Martha Rosler's Theater of Drones Buzzes into Charlottesville

The first city in the United States to pass a resolution against drones now has a drone display just across the pedestrian Downtown Mall from City Hall, thanks to Martha Rosler whose "Theater of Drones" is part of the Charlottesville Festival of the Photograph.

Click to enlarge:

 

From Charlottesville Festival of the Photograph:

Martha Rosler works in photography, video, performance, sculpture, and installation. Her work often addresses matters of the public sphere and landscapes of everyday life—actual and virtual—especially as they affect women. Rosler’s photographic series on places of passage and systems of transportation—airports, roads, subways, streets—have been widely exhibited. Rosler has for many years produced works on war and the “national security climate,” connecting everyday experiences at home with the conduct of war abroad. In 2004 and 2008, in opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, she reinstituted her now well-known series of photomontages House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home, originally made as a response to the war in Vietnam in the late 1960s.

“Beginning a conversation through art provides symbolic closure but does not relieve us of the necessity to keep on informing, organizing, audience building, and agitating.” – Martha Rosler

Rosler has had numerous solo exhibitions at museums and galleries internationally. In spring 2012, her solo photo exhibition Cuba January 1981 opened at Mitchell-Innes and Nash in New York City. In November 2012, she presented her performance-installation Meta-Monumental Garage Sale at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the most recent of a series of Garage Sales she has held in and around art galleries since 1973.

www.martharosler.net

Insight Conversation

Exhibit

  • Title: Theater of Drones
  • Date: June 10 - July 7
  • Location: 605 East Main Street at the Freedom of Speech Wall

Book Signing

The Paramount Theater

Syria News June 13

 

 

Rebels fighters in Syria attack a village killing dozens of Shiites - CBS News

Syria Islamists celebrate Shiite deaths, videos show - AFP

VIDEO (English subtitles): Syria Islamists celebrate Shiite deaths - Liveleaks

More details of an alleged massacre of Christians by rebels in Homs last month - Syria Report

Al Manar TV: Over 6000 foreign militants killed in Syria, A detailed list by foreign country- shafaqna.com

Syria: The Insurgency's New Weapons - M of A

Syria Kurds need unity against FSA: KNC official tells Kurdpress - Kurdpress News Aganecy

New Agreement Arab Tribes & Kurds in Tall Tamr, Syria - Mesopotamische Gesellschaft

United for reconciliation with Muslims, Christians return to al-Qusair - Asia News

Analysis: Zawahiri’s Letter to al Qaeda Branches in Syria, Iraq - Foundation for Defense of Democracies

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Officials: Top Obama aides split on arming rebels as they gather at White House to talk Syria - The Washington Post

U.S. approves waivers to aid opposition-controlled areas of Syria - KUNA

Sanctions Eased for Syrian Opposition - US State Department

Putin talks NSA, Syria, Iran, drones in RT interview (FULL VIDEO) — RT News

Syrian forces'' advance must be stopped before Aleppo -- French FM Fabius - KUNA

France, Saudi Arabia Increase Syria Coordination Post-Qusair - Al-Monitor

Signs Labour could break ranks on Hague's Syria mission - .politics.co.uk

Syrian helicopter fires on Lebanese town, two wounded - Reuters

General Command of Syrian Army and Armed Forces: Syrian Helicopter Targeted Terrorist Groups Fleeing into Lebanese Territories - SANA

Austria begins pullout from tense Golan Heights - DW.DE 

Iran gets 'verbal invitation' to Syria conference: report - Yahoo! News

Turkey's ruling party considering referendum on park redevelopment plans that sparked protests - Fox News

 

To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com

 

On Edward Snowden Leaking the NSA Files

 

by Debra Sweet          This afternoon we learned that Edward Snowden, an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton (a private contractor for the National Security Agency), claimed responsibility for the biggest intelligence leak in U.S. history. In an interview with The Guardian, Snowden said,

America's National Security State

 

America's National Security State

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Post-WW II, Washington's 1947 National Security Act became law.

 

It streamlined the nation's military, established the National Security Council, created the CIA, and instituted what became America's military-industrial complex and police state apparatus. 

 

The United States and Palestine: Business as Usual

                A report on June 11, 2013 from Reuters calls Richard Falk, the United Nations human rights investigator for Palestine, ‘embattled’, apparently because he has once again refused to dance to the U.S.-Israel tune.  At a forum of the U.N. Human Rights Council, he called for an inquiry into what he sees as the torture of Palestinians in Israeli custody. The U.S., of course, with its own shocking record of torturing its political prisoners in Guantanamo, Iraq, and who knows where else, boycotted the debate. Israel did the same, accusing the forum of anti-Israel bias.

NSA Whistleblowing a Strong Tradition

On July 1, 2007, I posted the following report on a then-new NSA whistleblower, a story later repeatedly "broken" by ABC News, Democracy Now!, James Bamford, and others.  Thomas Drake, Edward Snowden, and NSA whistleblowers whose names we've learned are part of a rich and, I hope, growing tradition:

New NSA Whistleblower Speaks

By davidswanson - Posted on 01 July 2007

By David Swanson
http://warisacrime.org/node/24183

A former member of U.S. military intelligence has decided to reveal what she knows about warrantless spying on Americans and about the fixing of intelligence in the leadup to the invasion of Iraq.

Adrienne Kinne describes an incident just prior to the invasion of Iraq in which a fax came into her office at Fort Gordon in Georgia that purported to provide information on the location of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The fax came from the Iraqi National Congress, a group opposed to Saddam Hussein and favoring an invasion. The fax contained types of information that required that it be translated and transmitted to President Bush within 15 minutes. But Kinne had been eavesdropping on two nongovernmental aid workers driving in Iraq who were panicked and trying to find safety before the bombs dropped. She focused on trying to protect them, and was reprimanded for the delay in translating the fax. She then challenged her officer in charge, Warrant Officer John Berry, on the credibility of the fax, and he told her that it was not her place or his to challenge such things. None of the other 20 or so people in the unit questioned anything, Kinne said.

Talk Nation Radio: Rick Rowley Tells How He Made the Film "Dirty Wars"

https://soundcloud.com/davidcnswanson/talk-nation-radio-rick-rowley

Richard Rowley, director of the new film Dirty Wars, describes its making and the crimes it reveals.  Over the course of fifteen years, Rowley, co-founder of Big Noise Films, has made multiple award-winning documentary features including Fourth World War and This Is What Democracy Looks Like. His shorts and news reports are also regularly featured on and commissioned by leading outlets including Al Jazeera, BBC, CBC, CNN International, Democracy Now!, and PBS. Rowley is a co-founder of the Independent Media Center. Rowley has been a Pulitzer Fellow, Rockefeller Fellow, a Jerome Foundation Fellow, and a Sundance Documentary Film Program Fellow.  For more on Dirty Wars see http://DirtyWars.org

To sign a petition to free the Yemeni journalist imprisoned at President Obama's instruction, as discussed in this program, go here.

Total run time: 29:00

Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Music by Duke Ellington.

Download or get embed code from Archive or  AudioPort or LetsTryDemocracy.

Syndicated by Pacifica Network.

Please encourage your local radio stations to carry this program every week!

Past Talk Nation Radio shows are all available free and complete at
http://davidswanson.org/talknationradio

Protest Saturday: Stop Western Intervention in Syria


Stop the War bulletin | June 2013 | stopwar.org.uk

1) Protest Saturday: Stop Western Intervention in Syria
2) Public meeting: Woolwich and the War on Terror
3) Together Against War


1) Protest Saturday: Stop Western Intervention in Syria
 

US Embassy Grosvenor Square London W1A 2LQ
Saturday 15 June 2013 1pm


This week senior US administration figures are discussing a big escalation in the supply of weapons to the Syrian opposition - a policy that has been pushed by Britain and France for months now.

Washington is even considering the possibility of no fly zones - the prelude to the horrific bombing campaign carried about by Britain and France in Libya.

The West's real concern is not a peaceful resolution but that the balance of power is shifting in Assad's favour.

Outside intervention in the civil war is already fracturing states in the region along sectarian lines.

If the West pumps more weapons in to Syria it can only increase the level of killing. It will ratchet up the tension making the prospect of meaningful negotiations ever more remote and threatens to spread war across the region.

Stop the War has organised a protest outside the US embassy at 1pm this Saturday June 15. Please make sure you attend and spread the word.

Take action

  • Join our protest at the US Embassy on 15th June. We are the majority but they will only listen to us if we mobilise!
  • Share the event with your Facebook contacts.

Read more on Syria

Others events


2) Public meeting: Woolwich and the War on Terror

Conway Hall
7pm Thursday June 26


The terrible attack in Woolwich confirmed what the anti-war movement has warned of from the start: that the devastation caused by the war on terror will come back to haunt us. The reality of our foreign wars - drone attacks, night raids, indefinite detention and abuse of prisoners - causes  bitterness across whole regions of the world. Campaigning against the wars is central to stopping a racist backlash.

With

He was 29

 

Many years later they found him in a monastery in China.

He agreed to be interviewed.

He looked happy in the eyes.

He said,

“One question.”

So I said,

“Hong Kong, June 2013. 

You were 29.

You said your greatest fear was

That nothing would change,

That the government would continue to grant itself

Unilateral powers.

Every time there is a new leader,

‘They’ll flip the switch’, you said...

How broke do we have to be to cut military budget?

Source: www.robcouteau.com 

by Lisa Savage and Janet Weil

The omnibus military spending bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)  rolled out of the House Armed Services Committee pulling a trailer load of amendments and barreling down an increasingly potholed road. In the same week as news broke of massive school closings in Chicago and Philadelphia for lack of funding, only two members of the committee, California representatives Jackie Speier and John Garamendi, had the presence of mind to vote “no” on $637.5 billion more for drones, nukes, and missile “defense” in FY2014.

Epidemic of Birth Defects and Cancer in Iraq: America's Toxic Legacy

 

Epidemic of Birth Defects and Cancer in Iraq: America's Toxic Legacy

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

America's Gulf War, intermittent bombings in the 1990s, the 2003 war, and aftermath left a toxic legacy. 

 

Children born with two heads reflect it. Some had only one eye. Missing sockets look like the inside of an oyster. They're milky and shapeless. 

 

Assad: Winning Hearts, Minds and Battles

 

Assad: Winning Hearts, Minds and Battles in Syria

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Most Syrians support Assad. They do so for good reason. Mass crowds turn out in liberated areas. Syria's military is cheered. 

 

Polls show over two-thirds of Syrians back their government. The longer conflict continues, the greater Assad backing grows.

 

Syria News June 12

 

 

Killing of Syrian youth for 'blasphemy' fuels tension in Aleppo, Protesters call for justice and blame armed opposition groups - latimes.com

Foreign volunteers with the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria responsible for the boy's execution: source- Times Online

For Aleppo bishop, boy's brutal killing shows jihadist danger - Asia News

Suicide bombers target central Damascus, killing at least 14 - latimes.com

VIDEO: Damascus double suicide attack leaves 14 dead, dozens injured - Alarabiya.net 

Syria army launches attack on Aleppo airbase - Alarabiya.net

VIDEO: Aleppo Meng airbase clashes between the army and FSA - YouTube

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FOX NEWS POLL: Voters say US should not intervene in Syria - Fox News

NBC/WSJ POLL: Americans oppose intervention in Syria - NBC First Read

Putin Warns Against Syria Intervention - RIA Novosti

VIDEO: Russian foreign minister Lavrov denies U.S. charges on Syria - CBS News Video

France says Syrian war at 'turning point', mulls arming rebels - Reuters

Saudi Arabia, France agree Qusayr scenario can’t be repeated in Aleppo - Alarabiya.net 

Iraq Increasingly Drawn Into Syrian Battlefield - ABC News

Army: Nine rockets hit Lebanon near Syria border - Alarabiya.net 

Roadside bomb hits Lebanon road near Syria border - Alarabiya.net 

Qatar preparing for leadership transition - Telegraph

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Turkish police battle protesters after Erdogan warning - chicagotribune.com

VIDEO: Turkish police storm Taksim Square - Al Jazeera English

VIDEO: Taksim Square protesters set fire to water cannon – guardian.co.uk

Police disperse protesters with teargas in Ankara: Report - The Times of India

 

To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle@gmail.com

A whistleblower holding all the cards: Why did Edward Snowden go to Hong Kong?

By Dave Lindorff

A lot of people in the US media are asking why America's most famous whistleblower, 29-year old Edward Snowden, hied himself off to the city state of Hong Kong, a wholly owned subsidiary of the People's Republic of China, to seek at least temporary refuge.

Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the US, they say. And as for China, which controls the international affairs of its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, while granting it local autonomy to govern its domestic affairs, its leaders "may not want to irritate the US" at a time when the Chinese economy is stumbling.

These people don't have much understanding of either Hong Kong or of China.

Aleppo, Istanbul, and London

aleppoThe war in Syria went from a seeming quagmire to a conflict that may reach a dramatic climax with the coming battle for Aleppo, a city of nearly three million people that was once the commercial center of the nation.   Political leaders and events in two other cities, Istanbul and London, will play a central role in the outcome of the battle.  (Image)

The Syrian Army finished off final rebel resistance in the city of Qusayr last week fighting alongside the Lebanese group Hezbollah.  As a result, the rebel supply line from Lebanon is shut down and the major road from Damascus to Aleppo via Qusayr is open.  The road will serve the supply line for an attack to end rebel occupation of half of that city.

A victory by the Syrian military in Operation Northern Storm, its name for the Aleppo effort, will leave the rebels with very little in the way of major influence or meaningful territory.  From the start, the rebel strategy focused on urban warfare.  The various groups would have little chance of survival in a conventional battle with the Syrian Army.  With the shelter of cities and towns, the Syrian Army's  advantage vanished allowing the rebels to carry on the conflict and prevail in key areas.

Even the Warriors Say the Wars Make Us Less Safe

Experts Say U.S. Executive Secret War Harming U.S. National Security
collected by Fred Branfman

Admiral Dennis Blair, Former Director Of National Intelligence

“Admiral Dennis Blair, the former director of National Intelligence (in the) New York Times [49]: While “drone attacks did help reduce the Qaeda leadership in Pakistan,” he wrote, “they also increased hatred of America.” He said the drone has also damaged “our ability to work with Pakistan [in] eliminating Taliban sanctuaries, encouraging Indian-Pakistani dialogue, and making Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal more secure.””

Over 30,000 Sign Thank-You Note to Edward Snowden

Already over 30,000 people have signed a thank-you note to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden at SupportEdwardSnowden.org -- a website set up by RootsAction.org.

The note reads: "We thank Edward Snowden for his principled and courageous actions as a whistleblower, informing the public about vast surveillance by the National Security Agency that undermines our civil liberties."

A few of the thousands of comments added read as follows:

"Your courage and integrity give hope to a hardened cynic. I will do what I can to raise awareness and campaign for change, and for your personal safety and liberty. Thank you."

"If only we had more people with your courage and convictions. You have helped restore my faith in humanity."

"What you've done will inspire kindred spirits around the world to take moral action despite the risks."

"Your character and courage are inspirational.  I only hope that if put in the same position I would do the right thing, as you have.  Thank you for your lesson in being a human."

"'In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.' --George Orwell.  Thank you."

"Thank you for your courageous actions in the defence of democracy, liberty and justice. You have demonstrated the highest form of loyalty and for that you have my respect and admiration. Good luck."

"They are trying to make a criminal out of the person who exposed the crime!"

"Just think how this world would be if everyone did the right thing!  Thank you Edward."

"Your courage is so rare -- thank you for this brave action to defend the 4th amendment.  Wishing you well."

"Thanks for calling attention to the Police State that we have become."

"Thank you, Edward.  We can no longer say, as did people in Nazi Germany, that they didn't know what was going on."

"Thank you for stepping up for freedom. I am proud to join with the people of the world in applauding your conscience."

"Thank you for your honesty, incredible sacrifice, and clarity. We will not allow the government or the media call this anything less than a courageous move and wake up call to resuscitate Democracy."

"I can't thank you enough for this act of  courage and personal sacrifice.  You give me hope that the forces of oppression can eventually be overcome."

"Your bravery and your actions are more than commendable. I stand with you. Keep your spirit up in the challenges ahead. Thank you for standing up for Democracy and your fellow citizens. Well done. You are a true hero."

"Bravery for principle is very contagious, thank you!"

"Thank You Edward. 'The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.' - -Albert Einstein"

"You and Bradley Manning are my heroes. I am proud of you."

"Thank you for stepping forward and putting your life at risk to save our precious liberties.  Thank you for believing in the bill of rights.  Thank you for doing what is right even when our government prohibits it.  Thank you for your efforts to stop the decline into the novel '1984'."

"Finally someone with guts."

"Bravo, Edward! You are an inspiration to all freedom-loving people!"

"Thank you for your courageous actions. I hope this will be contagious and result in many more stepping out to join you in exposing the terrible state of freedom here."

"Thank you for letting me know just how far towards fascism my supposedly democratic country has slid, all in the name of 'keeping me safe'. I salute your courage."

"Thank you Edward. We're with you all the way."

The note will be delivered to Snowden with all signatures and comments that anyone adds at SupportEdwardSnowden.org

Journalist Kevin Gosztola Video on Bradley Manning

firedoglake.com journalist Kevin Gosztola has been reporting on the Bradley Manning trial. On Sunday Gosztola was at World Can't Wait Left Forum panel and discussed the historical importance of the Bradley Manning case, the military’s efforts to muzzle the press, and the prosecution’s notion that Manning lacked agency — Gosztola disputed the Army’s assertion that Manning acted as an “agent” of wikileaks, hence committed espionage.

Attorney Jesselyn Radack at World Can't Wait Left Forum Panel Video

Attorney Jesselyn Radack also spoke at the Left Forum panel on whistleblowers. Radak discussed the treatment whistleblowers receive from the Government as well as her own experiences as an attorney who represented pariahs — individuals some regard as people of conscience but whom the federal government sees as enemies of the state.

Former NSA Employee Thomas Drake at World Can't Wait Left Forum Panel Video

Former NSA employee Thomas Drake spoke at the World Can't Wait Left Forum panel on Sunday. Drake discussed his attempts to report “high crimes and misdemeanors,” committed by intelligence agencies after 9/11, to the federal government. Drake recalled how his life changed after he became the subject of an FBI investigation in retaliation for his whistleblowing activities.

TSA agent pulls woman’s breast prosthesis out of her bra

I get tired of writing these posts. These abuses are so common (no, they’re not “outliers”) and the reaction of the public so apathetic, it just becomes wearying.

Read the rest at TSA News.

Healing a Culture of Torture

You’re invited to mark Torture Awareness Month.

Healing a Culture of Torture - 6/25/2013

Lutheran Church of the Reformation - 212 E. Capitol St.

Washington DC  20003

Reception: 6:30 pm Presentation: 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Featured Speaker:

Juan Mendez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

Panel Responders:

Can We Know What Torture Is?

REVIEWS: ZERO DARK THIRTY (Movie)

by Karen Malpede

http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-100-2013

TORTURE: ASIAN AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | FEB-APR 2013 VOLUME 02 NUMBER 01

‘Zero Dark Thirty’. Director, Kathryn Bigelow. Screenwriter, Mark Boal. Sony Pictures, December 2012; & ‘Shadow Lives: The Forgotten Women of the War on Terror’. By, Victoria Brittain. Pluto Press, February 2013.

Whenever the long arm of state-sponsored violence reaches into the lives of ordinary people, the artist, the writer, face choices, moral and esthetic. They can look away. Most do so, turning attention strictly to domestic or historical matters. Or, like film director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, they can take the story power tells and retell it as it has been told to them, in this case by the CIA, which provided the filmmakers special access to the archives on the hunt for, and slaying of, Usama bin Laden.

A few, however, will refuse to become complicit in the narratives of power and will try to speak the true cost of violence. In a series of newspaper articles, two verbatim plays, a co-authored memoir of Guantanamo detainee, Moazzem Begg, and culminating, now, in Shadow Lives: The Forgotten Women of the War on Terror, journalist Victoria Brittain has consistently brought to public view the lives of those deemed ‘other’, devout Muslims persecuted by the US and the UK in the so-called Global War on Terror. She has made connection with state-power’s victims, and, through her writing, created a sense of justice where justice fails to exist. This, then, is a tale of two diametrically opposed politically motivated esthetics: Brittain’s series of nonfiction portraits and Bigelow and Boal’s Hollywood film, Zero Dark Thirty, alternately described by them as fact or fiction.

Snowden a Patriot Warning "Turnkey Tyranny"

Another Truth-Teller Steps Forward

June 10, 2013

Editor Note: Edward Snowden, who disclosed top-secret documents on the U.S. government’s massive surveillance programs, is reportedly seeking asylum from countries that value openness and freedom, conditions seen as slipping away at home, as ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern notes.

Before the U.S. government and the mainstream media engage in the customary character assassination of truth-teller Edward Snowden – a fate endured by Pfc. Bradley Manning and others – let’s get on the record the motives he gave for releasing the trove of information on intrusive eavesdropping by the National Security Agency.

Why would someone like Snowden, a 29-year-old employee of national-security contractor Booz Allen & Hamilton, jeopardize what he calls “a very comfortable life” in order to blow the whistle on the U.S. government’s abuse of power?

Whistleblowing: Exemplary Patriotism

 

Whistleblowing: Exemplary Patriotism

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Whistleblowing reflects doing the right thing. It exposes wrongdoing. It does so because it matters. 

 

Edward Joseph Snowden follows a noble tradition. Others before him established it. Daniel Ellsberg called his NSA leak the most important in US history. More on him below.

 

Police State America in Good Hands with James Comey

 

Police State America in Good Hands with James Comey

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

He's Obama's FBI director choice. He'll replace current rogue head Robert Mueller. In September, he'll step down. 

 

He's run the agency since September 4, 2001. He succeeded acting head Thomas Pickering. He assumed office days before 9/11. 

 

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