Showing posts with label ballot access. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ballot access. Show all posts

Friday, June 07, 2024

Samidoun Yemen International Solidarity Statement, Surround the White House June 8th, book sales, LOGO career expo, and other news

On the Friday news round-up on Due South this morning they briefly discussed the NC third party applications by the RFK Jr and Cornel West campaigns.  No, while they have submitted enough signatures for ballot access, there are still more hurdles, including the State Board of Elections, which they did not mention is run by the Democratic Party for partisan benefit.  They mentioned the NC Green Party and Green US Senate candidate Matthew Hoh in 2020.  A guest called the harassment campaign against people who signed the ballot access petition back then and the various lawsuits "oversight."  Someone corrected themselves:  Democratic Party operatives didn't demand to know "why" people had signed the petition, only if they knew what they had signed (and would like to unsign).  In the 80's I think North Carolina required people to join a party they signed a ballot access petition for, to get a Trotskyist party off the ballot.  The Libertarian Party must have ongoing ballot access and the rightist Constitution Party, not mentioned today, turned in petitions to regain its ballot access April 1st, but they probably aren't seen as very threatening for the Democratic Party and won't have to sue to force the Democrats to obey election laws.  [The anti-democratic Democrats are using the same methods to delay if not block recognition of Cornel West's Justice for All party and RFK Jr's We the People party, while the older rightist Constitution Party is having problems over the address  on its application.  The Democrats condemn Republicans for trying to block individual voters, such as by examining signatures on absentee ballots, changing the deadlines for absentee ballots, requiring photo ID, and just de-registering voters wholesale, but here the Democrats are trying to prevent voters from associating in parties of their choice and putting forth candidates they feel are worth voting for.  Note the comments by Board member Siobhan Millen, presumably a Democratic appointee, in this 'Democrat-leaning' publication:  ncnewsline.com/briefs/third-party-presidential-candidates-blocked-from-nc-ballot-at-least-temporarily/  It is possible that the two new parties are trying to get around the number of signatures required for independent candidates, but is it the Board's role to look into that and how would they determine what is going on?  I don't know what the law is, but West and RFK Jr presumably had lawyers or experts check the legality of their third party campaigns and it seems obvious that the Democrats on the Board are doing this for Biden and the Democratic Party, and the same thing must be happening in other states, and then the media can question RFK Jr (June 28th after 5pm on NPR, for example) about how he can even hope to win, etc.  The General Assembly should remove the punitive ballot access laws and try to prevent transparently partisan operations by the NC Board of Elections.  The Board might also be trying to force the third parties to spend campaign funds on legal action or hoping to delay recognition and cause them to miss key 2024 deadlines.  I feel like I heard a quote today basically saying that the election should belong to Biden, with the only alternative being Trump, who is anathema.  That isn't what election laws say.  Someone on NPR today claimed that Biden beat every Democratic primary opponent, as if the process and media wasn't rigged to favor him.  Maybe they wouldn't have to worry about Biden's performance and age now if they had allowed a competitive primary in the spring.]  The New York Democratic Party recently made it harder for third parties to gain ballot access there.  And then the Democrats even prevented primary votes for their own.  I'm surprised they even left an "uncommitted" option in some states, and what does the uncommitted vote amount to at the DNC, more votes for Biden?  Is it going to be like 1968 in Chicago this summer, with bipartisan "authoritarianism" as they prepare for war? 


[7/12:  More news on attempts to deny lawful ballot access:  In NCwww.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/07/11/jtnb-j11.html www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/07/02/dvrd-j02.html  In Nevadawww.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/06/12/jxvj-j12.html  In Illinois, where the Democrats are targeting RFK Jr and the Greens and the Republicans are targeting the Constitution and Libertarian parties:  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/07/04/nqzw-j04.html  On the Democratic Party's strategy; by law only something like 100,000 signatures are required to get on the ballot throughout Russia, while near that number is required for recognition in North Carolina alone, and the Democrats carry out lawsuits and extralegal harassment campaigns to invalidate signatures; vote for dotard Biden, to 'stop' "fascism," and forget about Gaza, increasing aggression by NATO, and the violent suppression of Occupy and campus protests and the suppression of other speech the US government doesn't like; the US "left," even the "far left," has very little intention of voting for a Democrat and then 'holding their feet to the fire' with protest, or they have very little influence and don't even try (vote for Biden, and he will work to silence you further); and many go with legal action rather than action in the streets; after two weeks of questions about Biden the media, at least NPR, went back to hammering on the Trump apocalypse like it's 2021-2022 on Thursday the 11th; they are both bad, but hardly anyone proposes any action other than voting for Biden and then carrying on as usual, while saying that we face looming apocalypse; I hope to post something new soon: :  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/05/09/rdnu-m09.html , www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/23/bzsf-m23.html , www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/15/zneh-m15.html ]


[6/15:  It is an open question whether the Greens will gain ballot access in New York, but the necessary signatures were submitted.  In Nevada something like three times the number of signatures required were submitted, but apparently the Democrats are sueing.  Jill Stein is supposed to be on the most state ballots so far, but still isn't on many ballots.  Other Green primary candidates might have complaints about their primary (for example, see an interview in Covert Action).  Somewhere I heard that Biden's top Democratic primary challenger was "uncommitted" by early June, but what if any effect will that have at the DNC this summer?  Uncommitted explicitly referenced Palestine on New Jersey ballots: apnews.com/article/presidential-primaries-caucuses-decision-notes-683a83490c7b909048992367bfd4d255  Presumably the Bidenists have to negotiate with Marianne Williamson if they want any delegates she has and her explicit support.  "The Liberal Patriot" SubStack, whatever current on the right they represent, and other Biden supporters, want the Democrats to campaign for the votes of NeverTrumpers, anti-Trump Republicans, Haley supporters (but I think Haley now explicitly backs Trump), etc., rather than do what his 'progressive' 'base' wants.  Trump is apparently wildly popular with his core base, presumably because they like his policies or rehetoric, while the Democrats avoid doing what 'their' voters want and then wonder why Biden isn't more popular.  According to people like TLP Biden is being held hostage by the left, and needs to go even further to the right, while Republicans seem to think that Joe Biden, who brought us to credible charges of genocide in Gaza, the worst "land war in Europe" since WWII, violent attacks on free speech and other rights to enable those wars, a looming major war if not WWIII in Eurasia and de-dollarization of the world economy, etc is the most progressive or left president, ever.  On the other hand, many groups on the US left claim that they aren't pro-Biden, pro-NATO, etc., but focus on how bad Trump is and support what Biden and Co. are doing in Ukraine and East Asia and favor NATO rule over Europe.  See a few of the links below.  There is even a minority of pro-Israel forces on the Left.  "Left" seems like an adjective rather than a noun in the USA.  Biden is willing to lose, to Trump, for Netanyahu and Israel, and somewhere it was claimed that many are willing for Biden to lose if it gets rid of the Democratic Party Zionists, though I think it would take far more than the removal of Biden to do that.  Somewhere it was said that you can't change the Democratic Party, but it can change, or corrupt, you.] 


[6/28:  The Liberation Road SubStack praised the ruling Morena party in Mexico June 24th, but I thought one recent lesson from Mexico was permanent campaigning, which I haven't heard being suggested here.  AMLO thought an election was stolen from him, and I think he didn't stop campaigning or accept it, unlike Al Gore in 2000, and then AMLO won another election.  People on the left advocate voting for Biden as the lesser evil, while claiming to acknowledge that he is a devil, but then they don't even suggest a four year coordinated protest campaign against Biden if he wins or a "shadow cabinet."  So they must not really have a problem with Biden, and then every four years voters get the same choice between two evils.  Supposedly Trump represents something new and fascistic in US politics, yet there isn't a plan to do anything different.  Of course funding and staffing a four year campaign of some kind might be an issue.  On the other hand there are national protests going on anyway, and groups have newspapers and offices.]  


US and 'Bidenist' Democrat D-Day propaganda, reprinted from Ohio:  ncnewsline.com/2024/06/06/recognizing-d-day-sacrifices-for-representative-democracy-as-america-faces-a-new-reckoning/   The mainstream media talks about how Russia leans on WWII for legitimacy, the same history the media in the US and NATO countries deny, but now the Democrats are hyping D-Day and "democracy" for partisan purposes.  The BBC etc. are almost saying that Nazi Germany's Ukrainian and other East European allies, the US, and the UK were on the same side in WWII, fighting the USSR:  pluralia.forumverona.com/en/a/time-to-change-course/  The pro-German Ukrainians were represented at the D-Day commemorations.  1A repeated a program on nuclear war, I think from March, June 6th, but the purpose was probably to prepare the ground for an upcoming war.  How far do Biden and NATO intend to go to try to keep their Ukrainian proxy from losing?  On the imperative to vote, for either of two major party war criminals, who fully back Israel, seem very interested in starting a world war with China and Russia, and are moving towards fascism, from Missouri:  ncnewsline.com/2024/06/03/will-you-be-awol-in-the-upcoming-elections/  The Democratic Party leadership seems interested in repression and civil strife now, but didn't go beyond lawsuits to defend their voters in 2000.  WUNC makes sure that listeners know whenever someone in NC is arrested over "J6," and what went on (on a superficial level) during Trump's trial in Manhattan, but says nothing about any arrests of people accused of joining the Zionist mob that attacked the encampment at UCLA this spring.  At least one person was arrested, not ever mentioned on NPR, that I know of.  NPR says a lot about Trump and MAGA "fascism," and nothing about how Biden and other high-ranking Democrats apparently support attacks on anti-war speech and organizing and violent mob and police assaults on non-violent students and faculty, send the FBI after foreign policy critics and accuse opponents of being agents of foreign powers, and try to silence dissent online.  The US seems to be moving in an "authoritarian" direction whether a Republican or a Democrat is in the White House.  Biden would prefer that the bipartisan US support for what Israel and Ukraine are doing, see below, and the engineering of an immense war with China, not be criticized.  The ACLU has spoken out about the repression, but of course the headline news was when the ACLU acted over border issues.


mpr21.info/el-mito-del-desembarco-de-normandia/


NPR likes to talk about Republican "book bans," but says little about the Biden administration's attempts to block legal speech.  Librarians at the Chapel Hill Public Library and elsewhere have the tax payer-funded "free speech" to apparently unilaterally expel citizen speech that they had allowed in the building without comment for decades.  What changed in 2024?  Ukraine?  The ethnic cleansing and war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza?  The election?  I don't know why this happened, but I find the circumstances strange given the CHPL's alleged reasons.  I don't represent anyone expelled by the CHPL and those targeted can't be blamed for my personal and unilateral comments, though given the CHPL's viciousness, maybe I should complain to a higher authority from the beginning.  Unfortunately I don't know if anyone targeted fought back.  I have some speech complaints for the Durham County Library system and UNC as well.  Will tear gas be in the air again at UNC in the fall semester?  


Volodymyr Chemerys on anti-democratic Ukraine:  cosmonautmag.com/2024/03/the-struggle-for-democracy-in-ukraine-an-interview-with-volodymyr-chemerys/  About the author:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Chemerys


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/04/que-falta-para-llamar-dictador-a-zelensky/


Ukraine banned WSWS June 3rd:  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/06/07/disc-j07.html


Free Bogdan petition:  www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/freebogdan.html


www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/07/snatch-and-grab-israeli-style-disappearing-into-the-gulag/


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/06/para-encubrir-crimenes-de-guerra-israel-afirma-que-perdio-el-control-sobre-los-soldados/


Interview with UNC's interim chancellor:  www.publicedworks.org/2024/06/lee-roberts-we-dont-have-a-more-important-institution/


Maybe I already knew on some level, but it is bizarre that the NC General Assembly-appointed board governing UNC appoints the board governing the NPR affiliate in North Carolina, when NPR is a mouthpiece for Biden's Democratic Party, but the General Assembly is controlled by not very "moderate" Republicans.  NPR claims to be politically and financially independent in its coverage, yet it promotes a very specific political line.  Hamas is the obstacle to a peace agreement, when Israel quickly rejected Biden's proposal and said that the war won't end any time soon!  Even Science Friday this afternoon was taking about "psyops" and they were talking about the US throughout, but the only time they would accuse the US government directly was in referring to 19th century anti-American Indian propaganda, and they didn't say who the propaganda was aimed at.  Was the early 19th century novel The Last of the Mohicans really a "psyop?"  Nothing about how the US government killed to stop the Ghost Dance movement, and I think the Ghost Dance was against whites (required to be "white people") in general, not just "white settlers," unless they are saying that these are interchangeable terms.  Nothing about what the US government and NPR have been pushing recently, or the "War on Terror" years, or about 'our' 20th and 21st century cold wars.  Another Get Out the Vote story for Biden, versus MAGA?  The Israeli public seems to want a war in Lebanon next, and how much of that support is due to Israeli goverrnment propaganda or "psyops," aided by the media, and the Biden administration repeating every Israeli government claim?  A repeat of the Bush administration's "War on Terror" lies for war and torture.  The Due South interview:  www.wunc.org/show/due-south/2024-06-03/lee-roberts-interview-chapel-hill-dei-protests-chancellor-inge  I did not hear much of the interview, but is the liberal emphasis on DEI, not the attacks on the Gaza Solidarity Encampment?


fair.org/home/corporate-media-push-conspiracy-theories-to-discredit-student-protesters/


The UNC system president Peter Hans at Red, White, and Carolina Blue May 10th:     www.publicedworks.org/2024/05/hans-the-most-freedom-loving-corner-of-our-society/


portside.org/2024-06-03/jerry-seinfelds-lurch-right-now-includes-mourning-dominant-masculinity


The attack at the Brooklyn Museumwww.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/06/05/lias-j05.html


June 10th court case in San Franciscoinformationclearinghouse.blog/2024/06/07/war-on-gaza-us-courts-must-hold-biden-accountable/17/


www.theamericanconservative.com/scott-ritter-claims-state-department-seized-his-passport/


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/04/scott-ritter-denuncia-que-el-gobierno-de-eeuu-le-prohibio-abordar-un-avion-con-destino-a-rusia/


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/06/las-autoridades-estadounidenses-sacan-al-critico-scott-ritter-de-un-avion-con-destino-a-rusia-y-confiscan-su-pasaporte/


www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/06/05/hkse-j05.html


informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/06/07/scott-ritter-on-my-way-to-russia-i-met-big-brother/09/


A Democratic Party pro-war partisan attack, but even here they face public skepticism:  www.rsn.org/001/moscow-throws-putin-fanboy-scott-ritter-under-the-bus.html


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/04/reina-un-regimen-abiertamente-neonazi-moscu-resume-el-estado-de-los-derechos-humanos-en-ucrania/


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/06/putin-denuncia-acoso-occidental-a-medios-de-comunicacion-de-rusia/


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/06/fico-senala-a-las-fuerzas-que-estan-detras-de-su-intento-de-asesinato/


NATO war planning in Europe:  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/06/05/ynvz-j05.html


www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/04/look-whos-spreading-disinformation-on-ukraine/


www.normalisland.co.uk/p/ursula-von-der-leyen-wants-europe


patrianuestra.wordpress.com/2024/06/07/biden-afirma-que-conoce-a-putin-desde-hace-mas-de-40-anos/


patrianuestra.wordpress.com/2024/06/07/orban-explica-por-que-es-logico-que-europa-acabe-enviando-tropas-a-ucrania/


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/06/ocultan-la-miseria-debajo-de-la-alfombra-expulsan-a-miles-por-los-juegos-olimpicos-de-paris/


newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/wartime-lithuania?pc=1608


 In Białowieża Forest, between Poland and Belarusnewleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/in-the-woods


mpr21.info/george-clooney-sale-a-la-caza-de-los-propagandistas-rusos/


DPR Korea has been accused of violating the armistice, but then what about the balloons sent over by an ROK group connected to the US government? -- diario-octubre.com/2024/06/03/lo-que-los-medios-occidentales-no-cuentan-sobre-la-campana-de-globos-de-basura-de-corea-del-norte/


Action by the Maldivesdiario-octubre.com/2024/06/03/maldivas-anuncia-que-prohibira-la-entrada-de-israelies-al-pais-por-el-conflicto-en-gaza/


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/03/ucrania-podria-utilizar-los-patriot-entregados-por-alemania-para-derribar-aviones-sobre-rusia/


? -- Fascism, etc:  newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/rule-of-law?pc=1608 and newleftreview.org/issues/ii114/articles/dylan-riley-what-is-trump


? -- On the Hunter Biden trial:  www.theamericanconservative.com/what-i-learned-about-hunter-biden-as-opinion-editor-of-the-new-york-post/


? --  On the Republic of Georgia:  www.theamericanconservative.com/americas-arrogant-imperialism-on-full-display-in-tbilisi/


diario-octubre.com/2024/06/06/mexico-desde-los-mayas-y-los-aztecas-hasta-claudia-sheinbaum-y-la-4ta-transformacion/ and sergioro07.blogspot.com


diario-octubre.com/2019/09/12/por-primera-vez-los-bomberos-de-nueva-york-reconocen-que-las-torres-gemelas-fueron-demolidas-con-explosivos/


Fourth in a series on 9/11 and after:  cosmonautmag.com/2024/04/surge-and-decline-part-4-land-of-opportunity-the-war-path/


husseini.substack.com/p/israel-and-the-kennedy-assassinations


cosmonautmag.com/2024/03/hamas-from-candidate-enforcer-to-implacable-foe/


www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/07/the-world-social-forum-in-nepal/


Fifteen years lay judges in Japanwww.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01999/


On the nature of Internet communications:  hedgehogreview.com/issues/hope-itself/articles/the-impotence-of-being-clever


Name your occupation:  hedgehogreview.com/issues/markets-and-the-good/articles/name-your-industryor-else


hedgehogreview.com/issues/missing-character/articles/a-carrier-bag-theory-of-biology


And reviewed in the NYRB and/or LRB? -- hedgehogreview.com/issues/missing-character/articles/cold-war-liberalism-in-the-courtroom


A Briton visits the Lenin Masoleum in Soviet times, etc.:  hedgehogreview.com/issues/missing-character/articles/lenins-tom


? -- informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/06/07/myanmar-civil-war-us-proxy-war-to-contain-china/17/


informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/06/07/the-brutalization-of-israel-is-well-underway-if-we-do-not-act-its-collapse-is-only-a-matter-of-time/14/


informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/06/07/israel-secretly-targeted-american-lawmakers-with-gaza-war-influence-campaign/15/


? -- public.substack.com/p/our-spy-and-intelligence-agencies


Liberation Road backs the YPG and YPJ and the Ukrainian government:   liberationroad.substack.com/p/collateral-good


Ashley Smith in Burlington, Vermont on "Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism Today:"   www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/29/imperialism-and-anti-imperialism-today/


And Joseph Grosso in New York City:  www.counterpunch.org/2023/02/24/hearts-of-darkness-anti-war-as-reaction/


More liberal backing of the Ukraine War, it won't become WWIII, by FPIF's John Fefferportside.org/2024-06-07/slippery-slope-world-war-iii  


portside.org/2024-06-05/anti-war-left-makes-inroads-israel


On CPUSA history:  portside.org/2024-06-05/california-communism-and-its-afterlives-robert-w-chernys-san-francisco-reds


caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/06/06/the-washington-post-is-pure-aids-and-other-notes/


portside.org/2024-06-07/michael-pollan-his-25-year-fight-food-industry


NC prison laborportside.org/2024-06-01/forced-labor-vs-forced-idleness


End Solitary NC calls for complaints to Todd Ishee, Director of the Department of Adult Corrections in NC, following the death by suicide of elderly prisoner Eva McNair in intensive confinement (ICON), apparently solitary confinement. 


Mexican president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, the country's first female and first Jewish president, was born June 24, 1962:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Sheinbaum  "Sci Fri" also tarred Sheinbaum and current MORENA president AMLO, though somewhere it has been suggested that Sheinbaum could turn right in the face of economic crisis and go the way of Brazil's Dilma Roussef.  Or even the way of Peru's Dina Boluarte?  Also:  fair.org/home/why-is-mexicos-sheinbaum-framed-as-an-amlo-clone/


It was reported on the Chatham Chatlist that a blue pickup truck pulling a trailer hit and presumably killed a box turtle on NC 87 and Silk Hope Road before 10:35am Tuesday, June 4th; note that wildlife rehabilitators can sometimes save even greviously injured turtles.  [Ending "We certainly are able to avoid dangerous litter to protect our tires so we are able to see the small round shape in the road." WC]  I have to regret hurrying to a --- job and not checking two bleeding box turtles I once came across together on Sherron Road in Durham; as I remember it if they weren't dead or dying then they were clearly dead when I came back, but maybe I'm misremembering; etc.  [6/18:  I remember that there was a red stream of blood flowing across the road, and maybe that is part of the reason I didn't stop and check the turtles.]  Someone else could have stopped in my place and sometimes a rare person does.  How old were those turtles?  I have taken many other animals to rehabilitators and some recovered.  Early spring into early summer seems like the peak time to find turtles on NC 98, etc., often coming out of the old farm ponds right around rush hour, after a brief summer storm, and I don't want to see it.  I'll try to wait until the off-season.  It can even happen on the edges of Chapel Hill.  The amphibians get killed at night around now.  What was probably a large black rat snake all but committed suicide on TW Alexander Drive near Miami, the railroad overpass, and BASF one late afternoon and there was little chance of stopping it.  There are many more of these stories, though I got a dazed small hawk or falcon off of Alexander by the EPA and Sumitomo one evening [after sunset I think]; no one else saw it standing in the middle of the road?  It was far too late for a dead barred owl in the gutter on the west side of Miami Boulevard. -- www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/07/give-turtles-a-brake-3/


ncnewsline.com/2024/06/06/after-federal-court-hearing-use-of-toxic-algaecide-at-lake-mattamuskeet-on-hold/


For OWASA construction on Morgan Creek:  ncbg.unc.edu/2024/05/31/elephant-rock-trail-closure/


The DSA runs the Carrboro Town Council?? -- terribuckner.substack.com/p/a-completely-unnecessary-breakdown


terribuckner.substack.com/p/is-the-carrboro-town-council-really


www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-climate


Apparently June 8th is Dragonfly Day, Best Friends Day, etc.  Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise passed away June 8, 1874; a Sumatran Titan arum in the New York Botanical Garden, the first in this country, first flowered June 8, 1937, 1984 was published June 8, 1949, by the Harvill Secker company; and 3000 letters were sent on a Regulus 1 missile from the USS Barbero to a naval station in Jacksonville, Florida June 8, 1959.  Both Barbara Bush and Ida McKinley were born June 8th and were married to Republican presidents (apparently four presidential spouses share birth anniversaries, the other two being Martha Washington and Helen Taft), and Frank Lloyd Wright was born June 8th.




Some upcoming events:



The Friends of the Durham Library is having book sales at Books Among Friends June 7-8th, a pop-up CD sale at the Main Library 11am-3pm June 15th, and a children's book sale at the South Regional Library 11am-3pm June 22nd:  fodlnc.org/events/  Other friends groups plan sales later in the summer and in December.  I don't really want to help the CHPL.


Surround the White House for Gaza with a literal "people's red line" June 8th at 12pm and a People's Court of Justice at 4pm; there will be buses from Raleigh, Charlotte, etc:  www.answercoalition.org/gazajune8  Endorsed by the NC Green Party, etc.  June 8th is also the anniversary of Israel's attack on the USS Liberty in 1967:  www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/31/the-attack-on-the-uss-liberty-symbolizes-israels-duplicity-and-deceit/


[6/16 I forgot to add earlier:  Surround the White House for Gaza was mentioned (not by name) in NPR's brief news headlines starting around 7pm on June 8th and I think it was mentioned the next day and maybe on Monday.  I think I read that the organizers say about 75,000 people turned out.  It's possible that I missed or forgot coverage in the past, but I don't remember NPR mentioning any US anti-war demonstrations before last fall or using the term "anti-war" to refer to anything in this country, except for opposition to the Vietnam War, now long ago.  No mention now, ever, of the large and widespread demonstrations during the "War on Terror," and last night in referring to an anniversary from the Kosova War the BBC said 90's humanitarian interventionism was "twisted" to invade Iraq in 2003.  "Anti-war" frequently has come up in the media in recent years, regarding alleged opposition to the Ukraine War in Russia.   Here, opposition to the NATO's proxy war in Ukraine is called "isolationism" and only the right (the "far right?") in the US and EU are said to be skeptical of the war, so voters are being encouraged by the media to turn to the right if they don't like the status quo, and then we get "populism" or "fascism" in office.  I noticed around 5pm today that NPR described the 2016 election as driven by something like 'populist (= right-wing?) resentment,' rather than people not liking what Hillary Clinton and the Democrats were selling (such as war with Syria, the alternative universe Ukraine War), and now the Democrats want the election to be limited to Trump and Biden, but what if voters who lean left don't like what Biden is offering, while those on the right are motivated for Trump?   Apparently both Trump and Biden are campaigning on 'finishing the job.'  I think Clinton did win the popular vote, but what percentage of eligible voters voted in 2016?  At least on NPR the recent anti-war demonstrations were usually or always mentioned only when they were happening or already over, while they promoted protests at UNC and maybe in DC a few years ago (they would say that a protest is happening this evening at UNC, maybe even giving the time).  I don't remember them promoting Gaza protests happening at UNC or in Raleigh, though maybe they didn't know about them beforehand.  A Gaza protest in Raleigh might have been mentioned on local TV news before it happened.  Occasionally "pro-Palestinian protests" were called "anti-war" this spring, though I'm not sure how much they go beyond the immediate war in Palestine.  More rightist media might prefer "anti-Israel," as if sympathy for Israel isn't in decline even in the USA and the EU.]


A local government career expo June 8th 1-4pm at NCSU's McKrimmon Center in Raleigh:  logocareerexpo.com


Hands off Uhuru! webinar "Black Education and the Struggle for Anti-Colonial Free Speech" June 8th 2pm ET:  us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nTr6BZ-QTsiGiybkYpfEyg#/registration


AFGJ calls for a North American Day of Action for Venezuelan Sovereignty June 24th ;  a key battle for Venezuelan independence was June 24, 1821 at Carabobo.


A petition:  afgj.org/sign-on-join-hundreds-of-organizations-and-individuals-in-defense-of-human-rights-peace-and-international-law-in-defending-venezuelas-sovereignty


An AFGJ webinar June 25th 7pm ET "How Venezuela Is Overcoming the US Blockade:" us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RgRj3a6tQKqucwDVF7JzUA#/registration


There will be demonstrations against NATO in DC July 6-7th.


[6/28:  ANSWER is organizing a demonstration against Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday, July 24th at 11am at the US Capitol building.]


SIPRAL XXVIII will be July 31-August 3 in Quito, Ecuador, with the theme "Against Imperialist War and Genocide," and will mark the 60th anniversary of the PCMLE and the 30th anniversary of the ICMLPO. l 


Climate change?  A very severe hurricane season is predicted this year, and I think I've been hearing annual Robinson's cicadas since June 7th, which I thought was quite early.  I heard what sounded like a cicada far away June 7th, closer this morning, and one near my window just now.  May seemed cool though, and May has seemed cool and wet in recent years, following unusual April droughts prior to 2024.  There was something about record heat, though most of May felt cool, with more heat and mugginess in June, though sometimes June can be relatively 'chilly' here.  It has been argued in CounterPunch that climate change could derail China's upward trajectory and maybe the Trump-Biden world war.  Apparently people also develop sweat glands according to conditions during childhood, perhaps developing dependence  on air conditioning.  


I don't know about Missouri and Illinois, but it is late for Magicicada here; the 13-year cicadas seemed to rapidly fade away shortly before June 1st:  xerces.org/blog/loud-bug-summer-all-your-cicada-questions-answered


Cicadas!  Who, What, Where, When and Why June 11th 6-7pm at the Main Library; registration is required:  durhamcountylibrary.libcal.com/event/12206207


From Keep Durham Beautiful:


  






Yemen International Solidarity Statement



Dear all friends and comrades of Samidoun and the Palestinian cause,

 

The people, government and armed forces of Yemen, with the leadership of the AnsarAllah movement, have taken significant and dramatic action to shut down the supply lines of genocide, decolonizing the Red Sea and causing significant economic damage to the genocidal Zionist economy. Every Friday, millions of Yemenis pour into the streets -- despite the bombs and threats from the United States and Britain, despite the economic sanctions and ongoing siege -- to reaffirm their dedicated commitment to the liberation of Palestine. Yemen has been a critically important part of the regional resistance front and the global camp of resistance standing with the Palestinian people and their Resistance, confronting genocide and struggling for liberation.

 

We are asking all groups, organizations, committees, movements, clubs and collectives around the world to sign on to this global statement in support of Yemen! Please sign on today (June 5) or tomorrow (June 6) at the latest. 

 

SIGN ON HERE: https://bit.ly/yemenstatement 

 

We stand with Yemen confronting U.S. and British aggression

 

We, the undersigned parties, organizations and associations, condemn the U.S.-British aggression and attacks on the struggling people of Yemen, we express our support for the principled Yemeni position towards the Palestinian cause rights, and we declare our solidarity with the Yemeni people in the historic battle that they are waging to end the genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, to stop Zionist war crimes and to break the siege. We also stand behind the heroic Yemeni armed forces and their legitimate, natural right to respond to aggression as they implement the demands of the Yemeni people and the directives and decisions of the revolutionary leadership in Sana’a.

The people of Yemen, who have remained committed to their firm and advanced revolutionary position, continue to confront all forms of siege and aggression at the hands of the U.S. and British colonial forces and their agents in the region. They will not be intimidated by the recent U.S.-British massacre on May 31, 2024, which caused dozens of martyrs and casualties. The people of Yemen continue to express their position with unparalleled strength and courage, especially on Fridays, through the massive and solemn public demonstrations in “Sabaeen Square” in the center of the capital, Sana’a, and in various governorates, squares, and streets of the country.

The heroic Yemeni position, which has been embodied in word and deed in confronting war and aggression over the past ten years, and in supporting the Palestinian people for more than eight months, constitutes the true and necessary response against the Zionist-U.S. war of annihilation against the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip. It also embodies an effective revolutionary model in true solidarity with the Palestinian people. This exceptional stance has become a source of pride and inspiration for all peoples and movements for justice and liberation in the world, proving the strength of free peoples and their ability to change the equations of conflict and shift the balance of power as they confront imperialism, Zionism and their agents in the world.

Glory to the martyrs and speedy recovery to the wounded

The criminal camp of U.S.-British-Zionist aggression and and their agents in the region will be defeated

Victory for the Palestinian and Yemeni peoples and for the resistance camp in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq

Long live international solidarity




Sunday, May 12, 2024

May issue of Towards ML Unity published

A new issue of Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity was published May 10th, and it will be posted at:  www.mltranslations.net   Content for the next issue, to come out in July, should be sent during June; comments and criticism are alswelcome Note "On Ameliorating Secondary Contradictions under Capitalism."



Contents:


Israel’s Continuing War on Palestine

Police Continue to Exonerate Themselves for Murder

In Cases of Child Sex Abuse, Attorney General Allows Brooklyn Diocese of Roman Catholic Church to Investigate Itself

Vote for a Progressive Candidate or “Blank” for President

Cobalt Red, How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

What are the General Laws of Building of Socialism?

On Ameliorating Secondary Contradictions under Capitalism

May Day, a Day of Struggle, Resistance and Militancy

Low Economic Growth in the Midst of a World in Conflict

Sección en español

Primero de Mayo, día de lucha, resistencia y militancia

Escaso crecimiento económico en medio de un mundo en conflicto

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

On Jill Stein's arrested at Washington University in Saint Louis and other moves against solidarity with Palestine, etc.

Below is a Jill Stein campaign email from April 28th (at 7:45pm ET) and a GPUS press release sent out this morning See also:  twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/1784599149746237794 and a satire:  www.normalisland.co.uk/p/us-police-capture-hamas-leader-at  


I think the encampment at UNC-Chapel Hill was broken up by police today.  I haven't heard that the studentwere doing anything more than occupying a central lawn, popular with students in warm weather anyway, and I think UNC Occupy was allowed to camp for a longer period.  Classes ended today and most students will be gone for summer break by mid-May, so why did UNC's administration feel the need to bring in the police?  The governor of NC is a 'moderate' Democrat elected with Trump, while the General Assembly is Republican-dominated and I think has made vocal and material support for Israel an issue in recent years.  Maybe UNC was told to do this, or wanted to preemptively avoid trouble with legislators and the Board of Governors, the same way Congress has pressured a few representative university administrators to represstudent and faculty solidarity with Palestine (or else), no doubt cowing others.  On the other hand university administrators are in bed with the ruling establishment anyway.  I heard that UNC students once chased the CIA off Campus and out of Chapel Hill, and Democratic Congressman David Price might have moved hiChapel Hill office because of student and community opposition to the Iraq War (including one or two occupations of his office).  


What is going on at Duke:  www.dukechronicle.com/article/2024/04/duke-university-israel-hamas-war-encampments-protests-on-college-campuses-student-arrests-oct-7th-attacks-comparison  The "Durham Revolutionary Study Group" (Maoist??), SJP, and the PFLP are reference.  A Free Expression Bridge Ramadan painting defaced:  www.dukechronicle.com/article/2024/04/duke-university-free-expression-bridge-office-of-institutional-equity-student-affairs-investigation-red-cows-muslim-nation-flags-not-merciful-announcement


I haven't heard about anything happening at NCSU, but I am more familiar with their free expression tunnel under the railroad tracks than the bridge at Duke.  A few months ago the main pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the Triangle seemed to be at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh, relatively close to NState.


The defenders of "our democracy" against Trump and MAGA "fascism" demand that "negotiations" end and "action" be taken at the universitie(on the 29th Steny Hoyer, Adam Schiff, and others in Congress sent a letter to Columbia's Board of Trustees), plus more on the Stein arrest:  www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/04/29/jenj-a29.html  Remember to "Vote Blue No Matter Who."  Is it 1968 again, and what will happen at the DNC in Chicago this summer?  Are things escalating much more quickly under Biden now than under Bush in 2003, or when the Occupy movement was dispersed?  In recent years a self-declared radical Marxist academic regularly denounced the Democrats, but wanted them in power, to expose them and to prevent Trump from going after leftists. 


A permitted encampment in front of the Bundestag in Berlin was violently suppressed April 27th? -- www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/04/29/ywni-a29.html



Dear [ ],


Last night didn’t end up the way I planned.

By now you’ve probably seen the headlines reading “Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein arrested at Pro-Palestine rally” (or some less flattering variations).

Here’s the full story.

First and foremost: My team and I are okay. Bruised and battered, and with some legal issues to resolve. But we are out. We are okay. And we are undeterred.

Yesterday, my team and I were invited by students at Washington University in St. Louis to visit their Gaza Solidarity encampment. We gladly accepted this invitation.

Once there, it was apparent that tensions were escalating quickly. The student organizers asked us to intercede with university officials to try and de-escalate the coming confrontation. Again, we gladly accepted this responsibility.

But authorities were having none of it. The scene was tense from the beginning, and it was clear that a crackdown was inevitable.

The students asked us to link arms and block access to their encampment by police. And we did.

We braced for impact, but nothing prepared me for what came next.

[A photo of the human chain.]

A total of six police departments assembled on the scene. As they advanced on us, they used their bicycles as weapons against us.

[Video of the police assault on the protesters.]

One officer grabbed my arm, glared at me, and roughly pulled me towards him with a bicycle in between us. My campaign manager interceded, shouting at him that he was going to break my arm, until he let go.

We were then violently thrown to the ground, zip-cuffed, and placed under arrest.

[Two photos of arrests -- Stein's deputy campaign manager??]

In the hours that followed, I was separated from the remainder of my team. They were charged with trespassing, and I was charged with assault – despite the fact I was assaulted by police with a bicycle and then thrown to the ground.

We were arrested around 7:30pm local time and released around 1:30am. You can catch my interview with local news here.

[Jill Stein interviewed by a local newstationwww.jillstein2024.com/jill_arrested ]

Let us understand exactly what transpired here:

The students of Washington University have established an encampment to protest the school’s financial holdings in Boeing, which is producing some of the munitions being used against the people of Gaza just a few miles away in their St. Charles facility.

The students are exercising their constitutionally protected right to free expression to pressure their university to divest from death.

The university’s response is to violently assault and incarcerate anyone who dares speak out.

The students are in the right here, as they always are. I am proud to stand by their side as the ONLY pro-peace, anti-genocide, pro-worker candidate slated to be on the ballot across the country this November.

Today I am tired, I am bruised, I am battered – but I am undeterred in my resolve to stop Israel’s genocide and end their illegal occupation of Palestine.

This is not my first protest arrest, but it was unnervingly violent. What we are experiencing on university campuses across the nation right now is a pale shadow of what is to come if the twin parties of war and Wall Street are allowed to remain in power.

I urge you to contribute to our campaign today and make sure EVERY American has a pro-peace candidate on the ballot in November.

[Donation link]

If you have the opportunity to join an encampment near you, I urge you to do so. The more community support these students have, the harder it will be for university authorities or police officials to justify their actions to crush this dissent.

In solidarity and gratitude,

Jill





Green Party Outraged at Police Violence Toward Campus Protests, Treatment of Jill Stein, and Campaign Team



[photo]


  • After Her Arrest at Washington University, Jill Stein Slams Police Repression… and the Two-Party System That Supports It


On Saturday, April 27th, campus police physically repressed and assaulted students and supporters during a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.  Dr. Jill Stein, a  candidate seeking the 2024 Green Party presidential nomination, was among those assaulted and arrested by police. The Green Party is outraged by the violence perpetrated on students and others exercising their First Amendment rights.



Green Party of the United States
gp.org


For Immediate Release:
April 30, 2024


Contact:
Gregg Jocoy, Co-Chair, Media Committee, media [at gp org], 202-804-2758
Gloria Mattera, Co-Chair, Media Committee,  media [gp org], 202-804-2758



Gloria Mattera, co-chair of the Media Committee of the Green Party, said, "The Green Party is appalled at the level of brutality that campus administrators and local police have employed in breaking up peaceful protests by students exercising their First Amendment Rights to protest what they view as genocide by Israel in Gaza. We see yet again that free speech rights are perfectly okay in America, until someone advocates a position that runs afoul of the agenda of the two parties of war and Wall Street. When that happens, the state will respond with illegal violence and unconstitutional repression, and candidates for rival parties will not be spared."


Dr. Stein was in Missouri to collect signatures for her name to be placed on the state's ballot in November. She visited the campus to offer her support to the students and community when she was invited to join the demonstration. A frightening and disturbing video shows Dr. Stein, 73, who had linked arms with other protesters, being assaulted by the police, including one wielding a bicycle against her as a weapon, before she was arrested. Dr. Stein, who has since been released, said in an email to her followers, "We are okay and we are undeterred."


"I was there to support the students and community members who were holding a peaceful, really wonderful, gracious, educational community gathering," Dr. Stein said in a video interview. "The police basically attacked us and assaulted us as well as arrested us... Zionism is something that needs to be debated and anti-Zionism is not the same as anti-Semitism." She has called the crackdown on protesters nationwide a violation of fundamental First Amendment rights. She told an interviewer for a radio station: “This is about freedom of speech, and not just any old freedom of speech, but freedom of speech on a very critical issue that needs debate and dialogue.” 


Dr. Stein, who is Jewish, has called for an independent investigation into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his conduct during the six-month assault on Gaza and the West Bank. "The war crimes being perpetrated by Netanyahu against Palestinians... are in a league of their own and have reached genocidal proportions." It has been widely rumored that Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as others in his government may soon be served with arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court in the Hague.


On her campaign website, under the slogan of "People Planet Peace," a statement by Dr. Stein reads, "I'm running for president with the Green Party to offer a choice for the people outside the failed two-party system. We'll put a pro-worker, anti-war, climate action agenda front and center in this election and on the ballot in November." Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, is among those who have endorsed Jill Stein for President. 


Said Margaret Elisabeth, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States, "It's very convenient that the American mainstream media have made the campus protests, as well as unsupported allegations by bad faith actors of threats to Zionist Jewish students, the big current story, which obscures the real story of war crimes being committed in Gaza, including mass burials. We would like someone in the media to explain to us how the "pain" of Zionists who are having their worldview peacefully challenged by people, including many Jews, who happen to disagree with them is in any way commensurate with the agony and anguish suffered by the people of Gaza and the West Bank during this ongoing genocide."


On its main website, the platform of the Green Party of the United States, under the heading "The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" reads, "The U.S. Greens recognize and reaffirm the right of self-determination for both Palestinians and Israelis, and their right to live in a single undivided secular and democratic state where all residents have full and equal rights, and freedoms... We call on the U.S. President and Congress to suspend all military and foreign aid, including loans and grants, to Israel until Israel withdraws from the Occupied Territories, dismantles the separation wall in the Occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, ends its siege of Gaza and dismantles settler colonies and systemic apartheid toward its non-Jewish citizens." 


Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org
202-804-2758
Newsroom | Twitter: @GreenPartyUS


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