THOM HARTMANN – The merger of billionaire wealth with partisan Republican governance—and their combined efforts to reshape our government in their own corrupt image, the public be damned—threaten the integrity and future of the American experiment.
Author: Oregon PeaceWorks
From Montana to the Amazon, Let’s Remember to Celebrate Climate Victories
KWOLANNE FELIX – Climate advocacy is arduous, thankless work. But recent wins in the courtroom and at the ballot box give Kwolanne Felix hope.
Oppenheimer’s “Triumph” Destroyed Him; Will It Destroy Us Too?
WINSLOW MYERS – The anguish of Robert Oppenheimer, who unleashed destruction beyond measure and then tried his best to stop its further spread, reminds us that America bears special responsibility for creating the kind of world he hoped for, where the nuclear curse is finally lifted.
DOE’s error-ridden analysis on coal CCS project threatens climate and engagement goals
EMILY GRUBERT – Evaluating whether technologies like hydrogen and carbon capture provide more benefit than harm is a critical activity for the U.S. on our decarbonization journey. The risks are large, and serious. The analyses we need are nuanced and require careful attention: this cannot be a “check the box exercise.” Not taking this seriously risks potentially trillions of dollars and billions of tonnes of GHG emissions, not to mention the trust and goodwill of the American public, which is reasonably skeptical of these potentially critically important technologies. The Project Tundra EA is shocking, with scary implications for doing this right. We must do better, and we must demand better.
One Day for Labor Is Not Enough
ANDREW MOSS – The state of labor this year is so fraught, so weighted with issues and problems, that a single day of homage and reflection doesn’t seem enough. It’s as if a year or more is needed to engage the issues, challenges, and possibilities facing American workers today.
Activists Now Have 104,000 Signatures to Put “Stop Cop City” on the Ballot
MIKE LUDWIG – Worried that city officials will reject large numbers of signatures, organizers have collected far more than required.
Wildfires Aren’t Just a Threat to People-They’re Killing Off Earth’s Biodiversity
REYNARD LOKI – In September 2022, climate journalist and native Oregonian Emma Pattee wrote in the New York Times that “[c]limate scientists estimate that the frequency of large wildfires could increase by over 30 percent in the next 30 years and over 50 percent in the next 80 years, thanks in large part to drought and extreme heat caused by climate change.” That is a frightening prospect not just for humans but for the countless nonhuman animals with whom we share this planet.
Lahaina Tragedy Shows Us the Connection Between Climate Change and Nuclear Weapons
WINSLOW MYERS – If Lahaina carries an echo of Pearl Harbor, the fire-bombing of Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, it also ties together the two largest challenges our species faces together, nuclear war and climate catastrophe.
New 4% Tax on Wealthiest Residents Will Fund Free School Meals in Massachusetts
ZANE MCNEILL – Public school students in Massachusetts are set to get a free breakfast and lunch after the state implemented a new 4 percent tax on the state’s wealthiest residents. Massachusetts is the eighth U.S. state to make free school meals permanent.
Coast to Coast Peace Walk Being Planned
VETERANS FOR PEACE – The goal of promoting VFP or any organization is secondary. That is why we welcome anyone or any left antiwar organization of good will to get on board. The primary and basic foundation organizing will be done by VFP. However, we want your input, involvement and suggestions. If we can all come together on this walk across the heart of America, we can do anything, maybe even begin to actually stop the war machine and find peace.
Arms Deals Are Bad Deals
TOM HASTINGS – Congress can fuss all day long over inane culture war issues that are less than a rounding error in the federal budget, but the real theft from all of us who work for a living is from the war profiteer corporations. Congress can pretend that Social Security and Medicare are making us impoverished but it is the contractor corporations who take more than anyone from our paychecks, quite literally. Only the American people can correct this. It will not be done by those we’ve elected so far, with some noteworthy exceptions. Change it up. Bring in those who are actually committed to fixing this.
Spitting Out Our Bite of the Nuclear Apple
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – War goes deep in the human psyche and, despite the hell it creates, our inner adolescent all too often refuses to surrender belief in it. Humanity has not fully transcended the social organizing principle of war — not when you toss in the corporate profiteering that accompanies it, or the political usefulness of a good enemy. But many, many courageous people are involved in pushing humanity to transcend war.
Survivors of Oppenheimer’s Trinity test are still fighting for justice and recognition
ALESSANDRA BERGAMIN – Nearly 80 years after the first atomic test in New Mexico, a consortium of “downwinders” are documenting the bomb’s impact on their community and organizing for restitution.
‘This Is Huge’: Judge Sides With Montana Youths in Historic Climate Ruling
JULIA CONLEY – “As fires rage in the West, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today’s ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation’s efforts to save the planet,” said one attorney representing 16 young plaintiffs.
Remembering the Painful Parts of Our Collective History is Important
WIM LAVEN – We would all benefit from an honest appraisal of our painful past. Remembering our collective history—with all its blemishes and bloodstains—could be more than a wake-up call.
Decades After the Nuclear Annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US Government Called the Bombings “Tests”
NORMAN SOLOMON – The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki actually were tests, in more ways than one.
The climate movement has a recruiting and retention problem – here’s how we fix it
CHARLIE WOOD – Bringing more people into the climate struggle starts with transforming movement culture and opening diverse paths to entry.
How America Undervalues Working People, and How Workers are Fighting Back
ANDREW MOSS – America is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Yet when compared to other advanced industrialized countries, it fares dismally in national laws and policies affecting workers. This is a major claim of a recent cross-national study sponsored by the humanitarian organization Oxfam America, a report that offers a powerful lens for understanding the major strike activity now underway in the U.S.
Zero Would Be Nice: on Oppenheimer and the TPNW
VICKI ELSON – We can safely abolish all nuclear weapons.
Shocking Statistics Cast Doubt on Human Wisdom
TOM H. HASTINGS – But the waste of war, including the massive diversion of the fruits of our labors to the war system instead of health care, education, and infrastructure, seems overwhelmingly stupid and maladaptive. Are we truly Homo sapiens, the self-anointed “Wise ones”? We shall see. It’s looking dubious.
Massive crowds rally in Israel as vote on judicial overhaul looms
AL JAZEERA – Protesters set up camp outside Israeli parliament as hundreds of thousands rally in Tel Aviv against far-right government’s judicial plans.
There’s no such thing as a new nuclear golden age–just old industry hands trying to make a buck
STEPHANIE COOKE – It’s hard to see how any of the nuclear hype becomes real unless Congress is ready to ignore market signals, nationalize the electricity sector, and rebuild an industrial infrastructure that disappeared decades ago.
Oppenheimer Film Offers Great Organizing Opportunity
ROBERT DODGE – I attended this weekend’s Los Angeles opening of Christopher Nolan’s epic film, Oppenheimer. This must-see film provides a critical opening for an essential conversation about nuclear weapons and their role in our security and the fate of the planet.
Four Big Banks refuse to renew loans to Whitehaven Coal
JIM MCLLROY – Environment groups said the refusal by [Australia’s] Big Four banks to renew a $1 billion loan to Whitehaven Coal — the country’s biggest coal-only mining company — is a win for people power.
The Pimps of War
CHRIS HEDGES – The same cabal of war mongering pundits, foreign policy specialists and government officials, year after year, debacle after debacle, smugly dodge responsibility for the military fiascos they orchestrate. They are protean, shifting adroitly with the political winds, moving from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party and then back again, mutating from cold warriors to neocons to liberal interventionists. Pseudo intellectuals, they exude a cloying Ivy League snobbery as they sell perpetual fear, perpetual war, and a racist worldview, where the lesser breeds of the earth only understand violence.
Who Needs Chinese Scientists? America Does
MEL GURTOV – Let’s remember that no one appreciates academic freedom more than visitors from China and other countries under authoritarian rule. When that freedom is violated by harassment and suspicion, word gets back to China very quickly, and the rewards for returning to China, in money and prestige, become tantalizing.
History Repudiates Three Key Myths About Human Societies
GARY M. FEINMAN – The New Gilded Age, wars along the Russian border, a global pandemic, battles for women’s rights, even the Titanic: history does rhyme with the present. Yet as former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert once observed: “If history tells us anything, it’s that we never learn from history.”
THE SUPREME COURT DIDN’T PUT RACISM ON A LEASH. IT GRANTED IT LICENSE.
CHARLES M. BLOW – There is a recurrent theme in American history: the clawing back of hard-won progress. And the Supreme Court used the most specious of arguments to do so with affirmative action.
Sending Cluster Bombs to Ukraine Is a Grave Mistake
PATRICK HILLER – The War Prevention Initiative condemns the decision by the United States government to send cluster bombs to Ukraine in the latest arms shipment package. Cluster bombs kill and maim civilians indiscriminately during and after war. They are also a major threat to the environment, contaminating land for decades after they are used. In short, cluster bombs do not win wars and will only hurt current and future generations of Ukrainians.
How volunteers in Ukraine are helping civilians reach safety
ELEFTHERIA KOUSTA – Amid deportations, floods and shelling, grassroots groups have formed to help Ukrainians evacuate the frontlines and occupied territories.
It’s Time to Stop the ‘Insect Apocalypse’
ROBERT C. kOEHLER – Back to pesticides then. Back to weed killers. Back to climate change and the apparent inability of the polluters who purport to be in charge of Planet Earth to address it adequately: Superficial change won’t do it. The change has to be cultural. It has to be spiritual. Believe me, if we fail to change who we are and the bees — the pollinators — disappear, we’ll all feel the sting.
Despite Warnings, IAEA Approves Japan Release Plan for Contaminated Fukushima Water
JON QUEALLY – Despite years of protest and warnings from environmentalists, the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog on Tuesday (July 4th) approved a plan by Japan to release tens of millions of gallons of water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.
Decency Requires a Change in Immigration Policy
DEREK ROYDEN – In the years ahead, as climate change truly takes hold, wealthier nations are going to have to make even more difficult decisions about what to do about those fleeing unlivable situations. Unfortunately, as the story of the SS St. Louis and more contemporary reactions to migration show, we don’t have a very good track record in this regard. Can we repair our historical amnesia enough to not only avoid committing moral outrage, but once again strengthening our societies by welcoming immigrants and refugees?
The Patriotism of Killing and Being Killed
NORMAN SOLOMON – The Fourth of July — the ultimate patriotic holiday — is [here] again. Politicians orate, American Flags proliferate and, even more than usual, many windows on the world are tinted red, white and blue. But an important question remains unasked: Why are patriotism and war so intertwined in U.S. media and politics?
How Daniel Ellsberg Helped End the Vietnam War
RUSSELL VANDENBROUCKE – Daniel Ellsberg, sent to Saigon in 1965 to evaluate civilian pacification programs, would spend 18 months with patrols into towns and villages. His skeptical reports about death and destruction and potential victory by North Vietnam went nowhere. Ellsberg struggled with his knowledge. He was a family man with a brilliant career, all of which would be at risk if he blew the whistle, and he knew it.
The Russian Coup That Wasn’t
MEL GURTOV – Tensions between the Russian defense ministry and the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, had been running high for months, mainly because of differences over war strategy and Prigozhin’s accusations of insufficient battlefield support. Last week those tensions reached the boiling point. And now Putin is stuck, a position that the US and NATO can choose either to exploit or, hopefully, to press for peace.
Daniel Ellsberg Has Passed Away. He Left Us a Message.
NORMAN SOLOMON – When Daniel Ellsberg died on Friday, June 16, 2023, the world lost a transcendent whistleblower with a powerful ethos of compassion and resolve.
How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe
BENJAMIN ABELOW – I am not anti-American. I see my comments here, as well as my book and my broader efforts regarding the Ukraine war, as an expression of American patriotism—an attempt to help realign U.S. policies with the true interests of the United States as a nation. These are my attempts to peacefully influence policies so that they better reflect the highest ethical values of the United States. To achieve this end, a hope which many share, we must face reality, even if that reality is uncomfortable. We must be willing to speak openly.
Wanted: More Fathers on the Front Lines of Social Change
ROB OKUN – Why are so many fathers and father figures standing mute on the sidelines of change?
Are We Living Through a De-Dollarization?
JUSTIN PODUR – Currency systems reflect power relations in the world: they don’t change them. The Anglo gold standard and the American dollar standard reflected imperial monopoly power for centuries. In a multipolar world, however, we should expect more diverse arrangements.
Why There Should Be a Treaty Against the Use of Weaponized Drones
ANN WRIGHT – The military finds it easier and safer to kill innocent civilians than put its own personnel on the ground to make on-site evaluations. Innocent persons will continue to die until we find a way to stop the use of this weapons system. The risks will increase as AI takes over more and more of the targeting and launch decisions.
De-Escalation of the Ukraine War Can Start with Ending All Nuclear Weapons “Sharing” on Both Sides
JOHN LAFORGE – The important call from Russian President Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for an end to the stationing of U.S. nuclear weapons in other countries, and its direct reference to the U.S. and its allies, helps clear the air around Russia’s threatened escalation — to deploy nuclear weapons to neighboring Belrus. The only practically workable way to move Putin to reverse his planned deployment, is to offer to reverse the Pentagon’s deployment. Call it a Cuban Missile Crisis Redux. That terrible confrontation was resolved when President Kennedy offered to, and then did, withdraw U.S. nuclear-armed missiles from Turkey. De-escalation works, and it can lead to further breakthroughs.
Why the Jan. 6 Convictions Set Dangerous New Legal Precedents
SHANE BURLEY – Many are celebrating the recent convictions against the Proud Boys, but they will only strengthen the state’s ability to target the left.
How protests that double as trainings are growing this fossil fuel divestment campaign
RAY BAILEY – By melding theory and practice, Philadelphia’s Vanguard S.O.S. are building skills and collective power.
The Move Toward a Four-Day Workweek Obscures Low Pay
SONALI KOLHATKAR – Of course Americans deserve to work fewer hours. But unless the move to a four-day workweek is accompanied by a massive pay raise, it merely frees up time to work more.
The Power of Humor in Indigenous Activism
CATY BORUM – Humor in Native culture has never been simply about entertainment. Comedy is also used to fight cultural invisibility and structural oppression.
The Power of Nonviolence: Myths and Reality
HALEY MORROW – A commonly held myth is that war concludes well with peace. In fact, conflict research shows that the losing side may accept defeat in a public-facing manner, only to fester and plot to get revenge later. Violence and war generally lead to further violence and war. Although it may lead to short-term “peace,” violent conflict rarely works to build sustained peace.
Disconnecting War from Its Consequences
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – Twenty-two years ago, Congress put sanity up for a vote. Sanity lost in the House, 420-1. It lost in the Senate, 98-0. Barbara Lee’s lone vote for sanity — that is to say, her vote against the Authorization for the Use of Military Force resolution, allowing the president to make war against . . . uh, evil . . . without congressional approval — remains a tiny light of courageous hope flickering in a chaotic world, which is on the brink of self-annihilation.
Banning Books to be Banned in Illinois
JUDD LEGUM – Across the country, right-wing activists are seeking to ban thousands of books from schools and other public libraries. Those promoting the bans often claim they are acting to protect children from pornography. But the bans frequently target books “by and about people of color and LGBTQ individuals.” Many of the books deemed pornography by activities are actually highly acclaimed novels. Now, one state is fighting back.
Oregon Nonprofit Returns Wallowa Land to Nez Perce Tribe
LAUREN PATERSON – Kathleen Ackley is the executive director of the Wallowa Land Trust. As more Northwest lake communities are being developed with vacation homes and Airbnbs, she says her organization’s focus is protecting natural areas, open spaces and farms in Northeast Oregon. The nonprofit recently gifted 30 acres of undeveloped land near the lake to the Nez Perce Tribe.