The World Can’t Wait – 2016-02-20 00:32:03
Special to Environmentalist Against War
When Candidates Promise Endless War, Voting Begets Complicity
The World Can’t Wait
(February 18, 2016) — We raise our sights on political possibility when we reject the lesser-of-two-evils game of the American electoral system, and “muster the courage,” as The New Jim Crow author Michelle Alexander puts it, “to join together in a revolutionary movement with people of all colors who believe that basic human rights and economic, racial, and gender justice are not unreasonable, pie-in-the-sky goals . . . . “After decades of getting played,” she concludes, “It’s time to reshuffle this deck.”
Candidate platforms come as a package. We don’t get to pick and choose the parts we like and should avoid projecting desired qualities on undeserving contenders. Sometimes, candidates actually mean what they say. When President Obama unleashed an escalation of the “good war” in Afghanistan, he held true to his promise.
Curt Wechsler writes:
“Sometimes, candidates actually mean what they say. When President Obama unleashed an escalation of the ‘good war’ in Afghanistan, he held true to his promise.”
Fact: Bernie would adopt most of the trappings of Obama’s war of terror on the world, including use of killer drones to enforce US hegemony in the Middle East.
Sanders said his counter-terrorism policy would include drones, special forces ‘and more,’ in a “Meet the Press” interview. “Though drone warfare remains controversial because, critics argue, they are often used to launch inaccurate attacks that accidentally target civilians, Sanders said he’d continue the practice as president,” reported Alexandra Jaffe.
Fact: Despite “excellent policy proposals on healthcare, education and social services… no issue rises above the moral, political and financial emergency of war and militarism.
The code red alarms are ringing and flashing throughout the world as the bombs fall, the refugees seek asylum, and the body count increases, but liberals are forever prepared to grant Sanders immunity from his complicity in the creation of instability and misery under the red, white, and blue banner,” notes David Masciotra at Salon…
“[Sanders] has an incestual relationship with defense contractors in Vermont, and he is an unblinking and unwavering supporter of Israel’s worst assaults on Palestinian people. Contrary to his rhetorical opposition to wars, he consistently voted to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout the Bush and Obama years.”
US rulers (still) depend on public sanction of an imperial spoils system, preying on the “third world.” Exploitation at home should give cause to empathize with the interests of humanity as a whole.
Imagine they gave an election and nobody came. There’s power to non-compliance with business as usual; I don’t presume voter abstinence for others, but I do encourage people to beg off complicity with the US war of terror. My conscience prohibits me from endorsing a political campaign for endless war on the world, but requires me to contribute to determined mass resistance to the crimes of this government.
So Much for Voting to End Wars
Members of Chicago World Can’t Wait viewed Michael Moore’s new film Where to Invade Next last week, and took copies of this updated flier to stimulate discussion with the crowd on what the US is doing around the world:
The reality in 2016 is:
* The US has sent a reported 50 troops into Syria to “train, advise and assist” forces against ISIS/ISIL. Reuters reported the White House spokesman as saying, “the new mission in Syria was open ended and did not rule out the possibility of sending additional special forces troops into Iraq.
* The Obama administration is keeping 5,500 troops in Afghanistan, rather than pulling out by the end of last year, under an agreement that allows US presence there until 2024.
* The US is funding, and providing tactical support to the Saudi assault on Yemen, which has killed more than 2,800 civilians, and destroyed much of the infrastructure of the poor country.
* US Special Operations Forces were deployed in 2015 to 147 countries, 75% of the nations on the planet, which represents a jump of 145% since the waning days of the Bush administration. These operations include targeted killings.
The Intercept recently released “The Drone Papers,” a series of classified slides which detail “the process by which people are placed on kill lists and ultimately assassinated on orders from the highest echelons of the US government.”
* Indefinite detention remains a key part of terrorizing whole countries, with 93 men left in the torture camp of Guantanamo.
* The wars for empire in the Middle East have driven millions from their homes; many now roam Europe in desperate travel to reach somewhere to live without war and deprivation.
None of this will end without struggle — protest in the streets, arguments in civil society — especially on the part of people living in the most powerful country, with the biggest military ever.
Saturday February 27 Protest “Black Site” in Chicago
12:00 pm at Homan Square, 1011 S. Homan, Chicago, the infamous former warehouse used by the Chicago police to hold and at times torture people, including by solitary confinement, without booking them or allowing them to contact family, friends, or lawyers. (Click to read more about Homan Square.) The parallels to Guantanamo and CIA black sites are clear, and like them, this must be SHUT DOWN!
13th Anniversary of the US Invasion of Iraq
Saturday March 19
NYC: 1:00 pm rally at Main Library 5th Avenue & 42nd Street; march to Times Square Military Recruiting Center
Shut Down Creech 2016: March 27 – April 2
Last year nearly 150 activists joined us from 20 different states across the country, including over 50 veterans. In a very successful resistance action, we were able to interrupt business as usual for nearly an hour, with 34 activists ultimately arrested.
Let’s make SHUT DOWN CREECH 2016 an even more powerful stance against illegal drone killing. Please join Veterans for Peace and other organizations and help spread the word.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
