Tidbits - Apr. 29, 2021 - Reader Comments: Same Boat; Military Spending Still Huge Problem; History Behind "Strange Fruit"; Puerto Rican Studies; Palestinian Solidarity; Labor and Peace and Social Justice; lots of Zoom events; more....
Same Boat -- meme
Superman Campaigns Against Hate (Andrew Rainaldi - Pop Cultural Studies)
Re: The World’s Leading Medical Journals Don't Write About Racism. That's a Problem (Robert Supansic)
Our President -- cartoon by Mike Thompson
Re: Biden’s Announcement That Trump Got Military Spending Just Right Is Dead Wrong (Arlene Halfon)
Re: 175 Years of Border Invasions: The Anniversary of the U.S. War on Mexico and the Roots of Northward Migration (Carl Davidson; Beth Edelman)
Childcare -- cartoon by Rob Rogers
Re: Powerful Government Policy Segregated Us; the Same Can Desegregate Us, Says Color of Law Author Richard Rothstein (Daniel Millstone)
Re: A Lucrative Border-Industrial Complex Keeps the US Border in Constant ‘Crisis’ (Michael Henry Starks)
Re: Slave Rebellions and Mutinies Shaped the Age of Revolution (Rasha Salti)
The History Behind Lynching Protest Song, "Strange Fruit" (CBS News)
Chess Grandmaster on Her Refusal to Play in Saudi Arabia (Anna Muzychuk)
"Such a beautiful sound ..." (James E Vann)
Resources:
SAG-AFTRA Launches New Website for Reporting Sexual Harassment
Announcements:
Past, Present and Future of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies - April 30 (Friends of Puerto Rico Initiative)
Imprisonment without Trial: Purposes, consequences and Palestinian resistance - May 1 (Addameer for Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association)
Join Objectors to Israel Military in a Virtual Eyewitness Palestine Delegation - May 2, May 6, May 8 and May 11 (Eyewitness Palestine)
The Case for Relative Poverty Measures in the United States - May 3 (The Century Foundation)
Remake the World: Astra Taylor and Rebecca Solnit in conversation May 4 (Haymarket Books)
Labor and the Movements for Peace and Social Justice - May 5 (Brooklyn for Peace, United University Professionals)
Cuba & Africa 1959-1994 - Writing an Alternative Atlantic History - May 6 (Wits University Press)
A Green Recovery to the Pandemic Meltdown - May 6 (New School Economics of Climate Change project)
DC Labor Chorus Concert online May 8
Metro Labor 45th Annual Convention - Honoring Bill Fletcher, Jr. - May 11 (Metro NY Labor Communicators Council Convention)
2nd Annual Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony - May 15 (Combatants for Peace and לוחמים לשלום)
Anti-Racism in the Americas: Black and Indigenous Perspectives - May 20 (NACLA)
Superman Campaigns Against Hate
This poster is not in any Superman canon, but it is true to the character, and honestly inspiring. As they say, Superman stands for “truth, justice, and the American Way,” and this helps make it clear: he stands for all Americans.
Things I’ve Learned from Superheroes
By Andrew Rainaldi
September 8, 2016
Pop Cultural Studies
Re: The World’s Leading Medical Journals Don't Write About Racism. That's a Problem
Has anyone done an analysis of reporting by medical journals on the differences by class in access to medical care? The last study I saw was in the mid-1990s.
Robert Supansic
Our President -- cartoon by Mike Thompson
Mike Thompson
April 1, 2021
USA Today
Re: Biden’s Announcement That Trump Got Military Spending Just Right Is Dead Wrong
We all have to stop using the euphemism "defense" when we're speaking of "militarism" and "weapons."
Use "defense" for what it means: health, education, education, food, infrastructure (Biden's definition of infrastructure--not pipelines and oil wells). Language will change when everyone starts to use it accurately. The money for the things we want will primarily come from that slush fund we now call "defense."
And call "killing" and "murder," "killing and murder." And state that it's only purpose is to make many of us richer and kill the "throw-aways:; i.e., Americans who are getting richer.
Arlene Halfon
This legacy is why the US has a hard time with the UN Charter and the 'Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence, one of which is non-interference. And it's why we should uphold them and the core of a democratic foreign policy.
Carl Davidson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
End support for right wing political parties
Beth Edelman
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Childcare -- cartoon by Rob Rogers
Rob Rogers
April 29, 2021
robrogers.com
Thanks to Rich Rothstein, with whom many of us worked, played and militated, for this essay on overcoming residential racial segregation and to Portside for the link.
Daniel Millstone
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: A Lucrative Border-Industrial Complex Keeps the US Border in Constant ‘Crisis’
Did the number of migrants crossing our borders grow 16-fold 1994 to 2020? Uh, no.
Michael Henry Starks
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Slave Rebellions and Mutinies Shaped the Age of Revolution
Promising reads
Rasha Salti
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
The History Behind Lynching Protest Song, "Strange Fruit" (CBS News)
"Strange Fruit," a protest song about lynching made famous by Billie Holiday, was written not by an African American activist, but by a Jewish high school teacher from New York - Abel Meeropol.
Michelle Miller looks at the song's backstory. Warning, the photo that inspired the song is disturbing. Extensive interview with the children adopted by the Meeropols, Michael and Robert, after the executive of their parents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
Recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939.
Chess Grandmaster on Her Refusal to Play in Saudi Arabia
Chess Grandmaster Anna Muzychuk, on refusing to play in Saudi Arabia. We should all be more like Anna.
'In a few days, I'll lose two world titles, one after another. Because I decided not to go to Saudi Arabia. I refuse to play by special rules, wear abaya, be accompanied by a man so I can get out of the hotel, so I don't feel like a second-class person.
'I will follow my principles and not compete in the fast chess and blitz world championship where in just 5 days I could have made more money than with dozens of other combined tournaments. This is all very unpleasant but the sad part is that no one seems to care. Bitter feelings, but I can't go back.'
Anna Muzychuk
December 23, 2017
post on her Facebook page
"GUILTY" on all counts !Such a beautiful sound ...A sound never before heard in "police murders" of thousands and thousands of Black and Brown people ...but ... heard loud and clear, Tuesday, April 20, across the U.S. and around the world ...and most especially by Derek Chauvin ... the brazen, cold-blooded murderer of George Floyd ... in public viewLet this beautiful sound "boom" throughout the 18,000 police depts of the U.S.It is true and unique that three police including the chief uncharacteristically testified against the murderer. Even so, the tide has turned such that no police ever again can be "cocksure" of a jury's verdict to rubberstamp an atrocity ... Among the brass, the command must be widely spread that any deviation from the ubiquitous pledge:"to serve and protect" All of the People, is automatic dischargeJustice ??? ... Not yet ...Justice will come only when ALL people are free to be ... free in the assurance of knowing that the screech of a siren ...or the vision of a badge does not immediately recall "the talk," nor induce causeless anxiety, but instigates a smile ... because, finally, kind, courteous, respectful, and helpful assistance is on the way !
James E Vann,
Housing and Tenant Justice Advocate
Oakland, California
SAG-AFTRA Launches New Website for Reporting Sexual Harassment
"By speaking up, speaking out and speaking together, we regain [our] power. And we hopefully ensure that this kind of rampant predatory behavior as an accepted feature of our industry dies here and now."
- Lupita Nyong'o
How do you know if you have experienced sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment can take many forms, including conduct of a sexual nature that unreasonably interferes with an individual's work and can create a hostile or offensive work environment.
How can SAG-AFTRA help you?
SAG-AFTRA strives to empower members through knowledge of their rights, paths towards recourse and recovery, as well as the creation of a community committed to ending exploitative behavior.
Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
5757 Wilshire Boulevard, 7th Floor
Los Angeles, California 90036
(855) SAG-AFTRA / (855) 724-2387
info@sagaftra.org
Professor Amílcar Tirado Avilés serves as a Librarian-Chief of the Library of Communication at the University of Puerto Rico. He holds a Ph.D. in History with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean and United States History from the Graduate Center of New York City University. Professor Avilés holds a master’s degree in Library Science and in Puerto Rican Studies. For several years, he was an affiliate of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at the University of New York City, where he worked simultaneously as a librarian and researcher and was a member of the editorial board of Centro Journal magazine.
Saturday 1st of May 2021
Time: 6.30pm (UK) / 8.30pm (Pal), it is expected to finish at about 8.00pm (UK) / 10.00pm (Pal)
Click on Zoom Webinar Link.
This event will be chaired by Lama Khouri, (Palestine Global Mental Health Network). Sahar and Samah will discuss “administrative detention”, the stark violation of the right to a fair trial that forms part of Israel’s apartheid apparatus designed to control and delegitimize the Palestinian people. They will consider the psychological impact of this inhumane practice, and the strategies employed by prisoners to resist.
Ps: The Cafe will open with music at 6.15pm (UK) / 8.15pm (Pal)
Addameer, Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
www.addameer.org
info@addameer.ps
Join Israeli Military Objectors in a Virtual Eyewitness Palestine Delegation
Available Tour Dates:
May 2 - May 6 - May 8 - May 11
The OBJECTOR Impact Project is proud to participate in the upcoming Eyewitness Palestine Virtual Delegations, which will highlight the Israeli military refusal movement. We're writing to invite you to join us!
On the virtual delegation you'll get to know some of the strong young leaders in the military objection movement and hear from the people behind the documentary OBJECTOR.
Mesarvot is a network of Israeli activists that supports conscientious objectors in their refusal to become soldiers and take part in the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people.
On our tour you will get to know some of the strong young leaders in the movement and hear them tell their story. You will hang out with the Shministim, a group of high school students who declare out loud their intention to refuse military service. The tour will also accompany refusers on their enlistment day and join a support protest by the network - standing strong against backlash from Israeli public - and much more!
Join your guide -Yuval Gal Cohen
Co-sponsored by: Refuser Solidarity Network and OBJECTOR Impact Project
Eyewitness Palestine
PO Box 73798
Washington, DC 20056-3798
866.936.1650
The Case for Relative Poverty Measures in the United States - May 3 (The Century Foundation)
Join us to discuss a new report that makes the case for adopting a relative poverty measurement in the United States.
Monday, May 3, 2021
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
The prevalence of child poverty has at last received significant coverage in mainstream political debates this year. This attention has led to some major wins in the battle against child poverty, including the important expansion of the Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan Act. These victories are critical to cutting child poverty in the United States, but also highlight the importance of reevaluating how we understand child poverty today.
Join us on Monday, May 3 from 2:00 to 3:00 PM ET as we discuss a new report from The Century Foundation’s Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative that makes the case for adopting a relative poverty measurement in the United States, based on international research, theoretical arguments, and concrete examples. After the discussion, stick around for a Q&A with the experts.
Please register to obtain the Zoom link.
Introductory Remarks:
- Mark Zuckerman, president, The Century Foundation
Featuring:
- Carolyn Barnes, assistant professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University
- David Brady, professor and director of the Blum Initiative on Global and Regional Poverty at the University of California, Riverside
- Shawn Fremstad, senior policy fellow, Center for Economic and Policy Research
- Emma Mehrabi, director of poverty policy, Children's Defense Fund
- Rebecca Vallas, senior fellow, The Century Foundation
Moderator:
- Jeff Madrick, author, senior fellow at The Century Foundation, and director of the Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative
The Century Foundation
One Whitehall St, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10004
Remake the World: Astra Taylor and Rebecca Solnit in conversation May 4 (Haymarket Books)
Join acclaimed writers and activists Astra Taylor and Rebecca Solnit as they tackle some of the most pressing social problems of our day.
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 6 PM EDT
FREE
Astra Taylor and Rebecca Solnit in conversation about radical hope and organizing for a better future to celebrate the launch of Taylor's new book, Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions. Over the last decade, author and activist Taylor has helped shift the national conversation on topics including technology, inequality, indebtedness, and democracy. Addressing some of the most pressing social problems of our day, Taylor invites us to imagine how things could be different while never losing sight of the strategic question of how change actually happens.
Curious and searching, these historically informed and hopeful essays are as engaging as they are challenging and as urgent as they are timeless. Taylor 's unique philosophical style has a political edge that speaks directly to the growing conviction that a radical transformation of our economy and society is required.
***Register through Eventbrite to receive a link to the video conference on the day of the event. This event will also be recorded and have live captioning.***
Astra Taylor is a documentary filmmaker, writer, political organizer and author of Remake the World. She is the director, most recently, of "What Is Democracy?" and the author of Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone and the American Book Award winning The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age. She is co-founder of the Debt Collective, a union for debtors, and contributed the foreword to the group’s new book, Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition.
Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster, including Call Them By Their True Names (Winner of the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction), Cinderella Liberator, Men Explain Things to Me, The Mother of All Questions, and Hope in the Dark, and co-creator of the City of Women map, all published by Haymarket Books; a trilogy of atlases of American cities, The Faraway Nearby, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Wanderlust: A History of Walking, and River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West (for which she received a Guggenheim, the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism, and the Lannan Literary Award). Her recent memoir, Recollections of My Nonexistence, released in March, 2020. A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she is a columnist at the Guardian and a regular contributor to Literary Hub.
This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books.
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 6:30 PM EDT
Organized Labor has sometimes been in the forefront of movements for peace social justice. But often, they have stood on the sidelines as attacks on unions during the McCarthy era diminished their power and left them more cautious.
Why is Labor’s participation in movements for peace and social justice so important?
What’s the history of Labor’s involvement? What forces acted against labor’s participation in those kinds of struggles?
Where is Labor’s involvement on those issues today, like, war, women’s equality, Black Lives Matter, climate change?
How can progressives outside of labor in the peace and other progressive movements ally with labor and give assistance to unions in their battles and, conversely, how can labor help build those social movements, making them stronger and more diverse?
Right now, a battle ensues in our NYC Council with the campaign to put our City on the record, officially opposing lopsided spending in Congress that favors war and robs the money necessary for health care, education and many other social needs.
Resolution 747A, already co-sponsored by nearly half the City Council plus the Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams, is the vehicle to put the city on record urging Congress to Move The Money From War to our Communities.
The pandemic has made it crystal clear: funds are drastically lacking for a city and state depleted of money to carry on even the most basic programs.
Register now and join the discussion
Cuba & Africa 1959-1994 - Writing an Alternative Atlantic History - May 6 (Wits University Press)
Book Launch Invitation - Wits University Press, the Wits History Workshop and IFAS-Research invite you to participate in an online book launch event
JOIN US for the launch and discussion of Cuba & Africa 1959-1994 - Writing an Alternative Atlantic History
Edited by Adrien Delmas, Giulia Bonacci and Kali Argyriadis
Editors Adrien Delmas and Giulia Bonacci, and contributors João Felipe Gonçalves and Shamil Jeppie will be in conversation with Robert van Niekerk (Wits School of Governance).
When: Thursday 6 May 2021 at 18h00 SAST(South African time)
Please register for this Zoom event in advance of the meeting
About the book:
Cuba was a key participant in the struggle for the independence of African countries during the Cold War and the definitive ousting of colonialism from the continent. Beyond the military interventions that played a decisive role in shaping African political history, there were many-sided engagements between the island and the continent.
Cuba and Africa, 1959-1994 is the story of tens of thousands of individuals who crossed the Atlantic as doctors, scientists, soldiers, students and artists. Each chapter presents a case study – from Algeria to Angola, from Equatorial Guinea to South Africa – and shows how much of the encounter between Cuba and Africa took place in nonmilitaristic fields: humanitarian and medical, scientific and educational, cultural and artistic.
Wits University Press, 5th Floor, Wits Art Museum, cnr Jorrissen street and Jan Smuts Ave, Braamfon, South Africa
A Green Recovery to the Pandemic Meltdown - May 6 (New School Economics of Climate Change project)
Thursday, May 6, 2021, 12:30PM to 1:30PM (EDT)
Despite slight decreases in carbon emissions at the start of Covid-19 lockdowns, the United Nations reports temperatures will still rise, threatening global goals to reduce warming below 1.5°C. There is still time to reverse course, but bold climate action is required. In particular, as a forthcoming World Bank report by a SCEPA team suggests, fiscal and monetary policies are needed to move forward to support climate protection.
Join SCEPA's Economics of Climate Change project — directed by Professor Willi Semmler — on Thursday, May 6th at 12:30 pm (ET) to discuss what new climate policies must be part of the global Covid-19 recovery plans to ensure better pathways to a low carbon economy.
Experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (OFCE), the French Economic Observatory, and a renowned economist of the London School of Economics will discuss topics like; to what extent current climate policies, such as a carbon tax, are insufficient for climate protection, whether the financial market is a roadblock or bridge to a greener economy, and which monetary and fiscal policies would further the green transition while keeping sovereign debt sustainable.
This event will be moderated by Professor Willi Semmler, Director of SCEPA's Economics of Climate Change project. Additionally, Dean of The New School for Social Research William Milberg will deliver opening remarks.
Speakers:
- Nicoletta Batini - Lead Evaluator, Independent Evaluation Office, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF)
- Professor Paul De Grauwe - John Paulson Chair in European Political Economy, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
- Dirk Heine - Senior Economist, THE WORLD BANK
- Francesco Saraceno - Deputy Director, OBSERVATOIRE FRANÇAIS DES CONJONCTURES ÉCONOMIQUES (OFCE), PARIS
DC Labor Chorus Concert online May 8
Register for the DC Labor Chorus online Spring Concert
Join the D.C. Labor Chorus for a joyous celebration of Spring with some of our favorite songs! We chose the best sing-along songs from our 23-year repertoire—some of your old faves as well as new songs inspired by recent events. Our song list is diverse, with selections from the folk, gospel, protest, jazz, pop, and labor traditions. We look forward to singing “for all who labor. We sing to organize. We are a mighty chorus. We’re singing for our lives!"
Join us on either Zoom or our livestream on Facebook as we continue to stay safe and stay well! Registration is free.
If you would like to donate to support the DC Labor Chorus, click here.
Metro to honor Bill Fletcher, Jr.!
Metro NY Labor Communicators Council Convention
Tuesday, May 11, 10am
Bill Fletcher, Jr. will be presented with the Communicator of the Year award. This will be followed by a panel on Race and Labor, a nuts and bolts discussion on how unions can empower members through anti-racist programs. Metro contest winners will be announced.
The event is FREE. Registration is required. Zoom link
Metro NY Labor Communications Council
Affiliated with the International Labor Communications Association, AFL-CIO/CLC
2nd Annual Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony - May 15 (Combatants for Peace and לוחמים לשלום)
Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 1 PM EDT
May 15th, 1948, was the date when the UN was supposed to declare the state of Israel.
Since then, every year on May 15th, Palestinians all over the world commemorate the Nakba (the Palestinian Catastrophe). Hundreds of Palestinian villages have been destroyed, scores killed, and more than 700,000 people have become refugees, as they were forced to abandon their homes in fear for their lives.
The Palestinian Nakba is still going on, and will not stop until there is an agreed solution to the Palestinian nationality - which seeks definition and recognition.
The Nakba is an inseparable part of Israel’s independence. We believe that the story will not be complete as long as we will not acknowledge the historical injustice, and work towards making it right. We, Combatants for Peace, are holding this ceremony to bring the public’s attention to the Nakba, and to shed light on the stories that are not talked about enough, because we understand that only if we face it, instead of running away from it, only if we will agree to listen to the Palestinian narrative, only then we will be able to progress towards solving the conflict and end the occupation.
Join us for the Nakba ceremony so we can begin building the bridge to acknowledgement and resolution that will bring peace to everyone here, from the sea to the Jordan River.
Event by Combatants for Peace and לוחמים לשלום
Anti-Racism in the Americas: Black and Indigenous Perspectives - May 20 (NACLA)
Featuring: Juliet Hooker, Keisha-Khan Perry, Pamela Calla, and Christopher Loperena (moderator)
Join us in celebrating 50 years of NACLA with a critical panel discussion entitled, "Anti-Racism in the Americas: Black and Indigenous Perspectives." Free and open to the public. Presented by the North American Congress on Latin America. Co-sponsored by CLACS-NYU and the Anthropology Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. Register here.
NACLA has provided incisive political economic and anti-imperialist analysis on Latin America and the Caribbean for more than half a century. Our commitment to untangling the role of the United States in the region and centering dissenting voices to understand politics and power in the hemisphere remains as important as ever. Building on NACLA’s rich history of covering climate change, anti-racism, and solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean, this event series brings together activists, scholars, and journalists to inform our movements and shape our understandings of critical struggles in these unprecedented times.
This panel will be the second in a thematic series of panels celebrating our 54th anniversary and will feature scholars and activists who are grappling with the historical roots and contemporary manifestations of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in the Americas. Panelists will answer the following questions: What is the meaning of anti-Black racism today and how does your work respond to the resurgence of racism and right-wing populism throughout the Americas? What role does the military, paramilitary, and police play in policing Black and Indigenous political movements? What does a hemispheric project of anti-racismo look like?
WHEN: Thursday, May 20th, 2021. 6-7:30pm ET.
WHERE: A Zoom meeting link will provided prior to the event. Register here.
- Pamela Calla is a Bolivian anthropologist engaged with issues of gender, race, class, and state formation in Latin America. She is currently a clinical associate professor at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University.
- Keisha-Khan Perry teaches racial and gender politics in Brazil at Brown University. Her book, Black Women against the Land Grab: The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil (2013), focuses on urban social movements against forced land evictions. She is currently working on an historical ethnography of Brazil, Jamaica and the US.
- Juliet Hooker is currently professor of political science at Brown University. She is a political philosopher who focuses on racial justice, contemporary political theory, and black and Latin American political thought. She has written multiple books and peer reviewed articles. Her latest publication is the collaborative edited volume, Black and Indigenous Resistance in the Americas: From Multiculturalism to Racist Backlash (2020)
Moderator:
- Christopher Loperena is an assistant professor of anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His research examines indigenous and black territorial struggles and the sociospatial politics of economic development in Honduras. He is currently completing a book manuscript titled A Fragmented Paradise: Blackness and the Limits of Progress in Honduras.
Presented by the North American Congress on Latin America. Co-sponsored by CLACS-NYU and the Anthropology Program at the CUNY Graduate Center.