Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Please note I have a new phone number...

512-517-2708

Alan Maki

Alan Maki
Doing research at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

A program for real change...

http://peaceandsocialjustice.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-progressive-program-for-real-change.html


What we need is a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" which would make it a mandatory requirement that the president and Congress attain and maintain full employment.


"Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens"

- Ben Franklin

Let's talk...

Let's talk...

Friday, February 7, 2020

For a just solution to the problems in the Middle East there needs to be a peaceful and just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Trump’s Peace Plan for the Middle East”

On its face Trump’s “Peace Plan” is nothing but the epitome of imperialist arrogance since it was being conceived in secrecy for over two years without so much as seeking the input, let alone approval, of the Palestinian people or even our own members Congress.

Jimmy Carter explained the problems in his response:

https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2020/jimmy-carter-denounces-middle-east-proposal.html


Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Denounces Middle East Proposal

January 30, 2020
For Immediate Release
Atlanta – President Trump’s plan for unilateral annexation to Israel of a large piece of the occupied Palestinian territories offers the Palestinians fragmented statehood, without control of their borders, in four years and subject to certain conditions, and leaves the status of large parts of the West Bank to be determined in the future. Prime Minister Netanyahu has called for the immediate annexation to Israel of all settlements in the West Bank.
The plan violates the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, which is codified in a long line of United Nations Security Council resolutions from 242 (1967) to 2334 (2016). Further, the proposal breaches international law regarding self-determination, the acquisition of land by force, and annexation of occupied territories. By calling Israel “the nation state of the Jewish people,” the plan also encourages the denial of equal rights to the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
President Carter said, “The new U.S. plan undercuts prospects for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. If implemented, the plan will doom the only viable solution to this long-running conflict, the two-state solution.” President Carter urged member states of the United Nations “to adhere to UN Security Council resolutions and to reject any unilateral Israeli implementation of the proposal by grabbing more Palestinian land.”

                                                                          ***********

Because we lack a broad-based mass anti-imperialist movement, the American people have no say in any peace process; or for that matter, we lack a voice in all foreign policy matters.

Any citizen based initiative must include all U.S. support and funding of the Israeli killing machine must end, and support for the Palestinians having a seat at the table.

The United States, Great Britain, France and Germany must finance the burden of Palestinian development including building homes, schools. hospitals, farms and orchards and an infrastructure enabling the Palestinians to recover from the destruction they have been the victim of.

Many survivors of the Nazi concentration camps have pointed out that the Israeli government has done to the Palestinians what Hitler did to the Jews; these criminals must be fully prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

 All walls blocking free access to Israel by the Palestinian people must be removed.

Without imperialist meddling inciting racist animosities, Jews and Palestinians can, and will, find the ways to live in peace through citizen initiatives based on mutual understanding and respect for one another.

Meir Vilner, a staunch anti-imperialist and anti-fascist proponent of socialism--- prominent both as a founder of Israel and a most respected politician by both Jews and Palestinians, always pointed out that unless Israel enforced full equality and full civil rights for all of its citizens along with living in peace and harmony with all of its neighbors, Israel would fail as an independent country… and this remains true today.

The money- our tax dollars- being squandered on armaments for Israel would be better spent funding our own schools and health care

No more arms for Israel!

Justice for the Palestinian people!

What you can do:

* Circulate this statement.
* Organize forums and debates.
* Write letters to members of Congress and your local papers.
* Demonstrate.
* Citizen participation in formulating a just and peaceful foreign policy is required.