what everyone ought to know about Angola 3 and solitary confinement

Published on Amnesty International / Human Rights Now Blog, by Sarah Shourd, August 26, 2013.

Until recently, both Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox had been held in solitary confinement for 4 decades in Louisiana – longer than almost any other known prisoner in recent U.S. history. It’s long enough for one’s body to forget it ever knew anything else but four white walls and for the mind to be reshaped by extreme isolation. Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, says that after 15 days, further isolation can cause permanent psychological damage and constitute torture.   Continuer la lecture de « what everyone ought to know about Angola 3 and solitary confinement »

Latin America: Class Struggle and Resistance in the Age of Extractive Capitalism

Published on Dissident Voice, by James Petras, August 25, 2013 (Linked with our new blog: politics for the 99%).

Class struggle is central in framing the issues of political rule, the relations of classes, the economic structures and strategies, and the distribution of wealth.
Especially in the era of imperialist globalization, the class struggle takes on an international character, as multi-national corporations, international financial organizations and imperial states directly intervene, or act through proxy collaborator states, in ‘the class struggle between labor and capital’ … // Continuer la lecture de « Latin America: Class Struggle and Resistance in the Age of Extractive Capitalism »

Tokenism

Published on Dissident Voice, by Peter Breschard, August 24, 2013.

Imagine a large city somewhere in the northern United States where one night 2/3 of the population relocates to warmer climes.

Boom! Out of nowhere a massive number of houses are left abandoned. Boom! In an instant municipal tax revenues are insufficient to fund basic necessities of civilization. Boom! Everybody left in town has to stop what they’re doing and start bailing 24/7 because they know they’re on a rapidly sinking ship.   Continuer la lecture de « Tokenism »

A Monitored Populace is a Compliant Populace … Until It Isn't

Manning, Snowden and the U.S. Coup in Iran – Published on Counterpunch, by ROB URIE, August 23-25, 2013.

With the CIA finally admitting the open secret this week that it and its counterparts in the British oil mafia (‘intelligence’ service) were behind the overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected leader Mohammad Mossadegh in a coup it orchestrated in 1953 the economic interests behind American geopolitics in the Middle East were partly revealed. Apparently left to be revealed another half century hence is the current open secret, that the U.S. war on and occupation of Iraq was also oil geopolitics sold to the always gullible American public as self preservation —‘attack them over there before they attack us over here.’   Continuer la lecture de « A Monitored Populace is a Compliant Populace … Until It Isn't »

Global Progressive Community Reacts to Manning Sentence

35 year sentence proves US will aggressively prosecute those who expose war crimes, and diligently protect those who commit them – Published on Common Dreams (also on Zcom), by Jon Queally, August 21, 2013.

Announcement of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s 35 year prison sentence by military Judge Col. Denise Lind on Wednesday was met with swift condemnation in the U.S. and across the globe with progressives and supporters of the army whistleblower calling the sentence a clear miscarriage of justice.   Continuer la lecture de « Global Progressive Community Reacts to Manning Sentence »

What the bankers are doing to Detroit is criminal

Published on The Confluence, by riverdaughter, August 16, 2013.

Go read No Banker Left Behind at the NYTimes. Let us recap, shall we?

The bankers, who had all of their bonuses protected and bailed out with our federal tax dollars when they blew up the world because people like Larry Summers argued that it was unfair to violate their compensation contracts, are bearing down on Detroit to pay outrageous sums of money on ill-advised derivatives transactions that will result in innocent Detroit municipal employees forfeiting up to 90% of their pensions.   Continuer la lecture de « What the bankers are doing to Detroit is criminal »

Noam Chomsky

Not Too Big to Jail

Why Eliot Spitzer Is Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare – Published on Dissident Voice, by Ellen Hodgson Brown, August 19, 2013.

Before Eliot Spitzer’s infamous resignation as governor of New York in March 2008, he was one of our fiercest champions against Wall Street corruption, in a state that had some of the toughest legislation for controlling the banks. It may not be a coincidence that the revelation of his indiscretions with a high-priced call girl came less than a month after he published a bold editorial in the Washington Post titled “Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States from Stepping in to Help Consumers.”   Continuer la lecture de « Not Too Big to Jail »