Politics & Society

Syriza: Plunder, Pillage and Prostration

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From the very beginning, Syriza gave into the Troika’s dictates, even as they play-acted their ‘principled resistance’. First they lied to the Greek public, calling the Troika ‘international partners’. Then they lied again calling the Troika memorandum for greater austerity a ‘negotiating document’. Syriza’s deceptions were meant to hide their continuation of the highly unpopular ‘framework’ imposed by the previous discredited hard rightwing regime.

Culture

Weeding Roses in Kabul

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The APVs and their students face numerous challenges to their future security and survival. Yet bleak conditions don’t deter their resolve to move forward. I myself felt quite hopeful, especially while sitting in on a class about nonviolence.

Culture

The Path to Defeat Racism

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To uproot this racism at every level in which it manifests, we need a systematic program. As spiritual progressives, we start first with the need to grieve all the suffering that victims of racism have suffered throughout human history. Please take a moment to allow your grief to be expressed (yes, right now, but also later with other people as a prelude whenever you enter a discussion about racism). And then, move on to an action agenda such as we propose below.

Culture

Pay to Play II: Testing and Punishing Students, Testing and Punishing Teachers

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What happens when you close a struggling school “for the good of the students” and farm the kids off to charters? Very few researchers have talked about public schools as a source of precious jobs in desperate communities. What happens to the student whose mom used to be a “lunch lady,” a job with benefits, who now is unemployed? At a Working Class Studies panel at Georgetown University, teacher and education blogger Jose-Luis Vilson pointed out that the loss of public employment hurts the black community especially.

Non-Violent Communication (NVC)

Why Oakland's Crackdown on Protest Is Sure to Fail

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Is the Oakland Police Department decision to limit protest activity backfiring? As the NLG and ACLU meet with City officials to try and come to an agreement over nighttime protesting policies, Rachel Lederman argues that the proposed policies will ultimately fail to address the concerns about protests leading to property damage.

Politics & Society

You've Been Scammed! Kept Politicians and Demobilized Americans in a System Without a Name

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We are, it seems, enmeshed in a new hybrid system, which fits the Constitution, the classic tripartite separation of powers, and the idea of democracy increasingly poorly. We have neither an adequate name for it, nor an adequate language to describe it. I’m talking here about the “real world” in which, at least in the old-fashioned American sense, you will no longer be a citizen of a functioning democracy.

Healing Israel/Palestine

Reclaiming the Language of Jewish Identity

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I want to criticise Israel not to do down the tribe but to stay loyal to it. I want to uphold the values and teaching that I think of as mine by birth and by upbringing. I’m not boycotting Jews or Judaism when I make the case for a radical change in our attitude to the Palestinian people. Rather I am upholding all I see as worthwhile, eternal and universal from my Jewish heritage and history.

Culture

Birthwrong: Meet the Pranksters Celebrating the Jewish Diaspora

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Birthwrong is simultaneously a criticism, a parody, and a genuine alternative to Birthright and the many other organizations running similarly uncritical Israel tours. We aimed to celebrate life and history in the Jewish diaspora, particularly in Spain. The key principle of the trip was non-Zionism, rather than anti-Zionism.

art

Why Schools Should Include Hip-Hop in the Curriculum

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It’s true that commercial hip-hop is often sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, and violent. The same is true of contemporary cinema, television, sports, and wider American culture. This is precisely why we should create spaces for our students to critique these messages.

Environment

Channeling Our Passions Into Effective Action

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As with any movement, it’s important to glean wisdom and turn to those who are leaders in their own right for inspiration. The speakers in this series offered a profound sense of hope as well as real-world steps for action, which deeply resonated with the summit’s attendees.