Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....

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Location: Brunswick, ME, United States

The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. @BruceKGagnon

Saturday, November 15, 2014

No Just About Privacy - It's About Freedom



Where are all the conservatives who say they love freedom and liberty?

Techno-Utopianism Panel on Militarism



Here is video from our panel entitled "For the Good of Mankind: Nukes, Drones and Robots" at the Teach-In called Techno-Utopianism & the Fate of the Earth held on October 25-26 inside the Great Hall of the Cooper Union in New York City.

Also on the panel were Koohan Paik, Helen Caldicott, Gar Smith, and Neisen Laukon from the Marshall Islands.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Debate on Ukraine



I'm a big fan of Rick Rozoff from StopNATO based in Chicago.  He has an incredible mind and is a fan of The Kinks.  A good man.

On the Line With a High-Tech Twist



I'm on the line
hoping for a
human connection
press 1 for english
press 2 for spanish
press 3 if you
wanna hang up

this call is being
monitored for
security and
training purposes

electrical wires
and signals
via huge antennas
beaming
possible carcinogen
radiofrequency [RF] radiation
wifi
smart meters
cell phones
endless barrage
penetrating our bodies
our minds

the surveillance
society
the fear society
run amok
brought home
to you

it's the cigarette scandal
with a high-tech
twist

We Need New Leadership That Changes This War Mentality



Abby Martin features an exclusive interview with former Minnesota Governor, Jesse Ventura, covering everything from the myth of voter fraud to endless war in the Middle East.

Ventura was a professional wrestler before becoming the governor of Minnesota.  I once heard him on C-SPAN tell the story that soon after he was elected he got a call from the CIA.  They wanted to meet with him.  Should I come to Washington, Ventura asked?  No, we are in the basement of the state capital he was told.  He met with them and their question was:  How did you get elected?

Ventura maintained that the ruling elite control everything and when he won it was an outside-the-box move and they were taken off guard.

In that same C-SPAN interview Ventura called politics in America similar to professional wrestling.  Before the scripted match the wrestlers snarl at one another and then go out for a drink afterwards.  The two party system in the US is equally scripted.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Defending the People Who are Supposed to Be Our Enemies


I had a call early this morning from PressTV in Iran asking for me to comment on the latest ISIS news from Iraq.  The story is more mayhem there and Obama, right after the recent election, saying he is going to send another 1,500 GI's to Iraq - essentially doubling the US troop levels.  I made my customary comments which included: ISIS is a CIA/Saudi creation; more war brings greater profits for the war corporations; and this allows for the continued surrounding and destabilizing of Iran.  After I was done I spoke to the PressTV worker who has been calling me for the past year or so and is always so kind.  I apologized for being so negative but told her it is really difficult to say much else as things from this end are increasingly gloomy.

She told me that the people in her country would never surrender to the US even though they have adopted many of the ways of the west.  I felt so bad that she would even have to consider that the US would attack Iran.  I told her about my old friend in Florida Saviz Shafaie who was from Iran.  He was a wonderful peace activist who loved to dance and make food for our local peace community in Orlando.  I worked with Saviz for about 20 years (he has since passed away) but he taught me to love the Iranian people and their culture.  As I told her about Saviz I began to get very emotional.  It was a really wonderful connection.

Some in America would call me a traitor or some other nonsense like that because I defend the people of Iran or Russia or China from our ever expanding mega-military war machine.  Back in the 1980's, while living in Orlando, a man once accused me of being on the payroll of the Soviet Union as I held a peace sign on April 15 (Tax Day) in front of the post office.  I was reminding the public how much of our money then went to the Pentagon.  I told the man, "Yeah that damn Gorbachev, he's late again with my check."  I'm not sure he got the joke.

It doesn't matter what country we are from - the global corporate mobsters want to enslave all of us to their benefit. 

I think because when I was young living in Germany and England I learned early on that people everywhere are essentially the same.  People love their children, they love to eat, they love music, they love to laugh.  I don't buy the nation-state BS that we are fed nor did I ever fall for the line that the US is the greatest country in the world.  We are not.  Not even close.

I taped the latest edition of my public access TV show today and had Maine filmmaker Regis Tremblay (The Ghosts of Jeju) on the show.  We reviewed the recent elections and analyzed what is likely to come next from Obama and the Congress.  We talked about neo-feudalism... this time you get a credit card and color TV.  In the end Regis called for revolution and the overthrow of our corrupt and immoral capitalist government - controlled by a corporate oligarchy. 

I'm often asked what gives me hope in the face of all the evil and insanity that exists today.  My answer is simple - it is the good people all over the world who are working so hard for peace, justice, and our Mother Earth that keep me going.  Each of you are the reason I am able to keep doing what I do each day.  Knowing that you love your country, love your people, and love your land gives me the strength to dive in one more time.

Citizens Revolt in Mexico



In this video Luke Rudkowski breaks down the latest situation unfolding in Mexico.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Ukranian False Flag to Justify More War?

Overall, more than 20 civilians perished in Donbass as a result of shelling.


The US-NATO backed neo-Nazi regime in Kiev continues to shell cities (yes there is supposed to be a ceasefire going on) like Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.  In recent days more children were killed when a school was hit.

Two kids perished Nov 6, an 8th grader and a 18-year old high school graduate. An artillery shell hit the building of School No. 63 in Kuybyshev district of Donetsk. During this time the kids played soccer near the school. They died due to very heavy shrapnel wounds. Four people were wounded: 3 17-year-olds and one 21-year-old. All wounded children were brought into the Donetsk regional traumatology. Currently they are under intensive care. One heavily wounded, three have moderate severity wounds.


Concerns are mounting that Kiev, under US direction, will soon mount an offensive against self-defense forces in the east.  The US is now training Kiev's neo-Nazi troops for cold weather operations.  See that story here and here

In order to sell a new Kiev restart of the civil war there must first be the creation of a pretext that will justify the military operation to worldwide public opinion.  That appears to be in the pipeline.  (Polish troops are also reported to be joining the Kiev forces.) One in-the-know source reports:


The intelligence structures of Novorossia receive the information about a large-sacle massive provocation by the AFU, which is directed at the direct collapse of the Minsk agreements and at discrediting Novorossia in the eyes of the international community. 

The "Right Sector" [neo-Nazi] militants dressed into old Russian camo ("Flora") with the Vostok battalion insignia arrived into Karlovka (DPR) for this purpose.

It is expected that the disguised terrorists will carry out a slaughter of civilians, which will be blamed on the DPR military.

Such methods were widely used by the OUN-UPA bandits during the Great Patriotic War and in the post-war period with the goal of discrediting the partisans and later the Soviet law-enforcement officials in the eyes of the local population.

Who is ISIS?



Evidence exposing who put ISIS in power, and how it was done.

Rosetta Mission Helps Prepare for Mining the Sky



I once had a call from a reporter asking me to comment on a story about universities across the US defunding their Astronomy Departments.  In that moment the story was particularly ironic because a NASA probe had made contact with a planet in our solar system.  What a time to cut Astronomy the reporter said... right when there would be great pictures coming back to study.

I told him NASA, and the aerospace industry, were not so much about studying the origins of life and other such rhetoric any more.  They still do public relations about the wonders of the universe but the real essence of space exploration is being commercialized and privatized. The space program is now about developing the technology to mine the sky on behalf of corporate profits.  (Some of these technology applications can also be militarized - thus the term 'dual use'.)

This European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta mission to land on a comet in deep space is an example of space technology development that will be used to prepare for eventual planetary mining operations.

Note the ESA story about Rosetta which says:

... on-the-spot analysis of the composition of the comet’s surface materials, and a drill that will take samples from a depth of 23 cm and feed them to an onboard laboratory for analysis. 
Preconditions for successful mining operations in space are developing the technology to know what minerals and resources are available and where they are located.  How are they found and how are they mined?  How and to where do they get transported?  Will nuclear reactors be used for rocket engines to give heavy lift capability? Will nuclear reactors provide power for mining colonies in space? Who will pay for these missions?  Who will profit?  Who will own the planetary bodies?
  
Our current system of capitalist globalization was initiated by the European powers sending off their tiny sailing ships on dangerous missions to claim lands in the 'New World'.  These European powers were soon at war with one another as they wrestled for profit and control of their new colonies. The question is now: do we take this global dog-eat-dog extraction system with us as we Earthlings inevitably venture into the heavens?

One good thing can be said about the Rosetta mission.  The ESA used solar to power the 10-year mission into deep space.  NASA has long claimed that doing this kind of mission with solar was not possible and thus their reason for insisting on using nuclear powered space probes and rovers on their flights.  The nuclear industry views space as a vast new market and has taken control of the NASA decision making process that considers which kinds of power sources are used on all their space missions.

November Can't Decide


Obama and Xi
k-i-s-s-i-n-g
over climate change
G20 confab
in Beijing
'curb' emissions
during next 20 years
too little
too late

Here in Maine
the mother
is in convulsions
one day warm
next day cold
more rain
plants
animals
humanoids
confused
thrown off
natural path

the usual way
no longer usual
expect the
unexpected

Local paper reports
planners meeting
to make
opportunities
as the river rises

Build taller buildings
put them on stilts
make downtown
even more attractive

think of it
the new Venice
on the Kennebeck

all about
how someone
can make
more $$$$$

Not a friggin
mumbling word
asking the community
to come together
discuss social
and environmental
impacts
on everything

there is no $$$$$
in that idea
real democracy
rule by the people
those days are dead
and gone

November can't decide
which way it should go

local elite
property owners
have decided

climate change is coming
how can we make money?

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Be Careful What the West Says



Former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and Chief of Staff of the German Federal Armed Forces Harald Kujat: I don't believe in evidence of Russian invasion.

Blocking Navy Base Destruction Gate on Jeju Island


The peace delegation of nine people from the Puget Sound region of Washington State has arrived in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea to protest the construction of a Navy base for US warships.  Soon after arriving they joined the daily destruction gate blockade.

Jung Joo writes:


Our friends, Fr. Bix and a buddist monk Gilberto came to visit again and brought their friends this time. They had awaited to visit Gangjeong again since their last visit in the fall of 2013. Fr. Bix couldn't make it this September for the Catholic conference because of his health issue. He has lost 60 % of his eyesight after the recent surgery for glaucoma. He is in his mid 80's and has difficulty in walking and moving. But he is so excited and happy to be able to be here with us. He keeps saying that he feels better here because he receives good energy from beautiful Gangjeong people. He is truly a living history of nonviolent resistance action. My deep gratitude to him...
 

Armistice Day - A War Time Story

Token Exchange from aaron matthews on Vimeo.

In 1964, Paul Joyce narrowly avoided the Vietnam War draft. Just how close he came is the surprising, surreal story of Token Exchange – a wry narrative collage illuminating our military, bureaucracy, and the adage that timing is everything.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Veterans For Peace UK at The Cenotaph



The Cenotaph is a war memorial situated on Whitehall in London. It began as a temporary structure erected for a peace parade following the end of the First World War. It was replaced in 1920 by a permanent structure and designated the United Kingdom's primary national war memorial.

Veterans For Peace was founded in Maine in 1985 and today has more than 100 chapters all over the US and in three countries - Vietnam, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

How Many Wars Has Washington Started?


A neighbor told me
Obama wasting his time
negotiating
with Iran
can't trust them

Who has Iran invaded
during the last 200 years?
No one

Iraq attacked Iran
in 1980
with help
from U.S.

Iran is high on
Washington-Tel Aviv
list
for destabilization
and regime change

The fact my neighbor
is talking about Iran
indicates
corporate media
heating up
war drums
inside
colonized heads
of unsuspecting
American
people

How many
countries
has Washington
invaded during
last 200 years?

How many treaties
and international
agreements
has Washington
broken?

Concert in Bath


Sunday, November 09, 2014

Making Russia the New Enemy



The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. That's the warning from the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who's in the German capital for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Former MI-5 intelligence officer Annie Machon joins us live with her thoughts.

Sunday Song




Dodson from David Berez on Vimeo.