AWTW on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

This article is from the A World to Win News Service ( aworldtowinns.co.uk/ ):

- Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The world's worst war crime and the countries willing to do it again
- From John Hersey’s Hiroshima

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Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The world's worst war crime and the countries willing to do it again

3 August 2015. A World to Win News Service. "That fateful summer, 8:15. The roar of a B-29 breaks the morning calm. A parachute opens in the blue sky. Then suddenly, a flash, an enormous blast – silence – hell on earth.

"The eyes of young girls watching the parachute melted. Their faces became giant charred blisters. The skin of people seeking help dangled from their fingernails. Their hair stood on end. Their clothes were ripped to shreds. People trapped in houses toppled by the blast were burned alive. Others died when their eyes and internal organs burst from their bodies. Hiroshima was a hell where those who somehow survived envied the dead." (From the 6 August 2007 memorial statement by Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, in a plea to rid the world of all nuclear weapons)

"A woman who covered her eyes from the flash lowered her hands to find the skin of her face had melted into her palms... Hundreds of field workers and others staggered by, moaning and crying. Some were missing body parts, and others were so badly burned that even though they were naked, Yoshida couldn't tell if they were men or women. He saw one person whose eyeballs hung down from his face, the sockets empty." (From Nagasaki, Life After Nuclear War, by Susan Southard, Viking, 2015)

Seventy years ago the United States became the first and only country to ever use nuclear weapons.

On 6 August 1945, an American bomber dropped a nuclear device over a hospital in Hiroshima, a Japanese city with little military significance. The bomb was attached to a parachute and set to go off high in the air to maximize the number of people who would be exposed to lethal radiation. About 140,000 city residents were killed or so badly injured that died within a few months.

When informed about the blast he had ordered, U.S. President Harry Truman gleefully exclaimed, "This is the greatest thing in history." To show just how "great" the atomic bomb was, three days later, on 9 August, the U.S. dropped another one, destroying the city of Nagasaki and killing another 70,000 people. Many years of suffering from cancer and other ills caused by radiation poisoning lay ahead for the survivors and their children. Susan Southard's new book, based on interviews with survivors over the last decade, recounts how some were so monstrously disfigured that children would run away from them. The fact that about 192,000 victims are still alive shows that this is not ancient history.

The U.S. occupied Japan after the war ended shortly after, and suppressed news articles recounting the horror that had occurred. Instead, newspapers like the New York Times parroted official lies, denying the existence of radiation sickness and downplaying the seriousness and special nature of the devastation caused by atomic weapons – which the U.S. government was then considering using on the USSR. The general in charge of developing the atom bomb told Congress that death by radiation was "a very pleasant way to die."

The U.S. unleashed the nuclear era in the closing days of the Second World War. Germany had already surrendered. Japan’s economy had been destroyed and its capital fire-bombed into ashes; its military had been dealt decisive defeats. Many historians believe that Japan would have surrendered without the atomic bombing. The purpose of the bombing was not just to make sure that the U.S. and its allies won the war, but even more, to make sure that the U.S. and the U.S. alone would benefit from Japan’s surrender.

The U.S. was determined not to let the Soviet Union prevent it from stepping into Japan’s shoes as the top colonial power in Asia. The USSR was still a socialist country then, although a decade later it would take a different path. It had been allied with the U.S. during the war against Germany and Japan, but even before the war was over the U.S. was baring its teeth to the USSR and setting out to dominate much of the world.

The USSR is no more but the U.S. and other countries still threaten the world with nuclear holocaust. The U.S., UK, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel hold thousands of nuclear warheads and the missiles, aircraft and submarines to use them. (Note: This list does not include Iran, despite the hysteria stoked by Truman's successor as U.S. president, Barack Obama.)

When Obama was campaigning for president in 2008, he promised he would seek nuclear disarmament. The committee that awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize the following year cited the agreement for a "nuclear-free world" he signed with Russia. (If Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for this, so did Russian president Vladimir Putin.)

Yet the treaty sought no such thing. It permitted the two sides to each retain 1,550 strategic nuclear weapons deployed and ready to go, not counting those in storage. (Russia already had less than that). Many are vastly more powerful than the bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The thousands of tactical nuclear weapons not covered by the treaty are, in some ways, even more dangerous than the strategic ones, because their use is envisioned in ordinary official military doctrine, and once a nuclear exchange begins, no one can say how it will end. A nuclear world war is not now on the horizon, as it was at several points during the height of U.S.-Soviet contention for world domination in the 1960s through the 1980s, but still, the only reason to have nukes is to be able to use them.

Although the arms race between the U.S. and Russia today is no longer about an ever-accumulating stockpile of nuclear bombs, Omaba has launched a trillion-dollar campaign to modernize his country's atomic bomb-making facilities, produce new or refurbished missiles, submarines and bombers to use them, and update existing warheads. Russia is reported to be updating its nuclear delivery vehicles. Similar efforts are being carried out by the UK (the modernisation of its nuclear arsenal and a new fleet of Trident ballistic missile submarines) and France (new air to ground nuclear-tipped missiles). Rather than working to consign nuclear weapons to the past, these programmes are meant to ensure their usability far into the future.

When asked to explain Obama's apparent turn-around, an advisor pointed to "Putin's invasion of Ukraine." (The New York Times, 21 September 2014). This is a perfect example of the Cold War posture when each of the two imperialist superpowers was ready to risk destroying the world rather than lose the contest to run it. The implicit threat to use nuclear weapons to "protect" Ukraine – in other words, to keep Russia from challenging U.S. geo-political interests – is completely insane from the viewpoint of the interests of the population of Ukraine and the world.

As for combating Islamist terrorism, the current pretext for U.S. and European military intervention in the Middle East, if terrorism is defined as the killing of innocent civilians for a political purpose, then there has seldom been a terrorist act more horrendous in its consequences or on a bigger scale than the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
 end item-

From John Hersey’s Hiroshima

3 August 2015. A World to Win News Service. The American novelist and journalist John Hersey arrived in Hiroshima after the 6 August 1945 bombing, and returned again the following year to conduct interviews for a magazine article and later a book that helped open the eyes of several generations. It was banned in Japan under the American occupation. The following excerpts from his Hiroshima (Penguin Classics, 2001) focus on the accounts told by two survivors.
At exactly 8.15 am, on 6 August 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk.

At that same moment, Dr Masakazu Fujii was settling down cross-legged to read his newspaper on the porch of his private hospital, overhanging one of the seven deltaic rivers which divide Hiroshima. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a tailor’s widow, stood by the window of her kitchen, watching a neighbour tearing down his house because it lay in the path of an air-raid-defence fire lane. Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest of the Society of Jesus, reclined in his underwear on a cot on the top floor of his order's three-story mission house, reading a Jesuit magazine. Dr Terufumi Sasaki, a young member of the surgical staff of the city’s large, modern Red Cross Hospital (no relation to Miss Sasaki), walked along one of the hospital corridors with a blood specimen in his hand. And the Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church, paused at the door of a rich man’s house in Koi, the city’s western suburb, and prepared to unload a
handcart full of things he had evacuated from town in fear of the massive B-29 raid which everyone expected Hiroshima to suffer.

A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb, and these six were among the survivors. Later, they wondered why they lived when so many others died. Each of them counted many small items of chance or volition – a step taken in time, a decision to go indoors, catching one street-car instead of the next – that spared him. And afterwards each knew that, in the act of survival, he had lived a dozen lives and had seen more death than he ever thought he would see.

At the time, none of them knew anything. Then a tremendous flash of light cut across the sky. Reverend Tanimoto has a distinct recollection that it travelled from east to west, from the city toward the hills. It seemed a sheet of sun. Both he and his friend Mr Matsuo reacted in terror – they had time to react for they were 3,500 yards, or two miles, from the centre of the explosion. Matsuo dashed up the front steps into the house and dived among the bedrolls and buried himself there. Reverend Tanimoto took four or five steps and threw himself between two big rocks in the garden. He bellied up hard against one of them. As his face was against the stone, he did not see what happened. He felt a sudden pressure, and then splinters and pieces of board and fragments of tile fell on him. He heard no roar. (Almost no one in Hiroshima recalls hearing any noise of the bomb.)

When he dared, Reverend Tanimoto raised his head and saw that the rich man"s house had collapsed. He thought a bomb had fallen directly on it. Such clouds of dust had risen that there was a sort of twilight around. In panic, not thinking for the moment of Matsuo under the ruins, he dashed out into the street. In the street, the first thing he saw was a squad of soldiers who had been burrowing into the hillside opposite, making one of the thousands of dugouts in which the Japanese apparently intended to resist invasion, hill by hill, life for life. The soldiers were coming out of the hole, where they should have been safe, and blood was running from their heads, chests, and backs. They were silent and dazed. Under what seemed to be a local dust cloud, the day grew darker and darker.

Hatsuyo Nakamura had not had an easy time. Her husband, Isawa, had gone into the army just after the youngest of her three children, Myeko, was born, and she had heard nothing from or of him for a long time, until, on 5 March 1942, she received a seven-word telegram: "Isawa died an honourable death at Singapore." Isawa had been a not particularly prosperous tailor, and his only capital was a Sankoku sewing machine. After his death, Nakamura got out the machine and began to take in piecework herself, and since then had supported the children, but poorly, by sewing.

As Nakamura stood in her kitchen watching her neighbour, everything flashed whiter than any white she had ever seen. She did not notice what happened to the man next door; the reflex of a mother set her in motion toward her children. She had taken a single step (the house was about 1,30 metres from the centre of the explosion) when something picked her up and she seemed to fly into the next room over the raised sleeping platform, pursued by parts of her house.

Timbers fell around her as she landed, and a shower of tiles pummelled her; everything became dark, for she was buried. The debris did not cover her deeply. She rose up and freed herself. She heard a child cry, "Mother, help me!" and saw Myeko, the five-year-old, buried up to her breast and unable to move. As Nakamura started frantically to claw her way toward the child, she could see or hear nothing of her other children...

From the mound, Reverend Tanimoto saw an astonishing panorama. Not just a patch of Koi, as he had expected, but as much of Hiroshima as he could see through the clouded air was giving off a thick, dreadful miasma. Clumps of smoke, near and far, had begun to push up through the general dust. He wondered how such extensive damage could have been dealt out of a silent sky; even a few planes far up would have been audible.

Houses nearby were burning, and when huge drops of water the size of marbles began to fall, he half-thought that they must be coming from the hoses of firemen fighting the blazes. (They were actually drops of condensed moisture falling from the turbulent tower of dust, heat and fission fragments that had already risen miles into the sky above Hiroshima.) Reverend Tanimoto thought of his wife and baby, his church, his home, his parishioners, all of them down in that awful murk. Once more he began to run in fear –toward the city.

Hatsuyo Nakamura, the tailor's widow, having struggled up from under the ruins of her house after the explosion, and seeing Myeko, the youngest of her three children, buried breast-deep and unable to move, crawled across the debris, hauled at timbers and flung tiles aside, in a hurried effort to free the child. Then, from what seemed to be caverns far below, she heard two small voices crying, "Tasukete! Tasukete! Help! Help!"

She called the names of her 10-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter: "Toshio! Yaeko!" The voices from below answered.

Nakamura abandoned Myeko, who at least could breathe, and in a frenzy made the wreckage fly above the crying voices. The children had been sleeping about three metres apart, but now their voices seemed to come from the same place. Toshio, the boy, apparently had some freedom to move, because she could feel him undermining the pile of wood and tiles as she worked from above. At last she saw his head, and she hastily pulled him out by it. A mosquito net was wound intricately, as if it had been carefully wrapped, around his feet. He said he had been blown right across the room and had been on top of his sister Yaeko under the wreckage. She now said, from underneath, that she could not move, because there was something on her legs. With a bit more digging, Nakamura cleared a hole above the child and began to pull her arm. "Itai! It hurts!" Yaeko cried. Nakamura shouted, "There’s no time now to say whether it hurts or not," and yanked her whimpering
daughter up. Then she freed Myeko. The children were filthy and bruised, but none of them had a single cut or scratch.

Nakamura took the children out into the street. They had nothing on but underpants, and, although the day was very hot, she worried rather confusedly about their being cold, so she went back into the wreckage and burrowed underneath and found a bundle of clothes she had packed for an emergency, and she dressed them in pants, blouses, shoes, padded cotton air-raid helmets called bokuzuki, and even, irrationally, overcoats. The children were silent, except for the five-year-old, Myeko, who kept asking questions: "Why is it night already? Why did our house fall down? What happened?" Nakamura, who did not know what had happened, looked around and saw through the darkness that all the houses in her neighbourhood had collapsed. The house next door, which its owner had been tearing down to make way for a fire lane, was now very thoroughly, if crudely, torn down; its owner, who had been sacrificing his home for the community's safety, lay dead...

After crossing Koi Bridge and Kannon Bridge, having run the whole way, Reverend Tanimoto saw, as he approached the centre, that all the houses had been crushed and many were afire. So impressed was he by this time by the extent of the damage that he ran north two miles to Gion, a suburb in the foothills. At Gion, he bore toward the right bank of the main river, the Ota, and ran down it until he reached fire again. Near a large Shinto shrine, he came to more fire, and as he turned left to get around it, he met, by incredible luck, his wife. She was carrying their infant daughter. Reverend Tanimoto was now so emotionally worn out that nothing could surprise him. He did not embrace his wife; he simply said, "Oh, you are safe." She told him that she had been buried under the parsonage with the baby in her arms. The wreckage had pressed down on her, and the baby had cried. She saw a chink of light and, by reaching up with a hand, she worked the hole bigger,
bit by bit. After about half an hour, she heard the crackling noise of wood burning. At last, the opening was big enough for her to push the baby out, and afterwards she crawled out herself. She said she was now going out to Ushida. Tanimoto said he wanted to see his church and take care of the people of his neighbourhood association. They parted as casually – as bewildered – as they had met.

All day, people poured into Asano Park. Hatsuyo Nakamura and her children were among the first to arrive, and they settled in the bamboo grove near the river. They all felt terribly thirsty, and they drank from the river. At once they were nauseated and began vomiting, and they retched the whole day. Others were also nauseated; they all thought (probably because of the strong odour of ionisation, an "electric smell" given off by the bomb’s fission) that they were sick from a gas the Americans had dropped. When Father Kleinsorge and the other priests came into the park, the Nakamuras were all sick and prostrate. A woman named Iwasaki, who lived in the neighbourhood of the mission and who was sitting near the Nakamuras, got up and asked the priests if she should stay where she was or go with them. Father Kleinsorge said, "I hardly know where the safest place is." She stayed there, and later in the day, though she had no visible wounds or burns, she died.

When Reverend Tanimoto, with his basin still in his hand, reached the park, it was very crowded, and to distinguish the living from the dead was not easy, for most of the people lay still, with their eyes open. To Father Kleinsorge, the silence in the grove by the river, where hundreds of gruesomely wounded suffered together, was one of the most dreadful phenomena of his whole experience. No one wept, much less screamed in pain; no one complained; not even the children cried; very few people even spoke. And when Father Kleinsorge gave water to some whose faces had been almost blotted out by flash burns, they took their share and then raised themselves a little and bowed to him in thanks...

As she dressed on the morning of 20 August, in the home of her sister-in-law in Kabe, not far from Nagatsuka, Nakamura, who had suffered no cuts or burns at all, though she had been rather nauseated, began fixing her hair and noticed, after one stroke, that her comb carried with it a whole handful of hair; the second time, the same thing happened, so she stopped combing at once. But in the next three or four days, her hair kept falling out of its own accord, until she was quite bald. She began living indoors, practically in hiding. On August 26, both she and her younger daughter, Myeko, woke up feeling extremely weak and tired, and they stayed on their bedrolls. Her son and other daughter, who had shared every experience with her during and after the bombing, felt fine. At about the same time, Tanimoto fell suddenly ill with a general malaise, weariness, and feverishness. These four did not realise it, but they were coming down with the strange,
capricious disease which came to be known as radiation sickness...

A year after the bomb was dropped, Toshiko Sasaki was a cripple; Hatsuyou Nakamura was destitute; Father Kleinsorge was back in hospital; Dr Sasaki was incapable of the work he once could do; Dr Fujii had lost the 30-room hospital it took him many years to acquire, and had no prospects of rebuilding it. Reverend Tanimoto's church had been ruined and he no longer had his exceptional vitality. The lives of these six people, who were among the luckiest in Hiroshima, would never be the same...

It would be impossible to say what horrors were embedded in the minds of the children who lived through the day of the bombing in Hiroshima. On the surface, their recollections, months after the disaster, were of an exhilarating adventure. Toshio Nakamura, who was 10 at the time of the bombing, was soon able to talk freely, even gaily, about the experience, and a few weeks before the anniversary he wrote the following matter-of-fact essay for his teacher at Noboricho primary school: "The day before the bomb, I went for a swim. In the morning, I was eating peanuts. I saw a light. I was knocked to little sister's sleeping place. When we were saved, I could only see as far as the tram. My mother and I started to pack our things. The neighbours were walking around burned and bleeding. Hetaya-san told me to run away with her. I said I wanted to wait for my mother. We went to the park. A whirlwind came. At night a gas tank burned and I saw the reflection in
the river. We stayed in the park on night. Next day I went to Taiko bridge and met my girl friends Kikuki and Murakami. They were looking for their mothers. But Kikuki’s mother was wounded and Murakami’s mother, alas was dead."
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70th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Japan

In light of the anniversary of the US use of nuclear weapons against Japanese civilians (in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the less often remembered August 9th bombing of Nagasaki), here are two campaigns to discourage it from happening again. 

A campaign ( www.kickstarter.com/projects/1784498350/barefoot-gen-for-schools-and-libraries ) is seeking donations to produce a new hardcover edition of a semi autobiographical account of the bombing of Hiroshima, so 4000+ copies can be donated to schools and libraries.  Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) is a graphic novel in 10 volumes by Keiji Nakazawa depicting life before the atomic bomb and well after.  It also touches on Japanese atrocities, leading to a recent ban in schools in Matsue, Japan ( cbldf.org/2013/08/barefoot-gen-pulled-from-matsue-school-libraries/ ).  I haven't read the comic version yet, but I have seen the first movie.  The style is a little cartoonish,  but it is an engrossing movie and the depiction of immediate aftermath of the explosion is horrific.  There is a second movie covering Hiroshima after WWII, but I don't think it has been released in the US, though it has probably been released in the UK and New Zealand. 

Two weeks ago PBS broadcast two documentaries on the nuclear genie we unleashed in the 20th century, The Bomb ( www.pbs.org/program/bomb/ ) and Uranium:  Twisting the Dragon's Tail ( www.pbs.org/program/uranium-twisting-dragons-tail/ ).  They were interesting, but The Bomb made nuclear weapons less terrifying, with all the footage of nuclear tests and structures withstanding the blasts, and it reduced President Truman's responsibility while putting more blame on Japan.  For another view, see warisacrime.org/content/tomgram-christian-appy-americas-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-70-years-later , though The Bomb did admit that Truman allowed Japan to surrender on the condition of retaining the emperor, instead of unconditional surrender.  I was surprised when Uranium suddenly showed a segment of the Barefoot Gen movie showing the immediate effects of the bomb.  I wonder if very many viewers were shocked. 

The US demands that smaller countries not develop nuclear weapons, though our country is the only one so far to have used them to destroy cities, and still threatens other countries, which encourages proliferation, so they don't end up like Iraq and Libya.  The US also aids nuclear proliferation in countries like Israel and India.  Many US politicians want to start a war over Iran's development of peaceful and legal nuclear technology and there has already been covert acts of aggression against Iran by the US and Israel.  Just in time for the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on the 6th, leading Senate Democrat Charles Schumer is working to sabotage the deal that might remove a justification for aggression against Iran in the near future.  It might make a statement about the ethics of the Iranian leadership that they haven't developed nuclear weapons, though nuclear powers are threatening them.     

It was foolish for the nuclear powers to build so many nuclear weapons during the Cold War, and there is even less reason to still have more than enough to cause human extinction around today, with many ready for immediate use.  Obama even wants to send billions renovating the US nuclear arsenal, rather than negotiate deep cuts with Russia.  The Republic of the Marshall Islands, a group of islands in the Pacific that the US used for 67 of those nuclear tests shown on The Bomb, is suing the nine nuclear powers for failing to follow the non-proliferation treaty.  There is a petition at www.nuclearzero.org

I'm surprised there hasn't been more mention of this anniversary by progressive and anti-imperialist papers and websites in the US. 

Moral Mondays, TPP protest, and other events

Moral Mondays ongoing

There will be a Moral Monday demonstration today, May 26th, 5-6:30pm at the Bicentennial Mall, across from the General Assembly building (16 West Jones Street, Raleigh).  The focus this week is healthcare and environmental justice, covering the refusal to expand Medicaid in NC, coal ash, fracking, pollution from industrial livestock operations, etc.  There will be civil disobedience training at 3pm at the Davie Street Presbyterian Church (300 East Davie Street, Raleigh).  For more information and to RSVP, see http://www.naacpnc.org/events    

There will be a Moral Monday demonstration in Charlotte June 1st, at 7pm at the Little Rock AME Zion Church.      

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) protest at Rep. Price's Chapel Hill office

There will be a combination of a constituent meeting with Rep. David Price's staff (?) and a protest outside Thursday, May 28th, 4-6pm at 1777 Fordham Boulevard (corner of 15-0501 and Sage Road in Chapel Hill).  People are asked to bring signs.  This is sponsored by the Communication Workers of America, Food and Water Watch, NC AFL-CIO, Witness for Peace, Working America, and constituents.  I also received a MoveOn.org alert about this event.  

Panel on US policy and the coup in Ukraine at the Left Forum in New York

US Friends of the Soviet People is hosting a panel with academics and Ukrainians at the annual Left Forum (www.LeftForum.org) May 30th, 5:10-7pm, room 1.105 at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street (between 10th and 11th avenues in Manhattan).    

Some other local upcoming events from an activist calendar:

Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think:  Documentary explores gathered opinions of Muslims in first major opinion poll of its kind taken by Gallup. Film and discussion facilitated by Reverend Thom Belote with guests Imam Mowlid Ali and Mona Dakrouri. 6:30 to 8 PM, Thu, May 28, Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist, 106 Purefoy Rd, corner of Mason Farm Rd. 919-444-1478.

Know Your Rights: Panel of experts: Brennan Aberle, Guildford Co Asst Public Defender; Carolyna Manrique, NC ACLU staff attorney; and James E. Williams, Orange/Chatham Co Public Defender explain rights, how to assert them, and how to ensure they are honored. 1-4 PM, Sat, May 30, Carrboro Century Center, 100 N Greensboro St. Hosted by CHC Young Leaders Movement; co-sponsors: Orange Bias Free Policing Coalition, Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, and Carrboro Police Dept.  919-643-4400. 

Two Chapel Hill Invitations to Hear President and Senior Rabbi of Jerusalem-based Rabbis for Human Rights:  American-born Israeli Rabbi Arik Ascherman, who has spearheaded protests to defend Palestinians against Israeli settler violence, speaks about his work in Israel and Occupied Palestine. Public talk, 10 AM, Sun, May 31, Kehilla Synagogue, 1200 Mason Farm Rd, and 12:15 - 1:30 PM, Sun, May 31, Church of Reconciliation Fellowship Hall, 110 N Elliott Rd. Opportunity for questions and conversation about current situation in Israel-Palestine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arik_Ascherman.

Hodding Carter and Ferrell Guillory Discuss After Snowden: Privacy, Secrecy, and Security in the Information Age: Carter's essay, "The Press," is one among seven written by prominent legal and political experts who explore the significance of Snowden's leak from multiple angles in this just published book.  Carter has won numerous awards for reporting, worked for the Carter administration, was president of Knight Foundation.  Ferrell Guillory is Professor of the Practice, UNC School of Journalism. 2- 3 PM, Sun, May 31, Flyleaf   Books, 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.  info at flyleafbooks period com, 919-942-7373. 

Ongoing vigils for justice and peace: Raleigh: Stop the Arms Race and Build a Culture of Peace Vigil, 1st Wednesday of every month, Noon to 1 PM, Century Post Office on Fayetteville St (919-782-0667); Raleigh: End the death penalty (PFADP, AI-USA, NC-ACLU), 5 - 6 PM, Mondays, Central Prison, corner of Hunt Dr and Western Blvd (919-779-1912); Chapel Hill: [4:30 - 5:30 PM EST] 5-6 PM EDT, Fridays, corner of Elliott Rd and East Franklin St (919-942-2535)."      

Greensboro Massacre historical marker being dedicated Sunday

A state highway historical marker for the Greensboro Massacre will be dedicated this Sunday, the 24th, at 4:15pm at the corner of McConnell and Willow roads in Greensboro.  Earlier at 3pm there will be a service at New Light Baptist Church (1105 Willow Road) and there will be a meeting for reflection at the church after the marker is dedicated.  The Greensboro Massacre happened November 3, 1979 when the KKK and neo-Nazis shot at a "Death to the Klan" demonstration organized by the Communist Workers' Party, killing 5 people and injuring others.  The CWP was a Maoist party that apparently no longer exists.

See:  www.news-record.com/news/local_news/greensboro-massacre-historical-marker-dedication-set-for-may/article_4dfabb10-fb28-11e4-9ae3-83f67fca0c30.html

Report from Iranian ship carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen

There Will Be No Saudi Inspection Of This Ship! - A Message from Caleb
Maupin onboard the “Iran Shahed” in the Gulf of Aden

CalebMaupin.info

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is mercilessly slaughtering people
in Yemen, has absolutely no right to inspect this vessel. Neither does
the United States of America or Israel. The Iranian government has
made that absolutely clear, and all of us in the delegation of peace
activists from Germany, France, and the United States absolutely agree
with this decision.

An inspection from the United Nations or the International Red
Cross/Red Crescent Society would absolutely be permitted and welcomed.
These are international bodies delegated for such tasks.

However, allowing an inspection of this ship from the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia would recognize that somehow the people of Yemen are the
property of the Saudis, which they are not. Yemenis are fighting and
dying to assert this fact each day.

The Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in agreement
with Yemen, is shipping 2,500 tons of medical supplies on this cargo
vessel. Both Iran and Yemen are sovereign countries. They have the
right to interact peacefully with each other, without interference.
Saudi Arabia has no say in the matter.

The only purpose a Saudi inspection could serve would be to humiliate
the Islamic Republic of Iran, or worse, to create some kind of
provocation or incident. The Saudis could use the inspection of this
vessel to start a scuffle with those onboard, or to plant weapons, or
to issue false reports in the media about what they found onboard.

The Saudi regime, which beheads and tortures people routinely, and is
currently burning the skin of Yemeni children with the chemical weapon
called White Phosphorous, has no business entering this ship.

A Purely Humanitarian Mission

There is no question in my mind about the absolutely humanitarian
nature of this mission. I have personally looked inside the cargo
areas of this ship and seen nothing but humanitarian items like
band-aids, disinfectant, food, and bottled water.

All Iranian cargo ships that pass through the Gulf of Aden have two
machine guns mounted on the bridge, as a mechanism for self-defense
from pirates or terrorists which frequent this dangerous area.
However, because this is a special humanitarian mission these machine
guns, which are on every Iranian cargo ship, were removed.

The emblem of the Red Crescent Society is prominently displayed
throughout the ship, as are the Iranian and Yemeni flags.

I have spoken at length with the Red Crescent volunteers (we have
plenty of time to socialize). They have told me about their previous
international operations with the Red Crescent Society, traveling
across the world to help those in need.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society, like all organizations which are
affiliated to the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Society in
Geneva, follows seven guiding principles of work. Among them are
non-involvement in military operations, non-partisan delivery of aid,
and volunteerism.

The Iranians would welcome the United Nations or the International Red
Cross/Red Cresent to inspect this ship. But the criminal Saudi regime,
and its US and Israeli allies are simply not welcome aboard.

If we have no interference, we will reach Hodiedah on Thursday, and
deliver our 2,500 tons of supplies to the Yemeni people. We have
recently been informed that the Saudis have already bombed the port of
Hodiedah in anticipation of our arrival.

Let The Hungry Children of Yemen Live!

This Illegal, Immoral Blockade Must End!

Don’t Block The Rescue Boat!

(I ask my friends in the United States and elsewhere to please forward
and post this message as widely as possible. Send it to the press, put
it on social media, repost it anywhere you want. My internet access
onboard is very limited, so PLEASE help spread the word about our
humanitarian mission.) 

FLOC and immigration events coming up this week

Reynolds American demonstration

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee and supporters will demonstrate at Reynolds American's annual shareholder meeting in Winston-Salem this Thursday to improve working conditions in North Carolina's tobacco fields.  FLOC supporters will be at the meeting in the Reynolds American Plaza Building (401 North Main Street) and there will be a picket outside at 10:30 AM, followed by a march at 11 five blocks to Lloyd Presbyterian Church (748 North Chestnut Street), ending with a rally at the church.  Free parking is available at the church and pay parking in a deck across from Reynolds American.  The campaign website is: http://www.floc.com/wordpress/reynolds-campaign/    

LWVODC Law Day forum with Consul General of Mexico for NC and SC

The League of Women Voters of Orange-Durham-Chatham is hosting a public forum on immigration with Consul General of Mexico Javier Díaz de León the evening of Tuesday, May 5th at Extraordinary Ventures (200 South Elliot Road, across from Whole Foods) in Chapel Hill.  The LWVODC is having its private annual meeting beforehand, followed by a public reception at 6:30 (they request that people arrive then), and the forum from 7-8pm.  Free parking is available.  For more information, see http://www.lwvodc.org/Calendar.html .

As always, the regular Friday peace and justice vigil is just up the road at the corner of Elliot and Franklin on Friday, 5-6pm.      

The Moral Monday demonstrations started again last Wednesday, April 29th, but I don't know if it is happening again this week.  Last Friday there was also a large march in downtown Durham protesting police brutality.    

I added to the links and blogroll on the right and removed some old links. 

Pilgrimage for Peace and Justice and other April events

Creek Week 2015 ( http://keepdurhambeautiful.org/our-events/durham-creek-week-events/ ) just ended in Durham, but it is never too late to connect with your local waterway, such as by contacting a local adopt a waterway group or by exploring yourself. 

Farmworker Awareness Week is March 24-31, and events are posted at:  http://www.saf-unite.org/content/celebrate-national-farmworker-awareness-week-march-24-31-2015

The annual Pilgrimage for Peace & Justice starts tomorrow through April 3rd, organized by Witness for Peace Southeast and co-sponsors (schedule posted at http://www.wfpse.org/annual-pilgrimage/ ).  

April 2nd there will be a rally against the influence of corporate money in politics at the Durham post office (323 East Chapel Hill Street), 12-2pm.  I heard about this in a letter to the editor in the March 24th edition of the Herald-Sun.  Apparently the idea is that the executive branch can require corporations that do business with the Federal government to disclose political contributions.    

April 15th workers are rising for a living wage, and the North Carolina event is a rally at Shaw University Quad (188 East South Street, Raleigh) at 5pm.  The overall website is http://april15.org/ and the NC Facebook event is at:  https://www.facebook.com/events/791815507567945/  To register for a free bus from UNC, see http://goo.gl/forms/bAPsyVu3y5   

Some other events, from an activist calendar out of Chapel Hill:

"Internationalizing Gaza:  Politics of International Law and  Struggle for Justice:  Noura Erakat, JD, LLM, Assistant Professor at George Mason University, where she teaches legal studies, international studies, and human rights/social justice issues.  She is co-editor of an online journal that features content on the Middle East.  7 PM, Thu, Apr 9, UNC's Hyde Hall [4th building in row opposite PO on Franklin St]. UNC Students for Justice in Palestine and UNC Chapter of National Lawyers Guild.

Water in the Desert: The Gaza Water Crisis:  Ralph and Emily McCoy, recent visitors to Gaza, discuss what local faith communities can do to help children in Gaza have safe drinking water. Conditions prior to the Gazan assault in July 2014, when 92% of water coming from wells in Gaza was unfit for human consumption, have only worsened. 6 - 7 PM, Wed, Apr 15, Binkley Baptist Church Lounge, 1712 Willow Dr (by 15-501 and Univ. Mall), Chapel Hill. Contact: rmccoy at nc dot rr dot com or 919-489-0483.

Celebration of Nicaraguan Children: Hear about 2015 Friends of Cultural Immersion Ecotour to San Ramón. Learn about work of Sister Communities of San Ramón toward sustainability for impoverished local people in a beautiful mountainous region in central Nicaragua, southeast of Matagalpa. Wine and cheese fund raiser: $20 adults, $10 students.  4-6 PM, Sun, Apr, 19, Eno River UU Fellowship, 4907 Garrett Rd, Durham. Info: 919-489-1656."

Since we are now on Daylight Savings Time, the weekly vigil for peace and justice on Fridays at the corner of Franklin Street and Elliot in Chapel Hill is now from 5-6pm.  

Another week to appreciate an aspect of the natural world is the annual National Moth Week (http://nationalmothweek.org/), coming up July 18-26, though spring is a good time to find interesting moths around here.  

Some upcoming events, 2/21-4/4

Malcolm X remembrance

From http://hayti.org/events/ :

February 21 | 2-4:30pm | Hayti Heritage Center

Malcolm X: Black Liberation, Black and Muslim Lives Matter

In Remembrance of the 50th Anniversary of his Assassination

This February - Black Liberation Month - marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X - El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

We invite the Durham community to participate in a public forum and dialogue about brother Malcolm - the movement that he came to inspire and represent, his thoughts, political practice, and militancy. Most importantly, we will discuss how Pan-Africanism, internationalism, Black self-defense, and other concepts Malcolm X raised can apply to today’s movement against state violence and for Black Liberation.Program includes:

– Video and audio of Malcolm X
– An introduction to his life and politics
– Talk by community members who worked with him

Reflections by Muslim leaders on his internationalism and the growing tide of Islamophobia
– Reflections on the #BlackLivesMatter movement, Black Power, and what impact and relevance “By Any Means Necessary” has today
– Open mic and discussionLight refreshments provided.

Please call 919-413-1276 for more information. [or see https://www.facebook.com/events/840308166027186/ ]

From a local activist calendar:

“Israeli Military Detention: No Way to Treat a Child: Workshop presented by Coalition for Peace with Justice and American Friends Service Committee and local co-sponsors. Each year, on average, 700 Palestinian children are prosecuted in Israeli military courts in the West Bank, documented by UNICEF and Defense for Children International. Join discussion with suggestions for actions to redress the situation. 9 AM-12:30 PM, Sat, Feb 21, Durham Friends Meeting, 404 Alexander Ave, Durham. $25; $15 for students and seniors. RSVP cpwjregister at gmail or 919-914-9881.

Will the Environment Survive a Renewed Middle East Peace Process? Alon Tal, leading Israeli environmental activist with Israel Union for Environmental Defense and Green Zionist Alliance, reviews environmental cooperation in the region and considers current peace process and how it might be leveraged to ensure an ecological dividend for that area.12 Noon, Sun, Feb 22, UNC's Gardner Hall Room 105, between Davis Library and Memorial Hall. Cosponsors: NC Hillel, Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations. agauss at nchillel dot org.

Israeli Apartheid Week 2015 at UNC: Events hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Mon, Feb 23 - Thu, Feb 26.Teach-in: Israeli Apartheid 101 with panel, 6 PM, Feb 23, Bingham Hall 301, near Wilson Library; Short Films with Nick Denes, co-director of London Palestine Film Festival, 6 PM, Feb 25, Bingham Hall; Palestine Cultural Night, 8 PM, Feb 26, Campus YMCA Anne Queen Lounge, next to Memorial Hall, Cameron Ave. Info: www.facebook.com/UNCSJP?v=wall.

Politics Aside: Promoting Human Rights and Accountability in Israel/Palestine: Speaker Jessica Montell, who served as Executive Director of B'Tselem, Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, is now a visiting research fellow at Hebrew University Faculty of Law. 5:30 - 7 PM, Tue, Feb 24, Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy Rhodes Conference Room, corner of Science Dr and Towerview Rd and Science Dr, Durham. Sponsored by Duke Center for Jewish Studies, Duke Forum for Scholars and Publics, Duke Human Rights Center at Franklin Humanities Institute, UNC Students for Justice in Palestine.
Protest Government Whitewashing of Senate Torture Report: Join NC Stop Torture Now for vigil10 AM, Wed, Feb 25, Federal Building, Person St at New Bern Ave, Raleigh, or outside Senator Burr’s office building, 2000 West 1st St, Winston-Salem [there is also supposed to be an event in Fayetteville, but I don't have details]. If you cannot vigil, then call, email, or tweet President Obama[202-456-1111,www.whitehouse.gov/contact/, or @BarackObama] to order federal agencies to study the full report they have and take action. For more details: www.ncstoptorturenow.org/

Law in the Age of "Forever War": 21st Annual Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security Conference. Topics covered include: targeting, surveillance, home-grown terrorism, intelligence gathering in the digital age, law of armed conflict issues, and ensuring human rights and civil liberties. 8 AM Fri, Feb 27 to 5 PM Sat, Feb 28, Duke Law School, Science Dr, Durham. Register: http://web.law.duke.edu/lens/index
Putting a Face on Poverty in North Carolina: Speaker Gene Nichol, Director of UNC's Law School Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity, addresses what others know of the low ranking NC has from studies at the Center and sources such as The KIDS COUNT Data Book, an annual publication of Annie E. Casey Foundation, that assesses child well-being nationally and across the 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. 11 AM, Fri, Feb 27, Celebration Assembly of God Church, 114 Weaver Dairy Rd, Chapel Hill. Sponsored by Shared Learning Association of Chapel Hill. http://sharedlearningchapelhill.com/.

Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine: Documentary by award-winning producer Connie Fields about a black gospel group from the US visiting the West Bank. Al Helm illustrates the transformative power of art and how it can move us toward understanding. 7:30 PM, Fri, Mar 13, Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist sanctuary, 106 Purefoy Rd, corner of Mason Farm Rd. Sponsored by Peace and Justice Committee of Church and Balance and Accuracy in Journalism (BAJ). More information: www.clarityfilms.org/mlk/.

Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective Workdays: Sunday, 1 PM, 621 Hillsborough Rd, Carrboro, email prisonbooks at gmail or details; Political Prisoner Letter Writing Night (supplies provided.), 7 PM, 3rd Wednesdays, Internationalist Books & Community Center, 101 Lloyd St, Carrboro. Info: www.internationalistbooks.org/2011/12/15/an-appeal-from-the-prison-books-collective/, http://prisonbooks.info/.

Ongoing vigils for justice and peace: Raleigh: Stop the Arms Race and Build a Culture of Peace Vigil, 1^st Wednesday of every month, Noon to 1 PM, Century Post Office on Fayetteville St (919-782-0667); Raleigh: End the death penalty (PFADP, AI-USA, NC-ACLU), 5 - 6 PM, Mondays, Central Prison, corner of Hunt Dr and Western Blvd (919-779-1912); Chapel Hill:4:30 - 5:30 PM EST [5-6 PM EDT], Fridays, corner of Elliott Rd and East Franklin St(919-942-2535).”

Shutdown AIPAC (Washington, DC February 28-March 3):

From the Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/events/583300068467490/ ):

“Join CODEPINK, Humanity for Palestine, US Campaign to End The Israeli Occupation, Students for Justice in Palestine East, If Americans Knew, Friends of Sabeel North America, Jews for a Just Peace for Palestinians, Boycott from Within, Answer Coalition, United States Palestinian Community Network, and Just Foreign Policy to #ShutDownAIPAC.
AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and affiliated organizations have long been bending politicians’ ears and filling their pockets, supporting the brutal occupation of Palestine and trying to push the US into war with Iran. Racism is the force that both helped to create and now helps to sustain and justify the brutal occupation of Palestine and the accompanying police state. Now is the time to connect the dots and challenge state-sponsored violence and racist police at home and abroad. Whether your motto is #FreePalestine or #BlackLivesMatter, we must unify our movements to call for an end to global militarism and the plague of racism. February 28th - March 3rd, when war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will be in DC to address AIPAC and a joint session of Congress, join activists from around the country to #ShutDownAIPAC!”

“Saturday, February 28, 2015
1:00PM Know Your Rights/Civil Disobedience Training at the CODEPINK house (1241 Evarts Street NE, Washington D.C)

7:00 - 10:00PM - #OneStruggle at Trinity Lutheran Church
Join Human Rights lawyer Noura Erakat, Dream Defenders Ahmed Abuznaid, Tef Poe and Tara Thompson from Ferguson, Missouri, Founder of Indigenous Resistance, native American activist Andrew Curley, and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organizer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaZ5uTbmkBI

Sunday, March 1, 2015
12:00 - 3:00PM #ShutDownAIPAC! Rally at the Washington Convention Center
Converge with activists from around the country on the Washington Convention Center with mock settlements, a checkpoint, a creative action with 100 Netanyahu Masks and bloody hands, and speakers including Steven Salaita, Ronnie Barkan and Ariel Gold.

7:00 – 10:00PM the Courage to Speak Out (Busboys and Poets on 5th and K)
Join Miko Peled and Philip Giraldi to discuss AIPAC’s political power and how best to counter it.

Monday, March 2, 2015
(Time TBA) Press Conference
6:00 PM – 9:00PM Protest at the Washington Convention Center
Join activists to protest Israel’s crimes and call out visiting Prime Minister Netanyahu for his government’s policies of occupation, apartheid, and warmongering!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015
(Time TBA [at U Capitol]) Protest Netanyahu’s Speech at the joint session of Congress with ANSWER Coalition!!”

From the Alliance for Global Justice (www.afgj.org):

“National Call for Local Actions on Anniversary of Hugo Chavez's Death

March 5 is the second anniversary of the passing of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, who transformed Venezuela through his courageous struggle to help Venezuelans become protagonists of their destiny.

Before Chávez, Venezuela's natural resources enriched foreign oil companies and elites, both in Venezuela and abroad. Today the country's wealth has been harnessed for true development -- hundreds of thousands of homes and schools have been built, and healthcare has become free and accessible throughout the country. The goal of the Bolivarian revolutionary process is socialism, where every human being can enjoy guaranteed rights of healthcare, education, housing, jobs, equality, culture, social peace, and international solidarity.

The US government is working to destabilize Venezuela’s democratically elected government, using US tax-payer dollars to finance anti-government organizations in Venezuela, encouraging coup attempts and even terrorist attacks on their population. Now, the US is applying sanctions against Venezuela to punish the government and people for defending their sovereignty. It is up to us, the people of the United States, to demand that the US government stop the attacks and destabilization of Venezuela, respect international law and Venezuela's right to self-determination.

This is a dangerous time for Venezuela. The US has spent millions of dollars to destabilize Venezuela and regain control of their oil reserves, which are the largest on the planet. The Obama administration has increased these aggressive policies since the death of President Chávez and the 2013 election of President Maduro.

After losing legislative elections in late 2013, the opposition began violent street protests a year ago which resulted in over 40 deaths, the majority of which were security forces and Maduro supporters. The street protests failed, but the Obama administration and the Venezuelan opposition have continued their efforts to destabilize the country with the goal of removing Maduro from power.

The achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution in the areas of participatory democracy, economic equality, social justice, education, and healthcare are all gains we could benefit from in the United States. It is our political responsibility to oppose US government plans to destroy Venezuela’s democracy.”

These events are listed at www.answercoalition.org :

Boston, Mass.
March 5th, 2015
Encuentro5 at 9A Hamilton Place, Boston, MA 02108-4701
6:30 p.m.
Remembrance of Hugo Chavez facilitated by General Consul Noel Martinez, Vanesa Matamoros and Jorge Marin

San Francisco, Calif.
March 5
24th and Mission St.
5:00 p.m.
Rally in Solidarity with Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution

Los Angeles, Calif.
March 6
Immanuel Presbyterian Church (3300 Wilshire Boulevard)
6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Forum in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution

New York City, N.Y.
March 5
5th Avenue between 33rd and 34th Street
4:00 p.m.
March: "Human Rights Watch, Weapon of the U.S. State Department"

Anti-war march in DC

As part of the Spring Rising (www.springrising.org) anti-war intervention, ANSWER is organizing a demonstration Saturday, March 21^st, beginning with a rally at Lafayette Park across from the White House at 12, followed by a march to the US Capitol at 1pm.

Durham Seed Libraries

Vegetable and flower seeds will be available for free at libraries in Durham again this year, starting April 4^th. If you want to help the staff get things ready, there will be a work session February 25^th 6-8pm at the Main Library, but people need to arrive before the Library closes for the day at 6. 

Capitalism is the issue, not religion

I offer my condolences to the family and friends of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha, killed February 10th in a Chapel Hill neighborhood located in Durham County.

Initially there were suggestions that this crime was motivated by atheist intolerance of Islam, though there is also evidence that the accused shooter was not especially anti-Islam. Whatever the facts turn out to be in this case, I find what could be called atheist fundamentalists misguided and extreme. Some atheists seem to think the main problem in the world is religion, as if it is religion that causes violence and ignorance, rather than capitalist unequal development and oppression by the US and other imperialists and their local proxies. In many cases, if people were more religious about following the pro-social aspects of their religion, the world would probably be better off. Activists with a religious ideology, such as Catholic Workers and Quakers, are some of the most dedicated anti-imperialists and social justice advocates in North Carolina, more so than much of the secular Left, even the Marxist Left. They are more active than I am, though some of what they do is paid non-profit work. Resisting imperialist capitalism is more important than fighting religion in the US, though it may be a more important issue in countries where religion dominates society, and it is foolish to unnecessarily alienate religious people by arguing over theology.    

Upcoming activist events

A partial list of some upcoming social justice and conservation events in the Triangle:

Our Future Flies on the Wings of Pollinators 

There will be a presentation about steps we can take to help pollinator insects, which are vital for many of our crops and the natural world, tomorrow, Sunday, February 1st, 3-4pm at Durham's South Regional Library.  It's free, but an RSVP is requested online at http://durhamcountylibrary.org/location/south/ (see the upcoming events listing, and click this event) or call 919 560 7410.   

Events relating to Palestinian rights:

From a local activist calendar: 

"Palestinians in Gaza and from Syria - Shattered Families in the Middle East: Bill Corcoran, President and CEO of American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), will illustrate its humanitarian efforts and provide insights regarding future of instability in that region.  ANERA is an American NGO dedicated to improving lives of Palestinian communities through health care, education, and economic development.  7 PM, Mon, Feb 2, NCSU’s Withers Hall Auditorium 232A, 101 Lampe Dr, off Hillsborough St,  Raleigh.  Sponsored by NCSU International Studies Club and Coalition for Peace with Justice. 6 -7:30 PM, Tue, Feb 3, UNC's FedEx Global Education Center Room 1005, corner of McCauley and Pittsboro Sts, Chapel Hill. Sponsored by Carolina Center for Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies, Center for Global Initiatives, Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense, Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center, Curriculum in Global Studies, and Coalition for Peace with Justice." 

"The Stones Cry Out: Documentary film of Palestinian Christians, part of ongoing series of films on social justice issues called "The Conscientious Projector." Info:www.thestonescryout.com. Public invited.  7 PM, Tue, Feb 3, Episcopal Church of the Advocate, 8410 Merin Rd, off Homestead Rd from MLK Blvd, Chapel Hill."

"Silencing Dissent: Academic Freedom and Censorship:  Discharged Palestinian-American professor Steven Salaita speaks, 7:30 PM, Wed, Feb 4, Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy Room 04, corner of Science Dr and Towerview Rd (parking at Bryan Center deck), Durham. Organized by Duke Students for Justice in Palestine and cosponsored by African and African American Studies, Duke Islamic Studies Center, Romance Studies, and Center for Global Studies and the Humanities."

"Uncivil Rites: Academic Freedom and Silencing of Speech:  Discharged Palestinian-American professor Steven Salaita speaks, 7:30 PM, Thu, Feb 5, UNC's Hyde Hall, (third building in line directly opposite PO on  E Franklin St; parking in town deck on Rosemary St). Organized by Students for Justice in Palestine-UNC and UNC Concerned Faculty for Palestine and cosponsored by Carolina Seminar on Rethinking Palestine/Israel, Institute for Arts and Humanities, Sept of Romance Studies, Dept of Anthropology Sept of Asian Studies, South Asia Faculty Working Goup, Center for Global Initiatives, Carolina Asia Center, Sept of Sociology, Social and Economic Justice Minor."

ACLU events:

"Privacy Under Attack: How the Government is Watching You": ACLU of NC's Invitation to learn about surveillance technology being used across NC and to urge lawmakers to protect our privacy. We must act now in order to preserve our constitutional right to privacy in the 21st century. 9 - 10 AM, (breakfast served at 8 AM), Thu, Feb 5, Legislative Auditorium, 3rd floor NC Legislative Building, 16 W Jones St, Raleigh. RSVP: mmeno@acluofnc.org or 919-834-3466." 

And Then There Was One: How targeted regulations cripple and close clinics: Speaker Sarah Preston, Policy Director, American Civil Liberties Union of NC.  Find out how regulations are used to harass patients and staff inside clinics and learn how we can fight back against those who seek to close clinics.  7 PM, Thu, Feb 5, Chapel Hill Friends Meeting House, 531 Raleigh Rd.  RSVP: 321-663-8598. Sponsored by NOW chapters in Durham, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh." 

Vigils:

"Ongoing vigils for justice and peace: Raleigh: Stop the Arms Race and Build a Culture of Peace Vigil, 1st Wednesday of every month, Noon to 1 PM, Century Post Office on Fayetteville St; Raleigh: End the death penalty (PFADP, AI-USA, NC-ACLU), 5 - 6 PM, Mondays, Central Prison, corner of Hunt Dr and Western Blvd; Chapel Hill: 4:30 - 5:30 PM EST [5-6 PM EDT], Fridays, corner of Elliott Rd and East Franklin St."   

Labor events: 

There will be rallies around the country April 15th demanding that the minimum wage be raised to $15/hour.  February 3rd at 12pm the NC AFL-CIO is hosting a planning meeting in Raleigh, with lunch provided, but participants need to RSVP.   

In the campaign to get better working conditions for tobacco farmworkers (along the lines of the successful Mt Olive Pickle campaign), there will be a rally Saturday, February 7, from 10 to 10:45am at the Kangaroo station at 106 East 54, near the intersection of 54 and Fayetteville Road and Southpoint Mall.  

Upcoming demonstrations:

The annual HKonJ (Historic 1000's on Jones Street) People's Assembly and Moral March on Raleigh will be Saturday, February 14th.  There will be carpools and buses, but I only have information for Chapel Hill/Carrboro (contact naacp5689 at gmail ).

The Spring Rising anti-war intervention in Washington, DC will have events March 18-21 (www.springrising.org).  

Durham Creek Week:

The annual Durham Creek Week is shaping up to be bigger than ever, March 21-28 at locations throughout Durham (see http://keepdurhambeautiful.org/our-events/durham-creek-week-events/ ).  

UNC Student Action with Workers meeting Tuesday

It's good to see that UNC's Student Action with Workers is still going strong (it started in 2003).  The first meeting of the spring semester/new member meeting is next Tuesday, January 27th, at 5pm in Murphy 112 (near Davis Library).  

Website:  uncsaw.wordpress.com

Twitter:  @uncsaw

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/pages/Student-Action-with-Workers/179876058757165

Tsutomu Shirosaki, Japanese anti-imperialist, released by US for deportation

Until I came across articles posted online by the Denver Anarchist Black Cross, I wasn't aware that the USA held anyone accused of involvement with the now defunct Japanese Red Army. Tsutomu Shirosaki was imprisoned at a low security Federal prison in Yazoo City, Mississippi until January 16^th, and is now being held by immigration authorities for deportation to Japan. I wish him well and hope he doesn't disappear into the Japanese prison system. Terrorism has a romantic aspect, but it is usually futile, as opposed to mass political movements, violent or not. It is impressive that Japanese people went so far for Palestinian national liberation, but ultimately the JRA and related groups don't seem to have accomplished much beyond getting their members imprisoned or killed.

Shirosaki was born December 5, 1947 in Toyama, Japan. He studied engineering in college and became a student activist. At some point he turned to violent actions, robbing banks for political funding. In 1971 he was arrested for trying to rob a Bank of Yokohama office in Tokyo and was given a 10 year prison sentence.

Several years later, on September 28, 1977, five Japanese Red Army members hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 472 from Paris to Tokyo shortly after a stop in Mumbai, India, to force the Japanese government to give them $6 million dollars and release 9 prisoners, including Shirosaki. Six of the prisoners were released to the hijackers in Dhaka, Bangladesh October 2^nd and they took the airliner ultimately to Algeria. The hijackers and ex-prisoners managed to reach Lebanon. Japan demanded that the prisoners turning themselves in, but they refused, so they became fugitives sought by Interpol. All or most of the ex-prisoners were at a loss, only knowing Japanese and not having travelled abroad before. The JRA helped Shirosaki settle in Lebanon, but he denied and still denies being a member of the JRA. He did work with a Palestinian guerrilla group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( http://pflp.ps/english/ ), enabling him stay in Lebanon without a passport.

A new group, the Anti-Imperialist International Brigade, claimed attacks May 14, 1986 against the American, Canadian, and Japanese embassies in Jakarta, Indonesia, saying the attacks were related to the G7 meeting in Tokyo at the time. Two improvised mortars were fired at the US embassy from a nearby national park, two rockets were fired at the Japanese embassy from a hotel room, and three people were injured when a car exploded in front of the Canadian embassy. Seven weeks later Japan blamed the JRA and said one fingerprint belonging to Shirosaki was found in the hotel room. Shirosaki says he ignored the new charges because he was in Lebanon the whole time and was not a member of either group. He says he wasn't aware fingerprints could be easily faked. May 15, 1990 a sealed US indictment accused him of “assault with intent to murder individuals on embassy grounds, attempted murder of individuals on embassy grounds, willfully and maliciously attempting to harm a US embassy, willfully and maliciously attempting to murder embassy personnel with premeditation and malice, and committing a violent attack against internationally protected US government personnel” (September 23, 1996 US DOJ press release).

In the 90's, the Oslo Accords made it difficult for Shirosaki to stay in Lebanon, so he hid his identity and moved to South Asia. Italy began searching for him in December 1987, over an AIIB attack on the US embassy in Rome, relating to an economic summit in Venice.

The NSA found Shirosaki by tracing a phone call and he was arrested by the Nepalese police in Kathmandu, September 21, 1996 and extradited to the US. There was a 15 day trial during which he did not testify. He was convicted of all charges and sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison. February 11, 2007 he was transferred from a prison in Texas to a Communication Management Unit in Indiana, so people on the outside lost contact with him for about two weeks, and the purpose of a CMU is to isolate prisoners. He says his mail was maliciously tampered with more recently. In Indiana Shirosaki developed severe eye problems. In prison he met other political prisoners, including members of the recently released Cuban 5. January 16^th, he was released early for good behavior, and transferred for deportation, probably to an immigration facility in Louisiana. He could challenge the deportation order. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police plan to re-arrest him if he returns and he will be charged with attacking the Japanese embassy in the 1986 Jakarta attack. In April 2001, Fusako Shigenobu, a JRA leader imprisoned in Japan, said the group was disbanded, and the US removed it from a list of active terrorist groups, but the Japanese government thinks it still exists in some form.

Some sources:

https://denverabc.wordpress.com/prisoners-dabc-supports/political-prisoners-database/tsutomu-shirosaki/ (biographical information)

http://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/1996/Sept96/465crm.htm (US DOJ press release from 1996)

http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/109933.php (news summary)

http://www.4-traders.com/JAPAN-AIRLINES-CO-LTD-11551593/news/Japan-Airlines--Red-Army-member-out-of-US-prison-set-to-be-deported-to-Japan-19708321/ (news summary)

A political prisoner support group in Chapel Hill: http://prisonbooks.info/

Who split from whom in the Japanese left: http://broadleft.org/jp.htm