Bill Ayers

https://portside.org/2022-02-22/bob-dylan-masters-war-and-ukraine-crisis

44) Freedom and the Poetry of Comix

 Artists ask no one’s permission to interrogate the world, and the art of teaching embraces that same ethic. Art can shock us into new awarenesses, challenge cliche, dogma, orthodoxy, and  received wisdom from every corner. Good teaching can do the same. Art can allow fresh and startling winds to blow as it ignites our freedom dreams—classrooms as well. We’re witnessing now a sustained and relentless attack on freedom in real time, an attack manufactured by the powerful, but carried out by a range of people deploying a broad assortment of tactics. And make no mistake: the struggle is not about the freedom to read this or that book, to embrace this or that idea, to choose this or that way to live a life. The fundamental fight is for the right to think at all, which is at risk. Calling all artists, calling all teachers, as we dive into a conversation about art and teaching and possibility with the legendary (to me) comix artist Ryan Alexander-Tanner, and launch ourselves onto a journey of discovery and surprise. Check it out.

2/10/2022

Please Listen Up!

The lavishly-funded effort to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin aims to turn back a successful effort to reimagine and begin to repair our broken, racist criminal legal system.

The tide of propaganda—lies, distortions, disinformation, and spin—breaking over Chesa from every corner now is breath-taking, and if unanswered, it takes a toll on both him and the movement. The San Francisco Chronicle, to take his most persistent detractor, publishes falsehoods, smears, innuendo, and deception week after week, without even a nod toward fact-checking. So, while it may be transparent fabrication to me (or to you), that doesn’t mean that it’s ineffective, nor that it will be unsuccessful.

The resources deployed against Chesa and the national criminal legal reform movement are based largely in the die-hard police unions and associations, the punishment bureaucracy, and far right-wing ideologues like billionaire Republican mega-donor William Oberndorf who just put $602,722 into the effort to recall Boudin.

There’s work to do—and hoping for the best is insufficient.

Among the things we can each do now is to gather the necessary resources to help the movement resist the assault. I’m asking you along with a handful of friends and family—whether you’ve donated in the past or not—to go to  https://secure.actblue.com/donate/friends-of-chesa-boudin-opposing-recall-1  before February 28 and give $1000.00 (or more!!!). I know that’s a heavy lift, but this moment requires a lot of sacrifice and a lot of heavy-lifting.

We typically give a small amount when asked to donate to worthy work by good people—I imagine you do something similar, with a standard limit and a generous spirit. And we almost never give to politicians (OK, as you no-doubt remember, we departed from that many years ago and donated $200 to the first campaign of an unknown, but brilliant and ambitious Chicago neighbor) because we prefer to help grass-roots groups, and to support fire-from-below.

But the situation with Chesa is different—he’s not a politician running for office, but rather a leading actor in the criminal legal reform movement. This is why the reactionary, racist class has him in their sites—by their calculation, if they can knock him off, they can derail the fight for no cash-bail, decarceration, pursuing white collar criminals, radically different budget priorities, and more.

I just did the math—I have 5000 “friends” on this criminal enterprise called Facebook; many of you are also my friends and comrades, brothers and sisters, for real. if  every one of my “friends” gave $1000 we would have gathered $5,000,000, and if each of my comrades gave $100 we would still have $50,000. So please do it now: go to https://secure.actblue.com/donate/friends-of-chesa-boudin-opposing-recall-1 before February 28 and give $1000.00.

A thousand thank yous.

Joy and Justice,  Bill

For more information:  https://www.chesaboudin.com/

The funding behind the recall: https://missionlocal.org/2021/12/explore-see-just-who-is-funding-the-boudin-recall/

Accomplishments:

file:///Users/Bill/Downloads/Bucket%20accomplishments%20Dec.%2015,%202021.pdf

Please Donate: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/friends-of-chesa-boudin-opposing-recall-1

Teachers who believe in freedom acknowledge the incalculable value of every student, recognize implicitly or explicitly that the fullest development of each individual is the necessary condition for the full development of all, and, conversely, that the fullest development of all is the condition for the full development of each. Their elemental lesson—whatever else they teach—is that you have every right to be here in this classroom, in this school and larger society, to be recognized and understood, and that you need no one’s permission to interrogate the world. We see before our eyes a sustained and relentless attack on democracy in real time, an attack with multiple dimensions and tactics and venues—but make no mistake, the struggle  is not over this or that book, this or that idea or theory. The fundamental fight is for the right to think at all, which is in dispute.

https://portside.org/2022-01-29/its-time-biden-fulfill-his-pledge-end-federal-death-penalty

Contact:
Joe Lombardo: Coordinator, United National Antiwar Coalition
UNACpeace@gmail.com | 518-281-1968
Nathan Fuller: Director, Courage Foundation
nathan@assangedefense.org |  516-578-2628

Thousands Sign Petition Supporting Assange Release

WASHINGTON, DC–Led by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), more than 26 antiwar groups and 2,500 individual peace and justice advocates have cosponsored a statement calling for the immediate release of publisher Julian Assange and commending him for his contributions toward global peace.

Assange is currently fighting extradition to the United States after the Trump administration indicted him on unprecedented Espionage Act charges. His indictment marked the first time in U.S. history that a journalist has been charged for publishing truthful information. 

Since being removed from Ecuador’s London embassy after a new Ecuadorian administration bowed to U.S. pressure to withdraw his asylum, Assange has been held for more than 1,000 days in Belmarsh Prison while his extradition case is being heard through UK courts. A decision from the British High Court on whether to hear an appeal is expected in the coming days.

Among the statement’s signers is Alice Walker, Nobel Prize–winning author of The Color Purple and longtime peace activist. Walker, a co-chair of the Assange Defense Committee, emphasized the importance of Assange’s commitment to showing the public the horrors of war.

“We owe it to Julian to fight for his freedom, because he fought for peace for the rest of us,” Walker said. “He fought for justice by exposing how the United States conducted horrific wars of conquest in Iraq and Afghanistan. Millions died in these wars, mostly civilians. Assange believed that knowledge of U.S. war crimes belonged to us, the people, to decide for ourselves what should happen in our name. And now it’s time for us to fight for him.”

Remarking on the ignominious 1,000 day milestone, Nathan Fuller, Director of the Courage Foundation and Assange Defense, expressed disappointment over the Biden administration’s unjust continuation of Trump’s controversial prosecution.

“While the Biden administration is confronting U.S. adversaries over their press freedom shortcomings, it should address its own hypocrisy,” Fuller said. “Locking up Julian Assange for exposing the truth about U.S. wars is an insult to all those struggling for peace and human rights.” 

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

80 revolutions around the sun—over 50 of those revolutions arm-in-arm, heart-to-heart—and a New American Revolution still pending, and more necessary than ever.

Let’s celebrate, and then get busy in projects of repair and revolution.

Happy Birthday, Darling.

EPISODE # 43:UNDER the TREE: a seminar on freedomWhen the US Boot Comes Down, Death and Chaos FollowAn interview with Timmy Chau
PODCAST: Under the Tree: A Seminar on Freedom with Bill Ayers https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/under-the-tree-a-seminar-on-freedom-with-bill-ayers/id1521512100You can subscribe to “Under the Tree: A Seminar on Freedom with Bill Ayers” on SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.