SENATOR RAND PAUL – The president is subverting the Constitution—and America’s latest undeclared war in the Middle East is just the latest example.
Category: November 2014
Ferguson: Reliving or Reversing a Violent Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?
DAVID RAGLAND with WAYNE ADAMS, MAHDIS AZARMANDI and MARK LANCE – It’s been 100 days since Darren Wilson killed unarmed young African American Michael Brown and the world is watching and waiting to hear the forgone conclusion of white officer Wilson’s non-indictment. Many expect a violent reaction from an angry community when there is no indictment. There is little mainstream coverage of the many groups within the St. Louis region that have begun important conversations, nonviolence trainings and planning to make positive change in their communities.
Obama Extends War in Afghanistan
KATHY KELLY – News agencies reported this morning that weeks ago President Obama signed an order, kept secret until now, to authorize continuation of the Afghan war for at least another year. The order authorizes U.S. airstrikes “to support Afghan military operations in the country†and U.S. ground troops to continue normal operations, which is to say, to “occasionally accompany Afghan troops†on operations against the Taliban.
U.N. Predicts New Global Population Boom
DAVID TALBOT – A new analysis suggests that the world’s population will keep rising through 2100, and not flatten around 2050 as has been widely assumed. Such an increase would have huge implications, but the prediction’s reliability is debatable, given that it does not take into account future hardships a large population would likely face.
American Journey From Terror to Peace, 9/11 to 11/11
ELIZABETH KUCINICH and DENNIS KUCINICH – America’s future may well be described by whether we can successfully navigate the path from terror to peace, a path from 9/11 to 11/11 and the spirit of Armistice. It is a path that requires truth, reconciliation, commitment and courage. War-weary Americans are ready for a new direction, whether official Washington is ready or not.
The Bases Of War In The Middle East
DAVID VINE – With the launch of a new U.S.-led war in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State (IS), the United States has engaged in aggressive military action in at least 13 countries in the Greater Middle East since 1980. In that time, every American president has invaded, occupied, bombed, or gone to war in at least one country in the region. The total number of invasions, occupations, bombing operations, drone assassination campaigns, and cruise missile attacks easily runs into the dozens. As in prior military operations in the Greater Middle East, U.S. forces fighting IS have been aided by access to and the use of an unprecedented collection of military bases
Divestment on Campus: Debate is One-Sided
EVAN J. MANDERY – Climate change is our era’s defining challenge, but most of America’s universities are planning to sit this one out. Though students and faculty members at more than 400 colleges have called for administrators to divest from fossil-fuel energy companies, fewer than 20 have committed to doing so. Stanford recently divested from coal, but none of the other schools had endowments within the 150 largest in 2013.
Ten Things to Know About the Climate Deal
BILL MCKIBBEN – November 12: Last night, just weeks after the largest climate mobilization ever, the world’s two biggest polluters — the United States and China — announced their most ambitious climate action yet. That is not a coincidence: it’s a sign that our pressure is working, and that we need to apply much more.
Apocalypse Now: Seriously, It’s Time for a Major Rethink About Liberal and Progressive Politics
DON HAZEN – We are losing badly to the corporate state. Here’s what we need to do.
The Disturbing Expansion of the Military-Industrial Complex
MAIREAD MAGUIRE – How can we explain that in the 21st century we are still training millions of men and women in our armed forces and sending them to war? There are more choices than war or peace, there are multi-optional choices and a civilian-based non-military diplomatic-political policy has more chance of succeeding in solving a violent conflict.
How We Are Being Led to War – Again
DANNY KATCH – The reactionaries of ISIS are being depicted as uniquely violent and barbaric–but as Danny Katch argues, the most violent force in the Middle East is U.S. imperialism.
What the Election Results Mean for the Climate Movement
MAY BOEVE – The results of the November 4, 2014 election were pretty rough. But when times get tough, it’s really important to remember to breathe, and focus on how we’re going to fix this problem together. Here’s my early sense of what this election means for the climate movement:
Nuclear Power’s Dangers Are Not Banished by Denial
JOHN LAFORGE – Weakening radiation standards, a cap on accident liability, reactor propaganda vs improvements, old units running past expiration dates, revving the engines beyond design specs …. You’d think we were itching for a meltdown. The Environmental Protection Agency has recommended increased radiation exposure limits following major releases. It would save the industry a bundle to permit large human exposures, rather than shut down rickety reactors.
The Umbrella Revolution: Nonviolent Struggle Erupts in Hong Kong
ROLIEN HOYNG and MURAT ES – Two professors in Hong Kong interview fellow academics, student activists and graduate students from mainland China in order to draw out Hong Kong’s history in relation to globalizing forms of political expression. Colonial history, neoliberal urban governance, and Chinese authoritarianism all bear on the current unrest.
Why Don’t We Build a Movement?
KAZU HAGA – What if all organizations in Oakland who work for social justice put down their egos and worked to create a COLLECTIVE work-plan for the next 10 years? Not just deciding to work together on 1 campaign for a year. Actually built integrated workplans that allow us to still do what each of us do best, but with a grand strategy of how we’re all contributing to the same change? What if nonprofits stopped their turf wars? What if nonprofits stopped feeding into the capitalist, individualistic mentality of this culture and took the idea of movements and collaborations seriously? What if we told all of our funders that after spending down our current grant, we’re all gonna change directions slightly and start to work together for real? What if . . .