Page 163 – Toward Freedom

For the past thirty years, Congressman Jair Bolsonaro was a fringe extremist in Brazilian politics, known mostly for outlandish, deliberately inflammatory quotes in which he paid homage to the most notorious torturers of the 1964-1985 military regime, constantly heralded the 1964 coup as a “defense of democracy,” told a female socialist colleague in Congress that she was too ugly to “deserve” his rape, announced that he’d rather learn that his son died in a car accident than was gay, and said he conceived a daughter after having four sons only due to a “moment of weakness.” (Last September, he used Google to translate a Brazilian epithet for LGBTs to, in essence, call me a faggot on Twitter). read more

Indigenous Massacre Survivors Unite for Memory and Justice in Guatemala

Sandra Cuffe October 8, 2018 Sandra Cuffe

The October 4, 2012 massacre was the first and only massacre of indigenous people by soldiers following the 1996 Peace Accords. This year’s commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the massacre took place a week after a tribunal confirmed state armed forces committed genocide in the early 1980s. “The goal is to remember them and to leave a legacy for our future generations who will struggle for the defense of our rights,” said Eduardo Juan Yax, an indigenous community leader.

A Mother’s Thoughts at the Verge of Global Annihilation

Frida Berrigan October 8, 2018 Frida Berrigan

The human polluting of the planet with the emissions from the burning of fossil fuels represents a slower-paced Armageddon than the red-button pushing “we begin bombing in five minutes” of thermonuclear warfare. But they are both too big for any one of us to hold alone: me or you or my six-year-old son.

Here’s a Reality-Based Battle Plan for the Midterms and Beyond

Sonali Kolhatkar October 8, 2018 Sonali Kolhatkar

Source: Truthdig

Many analysts of our current political landscape are seduced by the idea of a dichotomy of ideals, a polarized electorate neatly cleaved into two sides: conservatives versus liberals, as symbolized by the Republican-Democrat split. For progressives, that is supposed to translate into: “Everything that Donald Trump does is bad, and everything that his opposition does is good.” (For Trump supporters, it is reversed.) This works conveniently for both parties, and especially for Democrats who benefit from the wrath of Trump’s critics and revel in their position of representing the opposition against a deeply unpopular president and party. All that Democrats have to do is not be Trump and they can expect to sail to victory. read more

Understanding the Global Rise of the Extreme Right

Walden Bello October 8, 2018 Walden Bello

The far right is on the rise from North America to Europe to Asia. Each case is different, but they share key similarities — and require similar responses.

Preventive Diplomacy and the Political Crisis in Assam, India

Rene Wadlow October 8, 2018 Rene Wadlow

A somewhat similar situation to the Rohingya repression is developing in neighboring Assam, in northeast India. The Assam situation has not received the international attention that Myanmar has as wide-scale violence and refugee flows have not taken place, thus the need for preventive diplomacy now. The people of Assam in northeast India are potentially sitting on top of a smoldering volcano that threatens to erupt into catastrophic suffering. The violence would target ethnic and religious minorities, most particularly Bengali-speaking Muslims, somewhat on the pattern of the fate of the Rohingya of Myanmar.