“The Cornel West Theory, with the blessing of Dr. West himself, uses some of his pro-active teachings as a launchpad to promote political and social change, and justice for all peoples. Through a mix of hip-hop, soul, R&B, jazz, rock and go-go their music strives to give voice to all those disadvantaged.” Free mixtape, In [...]
Punk, hardcore and alternative rock music scenes have been for years the almost exclusive realm of teenagers and youth in their 20s. Not only have they been areas of creative expression, but such subcultures have given young people a place to challenge beauty standards, political boundaries and cultural norms. In the book Sells Like Teen Spirit: [...]
A collection lent heft by the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative,Firebrands: Portraits from the Americas is a beautifully illustrated sketchbook of 78 key figures influencing social movements. The assortment featured herein is diverse, from W. E. B. DuBois to Rigoberta Menchu, Frida Kahlo to Paul Robeson. Contemporary activists like Yuri Kochiyama and Elizabeth Martinez are at home [...]
I remember the coup d’état as if it were yesterday. I was at home, and a strange sound–like a knife scraping the sky–awoke me. I was born in the time of dictators and coups (1975), but I don’t remember the stories they told me about those days, when the country woke up one morning to [...]
When old friend Ramsey Kanaan forwarded me a copy of one of his recent projects from his new publishing outfit, PM Press, I was intrigued. Kanaan is known to virtually everyone in the publishing world as the guy who founded AK Press and was its heart and soul for many years. When he left to start PM, [...]
The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and Chicago Police Murdered A Black Panther is the account of attorney Jeff Haas’ fight to ensure justice for the families of Hampton and Mark Clark, killed in the police raid spun by authorities at the time as repelling a Panther attack. It is also a chilling [...]
Although overshadowed these days in mainstream media by drug cartel violence, Cuidad Juarez has come to capture the minds of many people concerned about social justice, and for good reason. In no other city in Latin America do controversies such as globalization, economic collapse, institutionalized violence against women, history, immigration, resistance, North American exceptionalism and [...]
We express our total rejection of the Panamanian government and our unconditional support to our working class comrades in Panama, following the appalling acts of bloodshed and repression carried out by the government of Panama led by Ricardo Martinelli against the Panamanian people and, specifically, the persecution, killing and imprisonment of leaders of the Frente [...]
Social movements for at least the last few generations have tussled with concepts of equality for women and what that means in relation to the overall struggle for justice. During the 1960s, women’s liberation organizing came into what became known as its Second Wave, and, with tactics like conscious raising at their disposal, women in [...]
Teachers in Oaxaca have been involved in demonstrations against Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz for several years. Most times, these conflicts centered on pay disputes. Sadly, Mexico has fights over federal and state budget priorities as anywhere else. However, the Oaxaca kerfuffle was just one of many struggles in a nation with many powerful social movements, [...]
As many have heard, a relentless anti-police movement has grown from the tragedy of Oscar Grant’s murder on January 1, 2009 by former officer Johannes Mehserle.* Recently, Mehserle was convicted of the deplorable charge of involuntary manslaughter, a weak charge which carries a sentence of probation to four years in prison. When the news of [...]
The belief higher education is about the spirit of inquiry and exploring ideas has been central to education itself for centuries. Consider where many young people first encountered great literature, thoroughgoing thinkers and spaces for political debate. Where emergent conservatism has closed off public education, universities have been one of the few places students can [...]
Romantic though it seems, the life of labor organizers and unions is messy. Most everyone is familiar with the firings for union organizing from which many a motion picture has borrowed from as grist. But such high drama can easily be avoided by bosses who understand the law and manipulate missteps to their advantage. No [...]
A peculiar tension has always existed between activist educators working in public and higher education. Maybe it is the contradiction of cultivating consciousness of youth while being on the payroll of institutions (and certainly the state) that seldom believe in such politically minded pursuits. Or perhaps, as Luis Urrieta asserts in Working From Within: Chicana [...]
Microcredit, the Dream and the Reality The Dream Those involved in international development often live in a dreamworld. Lately, that dreamworld has morphed into a twisted delusion that has gained a religious-like following. The delusion is that capitalism, rather than being the cause of inequality and poverty, is actually what the impoverished population of [...]
Want to Start A Revolution? Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle presents the work and thinking of dynamic women organizers, some you may know and others whose labors are not as remembered. The diverse collection, edited by Dayo Gore, Jeanne Theoharis and Komozi Woodard, tells a story of fluid political organizing that universally [...]
In his book How Nonviolence Protects the State, Peter Gelderloos makes a fearless though at points flawed argument against not simply pacifism, but the philosophy of nonviolence in the context of social change. Many are likely to find such a position to be an implicit advocacy of violent action, and thus marginal, at best. But [...]
Book collaborators Benitez, Haas and Wells get a thumbs up for contextualizing the Figueroa Corridor campaign with other housing flashpoints, such as the effort in Tompkins Square in the Lower East Side of New York City as well as San Francisco’s International Hotel. Presenting the story of Self-Help Graphics, a legendary art and agitation compound, [...]
On Monday, July 26 at 2:00 p.m., Sistas and Brothas United (SBU) and Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) will protest in front of the Weeden Foundation at 747 Third Avenue and 47th Street. On the week that SB1070 goes into effect in Arizona, SBU and NWBCCC expose the anti-immigrant think tank behind this [...]
The Police Assassination of Carl Hampton ________________________________________ On July 26, 1970, Carl Bernard Hampton, one of Black America’s most articulate, courageous and heroic, young leaders was ruthlessly slain by the Houston Police Department’s Central Intelligence Division (CID). At the age of 21, Carl was a tireless organizer who worked day and night to establish People’s [...]
RT @pocorganize: Guantánamo Prisoner's Memoirs Offer Rare First-Person Account of Torture http://t.co/949PrPuWQW #connecttheleft #unifiedleft #poc #racism
Guantánamo Prisoner's Memoirs Offer Rare First-Person Account of Torture http://t.co/949PrPuWQW #connecttheleft #unifiedleft #poc #racism
RT @pocorganize: "Sublimated #Colonialism" (PDF download and promotion) http://t.co/w7oUMv1FIv #racism #poc #woc #classwar #labor #1u #blacknews #latism
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