It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Conservationists have cleared invasive shrubs and planted thousands of native trees in the Colorado River Delta, part of a Mexican region bordering the United States - Copyright AFP Guillermo Arias
Daniel Rook
In a drought-hit Mexican border region at the center of growing competition with the United States for water, conservationists are working to bring a once-dying river delta back to life.
On a stretch of the Colorado River, which on the Mexican side of the frontier is mostly a dry riverbed, native cottonwood and willow trees have been planted in place of invasive shrubs.
It is the fruit of two decades of work by environmentalists along the lower part of the river from the US-Mexican border to the upper estuary of the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.
“If we give a little water and care to certain sections of the river, we can recover environments that had already been completely lost,” said Enrique Villegas, director of the Colorado River Delta program at the Sonoran Institute, a US-Mexican civil society group.
The Colorado starts in the Rocky Mountains and winds its way through the southwestern United States, feeding cities and farmland along the way.
By the time it crosses into Mexico most of its water has already been consumed.
What is left is diverted to supply border cities like Tijuana and to irrigate agricultural land.
It means Tijuana and nearby areas are at the mercy of how much snow falls in the Rockies, said Marco Antonio Samaniego, an expert at the Autonomous University of Baja California.
“We don’t live off what rains in Tijuana. We live off what snows in those mountains,” he said, adding that several years of below-average precipitation had reduced reservoir levels in the United States.
Growing competition for resources sparked a recent diplomatic row when the United States refused Mexico’s request for water due to shortfalls in sharing by its southern neighbor under a decades-old treaty.
“The basis of all the problems,” Villegas said, is that “there is more water distributed among all the users of the Colorado River than actually exists.”
– Wildlife returns –
Over the years, dams and diversions reduced the river to a trickle and turned a delta that once teemed with birds and other wildlife into a dying ecosystem.
So conservationists secured land as well as irrigation permits, cleared invasive shrubs and planted thousands of native trees.
In 2014, water was allowed to surge down the Colorado River through a dam at the border for the first time in years to encourage the natural germination of native species.
“After years of this type of work, we now have a forest of poplars and willows on 260 hectares (642 acres) on a stretch of the Colorado River. Fauna has returned. Many birds have returned,” Villegas said.
The rejuvenation has also brought back another native — the beaver — a species that had largely disappeared from sight in the area, Villegas said.
“On the one hand, it’s a biological indicator that if you give nature a habitat then it returns and begins to reproduce. But they’re also knocking down trees that we planted,” he said.
At Laguna Grande, a lush oasis surrounded by dusty fields that is a centerpiece of the restoration project, coots and other birds swim contentedly in wetlands while herons startled by visitors clumsily take flight.
Nearby, on land, underground hoses feed water to trees sprouting from the dusty ground.
The Colorado River Delta is an important rest point for migratory birds including the yellow-breasted chat, vermilion flycatcher and endangered yellow-billed cuckoo, according to conservationists.
The wetlands and forest of Laguna Grande contrast starkly with parched agricultural land nearby where farmers such as Cayetano Cisneros are facing increasingly tough conditions.
“Years ago, we sowed maize, we sowed cotton, we sowed everything, and we didn’t suffer because of water,” the 72-year-old said on his dusty ranch.
These days, “the Colorado River no longer carries water,” he said. “The environment is changing a lot.”
If more of the delta and other such areas are to be nursed back to health, people must change their use of water, conservationists note.
“We can all improve our awareness of water consumption,” Villegas said.
“This drought is just a warning.”
Tuesday, April 08, 2025
Codepink: Funded by the CCP?
by Megan Russell / April 4th, 2025
On March 26, Congressman Jim Banks sent a letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi requesting that CODEPINK be investigated for our alleged funding from the Chinese Communist Party. According to him, our activism against the genocide in Gaza is antisemitic and undermines US-Israel relations, and therefore must mean we are acting on China’s behalf.
To state it very clearly: CODEPINK is in no way funded by China, nor any other foreign government or agency. We are funded primarily by donations from concerned citizens that support peace over war. Anyone can check. We pass every audit, unlike the Pentagon.
China is merely the newest figure in a long line of state-crafted boogeymen. Before China, there was Russia, Iran, Venezuela… the list goes on. Point being: wherever we advocate for peace, the government throws accusations of foreign funding. Why? Because they seek to delegitimize our opinion and silence us, just like they are currently attempting to silence student activists by detaining and threatening them with deportation. But we will not be silenced.
As the coordinator of the “China Is Not Our Enemy” Campaign at CODEPINK, I would like to address some of the accusations Banks made in his letter to the attorney general.
“Code Pink has a demonstrated track record of operating in the interests of the CCP.”
Response: We do not care about the interests of the CCP. Our campaign was created in response to the US “Pivot to Asia” and subsequent preparation for a future war with China. China only became our “enemy” once its success began to challenge US global hegemony. We say “China is not our enemy” because the US government and media are saying that China is our enemy, leading us straight into war. We believe open diplomacy and dialogue is the only way forward, not military escalation.
“Code Pink routinely lobbies for conciliatory US policies on China and aggressively denies reports of CCP atrocities, including the CCP’s genocide against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.”
Response: We advocate for diplomatic solutions to address any human rights abuses in China. The Uyghur people must not be used to justify war.
“In January 2025, Code Pink acknowledged that it had organized a 10-day “community trip” to Xinjiang.”
Response: We organized a 10-day community trip to China in November 2024 through a travel agency. The attendees traveled to Shenzhen, Ruijin, Shanghai, and Beijing. You can check out the report back webinar with everyone who went.
“Codepink argued that US bases in Asia were like Japan’s World War II mass abuse of “comfort women” and that the Americans were the ‘invaders” in the Korean War.”
Reponse: In a previous article, I wrote about the US military prostitution system in South Korea, which was created from the remains of Japan’s comfort women system. South Korean women were systematically abused and mistreated by US service members. There’s heaps of evidence. Read the article.
“Code Pink operatives regularly disrupt congressional hearings on subjects which the CCP wants to suppress.”
Response: We regularly interrupt any and all hearings on subjects that push for war. We have no idea which ones the CCP cares about, if any.
“Code Pink also receives significant funding and likely receives direction from agents of the CCP.”
Response: We do not receive funding, nor any direction from agents of the CCP. Our staff makes all our decisions internally.
“Code Pink’s position on China has switched from skeptical to unquestioningly supportive.”
Response: Ever since CODEPINK was founded in 2002, we have been anti-war. The fact that we are against war with China is nothing new or surprising.
Congressman Banks also asked the attorney general to investigate and provide answers to the following questions. I will answer the questions for him instead.
Has Code Pink or any of its employees ever registered with the DOJ as a foreign agent acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party or any agency, official, or agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China?
Response: No. The CODEPINK staff does not act on behalf of the PRC, nor any other foreign government or agency. CODEPINK is composed of concerned citizens who act only in the interest of peace.
Is it the view of the DOJ that CODEPINKis legally obligated to disclose its status as a foreign agent under FARA, considering the organization’s extensive efforts to lobby members of Congress and US Federal agencies for conciliatory US policies toward China?
Response: CODEPINK is not a foreign agent and is not legally obligated to register as one. Our educational efforts around China have focused solely on encouraging diplomacy and cooperation to work through differences and avoid physical confrontation. We believe war between the US and China would be devastating for the entire world, and therefore wish to avoid it at all costs.
What actions is the DOJ taking to counter the CCP’s efforts to expand its influence in the United States through funding far-left entities that oppose US foreign policy interests and advocate the interests of foreign adversaries?
Response: While I cannot speak on behalf of other organizations, CODEPINK is a nonpartisan organization primarily concerned with avoiding and ending war. We do not believe any war is in the interests of US citizens. War is not, and should never be, the predominant foreign policy strategy. Many “foreign adversaries” are also against war, but war is no rare thing to oppose. We advocate for peace because we believe in peace, not because of the interests of foreign entities.
What actions is the DOJ taking to address FARA violations committed by US-domiciled entities that lobby against the foreign policies interests of the US while simultaneously receiving funding from foreign adversaries?
Response: This is a great question that I would also like to know. What is the DOJ doing to address the billions of dollars Congress members are receiving from the Israeli lobby to act in its interests, despite the increasing likelihood of regional war? Is it not against US foreign policy interests to fund genocide? I believe the correct answer is nothing, which is disappointing. I wonder also what the DOJ is doing about the arbitrary detainment of lawful permanent residents of the United States for the mere act of speaking out against the genocide in Gaza—is the freedom of speech no longer one of our foundational constitutional rights?
I think we can agree—the letter from Congressman Jim Banks is not only full of inconsistencies and lies, but is also a reeking pile of garbage that belongs in the shredder. Unfortunately, as stupid as the accusations are, these attempts to silence organizations like us are serious, and are part of an ongoing project to silence activists speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. Today, it’s Palestine, and tomorrow it will be China. We must fight back against the crackdown on anti-war voices and demand that the government not be complicit in the disregarding of our constitutional freedoms.
Megan Russell is CODEPINK's China is Not Our Enemy Campaign Coordinator. She graduated from the London School of Economics with a Master’s Degree in Conflict Studies. Prior to that, she attended NYU where she studied Conflict, Culture, and International Law. Megan spent one year studying in Shanghai, and over eight years studying Chinese Mandarin. Her research focuses on the intersection between US-China affairs, peacebuilding, and international development. Read other articles by Megan.
Monday, April 07, 2025
Major garment producer Bangladesh says US buyers halting orders
Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in Bangladesh - Copyright AFP Munir UZ ZAMAN
US buyers have begun halting orders from Bangladesh, the world’s second-biggest garment manufacturer, after punishing US tariffs that pushed the government in Dhaka to plead on Monday for a three-month pause to the levies.
Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in Bangladesh and the industry has been rebuilding after it was hit hard in a student-led revolution that toppled the government last year.
US President Donald Trump hit Bangladesh with biting new tariffs of 37 percent on Wednesday, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton products.
Reports of the swift biting impact come as interim leader Muhammad Yunus pleaded with Trump to “postpone the application of US reciprocal tariff measures”, the government said in a statement.
Yunus wrote to Trump to ask for “three months to allow the interim government to smoothly implement its initiative to substantially increase US exports to Bangladesh”, the statement added.
Those products include “cotton, wheat, corn and soybean which will offer benefits to US farmers”, it read.
“Bangladesh will take all necessary actions to fully support your trade agenda,” Yunus told Trump, according to the statement.
– ‘In limbo’ –
Manufacturers said the impact had been near immediate.
Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahman, managing director of Essensor Footwear and Leather Products, said he received a letter from one of his buyers requesting a shipment halt.
“My buyer asked me to stop a shipment of leather goods — including bags, belts, and wallets — worth $300,000 on Sunday,” Rahman told AFP.
“He’s a long-time buyer and now both of us are in limbo over the issue.”
Rahman, who has been operating since 2008, usually sends goods averaging about $100,000 to the United States every month.
Bangladesh exported approximately $8.4 billion worth of goods to the United States last year, of which $7.34 billion came from the ready-made garments sector.
Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo also quoted AKM Saifur Rahman, CEO of ready-made garments producer Wikitex-BD, saying that his US buyer had requested a halt to a shipment worth $150,000.
“My US buyer said it is not possible to pass the extra cost on to their clients, so we need to lower the price,” Rahman told the daily.
– ‘Request your patience’ –
Md Anwar Hossain, government-appointed administrator of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), sent a letter to US-based buyers pleading for understanding.
“We are aware that several brands and retailers have already reached out to their Bangladeshi suppliers, expressing concern and, in some cases, discussing possible measures to mitigate the impact,” Hossain wrote.
“We understand the urgency, but transferring the burden downstream to suppliers at this early stage will only exacerbate the stress,” he added.
“We humbly request your patience and support during this period as Bangladesh pursues a meaningful resolution.”
But former BGMEA director Mohiuddin Rubel said some buyers have already asked for shipments to be put on hold until further notice.
“In particular, smaller buyers are pressuring suppliers to either absorb the full tariff, or share the cost,” Rubel told AFP.
Saturday, April 05, 2025
Leading garment producer Bangladesh holds crisis talks on US tariffs
Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in Bangladesh - Copyright AFP/File Munir UZ ZAMAN
Bangladesh’s interim leader called an emergency meeting on Saturday after textile leaders in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturing nation said US tariffs were a “massive blow” to the key industry.
Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in the South Asian country, and the industry has been rebuilding after it was hard hit in a revolution that toppled the government last year.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday slapped punishing new tariffs of 37 percent on Bangladesh, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton and 32 percent on polyester products.
Bangladesh exports $8.4 billion of garments annually to the United States, according to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the national trade body.
That totals around 20 percent of Bangladesh’s total ready-made garments exports.
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus “convened an emergency meeting… to discuss the US tariff issue,” the government said in a statement.
Sheikh Bashiruddin, who holds the commerce portfolio in the government, told reporters after the meeting that Yunus “will raise the issue with the US administration”.
Bashiruddin said he believed Bangladesh would “not be severely affected”, adding that some other competitors faced “much higher than those on us”.
Yunus’ senior advisor Khalilur Rahman said the government had been readying for the tariff hike, and had began talks with US officials in February.
“I have already spoken with several State Department officials,” Rahman said on Saturday.
“The discussions are ongoing. We will take the necessary steps based on these discussions.”
Bangladesh’s tax authority, the National Board of Revenue, is also expected to meet to review the fallout from the tariffs.
Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, chairman of RDM Group, a major manufacturer with an estimated $25 million turnover, said on Thursday that the industry would lose trade.
“Buyers will go to other cost-competitive markets — this is going to be a massive blow for our industry,” he said.
Several garment factories produce clothing for the US market alone.
Anwar Hossain, administrator of the BGMEA, has told AFP that the industry was “not ready” for the tariff impact.
Bangladesh, the second-largest producer after China, manufactures garments for global brands — including for US firms such as Gap Inc, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi Strauss.
Wednesday, April 02, 2025
In the crosshairs: Trump opens up a new front in the history wars A portrait of President Donald Trump in the ‘America’s Presidents’ exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. Win McNamee/Getty Images
I teach history in Connecticut, but I grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas, where my interest in the subject was sparked by visits to local museums.
I fondly remember trips to the Fellow-Reeves Museum in Wichita, Kansas, and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. A 1908 photograph of my great-grandparents picking cotton has been used as a poster by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
This love of learning history continued into my years as a graduate student of history, when I would spend hours at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum learning about the history of human flight and ballooning. As a professor, I’ve integrated the institution’s exhibits into my history courses.
The Trump administration, however, is not happy with the way the Smithsonian Institution and other U.S. museums are portraying history.
On March 27, 2025, the president issued an executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which asserted, “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”
Trump singled out a few museums, including the Smithsonian, dedicating a whole section of the order on “saving” the institution from “divisive, race-centered ideology.”
Of course, history is contested. There will always be a variety of views about what should be included and excluded from America’s story. For example, in my own research, I found that Prohibition-era school boards in the 1920s argued over whether it was appropriate for history textbooks to include pictures of soldiers drinking to illustrate the 1791 Whiskey Rebellion.
But most recent debates center on how much attention should be given to the history of the nation’s accomplishments over its darker chapters. The Smithsonian, as a national institution that receives most of its funds from the federal government, has sometimes found itself in the crosshairs. America’s historical repository
The Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846 thanks to its namesake, British chemist James Smithson.
Smithson willed his estate to his nephew and stated that if his nephew died without an heir, the money – roughly US$15 million in today’s dollars – would be donated to the U.S. to found “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
The idea of a national institution dedicated to history, science and learning was contentious from the start
. An 1816 portrait of British chemist James Smithson.
In her book “The Stranger and the Statesman,” historian Nina Burleigh shows how Smithson’s bequest was nearly lost due to battles between competing interests.
Southern plantation owners and western frontiersmen, including President Andrew Jackson, saw the establishment of a national museum as an unnecessary assertion of federal power. They also challenged the very idea of accepting a gift from a non-American and thought that it was beneath the dignity of the government to confer immortality on someone simply because of a large donation.
In the end, a group led by congressman and former president John Quincy Adams ensured Smithson’s vision was realized. Adams felt that the country was failing to live up to its early promise. He thought a national museum was an important way to burnish the ideals of the young republic and educate the public.
Today the Smithsonian runs 14 education and research centers, the National Zoo and 21 museums, including the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which was created with bipartisan support during President George W. Bush’s administration.
In the introduction to his book “Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects,” cultural anthropologist Richard Kurin talks about how the institution has also supported hundreds of small and large institutions outside of the nation’s capital.
In 2024, the Smithsonian sent over 2 million artifacts on loan to museums in 52 U.S. states and territories and 33 foreign countries. It also partners with over 200 affiliate museums. YouGov has periodically tracked Americans’ approval of the Smithsonian, which has held steady at roughly 68% approval and 2% disapproval since 2020. Smithsonian in the crosshairs
Precursors to the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the Smithsonian took place in the 1990s.
In 1991, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which was then known as the National Museum of American Art, created an exhibition titled “The West as America, Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier, 1820-1920.” Conservatives complained that the museum portrayed western expansion as a tale of conquest and destruction, rather than one of progress and nation-building. The Wall Street Journal editorialized that the exhibit represented “an entirely hostile ideological assault on the nation’s founding and history.”
The exhibition proved popular: Attendance to the National Museum of American Art was 60% higher than it had been during the same period the year prior. But the debate raised questions about whether public museums were able to express ideas that are critical of the U.S. without risk of censorship.
In 1994, controversy again erupted, this time at the National Air and Space Museum over a forthcoming exhibition centered on the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima 50 years prior.
Should the exhibition explore the loss of Japanese lives? Or emphasize the U.S. war victory?
Veterans groups insisted that the atomic bomb ended the war and saved 1 million American lives, and demanded the removal of photographs of the destruction and a melted Japanese school lunch box from the exhibit. Meanwhile, other activists protested the exhibition by arguing that a symbol of human destruction shouldn’t be commemorated at an institution that’s supposed to celebrate human achievement.
Protesters demonstrate against the opening of the Enola Gay exhibit outside the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in 1995.
Republicans won the House in 1994 and threatened cuts to the Smithsonian’s budget over the Enola Gay exhibition, compelling curators to walk a tightrope. In the end, the fuselage of the Enola Gay was displayed in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. But the exhibit would not tell the full story of the plane’s role in the war from a myriad of perspectives.
Trump enters the fray
In 2019, The New York Times launched the 1619 project, which aimed to reframe the country’s history by placing slavery and its consequences at its very center. The first Trump administration quickly responded by forming its 1776 commission. In January 2021, it produced a report critiquing the 1619 project, claiming that an emphasis on the country’s history of racism and slavery was counterproductive to promoting “patriotic education.”
That same year, Trump pledged to build “a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live,” with 250 statues to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
President Joe Biden rescinded the order in 2021. Trump reissued it after retaking the White House, and pointed to figures he’d like to see included, such as Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Betsy Ross, Sitting Bull, Bob Hope, Thurgood Marshall and Whitney Houston.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with honoring Americans, though I think a focus on celebrities and major figures clouds the fascinating histories of ordinary Americans. I also find it troubling that there seems to be such a concerted effort to so forcefully shape the teaching and understanding of history via threats and bullying. Yale historian Jason Stanley has written about how aspiring authoritarian governments seek to control historical narratives and discourage an exploration of the complexities of the past.
Historical scholarship requires an openness to debate and a willingness to embrace new findings and perspectives. It also involves the humility to accept that no one – least of all the government – has a monopoly on the truth.
In his executive order, Trump noted that “Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn.” I share that view. Doing so, however, means not dismantling history, but instead complicating the story – in all its messy glory.
The Conversation U.S. receives funding from the Smithsonian Institution.
(Article originally published in Jan/Feb 2025 edition.)
The hit song from Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern's 1927 groundbreaking musical, "Show Boat," continues to mesmerize, nearly 100 years later. Haunting and magical, the lyrics and melody seem to cast a spell:
Ah gits weary/An' sick of tryin' Ah'm tired of livin'/An' skeered of dyin', But ol' man river, He jes' keeps rolling' along.
Timeless, really, like the river itself.
None of which was going through our minds last year when we decided to sail the Mississippi. We'd done the Snake and Columbia rivers out west, the Ohio two years ago, and the Great Lakes in between. So why not the Mississippi, the most storied of American rivers?
Our favorite cruise line, which happens to be featured on this edition's cover, offered a number of different itineraries: the entire river, from St. Paul to New Orleans; the Upper Mississippi, from St. Louis to St. Paul; the Lower Mississippi, from Memphis to New Orleans; and various combinations thereof, including the stretch from St. Louis to Memphis.
We chose the Lower Mississippi, partly because of the timing (late August) and partly because of its rich history. It turned out to be one of American Cruise Lines' most popular itineraries, and for good reason.
RIVER TRIVIA
Our vessel was the American Symphony, one of the newer ships (built in 2022) in ACL's fleet and part of the so-called River Class of American Riverboats™. Not the traditional paddle-wheelers we had sailed before, she holds just 180 passengers and boasts spacious staterooms and bathrooms (much bigger than on ocean cruise ships) and lots of public spaces.
She also has a unique bow design that opens up to allow passengers to disembark on a retractable gangway. At many destinations the vessel literally grounds itself against the shore; the bow opens up like a beached dolphin, and passengers climb (or take a golf cart) up a steep embankment, called a revetment, to reach the waiting coaches or take a stroll through town.
The revetments are to protect against floods, of which there have been many over the years. Built by the Army Corps of Engineers and made of concrete and a combination of rocks and sand called "rip-rap," the revetments also provide an anchorage for commercial barge and towboat traffic, which attach lines to the embedded cables or hooks and can "park" for the night or days at a time, safe from the constant flow of barge tows on the river.
The Mississippi is all about commerce. Hopper barges hauling wheat and corn and soybeans downriver to New Orleans for export. Tank barges carrying oil and petrochemicals to the refineries in Baton Rouge or upriver to St. Louis. Building materials and construction products and ethanol and all kinds of things for consumption at home or export abroad. It's the I-95 of river traffic, and it's always busy. The Corps of Engineers designed it that way.
You won't see many pleasure craft or jet skiers on its waters. It's too dangerous. There's too much barge traffic and, increasingly, riverboats. And there are too many twists and turns, too many blind curves. Mark Twain, in Life on the Mississippi (1883), called it "the crookedest river in the world, since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy-five."
Another feature of the Lower Mississippi is no locks. No dams or rapids to slow traffic. As a result, tows can extend to 32 or 40 barges – an amazing sight and a wonder to navigate. Above St. Louis on the Upper Mississippi and on the Ohio, there are locks and dams galore. As a result, tows are limited to 15 barges – the maximum number that can fit through the locks, which are typically 1,000 feet in length.
Here's an interesting factoid: It takes 90 days or three months for a single drop of water to travel the length of the Mississippi – from its origin in Lake Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of 2,340 miles. That works out to roughly one knot an hour, but the current on the Lower Mississippi is often much stronger, at up to three or four knots. The average is brought down by all the twists and turns of the "crookedest river."
STEAM SHIP CAPTAIN SAMUEL CLEMENS AKA MARK TWAIN
\
SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Our cruise started in "Music City" – Memphis – with a pre-cruise visit to Graceland. You know, Elvis Presley's place? Loud, boisterous, a little raunchy, people from all over, everyone having a good time – the way Elvis would have liked it.
We also toured the Peabody Hotel, home of the famous ducks. You know the story, right? Twice a day the "Peabody ducks," five of them, come down in an elevator from their rooftop digs and walk a red carpet to their daytime home in the grand fountain in the hotel's lobby. Hundreds of people arrive each day in time for the 11:00 am entrance and 5:00 pm departure of the ducks, who are directed by a "duck master" outfitted in red velvet and a cane.
A sight to see, and a big moneymaker for the hotel as people come and stay for a while, eating and drinking the whole time.
So Elvis and the ducks put everyone in the right mood for cruising, and we boarded the American Symphony on a Sunday for the 640-mile, 10-day journey to New Orleans.
Our first stop was Cleveland, Mississippi, named for the eponymous President and home to Delta State University, the "Fighting Okra." Located in the Mississippi Delta region, it was a center of cotton and rice production before and after the Civil War.
Next came Vicksburg, one of the highlights of the cruise and a delight to all the Civil War buffs onboard. We toured by motor coach around the vast battlefield dotted by more than 1,400 monuments and memorials to the men and women who fought and died there. There's also a wonderful on-site museum, all part of the Vicksburg National Military Park.
Ever been to a cotton plantation? Neither had we, but we got our chance the next day when we docked in Natchez, home to some of the most beautiful mansions you'll ever see. We crossed the river by bus to Vidalia, Louisiana and visited Frogmore, a restored, highly mechanized 1,800-acre cotton plantation where we toured the fields and visited a working, computerized cotton gin. Separating the white "lint" (which is spun into cotton) from the seeds is no easy task, and I finally learned what a "cotton gin" really did.
How about an old-fashioned pig roast? Ever been to one of them? For a foodie like me, it was a definite highlight, and we were not disappointed. Located on Bayou Sara (which was dry due to lack of rain; the year before the boat had been able to pull right up to it) in St. Francisville, Louisiana, we had to travel by bus to reach the Oyster Bar (really a restored fishing shack), where the entire staff was waiting for us. It was easily the best pork I've ever had.
And while I'm on the subject of food, the menus onboard American Symphony were outstanding, featuring many regional dishes. Crawfish hash, catfish po' boy, chicken and sausage gumbo, country fried steak, BBQ ribs, New Orleans Creole pasta, spiced pork belly. A gourmet's delight!
The entertainment in the evening in the River Lounge was equally authentic. Blues band Chris Gill & the Sole Shakers, fiddlers Dwight and Wayne Thibodeaux, jazz trumpeter Wendell Brunious and clarinetist Caroline Fromell, to name a few.
There were other stops along the way, but I'm running out of space here and you get the idea. I do want to mention that at each stop we had an experienced guide on board the bus, who briefed us on the local color and culture of the place we were visiting. Most were retired teachers or local professionals who got a big kick out of spinning yarns and telling tales and just educating us out-of-towners. We soaked it up.
SILENCE OF THE RIVER
But the real joy was just being on the river, sitting in a rocker and watching the river – and the world – go by. And the stillness, the silence, when suddenly a barge tow comes into view, rounding a bend and looking like a mirage, moving ever so slowly toward you, majestic in its size and breadth and lording it over everything else on the river.
You can't hear it yet, but you can see it, coming at you slowly, steadily, relentlessly, timelessly. It's like a freeze-frame, implanted in your memory and your brain. Like the river itself, beautiful, quiet, majestic, enveloping you in its wonder and taking you back to an earlier time.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.
Hip-Hop Star Macklemore on New Film “The Encampments” & Why He Speaks Out Against Israel’s War on Gaza
We’re joined by the four-time Grammy-winning musician Macklemore, a vocal proponent of Palestinian rights and critic of U.S. foreign policy. He serves as executive producer for the new documentary The Encampments, which follows last year’s student occupations of college campuses to protest U.S. backing of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. He tells Democracy Now! why he got involved with the film and the roots of his own activism, including the making of his song “Hind’s Hall,” named after the Columbia student occupation of the campus building Hamilton Hall, which itself was named in honor of the 5-year-old Palestinian child Hind Rajab. Rajab made headlines last year when audio of her pleading for help from emergency services in Gaza was released shortly before she was discovered killed by Israeli forces. “We are in urgent, dire times that require us as human beings coming together and fighting against fascism, fighting against genocide, and the only way to do that is by opening up the heart and realizing that collective liberation is the only solution,” Macklemore says.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
The Trump administration is escalating its crackdown on international students. On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the State Department’s role in the arrest of Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk, who seized on Tuesday by a group of masked federal agents on the streets of Somerville as she was walking to dinner. A year ago, Ozturk had co-written a piece in the student newspaper criticizing Tufts’ response to Palestinian solidarity protests on campus. She’s now jailed in Louisiana. Massachusetts Democratic Congressmember Ayanna Pressley denounced Ozturk’s abduction, saying she was, quote, “kidnapped in plain sight.” Pressley wrote, quote, “She’s a peaceful protestor, grad student, & my constituent who has a right to free speech & due process. Now she’s a political prisoner. Free her now,” the congressmember wrote.
Marco Rubio was questioned about Ozturk’s abduction on Thursday.
HÜMEYRA PAMUK: Mr. Secretary, a Turkish student in Boston was detained and handcuffed on the street by plainclothes agents. A year ago, she wrote an opinion piece about the Gaza war. Could you help us understand what the specific action she took led to her visa being revoked?
SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: Yeah, well —
HÜMEYRA PAMUK: And what was your State Department’s role in that process? Can I —
SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: Well, we revoked her visa. It’s an F-1 visa, I believe. … I think it’s crazy — I think it’s stupid for any country in the world to welcome people into their country that are going to go to your universities as visitors — they’re visitors — and say, “I’m going to your universities to start a riot. I’m going to your universities to take over a library and harass people.” I don’t care what movement you’re involved in. Why would any country in the world allow people to come and disrupt? We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses. And if we’ve given you a visa and then you decide to do that, we’re going to take it away.
AMY GOODMAN: This week, thousands of students and faculty and community members in Somerville, Massachusetts, have gathered to protest her abduction. Secretary of State Marco Rubio went on to say the State Department has revoked more than 300 student visas across the country.
Nearly three weeks ago, unidentified federal agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the Gaza solidarity encampments at Columbia University. He was also a negotiator with the university. He was a permanent legal resident and a green card holder. He’s now being held in an ICE jail in Jena, Louisiana. Khalil is featured prominently in a new documentary called The Encampments. It’s an inside look at Columbia University Gaza solidarity encampment and the nationwide student uprising against U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza. This is the film’s trailer.
SEN. TOM COTTON: We’re here to discuss the little Gazas that have risen up on campuses across America.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS: There is a movement to radicalize young people.
BRIAN KILMEADE: Can you believe they are chanting about the infitada [sic] in New York City?
DONALD TRUMP: I really believe they are brainwashed.
SUEDA POLAT: There was a very concerted effort by the media to portray things a certain way and refuse to discuss Gaza. Columbia is materially invested in the genocide in Gaza. We don’t want our money to go towards Palestinian death.
MAHMOUD KHALIL: I was born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp, and the university was cracking down on Palestinian activism on campus.
GRANT MINER: It’s completely farcical to imply that in any way, like, Jewish people were being persecuted.
SARAH BORUS: I have never felt more proud to be Jewish than when I was pushing our university to divest from genocide.
MAHMOUD KHALIL: They would just criminalize anyone who would participate in a protest. That was the moment where students were like, “We need to do something more.”
PROTESTER 1: Letting me on the lawn!
MAHMOUD KHALIL: The university would say, “Oh, you’re overestimating your power.” I remember, like, telling them, “There are 60 universities setting up encampments across the United States.”
PROTESTER 2: We’ve got Yale holding it down right now, all live.
JAMAL JOSEPH: In ’68, the students at Columbia took over the campus, mainly in protest of the war in Vietnam. Columbia talks about how it was OK then, but not OK now.
MAYA ABDALLAH: Bravery is very contagious. We kind of watched Columbia in awe, and we knew we were next.
PROTESTER 3: The only weapon they have is fear. And when we call their bluff, they have nothing!
AMY GOODMAN: The trailer for The Encampments, a new documentary produced by Watermelon Pictures and BreakThrough News. Later in the show, we’ll be joined by two protest leaders at Columbia. One of them was just expelled by Columbia, a fifth-year grad student. We’ll also be joined by the film’s producer.
But first, we turn to the four-time Grammy-winning musician Macklemore, who served as the film’s executive producer. In May of last year, Macklemore released the song “Hind’s Hall,” inspired by the pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University who occupied a campus building and gave it that name in honor of the [5-year-old] Palestinian child Hind Rajab. She was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in January of 2024 in a car alongside of her family members. Prior to her death, Hind was on the phone for hours with emergency workers, pleading for help, pleading for them to come and save her. Macklemore announced all proceeds from the song would be donated to the U.N.’s Palestine relief agency, or UNRWA. In September, Macklemore released a sequel to the song, “Hind’s Hall 2,” with help from the Gazan rapper MC Abdul, a teenager, and Palestinian American singer Anees.
I spoke to Macklemore on Thursday and asked him about how he became involved in The Encampments documentary.
MACKLEMORE: Alana Hadid had reached out to me. I had seen her in San Francisco at Palestinian Day back in the fall, and she mentioned the film then. And I watched it and was blown away. What BTN was able to capture, I think, was a moment in American history that will be — that we will come back to, time and time again, when we look at resistance movements.
What the students did at Columbia University was deeply inspiring to me, on really every level. But it came at this point in the genocide in Gaza that I think a lot of us were feeling a certain fatigue around. What can we do, our voices? This isn’t working. And what the students did by peacefully protesting and advocating for Palestinian life and demanding that their university disclose information about the investments that they were making, their ties to the genocide that was underway, and coming together and rallying for humanity in that moment was one that rekindled a flame, I think, in all of us, and definitely in myself, of the students are always at the forefront of resistance movements. If you look at American history, the students are always those that are willing to risk, you know, being demerited, being — facing deportation, as we see with Mahmoud, and really spearheading what was to come, which was getting millions Americans back out into the streets and demanding for a permanent end to this genocide.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, the film is coming out, and now the people who are featured in the film are speaking alongside it: Grant Miner, who’s just been expelled from Columbia, a graduate student there; Sueda Polat, who, alongside Mahmoud Khalil, negotiated with the Columbia administration. I mean, originally, Mahmoud Khalil and the others were going to be live at the Q&As after the film, coming out this weekend. Now he can’t be reached. He’s in ICE jail in Louisiana. And you have this latest news of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Turkish graduate student at Tufts that is kidnapped off the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts, as she’s ending her daily fast, as she’s going to iftar with her friends, and she’s taken by six masked ICE agents. Can you talk about the latest news, as your songs come out and The Encampments, the documentary, is being released?
MACKLEMORE: I don’t know if I exactly have words for what’s happening. I think that we are under the utmost threat that we have — that we have seen as Americans using our voice. Our First Amendment is completely being stripped away from us in real time, in a way that is scary, in a way that is instilling fear, or as it attempts to instill fear. And you see real-life, very serious consequences to those advocating for peace. You see it with Mahmoud. You see it at Tufts yesterday. You know, we’ve been seeing it the last couple weeks. And people are scared, people that have been very at the forefront, and not even at the forefront, of this movement, that are being targeted right now and risking deportation.
And I think what it’s serving for me in this moment is this rally cry, right? Because if they’re coming for Mahmoud — and Mahmoud, as you see in The Encampments film, is just this very diplomatic, coming-from-the-heart Palestinian refugee from Syria, you know, university student at Columbia, super educated, super tapped in and a leader. And he is a — he is a threat. They are trying to use Mahmoud and everyone else that’s been abducted the last couple weeks as examples of this is what happens when you go against — when you go against our country. This is what happens when you go against genocide. This is what happens when you criticize Israel. And the narrative that is being spun around this being hateful or a form of terrorism or antisemitic is the furthest thing from the truth. These are human beings that are advocating for Palestinian life, that are leaders, that are brave, that are willing to risk their own freedom for the liberation of the Palestinian people. And we, as those in community, this is a call to all of us to step up in this moment, to realize that our First Amendment is being compromised and that we must come to the forefront and ensure that this stops.
AMY GOODMAN: Macklemore, I was wondering if you can share with people your own journey. Born Ben Haggerty, you’re now a four-time Grammy Award-winning rapper. And if you can talk about what changed you and if you were afraid to speak out and what it meant for you?
MACKLEMORE: I was on the road in the States on tour when October 7th happened. And the nature of being on the road is that you have a lot of time in the day. You know, I work for an hour and a half at night doing a show. And as video started to come out of Gaza — and to be honest, like, I, of course, knew about Palestine and knew about Israel. I knew there was a, quote-unquote, “conflict.” I didn’t know about the 70 — at the time, 75 years of oppression. I didn’t know about the Nakba. I didn’t know what Zionism meant. I didn’t know about the apartheid state and the system that is Israel. I did not know about the open-air prison that was Gaza. I did not know. And I started to learn. And once I started to learn, in conjunction with the videos that were coming out of Palestine, something happened in me. There was an awakening and a remembering of what actually matters in this world.
And I think that there was that first couple weeks of, like, “How am I watching this, and no one else — how are we all watching this, and no one in the music industry is saying anything? I feel crazy.” And I wanted to say something, but I would have conversations with friends, and they’d be like, “Yeah, dude, if you say that, you’re going to get canceled. If you say anything around Palestine, they’ll come for you. They’ll cancel you.” And at a certain point, I remember I saw a fellow artist and friend, Kehlani, and she had said something. And someone told me she was going hard for Palestine. And I went to her Instagram page, and I saw that. And as it says in the film, bravery is contagious. And I saw Kehlani, and I was like, “OK, that’s all I needed, was one other person stepping up and saying, ‘This is wrong.’” And it gave me kind of that push to make a first statement. And I haven’t really turned back since.
I believe it’s my moral obligation, not just as an artist, not as someone with a platform or four-time Grammy — like, all that is just labels. What this really comes down to is humans, human beings, humanity advocating for the most marginalized. When we strip all of it away, when we take away what — you know, what’s at stake here, what — you know, I just — I’m done. I’m done playing the game of capitalism and “let me walk the straight and narrow so I don’t offend this person and that person.” And that was an unlearning. You know, that was an unlearning for me to be like, “You know what? I am not tied to any record label. I don’t care about a brand deal. I don’t care. I’ve been so lucky in my career that I’m financially stable enough that I don’t have anything to risk that’s going to actually jeopardize, like, putting food on my table. I need to step up in this moment right now.” And I felt called. I felt called by my ancestors. I felt called from those who came before. I felt called by all the people that have put their freedom on the line for the freedom of all of us. And I’m not going to stop.
AMY GOODMAN: The film, among others, features Grant Miner, who’s what? A fifth-, sixth-year graduate student at Columbia, who is a Jewish American, now expelled. So, were you afraid of being, as you were talking about, being called antisemitism, when so many of the activists around the country who are fighting for Palestine are Jewish?
MACKLEMORE: Of course. Of course I was afraid of it. But you realize this has never been about Jewish people. This is — at the very root, at the core of this resistance movement, is beautiful Jewish people in solidarity with Palestinians. As Mahmoud says in the film, Palestinian liberation is Jewish liberation. Jewish liberation is Palestinian liberation. They are not separate. But this term “antisemitic” is being used in this way to instill fear, to create division, to continue the absolute genocide that is taking place in Gaza, to center that fear and use it as a mechanism in which to silence the people.
And what we have seen is education is the greatest tool. It’s the greatest tool in this moment. The young people — at a certain point, we know what it is. We see it. Young people are educated. They know the difference between Judaism and Zionism. They are not — they are not linked. Zionism is a political ideology. It has nothing to do with the Torah. We know this. But the way that it is being spun in the media as anything but a movement of love and of solidarity is completely false. So, shoutout to Grant. Shoutout to all — to JVP, to IfNotNow, to Israelism, the film. There’s so many Jewish people right now in our country stepping up and dispelling this insane notion of antisemitism. They’re actually showing the beauty of collective liberation.
AMY GOODMAN: Macklemore, can you talk about the making of “Hind’s Hall” and “Hind’s Hall 2”? Start with “Hind’s Hall” and why [Hind Rajab], her story, the [5-year-old girl], touched you so much. It became basically an anthem of the encampment movement across the country.
MACKLEMORE: I hear the 911 tape of Hind, and I hear my own 6-year-old daughter. You know, I have a 6-year-old. She just turned 7. Hind didn’t get to turn 7. I hear her crying out. I cannot help but imagine my own 6-year-old. And it makes me emotional even just saying it. I can’t imagine my 6-year-old making that 911 call and pleading for someone to please come and save her, and the way that her life was ended by IDF bullets, you know, over a hundred of them. I can’t make sense of that. I can’t make sense of that world.
And really, the song came from a place of — I was writing. I was just — I had no other way to process this. You know, writing has always been a means of me trying to process this world and get deeper into my own truth and this human experience. And I was so moved by what the students at Columbia were doing. I was so moved by — by their bravery and taking over Hamilton Hall, you know, being reminded of resistance movements of the past, of seeing that the students have never been wrong. They have always been on the right side of history. And look at what they’re doing again. Look at what they are doing again. They are leading not only our country, but showing the rest of the world what it looks like to risk, to risk all — you know, again, they paid — who knows how much money they paid to go to college there at Columbia University? They are uprooting this notion of “I need to protect myself,” and they stepped in. And I think that it came in a time where we were all feeling that fatigue, and Columbia reminded us of what is possible.
And it spread. It spread to universities all across the country. That news got back to those kids in Gaza. They saw, “You know what? Although the U.S. is literally bombing us, Israel is literally killing us, there are people out there that know that our lives are worth the exact same as anyone else in this world.” Those kids in Gaza felt seen.
And the students at Columbia reminded me of what it means to show up. And I remember I came home one day, I went to yoga, and I left yoga, and my heart was feeling open, and I heard this sample by Fairuz that my friend Tamara had played me. And it came on in the car, and it was divine timing. I came right down here to this chair that I’m in, and that song wrote itself. You know, I believe that songs that come from source write themselves. I was just — I happened to have the pen in my hand at that moment.
AMY GOODMAN: Could you share a few lines with us of “Hind’s Hall”?
MACKLEMORE: [rapping] The people, they won’t leave What is threatenin’ about divesting and wantin’ peace? The problem isn’t the protests, it’s what they’re protesting It goes against what our country is funding Block the barricade until Palestine is free Block the barricade until Palestine is free When I was seven, I learned a lesson from Cube and Eazy-E What was it again? Oh yeah, F— the police.
AMY GOODMAN: And then, “Hind’s Hall 2,” you made that with the help of a Gazan teenager, a rapper named MC Abdul, and the Palestinian American singer Anees. Can you talk about them?
MACKLEMORE: I wanted to continue, you know, continue. I think it was important for me to give Palestinian artists a voice, that was maybe a voice through my platform. Obviously, both those artists have amazing platforms and voices, but I think that my demographic is different. And I wanted to ensure that, like, everyone was able to come and lend their perspective on what’s going on right now, and have it be as heard by as many people as possible.
Anees and I had been going back and forth, and we had kind of both talked about, like, “Yo, we got to do something. We got to say something. You know, we got to make a song.” And it was the perfect opportunity. And right after “Hind’s Hall” came out — it was probably within a couple days — I was in New Zealand. And I hit Anees, and I was like, “Bro, we got to do — we got to do a remix to this.” And I started making the beat. We started sending things back and forth. And slowly, you know, in the next four months, the song was made.
My guy Ghazi from Empire Records put me in touch with MC Abdul, 15 years old, you know, from Palestine, who’s just a phenomenal MC, phenomenal person. And yeah, he sent his verse in. And just the imagery — you know, he’s able to tell a story that I’m not able to tell. He’s able to tell us a very personal story about, you know, losing family, about getting out, about the Palestinian struggle from the perspective of a Palestinian that’s from Palestine. And that voice needs to be heard.
So, to me, it’s just, we are storytellers. We are — art is the greatest form of resistance, or a form of resistance. And “Hind’s Hall 2” was birthed out of that resistance and coming from a place of “We are going to tell our story and not have it be told by anybody else.”
AMY GOODMAN: Macklemore, what do you hope will happen with the film The Encampments, that’s just opening today in different theaters, from Los Angeles to New York?
MACKLEMORE: I hope it wakes up people’s hearts. I hope it reminds people, it serves as a deep reminder, that we are all connected, that it dispels any notion of division, and yet what it actually shows is true solidarity. I hope that it rewrites this history. I think this history — the truth will be our history, as much as it’s attempted to be censored right now. But I think that it will remind people, again, that the students are never wrong. It rekindles bravery. It rekindles courage. And it’s a call to action. We need to get mobilized, organized, And we are in urgent, dire times that require us as human beings coming together and fighting against fascism, fighting against genocide, and the only way to do that is by opening up the heart and realizing that collective liberation is the only solution.
AMY GOODMAN: Four-time Grammy-winning musician Macklemore. He’s the executive producer of the new documentary The Encampments, which is opening in the next week in New York, in Los Angeles and beyond. Coming up, we speak to two Columbia graduate students, one who’s just been expelled, as well as the producer of The Encampments. Stay with us.
