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Military Resistance 14J1

Donary Crunk For President?No Thanks

Some favor the Clinton model of mass murder, oppression, imperialism, exploitation and endless capitalism, as distinct from the Trump model of mass murder, oppression, imperialism, exploitation and endless capitalism.

Some prefer suicide by poison as distinct from suicide by hanging.

T

U.S. State Supreme Court Rules “Black Men Have Every Reason To

Run From The Cops”“Their Fleeing Cannot Be Considered

A Suspicious Act”“The Court Reiterated Massachusetts

State Law Does Not Obligate People To Speak With Police — And If They Have

Not Been Charged, They Have The Right To Walk Away”

21 September 16 By Claire Bernish, The Free Thought Project & https://www.aclu.org/

A state supreme court has now ruled black men have every reason to run from the cops — and their fleeing cannot be considered a suspicious act.

According to a ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, because black men have a legitimate reason to run from police, thus, fleeing should not be deemed suspicious.

In its decision to overturn the gun conviction against Jimmy Warren on Tuesday, the high court considered data from the Boston police’ Field Interrogation and Observation study as well as a study by the American Civil Liberties Union on the city’s stop and frisk program, both of which found Boston police disproportionately stop African Americans.

“Warren was arrested on December 18, 2011, by police who were investigating a break-in in Roxbury,” WBUR reports.

“Police had been given a description of the suspects as three black men — one wearing a ‘red hoodie,’ one wearing a ‘black hoodie,’ and the other wearing ‘dark clothing.’ An officer later spotted Warren and another man (both wearing dark clothing) walking near a park. When the officer approached the men, they ran. Warren was later arrested and searched. No contraband was found on him, but police recovered an unlicensed .22 caliber firearm in a nearby yard. Warren was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and later convicted.”

Not only did police not have the right to stop Warren in the first place, but his flight from officers should not have been used against him, the court found.

According to the justices, Boston Police Officer Luis Anjos could not possibly have “reasonably and rationally” suspected Warren to be the prowler, for several reasons, including the time and location of their encounter. But more pertinently, the “vague” description given to Anjos nullified the “hunch” he had Warren should be stopped. Writes the court:

“Lacking any information about facial features, hair styles, skin tone, height, weight, and other physical characteristics, the victim’s description ‘contribute(d) nothing to the officer’s ability to distinguish the defendant from any other black male’ wearing dark clothes and a ‘hoodie’ in Roxbury (…)

“With only this vague description, it was simply not possible for the police reasonably and rationally to target the defendant or any other black male wearing dark clothing as a suspect in the crime.”

Beyond the unjustifiable stop, the court reiterated Massachusetts state law does not obligate people to speak with police — and if they have not been charged, they have the right to walk away.

When an individual does flee, that action, in itself, cannot be conflated with guilt.

“(W)e perceive a factual irony in the consideration of flight as a factor” in determining reasonable suspicion, the ruling states, because, of course, reasonable suspicion could not possibly have been established.

Also, the justices felt reports from the Boston police and ACLU “documenting a pattern of racial profiling of black males in the city” must be considered with other circumstances.

“We do not eliminate flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion analysis whenever a black male is the subject of an investigatory stop. However, in such circumstances, flight is not necessarily probative of a suspect’s state of mind or consciousness of guilt.

“Rather, the finding that black males are disproportionately and repeatedly targeted for FIO (Field Interrogation and Observation) encounters suggests a reason for flight totally unrelated to consciousness of guilt.”

Black men, the court essentially determined, are tired but aware of constant police harassment and being targeted purely for the color of their skin.

“Such an individual, when approached by police, might just as easily be motivated by the desire to avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled as by the desire to hide from criminal activity.

“Given this reality for black males in the city of Boston, a judge should, in appropriate cases, consider the report’s findings in weighing flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion calculus.”

Telling though the court’s ruling may be on endemic racism in the city’s police department, if not its inability to reform itself, Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans excoriated the justices for factoring in the ACLU report, and characterized the decision as “heavily tainted against the police department.”

“I think they relied heavily on the ACLU report that I think was clearly out of context,” Evans was quoted by WBUR telling reporters Tuesday. “I’m a little disappointed that they relied heavily on a report that didn’t take into context who was stopped and why. That report clearly shows that we were targeting the individuals that were driving violence in the city and the hot spots.”

But the ACLU understandably felt quite differently.

“The state’s highest court, in talking about people of color, it’s saying that their lives matter and under the law, their views matter,” asserted Matthew Segal, legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, reports WBUR.

“The reason that’s significant is that all the time in police-civilian encounters there are disputes about what is suspicious and what is not suspicious. So this is an opinion that looks at those encounters through the eyes of a black man who might justifiably be concerned that he will be the victim of profiling.”

Perhaps, if departments across the country — and the Justice Department, itself — fail to remedy the epidemic of police violence and racism, courts will intervene in favor of the

wrongly accused more often. If cases like Warren’s are more frequently tossed out, perhaps police really will begin to reform themselves.

In the meantime, black men in Massachusetts have been given quite the reprieve — they can run from the cops who unjustly target them without worrying about inappropriate repercussions.

California Black Man Killed By Police After Calling For Help, As

Usual:“He Just Wanted Help. He Didn’t

Want To Die”“He Was A Good Father, And They Didn’t

Have To Kill Him”

[Thanks to SSG N (ret’d) who sent this in. She writes: “A southern Illinois paper apologized for this truth.”]

01 October 16 By teleSUR

Los Angeles County police are investing the death of a Black man who died after calling police for help Friday morning.

“I woke up this morning to a bad dream,” Shainie Lindsay, the partner of the deceased, told KTLA. “He called the police on himself. He wanted help.”

Lindsay said her partner, whose name has not been released, suffered from bipolar disorder and was in the midst of a mental health episode.

Pasadena police showed up at the scene him after the man called, finding the victim wielding a knife and a fire extinguisher.

According to Lindsay, the man was then tasered twice, struck with batons and kicked him even after he dropped the extinguisher.

Officers reportedly tried to resuscitate the man but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

“He was a good father, and they didn’t have to kill him,” Lindsay said. “He just wanted help. He didn’t want to die.”

The incident comes after a similar death in the case of Alfred Olango, who was killed by police during a mental health crisis. The death of the unarmed man has prompted protests in El Cajon, near San Diego.

Unarmed Black Man Murdered By Police, As Usual:

“The Shots Came Less Than A Minute After Police Arrived At The

Scene”“A Woman Can Be Heard Shouting: ‘Officer Don't Shoot Him!’ Before At Least Four Shots Ring Out And She

Screams”“Olango Had Been Reported To Be Mentally Disturbed And Unarmed”

Protesters call for justice over the police killing of Alfred Olango. (photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Reuters)

01 October 16 By Al Jazeera

After days of protests, US authorities released on Friday two videos showing police fatally shooting an unarmed black man in California, but the low-quality footage, much of it without sound, was not likely to pacify outrage over the killing of yet another African American at the hands of officers.

The grainy cellphone and surveillance videos show two officers in a San Diego suburb confronting Alfred Olango, 38, in the parking lot of a restaurant before opening fire, one with a gun and the other with a Taser.

In the cellphone video, which lasts only about 17 seconds, a woman can be heard shouting: "Officer don't shoot him!" before at least four shots ring out and she screams.

The shots came less than a minute after police arrived at the scene in response to Olango's sister calling the department and reporting he was acting erratically.

The videos were released after three nights of protests in El Cajon, and on the eve of a demonstration organised by clergy and supporters of Olango's family, who had pressured authorities to show the footage of the fatal encounter.

The Reverend Shane Harris, of the civil rights organisation National Action Network, said the low-quality videos, shot at a distance, did not clarify what led to the shooting and said they were likely to make people angrier.

"What we saw today, that isn't enough," said Harris, who is assisting Olango's family.

In addition to the videos, police showed the four-inch electronic cigarette device Olango had in his hands when he was shot.

Dan Gilleon, a lawyer for the family, said the victim's relatives welcomed the release of the videos, but he questioned the tactics used by one of the officers. Olango had been reported to be mentally disturbed and unarmed and yet Officer Richard Gonsalves approached with his weapon out, according to Gilleon.

"It shows a cowboy with his gun drawn provoking a mentally disturbed person," Gilleon said.

The incident is the latest in a series of fatal police shootings of black men that have roiled communities across the US.

It came weeks after fatal shootings by police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Olango was a Ugandan refugee who arrived in the US as a child. His family described him as a loving father and a joyful, happy person.

His mother said he suffered a mental breakdown recently after the death of his best friend. On Tuesday, his sister called the police and reported he was acting strangely and walking into traffic by a strip mall.

The longer of the two videos released by police came from a surveillance camera in the drive-thru of a restaurant. It is roughly a minute, has no sound and police blurred out the heads of everyone in it.

In the second video, taken on a cellphone by a witness in the drive-thru, Olango's sister is seen approaching Gonsalves from behind and a woman can be heard screaming at Olango to put up his hands and telling police not to shoot.

Olango then bent over and Gonsalves quickly fired four shots at close-range. A woman shrieked loudly as Olango fell forward.

That night, as a crowd protested outside police headquarters, police released a single image from the video showing Olango with his hands clasped in front.

Olango's family and demonstrators demanded to see the full video, saying the single frame was selectively misleading to support the police version of events.

They also questioned why it took them more than an hour to respond to three calls for help and then less than a minute to use deadly force.

El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis, who said the investigation was ongoing, did not address whether officers acted appropriately in how they responded to the incident.

Andre Branch, president of NAACP San Diego, commended the city for releasing video. "Full disclosure to the public builds trust, and it demonstrates respect," Branch said.

Some Prison Guards in Alabama Join Inmates on Strike:

“15 Officers Failed To Show Up For Work”

September 28, 2016 by Rebecca McCray, Take Apart

Prisoners and the employees paid to supervise them aren’t often thought of as allies. Instead, corrections officers and inmates most often wind up in headlines together when one has beaten, killed, or taken advantage of the other. But in Alabama last weekend, following a strike initiated and organized by prisoners, a small group of prison guards disrupted that paradigm by refusing to work.

“War brings about strange bedfellows,” said Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, national spokesperson for the Free Alabama Movement, a prisoner solidarity organization that has been communicating with the striking guards and prisoners. “The officers really understand (the prisoners’) reasoning even if they don’t agree with all of it and are just at the point where they don’t feel safe.”

Guards at Alabama’s William C. Holman Correctional Facility have a reason not to feel safe: Earlier this month, an inmate fatally stabbed Officer Kenneth Bettis. He had been left alone to supervise as many as 200 inmates, according to WKRG.com.

That’s not an uncommon situation in the understaffed, overcrowded facility.

“Oftentimes down there you might have 17 officers dealing with as many as 1,000 inmates,” Officer Troy Hughes, a guard at Limestone Correctional Facility in northern Alabama, told TakePart. Hughes is familiar with some of the officers at Holman.

Some Holman guards decided they’d had enough.

After Bettis’ funeral on Saturday, a number of them didn’t show up to work their scheduled shifts, a prison spokesman told AL.com. Hughes said, “We call it the blue flu—everybody just called in sick after they buried one of their officers.” Glasgow said more than 15 officers failed to show up for work, while the Holman spokesman put the number

at nine. (The Alabama Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for further comment.)

The corrections officers’ work stoppage comes as a nationwide prison strike, which began on the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, entered its third week. While broadly characterized as a labor strike organized to demand fair pay for the work prisoners do behind bars—often for meager wages or none at all—Azzurra Crispino of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee told TakePart that prisoners are participating in whatever way they can. Crispino’s organization has tracked participation—whether ongoing or onetime—in 46 correctional facilities nationwide since Sept. 9. Some prisoners without jobs have gone on hunger strike, while others who feel they can’t risk ceasing to work entirely have slowed down their pace.

“Everything counts as part of the resistance,” said Crispino, media cochair for IWOC.

Overcrowding is just one factor at prisons that can affect the safety of both prisoners and guards.

“The prison administration at Holman has continued to let out prisoners who were known to be violent from long-term solitary confinement back into general population,” said Crispino. “At this point, the guards may just be striking because they don’t want to die.”

The Holman guards’ work stoppage is not the first time the interests of officers and inmates have intersected.

In Huntsville, Texas, a corrections union has advocated for a reduction in the use of solitary confinement because members believe its excessive use creates an unsafe working environment, as TakePart reported in April. Lance Lowry, sergeant of correctional officers and president of AFSCME Local 3807, has spent years arguing before the state legislature that more humane conditions for prisoners create safer working conditions for officers.

“I wouldn’t show up for work if I knew it was that dangerous,” Lowry said of conditions at Holman. “These guys are laying it down out of fear and exhaustion.”

While Texas corrections officers aren’t fully unionized or under a common contract, pockets of labor organization like that in Huntsville have helped Lowry and his colleagues make gains with the legislature.

Officers at Holman don’t have that luxury, as unionization isn’t permitted for prison guards in Alabama.

Lowry believes that lack of formal labor organization has contributed to the chaos at Holman and the lack of safety in the prisons statewide.

“They don’t have a public spokesperson or union official to speak up on their behalf about their working conditions,” he said. “Same as the prisoners. But they’ll organize one way or another—and they’re organizing all right.”

Crispino said she believes the prisoners’ strike will continue in some facilities in Alabama, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and California, even as it winds down in other states. Because prison administrators do not wish to make such disruptions public, IWOC must track strike activity through conversations with family members of the incarcerated and letters from inside prisons.

“This is a long-term strategy toward prison abolition,” she said. “The goal is for prisoners to be paid so that the profit motive of mass incarceration goes away.”

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

US Drone Strike Targeting ISIS “Killed At Least 15 Civilians And

Injured Another 13”“The Strike Hit A Home Where Civilians

Were Sleeping After Having Gathered To Welcome Home A Tribal Elder From Hajj

Pilgrimage To Mecca”

29 September 2016 by Sune Engel Rasmussen in Jalalabad, The Guardian [England]

A drone strike in eastern Afghanistan, intended to target Islamic State fighters, has killed at least 15 civilians and injured another 13, according to the United Nations.

The American strike took place early Wednesday morning in Achin, a district of Nangarhar under Isis control.

According to the UN, and Afghan officials speaking to local press, the strike hit a home where civilians were sleeping after having gathered to welcome home a tribal elder from hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

While the UN did not mention the US specifically, it said the strike had been carried out by an international drone, which only the US operates.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US military acknowledged it had conducted an aerial attack but refused to discuss details, “because we are still reviewing all materials related to the strike”.

The UN, who happened to have a high-level delegation visiting Jalalabad, Nangarhar’s capital, on Wednesday, issued its statement as conflicting reports were still emerging.

Nangarhar officials said on Wednesday that the strike killed 18 Isis militants, including a key commander named Hamza.

But a parliamentarian from Nangarhar told local media that the victims of the attack were civilians who had travelled to Achin from surrounding districts. He said that if the pilgrim who hosted the gathering was an I ISIS militant, the government should not have allowed him to go on hajj. “Why was he not arrested during his journey to Saudi Arabia?” the parliamentarian, Asmat Shinwari, told Pajhwok news agency.

ISIS appeared publicly in Nangarhar in May 2015, and the province is the only place in Afghanistan where the group has been able to establish some form of foothold. They have recently been on the defensive, particularly after a US airstrike killed their leader in Afghanistan, Hafiz Saeed Khan, in July.

In the past week, though, they managed to recapture areas in the southern part of the province, including Achin, which they had previously lost to government forces.

While the Afghan ministry of defense announced it would launch an investigation into the airstrike, the UN called for an independent inquiry.

The incident happened almost a year to the day after another US airstrike destroyed a Doctor Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, killing 42. After that incident, the US and the Afghan government refused calls for an independent investigation.

MORE:

US Drone Strike Massacre In Afghanistan Village Not Disputed

But Victims' Identities Are:“’Locals From Shadal Bazar Insisted Militants Never Operated Less Than A Mile From The Village, And There

Were Police Checkpoints Nearby The House”

“There Is No Daesh In The Village And Every Night The Police Go On Patrols”

Bilal, 12, recovers in a Jalalabad hospital bed two days after he survived a U.S. drone strike that killed his father. (photo: Andrew Quilty/Guardian UK)

The provincial governor claimed that Haji Raees, the man whose house was targeted, was an Isis “facilitator”.

However, villagers disagreed vehemently.

“If the authorities can prove that even one of these men were Daesh, they can imprison us. We will accept that,” said Herat Khan, the village chief.

01 October 16 By Sune Engel Rasmussen, Guardian UK

In the village of Shadal Bazar in Afghanistan’s eastern district of Achin, dozens of people had gathered at the home of Haji Raees, a prominent elder, to celebrate his return from the hajj pilgrimage.

At around half past three on Wednesday morning, a US airstrike hit the guesthouse where the male guests were asleep, killing at least 15 people and injuring another 13.

That much seems uncontested.

What remains a matter of dispute is the identity of those who died: according to the United Nations, at least 15 of those killed were civilians, but local authorities said the only victims were militants of the Islamic State militant group.

A statement from the provincial governor of Nangarhar said 18 Isis members were killed, and that no women or children were among the casualties.

However, when the Guardian visited Jalalabad provincial hospital on Friday, the nine casualties still receiving treatment included a 12-year-old boy and two elderly men.

Dozens of men gathered to visit the injured said all victims were civilian, and produced a list with names of 14 casualties.

“If we were Daesh, do you think we would get together here?” said Obaidullah, a university student, using the Afghan term for Isis.

One man, Zarghun Shah, recalled the incident from his hospital bed where he was recovering from leg wounds, alongside his 12-year-old nephew Bilal.

After a night of conversation and feasting on grilled sheep, both had been woken up around 3.30am by the explosion, and were caught in a rain of shrapnel. Bilal was injured in his shoulder and legs. His father was killed.

The US military has yet to admit any wrongdoing. In a statement on Thursday, the US forces in Afghanistan said the incident was under investigation, but added that Isis puts civilians at risk by “deliberately surrounding themselves with civilians and dressing in female attire”.

Achin is one of four districts in Nangarhar province where Isis has gained significant control. Still, locals from Shadal Bazar insisted the militants never operated less than a mile from the village, and there were police checkpoints nearby the house.

“There is no Daesh in the village and every night the police go on patrols,” said another recovering victim, Mohabad Khan, whose lower body was paralyzed when shrapnel hit his spine.

While US airstrikes have put Isis on the defensive in Nangarhar, the military releases little information about drone strikes. Almost all are conducted in remote rural areas.

The provincial governor claimed that Haji Raees, the man whose house was targeted, was an Isis “facilitator”.

However, villagers disagreed vehemently.

“If the authorities can prove that even one of these men were Daesh, they can imprison us. We will accept that,” said Herat Khan, the village chief.

Haji Raees himself survived with minor injuries but was unavailable for interview as he was attending a funeral in the village for his son Hekmatullah, a school principal who was killed in the strike.

Another of Haji Raees’ sons, Zabiullah, said he didn’t know why anyone would target his family’s house. “Everyone knew people were coming to congratulate my father,” he said.

At least one other person working with the government security forces was killed, and a driver who had worked for the Red Cross for over a decade was gravely injured, according to villagers.

Moallem Mashoq, district governor of Achin, said the US military had not coordinated with local security forces before the strike.

The US military has refused to comment on the UN’s allegations. A spokesman, Brig Gen Charles Cleveland, told the Guardian: “I want to emphasize that United States Forces Afghanistan takes all allegations of civilian casualties very seriously and we take every possible measure to avoid civilian casualties in all of our operations.”

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

All our lives we fought against exalting the individual, against the elevation of the single person, and long ago we were over and done with the business of a hero, and here it comes up again: the glorification of the personality.” -- V. I. Lenin

Die-oxin

From: Mike HastieTo: Military Resistance NewsletterSent: May 14, 2016Subject: Die-oxin

Full Disclosure

After I sent out my photo essay, I realized I misspelled the word Dioxin, in fact, I misspelled it three times. It is not spelled "Dixon," so I can't call it a typo. I was tired... as I had been working on this photo essay for 24 straight hours. Please excuse the misspelling of a very important word. Then I got to looking at the word, Dioxin, and realized it should be spelled, Die-oxin. So, maybe there is a purpose for it all, because Die, or Death, is the legacy of Agent Orange.Mike Hastie

The enclosed photograph was taken by a Vietnamesewoman who was working at an orphanage in Hue. Ihad spent a long time photographing several children

with Agent Orange disabilities. I wanted a photographwith this Vietnamese boy, because wearing just theT-shirt did not convey the real truth. Under the words,Agent Orange, it reads:It Did Kill !It Is Killing !It Will Kill !Where Is The "Famous" American Justice?

Whenever the truth threatens one's corebelief system, there is an urgent need todeny its reality. No matter what evidenceis brought to the table, fear of acceptingthis evidence is a moral dilemma. Whatconsistently happens, is that wheneverNational Shame is at stake, the truth iseither shunned or against the law. So,that is why you bury the past, and as aresult, it is always repeated.Mike HastieArmy Medic VietnamMay 14, 2016

He who controls the past controlsthe future. He who controls thepresent controls the past.George Orwell1984

Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact hastiemike@earthlink.net)

One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.

Mike HastieU.S. Army MedicVietnam 1970-71December 13, 2004

Empires Go To HellFrom: Dennis SerdelTo: Military Resistance

Sent: September 29, 2010Subject: Empires Go To Hell by Dennis

Written by Dennis Serdel, Military Resistance 2010; Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade; United Auto Workers GM Retiree

************************************************************************

Empires Go To Hell

the heat seeps through the helmetboils the sheet metal on all the desertcamouflaged trucks and vehiclesthe oversized rucksack pullson the shouldersgrinds away on the guteverybody is not fighting the waronly a few consideringall the Soldiers around the worldthis long war is taking its tolllike sores eating the brainthe body is beginning to achethe head the back the legsgrind on but the pain pillsonly help but can’t cure exhaustionthey can’t give backthe days the months the yearswho can’t count all the stepsnobody can count the milesand waiting feel the minutesthe hours the days then go onwasting a life for this battlefieldthat goes back to blood on the soilto every invasion by all sortsof empires in the pastwhere only cemeteriesand memorials remainthe world must get rid of empiresall they do is invade and rapesmall countries for any typeof gold the little countries havebut the empires may bebrought down withinand work against the empiresof the world until thereare no empires anymore.

MILITARY RESISTANCE BY EMAIL If you wish to receive Military Resistance immediately and directly, send request to contact@militaryproject.org. There is no subscription charge. Same address to unsubscribe.

ANNIVERSARIES

The Jerry Rescue:Most Honorable Anniversary:

October 1851:“A Group Of Men Forcibly Overpowered The Guards With Clubs And Axes And

Freed Jerry A Second Time”

Carl Bunin Peace History October 1-7

In the “Jerry Rescue,” citizens of Syracuse, New York, broke into the city’s police station and freed William Henry (called Jerry), a runaway slave working as a barrel-maker.

The federal Fugitive Slave Law required “good citizens” to assist in the return of those who had fled “ownership” by another.

A group of black and white men created a chaotic diversion and managed to free Jerry but he was later re-arrested.

At his second hearing, a group of men, their skin color disguised with burnt cork, forcibly overpowered the guards with clubs and axes and freed Jerry a second time; he was then secretly taken over the border to Canada.

***************************************

NYHistory.com

Among the more interesting events in Syracuse history is the story of the Jerry Rescue.

The event occurred on October 1, 1851, while the anti-slavery Liberty Party was holding its New York State Convention.

Leaders of the local Abolition movement, including Underground Railroad Stationmaster Jermain Loguen and others, had organized a local committee to thwart enforcement of the recently adopted Fugitive Slave Law.

The previous May, then Secretary of State Daniel Webster repeated his previous criticism of the Abolitionists and their promise to thwart the law. Webster proclaimed from a balcony facing Syracuse City Hall that the law “will be executed in all the great cities - here in Syracuse - in the midst of the next Anti-Slavery Convention, if the occasion shall arise.”

And so it did.

Around noon on October 1, federal marshals from Rochester, Auburn, Syracuse, and Canandaigua, accompanied by the local police, arrested a man who called himself Jerry. also known as William Henry.

Jerry was working as a barrel maker, and was arrested at his workplace. He was originally told the charge was theft until after he was in manacles. On being informed that he was being arrested under the Fugitive Slave Law, he put up substantial resistance, but was subdued.

Word of the arrest quickly reached the Convention, then in session at a nearby church. There are reports that the wife of Commissioner Sabine, who would hear the case, had already leaked plans of the arrest.

By pre-arranged signal, church bells began ringing, and a crowd gathered at Sabine’s office, where Jerry had been taken for arraignment.

An immediate effort to free the prisoner was unsuccessful, and though he escaped to the street in irons, he was rapidly recaptured.

The arraignment was put off until evening and relocated to a larger room. A large crowd gathered in the street, this time equipped for a more serious rescue attempt.

With a battering ram the door was broken in and despite pistol shots out the window by one of the deputy marshals, it became clear that the crowd was too large and determined to be resisted.

The prisoner was surrendered, and one deputy marshal broke his arm jumping from a window to escape the crowd.

The injured prisoner was hidden in the city for several days in the home of a local butcher known for his anti-abolitionist sentiments, and later taken in a wagon to Oswego, where he crossed Lake Ontario into Canada.

The following day, Gerrit Smith introduced the following resolution, adopted at the Liberty Party convention:

“WHEREAS, Daniel Webster, That base and infamous enemy of the human race, did in a speech of which he delivered himself, in Syracuse last Spring, exultingly and insultingly predict that fugitive slaves would yet be taken away from Syracuse and even from anti-slavery conventions in Syracuse, and whereas the attempt to fulfill this prediction was delayed until the first day of October, 1851, when the Liberty party of the State of New York were holding their annual convention in Syracuse; and whereas the attempt was defeated by the mighty uprising of 2,500 brave men, before whom the half-dozen kidnappers were ‘as tow’, therefore,

“Resolved, That we rejoice that the City of Syracuse- the anti-slavery city of Syracuse- the city of anti-slavery conventions, our beloved and glorious city of Syracuse- still remains undisgraced by the fulfillment of the satanic prediction of the satanic Daniel Webster.”

DANGER: CAPITALISTS AT WORK

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

“As Despair From The Occupation And The Hatred Of The PA Grows, So Too Will The

Attacks”“And When Attacks Increase, What Will Israel’s Best And

Brightest Do?”“They Will Take Advantage Of The

Atmosphere To Kill Any Palestinian Who Might Rub Them The Wrong

Way”“And Thus The Bloody Cycle Continues,

The News Will Talk About Palestinian ‘Incitement’ And Other Banal Lies”

Israeli soldiers search Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron, September 19 2016. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

September 22, 2016 By Rami Younis, +972

So what do all these Arabs do when they aren’t willing to bow before the establishment?

The last few days have provided a slew or examples of the Zionist establishment’s attempts to mold the Palestinian who opposes the occupation as someone who is either handcuffed or shot.

Let’s begin with the lie that the media has been spreading over the past week.

As my colleague Haggai Matar wrote in these pages, Israel’s “wave of violence” against the Palestinians never went away.

A momentary calm in violent Palestinian resistance (a result of “security coordination” with the Palestinian Authority against the Palestinian people) and its resurgence over the past few days helps create a false image of a “wave” that Israel can control. As if the army, the Shin Bet, and Mahmoud Abbas can put a stop to violent attacks.

Let us, then, try and understand why the “latest wave of violence” isn’t going to end anytime soon, despite the temporary letup, and why Israelis will continue to kill Palestinians, even when they haven’t done a thing.

Around this time last year Palestinians were talking about the desperate situation in the West Bank.

Aside from those in the PA’s inner circle, the Palestinians there have no real future, and it doesn’t matter how much they study or work hard. And if that’s not enough, Abbas’ security coordination with Israel has long ago put an end to the illusion of institutional resistance to the occupation, as if there was any way to conduct a struggle through the Palestinian Authority.

Central political activists in the West Bank see Abbas and Israel as part of the same system of oppression, a notion that has become mainstream among the vast majority of Palestinians.

Therefore when there is no one who will put an end to this desperation, people take matters into their own hands.

In other words, Abbas, who strengthened cooperation with Israel over the past few months, is one of the main sources driving these young, suicidal Palestinians. But security coordination is only the tip of the iceberg.

The fact that Abbas doesn’t lift a finger when Palestinians die leads many to view him, and justifiably so, as a collaborator.

Attacks on Israel soldiers are in some way an attack on the Palestinian Authority itself.

Every shooting of a Palestinian, automatically described in the Israeli media as an “attempted terrorist attack” — even when there was no proof whatsoever of an attack — is naturally seen by Palestinians as a deliberate, violent attack by soldiers or police officers, while totally ignoring Abbas and the PA.

As despair from the occupation and the hatred of the PA grows, so too will the attacks.

And when attacks increase, what will Israel’s best and brightest do?

They will take advantage of the atmosphere to kill any Palestinian who might rub them the wrong way.

And thus the bloody cycle continues, the news will talk about Palestinian “incitement” and other banal lies.

How A Church Was Smeared By Whining Zionists For An Exhibition

About Israeli Occupation:“Israel’s Supporters Want Us To Believe That The Checkpoints And The Wall Are

Existentially Vital Security Measures, Rather Than An Apparatus Of Land Theft

And Colonial Population Control”

Photo: Modest checkpoint recreation, made from chicken wire to 'explore aspects of human rights', labelled as 'antisemitic' by Israeli cheerleaders. The exhibition this week at Hinde Street Methodist church (Twitter/@PeaceEduQuaker)

24 September 2016 by Ben White, Middle East Eye

When a Methodist church in central London decided to hold a small exhibition about life for Palestinians under Israeli occupation, its members probably did not expect to be smeared as antisemites in the pages of The Times.

Yet that is precisely what happened to the members of Hinde Street Methodist church in Marylebone, in response to its "You cannot pass today" event, held as part of an annual "World Week for Peace in Palestine/Israel".

The exhibition, designed for visitors to “experience what it is like to cross a checkpoint everyday,” was intended to “explore how we break down the walls that divide us so no one lives in fear". It was the result of a church member’s recent visit to the region as a volunteer.

Hardly radical stuff.

And yet, as sure as night follows day, one church’s modest attempts to communicate an aspect of life for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was seized upon by Israel’s cheerleaders as a dangerous threat to communal relations.

In The Times, the rabbi of a nearby synagogue claimed that the exhibition could “demonise” Israel, adding: “Why the hell is a church wasting resources on fanning the flames of antisemitism? They should be ashamed.”

Pro-Israel legal activism group Jewish Human Rights Watch also weighed in, claiming that “Jewish people and others cannot but interpret (the exhibition) as offensive.”

Then there was the predictable statement by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who announced that they were “disappointed” in the church’s conduct, which it claimed “puts unwelcome and unnecessary strain on Christian-Jewish relations".

Even Alan Dershowitz weighed in, opining that for a church to show solidarity with the Palestinians is "singling out" Israel for a double standard, and is thus “antisemitism".

The end result of all this pressure – sorry, “dialogue” – by the Board and the Zionist Federation was that the church agreed to incorporate into their exhibition a table of pro-Israel propaganda and “the display of a statement from the Israeli government".

It is instructive to see such mobilisation against a church display that simply sought “to explore aspects of human rights and dignity,” put together “on the basis of principled impartiality, putting concern for human rights above support of any particular group by referring to international law."

But the exhibition became a target for three reasons.

First, it sought to communicate what life is like for Palestinians under a 49-year-long military occupation. Second, at the very least, it invited visitors to question the "security" justification that covers a variety of apartheid policies.

And third, it was a potential precedent – however small – that needed to be made an example of.

In this context, threatening "damage to inter-faith relations" is both cynical and self-fulfilling. What sort of "dialogue" is it, anyway, where support for international law is smeared as antisemitism?

A brief word about the idea that Israeli checkpoints are mere "security measures" – necessary, or indeed praiseworthy, if you follow the logic of Israel’s diehard defenders.

There are more than 500 obstacles to Palestinians’ freedom of movement across the Occupied West Bank: hundreds of checkpoints, roadblocks, trenches, and gates.

The vast majority of them – including, note, the main access point to Bethlehem – lie in occupied territory.

They exist as part of what numerous human rights groups – Palestinian, Israeli and international – have denounced as a regime of segregation designed for the benefit of an Israeli settler population whose very presence in the territory in question is illegal under international law.

Meanwhile, every single day, thousands of Palestinians without work permits risk imprisonment or worse by crossing into pre-1967 Israel in search of work. They do so, because the separation wall, which the main checkpoints are incorporated into, remains unfinished.

And yet, Israel’s supporters want us to believe that the checkpoints and the wall are existentially vital security measures, rather than an apparatus of land theft and colonial population control.

On the topic of using the charge of antisemitism to attack any show of solidarity with the Palestinians, last week’s Sunday show on BBC Radio 4 saw the Board of Deputies’ Joel Salmon defend new anti-BDS materials in a debate with new Palestine Solidarity Campaign head Ben Jamal.

While Jamal pointed out that boycotts have always been a valid and important political tool as a response to injustice and rights violations, Salmon kept repeating claims that BDS makes Jewish students “feel uncomfortable".

However, Salmon was unable to either give any examples to justify this assertion, or to prove that the "discomfort" was the result of anything other than a political disagreement about the State of Israel and its policies (a failure noted by presenter Edward Stourton).

Revealingly, when pushed, Salmon objected to BDS on the basis that it “paints a caricature” of a “complex” conflict.

In other words, it places the emphasis on the lived experience of the Palestinians under Israeli colonialism, apartheid and occupation.

It is always a variation on the same theme: "it’s antisemitic to single Israel out,", "you’ll damage Christian-Jewish relations," "Jewish students will feel uncomfortable."

Meanwhile, illegal settlements expand, a Gaza blockade tightens, and hunger-striking prisoners remain detained without charge. But don’t dream of doing anything about all of that; it’s very complicated, you know.

13 Year Old Palestinian Boy Was Shot In Both Legs After Threat By

Israeli Officer To Disable Every Youth In Refugee Camp:

“‘Captain Nidal,’ Has Made Statements Such As: ‘Will Make Half Of You

Disabled, And Let The Other Half Push The Wheelchairs’”

Ramzi Abu Ajamiyeh, who was detained from his home two days ago, remained in a dire medical condition

Sept. 26, 2016 Ma‘an

BETHLEHEM -- A 13-year-old Palestinian who was shot and seriously injured last month by Israeli forces during a raid into al-Duheisha refugee camp in Bethlehem, and then

detained from his home on Tuesday, remained in a dire medical condition, local sources reported on Thursday.

Ramzi Abu Ajamiyeh was detained from his home two days ago, during massive military raids across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem when 40 other Palestinians were detained, including six other minors.

The raid into al-Duheisha early Tuesday morning also sparked clashes during which two Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli fire.

Meanwhile, Ramzi was shot in both of his legs during a detention raid in the camp in the beginning of August, and he remained in a “difficult” medical condition as of Thursday as he was being held in Israel’s Ofer military prison.

Local sources added that since the boy was shot, he has had to undergo six surgeries due to his injuries.

Throughout his detention over the past two days, Israeli forces have reportedly prevented Ramzi from taking his medication, despite Israeli authorities being informed of his medical condition.

While it could not immediately be confirmed when in early August Ramzi was shot, Ma’an reported on three separate detention raids in al-Duheisha last month that sparked clashes between local youths and Israeli forces, all the three of which resulted in locals being shot and injured.

Violent clashes in al-Duheisha are common and break out nearly every time Israeli forces enter the camp -- often by a large number of soldiers, resulting in injuries of local youth disproportionate to the small number of residents the soldiers were dispatched to detain.

Meanwhile, al-Duheisha is located in Area A and should be under full Palestinian Authority control according to the Oslo agreements.

On Aug. 1, Israeli forces shot and injured a young unidentified Palestinian man in the leg, during a raid carried out to detain two camp residents.

On Aug. 9, clashes following a military raid into al-Duheisha saw seven Palestinians shot and injured by Israeli live ammunition. Just one Palestinian was detained in the raid.

On Aug. 26, two youths in the camp were reportedly shot and injured during an Israeli military raid to detain one resident.

In all three cases, no injuries were reported among Israeli forces, with the exception of one soldier being hit with a stone during the Aug. 1 raid.

According to Palestinian NGO BADIL, which is based in Bethlehem, 30 Palestinians had been shot with live ammunition in the camp between the beginning of the year and mid-August, the majority in their legs and knees.

Between the end of July and mid-August, BADIL documented that 18 Palestinian youth between 14 and 27 years old were shot in their legs -- eight of which shot directly in the knee and several more in both legs -- causing both permanent and temporary disabilities.

The raids in August came as reports emerged of an Israeli army commander responsible for Bethlehem’s three refugee camps making repeated threats to make “all youth in the camp disabled.”

The commander, known to locals as “Captain Nidal, ” has made statements such as: “I will make half of you disabled, and let the other half push the wheelchairs,” and “I will make all of you stand in line at the ATM waiting for your disability subsidies and assistance,” according to an investigation by BADIL.

“These threats indicate that these actions are not accidental or isolated incidents, but rather result from a systematic Israeli military policy aimed at suppressing resistance, terrorizing Palestinian youth, and permanently injuring them and/or causing significant damage to their physical and mental well-being,” BADIL said in their statement.

The reported threats came amid what BADIL called an intensification of the “systematic targeting” of Palestinian youth in the occupied Palestinian territory -- particularly in refugee camps -- since the beginning of 2016.

“This targeting has taken the form of injuries and arbitrary killings by the use of live ammunition by the Israeli army in the context of arrest campaigns, military raids, and random wide searches which usually trigger clashes,” the statement said.

Reports have also emerged that Palestinian authorities and medics are woefully underprepared to cope with the escalation of gunshot injuries, and al-Duheisha youth have since established a support group for those grappling with the complicated bureaucracy to pay for their surgeries.

BADIL's collection of testimonies came as the latest report amid years of well documented cases of abuse and mistreatment of Palestinian children by Israeli forces in the occupied territory, including in East Jerusalem, which is under Israeli police jurisdiction.

To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to:

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/ The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”

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