Name: 5.18.23 Veterans for Peace Chapters fighting hard against the Nuclear Industrial Complex by Veterans for Peace THE HECTOR BLACK CHAPTER
Duration: 1 h

We talk to members of two very active chapters of Veterans for Peace, Tom Charles and Hollis Higgins of Spokane Washington, and John Wilks of Albuquerque. In Spokane, Tom has led the effort to get an ordinance passed to outlaw the nuclear weapons industry. Then John Wilks talks about the wasteland that the nuclear industry has made of New Mexico and their extensive efforts to educate the people and get this stopped. Both these chapters show what Veterans for Peace can do with some unity and energy. We then finish with Pete Seeger's live rendition of "Turn Me Round."

5.18.23 Veterans for Peace Chapters fighting hard against the Nuclear Industrial Complex

Ellen Davidson, VFP Board member, editor of Peace and Planet News, and activist, compares what is going on in Israel to what went on in South Africa and definitively makes the case that Israel is an apartheid state.  She also talks about anti-Semitism and how Israeli actions are exacerbating anti-Semitism in the US and elsewhere.  Harvey then reflects powerfully on US complicity, especially during this holiday season.

12.28.23 Veterans for Peace with Ellen Davidson defines and explains Apartheid and more

Welcome to the empire
Where genocide is self-defense and peace rallies are genocide
Where war criminals are the victims and the hospitals are terrorists
Where calls for freedom are hateful and ceasefires are anti-semitic
Where civilians get called terrorists and real terrorists get Nobel Peace Prizes
Where the propaganda is journalism and the journalism is propaganda
Where the democracy is real and the apartheid is imaginary
Where the corporations are people and the people are corporate resources
Welcome to the empire
Whose bombs are humanitarian and whose provocations are invisible
Whose veterans are heroes and whose victims are forgotten
Whose wars are always just and whose enemies are always Hitler
Whose cause is always righteous and whose critics are always Russian
Whose sufferings are unforgivable and whose crimes are erased from history
Whose atrocities are always an unfortunate accident and whose enemies kill civilians for fun
Whose disastrous interventions are always innocent mistakes no matter how often they happen
Welcome to the empire
Ever the victim of unprovoked attacks from the people it has been strangling
Ever the shining city on a hill of human corpses
Ever the defender of the poor helpless plutocrats of Wall Street
Ever the savior of the families incinerated by missiles made by Raytheon
Ever the protector of natural resources in the soil of foreign nations
Ever the upholder of the rules-based order of a world with a boot on its throat
The empire loves you with a heart made of dollars and oil
The empire watches over you through your smartphone and your computer
The empire is your only friend
The empire is the only one who will ever love you
You can't leave
You can't get rid of the empire
If you get rid of the empire, this world could be taken over by tyrants
_______________

Reading by Tim Foley.

Welcome To The Empire

"Campbell's Slave Pen"  is written by Joe DeFilippo and performed by the R.J. Phillips Band, a group of Baltimore musicians. Joe DeFilippo: bass guitar; Bill Phelan: acoustic guitar, mandolin; Glenn Workman: piano; Sarah Larsen: fiddle; Bill Pratt: drums. Produced & recorded by: Bill Pratt @ the Bratt Studio, Baltimore,MD.
Featuring Jesse McDade- Lead and background vocals

Campbell's Slave Pen

You simply cannot fit more America into a single incident than a man dying a horrifying death in protest of war crimes while a first responder screams at cops to stop pointing their guns at him and go get fire extinguishers.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The Most American Thing That Has Ever Happened

"Susquehanna"  is written by Joe DeFilippo and performed by the R.J. Phillips Band, a group of Baltimore musicians. Joe DeFilippo: vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar; Bill Phelan: acoustic guitar, mandolin; Sarah Larsen: fiddle; Sue Pratt: background vocals; Bill Pratt: drums, banjo, background vocals. Produced & recorded by: Bill Pratt @ the Bratt Studio, Baltimore,MD.

Susquehanna

Israel has generously and compassionately reopened the Erez crossing to allow aid into Gaza, as it is the only way to ensure that the US will keep sending them weapons to kill the people in Gaza.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel Lets Some Aid Into Gaza So The US Will Keep Giving It Weapons To Kill People In Gaza

"I want my legs back," the girl cried in Arabic.
"I want my legs back."

You can't have your legs back, little girl.
They have been eaten by a hungry machine
who needs them for fuel to power its gears.
The machine needs your legs to keep the sky raining bombs
and to make its death robots fly.
Your legs power the bulldozers digging mass graves
and the tanks blowing holes in the hospitals.

A glorious kingdom is held together
by the amputated limbs of children.
A pentagon-shaped castle is built from the bones
of the amputated limbs of children.
Wall Street werewolves and bank boys dine
on the amputated limbs of children.
Movie stars treat their wrinkles with creams
made from the amputated limbs of children.
Suburban families prop up their smiles
with the amputated limbs of children.
The news man lies and in his eyes
you see the amputated limbs of children.
The podium man smirks and between his teeth
are the amputated limbs of children.

And the little girl cries,
and the news man ignores her,
and the podium man smirks at her,
and the bank boy bites her,
and the machine rolls on,
limbs fed into its furnace with pitchforks,
crushing houses and blackening the sky,
poisoning the oceans and bloodying the earth,
while the air fills with the crying of children,
for limbs that will never come back,
for homes that will never come back,
for mothers that will never come back,
for childhoods that will never come back,
for brightness that will never come back,
for innocence that will never come back,
for dreams that will never come back,
for joy that will never come back.

And we are here,
eating cheesy meatcarbs and watching funny haw-haws
and gossiping and prattling and wishing we looked better
and trying not to think about all the tiny arms and legs
we see covering the earth
whenever we step outside.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The Amputated Limbs Of Children

"How the Other Half Lives"  is written by Joe DeFilippo and performed by the R.J. Phillips Band, a group of Baltimore musicians. Joe DeFilippo: vocals, bass guitar; Bill Phelan: electric guitar; Vince Constantino: piano; Sarah Larsen: fiddle; Bill Pratt: drums, backing vocals. Produced & recorded by: Bill Pratt @ the Bratt Studio, Baltimore,MD.

How The Other Half Lives

So, to be absolutely clear, Israel's top government official has announced that charges against himself and other Israeli leaders for obvious war crimes like intentionally bombing and starving civilians would be both "antisemitic" and a "hate crime".

Reading by Tim Foley.

The 'Antisemitism' Moral Panic Has Officially Jumped The Shark

Israel is the only issue where the western political-media class treats people's feelings as a matter of supreme importance.
If you're a stressed-out single parent struggling to pay bills and keep a roof over your kids' head, they don't care about your feelings.
If you're an American who's been cast into destitution and homelessness by medical bills, they don't care about your feelings.
If you're a Palestinian whose apartment complex was bombed with your entire family inside, they definitely don't care about your feelings.
But if you're a western Zionist who doesn't like the cognitive dissonance that comes with encountering anti-genocide protesters, or even if you're an Israeli who's upset about anti-genocide protests in whole other country on the other side of the planet, they're very, very interested in your feelings.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel's Defenders Talk So Much About Feelings Because They Can't Talk About Facts

The Veterans for Peace Radio Hour brings you issues about war, peace and justice everyweek.

5.18.23 Veterans for Peace Chapters fighting hard against the Nuclear Industrial Complex

Veterans for Peace THE HECTOR BLACK CHAPTER

Related tracks