Advertisement

Student lying on ground beneath Columbus statue

Beneath the Christopher Columbus statue in the square on Columbus State Community College campus, there was a die-in to call attention to the fact that celebrating Columbus Day is glorifying Christopher Columbus as a hero -- when in fact he was a conqueror responsible for the deaths of many indigenous people. Christopher Columbus was a slave trader and in reality is a symbol of colonialism, repression and genocide in our country. The die-in was staged so that Columbus State students would think about the real Columbus legacy and what it means to have such a statue as a icon on their campus. This was the first of three events happening today, October 12, 2015, to demonstrate against Columbus Day in Columbus, Ohio, so-named after the murderous conquistador. At 5:30pm, activists will gather for a protest by the Columbus statue outside the south side of Columbus City Hall, then march for a vigil on OSU campus at 7pm.

In an online discussion I asked Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International, a fairly straightforward question:

"Will Amnesty International recognize the UN Charter and the Kellogg Briand Pact and oppose war and militarism and military spending? Admirable as it is to go after many of the symptoms of militarism, your avoidance of addressing the central problem seems bizarre. The idea that you can more credibly offer opinions on the legality of constituent elements of a crime if you avoid acknowledging the criminality of the whole seems wrong. Your acceptance of drone murders as possibly legal if they are part of wars immorally and, again, bizarrely avoids the blatant illegality of the wars themselves."

There is video and audio. It exists. The Pentagon says it's critically important. Congress has asked for it and been refused. WikiLeaks is offering $50,000 to the next brave soul willing to be punished for a good deed in the manner of Chelsea Manning, Thomas Drake, Edward Snowden, and so many others. You can petition the White House to hand it over here.

Death row inmate Keith LaMar speaks on the phone to participants in the Walk to Stop Executions as they prepare to walk the last two miles to the Ohio Statehouse on October 10.

“I really appreciate what you all are doing,” said death row inmate Keith LaMar on Saturday morning from the Ohio State Penitentiary, the supermax prison in Youngstown. “Keep pushing for it!”

LaMar was speaking on the phone to more than 80 death penalty opponents gathered outside Southwood Elementary School as they prepared to walk the final two miles of the Walk to Stop Executions.

A dozen of the protesters completed the entire week-long, 83-mile trek, sponsored by Ohioans to Stop Executions. They started at the death house at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville, and stopped overnight at Catholic, Protestant, and evangelical churches along the way.

“What do we want? Abolition! When do we want it? Now!” chanted the walkers as they proceeded up South High Street to the Ohio Statehouse. They gathered on the west side of the Statehouse and took turns tolling a bell to call for an end to the death penalty in Ohio. From there they walked to the Trinity Episcopal Church on the east side of the Statehouse for a rally.

Ho hum, there was another mass shooting at another school a few days ago.

 

This one was at an Oregon junior college. It  happens to be the 142nd school shooting since Sandy Hook (see: http://everytown.org/article/schoolshootings/ for the entire list), and no mainstream journalist is asking (or, if he knows, his editors are not allowing him to reveal the answer to) the pertinent question that people who truly want to understand the epidemic need to know: “What brain-damaging, addictive psych drug(s) was this brain-altered shooter taking or withdrawing from?”

 

Book cover for Showdown

Thurgood Marshall is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated freedom fighters of the twentieth century. For more than two decades he was the preeminent lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); it was Marshall who founded and directed the organization’s Legal and Educational Defense Fund.
   The subject matter in which he dealt was broad: segregated schools, the rights of the accused, voting discrimination, questions on federal jurisdiction. (Not all of his legal acumen was directed at such weighty matters. A series of stern letters from Marshall to the Whitman candy company convinced them to cease selling a candy they called Chocolate Covered Pickaninny Peppermints that came in a box festooned with racist caricatures of black children.)

The world’s two big nuclear militaries are in the same war now in Syria and, if not on opposite sides exactly, certainly not on the same side. A primary, if not the primary, goal of the United States in Syria is overthrowing the Syrian government. A primary, if not the primary, goal of Russia is maintaining the Syrian government. Hostilities are building in each nation toward the other. Republican candidates for president are trying to outdo a certain Democratic candidate for president in bellicosity toward Russia. Forces armed by the U.S. in Syria are eager to shoot down Russian planes. Russia and the U.S. and its allies are clearly unhappy about each other’s flights. Hillary Clinton wants a no-fly zone. Israeli and Russian planes have already come close to fighting. Israel has attacked the base Russia is using, or at least Russia says it has.

Imagine the Syrian war from the point of view of ordinary Syrians from a variety of backgrounds. They are most likely to offer a different perspective and to hold entirely different expectations than most other parties involved.  

 

A resident of Idlib, a villager from Deraa, a housewife, a teacher, a nurse or an unemployed ex-prisoner from anywhere else in Syria would distinguish their relationship to the war in terminology and overall understanding that is partially, or entirely, opposed to the narrative communicated by CNN, Al-Jazeera, Russia Today, the BBC, Press TV, and every available media platform that is concerned with the outcomes of the war.  

 

These media tailor their coverage and, when necessary - as is often the case - slant their focus in ways that would communicate their designated editorial agendas, which, unsurprisingly, is often linked to the larger political agenda of their respective governments. They may purport to speak in accordance with some imaginary moral line, but, frankly, none of them do.  

 

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS