Israel

If Gaza Were In Maine…

/ went2thebridge / Leave a comment

Graphic created & shared by Will, Maine Coalition for Palestine (corrected Jan 23 to more accurately compare Gaza’s population with Maine’s)

While noting the incredible outpouring of support for Palestine globally I’ve heard several friends ask, How can people in the U.S. go about their business with genocide ongoing in Gaza?

Probably because it’s far away and the mainstream news/analysis they rely on deliberately fails to bring the facts to their attention.

But what if it weren’t far away?

If Gaza were in Maine, Israel would have eliminated more than half of our working journalists (200 as of May 2022 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).

If Gaza were in Maine, these hospitals would have been bombed beyond usefulness: Maine Medical Center (Portland), Northern Light Mercy Hospital (Portland), New England Rehabilitation Hospital (Portland), and Spring Harbor Hospital (Westbrook).

If Gaza were in Maine, the Portland campuses of these universities would already be bombed to rubble: University of Southern Maine, University of Maine School of Law, USM Muskie School of Public Service, and the University of New England College of Dental Medicine. Also UNE’s Westbrook College of Health Professions.

Or suppose the routine testing of experimental weapons on the people of Gaza moved instead to NYC?

https://x.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1748729253770698944?s=20

It may be hard for people in Maine to see the suffering of Gaza, but it shouldn’t be hard for them to figure out who’s paying for it via “military aid” to Israel, one of the wealthiest nations on the planet.

Perhaps best perceived as what $11 million a year isn’t paying for in Maine: universal health care, free public education K-grad school, or bridge and road repairs.

Join us in Farmington next Saturday January 27 at 1:30pm to protest these bad spending priorities. We’ll be at the intersection of Main Street and Broadway standing with UMaine Farmington students who helped create our event poster:

Co-sponsored by: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine Natural Guard, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Communist Party of Maine, Maine Green Independent Party, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Party for Socialism & Liberation Maine, Libertarian Party of Maine, People’s Party of Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Veterans for Peace – National, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), and Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights (MVPR). 

U.S. Escalates, Israel Prevaricates

/ went2thebridge / Leave a comment

You know those nights when you go to bed wondering if you’ll wake up amid your loved ones or in a pile of radioactive ash? 

Despite reading escapist fiction before turning off the light I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. The U.S. and UK began bombing Yemen in retaliation for their brave stand as the only Arab nation to defend Palestinians being massacred in Gaza. Emergency protests took place outside the White House and in Times Square in NYC. I’m in neither of those places, so instead I read Old Rock is Not Boring to a two year old.

Is it still possible to care about teaching geological time to children as WW3 looms?

Israel’s “defense” in the International Court of Justice is being widely covered by corporate media while South Africa’s excellent presentation of the case yesterday received little to none despite Irish lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh making a strong case for genocidal intentions and actions by Israel in Gaza.

Iran has seized an oil tanker in retaliation for the U.S. stealing a million gallons of crude from one of their oil tankers last year. Iran is on Team Yemen.

From the website If Americans Knew

The death rate in Gaza continues to soar. A child dies or has limbs amputated without anesthesia several times a day. Starvation looms.

Lots of my buddies will be boarding a bus at midnight to travel to the belly of the beast (Washington DC) in a mass action calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. I am too old to find the courage to push my physical stamina to that point. Yes, grandmothers my age and older in Gaza are suffering immensely with no way out. Meanwhile, I’ll keep organizing to confront the war machine right where I find it, here in Maine.

A friend advises that Maine Public Radio will take up the subject of my state’s space industry today at 11am. I’m trying to stay focused on offering at least some resistance to the building of a rocket launch site off the coast near Acadia National Park. This polluting, disruptive site will undoubtedly be used for military purposes as a similar site in Kodiak, Alaska is used by Israel’s military to launch satellites. They were promised “only civilian use” too. Will this struggle become moot as world war spreads? 

Will the U.S. and its minions take down humanity in their doomed quest to maintain economic dominance by the continued use of brute force?

What do you think?

Stay tuned.

(And by the way, it’s been great knowing you.)