Author: icsswpadmin

Nora Barrows-Friedman of The Electoric Intifada will present and lead our discussion

Nora Barrows-Friedman is a journalist, editor, radio broadcaster, musician, and mother. Since 2012 she has served as associate editor and audio production director for The Electronic Intifada, an independent publication focused on Palestinian issues. She is the author of In Our Power: US Students Organize for Justice in Palestine (Just World Books, 2014).

Palestinian-American Professor Rashid Khalidi has described Gaza as “a pressure cooker” that “had to explode.” Israeli holocaust scholar Raz Segal has decried Israel’s assault on Gaza as “a textbook case of genocide.”

The Palestinian military action in Gaza this week shows that “the colonial powers can no longer believe they can force people to live under the conditions Israel has subjected Palestinians to and expect no retaliation of the oppressed” says Khalidi. The Palestinian rebellion is a historic development in the Palestinian struggle that also signals a paradigm shift in the world situation.

After brief presentations, ICSS will host an open discussion on this topic. Bring your comments and questions.

According to our speaker, the Biden administration’s lawfare against Trump is
supported by the left because of their own McCarthyism. The national security state,
through the Biden administration, is engaging in lawfare to eliminate Biden’s only
serious challenger and fix the 2024 election. Much of the progressive movement, rather
than protest and stop police state interference, is supportive of it, even though this
lawfare will be used against them in the future. The cause for the silence among liberals
and leftists is their own McCarthyism: people are baited, and fear being baited – not as
Reds, but as Trump supporters. This left McCarthyism pushes people towards voting for
the supposed lesser evil Democrats and towards defending the actions of the national
security police state. This national security state finds the Democratic Party a more
useful tool to criminalize opposition to US wars and maintain their control over the US
government.
Our speaker, Stanfield Smith, is a member of Chicago ALBA Solidarity, formerly the
Chicago Committee to Free the Cuban 5. He has published in LA Progressive, Dissident
Voice, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Covert Action, Monthly Review online, and
other websites. Smith is a long time anti-war activist, and opposed US interference over
the years in Latin America. He produces AFGJ's Venezuela & ALBA Weekly News and
the online newsletter for the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition. His website is
ChicagoALBASolidarity.org.
Recent articles include:
“The Danger that Lawfare against Trump Presents to the Progressive Movement,”
https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/09/the-danger-that-lawfare-against-trump-presents-
to-the-progressive-movement/;
“JFK’s World Peace Speech and National Security State Takedowns of US Presidents,”
https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/08/jfks-world-peace-speech-and-national-security-
state-takedowns-of-us-presidents/;
“Liberal and Left Silence on National Security Police State When Used Against Trump
and His Supporters,” https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/06/21/liberal-and-left-
silence-on-national-security-police-state-when-used-against-trump-and-his-
supporters/,
“John F. Kennedy on Ending the US War on Vietnam – His Own Words,”
https://www.laprogressive.com/war-and-peace/ending-the-us-war-on-vietnam.

This program will address how the Korean peninsula was tragically split, why it remains so, and its contemporary implications. Once part of the Japanese Empire, the Korean conflict degenerated into a stalemate. Most important was the admission by then US Secretary of State Dean Rusk on how the 38th Parallel was agreed to as the infamous demarcation line; why the decision was made to cross the 38th parallel; and how George Kennan urged Truman not to. This last development is most significant. And, how the stalemate in Korea impacted whether the U.S. would intervene in North Vietnam in April-May 1954 to relieve 15,000 French paratroopers surrounded by 55,000 Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu.

Our speaker, Mark Albertson, is a frequent presenter at the Library. In fact, according to his blog, in each of the last three years, he has logged 200-plus appearances. Mark is a military historian with a commanding knowledge of geo-politics. He is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is the historian for the Army Aviation Association of America. He has authored several books: USS Connecticut: Constitution State Battleship; They’ll Have to Follow You! The Triumph of the Great White Fleet; On History: A Treatise. He is at work on a two-volume history on the saga of Army aviation. Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut.