All posts by Roger Straw

Editor, owner, publisher of The Benicia Independent
Hamas, Israel, Palestine

Reasoned analysis while suffering the passions of war

Israel and Palestine – Why was I slow to respond?

By Roger Straw, Benicia, October 12, 2023

Roger Straw, former publisher and editor, The Benicia Independent

Context: I came of age as an anti-war activist in the U.S. during the Vietnam war. I embraced the history of Ghandi, leading a walk that ultimately overcame British occupation. I was crushed in my youth at the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., who advocated non-violent action and the gradual view of an arc bending to justice. I championed the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. And I have Jewish relatives and friends, and have long supported the post-holocaust establishment of the independent democratic state of Israel.

But when Ukraine was invaded by Russia, I eagerly, quickly, and continuously to this day supported sending arms and standing strong with the people of Ukraine under violent siege.

So why was I slow to jump in with President Biden and Vice President Harris and seemingly every other leader and respectable voice in the U.S., including our many news commentators with their continuous coverage of the horrors, followed by the legitimate outrage and grief and resolve of Israeli families and governing parties?

Well… I was slow, but not untouched. First of all, I am aware, shocked and outraged at the brutality of Hamas’ Saturday assault in towns east of Gaza. The heartless murders, assaults and kidnappings are in no way justified.

So after five war-torn days had passed, I wrote yesterday in an email to friends, “The terror and brutality has to be shown and known, and when it is brought “home” by a friend or relative, it becomes more deeply understood and felt. We are in fact ALL relatives, one world, a human family, albeit now beset by a murderous outlaw clan in our midst. Hamas is a truly uncivilized and genocidal regime, and must be stopped. I am lost in shock and sympathy, and fearful of what is yet to come.”

But it took me five days! What’s wrong with me? Or is it just me?

I really think it’s more than just me. A reasonable and reasoning part of me was considering the complicated historic nature of events in Israel and Palestine, and the historic and current failures of political leadership in Israel and the several Palestinian territories.

My reservations are like those of many who hope against hope for a non-violent and lasting solution to peace in the Middle East – and elsewhere.

“Hope against hope” is a rich concept, centered in a clear understanding of the injustice that surrounds us, and the longstanding corruption that invades and infects our world, and yet continues faithfully working for solutions based in loving kindness and the dream for harmony, respect, peace, freedom and justice for all.

As my small way of promoting hope in today’s grave circumstances, I would encourage the reading of these two rich perspectives from authoritative sources at the New York Times:

    • Palestinian Americans, Dismayed by Violence, Say Historical Context Is Being Overlooked, New York Times, by Mitch Smith, Lauren McCarthy, Ernesto Londoño and Miriam Jordan
      • EXCERPT: The bipartisan rush to voice unwavering support for Israel was disappointing but not surprising, said Abdelnasser Rashid, an Illinois state representative from suburban Chicago who is Palestinian American. “We have to have a real reckoning with Israeli government policies that got us to this point and the American government policies that got us to this point,” Mr. Rashid said. He said that “we should condemn any attacks on innocent civilians” but added that “this did not start on Saturday.”
    • Among American Jews, ‘You See a Lot of Broken Spirits’ After Attacks, New York Times, by Jenna Russell, Eliza Fawcett, Vik Jolly and Robert Chiarito
      • EXCERPT: The small but diverse Jewish community in America — numbering about 7.5 million in 2020, or 2.4 percent of the U.S. population — has long been polarized over how to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In more recent months, American Jews have also been split over the far-right Israeli government’s push to limit judicial authority. But many Jewish leaders said the targeted killing of hundreds of civilians by Hamas and the threats to kill kidnapped hostages had brought a sense, at least for now, of unity.

Roger Straw
Former publisher and editor, The Benicia Independent

News deserts, Print journalism, Vallejo Sun

The Vallejo Sun – Benicia residents should think about subscribing!

Local journalism is so important…

By Roger Straw, September 27, 2023

The Vallejo Sun is celebrating it’s second anniversary, and has earned my respect with excellent in-depth reporting on police, local government, schools, arts, and local events.  Recently, I re-subscribed with a voluntary increase in my annual renewal amount. You can subscribe here.

Understand – I’m a longtime supporter of our own small town press, the Benicia Herald, and our next door neighbor paper, the Vallejo Times-Herald. And gosh, wouldn’t ya know, I read the Benicia Independent, yes! I hope you do, too, because local journalism isn’t on firm ground anywhere in the U.S. these days. We need a variety of perspectives – and no one source can cover it all.

Here’s how Scott Morris of the Vallejo Sun puts it on the occasion of the Sun’s second anniversary:

Scott Morris, co-founder of the Vallejo Sun. Scott is a journalist who covers policing, protest, civil rights and far-right extremism. His work has been published in ProPublica, the Appeal and Oaklandside.

Dear readers,

I’m writing because the Vallejo Sun just passed a major milestone: Our second year anniversary. While this is cause for celebration, it remains to be seen whether we can keep going for another year. So I’m also asking for your help.

We founded the Vallejo Sun in 2021 because we saw a need for in-depth reporting about local government, policing, and extremist movements in the region. In 2022, we expanded to cover Vallejo’s rich arts and culture.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our in-depth reporting on police, local government, schools and arts, and have found our extensive event listings useful. We think it’s important to bring you the best information available. But we can’t do it without your help.

This year we’ve overcome some challenges. Our founding member John Glidden departed for a new role with the county. Upheaval at social media companies has made it harder for news publishers to reach consumers.

But we remain committed to bringing you the news and added six new contributors in the last year. These new voices have expanded our breadth of coverage and brought you even more of the in-depth news you’ve come to expect from us.

For the first time, you can make a tax deductible contribution to the Vallejo Sun through our fiscal sponsor, the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation. Your contribution means more work for local journalists and more thought-provoking, impactful stories.

Click here to make a tax deductible donation to the Vallejo Sun.

Click here to become a paid subscriber to the Vallejo Sun.

Democracy under attack, Filibuster, Republican Party, Tyranny

PBS News Hour – American democracy is in an uncharted and fragile place

‘Tyranny of the Minority’ writers say Constitution not strong enough to protect democracy

[It’s not like we haven’t heard this before from Rachel Maddow, Professor Timothy Snyder and the “liberal” media.  The significance here is the boldness of PBS News Hour to broadcast truth to the general public.  If you don’t have time for the excellent 7 minute interview, see below the video for my summary of the two Harvard government professors’ main points and recommendations.  – BenIndy Contributor Roger Straw]

Amna Nawaz is an American broadcast journalist and a co-anchor of the PBS NewsHour.

>> America’s democracy is in an uncharted and fragile place, according to two Harvard government professors. In their new book, “Tyranny of the Minority,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt say politicians are welcoming anti-democratic extremists into their party ranks and part of the problem lies in the Constitution. Laura Barrón-López spoke with the writers about how the country got to this point.

Introduction and thesis
Laura Barrón-López is the White House Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, where she covers the Biden administration for the nightly news broadcast. She is also a CNN political analyst. Previously, Barrón-López was a White House reporter for POLITICO.

Laura Barron-Lopez: One of America’s two major political parties has turned away from democracy, warn Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. One key accomplice to the backsliding, they say, are politicians called semi-loyalists, who rather than expel anti-democratic extremists from their party ranks, accept and make room for them. Why is this happening? Their new book, “Tyranny of the minority,” concludes that part of the problem lies in the constitution. They joined me now. Thank you so much for joining. Steve, can you first establish we knew, as someone as an expert in the collapse of democracies, diagnosed that there is now a popular authoritarian movement within the Republican party?

Diagnosis

To be a party committed to democracy, you have to do three simple things:

  1. First, you have to accept election losses win or lose.
  2. Number two, you have to not use violence to gain or hold onto power.
  3. And three, most critically in some sense, for mainstream political parties, you have to distance yourself and be explicit and open about  condemning anybody who’s an ally of your party that commits any of those first two types of acts.

Over the past four years, we have seen a decay of that in the Republican party, including among mainstream members of the senate. This is a violation of that third principle, people who knew what was happening on January 6 and did very little to stop it.

What can be done?

Laura: Daniel, your book warns that the constitution, the world’s oldest written constitution, is part of the problem, is part of what is imperiling democracy.  What changes do you think need to be made?
Daniel: Some of the things we  discussed in the book, we have a 15 point set of suggestions in our last chapter, including

  1. Eliminating the electoral college. We are the only democracy in the world with the electoral college,
  2. Introducing term limits and retirement ages for the supreme court — we are the only democracy in the developed world that does not have term limits for judges.
  3. We also have proposals that do not require constitutional reform, like eliminating or weakening the filibuster. We are the only democracy in the world that has such a strong tool of obstruction in our chambers of congress. This often blocks majority supported policies, gun-control, efforts to address climate
    change, minimum-wage. Things get held up in the  national congress which frustrates citizens.
Regaining faith in the political system

These things could have a sweeping reform agenda. We have discovered that when constitutional reforms come, they tend to cluster together. People regain faith in their political system. This is part of the American tradition, whereas today we are operating outside the American tradition. This is something we need to get back to.

California Forever Inc., Flannery Associates, Solano County CA

Billionaires’ Solano City pitch shows a progressive vision

[Note from BenIndy contributor Roger Straw – Some are calling it the next generation of environmentally sensitive urban planning, a utopian city. Too good to be true? Environmentally sound, or just a smoke screen? Check out the website and description by the billionaire group. Clearly a highly professional kick-off to their dream city here in Solano.]

First renderings show new California city that tech billionaires want to build

Flannery Associates, a group of tech billionaires looking to build in Solano County, unveiled the name and website of California Forever.

San Francisco Chronicle, by J.K. Dineen, Aug. 31, 2023

A rendering of a proposed city planned in Solano County, by the group California Forever. The group is releasing its vision of the city for the first time via its website. | Provided by California Forever

The Silicon Valley billionaire-backed plan to build a 21st century utopian city on agricultural land on the edge of the Bay Area has a name and a website featuring the first renderings of what the Solano County dreamland might look like.

The initiative’s name — California Forever — was unveiled Thursday afternoon after a two-week period in which the group’s acquisition of 55,000 acres in southeast Solano County has come under fire from politicians, farmers and environmentalists.

The first renderings from California Forever evoke a cityscape with a dreamy white stucco and red rooftop Mediterranean vibe that might be found in a Greek or Italian village. There are hillside neighborhoods stepping down to what must be the banks of the Sacramento River, kayakers tooling through lily pads and anglers fishing from the riverbank at sunrise.

A rendering of a scene in a proposed city planned in Solano County, by the group California Forever. Much of the land purchased for the city is landlocked, but the group has secured some waterfront property. | Provided by California Forever

There is an image of a city rising on a hill behind farmland, and some more urban scenes: pedestrians meandering through narrow streets of cafes and farmstands, workers installing solar panels and what looks like commuters reading while waiting to board a street car.

The website leads with “starting a conversation about eastern Solano County” and promises “a chance for a new community, good paying local jobs, solar farms, and open space.”

The website says Solano County — “nestled between Sacramento, the Delta, San Francisco, and Napa Valley” — encapsulates the “diversity of California’s landscapes and its people.”

“It is the home of agriculture and green energy industries that sustainably feed and power our state, strong middle-class communities, and our nation’s busiest Air Force base,” the group states. “Eastern Solano County is also an area ready for a new community. We’re excited to tell our story.”

A rendering of an installation of solar panels near a proposed city planned in Solano County by the group California Forever. | Provided by California Forever

The website says California Forever is the parent company of Flannery Associates, which has purchased more than 50,000 acres in Solano County.

“To date, our company has been quiet about our activities. This has, understandably, created interest, concern, and speculation,” the group says. “Now that we’re no longer limited by confidentiality, we are eager to begin a conversation about the future of Solano County — a conversation with all of you.”

The website also names an investor who has not been named previously — venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, an early investor in Google, Slack and other companies. It also reveals that the Gabriel Metcalf, the former CEO of the San Francisco urban think tank SPUR, is part of the team behind the project. Other investors include Marc Andreessen, Patrick and John Collison, Chris Dixon, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Reid Hoffman, Michael Moritz and Laurene Powell Jobs.

California Forever says it has conducted surveys and interviews with 2,000 Solano County residents, who have emphasized a need for “more opportunities to buy homes in safe, walkable communities,” as well as good jobs, more money to improve schools, promote public safety and reduce homelessness.

While California Forever may have billions to invest in the project, it will face staunch opposition from some ranchers who argue that the city would disrupt the economy of a county that is 62% farmland. The project would also be inconsistent with Solano County’s Orderly Growth Measure, which requires that all urban development take place within city boundaries, rather than unincorporated parts of the county. California Forever says it supports the Orderly Growth Measure, but will ask voters to support the development.

“The Orderly Growth Measure is the right approach to safeguard Solano, including our project, from sprawl and disorderly growth for many years to come,” the group said.