Today, Barack Obama takes the presidential oath of office, and with him we hope to see a huge change from the dangerous and incompetent years of George W. Bush. And while many people have great faith for this new administration, we must remember that Obama is still a politician, will still face enormous political and economic pressures from right-wingers, and is facing some of the worst national and international crises that the United States has ever faced.

But the answer to this is not to sit back and trust in Barack Obama to save us. The answer is to turn on the pressure from day one.

Optimistic activists believe that Obama is on their side. They believe that he wants to roll back the destruction from the Bush era, he wants to reform the country, and make it more democratic, free, and secure. But even optimists must accept the fact that Obama will face intense pressure from powerful people, organizations and movements that oppose those exact same goals. So optimistic activists should agree that we need to mobilize to make our demands known, so that Barack Obama has a visible, massive, popular mandate to give him the political will to take on these fights.

More cynical activists see Barack Obama as a politician who is both skilled and intelligent, but who does not represent that sweeping change that we all have been hoping for. These activists should agree that this means that we need to put popular pressure on Obama the politician to keep his promises, and force him to do the right thing.

We have already seen one example of people successfully pressuring Obama. On January 11, Obama began to back away from the promise to close the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, claiming that it was “difficult” and would “take some time”. Writers, activists, civil rights groups, and human rights organizations were outraged, and made their outrage known immediately. And on January 13, just two days later, the Obama transition team switched course, and announced that the president-elect would sign an executive order to close Guantánamo on his very first day in office.

Why did Obama change his tune? Because of popular pressure. Whether you believe in the goodness of Barack Obama or not, you have to see the importance of getting loud and staying loud in the name of justice.

If that doesn’t sway you, then please read these two examples, here and here, of similar situations from America’s past. Both are examples of former president Franklin Roosevelt refusing to take action (for better or for worse) until he was faced with enough political pressure to do so. The winning quote:

“In one situation, a group came to [President Roosevelt] urging specific actions in support of a cause in which they deeply believed. He replied: ‘I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.’”

It should be mentioned, of course, that the world we seek, where justice and freedom rule the land, is not solely a matter for governments and presidents. Many of our battles must be fought on local soil, against local politicians and corporations, against bigots and corruption. And some of goals are not achieved through conflict, but by helping our fellow man and working to build new institutions and more just, sustainable communities. Right now, without petitioning the new US president, you can work to feed hungry people in your hometown. Right now, you could be pushing your city government to spend more money on housing for the homeless. Right now, you could be fighting for livable wages for workers in sweatshops around the world. Right now, you could be pushing for products, practices, and policies that don’t degrade our environment. Right now, you could be standing up against sexism, racism, and homophobia in your family, school, or workplace.

And right now, you could be getting ready to push this president, push this nation, and push this world in new directions that are better for all people.

Activism is not a sprint; it’s a marathon run. We need people with strength, intelligence, passion, and endurance. Slapping an Obama bumper sticker on your car was just the first step of a long, long race, and we hope you’ll join us to the very end.

Party at the finish line, people.

It is no secret that the people of Israel and the people of Palestine have lived with tension, terror, violence and hate for decades. Israel has occupied the land known as Palestine for decades, and for decades the UN and international community have called the occupation illegal, and have called for some sort of negotiated settlement for peace and self-determination for all sides.

One of the wisest things that I’ve read about the Israel-Palestinian conflict was that there are actually four warring sides in this struggle: 1) Palestinians who want freedom; 2) Palestinians who want to destroy Israel; 3) Israelis who want to protect themselves; 4) Israelis who want to destroy the Palestinians (and one can almost never tell which side is committing the violence and for what reason). And of course, there is always the final side in any conflict, the civilians who will never raise a pistol or drop a bomb, who long for peace, justice and dignity, but may find themselves in the crosshairs just the same. Everyone’s blood is spilled, and the graveyards fill with the innocent and the guilty alike.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become a perpetual cycle of attacks and revenge. You will read a news story about a raid or a bombing attack by one side, who say that they did so because of a recent attack by the other side. And the other side will then say that their attack was because of an even earlier attack by the first side. And this goes back and back and back.

But we are not saying that everyone is equal. As we mentioned, the Israeli occupation of Palestine is illegal, oppressive, violent, and horrible. In addition, while acts of Palestinian terrorism are terrible, they do not even come close to the frequency or destructive power of Israel. For example, Palestinian militants sporadically fire rockets into southern Israel. In the past 8 years, these rockets have killed 18 Israelis. In the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed in 3 days.

In addition to that, Israel has placed a ruthless economic blockade on Gaza since June of 2007 that has taken a terrible toll on the lives of everyday people living there. This blockade was further tightened in November 2008, and now Israel is blowing up police stations, universities, and government agencies in Gaza.

And Americans should take special notice of this violence: Israel receives billions of dollars in US aid every year, and uses much of that money to buy American weapons, which it then uses in its attacks on the Palestinians.

But Americans are not ignoring this crisis. We have already seen major protests in New York, and San Francisco, and many protests are planned for the near future.

What can you do about this situation?

• Amnesty International is urging people to write to Condoleezza Rice and tell her to use her power to put pressure on Israel. Click here.
• United for Peace & Justice lists a number of ways to take action here.
• The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation lists a number of the emergency protests calling for an end to the recent violence here.

As we all celebrate and honor Dr. King’s Birthday, we wanted to point you to some of his amazing but lesser known speeches and good works, particularly his anti-war and anti-poverty initiatives. It is rarely talked about that Dr. King was not a perfect leader. His work to address the abject poverty of African Americans in the north and fight to end the escalation of the Vietnam war were largely unsuccessful campaigns. Without diminishing the importance of his work, the civil rights movement, or the dynamic person that he was, Dr. King’s great but imperfect life reminds us yet again that we don’t need to wait for elected officials nor to be perfect to make change in our world.

We hope these speeches and links will inspire and engage.

Anti-War:

“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor in America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.”

More on King’s Anti-war speeches and writings here.

Anti-poverty work was considered the second wave of the civil rights movement. Read more here.

The Mountaintop Speech that Dr. King gave the night before his assassination.

Audio from americanrhetoric.com. Flash required to play audio

King’s famous anti-war “Beyond Vietnam” speech (audio)

More on MLK, Jr.

• A comprehensive Wikipedia article
• Stanford Dr. King Paper Project
• The King Center
• Dr. Michael Eric Dyson’s book “I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr”

The Nightwatchman rescued Lilly As part of our  holiday service and in memory of Chi Chi (our little chihuahua who recently passed away). She’s a fantastic dog and was rescued from the South LA Animal Shelter and it is looking for a permanent home.  She is active and  loving, probably about a year and a half old. Her owner dropped her off at the shelter because she had been bitten by another dog then told the  shelter to “keep her” rather than pay for her treatment. She is a great dog!!

More info here. Contact Mutt Movement at info@themuttmovement.com, 323-993-6139 if you’re interested in adopting her or know someone who might be.

by Andrew Bacevich

Excellent and concise critique of the merger of America’s militaristic government and its comfort-addicted citizenry. Why are we an empire? Because power-hungry people flooded the nation with cheap indulgences, and we remain silent in the face of their international conquest.

Buy This Book

CD: “Fight with Tools”

Political awareness and hippie optimism meet alternative rock and hip-hop. Features the popular rap-folk-? single “Handlebars.” These guys have also got their own social justice non-profit, Flobots.org. Check em out.