Zinn on class in America

7 April, 2010 — The Real News Network

Howard Zinn Pt1: In the United States we are brought up to think there’s only one class

Zinn on class in America
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Bio

Howard Zinn was an American historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright. He is best known as author of the best-seller ‘A People’s History of the United States’. Zinn has been active in the Civil Rights and the anti-war movements in the United States. Howard Zinn passed away on January 27, 2010. Zinn was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he now points to in shaping his opposition to war. In 1956, he became a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the Civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC and chronicled, in his book SNCC The New Abolitionists. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored a young student named Alice Walker. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War.

Transcript Follows:

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In a new 100-pages report PCHR details the collective punishment of the population of Gaza

21 December 2010 — Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Ref: 93/2010

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) releases today a new report on the “Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip: Collective Punishment of the Civilian Population”.

The absolute closure of Gaza was imposed by Israel following the Hamas takeover in June 2007. For more than three years and a half, this most extreme form of closure has been continuously applied to the so-called “hostile entity” that is the Gaza Strip, cutting off 1.7 million individuals from the outside world.

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Political witch-hunt behind sexual assault charges – claims Assange — RT

21 December, 2010 — RT

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange may be out of jail, but his legal battle on sexual assault charges is still ongoing.

­Until rape charges were leveled at Julian Assange, the state of Sweden’s justice system might not have been something that kept you awake at night. But now, Sweden is requesting Assange’s extradition from the UK for having unprotected sex with two women. In Sweden they call it rape.

Assange and his lawyers claim the women behind the allegations were simply trying to cash in on their stories.

The charge has been dubbed ‘sex by surprise’ – Assange allegedly refused to wear a condom – and it is a crime unique to Sweden.

In the UK, people say it would be funny, if it wasn’t so serious.

‘This just seems ridiculous to me, it diminishes victims of rape, it’s an injustice not only to Julian Assange, but to all victims of rape,’ said Phyllis Wainwright, participant in the Justice for Assange campaign.

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Net Neutrality Rules Are Imminent From the F.C.C. – NYTimes.com

21 December, 2010 — NYTimes.com

The Federal Communications Commission appears poised to pass a controversial set of rules that broadly create two classes of Internet access, one for fixed-line providers and the other for the wireless Net.

The chairman of the F.C.C., Julius Genachowski, introduced his net neutrality proposal at the beginning of the month.

The proposed rules of the online road would prevent fixed-line broadband providers like Comcast and Qwest from blocking access to sites and applications. The rules, however, would allow wireless companies more latitude in putting limits on access to services and applications.

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Statewatch 21 December 2010 – Survey of users

21 December, 2010 — Statewatch

The Statewatch website gets over 600,000 ‘hits’ per month. More than 9,000 people have joined the Statewatch e-mail list. We intend to update and improve our website and email alerting service and are seeking feedback from users to help us with this process.

We would be grateful if you would complete our short survey so that we can better shape our website and e-mail communications to meet your needs.

It is a very simple survey that takes only a couple of minutes to complete. Your response is anonymous and the data you provide will be securely destroyed once the survey is finished. You will not receive any additional communications as a result of taking part: Please go to:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/email_list

Thank you in advance for completing the survey. We look forward to continuing to provide an informative and reliable news service on civil liberties issues in the European Union.

The Statewatch team

Home page: http://www.statewatch.org/
News Online: http://www.statewatch.org/news/newsfull.htm
e-mail: office@statewatch.org
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Statewatch: Monitoring the state and civil liberties in Europe
PO Box 1516, London, N16 0EW. UK
tel: +44(0)20-8802-1882; fax: +44(0)20-8880-1727

Wikileaks News Roundup 20-21 December, 2010

21 December, 2010 — creative-i.info

21 December, 2010

20 December, 2010

UK: They destroy, we create: join Artists of the Resistance By Luna 17

20 December, 2010 — New Left Project

This letter was published in yesterday’s Guardian:

‘Len McCluskey calls for a ‘broad strike movement’ to stop the coalition’s ‘explicitly ideological’ programme of cuts. Government cuts are decimating education, welfare, health, sports and the arts. We are told that they are inevitable; that the only choice we have is between music classes for our kids or care for our elderly.

We do not accept that jobs, services and the quality of life have to be jettisoned for the greed of those who are asked to sacrifice nothing. Everything that is not immediately of use to the corporate agenda is to be placed on a pay-as-you-go principle. Meanwhile funding for theatre, film, music and other arts projects is to return to the Victorian notion of finding patrons, drawn from the people who have their own agendas.

In the face of those who exercise their power to destroy, we need to create. We urge all those who work in the arts to join us at ‘Artists of the Resistance’ in opposing the cuts.’

List of signers follows:

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