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Because People Mater
Progressive News and Views July / August 2008
Inside this issue:
Editorial.2Utah.Phillips.Remembered.2Compassion:.the.First.Casualty.3
Poor People’s Trafc Court
.4
The New Peace Movement
.5
When Americans Are Not American
.6
Native Intelligence
.7
Poem: George the Decider
.7New.Orleans.8-9
Homeless Victory in Fresno
.10The.Fall.(a.True.Story).10
Corporate Encroachment
.11.
Stop BigMedia
.11
Sacramento Area Peace Action
.12
Review: Married to Another Man
.13NeoCon.Follies.13PNAC.14Calendar.15
Progressive Media
.16
by: Felicia Martinez
J
avier* had been livingin Bakerseld or yearsand worked in the
construction industry there. He had the habit o lunch-ing at local eateries near his job sites, but one day hechanged his routine. On that particular day, his job sitewas close to his home. Javier had leover cold cuts in hisrerigerator, so he decided to go home and make himsel a sandwich. He never made it. Local police pulled himover a ew blocks away rom his destination, and withinhours Javier was in Immigration and Customs Enorce-ment (ICE) custody. Javier blamed it on his recently shaved head.“Ever since I went bald they pull me over all the time,”Javier told me as he lied his knitted cap and rubbed hisscalp. “It’s because I look like a cholo.” Te last time they pulled him over they didn’t let him go.Now Javier, a young man in his mid-twenties, wassitting across rom me inside a tent at the migrant aidstation located in the shadow o a truck crossing near theborder town o Nogales, Sonora. It was January 2008. Iwas at the aid station as a volunteer. Javier was there try-ing to get his bearings.Te Mariposa migrant aid station was established asthe result o a historic accord between No More Deaths,the ucson-based
Coalición de Derechos Humanos
,and the
Comisión Estatal para la Atención a Migrantes
(State Commission or the Care o Migrants) o Sonora,Mexico. ucked into a dirt lot behind the border crossingdesignated or commercial trucks, the aid station is a hubo services and resource sharing. During the time I spentthere, the station consisted o a tent, a camper, a supply shed, and a port-o-potty. Te camper housed volunteersand medical supplies, while the tent served as a receptionarea, medical station, soup kitchen, and reuge rom theelements. Most months, the station also counts on thepresence o the Mexican Red Cross, which provides atrailer ull o resources along with a small cadre o volun-teers. On its busiest days, the aid station serves well over1,000 people.During my time there, the people who passed throughwere mostly men. Most were Mexicans rom southernstates like Veracurz. Some were rom other countries,like Honduras. Some were married. Others were not.Some were athers. Others were not. One man hadtuberculosis and was missing an eye. Another arrivedwith leg injuries. Te ill man had been incarcerated orve years in various US prisons or having been presentin the US aer having previously beenserved a deportation order. Anotheryoung man I met had been given vemonths or the same inraction. Terewere women, too, traveling mostly withgroups. Some had children travelingwith them. One middle-aged manlooked as i he had been plucked out o an oce. He wore dress shoes, a pressed yellow shirt, andslacks. Most people who came to the station had beenpicked up in the desert by the Border Patrol. It was theirclothing that gave them away—athletic shoes or the longwalk North, baseball caps to shield them rom the sun,and dark shirts to protect them rom being spotted atnight.Ten there were those who, like Javier, had beenyanked away rom long established daily routines. Inspite o having spent the last ew nights in a shelter indowntown Nogales, Javier was talkative. Our conver-sation owed easily, switching oenbetween Spanish and Spanglish. Since weboth lived in Caliornia, we had much totalk about.“Do you ever go to the
bailes
?” Javierasked me.“No.” I am not one to requent thedances where the
norteño
bands play,but I do go to a lot o rock
en español
concerts. So I toldJavier this, and we talked. We talked about the nightliein the cities we both knew. We talked about our avoriteperormers and the venues we requented. Ten wetalked about the crossing.“Are you going to try again?” I asked him.
by Beau Grosscup
S
ince 9/11, the Bush Administration has used itsWar on error to ocus attention on ghting a per-manent war abroad to justiy the globalization o the instruments o orce. oday, 800-plus military basesin at least 130 countries, along with secret prison gulags,paramilitary orces and covert operations, span the globeto punish those who resist corporate North America’sexploitation o the earth’s human and natural resources.Te War on error is also being utilized to justiy apermanent war on Western liberal democratic tradi-tions at home. Te deadly smoke o 9/11 had barely cleared when the Bush Administration, pursuant to theneoconservative political strategy rst articulated in themid-1970s, began constructing a more militarized andrepressive society. Te erosion o privacy, restrictionson public inormation, attacks on individual rights,including Habeas Corpus and the militarization o publicdiscourse that have accompanied the rise o a privatizedand privileged National Security State (NSS) are wellchronicled.What remains invisible in US media and politicaldiscourse has been the Bush Administration’s war on USLabor in general and the immigrant population in par-ticular. Yet, it is these domestic ‘wars,’ prosecuted underthe banner o a War on error that constitute an attack on the constitutional rights and proessional standingo workers. Moreover, in separating the undocumentedimmigrant rom the rest o the working class, the BushAdministration and its NSS agents are conducting awholesale assault on the very humanity o millions o citizens and would be citizens.Due to the global ‘boomerang’ efects caused by neo-liberal economic privatization (poverty, debt, star- vation, violence, environmental erosion and politicalrepression), the inux o illegal immigrants has afectedthe US or decades. With the 9/11 attacks the BushAdministration put a ‘terrorism ace’ on undocumentedimmigrants in particular, dramatically intensiying thehistoric ‘criminalization’ o the immigrant population inpublic discourse and public/private policy. Immigrantsnow endure greater social repression, legal discrimina-tion and institutional racism. What ollows is the tip o the iceberg.Utilizing the Immigration and Customs Enorcement(ICE) and Drug Enorcement Administration (DEA),the ederal government has stepped up its pre-dawnraids, search and seizures, evictions, arrests and publicsegregation. In lieu o legislative inaction at the Federallevel, state and local governments have enacted anti-immigrant measures such as making English the ociallanguage, denial o drivers licenses, and penalties orlandlords who rent to and employers who hire immi-grants deprecated as ‘illegal aliens.’All y states “are considering more than twice thenumber o immigration-related laws as in previous years– with most imposing tougher restrictions on illegalimmigrants.” Utilizing ‘Jim Crow black code’ anti-ganglegislation o the 1990s, terrorism worries and height-ened anti-immigration sentiment, ederal, state and locallaw enorcement have renewed the intimidation practiceo ‘jump-out squads’ where aer leaping rom their cars,police briey detain ‘suspects’ or loitering and take theirpictures.
Stories rom the migrant aid station in Nogales, Mexico
Serving the ones “sent back”
On its busiest days,the aid station serves well over 1,000 people.”
see Migrant Aid, page 6 See War on Immigrants, page 7
War on ‘Terro-Immigrants’
In Washington on March 18, the day beore the 5th anniversary o the Iraq War Code Pink carrried this giganticconstitution down Pennsylvania Ave to the nation’s Capitol—just in case they had orgotten what it actually said.
Photo: Paulette Cuilla
* Not his real name.
Because People Matter Jul / August 008
www.bpmnews.org
People Maer
Vlume 17, Numbe 4
Published Bi-Monthly by theSacramento Community forPeace & JusticeP.O. Box 162998, Sacramento,CA 95816(Use addresses below forcorrespondence)
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JacquelineDiaz, JoAnn Fuller, CharleneJones, Jeanie Keltner, RickNadeau
Cdinaing Edis fis Issue:
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Editorial
On the cover
“The Game of Lies,” by Wood-land artist and satirical car- toonist Terry Hollowell, is basedon the Game of Life boardgame. See her website, www.feraltoons.com.
Rick Nadeau and Murray Cohen areCo-coordinating Editors for this issue
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A Walled Fortress: TheConsequences of 9/11
by Richard Nadeau
Scott McLellan’s latest book “What Happened?”has revelations on how the Bush administrationand a complicit corporate media manipulated theclimate o ear in the US to justiy the invasion o Iraq. It is undoubtedly true that the neo-cons inthe Bush administration treated 9/11 as “a newPearl Harbor,” as their blessing in disguise.While some “9/11 ruth” researchers ocus oncontradictions in “the ocial story” and possibleadministration complicity with the terrorists,others argue that 9/11 was an “inside job” thatwould acilitate the project o the political rightto dismantle long established constitutional pro-tections and build an authoritarian state insideAmerica. O course, both o these scenarioswould involve the worst orm o treason.Yet, even skeptics o this “9/11 truth theory”must admit that it reveals a signicant emotionalact—just how little trust many Americans havein their government under the reign o thisduplicitous administration that has constantly lied to us. Tis is supported by an October 2006
New York imes
CBS poll which revealed that53% o the American people were skeptical aboutthe ocial 9/11 account and 28% rejected it out-right. Only 16% believed the ocial story!(
NY imes
, “Americans Question Bush On 9/11Intelligence,” October 14, 2006)In the last BPM, we covered “the three trilliondollar war” and many o the costs o the twocounterinsurgency wars and military occupationso Iraq and Aghanistan. Te continuation o these wars has meant more resources or a morethoroughly militarized America. Not surpris-ingly, the 2008 request o a $515 billion dollar“deense” budget was combined with attackson Medicare, Social Security, and myriad relie programs or the poor. It also meant less money was available or the development o renewableenergy resources.What does the uture promise? A vastly expanded and costly homeland security budgetis in the cards. Te oolish “neocons” in the Bushadministration have articulated and implementeda policy o worldwide US military supremacy,what some call “ull spectrum dominance.” oaccomplish this they need greater authoritariansocial control o the American population athome. Apparently, support rom the establishedmedia alone is not enough. O course, China andRussia, who have brokered a military and energy alliance, may ultimately have something to say about this. So may the rest o the world.Since 9/11, the US signicantly expandedthe homeland security apparatus and built alarge invasive state bureaucracy around it. EvenRepublicans like Ron Paul are upset about this.Tis meant increased resources going into sur- veillance o American citizens and to domesticnational security under the banner o protectionand saety rom terrorists. Immigrants romMexico remain the most vulnerable targets inthis climate o ear. We are building walls to keepthem out.In act, America is rapidly becoming awalled ortress, a military Leviathan o historicproportions. Militarization o the border andthe construction o an immigration wall andborder outposts ts with the larger trend. Tismeans greater repression o the so called “terro-immigrants.” Raids, roundups, deportations arealready a act. Tis whole repressive trend dehu-manizes immigrant laborers. We already have along history o dehumanizing Native Americansand the dispossessed Palestinians.In spite o all the talk about national security in the “homeland,” the government did a miser-able job in coming to the rescue when HurricaneKatrina slammed into New Orleans, threateningthe security o hundreds o thousands o Ameri-cans. When it counted, the Bush administra-tion oundered in every conceivable way. NewOrleans is still in a desperate condition.While acknowledging these depressing trends,it is important to recognize that there are impor-tant counter trends since 9/11 that can still giveus hope. People are ghting back. In spite o alack o media coverage, there are signs that moreyoung Americans are getting involved in the newpeace movement. Also, many Americans areinvolved in sending relie to New Orleans. Citi-zen groups are ghting corporate encroachment.American border and immigration activists areproviding relie and help to stressed out immi-grants. Tese are the post 9/11 heroes we neverhear about!Right now it appears that many o the Ameri-can people are asking questions and may be moreprogressive than their government. We can only hope.
Utah Phillips, 1935-2008
T “Goldn Voic of h Ga Sohws”:Lgnday Folk Msician, Acivis
Utah Phillips, the legendary olk musician and peace and laboractivist, has died at the age o seventy-three. Over the span o nearly our decades, Utah Phillips worked in what he reerred toas “the rade,” perorming tirelessly throughout the United States,Canada and Europe.Te son o labor organizers, Phillips was a lielong member o the Industrial Workers o the World, known as the Wobblies. As ateenager, he ran away rom home and started living as a hobo whorode the rails and wrote songs about his experiences. In 1956, he joined the Army and served in the Korean War, an experience hewould later reer to as the turning point o his lie.In 1968, he ran or the US Senate on the Peace and FreedomParty ticket. For the past twenty-one years he lived in Nevada City,where he started a nationally syndicated olk music radio show.He also helped ound the Hospitality House homeless shelter andthe Peace and Justice Center.From
Democracy Now!
, May 27, 2008
Utah Phillips at the WHole Earth Festival, May 12, 2002.
Photo: Dick Woods.
www.bpmnews.org
Jul / August 008 BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER
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by Rick Nadeau
I
t is said that “truth is the rst casualty o war.” But there is another immediatecasualty—compassion. In act, compassionmay even be the rst casualty. Once the warmachine has geared up, the propaganda dis-seminated, hatred o an enemy proclaimed, aculture o malice becomes a necessary ingredi-ent. Te enemy must be portrayed as a monstero inhumanity, as an Other with no legitimategrievances, as a dark irrational object that mustbe destroyed. Hatred cannot ask the ollowingquestions. Why are they the way they are? Whatsocial conditions are they responding to? Havewe done anything that would explain their hostilebehavior toward us? Tese questions are orbid-den once malice has taken over and compassionhas been thrown out the window. Necessarily,truth goes out with it.I got a rst-hand lesson in the spring o 2003during a visit to New England. Friends I grew upwith were enthused about the war against Iraq.Knowing I was against the war, they tauntedand provoked me. I asked them i they caredthat innocent civilians were being killed. One o them laughed and mocked me, asking “who caresabout a bunch o “ragheads?”Te truth was irrelevant—we had to kill theArab “ragheads.” Hatred o the them seemedmore important than the truth o whetherIraq actually posed a threat to America, or hadWMDs, or had anything to do with 9/11. Iraqiswere racially characterized and had to pay collec-tively or the crimes o Saddam Hussein. Becausemalice and greed or oil triumphed, hundredso thousands o innocent Iraqis have been killedand millions turned into reugees. Over ourthousand Americans have also been killed, andthe economic impact on American society hasbeen devastating. And the war goes on and on.Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who voted to authorize the war, sounded anotherwar cry on the morning o the Pennsylvaniaprimary when she bragged to the world that shewould “obliterate” Iran i it attacked Israel. Tisstatement o an acceptable genocide was treatedwith reverence by the media, even though it isar worse than anything uttered by the ReverendJeremiah Wright.Clinton was clearly pandering to the para-noia o pro-Israel voters in the American 2008elections. But what she said was objectively horrible—that she was willing to nuke over 70million Iranians to protect Israel, even i mosto them had no impact or say on Iranian policy.Ironically, it came in the context o US and Israelithreats to launch a pre-emptive military attack onIran should it try to obtain nuclear weapons. Tisis surely a road to madness.Israel, which has a signicant modern nucleararsenal and superior conventional weapons sys-tems and air power, obviously wants to maintainits nuclear monopoly and has opposed Iranianproposals or a “nuclear ree Middle East.” Iranknows it would be suicidal to attack Israel, andhas not attacked another country in the modernperiod, although it did deend itsel when it wasattacked by Iraq in the 1980s. Tese truths areirrelevant to Hillary Clinton. Malice triumphed.Once she demonized the Iranian “Other,” no levelo violence could be ruled out.Te philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer arguedthat compassion was the highest human virtue.“Compassion,” Schopenhauer wrote, “is the solesource o disinterested actions and hence the truebasis o morality.” Compassion overrides odioussel-assertion and osters sel reection. Whatwould I do i I were in their shoes? Is the Other’sbehavior understandable given the circumstanc-es? Should I intervene to alleviate their sufering?Should I protest those responsible or the su-ering? So speaks compassion. It is the oppositeo malice, which is based upon the desire to doharm to others.Compassion is a orm o wisdom that requiresus to look outside the narrow shell o our sel,our gender, our group, our tribe, our religion,our ethnicity, our class, our race, our nationstate, our civilization. It is a wisdom that tries tounderstand and alleviate the suferingso others who are diferent. It is anantidote to boundless egotism, anger,and hatred. It involves a diferenttype o enlightenment than the coldwestern enlightenment based onscience, rationality, knowledge, andtechnology. Compassion is diferentrom pity, since the latter is conde-scending and urther diminishesthe sufering victim.One sees little compassion orothers expressed in America’sruling circles or in the massmedia. Tey are blinded by theircraving or power, prots, andoil. For many in the third world,America is “the land o no Bud-dha” inasmuch as it deliberately pursues policies that starve andharm others. Under American“neoliberal” economic poli-cies, the gap between the richand poor is growing as is hunger and poverty at home and abroad. We are creating, as authorMike Davis argues, “A Planet o Slums,” wherethe oppressed and impoverished live in misery inthe shadow lands o the American empire. Tis iswhy President Chavez o Venezuela is viewed assuch a threat by American elites—he is practicinga politics o compassion by redistributing someo Venezuela’s oil wealth to help the poor.We see little commentary in our mass mediaabout innocent Iraqis that have lost their housesor their lives as a result o the American Crusadeand occupation. Many Americans reuse toexamine the violence or sufering brought aboutby the policies o their government. Tis wastrue in the Vietnam era when it was rare to hearany concern expressed or the millions o Viet-namese who were being bombed and pummeledby American B-52’s. I saw more compassionexpressed or animals than I did or the burnedhuman victims o napalm. Animals certainly deserve compassion, but so do humans even i our greatest danger comes rom other humans.While it may be true that most human beingsin most societies are a mixture o egoism, maliceand compassion, many dedicated people in thepeace movement display genuine compassionthat goes beyond caring or one’s own little cor-ner o the social world. Tey are people trying tochange society or the better, who are protestingthe bombings, the torture, the occupations, therendition programs, while criticizing the generaldri o American society towards authoritarianrule, militarism and war. Tey do it while makingsacrices in their personal lives. Tey represent ahumanity that is waiting to be born.Aggressive war is the antithesis o compassionand truth—it requires lies, acts o revenge andhatred to continue. It is a crime against humanity.Certainly, it is important to analyze the structur-al, political, ideological, and sociological tenden-cies that gave rise to it. Yet without compassionor the sufering o others, especially those otherswho are diferent rom us, it is unlikely that any-one will ever raise a nger or take a risk to stop it.
Rick Nadeau has been a peace and environ-mental activist since the 1960s. He lives in Sac-ramento and is an editor with
Because PeopleMatter
.
“Animals certainly deserve compassion,but so do humanseven i our greatest danger comes romother humans.”
Compassion: Te First Casualty o War
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