Elizabeth Warren almost endorses Bernie Sanders: turds of a feather

You can learn a lot watching Elizabeth Warren in action–especially about evasion & equivocation. She says it’s too early to endorse Bernie Sanders for president but she just loves his rhetoric & the way he blows smoke up our butts. Well she didn’t put it that way but you always have to interpret equivocators since talking straight isn’t their forte.

Bernie Sanders doesn’t represent lesser evil politics so much as he does a messiah vision of politics, the hope that somebody will come along & make the system fair. The system is too far gone for that. But when you want to assess Sanders–or Warren, for that matter–you have to ask what is their stand on Palestine & Israel? And they both stink.

Why does that matter fundamentally & not in a secondary way? Because it raises all the problems of neoliberalism, the barbaric phase of capitalism: colonialism; occupation; land theft; apartheid; ethnic cleansing; incarceration of children & political opponents of occupation; no due process for prisoners; torture; the fate of refugees; militarism; US & European control over entire regions of the world like the Middle East & Africa.

If all that is okay with Sanders & Warren for Israel against Palestinians, then where do they draw the line? And where do we? Are they exempt from the iron law of social transformation that “an injury to one is an injury to all” just because they talk a good game?

Spanish activists march against draconian new security law criminalizing protest

Spain anti-security law protect (Andres Kudacki:AP) July 1 2015

Despite massive protests in cities across Spain for months, the regime has installed a new security law criminalizing protests. It’s a sweeping, draconian law that does more than silence opposition to the EU-IMF austerity policies but is a frontal assault on civil liberties & democracy.

Activists are given steep fines for protests in front of government buildings; fines for obstructing police officers evicting families & seniors from public housing sold to private investors; fines for taking photos of police engaged in abusive behavior; fines for showing lack of respect for police; the homeless & prostitutes will be fined; & immigrants & refugees will be returned to Morocco without the due process required by international law.

The provisions may be indistinguishable from Spanish fascism but they are rooted in the juridical demands of neoliberal control & are not unique to Spain. Obama’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) allows the regime to brand someone a belligerent, ignore due process, & apply Guantanamo justice by simply kidnapping & incarcerating them. It’s the legal model Israel applies in occupied Palestine, India in Kashmir, Mexico & other regimes for political dissidents, the US in the Black community.

Protest is now militarized; riot cops around the world confront seniors & people in tee-shirts & sandals with water cannons, grenades, tear gas, high-powered weapons, & armored vehicles. The style of fascism & storm troopers has become the norm. Despite the military aggression, people by the millions are protesting but have not been able to drive back this assault on democratic rights. And driving it back to the barracks is absolutely essential if we want to end tyranny.

What is the way forward? That is what working people need to think out. The answer includes organization, choosing uncompromising leadership, a willingness to work with anyone, refusing to buckle to any form of social hatred, & building international solidarity. Because if these regimes cannot tolerate democracy & equality, then these regimes will have to be replaced. Human beings were not put on this earth to serve profit for the few & misery for the many.

Our fullest solidarity with the activists of Spain who have not blanched from protest despite the new law. This protester is marching in Madrid.

(Photo by Andres Kudacki/AP)

Freedom Flotilla III to Gaza hijacked by Israeli navy

Gaza greeting flotilla (Mahmud Hams:AFP:Getty Images) June 30 2015

The Freedom Flotilla III to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza was intercepted by the Israeli navy. The lead Swedish boat called the Marianne of Gothenburg was hijacked & escorted to an Israeli port; the other three boats turned back rather than risk assault by Israeli commandoes. Such an assault on the 2010 flotilla caused the deaths of nine activists after commandoes boarded the ships. Israel has not been held to account for those murders.

Activists on the flotillas have received some criticism for attempting to break the blockade when Israel just marshals its entire diplomatic corps, propaganda officials, & navy to thwart the boats. They threaten Greek & Turkish officials with repercussions on economic, political, & military relations; they talk up a storm about flotilla activists aiding & abetting Hamas; & finally, they commandeer the ships to prevent them landing.

Since Israel pulled Zionist settlers out of Gaza in 2005, it has been setting up Gaza as a target zone with total control over the borders by air, land, & sea. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out without Israel’s agreement–including vital needs like medicine. Egypt, acting as henchman for Israel, sealed up the smuggling tunnels once used to bring in essential goods. The Israeli navy allows Palestinian fishermen to use only three nautical miles of sea instead of the 20 nautical miles allowed by the ill-fated Oslo Accord.

With no settlers left in Gaza, the Israeli military uses heavy artillery, drones, carpet bombing in periodic murderous sieges over Gaza. This isn’t just an outdoor prison system; it’s more a system for shooting fish in a barrel. That’s called barbarism.

The flotillas have never gotten past the Israeli navy to bring supplies to Gaza. But Israel’s hysterical opposition to bringing bandaids, medicines, & solar panels to Gaza says everything you need to know about Israel’s political intentions & the value of the flotillas. It isn’t just the exposure of the Israeli blockade that’s important–though it’s necessary to isolate Israel internationally & build the boycott movement. Palestinian supporters in the growing solidarity & boycott (BDS) movement around the world want the people of Gaza to know they are not alone, that there’s a huge social movement emerging in their defense, that the truth of Israeli apartheid is out, & that justice is on the move. The daring initiative of the flotillas has been part of standing steadfast with Palestinians.

This is a photo of Palestinians in the port of Gaza waving the national flag during a rally in support of the flotilla. If the flotillas continue to be turned back, there is no recourse for justice but to build the hell out of the economic, cultural, & academic boycott (BDS) of Israel.

Hats off to the activists on the Freedom Flotilla. Hats off to the Palestinian activists. Our fullest solidarity with the people of Gaza.

(Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)