Abolition – let kindness win

Lies On Steroids

Our collective history is filled with violence. When white settlers arrived on these shores they carried with them vestiges of what had been done to them. They brought persecution, conquering, and a kind of capitalism that requires a lower rung. Class struggle, theft of land, and when all else failed, the ultimate silencing of people who deemed to be different, or were different by design. The attempted cover-ups and twisting of history are not new. They’re simply now on steroids.

We refuse to believe what we know to be true: that we live on stolen land, that enslaved and impoverished people built this country and that the cowardice displayed from Congress to ICE is nothing more than a last-ditch effort to keep the LIE afloat.

When I drive through rural towns and see confederate flags, I want to yell, “Wisconsin was a Union state”. But I’m really thinking: “Your ignorance is showing”. And ignorance is more than not knowing history. The kind of ignorance we deal with today is deeper. We’ve lost a sense of self. We’ve lost human dignity. And unless and until we rediscover it within ourselves, we’ll never see it in the “other”.

We’ve lost our sense of belonging to something greater. In doing so we cling to whatever flag suites us, whatever belief empowers us, or so we think. External power is an empty game, when you are hollow inside. That’s why it never works. People will be martyred and treated inhumanely, but power must succumb to benevolence, if only when we take our last breath. Recognizing our mutual humanity, acknowledging our history and refusing to carry it on are the solutions available to us.

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Listen to my conversation with Fatemeh Jamalpour on her new book For the Sun After Long Nights. For The Sun After Long Nights by two acclaimed Iranian female journalists, depicts the oppression of ethnic minorities and particularly of women since the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom Movement. It was an honor to be given a glimpse into the courage and deep love of their homeland and their sisterhood. Co-authored by Nilo Tabrizy. It will also air on WDRT, Wednesday, Sept 10 at 5 pm CST.

And if you are in the area: On Sunday, Sept 21 from noon to 5pm we will host Reclaiming Peace: A Community Celebration at Echo Valley Farm

Changing the Rules of Engagement

If you are speculating on how dire things will be and not taking action to stop the harm, you are missing an intrinsic reality: This is still within our power to change.

Most recently I learned of the president of Namibia, who let it be known that western travelers and others will now be required to pass through a visa process to enter her country. The 72-year-old is changing the rules of engagement and requesting dignity for her people. I was heartened by the clarity of the declaration. It was not made in retaliation. It was made in reclaiming humanity that has been in imbalance far too long.

It has long been said that patriarchy is in its waning days and we should expect a backlash. I guess we are in the midst of that backlash at this moment. But it does not make it right, nor does it mean we have to surrender our values and all that we have come to learn. We do not have to bow and grovel before ignorance.

This is a time that requires a fierce trust in humanity’s best angels. It requires a courage that withstands the grotesque distortion of values and remains resolute to higher truth.

It demands that we reach the reachable. And what should we invite them to consider? I would argue that we need not try indoctrination into a political party, or another religion. We should invite people to discover the strengths that we each hold, encourage everyone to celebrate their uniqueness and to honor the earth, our collective home. We need to beat the drums of our mutual humanity and call for the reachable to come back to the simplest of truths. We are alive and the power of peace is still available.

In her new book Defund, Black Lives, Policing and Safety for All, Sandy Hudson invites us to re-examine our understanding of policing and to consider what gains can be made as we re-invest in humanity with dignity for all. This is a lively and compelling conversation that highlights the necessity for change. Take time to listen here.

You can find more of my podcasts on the transition to restore humanity at Changing the Narrative on WDRT. Thanks for listening and sharing.

Until Humanity Wins

Cori Booker spoke for twenty-five hours on the Senate floor in a speech that outlasted the now second longest speech by Strom Thurmon in 1957. Thurmond, a segregationist, spoke against the Civil Rights Act. His speech proved useless and President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Bill into law two weeks later. Booker spoke against Trump policies. He covered social security and Medicare, education, immigration, public safety, national security and foreign policy, housing, the environment and farmers’ issues. He spoke at length about defending Democracy. But nowhere have I found that Senator Booker mentioned the slaughter of Palestinians or the Israeli theft of land that the United States government supports.

If I missed it, please let me know, but it seems the Democratic Party is still intent on the ill-conceived dedication to Netanyahu’s Israel that President Biden so devotedly upheld.

I don’t get it. We’re still supplying weapons to Israel. Some accounts say we are supplying even more deadly weapons. Through the entire month of Ramadan, we watched as Israeli forces prohibited food distribution to starving people. We learned of bombed tents and more children murdered. Any thinking person, any feeling person knows this is a genocide, but we allow that debate to rage on. Our empathy and compassion have been dismantled by outrageous remarks of ignorance and inhumanity streaming from the White House and the rest of the crusaders.

The Christian Right’s belief of “End Times” – of how it is foretold that Israel will triumph and everyone will be whisked to the pearly gates – bolsters a president hell bent on creating a resort from a genocide. How long will Christian Nationalists be pawns in this power grab?

Me? I prefer peace now to pie in the sky. And I’m holding out for Humanity to win.

Only 15 Senators Back Sanders Bid to Block Arms to Israel

I didn’t know this when I wrote this. Booker was not one of them. And Tammy Baldwin again abstained.

The democrats are failing miserably. We need a new direction.

A New Day is Upon Us

Black youth in ten different states received personalized messages telling them they will be taken to plantations to pick cotton. If you want to learn more about this check news outlets for details – while you still can, of course. News agencies, who challenge the incoming administration, are preparing for cuts in funding and diminished licensing.

Married gay couples are seeking legal advice to protect their union, and trans people, the prime escape goats for heterosexual fear, are being bullied and far worse. Calls to suicide hot lines for LGBTQ+ youth are up as much as 700%. And let’s not forget about the round up of our neighbors and friends as deportations begin.

And maybe you didn’t see this coming. Maybe you feel safe in a white and sanitized world. Maybe you believed no one could be “chosen” and cause so much harm. But here we are.

Because a “promise made is a promise kept” says the incoming 47th president. So, let’s see what else has been promised that will unite us and help the healing of this country. As the divide and conquer continues unchecked and the majority of the MAGA world seems content with prayers, I doubt many will speak up when they come for our neighbors. Just like old time Germany and how did that poem go? First they came for the Catholics, but I wasn’t Catholic, so I did nothing. They came for the gays, but I wasn’t gay, so I did nothing. I wasn’t Jewish, so when they came for them, I did nothing. And there was no one to help when they came for me.

There are consequences when we give away empathy and compassion; consequences when leaders are permitted to act out of vendetta; and there are consequences when our humanity and individual sovereignty are relinquished.

It might all be hyperbole. The rantings of an old man drunk with power. But what about us? What choices will we make in this new day? Our choices or lack thereof brought us here. It will be our choices – and our humanity – that will save us.

Israel Must Stop

No War with Iran. Let Palestinians live in dignity.

I wake in the night and listen to BBC. It’s their morning and I hope, as I have hoped for the past year, that the new day will deliver humanity from insanity. I long for an end to the nightmare, I am weary of the lies and excuses used to continue genocide and land theft. I’m bored with political arguments that offer no relief; only more distraction from this precipice of horror.

And I wonder what it will take for people to Remember.

I heard a chicken farmer speak of how he could not let his chickens starve to death. That had been the solution afforded him by his buyers. Instead, he took out a loan to save them. “They’re good chickens”, he said. Juxtapose that with news from Israel. Palestinians are told to leave their makeshift shelters once more or they will be starved. They will be starved. Intentionally deprived of food and water. Men, women, children. Human beings who have been tortured and witness to atrocities for the past year. And so much longer.

I’m horrified. But I refuse to be numb. Our government has, without reservation, supported the madmen of Israel. Our leaders have been bought by pro-Israel organizations and our media has forced fed us Oct 7th and antisemitic storylines, hiding the genocide.

The new lie is that Pro-Palestinian organizations are terrorists. This, as the “Right” is bolstered by an unhinged authoritarian, the “Middle” is lost by a President who refuses to stop the military industrial complex, and the “Left” who are scattered and divided over an election.

The Nobel Peace Prize was given to Japanese survivors of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

And I wonder what it will take for people to Remember.

Our Red Line

Will the fiery massacre of displaced civilians in Rafah be the assault that drives our citizenry to demand ceasefire? The slaughter of over 36,000 human beings has not done it. The arrests of over 3,000 students demonstrating for divestment has not done it. The rulings of the International Court of Justice and the potential arrest warrants of Israeli and Hamas leaders by the ICC did not do it. In fact, every time there has been a request for Israel to halt or slow its offensive, the opposite has occurred.

For seven months, world opinion has moved against Israel. Only the United States and a few allies have supported the bombing of civilians.

Our willingness to support the annihilation of Palestinian people and their way of life is intertwined in our economy. The U.S. spends hundreds of billions yearly on the war industry, reaping the benefits of global conflicts in the name of securing our interests.

Students and watchdogs alert us to lobbying money paid to legislators to keep the war industry booming and Israeli interests as top priority. Polls show a rising number of people will not vote for Biden or other Democratic candidates. Yet the arrogance of power refuses to bend towards the will of the people.

We’ve overcome great lies to arrive at this red line. We were told all Palestinians are terrorists, and all Jews are Zionist. Neither are true.

What is true is that people want peace.

What is true is there will be no peace without the majority of people demanding it.

We need a very bold step towards peace. We must find the courage to rise to this urgent moment and say, “No more.” This is our red line.

Compassion for Rafah.

red line. noun a limit beyond which someone’s behavior is no longer acceptable:

Weary of War

The United States will again hinder the course of international justice and challenge universal standards of morality. Biden has denounced the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli officials and Hamas leaders.

Since its inception, the International Criminal Court has strived to establish rules of engagement for war and peace – a monumental undertaking given the diversity of thought that exists in the world. Driven by a desire for human dignity to prevail, the court seeks to create a system of justice that would offer solace to victims and direct the course of human interactions towards peace.

The United States is a non-member of the ICC, and has supported the International Court when the Court has sought to employ justice against its foes, but has balked when the same Court has attempted to enact jurisdiction over the United States or its allies. Perhaps it’s time we evaluate our relationship to power and militarism and attempt peace keeping through diplomacy.

The United Nation’s effort to establish peace among nations is repeatedly hindered by the United States. We’re often the first to veto efforts to rein in aggression. This we have seen throughout Israel’s inhuman assault on Gaza. Even our allies are turning toward peacebuilding and away from supporting arms sales to Israel.

And in a major turn of events, Norway, Ireland and Spain have begun to recognize the statehood of Palestine. As the three countries united in this action, they expressed it as a step towards peace – for both sides of the conflict.

Many of us are weary of the normalization of war and the devastation of human life and the environment. Polls are bearing this out.

Those fearing Biden will lose the election would do well to push him towards peace.

Countries that recognize the statehood of Palestine.

Bring Peace to Rafah

Democrats are terrified of Trump. They admit that Biden’s choice to support Israel and the slaughter of over 35,000 human beings, including 15,000 children is “wrong”, but they are terrified that if they speak out, Biden will lose and democracy will be no more.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but democracy took a back seat to militarism in this country a long time ago. Militarized police on university campuses should be telling us this.

Biden is turning a blind eye towards Rafah, regardless of what his words say. Rafah is the last holdout for 1. 5 million Palestinians who ran there for safety. The government of Netanyahu is showing no sign of letting up on his seven month march of destruction and death. And Biden is showing no understanding at the consequences of his unequivocal support of Netanyahu from the start.

And one day, as we saw with Bush’s Iraq horror, we will come to know Biden’s complicity in these war crimes as calculated resource and land grabs – costing countless lives and ways of life.

War will never bring us peace.

It’s beyond time that we stop the United States war machine. Biden is little more than a puppet to the industries of war and fossil fuels, as were the presidents of both parties before him. Choose your poison.

Students are again the conscience of the United States. The rallies and encampments are the culmination of a sincere desire for peace – with the recognition that divestment from war is our way out. End war and save the environment. End war and save our humanity.

We have a bigger choice before us than who will be in the White House in 2025. We have the choice of who will emerge from this nightmare. Peacemakers or warmongers.

To all the terrified Democrats: try being in Rafah right now.

Silence is Betrayal – King’s moral stance against the Vietnam War continues to teach us.

The Needle is Moving Toward Peace

As of April 30, 98 universities were engaged in civil disobedience across the US – with three more slated to begin over the next few days.

This is not a one off.

These people are clear and determined. They’ve learned from history and from this very ugly present moment. This uprising of love and desire for peace is student led – with the support of their communities – family, clergy, faculty and more. They have absorbed the lessons of history and are putting everything on the line to say “no more”.

And what precisely is the “no more”?

They’re demanding an end to the genocide of Palestinian people, but not stopping there. They’re demanding their universities and colleges stop feeding the military industrial complex and divert the money towards peace building.

By and large the encampments have been peaceful. But you don’t hear much about the peaceful. You hear about 1,000’s of arrests. You don’t read about ongoing debates between city and university police or how a few universities have negotiated with the students in good faith.

Now we see how Wisconsin will handle the students. This early morning brought a wave of militarized police following the orders to shut down the Madison encampment.

I’ve been on the receiving end of militarized police with batons. I’ve witnessed provocateurs – both within and outside movements. They attempt to disrupt the peaceful – with intention or with ignorance. We can’t be distracted by sideshows.

This is an important and defining moment. These students have taken the passion of the 60’s and added the layered learnings of indigenous struggle, nonviolent actions, and the unnerving confidence of ones who know they’re on the right side of history.

Beyond a doubt the needle is moving towards peace. And they are reminding us once again that there is another way. The question always remains, will we take it?

I was in Madison for the beginning of the encampment. I was impressed with the manner in which the students conducted themselves and cared for one another. They are working hard to break free from the tyranny of violence that robs this country of everything good. This action by authorities was not warranted.

From Wisconsin Bailout the People

From the River to the Sea

“From the River to the Sea” has become the latest casualty in the war of indoctrination. Congress has enacted a resolution calling the words “from the river to the sea” anti-Semitic, while adding millions to Israel’s defense and robbing United States citizens of proper care. But more significantly it comes as Congress supports the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and repression of pro-Palestinian voices grows.

Lazy thinking. That’s how we’ve arrived here.

Post WWII western countries wished to be rid of the Jewish refugees. The refugees were relocated to Israel and a Jewish state was recognized by the UN in 1948.

What could have possibly gone wrong with that decision?

Already a hotbed of division, Israel expanded its territory with violence and displacement of the indigenous Palestinian people. May 15 is known as Nakba, the day of observance of Palestinian “ethnic cleansing” and land theft that occurred then and continues now.

True to their imperialistic nature, the US, Great Britain and others, supported Israel to engage in resource grabbing. This included oil and soon will be for the natural gas off the coast of Palestine – that they have just acquired through removal, and killing of Palestinians and destruction of Gaza.

“Keeping the peace” meant condemning the Palestinians to brutal occupation, because Israel is a nationalistic state, not a democracy. Palestinians who live in Israel do not share the same freedoms as Israelis. Checkpoints, water rationing and illegal Israeli settlers’ ongoing violence to Palestinians and their land have only escalated over the past 16 years. Like the apartheid state of South Africa – that the US was reluctant to see abolished – we have continued to pour billions yearly into the defense of Israel and have been willing to witness the eradication of Palestinian lands and lives.

The brutal attack by Hamas on October 7 was anexcuse for more land theft and genocide. These are not empty words. Look at the reality, not the smear campaign of corporate media, not the profiteering war mongers and their congressional lackies. I have never condoned the violence of October 7, and I will never accept the genocide that has been perpetrated by Israel since that day.

“From the River to the Sea” is used by both sides. Israel has been able to dominate the narrative – both there and here in the US. It is time to turn the narrative around. It is time to pursue peace and stop listening to the voices of hate.

We have some unlearning to do…

And for some levity in the chaos.

Category: Abolition