In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans are finally — or is it once again? — confronting the racism that afflicts this country and extends into just about every corner of our national life. Something fundamental just might be happening. Yet to state the obvious, we’ve been here before. Mass protests in response to racial inequality and discrimination,[Read More…]
Martin Luther King deserves being the only American whose birthday is celebrated with a three day holiday, but not only as the successful US civil rights movement’s leader, but even more for having been martyred confronting the American killing machine at its source, investors in military atrocities, covert violence and predatory finance. Martin Luther King deserves being the only American[Read More…]
The following is the transcribed text of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech, delivered on April 3, 1968 at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It’s always good to have[Read More…]
Click on the link and read and/or listen to King’s sermon that made headlines in bold print on newspapers around the world fifty years ago, and notice it is NOT addressed to the government but to all Americans. (King’s nightmarish sermon came 4 years after “I Have a Dream” at the March on Washington) King spoke to the people to[Read More…]
On January 15, millions of Americans commemorated Martin Luther King’s Day. His famous speech, ‘I Have a Dream’ was repeated numerous times in media outlets as a reminder of the evil of racism, which is being resurrected in a most pronounced way in American society. But that is only one version of Dr. King that is allowed to be[Read More…]
Maybe we just have to admit that the day of violence is here, and maybe we just have to give up and let violence take its course. The nation won’t listen to our voice – maybe it’ll heed the voice of violence. – Martin Luther King, Jr. (1) In “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Cold War”, Thomas Noer describes[Read More…]
How strange it is that the African American community has been, either openly or indifferently, supportive of white racist regime change, imperialist bombings, invasions and bloody occupations in smaller nations of people whose skin color is of various hues even though MLK condemned them as “atrocity wars and covert violence on three continents since 1945 to maintain unjust predatory investment in countries overseas,”[Read More…]
As Martin Luther King’s birthday is celebrated with a national holiday, his death day disappears down the memory hole. Across the country – in response to the King Holiday and Service Act passed by Congress and signed by Bill Clinton in 1994 – people will be encouraged to make the day one of service.Such service does not include King’s[Read More…]
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. held his world-famous speech; “I Have a Dream”. A dream we all dream and dreamed of. I was almost 7 years old and still remember. His speech was full of fire and passion, right out of his honest heart. A speech, and also in that time the greatest demonstration ever in America,[Read More…]
Fifty years ago Dr. King risked his life to tell us that ‘the world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve,” that a nation focused on military defense more than social uplift “is approaching spiritual death,’ and that we still had a choice: “nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation.” How much longer will[Read More…]
Henry Hampton‘s work — like his groundbreaking Eyes on the Prize (1987-1990) — should be applauded. His grand efforts and accomplishments — along with those of his many hardworking, talented colleagues, such as the dedicated and incomparable Judy Richardson — are praiseworthy by any standards. That said, to have one’s eyes on any prize in the realm of social activism usually means a[Read More…]
Gary Younge’s The Speech– released in 2013 by Haymarket Books (updated edition)- is increasingly important in these early days of Trumplandia. A real account of the lead up to, acceptance, and political trajectory of King’s famous 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, the book is a clear reminder of the power of rhetoric but also of the forces of “nullification”[Read More…]
We all need to rise up and have the courage that M. L. King, Jr. had. I am humbled by his writings because they remind me that I have to even stretch further than I have on behalf of social and environmental justice. My “sin” or “wrong” (since I don’t like the word “sin” due to its religious implications —[Read More…]
Sometime during the next twenty-five years, as the United States slowly begins to lose economic, political, cultural and communications hegemony over the rest of the world, a much nicer, peaceful, pleasant, prosperous, free and expressively energetic America will begin to take shape and will trend toward seeking the unity, harmony and enjoyment found in its African American communities Sometime during[Read More…]
Demanding Justice, Farmers march on Delhi 
Australian War Crimes in Afghanistan: Redacted Brereton Report & 2 Centuries of Australian War Crimes Ignored 
200th Birthday of Freidrich Engels 
Walking for peace: Pandemic halts Gandhi-inspired world march 
While Confronting New Challenges, Social Movements Must Also Consolidate Old Commitments and Strengths 
Not Adding Up: Australia, Iran and the Release of Kylie Moore-Gilbert 
Dispossession and Imperialism Repackaged as ‘Feeding the World’ 
Lives of Workers Should Matter 
A Crestfallen Year 
Tribal Development in India 
November 26: Two Notable Features About The Constitution Day And The Massive Struggle by Workers And Farmers 
Mr. Prime Minister, Listen To The Farmers 
Maradona, people’s love 
GNP and the Tribal’s Flute 
What will the opposition with individual thinking do? 
A Barefoot Chronicler Of Endangered Crafts 
Crackdown on human rights defenders in India 
Neuropsychological lens of COVID-19 
Biden’s Promise: America is Back(wards) 
Warriors vs Australia’s CoverUps, War Crimes and Thug Culture 
25th November: a Day of Dignity for the Selk’nam People 
Salute to Comrade Diego Maradona 250 Million Workers And Farmers Strike Nationwide In India 
Farmers have the right to peaceful protest to get their grievances heard 
Israel’s recent diplomatic ties and the issue of Palestine 
Survival Crisis Has No Technological Fix; Resolving This Needs Changes in the Way People Live and Think 
Wasting public money in the name of Beautification 
RSS Mourned When Indian Constitution Was Passed 
Like a Rocket in the Garden: The Unending War in Afghanistan 
Affordability and prescribing patterns of generic medicines in India 
Expansion and Mass Eviction: Israel ‘Takes Advantage’ of Trump’s Remaining Days in Office 
United Nations panel calls for end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory 
Invasion of the body snatchers: How political science and neoclassical economics zombifies the Yankee population 
For an Artist 
Stimulus 3.0 is not a package, not stimulatory either for the economy in recession 
Social Agro-Ecology Is The Key To Real Progress and Security of Food and Farming Systems 
The Implosion of Capitalism in Guatemala 
End of Election of American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of US of A 
Do we really practice Communal Harmony? 
Political Representation of PwD’s in India 
This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture delivered on 20 September 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the event was organized by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades gathered here; I am very honoured to be invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture this year but I cannot say[Read More…]
