RIVERA SUN – The story of a “Sixth Mass Extinction” must be turned around. The child born today will be almost 80 in 2100. What kind of world will we build for her?
Category: Archive
Corporate Liberalism Is No Match for Trumpism
NORMAN SOLOMON – A vital challenge for progressives is to not only block Republican agendas but also to effectively campaign for policy changes that go far beyond the talking points of current Democratic leaders offering to tinker with the status quo. Merely promising a kinder, gentler version of grim social realities just won’t be enough to counter the faux populism of a neofascist Republican Party.
‘Homecoming’: 100 Years after Forceful Removal, Nez Perce People Celebrate Reclaimed Land
DIANNE LUGO – On Thursday, July 29, more than 150 Nez Perce (Niimiipuu) people returned and blessed part of their homeland, a hundred years after the U.S Army drove them from the Wallowa Valley in eastern Oregon.Â
Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale Is a Truth-Teller in a Time of Systemic Deceit and Lethal Secrecy
JEREMY SCAHILL – Drone whistleblower Daniel Hale should be pardoned and released, and the government should pay him restitution.
Everyone has a Role to Play in Stopping the Line 3 Pipeline
EILEEN FLANAGAN – Indigenous water protectors and allies are effectively engaging all four roles of social change — just what’s needed to beat a company as powerful as Enbridge.
Jesse Jackson, William Barber Among Dozens Arrested While Demanding Filibuster Repeal Outside Sinema’s Office
KENNY STANCIL – Thirty-nine people, including civil rights champions Revs. Jesse Jackson and William J. Barber II, were arrested Monday, July 26, during a sit-in outside the Phoenix office of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a conservative Democrat whose opposition to filibuster reform is enabling Senate Republicans to obstruct the passage of progressive legislation on voting rights, the minimum wage, immigration reform, climate action, and more.
Tokyo’s Games Are Harming the Nuclear Weapons Ban Movement
ALYN WARE – By paying lip service to the Fukushima disaster and the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan, these games are downplaying the growing danger of nuclear catastrophe.
The Savage We Need to Civilize is Within Us
ROBERT KOEHLER – Robert Koehler asks questions of the United States’ history not in regard to individual, but rather collective — governmental — behavior. He fears that as we unite, we diminish our ability to respect, and understand, the complexity of the universe, and of our fellow humans. We unite around simplistic certainties, and these certainties seem always to involve an enemy, or Other. And empowerment means being able to kill, rather than understand, embrace and learn from — or hear the music of — that Other.
Intensifying the Threat of Nuclear Devastation is not a Security Strategy
DR. MARC PILISUK – After a war has ended, historians, elected officials, and faith leaders, no less than the people involved, often raise doubts over whether the outcomes were worth the many horrific costs. But mourning diminishes over time and life for the survivors goes on. Such a recovery from destruction is no longer assured or even likely in the age of nuclear weapons. World leaders, however, continue to play the game of war in ways that risk the war that could end life on earth.
Experts: More Logging Won’t Stop Oregon’s Wildfires
ROZ BROWN – As the Bootleg fire burns in southern Oregon, the U.S. Senate is considering an infrastructure package that environmental scientists say contains misguided provisions. The infrastructure bill would include billions in funding for the U.S. Forest Service in the name of wildfire prevention.
As DA Rejects Charges, Bayou Bridge Water Protectors Vow ‘We Will Not Stop Our Work’
BRETT WILKINS – “Louisiana’s ‘critical infrastructure’ law is an attempt to take away our personal freedom along with our constitutional right to protest,” Annie White Hat continued. “I stand proud of our work and am grateful for the countless allies who bravely stepped forward to support the first direct actions to stop oil and gas in the swamps of south Louisiana.”
Why the Russian Revolution Actually Owes its Success to Nonviolent Resistance
DAVID CARROLL COCHRAN – Despite conventional wisdom, Russians relied principally on a sophisticated and diverse array of nonviolent methods to end centuries of tsarist rule in 1917.
Media Turns Against Government for Supporting Violence In Country of Georgia
GIORGI LOMSADZE – Following the death of a cameraman who was attacked by a far-right mob, thousands rallied against the government, which they blamed for condoning the violence. But the authorities only doubled down.
Reckoning and Reparations in Afghanistan
KATHY KELLY – The U.S. government owes reparations to the civilians of Afghanistan for the past twenty years of war and brutal impoverishment.
Peace on the Korean Peninsula Needs to Be a Priority
KEVIN MARTIN – This year marks the sixth annual edition of coordinated advocacy days calling for peace in Korea. When it first started in 2015, just 12 people participated; the effort has now grown to include more than 200 people. Korean-Americans, the fifth largest Asian-American population in the U.S., are leading the effort and have become more politically engaged than just a few years ago, but everyone in this country, in Asia and around the world, would benefit from a more peaceful, less militarized Korean peninsula.
Biden Administration Picks the Wrong Side in Immigration Dispute
ANDREW MOSS – The Biden administration’s support of an appeal of an earlier U.S. District Court ruling that largely upheld a 2019 California law mandating the phase-out of private immigration detention facilities in the state constitutes a serious mistake. It’s not just a matter of the fact that this legal position contradicts Biden’s expressed commitments to end private prisons and detention facilities; it also continues support for a dark and destructive side of our immigration policies.
The Roberts Court Is Like Strom Thurmond in Judicial Robes
MILES MOGULESCU – Since law school, Chief Justice John Roberts personal political crusades have been to undermine protections for voting rights, enable voter suppression, turn a blind eye to gerrymandering and increase the influence of big money in politics.
In 18 Months, Republicans Are Very Likely to Control Congress. Being in Denial Makes It Worse.
NORMAN SOLOMON – Next year, if Republicans gain just five House seats, Rep. Kevin McCarthy or some other right-wing ideologue will become the House speaker, giving the GOP control over all committees and legislation. In the Senate, where the historic midterm pattern has been similar, a Republican gain of just one seat will reinstall Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader.
Sunrise Activists Arrested Over ‘No Climate, No Deal’ Blockade of White House
JESSICA CORBETT – Dozens of youth activists with the Sunrise Movement were arrested by Secret Service agents on Monday, June 28, while blockading all 10 entrances of the White House to demand that President Joe Biden and federal lawmakers deliver an infrastructure package that invests in job creation and combats the climate emergency.
Supreme Court Vindicates Progressive Fears – Supports Voter Suppression
TOM HASTINGS – The unraveling of US democracy continues as the third branch of government, contaminated by Republican dirty tricks, confirms the trend of voter suppression laws designed to prevent entire groups of people who tend to vote Democrat from actually being able to vote.
Trend: Nationalism Declines in Many Countries
LAWRENCE WITTNER – Although, beginning in about 2015, nationalist political parties made enormous advances in countries around the world, more recently they have been on the wane.
Time is Running Out for US-Iran Nuclear Agreement
MEL GURTOV – Despite the best efforts of the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu to disrupt the nuclear talks with Iran by attacking Iran’s nuclear computer network, the news out of Geneva is that a new agreement is close to being signed. It has been a very rough road to get there—a road worth recalling because among that agreement’s accomplishments will be resumption of multilateral diplomacy with the US at the table.
‘Horrible and Unconscionable Betrayal’: Biden DOJ Backs Trump Line 3 Approval
JESSICA CORBETT – Indigenous and environmental activists fighting against the Line 3 tar sands pipeline were outraged Thursday, June 24, after the Biden administration filed a legal brief backing the federal government’s 2020 approval of the project under former President Donald Trump.
Education of the US Public About Climate-Related Migration Urgently Needed
ANDREW MOSS – The Biden administration has made some admirable moves and gestures toward addressing the immense challenges posed by climate-related migration. But it hasn’t adequately educated the American people about the issue.
50 Years Ago, the Pentagon Papers’ Success Hinged on a Personal Conversion to Nonviolence
ROBERT LEVERING – Without the friendships he forged in the antiwar movement, Daniel Ellsberg might not have found the courage and support he needed to help end the Vietnam War.
What If Dennis Kucinich Becomes the Mayor of Cleveland?
NORMAN SOLOMON – Cleveland has been spiraling downward. It’s one of the poorest cities in the country, beset by worsening violent crime, poverty and decaying infrastructure. Now, 42 years after the end of his first term as mayor, Dennis Kucinich is ready for his second.
‘Keystone XL Is Dead!’: After 10-Year Battle, Climate Movement Victory Is Complete
JOHN QUEALLY – “Keystone XL is now the most famous fossil fuel project killed by the climate movement,’ said one veteran campaigner, “but it won’t be the last.”
Puerto Rican Workers: No Peace If Energy Is Privatized
WORKER’S WORLD – Unions representing thousands of Puerto Rican workers, ranging from teachers to truck drivers, support Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority (PREPA) workers and demand the LUMA Energy contract be repealed.
APPEAL to Biden and Putin to Reduce Nuclear Weapons Dangers
CENTER FOR CITIZEN INITIATIVES – CCI calls for results-oriented dialogue to rediscover the road to a world free of nuclear weapons.
Summer of Drought, Wildfires Could Devastate NW Salmon Species
ERIC TEGETHOFF – There are signs this summer could be a bad one for the native salmon of the Northwest. Already, drought has gripped the region, causing low river flows that could be hard for fish to navigate or spawn in. That’s bad news for species already teetering on extinction, especially in the Columbia River Basin.
Schumer’s Anti-China Bill Sacrifices Climate for Empire
MARCY WINOGRAD and MEDEA BENJAMIN – “United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021” would sabotage an opportunity for the U.S. and China—countries responsible for releasing half of the world’s fossil fuel emissions — to partner on curbing emissions and sharing strategies for greening the Earth.
“Usable Nukes” – Our Government’s Latest Security Fantasy
ROBERT KOEHLER – We must free ourselves from the mindset of militarism, which is perpetuated not merely by politicians and generals but, inexcusably, by much of the media, which compliantly speaks their language. In militaryspeak, civilians may be bombed but they’re never murdered, at least not by us. If we can’t avoid acknowledging their deaths, then they become collateral damage, necessary for “the restoration of strategic stability.â€
JPMorgan Chase Just Became the World’s Most Dangerous Bank
ALEC CONNON – While the IEA states that there can be no new investment in the expansion of fossil fuels, Chase doesn’t plan to reduce its investments in new fossil fuel supply at all within the next decade.
Is the Biden-Putin Summit Doomed?
RAY MCGOVERN – Whether or not Official Washington fully appreciates the gradual – but profound – change in America’s triangular relationship with Russia and China over recent decades, what is clear is that the US has made itself into the big loser. The triangle may still be equilateral, but it is now, in effect, two sides against one.
Biden’s Eloquence About George Floyd Will Ring Hollow if Rahm Emanuel Gets Ambassador Nomination
NORMAN SOLOMON – If Joe Biden fully meant what he said after meeting with George Floyd’s family in the Oval Office on Tuesday, he won’t nominate Rahm Emanuel to be the U.S. ambassador to Japan. But recent news reports tell us that’s exactly what the president intends to do.
Are We Getting the National Security We Are Paying For?
MICHAEL CARRIGAN and PETER BERGEL – Our country continues to expend nearly half its discretionary budget on its military might. That leaves only half for everything else. The perennial explanation given to defend this lopsided priority is that the military guards our national security. If only that were true!
Like Biden’s Bold Moves on Government Spending? Thank Social Movements.
MARK ENGLER and PAUL ENGLER – The importance of grassroots organizing is still being underestimated.
Tribe Fends Off Dangerous Open Pit Mine Plan
REBECCA ROWE – The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin sent a mine developer back to the drawing board after a legal battle over sacred sites and water contamination.
What ‘Self-Defense’ Means for Israel
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – What a world this is. I fear far less “aid†is given, and far less profit is envisioned, to promote “the right of all people, regardless of their faith, to have self-determination and equal rights.â€
Why Israel Blows Up Media Offices and Targets Journalists
NORMAN SOLOMON – AP president, Gary Pruitt, said “we are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.â€
Rethinking the West’s Approach to Ukraine
NICOLAI N. PETRO – The United States insists on seeing Ukraine through the prism of Russia, rather than through the complex realities of Ukraine.
Yaqui Resisters Dismantle a Gas Pipeline and Sell It As Scrap Metal
DALIRI OROPEZA and REYNA HAYDEE RAMIREZ – The gas pipeline was already a foregone conclusion, at least that’s what the company, the subsidiary, and the government of Sonora thought. They were wrong. Yaqui women narrate how they have stopped this project.
Getting Back to Basics in Policy on Israel
MEL GURTOV – “The problem with the Middle East is that you can try to turn your back on it, but it won’t turn its back on you,†said Martin S. Indyk, former US ambassador to Israel. And it hasn’t: once again, Israelis and Palestinians are at war.
How a Hearing on Nuclear Weapons Shows All that’s Wrong with US Foreign Policy Making
JOE CIRINCIONE – The panel with no diversity of views was meant to reinforce a forgone conclusion: more money for more weapons.
SOS: Will the World Answer the Calls for Help?
WIM LAVEN – We can speak out against oppression, we can demand assistance for those in need, and we can strive to do better. The world depends on our collective action and commitment.
Amid Widespread Disease, Death, and Poverty, the Major Powers Increased Their Military Spending in 2020
LAWRENCE WITTNER – Last year was a terrible time for vast numbers of people around the globe, who experienced not only a terrible disease pandemic, accompanied by widespread sickness and death, but severe economic hardship. Even so, the disasters of 2020 were not shocking enough to jolt the world’s most powerful nations out of their traditional preoccupation with enhancing their armed might, for once again they raised their military spending to new heights.
This Startup Grows Kelp then Sinks it to Pull Carbon from the Air
ALEXIS BENVENISTE – Carbon emissions are a huge contributor to climate change, so companies are getting creative about finding ways to suck the heat-trapping element out of the atmosphere and slow global warming.
Restrictions Work, says Man Who Brought Massachusetts Gun Deaths to Record Low
SARAH BETANCOURT – Massachusetts has the lowest US gun death rates, and John Rosenthal says mass shootings won’t stop without real national action.
Biden Needs to Replace Saber-Rattling STRATCOM Head
JOHN LAFORGE – Joe Biden has his own Douglas MacArthur moment, and should replace the head of US Strategic Command, Adm. Charles A. Richard, just as Harry Truman fired the insubordinate commander of the US war in Korea.
Transcending ‘the Religion of Whiteness’
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – Are we transcending the religion that gave us slavery?