Dear Progressive Reader,

Last week I wrote about the situation of award-winning poet Mosab Abu Toha who was unable to leave Gaza with his wife and three children. I am happy to report that the entire family was finally able to exit through Rafah later that weekend. However, writing on Instagram from Egypt, he noted, “My heart and mind are not yet safe because my parents and siblings and their little kids continue to be in danger.” On October 29, Abu Toha’s home had been destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. “I just don’t see my books, the ones I brought with me each time I returned from the U.S. I do not see my writing desk, not my children’s beds. Not my and my wife’s beautiful clothes and shoes. We are houseless now but not homeless,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). In 2017, Abu Toha founded the Edward Said Public Library in his home town of Beit Lahia. Abu Toha’s poetry can be read in the current issue of The Progressive magazine, and on our website. He was interviewed from Egypt on Thursday on Democracy Now! about the current situation in Gaza. On his social media channels, in media interviews, and through his poetry, Mosab Abu Toha continues to bear witness to the world about the suffering of innocent civilians in this conflict.

Also this past week, journalist John Nichols, a frequent contributor to The Progressive, found himself named in court documents submitted by Donald Trump’s lawyer. The filing echoed rightwing conspiracy theories alleging that Nichols had helped instigate the January 6 riot at the Capitol on behalf of the “Deep State.” Nichols, writing in The Nation yesterday, says, “Unfortunately for Donald Trump, I’m not his alibi.” Nichols tells me that many friends (those who are not simply laughing about this) have called to tell him they are concerned for him. However, by being named as an “enemy” by a disgraced former President, he does join former editor of The Progressive Erwin Knoll, who always proudly displayed a poster featuring his name among those on Richard Nixon’s enemies list.

The recognitions of Henry Kissinger’s legacy of crimes, death, and destruction continue this week with a detailed listing by Peter Kornbluh of the former Secretary of State’s documented role in the 1973 coup and repression in Chile. Kornbluh directs the Chile Documentation Project at the National Security Archive, and is author of The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability. Also this week, historian and whistleblower Martin Edwin Andersen takes a broad look at Kissinger’s shameful legacy and asserts, “No federal property should be allowed to be named in Kissinger’s honor, including U.S. naval ships, weapons, post offices, and national parks. No federal funds should be authorized to those colleges and universities who name their school properties or programs after him. A complete revision of public school curricula should reflect the truth of his time as a public servant, and no federal statues should be erected in the war criminal’s name.” Plus, Jeff Abbott reports on the extradition by the United States of Pedro Barrientos back to Chile to be tried for the murder of singer Victor Jara fifty years ago in the days following the brutal coup.

Elsewhere on our website this week, Samer Badawi examines the question of why only a few communities in the United States are voting on resolutions calling for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza; Joe Mayall interviews Congressional candidate Pervez Agwan, who takes a publicly pro-Palestinian stance; and Kathy Kelly raises the alarm from the world Health Organization of a pending epidemic of dehydration and disease in the region. Sarah Cords and Emilio Leanza look into the recent issues surrounding Elon Musk; Kathy Wilkes reminds us of a nighttime action by the late former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor that seriously harmed the rights of unionized workers; and Tucker Farris shines a light on armed security guards being placed in Colorado’s driver licensing facilities. Also, Zach Roberts interviews comedian and abortion-access activist Lizz Winstead who appears in the new documentary No One Asked You. “For a long time,” she says, “we were told ‘Ignore them and they’ll go away.’ And by ignoring them, they didn’t go away. They actually got elected in state legislatures and on school boards.”

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

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