Tag Archives: unions

Cesar Chavez Day, 2023

Commemoration of Cesar Chavez Day is an annual ritual in California–and in Politics Outdoors. The day is a chance to reflect on Chavez, the movement he led, which continues, and the issues he and that movement addressed. (It also seems to … Continue reading

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Cesar Chavez Day, 2021

Commemoration of Cesar Chavez Day is an annual ritual in California–and in Politics Outdoors. It’s interesting to revisit last year’s post in particular, as it came in the early stages of a lock down which still (sort of) continues. It’s … Continue reading

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Cesar Chavez Day, 2020

In the virtual lockdown we’re living through in California, where one day bleeds into another, I’d almost forgotten about Cesar Chavez Day.  Here’s a piece I wrote about the holiday in 2018, recycled, augmented, and reedited, with a few distressing … Continue reading

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Again, on the influence of movements

Protest campaigns usually get much less than what they ask for, but they can still matter.  Take a look at Alexia Fernández Campbell’s great piece at Vox on the Kentucky teachers and yesterday’s gubernatorial election. Last year teachers in Kentucky … Continue reading

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Blame

Federal workers ARE protesting the month-plus shutdown of part of the government. The image at right is of hundreds assembling for 33 minutes of silent protest in the Senate office building. The protesters held paper plates, calling for the end … Continue reading

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Cesar Chavez Day, 2018

(recycled, augmented, and reedited) Less than a week after Edna Chavez, the charismatic seventeen year old high schooler from South Los Angeles, electrified a national crowd with a demand to end gun violence, Californians celebrate the legacy of another Chavez. … Continue reading

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A day without…. a note on strikes

Today organizers of the Women’s March are staging a strike….of sorts. The fundamental logic of a strike is coercive. People refuse to do what’s expected of them (e.g., work, take public transit, pay taxes), forcing those dependent on cooperation or … Continue reading

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Labor Day 2016

For Labor Day Weekend, here’s a reminder about the history of this commemoration in America (reposted from 2011–with a postscript about new labor efforts). Successful politicians exploit, buy off, and sell out the movements that sometimes buoy their campaigns.  This … Continue reading

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Cesar Chavez Day, 2016

I hadn’t realized that today was Cesar Chavez Day until I arrived at a campus mostly empty and locked.  In fact, it’s not Cesar Chavez Day in California or the United States–that’s next week–but just on campus, so it doesn’t … Continue reading

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Protest in America is historic….and patriotic

Not that high school students need additional reasons to be frustrated with the adults who constrain their lives, but: The elected Jefferson County School Board is considering a proposal to revamp its American history curriculum that (according to the AP) … Continue reading

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