David McReynolds :
On becoming a living fossil

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

David may have been ahead of his time, but he was late to pick up Muriel Lester.

muriel lester 2

Radical pacifist Muriel Lester.

By David McReynolds | The Rag Blog | May 7, 2014

NEW YORK — This past Friday I went up to a Unitarian Church here in Manhattan to take part in a series of interviews for a film project of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Virginia Baron had been there just before me, and Leslie Cagan was arriving as I left. The chances are good I may have been, at 84, the oldest of those interviewed.

On the way up I had thought of a story involving the late Muriel Lester, but as I got to the church her name had escaped my mind. I realized, as I sat waiting while the lights were adjusted, that none of those working the cameras would have the slightest idea of whom I might be thinking. They were all young, and Muriel was long dead. (She has an all-too-brief entry in Wikipedia and Richard Deats, whose health has recently not been good, edited a book about Muriel several years ago).
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Robert Jensen :
Rape, rape culture, and the problem of patriarchy

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

I don’t believe feminists are unfair or crazy. In fact, I believe the only sensible way to understand these issues is through a feminist critique of patriarchy.

toilet

Image from Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER).

By Robert Jensen | The Rag Blog | May 5, 2014

By the end of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, two key questions were on the table for those who not only are aware of rape but would like to end men’s violence against women.

First, do we live in a rape culture, or is rape perpetrated by a relatively small number of predatory men?
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Thorne Dreyer :
PODCASTS | Gregg Barrios, Bruce Dancis, and Betsy Leondar-Wright on Rag Radio

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

A noted poet-playwright and critic, a Vietnam draft resister and pop culture journalist, and an economic justice advocate join us in three lively podcasts.

gregg barrios studio 1

Poet-playwright Gregg Barrios in the KOOP studios in Austin, Texas, April 25, 2014. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Interviews by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | May 5, 2014

Gregg Barrios, the noted San Antonio-based writer, filmmaker, and critic;  Bruce Dancis, author of Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War; and economic justice advocate Betsy Leondar-Wright were our recent guests on Rag Radio.

Rag Radio is a weekly hour-long syndicated radio program produced and hosted by long-time alternative journalist and Rag Blog editor Thorne Dreyer. The show is produced at the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, a cooperatively-run all-volunteer community radio station in Austin, Texas. It is broadcast live on KOOP every Friday from 2-3 p.m. (CST) and streamed live on the web.
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Posted on May 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
pray for rain
METRO UPDATE | More from Roger Baker on the continuing Texas drought crisis, the latest science and, of course, Texas politics!
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Paul Buhle and Milton Knight :
BOOKS | C.L.R. James: Back in style, black in style

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

‘C.L.R. James in Imperial Britain’ opens up the issue of the Third World struggle in an elegant and memorable way.

clr james in imperial britain

By Paul Buhle and Milton Knight | Truthout | May 5, 2014

Author’s note: This marks the first appearance of excerpts from C.L.R. James, a Graphic History, a comic art book in process, drawn by distinguished African-American artist Milton Knight, edited by Paul Buhle. The excerpts — young Trinidadian James grows to self-consciousness and emigrates to London, writes a play about Toussaint Louverture, with Paul Robeson starring — are easily understood.

[C.L.R. James in Imperial Britain by Christian Hogsbjerg (2014: Duke University Press): Paperback;  312 pp.; $24.95.]

This year marks a quarter-century since the death of Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901-89). His obituary in The New York Times, putting aside many other interests and qualities of a long and productive life, mainly described him as the last giant of Pan-Africanism.
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METRO UPDATE | Roger Baker : The continuing Texas drought crisis

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

By Roger Baker | The Rag Blog | May 4, 2014

pray for rainRoger Baker’s three-part Rag Blog series, “Can Austin survive the current Texas drought,” garnered much attention and was reposted widely, including by the highly-influential Resilience.org. Roger wrote the following update for The Rag Blog‘s Metro Page.

There are two tracks of policy response involved when discussing Austin’s drought crisis — the science and the politics. The situation the Austin Climate Action Network faces really amounts to a new climate reality coming into conflict with Texas politics — over Austin’s shrinking water supply.
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Lamar W. Hankins :
The dishonesty of Clemson and its football coach

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Not only does coach Dabo Swinney use his personal Christian beliefs to recruit, he also uses religion to manipulate, control, and motivate his players.

clemson player tattoo

Clemson defensive end Shaq Lawson: “Jesus Christ is my Savior.” Photo by Tamika Moore / The Chronicle of Higher Education.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | May 4, 2014

For the last half-century, Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, has been a coeducational, public institution. Lately, however, Clemson has seemed more like a private religious school.

Clemson’s head football coach, Dabo Swinney, recruits players based on his philosophy that being a Christian means that he has good values, so he lets all of his recruits and their families know that he is a devout Christian of the Baptist persuasion. Not only does Swinney use his personal Christian beliefs to recruit, he also uses religion to manipulate, control, and motivate his players.
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Posted on May 3, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
perry oops
METRO | Lamar Hankins reports that the investigation into Rick Perry’s handling of the Lehmberg affair just may have legs.
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METRO | Lamar W. Hankins : Rick Perry investigation may have legs

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Did Governor Perry try to strong-arm Rosemary Lehmberg into resigning? Upon reflection,  some of the criminal complaints against Perry may have a legitimate basis.

perry oops

Rick Perry image from PoliticusUSA.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | May 1, 2014

AUSTIN — When they were first announced, I was skeptical of the criminal complaints lodged against Rick Perry by Texans For Public Justice. I began to get more interested when Perry hired, at taxpayer expense, a $450-an-hour attorney to represent him. When Thorne Dreyer asked me to examine the allegations closely, I agreed to do so. Looking at the four criminal charges made me realize that some of the charges may be reasonable.

Last summer, Governor Perry threatened to veto funding for the Public Integrity Unit (PIU) of the Travis County District Attorney’s office unless District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned from office. Perry “believed” she had lost the confidence of the people after she behaved atrociously immediately after her arrest and while being booked, pled guilty to DWI, served a 45-day jail sentence, and paid a fine.
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Marilyn Katz :
Sipping lattes on the edge of a Volcano

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

What do Palestinians, human rights workers, progressive Israelis, and Israeli settlers have to say about daily life in an occupied land?

west bank security barrier

A security barrier in the West Bank city of Hebron, where a Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli soldiers in March.

By Marilyn Katz | The Rag Blog | April 29, 2014

Part two of two.

The international news coverage of the Israeli-Palestine conflicts often dwells on the disputes among diplomats or dramatic actions in the street. What’s missing, however, are the realities residents face as they go about their daily lives.

Even as the United States-prompted negotiations between the country’s leaders grow uncertain in the face of an April 29 deadline, those in the region — including human rights workers, elected officials, intellectuals, and government workers — don’t anticipate that the personal consequences of occupation will diminish anytime soon.
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Kate Braun :
Celebrating Beltane lets you see beyond the veil

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

It is a fire festival and marks the return of vitality and passion to Mother Earth.

beltane girl maypole

Decorate the area with May poles.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | April 28, 2014

“Have you walked around your parks and towns
so knife-edged orderly?
While the fires are burned on the hills upturned
in far-off wild country?
Come a Beltane. Come a Beltane.”

Whether you choose April 30 or May 1, you will be celebrating Beltane, a cross-quarter celebration that, like Samhain, provides an opportunity to see beyond the veil that separates the mundane world from the spiritual realm. Beltane honors the union of God and Goddess. It is a fire festival, the last of the three spring fertility festivals. It marks the return of vitality and passion to Mother Earth. It is a time to celebrate Life.
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Harry Targ :
Workers’ Memorial Day: What is needed?

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Remembering those who died on the job and continuing the fight for a safer workplace.

workers day

This year’s events will highlight demands to address contemporary issues of concern.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | April 28, 2014

The stench is vomit-making as never before. The fat and plucks, the bladders and kidneys and bungs and guts, gone soft and spongy in the heat, perversely resist being trimmed, separated, deslimed; demand closer concentration than ever, more speed. A helpless, hysterical laughter starts up. Indeed, they are in hell; indeed they are the damned. Steamed, boiled, broiled, fried, cooked. Geared, meshed.

In the hog room, 108 degrees. Kerchiefs, bound around their foreheads to keep the sweat from running down into eyes and blinding, become saturated; each works in a rain of stinging sweat. Almost the steam from the vats seems cloud-cool, pure, by contrast. Marsalek falls. A heart attack. (Is carried away, docked, charged for the company ambulance.) Other hearts pound near to bursting. Relentless, the conveyor paces on.

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