Category Archives: Uncategorized

Social distance and social movements, COVID-19, #1/x

How does good medical advice affect meaningful collective action? Before the recognition of the highly contagious novel coronavirus, we were living in a time of intense political mobilization–all over the world. But now, advisories to maintain social distance undermine the … Continue reading →

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Young people lead

It felt good to see this new picture, posted on Twitter by both Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg. Malala,  now  23,  has  been  a crusader  for  human rights, particularly educating  girls  in  Pakistan.  She’s paid a severe price for her … Continue reading →

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Loyalty

Donald Trump is trying to destroy Mitt Romney. It starts with snarky side comments in front of reporters and on Twitter, continues through allies–and other Trumps–disparaging disloyalty and demanding that Romney be ousted from the Republican caucus, and will escalate … Continue reading →

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Sixtieth anniversary of the Greensboro sit-in

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the start of the sit-in campaign in Greensboro, North Carolina. I’m always moved and encouraged by the audacity of those young men, and there’s a special reason to repost this year. As the stilted impeachment … Continue reading →

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Trump speaks for himself at the March for Life

  Donald Trump became the first president to address the annual anti-abortion March for Life this week and he made this year’s event about about himself. “Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House,” he bragged … Continue reading →

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Martin Luther King Day, 2020

January 20, Martin Luther King Day, falls five days after what would have been King’s 90th birthday, a reminder of how young he was during his ministry. Here I repost a slightly edited version of last year’s post on the … Continue reading →

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#NoHateNoFear march: Who gets to oppose anti-Semitism?

Tens of thousands of people marched across the East River today to protest anti-Semitism. When the river didn’t part the demonstrators hiked across the Brooklyn Bridge, the lines extending far beyond both sides of the bridge. The march and rally … Continue reading →

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A global explosion of people power?

Last year, 2019, the editors of The Big Q, a very cool blog sponsored by the University of Auckland, asked me to write about the seeming explosion of protest movements globally. This is what I thought, reposted below (non-American spelling … Continue reading →

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The Senate isn’t sequestered. Note on the impeachment and protest

One hundred US senators, the sort-of jurors in the impending sort-of trial of Donald Trump, live in the world. Unlike impaneled jurors in other high profile trials, they are free to read newspapers, appear on television, consider evidence and factors … Continue reading →

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The anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall and the complications of movement influence

When East and West Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall 30 years ago this week, I was in my living room in Boston, making final corrections on what would be my first book. I’d written about the nuclear freeze movement, … Continue reading →

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