While Congress Fails on Syringe Exchange Funding, Activism Fills the Gap
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: Congress once again failed to lift a ban on federal funding for syringe exchange programs, despite overwhelming evidence that exchanging used needles for new ones can saves lives and millions of dollars in health care costs. Fortunately, activists on the ground have never waited for lawmakers to act.
Rory Fanning: “We Have to Make It Cool to Be a War Resister Again”
Joe Macarè, Truthout: Rory Fanning spoke to Truthout about his aims in writing Worth Fighting For: An Army Ranger’s Journey Out of the Military and Across America, the meaning of Pat Tillman and how to engage with war resisters in the military.
Utah Land Defenders Stand Up to Dirty Politics
Anna Simonton, Oil Change International: The Uinta Basin region of Utah has transformed over the past decade to one in which drill rigs are more common than cattle herds, and methane emissions have degraded the air quality in this wilderness region to rival that of Los Angeles. Activists, however, are fighting back.
Ferguson Reverberates Around the World
Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report: The Ferguson protests seized the attention of people all over the world and gave them a sense of the unvarnished truth of Black American life.
Hollywood, the Police and the Poor
John Steppling, Truthout: Dan Gilroy’s new film Nightcrawleris garnering rave reviews and is indeed beautifully photographed, well-made and entertaining. But the reviews, like the movie itself, erase entire chunks of our society and its reality.
Ted Asregadoo, Truthout: Truthout contributor Michael Meurer talks about the release of 2,000 photographs of the US torture of prisoners and the ways in which Uruguay has drawn neoliberal wrath for thwarting supply-side economics and corporate governance.
Take the Chains Off: The Struggle for Racial Justice Continues
Nicholas Powers, The Indypendent: The state maintains law and order in an unequal society, so the contradictions roil it from inside. It must suppress the very people who are the source of its legitimacy, and it does this by shielding its own agents from public accountability while demonizing its victims.
The Unspeakable in Afghanistan
Pat Kennelly, World Beyond War: “I have heard ordinary Afghans whisper about Afghanistan as a failing state, even as the media has touted growth, development and democracy,” the author writes. If energies were focused on peacemaking, however, perhaps people could transform the Afghan state.
Why USAID Could Never Spark a Hip Hop Revolution in Cuba
Sujatha Fernandes, North American Congress on Latin America: “In a society shaped by successive generations of revolutionary projects, any attempt to engineer a US-affiliated movement from above is destined to be revealed for the farce that it is.”
Four Ways 2014 Was a Pivotal Year for the Internet
Timothy Karr, OtherWords: The internet’s fate feels distinctly uncertain as 2014 draws to a close. At stake is whether the internet remains a democratic, user-powered network – or falls under the control of a few powerful entities.
Dr. James Zogby calls on Attorney General Eric Holder to stop racial profiling that results in deportations; the Military Religious Freedom Foundation demands Creech Air Force Base in Nevada remove the Bible from the POW table in its dining hall; Bruce Lesnick promotes a Bill of Rights for working people as the “top secret” solution to what ails the world; Halyna Mokrushyna reports back from a conference where Canadian academics discussed the origin of the Ukrainian crisis and the outlook for reconciliation; the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) in Berlin lodged criminal complaints against former CIA head George Tenet, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other members of the administration of former US President George W. Bush; S. M. (Mike) Millercalls on Democrats, liberals and progressives to unite in order to win the 2016 election; theBrennan Center for Justice supports an amicus brief filed by the New York University School of Law which states the Fourth Amendment should apply to digital documents;Matt Peppe reports that Puerto Ricans demand the release of political prisoner Oscar López Rivera; Emanuel Garcia offers a new definition of torture; Ben Norton criticizes CNN for hiring Mark O’Mara, George Zimmerman’s defense attorney, who is now defending the actions of Darren Wilson; Sharon Adams points out that the CIA’s torture program resulted in unreliable information; Four Arrows discusses the American Psychological Association’s longstanding role in torture, eugenics and social control, and suggests a university boycott of the organization may be in order; Dr. Justin A. Frank notes the ugly underlying sadism in George W. Bush’s presidency; The BRussels Tribunal – led by two former UN Assistant Secretaries-General, UN Humanitarian Coordinators for Iraq, Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday – argues for accountability for torture; Roger Annis excoriates mainstream coverage of the crisis in Ukraine; and more.
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Spirit In Action 