October 7th was supposed to be a day of celebration for the Virgin of Rosario, the patron saint of miners. Yet events in Huanuni delayed the festival interminably."Something that should have been a blessing for the country has been turned into a curse." - Bolivian Vice President, Alvaro García Linera Miners Carrying Dead
Thailand's September 19 "tanks and flowers" coup quickly turned nasty, as a military junta imposed media censorship, banned political gatherings of more than five people and prohibited the formation of political parties.
Source: NewStandardNews
Outraged by a controversial local ordinance, civil-rights activists say that although Hurricane Katrina wiped out just about everything in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish, a legacy of segregation clings stubbornly to the community’s racial landscape.
In a 5-2 vote last month, the St. Bernard Parish Council passed an ordinance that would restrict owners of single-family residences from entering into rental arrangements with anyone except "blood relatives." Renting such dwellings to anyone else would require special approval by the Council. Owners and occupants who violate the ordinance would be subject to fines and civil penalties.
Hegemony or Survival reminds me of another book by Chomsky that I read in 1960, my first year of graduate school in linguistics. Syntactic Structures had been published the year before, and it was setting off a revolution in the study of language, for Chomsky had shown linguists how to describe language from a radically different point of view.
"What we manage to do each time we win a victory is not so much to secure chance once and for all, but rather to create new terrains for struggle." -Angela Davis, from Abolition Democracy
Oaxaca is wide awake. While many of us seem to be in a deeply unconscious state, oblivious to the world’s realities of violence, exploitation and oppression, the people of Oaxaca are rising up. Tired of their historical suffering under policies of domination, the people have organized a liberation movement that is opening eyes around the world. The movement in Oaxaca is a current, inspiring demonstration of popular power, and although every people’s struggle must create its own path, Oaxaqueños are offering us valuable lessons about organization, solidarity, and resistance.
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