Howard Zinn: Don't Mourn - Organize!

Historian and activist Howard Zinn died on January 27 at the age of 87. Our paths crossed briefly, even before I knew who he was and started reading his works. I was a student at Boston University in 1978-79 while Zinn was a professor there. During a maintenance workers strike in 1979, some professors continued to hold classes, while others (including Zinn) canceled theirs to honor the strike. Each student had to decide whether or not to cross the picket lines in order to attend those classes being held; being forced as a 19-year-old to think about where I stood on a matter of principle like this made a lasting impression on me. I'm sure Zinn would have been pleased by the lengthy discussions that went on in the dorms over this issue, because he wanted people to think about their actions.

Rather than attempt to recount his remarkable life, the impact he had on how history is told, or his contributions to our social movements, I strongly urge you to do the following:

• Read (or re-read) his classic work, A People's History Of The United States. This amazing book tells the stories you won't read anywhere else, and also retells the stories you thought you knew, but from another perspective. Beginning with the treatment of the Arawak natives of the Bahama islands by Columbus in 1492, Zinn retells our country's history through the words of people like Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, and Mary "Mother" Jones. My own well-thumbed copy, purchased a few years after its 1980 publication, is where I first learned about the Haymarket Affair, the Ludlow Massacre, the annexation of Hawaii, and other events they didn't teach about in school.
• Watch Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train, the 2004 documentary narrated by actor Matt Damon. My wife and I watched it yesterday, and we were captivated by the story of his work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Georgia and by the films of his speeches providing a historical context of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
• Follow the advice of Joe Hill, an organizer and songwriter for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or "Wobblies"). In 1915, he was falsely accused of killing a grocer during a robbery in Utah, and was sentenced to death. According to Zinn's People's History (p. 327 in my copy), Joe Hill wrote a letter after the verdict saying, "Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize."

In this case, we might allow ourselves a bit of time to mourn the loss of Howard Zinn, but after that he would want us to get right back to the work of making sure the voices of the people are heard - people from our past as well as the people of today.

The "Ups and Downs" of the State Of The Union

Watching President Obama's State Of The Union address on January 27 reminded me of the Paul Revere and the Raiders' song "Ups and Downs". Over and over, he would get our hopes up by identifying a serious problem or a too-powerful interest, only to let us down by offering half-hearted reforms as solutions.

He railed against those Wall Street banks which "hand out big bonuses", but then backed down, saying only that "they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers". Modest fee? Ooh, that'll show them. But why tax the banks, modestly or not, when they'll just increase customer fees to cover the new taxes? Why not tax the individuals receiving the obscene bonuses - say, a 100% tax on compensation over a certain amount?

The President pledged $30 billion "to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need", but then added a proposal to "eliminate all capital gains taxes on small business investment". Great, another tax loophole for the investor class that the rest of us can't use.

Mr. Obama used the phrase "clean energy" ten times, reminding me of Paul's grandfather in the Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night ("he's very clean"). However, just as I was smiling over visions of electric cars, solar cells, and wind turbines, he talks about "building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants". Once again, we're off in search of that mythical creature whose existence, like that of the Yeti, has long been rumored but has never been proven - the safe, clean nuclear power plant. Next he'll be promising that electricity will be too cheap to meter...

I jumped up from the couch when he called out the Supreme Court for their disastrous "Corporations Are People, Too" decision in Citizens United v. FEC, saying "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests." His solution? "Pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems." I would have hoped this former constitutional law professor might have at least mentioned the possibility of amending the Constitution to destroy once and for all the absurd notion of corporate personhood.

President Obama "embraced the vision" of a world without nuclear weapons, but never called on the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. President Clinton signed the CTBT in 1996, but it's languished since then in the U.S. Senate while 151 other countries have ratified it.

The President's strong words about "nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of nuclear weapons" were followed up with specific criticism of North Korea and Iran, but no mention was made of Israel, which has nuclear weapons but refuses IAEA inspections and has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Saying that "America must always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity", Mr. Obama talked about supporting the rights of girls in Afghanistan, women in Iran, and job-seekers in Guinea. That's all well and good, but what about the rights of voters in Honduras to be governed by the people they elected? Wasn't this right violated in June 2009 when democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya was removed by the military, and "Interim President" Roberto Micheletti suspended civil liberties? The Obama administration never took a strong stand against this coup, ignoring its impact on respect for the rule of law and democratic elections in a region with a history of too many US-supported coups. I'd love to see the U.S. "always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity"; when do we start?

The real lesson, I guess, from this year's State of the Union address is a reminder about the nature of our democracy. Electing an intelligent President with good intentions may open up more space for progressive change, but we can't just wait for it to come from him or her; we the people have to do the work ourselves.

Later this same week, we heard the sad news that historian Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, had passed away. In an interview on Bill Moyers' Journal last month, Zinn reminded us of this important concept:

"You know, democracy doesn't come from the top. It comes from the bottom. Democracy is not what governments do. It's what people do."

Thank you, Howard, for that important reminder.

"Church of the Poison Mind" in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District

On January 4, 2007, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota's 5th district became the first Muslim member of the U.S. Congress. This photo of me and my daughters Kate and Julia congratulating him outside his new DC office was taken on that historic day.

Our family had volunteered all year in our home district (PA-7) to help Joe Sestak defeat a 20-year Republican incumbent, and we rode a bus to DC with the other volunteers to see Joe's first day in Congress. But the 2006 elections had been about more than just one seat; many of us saw a chance to change the majority of both the House and Senate from Republican to Democratic, and I donated to progressives around the country trying to help make this happen. I had read about Keith's candidacy because his religious faith would make him a "first" if he won, but I sent him money out of affinity with his progressive positions and his activism in his community. So after making sure my daughters saw the House elect its first female Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, we set out to visit the offices of some of these newly-elected progressives. When Rep. Ellison's staff heard we had donated to his campaign despite living in Pennsylvania, they introduced us and took this photo. I thought it seemed pretty gracious and inclusive of Keith to take time out from that busy first day to pose with a white Christian guy and his two adopted daughters from Peru.

Well, Lynne Torgerson probably wouldn't think so. In fact, she'd probably put me, Kate, and Julia on some terrorist watch list based on this photo. Ms. Torgerson is one of the candidates running against Keith this year, and the "Issues" page on her website includes the following contorted observations:

• And, what do I know of Islam? Well, I know of 911. Nineteen (19) men from Saudi Arabia, all Muslim, hi-jacked planes, and flew into the two (2) World Trade Towers murdering thousands of people, and tried to fly into our Pentagon, and some believe they also tried to fly an airplane into our White House. From this, what I perceive is Islam conducting an act of war against my country.
• the total "religion" of Islam is not fully protectable by our First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• Keith Ellison simply is not a proper person to have in our federal government.
• Stop Iran.

Wait - "Stop Iran"?!? Stop them...from what, exactly? From speeding down a highway? From breathing? Are we to stop all people in Iran, or just the current government? I guess they're just up to something no good, and they need to stop. Period.

Her "Issues" page also gives us this important point:

• Me, I am a Christian. If someone criticizes Jesus, I am not going to go kill them. I may not even notice.

You see the logic here, don't you? Those who follow the "religion" of Islam, according to her, are trying to kill the nice, nonchalant Christians who would never dream of killing anyone. Perhaps Ms. Torgerson needs to brush up on her history, such as the Crusades (Christians killing Muslims for living in Jerusalem), the Spanish Inquisition (Christians torturing and killing Jews and Muslims for not being convincing enough in their conversion to Christianity), or the colonization of the Western Hemisphere (Christians enslaving, raping, and killing the natives). If she prefers more recent events, she can revisit the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 innocent people were killed by those nice Christian boys Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Of course, these reprehensible acts by killers calling themselves Christians in no way indicts the entire religion of Christianity, just as the actions of 19 hijackers calling themselves Muslims indicts Islam.

But don't just take my word for it. Ms. Torgerson's website complains that some of her statements have been taken out of context, so by all means, read for yourself here.

Sadly, one thing you will NOT find on her website is the following passage from Article VI of the United States Constitution:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. [emphasis added]

They always seem to forget about that part...

So please, everyone, let's stop this silly distraction about religious affiliations. It's not Muslims from another country who are foreclosing on homes and driving their owners into bankruptcy; it's American banks doing that. It's not Muslims killing people like Nataline Sarkisyan by denying them healthcare; that would be American insurance companies.

I will once again take out my checkbook and donate to Keith Ellison's Congressional campaign, as I did in 2006 and 2008. Not because he's a Muslim, and not in spite of it. Because of his record of service on issues that matter to working American families like mine.

Supremes to Corporations: My World Is Empty Without You

In a mindnumbing 5-4 decision announced on January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court decreed that corporations, as "persons" with free speech rights, must be allowed to directly spend money in federal elections. It's as if corporations had been cruelly bound and gagged, like Black Panther leader Bobby Seale during the Chicago Conspiracy Trial, and "Justices" Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy are the great liberators who have finally set them free.

Commentator Jim Hightower warned us of this likely outcome in the September 2009 issue of his Hightower Lowdown newsletter. The timing couldn't be worse; the crucial midterm elections this year, in which the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate is up for election, are now up for sale to the highest corporate bidder.

Some stories on this Citizens United v. FEC decision have pointed out that campaign spending prohibitions were lifted on labor unions as well as corporations, and that this somehow balances things out. Yeah, right. If unions had as much money and power as corporations, wouldn't we all have fully-funded pensions, free healthcare, progressive income tax, and democratized decision-making in the workplace? In this new "one dollar, one vote" system decreed by the Supremes, corporations will easily outspend anyone else, demonstrating that, while all "free speech" may be equal, some speech is more equal than others.

Of course, corporate money in politics is nothing new. Former Senator Henry Jackson (D-WA), patron saint of today's neocons, was known as "The Senator from Boeing" due to their funding of his campaigns and his unwavering support for their corporate well-being. The post-Watergate revelations of suitcases packed with corporate cash being delivered to Richard Nixon's 1972 Commmittee to Re-Elect the President (with the perfectly appropriate acronym of CREEP) are legendary; one of those companies, ITT, got their payback in 1973 when the Nixon administration engineered the military coup in Chile, saving ITT's telecommunications infrastructure in that country from being nationalized by the Allende administration.

However, growing public disgust over these abuses led to a series of restrictions on corporate spending in campaigns. Sure, corporations still have their way with Congress. Capitol Hill swarms with corporate lobbyists on a daily basis, and corporations encourage their executives to make individual contributions to employee PACs, which then give the money to friendly legislators in a process not unlike money laundering. I often refer to Sen. Joe Lieberman as (I-Aetna), although his slavish devotion to the for-profit health insurance companies extends far beyond just those headquartered in his home state of Connecticut. But at least the corporations were prevented from making direct campaign contributions and openly endorsing candidates.

On the other hand, maybe these new rules will make things easier for us to see what's really happening. If corporate "naming rights" can now move from sports arenas to members of Congress, perhaps our legislators will start dressing like NASCAR drivers and wear patches advertising their corporate sponsors. Imagine tuning in to C-SPAN and watching a debate on climate change; when a Senator gets up to claim that science doesn't support calls for limits on carbon emissions, at least the big Exxon-Mobil patch on his or her jacket will explain this. Perhaps Sen. Lieberman can now drop the pretense that he represents the people of Connecticut and openly announce his true corporate constituents.

What to do: Check out the Move To Amend site set up by the Campaign to Legalize Democracy, sign the online motion, and check out any of the fourteen supporting groups listed on the site for further ideas. Public Citizen also has good ideas and actions to take. If all else fails, we can all move to Delaware, the business-friendly state where over half of all publicly-traded corporations in the US are incorporated; if corporations have all the same rights as people, maybe we the people can get in on some of those corporate tax breaks!

Update: For more on the increasing power of corporations, as well as the 1886 Supreme Court ruling that originated the concept of "corporate personhood", check out the excellent 2003 documentary The Corporation.

Haiti: Disaster Without Context

The earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 was a tragic natural disaster. The conditions in that country, however, are the result of centuries of man-made disasters, although you'd never know it from the nonstop news coverage of the earthquake.

Like many, I was instantly struck by the enormity of the earthquake and the numbers of people killed and wounded, and wanted to help. However, I resisted the impulse to give to one of the traditional disaster relief groups, wanting instead to find someone who had already been working in the country to empower and strengthen local communities. I finally settled on Partners In Health, after learning of them through Naomi Klein, Color of Change, and Rachel Maddow, and donated a few days after the earthquake.

I was then pleased to discover that Partners In Health was one of the groups selected to share in the proceeds from the Hope For Haiti Now telethon, aired on TV Friday night (January 22). As the cameras panned to show the celebrities answering phones, I shouted out "Ringo!" as I recognized the 69-year-old former Beatle drummer. Ringo was, of course, at Madison Square Garden in 1971, playing with his friend George Harrison at The Concert For Bangladesh, probably the first time rock musicians put together a performance to raise money for disaster relief. So it was good to see him still coming out for a good cause, alongside Bruce Springsteen showing how "We Shall Overcome" can fit so many situations since Pete Seeger helped make it a civil rights anthem, and Shakira adapting The Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You" to a pledge of solidarity to the people of Haiti.

However, while these performances had the desired effect of raising a record amount of money, we missed an opportunity to raise viewers' consciousness and awareness of Haiti's history. The island of Hispaniola was colonized first by the Spanish, then by the French in the western territory which became Haiti. In the process, the native Taino people were virtually wiped out through a combination of overwork as slaves, killing, starvation, and disease such as smallpox. To replace them, the colonists brought people from Africa to be the new slaves. Haiti finally became independent in 1804 following a protracted revolt against the French colonists. However, the new nation was left with a crippling debt "owed" to France. You would think the US government would have applauded a fellow outbreak of democracy against a European colonial power so close to our shores; however, the fear of slaves taking over and running a country setting a bad example for our own slaves in the southern states made us turn a cold shoulder to this upstart in the Carribean. Instead, the US Marines have occupied Haiti so many times we've both lost count, and we installed and supported the Duvalier dictators (first "Papa Doc", then his son "Baby Doc") for as long as we could.

And what of Haiti's former President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide? Following a genuinely democratic election, he was ousted by a military coup in 1991, probably supported by US President George H.W. Bush. After regaining the Presidency, he was ousted again by George W. Bush (another father-son Presidential pair, like Haiti's Duvaliers). Aristide's flaw was in challenging the power structures, both within Haiti as well as in international organizations such as the IMF and World Bank. This clearly could not be tolerated, regardless of what the Haitian voters said they wanted. And so Aristide was banished from his country, not once but twice, and even now he's banished from the airwaves, as if he never existed.

A few history lessons along these lines would have put the current situation of the Haitian people in context. Instead, in between the altruistic musical performances, we got Anderson Cooper patting a rescued black boy on the head, as if he were a favorite puppy pulled from the rubble.

Please, go out and read this history about Haiti, so you can understand WHY the country is such a mess, and maybe we can find ways to help the Haitian people rebuild their country and run it for themselves.