Democracy

White Power Structure Grabs Control Of Jackson Schools

October 7, 2017 Diane Ravitch, www.dianeravitch.net Educate! Democracy, Education, Racism, White Supremacy

By Diane Ravitch. Jackson, MS - The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or worse. The parents and citizens of Jackson, Mississippi, organized to save their public schools from state takeover. They think that black people should have the same democratic rights as white people. But the past is never really past. The state stepped in to seize control and ousted the superintendent. Fortuitously, Betsy DeVos just have Mississippi millions of dollars to open charter schools. Sure looks like a conspiracy by mean-spirited whites people to dis-empower black people. Are there educational geniuses at the State Department of Education?

Catalans Strike Over Violent Crackdown On Independence Referendum

October 4, 2017 Staff, www.france24.com Resist! Catalonia, Democracy, Independence, State Violence

By Staff of News 24 - Schools and some businesses also shut in a dramatic protest bound to further ratchet up fever-pitch tensions with Spain's central government, as Madrid comes under growing international pressure to resolve its worst political crisis in decades. The Port of Barcelona reduced services to a minimum, and protesters stood on roads and highways across Catalonia, blocking traffic. On the AP7 highway linking Barcelona to France two youths set up a folding table and played chess. Catalan pro-separatist trade unions, schools and cultural institutions called for the stoppage to "vigorously condemn" the police response to the Sunday poll, in which regional authorities confirmed over 90 people were injured. Catalonia's leader said 90 percent of voters backed independence from Spain, but the central government has vowed to stop the wealthy northeastern region -- which accounts for a fifth of Spain's economy -- from breaking away, dismissing the poll as a "farce". In Barcelona the Metro provided only minimum service and passengers travelled for free, while major tourist sites like the city's emblematic Sagrada Familia Church were closed.

Catalan Parliament To Declare Independence Following ‘Yes’ Victory

October 2, 2017 Jordi Bedmar, www.catalannews.com Educate! Catalonia, Democracy, Independence, Spain

By Jordi Bedmar for Catalan News.Catalan President Carles Puigdemont with the entire Catalan government, announced that “the right to be an independent state has been won.” He says the referendum will be communicated to the Catalan Parliament so that it can act according to the referendum legislation recently passed in the chamber, which states that independence will be unilaterally declared, should the "yes" vote win.

Despite Police Violence, Catalans Vote Today

October 1, 2017 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Catalonia, Democracy, Independence, Police violence, Spain

By Popular Resistance. Spain - Catalonians across the region in Spain today voted on a referendum for independence in the face of often severe police violence by the Spanish civil guard. The vote was held even though Spain's Constitutional Court declared it illegal. Despite being evenly split on the issue of independence, 70 percent of Catalonians favored holding a vote on the referendum as an expression of their democratic rights. Catalonia is a region around Barcelona. It has a distinct language and culture. The region is wealthy overall and makes up one fifth of Spain's gross domestic product. The campaign for independence has been underway for a number of years.

#WeChoose Equity In Education Campaign

September 29, 2017 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Organize! Democracy, Education, Equity, Privatization

By Popular Resistance. Launched just after Education Secretary Betsy DeVoss was appointed in February, 2017, the #WeChoose campaign is fighting for equity in education. They write: "We are not fooled by the 'illusion of school choice.' The policies of the last twenty years, driven more by private interests than by concern for our children’s education, are devastating our neighborhoods and our democratic rights. Only by organizing locally and coming together nationally will we build the power we need to change local, state, and federal policy and win back our public schools. School closings are a key issue now because if our communities don’t have schools, we will have little to fight for. But if we only fight against closings, we won’t succeed at building the kind of sustainable school transformation that will carry us forward.

East Oakland Community Launches Major New Organizing Initiative

September 27, 2017 Organize! Democracy, Housing rights, Popular Assemblies

By Causa Justa. OAKLAND --- Six of East Oakland’s most prominent community organizations will convene hundreds of East Oakland residents at a massive Community Assembly on Saturday, September 30. This umbrella organization—known as the East Oakland Congress of Neighborhoods—is being formed because neighborhood residents are fed up with a lack of action on extremely pressing problems in East Oakland including the housing crisis and homelessness, illegal dumping, gun violence, prostitution and many more.

Hundreds Of Simultaneous Rallies In Catalonia “For Democracy”

September 25, 2017 Guifré Jordan, www.catalannews.com Resist! Catalonia, Democracy, Rally

By Guifré Jordan for Catalan News - Hundreds of town squares in Catalonia have been filled by crowds of people wanting to defend “democracy” this Sunday morning. The main pro-independence organizations in the country arranged demonstrations in hundreds of towns in order to stand up for the referendum. In some of them, protesters hung pro-referendum posters in a challenge to Spain, which has branded as illegal any act to promote the vote. In Barcelona some 1 million official ballots were distributed by rally organizers and students. This is yet an even bigger challenge, after the Spanish prosecutor has set its focus on the entities calling people to protest last Wednesday, after the raids of some 20 government buildings. “The Spanish government are acting the same as the Franco dictatorship.” Some 100,000 ballots were distributed outside the main Barcelona University building and the rest given away in several squares of the Catalan capital. One of the highlights of the rally in Barcelona was the Catalan Parliament president’s unexpected visit. “The Spanish government talks about democracy, but they are acting the same as the Franco dictatorship,” she said to the crowd. “They think that by putting us away they'll be done with our ideas, but democracy will always triumph,” she added.

Possibilities For Economic Evolution: Trade

September 24, 2017 Peter Weisberg, www.globaljusticecenter.org Create! Democracy, Human Rights, New Economy, Sustainability, Trade

By Peter Weisberg for The Center for Global Justice. Like a global vampire that drains the blood of one victim after another, so too does the neo-liberal economic system. Under the misleading name of "free trade," it drains the world of all resources vital to the life of the planet, including the value of human life. Trade—just like money, profits, and growth—has been viewed as an end in and of itself. Trade is, however, not the goal. It is simply a tool that we can use to further our universal goals of improving human rights, justice, sustainability, and democracy. I was asked to consider what a model of world fair trade might look like. My research revealed a common core of values among many if not most progressive organizations.

Government By Goldman

September 24, 2017 Gary Rivlin and Michael Hudson, www.theintercept.com Educate! Corruption, Democracy, Goldman Sachs, New Economy, Plutocracy, Trump, Wall Street

By Gary Rivlin and Michael Hudson for The Intercept. Steve Bannon was in the room the day Donald Trump first fell for Gary Cohn. So were Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, and Trump’s pick for secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin. It was the end of November, three weeks after Trump’s improbable victory, and Cohn, then still the president of Goldman Sachs, was at Trump Tower presumably at the invitation of Kushner, with whom he was friendly. Cohn was there to offer his views about jobs and the economy. But, like the man he was there to meet, he was at heart a salesman.

Thousands Rally Against Duterte ‘Dictatorship’

September 21, 2017 Manuel Mogato and Roli Ng, reuters.com Resist! Democracy, Drug War, Philippines

By Manuel Mogato and Roli Ng for Reuters. MANILA (Reuters) - Thousands of Filipinos rallied on Thursday to denounce Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and warn of what they called an emerging dictatorship, in a major show of dissent against the controversial but hugely popular leader. Politicians, indigenous people, priests, businessmen, and left-wing activists held marches and church masses accusing Duterte of authoritarianism and protesting at policies including a ferocious war on drugs that has killed thousands. Signs saying “Stop The Killings” and “No To Martial Rule” reflected fears that Duterte would one day deliver on his threat to declare nationwide military rule like that imposed by late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Democratic Ownership And The Pluralist Commonwealth

September 21, 2017 Gar Alperovitz, www.truth-out.org Create! Democracy, Ownership

By Gar Alperovitz for Truth Out - On September 19, 1977 -- a day remembered locally as "Black Monday" -- the corporate owners of the Campbell Works in Youngstown, Ohio, abruptly shuttered the giant steel mill's doors. Instantly, 5,000 workers lost their jobs, their livelihoods, and their futures. The mill's closing was national news, one of the ﬁrst major blows in the era of deindustrialization, offshoring, and "free trade" that has since made mass layoffs commonplace. What was not commonplace was the response of the steelworkers and the local community. "You feel the whole area is doomed somehow," Donna Slaven, the wife of a laid-off worker, told reporters at the time. "If this can happen to us, there is not a secure union job in the country." Rather than leave the fate of their community in the hands of corporate executives in New York, New Orleans, and Washington DC, the workers began to organize and resist. And they joined with a new coalition of priests, ministers, and rabbis -- headed by a Catholic and an Episcopal bishop -- to build support for a new way forward. I was called in to head up an economic team to help. Working together, the steelworkers, the ecumenical coalition, and our team put forward a bold proposal to re-open the mill under worker–community ownership.

Texas Is Flooded Because Our Democracy Is, Too

September 7, 2017 Basav Sen, www.otherwords.org Create! Democracy, Floods, Texas

By Basav Sen for Other Words - Our culture of legalized bribery makes climate disasters more likely, but there's an alternative. “It’s flooding down in Texas,” goes the old song. “All of the telephone lines are down.” With apologies to Stevie Ray Vaughan, there’s a lot more down in Texas than telephone lines now. Power lines are down, homes are destroyed, and cities sit underwater. Dozens have died. For me, this is personal. I worried intensely about friends and family in Houston and Corpus Christi. Thankfully all are safe, but it’s been jarring to see photos of places I know underwater. Every time I check the news I recognize familiar places from the long drive from Houston to Corpus I’ve made numerous times. There’s another unforgettable sight I often recall from that drive. In Taft, Texas, as you’re nearing Corpus — a major refinery town — over the horizon comes a huge wind farm. What does this juxtaposition of refineries and wind farms have to do with the tragedy of Hurricane Harvey?

Neo-Nazis And The Rise Of Illiberal Democracy

August 20, 2017 Henry Giroux, www.truthdig.com Educate! Authoritarian, Democracy, Neoliberalism, Trump

By Henry Giroux for TruthDig. While Trump finally gave way to overwhelming pressure on Monday and delivered a speech in which he asserted that “racism is evil” and described the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists as “repugnant,” by Tuesday he had already reverted to his initial assertion of “blame on both sides,” equating neo-Nazis with anti-racist counter-protesters (whom he labelled as the “alt-left”) and speaking of “very fine people” among the crowd of right-wing extremists who chanted racist and anti-Semitic slogans on Friday night. The authoritarian drama unfolding across the United States has many registers and includes state violence against immigrants, right-wing populist violence against mosques and synagogues, and attacks on Muslims, Black people and others who do not fit into the vile script of white nationalism. The violence in Charlottesville is but one register of a larger mirror of domestic terrorism and home-grown fascism that is growing in the United States.

Why American Politics Can’t Be Reformed

August 6, 2017 Robert Urie, www.counterpunch.org Strategize! Capitalism, Democracy, Reform

By Robert Urie for Counterpunch. The dominant political parties in the U.S. have assumed absolute control over electoral processes at a time when the power of concentrated wealth has been solidified. The result is an all or nothing political process where who it is that perpetuates this system of upward distribution is the only open question. For those who forgot, Bill and Hillary Clinton attended Donald Trump’s wedding and they consider each other ‘friends.’ The food-fight over ‘Russian interference’ is political theater for gullible loyalists, I mean an outrageous assault on our sacred democratic institutions. A central challenge for reformers is that ‘the world,’ including the dispossessed plurality within the U.S., doesn’t have another fifty years to work current political dysfunction out. A political system that can only support the upward distribution of social resources at ever-rising social costs will fail more people at an increasing rate. As fact and metaphor, Barack Obama’s program to combat global warming was insufficient on its face and a cynical dodge when combined with his program (TPP) to give corporations the ability to override environmental regulations aimed at resolving it.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

assetto corsa mods

Daily movement news and resources