The 7.3 earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12 was only the start of Haiti's most recent catastrophe. It has been followed by an ever-deepening social and economic crisis for those whose survival was precarious before the quake, especially among the 1.3 million who were left homeless or displaced. Haitian Tent Camp
It could have been New Orleans as it was pummeled by hurricane Katrina-the torrential rains, the rising waters, the families separated, bodies lost and still missing-but it was not. This was Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2010, and the culprit was not a breach in the levee, but dozens of mudslides that leveled whole neighborhoods, burying homes and families alive. Favela in Rio
Arizona is in the grip of an anti-immigrant fever. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose popularity has been built on his tough enforcement tactics and willingness to defy the federal government, is on the edge of a run for governor. But even if he doesn't, the state has a controversial new law that requires police to determine the status of anyone if there is a "reasonable suspicion" they are in the US illegally - and arrest them if documents can't be produced. Hiring day laborers off the street has also become a crime.
The Shock Doctrine, the book by Naomi Klein, shows that often imperialist countries shock another country, and then while it's on its knees, they impose their own political will on that country while making economic profits from it. We're facing an instance of the shock doctrine at work, even though Patrick Elie
Laura Wagner, a Post-quake tent city
Forty two-years ago, on April 4, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on the balcony of a Memphis motel as he prepared to support striking Black sanitation workers there. Although James Earl Ray initially confessed to the crime - he later recanted - doubts about what happened persist. In the late 1990s, former FBI agent Donald Wilson, who investigated the murder, presented evidence he claimed to have found in Ray's car - slips of paper that support charges of a conspiracy involving federal agents.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019