military resistance 8h24 clinched fists

8/8/2019 Military Resistance 8H24 Clinched Fists

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Military Resistance: [email protected] 8.31.10 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

Military Resistance 8H24

The Most Amazing Thing WasTroops In Buses Raising Clinched

Fists As Buses Drove By TheProtest. Solidarity!

Activists Stood On The U.S. Route

190 Overpass And Hung BannersThat Read Tell The Brass: Kiss MyAss. Your Family Needs You More.

Sick Of Fighting Your Wars
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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They Gathered At Fort Hood In KilleenTo Be A Part Of A Direct Action Against

The Redeployment Of The First Group OfSoldiers

August 25, 2010 By Cindy Beringer reporting from Texas, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

WHEN THE buses carrying the first group of soldiers of the 3rd Armored CalvaryRegiment (ACR) stealthily approached the gates of Fort Hood in Texas, the protesterswaiting outside had already won a victory.

Members of the regiment have seen some of the worst fighting of the war in Iraq overthe course of multiple deployments. At least 50 soldiers have physical and mentaldiagnoses that should prohibit their return to military duty, and many others probably

have not sought treatment. And yet, the buses were there in order to deploy thesesoldiers again.

A protest campaign against the 3rd ACRs redeployment had already broughtunwelcome attention to the militarys lack of concern for its soldiers.

On August 22, activists and supporters were at it again. They gathered at Fort Hood inKilleen to be a part of a direct action against the redeployment of the first group ofsoldiers.

THE USUAL procedure is for family members of departing soldiers to gather in thebleachers of a large gym on the post. Witnesses to these events report that family

members wait around for as long as two hours while soldiers display their colors andperform their ceremonies, and then everyone says their final goodbyes. Soldiers oftenbalance infants on one hip and an assault rifle on another, then board the bus, carryingwith them as much pain as they leave behind.

Usually, the buses leave between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. At 4 p.m., word from insiderevealed that there were packed bags in the gym, but no family members.

Finally, at 6 p.m., we found out that the buses would not leave until around 2 a.m.

Many of the activists were unable to stay until the wee hours of the morning, but thosewho left did so reluctantly, and those who stayed celebrated the knowledge that fear of a

tiny group of activists had forced the commanders on the biggest military installation inthe world to change their plans.

Five activists, including three veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an Armyspouse, successfully blockaded the six buses of soldiers outside Fort Hoods Clarkegate around 4 a.m. on August 23, forcing the convoy to a halt.


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The activists covered the width of the road, holding banners that read Occupation is acrime and Please dont make the same mistake we did: Resist now! while shoutingfrom megaphones.

Other activists stood on the U.S. Route 190 overpass and hung larger banners that readTell the brass: Kiss my ass. Your family needs you more, Sick of fighting your wars,

and Col. Allen 93 ACR Commander: Do not deploy wounded soldiers.

The most amazing thing, said James Branum, an observer and lawyer whodefends soldiers who resist military service and ill treatment, was troops inbuses raising clinched fists as buses drove by the protest. Solidarity!

Participants and observers expressed amazement that the military made no arrests, butarrests would have brought even more of the unwelcome publicity that forced thecowardly brass to pull the soldiers out in the dead of night in the first place.

And arrests might also have inspired more raised fists.

Additional buses carrying this regiment will leave the post at different times.

The organizers, who call themselves Fort Hood Disobeys, note that thedeployment of the 3rd ACR comes less than two weeks after President Obamaannounced the second end to combat operations in Iraq.

The activists point to the deployment of these soldiers, clearly a combat regiment,as proof that this is a lie.

Organizers and activists vow to continue to act to oppose the wars in the Fort Hoodcommunity as long as troops continue to deploy.

Fort Hood is an enormous Army base, covering many miles and a very ugly past.

Delaying the deployment no doubt lessened the amount of publicity the protest wouldhave received earlier. However, a powerful lesson was learned by activists armed onlywith truth and carrying justice on their side, who struck fear in the heart of this mightybehemoth and caused it to tremble.

MORE FROM FORT HOOD:

35 Protesters Stood In The

Blazing Afternoon Heat OutsideThe East Gate Of Fort Hood To

Protest The Deployment--Or


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Redeployment--Of WoundedSoldiers

The Army Sent Out Word ThatAny Active-Duty Service Members

Attending Would Be ArrestedSeveral Active-Duty Soldiers AndFormer Soldiers Attended Without

IncidentProtesters Carried Signs That ReadU.S. Out Of Iraq And Afghanistan, While

A Banner Flapping In The Texas WindStated Col. Allen, 3 ACR: Do Not Deploy

Wounded Soldiers

Frustrated by their failure with repeated attempts to be heard within the militarychain of command, four wives of soldiers in the 3rd ACR approached CindyThomas of Under the Hood Caf, the antiwar, pro-soldier coffeehouse in Killeen.

After a series of actions to publicize the plight of these soldiers, three werereturned to Fort Hood and will not be redeployed.

Thomas thinks the Army relented in these cases to prevent a mushroomingmovement.

August 25, 2010 By Cindy Beringer

KILLEEN, Texas--At the corner of Killeen Street and Tank Destroyer Boulevard, about35 protesters stood in the blazing afternoon heat outside the east gate of Fort Hood, theworlds largest military installation, to protest the deployment--or redeployment--ofwounded soldiers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR).

According to active-duty and former soldiers at Fort Hood, members of the 3rd ACR sawsome of the worst fighting conditions of the U.S. war on Iraq. Many of these soldiersreturned home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury andother injuries that made them unfit to return to battle.


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The casualty rates for this regiment are astronomical.

Soldiers and others became aware that redeployment was imminent when soldiers fromthe regiment were sent to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., which is apreparatory step before being sent to Iraq. The redeployment is expected to occur later

this month.

Dahr Jamail, who interviewed some of these soldiers before they returned from FortIrwin to Fort Hood, reports that at least 50 of the soldiers from this regiment receivedmedical diagnoses that would prohibit their receiving training, much less redeployment.

If a physician decides that a soldiers medical condition requires treatment and makesthe soldier unable to perform his or her duties, that decision can be overturned by thesoldiers commander on the basis that the soldier is needed.

Of course, if there are 50 diagnosed soldiers, there are undoubtedly many more whohave not yet received or have not sought treatment.

Frustrated by their failure with repeated attempts to be heard within the military chain ofcommand, four wives of soldiers in the 3rd ACR approached Cindy Thomas of Under theHood Caf, the antiwar, pro-soldier coffeehouse in Killeen. Thomas works tirelessly toget soldiers the rights that they were promised.

After a series of actions to publicize the plight of these soldiers, three were returned toFort Hood and will not be redeployed.

The soldiers have been promised help for the conditions suffered from previousdeployments. The fourth soldier elected to get out of the Army.

Thomas thinks the Army relented in these cases to prevent a mushrooming movement.

When the protest was publicized, the Army sent out word that any active-dutyservice members attending would be arrested.

An attorney who works with Under the Hood quickly reminded the Army that thiswas against Department of Defense regulations, which allow out-of-uniform, off-duty soldiers the right to protest.

Several active-duty soldiers and former soldiers attended without incident.

Protesters carried signs that read U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan, while a

banner flapping in the Texas wind stated Col. Allen, 3 ACR: Do not deploywounded soldiers.

Each protest outside of Fort Hood nets new soldier visits to Under the Hood Caf,Thomas says.

While protesters were putting up the banner on a vacant spot next to a fillingstation, a young woman with a car full of kids pulled up to describe her husbandsfrustrating and futile attempts to get help for his PTSD.


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She was happy to know that people were organizing around the issue.

Meanwhile, plans for the deployment of these soldiers continue. Under the Hood haslaunched a Harass the brass campaign, urging everyone around the world to call thecommanders of the 3rd ACR between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (Central time) by August 25.

According to Thomas, these calls have made a difference in the past.

They need to know they wont get away with this, she said.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Roadside Bombs Kill 7 U.S. Troops InAfghanistan:

Five Dead In Kandahar When HumveeBlown Up

Aug. 30, 2010: A U.S. military vehicle caught fire after having been struck by a roadsidebomb in southern Afghanistans Kandahar city. The armored Humvee was hit Monday ina residential area of Afghanistans second largest city while returning as part of a convoyfrom an unknown mission. (AP Photo/ Volatile Allauddin Khan)

8/30/2010 MSNBC


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KABUL Two separate roadside bomb attacks in Afghanistan killed seven U.S. servicemembers in southern Afghanistan Monday, NATO said.

The deaths bring to 14 the number of U.S. troops killed in action in eastern and southernAfghanistan over the past three days.

A spike in U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan to over 120,000 has brought increasedfighting and a rising death toll. Forty-nine U.S. service members have died inAfghanistan this month.

One roadside bomb attack killed five troops, while a separate incident killed an additionaltwo.

No additional details were given of Mondays attacks, although eyewitnesses in thesouthern city of Kandahar told the Associated Press that an armored U.S. Army Humveehit a roadside bomb in the early afternoon.

Several bodies were seen being removed from the vehicle, which was on fire.

Local Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

Sgt. Patrick Durham

Aug 29, 2010 By WRCB Staff

SUCK CREEK, TN - Eyewitness News has learned a soldier with ties to the TennesseeValley has died while serving in Afghanistan.

Family members confirm Sergeant Patrick Durham was killed by a road-side bombsometime Saturday morning. Durhams family was notified Saturday afternoon.

The 25 year-old was on his second tour of duty, and was scheduled to come home inDecember.

Durham was stationed at Fort Campbell, and leaves behind a wife, two sons and adaughter.

Durhams cousin, Sissy Phillips, says he died on his fourth wedding anniversary. Shesays she will remember him for his smile and sense of humor.


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He was such a fun-loving guy, said Phillips, he was a good dad, people just lovedhim.

According to family members, Durhams brother is in the Air Force and stationed inValdosta, Ga. His brother and uncle plan to fly to Delaware on Sunday to bringDurhams body home.

Wisconsin 101st Airborne Solder Dies InAfghanistan

August 30, 2010 AP

SAUK CITY, Wis. - A Wisconsin solder has died while serving in Afghanistan.

Pvt. Adam Novak had been serving in the 101st Airborne Division, based at Ft.

Campbell. The Hooverson Funeral Home of Sauk City says he was killed in the line ofduty last Friday in the Dzardan district of Afghanistan.

He was a 2008 graduate of Sauk Prairie High School. Novak and his family had lived inFergus Falls, Minn., for about 11 years before moving back to Wisconsin in 2008.

Funeral arrangements are pending the investigation and the release of Novaks remains.

Novak is survived by his wife, Celeste Stuessy Novak, of Prairie du Sac; his mother, SueBlock, of Prairie du Sac; two sisters and two brothers. One of his brothers is serving inAfghanistan.

Army Ranger Lugo, Tucson High Grad, IsKilled In Line Of Duty

Sgt. Martin Lugo / Photo courtesy of U.S. Army


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August 20, 2010, Carmen Duarte Arizona Daily Star, Arizona Daily Star

Army Ranger Martin Lugo Jr., a 2004 Tucson High Magnet School graduate, was killedin Afghanistan Thursday. The native Tucsonans family was notified of his deathThursday morning, his uncle Jesse Lugo said in an e-mail.

Lugo, 24, enlisted in the Army after high school. He re-enlisted in February because hehad a strong spirit to protect the freedom that we enjoy as Americans, Jesse Lugo wrotein the e-mail.

Friday morning, the Department of Defense said Martin Lugo was killed Aug. 19 in PuliAlam, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with smallarms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army AirField, Ga.

His mother, Maria Marin, is the principal of the Tucson Unified School Districts WrightElementary School, 4311 E. Linden St. She has asked for privacy to grieve with her

family and friends, and said information about her son would be released later. As anArmy Ranger, Lugo was a flexible, highly trained and rapidly deployable light infantrysoldier assigned to special operations, according to an Army website.

Lugo is the 47th service member with ties to Tucson and Southern Arizona to beclaimed since combat operations began.

District Governor Killed In Nangarhar

Police carry a wounded man from the scene of a bomb blast in Jalalabad, Afghanistan,east of Kabul Aug. 30, 2010. District governor Syad Mohammad Palawan was killed byan explosive device planted on his vehicle as he traveled to a meeting to discusssecurity matters. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)


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August 30, 2010 by Sayed Salahuddin and Jonathon Burch, Reuters & DPA

Kabul - A bomb killed a district governor in eastern Afghanistan and injured four othersMonday morning, a government spokesman said.

The car bomb killed the district governor but the provincial governor escaped unhurt,officials said. The bomb has been put in the vehicle of Sayed Mohammed Pahlawan.His four bodyguards were injured in the blast.

The attack in the heart of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, happened duringthe morning rush hour as the governor of Lal Pur, a district of the province, drove intothe provincial governors compound.

Nangarhar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai, target of several attacks by the Taliban in thepast, was inside the compound when the attack happened but was unharmed, hisspokesman said.

It looks like the explosives were placed inside the district chiefs car. We are stillinvestigating, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.

Flames could be seen rising from the site of the blast and security forces had cordonedoff several roads leading to the area in the city, which lies near the border with Pakistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the blast.

Were Ready To Go, The 23-

Year-Old From Camp PendletonSaid Brightly

A Few Hours Later, He WasDead

As The Three Generals Watched The

Next Day, Oratowskis Casket WasLoaded Aboard A C-130 To Begin Its

Journey Home


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Within Days Of Oratowskis Death,Seven More Marines Died In Combat

[Thanks to Michael Letwin, New York City Labor Against The War & Military Resistance,

who sent this in.]

August 28, 2010 By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times [Excerpts]

Reporting from Forward Operating Base Dwyer,

If Marine Lance Cpl. Kevin Oratowski was intimidated about briefing three visitinggenerals as he headed out on another overnight patrol chasing the Taliban, he didntshow it.

Were ready to go, the 23-year-old from Camp Pendleton said brightly, his enthusiasmseemingly undimmed by the fact that he had spent most of the last 60 days in the heat,

danger and uncertainty of Helmand province.

A few hours later, he was dead from a Taliban roadside bomb.

As the three generals watched the next day, Oratowskis casket was loaded aboard a C-130 to begin its journey home.

The massive assault in February on the Taliban-run town of Marja has not lived up to theU.S. prediction that it would prove a tipping point for the province.

The provincial and national governments provide only a trickle of services. The vauntedgovernment-in-a-box, a promise to establish a government in Marja as soon as the

fighting stopped, was largely a flop.

In a statement this week, [Taliban] spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi boasted ofexpanding influence in Kandahar and Helmand provinces, the insurgencysspiritual home.

Helmand is a great example of the defeat of the enemy, Ahmadi said in astatement posted on the movements website. An example of this is the Marjaoperation, in which thousands of [Western] and Afghan soldiers took part. Theymade it sound as if World War III had started, but now they are ashamed to evenmention the name of Marja, due to their disgraceful defeat.

As Marines have pushed into uncontested areas in the province, casualties havemounted.

The majority of U.S. deaths are caused by roadside bombs that strike vehicles or footpatrols.

Within days of Oratowskis death, seven more Marines died in combat.

Marines have grown accustomed to the ritual of ramp ceremonies.


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After Oratowskis casket was lifted gingerly into the C-130, Marines were invitedby the chaplain to pay their final respects as the lance corporal from the 1st LightArmored Reconnaissance Battalion began the trip to Wheaton, Ill.

Some knelt beside the casket, making the sign of the cross. Some leaned their

heads lightly on the American flag that was pulled tightly around the metal coffin.As they left, some had tears in their eyes, others a faraway look.

U.S. Soldiers Dying To Protect AnAfghan Politician Helping Kill Them:

Afghan President Karzai Stops

Prosecution Of Governor Of KapisaProvince Who Is Colluding WithInsurgents

August 28, 2010 By DEXTER FILKINS and ALISSA J. RUBIN, New York Times[Excerpts]

KABUL, Afghanistan One of the countrys most senior prosecutors said Saturday thatPresident Hamid Karzai fired him last week after he repeatedly refused to blockcorruption investigations at the highest levels of Mr. Karzais government.

Fazel Ahmed Faqiryar, the former deputy attorney general, said investigations of morethan two dozen senior Afghan officials including cabinet ministers, ambassadors andprovincial governors were being held up or blocked outright by Mr. Karzai, AttorneyGeneral Mohammed Ishaq Aloko and others.

Mr. Faqiryars account of the troubles plaguing the anticorruption investigations, whichMr. Karzais office disputed, has been largely corroborated in interviews with fiveWestern officials familiar with the cases. They say Mr. Karzai and others in hisgovernment have repeatedly thwarted prosecutions against senior Afghan governmentfigures.

One of the most serious cases involves Khoja Ghulam Ghaws, the governor of KapisaProvince, who was appointed by Mr. Karzai in 2007. According to Western officials,Afghan prosecutors compiled a dossier against Mr. Ghaws that included telephoneintercepts and sworn statements from Americans and Afghans working in the province.

According to these officials, prosecutors have enough evidence to charge Mr. Ghawswith colluding with insurgents and demanding kickbacks from contractors working onAmerican- and Afghan-financed development projects. Mr. Ghaws is also a suspect inthe killing of five members of a provincial reconstruction team last year.


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Prosecutors turned over the Ghaws case to Mr. Aloko, the attorney general, four monthsago, said a Western official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Aloko hasrefused to sign either the warrant to arrest Mr. Ghaws or the warrant to search hishouse, the official said.

Hes the presidents ally, the official said of Mr. Ghaws. Obviously, Karzaidoesnt want the case to go forward.

UNREMITTING HELL ON EARTH;ALL HOME NOW

A flight medic with the 101st Airborne Division, checks an IV drip after a medevachelicopter team picked up a wounded U.S. Marine near the town of Marjah in Helmand

Province, August 17, 2010. REUTERS/Bob Strong

A U.S. Army medic, 101st Airborne Division, treats a U.S. Marine with a gunshot woundin the side, onboard a medevac helicopter near the town of Marjah in Helmand Province,August 19, 2010. REUTERS/Bob Strong


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A cement barrier is erected in front of damage from a recent hit by the Taliban against abrick guard tower at Forward Operating Base Howz-e-Madad, in Zhari district, Kandaharprovince, southern Afghanistan, Aug. 24, 2010. The Afghan and American soldiers atHowz-e-Madad operate in a district which continues to hold many well-armed fighters,and a support network which provides the fighters with improvised explosives and safehavens. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

SOMALIA WAR REPORTS

Insurgent Offensive Moves To Cut OnlyRoad Between Airport And Presidential

Palace

28 August 2010 RFI website

Overnight fighting in Mogadishu left at least 11 civilians dead as Islamist al Shebab

insurgents advance into areas held by pro-government forces.

Pro-government fighters have retreated from positions in areas in the south of the city,officials say, adding that they have sent in heavily armed military units and that thesituation is now under control.


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But Shebab leaders claim their forces are still advancing. They are heading forMaka Al-Mukarama road, the only direct supply route linking the presidentialpalace and the airport.

We have advanced onto the enemy lines and taken control of their barracks nearMaka Al-Mukarama road, Sbebab spokesperson Sheik Ali Mohamoud Rage said.

I tell you today that this war is aimed to finish the apostate regime and theirAfrican invaders.

MILITARY NEWS

HOW MANY MORE FOR OBAMAS WARS?

A casket with the remains of Army Staff Sgt. Derek Farley at the Albany InternationalAirport in Colonie, N.Y., Aug. 25, 2010. Farley, 24, a native of Nassau, N.Y., was killedin Afghanistan on Aug. 17, as he tried to defuse a roadside bomb. (AP Photo/MikeGroll)

POLITICIANS CANT BE COUNTED ON TO HALTTHE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THEWARS


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DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THEMILITARY?

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish andwell send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or stuck on a base inthe USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut offfrom access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars, insidethe armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top orwrite to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y.10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550


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Only 50,000 More To Go:ALL Home Now!

A US army soldier from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment,known as the Old Guard, carries two of his daughters as his wife holds a third after theywere reunited upon his return from a 12-month deployment in Iraq at Fort Myer, Virginia,on the outskirts of Washington. Mothers cried and children squealed with delight as thetroops arrived back. (AFP/Nicholas Kamm)

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS


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At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh hadI the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream ofbiting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.

Frederick Douglass, 1852

Hope for change doesnt cut it when youre still losing buddies.-- J.D. Englehart, Iraq Veterans Against The War

I say that when troops cannot be counted on to follow orders because they seethe futility and immorality of them THAT is the real key to ending a war.-- Al Jaccoma, Veterans For Peace

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time totime that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.-- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787

One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head.The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or aso-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen

of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.

Mike HastieU.S. Army MedicVietnam 1970-71December 13, 2004

The Social-Democrats ideal should not be the trade union secretary, but thetribune of the people who is able to react to every manifestation of tyranny andoppression no matter where it appears no matter what stratum or class of thepeople it affects; who is able to generalize all these manifestations and produce a

single picture of police violence and capitalist exploitation; who is able to takeadvantage of every event, however small, in order to set forth before all hissocialist convictions and his democratic demands, in order to clarify for all andeveryone the world-historic significance of the struggle for the emancipation ofthe proletariat.-- V. I. Lenin; What Is To Be Done


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A revolution is always distinguished by impoliteness, probably because the rulingclasses did not take the trouble in good season to teach the people fine manners.-- Leon Trotsky, History Of The Russian Revolution

The Nixon administration claimed and received great credit for withdrawing theArmy from Vietnam, but it was the rebellion of low-ranking GIs that forced thegovernment to abandon a hopeless suicidal policy-- David Cortright; Soldiers In Revolt

It is a two class world and the wrong class is running it.-- Larry Christensen, Soldiers Of Solidarity & United Auto Workers

We Have Created This SocietyWith Our Labor

We Should Decide How To Run ItWe, Those Of Us Who Do The Work,Can Do A Better Job Of Making The

Society Run

As angry as people are, there could be a social explosion at any moment. Youcan feel it. But if we back off the capitalists and their politicians for a moment,thats not enough.

The question is, if we lash out in anger, then what? What do we fight for?

August 2-16, 2010, Editorial, The Spark

Listen to the experts people who study the way the capitalist economy worksfor the capitalists listen to what even they say about the current economicrecovery.

Heres Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies: Ive neverseen anything like this: Bosses threw out far more workers and cut more hoursthan they lost output. That kind of disconnect has never been seen before in allthe decades since World War II.

Or heres the opinion of Robert Pozen of Harvard Business School and formerhead of Fidelity Investments: Because of high unemployment, management isusing its leverage to get more hours out of workers.


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And heres the view of Ethan Harris, chief economist for Bank of America/MerrillLynch: Theres no question there is an income shift going on in the economy.Companies are squeezing their labor costs to build profits.

Of course, we didnt need the experts to tell us how bad things are for us.

But its useful to get this reminder, from the experts themselves, that our miseryis what provided these profits.

Every job cut, every hour cut, ever bit of our wages cut, every furlough dayprovided those profits which increased by 42% this year!

Productivity this vicious push to squeeze more work out of each hour of our labor ends up with more of us out of work, and with more money in the bosses pockets.

Having taken everything for themselves, the corporations are so awash in cash theydont know what to do with it. They hand it over to the banks to speculate, and theyspeculate themselves beginning the spiral that leads to the next financial explosion.

And, yet, there are people who tell us to wait, that things will get better.

Obama dared to do that just last week when he dropped into auto plants to justify theconcessions he wrung from the workers, bragging that he had saved their companiesand their jobs, telling them, however, that the companies still werent stable, and so theworkers had to ... wait!

Wait? No!

We have been waiting all this time, and where did it get us?

Waiting is a death sentence.

There is no hope for us, for our families and for the whole society unless we regain ourreadiness to fight.

As angry as people are, there could be a social explosion at any moment. You canfeel it. But if we back off the capitalists and their politicians for a moment, thatsnot enough.

The question is, if we lash out in anger, then what? What do we fight for?

We have to insist there be no more lay-offs, not one more.

We have to insist that everyone out of work should get a job.

If the capitalists dont want to provide more jobs, than divide up the jobs that exist, puteveryone to work, everyone working fewer hours, but with no loss in pay.

Everyone needs a decent paying job no two-tier. Bring everyone up.


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Everyone needs a decent retirement when theyve put in their thirty or even forty years no cuts in benefits, no scheming away what we get from our pensions or Social Securityand Medicare.

The capitalists have made a mess of everything.

Dont leave them in control.

We, those of us who do the work, can do a better job of making the society run.

Dont leave their banks in control their speculation has created the crisis. Make themopen up the real financial books of every corporation and bank. Lets see what really isgoing on.

Lets see how all the profits are made. Let us decide how societys wealth shall be used.

We have created this society with our labor.

We should decide how to run it.

So Much For That DemocracyBullshit:

A Tiny Minority Controls The U.S.Senate:

The 25 Least-Populated States ContainOnly 16% Of The U.S. Population ButTogether Control The Rest Of Us With

Their Fifty Senators

August 26, 2010 Van Gosse, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. [Excerpts]

[W]e do not elect the more powerful upper house of our national legislature by any kind

of properly representative process. Sure, we vote, but again in such a grosslydisproportional way as to make the idea of a Senate elected by popular choice absurd.

My favorite way of understanding this is to compare the population of Wyomingwith that of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where I teach.

They have about the same number of people (a little over half a million) butWyoming voters are represented by two United States senators, whereas voters inLancaster County are a tiny fraction of the statewide electorate (less than half of one


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percent in the 2006 senatorial election); we are not represented in a fashion remotelycomparable to voters in small states, which makes us much less powerful in nationalpolitics.

Once again, Pennsylvanians, like New Yorkers, Californians, Texans and the residentsof other large states are grossly disenfranchised, which was the point in 1787 --

protecting smaller states -- and remains the point today.

The 25 least-populated states contain only 16% of the U.S. population (49,341,957people) but together control the rest of us with their fifty Senators, and (with a fewobvious exceptions like Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Hawaii), there are very few African-Americans, Latinos, or Asians in those states.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Troops Invited:Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service menand women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email [email protected]: Name, I.D., withheld unless yourequest publication. Same address to unsubscribe.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Sarah Palin Found To Be RussianRobotic Device

03 Aug 2010 by R J Shulman, CLGs BREAKING NEWS and COMMENTARY [Excerpts]

WASHINGTON - (PTSD News) - An explosive new post from WikiLeaks, thewhistleblowing website, has exposed Sarah Palin not only as an operative for Russia butalso as a robotic device.

The Preyat Yeletza Rawdeena XL-3 (roughly translated as Homeland Girlfriend), wascreated by rogue KGB agents who wanted Russia to return to the old style regime of theSoviet Union.

WikiLeaks documents reveal that this clandestine group, the Chashka Chayou Partennyor Teacup Political Party (TPP), was bent upon destroying the American way of life.

TPP leader Yuri Boltnikov writes that he believed America could be fooled by anattractive female robot with an opiate of the people Bible in one hand and, in the other,a flag of America waving.

Boltnikov reflected upon his accomplishment. They laugh at plans I think up, sayingBoltnikov is a bolt-head for thinking American imperialistic people are stupid in the headenough to fall over such garbage as female robot talking trash to them. But look whosefaces I can laugh in now.

My little metal girlfriend soon to be next leader of the so-called free world. Boltnikovadmitted there was one problem with his creation. Only problem with robot, helamented, is once she gets to moving on, but too soon it quits.

Boltnikov said the real Sarah Palin was killed by a charging moose in a hunting accidentin March 1989 near Chicken, Alaska. It was much easy to have replaced her with robotgirl, as we from Russia can see Sarah Palins house.

NEED SOME TRUTH?CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER

Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization.

Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the governmentin Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do morethan tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to Imperial wars inside thearmed forces.

Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-classpeople inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be aweapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces.


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If you like what you've read, we hope that you'll join with us in building a networkof active duty organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

And join with Iraq Veterans Against the War to end the occupations and bring alltroops home now! (www.ivaw.org/)

CLASS WAR REPORTS
http://www.traveling-soldier.org/http://www.ivaw.org/http://www.ivaw.org/http://www.traveling-soldier.org/


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A Small Town In Rural Illinois BacksIts Striking Teachers Union:

This Is Clearly An Anger Level NeverSeen

August 26, 2010 By Jesse Phillippe, Socialist Worker

MAHOMET, Ill.--Teachers in the Mahomet-Seymour school district, a small community inrural Illinois, held a two-day strike in mid-August to defend their pay raises and healthcare benefits.

The Mahomet-Seymour Education Association (MSEA) represents teachers, aides,janitors, bus drivers and other support staff in the Mahomet-Seymour school district. OnAugust 18, members voted 211-25 to strike after the school boards bargaining team leftthe table and refused to respond to the unions proposal.

The board wanted to decrease the step raises that all employees would earn, but thedistrict has regularly failed to follow through with giving employees their step raises.

The town of Mahomet has a population of approximately 7,000, and the surroundingarea of middle-class subdivisions adds a few thousand to the overall population, puttingthe high school at roughly 800 students.

The board also offered a measly $25 increase in health insurance compensation--upfrom its previous offer of $5. This amounts to only 14 cents per contract day.

The $25 offered by the board would bring the coverage to $570, said Brett Hersom, ateacher at the high school. However, the single plan is $620 and its approximately$1,560 to cover your family. The net result of the negotiations is that almost everyteacher in the district providing family coverage will receive less net income next yearthan last year, and this would happen even if the board accepted the unions offer.

The school board claims that the economic recession is to blame for the cutbacks it istrying to enforce. But at the same time, the district has a $1.5 million education fund anda $3 million working cash fund that comes from high property taxes in the Mahometarea, where many of the residents live in comfortable housing subdivisions.

Nonetheless, Mahomet also has a sizeable working-class population that lives in

the center of town, in apartment buildings throughout town and in trailer parks onthe outskirts.

Thus, despite what seemed to be everyones calculation that the majority of theMahomet citizenry would be against the strike and the unions demands, therewas actually considerable community support.


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Many people donated money and other items during the strike. Various localbusinesses and institutions supported the strikers, including the Olive Garden inChampaign, which provided lunch, and the local American Legion, which rentedits legion hall at a discount rate so that the strikers could use it as a home base!

Gene Vanderport, a local member of the Socialist Forum and leader in the Illinois

Educators Association that is the affiliated statewide union, expressed excitement at theenergy of the strikers.

This is clearly an anger level never seen, said Vanderport. This is a very strong local,and once the union voted overwhelmingly to strike, they went to work immediately in avery spontaneous fashion, yet they were very organized in that everyone immediatelypitched in to do whatever tasks needed to be done.

The strike was settled on the afternoon of August 20 with a tentative one-year contract,foreshadowing a possible confrontation next year. The school year has now resumed,but as state and local governments continue to push through budget cuts, it is likely thatwe havent seen the end of struggles around education in Illinois or anywhere else.

Vietnam GI: Reprints Available

Vietnam: They Stopped An Imperial War

Not available from anybody else, anywhere

Edited by Vietnam Veteran Jeff Sharlet from 1968 until his death, this newspaperrocked the world, attracting attention even from Time Magazine, and extremelyhostile attention from the chain of command. The pages and pages of letters inthe paper from troops in Vietnam condemning the war are lost to history, but youcan find them here.


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Military Resistance has copied complete sets of Vietnam GI. The originals were abit rough, but every page is there. Over 100 pages, full 11x17 size.

Free on request to active duty members of the armed forces.

Cost for others: $15 if picked up in New York City. For mailing inside USA add $5

for bubble bag and postage. For outside USA, include extra for mailing 2.5pounds to wherever you are.

Checks, money orders payable to: The Military Project

Orders to:Military ResistanceBox 1262576 BroadwayNew York, N.Y.10025-5657

All proceeds are used for projects giving aid and comfort to members of thearmed forces organizing to resist todays Imperial wars.

Military Resistance Looks Even Better Printed OutMilitary Resistance/GI Special are archived at websitehttp://www.militaryproject.org .The following have chosen to post issues; there may be others:http://williambowles.info/wordpress/category/military-resistance/;[email protected]; http://www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/

Military Resistance distributes and posts to our website copyrighted material the use of which has not always beenspecifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance
http://www.militaryproject.org/http://williambowles.info/wordpress/category/military-resistance/mailto:[email protected]://www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/http://www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/http://www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/mailto:[email protected]://williambowles.info/wordpress/category/military-resistance/http://www.militaryproject.org/


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understanding of the invasion and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. We believe this constitutes a fair use of anysuch copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law since it is being distributed withoutcharge or profit for educational purposes to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the includedinformation for educational purposes, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. Military Resistance has noaffiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor is Military Resistance endorsed or sponsored bythe originators. This attributed work is provided a non-profit basis to facilitate understanding, research,education, and the advancement of human rights and social justice. Go to:www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml for more information. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for

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