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The Great American Boycott 2006

El Gran Paro Americano 2006

On May 1, Immigrants are calling for no work, no school, no sales, and no buying, and also to have rallies around symbols of economic trade to protest the anti-immigrant movements across the country. At the heart of this boycott is the protest of H.R. 4437.

Turn Left, Cornell’s Premiers Liberal Voice explains the bill and the quandry that it puts Conservatives in:

The debate, which to this point, has involved both branches of Congress, as well as President Bush, has centered around HR 4437, a bill proposed by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) that classifies all undocumented immigrants as aggravated felons, denies such immigrants social services, permits the indefinite detention of foreigners, and criminalizes a broad list of activities aimed at helping out or working with undocumented immigrants. The bill, which also includes provisions for constructing more walls to cover one-third of the US-Mexico border, has been passed by the House of Representatives and is now being debated in the US Senate.

May 1 or May Day is know also as International Workers’ Day. It is a celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labor movement. In most countries other than the U.S. and UK, May Day is often referred to simply as “Labor Day”.

International Workers’ Day is the commemoration of the Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago, Illinois.

On May 1, 1886 (later known as May Day), labor unions organized a strike for an eight-hour work day in Chicago. The working conditions in the city were miserable, with most workers working ten to twelve hour days, often six days a week under sometimes dangerous conditions. On May 3 striking workers met near the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant. A fight broke out on the picket lines, and Chicago police intervened and attacked the strikers, killing two, wounding several others and sparking outrage in the city’s working community.

Local anarchists distributed fliers calling for a rally at Haymarket Square, then a bustling commercial center (also called the Haymarket) near the corner of Randolph Street and Desplaines Street in what was later called Chicago’s west Loop. These fliers alleged police had murdered the strikers on behalf of business interests and urged workers to seek justice. In response to the McCormick killings, August Spies published “Revenge! Workingmen to Arms!” This pamphlet urged workers to take action:

To arms we call you, to arms!

The Rally at Haymarket Square began as a peaceful event but ended in bloodshed.

The police ordered the rally to disperse and began marching in formation towards the speakers’ wagon. A lit, fused bomb whistled over the heads of onlookers, landed near the police line and exploded, killing a policeman and 7 other policemen later died from their injuries. The police immediately opened fire on the crowd, injuring dozens. Many of the wounded were afraid to visit hospitals for fear of being arrested. A total of eleven people died.

The Red Scare periods ended May Day as a mass holiday in the United States, a phenomenon which can be seen as somewhat ironic given that May Day originated in Chicago.

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To build on Dark Wraith’s post on the death of Kenneth Galbraith, my memory of Ambassador Galbraith is from the Kennedy years (yes, I am way, way older than Mr. Wraith).

In the fall of 1961, unknown to the American public, John F. Kennedy was weighing a crucial decision about Vietnam not unlike that which George W. Bush faced about Iraq in early 2002–whether to go to war. It was the height of the cold war, when Communism was the “terrorist threat,” and Ho Chi Minh the era’s Saddam Hussein to many in Washington. But the new President was a liberal Massachusetts Democrat (and a decorated war veteran), not a conservative Sunbelt Republican who claimed God’s hand guided his foreign policy. JFK’s tough-minded instincts about war were thus very different. Contrary to what many have come to believe about the Vietnam War’s origins, new research shows that Kennedy wanted no war in Asia and had clear criteria for conditions under which he’d send Americans abroad to fight and die for their country–criteria quite relevant today. Read Mr. Galbraith’s influence HERE

And, then, there are his Letters to Kennedy
Letters to Kennedy is about as far removed from the familiar tell-all biographies or nutty assassination conspiracies as it is possible to go…The letters confirm Galbraith’s skill as a writer, his abiding contempt for the State Department as an institution and Richard Nixon as a politician, and in particular, his prescient opposition to American military involvement in Vietnam, even before it had begun. You can find the reviews of his book HERE

Finally, my favorite Galbraith quote:

War remains the decisive human failure.
~John Kenneth Galbraith

A moment of silence for this gentleman is very much deserved. Rest in Peace, Ambassador Galbraith.

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Economist John Kenneth Galbraith Dies

Canadian-born economist and former ambassador to India John Kenneth Galbraith died Saturday at the age of 97. Among the many accomplishments in his long career was the enormous contribution he made as a lead architect of the Great Society programs that became in their sweeping scope a monumental legacy of ambitious government action in the last half of 20th Century America. In that endeavor, Dr. Galbraith extended the reign of Keynesian economics as a foundation of fiscal policy, assuring that hundreds of millions of Americans would live in a nation whose government chose to engage a long-term, enduring fight against poverty that Classical economists and their political proponents believed was an unnecessary, inappropriate, and counter-productive role for government. The great Keynesian economists ruled the era from Franklin Delano Roosevelt on, however, and Dr. Galbraith was at the forefront of their work with Presidents and Congresses throughout the latter half of the last century. Galbraith’s contribution to the Great Society was so significant that he shaped the speech that President Lyndon Johnson would make to the American people explaining this new, vigorous engagement of the U.S. government in building a modern nation where the power of the private sector was unleashed through the standing commitment of the state to its people and its businesses. Ultimately, Galbraith would break ranks with President Johnson because of the latter’s prosecution of the war in Vietnam.

Although many outsiders and even a number of economists consider Galbraith the standard bearer of “liberal” economics, his was a far more complex view of the science of human action, as his contemporary Ludwig Von Mises described their shared field of endeavor. From his work in the World War II Office of Price Administration, Dr. Galbraith developed a sweeping prescription for national economic growth that advocated allowing oligopolies to form as a means of encouraging rapid technological innovation in part through economies of scale. Coupled with a benign government stance toward industrial concentration would be what he called “countervailing institutions” to act as buttresses against potential abuses by the oligopolies. Many believe that it is exactly this model that countries like Japan and others in Asia followed in the later 20th Century. In the United States, the great military/industrial complex was in large part an application of this concept of guided market concentration being allowed to play out to generate technological advancement, huge numbers of high-paying jobs, and economic dominance on the world stage.

Galbraith earned no small amount of disdain from peers for his 1958 book, The Affluent Society, in which he tore down what he called the “myth” of consumer sovereignty in the American economy. He continued to upset standard models of economics in his 1967 book, New Industrial State, in which he argued that the paradigm of “perfect competition”—long used as the basis for modeling most market structures—was wholly inadequate for describing the real world of firms. In that book, he argued that many industries are characterized by firms more like oligipolies that engage in fierce competition for market share, expanding both horizontally and vertically in a process that ultimately makes them institutions separate from even their owners. It was this approach that led to modern-day emphasis, even in principles of microeconomics classes, on a market structure now called “monopolistic competition,” perhaps the most interesting of all market structures because of its topical aspects such as strategic pricing, marketing, and market contestability.

Dr. Galbraith was vitally active even into his last years, writing and making public appearances. He was, at the time of his death, professor emeritus at Harvard University.

John Kenneth Galbraith has now passed from this good Earth that he made better for his intellectual contributions; and because of those great and good contributions, he will stand forever as the powerhouse luminary of the theory and practice of economics of the last half of the 20th Century, that amazing era after the failed Classical economists of the 19th Century had been chased fully into the shadows and before their spiteful and equally failing Right-wing successors would return from the depths of deserved repudiation to diminish the world of the 21st Century.

The Dark Wraith gives a moment of silence in respect for Dr. Galbraith.

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This article is cross-posted from The Dark Wraith Forums.

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Out of Iraq — Into Darfur

Massive “Stop Genocide” rallies are planned on the Mall and across the nation today to urge the Bush administration to take stronger action to end the violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The rally comes as the humanitarian crisis in Darfur is worsening. In the past month, 60,000 Darfuris have been displaced, according to the United Nations. The Janjaweed continue to murder and rape women and children of different ethnicity, human rights groups say. Friday, the U.N. World Food Program said it lacked the funds to feed millions in Darfur.

Rally speakers are expected to press the Bush administration to push harder for a multinational peacekeeping force to be sent to Darfur and to take a tougher stance against Sudan. But it is appearing that Bush, who is famous for Warring around the World, just does not get it.

“I want the Sudanese government to understand the United States of America is serious about solving this problem,” Bush said after meeting with Darfur activists.

“For those of you who are going out to march for justice, you represent the best of our country. We believe every life is precious, every human being is important.”

Reuters is reporting that the Sudanese government on Sunday accepted a peace plan for the Darfur region that requires it to disarm Janjaweed militias before rebels lay down their weapons in what diplomats said was a major breakthrough. However the New York Times points out:

Two anti-Khartoum rebel movements have taken a “joint position” not to sign an African Union-brokered peace accord for the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur, their spokesmen told AFP on Sunday.

J. Allbritton at Ice Station has more on the crisis.

Jen has the link for Million Voices for Darbur

Click for more information

Update: Darfur deal hangs in the balance Mediators in Sudan’s Darfur conflict are making urgent pleas for rebels to sign a peace agreement as a midnight deadline for a deal approaches.

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All we are saying, is Give Peace A Chance

Chicken Bush

Broadway with lots of people and lots of sun

Janet and me at Foley Square

The Raging Grannies Singing “Bush is Doo-Doo

Prisoner of Guantanamo

The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse

The Recycled Drummers

Bush the Oil Man

Today was the New York City Peace March sponsored by United Peace and Justice. I just got back from the march and it was really nice to be out there marching with thousands upon thousands of people. The most amazing thing about this march was there were so many issues that people have against the Bush Regime. One of the signs that struck was me “Out of Iraq — Into Darfur.”

I had the pleasure of meetings and talking with the Raging Grannies. They were singing their songs and everyone loved them.

Watertiger at Dependable Renegade was marching too, she has some good pictures worth seeing.

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Rush Limbaugh was officially booked on drug charges today. This is part of a deal in which if he stays clean, then the charge will be dismissed.

Now, I personally feel sorry for people who are addicted to prescription drugs and believe that we should be looking for ways to help them get beyond their addiction, but that isn’t how Rush feels about it.

Here are a few of his comments on the topic over the years:

On the late Jerry Garcia: Rush said he was just another dead drug addict

He also said a few years ago on his show: if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.

On the topic of drug addiction being a disease, he has said that he doesn’t buy into the disease part of it…. people who use drugs are making a clear personal choice to do drugs and they should be held accountable for it.

I actually don’t happen to agree with most of what he has said. Addiction is a disease, and it should be treated as such.

But it’s a good thing for Rush that his fate is being decided with some compassion, and won’t be decided by his own words.

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The Ninth Ward

New Orleans is dealing with the news of a measure that gives residents until Aug. 29 to clean out mold, tear out ruined walls and board up what remains of their homes, or risk having the city seize and demolish their houses. Mayor Nagin felt the date of August 29 was too soon because many people are not living in New Orleans or even Louisiana for that matter.

The rest are a combination of people who are spread out all over the country, particularly senior citizens. I think they need special treatment, and I think Aug. 29 is too soon. And by year’s end, we should have a program in place to contact those residents and make sure they’re coming back.

But the owners of some untouched houses said there are good reasons they have yet to do anything to their properties. Chief among them, they said, is the fact that thousands of homeowners are still waiting for insurance settlements or Small Business Administration loans, and waiting for the state to decide who will qualify for repair grants or buyouts as part of Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s recovery program.

The community that was hardest hit than any other in New Orleans is the Ninth Ward. However, nearly eight months after the storm, there are no FEMA trailers in the Lower Ninth Ward because the area is still without gas and drinkable water.

The New York Times has a video regarding the lack of progress in the Ninth Ward.

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Has The Whole World Gone Mad?

Billions spent war:

The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has soared and may now reach $811bn (£445bn), says a report by the Congressional Research Service.

It estimates that Congress has appropriated $368bn for the global war on terror, including both conflicts.

It says that if the current spending bill is approved, US war costs will reach $439bn, and it estimates that an extra $371bn may be needed by 2016.

while

Darfur food rations get cut:

The cut comes as the UN said Darfur’s malnutrition rates are rising again. [...]

“Haven’t the people of Darfur suffered enough? We are adding insult to injury,” Mr Morris said as he explained that despite appeals to donors, the WFP has received only a third of the money it needs.

DARFUR DAILY FOOD RATIONS

Minimum requirement: 2,100 kilocalories per person
New amount: 1,050 kilocalories per person

and

Innocents continue to suffer:

In the makeshift hospital [...] children lie wasted, staring into space. Tiny human beings, who were born into the madness of man’s inhumanity to man, into the madness of a spate of killing [...]

And now, they face starvation which is cruel and slow. Most of the children are too far gone to eat. Some have the peeling skin and lesions that come with advanced starvation – their skin is wrinkled, loose around their bones. The mothers sit by powerless. [...]

The world we have created for ourselves.

“…the madness of man’s inhumanity to man…”

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Taking Lizzy’s lead in the What Shall I Read Next Department, I came across this book at Democracy Now! And, given my penchant for women’s rights, feminism, and equality for all, it rapidly sold me.

The Assassination of Digna Ochoa: A Look at the Life and Death of the Renowned Mexican Human Rights Lawyer

In October 2001, renowned Mexican human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa was found shot dead in her Mexico City office. Despite previous attempts on her life and other evidence pointing to foul-play, Ochoa’s death was declared a suicide by Mexico City prosecutors. Democracy Now! discusses her life and death with award-winning journalist Linda Diebel, author of “Betrayed: The Assassination of Digna Ochoa” and Kerry Kennedy, founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights.

We take a look at the life and death of the Mexican human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa. Ochoa was a former nun who went on to represent some of Mexico”s poorest constituents against powerful government interests. She also uncovered torture and other abuses by the Mexican military and police. Ochoa worked on behalf of peasant ecologists in the state of Guerrerro, Zapatistas guerrillas in Chiapas and indigenous Indians in her home state of Verazcruz. At the time of her death, she was defending three men charged with bombing banks in Mexico City to protest against globalization.

In October 2001, Digna Ochoa was found shot dead in her Mexico City office. She was thirty-seven years old and had received many death threats. In fact, when Ochoa was twenty-four she was kidnapped and raped only days after discovering a blacklist of union organizers and political activists in the office of the state attorney general.

Later in her life, she was forced to flee to the United States for her safety. Despite these previous attempts on her life and other evidence pointing to foul-play, Ochoa’s death was declared a suicide by Mexico City prosecutors. Ochoa’s family and fellow human rights activists never accepted the finding and fought for years to have the case re-opened. In February of 2005, prosecutors re-opened the investigation into Ochoa’s death.

A new book by award-winning journalist Linda Diebel provides an in-depth account of Ochoa’s murder and the cover-up that followed. It’s called “Betrayed: The Assassination of Digna Ochoa.” Linda Diebel is the former Washington bureau chief for the Toronto Star. For many years she was a Latin-America correspondent based in Mexico City. She is a three-time recipient of the Amnesty International Media Award.

Kerry Kennedy is the founder and former Executive Director of the Robert F Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights. She is also author of the book “Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World” She devoted a chapter in her book to Digna Ochoa.

Watch the Video

And, of course the book is available at

Barnes and Nobel

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Celebrating the goddess Jen!!

Jenny’s site, Donkey O.D, was set up just a little over a year ago and reached 100,000 hits this afternoon.

You have our deepest gratitude and appreciation for your all hard work. You RAWK!

Drinks on the house in toasts to you!

Congratulations, dear Jenny!