Who are you here to see?” asked the guard at the desk. “Dale Byam,” we answered. He went through a card file and drew one out.

“Sign your names on this card and also on the Visitor’s Sheet,” he instructed. “Leave your car keys and ID here on my desk. And be sure your pockets are empty.”

After providing the required signatures, my husband David and I lined up with the other visitors for an electronic search. If the bell rang, we had to remove anything that was metal. Since my steel knee always rings, the guard took a hand device to go over my entire body until satisfied it was indeed my knee that set off the detector. read more

Shortly after entering Columbia University in 1965, David Gilbert became the founding chair of the school’s Vietnam Committee. He also joined Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which began five years earlier. By the fall of 1966, he was inspired by the impact of the Black Panther Party on the national scene, and had witnessed the upsurge of militance among Native Americans, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and Asians. These movements have exerted a major influence on his actions ever since. read more

In the age of information and globalization, concern for human rights has become a hot potato in the West. A generation ago, people in the world’s democratic nations seldom worried about whether their fundamental human rights were protected. But as globalization proceeds, serious questions are being asked.

For example, are the basic human rights of individuals or entire populations really protected? And if so, who guards those rights in a globalized world? read more

With all the hoopla surrounding the decision by US Senator James Jeffords to bolt the Republican Party and become an independent, his home state of Vermont has lately attracted considerable attention. As a result of this break away, the Democrats have a fresh chance to effectively challenge the Bush agenda, and the president-select may be forced to deliver on some of the promises he made during his campaign. Meanwhile, pols and pundits have struggled to explain away this unprecedented development as the action of a quirky politician from an equally quirky place. read more

Many years ago, I was tempted once to pick up a gun and fight for what I believed in. It was 1936, and I was on my way to Oxford University on a fellowship to get my doctorate. During the sea voyage – there were no trans-Atlantic fights then – the ship’s radio announced that Francisco Franco had launched a military attack on the Popular Front, which had come to power the previous February.

Before enrolling in Oxford, I went to Spain, and discovered that the Front had established, here and there, non-hierarchical communal settlements. In Madrid, I stayed at the People’s University and was much impressed by the people I met. But soon, Franco’s soldiers advanced toward the city. I considered joining the resistance. If my friends were going to die, I was ready, too. Who knew what the outcome would be. Maybe, with the help of the Communists, who had mostly come from other countries to support this people’s republic, we would win! read more

It is a hot and sticky day when we arrive at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. This is the first annual counter-conference to the World Economic Forum taking place in Davos, Switzerland. In Davos, the elite of the world gather to plot a war against the poor. In Porto Alegre, social justice activists from around the world are meeting to plot a war against poverty. The slogan of the World Social Forum is ‘another world is possible.’ While we in Brazil share ideas freely, peaceful protestors in Switzerland are not allowed anywhere near the armed camp of Davos.  Which of these two visions represents the world you want? read more