June 13, 2008
RIP Tim Russert
Another shocking death. Can you imagine celebrating your son's college graduation, then going back to work and collapsing from a massive heart attack? One minute you're the lynchpin of mainstream media's political journalism inner circle, the next minute you cease to exist.
Rest in peace, Tim. My heart goes out to your family.
NBC covverage of Tim's death at their studio at 58.
Daniel Drezner's odd post (with a comment from me).
Posted by cj at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2008
Dagmar Barnouw, denouncer of the hierarchy of suffering, died
I was powerfully moved by the LAT obituary of Dagmar Barnouw, a USC professor who passed away on May 14. She had a stroke in April and never regained consciousness.
[Amazon link added.]
In her most recent book, "War in the Empty Air: Victims, Perpetrators, and Postwar Germans" (2005), Barnouw examined Germans' failure to acknowledge and mourn their war dead and the devastation German citizens suffered in Allied air raids.After the war, ordinary Germans were viewed collectively as perpetrators of the Holocaust and responsible for World War II. Silenced by this presumed guilt, even German war remembrances maintained an exclusive focus on Jewish victims of the Nazi regime, to the detriment of historical reality, she wrote.
I'm fascinated to learn of an intellectual who wrote passionately about the need to understand post-WWII in totality, rather than only through the lens of the Holocaust. It is a real shame that so many Americans, especially Jewish Americans, are indoctrinated to believe that Jewish suffering is somehow worse than the suffering that occurs throughout the world on a daily basis. That genocide was over 60 years ago and many genocides have occurred and are being perpetuated since then. Yet, somehow the refrain "never forget" is allowed to continue as an excuse for apartheid in Israel and starvation in Palestine.
Let me be clear: the Holocaust was a tragedy of incredible proportions. I have no doubt that we lost untold generations of brilliant people. I acknowledge that it was the most significant event for the Jewish people in the 20th century. However nothing - not the Holocaust or the pogroms of Russia that forced my family to flee to the U.S. or any other aspect of Jewish history - makes me or my people the world's most suffering ethnicity. Indeed, I believe this past suffering has been used to justify a horrific amount of racism and discrimination and colonial exploitation in Israel and Palestine.
I do not understand how my religion, which has so many threads of peaceful nonviolent resistance in its history, and my people, who have been on the forefront of the movements for social change, have become so entrenched in bigotry and discrimination. I fear that writing these words makes me a larger target for political reprisal. My friends joke that they don't want to stand too close to me walking down a street - fearing an assassin will be off-target and shoot them instead. (I actually found this to be the strangest aspect of my trip to NYC; my friends who do not participate in social activism seem to believe my influence and notoriety is any larger than the few people who occasionally read this blog.)
But this post was not supposed to be about me, rather about Dagmar Barnouw, whose books I must search out and read.
Read about her life from USC, including her enduring marriage to a man who fell in love with her at first sight.
I hope to have the courage to speak and write as passionately as Dagmar, even if it makes many people uncomfortable.
Posted by cj at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)
April 6, 2008
Gender: Harder to Forget Than Ethnicity
Let me be clear: if one must make a hierarchy of inequality, white privilege affords me greater access into the halls of power than being a woman diminishes. Nevertheless, as a woman, my voice is less powerful than my male counterpart, particularly when advocating for peace and justice. How often are women dismissed as having "motherly inclinations" towards peace, incapable of understanding the harsh necessity of war? How often must our national leaders who happen to be female castrate themselves on the decks of warships to assure a foolish electorate that they are man enough to command an army?
Nicholas Kristof has a powerful Op-Ed in today's NYT, "Our Racist, Sexist Selves," that reminds us of the power of genitals. I speak plainly because this truth is so often denied in both the mainstream media and popular culture: Women Are Not Equal. The Women's Movement Cannot Be Dead. There Is Much That Still Needs to Be Done to Create Gender Equality. Los Derechos de Las Mujeres Son Los Derechos de Humanidad.
Until we start talking about the real ethnic differences that divide us, and the common humanity that unites us;
Until free-trade capitalism's reliance on extreme economic disparity is confronted;
Until democratic dialog inspires as much participation as American Idol voting,
the Movements for Change must continue.
Posted by cj at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2008
Influencing the World: One Click at a Time
I often get buried in paid direct marketing work and unpaid national peace organization structural committees and find it difficult to keep up with the daily new cycles and cyber chatter. I find it ironic that as a woman who has become buried in offline responsibilities, I'm being asked to be a web 2.0 expert for my league.
According to the NYT, most people my age and younger are chatting on Facebook, MySpace, and their blogs about presidential YouTube clips. There's a free PDF about online political advocacy at e-politics. The Feminist Peace Network reminds me that there are lots of people who see that peace cannot be created without gender justice.
I'm not sure how to break through the clutter, have my voice heard, and influence public opinion. I do know I want to spend more time keeping up with Daniel Drezner (who lives the life I sometimes wish I had) and less time on conference calls.
Posted by cj at 9:19 PM | Comments (0)
February 4, 2008
Candidates on YouTube
A MoveOn email sent me watching a clip on YouTube for Obama, which made me wonder about Hillary's online campaigning. I heard this morning on The Today Show that Obama was moving ahead in the cool internet factor, but you really have to see it to believe it.
Here's the Obama video:
And here's my man from the 04 race, General Wesley Clark for Hillary:
She got a more home-made endorsement from Anne Rice, the author of the famous Vampire Chronicles and more recently known for her Christianity:
I'm not posting the "Making of the Band" spoof that attempts to show the kids that Hillary is their kind of candidate. If you're looking for prophetic inspiration, Obama is probably your choice. If you think experience matters, Hillary is the one to vote for. Personally, I'm still waffling.
Posted by cj at 9:16 PM | Comments (0)
February 2, 2008
Super Tuesday Comin in Cali
Last night a coworker asked me who I'm voting for in the primary on Tuesday. My response was rather ambivalent. I don't trust the electoral process for many reasons. First, the two-party system eliminates the ability to create truly progressive change. To get legislation passed in Congress, so many people have to agree with it that it's impossible to truly change the system. Corporate interest trumps individual rights on almost every issue. Take healthcare for example: neither Obama or Clinton inspires me at all on this issue because they refuse to admit what is painfully obvious: the US healthcare system is broken because we waste more money creating profit for the insurance industry than we do paying for healthcare. Any "fix" that doesn't involve dismantling the private insurance industry is doomed to failure. When people in other countries get cancer or diabetes or any other disease, they don't have to worry if they make enough money to cover the cost of their care. Rather, their interaction with health professionals revolves around their need for healthcare and their bottom line is never affected. As a thyroid cancer survivor, I know I'm shackled to corporate America for the rest of my life because it is impossible for me to get the healthcare I need without a group policy. Further, no one is researching the cause of thyroid cancer - or stopping the dumping of industrial waste that has caused it to be the only cancer whose occurrence is rising.
So, why should I put a lot of energy into discerning the difference between two candidates beholden to a broken system? Well, I am a member of the Democratic party, so I should at least be making an informed decision on Tuesday. The truth is, Obama is a much more inspiring speaker than Clinton. He's charismatic, charming, and yes, even reminds me of John F. Kennedy. But is that enough? After all, while Kennedy performed well during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was proceeded by his disastrous leadership in the Bay of Pigs invasion.
In my mind, a presidential candidate's foreign policy is always the most important thing to judge him/her on, regardless of whether or not there's a "war on terrorism" happening. This is because everything domestic the president does is guided by the laws enacted by Congress, whereas the executive branch truly leads the nation in its international interaction. We have no choice but to accept that we live in a global economy with a global community, and I want a president with experience to be the chief ambassador of this country. I have more faith in Clinton's knowledge of foreign affairs than I do in Obama's.
Of course, there's also the historic moment bit of the contest. My father constantly points out that I should strongly support Hillary because we share an alma mater. And of course, there's plenty of second generation feminists who will tell you that young women who don't support Clinton don't appreciate the sacrifice and hard work of the women's movement and the need for women to support women candidates. It's a tired, patronizing drone that I don't think any young woman should take seriously. Because the truth is, gender and ethnic discrimination cannot be separated. On the scale of history, electing either a black man or a white woman would be an important milestone for this country. Young women recognize this and probably take gender out of the equation when choosing between the candidates, because we've grown up understanding the intersections of racial and gender bias.
Nevertheless, I've watched several of the Democratic debates over the last few months and Clinton has consistently seemed the stronger candidate in my mind. Of course, this says nothing about her electability since in the last two elections, the American people chose the dumbest candidate on the stage for their president.
Or did we?
The other reason I'm not obsessed with the presidential race is because I know it is inherently undemocratic. The electoral college system is a vestige of a time when men didn't trust the people and thought States were more important than individual citizens. Until the day that my vote in Los Angeles counts for exactly the same amount as a voter in Des Moines, I will continue to believe the presidential election process is inherently undemocratic. There is absolutely nothing about rural voters that make them needy of a stronger voice in the democratic process than any other minority in this country. In fact, I'd argue that the disproportionate value of rural voters has led to some of the worst legislation in this country's history: Farm Bills that feed the coffers of agribusiness and leave US school children with unhealthy meals, "alternative energy" policy that is completely fuel inefficient and has increased the poverty and hunger of our Mexican neighbors by raising the price of corn, and so forth.
So yeah, I'll probably be voting for Clinton on Tuesday. But it wont be the most interesting political act I do in the coming week. I consider my WILPF work more important to the future of society than any ballot I cast. Nevertheless, it is my civic duty to vote, and I will.
Posted by cj at 3:40 PM | Comments (0)
December 31, 2007
Social Upheaval in 2008
A lot has happened in the world in 2007. I didn't keep up with the news in the past year the way I did in previous years - you can read about some of what I was up to on angelheaded hipster, my other blog. I even forgot that Time named "You" person of the year.
The mainstream media has been focused on the 08 presidential race horse race since at least January 07. More air time was spent on Sunday morning talk shows discussing candidates' relative viability in Iowa and New Hampshire than was spent discussing the substantial policy positions that differentiate them. Scariest statistic learned from this over-flow of information: only 5.7% of eligible voters participate in the 2004 Iowa caucuses. Tell me again why Angelenos live in too big of a city to have our votes count equally with those in rural states.
Elections haven't been going well around the world - among corruption charges, Kenya's elections are bloodier than normal (yes, sadly, violence is a regular aspect of national elections there). They aren't going well in Pakistan either, where Benazir Bhutto lost her life attempting to bring democracy back to a country plagued by military dictatorship buttressed by US foreign aid. Many in the US think democracy is duking it out with socialism in Venezuela, but personally I think the story is more complicated than that.
I'm looking forward to a New Year when people's movements for change encourage more people to get involved in social change. I look forward to more people believing they can make a difference - when more people delve deeply into the issues that intertwine us all, make their voices heard, and start building the nonviolent movements for change that will create the social upheaval needed to build a more just, peaceful world.
I believe we will be the change we wish to see in 2008. I believe together we will change the world. I believe 2008 will be more peaceful and just. I look forward to the New Year.
Want to support women's advocacy for peace & justice both in the US and throughout the world? Then give a tax deductible contribution to the Jane Addams Peace Association.
To join the world's oldest women's peace organization, click here.
Posted by cj at 8:19 PM | Comments (0)
October 7, 2007
We'll Be Paying for Empire Expansion Till the End of Time
This Just In: Paying for war when it occurs is fiscally irresponsible. That is, if you believe the mouthpiece of the administration, the White House press secretary. If the war hawks have their way, we'll be paying for this empire expansion till the end of time.
But that's okay, because the surge is making Iraqis safer. The Public Editor of the NYT makes the case that maybe there's been a decrease in the number of civilian casualties since the surge began. Then again, he ends the column by reminding us that it is still unsafe to live in Baghdad, according to an article written by 15 NYT reporters (never mind what's happening elsewhere in Iraq - it's too unsafe for US writers to venture beyond Baghdad).
Let's not get bogged down in details. It's important to remember the frame through which the occupation of foreign countries became acceptable to the US public: by creating a culture of fear that blames the ills of the world on so-called "Islamofascists." Nevermind that the word is meaningless. Pay no attention to reality: fascism is alive and well in the Western world. Even university courses on political science in the US have a difficult time defining fascism. Perhaps because the core of fascism is simple: the military & corporations taking control of the levers of political power. Instead of allowing this simple definition of fascism to be understood, Western leaders propel a a blurry, fearful understanding of a combination of racism and authoritarianism as the only "true" definition of fascism. Furthermore, instead of debating people who recognize the full scope of power held by the military industrial complex, Western political and intellectual "leaders" dismiss us as crazy left-wing nut cases.
Military force must always be the last resort of states and the international community. As Albert Camus said:
Mistaken ideas always end in bloodshed, but in every case it is someone else’s blood. That is why some of our thinkers feel free to say just about anything.Do not be persuaded by the rhetorical flourish of individuals who believe democracy and freedom can be created through bloodshed and military occupation. The monolingual, jingoist armed forces of the US are even less capable of building peace in the Middle East than the biased State Department.
The safety of the world relies on more individuals becoming engaged in the political process, supporting international institutions, creating dialog with people in other countries, and demanding that the international political and economic structures be based on human security and human needs rather than on corporate greed.
Camus quote from this Op-Ed piece in today's NYT.
Posted by cj at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2007
The War Goes On...and the Pundits Still Think Division Is Just
On This Week, the pundits gently explained that the only way forward in Iraq is further division "like in the Balkans." Let's be clear: Yugoslavia began with ethnic enclaves, and was further divided by genocide. Iraq began with ethnic diversity (even in the Kurdish North) and because of US incompetence, is being divided by genocide.
Let's flip this scenario around and look at crime in the US. A lot of it is ethnically-based. For example, Latinos and Blacks in LA are more adversely affected by violent crime than other ethnicities. Using the logic of US politicians and pundits, the way to deter crime is to force Latinos to live in one part of the city and Black to live in the opposite. Their governments should operate autonomously because obviously, they innately can't get along. And whites, should stay in the middle-land between these two "warring factions" because clearly the ethnicities are incapable of getting along.
When you look at the US plan for "peace building" in Iraq through the lens of a US city, you realize how utterly ridiculous & asinine it really is. Humans are extremely capable of accepting diversity: it is leaders who exploit differences in order to garner power. US'ers don't even bother to learn the language of the lands they occupy, let alone understand the culture. We're so enamored by the Israeli government that our government seems convinced that Arabs are incapable of rational thought or rational politics. Let's be clear: US companies are stealing taxpayer money and not providing Iraqis with basic services like electricity and clean water. Thugs have exploited the chaos created by the US occupation to hold people for ransom, and kill indiscriminately as members of the Interior Ministry.
Not to mention the chaos we've unleashed in Afghanistan. I admit - I stupidly thought we were going into Afghanistan to help its people, especially its women who were so cruelly exploited and subjugated by the Taliban. Instead, we've added a sheen of legitimacy to a bunch of warlords and the US occupation of Iraq, along with Britney's latest drunken foibles, offers a great cover up to the expansion of al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Here's hoping some intelligence enters the intelligentsia in the next year.
Posted by cj at 9:57 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2007
Support the UN Human Rights Council
It is a shame that the UN Human Rights Council has been unable to take strong stances on more issues in the world. I am not an expert on UN reform, so I cannot speak to what is holding it back from completely denouncing the genocide in Darfur. I do know that the US government looks like morons for trying to cut off funding to the organization. The US Congress claims that the council is bias against Israel - biased because it has denounced Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine and Israel's illegal war on Lebanon. It is a testamount to the Israel Lobby (both Jewish and Gentile), that cutting off funding to the Council has bipartisan support in the US.
Please tell your Congressional representatives that the only way to further human rights is to support the international organization created to enforce them. Human Rights for All People - not just those who look like us.
AP article by Justin Bergman
Washington Times article by Betsy Pitsik
HRC opened its 6th session on Monday
Posted by cj at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)
September 9, 2007
The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself
If you listen to Republican presidential candidates and Sunday morning pundits, you'd assume that the only way to project power and create security is to be the biggest bully in the world, with the most active military. Political discussion in the US media allows the following fascinating range of discussion on security: those who only understand US culture and think everyone hates our freedom and we therefore have to teach them democracy through the barrel of a gun and those who only understand US culture and think we can teach the world freedom through a combination of military force and free-market capitalism.
Do you ever hear a peace expert asked for their opinion? I'm not talking about those folks who organize marches on the mall, I mean people who study the root causes of war and can explain what happens in the world based on a nuanced understanding of history. Not only do US legislators, military, and pundits not understand Iraq, they don't understand the basic reasons that ethnic conflict becomes ethnic violence.
The answer to the chaos in Iraq is not splitting the country up by "ethnic regions." First, people don't live in schtetls. It's not like the entire populace hates each other b/c of ethnic differences. Differences are being exploited by strong men seeking power; the Other is a powerful tool in rallying support for a leader. Forcing the populace to follow these bullies into separate states is a white man's way of dealing with racial violence. The US has never understood the basics of racial justice, so how can we possibly lead another country into an ethnically diverse, working democracy?
Second, why does no one say "hey idiots - perhaps we should turn this operation over to the UN Peacekeeping?" Take a look at the official site of the DPKO. I fundamentally believe that the only way to move forward in creating peace is to work through the UN. Many things have gone wrong in past and current missions, but if we honestly supported the UN, and implemented Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, I believe we would be closer to achieving real security for Iraq and the world.
Security means more than having the biggest gun. Human security is dependent on a continuous food supply, access to healthcare, a place to sleep, and peace with neighbors.
I'm constantly fascinated by the lack of real discussion on the Sunday gab fests. I'm watching last week's Real Time with Bill Maher show and Barbara Bodine is offering more insight on Iraq "reconstruction" than 2 hrs of male talking heads on ABC and NBC. Slate tells me I must read the NYT and WaPo stories on Iraq as background to the coming week's announcements. Quite honestly, I'm done wasting my time on such articles. Until SCR 1325 and human security become part of the dialog, what's the point of me reading mainstream news accounts of the US imperialistic occupation of the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world?
Posted by cj at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)
July 1, 2007
Sunday Morning Chatter on a Sunday Afternoon
Sec "Homeland Security" Chertoff was on both This Week and MtP today. George tried to get him to give up the deets on Britain - the way he's done in previous crises - and this time he demurred. Here's the deal on his constant reiteration of "I'll let the Brits determine when they say what:" that's how the Brits deal with the press. They don't try cases in the Court of the Media, the way the Shrub administration has done since they got the White House bully pulpit. For goodness sake, they regrouped domestic security units into the biggest misnomer ever - "homeland" security. If its really security for the homeland, I guess only Native Americans deserve to be secure in this country. Let's go talk to the folks who hacked up the sacred Black Hills to create Mount Rushmore (and steal the gold) about that idea...
Right. Back to the Sunday morning blather. George gathered an all-female panel. Appears the men were too busy bbq-ing. There was still only one woman of color on the panel and they seemed to all be over 50. I've got nothing against my older, DC-conservative sisters, but for goodness sake, are there no younger, articulate females available to ramble for an hour in the morning?
The maternalistic white women tried to explain to the lone black woman on the panel that the Supreme Court decision that over-turned Brown v. the Board of Education was actually a good thing. Because, you see, the important thing is to create great public education in all communities, not integration or color-blind openings. It's Appalling. Simple Appalling that more of the country is not renouncing this horrific, racist decision. Public education has taken another blow. Our problems started when we made it dependent on real estate tax revenue which makes it inherently unfair. Next, we have completely unreasonable expectations of public schools: for a variety of reasons, public schools have never had higher than 50% high school graduation rates when all students who started in first grade are counted. We want quick fixes: so instead of dismantling bloated bureaucracies, we grant charters and privatize larger and larger chunks of our public system. We treat students like cattle and force them to "learn" to standardized tests, rather than learning in depth on multiple subjects.
In Memoriam told me Joel Siegel died. I didn't even know he was sick.
Onto MtP - Chertoff blathered and managed to say even less he did on This Week. Then Tim talked with Senator Patrick Leahy...and then he had his own round table that included one of the most annoying men in politics - Tavis Smiley. The man who named himself the Communicator for All Black People. They rehashed the recent Dem Pres candidates debate, which occurred on the campus of a historically black college.
Other things happened. But it all happened yesterday and by today, most of the banter seeped out of my head.
Posted by cj at 2:39 PM | Comments (0)