Marcy Winograd: Join Occupy the Rose Parade to Demand a Freeze on Foreclosures - Wells Fargo Sponsor

From: Marcy Winograd
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2011 7:51 AM
To: pdla@svpal.org
Subject: [PDLA] Join Occupy the Rose Parade to Demand a Freeze on Foreclosures - Wells Fargo Sponsor

Friends, I'll speak at the press conference on Monday, 11-2 pm, Pasadena City Hall, where I will call on parade sponsor Wells Fargo to freeze its foreclosures, renegotiate underwater home loans, and give first right to rent at an affordable rate to homeowners who cannot afford a mortgage. The email below outlines the various activities organized by Peter Thottam and other activists.  I hope to see you there, Marcy Winograd

Email Sent from Peter Thottam: occupytheroseparade@gmail.com

Join with Occupy The Rose Parade in Pasadena   Sunday, January 1st & Monday, January 2nd
Website: www.OccupyTheRoseParade.org - Key Flyer: www.occupytheroseparade.org/images/OTRP_ScheduleAndMap_FINAL.pdf In accordance with their long history of allowing protest, Rose Parade & Pasadena officials have authorized the Occupy the Rose Parade movement to march at the end of the parade, after all the floats have passed & the phalanx of police cars moves through, but while the crowd is still in place. “ Occupy activists are training at least 40 volunteers, outfitted in brightly colored vests, to talk to marchers and urge them to remain calm. There are Four Phases of Activities Scheduled:   Phase 1: Sunday, January 1st, 3:00 PM-6:00 PM New Year's Day People's Summit: Forum on Economic & Social Justice & Celebration of A New Era Location: ALL SAINTS CHURCH in PASADENA-- 132 North Euclid - on the West Lawn of the church, directly across from the East Steps of Pasadena's City Hall. What It Is: This three hour event combines a Teach In style forum on the topics of (1) The U.S. Foreclosure crisis, (2) Corporations aren't People (Corporate Personhood issue), and (3) The Return to Publicly Funded elections with a family friendly celebration featuring music, poetry and art. The primary coordinator and media/public relations contact for Phase 1 is Pasadena performance artist & activist Daniel Niswander. He can be reached at: niswandermusic@gmail.com  or: 323-640-1805. Live performance (music, poetry, etc.) and art display submissions for Phase 1 should be sent to Fernando Garces and you can reach him at: fgarces47@yahoo.com  or: 310-722-5701.   Phase 2: January 2nd, 7:00 AM-11:00 AM   If you are interested in this outreach phase, please contact Mark Lipman and/or Antonieta Villamil below. Activists between the Norton Simon Museum and Pasadena City Hall will continue to engage in outreach/Signage displays & Lit distribution on-site along Colorado Blvd with a particular focus on large banners. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING AND JOINING IN PHASE 2 -- Please immediately contact Matt or Antonieta below for banner/sign "team" sign-ups, strategy/planning mtgs & logistics. Mark Lipman: escalatepeace@yahoo.com or phone: 323-515-3713 or Antonieta Villamil: antonietavillamil@gmail.com or phone: 310-747-4342     Phase 3: Monday, January 2nd, 7:00 AM to 9:30 AM at Singer Park - THE  “OCCUPY HUMAN FLOAT” IS THE MAIN EVENT! Sign assemblage starts at 7:00 AM and continues to 9:00 AM on-site in Pasadena’s Singer Park (1 block east of Orange Grove (by intersection of St. John’s and California Avenue – about 6 blocks due South of the central Norton Simon location). We will gather for assemblage of Occupy’s 5 part "Human Float" float#44 / #99. We march to join the parade procession at 9:30 am. Organizers will have 500 + flags available to those who arrive on-site first as well as several hundred Occupy T-Shirts. Again, first come get the available flags/t-shirts. JOIN US. Coordinators - Activist David Cutter: dcutter@aceweb.com  or phone: (626) 260-1615) British Artists Janet & Matt Driggs: janet38@earthlink.net  or via phone: (213) 300-1421 PLEASE BE ON-SITE IN SINGER PARK BETWEEN 6:30 AM to 8:00 AM. MEDIA WILL BE THERE TO COVER. WE MARCH PROMPTLY AT 9:30 AM. BRING LARGE SIGNS & BANNERS.   Phase 4: Monday, January 2nd, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM - Media Outreach & Occupy Press Conference. At the West Side of Pasadena City Hall - 100 North Garfield Avenue, Pasadena Cindy Sheehan & Marcy Winograd will speak regarding the relationship between the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex and the Fortune 500 & Wall Street Banks. A separate Occupy Music Concert with Michelle Shocked & others will follow with an end celebratory party at the local Yard House Restaurant (2 blocks from Pasadena City Hall).     How to Get There: Parking for the Rose Parade in Pasadena is impossible! I advise using the MTA Gold Line light rail. Fare is $1.50 each way ($.55 for seniors and handicapped). MTA recommends you buy a day pass to avoid the line coming back - $5.00 ($1.80 for seniors and handicapped). Trains depart every 6 minutes starting at 5:42 am. Parking at Union Station is $6.00 for all day. Get to Union Station the best way you can.   Get off at: *Fillmore Station for the Singer Park Sign assemblage for the OWS "Human Float" and the "We are the 99%" float. *Del Mar Station for activities between the Norton Simon Museum and Pasadena City Hall and for watching the Rose Parade *Memorial Park Station for City Hall activities   For MTA Customer Information Agents call 323.GO.METRO (323) 466-3876   Link to Recent LA Times coverage of Occupy the Rose Parade: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-occupy-rose-parade-20111222,0,7810364.story   Link to Occupy the Rose Parade web site: http://OccupyTheRoseParade.org/     KEY FACTS : 1 million will be in attendance at the Rose Parade in Pasadena. 50 million will be watching throughout the USA with another 200 million watching globally via live TV circuits and thousands of on-site reporters & cameras. KTLA, NBC and ABC will cover live (esp. the corner by Orange Grove & the Norton Simon museum -- where ‘The Rose' is). See the giant blowup map onsite at OccupyLA's Southside City Hall steps (near ‘The Box'/media bulletin board). Why the Rose Parade? Simple. The Rose Parade has become far too militarized (see, for example, this coming year's Jan 2012 Grand Marshall, J.R. Martinez-- an Iraq war soldier) and far too corporatized with major banks & financial institutions increasingly undwriting many of the floats. Please note we have no criticism of Mr. Martinez himself -- only of the growing militarization and corporatization of U.S. politics & popular culture. Tens of thousands will converge to protest the complete breakdown of U.S. Justice & Wall Street's revolving door and the 1%'s de facto control & takeover of America's political, cultural & economic systems. I.e., the corporate takeover of public spaces & events such as the Pasadena Rose Parade. We are a two day affinity project of the international "Occupy Wall Street" movement . Please share the site with other 99%ers via Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms.   Reminder : Tomorrow (Tuesday at 12:00 Noon) : Phase 1 & Phase 3 teams meet concurrently at Singer Park (Location: Singer Park is in Pasadena, by California & St. John's; i.e. 8 blocks due south from Norton Simon museum).     Note: Phase 2 team (Mark/Antonieta are coordinators) meets at 2 pm.   Contact info for all phase coordinators on the OTRP website and the below Schedule/Map pdf.    Updated website --> http://www.OccupyTheRoseParade.org     OTRP Logo & Promo graphic : http://www.occupytheroseparade.org/images/OccupyTheRoseParade.jpg   Jan 1st & Jan 2nd Schedule: http://www.occupytheroseparade.org/images/OTRP_ScheduleAndMap_FINAL.pdf     Please also 'Like' our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-the-Rose-Parade-Mon-Jan-2-2012/279763812055563 We are striving for 4,000 national & international occupiers converging at Pasadena's Norton Simon (by Orange Grove Blvd & Colorado Blvd) from Dec. 31, 2011 to 2 pm, Jan. 2, 2012. Further details at website and via listserve. Email Sent from Peter Thottam: occupytheroseparade@gmail.com

 

_______________________________________________
atw-news mailing list
Go here to unsubscribe:
http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/atw-news

Clay Claiborne: The Year in Review

From: Clay Claiborne
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 1:37 PM
Subject: [Jan27action] Happy New Year from Linux Beach

to read this in your browser [click here]

The Year in Review: They should have left that street vendor alone!

2011 actually started on December 17, 2010 although none of us knew it at the time. On that provident day a fruit peddler in Tunisia decided that he was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. In the year since then, his sentiment has been echoed by millions around the globe in the greatest show of people power that we have seen in more than 40 years.

Mohamed Bouazizi, who could find no other work and took to selling fruits and vegetables, had grown tired of the police harassment. When his complaints to city hall went unanswered, he doused himself with gasoline and lit a fire that is blazing still.

Had his act of defiance happened in any earlier epoch, it most likely would have gained little notice outside of word of mouth, but we now live in an age when word of mouth spans the globe. We have the technology, even in North Africa.

So news of his defiance spread throughout Tunisia in a flash and the people rose up to demand justice from the government. Then, via WikiLeaks, the Tunisian people found out just how corrupt their government really was and started to demand an end to the 20 year rule of Ben Ali. When they did this, their struggle took a revolutionary turn.

The source of that revelation was an unlikely one. A group of hackers, computer nerds, that made it their business to make government and corporate secrets public, with the aid of another hacker inside the digital pentagon, released the US State Department Tunis Embassy cables that gave details supporting what everybody already suspected about the president-dictator. Then on the 2nd day of the new year, the hacker activist group Anonymous, led by its Tunisian members, organized international support for this uprising with #OpTunisia, mainly by spreading the word, keeping the people's lines of communications up while disrupting government PR efforts and gathering Intel.

By the middle of January, Ben Ali was getting out of Dodge and protests were breaking out in Libya and Algeria. By the end of January, Egypt was fully involved and the world knew that it would be an Arab Spring. The global activist network in support of these struggles was also rapidly developing. A dense network of websites, YouTube pages, facebooks pages, Twitter accounts and other Internet resources had to be managed. The technology progressed within the year too. Cell phone cameras and YouTube were the weapons of choice from Tunisia through Libya but by Occupy Wall St., smart phones and live streaming video were coming into their own. Twitter was everywhere. The lessons of the struggle spread rapidly. In Egypt, Anonymous responded with #OpEgypt and when Mubarak tried to cut the Internet, Google came up with Speech-to-Tweet.

Before February 2011 was half over, a second dictator, Egypt's Mubarak was forced to end his 30 year rule. More protests sprung up in Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Palestine & Syria. Things were moving very fast. #OpLibya and #OpAlgeria were actually discussed in Anonymous before #OpEgypt demanded their attention. I think most in the global activist network that grew up to support the Arab Spring thought Libya or Algeria would be next, Egypt was the big enchilada and would be much later, but things were already moving at lighting speed. I made my contribution mainly in agitprop work, writing in the DailyKos and then joining the staff of WikiLeaks Central,

In Libya, the Arab Spring finally met a dictator that had an army that would massacre its own people when ordered to, something the armies in Tunisia and Egypt had refused to do. Because of this, the Libyan people were forced to make their revolution the old fashion way, by armed struggle. They built a true people's army, the Libyan working class - armed, and with some help from above by western interests keen to get the oil flowing again, they vanquished a brutal dictator that had savaged Libya for more than 40 years. The new government estimates that the civil war cost some 30,000 Libyan lives and, according the Democracy Now and the NY Times last week, less than a hundred of those were civilians killed by NATO. The Libyans won their liberation at the greatest cost of any in the Arab Spring, but they also won the most thoroughgoing revolution of them all, the only one in which the old army and all institutions of the old regime have been abolished.

With Qaddafi leading the charge, the response of regimes in Yemen, Bahrain and Syria veered toward the use of live fire and military power on peaceful protests. Rivers of the people's blood watered the Earth in 2011 as a result, but nowhere did the people back down or let up. More than 5,000 protesters have been murdered by the monster Assad in Syria this year and still they keep coming. 70,000 protested in Homs Tuesday and 40 more were killed.

As the year progressed, the struggle exampled by the people of North Africa began to be taken up all over the world. When they went to the streets in Belgium, they spoke of Tahrir Square. In Greece and Spain, massive numbers took to the streets to protest austerity measures. In Chile, and London students went on strike. In Bolivia, they took the protest on the road. I even saw a Guy Fawkes mask in a Moscow demonstration this week.

Twitter became the communications tool of choice for activists all over the planet. Facebook played an important role too, but so did chat, piratepad and other less well known means of digital collaboration. For a while an innocuous Egyptian dating site was a place beneath the radar where a lot of revolutionary "hook-ups" took place. Google brushed up their Arabic translation capabilities a little more than a year ago as in anticipation, and again in Libya they provided that important Speech-to-Tweet service when Qaddafi tried to cut the cord.

During the long Libyan struggle this global support network of information activists began discussions and planning to bring the Arab Spring home. WikiLeaks Central initiated the US Days or Rage campaign in March. Anonymous also started making plans, AdBusters started a campaign and the Occupy Wall Street movement was born out of this network just as the Libyan struggle was being brought to a successful conclusion, Occupy Los Angeles started on October 1st, and together with hundreds of similar occupations all over the planet, Occupy Venice started soon afterwards. The Arab Spring had come home.

where my beat was Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Libya. Libya became my longest self-assignment and so far, the toughest dictator to crack.

Tasks of the Coming Year

Abraham Lincoln once called the United States the "Last Best Hope of Earth." He was wrong. He was exaggerating. While ending slavery was important and even preserving the union had some progressive value, it was still too early to speak of last chances. The Earth was still a little too young then but things have change greatly in the 150 years since he made his claim and 2011 has shown us something else, it has shown us how desperate the plight of the planet now is.

From Japan we learned what a disaster nuclear power is, all across the planet thousands lost their lives and livelihood as global warming flooded some areas while drying up others. Imperialist wars expanded in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the so-called advance countries, millions of people went unemployed and homeless while the bankers fiddled and the world economy burned. It is no longer a question of hyperbole to speak of last chances for the planet because we are all staring into the abyss.

But in 2011 we also saw this revolutionary spirit, which really is the "Last Best Hope of Earth" come clear around the globe and into our backyards. Let us all work to make 2012 a year of even greater triumph for the people's movement, 2011 was only the beginning. This planet can only be saved if world finance capital is overthrown and the home of finance capital is still the United States. We are still in the belly of the beast. Let's make 2012 the year of the American Spring.

Happy New Years, now get busy.

Clay


If you are in Southern California, I hope to see you at Occupy the Rose Parade on January 1st and 2nd.

Clay Claiborne, Producer
Vietnam: American Holocaust
Linux Beach

Venice Beach, CA 90291
(310)581-1536

--
Clay Claiborne, Producer
Vietnam: American Holocaust
Linux Beach
116 Rose Ave, Ste. 9
Venice Beach, CA 90291
(310)581-1536

(323) 219-6507 cell

Scheer: Marginalizing Ron Paul, UFPJ's Statement on Iraq

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/marginalizing_ron_paul_20111229/

 

Marginalizing Ron Paul

 

Robert Scheer

Truthdig: December 29, 2011

It is official now. The Ron Paul campaign, despite surging in the Iowa polls, is not worthy of serious consideration, according to a New York Times editorial; “Ron Paul long ago disqualified himself for the presidency by peddling claptrap proposals like abolishing the Federal Reserve, returning to the gold standard, cutting a third of the federal budget and all foreign aid and opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

That last item, along with the decade-old racist comments in the newsletters Paul published, is certainly worthy of criticism. But not as an alternative to seriously engaging the substance of Paul’s current campaign—his devastating critique of crony capitalism and his equally trenchant challenge to imperial wars and the assault on our civil liberties that they engender.

Paul is being denigrated as a presidential contender even though on the vital issues of the economy, war and peace, and civil liberties, he has made the most sense of the Republican candidates. And by what standard of logic is it “claptrap” for Paul to attempt to hold the Fed accountable for its destructive policies? That’s the giveaway reference to the raw nerve that his favorable prospects in the Iowa caucuses have exposed. Too much anti-Wall Street populism in the heartland can be a truly scary thing to the intellectual parasites residing in the belly of the beast that controls American capitalism.

It is hypocritical that Paul is now depicted as the archenemy of non-white minorities when it was his nemesis, the Federal Reserve, that enabled the banking swindle that wiped out 53 percent of the median wealth of African-Americans and 66 percent for Latinos, according to the Pew Research Center.

The Fed sits at the center of the rot and bears the major responsibility for tolerating the runaway mortgage-backed securities scam that is at the core of our economic crisis. After the meltdown it was the Fed that led ultra-secret machinations to bail out the banks while ignoring the plight of their exploited customers.

To his credit, Paul marshaled bipartisan support to pass a bill requiring the first-ever public audit of the Federal Reserve. That audit is how readers of the Times first learned of the Fed’s trillions of dollars in secret loans and aid given to the banks as a reward for screwing over the public.

As for the Times’ complaint that Paul seeks to unreasonably cut the federal budget by one-third, it should be noted that his is a rare voice in challenging irrationally high military spending. At a time when the president has signed off on a Cold War-level defense budget and his potential opponents in the Republican field want to waste even more on high-tech weapons to fight a sophisticated enemy that doesn’t exist, Paul has emerged as the only serious peace candidate. As The Wall Street Journal reported, Paul last week warned an Iowa audience, “Watch out for the military-industrial complex—they always have an enemy. Nobody is going to invade us. We don’t need any more [weapons systems].”

As another recent example of Paul’s sanity on the national security issues that have led to a flight from reason on the part of politicians since the 9/11 attacks, I offer the Texan’s criticism this week of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The act would allow the president to order indeterminate military imprisonment without trial of those accused of supporting terrorism, a policy that Obama signed into law and Paul opposes, as the congressman did George W. Bush’s Patriot Act. Paul said:

“Little by little, in the name of fighting terrorism, our Bill of Rights is being repealed. ... The Patriot Act, as bad as its violation of the 4th Amendment, was just one step down the slippery slope. The recently passed (NDAA) continues that slip toward tyranny and in fact accelerates it significantly ... The Bill of Rights has no exemption for ‘really bad people’ or terrorists or even non-citizens. It is a key check on government power against any person. This is not a weakness in our legal system; it is the very strength of our legal system.”

That was exactly the objection raised by The New York Times in its own excellent editorial challenging the constitutionality of the NDAA. It should not be difficult for those same editorial writers to treat Ron Paul as a profound and principled contributor to a much-needed national debate on the limits of federal power instead of attempting to marginalize his views beyond recognition.  

***

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/2011/12/29/ufpjs-statement-on-iraq/

December 29, 2011

UFPJ’s Statement on Iraq

United For Peace and Justice was founded in 2002 to oppose the illegal and immoral, pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. Eight years and nine months after “Shock and Awe” U.S. troops have finally left Iraq. For that we must largely thank the Iraqi people, who refused to accept permanent occupation.

The costs of the war have been horrendous – most of all for the Iraqi people. The quality of life and security in Iraq is much worse than before the U.S. led invasion and occupation. An unknown number of Iraqis have died as a result of hostilities and the impact of the war. The count ranges from hundreds of thousands to over a million. More than four million have become refugees or have been internally displaced. All live in a country that has been destroyed – where one in four do not have access to clean drinking water, electricity is unreliable, violence is rampant, schools and hospitals no longer function and citizens’ human rights and civil rights are frequently violated. In many Iraqi cities and towns the environmental pollution caused by the war has produced an epidemic of birth defects and cancers.

The war has also wreaked havoc on our people and our economy. U.S. service members have paid a high price with 4,484 dead and 33,186 with physical wounds including traumatic brain injury, and loss of limbs and eyesight. Tens of thousands return with the unseen injuries of post-traumatic stress disorder. All return to a dismal economic outlook with many unable to find jobs; the unemployment rate for veterans 18 to 24 is an astounding 37.9%. Thousands are either homeless or one step away from it. Ultimately we see the pain of war reflected in the epidemic suicide rates of service members and veterans, reaching one death every 36 hours and one every 80 minutes, respectively.

In a nation where millions have lost their homes and millions more are unemployed, the trillions of dollars wasted to carry out this war is money desperately needed to invest in our nation’s future. With the country facing staggering debt and limited resources to address domestic human needs at a time of economic crisis, the war in Iraq proved to be a war of depravity and inequality at home enriching war profiteers and corporations at the expenses of the poor and middle-class.

U.S. troops have left Iraq, but has the occupation actually ended? The U.S. has built the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad – the footprint of our military is being replaced by that of the State Department and thousands of private security contractors in its employ. As UFPJ members protested the war, we must also protest this new form of corporate occupation.

U.S. troops have left Iraq, but is there peace? There can be no peace without justice. We must insist that the U.S. government end its interference in the affairs of Iraq. We must support the struggles of the Iraqis for jobs, security, and human rights. The Iraqi people deserve reparations from the U.S. for the damages and destruction that the immoral invasion and occupation spawned. In 2012, UFPJ will be exposing the impact of the war and advocate for the reparations and restitution that the U.S. government owes the Iraqi people.

As we move into 2012, we thank you for your dedication and perseverance. The world’s continued resistance to U.S. military aggression has made a significant difference. The people in the streets around the globe on February 15, 2003 were indeed a “second superpower.” We still have that power and in the coming year we will continue to use it to move forward the cause of peace and justice. In the face of a global recession and a sick U.S. economy, our message of peace and our solutions are more relevant than ever.

UFPJ will continue to call for an end to occupations and U.S. military aggression around the world. We will continue to pressure for a shift in spending priorities from war making to human needs. As part of the 99% we call on the wealthy and on corporations to pay their fair share, especially in this time of need. In 2012 we will continue to advocate for a vision of a world beyond war, where political and economic equity and peace and justice are shared aspirations.

Our work is not yet done, and new opportunities to create peace and justice emerge every day. Power To The Peaceful and persistent!

 

Woody: Bound for Glory - at Last, The Weavers: They were so Young

Enjoy and relish these, and look forward to a better year.

Ed

 

From: Ellie Bluestein [mailto:ellieb28@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 12:40 AM
Subject: Fwd: Ah! Memories.

 

 Were they really ever that young?

Were they really ever that "straight?" and stiff? Lee Hayes looks like someone out of the "Munsters."

Pete is such a genius!

Ronnie looks so lovely, and I had forgotten what a lovely voice she had.

The original girl singer was Hope (Foye -  who still sang and was beautiful, in her  middle 80's -Ed )...but she was black and the media would not accept that.

Begin forwarded message:

http://youtu.be/_HCsW0xh1Mk

Ellie Bluestein

ellieb28@sbcglobal.net

 

* * * 

 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/arts/music/woody-guthrie-gets-a-belated-honor-in-oklahoma.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&src=dayp

 

Bound for Glory - at Last

 

Patrick Cohen

NY Times:  December 28, 2011

 

TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma has always had a troubled relationship with her native son Woody Guthrie. The communist sympathies of America’s balladeer infuriated local detractors. In 1999 a wealthy donor’s objections forced the Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City to cancel a planned exhibition on Guthrie organized by the Smithsonian Institution. It wasn’t until 2006, nearly four decades after his death, that the Oklahoma Hall of Fame got around to adding him to its ranks.

Enlarge This Image

Al Aumuller/Woody Guthrie Archives.

Woody Guthrie, around 1943.

Enlarge This Image

Bradly Brown/Woody Guthrie Archives.

A watercolor and a typed lyric sheet in a 1952 notebook, part of a rich trove of personal material that makes up the Guthrie archives.

But as places from California to the New York island get ready to celebrate the centennial of Guthrie’s birth, in 2012, Oklahoma is finally ready to welcome him home. The George Kaiser Family Foundation in Tulsa plans to announce this week that it is buying the Guthrie archives from his children and building an exhibition and study center to honor his legacy.

“Oklahoma was like his mother,” said his daughter Nora Guthrie, throwing back her tangle of gray curls as she reached out in an embrace. “Now he’s back in his mother’s arms.”

The archive includes the astonishing creative output of Guthrie during his 55 years. There are scores of notebooks and diaries written in his precise handwriting and illustrated with cartoons, watercolors, stickers and clippings; hundreds of letters; 581 artworks; a half-dozen scrapbooks; unpublished short stories, novels and essays; as well as the lyrics to the 3,000 or more songs he scribbled on scraps of paper, gift wrap, napkins, paper bags and place mats. Much of the material has rarely or never been seen in public, including the lyrics to most of the songs. Guthrie could not write musical notation, so the melodies have been lost.

The foundation, which paid $3 million for the archives, is planning a kickoff celebration on March 10, with a conference in conjunction with the University of Tulsa and a concert sponsored by the Grammy Museum featuring his son Arlo Guthrie and other musicians. Although the collection won’t be transferred until 2013, preparations for its arrival are already in motion. Construction workers are clearing out piles of red brick and wire mesh from the loading dock in the northeast end of the old Tulsa Paper Company building, in the Brady District of the city, where the planned Guthrie Center is taking shape. The center is part of an ambitious plan to revitalize the downtown arts community.

Now that the back walls are punched out, workers trucking wheelbarrows of concrete can look across the tracks to the tower built by BOK Financial, which George Kaiser, whose foundation bears his name, presides over as chairman. Forbes magazine ranks Mr. Kaiser as the richest man in Oklahoma and No. 31 on its Forbes 400 list.

Ken Levit, the foundation’s executive director, said he thought of doing something for Guthrie after the Hall of Fame induction. Nowhere in Tulsa, he said, is there even a plaque paying homage to this folk legend, who composed “This Land Is Your Land”; performed with Pete Seeger and Lead Belly; wrote the fictionalized autobiography “Bound for Glory”; and sang at countless strikes and migrant labor protests in the 1930s and ’40s. Mr. Levit began a more than three-year campaign to win the consent of Ms. Guthrie, who had taken custody of the boxes that her mother, Marjorie Guthrie, had stowed away in the basement of her home in Howard Beach, Queens.

Ms. Guthrie, who as one of Guthrie’s youngest children, didn’t really know her father until Huntington’s disease began to rob him of his sanity, movement and speech many years before his death, in 1967, said she only rediscovered the kind of man he once was when she started to page through the boxes about 15 years ago.

“I fell in love through this material with my father,” Ms. Guthrie, 61, a former dancer, said from her office in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

Her older brothers Arlo and Joady were happy to have her take custody of the papers. Of Arlo, she said, “He was filled up with being Woody Guthrie’s son, so he was glad the responsibility moved to me.”

She said the information contained in the archives can clear up misconceptions about her father that she has frequently heard at scholarly conferences and read in articles, including that he didn’t write love songs or sexually provocative lyrics. She has also opened up his notebooks to contemporary musicians like Billy Bragg and Wilco, Jackson Browne, Rob Wasserman, Lou Reed and Tom Morello so that they could compose music to her father’s words.

One of those artists, Jonatha Brooke, is starting off the Guthrie Foundation and Grammy Museum’s yearlong centennial celebrations on Jan. 18 at Lincoln Center with a concert of new songs she wrote for the lyrics.

Woody Guthrie’s music has also had added play time this year as Arlo Guthrie, Mr. Seeger, and other musicians have sung his protest songs at Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York and elsewhere.

While this poor folks’ hero and the richest man in Oklahoma might not seem to have much in common, Mr. Kaiser’s foundation, with its $4 billion endowment, is dedicated to helping Tulsa’s most disadvantaged. “I cried for an hour after meeting George Kaiser,” Ms. Guthrie said. “This puts together what I’ve always dreamed of.”

Brian Hosmer, a history professor at the University of Tulsa who is organizing the March conference — ironically titled “Different Shades of Red” — said Guthrie’s legacy is contested in some quarters.

Enlarge This Image

Shane Brown for The New York Times

Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, Woody Guthrie's sister.

Breaking news about the arts, coverage of live events, critical reviews, multimedia and more.

• Go to Arts Beat »

A sortable calendar of noteworthy cultural events in the New York region, selected by Times critics.

• Go to Event Listings »

Enlarge This Image

Shane Brown for The New York Times

Guthrie's hometown, Okemah, Okla., did not honor him until lately: today the town has a statue, above, and an annual festival.

Enlarge This Image

Shane Brown for The New York Times

The festival includes performances at the Crystal theater.

Enlarge This Image

Shane Brown for The New York Times

An old paper company building in Tulsa is being made into a Woody Guthrie archives and study center.

“There is no doubt there will be some voices in opposition to the way Guthrie is being emphasized — Oklahoma is about the reddest state you can have,” Mr. Hosmer explained, referring to its conservatism. “And when Woody Guthrie was a boy, Oklahoma was also the reddest state because we had more socialists elected to public office than any other.”

Guthrie always said he was influenced by the songs he had heard his mother sing in his hometown, Okemah, about an hour’s drive from Tulsa, with a population of 3,000. His radicalism offended local officials, who scorned Guthrie until an Okemah resident, Sharon Jones, decided to do something about it in the late 1990s. One of her cousins, an avid Guthrie fan, came to visit and was shocked there wasn’t a single mention of her idol. So Ms. Jones, who died in 2009, created the Woody Guthrie Coalition, which organized an annual folk festival, called WoodyFest, around his birthday on July 14, as well as a statue, a mural and a memorial. Sensitive to the area’s Baptist beliefs (including Ms. Jones’s), no alcohol was permitted at the celebration until this year.

Dee Jones, Sharon’s husband, explained that Guthrie “was kind of taboo because some influential people in this town thought Woody Guthrie had communist leanings.” But once the community realized that the 3,000 or so attendees brought in business, everyone got behind it, Mr. Jones said.

A couple of blocks from the memorial statue, visitors can run a finger along the fading letters “W-O-O-D-Y” on a fragment of Main Street’s original sidewalk, where the 16-year-old Guthrie signed his name in wet cement in 1928.

Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, Woody’s 90-year-old sister, always hosts a pancake breakfast during the four-day music festival. A white-haired, elfin woman with a persistent smile and a sharp wit, Ms. Edgmon remembered how her brother was always making music.

“You’d sit down at the dinner table, and there’d be glasses of water, and he’d pick up a fork and play the glasses all around the table,” she said. “If it made music, he played it.”

Reciting snatches of Guthrie’s poetry and songs, Ms. Edgmon said her brother never cared what people thought of him and did not necessarily hold a particular affection for his birthplace. “He didn’t get attached to anything,” she said. “Everywhere was his home.”

Still, after so many years of Oklahomans’ snubbing her brother’s memory, she said the whole family was thrilled he was being honored: “What we were all shooting for,” she said, “was acknowledgment.”

2011's Big Wins - Brought to You by Women + Hitler was NEVER elected -- Setting the Record Straight

From: Mitchel Cohen [mailto:mitchelcohen@mindspring.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 7:13 PM

I send this every five years or so, just in case we forget the truthful history and so make inaccurate strategies based on it, as Wilkerson did, below.

Setting the Record Straight:
Hitler was NEVER elected

by Mitchel Cohen

On Nov. 22, 2005 -- the 42nd anniversary of the murder of U.S. President John F. Kennedy -- Amy Goodman interviewed Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who was U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff from 2002-2005, on Democracy Now! The topic was Vice President Cheney's attack on on critics of the Iraq war and his denial that the Bush administration manipulated prewar intelligence to build support for the invasion.

"What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made" Wilkerson had previously said. On Democracy Now! he developed his blistering critique of the Cheney-Rumsfeld axis and the "Palace Politics" within the Bush administration. But with the exception of the war against Iraq, he defended U.S. foreign policy, especially that advocated by Colin Powell.

At one point, Amy Goodman questioned Col. Wilkerson on the U.S. government's removal of Pres. Aristide in Haiti, pointing out that Aristide had received the overwhelming majority of votes in Haiti's presidential elections, "certainly ... a higher percentage of the vote than President Bush got in this country." Wilkerson responded by rationalizing the U.S. government's role in removing the elected president of Haiti, claiming that "it prevented further bloodshed."

"Please, don't refer to the percentage of vote as equatable to democracy, as equatable to the kinds of institutions we have reflecting democracy in America. Hitler was elected by popular vote," Wilkerson said.

Part of Wilkerson's point was a good one: Democracy is not simply the vote on election day but it is embedded in the institutions of society. However, instead of taking that to its logical conclusion he then resorted to a standard script, buttressing the U.S. government's claimed right to remove foreign leaders (even as he critiqued the Cheney cabal): It doesn't matter that they were elected; if the election results run contrary to the U.S. government's or corporations' interests, remove them!
 
Here, however, Amy Goodman missed a key historical beat in an otherwise revealing interview. As this same error repeats itself regularly when people in positions of power argue for curtailment of the democratic rights of the citizenry because the citizens are too stupid, or poor, or uneducated to know what's best for themselves, it is important to set the record straight.

*********************************
The fact is, Hitler was NOT elected. He was appointed Chancellor of Germany by German President Paul von Hindenburg. And this is a distinction with a very profound difference, at least insofar as it comes to understanding Democracy historically and in formulating strategy for defeating the fascists who have seized power in the U.S. today.
 
The politician that the German voters actually elected was NOT Hitler but "lesser evil" monarchist Hindenburg. In the initial 1932 presidential elections Hindenburg, who did not even campaign, defeated Hitler by 49-30 percent, a substantial margin. (The Communist candidate received 13 percent of that vote.) In the runoff, the 85-year-old Hindenburg increased his total vote to 53 percent while the Nazis received 36 percent, with 10 percent going to the Communists.
 
Given their electoral failure, the Nazis resorted to other means to come to power. Under the so-called socialists running the government of the pre-Nazi Weimar Republic, the vast majority of violence and killing was perpetrated by the Nazi's and the right. The government either refused to prosecute or investigate or else meted out the tiniest sentences or fines. The Nazis took advantage of the economic misery of the country and used systematic violence to create conditions inside Germany that were utterly intolerable, utilizing the economic depression and global capitalist crisis to destabilize the society, scapegoat the Jews, attack Communists, and pressure for Hitler to be appointed as the law and order expert.

The Nazis did elect local politicians to the Reichstag (although never a majority, not even at the height of their power), and under the leadership of Hermann Goring they regularly disrupted proceedings with thuggish behavior, consciously attempting to undermine democracy in Germany. 400,000 stormtroopers under the leadership of SA Chief Ernst Rohm began the systematic policy of terror against the Communists and Jews. ("The people want wholesome dread. They want to fear something. They want someone to frighten them and make them shudderingly submissive." - Ernst Rohm, later to be betrayed and murdered on Hitler's orders during the Night of the Long Knives, 1934.)

Again, contrary to Wilkerson's (and others') claims, the Nazi Party never received a majority in parliamentary elections. The closest they came before the seizure of power was in May of 1932, when they received 37 percent of the total votes, which translated into 230 seats in the Reichstag. Although this was certainly a sizable minority, it was the fact that it was an ORGANIZED, VIOLENT minority financed and encouraged by German and American capitalists that made all the difference.
 
But the Nazi movement began to decline, as Germany slowly awakened. The majority of people never voted for Hitler. And in the elections of November 1932, the Nazis lost two million votes and thirty four seats in the Reichstag. In addition, the Nazi Party was in financial disarray.
 
But German capitalists, including Krupp and I.G. Farben (with support from a powerful sector of U.S. capital headed by DuPonts, Ford, etc.) feared the economic crisis and slow-moving but rising working class, and they pressured Hindenburg. So, despite his intense dislike and prior rejections of Hitler and his movement, and under pressure from a number of key German bankers and industrialists -- and with an enormous and exhausting amount of behind-the-scenes intrigue by German politicians jockeying for power befitting a Shakespearean tragedy -- Hindenburg took a number of fateful steps that led to the Nazi takeover, even as the Nazi movement had begun to decline, and which resonates in the U.S. today.
 
As correspondent Jeff Melton notes, Hindenburg took the following steps, that enabled the Nazis to come to power. He:

1) appointed Hitler chancellor on January 30, 1933;
 
2) through his henchman, Franz von Papen, he dissolved the Reichstag (parliament);
 
3) rescinded the government's ban on Nazi goon squads;
 
4) banned the Communist Party and its press; and
 
5) suspended Constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, press, assembly, and association.
 
Thus the German "lesser evil," with the backing of German capitalists, aided and abetted Hitler's seizure of power. The German financiers and industrial capitalists funded the Nazi Party's electoral campaign in March of 1933 to the tune of over 3 million German deutschmarks.
 
The Nazis campaigned furiously to try to win their first majority and legally give Hitler absolute control. A week before the elections, on February 27, 1933, the Nazis burned down the Reichstag. Hitler blamed it on the Communists in much the same way that Bush et al. blamed 9/11 on secret cells of Moslem extremists armed only with plastic knives, and hundreds were rounded up, many of them murdered. Despite all the orchestrated chaos and media manipulation, however, the majority of people refused to vote for the Nazis and denied Hitler his majority in the Reichstag. The Nazis ended up with 44 per cent of the total vote, 17,277,180. Despite massive propaganda and the brutal crackdown, the other parties held their own. The Center Party got over four million and the Social Democrats over seven million. The Communists lost votes but still got over four million votes.
 
Hitler and the Nazis had been able to succeed in seizing state power after failing to win an electoral mandate NOT because they had majority popular support, but because they were armed, disciplined, and violent and had developed a mass right-wing movement that successfully intimidated the liberal sectors of German society. They were able to succeed in taking state power because German anti-fascists were not themselves sufficiently armed, organized or united, nor did the leading formations, such as the Communist Party, understand the true dangers of the Nazis until it was too late. As Hitler himself put it: "Only one thing could have stopped our movement -- if our adversaries had understood its principle and, from the very first day, had smashed with the utmost brutality the nucleus of our new movement."

[See Wilhelm Reich's "What Is Class Consciousness?" and "The Mass Psychology of Fascism" for great insight into the ways the Communist Party leadership in Germany undermined itself and mimicked the authoritarian framework of the Nazi's, thus offering no effective alternative in the months under review.]
 
It is interesting that Col. Wilkerson and other imperialists -- whatever their value now in helping to rein in the excesses of the brutality of the Bush regime -- often rationalize their own position by turning to this shibboleth, that Hitler was elected by the people of Germany and that that justifies their own sabotaging or overturning of the results of popular elections when it serves their purpose.
 
----------------------------------
A more detailed and popular description of the German events -- although weakened by ignoring the critical role of the Communists and on-the-ground resistance movements -- can be found on-line at http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/dictator.htm

For Amy Goodman's interview with Wilkerson, see
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/22/1515236

http://www.MitchelCohen.com 

Ring the bells that still can ring,  Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in. 
~ Leonard Cohen  

 

* * *

 

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/27-9

2011's Big Wins – Brought to You by Women

by Yifat Susskind

CommonDreams.org: December 27, 2011

2011 was a year of transformations.

In this Friday, April 1, 2011 photo, Egyptian women chant slogans as they attend a demonstration in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. As demonstrations first swelled in Yemen, the regime distributed a photo of female activist Tawakkul Kamran in a protest with a male colleague -- cutting out others around them -- to taint her for sinfully sitting alone with a man. Kamran's Nobel peace win draws attention to the role of women in the Arab Spring uprisings.It began with thousands of people in the Middle East rising up to demand an end to repressive government and a say in their futures.

That spirit of transformation continued throughout the year. The world welcomed the new country of South Sudan, the culmination of a years-long peace process. A global network of activists sprang into action to thwart a policy that threatened Afghan women. The United Nations launched a new agency dedicated to guaranteeing women's human rights worldwide.

What do all these things have in common? These successes, and others, were made possible by women—in their local communities and in global centers of power—who came together to demand change.

Women Grow the Seeds of the Arab Spring

The protests of the Arab Spring took the world by storm. They upended regimes that had reigned for decades, and women were at the center of it all.

Western stereotypes of Arab women portray them as one dimensional victims of oppression. But it was women, often young women, who sounded the call that brought people to the streets. In Egypt, Asmaa Mahfouz posted a video calling on people to demonstrate on January 25—and it went viral. It started a wave that could not be stopped. And that wave continued, day after day, spreading through the region, because women kept its momentum going.

Women know that their work is not over when an old regime crumbles. In Egypt, women have again taken to the streets to demand an end to the ongoing military rule. They have been beaten and assaulted, stripped and harassed. But they're not stepping down. Our work ahead is to stand by the brave women who helped topple dictatorships and help them protect the gains they've made.

Working for the Peaceful Creation of South Sudan

A generation of Sudanese people grew up in war. Women bore the brunt, struggling to sustain their families through violence. But through it all, they organized to demand peace.

The years-long peace process peaked with the creation of the world's newest nation in July—South Sudan. With communities still recovering from decades of conflict, many worried that the split would trigger a slide back into war.

But women's organizations refused to let that happen. Leaders like Fatima Ahmed, founder of the human rights organization Zenab for Women in Development, educated voters, trained women as election monitors and spoke out for peace.

People are still at risk, and continued violent attacks have wracked communities. But peace is more than just a one-time win—it must be nurtured and lived. So the Sudanese women's movement continues to work for peace and for protection of women's human rights—on both sides of the new border. Now, Fatima is hard at work advocating for women's human rights in the review of the Sudanese constitution.

Protecting Women's Shelters in Afghanistan

Naseema knew that her abusive husband was going to kill her if she didn't escape. Thanks to an activist-run network of women's shelters, she and her children were able to flee the country—and save their lives.

But under a law proposed by the Afghan government earlier this year, Naseema could have been forced to return to her husband from the shelter.

The new law would have shifted control of women's shelters from the courageous women's organizations that now run them to government officials who could determine entry based on virginity tests and choose to send women back to abusive husbands.

Women's rights activists, in Afghanistan and beyond, mobilized to prevent this terrible move. And we won: the bill was scrapped. Now, Afghan women still have the freedom to turn—no questions asked—to shelters where they can escape life-threatening violence and abuse.

Launch of UN Women

For decades, advocates fought for the full recognition of women's human rights. The United Nations was a key site of this struggle. Yet women's human rights endeavors at the UN were chronically underfunded. UN bodies set up to address women's issues were small, disjointed and lacked authority.

All of that began to change in 2011 with the launch of UN Women, an agency dedicated to guaranteeing women's human rights. For years, leaders like Charlotte Bunch, the founder of the Center for Women's Global Leadership, organized a concerted campaign, strategized with activists worldwide and lobbied with UN representatives—all to make UN Women a reality.

Despite this milestone, many challenges lie ahead. Countries have been slow to direct funding to the fledgling agency. This is a serious blow to an agency mandated to improve conditions for half of the world's people. But just as we fought to create UN Women, we must stand by the agency to keep it strong—for the sake of women worldwide counting on it.

Women Stand Up for Peace

Time and again, we see that peace cannot be won without the voices and leadership of women. In war, women are often specifically targeted with violence, including rape and sexual assault. What's more, women often sustain the most vulnerable in their communities, including children and the elderly. Yet, too often, women are denied a seat at the peace negotiating table.

But in 2011, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three women. It was a rare recognition of the integral role women play in demanding peace and rebuilding their communities.

In Liberia, Leymah Gbowee led a protest movement of women who held years of vigils for peace. They refused to be silent and demanded that militants lay down their arms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Liberia's first female president, paving the way to recovery. Another winner, Tawakul Karman, is a Yemeni peace activist. Her demands for greater press freedoms, the release of political prisoners and the removal of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh finally led to his resignation.

A Global Call for Justice

2011 began with popular uprising in the Arab world. And as 2011 comes to a close, the uprisings have circled the globe. The Occupy Wall Street movement, in New York City and around the world, reveals a growing refusal to go along with business as usual. The 99%, suffering for years under neoliberal policies that benefit the rich and impoverish the poor, are taking a stand.

And the movement isn't going away anytime soon. Its demands resonate in communities worldwide that are all too familiar with the destructiveness of economic policies that treat basic necessities as tradable commodities instead of as human rights.

There are viable alternatives to neoliberal policies. They have already been articulated by women who confront daily the heaviest burdens of economic injustice. These women are Guatemalan women factory workers who organize for fair labor practices and Iraqi women who take a stand against the takeover of their government by oil companies. They offer the solutions that we all need and that resonate with the calls of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

We enter 2012 into a changed world, one that has been remade by the committed work of women activists. With each win, the forward momentum continues. We'll remember 2011 for its uprisings and revolutions. Let it be also a forerunner to new possibilities in 2012.

Yifat Susskind is the Executive Director of MADRE, an international women's human rights organization. She has worked with women's human rights activists from Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa to create programs in their communities to address women's health, violence against women, economic and environmental justice and peace building. She has also written extensively on US foreign policy and women's human rights and her critical analysis has appeared in online and print publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy in Focus and The W Effect: Bush's War on Women, published by the Feminist Press in 2004. Ms. Susskind has been featured as a commentator on CNN, National Public Radio, and BBC Radio.

more Yifat Susskind

Occupy the Dinner Table, Imran's tsunami sweeps Karachi

http://lists.readersupportednews.org/ss/link.php?M=46950&N=1795&C=22af0ef0b8a0bfde955af12a93b1aa9c&L=2282

Occupy the Dinner Table

By Carl Gibson,

Reader Supported News: 26 December 11

Like every liberal activist and preacher's son, I have arch- conservative family members who don't agree with my philosophies whom I see every year on the holidays. This year, Occupiers have nothing to worry about - when that uncomfortable conversation starts at the dinner table, we can appeal to their religious upbringing and be fully justified.

Jesus was the first Occupier. Think about it.

He was an unshaven, sandal-clad vagrant who claimed no permanent address, fed thousands in public spaces, spoke against economic inequality and materialism, and was firmly committed to peace and nonviolence. The only documented act of violence Jesus committed was overturning the tables of the money-changers in the temple, accusing them of turning a house of prayer into "a den of thieves," even chasing them out with a whip. And he's still venerated as the holiest, most perfect human being to ever walk the earth.

James W. McCarty III's excellent piece in The Christian Century points out the fact that Jesus Christ was killed by the state for threatening the socio-economic structure of the Roman Empire. Jesus built a nonviolent movement that inspired the empire's subjects to question the very nature of the system's structure, exposing the hypocrisy of the religious ruling class. He preached not of violent rebellion, but of structural changes that would make society more equal. He even reminded followers who asked him about denying the payment of taxes to "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar."

Our movement, while filled with religious and non-religious activists alike, nonetheless espouses the same fundamental philosophies of Jesus in the Gospels.

At a time when 42% of all financial wealth is controlled by the top 1%, when 400 Americans control more wealth than 155,000,000 other Americans, when billionaire financiers who wrecked the economic well-being of millions for pure profit get off scot-free and have the audacity to sit in country clubs and call the people protesting them "imbeciles," a nonviolent movement has risen to decry those acts of greed as unjust and immoral. While none of us are perfect, sinless human beings like Jesus, we still have the same message. We aren't calling for violent insurrection, but fundamental structural changes to the way society has been built.

When the rich man asked Jesus how he could find salvation, Jesus told him to give away all of his possessions and follow him. Our solutions aren't as radical - Occupiers have no problem with people attaining wealth, as long as that wealth wasn't attained by denying a fair wage to their employees, or blowing millions on high-risk financial shell games that rook honest people out of their pensions.

Instead, we're proposing common-sense reforms, like removing corporate money from elections and instituting public campaign financing. We're demanding the return of a tax burden tilted toward the super-rich, instead of the poor and middle class. We want an end to a system that rewards and encourages reckless greed, unsustainable growth and endless profits for a few, done on the backs of the many.

The mainstream media, owned by the same corporations that have made their billions in financial finagling of the tax code, loves to ridicule and marginalize our movement. Fox News commentators call us unwashed radicals and vagrants, drifters with a hatred and envy of the wealthy. If Jesus were alive today, the talking heads on Fox News would undoubtedly play video footage of his attack on the money changers while accusing him of being a violent, radical religious cleric who hates capitalism. Just as today's right-wing political commentators cheer the violent police crackdowns of nonviolent protesters at Occupy encampments, they would also likely cheer the crucifixion of Jesus, a rebellious socialist who dared to question the inequalities and injustices of Roman society.

So don't fret this year, Occupiers. Truth, facts, and even scripture, are all on our side.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carl Gibson, 24, of Lexington, Kentucky, is a spokesman and organizer for US Uncut, a nonviolent, creative direct-action movement to stop budget cuts by getting corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. He graduated from Morehead State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Journalism before starting the first US Uncut group in Jackson, Mississippi, in February of 2011. Since then, over 20,000 US Uncut activists have carried out more than 300 actions in over 100 cities nationwide. You may contact Carl at carl@rsnorg.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

* * *

 

From: Abie Dawjee [abie=rain.org.za@mail326.us2.mcsv.net] 

 

 http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m84242&hd=&size=1&l=ehttp://www.uruknet.info/?p=m84242&hd=&size=1&l=e

 

Imran’s tsunami sweeps Karachi

 

"Over 100,000 people rallied in support of cricket hero-turned-politician in Karachi on Sunday"

 

The Nation, Pakistan December 25, 2011

 

KARACHI - Imran Khan’s tsunami after conquering Lahore swept through Karachi on Sunday, where tens of thousands of people assembled at the call of the PTI leader who unfolded his future plans to cleanse the country from rampant corruption and to make it an Islamic social welfare state.

 

Addressing the mammoth PTI flag-waving near mausoleum of Father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Imran Khan, in his 4-minute speech, decaled that if voted into power he would end the corruption in 90 days and give new policies to provide justice and social empowerment to the people.

 

The PTI had organised public gathering at Bagh-e-Jinnah, adjacent of Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum on the day of Father of the Nation’s birth anniversary.

Imran Khan termed the gathering more successful than the one PTI had organised in Lahore. Thousands of charged and emotional party workers were chanting slogans of 'Prime Minister Imran Khan’ and hoisted the party flags to express their sentiments. Imran Khan promised the nation on Quaid-i-Azam’s birth anniversary that he will fulfil the dream of the Founder of the Nation, saying 'I will do what Quaid-i-Azam wanted to do and he wanted to make Pakistan a prosperous state’. Imran Khan said: "I promise on Quaid-i-Azam’s birth anniversary that I will do what the Quaid-e-Azam wanted to do."

 

Imran, in his speech punctuated with loud slogans of the cheering crowd and national songs, said he would introduce a strong justice system in Pakistan under which free justice would be provided to the poor. "Quaid-e-Azam never wanted you to bow before anyone, I will ensure that you don’t have to bow before anyone."

 

The PTI Chief said he would bring a team that will be selected on merit to transform Pakistan into a welfare state. He said this team would function under Jehangir Tareen to present economic policies, labour policies, tax reforms, education policies as well as foreign policies before the nation. There will be a policy paper on all issues, he added.

"During Tehreek-e-Insaf rule a civil system will be introduced which will ensure that even Imran Khan’s car is stopped for overspeeding." He said Tehreek-e-Insaf would root out corruption and rectify the system.

 

Imran said a Chinese company wanted to bring $19 billion investment to Pakistan but could not do so due to the worst law and order situation in Karachi. "You don’t need a rocket science in Pakistan, just bring a team of honest leaders that undertakes its own accountability," he asserted.

 

He promised that the major corruption will be eliminated within 90 days of coming into power. Pakistan suffers a loss of 300 crores per day, he regretted.

Imran Khan said that he wanted to play a match with President Zardari but unfortunately he was retired hurt. "The days of Zardari’s rule are numbered, so do not worry."

 

Speaking about Balochistan, he said: "We will seek forgiveness from Balochistan people and remove their grievances by developing the deprived province."

Announcing about PTI’s next public meeting, he said 'the next stop for the tsunami will be Quetta on March 23’.

 

Imran apologised to Baloch people and said the he will provide them their rights, adding: 

 "People said the rally will be a flop. Are there Sindhis, Pathans, Punjabis, Mianwalis here at this rally? We have Hindus, Parsis and Christians. Merry Christmas. Today was Quaid-e-Azam’s birthday. I won’t say anything bad about any political party. But Mian Sahib said let’s play a 10-over match. Mian Sahib, hurry, before you are unable to get a team. Today, I want to welcome Javed Hashmi. You are a brave man. I also want to congratulate Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Another wicket is going to fall. Sardar Assef Ali also wants to join Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf."

 

"People ask me what’s your roadmap. I’m going to give you a roadmap. When I went to Britain at the age of 18 i was surprised to observe that the poor are fed. There was no difference in hospitals between the rich and poor. The first Islamic welfare state was Khilafat-e-Rashida."

 

"Even animals have rights in the West. A police officer was sent to prison for torturing a police dog. We will provide justice in villages. We promise that the government will provide a lawyer for those who can’t afford it. There are more talented players than myself. There are more intelligent people than myself. People said I coudn’t be the best bowler because you aren’t talented. I wanted to make a hospital so that people could go there and get treated for free. They said you can’t make the hospital. I wanted to make a university, they said you can’t do it. Today that university is offering degrees. They said forget it, you don’t know politics. They made fun of me and my colleagues. But I didn’t let that spoil my dreams of a better Pakistan. We want one educational system in Pakistan. God has always fulfilled my dreams. And He will also fulfil this one too. How will we do this? I promise I will give you a great team. Did I choose a good cricket team for the World Cup. That team will also be on merit."

 

"Pakistan will not need to beg for aid. Selection in the Civil Service will be on merit. Police officials will also be chosen on merit. We will bring a better labour policy. PTI will stand along with the labourers. All policies will be constituted for the lower 50 per cent of the people. There is the Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab. Indian Punjab produces 3 times as much yield as the Pakistani Punjab. In India, they facilitate their farmers free or at least cheap electricity. Our biggest asset is our expatriates, who don’t want to come to Pakistan because of the law and order situation in the country. Their lives are threatened. We had a rich expat from Russia. He stayed at a hotel here but was kidnapped."

 

Imran said "Average income of Singapore has increased. Muhathir Muhammad also increased the average income of his nation. No one will be given a ticket in this party till they disclose their assets so that we know how they’ve amassed their wealth. Curbing corruption is very easy, providing education is more difficult. Pakistan suffers a loss of Rs 300 billion daily. We will computerise the government with e-government because you can’t bribe a computer.

 

Tens of thousands of people, including women and children, converged in Karachi on Sunday for Imran Khan’s massive rally seeking a 'change’ in the country, with the organisers dubbing it as a 'tsunami’.

 

All roads leading to the Quaid-e-Azam park, the venue of the rally adjacent to the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, were jammed with buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles and pedestrians who were eager to reach the place.

 

Mindful of the response to Imran’s call for Karachiites to attend the rally in large numbers and show their support for a change in the country and against corruption, the organisers had set up giant video screens outside the park for people who could not find a place inside.

 

A sea of people, including women, children and even the physically challenged, stood shoulder-to-shoulder braving the afternoon heat and several hours into the night as they listened to Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders’ speeches.

 

The Quaid-e-Azam Park was swamped by people carrying the red and green PTI flags and wearing party caps. People had started converging at the venue since morning, hours before the rally was to begin.

 

"We are here because of Imran Khan. We believe he can make a better Pakistan and bring changes," shouted Maleeha, a hijab-clad woman who had come with her fiance to the rally.

 

Zainab, another young woman dressed in jeans and T-shirt, said many people now know that Imran Khan was the last hope for Pakistan. "We all believe only he can turn around this country and rid it of corruption and extremism. He can bring about better governance."

 

The presence of large number of women and youth at the rally was a big triumph for the organisers who had set up separate enclosures for the women, families and youth.

 

Shahdab Kabir, a disabled person who came to the rally with his brother on a wheelchair, said he came to show Imran that the people of Karachi supported him and his manifesto. "It is not only time for a change in Pakistan but also in Karachi," he said.

 

The organisers, with the assistance of local administration, had set up special walkthrough security gates and body scanned each and every participant before they entered the rally venue.

 

Asif Khan, a party worker, added that "we believe in Imran Khan and the fact that a senior (PPP) politician like Javed Hashmi has now joined us shows people believe in Imran and want change in the next elections."

 

Karachi for the last two decades has been the stronghold of the MQM, the only party in the last two decades to manage massive rallies in the city.

Over 100,000 people rallied in support of cricket hero-turned-politician in Karachi on Sunday.

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.1901 / Virus Database: 2109/4705 - Release Date: 12/26/11