Author Archives: David S. Meyer

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About David S. Meyer

Author and professor of Sociology and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine

Auditing the Tea Party: One style of American repression

Another example of the old joke: just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you: The revelation that the Internal Revenue Service targeted groups with “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names for strict scrutiny tells us … Continue reading

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Gitmo and the hunger strikes

What happens when you run strap a prisoner down and run a tube through his nose to feed him?  What if it’s twice a day?  What if it’s one hundred people every day? This is what’s happening at the prison … Continue reading

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Remembering the shootings at Kent State

It’s the anniversary of the killing of four college students at Kent State University.  Young National Guardsmen opened fire on students protesting the war on May 4, discharging more than 60 rounds in roughly 13 seconds.  They killed four students: … Continue reading

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May Day 2013

Wednesday’s May Day events remind us about how the people who participate in an event define it for their own purposes.  Initially a celebration of Spring, organized around May poles (and May flies?),  for more than 100 years, May 1 … Continue reading

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Immigration politics inside and outside the Capitol

The immigration rights activists returned to demonstrate outside the Capitol yesterday, as reports of a Senate compromise on an immigration reform continue to seep into media reports. Most reports put the turnout in the tens of thousands–and noted sympathy rallies … Continue reading

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Recovery for Occupy Wall Street’s library

In the weeks that Occupy Wall Street created a protest village in lower Manhattan, activists put together a lending library of more than 5,000 volumes.  When the police cleared the demonstrators out of Zuccotti Park, contractors hauled all of the … Continue reading

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Marriage equality and the digital political button

If you visited a Facebook site last week you probably saw some version of the badge at right, representing support for marriage equality side of the cases the Supreme Court considered.  Activists encouraged people to change their profile picture to … Continue reading

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The Klan is back (it never went away), in Memphis

Members of the Ku Klux Klan staged a protest rally in Memphis on Saturday. They were protesting the City’s decision to rename three bridges.  The New York Times reports: The old names were Confederate Park; Jefferson Davis Park, named for … Continue reading

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Cesar Chavez birthday, Cesar Chavez holiday

Today, March 31, is Cesar Chavez’s birthday; the holiday was celebrated Friday.  In commemoration, I’m reposting some thoughts on the holiday, originally posted 2011. On my campus, we commemorated Cesar Chavez Day early, yesterday, rather than March 31 (his birthday), … Continue reading

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Coming out and digging in

Public opinion data provides strong support for the coming out strategy that has been at the core of gay and lesbian activism for decades. The graph on the left (right), where the lines cross, is a familiar one for anyone … Continue reading

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