Making History/Rewriting History

 

Rise up, women, and take control from those who would oppress you! After this latest kick in the stomach, a.k.a. the Supreme Court debacle, women have everything to gain and nothing to lose by taking the reins of power away from those who only use power to satisfy their own selfish greed. An example of one woman taking on the corrupt system for the betterment of the community's health and environment is Toledoans for Safe Water organizer Markie Miller. She's the recipient of this year's  Lucas County Green Party's Anita Rios Grassroots Democracy Award for her hard work on the Lake Erie Bill of Rights citizens initiative. Congratulations and well deserved, Markie! 

I agree with the "communal peasant" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Progressive women (with or without a sword and a body of water to protect) are blazing a path that cannot be ignored. Women make up half the population, but we aren't represented in politics and business nearly so much. It's time to change that. It's time to shake things up and build the future we desire for us and our families, placing people, planet and peace over senseless corporate profits! It's time for women to get out there in the public's eye and become instrumental in...

(Introducing Stefania, our candidate for the state house or city hall in 2020!         
Will you be making history next? )

Making History
words and photos by C.A. Matthews 

Who is making history? Progressive women are making history. Here are some snapshots from recent happenings in the Toledo area to illustrate my point. 

First, we had a visit from 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein who came in support of 2018 Ohio governor candidate Constance Gadell-Newton and her running mate, Brett Joseph. Jill stated that candidates need to "earn" our vote and not automatically assume that we "owe" them our support, as many establishment politicians tend to think. 
Constance proved Jill's statement as she earned our votes by outlining her platform and her plans to make Ohio a leader in the green energy field. With solar and wind farms on the rise, there's no reason why the Buckeye State can't be manufacturing the wind turbines and solar panels to create green energy. After all, why are we buying this technology from foreign companies? We should make--and use--them here at home. With a booming green tech sector, we can close down several ancient coal-fire and nuclear plants and retrain those workers to help build Ohio's green energy future. Added bonus: Cleaner air, water and soil for all!

 

The next morning, Jill and Brett attended a pipeline protest against the Nexus Pipeline, yet another Big Oil & Gas boondoggle that will put our water and soil at risk of poisoning in yet another spill--and for what? A couple years worth of fracked liquid natural gas? Activists from the NW Ohio/SE Michigan region gathered to say, "No way!" 

Green Party of Michigan gubernatorial candidate Jennifer Kurland strongly stated her position against the fossil fuels industry that has already polluted the Kalamazoo River. It's time for us all to stand up against the bullies who are stealing our drinking water from us through pollution by agricultural run-off flooding the Great Lakes, or by simply buying it out from under our feet (e.g., the Nestle Corporation), leaving cities like Flint with a poisoned water source and thousands of ailing citizens.

A day later, it was time for Toledoans to show their support for a woman's right to choose and have sovereignty over her own body. They stood in front of Northwest Ohio's only remaining clinic that performs abortions while an anti-choice group gathered in a parking lot across the street that they rent  for their regular protests. These predominantly white males seem to have a lot of time on their hands and a penchant to yell at women and their allies who simply want to keep Roe v. Wade the law of the land.  It begs the question--why aren't these "pro-lifers" using their time and money for good in the community? Why not feed and house homeless families? Why aren't they more supportive of  Medicare for All?

And before the week was through, it was time to honor domestic abuse survivors (such as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford) at a "We Believe Survivors" protest and march to a nearby library where a granite stone memorial stands in silent witness to all who have suffered harm at the hands of those they've loved and/or trusted

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. It seems more than ironic that our Senate confirmed Judge Kavanaugh, a man with a sexual assault history, without a thought to the trauma his victims have suffered. In fact, it seems downright calculated to inflict the most pain upon women and other victims of domestic violence possible during this month of remembrance.  Remember that insult come November 6 when you vote.

Powerful white males may not realize it, but they are advertising their fear over how these times are changing faster than anyone could have predicted. All these recent events demonstrate how progressive women aren't standing on the sidelines and idly watching the world spin out of control. They are in the streets with their signs and their chants and letting the world know where they stand. They are running for office--even high offices such as governor and the presidency--and making their positions known without fear of the corrupt establishment. 

They are making history, and it's time more of us--male, female, non-binary-- stand up and join them.

And now we take a look at how some in the establishment are attempting to rewrite history to their own benefit. Are progressive women and their allies going to allow this continue? I think not! Our good friend from the North, Vegematic, tells us more.

How the Mainstream Media Rewrites History
By Vegematic Deluxe

 I did something the other night that I'm not proud of. In my own defense, I was tired and just wanted to relax and be entertained. I watched television.

Sometimes we all indulge in things that are not good for us. A little light comedy seemed harmless enough, so I sat down to watch the premiere of the regurgitated sitcom Murphy Brown. It started out promisingly enough, shots of Trump accompanied by a soundtrack of the Stones' Sympathy for the Devil. I chuckled at how appropriate the song was.

Perhaps this might be kind of edgy and worthwhile after all. The show proceeded with a rather thin plot about the old newsroom gang getting together to produce a new show for the now septuagenarian Murphy Brown. Any and all hope that the show would actually be politically relevant was quickly dispelled when who should appear in a cameo but Hillary Clinton. She was playing a job applicant who was apparently overqualified. Several lame and self-serving "jokes" ensued before she made her exit in the elevator with a smug, "Remember, you could have had me."

My planned relaxation was upended as my blood pressure rose, and I screamed at the deaf television. You could have had Bernie! Disgusted, I gave up watching and marveled at how the mainstream media tries to rewrite history and absolve itself of the blame for what happened in 2016.

Did they hope to make people forget about both Clinton's and the media's role in the "election" of Donald Trump? That the mainstream news refused to cover Bernie's campaign while promoting Trump as a "Pied Piper" candidate? Will any of us who were paying attention ever forget about the exit polls that were wildly out of whack? Watching Bernie fill stadiums while Clinton had trouble filling a high school gym? Are we all to just forget about the media declaring that Clinton won California the day before a single vote was cast? The shenanigans in Nevada? How about the undemocratic super-delegates? Closing polling stations? I could go on, but for the sake of brevity I will not list all the ways in which democracy was subverted during that fateful primary season. 

Remember, you could have had Bernie.

 That experience with the mainstream media, while leaving a rancid taste in my mouth, also renewed my belief in the importance of non-corporate voices. With the continual suppression of dissent by the mainstream media and tech monopolies, alternative media is the last bastion of a free press. Were it not for the work of many courageous and often unpaid journalists, we would have already been completely denied access to facts that are inconvenient to the corporate state. We live in an age where lies are ubiquitous and telling the truth is indeed a revolutionary act.

BIO: Vegematic has been spreading the truth as a  proud "shadow-banned" You Tuber for a few years now. He says it's tough to keep his sense of humor at times, but his compassionate nature keeps him going. Check out his insightful progressive podcast on his YT channel and subscribe today. (Tell him we sent you--or just leave him a comment. He replies to all of them. Canadians are polite that way.)

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Seventeen years of U.S. war in Afghanistan is seventeen years too many. Tell Congress: End this war now >>

Seventeen years ago, the United States went to war in Afghanistan.
This war is still raging. At seventeen years, it’s the longest war in U.S. history. This war has cost countless lives and forced a entire generation of Afghan and American young people to grow up in the shadow of violence. Even the former top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said that we must end this war. [1]

Today, we demand that our Members of Congress mark the anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan by acting to end this war now.

Here’s what’s different about today than the past seventeen years. This country is about to see a potentially monumental midterm election, that could break the stalemate in Congress that’s blocked efforts to end the war.

For seventeen years, our Members of Congress have been willing to gamble countless American and Afghan lives to avoid simply doing their job and voting on this war. That ends today.
Let’s set a new status quo for the new Congress by demanding an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan. And let’s make it our baseline for what it means to be a foreign policy leader.
Tell Congress: End the U.S. war in Afghanistan NOW.


The simple truth is that no amount of warmaking is going to bring peace to a country that has seen four decades of conflict. We know beyond question that this war cannot be resolved with more bullets and bombs. And it’s time to try something different.

Seventeen years of war means that American children not even born with this war started can now enlist to fight in it. Seventeen years of war means that for their entire lives, the young people of Afghanistan have only ever known a time when American bombs were falling on their country. Seventeen years ago, 40% of Afghans feared for their personal safety; today, nearly twice as many do. U.S. war has forced an entire generation of Afghan youth to grow up under fear and violence.

Despite continuous war and dehumanization, the Afghan people are envisioning a future free of conflict. This spring, a multi-generational group of Afghan activists completed a “peace walk” across the country. Afghan girls and women delivered flowers to the Taliban requesting an extension to the ceasefire for Eid al-Fitr [2].

We should be uplifting the demands of Afghan activists fighting for peace against all odds by insisting that our elected leaders use their power to end this war. This is our moment to act.

Tell your Members of Congress now: End the war in Afghanistan and give the Afghan-led peace movement a chance to self-determine their future.

U.S. militarism, following generations of Soviet and British invasions, has exacerbated decades-long cycles of violence in Afghanistan that have killed and hurt far too many. Afghan youth deserve to live free of war and to heal their psyches, bodies, lands, and infrastructure from the scars of war. And American service members deserve not to be asked to die for a war that cannot be won.
Seventeen years is far, far too long for any war, particularly one this futile. Let today mark an end to it.

Thank you for working for peace,
Amy, Mariam, Tara, and the Win Without War team
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[1] New York Times, "‘Time for This War in Afghanistan to End,’ Says Departing U.S. Commander"
[2] Truth Out, "How Afghanistan’s Peace Movement Is Winning Hearts and Minds"

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Just now, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival began its second live hearing to ensure that our voices, concerns, and demands cannot be ignored. 

Testifiers like Mary Jane Shanklin will tell their elected reps and others about life in rural Kansas—where there’s no fresh water, supermarket, or newspaper—but a urologist has opened shop next door because the incidence of kidney and bladder cancer from water pollution is so high. 

Or Roberta Hickman, whose husband survived a war but couldn’t survive the Agent Orange welts on his legs, which many vets can’t afford to treat. 

This doesn’t have to be. The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is organizing in 40 states across the country and registering people for a movement that votes. Join with thousands of people who are demanding voting rights, health care, living wages, clean air and water, and the right to thrive—not just barely survive.
GIVE TODAY Mary Jane and Roberta are joined by other testifiers in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin and more, who will speak to voter suppression, unjust immigration policies, and poverty.

In many heavily poor and rural states, politicians have been sticking their fingers in their ears and whistling pretty loudly to avoid us. 

But as loudly as the politicians and others try to whistle us away, we’ll be louder. Folks like Mary Jane and Roberta are at a breaking point, and feigning ignorance won’t work anymore. 

Your monthly gift of $5 or more means we can keep organizing powerful moments like this, where poor folk confront their representatives face to face.
 
Let’s keep the momentum going.
Forward together, not one step back,
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival