[ Reader Comments: Palestine - What You Can Do; Covid Vaccines and
Herd Immunity; Amazon Union Campaign - What Next; GOP Trump Kool-Aid;
Help Send Urgently-Needed Syringes to Cuba;; more...]
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TIDBITS - MAY 13, 2021 - READER COMMENTS: PALESTINE - WHAT YOU CAN
DO; COVID VACCINES AND HERD IMMUNITY; AMAZON UNION CAMPAIGN - WHAT
NEXT; HELP SEND URGENTLY-NEEDED SYRINGES TO CUBA;; MORE...  
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May 13, 2021
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_ Reader Comments: Palestine - What You Can Do; Covid Vaccines and
Herd Immunity; Amazon Union Campaign - What Next; GOP Trump Kool-Aid;
Help Send Urgently-Needed Syringes to Cuba;; more... _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, AND cartoons -
May 13, 2021, xxxxxx

 

Outraged at apartheid Israel’s crimes against Palestinians in
occupied Jerusalem & Gaza? (The Palestinian BDS National Committee
(BNC))
Re: Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now
Believe (Judith Halprin)
Re: Biden to Support Waiving Patents for COVID-19 Vaccines (Stan
Nadel)
Re: U.S. Workers Continue Unionization Fight – But Will Amazon
Prevail? (Andrew Lenton)
Re: Organizing in the South (Joanne Forman)
The Remake  --  cartoon by Clay Bennett
Re: Anti-Asian Violence and the U.S. Role in Asia (Joseph Kaye)
Re: Union Nurses in Massachusetts Are Waging the Longest Current
Strike in the US (Steven Wishnia)
Re: Colombia on the Brink (Brad Smith)
We're the Party of the Big Tent  --  cartoon by Robert Ariail
Re: How Socialism Stopped Being a Dirty Word for Some Voters - And
Started Winning Elections Across America (Melvin Hugo Carlos
Pritchard)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Help Send Urgently-Needed Syringes to Cuba (Center for Cuban Studies,
Global Health Partners, Code Pink, and dozens of other organizations)
Help Send Syringes to Cuba! — An urgent appeal from Ed Asner

 

OUTRAGED AT APARTHEID ISRAEL’S CRIMES AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM & GAZA? (THE PALESTINIAN BDS NATIONAL COMMITTEE
(BNC))

 

In many countries, governments and corporations are deeply complicit
with Israel’s decades-old regime of military occupation,
settler-colonialism and apartheid, just as they were complicit in the
apartheid regime in South Africa. Israel can only sustain this regime
of oppression with international complicity. 

Here are the 5 MOST EFFECTIVE THINGS YOU can do to challenge this
complicity and support the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice
and equality:

*
Work with progressive networks to pressure parliament and government
to (a) END ALL MILITARY-SECURITY COOPERATION AND TRADE (military
funding in the US case) with apartheid Israel and similarly criminal
regimes of oppression worldwide, (b) BAN ALL GOODS/SERVICES OF
COMPANIES OPERATING IN ISRAEL’S ILLEGAL COLONIAL SETTLEMENTS; and
(c) DEMAND A UN INVESTIGATION OF ISRAELI APARTHEID.

*
Mobilize pressure in your community, trade union, association, church,
social network, student government/union, city council, cultural
center, or other organization to declare it an APARTHEID FREE
ZONE (AFZ), ending all relations with apartheid Israel and companies
that are complicit in its system of oppression.

*
Boycott products/services of, and/or mobilize institutional pressure
to divest from, Israeli and international companies and banks that are
complicit in Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity. This
includes all Israeli banks (LEUMI, HAPOALIM, etc.) and major
multinationals such as: ELBIT SYSTEMS, HP, G4S/ALLIED UNIVERSAL, AXA,
CAF, PUMA, CATERPILLAR, GENERAL MILLS/PILLSBURY, HYUNDAI HEAVY
INDUSTRIES, JCB, VOLVO, BARCLAYS BANK, ALSTOM, MOTOROLA
SOLUTIONS, and CEMEX.

*
CANCEL ALL ACADEMIC, CULTURAL, SPORTS, AND TOURISM ENGAGEMENTS in
Israel or supported/sponsored by Israel (or its lobby groups and
complicit institutions).

*
JOIN A BDS CAMPAIGN OR A STRATEGIC PALESTINE SOLIDARITY GROUP near
you to act collectively and effectively.

Channel your anger and mobilize to dismantle apartheid and all forms
of racism and oppression.

By Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
[[link removed]]

 

RE: REACHING ‘HERD IMMUNITY’ IS UNLIKELY IN THE U.S., EXPERTS NOW
BELIEVE

 

well done cretins, preventing the end of a scourge. Good thing you
weren't around for polio, smallpox, measles, etc.

Judith Halprin
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: BIDEN TO SUPPORT WAIVING PATENTS FOR COVID-19 VACCINES

 

This is PR crap from Biden. It will take months to get the waiver if
it an even be done and then there are only a couple of countries that
would have the potential capacity to actually produce the vaccines if
one is agreed on--and they would probably need at least 1-2 years to
get production online (especially for the sophisticated and hard to
produce RNA vaccines). India already produces millions of doses of a
Corona vaccine every month--and unlike the US, but like the EU, India
has been exporting 1/2 or more of what it has been producing. The
answer isn't canceling patents, the answer is throwing massive
resources into increasing production in places that can do so quickly
and then sending the vaccine to where it is needed. As long as the US
refuses to export both vaccines and their key ingredients most of the
world will be screwed and PR about supporting vaccine waivers won't
amount to shit.

Stan Nadel

 

RE: U.S. WORKERS CONTINUE UNIONIZATION FIGHT – BUT WILL AMAZON
PREVAIL?

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

what is needed is an industry-wide strategy involving job actions at
warehouses throughout the country, instead of one company and one
facility at a time 

Andrew Lenton

 

RE: ORGANIZING IN THE SOUTH

 

I can understand WELL the problems: though I was not born there, I
grew up in Grenada, Mississippi 1942-7; it was very educational. I was
a member of the Free Southern Theater in New Orleans in 1965, and
established a summer theater group via SSOC in Nashville in 1967. Last
time I was in the South was 2001, for a lecture tour on women labor
leaders in Florida.

News today of the severely retrograde legislation in Florida. They
never give up, do they?

Joanne Forman

 

THE REMAKE  --  CARTOON BY CLAY BENNETT

 

Clay Bennett
May 11, 2021
Chattanooga Times Free Press
[[link removed]]

 

RE: ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE AND THE U.S. ROLE IN ASIA

 

Goes back to the "Spanish-American War" which was actually a war
against Filipinos, a war fought with a unique barbarism by the U.S.
 And don't forget the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, nor the
Korean War, waged with truly genocidal barbarism.

Joseph Kaye

 

RE: UNION NURSES IN MASSACHUSETTS ARE WAGING THE LONGEST CURRENT
STRIKE IN THE US

 

The longest current strike in the U.S. is actually by workers at the
Spectrum cable-TV and Internet company in New York. About 1,800
technicians, members of International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers Local 3, have been on strike since March 2017 — more than
four years. Owner Charter Communications has largely refused to
negotiate — the strike was provoked by its demand to demolish
workers' health and pension benefits — and is trying to get the
unions decertified.

Steven Wishnia
New York

 

RE: COLOMBIA ON THE BRINK

 

Respectfully, the tax proposal was for 23 Trillion Colombian pesos.

Brad Smith

 

WE'RE THE PARTY OF THE BIG TENT  --  CARTOON BY ROBERT ARIAIL

 

Robert Ariail
May 6, 2021
Daily Comet
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HOW SOCIALISM STOPPED BEING A DIRTY WORD FOR SOME VOTERS - AND
STARTED WINNING ELECTIONS ACROSS AMERICA

 

I found this article by Mr. Kluever is a naïve summation of the
Socialist Party and DSA. It demonstrates the long reach of
anticommunism and racial blindspots in the 21st Century. Last summer I
rejoined DSA after much trepidation given its white demographics, poor
international politics, and other things. On paper it seemed that DSA
had overcame its weaknesses, but to me, practice is a better indicator
of  DSA's change. After 8 months I found DSA to be a lot like SDS
before the 1969 split. It was a federation of caucuses that don't have
a clue how to advance socialism in the 21st Century, beyond
progressive platitudes and functioning like a part of the non-profit
industrial complex. DSA is a federation of white sects (that's what
the various caucuses represent) which can never move beyond its white
demographics.

I am not some naive member of color who joined in wake of the Bernie
Sanders campaigns of muddled social-democracy of 2016/2020.. I am a
founding member of DSA. I was a member of the New American Movement
prior to the ill fated merger-I think that was a mistake. I followed
the example of my mentor the late Manning Marable who the
Harringtonites chased out in 1986 (the year I left DSA). I have been a
socialist since 1975 in the wake of the Portuguese Revolution that
overthrew fascism.

After my recent rejoining, I left DSA  San Francisco chapter a couple
of weeks ago after 8 months, so my knowledge of DSA is a recent
experience. I left because the SF chapter refused to discipline racist
members of the Education Committee. When I filed a grievance, it took
6 months to tell me that nothing was going to be done. For me, this
was the last straw.

It is naive to say, socialism is the recent for electoral successes of
many DSA members. As a history instructor for 17 years at a community
college, I think there are deeper reasons. We have a group that has a
level of political education coming out of the Bernie Sanders
campaign. I do not see this cohort of white youth, anymore for racial
justice than their parents who are my peers and their grandparents. To
me the Achilles heel of the US socialist Left is race and its role in
social change. DSA does not have a handle of tackling it. The AfroSoc
committee is another clueless caucus among many--to say they will play
a role in resolving this conundrum is not realistic at all. 
I feel DSA will split at some point in the next few years due to one
or more of the competing caucus attempting take over DSA. 

A lot of DSA members don't know their organization's past. How can
they know DSA's future? Mr. Kluever's article is a uncritical
summation of 20th Century social-democracy. As a historian, I would
expected more critical analysis.

Melvin Hugo Carlos Pritchard,
San Francisco, CA

 

HELP SEND URGENTLY-NEEDED SYRINGES TO CUBA (CENTER FOR CUBAN STUDIES,
GLOBAL HEALTH PARTNERS, CODE PINK, AND DOZENS OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS)

 

We’re launching our most important campaign ever—it’s part of
fighting the U.S. embargo against Cuba and will help save many
thousands of lives. The Center for Cuban Studies is joining Global
Health Partners, Code Pink, and dozens of other organizations in the
U.S., Canada and Mexico to raise the necessary funds to send syringes
to Cuba. That will mean that everyone can be vaccinated with one of
the vaccines currently being produced in Cuba. Cuba needs at least 33
million syringes to vaccinate every man, woman and child in the
country. It only has 1/3 of that number.

One organization, Global Health Partners, has obtained the necessary
license from the U.S. Commerce Department to send 10 million syringes
to Cuba. The Center and Code Pink will be bundling donations that will
be forwarded to GHP once we’ve raised our goal amount. We hope to
solicit enough contributions to buy ONE MILLION SYRINGES: Our
intermediate goal is to raise enough to buy one-half that number. That
will insure that almost half a million syringes help put the Soberana
or Abdala vaccines into the arms of those living in Cuba.

This will help save the lives not only of Cubans, but of all those who
travel in and out of Cuba. It will help insure that Center trips to
Cuba can start once again. It will help improve the devastated Cuban
economy. The U.S. embargo against Cuba has meant the devastation of
many aspects of daily life in Cuba, none more so than the current food
and medicine shortages.

Let’s do what we can to fight against Covid-19 and the embargo.
Please contribute as much as you can, as soon as you can. Thank you
for all you do to help.

Donate Now!
[[link removed]]

 

HELP SEND SYRINGES TO CUBA! — AN URGENT APPEAL FROM ED ASNER

I’m writing to alert you to Global Health Partners’ urgent drive
to rush desperately needed coronavirus vaccination syringes to Cuba.
We’ve come together many times to supply vital medicine and medical
supplies to Cuban hospitals and community clinics, and now I’m
asking you to join me in GHP’s most crucial effort ever: EMPOWERING
CUBA TO VACCINATE ITS ENTIRE POPULATION
[[link removed]].

Please stand with us now to show your solidarity with a country that
has done so much for the health of its own people, and for struggling
communities around the world.

Over the past year alone, Cuba has sent 3,700 health workers, in 52
international medical brigades, to 39 countries overwhelmed by the
pandemic. Cuba’s international medical brigades have treated
patients and saved lives for the past 15 years in 53 countries
confronting natural disasters and serious epidemics, such as the Ebola
crisis in West Africa.

GHP has already delivered more than $190 million worth of scarce
medicines and medical supplies to Cuba, while building opposition to
Washington’s cruel and immoral embargo. With this track record, and
your solidarity, we’re ideally positioned to make this syringe
campaign a success.

Cuba is poised for a decisive push to combat the deadly virus: it has
developed five internationally recognized candidate COVID-19 vaccines,
with two in Phase III clinical trials as of April 2021. Cuba has 11.3
million people, but plans to produce 100 million doses of vaccine, to
meet its commitment to sharing its low-cost vaccines with poor
countries in the developing world.

Your gift [[link removed]] will directly
change so many lives. Here’s how, together, we’ll have an
immediate impact: With $1,000 we can send 28,571 syringes to Cuban
hospitals; $360 will buy the syringes to vaccinate 10,265 people; and
$150 will send 4,285 syringes to Cuba’s community clinics.

But your contribution of any size
[[link removed]] is urgently needed to stock
our first shipment of syringes. Cuba has the vaccine it needs to
protect its people from COVID-19, and a well-developed grassroots
medical network to provide the shots. The only thing missing is the
syringe supply to make it possible.

PLEASE HELP PUT LIFESAVING VACCINES INTO CUBAN ARMS NOW WITH YOUR
GENEROUS, TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO OUR SYRINGE CAMPAIGN
[[link removed]]. Let’s match Cuba’s
internationalism with our own friendship and compassion for the Cuban
people!

With my deepest gratitude,

Edward Asner

Global Health Partners [[link removed]]
39 Broadway, Suite 1540
New York, NY  10006
Tel. (212) 353-9800
 

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