Global

Change. Now.

I get that, and understand the symbolism of packed heat. A gun says: We mean business. But that symbolism stops as soon as the trigger is pulled. What the armed protesters could wind up with is a bitter present-day civil war and the blood-stained illusion of change.

The country — and the world — have been in the midst of a social uprising for the past month and a half, ignited by the brutal police killing of George Floyd. The global protests against structural racism have been racially diverse and, for the most part (and except for the police) unarmed. But that’s shifting. Armed black protesters have begun making their presence known. So have armed white counterprotesters.

The Kateri Peace Conference, which has been held in upstate New York for 22 years, will be held online this year, allowing anyone in the world who can get online to attend and hear from and speak with such wonderful U.S. peace activists — (Hey, World, did you know the U.S. had peace activists?) — as Steve Breyman, John Amidon, Maureen Beillargeon Aumand, Medea Benjamin, Kristin Christman, Lawrence Davidson, Stephen Downs, James Jennings, Kathy Kelly, Jim Merkel, Ed Kinane, Nick Mottern, Rev. Felicia Parazaider, Bill Quigley, David Swanson, Ann Wright, and Chris Antal.

Yes, my name is in that list. No, I am not suggesting that I am wonderful. But I have had the privilege to speak at the Kateri Peace Conference in-person in 2012 and 2014, and was scheduled to be there again in 2020 until the Trumpandemic changed everyone’s routines.

Efforts to scrub the CHOP continue and protesters continue to get arrested.

Ever since the CHOP became the Seattle Police's Autonomous Zone or SPAZ, protesters have continued to protest at Broadway and Pine. Some have learned the body cameras of police are either off or out of battery, causing outrage within crowds, including taxpayers objecting to paying for cameras not being used. Homeless persons have maintained their ground at Broadway and Pine, resting there after losing their tent homes and most property to the sweeping of CHOP.

For days now, at least 2/3 of officers have been observed not wearing masks despite both local and state law, much to the annoyance of protesters demanding to know why police enforce laws when they don't follow laws.

The visceral reaction to the murder of George Floyd unleashed deep personal reflection about racism, social justice, and fairness, and launched a powerful, broad based social movement.

The pursuit of justice, fairness, and the shape of our common futures encompasses but also transcends the questions of racism and raises questions about the nature of our civilization.

In this way, the Covid-19 pandemic is understood to fall disproportionally upon people of color, on the poor, on the millions imprisoned in the American gulag, upon undocumented migrants and their families, on residents of nursing homes and longterm care facilities. A substantial portion of our population is placed at risk by their everyday lives.

There is a clear convergence in our minds and in our politics that failures of justice and fairness are driven by root inequalities and inequities created and maintained by our social, economic and political system that are experienced and understood in terms of failures of social and ecological justice.

Bob Fitrakis interviews Morgan Harper who recently spoke at the Recall Ginther rally on her thoughts about the Black Lives Matter protests, the city's reaction and other current social justice issues.

http://wcrsfm.org/audio/play/13191

Source: http://wcrsfm.org/audio/by/artist/bob_fitrakis_and_morgan_harper

The habitability of the earth and the viability of lesser evilism are on the ropes, and incrementalism is thriving even in the current moment of increased activism for radical change.

The initial COVID-19 panic (and the ultimate economic shut-down that will kill small businesses)was no mistake; it wasn't an overly cautious WHO or Dr. Fauci that made the call in haste. The panic and over-reaction was planned and prepared for. Bill Gates (and his billionaire’s club [the World Economic Forum])held an exercise called "Event 201" in preparation for a coronavirus pandemic in which he calculated 33 million deaths would occur world-wide. Anthony Fauci also predicted a pandemic would happen while Donald Trump was president. Fauci worked for Gates. Fauci (and his NIAID) also sponsored work on coronaviruses in the Wuhan laboratory with US taxpayer money. We see the actions of the WHO, Fauci, and Bill Gates - who somehow is the go-to authority on SARS COV 2 having never taken a medical course in his life. Laugh all you want but this is the New World Order attempting to take over. And they can do it. They own the media, even FOX. They even own two of the major news outlets, Reuters and the AP.

In the past, there have been many attempts at holding accused Israeli war criminals accountable. Particularly memorable is the case of the late Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, (known, among other nicknames, as the ‘Butcher of Sabra and Shatila’) whose victims attempted to try him in a Belgian Court in 2002. 

The visit by newly-elected Tunisian President Kais Saied to France on June 22 was intended to discuss bilateral relations, trade, etc. But it was also a missed opportunity, where Tunisia could have formally demanded an apology from France for the decades of French colonialism, which has shattered the social and political fabric of this North African Arab nation since the late 19th century.