The “Land of the Free” Has Been the Enemy of Freedom Around the World | Truthout
Today, streets and lawns throughout the United States bristle with red, white and blue, and a settler colony built on genocide and slavery seeks to depict itself as a scrappy young underdog that overthrew the yokes of British tyranny. Yet for hundreds of millions around the world, the stars and stripes have been a symbol not of independence but of coercion, oppression and forced dependence.
From Latin America to Southeast Asia, and from the Middle East and North Africa to Eastern Europe to sub-Saharan Africa, the “land of the free” has often been an enemy of self-determination. No people — including this country’s native inhabitants — have been safe from the reach of U.S. empire, which insisted on making the world an ungated playground for its interests.
I am Palestinian. For 76 long years, the U.S. – the nation of my birth – has materially and militarily backed a state that displaced my grandparents from their home in 1948 and rendered them and their children stateless — a nation that has been cleansing my people from their land since its founding, and in its latest act of genocide, has cut short the lives of 37,953 Palestinians within the last nine months alone.
Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
Freedom isn’t free • Missouri Independent
You can’t understand the scope of 122,000 names until you see them on a wall.
Stand at the foot of the National Monument to Freedom, recently dedicated by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, and you’ll see all of them, soaring three or four stories above your head.
Each name, taken from the 1870 census, belonged to a former enslaved person. These are surnames. Family names. Combined, they represent about 4 million people who emerged from bondage.
Each one stands for an American once treated as an animal.
“The developed countries, the major emitters, are not taking this matter seriously.”
As the earliest Category 5 storm ever observed in the Atlantic carves a path of destruction through the Caribbean, we get an update on damage from Hurricane Beryl from the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves. He describes the disaster scenes he witnessed and discusses the rising challenge of extreme weather fueled by the climate crisis.
“You know in The Handmaid’s Tale flashback scenes where everything still feels kind of normal but they start dropping small hints that shit is starting to go very wrong very soon? We’re in that part right now but with REALLY BIG FUCKING HINTS.”
The Community Organizing Guide aims to empower people to become effective organizers in their communities.
Organizers bring people together and make it easier for people to take action and succeed. Organizers help people see how they can work together and make an impact. This happens at a group level (convening, facilitating, etc) and by supporting individuals to take on responsibilities and be more comfortable taking action for what they believe in. This guide provides information about some of the basics of organizing: the fundamental principles and the specifics of the most common skills.
Let’s talk about how we organize for the preservation and expansion of democracy
Democracy is our responsibility. Community organizing is something we can all do, right now. For those that don’t know how, it’s a learnable skill. Meet with people. Talk with people. Learn together. Take it on. Look online for community organizing resources. Do it today and don’t stop because democracy, freedom, social justice are things that don’t stop with elections. They need to be lifelong commitments. Democracy is you. You are the key.
Let's talk about how we organize for the preservation and expansion of democracy
I often post about my belief that Americans are too passive, too apathetic. That we refuse to take action when we should. That we have not taken on the responsibility of active citizenship.
It occurred to me today that it's also likely true that many, perhaps a large majority of my fellow citizens may have little idea of what it means to be an active citizen, no idea what it means to be an "activist". Much of what I see online is frustration, anger, bewilderment and the question: How did we get here? But other than the suggestion to vote, people have no idea what to do.
In fact, just this afternoon, as one example, this post by @revjeber
I sure am glad that so many people, myself included, are trying to inform the public about just how bad a second term for Donnie, posting apocalyptic scenarios that others can spread around. And yet, I'm waiting to see some concrete suggestions about what we can do about it. I confess, at this moment, I'm at a loss for an idea that would work in the face of a hostile Supreme Court. We can and should vote. But beyond that? Revolution?
So, let's talk about what activism looks like. Let's talk about the basics of what it means to organize. I'm going to illustrate with examples of actions and projects I've been a part of. I'm going to assume the reader has no experience organizing but perhaps has attended a protest or two.
Tragic. The devastation is hard to comprehend. This is the long emergency.
Hurricane Beryl's Aftermath: Carriacou Residents' Survival Stories - YouTube
We survived Hurricane Beryl. Now what? It's heart wrenching and inspiring to hear from residents in Carriacou who have lost everything in this powerful hurricane. As the only journalists on the island, I need your help. This is a very raw video, I walk around and talk to the people so you can hear directly from them about this Hurricane, it's impacts and how they can still smile in the face of having no hope but to wait for help to arrive.
Tiny Life Journal - On a short evening walk with Cosmo we passed by this very small, delicate flower, Iris domestica, commonly called leopard lily or blackberry lily. Also making an appearance, Misumenoides formosipes, white banded crab spider.
Mother Jones was 83 years old when she confronted a militia alone in the coal fields of Ludlow Colorado. Theodore Roosevelt called her the most dangerous woman in America.
83 years old.
What are you willing to do for freedom? Democracy?
This seems like a problem the Republican Governor of Florida should be dealing with.
Miami Is Entering a State of Unreality - The Atlantic
“Rain bombs” such as Invest 90L are products of our hotter world; warmer air has more room between its molecules for moisture. That water is coming for greater Miami and the 6 million people who live here. This glittering city was built on a drained swamp and sits atop porous limestone; as the sea keeps rising, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts that South Florida could see almost 11 extra inches of ocean by 2040.
Liberals, Dems, whatcha gonna do about it? Yeah, that's what I thought. Nothing.
It's decades of apathy and fear of rocking the boat that have destroyed the US. It's a comforatble middle class that values itself and it's possesions that have eroded what little pretend democracy that may have existed.
Tiny Life Journal - Waste Reduction
Oh, well, if Biden's family thinks he's the best candidate, it makes perfect sense that they make that decision for the party and the country.
While his family was reportedly aware of how poorly he performed, they also continue to think he’s the best person to beat Donald Trump.
The 2024 election is an opportunity for democracy
Following the first debate many Democrats are in a panic about Biden. Some are calling for him to step aside while others are doubling down on their support of him. But there's another option.
Now, I'll say up front I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I think the two party system and the political process in the US is fundamentally broken. It has been for a very long time and I think most of us agree it's broken. In the long term what's needed are deep, foundational changes to how we view and practice democracy, both elections and legislation. But I won't go there in this post. Let's stick to the 2024 election.
At least 427 people have died over four days in just one city in Pakistan due to the lethal heatwaves scorching south Asia this summer.
The non-profit Edhi Foundation said it received 427 bodies in four days until Tuesday in Karachi, the country’s biggest city and financial centre.
The Government Broke Its Promise to Freed People. There’s a Price to Pay. – Mother Jones
Fourteen trillion dollars.
That’s the total amount of money that the federal government owes to Black people in America for the legacy of slavery, according to economist William Darity and his colleagues.
It’s not an abstract figure. As Darity explains in the final episode of our “40 Acres and a Lie” series.
Tiny Life Journal - I've been seeing a lot of smallflower desert-chicory mixed into the various tall grasses. It's such a pretty flower to visit! Soundtrack: Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting and White-eyed Vireo.
A rare, non-dramatic, measured take on the iPad.
A Serious Talk about iPads. - YouTube
Let's talk about the M4 iPad Pro, iPadOS, WWDC, who the iPad is for, and what it's even good at!