by Neil Harvey* On October 14, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) issued a communiqué entitled “May the Earth Tremble at Its Core.” The communiqué has the merit of centering attention on struggles in defense of land, forests, water, and all that is threatened by large-scale development projects […]
Author: Social Justice
Are You against the Death Penalty? Good. Then Vote against the Death Penalty.
In light of recent controversies among progressives and radicals concerning Prop. 62, which would abolish the death penalty in California and replace it with life without parole, we are hosting two pieces that look at the hard issues surrounding the death penalty and explain the reasons for voting Yes or for voting No. Below is the […]
Why I Will Vote No on California’s Death Penalty Initiatives
In light of recent controversies among progressives and radicals concerning Prop. 62, which would abolish the death penalty in California and replace it with life without parole, we are hosting two pieces that look at the hard issues surrounding death penalty and explain the reasons for voting Yes or for voting No. Below is the “No” piece by […]
From South Africa to Chicago, Lessons in Truth and Reconciliation
by James Kilgore* I lived in South Africa during the 1990s, a period of transition from apartheid to some form of democracy. During this restructuring, much of the political debate centered on compensation for the violence and inequity of the past. With the rise of the Movement for Black Lives and other anti-racist groups in […]
The National Museum of African American History and Culture: A Homecoming
by Tony Platt* I’m lucky to be here in Washington, D.C. with Cecilia O’Leary to celebrate a new Smithsonian museum that has been a long, long time in the making. Cecilia donated her historical smarts and passion for social justice for five years; Lonnie Bunch and his staff worked on it for eleven years, starting […]
Trump’s New Amigo
by Juan José Gutiérrez* A los tiranos no se les apacigua, a los tiranos se les enfrenta Tyrants are not to be appeased, but confronted. Enrique Krauze, on the recent visit of Donald Trump to Mexico The rather abrupt visit of Donald Trump to Mexico on the last day of August 2016 was as unwelcome […]
Rio 2016 Olympics: Security and Segregation in the Marvelous City
by Laurindo Dias Minhoto* In Rio de Janeiro—the “marvelous city”—there is an old port where slave ships that brought captive workers from different parts of Africa to the center of the colony docked. The port area has been recently named (not that creatively) the “Marvelous Port” (Porto Maravilha) after a reconversion process that is paradigmatic […]
Brazil’s Constitutional Coup: Dilma in the Crosshairs
by Cliff Welch* While Olympic athletes faced victory and defeat along the putrid shores of Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay, on the shores of sparkly Lake Paranoá in Brasilia, Brazil’s 36th president, Dilma Rousseff, faced only defeats as her enemies moved to impeach her. The most recent contest was lost on August 10, when more […]
Back to Academia, in Struggle
by Michelle Brown* University administrators, colleagues, liberal progressive politicians, and all of us whose positionality is safely constituted within systems of white supremacy more often than not actively resist unlearning dominance even as we lay claim to a knowing expertise of and paternalistic benevolence for the oppressed. At the University of Tennessee, where I work, […]
Academic Boycott and Academic Activism: Progressives for Palestine
by Sunaina Maira* In 2016, a bill targeting organizations that choose to divest from Israel, AB 2844, was proposed in the California state legislature. In 2015, New York Governor Mario Cuomo also issued an executive order creating a blacklist of organizations that support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. This legal backlash, or “lawfare,” […]