DANIEL ROSS – If aggressive commercial agriculture exacerbates the climate crisis, are there key lessons to be learned from Indigenous land management practices that can help to restore environmental balance?
Category: March 2023
Maine State Senator Tells the Truth About the Ukraine War
ERIC BRAKEY – In his final point about a Maine joint resolution supporting the United States’ continued stance on the war in Ukraine, Eric Brakey concludes: This resolution should be demanding that Secretary of State Antony Blinken go to Geneva and sit down for peace talks with both Russian and Ukrainian leaders to resolve this border dispute, broker a peace, end the war, end the famine, end the energy crisis, and take the very real threat of nuclear annihilation off the table. That is what this body should be calling for: peace, not war!
Deepening Tensions on the Korean Peninsula Demand New Thinking in Washington
MEL GURTOV – The new game in town should be engagement of North Korea through reduced reliance on threat and greater reliance on confidence building and arms control.
How Long Will Gun Rights Trump Humans’ Right to Live?
SHAWNEE BALDWIN – The sight of bloodied shoes still haunts me and I was not even there that day. The images from December 14, 2012 still induce grief. Newtown parents recalling the day picks a scab off a wound that wasn’t even inflicted on me. And this is just one of many gun violence incidents plaguing our country. Guns only have one purpose – to maim, kill, or forever horribly alter the life of another. They must be regulated far more than they are now.
Mad As Hell; Not Gonna Take It!
BRAD WOLF – Being fully human means resisting death in all its forms. It means peacemaking. We have hope because we have the power to nonviolently resist, and that is a remarkable power. When exercised properly, it not only shivers the state, but affirms all of life.
Protecting Our Elections is Our Protection Against Religion’s Dark Side
BOB TOPPER – We should be happy that we are a secular nation and work to keep it that way. Yet, in their effort to undermine faith in our democracy, the right often and forcefully complains that we have lost our way, that liberalism and diversity have weakened the country. They say that our government is incompetent, that our scientists can’t be trusted, that our children are being brainwashed, that religious liberty is under attack, that our elections are fraudulent; the list seems endless. They are a very unhappy crowd who want the rest of the country to join them in their misery.
The Urbanity of Evil: 20 Years After the Invasion of Iraq
NORMAN SOLOMON – Vast quantities of lies from top U.S. government officials led up to the Iraq invasion. Now, marking its 20th anniversary, the same media outlets that eagerly boosted those lies are offering retrospectives. Don’t expect them to shed light on the most difficult truths, including their own complicity in pushing for war. What propelled the United States to start the war on Iraq in March 2003 were dynamics of media and politics that are still very much with us today.
What Florida Doesn’t Want You to Know About Its Book Bans
JODI PICOULT – In the brilliant words of Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, books create windows through which kids can escape and mirrors in which they can find themselves. We want you to stand in solidarity with us, the writers who create these books. Because we’ve seen, historically, what the next chapter looks like when we don’t speak out against book challenges… and that story does not end well.
How to build a progressive movement in a polarized country
GEORGE LAKEY – Many assume that polarization is a barrier to making change, but history shows otherwise. By learning what worked in previous periods of polarization, we can observe a clear roadmap to transformation.
The Military and the Debt Limit: Stiffing Taxpayers When the Bill Comes Due
TOM H. HASTINGS – It is long past time to really pare down the DoD budget. We should not have sophisticated weaponry all over the Earth, under the seas, and in space while families are living in tents in the snow on sidewalks and while health care is still not available to all. Can we unite for peace and prosperity?
Why News of Population Decline and Economic Slowdown Isn’t Necessarily a Bad Thing
RICHARD HEINBERG – Sure, the end of economic expansion and population growth is a challenging prospect. But it’s not nearly as daunting as the crisis we are setting up for ourselves if we continue to destroy nature through wasteful consumption and pollution. China’s slowdown is a welcome opportunity for global leaders and policymakers to get our priorities straight and set ourselves on a path of sustainable happiness and well-being.
The Deafening Silence of Intellectuals in the Face of Growing Global Conflicts
BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS – Intellectuals do not have a monopoly on culture, on values, or on truth, much less on the meanings attributed to any one of these “domains of the spirit,” as they used to be termed. But intellectuals should also not shrink from denouncing what they see as destructive of culture, values, and truth, notably when such destruction claims to be carried out in the name of these “domains of spirit.”
Don’t be Misled: “Wokeness” Means “Kindness”
JONATHAN KLATE – “Wokeness” is what folks on the political right love to declare themselves as being against these days. But, what is it, really, that they oppose?
The Ninth Anniversary of the Ukraine War
JEFFREY D. SACHS – We are not at the 1-year anniversary of the war, as the Western governments and media claim. This is the 9-year anniversary of the war. And that makes a big difference.
Possible Coup Taking Shape in Israel
MEL GURTOV – Israel has always been touted as America’s most reliable friend in the Middle East, a bastion of democracy in a region dominated by autocracies. Now that picture is fraying as the far-right coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes power.