Former diplomat Col. Ann Wright (ret.) and Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin appeared at the Dominican Village Thursday night.
It was very pleasant to see Ann and Medea again, and it was a special treat for my beloved partner Kayleen on her birthday. They look very much as they did back in the early oh-oh's. Peace & justice activism has maintained their youthful appearance.
Last night's talk at the Dominican Sisters' Spirituality Center was booked before Election Day, when a Hillary Clinton presidency was a virtual certainty. Both Ann Wright and Medea Benjamin had to change their presentation topics a bit in light of current surreality.
Last night's talk at the Dominican Sisters' Spirituality Center was booked before Election Day, when a Hillary Clinton presidency was a virtual certainty. Both Ann Wright and Medea Benjamin had to change their presentation topics a bit in light of current surreality.
Benjamin's new book is Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection. She delivered a very smooth summary of its contents, including tales from her travels to the Middle East. As she notes, Americans tend to have a blind spot toward the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and our nation's long-standing alliance with it. She gave Kayleen a signed copy as a birthday gift; I look forward to reading it and then shelving it in a place of honor next to my signed copy of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, which I acquired when Benjamin came for the HPJC Peacemaker Awards in 2014.
Think of any horrible act that a totalitarian dictatorship visits upon its people, or a neighboring people, and you can be assured that the KSA has done it too. Currently, the Saudis are bombing the living fuck out of their less affluent neighbors in Yemen—with billions of dollars in assistance from the US (Thanks, Obama!).
I hadn't seen Col. Wright in person in quite some time—possibly back to Camp Casey in 2005, though she has been through Houston for a few protest marches since then. Her latest publication, co-written with Susan Dixon, is Dissent: Voices of Conscience. It was Wright's conscience that led her to resign quite publicly from her lofty position in the State Department back in 2003.
Despite all the good feelings, and seeing a lot of friends from H-Town's Peace & Justice community, I felt bad that I forgot to bring some cash to donate or purchase a book, as well as supplies to donate to the Two Rivers water protectors. Benjamin Franklin Sequoyah Craft-Rendon gave us a quick update on that project last night.
For folks in Texas who couldn't travel to the Dakotas to camp at Standing Rock, Two Rivers is an opportunity to show some solidarity with indigenous comrades in West Texas and Northern México. The Trans Pecos Pipeline threatens the watersheds of the Pecos River and El Rio Bravo del Norte (aka, Rio Grande). If you can't travel there, perhaps you can chip in via their GoFundMe link or their other donation pages.
Think of any horrible act that a totalitarian dictatorship visits upon its people, or a neighboring people, and you can be assured that the KSA has done it too. Currently, the Saudis are bombing the living fuck out of their less affluent neighbors in Yemen—with billions of dollars in assistance from the US (Thanks, Obama!).
I hadn't seen Col. Wright in person in quite some time—possibly back to Camp Casey in 2005, though she has been through Houston for a few protest marches since then. Her latest publication, co-written with Susan Dixon, is Dissent: Voices of Conscience. It was Wright's conscience that led her to resign quite publicly from her lofty position in the State Department back in 2003.
Despite all the good feelings, and seeing a lot of friends from H-Town's Peace & Justice community, I felt bad that I forgot to bring some cash to donate or purchase a book, as well as supplies to donate to the Two Rivers water protectors. Benjamin Franklin Sequoyah Craft-Rendon gave us a quick update on that project last night.
For folks in Texas who couldn't travel to the Dakotas to camp at Standing Rock, Two Rivers is an opportunity to show some solidarity with indigenous comrades in West Texas and Northern México. The Trans Pecos Pipeline threatens the watersheds of the Pecos River and El Rio Bravo del Norte (aka, Rio Grande). If you can't travel there, perhaps you can chip in via their GoFundMe link or their other donation pages.
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