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Martin Luther King, Jr., stands next to Mathew Ahmann at the 1963 Civil Rights March in Washington, D.C.

How MLK Inspires Today’s Battle to Provide Clean Air, Water and Energy to Poor Communities of Color

By News & Current Affairs

King highlighted the link between systemic racism and unhealthy environmental conditions. By Jeremy Orr, AlterNet — As we approach the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I often reflect on the circumstances surrounding his death. He wasn’t murdered while boycotting the segregated bus system in Montgomery, during the March on Washington for economic justice, or while marching for voting rights in Selma.

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Members of the 3rd Special Forces Group, 2nd battalion cry at the tomb of US Army Sgt. La David Johnson at his burial service in the Memorial Gardens East cemetery on October 21, 2017, in Hollywood, Florida. Sgt. Johnson and three other US soldiers were killed in an ambush in Niger on October 4, 2017.

The US, Africa and a New Century of War

By Editors' Choice

By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout — Most Americans’ broad ignorance regarding Africa is a long-standing phenomenon, one perpetuated from the top down. In 2008, the campaign staffers tasked to wrangle Sarah Palin were terrified people would discover she thought Africa was one big country. In 2001, President George W. Bush told a gathering in Sweden, “Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.” Vice President Joe Biden, speaking to none other than the…

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A man stands next to destroyed and damaged buildings in Sabri, a central Benghazi district, Libya

Recolonization of Africa by Endless War

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Dan Glazebrook — Exactly six years ago, on October 20th, 2011, Muammar Gaddafi was murdered, joining a long list of African revolutionaries martyred by the West for daring to dream of continental independence. Earlier that day, Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte had been occupied by Western-backed militias, following a month-long battle during which NATO and its ‘rebel’ allies pounded the city’s hospitals and homes with artillery…

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A depiction of Lenin and his supporters by Vladimir Serov.

The Revolt That Shook The World

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Pete Dolack — History does not travel in a straight line. I won’t argue against that sentence being a cliché. Yet it is still true. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be still debating the meaning of Russia’s 1917 October Revolution on its centenary, and more than a quarter-century after its demise. Neither the Bolsheviks nor any other party played a direct role in the February revolution that toppled Tsar Nicholas II…

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Wealthy Institutions Quietly Financing White Nationalism

Wealthy Institutions Quietly Financing White Nationalism

By Editors' Choice

Organizations that claim to serve the public good are enriching Robert Mercer. By Judd Legum and Danielle Mclean, Think Progress — The connection between Breitbart, a far-right website, and the white nationalist movement was hardly a secret. Steve Bannon, who served as Executive Chairman of the publication before and after serving as Trump’s chief strategist, called Breitbart “the platform for the alt-right,” a euphemism for white nationalists and their sympathizers. These extreme…

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Illustration by Marion Fayolle

How Protest Works

By Editors' Choice

By Kenneth T. Andrews — Do protests and social movements matter? Do they really bring about change? Answering this question is tricky. It’s not obvious, for example, how much the recent shift to the right in American politics reflects the efforts of the Tea Party movement and how much it reflects deeper developments such as increasing racial hostility and negative reactions to globalization. Sometimes a movement matters far less than the social, economic and political forces that give rise to the movement itself.

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