By revisiting lessons we learned in childhood, we can shed light on some of the societal problems we face today. Here are a few Issues in Dr. Seuss’ work still resonate with us fifty years later.
By revisiting lessons we learned in childhood, we can shed light on some of the societal problems we face today. Here are a few Issues in Dr. Seuss’ work still resonate with us fifty years later.
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I am, of course, stealing this sentiment from Buckminster Fuller, who, among other things, envisioned a harmonious global community, aware of how beautiful and delicate our home is in the vast cosmos. Global Community Through Localization Paradoxically, the only way to think of us as belonging to a global community is not through globalization but localization. We have come to view globalization as the exchange of cultural knowledge and the creation of a world community, while localization is seen as the breeding grounds of isolationism. The reality, however, is that globalization has been a tool for powerful Multinational Corporations to lobby for lower regulations and bigger tax breaks, devastating local communities. The result, more or less, is the homogenization of our cultural identities. Localization, on the other hand, places its focus on enriching local communities and creating unique self-identities....
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I attended an interesting panel about the Occupy movement on Thursday, hosted by the Ohio State Comparative Studies Department. (you know, the ones who think about everything all at once) They had four great panelists: -Pranav Jani, from the English department. -Rubén Castilla Herrera, an organizer with iHasta La Victoria known for his legendary diagrams. -Eugene Holland, from the Comp Stds department, who just finished a book with a fascinating concept (It’s wild enough that it has to be interesting) He’s also got an article on Jazz Improvisation and Postcapitalist Markets. -Bob Hart, an attorney who started the Occupy Columbus legal team. The panelists discussed their own activism, as well as the Occupy movement, both theoretically and practically. Some of the most interesting insight the panelists provided came through the discussion of a chalkboard diagram provided by Rubén (good luck reading my handwriting). Rubén separated...
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Chicago, IL – On January 15 and 16, 2012, a coalition of Chicago housing-rights organizers did a city-wide day of canvassing under the banner of Occupy Our Homes. Occupy Our Homes is a movement that supports Americans who stand up to their banks and fight for their homes. They believe everyone has a right to decent, affordable housing and stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.
In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., about 150 volunteers from five different neighborhoods across Chicago went out into the neighborhoods knocking on doors. Read more »
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At a time when economic and social justice movements seem to be growing louder than ever, it’s high time to reexamine religion’s role in dissent. Ask many activists at a left-wing rally about their religion, and, in my experience, you’ll get mostly ‘agnostic’ or ‘atheist’, with the odd religious individuals thrown in. This creates an interesting situation for myself, a right-wing Christian turned progressive Christian, who still uses swear words but avoids using God’s name in an improper context, and struggles to find a church that adheres to my progressive worldviews. I get mixed reactions when I tell other activists I identify as Christian; sometimes they’re good at hiding their surprise or even seem almost happy, and at other times their sudden misgivings are obvious. I don’t blame them. After all, we live in times in which most young...
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Ohio State student activists took a page out of the Occupy playbook when they “mic checked” a panel discussion on shale drilling hosted by the the Subsurface Energy Research Center (SERC) at the Ohio Union on November 18th. The panel, which was made up of several industry experts, a state official and an environmental advocate, was intended to provide information on the oil and gas industry’s new, and extensive, horizontal hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) initiatives in Ohio. Approximately 10 minutes into the event, over thirty-five students from OSU and around the state interrupted state geologist Larry Wickstrom to deliver a message of their own to an audience of students, faculty, and industry professionals. Here is what they had to say (transcript below): Around the nation, activists are hijacking public forums to spread their message. The mic check tactic grew out...
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Something astonishing happened at the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) banquet on Nov. 12th. In front of President Obama, and 18 other heads of state, Hawaii-native Makana, strayed from his scripted performance of instrumental music. He played his new song “we are the many”, and his guitar tech caught footage of it on his camera phone. Then he played different variations of it for 45 MINUTES! “I found it odd that I was afraid to do it at first. I found that disturbing, that’s kind of why I did it. I didn’t like the idea of being afraid to sing a song I created. I’ve never in my life been afraid to sing anything. If that’s what we’ve come to in the world, where we’re afraid to say certain things in the company of certain people–I think that’s a...
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I have a few words of warning for the Occupy movement as it moves forward. In many Occupy circles, discussion is less about Wall Street and corporate greed, and more about anti-capitalist revolution. First off, I think it’s tremendous that folks are no longer afraid to use the word revolution. The culture industry has attempted to commodify revolution in the United States, and has denigrated both the word and the idea, stripping it of its visceral, liberatory power. The fact that Americans are using the word in its proper context and imagining new, direct-democratic societies where we’re allowed to share stuff and care about each other is a beautiful thing in itself. But it begs the question, what is a revolution? Or more importantly, what is a successful revolution? Before we answer what the revolution is, we need to...
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After two months, the Occupy Wall Street movement has gone global. Over 900 cities around the world have participated in protests forcing the mainstream media to cover the occupations, even though many uncertainties about the movement remain. But, if one thing is clear about Occupy Wall Street, it’s that the people who have suffered the most throughout this economic crisis (people of color) are conspicuously absent from the front lines of the movement. Here are my top 5 reasons why black people and all people of color need put aside the bullshit and flood the streets to Occupy some shit.
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