Thomas Merton Center Pittsburgh’s Peace and Social Justice Center
PITTSBURGH’S PEACE & JUSTICE NEWSPAPER VOL. 46 No. 1 January 2016
Close Pennsylvania’s Long Gun Loophole For Background Checks! By Joyce Rothermel
Last month, a young man was shot on the property of my church, St. James in Wilkinsburg. He was only 22 years of age and died at the scene (between our school and ministry center). Yet another loss of life by use of a gun. One is tempted to say there is nothing you can do, but this is not true. We are fortunate to have the organization CeaseFire PA in the Commonwealth. They help to identify changes in
Pennsylvania public policy that can make a difference. Currently they are working on closing the long gun loophole. Federal law requires that licensed firearms dealers conduct background checks on all firearms sales. But regulation of unlicensed, private sales is left to the states. This leaves a large gap where unlicensed sellers can peddle guns online, at gun shows, in parking lots, or anywhere else, without running background checks. Pennsylvania has partially closed the loophole by requiring that all handgun sales – whether by licensed or unlicensed/private sellers – undergo background
checks. However, PA allows the private sales of long guns – shotguns, rifles or semi-automatic assault weapons like the one used at Newtown, CT – without a check. The result is that prohibited purchasers who aren't allowed to buy guns, including violent felons, domestic abusers and the seriously mentally ill, flock to unregulated private sales, including online and parking lot sales, where they can buy guns without background checks, and no questions asked. We should treat private sales of long guns the same as private sales of handguns. Although (Continued on page 4)
In This Issue
Environmental Justice is The NewPeople’s focus for 2016! The photo above is from the COP21 Paris Agreement. For more on the environment and for more photos, continue to pages 8 and 9. Photo by Mark Dixon.
Merton Center New Director…
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Closing School of the Assassins…
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Calling Out Climate Scrooges…
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Fourth River Workers Guild…
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Statement on the Syrian Crisis by the Anti-War Committee of the Thomas Merton Center Syria is a sovereign country listed as the Syrian Arab Republic and one of the 190 sovereign states recognized by the UN, with its sovereignty disputed by none. When the Arab Spring arrived in Syria in 2011, unfortunately the end result was a violent military struggle, unlike the outcome in Egypt and Tunisia. The violence in Syria was exacerbated by the entrance of foreign powers, particularly the US and Saudi Arabia, as suppliers of weapons and supporters of armed resistance. The Ambassador of the US to Syria in 2011, Robert Ford, almost immediately met with the rebels and began delivering arms to them. No effort was made to reach a peaceful, nonviolent solution to the problem by the US and its proxies. The demand of the US was the overthrow of Bashar al Assad because he was seen as an ally and
You can access The NewPeople online at http://newpeoplenews.wix.com/ newpeoplenews
proxy to Iran. Deposing Assad was seen as an indirect way of hitting at Iran. Eventually, the role of the US in Syria has moved from that of arming with weapons and supporting the rebel factions with intelligence and logistics to direct military intervention by bombing of rebel groups it does not support, such as ISIS and Syrian government troops. The US has bombed two electrical power stations in the vicinity of Aleppo and other civilian targets. These bombing interventions are clearly in violation of international law and have not been authorized by the US Congress, since we are not at war with Syria. The Russian Federation entered the war in Syria in October 2015 when it announced that it was sending bombers to Syria. This has brought only further dislocation and mayhem to this benighted land. However, in justice it has to be said that Russia is in Syria at the invitation of the legitimate government of the country. Since the bombing of civilian targets in Paris, France in November 2015, we have witnessed the entrance of France, Germany and most recently Britain into the bombing campaign against
ISIS and other targets in Syria. The reflex reaction of the Paris bombing is tragic, especially in that the perpetrators of the Parisian crime had no connection to Syria or the groups fighting there. In addition, these interventions are against international law, just as the US role has been. We, the Anti-War Committee of the Thomas Merton Center condemn all these foreign interventions by the US, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Turkey, and the proxies of NATO powers, namely Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. We maintain that the only solution to the Syrian conflict is a political one. The demand of the US that a precondition of diplomatic talks is President Assad’s resignation is a stopper for any negotiations. We demand all troops out of Syria, an immediate cessation of all bombing, and open-ended negotiations for a diplomatic solution be undertaken by the UN, the only body that has the authority to undertake this effort. The Anti-War Committee is a project of the Thomas
Merton Center.
The Thomas Merton Center works to build a consciousness of values and to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, classism, economic justice, oppression and environmental justice. TMC engages people of diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world.
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Thom Baggerman, Ed Brett, Michelle Burton-Brown, Rob Conroy (President), Neil Cosgrove, Mark Dixon, Michael Drohan, Patrick Fenton (Treasurer), Mary Jo Guercio, Wanda Guthrie, anupama jain, Ken Joseph, Anne Kuhn, Jonah McAllisterErickson, Jim McCarville, Joyce Rothermel, Molly Rush (co-founder), Tyrone Scales (Secretary), Evan Schindler, M. Shernell Smith (Vice President).
The East End Community Thrift (Thrifty) is an all volunteer-run thrift shop which provides quality, low-cost, used clothing and household goods to the surrounding community. Thrifty needs volunteers and shoppers! Please contact us at (412) 361-6010 and ask for Shirley or Shawna, or stop in at 5123 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224. Email shawnapgh@aol.com.
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Anti-War Committee awc@thomasmertoncenter.org Book‘Em: Books to Prisoners Project bookempgh@gmail.com www.bookempgh.org Capital’s End 724-388-6258, iamholtz@iup.edu CodePink: Women for Peace francineporter@aol.com, 412-389-3216 www.codepink4peace.org East End Community Thrift Shop 412-361-6010, shawnapgh@aol.com Economic Justice Committee drohanmichael@yahoo.com Environmental Justice Committee
environmentaljustice@thomasmertoncenter.org
Fight for Lifers West Greater Pittsburgh Interfaith Coalition Anne Wirth 412-716-9750 Harambee Ujima/Diversity Footprint Twitter @HomewoodNation
Human Rights Coalition / Fed Up (prisoner support and advocacy) 412-802-8575, hrcfedup@gmail.com www.prisonerstories.blogspot.com Marcellus Shale Protest Group melpacker@aol.com 412-243-4545 marcellusprotest.org New Economy Campaign gabriel@thomasmertoncenter.com Pittsburgh 350 350pittsburgh@gmail.com World.350.org/pittsburgh Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance Pittsburgh Campaign for Democracy NOW! 412-422-5377, sleator@cs.cmu.edu www.pcdn.org Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition jumphook@gmail.com; www.pittsburghdarfur.org Pittsburghers for Public Transit 412-216-9659 info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org
The New People is distributed to 3,000 people who belong to diverse organizations, businesses and groups each month. The deadline for all submissions is the 13th of the month for the following month’s issue.
School of the Americas Watch W. PA 412-271-8414 drohanmichael@yahoo.com Shalefield Stories (Friends of the Harmed) 412-422-0272 brigetshields@gmail.com
To Submit Articles, Photos, or Poems: Visit www.thomasmertoncenter.org/newpeople/submit. To Submit an Event to the TMC Calendar: Visit www.thomasmertoncenter.org/calendar/submit-event To Advertise: Visit www.thomasmertoncenter.org/newpeople/ad Advertising prices range from $15 for a business card size to $250 for a full page. There is a 10% discount when purchasing 6 months of ad space at a time, and a 20% discount when purchasing a year of ad space at a time. An additional 10% discount is available for non-profit organizations and faith-based groups. For more information: Call 412-361-3022 or email newpeople@thomasmertoncenter.org.
Stop Sexual Abuse in the Military 412-361-3022 hildebrew@aol.com
Page 1 Close Pennsylvania’s Long Gun Loophole For Background Checks! Statement on the Syrian Crisis by the AntiWar Committee of the TMC Page3 Thank you, Marcia! TMC Welcomes New Executive Director Meet New TMC Board Member: James McCarville Page 4 Boycott, Divestment, Sanction Israel: BDS Comes to Pittsburgh 2016 Elections Calendar Close Pennsylvania’s Gun Loophole (cont’d) Page 5 Closing the School of the Assassins Prison Labor and the Climate Crisis Page 6 135 Wars? Do You Feel Safe? The Dulles’ Brothers ‘Deep State’ - Review 2 - NEWPEOPLE
January 2016
Page 7 Scapegoat: The Dilemma of Muslim Refugees In the United States A Statement about the Syrian Refugees Released by the TMC Anti-War Committee Page 8 Pittsburgh Tour of Climate Scrooges Calls Out Industry Role in Local Air Pollution Media Matters at the Climate Summit Page 9 2015 Shale and Public Health Conference COP21 International Climate Negotiations What Did You Do Once You Knew Page 10 Labor Update Cooperative Business in Action: Fourth River Workers Guild Page 11 Culture Watch: America’s Knights
412-848-3079
The Big Idea Bookstore 412-OUR-HEAD www.thebigideapgh.org The Black Political Empowerment Project Tim Stevens 412-758-7898 CeaseFire PA www.ceasefirepa.org—info@ceasefirepa.org Citizens for Social Responsibility of Greater Johnstown Larry Blalock, evolve@atlanticbb.net Global Solutions Pittsburgh 412-471-7852 dan@globalsolutionspgh.org www.globalsolutionspgh.org
North Hills Anti-Racism Coalition 412-369-3961 email: info@arc.northpgh.org www.arc.northpgh.org PA United for Single-Payer Health Care www.healthcare4allPA.org www.PUSH-HC4allPa.blogspot.com 412-421-4242 Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi 412-761-4319 Pittsburgh Cuba Coalition 412-303-1247 lisacubasi@aol.com
Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee info@pittsburgh-psc.org www.pittsburgh-psc.org Raging Grannies 412-963-7163 eva.havlicsek@gmail.com www.pittsburghraginggrannies.homestead.com
Religion and Labor Coalition 412-361-4793 ojomal@aol.com
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) 412-471-8919 www.ueunion.org Veterans for Peace kevinbharless@yahoo.com 252-646-4810 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Eva 412-963-7163 edith.bell4@verizon.net
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Table of Contents
Association of Pittsburgh Priests Sr. Barbara Finch 412-716-9750 B.a.finch@att.net Battle of Homestead Foundation
SWPA Bread for the World Joyce Rothermel 412-780-5118
Progressive Pittsburgh Notebook 412-363-7472 tvnotebook@gmail.com
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Amnesty International info@amnestypgh.org - www.amnestypgh.org
Pittsburgh North People for Peace 412-760-9390 info@pnpp.northpgh.org www.pnpp.northpgh.org
412-512-1709
We are mission driven volunteers who look to build love and community by serving others in times of need.
Abolitionist Law Center 412-654-9070 abolitionistlawcenter.org
Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network 412-621-9230 office@piin.org Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Martha Connelly 412-361-7872, osterdm@earthlink.net TMC supports these organizations missions.
This Changes Everything and Nothing A Film Review Page 12 Nagasaki: Primary Lessons Taught by a “Second City” ‘Picasso’s War,’ by Russell Martin - Review Page 13 Breaking News From The Giornale Vaticano The Elektionbury Tales Political Cartoon Page 14 Rethinking Sugar Addiction, Obesity and Its Victims Drug Prices: Some Good Developments Crazy Joe Page15 Thank You to TMC’s Fall Interns Another Generation in Revolt Mental Internet Page16 January Calendar
Merton Center News
Thank you, Marcia! The Merton Center owes a huge debt of gratitude to Marcia Snowden for her willingness to step in as interim director while we conducted a search for a new Executive Director to replace Diane McMahon. Marcia, a founding member of the Center, twice served as President of the Board of Directors. She’s been arrested for nonvioMarcia Snowden. lent actions that Photo by Renee Rosensteel reflected her commitment to ending war and poverty. She was also jailed during the trial of the Harrisburg 8, who were charged with conspiring to blow up the heating pipes in Washington DC
By Molly Rush
and kidnapping Henry Kissinger! [This “plot” was dreamed up by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover during one of his worst nightmares]. When I met Marcia in the 1960s we were both active with the Catholic Interracial Council. She was principal of St. Joseph’s school in Manchester. The Pastor was Fr. Jack O’Malley, whose work against racism is legendary. During the United Farm Workers (UFW) struggle, the Rojas family came from California to organize the UFW grape boycott. They soon found a home in St. Joseph’s rectory and some parishioners joined the campaign for farmworkers’ rights. Progressive Catholics were deeply inspired by Pope John XXIII’s Vatican Council II that moved a closed-in church to renew itself and opened its doors to the world. Many nuns, priests and lay people joined in the struggle, some marched in Selma and protested segregation here. Many got involved in civil rights. As the Vietnam war dragged on, it led to the founding of the Merton Center in 1972. From the beginning members of all faiths and philosophies were – and are - involved in the nonviolent pursuit of peace, human rights and a just world.
TMC Welcomes New Executive Director By Mary Jo Guercio
It is with excitement that I announce that Antonio Lodico has been offered, and accepted, the position as Executive Director of the Thomas Merton Center. His first day as the Executive Director of the TMC was December 14, 2015 and so began another chapter in the Center’s 43-year history. In accepting the position, Antonio shared, “I deeply respect the Thomas Merton Center, its history, values, mission, work, members and leaders, and everything else that makes it what it was and is. I am honored to help the organization continue its tradition, grow, and thrive in the months and years ahead.” Antonio brings a lot of experience in working with organizations
who strive for peace and justice to his new position. He has previously served as Co-Director of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee and most recently was employed by the PA AFL-CIO. I also want to thank Marcia for stepping in and doing an excellent job as Interim Director for the last 6 months. Her thoughtful and caring management style helped keep the TMC's daily operation steady and focused! Please join me in welcoming Antonio.
Out of her personal experience Marcia has promoted nonviolence training, which not only prepares for protest actions, but as a lifestyle, one determined to seeing an opponent not as enemy but as offering a real opportunity to learn how to be open and creative in our approaches. Marcia brought a wealth of experience to the Center. She founded Carlow Hill College, as she said “to bring the best opportunity I could to women from poor communities such as the Hill.” She worked with the Allegheny Conference on school desegregation, Good Schools on state funding for schools, Bethlehem Haven shelter for women, all of which have informed her practical, down to earth approach to being true to her ideals. “ Being on staff at the Merton Center has been a blessing,” Marcia said. “I will miss most the goodness of staff and the people. I plan to stay connected, including with interns.” You’ve been a blessing, Marcia. We’re grateful for all you have done and will continue to do. Molly Rush is a co-founder of the Thomas Merton Center
Anti-War Speaker Series The Thomas Merton Center will present an Anti-War Speaker Series throughout 2016, exploring the causes and impacts of US global conflict, the way that US wars intersect with other issues, and lessons learned from activist movements.
Mohammed Bamyeh, PHD, from the University of Pittsburgh Sociology Department, will give a talk about the Arab Spring, and how it set the stage for the current situation in the Middle East. Tuesday, January 26th from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, 116 S. Highland Ave, 15206, in the small dining room.
Mary Jo Guercio is the immediate past president of the Board of the Thomas Merton Center and headed the search for the new Executive Director.
Meet New TMC Board Member: James McCarville By Joyce Rothermel
Coming to TMC membership as an admirer of the work of the Merton Center, especially its antiwar efforts, James (Jim) McCarville was elected to a three-year term on the board of the Merton Center beginning this month. Jim was also attracted by the Center’s namesake Thomas Merton, identifying with what Merton stood for in his life and writings, especially at times of life decision-making. Jim’s background includes an education in history, political science, foreign service, philosophy, urban studies, and finally in senior executive management. His work experiences began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil, continued as Assistant Director of the Office of Justice and Peace in Milwaukee, then the Office of the Mayor. There he managed a 70-member citizens task force on Lakefront Recreational Planning and assisted with the activities of the City’s Harbor Commission. Later Jim became the Port Director on the Board of Harbor Commissions in Superior, Wisconsin. Leaving Wisconsin, he became Port Director in Richmond, Virginia. He continued his career in the 1990’s as an International Port Consultant in Brazil, Panama, Uruguay, Mexico and the US. Moving to Pittsburgh in 1994, Jim became the Executive Director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, retiring from there in 2014. Retirement has afforded Jim the opportunity
to become more engaged in organizations and activities of interest to him. The Thomas Merton Center is on Jim’s list. He began his involvement as a member of The NewPeople Editorial Collective, the Finance Committee, and the Anti-War Committee. After writing an article about refugees in the Jim McCarville Pittsburgh area, Jim was interviewed on the Merton Center radio show on the Union Edge. Another opportunity for Jim is becoming involved in refugee resettlement. Through his earlier work in the Peace Corps, Jim recognized the importance for the US to expand its role and image beyond business and the military through volunteer engagement person-to-person. This is one of the values of volunteering in refugee resettlement. Jim notes, “It is easier than people think!” In agreeing to serve on the TMC board, Jim hopes he can help the Center influence policy-
Photo by Joyce Rothermel
making in the US and in messaging its mission and positions to the public. Welcome, Jim! Thank you for bringing your values, experience, talents, and energy to the Merton Center, its projects, and especially our Board! Joyce Rothermel serves with Jim McCarville on the Editorial Collective and the TMC Board.
January 2016
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Opposing Sanctioned Violence Boycott, Divestment, Sanction Israel: BDS Comes to Pittsburgh By Kenneth Boas
The Palestinian people, held under military occupation for six decades, are the sacrificial victims of a global capitalism that justifies dispossession, racism, and incremental genocide in order to protect the hegemony of Israel and its increasingly powerful place in the weapons and securitization markets. The Palestinian people watch as the world abandons them. As Israel executes stone throwers, tortures children, steals land, burns olive trees, and demonizes the Palestinian people as collective terrorists, a patient and long-suffering people begin to rise up. Yet they have nowhere to go. Essentially a leaderless people, betrayed years ago by the Palestinian Authority and its corrupt elite, and unable to rely on Hamas in Gaza, paralyzed by fear of another Israeli invasion, the Palestinian people are on their own. They have every lawful right to resist the illegal Occupation of their land with any means neces-
sary, yet they know the futility of armed resistance against the might of the Israeli army. All peace talks have failed, sabotaged by Israel, which has used the talks to steal more land and bring more illegal settlements to the West Bank. A two-state solution, still absurdly talked about in diplomatic circles, has been rendered impossible by the facts on the ground in the West Bank, and it is now clear that Israel never had any intentions of “granting” the Palestinians a viable and self-determining state. Yet the Palestinian people will not forsake their homeland. Their steadfastness (samoud) is their watchword. They despair, but they know they are on the right side of history. They have been lied to, brutalized, demonized and made homeless; yet, they understand deep in their collective hearts what justice looks like and that they belong on their land. There is hope. Outside of Palestine, the International Boycott, Divestment, Sanction movement, now in its tenth year, is beginning to fulfill its powerful potential to break the back of Israel’s shameful and illegal treatment of the Palestinians. In 2005, the call went out: “We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by: 1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands (captured after 1967) and dismantling the Wall. 2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and 3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194” (Boycott Divestment Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights by Omar Barghouti,--BDS Call, 239). The Pittsburgh BDS Committee supports this call and is working to alert Pittsburghers both to the crisis facing the Palestinian people and to the illegal apartheid policies
of Israel. We have adopted the three goals of the BDS International Committee as the best means to help the Palestinian people win their freedom. Israel, although strong and protected, is vulnerable to ethical and economic pressure from the international community. BDS provides this pressure. For example, the City of Pittsburgh Pension Board has decided this month not to renew its holdings in Israel bonds. Whether this ethical decision was because of the BDS Committee letter to the board, or because the bonds were not making money for the city, we are proud of the City for doing the right thing. The Pittsburgh BDS committee has learned that Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) has hired a subsidiary of G4S, the largest private security company in the world, to police its campuses. G4S is involved in human rights violations at detention centers worldwide, including in Israeli prisons where Palestinian political prisoners and children are tortured and held without trial. We are joining Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups and organizations across the globe in calling for all contracts with G4S and its subsidiaries to be dropped. We do not want G4S in our community. For CCAC to contract with G4S is in effect to be complicit with the Illegal Occupation of the Palestinian people. Universities, charities, and churches across the country are divesting from G4S. CCAC must follow their ethical example. G4S is feeling the pressure from these powerful BDS campaigns. They have said they “did not expect to renew” its contract with the Israeli Prison Service. However, G4S continues to profit from Israel’s abhorrent prison system. A company that commits serious human rights abuses cannot be trusted to keep its word. Campaign pressure against G4S must continue until it entirely ends its role with the Israel Prison Service and all aspects of Israel’s apartheid regime! The Pittsburgh BDS Committee urges CCAC to cancel its contract with G4S. Until it does so, we will work diligently to make that happen. We hope we can count on The NewPeople readers’ support. (Contact for info and support: bdspittsburgh@gmail.com). Kenneth Boas is a visiting scholar of the Humanities Center of the University of Pittsburgh and a member of the Pittsburgh BDS Committee.
Close Pennsylvania’s Long Gun Loophole For Background Checks Cont’d from p.1 By Joyce Rothermel
handguns are used more frequently in crimes, long guns in the wrong hands are deadly. Long guns are used in approximately 10.5% of gun murders. Long guns are used disproportionately by domestic abusers to kill women. They are also used frequently by criminals against law enforcement officers. Since 2008, at least half of the Pennsylvania law enforcement officers killed with guns were killed with long guns. Requiring background checks on all gun sales will help keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them. Closing this loophole will save lives. Background Checks Work! The Pennsylvania background checks (PICS) system has blocked approximately 140,000 prohibited pur4 - NEWPEOPLE
January 2016
chasers since its inception. Nationwide, background checks have prevented more than 2.4 million sales of firearms to prohibited purchasers since 1994. They are easy and convenient. Background checks typically take only a few minutes, and 99.97% of Pennsylvanians live within 10 miles of a licensed dealer who can perform a background check. How Can Pennsylvania close this Loophole? HB 1010 and SB 1049: The Pennsylvania Background Check Bills. These companion House and Senate bills close the loophole by deleting the exemption for private sales of long guns. Firearms transfers between direct relatives, allowed under current law, are not affected. These bills have bipartisan support from
across the Commonwealth. The text and cosponsors of each bill are available online: HB 1010; SB 1049. Please contact your PA Legislators now. If they are co-sponsors of the bill, thank them. If they are not, encourage them to sign on to the bill. The message: Background checks: Every gun, every sale! (The information for the content of this article was provided by CeaseFire PA) www.ceasefirepa.org
Joyce Rothermel is a member of St. James Church in Wilkinsburg.
Calling Out Organized Destruction Closing the School of the Assassins
By Michael Drohan
From three to four thousand people from all over the United States and the Americas converged on Ft. Benning, Columbus, GA, with the purpose of closing the School of the Americas, aka the School of the Assassins, or the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). A party of six people from Pittsburgh joined this event as we travelled with a bus organized by our Cleveland collaborators, the Interreligious Taskforce on Central America (IRTF). We are grateful to each of them and to those who donated scholarship funding to help underwrite the cost of the trip. Participating in this weekend experience is a highly charged spiritual event which is intensely stimulating and empowering. During this weekend, we, the Pittsburgh contingent, were privileged to rub shoulders with and be inspired by the most amazing group of militants for peace and social justice in the land. Just to cite one example, I met a person from the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, who has been refusing to pay taxes for war for some thirty years. His house was repossessed by the IRS but he remains undaunted. He maintains, and rightly so, that the IRS and government in general intimidates, if not terrorizes, us into paying taxes; some fifty percent of which goes into underwriting wars and terrorism around the world. One does not often meet in the space of a weekend the variety and caliber of social justice activists that come together at Ft. Benning on the last weekend before Thanksgiving every year.
Our Pittsburgh group met with our Cleveland fellow protesters in Columbus, OH on Friday November 20 and travelled overnight to Columbus, GA . From there we went onto Lumpkin, Ga, the location of the Stewart Detention Facility operated by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). This detention facility is a for-profit institution that houses illegal immigrants. It is notorious for its maltreatment of inmates. Most of the immigrants will be eventually repatriated to Mexico and, in all likelihood, separated from their spouses and children. Our reason for demonstrating in Lumpkin is to underline the connection between the School of the Assassins and the Detention Center. The detainees are the victims of the work of the graduates of the School of the Assassins. They are running from violence, drugs and poverty created by the regimes put in place by the US and its SOA graduates. On the afternoon of Saturday, November 21 we assembled in the Convention Center in downtown Columbus for a variety of workshops on peace and justice struggles across the hemisphere. We could only attend a small number of the offerings. I attended a workshop entitled “Police Violence from Baltimore to Bethlehem,” conducted by Jewish Voices for Peace. Talk of connecting the dots. The presenters spoke of the uprooting of 800,000 olive trees by Israelis, principally Israeli settlers, on the lands of Palestinian peasants and the demolition of Palestinian homes, if one dared to throw a stone at the Israeli soldier. US police officers are being trained by these
same Israeli forces in crowd control and intelligence operations. The connections are myriad and the cooperation goes deep. I also had the privilege of attending the workshop on the New Ploughshares Movement and their latest action in 2012 of breaking into a nuclear weapon facility in Oakridge, Tennessee and their subsequent trial. The defendants were treated as terrorists while the operators of facilities that are prepared to administer mass annihilation are treated as patriots. The dialogue centered on what can only be described as sanctioned legal insanity. It was such a privilege to be part of a group that put their lives on the line for the sane proposal of the abolition of weapons of mass destruction in our world. Kudos to the Catholic Worker movement, which constitutes the principal arm of opposition to our insane policy in regard to the possession and use of nuclear weapons. The highlight of the Ft. Benning annual event was the Sunday commemoration of the victims of the graduates who were trained in the facility behind the gates where we demonstrated. We chanted aloud the names of thousands of victims across Central America, benighted lands that were mowed down by the graduates of the SOA. I had the privilege of meeting the families of some of the victims, such as Marialena Bustamente whose brother, Dr. Emil Bustamente, was disappeared and undoubtedly tortured and killed in the Guatemala Mayan Highlands in 1982. His crime? He was an agronomist who was helping the Mayan peasants improve their agricultural practice. Our cry was “No Mas No More, we must stop the dirty wars; Companeros, Companeras, we cry out: No Mas No More. Close the School of the Assassins.” The Southwest Pennsylvania School of the Americas Watch group plans to travel to Washington, D.C. in April to join with others to seek a policy change by Congress to close the Army School of the Americas. Please contact the Merton Center to find out how to join in the effort. Michael Drohan is a member of the Editorial Collective and of the Board of the Thomas Merton Center.
These photos are from the 'Procession of the Dead' i.e. all those killed by the graduates of the school especially at the village of El Mozote in 1982. Photos by Michael Drohan.
Prison Labor and the Climate Crisis By Jordan Malloy
In the November issue of The NewPeople newspaper an infographic about how the climate crisis affects prisoners was published. This infographic explained the physical tasks prison workers take on. Most of the jobs involve dealing with the consumerist waste of the average American, removing toxic waste, cleaning BP’s oil spill, and fighting man-made fires in California. Some may argue that such dangerous and physical jobs are exactly what the prisoners deserve; do the crime, serve the time. Some may also argue that having prisoners work will balance off the cost of housing prisoners, and improve the work ethic of prisoners. This article and the previous infographic serve to disprove those points. This article also serves to display how the climate crisis, which is caused by the consumerism of the average American, affects those who are paying their own debts to society. Balance the Cost? Not quite. There are not enough prisoners involved to actually balance off the cost of housing prisoners. According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the average annual cost of incarceration in Federal prisons in 2010 was $28,284 per inmate. That cost is lower at the Federal Community Corrections Centers; in 2010 the annual cost was $25,838. One may think that the cheap labor provided by prisoners cut costs, but that money is not going back into the taxpayers’ pockets. Many prisons are privately owned and any money coming from the prisoners is going back to corporations and major investors such as JPay, Target, Walmart, Verizon and the Corrections Corporation of America.
Work Ethic? Counts for naught. It does not matter how hard a prisoner works, because to the outside world they are still prisoners. Sixty percent of employers surveyed in the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality (MCSUI), indicated that they would “probably not” or “definitely not” hire applicants with criminal history records, with “probably not” being the modal response. When they do get jobs they are low-paying jobs, which make supporting oneself difficult, much less a household. According to the Correctional Association of New York, 62% of women and 51% of men in state prisons are parents of children under 18. Low-paying jobs lead to government assistance, which can be difficult for former inmates to attain. Government assistance still is of very little help especially if an individual has a family. So, what is there left to do that provides a decent salary and is available to former prisoners? More crime; it’s the circle of life; life in prison, that is. Prisoners then return to jail and to their jail jobs to make products for Americans to demand from corporations like BP, who will do anything to sell their products, destroy the environment in this process, and then leave it to prisoners to clean up. This consumerism is one of the factors that makes the prison system so lucrative; it is the same thing that is environmentally destroying our world. We see the implications of global warming in the documentaries about polar bears trying to find new homes, or smog in China, or droughts in California. But what many do not notice is the impact
that climate change and weather emergencies caused by it have on prisons. Seldom are there any emergency evacuation plans put into place for the prisoners. When an emergency occurs, like hurricane Katrina or extreme spikes in temperature, the health of prisoners is left on the back burner. In the solitary confinement areas it is ten degrees hotter than the average prison grounds. Despite these conditions, prisoners are subjected to this confinement and any have died due to heat exhaustion while in solitary confinement. Prisoners are affected by climate change, just as the polar bears treading water are, or those in Beijing who suffer from severe asthma are. We as a society make it a priority to give refuge to animals in the Arctic. We as a society have made laws against waste that causes climate change on behalf of the people in Beijing. We as Americans create 25% of the world’s waste; we have 25% of the world’s prisoners. Yet we as Americans cannot be responsible for our own, or take responsibility for the fact that our prisoners are left in their cells to drown in the water of the world that America has melted.
Jordan Malloy is a business management major at Point Park University and an intern at the Thomas Merton Center.
January 2016
NEWPEOPLE - 5
America’s Hidden Wars WWIII: In 135 Pieces Depending upon how you count, the United States is currently engaged in military action in three countries, in six, in none, or in 135. How safe do you feel? Most Americans “feel” we are at war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. However, since there are no clear declarations of war anywhere (either by Congress or the UN), it is hard to say three, or none, or with Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and North Korea, or, take your pick among 128 others as well. For example, examine Yemen’s Sunni-Shia battleground for its complexity. It is an open secret that U.S. taxpayers are providing Saudi Arabia with bombs, planes and intelligence in their proxy war with Iran in Yemen. Dan Simpson, Associate Editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (12/2/2015), suggested that Americans may actually be co-piloting the Saudi aircraft. Saudi Arabia’s ally, and ours, the United Arab Emirates, admits to hiring Colombian and Eritrean forces for the fight. Eritrea, Amnesty International alleges, drafts some of its citizens into permanent and indefinite military conscription, causing that small country to be one of the largest sources of outbound refugees in the world. In 2014, The Nation published an article by Nick Turse, “America’s Secret War in 134 Countries, (updated by Turse in September 2015, on TomDispatch.com to “A Secret War in 135 Coun-
By Jim McCarville
tries”). Both articles were about the little known U.S. Strategic Operations Force/Strategic Operations Command (SOF/SOCOM). This command has over 70,000 personnel, $10 billion in budget and 11,000 “man-years” in foreign deployments. They operate “outside any type of outside oversight, increasing the chances of unforeseen blowback,” with unknown and potentially catastrophic consequences, according to Turse. But they also “carried out commando raids in Libya and Somalia, kidnapping a terror suspect, and engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.” All the while these operations were coupled with an exponential expansion of America’s drone war, according to Turse. Some critics call these twin developments the “president’s private army”. SOCOM will not specifically name the 135 countries that it supports or the specific nature of each deployment. Assumedly, most are either for training or for intelligence gathering. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee that this “new strategy” makes us safer, better prepared for another Benghazi attack. Maybe so, but there have been big setbacks. Many Afghan Taliban fighting us today were first trained by the U.S. to fight the Soviets. There was no Al Qaeda in Iraq before our invasion there. There was no ISIS in Syria before our support for
what James Carden called “the mythical moderate Syrian opposition” (TheNation.com, December 3, 2015, “Syria, the Rise of ISIS and the Perils of Regime Change”). In another complicated example, Libya’s Presidential Guard fled to Mali, spawning diasporas of terror throughout Niger, Nigeria, Algeria, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Today the world hemorrhages refugees and displaced persons, threatening the stability of nearby states, Europe and the NATO alliance. Carden argues that the scandal of our foreign policy is not to look at Benghazi, but at the American mania for regime change that “has led to one humanitarian catastrophe after another…” and that until we own up to the responsibility of our own actions and are willing to change them, no amount of new strategies will make any difference. “We will continue to keep on making the same mistakes over and over again”. Perhaps the problem is not as much in how we gather the intelligence but in how we use it. The use of this secretive force, started by President Bush, grew significantly under President Obama. What will happen under the next President? Jim McCarville is a member of the editorial collective and board of directors of the Thomas Merton Center.
Pentagon Proposes SOF War/Drone Expansion The Pentagon is proposing to the White House a new plan to build a string of new military bases in Africa, SW Asia and the Middle East for Special Operations Forces (SOF) to collect intelligence and to carry out strikes against terrorist affiliates. The plan would expand an old French Foreign Legion base in Djibouti as the Horn of Africa hub, serving airstrips in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso and supporting military operations in East Africa and Yemen. A hub in Moron, Spain, could coordinate activities for Niger and Cameroon in West Africa. Other hubs could be Erbil in northern Iraq and Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The White House has not yet made its determination on the plan, which would also have to be approved by the host country. (NY Times, 12-10-15 and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12-11-15). At the same time the U.S. Air Force proposes to double its drone pilots, to increase its Reaper drones from 175 to 250, to increase the number of flying squadrons from eight to 17 and to add as many as 3,500 pilots, sensor operators and other personnel. The $3 billion drone plan would have to be approved by Congress. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 12-11-15).
The Dulles’ Brothers ‘Deep-State’: Review of The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government By Michael Drohan
In this fascinating and important book, David Talbot explores the interstices of what has become known technically as the ‘deep-state,’ or the secret government of the United States. To his mind, the deep-state is a kind of subterranean network of financial, intelligence, and military interests guiding national policy no matter who occupies the Presidency. Allen Dulles could be described as the architect of this secret deep-state and its president from the time the CIA was set up in 1947 to well into the 1960s. The careers of Allen Dulles as head of the CIA under Eisenhower and his brother John Foster as Secretary of State are truly remarkable in the depth and extent to which they influenced policy, both domestic and foreign, for well over a quarter-century. Well before the formation of the CIA, the Dulles brothers had been extremely active in determining US foreign policy. Talbot traces their crucial role during World War II setting in place the Cold War that was to follow. The Dulles’ were extreme anti-communists and believed that the US should cut a deal with the Nazis and betray the alliance with the Soviet Union. During the war, Allen Dulles served in Bern, Switzerland with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the CIA, through which he came to know many of the SS leaders, most notably General Karl Wolff. He helped organize the ‘rat line’ for facilitating the escape of Nazi criminals to the US and to Latin America. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that the Dulles brothers, particularly Allen, were the primary architects of the subsequent hostility to the former ally, the Soviet Union. The Dulles brothers reached the pinnacle of their power under the presidency of Eisenhower, one 6 - NEWPEOPLE January 2016
as Secretary of State and the other as head of the CIA. Prior to taking these posts they had served with the powerful law firm, Sullivan and Cromwell, which managed the legal affairs of the most powerful US corporations, such as United Fruit, Standard Oil and the major banks. Their first post-war foray into international espionage and assassinations was in Iran in 1953 with the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh, a democratic Prime Minister who achieved the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) in 1950. The CIA, under station chief Kermit Roosevelt ( grandson of Teddy), came in to do the British’s dirty work in ousting Mossadegh and installing the puppet Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who reigned over Iran for the next 25 years with repression and violence. AIOC was soon denationalized and US oil companies got 40 percent of the drilling rights. Allen Dulles’ next act of regime change was Guatemala in 1954, where the democratic government of Jacobo Arbenz challenged United Fruit’s enormous banana plantation holdings. The CIA entered the fray on behalf of United Fruit, Dulles’ old client with Sullivan and Cromwell, and had Arbenz overthrown. Forty years of military repression ensued, and democratic hopes have been stifled up to the present day, thanks to Alan Dulles. One of Allen Dulles’ next stops was the Belgian Congo, which obtained independence in 1960 under the leadership of Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba was an ardent opponent of colonial rule and the exploitation of the Congo’s labor and resources. The CIA co-opted the military general, Mobutu Sese Seko, and succeeded in murdering Lumumba, ending the Congo’s quest for democracy and economic justice to this day.
One of the most infamous escapades of the Dulles’ clan was their effort to depose and assassinate Fidel Castro and end the Cuban Revolution. Their biggest exploit in this affair was the Bay of Pigs failed invasion of Cuba in April 1961. The CIA knew that the ragged band of returning exiles would fail in the invasion if the US did not come to their defense with air power. They bet on the new greenhorn President, J. F. Kennedy, being forced to enter the fray on behalf of the rebels but Kennedy wasn’t having any of it. It was a Dulles’ exploit that Kennedy wasn’t even privy to. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion generated enormous hostility to the Kennedy Presidency on the part of the Dulles brothers, the CIA, the military, the mafia and US business interests. If one likes, the ‘deep-state’ of the United States was embittered and thereafter determined to rid themselves of the upstart Kennedy presidency, thinking it was their prerogative to rule the country. In great detail, Talbot traces the efforts to assassinate Kennedy, ending with his actual assassination on November 22, 1963. Talbot makes a cogent case that Allen Dulles, with his CIA operatives and mafia associates, was intimately involved in the assassination. Talbot, in this captivating, voluminous work, traces the enormous influence of two powerful brothers on the course of US history, mostly for the worst. Intrigue, assassination and skullduggery were the hallmarks of their role in US history. Michael Drohan is a member of the Editorial Collective and of the Board of the Thomas Merton Center.
Welcoming Refugees Scapegoat: The Dilemma of Muslim Refugees in the United States By Isha Madan
On American news channels and articles, and in armchair discussions, the “refugee crisis” has become a popular topic. Some believe taking in refugees is a kindness; most see it as a burden. However, this dilemma cannot be truly understood until the political climate in which it exists is examined. In November 2015, presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested keeping a meticulous database of Muslims, reminiscent of Nazi-era policies enacted upon Germany’s Jewish population. In response, his fellow presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, declared that this was “shocking rhetoric” to be denounced. Meanwhile, she continues to support major wars, most of which are against Muslim nations, and to defend drone strikes that kill thousands of civilians. These are strikes that Michael Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in the Obama Administration, says cause more damage than good. What this tells us is that pro-war, anti-Muslim sentiments exist across all American political parties, regardless of the image they present, and thus influence much of the American population. While the American government is responsible for the deaths of Muslims abroad, hate crimes occur on US soil, and American Muslims are pressured to work as informants, as Muslims continue to be used as scapegoats. The controversy surrounding Syrian refugees is the most recent example. In 1938, there was a survey taken interrogating the American public’s attitude towards German and Austrian refugees who were understood to be Jewish
by Americans. The response was negative, for the most part. That response is similar to the attitudes towards Syrian refugees today. It has been said that the crisis in 1938 cannot be compared to what is happening today, but this argument underestimates the scope of ISIS influence. Indeed, ISIS is currently carrying out ethnic cleansing in Syria on a massive scale. Structures are disintegrating, and people are becoming displaced. Despite this ISIS violence, anti-refugee sentiment remains strong, and Syrian refugees are scapegoated for the same violence which has destroyed their lives. This is indicative of a larger pattern in the United States. Muslims are seen as the perpetrators of violence, but rarely its recipients, unless it serves a political purpose. This bigotry also serves as a parallel to the sociopolitical landscape of the 1930s and 1940s by 1945, 24% of Americans considered Jews a menace to society, ahead of Germans at 6%, despite the extreme violence the Jewish refugees had faced in the previous years. In the midst of the Holocaust, fear of “communist Jews” became widespread. Bigotry did not fade in the face of their suffering. As drone strikes fell on Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, some operators began to turn on their profession and yet American politicians voice support for the program with little pushback. Muslims are conflated with ISIS and other terror groups nationwide, leading to hate crimes, despite many Muslims being victims of terror. Muslims are repeatedly forced to prove they are not affiliated with extremist
groups, even when terror has made them refugees. Many Americans conflate Syrian refugees with ISIS, a terror group that is responsible for ethnic cleansing, displacement, and brutal violence against them. Many Americans are often not aware of the role the United States and its allies play in manufacturing the refugee crisis. There was a time when the United States had a diplomatic rapport with the Syrian government, and Bashar Assad was considered a reliable ally, with his Western education and neoliberal economics. This alliance fell apart, however,when the US began lending support to the Syrian rebels. The US was aware they were taking part in a fanatical, violent turn, as per a leaked Pentagon document. They continued to smuggle weapons to the antiregime rebels. While the US may not have directly created ISIS, its lack of foresight and deliberate ignorance fanned the flames. British intelligence was also involved in this process of support to ISIS rebels. With this background it becomes clear that welcoming Syrian refugees is more than mere kindness. It is an obligation. While the terror wrought by ISIS cannot be understated, the US and its allies have played a role. Islamophobic biases that downplay, ignore, or justify Muslim suffering must crumble if the United States is to move forward, and not repeat one of history’s most haunting mistakes. Isha Madan is a student and writer at the University of Pittsburgh. In her free time, she enjoys doodling and burrito bowls.
A Statement About Syrian Refugees Released by the TMC Anti-War Committee on Dec. 10, 2015 December 10th celebrates international human rights, and the inherent dignity of all peoples. Those rights include asylum, liberty, protection from torture, the right to be reunited with family, and the protection of the best interests of children. Refugees are part of the human family and are entitled to the same rights. Since 2011 an estimated 4 million Syrians have fled their country, seeking refuge from violence and insecurity. An additional 8 million Syrians are internal refugees in their own country. It is estimated that 75 percent of the Syrian refugees are women and children. President Obama has committed to accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees, but since 2012 we have only accepted 2,174 of them. Two million of the refugees are presently in Turkey living under harsh conditions while another million in Lebanon and roughly the same are in Jordan. The United States has committed to accepting 60,000 refugees worldwide. To date they have only accepted 1,854 Syrians. It can take up to two years for the
U.S. to complete the series of background checks required for a refugee to be resettled in the United States. Since the Paris attacks we have witnessed increased calls to reject Syrian refugees. The most bizarre and racist proposal has been to admit only “proven Christians”. These refugees are facing terror, violence and insecurity; they are vulnerable families, women, and children. We cannot and should not blame them for the actions of a terrorist organization. The attacks in Paris present us with an opportunity to join together and build stronger communities. Excluding Syrian refugees will not make us any safer. Instead, as Mayor Peduto said, exclusion will make us become “what we profess we are fighting—extremists in our own way—by labeling those that are trying to flee from terrorism as themselves terrorists.” Our greatest danger at this moment is fear bordering on paranoia, which is being fed by media hype and opportunistic politicians. Our vetting sys-
tem for refugees is very sound and there have been no instances in recent memory of violence perpetrated by refugees. A French former hostage of ISIS, Nicolas Henin, maintains that welcoming refugees is the best strategy in opposing ISIS. Welcoming refugees is a vaccine against ISIS, which wants the world to believe that the West hates Muslims and is an inhospitable place for them. Closing our homes and borders to Syrian refugees is playing into the ISIS strategy and designs. Now is the time, if ever, to take to heart and put into action the quote at the base of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door”. The Anti-War Committee is a project of the Thomas Merton Center
TMC Member Renewal Time: Become a 2016 Member Today Thanks to all TMC members for your support throughout 2015! We had a very full year, with many opportunities for engagement in the struggle for peace and social justice. Along side our activism was our many faceted celebration of the 100th birthday anniversary of Thomas Merton, the Center’s namesake. We began 2015 with a march from Oakland to downtown on Dr. King Day calling for an end to wars abroad and the militarism of police against people of color at home. The Center often led and joined others in the growing movement to address the climate crisis. We engaged the help of tens of interns in the various activities of the Center and our projects. Several of our projects made great strides last year. Most notable was the return of some of the bus routes through the efforts of Pittsburghers for Public Transit. The East End Community Thrift Store regained steam following the extensive road work on Penn Avenue. Another project
has joined us: Pittsburgh 350.org While we sadly bid goodbye to Diane McMahon, our Director in June, we have been joined by new Executive Director Antonio Lodico in December. The regular publication of The NewPeople and the weekly eblasts bring valuable information to our members and readers. As we enter 2016, we continue to take stands opposing the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and supporting the welcoming of Syrian refugees here. (see statements in this issue of The NewPeople). Momentum in environmental justice will increase following the COP 21 conference in Paris. Engagement in and support of the many labor struggles in our region regularly calls for our participation. Board and Staff will move us forward through their planning and implementation of strategic objectives. Will you join us? Take a minute today to renew your TMC
membership for 2016! It is easy. You can use the form on page 16 below the calendar, go on line at www.thomasmertoncenter.org, call the Center at 412-361-3022 or respond to the request for renewal when it arrives in the mail. If you are a NewPeople reader but are not yet a TMC member, please consider joining us. The work is abundant and your engagement greatly needed. We have a special introductory offer of only $25 for a yearly membership. Students and those with low income can join us for $15. In addition to memberships, we also welcome gifts in memory or honor of an individual and we encourage you to consider becoming a monthly peacemaker with a contribution of any size every month. January 2016 NEWPEOPLE - 7
Climate Scrooges and Shills Pittsburgh Tour of Climate Scrooges Calls Out Industry’s Role In Local Air Pollution By Gabriel McMorland and Eva Westheimer
Pittsburgh, PA- The afternoon of December 1 about 50 concerned community members, environmental groups, and social justice organizations marched throughout downtown Pittsburgh. The march stopped at what participants call Pittsburgh’s top “Climate Scrooges.” Accompanied by a marching band, a 12foot-tall puppet of the Ghost of Climate Future, lumps of coal, and a Climate Scrooge, participants visited the headquarters of Babst Calland Attorneys at Law, PPG, EQT, PNC, and US Steel. Representatives of all these corporations have been appointed to the Allegheny County Health Department’s Air Pollution Control Advisory Committee by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald after contributing to his campaign. Participants played off of the Holiday classic “A Christmas Carol,” having the Ghost of Climate Future visit each of the corporations and government bodies to show what a future will look like if action on climate change and air quality is not taken seriously. Each corporation and government body was represented by a “Climate Scrooge” and was left lumps of coal with messages attached. With some street theater as a part of the march actors chanted at each location, “We have come to show you a world in the making. A world that is the product of your crimes and pollution; where children breath poisoned air and families drink poisoned water. If we continue on the course you have set for us our future is grim. This is a haunting. This is what is to come. This is a forewarning of a bleak future.”
Pittsburgh Tour of Climate Scrooges, featuring the Ghost of Climate Future. Photo By Tom Jefferson
Pittsburgh is known for having consistently poor air quality. Participants on the march called out Rich Fitzgerald for appointing many of the top polluters in the region to sit on the government body with oversight over air quality issues in the region. In addition to appointing top polluters to the committee, participants called out the conflict of interest of having representatives from Babst Calland both sit on the committee, and represent Shenango Coke Works in legal actions against Clean Air Act enforcement and defending other environmental violations. Eva Westheimer, a member of Three Rivers Rising Tide, a local environmental organization, stated, “In our region air quality is a serious issue. The issues of air quality, climate change, economic and racial justice are linked togeth-
er.” Westheimer continued to state that, “We believe it is important to highlight these inconsistencies on the Air Pollution Control Advisory Committee. Resident’s health and well being should be considered more important than corporate profits.” This event was a part of Flood the System, a national effort to highlight intersectional issues such as climate change, environmental justice, housing justice, and economic justice and was held on December 1. Gabe McMorland and Eva Westheimer both participate in Three Rivers Rising Tide, a radical environmental justice collective working in the Pittsburgh area.
Media Matters at the Climate Summit The politics of the United Nations Climate Summit are at play both inside and outside the convention halls. While the mainstream media was covering inside, Democracy Now was the only American media outlet providing live and full coverage of the protests held outside. One of the protests provided a guided tour of the corporations on-site, greenwashing their products publicly while lobbying for their interests privately. The news from the conference after two weeks was not good. Given the current voluntary commitments from over 200 nations, the planet will warm from 3 to 5 degrees Celsius, a climate catastrophe. Gone are the Marshall Islands, the Maldives and Indonesia, most of Florida, California and the great global coastal cities. One would think such news would spark coverage at the level of the latest mass shootings, a 24hour coverage with media pundits speculating about the coming disaster. Instead, listening to mainstream media causes one to be less informed than by watching the comic coverage of the Daily Show or Late Show host Stephen Colbert. The media has done the nation a very great disservice. Jean Baudrillard’s concept of a media simulacrum helps us understand just how great a disservice it has been. For Baudrillard, our postmodern age mistakes representation for the real, and thereby endows the former with its own truth. We are further unaware of how such a transformed representation, or simulacrum, bends back on reality and changes it. The media’s power comes from its task of identifying and interpreting the facts and thus shaping the contours of our world and the way we think about it. Let’s look at the world created by the mainstream media as it reported on the Summit. It is a very narrow reality framed by a pre-digested platter of received assumptions. For instance, the world is seen through the lens of what the ‘political classes’ deem important. The first day of the conference, Fox, CNN, and CBS were all looking at the summit 8 - NEWPEOPLE
January 2016
in terms of American domestic politics and the ongoing battle between President Obama and the Republican presidential candidates. As for the rest of the globe, we are offered little more than justification of American foreign policy -- from being the natural world leader (no one else is willing to do what needs to be done) to a rejection of our responsibilities (China and India want to continue polluting, so why should we cut back drastically and lose our economic advantage?) After the third day, CNN announced it would have a special on climate issues at 7 a.m. Saturday morning! That’s like the Friday night dump when the White House puts out information they hope no one will notice. In other words, we live in an American-centric world that revolves around U.S. domestic politics, bad boy China and ineffectual world leaders. We are the good guys trying to make the world a safe place while other nations bicker and slow us down. The pundits then tell us what we think, i.e., we have so many other problems closer to home that we care about more! I would argue that this world view leads to confusion, frustration, anger and cynicism. The view from alternative media like Democracy Now, as well as from the Guardian or the NY Times, are entirely different. Being present and willing to cover inside and outside the Summit makes all the difference. We heard many different voices from around the world, from summit participants to climate activists who wanted to pressure delegates to agree to more drastic cuts. We hear from former negotiators; we listened to speeches by world leaders. We are addressed not as Americans, but as members of a global community, and our responses follow suit. What gives me hope are the activists from around the world coming together to save the planet. What I came to understand is that first world countries refuse to acknowledge that there are no climate solutions without climate justice. Climate justice means that these countries act upon their acknowledgement that their wealth, arising from
By Jo Tavener
economic activity, has resulted in a 1 degree Celsius warming of the planet. Instead, the United States came to the conference demanding that all emission cuts be voluntary, reparations not be considered, and that all nations be treated equally despite first world nations emitting over 75% of global emissions. As one former negotiator remarked, “The call for universal responsibility is a spin on historical responsibility and a refusal of actual responsibility by wealthy nations while shifting it on the developing world.” The mediated universe affects us in critical ways. If our prejudices are confirmed by shallow media representation, we understand less than we did before consuming the news. Our suspicions confirmed, we shake our heads in exasperation and turn away. Media workers need the courage to engage the rest of the world rather than assume its insignificance, building bridges for Americans to venture forth beyond our self imposed boundaries. Jo Tavener, a retired assistant professor of media and cultural studies, is now a member of The New People Editorial Collective. Top 10 countries emit 72% of all fossil fuel emissions Top 20 countries emit 78% and have 76% of gross global income Lowest (and poorest) 100 countries emit 3% of all emissions European Union (EU) emits over 4000 millions tons U.S. emits another 6000 million tons China emits 10,000 million tons with twice the population of EU and US combined
Among them, they emit half of all global emissions of fossil fuel
Environmental Activism 2015 Shale and Public Health Conference The 2015 Shale & Public Health conference gave concerned citizens and health professionals a chance to hear the latest research regarding the health impacts of shale gas development. The conference was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health at the Pitt University Club on November 18, 2015. Wilma Subra, a chemist who has received a MacArthur Fellowship for her work empowering citizens around environmental issues, helped to raise awareness and understanding of ethane crackers among the audience of approximately 175 people. Ms. Subra hails from Louisiana, where ethane crackers have been in operation; they are new to the Pittsburgh area. Although it has not formally committed to construct an ethane cracker, Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC has bought the former Horsehead Corp. zinc smelter property, applied for and received DEP permits to construct an ethane cracker along the Ohio River in Center and Potter Townships near Monaca, Beaver County. Other companies have proposed cracker complexes along the Ohio in Parkersburg, WV and Belmont County, Ohio. The cracker will take ethane, a product of Marcellus shale fracking, and turn it into ethylene that is used by petrochemical manufacturers to make various plastic products. The proposed cracker in the Monaca area will produce emissions of certain harmful chemicals in excess of allowable standards in a region which is already in air quality non-
attainment for some of these pollutants. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Air Quality permit requires Shell to purchase emission reduction credits to off-set the expected emissions (although the credits don’t necessarily have to be from companies in the Pittsburgh area). Two of the academic researchers at the conference presented peer-reviewed research results showing relationships between proximity to shale gas operations and the health status of pregnant women/ newborns. Both of these studies analyzed large sets of population data that are less subject to bias than anecdotal evidence or self-reporting on surveys. Dr. Bruce Pitt, who chairs the Occupational and Environmental Health department of the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health, described a relationship between proximity to shale gas operations and lower birth weights in Butler, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. Brian Schwartz MD, a wellrespected methodologist, Johns Hopkins professor and Senior Investigator at the Geisinger Center for Health Research, presented the results of a peerreviewed study recently published in the journal Epidemiology that found relationships between closeness to shale gas operations, high-risk pregnancies and pre-term births. The Geisinger studies analyze electronic health records from the Geisinger Health System, a large health system serving central and northeastern Pennsylvania. Results of Geisinger studies looking at the relationships between other types of health conditions and fracking operations will be forthcoming.
By Heather Harr
Dr. Jill Kriesky, the Associate Director of the SWPA-Environmental Health Project, made the case for the importance of establishing formal health registries in order to track the possible impacts of shale gas operations. Former Governor Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission made a recommendation back in 2011 to establish a Pennsylvania Health Registry, but the registry was never funded and thus never came into existence. This past spring, Governor Tom Wolf did propose in his budget $100,000 to begin the process of establishing a health registry. The conference included a special break-out session for health professionals to help them better understand and address shale health concerns in their practice. After a day of listening to research studies, the conference concluded with an opportunity for the public to brainstorm ideas for addressing shale issues in a round table discussion session with experts and civic leaders on specific topics such as shale waste disposal, asthma and air quality, models of sustainability, community engagement and civic engagement at the local and state levels. To watch videos from the conference, and get a downloadable version of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania’s 2015 Shale Gas Extraction and Public Health Resource Guide, visit http:// shale.palwv.org Heather Harr help organize the 2015 Shale & Public Health Conference.
COP21 International Climate Negotiations TMC board member, Mark Dixon, attended the COP21 Conference in Paris last month. Look for an article in the February issue of The NewPeople for more on Mark Dixon’s experience at COP21. “The COP21 agreement is clearly insufficient. And there are disconnects in various portions of the agreement. Huge gaps that all of civilization could fall through. But more than words took place at this monumental gathering. It was the greatest assemblage of world leaders in world history. It comprises the greatest pulse of human energy ever directed towards the 1.5C goal. It lit a fire under portions of the global media suddenly reporting on 1.5C. “ For more, visit Mark Dixon’s blog: markatcop21.wordpress.com Top & Bottom Photo: Protests in Paris December 12, 2015 Middle: COP21 Event Photos taken by Mark Dixon Come hear Mark Dixon speak on the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris, 7-8pm, January 19 at First United Methodist Church 5401 Centre Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15232!
What Did You Do Once You Knew? What did you do once you knew? “It’s 3:23 in the morning and I’m awake… because my great great grandchildren won’t let me sleep. My great great grandchildren ask me in dreams, What did you do while the planet was plundered? What did you do when the earth was unraveling? surely you did something ?… When the seasons started failing? surely you did something? As the mammals, reptiles, and birds were all dying? surely you did something? Did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen? What did you do once you knew? (Excerpts from Hieroglyphic Stairway, a poem by Drew Dellinger) January 2016
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Worker Struggles and Innovations Labor Update By Patrick Young
Steelworkers Maintain Solidarity Last month as the holiday season approached, locked out Steelworkers decorated Christmas trees on picket lines while workers at the Conflict Kitchen and the East End Food Co-op step up the fights for their first union contracts. A global commodity crisis has not prevented the United Steelworkers and US Steel from reaching a tentative contract agreement. Unionized workers weren’t the only ones to take action in December. The Paid Sick Day coalition pushed for implementation of Pittsburgh’s groundbreaking paid sick day legislation, Wal-Mart workers took action on Black Friday, and UPMC workers and fast food workers continued to team up to fight for $15 and a union.
worker at 12 Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) locations around the country have been locked out of their jobs since August 15th. The company is continuing to demand that workers agree to draconian cuts in healthcare and job security and go along with erratic work schedules before returning to their jobs. In the fourth month of the lockout, picketers were trading in shorts and t-shirts for Carhart coats and burn barrels on the picket lines. As the holiday season approached, workers were committed to making sure that ATI wasn’t able to ruin their Christmas. Union activists from around Allegheny County donated thousands of toys for locked out children through the Allegheny County Labor Council’s ‘Stuff the Bus’ program. Local unions at each site Conflict Kitchen and East End Food Co-Op distributed the toys at kids’ Christmas parties, comWorkers Fight for Their First Union Contracts plete with visits from Santa Claus. The Christmas In late August last year, the workers at the Concheer even spread to the picket lines as local union flict Kitchen, an art installation/food stand that activists organized ‘Light Up Night’ rallies at each serves food from countries with which the US is en- location. gaged in military conflict, voted overwhelmingly to The most recent round of contract negotiations join United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) between the Steelworkers and ATI was September Local 23. Just a few weeks later, workers at the East 11th. During that meeting the union presented a reEnd Food Co-op voted overwhelmingly to join the vised offer, but the company refused to move off of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of its August 7th ‘last, best, and final offer.’ However, America (UE). While workers at both self-styled the National Labor Relations Board’s recent deciprogressive institutions have won union recognition sion to file a complaint against ATI claiming illegal with relatively little resistance from management, labor practices provides hope that contract bargainneither group of workers has won their first union ing will resume. contract. Steel Industry Faces Crisis Workers at Conflict Kitchen have set the bar for On September 1, 2015 as the contract between the their first contract high, publicly calling for $15/ hour. Workers at the East End Food Co-op are also United Steelworkers and steel giant US Steel expired, thousands of Steelworkers and community pushing for improvements in wages and benefits. supporters marched through the streets of downtown Watch next month’s issue of The NewPeople’s LaPittsburgh in a raucous demonstration demanding a bor Update for news on contract negotiations. fair contract. In the following weeks, however, the campaign has been much quieter as talks stalled ATI LockoutContinued into Holiday Season amid a steel import crisis. More than 2,200 members of the United SteelCiting competition from unfairly traded Chi-
nese imports, US Steel has laid off workers across the country. The glut of imports has been caused by a general slow-down in the growth of the Chinese economy. So far, workers at US Steel’s Mon Valley Works facilities in Braddock, West Mifflin and Clairton have avoided the brunt of the layoffs but they are still navigating the uncertainty of working without a contract. Following months without any formal contract negotiations between the USW and US Steel, the Steelworkers called local leaders back to Pittsburgh to resume negotiations starting November 14th. These new negotiations bore fruit when a tentative contract between US Steel and USW was announced on December 19th. Steel workers must now examine the agreement before voting to accept or reject it. Wage Board Says Pittsburgh Needs a Raise In October, Pittsburgh’s City Council charged Councilman Ricky Burgess with convening a Wage Review Board to examine the impact of low-wage employment on workers in Pittsburgh. The Wage Review Board heard testimony from more than 100 workers and labor market experts from around Pittsburgh at two public hearings in October and delivered its findings on December 8th. In releasing the Board’s 177-page report, City Councilman Ricky Burgess called UPMC’s wages a ‘national disgrace,’ and drew parallels between UPMC’s labor practices and those of sharecroppers in the South’s reconstruction era. The report noted that UPMC’s poverty wages push costs onto tax payers, since full-time workers qualify for food stamps and other forms of social assistance. Patrick Young is the Financial Secretary/ Treasurer of Fight Back Pittsburgh (fightbackpittsburgh.org), an associate member program of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 3657.
Cooperative Business in Action: Fourth River Workers Guild
By Ron Gaydos
Fourth River Workers Guild began when four people taking the Permaculture Design Course decided to make something happen before they lost momentum or enthusiasm after they completed the course. Ben Ledewitz, a member of the group, was doing a lot of research on governance and the cooperative business space in general, and leading study with friends on John Buck and Sharon Villines’ book W e the People, a major work on cooperative governance. Ledewitz’s mother, architect Stefani Danes, had extensive experience in community development, and was asked to advise them. They explored all kinds of businesses. With a combination of Dave Stokes’ construction experience, and support from others, they began to organize a company in that field. The group started to meet regularly, with cooperative governance as an early focus, and decided to get to work. Their first job was just to paint a garage, but it was more an experiment in a new kind of company, and the beginning of Fourth River Workers Guild! Gradually, they took on new members. Two of the original members left; one moved away from Pittsburgh and another decided it was not for him at the moment. As they worked, they formed their company structure: how worker-owners are compensated, and how ownership shares are determined. After two years, Fourth River has worked out an effective structure for operations and governance. It’s a limited liability company, with by-laws written into the incorporation that spell out its cooperative nature. Pay rates for owners are determined by consensus based on the skills each owner can apply to Fourth River’s work. Each member’s ownership percentage is determined by the total number of hours worked for the company. The owners also determine by consensus how to use profits put into savings. They typically reinvest profits into new equipment, training, or relevant conferences, but they also anticipate using this fund in the future to help further develop the cooperative business ecosystem. Such investment may assist a 10 - NEWPEOPLE
January 2016
potential partner company into a stronger position, allowing it to do business with Fourth River. It may also go towards mentoring or providing financial assistance to new cooperatives. Stokes pointed out that “our job gets easier the more robust other [like-minded] businesses in the area are.” Even though the company is small – the other four worker-owners are Brennan Komlenic, Brandon Ference, Seth Nyer, and Shane Eazor – a Fourth River worker-owner Dave Stokes with Bantha Tea (5002 hectic work environment can distract the group Penn Ave, Garfield) owner Brett Boye and manager Jack Ball. from governance matters. They handle this Fourth River built out the façade and interior. Photo By Ron through bi-monthly policy meetings where they Gaydos discuss possible changes in policies, decision making, and worker-owners’ roles. something! An example of these meetings’ outcomes is the One final lesson Stokes wanted to relate is that decision to appoint Ledewitz as the Manager, so governing by consensus takes time. Starting simple workplace decisions can be made without having to and progressing slowly, and then building from constantly consult the whole group on operational there, is a prime principle of permaculture and susmatters. Stokes made it clear, and Ledewitz agrees tainable business development. While every particihimself, though, that he’s not “the boss”. pant will have their own perspective and pace Another example is the method by which new throughout the process, Stokes said it doesn’t take as worker-owners are taken on. Interested people with long as you might think it does. the skills needed are hired as short-term employees Looking forward, Stokes offered a few things for 60 work hours. After that the prospective worker that he and his fellow Fourth River owners thought -owner and Fourth River decide whether or not to the cooperative business ecosystem in the Pittsburgh have them join. If so, worker-owners pay a $1,000 area needs. They range from shared services like equity share into Fourth River, either as a one-time marketing, web sites, and bookkeeping to joint purpayment or a 10% pay deduction until their share is chasing, to greater progress in the Pittsburgh area in capitalized. sustainable, triple-bottom-line development. The Their experience has blessed them with many owners would also like to see workshops, business lessons. One huge lesson was the necessity of recoaching, and speakers who are leaders in inclusive, learning cooperative culture in our typically hierar- cooperative business. chical business environment. Fourth River Workers Guild worker-owners are Another lesson is that a co-op “requires humili- not “gurus” yet, as Stokes said, but they have a lot to ty and openness, to try to be sincere and let go of offer the Pittsburgh area in the construction industry ideas and intentions put forth to the group, so it can and for cooperative business. be considered for the good of the group”, according to Stokes. He added that this is not a plug-and-play Ron Gaydos is a consultant in inclusive economic develmodel, but “has to be organically developed among opment, entrepreneurship, and organizational strategy. He is a member of the Thomas Merton Center’s New the participants.” This approach from four young Campaign, and Co-Founder of the Pittsburgh men in a society demanding “the lone warrior” per- Economy Chamber of Cooperatives. sonality from boyhood on? These guys are on to (www.PittsburghChamber.coop)
Capitalism and Class Culture Watch: America’s Knights By Jo Tavener
Last month I identified George Bailey and Archie Bunker as media representations of the middle and working classes, respectively, created by progressive middle class writers. I suspect that leftof-center middle-class Americans are often more affected by the American image of a classless society, where entrepreneurial opportunity and humane values go hand-in-hand, than are the upper or working classes. Historically the working class was divided along the issue of class. While socialists and anarchists understood class in terms of a fundamental antagonism between labor and capital, the Knights of Labor, one of the most significant organizations of the 1880s, upheld the nobility of all labor and worked to unite all workers under one banner: skilled and unskilled labor, men and women, blacks and whites, transcending the very deep antagonisms of the day based on race, creed, gender and skill. All were welcome, even small businessmen, as long as they recognized the nobility of labor. The opposition was between the “producing” classes and the greedy bankers/ big business/monopolies. The Knights championed worker-owned cooperatives and fought the bosses not just for the 8-hour day but to redeem society for the good of all. It sounds so hauntingly familiar! Today, when progressive leaders like Robert Reich (Saving Capitalism For the Many, Not the Few) and Joseph Stieglitz (Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy) speak of reform, their words recall the Knights, dedicated to bringing forth a modicum of economic fairness and civic virtue in terms of higher wages and less inequality within healthy functioning communities. Today’s Knights embrace an updated version of the producer ideology, with its sense of America as a nominally classless society where labor and capital are not at odds with one another. The dream is still America as the land of opportunity, with its iconic story of rags to
riches. The panacea is policy change with government regulation and oversight to end the transfer of wealth from American workers to the top one percent. The Next System Project (NSP), an initiative co-chaired by James Speth (environmentalist) and Gar Alperovitz (historian and political economist), is a product of the Democracy Collaborative that underwrites the New Economy Movement. (See December’s article). Speth’s NSP report, “Getting to the Next System: Guideposts on the Way to a New Political Economy,” explains why system change is necessary; what it would look like; and how we might build it. It is very close in detail to what must be the economic and philosophical foundations of the changes desired by most American progressives. However, my disagreement with Speth concerns his reworking of the American Dream. Though he rejects Reich’s reformed economy based on continued growth and turns towards one in which environmentalism is civic virtue and allied with the individual right to happiness, he refuses to deal with the intrinsic Capitalist struggle between Capital and Labor. Instead of re-evaluating our membership in a multi-cultural working class, with its historical mission as the engine of change, he posits the growth of a mass movement on a rearrangement of values, away from a materialism that is “toxic for happiness” and towards our earlier Puritan and Quaker traditions. Unfortunately Puritan America was not what it came to signify. Speth is asking us to base the new American Dream on the truthiness of an imagined American identity of rural simplicity, its “personal self-reliance through frugality and diligence,” its “commitment to conscientious rather than conspicuous consumption, to contemplation and creativity... and an aesthetic preference for the plain and functional.” To this he adds a current wish, “a sense of both religious and ecological responsibility for the
just use of the world’s resources.” Sorry, we can’t go back. We can’t return to Reich’s Middle Class America of the 1950s nor can we revive a pre-industrial rural culture for our urban post-industrial age. None of the current progressive imaginings noted here have taken on the issue of power and its relationship to actually existing capitalism nor how that very relationship undermines the growth of mass movements, the possibility of democracy and the pursuit of happiness for the many and not the few. We are trapped by an imagined national identity based on the notion of God’s chosen people, the exceptional nation, the Puritan shining city on the hill. Sacvan Bercowitz, in The A merican Jeremiad, argues that ‘America’ is an ideological construct, an imaginary, shaped over time to bridge the contradictions between our Puritan heritage and 19th Century industrial capitalism. America as a middle class society became our 20th Century addition, though it existed for little more than 30 years (1947-1977). Now that the middle class has been hollowed out, we move onto the 21st Century additions, the new entrepreneurism and a fraudulent “sharing economy.” For progressives, attempting to tap into such imaginings is a dead end. As I noted last month, we need to build an emboldened working class with a global class consciousness, willing to share the earth with all its inhabitants. That’s the story we need to tell; one I will be exploring in future articles. (For a more extended version of this piece, please go to http://newpeoplenews.wix.com/newpeople news and click on Cultural Watch) Jo Tavener is a member of The NewPeople Editorial Collective. Before retiring she was an assistant professor of media and cultural studies.
This Changes Everything and Nothing: A Film Review By Jason Beery
At the beginning of the recent climate change film This Changes Everything, the narrator and author of the book by the same name, Naomi Klein, asks the question: “What if human nature is not the problem, or what if greenhouse gases aren’t even the problem? What if the problem is the story we’ve been telling ourselves for over 400 years?” For Klein and director Avi Lewis, that story is the story of capitalism and nature. During the 90-minute documentary, released in October in anticipation of the climate talks in December, Klein and Lewis set out to explore climate change through a series of cases that illustrate the relationship between capitalism and nature, a relationship that mainstream environmentalism (“Big Environment”) has denied, or at best, ignored. Such a popular exposé is long overdue. Klein and Lewis should be commended for taking on such an ambitious topic. Synthesizing the history of capitalism and the connections between capitalism and nature, and then demonstrating how all this relates to current environmental problems and climate change is a daunting task. Case studies from Alberta, Montana, Halkidiki, Greece, Andhra Pradesh,and Beijing are the heart of the film. Through these examples replete with beautiful landscapes and scenery, the film very concretely shows how fossil fuels and the state-supported man-
tra of economic growth are devastating or would devastate the environments on which people base their livelihoods. These vignettes, mostly narrated by women, emphasize how this environmental devastation directly threatens already-marginalized communities – the Cree in Alberta, the Cheyenne in Montana, and the rural poor in India.The prioritization of women and people of color as defenders of their environments stands in direct contrast to the uniformly white and almost-uniformly male attendees of a Heritage Foundation climate denial event also featured in the film. This juxtaposition emphasizes the stark gender and race dimensions of climate change and capitalism. Most importantly, the film forces the viewer to think about the relationship between our politicaleconomic system and nature. It forces us to think about who is affected and how. In this sense, the film is most successful in showing that the environmental destruction in Alberta is directly related to the environmental destruction in Montana, in Greece, in India, and in China. According to the film, what connects them is a global, politicaleconomic system based on growth and powered by fossil fuels. It is precisely there that the film fails to live up to expectations. This is not so much a film about capitalism and climate change, so much as it is a film about fossil fuel expansion and climate change. While Klein discusses elements of capitalist economics throughout the film, the main problem that she identifies is fossil fuel-based growth, not capitalism itself. Capitalism – that dreaded “c” word – is not even mentioned by name until precisely halfway through the film. In this sense, it is a bit misleading to frame the discussion as “capitalism versus the climate.” This identification of fossil fuel based growth as the problem has significant consequences for
what is to be done. For Klein and Lewis, the solution is renewable energy. Throughout the film, they celebrate the manufacture and use of solar panels on small scales (as with the Cheyenne in Montana) or large scales (the mass production of solar panels in China) as the means to prevent climate change and as an inspirational demonstration that change is possible. The problem is that adopting renewable energy technologies will not solve either climate change or capitalism. The construction of solar panels still relies on the extraction of minerals and petroleum both for the materials needed for the panels themselves and for the energy required to extract, transport, and transform those materials. Mass production of renewable technology would still require mass extraction. Neither does solar or other renewable technology undermine capitalism. Quite the opposite, they represent new opportunities for capitalism to adapt and expand (at least in the short term) through the construction and sale of new products. Nothing about these technologies challenges the gender, race, and class-based relations of production that characterize capitalism. Yes, renewables are important, but they’re not a panacea to climate change or capitalism. In addition to the absence of voices and stories from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Australia and cities in richer countries, the film has some holes. While it should be celebrated for the questions it asks, its ambitious scope, its inclusion of marginalized voices, and its critique of fossil fuelbased growth, it lacked a broader analysis of the relationship between the underpinnings of capitalism and the climate change crisis. Jason Beery holds a Ph.D. in Geography and until recently worked as an adjunct professor in the Department of Geology and Environmental Science and the Department of Statistics at the University of Pittsburgh.
January 2016
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The Nuclear Spectre Nagasaki: Primary Lessons Taught by a "Second City” By Neil Cosgrove
The place-name “Nagasaki” connotes a “second city” far different than America’s Chicago and its famed improvisational comedy troupe. As the second (and so far the last) city to find itself on the wrong end of a detonated atomic bomb, Nagasaki has often been ignored, forgotten or used as an exemplar in the endless arguments over whether the use of nuclear weapons was a necessary, if admittedly traumatic, final act to the Second World War. Susan Southard’s Nagasaki: Life A fter Nuclear War, published this past summer, upon the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is a forceful, thoroughly researched, years-in-themaking argument for why the “second city’s” experiences on August 9, 1945 and in the decades that followed should be studied, contemplated, and thoughtfully discussed for as long as nuclear weaponry continues to exist. While Southard devotes considerable space to the official reasoning and justifications for dropping the bombs on densely populated Japanese cities, her focus on the bomb’s impact on individual human beings makes such historical hobby horses seem, finally, quite beside the point. Yes, the American military knew such weapons would inflict instant, massive death on tens of thousands; but “U.S. scientists conducted no studies on the potential effects of high-dose, whole-body radiation exposure,” says Southard, “nor did they investigate or develop potential treatments for the medical conditions that would ensue.” For years, every bit of evidence concerning the vaporized, pulverized, and flash-burned deceased, and the maimed, disfigured, cancer-ridden, traumatized survivors has been countered with the narrative that the bombs were the only effective way to sober up an intransigent Japanese war machine, thus sav-
ing the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not a million, of American soldiers who would have otherwise had to invade Japan to finally end the war. Such claims were one way Americans have dealt with life after nuclear war, although Southard cites much recent scholarship indicating just how fluid and evolving were debates within the Japanese government in August, 1945 and just how deep was the war weariness of the Japanese public at the time the bombs were dropped. Both individuals and governments seldom have single motives for whatever actions they may take. Reading Southard’s book forces us to recognize that, beside our protestations concerning self-defense, we also dropped the bombs because we had spent years and large amounts of money developing them, and needed to justify the effort. We were largely ignorant of their long-term effects when we first employed nuclear weapons, and the U.S. government made a considerable official effort in ensuing decades to downplay those effects. While our current knowledge is much greater, in large part because of the Japanese experience Southard depicts, all of us should be haunted by that second motive and the possibility that some other set of politicians, generals, or “non-state actors” will be similarly compelled to use atomic bombs, and to induce suffering on a scale that will obviously dwarf that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Southard devotes the bulk of her book to five Nagasaki survivors who gave meaning to their trauma by becoming witnesses to the long-term horror of nuclear war, aiming to disrupt another way Americans coped morally with our creation and use of those weapons. We adopted what psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton has termed “nuclear alienation,” a form of willed ignorance through which we could tell our-
selves that strategic thinking in the atomic age was best left to the “experts,” to the planners, scientists and politicians who could grasp the meaning of such arcane locutions as “throw weights” and “mutually assured destruction.” Again, the U.S. government worked hard in the decades after 1945 cultivating just such an attitude. But the proliferation and the exponentially expanding destructive power of nuclear weaponry has also called that coping mechanism into question. Trust in the “experts” was the savagely eviscerated target of Stanley Kubrick’s satirical film Dr. Strangelove, in which all the “smartest people in the room” and their fail-safe devices are foiled by one bourbon-swigging mad man within the Strategic Air Command. In a time replete with suicide bombers and various multitudes yearning for a “world-cleansing” apocalypse, Southard off-handedly mentions towards the end of her book the current existence of “more than 16,300 nuclear warheads … stockpiled at some 98 sites across the globe,”—all those bombs with nowhere to go, until someone, maybe someone regarded by others as quite rational, decides one or multiples of one could serve some valued purpose. In the more than seventy years since August, 1945, the United States remains the only country ever to employ nuclear bombs as weapons of war. Southard’s book is one more exceptionally eloquent plea that we directly confront the implications of this stark example of “American exceptionalism.” Neil Cosgrove is a member of the NewPeople editorial collective and serves on the Thomas Merton Center's Board of Directors.
Picasso’s War by Russell Martin A Review By Toni Conaway
Many years ago I read a book review of Shrapnel Academy by Fay Weldon in The NewPeople. It’s a gem of a book that I still think about. I now want to give back by suggesting a powerful book called Picasso’s War by Russell Martin. The Spanish Civil War often gets lost in history books despite its importance and the fame of Picasso’s painting “Guernica.” On April 26, 1937 the German Luftwaffe began a three-hour, relentless aerial bombing of the Basque town, Gernika. (the Basque name of the town). This was the first intentional, large-scale attack against a non-military target in modern warfare. Picasso, a Spaniard living in Paris, responded with artistic fury. His large black and white canvas, filled with grotesque bulls, horses and people, became his testament against the horrors of war. We stroll through history as Martin takes
this masterpiece from its unveiling in the Spanish pavilion at Paris’ 1937 International Exposition, to an around-the-world tour (Pittsburgh in 1942), to a home at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) for over two decades, and finally to its true home in Spain. Martin weaves the stories of world leaders (particularly Franco), politicians (a surprise mention of George McGovern), artists, museums (The Frank Gehry Museo Guggenheim in Bilbao), military leaders, teachers, poets, and lovers into a spell-binding story about “Guernica,” the greatest work of art of the twentieth century. It is fascinating to learn about the controversies that haunted this canvas for decades and to see how it has profoundly affected people whose lives were impacted by horrors such as My Lai, Hiroshima and 9-11. It is truly a painting for all time and all
people. In order to assure that the truth continues to be told, the Basque Parliament in 1987 established Gernika Gogoratuz, a peace research center which attracts students from around the world to study international understanding and conflict resolution. And the town of Gernika has formed a brotherhood with Forchheim, a town in Germany that was bombed terribly during WW II. Toni Conaway, a long time supporter of the TMC and The New People, is President of Peace Links and presently concerned about Climate Change
Every Monday at 9:00 pm
Representative Barbara Lee Address to Thomas Merton Center Banquet Airs within city limits: Comcast Channel 21 & Verizon FiOS Channel 47 January
Congresswoman Barbara Lee accepting the Thomas Merton Award on November 9, 2015. For more photos of the event, visit our Facebook page!
Photo by Maranie Staab.
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January 2016
Progressive PGH Notebook TV Series PCTV 21 - Public Access TV Videographer: Rich Fishkin Youtube.com/richfishpgh Producer: C.S. Rhoten (412) 363-7472 tvnotebook@gmail.com
Dark Laughter BREAKING NEWS FROM THE GIORNALE VATICANO PREFACE Below begins a recounting of the heroic exploits of three brave souls in their efforts to fight the crime, evil and badness they uncover in the Vatican City State. Thus begins the saga of THE BAT -PRIEST, REUBEN and THE MOTH vs. CORRUPTION IN THE ROMAN CURIA ________________________________________ _____________________________ (Episode 1) A solitary figure sat hunched over a scathing newspaper exposĂŠ of incredible shenanigans occurring but a kilometer away from his humble dwelling. It was a daring, but obvious truthful capsulation of goings on in the bosom of the institution to which he dedicated his life: the Roman Catholic Church - yes, the big R.C.C. Father Franco Bergoglio gagged at the sheer hubris of clerics of high rank who seemed bent on bringing down his own beloved ecclesia and also his beloved secret uncle, Pope Francis (aka Jorge Bergoglio). The Pontiff, unaware of their blood relationship (more later), fancied their identical last names to be of mere coincidence. By the dim light of his rectory lamp, Fr. Franco composed a confidential letter to the author of the Giornale Vaticano article, Umberto Falena, requesting a private meeting, hoping he could learn more of the sordid details and explore some means of ameliorating the situation. A lowly young Pastor in his own right, he served the largely poor parish of Santa Maria in the Trastevere section of Rome, and also ministered to the bohemian artists and students who frequented the cafes and trattorias in the ancient central piazza. On one of his evening pastoral visits, the peripatetic Fr. Franco befriended a wealthy young American expatriate from Gotham City, named Ricardo Goldenson. Goldenson, a super-rich hedge-fund trader and financial wizard, made a fortune on the Gotham City Stock Exchange but, guilt-ridden after splurges and plunges into various forms of debauched drug deviltry, decided to search for some deeper meaning to life. And his wandering led to the fortuitous encounter with the padre, Father Franco, in the piazza in Trastevere. Franco invited Goldenson to the meeting with the journalist, as the matter at issue was particularly up Goldenson's alley, so to speak, i.e. financial
or Chaucer Goes to Washington
(GENERAL AND PARTIAL PROLOGUE)
by Robert Jedrzejewski
Now it Can Be Told - The Story Behind the Story of Crime and Evil Vanquished in the Roman Curia
THE ELEKTIONBURY TALES
crime and corruption at the Vatican. With surprising speed, the three bonded immediately: a pious priest, a financial maven searching for identity, and a brilliant intrepid journalist. In quick order they decided that conventional methods to ameliorate the problem were to no avail. Something dramatic, new and powerful was required to confront the massive evil staring them in their faces. Goldenson remembered how all evil, crime and badness were extirpated from Gotham City's Southside by the caped crusaders Batman, Robin and The Moth. So they decided to form a secret cabal. Thus began - KABOOM AND HOLEY MOLEY REVISITED! their newly created identities as THE BAT-PRIEST (aka Fr. Franco Bergoglio), REUBEN (aka Ricardo Goldenson) and THE MOTH (aka Umberto Falena (YIPES - you knew - "falena" = moth in Italian). Pooling their considerable individual talents, virtues and dedication they vowed to combat the evil confronting them and threatening a renowned world leader of humble mien who seemed overwhelmed by the dual burden of shepherding a billion-member Church and running the apparently corrupt governmental operation of the Vatican City State. Utilizing the cavernous, abandoned old wine cellar beneath the Padre's rectory as their headquarters, what came to be the Bat-Cellar was equipped, thanks to Goldenson, with state of the art crime-fighting tools, especially the BatScroptic Praxometer with its myriad attachments, such as the Vox-Vectograph, Mass-Glyptographic - Spectroscreen, and much more. With the avowed secretive fealty pledged to them by the parish janitor, Giuseppe Schiaffini (code name "Joe the Jan") they were almost ready to launch. All that was left was to open the centuries old entrance door from the Bat-Cellar that would lead through a lengthy tunnel to the outskirts of Rome's yet undiscovered (Huh?) catacomb of Santa Carla Fiorina, where shortly would be housed the Bat-Fiatmobile and Bat-Vespacycle. Heartily approved by The Bat-Priest and Reuben, the Trio"s first mission was suggested by The Moth (aka Umberto Falena). He was a goldmine of informative details of the inner workings of the Vatican's vast financial enterprises. Their initial target: His Eminenza Cardinal Richeloni Albatrosso, the wily, stern-visaged head of the Piccolo Banco Vaticano (PBV) (the "Little" yeah! - Vatican Bank). (Next: The Moth pumps his leakers inside the Vatican, while Reuben brilliantly uncovers the key to the financial chicanery going on at the Piccolo Banco. The Bat-Priest discovers why the solidly entrenched Albatrosso is a wizened wizardly force to be reckoned with.) Robert J is a retired college instructor of philosophy, theology and literature.
When that Janwarre with his gloome and soote Elektion boothes are opened to the roote And blossoomes not yet bloom-ed on the brenches Folk line agyn to fill the votyrs trenches So naythaless whylst I have time and space Er that I ferther in this tale apace Me thinketh it accordant to resoun To tell the world whatz reallye going oun The Pollstiers did anointe the puffed-up Trumpe With gylden hair and bull-mouthed on the stumpe Secureth he the lyon's share o' cheerin' From bald, whyte voters heavye on the beerin'
A second sad-faced figure keeps a hummin' His whispered bromides, never stop a comin' 'Methinks Ben Carson shoulda stayed a surgeon 'Stead of heedin Evangelicalyes' urgin' Of meene Ted Cruz a foreign-borneth Texan His message causeth poor folks heep o' vexin' He'd send the "wetbacks" where they do belongest To show the voting Longhorns heeze the strongest Chris Christie's girth be not of mych concern-ed 'Cept be forewarned, in case you've never learn-ed Don't ride a bridge near his politick'd yarde Lest he hoist younze with youre very own petarde Jeb Byshe appeareth qwiklee to be walken Down a rabbit hole for all his weaklee talkin' His bro and pappa, 'spite their fraktious yelpin' Don't seem to be much Jebbe Byshe a helpin' If Marco wants to wear his Rubio slippers In the fancy digs that housed the sleepy Gipper's He'd better start attendyn to the totin' The load that needs a bunch o' Senate votyn A candidate like Huckabee needs gyven A comfee place to do his rest o' livin' The Oval Office ayn't the site for preachen A lower pulpit's where he should be reachen That forlorne female vying for the Crowne Might better sport an entertainment gowne A Hewlitt-Packard ex lyke Fiorina Wouldst mayke more moolah playen ocarina Santorum,Graham, and Paul and George PatakI Leave Kasich as the final Right wing jockey To mount the votyrs' nag for clam'rous change 'Mongst Repubs still a roamin' on the range O' Berne Sanders naught but goode most Dems are sayin' But in the finals he will not be playen 'Tis sad, for those who luvved his straight-talk diktion The "bad" word "Socialist" caused too mych fryktion No matter who the Right be nominaten 'Tis Clinton, Dems are likelee to be waiten No hesitance she'll shouw, Repubs be fearen Her tendencye to stick it in their earen. (above ms. discovered by r.j.
12-07-15)
The Thomas Merton Center is celebrating Pittsburgh’s rich activist history on Friday, February 6th from 6:00 - 9:00 PM. We will be displaying photographs from actions dating back to the founding of the Thomas Merton Center in 1972. Come share your photographs, your stories and warmth! We will be in the TMC Annex at 5119 Penn Avenue. If you have any photographs you would like to submit, please contact marnifritz@thomasmertoncenter.org. We are looking for photos from protests, rallies and other actions in Pittsburgh.
Hope to see you there! January 2016
NEWPEOPLE - 13
To Your Health Rethinking Sugar Addiction, Obesity and Its Victims By Jim McCarville
The Scam Have we been duped into a costly and ineffective “blame the victim” obesity scam? Fed Up, a 2014 documentary, exposes misconceptions about fighting obesity and suggests some better ways out. The fault with the old argument - if you are obese, it is your fault; eat fewer calories and exercise more -- is that our bodies handle sugar-added calories and processed starches differently from natural calories and fat calories. The film alleges that the junk food industry intentionally confused the public on this issue and the government let them get away with it. Recent studies confirm the scientific part of the story. If all true, we are engaged in a very expensive healthcare misadventure. The film’s premise is that in 1977, when the McGovern Commission found the need to cut fat and sugar calories in half in order to reduce metabolic diseases, the industry changed the conversation to cut fat calories. They reduced the fat calories and remanufactured the food with increased sugar, hidden behind its many names, which camouflaged the lack of taste and addicted us to sugar. The pro-sugar lobby was able to reclassify pizza, French fries and tomato paste as healthy vegetables to meet government criteria, to block efforts to
curtail sugar advertising to children, and to label pro -health efforts as “nanny state” politics. As a result, since 1977 we have doubled our sugar intake. The film says that 30% of Americans are obese but another 40% are in the pre-diabetes stage. Metabolic diseases, such as heart attacks, strokes and diabetes, already account for 75% of healthcare costs. Even many thin looking people carry dangerously disproportionate belly fat on the inside. In 20 years it is predicted that 95% of Americans will be overweight. In 35 years, one-third of us will have diabetes. Recent evidence suggests things may get even worse. “Sugar does not just make us fat; it also makes us sick,” according to a 2014 JA MA Internal Medicine editorial, adding that its most powerful effect is on our brains, resulting in addictive behavior. Food is a real addiction, not just a metaphor. Switching to artificial sweeteners won’t help either, according to the film. They have the same addictive qualities. In the face of addiction, an onslaught of advertising and an abundance of cheap, processed, sugarladen products, personal responsibility just isn’t good enough. Clearly, something is wrong. Just as we started
our war on obesity, the epidemic exploded. If unchecked, a Tsunami of health care costs awaits us. There is hope. The film, narrated by Katie Couric, does not leave us hanging. It offers a menu of short-term local actions from changing your school’s lunch program to cutting the $8 billion in subsidies for sugar and corn-based sweeteners. The longer-term message might also be sinking in. Recent news reports indicate that per capita soda sales have dropped 25% since 1998. Orange juice, a serious carrier of dangerous sugar if stripped of its fiber, is down 45% (NYTimes.com (11/6/15). Recently, even the Food and Drug Administration has lowered its sugar intake goal to 12.5 teaspoons (50 grams) a day. While still twice the World Health Organization goal, it is about one-third the consumption levels of many today (Motherjones.com 11/10/2015). If you would like to do more, go to FedUpMovie.com and take the 10-day sugar detox challenge. Happy Holidays! James McCarville is a member of the Editorial Collective and a new board member of Thomas Merton Center.
Drug Prices: Some Good Developments By Molly Rush
Public outrage over manipulation of drug prices finally made the news when the price of one pill shot up from $13.50 to $750. It seems that Impax Laboratories licensed Turing Pharmaceuticals AG exclusive US rights to a 62-year-old infectious disease medicine, Daraprim (pyrimethamine). The Federal Trade Commission identified 29 deals of this kind in 2013, involving 21 drugs that yielded profits of $4.3 billion in the U.S. “Zombies in the pill box” is how New York Times’ reporter Gretchen Morgenson described a patent system that permits companies to keep prices – and profits - in the stratosphere by exploiting weak regulatory rules. “Profit is at the heart of nearly every patent,” noted Kyle Bass of the Coalition for Affordable Drugs. A bipartisan bill has been re-introduced in the US Senate to make illegal these pay-for-delay deals that limit access to much cheaper generics. American Medical Association Ban on Consumer Drug Ads
vember the American Medical Association (AMA) voted for a ban on direct-to-consumer ads. Physicians cited concerns that a growing proliferation of ads is driving demand for expensive treatments despite the clinical effectiveness of less costly alternatives. “Today’s vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices,” said AMA Board Chair-elect Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A. “Direct-to-consumer advertising also inflates demand for new and more expensive drugs, even when these drugs may not be appropriate.” The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of prescriptions. No wonder we pay far more than other countries for healthcare. Then There’s the Pfizer-Allergan Deal
such mergers (inversions), through which billions in corporate tax revenues have already been lost. But only Congress can halt loopholes that allow these outrages. Public awareness and anger are growing. According to opinion polls the cost of medications is consistently among the top public concerns. We need to turn that anger into action. Don’t know your Senator or Representative? Go to: www.opencongress.org/people/ zipcodelookup. Other ways to contact your representatives: •Emails and Facebook are easy ways to contact members of Congress. •Letters and phone calls are more effective •Meetings with them or their aides are better •Delegations of individuals or organizations are best. Also: •Write letters to the editor. •Learn about members’ voting records and share them with family members, friends, churches, organizations. OpenCongress is also a good source of information on issues.
In November pharmaceutical giant Pfizer merged with Irish company Allergan of Botox fame, a deal Disgusted with those annoying TV ads for mir- worth $150 billion. That’s the largest takeover in the acle cures by drugs with dangerous, even deadly, healthcare industry. By moving its headquarters to Molly Rush is on the Thomas Merton Center board side effects? I once counted ten “Ask your doctor” Dublin, Pfizer can shed its corporate citizenship al- and a member of The NewPeople Editorial ads in a row during a football game. Advertising lowing it to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes. As a Collective. dollars spent by drug makers have increased by 30 result, the Treasury Dept. and the IRS announced percent in the last two years to $4.5 billion. In Nonew rules that would clamp down on the benefits of
Crazy Joe By Cameron Bocanegra 14 - NEWPEOPLE
January 2016
Crazy Joe was admitted with roses in his teeth. He only held a conversation with me once, Or maybe he was talking to the bees. I found him in the courtyard angrily arguing with the trees. Between mountains of petals and stems, he finally spoke to me. Crazy Joe had patches of hair and a removable pair of teeth. He always said he needed a second pair since roses were meant to eat. “Red roses were my mother’s favorite,” he would sing to the bees and me. He bloomed, “You got to make beauty of what the world doesn’t want to see.” The court was littered with chewed leaves since he learned, “Red don’t taste like green.” Crazy Joe left after a week with petals still on his MRI screens. I heard Joe loved the roses so much that he used the thorns to bleed. At least Joe left this beautiful world with roses between his teeth. Cameron Bocanegra is a sixteen year old high school senior in Taylor, Texas.
Youth Rising Thank You to TMC’s Fall Interns This past fall, the Thomas Merton Center worked with many talented and enthusiastic interns. We would like to take a moment to recognize those who interned with us this past semester: Allison Smyth has worked with Divest Pittsburgh, a fossil fuel divestment campaign for the city of Pittsburgh. This past semester, she worked on data entry, research, outreach calls, petitioning, social media posts, and miscellaneous other activities. Allison described her internship as an “opportunity to learn more about the environmental justice community of Pittsburgh and broadened my knowledge on community organizing.” Liam Stevens interned this last semester with Divest Pittsburgh and the Anti-War Committee, extensively researching networks of Pittsburgh’s corporate and political elites and compiling this information in a public database at www.littlesis.org. Liam has also led training in using littlesis.org for other interns at TMC, as well as for members of Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Three Rivers Community Foundation. Additionally, he assisted with researching and recruiting possible speakers for the upcoming Anti-War speaker series. M.G. Reichman primarily worked with SOA Watch, and described her internship as “rewarding on many levels. In addition to using the skills I already have, I am learning new things every day and meeting interesting people. I had the pleasure of meeting Rep. Barbara Lee while she was here to accept the Thomas Merton Award.” Mary Sico spent this fall as TMC’s writing in-
tern. Most of her duties centered on The NewPeople and the Thomas Merton Center’s web presence. She thanks the Thomas Merton Center for “not only providing me with new writing samples, but also giving me an opportunity to use my creativity to advance issues that I care deeply about”—and connecting her to so many wonderful new people. Nick Furar has spent this last semester working on Divest Pittsburgh and the Anti-War Committee. He was initially looking for a way to give back to the city of Pittsburgh—the fact that he was able to apply this internship to his education was an added benefit. Nick said, he “enjoyed his time at the Thomas Merton Center, and is excited to continue as a volunteer.” Nijah Glenn started out at TMC in late October, interning under Marni Fritz. Nijah has assisted with the eblast, creating flyers for past events, and working First Fridays curating displays and giving out info. She has also helped plan other actions and written and edited for The NewPeople. Nijah said, “I've loved it so far. I love the energy of the Center and all that it does, and I absolutely love interacting with all of the people we meet.” Raphael Cardamone has worked with Divest Pittsburgh since last May. He described his internship as a “great learning experience,” saying that it “helped further my experience in social justice, as well as giving me many opportunities to be involved in the community.” Vivian Tan worked as TMC’s marketing intern, reaching out to current members as well as spreading
Another Generation in Revolt
We have long been told that children are the future; that in future generations, there is not only potential, but talent. Yet, there seems to be very little hope placed in us, Millennials, and in our competency, especially in social justice matters. To preface, we are not unaware of the sacrifices that past generations have made for us. Without the suffragettes, those who fought during the Civil Rights Movement, those who fought for the autonomy of Roe v. Wade, and the generation that protested Vietnam (to name a few movements), we understand that we would not have nearly as many privileges as we do currently. Millennials can be grateful, but we are often viewed as spoiled and crass for not wanting to be indebted to past generations. While it may be (subjectively) true that Millennials have a far easier path compared to our predecessors, we also have a slew of new social issues to face. Student loan debt, America's expansive militarization, rights regarding gender and sexuality are a few issues this generation must face. Add the reemergence of challenges to abortion rights, insidious civil rights violations, and the inability of women to be paid accordingly for their work. This leaves Millennials in an unfortunate position. It makes us wonder, for what reasons we should be grateful to past generations? Our challenges are the same with new faces, plus a growing list of new challenges created by technological advance-
Mental Internet
By Mary Sico
Interns Mary Sico, Nijah Glenn, and Nick Furar at the 43rd Annual Thomas Merton Award Dinner. Photo by Maranie Staab.
the word about the Thomas Merton Center. She also conducted focus groups in order to gain insight on how the Center is perceived publicly and to bring the Thomas Merton Center to new audiences. Once again, a big thank you to all of our interns who’ve dedicated their time to the Thomas Merton Center this past semester! We’ve enjoyed having you and wish you the best of luck in all of your future journeys. Interested in interning with the Thomas Merton Center? Internships are flexible with a time commitment of 6 to 20 hours per week. To apply, contact intern coordinator Gabe McMorland at Gabriel@thomasmertoncenter.org Mary Sico is a member of the NewPeople editorial collective. Thank you, Mary! We will miss you!
By Nijah Glenn
ments and the constant changes in society. Additionally, we not only face rejection from those of all ages who champion systems of inequity, but also those within our movement who consider themselves the "golden age of social change." Millennials who prefer to maintain the status quo and systems of inequity have the support of those with similar beliefs from past generations. Millennials who emphasize social justice, however, stand by themselves; we only have one another. Those who we should see as role models consistently look down their noses at us. They call us apathetic if we do not see eye to eye. We are called inexperienced for not wanting to physically mobilize in an age of police brutality. We have our credibility, intellect, and knowledge of the past questioned due to our age and our "obsession" with social media. Invalidating us does not further the cause. It only assures that the social justice movement will die out or that the Millennials will become too extreme to be productive, dubbing anyone who does not agree with hardline ideas as an oppressor. These rejections do not bode well for the social justice movement. In order to progress properly, we as the new social justice wave must learn from the past; but that older generation must be willing to learn from us, putting age and ego aside. Movements such as the Arab Spring were triggered by Millennials’ use of
social media both to mobilize within countries and to let others know what was occurring in the Middle East and Africa. Millennial use of social media is what alerted the public to cases of police brutality. Internet communities established by our generation have educated all ages on gender fluidity, intersectional feminism in the 21st century, and a multitude of social issues. No cause can progress by being exclusionary. If children, teenagers, and young adults truly are the future, why must we be relegated to the background due to age? Why are our concerns only valid if voiced by a Baby Boomer or member of Generation X? We can speak for ourselves. If the message of social change is to change the systems of inequity and create better conditions for now and future generations, then we must stop the invalidation of younger ages in social justice and work together to create a better system for the future. We must be honest about the invalidation of younger ages, not only older ages, in order to define issues and find solidarity. If history has shown us anything, from the October Revolution to the Iraq War Protests, it is that where there is solidarity, there is strength. Nijah Glenn is a third year biology major, an intern at the Thomas Merton Center, and a member of The NewPeople Editorial Collective.
By Claudia Contreras
How social media has warped the way people ap- from their own experiences with mental illness, can proach mental illness. only speak from personal experience. We can only tell what our own symptoms were; we can only say The internet is a scary place, filled with “facts” what helps us feel better. Sometimes, I think that about basically anything you could want to know. necessary qualifications for the information we Especially illness. I mean, anyone who’s ever gotten spread gets lost somewhere between the click-bait sick and chosen to venture onto the “informative” titles and hash-tags. site known as webMD knows that if you’re physicalBut is the “I’m only speaking from my own ly sick, it’s probably some kind of cancer. But what experience” disclaimer that important? After all, about mental illness? Well, people don’t really turn people learning about mental illness and then getting to webMD to find out if they have depression or help for it if they think they need it is what’s really anxiety. Instead they turn to the meme-filled, click- important. And so it shouldn’t really matter how bait-coated wasteland that is social media, for infor- they get to the point of seeking help, so long as mation about what mental illness is and potential they’re getting help in the end, right? Right. Everysymptoms. But should they be turning to a bunch of body go home; we’re done here. Okay no, because people with no obvious credentials who claim to many people aren’t going to get help; they are selfknow what depression and anxiety are? diagnosing. Self-diagnosis happens when someone There are many people who have a mental ill- sees all the symptoms, looks at themselves, thinks ness, so it makes sense that there would be people “oh my god, I think I’ve got depression,” and then who know what they are talking about on social me- stops and proceeds to self-treat with warm drinks, dia. After all, I’m one of those people who know staying home, and lush bath products. And that’s what they’re talking about when it comes to experi- exactly what they shouldn’t be doing. encing mental illness and the journey to get help. At some point in the road, a person who might But that’s the issue: I, and anyone else speaking have a mental illness needs to meet with a licensed
professional who can help them with treatment. Depression isn’t just being sad and crying all the time, while drinking tea and lying in bed. In fact, it’s about not being able to cry or feel sad, because you’re too tired to even bother feeling anything. It’s trying to remember if you ate today because you lose your sense of the passage of time. Anxiety isn’t just shaky hands and being nervous; it’s fear of speaking because you don’t want to say something idiotic. It’s wondering if you even have friends, or if they’re just tolerating you out of pity. Mental illness is not pretty and social media has created a group of people who romanticize it. I mentioned a bunch of symptoms of depression and anxiety that I’ve personally dealt with. And if you’ve ever felt something similar, I am asking you, please, get help. It’s hard and scary, but it’s worth it. Because if we self-diagnose, it won’t truly get better. But if we self-evaluate, and then move forward with seeking help, I guarantee that it will. Claudia Contreras is a student at Duquesne University.
January 2016
NEWPEOPLE - 15
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The Thomas Merton Center is celebrating Pittsburgh’s rich activist history on Friday, February 6th from 6:00 - 9:00 PM. We will be displaying photographs from past actions dating back to the founding of the Thomas Merton Center in 1972. Come share your photographs, your stories and warmth! We will be in the TMC Annex at 5119 Penn Avenue.
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If you have any photographs you would like to submit, please contact marnifritz@thomasmertoncenter.org. We are looking for photos from protests, rallies and other actions in Pittsburgh.
1999 - Eleven European nations began using a new single European currency, the Euro
Hope to see you there!
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10 1776- Common Sense, a fifty page pamphlet by Thomas Paine, was published, selling over 500,000 copies 1878- An Amendment granting women the right to vote was introduced in Congress by Senator A.A. Sargent of California
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1870– Western Union telegraph workers strike
1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first female governor inaugurated in the U.S.
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In Our Hands Community Accountability Group 7-9 pm, The Big Idea Bookstore, 4812 Liberty Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224
1964 -President Lyndon Johnson declared War on Poverty during his State of the Union message
Southwest Chapter of Healthcare for All PA 7:30-8:30 pm, 2101 Murray Avenue, Squirrel Hill first floor
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1755- First U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (17551804) was born in 1932- Hattie W. the British West Caraway was Indies
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COP21 Climate 14th Annual Dr. 1893– Indigenous Martin Luther King Conference in Paris, 7-8pm, First Hawaiian Queen Junior Day United Methodist Liluokalani Celebration– 2:30 Church 5401 overthrown by PM—Union Project, Centre Ave, 801 N Negley Ave US troops Pittsburgh, PA 15232 Martin Luther King Day
1996- Yasir Arafat became the first democraticallyelected leader of the Palestinian people with 88.1 percent of the vote.
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Sundays: Book’Em: Books to Prisoners Project First three Sundays of the month at TMC, 46pm Contact: bookempgh@gmail.com Anti-War and Anti-Drone Warfare Coalition 3rd Sunday at 11:30 am at TMC, 5129 Penn Ave., Garfield, PA 15224
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Mondays:
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1920 395,000 steelworkers strike with aid from the AFL Iron and Steel Organizing Committee
Shutting Things Down to Open Things Up Organizing Creative Action to Fight for Workers’ Rights 3-5:30pm University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning Room 232
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1929- Civil Rights Leader and nonviolent activist Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was born in Atlanta, Georgia.
Fight for Lifers West Meeting, 10am-12noon, Thomas Merton Center, 5129 Penn Ave,
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appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the term of her deceased husband, and later became the first woman elected to the Senate.
Planning Meeting of the Anti-war Committee and the Anti-drone Warfare Coalition 10 AM 2 PM at the TMC Annex, 5119 Penn Avenue.
18th Annual Summit Against Racism: A Multiracial Initiative of the Black and White Reunion, 8am5pm, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 616 North Highland Ave.
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1834– Andrew Jackson orders first use of American troops to suppress a labor dispute
SW Healthcare 4 All PA /PUSH Meeting 1st Monday, 7:30 —9 pm Association of Pittsburgh Priests 2nd Monday, 7—9 pm, Prince of Peace Rectory 162 South 15th, Southside, Pgh. PA 15203 Amnesty International #39 2nd Monday, 7—9 pm First Unitarian Church, Morewood Ave. 15219
Wednesdays: Human Rights Coalition: Fed-Up! Every Wednesday at 7p.m. Write letters for prisoners’ rights at the Thomas Merton Center Darfur Coalition Meeting 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, Meeting Room C Carnegie Library, Squirrel Hill 412-784-0256 Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (PADP) 1st Wednesdays, 7-8pm, First Unitarian Church, Ellsworth & Morewood Avenues, Shadyside Pittsburghers for Public Transit 2nd Wednesday, 7pm, 1 Smithfield St., lower level
Thursdays: International Socialist Organization Every Thursday, 7:30-9:30 pm at the Thomas Merton Center Global Pittsburgh Happy Hour 1st Thursday, 5:30 to 8 pm, Roland's Seafood Grill, 1904 Penn Ave, Strip District Green Party Meeting 1st Thursday, 7 to 9 pm, 2121 Murray, 2nd floor, Squirrel Hill Black Political Empowerment Project 2nd Thursday, 6 pm: Planning Council Meeting, Hill House, Conference Room B
Fridays: Unblurred Gallery Crawl 1st Friday after 6 pm, Penn Avenue Arts District, 4800-5500 Penn Ave., Friendship and Garfield 15224 Hill District Consensus Group 2nd Friday, 10 am — 12 pm, Elsie Hillman Auditorium, Kaufmann Center 1825 Centre Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 People of Prisoners in Need of Support 3rd Friday, 7:00pm New Hope Methodist Church, 114 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh 15212
Saturdays: Project to End Human Trafficking 2nd Sat., Carlow University, Antonian Room #502 Fight for Lifers West 3rd Saturday, 10 a.m. to 12:30 pm, Thomas Merton Center
Please note: If you were a financial contributor to the Thomas Merton Center in 2015, and you would like to claim your donation for tax purposes, please call (412) 361-3022 and let us know so that we can process an acknowledgement letter for you.
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Subscribe to The New People by becoming a member of the Thomas Merton Center today! As a member, The New People newspaper will be mailed to your home or sent to your email account. You will also receive weekly e-blasts focusing on peace and justice events in Pittsburgh, and special invitations to membership activities. Now is the time to stand for peace and justice!
Join online at www.thomasmertoncenter.org/ join-donate or fill out this form, cut out, and mail in. Select your membership level: ____$15 Low Income Membership ____$15 Youth / Student Membership 16 - NEWPEOPLE
January 2016 Regular Meetings
1892 - Ellis Island in New York Harbor opened
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New Economy Campaign, 6:307:30pm, The Thomas Merton Center, Penn Avenue
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New Years Day
TMC Closed
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January 2016
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