Marcelo Hernandez Castillo discusses Children of the Land: a Memoir 7pm 1-30-20
"You were not a ghost even though an entire country was scared of you. No one in this story was a ghost. This was not a story."When Marcelo Hernandez Castillo was five years old and his family was preparing to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, he suffered temporary, stress-induced blindness. He quickly understood that he had to become "invisible" and not get caught and deported. He writes of hiding in plain sight and of paying extraordinarily careful attention for fear of being truly seen.
With beauty, grace, and honesty, Castillo recounts his and his family's encounters with a system that treats them as criminals for seeking safe, ordinary lives. Children of the Land distills the trauma of displacement, illuminates the human lives behind the headlines and serves as a stunning meditation on what it means to be a man and a citizen.
Marcelo Hernandez Castillo is the author of Cenzontle, winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. prize (BOA editions 2018). He lives in Marysville, California where he teaches poetry to incarcerated youth and also teaches at the Ashland University Low-Res MFA program.
Emergency Meeting: U.S. Carries Out Assassination of Iranian Leader & Escalates Conflict 7pm 1-8-20
Wed January 8th 7pm
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At
10 p.m. Thursday night U.S. Eastern Standard Time, the Pentagon stated
that Donald Trump ordered the assassination of the major Iranian figure
Major General Qassim Soleimani. Soleimani was the commander of the Quds
Force, an Iranian government force that commands militias in different
countries of the region. He was widely thought to be the second or third
most important leader in Iran. The assassination of a figure of such
prominence is objectively an act of war.
To be clear: Soleimani was a longtime butcher for the reactionary Iranian regime. But
the butchery carried out by America in that region alone is 1,000 times
greater than anything the likes of Soleimani could dream of, and the
U.S. has absolutely no right to be carrying out assassinations and
threatening further escalations. In fact, the U.S. has no right to be in that region, period.
The
purpose of the U.S. soldiers and mercenaries there are this: to
dominate a strategically vital part of the world that has oil and energy
resources; and in this context to control the access to these
resources, to plunder them; to have leverage over other rival and allied
powers like China and Japan that need them; to contend with local
powers like Iran that are seeking to project their influence in the
region; and to terrorize the masses of the area and dominate the
political life to achieve those ends.
Read the whole article here from revcom.us.
Come, discuss and act. This is a moment when what people do can change the course of history. Be part of this.
U.S. Carries Out Assassination of Iranian Leader and Escalates Conflict, Oppose U.S. Imperialist Aggression—Trump/Pence Out Now!
Article reprinted from: January 2, 2020 | revcom.us
Editors’ Note: As we post this late Thursday night, January 2, the situation in the Middle East is moving very fast, so please watch this site for updates. The latest escalation has been provoked by the U.S.'s announced assassination, by air strikes, of Iranian military leader Major General Soleimani on Iraqi soil—both Iraq and Iran being sovereign countries.
Editors’ Note: As we post this late Thursday night, January 2, the situation in the Middle East is moving very fast, so please watch this site for updates. The latest escalation has been provoked by the U.S.'s announced assassination, by air strikes, of Iranian military leader Major General Soleimani on Iraqi soil—both Iraq and Iran being sovereign countries.
At 10 p.m. Thursday night U.S. Eastern Standard Time, the Pentagon stated that Donald Trump ordered the assassination of the major Iranian figure Major General Qassim Soleimani. Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force, an Iranian government force that commands militias in different countries of the region. He was widely thought to be the second or third most important leader in Iran. The assassination of a figure of such prominence is objectively an act of war.
To be clear: Soleimani was a longtime butcher for the reactionary Iranian regime. But the butchery carried out by America in that region alone is 1,000 times greater than anything the likes of Soleimani could dream of, and the U.S. has absolutely no right to be carrying out assassinations and threatening further escalations. In fact, the U.S. has no right to be in that region, period.
The purpose of the U.S. soldiers and mercenaries there are this: to dominate a strategically vital part of the world that has oil and energy resources; and in this context to control the access to these resources, to plunder them; to have leverage over other rival and allied powers like China and Japan that need them; to contend with local powers like Iran that are seeking to project their influence in the region; and to terrorize the masses of the area and dominate the political life to achieve those ends.
This assassination will certainly lead to even greater conflict and murder and may well set off a spiral of escalation leading to further disaster for the tortured people of this region and beyond. It is critically important that people within the U.S. not only refuse to support these acts of war, but actively oppose them, in the streets with massive demonstrations.
Trump will almost certainly try to use this for his advantage as he faces his impeachment trial. Already, in the name of “American/national interests” and “American lives,” many liberals and Democrats have ended up defending Trump’s act by talking of how many U.S. soldiers Soleimani supposedly killed, or was responsible for killing, without ever mentioning the far more towering crimes carried out by the U.S. military in a part of the world thousands of miles from its borders. These kinds of justifications can, despite whatever other intent, facilitate and support Trump, playing into calls for “national unity” and “setting aside differences.” All such calls must be firmly opposed! footnote
At the same time, despite shared “national interests” among the Republicans and Democrats, the differences among the powers that be are, and remain, extremely sharp, and it is likely that these differences will also be a feature of and play out through this process. Some Democrats are already warning that Trump has “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox” and is escalating an already dangerous situation.
These wars and war crimes are the product of a system, U.S.-dominated capitalism-imperialism. And no matter whether a Democrat or Republican, a liberal or a fascist, is at its head, that imperialist system grinds up the lives of billions of people a day and murders millions more in its wars, decade after decade. That system cannot be reformed—it must ultimately be overthrown.
At the same time, it is also an important and immediate truth that this fascist regime, now acting even more recklessly with its president impeached, poses an urgent and immediate threat to humanity and must be driven out by the mass action of ultimately millions of people, with many different political views. Trump’s act of war, with its extremely dangerous implications, underscores the urgency of the effort to mobilize those millions in the next weeks and months.
Editors’ Note: As we post this late Thursday night, January 2, the situation in the Middle East is moving very fast, so please watch this site for updates. The latest escalation has been provoked by the U.S.'s announced assassination, by air strikes, of Iranian military leader Major General Soleimani on Iraqi soil—both Iraq and Iran being sovereign countries.
At 10 p.m. Thursday night U.S. Eastern Standard Time, the Pentagon stated that Donald Trump ordered the assassination of the major Iranian figure Major General Qassim Soleimani. Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force, an Iranian government force that commands militias in different countries of the region. He was widely thought to be the second or third most important leader in Iran. The assassination of a figure of such prominence is objectively an act of war.
The purpose of the U.S. soldiers and mercenaries there are this: to dominate a strategically vital part of the world that has oil and energy resources; and in this context to control the access to these resources, to plunder them; to have leverage over other rival and allied powers like China and Japan that need them; to contend with local powers like Iran that are seeking to project their influence in the region; and to terrorize the masses of the area and dominate the political life to achieve those ends.
This assassination will certainly lead to even greater conflict and murder and may well set off a spiral of escalation leading to further disaster for the tortured people of this region and beyond. It is critically important that people within the U.S. not only refuse to support these acts of war, but actively oppose them, in the streets with massive demonstrations.
At the same time, despite shared “national interests” among the Republicans and Democrats, the differences among the powers that be are, and remain, extremely sharp, and it is likely that these differences will also be a feature of and play out through this process. Some Democrats are already warning that Trump has “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox” and is escalating an already dangerous situation.
These wars and war crimes are the product of a system, U.S.-dominated capitalism-imperialism. And no matter whether a Democrat or Republican, a liberal or a fascist, is at its head, that imperialist system grinds up the lives of billions of people a day and murders millions more in its wars, decade after decade. That system cannot be reformed—it must ultimately be overthrown.
At the same time, it is also an important and immediate truth that this fascist regime, now acting even more recklessly with its president impeached, poses an urgent and immediate threat to humanity and must be driven out by the mass action of ultimately millions of people, with many different political views. Trump’s act of war, with its extremely dangerous implications, underscores the urgency of the effort to mobilize those millions in the next weeks and months.
U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST!
TRUMP/PENCE FASCIST REGIME OUT NOW!
REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
TRUMP/PENCE FASCIST REGIME OUT NOW!
REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
Holiday Open House(s) December 15 & 21
Come to the Holiday Open House(s)
at Revolution Books
Sunday December 15th 1-6pm
Saturday December 21st 11am-7pm
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Enjoy food, music, poetry and community.
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Special Holiday Pop-Up with artists displaying their work.
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Author event:
Saturday, Dec. 21st 4pm:
John Curl, poet and author will read and sign his latest book The Outlaws of Maroon, an adult novel about the world of children in McCarthy-era New York City.
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