On a May 29th national day of action, Burlington, Vermont residents came together to protest SB 1070, a racist law in Arizona that allows and encourages racial profiling. This act requires law enforcement officials to check the documentation of any and all persons who look suspicious and or look like immigrants. Protest participants in Burlington wore signs, chanted and publicly spoke out against the Arizona law.
As soccer stars and fans converge in South Africa for the World Cup, this video looks into the Cape Town slums to investigate reports that people are being displaced to make way for the games.
The humanitarian aid ship, Mavi Marmara, set off toward Gaza from Cyprus on Sunday, May 30, to deliver much-needed aid supplies. The following day, the Israeli military violently seized the ship in international waters. The Israeli government said the ship was embarking on "an act of provocation" against the Israeli military, stating the flotilla would be breaking international law by landing in Gaza. In response to this assault, dozens of people gathered in Burlington, Vermont on May 31 to express their sadness and outrage over Israel’s blatant lack of respect for international law.
US President Barack Obama made passage of health care reform a major effort of his first year in office. He claimed that the cost of health care in the US was rising so rapidly that it was threatening the whole economy. The president is certainly correct in saying that the cost of health care in the US is high. In 2006, for example, the cost of health care in the US was 15.33% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or $6,714 per capita. This high expense does not lead to relatively good healthcare. Cuban Community Clinic
Michael Wood-Lewis and his wife, Valerie, moved to the south end of Burlington, Vt. in 2000. He recalls, "We'd landed in what we thought was our dream neighborhood. It was walkable, near the lake, full of trees. But we were having trouble getting to know the neighbors. One night, my wife and I were sitting around the dinner table talking about it. It hit us that in the Midwest, where we're from, people brought cookies to their neighbors. We've been here a year-where were our cookies?"
The U.S. and U.N. have based their plan for Haiti's redevelopment on the expansion of the assembly industry. Toward this end, the U.S. Congress passed legislation last month which would expand benefits and income for U.S. investors yet again. Haitian workers will continue to earn $3.09 a day. Worker rights groups and other sectors of Haiti's social justice movements are adamant that a sweatshop-based development model cannot advance either the country or its workers.Haitian Sweatshop
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