Global
During his stay in Columbus, Eric Holt-Gimenez said the alliances are needed to counter economic ‘neo-liberalism,’ which he said is a key cause of the problems faced by societies around the world, including but not limited to food crises.
“By ‘radical’, I mean getting to the root of our problems, not breaking windows,” said Gimenez who heads Food First, an organization which, according to its website, aims to “eliminate the injustices which cause hunger.”
Introducing reforms such as the New Deal requires massive public support, said Gimenez.
“Roosevelt didn’t do it just because he had a good idea. It was because it looked like his government was going to fall because of all the social protest.”
Gimenez, who edited the new book, Food Movements Unite! Strategies to Transform Our Food Systems, said activists built social justice movements in the 1930s thru alliances between progressives and radicals, not between progressives and reformists. He said the latter only strengthens the status quo.
“To change the system, you got to have a counter movement coming from the outside which forces the reforms.”
Introducing reforms such as the New Deal requires massive public support, said Gimenez.
“Roosevelt didn’t do it just because he had a good idea. It was because it looked like his government was going to fall because of all the social protest.”
Gimenez, who edited the new book, Food Movements Unite! Strategies to Transform Our Food Systems, said activists built social justice movements in the 1930s thru alliances between progressives and radicals, not between progressives and reformists. He said the latter only strengthens the status quo.
“To change the system, you got to have a counter movement coming from the outside which forces the reforms.”
I'll tell you who did this below. First read part of his rather unusual letter:
"I have transferred to you as trustees $231 million in bonds, the revenue of which is to be administered by you to hasten the abolition of international war, the foulest blot upon our civilization. Although we no longer eat our fellow men nor torture prisoners, nor sack cities killing their inhabitants, we still kill each other in war like barbarians. Only wild beasts are excusable for doing that in this, the Twenty First Century of the Christian era, for the crime of war is inherent, since it decides not in favor of the right, but always of the strong. The nation is criminal which refuses arbitration and drives its adversary to a tribunal which knows nothing of righteous judgment. . . .
"I hope the trustees will begin by pressing forward upon this line, testing it thoroughly and doubting not.
“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
- Paulo Freire
The Fate of the University
Higher education is changing. University administrations are budget cutting, privatizing, power consolidating, and tuition hiking. In Ohio, we’re facing the prospect of charterization of our public colleges through the enterprise university plan, and a larger trend of corporatization of our public educational institutions.
The Fate of the University
Higher education is changing. University administrations are budget cutting, privatizing, power consolidating, and tuition hiking. In Ohio, we’re facing the prospect of charterization of our public colleges through the enterprise university plan, and a larger trend of corporatization of our public educational institutions.
A poll published on Wednesday at the Washington Post finds that a majority of even "liberal Democrats" approves of Obama killing US citizens. Of course, this would almost certainly be different if Obama were a Republican.
What if an organization with money but no partisanship (are there some?) were to commission a poll from a pollster willing to face a firestorm of attacks from the political parties (are there any such pollsters?), a poll that would ask people all their demographic info, including politics and party identification if any, and ask some of them:
What if an organization with money but no partisanship (are there some?) were to commission a poll from a pollster willing to face a firestorm of attacks from the political parties (are there any such pollsters?), a poll that would ask people all their demographic info, including politics and party identification if any, and ask some of them:
Monrovia, CA/Immokalee, FL -- Trader Joe’s and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) announced today that they have signed an agreement that formalizes the ways in which Trader Joe’s will work with the CIW and Florida tomato growers to support the CIW’s Fair Food Program.
The Fair Food Program is a groundbreaking approach to social responsibility in the US produce industry that combines the Fair Food Code of Conduct – a set of labor standards developed in a unique collaboration among farmworkers, tomato growers, and the food industry leaders who purchase Florida tomatoes – with a small price premium to help improve harvesters’ wages. The goal of the Fair Food Program is to promote the development of a sustainable Florida tomato industry that advances both the human rights of farmworkers and the long-term interests of Florida tomato growers.
The Fair Food Program is a groundbreaking approach to social responsibility in the US produce industry that combines the Fair Food Code of Conduct – a set of labor standards developed in a unique collaboration among farmworkers, tomato growers, and the food industry leaders who purchase Florida tomatoes – with a small price premium to help improve harvesters’ wages. The goal of the Fair Food Program is to promote the development of a sustainable Florida tomato industry that advances both the human rights of farmworkers and the long-term interests of Florida tomato growers.
Ron Paul, especially in comparison to his fellow Republicans, does seem a very likeable fellow. His position on ending our nation’s wars and interventions is on target, I believe. However, seeing some otherwise positive, well meaning folks becoming so infatuated with Mr. Paul that they call him “progressive” is ridiculous. For me, it’s brought to mind an old proverb I’d heard about ‘Freedom.’ “Freedom,” the saying goes, “means different things to different folks. Freedom for the fox means freedom to eat the hen, but freedom for the hen means freedom from the fox!”
We really do need to look a bit closer at just whose liberty & freedom it is that Mr. Paul is most interested in protecting. In this time of increased rights for corporations and fetuses, and decreased ones for regular working folks, ’freedom’ no longer has a neutral meaning. Ron Paul has been damned good, but the ‘freedom’ he’s been good at fighting for isn’t ours!
We really do need to look a bit closer at just whose liberty & freedom it is that Mr. Paul is most interested in protecting. In this time of increased rights for corporations and fetuses, and decreased ones for regular working folks, ’freedom’ no longer has a neutral meaning. Ron Paul has been damned good, but the ‘freedom’ he’s been good at fighting for isn’t ours!
Bradley Manning is in prison. There is not a whole lot to do for someone imprisoned.
But there are some things.
Join the Bradley Manning Support Network Bradley Manning Support
Subscribe to its list serve and join worldwide events. It pays Bradley’s defense costs and supplies canteen money and materials he is allowed to have.
They also provide actions and support for things you can do in support of Bradley.
But there are some things.
Join the Bradley Manning Support Network Bradley Manning Support
Subscribe to its list serve and join worldwide events. It pays Bradley’s defense costs and supplies canteen money and materials he is allowed to have.
They also provide actions and support for things you can do in support of Bradley.
As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves a construction/operating license for two new reactors in Georgia, alarming reports from Japan indicate the Fukushima catastrophe is far from over.
Thousands of tons of intensely radioactive spent fuel are still in serious jeopardy. Radioactive trash and water are spewing into the environment. And nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen reports that during the string of disasters following March 11, 2011's earthquake and tsunami, Fukushima 1's containment cap may actually have lifted off its base, releasing dangerously radioactive gasses and opening a gap for an ensuing hydrogen explosion.
There are some two dozen of these Mark I-style containments currently in place in the US.
Thousands of tons of intensely radioactive spent fuel are still in serious jeopardy. Radioactive trash and water are spewing into the environment. And nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen reports that during the string of disasters following March 11, 2011's earthquake and tsunami, Fukushima 1's containment cap may actually have lifted off its base, releasing dangerously radioactive gasses and opening a gap for an ensuing hydrogen explosion.
There are some two dozen of these Mark I-style containments currently in place in the US.
The idea of economic conversion, of retooling and retraining pieces of the military industrial complex to build what other wealthy nations have (infrastructure, energy, education, etc.) converged with the end of the Cold War two decades back. It was time for a peace dividend as well as a little sanity in public spending. Among the cosponsors of a bill to begin economic conversion in the late 1980s was a guy by the name of Leon Panetta.
Standing in the way was Congressman Newt Gingrich (Republican, Lockheed Martin.
As Mary Beth Sullivan recounts ( http://MIC50.org ,
"On the first day of the opening of the 101st Congress, Speaker [Jim] Wright convened a meeting of members who had proposed economic conversion legislation, and their aids. The purpose was to ensure that all proposals be joined into one, and that this legislation be given priority. To dramatize the importance of this bill, it would be given number H.R. 101."
Standing in the way was Congressman Newt Gingrich (Republican, Lockheed Martin.
As Mary Beth Sullivan recounts ( http://MIC50.org ,
"On the first day of the opening of the 101st Congress, Speaker [Jim] Wright convened a meeting of members who had proposed economic conversion legislation, and their aids. The purpose was to ensure that all proposals be joined into one, and that this legislation be given priority. To dramatize the importance of this bill, it would be given number H.R. 101."
For progressives and populists around the country who take an interest in Congressional races there are always a few good challengers we might hope to send to Washington. Incumbents, we assume, can take care of themselves.
But in Northern Ohio, redistricting has thrown two incumbents into one district. It's a heavily Democratic district created purposely to guarantee a number of other districts to Republicans. The incumbents are both Democrats, both white, both 65, and many imagine that they do similar work in Washington. In fact, they could not be more different. One of them does tremendous good for our national politics, working to move our government in a better direction from inside it, just as the rest of us do from the outside. We cannot afford to lose him. We would be obliged to work for his reelection even if his opponent were far above average. The record suggests something else.
But in Northern Ohio, redistricting has thrown two incumbents into one district. It's a heavily Democratic district created purposely to guarantee a number of other districts to Republicans. The incumbents are both Democrats, both white, both 65, and many imagine that they do similar work in Washington. In fact, they could not be more different. One of them does tremendous good for our national politics, working to move our government in a better direction from inside it, just as the rest of us do from the outside. We cannot afford to lose him. We would be obliged to work for his reelection even if his opponent were far above average. The record suggests something else.