#914 – Dick Bernard: Political Shorthand.

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It’s near 100 days to the 2014 United States Election (by my count, the actual 100th day is next Sunday. Election is November 4, 2014.)
What will you do, each day, to participate actively in your responsibility as a citizen. It is an important question, each individual needs to answer for him or herself. We get what we deserve….
I’m fairly involved in politics. It is interesting (and often, frustrating). A few examples from the last few days.
Saturday I elected to go to the town hall for my local legislator. It was a nice summer day, and only about a half dozen of us were in attendance. All in the room were men, except the legislator, a woman; depending on one’s point of view, half in the room were “good guys”, half not.
Though I don’t go to all such gatherings, they are always interesting, even though they are predictable. As usual at this one, in attendance was the young guy filming everything. He calls himself a “tracker” for a special interest group that is much more for getting rid of taxes and regulation on business than on its stated goal, “jobs”. The hope, I gather, is to find some ‘sound bites’ for his advocacy group to use against the legislator in later campaign ads.
One well-groomed and dressed young guy, who looked to be college age or not far beyond, complained about “massive tax increases” and companies moving out of the state, and asked that the Minnesota version of the Affordable Care Act be “scrapped” – pretty standard talking points of the right, never supported by any data. What does “massive” mean? I don’t know. Likely he doesn’t either. It is a good, scary word, that’s all.
Even with only six people in the room, there’s no time to waste on debate of a single misleading word, so we moved on.
It was caught on video, of course.
I had to leave after 45 minutes due to another commitment. All was very civil. The legislator, now well experienced in such meetings, handled things very well.
But it was an example of what I would call “Political Shorthand” – saying nothing while suggesting everything: “companies are leaving our state….”)
And I’m speaking about the audience, not the legislator.
The first lesson a lawmaker learns is that we’re a diverse society. Some try to ignore that, at all of our peril.
Media, of course, is a crucial part of American politics.
The previous evening, sitting in my favorite chair, I watched the CBS evening news cover twin tragedies: the disastrous shooting down of a Malaysian Airliner over the Ukraine; and the even worse disaster between somebody and somebody else – let’s say “Israel” and “Hamas”, whoever they are, in terms of making stupid decisions anyway.
It struck me at how casual and comfortable I was, watching news about terrible tragedies taking place a long ways away.
We Americans view war as an abstract sport, though we are very active participants.
CBS was trying, I suppose, to be “fair and balanced”. They chose to focus on one Israeli casualty from the Hamas missiles; and four Palestinian young people killed on a Gaza beach by Israeli fire from a boat. It seemed a rather false equivalence: at the time hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza had already died in the latest round of war; hundreds of Hamas rockets had managed to kill one Israeli.
In the Ukraine, the issue was who was to blame for the near 300 deaths in the airliner in a contested part of the former Soviet Union.
As for Israel/Palestine, there have been, in this single conflict, far more Palestine deaths than the casualty list from the plane. In many ways, Israel is an informal 51st State of the U.S. What is our complicity in the tragedy. And, how do we define the word “our”?
Important.
After the legislators session, I went to my barber, a very good long-time friend, and he was certain about who was to blame for both. We had a good conversation.
Listen for the political and media “shorthand”. It is constant, apparent,
Dad, forever the teacher, would say “two wrongs don’t make a right”, and he’d be correct. But he was talking to kids when he gave that admonition. What about nations dissing each other, and wholesale killing?
It’s near 100 days till the election of 2014. Get on the court, actively, every day, wherever you happen to be.
POSTNOTE: My favorite blogger has a long overnite commentary about the Israel-Palestine situation. Here it is, if you’ve interested.

#913 – Dick Bernard: Politics, Money and Media

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$1 million equals about 20 cents per Minnesota resident (5.4 million population; triple the population in 1905)
$1 billion equals about 3 dollars per United States resident (314 million population)*
Dollars002
Earlier this week I was visiting with my local state Legislator, Rep. JoAnn Ward. Rep. Ward is an outstanding Representative: very intelligent and hard-working. She takes her job seriously. She’s running for her second term, which means she has a record, which means “opportunity” for the “tar and feather” crowd who hate government (even while campaigning to take over that same government they despise.)
The Minnesota Republicans have rolled out their first generic television ad about the Democrats, and it has mostly children and young adults complaining about Democrats wasting the state money building a palace for themselves in St. Paul.
The first target, the first apparently politically exploitable “fact”, is the vote to spend $77 million dollars to build a new office facility for the State Senate. How dare they build a palace for themselves? So goes the argument.
Well, the office space has long been needed. We’ve been a state since 1858, and government and society itself has become more complex, and there are more people who demand more service from their government. Anybody who has been to the State Capitol during the legislative session, particularly to visit a lawmaker, knows that legislators and their staff are packed in like sardines. The State Capitol itself is over 100 years old – opened 1905 – and now undergoing badly needed and extensive renovation, a well over $200,000,000 process which began in 1984. It has the same internal area as it had when it was constructed, and, of course, in 1905, things like computers and such had not yet been invented.
As best as I can gather, adequate facilities for lawmakers at the Capitol have been an issue for as much as 40 years, and under active discussion for 30. But when politics rears its head, and “government” is the issue around which to organize, it takes political courage to remodel an old house to fit current needs….
Rep. Ward and her colleagues don’t even office in the Capitol. Her office and those of the vast majority of State Representatives are in the State Office Building, a non-descript, bustling (and also busting at the seams) facility, one block (and about a quarter mile walk) from the Capitol itself.
Ain’t nothing fancy, that’s for sure.
But as JoAnn and her colleagues know, they will be mercilessly tarred and feathered for doing what needs to be done, allocating funds for an office facility that is not even for them. It is part of the increasingly insane political theatre in this country, fueled by very big money and all the the media big money can buy.
At the beginning of this post I noted two numbers, which I think are crucial to keep in mind as politicians trot out millions or billions in indictments against this or that.
For instance, that Minnesota Senate Office Building project will cost about $15 per Minnesotan, and it is a one-time project, needed, that will far outlive us.
At the national level, a billion dollars is about $3 per American.
Political advertising is just that, advertising. If you believe the ad on its face, you deserve what you get.
Best to exercise your own mind, and get involved in politics, learning who your candidates are, what they really stand for, helping them out in the many ways available to you, without being begged.
We – each and every one of us – ARE politics. Not voting, or simply opting to criticize those in office, is no escape from our own accountability.
Vote, and vote very well informed, at local, state and national levels.
* Of course, someone will say that dollars do add up. Of course, they do.
1 trillion dollars equals about $3,000 per United States resident.
By far the largest component of the United States budget is something called “defense”. Here’s some well researched and reliable data.
It is said, reliably, that the short and long term costs (including disabled veterans) of our 2003 to present War in Iraq and Afghanistan will ultimately reach near 3 TRILLION dollars.
Yes, we do have our priorities, don’t we…?
COMMENT:
from State Rep JoAnn Ward (referenced in the post): The point of housing the Senators in one building is important. If the public wants the Senators to cooperate, collaborate, and coordinate, then they need to have ready access to each other. We need a modern building to accommodate the current needs of the state government and for the public to access their legislators.

#911 – Dick Bernard: Those "illegal" children: whipping up the hysteria.

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The below letter of mine, published in the July 9, 2014, Woodbury Bulletin seems to fit todays post about the so-called crisis at the Mexico border. My letter was about war versus peace; the letter to which I refer in my letter was about revulsion towards a certain flag that represented “utopian” ideals. No matter, it all basically is the same story: fear and hate sells easily with predictably negative results.
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Letter to Editor, July 9, 2014, Woodbury MN Bulletin

Letter to Editor, July 9, 2014, Woodbury MN Bulletin


The past week I spent most of my time out of sight of the internet and even newspapers and other media. I was 310 miles away in North Dakota: I’ve been to the ancestral farm many times in recent months, many more trips to come. As I’ve come to say, frequently, I can’t make the 310 miles (5 1/2 hours at my pace via freeway) any shorter. It is as it is.
I arrive at both ends, tired.
Enter the latest fear and hate issue: “illegals” pouring across our precious border with Mexico, but they’re not even Mexicans this time.
The recent news narrative, near hysterical in some quarters, has been the seeming flood of children from certain distant Central American countries. Were the scenario not so tragic – four year olds and younger (and older youngsters, too) facing immediate deportation, and apprehension by latter day militia at the border – it would be so absurd as to be amusing: hordes of children racing hundreds of miles across an entire country to the sacred destination of the United States of America.
I believe the real story in this case is hidden behind the reported story. I certainly don’t know the facts; but neither do the hysterical ones.
In my college years I was very much into geography, and out of these came a desire to seek a bit of context.
So in this case, children apparently traveling from places like El Salvador and Honduras to U.S. border states, it seemed useful to do a sketch map, using as base a page from my 1961 Life Pictorial Atlas of the World. (I added the map of Minnesota, simply to get an idea of scale).
Adaptation of an old map to show relative scale of Central America to Minnesota. 1961 maps

Adaptation of an old map to show relative scale of Central America to Minnesota. 1961 maps


Minnesota, north to south, is just over 400 miles, 90 miles further than I travel to North Dakota.
For these poor families coming north through Mexico has to be a daunting trip of its own. I am not prepared to believe any story about how they were convinced to leave and came to take a trip with a certain unhappy ending.
There are elements of this story that literally smell of “false flag” – a situation set up by unknown parties designed to make a problem, then confuse and inflame emotions over immigration reform efforts in the United States. Some in Congress say that $2.7 billion is too pricey to emergency fund the agencies that have to deal with the refugees. Some quick arithmetic reveals that comes out to about $9 per American.
Yet we can spend trillions (three more zeroes than a billion) to war on Iraq and Afghanistan, and not bat an eye.
One will need very hard evidence to convince me that someone with impure motives is neither funding nor encouraging illegal immigration of mostly young people to whip up the fear (hate) in far too many people north of the border in the U.S. just in time for the 2014 elections. Add in President Obama (considered the deporter-in-chief by some) and this reeks of political motivation, in other words. NO, I can’t prove it. But it is as strong a possibility of any other theory advanced by anyone.
Whipping Americans into a frenzy is nothing new, of course. Think of 9-11-2001 for starters.
The poor people who were the cast of characters for John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” were not met with open arms when they entered California during the Dust Bowl. We banished Native Americans to the left over lands with hardly a tear; starving Irish arrived in the U.S. to less than a warm welcome.
There are endless stories.
Some, like our response to 9-11-01, solved nothing. 9-11’s cost short and long term is measured in the trillions of dollars, and this doesn’t even include loss of Americans and those in other countries which far exceeded the number of casualties during 9-11. After 9-11 we engaged in an endless war with no “win” at the end, except in the minds of certain folks defending their stupid decisions back then.
As I said, a 310 mile drive is no cakewalk, even on a freeway in an air conditioned vehicle.
Believe the narratives about the children from Central America invading the U.S. if you wish.
There is a much larger story behind this tragic migration, I submit.
PS: I predict that this latest issue will magically disappear after the 2014 election, and simply be replaced by some other outrage of choice afterwards; and perhaps be ginned up again in time for 2016.
A common sense suggestion: ignore the certain propaganda.

#908 – Dick Bernard: Anniversaries of Two Wars…and the beat goes on.

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UPDATE to Fortnight for Freedom: several comments are included at the end of the post.
The last few days have marked two significant anniversaries.
June 28 marked the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which led, a month later, to the awful World War I.
Today, July 2, is the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
WWI – “the war to end all wars” – was the first of the truly deadly world wars. A letter in Tuesdays Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted that 568 Hennepin County (Minneapolis and environs) residents were killed in WWI, their deaths remembered by Victory Memorial Drive in Victory Memorial Park along the northwest boundary area of Minneapolis.
WWI begat WWII, and after WWII came Korea, then Vietnam, then Iraq…. War doesn’t stop war; it only aggravates problems that erupt in new and different ways.
The evening of June 21-22, 1964, marked a beginning of the heavy lifting of the Civil Rights Movement. Three young people, James Earl Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, were gunned down in Mississippi – deemed by the KKK t be trouble makers out to register people to vote.
By no means was theirs the first deadly incident in the Civil Rights movement, nor the last, but it was a wake-up call moment, impossible to ignore. It was a watershed moment.
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Risking Everything001
The wars continue: The invisible al-Bagdadi, holed up somewhere, seeks a Caliphate in Syria and Iraq area. Odds are, his life span is not long, and his dream will fail.
At home here in the U.S.of A at Independence Day, it’s no secret at all that efforts are being made to roll back hard-won Civil Rights, voting, immigration, etc.
It seems so hopeless. But is it?
Back in March I decided to drop in on a session at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum conducted by Professor Mary Elizabeth King, a veteran of the Civil Rights heavy lifting years.
The room was full of students that day, nonetheless I wondered about the state of student activism today, so after the session I wrote Dr. King a letter.
On May 13, I received a personal communication from Dr. King, much of which I reprint here, with her permission. Hers is a very interesting and hopeful analysis, coming from the trenches of the Summer of 2014 (and 1964), so to speak.
Dr. King:
“The amount of student activism today is far greater than in the heyday of SNCC [Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee], which some historians are now calling the most significant group to emerge in the USA after World War II. Young people are vastly more engaged. The success of the Dreamers (the movement of young Latinos that dramatically succeeded in their quest for an end to children born in the USA of “illegal” parents being forcibly detained), is a model for good planning and strategizing that beats anything that went on in the civil rights movement. This year, you will see an astonishing degree of mobilization around the 50th anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom Summer (in which I worked). In FL, NC, MS, OH, and TX hundreds of organizers will be working on voter registration, expanding education, pushing against the privatization of prisons and working to curtail the school-to-prison pipeline, and more work against deportations. I’ve just been with 45 of these key organizers in Geogia, and in depth and breadth they are in some ways more advanced than we were in their ability to plan and strategize. I, therefore, feel optimistic.
Dr. King continued at some length:
Isolated groups around the world now have some access to transnational electronic activism. Even if they are weak in their ability to reform their governments, they can cause what social scientists call a “boomerang” pattern, bringing about pressure from networks across the world (most recently visible as Nigheria’s Goodluck Jonathan did nothing about 276 abducted girls until storms of electronic protestation around the world exerted pressure on him, sufficient to get the UK, France, and USA to send personnel). This could not have happened 20 years ago.
More than 400 degree programs, centers, or institutes in the USA are dedicated to the building of peace. Peace and conflict studies is the fastest growing field of all the social sciences worldwide; in my experience it is driven by the young.”
On Martin Luther King, Dr. King recommends a new book: “In an Inescapable Network of Mutuality,” ed. Lewis V. Baldwin (Cascade Books, 2013).
Her letter also included the postcard about Risking Everything (see above photograph). She suggested “that you spread word of this remarkable book of carefully selected documents from the 1964 Freedom Summer. Every library should have it.” (At this writing, the website listed on the card is down for maintenance. Try it later.)
Back in the 60s, Dr. King concludes, “We had almost no books, other than Gandhi’s autobiography and King’s Stride toward Freedom. Today a wealth is available and much of it downloadable.”
Mistakes will be made, as witnessed by Tahrir Square mistakes, and the Occupy movement, both of which had promising starts.
But activism is alive and well.
Thank you, Dr. King. I’m glad I asked the question.
UPDATE, July 3: Overnight came Just Above Sunset with an analysis commentary about 1964 and 2014.
It is impossible, of course, to see how the long term will play out on the matters of voting or immigration or most anything else, but personally I see the climate now as very different from 1964. The Rights advocates in 1964 were starting from 100 years of inaction following the Emancipation Proclamation and it was a hard slow dangerous slog in the south. Armies of demonstrators made it possible for Lyndon Johnson to take the courageous steps necessary to get the act passed, though he well knew the consequences for the Democrats “for the next generation”.
Rolling back the clock to the good old days will be, in my opinion, a suicidal mission for the angry people who give face to the anger in places like Murieta CA.
A photo clip last night showed the California protestors brandishing American flags almost like weapons against the bus. It brought back flashback moments for me to early October, 2001, when I went to my first anti-war demonstration at the State Capitol, and across the street were flag-brandishing very angry people protesting the protestors.
It will be interesting to see the crowd at the 4th of July Parade tomorrow…the one we always attend. It is the crowd I always watch, more than the parade. The folks along the street are America….

#903 – Dick Bernard: St-Jean Baptiste Day June 24. Adding to a conversation about heritage and culture.

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In Minneapolis, this Tuesday, June 24, the Canada Consul-General is hosting a celebration of St-Jean Baptiste, sponsored by Alliance Francaise de Minneapolis. The flier is here: La St-Jean Baptiste la Fete Nationale du Quebec. All are welcome, at a very moderate cost. Unfortunately, I’ll be out of state at the time of Fete de la St-Jean Baptiste. Otherwise, no question I’d be there. It will be a festive event.
My father, Henry Bernard, is 100% French-Canadian, thus qualifying me…and since 1980 I’ve been actively involved in family history matters relating to Dads Quebec (to Dad, always, refered to as “Lower Canada”).*
In 1982, Dad and I and four others traveled to rural Quebec, including Quebec City and Montreal, to make a first visit to the land of our ancestors (QC, Ile d’Orleans, St. Henri, St. Lambert et al). I had, then, only the most basic notions of the family history and traditions of my French-Canadian heritage. Dad was 74, then, which happens to be my current age….
After soupe aux pois (pea soup) at a festive weekend event of La Societe Canadienne-Francaise du Minnesota, some days later we all arrived in Quebec City on the evening of St-Jean Baptiste Day (StJB), Thursday, June 24, 1982. StJB is a major festive event in Quebec, a holiday, always June 24**.
I know Dad pretty well: arriving on the Lower Canada home soil from which his father had come in 1894, (and his grandparents on Grandmas side, 40 and 30 years earlier) was, for him, like arriving in Heaven.
Being a novice in the matter of ancestry at the time, the experience was less intense for me, but no less profound. Three times since I’ve been back, and later immersed myself in family history and the hobby of editing a little newsletter called Chez Nous.
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St. Jean-Baptiste side altar at Cathedral of St. Paul, June 23, 2013

St. Jean-Baptiste side altar at Cathedral of St. Paul, June 23, 2013


In Quebec, this year as all years, June 24 is a major day of celebration. The official notice is here, in French. The document can be translated into English, here. But, no question, they consider this a French-Canadian day***.
So far, I describe a Quebec holiday, primarily French-Canadian, celebrated this year at the home of the Canadian-Consul General in Minneapolis, sponsored by a French-related organization, Alliance Francaise de Minneapolis. We French-Canadians frequently have held smaller celebrations here, most recently June 24, 2013. I wrote about aspects of last year here.
For those with intense feelings about matters French, French-Canada, Canada, and England, (and “Americans”, and “Yankees”, etc) the preceding words can excite some interesting conversation.
An alternative welcoming French word “rapprochement” comes to mind….
Enjoy June 24 and St-Jean Baptiste!
As it happens, I became involved a bit in the “drama” of French and Canadian on St. Jean-Baptiste Day a year ago, after the event of the brand new French-American Heritage Foundation, on whose Board I have served since its founding in 2013.
A year ago, I stopped by the Cathedral of St. Paul to take the above photo of St. John the Baptist, one of the six side altars devoted to national groups, primarily Catholic, who settled in the Minnesota of Archbishop John Ireland’s day.
IMG_1707
I had long known of the altars existence but this day was different: for the first time, then, I really noted the signage identifying the altar:
IMG_1704
It came time to correct, I felt, an error in the sign, and on July 1, 2013, I wrote a letter to the Rector of the Cathedral, Rev. John Ubel, in part, as follows:
“As you know, Archbishop Ireland, whose project it was to build the Cathedral in the early 1900s, had a great affection for both France and the French-Canadians who migrated here in the tens if not hundreds of thousands in the early days of the then-immense Diocese.
It is true that St-Jean Baptiste was a French patron, and it was through the French settlement of Quebec, that this same Saint became patron of the French-Canadians. So, the French part of the sign is correct.
The problem comes with the “Canadian” portion of the sign. It is misleading. Recently I was reviewing the 1940 United States Census form, where census takers were instructed as follows: in the column heading “Place of Birth”: “Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English, and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland“.
In the classic book, Maria Chapdelaine, (Louis Hemon, 1913), there appears this phrase on p. 89 of my English version: “When the French Canadian speaks of himself it is invariably and simply as a “Canadian”; whereas for all other races that followed in his footsteps, and people the country across to the Pacific, he keeps the name of origin: English, Irish, Polish, Russian; never admitting for a moment that the children of these, albeit born in the country, have an equal title to be called “Canadians.” Quite naturally, and without thought of offending, he appropriates the name won in the heroic days of his forefathers.”
I understand that this may not rise to the top of your list of priorities, and perhaps more evidence is reasonably required, but at minimum I would hope you review this matter.”
In the manner of such things, I had no expectation of a response from Rev. Ubel, but he did respond quite quickly and said my argument made sense, and they’d be looking into the matter.
Months passed by. Then, in the mail May 2, 2014, was a handwritten note from Rev. Ubel: “I do wish to write to share with you that we have completed the work to change the signage at the St. John the Baptist Shrine Altar. You were correct and we made the correction.
Many thanks for your patience. We decided to go with French-Canadians, though I certainly understand other arguments. French and Canadians is clearly wrong. We looked at our own historical records of the Chapel.”
I went back to the Cathedral, to see what had been done with the signage:
May 4, 2014

May 4, 2014


I look at this story as not a battle won in any national war; rather an effort to revisit a long history of too-often fractured relationships.
And this year I’ll really appreciate a great deal the efforts of Canada, through Consul General Jamshed Merchant, and Alliance Francaise de Minneapolis, and hope to see continuing and increasing efforts at rapprochement (what a wonderful word!)
* Mom was 100% German ancestry; her ancestors coming to Wisconsin between 1840s and 1860s from what was then Westphalia and Hanover states.
** A week later comes Canada Day, celebrated each year across Canada on July 1. I’d imagine this is a pretty big vacation week in Canada, not just Quebec.
*** St. Jean-Baptiste was early on a favored patron of France, from which my and others French-Canadian ancestors migrated beginning in the early 1600s. One story of that relationship is here.

#902 – Dick Bernard: The Summer Solstice, Reflecting on Global War and Peace.

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“Outtakes” after the photos. Check back in two or three days for additions at that space, and comments.
Today is the Summer Solstice. On June 7, between meetings, I drove over to the Lock and Dam by Minneapolis’ Stone Arch Bridge, and a group of people were rehearsing a dance (see photo). Turned out, they were rehearsing for a free program this evening at the Stone Arch Bridge. Here’s details.
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Rehearsing at Minneapolis Lock and Dam Parking Lot June 7, 2014.

Rehearsing at Minneapolis Lock and Dam Parking Lot June 7, 2014.


During 24 hours time period on June 19 and 20, I had the opportunity to both witness and participate in three activities about matters of Global War and Peace. My role was more than ordinary, standing in for Drs. Joe Schwartzberg and Gail Hughes at the Annual meeting of Citizens for Global Solutions, Minnesota, on June 19; and as one of the three panelists about the current Iraq-Syria crisis on Lydia Howell’s one hour Catalyst program on Minneapolis’ KFAI radio on Friday Morning, June 20.
Then, in the afternoon, I dropped by a Community Peace Celebration in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul MN.
The entire radio program is accessible here. It was a stimulating and interesting hour, and the comments of myself, Sarah Martin of Women Against Military Madness, David Logsdon of Veterans for Peace and Lydia Howell speak for themselves. We covered a lot of ground in the one hour available. Of course, each of us left with assorted “soundbites” left unsaid (I’ll add some of these at the end of this post.)
(KFAI, to those not familiar, is a local radio station with a 35 years history which began as a 25-watt neighborhood station in the belfry of the old Walker Methodist Church in South Minneapolis. It is now live-streamed anywhere internet access is available. A look at its programming schedule reveals a most interesting selection not available on most “mainstream” stations. By near-happenstance, I was an on-air guest on KFAI program “Me and the Other” in October, 1982. This program continues as “Bonjour Minnesota” to this day.)
The radio program was about the beating of the war drums, yet again, by certain elements in the United States. As you will gather, if you listen to the conversation, there is difference of opinion about what all of this means. Even peaceniks (I am one, as were all of the others) have differing perspectives.
June 19, at the Citizens for Global Solutions meeting, I had the privilege of introducing colleague, Dr. Bharat Parekh, who took the Millenium Development Goals seriously, and after 9 years of effort is beginning to see significant success in a project to alleviate child malnutrition in, first, the Mumbai (Bombay) portion of his native India.
Dr. Parekh, June 19, 2014

Dr. Parekh, June 19, 2014


A summarized version of Dr. Parekh’s talk will be subject of a later blog at this space.
Succinctly, it takes lots of slogging along to achieve success, even small success, and Dr. Parekh’s determination is beginning to pay off. In my introduction I pointed out two quotations which begin and end the home page of AMillionCopies.info: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.“ Margaret Mead. And, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.“ Gandhi
Finally, Friday afternoon I dropped by at the beginning of the 18th Annual Community Peace Celebration gathering on the Grounds of Ober Community Center, in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood. I was there early, and could stay only a short time, but already in evidence were the three Fs of a successful gathering: Food, Fun, Family. My friend, Melvin Giles, is one of the unsung community leaders who put on this successful event. This is yet another example of the truth of the Margaret Mead and Gandhi quotes recited above.
The final photos are all from the St. Paul event.
As Melvin always says: “May Peace Prevail on Earth”.
He and legions of others like him will get it done, one step at a time.
At the Peace Celebration June 20:
Neighborhood musicians June 20, 2014

Neighborhood musicians June 20, 2014


Peace Pole

Peace Pole


among the tables, some items for home gardens.

among the tables, some items for home gardens.


Peace Bell maker and artist at Veterans for Peace table

Peace Bell maker and artist at Veterans for Peace table


Message from Dwight Eisenhower on Peace

Message from Dwight Eisenhower on Peace


“OUTTAKES” from the Radio Hour:
Dick: Four of us had perhaps 40 minutes to share our thoughts. Here is one of my own, too complex to share in the brief time allotted. (The other panelists are asked for their opinion too.)
The current Iraq/Syria conflict seems to be a Religious Civil War, in some respects like our own Civil War 1861-65. I don’t recall ever reading that there was outside (i.e. English, et al) intervention on either side in that war. It was an internal matter to the United States of America.
Some statistics largely gleaned from the 2007 World Almanac and Book of Facts, and other sources.
I invite challenge on any of these numbers, as I am quoting from seemingly reasonable sources, but have inadequate context in some cases about what the numbers include, and thus what they mean.
The U.S. Civil War, 1861-65, including statistics for both “sides”:
31.4 Million Population of U.S. in 1860
2.2 Million Troops in the War
215 thousand Deaths in Battle
780 thousand total Casualties
544 thousand Maximum U.S. troops in Vietnam (1969)
Iraq et al 2003-2008
27 Million Population
200 thousand Iraq deaths in war
2.5 million American troops deployed to area conflicts
4.5 thousand American deaths in Iraq War
32.2 thousand American injured in Iraq War
from Jeff P, June 21: The deaths from usa civil war are over 500,000 , still debated by historians… the problem being that wounded or sick soldiers died, from lack of sanitary conditions.

#901 – Dick Bernard: Back to Iraq; the propaganda mill begins to churn…again.

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Pre-note: three interesting links at the end of this post.
First Comment from Kathy M, June 18: To your point of questioning what our media tells us…You may have heard that the religious leader of Shia Muslims was fomenting violence. This article is considerably nuanced…complexity we Americans tend to overlook.
More comments at end of this post.
It seems time to “re-deploy” a sketch map I made about 2005 of a place then in the news…and now, again: Iraq environs ca 2005001. My college background was geography-centered, and maps like these help me to establish a personal context for places less familiar to me.
Personally, I think President Obama time and time again has exercised generally good judgement in his decision making, given the vast array of pressure points exerted on him from all sides. This will happen with Iraq too. Most every faction on every side will criticize what he does. We are good critics in this country.
Soundbite one: We Americans live in a very complex world, but we are (my opinion) a “sound bite” society. We don’t do complexity well. We seem to decide things based on personally chosen “headlines”.
During significant amount of time together in recent weeks, I had an opportunity, through a number of casual conversation with a Pakistani civil official, another perspectives on America, al Qaeda, Taliban, history, national borders, etc. Of course, a great many significant events have occurred in the last two weeks in his region of the world including terrorist attacks on the Karachi Pakistan airport; announcement of a changing U.S. role in Afghanistan, and, now, ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Sound bite two: My colleague, nearing the end of his year in the U.S., seems genuinely positively impressed with Americans, generally; but “America”, on the ground in his country and others, is not viewed positively. We are good people, here, he says; but we are justifiably criticized for what is done in our name, there. The U.S. meddles everywhere through our government policies. On the ground, at home; we seem blithely (and dangerously) unaware of what is or has been done. Even our “friends”, as Pakistan is, suffer consequences. At one point he mentioned “55,000 casualties”, though I don’t recall specific context.
Sound bite three, my opinion: We ordinary people trust information from our own “trusted” sources that is not trustworthy, and we do so at our peril. We are a slave of propaganda, intentional or inadvertent. I offer one very recent example:

My long-time mainstream news source is CBS-TV local and national news.
Last Friday night, CBS news anchor Scott Pelley was reporting on the current crisis in Iraq, and among other things brief mention was made of 4486 American deaths in the second Iraq War 2003-2008. There was no context provided. I specifically noticed the number, isolated and specific as it was, and decided to check out the source. The newscast carried no mention of Iraqi casualties, military or civilian, during the same war, or ancillary costs to people “over there”: displacement of citizens, ruined homes and communities, etc.
The casualty number seemed to be an intended, important, stand-alone.
The source of the CBS information appears to be iCasualties.org . If you go there (I hope you do) it is not possible to easily find a home page which, in turn, divulges who maintains the site, or vouches for its accuracy. I had to go to Wikipedia to find anything more about the site: it is here. It seems legit.
There are other “body count” sites, of course. One I’ve known about for years, which seems to have rigorous standards, is iraqbodycount.org At that site, the Iraq death toll for the Coalition Military forces 2003-2013 is 4804. This is identical to the iCasualties number.
But there is a dramatic difference between the two sites in a critical respect: IraqBodyCount records 188,000 “violent deaths including combatants” in the Iraq War, of which 124,598 – 138,916 were “documented civilian deaths from violence”.
If you like “hunting” you can also find Iraqi casualties at the iCasualties site: 60,277. There is a caveat with the information: “This is not a complete list, nor can we verify these totals. This is simply a compilation of deaths reported by news agencies. Actual totals for Iraqi deaths are much higher than the numbers recorded on this site.”
It doesn’t take much looking to determine that there is a huge difference between the data CBS wanted to convey to its viewers (4486 Americans dead), and the horrible reality for Iraqi civilians in the Iraq War (up to 188,000 casualties as a result of the Iraq War). The numbers are for the same conflict, same period of time. And this does not consider the immense displacement of human beings (refugees) who fled one place (say Mosul, now) for safer conditions elsewhere; and disruption of society there. Or deaths related to the war in other countries in the region, like Pakistan.
I am reminded of the long-ago and deadly Vietnam War, where on the daily news we were treated to news reports every day that gave variations of this message about the war: “15 American deaths; 1000 Vietcong killed”. By golly, it said right there on the TV, every afternoon, that we were winning the body count (and thus the war). Mostly, I didn’t question these numbers, nor did many. They wouldn’t lie to me, I said to myself. But how real were they? There is a famous court case, Westmoreland vs CBS, back in 1982, which remains controversial to this day about this. You can google it for more than you’d ever want to know, from assorted sides.
The first casualty of war is the Truth, and CBS last Friday night revealed the need for extra caution in taking at face value anything reported on the news.
It takes more to be a good citizen than to simply be a good person in your neighborhood. Become informed and involved.
As for me, the only certainty of war is that it is killing us in many ways more than just physical death of our GIs. We need to recognize that.
Thanks to respected newsletter publisher Jeff Nygaard, here are two recent articles, here and here, from a long established source which has kept tabs on the Middle East since 1971.
Jeff also gave two examples of what he referred to as “Inadvertent Propaganda” at a recent workshop I attended. Here they are, with his permission: Nygaard Propaganda Examp001
UPDATE, June 18: Another example of messaging, from overnight, long but good: here.
from Norm N, June 18:
Mornin’ Dick,
Mention of the truth in your blog, had me thinking about a quatern I’d written for an adult ed poetry workshop I’d recently attended. What little poetry I write is most always humorous, but a class assignment to write a quatern had me do the following.
Reading your blog I think that perhaps, we and every newscast should begin with Sir Walter Scott’s: “I cannot tell what the truth may be; I say the tale as ’twas said to me. A quatern is a four quatrain stanza poem where the 1st line becomes the 2nd line of the second stanza and so on:
I can’t say what the truth may be,
I say the tale as said to me,
That was said by Wally Scott, he
Transcends the poet bourgeoisie.
With honest doubt the creed I see:
I can’t say what the truth may be.
The truth, tis said, will set you free,
Yet I sit here skeptically.
Am I a slave? Eternally,
With everything to disagree:
I can’t say what the truth may be;
All that’s said is chicanery?
And so be open and be free,
Believe not what the eye can see,
Live a life of skepticity.
I can’t say what the truth may be.
June 18 Washington Post on Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq: here
from Dick: From the beginning of this latest crisis I have recalled a comment I heard at a coffee shop in one of the Sun Cities near Phoenix in November, 2003, after the invasion of Iraq, and the U.S. “mission accomplished”.
The proprietor was Iraqi Christian, from Chicago, earlier from Mosul, and was happy that the U.S. had gone in to remove Saddam Hussein because his regime had not dealt kindly with the many Christians in Mosul.
As it has turned out, the Christians in Mosul and elsewhere have not fared any better since 2003, and certainly not today. The adage, “be careful what you pray for” comes to mind.
from Joyce, June 18, “very interesting history” by Juan Cole.
overnight, June 19, 2014, from Just Above Sunset, “Those Who Have Been There”.

#889 – Dick Bernard: Working Towards Peace: A War Well Worth Fighting

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RELEVANT ADDITION TO THIS POST, added May 29, Just Above Sunset, here.
UPDATE to May 26 post, first paragraph, here.
NOTE: Previous 889, Dad’s Flower, will be 890 for May 29, 2014
(click on photos to enlarge them)

Bill McGrath, Northfield MN, sings Pete Seegers "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" May 26, 2014

Bill McGrath, Northfield MN, sings Pete Seegers “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” May 26, 2014


Today, President Obama speaks at West Point. The previous days he’s been in Afghanistan and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. My intention is not to report on what’s already been, or will be, said. You have many independent sources. The White House website will have the actual words. My favorite re-capper of the previous days news six days a week is Just Above Sunset, including the May 27, 2014 post, “Most Likely to Succeed”, from which I take the below pull-quote from the 5th paragraph playing on previous and following paragraphs about graduating from high school, and our propensity to self-select into “tribes” and persist in the insanity of talking “war”.
“…there are no quiet nerds who no one noticed in politics, or not many of them. The job is to display the tribe’s norm, and personify them. For example, Democrats don’t like wars, on principle – we should fight them when we have to, but not fight the when we don’t have to. Obama, long before he ran for president, famously said he wasn’t opposed to all wars, just dumb wars. He had Iraq in mind, not Afghanistan, but even that was heresy to many…Democrats see the sacrifice of our soldiers as worthy of great honor, but often sad. This appalls Republicans. In a nation of warriors the heroic cannot be sad. War makes us who we are, and feats of derring-do to overcome evil [is] pretty damned cool – and we can’t show weakness. That’s a tribal norm and also Obama’s problem. Putin has walked all over him. Everyone has walked all over him. McCain would have bombed Iran the day he took office. Mitt Romney would have eliminated capital gains taxes and then bombed Iran the day he took office. Obama is talking to Iran, and it seems they will end their nuclear weapons program, but he’s doing it the wrong way. Obama should have bombed them. Our military is awesome, from awesome individuals to our whiz-bang secret gizmos – the tribe has said so. We are a Warrior Nation after all – not a nation of diplomats and thinkers.” (emphasis added)
The U.S. functions as a two-party country, Republicans or Democrats, much to the chagrin of purists who’d like more options, but when we watch, listen or read commentary about moving away from deadly combat to solve world problems to something more rational, like negotiations, the commentary will be spun one way or another: Fox News vs MSNBC, etc. And the conversation becomes “Warrior” versus “Diplomat”, or other softer words.
My natural affinity group is “Progressive”, which in days past counted amongst its ranks legions of high profile and highly respected Republicans; but these days seems an outlier on the left who seem to consider both Republicans and Democrats to be twin evils against Peace when, in fact, there are huge and substantive differences (“warriors” versus “diplomats and thinkers”).
The right wing warriors, the Tea Party, have essentially frozen the Republican party in a perpetual radical mode: progressive types need not apply.
On the left, there will be scant celebration of a move to a new reality in our relations with the world: Obama has sold them out; there will still be troops in Afghanistan; and until every sword is beat into ploughshares the protests will continue.
I’m a ploughshares guy who, on the other hand, can see little common sense in not accepting that incremental improvements in a dismal status quo are, indeed, improvements, not simply the lesser of two evils. Since the beginning of his term, I’ve been impressed with President Obama’s skill in managing this impossible to manage country.
Today, most my friends on the Left (and that is where my friends are, mostly), will say about Obama’s words “there he goes again”. You can’t compromise with evil”. Of course, the other side says the exact same thing, though they define “evil” a bit differently. But the Right is more entrenched in positions of power in politics; while those on the Left migrate to fringe groups which have no power at all, except the purity of their position – a story we know all too well.
I’m sure I’ll find disagreement….
My good friend, Ehtasham Anwar, who’s just completing a year of study in the United States before going back to his South Asia home country sees this pretty clearly, I feel. He is troubled by the dichotomy he has experienced: at home in his country, signs of the U.S. “hegemony” are everywhere – us meddling in their affairs in sundry ways. Here in the U.S., on the other hand, he sees a population full of marvelous, peace-loving people. It’s a troubling contradiction to him.
Why the difference?
Can we as a country truly export our best and truest “face”, the face of Peace?
Working towards Peace: it’s well worth truly dialoguing about, often, very seriously, friend-to-friend, opponent-to-opponent. Read Just Above Sunset for a start.
Barry Riesch at the Veterans for Peace Memorial Day at the Vietnam Memorial at the MN State Capitol May 26, 2014

Barry Riesch at the Veterans for Peace Memorial Day at the Vietnam Memorial at the MN State Capitol May 26, 2014


COMMENTS:
Joyce D, May 28 (commenting on a Letter to the Editor in the St. Paul Pioneer Press May 28)
Original letter follows this response.
Just some quick addenda and a correction to “Blaming Obama” (Letters, May 28.) I would add to the writer’s defense of President Obama the facts that Obama successfully got the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks (GWB, it should be remembered, declared he really wasn’t all that interested in getting Osama bin Laden,) ended our heinous policy of torture, ended the misbegotten war on Iraq and is in the process of ending the war in Afghanistan. At the same time, President Obama used diplomatic means to rid Syria of most of its chemical weapons and to halt nuclear development in Iran, without committing us to more wars. He improved America’s standing in the world, he enabled millions of Americans to access affordable health care for the first time and, though the VA still has an unconscionable backlog, that backlog was dramatically decreased under Eric Shinseki’s leadership, despite the influx of war veterans and the refusal of Republicans in Congress to fund the VA adequately.
The correction: Obama did not vote against invading Iraq as a US Senator. In fact, at that time Obama was still a member of the Illinois legislature. He did, however, speak out forcefully against attacking Iraq, something few politicians had the courage to do. Our current Governor, Mark Dayton, was one of the few brave legislators who had the guts to vote against that damaging war of choice.
The Pioneer Press letter: Blaming Obama
James R. LaFaye, St. Paul
It is impossible for me to read the diatribe in Monday’s Pioneer Press “Opinions” and remain silent. The author is typical of so many hardcore anti-Obama dissidents — long on opinion and short on facts. Ever since Barack Obama became our president, his critics have been dead set on blaming everything but the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination on him. I am sure the letter writer is able to afford his own health care coverage unlike the millions of uninsured Americans who benefit from the Affordable Care Act. Its critics insist on calling it “Obamacare” simply to engender disapproval among like-minded individuals.
“Our foreign policy is a joke.” I guess he would prefer that we return to the policies of the previous administration whose response to the 9/11 tragedy — which occurred on their watch — was to invade Iraq under false pretenses when the perpetrators of this greatest domestic terrorist attack in American history were not even from that country. Maybe the letter writer is upset we haven’t invaded any more countries during Obama’s presidency, like Syria or the Ukraine, to demonstrate America’s invincible might.
Finally, although I am as deeply saddened and upset about the VA debacle as any American, to blame this situation on Obama and the Democrats is absurd. A cursory investigation of the VA’s (or its forerunner’s) history in providing health care services to our Veterans will quickly reveal a long history of malfeasance going back to the Civil War, WWl, WWll, the Korean War and Vietnam, which obviously included many Republican administrations. The current tragic conditions at the VA are only aggravated by the great number of returning disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, neither of which wars are attributable to our current president. In fact, as a senator he voted against invading Iraq.
Bruce F, May 28: I agree with you and the Sunset guy about the tribal differences between Democrats & Republicans, Obama & McCain /Romney. I also understand the incremental differences that pass for progress, which displeases me more & more as I move into the last quarter of my life. I think what your friend Ehtasham doesn’t understand is that the friendly American people don’t make foreign policy. That policy is made by corporations through officials that are elected by the friendly American people. The corporate interests are seen as our national interests. It appears to me that both Democrats & Republicans, Obama & McCain/Romney understand that. The hegemony your friend sees is directed through soft power(Obama & the Democrats) or hard power(McCain/Romney & the Republicans). Whether hard power or soft, they are meant to dominate America’s competitors. Make no mistake, hard power will be used by both Democrats & Republicans when soft power options are not effective. Although, the Republicans are less patient.
Peter B, May 30: There are competing narratives gushing at us from every screen and earbud and woofer and tweeter in our environment as the “news cycle” cycles. There is a flavor of opinion for every taste, and a level of sophistication, of nuance, of validation, to satisfy the most rigorous intellect. And not a byte of it makes any difference: let me know when the wars end, the hungry are fed, and the refugees returned. And I’m not being cynical, that is the possible future in which I live and work. I’m just not holding my breath.
Because. Because, you see, all this patter, these “competing narratives” are competing, but not for credibility, as one might assume. but solely for attention. And quantity is what matters, not quality. Any attention, as long as it is of sufficient focus and duration to pay off the advertisers and provide marketing data. That amounts to about a nanosecond apiece, about the amount of difference one person’s opinion makes in any of this. The system does not care what you think, or how you respond; they have what they want before you blink one eyeball.
This system is terribly effective at disabling any seriously dissenting view, that is, any contagion of thinking that might interrupt the parasitic extraction of wealth, by converting any such expression into yet another contender for eyeballs, drowning in the waves of professional reaction to the previous set of reactions to the carefully shallow and belated stories on the Feed. If you have trouble with this notion, get some app like Ghostery on your browser, and see how many marketing analysis ‘bots are tracking you on your favorite political websites.
Omitted from entertainments like NPR and Fox is any insight into the background of this endless repeating sequence of purportedly unrelated disasters; that, or a pale simulacrum of it, is the purview of bloggers in the hierarchic layers of op-ed websites, or bestselling authors flogging this week’s disposable insider look at the Real Deal, or indy filmmakers exposing the seamy undersides of fatcats. By the time one burrows down into the dense language of psuedo-academic think-tanks or even actual academic research, even if the funding trail is transparent, there are only about forty people in that space who can grasp such complexity, or simplicity maybe. And they’re only talking to each other.
All this is quite integral to the machinery of our modern corporate feudalism, because the main purpose of this segment of the enterprise is to entertain us. That means, occupy our attention, encapsulate public discourse; it is far more valuable commodified in the Attention Economy than for any informative content it may hold. And if you wonder how to tell if you are in one of the back-eddies or blind alleys or dead-end sinkholes of irrelevancy for intellectual discourse referred to here, don’t worry, you are: that is what the publishing industry, the telecommunications industry, the entire higher education system, and the internet, have become: that’s where you can still get paid by the word, or actually, the letter.
While we argue over whether Obama is what we think he is, or does what we think he’s doing, the global oil and banking extraction industries grind on, now seamlessly integrated with “our” government, which provides infrastructure and military backing. This is not some sinister world domination scheme concocted by some secret fraternal order. Or maybe it is: but this does not matter at all. As with all such machinery, its highest purpose, the driving force behind it, is no more than to preserve and perpetuate itself, at all costs. It has no functioning awareness or concern for humanity, its creators. Now that it is set in motion, it will run until we stop it, or until there are no commodities left to exploit. And like some retrovirus, it is very, very good at extracting energy even from serious attempts to disable it. We work for it, we feed it, and it feeds some of us, more or less.
This is a problem.

#879 – Dick Bernard: Beginning the Future; Passing the Torch to a New Generation.

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(click on any photo to enlarge)

A portion of the group at World Law Day, Minneapolis, May 1, 2014

A portion of the group at World Law Day, Minneapolis, May 1, 2014


It was about 6 p.m. on Thursday, about the time scheduled for people to gather at Gandhi Mahal for a meal at about 6:45, and a World Law Day program featuring a panel of young people scheduled for 7:15, speaking to elders about the following question: “How do you and the young persons you know see global relationships and interdependence at this stage in your life and what are your hopes for the future of the planet?” (Here are brief bios of the panel members and facilitator: World Law Day bios)
The panelists May 1, 2014, from left: Emily Balius, Stephen Eigenmann, Janelle Shoemake, Tea Rozman-Clark, Md Abdullah Al Miraz (speaking)

The panelists May 1, 2014, from left: Emily Balius, Stephen Eigenmann, Janelle Shoemake, Tea Rozman-Clark, Md Abdullah Al Miraz (speaking)


Ehtasham Anwar facilitated May 1 panel, and gave a very interesting history of May Day, here and around the world.

Ehtasham Anwar facilitated May 1 panel, and gave a very interesting history of May Day, here and around the world.


My RSVP list showed about 35 or so persons in my general age-range, a reasonable number for such an affair, and while I knew the event had been advertised on Facebook, I didn’t really grasp what was ahead when the first solitary young woman, college-age looking, walked across the street to our meeting room about 6 p.m.
Then a minor flood began: more than twice as many people as we anticipated, almost all of them in the high school and college age range, the room crowded by 6:30. More than two hours later, long after dinner and the panel had concluded, there was still an electric buzz in the air, the kind of feeling you get when something has really worked.
People connecting with each other.
The ones who can best tell the story of what happened May 1 are the ones who were actually in the room; and hopefully they will ‘tell’ it by sponsoring a similar experience for another group where they live. And continue the process, on, and on, and on.
One persons comment, in an e-mail when she got home: “What a great event tonight!! It was packed, including so many youth!!! All of the panelists were passionate and insightful!”. (Her son is in college, somewhere.)
There are times things come together, and Thursday evening at Gandhi Mahal seemed to be one of those times. I gave volunteer and expert facilitator Ehtasham Anwar, Fulbright/Hubert Humphrey Fellow for Law and Human Rights from Pakistan, a ride home after the program, and he asked how this event came together. I had organized it, but I couldn’t give an easy answer. It defies simple definition; on the other hand it was exceedingly simple: make it possible for the next generation to do the program; feed them; and be willing to listen actively, and learn. Here’s the program (which was modified on the run): World Law Day Prog 14001
Long and short, two days later, I would say this: truly value the opinion of young people, and publicize and do the event on their terms, and there will be a success.
This simple request is a long, long stretch for we gray-hairs, accustomed to controlling in one way or another the youngers with all the sorts of “powers”* we all too easily recognize (and fail to acknowledge)…and are reluctant to give up. But it is important to remember that the youth are the ones who are about to run things, and in fact they are comfortably occupying an alternative universe from we elders already, concerned about their own futures; using their own powerful means of communication.
A Panelist said most kids don’t even do Facebook anymore – that’s their parents medium. We Twitter…. That’s just a start.
At the same time, I noted that a Facebook event page started by one of the panel yielded more results in three days, than my old ways reservations system to old-timers had yielded in a month.
Time to catch up.
I consider a good evening one with at least one “aha” moment. May 1 there were several…. Thank you, panel and facilitator!
POSTNOTE:
The following day, Friday, I was privileged to help out at panelist Tea Rozman-Clark’s Green Card Voices booth at the annual Festival of Nations in St. Paul. There were many visitors there.
Tea Rozman-Clark in the Green Card Voices Booth at Festival of Nations May 2, 1014

Tea Rozman-Clark in the Green Card Voices Booth at Festival of Nations May 2, 1014


Today, Ehtasham Anwar, Lynn Elling and myself, plus hundreds of others bade farewell to Peacemaker, Minister, Father, Grandfather, Leader and Friend extraordinaire, Rev. Lyle T. Christianson, 87. Lyle Christianson 5-3-14001
Lyle had introduced speaker former President of the American Bar Association, David Brink, at the 2013 World Law Day one year earlier in the same room at Gandhi Mahal.
It had only been a year.
I feel the future with the young people in charge is in good hands.
Here’s the last photo I have of Lyle Christianson, with his daughter Janet Johnson, at the Nobel Peace Prize Festival March 8, 2013. The kind of man he was shows in this photo.
Janet Johnson with her Dad, Lyle Christianson, March 8, 2013, at Nobel Peace Prize Forum/Festival at Augsburg College

Janet Johnson with her Dad, Lyle Christianson, March 8, 2013, at Nobel Peace Prize Forum/Festival at Augsburg College


* – “Powers”
A tiny list:
1. The money to pay for tuition
2. Living in your parents house
3. Working as a subordinate for a boss
on, and on, and on….

#878 – Mohammed Fahimul Islam: Democracy Crisis in Bangladesh

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Pre-Note, Dick Bernard: Today is Law Day in the United States, a tradition begun in 1958 with President Eisenhower, still part of U.S. Law, now little known or remembered.
Beginning in 1964 Minneapolis businessmen Stan Platt and Lynn Elling set about developing a new tradition called World Law Day which went on for many years.
The following contribution seems appropriate for this years World Law Day.
There are 193 countries in the United Nations. Bangladesh, an Iowa-size country halfways, around the world from Minnesota, with a population more than half that of the United States, is one of those countries. Indeed, then as part of British India, it was one of the original 50 signers of the United Nations Charter in 1945.
Ruhel Islam, who operates the deservedly popular GandhiMahal Restaurant in Minneapolis, is always about peace. So, when he sent a recent detailed e-mail from his cousin, former Bangladeshi diplomat M. Fahimul Islam, about democracy problems in his native Bangladesh, I paid attention. Rather than interpret his words, and those of his cousin, they are here presented as written.
But first, Bangladesh.
It was, long ago, East Pakistan, part of the British Empire on which, at one time, the sun was said to never set. It is seldom in the news, and my first need was to find it on the map. Here’s from the 1987 Readers Digest World Atlas, the clearest rendition I could find here at home:
(click to enlarge)

Bangladesh (in green) surrounded by India. 1987 map.

Bangladesh (in green) surrounded by India. 1987 map.


Here’s what the CIA Fact Book says about Bangladesh. The country is slightly smaller than Iowa in geographic size, but its population is more than half that of the United States. In geographic location and general climate the country is much like Florida.
Without other elaboration following is, first, how Ruhel introduced the item he sent about the political crisis in his country; then the post, which is quite long, with links.
Obviously, Ruhel would like this shared broadly, and he would like actions by individuals and groups to call attention to his nations dilemma.
REQUEST FROM RUHEL ISLAM:
April 9, 2014
Dear Friends,
As a United States citizen of Bangladesh origin, I am deeply concerned at the turn of events that have been taking place in Bangladesh and would like to bring these to your notice with the objective of gaining due attention of the United States Government.
Attached with this letter, are documents outlining severe atrocities unleashed on political opponents, civil society and media personalities by the current Bangladesh Awami League regime headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed. Current government’s wanton violation of human rights with absolute impunity is a huge slap to international conscience and obligation to international law. Current Bangladesh government stands accused of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court at the Hague by a European human rights group.
I believe a strong intervention by the international community will assist in countering this anarchy and bring back democracy and rule of law in Bangladesh. The inalienable rights enshrined in the US Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are in great jeopardy in Bangladesh. I seek your assistance in this movement. Being the most important and trusted friend of Bangladesh, I believe, the United States can play a significant and effective role in reversing the downward slide of democracy and human rights condition.
Sincerely yours,
Ruhel Islam
Background included with above letter, from Fahimul Islam:
The Biggest Rigged Election in Bangladesh (1)
The current Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) regime of Bangladesh headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina claiming to be liberal and secular has unleashed a harsh crackdown on whoever opposes the policies of her Government. Her Government itself is plagued by severe legitimacy issues. Her political opponents, civil society, media or even distinguished personalities like Nobel Peace Prize Winner and founder of Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus have not been able to escape the wrath of her Government. (More, here.)
Though a fully participatory election is considered as a cornerstone of a functioning democracy, BAL regime has imposed a Government which has sprang out of a farcical election on 5 January 2014 boycotted by major opposition parties. Of the 300 seats up for grab, 153 were declared unopposed disenfranchising more than half of the registered voter and with a parliament with virtually no opposition party since they have become part of the government. (Source: from 7:30 to 8:20 min here)
The 5 January election was the most bloodiest one in Bangladesh’s history with more than 20 people dead only on the election day and hundreds more leading upto the election. Influential UK magazine The Economist commented that “….her country’s democracy is in a rotten state…..It does not give Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, ……much of a basis for another term.” (Source here)
United Nations (UN) as well as western democratic Governments including United States (US) have expressed their disappointment at the 5 January election. Their rejection to the whole election process was manifested in their refusing to send any observer to monitor the election. Soon after the election was over, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his outrage at the election related violence. US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf expressed Washington’s disappointment with the parliamentary elections. (Source here).
Opposition boycott and all the uncertainty regarding general election in Bangladesh is rooted at a controversial fifteenth amendment to the Constitution by the previous BAL dominated Parliament that scrapped the constitutional provision to hold general elections under a Non-party Caretaker Government (CTG). According to an International Crisis Group report this amendment ‘…has been AL’s most controversial political act, ….’ It further states that it ‘…has made the country’s most sacred document into a casual plaything for partisan interest’. (Source page 4-5 here.)
As the government lacks legitimacy and popular support, it has embraced a policy of oppression and is gradually eliminating or maiming opposition political operatives all around the country by employing repressive measure such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, torture, arbitrary arrests etc. During the period of ‘so-called’ Interim Government installed by Sheikh Hasina which was headed by none other than herself, 267 people died of which at least 221 were killed by the security forces with another 10,000 injured.
Extrajudicial Killings:
According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a legal aid and rights group, extrajudicial killings by law enforcement agencies claimed 179 in 2013 alone. Following the controversial 5 January 2014 election, number of such killings has risen. Due to the crackdown on the media, the exact number could not be ascertained, however, according to Odhikar, the leading human rights organisation in Bangladesh,at least 39 people were killed in the name of ‘crossfire’ in January alone. (Source here)
Most ominous sign of this phenomenon is that it seems to have the blessings of the Government as one sitting Cabinet Minister termed it as ‘necessary’.
Brad Adams, Asia Director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that “We are seeing a frightening pattern of supposed ‘crossfire’ killings of opposition members in Bangladesh. …” In a statement in January HRW urged upon the government to initiate investigation into a recent spate of alleged extrajudicial killings by security forces. There has been no investigation into a single incident so far undertaken by the government. (Source here)
Amnesty international also documented targeted killing in custody in its 2013 report. (Source: .24 sec to 1:18 minute of (Source here)
Enforced Disappearance:
To avoid allegation of extrajudicial killing, the current regime has resorted to a new technique in the form of enforced disappearance that leaves no footprint to substantiate the allegation. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in its 2013 Report stated ‘…..complaint mechanism is simply suicidal for families of disappeared victims: police refuse to register complaints alleging atrocities committed by any law-enforcement agency and instead proceed to intimidate complainants incessantly.’ (Source: Page 8-9, ‘BANGLADESH: Lust for Power, Death of Dignity, AHRC Report 2013)
The pattern of the enforced disappearance is documented in AHRC’s Weekly Roundup 23 released on 27 March 2014. (Source: Watch 7:50 min to 10:15 min here.)
Torture and ill treatment in custody:
According to Amnesty International, “ Torture and other ill-treatment were widespread, committed with virtual impunity by the police, (Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the army and intelligence agencies. Methods included beating, kicking, suspension from the ceiling, food and sleep deprivation, and electric shocks. Most detainees were allegedly tortured until they “confessed” to having committed a crime. Police and RAB allegedly distorted records to cover up the torture, including by misrepresenting arrest dates.” (Source here.)
Arbitrary Arrest of opponents:
Government takes into custody anyone who opposes the government in fictitious cases. As we speak, the top brass including the Acting Secretary General of the largest opposition party (legal opposition party in the last parliament) Bangladesh Nationalist Party are in custody implicating in cases of rioting in incidences where they were not even present. Their petition for bail gets summarily rejected by the partisan judiciary. Even the government appointed Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission has criticised the government for arresting the opposition leaders without any specific allegation of wrongdoing which he considered as a breach of human rights.
Crackdown on Media and Civil Society:
Government has dealt heavy handedly with the media. They are cracking down on any print or electronic media that are critical of their activities and even shutting the concerned media outlets, raiding their office, arresting the editor and/or reporters. Two Bangla (Bengali) daily newspapers and two television channels with links to the opposition, have been shut down. (Source here.)
In April 2013, police arrested Mahmudur Rahman, the editor of Amar Desh literally dragging him down from his office. He has since been incarcerated without any judicial redress or any conviction. In August, Adilur Rahman Khan of Odhikar, a leading human rights group of Bangladesh was arrested under a draconian Information and Communication Technology Act and was denied bail several times before being granted bail in October that year. Activity of his organisation has almost come to a standstill as he is under constant government surveillance. (Source here.)
The International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), in a meeting in Geneva in late March 2014, called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to address the intensifying government attacks against human rights defenders in Bangladesh. (Source here.)
Politicisation of the Judiciary
Current regime has blatantly politicised the judiciary which could have been the last bastion of reprieve from government oppression. Political loyalty, rather than seniority or competence has taken precedence in appointing assistant attorneys general, judges even the in the case of Chief Justice. By mid-June 2012, 7,000 cases were dismissed under political pressure; 22 BAL members, sympathisers, or sons of ministers and leaders have been pardoned in political murder cases. (Source: p6, Bangladesh: Back to the Future, Crisis Group Asia Report No. 226, 13 June 2012)
Rigging of Election:
The BAL regime resorted to widespread rigging even in the one sided election of 5 January 2014. Evidence of rigging and widespread irregularities by the ruling party operatives in collusion of the election officials is documented and presented here.
The current regime has not let up their rigging performance in the recently held non-party local government election which was held on different stages. In the first two stages, BNP-backed candidates won in huge numbers that hardened the resolve of BAL regime to snatch people’s mandate and turn back the overall tally in their favour. Some of the evidences of rigging and irregularities are chronicled at these links: here, here, here and here.
Disproportionate use of Force:
HRW has highlighted the heavy handedness of the security forces in repressing anti-government political programs and agitations in a video here.
International Action So far:
Not a single Western democratic country including USA congratulated the new government that came out of the farcical 5 January 2014 election.
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on Bangladesh on 11 February 2014 where US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs made a statement reiterating US’s call for a free and fair election. (Source here.)
UK Parliament debated the situation in Bangladesh by their Backbench Business Committee on 16 January 2014 where MP’s expressed their concern at the current situation in Bangladesh. (Source here.)
EU Parliament on 15 January 2014, adopted a resolution condemning the killings and widespread violence in the run up to and during the election and called on the government of Bangladesh to immediately halt all repressive methods used by the security forces. (Source here.)
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in a statement of 8 January 2014 called on all sides of the political divide to make way for a ‘fully contested and transparent election as soon as possible’.
(Source here.)
Role of USA:
We acknowledge with deep appreciation pro-active US engagement in the democratic as well as development process of Bangladesh from the time of our Independence. We also acknowledge numerous humanitarian operations run by active US man and women in uniform and without uniform during dire days after natural disasters that Bangladesh is prone to.
Bangladesh has a historic tie with the US as US embraced Bangladesh with an open arms and helped rebuild the war-torn country soon after its Independence. Over the years, the tie has strengthened and diversified in different fields. The US is the biggest investor in Bangladesh and the largest single country destination for Bangladeshi apparel, Bangladesh’s largest export. Two-way trade stood at h $6.1 billion in total goods trade during 2013. The US exported $712 million. Bangladesh’s export to the US totaled a staggering $5.4 billion. (Source here.)
Bangladesh being one of the largest Muslim majority country with a democratic credential and active and vibrant civil society could have been a beacon of hope and a role model of peace and amity amidst many other Muslim dominated countries gripped with endemic violence. But unfortunately, the current BAL regime has turned Bangladesh into a killing field and a fertile breeding ground for extremism and radicalism due to the absence of an atmosphere conducive for flourishing a culture of democracy, mutual respect and tolerance. Bangladesh’s geographic location as the connector between South Asia and South East Asia makes it strategically important for the US to see Bangladesh remain stable and democratic and not supply jihadists in other parts of the world. But the current suffocating atmosphere where state sponsored terror is the order of the day, it would be just a matter of time before the oppressed population take up arms against the tyrant regime with possible regional or even global spill over effect.
Bangladeshi migrants living in the US and contributing in its society and economy strongly hope that the US Government would continue to put pressure on the Bangladesh Government in light of the US State Department statement following the farcical election and eventuate holding a free and fair election that can be monitored by international observers. We are heartened to notice that the US Government has imposed a restriction on individual officials of the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from receiving US training and assistance. It may be mentioned that a European human rights group the International Coalition for Freedoms of Rights (IFCR) filed a case against the Government of Bangladesh on 4 February accusing it of crimes against humanity in the form of murder, torture and forced disappearances. (Source here.)
It is extremely disheartening for us when we see the personnel of the forces accused of gross human rights violations and atrocities in Bangladesh are engaged by the United Nations in its acclaimed peacekeeping operations in troubled areas of the world. It is interesting that personnel who brutalise their own people are entrusted by the UN to protect people from atrocity in other countries.
I, as a US citizen of Bangladesh origin urge you as my local representative to kindly take my case against the current oppressive regime of Bangladesh to the appropriate authorities of the US Government so that necessary and effective action can be taken by US alone or in collusion with other Western Democratic countries and international organisations to force the current Bangladesh regime to make way for political conciliation leading to a credible election without any further delay, suspension of atrocities, release of political prisoners and withdrawal of politically motivated cases against the opposition political leaders and civil society members.
The Biggest Rigged Election in Bangladesh (1)