Democracy

How Guatemalans Are Mobilizing To Defend Their Fragile Democracy

September 17, 2023 Jeff Abbott, Waging Nonviolence. Resist! Democracy, Elections, Guatemala, Left Politics

Guatemala is facing one of its most critical political crises in the last three decades following the surprise victory of progressive anti-corruption presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo on Aug. 20. The crisis stems from what many Guatemalans see as an attempt by officials accused of corruption to undermine and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the results of the country’s democratic process in order to protect their interests. In response, citizens and social movements have mobilized to defend the Central American country’s democracy as public officials attempt to undermine the will of the people.

Julian Assange And The End Of American Democracy

September 14, 2023 Chris Hedges, The Real News Network. Resistance Report Criminal Justice and Prisons, Democracy, Julian Assange, Media, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

The US government has hounded Julian Assange since WikiLeaks first revealed the extent of US war crimes in 2010. In the process of persecuting Assange, the federal government has used every tool at its disposal and even pushed beyond the boundaries that supposedly restrict state power in defense of civil liberties. One of the most insidious tactics is the use of the Espionage Act, which had not been used for against whistleblowers and journalists for almost a century before Assange’s case. In the first part of a two-part conversation, lawyer and human rights defender Stella Assange, spouse of Julian Assange, joins Chris Hedges for a look at the vast and vicious campaign by the US to silence Julian Assange, and what it all portends for our democracy.

Why Democracy Is Not Possible Under Capitalism

September 14, 2023 People's Dispatch. Strategize! Atlanta, Capitalism, Democracy, Plutocracy, Socialism

In Atlanta, residents are using the existing democratic systems under capitalism to fight the construction of a multi-million dollar training ground for militarized police repression, and finding those systems lacking. Meanwhile, in socialist Cuba, the people and the government collaborated on formulating the world’s most progressive family code. Is it possible to have democracy under a capitalist system? Under a different economic system, such as socialism, what would democracy look like? Mariah Parker, Stop Cop City activist, labor organizer with the Union of Southern Service Workers, and rapper, spoke to over 300 attendees of the Dilemmas of Humanity: A Socialist Horizon conference in Atlanta on September 2, as part of a panel discussion on Socialism and Democracy.

Despite 116,000 Signatures, Atlanta Won’t Validate Stop Cop City Petition

September 14, 2023 Mike Ludwig, Truthout. Educate! Atlanta, Cop City, Democracy, Georgia, Petitions, Police, Stop Cop City

The Vote to Stop Cop City Coalition in Atlanta submitted more than 116,000 signatures on Monday to put a referendum about the embattled police training complex on the ballot for local voters, but city officials quickly refused to validate the signatures and move the petition along due to an ongoing legal fight over the signature-gathering process. Stop Cop City activists accused Atlanta officials of once again subverting democracy after moving forward with the construction of the 85-acre, $90 million police training complex, despite months of fierce protest and loud community opposition to a facility that activists say would further militarize Atlanta cops.

Disabled People Are Whole People; Media Needs To Address That Reality

August 31, 2023 Janine Jackson, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! ADA, Democracy, Disability Rights, Media

July 26 marked the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 1990 law intended “to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination” against individuals with disabilities. The occasion connected with some serious, multi-layered stories, including news of a critical ruling that the state of Florida has been violating the rights of children with complex medical needs by keeping them institutionalized when they could be living in community. A sizable admixture of stories, though, were reports on buildings or spaces coming into compliance with the ADA—as though complying with a 33-year-old law was a feel-good story, and despite a relative absence of feel-bad stories about decades of noncompliance.

Venezuela’s Experience Of Building Democracy Under Siege

August 25, 2023 Blanca Eekhout, Peoples Dispatch. Strategize! Democracy, History, US Imperialism, Venezuela

From the moment of their initiation, progressive and anti-imperialist projects face constant and enormous challenges. There is the urgent need to resolve the socio-economic problems of the people: hunger, unemployment, and access to health and education. But how can that be achieved without advancing the forces of production and development in the economy? At the same time, how can the economy be developed in a capitalist world without reproducing the exploitation of workers? And furthermore, how can this be accomplished in the face of resistance from a resentful local oligarchy and a determined imperialism, which together coordinate actions of destabilization, siege, sabotage, media campaigns, and even coup and assassination attempts?

SEIU And The Carpenters: ‘Changing To Win’ Or Changing The Wrong Way?

August 23, 2023 Steve Early, Popular Resistance. Organize! Democracy, Labor Movement, SEIU, Unions

In a recent conversation with an otherwise well-informed young labor activist, I made a passing reference to Change to Win, a national labor federation formed in 2005 by defectors from the AFL-CIO. “Change to what?” she asked. “Never heard of it.” Her response was not surprising, given the short shelf life of the organizational brand in question. Launched with much media fanfare, Change to Win initially represented 5.5 million workers, about one-fifth of the AFL’s total membership. Its founders—the Service Employees, Teamsters, Carpenters, Laborers, United Farm Workers, Food and Commercial Workers, and UNITE-HERE—saw themselves as the second coming of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

State Of Emergency As Ecuador Heads To The Polls

August 20, 2023 Aminta Buenaño, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Democracy, Ecuador, Elections, History, Violence

Once upon a time, Ecuador was considered an island of peace. Once upon a time, we were one of the safest countries in the continent. Once upon a time, the prisons worked, the Ministry of Justice functioned, and we felt that we had a government and a leader. A time when we saw our taxes turned into infrastructure, roads, hospitals, schools, and parks; there were fewer beggars in the streets and more children in schools. How did a country as beautiful as Ecuador become hell? Until recently, the hope of better winds for our nation made emigrants return with the promise of a brighter destiny, after the ferocious robbery of the bank crisis of 1999, which led to the exodus of thousands of Ecuadorians plunged into despair and poverty.

2023: A Turning Point For Palestine In Global Politics

August 20, 2023 Mitchell Plitnick, Mondoweiss. Strategize! Democracy, Global Politics, Israel, Palestine

One of the more eye-opening aspects of 2023 for Palestine and Israel is how much has happened while the essential situation for Palestinians has continued its steady decline. The occupation of the West Bank has turned into annexation, and the apartheid nature of Israel has been exposed for more of the world. Protests in Israel have shown the world that Israeli Jews will come out across political lines to protect the democracy reserved exclusively for them, while more and more people recognize the implication that this is something Israelis could have done long ago if the political will to address the apartheid reality had been there.

For Open Bargaining, Start Early And Build

August 3, 2023 Ellen David Friedman, Labor Notes. Organize! Democracy, Labor Unions, Negotiations, Rank and File

In many unions, ratification of a collective bargaining agreement can leave members alienated and angry. Sometimes members will be learning about the major features of a tentative deal for the first time. Little time is given to discussion—members are expected to approve what leadership recommends, and officers may get defensive at questions or complaints. In some unions, members know their opinion doesn’t matter and may not even bother to vote. But there’s another way to go, to build a powerful, participatory, energized union through the bargaining process: open bargaining.

Israel Was Never A Democracy; Its Disintegration Was Inevitable

July 26, 2023 Miko Peled, MintPress News. Educate! Democracy, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, White Privilege

Israel is a nation grappling with deep internal divisions, and unfortunately, it is the Palestinian people who are paying the heavy price. Recently, a group of Israeli reservists known as “Brothers In Arms” made headlines by refusing to fulfill their reserve duty in protest of the newly passed “Judicial Reform.” Their stated concern was for the preservation of “Jewish democracy,” with an emphasis on creating a better future for their children within such a system. Some of the refusers who sat with their backs to the cameras, probably because they were members in some of Israel’s highly secretive death squads, known as the Special Forces, said they were concerned about the nature of the Israeli army.

‘Where Danger Lies…’: The Communal Alternative In Venezuela

July 25, 2023 Chris Gilbert, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Capitalism, Communes, Democracy, Hugo Chavez, Socialism, Venezuela

To frame the ecological promise of Venezuela’s communal project, it is useful to consider some of its main features, and contrast them with the capital system. The communes in the country are quite varied, in part because, as expressions of grassroots political and economic democracy, they have developed along diverse lines according to their geographic and social contexts. However, one consistent and decisive feature of all Venezuela’s communes—part of both the legal framework and the on-the-ground reality—is that they involve returning control of production to direct producers, whose conscious organization of productive processes substitutes for the capital system’s rule of abstract value relations that alienate laborers both from their own activities, and from their material and social environment.

People’s Summit Calls For Respect Of Democracy And Self-Determination

July 22, 2023 Zoe Alexandra, People's Dispatch. Organize! Caribbean, CELAC, Democracy, Europe, Latin America, People's Summit, Self-Determination

Without sovereignty and mutual respect, dialogue between regions is impossible. Throughout the days of debate and work at the People’s Summit held parallel to the III CELAC-EU Summit, trade union activists, community leaders, left political leaders, artists, and students from across Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe ratified the importance of spaces for democratic and plural debate between equal partners. The summits occurred simultaneously in the Belgian capital of Brussels from July 17-18 after a eight-year pause. The People’s Summit, held at the Free University of Brussels, was organized by a broad coalition of over 100 organizations, collectives, unions, political parties, and movements.

Ordinary People By The Millions

July 19, 2023 Seymour Hersh, Mintpress News. Strategize! Class Struggle, Democracy, Democrats, History, Populism, Republicans

Lunch with Tom Frank is a totally American experience. He’s a proud native of Kansas but far from a country boy: he got his doctorate from the University of Chicago and has written a series of influential books. He likes people, food, and telling it like it is. He teases the waiter, talks about a healthy salad, and then orders an overstuffed sandwich that he wolfs down as he dissects the increasingly crazed American political world. He’s not just a guy who happens to be bright and unpretentious and a lot of fun who has chosen to focus on American politics; he’s a political prophet who two decades ago saw what others could not glimpse and published What’s the Matter with Kansas?

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