The Poor People’s campaign kicked off 40 days of nonviolent protest on Monday, reviving King’s anti-poverty efforts and demanding action. By Lauren Gambino — Hundreds of low-wage workers, faith leaders, civil rights organizers and liberal activists were arrested in demonstrations in Washington and in cities across the US on Monday as they resumed the work Martin Luther King left unfinished. Fifty years after King launched the Poor People’s Campaign against economic inequality, militarism…
By Chris Hedges — No leader, no matter how talented and visionary, effectively defies power without a disciplined organizational foundation. The civil rights movement was no more embodied in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. than the socialist movement was embodied in Eugene V. Debs. As the civil rights leader Ella Baker understood, the civil rights movement made King; King did not make the civil rights movement. We must focus on building new,…
A controversial pact, in which the US military wants to invest $20 million and get access to Ghana’s runways and communications, set off rallies in the West African nation, with people chanting their country is “not for sale.” Thousands of people flocked to the streets of Accra, the capital of Ghana, to protest a military deal the government recently signed with the US. As part of the agreement, Washington would…
By Keisha N. Blain — The #MeToo movement in the United States is one of the contemporary expressions of women’s political power and evidence of women’s commitment to dismantling systems of oppression that give rise to sexual harassment and assault. The fact that a Black woman founded the movement is not surprising; especially considering the crucial role Black women have always played in shaping US and global politics. During the 20th century, a dynamic…
Gun control becomes only one part of the larger solution to violence in our communities. By Lori Bezahler — The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have catalyzed a social movement demanding an end to gun violence. While their leadership and moral authority have undoubtedly taken the movement to another level, youth-led activism against gun violence is not, in fact, new. In Florida in 2013, for example…
Naomi Wadler, 11: I Speak for Black Girls Victimized by Guns Whose Stories Don’t Make the Front Page
She was the voice of the voiceless at the March for Our Lives. Hundreds of thousands rallied for gun control in Washington, D.C., today for the March for Our Lives….
It was young people who made possible the largest gun-control rally in a generation. By George Zornick — Sydney Neal was already planning to attend the March for Our Lives in Washington when tragedy struck her community on Tuesday. A student opened fire at the nearby Great Mills High School, killing 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey and wounding another student. On Saturday morning, Neal, the president of the association of student councils…
The gun reform debate has largely ignored race. Black students made sure the school walkouts didn’t.
Students of color highlighted police violence, poverty, and more during the National School Walkout. By P.R. Lockhart — In Atlanta, high school students took a knee in protest. In Baltimore and Chicago, teenagers called for programs to address poverty and mental health services. And in Brooklyn, students demanded that the police system be reformed. Across the country, many students of color who participated in the National School Walkout on Wednesday…
Pan-African Unity Dialogue in Solidarity with the People of Barbuda Efforts Underway to Prevent a “Land Grab” by Actor Robert DeNiro March 16, 2018, Media Release — PDF version here….
On Wednesday August 23rd, people gathered at the offices of the National Football League [NFL| in Manhattan NYC. By some accounts 3-4 thousand people attended. The rally was in support of quarterback, Colin Kaepernick who refused to stand for the Star Spangled Banner prior to the beginning of the football game but instead choose to kneel rather than pay homage to the flag that represents the racism which is so prevalent against the Black population in the United States, especially in the murder of Black people by police, a crime that goes unpunished. As a result of his doing…
By Shanelle Matthews Last year’s presidential campaign trail banter was not unlike that of election year’s past, in that it was full of nasty, backhanded, gender-based undercuts aimed at delegitimizing…
One dead after car plows into anti-racist demo in Charlottesville By Bill Fletcher I sat here listening to Trump’s remarks in connection with the violence carried out by neofascists in…