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Michael Ratner’s inspiring activist life culminated with dramatic change on Israel
Michael Ratner personally changed human rights law, and in doing so he let go childhood views of Israel. “I thought of [Israel] as the home of my people. I had my bedroom ceiling painted with the seven wonders of the world and a huge map of Israel. I had no idea how my view of Israel would change later in life.”
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Mikhail Bulgakov, “Master and Margarita” and the anti-Russian hysteria in the United States
You cannot argue with mass hypnosis. You can keep a diary, write a chronicle that reveals the falseness of the spirit of the age to hopefully enlighten future readers, because, as we hear in another of the main points of Bulgakov’s novel Master and Margarita, “manuscripts do not burn.” That is what I do….
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Strange: challenging pandemic logics
In 2020, the U.S. government perpetually wavered in acknowledging COVID-19 as a real danger. We lived through screens, bombarded by commercial messages professing how corporations were here for us, how we were in this together, that we should be optimistic. This is strange, indeed, but to be more specific about a pandemic’s root causes would not sell products and would not reassure people to go back to normal.
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Jack and Jill tumble: Berlin Bulletin No. 192, July 3, 2021
After legally receiving a Christmas gift of 24,000 euros from her party, Annalena Baerbock somehow neglected to report it in her tax returns. No big deal, some might think, but after the scandals about Christian Democrats nobly enriching themselves when purchasing face-masks, and two far bigger scandals hanging over the head of the Social Democrats’ chancellor candidate Scholz (currently still Finance Minister), the squeaky clean reputation of the Greens had been a major asset. No longer!
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A third coronavirus wave is washing over the world
In countries where public health restrictions were in place, they were half-baked or have been lifted too soon. Where they are imposing them now, it’s too late; the Delta variant of the coronavirus is surging around the world.
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How not to unite a class: a response to DSA’s Class Unity caucus
Felipe Bascuñán responds to a debate on the Left about the relationship between oppression and class and why getting the answer right is essential to forging a united class struggle.
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#BetitaTaughtUs: Chicanisma and El Movimiento
With deep sadness and respect, Organizing Upgrade is sharing a few more tributes to movement elder Betita Martinez, who died June 29. In her 95 years she lived many lifetimes, and brought her commitment, wit and political clarity to several of the most significant social movements of our day.
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Peru to officially declare Pedro Castillo as the new President
Electoral authorities concluded an electoral review in which the leftist.
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Amílcar Cabral: Liberator, theorist, and educator
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was born September 12, 1924 in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, one of Portugal’s African colonies. On January 20, 1973–48 years ago today–Cabral was murdered by fascist Portuguese assassins just months before the national liberation movement in which he played a central role won the independence of Guinea-Bissau.
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Haitian ruling families create and kill monsters
In March, hundreds of thousands of Haitians took to the streets of Port au Prince to demand an end to corruption and the departure of President Jovenel Moïse, whose term of office had expired.
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Food supply to 675,000 people cut off after Durban food bank ransacked
FoodForward SA closes branches nationwide because of insecurity.
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Cuban president Díaz-Canel: Revolutionaries to the streets!
This speech provides crucial context and information being covered up by the corporate media in the United States.
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10 new albums that resist racists and fascists
Here’s a look back at June’s political news and the best new music that related to it.
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The war on woke: how socialists should respond to the culture wars
The Tories are trying to further divide the working class by fuelling culture wars, socialists must fight back on our own terms, argues John Westmoreland
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Where infrastructure means prisons: a drive into the Naqab and the illusion of Israeli democracy
Out of close to 250,000 Palestinian Beduin in the Naqab, about half live in “unrecognized villages.” This means they get no roads, no electricity or running water, no schools or medical facilities—no services at all.
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Exposing police lies to destroy the legacy of Kwame Ture
His work touched the civil rights, Black Power, and Pan-African movements and his selflessness and strong organizing skills helped create revolutionary cadre who continue to carry out the work he engaged in today.
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Critical Race Theory debacle signals the collapse of the American empire
Whatever the strengths and limitations of Critical Race Theory, the debate over its usefulness to establishment circles is indicative of the American Empire’s rapid decline
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The Zionist assault on Judaism
Zionism has not yet murdered Judaism but it has undermined its moral and historical integrity. By intentionally fanning antisemitism, Israel is a major contributor to Jewish insecurity.
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For gay migrants, cruising spots aren’t just shadows and shame
Largely abandoned by middle-class gays, urban parks remain an important refuge for gay migrants in an otherwise hostile city.
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Venezuela immunizes its population against COVID-19 with Cuban vaccine
Last week, Venezuela signed an agreement with Cuba for the purchase of 12 million doses of Abdala, just three days after the country announced and celebrated the success of its locally developed anti-COVID-19 vaccine