View this email in your browser ([link removed])

Dear Progressive Reader,

Friday, November 11, was Veterans Day, renamed ([link removed].) in 1954 from the original Armistice Day. The original name marked the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, when all major hostilities ended in World War I. That war was called in its day “the war to end all wars,” but since its end, countless wars and battles have raged, and innumerable soldiers and civilians have lost their lives. As the chorus of the song ([link removed]) “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” chastises us: “When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?”

The song, composed by Pete Seeger in 1955, was based on the lyrics of a Ukrainian Cossack song and an Irish workers’ melody. In 2010, the New Statesman designated ([link removed]) it as one of the top twenty political songs of all time. It has been recorded by countless musicians in more than thirty different languages. In 2022, Russian actress and director Renata Litvinova recorded a video ([link removed]) of the song in Russian in protest of her country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The song’s message, like intent of the original Armistice Day, remains unfulfilled. When will we, as humanity, ever learn that wars only lead to death and suffering, never solutions? As Chris Hedges writes ([link removed]) in his new book, The Greatest Evil is War, “War’s effects are what the state and the press, the handmaiden of the war makers, work hard to keep hidden. If we really saw war, what war does to young minds and bodies, it would be harder to embrace the myth of war.” As Jake Whitney notes in his review of Hedges’s book, “[P]ermanent war and endless consumption are unsustainable, of course. Not only are they destroying our planet (the Department of Defense is the single largest ([link removed]) institutional consumer of petroleum in the world), but, as Hedges points out,
they are destroying our liberal traditions and democratic institutions.” Hedges, like Seeger sixty-seven years before, and like those who understood the message of the first Armistice Day thirty-seven years before that, continue to ask us, “When will we ever learn?”

The midterm elections are over, but they are not done. Vote counting continues, and, as of this writing, political control of both the Senate and the House remains uncertain. But one thing is certain, the predicted “red wave” did not occur, and Democrats held (or in some cases gained) much more ground than the pundits had predicted. As Ruth Conniff comments ([link removed]) in her wrap-up for the Wisconsin Examiner, “What happened [in Michigan] on Tuesday shows what is possible when citizens shake off minority rule and elect a government that represents the interests of the majority.” As Mark Fiore illustrates ([link removed]) , acolytes of Donald Trump, who expected to win bigly, are now looking for some “MAGA self-care.”

The twenty-seventh United Nations climate conference, known as COP27 ([link removed]) , is underway in Egypt amid controversy about both the host country and the level of commitment to real change by the world’s wealthiest nations. But, as Nigerian writer Obioro Ikoku points out ([link removed]) , “Climate change is already a catastrophic reality for many African countries.” And, he continues, “As the outcome of COP27 hangs in the balance, African climate campaigners must know their work does not end in Sharm El-Sheikh. Rather, it starts the day after, in order to ensure that whatever concessions may be won at the conference are translated into concrete and implementable actions.”

November 11 was also the centennial of the birth of author Kurt Vonnegut. On hearing of the author’s death in 2007, former editor of The Progressive Matthew Rothschild wrote ([link removed]) , “What a loss to all of us who are for peace, to all of us who worry about the fate of the world, and to all of us who wrestle with our existential plight.” In June 2003, journalist David Barsamian interviewed Vonnegut for The Progressive. That interview is currently being translated into Czech for a centennial commemorative publication in Europe. Speaking about the 2003 Iraq War, Vonnegut told him ([link removed]) , “People are lying all the time as to what a murderous nation we are. So let it be known. We’re behaving abominably. It’s like having a relative go absolutely nuts. Somebody has to say, ‘I think Uncle Charlie’s off his rocker.’ We are behaving in a bizarre manner now. . . .
One thing I learned, with permission of the school committee of Indianapolis, was that when a tyrant or a government gets in trouble it wonders what to do. Declare war!”

Finally, for those in the Madison area, on Monday, November 14, I will be introducing author Andrew Seidel at a live book event ([link removed]) that The Progressive is co-sponsoring with the Wisconsin Book Festival. In the book, American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Religious Freedom, Seidel says, “You must unshackle your mind from the belief that the Supreme Court is an impartial arbiter of truth and justice. . . . [Mitch] McConnell, [Donald] Trump, and [Leonard] Leo ([link removed]) cheated and stole and packed the courts to put their collaborators in place not because they would administer justice evenhandedly, but because they wouldn’t.”

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

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - The new 2023 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now available. You can order one online ([link removed]) and get it mailed in time for the holidays.

P.P.S. – If you like this weekly newsletter, please consider forwarding it to a friend. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to this free weekly email, please share this link: [link removed].

P.P.P.S. – If you don’t already subscribe to The Progressive in print or digital form, please consider doing so today ([link removed]) . Also, if you have a friend or relative who you feel should hear from the many voices for progressive change within our pages, please consider giving a gift subscription ([link removed]) .

P.P.P.P.S. – Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to support The Progressive! We need you now more than ever. If you have not done so already, please take a moment to support hard-hitting, independent reporting on issues that matter to you. Your donation today will keep us on solid ground in 2022 and will help us continue to grow in the coming years. You can use the wallet envelope in the current issue of the magazine, or click on the “Donate” button below to join your fellow progressives in sustaining The Progressive as a voice for peace, social justice, and the common good.
Donate ([link removed])

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2022 The Progressive, Inc.

P.O. Box 1021 • Madison, Wisconsin 53701 • (608) 257-4626

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])