Marlene and I on Tuesday, Jan. 2, heard Mario Abney and his band, “The Abney Effect” in River North in downtown Chicago. Below are two clips.
Mario, Abney,, born in Chicago, bound to New Orleans (NOLA), has been absorbing and playing jazz since about the age of seven.
Hundreds of people protested, rallied and marched on Thursday, Nov. 9, in Long Beach on the south end of Bixby Park (Annex) in solidarity with Palestinians and called for a a cease-fire in Gaza.
Tanya, 30, a student at Long Beach City College Long Beach and Tanya’s friend Farah called and organized the protest.
Farah said the demonstration was organized in five days with help from Orange County, Voices for Palestine and the CORE (Communities Organized for Revolutionary Equality) movement.
Tanya thanked the protesters for showing up, “showing community and for showing solidarity” and said,”Safety is our number one priority here. Like I already said, we are not interacting with counter protesters. We are not giving our attention to counter protesters. We are here for peace. We are here for the people of Palestine. We are here for solidarity and that is it.”
Tanya introduced Josh and characterized him, as a “strong Filipino voice of solidarity.” Two other speakers were Ted, who said he was from the Long Beach Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and Jewish Voice for Peace, and Anthony, who said he was from “the CORE movement and in coalition with SoCal Uprising..”
In the park, the protesters carried signs and chanted. Some of the call-and-response chants were: Palestine will be free; Long live Palestine; Biden Biden you can’t hide we charge you with genocide; Ha ha, ho ho the occupation has got to go; What do we want? Ceasefires! When do we want it? hn Now; Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry Palestine will never die; Intifada, intifada (from Arabic, meaning shivering or shaking off, refers to 1987-93 uprising against the Israeli occupation).
About 200 people, supporters of Palestinian rights, mostly of college age, on Saturday, April 8, gathered outside the Consulate General of Israel, at 11766 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, and marched to the Los Angeles Federal Building, at 11000 Wilshire Blvd., a distance of about 1.1 miles and then back to the consulate to protest the most recent attacks on worshipers by Israeli police in the Al Aqsa Mosque.
An emailed digital flyer from Jewish Voice for Peace – Los Angeles, a self-identified ally of Palestinian rights, on Friday, April 7, the day before the protest listed the sponsoring organizations as the Palestinian Youth Movement, American Muslims for Palestine and Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
The same flyer said, “Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem for a second straight night on Wednesday, attacking and forcibly removing Palestinians who were praying during the holy month of Ramadan. Police deployed stun grenades and fired rubber-coated steel bullets at worshipers. On Thursday, Israeli police escorted dozens of Israeli settlers into the Al-Aqsa courtyards. Meanwhile, witnesses say Palestinian men under the age of 40 were being barred from entering the mosque.
Yesterday the Israeli military launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip, hours after rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel this afternoon.”
About 50 people protested,. on Wednesday, November 1, outside the Long Beach office of Congressman Robert Garcia to show solidarity with the Palestinian population in Gaza and to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The organizers of the protest included a large contingent of queer, transgender people of color, the Long Beach Chapter of Democratic Socialist of America and Long Beach Forward and individuals from Justice for Palestine, Long Beach.
Some of the call-and-response chants included: Robert, Robert, you can’t hide we charge you with genocide; from Palestine to Mexico border walls have got to go; no pride in genocide; queer and trans. hear us roar, cease-fire now, and stop the war.
The protesters marched from a church about three blocks from Congressman Garcia‘s Long Beach office, and began chanting about a block from the congressman’s office.
I regularly in the mornings walk a little more than two miles every other day. Over the many years I’ve been walking in Long Beach, I’ve traveled many different paths, however, lately I’ve been walking south from Third Street on the Promenade toward Ocean Boulevard. I especially like walking down the Promenade because of all the trees and green growth generally on both sides of it and because for some unexplained reason, it reminds me of Copenhagen, Denmark. At Ocean I turn left toward Alamitos Avenue. Even on a cold winter morning some times the sun will pierce through the clouds and I can feel the sun’s rays on my shoulders.
While I walk regularly, I irregularly take online journalism classes. My latest is a mobile journalism class, which relies heavily on photography, videography and social media skills all of which I would characterize myself as woefully lacking. The upshot is I’m learning by doing, like so many other things we do in life; so, be patient with me. A few days back, I used me iPhone SE camera to shoot this view near the corner of Alamitos Ave. and Ocean Blvd., looking southeast toward the ocean.
About 100 people, who were supporters of Palestinian rights and who were mostly of college age, on Friday, Feb. 3, stood outside the Consulate General of Israel, at 11766 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, to protest the recent killing of 10 Palestinians in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank by the Israeli Defense Forces.
The Palestinian Youth Movement called the protest and it was supported by Stop LAPD Spying, If Not Now, Jewish Voice for Peace-LA and other organizations in Southern California.
One protester was Mark Friedman. Friedman said, “I was born Jewish. I am an atheist. I have aways supported the Palestinian movement. I’m an active member of many unions, (I’ve) been in the teachers’ union, machinists’ union.”
Many of the protesters wore a keffiyeh, which means scarf in Arabic, others carried Palestinian flags and many carried signs, with the JVP-LA logo and which read, “Palestinians Should Be Free.
A speaker from Stop LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) Spying Coalition said, “We affirm Palestinians’ right to resist and defend themselves and their land however they see fit…. (W)e see our struggle against police surveillance as intimately tied to the Palestinian struggle against Zionist colonization….Much of our work is doing collective research, using public records requests…and in the research we found records…(that) two very prominent Zionist organizations here in LA have repeatedly coordinated directly with LAPD to spy on Palestinian anti-Zionists protests. This includes protests led by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now.”
In response to the attack on Jenin by the Israeli Defense Forces, JVP national issued a press release that, in part, said, “On Thursday, the Israeli military launched an attack that killed ten Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp. In response, earlier today, there was a lethal attack near a synagogue in a settlement outside of Jerusalem by a Palestinian, where seven Jewish Israelis were killed. Already in 2023, the Israeli army has killed almost 30 Palestinians. This is the inevitable, horrifying, outcome of decades of Israeli apartheid.
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Feb. 3, 2023 Outside Israeli Consulate
About 300 people, who were mostly women, marched in downtown Long Beach, as part of the protests in dozens of cities across the United States and dubbed “Bigger than Roe” by the organizers, on Jan. 22, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade, which the Supreme Court overturned last year.
The supporters of abortion rights marched from Victory Park, 448 E. Ocean Blvd., where they heard a few speeches, to the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, 275 Magnolia Ave., where they heard more speeches from some local activists and many locally elected Democratic Party officials.
Newly elected U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, who is a former mayor of Long Beach, spoke. The congressman first asked for a minute of silence in response to the murder of mostly elderly Chinese-Americans, the previous day in Monterey Park, about 30 miles north of Long Beach. The former mayor said, “(T)he Republicans in congress are absolutely insane … They are not just working every day to diminish women, to take away the rights of people. They are working to attack trans-people, to attacking young people, people who are unhoused (and) immigrants.”
Leila Byron, who was at the courthouse waiting for the marchers to arrive, said that she believed in civil rights for everyone and that women’s rights are not being respected. Byron added that while it is true the movement is focused on abortion rights, it also wants to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Later, she said, “I believe women’s rights should be nonpartisan.” Byron said her mother, who was born in Lebanon and died last year, said her mother was secular and was pro-choice.
The march was organized by Long Beach / Orange County Women Rising.
About a dozen people, who were mostly self-identified members of the Long Beach Area Peace Network, marched in the Belmont Shore neighborhood of Long Beach, California on Friday, April 8, in solidarity with Ukraine.
Some of the marchers carried little blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and other marchers passed out flyers, which stated LBAPN’s position on the Russian-Ukraine war to people passing them on the crowded sidewalk.
The marchers gathered near the corner of Corona Ave. and East Second St. One marcher near the corner was Naida Tushnet, a longtime LBAPN activist. Regarding the tension between unconditional support for self-determination for Ukraine and LBAPN’s opposition to a no-fly zone and to providing U.S. arms to the Ukrainians, Tushnet said she opposed the no-fly zone to avoid a nuclear war with Russia. Tushnet, who is also a longtime activist in the local Democratic Party, said, “We want to end the (U.S.) military-industrial complex is part of the issue that we (LBAPN) is trying to get at…in the statement.”
A short while before marching, Dennis Korteuer, who taught history at Cal State University Long Beach and now a pro-BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel) activist, read the LBAPN position statement to the crowd. After Korteuer, Tushnet, spoke briefly explained they would march to Bayshore Ave. and East Second St., would cross Second St. and walk back on the other side of the street toward where they originally started.
LBAPN’s position states, “The Long Beach Area Peace Network … believes the current crisis in Ukraine will not be solved through military means but must be solved through diplomacy, including all parties equally.
“We believe in the Ukrainian people’s right to self (-) determination.
“We recognize the dangers posed by the presence of multiple nuclear power plants in Ukraine and their vulnerability to military attacks.
“We urge against creating a “no-fly zone.” This will only draw the United States and NATO allies into what could quickly become World War III and lead to mass destruction on an international scale.
“We urge no support of the (U.S.) military-industrial complex through sales of U.S. arms to Ukraine.
“We call on the United States to divest financially from Russia.
“The United States must help rebuild Ukraine as soon as possible.”
“The United States and the United Nations must support the current medical, nutritional, shelter, and other needs of the Ukrainian people during the invasion of their land.
“We recognize the current and ongoing refugee crises in the world, frequently caused by U. S. actions and policies that involve people of color and the level of hypocrisy evident in the rush to support Ukrainian refugees while we deny the same rights to refugees of color. Support for refugees must mean support for ALL (sic) refugees.”
Barry Saks’s wife, Marlene Alvarado, is on the steering committee of LBAPN.
On April 16, the story was corrected by adding the words: “(U.S.) military-industrial” in the fifth paragraph of the LBAPN statement,
About 50 people, many of whom were veterans, celebrated Armistice Day, instead of Veterans Day, on Thursday, Nov.11, to “(r)eclaim Armistice Day,” according to a Veterans for Peace flyer by gathering at Valparaiso Plaza, 2100 E. Ocean Blvd., hearing speakers and marching to the Lone Sailor Memorial at 3000 E. Ocean Blvd., where they heard more speakers.
Veterans for Peace, Long Beach Area Peace Network, Military Families Speak Out and the South Coast Interfaith Council primarily sponsored the celebration. SCIC was well-represented with many speakers from the local faith-based community.
Antonio Palacios, representing Veterans for Peace, was a speaker at Valparaiso Plaza, served in the Navy. Palacios characterized himself as “a smart, hard-working, ambitious, brown kid from La Puente, California.” He joined the Navy anticipating to use his service as a means of paying for college. While serving, a Master Chief Petty Officer took a liking to him. However, the Master Chief’s liking turned into sexual harassment, which traumatized him. Eventually Palacios was discharged early under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Palacios expressed his ambivalence when people expressed their gratitude for his service. He said, “I don’t know how to accept it. I don’t know how to hear those words and feel normal. I don’t know how to casually reply with a ‘Thank You’ without feeling something sticks to me that I don’t want to feel… I don’t know how I can accept the fact that over a million Iraqis are dead now… I don’t know how I can accept a ‘Thank you for your service’ in relation to this.”
Pat Alviso, the National Coordinator of MFSO, spoke at Lone Sailor Memorial. She said, “Earlier I said Nov. 11 is painful (for) me as I’m sure it is to other victims of war because I still can’t look away from all the faces of the young recruits (that) I have to witness at the endless color-guard ceremonies going on today and I flash back to my 18-year-old son’s innocent face as he was marching off to a war which he actually thought would be helping the Afghan people… Instead, he returned, like so many others completely demoralized because he ended up knocking down the doors of the homes of terrorized families, mostly women and children, and getting flipped off by those very same children.”
Alviso also said her son was redeployed five more times and now suffers from traumatic brain injury, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), chronic back and neck injury and hearing loss.
The same flyer, titled “Help Us Celebrate Armistice Day 2021,” said, in part, “Over 100 years ago the world celebrated peace as a universal principle. The first World War had just ended and nations mourning their dead collectively called for an end to all wars. Armistice Day was born and was designated as ‘a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated’.
“After World War II, the U.S. Congress decided to rebrand November 11 as Veterans Day. Honoring the warrior quickly morphed into honoring the military and glorifying war. Armistice Day was flipped from a day for peace into a for displays of militarism.”
Barry Saks was a member of MFSO.
Barry Saks 