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EXCLUSIVE! HOW THE FBI SPIED ON EDWARD SAID First look at secret files: How G-Men kept Said under surveillance from 1971. David Price traces years of snooping on US's best known Palestinian Bush says 30,000 dead in Iraq but real number caused by 2003 US attack is AT LEAST 180,000, maybe twice that as Andrew Cockburn digs out the real numbers Is the US Constitution worth saving? Hmmm, maybe ... New York Times takes a year to make up its mind. Cockburn and St Clair on NYT and NSA ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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Dec. 31 / Jan. 1, 2005/6 Patrick Cockburn December 30,2005 Evo Morales Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Dave Lindorff Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs Brian Concannon Sandra Lucas T.W. Croft Website of
the Day
December 29, 2005 Norman Solomon Missy Comley
Beattie Dave Zirin Kevin Zeese Derrick O'Keefe Sam Bahour Macdonald Stainsby Bill &
Kathleen Christison Website of the Day
December 28, 2005 Jeffrey St.
Clair Lila Rajiva Amira Hass Joshua Frank David Swanson Richard Thieme Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
December 27, 2005 Evan Jones Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Gideon Levy David Swanson Norman Solomon
December 26, 2005 Lawrence R.
Velvel Lance Olsen Ben Terrall Scott Boehm Charlie Ehlen Tom Kerr
December 24/25, 2005 Aleander Cockburn James Petras Ralph Nader Lila Rajiva Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Gary Leupp Saul Landau John Chuckman Dr. Susan Block St. Clair / Vest / Pollack
/ Donnelly Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
December 23, 2005 John Ross Chris Floyd Lawrence Mishel
/ Ross Eisenbrey Joanne Mariner Eric Johnson-Debaufre Ray McGovern J. L. Chestnut,
Jr. Website of
the Day
December 22, 2005 Ingmar Lee Elisa Salasin Christopher
Brauchli Robin Blackburn Evelyn Pringle Amira Hass Francis A.
Boyle Stew Albert Website of
the Day
December 21, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Lila Rajiva Joshua Frank Dave Zirin Ramzy Baroud Sonia Nettnin Ben Saul Jonathan Cronin Patrick Cockburn Website of
the Day
December 20, 2005 Jackie Corr Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Michael Donnelly Gian Paulo
Accardo Pierre Tristam Norman Solomon Sen. Robert Byrd Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
December 19, 2005 Mike Marqusee Gary Leupp Ron Jacobs John Blair Gideon Levy Kevin Zeese Missy Comley Beattie Don Santina Website of the Day
December 17 / 18, 2005 Cockburn /
St. Clair Gabriel Kolko Susan Alcorn Werther Ralph Nader Patrick Cockburn Fred Gardner Dave Lindorff Ned Sublette Lee Sustar Jason Leopold Laura Carlsen Jeff White Ray McGovern Chris Floyd William Loren Katz Rose Miriam
Elizalde Greg Moses Heather Gray Alison Weir St Clair /
Walker / Pollack Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
December 16, 2005 Tom Kerr Mark Engler John Bomar Patrick Cockburn Pierre Tristam William S. Lind Cyril Neville Robert Jensen Saul Landau Website
December 15, 2005 Oren Ben-Dor Stan Cox Joshua Frank Ben Terrall Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Walter A. Davis Vijay Prashad Website of
the Day
Patrick Cockburn Paul Craig
Roberts Lawrence R. Velvel Wayne Garcia John Sugg Gary Leupp Ray McGovern Alan Maass April Hurley, MD Kevin Alexander
Gray
December 13, 2005 Stephen T.
Banko, III Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen Karl Grossman Niranjan Ramakrishnan Kevin Zeese Norman Solomon Michael G.
Smith Stew Albert Bob Dylan Phil Gasper Website of
the Day
December 12, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Lawrence R.
Velvel Jessica Stewart George Bisharat Nate Mezmer Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Alison Weir Seth Sandronsky Patrick Cockburn Website of
the Day
Alexander Cockburn Landau / Hassen Ralph Nader Linn Washington, Jr Bill Christison Mike Ferner Elizabeth Schulte Neve Gordon / Yigal Bronner Linda S. Heard Ingmar Lee Ray McGovern John Chuckman John Ryan Dick J. Reavis Christopher
Brauchli Behzad Yaghmaian Aseem Shrivastava John Ross Ben Tripp St. Clair / Pollack / Vest
/ Despair Poets' Basement Website of the Week
December 9, 2005 Linn Washington,
Jr. Dave Zirin
/ Mike Stark Patrick Cockburn Alexander Cockburn Lila Rajiva Gary Leupp Jason Leopold Bruce K. Gagnon Andrew Cockburn Website of the Day
December 8, 2005 Kathy Kelly James Petras William S.
Lind Laura Carlsen Justin Akers Thomas Graham, Jr Norman Solomon Tariq Ali /
Robin Blackburn Website of
the Day
December 7, 2005 John Ryan Gary Leupp Fran Quigley Jeremy Brecher
/ Brendan Smith Joshua Frank William W.
Morgan Dave Lindorff Patrick Cockburn Harold Pinter Website of
the Day
December 6, 2005 Ron Jacobs Patrick Cockburn Yifat Susskind Mike Whitney Pat Williams Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
December 5, 2005 John Walsh Brian Cloughley Mokhiber /
Weissman Robert Jensen Norman Solomon Peter Rost, MD Lila Rajiva Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Lawrence R.
Velvel Rev. William Alberts Saul Landau Ralph Nader Paul Craig
Roberts Mike Whitney Allan Lichtman Dave Lindorff Brian Concannon,
Jr. Fred Gardner Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Carol Wolman St. Clair /
Vest / Walker / Pollack Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
December 2, 2005 Stan Goff Mike Ferner Christopher Brauchli Niranjan Ramakrishnan Manuel Talens Peter Phillips J.L. Chestnut,
Jr. Website of
the Day
December 1, 2005 John Walsh,
MD Ron Jacobs Jenna Orkin Joshua Frank Tiffany Ten
Eyck Missy Comley Beattie Eli Stephens Elaine Cassel Website of
the Day
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Weekend
Edition Race, Class and Activism in the SouthBlack ForeverBy J.L. CHESTNUT, Jr. In the South of my youth, the rung next to the bottom of the social ladder was reserved exclusively for a class of folks that other white people called "poor white trash." Just beneath them at the bottom and beyond any threshold of upward social mobility were we blacks. In some ways it mattered not if we were educated, ignorant or prosperous, all blacks were in the same boat and in it forever. Dirt poor ignorant white people could work hard, get lucky or even marry out of the poor white trash class. We could not move beyond this bottom color caste. We were black forever. Even as early as the eighth grade, I almost instinctively understood that this curious arrangement had a lot to do with money and greed. Poor blacks were no poorer than poor whites, and a few blacks were even pretty well off but they too were members of the untouchable caste and at the bottom of the social ladder. Some whites, even those who were filthy and untamed creatures of animal instincts, described all black people as such and joined in the claim that it was the Christian duty of all white people to keep blacks in their assigned place. My paternal great grandfather was a white man (whom I never knew but despised) who ran a boarding house at Marion Junction. His son, my paternal grandfather was almost as white as his father, and I am told the relationship between the two was a maze of hypocritical, immoral Southern contradictions that even affected my own father all his life. Two of my family members (who are not very bright) believe that this so-called "mixed" heritage explains why I have chosen to live a life of protest and struggle. These relatives are the type who would assume that any black person who stands up against racism or white people must have "white" blood in his veins. They can't even explain what "white" blood is supposed to be since it all is red. The slave mentality manifests itself in many ways. White callers tomy radio show often do not recognize the "white supremacy" inherent in their own words and they become really defensive when it is pointed out. They do not call back. Some black callers are so conditioned by generations of oppression that they go to ridiculous lengths to rationalize their subservience to all white people and white interests and when told as much they don't call back. Many young people listening to my voice cannot even imagine the racist circumstances of my youth here in Selma, Alabama. That is a blessing because I lived in a completely dehumanizing system of racial segregation that began to fill me with rage before I was ten years old. All blacks were regarded as cowardly, ignorant, thieving, lying, hypocritical and superstitious. We were considered guilty of all the deadly sins, except, interestingly, pride. We were viewed as comic, but mostly as threatening to white people and their really idealized image of themselves. Because of our "high skin color visibility" we were easily distinguishable, relatively easy to keep in line and kept politically powerless. In turn, our lack of political power was used to deny us even the dignity of our individuality and thus every black person became interchangeable with every other black person. As far as many whites were concerned, not only were all blacks faceless but it really didn't matter if some frightened black victim of a bloody mob was guilty or not, because all blacks were guilty or at least potentially guilty. That rationalized lie was used to exclude us from the ballot box and the jury box. I spent most of 1960 and 1970 trying to help change those two situations. I spent my high school years battling an ignorant, all-white, all-male Selma police department and against a depraved social order I despised. Naturally, that worried my parents constantly. The paths I chose to follow have nothing whatsoever to do with a racist white great grandfather whom I never saw and despised. By the time I entered college, I had written several short papers about the political arrangement of pitting dirt poor, ignorant whites against dirt poor blacks, in order that upper-class whites could have everything and rule everybody. That technique allowed Dixiecrats to gain control of the congress through seniority, even after they had lost the Civil War. During the first half of my life, the Confederate States were a one-party (Democrat), and almost one issue region (racism), and whichever politician hollered "nigger" the loudest was elected to congress and elected virtually for life. Today, Dixiecrats are Republican but racism remains as much an issue as when I was a boy. Thorough depression, wars and everything else, lower class whites have clung to the foolish opinion that they are superior to black people by the mere fact of race alone. These whites have not hesitated to use everything including violence, to uphold white supremacy. Anti-black stereotypes are the usual currency they prefer for keeping the myth of white supremacy alive, but their politics is one of violence, fear and thrives on the supposition that some black person, through Affirmative Action, could become their supervisor on the job and elsewhere. That keeps them voting for a Republican Party run by super rich white men who despise the lower class whites they scornfully call white trash. It is difficult to turn on a television or radio today and not hear a speech from some long-winded politician about the evils of terrorism. We blacks know first-hand and more about terrorism than any long-winded white politician in Washington. We know more about terrorism than any group alive, and that includes both the Palestinians and Israel. We know up close that though discrimination and racial violence are often directed against specific individuals they are always aimed at the whole group. On a bright Sunday morning at the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham, the Ku Klux Klan detonated a bomb and aimed it not merely at members of that church, but at every African-American in the country. We blacks know intimately that the coward's bomb, his lynch ropes and his savagery are invariably aimed at the group, and the individual innocent victims are merely the hated symbols of the group. We all know white Southerners who are fine people, but even that is a problem for African-Americans because we have to learn how to live simultaneously among both hostile and friendly whites while retaining our balance. That is not easy. We learn early on to preserve our humanity by tactically masking our motives and emotions. White folks don't have to study us or worry about our reactions. They are on top. For we blacks, however, a misreading of a white person's motive or concerns can get us into such deep trouble that we may not get out of in a life time. I have seen that happen more than once. Few blacks my age have not witnessed it many times. Last, I want to say that from time-to-time I have been called upon even to protect some blacks from other blacks, including some neighbors that civil rights would have destroyed because they wouldn't march. Hell, my neighbors and I weren't from Atlanta and we were not professional civil rights workers but they were my people. I was born one of them, and I understood that we were living in different circumstances. A local black preacher secretly put up more bond money than any single person to get marchers out of jail and never once joined a march. Jim Stallings' father-in-law was the AME Bishop and without his permission MLK and no one else would have held mass meetings at Brown Chapel. Everyone didn't need to be on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965--an event that became known as Bloody Sunday. We were demanding our voting rights on that fateful day but were met with stiff and violent resistance from George Wallace's Alabama State Patrol. Nevertheless, we had enough people on the bridge, yet they couldn't have been there without the solid support of thousands who were nowhere near the bridge. In 2005, I hear debates all the time and of some new book coming out every other month that allegedly details who did what in the 1960s. I am waiting on the book that details who did what in the 70s, 80s, 90s and since. J.L. Chestnut, Jr. is a civil rights attorney in Selma, Alabama. He is the founder of Chestnut, Sanders and Sanders which is the largest black law firm in Alabama. Born in Selma and, after graduating from Howard University Law School, he began practicing law in Selma in 1958. He started as the only black lawyer in the town and has been challenging the establishment since then. His law firm now owns two radio stations in Selma and Mr. Chestnut hosts a radio talk show three days a week touted as the most popular radio show in south and central Alabama. He is the author of "Black in Selma" with Julia Cass (1989 Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and writes a weekly column called the "Hard Cold Truth". He can be reached at tmarshall@csspca.com.
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair                            Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. |
