Brunswick Police Beg Air Show Protesters Not To Block The Road

It was still raining when the assistant chief of Brunswick Police begged us not to block the road during our air show protest yesterday. I kind of regretted that we weren't planning to do that and I felt even more FOMO after a huge tanker trunk entered the main gate of Brunswick Landing and my husband called out, "Jet fuel!" A former pilot, he is aware as many of us are that jet fuel is among the worst petroleum products in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. 

Forty people gathered to object to the promotion of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and their role in the Gaza genocide on opening day of the Great State of Maine Air Show. 

We were lucky to be joined by a large contingent from the IDEAL Maine Social Aid and Sanctuary Band which kept our spirits up during our three hour stand out. "The gestures of support for our messages, from vehicles entering, were way more numerous than in past years," Mark commented.

While the band took a break we heard from speakers including Trish, a U.S. Army veteran wearing fatigues painted with the words "I can't comply with genocide, can U?" A fitting message to mark the 300th day of Israel's assault on Gaza at an event registered with ShutitDown4Palestine.org. 

Faisal Khan spoke about the devastation in Gaza and the need for us to stay focused on supporting Palestinians, while Barbara West reported back on her recent trip to DC to protest war criminal Israeli PM Netanyahu speaking to Congress. 

Beckham shared some of the many grim statistics on death and destruction by Israel, and Tim Paradis spoke of the ongoing organizing of the Maine Coalition for Palestine and encouraged people to get in touch with that growing organization.

Lou Kimball reminded us of Aaron Bushnell's sacrifice and pointed out that, since February when U.S. Airman Bushnell self-immolated over his complicity in genocide, the assaults on Gaza have gotten much, much worse. And Bruce Gagnon, an Air Force vet from the Vietnam war era, reminded us that U.S. warplanes support imperialist aggression in West Asia, East Asia, Africa, and Europe. Connect these dots and we are well on the way to WWIII.

Screen capture from reporter Pearl Small's interview of Rosemary 

We also heard from Rosemary on recruiters in the Washington County high school she attended. Later she gave this powerful interview to News Center Maine on the recruiting purposes of air shows like the Thunderbirds. She was also among those handing out flyers linking the air show to recruiting, and sharing some dark facts about Thunderbirds sponsor Pratt & Whitney's complicity in genocide.

The local Times Record also gave our protest some coverage in a long article mostly glamorizing the Thunderbirds pilots. None of the corporate press noted that local residents were angered by the incredible noise levels as the warplanes practiced in the days leading up to the show. Maybe that would account for the dramatically lower number of cars passing through the main gate yesterday? (All of us who've protested past air shows at that venue noticed this.) That tickets were $68 a pop may have also been a factor -- my husband reported a lot of grumbling about this on social media.

Special thanks to Maine's Artists Rapid Response Team (AART!) for inspiring images we used at the air show

The most interesting conversation I had yesterday was with a woman from Connecticut whose family had gone into the air show while she boycotted it. She reported that her 14 year old son is fascinated by planes and other military hardware, and that she walks a fine line between living her own values while also supporting her kid's autonomy and developing ability to make his own judgements. We agreed as moms that raising kids in this toxic militarized culture is difficult. But we won't stop speaking our truths even when they're drowned out by the obscene roar of bombers over the settler colony called New England.

Disrupting Business As Usual

Trigger Warning: This blog post contains a photograph of a Palestinian child starved to death by Zionist blockade of Gaza.

I can't have been the only person who saw that the Key Bridge over Baltimore Harbor had collapsed and thought, That will disrupt commerce and the war machine significantly. Probably for years. More than a mile long, the bridge was an integral part of the Interstate-695 highway system that connects to "the Beltway" in the Washington DC/Virginia/Maryland region. That's the belly of the military contracting beast, and the bridge being out of commission is and will remain a big deal.

The bridge is named for Francis Scott Key, composer of  our odious U.S. national anthem that glorifies "rocket's red glare and bombs bursting in air" -- so maybe there is some violent karma at work here, too.

The ship that hit the Key was registered in Singapore and video shows it having power problems just prior to striking the bridge support, so there's little suspicion it was deliberate. Of course Congress has demonstrated repeatedly that they cannot distinguish between Singapore and China, at least where TikTok owners and operators are concerned. So who knows who will get blamed for what was most likely an accident. 

Prayers up for the bridge workers and motorists plunged into frigid water in the dead of night (1am).

This tragedy unfolds amidst context of constantly escalating disruptions to business as usual while genocide in Gaza continues. 

"This is not a photo of a mummy or an embalmed body retrieved from one of Gaza’s ancient cemeteries. This is a photo of Yazan Kafarneh, a child who died of severe malnutrition during Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip." Source: Mondoweiss

This morning my husband shared news that Gazans had drowned swimming out to retrieve the paltry aid being airdropped into the Mediterranean Sea. He and I have agreed we will both keep getting louder and more disruptive as long as the U.S. continues funding -- and corporations continue profiting -- from torturing millions Palestinians to death to steal their land.

Here's a proposal for April 15 from the Coordinated Economic Blockade to Free Palestine.

The UN passing a mealymouthed temporary ceasefire resolution that does not even call for the release of the thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children in their prisons is of little interest to me. So what if the US abstained after vetoing other such resolutions? Obtaining bargaining chips to secure the prisoners' release is the reason that Hamas took hostages on October 7. Any agreement that doesn't start there is public relations and not worth wasting my time considering.

Here's the real news: Congress passed and Biden signed a fiscal year 2024 budget that has more than $1 trillion allocated for death, destruction, and new yachts for General Dynamics executives.

Also note that nuclear weapons spending is hidden in the Energy Department's budget line, so even $1.118 trillion is an understatement of the cost to operate our military and militarized State Department for another year.

This is unsustainable. A nation with this moral position deserves to be disrupted constantly. Let's go!

For a ShutDown4Palestine action near you visit shutitdown4palestine.org.

As War On Journalism Continues, Our Ignorance Deepens

Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights worked with the Union of Maine Visual Artists' ARRT! to create this puppet of Gazan journalist Bisan Owda sharing her quote: "My job is to document our stories. Your job is to end this genocide."

In conjunction with slaughtering or detaining a record number of Palestinian journalists, and barring foreign reporters from entering Gaza, our corporate overlords have tightly controlled the flow of information via legacy media. For example, by covering only Israel's refutation of charges at the International Court of Justice but not the presentation of the case by South Africa the preceding day.

Here are just a few current events that you probably don't know about if all your information comes from corporate sources like the New York Times, NPR, CNN, et al.

Screenshot from @AROC #FreePalestine account on Twitter

• Protesters shut down the entire port of Oakland, California for a day on January 13. Big support from workers who refused to cross the picket lines!

Source: ANSWERcoalition.org "National March For Gaza Brings Giant Crowd To Joe Biden's Doorstep"

• 400,000 in Washington DC on Saturday in a Muslim-led demonstration with terrific speakers, signage, and an after dark visit to the White House fence.

Screenshot from Alice Rothchild's newsletter

• Interstate-5 in Seattle was shut down for 4 hours to protest genocide in Gaza.

But how can we know about these things if billionaire Jeff Bezos' Washington Post and the like leave us in the dark? Social media, of course. Journalists like Bisan and Motaz Azaiza have huge followings on Instagram eager for their reporting.  Never have people been so empowered to document their own collective punishment. When Israel cuts the power and internet to Gaza, it's these reporters they are trying to silence. That's why we like and reshare any news that leaks out from reliable sources.

Of course there are alt-media sites with real information for those with ears to hear it. Mondoweiss, Electronic Intifada, If Americans Knew, Black Agenda Report, Popular Resistance, MintPressNews, and Pressenza are among my favorites. Folks who prefer video praise BreakThroughNews, Sabby Sabs, Glenn Greenwald, Russell Brand, and Abby Martin among others.

Did you know that there are still two Palestinian journalists missing in Gaza since October 7? Haitham Abdelwahed and Nidal al-Waheidi were detained by Israel's military and have not been heard from since. Their families fear they may have been tortured or even executed. You can send a letter to support them via Amnesty International who will then convey your message to the Israeli authorities, the Embassy of Israel in the U.S., and the U.S. State Department.

Shut It Down For Palestine: Holiday Roundup

Happy to report that there were several actions I missed prior to yesterday's post about both Maine's senators hearing from constituents the demand that they Stop Funding Genocide.

At dawn on Christmas morning protesters headed to the homes of Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and later National Security advisor Jake Sullivan in the Washington DC area. Some of the many protesters are seen above with holiday-themed messages. 

Both LAX and JFK, the big international airports in Los Angeles and New York City, saw road blockages on Wednesday morning. Pictured above is the JFK group using cars and people to block an access road.

Pictured above is an aerial shot of the road blockage at LAX using construction debris, tree branches, and other found materials.

Italians saw an opera performance interrupted by the demand to end genocide in Gaza.

Feel like you're missing out on opportunities to oppose your government conducting genocide in your lifetime? This could be an action for you:

From American Muslims for Palestine:

We invite you to endorse and be part of the March on Washington for Gaza at the National Mall on Saturday, January 13th, 2024. You can find the march demands and endorsement form here: https://bit.ly/gazamarch

Also in my inbox:

The ANSWER Coalition is reserving buses for January 13 from cities around the country. Sponsoring organizations from the American Muslim Task Force for Palestine have already reserved hundreds of buses.

We hope you will join us for the next national, massive outpouring on January 13.

Let your government know: they have lost the consent of the governed over supporting Israel's genocide in Palestine!