World Disinformation Forum

 By Reginald Johnson

   I checked out a few bits of the "World Economic Forum" meeting in Davos, Switzerland and it is distressing. The WEF is supposedly this elite group that promotes all these advanced ideas that will save the world. Billionaires are in attendance so you can only imagine what those "advanced" ideas would be.

 In the morning on Euro News, I heard the Finnish President, I can't remember her name, say repeatedly how important it was to give Ukraine all the weapons it needs to win the war with Russia. Crucial for Europe, she said, without saying why. No mention of the need for negotiating a peace or of possible nuclear dangers if the war keeps going.

 Then later in the day, I saw former CNN pundit Brian Stelter interviewing Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, in a discussion about controlling "disinformation." As they used to say back in the '60s, can you dig it? Here was Stelter, who promoted the totally wrong Trump-Russia collusion claims a few years ago talking with the head of the Times, which also backed the same bogus claims, over and over, in addition to censoring the explosive Hunter Biden laptop story prior to the 2020 election, blacking out the FBI's strongarming of social media in violation of the First Amendment and running one-sided stories about the Ukraine War.

Disinformation is right --- perpetrators are on full display in Davos. So much for the WEF.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: we must work for peace

 

  By Reginald Johnson

 

   

  The immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were heard in New Haven City Hall Friday as people took part in a community reading of King’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech given in 1967.

 About 15 people read excerpts of the speech, in which the civil rights leader came out and condemned the Vietnam War and demanded that American leaders take steps to end the brutal conflict.

 “The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war,” he said.

 King also urged that America stop spending so much money on the military and invest more money at home to eliminate poverty, racism and improve peoples’ lives.

 “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death,” he said.

  King, who was attacked bitterly for his criticism of the war and America’s militaristic policy overseas, said it was crucial for people to take a stand, work for peace and turn away from violence.

  Giving his address before an audience at the Riverside Church in New York City, King said, “We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late…We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation.”

Community residents take part in a reading of Dr. Martin Luther King's "Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence" speech in New Haven City Hall. (Photo by Reginald Johnson)

 The community reading of King’s speech, the full title of which is “Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence,” takes place every year in New Haven and is sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council. It coincides with the Martin Luther King’s birthday, which is Monday.

 Peace council members said the reading took on extra significance this year, as the United States is now heavily involved in another overseas conflict – the Ukraine War. Although there are no American boots on the ground --- yet --- the US and NATO countries have delivered more than $120 billion of lethal aid to Ukraine, to fight its war with Russia.

  The war began after Russia invaded Ukraine last February. US and Ukrainian leaders called the invasion “aggression” and totally unjustified. But Russian President Vladimir Putin said his nation acted only after a series of provocations by the West, including violations of the Minsk peace agreement covering eastern Ukraine, expansion of NATO to include countries close to Russia and a build-up of Ukrainian forces close to the Russian border.

  The war has taken 200,000 casualties so far and shows no sign of letting up. A number of observers have expressed the concern that the war could escalate into a nuclear conflict, which would be catastrophic.

 Peace groups are holding protests around the country this month demanding that the US stop fueling the war and take steps to bring about a ceasefire and ultimately a peace settlement. The Biden administration has so far refused to call for negotiations and in fact has scuttled tentative peace deals since the war began.

  Henry Lowendorf, the president of the Greater New Haven Peace Council said Dr. King’s Riverside Church speech still has so much relevance today. His call for an end to a brutal overseas conflict, stopping US militaristic policies in general and reducing military spending to free up money for domestic needs, all have application today.

 

  

   

Public reading of King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech

   

   By Reginald Johnson

 

   The Greater New Haven Peace Council will sponsor a community reading of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s famed “Beyond Vietnam" speech on Friday Jan. 13 at New Haven City Hall.

 King’s address on April, 4, 1967 at the Riverside Church in New York City was the moment when the civil rights leader decided to come out against the Vietnam War and condemn America’s militaristic policies abroad.

  “I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube,” King said.

  “So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.”

   King also said that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

   The community reading of King’s address comes just weeks after Congress and President Biden approved a record $858 billion for the military budget. Defense spending takes up well over half of the total federal discretionary budget.

 The New Haven event also takes place as the deadly and highly costly Ukraine-Russia war continues. There have been more than 200,000 casualties in that conflict which shows no signs of letting up. The United States has given more than $100 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

  Many observers have expressed the concern that the longer the war drags on without a diplomatic settlement, the chances grow that tactical nuclear weapons might be used on the battlefield by either Ukraine or Russia. Such an event could then escalate to a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.

  Rev. King’s opposition to the Vietnam War angered some people who thought that the civil rights leader had overstepped his bounds by speaking out about foreign affairs. King was assassinated in Memphis exactly one year to the day after his speech at the Riverside Church.

(The community reading of “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence” will take place at 12 noon on the second floor of New Haven City Hall at 165 Church Street.  More information can be obtained by contacting the peace council at grnhpeacecouncil@gmail.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  King said when he had counseled poor black youth in the cities against resorting to violence to achieve political change . he had been challenged.

  “”But they ask --- and rightly so