Education

Reserving Libraries for The Best Readers

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I know most faculty, much less students, will not have time to read the Student Success Task Force Draft that various people in CA are proposing to “reform” community colleges. My general impression is that, with a few exceptions, the measures proposed will be harmful to the poorest and bar them from college by assuming they aren’t making an effort if they cannot succeed within needlessly early deadlines even if they are learning and growing. It is also assumed that every student has a computer. So to illustrate the way it works, I imagined applying it to another realm: the public library. Here is my report.

General News

New Survey on Income Gap Shows Interesting Results

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According to an article in the Washington Post, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals some interesting data on what people think about changes in wealth distribution. As most readers probably know, “income disparities between the highest earners and other Americans have reached levels not seen since the Great Depression.” The good news is that 61% of all adults know that the income gap is larger than in the past, and 60% want the federal government to enact policies that will lessen that disparity – and consequently, help rebuild the middle class. Now if we can only figure out a way to hold politicians accountable to the people – which is, you know, one of the key principles of self-government. It will come as no surprise that almost 75% of liberals recognize the growing income gap and favor government policies to shrink it.

General News

Audio Slideshow: Perspectives on Occupy Oakland

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What life experiences brought people to join the Occupy Oakland general strike on November 2? And what do they hope Occupy Oakland will accomplish? A sampling of sights and sounds form the day reveals that participants came from a wide range of backgrounds and had different goals for the movement. Brenda Reed of Richmond joined Occupy Oakland because her home was put into foreclosure by Chase bank. She hopes Occupy Oakland will lead to financial reform and an equitable restructuring of our current system.

ESRA

Occupy America: Citizens United Against Corporate Personhood

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There is only one way to reclaim democracy and make our government one of, by and for the People. We must make support of a constitutional amendment to abolish corporate personhood a campaign issue in 2012 and beyond. Candidates around the country are taking a pledge to amend.

Politics & Society

Photo Essay: Occupy Oakland's General Strike

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Many of the general strike images that have become iconic fail to convey a central embodied experience of the day: the intense sense of connection, warmth, and engagement experienced by the people who participated in the day’s mass nonviolent actions. This photo essay offers a vision of the general strike from the ground, from the perspective of participants.

Culture

Photo Essay: Sacred Spaces at Occupy Oakland

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Buddhist monks in orange robes chant in one corner of the Occupy Oakland encampment. Across the plaza, a reverend in a rainbow stole reads Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Six Principles of Nonviolence.” A block away, candles burn on an unorthodox altar to the death of capitalism.

Christianity

Recalling the French Revolution of 1789: Lessons for the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street Movements

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When I was reading into a book about Adolf Hitler, entitled The Psychopathic God, when I ran across a meaningful quote from a French Revolution-era author, diplomat and orator named Honore Mirabeau. In the book he wrote about his experience visiting the kingdom of Prussia (A Secret History of the Court of Berlin), Mirabeau wrote:
“Prussia is not a country that has an Army; it is an Army that has a country”. That quote piqued my interest so I did some research into the realities in which Mirabeau found himself. My initial thought was to write column about Prussian militarism and the alarming similarities to our own but instead decided to write about the French Revolution, particularly with the early phases of the current revolution going on around the world in the Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring Uprising movements. There are many lessons to be learned.

Politics & Society

VIDEO: Occupy Oakland Closes Down Port

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There was such a warm community feeling at the port when news came that — after an arbitration process involving the International Longshore Workers Union — port officials had agreed to cancel the evening shift due to the protesters’ blocking of the gates. Many danced when they heard the news.

General News

Beyond Consensus or Majority: Notes about Decision-Making in a Leaderless Movement

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On October 18th I participated in the general assembly meeting in OccupyOakland. On October 22nd I posted a piece about that experience, which I named In Search of Dialogue. Even before writing that piece I have been engaging in my mind with the large question of decision-making in this movement. Since I posted this piece, I have received many comments and have read much that others have written, all of which have taken my thinking forward. I remain deeply humble as I reflect on this movement.