CONTENTS:
PHILLY AREA ACTION:
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
ACTION:
COMMENTARY:
==========
PHILLY AREA ACTION:
The celebration of "Trees of
Reconciliation: A Tu B'Shvat Seder of Healing and Reparation."
We hope that for many, this will be the capstone on a day
of service
for Martin Luther King Day here in Philly.
Monday, January 21, 6-8 p.m.
Germantown Friends Meeting, 47 W Coulter St.
Phila Pa 19147
Jewish Voice for Peace has created a new Hagaddah which
weaves liturgy, poetry and song to explore the legacy of trees in Jewish
tradition and in Israeli and Palestinian culture. The seder is political
- the writers (Philly's own Hannah Schwarzschild and Elliott Bat Tzedek)
complete re-imagined the Tu B'Shvat ritual focusing on Israel-Palestine, the
struggle for land, trees as political/economic icons, (forests, Palestinian
olive groves), and the effect of the separation wall on the land as well as on
Palestinian lives and livelihoods.
This is the first step of
launching the "Trees of Reconciliation" initiative, which will seek
in the coming years to raise money to replant olive trees in the West Bank and,
at the same time, to raise consciousness among U.S. Jews and others about the
realities of the Israeli occupation. We are excited about both aspects of
this new initiative, and look forward to build an ongoing economic and
educational program beginning with this year’s Tu B'Shvat seder.
Hold the date -- January 21st! Info: marlena @ marlsan@cavtel.net/ 215-247-4385
__________________________________
The Granny Peace Brigade
Philadelphia announces:
Peace Activist, Col Ann Wright:
Philly Book Signing, "Dissent: Voices of Conscience"
(www.voicesofconscience.com).
See Col Ann Wright’s Bio:
http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/ann_wright.html
Wednesday, January 30,
6:00 p.m.
Robin's Bookstore, 108
South 13th Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19107,
215-735-9600 ( Larry Robins, larry@robinsbookstore.com )
Ann will also be reading on Saturday, February 2, 1:00
p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The Moravian Book Shop,
428 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018, Contact:
Stephanie
1-888-661-2888, stephanie@moravianbookshop.com ,
www.moravianbookshop.com
Ann would be glad to do another speaking
event earlier in the day on Jan 30 or on Feb 2.
She would really appreciate your help in
publicizing these events!!
Happy Holidays and Peace! Ann Wright, 808-741-1141
___________________________________________________
FACING GUANTÁNAMO: Six Years
Later
JANUARY 11, 2008, will mark the six-year anniversary of
the first arrival of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.
Thursday, January 10,
2008, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
National Constitution
Center, Kirby Auditorium, 5th & Arch St., Philadelphia
Featuring: Christopher J.
Huber, Esq.pro bono attorney for two current prisoners
Co-sponsored by: ACLU of Pennsylvania, Amnesty
International of Eastern PA, National Lawyers Guild Philadelphia Chapter,
Brandywine Peace Community, The Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture, and
the American Friends Service Committee Pennsylvania Program
Event is free and open to the public.
For more information, visit: www.aclupa.org or www.aclu.org/closeguantanamo
Friday, January 11, Noon,
National Day of Action to Close Guantanamo (vigil)
Meet at Philadelphia Federal Courthouse, 601 Market St.,
Philadelphia, process through historic district, For info, email
brandywine@juno.com.
7:00 p.m., Free Screening of
"Sicko"
Unitarian Universalist Church of Cherry Hill, 401 N.
Kings Hwy., Cherry Hill, NJ
For info, email brownmayola@comcast.net
Saturday, January 12, 9:00 a.m.
to 1:00 p.m.
T-shirt Bundling for MLK Day
volunteers
W.S. Peirce School, 24th & Christian Sts.,
Philadelphia, PA
Sponsored by Greater Philadelphia MLK Day of Service- For
info, email bward@uwsepa.org.
Sunday, January 13, 4:30 p.m.
Brandywine Peace Community's
Monthly Potluck Supper & Program "Fighting for National Health
Insurance: A Civil Rights Movement
for Universal (Single Payer) Healthcare" with
Dr. Walter Tsou, University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut St., Philadelphia,
PA
Please bring a salad, main dish or dessert to share - For
info, email brandywine@juno.com.
Monday, January 14
7:00 p.m., Prep Meeting for
Martin Luther King Day Civil Disobedience at Lockheed Martin
Tabernacle Church, 37th & Chestnut Sts.,
Philadelphia, PA
For info, email brandywine@juno.com
Saturday, January 19
1:00-4:00 p.m., Family Chess
Day--bring the kids
African American Museum, 701 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA
Honor Dr. King's memory by promoting an alternative to
violence/after school program
Registration required - Email wjordan@phillyasap.org
7:00 p.m. Celebrating Songs of
Resistance, Struggle & Peace--Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Concert with
Tom Mullian & Friends and special musical guest Jerry Burruss.
Peace Center of Delaware County/Springfield Friends
Meetinghouse, 1001 Old Sproul Rd., Springfield, PA- Admission is $5, For info,
email brandywine@juno.com
Martin Luther King Jr. Peace
Event
Sunday January 20, 2008, 2:00 pm
- 4:00 pm
Location: Near the home of
Senator Arlen Specter
West Schoolhouse Lane (between Henry Avenue and Gypsy
Lane) in East Falls City State Philadelphia, PA 19129.......Phone: 215-843-4256
`Twenty-four peace groups
will hold a Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Event. They want Specter to cut off
funding for the U.S. occupation of Iraq and to bring the troops home, now.
Monday, January 21, ALL DAY--DR.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HOLIDAY
Noon: "Make War No
More" Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Nonviolent Resistance (including civil
disobedience) Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Blvds., Valley Forge,
PA
For info, email brandywine@juno.com.
Wednesday, January 23, 8:30
a.m. to 1 p.m.
Training Seminar: "Hazing
and Harassment: Prevention, Intervention and Legal Issues for Schools"
CORA, 8540 Verree Rd., Philadelphia- Cost is $5 - For
info, call 215-701-2702.
Thursday, January 24, 6:00-8:00
p.m.
People's Emergency Center's Young
Friends Event
Strikes Bowling Lounge, 4040 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA
$30 contribution requested, For info, email
youngfriendsevent@pec-cares.org.
Friday, January 25, ALL DAY -
Shadowing Day
Philadelphia 9th grade students
will shadow employees in workplaces around the city
To get involved in the Mentoring program, call
866-MENTOR3.
Saturday, January 26, 7:30 p.m.
Latin Music from Sol y Canto
Calvary Center for Culture and Community, 48th &
Baltimore Ave., Philadelphia, PA
Sponsored by Crossroads Music
Tickets are $10-20, For info, email
info@corssroadsconcerts.org.
Tuesday, January 29, 11:00
a.m.
Day of Action to Ban Mandatory
Overtime for Health Care Workers in PA
Capitol Rotunda, Harrisburg, PA , For info, email
sippk@seiuhealthcarepa.org.
Tuesday, February 5
ALL DAY--NJ PRESIDENTIAL
PRIMARY--DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
Sunday, February 10, 4:30
p.m.
Brandywine Peace Community's
Monthly Potluck Supper & Program "Another Cataclysm of this War--A
Million Iraqi Refugees" with Peter Lems, AFSC
University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut St.,
Philadelphia, PA
Please bring a salad, main dish or dessert to share- For
info, email brandywine@juno.com.
_______________________________________________________
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
ACTION:
Can you sign this urgent petition
asking local, state, and federal officials to require paper Ballots for our
votes?
Clicking here will add your name:
http://pol.moveon.org/paper2008/o.pl?id=11873-6403956-1wIurt&t=3
The petition says: "We must act quickly to secure our
elections with paper ballots and audits before November."
________________________
COMMENTARY:
1. Plan Mexco, SPP, and NAFTA
(shortened version)
Posted by: "Joy Truskowski"
joypoop@hotmail.com
Information about a U.S. Congress bill circulating to
renegotiate NAFTA
Public pressure for the bill and the boycott of U.S.
products in Mexico are both worthy things to pursue. [Justiceforbrad]
Plan Mexco, SPP, and NAFTA
> I think it's important that work around Plan Mexico
be done in a context
> of SPP/NAFTA Plus and ultimately NAFTA itself. Right
now there is a lot of
> momentum (well, a lot of hot air from the
politicians, but that's because
> they realize the issue strikes a nerve with the
public) behind NAFTA
> reform or abolition, I think framing Plan Mexico as
a component of NAFTA
> expansion will allow us to invoke the negative
public opinion on NAFTA
> when addressing this issue. I think it's also
important to illustrate
> that NAFTA is directly responsible for expanding and
facilitating the
> Mexican drug trade:
http://www.today.ucla.edu/2001/010522freetrade.html
>
> So, I think the campaign should be framed as
"No NAFTA, No SPP, No Plan
> Mexico" with a focus on all three.
>
> There's actually legislation in Congress right now
to overhaul or abolish
> NAFTA, so there is a concrete proposal on the table
that we can support
> (see below). And the leading Democrats in the
Presidential Primary are
> now competing with each other to see who can issue
the sternest anti-NAFTA
> rhetoric.
>
> Here's some info on Plan Mexico, SPP, and NAFTA:
According to the Washington Post the package, dubbed
“Plan Mexico”, would
> include U.S. arms and surveillance equipment,
espionage technology and
> programs, and training for Mexico’s police and
army to combat drug
> cartels. The Post reports that most are predicting
that the aid package
> will be well-received in Washington, despite the
fact that many in
> Congress have complained about the secrecy of the
negotiations. It is
> possible that it will be presented to Congress as
early as this month, as
> an emergency supplemental appropriation for next
year’s foreign aid
> budget, following the same process of the approval
and implementation of
> Plan Colombia in 1999.
> Civil society, labor, environmental organizations,
and researchers who
> have documented many of NAFTA’s negative
impacts have not (up to this
> point) had any voice in SPP development, which
purports to be defining the
> future of North America. During this year’s
summit, civil society found
> itself on the other side of a thick security cordon
and its protests were
> met with tear gas as has been the case throughout
the years as trade
> agreements are negotiated. Not only is civil society
missing from the
> conversation, but so is Congress, which has Carlsen
describing the SPP as
> a “gentlemen’s agreement between the
executive branches and major
> corporations in the three nations.” Unlike
NAFTA, the SPP is not one
> package but a series of side initiatives, often
escaping Congressional
> oversight.
>
> Big business has not had the same problem as
Congress and civil society.
> The North American Competitive Council (the NACC),
comprised of
> representatives of big business such as Walmart,
General Electric, and
> Chevron, gave specific input and concrete
recommendations during the
> summit. The NACC was formed at the second annual SPP
summit in 2006 so
> that "leadership from governments recognize the
importance of business
> issues to the overall social welfare, and empowers
the private sector to
> engage substantively and pragmatically on trade and
security issues
> without undue deference to political
sensibilities," according to a NACC
> report. In late August the Mexican daily La Jornada
reported that the
> Calderon administration will now follow the agenda
and recommendations of
> the NACC to improve “Mexico’s
competitiveness” while determining economic
> policy. The secrecy that surrounds the SPP makes
both these policy
> “recommendations” and their impacts
difficult to detect.
HON. MARCY KAPTUR OF OHIO,
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
> WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2006
> Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, everyone
knows that America is losing its
> independence as goods that used to be made here are
displaced by
> foreign imports. In fact, America is in unchartered
waters today. We
> have an accumulated trade deficit of nearly $1
trillion a year.
> Today, I want to talk a little bit
about super NAFTA and what the Bush
> administration is planning to lock NAFTA in even
tighter in this
> country and across the continent.
> There is something called the
Agreement on Security and Prosperity that
> is being negotiated by the Bush administration very
quietly. No
> hearings are being held in this Congress. Most Americans
have never
> even heard the term, but it really is the successor
to NAFTA.
> In addition to what it anticipates
in terms of a new transportation
> corridor that will come up through Mexico and the
American highway into
> the United States, it also includes the incentives
to major
> corporations, such as Ford Corporation of our
country that is laying
> off people in our country, now an additional 30,000
jobs to be lost
> here in the United States, and Ford is planning to
employed over
> 150,000 more workers in Mexico, announcing it will
be investing over
> $9.2 billion in Mexico.
> It is hard to explain to the
American people how big that investment
> really is, but truly it will employ 15 percent or 1
of 7 of all
> unemployed people in Mexico, so many of them having
been uprooted from
> their farmsteads, because NAFTA included no
transition provisions to
> allow people to have a life and to survive inside of
Mexico's rural
> areas, and over 2 million families have been
uprooted from Mexico's
> farm communities and are doing what, they are moving
north to eat.
> At the heart of our illegal
immigration problem is NAFTA's disruption
> of the Mexican countryside.
> My question is, how much democracy
will that agreement actually have in
> it? Will it be prosperity for all, or just for
people who are rich
> enough to own global companies, like Cintra, that
will invest anywhere,
> don't know the people in our communities, frankly
don't care, and are
> willing to move production anywhere?
> The people of the United States
had better wake up. We'd better ask
> ourselves why are Americans having to work so hard
for less? Why is it
> more expensive for them to send their children to
college, and then
> those kids graduate with huge debts? Why isn't your
pension plan
> secure? Why are you having to pay so much more for
health care? Why is
> not your retirement benefit there forever?
> Because these kinds of interests
don't want you to have it because they
> are so filthy rich off the investments they are
making globally. They
> don't care about you, they don't care about this
country, they don't
> care about where you come from, and, my friends,
they don't care about democracy. END
>
> H.R.4329, NAFTA Accountability Act (Introduced in
House)
> 110th CONGRESS, 1st Session
> To assess the impact of the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA ),
> to require further negotiation of certain provisions
of the NAFTA , and to
> provide for the withdrawal from the NAFTA unless
certain conditions are met.
> IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
> December 6, 2007
> Ms. KAPTUR (for herself, Mrs. BOYDA of Kansas, Mr.
HUNTER, Mr. HARE, Mr.
> KUCINICH, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SUTTON,
and Mr. GRIJALVA)
> introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Ways
> and Means
>
> A BILL
> To assess the impact of the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA ),
> to require further negotiation of certain provisions
of the NAFTA , and to
> provide for the withdrawal from the NAFTA unless certain
conditions are met.
> Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United
> States of America in Congress assembled,
-------------------------
MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK, WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS,
DECEMBER 31 – JANUARY 6, 2008
1. ZAPATISTAS CELEBRATE WOMEN'S
ENCOUNTER, 14TH ANNIVERSARY
More than 2,000 participants from 30 countries celebrated
the Comandante
Ramona Women's Encounter in La Garrucha, one of five
centers of indigenous
culture and resistance in Chiapas, from January 29-31.
Women led dozens of
workshops on the history of the Zapatista movement, the
role of women in the
rebellion, and the future of women's participation, while
men were assigned
housekeeping tasks. The Revolutionary Women's Law,
first promulgated in
Zapatista communities in 1992, was the unstated
foundation of the encounter,
which celebrated the rapidly changing roles of women in
indigenous
communities in Zapatista communities. By the
evening of January 31, the
official anniversary celebration of the Zapatista
uprising, more than 5,000
participants crowded La Garrucha, enjoying speeches,
songs and dancing.
The international Encounter unfolded amidst precarious
security conditions
in Zapatista communities, especially in the North and
Selva regions.
Paramilitary groups aligned with the PRI, the army
and State officials from
the Office of Agrarian Reform have mounted a series of
actions recently,
some armed, attacking Zapatista villages located on lands
that were
liberated during the 1994 uprising. The attacks are
of such intensity that
the Zapatista National Liberation Army recently postponed
its ambitious
plans for participation in the Other Campaign.
Subcomandante Marcos
announced in mid December the EZLN leadership would not
appear in public for
at least several months as the rebel army prepares for
expected increases in
paramilitary activity. Solidarity activists are
encouraged to participate
in Peace Camps organized by the Fray Bartolome Human
Rights Center and
CAPISE.
2. ARIZONA LAWS THREATEN MIGRANTS
A new Arizona law that threatens serious sanctions
against employers who
hire undocumented immigrants took effect on January
1. The law mandates all
150,000 businesses registered in Arizona to utilize
E-Verify, a federal
program that verifies the immigration status of
employees. Businesses found
with undocumented employees face losing their license for
two weeks for the
first offense and three years for the second. To
date, only 6% of Arizona
businesses are registered with E-Verify, which is a
costly and
time-consuming bureaucratic procedure that will likely
lower wages for all
Arizona workers in the medium term.
Arizona approved seven
anti-immigrant laws during the past year, two of
which are currently being implemented, and another eight
laws are either
pending approval or are facing judicial review. One
law allows officials to
confiscate remittances if there is suspicion of
money-laundering. To date,
11,000 immigrants have been affected and more than US$17
million has been
confiscated. While narco-traffickers generally
enjoy access to legal venues
to challenge the confiscations, undocumented workers do
not. Another law
prohibits selling an automobile without checking the
legal status of the
purchaser. In addition, Arizona police are
enforcing federal immigration
laws. The federal government offers training for
local police that choose
to enforce federal immigration laws, but few law
enforcement agencies have
been willing to assume the added costs and ruin
relationships built up over
years with immigrant communities. With many
immigrants leaving the
inhospitable state, one wonders who will do all of the
landscaping,
janitorial and home construction services that prevail in
Arizona's
retirement communities.
- In related news, the Bush
administration recently contracted a photographic
service to take pictures of secondary and high school
students who cross the
border daily at Imperial to attend schools in southern
California. Federal
agents will provide the photos to local school officials,
who will
presumably expel the students.
* ANTI NAFTA DEMONSTRATIONS OPEN
THE NEW YEAR
Anti-NAFTA demonstrators blocked the commercial bridge
linking El Paso and
Ciudad Juarez for 36 hours staring January 1, searching
trucks for imported
corn and beans. The demonstrators were part of a
national coalition dubbed
"Sin Maiz no Hay Pais, Sin Frijol Tempoco"
(Without Corn and Beans there is
no Country). On January 1, the full provisions of
NAFTA took effect,
abolishing protective tariffs on corn, beans, powdered
milk and sugar. The
impact in the Mexican countryside, already reeling from
subsidized imports
of US agricultural grains, is expected to be devastating
* Back Home, a Struggle to
Reconnect
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010708T.shtml
The Boston Globe's Anna Badkhen
says, "No mortar rounds slam into Kim Luce's two-story house in Central
Massachusetts. No medevac helicopters throb outside at 3 a.m. No wounded
soldiers moan to get her attention. After a year as a chief ward master for an
American military hospital in Iraq, Army Reserve Master Sergeant Luce is back
in her spacious Shrewsbury home."
* Polar Bears May Lose Ground to
Oil
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010708EA.shtml
Deborah Zabarenko of Reuters
reports: "The US government will soon decide whether polar bears are in
danger because global warming is melting their icy habitat. But last week, the government
offered some of that habitat as a place to drill for oil."
* The San Francisco Chronicle |
Global Warming Goes to Court
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010708EB.shtml
An editorial in The San
Francisco Chronicle states that "The Environmental Protection Agency can't
say it wasn't warned. By denying California - and another 16 states - a chance
to set tailpipe limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the fumbling feds are
lining up for a painful ordeal in the courtroom and on Capitol Hill."
* Subject: Juan Cole, "Top
Ten Myths about Iraq 2007"
http://www.juancole.com/2007/12/top-ten-myths-about-iraq-2007.html
* Cloned livestock poised to
receive FDA clearance
By JANE ZHANG in Washington, JOHN
W. MILLER in Brussels and LAUREN ETTER in Chicago
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119938649276665241.html
Get ready for a food fight over
milk and meat from cloned animals and their offspring. After more than six
years of wrestling with the question of whether meat and milk from them are
safe to eat, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to declare as early
as next week, they are.
* Five Million Iraqi Orphans
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0801/S00011.htm
Here, also, is Owen's note: "I am about to write a nasty letter to
my congressman as well as to our aiding and abetting senators. Five
million orphans is a crime against humanity. As an ex-teacher, mentor and
surrogate dad, I just can't let this go. The deaths are one thing, but those
who must struggle through a whole life ahead of them?"
* EPA Sued for Denying States'
Right to Curb Emissions
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010208R.shtml
Margot Roosevelt of The Los
Angeles Times reports: "California and 15 other states filed suit against
the federal government today for denying them the right to restrict carbon
dioxide emissions from cars and trucks, a major cause of global warming."
* Will Tanzman | The Man Who
United Labor and the Environment
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010208LB.shtml
In AlterNet.org, Will Tanzman
writes about Tony Mazzocchi, "a leader in the movement to make industrial
production less harmful to workers and the natural environment."
* A Voice for Rural Women of
China
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010208WA.shtml
John M. Glionna, The Los
Angeles Times, reports: "Xie Lihua's parents wanted a boy. But on the day
Xie was born in a poor village in rural Shandong province, her mother learned
she had given birth to a second daughter. She wept in anger. And she slapped
her new baby."
* ITALIAN SAYS 9-11 SOLVED
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/9-11_solved118.html
It's common knowledge, he
reveals, CIA, Mossad behind terror attacks By the Staff of American Free
Press. Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga, who revealed the
existence of Operation Gladio, has told Italy's most widely read newspaper that
the 9-11 terrorist attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad, and that this was
common knowledge among global intelligence agencies.
* Victories in 2007, By Robert
Weissman, December 31, 2007