May 2013

Monsanto Threatens Democracy: 16 of 22 Monsanto Lobbyists Held Government Jobs

May 31, 2013 Konstantin Ravvin, www.usforacle.com Educate! Corporatism, Food and Agriculture

Ninety-three percent of Americans support labeling foods that contain genetically altered crops. The discrepancy between public opinion and the status quo can be explained by two competing theories. Either the polling methodology used by seasoned media organizations is flawed, or there is an active lobbying effort designed thwart the democratic process. Michael Taylor, Obama's 'food czar', was former head of Monstanto’s food and drug law practice, and was appointed to the FDA position by President Barack Obama in 2013. Coincidently, Obama was ranked No. 2 in political action committee contributions from Monstanto between 2011 and 2012.

June 4: Part 2 of Youth Justice Reinvestment Podcasts – RSVP

May 31, 2013 Diane Wittner and Bill Moyer, www.backbonecampaign.org Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons

On Tuesday, June 4th at 5:30 Pacific/8:30 Eastern, we invite you to join us for the second of our Conversations on youth justice reinvestment. Zachary Norris and Grace Bauer, co-directors of Justice for Families coalition, are co-producing this series. Justice for Familiesis a national alliance of local organizations working to end the youth incarceration epidemic in the United States. We will feature Youth Justice Coalition (YJC) organizers Kim McGill, Kruti Parekh, and youth leaders. YJC is successfully building a youth, family and prisoner-led movement to challenge race, gender and class inequity in L.A.'s and California's juvenile injustice system.

Chomsky on Anarchism, Propaganda, Libertarianism, Free College Education and Student Action

May 31, 2013 Michael S. Wilson, www.modernsuccess.org Educate! Corporatism, Human Rights, Media, Worker Rights and Jobs

Anarchism is suspicious and skeptical of domination, authority, and hierarchy. It seeks structures of hierarchy and domination in human life over the whole range, extending from, say, patriarchal families to, say, imperial systems, and it asks whether those systems are justified. It assumes that the burden of proof for anyone in a position of power and authority lies on them. Their authority is not self-justifying. They have to give a reason for it, a justification. And if they can’t justify that authority and power and control, which is the usual case, then the authority ought to be dismantled and replaced by something more free and just.

Idle No More and Defenders of the Land Call for Sovereignty Summer

May 31, 2013 Idle No More, Resist! Environment, Human Rights

We are calling on non-Indigenous people to join Indigenous communities in coordinated non-violent direct actions in the summer. Alternatives will only come to life if we escalate our actions, taking bold non-violent direct action that challenges the illegitimate power of corporations who dictate government policy. Indigenous communities have the right to determine the development on their traditional and treaty territories. In defending their right to say "No" to unwanted development, First Nations like Barriere Lake, KI, Grassy Narrows and many others are advancing alternatives that help us re-imagine our relationship to the environment. Across the country, people are increasingly supporting First Nations who are trying to protect lands, waters and air for everyone, and to win recognition of marine protections, of sustainable forestry, of local, just economies, and of the principle that we must respect the environment.

‘Blockupy’ Protesters Surround ECB in Frankfurt

May 31, 2013 BBC, www.bbc.co.uk Resist! Corporatism, Finance and the Economy, Worker Rights and Jobs

German police said at least 1,000 people had gathered in the rain in the financial district by Friday morning, linking arms and blocking streets. The Blockupy protesters also plan to block access to other financial institutions in Frankfurt, including Deutsche Bank. Protesters from the anti-capitalist "Blockupy" movement have surrounded the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. More people are coming in from Spain, Italy and other countries to join the protect of the European Central Bank which has been demanding counterproductive austerity measures.

As Fracktivists Protest, Resist, Sit-In, Frack-Profiteers Push Forward in Illinois

May 31, 2013 Steve Horn, www.desmogblog.com Resist! Corporatism, Environment

The Illinois House and Senate are set to adjourn for the year on May 31 and the Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation Act will likelyreceive a full floor vote by adjournment. The regulatory bill has 59 House co-sponsors and eight Senate co-sponsors. Democratic Party Gov. Pat Quinn said he will sign the bill when it arrives on his desk. With the deadline looming rapidly, anti-fracking activists - or "fracktivists" - have been protesting, sitting in, testifying in committee hearings and committing acts of non-violent civil disobedience daily at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. Two days before that deadline, the Associated Press reported that records from the state Department of Natural Resources indicate fracking already has begun in Illinois' New Albany Shale Basin.

Open Governance Framework: Getting Things Done Without the Bureaucratic BS

May 31, 2013 Darin Lawson Hosking, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Corporatism, Education

I have been observing and participating in the overall movement since inception in New York both physically and virtually via the internet. I have visited several camps, been to many GA’s, went to the Occupy the Midwest gathering. All the time documenting either with a video camera, gathering printed materials, or taking notes and what I have found is that Occupy does have a message. I started seeing the message appear while copying and pasting chants and comments from various livestreams, I started to see a theme emerge of its own accord. Today's technology allows anyone to voice their opinions about any subject on any web site, this basic ability must be leveraged by our democratic process.

Get Apocalyptic: Why Radical is the New Normal

May 31, 2013 Robert Jensen, www.yesmagazine.org Resist! Corporatism, Environment

We are staring down multiple cascading ecological crises, struggling with political and economic institutions that are unable even to acknowledge, let alone cope with, the threats to the human family and the larger living world. We are intensifying an assault on the ecosystems in which we live, undermining the ability of that living world to sustain a large-scale human presence into the future. When all the world darkens, looking on the bright side is not a virtue but a sign of irrationality. Anxiety is rational and anguish is healthy, signs not of weakness but of courage. Once we’ve sorted through those reactions, we can get apocalyptic and get down to our real work.

Global Indigenous Uprising Offers Path That Won’t Destroy Life on Earth

May 31, 2013 Kristen Moe, www.alternet.org Resist! Environment

Idle No More swept Canada last December and ignited a wave of solidarity on nearly every continent. To outsiders, it might seem that Idle No More materialized spontaneously, that it sprang into being fully formed. It builds, however, on a long history of resistance to colonialism that began when Europeans first washed up on these shores. Now, armed with Twitter and Facebook, once-isolated movements from Canada to South America are exchanging knowledge, resources, and support like never before.

Industrial Disasters and Student Activism

May 30, 2013 George Lakey, www.wagingnonviolence.org Organize! Worker Rights and Jobs

This winter a string of fires in apparel factories in Bangladesh was followed in May by the Rana Plaza collapse in Dhakka with over a thousand deaths. The calamity reminded bargain-hunting consumers in Western countries of what goes on behind our backs. The good news is that student movements have shown the way forward by using the power of nonviolent direct action campaigns to force concrete changes in working conditions globally. Anti-sweatshop activism in the late 1990s was the largest student movement since the South African divestment movement a decade before. In turn, that activism has laid the groundwork for an immediate response to the recent rash of fires and other disasters killing the workers who make our clothing.

Government Must Stop Favoring Banks Over Homeowners

May 30, 2013 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.truthout.org Create! Finance and the Economy, Housing

The crisis of foreclosure and lost wealth is not over. Every three months, 250,000 new families enter the foreclosure process. According to a May 2013 report of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), more than 13 million homes are still underwater, which increases the risk of foreclosure. This crisis could have been averted through government policy that placed the needs of people, rather than those of the bankers, first. Because that hasn't happened yet, people are coming together and demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) start holding the big banks accountable. The Home Defenders League, a coalition of local groups that are fighting foreclosure, held a series of actions at the DOJ last week.

Corporate and Law Enforcement Spying on Environmentalists

May 30, 2013 Adam Federman, www.earthisland.org Educate! Corporatism, Environment

Since the group had never engaged in any kind of illegal activity or particularly radical forms of protest, it came as a shock when GDAC members learned that their organization had been featured in intelligence bulletins compiled by a private security firm, The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR). Equally shocking was the revelation that the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security had distributed those bulletins to local police chiefs, state, federal, and private intelligence agencies, and the security directors of the natural gas companies, as well as industry groups and PR firms.

Fast Food Workers Striking in Seattle

May 30, 2013 Josh Eidelson, www.thenation.com Resist! Finance and the Economy, Human Rights, Worker Rights and Jobs

Seattle becomes the sevenths city where low-wage fast food workers are walking out for better working conditions. Like recent fast food strikers in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Detroit, the Seattle strikers are holding a one-day walkout to demand a raise to $15 per hour and the right to form a union without intimidation. Like those cities’ strikes, Seattle’s is supported by a coalition of labor and community groups; in each case, the Service Employees International Union has been involved in supporting the organizing efforts. The Seattle campaign, Good Jobs Seattle, is backed by groups including Working Washington, the Washington Community Action Network, and OneAmerica.

Thoreau’s Radicalism and the Fight Against the Fossil-Fuel Industry

May 30, 2013 Wen Stephensen, www.thenation.com Strategize! Environment

On a clear and seasonably cold Sunday morning in March, I made my way through the streets of an old neighborhood in Worcester, Massachusetts, and entered a large, converted brick building from some other century. Inside, in a cavernous room with worn floors and south-facing windows lit by the sun, a group of seventy or more young climate activists—mostly college students and recent graduates from the Boston area, along with a few veterans of the Occupy and global justice movements—were gathering for a full day and night of final preparations before carrying out a dramatic peaceful protest against the Keystone XL pipeline.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 »

Daily movement news and resources