http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/social+justice/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Mon, 03 Sep 2001 15:16:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1637/one_dead_in_genoa/ For some 20 months, from Seattle through Washington, D.C. and Melbourne and Windsor and Philadelphia and Los Angeles and Prague and Davos and Quebec and Gothenburg, tactics have been escalating on both sides as the protests against gatherings of the world's political and economic elites have grown larger and more raucous. In Seattle, some 50,000 nonviolent protesters and blockaders, enraged by international institutions that exacerbate global poverty, environmental destruction and the loss of democracy, were overshadowed by a few dozen window-breaking vandals. By the time of Quebec and Gothenburg, large blocks of protesters had come to tolerate property destruction, and the hurling of everything from teddy bears to Molotov cocktails, to make their points. On the police side, the brutality… activism social justice Kari Lydersen Mon, 29 Oct 2001 11:40:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1600/show_stopper/ For months the movement against corporate globalization had been building for what looked like its biggest demonstration in the United States, planned to coincide in late September with the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington. But the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon led to cancellation of the official meetings and most of the protests, temporarily throwing the growing movement off-course and forcing its leaders to reconsider their near-term strategy. Calling off the demonstration by what was expected to be nearly 100,000 representatives of labor, environmental, anti-corporate and solidarity movements "represents an interruption and perhaps the end of the momentum that started in Seattle [at the 1999 World Trade… activism social justice Kari Lydersen Fri, 21 Jun 2002 13:23:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1504/fbi_on_trial/ Twelve years ago, Earth First! organizer Judi Bari lay in traction in an Oakland hospital bed fighting for her life, critically wounded by a nail-studded pipe bomb that exploded under the driver’s seat of her Subaru station wagon as she drove to an anti-logging rally. But instead of searching for the bombers, the FBI and Oakland Police immediately arrested Bari and fellow Earth First! organizer Darryl Cherney, smearing them in the media as eco-terrorists who were transporting explosives to blow up power lines. On June 11, a federal jury in Oakland finally vindicated Bari and Cherney, finding six FBI and Oakland Police investigators liable for violating the pair’s First and Fourth Amendment rights. The 10-member jury ordered the defendants to… activism social justice Kari Lydersen Fri, 21 Jun 2002 13:23:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1505/fbi_on_trial1/ Twelve years ago, Earth First! organizer Judi Bari lay in traction in an Oakland hospital bed fighting for her life, critically wounded by a nail-studded pipe bomb that exploded under the driver’s seat of her Subaru station wagon as she drove to an anti-logging rally. But instead of searching for the bombers, the FBI and Oakland Police immediately arrested Bari and fellow Earth First! organizer Darryl Cherney, smearing them in the media as eco-terrorists who were transporting explosives to blow up power lines. On June 11, a federal jury in Oakland finally vindicated Bari and Cherney, finding six FBI and Oakland Police investigators liable for violating the pair’s First and Fourth Amendment rights. The 10-member jury ordered the defendants to… activism social justice Kari Lydersen Fri, 11 Oct 2002 20:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/500/when_police_attack/ I spent 15 hours handcuffed on a bus with 44 other people, all charged with a crime that everyone, including the police, knew perfectly well we did not commit. At the Police Academy outside Washington where we were taken on September 27, stood a line of 13 buses, each one full of 45 innocent people. As sleepy Metro drivers slouched over the wheels, riot cops checked to make sure everyone’s hands were securely fastened behind their backs. It didn’t feel particularly glorious, but in doing so we pretty much shut down the IMF. For months, the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (ACC) had been planning a “People’s Strike” to correspond with the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank. This time, rather… international affairs social justice Kari Lydersen Fri, 11 Oct 2002 20:00:01 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/501/they_doth_protest_too_much/ An incredibly successful protest took place September 22. Activists around the country attracted attention to the unjust actions of their government and its leader—a man whose rule many consider illegitimate and whose policies they likened to fascism. I am speaking, of course, of the largest rally in British history, when 400,000 people converged on London to protest a proposed ban on fox hunting. The event’s organizers—the Countryside Alliance—called it the “Liberty and Livelihood” march, and it’s tough to predict which group would be more offended by the comparison to the anti-World Bank protests that took place in Washington the next weekend. Both protests were in fact about much more. The World Bank protests were for many an opportunity to rail… international affairs social justice war in iraq Kari Lydersen Fri, 22 Nov 2002 16:12:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/433/patriarchy_new_and_improved/ Any feminist, female or male, who has seen ABC’s The Bachelor was repulsed. For those who have missed this fine media offering, a carefully selected lunk of a guy—in the most recent case, Aaron—is presented with a harem of 25 also carefully selected young women, all slim, all conventionally pretty and most blonde. After sampling all the wares, he rejects them one by one until he has chosen the one he likes best. It’s not unlike a 4-H competition of prize heifers, except the women weigh less and get to go to fancy resorts. Nor is it unlike the inspections in 19th-century slave pens, except that the women are mostly white, privileged and, I’m sorry to report, there of their… gender social justice Kari Lydersen Fri, 20 Dec 2002 11:14:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/419/rebel_yell/ Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott’s retroactive endorsement of Jim Crow apartheid, at Sen. Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party on December 5, was a rebel yell in the wrong venue. His days are numbered as majority leader and, if he follows others who have lost congressional leadership posts, he may leave the Senate altogether. Lott’s gaffe was a gift to Democrats and others seeking to show how the cynical use of racism help build the modern GOP. Ever since Lyndon B. Johnson enlisted the Democratic Party in the civil rights movement in the mid-’60s, the Republicans have attempted to exploit the white backlash. Their success is manifest in the solidly GOP South. Although many Democrats have been slow to exploit their windfall,… politics race social justice Kari Lydersen Fri, 31 Jan 2003 19:15:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/426/the_first_stone1/ Sectarian Reality Opposition to President Bush’s plans for a war against Iraq has burgeoned over the past weeks. But one would never know the extent of that opposition from reading national newspapers or listening to network newscasts. What little discussion there is about the anti-war movement has tended to focus on dissent within the movement, specifically criticism of International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), the coalition that helped organize the national demonstrations on January 18. ANSWER was founded in part by the Workers World Party, a Trotskyist group that grew out of a 1959 split with the Socialist Workers Party over the Chinese Revolution. In 1989, Workers World supported the Chinese government in its Tiananmen Square… media social justice war and peace war in iraq Kari Lydersen Fri, 31 Jan 2003 19:30:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/425/stopping_the_drive_to_war/ Opposition to war against Iraq has grown steadily in recent weeks, both at home and abroad. The January 18 demonstrations in Washington and San Francisco attracted hundreds of thousands of people, more than even the biggest anti-Vietnam War marches in the ’60s. The polls show that more than two-thirds of Americans oppose the Bush administration’s plans to unilaterally attack Iraq. Still, the media all but ignore the unprecedented activity against the war. In Chicago, for example, the City Council passed a resolution opposing unilateral action by the United States by a vote of 46 to 1. Something like this was inconceivable in the ’60s, yet the Chicago Tribune buried this news in a paragraph hidden in a more general story,… social justice war in iraq Kari Lydersen Mon, 10 Feb 2003 11:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/424/the_real_american_taliban/ It is not surprising when The Nation features an article about the Bush administration’s assault on women’s reproductive rights. But when the New York Times prints a huge Sunday editorial titled “The War Against Women” that takes up two-thirds of the op-ed space, something is afoot. That January 12 piece gathered together a range of seemingly minor items—who was appointed to such-and-such unheard of commission, what was the U.S. position at a U.N.-sponsored conference held on the other side of the planet—and showed how, when put together, they constitute a domestic and international offensive against the health and safety of women and children. Remember when Laura Bush (who may be—I am very sorry—the most cynically deployed first lady in our… gender medical and health politics social justice Kari Lydersen Thu, 20 Feb 2003 15:55:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/432/arabs_and_jews_against_the_war/ In early February, 10 Israelis from different grassroots organizations crossed the Qalandia checkpoint and entered besieged Ramallah, a city located in “Area A” of the Palestinian territories and therefore legally out of bounds for Israeli citizens. They were met by a group of Palestinian representatives, including Raja Shehadeh of the human rights organization Al-Haq and Moustafa Barghouti of PNGO, the umbrella association of all Palestinian non-governmental organizations. The purpose of the meeting was to explore new venues for cooperation following the recent Israeli elections, in which the right-wing parties won their greatest victory in history: They now control two-thirds of the seats in the Knesset. The discussion rapidly turned to the looming war against Iraq and the effects such a… social justice war in iraq middle east Kari Lydersen Mon, 24 Feb 2003 01:30:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/430/the_first_stone/ Iraqis dissent Many exiled Iraqis are speaking out against the looming war with Iraq. Three Iraqi dissidents, members of Iraqis in Exile Against the War and Sanctions, write in the current issue of Red Pepper: “Iraqis are not being allowed the space to develop their own resistance or to rebuild their country and institutions with their own resources. They are confronted with a stark choice between Saddam’s dictatorship and a U.S. war. Iraqis are aware of the interaction between domestic and external factors, and many would argue that the regime could be gradually stripped of power if there was a real desire in the outside world. This would mean supporting and empowering the people and placing the emphasis on human… civil liberties social justice technology war in iraq Kari Lydersen Fri, 28 Feb 2003 15:38:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/434/technical_foul_against_title_ix/ Every weekend, like millions around the country, I witness a revolution. I go to a sports facility, outdoors or in, and watch girls and young women flex their muscles, sweat and compete to win. On the sidelines, family and friends passionately cheer on the girls. When I was in high school and college, this was unheard of: Girls sat on the sidelines while the boys got to play. And then in 1972, as a result of the women’s movement, came Title IX, the law that banned sex discrimination in schools in both athletics and academics. This legislation was signed into law by none other than Richard Nixon. Here are just a few measures of the law’s impact: In 1971, fewer… gender politics social justice Kari Lydersen Mon, 10 Mar 2003 10:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/435/total_information_control/ “Size of protest—it’s like deciding, well, I’m going to decide policy based upon a focus group,” said George W. Bush, trying to dismiss the millions of demonstrators who took to the streets on February 15 to protest the administration’s plans for war with Iraq. Bush said what he did, no doubt, because White House strategist Karl Rove had discovered through focus groups that Americans view “focus groups” as a negative. The Defense Department, at the request of the Senate, has put the price tag on war with Iraq at $95 billion—and 99 cents. But the Pentagon has yet to release an estimate of the human cost, and the Senate hasn’t requested one. (Could it be that “conflagrating innocent civilians” is… activism media politics social justice war in iraq Kari Lydersen Thu, 20 Mar 2003 17:48:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/437/shock_and_awe_how_to_combat_awful_war_coverage/ Now that Team Bush has gotten its way and unilaterally launched an invasion of Iraq, those of us who oppose this immoral madness are sick at heart. It’s easy to feel impotent and, worst of all, like exiles in our own country. That is certainly one of the top goals of the Bush Board of Directors: to convince us that we are a tiny, marginal, unrepresentative minority. This is false. While more Americans support this war than many of us would like, 52 percent of those polled by CBS from March 7 to 9 wanted to give the arms inspectors more time, and 42 percent disapproved of how Bush was handling the situation in Iraq. (51 percent approved.) This is… media social justice war in iraq Kari Lydersen Fri, 21 Mar 2003 14:21:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/438/remember_rachel_corrie/ Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old senior at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the Rafah Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip on March 16. Corrie was run over—and run over again, when an army bulldozer backed up over her a second time—as she tried to prevent soldiers from demolishing a Palestinian home in the camp. She was in Palestine as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the most prominent of several nonviolent groups that in the last year have been bringing international activists—primarily Americans and Europeans—to work as peacekeepers: witnessing Israeli treatment of Palestinians, trying to provide assistance to Palestinian civilians, and afterward bringing the stories of what they see back home to… civil liberties social justice middle east Kari Lydersen Tue, 29 Apr 2003 09:42:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/444/throwing_away_the_key/ The Department of Homeland Security, the new cabinet post with the Teutonic inflection, was created last January to assuage Americans’ fears of future terrorist attacks. But while we focus our attention on external threats, we’re ignoring homegrown forces that imperil our nation’s security much more profoundly than suicidal Islamic cults. These forces are being generated by an incarceration epidemic that has earned this country the dubious title of the world’s largest jailer. Figures released last month by the Justice Department revealed that as of June 30, 2002, the number of inmates in American prisons and jails had exceeded 2 million for the first time in history. There were 1.35 million prisoners in state and federal prisons and an additional 665,000… civil liberties government: judiciary race social justice Kari Lydersen Fri, 09 May 2003 14:15:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/446/the_court_takes_on_gay_rights/ Expectations are running high in the gay community as the United States Supreme Court will shortly hand down a decision in Lawrence v. Texas, a case that has the potential of reversing the infamous Bowers v. Hardwick decision from 1986. That case, which upheld as constitutional a Georgia statute that made same-sex “sodomy” a crime, has been used over and over to justify discrimination. Since certain conduct engaged in by sexually active gays and lesbians can be criminalized, states and the federal government have at different times claimed a right to deny the benefits of public employment (both military and non-military) and recognition of relationships (like adoption and marriage) to persons with a same-sex orientation. In Lawrence, we have an… government: judiciary LGBT social justice Kari Lydersen Fri, 06 Jun 2003 12:15:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/452/neocon_convergences/ A funny thing happened while following the money trail of the neoconservatives who have hijacked U.S. foreign policy. The path led to a network of financial and intellectual resources that also is dedicated to neoracism. The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation has been the economic fount for the neoconservative notions of global affairs now ascendant in the Bush administration. According to a report by Media Transparency, from 1995 to 2001 the Milwaukee-based foundation provided about $14.5 million to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the think tank most responsible for incubating and nourishing the ideas of the neocon movement. The Bradley Foundation also made grants totaling nearly $1.8 million to help fund the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), the… politics race social justice Kari Lydersen