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Empowering Words

Steven B. Smith The New York Times
Last week, Our Declaration, by Danielle Allen, made PEN/America Center's shortlist for the Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. The prize goes to "an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction" of "notable literary merit and critical perspective" that highlights "important contemporary issues." The book was published last year to a host of lively reviews. Here is one of the earliest, by Steven B. Smith. Also included below is a link to Allen's homepage.

Empowering Words

Steven B. Smith The New York Times
Last week, Our Declaration, by Danielle Allen, made PEN/America Center's shortlist for the Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. The prize goes to "an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction" of "notable literary merit and critical perspective" that highlights "important contemporary issues." The book was published last year to a host of lively reviews. Here is one of the earliest, by Steven B. Smith. Also included below is a link to Allen's homepage.

Empowering Words

Steven B. Smith The New York Times
Last week, Our Declaration, by Danielle Allen, made PEN/America Center's shortlist for the Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. The prize goes to "an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction" "notable literary merit and critical perspective" that highlights "important contemporary issues." Allen's book was published last year to a host of lively reviews. Here is one of the earliest, by Steven B. Smith. Also included below is a link to Allen's homepage.

German Train Drivers Start Strike Seen Costing $100 Million a Day

Reuters
The GDL union, which represents about one in 10 of railway operator Deutsche Bahn's nearly 200,000 workers, wants a 5-percent pay rise and a reduction in the working week to 37 hours from 39. It is also fighting for the right to negotiate on behalf of other employees including train stewards.

'Ex Machina' Review: Gorgeous Futurism, But Flawed Gender Depictions

Cara Rose DeFabio Fusion
Ava, the robot star of Ex Machina, the dazzling sic-fi thriller, could easily be seen as an addition to the list of subservient bots in the tradition of Siri and Samantha—a machine that exists to tend every man's need, and read him driving directions without challenging masculinity. But if you push past that frustration, the film brings to the fore the idea that technology is as imperfect as its creators, and its mirror can provide a useful reflexion.

Teachers Compare Notes

Michelle Gunderson Labor Notes
UCORE’s 20 member caucuses come from all over the country and from both teachers unions, the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers. Locals and caucuses in the network consider themselves social justice unionists, balancing bread-and-butter issues with working to create equity and keep public schools in the hands of communities rather than private enterprises.

Low-Wage Workers’ Struggles Are About Much More than Wages

Arun Gupta Socialist Project
The success of the organizing is due to everything from the abysmal recovery from the 2008 economic crisis to Occupy Wall Street's role in shifting the national dialogue from austerity to economic inequality. But Fight for 15 is due primarily to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which initiated the campaign in 2011 and has poured tens of millions of dollars into growing waves of protest that are battering the image of the fast-food giants.

Five Years After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, We Are Closer Than Ever to Catastrophe

András Tilcsik and Chris Clearfield The Guardian
Not far from the Deepwater Horizon accident site, Royal Dutch Shell is now developing the deepest offshore oil field in history. In the Caspian Sea, an international consortium is exploring the Kashagan oil and gas field, a mega-project that the consortium itself describes as an enormously challenging endeavour. And the hunt for Arctic oil takes place in some of the most inhospitable waters in the world.

A Trade Rule that Makes It Illegal to Favor Local Business? Newest Leak Shows TPP Would Do That And More

David Korten Yes! Magazine
The document substantiates claims by opponents that the TPP is a corporate-rights agreement designed to facilitate the export of U.S. jobs, allow corporations to sue governments for enacting labor and environmental protections, make it illegal for governments to favor local businesses, and advance the colonization of national economies by global corporations and financiers.