LISA GILBERT and ROBERT WEISSMAN – If we fight — with everything, every damn thing, we’ve got — we *will* prevent at least some damage, and there is every reason to think we can stop the MAGA nightmare from becoming a permanent reality.
Category: Archive
Community Support Helps Keep the Orca Book Cooperative Stay Afloat
DAMON ORION – When COVID-19 hit, U.S. bookshops were an endangered species. Olympia, Washington’s largest independent bookstore survived by embracing the co-op model.
Evaluating the Role of Right-Wing Christianity in the Election and Its Aftermath
BOB TOPPER – The problems we face are real. Solutions will come from realists who make rational decisions based on science and facts. Fantasies and superstitious fears will only perpetuate them. Anyone who doubts that should consider the tragic outcomes of religious fanaticism throughout history from the Inquisition to Heaven’s Gate, and then compare the well-being of people living in liberal democracies to those living in the theocratic and autocratic nations, especially those in the Middle East.
When Will the General Assembly Suspend Israel?
KATHY KELLY –
Eight Reasons Why Marco Rubio Would Be a Disastrous Secretary of State
MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICOLAS J. S. DAVIES – Of all Trump’s choices for his foreign policy team, Marco Rubio is the least controversial to the neoconservative foreign policy establishment in Washington, and the most certain to provide continuity with all that is wrong with U.S. foreign policy, from Cuba to the Middle East to China.
Some Amount of World Government Desperately Needed
LAWRENCE S. WITTNER – The time has come to transform the United Nations into a federation of nations that can effectively uphold international law―a government for the world. With such a government, we would have a much better chance of restraining outlaw nations and averting the nuclear catastrophe that looms before us.
The BRICS Summit Should Mark The End Of Neocon Delusions
JEFFREY D, SACHS – The majority of the world does not want or accept U.S. hegemony.
How the Dutch Climate Movement Won an Environmental Breakthrough
PAUL ENGLER – An innovative Extinction Rebellion campaign to end fossil fuel subsidies offers key lessons for the global movement.
A New Wave of Movements against Trumpism is coming
MARK ENGLER and PAUL ENGLER – Our past experience tells us that coming months and years will offer moments that trigger public revulsion. Social movements provide a unique mechanism for responding, creating common identity and purpose between strangers and allowing genuine, collective participation in building a better democracy. If we are to make it together through Trump’s second presidency and emerge in its aftermath to create the world we need, this may be our greatest hope. Indeed, it may be our only one.
We Have a Sacred Duty – All of Us
RIVERA SUN – On Election Night, I did my civic duty and held it sacred. Now, I’m asking you to do your civic duty and hold it sacred. Stand up for your fellow citizens and human beings. Reject the politics of hate and policies of discrimination. Join us in reclaiming that profound and sacred aspiration of being a country of respect and decency. It’s not just the fate of our nation at stake. Your reputation is also on the line.
A Call to Post-Election Action
PETER BERGEL – What works in Oregon may not work in Ohio, but we desperately need to come together around a vision that allows us to survive. Without that vision, as the Tao says, the people perish.
Montana’s First Worker Cooperative Is In It for the Long Haul
DAMON ORION – The custom steel fabrication and design company Crucible built a “gravel road” for other Montana worker co-ops to follow.
Five Ways to Approach the Election with a Movement Mindset
RAE ABILEAH and ANDREW BOYD – Distilling hard-earned lessons from election dilemmas faced by earlier social movements, here are five key insights to consider.
This activist group chat has been blocking a weapons shipment to Israel for weeks
MADISON BANNON – A South African WhatsApp group working with Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, has sparked a movement to block a ship carrying military explosives bound for Israel.
An Open Letter to Vice President Kamala Harris on US Middle East Policy
MEL GURTOV – The Palestinian people have the right to a peaceful future, and you, candidate for President of the United States, might well say, “it is my intention, as President, to do everything possible to give them that. They, the Israeli people, and all others in the Middle East cannot benefit from endless war.”
Amazing True Story About Mutual Understanding on the Abortion Issue
JOSH SABEY – When political rivals meet behind closed doors, positive changes can occur in everyone involved,
What’s Certain About Results of the Presidential Election
NORMAN SOLOMON – While the name of the next president is unknown, some outcomes of the election can be foreseen.
War’s Victims Speak the Deepest Truth
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – “The past carries unforgettable trauma and pain across the land and among generations of refugees; yet we choose to transform victimhood into agency. We want to be the authors of our future.” Let these words resonate. In a sense, they’re all we have — if we oppose war and envision a future that transcends it. I’ve quoted these words of Ali Abu Awwad before. They’re part of the Palestinian Nonviolence Charter, but they reach beyond Palestine: deep into the soul, and the hope, of all humanity.
Israel Intensifies Its Disregard of World Opinion; Targets the UN
MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICOLAS J. S. DAVIES – Each new week brings new calamities for people in the countries neighboring Israel, as its leaders try to bomb their way to the promised land of an ever-expanding Greater Israel. A US arms embargo against Israel and an end to U.S. obstruction in the UN Security Council could tip the political balance of power in favor of the world’s collective efforts to resolve the crisis.
Vote Climate U.S. PAC Announces Release of 2024 National Climate Change Voter’s Guide
KARYN STRICKLER – Because American voters want to prioritize climate-action in the voting booth, Vote Climate U.S. PAC is releasing our 2024 Presidential, Congressional and Gubernatorial, Voter’s Guide, making us the only website in the country to provide a climate change Voter’s Guide for candidates for POTUS, Governors, U.S. House, U.S. Senate and Statehouses (partial) all in one convenient, user friendly site.
Men Voting to Support Reproductive Rights Could Help Send Kamala Harris to the White House
ROB OKUN – The clock is ticking. “Do something!” Michelle Obama exhorted us. Talk to the men and young men in your life. Encourage them to speak out—and to vote. The lives of their daughters, partners, wives, aunts and sisters, depend on it.
Kris Kristofferson: His Anti-War Legacy Amidst His Musical Career
CHRIS HOUSTON – American country musician Kris Kristofferson was a military veteran and anti-war activist. He continued his advocacy against the Gulf Wars and benefit concerts for Palestinian children despite the negative impacts that both had on his career. Kristofferson died on September 28 at his home in Hawaii, aged 88. Stephen Miller’s 2009 biography quotes Kristofferson, “I found a considerable lack of work after doing concerts for the Palestinian children and for a couple of gigs with Vanessa Redgrave and if that’s the way it has to be, that’s the way it has to be. If you support human rights, you gotta support them everywhere.”
In the Heart of Wall Street, Rights of Nature Activists Put the Fossil Fuel Era on Trial
KATIE SURMA – What would the world look like if legal systems rendered decisions based on what was best for the integrity of ecosystems? A people’s tribunal on the “rights of nature” is providing a model.
Georgia’s Repressive Tactics Unravel In ‘Stop Cop City’ Case
FIGHT BACK! NEWS – Georgia’s aggressive prosecution of activists in the Stop Cop City case is part of a larger trend across the U.S., where the state increasingly treats protest movements as threats to national security rather than expressions of democratic dissent.
Court Rules U.S. Nuclear Weapons Production Plan Violates Federal Law
MEDIA CONTACTS FOR NEWS RELEASE – On September 30, United States District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis ruled that the United States Department of Energy (“DOE”) and its semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration (“NNSA”), violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) by failing to properly consider alternatives before proceeding with their plan to produce plutonium pits, a critical component of nuclear weapons, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (“LANL”) in New Mexico and, for the first time ever, at the Savannah River Site (“SRS”) in South Carolina. The Court found that the plan’s purpose had fundamentally changed from NNSA’s earlier analyses which had not considered simultaneous pit production at two sites. These changes necessitated a reevaluation of alternatives, including site alternatives, which Defendants failed to undertake prior to moving forward while spending tens of billions of taxpayers’ dollars.
How I Became “Mentally Ill” from JFK to Today
KARY LOVE – Today many good people unite to still seek the noble realization of JFK’s peace goal.. But too many are willing to profit from death and they must be repudiated, shunned and excluded from power. As MLK put it, “the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice.” This is only true if moral people stand forth, reject the evil, and bend it towards the good.
The Economy: Things You Believe That Are Not True
ARNOLD OLIVER – If you are among those legions of Americans who think that Republicans are better economic stewards, please rethink your views. And if you hear someone make such a claim, please correct them politely but firmly.
“Escalation Dominance”. . . and the Prospect of More Than 1,000 Holocausts
NORMAN SOLOMON – Today, with nuclear arsenals vastly larger and more powerful, scientists know that a nuclear exchange would cause “nuclear winter.” And the nearly complete end of agriculture on the planet. Some estimates put the survival rate of humans on Earth at 1 or 2 percent. More than 1,000 Holocausts.
United Nations adopts ground-breaking Pact for the Future to transform global governance
UNITED NATIONS – United Nations adopts ground-breaking Pact for the Future to transform global governance.
Jury defies judge and refuses to convict Palestine Action activists
SKWAWKBOX – A jury at Bradford Crown Court has defied a judge’s attempts to rule out any legal argument about the imperative of disrupting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and has refused to convict four Palestine Action ‘actionists’ who caused over half a million pounds’ worth of damage to a Teledyne weapons factory supplying missile parts to Israel.
‘Failure of Leadership’: Hoffa Rips O’Brien Over Teamsters’ Snub of Harris
JON QUEALLY – If Trump ultimately wins, Greenhouse said, the snub of Harris may be something O’Brien and the Teamsters “end up regretting because a second Trump administration will probably be even more of a danger to unions (and democracy) than the first one.”
Campaign Nonviolence Organizes 5,209 Peace Activities Worldwide
CAAMPAIGN NONVIOLENCE – A culture of active nonviolence is powerful. It’s visionary. It’s active. It’s disruptive. It’s healing and transforming. And it’s here now.
To address the climate emergency, foundations must spend big on movements
MARGARET KLEIN SALAMON – Philanthropy has a unique and critical role to play in addressing the climate emergency. By acknowledging the calamity we face and adjusting their operations, philanthropies can lead society into the “emergency mode” necessary to avert disaster. The time for half-measures, white papers and panel discussions is over. Philanthropy must act now, boldly and decisively, to help save our planet for future generations.
Campus Protests: How to Lose
DR. TOM H. HASTINGS – Basic Negotiation 101: Make a demand. Let the other party know what your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) is. Stick to it and impose costs if you are able. Do so without rancor or identity slurs, which saves face for everyone. Preserving everyone’s dignity in the throes of conflict is crucial and ultimately allows your enemy to become your opponent and ultimately your partner in a collaborative path forward.
Trying to Outflank the GOP on China Is a Mistake
JAKE WERNER – China bashing is a dead end for Democrats.
The Growing Case for Medicare for All
ANDREW MOSS – In recent weeks, Harris has said that although her policy positions may have changed, her values haven’t. If she is elected president, she should seize the opportunity to align her values – healthcare as a right, not a commodity – with policies that offer the best chance of realizing those values fully.
The quiet rollout of Cop Cities across the US meets a growing resistance
VICTORIA VELENZUELA – As Cop Cities spread to nearly every state, grassroots activists are pushing back by forming coalitions that press for investment in communities over militarized policin
60 Years After Lyndon Johnson’s “Daisy Ad,” the Silence on Nuclear War Is Dangerous
NORMAN SOLOMON – “These are the stakes,” Johnson said in the daisy ad as a mushroom cloud rose on screen, “to make a world in which all God’s children can live, or to go into the dark.” Those are still the stakes. But you wouldn’t know it now from either of the candidates vying to be the next president of the United States.
California city’s $550m deal with Chevron could be a national model for environmentalists
WILL MCCARTHY – California environmentalists have a new playbook for beating Big Oil.
Movement media organizations are coming together to build power
MAYA SCHENWAR and LARA WITT – Fourteen values-aligned organizations have formed the Movement Media Alliance, a new coalition of social justice-driven journalism platforms aimed at sharing resources and transforming the news.
Venezuela offers inspiration and an election warning
CLIFTON ROSS and MARCY REIN – Venezuelan democracy defenders are showing that the conflict isn’t about left versus right — it’s about opening a space to struggle for genuine freedom and democracy.
Project 2025 Provides a GOP Blueprint for Destroying America’s Labor Unions and the Rights of America’s Workers
LAWRENCE S. WITTNER – Project 2025 provides a powerful reminder to the labor movement and its supporters of how important it is to defeat the election of Trump and his MAGA Republicans this November. In addition, if anyone had any doubts about what Trump and his MAGA Republicans would do in the future about workers’ rights, they had only to look at the labor record of the first Trump administration. That record included sabotaging America’s labor unions, presiding over massive plant closures and job losses, blocking workers’ wage gains, and undermining the health and safety of American workers.
In CNN Interview, Harris Dodged Gaza Genocide and Damaged Her Election Prospects
NORMAN SOLOMON – Time is running out for Kamala Harris to distance herself from U.S. policies that enable Israel to continue with mass murder and genocide in Gaza. Polling shows that a pivot toward moral decency would improve her chances of defeating Donald Trump. But during her CNN interview Thursday night, Harris remained in lockstep with President Biden’s unconditional arming of Israel.
New metric in OR will make social-emotional health care more accessible
ERIC TEGETHOFF – Oregon aims to make social and emotional health care for young children more available with a new metric.
The US Operates the Largest Military Base Empire on Earth
GRETA ZARRO – U.S. foreign military bases provoke war, pollute communities, and steal land from Indigenous peoples. If the peace movement is serious about ending the United States’ and its allies’ warmaking, then this global constellation of bases must be curtailed.
How to Decolonize Our Battle Against Climate Change
LAURIE PARSONS – Rich countries have exported climate breakdown through extractive industries, creating a “carbon colonialism.”
The Curious Endurance of Atoms for Peace
HENRY SOKOLSKI – Peaceful nuclear power was a political gambit from the start. Why does it still continue?
How A Tie-Breaking Vote Fueled America’s Economy
DAVID MCCALL – IRA-funded projects are increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and shoring up supply chains, better positioning the nation to manufacture the goods needed both for domestic consumption and to trade with the world. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate in 2022 to pass the IRA and unlock billions for an advanced manufacturing economy. Not a single Republican in either chamber of Congress voted for this historic legislation, which is revolutionizing the cement, chemical, glass, and steel sectors along with other traditional core industries.
The Ghost of Hubert Humphrey Is Stalking Kamala Harris
NORMAN SOLOMON – If Kamala Harris loses to Trump after sticking with her support for arming the slaughter in Gaza, historians will likely echo words from biographer Offner, who wrote that after the 1968 election Humphrey “asked himself repeatedly whether he should have distanced himself sooner from President Johnson on the war. The answer was all too obvious.”
US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remembered amid growing threat of nuclear war
ABDUL RAHMAN – Over 50,000 people, including representatives from 109 countries, joined an event marking the 79th anniversary of the US’s bombing of Hiroshima. The main ceremony was held at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park on Tuesday, August 6.