March 14. Saturday, 11:00 AM, Rally Against US Wars and Economic Blockade in Racine. Martin Luther King Plaza, State St between MLK Drive and Marquette Ave, Racine, Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice.
Friday, March 13, 2020 7:00 PM
Peace Center, 1001 E Keefe St, Milwaukee
International Days of Action Against Sanctions and Economic Warfare
Kevin Zeese of Popular Resistance on the effects of sanctions in Venezuela and Iran. Kevin was on trial for being a protector of the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, DC, at the request of the Venezuelan government. The Embassy Protectors weren’t able to tell the jury that Guaido is not the elected president, that they were invited by the Venezuelan government to protect the embassy or mention International Law that prohibits entry into a foreign embassy. The trial ended in a hung jury, the next hearing is on April 24, 2020.
Tom Seery, of Peace Action of WI who traveled to Iraq during the UN sanctions that caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. He accompanied a relief delegation to Iraq in 1998.
Art Heitzer, Chair of the Cuba Committee of the National Lawyers Guild and active in the Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba, on the US economic blockade which since 1060 has attempted “to bring hunger, desperation and overthrow of government” in Cuba.
Sponsored by Peace Action of WI Co-sponsors: WI Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba, National Lawyers Guild- Milwaukee Chapter, Milwaukee Veterans for Peace Chapter 102, Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom, End the Wars Coalition of Milwaukee
Call Peace Action WI for Info: 414-269-9525 or info@peaceactionwi.org
On the 30th anniversary of IRA Volunteers Mairead Farrell, Sean Savage and Dan McCann, murdered by the SAS in a shoot to kill operation on 6th March 1988 in Gibraltar, Saoradh activist and former IRA POW Breige-Anne McCaughley shares her memories of Volunteer Mairead Farrell.
Mairead Farrell was a very proud and active Irish soldier, a revolutionary freedom fighter who took her role as an IRA Volunteer very seriously. I had the honour of serving time in Armagh Gaol with Mairead from 1977 to 1984.
Mairead was a deep thinker and a strong and very intelligent woman, well educated and could speak several languages. I first met Mairead briefly before she went to jail. She was a person who, as soon as you met her, you respected her and she you. I then met her again when I was imprisoned for IRA activity in 1977. She was sentenced and on protest in the wing below those of us on remand, but Mairead couldn’t wait to call me down and ask what the craic was and had I any sceal for her!
She was a very compassionate person, always having time to listen to you, no matter what. She was empathic and showed concern for everyone. At the same time, she understood what was expected of her as a Volunteer, and always acted accordingly. I remember when Mairead was made Gaol OC and we were all delighted as she always led by example.
During our time on protest in Armagh, Mairead held us together and kept us strong. It is a source of immense pride to me that not one woman came off the no wash protest, and that was partly due to her leadership. Her great sense of humour was an asset, and she was always first to shout out and ask if you were okay after a beating or coming back from the boards. She always showed an interest after a visit, asking about everyone and making sure your family was alright.
Mairead was the person who taught us Gaeilge in the jail, and it was clear to us all how much she loved the language by her stressing the importance of learning it. She was very knowledgeable about international struggles and in particular women’s struggles against oppression. She was at the forefront of gaining support for Armagh prisoners from women’s groups across the world.
I remember the first Hunger Strike and Mairead talking to us, saying that we need to be sure before putting our names down and understanding that it was to be seen through to the death. We knew Mairead would be going on the strike, and how committed she was along with Mairead Nugent and Mary Doyle. It was a very hard time and heartbreaking when they came off the hunger strike the day after the men, only to learn that the Brits had gone back on their word. But even then Mairead stayed strong.
The second hunger strike was the hardest as the lads in the Kesh didn’t want us joining them. They pointed out that there were so few of us (26) and that we would die a lot quicker. We didn’t want anything to take attention away from the men, and in respect to them we didn’t take part in the second hunger strike.
Mairead was also a great negotiator, acting on our behalf when confronting jail authorities and even the screws respected her. She just had that personality. She never kept us in the dark and we were fully informed of everything, with constant encouragement to debate and share opinions.
I was released in 1984 and Mairead was released about two years later. I remember being in the house when she was released and it was such a happy time. But that was one thing about Mairead – you were always aware of her bright smile and it would light up the room. She always had a smile for you and a friendly word. And of course, as soon as she got out she reported back to the IRA and Active Service.
When my daughter was born Mairead and a few of the other girls came down to the hospital, making a fuss over her. That was one thing we always had, that strong bond even after the jail. It was only a few months later that Mairead, Sean and Dan were killed in Gibraltar. I can’t really describe how I felt, I just had a deep sorrow. The next week or so of getting the three Volunteers home, the wake and the funeral were very painful, we had lost Ireland’s best.
I still think of Mairead now, and often talk to my children about her. She was, and remains, a massive influence on my life and I only hope that she is still looking down on us with pride for she will never be forgotten, especially by her former comrades in Armagh. We will always speak of her fondly. It was the greatest honour to have known her, and to have served time with her.
Mairead Farrell was a compassionate person. A Feminist. A Revolutionary. A Freedom Fighter. An IRA Volunteer. Mairead Farrell was a person who strongly believed that every woman should be treated as equal as any man and no man did anything for this ongoing struggle that Mairead Farrell didn’t also do.
Right now in British Columbia, Canada, Indigenous Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and land defenders are resisting the construction of the TC Energy Coastal GasLink pipeline slated to cut through their territories.
The Wet’suwet’en have been fighting to stop this pipeline for just over five years. The Hereditary Chiefs have re-asserted their right to jurisdiction over their own lands, their right to determine access and prevent trespass under Wet’suwet’en law, and the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent as guaranteed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — but TC Energy will not listen.
On February 6, militarized police conducted a five-day military raid of the resistance camps on Wet’suwet’en land and illegally evicted hereditary chiefs, land defenders, and matriarchs. The police came with assault rifles, snipers, dogs, sound cannons, and helicopters while Indigenous elders and youth stood by.
Protests against the Coastal GasLink project have since spread and have included: rail blockades, port shutdowns, government office occupations, and sit ins at banks investing in the illegal pipeline project. Now, the fight is coming to the U.S., right to the doorstep of the largest banker and investor of the Coastal GasLink pipeline — JPMorgan Chase and KKR.
JPMorgan Chase, the world’s biggest banker of fossil fuels, is helping funnel more than $5 billion in loans to the company behind Coastal GasLink. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), a New York City based investment firm with over $200 billion in assets, has plans to purchase 65% of the pipeline with Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo). Companies like Chase and KKR actively perpetuate the destruction of stolen Indigenous lands to fuel the climate crisis.
The upside is KKR’s plans to invest in the pipeline aren’t final. There’s still time to interrupt their plans. We must hold them accountable before it’s too late.
Sign the petition and rise up with the Wet’suwet’en people: Demand Chase and KKR defund the Coastal GasLink pipeline. https://bit.ly/2IDar9j
Did you know…
-Grads at the University of California, Santa Barbara joined UCSC grads on strike last week.
-Grads at the University of California, Davis started a grading strike.
-UCSD grads will start a grading strike tomorrow.
-Grads at Berkeley will launch a full strike if 10 departments vote to join. So far, they’re at 6.
-UCLA will likely follow soon.
No amount of barricades will slow down this movement. We’re sending solidarity across the country to grad workers who have had enough: we see you and we know your struggles. No more exploitation of grad workers. It ends now.
ARTICLE: https://bit.ly/2v40Ntk
UC Student Workers UAW 2865 Santa Cruz
JOSHUA CHO March 6, 2020
As an Asian-American, I’m not surprised that there are numerous reports surfacing of racist and xenophobic responses arising in the US (and elsewhere) as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, where “coughing while Asian” is being compared to “driving while black.” In case there are any doubts that media coverage is being racialized, reports about new coronavirus updates in the US, particularly in areas like New York City, are using unrelated header images of East Asian people wearing face masks to drive the impression that Chinese people are unique carriers of disease, even when they aren’t Chinese.
Watching corporate media’s sensationalist and racist coverage of the COVID-19 coronavirus, it’s clear that everything from the naming of the “Wuhan coronavirus,” to the false narrative and timeline propagated by corporate media to demonize China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, does more to stoke mass hysteria and undermine a US adversary than to show support and solidarity with the Chinese people. In short, it’s the same old Yellow Peril and redbaiting nonsense US media have always engaged in.
Corporate media’s typical framing of Chinese government actions to combat the virus verged on parody, portraying uncontroversial moves in the most insidious terms possible. For example, instead of reporting that Hubei government officials were fired for withholding information about the coronavirus outbreak from higher-ups, outlets like CNN (2/13/20) and Business Insider (2/11/20) claimed they were “purged.” Discussing volunteer efforts to assist China’s effective quarantine efforts, the New York Times’ “To Tame Coronavirus, Mao-Style Social Control Blankets China” (2/15/20) framed it as “one of the biggest social control campaigns in history,” and described “neighborhood busybodies” and “uniformed volunteers” aiding the quarantine efforts as “Mao-style mass crusades.”
Corporate media bombarded Western audiences with loaded headlines whose point was that Communism was evil and the coronavirus outbreak the inevitable result of peculiar Asian attachments to authoritarianism….
