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Protests Threaten to Paralyse Brazil Ahead of World Cup

Fabiola Ortiz Inter Press Service
There is a climate of frustration and anger among workers that is very different from the initial enthusiastic reception of the 2009 announcement that Brazil would host the World Cup.

A Step Too Far for the Ultra-Right in the Netherlands?

Marjolein van der Veen Dollars & Sense
Right-wing politician Geert Wilders promised supporters gathered with him in a café in The Hague that there would be "Fewer, fewer, fewer" Moroccans in the Netherlands. This time, Wilders seems to have gone to far, provoking demonstrations, criminal complaints, editorial condemnations and desertions from his party.

Chicago Teachers' Union Report on School Closings

George N. Schmidt, Bob Simpson, and David Vance Substance News
“Shuttering our schools was touted as a hard and difficult choice by the mayor and the Board [of Education], but this was the easy, draconian choice,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis. “Parents, teachers, and the public demanded resources and supports for these education communities. Sadly, by making promises that remain unfulfilled, these schools and the students they serve have been dealt yet another blow—from failed policy to broken promises.”

Empty Scrubs Need to Be Filled Say San Francisco Nurses

Carl Finamore Labor Notes
Nurses at San Francisco General attempt to meet with Mayor Ed Lee about staffing shortages in the busiest emergency room in the city. Nurses have filed 300 official reports in the last two years, detailing unsafe conditions, but there has been no response from hospital management.

The 95% Doctrine - Climate Change as a Weapon of Mass Destruction

Tom Engelhardt TomDispatch
When we speak of WMD, we usually think of weapons -- nuclear, biological, or chemical -- that are delivered in a measurable moment in time. Consider climate change, then, a WMD on a particularly long fuse, already lit and there for any of us to see. From oil wells to fracking structures, deep sea drilling rigs to platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the machinery that produces this kind of WMD and ensures that it is continuously delivered is in plain sight.

Jeju Island - A Pivot on the Peace Island

Kathy Kelly Portside
Since 2007, activists have risked arrests, imprisonment, heavy fines and massive police force to resist the desecration caused as mega-corporations like Samsung and Daelim to build a base to accommodate U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for their missions throughout Asia. The base fits the regional needs of the U.S. for a maritime military outpost that would enable it to continue developing its Asia Pivot strategy.

Pelé Said What?

Dave Zirin The Nation
By criticizing the 2014 World Cup and the spending priorities of the Brazilian government, soccer legend Pelé has accomplished the rarest of feats in twenty-first-century sports media: he has shown the capacity to shock and surprise. The fact that he feels compelled to actually speak out about the carnival of injustice FIFA and the Worker's Party are creating with the 2014 World Cup only underscores just how deep the crisis remains throughout the country.

Join Us June 25-29, 2014 for the 50th Anniversary of Freedom Summer

The 50th Anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer 50th is a five-day convening to learn from the past, evaluate our present, and strategize for the future. The international conference and youth congress will be held June 25th - 29th, 2014 in Jackson, Mississippi on the campus of Tougaloo College. Work sessions will examine each issue area and explore its context in the present-day struggle for justice not only in Mississippi, but globally.