the guy by the door …

My mother Jo in the arms of Coco*, Pine St. somewhere in the South

My mother Jo, who as I mentioned, took me to see Gone with the Wind countless times. blamed slavery on the Northern businessmen. It may seem like a facile excuse, but apparently there is enough blame to go around.

Kathryn Boodry of Harvard presented her thesis proposal. Seth Rockman (Brown University) and Caitlin Rosenthal (Harvard University) were commentators.

Sven Beckert, Caitin Rosenthal, Kathryn Boodry, Seth Rockman, Louis Hyman. Beckert and Hyman are the unindicted co-conspirators cofacilitators of the seminar.

There were, in the antebellum period¹, two distinct sets of labor relations in the South and North - slavery and ‘free labor’ repsectively². According to Kathryn, the conventional wisdom is to view these as two separate economic systems. However, due to capital flows - trading and lending - the two are inextricably linked to the point that Kathryn proposes that they should be viewed as two parts of a single system. In fact, she finds including the end use of cotton in England to be essential to the analysis - not the American economy, the Atlantic economy. They’re kind of big on that kind of stuff at the Warren Center. A seminar participant from the Caribbean pointed out that due to trade in sugar cane and rum Atlantic economy should include the  Caribbean. Jack Womack was not there to represent South America, which does, if I remember correctly, border the Atlantic.

…more to come…

The workshop website.

*Coco was a servant at the time ~1917-18. My mother argues that the slaves must have been happy because they stayed on with the families as servants. My argument, underscored by an African scholar I know, ‘what choice did they have?’

¹I have to admit that in the preGoogle period, I never got it together to look up antebellum.

²Lauren Coyle, who was an editor of Unbound last year, objected that ‘free labor’ is a misnomer. “Where can you find working class people whose work is not coerced?” Professor Seth rejoined that there were differences in the details of compensation and the levels of violence used in the two cases.

The subject of a previous post has said there are factual inaccuracies. I’ll post a correction as soon as I have a chance to talk to him.

I’ve found a video clip of James Gilligan’s testimony at Winter Soldier¹. First off, I missed that he was promoted to sergeant while on inactive duty. During his testimony, the IVAW A/V personnel had trouble with his slides. Between that and other inaccuracies I’ve committed, Sargeant Gilligan has had a hard time being heard. I will be talking to him soon. You can read the transcript of the incident mentioned in my earlier post. Then watch the video again.

Striking to me was James’ struggle to be precise as he retold events which he clearly feels should not have happened. Obviously some of the other soldiers felt that same way and wondered whether he was to blame:

Later that night they called me over to their tent and they asked me if i was qualified to call for fire. and i told them i was not qualified, however i was asked and i gave the responses needed to … to quickly assess the danger and proceed forward with the mission. My sargeant came over and luckily intervened before anything got hostile. There was no repercussion.

His last remark on this incident was clearly delimited as hearsay²:

… this is again what I was told… that our unit had informed the Afghanis of the village that if the Taliban does it again, you let us know.

I don’t know what the IVAW plans in the way of corroborating the testimony of the Winter Soldiers, but they might be able to use some help. Maybe some law students?

Because a Winter Soldier should be heard.

¹All the clips are on the IVAW site, but their software is too recent for the computers in the Harvard Science Center

²Those of us not in the law school who once watched “Law and Order” believe that ‘hearsay’ has limited probative value. I would be grateful to hear a professional opinion on this. Gratitude is beyond any monetary value.

You can honestly say that you don’t watch/listen to MSM [blogese for mainstream media]. On the left find a blogroll category “Actual News! Really!” cursor.org gives a concise well linked survey of the days print media and has an extensive list of links to other news sources. Democracy Now!, Link TV, Free Speech TV are available on cable as well as the internet. And there are several internet radio sources. Independent Media Center can be screechy, but then Fox has pretty much sucked any possible meaning out of “Fair and Balanced.”

We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. -’widely believed to be’ Karl Rove[1] [Karl wasn't actually at the rally. Photo: Wikipedia]

We on the left should frame our opposition to the war as opposition to empire.

- Adaner Usmani

—
Some folks at Harvard Law School are doing just that with their event series, Confronting Empire: 5 Years of War in Iraq. The series is over, but the website has a link for each and every speaker, many of whom have freely downloadable articles. I’m told that proceedings from it, will, in time, appear. [And I'll point you to my faves.] The series was sponsored by, Justice for Palestine at Harvard Law and:

—

Harvard Anti War Coalition passing Langdell Hall, Harvard Law School.
Skewers in the foreground each commemorate 100 deaths, Iraqi and American, since March 19, 2003. Signs along the “Iraqi Freedom Trail” explain.

A report of this action for 5yearstoomany.org and one for the rally on Boston Common.

^[1]In an earlier edition, I quoted Karl as saying, “We make our own reality. We’re an empire now.” I relied on memory. I’m sorry. What appears in the text now is the quotation reported by Ron Suskind in an opinion piece of October 17, 2004 of the New York Times Magazine, Without a Doubt. The quote is from Paragraph 8 on Page 7.

The aide said that guys like me were ”in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who ”believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ”That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. ”We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

As you can see, Ron attributed to “the aide”. In paragraph 7 on Page 7, he uses the phrase “senior advisor’. It was only later that undisclosed pundits decided it was Rove. There are some, who, as I did, make the unqualified claim that it was Rove. I can’t find anyone who will say how they know what they claim. Again, I’m sorry. That said, I’ll bet it was Rove.

The invasion of Iraq took place on March 19, 2003. Tomorrow, Wednesday March 19, 2003 will mark five years, the death of 3990 American service personnel, the 82,000 to ~800,000 ¹Iraqi civilians, the expenditure of $1 Trillion to $3 Trillion², and the release of unknown amounts of depleted Uranium and carbon dioxide into the environment. At Harvard the day will be marked by two events:

The Harvard - Cambridge Walk for Peace will have their regular Wednesday vigil meeting at the John Harvard statue at noon.

A group formed this year, the Harvard Anti-War Coalition, which brought us:

***HAWC members and [not really] John Harvard in their Abu Gharib finery. [Photo: HAWC]***

will hold a rally. From their Facebook entry:

Rally Against the War March 19, 2:30pm
To End the Occupation Science Center
For Immediate Peace Harvard Yard

Join students, teachers, staff, and community members to rally against the war on the 5th Anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. [Black Hood optional. Ed.]

The rally kicks-off at 2:30pm and will feature a great array of speakers and student groups. At 3:30pm, the rally will march to the Boston Common to join a citywide vigil[see below].

**Bring All The Troops Home Now!
**End All Funding for the Iraq War Now!
**Don’t Attack Iran
**Support Our Communities, Fund Human Needs!
**Stop the Attacks on Civil Liberties, Defend Human Rights!

—–

Finally, from 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM at the Park Street T station:

***”Answer Cindy’s Questions” Vigil for Cindy Sheehan, Park Street T station, August 13, 2005.***

United for Peace with Justice is sponsoring a vigil, one of over 660 nationwide. The 5 Years Too Many Website has a locator for events nationwide.

¹Depending on whether you believe the Iraq Body Count website or extrapolations of the Ocober 2006 John’s Hopkins Cluster Analysis published in the british medical journal The Lancet.

²Depending on whether you believe the Government Accountability Office or Bilmes and Stiglitz.

Hart Viges in Iraq [Photo: IVAW]

We were driving down Baghdad one day and ah … we found a dead body on the side of the road. So we all pulled over to … to secure it and wait for MP’s or whatever authorities would come and take care of this … this dead man here who was clearly murdered. And my friends jumped off and started taking pictures with him, you know, with big ol’ smiles on their faces … and they said, ‘Hey, Viges, you want a picture with this guy?’ And I said no. But no not in the context of that’s really messed up because it’s just wrong … on a ethical basis, but I said no because it wasn’t my kill. You shouldn’t take trophies for things you didn’t kill. I mean that’s … that’s where my mindset is…WAS back then. Cuz I wasn’t even upset that this man was really dead. They shouldn’t have been taking credit for something they didn’t do.

-Hart Viges; 82 Airborne Division 1st 325 HHC Battalion Morters¹ Testimony at Winter Soldier, Silver Springs Maryland March 14, 2008

The Monday March 17, 2008 edition of Democracy Now! has a large segment covering Winter Solder testimony as well as a retrospective of the My Lai massacre including an interview with Seymour Hersch. Most of the Tuesday March 18, 2008 edition is devoted to Winter Soldier including Hart Viges’ testimony.

Tomorrow marks the 5th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

¹“I joined the army right after September eleventh and asked for airborne … asked for infantry and ended up with 82nd Airborne Division 1st 325 HHC Battalion Morters … ‘hunters in the sky’ … ‘death from above’”

Photo presented at Winter Soldier hearings. [Photo: IVAW]

Sunday, March 16 - Silver Springs Maryland. Winter Soldier testimony concluded today with two sessions:

10:00AM - 1:00PM The Breakdown of the Military
2:00PM - 3:15PM The Future of GI Resistance

Iraq Veterans Against the War has posted photos from Saturday’s testimony. The’ve promised clips, but they haven’t appeared yet. As of 10:40 PM only a few clips have appeared on the net. Alternative video news startup Independent World Television has 8 clips on their The Real News Net Beta site. DemocracyNow! will undoubtedly devote a good portion of Monday’s show to the hearings.

Today at First Church Unitarian, Harvard Square.

Banners:

One Day of the Iraq War = 720 Million Dollars: How Would You Spend It?
One Day of the Iraq War = 423,529 Children with Health Care.
One Day of the Iraq War = 1,274,336 Homes with Renewable Electricity
One Day of the Iraq War = 6, 482 Families with Homes.
One Day of the Iraq War = 1,153,846 Free School Lunches.
One Day of the Iraq War = 34,904 Four Year Scholarships for University Students

Viewing the webcast from Silver Springs, Md in the Parlor.

Live from Silver Spring Maryland, a reprise of the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation¹. Also available on cable and satellite through Free Speech TV. This evening, tomorrow and Sunday March 16.

Corporal Gilligan has challenged the accuracy of my report. Corrections to appear. 3-28-08

Former Marine Corporal James Gilligan, gunner on humvee, tearfully reported an incident where he was pressed into service as a forward artillery observer despite not being “authorized to direct fire”. He was the only one in his unit who had seen the flash. He reported that they had taken fire. HQ asked him for the azimuth where the fire had originated. His GPS was too slow so he pulled out his compass. He now realizes that his M240 almost certainly disturbed the compass. After three morter barrages he reported seeing no hits on the target. A fourth barrage - nothing. He reported the target out of range, and told his driver to pull out, but heard fifth and sixth barrages go off. A few moments later, his humvee turned and he saw an Afghani village in flames.

¹Transcript.

Not a big deal, but noticable. I was asked about it by coworkers. One wanted to know about the lens I was using. I showed it to him. The other wanted to know why I was taking pictures of it. I don’t quite see why I would have to justify those pictures any more than any other. I was told that the Islamic students were asked to leave the Widener steps, but I was assured that on a previous occasion a Christian Fundamentalist preacher received a similar “request”. I was also told that there was discussion about whether the sound of the adhan constituted an imposition of belief on others. Analogy to blowing of the shofar was presented. However, the same source tells me that the same argument was used by denizens of Canaday to protest the ringing of the Memorial Church Bells. I’m told that these discussions were civil but animated.