After a couple weeks on the road, I’ve got a couple good things to report. First, the Finger Lakes Trail. My son and I spent four days backpacking on a 50-mile section of the FLT, taking the very long and scenic route between Cortland and Ithaca. The trail, which winds for close to 600 miles (875 miles, counting loops and branch trails) between Allegany State Park in Cattaraugus County and the Catskill Forest Preserve, is one of New York State’s underappreciated gems – certainly a rival to the Appalachian Trail and Vermont’s Long Trail in ambience and accessibility. Go to http://www.fingerlakestrail.org/ for information – and join the Finger Lakes Trail Conference, as I just did, to support this mostly volunteer project. Then get out on the trail; camp at the new leantos or bivouac in the many State Forests along the route; and find the sort of beauty you’ll never experience from the highway. (You can minimize your trip’s environmental impact by taking the bus to the trailhead. Ian and I found one nice loop: we took Greyhound/Trailways from Midtown Plaza to Cortland, caught a cab to the actual trail seven miles further south, and made our wandering way to Ithaca, where we caught the bus back to Rochester.)

Second, I can report that organic agriculture is more than alive and well – it’s growing and spreading. That was just one take-home message from the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s annual conference held last week in Amherst, MA. Just one piece of evidence, maybe the most significant, in fact: It seems that more and more young people are joining the movement, buying farms or leasing acreage, forming communities (including some that happily are anarcho-socialist, or the like), creating relationships and families, and otherwise carrying the banner forward in the Dark Age of Bush. I was also pleased that organic folks are working overtime to demote Big Energy and fossil fuels, and to push appropriate technology and renewables. (Several workshops and programs at the conference centered on Peak Oil, the concept that global petroleum production has already passed or will soon pass its high point, after which we’ll see prices going up and energy wars and lesser struggles breaking out. (Go to www.nofa.org for more information – and check out the archived transcripts of talks from previous conferences, like Vandana Shiva’s 2004 keynote.)

I’ll be posting more good news gleaned on vacation – but now that I’m back in the saddle, I’m also looking at some of the news I missed while blissfully “lost” in the woods. Tops on this list is the inadequacy of local response to the Lebanon-Gaza-Israel crisis – response from the mass and “alternative” media alike, as well as from the peace movement. (Note that my name for this crisis reflects the descending order of impact on noncombatants and the ascending order of moral and political responsibility for the carnage, with the Israeli government’s culpability head and shoulders above the competition. Current totals: More than 800 civilian deaths in Lebanon, more than 130 in the often-ignored Gaza theater of conflict, and more than 50 in Israel.)

For now, you’ll find below a relevant document from one of Israel’s most progressive human rights organizations, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. ICAHD, under admirable leaders like retired Israeli academic Jeff Halper, has long resisted the policy of bulldozing homes in occupied Palestine. (The group also supports Israeli military resisters and objectors, etc.) The document does two things: it reveals yet another aspect of the Israeli peace movement that is largely hidden from US media consumers, who are led to believe that Peace Now represents the true Israeli left position; and it points to how we might adopt a more radical analysis and use the most appropriate rhetoric as we confront the worst perpetrator, our own government.

ICAHD STATEMENT ON LEBANON/GAZA WARS 8/4/06

END THE WAR! END THE OCCUPATION!
END STATE TERROR! END AMERICAN EMPIRE!

ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, condemns all attacks on civilians, whether by Israel, the Palestinians or Hezbollah. We recognize Israel’s ever-repressive Occupation as the main source of conflict and instability in our region. Had Israel taken the many opportunities it had to secure a just peace, the peoples of the region would never have reached this point of despair and futile violence. Israel believes it can achieve “quiet” and normalcy through military power while retaining its Occupation, encouraged and protected by the US. This is the true convergence: Israel’s Occupation in return for an active Israeli role in expanding American Empire.

Israel’s disproportionate attacks on both Gaza and Lebanon on the pretext of freeing Israeli soldiers is intended to destroy any resistance to the imposition of the apartheid regime represented by Olmert’s “convergence plan.” Indeed, the democratically-elected government of Hamas which had been moving steadily towards a negotiated two-state settlement constitutes the greatest threat to the perpetuation of Israel’s Occupation, as witnessed by Israel’s delegitimization of that government and its systematic campaign to liquidate Hamas leaders. Israel’s illegal and immoral use of collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza in which 3000 houses have been demolished in recent years and its months-long campaign of starving the local population into submission continues must be condemned. ICAHD will work with the international courts to bring the military and political perpetrators of these crimes against humanity to justice.

Hezbollah, whose very existence comes by way of resistance to repeated Israeli invasions, illustrates how counter-productive are the attempts of Israel and the US to impose by force a “new order” on the Middle East whose only rationale is to serve Israeli Occupation and American Empire. Without equating the two politically or in terms of power, both Israel and Hezbollah must refrain from attacks on civilian populations.

Israel, of course, could not have reached this point without American and European complicity. Indeed, American refusal to countenance a ceasefire only affirms Israel’s role as its military surrogate in the Middle East. Their shared aim is a Pax Americana over the region for which Israel will be allowed to keep its settlements.

The war must end immediately, all attacks on civilians must cease immediately and permanently and UN resolutions must be implemented. The international community, especially a complicit and passive Europe, must intervene. America must cease to exacerbate regional conflicts for its own ends. Israel, which holds some 9000 Palestinian and Arab political prisoners, must negotiate a meaningful exchange in return for its captured soldiers. Above all, Israel must realize that there is no military solution to the conflict in our region. Relinquishing its Occupation in favor of genuine negotiations with the Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese is the only guarantee of Israel’s security.

END THE WAR! END THE OCCUPATION! END ISRAELI STATE TERROR! END ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS! END AMERICAN EMPIRE!

Posted by jackbradiganspula at 10:26 EDT

Updated: Monday, 21 August 2006 10:49 EDT

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Two remarkable people on the left got sandbagged this week.

First, with their usual alacrity and disdain for free speech, security staffers hauled Global Exchange leader Medea Benjamin out of the Congressional chamber where Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki was addressing our “leaders” – and asking for more US troops. Benjamin wore a “Troops Home Now” t-shirt, and she raised her voice to reinforce the message. In a news release, Global Exchange noted that Benjamin and others have been conducting a public fast in Washington and also have tried to arrange a meeting with al-Maliki to press their case – all to no avail. Now Benjamin may be prosecuted for her action. Meanwhile, the many top-level war criminals who were on hand to hear al-Maliki are avoiding arrest.

Adding insult to injury, a network TV newscast (can't recall which one - but they're interchangeable) mentioned that "a woman" had been removed from the speech. No name, and of course nothing about Global Exchange; heaven forbid. But I'm sure Benjamin, who as a founder of CodePink has become a respected national leader, and more importantly one who's deserving of respect, is used to the forced anonymity.

Sandbag number two: On July 26 the New York Times went with a story about US senatorial hopeful Jonathan Tasini, who’s running a campaign of sanity and decency against the retrograde incumbent, Hillary Clinton. The story, notable for a lack of background, mined a blog where Tasini was heard saying that Israeli attacks against Gaza violate the Geneva Conventions and could be regarded as terrorism. Tasini later told the Times that he did not and would not call Israel a terrorist state. But he added, “I have been critical of Israeli conduct in the occupied territories — Gaza and the West Bank — and in the current conflict, in the same way that I have been absolutely critical of Hezbollah.”

In the grand tradition of modern journalism, the story was finely “balanced” with quotes from a Clinton spokesperson, who said Tasini’s blog comments were “offensive and beyond the pale”; and someone from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, who said Tasini’s “ignorance is appalling.” No room for views from independent left sources, of course.

Nor was there room for even a few sentences from Tasini’s easily accessible campaign material to flesh out his views on the Middle East and show how he’s actually pro-Israel, in the truest sense. So to fill in some of the blanks, below are some extracts from the campaign website (tasinifornewyork.org). Note that Tasini, beyond being articulate and correct, has the kind of bona fides that Hillary Clinton can only envy:

“From the beginning of this race, I was committed to speaking the truth, whether about the Iraq war/occupation or abusive corporate power or the corruption coursing through our political system… Voters should know a little about where I come from on the issue of Israel-Palestine and the raging conflict engulfing the region today. I speak about Israel out of love and pain, in the same way that I am a deeply patriotic American who is harshly critical of our government and its behavior in Iraq—and of Hillary Clinton’s vote to send our men and women to die into an illegal, immoral war.

“My father was born in then-Palestine. He fought in the Haganah (the Israeli underground) in the war of independence; my father’s cousin, whose name I carry as a middle name, was killed in that war. I lived in Israel for seven years, during which I went through the 1973 war: a cousin of mine was killed in that war, leaving a young widow and two children, and his brother was wounded. My step-grandfather, an old man who was no threat to anyone, was killed by a Palestinian who took an axe to his head while he was sitting quietly on a park bench. Half my family still lives in Israel. I have seen enough bloodshed, tears, and parents burying their children to last many lifetimes.

“For that reason, I believe passionately in a two-state solution, which includes a strong, independent, economically viable Palestinian state existing along side a strong, independent, economically vibrant Israel. It is the only solution that will bring peace to the civilians who now live in fear of death raining down from above—either because of the missiles of Hezbollah or the bombs of Israeli aircraft.

“I do not believe Israel is a terrorist state. I do believe that Israel has committed acts that violate international standards and the Geneva conventions. In Israel, such a statement that the military has committed acts that violate the Geneva convention and international standards and has also engaged in torture (or, as it is called, “moderate pressure”) would be a subject of debate but hardly considered novel or particularly radical.”

From there Tasini goes on to cite B’tselem, the highly respected Israeli human rights group (www.btselem.org), and he also mentions Rabbi Michael Lerner, the founder of Tikkun (www.tikkun.org).

In a tip of the hat to the latter, Tasini ends his statement with this: “As a Jew, I have always been proud of the Jewish concept of “Tikkun Olam” or “repairing the world.” I like to think that that is what brought so many Jews into the civil rights and labor movements in the 1960s and 1970s, and into the current anti-war movement—and, personally, guided me into the world of social justice work. I feel great sorrow that Israel is an occupier of another people and I believe that Israel can never be whole and can never be at peace until that occupation is ended in a just way. And I also believe that the concept of Tikkun Olam means that we must never be silent.”

Amen to all that.

Posted by jackbradiganspula at 10:16 EDT

Updated: Thursday, 27 July 2006 10:25 EDT

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The latest newsreports say Israel is prepared to continue its attacks on Lebanon for several weeks more. Meanwhile, the Bush administration gives Israeli forces one after another “green light” for more mayhem. And not incidentally, the US supplies Israel with an unending stream of ordnance (including weapons of mass destruction), thus insuring endless collateral damage at the rate that's by now a grim regional tradition: ten or more dead Lebanese civilians for every Israeli civilian who’s been killed by the morally repugnant missile attacks from Hamas or Hizbullah.

But there’s a very dim “bright side” to the ongoing tragedy. As Israel forces continue their wildly disproportionate attacks against southern Lebanon and Gaza, peace activists have the time necessary for organizing against a wider war – and to connect the dots between what’s happening along the Mediterranean to what the US is doing throughout the region, not least in the endless, though now overshadowed, military occupation of Iraq.

So far, as the whole world reacts to the Lebanon-Gaza humanitarian crisis, Rochesterians have been under- or mis-represented on the streets. But this Saturday, July 22, a gathering at the Federal Building downtown will give us all a chance to speak out for justice. Below you’ll find information on the event, with contacts and what I hope is a growing list of sponsors.

I would have liked the publicity for the July 22 demo to mention the Israeli victims of violence, as well. So to balance things, I’ve appended an informative news release from an excellent group: the Oakland, CA-based Jewish Voice for Peace, which took part in a July 17 Bay Area demo. I’m sure the points JVP has raised will be repeated here. Hopefully that will add some much-needed balance to local media coverage of the issues, which to date has been predictably lame.

LOCAL CALL TO ACTION

Israel continues to inflict mass terror upon the people of Lebanon

and Palestine. The US aids and excuses Israeli policy without question.  

PROTEST! DEMONSTRATE!

Saturday, July 22, 1:00 pm

Federal Building, 100 State St, Rochester

* End Israeli Terror and All US Support for it

* Israel—Hands Off Lebanon. Stop the Bombings, End the Blockade

* Stop Israel’s Bloodbath Against the Palestinians of Gaza.

Called by concerned groups and individuals,

among them Justice for Palestine Network, Rochester Committee

on Middle East  Peace, Rochester Against War, Pax Christi,

International Socialist  Organization

(list in formation, call 436-3886 to endorse)

Contact RochesterJustice4Palestine@yahoo.com

JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE STATEMENT

July 17 Protest at Israeli Consulate in San Francisco To Urge Israel To End Military Attacks on Gaza and Lebanon

“War crimes will not bring peace, security and justice to Palestinians, Israelis or to Jews anywhere”

(San Francisco, July 17) – Members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), one of the nation’s largest grassroots Jewish peace groups, are organizing public actions in major cities across the country to help bring an end to the current conflict. Many of us have friends and family in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel.

JVP believes that all parties in this horrifying escalation of violence must be held accountable to international law. However, Israel’s refusal to negotiate and its decision to act with overwhelming force - using weapons supplied by the United States - have escalated this situation to war. Far from bringing peace, Israel’s actions only empower extremists.

First in Gaza and now in Lebanon, Israel has responded to attacks on military targets by targeting civilian, not military infrastructure. As a result, Gaza - where 64 elected members of Parliament were arrested by the IDF and where Palestinians now lack proper access to electricity, water, fuel, hospital care and essential foodstuffs - is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis. Lebanon is being devastated. Now Israeli citizens have become targets.

It is essential to understand that this entire sequence of events did not begin with recent Hamas and Hizbullah attacks on Israeli targets. It must be traced to Israel's continuing 39-year illegal, immoral and unjustified occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Israel can never know peace as long as they occupy another people.

Israel, like any other country, including Lebanon and the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, has the right to defend itself. Hizbullah’s attack on an IDF post within Israel’s borders was a clear violation of international law, and its subsequent missile strikes on Israeli cities and civilians doubly so.

But Israel’s response to attack has been to punish the civilian population of Lebanon with enormous force, and this is both illegal and intolerable. As with Gaza, Israel has employed the most blatant form of collective punishment, and they have completely refused to talk.

By taking this tactic, Israel has endangered not only Palestinian and Lebanese citizens, but also their own people. We call on Hizbullah to immediately release the two Israeli soldiers they are holding and for Israel to immediately cease its military operations in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. We call on our government in the US to act immediately to bring about a cease-fire and to commence negotiations between Israel and the duly elected Palestinian Authority aimed at resolving the fate of the soldier being held by Palestinians; at ending all attacks by Israelis and Palestinians against each other; and at ending the 39-year old Israeli occupation and finally bringing a just peace to the region.

About Jewish Voice for Peace:

Founded in 1996, Jewish Voice for Peace is a national grassroots peace organization dedicated to promoting a US foreign policy in the Middle East based on peace, democracy, human rights and respect for international law. With over 13,000 supporters and members, JVP’s board of Jewish American and Israeli advisors includes Pulitzer and Tony award winner Tony Kushner, actor Ed Asner, poet Adrienne Rich as well as other respected rabbis, artists, scholars and activists. JVP has chapters in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago, Sacramento and San Francisco.

Posted by jackbradiganspula at 12:50 EDT

Updated: Thursday, 20 July 2006 12:59 EDT

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With this post I detour slightly from my travelogue. The times seem to demand it. So here are two crucial items of quite different sorts. First, a public notice, forwarded to me by local activist Hank Stone, telling that Rochester’s “People in Black,” a philosophical descendant of Israel’s Women in Black and their weekly vigils for peace and sanity, will once again be witnessing at Twelve Corners. I’m proud to have taken part in some of these events, and I feel the need to be there now more than ever.

Second, Wayne County activist and chronicler Roland Micklem has published an eloquent statement that shows where he stands – unmoved, you might say, to the point of engaging in civil disobedience – on protecting the earth. The statement was inspired by a particular threat to a lakeside tract of land near Wolcott, but Micklem’s words speak universally of the environmental crisis, its economic roots, and what is to be done.

Next time, I’ll continue detailing my trip across the state of Michigan, with observations that connect to both the posts below - without any tortured logic or literary tricks from me!

PEOPLE IN BLACK

We are needed now--more than ever--given the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the continuing escalation of violence [now including that on the “second front” in southern Lebanon – JBS]. People wanting peace and justice must not be silent!

Next Vigils:

Friday July 28th

Friday August 11th

Friday August 25th

All vigils at 12 Corners in Brighton, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM.  Please bring signs, and bring concerned friends.

We invite participants to wear black to show solidarity with those mourning the loss of life in Middle East conflict.

PEACE.

Statement of Intent, 18 June ‘06 - Roland Micklem

Dear Friends, Family, and the Public at Large:

As of a date to be specified later, I plan to launch a one person campaign of civil disobedience to protest the abuse of creation by both our nation and the world community.

With the imminent threat of global warming and the near zero response by the power structure that controls policy, with rampant pollution, species extinction, soil depletion, disintegration of the ozone layer, and a host of other forms of stress on our life support systems, civil disobedience seems to be the only non violent alternative that stands a chance of raising the consciousness of a people caught in the throes of a system that is wrecking the planet.

I have been a law abiding activist for over 30 years, have for the most part without deviation followed the time honored protocol for addressing grievances in a free society. I have written hundreds of letters and newspaper articles, attended meetings, made my views known to incumbent public officials and aspirants for public office. But because control of the political system, the economy, and the media is concentrated in the hands of a relatively few wealthy and powerful interests, the democratic processes that have served us in the past has been severely compromised. We can no longer depend upon the halls of government to salvage what remains of the global ecosphere, or indeed to solve any of the other pressing human problems. Our local officials, tho basically honest and people of integrity, are also caught in the grips of the system and cannot alone bring about the changes so sorely needed.

I am taking my position, not only because of the inaction of our public officials, but because I no longer subscribe to the credo that it is acceptable to exploit the gifts of nature beyond what is needed for material well being. God did indeed intend that we use the resources He placed here for our benefit, but He also expects us to be the caretakers of same, and to make sure that the abundance of Creation will be available for future generations. And most of us, despite a lack of coverage by the mainstream media, can see that this is not happening.

There is a decided global connection between overall environmental deterioration and types of development that call for depriving land of it’s natural cover and covering any of it over with asphalt, or of unnecessary construction of second homes on land that is needed by at risk wildlife which face problems of dwindling habitat. Each of such ventures results in some water loss to the water table, a net gain to the earth’s heat budget due to the heat absorbing properties of asphalt, and a displacement of the flora and fauna. The effect of any one of these projects is minuscule, but multiplied thousands of times over the face of the land, the cumulative impact is severe indeed, and is a major if indirect cause of global warming, stream and air pollution, water shortages, and loss of biodiversity.

Whereas some development is necessary, few will argue that we are not overburdened with Wal-Marts, automobile dealerships, fast food franchises, and many other enterprises which encourage overconsumption and occupy what otherwise would have remained green space. Their presence in turn fuels the need for more out-of-control-development. Atlanta , Georgia, for example, has mushroomed to the extent that the additional square footage of hardtop radiates enough heat to produce the city’s own weather system. While this is not likely to occur in Wayne County, not one more foot of God’s good earth in our region should be paved over for any such unnecessary initiatives. When we begin to see each foot of contested acreage as the Hallowed Ground it truly is, we will not allow it to be desecrated by McDonalds or the Ford Motor Company.

When I hear of proposals for such businesses or unnecessary real estate development (such as may occur on Scott’s Bluff) on land yet to be cleared, I will, insofar as I am able, quietly appear on the scene and place myself in the path of the moving equipment. I’m not trying to play God, insofar as I make the decision as to which endeavors to oppose. I do not consider myself above the law and if arrested will not resist. I will be totally non violent, and pose no threat to any person or piece of equipment. But in trying to understand my motives, realize that I consider some acts legal but immoral, and other acts moral but illegal. I will be acting in the spirit of the latter, which is also the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and a host of others who have used "soul force" to bring about needed change.

My actions are not part of any devious overall strategy, and I will countenance help from no one that harbors any kind of vendetta against those who will oppose me. My decision is part of a personal witness through which I publicly disassociate myself from the practices and mind set that are causing such troubles for the earth and its people, and do not expect it to be the genesis of any revolution. Long after I am gone from the scene, the same forces that I will be confronting will still be at work. But if I can blunt their impact just a little, I will pass on with a clear conscience.

Posted by jackbradiganspula at 15:40 EDT

Updated: Monday, 17 July 2006 16:04 EDT

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I hate to rub it in. But my experience aboard the Lake Express ferry between Milwaukee, WI, and Muskegon, MI, shows how such a service can be done right. That is, differently than has been done, ah, elsewhere.

Lake Express Inc. runs three round-trips daily – the ferry runs only May through October, with a reduced fall schedule – across Lake Michigan between the two ports. The boat is small by Rochester standards, such as they are. It’s rated to carry 46 cars or light trucks and 12 motorcycles; the promo literature says nothing of bicycles, but mine rested nicely in one of maybe a dozen special mini-racks mounted on the bulkheads. The passenger cabins (first- and prole-class) seat around 150. So as you see, this is a boat that’s small enough to bhe viable economically, though questions about marine diesel and air pollution still apply.

The ferry also benefits from geography. It’s 280 miles between Milwaukee and Muskegon by road via Chicago and northern Indiana, versus 100 miles by water. Time on the road is estimated at five hours; the Lake Express catamaran gobbles up its route in half that time, even allowing for a slow passage through enormous Muskegon Bay.

Milwaukee has provided workable dockage for the ferry. Public entities have also chipped in loan guarantees, etc., and the ferry company’s business plan inspired lots of local commentary before the service began two years ago. But the investment at risk, both public and private, is much smaller that what Rochesterians have been treated to. You can see this not only from the scale of the ferry itself, but from the Milwaukee terminal, which is modest and utilitarian. Over in Muskegon, things are more spartan yet; the ferry docks at an old pier with minimal upgrades. Both terminals are in commercial-industrial zones that otherwise are low on boat traffic.

The service is not cheap. I paid around 55 bucks, including a $10 bike charge, for my one-way trip. By comparison, I paid $84, plus a $15 bike charge, for my 600-mile Amtrak journey from Rochester to Chicago. (Let’s leave the Amtrak delays aside, however costly they were in time wasted.) The ferry operators also have put a $6 fuel surcharge on each passenger and vehicle. This surcharge doesn’t apply to bicycles – simple justice, I guess. But when you consider that the other categories not subject to the surcharge are infants and pet kennels, you wonder what message is being sent.

Whatever my social status as a biker on board, I enjoyed the trip. Lake Michigan has real azure depths, straight outta Homer, and oceanic immensity. The dunes and mixed clay-and-sand bluffs that dominate the eastern shoreline are spectacular, too, and extensive enough almost to withstand the impact of modern tourism, the latter being synonymous, at least in moto-state Michigan, with promiscuous use of gas-guzzlers and off-road “recreational” vehicles.

(Next time: the two sides of Muskegon, and thoughts about other economically-stressed smaller cities in what is less a “heartland” than a dominion of the fuel-injector.)

Posted by jackbradiganspula at 11:16 EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 12 July 2006 17:31 EDT

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