Indigenous Peoples Movement

On January 10, 2013, WBAI New York's Tiokasin Ghosthorse of First Voices Indigenous Radio interviewed Public Good correspondent John Schertow, editor and publisher of Intercontinental Cry (IC) magazine, about the world indigenous peoples' movement and the Idle No More campaign in Canada. Discussing his latest publication, Indigenous Struggles 2012: Dispatches From The Fourth World, Schertow highlighted some of the hot spots around the world, where indigenous nations are challenging modern states to abide by international law.

On February 7, 2013, Jay Taber, IC columnist and contributing editor of Fourth World Journal, joined Ghosthorse and Schertow in discussing the history of the world indigenous peoples' movement, and the redistribution of power now taking place between indigenous nations and modern states. Noting the forthcoming World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, scheduled for September 2014 at UN headquarters in New York City, Taber emphasized the vital role indigenous media like First Voices and IC -- along with indigenous think tanks like the Center for World Indigenous Studies -- play in making the struggle visible.

Nullification

The GOP Liberty Assembly's Northwest Freedom Fest held in Everett, Washington featured Dr. Thomas Woods of Revolution Super PAC speaking on meltdown, nullification and rollback. Nullification, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers to states' rights, an argument founded in the Southern Confederacy, more recently used as justification for opposing the Civil Rights Movement and amendments to the U.S. Constitution that extended equality and equal protection under the law to citizens other than white, male, Christian property-owners.

Nullification proponents are also known as Constitutionalists, and were an active part of the Christian Patriot movement of the 1990s, when armed, white supremacist militias were running amok threatening public officials throughout Washington state. Paul de Armond expounded on the subject in his 1995 Public Good Project special report The Anti-democratic Movement. Their political position is further described by de Armond in Putting the Far Right into Perspective. 

GOP Liberty Assembly -- the post-election Ron Paul formation -- includes officers from Whatcom county, where one of their members, Jason Overstreet, represents the 42nd legislative district. The two letter-writers to the February 13 Cascadia Weekly defending Overstreet's Constitutionalist agenda in Olympia -- Pam Leslie of Tonasket, and Becky Washam of Redmond -- have leadership roles in their local GOP Liberty Assembly chapters.

A Labor of Love

In their report Growing A Resilient City, Solidarity NYC examines possibilities for collaboration in New York City's solidarity economy. The ideas and insights of interviewees, who are first responders to the crises confronting their communities, form a pragmatic vision grounded in values of cooperation, mutualism, ecological sustainability, social justice and democracy. This report about another world -- coexisting with the dominant way of doing things -- is their love letter to you.

Closing the Loopholes

With the failure of the US federal government to police financial fraud by American corporations, state governments suffering financial losses and declining public services are looking for ways to close the loopholes created by Congress. Instrumental in that effort is closing down tax havens and money-laundering. In their latest report on the subject, Public Interest Research Group examines The Hidden Cost of Offshore Tax Havens, and recommends remedies US states can take toward recovering their losses and restoring fairness to the tax system.

Totalitarianism

For romantic revolutionaries, totalitarianism of the crude fascist variety we associate with mid-20th Century police states remains a conceptual impediment to effective resistance against the totalitarianism of neoliberal capitalism. While neoliberalism is equally brutal, it differs in that it seeks to limit our ability to imagine a different reality through its pervasive corruption of all aspects of human existence. By corroding every sphere of human endeavor, it destroys humankind’s capacity for recovery, reflection and renewal, steadily consuming the soul of humanity.