis in the Republic of Georgia, reminiscent of the coup in Ukraine, and around November 29th NPR had a report on plans for a "January 6th" to overthrow the Venezuelan government on I think January 10, 2025, Venezuela's inauguration day.  RT ireporting that an Iranian consulate in Aleppo was attacked, but none of the diplomatic staff were harmed.  Only "Western" and allied diplomatic facilities are inviolable in "the rules-based international order."



"Evaluating Lebanon ceasefire deal:"  www.workers.org/2024/11/82220/


www.workers.org/2024/11/82216/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resistance-praises-hezbollah-for-forcing-israels-ceasefire-in-lebanon


November 2nd:  www.workers.org/2024/11/81868/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hamas-says-temporary-truce-wont-stop-genocide-in-gaza


"November Photo Review:  No Letup in Steadfast Support for Palestinian Resistance" -- cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/TS5446.HTM






["Snippy(Lady?), an Appaloosa pony kept at the Harry King Ranch on Sand Dunes Road in Alamosa, in the San LuiValleyin central southern Colorado, near Great Sand Dunes National Monumentwas apparently noticed to be missing September 7, 1967 and was found dead, possibly under mysterious circumstances, September 9th; the saddle horse's head and neck had been completely defleshed, etc.; the exact details and what happened to the skeleton afterward are unclear, maybe nothing truly unusual happened to the horse and it had been shot and killed by a third party, possibly after getting very ill; a "purple pup tent" was reportedly seen in the area, but the implication is that it was not really a tent; the horse's owner, Nellie Lewis committed (was driven to?) suicide in March 1976:  history.denverlibrary.org/news/western-history/ufos-and-horse-called-snippy , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutilation_of_%22Snippy%22_the_horse , www.alamosanews.com/stories/after-50-years-snippy-still-a-mystery,36843 , and Weird America:  A Guide to Places of Mytery in the United States by Jm Brandon, 1978.]


A black, triangular UFO was reportedly seen in Carrboro, NC November 3, 2012 shortly before 9pm; looking north or northeast (?)large aircraft, or any type of airplaneseem to be rare, or only high in the sky in Orange County www.dailytarheel.com/article/2012/11/triangle-seen-in-carrboro-sky and nuforc.org/sighting/?id=94140 ,  an interesting database.   And there iswww.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/02/e-t-may-be-phoning-home-more-often


[There were UFO reports in Durham January 25 and 27 (?) in 1954, according to Durham journalist and history writer Jim Wise, in his book Durham Tales:  the morris street maple, the plastic cow, the durham day that was and moreThere was another UFO report in Carrboro around January 26th in 2013 (see the DTH link above)?  The NUFORC has a number of reports from Carrboro, not all, maybe few, covered by a media outlet.  They have received reports over the years from locales big and small -- Durham, Chapel Hill, Pittsboro, Siler City, Silk Hope, Bear Creek, I think Carthage, Morrisville, Avon out on the OBX, etc.]


[An acorn-shaped something is supposed to have crashed in Kecksburg, in southeast [correction:  southwest] Pennsylvania, somewhat close to Pittsburgh [southeast of Pittsburgh], and been taken by the US government December 9, 1965; allegedly it could have been Kosmos 96 a Soviet 3MV-4 launched toward Venus that November 23rd, but it apparently failed; a violent haunting was reported by newspapers in the area December 12, 1892:   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg_UFO_incident , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_96www.stangordon.info/wp/kecksburg/ , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg,_Pennsylvania#Unexplained_phenomena  The Kecksburg UFO Festival was apparently around July 22-24 in 2024, having survived coronavirus closures:  kecksburgvfd.com/ufo-festival-latest-news/ , www.facebook.com/kecksburgvfdclub/posts/2024-ufo-festival-event-schedule/1076880370647012/www.facebook.com/groups/1333355653437428/posts/7582361825203415/whereandwhen.com/events/kecksburg-ufo-festival/ , www.latrobebulletinnews.com/news/local/kecksburg-ufo-festival-held-friday-to-sunday/article_6e810cbc-4480-11ef-a6be-9be37ec63751.html , and see www.google.com/search?q=kecksburg+festival+2024  Written twice.]


[I thought it was around May, but my notes seem to say that it was November 15, 1996 when a partly cloudy sky was full of sundogs, various arcs, and other atmospheric optical phenomena around noon in Durham.  Maybe there were also contrails, but it was the most spectacular and varied display I have ever seen.  These ice crystal-based effects would be more likely in November than May, though they can be seen throughout the year.  They are common at the beginning of the year.  I might have seen a faint sundog in some icy clouds December 13th in 2023 and I saw a halo around the Moon in late November 2023.  Haloes often appear around the Moon before January snowstorms, etc.  March 6, 2021 around 2:15pm I saw a rainbow-like circumzenithal arc high in the sky [Did I see one in 2024?].  Another halo or arc was January 10, 2017, also [around] 2:15pm.  I haven't seen a rainbow in a long time, though I've looked during thunderstorms and showers with sunlight visible.]


Japanese writer and rightist Yukio Mishima (Kimitake Hiraoka) committed seppuku (hara-kiri) at the Camp Ichigaya military base in Tokyo November 25, 1970. 



Fidel Castro, retired at the time, passed away November 25, 2016, having outlasted the many US administrations that tried to assassinate him or overturn the Cuban revolution.  The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) posted a tribute for the 5th anniversary:  cpcml.ca/211124-fidel-will-always-be-a-shining-example-of-humanity/ 


November 26, 1919-September 2, 2013:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Pohl 


Professor of religion and theology and prominent 9/11 truth author David Ray Griffin was born August 8, 1939 in Wilbur, Washington and passed away November 26, 2022:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ray_Griffin 



The Battle of the Washita, against the Cheyenne, was November 27, 1868.



An iron meteorite landed in Mazapil (small deer in Nahuatl, mazatl/deer plus pilli/small?  Traditional homeland of the Chichimec Guachichiles) in Zacatecas, in northern Mexico not far from Texas November 27, 1885, during the Andromedid meteor shower (stemming from Biela's Comet, discovered February 27, 1826), but the meteorite and the Andromedids are now thought to be unrelated.]









Artist and music collector Harry Everett Smith, known for compiling the Anthology of American Folk Music, released August 9, 1952, passed away November 27, 1991 in New York City:  americanroutes.wwno.org/archives/show/1341/Who-was-Harry-Smith-The-Great-Delineator-and-his-Anthology-of-American-Folk-Music and folkways.si.edu/anthology-of-american-folk-music/african-american-music-blues-old-time/music/album/smithsonian 


Marxist philosopher and writer Friedrich Engels was born November 28, 1820 in what is now Wuppertal, Germany.  His writings can be found online at:  redstarpublishers.orgmarx2mao.commarxists.orgneodemocracy.blogspot.com, etc.


William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake ; The UK-based Blake Society had or has events this week.


Founded November 28, 1905:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Party_(Ireland) 


French structuralist anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss November 28, 1908 – October 30, 2009


Albania has two national days, November 28, 1912, when Albania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, and November 29, 1944, when Albanian partisans drove out the German occupiers.  Subsequently the Albanians were unique in liberating their own country and then helping to liberate neighboring Yugoslavia.  For a British account of the Albanian independence days as marked in 2021 in Gjirokaster, in southern Albania, Enver Hoxha's hometown, see:  michaelharrison.org.uk/2021/12/independence-day-29th-november-2021-in-gjirokaster/  


The Natchez and other indigenous groups rebelled against French colonialism in the lower Mississippi Valley, starting November 29, 1729.  Other indigenous nations fought on the side of the French.  The governor feared that a wider Indian and possibly slave rebellion was planned, so he ordered a force of African slaves to massacre the peaceful Chaouacha tribe living near New Orleans, for which he was apparently criticized at the time.  Ultimately the Natchez were driven out of their homeland or enslaved by the French, but still exist as a people.  Complex Natchez society is supposed to have been the only example of the Mississippian culture to continue into historic times.


Russian Marxist Georgi Plekhanov was born November 29, 1856 and was upheld as a founder of the Russian Marxist movement, but was an opponent of the Bolsheviks.  For more information see marxists.org, etc.


In the Sand Creek Massacre, starting November 29, 1864, Federal soldiers attacked peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians camped along Big Sandy Creek in what is now Colorado (where the government had requested that they gather, displaying a US flag and a white flag), killing about 230 Indians, predominantly women, children, and elders, as well as committing torture and mutilation, before leaving the area December 1st.  Some soldiers refused to attack the village, but the perpetrators received little punishment and no criminal prosecution (from Wikipedia as well as www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/index.htm ).


The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was declared November 29, 1945, and the 29th was the country's national day until 2002; the name was changed to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963, becoming the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or Serbia and Montenegro February 4, 2003, and in June 2006 Montenegro and Serbia separated and the idea of a South Slavic union ended. 



The UN's International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People has been November 29th  since 1977:  www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people  November 29th is the anniversary of the 1947 UN General Assembly resolution for the partition of Palestine.


November 29th is also International Jaguar Day www.internationaljaguarday.org/ ); long ago these big cats might have included the Appalachian mountains in their vast range while today a border wall along an arbitrary boundary slashing across the continent could finish the job of exterminating the USA's few remaining jaguars, a well as other species ( www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/jaguar/ ; www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2019/jaguar-04-24-2019.php ; biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-bulldozes-new-wall-through-wildlife-refuge-jaguar-country-2019-10-31/ ). 


Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and accused war criminal Henry Alfred Kissinger (Heinz Alfred Kissinger) passed away November 29, 2023.  He was born May 27, 1923 in the German city of Fürth, in northern Bavaria.


The Manhattanhenge effect in New York City is November 30th every year?


November 29th is supposed to be the 25th anniversary of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.




"The father of meteoritics" German physicist Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni November 30, 1756 – April 3, 1827




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.


November 30, 1858-November 23, 1937:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagadish_Chandra_Bose 


November 30, 1861 -- the French gunboat warship Alecton, 40 leagues from Tenerife, reportedly captured a giant squid -- In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents by Bernard Heuvelmans, translated from French by Richard Garnett, drawings by Alika Watteau, 1968 edition.



The Winter War between the USSR and Finland began November 30, 1939. 


November 30, 1954, around 12:46pm CST/18:46 UT, the 8.5 pound Sylacauga or Hodges meteorite broke through the roof, bounced off of a radio, and hit Ann Elizabeth Fowler (Hewlett/Huelitt) Hodges (February 2, 1920 – September 10, 1972), who was sleeping, on the left side, in the Sylacauga or Oak Grove area of Talladega County in northeast central Alabama.  The police and fire department were called and Mrs Hodges went to a hospital the next day over stress and her life was apparently changed for the worse by this unusual event.  This ordinary H4 group chrondite meteor had been seen as a fireball over three states and an explosion was reported.  Reportedly it might have come from the asteroid 1685 Toro as it moved away from the Sun.  Officials from Maxwell Air Force Base took possession of the meteorite, but it was eventually returned.  Then there was an ownership lawsuit with the owner of the Hodges' house.  The mayor wanted to put the meteorite in the Alabama Museum of Natural History, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and there were large offers for it, but it ended up being sold to the Museum for $25.  In 2005 the radio was exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History.  Julius Kempis McKinney found a 3.7 pound fragment December 1st and an Indianapolis lawyer bought it for the Smithsonian.  Another piece might have come down in nearby Childersburg, northwest of Oak Grove and the site of a Coosa town visited by Hernando de Soto for a month in the fall of 1540.  Incidentally, Oak Grove has an illusory Gravity Hill Road in the west going towards Childersburg.  


The night of October 3, 2021 a meteorite harmlessly landed on pillow next to a sleeping woman in Golden, British Columbia, Canada.  In the summer (??) of 1992 a 3 gram meteorite hit a tree and then a young boy, who survived, in Mbala, Uganda.  A Milanese monk at the Convent of St Mary is supposed to have been hit in the thigh and killed in 1577, according to a text from Tortona:  www.futilitycloset.com/2010/01/12/zeus-displeased/  In June 1911 a meteor is supposed to have hit and vaporized (?) a dog belonging to Mohammed Ali Effendi Hakim in Alexandria, Egypt:  www.futilitycloset.com/2007/03/23/the-nakhla-dog/ ; Sylacauga:  www.futilitycloset.com/2007/05/23/wake-up-call/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylacauga_(meteorite)  See the October 5, 2023 calendar post for the October 9, 1992 Peekskill, New York meteorite, which was seen coming down as a fireball and hit the back of a parked car:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/10/some-events-and-anniversaries-in-fall.html , and other postlist more notable meteorites.


The Marxist People's Democratic Republic of Yemen was founded November 30, 1970 in the formerly British-ruled Aden colony in South Yemen; Southern secessionists fought in the recent war in Yemen:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Yemen


Alfonso Caso y Andrade (February 1, 1896 – November 30, 1970):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_Caso 


January 17, 1977 French mercenaries under Bob Denard attempted to overthrow the People's Republic of Benin or the Popular Republic of Benin (around November 30, 1975 to March 1, 1990) under President Mathieu Kérékou.


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 US government intentions regarding Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia in recent years.  More recently, the US military began training with the Israelis in territory held by Israel.    

A few years ago the Democrats in the House of Representatives proclaimed Ukraine a vital partner and there were the similar proposals regarding the Republic of Georgia and Moldova.


In 2022 the US media constantly denounced Russia for illegally seizing territory from Ukraine by force  but it is rarely if at all mentioned as a great problem when Israel extends sovereignty over territory seized from its neighbors and is rewarded by the US, such as with a new embassy in disputed Jerusalem; the UK seizing Indian Ocean islands from Mauritius for the US military; the US occupation of parts of Cuba and Syria (with Turkey) against the wishes of those countries; the US-created border across Korea; NATO redrawing borders in the Balkans by force; and there was the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the issue of Kashmir.  There are some differences, but these examples are at least similar to what Russia is accused of doing.  The UK and Portugal eventually had to return their colonies in China, though there is still the issue of Taiwan.


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 sweatshops and globalization at UNC-Chapel Hill around then, by groups such as Students for Economic Justice (later called Demand Economic Justice), and some concessions were gained from the administration.  The Battle of Seattle also had the black bloc, heavy police repression, bans on protesting, etc. to become common features of large protests. 


The UN's Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is November 30th:  www.un.org/en/observances/international-days-and-weeks 


Chinese leader Jiang Zemin passed away November 30, 2022.


The last known Labrador duck was a male killed in the fall of 1875 off Long Island, now preserved in Washington, DC.  Another specimen was supposed to have been killed December 2, 1878 in Elmira, New York, but its remains have since been lost:  web.archive.org/web/20150215071011/http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/labradorduck.htm


Oglala Lakota Heȟáka Sápa or Black Elk, the source of the book Black Elk Speaks, was born December 1, 1863.


North Carolina's red brick Currituck Beach Light on the northern coast, one of a few lighthouses in the State, began operating December 1, 1875.


The St Augustine, Florida carcass washed up around December 1, 1896 and was examined by Dr AE Verrill; it was thought to be a giant octopus.


Russian revolutionary Sergei Kirov was born March 27, 1886 in what is now Kirov Oblast.  He was assassinated December 1, 1934.


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. 


According to Wikipedia the Morning Star flag of West Papua (on the island of New Guinea) was first raised December 1, 1961 and this is a traditional day to protest for independence from Indonesia; displaying the flag is harshly punished by Indonesia and people have been sentenced to over a decade in prison.  Independence activists declared the Republic of West Papua July 1, 1971.


December 1st to 8th in 1997 Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were lined up in the evening (?) sky.  If I'm thinking of the right event, I memorialized the visible planets in a red cedar carving and I must have noted the date somewhere.


December 1st is World AIDS Day, the first global health day:  www.un.org/en/observances/world-aids-day


Former US ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha was arrested in Miami December 1, 2023 and charged with alleged spying for Cuba:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Rocha 



A woman, 27, who has not been identified in the mainstream media burned herself with gasoline (?) outside Israel's consulate in Atlanta, Georgia December 1, 2023.  "Jane Doe" apparentlsurvived and was treated at Grady Memorial Hospital, an "unperson" for the media, as Sam Husseini put it, though maybe it can be justified to protect her privacy.  It was mentioned that she had Palestinian flag with her or a burned flag was found by the first responders.  Afterward her home was searched or ransacked by the Atlanta police – in a 'normal' way, or is she being treated like a terrorism suspect?  How "authoritarian" is government in the Atlanta area? – husseini.substack.com/p/jane-doe-who-immolated-herself-at , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Aaron_Bushnell , and durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/03/responses-to-self-immolation-for.html


[A New Moon was December 1st and there will be a second on December 30th.  The waxing quarter Moon will be December 8th, the Moon will be full on the 15th, and the waning Moon for December will be 22nd.  Two strong meteor showers peak in mid-December [(the major Geminids) December 13th and (the Ursids from the Big Dipper) 22nd (and the Quadrantids on January 3rd)].]


[The Moon and Venus were close in the southwest in the evening December 4th; Venus entered Capricornus on the 6th and will enter Aquarius on the 31st.  Venus will be at greatest eastern elongation from the Sun January 9th and by Saturn on the 17th.  Around the morning of the 7th bright Mars will be near M44, the Beehive or Praesepe in the center of Cancer, between Gemini and Leofor much of the night to dawn, and "stationary" at 4pm.  I have trouble finding Cancer, but I looked for it and M44 with binoculars around the morning of December 4th or 5th.  I'm missing the chance, with a 'pointer,' now.  I think I saw the Praesepe many years ago, with binoculars.  Mars and the Moon will be close December 18th, peaking at 4:36am, especially further north.  The Moon will cover Mars at 9pm January 13th.  Marwill be at opposition January 15th, at 10pm EST.  Saturn, above the star Fomalhautand then much brighter Jupiter, between Auriga and Taurus, currently rise in the evening.  Saturn and the Moon will be close December 7th. Saturn is in Aquarius.   Jupiter will be at opposition (technically at 4pm) and very bright on the 7th.  Jupiter and the Moon will be close December 14th, and the Moon and beta Tauri on the 15th.  Neptune is in Pisces, and will be four degrees northeast of the Moon around December 8th; Neptune is retrograde until the 8th.  Uranus is about 7 degreesouthwest of the Pleiades, and will be 4.5 degrees southeas(?) of the Moon around December 12th.  Jupiter and the Moon will be close December 14th, related to Jupiter's opposition status, and asteroid Eunomia will be at opposition that night at 1am.  "Evening star" Mercury will be "stationary" at 4pm on the 15th, near Antares on the 21st.  Its greatest western elongation will be on the 26th, but brighter in January (?).  The Moon, Mercury, and Antares will be nearby the morning of December 28th.  Mercury will cover part of the Pleiades the evenikng of January 9th, but I dont know how visible it will be here. M20, M8, and Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) will appear by Mercury the morning of January 7th.  The greatest western elongation of Marwill be fateful February 24th? -- from Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines.


I might have been able to see the star Naos in Puppis to the south through the trees at home around December 3rd or 4th and maybe stars in Vela before that, towards relatively bright and isolated Alphard in Hydra.  Other, dimmer parts of Puppis are easy to see on the east side of Canis Major, the Great Dog, well above the horizon, near Orion.  The Big Dipper, Arcturus, and Spica are now well up before dawn, soon to be joined by Vega, Draco, Hercules, and probably Scorpius, above the nearby woods.

still need to go look for bright star Canopus, in Carina the Keelsouth of Canis Major, Puppis, and Vela; I might travel nearby to find it, but I'm not currently planning to go very far to look for it; maybe in winter 2026 if necessary.  Canopus isupposed to be visible here at I think latitude 35 degrees north, but it doesn't rise very high, and trees and hills might be covering it up.


A BBC correspondent or observer in Homs (?), Syria early on December [7th]6th, 'copying' what NPR did regarding Libya in 2011 -- "Assad forces."  They don't refer to 'Zelensky' or 'Biden forces,' or even 'Putin' or 'Maduro forces'.  They are that hateful and eager to take imperial control of Syria or have it languish under anarchic warlordism?]


The UN's International Day for Abolition of Slavery is December 2nd:  www.un.org/en/observances/slavery-abolition-day


Tens of thousands of people were killed or injured, along with livestock and other animals and even plants, the night of December 2-3, 1984 in Bhopal, India when gases were released from a pesticide plant at the time owned by Union Carbide India Limited and more recently by the Dow Chemical Company.  The land was left contaminated and there are lingering health effects.  Beginning February 27, 2012 WikiLeaks posted leaked documents (labelled the Global Intelligence Files) indicating that the intelligence company Stratfor had spied on activists for Dow, as well as spying on Occupy Wall Street.  It also reveals that Stratfor employees advocated bankrupting and torturing Julian Assange and charging him with crimes in several countries, which is similar to what happened to him (he was charged with a crime in Sweden and held by the UK following the years he spent besieged in Ecuador's London embassy, and the US government wanted him extradited, which Stratfor knew).  


The pivotal Battle of Austerlitz was December 2, 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, Austerlitz is now in the Czech Republic:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz 



Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547)




John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist) 



December 2, 1931-June 25, 2014:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Calder 



North Carolina Regulator leader Herman or Harmon Husband was born December 3, 1724 in Cecil County, Maryland.




Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe (はやぶさ2, 'peregrine falcon 2') was launched December 3, 2014 and was the first asteroid sample return mission:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa2 



December 3rd at 1pm -- an online webinar (?) "Birdman of the Senate: Senator George P. McLean and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act" with Will McLean Greeley:  foresthistory.org/events/ 



December 4, 1934  -- the Farmville, NC (the renamed Coalglen, in Chatham County or the Farmville in Pitt County?) meteorite



President Ford signed Executive Order 11905 February 18, 1976, among other things banning "political assassination."  Similar executive orders were signed by Carter on January 24, 1978 and by Reagan on December 4, 1981.



[There will be big book sales in Durham December 6-7th ( fodlnc.org/events/ ) and in Chapel Hill December 6-8th ( friendschpl.org ).]


[The Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Cary will hold their holiday parades Saturday, December 7th; Raleigh's parade, back to the old style, was around a week or two ago, on a Saturday.  Durham usually has a holiday parade, but I'm not sure about the 2024 date.]  [December 12th on WRAL:  Durham [10am?] and Cary [2pm?] will both hold their holiday parades the morning of Saturday, December 14th?]




[The 32nd annual Chatham Artists Guild Studio Tour will be December 7-8th and 14-15th, with around 52 artists with 39 studios:  chathamartistsguild.org/studio-tour/ ]


[The 32nd annual Boylan Heights ArtWalk in downtown Raleigh near NCSU will be December 8th 12-5pm: www.boylanheights.org/art-walk ]


["Martial Law Interrupted:  Views from South Korea" with Jeong-eun Hwang of the Justice Party, Haeyoung Lee of the Multipolar Forum and Hanshin University, Wol-san Liem of ITF, Daehan Song of ISC, and Sung-hee Choi of Jeju -- December 8th at 7pm EST; 4pm PST, December 9th at 9am KST; notification by the Korea Policy Institute:  docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexsBcyy81NcVUJ4br_wK-hPDJNr454pgVRXo7lLjkVUTRttg/viewform?pli=1  


Tell the South Korean consulate: Yoon must go! -- www.kpolicy.org ]


[Another Saturday Roxboro Community Canvass against "Duke and Enbridge’s proposed gas expansion in Person County:"  act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0497191 and 7directionsofservice.com/events ]


[Saturday, December 21st 2-3pm, hybrid format, at Yesa Farms in Mebane, NC or online -- "Planning Meeting: Inclusion of Indigenous Voices in Mebane City Plans (allies welcome!):"  actionnetwork.org/events/planning-meeting-hybrid-virtual-and-in-person-inclusion-of-indigenous-people-in-the-city-of-mebane-plans/ and 7directionsofservice.com/events ]




[From ICSS: 

 

 

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Sunday, December 15, 2024: 10:30am-12:30pm Pacific Time

 

SYRIA: What is happening and what comes next?

 

Speaker: Rick Sterling. Rick is an investigative journalist based in the SF Bay Area. He has written many articles about Syria, traveled there five times, and has contacts on the ground.


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Sunday, Dec 22, 2024: 10:30am-12:30pm Pacific Time

 

U.S. and Israel are Pushing the World to the Brink of World War III

Speaker: Bahman Azad

 

Israel’s criminal violations of international law in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and other parts of West Asia has increased the possibility of a full-fledged regional war, which can easily escalate into a global, possibly nuclear, confrontation.


The U.S. is not in any way restraining the Zionist’s escalation of the war and the continuation of genocide. The imperialist project and the Zionist project are one and the same. Without active U.S. diplomatic, financial, and military support, Zionist Israel would not have been able to commit such crimes.


The ever-increasing U.S.-Israel military attacks on the regional resistance movement is based on the awareness of the fact that the defeat of Zionist Israel fundamentally threatens U.S. hegemony in the region and, through it, a shift in the global balance of forces against the empire itself.

Our speaker, Bahman Azad, is a retired professor of economics and sociology. His area of research includes the political economy of capitalism and socialism. He is the author of the book: Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat: Factors Contributing to the Dismantling of the Socialist State in the USSR. Bahman is currently the president of the U.S. Peace Council, a member of the secretariat of the World Peace Council, and representative of the World Peace Council at the United Nations. He is also a member of the administrative committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC).

 


Bahman Azad is affiliated with the anti-imperialist, Iranian “10 Mehr” Group. He was co-chair of Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Defense Committee and is currently serving as the coordinator of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases and co-coordinator of the Hands-Off Syria Coalition.

 

 

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FOR  OUR FULL SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING PROGRAMS,

AS WELL AS PAST PROGRAMS, GO TO ICSSMARX.ORG

 

NOTE: Our past programs have been recorded, and placed on YouTube. For a listing of our past programs, see the "IcssmMarxist" channel on YouTube, and at icssmarx.org.]



[Uhuru 3 sentencing hearing December 16th in Tampa, Florida, events over the preceding weekend and that Monday, etc.:  handsoffuhuru.org  Targeted for opposing the Biden-Harris administration's foreign policy.]


[Together for Palestine fundraiser with live folk music December 29th 6-10pm at 740 SE Maynard Road in Cary:  @onebodyevents ? -- From VJP]


[NC PALI Inaurgural Roots of Resilience Banquet January 25th at 6:30pm at 740 SE Maynard Road in Cary]


[The Seagrove Area Potters Association Annual Holiday Open House will be December 7, 14, and 21 in 2024:  discoverseagrove.com/events/holiday-open-house-main-event/   Some studios have online stores:  discoverseagrove.com/online-shopping/ ]


[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 no longer be done.  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/  

Normally there is or was a public reading of the Bill of Rights at Chapel Hill's Peace and Justice Plazaon the 15th.  There will be an event in Hillsborough December 15, 2024www.facebook.com/December15Bells and triangleonthecheap.com/bill-of-rights-day-hillsborough/ ]



[The Hillsborough Solstice Lantern Walk and Market will be at the Farmers Market Pavillion 5-8pm Saturday, December 21st, the Northern Hemisphere's 2024 winter solstice:  www.hillsboroughartscouncil.org/solstice ]


[Beginning January 2nd the NC Botanical Garden will begin opening at 9am instead of 1pm on Sundays.  The main, gated part of the Garden will be closed Monday, December 23rd to Wednesday, January 1st.  


There will be a Winter Craft Market December 8th 1-4pm, and the 2024 Sculpture in the Garden art exhibit ends December 8th.  


The Native People, Native Plants Symposium:  A symposium celebrating cultural relationships among Native American people and native plants will be Wednesday, December 11, 2024 9:30am-5pm.  


The new Birds of North Carolina: A Community Photo Exhibit will be January 7th-March 2nd, with an opening reception Sunday, January 12 from 2-4 pm, or January 26th.  


The annual (?) African American Legacy in Gardening and Horticulture Symposium will be March 29th at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham.  


Some upcoming talks at the NCBG, possibly hybrid:


HYBRID LUNCHBOX TALK: THE CAROLINA PAROQUET (PARAKEET) AND RELATIVES: A LOOK AT SOME NATURAL, UN-NATURAL, AND CULTURAL HISTORIES

Thursday, December 12; 12-1 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required  More information >
 

HYBRID LUNCHBOX TALK: THE HOME PATCH, WITH MARY SONIS

Thursday, January 23; 12-1 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required  More information >
 

DARWIN DAY LECTURE - CELEBRATING CHARLES DARWIN'S 216TH BIRTHDAY:
DARWIN AND THE ART OF BOTANY

Wednesday, February 12; 7-8:30 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required  More information >
 

ANNUAL EVELYN MCNEILL SIMS NATIVE PLANT LECTURE:
ADVENTURES IN ECOLOGICAL HORTICULTURE

with Rebecca McMackin, Ecological Horticulturalist
Sunday, April 6; 5:30-6:45 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required  More information > 



Conflict to Cultivation- Emilee's 14-Day Journey Advancing Therapeutic Horticulture in War-Torn Regions [Armenia and the Ukrainian border region

Tuesday, December 10th; 6:30 – 7:30 pm, virtual event]



[The 2025 Carrboro Film Festival will be January 13th and 24-26th:  www.carrborofilm.org/ ]



[March 14-16th in the mountains of WNC [Asheville, NC]www.organicgrowersschool.org/spring-conference]









Read Palestine Week is coming up, according to OR Books:  orbooks.com/reading-lists/the-palestine-list


Verso Books End of Year Sale 2024 -- November 18th-January 1st (has been extended in previous years?) -- www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/verso-end-of-year-sale-2024


A previous post on the Senate vote in November:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/11/from-adc-take-action-senate-to-vote-on.html






ADC Statement on Lebanon-Israel Ceasefire



For Immediate Release

ADC Contact: media[at adc org]

 

Washington, DC | www.adc.org | November 27, 2024 - The U.S.-led ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon showcases the government's ability to influence peace agreements when the political will exists. This begs the question: why hasn't the Biden Administration applied the same pressure to secure a ceasefire in Gaza? Israel's wars in Lebanon and Palestine demand permanent and decisive action, not futile, temporary ceasefire negotiations that have led to nothing except the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. 
 
President Biden remains blind to the reality that war is a losing strategy. The pursuit of "absolute victory" is a delusion that sustains cycles of violence and fuels the destruction of entire populations, as seen in Gaza. The international community has been clear: the entire world wants a permanent ceasefire both in Lebanon and Palestine, as anything less perpetuates an on-going genocide, ethnic cleansing, occupation, mass starvation, and desecration of holy sites that define Israel's wars. The people of Lebanon and Palestine both deserve peace—not conditioned, temporary truces, but an enduring commitment to justice, human dignity, and the right to live free from violence and oppression.
 
While the 60-day ceasefire in Lebanon offers a temporary reprieve, it fails to address underlying issues that fuel Israels ongoing actions. In fact, how can sustained peace be possible when Israeli airstrikes continued decimating Beirut as ceasefire negotiations were ongoing, and Gaza is continuing to get bombed as of this morning. The ADC is concerned about the implementation of the ceasefire and respect for Lebanon's sovereignty. Unrelenting war perpetuates suffering and instability, and we reaffirm our demand for a permanent ceasefire in both Lebanon and Palestine. 
 
The first steps in securing an end to the genocide and wars is the ending of all military aid to Israel, and the enforcement of the enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. 
 
Today, and always, the ADC remains committed to its values of advocating for an end of U.S. military assistance around the world, as history and the present day continue to prove its devastating impacts on targeted populations.



About the ADC 



The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S., founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk.  ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, the ADC fights discrimination in the U.S., enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice.






Breaking: Record Number of Senators Vote to Block Weapons to Israel



About the ADC



[Same as above]