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Dear Progressive Reader,
Yesterday marked the first anniversary of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. To date, more than 267,000 Ukrainian refugees have relocated to the United States, with the total displaced by the conflict exceeding ([link removed]) eight million. To paraphrase many commentators, “No one thought the war will still be going on after one year”—least of all the Russians, who expected a quick military victory. As investigative journalist Greg Palast notes on his website ([link removed]) this week, “On July 12, 2021, months before his tanks rolled, Putin issued a detailed statement of his casus belli, his justification for total seizure of Ukraine, not just the Donbas, in a twenty-one-page-long essay ([link removed]) , ‘On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.’ ”
But the war has continued, and the costs to the world are, as yet, immeasurable. As columnst David Brooks said ([link removed]) on PBS NewsHour last night, “It's hard to overestimate how big a deal this war has been. When you think about the events of the last year, it's been—it's been earthshaking, literally earthshaking. And, first, the humanitarian crisis has just been overwhelming. But, second, the Western alliance has been reformed. American influence in the world has expanded. Military strategy has been utterly changed by the war. There's been a global decoupling of our economies. Energy flows have radically changed. Russia and China have come together. These are all sort of big events that have all been set off by this war.”
However, another thing is also clear: the war has been a huge boon for the “military-industrial-complex.” Weapons manufacturers have been able to use aging stockpiles of arms and ammunition, and crank up the machinery to manufacture more, and the budget for the U.S. military budget has seen its steepest increase ([link removed].) in history under the banner of “maintaining military readiness.” As Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies write ([link removed]) this week, “The Reed-Inhofe substitute amendment to the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act authorized ‘wartime’ multi-year, no-bid contracts to ‘replenish’ stocks of weapons sent to Ukraine, but the quantities of weapons to be procured outstrip the amounts shipped to Ukraine by up to 500
to one.” And, they continue, “The losers are, first and foremost, the sacrificed people of Ukraine, and all of the soldiers who have lost their lives, and the families who have lost their loved ones on both sides of the front lines [more than ([link removed]) 300,000 as of this writing]. But also in the losing column are working and poor people everywhere, especially in the countries of the Global South that are most dependent on imported food and energy. Last but not least is the Earth itself, its atmosphere, and its climate, which are put in even graver danger by the shifting carbon market.” As Pete Seeger sang ([link removed]) in the 1960s (in a song that originated ([link removed]) from a Ukrainian Cossack poem), “When will we ever learn?”
This week on our website, Jeff Abbott reports on ([link removed]) growing threats to shelters aiding migrants in Central America; Melissa Ditmore pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on the expoitation of workers in the industrial meat industry; Bill Blum follows the trail ([link removed]) of obfuscation on the issue of abortion by recent nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court; and Mike Ervin raises concerns ([link removed]) about “returning to the (terrible) old normal” as the COVID-19 “public health emergency” is scheduled to be lifted. Plus, for Black History Month, Erica Smiley and Keesha Gaskins-Nathan opine
([link removed]) on “reviving the Black Southern labor movement;” Jesse Hagopian delivers a long and thorough call to ([link removed]) “Legalize Black History” in response to attacks by Florida’s Ron DeSantis and others; and Paul Von Blum offers a portrait ([link removed]) of Samella Lewis, called the “Godmother of African American Art,” on our Hidden History ([link removed]) calendar. Lewis passed away last May, exactly nine months short of her 100th birthday.
Other sad passings this past week include journalist and historian Dave Wagner, whom his colleague Paul Buhle remembers ([link removed]) with a moving tribute. Wagner also wrote ([link removed]) for The Progressive. I am also saddened to note the passing of musician and activist Bruce Barthol, who died ([link removed]) on February 20. He performed ([link removed]) with “Country Joe and the Fish” and later for many years ([link removed]) with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Barthol was also a great friend ([link removed]) of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and often appeared at their annual events. Both of these committed progressives will be sorely missed.
As we approach Women’s History Month beginning next week, two important events are coming up. On Tuesday, February 28, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary is poised to hold hearings ([link removed]) on the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. The hundred-year-long battle (the earliest version of the Amendment was introduced ([link removed]) into Congress in 1923) remains unresolved, in spite of getting all of the needed votes ([link removed]) by thirty-eight U.S. states in January 2020. Also, on March 8, International Women’s Day, you can tune in to a live webinar ([link removed]) featuring historian Linda Gordon and others on “Why
Abortions Rights are Worker Rights,” sponsored by ([link removed]) the South Central Federation of Labor.
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. - If you missed our online book discussion with Frank Emspak and his new memoir Troublemaker: Saying No to Power, on February 2, the event with panelists Steve Early, (free-lance journalist and the author or co-author of five books about labor, politics, or veterans issues), Alice Herman (labor reporter whose work has appeared in The Progressive, In These Times, and other outlets), and Norman Stockwell (former Board member of Workers Independent News and publisher of The Progressive magazine) is still available as on online archive on YouTube ([link removed]) . You can also still get a signed copy of Frank’s book with a donation to The Progressive at: Progressive.org/troublemaker ([link removed]) .
P.P.S. - The new 2023 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now available. You can order one online ([link removed]) .
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