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Rich Man’s Coup of America and Women’s Challenge

C.J. — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:44:10 +0000

CODEPINK is leading the nonviolent resistance to the rich man’s coup of America. Join us by commenting on this post, adding comments to the articles linked below, and sharing the call for a feminist response to rich man’s folly on Facebook and Twitter.

The “compromise” approved by the House today and expected to pass the Senate tomorrow is an atrocity. It is a rich man’s coup of our democracy. Consider this: absolutely no tax increases are included in the bill. It creates a “super Congress,” with authority to slash social services when the country is still reeling from the recession. As Robert Reich noted, the President paid a ransom when there was absolutely no reason to link the increase of the debt ceiling with cutting the budget deficit.

Last week, the NY Times published, and The Atlantic promoted, a revealing graphic, reminding us how this deficit was created: with tax breaks to the rich and unfunded and unnecessary wars. Remember this when the mainstream media focuses in on the particulars of what is happening this week. Beltway leadership will not admit that it was spending decisions made during the Bush administration that led to this point.

Who will be affected the most by the budget cuts? Women, of course. Susan Feiner delineates the ways the plan balances the budget on the backs of women in the Ms. blog. If cuts in Social Security and unemployment insurance don’t piss you off, maybe the idea of cutting safety inspections will. Between those cuts and the perennial lack of funding for infrastructure modernization, you can expect more poop in your water in the coming years.

As Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus noted, the debt deal is a ‘sugar-coated Satan sandwich.’ Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, denounced the deal as a give-away to the rich and corporations on the backs of working people and warned that both parties stand at a crossroads. The House of Representatives has already sold the American people down the river, will the Senate do the same?

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) pointed out today that the media committed malpractice in covering the debt ceiling debate. The ‘center’ has been defined far away from public sentiment and few people acknowledge the cause of the deficit or the fact that the debt ceiling can be raised without cutting vital social programs.

How did we get to this point? The National Organization for Women (NOW) thinks the lack of female leadership in the negotiations was one reason real human needs weren’t taken into account. Many men are calling for the people to march on Washington, from Keith Olbermann to Rep. John Conyers (MI-D)

Join the feminist response to the rich man’s coup. Join CODEPINK in DC as we call on Congress and the President to Bring Our War $$ Home, tax the rich, and create jobs through increased federal spending. Can’t make it to the nation’s capital? Develop a cultural response to ten years and counting of war and corporate welfare through Create, Not Hate. We are the nonviolent resistance needed to overturn this shameful usurpation of democracy. Join the PINK Team today.

Military Spending Bill to House Floor

C.J. — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:04:55 +0000

The House Appropriations Committee approved the annual military spending bill today, sending it to the full House for approval. They lamented having to shave $9 billion off of Obama’s request, but they still managed to find $17 billion more than last year’s budget for endless war.

For those keeping track at home, the numbers publicized today do not account for all taxpayer money wasted on the “Global War on Terror.” See, when you put the CIA in charge of drone attacks on a sovereign state, you can ignore Congressional oversight or public disclosure of the actual cost.

So, yay, they’ve acknowledged that recruiters might be lying, since veterans face high levels of unemployment once they return to the States. And though Republicans think it would be heresy to offer help to the rest of the unemployed, they seem to be willing to fund a program to help unemployed vets.

But, they continue to spread the malicious lie that the deficit is the greatest threat to security here in the US. We should all attend in-district meetings to let them know that the lack of funding for schools, the ever-rising cost of healthcare, and pernicious unemployment are the true threats to human security.

At least our country’s mayors understand the connection between the endless wars abroad and the lack of money here at home. They’re meeting this weekend in Baltimore and the Metro Economies Policy Committee will be reviewing the War Dollars Home Resolution. You read that correctly. Our mayors understand that the choice to leave the US military, contractors, and over-bloated embassies in Iraq and Afghanistan directly impacts the ability of the federal government to fully support vital domestic needs, like promoting job creation and developing a new economy based on sustainable, renewable energy.

Can you get to Baltimore this weekend to join us as we support the passage of this historic resolution? We’re co-sponsoring a Teach-In on Friday and Poor People’s Human Rights March on Saturday. We look forward to being in action with our sister CODEPINKers and the Maryland Fund Our Communities Coalition.

CODEPINK Travels to Cairo to Stand in Solidarity with the Egyptians

Medea — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:13:32 +0000

After several canceled flights, I am finally on my way to Egypt to join my CODEPINK colleagues who are already there. We were supposed to be leading a delegation to Gaza right now, traveling through the Sinai to get to Gaza’s southern border. The Rafa crossing into Gaza has been closed, our delegation is unable to leave Cairo, and we have been caught up in the breath-taking people’s movement that is sweeping Egypt. CODEPINK’s Tighe Barry has been out on the streets of Cairo all week long. You can hear a compelling report from him here.

When CODEPINK was in Cairo for the Gaza Freedom March last year, we led and participated in small, peaceful protests that were set upon by hundreds of riot police at the behest of repressive Mubarak regime.

But now there has been a seismic shift. There are not 50 people rallying in Cairo, but hundreds of thousands protesting across the nation. Dozens have been killed; hundreds have been wounded.

But the Egyptian people will not be turned back. They feel their power and are determined to seize the moment.

The US has given Egypt $68 billion since 1948, and since 1979, Egypt has been the second-biggest recipient of US aid after Israel. Our government currently gives $1.3 billion a year of our tax dollars in military aid to the Mubarak regime.

Join us in telling President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. Congress to stop funding the Mubarak regime now, to call on Mubarak to resign, and to expressly say that our government stands with the Egyptian people. After all, in his recent State of the Union Address, President Obama declared: “The United States stands with the people of Tunisia.” Shouldn’t we also stand with the Egyptians?

Sign here to stand in solidarity with people who are giving their government, our government and the world a lesson in democracy.

Mubarak is refusing to leave. But our government can—and must—break its ties to this dictator. As courageous Egyptian citizens are being assaulted with U.S. tear gas and other Made-in-the-USA weapons, we must say: Enough.

Solidarity with Egyptians

Add your events and ralllies for Egypt to our calendar here!
Find an Embassy of Egypt near you
Women of Egypt: protest photos on Facebook

News

Al Jazeera English Live Stream
Washington Post list of Twitter feeds that are live in Egypt
Follow the following hashtags on Twitter for more news: #Egypt, #Jan 25, #Jan 28, and more listed here:
A Primer On Following Egyptian Protests On Twitter, NPR, Jan 30, 2011
Ahdaf Soueif piece from The Guardian
Factbox: Most U.S. aid to Egypt goes to military, Reuters, Jan 29, 2011

Gaza Flotilla Massacre: Timeline of Events

PLal — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:31:10 +0000

Flotilla on Dipity.

Israel’s attack of the peaceful flotilla bound for Gaza is nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism.

Demand that President Obama act like a Nobel Peace laureate and condemn this act of violence.

Israeli ships attack Gaza aid flotilla (cbc.ca)
Israel fires on Gaza aid flotilla (washingtonmonthly.com)
Update: Israel’s Despicable, Horrific Act Reportedly Kills 15–Listen (grantlawrence.blogspot.com)

With 1000 US soldiers dead in Afghanistan, Time to Revive the Anti-war Agenda

Medea — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:52:25 +0000

by Medea Benjamin

U.S. Corporal Gregory S. Stultz, 22, of Brazil, Indiana, died on February 19, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. According to icasualties.org, Stultz’s death marks the grim milestone of 1,000 American soldiers killed in Operation Enduring Freedom.

This week has also been a grim one for civilian casualties as a result of NATO’s Operation Mushtarak in the Marjah district of Helmand and an airstrike in Oruzgan province that killed 27 innocent people. Despite strong denunciations by President Karzai and a steady stream of “I’m sorry’s” from US General Stanley McChrystal, the civilian casualties keep mounting alongside President Obama’s surge in Afghanistan.

The good news is the surge in anti-war sentiment abroad, particularly in NATO countries. The most spectacular case is that of the Netherlands, where the Dutch coalition government collapsed over the issue. A marathon cabinet meeting this weekend ended with the walkout of the second largest party in the government, the Labor Party, which accused the main Christian Democratic Alliance of reversing a 2007 agreement to bring the troops home this year. The Dutch Prime Minister now says that the Dutch will be completely out of Afghanstian by the end of next year.

Public opinion against the war is forcing other governments to consider withdrawal, despite strong pressure from the Obama administration. Canada has announced it will withdraw its 2,800 troops by the end of the year. European countries are struggling to find their share of the 10,000 extra troops requested by General McChrystal to join the 30,000 extra U.S. troops. France has declined to send more forces and the German government is facing fierce opposition at home.

Here in the United States, the debate on the war has been overshadowed by the debate on healthcare and the domestic economy. While progressives have consistently tried to link the two, these ties are increasingly coming from the conservative end of the political spectrum as well. Republican Congressman Ron Paul won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Progressive Action Committee this weekend on a strong anti-war platform. “The constitution does not give us the authority to be the policemen of the world,” he said to roars of approval from young conservatives. “We spend a trillion dollars a year maintaining an empire, but we’re broke.” His solution? Conserve our taxdollars by practicing diplomacy.

Anti-war sentiments are brewing within the Tea Party as well. Former Arizona Sheriff and Tea Party spokesperson Richard Mack expressed his view on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews last week. “Both parties have us involved in the war in Iraq and other wars that we shouldn‘t be involved in,” he said. “There‘s no end in sight in this ridiculous war. … It‘s ridiculous.” And conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, talking on with Chris Matthews on Monday, said we had three options for dealing with our gigantic deficit: cut entitlement programs, raise taxes or cut the trillion dollars we spend on maintaining an empire abroad. “That cow is going to be on the chopping block,” he said of the bloated Pentagon budget, and insisted that the anti-war conservatives are growing in strength.

Unfortunately, the anti-war sentiment lacks visibility. Gone are the days when the peace movement could turn out hundreds of thousands of people. The Obama administration not only led to a surge in Afghanistan, but it sucked the air out of the anti-war movement. United for Peace and Justice, once a vibrant coalition of over 1,300 groups with large offices in New York and a dozen staff, has become a network based on volunteers, and grassroots peace groups across the country have folded.

But March promises to be a revival of sorts. The ANSWER coalition is gearing up for the first significant anti-war marches since Obama took office, planned for the March 20 anniversary of the Iraq war. Progressive Democrats of America, along with groups like CODEPINK, have been encouraging people to gather for a brown bag lunch at congressional offices in districts across the country. With the message of Healthcare not Warfare, there are now over a hundred monthly lunches outside congressional offices. And a group called Peace of the Action is organizing a campout on the DC mall starting March 13.

As the fighting surges, the spending on war surges and the deaths surge, it’s time for the U.S. peace movement to regather its energy and push the anti-war agenda back onto the national scene.

Medea Benjamin (medea@globalexchange.org ) is the cofounder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace (www.codepinkalert.org) and Global Exchange (www. globalexchange.org).

Who are the Taliban? A talk from Anand Gopal (part II)

Stacy — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:22:55 +0000

Here’s part two of a summary of a fascinating talk last week in L.A. by journalist Anand Gopal at the Brave New Foundation studio, connected through his help on the BNF film, “Rethink Afghanistan,” attended by a few CODEPINKers. The first part of the summary is here.

When the U.S. first invaded Afghanistan, it made promises to the Afghans. It was because of these promises that the Afghans actually welcomed the U.S. soldiers. They promised jobs, development, good governance, and security. But the U.S. has failed to deliver on each and every promise. In most cases the situation is actually worse. Afghans no longer welcome U.S. soldiers in their community, all they want is for them to leave.

The first failed promise is jobs. Afghanistan currently has an official unemployment rate of 50 percent — the actual unemployment rate is estimated to be much higher and there are complete villages that are unemployed. Thirty percent of Afghans make less than $14 each month, and the informal employment sector has expanded as children beg and sell trinkets on the street to earn money so their family can survive. It is the best-case scenario if a family has children who can act as the breadwinners. In most cases in the hills of Afghanistan, the men are crippled from decades of war and the women are not allowed to work. The children have no choice but to be the sole income earners for the family. A lot of families resort to selling their daughters when they have no work and no money for food. In Afghanistan there is a bride price, not a dowry, so the husband’s family pays a bride price to the bride’s family. So, with an unemployment rate more than 50 percent, it is painfully clear that the U.S. has not delivered on this promise. If the best-case scenario is having children work in the informal sector so that the family can survive, the U.S. is not delivering.

The second failed promise surrounds development. The U.S. spends a $100 million dollars a day on Afghanistan. Ninety-five percent of the money goes to the military and 5 percent is supposed to go to development. Five percent would actually be a lot of money for Afghanistan given that it is currently the 3^rd poorest country in the world. But out of those $5 million dollars, 86 cents of every dollar goes back to the United States through contracts. Afghanistan only sees 14 cents out of every dollar therefore only receiving $700,000 of the $5 million allotted for development every day. On top of that, the money that is allotted for development often gets transferred into the hands of U.S. contractors. They subcontract development projects out multiple times until it finally gets handed to a contract company on the ground. For example, if $50 million dollars is given to build a road the U.S. will give the job to a U.S. company. The U.S. company will sub contract it to another company who will sub contract it to another company etc. until it finally is given to an Afghan or Chinese company on the ground for $5 million. $45 million is going back to the U.S.

Then, Oout of the five percent that is reserved for development, 90 percent of it is going back to the U.S. In reality only .5 percent of the development money is actually going to develop Afghanistan. Afghanistan is currently the fifth-least developed country in the world. The current infrastructure and lack of development makes it impossible to successfully spread news and information, let alone goods and services. In some rural villages when the American soldiers arrived the villagers thought they were Russian soldiers; they did not even know Afghanistan was fighting the United States. They also did not know who is the current president of Afghanistan.

In his book Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins describes his life as what he terms an “economic hitman.” After undergoing rounds of polygraph tests and interviews, Perkins was hired by a top consulting company in Boston, Massachusetts. His job was pretty simple — work to keep developing countries in debt so they will remain dependent on the U.S. The consulting company worked hard to ensure that development projects around the world were being contracted to U.S. companies allowing very little to trickle down to developing countries in desperate need of the money leaving them entirely dependent. He speaks very candidly to the fact that it was not an accident; that was their intention. If anyone got in their way they would simply send the “jackals” (skilled assassins) after them, and they would be swiftly and quietly taken care of. Afghanistan is being targeted by similar economic hitman. Development is not being allowed to take place. Instead the money is purposefully being funneled back to the United States. The U.S. has failed to deliver development.The third promise is governance. The Afghanistan government is incredibly corrupt, for example, the biggest drug dealer is said to be the current Minister of Counter Narcotics. Given the current state of Afghanistan, the third poorest country in the world and the fifth least developed, good governance policies have not been enforced. There has been little improvement in that area. The U.S. again has failed to deliver on one of their promises.

The final failed promise is security. As outlined in the previous entry, there is very little that is being done to secure the safety of Afghans living in war-torn areas. Civilian casualties are a daily occurrence and the numbers are mounting. Here in the U.S. we hear about a fraction of them, but it is a daily part of Afghan life. The war on terror is actually producing terror because of the number of civilians that have been affected and outraged by the deaths of their loved ones. Suicide bombs are increasing, and when U.S. soldiers enter an area, violence increases and security decreases. Violence overall increases as more U.S. troops are sent in – this happens every single year. 21,000 more troops were just sent to Afghanistan and the violence has already increased 60 percent.

Gopal then told a very powerful anecdote. When he was again embedded with the Americans, they were driving through a village in a tank. All of the sudden they started feeling thuds against the tank and the gunner looked outside to see if they were under attack. It turned out they were just rocks being thrown by the village children. The Tank Commander (TC) was embarrassed, especially with a journalist on board. He said he did not understand what was happening and wanted to perform a “H&M (Hearts & Mind)” operation. He got outside with the other soldiers (big burly looking men) and started handing out candy to the children. The children threw the candy right back at them. The soldiers were now very confused and even more embarrassed. The TC told Gopal that they must just not know who they are. So he called a meeting with all of the tribal elders trying to get to the bottom of it. The TC told the elders that he did not understand why their children were throwing rocks at the soldiers, they must not know who they were. The TC was met with blank stares and silence filled the room. He said, “Okay, well how could we fix this and make this better? Do you want us to build a school or maybe a road, what do you want?” One of the elders then responded, “We want you to leave. Everywhere you go you bring violence, death, and destruction. The best thing you can do for us is leave.”