Why Liberals Separate Race from Class
Jacobin
The tendency to divorce racial disparities from economic inequality has a long liberal lineage.
Syriza Opponents of Austerity Deal Form New Party
The Press Project
Following the resignation August 20th of Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras and the announcement of snap parliamentary elections, 25 Syriza lawmakers who opposed the recent bailout deal formed a new Popular Unity Party and will challenge Tsipras and Syriza in September elections. Former Syriza Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis will head the new party. With its 25 members, the Popular Unity Party becomes the third largest party in the Greek parliament.
A Win for Pittsburgh Public Transit
Socialist Project
PPT's assertion that "public mass transit is part of the infrastructure of any healthy and metropolitan area" made sense not only to the labour movement, but also to significant elements in the business community, gaining support from Democrats, Republicans, independents and Greens, as well as socialists. A wedge was driven into the Republican administration itself, between the secretary of transportation and the extreme right-wing elements.
Obama Approves “Reckless” Arctic Oil Drilling Plan
Inside Climate News
President Obama’s approval for Shell Oil drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea has undermined his recent push to protect the environment and provoked an angry reaction from environmentalists. The August 17th decision comes two weeks after the release of the United States' most aggressive attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions, the Clean Power Plan, and just days after Obama announced he will visit Alaska later this month to highlight the impacts of climate change.
The Greatest Threat to Europe is “Strategic Inhumanity”
New Statesman
The greatest threat to the European “way of life” is not migration. It is that Europeans will swallow the lie that some human lives matter less than others. The behavior of the British and European elite towards migrants is not simple inhumanity. It is strategic inhumanity, weaponized inhumanity designed to convince populations fracturing under hammer-blows of austerity and economic chaos, that there is an “us” that must be protected from “them”.
Amnesty International’s Sex Trade Decision: Not in Our Name
Portside
On August 11th, delegates at the 2015 International Council Meeting of Amnesty International voted to back the decriminalization of the sex industry, one of the more controversial decisions in its 54 years history. But, Amnesty's policy goes far beyond decriminalizing the women but also decriminalizes the perpetrators, says Janice G. Raymond the former co-director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), explaining her opposition to Amnesty’s decision.
Friday Nite Videos -- August 21, 2015
Portside
Meet the Undocumented Immigrant Who Works in a Trump Hotel. Damsel in Distress: Tropes vs Women in Video Games. John Oliver: Sex Education. Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Brief History of Everything. Bad Lip Reading of the Republican Debate.
Meet the Undocumented Immigrant Who Works in a Trump Hotel
This is a profile of Ricardo Aca, a young undocumented immigrant who works in a Trump Hotel and who has decided to speak out against Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants.
Damsel in Distress: Tropes vs Women in Video Games
Cultural critic and gamer Anita Sarkeesian explores how the Damsel in Distress became one of the most widely used gendered clichés in the history of gaming and why the trope has been core to the popularization and development of the medium itself.
John Oliver: Sex Education
Sex education varies widely between school districts, leaving many teens without comprehensive information. We made a video that covers what some schools are too embarrassed to teach.
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