the guy by the door …

Tibetans and supporters have been in the Harvard Square Pit every evening since at least March 15 when they marched past the Winter Soldier gathering at the Unitarian Church.

Tibetan Monk in the Harvard Square Pit chanting ‘om mani padme hum’
- a mantra for compassion.

Sweat-free UNC banners outside the South Building University of North Carolina. [Photo: United Students Against Sweatshops]

University of North Carolina students are in day 5 of a sit-in of the lobby outside Chancellor James Moeser’s office. [Their statement via YouTube]

Similar protests ended in 31 arrests at Penn State, 6 at Appalachian State, and 9 at University of Montana¹.

¹The result of the U Montana protest was pointed out to me by Canandian blogger Molly who seems to know more than I do about what Boston’s anarchists are doing. Their link to the Boston May Day Coalition site is broken. Try this instead.

Paul Jay, senior news editor for the alternative media startup The Real Network, finds a split between General Petreus and Iran hawks. [The picture is not an embed. It’s a screen capture over a link. Sorry ]

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ COMMANDER: And Iran has fueled the violence, as I noted, in a particularly damaging way through its lethal support to the special groups.

But later describing how the conflagration in Basra was brought to an end:

PETRAEUS: Iran, at the end of the day, clearly played a role as an arbiter, if you will, for talks among all of the different parties to that particular action.

Jay interviews, Sabah al Nasseri is Professor of Political Science (Middle East Politics) at York University, Toronto.

SABEH AL NASSERI, PROF., POLITICAL SCIENCE, YORK UNIVERSITY: I think because there are two interests. One is in the short term. The other one is the long run. In the short term, the United States is interested in securing a security agreement with the Iraqi government, because the Iraqi Parliament decided last year that there will be no extension of the international troops in Iraq beyond December 2008. So since last August, the United States is trying to convince the Iraqi executive to sign a long-term security agreement with the United States to keep the US troops and military bases in Iraq.

JAY: So the very legal basis of the American occupation could be in jeopardy if they’re too aggressive towards Iran.

AL NASSERI: Exactly. On the other hand, the whole report of Petraeus and the Iraq ambassador was in the long run to say we need the US troops, we need the US troop presence in Iraq, we need the military bases in Iraq, because Iran is the most dangerous place now, because they have affiliation to al-Qaeda, they support these so-called special groups, they create a lot of instabilities in Iraq, etcetera.

JAY: There’s certainly no evidence that Iran has any connection with al-Qaeda.

AL NASSERI: Exactly. So in the long run, this is the message of the neocons. Iran is an issue. But now–not now.

Stop torture took time from the home stretch pace of spring term to report on newly revealed remarks in the Whitehouse “Principles Committee”. Also, questions of the complicity of yet another Harvard Law School alum.

“Our Clothesline Project” by Take Back the Night April 2008

Guys,

You’re mentioned on the Take Back the Night “Our Clothesline Project” edition 2008. You’re not mentioned by full name and in mosts cases only by deed. I don’t judge, but I hear the pain in these women’s ‘voices.’ I simply want to share what I’ve learned. I’m am old bachelor. Desire is not as urgent as it once was, but I remember. Elektra says that because I’m a man, by definition, I hate women. I don’t believe it. I’ve done bad things to women. None of them would meet the legal standard of rape, but they might be called hateful. I don’t remember when I first began to realize it. Even in this very moment, I’m struggling to bring it further into the light. I’m afraid of women.¹ Part of it is her greater role in reproduction - the nearest reality to the impossible dream of immortality. That’s something well worth being afraid of. But it’s not the whole story. I remember when Faith was so desperately trying to get pregnant. It was like she was on trial. If she could not have a child, she would be condemned to a lesser class. It did not seem fair.²

In my youth, the conventional wisdom was that women want intimacy first and sex second - for men, the reverse. Young men would threaten to withhold intimacy to get their way. I played that game and sometimes it ‘worked’. But I didn’t win anything. For one thing, three minutes³ of panting and sweating lasts … well… just about three minutes. By the time you go through all the plotting and conniving, it really would be easier to take care of it by hand, unless … For another thing, if you think you have most of the say in the important things where women are concerned you’re an idiot. There really is nothing like it - when she has unambiguously, unmistakably chosen you.

I don’t know what I can tell you about intimacy, but from what I remember it was quite scary for me. From what I can see, it’s not easy for anybody. You might think staying aloof is the easy way out. I do not recommend it.

I gather from the shirts⁴ that listening and being able to hear is an important skill. Perhaps you can give it another try. Come hear the voices of women unheard. No one need know. Except you.

¹And yet I spend so much time thinking about them. But I’m told the younger men think a sexual thought every 7 seconds. I can go at least 10 without breaking a sweat. But seriously, I think about women often, but differently now.

²I was raised in the Episcopal Church - my mother’s church. I was at one point rehearsed in the six wives of Henry VIII - divorce, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. He declared himself head of the Church of England denying the authority of the Bishop of Rome. My mother denied, in a highly unspecific way, that Henry’s desire for a male heir was the cause. Catherine, the first wife got off easy. Her marriage was annulled, and she was consigned to living in minor castles with few servants for the rest of her life. Her successor, Anne Boleyn, having suffered more than one miscarriage and given birth to a daughter but no male heir, was beheaded.

³I know, stud. You can go sooooo much longer. Save it for the locker room.

⁴Some of the shirts are addressed to a male parent. I don’t know if I will have anything to say to them. I know only that when a child cannot say “no”, whatever “yes” might be coerced from her is bound to be meaningless or worse.

The Lorraine Motel Memphis TN. It is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. The wreath marks where Martin stood and fell - felled by an assasin’s bullet. [Photo: Wikmedia Foundation]

Fourty years and two hours ago, Martin King, standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, slumped to the ground. He said to musician Ben Branch, “Ben, make sure you play Take My Hand, Precious Lord in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty.” He died an hour later. Mahalia Jackson sang the hymn at his funeral.

His last address was prophetic:

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Alas, as a people, the promised land is still a dream deferred.

[Photo: Wikimedia Foundation]

Half my adulthood has been despair. Martin’s speech, Beyond Vietnam, pretty much describes the other half:

The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality…and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing “clergy and laymen concerned” committees for the next generation. They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end, unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy.

I remember Martin. I dared to hope then - despite Albert convincing me that hope, in itself, is the problem. But it’s not that simple. The problem with us is that too many of us relied on Martin for hope.

Democracy Now! has dedicated most of today’s broadcast to him.

Norman Finkelstein speaking at Suffolk University [Photo: Wikimedia Foundation]

Born of a mother who survived the Warsaw Ghetto, Majdanek concentration camp, and two slave labor camps, Norman Finkelstein could hardly be called a Holocaust denier. Yet there are some who do. Dr. Finkelstein¹ has been joined by two Holocaust scholars, Raul Hilberg and Avi Schlaim in questioning the official story of the conduct of the State of Israel in its treatment of the Palestinians.

He spoke at MIT: 60 Years of Dispossession and Displacement
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the humanitarian crisis today and since 1948.²

His talk was reasoned, measured, well documented, and based in international law. At the end, he asked that the question period begin with people who disagree with him i.e. dissenters. I did not follow the first question. I think it was from David Solden and I think he regards Dr. Finkelstein is not pro-Palestinian enough.³ The second question was, “How can you view the 1973 Yom Kippur war as anything but aggression?”

Dr. Finkelstein based his answer on a principle of international law - it is illegal to acquire territory through war. The Sinai and the Golan heights were the spoils of the 1967 war still occupied by Israeli forces. “Sadat looked across to the Sinai and saw Eqyptian territory occupied by Israeli forces.”

The Calculus of Suffering

Dr. Finkelstein remarked that a major portion of Israel’s justification of its actions is the notion that The Holocaust is unique among occurrences of genocide - case in point; the use of capital T and capital H.

¹Norman Finkelstein, until recently was Professor Finkelstein, but having been denied tenure at DePaul University, arguably in part due to Allan Dershowitz, he has been busted back to Dr.

²Sponsor(s): ASO, Muslim Students’ Association, MIT, Social Justice Cooperative, Latino/a Cultural Center, GSC Funding Board, Palestine@MIT For more information, contact: Palestine@MIT pal_xc@mit.edu
Dr. Finkelstein’s website: http://www.normanfinkelstein.com

³Perhaps Dr. Trumpbour will help us out here.