Democracy

By Erin L. Thompson | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – On August 26, 2020, Alice in Wonderland will get some company. She will be joined in New York City’s Central Park by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth, the first statues there of women who, unlike Alice, actually existed. The monument is […]

Democracy

When Did Democracy become a Partisan Issue? The Dilemmas of Late Neoliberalism

John Buell

Southwest Harbor Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Many US citizens take comfort in the conviction that progress toward democracy has been steady even if bitterly contested on occasion. Early in the post Revolutionary War period the right to vote was extended to all white men, even those who held no property. Women achieved the […]

Authoritarianism

We need a plan to prevent a Trump takeover — and this anti-coup research shows the way

George Lakey

( Waging Nonviolence ) – I’m hearing a range of views on the likelihood of President Donald Trump refusing to leave office if Joe Biden wins in November. Some don’t believe that even the reckless Trump would go that far, no matter how messed up mail-in ballots become and how close the vote is. Others […]

Authoritarianism

Trump’s Secret Police whisk Portland Protesters into Unmarked Cars, but allowed Right wing armed militiamen to invade Michigan State House

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ryan Haas and Conrad Wilson at Oregon Public Broadcasting report that Federal agents with no name tags pulled at least two persons off the street in Portland without obvious probable cause and put them in unmarked vehicles. Responsibility for one of the kidnappings has been admitted by U.S. Customs and […]

Democracy

A Nation of Trolls: Is it Even Worthwhile to Discuss with Trumpies Anymore?

Bahman Fozouni

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” Mark Twain Should we find ourselves in the company of the Trumpies, does it make sense to engage them in a political conversation? If your real aim is to influence their outlook by confronting […]

Democracy

The Other Black Lives Matter Protests are in Africa: Sudanese wanted Democracy, not a Long Military-Civilian Transition

The Conversation

By David E Kiwuwa | – In the last few days, tens of thousands of people have, once again, taken to the streets of Sudan’s major cities to demand “freedom, peace and justice”, the rallying cry for the protesters who ousted Omar al-Bashir in 2019. The big difference is that this time they are marching […]

Democracy

War Zone America

Tomdispatch

By Andrea Mazzarino | – (Tomdispatch.com) – Recently, in this Black Lives Matter protest moment, my five-year-old son looked at me and asked, “Mommy, where did all the brown people go? Did the police here shoot them?” We’d just moved to the outskirts of a more affluent rural town from a city where my son […]

Bill of Rights

How Trump brought US Racist Policing and Racist Foreign Policy Together on D.C. Streets

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

(Code Pink) – On June 1, President Trump threatened to deploy active-duty U.S. military forces against peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters in cities across America. Trump and state governors eventually deployed at least 17,000 National Guard troops across the country. In the nation’s capital, Trump deployed nine Blackhawk assault helicopters, thousands of National Guard troops […]

Democracy

The Other Looting: We’ve Just witnessed a Nationwide Police Riot, Fueled by Trump’s talk of “Terrorists”

Dan Dinello

Reacting to Protests Against Brutality and Racism, the Police Try to Crush Dissent by Brutally Beating, Gassing, and Shooting Protesters