The Daily Dispatch

Stay safe out there, people.

Why we’re marching against NATO. [SocialistWorker.org] - Thousands of people – workers, students, antiwar veterans and activists, Occupiers and community organizers – will take to the streets of Chicago when more than 50 heads of state gather on May 20-21 for a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

People of the world have come to understand through their own personal experience that war is not the answer, and veterans know that non-military solutions – non-NATO solutions – are essential in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere around the world where NATO imagines that force and violence will achieve its objectives.

- Ray Parrish, President of the Chicago Chapter of Veterans for Peace

Quit the Church? Thanks, but no thanks. [E. J. Dionne, Jr. | Commonweal] - Recently, a group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post cast as an “open letter to ‘liberal’ and ‘nominal’ Catholics.” Its headline commanded: “It’s Time to Quit the Catholic Church.” I’m sorry to inform the FFRF that I am declining its invitation to quit. They may not see the Gospel as a liberating document, but I do, and I can’t ignore the good done in the name of Christ by the sisters, priests, brothers and laypeople who have devoted their lives to the poor and the marginalized.

Brian’s Comment: I had much the same reaction as Dionne when I first saw the letter from the FFRF. Granted, it is sometimes hard to be a free-thinking Catholic these days, but the Faith is not merely the institutions and the Church is not merely the hierarchy. Our Catholic Faith belongs to me and to my family as much as it does to the bishops, to the Vatican or to any of the Right-Wing bigots to whom I may be offering the sign of peace this weekend.

Occupy’s Meme Warrior. [In These Times] - Last July, Adbusters sent out an invitation: “On Sept. 17, flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street.” The invitation sparked a movement.

Estonian-born documentary filmmaker Kalle Lasn co-founded Adbusters in 1989. Lasn, who is 70, draws his inspiration from the Situationists, avant-garde European revolutionaries who believed corporate capitalism perverted the human spirit. The Situationists reached their zenith in 1968 Paris and disbanded in 1972, but their efforts to affirm what it means to be free live on in Adbusters.

In These Times spoke with Lasn in March to see what “the man behind the curtain” had to say for himself and the movement he helped ignite.

Read the full interview at In These Times.

Poverty is Over—If We Want it. [Adam Lassila | The Occupied Wall Street Journal] - It’s unconscionable that more than 30 million full-time workers don’t earn enough to provide for their families. It’s also unacceptable that 22 million willing laborers don’t have access to full-time work. Every human being deserves a job that can provide for his or her family’s well-being. Full employment is possible, but the U.S. government has rejected it as a policy goal because it is not in the best interest of the elites who control Washington.

Read more.

What You Need To Know About ALEC. [Bridging Differences | Education Week] - Since the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of many states, there has been an explosion of legislation advancing privatization of public schools and stripping teachers of job protections and collective bargaining rights. Even some Democratic governors, seeing the strong rightward drift of our politics, have jumped on the right-wing bandwagon, seeking to remove any protection for academic freedom from public school teachers. This outburst of anti-public school, anti-teacher legislation is no accident.

Read more.

2012 Living Planet Report. [World Wildlife Fund] - The 2012 edition of the Living Planet Report highlights the tremendous pressure that humanity is putting on our planet. We are currently using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can provide. By 2030, even two planets will not be enough. Rising consumption trends in high-income groups around the world (and also in Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa), combined with growing population numbers, provide warning signs of the potential for even larger footprints in the future.

The United States ranks 5th among per-capita consumption (behind Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Denmark). If the entire world consumed as we Americans do, it would currently take 4 planets just like ours to sustain us.

Download the full report here or the summary here.

Today’s WTF Story:

Girl Scouts under scrutiny from Catholic bishops. [CSMonitor.com] - Long a lightning rod for conservative criticism, the Girl Scouts of the USA are now facing their highest-level challenge yet: An official inquiry by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. At issue are concerns about program materials that some Catholics find offensive, as well as assertions that the Scouts associate with other groups espousing stances that conflict with church teaching. The Scouts, who have numerous parish-sponsored troops, deny many of the claims and defend their alliances.

Brian’s Comment:

Clean up your own power-mad money-grubbing homophobic misogynistic pedophiliac den of iniquity, Bishops.

Leave our Girl Scouts alone.

If the bonds and associations established by the Occupy movement can be sustained through a long, dark period ahead – because victory won’t come quickly – it could prove a significant moment in American history.

Read More: Noam Chomsky, A Rebellious World or a New Dark Age? [TomDispatch]

PBS Frontline has produced the authoritative report on the global financial crisis. Money, Power and Wall Street is a four hour special that lays out the origins and explains the implications of things like credit default obligations and derivative contracts. The report also covers our government’s involvement in the crisis in great detail and depth.

I would urge you to watch. The program presents the clearest picture yet of an economic and political nexus that is leading our world to ruin. It’s available for viewing online at the following url.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/money-power-wall-street

No single event has influenced the history of labor in Illinois, the United States, and even the world, more than the Chicago Haymarket Affair. Read more about the tragedy in Haymarket Square and about the Haymarket Martyrs at the Illinois Labor History Society Website.

The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University. [Lewis and Hensley] – Kent State Sociologists review twelve of the most frequently asked questions about the tragedy.

The May 2012 issue of Industrial Worker from the IWW is now available.

The Industrial Worker is the official (English language) newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World. It is published ten times a year, and printed by GCIU/Teamsters union labor. The editor is elected by the membership via a rank and file vote for a two year term of office.

I’ll be posting a link to the online version of each new issue as if becomes available. You can always find the most recent issue by clicking on the image of the newspaper in the right sidebar of this Weblog.

Headlines:

• General Strike, Mass Protests Engulf Europe
• Picket Against Unpaid Labor In Glasgow
• Polish Ironworkers Walk Out In Wildcat Strike

Features:

• Some Objections To Occupy May 1st
• Review: Who Bombed Judi Bari?
• Sex Workers: “We Ask For Solidarity, Not Salvation”

Download a Free PDF of this issue.

Here’s the Cheesy Anti-Union Video All Target Employees Must Endure. [Gawker] - Gawker has obtained a copy of Target’s notorious internal anti-union propaganda video, which it shows to all new employees in America when they’re hired. The 13-minute video, “Think Hard Before You Sign,” has the production values and cheesy dialogue of an eighth-grade educational film. It begins with an earnest discussion of Target’s business agility, and, at about the 1:50 mark, the anti-union push begins in earnest.

New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years. [ProPublica] - A new study has raised fresh concerns about the safety of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, concluding that fracking chemicals injected into the ground could migrate toward drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously predicted.

“Festive, Righteous Anger”: Occupy Makes a May Day Comeback With Massive Demonstrations. [AlterNet] - May Day marked the reemergence of the Occupy movement, with events in cities all over America. AlterNet’s reporters were in the field. Here are their dispatches from New York and the Bay Area.