Solidarity blogs

Whitewashing Black History

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:55:19 -0500

The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice – I had no alternative. – Paul Robeson

Mp3 Spotlight: Christy Moore

Thu, 08 May 2008 12:26:44 -0500

I want to kick off this ongoing series on the webzine with a look at a seminal political artist. Christy Moore is a powerful vocalist, song interpreter, and a passionately political person and performer. To many he may be simply a folksinger, but Christy Moore is a voice for the voiceless.

Bollywood: Song, Dance, and Worker Insurgency

Thu, 01 May 2008 23:52:34 -0500

Almost two years ago, I met somebody at a club, and when he told me what he did for a living, I nearly dropped my frou-frou drink. I think it was a tequila sunrise. That or a margarita. Something brightly colored and with a lot of sugar.

A People Centered Plan for Atlanta's Mass Transit

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:49:13 -0500

At long last, Atlanta Jobs with Justice has released their excellent study and plan for regional transit centered on the needs of riders and workers. You can download the report from Atlanta JwJ's website or download it directly here. The study is the project of years of research and organizing with the Transit Riders Union - a group of transit-dependent riders and disabled riders - and workers in our transit system, MARTA, who are represented by Amalgamated Transit Union 732. This is in our corner of the ring.

Marxist Blogs, Part One

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:34:58 -0500

“Radical Blogging Is The Main Trend In Our World Today”

Let’s focus on two trends in radical blogs, both based on Marxism. One is the emergence of a web of prolific Maoist/Marxist-Leninist blogs in the United States. The other is the world of Marxist blogs emanating from English-speaking western Europe. I will start this entry with a look at the Maoist-inspired blogs.

Global Justice School - Days 6-15

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:13:01 -0500

(The arduous pace of the school, and it's work and social demands, means that I have not been able to keep up with my journal on a daily basis. Thus, I apologize for the partial summaries below; some of the fun, wacky, informal conversations are also left out, as I had to reconstruct some days from my notes. - John)

Global Justice School - Days 1-5

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:27:38 -0500

I will attempt to write daily notes on the 3-week Global Justice School (Amsterdam, NE March 28-April 19) organized by the International Institute for Research and Education. I miss my comrades – and the start of the baseball season! – but it is a great experience being here.

Make the Road By Blogging

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:03:42 -0500

I didn't want all the burgeoning Solidarity bloggers or our loyal fans to miss the Carnival of Socialism up at stroppyblog. The previous Carnival was here--definitely worth a look. You should also note that there is an upcoming Carnival of Socialism to which you can and should submit your best work! Do so at Practically Insurgent.

Boos for Bush

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:15:47 -0500

On “Love in the Movement”

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:35:10 -0500

The “crisis of the Left” is usually referred to the disarray of movements, its weakened political and social power, the effects of demise of bureaucratic “really existing socialism”, and the neoliberal offensive. It remains our responsibility to seriously interrogate these conditions, study our world, and chart strategies for a new socialist project.

Elliot Spitzer's "Corruption"

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:44:19 -0500

I'm trying to figure out whether I think Elliot Spitzer actually did anything that we should call "corrupt." I'm sure he broke his marital vows, quite repeatedly it seems, and I get what the folks are saying that Silda shouldn't have stood by her man, literally, and looked crushed - she should have issued a statement dumping his ass. Then, at the same time, I feel like that kind of decision is between her and her God and her shrink and so forth and giving a feminist seal of disapproval to her actions seems kind of weird to me. Of course it seems even weirder that I should be in a position to comment on feminist seals of disapproval, so I might as well just work my way out of this particular thread.

"War Zone" in downtown Atlanta

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:45:44 -0500

Heavy storms and tornadoes ripped through downtown Atlanta and surrounding neighborhoods of Cabbagetown, East Atlanta, and Vine City last weekend. Media coverage following the storm conformed to the usual clichés: the twisters “sounded like freight trains” and their aftermath resembled a “war zone.” I can’t totally discredit either of these. I do live across the street from a freight line, wasn’t right across the street from the tornados, but I’m not too concerned with what they sounded like anyway. I did check out the damage afterwards and I am concerned with war zones. Like most USonians, have never experienced a war zone, but I’m not sure if the two realities match up exactly…

Obama's pastor was right

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:47:29 -0500

Has anyone noticed how Obama and Clinton have been rushing to outdo each other in "rejecting and denouncing" controversial figures associated with their campaigns? First it was Obama, with Farrakhan. I was disappointed to see Obama "reject and denounce" Farrakhan himself - rather than rejecting and denouncing his anti-Semitic statements, which are worthy of being rejected. But I figured it was par for the course. Farrakhan has always been a lightning rod of presidential politics; Obama was really just distancing himself (again) from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Then there was Samantha Power, who is an annoying apostle of human rights liberalism, I believe, and I wasn't sad to see her go. Then there was Geraldine Ferraro, on the Clinton side, who doesn't seem to have aged gracefully, making remarks which might have had some core sense to them but were expressed in basically openly racist terms.

New York 'Fed' bails out business while Mayor announces budget cuts

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:08:02 -0500

Friday it was announced that New York State government’s bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, will bail out Wall Street big-shot bankers at Bear Stearns. Perhaps fittingly, Lee Bollinger, the Columbia University President who’s behind one of the biggest land-grabs in the city, is on the Board of Directors of this bank.

Indian Guest Workers organizing in Mississippi shipyards

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:18:17 -0500

Indian shipyard workers accuse their employer of human trafficking and forced labor; Guest Worker organizing continues in Mississippi and Louisiana
by Robert Caldwell & Damien Ramos