Progressive Democrats Sonoma County

We’ll be there. Hope to see you too!
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Message from the Sonoma County Peace & Justice Center:

President Obama is scheduled to address the nation on Tuesday, Dec. 1st at 5:00 p.m. to announce his decision about the immediate future of Afghanistan. If he announces an escalation or status quo, the Peace & Justice Center will hold a protest in Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa the next evening, Wednesday the 2nd, at 5:30. This will be a part of a nationwide response.

If he has been listening to the people and announces that we are pulling out, we’ll hold a rally of support at that same time. Obama’s own party, here in California, has taken an official stance on the occupation – no escalation! We can hit the streets with a simple message – California Wants Out of Afghanistan! Please join us and pass this message on to your friends.

For information – 707-575-8902

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Note: Read Norman Solomon’s article about the CA Democratic Party’s call for an Exit from Afghanistan

Listen to the October 14, 2009 talk by Norman Solomon on his trip to Afghanistan which aired on Alternative Radio.

(program recorded at October meeting of Progressive Democrats Sonoma County)

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

from Meg:

There is a schedule on the website of www.nodrones.com

If you are able, please come on this trip to make the point that it is not all right to send drones to Afghanistan which often displace and kill innocent civilians. Norman Solomon has spoken eloquently about the tragedies taking place in Afghanistan due to the drones. Please consider spending this time in Nevada and joining this action. Please call 510-540-7007 to reserve your seat on the bus.

U.S.Troop Levels in Afghanistan Have Increased Every Year Since 2002. Compare the U.S. troop level in Afghanistan against civilian casualties.
Download this factsheet (pdf)

http://rethinkafghanistan.com/factsheets

In the midst of the superheated debate over the course of the war in Afghanistan, two men, one an American, the other an Afghan citizen, release this provocative look at the underside of an insurgency. In a country with 40% unemployment, they talk to those whose voices have been missing: ordinary Afghans. See and hear them up close in the squares where they gather by the thousands looking for work, as they struggle to feed their families, working for $4 a day if they are lucky. Ranked as the fourth poorest nation in the world, many have never even heard of 9/11, nor the Twin Towers. But someone is always hiring at a good daily wage: the Taliban. The documentary reveals that a civilian solution to stability would cost but a small fraction of the present occupation.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO

November 21, 2009
PDA Joins with United for Peace and Justice, Veterans for Peace and Others in their Call to Action Against Afghanistan Escalation

It is possible that any day now President Obama may decide to escalate the war in Afghanistan. Here in the U.S. and no doubt around the world, people will react in pain, anger and sorrow, knowing what tragedy and suffering will follow.

We call on you to act NOW to pressure the President to choose otherwise and at the same time plan actions if he does decide to send more troops. [more]

Norman Solomon
November 16, 2009, San Diego, CA

Join PDA’s End War and Occupations, Redirect Funding Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.

There’s a significant new straw in the political wind for President Obama to consider. The California Democratic Party has just sent him a formal and clear message: Stop making war in Afghanistan.

Overwhelmingly approved on Sunday (Nov. 15) by the California Democratic Party’s 300-member statewide executive board, the resolution is titled “End the U.S. Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan.”

Read the rest here

by Marcy Winograd
November 13, 2009

I’m heading down to San Diego from Los Angeles (CA-36) this weekend to attend the California Democratic Party Executive Board meeting, where we will debate an End the Occupation and Air War in Afghanistan resolution I co-authored with Progressive Caucus Chair Karen Bernal and prolific author Norman Solomon. Already, we are hearing push back on one particular word. Occupation.

Read the rest here, including Resolution

By David Swanson
November 13, 2009

The last time I was on Laura Flanders’s GRIT tv I argued that the American public opposed the occupation of Afghanistan, but another guest — some Washington, D.C., “progressive” — argued that this had no relevance, since the American public didn’t know anything about Afghanistan.

When the RAND Corporation held a forum on Afghanistan recently on Capitol Hill, Zbigniew Brzezinski claimed that it was uncontroversial that US troops had to stay in Afghanistan. I pointed him to polls of Americans, and he replied that Americans get fatigued and don’t know any better.

When I spoke to a philosophy department at a university this month, a number of the professors objected to my advocacy of majority-rule on the grounds that experts often know best.

Read the rest here

by Norman Solomon
November 12, 2209

Disputes are raging within the Obama administration over how to continue the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. A new leak tells us that Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, former four-star general Karl Eikenberry, has cautioned against adding more troops while President Hamid Karzai keeps disappointing American policymakers. This is the extent of the current debate within the warfare state.

During a top-level meeting Wednesday afternoon in the White House, the Washington Post reports, President Obama “was given a series of options laid out by military planners with differing numbers of new U.S. deployments, ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 troops. None of the scenarios calls for scaling back the U.S. presence in Afghanistan or delaying the dispatch of additional troops.”

Read the rest here

By David Swanson

Join PDA’s End War and Occupations, Redirect Funding Issue Organizing Team (IOT); learn more here.

Around the United States, peace groups are engaged in effective campaigns against proposed new military installations, local funding of weapons companies, and the routine destruction of the environment and of workers’ health by such companies. Activists are building better media outlets, educating young people, educating old people, keeping military testing and recruiting out of schools, and discouraging the Army from building real-weapon video arcades in shopping malls. But when it comes to stopping our wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, our citizens are less clear how to go about it.

Read more

By DR. JOSEPH EICHENSEHER
Press Democrat
Thursday, November 5

As a Santa Rosa family practice resident physician currently working in Afghanistan, I feel it is worthwhile to share a few observations.

For two separate months during our three-year residency we are able to work abroad. Residents travel to destinations all over the world, from Malawi to Thailand to Peru, working on various health projects, serving and learning. Then we bring our experiences back to Sonoma County to better provide for our community.

Read the Full Story Here

On this call, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) gave an update on current Afghanistan legislation, and Jo Comerford of the National Priorities Project described the resources on their website. PDA’s new “Brown Bag Vigil” project was introduced, with a discussion about implementation and strategies.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

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No exit strategy?
No Afghanistan funding!

Final passage of the $625.8 billion 2010 Defense Budget—with approximately $128.2 billion to conduct the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through September 2010 — could well happen without an exit timetable. Progressive Democrats of America, United for Peace and Justice, CODEPINK, Just Foreign Policy, and Voters for Peace want you to join the National Call-in Day today, Wednesday, September 30.

Take action NOW:

Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Wednesday September 30

To reach the Washington Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Congress is close to final passage of the $625.8 billion 2010 Defense Budget, which contains approximately $128.2 billion to conduct the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through September 2010.

So far the White House has offered no timetable and no “exit strategy” for Afghanistan. To the contrary, General McCrystal is calling for tens of thousands of additional American troops and a long-term commitment, which could tie the United States down in Afghanistan for years to come.

Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign co-chair Norman Solomon has just returned from Afghanistan. He gives a report on the conditions he found there, suggests the next steps for the peace movement, and answers questions.

CLICK HERE to listen

Norman Solomon, Institute for Public Accuracy, Exec. Dir., discusses Afghanistan, including the recent election, the war and U.S. policy towards the country.
Washington, DC

Click Here to view video of Sept. 13 Washington Journal program

By Norman Solomon
September 1, 2009

Yesterday, I met a little girl named Guljumma. She’s seven years old, and she lives in Kabul at a place called Helmand Refugee Camp District 5.

Guljumma talked about what happened one morning last year when she was sleeping at home in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Valley. At about 5 a.m., bombs exploded. Some people in her family died. She lost an arm.

By Norman Solomon
July 9, 2009

The president has set a limit on the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. For now.

That’s how escalation works. Ceilings become floors. Gradually.

A few times since last fall, the Obama team has floated rising numbers for how many additional U.S. soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan. Now, deployment of 21,000 more is a done deal, with a new total cap of 68,000 U.S. troops in that country.

But “escalation” isn’t mere jargon. And it doesn’t just refer to what’s happening outside the United States.

Read the Full Story Here

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July 5, 2009

Join us in growing the peace movement!

In a recent article posted here, Tom Hayden discusses a strategy for the peace movement, and David Swanson offers an organizing plan here.

What’s clear is that we can expect war and more war. The peace movement must come together behind a cohesive and effective strategy to promote peace and end wasteful military spending.

We invite you to join us this Tuesday for the next End War and Occupation Issue Organizing Team (IOT) conference call featuring Healthcare NOT Warfare co-chair Norman Solomon. Norman has been a powerful voice for peace and an end to US imperialism. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from Norman on the eve of his departure to Afghanistan!

July 30, 2009

A few days ago, after I spoke to the World Affairs Council of Sonoma County, a journalist with a video camera asked me: “What one message would you say you have for the younger generation?”

My response is online — posted at www.normansolomon.com — along with some recent columns about Iran, the escalation in Afghanistan and ominous dynamics between the White House and Congress.

Of course we need to keep striving to understand, but we also need to take action. Martin Luther King Jr. was making a crucial point when he warned against “the paralysis of analysis” and spoke about “the fierce urgency of now.”

That’s why I’m particularly excited about being part of a U.S. delegation that’s preparing to travel to Afghanistan. It’s a project that could help develop real alternatives to more war. Here’s information on how you can help.

Thursday, June 25 – 7:30 p.m., Spring Lake Village auditorium, 5555 Montgomery Dr., Santa Rosa.

From Sonoma County to Afghanistan: the Costs of War. Norman Soloman, syndicated columnist.

We often speak of “foreign policy” and “the economy,” but the separations between the two have narrowed — sometimes to the vanishing point. For instance, more than a year ago, the amount of money that taxpayers in Sonoma County have sent to the IRS for the Iraq war passed the $1 billion mark. Nationally, more than 40 percent of federal tax dollars go to military spending. What do such priorities mean for our communities, our country and the world?

By Norman Solomon
Guernica Blog
June 8, 2009

It takes at least tacit faith in massive violence to believe that after three decades of horrendous violence in Afghanistan, upping the violence there will improve the situation.

Despite the pronouncements from high Washington places that the problems of Afghanistan can’t be solved by military means, 90 percent of the spending for Afghanistan in the Obama administration’s current supplemental bill is military.

Read the Rest Here

Norman Solomon
May 21, 2009

To understand what’s up with President Obama as he escalates the war in Afghanistan, there may be no better place to look than a book published 25 years ago. “The March of Folly,” by historian Barbara Tuchman, is a chilling assessment of how very smart people in power can do very stupid things—how a war effort, ordered from on high, goes from tic to repetition compulsion to obsession—and how we, with undue deference and lethal restraint, pay our respects to the dominant moral torpor to such an extent that mass slaughter becomes normalized in our names.

What happens among policymakers is a “process of self-hypnosis,” Tuchman writes. After recounting examples from the Trojan War to the British moves against rebellious American colonists, she devotes the closing chapters of “The March of Folly” to the long arc of the U.S. war in Vietnam. The parallels with the current escalation of the war in Afghanistan are more than uncanny; they speak of deeply rooted patterns.

By Norman Solomon
April 6, 2009

Top Democrats and many prominent supporters — with vocal agreement, tactical quibbles or total silence — are assisting the escalation of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The predictable results will include much more killing and destruction. Back home, on the political front, the escalation will drive deep wedges into the Democratic Party.

The party has a large anti-war base, and that base will grow wider and stronger among voters as the realities of the Obama war program become more evident. The current backing or acceptance of the escalation from liberal think tanks and some online activist groups will not be able to prevent the growth of opposition among key voting blocs.