No Short Cuts. Connect Globally. Relate Revolutionarily!

Buddy — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:45:21 -0600

Short Information Teaser

Final Update from the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers in India

Excerpt

Can we create ashram-like, self-reliant communities in Afghanistan?

Ahmedabad is the city where Gandhi began his India independence struggle, establishing 2 ashrams in 1917. It was from Ahmedabad that Gandhi initiated the Salt March in 1930. We spent time with the people of Demar village ( located 40 km from Ahmedabad city ), an agricultural and livestock village growing cotton and rearing cows for milk.

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18th to 22nd Jan : Ahmedabad – The world is not yet connected enough for Mankind to live equally

Almost Blind in Demar village

Ladies Sorting the Cotton

Cotton dreams aren’t white enough because of insufficient irrigation water.

Meeting village elders to understand the dreams and wishes of the people

Together with 15 Oasis program participants ( from India, Bangladesh and Denmark ), as well as 40 high school students from Gandhinagar International School, we tried to understand the wishes of the villagers.

Included in the villagers’ wish list were :

Sufficient water – for drinking and irrigation
Good education, especially addressing youth issues, including drug addiction…
Cleaning up a road - muddied by accumulated soil and drainage water ( which caused the village women to fall frequently when they carried the milk containers on their heads )

On the last day of the program, we worked with the villagers on wish Number 3, and managed to clean up the muddy stretch of road in the village!

Abdulai getting into his hands and feet into the mud

Ali digging a drainage pit

The people and children working hard together

Water is a basic need

Food is a basic need: treated to a Gujerati meal!

Helping others to help themselves

Governments accumulate wealth while the people contend with basic needs.

The human masses everywhere are not yet connected with one another enough to address the inequalities that challenge us all in the face of an increasingly wealthy global elite.

No short cuts. Connect globally. Relate revolutionarily!

After the Oasis program, we spent a day at Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati.

Gandhi’s spinning wheel of independence

Can we create ashram-like, self-reliant communities in Afghanistan?

Gandhi’s room of simple living

Gandhian three of ‘no evil’

Signboard at the ashram

It said :

Muslims

Hindus

Buddhists

Sikhs

Parsis

Christians

Jews

Build bridges

Not barriers

Building bridges with an ashram gardener

23rd to 27th Jan : The Crown, and brevity

The Taj Mahal is the ‘Crown of Palaces’, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his third wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died during the birth of their 14th child.

Ali asked, “Did he build anything for his first and 2nd wife?” :)

Next to the Taj Mahal

I commented to the immigration official, Mr Kumar, at the Gandhi International airport who ‘processed’ me at departure: “ I came with these 3 Afghan youth and we feel that Afghanistan urgently needs Gandhi today. There’s little time…life is short, isn’t it?”

Mr Kumar replied, “ I watched a video ‘Interview with God’, in which God had made 3 observations :

When Man is young, he wants to grow up quickly. When he’s old, he wants to stay young forever. In youth, Man spends his life to earn money, and when he’s old, he spends his money to earn his life. In youth, we live as if we’ll never die, and then we die as if we’ve never lived.

New friends from India, Bangladesh, Denmark

We’ve made many friends in India.

Life’s brevity. We’re back in snowy Kabul, where the global 1% elite are negotiating our lives away!

No short cuts. Connect globally. Relate revolutionarily!

ourjourneytosmile.com

NATO/G8 in Chicago - At A Global Crossroads: Turn Against War

Buddy — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:21:52 -0600

Short Information Teaser

by Brian Terrell

Excerpt

“If you want to be a global city, you’ve got to act like a global city and do what global cities do,” says Lori Healey who heads the host committee and who previously led the city’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

All indications, unfortunately, are that Chicago…appears to want to follow the lead of other “global cities” in dealing with mass demonstrations threatening to “steal the stage;” think Tehran, Beijing, Cairo, Moscow and Seattle, to name a few.

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On January 25, the host committee for the G8/NATO summit in Chicago in May unveiled a new slogan for the event, “The Global Crossroads.” The mood of the organizers is upbeat and positive. This is a grand opportunity to market Chicago with an eye for the tourist dollar and the city is ready, the committee assures us, to deal with any “potential problems.”

One of the potential problems that the committee is confident that it can overcome, according to a report by WLS-TV in Chicago, is “the prospect of large-scale protests stealing the stage as the world watches.” The new slogan stresses the international character of the event and the prestige and economic benefit that hosting world economic and political leaders is expected to bring to Chicago. “We’re a world class city with world class potential,” declares Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “If you want to be a global city, you’ve got to act like a global city and do what global cities do,” says Lori Healey who heads the host committee and who previously led the city’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

All indications, unfortunately, are that Chicago is preparing to “act like a global city and do what global cities do” and it appears to want to follow the lead of other “global cities” in dealing with mass demonstrations threatening to “steal the stage;” think Tehran, Beijing, Cairo, Moscow and Seattle, to name a few.

One of the chilling developments the hosting committee announced was that the Illinois State Crime Commission is “urgently seeking Iraq-Afghanistan combat veterans to work security positions for the G8 summit.” The commission’s chairman clarifies that is for “private security” and not to work with the Chicago police. As in other “global cities,” these veterans will be used as private mercenaries without the legal protections and benefits of public employees. The Veterans Administration reports treating about 16% of the 1.3 million of veterans of these two wars for post-traumatic stress disorder and many more do not seek help. In answer to a potentially volatile situation in the streets of Chicago, the commission is not seeking workers trained in conflict resolution, but it has an urgent need for ex-soldiers trained in the violent chaos of Iraq and Afghanistan. These veterans urgently need treatment and meaningful employment, but at the “global crossroads,” they are offered only temp jobs as rent-a-cops protecting the interests of their exploiters.

Beyond touting the overblown promise of money that the summit is expected to bring (“To penetrate international markets takes time and money,” said Don Welsh, Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau) the city and its welcoming committee do not encourage education or reflection on what NATO and the G8 are and what they do. Despite its claims, NATO was never a defensive alliance. It is structured to wage “out of area” wars in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as to “contain” China. NATO’s creed is aggressive, expansionist, militarist and undemocratic. The G8 represents the economic interests of its member states. It is not a legal international entity established by treaty but acts outside the law, with NATO as its enforcer. Chicago law enforcement might better spend its resources on preparing to arrest and prosecute the war criminals, terrorists, torturers, and racketeers coming as invited constituents of G8 and NATO rather than getting ready for mass arrests of citizens coming to Chicago to exercise their right to protest these crimes.

The morning after the host committee unveiled its new slogan, some of us with the Chicago-based Voices for Creative Nonviolence met to discuss our part in the response to the city of Chicago “bringing the war home” by welcoming NATO and G8.

We at Voices found ourselves in agreement with the host committee that Chicago is indeed a global crossroads. This is true not for the world’s financial elite, war profiteers, military brass and heads of state officially welcomed there in May, but for those who come to Chicago from the all over the continent and around the globe to visit or to make their lives there without the criminal intent of NATO and the G8. In May, especially, Chicago will be a global crossroads for the thousands of good people who will gather in the city to lend a hand and take to the streets for justice and peace.

Chicago in May is also a crossroads in that it is a critical place and time for us all to take stock of where we have been and where we are going. We are at a crossroads- do we continue on the road of war and economic exploitation of the planet that NATO and the G8 are committed to, or do we abandon that road and turn a corner toward economic justice and a world at peace. We are at a crossroads and our choices are stark: global domination and the economic and ecological devastation that it makes inevitable or global community.

With this in mind, Voices for Creative Nonviolence decided to call our efforts leading up to the NATO and G8 summit, “At A Global Crossroads: Turn Against War.” We are starting the ground work for a walk starting on May 1 from Madison, Wisconsin, to arrive in Chicago in time for the summit on May 19.

Brian Terrell is a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence

Unrepentant

Buddy — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:02:45 -0600

Short Information Teaser

A Report from Johnny Barber: Congressional Resolution Condemns the Audacity of Hope

Excerpt

Demanding to Be Allowed to Sail

In the late spring of 2011, I was one of 37 passengers and 4 crewmembers on the Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat to Gaza… on October 6th, I was in Afghanistan meeting with the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers (AYPV) with members of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV) when Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL9) introduced HR 3131 in Congress. In summary, this bill “expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should take diplomatic steps to express gratitude to Greece for upholding the rule of law in preventing hostile forces from violating a legal naval blockade of Gaza by Israel and thereby advancing the security of its ally Israel… none of the 14 co-sponsors of HR 3131 have called for a resolution to condemn Israeli state-sponsored terrorism.

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In the late spring of 2011, I was one of 37 passengers and 4 crewmembers on the Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat to Gaza.

Demanding to Be Allowed to Sail: Athens, June 27, 2011

I had spent the prior month in Gaza and actually left Gaza to join the flotilla sailing from Greece. I was hoping to use my modest skills as an EMT in the event that Israeli naval forces began shooting people on board as they did in May 2010, when they killed nine people on board the Mavi Mamara. Many of these victims, including 19-year-old US citizen Furkan Doğan, were shot point-blank in the head. Doğan was shot five times from less than 45 cm (1.5 ft), in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. He was filming the attack when he was murdered. He was unarmed.

When it was announced that there would be a boat from the U.S. participating in the next flotilla, I applied immediately.

Preparing to Sail: Athens, June 30, 2011

On June 29th as we were preparing to sail from Athens to Gaza, I read with amazement – and some amusement – that the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, had asked that the Justice Department to “take immediate steps” against those found to be violating U.S. law, including providing “material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.” Having never heard of Rick Perry, I assumed that he was just pandering to AIPAC. Little did I know he was pandering ahead of entering the Republican race for President.

On October 6th, I was in Afghanistan meeting with the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers (AYPV) with members of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV) when Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL9) introduced HR 3131 in Congress. In summary, this bill “expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should take diplomatic steps to express gratitude to Greece for upholding the rule of law in preventing hostile forces (1) from violating a legal naval blockade (2) of Gaza by Israel and thereby advancing the security of its ally Israel. Directs the Secretary of State to report to Congress on whether any support organization that participated in the planning or execution of the recent Gaza flotilla attempt should be designated as a foreign terrorist organization.”

The bill is a frightening reminder of how some people in power are entirely too eager to throw around a “terrorist” designation for non-violent activists. Only in uninformed, closed minds can carrying letters of support from Americans to those trapped in Gaza constitute support of terrorism, yet this is what the bill suggests.

Our largely ignorant Congressional representatives are quite willing to assume that any information from Israeli sources is infallible to the exclusion of other factual findings, such as evidence that Israeli soldiers summarily executed participants on the Mavi Marmara. Israel maims and kills Americans such as Emily Henochowicz, Brian Avery, and Rachel Corrie with impunity. There is no house resolution pending that condemns the maiming or killing of American citizens by Israeli forces.

In a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine, Mark Perry reported that Israeli Mossad agents posed as CIA agents to recruit from Jundallah, an Iranian dissident group that is currently on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. On January 11, the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist in two years was blown up by a magnetic bomb attached to his car door. Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief of staff, was quoted as saying on January 10th. “For Iran, 2012 is a critical year in combining the continuation of its nuclearization, internal changes in the Iranian leadership, continuing and growing pressure from the international community and things which take place in an unnatural manner.” None of the 14 co-sponsors (3) of HR 3131 have called for a resolution to condemn Israeli state-sponsored terrorism.

Filming Our Detention by the Greek Coast Guard: July 1, 2011

HR 3131 is a prime example of the danger facing American citizens. Citizens participating in nonviolent acts of dissent are targeted while other violent actions of the US and Israel are simply ignored. This is less about objective political reality than pursuing political enemies.

With President Obama’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act, American citizens have lost a fundamental right of citizenship, the right to habeas corpus. The NDAA codifies indefinite detention of American citizens on the “battleground” of America. It is extremely troubling that President Obama would sign this into law, declare he has no intention of using the powers, yet authorize such powers for all those who follow him, including the likes of Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and other future apologists for the Israeli occupation – an occupation which the RNC recently denied even exists.

In October of 2006, after the “Enemy Combatants Bill” passed our Congress and was signed into law I wrote,

“I, for one, am facing my so called “leaders” in Congress, and this corrupt, morally bankrupt administration that would strip the Constitution, suspend habeas corpus, and destroy the very foundation this country was built on while in the same breath promising the world that democratic reform will reduce tyranny. I, for one, will not be silent in these dark days of our dying democracy.”

Today, an action I assumed was an aberration by fearmongers and torturers in the Bush administration has become further codified into American law. I stand by my statement as our rights and freedom continue to erode.

Johnny Barber’s blog: oneBrightpearl

Notes:

1 There is no evidence of any sort that the Flotilla was comprised of “hostile forces”. The U.S. boat was comprised of 37 nonviolent peace activists.

2 This is based on the Palmer report released on July 7th, 2011. The committee responsible clearly states in the document “We must stress we are not asked to determine the legality or otherwise of the events. What we express are our views on what took place.” The findings of the Palmer report on the legality of the blockade were disputed by a panel of five UN human rights experts, who said that the blockade amounted to a “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law”.

3 Co-sponsors: Shelley Berkley (D-NV1), John Carter (R-TX31, Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL21, Eliot Engel (D-NY17),Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ11), Michael Grimm (R-NY13), Peter King (R-NY3), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY14), Peter Roskam (D-NJ9), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL18), Steven Rothman (D-NJ9), John Sarbanes (D-MD3), Albio Sires (D-NJ13), Bill Young (R-FL10).

VCNV Author

Johnny Barber

22 Years Behind Bars for a “Crime of Compassion”

Buddy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:10:13 -0600

Short Information Teaser

Possible Re-sentencing for Iraq Justice Seeker, Dr. Rafil Dhafir

Excerpt

Dhafir was sentenced to 22 years for consciously violating the sanctions against the people of Iraq… Dhafir’s refusal to be silent in the face of genocide resulted in seven government agencies investigating [his charity] Help the Needy and intercepting his mail, email, faxes and telephone calls, bugging his office and hotel rooms, combing through his trash, and also conducting physical surveillance. They were unable to find any evidence of terrorism links, yet the stench of such alleged associations infused the trial…

Body

Matthew Behrens writes the column Taking Liberties
at rabble.ca

When former U.S. President George W. Bush descended on the Regional Economic Summit in suburban Vancouver last October, there was, understandably, no shortage of protesters, pleas for indictments, and cries of “war criminal.” Left out of most news coverage as well as activist communiqués, however, was any focus on another former U.S. President who was tagging along, someone equally deserving of such protest but who seems, remarkably, to get off fairly lightly these days: Bill Clinton.

While Clinton’s own contributions to world warfare and human misery were many – think the cruise missile attack on a vital pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, the murderous bombing of the former Yugoslavia and daily bombings of Iraq, cruise missiles lobbed into Afghanistan and Pakistan, tightening the sanctions against the Cuban people, failure to act to prevent the Rwandan genocide, and legislation that doomed millions of Americans to ever deeper levels of poverty – perhaps most infamous was his aw-shucks enforcement of the devastating sanctions that resulted in the deaths of over one million Iraqis.

That Clinton has far more Iraqi blood on his hands than anyone in the George W. Bush administration is largely forgotten. Yet report after report produced through the Clinton years tallied the hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in Iraq, and by the close of the decade, the word ” genocide ” began creeping into their vocabulary. Enforced in part with $1 billion in Canadian military muscle, sanctions that led to the monthly deaths of 5,000 Iraqi children under the age of five provoked the high-profile resignations of UN humanitarian coordinators Denis Halliday and Hans Von Sponeck. When Halliday resigned in 1998, he stated: “I’ve been using the word ‘genocide’ because this is a deliberate policy to destroy the people of Iraq. I’m afraid I have no other view.”

What was one to make of a policy that deliberately targeted the importation of civilian goods that allegedly had “dual use,” from pencils and baby dolls to eyeglasses and shampoo? The equipment needed to fix electrical generating stations and water purification systems destroyed during the 1991 U.S. and Canadian bombing runs of Desert Storm was not permitted entry, so water-borne diseases ran rampant. The medicines needed to treat the spike in cancer (a result of tons of depleted uranium munitions dust that wound up in the Iraqi soil, air and water) didn’t get through either.

Clinton’s Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, asked on the CBS program 60 Minutes if the sanctions-related deaths of a half million Iraqi children were worth it, famously replied, “We think the price is worth it.”

The people of Iraq were subjected to a Stalingrad-style siege, and while the general responsible for that siege was charged as a war criminal at Nuremberg, Clinton now struts about the world stage as a self-styled “elder statesman” who runs a foundation where he paints himself as the second coming of Mother Theresa. “In my life now, I am obsessed with only two things: I don’t want anybody to die before their time, and I don’t want to see good people spend their energies without making a difference,” Clinton says on his website.

As Clinton rakes in $100,000-plus speaking fees for trotting out such tripe, New York oncologist Dr. Rafil Dhafir, who also believed no one should die before their time, especially in Iraq, remains behind bars in one of the most brutal of U.S. prisons, the Communication Management Unit in Terre Haute, Indiana (aka, “Little Guantanamo.”). The CMU has been “home” to dozens of Muslims arrested as part of post-9/11 racial profiling paranoia.

Dhafir was sentenced to 22 years for consciously violating the sanctions against the people of Iraq. Many individuals and groups who were not Muslim also violated the sanctions – fines were the worst punishment directed at a number of groups – yet Dhafir, as the driving force behind the Help the Needy Foundation, which provided millions in aid, was the only one to suffer such a fate. Needless to say, corporations that quietly went around the sanctions not for humanitarian goals, but to profit from their relationship with the Hussein dictatorship, did not face charges either.

Dhafir’s imprisonment began on the morning of February 26, 2003, when hundreds of federal agents swooped down on the community of Syracuse, New York. They knocked down his door, pointed a gun at his wife’s head, and ransacked his house, taking away any books related to Islam while leaving behind the Bible and tomes on American history.

Agents proceeded to terrorize patients at Dhafir’s clinic, and interrogated almost 150 primarily Muslim Help the Needy donors about how often they prayed, whether they had family in the Middle East, and whether they celebrated Christmas.

Cynically framed as a terrorism-related arrest as the U.S. prepared its invasion of Iraq, the first indictment of Dhafir contained 14 charges of violating sanctions. But when he refused a plea bargain, the government ratcheted up its already hyperbolic case, alleging an additional 45 alleged breaches of various financial laws related to the running of a charity as well as alleged Medicare fraud. The non-sanctions charges were speciously vague, and related to things like incorrectly filling out the complicated Medicare forms (many doctors refuse to treat Medicare patients as a result of their burdensome regulations, and even Medicare officials themselves appeared confused about them during the trial). Charges also arose from using another organization to issue Help the Needy’s tax receipts, a not uncommon practice. In any event, most such “white collar” cases, should they actually result in a trial, do not produce such serious consequences.

As community members could testify, Dhafir was a hugely generous person, and opened his office not in Syracuse, where he could have made more money, but an hour away in Rome, New York, an underserved community. His reputation for providing interest-free loans, treating low-income patients, donating large chunks of money for schools and mosques, and assisting newcomers to the US was legendary.

But Dhafir’s refusal to be silent in the face of genocide resulted in seven government agencies investigating Help the Needy and intercepting his mail, email, faxes and telephone calls, bugging his office and hotel rooms, combing through his trash, and also conducting physical surveillance. They were unable to find any evidence of terrorism links, yet the stench of such alleged associations infused the trial as a result of headline grabbing outbursts from New York Governor George Pataki and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

After a six-week trial, Dhafir was convicted in February, 2005, though as the Syracuse New Standard pointed out, “The defense was forbidden during the trial to tell the jury that the government’s investigation of Dhafir had apparently begun as a terrorism hunt, nor was the defense allowed to argue that Dhafir had been selectively prosecuted for alleged crimes that are relatively common and do not usually result in criminal charges.”

While further details of this railroad are available on the website www.dhafirtrial.net, Dhafir is now preparing to head to court in early February seeking a re-sentencing that would see him released for time served. During his time behind bars, Dhafir has developed a range of debilitating conditions, from an untreated hernia and diabetes to chronic gout, significant back pain, and incipient cataracts. Even though he was originally sentenced to a medium security prison within driving distance of his community, he was transferred to the notorious Communication Management Unit, where he could not have contact visits, his freedom to worship was severely limited, phone calls were rare, and he was harshly treated along with his fellow, isolated inmates.

His lawyers will argue that median sentences for far more serious offences, such as material aid to terrorists, money laundering, and “national defence” cases, are all far lower than what Dhafir has already served.

Over 60 letters of support from the US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Ireland have been sent to the judge, including one from Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire. Among those is one from Linda Taffs, a 63-year-old grandmother in Victoria, BC, who wrote she was one of those who took humanitarian supplies to Iraq in 1999 and 2003. She says she and fellow delegates “visited hospitals and schools in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra. There was grief beyond words in Iraq: I was heartbroken at what I witnessed there. Children were in fact dying before my eyes,” she wrote, noting she could understand what motivated Dhafir to undertake his Help the Needy commitment.

Taffs is proud to be associated with Dr. Dhafir and that all-too-small honour roll of those who openly, proudly did what they could to end the silent genocide taking place in Iraq in the decade before Abu Ghraib and WMDs became the new backdrop for another generation of suffering.

While supporters await the outcome of the re-sentencing for what they call a “crime of compassion,” they ask that letters of support be written to Rafil A. Dhafir, 11921-052, P.O. Box 33, Terre Haute, IN 47808, USA

"Love It, or Leave It" vs. "Loathe It and Stay to Fight It"

Buddy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:23:39 -0600

Short Information Teaser

Cindy Sheehan on War Tax Resistance

Excerpt

Body

First published on Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox

On January 2nd, I spoke at the rally after our Occupy the Rose Parade protest. There were at least 2,000 activists who formed a contingent at the end of the Rose Parade to protest an alphabet soup of outrages. I was there to represent the antiwar element.

I am not just an antiwar activist, I am a peacemonger—being a peacemonger goes far beyond just being “against” wars. Being a peacemonger means connecting an almost infinite number of dots to try and figure out why it seems this nation is in almost constant war because it’s so difficult to stop wars once the 1% start them. It’s so hard to try and put all of the pieces together and to make sense out of the hodgepodge of crimes and behind the scenes hanky-panky, but one thing I do know—wars can’t be fought without an almost bottomless reserve of cash.

During my speech at the OTRP protest, I stated that I did not pay my income taxes and the response from some rightwing knee-jerkers was swift, divorced from reality (as always) and boorish.

A video of my speech, entitled something like, “Cindy Sheehan admits that she doesn’t pay her taxes” was even posted at the “leftwing” (I can’t type that with a straight face) Huffington Post and the comments were also divorced from reality and boorish and can be summarized thusly:

“Other people have lost their sons in the wars, what gives her the right to evade her taxes?” (Tax resistance is a moral principle that should be decided by each and every individual—and I would dare to say that most bereaved parents support the wars, anyway. For example, even though he opposes the wars, Casey’s father has chosen to pay his taxes, that’s not my problem or my business).

“I used to support Cindy Sheehan, but this is stealing.” (I would steal to feed my grand-babies without a second thought, but I feel that not paying for the mega-crimes of my government is a far lesser crime and that this Empire murders, tortures and/or economically oppresses millions of people each and every day).

“Cindy Sheehan sounds like a Tea-Bagger.” (This accusation amuses me. I think most “Tea-Baggers” are tax-paying, gun-toting, law-abiding citizens who like to whine about “big government” without actually doing anything about it. I am not against all forms of government, but I am certainly against this one we have today. I don’t tote a gun and I think it’s a moral imperative to “break” laws that hurt people. I have a higher law, and that’s Peace).

“Taxes pay for good things like roads, bridges, libraries, Social Security and Medicare.” (First of all, let’s say that our roads and bridges aren’t falling apart; and that libraries, schools, Social Security and Medicare are not being robbed of funding—when I do drive, I pay gas taxes and bridge tolls. I also pay sales tax, park fees, and many other varieties of taxes and fees for things I actually do use. At least 54% of federal expenditures are to pay for current wars or to service debt on past wars. If my tax money would go to single-payer health care, fully-funded schools and other social programs, etc—I would gladly pay. However, even if I decided to pay 46% of my taxes, would I be guaranteed that not one thin dime of mine would be going to kill someone? I think war profiteering has first claim on any money here in the dis-United Empire of the Earth).

“The IRS should put her in prison.” (The IRS is not a law enforcement or adjudication agency. They are a collection agency—collecting for the most gargantuan crime syndicate in history).

To be sure, interspersed amongst the ignorance and hate, there were some comments in support of my protest, but I would like to iterate here, that I am not a “tax evader” and I have been very open and honest about my tax protest every since I embarked upon it. How can this Empire be put on trial? Obama has blocked prosecution of Bush administration officials as his [Department of Justice] is targeting activists, whistle blowers, and, worst of all, his CIA is bombing children with his hell-fire missiles.

So, today I had meeting numero dos with a low-level bureaucratic functionary at the local IRS office and the next step for me may be court to try and force me to produce my financial statement, which I did not do today.

I found it very instructive that, even though I was sitting right there in the room next to my attorney, the revenue officer referred to me often as, “The Taxpayer.” I had to bite almost clean through my tongue to ask him if he calls every person, “The Taxpayer.” Here in the good ol’ USA, we have been reduced to either, “Taxpayers,” or “consumers,” never, “citizens.” We are conditioned from birth to feed our masters, toil for them, and care about them before we care for our own flesh and blood. We pay, they profit. We go into debt, they horde. We work, they benefit. We lose, they win. And “They” are not accustomed to any questioning or resistance to their orders or ordered ways of life. What is now referred to as the “1%” feel entitled to our money and our labor and the problem is that 99% of the 99% also feel that the 1% is entitled to THEIR money and THEIR labor.

Today, the revenue officer admitted that they are just looking for assets to confiscate from me. Even in the years that they are trying to collect 105k in back taxes, fines, and interest, I re-invested most of the money I ever made by speaker’s fees, donations, or book sales right back into the movement. Now, I intentionally live simply and don’t own anything the establishment considers of value. If the IRS goes looking for my assets, they will not find anything. If I had some kind of secret trust fund, I certainly wouldn’t be scraping by for rent money every month.

I followed the advice of my new attorney (who is not a tax attorney, but he is working with one who is and who is an adviser from the National War Tax Resister’s Coordinating Committee), I didn’t speak during the entire meeting, but when the revenue officer said that the tax lien that has been recorded with the county clerk is going to “hurt my credit,” I had to stifle a guffaw.

As stated, I don’t own anything and I don’t want or even need to own anything that the 1% tells me that I need to own to make my life “worthwhile.” I have had to pare my life down to one that is oriented, not around things, but around ideas, people, activism, peace and mostly, love. These are things that can’t be purchased with a predatory credit card charging high fees, exorbitant over-limit penalties, and usurious interest rates—but they are things that really give my life meaning and which are indispensable to me.

My son, who was killed in just one of this nation’s illegal and immoral wars had priceless value to me, too—and you know what? So does everyone else killed, maimed, tortured, beaten, or otherwise oppressed by the country I was born in and choose to stay in because the people I love the most live here.

Update to Atrocities in Afghanistan List

Buddy — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:54:08 -0600

Short Information Teaser

5 Civilians Killed by NATO forces in Northeastern Kunar Province

Excerpt

The governor of Kunar province said that during a night raid on January 16, NATO forces killed 5 civilians during a “kill-and-capture” raid as coalition helicopters fired into a compound. Among the 5 were 1 woman and 2 children.

Body

Date:
January 16, 2012

Place:
Chawkay district, Kunar province

Circumstances:
The governor of Kunar province said that during a night raid on January 16, NATO forces killed 5 civilians during a “kill-and-capture” raid as coalition helicopters fired into a compound. Among the 5 were 1 woman and 2 children.

US/NATO Initial Response/Acknowledgement:
On Wednesday, January 18, NATO issued a statement stating that they were aware of a military operation in the Chawkay district of Kunar province on Monday and were checking into the report.

Associated Press

To learn about more civilian deaths in Afghanistan caused by ISAF/NATO troops click here.

What Would Gandhi Say to Afghan Youth Today?

Buddy — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:59:55 -0600

Short Information Teaser

Update from the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers in Bhopal, India

Excerpt

Train buddy Utkarsh

Dearest Abdulai

It was really great meeting you and clicking those pictures.

You have a tough task ahead. Stand brave against the odds and your genuine heart and crystal clear thoughts will take you to your dream.

Body

10th Jan : Railway train to Bhopal

It was a comfortable 8-hour ride on the train from Delhi to Bhopal.

Fields, fields, fields, litter, litter, litter, cattle, cattle, cattle…

We shared a urgent feeling for human livelihoods to return to the fields.

Jim Loney, a Canadian Christian Peacemaker Team activist shared his experience of being kidnapped for 118 days in Iraq, which he describes in his book ‘Captivity’.

Kidnappers have those who love them and whom they love, too.

The Iraqi kidnappers had told Jim stories of the HURT and ANGER created through US military offensives that killed loved ones.

11th Jan : From Guns to Gandhi

The Times of India

The Youth’s interview got onto the front page of the Bhopal edition of the Times of India! Read the text of the article here.

78 year old Bagvir and his wife had established the Gandhi ashram we stayed in.

Bagvir shared with the youth, “All human beings are one. God is one and religions are different paths to God. Gandhi had said that Truth is God and that God is Truth.”

Paul and Kathrin ( husband-and-wife Canadian volunteers with Ekta Parishad who kindly arranged and co-ordinated our Indian trip ) brought us to old Bhopal Market which had a Hindu temple at one end and a mosque at the other.

Kathrin gave us a treat of banana, papaya & chiku milk shakes, opposite colourful shops of mannequins modeling lingerie :) . Another ‘first’!

12th Jan : India lives in the villages

Namaste!

We visited Bhimkothi, a remote village located in the jungle, off the beaten path. Rakash of Ekta Parishad had been working with the villagers to obtain official documents for land ownership, to establish a school and to dig a village well.

Importantly, Rakash shared that he spends a few nights a month in the village because ‘it is in the night that the stories and lives of the villagers become more transparent.’

Poverty in a land of plenty.

Life transpires in the Indian village nights.

Gardener, over 100 years old: “We all die… we should leave something behind.”

13th Jan : The mosque in the city, the mosque on an island

With Indian Youth at ‘Begum’ Mosque

The mosque we visited in Bhopal City is the 2nd largest mosque in India, built by a Begum from Afghanistan.

To the youth, Bhopal lake was not a lake. It was a sea.

Mosque on Bhopal Lake

14th Jan : Railway train back to Delhi

Train Buddy Utkarsh

Dearest Abdulai,

It was really great meeting you and clicking those pictures.

You have a tough task ahead. Stand brave against the odds and your genuine heart and crystal clear thoughts will take you to your dream.

I wish you all the luck, happiness and success in all your future endeavours.

Looking forward to meet you again and this time at your place.

Keep smiling.

Your train buddy,

Utkrash Pandey

15th Jan : Registering the Afghan

‘States’ presume out of fear that every Afghan is ‘guilty until proved innocent’, though out of the nineteen September 11th hijackers who provided a ‘justification’ for bombing: ‘guilty Afghans’, none were Afghans.

When I went with the youth to the Foreign Registration office ( Afghans and Pakistanis need to register their existence in India within 14 days upon arrival ), I asked an official where I could find a toilet, and he said, “ Inside ( the building )!” I tried at the guarded door which led into the building, but the official told me, ”Outside!”

16th Jan : Frisbee and Astronomy

Making Friends through Frisbeeing

Solar Time and Astronomy

17th Jan : Sleepless on the 20-hour train to Gandhi’s birth city of Ahmedabad

The Good, Slow Train: Train panes

In the sleeper class cabin of the slow train with unpleasant toilets, Gandhi may have said to us,

“Feel as cold as everyone else.”

The Sleeper Cabin: Ali under colorful blankets

Click here to go to the volunteers’ website.

Life Inside the Train

Life Outside at Railway Stations

Thoughts While on the Railway Tracks