Image by Cristian Ibarra Santillan via Flickr
by Pete Dolack
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Systemic Disorder
August 12, 2020
Is it already too late to stop global warming? That question is not asked with thoughts of throwing up hands in despair and giving up. Rather, that question must be asked in the context of mitigating future damage to whatever degree might yet be possible.
Image by Lynn Friedman via Flickr
The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published November 18, 2016
August 11, 2020
A smoothly functioning society is created and maintained by the people. Children go to school, workers show up at their jobs, shipments are made, groceries and purchases are bought, bills are paid, goods and services are delivered; and so on. In times of justice, when the workings of society are fair, respectful, and uphold the rights and dignity of humanity, then the people have every reason to collectively maintain functional workplaces, schools, roads, social events, and so on.
Image by Russ Allison Loar via Flickr
by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist, Aug. 9, 2020
August 10, 2020
The high-tech sector, along with the U.S. national security state that it partners with, have lately been pushing the idea of upgrading society into a futuristic technological structure that makes life far more convenient. Last year the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, an organization created in 2018 to further the partnership between U.S. intelligence agencies and tech plutocrats, articulated this vision in a document. It called for a near future where the country’s “legacy systems” are replaced with a new paradigm of infrastructure, one that allows for self-driving cars, total home delivery in alternative to retail, and home appliances that can connect to an “internet of things.”
Image by duncan c via Flickr
by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
August 9, 2020
Latin America has surpassed more than 5 million Covid-19 cases to overtake North America, with 4.8 million Covid-19 cases, as the region worst-hit by the Coronavirus pandemic. This astronomic increase in Covid-19 cases has been accompanied by a corresponding economic catastrophe of great magnitude. According to a United Nations Policy Brief entitled “The Impact of COVID-19 on Latin America and the Caribbean”, “Parts of Latin America and the Caribbean have become hotspots of the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic, exacerbated by weak social protection, fragmented health systems and profound inequalities. COVID-19 will result in the worst recession in the region in a century, causing a 9.1% contraction in regional GDP in 2020…This could push the number of poor up by 45 million (to a total of 230 million) and the number of extremely poor by 28 million (to 96 million in total), putting them at risk of undernutrition.” The Policy Brief further states that “The sharp drop in economic activity is expected to lift the unemployment rate from 8.1% in 2019 to 13.5% in 2020. The poverty rate is expected to rise by 7.0 percentage points in 2020, to 37.2%, while extreme poverty is expected to rise by 4.5 percentage points, from 11.0% to 15.5%, which represents an increase of 28 million people.”
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with Chris Hedges and Greg Palast
RT America on Aug 8, 2020
On the show today, Chris Hedges discusses the potential for voter fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election with investigative journalist, Greg Palast.
Image by Tim Pierce via Flickr
by W.R. Zammichiéli
Writer, Dandelion Salad
August 7, 2020
(Part Three of an Ongoing Series: The Four Fundamental Freedoms of Libertarian Socialism) [Part 1, Part 2]
Throughout the course of human history, there have been countless individuals inhabiting countless communities who have been directly and indirectly participatory in various movements dedicated to the elimination of specific hierarchical structures present within a given society that exist for the sole purposes of ensuring the systemic oppression of a unique portion of the population. Be it upon the basis of biological factors, or be it upon the basis of cultural characteristics, or be it upon the basis of economic positioning, there have been numerous systems of oppression designated to specifically subjugate an entire portion of the population predicated upon the principle of maintaining the embedded structures of power within a particular society.
Image by rowensphotography via Flickr
with David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, July 31, 2020
WorldBeyondWar.org on Jul 30, 2020
World BEYOND War’s David Swanson and Greta Zarro on how to start and win a campaign to ban militarized policing in your locality, anywhere on earth. We recently did this in Charlottesville, VA, U.S., and are now working with a number of cities to do the same.
Image by International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons via Flickr
by John Pilger
John Pilger, Aug. 3, 2020
August 5, 2020
In a major essay to mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, John Pilger describes reporting from five ‘ground zeros’ for nuclear weapons – from Hiroshima to Bikini, Nevada to Polynesia and Australia. He warns that unless we take action now, China is next.
When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open.
Image by Ministerio de Defensa del Perú via Flickr
by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
August 4, 2020
On March 11, Peru declared a 90-day national sanitary emergency to deal with the emerging coronavirus crisis. Subsequently, the country announced a total lockdown beginning from March 16. But despite implementing one of the earliest and strictest COVID-19 containment regimes in Latin America, Peru has become trapped in the turmoil of rising COVID-19 cases. With more than 400,000 cases, Peru has become the third-worst hit country in Latin America. It also has one of the highest excess death rates (count of deaths relative to a normal year)—87% more than a normal year for the period from March 16 and May 31.
Image by Hunter Desportes via Flickr
by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist, Aug. 1, 2020
August 3, 2020
The paradigm of capitalism and colonialism has naturally produced a long series of backlashes from those who haven’t benefited from these systems. The first time that the resistance efforts took an entire nationwide territory from these forces of oppression was during the first series of successful anti-colonial revolutions. Starting with overthrows like the 1804 Haitian liberation from the French empire, a period in history started which can be called the First Wave of anti-colonial and anti-capitalist revolutions.
Image by Matt Brown via Flickr
Space Babies on Jul 23, 2020
Marx in the House is a series that explores gentrification and housing from a Marxist perspective. In this episode we take a look at how the rent gap is the fundamental theoretical component explaining gentrification. We look at how Ruth Glass spotted and theorized the rent gap first and how Neil Smith elaborated on it.
Image by Alexander Savin via Flickr
with Chris Hedges
RT America on Aug 1, 2020
Chris Hedges discusses resistance with Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, and author of the new book Common Sense for the 21st Century: Only Nonviolent Rebellion Can Now Stop Climate Breakdown and Social Collapse.
Image by Cristian Ibarra Santillan via Flickr
by Eric Schechter aka LeftyMathProf
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Eric’s Rants and Videos blog
August 1, 2020
leftymathprof on Jul 30, 2020
Global warming is about to speed up abruptly, killing us all. Addressing it will require huge changes that the plutocrats are not making, so we must overthrow them.
Image by Andrew Reilly via Flickr
by W.R. Zammichiéli
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 31, 2020
“Every State is a dictatorship.” — Antonio Gramsci
(Part Two of an Ongoing Series: The Four Fundamental Freedoms of Libertarian Socialism) [Part 1]
Image by Daniel Arrhakis via Flickr
with David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, July 24, 2020
with Bruce Gagnon
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Organizing Notes
July 30, 2020
WorldBeyondWar.org on Jul 24, 2020
David Swanson, Alice Slater, and Bruce Gagnon discuss obstacles to nuclear abolition and the U.S.-Russia relationship.
