Monday, June 3, 2013

"After the recent events, Erdoğan's policies about Syria and Iraq need to change"

"All their plans have failed." "But this will not stop here."
"You cannot struggle against oppression by holding beer bottles in your hands. That is why I think TKP’s decision to not drink alcoholic drinks during the demonstrations is very important."
http://www.solidnet.org/turkey-communist-party-of-turkey/4031-cp-of-turkey-interview-on-the-developments-in-turkey-en

German message of solidarity with the struggle of the Turkish people against police violence and for a peaceful foreign policy

The Working Circle for Peace Policy who has been hosted by the Peace Association of Turkey as participant of the recent  Peace Conference in Istanbul and Antakya, co-sponsered by World Peace Council, wishes to confirm its solidarity with the Turkish Peace Association and its struggle for a peaceful foreign policy, a policy compatible with the standards of democracy and international law. We are with you in your struggle to stop your government's attitudes of aggression against your neighborly country Syria, a policy which is unfortunately  shared by our government and the EU and NATO. As you, we are hoping that the double standards with respect to Human Rights will no longer be upheld. The recent uprising of the people of Istanbul due to the police violence  on Gezi Park will make visible to the world that  neither  a Turkey ruled by Erdogan nor the Western World  in general, nor any other country  have the right to interfere in the internal affairs of Syria. We need respectively to overcome the undemocratic policies, the violations of our constitutions in our home countries. May peace prevail. Let us join hands for our common struggle. Irene Eckert and Rudolf Palmer for the Working Circle for Peace Policy - r.a. (Board members) Berlin June 2nd 2013 

Prof. Y. Leibowitz: Since 1967 Israel is not a democracy, depriving 2 million people of civil and political right



 Settlers Write Anti-Christian Graffiti On Jerusalem Church.  by IMEMC
...The settlers wrote various vulgar and racist statements, including “Christians are slaves”, “Christians are Monkeys”, in addition to “Price Tag”.  Israeli police spokeswoman for Arab media, Loba Samri, stated that the settlers are also believed to be behind puncturing the tires of two vehicles parked near the church. “Price Tag” is a slogan the settlers use when attacking Palestinian property, churches and mosques. The settlers believe that the Palestinians must pay the price every time Israeli removes an illegal settlement outpost....
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Kirche von Schottland bestreitet den jüdischen Anspruch auf das Land Israel.
Von Anshel Pfeffer. Übersetzt von Ellen Rohlfs
Die Kirche, die in den letzten Jahren ihren einst philosemitischen Charakter über Bord geworfen hat, öffnete mit dem Bericht einen weiten Spalt mit der schottisch jüdischen Gemeinschaft. Unter anderen kontroversen Darlegungen behauptete der Bericht: „ Christen sollten nicht irgend welche Ansprüche von Juden oder anderen Völkern unterstützen, die ein exklusives oder sogar privilegiertes göttliches Recht auf ein besonderes Land haben.“...  ...Serie von Dokumenten, die während der letzten zehn Jahre veröffentlicht wurden, und den Zionismus kritisieren und die Christen, die ihn unterstützen...
.......

Von Shlomo Ben-Ami, früherer israelischer Außenminister und Sicherheitsminister  des Inneren ist Vize-Präsident des Internationalem Toledo-Friedenszentrum Er ist der Autor von  „Scars of War, Wound of Peace: the Israelish-Arab Tragedy“:


...Die jüdische Erfahrung mit internationalen Beziehungen ist historisch nicht besonders erbaulich. Ein jüdischer Staat hat nur kurze Perioden in der Geschichte  des Judentums existiert und beging zweimal politischen Selbstmord. Die Gründe waren immer dieselben: politisch-religiöser Fanatismus und der Fehler, die derzeitigen Weltmächte heraus zu fordern – also das zwanghafte Suchen des modernen Zionismus nach einem Bündnis mit einer Supermacht...


Zwei Bände mit Arbeiten Moshe Zuckermanns zu Zionismus und Israel

Moshe Zuckermann ist Professor für Philosophie und Geschichte an der Universität von Tel Aviv und gilt derzeit als wichtigster Vertreter der Kritischen Theorie im israelischen Wissenschaftsbetrieb. Die vom Laika-Verlag herausgegebene zweibändige Ausgabe seiner Schriften versammelt insgesamt dreißig Essays, Aufsätze, Interviews und politische Analysen, veröffentlicht zwischen 1998 und 2011. Zuckermann erweist sich darin als an Marx und Adorno geschulter profunder Denker, der auch vor unbequemen, dem Zeitgeist völlig zuwiderlaufenden Schlußfolgerungen nicht zurückschreckt.....  ... Dem in Deutschland verbreiteten vulgären Philosemitismus bescheinigt der Autor »eine gefährliche Gemeinsamkeit mit dem manifesten Antisemitismus«. Und unterzieht die zionistische Ideologie einer beißenden Kritik, wobei er auf seine Innensicht der israelischen Gesellschaft zurückgreifen kann, die dem hierzulande propagierten Bild widerspricht....

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  Mass Graves of Palestinians killed in 1948 Nakba Discovered in Jaffa. Al-Akhbar, By Elias
Six mass grave sites dating back to the 1936 Palestinian uprising and the 1948 Nakba were discovered around the Jaffa cemetery, revealing hundreds of bodies of Palestinians killed by Zionist forces. “During [the foundation’s] repair and maintenance work on the [Kazkhana] cemetery, we discovered nozzles to dig into the ground where we found the mass graves…including hundreds of skeletons and human remains of rebels, martyrs and civilians who perished during the Nakba,” head of the Islamic Movement in Jaffa, Sheikh Mohammed Najem, said in the report [4]. The foundation has proved...
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Endless War – An Analysis by Lawrence Davidson
The fact that the “war on terror” is largely a consequence of American policies cemented into place by powerful special interests calls into question President Obama’s recent assertion that “this is a just war, a war waged proportionally in last resort and in "self-defense"
There is an American tradition of frequent war. Indeed, over the course of the country’s history the United States been at war [4]almost constantly.  Some of these have been relatively short conflicts like interventions in various Central American venues. Some have been much larger and longer affairs, like the Civil War, World War II and Vietnam...
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Barghouti: Until now, the only possible solution — in light of international, regional and Palestinian considerations — is the two-state solution.


Barghouti: Arab Peace Plan
Damages Palestinian Cause

Marwan Barghouthi gestures as Israeli police bring him to court in Tel Aviv on May 20, 2004, where he was convicted of ordering shootings that killed four Israelis and a Greek monk and of providing support for other attacks. (photo by REUTERS)



Marwan Barghouti, who is one of the most prominent Fatah leaders in the West Bank and is currently detained in an Israeli prison, says the time is right for the US administration to take a bold decision and make peace in the Middle East as soon as possible.

About This Article

Summary :
In an exclusive, written interview, jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti warns that the alternative to a two-state solution is a conflict "with no middle ground."
Author: Adnan Abu AmerPosted on: May 28 2013
Categories : Originals  Palestinian Authority    Israel   Security
Barghouti, who responded to written questions, warned that the alternative to a two-state solution is a “persistent conflict” that knows no middle ground. The jailed leader said Israel was not interested in peace, adding that “no methods of resistance should be abandoned” so long as it is in line with international law.
Barghouti also noted that the “peace process inflicted serious damage on Fatah,” while urging Palestinian factions to reconcile. He also criticized the recent Arab Peace Initiative headed by Qatar as “the lowest the Arabs have gone in terms of a historical settlement with Israel.” Below is the full interview transcript.
Al-Monitor:  After 11 years of detention, what can you tell us about these long years you have spent, and are still spending, in isolation?
Barghouti:  I was abducted on April 15, 2002, in Ramallah, in the central West Bank, after several failed assassination attempts conducted by the Israeli occupation forces. I underwent a 100-day interrogation in three different centers in al-Masqubia in Jerusalem, Petah Tikva, and the secret internment facility No. 1391. I spent several years in solitary confinement, completely isolated from the world in a small cell where soil was falling off the ceiling and where cockroaches, mosquitoes and rats were rife. The cell was windowless, lacking direct sunlight and aeration. I used to go out handcuffed for one hour a day to a small yard where sun rays occasionally infiltrated, depending on the weather.
I was allowed six books every six months through the Red Cross, in addition to Hebrew newspapers, since I mastered this language during my previous stints in Israeli prisons.
After a period in solitary confinement, I was moved to mass solitary confinement, where I currently am. I spend my time exercising in the morning, then reading local news, analyses and current developments in the daily Al-Quds — the only newspaper allowed in. We are allowed to watch 10 satellite channels, selected by the Israeli prison services, three of which are in Hebrew while the rest are in Arabic. We use these channels to follow up on political developments and general events. Additionally, I teach and lecture a number of detainees on politics, economics and history.
I read between eight to 10 hours per day and I finish eight books per month, since every detainee is entitled to two books and we swap them with one another. I have read Arab and international novels.
I was given five life sentences and sentenced to 40 years in prison. I refused to plead before the Israeli court or to be defended by a lawyer, because I’m a Palestinian member of parliament and I have enjoyed parliamentary immunity since 1996. Also, I was re-elected in 2006.
Al-Monitor:  How do you assess the current Palestinian political situation and the prospects for reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas movements?
Barghouti:  The Palestinian situation is becoming more challenging because Israel is derailing the peace process and ensuring its failure, while maintaining the policy of occupation. The Israelis have once again elected a government that has no desire to put an end to the occupation and settlements, nor to achieve peace with the Palestinians. The Palestinian scene is worsening due to the split that took place years ago. We already put forth an initiative called the "National Reconciliation Document,” which was signed by all factions without exception, including Fatah and Hamas. Unfortunately, the signatories did not abide by the agreement.
I believe that national unity is necessary to ensure the victory of all liberation movements and persecuted peoples. We hope that the efforts that have been made will usher in reconciliation, because this is a prerequisite for the unity of the people and the establishment of a state. Yet, reconciliation requires free will, faith and a belief in partnership between all parties, in order to lay the foundation for an independent, sovereign and democratic state.
I am sure that the Palestinian people will stand up for unity and reconciliation, and, sooner or later, will oust those inciting division. They should refer again to the "Palestinian Prisoners’ Document" and form a consensus government made up of independent ministers to hold parliamentary and presidential elections, in addition to elections for the Palestinian National Council, no later than the end of this year.
The Palestinian political circles that placed their bets on negotiations have failed and hit a deadlock due to Israel’s policies, which are opposed to peace. Therefore, I call for a strategy that is based on referring to the United Nations to achieve full membership in the UN and all other international agencies, so as to be able to sign pacts and agreements, refer to the International Criminal Court, cooperate with the international community to isolate and boycott Israel, impose sanctions on it to withdraw to the 1967 borders, in addition to imposing economic, security, administrative, negotiating and political blockades. Meanwhile, we should intensify and expand the popular resistance in a way that engages all factions and leaderships.
Al-Monitor:  How do you view the US mediation to push the peace process forward, including the revival of the Arab Peace Initiative?
Barghouti:  US peacemaking in the Middle East has failed due to the United States' full alignment with Israel. If the US wants to yield results and promote peace in the region, it has to explicitly and plainly ask its ally to cease the occupation of the 1967 lands to pave the road for establishing a Palestinian state, whose capital is East Jerusalem, and which coexists in peace with Israel. Additionally, it has to implement Resolution 194 on the right of return and release all detainees.
The US administration must deeply reflect on the reasons why its efforts have been futile for 20 years. It will then discover that this failure was the result of its alignment with Israel and its total acceptance of the Israeli stance. Now the time is right for the US to take a bold decision and make peace in the Middle East as soon as possible, because it is already late and if it does not make a move, the risk of the national struggle becoming a conflict that knows no middle ground is imminent. The Arab Peace Initiative is the lowest the Arabs have gone in terms of a historical settlement with Israel. The statements of the Arab ministerial delegation to Washington in regards to amending the 1967 borders and accepting the land-swap inflict great damage on the Arab stance and Palestinian rights, and stimulate the appetite of Israel for more concessions. No one is entitled to amend borders or swap land; the Palestinian people insist on Israel’s full withdrawal to the 1967 borders, in addition to removing the settlements.
Al-Monitor:  Since no political progress was achieved on the level of the two-state solution, many suggestions were set forth including a Palestine-Jordan confederation or a single, binational state with Israel. What is your opinion on this?
Barghouti:  Until now, the only possible solution — in light of international, regional and Palestinian considerations — is the two-state solution. This solution must not be abandoned, and efforts should be exerted to put an end to the occupation and establish an independent, sovereign state. The Israelis must know that the day peace reigns in the region, the occupation will cease to exist. That’s why, what is first required from Israel is to announce its readiness to end the occupation, withdraw to the 1967 borders and accept the Palestinian right of self-determination — including their rights to establish an independent, sovereign state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Yet, the two-state solution is facing the threat of being crushed by the occupation’s tanks and the settlements’ bulldozers. Palestinian politicians and intellectuals, including figures from the Fatah movement, are voicing their opinions in favor of giving up on the two-state solution, given Israel’s intransigence and opposition to this plan. These figures favor focusing the struggle on achieving a single, binational state, based on citizenship, equality and eliminating the discriminatory Israeli regime that is based on occupation, settlement and discrimination.  
I still believe that there is a chance to achieve the two-state solution, if Israel honestly and explicitly agrees to withdraw to the 1967 borders and commits to it and recognizes a fully sovereign state. If the two-state solution fails, the substitute will not be a binational one-state solution, but a persistent conflict that extends based on an existential crisis — one that does not know any middle ground.
Al-Monitor:  Some say that peace with the Palestinians is no longer a priority for Israel, because they are now focusing on dealing with the threats of Iran, Hezbollah and Syria. What could be done to convince Israel of the importance of reaching a final peace with the Palestinians?
Barghouti:  The reality is the Palestinian people exist in this region, and will continue to do so in the future. The key to peace and stability in the Middle East is by ending the occupation and establishing an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state. Peace with regional countries will not lead to total stability.
Israelis are mistaken if they think that the status quo will not change. They must realize that security cannot be achieved without peace. The Arab people have changed, and Israel cannot defy the region forever. It has the chance to reach peace with the current Palestinian Authority (PA), and this opportunity might not come again.
Moreover, Israel has avoided reaching a solution with the Palestinians and has neglected the Palestinian people’s rights to freedom, return and independence. This reflects tyrannical colonial behavior resembling that of an ostrich that buries its head in the sand. Israel has lost a historic chance to reach peace in the past eight years, when Mahmoud Abbas was the president of the PA. Abbas implemented everything that the road map for peace necessitated, and there was a certain state of peace and security that Israelis never dreamt of during the occupation years.
Abbas also opposed all forms of armed resistance, and he established unprecedented security coordination with Israel. What did Israel offer Palestinians in return? They Judaized Jerusalem, expelled the city’s residents, took control of its lands, arrested its children and shut down its organizations. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, they increased settlement building and land expropriation, destroyed more houses and made more arrests … in the end, this destroyed the two-state solution and the subsequent hopes for peace.
Al-Monitor:  It seems that there is a new wave of peaceful protests against the Israeli occupation. Do you support armed or peaceful resistance?
Barghouti:  The tortured and oppressed Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves by all means approved by the UN charter and international law. Total resistance is the most effective, and must be implemented according to a strategic vision that includes all factors of power. During every stage, it is wise to choose the convenient methods of resistance that may differ from those used in other stages, according to the given circumstances and data. No methods of resistance should be abandoned.
In the "Palestinian Prisoners’ Document" (or the "National Reconciliation Document"), all the Palestinian factions unanimously agreed on centering the resistance in the 1967 occupied lands. During this stage, there is a focus on popular resistance in the West Bank and in Jerusalem. For several years, Palestinians have been practicing peaceful popular resistance, amid ongoing efforts to calm the situation. Yet, what was the Israeli response?
Al-Monitor:  Many people are talking about the possible absence of President Abbas. Do you see yourself as a potential substitute for him, since you enjoy the support of large segments of Fatah supporters?
Barghouti: The Palestinian people alone get to choose freely and fairly, through democratic elections, the next president. When consensus is reached and a final date for the upcoming elections is set, I will take the right decision. I do feel proud, though, of the Palestinian people’s loyalty and trust in their militant figures. I return loyalty with loyalty, and I will keep fighting for my people to get their rights to freedom, return, independence and peace.
First and foremost, the important thing for me is to ensure a state for my people, in addition to freedom, the right of return and independence. I have dedicated my whole life to fulfilling this goal, and I have participated in acts of militancy and resistance while clinging to my absolute conviction in the justice of this cause. I am certain that freedom will come, sooner or later. The occupation is bound to disappear, and its fate will not be any better than that of the racist regime in South Africa.
Al-Monitor:  To what extent do you think Fatah has succeeded in achieving its political goals, given its history?
Barghouti:  Fatah constituted the first collective Palestinian response to the refugee catastrophe and to the state of dispersion and compulsion. It gave the Palestinian people their national identity back, after it was washed away by the weight of the Nakba. It re-established the national movement, led by the PLO, and made huge sacrifices. Moreover, Fatah brought Palestine back to the political map of the Middle East, after attempts to bury it and remove it for good.
However, the failure of the peace process inflicted serious damage on Fatah, which made serious attempts to push this process to succeed and to reach an independent state and restore peace. The movement did not achieve this ultimate goal for our people because of the policies of successive Israeli governments and the absence of a serious Israeli leader willing to end the occupation. Israel still lacks the “[Charles] de Gaulle” who ended French colonialism in Algeria, and the “[F. W.] de Klerk” who destroyed the apartheid regime in South Africa.
The Fatah movement is facing a number of key challenges, including: ending the occupation and establishing an independent state, guaranteeing the right of return for refugees, securing the release of prisoners, eradicating the division, reaching reconciliation and national unity, establishing a national partnership based on democracy, developing its internal performance, promoting democracy that has set frames and leaders, and holding its seventh conference next year.
Al-Monitor:  What is your take on the so-called Arab Spring? What does it mean to you and the Palestinians?
Barghouti:  The democratic Arab revolutions are huge historical events for the Arab nation, which has proven itself to be alive and beating with life. The young generations do not accept oppression, dictatorship, corruption and the repression of freedoms. They refuse to live under crippled, helpless and subservient Arab regimes that are deprived of their free will and that answer to the political, economic and security-related American domination and subservience.
Throughout the past decades, the Arab nations have failed — whether single-handedly or collectively — to build a democratic political regime. For this reason, the Arab revolutions have shown the authenticity of our people. We have witnessed the first phase of the revolutions that saw the fall of several regimes. Meanwhile, other regimes benefited and took remarkable steps toward reform, through promulgating new constitutions that ended years of dictatorship, oppression and tyranny. Consequently, this laid the foundation for a democratic Arab regime that respects political, religious and intellectual pluralism and for the establishment of an independent state.
Al-Monitor:  How do you see the roles of Qatar, Iran and Egypt vis-à-vis the Palestinian cause?
Barghouti:  There is a dangerous historical Arabic and Islamic slackening when it comes to the Palestinian land and its people, cause and sanctities. Despite support that has been offered in one field or another, it is still not enough. The aid provided is not up to the level of facing the dangers of the aggression, occupation, settlement and the Judaization of Jerusalem, not to mention the daily attacks on sanctities.
All Arab countries must play a key role in supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people in order to enhance it on all levels to end the occupation and establish a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as capital. They should also play an even bigger role characterized by its seriousness and impartiality to reach national reconciliation and unity. We call on them to use their capacities and powers for the sake of the Palestinian people and their just struggle for freedom, the right of return and independence.
Adnan Abu Amer is dean of the Faculty of Arts and head of the Press and Information Section as well as a lecturer in the history of the Palestinian issue, national security, political science and Islamic civilization at Al Ummah University Open Education. He holds a doctorate in political history from the Demashq University and has published a number of books on issues related to the contemporary history of the Palestinian cause and the Arab-Israeli conflict. On Twitter: @adnanabuamer1


Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/marwan-barghouti-fatah-palestine.html#ixzz2V8pKcx00

US-Air Base Ramstein in der Westpfalz wichtige Schaltstation im völkerrechts- und verfassungswidrigen Drohnen-Krieg der USA. Sagt NEIN!


Liebe Mitmenschen,

jetzt haben auch das TV-Magazin Panorama und die Süddeutsche Zeitung bestätigt, dass die US-Air Base Ramstein in der Westpfalz eine wichtige Schaltstation im völkerrechts- und verfassungswidrigen Drohnen-Krieg der USA ist. 

Wegen Überlänge LUFTPOST 074/13 bitte aufrufen unter

Friedliche Grüße, Wolfgang Jung

Drones and The Militarization of North American Life by Bruce Gagnon


Talk on June 1 at the Moana Nui 2013 Teach-In held in Berkeley, California

"Power concedes nothing without a demand"Frederick Douglas

I live in Bath, Maine where Navy Aegis destroyers are built.  These ships are outfitted with so-called “missile defense” systems that the Pentagon is today using to help surround Russia and China.  Few people in my community, including some activists, are interested in where these ships go (places like Jeju Island in South Korea.)  It’s not popular to raise these questions – especially when Bath Iron Works is the largest industrial employer in our state.

In fact today weapons are the number one industrial export product of the US.  And when weapons are your number one industrial export product, what is your global marketing strategy for that product line? What does it say about the soul of our nation when we have to keep selling weapons and killing people in order to provide jobs?
The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the public a window into the stunning militarization of our nation. During that incident the entire domestic surveillance/military response system was field-tested and culminated in the dramatic closing down of an entire urban center.
We have become an occupied nation.  For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the US have benefited from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training.
Obama has announced that 30,000 drones will be flying around the US in the coming years.  Thirty-seven states have applied to host one of six military drone test sites planned across the country.  Much debate has begun in local communities about whether police should be required to have warrants before they can snoop on us with drones.  Should domestic drones be allowed to carry weapons? 

More than 500 aerospace companies are eager to develop this new drone market across the US.  The drone industry lawyers say we have nothing to fear – that all we have to do is ask local police and they will be transparent about their drone use. 

Infrared and radio-band sensors used by the military can peer through clouds and foliage and can even detect and hear people inside their homes. During the last few years of the US military occupation of Iraq, drones monitored Baghdad 24/7, turning the entire city into the equivalent of a convenience store crammed full of security cameras. This technology is being brought home to control us.

There is a $2 billion, 1-million-square-foot facility being built by the National Security Agency outside Salt Lake City. It’s a phone, fax, email, data storage and analysis warehouse called Utah Data Station - everything about the facility is secret. It is scheduled to open this summer. 

Today drones buzzing over Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Mali are “flown” by pilots back in the US at places like Creech AFB, Nevada or Hancock Air Field, New York.  This is possible because the military satellites in orbit link the pilot to the drone in “real time” - split-second time.  Space Command downlink ground stations spread around the globe help relay those signals.  The Pentagon brags that this high-tech warfare increases “the kill chain”.
In a way, you could call the military satellites the “triggers” that make the drones work.  These satellites allow the military to see everything, hear everything, and to target virtually every place on the planet.

In June 2012 the second flight of the new military space plane (X-37) touched down at Vandenberg AFB after 469 days in orbit.  This unmanned super drone is a first-strike attack system, part of the Global Strike doctrine now underway at the Strategic Command.  In annual computer war games at the Space Command, set in the year 2016, the Pentagon launches a first-strike attack on China’s nuclear forces and this new military space plane is the first weapon used.  It’s called the “successor” to the recently retired space shuttle, which was paraded through streets of Los Angeles in late 2012…. 400 trees were cut down to prepare its red carpeted path to a waiting museum.  It is the perfect symbol of our worship of the gods of metal.  Technology trumps nature.
A friend in Maine has a son who recently spent a year in Afghanistan; my friend worried every day.  His son was then sent to Germany and he could breathe a sigh of relief.  The son thought about getting out of the military but there are no jobs.  The Army offered him a sizeable reenlistment bonus and he took it.
In the US today 57% of every federal discretionary tax dollar goes (to the Pentagon) to fund the cancerous war machine.  Our communities have become addicted to military spending.  There is virtually no money for anything else these days as we witness austerity cuts in social programs like so many other nations around the globe.

Colorado Springs, Colorado headquarters of the Air Force Space Command) has 357,000 people living there, and 47% of the population work for the military industrial complex. 
The aerospace and military production industry in Alabama is a major job provider as well. Huntsville, Alabama now calls itself the “Pentagon of the South”.
In 1950, the U.S. Army moved former Nazi Wernher von Braun, and his team of 100 German rocket scientists, to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville to create the US space program. Von Braun and his team also took over NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and helped ensure that the “civilian” space program came under military control. The Nazi rocket team brought “culture” to Huntsville by creating the local symphony and ballet and lived on a hill overlooking the town. 
Was there an ideological contamination that came with these Nazi scientists?  One can easily note the similarity between the Nazi slogan “Deutschland uber alles” and the Space Command logo that reads “Master of Space”. 
By the way, California is currently the #2 recipient of Pentagon spending in the nation.  The Republicans and Democrats now work together to ensure an endless flow of war money into their states.  They understand that it’s the only game in town anymore for creating jobs.  Both parties get nicely rewarded with campaign donations from the weapons industry.
An activist friend in Halifax, Nova Scotia is now organizing weekly protests outside a shipyard in her community that has begun building expensive new warships for the Canadian Navy.  The funding for warship building has necessitated cuts in human needs programs.  “Progressive” political parties are going along with this largest military appropriation in Canada’s history because of the jobs issue. (The ships will be used by NATO to control the melting Arctic Region on behalf of big oil.)

The Pentagon says that our role in the US under corporate globalization of the world economy will be “Security export” – thus we won’t have conventional jobs making products useful to our communities. Instead we will build weapons for endless war and send our kids overseas to die for the oil corporations.

A couple years ago I heard that the Sears department store had a new kids clothing line so I went to see it in a nearby town. Military uniforms for young boys were on the racks – the message “this is all you can ever be” – it’s youth mind colonization.

The military industrial complex has become the primary resource extraction service for corporate globalization and is preparing the future generations for their dead end street.
In the US, approximately 40% of all scientists, engineers and technical professionals currently work in the military sector. This is a colossal waste of talent and intellectual resources as we face the coming reality of climate change.
Due to the fiscal crisis across the nation engineering, computer science, mathematics, astronomy, and chemistry departments in colleges and universities have become increasingly dependent on Pentagon funding.  At the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque there are “top secret” areas on campus these days.
The Defense Alliance in St. Paul, Minnesota seeks to expand the weapons industry’s presence in higher education, and among its members are military contractors like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics.
The Navy granted the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies $150,000 to look into improving tracking, surveillance and intelligence communications systems.
In 2011 the University of Minnesota reported the Pentagon was trying to “restrict” the open publishing of research resulting from a military-funded project.  This indicates quite clearly that the Pentagon is not really trying to further the state of education but instead views the students and faculty as nothing more than military production workers doing classified work.

The militarization of everything around us is a spiritual sickness.  Lakota holy man Lame Deer talked about the green frog skin – the dollar bill – and how the white man was blinded by his love for the paper money.  His spiritual connection to the Mother Earth was broken. 

Abolitionist Frederick Douglas reminded us that power concedes nothing without a demand, it never did and it never will.  When it comes to our current dark evil economic system, called militarism, we should be talking about its conversion and the jobs that would result from that transformation.

Good jobs can be created by home weatherization, building rail systems, creating a solar society, and hiring unemployed workers to plant town and city organic gardens.  As we transform our industrial base we lessen the impact of the military machine on our lives and help deal with our major environmental crisis. 

There is no other way to pay for such a redirection without massive cuts in the war machine budget now.
Join me in saying …… US out of North America!

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
globalnet@mindspring.com
www.space4peace.org
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/  (blog)

Hundred thousands of people have stood up in Turkey!


Zeynep Beşpınar
Peace Association, Turkey



Hundred thousands of people have stood up in Turkey!

Taksim Gezi Park resistance, which has been going on for days, has been transformed into a popular movement on May 31st. Hundred thousands of people have taken the streets in Istanbul and in different parts of Turkey to protest against the inhumane and insane attack of the AKP government.
No one has the right to fool people, try to deduct irrelevant results from the events or use this as an occasion for minor political gains or personal show out. Yesterday’s massive and historical movement was the eruption of people’s anger, which has been culminated during the 11 years of AKP government. People who share the same anger have different political tendencies but they gathered together around their common reaction against the government.
This is not a “Turkish spring” as the western media prefers to define it. This rising reaction has an anti-imperialist and pro-secular character. It is closely related with people’s opposition to the government’s warmongering policy in Syria and creeping Islamisation of public life. In this manner, it differs from the other uprisings in the Middle East.
Despite unbridled police brutality and the lack of leadership in the movement, the people carefully stayed away from provocative actions. Since yesterday morning hundred thousands of people marched in the streets without fear, walked for thousands of kilometres but refrained from any action that may cast a slur on people’s legitimate resistance.
During yesterday’s state terror thousands of people were injured and hundreds arrested. However, nothing has changed in people’s determination and resolution. Now the reaction has gone beyond government’s project to erect a shopping mall on Gezi Park area at Taksim Square. AKP government has the full responsibility for the culmination of the events to this point. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tried to belittle people and now should be ready to face the bitter truth: People are not afraid of his government anymore and they want to get rid of it as soon as possible. At this point, our party will take new initiatives immediately to improve the coordination of the struggle against this illegitimate project. The Communist Party of Turkey called out its members and friends to convene at Taksim Square this afternoon.
We call out our people to boycott the mainstream media, which has been ignoring, distorting and manipulating the news about the demonstrations and continuously reduce the numbers of protestors. The people should support their alternative media, which is the real source of information.

Once the people stood up, the end of the cruel government is close!

In solidarity against fascism!

Damn with the dictatorship of the capital!

The Communist Party of Turkey