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Corporate State Attempts to Choke Off Citizens’ Initiatives

Cartoon depicting how state affects people's rights

Many of us in Ohio were duped into voting against our own best interests on Election Day in November 2015. Issue 2 was presented by the 1% as an antimonopoly initiative, promising to protect We the People from monopolies, oligopolies, and cartels.

Who wouldn’t vote for that?

Some saw through the smoke screen and voted against it when they realized it was an attack on grassroots democracy. But the majority went to the polls and, lulled by the propaganda, voted to make statewide initiatives even more difficult for us to place on the ballot.

It wasn’t about stopping monopolies, oligopolies and cartels. It was about stopping us. It was about choking off citizen initiatives.

Tightening the Choke Hold

Sanctuary for Immigrants 101: Theory, Data, and Action

No human being is illegal sign

CHANGE IN LOCATION!
Tuesday, January 31, 6:30 PM - 8 PM
Columbus Mennonite Church
35 Oakland Park Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43214

Donald Trump is ushering in the most anti-immigrant administration in modern history.

**UPDATE: Disastrous Executive Orders on immigration enforcement released this week. Will include these in our discussion.**

The future looks bright, the future looks Green

People standing and smiling

January 21st 2017 was a great day for the Ohio Green Party. Greens, DemExiters, and progressive independents from all over the state came together for the first full statewide meeting of the year. Attendees from Bowling Green all the way down to Cincinnati met in Columbus to discuss the growth of the party and a slate of candidates for the 2017-2018 elections.

More than forty people were packed into the private residence at any one time with the party’s diversity being clearly represented. The diversity wasn’t only present in demographics; various politics and philosophies abounded. Individuals identifying as socialists, eco-anarchists, liberals, left libertarians, and more had their voices heard. There was no shutting down of anyone. No-one was deemed too extreme or too moderate to be a part of any discussion, and all policy and campaign ideas were welcomed. The high level of inclusivity ensured that friends were made and regional networks created. Another high point was the very few criticisms of Donald Trump and the total absence of ad hominem attacks. The building was rife with positivity.

Stand Against Trump: OSU Unite and Fight!

Guy holding sign saying "This is not my beautiful country, how did I get here?

Friday, January 27, 4pm, OSU Oval [near the Thompson statue]
Refugees are welcome here! No human being is illegal!
On Friday, January 27, we will be rallying near the Thompson Statue on the OSU Oval (at 4pm) in response to Trump’s explicit targeting of refugee and immigrant communities.
In the seven days since Trump has taken power, he has pushed forward a slate of reactionary executive orders:

• Authorizing the expansion of the US-Mexico border wall
• Stripping federal grant money to sanctuary cities
• Hiring 5000 border patrol agents
• Reviving Keystone XL and the Dakota Access Pipeline
• Banning federal funds to international groups that perform abortions or lobby to legalize or promote abortion
• Gutting healthcare
• And he is expected to temporarily ban immigration from Muslim countries such as Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia

OSU students walk out on Inauguration Day, build united front against Trump

People on the radical left have criticized the 3 million Americans who protested the Donald Trump inauguration for not being radical enough, not being black or brown enough, not being working-class enough. There is some validity to these critiques; a thriving movement against Donald Trump must be centered on the struggles of women of color, working class people, immigrants, and other marginalized groups. But there has been an attitude of shaming people — many of whom are becoming politically active for the first time — for not being “woke” enough.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor has rightly pointed out that this attitude is politically immature and counterproductive. “The movement to resist Trump will have to be a mass movement, and mass movements aren’t homogeneous — they are, pretty much by definition, politically heterogeneous,” she writes in The Guardian. “And there is not a single radical or revolutionary on Earth who did not begin their political journey holding liberal ideas.”

Northland Columbus Deanery Renews Commitment to Helping Hands’ Free Clinic

Logo of two hands and a dove between them

Helping Hands Health and Wellness Center announces a major gift of $50,000 per year for three years from the Northland Columbus Deanery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus under the leadership of Father Charles Klinger of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Westerville and Father Thomas Petry of St. Anthony in Columbus. The Northland Deanery has been a huge supporter of the clinic for 6 years which has enabled the clinic to expand hours and provide life-saving treatment and medication to patients. Outgoing Helping Hands Board President Connie Sauter from St. Paul’s Catholic Church has been a long-term champion for Helping Hands’ free clinic. The clinic serves individuals within 200% of the poverty level and is mostly staffed by volunteer doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and students. The support fills an essential need in the neighborhood and surrounding area including a history of servicing 38 zip codes. The members of the Northland Columbus Deanery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus include:  St Anthony, Columbus, St. Elizabeth, Columbus, St. James the Less, Columbus, St. John Neumann, Sunbury, St.

Fascists and Nazis

Trump Inaugural: "This American Carnage" Annotated

s advertised, Trump’s inaugural featured a strong promise to put America first, without really articulating just what that means. The original America First movement in the late 1930s was dedicated to staying out of war with Nazi Germany. Whether Trump wants to stay out of any war, or disengage from the multiple wars we’ve been fighting since 2001, is far from clear (and mostly goes unaddressed). Nothing Trump says smacks of isolation, and his opening sentence addresses the “people of the world.”

The next sentence can be read as a warning to the people of the world: that Americans are rebuilding, restoring America’s promise, and together “will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come.”

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