Archives

Image

U.S. Bases in Colombia Rattle the Region

Benjamin Dangl March 22, 2010 Benjamin Dangl

On the shores of the Magdalena River, in a lush green valley dotted with cattle ranches and farms, sits the Palanquero military base, an outpost equipped with Colombia's longest runway, housing for 2,000 troops, a theater, a supermarket, and a casino. Palanquero is at the heart of a ten-year, renewable military agreement signed between the United States and Colombia on October 30, 2009, which gives Washington access to seven military bases in the country.

Image

Haiti: Where Solidarity Means Survival

Beverly Bell March 22, 2010 Beverly Bell

Photo by Conner Gorry
Perhaps more than anything today, Haiti needs a new macro-economy, one based above all on meeting the needs of its citizens. Post-earthquake economic restructuring could include equitable distribution of resources, high levels of employment with fair compensation, local production, and provision of social services. In the meantime, what saved many during the earthquake, and what is keeping them alive today, is a culture and economy of solidarity, or mutual aid.

No Picture

Activism is Change: A View From the Struggle in Gaza

Ramzy Baroud March 18, 2010 Ramzy Baroud

An activist is a person who feels strongly about a cause and who is also willing to dedicate time and energy towards advancing and realizing this cause. This might be my own limited interpretation of what activism means. I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp where the daily struggles of the community included challenging military occupation while attempting to survive under the harshest of circumstances. Activism then involved civil disobedience, general strikes, confronting armed Israeli soldiers with stones and slingshots. But it also involved much more than that.

Image

Banning Cluster Bombs: Light in the Darkness of Conflicts

Rene Wadlow March 17, 2010 Rene Wadlow

Cluster Bombs
In a remarkable combination of civil society pressure and leadership from a small number of progressive States, a strong ban on the use, manufacture, and stocking of cluster bombs will come into force on August 1, 2010 now that 30 States have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Convention bans the use, production, transfer of cluster munitions and sets deadlines for stockpile destruction and clearance of contaminated land. The Convention obliges States to support victims and affected communities.

Image

The Way Forward for the Movement in Defense of Public Education

Bill Leumer and Ann Robertson March 16, 2010 Bill Leumer and Ann Robertson

On March 4, students, staff, teachers, faculty and their unions on all levels of public education created history by uniting and pouring out onto the streets to engage in what were overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations to defend public education.  The movement swept through small towns and large cities with demonstrators, including young elementary school students, carrying picket signs while yelling chants expressing their determination to fight back.

A San Francisco Civic Center rally, organized by the California Faculty Association (covering the California State University system), American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 (covering San Francisco Community College) and the United Educators of San Francisco (covering K-12), drew somewhere between 12 to 15,000 participants, far more than many of the organizers anticipated.  The rally was also sponsored and built by the San Francisco Labor Council, which called on all its affiliates to support it.  The Labor Council’s banner, which was displayed above the stage, set the theme of the rally.  It read:  “Full funding for Public Education and Social Services.  Progressive Taxation Now!” read more