Category: Military

Peace & Justice History for 2/25

February 25, 1941
A general strike was called in Amsterdam to protest Nazi persecution of Jews under the German Nazi occupation. The previous weekend 425 Jewish men and boys had been imprisoned (only two survived the war). Truck drivers, dock and metal workers, civil servants and factory employees — Christians, Liberals, Social Democrats and Communists — answered the call and brought the city to a standstill. The work stoppages spread to Zaanstreek, Kennemerland and Utrecht.
Two days later the strike was called off: nine people were dead, 50 injured and another 200 arrested, some of whom were to die in the concentration camps.
“The Dokwerker” is a statue by sculptor Mari Andriessen in Amsterdam’s Jonas Daniel Meyer Square commemorating the February 1941 strike. It is frequently the rallying point for demonstrations against racism.
Read more   (pdf)
February 25, 1968
Discussing the war capacity of North Vietnam, a country that had been fighting for its independence for 23 years and had just staged the massive, successful Tet Offensive, U.S. General William C. Westmoreland stated, “I do not believe Hanoi can hold up under a long war.”
He was replaced as commander in Vietnam less than four months later.
Vietnam commander General William Westmoreland meeting with President Lyndon Johnson
Westmoreland’s life and career  (It’s NYT’s obit.)
February 25, 1971
Legislation was introduced in both houses of Congress to forbid U.S. military support of any South Vietnamese invasion of North Vietnam without prior congressional approval. This bill was a result of the controversy that arose following the invasion of Laos by South Vietnamese forces.
On February 8, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam had launched a major cross-border operation into Laos to interdict activity along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and destroy the North Vietnamese supply dumps in the area. The Ho Chi Minh Trail, named for the leader of North Vietnam, was an informal network of jungle trails down which supplies came from the north, supplying insurgents and troops in the south.
February 25, 1986
The newly elected Philippine president, Corazón Aquino, was sworn in, bringing to an end years of dictatorship under Ferdinand Marcos. In the face of massive demonstrations against his rule, President Ferdinand Marcos and his entourage had been airlifted from the presidential palace in Manila by U.S. helicopters.
February 25, 2011
A Day of Rage saw demonstrations across the Middle East. Protesters in Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, and Bahrain showed their support variously for an end to corruption and income inequality, political reform and better public services, and the replacement of long-running dictatorships with democratic regimes.

Day of Rage in Taiz, Yemen
Reports from throughout the region 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february25

A Hero of Our Age: The Man Who Refused to Run Away

A Hero of Our Age: The Man Who Refused to Run Away

This is how the new US works. How long will we remain a world power?

The US Is Grifting Ukraine

Peace & Justice History for 2/22

February 22, 1943
Sophie Scholl, a 22-year-old White Rose (Weisse Rose) activist at Munich University, was executed after being convicted of urging students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi government.

There are many memorials in Bavaria and Germany to Sophie and her group, the White Rose, but little is known outside of Germany. They were medical students who organized nonviolent resistance to Hitler, and were arrested for printing and distributing anti-Nazi flyers.
Sophie, her brother Hans, a former member of Hitler Youth who started White Rose, and Christof Probst, the three young people in the photo, were executed. Few White Rose members survived the war which is why the story is not well known.

Film made about Sophie Scholl’s courage &
watch the trailer 
Traute Lafrenz, Last Survivor Of Anti-Nazi Resistance Group, Dead At 103 
February 22, 1967
Indonesian President Sukarno (born Kusno Sosrodihardjo) surrendered all executive authority to military chief-of-staff General Suharto, remaining president in title only. Sukarno had begun the movement for Indonesian independence from Dutch colonial control in 1927. They were supplanted by the Japanese during World War II, but independence was realized following Japan’s defeat. Sukarno was elected president but had declared himself president for life in 1963.
Following a failed communist-led coup within the military, Suharto launched a purge of Indonesian communists that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. In 1967 he assumed full power, and in 1968 was elected president and remained in power for 32 years. He was also responsible for Indonesia’s 1975 invasion of East Timor, which left an estimated 100,000 Timorese dead from famine, disease and warfare.
See The Year of Living Dangerously for an excellent dramatic re-creation of the time.(trailer)
More on Suharto 
And more on Sukarno
February 22, 1974
Farmer Sam Lovejoy toppled the weather tower for a proposed nuclear power plant in Montague, Massachusetts. This was the first act of civil disobedience against the dangers of nuclear power in the U.S. Lovejoy turned himself in to the police, was tried but not convicted.

Sam Lovejoy
The full story of Sam Lovejoy’s action 
Ballad of Sam Lovejoy by Rob Skelton 
February 22, 1997
Nearly 35,000 marched in Paris against a new anti-immigration bill. Many of the demonstrators chanted “First, second or third generation, we are all children of immigrants.” Another 5,000 movie directors, writers, painters, actors, translators, journalists and teachers signed petitions pledging civil disobedience.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february22

The Art of The Deal

Trump, The Great Negotiator, sells out Ukraine – and the UK’s favourite grifter is behind him every step of the way.

The Russian nothingburger is back on the menu, by Ann Telnaes

If you ever had doubt Trump is in the pocket of Putin. Read on Substack

Peace & Justice History for 2/19

As well, Feb. 19th is the annual Day of Remembrance of Pres. Roosevelt’s E.O. 9066, interning Japanese-Americans.

February 19, 1919
A Pan-African Congress was organized by W.E.B. DuBois in Paris, France, to coincide with the Versailles Peace Conference after World War I. DuBois, sociologist, historian, novelist, playwright, and cultural critic, served as special representative of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and was assisted by Blaise Diagne, a member of the French Parliament from the West African colony of Senegal.

W.E.B. DuBois, founder of the NAACP and convener for the Pan-African Congress in Paris.
The Congress’s aim was to call the issue of “international protection of the natives of Africa” to the attention of the United States and the European colonial powers who were making momentous decisions on the nature of the post-war world.
DuBois was a moving spirit behind the growing struggle for self-determination among Africans, both on the continent and in the diaspora, and the Pan-African Congresses helped to bring the issues of this struggle to world attention. The Pan-African Congress was re-convened in 1921, 1923, 1927, and 1945.

Attendees at the Pan-African Congress.
More about W.E.B. DuBois 
More depth on the Pan-African Congresses
February 19, 1942
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, ten weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, issued a directive ordering all Japanese Americans (Nisei) evacuated from the West Coast of the U.S., and forcing them to live in concentration camps. Executive Order 9066 authorized the Secretary of War and military commanders “to prescribe military areas . . . from which any or all persons may be excluded.”

San Francisco Chronicle February 27, 1942 Photo by Dorothea Lange

Japanese American residents board the bus for Camp Harmony, 1942.
There was strong support from California Attorney General Earl Warren (later U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice), liberal journalist Walter Lippmann and Time magazine—which referred to California as “Japan’s Sudetenland”

Japanese-American child on bus to concentration camp. photo: Dorothea Lange
112,000 citizens of Japanese ancestry were relocated, losing their businesses, homes, and belongings to the white residents of their former neighborhoods.This day is referred to as the “Day of Remembrance.” It has been commemorated every year for 67 years to remind Americans of that miscarriage of justice, and to ensure such things do not happen again.
Children of the camps 
Note: In the entire course of the war, 10 people were convicted
of spying for Japan, all of whom were Caucasian
Day of Remembrance 
“Not Enough People Know About Day of Remembrance” 
February 19, 1972
Paul McCartney’s song, “Give Ireland Back to the Irish,” was immediately banned from airplay by the BBC.
Opening of the song:
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don’t make them have to take it away
Give Ireland back to the irish
Make Ireland Irish today
Great Britain you are tremendous
And nobody knows like me
But really what are you doin’
In the land across the sea
Tell me how would you like it
If on your way to work
You were stopped by Irish soldiers
Would you lie down do nothing
Would you give in, or go berserk?
  
Paul McCartney and “Wings” rehearse the song 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february19

Let’s talk about how Trump, Bragg, names, and what’s next….

Peace & Justice History for 2/15

February 15, 1898
The man-of-war (battleship) USS Maine was sunk in Cuba’s Havana Harbor as the result of an explosion, 260 American naval personnel dying as a result, another 58 wounded. An insurrection against Spanish colonial rule in Cuba had persisted for years, and brutal Spanish tactics had engendered strong American reaction. That is why Consul General Fitzhugh Lee had asked President William McKinley to send the Maine “for the moral effect it might have.”
Spain’s Governor-General Weyler had forced 300,000 Cubans into towns and cities to insulate them from the insurgents but had made no preparations for their food, housing or health care. Half of the reconcentrados, as they were called, died as a result. Pres. McKinley had tried since coming into office to reach a settlement through negotiation but Spain rejected his efforts. Following the sinking of the Maine, popular opinion in the U.S. moved toward war with Spain, partially in response to inflammatory press coverage. Congress then voted McKinley $50,000,000 to be used for the national defense at his discretion, and provided for a contingent increase of the army to 100,000 men.
The cause of the explosion ???
February 15, 1998
About 2,000 people – including a tractor convoy consisting of over 100 farmers – staged a demonstration in the north German town of Ahaus in protest against the planned shipment of nuclear waste to a storage facility in the town.
A consignment of full CASTOR (Casks for Storage and Transport of Radioactive Material) containers was expected at the Ahaus interim nuclear storage site within the next two weeks.
February 15, 2002
President George W. Bush approved Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as the site for long-term disposal of 70,000 metric tons (77,000 tons) of highly radioactive nuclear power plant waste.
12 years and $6.8 billion worth of study and construction had gone into the site 90 miles from Las Vegas.

It is officially estimated that, by the time it is completed in 2017, the total construction cost will be $23 billion.
2000 additional metric tons of such waste are generated by U.S. nuclear power plants each year, leading to concerns that the facility would be full shortly after its opening. All such waste is currently stored onsite at individual nuclear power plants.

Problems with the Yucca Mountain site
What are the alternatives 
FAQs on Yucca Mountain 
February 15, 2003
The world said NO to war…
In the single largest day of protest in world history, millions on 6 continents demonstrated against the U.S./U.K. plans to invade Iraq. Reported totals included 1 to 2 million in London and Rome; 1.3 million in Barcelona, Spain (a city of 1.5 million); 500,000 each in Berlin, Paris, Madrid, and New York. Smaller demonstrations were held in over 600 cities and towns across the U.S., including tens of thousands in several cities, and 150,000 the following day in San Francisco.
Total participation is estimated at 25 million in more than 100 countries.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february15

Peace & Justice History for 2/14

February 14, 1957
The organization that would shortly be called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) chose its leadership at a meeting in New Orleans.
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reverend Ralph David Abernathy led the group which sought to coordinate civil rights protests throughout the South.
Organizers of bus boycotts, inspired by the one in Montgomery, Alabama, had met in Atlanta a month earlier. During that meeting, Dr. Abernathy’s home and church were bombed.

Reverend Ralph David Abernathy and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference history 
February 14, 1971

President Richard Nixon ordered a secret taping system to be installed for his offices in the White House.
Listen in on the presidents  
February 14, 1989
At a meeting of the presidents of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, the Sandinista government of Nicaragua agreed to release a number of political prisoners and hold free elections within a year. In return, Honduras promised to close bases established by the U.S. for and used by the anti-Sandinista Contra rebels.
Just over one year later, elections were held (with international observers including former President Jimmy Carter) though the nation was threatened with a continuing U.S. economic boycott, and was experiencing ongoing Contra violence. The Sandanista Front candidate was defeated 55% to 41%.