Month: June 2018

Venezuela is on the American Empire’s Chopping Block

Yesterday’s post addressed the wholesale propaganda war being waged against consumers of US news.  The purpose of this particular campaign is several fold:

First, the ultimate political goal is to force Venezuela back into the international fold of global capitalism (sometimes called neoliberalism), thereby reopening its doors to American corporate interests (especially our oil companies);

Second, to persuade the American people that economic sanctions and even military action against Venezuela is entirely justified, should we decide to act in those ways. (Note – the US has already imposed severe economic sanctions against Venezuela which are helping to cripple the nation’s economy and its supply of consumer goods).

Third, propaganda – which is the standard diet dished out to every American who depends on the major corporate news outlets – serves as the information artillery barrage used to soften up the American battlefield of public opinion long before our government unleashes the military on “the enemy.”

Making the general public believe that, once again, the US has been “forced” into using our military as “the last resort” in “fighting for democracy, freedom and human rights” in another part of the world, keeps the public subdued, pliable and supportive of The Empire’s latest acts of international barbarism.

In addition to yesterday’s information, here are several more video reports from journalists working in Venezuela that help to fill out this picture.

First, reports from Abby Martin’s The Empire Files: She walks the streets of Venezuela, goes shopping in the stores, reads the newspapers, attends demonstrations, interviews people on both sides of the confrontations, including average people and their political leaders.

I think Martin is one of the most important journalists working today.  Granted, her personal interviews can be needlessly profane, but from all I have seen, her journalism is excellent.  Check out:

Why Socialism Keeps Winning in Venezuela (24 minutes)

Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly: Dictatorship or Democracy? (26 minutes)

Abby Martin Fact-Checks “No Free Press in Venezuela” Claim (3:39 minutes)

Inside Venezuela’s Markets: Propaganda vs. Reality (22 minutes)

Abby Martin Meets the Venezuelan Opposition (26 minutes)

For another thorough analysis of the Venezuela issues, here is Michael Prysner’s excellent response to John Oliver’s recent segment on Venezuela during his HBO comedy show. Granted, it is 45 minutes long, but you don’t have to watch it all at once.  Prysner takes the time to debunk, point by point, all of Oliver’s thoughtless repetitions of the mainstream media’s statements on Venezuela.  You can easily follow up on Prysner’s work online.

You can also find similar analysis from others by searching sites like the Real News Network, teleSUR English, RT News, and RT America.

Here are some of my thoughts on becoming a well-informed, thoughtful news consumer.

In order to find this type of journalism – that is, REAL journalism, something that the corporate media abandoned many years ago because their top executives decided that it did not make enough money – we must turn to independent, genuinely investigative journalism.  Most of these folks nowadays work for online publications and video outlets (check out youtube).

I give greater attention to journalists who report from the ground inside the relevant country, especially those who speak the language (for instance, Abby Martin’s reports from Venezuela; she is fluent in Spanish) and interview their subjects on their own or at least use a translator by their side.

The kinds of journalists I am talking about are people like Max Blumenthal, Dan Cohen, Glenn Greenwald, Abby Martin, Michael Prysner, Amy Goodman, Jeremy Scahill, Iona Craig, Eva Bartlett and others too numerous to list.  You can find them if you begin to look.

Another good source for alternative perspectives appears in outlets backed by foreign governments.  I watch and read them as much as I do US news.

Places like RT (Russia Television), Al Jazeera (coming from Qatar) and teleSUR (financed by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Bolivia).  Yes, these broadcasts will certainly have their own biases, but all US media are biased, as well. They certainly are no more biased, and in many, many instances they are much less biased, than any of our American news corporations.

Furthermore, foreign news stations typically offer a different perspective on the world’s problems.  It is good and necessary to break out of the American bubble.  We need to stop looking at ourselves in the mirror and learn how other people from around the world view us.

For instance, did you know that when the people of the world are asked which nation poses the greatest threat to world peace, the United States (not Iran, Russia, China or North Korea) tops the list (here and here)?

Finally, no one can say that they are well-informed until they look at all sides of an issue.

If I don’t know what the other side is saying or thinking – not from my perspective but from their perspective – if I haven’t engaged the evidence used in their arguments; if I don’t understand how they are refuting my arguments, then I simply don’t know what I am talking about.

We need to listen to alternative voices, perspectives and analyses.  Things that not nearly enough Americans do.  And, I am afraid, that American Christians tend to be among the worst at gathering a diversity of perspectives from which to learn.  (OK, I have to say this:  Please, TURN OFF THE CHRISTIAN RADIO AND TV NEWS BROADCASTS.  MOST OF IT IS PURE PROPAGANDA AND LIES.  SUCH BLINDNESS ONLY SERVES TO KEEP THE CHURCH IGNORANT, OFFENSIVE AND PLIABLE TO AMERICAN CORPORATE & IMPERIAL INTERESTS).

Our Creator gave us minds for thinking not strings for pulling.

Hands Off Venezuela, America! You’re a Big, Fat, Bully Nation!

I have been meaning to write about Venezuela and the distorted coverage of its internal affairs that we have been receiving in this country for some time now.  Well, I better do it now, before the US sends our troops to help complete the overthrow of another democratically elected, South American government, and the US press extolls the virtues of yet another one of our “humanitarian interventions.”  (That was sarcasm, in case you missed it).

Crowds of voters during the 2012 elections

Western news coverage of Venezuelan politics, whether by print, radio or television, not only in the US but in Britain and Western Europe, offers a perfect example of how corporate media dishes out pure propaganda to its consumers.

This includes everyone.  I have yet to find a single exception to this rule in the case of Venezuela, whether it’s Fox, ABC, NCB, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, you name it.  They are all the same.

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro

Everyone is touting the same line: Nicolas Maduro is a dictator.  He has killed Venezuelan democracy.  The people are oppressed. There is no freedom of speech or of the press. The entire nation is starving due to government mismanagement. And on and on…

Sound familiar?

For a legible version see http://lati-negros.tumblr.com/post/31490408699/56-us-military-interventions-in-latin-america

Anyone who knows anything about the long, bloody history of American intervention in South American, however, will already be suspicious of such uniform, lock-step reporting.  Especially when few if any of this “reports” are coming from (a) journalists who speak Spanish (b) doing investigative journalism (c) on the ground in Venezuela (d) by speaking to a broad spectrum of actual Venezuelans still living in Venezuela.  (For information on US-sponsored coups in South America see this, this, this, this and this).

From what I can discover, the reality in Venezuela today is exactly the opposite of what our news media is telling us.  They have democratic elections. In fact, Jimmy Carter’s election monitoring organization observed Venezuela’s national elections in 2012 and concluded that “The election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.”  (For further discussion, see this article on “Why the US Demonizes Venezuela’s Elections” by Mark Weisbrot, another guy I pay attention to.  Another great source of information is Venezuelanalysis.com, where you can find “Facts About Venezuela’s Presidential Elections and the Voting Process”).

WW 2 propaganda poster

I mention all of this, not only to highlight another clear example of the way our government and corporate controlled media try to propagandize us all, but also because propaganda often paves the way for military intervention and war.

Remember that President Trump has already threatened using “the military option” on Venezuela if Maduro won reelection (also here).

So, why does the US government hate the Maduro government in Venezuela?

First, Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world and is a significant source for US imports.

Second, the Venezuelan people have chosen to elect a socialist government, which is a convenient way for the US to resurrect the Cold War bogie man of creeping communism sucking at American’s underbelly.  There are several problems however:

  • If America is the great defender of democracy around the world, what business is it of ours to interfere in country’s that democratically choose a socialist government?
  • Venezuela has not threatened to invade any neighboring countries. The US is the only nation threatening to invade another in order to overthrow its (democratically elected) government.

Third, beginning with Hugo Chavez and continuing with Maduro (but not as aggressively) the Venezuelan government has worked at nationalizing its industries, including its oil production.  This has been good news for the general population, but not such welcome news for the CEOs of the major oil companies operating in Venezuela.

Whenever more money flows into the pockets of the local people, ensuring that less money will flow out of the country and into the pockets of foreign oil conglomerates, the corporate executives always call Washington, D.C. and demand some of that ole’ time “regime change.”

Mohammed Mosaddegh, Prime Minister of Iran

Don’t forget that in 1953 the CIA and the British overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mosaddegh in Iran (and had him executed) after he decided to nationalize Iran’s oil industry, depriving British Petroleum of its windfall profits at Iranian expense.  There IS a clear precedent for all this.

So, in preparation, the government propaganda machine has been rolling for some time now, preparing us for the possibility of another illegal military/CIA intervention overseas.  If/when it happens it will be described as another chapter in the noble saga of America’s sacrificial “defense of freedom around the world.”  (Wave flags and play patriotic music, with predictably mind-numbing effects, here).

US orchestrated coup in Chile, 1973

In fact, it will be one more bloody intervention in another nation’s affairs where innocent human beings will be murdered by the thousands simply because US business interests are lusting after more and more money.

This government overthrow will then be followed by the imposition of a conservative, right-wing government, perhaps even a military dictatorship, as has happened so many times before.  The multinational corporations with return. The resource extraction will be denationalized and reprivatized so that the majority of the benefits will go back overseas to Western companies, and the local people are once again deprived of what is rightfully theirs.

THIS IS WHY CHRISTIANS, and by this, I mean the entire Christian church in this country, NEED TO CARE ABOUT THE NEWS AND POLITICS!

Because we want to obey Jesus’ teaching that “we do to others as we would want them to do to us.”

Because we want to “love our neighbors as ourselves.”

The US military kills people all around the world in our name, using weapons created with our tax dollars, pursuing policies supposedly for our benefit, sacrificing the lives of our children and the children of many others, all in the name of “American values.”

I am firmly convinced that nobody who genuinely knows and loves Jesus Christ; no one who understands Jesus’ values and the manner of living he taught and modeled for his disciples, can possibly be at peace with our country’s interventionist policies around the world.

We must object, speak up, write letters, call our representatives and insist that we stop meddling in Venezuelan internal affairs.

No US military or CIA in Venezuela!

(This post originally included a section on finding reliable news sources for this type of information and discussion.  I have decided to make that a separate post to follow shortly.)

Anthony Bourdain, Suicide and the Human Condition. Depression Can Affect Anyone, Including People of Faith

Fans of Anthony Bourdain were saddened this morning to learn that he had committed suicide.

Mr. Bourdain had always struck me as a great guy. I imagined that we could have been good friends.  Although I never knew him, I have come to know a thing or two about the overwhelming sort of sadness that led him to hang himself.

Depression wears many different faces, not all of them bleak, most of them deceptive. As others have already observed, we never truly know what is happening inside another human being.

Heck, much of the time I don’t even know what is happening inside myself.

And while it takes a lifetime of effort to survive in the world, it only takes a moment of overwhelming sadness to bid this life farewell.  Life is unfair in that way.

I know this for I have stood on that precipice, too, and lingered long staring over the edge, sharing in fellowship with people like Anthony Bourdain.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US.  On average, 123 Americans kill themselves each day.  51% of them do it with a gun.

Christians and other people of faith are not exempt from this danger. In fact, religious convictions can be a complicating factor in a person’s will to live…or to die.

In the fall of 2000, as new faculty member at Calvin College, fresh out of the pastorate, I gave two talks at student chapel services describing my own struggles with depression and thoughts of suicide.  Perhaps now is an appropriate moment to offer abbreviated versions of these talks on my blog.

Here is the first.  I called it:  When You Know Jesus and You Still Want to Die:

Yesterday, I went to see my psychiatrist.  Sometimes I call him my shrink, but I’ve sensed that he doesn’t think that’s funny.  So I’ve stopped calling him that…at least, in his office.  He is a great guy.   I visit him every three months, and we talk about life.

We also talk about whether my medication still seems to be working properly.  That’s the main reason for our appointments.  For the past 5 or 6 years I have taken anti-depressants.  I expect that I will do so for the rest of my life.  And seldom does a day go by when I don’t thank God for the gift of medical research.

I will spare you all the gory details.  Suffice it to say that I have struggled with cyclical bouts of depression, from mild to wild, since I was about 18 years old.  I taught myself to cope.  I learned how to “keep on keepin’ on” until the clouds finally broke and I could see some blue sky again.

But as I hit middle-age the dark periods became darker and longer, and the slices of blue sky became slimmer and duller.  I have long been familiar with thoughts of death and its appeal.  But now I found myself strongly wishing that it would come soon, and thinking about how I should help it along.

Being a Christian didn’t help.  In fact, being a Christian made death all the more appealing.  After all, I knew where I was going, and I believed it would be a much better place where I could finally be free of the darkness.

There’s no darkness in heaven.  Oh my goodness, how I really, reaaallllllly wanted to lay down and finally rest in all that heavenly light.

Honestly, knowing Jesus is not what kept me alive.   Thankfully, God had given me the gift of a family.  Though I did not understand why, I knew that my wife and children all loved me.  And I knew that I would scar my children for the rest of their lives if I took my own life.  So I worked very, very hard at sticking around…for them.

I know that listening to this kind of story makes some people uncomfortable.  Either it hits too close to home, or it is so foreign to you that it sounds like science fiction.  So, I want to offer some encouragement to both groups of people:

(1) For everybody – I owe my mental health, in large part, to the loving support of a beautiful Christian community where I was fortunate enough to be the pastor.  I was a part of a group of people who loved me and accepted me, warts and all.  I was free to talk openly about my struggles, about my depression, and rather than pushing me away, they held me even closer.

My elders and staff members would ask me how my medication was doing, and then they would pray with me.  My small group Bible study passed the hat and raised the money to send my wife and I to a psychiatric retreat center for crazy clergy.  (It was full).  Then when I got back the church asked me to teach them about what I had learned, and they told me they wanted me to be their pastor more than ever.

The Body of Christ loved me through my darkest hours.  I never once felt judged or condemned by anybody.

I know that this is not everyone’s story, but I was fortunate enough that it became mine.

People who struggle with depression tend not to talk about their struggles, at least not in the church, because we are afraid of the ostracism, the silent assumption that there must be something wrong with you if you feel that way.  Every depressed personality has heard the standard, religious lines:

“It’s your own fault.”

“There must be some sin in your life.”

“Pray more/Pray harder/Pray in tongues.”

“Get into the Word more regularly.”

“It must be the Devil.”

“If you were spiritually mature you wouldn’t feel that way.”

“If you really had the Spirit, you wouldn’t need a pill.”

If you hear that kind of advice often enough, leaving this world for heaven sounds more and more inviting…if doesn’t put you off of the faith altogether.

We need to remember the advice that Jesus gave, “Come to me, all you who labor and are carrying heaven burdens, and I will give you rest.”  Jesus then condemned the Pharisees for putting “heavy loads onto the backs of hurting people who were already bent over by more than they can bear.”

The church is called to be the body of Jesus Christ, not the long arm of the self-righteous.  We all need to examine ourselves and pray that the Lord will cleanse us of our wretched judgmentalism and teach us to love all people regardless of their problems.

(2) For those who have never been depressed, let me tell you, people who write self-help books explaining how your attitude is entirely up to you do not understand what it is like to be depressed.

I never understood my depression any better than anyone else.  Intelligence, rationality, will-power, self-discipline, those things all become irrelevant.  You might as well urge Rush Limbaugh to vote for Hillary Clinton as tell a depressed person to just snap out of it.  It’s just not possible.

I would often feel disembodied, as if I was an outside observer watching myself in a bad horror movie.  I would tell myself that I was being totally irrational, that there was no good reason to feel the way I did, that I really needed to do something about the situation, but…I…could…not…do…anything.

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you are trying to run, but you cannot make your body move?  You are being chased by a pack of ravenous wolves, but…you…just…can’t…move….

Imagine waking up one morning only to discover that it’s not a dream.  It’s real.  You CAN’T move!  You’re frozen.

That’s what it’s like to be depressed.

Please, don’t give you friends glib advice about how they ought to just buck up and feel better.

(3) What about people who are struggling right now? – There is one step I hope you can take:  reach out for help.  Please.  If you are thinking about suicide, know that there are people (some you haven’t met yet) who will love you and want to help you.  Talk to someone you can trust.

There is nothing wrong with talking to a counselor or a therapist.  The Spirit of God has given different gifts to different people.  Some people have the spiritual gift of listening and caring; when that gift is sharpened through study and practice, going to a therapist is simply another way God wants the body of Christ to be a real community.

If you feel you have no one, then call your local suicide hot line.  If you don’t know a local number, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.  Call a distant relative. Visit a neighbor.  Talk to someone.  Anyone.

There is nothing to be ashamed of in talking, confessing, asking for help. I know how hard it is.  I know that I felt ashamed.  I suspect that most of us who live with depression feel ashamed most of the time.

I felt ashamed of not being able to make myself feel better.  And admitting to depression feels like adding one more failure to the list.

And to be told that you may have to take medication…  No way! When I first heard those words I cried like a baby, partly because it felt as though I was surrendering to mental illness, and I was ashamed of my apparent weakness.

Friends, all of those thoughts and feelings are a lie.

The fact is, we live in a world that does not work right.  Believe it or not, this is the hidden consolation to be found in the Christian doctrine of original sin.

This life is not the way God originally intended it to be.  Sin has thrown a huge monkey wrench into the cosmos, and shrapnel has flown everywhere, ripping huge, ugly gashes throughout every part of God’s good creation.

Babies are now born prematurely and come into this world scarred with birth defects.  Cancer ravages our parents and grandparents, cutting their lives short before our own children ever have a chance to get to know them.

For some of us, our brain chemistry is all fouled up so we can’t always think straight or feel right.  Fortunately, we live in a time where surgery can perform wonders for premature babies.  And cancer treatments can prolong people’s lives for years.  And…when necessary…for some of us…medication can help the chemicals in our brains to finally start working the way God intended them to.

Admitting to a problem is never a weakness; it is never something to be ashamed of.

Reaching out for help, admitting your limitations is a step of maturity, just as offering such help to others and loving hurting people is a task for the church.  For, at the end of the day, it is only within those sorts of honest, caring relationships that we can begin to experience what it means to be loved by Jesus.

Anthony Bourdain’s Support for Palestine #BourdainRIP #Palestinians

Today we learned that Anthony Bourdain committed suicide last night.  Hearing this news will shock some people.  He seemed to have everything, but his tragic death reminds us that we never know another person’s true state of mind.

I always enjoyed Mr. Bourdain’s programs.  He struck me as a wonderful human being. I thought we could have been good friends.

Anthony Bourdain was also a vocal advocate for the Palestinian people. In 2014 the Muslim Public Affairs Council awarded Anthony their “Voices of Courage and Conscience in Media Award” for one of his programs dedicated to Palestinian refugees. During his acceptance speech he said:

“I was enormously grateful for the response from Palestinians in particular for doing what seemed to me an ordinary thing, something we do all the time: show regular people doing everyday things, cooking and enjoying meals, playing with their children, talking about their lives, their hopes and dreams.

“It is a measure I guess of how twisted and shallow our depiction of a people is that these images come as a shock to so many. The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinian people, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity.

“People are not statistics. That is all we attempted to show. A small, pathetically small step towards understanding.”

May you rest in peace, Mr. Bourdain.  I wish I had known you.

The Meaning of Holiness, Part 3B:  Sinners in the Hands of a Forgiving God

We have come to the end of our brief investigation into the Biblical definition of holiness.  We discovered that it is, first of all, a theological term describing God’s nature (here).  Then it becomes a redemptive term describing the results of God’s saving grace (here and here).  Finally, it is a sanctifying term characterizing the ethical goal of a life in relationship with God (here).

But here is where a problem arises.

Any reflective, self-aware believer will quickly recognize that the Lord’s command “to be holy as I am holy” sets an impossible standard, even for the most scrupulously attentive disciple. The distance separating vision from reality could not possibly be greater.  Who in their right mind would ever claim that they are living such a morally pure existence that they are as qualitatively distinct from the world around them as the eternal, Creator God is distinct from his temporal Creation?

The Old Testament addressed this issue straight on.  It was the rationale behind God’s instructions for animal sacrifice.  Leviticus 17:11 says,

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

A sacrifice of atonement covered or expunged the guilt created by one’s failure perfectly to obey.

God’s people were expected sincerely to do their best in obeying the law of the covenant.  But knowing full well that no one could keep the law perfectly, God provided a variety of sacrifices (not only animal but vegetable sacrifices such as first-fruit offerings) in order “to cover over” – to make atonement – for the people’s failings.

Offering these proscribed sacrifices, as they were instructed, was also a part of what it meant for Israel to be a holy people.  So, every Israelite was to take God’s word seriously.  Obey the law as fully as possible. Not taking it lightly.  Which included making regular sacrifice as a confession of one’s failings, recognizing the need for God’s forgiveness.

This is the Old Testament prescription for “being holy as Yahweh is holy.”

When we get to the New Testament, both the law and the sacrifices of the Sinai covenant have been fulfilled, completed, realized and thus brought to their conclusion in Jesus of Nazareth. (Obviously, there is a lot to be discussed here, but that is for another post or two or three).

Jesus’ life fulfilled the Old Testament law of the covenant (Matthew 5:17-20, compare 24:35), while his death became the ultimate, atoning sacrifice (Matthew 26:27-28, compare Exodus 24:8; Mark 10:45).  This is both the consistent teaching of the New Testament and the historic theology of orthodox Christianity. Thus, by fulfilling the old covenant Jesus inaugurated the new covenant.

Jesus Teaching a Crowd by Rembrandt

Nevertheless, there is a curious stream of continuity flowing from the old into the new:  namely, the seeming impossibility of fully obeying Jesus’ requirements for his disciples.

Here is only a brief sampling:

If you even speak badly of someone, you are guilty of murder.

If you lust after another person, you are guilty of adultery.

If someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit the other one too. Never seek revenge or go to court.

Love your enemies and pray that your heavenly Father will bless them.

Give to anyone who asks and be so generous that you can’t keep track of where your giving goes (Matthew 5:21 – 6:4).

If you do not hate your immediate family and even your own life (in comparison to your devotion to me), you cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26-27).

If you do not give up everything you have, you cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:33).

The apparent impossibility of living out Jesus’ instructions is the reason several Christian traditions have devised different ways of avoiding the literal intent of Jesus’ words.

Some suggest that Jesus intended there to be two different types of disciples.  One, like priests and nuns, who will obey his teaching literally.  And another, sometimes called laypeople, who are free to adhere to a lesser standard.

Others find creative ways to reinterpret Jesus’ words so that they don’t actually intend what they appear to say.  I criticize this way of dealing with Jesus’ hard sayings in my book, I Pledge Allegiance (pages 38-39).  I believe that we must take Jesus at his word.

It’s true that Jesus’ teaching is rigorous. It’s also true that no one, not even monks and nuns who take vows of poverty, can follow Jesus’ teachings perfectly.  We can see this in the gospels themselves as the devoted disciples who live with him every day are periodically rebuked and corrected for their failures and misunderstandings.

If you want to read a fine discussion of this dynamic, I recommend taking a look at Richard Burridge’s book, Imitating Jesus: An Inclusive Approach to New Testament Ethics (Eerdmans, 2007).  Burridge provides a thorough look at the many ways in which the theme “impossible expectations – failing disciples” plays out in the gospel storyline. The apparent tension is harmonized by taking Jesus’ words and his actions together.

Jesus’ words are hard, but his behavior is merciful.  He asks for the impossible and then extends compassion with forgiveness.  Burridge notes:

“His [Jesus’] demanding ethical teaching was delivered in the context of keeping company with outsiders and sinners, those who had ethical difficulties, yet he seems to have accepted them, ate and lived with them – which leaves us with the challenge of how imitating him requires New Testament ethics to be done within an inclusive community.” (page 179 and throughout)

Jesus Eating with Sinners by Caravaggio

Jesus’ resurrected life is the gift that keeps on giving.

He still requires that we follow him; that we obey his impossible words, conform to his perfect life, and imitate The One beyond imitation.

And when we fail, which will happen frequently, our perfectly holy Lord Jesus will be there every time to pick us up, to forgive us, brush us off and provide the encouragement we need to give it another try.

That’s what it means for a true disciple to be holy as the one and only Son of God is holy.

Remembering Tiananmen Square with Cameron Blake

Student protesters stage a sit-in in Tiananmen Square

Today (5/4/18) is the 29th anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square. For those too young to remember, Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China was ground zero for a massive pro-democracy, people’s movement that many hoped could become a Chinese Spring.

The Chinese government tolerated this youth movement for a time, but eventually decided that enough was enough.  On June 4, 1989 Chinese troops moved into the square.

Clean up after the June 4th massacre

According to one British diplomatic cable, at least 10,000 people were killed that day.  Many were run over by tanks. Others were bayoneted to death as they lay wounded in the streets.

Tanks pass victims swept to the side of the road

On the following day, as tanks returned to the scene, one brave man briefly captured the world’s attention. Now known as Tank Man or The Unknown Protester, with a shopping bag of groceries in each hand, he walked out and stood alone before the column of returning tanks, stopping their progress. Whenever the lead tank tried to maneuver around him, he moved over into its path, stopping it again and again.

Tank Man stops the tanks the day after the massacre

This anonymous individual, who almost certainly was executed soon afterwards, put his body between the remnant of surviving protesters and the killing machines of state repression.

He knew the price of his action.

Yet, he also knew that – at least, for him – inaction was unacceptable. So, he stood in front of the tanks fully aware that it was his final act.

Cameron Blake is a good friend of mine whose young imagination was captured by this unknown protester.  Cameron has grown into an extremely talented musician/singer/song-writer and just happens to be a huge fan of Bob Dylan, to boot.

Cameron’s latest CD, Fear Not, which I listen to regularly, includes an elegy to the slender Chinese hero who, if only for a moment, single-handedly stopped the tanks of a super-power.

You can watch and listen to Cameron’s newest music video, “Tiananmen Square,” below.  Then check out Cameron’s website and buy your own copy of the entire CD, Fear Not.  You won’t be disappointed.

Oy Vey! Thomas Friedman Gives Palestinians More Unsolicited Advice #zionism #palestinians #gazaprotests

Liz Rose has a fine article at Mondoweiss.net about Thomas Friedman’s latest bit of unsolicited advice for the Palestinian refugees held prisoner in Gaza.  Here is an excerpt from her piece:

“One of the advantages of being a liberal Zionist is that you never have to take responsibility for what Zionism does.  You can blame Palestinians for their own demise, maintain a sense of righteousness while people die, and defend Israel no matter what it does.  And you can state emphatically that you know what Palestinians need to do, though you’ve never considered their experience.  They exist, for you, only in a theoretical sense.

“’Just what are we going to do about the Palestinians,’ you and your liberal Zionist friends can ask over lattes and chai teas at coffee shops.  And when you write about them, you can consider the Palestinian people only as a theory–something abstract to be grappled with–rather than human beings who deserve the dignity and freedom that you have.  You don’t ever have to acknowledge Palestinian history or experience.

“Take, for example, Thomas Friedman’s May 23, 2018, opinion piece in The New York Times, ‘Hamas, Netanyahu and Mother Nature.’  Friedman’s critique–which shakes its finger at the Palestinians who have screwed up again–is yet another liberal Zionist apology for Israel’s recent massacre of 62 people at the Gaza border.  ‘If Hamas had chosen to recognize Israel and build a Palestinian state in Gaza modeled on Singapore,’ Friedman writes, ‘the world would have showered it with aid and it would have served as a positive test case for the West Bank.’  Using an ‘If-X-then-Y’ equation, Friedman knows what’s best for what ails Palestinians.  If they just behaved better, he declares, Israel’s treatment of them would improve.”

You can read the entire Mondoweiss article here.

If you follow my blog, you will remember the piece I wrote several months ago entitled “Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?”.  I referred to a similar Friedman suggestion offered in 2002, urging the Palestinian people to send their women, especially grandmothers, unarmed to the front lines to confront Israeli forces with massive, Gandhi-like non-violent protests.

We all saw how Israel responded to that strategy in April and May during the Gaza Land Day Marches.  More than 100 unarmed men, women – including grandmothers – and children were shot and killed by Israeli snipers.  Over 13,000 were seriously injured.

Zionist apologists like Friedman have employed all their tricks of mental, ethical gymnastics in justifying the slaughter.  No matter what the Palestinians do, their deaths are always their own fault.  Unsurprisingly, Mr. Friedman remains stunningly unaware of how brazenly immoral his unsolicited advice continues to be.

For not only does he fail to make the connection between his heartfelt 2002 recommendation of Palestinian self-immolation, he essentially repeats it in a recent New York Times Opinion Piece he calls “Hamas, Netanyahu and Mother Nature.”

“What if all two million Palestinians of Gaza marched to the Israeli border fence with an olive branch in one hand and a sign in Hebrew and Arabic in the other, saying, ‘Two states for two peoples: We, the Palestinian people of Gaza, want to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish people — a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, with mutually agreed adjustments.’”

Except, we have all seen that movie, Mr. Friedman.  We already know how it ends: 100+ innocent civilians dead and over 13,000 injured, many crippled for life.

For his own safety, the New York Times should take away Friedman’s pen.  People exhibiting such evidence of advanced dementia, amnesia and/or psychosis should not be allowed to play with sharp objects.

Besides, it just plain hurts to see such deep-seated, pathological moral blindness on display in the opinion pages of one of the world’s leading  newspapers.

Perhaps Mr. Friedman needs a reminder:

  1. NO ONE could walk to the “border fence,” Mr. Friedman, because Israel has never declared its officially recognized borders. (Hard to believe but true). Israel simply grasps more land while the world impotently watches.  The fence you refer to is a Gulag barrier where Israel forcibly contains 1.8 million Palestinian refugees. It does not mark a border.
  2. Almost 30,000 residents of Gaza have already tried your Gandhi tactic, Mr. Friedman. But you know that.  You also remember, as I do, the words of General Amos Gilad (Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs at the Israel Ministry of Defense) when he told American government officials, “we don’t do Gandhi very well.”  This was his tongue-in-cheek explanation for Israel’s 2011 decision “to increase violent pressure on the demonstrations ‘even [if the] demonstrations appear peaceful.’”  You know as well as I do that Israel shoots Gandhi whenever and wherever they see him, Mr. Friedman.
  3. Please, Mr. Friedman, save your protestations about the lack of Palestinian olive branches and peace signs written in Hebrew and Arabic. What will your excuse be next time: “If only 2 million Palestinians approached the fence and shot themselves in the head, saving Israeli ammunition, THEN…”?
  4. Mr. Friedman, you know as well as I do that Yasir Arafat, the leader of the PLO, acknowledged Israel’s right to exist in 1988. And even though Hamas still does not acknowledge Israel’s right to exist (see point 5 below), according to its new 2017 charter, they no longer demand Israel’s destruction and have welcomed the creation of a separate Palestinian state in the lands occupied in the six-day war of 1967 (here, here, and here).
  5. Finally, Mr. Friedman, your political Zionist bona fides are fully displayed when you direct the people of Gaza to confess that they “want to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish people” (emphasis mine).  Notice that the object of the sentence is not the state of Israel but the Jewish people.  Here, finally, is the racist bone that will forever stick in the Palestinian throat, as it does in mine. This outrageous demand ought to stir the entire world to reject “the legitimacy” of the current state of Israel. For here Mr. Friedman and his Zionist compatriots openly confess that Israel is a state for the Jewish people and no one else. All non-Jews are second-class citizens under the rule of political Zionism. No one with a conscience can defend Israel’s “right to exist” as long as it remains a racist state of, for and by Jews alone.

As Archie Bunker used to say, Mr. Friedman, stifle yourself.  Your so-called advice is stale, rehashed Zionist propaganda.

You and yours are morally bankrupt.

You take the vitriol of a racist, apartheid state, siphon it through your effete blender of “reasoned discourse” and offer your readers a sensible justification for mass murder.

You and Joseph Goebbels could be kissin’ cousins.

Growing Up Black in America, A Conversation with my Son-in-Law #blacklivesmatter #policeshootings

Some months ago, I asked my son-in-law what it was like to grow up black in America.

I had recently watched the following video about this question, and I wanted to know more about his own experience growing up in the mid-west.  Did his parents have similar talks with him?  Please watch:

“Yes,” he said. “They did.”

“My mother would never let me go out in anything but my best cloths.  She told me that I was always representing my people, and I had to be careful that I made a good impression.  I couldn’t let others get the wrong idea about me, to think that I was a trouble-maker because of the way I dressed.

“As I became older, she would remind me to always be polite and cooperative when the police stopped me while driving.  I had to be careful not to give them a reason to feel threatened or make them nervous.”

I now know that his mother waited nervously for him to return home every time he went out, praying that her son was safe, that he had not been pulled over or arrested, detained or questioned for the crime of being a black youth  in a white neighborhood.

When I was a growing up, my mother never once warned me about behaving myself because I was a representative of my people.

She never made me wear my nice clothes when I went out to play for fear that someone might see me as a trouble-maker or criminal-wanna-be simply because of the way I dressed.

I never gave a second thought to “being friendly and polite” to the police when I was driving, no matter the neighborhood I was passing through.

But then, I am white.

And that, my friends, whether you are willing to believe it or not, makes all the difference in this country of ours.  There ain’t no such thing as a post-racial America.

When I first posted the above video on my Facebook page, an old acquaintance angrily commented that she found it highly offensive!  Why?  Because these black folks were complaining about the way police officers treated them…

Of course, my friend was a church-going, white woman.

Yes, folks. Black lives do not count for much in white America.  Discrimination is alive and well. Racism lives, to some degree or another, in all our hearts.  Simply recall the very abbreviated list of recent incidents listed below:

Starbucks closed 8,000 of its stores earlier this week as it provided racial sensitivity training seminars for all its employees.  This after employees in a Philadelphia store called the police on two black men sitting at a table waiting for a friend.

The two young men were taken away in handcuffs for the crime of waiting at a table without first buying a cup of coffee.  Honestly, would that ever have happened to a white customer — who wasn’t filthy, drug-addled and brandishing a weapon?

We all know the answer.

MSNBC recently hosted a televised forum called “Everyday Racism in America” where average black Americans told their stories of coping with everyday racism as a matter of survival.

Black men, women and children continue to be needlessly assaulted, shot, wounded and killed by police officers across this country.  31% of the people killed by police in America are black, even though they only compose 13% of the population.

According to the national data base Fatal Encounters, “black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers.”

Perhaps you were as shocked as I was to learn about Gregory Hill, the father of 3 now-orphaned children.  Mr. Hill was killed by Florida police when they shot at him through his garage door. Someone passing through the neighborhood, picking up their child from school, called the police to complain that his music was too loud.

If Mr. Hill had been white would he be dead today, shot and killed for drinking a beer and listening to loud music inside his own garage? We all know the answer to that question.

In 2014, the Bundy family staged an armed standoff after commandeering a public lands facility.  Brandish high-powered rifles, they threatened to shoot any law enforcement officers called to the scene. Not only were none of the Bundys or their armed supporters ever shot, but early this year their case was dismissed from court.

Compare that to what happened in a Florida court’s treatment of Mr. Hill’s family.

When Mr. Hill’s widow filed a civil suit against the police, not only were the police officers who killed her husband found not guilty, but she was awarded a whopping settlement of $4.  1 dollar per life (counting the 3 children), which was later reduced to 4 cents because 99% of the blame, according to the court, belonged to Mr. Hill.

For those who have the eyes to see, the brutal evidence is self-evident every single day. Black lives do not matter in this country.  Well, in Florida, they are worth something.  About 1 cent each.

Every Christian in this country, but especially every white Christian in this country, must make it our duty to stand with our brothers and sisters of color and do whatever we can to speak out and oppose this ingrained, systematic, unreflective wickedness that sees the other as less than themselves.

The multi-ethnic, inter-racial church of Jesus Christ ought to be in the front lines of this struggle.