2021 GRIID Popular Education Class: What we can learn from the history of Social Movements in the US and Grand Rapids
Starting in late January 2021, GRIID will be offering a popular education class on the history of Social Movements in the US and Grand Rapids.
This 8-week class will be online and will explore the power and potential of organized social movements. We will be using chapters from Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States, along with some postings from the Grand Rapids People’s History Project.
In addition, we will look at how social movements can be subverted or coopted by external forces, like political parties and the Non-Profit Industrial Complex.
There is no cost for this class, but we encourage those who can, to donate money to the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network.
The class will meet on Mondays, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, beginning on January 25th. For those who sign up, we will provide the zoom link and digital copies of all the reading materials to be used. To sign up send an e-mail to jsmith@griid.org.
This class/discussion is beneficial for those already involved in social movements and for those who are interested in getting involved. We will be investigating and discussing the tactics and strategies used by previous movements and how that can inform current movements for social change. The late radical historian Howard Zinn made the point that, “whatever rights or freedoms we enjoy, have come about from organized social movements. It was never a gift from those in power.”
Here is a breakdown of the 8-week class/discussion. All reading material will be provided in digitized form for participants.
Week 1 & 2: Abolitionist Movement and the Civil Rights Movement
Week 3: Labor Movement
Week 4: The Vietnam Era Anti-War Movement
Week 5 & 6: Grand Rapids examples – to be determined
Week 7: Social Movements, political parties and the Non-Profit Industrial Complex
Week 8: How do previous social movements inform what we do in contemporary social movements?
Grand Rapids City leaders say they want violence reduction, but only if it fits within a model they have predetermined won’t challenge systems of power
Yesterday, MLive posted a story about the City of Grand Rapids, which is taking applications from organizations in the city that would facilitate a violence reduction program.
The City of Grand Rapids is seeking to find a local agency, which would receive $225,000 in public money over the next three years to implement a violence reduction program in Grand Rapids. However, there is a catch to the funding, which is included in the City’s post about this opportunity:
“The successful agency will partner with the City by coordinating and implementing a program based on Cure Violence, Operation Cease Fire, Advance Peace, NOLA For Life models or a model with similar methods and outcomes.”
A local agency will have to operate any kind of violence reduction program, so long as it fits within the framework that the City has approve, a framework which is rather narrow when in comes to ealing with violence reduction.
The story from MLive post yesterday is primarily lifted from the City’s Media Release, which was also posted on Monday, December 14th. We certainly have seen a great deal of this kind of lazy journalism over the years, particularly over the issue of policing and violence in the community, but why exactly is this a problem for news consumers?
There are several reasons why it is problematic for MLive, or any other local news agency, to be so cooperative with the city. In general, it is problematic for news agencies to not question government actions, since it does a disservice to the public ‘s right to get news that provides critical analysis of local government policies. The primary function of local news agencies should be to monitor, expose and investigate centers of power, both political and economic power. What follows are a few reasons why it is problematic for local news sources to not question the City of Grand Rapids call to hire a local agency to partner with them on a violence reduction program:
- We already pointed out the first major problem above, since the City will only partner with agencies that follow certain types of violence reduction models. What would it look like for a local news agency to investigate the violence reduction models the City of Grand Rapids finds acceptable? In looking at the four models that the City finds acceptable, there are several things that become clear – the 4 violence reduction programs do not address root causes of violence, the police are not seen as part of the problem and structural violence is not addressed by any of the four models that the City of Grand Rapids finds acceptable.
- As we noted in an article from last month, the issue of seeing violence as structural is absolutely necessary if we are serious about ending violence in this community. The GRPD responds to street violence, but never to the violence that is embedded with the very fabric of our community and its institutions.
- The City’s Request for Proposals (RFPs) even acknowledges that there is structural and historic violence, as stated in first paragraph of the section headline Project Scope on page 4 of the RFP. “Many of Grand Rapids’ most economically disenfranchised residents are residents of neighborhoods that continue to suffer the direct effects of repeated trauma and the indirect effects of unhealed past traumas and continue to experience a disproportionate burden of violence and its corollary effects.” Despite this acknowledgement, the City of Grand Rapids, through the violence reduction models they find acceptable, will continue to perpetuate false solutions to structural violence.
- Lastly, the failure of local news groups to investigate and critique the City’s call for a narrowly defined violence reduction program, doesn’t encourage or even expose the public to other violence reduction possibilities. Other possibilities and ideas are readily available, such as those found in Zach Morris’s book, We Keep Us Safe: Building Secure, Just and Inclusive Communities or his forthcoming book, Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment. In June, right after the rebellion that took place in Grand Rapids, we posted an article that explored other imaginative possibilities.
The City of Grand Rapids acknowledges, in its own violence reduction RFP, that the Black community has been disproportionately impacted by violence. Therefore, it seems not only relevant, but urgent that the City of Grand Rapids learns from what Black people have been demanding about ending violence in their own communities. The document put out by the Movement for Black Lives, entitled, A Vision for Black Lives, should be one of the ways in which the City of Grand Rapids should view violence reduction. Now, I don’t expect City officials to embrace this vision, let alone even read it, but it is a vision that the rest of us can read and embrace, if we want to force the City to take Black lives seriously.
Council for National Policy, Michigan Election fraud claims and the role of Conservative Christians in crating a far right agenda
One of the best online sources that critiques both the dominant media and centers of power in the US, The Center for Media & Democracy, posted an important document on their website, a document that came from the Conservative Christian group known as the Council for National Policy (CNP).
The Council for National Policy was founded in 1981, and was welcomed by the Reagan administration as a significant player when it came to influencing US policy. The conservative Christian group was heavily funded by the likes of Joseph Coors and Richard DeVos. Richard DeVos not only contributed millions to the CNP, he was President of the Council for National Policy from 1986-1988 and 1993-1994. Other notable members of the West Michigan religious right, that were members of the CNP were Dick DeVos, Edgar Prince, Peter Cook, Elsa Prince, Rev. Robert Sirico and Billy Zeoli.
Earlier this year, the CNP made their presence known on the national scene once again, since they were facilitating phone conversations with numerous groups across the country, specifically groups involved in anti-lockdown protests that surfaced shortly after the COVID crisis had begun. According to numerous sources, the CNP was co-ordinating and strategizing with many of these anti-lockdown groups with the specific intention of using the pandemic as an opportunity to push a far right political agenda.
On December 8th, the Council for National Policy had put out a document entitled, Five States and the Election Irregularities and Issues. This 21 page document begins with a list of bullet points about the so-called election irregularities, ending with the following point: “There is no constitutional obligation for Congress to accept fraudulent vote and electoral votes.”
The section that focuses on Michigan is four pages long, and provides dozens of bullet points on supposed election fraud. At one point, the document cities a group called the Great Lakes Justice Center, which had filed its own lawsuit claiming election fraud in Michigan. The Great Lakes Justice Center is worth noting, since they filed a lawsuit in early May against Gov. Whitmer on behalf of several faith based groups, saying the lockdown orders were a violation of religious freedoms.
The Great Lakes Justice Center has a long history of defending religious groups that actively discriminate against the LGBTQ community. A Lansing-based news source, City Pulse, reported on one example and the ACLU has documented other cases against the Great Lakes Justice Center. The Great Lakes Justice Center is part of group Salt & Light Global, which was founded by William Wagner. Salt & Light Global embraces a far right political and religious worldview. The “Resources” section on their homepage is a who’s who of far right religious groups, including the Federalist Society, Hillsdale College, Wall Builders, the Discovery Institute and the Acton Institute.
This newly revealed document from the Council for National Policy is important, because it once again demonstrates that they play a major role in promoting a far right agenda, which is not only coming from the Republican Party. The 21 page document was also attached to a letter sent out by numerous conservative Christian groups, like the CNP, where these leaders were essentially saying that Donald Trump was the lawful winner of the 2020 election.
Whatever one thinks about groups like the Council for National Policy, it would be a mistake to be dismissive of them, not only because of the role they play in facilitating and crafting a far right agenda, but also because of their funding sources, which current includes the Koch and DeVos families. For more on the CNP, we highly recommend the book, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, by Anne Nelson.
Welcome to the next installment of West Michigan Far Right Watch, where we keep tabs on the far right in this area and provide a summary of what they are up to and what kind of messages they are promoting in this community. As a matter of clarification, when we say the Far Right, we mean those in the streets who fight to defend White Supremacy, those who promote far right ideology, an those with political and economic power.
We have three examples for this installment. The first example is The first example comes to us from the American Patriot Council (APC), which continues to use misinformation to rally their supporters. In an article they posted on December 9, entitled, With Trump Second Term Looming, Democrat Plan B Begins To Emerge, the APC claims that State Representative Cynthia Johnson made threats against Trump supporters in a viral video. The APC fails to acknowledge that days before Rep. Johnson made the video, she had received numerous phone calls from Trump supporters, most of which were racist in nature and with at least one person saying she should be lynched.
The APC article also states that there is a wave of overwhelming evidence that the Democrats committed voter fraud. The article posted on the American Patriot Council’s site offers NO documentation or examples of the supposed evidence that the Democrats committed voter fraud, instead they quote one of the two “founding fathers” of the APC who says, “if they can’t steal it they’ll create massive civil unrest.”
The second example comes to us from the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. In an article posted by their publication editor, Rev. Ben Johnson, he celebrates the Supreme Court ruling on allowing faith communities to continue to gather, even in the midst of a pandemic. The Supreme Court was hearing cases after lawsuits were filed in New York. The Acton Institute has been critical of any government limitation on religious worship during the pandemic, so this article is consistent with their stance on this issue.
Within the article, the Acton writer cites several sources that are referred to as First Amendment litigators. The groups they cite are First Liberty Institute, which is a Right Wing Christian Law firm, with endorsements from the likes of Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee. The other source cited in the Acton article comes from the Alliance Defending Freedom, another Far Right legal team that the Southern Poverty Law Center refers to as a Hate Group. Lastly, the Alliance Defending Freedom was obtained a few years ago to defend Christian adoption agencies in Michigan who were denying same sex couples from adopting.
Our third, and last example, is something we reported on a few days ago, where Michigan legislators, both federal and state, signed on to the Texas lawsuit claiming that there was voter fraud in several states, including Michigan. Read about the details here.
Most of the Congressional and State Representatives from Michigan that signed on to the Texas State lawsuit have DeVos backing
Yesterday, MLive reported that 4 Congressional Representatives from Michigan and 12 State Representatives, signed on to the Texas lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the 2020 Election results.
The 6-page legal brief that the 12 Michigan State Representatives signed on to can be read here. The brief states in part:
The proposed complaint-in-intervention seeks a declaratory judgment and an injunction against the various Defendants to establish a constitutional process for the selection of Presidential electors from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia (“Defendant States”) relating to the November 3, 2020 election of President and Vice President and future elections. In each case, Article II requires the state legislatures to have a post-election certification vote of their respective Presidential electors before their votes can be counted for President and Vice President.
The legal brief cites the following themes as being unConstitutional:
- Witnesses say that GOP poll watchers we denied access
- Absentee ballot errors were high
- Election official irregularities
- Disparate impact
- Possible massive government official manipulation of absentee ballots
- Videos of: poll workers erupting in cheers as poll challengers are removed
- Facts for which no independently verified reasonable explanation yet exists
Not surprising, the four Michigan Congressional Representatives have all received significant financial backing from the DeVos family. According to OpenSecrets.org, during the 2020 election alone, here is what the four received from DeVos-owned companies:
Amway/Alticor Inc $38,900
Rdv Corp $19,000
RDV Corp $16,800
Amway/Alticor Inc $10,150
Amway/Alticor Inc $16,250
Rdv Corp $8,100
Dp Fox Ventures $5,600
Amway/Alticor Inc $18,250
Rdv Corp $9,100
Dp Fox Ventures $5,600
There were also 12 GOP members of the Michigan State House who also signed on to the Texas lawsuit. Those 12 are listed below, with links to their campaign finances, and as you can see half of these politicians also have received funding from the DeVos family. Each of the 12 State Representatives are hyperlinked so you c an see where there money comes from an those who have been funded by the DeVos family have an amount listed below their name.
DeVos $5,000
DeVos $9,000
DeVos $14,000
DeVos $6,000
DeVos $6,000
DeVos $5,000
We post this information to make the point that these are the kind of politicians that the DeVos cartel has endorsed. It also means the DeVos family endorses these kind of tactics that have originated from the Trump Administration, tactics that demonstrate that partisan politics is about winning, and has nothing to do with the well being of human beings.
The great linguist and political writer Noam Chomsky taught me the importance of reading the business press, since it is often a better form of journalism and where members of the Capitalist class are often more honest.
This honesty was reflected, not in an article, but in an ad, or what MiBiz calls, sponsored content. On December 3rd, Rockford Construction paid for space on the online forum of MiBiz, with an ad that is entitled, Rockford Property Management: Serving with Soul.
Besides being a construction company, Rockford Construction also does property management, which has been a more recent feature of the company, especially with their efforts to “re-make” the westside of Grand Rapids. The paid content from Rockford Construction acknowledges the value of the assets they control, stating:
Additionally, our combined portfolio represents $365 million in assets managed. Thanks to our wide-ranging capabilities, we stand ready to deliver high-quality services for any owner at any property, just as we’ve proven throughout the past year with some of our most recent work.
The sponsored content from Rockford Construction, then ends with this comment:
“we recognize that curating and nurturing community is the most important part of our efforts. Serving with soul is what we do best – and we look forward to seeing where it takes us next.”
So the company curates and nurtures community. Interesting. Does curating and nurturing community mean partnering with the DeVos family and spending millions to acquire property in the southeast part of Grand Rapids, a few years before even telling the mostly Black residents in that part of the city what they were up to?
Does curating and nurturing community mean turning the near-westside of Grand Rapids on Bridge St. into an entertainment, shopping and residential neighborhood, which is what CEO Mike VanGessel said back in 2016.
By curating and nurturing community, does Rockford Construction mean displacing residents, as we saw in 2016?
Maybe what Rockford Construction means by curating and nurturing community is using public money (through subsidies) to construct primarily housing that benefits the professional class and ignores those who are struggling.
Or is it possible that when they say curate and nurture community, Rockford Construction means hosting public forums to pacify people, when the reality is that they are going to do whatever they want because they own the land and have friends with lots of political power?
Perhaps what Rockford Construction means by curating and nurturing community, is to have a family member sit on the Planning Commission an vote to support construction projects, even though there is a clear conflict of interest.
It seems to this writer that when Rockford Construction says they curate and nurture community, what they really mean by community is people with money and people who are part of the professional class…….white people. Over the past 10 years is seems very clear that Rockford Construction has not only been a major player in the gentrification of this city, they have engaged in class war and White Saviorism, especially since they decided to partner with the DeVos cartel.
Monitoring Wealth & Power: Updates to the DeVos Family Reader
For more than 4 decades now, I have been monitoring and writing about the most powerful family in West Michigan, the DeVos family.
For anyone who follows the GRIID site, you know that I regularly make posts that focus on the DeVos Family or make connections to the DeVos family an their billions.
I have had people over the years say to me that I must really hate the DeVos family. My response to that statement is usually something like, “I am compelled to write about and investigate the DeVos empire, since they more influence on West Michigan politics than other person or family.” I also acknowledge a certain level of contempt that I have for the DeVos family, since I believe that no one can acquire the level of wealth that they have, without exploiting people and influencing public policy. I also believe it is criminal for anyone to be that rich, while so many are living in poverty.
For several years now we have been compiling articles on the DeVos family, from a variety of archival sources, from print Indy media and online Indy media, as well as articles we have posted on GRIID.
The DeVos Family Reader includes the following sections:
- Introduction
- Early Critiques of DeVos/Amway
- DeVos Family, Elections and Money
- DeVos Family and West MI Politics
- DeVos Family Foundations
- West MI Media and the DeVos Family
- ArtPrize
- Betsy DeVos Watch
The most recent additions to the DeVos Family Reader are updates on their family foundations, 2020 election funding and various DeVos created projects like AmplifyGR. You can download the 597-page DeVos Family Reader by going to here.
The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union is hosting an online training this coming Saturday, (December 12th) for those who want to be involved in Eviction Defense.
The 2 hour training is for allies/accomplices who want to be in solidarity with tenants who are facing eviction after the New Year. Homes owners and renters can participate in this training, but those who are landlords, property management owners or anyone antagonistic towards those who are facing eviction will not be allow to participate.
Since the COVID 19 pandemic, tenants all over the world are facing eviction. Many people have lost employment due to the pandemic, while others have lost health care benefits. In addition, with many schools closed, parents who rent have been faced with child care costs or have chosen to stay home, which has increased financial insecurity.
Housing Justice groups and organizers have been pushing a moratorium on evictions since the pandemic began. Grassroots pressure put on Gov. Whitmer got her administration to put a moratorium on evictions last Spring and in early September the Centers for Disease Control instituted a national eviction moratorium until the end of the year.
We also know that there is a clear connection between stable housing and lower rates of the COVID 19 virus infections. In a recent study entitled, Expiring Eviction Moratoriums and COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality, the authors discovered:
Twenty-seven states lifted eviction moratoriums during the study period. COVID-19 incidence in states that lifted their moratoriums was 1.6 (95% CI 1.0,2.3) times the incidence of states that maintained their moratoriums at 10 weeks post-lifting and grew to a ratio of 2.1 (CI 1.1,3.9) at ≥16 weeks. Mortality in states that lifted their moratoriums was 1.6 (CI 1.2,2.3) times the mortality of states that maintained their moratoriums at 7 weeks post-lifting and grew to a ratio of 5.4 (CI 3.1,9.3) at ≥16 weeks. These results translate to an estimated 433,700 excess cases (CI 365200,502200) and 10,700 excess deaths (CI 8900,12500) nationally.
The conclusion of the researchers stated that lifting eviction moratoriums was associated with increased COVID-19 incidence and mortality, which led those involve din the research to say that there is a strong public health rationale for use of eviction moratoriums to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Other research shows that the average renter has $6,000 in past rental and utility fees, mostly because the federal government has not provided any relief funding since July, while at the same time the US government has given billions of US taxpayer dollars to corporation, banks and the fossil fuel industry. Millions are unemployed, have lots health care benefits and are facing a likely eviction in January with the deaths from COVID peaking.
This is exactly why groups like the National Low Income Housing Coalition, are calling on Congress to extend the current eviction moratorium and provide rent relief to struggling households.
This is the context for why the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union is hosting the Eviction Defense training this Saturday. The goal is to provide people who want to be in solidarity with tenants facing eviction, both information and skills that could prevent people from being evicted during the coldest time of the year and in the midst of a pandemic.
One resource that the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union will be using is an Eviction Defense Guide put together by the group HEDS Up!, which you can find at this link.
This training by the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union will provide concrete ways for people to support tenants that could actually prevent them from being evicted and it doesn’t rely on the charity of non-profits that will not use Direct Action tactics to push for Housing Justice.
You can sign up for the training by going to this link.
Enbridge pushes back on Whitmer’s order to shut down Line 5, fights pipeline opposition on multiple fronts
Nearly a month ago we all heard the good news when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer finally upheld her election campaign promise to shut down the Enbridge Line 5, which not only threatens the future of the Great Lakes, it perpetuates climate catastrophe.
However, we all knew that Enbridge would not just go away without a fight. We should have learned from the Enbridge Kalamazoo River disaster, that the Canadian-based corporation would use any and all means to not only avoid any responsibility for the massive oil spill, they would run an aggressive PR campaign to con the public and political leaders.
Just days ago, the Enbridge Corporation used their considerable legal influence to ask a Michigan Federal Judge to dismiss Gov. Whitmer’s order to shut down Line 5. An Enbridge spokesperson was quoted in an MLive article stating, “Enbridge is advancing its case in federal court and continues to vigorously defend the validity of the Line 5 easement in the Straits of Mackinac and its right to operate the pipeline.”
The original Media Release from Enbridge provides us with a better understanding of their legal argument and their PR spin, saying:
A federal agency, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), is Enbridge’s safety regulator, not the State of Michigan. In fact, only three months ago the safety of the Dual Pipelines was reviewed by our regulator and the Pipelines were found to be fit for service. The State’s attempt to assume the role of safety regulator through its notice purporting to “terminate and revoke” the easement is improper and unlawful.
This is the latest attempt by the State of Michigan to interfere with the operation of this critical infrastructure by assuming authority it does not possess. By contrast, Enbridge continues to live up to all its obligations under its agreements with the State of Michigan. Notably, Enbridge has undertaken a variety of Line 5 projects requested by the State at substantial expense, including installing a new Line 5 crossing under the St. Clair River earlier this year and diligently pursuing permitting for the Great Lakes tunnel project at no cost to taxpayers.
Now, the MLive article cited above does clarify that Enbridge has until May 2021 to allow Line 5 to continue to pump oil and natural gas through one of their main North American pipelines. In addition, Enbridge is moving forward with their plans to construct a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac, which they argue would provide even more safe mechanism to transport oil.
There are groups like Oil & Water Don’t Mix, which are fighting Enbridge’s misinformation campaign about the current Line 5 and the proposed tunnel. There have also been indigenous groups resisting those same plans.
Enbridge is also fighting indigenous and climate justice activists in Minnesota, where part of the company’s Line 3 runs. Minnesota’s 350.org and Honor the Earth are two major groups fighting Line 3, which have been engaged in a serious battle since 2018, when to Minnesota Governor approved a permit for Line 3.
In a recent article posted on the Intercept, Enbridge and the State of Minnesota have threatened activists who oppose Line 3, especially if the opposition leads to outright resistance. The Intercept article states that the same kinds of state and private repression/counterinsurgency that was used during the Indigenous-led fight against the pipeline going through Standing Rock, might well be used in Minnesota.
Asked how she would define counterinsurgency, LaDuke said bluntly, “We’ve got drones over our property.” She continued, “It starts with surveillance, it expands to the use of informants, entrapment, falsifying situations, and getting people charged with things they should not be charged with. It involves bullying and intimidating tribal members and nontribal members.” And she said much of that has already begun in northern Minnesota.
The bad news is that the Enbridge Corporation will use their financial and political power to try to keep Line 3 an Line 5 going, often with repressive tactics. The good news is that the Enbridge Corporation is not only fighting on multiple fronts, they are fighting Indigenous-led movements that will make it as difficult as possible for the Canadian-based multinational corporation to continue to profit from destroying ecosystems an perpetuating the climate catastrophe.
Watch this powerful new documentary on Indigenous-led resistance to Enbridge pipelines.
The Biden Cabinet picks and why our movements can’t let up now
It’s been just over a month now since the November 3rd election. While Donald Trump has been resistant to conceding the election results, it is pretty clear that his time in the White House is coming to an end.
Since the November election, President Elect Biden and his transition team have been busy with selecting people to be part of his cabinet. Many of the selections have been people who are entrenched in the party and part of the establishment, particularly in the private sector.
For those of us working on the ground and in the streets as part of social movements have been very disappointed in some of the selections, we are not surprised at all. It is the belief amongst many working within social movements, that the election was a referendum against Donald Trump and not a resounding pro-Biden vote.
Like most reasonable people, those of us in movement politics are glad that Trump now has his walking papers, but we also recognize that the incoming Biden administration will continue the kinds of policies that normalizes Neo-Liberal capitalism, US imperialism, White Supremacy and a mild reformist approach to one of the most urgent crisis humanity faces, the climate crisis.
Many of us on the group fighting for radical social change and collective liberation in our communities are fully aware of the fact that we will have to push just as hard to make the changes we want to see with a Biden administration as we have during the Trump years. We also recognize that, like in previous years, when a Democrat was elected president, that too many people became relaxed and didn’t mobilize and push for more substantive change. During the Obama/Biden eight years, the wealth gap continued to grow in the US, which led to the Occupy Wall Street movement, and police murder of Black people increased, which led to the Black Lives Matter movement, just to name two main issues of oppression that affected millions in the US. Having said that, we cannot afford to relax with the incoming Biden administration. As the late historian Howard Zinn taught us, real change happens because of what we do in the streets, not so much what we do in the in the voting booth.
The graphic we put together here, includes some of the more prominent Biden cabinet picks. Of course, these are just nominations and the Senate, if controlled by the GOP, could block even these establishment picks. If that happens, it is possible that the next choices might be even more conservative and entrenched in systems of power and oppression.
However, for right now, it is important that we come to terms with the reality of who will likely be in the Biden administration, we need to keep fighting on multiple fronts and in the movements that have the capacity to make substantive an structural change – Black Lives Matter, Immigration Justice movement, Climate Justice movement, Housing Justice movement, Defunding the Police and so many more.
Lastly, I want to quote something that historian and activist Barbara Ransby said recently on Democracy Now!
“And so, we have to fight for people in these positions of power that are going to respond to our demands, but we also have to organize to make those demands as loudly, as persistently as possible. So, you know, the group The Frontline, which was a coalition to defeat Trump, has called for actions on Inauguration Day in Washington to do exactly that, to push for a progressive agenda. And so, we need to be supporting movements like that, as well. I mean, we can get a less bad appointment out of Joe Biden in some of these Cabinet positions, and that is important. I am all about, you know, increasing the margin of possibility in that arena, but also really about the importance of building a movement in this period and not forgetting the neoliberal politics of a Joe Biden — Joe Biden who took us into the war in Iraq and supported the crime bill and all of these things that helped to put us in the position we’re in now. So there’s a lot of work for movement organizers to do. Being attentive to these Cabinet posts is one of them, but certainly not the only.”
Below are a list of links, which provide more details and analysis of the Biden cabinet choices that are included in the graphic.
https://www.blackagendareport.com/bidens-proposed-cabinet-kinder-and-gentler-imperialism
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/12/2/blackrock_ties_to_biden_administration
https://theintercept.com/2020/12/04/joe-biden-election-national-security/
https://theintercept.com/2020/11/24/biden-military-national-security-blinken-flournoy/
https://theintercept.com/2020/11/19/biden-treasury-secretary-climate/
https://theintercept.com/2020/11/20/biden-senate-boost-economy-tackle-climate/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/25/hey-joe-where-you-going-with-that-pentagon-in-your-hands/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/23/should-michele-flournoy-be-secretary-of-defense/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/20/ten-foreign-policy-fiascos-biden-can-fix-on-day-one/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/19/why-biden-will-keep-the-u-s-imposed-cold-war-rolling/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/18/biden-and-the-cia/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/12/bidens-victory-is-the-worst-yet-to-come/
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-corporate-lobbyist-cabinet-nominees
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-administration-cabinet-picks-pro-war-hawks
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-administration-national-security-picks-defense-department
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-immigration-trump-wall-border
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/biden-canceling-student-debt-loans-schumer
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-austerity-coronavirus-fiscal-conservatism-deficit-reduction
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-climate-fossil-fuel-industry-cedric-richmond
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-student-debt-forgiveness-executive-order
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-labor-unions-afl-cio-kamala-harris
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-coronavirus-pandemic-relief
