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Bangladesh Garment Workers: Two Updates

AFP, Omar Rivero
Bangladeshi police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of garment workers Monday as they demanded a wage hike at a protest in a manufacturing hub outside the capital Dhaka. Several European retailers have agreed to compensate victims' families, and sign onto the Fire and Building Safety Agreement, but U.S. retailers refuse. See the list of 14 North American retailers who refuse to sign on.

What Comes After Hope

Rebecca Solnit Tomdispatch.com
Civil society is our power, our joy, and our possibility, and it has written a lot of the history in the last few years, as well as the last half century. If you doubt our power, see how it terrifies those at the top, and remember that they fight it best by convincing us it doesn’t exist.

Monsanto Protection Act May Soon be Repealed

Anthony Gucciardi Nation of Change
Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland actually went and released a statement apologizing for allowing the Monsanto Protection Act through and vowing to fight against GMOs and Monsanto.

Unpacking the idea of “Islamophobia”

Merdith Tax openDemocracy 50.50
The term “Islamophobia” is everywhere, but its meanings work at cross purposes - to liberals, it refers to discrimination and hate crimes that can be addressed through existing laws, but to fundamentalists, it refers to offenses against religion that must be addressed through censorship or death.

Fiery Chicago Teachers Union President Reelected

Valerie Strauss The Washington Post
Lewis won about 80 percent of the votes, soundly defeating a candidate representing a coalition of groups that used to run the union until Lewis took office three years.

Chicago Teachers Fight On

Karen Lewis, the fiery leader of the Chicago Teachers Union who led a strike last year and became a nationally known anti-school reform figure, has been elected to another three-year term as president. Today she will lead the first of three days of protests against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to close 54 public schools. New report issued on 59th anniversary of Brown v Board of Ed and history of disruptive actions against communities of color by Chicago Public Schools.