Tag Archives: war

Greater and Lesser Evils

The cliché about picking the lesser evil always recirculates around presidential elections, so frequently that it can almost pass for a nugget of wisdom. It’s not. Why would you want to vote for the greater of two evils? We expect … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Protest can build political capacity: The Case of Ferguson

Representative Cori Bush’s primary defeat last week gave The New York Times an excuse to look at the infrastructure that supported her surprise primary victory in 2020. Audra D.S. Burch’s excellent article starts with the police killing of Michael Brown … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Convictions and convictions (4): how sacrifice (sometimes) works

Daniel Ellsberg died of pancreatic cancer at 92, having lived a long and contentious life. As the obits everywhere tell, he started by touching every base on the career trajectory of an elite military analyst: an academic start in prep … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Protests and Repression in Russia

The Russian army needs more soldiers for its war in Ukraine than its leaders promised at the outset, to fight a war that has already gone longer than they expected. Vladimir Putin has announced enhanced “mobilization,” which means drafting young … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Kent State Anniversary (repost)

(This is a repost of a report on the Kent State shootings, on occasion of the 52nd anniversary. It’s almost hard to remember a moment when students were present on college campuses, much less assembled together in groups. At the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Alyssa Milano, Lysistrata, and the sex strike for reproductive rights

Actress/activist and Twitter master, Alyssa Milano, is rightly concerned about the contagion of new state laws restricting access to abortion. Sniffing the prospects of a conservative Catholic majority on the Supreme Court eager to overrule Roe v. Wade, Republican state legislators … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Updates: Martin Luther King Day 2015

We try to take control of the past with current struggles in mind.  Martin Luther King, killed less than a half-century ago is a prize for contemporary activists.  The civil rights movement isn’t quite a wispy memory from the era … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Peace movement anyone?

Strong social movements are hard to start and end all too easily.  It’s just about exactly the opposite of wars. President Obama’s speech last night (September 10) was emphatic about a couple of things: his determination to use American military … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Activists: documentary available on-line

Michael Heaney, prolific political scientist and peace activist, who was last seen as a dancing vagina at the Democratic national convention, has announced the completion of a documentary he helped make. http://vimeo.com/49732898 The Activists: War, Peace, and Politics in the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Code Pink takes outdoor politics inside the convention

Two members of Code Pink, the feminist antiwar group, somehow got inside the Republican convention, and aired their grievances with the Romney/Ryan ticket. They only had a few moments to battle for prime time attention with Vice Presidential nominee Paul … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment