UFPPC’s Sunday salon series will continue on Sun., Nov. 11, 2007, in North Tacoma.  --  The November 11 Sunday salon will feature dancing dogs, performance of a suite of songs centered thematically on the raven by Steve Nebel, and a discussion led by veterinarian Louisa Beal on animals both wild and domesticated in art and life.[1]  --  As usual, wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served.  --  This is a UFPPC fundraiser as well as an intimate gathering in a private home.  --  More information below....

Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism proved to be such a stimulating read that UFPPC's book discussion group has decided to spend four more weeks digging into a number of books she identified in her acknowledgments as "of such tremendous and repeated help that endnotes and bibliographies don’t suffice to indicate their importance."  --  While continuing to discuss her powerful synthesis, Digging Deeper XXXVIII will examine four of these volumes:  Judith Butler's Precarious Life: The Power of Mourning and Violence (Verso, 2004); John Pilger, The New Rulers of the World (Verso, 2002); Antonia Juhasz, The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time (HarperCollins, 2006); and Greg Grandin, Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism (Metropolitan, 2006).  --  Digging Deeper meets Mondays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Mandolin Café in Tacoma....

UFPPC's 2007 speaker series will continue on Fri. evening, Oct. 26, at King's Books in Tacoma when critical anthropologist David H. Price of St. Martin's University gives a free talk about how the so-called "war on terror" is curtailing academic freedom and harnessing academics for the production of knowledge that serves intelligence agencies and the military.  --  David Price's work on how the U.S. government has put social scientists to work to serve its geopolitical ends is nationally known.  --  Price teaches at St. Martin's University and is writing a three-volume series on American anthropologists' relationship with intelligence agencies, the second volume of which will be published in 2008 by Duke University Press.  --  His work has recently been in the news on account of the Pentagon's plan to ramp up use of anthropology in its Mideast wars.  --  On Friday, the New York Times reported about the operations of "the first Human Terrain Team, an experimental Pentagon program that assigns anthropologists and other social scientists to U.S. combat units in Afghanistan and Iraq."[2]  --  And "[l]ast month, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates authorized a $40m expansion of the program, which will assign teams of anthropologists and social scientists to each of the 26 U.S. combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. . . . [M]ilitary officials are scrambling to find more scholars willing to deploy to the frontlines.  Last month, five new teams have been deployed in the Baghdad area alone."  --  Prof. Price is one of the founding signers of last month's "Pledge of Non-Participation in Counter-Insurgency," which is circulating among professional anthropologists.  --  The pledge declares:  "While often presented by its proponents as work that builds a more secure world, protects U.S. soldiers on the battlefield, or promotes cross-cultural understanding, at base it contributes instead to a brutal war of occupation which has entailed massive casualties. . . . In addition, much of this work is covert. . . . We are not all necessarily opposed to other forms of anthropological consulting for the state, or for the military, especially when such cooperation contributes to generally accepted humanitarian objectives.  A variety of views exist among us, and the ethical issues are complex. . . . However, work that is covert, work that breaches relations of openness and trust with studied populations, and work that enables the occupation of one country by another violates professional standards."[3]  --  Price and others also provided a helpful FAQ page that addressed some of the inevitable questions their position raises, including this apparently inevitable one:  "If you are against anthropologists participating in counter-insurgency operations, then aren't you against U.S. troops and their immediate safety?"[4]  --  They provide a cogent response, but also point out that the "support the troops" rhetoric is "in fact a public relations strategy first developed in its modern form by the Nixon administration to thwart anti-war sentiment during the Vietnam War."  --  Six of David Price's pieces on related subjects can be accessed through the group's link to background articles.  --  Price's UFPPC-sponsored talk at King's book on Oct. 26 is free and open to the public.  --  More information below....

In Tacoma on October 15 & 22, UFPPC's book discussion group will be examining Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Metropolitan Books, 2007).  --  Digging Deeper meets Mondays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Mandolin Café in Tacoma.  --  More information below.[1] ...

At 6:30 p.m. on Thurs. evening, Oct. 4, 2007, United for Peace of Pierce County (WA) will show "War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death."  --  Called "damning" by Variety, "searing" by the San Francisco Chronicle, "chilling and persuasive" by the Nation, "superb" by Howard Zinn, and "compelling" by the Montreal Gazette, "War Made Easy" is a 72-minute documentary film directed by Loretta Alper & Jeremy Earp with high production values and a first-rate account of a "50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq."[1]  --  The film employs remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from Lyndon Baines Johnson to George W. Bush, showing in detail the uncritical dissemination of war propaganda by the American news media.  --  Special attention is given to parallels between Vietnam and Iraq.  --  Norman Solomon, who has devoted much of his life to studying the subject, contributed his research to the film and appears in it.  --  "War Made Easy" was an official selection at the 2007 Montreal International Film Festival and the 2007 Vancouver International Film Festival.  --  See here for reviews of the film.  --  There is no charge for viewing this extraordinary documentary. -- The public is invited....

In Tacoma on the last Monday evening in September and the first two Monday evenings in October, UFPPC's book discussion group will examine two recent books on the history of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the extraordinary organization that historian Chalmers Johnson (who used to work for the CIA) calls "first and foremost the president's private army, officially accountable to no other branch of government" (Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, [New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006], pp. 92-93).[1]  --  The volumes to be discussed:  --  Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (2007) and James Risen's State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration (2006).  --  Digging Deeper meets Mondays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Mandolin Café in Tacoma.  --  More information below....

On Fri., Aug. 31, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA 9th) received a delegation from United for Peace of Pierce County and spent thirty minutes exchanging views.  --  Kristi Nebel of UFPPC described the exchange in a piece written the same day.[1]  --  The UFPPC delegation also delivered a letter to Rep. Smith, posted below, which said:  "We fear that the September 'progress report' by General Petraeus may assert that 'progress' is being made.  But this progress assumes what is a monumental error:  that the U.S. intervention has been a positive development for Iraq.  In fact, it has been a catastrophic disaster.  In Vietnam, the U.S. proved itself willing to destroy some villages to save them.  In Iraq, are our leaders willing to destroy an entire nation to save it?  More appropriate than a 'progress report' would be an honest review of the impact of the invasion and subsequent occupation, and plans for withdrawal in keeping with the ideas advanced in Out of Iraq by McGovern and Polk."[2]  --  On Sept. 10, after hearing Gen. Petraeus's testimony, Rep. Smith issued a statement in which complained that "testimony by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker did not clarify the Administration’s criteria for beginning to end our occupation. . . . [I]t is clear that there is no end in sight to our occupation of Iraq under this Administration’s policies. . . . [T]he escalation has failed to bring about the stated goal of political reconciliation.  It is time to reallocate our resources to better confront al-Qaeda and the threat presented by their violent, totalitarian ideology across the globe.” ...