Hartford Rally for Syrians Monday 8-21

Monday August 21 will see demonstrations, rallies and vigils remembering the mass murder of 1400 people by Assad forces ten years ago in Ghouta Syria

The Hartford event will be held on the sidewalk near the Old State House at noon. It's the area facing the highway. Tell your GPS to go to 1 Market Street. Parking on the street or in a garage a block up at 19 Market St.

Attorney Maryam Bitar will lead the event.

The event is sponsored by the Syrian American Council, Promoting Enduring Peace and the Middle East Crisis Committee

Cluster Bombs, the Russian Invasion, Ukrainian Resistance

"Cluster Bombs, the Russian Invasion, Ukrainian Resistance - a Broad Discussion"

Wed. August 2

8:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time

on Zoom (see below for link)

Our main goal is an open discussion. To get things going we'll hear from Ted Zuur who is in Bogota Columbia and Joanne Sheehan from Eastern Connecticut. Most of the session, though, will be thoughts from those attending.

Ted Zuur is a semi-retired teacher, translator, waiter, and small farmer who lives in Bogotá. He is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area where he was a student and later a trade union activist. He was the Peace and Freedom Party candidate in San Francisco's 5th congressional district twice, and debated his opponent Nancy Pelosi numerous times. She won both elections.

Joanne Sheehan is a nonviolent activist and educator who has worked for decades with organizations like the War Resisters' League and Voluntown Peace Trust

Moderator: Stanley Heller

Administrator

Promoting Enduring Peace

PEPeace.org

More details and suggested background reading coming

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.

When: Aug 2, 2023 08:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkf-qvqzItGtambH7hA0igESJ1_G5f7PAV

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Some articles you may wish to read beforehand:

With Ukraine's Cluster Bombs Killing Its Own Citizens, Biden Readies order to Send More

https://theintercept.com/2023/07/05/ukraine-cluster-bombs-biden/

Russian Mines in Ukraine - The Threat is Pervasive

https://www.dw.com/en/russian-mines-in-ukraine-the-threat-is-pervasive/a-63214795

Cluster Munition Coalition | CMC (stopclustermunitions.org)

Human Rights Watch

Cluster Munitions | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

Ukrainian Use of Cluster Bombs is Both Legal and Just - Kyiv Independent

Cluster Bombs and Morality - Anthony Boynton

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Cluster Bombs and Morality by Anthony Boynton

Why are cluster munitions immoral. Because a bunch of governments have signed a treaty banning their use? Because civilians, especially children have been killed and wounded by cluster munitions? (See for example Alex Shephard’s New Republic article of July 11, 2023: Biden’s Immoral, Indefensible Decision to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine https://newrepublic.com/article/174218/bidens-immoral-indefensible-decision-send-cluster-bombs-ukraine)

By the second standard, war itself is immoral, and all weapons of war are immoral. Most pacifists believe this. The first standard is laughable because it assumes that a large number of today’s governments actually have moral standards.

In the Marxist tradition aggressive war with the intent to conquer and destroy is immoral, but defensive war is justified and eminently moral. So too is a revolutionary war by the oppressed against their oppressors.

If the Ukrainians defensive war is moral, then there is the issue of their usefulness.

There are three principal Russian-made obstacles to that counteroffensive right now:

· Extensive Russian minefields throughout occupied Zaporizha, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea.

· Extensive systems of entrenchment in these same area.

· Helicopter gunships armed with missiles that are capable of destroying Ukrainian demining equipment and soldiers from a safe distance (These helicopters could easily be destroyed IF the USA and NATO would supply Ukraine with the aircraft it needs.)

Next to aircraft and longer range missiles, they are exactly what the Ukrainian counter offensive needs right now to clear the Russian’s systems of fortified entrenchment.

The kind of munitions the Ukrainians will receive are 155 mm artillery (and possibly 105 mm howitzer) shells rather than missiles or bombs dropped from aircraft.

These munitions can kill soldiers protected by trenches much more effectively than conventional unitary artillery ammunition, and they can destroy vehicles and groups of soldiers on open roads. They can be targeted to relatively small areas of just a few meters, or to larger areas of as much as 200 meters in diameter.

However, how effective cluster munitions are at demining operations is an important question, especially for destroying antitank mines (See David Walters’ post.) Other explosive devices are effectively used for demining. Bombs dropped from aircraft and missiles can destroy large percentages of anti-tank mines, and several existing demining vehicles use rocket launched, explosive packed tubes to destroy anti-tank mine fields and reportedly destroy 90% of mines. Most interestingly, The Ukrainian military is reportedly successfully using hand grenades dropped from drones to destroy Russian anti-tank mines.

Nevertheless, there is no evidence how effective cluster munitions are at demining operations easily available online. These munitions were not designed for this task and have not been field tested for this task as far as I can tell.

One point that has to be considered is that cluster munitions effectiveness for this job can probably be varied since they can be loaded with different numbers and size of bomblets. A cluster shell containing fewer, larger, more powerful bomblets might do the job that conventionally packed cluster shells cannot do.

Since Ukraine’s airpower deficit makes it difficult to take out the Russian helicopter gunships, they will try to use cluster munitions to replace human engineers and demining vehicles or at least to supplement them. Ukraine will provide the world with the data we now lack, only because the United States and NATO leave it no other option.

There are a few myths about cluster munitions that should be addressed:

· Cluster munitions deliver dozens of smaller bombs across a huge territory, the very definition of indiscriminate bombardment.

· Many go unexploded, leaving bombs—many of which are oddly shaped and colorful and thus appealing to children—littered behind.

· They could fall on areas where Ukrainian civilians live.

· In the long-term, they represent a tremendous threat to Ukraine’s own civilian population.

1. The area to be covered by cluster bomblets is determined in advance by setting the altitude at which the shell will release its bomblets. It can be as large as 200 meters in diameter, or it can be only a few meters in diameter. Cluster munitions have been deliberately and intentionally used for indiscriminate bombardment of civilian populations, but they can be used in other ways depending on the decisions of the military unit using them.

Ukraine has pledged that they will use these munitions to clear the Russian invaders from their entrenched positions in occupied Ukraine. Why would they do otherwise?

2. The munitions the United States is providing are not oddly shaped and colorful, but some fail to explode upon impact. Some are designed not to explode on impact, instead acting as mines.

Unexploded ordinance including mines is a terrible remnant of war in every country that has suffered any warfare since the early 20th century. Demining operations are long, expensive, time consuming and dangerous.

However, Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country in the world. Russia has extensively mined the entire land bridge between Donbas and Crimea, and much of Donbas and Crimea, too.

These are exactly the areas in which Ukraine will use any cluster munitions they receive.

Arguably, they will add very little to the danger already presented by Russian minefields.

3. The entire region has already been partially depopulated by the Russian invasion and occupation, but the areas the Ukrainians are likely to use cluster munitions on are the Russian minefields and trenches, not the towns and cities. Why would they do otherwise?

4. Cluster munitions do represent a long term threat to Ukraine’s population, but a lesser threat than the Russian jackboot, and a lesser threat than Russian landmines. Ukraine is being destroyed slowly and relentlessly by Russian missiles. Why shouldn’t the Ukrainians have the weapons they needed to stop that destruction?

War is terrible. Ask the Ukrainians. They think losing a war to Russia would be worse. They also have shown that leaving Russia in control of any Ukrainian territory would be a Russian victory that would most likely lead to another invasion in the future.

The moral thing to do, here, now, today, is to give Ukraine the arms it needs to win: F-16s and other aircraft, longer distance missiles, and cluster munitions.

Anthony Boynton

https://rstudio-pubs-static.s3.amazonaws.com/175739_d1a8dc3d159249b6a2968c20adb81115.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-purpose_improved_conventional_munition

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/07/europe/cluster-munitions-us-ukraine-aid-explainer-intl-hnk-ml/index.html

https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/giving-ukraine-cluster-munitions-necessary-legal-and-morally-justified

https://www.csis.org/analysis/cluster-munitions-what-are-they-and-why-united-states-sending-them-ukraine

The Peril and an Idea

Ukrainians Government Warns

The Peril:

Ukraine holds disaster drills amid fears Russia could sabotage nuclear power plant - ABC News July 1 - Chief of Military Intelligence Budanov "told The New Statesman magazine that Russian troops had rigged the station's cooling ponds with explosives, that if destroyed could lead to the reactors melting down. He also said Russia had moved explosives-laden vehicles into four of the plant's six power units."

Zelenskiy: Russia may be preparing to trigger nuclear plant explosion - The Guardian (UK)

Russia reducing personnel at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - Ukrainian intelligence

Also note The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)also warns that as a result of the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, the nuclear plants have only about two months of water for those cooling pools. [destruction almost certainly caused by Russia]

The Idea:

Get the UN General Assembly to order an international unit under its command to take over control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant complex, a peace-keeping force. Establish a demilitarized zone around the plants.

See this petition created by the Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Campaign

Let anti-nuclear, anti-war and trade unions know about this idea

Alternatives to destroying social programs

Update May 29. Biden and McCarthy worked out a deal. Federal programs except military will be basically frozen at 2023 levels (because of inflation that means about a 5% cut a year.)

So we have a debt ceiling, an ingenious reactionary weapon to prevent the exploited classes from getting government help. Biden can certainly just ignore the ceiling and say it violates the 14 Amendment to the Constitution. The problem is that the Trump Supreme court may slap him down.

There is a very sensible alternative. Cut the military budget starting with the nukes and all the imperial military bases. Take a look at the program of "Defuse Nuclear War".

Also, take a look at our no-nukes archive.

the so-called brics: The Global South and Ukraine

Sunday 5/21 at 11 a.m. Eastern a panel sponsored by the Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Campaign

Fabio Bosco is a transit worker and a member of the independent Brazilian union federation Conlutas. He is also a member of the Unified Socialist Workers Party of Brazil. Fabio has a long history of worker organizing and writing about the workers struggles in Brazil.

Kavita Krishnan was a leader of the student movement in India. She led the campaign against rape of Indian woman, and then she joined and became a leader of the Communist Party of India Marxist Leninist. In September of this year, she spoke out against that party support for the Xi and the Putin regimes, especially in regard to repression of Uighurs, and regarding the invasion of Ukraine.

Patrick Bond is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg. He teaches and writes about political economy, political ecology and social mobilization. He has also taught in Britain, South Korea and the United States. A theme over the years has been his views on South Africa’s move from racial to class apartheid, in the form of “Neoliberalism”. He has also written extensively about BRICS.

Why have governments of formerly colonialized countries not unconditionally condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
What do the roles of the Brazil, India and South African governments have in common and how do they differ?
What is the role of the BRICS governments in their own countries’ domestic politics and class struggle?
What is the attitude of the working class in those countries towards the invasion? How about the attitude of the left in those countries?
How can the left in the “global north” that supports Ukraine work more closely with the left in the BRICS countries?

Restore #1145

In Connecticut, SB #1145 contained a section to use a money incentive to get people to buy electric-powered equipment rather than smelly noisy gas-powered machinery. Without a vote or even public discussion the language was stripped from the bill. Bring it back! (see the wording below)

We're told the key person to reach is Senator Rick Lopes. His web email is senatedems.ct.gov/lopes-contact. If you've only got time for a short message write, "Restore the subsidies for electric-powered equipment tp SB #1145."

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This link get's you to the emails of legislators on the committee. Here's a model letter you might use or send your own thoughts:

Subject: Please restore to SB #1145 the subsidies to retailers for rebates on electric-powered equipment

April , 2023

We need to quickly replace noisy, polluting, greenhouse gas emitting gas engines with electric-powered machines for the sake of lawn care workers, people who live where they use that equipment, and the entire planet (global warming effects). #1145 is a step in the right direction. Please support the incentive to electrify. Bring back the sections that were stripped out of #1145

Sincerely,

Your name

address

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Here's the original language that needs to be restored:

(NEW) (Effective from passage) There is established an account to be known as the zero emissions small off-road engine account which shall be a separate, nonlapsing account within the General Fund. Moneys in such account shall be used by the Department of Revenue Services to reimburse retailers for rebates provided by such retailers pursuant to section 8 of this act. Such account shall contain all moneys required by law to be deposited in such account. Such account may receive funds from private or public sources, including, but not limited to, any municipal government or the federal government. Raised Bill No. 1145 LCO No. 4605 11 of 11 308

(Effective July 1, 2023) The sum of ten million dollars is appropriated to the Department of Revenue Services from the General Fund, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, for the purpose of funding the zero emissions small off-road engine account established pursuant to section 9 of this act.

And if you'd like more information on the subject click here

Tell the CT Treasurer to Break with Apartheid

There were rallies in 12 cities to protest the appearance of Israeli Finance Minister and self-proclaimed "fascist homophobe" Bezalel Smotrich at an Israeli Bonds dinner on March 12. The rallies called for disinvestment in Israel.

Connecticut has over $100 million invested in Israel. Activists will protest on 3/16 in front of the Treasury Building. Reach CT's Treasurer at: state.treasurer@ct.gov or @TreasRussell You could simply say: Sell Off the Israel Bonds

Over 500 groups support Atlanta Forest defenders

Promoting Enduring Peace was one of the groups that signed on to this statement which begins:

On January 18, in the course of their latest militarized raid on the forest, police in Atlanta shot and killed a person. This is only the most recent of a series of violent police retaliations against the movement. The official narrative is that Cop City is necessary to make Atlanta “safe,” but this brutal killing reveals what they mean when they use that word.

Forests are the lungs of planet Earth. The destruction of forests affects all of us. So do the gentrification and police violence that the bulldozing of Weelaunee Forest would facilitate. What is happening in Atlanta is not a local issue.

Politicians who support Cop City have attempted to discredit forest defenders as “outside agitators.” This smear has a disgraceful history in the South, where authorities have used it against abolitionists, labor organizers, and the Civil Rights Movement, among others. The goal of those who spread this narrative is to discourage solidarity and isolate communities from each other while offering a pretext to bring in state and federal forces, who are the actual “outside agitators.” The consequence of that strategy is on full display in the tragedy of January 18...

See the full statement by clicking here

A Strategy on Ukraine and on Nukes

The danger of nuclear war is no joke, but that doesn't mean countries should just fold in the face of Russian (or U.S. government) threats.

We've developed some ideas on how to proceed: 1) Calling for support for Ukraine and defeat for Putin and immediate withdrawal of Russian troops; 2) Working to lessen the threat of nuclear war through support of ideas from Defuse Nuclear War (get rid of the ICBM's, take nuclear weapons off "hair trigger" alerts, declare "no-first-use" of nuclear weapons, rejoin nuclear treaties with Russia); 3) Explaining that the West's hypocrisy (Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sahrawi, etc.) is a gift to Putin; 4) Calling for a crash program to stop using fossil fuels and nuclear; 5) material support for Syrians in areas not yet conquered by the Assad regime (as a good in itself and as a “second front” against Putin’s imperialism.)

In terms of action, we have a petition calling for a halt to U.S. import of Russian uranium (you’d never know it was happening with all the guilt-tripping of Europe for buying Russian gas.) The measure could both weaken Putin and force the U.S. to replace dangerous nuclear power plants with sustainable electric power sources. See the next panel.

Campaign to Stop importing Russian Uranium

Watching Democracy Now in mid-November 2022 many were surprised to learn that while the U.S. tells the world not to import Russian natural gas, U.S. companies freely import Russian uranium.

In response the Ukrainian Socialist Solidarity Campaign organized a petition to call for the U.S. to ban Russian uranium imports. It started on 12/3. There are two major reasons 1) to take profits away from the Putin government (whose Roskam sells uranium) and 2) to swiftly wean the U.S. away from nuclear power

Read the Greenpeace article entitled, "Nuclear exception leaves gaping hole in EU Russia sanctions as uranium ship reaches France"

A report on the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

US and EU imports of Russian uranium and enrichment services could stop. Here’s how.

what cop27 Didn't Do

It failed to agree on any steps to phase out fossil fuels
It didn't even talk about reducing animal agriculture as a way of reducing the very serious amounts of methane it produces.
It didn't prevent holding its next "Conference of Parties" in the UAE, another state without political or workers' rights.

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It did promise money to the poor countries who are suffering the most from what the big industrial countries have done to the atmosphere.

Activists used it to give a lot of attention to Alla Abd El-Fattah and the 70,000 other Egyptian political prisoners

Working Class Resistance to Nazi Germany

Details about our 11/28 Event

Merilyn Moos' talk will be shown at SCSU in Englemann B 121 A&B. Park in Lot 12. The entrance is on Crescent St. just before Lyman Hall. After you enter from Crescent St. turn right and you'll be in Lot 12. Details about watching the event on zoom below.

Nov. 2022 video interview Stanley Heller interviewer

Moos talks about her father Siegi Moos

Kuhle Wampe (1932) German film with English subtitles

Siegi Moos was in the film. The script was conceived by Bertolt Brecht!

co-sponsors of the event on the 28th include Promoting Enduring Peace, the Women Studies Department and History Department at Southern Connecticut State University, and Jewish Voice for Peace (New Haven).

To watch the event on Zoom register here: https://tinyurl.com/AntiNaziGermans

This is not just history. As the recent election has probably sent the U.S. Congress into gridlock and inability to deal with the inflation many people will look for magical racist solutions. Look back to the 1930's for lessons for today.

To attend in-person see directions for parking and building and to the classroom immediately below.

Remembering the Sarin Massacre in Syria

How it Was Remembered

PEP sponsored a Zoom event where we saw photos, lit candles in honor of those murdered and talked about ways to support a Free Syria.

On the WPKN radio program Mic Check, Mike Merle interviewed Dr. Zaki Lababidi, originally from Homs, Syria . you can hear it on Soundcloud by clicking here.

Link to journalist & human rights worker comments about the attack

Razan Zeituneh

(BTW Zeituneh was disappeared in Dec. 2013)

Human Rights Watch Report

Stanley Heller interview with an eyewitness Dani Qappani for TSVN

1500 deaths according to this French report

The Greatest nuclear threat right now

Russia is occupying Europe's largest nuclear power plant, in southern Ukraine. In the words of Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency the situation there "is completely out of control" and "Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated.”

Russian President Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons to get his way in Ukraine

We say,

Putin, get your soldiers and weapons out of Ukraine Nuclear Plants
Russia, US, Pledge NOT to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, no matter what
Russia out of Ukraine
Remember Hiroshima, Never Again

Watch Democracy Now 8/4/2022

Disappeared for 10 years

Everyone you see in the picture on the right was kidnapped by Assad forces on March 9, 2013. The mother depicted, Rania Alabbasi, was a dentist and Syria's most famous chess champion. In addition to the 8 people shown here the secretary of Ms. Alabbasi was also taken.

Nothing has been heard about any of these 9 people since they were taken.

Click here to watch a 3/7/22 interview with Hassan Alabbasi, Rania's brother who is in Ottawa.

Ask your local media or Congress to raise this issue.

Write to producers@democracynow.org and ask DN! to cover the story.