Monthly Archives: February 2015

News & Views

It’s Chinese New Year–either today or on Feb 21–according to various sources–which latter is also Malcolm X’s birthday.

Chris Hedges has an article on Malcolm X and his vision for the end of capitalism, his life, his views on truth and freedom at Black Agenda Report (originally at TruthDig): Malcolm X was Right About America

Adam Curtis has a (few minutes long) short film looking back at 2014, worth revisiting now in February, at the cusp of a New Year, on Non-Linear Warfare: A New System of Political Control, all about “contradictory stories” fed to us so no coherent narrative of protest can form.

Electronic Frontier Fund‘s Year in Review, by Nadia Kayyali and Mark Rumold, all about NSA Spying and about EFF’s fight to bring secrets to light:What We Learned About NSA Spying in 2014…

Here’s a peek into the year ahead through the lens of astrology–wasn’t it the Catholic Church which stripped astrology from astronomy sometime in the Middle Ages (and yet the Pope’s hat has symbols from astrology on it) from Simon Vorster at Wake Up World–and it’s reassuring and rejuvenating–Yes, it’s the Year of the Sheep! 2015 in Astrology: The Year of Manifestation

Happy New Year! Let’s hope this is indeed the year the Sheep rise. Change in the world depends on us. Every action we take makes a ripple in the universe. Let’s make those ripples count…

Act Now to End the Patriot Act, Stop Mass Surveillance, End Spying

This from Defending Dissent, drop in at the link below to send a letter: The USA PATRIOT Act granted the government powerful new spying capabilities that have grown out of control—but Section 215, the provision that the FBI and NSA have been using to collect the phone records of millions of innocent people, expires on June 1.

This is an important opportunity for us to demand reform.

Tell Congress: it’s time to end out-of-control spying. Do not reauthorize Section 215!

Rise Up Against War & EverMore War

A whole coalition of anti-war groups are joining together to hold a No-War intervention in DC this spring. The Soapbox People’s Network has the scoop:

““Spring Rising” is four days of creative resistance; theater, teach-ins; rallies and marches marking the anniversary of the United States’ “shock and awe” attack on Iraq and its invasion and occupation in a completely illegitimate, immoral war.  Together we will use this time to oppose the plans and calls for growing military intervention.

As we send this invitation to you the Congress is calling for more war. The President has just told us a new global “war on terror” may be unlimited in space and time.

• Are you, like us, stunned and enraged by more war on the world?
• Did you or your organization join in the protests against police violence and murder, because Black Lives Matter?
• Are you with the Dreamers working for rights for all people to live without fear?
• Are you one of the many who have dropped everything to protest the global destruction of the environment because of our dependence on fossil fuels which is also a reason for our wars?
• Are you agonized over the ongoing U.S. military support for Israel, the recent killing of 2,000 Arab men, women, and children last summer in Gaza?
• Are you furious about the killing and terrorizing of Muslims in the U.S?

Then, join us! Your participation in Spring Rising is urgently needed now to organize protests, participate in teach-ins and to put your art and performance on mass display. Together we can create the vibrant resistance needed to show that terrorizing the world is not in our interest and “not in our name.”” Click Cindy Sheehan’s site link here for more.

Sign World Beyond War‘s wonderful Declaration of Peace here.

Join Peace Action to send a letter to Congress telling the President you don’t want to fund a new war against ISIL or anyone else: Stop Endless War

Speak out against the TPP

Currently, the White House is sending around an email & video lauding the TPP as “progressive” and emblematic of “Trade in the Twenty-First Century” & crucial in efforts to boost small businesses in America which export and trade worldwide. However, Public Citizen informs us otherwise:

“The Obama administration also has used this sales pitch, often on the basis that the majority of U.S. exporters are small and medium enterprises (SMEs). But that fuzzy logic ignores the fact that 99.7 percent of all U.S. firms qualify as SMEs — while only 3 percent of those are exporters.*

This means that even if the TPP actually were to succeed in boosting exports — which similar pacts have not done — it is large corporations that would disproportionately benefit, not small businesses.”

Let’s not forget the TPP is being conducted In Secret, In Secrecy. Attempts are being made to pass laws In Secret. Only 500 corporate representatives from corporations worldwide are in on it. Not America’s small businesses. Not everyday Americans. The broad scope of TPP is known, but the exact rules being made are being made in secret. Why on earth would any of us ask our Congress representatives to vote on something we don’t know anything–or enough–about? That alone should stop us in our tracks.

Once more, several groups are calling on us to call our members of Congress to make sure they know US citizens are not interested in a secret deal which promises big corporations carte blanche both here domestically in the US and worldwide, and threatens to destroy the autonomy of local and state governments, in addition to governments worldwide, send More American jobs abroad, stifle citizen expression, and gag journalists, whistleblowers, and activists, while stealing natural resources and foisting monopolies on us. Check in here at Public Citizen or MoveOn or Electronic Frontier Fund or Friends of the Earth or all of them, to send letters online automatically to your Congressperson, call, or sign a petition. If TPP is fast-tracked, we might as well ask Congress to vacate. Or vacation. Indefinitely.

Public Citizen’s information page on TPP

Electronic Frontier Fund‘s information page on TPP

MoveOn‘s 3-minute video on TPP, which went viral : What Happens if TPP is Fast-Tracked & Passed

Staff article on TPP at The Daily Bell: As TPP Sails Forth, it Drags the West into Uncharted Waters