A darker side of Columbus emerges in US classrooms

Columbus’ stature in U.S. classrooms has declined somewhat through the years, and many districts will not observe his namesake holiday on Monday. Although lessons vary, many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.”

The whole terminology has changed,” said James Kracht, executive associate dean for academic affairs in the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development. “You don’t hear people using the world ‘discovery’ anymore like they used to. ‘Columbus discovers America.’ Because how could he discover America if there were already people living here?” Full article.

NATIONAL HOLIDAY FOR NATIVE AMERICANS

Indian governments and the people they represent are requesting that the federal government bring about a National Holiday for Native Americans to be celebrated by all citizens of America and people around the world.

This holiday would pay tribute to Indian Tribal Leaders to include Alaskan Leaders and Hawaiian Leaders. This holiday would also pay tribute to those that endured the world’s longest holocaust and most costly in human lives.

Sign petition here.

The Price of Peace

“The cost of my freedom, I am told, is eternal vigilance. I live in the richest country in the world, the nation which monopolizes over a fourth of the earth’s resources, and am still imprisoned when exercising my so-called freedom of speech. I’m to believe, instead, that our freedom depends on using the U.S. military and contracted mercenaries as super-Vigilantes in Afghanistan’s impoverished provinces, targeting the loosely connected, oftentimes illiterate and highly unskilled network of the Taliban. U.S. military strategy commands soldiers to enter villages, raid homes, take prisoners, maim, wound and kill targeted “bad guys”, possibly along with their families, and destroy all opportunity for a collective livelihood and security in Afghanistan. What’s more, thousands of people are stranded in IDP camps, homeless and barefoot and uncertain as to why the U.S. ever invaded their land in the first place. Is this the price of my freedom?” (Jerica Arents). Full article.

Celebrating Columbus is Blasphemy

“Celebrating Columbus Is Blasphemy. Celebrate October 12 as Indigenous People’s Day. Maybe we Eurocentric folks can begin to register the extent of harm we have even done to ourselves after our genocide of the Native peoples. This mindset has boomerang energy – it returns, sooner or later, to the inflictor, often with ever more ferocity.” (Brian S Wilson). Full article.

Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize

When I saw this morning’s top New York Times headline — “Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize” — I had the same immediate reaction which I’m certain many others had: this was some kind of bizarre Onion gag that got accidentally transposed onto the wrong website, that it was just some sort of strange joke someone was playing. Upon further reflection, that isn’t all that far from the reaction I still have. Full article.

As US Continues Afghan, Iraq Occupations and Quashes Accountability for Gaza Assault, Critics Decry Awarding of Nobel Peace Prize to Obama

“US troops are occupying two countries: Iraq and Afghanistan. For all the talk, US soldiers remain in Iraq, and their bases are likely to stay there for some time. And the war in Afghanistan continues unabated, with President Obama actually sending in more troops. More people are being killed, both Afghans and NATO soldiers. The war has been expanded into Pakistan. So this is a sort of odd, though not surprising, choice by the Nobel Prize Committee.

They tend to take rhetoric very seriously. And though they deny it, we know that in 1938 they couldn’t decide whether to give the prize to Hitler or to Gandhi. And finally, they gave it to the Nansen International Office of Refugees, which was a much better choice. It would be worth their while thinking that perhaps they should have a self-denying ordinance. They shouldn’t give the prize to serving heads of state.” (Tariq Ali). Full interview.

Rochester police, anti-war protesters clash

the mainstream media account of police brutality in rochester is totally skewed: (1) there weren’t 100 protesters, there were probably 50, (2) the firetruck was not blocked as clearly shown in the video, (3) the police was never attacked, (4) there is clear video evidence of unnecessary, excessive force used against peaceful protesters. Article in the D&C.

“Funk the War” Protest Attacked By Police!

Freedom of speech? Freedom of assembly? Is this democracy or fascism?

“Without warning, the police officers moved in and started attacking demonstrators. They were armed with clubs and riot sized canisters of pepper spray. Approximately 10 of the protesters were arrested. Several others went to hospitals to seek treatment for injuries caused by the police action. The first demonstrator who was arrested was an African-American male. After his arrest, several demonstrators made comments relating to the racism frequently displayed by the Rochester Police Department. At least one of these demonstrators was also arrested.”

“Return of the Warlords”: Afghan Elections Marred by Fraud, Warlord Dominance

“This video, “Return of the Warlords”: Afghan Elections Marred by Fraud, Warlord Dominance,” was just produced by my great friend Rick Rowley of BigNoise Films. He is simply the best un-embedded journalist in the field today. If we had a sane nation with a democratic media, Rick’s reporting would appear on network news in the US and not just on Al Jazeera. Rick’s story will appear in full tonight on Al Jazeera English.” Jeremy Scahill. Watch video.

Voices from Afghanistan: Afghan Women’s Activist Zoya Speaks Out on Eight Years of Occupation

Zoya is a member of the radical underground organization Rawa, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She fled Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion but later returned to her country to document life under Taliban rule. She ha…s been an outspoken critic of the US and NATO invasion of Afghanistan. Watch interview.

Arrest of 61 Peace Activists Outside White House

As the occupation of Afghanistan enters its ninth year, the antiwar movement here in the United States has organized several actions this week calling for an end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dozens of rallies and protests are being held across the country today. We speak to David Swanson, who was among sixty-one people arrested Monday at a protest outside the White House. Watch video.

Obama’s escalating disaster

The election sheds a great deal of light on this, of course. Not simply because of the massive fraud in the election, although that’s an indicator of something going on, but it’s relevant because President Hamid Karzai was forced to make deals with all of the warlords throughout the country–to give them even more privileges politically than they already had, in some cases carving either new provinces or parts of provinces under the control of the warlord in question, and in other cases assuring warlords that they wouldn’t face any legal action for their war crimes or for any other crimes they might be guilty of.

And in every case, he assured them that no move is going to be made to diminish their de facto power in the provinces. This, of course, is the essence of the problem that the so-called government and the foreign military presence face in trying to combat the Taliban. Full article.