Here are some US and global issues that experienced newfound gains in 2012.

1.     While conservatives launched vicious attacks on women’s rights, it backfired—and fired up the pro-choice base! US voters elected the highest number of women to Congress ever, including the first openly lesbian senator (Tammy Baldwin), the first Asian-American senator (Mazie Hirono) and first senator to make the banks tremble, Elizabeth Warren! Voters also rejected 4 crazy candidates who called for limiting a woman’s right to choose—including the resounding defeat by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill over Mr. Legitimate Rape Todd Akin. Don’t forget that when Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced it would no longer fund Planned Parenthood, it got so heartily trounced that it caved in than seventy-two hours later. And stay tuned for the 2013 global women rising – a billion of us demanding an end to violence against women on February 14!

2.     Immigrant rights groups, especially young Latinos, mobilized and took great risks to force a change in attitude—and a thaw in policy. They fasted and caravanned and marched and knocked on doors. They pushed the administration and in June, just before the election, President Obama announced a new immigration policy that allows some undocumented students to avoid deportation and receive work authorization when they apply for deferred action. While not nearly enough, especially in light of this administration’s record rate of deportations, a mobilized immigrant community with significant voting power stands poised to make more impactful changes in U.S. immigration policy next year.

3.     More money flooded the elections than ever before (some $5.8 billion!), but most of it went down a big, black hole—and unleashed a new movement for money out of politics. Billionaires wasted fortunes trying to sell lousy candidates and lousy ideas. Looking at the candidates supported by the biggest moneybags of all, Sheldon Adelson, NONE were elected to office. Right-wing “pundits” like Karl Rove proved themselves to be idiotic partisan hacks and the Tea Party has been tearing itself apart. But best of all, from Massachusetts to Oregon, Colorado to Illinois and Wisconsin, and Ohio to California, citizens throughout the country voted overwhelmingly for their legislators to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling and declare that only human beings – not corporations – are entitled to constitutional rights and that money is not speech and campaign spending can be regulated.

4.     The marijuana genie is now out of the bottle, with people across the country backing referendums seeking an end to the decades of destructive, counterproductive drug wars. Colorado and Washington voters legalized recreational pot, and medical marijuana will be legal in Massachusetts. Voters in California passed Prop 34, which restricts lifetime incarceration via the “three strikes” law to violent or serious third offenses, a change that will help limit the prison sentences of nonviolent drug offenders. Prominent leaders including Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy, former President Bill Clinton and President Obama have hinted that they will reconsider the harsh criminal drug policy that has cost so much money and so many lives while failing to curb drug abuse.

5.     This year marked momentous wins for gay rights. Massachusetts, Maine, and Washington legalized marriage equality, and Minnesota defeated a restrictive state constitutional amendment that would have upheld a ban. Now, one-tenth of states in the U.S. uphold marriage equality. Thanks to activist pressure, on May 9 President Obama became the first sitting president to endorse marriage equality for same-sex couples. Several prominent leaders in the Democratic Party followed his lead, and muted conservative responses only served to demonstrate how far public opinion has shifted on the issue.

6.     Climate activists have been kickin’ up a storm. Anti-coal activists have helped retire over 100 coal plants, victories that will save lives and clean our air and water, while wind energy hit a historic milestone of 50,000 megawatts. The global anti-fracking movement mounted effective campaigns that has led to local bans in the US and Canada, national moratoriums in France and Bulgaria, and tighter regulation in Australia and the UK. The grassroots campaign to stop the Keystone Pipeline has awakened a new generation of activists (don’t forget the upcoming February 17-18 President’s Day Climate Legacy/Keystone XL rally in Washington, D.C.). And on the national front, in August the Obama administration issued new miles-per-gallon rules on car manufacturers, mandating that Detroit nearly double fuel efficiency standards by 2025.

7.         Unions have been hard hit by the economic crisis and political attacks, but worker’s gains made in 2012 show potential muscle. The Chicago teachers’ strike in September, lasting for seven school days, led to an important victory for public education. Walmart workers staged the first-ever strikes against the biggest private sector employer in the United States and heralded a new model of organizing, with workers and community members coming together to support better conditions in the stores and warehouses even before the workers join a union. And in another example of worker/community organizing, student activism allied with union advocacy in San Jose, California led to a ballot initiative that will raise the minimum wage from $8 to $10 per hour for everyone working within the city limits.

8.     On the foreign policy front, opposition to drone warfare is on the rise. After years of silence about the use of lethal drones overseas, the public began to learn more and the level of anti-drone activism skyrocketed. Now there are protests all over the country, including army bases where drones are piloted and manufacturing plants, and US activists have hooked up with drone victims overseas. US attitudes, once overwhelmingly pro-drone, are beginning to change, becoming more aligned with the global opposition to drone warfare. And the increased global opposition is leading to a rethinking of US policies.

9.     The international movement for Palestinian human rights has gained unprecedented momentum. In November the United Nations endorsed an independent state of Palestine, showing sweeping international support of Palestinian demands for sovereignty over lands Israel has occupied since 1967. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions call by Palestinian civil society gained international traction as well, with economic, cultural and academic victories. Several different Christian denominations and college campuses voted to divest from Israeli occupation, the Technical University of Denmark dropped scientific collaboration projects with an Israeli settlement, the South African ANC endorsed the BDS call, Stevie Wonder cancelled a performance at a “Friends of the IDF” fundraiser, and much more. The grassroots call for Israel to adhere to international law has never been louder.

10.       After nearly 15 years of house arrest, Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament! Suu Kyi’s party, the NLD (National League for Democracy), swept the April by-elections, winning 43 of the 44 seats it contested. After decades of abuse, the military-dominated government released hundreds of political prisoners, enacted laws on forming trade unions and freedom of assembly, eased official media censorship, and allowed the opposition to register and contest elections. President Obama’s November visit, the first by a sitting US president, was an acknowledgement of the reforms. There’s still need for pressure, as hundreds of political prisoners remain, ethnic conflict continues, and Burmese military still holds too much power. But 2012 was a good year for the Burmese people.

There will be no time to rest in 2013, since the wealthy are already pushing to protect their profits to the detriment of the environment, workers’ rights and our democracy. But just as the massacre in Sandy Hook has led to a reinvigorated fight for gun control, so 2013 will surely mark a renewed effort to build stronger coalitions to spread the wealth, reverse global warming and disentangle ourselves from foreign wars. And with the presidential elections behind us, the time is ripe for building a progressive movement that is not tied to any political party but can put pressure on the entire system. Let the organizing begin!!!

Mexican poet Javier Sicilia destroyed a gun during the Caravan for Peace this summer, 2012.

Millions of anguished conversations about the murder of so many small children at a Connecticut elementary school have produced new resolve to do something. As the holiday season starts, there is a palpable wave of revulsion against the gun industry, the gun fanatics, and the powerful lobbyists who have intimidated our political representatives into allowing all manner of guns – even military style weapons – to be widely and easily available.

Now, with a sense of sea change in public attitude, politicians are waking up. Several unlikely Democrats have spoken in favor of the initiative by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D. CA) to reintroduce the now expired ban on assault weapons she successfully championed in the mid 1990s. Meanwhile, for the first time, the Obama Administration is tentatively articulating leadership on gun regulation. If President Obama commits to strong and sensible gun regulation, we should have his back.

This new commitment to at least talk about gun restriction is heartening. Nevertheless, those, such as myself, who have watched previous waves of horror sweep in, and then recede in the wake of other gun-murder outrages, know we need a broad and resilient coalition against gun violence. We have to be able to win battles now as well as in future confrontations with gun industry interests.

A coalition that can effectively parry the U.S. gun lobby needs to work at a local, state, national, and international level. Locally, we need to involve the representatives of communities and neighborhoods most affected by the more than 30,000 annual gun homicides in the United States in the evolving conversation about how to make our communities safe. At the state level we need to work with legislators like California Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) who is working (with our partners at the Brady Campaign and other Senators like Kevin de Leon, (D-Los Angeles) to make California a laboratory for sensible and exemplary gun policies.

At the national level we need vision and leadership from an Administration that has not previously engaged the difficult politics of gun control. For more than a year, we have worked with allies from Mexico, Washington and important networks like Presente.org to petition Obama to use executive power to ban the import of assault to the U.S. This request to President Obama was a central element of the Mexican Caravan for Peace that crossed the country last summer, led by victims of the wave of violence 60,000 and counting – fueled by drug profits and guns smuggled from the U.S.

Candlelight vigil at East Los Angeles Church for Caravan for Peace

Restoring the ban on assault weapons, as Senator Dianne Feinstein seeks to do, would be a vital first step that would go much further than any available executive action to limit access to military style assault weapons. But passage, even such a common sense bill, is by no means guaranteed. Those who profit from the gun trade and their lobbyist enablers like the NRA have a strong grip on the leash of legislators, especially the Republican who control the House of Representatives.

For sensible gun control measures to succeed, the local political math must change. That is why sea change moments – when Washington’s policy silos disappear momentarily and the grief of a few moves the hearts of millions – are so important.

Such a moment came in Mexico when the Mexican President Calderón suggested that 14 teenage victims of an October 2010 massacre at a birthday party in the border town of Ciudad Juarez were linked to organized crime. In fact, the teens were all football players mistakenly targeted by cartel hit men. Later, when the boy’s mothers confronted the President about this during a televised meeting the video of the encounter went viral and caused an opinion watershed and eventually a powerful movement led by victims of Mexico’s drug war. This is the same movement that crossed the border to dramatically make the case for steps to regulate assault weapons in 29 US cities last summer.

As the New Year dawns and members of Congress will likely face decisions about how to weigh in on restoring the assault weapons ban and other possible gun control legislation. We must keep alive the urgency of these initiatives even as attention to the families and victims of Newtown recedes.

Constituent pressure on specific members of Congress will be key to any legislative success. Additionally, the voices of people from both sides of the border with loved ones lost to this long plague of gun violence bring a powerful and morally urgent voice to this conversation. There is no question that banning assault weapons would benefit the security and safety of Mexican border communities. Ending the large scale smuggling of assault weapons used by criminals throughout Mexico is human and national security priority.

As the year closes people gather. I hope we can all look each other in the eyes and muster the courage to ask what kind of world we want to live in and how we can love and work together to get there.

TAKE ACTION!

Please join the call on President Obama to stop the flow of assault weapons into our communities.

Most of the 60,000 people killed in Mexico as a result of the “Drug War” were killed with guns sold in the U.S. Tell President Obama that you don’t want greedy gun merchants selling assault weapons, built for war, into our communities where they are then used to massacre tens of thousands of innocent people on both sides of the border.

Deborah James and Medea Benjamin pushing Starbucks to go Fair Trade, 1999.

We’re going to raise $25,000 by midnight on Dec. 31st.

Over the past 25 years, you have helped Global Exchange:

• transform the unfair practices of corporate giants like Nike, GAP, and Starbucks;
• build a thriving Fair Trade movement;
• monitor elections in Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S. and;
• build the Green Festival – the nation’s largest sustainability event.

Your support made all this, and much more, possible. Renew your commitment to social justice by making a donation today.

As we set our sights on the next 25 years, with your support we will reform U.S. gun laws, force Hershey’s to go Fair Trade, and continue to oppose unjust policies in the U.S. and abroad.

Your continued support will help us build an unstoppable movement for change.

Please donate today and make great things possible:

• One Hundred $25 gifts will cover the cost of a trip to Ethiopia to meet with Fair Trade cooperatives and develop increase relationships with local artisans.

• Fifty $100 gifts will tour a speaker from the frontlines of the drug war in Mexico, educating and inspiring thousands across the U.S. to change the broken policies that are fueling this tragic war.

• Five $250 gifts will sponsor a year-long youth fellowship to inspire and train the leaders of tomorrow.

• Twenty-five $1,000 gifts will support all creative actions we have planned in 2013 to expose the havoc that lobbyists are wreaking on our democracy.

Want to see what we have accomplished in 2012? Watch this video (or re-visit our winter, spring, summer and fall roundups) to find out:

If we can accomplish all that in one year, think of what we have in store for the next 25 years!

Give today and ring in another year full of social justice victories.

Holiday tree at the Global Exchange Fair Trade store in San Francisco

I walked into the Global Exchange Fair Trade store in San Francisco last week to cross off the last of the names on my gift list. This holiday season I made a promise to myself; to only give socially responsible gifts. I made some, I purchased some from local artists and craftspeople, and I purchased Fair Trade gifts.

For many years now, I’ve purchased some of my holiday gifts from our San Francisco store. It is one my holiday traditions. I love seeing the giant tree with Fair Trade ornaments from around the world hanging proudly.

Jocelyn, Kara and Alex from the Global Exchange Fair Trade Store in San Francisco

The staff are always welcoming and friendly. Festive even! When I tell them who is left on my holiday gift list, they are always eager to suggest gift ideas. And when I leave, I feel good about my purchases. Because I know my gifts are great AND that my money was well spent because Fair Trade purchases help support hard-working artisans from around the world.

For those who are curious, here are a few of the holiday gift finds I’ve purchased from our San Francisco store:

• Set of vetiver placemats– (which smell great and come rolled up for easy shipping.) Surprisingly they are machine washable which is great, because my brother is a messy eater!
• Cruelty-free leather bracelets–These multi-strand leather band bracelets are really hip looking. Jewelry can be hard to pick out for someone else, but not these bracelets. Rockers, fashionistas, even hippies…they work for lots of styles. I’ve gotten a few of these for both friends and family. (Ok, and one for me too, I couldn’t help it!)
• 

  Tunisian pottery

  Tunisian pottery–there are lots of pieces in the collection, and they’re gorgeous! If you have a small budget, there are smaller pieces under $20. Even the larger pieces are responsibly priced.

• Soapstone heart-shaped rocks–you have to see these to appreciate their beauty. Amazingly, they are made without the use of any electricity. The artisans use only human-power to create these one-of-a-kind stones. They are super smooth, some are red, black, with various designs. Giving someone a smooth heart stone just feels right. I’ve given the same person one of these stones two years in a row, because you can’t have enough love in your life.
• Winter wear–Uber hip fingerless gloves, matching scarves and hats, there’s lots to choose from, and they’ve got sizes for kids and adults.
• Chocolate–You can never go wrong with Fair Trade chocolate bars, unless of course your gift recipient is a dog, since chocolate is not good for them:) I grab bars and attach them to the outside of some of my presents for that extra pop. I also help Santa out by putting some in stockings.
• Journals–This is an easy gift to give someone, because having a fresh new book to write in is never a bad thing.
• What About Peace? gift card sets–this is the first year Global Exchange put these out, and I love them. They feature artwork from our What About Peace? youth art contest. Call me old-school, but I still believe a nice hand written note beats email any day.
  

  What About Peace gift card set

• Stocking stuffers galore–our stores have tons of stocking stuffers under $10, too many to name! One of my faves is the little organza baggies filled with Equal Exchange chocolate minis.

—

That’s just a few of the many gifts I’ve scored at our San Francisco Fair Trade store!

So if you live near one of our Fair Trade stores, (Berkeley, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Virginia) I encourage you to stop by and say hello, and find gifts for those still on YOUR list. You won’t regret it!

Here’s a very special video with highlights from our year, and we do mean “our” because we cannot do the work we do without YOU!

Please consider this your official invitation to JOIN US in this unstoppable movement for change. Together we are strong.

Here is a look back at some of our favorite blog posts and stories from 2012.

Walter Turner, Global Exchange President of the Board of Directors, explains recent changes in policy regarding legal travel to Cuba and calls for unencumbered travel to Cuba, while Global Exchange co-founder Kevin Danaher reminds us that Cuba needs us to see its reality.

Lea Murray shares about how her trip to Venezuela has left lasting impressions, while Costa Rica program officer Marta Sanchez explains how she first became involved with Global Exchange.

The amazing “serial tripper” Jane Stillwater went on her 6th Reality Tour, this time to Uganda, while Global Exchange’s “What About Peace?” program went to Haiti to spread the message of peace with Haitian schoolchildren.

Burmese Temples

We said Aloha to Malia Everette, our Reality Tours Director for over 15 years, and wish her well in her transition.

We announced Reality Tours’ newest destination, to Burma, in 2013!

Every year is an eventful year for Reality Tours, and 2012 has been no exception.

We wish you all a peaceful New Years, and we’ll see you in 2013!

Take Action

We’re building an unstoppable movement for change. Are you in? Make a donation today.

Here are some Elect Democracy campaign highlights:

• “How Wall Street is Burning Democracy” Report and Legislative Scorecard: We made it easy to find out how much Wall Street gave to Congressional campaigns to check how often Congresspeople voted in line with Wall Street’s lobby position on free trade bills, Wall Street regulation, the bailout, and more. The Huffington Post, Yes! Magazine, Alternet, Nation of Change, Daily Kos, and dozens of other news outlets covering our shocking revelation that Wall Street spends over $1,331 per minute on political influence via lobbying and campaign money.

• RNC/DNC: We brought our legislative scorecard and report to Tampa and Charlotte where we marched on both conventions with our call to get corporate money out of our democracy.

• Stick It to Super PACs: Just days before the most expensive U.S. election of all time we used email, phone, and social media to clog the gears of the ominous Super PACs! GOOD magazine, Upworthy, and others helped us spread the message. Over 1,500 people Stuck It to Super PACs on October 25th! You can still take action here.

• Election Day: do you remember that exact moment when the election was called and we learned that Barack Obama would remain President? I do. What has this election meant to you? Leave a comment on our blog.

• #StopTPP: I joined social, labour and faith based groups on the US/Canada border earlier this month to stop the TransPacific Partnership. To learn more about this ominous, 13 country free trade deal (and our work to stop it), read my blog about the TPPxBorder rally we attended on the U.S.-Canada border.

All that and so much more! A great place to read all about it is our online Media Center which has a vast collection of articles about our work this year.

Next year, we have even more ways to take action. Elect Democracy is taking on the hired hands that call the shots in DC: big shot lobbyists. From challenging Super PAC millions to lobbyist billions, our work is going to be fun, tough, and more important than ever.

We’ll also need your help. Compared to the amount of money flowing from Wall Street to Washington, when you see all we have accomplished, we truly make the most of every penny.

Consider giving a Global Exchange membership to a friend this season and support Elect Democracy.

Again, thank you so much for your action. I look forward to starting 2013 with refreshed energy and refueled strategies.

Happy Holidays!

It would seem like a no-brainer for the Senate Majority Leader to fall in line with the leadership of his party in backing a modest bill that would ban the sale of weapons that are only good for mass murder. Unfortunately, Reid’s senior policy advisor Kasey Gillette was unable to give an answer.

While there is a lot of talk in Democratic circles about Republicans standing in the way of sensible gun laws, a hidden secret is that the Democratic Senator leader from Nevada, who is key to getting gun control legislation passed in this country, has been as pro-gun as most Republicans.

In the past, Reid has touted the rights of gun owners and eagerly sought the NRA’s endorsements, contributions and praise. In 2004, Reid was one of the rare Democrats to be endorsed by the NRA. In 2009 he sought to please the powerful lobby by supporting a controversial bill to allow gun owners with concealed weapon permits to cross state lines. The legislation, which was vehemently opposed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, fell just two votes short of the 60 votes needed. The NRA, however, was delighted that Reid had supported the bill and allowed it to be brought to the floor for a vote.

In 2010, when Reid was engaged in a bitter re-election campaign against Republican Sharron Angle, the NRA refrained from endorsing, but contributed to Reid’s campaign and reminded voters of his pro-gun record. An NRA letter to its Nevada members touted that Reid “opposed the Obama administration’s interest in reinstating the assault weapons ban, halting momentum; helped pass a law that allows gun owners to carry firearms in national parks; voted against the District of Columbia’s gun ban; voted for legislation to allow pilots in commercial airline cockpits to be armed.” It also noted that Reid was instrumental in passing legislation halting lawsuits that were attempting to hold gun manufacturers and dealers responsible for weapons used in criminal acts.

NRA head Wayne LaPierre called Senator Reid “a true champion of the Second Amendment” and said “no one has been a stronger advocate for responsible gun ownership than him.”

After the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shootings in July 2012, Senator Reid blocked any debate about gun control, insisting that the Senate schedule was “too packed” to spend time on it.

After this latest tragedy at Sandy Hook that left 20 children dead, Reid took a timid step forward, saying it was time to “engage in a meaningful conversation and thoughtful debate about how to change laws and culture that allow violence to grow.” Hinting at a softening of his position, he said that as we discuss how best to protect our nation’s children, “every idea should be on the table.”

But for the gun control advocates in his office on Tuesday, Reid’s faint-hearted call for reform was not nearly enough. With alarm clocks in hand, they said the time for discussion was long past; they wanted action. They said it was time for Senator Reid to stand up to the NRA and to use his leadership to protect our children, not the gun manufacturers.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been making the same demand. “Calling for ‘meaningful action’ is not enough,” he said. “We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership — not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today. This is a national tragedy and it demands a national response.”

In a move that seems to heed the call for action, President Obama just appointed Vice President Joe Biden to lead a task force on new gun laws. Senator Dianne Feinstein said she will introduce legislation early next year to ban the sale of new assault weapons, as well as big clips, drums and strips of more than 10 bullets. Even Virginia’s Mark Warner,
one of the few staunch pro-gun Senate Democrats, reversed course to back restrictions on assault weapons, declaring that “the status quo is not acceptable anymore.”

With 20 children dead, President Obama insisting that preventing gun violence will be a second-term policy priority, and Harry Reid not facing re-election until 2016, perhaps the Senator will now be willing to stand up to the NRA? The clock is ticking.

Medea Benjamin is cofounder of www.codepink.org and www.globalexchange.org. She is author of the recent book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.

Mexico’s outgoing president, Felipe Calderon, left, gives a Mexican flag to Enrique Peña Nieto during the official transfer of command ceremony at the National Palace in Mexico City. // AP Photo

The Mexican Peace Caravan that crossed the United States last summer was bracketed between elections. It began in Tijuana, just six weeks after Mexico’s July presidential election, and concluded in Washington just six weeks before Obama’s re-election. Now, as 2013 is dawning, Mexicans can begin to see the outlines and true colors of their return to PRI rule.

On Dec. 1, in the final act of his blood-drenched presidency, Felipe Calderón passed his tri-color sash to incoming PRI strong-man, and now President, Enrique Peña Nieto. The handover was backlit by protest and chilled by concerns about what it means to hand Mexico’s executive branch back to a party that, until 2000, had absolutely controlled — and corrupted — the nation during 71 years of unbroken one-party rule.

Of course, millions of Mexicans voted for Peña Nieto last July. Some undoubtedly yearn for the peace and security they associate with the earlier era of PRI domination. To suppose that restoring the PRI’s power might facilitate clandestine contact with major drug trafficking organizations is not unreasonable. In decades past, such ties have reportedly allowed PRI operators to communicate with, take bribes from, and exert significant influence on major drug trafficking organizations. The current vision is of a restored pax mafiosa that could reset or even free the country entirely from the disastrously aggressive drug war policies of outgoing President Calderón.

Few say so publically, but whispers that Peña Nieto should somehow reach out to the drug bosses are widespread. Peña Nieto decried this notion in a New York Times op-ed the day after the election, but speculation continues about the possibility of a pact that could effectively legalize the wealth of the big traffickers in exchange for peace and their eventual conversion to legal enterprise. Such an amnesty brought the Kennedys and countless other American families back into the fold after U.S. alcohol prohibition was lifted in 1933. More recently, large drug syndicates in South East Asia’s golden triangle have paid steep one-time taxes to repatriate capital into the legal economy as part of a broader deal aimed at ending their participation in the drug trade.

Yet, in fact, even if Peña Nieto did want to return Mexico to an imagined earlier era of tolerance or otherwise evolve drug and security policies, it won’t be easy. This is especially true due to continuing U.S. rejection of real discussion about international drug policy reform. Yet ongoing prohibition guarantees continued drug mega-profits that are a siren song for the most ruthless criminal elements. This grim reality, in combination with strong U.S. pressures to stay the drug war course, severely limits the options and flexibility of Mexico’s new president.

Peña Nieto also faces a suspicious civil society and energized opposition. More than 60% of the electorate rejected the PRI and voted for opposition candidates. A significant social movement arose to oppose his election under the broad banner of Yo Soy 132. This group continues to organize on both sides of the border and was an essential part of gathering grass roots support for the Peace Caravan in several key cities.

Millions of Mexicans fear the PRI will resort to its authoritarian playbook while it pushes the same brutal mix of neo-liberal policies the party forced into place at great cost to Mexico’s economic sovereignty and well being during the crisis ridden 1980’s and 90’s.

But the realities of deepening poverty, inequality, and humanitarian crisis don’t stop Mexico’s plutocrats and their enablers from smearing lipstick on the pig of an economy that has left a majority of Mexicans in poverty. I recommend this article “Mexico’s New President Is Off to a Troubling Start” that UNAM professor John Ackerman just published in The Atlantic Magazine. In it, Ackerman repudiates highbrow happy talk about Peña Nieto and the Mexican economy currently emanating from Washington establishment sources such as the Woodrow Wilson Institute, the Inter-American Dialogue, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Many agree that Mexico urgently needs to undertake thorough and difficult internal reforms. To be effective, such reforms must challenge impunity all the way to the upper echelons of the military and Federal Police as well as top political and corporate circles. Washington officials and the Obama administration have shown little stomach for pushing such actions on Calderón. Similarly, Obama gave no visible signs of pushing Peña Nieto on such reforms during their first encounter in late November. Pressure for change must come from somewhere else. That is why we must continue to build the movement against the drug war into an unstoppable force.

The violence unleashed in Mexico during Calderon’s six long years has resulted in 60,000 murders but resolved nothing. In fact, drug trafficking organizations have thrived, diversified, and some think that they have deepened their penetration and corruption of Mexico’s institutions during this period. Any genuine change starts with an end to the drug war.

photo: Caravan for Peace

Last summer, victims and activists from Mexico rolled with people from across the United States for a 5,700 mile-journey through 29 cities. They had the support of Global Exchange and more than 200 other U.S. organizations who shared the ambitious goal of revealing how Mexico’s murder epidemic is rooted in more than forty years of deadly and fruitless drug war fostered, funded, and implemented by the United States.

The caravan relentlessly made the case for concerted action north of the border to regulate drugs more sensibly in order to remove the hyper-profits of illicit drug trafficking. Such a move could dramatically reduce the large scale brutality in Mexico, slow southbound gun smuggling, reverse mass incarceration trends in the U.S., challenge corruption on both sides of the border, and address the distortion of our national security priorities.

Mexican peace movement organizers are calling for a meeting in early 2013 to evaluate, strategize, and strengthen ongoing work between the organizations and peoples movements that built the Caravan on both sides of the border. They know the momentum around drug policy is on the side of reformers.

Recent elections in Washington state and Colorado are potential harbingers of a mature, new approach to drug policy that embraces regulation and public health metrics instead of the “just say no” militarization we have lived with for decades. Domestic and international opinion is moving faster than the politicians. And on a range of related questions — like the absurd legality of assault weapons for civilians or ill-advised U.S. support of Mexico’s military security apparatus — our job is to keep the debate moving and force them to catch up.

But don’t do it!

People who care about human rights should know that the product is made in an illegal Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land in violation of international law!

Stores selling SodaStream include:  Bed, Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, COSTCO, Crate & Barrel, JC Penney, Kohls, Macy’s, Sears, Staples, Sur La Table, Target, Walmart, Williams-Sonoma.

Black Friday Demonstrations against SodaStream

Ask your friends, family, colleagues, etc. to avoid SodaStream and to take the actions listed below.

• Sign this petition asking stores to stop selling SodaStream.
• Speak to the Store Manager: If you see SodaStream on sale, speak to the store manager and fill out a comment card asking the store to stop selling it. You can also contact store CEOs directly.
• Take it back: If you know of anyone who has unfortunately made this purchase, ask them to return SodaStream to the store. The more conversations we can have about the illegal settlement production the better.
• SkyMall: If you are flying anywhere this holiday season, check out the SkyMall catalogue and write your comment directly on the Soda Stream ad.
• Go holiday caroling: See a list of songs to sing during your ‘Boycott SodaStream’ holiday caroling rounds.
• List of actions and more: Visit Global Exchange’s SodaStream action page for more tips on how to get involved with the campaign.

Best wishes for an active holiday season from all of us at Global Exchange.

This year Global Exchange Fair Trade purchases helped install a water treatment plant in India to filter 2,000 liters of water each hour. We created a new month of activities for Halloween and Fair Trade month, delivered kid’s Valentines to the Board of the Hershey’s company, made delicious Fair Trade S’mores in the summer and had a significant victory when Hershey’s agreed to go 100% certified by 2020.

The end of the year is always a good time to take stock, express our gratitude and prepare to meet the new year with renewed energy to make Trade Fair! Here are a few of our suggestions for this year.

1. Buy less stuff: Our good friends over at The Story of Stuff (and winner of the Global Exchange 2012 Human Rights Award) encourage us to choose family over frenzy this holiday season and to think carefully about the full life span of the products we consume. Where does your gift come from? Who made it and where will it go when we don’t want it any more? A gift of time and love doesn’t have to clog our landfills and exploit labor to be meaningful.
2. Shop Fair Trade: When you shop Fair Trade you set an example of responsible consumption rooted in the celebration of craftsmanship; the enforcement of workers rights; and the empowerment of artisans and their communities around the world. You get quality, beauty and tradition in one-of- a -kind, hand-made products. From gemstone earrings set in hand-etched sterling silver in Bali, to messenger bags hand-cut from the inter tube of big rig truck tires in El Salvador, and 100% cotton table linens block-printed in India, there are many beautiful and functional gifts. At the origin of each piece, is a story of preserving culture, supporting community and sustaining the planet.
3. Don’t buy SodaStream: One of the most popular gifts this season is the do-it-yourself soda machine made by SodaStream which carbonates water at home. But don’t do it! People who care about human rights should know that the product is made in an illegal Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land in violation of international law!
4. Give the Gift of Membership: A great way to give a gift that doesn’t take up space but keeps on growing is to give a Global Exchange membership. When you do that you’re connecting someone you care about with an international movement to build a better world.
5. Be Generous: Times are still hard for many people who are struggling to recover from storms, from the economic downturn and from personal trials. If you can afford it, give as much as you can to those who are making things better and if you don’t have a lot of money, share your smiles, time, songs and encouraging words.

What are your Fair Trade Holiday ideas? Tell us in the comments.

Have a Happy and Fair Trade Holidays!

Shannon Biggs, Community Rights Program Director at Global Exchange, shares some holiday reading suggestions for fans of community rights, followed by a few staff picks.

COMMUNITY RIGHTS HOLIDAY READING

• Exclusive! David Korten shares some thoughts on nature and the future of economics: A rights-based economy begins with the biosphere. In 2013 Global Exchange will be looking at how the rights of nature can play a role in shaping a new economy (or more correctly new economies) based on the needs of ecosystems and the human communities they support. What does that look like? Ecological economist, author and YES! Magazine co-founder David Korten gives Global Exchange a sneak peak of a piece he’s working on. For more related to this topic, read David Korten’s article in the latest issue of Yes! Magazine.
• An Inconvenient Truth About Lincoln (That You Won’t Hear from Hollywood): Have you seen the movie Lincoln? I watched it over the Thanksgiving break, and quite enjoyed the romp through the inner workings and backroom political dealings that go on (spoiler alert!) when passing an Amendment to abolish slavery. However much we love to love Lincoln, it’s worth noting that as a former railroad lawyer, he was a huge advocate of corporate personhood, as a means to ensure that the plantation system was replaced by a corporate version. Before you sit down to watch Daniel Day Lewis inhabit our favorite President, this Huffington Post piece is a quick and entertaining read.
• How the Mayan Calendar Works: Next, check this out for a short read before the End of Days.

STAFF PICKS available at your local independent booksellers:

• Community Rights staff suggest reading: Taming Democracy by Terry Bouton. Americans are fond of reflecting upon the noble Founding Fathers, who came together to force out the tyranny of the British and bring democracy. Unfortunately, the Revolutionary elite often seemed as determined to squash democracy after the war as they were to support it before.
• This is what Shannon Biggs is REALLY reading at home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. Bryson takes us on a room-by-room tour through his own house, using each room as a jumping off point into the vast history of the domestic artifacts we take for granted. As he takes us through the history of our modern comforts, Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world eventually ends up in our home, in the paint, the pipes, the pillows, and every item of furniture.
• Executive Director Carleen Pickard is reading: The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts by Louis de Bernières. Set in an impoverished, violent, yet ravishingly beautiful country somewhere in South America. When the haughty Dona Constanza decides to divert a river to fill her swimming pool, the consequences are at once tragic, heroic, and outrageously funny.
• Online Communications Manager, Zarah Patriana is reading: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  A masterpiece that tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family.
• And finally, in case you missed it, check out our most popular community rights blog post (to date), which was also cross-posted on AlterNet. Read it here.

Happy holidays!

The following blog is a guest post from Michael T. McPhearson, National Coordinator, United For Peace and Justice:

—

Americans demand good paying jobs; corporations and the rich pay their fair share; protection of our social safety net; significant cuts to runaway Pentagon spending; and an end to the War in Afghanistan. We must not let up – we must continue to remind our elected officials who they represent.  Together our voices can make a difference.

The next few weeks are critical as Congress and the President negotiate over the budget. Wall Street CEOs and war hawks have descended on Washington, DC and are all over the news telling Americans we must lower our expectations – that we need to understand that the U.S. simply can’t afford to maintain programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. We can’t let the money and power of CEOs and war hawks influence our election mandate.

Please take action today with United for Peace & Justice petition and call your Congressperson to remind them that America needs jobs, not wars! More information is available at our website, www.jobs-not-wars.org.

TAKE ACTION on and after December 5th:

Thank you for taking action and speaking up!

• United for Peace and Justice
• Veterans For Peace
• Military Families Speak Out

Haitian student holds a What About Peace? drawing from the United States.

For six years What About Peace? has attracted youth ages 14 -20 years old to creatively answer the question, ‘What About Peace?”. It has attracted submissions from all over the United States and a few from the rest of the world.

As the artwork collected over the years we thought it could do more for peace out in the world than stacked in the office.

This October, a Global Exchange Reality Tour was headed to Haiti and graciously agreed to bring five of our favorite What About Peace? paintings to a school in Haiti. We had our message of peace translated into Kreyol;

We are sending you this small gift from young people in the United States who are thinking about how to answer the question “What About Peace?” using art or creative writing. Peace and justice must be understood internationally or it can not exist. We stand with you as you work for peace and justice in your own country and we hope we can learn from you about what you think about peace.

Please receive this gift as a gesture of solidarity and connection – that people-to-people ties can build the world we want.

Zanmi Ayisyen, N ap voye pou nou yon ti kado ke yon gwoup jen ki fe aktivite kom atis ak ekriven pou brase lide sou repons keksyon “Sa Kap Fet Pou Lape?”. Toupatou sou late moun fet pou pran konsyans sou koze jistis ak lape sinon sa pap rive fet. Nou kanpe avek nou kap travay pou lape ak jistis lan peyi pa nou e nou espere aprann sa nou panse sou koze lape a.

Tanpri resevwa kado sa kom yon senbol solidarite lan mache tet ansanm – moun toupatou men lan men kapab bati mond nou vle a.

SOPUDEP students greeted Global Exchange Reality Tour participants.

The Reality Tour was welcomed by Rea Dol, the Director and Co-Founder of SOPUDEP, the Society of Providence United for the Economic Development of Petionville, which runs education projects in the outskirts of Port au Prince. The Reality Tour participants all agreed that Rea Dol represents the best of Haiti – tenacity, hope, and the indomitable spirit of the women and children to learn no matter what the physical circumstances are. The schools are still recovering after the January 12, 2010 earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince and killed more than 300,000 people.

Many of the students in schools run by SOPUDEP come from the street. They are “restaveks” – child domestic slave laborers – who were sexually and physically abused and so prefer street life to adoptive parents. They find shelter and community in SOPUDEP

Andrea Broad reported back from the visit to the SOPUDEP school: “The kids really marveled at the whole concept and responded to the paintings, sketches and photos. I read them each of the artists’ names and where they were from. They asked several questions, but were otherwise shy about saying much…. Two days later we went back to the SOPUDEP school, and one young man already had completed an entry.”

TAKE ACTION:

Tell teachers, students and community workers about What About Peace? They can get involved here.

Help us send more messages of peace to schools around the world by making a donation to Global Exchange’s What About Peace? contest. For $10 we’ll send you beautiful blank note cards with images from previous entrants. Order a set for yourself and your friends.

Also see December 1, Truth and Trauma in Gaza and December 2, We Want It to Stop.

Eman El-Hawi, a smart and perky 24-year-old business student from Gaza got teary when she told our delegation about what she witnessed during the eight days that Israel pounded Gaza. “I saw the babies being brought into the hospital, some dead, some wounded. I couldn’t believe Israel was doing this again, just like four years ago. But at least this time,” she said with pride, “we struck back.”

The fight was totally disproportionate. Israeli F-16s, drones and Apache helicopters unleashed their fury over this tiny strip of land, leaving 174 dead, over one thousand wounded, as well as homes, schools, hospitals, mosques and government buildings damaged and destroyed. On the Palestinian side, crude Qassam rockets left six Israelis dead and caused little damage. But for many Palestinians, it was a perverse kind of victory.

If the Israeli government was trying to teach the Palestinians a lesson with this latest pummeling, the unfortunate lesson many learned was that the only way to deal with Israel is through firepower. We asked people why this round of violence lasted only eight days, unlike the 22-day attack in 2008. Some credited the Arab Spring that has created a new wave of pro-Palestinian public sentiment that governments have to respond to—especially in Egypt where the ceasefire was brokered. But others believed the Israelis backed down because Palestinian rockets had reached into the heart of Israel.

“It’s not that we want to kill Israelis but we want them to know we are not helpless,” said Ahmed Al Sahbany, an engineering student. “We want them to know that when they attack us mercilessly, when they treat us like animals, we will fight back.” A rap song by a West Bank group called “Strike, Strike Tel Aviv” that came out during the fighting was a hit among many of the Palestinian youth.

Many young people we talked to were dismissive of peace talks with Israel. They say the Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank has been talking to the Israelis for 18 years and all they have achieved is a new brand of apartheid, with bypass roads, separation walls, expanding settlements, Jerusalem ethnically cleansed, 500-600 checkpoints, and the continued siege of Gaza.

This latest round of attacks is just a continuation of the daily attacks we live with here in Gaza every day,” said youth leader Majed Abusalama. “Israeli soldiers shoot at our fishermen and confiscate their boats just for fishing in waters that belong to us. Israeli soldiers shoot at our farmers when they try to farm their lands that are close to the border, lands that belong to our farmers—our land!” In fact, a week after the ceasefire, our delegation visited a group of farmers in Rafah who were still unable to farm a good portion of their land. One of them, hobbling around in a cast, had just been shot in the leg, without warning, for venturing too close to the fence that separates Israel and Gaza.

Raji Sourani, a lawyer and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, a group that meticulously documented the crimes committed during the 8-day war, lost his normally calm demeanor when speaking to our delegation about Obama and the US Congressional support for what they called Israel’s right to defend itself. “How can Obama say Israel is defending itself when we are the real victims? We are the target of this dirty war, just like we were the last time in 2008, just like we are every day,” Sourani shouted. “The Israelis practice the law of the jungle with full legal immunity and no accountability.”

Sourani was happy with the vote that gave Palestine a seat at the UN because it showed that Israel and the US were opposed by most of the rest of the world. But he said the UN seat would only be meaningful if the Palestinian Authority used it as an opportunity to take Israel to the International Criminal Court, something the Western powers are pressuring them not to do.

The most poignant indictment of Israel and the Western powers came from Jamal Dalu, the shopkeeper whose home in Gaza City was demolished by an Israeli bomb that left 12 dead, including his wife and four children. Looking around at the wreckage that was once his home and family, he faulted President Obama for giving Israel the green light to carry out its attacks. “Obama, you say you want to teach us about democracy and the rule of law. Is this what you mean by democracy? Is this the rule of law?” he repeated over and over.

“I really don’t understand what the Israelis and their backers in the United States want,” said Sourani, throwing up his hands in despair. “They want us to vote, and when we do they refuse the recognize the winner. They say they want a two-state solution, but keep building settlements that make two states impossible. But if we say we want to live in a single, democratic state, they say we want the destruction of Israel because we produce lots of babies and will outnumber them. Honestly, I don’t know what they really want, but I can tell you this: the way things are right now can’t last forever, and time is running out.”

The delegation brought funds from Americans to support the Shifa Hospital and the Palestinian Red Crescent, and took up collections to help the Dalu family and a disabled group called the Al Jazeera Club whose building had been destroyed. The funds, and the gesture of solidarity, was much appreciated, especially since the US government is giving $3 billion a year to support Israel’s militarism. Also appreciated is the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign that is providing a nonviolent means for people around the world to challenge Israeli policy.

“Please don’t wait for the third Israeli round of attacks,” said Hala Ashi, a 24-year-old whose home was badly damaged and whose neighbor was killed, “and help show us, the youth of Gaza, that violence is not the answer.”

Exactly 13 years after the #N30 actions to shut down the WTO, Global Exchange returns to Seattle with a similar message: #StopTPP!

We all know free trade agreements are politically, economically, and environmentally harmful.

But this weekend at TPPxBorder, hearing people speak to the real consequences of these deals brought my understanding of the dangers of these Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to a very human scale.

Listening to the voices of people who are affected by these FTAs – a pulp mill worker from Everett, WA, who got laid off two years before pension, HIV positive people who won’t be able to afford life-saving medication because of patent laws that protect profits instead of access, a Philippine woman who was forced to leave her family in search of work – these voices remind me that free trade isn’t just an ‘issue’ to discuss or debate. Free trade is about about profits at the expense of people’s health and safely. About trade over ethics. About politics over people and planet.

Free trade ‘agreements’ are anything but consensual.

In fact, the only partnering happening in the TransPacific ‘Partnership’ is is the stitching together of the 1%- corporations and politicians-  whilst the entirety of civil society is excluded and ignored… for now.

That’s why on Saturday December 1, a crowd of hundreds gathered at the U.S.-Canada border to demonstrate our unity and solidarity against the TransPacific Partnership. Representatives from four of the 13 negotiating countries – along with New Zealand by phone – spoke of the risks that the TPP presents to their communities, and the powerful international unity being built to stand up and protect our dignity, our planet, and our human rights.

Jill Mangaliman, Philippine U.S. Solidarity Organization pusoseattle.wordpress.com/

We called this one TPPxBorder: The People’s Round. What I loved about this rally wasn’t only the fiery speakers, the diversity, the music, the unity, the hot coffee, and the ultra-legitimacy of our opposition to this heinous version of the TPP…. what I loved was learning about what an alternative deal would look like- one by and for the people. Listening to speakers and experts articulately describe what fair trade looks like, what it offers communities internationally, reminds me why these fights are so important, and the promise of real, practical, and respectful trade solutions. We have answers – now is the time to join hands and fight for them.

After our rally, and piñata action (in which people managed to overcome ‘blindfolds’ of corporate greenwashing and lobbyist money to finally destroy the TPP piñata and release the affordable jellybean ‘medicines’ and GMO-free popcorn trapped inside!) we headed indoors to a warm meal and strategy sessions to plan future action.

Global Exchange & Witness for Peace co-led a “Social Media to #StopTPP” breakout group to discuss “Twitterstorming”  the corporations secretly negotiating TPP.

The breakout group I co-lead was about how we can use social media to #StopTPP. Our strategy is to call out the corporations negotiating the TPP in secret… and put their secrets in public view on social media channels. This week, our coalition members are calling out two corporate interests a day on their ties to the TPP… would you like to join the Twitterstorm? Just follow @GlobalExchange and @ElectDemocracy on Twitter, then retweet our actions every day this week at 11am and 2pmPST to help spread the word about #StopTPP using the very follower lists that these corporations have built. We can use your help and you can participate from anywhere.

The TransPacific Partnership is on a 1%-gilded beltway and it’s moving fast. But there is time (and enough of us) to stop it. The first thing we all can do is help spread the word. None of us can afford another NAFTA. Help us get the last 250,000 signatures needed this year to reach 1 million on the Avaaz petition against the TPP! And ask your organization to sign the Unity Statement.

VIDEO: Unity Statement at TPPxBorder Rally Dec. 1, 2012

For more information about the TransPacific Partnership and what you can do to stop it, see “10 Reasons to Oppose the TPP.” Thank you for supporting Fair Trade this holiday season, and telling corporations negotiating the TPP in secret exactly what you think of them. Together, we can #StopTPP.

That’s right folks, the sign says “Free Trade, my Ass!”

Young men from Beit Hanoun tell visitors what happened when Israeli rockets hit their neighborhood on November 15, 2012, killing two children. Photo credit: Johnny Barber

Kathy Kelly, who co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, just participated in an emergency delegation to Gaza. Learn more about how you can support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement with the Economic Activism for Palestine campaign.

Also see December 1, Truth and Trauma in Gaza and December 5, Israel’s Lesson to Palestinians: Build More Rockets?

On November 15, 2012, day three of the recent eight day bombardment of Gaza, Ahmed Basyouni and his family were watching news of the attacks on TV in their home in the eastern section of Beit Hanoun. He and his wife assured his older children that they would be safe because they lived in a calm area where there are no fighters. Two of his younger sons were asleep in the next room.  While they were talking, at approximately 10:35 pm, the Israeli Air Force fired three rockets from a U.S.-provided F-16 bomber into a nearby olive grove.  Ahmed’s house rocked, all his windows shattered, electricity went out plunging the family in darkness, and Ahmed’s fifteen year old son Nader screamed  from the next room that his brother was dead.

When Ahmed went into the room, he saw, with horror, that it was true.  A fleck of shrapnel from the rocket had killed his youngest son, eight year-old Fares Basyouni.  Fares had been completely decapitated but for a strip of flesh from the side of his face. The child’s blood covered the ceiling, the walls and the floor.

Fares’s father and mother spoke softly about their murdered son. “He was a kind boy, sometimes naughty,” said Ahmed, “but very kind.”  Fares’s mother told us that he was crazy about food.  He would finish his breakfast and announce that he was ready for seconds.  And he loved to play.  Once he completed his homework, he was ready for games.  “He was the life of the house,” the father added. “Now the home seems so quiet.”

Across the road, the home of Jamal Abdul Karim Nasser is uninhabitable.  The ruins of the home face directly onto the missile crater.  Young relatives explained to us that shrapnel from the missiles had killed Odai Jamal Nasser, age 15.  We were standing on the edge of the crater when Odai’s brother Hazem, age 20, asked us into what remained of his home.

The missile explosions had shattered every window, and done extensive damage to walls and floors.

Hazem and his family had been sleeping in a hallway, so as to be safer from attack, when suddenly the house was falling down on top of them.  “My father’s arm and head were bleeding,” said Hazem, “and he was looking for a flashlight to check on the children.”  Hazem’s mother took the two youngest sons out of the house and headed for their uncle’s home. Hazem’s father suddenly realized that the son sleeping next to him, Hazem’s brother Odai, was dead.  Hazem’s other younger brother, Tareq, started crying out for help and then lost consciousness.  After calling for an ambulance Hazem’s father began heading for the nearby mosque to seek help.  But the mosque was ablaze.  They waited ten agonizing minutes for the firemen to arrive.  The moment the firemen arrived, so did another rocket, injuring several of the first responders.

Only after Tareq was safely at the hospital did Hazem’s father dare tell his mother that her son Odai was dead. The burial was the following day.

“Our area was safe,” said Hazem, “and we couldn’t imagine that this would happen.  It was very strange.  No one could believe that the Israelis would target our area.” He paused before adding, “They want to clear everything.”

This memory will always be with Hazem.  “I will remember what happened to my brother and my house and that will affect my choices in the future.”  He asked us to tell this story to others. “Ask them to look at our suffering and how we are slaughtered every day,” he urged, speaking softly.

Outside the home, as we spoke, young men had arrived with a donkey, a cart, and plastic buckets.  They were filling the buckets with chunks of debris from the Nasser’s front yard and dumping the buckets into the cart before refilling them.  They estimated it will take a week to clear all of the wreckage and debris that surrounds the Nasser home and covers every floor inside.

We asked the young workers, most of whom were relatives of the Nasser family, and most of whom had known Fares Basyouni, if they had any messages they’d like us to convey to people who might see the photos we’d taken or read our account of what happened to this neighborhood on November 15th.

Mohamed Shabat, age 24, who hopes one day to become a journalist, quickly replied:  “We want to stop the killing of Palestinians.”

Kathy Kelly, who co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, just participated in an emergency delegation to Gaza. Learn more about how you can support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement with the Economic Activism for Palestine campaign.

Also see December 2, We Want It to Stop and December 5, Israel’s Lesson to Palestinians: Build More Rockets?

Dr. T., a medical doctor, is a Palestinian living in Gaza City. He is still reeling from days of aerial bombardment. When I asked about the children in his community he told me his church would soon be making Christmas preparations to lift the children’s spirits. Looking at his kindly smile and ruddy cheeks, I couldn’t help wondering if he’d be asked to dress up as “Baba Noel,” as Santa Claus. I didn’t dare ask this question aloud.

“The most recent war was more severe and vigorous than the Operation Cast Lead,” he said slowly, leaning back in his chair and looking into the distance. “I was more affected this time. The weapons were very strong, destroying everything. One rocket could completely destroy a building.”

The 8-day Israeli offensive in November lasted for fewer days and brought fewer casualties, but it was nonstop and relentless, and everywhere.

“At 1:00 a.m. the bank was bombed, and everyone in the area was awakened from sleep. Doors were broken and windows were shattered. There was an agonizing sound, as if we were in a battlefield.”

“The bombing went on every day. F16 U.S. jets were hitting hard.”

“This is more than anyone can tolerate. We were unsafe at any place at any time.”

U.S. media and government statements are full of accounts about the scattershot Hamas rocket fire that had taken one Israeli life in the months before the Israeli bombing campaign. The U.S. government demands that the Gazans disarm completely. Due to simple racism and a jingoistic eagerness to get in line with U.S. military policy, Western commentators ignore the bombardment of Gazan neighborhoods which has caused thousands of casualties over just the past few years. They automatically frame Israel’s actions as self-defense and the only conceivable response to Palestinians who, under whatever provocations, dare to make themselves a threat.

“Any house can be destroyed. The airplanes filled the skies,” Dr. T. continued. “They were hitting civilians like the one who was distributing water.” The Palestine Centre for Human Rights  report confirms that Dr. T is discussing Suhail Hamada Mohman and his ten year old son, who were both killed instantly at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 18, 2012 in Beit Lahiya while distributing water to their neighbors.

Dr. T. then mentioned the English teacher and his student killed nearby walking in the street. The PCHR report notes that on November 16, at approximately 1:20 p.m., Marwan Abu al-Qumsan, 42, a teacher at an UNRWA school, was killed when Israeli Occupation Forces bombarded an open space area in the southeast section of Beit Lahia town.  He had been visiting the house of his brother, Radwan, 76, who was also seriously wounded.

And Dr. T. mentioned the Dalu family. “They were destroyed for no reason. You can go visit there.”

The next day, I went to the building north of Gaza City where the Dalu family had lived. In the afternoon on Sunday, November 18, an Israeli F-16 fighter jet fired a missile at the 4-story house belonging to 52-year-old Jamal Mahmoud Yassin al-Dalu. The house was completely destroyed as were all inside.  Civil Defense crews removed from the debris the bodies of 8 members of the family, four women and four children aged one to seven. Their names were:

Samah Abdul Hamid al-Dalu, 27;
Tahani Hassan al-Dalu, 52;
Suhaila Mahmoud al-Dalu, 73
Raneen Jamal al-Dalu, 22.
Jamal Mohammed Jamal al-Dalu, 6;
Yousef Mohammed Jamal al-Dalu, 4;
Sarah Mohammed Jamal al-Dalu, 7;
Ibrahim Mohammed Jamal al-Dalu, 1;

On November 23rd, two more bodies were found under the rubble, one of them a child.

The attack destroyed several nearby houses, including the house of the Al-Muzannar family where two civilians, a young man and a 75year-old woman, also died. They were: Ameena Matar al-Mauzannar, 75; and Abdullah Mohammed al-Muzannar, 19.

One banner that hangs on a damaged wall reads, “Why were they killed?” Another shows enlarged pictures of the Dalu children’s faces. Atop the rubble of the building is the burned wreckage of the family minivan, flipped there upside down in the blast. The Israeli military later claimed it had collapsed the building in hope of assassinating an unspecified visitor to the home, any massive civilian death toll justifiable by the merest hint of a military target. Qassam rockets killing one Israeli a year are terrorism, but deliberate attacks to collapse buildings on whole families are not.

“All Palestinians are targeted now,” a woman who lives across the street told us. Every window in her home had been shattered by the blast. She had been sure it was the end of her life when she heard the explosion. She had covered her face, and then, opening her eyes, seen the engine from the neighbor’s car flying past her through her home. She pointed to a spot on the floor where a large rocket fragment had landed in her living room. Then, looking at the ruins of the Dalu building, she shook her head. “These massacres would not happen if the people who fund it were more aware.”

Mr. Dalu’s nephew Mahmoud is a pharmacist, 29 years of age, who is still alive because he had recently moved next door from his uncle’s now-vanished building to an apartment that he built for himself, his wife and their two year-old daughter who are also alive. With his widowed mother and several neighborhood women, he and his wife had been preparing to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. A garland of tinsel still festoons a partly destroyed wall. The blast destroyed much of his home’s infrastructure, but he was able to shepherd his family members and their guests out of the house to safety.  Several were taken to the hospital in shock.

“I don’t know why this happened to us,” Mahmoud says. “I am a pharmacist. In my uncle’s house lived a doctor and a computer engineer. We were just finishing lunch.  There were no terrorists here. Only family members here.  Now I don’t know what to do, where to go. I feel despair. We are living in misery.”

“Any war is inhuman, irreligious, and immoral,” my friend, Dr. T., had told me.

Dr. T. is afraid that Israel is preparing a worse war, one with ground troops deployed, for after its upcoming election. “We are hopeful to live in peace. We don’t want to make victims. We love Israelis as we love any human being.”

“But we are losing the right to life in terms of movement, trade, education, and water. The Israelis are taking these rights; they are not looking out for the human rights of Palestinians. They only focus on their sense of security. They want Palestine to lose all rights.”

Election logic aside, Israel has already violated the ceasefire – at any time the missiles and rockets could start raining down once more. Year round, that is what it means to live in Gaza.

I decided not to bring up the Santa Claus question and instead thanked him for his honest reflections and bade him farewell.

Also see December 2, We Want It to Stop and December 5, Israel’s Lesson to Palestinians: Build More Rockets?

Arianna DeMario, Elect Democracy Campaign Intern Extraordinaire

The following is a guest post by Arianna DeMario. Arianna is currently supporting the Elect Democracy campaign as an intern/volunteer. Before moving to the States, she worked as a project manager at Citizens For Europe e.V., an NGO based in Berlin, Germany, mainly active in the field of European citizenship and migrants’ political rights in the European Union.

A European Perspective on the 2012 U.S. Election

In my past two months here in the States, I have been asked numerous times how it felt -from a European point of view- to witness the 2012 U.S. electoral campaign and presidential elections from here in the U.S. But actually no European could answer this question without referring first to the initial impact of the previous elections in 2008.

By 2008, after 8 years of Bush era, a big slice of the European public opinion had lost their traditional admiration and interest in American politics and in Americans in general. The American dream, from the point of view of the old continent, was long over, and the U.S. had become for many not much more than a synonym of imperialism justified by the war on terror, social inequality, and environmental unconsciousness.

Then Obama happened. The electoral campaign of 2008 was maybe more passionate for most Europeans than Americans, with people supporting the Democrat candidate and engaging in various ways from Scandinavia to Southern Europe, in some cases moving to the States for some months to work with the Democrats. In July 2008, 200.000 people went crazy in Berlin listening to his speech under the Victory Column. In Europe, Obama had won longer before the elections of November 4th, because he had managed to bring back to Europe the American dream. Some months later, Americans did elect him. And the vote was so strong that everybody on the other side of the Atlantic had to recognise the fact that in spite of all that came out of the Bush era, American citizens had the courage to renew themselves and believe that a better country (and world) was possible.

The truth is, despite the support that Obama gained in Europe, I doubt that Europeans would have had the same courage and elected him, if they were to go to polls. In fact, a few months later we elected the most right-wing and regressive European Parliament ever (EP elections in June 2009).

That year, for the first time after a while, the U.S. gave Europe a lesson of democracy.

Then reality bit back. A couple of years later, Obama had proved not to have the magic wand to solve problems accumulated by years of bad governance, and not to be able to live up to such huge worldwide expectations. Most of his 2008 promises hadn’t turned into facts, the U.S. economy was not exactly blowing, and little had been done to reduce the Wall Street power and redistribute wealth from the 1% to the 99% in the American society.

Disillusion was deep on both sides of the Atlantic, and especially after the mid-term elections of 2010 American politics seemed to be meant to go back to the bad loop once again.

As if it wasn’t enough, the story of the Super PACs entered the game with the 2012 elections. Billions of private funding to the electoral campaign allowed by a ruling of the Federal Court…this would be science fiction in Europe, where most countries don’t even integrate lobbying practices in their political system and reject the idea of group of interests being able to influence the policy making. If all the above-mentioned conditions would have happened in the disenchanted, critical and politically unfaithful Europe, you can be sure that it would have been enough for a significant part of the European electorate to turn away from the previously much beloved candidate and fall into the hands of the first talented populist passing by. Those less impressionable would have nonetheless turned away their vote and either have given it to the other main candidate as a punishment or done what Europeans can do better in times of political disillusion: abstain. But once again, in 2012, a big democracy lesson came from the American citizen: For better or for worse, voting still remains one of the strongest democracy tools in the hands of the people (though a healthy democracy needs much more civic engagement, of course). As long as we don’t have valuable alternatives, there is no point in not making use of it. Of course the American vote, in most cases, was not a vote for the best as 4 years ago, but just a vote for the less worse…but still it showed the courage of American citizens to believe that it’s worth to give democracy one more chance.

The results that Tuesday night shot down much of the billions of dollars spent by some Super PACs to indirectly support the Republican campaign and influence the election results. This showed that the system of the big interests and the big money has an Achilles heel- it still can be beaten by participation. It shows that if people don’t turn away from politics, there is always a chance to shape a future that if it’s not going to be much better, at least is not going to be worse. It showed that if Obama can’t bring the change that he promised in 2008 (be it because of a lack of political will, or be it because of a lack of political power, with the House in the hands of the Republicans), people can do it by choosing not to have their vote sold to the highest bidder…

The day after the election Wall Street opened down: It can be defeated after all, if people don’t give up the exercise of democracy in its various forms. Restiamo uniti per difendere la democrazia!

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Arianna De Mario is currently supporting the Elect Democracy campaign as an intern/volunteer. Before moving to the States,  she worked as a project manager at Citizens For Europe e.V., an NGO based in Berlin, Germany, mainly active in the field of European citizenship and migrants’ political rights in the European Union. She has also worked at DPA, the German Press Agency, and volunteered in several human rights organizations. Arianna holds a MA degree in European Studies from the University of Bath (UK) and the Humboldt University of Berlin, and a BA in languages from the University of Milan, Italy.

Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange

The following post was written by Global Exchange Co-founder Kevin Danaher.

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There is a broad range of opinion about Cuba here in the United States. Some people think it is one big prison. Others think Cuba is further down the road to sustainability than the United States. That range of opinion is also present in Cuba: there are people who love their system, people who hate it, and many in between.
 
This is not to say that Cuba is not a threat. It is. But it is not a threat against the United States per se; it is a threat to the elites who run our country. If millions of people from the U.S. were to visit Cuba and see free neighborhood medical clinics where the nurse and doctor live in apartments above the clinic and go out on house visits every afternoon, the visitors might think, “why don’t we do that?”
 
Cuba has many problems as a poor nation under the thumb of the most powerful country in the world. But Cuba also has things we can learn that have application at home. For example, the first time I visited one of the many elder centers where neighborhood elders hang out with each other, playing checkers, exercising, and getting regular checkups by the doctor and nurse on the staff,  I noticed an abundance of young children playing with the elders. When asked the director of the center who organized these children to be there he said, “These are just neighborhood children who come in and out as they please.” Try to find an elder center in the United States where that happens.
 
The Cubans may be recycling everything and promoting urban agriculture because they are poor and have to conserve resources. But when you are on a huge farm in the middle of the capital city, Havana, and see crops spreading out toward the horizon, you are convinced of the rightness policies that promote sustainability.
 
Global Exchange has been organizing group tours to Cuba for 24 years, so we are well acquainted with the pluses and minuses of Cuban socialism. The best way for you to cut through the debate over US policy toward Cuba is to go there and see for yourself.
 
What I learned the first time I went to Cuba in 1979—and many, many times since then—is that our role is NOT to tell Cubans how to run their society. No, it would be much more appropriate for us to focus on changing our own society, especially the economic embargo our country has imposed for over 50 years against a small Caribbean nation that NEVER harmed the United States.