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Rolla Peace News April 10, 2018 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter041018.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, APRIL 12 2018 2. IT'S TIME FOR THIS TO END 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) Collapse And Dissolution: Commentary On An Article By Rana Dasgupta 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2018 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2018, (and all subsequent Thursdays until peace is established) from Noon to 1:00 PM. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 70s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. IT'S TIME FOR THIS TO END It's time for Americans who have been supporting Israel to take a good look at just what they are supporting. The Israeli government has for decades been taking actions that, if committed by Russia, Syria, China, Libya, Iraq, Iran, or almost any non-Western government, would be emphatically condemned as war crimes. But because it is Israel, our government and those of most Western nations have looked the other way, justifying every atrocity as self defense by a tiny nation surrounded by enemies. Here is a link to an article containing a video made by Israeli soldiers who apparently thought they were playing a video game. Remember the video leaked by Chelsea Manning, showing American soldiers shooting civilians from a helicopter? It's that bad. Israeli officials say that video “may be from months ago,” as if that makes it better; and Israel's defense minister said last week that there are “no innocent people in the Gaza Strip.” So that makes unarmed people fair game? Most Israelis in government or military seem to think so. The same Common Dreams article also contains a short video clip from Democracy Now, in which journalist Glenn Greenwald comments on Israel's latest atrocities. What he says is succinct and absolutely spot on. Please do watch both videos. We need to see and know what our government is aiding and abetting. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) COLLAPSE AND DISSOLUTION: COMMENTARY ON AN ARTICLE BY RANA DASGUPTA At the time of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent implosion of the former Soviet Empire, I can recall listening to the crowing of cold warriors about how “We won the war.” I can also remember the promise of a Peace Dividend which never materialized as our leaders planned the remaking of a world in which the one superpower now reigned supreme. I can also recall saying things like, “Don't count your chickens, we may be next.” That was less than 30 years ago — less than a blink of an eye as geological time goes. And look where we are now! Our entire global society has come unglued. Nation-states are failing. Demagogues and dictators are everywhere. The world is embroiled in Perpetual War, and Violence reigns supreme. Inequality grows without bounds. The rich get richer as the poor get poorer and those in between get fewer and fewer. The Earth itself has become a commodity to be exploited as desired by those with the wealth and power to do so. Here is a rather long article from The Guardian by Rana Dasgupta which attempts to analyze “the demise of the nation state.” While there is much in this article I disagree with, it is definitely worth the read. Dasgupta points to loss of control of wealth by nation-states, as the free movement of capital from place to place reigns supreme. Whether Barack Obama really intended to stem the rise of inequality, and whether Donald Trump was ever serious about draining the swamp are moot points. Controlling wealth is now beyond the ability of even the President of the United States. Meanwhile, people are unable to follow capital. The southern border of the US becomes increasingly fortified to keep people out. Israel has created an open-air prison called Gaza containing 1.8 million inmates, about half being children. Even protesting this condition is enough to get you killed. And 65 million refugees flow from failed states, many dying in the attempt to reach a new land where they can build a new life. As Dasgupta remarks: “Citizenship is itself the primordial kind of injustice in the world. It functions as an extreme form of inherited property and, like other systems in which inherited privilege is overwhelmingly determinant, it arouses little allegiance in those who inherit nothing. ... 97% of citizenship is inherited, which means that the essential horizons of life on this planet are already determined at birth.” As the world descends further into gangsterism, “the true extent of our insecurity will be revealed as the relative power of the US further declines, and it can no longer do anything to control the chaos it helped create.” Please consider reading this article. Although long, it is certainly worthwhile. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: near the top of rightmost column). If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com |