So you want to talk about lynching? Understand this first
The Washington Post – October 23, 2019 – Michele Norris
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/so-you-want-to-talk-about-lynching-understand-this-first/2019/10/23/c5a5fd2a-f5ae-11e9-ad8b-85e2aa00b5ce_story.html
A lynching was an act of community will. A community that showed up dressed for the outing, smiling, cheering, hoisting their children for a better view, preening for the cameras, for there were so often cameras to commemorate the occasion with postcards later sold as keepsakes. Postcards with swaying, charred bodies. Shoulders limp. Legs loose. Heads lolled backward in an odd contortion that made it seem that their souls were communing with God… Yes, there was a message. We are powerful. You are not.
Convicted Anti-Nuclear Activists Speak Out: “Pentagon Has Brainwashed People”
Truthout – October 28, 2019 – Marjorie Cohn
https://truthout.org/articles/convicted-anti-nuclear-activists-speak-out-pentagon-has-brainwashed-people/
The seven Catholic peace activists who were convicted on October 24 for their symbolic protest against nuclear weapons at the Kings Bay Naval Base are now facing a two-to-three-month wait to hear their prison sentences. They could face more than 20 years in prison. “Our own lives are uncertain regarding the possible length of prison sentences,” defendant Martha Hennessy told Truthout in an exclusive interview. “But we rejoice in the fact that more scrutiny is being directed at the purpose of the Kings Bay Naval Base in southern Georgia.”… Defendant Patrick O’Neill shared an anecdote that further highlights the degree to which the jury reflected the widespread ignorance about nuclear risks that exists in the U.S. now… O’Neill added, “The Pentagon has brainwashed people to just trust a government that is imperiling the earth and risking the end of life as we know. That’s why we went to Kings Bay — to hopefully wake people up.”
Princeton Theological Seminary approves reparations
The Daily Princetonian – October 20, 2019 – Omar Farah
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2019/10/princeton-theological-seminary-approves-reparations
On Oct. 18, Princeton Theological Seminary announced its plans to finance reparations, making it the second theological institution in the nation, after Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va., to do so. The decision, unanimously approved by the Seminary’s trustees, comes as an official response to a historical audit, commissioned in 2016, which examined the Seminary’s historical participation in the institutions of American slavery.
Women’s Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019
Prison Policy Initiative – October 29, 2019 – Aleks Kajstura
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019women.html
This report provides a detailed view of the 231,000 women and girls incarcerated in the United States, and how they fit into the even broader picture of correctional control… As we will explain, the outsized role of jails has serious consequences for incarcerated women and their families… The data in this report lends focus and perspective to the policy reforms needed to end mass incarceration without leaving women behind.
Has the Climate Crisis Made California Too Dangerous to Live In?
The Guardian – October 29, 2019 – Bill McKibben
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/29/has-the-climate-crisis-made-california-too-dangerous-to-live-in
My most recent book, Falter, centered on the notion that the climate crisis was making large swaths of the world increasingly off-limits to humans… It takes a force as great as the climate crisis to really – perhaps finally – tarnish Eden. In the last decade, the state has endured the deepest droughts ever measured, dry spells so intense that more than a hundred million trees died. A hundred million – and the scientists who counted them warned that their carcasses could “produce wildfires on a scale and of an intensity that California has never seen”. The drought has alternated with record downpours that have turned burned-over stretches into massive house-burying mudslides. And so Californians – always shirtsleeved and cool – spend some of the year in face masks and much of it with a feeling of trepidation. As with so many things, they are going first where the rest of us will follow.
What western states can learn from Native American wildfire management strategies
The Conversation – October 29, 2019 – Kari Marie Norgaard and Sara Worl , University of Oregon
http://theconversation.com/what-western-states-can-learn-from-native-american-wildfire-management-strategies-120731
American Indian tribes across the West are working with an increased sense of urgency to manage fire-adapted landscapes in the face of climate change. The Karuk Tribe’s climate adaptation plan directs their efforts to do just that… As Dr. Frank K. Lake, a Karuk descendant and U.S. Forest Service research ecologist, explains, “the Karuk Tribe, among others, sees fire as medicine, and as such views traditional burning as a human service for ecosystems.” Places where fire has been excluded, he said, “are sick, as are the people who live there, from a tribal perspective. Eventually, those places then get too much fire (i.e., catastrophic wildfire), like an overdose.”
Ordinary life has vanished in fire-ravaged California
The Guardian – October 31, 2019 – Rebecca Solnit
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/31/california-wildfires-pg-e-power
Everything has changed; everything must change to respond to it, with global action to limit the extent of climate chaos that is already so destructive, with local action to reinvent how we power our homes and communities and to shift whose interests are served from shareholders to citizens, and from corporations to the web of life. Right now in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, we are paying the price for relying on old systems in a new climate.
The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America’s water to sell in plastic bottles
The Guardian – October 29, 2019 – Tom Perkins
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/29/the-fight-over-water-how-nestle-dries-up-us-creeks-to-sell-water-in-plastic-bottles
Strawberry Creek is emblematic of the intense, complex water fights playing out around the nation between Nestlé, grassroots opposition, and government officials. At stake is control of the nation’s freshwater supply and billions in profits as Nestlé bottles America’s water then sells it back in plastic bottles. Those in opposition, such as Amanda Frye, an author and nutritionist, increasingly view Nestlé as a corporate villain motivated by “greed”.
Welcome to “Cancer Alley,” where toxic air is about to get worse
Propublica – October 30, 2019 – Tristan Baurick, Lylla Younes and Joan Meiners
https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse
Not only is toxic air pollution in Louisiana’s industrial belt rising in absolute terms, the estimated air quality relative to its peers is getting worse, an analysis by ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate found. And the burden is not being shared evenly. Many of the new plants planned in Louisiana’s petrochemical heart are being built in or near communities that EPA models estimate already have some of the most dangerous air in America. Our analysis shows the problems are especially acute in predominantly black and poor communities, like St. Gabriel, but whiter and more affluent sections — like neighboring Ascension Parish — are hardly immune.
6 Ways Trump Has Sold Out America
Robert Reich’s Blog – October 31, 2019
https://robertreich.org/post/188687174755
Donald Trump claims to be a patriot at the same time as he sells out America. He has brazenly sought private gain from foreign governments at the expense of the American people. Instead of putting “America First,” he has repeatedly put “Donald First.”
Experts on Trump’s conduct: ‘Plainly an abuse of power, plainly impeachable’
The Guardian – November 1, 2019 – Tom McCarthy
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/02/experts-donald-trump-conduct-plainly-abuse-of-power-impeachable
“I think these are quite clearly, precisely the type of high crimes and misdemeanors that the founders not only feared but actually discussed at the constitutional convention,” said Jeffrey A Engel, co-author of Impeachment: An American History and director of the center for presidential history at Southern Methodist University.
Keystone Pipeline Leaks 383,000 Gallons of Oil. Completely Predictable Says Greenpeace USA.
The Daily Kos – November 1, 2019
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/11/1/1896537/-Keystone-Pipeline-Leaks-383-000-Gallons-of-Oil-Compltely-Predictable-Says-Greenpeace-USA
“I wish I could say I was shocked, but a major spill from the Keystone pipeline is exactly what multiple experts predicted would happen. In fact, this is the fourth significant spill from the Keystone pipeline in less than 10 years of operation,” Greenpeace USA Senior Research Specialist Tim Donaghy said in a statement about the spill. “History has shown us time and again that there is no safe way to transport fossil fuels, and pipelines are no exception. In the last 10 years, U.S. pipeline spills have led to 20 fatalities, 35 injuries, $2.6 billion in costs and more than 34 million gallons spilled. New pipelines are locking us into carbon emissions that will push our climate past safe limits. That is not the future I want for my children.”
Fracking halted in England in major government U-turn
The Guardian – November 1, 2019 – Jillian Ambrose
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/02/fracking-banned-in-uk-as-government-makes-major-u-turn
The government has halted fracking in England with immediate effect in a watershed moment for environmentalists and community activists… The decision draws a line under years of bitter opposition to the controversial extraction process in a major victory for green groups and local communities.
We Can Learn From the Fallen Berlin Wall
Time Magazine – October 31, 2019 (November 11, 2019 issue) – Mikhail Gorbachev
https://time.com/5714770/mikhail-gorbachev-berlin-wall/
We drew a final line under the Cold War. Our goal was a new Europe: a Europe without dividing lines. The leaders who succeeded us have failed to achieve that goal. A modern security architecture, a strong mechanism for preventing and resolving conflicts have not been created in Europe. Hence the painful problems and conflicts that beset our continent today. I urge world leaders to face up to those problems and resume dialogue for the sake of the future.
A Union Is an Equalization of Power
Portside – October 28, 2019 – Interview with Taylor Moore
https://www.portside.org/2019-10-28/union-equalization-power
It’s not just about Kickstarter. The unionization of the tech industry is something that must happen. These online platforms are too powerful and too important to be run as these paralegal, above-the-law institutions by the billionaire class. Whether or not we check their power is literally an existential question for civilization. Even if by some miracle we get someone in the executive branch who engages in a good-faith, energetic, anti-trust campaign against these companies, we’ve still got to unionize. You can’t give conscience to people in power, but you can empower people of conscience. We have to, and if that means I lose my job, that is a small price to pay.
Rethinking U.S. Election Law
Portside – LSE Review of Books – October 30, 2019 – Erica Frazier
https://www.portside.org/2019-10-30/rethinking-us-election-law
Book “Rethinking U.S. Electin Law: Unskewing the System” by Steven Mulroy exposes the structural flaws in the US government system and provides tangible, achievable proposals to address them, writes reviewer Frazier… In the second half of the book, Mulroy outlines his plan to fix the system. He argues these flaws not only can be remedied, but that there would be no need for a constitutional amendment to do so.
Resisting GMOs and Preserving Indigenous Culture in Rural Mexico
Yes! Magazine – October 25, 2019 – Timothy A. Wise
https://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/mexico-cooperative-food-sovereignty-indigenous-20191025
In Cuetzalán, a collection of remote villages in the northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Puebla, I visited a remarkable union of cooperatives that is achieving food sovereignty through agroecology. The Tosepan Titataniske cooperatives had drawn on Indigenous Nahuatl traditions and used their remoteness to try to carve out not just an area free of genetically modified crops, but a territory free of megaprojects. It hadn’t come easy… The organization, which started in 1977, now has 410 cooperatives involving more than 30,000 families in 25 municipalities (similar to U.S. counties) across the remote region. Leonardo Durán Olguín, the young multilingual local who briefed our small group on the organization, said the goal of the group was yeknemilis in Nahuatl, buenvivir in Spanish, and of course we don’t really have a good phrase for such a lovely concept in English. Good living? No matter, they showed us what they meant.
A Worldwide Revolution Is Underway
Democracy Now! – October 31, 2019 – Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/10/31/a_worldwide_revolution_is_underway
These global protests… occur at a critical inflection point in history, with as few as 10 years remaining for humanity to transition from a fossil fuel economy to one powered by renewable energy… The climate crisis touches everyone, first and most forcefully the world’s poor… Indigenous people are also leading the way, often at the front lines, confronting resource extraction with disciplined, nonviolent resistance… Popular uprisings are… spreading like wildfire… against corrupt autocratic leaders, austerity and inequality. People are… flooding the streets, globally, linking the movements against inequality with the fight for a just, sustainable world powered by renewable energy.
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