Aaron Hughe, IVAW
Email: aarhughes@ivaw.org
Operation Exposure: War is Trauma Bringing the War Home Through Street Art
"Operation Exposure: War is Trauma" hit the
streets of Chicago on Monday November 15th.This collaboration between the Justseeds Artists' Cooperative and veterans
and supporters from Iraq Veterans Against the War
(IVAW) is a direct response to the suicide epidemic and violation of GI's right
to heal within the GI and veteran community. Veterans, artists, and supporters
met in Rogers Park in Chicago and split into teams.
"Operation Exposure: War is Trauma" hit the
streets of Chicago on Monday November 15th.This collaboration between the Justseeds Artists' Cooperative and veterans
and supporters from Iraq Veterans Against the War
(IVAW) is a direct response to the suicide epidemic and violation of GI's right
to heal within the GI and veteran community. Veterans, artists, and supporters
met in Rogers Park in Chicago and split into teams. They divided up posters
that Justseeds had designed for IVAW and then wheatpasted the city. Teams hit
advertising spaces and boarded up buildings with messages of GI resistance and
"Operation Recovery" - a new IVAW campaign
aimed to stop the redeployment of traumatized troops and focus public attention
towards Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), military sexual trauma (MST),
and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
"We recognize that we must stop the deployment of all
soldiers in order to end these occupations," writes IVAW. "We see the
deployment of soldiers with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress
disorder, and military sexual trauma as particularly cruel, dangerous, and
inhumane. Military commanders across all branches are pushing service members
far past human limits for the sake of combat readiness. We cannot allow those
commanders to ignore the welfare of their troops. From multiple deployments
despite PTSD, TBI, and other injuries, to rampant sexual assault
within the military, soldiers are consistently being denied their right to
heal. This basic right is being denied and we must organize to get it back."
The action was part of the "Chicago
in War" series that was organized by Aaron Hughes of IVAW. Metaphorically,
the prints covered up corporate ads and the corporate culture that pollutes the
city and perpetuates systems of inequality and oppression -- systems that
create public apathy to war. Twenty different posters were designed along with
three large stencils portraits that honored soldiers who have resisted the US
military.
One stencil honored Camilo Mejia, a Florida National Guard
Sergeant who became the first US combat veteran to publicly refuse to redeploy
back to Iraq. Mejia had witnessed detainees being tortured and abused by US
troops in Iraq. He served nine months in prison for desertion and in August
2007 he was elected Chair of IVAW. Another stencil honored Suzanne Swift, a
23-year-old Army SPC who was continually sexually harassed and assaulted by
three men in her command while she served in Iraq. She suffered from PTSD and
went AWOL in January 2006 to resist redeploying with the same unit. She was
apprehended and imprisoned briefly in January 2007 and is now active in
anti-war and anti-rape campaigns. The last stencil honored Rodney Watson, a
29-year-old Army Specialist who served 12-months in Iraq. Watson refused
redeployment and is currently seeking refuge near Vancouver, Canada.
The stencils, prints, and street art action are meant to
increase awareness about the impact of war on soldiers and civilians alike in
order to get the public talking about GI resistance, GI rights, and stopping
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Photos of the action are posted here.
Exhibits:
A month-long window exhibit of the prints is on display at Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport (3219 S. Morgan Ave, Chicago) and a print mural
is installed at the In These Times building (2040
N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago).The In
These Times exhibit opens on Thursday, December 9th at 5:00pm.
Museum show: Intrusive
Thoughts at the National Veterans At Museum
Intrusive thoughts are unwelcome involuntary thoughts,
images, or unpleasant ideas that may become obsessions are upsetting or
distressing, and can be difficult to manage or eliminate. Although they are
commonly unseen, there are silent signs of our current occupations in our local
communities, households, and memories. This show features work by veterans of
Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Global War on Terror that brings these signs from
the shadows to the forefront and gives these traumas a voice in the political
and cultural discussion of today.
National Veterans Art Museum
1801 S. Indiana Ave, Chicago IL
Nov 2010- May 2011
Matt Howard, Communications Director 646.723.0989Media@ivaw.org
'Incredible': Leftists Poised to Win Most Seats in France as Voters Reject Fascists
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the leftist La France Insoumise party, called the election results an "immense relief for a majority of people in our country."
This is a developing story… Please check back for possible updates...
Preliminary results from France's parliamentary election on Sunday show that strategic collaboration between the left and allies of President Emmanuel Macron has succeeded in preventing Marine Le Pen's fascist National Rally from winning an absolute majority.
According to projections released shortly after polls closed, Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP)—a coalition of left-of-center parties formed ahead of the snap elections to counter the far-right—is on track to secure the largest number of seats in parliament. The Financial Timesreported that NFP is expected to win "anywhere from 170 to 215 seats," while Macron's centrist alliance was "running close behind, with pollsters predicting ranges of 140 to 180 seats, a big drop from the roughly 250 they held in the outgoing National Assembly."
Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN) is expected to finish third with between 120 and 150 seats.
Following the first round of voting last weekend, hundreds of candidates from Macron's alliance and parties within the NFP dropped out of three-way runoff races in a strategic bid to defeat RN candidates—an effort that appears to have paid off in a major way.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the leftist La France Insoumise party, called the early election results an "immense relief for a majority of people in our country" and urged Macron to resign and allow the left to govern.
"The united left saved the republic," said Mélenchon. "It can begin the ecological and social work that our people, our time, our world, [and] our Europe so badly need."
The Associated Pressnoted that the leftist leader's speech "is an indication of what's ahead" as coalitions prepare to jockey over who will lead the government.
"He says he will not negotiate with Macron, and Macron has refused to negotiate with him," AP added.
Israeli Newspaper Confirms IDF Employed 'Hannibal Directive' on October 7
IDF soldiers were reportedly ordered to "turn the area around the border fence into a killing zone."
The Israeli newspaper Haaretzreported Sunday that Israel's military repeatedly employed a protocol known as the "Hannibal Directive" during the October 7 Hamas-led attack in an attempt to prevent the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers—even if it meant putting the lives of army captives and civilians at risk.
Haaretz found based on documents and interviews with soldiers and senior Israeli officers that Hannibal—an operational order developed in 1986 that "directs the use of force to prevent soldiers being taken into captivity" by enemy militants—was used "at three army facilities infiltrated by Hamas, potentially endangering civilians as well."
During the first hours of the Hamas-led attack, according to Haaretz, Israeli soldiers were given an order: "Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza."
"At this point, the IDF was not aware of the extent of kidnapping along the Gaza border, but it did know that many people were involved," the newspaper continued. "Thus, it was entirely clear what that message meant, and what the fate of some of the kidnapped people would be."
The full text of the Hannibal Directive has never been published. But according to a Haaretz story about the directive from more than two decades ago, part of it states that "during an abduction, the major mission is to rescue our soldiers from the abductors even at the price of harming or wounding our soldiers."
"Light-arms fire is to be used in order to bring the abductors to the ground or to stop them," it adds. "If the vehicle or the abductors do not stop, single-shot (sniper) fire should be aimed at them, deliberately, in order to hit the abductors, even if this means hitting our soldiers. In any event, everything will be done to stop the vehicle and not allow it to escape."
Israeli authorities have acknowledged "multiple incidents of our forces firing on our forces" on October 7. In April, Israel's military said that one of the hostages taken by Hamas militants during the October attack was likely killed by Israeli helicopter fire.
But the IDF, which has killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza since October 7, has declined to say whether Hannibal was used during the Hamas-led attack.
Haaretz stressed Sunday that it "does not know whether or how many civilians and soldiers were hit due to these procedures, but the cumulative data indicates that many of the kidnapped people were at risk, exposed to Israeli gunfire, even if they were not the target."
The first of the known uses of the Hannibal Directive on October 7 came "when an observation post at the Yiftah outpost reported that someone had been kidnapped at the Erez border crossing, adjacent to the IDF's liaison office," Haaretz reported.
"'Hannibal at Erez' came the command from divisional headquarters, 'dispatch a Zik.' The Zik is an unmanned assault drone, and the meaning of this command was clear," the newspaper found.
The directive was employed at least two additional times during the attack, according to Haaretz, which cited one unnamed source in Israel's Southern Command as saying that the country's forces were instructed to "turn the area around the border fence into a killing zone, closing it off toward the west."
The newspaper continued:
One case in which it is known that civilians were hit, a case that received wide coverage, took place in the house of Pessi Cohen at Kibbutz Be'eri. Fourteen hostages were held in the house as the IDF attacked it, with 13 of them killed. In the coming weeks, the IDF is expected to publish the results of its investigation of the incident, which will answer the question of whether Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, the commander of Division 99 who was in charge of operations in Be'eri on October 7, was employing the Hannibal procedure. Did he order the tank to move ahead even at the cost of civilian casualties, as he stated in an interview he gave later to The New York Times?
Haaretz's reporting comes weeks after a United Nations investigation concluded that the IDF "had likely applied the Hannibal Directive" on October 7, killing more than a dozen Israeli civilians.
Sanders on Biden: 'He's Gotta Do Better'
"The American people want an agenda for the next four years that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "And frankly, I don't think the president has brought that agenda forward."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that President Joe Biden must do a better job articulating a positive agenda to the American public as he faces mounting calls to step aside following his disastrous debate performance against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Sanders (I-Vt.) has thus far declined to join the growing chorus demanding that Biden drop his reelection bid, but the senator acknowledged in an appearance on CBS News' "Face the Nation" that the president had a "terrible" debate and that concerns about his performance are "legitimate."
"I think he's done better since, and I think he's gotta do better again," said Sanders, who competed against Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. "But I think most importantly now, this is not a beauty contest, it's not a Grammy award contest. It is a contest of who stands with the vast majority of the people of this country—the elderly, the children, the working class, the poor. And that candidate is obviously Joe Biden."
.@SenSanders says he will not participate in a conversation organized by a fellow Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, to discuss the future of the party’s presidential ticket: "No, I have not been invited. No, I will not attend." He describes Warner as "one of the more… pic.twitter.com/us4WCp2UkE
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 7, 2024
Sanders said he would not take part in a conversation organized by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who is reportedly trying to bring together a group of senators to urge Biden to drop out of the 2024 race and clear the way for an alternative candidate to take on Trump in November as the president faces a revolt from donors and Democratic lawmakers.
"Mark is a friend of mine. I like Mark," the Vermont senator said when asked about the effort. "He's one of the more conservative members of the Democratic caucus. No, I have not been invited. No, I will not attend."
Sanders implored Biden, who has insisted he intends to stay in the race, to recognize that touting his first-term achievements will not be enough to defeat Trump, whom the senator described as "the most dangerous president in the history of this country."
"The American people are hurting," said Sanders. "Sixty percent of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, 25% of elderly people are trying to get by on $15,000 a year or less. The American people want an agenda for the next four years that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country. And frankly, I don't think the president has brought that agenda forward."
"He has gotta say, 'I am prepared to take on corporate greed, massive income and wealth inequality, and stand with the working class of this country,'" Sanders continued. "He does that, he's gonna win and win big."
"President Biden can clearly defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in the history of this country," @SenSanders says, but he says Biden's campaign needs to address how "the American people are hurting" economically.
"The American people want an agenda for the next… pic.twitter.com/tyilv7OPTn
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 7, 2024
Sanders' "Face the Nation" appearance came less than 48 hours after Biden's televised and closely watched ABC Newsinterview, which did little to assuage the concerns of those calling on the president to step aside.
The New York Timesreported based on recent interviews with more than 50 Democrats that "growing swaths" of the party now believe "that by remaining on the ticket, the president is jeopardizing their ability to maintain the White House and threatening other candidates up and down the ballot."
"Certainly, many leading Democrats have publicly expressed support for the president, or remained quiet about any misgivings," the Times noted Sunday. "One senior White House official, however, who has worked with Mr. Biden during his presidency, vice presidency, and 2020 campaign, said in an interview on Saturday morning that Mr. Biden should not seek reelection."