Category: War and Peace

In the fall of 1964, over 60 years ago, the young students on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley found themselves in an untenable situation. Campus activists had set up information tables in Sproul Plaza on campus and had solicited donations for causes connected to the Civil Rights Movement. Some of them had traveled with the Freedom Riders and had worked to register African American voters in Mississippi that previous summer.  At the time, however, existing rules for fundraising for political parties was limited exclusively to the Democratic and Republican school clubs.

In mid-September, a school dean announced that existing University regulations prohibiting advocacy of political causes or candidates, outside political speakers, recruitment and fundraising by student organizations would be “strictly enforced.” Two weeks later, a graduate student sitting at one of the civil rights tables refused to show his identification to campus police and was immediately arrested and placed inside a campus police car on Sproul.

Suddenly and spontaneously hundreds of students who witnessed the arrest, surrounded the police car, sat down and refused to budge. While the graduate student sat in the backseat, student activist leaders mounted the car and began to give speeches on free speech and against political restrictions. Students remained around the car for 32 hours and at one point, there were an estimated 3,000 students blocking its movement. People used the car as a speaker’s podium and held a continuous public discussion on rights, free speech and student liberties. This continued until charges against the graduate student were dropped.

It was the first mass act of civil disobedience on an American college campus in the 1960s and was the birth of the Free Speech Movement.

by Ernie McCray

Today there’s a move,
spearheaded
by a dictator-like-president,
to hide truths
in our schools,
an idea beyond ridiculous
since truths
are basic
to learning,
something made clear to me
when I began teaching sixth grade
in the 60’s,
at a school
where many of the students
lived in naval housing,
their dads off fighting in Vietnam,
leaving them to wonder what was really going on,

ALL DETAILS ARE INSIDE

Come Labor Day in San Diego County, September 1, there are 6 planned protests against the Trump regime, titled “Workers Over Billionaires.”

They’re in downtown San Diego, Chula Vista, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Carlsbad and Escondido. (All details are herein.)

Downtown San Diego

It begins at 10am and runs to 12 noon at the Waterfront Park at 1600 Pacific Hwy. (That’s San Diego CA 92101)

About this event (Each event — except Escondido — starts at the same time, 10am, has the same demands and script, so we’re running just the downtown San Diego details, but with more info about each of the events.)

There are actually two events, one sponsored by the coalition that organized the No Kings event at Waterfront Park. The other, at the same place and time, is sponsored by San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, No Kings and a host of other groups we list below.

Here’s their script:

This Labor Day we will continue to stand strong, fighting for public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, shared prosperity over corporate politics.

Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down—we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that ensure access to opportunity and a better life for all Americans. The billionaire’s time is up.

On September 1st we will continue the movement we launched together on May 1st, standing in solidarity with all our communities under attack and fighting for real wins for all our people.

Only 32% Approve of Israel military action in Gaza — Americans’ support for Israel in Gaza plummets to record low, new Gallup poll finds

Americans’ approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza has fallen 10 percentage points since the prior measurement in September, and it is now at 32%, the lowest reading since Gallup first asked the question in November 2023. Disapproval of the military action has now reached 60%.

These findings are from a July 7-21, 2025, Gallup poll, as Israel’s campaign against Hamas stretched into its 21st month. Americans supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in its initial reading in 2023, taken several weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Since then, disapproval has outpaced approval in each survey, peaking at 55% in March 2024 before dipping to 48% in two readings later in the year. Gallup Poll

Immigration — Support for Deporting All Undocumented Migrants Dropped to 38%

Americans’ views of immigration have swung drastically upward in the past year, with a new poll showing record-high support for immigration amid President Donald Trump’s controversial mass deportation campaign. A record 79 percent of American adults think immigration is good for the country,

Every Saturday at 10:30 am. San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition Meetings August 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th

Every Saturday 10 am – 12 pm Peace Vigil for Palestine:

The San Diego River Park Foundation has volunteer opportunities in Ocean Beach: Point Loma Native Plant Garden Club

August 2nd. Saturday  11:15 am – 2 pm Protest at Del Mar Racetrack #2  

August 2nd Saturday 8 pm – 9 pm Voice for Peace: A Call for Change film

August 3rd Sunday 4 pm Racial Justice Coalition General Body Meeting O

August 4th Monday 6 pm One Million Rising

August 4th Monday 12 pm – 1 pm Interfaith Vigil for Earth Justice

August 5th Tuesday 11am – 12:30 pm Environmental Justice, Extreme Heat, and the Future of Energy Assistance Programs

August 5th Tuesday and August 12th Tuesday 5 pm – 6 pm Solidarity & Rapid Response:

August 6th Wednesday 2pm – 4 pm  Copy of Rising Voices: Youth4Climate Fundraiser  Event by SanDiego350

With approval ratings underwater, why not follow Bush’s advice and launch a “little war”? What could possibly go wrong?

By Thom Hartmann / Common Dreams / Jun 23, 2025

In the modern era, it was probably George W. Bush who first said it out loud and then acted on it: When you’re unpopular and losing politically, just start a little war that’s easily winnable and you’ll be back on top.

As he told his biographer, Mickey Herskowitz, in 1999 about his plans for an Iraq war as a strategy to get himself reelected in 2004:

One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of (Kuwait), and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade Iraq, if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed I want to get passed, and I’m going to have a successful presidency.

It worked for Bush, although history hasn’t been kind to him as a result. Donald Trump’s second presidency, meanwhile, has been an unmitigated disaster, both in real terms and politically as his approval ratings have slipped so far underwater they’re in late-years Richard Nixon territory:

• Inflation is up, and the tariffs aren’t bringing jobs home.
• Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires bill is in trouble.
• The GOP war on our schools and libraries is creating a huge backlash.

By Washington Post staff / June 18, 2025 

What do Americans think about the possibility of launching U.S. airstrikes against Iran, which President Donald Trump threatened this week unless the country dismantles its nuclear program? The Washington Post texted more than 1,000 people on Wednesday to ask.

The poll finds Americans opposing U.S. airstrikes against Iran by a 20 percentage-point margin — 45 percent to 25 percent — with a sizable 30 percent saying they are unsure.

Two-thirds of Democrats oppose airstrikes against Iran but Republicans are not as united, with 47 percent supporting strikes while 24 percent oppose them and 29 percent have no opinion. Independents lean against the strikes by about a 2-to-1 margin, with more than one-third unsure.

On Tuesday, June 17, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) urged the Donald Trump administration to steer clear of Israel’s escalating conflict with Iran, calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest actions a direct threat to U.S. diplomacy and international law.

What Happened: In a video message posted on social media, Sanders sharply criticized Netanyahu for launching what he described as a unilateral and illegal surprise attack on Iran that killed hundreds and triggered retaliatory strikes.

The Israeli offensive, Sanders said, derailed ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations and violated the United Nations Charter.

“Netanyahu launched an illegal and unilateral surprise attack on Iran… Israel’s attack clearly violated international law,” Sanders said. “It is absolutely imperative that the United States not be dragged into this war.”

He accused Netanyahu of intentionally sabotaging a sixth round of diplomacy that was scheduled just days after Israel’s strikes and of assassinating the Iranian official leading the nuclear talks.

On May 10, 1970, a 23-year-old UCSD fourth-year student burned himself to death in Revelle Plaza to protest the Vietnam War.

Editordude: I was at UCSD when George Winne burned himself to death — and wrote about it in my new book, The May 1970 Rebellion. The Rag has published a number of articles about George and those times (see here) and Patty Jones and I from the OB Rag were at UC San Diego in 2014 when a memorial for him was unveiled.

By Alex Reinsch-Goldstein / The Guardian — UCSD / May 12, 2025

It was just past 4 p.m. on May 10, 1970, when George Winne Jr., a 23-year-old UC San Diego fourth-year, strode out into Revelle Plaza.

Ten days earlier, then-President Richard Nixon had drastically expanded the Vietnam War by sending American troops into Cambodia. Four days after that, National Guard troops opened fire on a crowd of anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four students. Massive anti-war demonstrations were taking over Revelle Plaza every week.

However, on Sunday, May 10, in this tense atmosphere, Winne walked alone. He held a sign that read: “In the name of God, End this war.”

Winne stood at the northeastern corner of the plaza, in front of what is now Galbraith Hall, and began to douse himself with gasoline. Then, he lit a match.

By Brooke Binkowski / Times of San Diego / March 3, 2025

A Lithuanian man who was attempting to row from San Diego to Brisbane in order to raise awareness for Ukraine was rescued in the South Pacific by the Australian Navy Sunday after he ran into a tropical cyclone.

Aurimas Mockus, 44, set off from Shelter Island last October. He said at the time that he was doing in order to honor the thousands of people who have died in the Russia-led war in Ukraine and to remind the world to continue to pay attention to the ongoing violence there.

Amid all the laudatory and respectful accounts of former President Jimmy Carter in today’s press — he just passed away at the age of 100 — one key thing is missing in all the biographies of the Habitat for Humanity builder of affordable houses that was not covered — or even mentioned. And it was something that turned off an entire generation of college students to the peanut farmer-turned politician.

Carefully reading both the 6 pages of today’s Union-Tribune and the multiple pages at the LA Times tributes to Carter, there was not one mention, not one word of this Carter move that ruined his reputation among the young.

During late 1979, Carter called for the re-instituting of the military draft for all young Americans — during an era where relations with the Soviet Union were tearing thin and there was much saber-rattling in our country. The draft for the Vietnam war had ended in 1973 — and now, a mere 6 years later, Carter wanted it back. And in doing so, he caused the creation of a nation-wide and militant anti-draft movement that formed as a direct result of his fomenting another round of US militarism.

Immediately, anti-draft groups formed and held demonstrations against Carter and his draft amid calls to resist.

San Diego was no different. College and university students were the first group to mobilize in the new movement, other than longtime peaceniks who had paused their activism after the Vietnam war had ended.