From marc at yachana.org Wed Feb 1 04:51:49 2012 From: marc at yachana.org (Marc Becker) Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:51:49 -0600 Subject: [haw-info] Arizona Banned Books Teach In on February 1 Message-ID: <4F293565.3070201@yachana.org> To members and friends of Historians Against the War, Arizona's HB 2281 goes into effect today, February 1, 2012, and we are asking you to join a national Teach In and take a few minutes in your classes or other places to read a passage from one of the banned books. This bill has taken Mexican American Studies out of school curriculum especially in the Tucson Unified School District. It is also a threat to ethnic studies in public education at all levels. The TUSD has recently gone into classrooms and boxed up books considered to be part of this program (while students were in classes). They have also regulated that certain themes in other books cannot be taught. For example, if Shakespeare's /The Tempest/ is taught, the theme of oppression cannot be. The books being "banned" are from a variety of writers, not just those in Mexican Studies. The seven books that were removed from TUSD classrooms are: /Critical Race Theor/y by Richard Delgado /500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures/ edited by Elizabeth Martinez /Message to Aztlan/ by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales /Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement/ by Arturo Rosales /Pedagogy of the Oppressed/ by Paulo Fiere /Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years/ edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson /Occupied America: A History of Chicanos/ by Rodolfo Acu?a ** There was some confusion in the news media about other works, such as Shakespeare's /The Tempest, /and Rodolfo Anaya's /Bless, Me Ultima/, being removed as well. While some teachers, and administrators, questioned whether they could continue to use such works, and were told that they should "stay away from any units where race, ethnicity and oppression are central themes" the books *were not *removed from the classrooms. This article may help clarify From the January 17 /Tucson Weekly/ "TUSD Banning Books? Well Yes, and No, and Yes http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2012/01/17/tusd-banning-book-well-yes-and-no-and-yes The American Library Association provides the following definitions for challenged vs. banned books: "A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others." Since the books were removed from the curriculum, even if they remain in the library, they fit the ALA's definition of a ban. More information at https://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/index.cfm ** *From American Indians in Children's Literature (Debbie Reese)* ** *Nation-wide responses to the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District* ** ** *EDUCATIONAL RESPONSES:* In Tucson, students walked out of classes on Tuesday and held an Ethnic Studies Teach-In off school grounds. Some were suspended for walking out, and rather than stay home yesterday, they attended Mexican American courses at the University of Arizona. Those are localized educational responses to the shut-down of their classes. A nation-wide educational response in the form of a National Teach-In will take place on February 1st. Some things people can do include the following: * View excerpts--specially selected for the Teach In--from /Precious Knowledge, /the documentary about the MAS program that will be aired on PBS in May. * In elementary classrooms or library read-alouds to elementary-aged children, read aloud from one of the picture books used in the MAS program. Two suggestions are Pam Mora's /The Desert is My Mother/, Gary Soto's /Snapshots from the Wedding. / * With older students, introduce them to Matt de la Pena's /Mexican WhiteBoy /or Sandra Cisnero's /House on Mango Street. / * Share what you know with your family, friends, and colleagues. * Purchase a copy of /Rethinking Columbus /or one of the other books that was boxed up and removed from classrooms, or, one of the books that was used in the program. * Purchase a copy of /Precious Knowledge/. To order, write to preciousknowledgedvd at gmail.com. (Individual copy is $28. Public library copy is $40. Rights for university or public performance are $200.) * Sign the petition set up by Norma Gonzales. She taught in the MAS program. * Donateto the fund to support the work to fight the ban. Another option is to watch "A Teach-in on Tucson" that will take place at Georgia State University's College of Education.//Portions of it will be streamed online. Initial information is here. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jimobrien48 at gmail.com Fri Feb 10 08:39:37 2012 From: jimobrien48 at gmail.com (Jim O'Brien) Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:39:37 -0500 Subject: [haw-info] HAW Notes 2/9/12: links to on-line articles Message-ID: * Links to Recent Articles of Interest* * **"US Outrage at Syria Veto at UN Rife with Hypocrisy"* http://www.truth-out.org/putting-un-veto-perspective/1328713320 By *Stephen Zunes, *TruthOut.org, posted February 8 *"Anniversaries from 'Unhistory'"* http://www.nationofchange.org/anniversaries-unhistory-1328625093 By *Noam Chomsky, *NationofChange.org, posted February 7 *"The Betrayal of the Nobel Peace Prize"* http://warisacrime.org/content/betrayal-nobel-peace-prize By *David Swanson, *WarIs a Crime.org, posted February 5 *Truth, Lies and Afghanistan: How Military Leaders Have Let Us Down"* http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030 By *Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, **Armed Forces Journal, *February issue *"History Lesson for Newt Gingrich: Andrew Jackson Was a Savage Indian Killer"* http://hnn.us/articles/history-lesson-newt-gingrich-andrew-jackson-was-savage-indian-killer By *William Loren Katz, *History News Network, posted January 30 *"The Pentagon Pitches its New Strategic Narrative"* http://original.antiwar.com/ruff_horn/2012/01/29/the-pentagon-pitches-its-new-strategic-narrative By *Allen Ruff and Steve Horn, *AntiWar.com, posted January 30 *Allen Ruff has a history PhD from the University of Wisconsin **"The People and the Patriots: Who Led Whom in the American Revolution"** http://www.bostonreview.net/BR36.6/alfred_f_young_boston_tea_party.php *By *Alfred Young, **Boston Review, *Nov.-Dec. 2011 issue, posted January 25 *The author is a professor of history emeritus at Northern Illinois University **"The U.S., Indonesia & the New York Times"* http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/24/the-u-s-indonesia-the-new-york-times By *Conn Hallinan, *CounterPunch, posted January 24 *"A WPA for History: Occupy the American Historical Association"* http://www.truth-out.org/wpa-history-occupy-american-historical-association/1327433474 By *Jesse Lemisch, *TruthOut.org, posted January 24 *The author is a professor of history emeritus at John Jay College, CUNY* *"Henoko and the U.S. Military: A History of Dependence and Resistance"* http://japanfocus.org/-Steve-Rabson/3680 By *Steve Rabson, **The Asia-Pacific Journal,* Vol. 10 Issue 4 No. 2, January 23 On U.S. bases in Okinawa; the author is a professor of Asian Studies emeritus at Brown University * **Suggestions for these lists can be sent to jimobrien48 at gmail.com. Thanks to Marc Becker, Sam Lowe, Bill Katz, and Al Young for calling attention to articles that are included in the above list.* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jimobrien48 at gmail.com Thu Feb 23 12:33:40 2012 From: jimobrien48 at gmail.com (Jim O'Brien) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:33:40 -0500 Subject: [haw-info] HAW Notes 2/23/12, including links to recent articles of interest Message-ID: To members and friends of Historians Against the War, Here are a couple of notes, plus our more or less biweekly set of article links. 1. A report on the war resisters conference in Toronto last fall, co-sponsored by HAW, has been posted at http://activehistory.ca/2012/01/war-resisters-conference-report-back-looking-back-moving-forward-war-resisters-in-north-america . 2. Among sessions of potential interest at the Organization of American Historians convention in Milwaukee, April 18-22, is one on "Historical Perspectives on the Democratic Revolutions in the Middle East," featuring Rashid Khalidi, Juan Cole, Melani McAlister, and Michael Sherry, on Friday morning April 20. The convention program is at http://annualmeeting.oah.org . *Links to Recent Articles of Interest* *"Remotely Piloted War: How Drone Wars Became the American Way of Life"* http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175507 By *Tom Engelhardt, *TomDispatch.com, posted February 23 * "Tucson to Palestine: History as a Weapon"* http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/21-8 By *Judy Sokolower, *CommonDreams.org, posted February 21 *"Scoring the Global War on Terror: From Liberation to Assassination in Three Quick Rounds"* http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175505 By *Andrew Bacevich, *TomDispatch.com, posted February 19 *The author teaches history and international relations at Boston University * *"Solidarity and its Discontents"* http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/683/solidarity-and-its-discontents By the *Raha Iranian Feminist Collective, *Jadaliyya.com, posted February 19 *A lengthy, nuanced discussion of Iranian dissidents and U.S. activists* *"Honduras in Flames"* http://www.thenation.com/article/166313/honduras-flames By *Dana Frank, **The Nation *blog, posted February 16 *The author teaches history at the University of California, Santa Cruz* *"This War Is Not Over Yet"* http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/opinion/this-war-is-not-over-yet.html By *Mary Dudziak, **New York Times, *posted February 15 *The author teaches history, law, and political science at the University of Southern California* *"Dominion from Sea to Sea: America's Pacific Ascendancy"* http://www.japanfocus.org/-Bruce-Cumings/3687 By *Bruce Cumings, **Asia-Pacific Journal, *posted February 13 *The author teaches history at the University of Chicago ****"The Afghanistan Report the Pentagon Doesn't Want You to Read"* http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/the-afghanistan-report-the-pentagon-doesnt-want-you-to-read-20120210 By *Michael Hastings, **Rolling Stone, *posted February 10 *On the report by Lt. Col. Daniel Davis; includes a link to the full report* * **"A War **Anniversary That U.S. Wishes to Forget"* http://www.progressive.org/philippine_american_war.html By *Emil Guillermo, **The Progressive, *posted February 4 *On the Philippine-American War Thanks to Carl Mirra, Ros Baxandall, and Sam Lowe for suggesting articles that are included in the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48 at gmail.com. * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: