Vermont Yankee - Shut it Down Now.
January 1, 2011 action at the Vernon Plant

Welcoming the New Year on Saturday, January 1, 2011 nine women from Vermont and Massachusetts were arrested as they blocked the driveway leading in to the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant owned by Entergy.
The women, carrying huge mock solar panels, were charged with
unlawful trespass when local and state police arrested them just before two
in the afternoon when they refused to leave the property.
Police booked the women and released them pending a February 28 court
appearance in Windham County District Court in Brattleboro. The women are with the Shut It Down affinity group. This is their eleventh arrest against nuclear power at Vermont Yankee since they began appearing there in December 2005. All previous arrests have been dropped by the state attorney’s office.
The nine women, ranging in age from 40 to 91, include four Vermonters, Julia Bonafine, Martha Hennessy, Robin Lloyd and Nina Swaim, and five from Massachusetts, including Frances Crowe, Marcia Gagliardi, Ellen Graves, Hattie Nestel, and Paki Wieland.

Their mock solar panels read "No More Leaks and No More
Lies—Shut It Down Now," the group urged the immediate
shutdown of the nuclear plant. Stating that, “tomorrow would be fine but today would be better”.
Entergy Corporation’s Vermont Yankee continues to be a controversial topic in the northeast as they defend tritium leeks and underplay collapsing cooling towers. Their contract expires in 2012. Both the Vermont legislature and newly elected Governor Peter Shumlin have expressed opposition to Entergy’s application to renew the plant’s license for another 20 years. Entergy continues to seek the renewal despite public concern and evidence that the nuclear power plant is not safe.

Israel ballet interrupted in Burlington, Vt. - No tutu is big enough to cover Israel's War Crimes



On Friday, February 19, 2010, American and Israeli human rights activists interrupted a performance by the Israel Ballet at the Flynn Theater in Burlington, Vermont, unfurling banners which read "Sponsored by Apartheid Israel" and "No tutu is big enough to cover War Crimes".

The Israel Ballet is currently touring the U.S. as part of an official state campaign, dubbed "Brand Israel" to use the Arts to revive its sagging image abroad in the wake of unanimous condemnation from the major human rights organizations and, most recently, the U.N. "Goldstone Report".

No More War! No More Troops to Afghanistan!

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In Burlington, Vermont over 100 people gathered on Saturday December, 12 to say "No more war in Af
ghanistan" and to denounce Barack Obama's 30,000 person troop surge to Afghanistan.

The rally took place one day after 350 members of the Vermont National Guard departed for training before deployment to Afghanistan early next year. Vermont is sending more than 1,500 National Guards people to Afghanistan, this is the largest deployment of Vermont's National Guard since World War II. As of July 2009, the Vermont National Guard had a total of 2,660 people enlisted, this leaves Vermont with just over 1,000 guards to protect the state in the event of an emergency.

Dozens of similar demonstrations took place across the country on Saturday. Thousands of people spoke out against the troop surge and the escalating war in Afghanistan.

Local author and activist, Ben Dangl, attended the rally. "This December 12th protest in Burlington, VT coincided with protests around the nation denouncing Obama's troop escalation in Afghanistan, and should signal the re-emergence of a much-needed anti-war movement. From Afghanistan to Honduras and beyond, Obama's foreign policy is a devastating continuation of US imperialism and needs to be stopped.

Despite the freezing cold temperature and frigid winds the crowd stayed warm singing chants, "Same lies, same plan, troops out of Afghanistan".

The event was organized by local activist Jonathan Leavitt. "Our political leaders have failed us, allowing more Vermont National Guard to be shipped into the meatgrinder that is Afghanistan than remain here in Vermont, leaving us dangerously vulnerable to disasters. Until Vermonters organize and rise up in mass civil disobedience, we are allowing ourselves to be implicated in an illegal and immoral occupation, which in turn leaves us vulnerable to the common blizzard"

Speaking to the crowd Leavitt encourages that "Hopefully starting today...a righteous flame of indignation can rise in the anti-war movement to say no more, not another dollar, not another dayfor this illegal and immoral war!"

Territorial Domination in the West Bank

In July 2009 I visited Israel and Palestine, interviewing Palestinians and Israelis in an attempt to better understand the conflict.
I toured Illegal settlements and outposts in the West Bank with Dror Etkes. He heads the Land Advocacy Project for Yesh Din, a group opposing the continuing violation of Palestinian human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Dror is an Israeli citizen who has, for the past 7.5 years, made it his mission to be a local expert on settlement expansion and Palestinian land grabbing. He seems to know every road in the West Bank. He is exact about how many homes are in each settlement and knows which are slated for evacuation.
In Tel Aviv I interviewed Human Rights Attorney Michael Sfard. He represents Israeli Human Rights organizations, Peace groups, Palestinian communities and individuals. Many of his legal cases deal with Palestinian land grabbing by settlers.

Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied territories of Palestine is about more than constructing houses for Jewish settlers. Palestinian farmland is being turned into industrial space and illegal outposts on Palestinian land are protected by Israeli military. Roads, if Palestinians are allowed to drive on them, are often
blocked without warning.



Thank you to Anouar Brahem and Meiron Egger for their musical contributions!

Bethlehem is a prison for its citizens
A message from Bethlehem Mayor, Victor Bartarseh.
On a recent visit to Bethlehem, Palestine I interviewed Mayor Victor Bartarseh to get a perspective on what life is like for the citizens of this West Bank city


Bethlehem has the highest rate of unemployment in the West Bank. The city is entirely surrounded by the separation wall. The city receives less than 5% profit from tourism due to Israel's control over tours thus keeping money generated from hotels, restaurants, souvenirs and the like in Israel.

Since the mid 1990's. Burlington, Vermont and Bethlehem, Palestine have shared a sister relationship.

The Mayor speaks candidly about the physical and psychological affects of living with the wall. He is hopeful that we can break down psychological barriers with cultural exchanges between the two cities.

Today we visited Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, Palestine. I'm filming Munjed, he grew up in the refugee camp. He is telling me what the wall is doing to Palestinians, you can see the separation wall behind us.
Edited videos will come later after we get home.
The wall is a monster.

History of the Eelam Tamil struggle

A brief history of Sri Lanka and the Ealam struggle according to Thozhar Thiagu, activist and General Secretary of the Tamil National Liberation Movement in Tamil Nadu, India.

I met with Thiagu at his office and at his home in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in February 2009.

The struggle for Tamils in Sri Lanka continues despite the alleged end of the war in May 2009. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the final weeks of war. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are displaced without food, shelter or medical supplies. Seeking refuge from government bombardment of their homeland in the north and eastern provinces, thousands of Tamils have fled from Sri Lanka since the mid 1980's.

Here is a brief history of the struggle.

Impunity in Sri Lanka

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Suresh Premachandran, Parliament member from Sri Lanka talks about impunity and violation of inalienable rights of Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
I met with Suresh at his home in Tamil Nadu, India.

Journalists are being killed, arrested and banned from entering and reporting from combat zone areas. Civilians are being held in refugee camps within their own country while the government bombards its own citizens.
Suresh is from the northern district of Jaffna in Sri Lanka, currently this area is the most adversely affected by the war.
Facing threats to his life for speaking out against government aggression he has moved his family several times in recent years from Sri Lanka, to India, Canada and finally back to India.

Suresh talks about the welfare camps, ceasefire agreement, the Sri Lankan government's want for continuing the war in the name of creating a single ethno country and the need for the global community to speak up.
Suresh can be reached at kandiah57@hotmail.com

As of October 1, 2008 the U.S. has a new division of military assigned to keep the country safe and maintain crowd control when necessary. The Army assigned the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team to duty within the continental United States.

"The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home."
More news from the Army Times

After 35 months of training in Iraq, this military branch is now deployed to fight threats in the U.S. such as civil disobedience and massive protests.
This marks the first time an active military unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

The tricky part is that this initiative is in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act which is often cited as a major constraint on the use of the military services to participate in homeland security, counter terrorism, civil disturbances, and similar domestic duties. This law was created to prohibit the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps from performing any kind of police work or assisting law enforcement agencies to enforce the law.

The 2008 RNC in St. Paul exemplifies that an excessively forceful police presence leads to more violence. The blunt use of force and covert surveillance at the RNC is evidence that the government will take many measures, even preemptive ones, to silence the voices of dissent.

Can someone say Police State? The Government must be planning on huge numbers of people rising up against, take your pick; thousands of homes being foreclosed on while millionaires stay fat and rich, another illegal election process, poor plans to insure a clean energy future, a war with no end in sight, increased media consolidation that allows corporate media to pollute our airwaves and dull our brains, poor health care initiatives, a global political presence that embarrasses us while bullying other countries, further investments in military while a peace economy makes more sense.
You can add to the list of things to be outraged about in the comments section below.

The Machine Gun and The Meeting Table: Bolivian Crisis in a New South America

By Benjamin Dangl
On Monday, September 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived in Santiago, Chile for an emergency meeting of Latin American leaders that convened to seek a resolution to the recent conflict in Bolivia. Upon his arrival, Morales said, "I have come here to explain to the presidents of South America the civic coup d'etat by Governors in some Bolivian states in recent days. This is a coup in the past few days by the leaders of some provinces, with the takeover of some institutions, the sacking and robbery of some government institutions and attempts to assault the national police and the armed forces."

Morales was arriving from his country where the smoke was still rising from a week of right-wing government opposition violence that left the nation paralyzed, at least 30 people dead, and businesses, government and human rights buildings destroyed. During the same week, Morales declared US ambassador in Bolivia Philip Goldberg a "persona non grata" for "conspiring against democracy" and for his alleged ties to the Bolivian opposition. The recent conflict in Bolivia and the subsequent meeting of the heads of state raise the questions: What led to this meltdown? Whose side is the Bolivian military on? And what does the Bolivian crisis and regional reaction tell us about the new power bloc of South American nations?
Full article, photos here: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1478/1/

Benjamin Dangl is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia (AK Press), and is the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, a website covering activism and politics in Latin America.
Email: BenDangl(at)gmail.com

Sign the petition below to make August 6 National Nuclear Disarmament Day and please encourage others to do the same.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nucleardisarmamentday

Burlington WILPF, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, made history on August 6, 2008 in Burlington, Vermont by initiating and observing the first Nuclear Disarmament Day in The US.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

We are circulating a petition to Congress to make August 6th a national day of remembrance as Nuclear Disarmament Day

We will be going to Washington, DC on September 15 to lobby and bring the signed petitions to Congress.

Please sign the petition online by clicking on the address below and please encourage others to do the same.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nucleardisarmamentday/

The anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, August 6 and Nagasaki, August 9 are remembered this year in Burlington Vermont in a city wide declaration. Burlington City Declares August 6 - Nuclear Disarmament Day.
This is the first such day to exist in the United States.
With awareness and energy perhaps citizens around the country will compel their local leaders to do the same.
The bombs were dropped 63 years ago. The world needs to learn from history. Nuclear weapons do not lead to world peace.
Today, now more than ever, we need to pressure the Department of Energy, the Administration, our local officials and spur dialog in our communities to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to honor the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

In an interview with YES! Magazine, former Secretary of State, member of the Reagan cabinet, George Shultz explains why he believes nuclear abolition is possible, and what can be done to make a nuclear-free world a reality.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2692

Bill Moyers questioned by O'Reilly Factor Fox News Producer at the National Conference for Media Reform. June 7, 2008.
Taped by Sam Mayfield, CCTV.

Occupying General Dynamics, May 1, 2008. Burlington, Vt.

In 1971 Soldiers from the Vietnam War gathered to give testimonies of what they encountered, this event was called the Winter Soldier.

Today and tomorrow, March 14 and 15, in Silver Springs, Maryland, hundreds of vets and active duty soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq gather tell give testimonies of the occupation, this is the 2nd Winter Soldier hearing event in history.

They will be giving testimonies of what they did and what they saw while in Iraq and Afghanistan. These testimonies will be aired live on TV, web, and radio - links to follow. The testimonies will be given all day March 14 and 15.
You can watch the testimonies live on the web at the Iraq Veterans against the War website - http://ivaw.org/
If you have Dish Network You can watch the event live on Free Speech Television http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/genx.php?name=home
You can listen on the radio at KPFA, or listen to their audio stream - http://kpfa.org/

I hope that you find time to listen to just five minutes of this hearing. History is being made, the soldiers are speaking out.
You can support them by listening to thier stories.