Tag: ideas

Real Lessons from the Age of Industrial Violence

The Gilded Age is very much in the news. In early April, President Obama derided a budget proposal favored by Mitt Romney as “thinly veiled Social Darwinism,” referring to ideas usually associated with such men as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. During his campaign to secure the Republican nomination, Newt Gingrich derided child-labor laws…

Dear Cascadia: A Letter from the Great Beyond

By Little Bear This is a follow-up to May 6th’s piece titled “RIP Ernest Callenbach, Good Morning Cascadia”. This letter was originally published in TomDispatch. Ernest Callenbach, author of “Ecotopia”, dreamt of a liberated and sustainable Pacific Northwest. He called it Ecotopia. We call it Cascadia. Epistle to the Ecotopians By Ernest Callenbach [This document…

A Few Good Democrats are Not Enough

This piece is from the Occupied News Wire. It originally appeared in the Occupied Wall Street Journal. by Max Berger As long as there has been a thing called Occupy Wall Street, there have been people who’ve suggested it should become the left’s version of the Tea Party. Josh Harkinson’s piece is a notable contribution to the…

Power and Politics: A Breakup Story

This article is from the Occupied News Wire. It was originally published in the Occupied Wall Street Journal. by Simon Critchley The truth is we are not in control. But that’s not the worst of it. We suspect, indeed we know, that no one is in control: no God, no glorious leader, no benevolent dictator,…

Two Fingers Away from Safety

By Lauren Paulson My brother and I sat uneasily on two wooden milk bottle boxes in the back of a 1937 Pontiac coupe. This car only had a front seat, so when we came along, father cut out the hat shelf and put two boxes for us to sit on to make it a family…

What if: A Collective Litany

by A Musing What if the sheriff ‘s department delivered a foreclosure and said, “We’re delivering this but we will not enforce it” ? What if the locksmith company was booked well in advance and couldn’t come by to change the locks …. ever ? What if the policeman refused to arrest a six-year-old child…

M1: A Letter Regarding the May Day March

This story is part of our feature about the many protest events on May 1, 2012. Visit the feature page to see more. by Victory Woodhull Hello there, My name is Victory and I participated in the unpermitted march on May Day. I wanted to offer a critical perspective on the effectiveness of the day…

B Media Collective Presents: Occupation Nation

From our friends at B Media Collective, come their fifth feature clip show, “Occupation Nation! Says the group: An hour-long episode of remixed shorts that explore the philosophical roots of the recent movement of the 99%. As zombies threaten to consume all that’s left of our spectacular society, B Media’s fifth video variety show showcases…

Farewell (But Not Goodbye!) to Occupy Medford

By Benjamin Playfair The following is an open farewell letter to my local Occupy movement. An open letter to Occupy Medford: Before Occupy, I spent countless hours dreaming of being involved in helping to change our country. At times I thought in extremist absolutes about how to make that happen. At other times, my trains…