Getting it right

People protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline march past San Francisco City Hall. 15 November 2016. Author: Pax Ahimsa Gethen. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

by Kathleen Malley-Morrison

Now is the winter of our discontent, this woeful election year. Unhappiness with the government, frustrations over corruption of democratic processes, fears regarding increasing economic inequality, anger at the multiplying restrictions on prospects and possibilities, and rage at the unfairness of it all have been rife. But today, on this Thanksgiving Day, Americans (most of whom are descendants of  immigrants from other lands) have a chance to get things right.

And many people are doing just that. I give particular thanks to all the Americans, of all hues, who are standing by the Native protestors and their supporters at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.

The nonviolent resistance of the Standing Rock protestors to the planned Dakota Access pipeline, slated to pass through sources of drinking water and sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is a noteworthy and admirable example of nonviolently standing up against greed, unbridled capitalism, the militarization of civil society agencies, the unwarranted exercise of power by fossil fuel goliaths within the military industrial complex, the rape of the land, racist disregard for human lives, disrespect for laws (including in this case, yet another violation of a treaty), and violation of human rights including the rights of indigenous peoples . Moreover, the protestors are praiseworthy not only for standing up for clean drinking water and human rights but also for promoting the viability of this continent and the planet on which the survival of all peoples is dependent.

Among the groups to which we should be thankful for getting things right and taking risks to do so are:

Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, People Demanding Action, Ecowatch, and Code Pink.

I will be thanking all these groups at my dinner today.

The first casualty of the last war, and the next war, and the next

Aeschylus, an Ancient Greek writer of theatrical plays. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Greek writer and poet Aeschylus (525–456 BCE—a very long time ago!) proclaimed that “Truth is the first casualty of war.” Isn’t it just as true in the US as elsewhere that supporters of war try to prove they are in the right, and use lies and distortions to support their position?

And think of the advantages to the military-industrial-media complex of gaining support for a “war on terror” instead of a war only on the selected evil country of the moment.  Given our government’s policies, there are likely always to be a few terrorists around. What a swell way to guarantee a perpetual war with perpetual profits—in money and/or power.

In his Monday post, Dr. Anthony Marsella wrote passionately about how the power structure in the US has used Propaganda, Media Deception and Abuses, and Lies to convince Americans that being dragged along one path of violence after another is not only in their best interests but also the right thing to do.

Once the mainstream corporate media, a strong arm of the power structure, has planted misinformation in people’s minds, it can be a challenge to get those people to rethink their views. (Remember the expression “Don’t confuse me with facts. My mind is made up.”) For example, long after it was well established that Iraq did not have the weapons of mass destruction that were the purported reason for the 2003 US invasion, some people, especially conservatives, continued to insist that the weapons were there.

In order to override misinformation, lies, and propaganda, it is helpful to have the facts  communicated by people who are seen by their audience as having some credibility.  That is why the efforts of anti-war veteran activists to lead us from the path of war to the path of peace are so important.

 Check out the sites for:

Iraq Veterans Against War: http://www.ivaw.org/

Vietnam Veterans Against the War: http://www.vvaw.org/

Veterans for Peace: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/

 And, in particular, listen to this interview with Ross Caputi, a frequent contributor to this blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ZwuizScxw

 

Continue reading “The first casualty of the last war, and the next war, and the next”

Happy New Year: Ignored by the corporate media but alive and well

Iraq Veterans Against the War marching in Boston
Iraq Veterans Against the War marching in Boston. Photo by Jonathan McIntosh, used under CC Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

You won’t learn a lot about them in the corporate media, but there are hundreds if not thousands of them doing their work: non-profits resisting war and combating arms proliferation and promoting peace and nonviolence.

Today we provide links to many of these organizations. Visit their sites and learn more about them.

Some of these organizations were started by veterans committed to educating their compatriots concerning the real nature of war and the lies and propaganda used to promote it:

Some groups promote mass action on an international basis:

Some groups promote education and inter-group contact:

Some of these organizations have a long history of resisting war:

And some of them are very new and very committed:

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology