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Israel Has Intensified Its Violence Against Palestinians in the West Bank
from a friend in Palestine who asks this Press Release be widely distributed.
.....
הודעה לעיתונות שיצאה הרגע (וגם ברשתות)
This is not what a ceasefire looks like B'Tselem press release 21.1.25
For over 15 months, Israel has been waging an all-out war on the entire Palestinian people. Ever since Israel and Hamas announced a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a hostage and prisoner release deal three days ago, on 19 January 2024, Israel has intensified its violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Far from holding its fire against Palestinians, Israel's actions demonstrate it has no intention of doing so. Instead, it is merely shifting its focus from Gaza to other areas it controls in the West Bank.
The ink had barely dried on the ceasefire agreement before the Israeli army blocked most access points to and from Palestinian villages, and all the cities in the West Bank, severely disrupting the daily lives of more than three million Palestinians: Students could not reach schools and universities, patients could not access medical treatments, and ordinary civilians could not get to their workplaces.
A series of military raids in Sabastiya, 'Azzun, Jenin, Beit Furik and Hebron, among others, have already claimed the lives of eight Palestinians, including at least one minor. Dozens were injured and scores were taken into custody in mass arrests.
In the past two nights, a wave of settler violence has swept through the West Bank. As soldiers looked on, Israelis attacked Palestinian communities, trying to set fire to homes with occupants inside, torching cars and vandalizing property on a massive scale, in Turmusaya, al-Funduq, Sinjil, Al-Mughayyir and Jinsafut among other places. The attackers themselves have declared these pogroms were an act of revenge for the release of Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal. Settlers have also blocked major intersections across the West Bank, pelting passing Palestinian vehicles with stones.
Adding the military activity of the Israeli army in the West Bank to the war's official objectives just two days before the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect, speaks volumes about the Israeli government's true intentions. Forced to stop the fighting in Gaza by the Americans and Saudis, the Israeli government is using this pause as an excuse and opportunity to ratchet up the oppression of West Bank Palestinians.
This is not what a ceasefire looks like
....
B'Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
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Peace & Solidarity,
Robbie Orr,
Proud Member of the National Writers Union
Moral Universe -- Cartoon by Rob Rogers
Trump's inauguration is on MLK day. I imagine neither man would want to share the day with the other.
Rob Rogers
January 20, 2025
TinyView
Re: For Reality
A few thoughts on the last day of the old world
David Benton
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Re: Senate Democrats Boil Over Laken Riley Missteps
“There is huge concern because we’re talking about the mandatory imprisonment based on an accusation without a person even being charged, let alone being convicted, and this applies to kids,” the senator said.
Lynn Hamilton
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Re: Labor Can Fight Back Against Trump’s Mass Deportation
(posting on xxxxxx Labor)
To keep up the offensive fight, defense may be necessary. Organized workers can pressure employers to deny entry to ICE agents who arrive without an arrest or search warrant—or at least restrict the search area only to what is listed in the document.
Pedro-Jesus Romero-Menendez
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Cold Weather Foils Felon-in-Chief, Forcing Fake FOTUS Indoors -- Cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz
Lalo Alcaraz
January 20, 2025
https://www.pocho.com
I Feel A Complete Betrayal By Your Vote On The Laken Riley Act. -- Open Facebook Letter to Senators Ossof and Warnock by the Writer Sara Paretsky
P.S. I just sent this letter to Senators Ossof and Warnock:
Dear Senator, Although I live in Illinois, you come to me for money when you are fundraising, which I gladly give. Now, I feel a complete betrayal by your vote on the Laken Riley Act. Allowing law enforcement to detain and deport people without a hearing, let alone a warrant, and not including any provision for children, is shocking and inhumane. During #45's regime, I watched a man pulled from his car with his 2-year-old daughter screaming in the backseat, and put on a plane to Bangladesh, with no concern for the child's welfare. I do not want this scene enacted anywhere on our soil ever again - but your vote will make this possible. Please rethink your vote and try to bring this heinous bill back for reversal.
Sincerely
Sara N Paretsky
The 12 democrats who voted for this bill, including Elissa Slotkin, for whom I wrote op-eds (will write her next):
Catherine Cortez Masto—Nevada
John Fetterman—Pennsylvania (co-sponsor)
Ruben Gallego—Arizona (co-sponsor)
Maggie Hassan—New Hampshire
Mark Kelly—Arizona
Jon Ossoff—Georgia
Gary Peters—Michigan
Jacky Rosen—Nevada
Jeanne Shaheen—New Hampshire
Elissa Slotkin—Michigan
Mark Warner—Virginia
Raphael Warnock—Georgia
ADL Field Guide: Anti-Semitism / Not Anti-Semitism -- Cartoon and Commentary by Carlos Latuff
Elon Musk did a Hitler-adjacent salute at a Trump rally, and the ADL rushed to defend him, calling it “an awkward moment of enthusiasm.”
This is the same ADL whose CEO called tweeting “Free Palestine” at him antisemitic in 2023.
@mondoweiss
Carlos Latuff
January 21, 2025
Mondoweiss
Re: Immigration Raids Targeting Bakersfield Farm Workers Are a Frightening Preview of Trump’s ‘Bloody’ Mass Deportation Agenda
(posting on xxxxxx Labor)
American citizens being swept up in Immigration Enforcement Raids in the Californian agricultural valley.
If you believe food prices are high today wait until there are no workers to harvest crops ready for picking.
Steve De La Rosa
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Re: Trump, Allies Sued Over DOGE Plans in Union-Backed Lawsuits
(posting on xxxxxx Labor)
Public interest groups and unions filed three lawsuits. Plaintiffs accuse Trump group of violating transparency law.
Andrea Haggerty
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Make America Groan Again -- Update of Bill Mauldin Cartoon
Re: Los Angeles Burned, Now They’re Coming for Karen Bass
The first woman and second-ever Black person to serve as mayor of Los Angeles is under attack by conservative trolls like Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Even if Bass personally stood in the middle of Sunset Boulevard in the Palisades with a massive fire hose it wouldn’t have made a difference.
James H. Williams
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
=====
The Democratic Party is not up to the battle that needs to be waged in the fight for truth and justice. Bass has a distinguished record as a dedicated, progressive public servant in California, as well as DC. This situation looks bad for her and it will be difficult to get to the other side of it. But why is Musk everywhere all the time pushing his racist, plutocratic policies and programs? Mayor Bass is not the only one facing a dilemma—the right is coming for everyone who does not support their anti-democratic agenda.
Gwendolyn Keita Robinson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
=====
Not an easy target for reactionaries...
Tom Edminster
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Re: All Childhood Vaccines Were Tested Against Placebos – Here’s the Evidence
Yes, ALL childhood vaccines have been tested against placebos, and most have been tested against inert placebos (when they aren't, there's a very good reason why). We'll walk through the history, and explore why trial designs have evolved.
Mary-Alice Strom
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Re: José ‘Cha Cha’ Jiménez, Human Rights Activist and Former Chair of Young Lords, Dead at 76
“The Young Lords Organization turned political because we found out that just giving gifts wasn’t going to help our people; we had to deal with the system that was messing them over."
“We didn’t start this movement, and we didn’t finish it, but we definitely contributed to it, and that’s our victory,” Mr. Jiménez told WBEZ in 2018. “COINTELPRO and organizations like that want to keep us disunited, so our first mission is to unite our people and go from there ... Individuals can’t make any change, you have to do it united.” COINTELPRO was an FBI program that infiltrated and surveilled political groups thought to be subversive.
Francisco Gonzalez
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
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When I arrived in Chicago with my family in 1967, I was 13 and Cha Cha Jimenez was 18, and already a seasoned leader. My family had been part of the independence movement in the archipelago but this was my first encounter with US based, working class Puerto Rican radicalism.
My family had close ongoing contact with both the Young Lords and the Black Panthers--my father taught Puerto Rican history to the Lords and we shared a car with another family so we could all lend one to the Panther breakfast program. Among many other things, these two groups modeled what a radical adolescence could look like. The founding of the Rainbow Coalition, led by Cha Cha and Fred Hampton, remains one of my favorite and most inspiring teaching stories.
I had also known a lot about political repression, but mostly from a distance. I grew up in rural Puerto Rico, not the urban US, and didn't witness state violence against our movement up close. The year I was fifteen, both Manuel Ramos of the Young Lords and Fred Hampton of the Black Panthers were murdered by police. Once, on a Young Lords march on the north side, I pointed Cha Cha out to my father, and he said, "Never point to the leaders," reminding me that Cha Cha was always a target. I'm sad that Cha Cha is gone from us and proud to have been part of the movement of young multiracial radicals he was co-creating.
Aurora Levins Morales, Maricao, Puerto Rico
One correction: Pedro Albizu Campos was not "a member of the Puerto Rican Independence Party," but the leader of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico. Two seconds on Google would have clarified this.
Re: Remember How Roberto Clemente Lived, Not How He Died
Thinking about the legacy of the humanitarian and star as his island home sits in darkness from power outages. Clemente’s solidarity with the less fortunate came from his life experience.
Sancocho Nuyorquino
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Re: Nurses and Doctors Are on Strike at Eight Oregon Hospitals
(posting on xxxxxx Labor)
5,000 nurses, doctors, midwives, and nurse practitioners walked off the job January 10 in an open-ended strike at Providence Health and Services, the dominant hospital chain in the Pacific Northwest.
US Progressive Activists' Update
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Re: AOC: ‘Bigoted Folks’ Love Trans Sports Ban
Dealing with perverts as a child, which many little girls and then all older girls end up having to do--it never occurred to me that a bunch of bigots would align under one banner to expressly devise a scheme so pathetic as to justify their obsession with what's in other people's pants. Many years later? Here we are--looking at growing numbers of people who justify this as though it's their cherished joy.
Bequi Marie
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
Re: An Open Letter to CNN Regarding Your Fluoride Coverage
Thank you for pointing this out!
Karen Lee Wald
WHAT TO DO IF ICE COMES TO YOUR DOOR
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS (Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights)
FAMILY SUPPORT NETWORK AND HOTLINE
Updated 1-20-2025
The purpose of the ICIRR Family Support Network (FSN) is to connect immigrant communities throughout Illinois to a full range of support in collaboration with member organizations (Información en español).
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS when encountering ICE. Download Know Your Rights fact sheets below (more languages to be added):
Know Your Rights: What to Do if You Are Arrested or Detained by Immigration (National Immigration Law Center)
Jan 15, 2025
This Know Your Rights resource provides general information on what to do if you are stopped, arrested, or detained by immigration or other law enforcement. Originally published in December 2015.
https://www.nilc.org/resources/know-your-rights-what-to-do-if-arrested-…
Translations: Arabic | Chinese – Simplified | Chinese – Traditional | Haitian Creole |Korean | Tagalog | Vietnamese | Haga Clic para la Versión en Español.
mmigrants who are stopped, arrested, or detained by Immigration or other law enforcement have certain rights. But non-citizens without status must be especially careful when encountering law enforcement in the United States or at the border. If you encounter law enforcement at work, on the street, after a traffic stop, or at home, you usually have the same constitutional rights as U.S. citizens. You may have fewer rights when interacting with law enforcement agents at the border or an airport.
Disclaimer: This Know Your Rights resource provides general information. It is not legal advice. It is not tailored to your situation. Talk to an immigration lawyer for legal advice about your specific situation.
Portions of this document were adapted with permission from the National Lawyers Guild’s Know Your Rights! pamphlet.
Featured Downloads
National Immigration Law Center
the K Chronicles: L.A. - Cartoon, Commentary and Resources by Keith Knight
Man, it's hard to see what the devastation out in L.A. And the "informed" internet takes on all of it isn't helping.
What does help is chucking a few bucks people's way who have lost everything. A lot of the Black families in Altadena were abandoned by their home insurance companies, and their GoFundMe fundraisers don't make the $$$ that others do..So I've included a link to a list that is really thorough:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pK5omSsD4KGhjEHCVgcVw-rd4FZP9haoijEx1mSAm5c/htmlview?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaY2nsO-GU46zfCaXc755sQsa1QIsUkF0zwR8hymxJuMr5f-aJgiQzWZiA4_aem_zz0En1zr_80HERcxUpNmFA
Artists: https://hyperallergic.com/982774/a-running-list-of-resources-to-help-artists-impacted-by-la-fires/
The Keef Knight Project is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Keith Knight
K Chronicles
January 17, 2025
American Labor Studies Center
Please check out and support the American Labor Studies Center whose mission is to promote the teaching and learning about the American labor movement in K-12 schools nationwide (www.labor-studies.org).
The ALSC also owns and has restored the Kate Mullany House in Troy, NY. Mullany formed America's first bona fide all-female union. the Troy Collar Laundry Union, in 1864 (www.katemullanynhs.org).
[Paul Cole is Executive Director of the ALSC, Secretary-Treasurer Emeritus of the New York State AFL-CIO and former vice president of the AFT and former board member of the NEA and New York State United Teachers.]
Honor Dr. King with Political Action! - Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
Honor Dr. King with Political Action!
Black Workers for Justice
Offset, 1989
North Carolina, USA
1536
Poster Text:
Honor Dr. King with Political Action!
Unionize the South
Black Political Power
Build a Black Workers Political Platform
End Government Repression
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a federal holiday celebrating the life and legacy of its namesake. Today is also the inauguration of Donald Trump’s second term of presidency.
Rather than addressing any one of Trump’s hateful speeches and threats, CSPG’s Poster of the Week would instead like to amplify Martin Luther King, Jr.'s powerfully radical rhetoric of love, justice and unity:
“Power, properly understood, is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, or economic changes. In this sense power is not only desirable but necessary in order to implement the demands of love and justice. One of the greatest problems of history is that the concepts of love and power are usually contrasted as polar opposites. Love is identified with a resignation of power and power with a denial of love. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, 1967
Sources:
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 103
Culver City, CA 90230
T: 310.397.3100 / F: 310.397.9305
[email protected]
RHYTHMS OF RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation -- Washington, DC -- February 2
Feb 2, 2025 5:00 pm
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
Register here - Free
Join us to learn about the Black men and women who combated racial prejudice in Washington, DC, with sports and music
In the Nation's Capital, music and sports have played a central role in the lives of African Americans, often serving as a barometer of social conflict and social progress—for sports clubs and ball games, jam sessions and concerts, offered entertainment, enlightenment, and encouragement. At times, they have also offered a means of escape from the harsh realities of everyday life.
Rhythms of Resistance and Resilience tells the story of these musicians and athletes who have used their skills and their determination to achieve success in the face of discrimination. Jackson begins with pioneers such as James Reese Europe, who formed the first musicians' union and fought as a member of the Harlem Hellfighters in World War I, and ends with giants of the twentieth century, such as Duke Ellington and Georgetown University basketball coaching legend John Thompson Jr.
Readers interested in the history of Washington, DC, the civil rights movement, racial justice, music, and sports will draw important lessons from these stories of the Black men and women who found in sports and music spaces to combat racial prejudice and bring people in the District of Columbia together.
Maurice Jackson is joining us on the Busboys stage to dive deeper into the stories of these Black icons and discuss the importance of celebrating their lives and legacies. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Jackson will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 5:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of RHYTHMS OF RESISTANCE AND RESILIANCE will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Maurice Jackson teaches Atlantic world and African American history at Georgetown University. He is author of Let This Voice Be Heard, and coeditor of African Americans and the Haitian Revolution and DC Jazz (Georgetown University Press, 2018). He was the inaugural chair of the Washington, DC, Commission on African American Affairs, appointed by the mayor.
Trump’s Second Term: NATO, War, And The Economy -- Virtual Webinar -- February 18 (Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security)
Webinar: Tuesday, February 18th, 2025
10:00 AM PST, 1:00 PM EST, 6:00PM GMT
Click To Register
Donald Trump has returned to the presidency demanding that NATO nations increase their military spending to 3%, possibly 5% of GDP, and threating massive tariffs. His commitments to NATO remain uncertain, as does his administration’s approach to the Ukraine War and possible ceasefire-related diplomacy. His “America First” agenda includes a $100 billion increase in the Pentagon’s already gargantuan budget.
What are the implications for Euro-American relations with Russia, for NATO or pressures for an independent European military, for the U.S., European, and world economies? How should the U.S. and European peace movements respond?
Speakers:
- Niamh Ni Bhriain coordinates TNI's War and Pacification program, which focuses on the permanent state of war and pacification of resistance. She holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG).
- Reiner Braun served as General Secretary of the International Peace Bureau. He has decades of experience in the German and European peace movements, was deeply involved the Max Plank Institute’s planning for the Einstein Year, and he has been a leading figure in promotion of Common Security diplomacy.
- Michael Klare is a visiting fellow of the Arms Control Association, secretary of its board of directors, emeritus professor of the Five Colleges Peace and World Security Studies program at Hampshire College, and a regular contributor for The Nation Magazine.
The Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security (“CPDCS”) advocates for peace and nuclear disarmament within a framework of common security among nations. Our priorities include working for nuclear weapons abolition and common security diplomacy among all nations, especially the great powers, to prevent wars, end global warming, and address other global challenges.
Founded in 2017, CPDCS serves as a bridge between peace and nuclear disarmament movements in the U.S., Asia, and Europe and employs an organizing strategy that centers on the experiences and leadership of the preeminent voices in the global peace movements. To this end, CPDCS produces resources, organizes conferences and forums, and provides speakers on these and the related subjects of nonproliferation, climate change, and global racism.
Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security
1991 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
