OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #187, July 24, 2024.

 

OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #187, July 24, 2024.   Compiled by Dick Bennett.

The Nuclear Resister provides an archive of political prisoner protesters.  For example, the June 26, 2024, number contains figures on US [Gaza] Cease Fire! arrests on pp. 1 and 5ff.

P. 1 “Ceasefire Now!” 
“Beginning on page 5, this issue of The Nuclear Resister continues the day-by-day reports of ceasefire arrests in the U.S. and Canada.   From last October through mid-June, The Nuclear Resister has tallied more than 8,800 arrests on over 350 occasions across more than 125 cities and towns in 36 states and 5 provinces. . . .More than 3,400 of the arrests noted here took place on the campus of at least 70 colleges and universities.  MORE

 

  Beyt Tikkun

 Dear Dick, 

Here is one more attempt to interfere with Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S.  We are joining Win Without War in urging Congress to withdraw the invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit Washington DC and thus legitimize policies that have led to unprecedented suffering and loss of life in Gaza. 

Netanyahu is scheduled to appear before Congress on July 24, just 2 days from today! 

Please click here to send a letter directly to your member of Congress demanding they boycott Netanyahu’s visit.    Here is the link again: https://act.winwithoutwar.org/sign/rescind-invite/

Thank you for doing your part,  Israel/Palestine Working Group.  Beyt Tikkun, 2342 Shattuck Ave., STE 1200, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA

Give Today

 

What Can You Do to Ameliorate or Stop the Israeli (US) War against the Palestinians?
In addition to direct connection to Israelis or Palestinians, or contacting your Congressional representatives, the best action is to support established organizations.  It takes just minutes to google for information and addresses.  (These entries were randomly collected before the war openly resumed; if you can correct, add, or subtract any items, contact me.  I am looking for a comprehensive published report.)

Israeli Pro-Palestinian Organizations
APN Americans for Peace Now (at present I noticed APN merging with
    AMEINU)
Mondoweiss
Breaking the Silence (former IDF military, founded by Noam Chayut)
Pro-Palestinian Around the World
UNRWA | United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (US withdrew its funding, so I’m unsure about it present activities)
Anera: Middle East Children’s Alliance (purchasing ME products, building playgrounds)
Beyt Tikkun: Network of Spiritual Progressives (Berkeley, CA)
Museum of the Palestinian People
American Friends of Birzeit
KinderUSA
Land of Canaan Foundation (trees)
AROC Arab Resource and Organizing Center
Middle East Books and More
CPR US Campaign for Palestinians Rights
AMEU Americans for Middle East Understanding (NYC)
        (publishes The Link)
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (I sub. to this excellent magazine covering Israeli-Palestinian affairs in US, Israel, and around the world, published by American Educational Trust, DC)
Israel/Palestine News
Israel-Palestine Mission Network
Sabeel (Christian)

(An excellent magazine, apparently now defunct, was Live from Palestine: Testimonies from the Nonviolent Resistance, published by International Solidarity Movement Northern California Support Group.)

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #188, JULY 22, 2024.

 

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #188, JULY 22,  2024.  Compiled by Dick Bennett

 

 From Jane Fonda

Dear Dick,

I know you’ve heard that this election is the most important in our lifetime. I hate to pile on, but it’s true. This week, climate deniers in the GOP locked in their commitment to more fossil fuels, less clean energy, and more climate chaos. As fossil fuel giants pour resources into getting their candidates elected, it's imperative that we harness the people's power to push for progress and change. That’s why I'm reaching out to extend a special invitation to you to get active, get involved, and most importantly, fight back.

 

Let’s get to work to secure a victory for the climate!

 

This summer, I’m teaming up with Greenpeace USA Votes to launch an exciting 5-week online training series dedicated to organizing and winning for the climate in the 2024 election. Our goal is clear: to mobilize volunteers from every corner of the country and equip them with the skills and strategies needed to make a difference. . . .

  Jane Fonda, Actor and Activist (Jane continues giving her time and fortune to public service; read her inspiring book, What Can I Do?  --D)

 

JOIN MOVE TO AMEND.  OPPOSE CORPORATE PERSONHOOD MONEY AND POWER: SUPPORT THE We the People Amendment (HJR 54) .

 

EMAIL YOUR COUNCIL MEMBERS AT THESE ADDRESSES:

Ward 1

bob.stafford@fayetteville-ar.gov

dandre.jones@fayetteville-ar.gov

Ward 2

sarah.moore@fayetteville-ar.gov

mike.wiederkehr@fayetteville-ar.gov

Ward 3

scott.berna@fayetteville-ar.gov

sarah.bunch@fayetteville-ar.gov

Ward 4

teresa.turk@fayetteville-ar.gov

holly.hertzberg@fayetteville-ar.gov

 

 

END OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #188, JULY 22,  2024. 

 

 

OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #186, July 17, 2024.

 

OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #186, July 17, 2024.    Compiled by Dick Bennett.

ACTIONS AGAINST WAR AND WARMAKERS
Gaza Protests
Climate Crisis and Militarism Connections

Sinophobia

 

Friends of Palestine

Gaza Protests Continue!

July Protests (via OMNI Center Newsletter)

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555082533749&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Friends of Palestine continue their Friday Protests.

Friday July 19 in Bentonville - Memorial Park by the Skatepark - 6:30-7:30

Friday July 26 in Fayetteville - Washington County Courthouse - 6:00-7:00

 

 

Climate Crisis and Militarism Project meeting.  Veterans for Peace VFP.  WEDNESDAY, JULY 17 5 pm CDT.

CCMP focuses on the connections between U.S. militarism and the climate crisis and seeks to mobilize veterans and the general public to push the Pentagon to report and reduce its enormous greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to push Congress to redirect tax dollars to respond to the existential threat of climate change. Email climate@veteransforpeace.org for Zoom meeting info.

 

Sovietphobia, Russophobia, Sinophobia…..what’s with all this hatred?   “Tell Congress: Stop Lying About China!”   Code Pink.  7-16-24.  https://www.codepink.org/stoplying?utm_campaign=stoplying&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink
Dear Dick,
Congressional committees have been meeting to discuss the “China threat,” and it is terrifying to witness. Not only are their claims about China extremely paranoid and racist, but also filled with lies! Send a message to the committee: Stop lying about China! Promote peace and cooperation, not war and destruction! War is the enemy, not China.

The Committee of Oversight and Accountability met on June 26th to discuss political warfare with China. All witnesses were carefully chosen to reflect the most anti-China, pro-war views. Former senior policy advisor Mary Kissell even said, “We need to construct not just a defensive strategy, but an offensive strategy.” This is blatant war-mongering and it’s happening on a weekly basis! 

Tell the Committee of Oversight and Accountability to Promote Cooperation, Not War! 

The committee members took turns spinning the most damning narratives of China in a bid to support pro-war legislation that could propel us into a head-on conflict with China. The claims were absurd, based on feelings and a strange paranoia that anything with links to China has malicious intentions. These false narratives are dangerous and will only guide our policy-makers down a one-way path to war. A war between nuclear armed countries– something any intelligent person knows must be avoided at all costs.  

The truth is that it is not China gearing up for war, but our very own government. They are pumping billions of dollars into hyper-militarizing the Asia Pacific and writing it off as “deterrence.” They are spouting fear-mongering narratives at Congressional hearings that trickle down through the media and prime our public for the next US conquest. 

Why? Because the US is directed solely by its desire to maintain its global hegemony, even at the expense of lives and the planet. China is not a threat because it’s threatening our security– China is a threat because it’s succeeding where the US is failing. Instead of conflict, we need cooperation so we can learn from each other and work together to alleviate global poverty, prevent nuclear disaster, and save the planet. Ping-pong diplomacy, anyone?

For a more in-depth analysis of the hearing, read Inside China-Focused Congressional Hearings, Panic, Paranoia, and Hypocrisy Reign .

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #187, JULY 15, 2024

 

OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #187, JULY 15,  2024.  Compiled by Dick Bennett.

Our corporate gov won’t do it, create your own insurgency.
Stop methane: check out our landfill.  More to be done.
Learn about public transportation around the world.  Think big here.

 

CREATING YOUR OWN INSURGENCY
What’s stopping USA from reversing rising temperature, or at least from slowing it down (the chief subject of CMM)?
The US Culture of Doom:
US Capitalism, profit, growth, Fossil Fuel Industry, CO2.
Politics of War, “Cold” and Hot, the propaganda-system-information control-nuclear-security-military-imperial-corporate-congressional-presidential-judicial/SC-fundamentalist religious-educational-agri-transportation Complex.
Overpopulation and still growing.

What should each of us do to become an insurgency? (“Insurgency” definition enlarged to encompass not only the government but the culture.)   An insurgent is a nonviolent rebel against the established order that produced proliferating nuclear weapons and rising temperature and refuses to end both.

What have you chosen to do today, this week, this month to become an insurgent?  To rationalize your NOT creating your own insurgency?   Or what have you done to bring another person into your insurgency?  

Forward to people who might want to take action.

Want to give a local, regional, or global action campaign a big boost? Create a petition here.

Check out this petition, and give it your support by signing and sharing:  To: Congress
BAN FOSSIL FUEL ADVERTISING

 

STOP METHANE EMISSIONS: CLOSE LANDFILLS, RESTRICT AGRI.

More Than Half Of U.S. Landfills Are Methane ‘Super-Emitters'

By Cristen Hemingway-Jaynes, EcoWatch. PopularResistance.org (4-l-24).  Methane is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) that is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Most methane comes from human activities — roughly 60 percent — such as agriculture, fossil fuels, and the decomposition of waste in landfills. According to a new study led by nonprofit Carbon Mapper, more than half the landfills in the United States are “super-emitters” of methane. “Addressing these high methane sources and mitigating persistent landfill emissions offers a strong  potential for climate benefit,” said Dr. Dan Cusworth. -more-
INSURGENCY OPPORTUNITY, THIS ONE IS UNDER WAY:  GOOGLE FAYETTEVILLE, AR, LANDFILL for many starters.   (In honor of Insurgent Louise Mann.)

 

 THINKING BIG, LEARNING FROM INSURGENCIES ABROAD:

FOR SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION NOW.

“Working-class environmentalism and climate justice: The challenge of convergence today.”    Editor.  mronline.org (4-5-24)

Originally published: Platforms, Populisms, Pandemics and Riots (PPPR)  on April 2024 by Lorenzo Feltrin and Emanuele Leonardi (more by Platforms, Populisms, Pandemics and Riots (PPPR)) (Posted Apr 04, 2024).   Class, Climate Change, Environment, MovementsEurope, ItalyNewswireGKN Driveline (ex-FIAT) factory, GKN Factory Collective, Melrose Industries

. . .However, what makes the GKN Florence dispute really unique is the strategy adopted by the workers, who sealed an alliance with the climate justice movement by drafting a conversion plan for sustainable, public transport and demanding its adoption. Such strategy engendered a cycle of broad mobilisations—repeatedly bringing tens of thousands to the streets—so that the dispute is still open, and the factory remains under occupation as of today. In December 2022, Milan’s Feltrinelli Foundation released a special issue of its Quaderni, publishing the Plan for a Public Hub for Sustainable Mobility drafted by the GKN Factory Collective and their solidarity research group. This article—on the failure of the ecological transition ‘from above’ and the need for a convergence between workplace and community struggles to move towards a transition ‘from below’—was originally published in Italian as a postface to the Plan.

END OMNI CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #187, JULY 15,  2024. 

OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #185, July 10, 2024.

 

 

OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #185, July 10, 2024.    Compiled by Dick Bennett

Two of the Greatest Dangers to Our Civilization and Species:
Nuclear War
Population Growth: World Population Day, July 11, 2024
      “Do We Need More People?” bY DEAN BAKER .
         Olivia Nater.  “World Population Day 2024: Debunking Common Population Myths.”

 

 

JULY 7 WAS THE 7^th ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNTPNW, THE UNITED NATIONS TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, for which ICAN won the Nobel Peace Prize.

David   World Beyond War.  Webinar and Book.

There’s a webinar coming up on July 9, 2024 about nuclear deterrence.   [Sorry, I just now learned of the webinar.  –D]   I imagine it will be excellent. I’ve also just been reading a fantastic book on the topic called Threats: Intimidation and Its Discontents by David P. Barash. There’s an online book club with the author and free copy of the book coming up for that. Barash’s central thesis is that the idea of nuclear deterrence makes no sense. It’s kind of hard to see why anyone would argue with him. 

 

 

 

Dear Dick,
Happy BANniversary! Seven years ago today [2017], we made history at the UN when the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted by 122 nations. It was the long-awaited result of a decade-long, world-wide push to finally and categorically ban nuclear weapons under international law, and it was the start of a new phase of ICAN's work to eliminate nuclear weapons.

So much has happened since: the Treaty entered into force in 2021 and continued to grow in membership, and the work to bring it into practice has truly begun with two successful meetings of states parties and a solid intersessional process. The treaty is more than a document, more than a meeting - it is a community working to end nuclear weapons around the world, and ICAN is proud of the central role we play in promoting and supporting it.  So today, we want to celebrate the treaty, look (ahead) at some of the ways it is driving change and ask for your help to keep pushing. 

 

 

Helping Cities Speak up
The number of cities joining ICAN’s cities appeal continues to grow. Spain hit the bar of 100 cities last month, Italy counts 93 cities, France 83 and Greece 72.  All these cities, and hundreds more around the world - including in nuclear-armed states, have clearly spoken out in favour of the TPNW. And who knows better what is good for their citizens than the people actually in charge?   [Forward this message to your city councilors and ask them to join ICAN’s appeal.  Join ICAN.]

 

POPULATION GROWTH
“Do We Need More People?” bY DEAN BAKER .    Counterpunch (May 7, 2024).  Why Our Elites Worry About a Shrinking Population [Or, Why Doesn’t Our Gov Do Something to Stop Population Growth?]

In short, there is a clear divide in how people are impacted by a shrinking pMyopulation. For most ordinary people, it is not a big deal and could well turn out to be a positive development. But for the elite types that get their views published in major media outlets, a declining population is definitely bad news.   MORE click on title

This first appeared on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog.  

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

 

Olivia Nater.  “World Population Day 2024: Debunking Common Population Myths.”  Myth 1: Our population has already stopped growing. . . . https://earth.org/future/