Tidbits – Nov. 2, 2023 – Reader Comments: Israel-Gaza War – Ceasefire, Stop the Bombing, Free the Hostages; Stop Ethnic Cleansing; Staggering Oil Profits; Bela Lugosi; Artists Call for Ceasefire Now; Workers Unite Film Festival

Reader Comments: Israel-Gaza War - Ceasefire, Stop the Bombing, Free the Hostages; Stop Ethnic Cleansing; Never Again. For Anyone; New House Speaker; Staggering Oil Profits; Bela Lugosi; Artists Call for Ceasefire Now; Workers Unite Film Festival

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Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, AND cartoons - Nov. 2, 2023,Portside

Israel - Gaza War

Reader Comments; Cartoons:

Resources:

Announcements:

 

 

Re: Even in Their Anguish, These Israeli Survivors Say Invading Gaza Won’t Help  

“I just don’t think it will bring us any closer to a better position,” Yonatan Zeigen, whose mother, Vivian Silver, is believed to be a hostage in Gaza, said. “Vengeance is not something to build foundations on. It is not a strategy. How many dead Palestinians will be enough for us to feel safe? I don’t think there’s any number. And it’s just the wrong thing to do.”

If even people like him, personally shattered by a barbaric terror attack, can muster the clarity to understand that relentless bombardment and a ground invasion may not help, perhaps there’s hope for the rest of us. May we learn from their wisdom and humanity.

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Norm Littlejohn
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

War and Peace Poster  -- designed by Armando Milani

Designed by the Italian artist Armando Milani
August 2021 for UN/Department of Global Communications

“I wish it was a dream.”  --by Palestinian Artist: Mahmoud Salameh

Mahmoud Salameh
October 30, 2023
The Art of Occupied Palestine

Re: I Run the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees. History Will Judge Us All if There Is No Ceasefire in Gaza  

Pete Seidman
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Bombing Gaza  -- Rob Rogers cartoon

Rob Rogers
October 31, 2023
robrogers.com

Re: Take Action: Never Again. For Anyone.  

An image of an ad in The NY Times via Portside

Daniel Millstone
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

The Palestinian People Will Not Be Destroyed  --  Graphic

Re: To Defeat Injustice Follow Mandela’s, Castro’s Example  

This a very short and great article. It’s also a good response to August’s piece though it was not written as that.

In solidarity

Otis

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When Settlers Become Civilians  

By Mohammed Jameel Abdulla

October 12, 2023
Africa Is A Country

The tragedy of settler-colonialism.

When settlers first arrive cosmic violence befalls those they dispossess.

The settlers bring with them destruction, death, and desolation. They erase and render your history, knowledge, spirituality, and humanity null. They enact the original sin that diverts the fated future of a people away from Possibility, to one of Dispossession.

The settlers are clear enemies of the Dispossessed because of this. Invaders. Murderers. Thieves. It can only mean war. There are no allusions. All lines are clear. The logical conclusion to the settler question is unambiguous.

But years, decades, and centuries after the original sin of dispossession takes place, a secondary travesty befalls the Dispossessed.

After the settler settles, they birth families, build communities, develop independent histories, learn and form relationships with the land and some even mix with the Dispossessed—whether through partnership, shared experiences, human connection, or political allegiance.

At this stage, the original sin still remains but the Dispossessed are no longer dealing with weapon-wielding, crusading insurgents. Now they are dealing with their children, the beneficiaries of violence, who have developed a sense of belonging to the space. The beneficiaries are now building toward a future of Possibility there, which may include some of the Dispossessed, under certain conditions.

A secondary cosmic violence befalls the Dispossessed. The invaders have become normalized. The conquest is complete. The settlers have become civilians.

When this tragedy takes place, the original sin becomes unendingly complex to resolve. To pursue the logical conclusion to the settler question means warfare. To adopt an attitude of warfare toward civilians defies common-sense morality.

In pursuing this path of justice for the original sin, a third cosmic horror befalls the Dispossessed: the Dispossessed become terrorists.

[Mohammed Jameel Abdulla works at Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education in Cape Town as a social media specialist, content creator and digital activism educator.]

Gaza siege: the 'ethical' cleansing.  --  Swaha cartoon  

 

Swaha Cartoons
October 2023

Re: Is the Two-State Solution Dead?  

It is, but not for the reason these 2 Israel haters claim. It is dead because Hamas now leads the "Resistance" and is opposed to any and all possible 2 state solutions--only a one Judenfrei state will satisfy them, and almost all Israelis now recognize that reality and understand what it means--October 7 on a mass scale. Giving Hamas a bigger state would, in their eyes, be suicidal. Are they wrong?

Stan Nadel

Letter to Vice President Kamala Harris

Dear Vice President Kamala Harris

The world is on fire -- including US voters -- with anti-Israel rallies calling for a "humanitarian stoppage" of Israel's indiscriminate slaughter and leveling to rubble all Palestinian buildings, housing, and essential infrastructure.

The Biden Administration's silence in response to the anti-Geneva Conventions "genocide" being carried out essentially uncontested by Israel against the innocent Palestinian people will itself lose the presidency for Biden-Harris.

While the wildly disproportionate thousands of Palestinians, children, and babies die, or vanish due to denial of food, water, shelter, fuel, medicine, communication access ... the "sick" and "maddening" response from the entire administration is: "ISRAEL HAS THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF."

Everyone who hears that idiotic reply knows what it really means:  "WHILE ISRAEL "ETHNICALLY CLEANSES" THE PALESTINIANS FROM THEIR MIDST ... THE US WILL STAND BY SILENTLY, BUT COMPLICIT, IN SUPPLYING ALL THE ADVANCED MILITARY WEAPONRY ISRAEL DESIRES."

Widespread frustration, disillusion, humiliation, and anger at the White House is rapidly expanding while hungering for simple rationality ... This is anger that is not going away, and -- if not satisfactorily consoled -- will find its outlet at the voting booth next November.

James E Vann,
Longtime community and political advocate
in Oakland California

New Speaker Crowned  --  Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

Mike Luckovich
October 26, 2023
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Re: The Emerging Coalition That Could Revitalize Our Politics  

Remember when women workers were on the front lines of labor battles? Not just with picket signs, but with clubs and blackjacks fighting off cops and goons? Spirit of '37, baby.

Eleanor Roosevelt
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: Youth Lead the Way on Addressing the Climate Crisis  

A district court judge ruled that state agencies were violating the plaintiffs’ constitutionally guaranteed right to a clean and healthy environment. The case is the first of its kind to successfully use a state constitution to ensure intergenerational climate justice.

 The momentum of the youth initiative in Montana extends far beyond its borders. Our Children’s Trust has filed youth-led climate lawsuits and other legal actions in all fifty states. The nonprofit currently also has ongoing litigation in Florida, Hawai‘i, Utah, and Virginia.

Norm Littlejohn
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Exxon and Chevron just announced staggering Q3 profits.

Give A Shift About Nature
Post on Facebook

Exxon, Chevron Profits Surged Ahead of Megadeals

Re: Bela Lugosi: The People’s Horror Star  

Anti-fascists, leftists, socialists, radicals, and revolutionaries looking for a horror film to watch this October should seek out one of Bela Lugosi’s classics. But please broaden your horizons beyond Dracula. You won’t regret it.

Jodda Mitchell
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

      =====

Bela Lugosi: The People's Horror Star was very timely since a new detailed bio of Lugosi was just announced on Kickstarter. It was written by Robert Cremer and based on extensive interviews with Bela's family and friends.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloverpress/bela-lugosi-the-man-be…

Sander Feinberg

      =====

Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre were also on the left, and that's part of why they played in B movies.

John Emerson

      =====

Great stuff thanks !!!

Monika Riesenberg

      =====

Bela Lugosi was performing in summer stock. My parents, were also performing. When my mom had me in 1949, they made him my godfather. His passion was H. O. trains! Elaborate tracks on a huge board filled his Living Room!

Amy McCarthy
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

      =====

A legend.

Mike Ponzillo
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

New GOP House Speaker...and Medicare  

He talks about being a good Christian. Yep, Jesus would have cut social security, food, lodging, health care, etc. I'm not a Christian but everything i'm told about real Christianity conflicts with this man's values. What am I missing.

Arlene Halfon

Re: Tumultuous Times for the Left in Europe  

Thanks for reposting Nick Wright's brilliant analysis of the crisis of the left in France and Germany.  The NYT ran a hit piece on Wagenknecht, the only article on the left in Germany I can remember their running in years.  Nick makes the politics very clear.

David Bacon

      =====

The Wagenknecht party

She combines some socialist policies with nationalist anti-immigrant, anti-green, anti anti-racism, and other right wing themes. Nationalism and socialism, hmm, now what would we call that? Maybe we could find a precedent in German history.

Stan Nadel

Re: Chicago Is Considering Opening a Municipal Grocery Store

(posting on Portside Labor)  

The state store system of liquor and wine sales has been fantastically profitable for the people of Pennsylvania since 1933 for ninety years each and every year and operated in a way that protected the common good selling a dangerous drug.

The government is capable of making money while operating in the public interest.

Edward Cloonan

Re: U.S. Labor Movement Faces Big Obstacles Despite Surge in Strikes and Union Wins

(posting on Portside Labor)  

The current share of manufacturing in the US is very low. This explains in part low union participation that in now increasing in the "services" sector.

We have shortage of business people. Those capable of starting, growing and scaling their businesses.

Low wages and underappreciation of the workforce is a cultural phenomenon. Carnegie's war on his workers was a mistake stemming from political and cultural beliefs in his era. The same misguided beliefs are imbalancing and distorting the economy now.

The pool of business people is so restrictive now, it does not produce enough with new ideas and real business acumen. It does not take an MBA to cut jobs, depress wages and make one person work for a department to deliver record profits. It is not sustainable. The real business people understood that and have been sounding the alarm for a while now that they alone with their huge compensation can't consume at the rate commensurate with their compensation. They do not need hundreds of pairs of dress pants, for instance.

Do you have stories of businesses and business people who are unusually great in our economy? When the only tool is raising prices, it makes people dumb and businesses not sustainable. Which companies are lowering prices without overseas child labor and underpaying for raw materials? Who are really creative, effective and efficient?

Natalya Panteleyeva

War Is Not Healthy.....

Original Graphic by Lorraine Art Schneider for Another Mother for Peace, Inc.1967

Another Mother for Peace was founded in 1967 by a group of women strongly opposed to the war in Vietnam. Their mission was to create a non-partisan, non-profit organization “to educate women to take an active role in eliminating war as a means of solving disputes between nations, people and ideologies.” Dedicated to the principle that war is obsolete, AMP encouraged its members to take action by writing to elected government officials to express their desire for peace   Read more  

AMP is a non-profit, non-partisan association.

Another Mother for Peace  
1604 Solano Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94707

Artists Call for Ceasefire Now

Dear President Biden,

We come together as artists and advocates, but most importantly as human beings witnessing the devastating loss of lives and unfolding horrors in Israel and Palestine.

We ask that, as President of the United States, you and the US Congress call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the last week and a half – a number any person of conscience knows is catastrophic. We believe all life is sacred, no matter faith or ethnicity and we condemn the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

We urge your administration, Congress, and all world leaders, to honor all of the lives in the Holy Land and call for and facilitate a ceasefire without delay – an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages. Half of Gaza’s two million residents are children, and more than two thirds are refugees and their descendants being forced to flee their homes. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach them.

We believe that the United States can play a vital diplomatic role in ending the suffering and we are adding our voices to those from the US Congress, UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, The International Committee of The Red Cross, and so many others. Saving lives is a moral imperative. To echo UNICEF, “Compassion — and international law — must prevail.”

As of this writing more than 6,000 bombs have been dropped on Gaza in the last 12 days - resulting in one child being killed every 15 minutes.

"Children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of air strikes and cuts to all supply routes. Gaza’s sole power plant ran out of fuel Wednesday afternoon, shutting down electricity, water and wastewater treatment. Most residents can no longer get drinking water from service providers or household water through pipelines.... The humanitarian situation has reached lethal lows, and yet all reports point to further attacks. Compassion — and international law — must prevail.” – UNICEF spokesperson James Elder

Beyond our pain and mourning for all of the people there and their loved ones around the world we are motivated by an unbending will to stand for our common humanity. We stand for freedom, justice, dignity and peace for all people – and a deep desire to stop more bloodshed.

We refuse to tell future generations the story of our silence, that we stood by and did nothing. As Emergency Relief Chief Martin Griffiths told UN News, “History is watching.”

Supported by Oxfam America & ActionAid USA

Signers from Allison Russell, Amanda Gorman, America Ferrera + Ani DiFranco to Margaret Cho, Tony Kushner, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Jon Stewart + Wanda Sykes.

List in formation
See list here

Oh Rascal Children of Gaza - A poem by Khaled Juma

Rafah-born author and poet Khaled Juma wrote a heartbreaking tribute to the children of the Gaza Strip amidst the missiles striking his hometown. At least 506 Palestinian children have been killed since Israel commenced its latest invasion (at that time) of Gaza on July 8, 2014.

Watch video here  

Oh rascal children of Gaza.
You who constantly disturbed me
with your screams under my window.
You who filled every morning
with rush and chaos.
You who broke my vase
and stole the lonely flower on my balcony.
Come back,
and scream as you want
and break all the vases.
Steal all the flowers.
Come back.
Just come back…

— Khaled Juma, Palestinian poet, 2014

Workers Unite Film Festival - New York and Virtual - October 27 - November 12