James McEnteer :
Why Ecuador is choosing to sabotage its
top universities

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

Above all, it is a move by Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa to consolidate his power.

President Rafael Correa, November 15, 2012. Image from Cancillería del Ecuador / Flickr / Creative Commons.

By James McEnteer | The Rag Blog | January 9, 2017

QUITO, Ecuador — On December 13, Ecuador’s National Assembly passed a law compromising the independence of its public universities. The mandate, in this small country, where everything is personal, is aimed specifically at the two institutions of higher learning that offer only post-graduate degrees: Andina University and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, aka FLACSO.

The new law relieves those universities of critical financial decisions, ceding that power to the National Secretariat of Higher Education, Science and Technology. Instead of university faculty and administrators choosing how best to deploy funds for research and allocate student aid, those decisions will be left to ministry bureaucrats.
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Mark McKim :
METRO | Protest the Trump inauguration
in Austin

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

Join the One Resistance Rally and Protest Friday, January 20, from Auditorium Shores to the Capitol.

notes from the resistance

By Mark McKim | The Rag Blog | January 8, 2017

America faces a crisis. Donald Trump’s campaign promises threaten millions. We must rally, protest, organize, and support one another.

On Inauguration Day, we will gather to protest Donald Trump’s politics of fear and hate. This is a call to action to rally for justice and dignity for all. We’re rallying for civil rights, immigrants’ rights, reproductive rights, our environment, and good jobs, as well as justice and safety in all of our communities.
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Alice Embree :
METRO | Mourn, then organize

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Alice Embree

notes from the resistance

Street art in Madison, Wisconsin. Image from USB / Twitter / Creative Commons.

By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | January 8, 2017

AUSTIN — In 1915, when Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) organizer Joe Hill was awaiting execution before a Utah firing squad, he wrote the following to his fellow Wobbly, Bill Haywood: “Don’t waste any time mourning — organize!”

“Don’t mourn, organize,” became a rallying cry whenever a leader died or the movement suffered a major defeat. Perhaps better advice today would be, “Mourn, then organize.”

We are experiencing a time of resistance and increased mobilization in Austin, and we need to organize networks of solidarity. With the tagline on The Rag Blog, “Notes from the Resistance,” we hope to accommodate brief dispatches on events, links to community calendars, and announcements of upcoming actions.
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The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | ‘Celebrating The Rag’
at BookPeople

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

The editors of the acclaimed new book about Austin’s iconic underground newspaper speak and sign books on Thursday, January 5.

Thorne Dreyer, left, Alice Embree, and Richard Croxdale, editors of Celebrating The Rag, will appear at Book People, January 5, 2017.

UPDATE: The event at BookPeople was a tremendous success, with an enthusiastic overflow crowd. Celebrating The Rag editors Thorne Dreyer, Alice Embree, and Richard Croxdale spoke, led discussion, and signed books. Artist Kerry Awn and photographer Alan Pogue also offered some memories and joined in the signing. The event was rebroadcast on Rag Radio. Listen to it here.

Celebrating The Rag at BookPeople, Friday, January 6, 2017. Photo by Alan Pogue / The Rag Blog.

SECOND CHANCE: There will be another event, this one at the Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe St., Austin, from 2-4 p.m., Sunday, February 19. Dreyer, Embree, and Croxdale will speak and Glenn Scott will introduce a partial screening of People’s History in Texas’ documentary film about The Rag. It will be free and open to the public.

Event: ‘Celebrating the Rag’
What: Discussion and Booksigning
Who: Editors Thorne Dreyer, Alice Embree, Richard Croxdale
When: Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, 7 p.m.
Where: BookPeople
Address: 603 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin TX 78703
Phone: 512-472-5050
Cost: Free and open to the public

AUSTIN — Thorne Dreyer, Alice Embree, and Richard Croxdale, editors of the new book, Celebrating The Rag: Austin’s Iconic Underground Newspaper, will speak and sign books at BookPeople, 603 N. Lamar in Austin, on Thursday, January 5, 2017, at 7 p.m.

Copies of Celebrating The Rag will be available for purchase at the event.
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Pamela Ellen Ferguson :
METRO | An ecumenical gathering for
Chanukah in Austin

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Members of Austin Jewish Voice for Peace stage vigil at Texas State Capitol.

Chanukuh vigil in Austin, Dec. 21, 2016. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

By Pamela Ellen Ferguson | The Rag Blog | December 27, 2016

AUSTIN — Elaine Cohen, an activist with Austin Jewish Voice for Peace (AJVP) and a Rag Blog contributor, invited me to join a Chanukah vigil outside the Texas State Capital on Wednesday, December 21. The aim? to protest Islamaphobia, racism, and Trump’s appointment of David Friedman — an extreme right-wing settler supporter — as the next ambassador to Israel.

Traditional Chanukah songs hit my ears as I approached the Capital along 11th Street. Families I recognized from the orthodox Lubavich community were gathered on the sidewalk enjoying latkes.
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Margaret Randall :
VERSE | Two poems

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Nezahualcoyotl, the poet-king of Texcoco. Photo by Kurt Bauschardt /
Flickr / Creative Commons.

 
Words

Have we moved beyond word time, beyond the poet’s terrain
where words describe events or pull us into new orbits
of wonder and release?

Words: those beautiful evocations strung together to
birth ideas, whispered as comfort, sung as praise,
perhaps even change the world.

The Divine Word has long since fallen into disrepute.
Words of judges and advertisers fail miserably,
bully promises groveling at our feet.
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Ed Felien :
Putin’s puppet and the really big deal

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

All Trump has to do is help the Russians build their pipeline through Afghanistan.

Putin carried Trump across the finish line; now it’s Donald’s turn. Art by DonkeyHotey / Flickr.

By Ed Felien | The Rag Blog | December 20, 2016

It’s the biggest deal he’s ever done.

If he gets this done, he’s the richest, most powerful man in the whole world.

It’s worth a trillion dollars.

And it wipes out the billion dollars he owes the Russian Oligarchs and Gazprom for bailing him out of his casino bankruptcies.
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Henry Mecredy :
Camaro: Successful, but a waste

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

What possible need was there for another car
like the Mustang?

1967 Chevy Camaro. Photo by Bull-Doser / Public Domain.

By Henry Mecredy | The Rag Blog | December 20, 2016

This is Henry Mecredy’s second Rag Blog article about design, function, and the social good in automotive engineering. Also see Mecredy’s March 24, 2016 article, “The Edsel Tragedy.”

In the mid-Sixties a huge innovation took place in automotive history: The Ford Mustang was introduced. Technically little more than a Falcon, the Mustang with its long hood and sporty appearance found a ready market.

Assuming briefly that the human creativity and effort expended on the Mustang project had a valid and important result; that it satisfied transportation needs as well as artistic and emotional desires for the millions who bought and still buy its various iterations and configurations, what is to be made of the Camaro, the second “pony car” and essentially a Mustang clone?
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Alan Waldman :
TELEVISION | ‘Reginald Perrin’ novel spawned two pungent, witty UK series

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Leonard Rossiter shines in 1976-79 original gem and Martin Clunes is brilliant in 2009-2010’s update.

The black comedy of the Reggie Perin series.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | December 13, 2016

[In his Rag Blog column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. Most are available on DVD, Netflix and/or Netflix Instant Streaming, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

David Nobbs wrote a funny, satiric novel originally titled The Death of Reginald Perrin in which a depressed, unsatisfied sales executive fantasizes about his secretary, hates his oppressive boss and idiotic yes-man subordinates, writes insulting letters to customers, and fakes his own suicide. Then things get strange.
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Scott Squires :
METRO | Sustainability as solidarity

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Imagining a new eco-political ideology for the American Left.

Protesters rally down the Ann Richards Bridge in Austin, Nov. 9, 2016, the day after Donald Trump was elected president. Photo by Scott Squires /
 The Rag Blog.

By Scott Squires | The Rag Blog | December 7, 2016

AUSTIN — In the middle of a sweaty crowd blocking traffic on the Congress Street Bridge Wednesday night, November 9, in Austin, Texas, hundreds of protesters rallied against the United States’ new president-elect and the hateful demagoguery he spewed throughout his 16-month-long campaign.

Many in the crowd were concerned with protecting minority groups endangered by a new rising tide of American racism shouted in unison — and they issued a rallying cry for the upset voters who watched Hillary Clinton’s presidential run go up in flames, and an election that celebrated the ridiculous and offensive rhetoric of a political outsider.
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Ken Wachsberger :
Reflection on the election: The Yippie
Puke-In of 1972

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

‘They can’t beat us. We’re having too much fun.’ — Stew Albert

yippie-poster-miami-beach-1972

Yippie poster. Image from Gotta Have Rock and Roll.

By Ken Wachsberger | The Rag Blog | December 6, 2016

I’m trying to be positive but I’ll be honest. I get queasy sometimes.

Trump called himself the law-and-order president. He was clear about his intentions. He’s already attacking the First Amendment. If he’s going to bring back the Nixon years, we’ll have to dip back into our sixties’ attitudes and remember how we beat Nixon — because, although it took a long time and a lot of us suffered, we did beat him.
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Margaret Randall :
Fidel Castro, ¡presente!

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

For half a century Cuba stood as a beacon for
other countries suffering from poverty and neocolonial domination.

fidel-castro-article

Fidel Castro speaks at the International Book Fair in Havana, February 10, 2012. Image from Cubadebate.

By Margaret Randall | The Rag Blog | November 29, 2016

Fidel Castro, longtime leader of the Cuban Revolution, died on November 25th at the age of 90. He withdrew from public office in 2008, when his younger brother Raul took over. Raul has said he will step down in 2018. An era will end, and younger men and women will take the reins of a political process that remains unique in modern times. At the Cuban Communist Party congress in April of this year, Fidel voiced an awareness of his impending death: “Our turn comes to us all,” he told the assembled delegates, “but the ideas of Cuban communism will endure.”
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