Claim dollars in corp. tax havens, Fund USA

Editing by Carolyn Bennett

Point to “artful tax dodgers” the next time a politician claims “‘there is no money’” — for children’s health care, K-12 education, teachers, firefighters, police officers, medical first-responders’ jobs — and “‘we have to make cuts.’”

Corporations are heavy users of U.S. taxpayer-funded public infrastructure and property rights protection systems. They use our regulated marketplace. Call upon our law enforcement system and judiciary to remedy disputes. U.S. police forces and firefighters protect corporations.  Corporations enjoy all the privileges and benefits of tax-paying citizens but many corporations do not pay their fair share for the privileges and benefits they enjoy.

In his late February article “Pay Up, Corporate Tax Dodgers,” Chuck Collins names names, elaborates on the lies, and calls to action.  Some of the corporate cheats Collins names are these.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup — … banks that trashed the economy, took our tax dollars to stay alive after the economic meltdown.

 Goldman Sachs — recipient of $10 billion taxpayer bailout “gamed its effective tax rate down to one percent [what] its shakedown-artist executives call ‘changes in geographic earnings mix.’”  

FedEx — delivering on taxpayer-funded roads 

ExxonMobil — [should] call “the fire department on the Cayman Islands the next time its gas station erupts in flames”  

Pfizer — its “little blue pills’” sales, market share, bottom line “protected by U. S. taxpayer-funded system of patents and intellectual property rights” 

 Boeing — recipient of “contracts for taxpayer-funded military jets”

 General Electric • Mattel • Dow Chemical • Hewlett-Packard • Cisco

… These corporations and more under pay or escape paying U.S. taxes.  They must pay up. If they are paying some, they must start paying their “fair share,” Collins expresses this for all of us; but he goes a step further in urging us to wise up and speak out. Press the issue. Unless we force Congress to stop tax haven abuse, Collins says, we are chumps.

“In a democracy, if we sit back and just grumble, we get what we deserve. We’re chumps until we wake up and force members of Congress to stop tax haven abuse.”

Sources and notes

According to Merriam Webster, a “chump” is a fool, a dupe, a sucker. 

“Pay Up, Corporate Tax Dodgers” (Chuck Collins), February 28, 2011, http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/pay_up_corporate_tax_dodgers#

Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and directs IPS’s Program on Inequality and the Common Good. Among his books is Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity, co-authored with Felice Yeskel, http://www.ips-dc.org/staff/chuck

On CounterSpin last week: “Chuck Collins on U.S. Uncut, Laura Flanders on Wisconsin” — Program lead: “As politicians of both parties and pundits of various ideological stripes discuss what services and rights need to be cut and stripped from working people, the subject of raising taxes seems almost taboo in corporate media discussions. Not so here. [CounterSpin talks] about raising taxes with Chuck Collins, a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, and the co-founder of U.S. Uncut, a network working to stop corporate tax dodging, CounterSpin  March 4-10, 2011, http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4256

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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“Sorry” is not enough

In the United States of America, we saddle ourselves with bad governance in domestic affairs, criminal behavior in foreign affairs

Re-reporting, editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett

U.S. PRIORITIES

CUT AMERICA, NOT ISRAEL

Media Matters fellow MJ Rosenberg wrote last week on Al Jazeera's news site that the $3 billion U.S. aid package to Israel “is the new third rail of American politics — touch it and die.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), makes clear to them— whatever party of faction they affiliate with— that touching the aid package will mean big trouble for them in the next election.…

“It no longer comes as much of a surprise that the average Democrat or Republican will rule that Israel aid cuts are off the table — while supporting cuts in programs like head start, which educates poor children, or WIC, which provides nutrition assistance to disadvantaged women and their infants.

“It is not a surprise because everyone knows that the Democratic and Republican campaign finance committees warn their members of the dire consequences that might ensue if they dare to stand up to the lobby.… Israel prepares a shopping list and congressional appropriators provide the goods.…

“This is wrong.

“Congress should treat the Israel aid package the same way it deals with programs that directly benefit Americans. [Supporters] should be forced to defend it, line by line.”

IMPUNITY (and IMMUNITY) —

BEFORE, DURING, AFTER FACT OF CRIME

Democracy Now reported last week that in the UN measure to expel Libya from the United Nations Human Rights Council, the U.S. exempted itself from its war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The Obama administration inserted a clause into the document exempting foreign nationals from international prosecution for any actions committed in Libya under a Security Council mandate. This means that in the event U.S. forces take part in an international force invading Libya, any potential war crimes committed would be tried—if at all—not in the Hague (home of the International Criminal Court), but in a U.S. court.

WAR DEAD

U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS

AFGHANISTAN

They marched through central Kabul shouting 
“Death to America.”

“…Death to the invaders.”

A woman carried a placard reading 
“Occupation = killing + destruction.”

The children, ages 12 and younger, were gathering firewood Tuesday when fired upon and killed by a U.S.-NATO air strike in the northeastern province of Kunar.

The week before the children died 60 non-combatants had died during foreign-troop operations in Kunar province’s Ghaziabad district. Soon after the 60 had died, six civilians died in a U.S.-NATO air raid in neighboring Nangarhar province.

Twelve civilians died today when “a roadside bomb ripped through a car in the province of Paktika in eastern Afghanistan.” Among the dead were five children, two women and five men. “The victims were on their way from neighboring Pakistan.”

Last week and over the weekend, the foreign militaries said “Sorry” for killing your children.

Some in Afghanistan have come to the realization, in the face of repeated attacks on civilians that “An apology is not enough and sorry is not accepted.”  The killers and those who ordered the killings “must go on trial in Afghanistan” or “they must be tried in the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their action.”

In protest to the U.S.-NATO killing of children, hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of Kabul. Their chants were anti-American.

•

Twelve people died and five suffered wounds today when a roadside bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.

U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS

PAKISTAN

A Pakistani court said Thursday the U.S. CIA contractor, initially claimed by the U.S. government to be a “diplomat” when charged with killing Pakistanis, “does not have diplomatic immunity.” Thirty-six-old Raymond Davis is scheduled to stand trial in Pakistan on March 8 in the killing of two Pakistanis he called “robbers.”

Last month, U.S. Sen. John Kerry said “Sorry” for the shooting. The U.S. president said Davis enjoys diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Conventions.

•

Nine people died and 30 suffered wounds (among them three police officers) Thursday when a suicide bomb exploded in the densely populated northwestern area of Hangu.

“Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked fighters attack daily across northwest Pakistan and the tribal belt on the Afghan border.”

U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS

SAUDI ARABIA (ally)

Putting down protests

State television on Saturday quoted Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry saying, according to Agence France-Presse, the Saudi security forces will use “all measures to prevent any attempt to disrupt public order.…

“Saudi Arabia has banned all protests and marches following recent anti-government protests in the kingdom’s east.”

In the past few weeks, the Shia population — concerned with lack of equal economic and employment opportunities and detentions without trial — has staged a series of protests.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy without an elected parliament and usually does not tolerate public dissent but the government denies discrimination against the Shia community. However, authorities in Saudi Arabia are reportedly “on edge” in light of anti-government protests across the region.

U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS

IRAQ

Six people died and 12 suffered wounds in the southern Iraq city of Basra when a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy hit a bus carrying civilians. Among the casualties were women and children.

An estimated 50,000 foreign soldiers remain in this country. In February, “almost 200 people died as a result of violence.”

U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS

YEMEN

Protests against the decades-old rule of this country’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, continued on Sunday. Amidst the protests, five Yemeni soldiers died in two separate suspected al-Qaeda attacks.

An estimated 40 pro-democracy protesters have suffered wounds in clashes with government forces. Nineteen (est.) people have died since protests began on February 16. Amnesty International estimates 27 people have died.

The U.S. and UK governments are advising against travel to Yemen.

U.S.-led

WAR DEAD

Casualty sites reporting March 6, 2011

(Accurate totals unknown)

• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003

[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 211]

Wounded 32,987-100,000

U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000

Suicides estimated: 18 a day

Latest update on this site: February 25, 2011

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

• Iraq Body Count

Worldwide update on civilians killed in the Iraq war and occupation —

Documented civilian deaths from violence

99,902 – 109,144

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

• ICasualties figures:

AFGHANISTAN: 1,493 U.S.; 2,356 Coalition

IRAQ: 4,439 U.S.; 4,757 Coalition

http://icasualties.org/oif/

Sources and notes

“Why is Israel aid exempt?  As US fiscal conservatives cut food programs for poor children, military aid for Israel is left untouched” (Opinion MJ Rosenberg), March 5, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/201135115850632729.html#

MJ Rosenberg is a senior foreign policy fellow at Media Matters Action Network. The above article first appeared in Foreign Policy Matters, a part of the Media Matters Action Network.

“U.S. Inserts ICC Exemption into U.N. Libya Measure Libya was expelled from the U.N. Human Rights Council earlier this week in response to its attacks on the uprising.” And “U.S. Attacks Kills 9 Afghan Boys Nine Afghan boys have been killed in a U.S.-led NATO attack in Afghanistan,” March 3, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/3/headlines

“Blast kills Afghan truck travelers—A roadside bomb kills 12 people and injures five others in eastern Afghanistan near border with Pakistan,” March 6, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/201136104040802662.html#

“Afghan bomb kills 12 civilians” (AFP), March 7, 2011, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20110306/twl-afghanistan-unrest-wrap-575b600.

“Afghans protest over child deaths in NATO raid” (AFP), March 7, 2011, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20110306/twl-afghanistan-unrest-nato-civilian-dem-575b600.html

“Pakistan: CIA man has no immunity — Court in Lahore rules that Raymond Davis, held on charges of killing two men, should stand trial,” March 3, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/2011338825200889.html#

“Saudi Arabia bans protest rallies — Interior ministry vows to use all steps ‘to prevent attempts to disrupt public order’ following recent Shia protests,” March 5, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201135143046557642.html#

“Civilians dead in Iraq bus bombing — Women and children among casualties aboard bus caught in attack targeting US convoy in southern city of Basra,” March 6, 2011,

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/20113610138616996.html#

“Yemeni soldiers killed in attacks  — Five dead in suspected al-Qaeda attacks as protests continue against Saleh’s decades-long grip on power,” March 6, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/20113685346945172.html#

The International Criminal Court (ICC), headquartered in The Netherlands at The Hague, is the permanent judicial body established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) to prosecute and adjudicate individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

On July 1, 2002, after the requisite number of countries (60) ratified the agreement, the court began sittings.

The ICC was established as a court of last resort to prosecute the most heinous offenses in cases where national courts fail to act. Unlike the International Court of Justice, which hears disputes between states, the ICC handles prosecutions of individuals. The court’s jurisdiction extends to offenses that occurred after July 1, 2002, that were committed either in a state that has ratified the agreement or by a national of such a state.

Although the Rome Statute was widely praised (some 140 countries had signed the agreement by the time it entered into force), few countries in the Middle East or Asia joined.

By 2002, China, Russia, and the United States had declined to participate. The United States, moreover, had threatened to withdraw its troops from United Nations peacekeeping forces unless its citizens — both military and civilian — were exempted from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

Nevertheless, within five years of its first sitting more than 100 countries had ratified the treaty. All member countries are represented in the Assembly of States Parties, which oversees the activities of the International Criminal Court.

International Criminal Court (ICC) . (2011). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Deluxe Edition.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica

The States Parties to the Rome Statute

As of 12 October 12, 2010, 114 countries are States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Out of them 31 are African States, 15 are Asian States, 18 are from Eastern Europe, 25 are from Latin American and Caribbean States, and 25 are from Western European and other States.

A

Afghanistan

Albania

Andorra

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Australia

Austria

B

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

C

Cambodia

Canada

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

Colombia

Comoros

Congo

Cook Islands

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

D

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

E

Ecuador        

Estonia

F

Fiji

Finland

France

G

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Guinea

Guyana

H

Honduras

Hungary

I

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

J

Japan

Jordan

K

Kenya

L

Latvia

Lesotho

Liberia

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

M

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritius

Mexico

Mongolia

Montenegro

N

Namibia

Nauru

Netherlands 

New Zealand

Niger

Nigeria

Norway

P

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Poland

Portugal

R

Republic of Korea

Republic of Moldova

Romania

S

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa

San Marino

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Africa

Spain

Suriname

Sweden

Switzerland

T

Tajikistan

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Timor-Leste

Trinidad and Tobago

U

Uganda

United Kingdom

United Republic of Tanzania

Uruguay

V

Venezuela

Z

Zambia

http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ASP/states+parties/

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]

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U.S. v. Mexico’s people — more mendacity

Same Ole, nothing new — 

U.S. President praises Mexico’s head of state for terrorizing Mexico's people [as Afghans and Pakistanis and Iraqis, Somalis and Yemenis, and other peoples and nations], caught in a “Crossfire” of arms sales, flawed policies, and militarized aggression

Editing and comment by Carolyn Bennett

Mexicans under siege see nearing invasion by U.S. military

“More than 35,000 Mexicans have been killed since President Felipe Calderón launched a militarized offensive in areas with a strong drug cartel presence,” Shannon Young reports from the ground in Mexico. “More than 15,000 of those deaths occurred in 2010.”

Notwithstanding the pain suffered by Mexico’s people, U.S. President Barack Obama in Thursday’s joint press conference with President Calderón continued the usual mendacity. Free Speech Radio News aired excerpts from the U.S. president's outrageous statement.

“‘I have nothing but admiration for President Calderon in his willingness to take this on,’” the U.S. President said. “‘The easy thing to do would be for [President Calderon] to ignore the corrosive, corrupting influence of these drug cartels within Mexico; that would be the easy thing to do.

“‘[President Calderon is] taking the hard path and he’s shown great courage and great risk in doing so. … [T]he United States will support him in any ways that we can to help him achieve his goals because his goals are our goals as well...and they should be the goals of the Mexican people.’”

Correspondent Shannon Young continues.

“It’s gotten to the point that massacres have become near daily events in Mexico…and behind each of those massacres are the stories of the people who died and their families.…

“Many people I interviewed about effects of militarization of the Drug War seem convinced that the U.S. military is planning to invade Mexico.”

From Oaxaca, México, reporter Shannon Young brings to Free Speech Radio News the voices of people from Chihuahua, the state that is taking the brunt of “the militarized Drug War.”

Sources and notes

“Mexico in the ‘Crossfire’ of the Drug War” (South Notes—what’s going on down here), March 2, 2011 Audio, http://www.southnotes.org/

Investigative reporter Marcela Turati has documented these back-stories in her new book Fuego Cruzado (in English Crossfire).

SYoung Reports, http://twitter.com/SYoungReports

Shannon Young, located in Oaxaca, México (http://southnotes...), is a Tex-Mex radio reporter, editor, music lover & occasional blogger (Corresponsal de radio basada en Oaxaca desde 2004. Tuitiando en espanglish desde mayo de 2010).

FSRN

“Mexico’s militarized drug war and the impact on civilians” (News Segments), March 4, 2011, http://fsrn.org/audio/mexico%E2%80%99s-militarized-drug-war-and-impact-civilians/8136

“President Barack Obama met with his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon [Thursday] for a high-level summit on bi-lateral relations. The outcome of the summit was not surprising and included White House praises for what amounts to Calderon’s militarization of large swaths of Mexico under the mantle of fighting organized crime.… Mexico is experiencing some of the worst violence since the end of its Revolution.” 

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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Waters weighs, again, in on walls

Editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett

“Fear builds walls.”

Those intent on intimidating build walls. Plunderers wrap themselves within walls. Entrenched power bent on instilling fear builds walls. Berlin to Baghdad, Peshawar to Kandahar, New Delhi to Kashmir, to the West Bank, inordinate, imperial power walls out and walls in.

Thirty years after his globally acclaimed musical album ‘The Wall’ Roger Waters addresses the Israeli “separation barrier” in the West Bank, a wall that encroaches on Palestinian territory and causes untold hardships for the Palestinian people. Riz Khan leads an Al Jazeera interview this week with the performer.

Rock star Roger Waters calls on the Israeli government to “‘tear down the wall.’”

In her article “Roger Waters, a Man and an Exceptional Artist,” Silvia Cattori, quotes the performer on what motivates his production of “The Wall.” In the midst of today’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, “What it comes down to for me is this,” he said, “Will the technologies of communication in our culture serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better or will they deceive us and keep us apart?

“… The jury is out — there is a lot of commercial clutter and propaganda on the Net — but I have a sense that, just beneath the surface, understanding is gaining ground.…

“… ‘The Wall’ is an attempt to draw some comparisons, to illuminate our current predicament and is dedicated to all of the innocents lost in the intervening years.”

Waters said, “I… believe many of these tragic losses of life are avoidable. I feel empathy with the families of all the victims; and anger at ‘POWERS THAT BE,’ who are in equal measure responsible.

“Human beings need the protection of the rule of law but laws should not be set in stone. The trick for us is to agree upon what the law should be, now — something we have been working on for a few hundred years — but also to agree that, as we develop our understanding of both ourselves and our surroundings, we will have insights and may need to modify the laws that govern us.

“In a world where — from Palestine to Iraq via Afghanistan — so many innocent people are brutalized by barbarian armies, humiliated, bereft of hope, freedom, and human dignity, the voice of artists with the integrity to lend their talent and signature to say ‘no to savagery’ is a beacon of hope.”

Cattori says Waters’ “Wall” is a message of love directed toward Palestinian, Iraqi, Afghan and many other victims suspended between death, anxiety and hope. It expresses the poet’s sensibility, a shared knowing of their pain.

Sources and notes

“Walls of division” with Riz Khan: “Former Pink Floyd star, Roger Waters, adds his voice to the calls for Israel to remove the separation wall,” March 3, 2011

“Roger Waters, a Man and an Exceptional Artist (Silvia Cattori, Silviacattori.net), February 8, 2011,

http://www.countercurrents.org/cattori080211.htm Translated from French by Mary Mathai (February 2, 2011) Original article in French (July 26, 2010): http://www.silviacattori.net/article1279.html

Other talented singers are also committed to Gaza. See on this topic: Gaza : Quand la douleur devient chant », by Silvia Cattori, silviacattori.net,  February 4, 2009.

Roger Waters: http://www.rogerwaters.org/

“Anti-Wall protest in West Bank— Hundreds of Palestinians gather in Bi'lin to mark opposition to separation wall,” February 20, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/20102202353084960.html#

“Former Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters, who performed a one-off concert in Israel on Thursday, called on the government to tear down its separation barrier in the occupied West Bank, January 23, 2006, http://english.aljazeera.net/archive/2006/06/200849143834171675.html

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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U.S., Europe discredited, oblivious

Faced with sustained nonviolent struggle, dictators, violence fail — Gene Sharp

Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

Nonviolent struggle 

“If you choose to fight with violence against this oppression, you will not succeed because you are fighting with your enemy’s best weapons. Nonviolence is the secret. The age of the dictators will be short-lived.”

In a Deutsche Welle interview, Gene Sharp explains the background of nonviolent struggle. “I was aware of the Nazi regime and what had happened in the Holocaust,” he said. “I knew there was the Stalin regime in the Soviet Union. I knew there were many other problems in the world — European colonialism, various dictatorships, racial segregation and discrimination in the United States, and the importance of civil liberties and labor movements.”

Certain books about nonviolent struggle, mostly from the 1930s, guided me, he said. These are quite elementary in terms of today’s situation but they are nevertheless revealing. “One book, I think, cited 12 cases of nonviolent struggle in the world history.… We now know that there were hundreds of thousands of cases. …

“… [W]e can learn how this works, what makes it succeed, what makes it fail, and how you can develop strategies and increase your chances of success. How people can mobilize themselves, take charge and keep discipline. All the testimonies in various places — even some recent ones in Libya, and it was certainly true in Egypt — are saying, ‘We have lost our fear’ • ‘We are no longer afraid’ • ‘You can’t control us any longer’ by threatening or doing this or that against us.”

U.S., European intervention worsens situation — “Stay out of it”

As a strong advocate of people power who believes “only the people within countries can and must take action to free themselves from their regimes,” Deutsche Welle asked Professor Sharp. “Can Europe and the United States stand by and do nothing as the situation in countries such as Libya deteriorates and people are massacred?”

Sharp answered, “I think Europe and the United States should stay out of it. Likely, they will not understand what is going on.

“Statements in Washington indicate that there is nobody in the administration who knows what kind of struggle this is. Whatever they [U.S and Europe] decide to do [no matter what they say] will be in their own U.S. or European interest — not in the interest of the people in Tunisia or Libya.

“They [Europe and the U.S.] can make things worse because people have suffered under extreme dictatorships before and people have resisted before, and sometimes won. …

“They can win this way and then the lesson will be taught: that no matter how cruel and brutal and ruthless you become, you are not going to win against nonviolent struggle.”

Mendacious, discredited policy

World Socialist Web site reported on Tuesday, “A full-scale propaganda blitz is under way, modeled on the campaigns that paved the way for U.S. and NATO intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, highlighting atrocities committed by the Gaddafi regime as an argument that a joint intervention by the imperialist powers is needed to ‘save’ the Libyan people.”

But the U.S. Secretary of State, the Obama (or third Clinton) administration, has “feted one of Gaddafi’s sons and appointed the founding chairman of the U.S.-Libya Business Association to be the State Department’s coordinator for international energy affairs… Until two weeks ago, [U.S. and European] powers were paying court to Gaddafi to obtain lucrative contracts for the exploitation of the oil and gas resources of Libya.


“A parade of Western suitors—Condoleezza Rice, Britain’s Tony Blair, Chirac of France, Berlusconi of Italy, Zapatero of Spain—followed the smell of oil to Tripoli.


“They paid no heed then to Gaddafi’s police state and the screams emanating from his torture chambers. The United States made a major political and financial investment in the cultivation of friendly relations with Gaddafi.…”

However, this week Hillary Clinton denounced “Gaddafi’s use of ‘thugs’ and ‘mercenaries’” and declared “nothing off the table so long as the Libyan government continues to threaten and kill Libyans.” But this U.S.-European “posture of humanitarian outrage has no credibility [and] foreign intervention will inflame popular hostility,” the report said.

In the literal sense what is happening in this “anti-Libya campaign is an exercise in plunder. The first major action has been the effective seizure of $30 billion in Libyan assets held in U.S. financial institutions, and billions more in European accounts, after the passage of a sanctions resolution by the UN Security Council. While dubbed an asset ‘freeze,’ it is really a confiscation of resources belonging to the people of Libya.”

Speaking at a business conference in Germany, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “‘Mistakes made by governments should not be paid by people.… Discussions about an intervention in Libya or sanctions are worrisome considering the people of Libya and foreigners in this country.’”

Most important is the fact that “many of those engaged in the uprising in Benghazi have declared their vehement opposition to the entry of U.S. and European troops.”

Sources and notes

“‘The genie is out of the bottle,’” DW-WORLD.DE (Interview: Michael Knigge, Editor:  Rob Mudge),

February 24, 2011, | www.dw-world.de | © Deutsche Welle, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14871825,00.html

Professor Gene Sharp

Gene Sharp is the author of various books on nonviolent struggle, power, political problems, dictatorships, and defense policy. His works appear in many languages including English. His The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973) (Introduction by Thomas C. Schelling) is considered a classic and the definitive study of nonviolent struggle.

His Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System (1990) examined how organized nonviolent noncooperation and defiance can potentially deter and defeat internal takeovers and invasions. This book was used in 1991 and 1992 by the new independent governments of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in planning their defense against Soviet efforts to regain control. He is co-editor of Resistance, Politics, and the American Struggle for Independence, 1765-1775 (1986) and of Nonviolent Action: A Research Guide (1997). Dr. Sharp’s recent shorter writings include From Dictatorship to Democracy.

Gene Sharp holds a doctorate in political theory from Oxford University (1968), a Master of Arts in Sociology (1951), and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences (1949) from Ohio State University.  He lived for ten years in England and Norway and has held positions at the University of Oslo and the Institute for Social Research. For nearly thirty years, he held research appointments in Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs. Gene Sharp is Senior Scholar at the Albert Einstein Institution in Boston, Massachusetts, and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, The Albert Einstein Institution, www.aeinstein.org; http://www.peace.ca/genesharp.htm

Article: “Imperialist hands off Libya! — The United States and the European powers are moving towards direct military intervention in Libya. They are seeking to exploit a legitimate popular uprising against the 41-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi, preempt any possibility of a more radical regime emerging, and install a colonial-style puppet in place of the discredited dictatorship.” March 1, 2011, http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/pers-m01.shtml

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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Women’s March salutes Reconstruction-era activist

Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Edited by Carolyn Bennett

Mary Ann Shadd Cary “enjoyed the sport of debate and banter,” Jane Rhodes writes in a biography of this pioneering woman, “and she rarely hesitated to strike back at rivals and enemies” — qualities admired in men and scorned in women, thus making Mary Ann Shadd Cary a controversial figure.

She was a quintessential dissident. A woman whose life was marked by transgressions of the boundaries of sex, color and class; and the price she paid for her audacity.

Part of a remarkable family of freeborn African Americans, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, an activist, integrationist, educator, journalist and attorney, devoted her life to fighting racism and inequality in North America. Her ancestry is a narrative of American racial history traced to the founding of the nation, a story of the early meeting of black and white. The results, a mixed racial family heritage contradicting ideologies of racial purity that underpin legally sanctioned segregation and discrimination.

By the end of the 1840s, Mary Ann Shadd had carved a path that directed her activities for a lifetime. “Teaching was always an important part of her identity and the way she earned her living, but writing and public expression became increasingly important as a means of having a political voice.”

Contempt for clergy, churches

“‘Aside from their caste character, their influence on colored people is fatal,’” Rhodes quotes Shadd Cary. “‘The character of the exclusive church in Canada tends to perpetuate ignorance, both in their true positions as British subjects, and of the Christian religion in its purity.’”   

Questioning philanthropy

Is it “‘really a benevolent act to send old almanacs, old novels, and all manner of obsolete books’ to the fugitives?” she challenged.

Is it not “vanity [that] motivates benefactors to empty ‘useless contents of old libraries’ so that they [benefactors] might congratulate themselves for their selfishness. ‘Why not give, when gifts are needed, that which is useful.’

Appreciation for free press

Mary Ann Shadd Cary developed a great appreciation for the power of the press. The day after she closed her school in Windsor, Ontario, March 24, 1853, she began publishing the Provincial Freeman newspaper.

Fervent feminist

Mary Ann Shadd Cary developed a political ideology that bridged her early nationalism with an increasingly militant feminism.

Her politics during the latter part of her life took root in dual quests for racial and gender justice. Mary Ann Shadd Cary called for a gender-inclusive racial politics, a platform on which women’s rights were in the foreground of racial discrimination.

Sources and notes

Mary Ann Shadd Cary was a North American who resided for considerable periods in the United States and Canada. She was a nineteenth century political activist, educator, lawyer, integrationist, and writer, journalist. (b.1823, d. 1893)

Mary Ann Shadd Cary was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and at age ten, she moved with her family to West Chester, Pennsylvania, and attended Quaker schools. After teaching school in Wilmington then New York City and Norristown, Pennsylvania, she emigrated from the United States to Canada.

In Windsor, she established an integrated school at Canada West and from there began writing and publishing her ideas on self-reliance.

In 1842, she published “Notes on Canada West,” a 44-page pamphlet promoting Black immigration to Canada. After writing, publishing and teaching in Canada, Shadd Cary returned to the United States. Settling in Washington, D.C., in 1863, she founded another school, studied law and graduated with a degree in law from Howard University.

She opened her law practice in Washington and resumed political activism, once challenging the House Judiciary Committee for voting rights, winning her case, and becoming one of the few women who voted in federal elections during Reconstruction.

Through the Colored Women’s Progressive Franchise Association she founded in 1880, Mary Ann Shadd Cary campaigned for women’s rights and encouraged Black women to address their specific political and economic condition and to fight for equal rights and opportunities.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary: The Black Press and protest in the nineteenth century (Jane Rhodes), Indiana University Press, 1998

Black Women in America: An historical encyclopedia (eds. Hine, Brown, Terborg-Penn), Indiana University Press, 1993

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]


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