International Affairs (Click to see specific nations and regions)

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“A New Dawn for Guatemala?”

July 14, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The August 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” informs us about an interesting and inspiring community in Guatemala where refugees from the previous dictatorship have settled into a new community. These people are empowering themselves at the grassroots to meet their needs for education, clean water, social justice and democracy. About 300-400 people live in Nuevo Amanecer, the Spanish words for “New Dawn.” The community was founded in 1998 by refugees who had fled the genocide and “scorched-earth” campaign of the 1980s and 1990s. The U.S. funded and trained Guatemala’s brutal military to commit those crimes. Now the “New Dawn” […]

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New resources about crucial nuclear weapons issues

July 11, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Lilly Adams from the new statewide coalition Washington Against Nuclear Weapons (www.wanwcoalition.org) provided this hot news:   President Trump and President Putin will meet on July 16th to discuss a range of issues, including nuclear weapons policies and the New START Treaty. PSR has created a simple one-pager with background information and recommendations.  Read it here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j2lWpLCTvJiz2NIyR2SwIAf15wP48ct-Y8Ms_3HFWxQ/edit For more in-depth information, see the Arms Control Association’s resources here:   https://www.armscontrol.org/pressroom/2018-06/trump-putin-summit-what-you-need-know   The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons just published some fascinating and encouraging survey results from European “umbrella states” that host US nuclear weapons. Their findings: Europeans reject US nuclear […]

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U.S. Militarism Promotes Gun Violence. To reduce gun violence here, reduce military violence worldwide.

July 10, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

“Climate deniers” refuse to acknowledge the human causes of the climate crisis. Likewise some people try to blame gun violence on far-fetched causes such as popular music or pornography, even though those are common in other rich nations with very little gun violence. Deeply embedded in U.S. culture is an excessive willingness to use military violence. The U.S. has a long history of mistakenly thinking that violence solves problems. The U.S. has started wars to dominate other nations, especially since the 1898 Spanish American War. In the past 120 years the U.S. military has overthrown dozens of nations. We have […]

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Trump’s scheme to INCREASE gun sales to people in other countries

July 10, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In July 2018 Trump proposed something that would INCREASE GUN VIOLENCE IN OTHER COUNTRIES.  His proposal would INCREASE crime and terrorism and violence by oppressive governments. Trump proposes moving export license oversight for firearms from the Department of State to the Department of Commerce.  This is not merely a benign reshuffling of bureaucratic functioning.  It would create the illusion that firearms are just another commercial commodity for the Department of Commerce to rubber-stamp its approval in support of promoting exports from U.S. businesses. Actually, firearms are TOOLS OF VIOLENCE that criminals, terrorists and dictators use for violating other people’s human […]

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Drug War: Bad news from Congress. Good news from Mexico.

July 10, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Starting with Nixon and ever since, the bi-partisan “War on Drugs” has been a political scheme to attack “hippies” and people of color.  After the Nixon years it became a way to attack immigrants too.  It was designed to promote fear, escalate oppressive policing, and take away people’s civil rights. Finally, some people — including fiscal conservatives who oppose the waste of money on an unworkable “big government” program — are calling for changes that reflect common sense.  The “harm reduction” strategies are a great step forward. The Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that purports to reduce […]

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Great home-made signs from immigrant rights rally

June 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

On Saturday June 30 a huge crowd — certainly more than one thousand, and perhaps two thousand — attended the immigrant rights rally at the Washington State Capitol Building in Olympia WA.  The initial focus was “Keep Families Together,” because the Trump regime has kidnapped more than 2,000 children (including toddlers and infants) from their immigrant parents because their parents had crossed the U.S. border without the necessary documentation.  Trump was holding those children as HOSTAGES in order to pressure their parents to “self-deport” and pressure Congress to pass a cruel law against immigrants.  The Trump regime has lost track […]

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A very short video shows what a nuclear bomb could do

June 28, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This video lasts only a very few minutes. But the message is clear. We must prevent nuclear weapons from ever being used. Click this link, scroll down a few paragraphs, and watch the very short video: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/what-a-nuclear-attack-in-new-york-would-look-like.html  

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Sierra Club’s statement about Trump’s contempt for G-7 and the climate

June 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In mid-June leaders of 7 rich nations are gathering in Canada for a global economic summit. All of the other leaders come from business-friendly political parties, but Trump is so extremely beholden to fossil fuel companies that he denies that the climate crisis is real, and he rejects climate science. Trump arrived a bit late and blamed our economic allies and previous presidents for trade problems.  He left the G-7 summit early, before the world leaders discuss the climate or oceans. Here is information from the Sierra Club, along with a statement from that organization: https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2018/06/report-trump-only-leader-g-7-summit-who-refuses-accept-climate-science    

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9 Ways Authoritarianism Is Taking Hold Under Trump

May 31, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

As you know, I read a huge amount of information.  Thom Hartmann’s article at the link below consolidates much solid information into CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT information that the American people need to understand. Trump and Trumpism are imposing horrible authoritarianism upon the U.S.  This is an extremely serious — actually existential — danger to American freedom and constitutional democracy. Trump’s authoritarianism abuses many aspects of American society. The article below connects many of the issues we care about, including peace, social justice, environment/climate, economics, and so forth.  The article ends with a call for nonviolent organizing to rise up against Trump’s […]

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Statewide coalition against nuclear weapons has new website

May 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a very active member of the statewide coalition working against nuclear weapons.  “Washington Against Nuclear Weapons” was convened by Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR, www.wpsr.org). Now Washington Against Nuclear Weapons has its own website, and more information is being added to it continually.  You can see its current status now and visit again later to see further information, which will be added in the coming weeks and months.  It is https://www.wanwcoalition.org/ Please sign up on that website to keep in touch with our great statewide coalition.  

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To HELP the Poor People’s Campaign, OPPOSE Nuclear Weapons

May 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

All issues are interconnected.  We keep seeing this in many contexts.  We can use the interconnections to bring people together who are working on various issues to help each other see that our issues are inherently linked, so we can make more progress by working together and exerting mutual leverage to help us make progress on all of the  interconnected issues. On Monday May 28, 2018, the weekly Poor People’s Campaign gathering at the Washington State Capitol will focus on peace-related issues.  I wrote a handout linking nuclear weapons and the Poor People’s Campaign, and I’ll offer it to the […]