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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19uycyJagEA&list=FLlSoHQ9_9RT23qpmnSY4gOQ&feature=share&index=1
LEONARD PELTIER DEFENSE OFFENSE COMMITTEE
http://www.leonardpeltier.info
SIRATYST (Stuff I Read and Thought You Should Too) -- “To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.” (Calgacus, as quoted by Tacitus, Agricola 30-31)"
Friday, February 14, 2014
"Correa Sells Ecuador To Gold Mining, Indigenous Vow Fight To Death" -- Popular Resistance
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EXCERPT:
To help him grab these shiny metals, Correa has invited foreign mining firms to deforest and drill much of the country’s remaining pristine forests. Not far from where Ankuash and I are sitting, a Chinese joint venture led by the China Railway Corp. is building infrastructure for an open-sky copper mine with the “Lord of the Rings”-sounding name of Mirador. To the north and east of the Chinese concession, the Canadian gold giant Kinross is prepping its 39 lots, including the envy of the industry, Fruta del Norte, believed to be Latin America’s largest deposit of high-grade gold. These projects are merely the first wave; others wait in the wings. Together they threaten more than the Shuar way of life and the sustainable agricultural and tourist economies of Ecuador’s southern provinces. The Condor is a hot spot of singular ecological wealth and a major source of water for the wider Amazon watershed to the east. What happens there is of global consequence.
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| Shuar leader Patricio Tiwiram sits below a waterfall along the Rio Kupiamias. This is a sacred spot for the Shuar and one threatened by nearby mining concessions. |
EXCERPT:
To help him grab these shiny metals, Correa has invited foreign mining firms to deforest and drill much of the country’s remaining pristine forests. Not far from where Ankuash and I are sitting, a Chinese joint venture led by the China Railway Corp. is building infrastructure for an open-sky copper mine with the “Lord of the Rings”-sounding name of Mirador. To the north and east of the Chinese concession, the Canadian gold giant Kinross is prepping its 39 lots, including the envy of the industry, Fruta del Norte, believed to be Latin America’s largest deposit of high-grade gold. These projects are merely the first wave; others wait in the wings. Together they threaten more than the Shuar way of life and the sustainable agricultural and tourist economies of Ecuador’s southern provinces. The Condor is a hot spot of singular ecological wealth and a major source of water for the wider Amazon watershed to the east. What happens there is of global consequence.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
In Photos: Palestinians Take Back Jordan Valley Village -- from Electronic Intifada
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To See More of the Story, go to https://tinyurl.com/n2zej6q
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| Palestinians Around A Campfire in Ein Hijleh Village |
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| Palestinians Chanting in Slogans of Protest In Their Village |
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
From #15Now: Vast Majority Of Seattle Voters Support $15 Minimum Wage [New Polls!]
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If minimum-wage opponents weren’t already shitting bricks, they’re in for an awfully uncomfortable bowel movement: A new poll finds a stunning 68 percent of Seattle voters support a straight-up hike in the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. No exemptions, no phase-ins, no strings attached.
The news for opponents only gets worse the further you delve into the details: 35 percent of voters “strongly support” the proposal, compared to only 14 percent who “strongly oppose,” while support holds fast throughout the city and in every demographic subgroup except Republicans.
And in case opponents were hoping to console themselves with the thought that this is just some shoddy pro-labor propaganda (the poll was funded by a coalition that includes Working Washington, UFCW 21, Nick Hanauer, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, the Teamsters, and the MLK County Labor Council), well, no luck there. The survey of 805 likely Seattle voters—an unusually large and robust sample—was conducted January 14 through January 22 by the reputable polling firm EMC Research, with a margin of error of ± 3.5 percentage points.
These numbers may be off the charts, but they’re rock solid.
“We were certainly surprised,” admits EMC Research principal Andrew Thibault about the unexpectedly positive results, “but it seems that there is a tipping point.” Thibault believes that the $15 campaign in SeaTac, the fast-food strikes, and the embrace of the issue by winning candidates like Council Member Kshama Sawant and Mayor Ed Murray last year have all increased awareness and support for the issue.
But Thibault suspects another factor may have come into play, one beyond the control of either side of the debate: Seattle’s surging sense of self-confidence. According to the survey, 63 percent of Seattle voters believe the city is “going in the right direction,” up from 53 percent in September and 43 percent in 2011. “That’s a crazy number,” says Thibault.
But perhaps more impressive is the “wrong track” number, which has plummeted to just 19 percent. “There’s a tremendous amount of optimism in the city,” says Thibault.
And that optimism may help explain why even when a narrow majority agree with one of the leading talking points against raising the minimum wage, it doesn’t move the dial very far. For example, 51 percent of voters actually agree that “increasing the minimum wage will hurt local small, minority owned, and family owned businesses.” But at the same time, 71 percent of voters also agree that a higher minimum wage would “help” local businesses “because more workers making more money means they will have money to spend at local businesses.”
Seattle voters aren’t ignoring the concerns of small businesses; they have simply determined that the benefits of a higher minimum wage outweigh the costs: 82 percent agree that raising the minimum wage “ensures more families can make ends meet and get ahead,” while only 40 percent call it a “job killer.” Seattle voters simply aren’t moved by the classic argument that a higher minimum wage would shutter businesses and destroy jobs. “People right now aren’t buying it,” says Thibault.
And neither are they buying efforts to water down the ordinance. The survey tested tip credits, small-business exemptions, and applying the wage only to certain industries, none of which increased voter support. A three-year phase-in does bump up support to 73 percent, but stretch the phase-in to five years, and both overall support (67 percent) and intensity (28 percent “strongly”) begin to erode.
By contrast, provisions that strengthen worker protections consistently increase support: all the way up to 88 percent support for requiring that all tips go to workers.
All of this means that if the city council and the mayor ultimately back a compromise measure that’s too weak (phased in too slowly or containing too many exemptions), activists can feel confident taking a more aggressive measure to the ballot this fall knowing that voters are resoundingly behind them.
That is the sound of bricks hitting porcelain in executive washrooms citywide.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/vast-majority-of-seattle-voters-support-15-minimum-wage/Content?oid=18870987&show=comments
Ariel Sharon: Another War Crime Surfaces -- Jonathan Cook
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- See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2014-02-12/ariel-sharon-another-war-crime-surfaces/#sthash.ji9qDnyv.dpuf
Forty-two years late, another Israeli war crime emerges from the shadows. In this case, dozens, and more probably hundreds, of Israeli soldiers kept a decades-long vow of secrecy. One of them is Shlomo Gazit, today a respected (in Israel, at least) academic at Tel Aviv University.
In January 1972, Ariel Sharon decided that 3,000 Bedouin were in the way of a massive military exercise he wanted to conduct in the southern Negev and northern Sinai. So he summarily expelled two tribes in the el-Arish area of the Sinai from their homes, during a deep winter spell. At least 40 people died, mostly babies, children and the elderly.
A young army researcher, Clinton Bailey, heard from other Bedouin of the expulsion and went to meet the families. He photographed 28 small graves at their new makeshift location.
He then brought the expulsion to the attention of the head of the army, David Elazar. Although Elazar ordered the tribes to be returned to their land, it was too late for the dozens who had died. No action was taken against Sharon or anyone else. In fact, Sharon’s military and later political career prospered on such “exploits”.
Bailey and everyone else covered up the crime for four decades, fearful of the damage it would do to Israel’s reputation. The silence has been broken now because Bailey divulged the incident to journalist David Landau, who was preparing a new biography of Ariel Sharon.
Haaretz coyly admits that its military correspondent of the time knew of the war crime too but kept quiet. The paper has published the story now, but one cannot but ponder its motives. This revelation should help book sales, and Landau is a former senior editor at the paper.
No one is denying that these events took place. The Israeli army even comments that the “case is known”, though it wishes to say nothing more. Gazit has no recollection of being told about it at the time.
What other such crimes do we still not know about because Israelis consider their loyalty to their state more important than their responsibility as human beings to the truth and justice?
And although Haaretz, and most of those involved in the cover-up, treat this as some footnote in the historical record, or another aberration to lay at the feet of Sharon, the reality is that Israel is still driving Arabs – Palestinians – off their land. The people of the Jordan Valley, Sussiya and East Jerusalem know this only too well.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Saturday, February 08, 2014
Breaking the Set (Abby Martin) Interviews Councilmember Kshama Sawant & Chris Hedges
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http://youtu.be/IqCuVBg0FXo
Next Saturday there are workshops on the Fight for 15 in Seattle: http://15now.org
http://youtu.be/IqCuVBg0FXo
Next Saturday there are workshops on the Fight for 15 in Seattle: http://15now.org
Friday, February 07, 2014
Israeli Army Inhales Some of Its Own Medicine at Bilin Demonstration. Ha! Free Palestine! @abirkopty
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Go to this link to see more pics on this from Abir Kopty's blog: http://abirkopty.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/bilinteargasatsoldiers/
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
18TH ANNUAL NW REGIONAL INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER -- Tacoma, Sat. Feb. 8
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As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but all together we make a mighty fist. -- Sitting Bull
18TH ANNUAL NW REGIONAL
INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER
INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER
FEBRUARY 8, 2014, 12 NOON, TACOMA, WA
12:00 NOON: MARCH FOR JUSTICE Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between E. 35th & E. Fairbanks. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east)
1:00 PM: RALLY FOR JUSTICE U.S. Federal Court House, 1717-Pacific Ave.
FACEBOOK EVENTS PAGE: Please invite your friends. https://www.facebook.com/
March fliers for download: http://zinelibrary.info/files/
http://oregonjericho.
PUYALLUP TRIBAL NEWS ARTICLE ON UP-COMING MARCH:
http://www.puyalluptribalnews.
http://oregonjericho.
PUYALLUP TRIBAL NEWS ARTICLE ON UP-COMING MARCH:
http://www.puyalluptribalnews.
SEATTLE CAR POOL & OLYMPIA BUS AND CAR POOL FOR FEB. 8TH NW LEONARD PELTIER MARCH
The Seattle Car Pool will leave the Red Apple parking lot (23rd & Jackson) at 10:30am.
Olympia: A bus and cars will leave from Grocery Outlet Parking Lot on Harrison Ave. near Division on the Westside of Olympia at 11 A.M. this Saturday and return to Olympia after the march and rally. It will also stop to pick up people at Media Island, 816 Adams after leaving Grocery Outlet Parking Lot.
Speakers
Matilaja: Yu’Pik: Eskimo from Mountain Village Alaska. Member of N.W. AIM since 1973, Friend of Leonard Peltier for 40 odd years and member of Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Ramona Bennett: Puyallup Tribal Elder, Life long friend of Leonard Peltier, Grand Mother, Great Grand Mother
Chauncy Peltier: Leonard Peltier's son
David Bean: Puyallup Tribal Council Member and child of the movement (mother Gloria Bean)
Olivia One Feather: Hunkpapa Lakota, Standing Rock Sioux member, Native and Idle No More activist
Deeahop Conway, Puyallup Tribal member, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
James OldCoyote: Sacred Water Canoe Family
Jimbo Simmons: AIM West
Peter Bohmer: long-term activist, member of Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, and faculty at the Evergreen State College
Wakinyan Waanatan (Matt Remle): Hunkpapa Lakota. Last Real Indians
Father Bill Bichsel: Jesuit Priest, Catholic Worker Movement
Gary Wessels-Galbreath: Host View From The Shore on KAOS Radio.
Steve Hapy: Long time Leonard Peltier and Native struggles activist, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Arthur J. Miller: Northwest Regional Organizer LPDOC
Matilaja: Yu’Pik: Eskimo from Mountain Village Alaska. Member of N.W. AIM since 1973, Friend of Leonard Peltier for 40 odd years and member of Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Ramona Bennett: Puyallup Tribal Elder, Life long friend of Leonard Peltier, Grand Mother, Great Grand Mother
Chauncy Peltier: Leonard Peltier's son
David Bean: Puyallup Tribal Council Member and child of the movement (mother Gloria Bean)
Olivia One Feather: Hunkpapa Lakota, Standing Rock Sioux member, Native and Idle No More activist
Deeahop Conway, Puyallup Tribal member, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
James OldCoyote: Sacred Water Canoe Family
Jimbo Simmons: AIM West
Peter Bohmer: long-term activist, member of Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, and faculty at the Evergreen State College
Wakinyan Waanatan (Matt Remle): Hunkpapa Lakota. Last Real Indians
Father Bill Bichsel: Jesuit Priest, Catholic Worker Movement
Gary Wessels-Galbreath: Host View From The Shore on KAOS Radio.
Steve Hapy: Long time Leonard Peltier and Native struggles activist, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Arthur J. Miller: Northwest Regional Organizer LPDOC
COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS, WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Our work for freedom for Leonard Peltier has always been a grassroots struggle involving many different community activists. Each NW regional march and rally in Tacoma is the direct efforts of the Tacoma Chapter LPDOC and Leonard Peltier supporters throughout our region. This up-coming regional march will be the 18th held in Tacoma. COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS, we really need your help this time.
The awareness of Leonard's case has grown in the NW, as have our events grown also. But members of our group have grown old, poor and in bad health. We are not able to do all that we once were able to. But we cannot back down now. Important support for Leonard has in recent times increased greatly. Thousands upon thousands of phone calls, e-mails, petitions and letters have gone to the White House, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) unanimously passed a resolution in support of freedom for Leonard Peltier, the great concert for Leonard hosted by Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte, the renewed campaign for Leonard by Amnesty International and much more. We here in the NW do our part by organizing marches for Leonard out in the pubic.
We need your help getting the word out for the up-coming march on Feb. 8th. Please forward this statement to to others, groups and organizations. Please share and like our appeals on facebook, please down load our fliers and get them out, please go to our facebook events page and sign-on if you can go and please invite your friends.
Together we have made the NW and Tacoma known across the land as a strong region of Leonard support, as people have watched videos of our events or heard about them. We need to continue in that spirit and tradition and build the best possible march as possible. With your help that can be done. Thank you.
Leonard Peltier (of the Anishinabe, Dakota, and Lakota Nations), long time Native Activist and member of the American Indian Movement. Leonard Peltier, an innocent man who was convicted for the 1975 shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. prosecutors have repeatedly admitted that they did not and cannot prove Peltier's guilt, and the appellate courts have cited numerous instances of investigative and prosecutorial misconduct in this case. As late as November 2003, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that "…Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed." The trial of the first two AIM members in this case were found not guilty for reason of self-defense. Amesty International has renewed their campaign to free Leonard. For more information go to: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that the real motivation behind both Wounded Knee II and the Oglala firefight, and much of the turmoil throughout Indian Country since the early 1970s, was—and is—the mining companies’ desire to muffle AIM and all traditional Indian people, who sought—and still seek—to protect the land, water, and air from their thefts and depredations. In this sad and tragic age we live in, to come to the defense of Mother Earth is to be branded a criminal.”
--Leonard Peltier, Prison Writings –
--Leonard Peltier, Prison Writings –
Please call and or send e-mails in support of clemency for Leonard Peltier:
White House Comments Line - 202-456-1111; 202-456-1112
E-mail: http://www.
Message: I support clemency for Leonard Peltier
White House Comments Line - 202-456-1111; 202-456-1112
E-mail: http://www.
Message: I support clemency for Leonard Peltier
It is important to keep phone calls, e-mails, and letters going to the White House during the clemency campaign.
Tacoma Chapter LPDOC,
P.O. BOX 5464
Tacoma, WA 98415-0464
e-mail: bayou@blarg.net
on facebook at: http://facebook.com/tacoma.
Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at: nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@
P.O. BOX 5464
Tacoma, WA 98415-0464
e-mail: bayou@blarg.net
on facebook at: http://facebook.com/tacoma.
Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at: nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
Ivy's Demand Letter Victoriously Delivered to City Council & Mayor
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| Ivy Williams & Dorli Rainey Celebrate the Successful Delivery of Demand Letter to City Council & Mayor Murray on 1/27/14 |
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| Merle Adler and Members of SAFE Seattle Debrief after deliver of Demand Letter
30 people, including many members of Standing Against Foreclosures and Evictions (SAFE), let the City Council and Mayor know that it is the City's job to maintain ancient sewer pipes so that individual homeowners do not get stuck with bills in the thousands to fix sewer pipes that flood their homes. This is what happened to Ivy. As a home health aid, Ivy's income does not accommodate this kind of catastrophe, especially when sewers are the City's responsibility. One of council member Sawant's aides accompanied the group to the Mayor's office.
The City is now on probation until February 15th, when they will be expected to present a plan to reimburse Ivy for her immediate problems and a long-term answer for the rotting sewer infrastructure around the city. We know of people who have lost homes due to these same circumstances. We need and want housing justice for Ivy, for the homeless and for all!
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Saturday, January 25, 2014
"Scarlett [Johannsson] and Oxfam Chat Over Palestinian Land Loss"--BDS (It's Working!)
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EXCERPT (from Mondoweiss.net):
"I flipped last night when I opened the New York Times coverage of the SodaStream/Scarlett fiasco by Robert Mackey, Scarlett Johansson’s SodaStream Endorsement Deal Conflicts With Charity Work, Aid Group Says. Not one but two of Stephanie Westbrook’s (@stephinrome) fantastic SodaStream/Scarlett graphics, (as seen here and here). We met in Gaza ’09, a beautiful and amazing person, dedicated activist, one of the best.
"We’re honored to publish her new SodaStream graphic. Thanks Stephanie!
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Our New Banner and the Rasta Musician Made the Vigil Fly By on Saturday!
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Ed and Ivy hold our new Banner. Also present were Kahn, Sibyl (rocking with the Rasta guy), Phil, Amin, Linda and John.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
If You Want "A World Beyond War" -- Sign up to build it.
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I just signed a declaration of peace!
All individuals and organizations, all over the world, are invited to sign a short statement in support of ending all war, and to join in the planning of a new movement to be launched on September 21, 2014. This is the whole statement:
I understand that wars and militarism make us less safe rather than protect us, that they kill, injure and traumatize adults, children and infants, severely damage the natural environment, erode civil liberties, and drain our economies, siphoning resources from life-affirming activities. I commit to engage in and support nonviolent efforts to end all war and preparations for war and to create a sustainable and just peace.
To sign this, and to get involved in many different ways, individuals should click here and organizations here.
To see the case against war explained clearly for anyone who has doubts, check out the website at
http://worldbeyondwar.org
All individuals and organizations, all over the world, are invited to sign a short statement in support of ending all war, and to join in the planning of a new movement to be launched on September 21, 2014. This is the whole statement:
I understand that wars and militarism make us less safe rather than protect us, that they kill, injure and traumatize adults, children and infants, severely damage the natural environment, erode civil liberties, and drain our economies, siphoning resources from life-affirming activities. I commit to engage in and support nonviolent efforts to end all war and preparations for war and to create a sustainable and just peace.
To sign this, and to get involved in many different ways, individuals should click here and organizations here.
To see the case against war explained clearly for anyone who has doubts, check out the website at
http://worldbeyondwar.org
Monday, January 13, 2014
Israel Destroys Wells of Tayaseer Village in Occupied Jordan Valley with VOLVO'S Help!
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