Politics & Society

Q&A With Ex-Guantanamo Detainee: Why Hunger Strike Could Be the Last

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The Obama Administration claims they are on a hunger strike because they want better treatment or better food. But that is not true. They are on a hunger strike because they want justice. They want freedom. They want to go home to their families. And this time they will not quit. Prisoners want to go home to their families. They have been crying out for justice for 11 years. To hold someone for 11 years without trial, without charge, is a crime.

Christianity

Inherit the Earth: Stay in the City

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Christian community has an urgent role in this history. On the one hand, no church can magically separate itself from the spiritual disease of the wider society. If we could, we would be a cult; we would not be God’s love for a whole world, but against it. Jesus saw this. Stay here in the city, he told his disciples. Here in the church we already have the laboratory set up to help with civilization’s great test.

Politics & Society

“Ilegal”: the New “N” Word?

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I do not doubt our need for the rule of law in a world of injustice and twisted desire. We need good laws, and we need to obey them. But the conversation in Washington about “immigration reform” assumes that something is wrong with immigration law as it stands. The problem, in short, is that we have a law that makes the existence of 11 million people illegal.

Politics & Society

Obama Has Acknowledged the Hunger Strike — But Will He Act to Close Guantánamo?

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In any case, even though Obama took small pains to assure us all that he wants to close the Guantánamo facility, the truth is that in January 2013 the Obama administration closed the office in the U.S. State Department in which officials were working to repatriate or resettle the great majority of the remaining Guantánamo prisoners — almost all of whom have been found innocent of any wrongdoing. The truth is that according to the executive options in the National Defense Authorization Act, Obama could have initiated the release of the remaining prisoners at Guantánamo years ago.

Islam

Neocons Try, And Fail, To Crush Lead Organization Fighting Against War With Iran

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The war over war with Iran has many battlefronts. Inside Washington, the battle line is between a small coalition of peace and security, non-proliferation and religious groups opposing war and favoring a peaceful solution to the stand off with Iran, and a well-funded war machine comprising neoconservative organizations who believe war with Iran should have started years ago.

Politics & Society

On Followership: Building Up the Movement I Can’t Lead

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Daryl Atkinson isn’t just quoting statistics when he talks about America’s most overlooked domestic crisis–mass incarceration as a result of the War on Drugs. 2.3 million people in prison, nearly 7 million in our criminal justice system. The United States incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other nation in the world. Since the early 1980′s, when our War on Drugs was declared, incarceration rates have increased by nearly 800%. The result: 65 million Americans–most of them people of color–have been relegated to a criminal caste that is denied access to employment, federal housing, and financial assistance for education.

Environment

Civil Disobedience and Love: Sandra Steingraber Puts Her Body On the Line

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Like Sandra, I know first-hand how the polluting of this planet causes unnecessary and horrific suffering for present and future beings. And, like Sandra, I am frustrated about how little has changed for the better over the years, despite copious evidence she and other scientists have compiled that points to the links between toxic pollution and cancer, neurological disorders, asthma, and other disease. A myriad of health problems such as these and others abound from the lack of environmental regulations in the U.S. Also, like Sandra, as a mother, I worry about what the future holds in these environmentally degraded times for all children present and future. These days, protecting our children takes on a whole new meaning. So much is out of our control, and the stakes are crazy.

Culture

To the Religious Right Trashing Jason Collins: He Was Born Gay. You Were Taught to Hate.

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You know the fundamentalist rage that is brewing today, the self-proclaimed religious amongst us who hide their homophobic prejudices under the veil of Biblical doctrine, under the veil of God’s will. They can’t handle the prototypical, stereotypical man revealing himself to be gay. They can’t stomach such a world.
And so the bible-driven filth is being directed at Jason today. It’s as ugly as it is expected. However, the one difference — perhaps the most important one to consider today — is that while Jason was born to be a gay man, was bequeathed this identity, those on the religious right calling him filthy names learned their hatred.

Culture

Unwilling to Listen, Unable to Hear

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The cruelty of U.S. policy and actions toward these Muslims is beyond reckoning. Clearly the U.S. is not listening to any sort of moral voice in its execution of such policy and action. Clearly the U.S. is not heeding the misery of these prisoners.