“There is a cross to bear when you go out there far enough, departing severely from what’s permissible, like what Paul Robeson did.” — Richard Martin Oxman The Vets Administration disability backlog of veterans awaiting care had topped 800,000. The cases of sexual assault within the U.S. military which go unpunished hovers around 20,000 these days. The suicides among vets[Read More…]
“Nadine Gordimer once said that socially-conscious writers should write as if they were dead. For unless they did they’d never find the courage to tell the truth. Well, that’s only partly true today. One has to add that such a one must write as if all loved family members are dead too. For the powers that be now use shotguns.”[Read More…]
“Why do so few educational institutions make use of authentically independent journalists who really risk their lives daily to provide us with details which are intentionally ignored by the mainstream media outlets?” — Richard Martin Oxman The Troubles of Northern Ireland lasted — by most accounts — about three decades. Another kind of “Troubles” was spread over approximately the same[Read More…]
“…if every aspect of the non-military sector instantly stopped generating greenhouse gases, the military’s carbon footprint alone will propel the world toward catastrophe.” — Barry Sanders When Jimmy Carter occupied the White House, sun panels were installed. They were promptly removed when Ronald Reagan took over the executive office. That was slightly over a decade had passed since the first Earth[Read More…]
“When Occupy was chanting ‘99%’ they weren’t accounting for how many folks were drugged coast to coast…on what. What the cost of that was.” — Rachel Oxman There’s a gladiatorial competition as spectacle motif found in a number of popular dystopian narratives, ranging from The Hunger Games to Battle Royale and The Maze Runner to Rollerball. And Stephen King’s writing[Read More…]
“Gramsci and Hedges underscore the fact that learning must be directed by a strong moral and ethical framework.” — from Pedological Advice for Perilous Times Adapted from Joseph Conrad’s 1907 novel, The Secret Agent, Hitchcock’s Sabotage was released during a time of mounting unease and fear of war on the international scene. A good part of its expressive power[Read More…]
“My understanding is that the elderly demographic has increased dramatically in Japan, and that many old folks are so desperately lonely because of the radical social changes which have taken place that some have resorted to getting themselves arrested and put in jail in order to have human contact. They’re going to have to really think outside the box in[Read More…]
“Toddlers drugged with psychiatric medication?” — Martha Rosenberg in a very good article Pfizer, Merck, Celgene, and GlaxoSmithKline are major league drug dealers responsible for lots of citizens descending into homelessness, many vets committing suicide, loads of teens contemplating patricide and/or matricide, more than a few housewives and their spouses resorting to adultery, a significant number of pre-teens having[Read More…]
It doesn’t do much good to point out that mothers are going to keep crying their souls out — losing their lovely children — unless those mothers themselves are willing to die to keep a horror of horrors like the U,.S. Military from twisting the minds of their youngsters… and propagandizing parents to the point of their, then, willingly handing[Read More…]
“We speak not only to tell other people what we think, but to tell ourselves what we think. Speech is a part of thought.” — Oliver Sacks According to Talk Talk Mobile (London), the percentage of Britons aged 18 to 25 who find it easier to express themselves in emoji than in words is 72. Let’s say that they’re off by[Read More…]
There are three poisonous elements in the Apple iPhone I’d like to spotlight here to put you on the spot. There are many more horrific aspects to the high tech gadget — relating to the product itself and how it manages to get produced — but I don’t want to overload you at present. Right now… I just want[Read More…]
John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men midway through the 1930s, the most creative decade of his career. During that time he was becoming increasingly concerned, it seems, about social and economic problems in California, what Upton Sinclair was focusing on in his End Poverty in California movement. In fact, he published three successive novels about farm workers during that[Read More…]
“The NGO-ization of politics threatens to turn resistance into a well-mannered, reasonable, salaried, 9-to-5 job. With a few perks thrown in.” — Arundhati Roy What Arundhati Roy says about NGOs worldwide applies to community-centered radio stations throughout the U.S. In short, those “alternative” media outlets diffuse dissent, calm citizens into accepting a “fighting the good fight” in a form that’s[Read More…]
“In some sections of South Africa 38% of men, two in five, admit to having forced a woman to have sex, but what’s going on in Cape Town right now is at least just as bad as that kind of widespread violation, worse than the coltan slavery.” — one of the author’s home schooled teenage students In the most recent[Read More…]
“We are missing our deadlines.” — S. Suzuki It would be like saying the state of San Francisco when you should have said the state of California. Waikiki is a beachfront neighborhood of Honolulu on the south shore of O’ahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It’s no more an “island” than San Francisco is a state. So how[Read More…]
The percentage of moisturizers sold in the United States as “fragrance free” that contain a fragrance is 45. Of moisturizers sold as “hypoallergenic” that contain a common allergen it’s 83. But the misrepresentation of a lotion or cream used to prevent dryness in the skin, though wrong and deserving of consequences, is nothing when it comes to disingenuous organic[Read More…]
“Do you know what it’s like on the outside?” — from the Bee Gees’ New York Mining Disaster 1941 The mudslides in Montecito and elsewhere throughout southern California are far more horrifying than anything being reported in the press. The devastation is simply one of those things that not only goes beyond words but exceeds what is possible to[Read More…]
“Ay, of a snail, for though he comes slowly, he carries his house on his head—a better jointure, I think, than you make a woman. Besides, he brings his destiny with him.” — lines from Act IV, Scene 1 of As You Like It, which remind the author of what all shelled gastropods have to offer us, and what our fate[Read More…]
“I know I am going to have terrible problems with this painting, but I am determined to do it….” Picasso to Dora Maar in anticipation of creating his now world famous mural-sized oil painting, one of the most moving anti-war artworks in history… not well-received initially, and not appreciated in many quarters for a very long time. In 1962 John[Read More…]
“You don’t want to be a spiritual slug.” — Howard Zinn, speaking at the University of California-Santa Cruz, 2004 “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” — from Shakespeare’s Hamlet Right after my partner and I put on a free three-day cultural/social/political event in Santa Cruz, California in 2004, which[Read More…]
Co-Written by Valleria Ruselli and C. Russell There are monumentally important new films which break away from the usual journalistic cliches, and experiment with the documentary format in order to find deeper truths in the refugee experience… and to dignify the plight of the displaced. The current cycle of migrant films, including small-budget personal works as well as more expensive[Read More…]
“What if violence against women is not a by-product of war, but rather a major cause of it?” — a question posed by Leith Greenslade in a 2014 article Hearing sexual assault victims recount their attacks is heartbreaking. Hearing story after story from U.S. soldiers like Kori Cioca, who was beaten and raped by her Coast Guard supervisor, or[Read More…]
“Trump campaigned significantly using Garcia Zarate as a scapegoat in 2016.” — one of the author’s home schooled teens This article is important because it underscores what’s wrong with teachers using the usual news sources that respected academics recommend for classrooms throughout the United States. The dynamics related to all that impact on the entire world when it comes to[Read More…]
“…the crown prince has broken forever the great compromise that exists in the kingdom: between the royal family and the clergy, and between the tribes.” — Robert Fisk As Robert Fisk makes clear, what’s going on between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon is far from clear. And as the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah underscored an hour ago on BBC, the Saudis have[Read More…]
by Valleria Ruselli and the Oxman Collective “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” — Emma Goldman “If voting made a difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.” — Mark Twain Oh, voting can change some things, but let’s go beyond that bumper sticker mentality. When powerful social tensions have roiled the U.S. throughout its history — making progressive[Read More…]
“Too many educators have pigeon-holed their disciplines. This or that does or doesn’t fit in my classroom. Old school nonsense, particularly with the way in which high tech utilitarianism is bringing everyone down, preaching that the only way to fit in lies in acclimating to our momentum.” — Rachel Olivia O’Connor If you’re an educator in the U.S. —[Read More…]
“The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.” — Wilfred Owen drawing upon Horace’s Odes Kipling’s Plain Tales from the Hills, Forster’s Passage to India, Orwell’s Burmese Days and Paul Scott’s Jewel in the Crown are read in academic circles and viewed by wider audiences courtesy of various media. And other dramatic fare focused on similar unfair settings has come down the pike. But — in[Read More…]
For a reduction of violence on the U.S. domestic front educators on all levels will have to do what I suggest here, or attempt to implement or embrace some significant variation of it. Educators cannot think that our present wars are necessary, cannot believe and teach that we are “exceptional” in a positive way with our ongoing behavior overseas.[Read More…]
“We live in one global environment with a huge number of ecological, economic, social, and political pressures tearing at its only dimly perceived, basically uninterpreted and uncomprehended fabric. Anyone with even a vague consciousness of this whole is alarmed at how such remorselessly selfish and narrow interests – patriotism, chauvinism, ethnic, religious, and racial hatreds – can in fact[Read More…]
“Billy Graham, a key figure at the Christian Woodstock in 1972, once compared life to a golf course, where it was only important to follow the rules in order to be embraced by the Lord once the game was over.” — Vine Deloria, Jr. in conversation with the author Explo ’72 was a gigantic rally held at the Cotton[Read More…]
Forget GDP growth, it’s sustainable wellbeing we need to aim for 
Supremes Declare War on Wetlands 
Kings Coronation, Victory Day Parade and Perverse Values 
A critical approach to the exploration of Identity & Violence: An attempt by the young researchers of EDRU 
Delay in Census enumeration, unreliable death registration and fake Aadhaar cards adversely impact integrity of elections, leads to misuse of public funds 
Special Significance of the Next Decade in Human History, and a Campaign Linked to This 
Prophets of Doom: Kissinger and the ‘Intellectual’ Decline of the West 
“Free Trade” as Revealed in the China-United States Paradigm 
Memorialize USA Lies About Each Mistaken Undeclared War Americans Remembered Today Gave Their Lives 
Tipu Sultan: Fallacies and Facts around the Historical Figure in India 
The intertwined history of caste and census in India 
A Tale of Two Indias 
Dismantle the structures of sexual violence, NOT the protesters’ tent! 
CDRO condemns the manhandling of the protesting wrestlers 
From Deathly Silence to Violence: The journey of Wrestlers struggling for Justice 
Workers Protests break out in China 
Now I Am Ravana’s Head 
Noam Chomsky on Why This Is the Most Dangerous Point in Human History 
HAK Birthdays: Henry Kissinger Turns 100 
Brotherhood and Friendship in a time of War- Reflections on The Mercenary, by Jeffrey E. Stern 
Weaknesses of the National Security Strategy 2022 – Part 8: The NSS falsely claims that Russia and Putin have malicious goals and spurn negotiation 
What role did trade unions play in the struggle for independence in Kenya? 
The plight of Meitei Pangals or Manipur Muslims remains unheard 
A Timely Warning on Avoiding the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that Deserves Wide Attention 
Tinsel Gods 
Kirti Kisan Union conducts massive rally in Moga on issue of Canal Water 
The Importance of Convenient Payment Options in Enhancing Travel Experiences 
Book Review – A Reader on Financial Inclusion 
Nuclear Turns Fashionable 
Taiwan’s Quest to Upgrade Its Battle Readiness Continues to Evolve 
Trade Unions in Kenya and Britain in a Changing World 
Why Phalke Award Has Eluded Classic Hindi Cinema Heroines 
Modi in Australia: Down Under Bliss for Hindutva 
Both Blocs Behind Iron Curtain? 
Demand for scrapping of iron fortified rice distribution in India’s public food schemes intensifies 
Government destroying public spaces rather than protecting them 
Dalit agricultural labour organisations stage protests in Punjab 
The Influence of Higher Wages and Better Job Opportunities on Migration from Small Towns to Big Cities or Other Regions New Parliament building- Appearance Vs Substance 
International body slams Media Repression in Kashmir During G-20 Event 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
