Ever since Barack Obama was elected as President the claim has been made that we live in a post-racial society. Even amongst many liberal commentators the idea that racial equality has reached some sort of social apex because a Black family inhabits the White House.
The reality for communities of color across the US however is quite different. A new study by the Pew Research Center shows that since 2005 the wealth gap has increased throughout the US, particularly along racial lines.
In looking at census data from 1984 to 2009, researchers found that there has been an increase in the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites of 19 to 1. In 1984 the gap was 12 to 1 and as low as 7 to 1 in 1995. The biggest change has been between 2004 and 2009. The same is true in the gap between Hispanics and Whites, where in 2004 there was a 7 to 1 wealth gap and by 2009 that gap grew to 15 to 1.
Other key findings from the report:
Hispanics: The net worth of Hispanic households decreased from $18,359 in 2005 to $6,325 in 2009. The percentage drop—66%—was the largest among all groups. Hispanics derived nearly two-thirds of their net worth in 2005 from home equity and are more likely to reside in areas where the housing meltdown was concentrated. Thus, the housing downturn had a deep impact on them. Their net worth also diminished because of a 42% rise in median levels of debt they carried in the form of unsecured liabilities (credit card debt, education loans, etc.).
Blacks: The net worth of black households fell from $12,124 in 2005 to $5,677 in 2009, a decline of 53%. Like Hispanics, black households drew a large share (59%) of their net worth from home equity in 2005. Thus, the housing downturn had a strong impact on their net worth. Blacks also took on more unsecured debt during the economic downturn, with the median level rising by 27%.
Whites: The drop in the wealth of white households was modest in comparison, falling 16% from $134,992 in 2005 to $113,149 in 2009. White households were also affected by the housing crisis. But home equity accounts for relatively less of their total net worth (44% in 2005), and that served to lessen the impact of the housing bust. Median levels of unsecured debt among whites rose by 32%.
The report does not provide much data state by state, but there is some information that looks at the median home prices state by state. According to the Pew study, “From the end of 2005 to the end of 2009, median home prices decreased by more than 30% in five states: Nevada (down 49%), Florida (38%), Arizona (38%), California (37%) and Michigan (34%).”
We do know that the racial break down of children living in poverty based on a report Kids Count 2010. According to that report, “Almost one of every two African American children was mired in poverty and more than one of every three Hispanic children, compared with one in seven white non-Hispanic children.”
All this data is not suggesting that the Obama administration is to blame for the increase in the wealth gap between Whites and racial minorities, especially since the data only includes one year of the current administration. What it does say is that the trend is not on the decline and according to a report by the group United for a Fair Economy the trend is even worse in the past year.
What this data should say to people who care about racial justice is that institutional racism is deeply entrenched and statistically has grown worse for African Americans and Hispanics in the last 30 years. It also suggests that the emphasis on diversity in this society is not the same as racial justice and that maybe we need to challenge our understanding of house race and class intersect in this society.
I have heard numerous people over the past 2 years make the argument that Rick DeVos is blazing his own path and shouldn’t be judged by the previous DeVos generations’ political philosophy. A recent article in MiBiz would suggest otherwise, especially for those who are not under the spell of Capitalism’s promise of riches.
The MiBiz article mostly focuses on Rick DeVos’ more recent project known as 5×5, a competition of sorts, which requires those seeking funds for start up business projects must present their idea to a panel of judges. This is really old news for those who follow GR politics since the 5×5 venture has been happening since January of this year.
5×5 is not an entirely original idea for Grand Rapids, since another project called Sunday Soup follows a similar model. Well, not really. There are fundamental differences between the two projects, Sunday Soup is grassroots, takes place at the DAAC and allows anyone who attends to be part of the collective decision on which art-based proposal will get funding. 5×5 is not grassroots, gives out money for business-focused projects and uses judges that are primarily culled from business circles.
Cut from the same cloth
The MiBiz article is instructive in that not only provides DeVos an unchallenged forum to promote his ideas, it tells us something about what he really values.
The article provides a little information on DeVos’ history of for-profit projects. He mentions Sprout as his first venture and says that it didn’t do as well as planned. Soon after he started ArtPrize, which as we all know has been widely successful. Rick DeVos then goes on to say:
“Perseverance is the key, as is not treating failure as something that marks someone for life. (Failure) is inevitable if you’re trying. If you’re not failing, you aren’t trying hard enough.”
Interesting, although not surprising, that the MiBiz writer does not challenge DeVos on this notion of perseverance. Here is a guy who comes from a multi-billion dollar family, with business and political connections that have a global reach, and he wants us to believe that he became successful because he persevered?
In addition, Rick DeVos has become quite good at using cutting edge language like “decentralized models” and “a dynamic ecosystem of entrepreneurs.” DeVos wants us all to think that he embraces a communal/collectivist approach to life, but despite his use of language we need to ask the basic question…….who benefits from these kinds of projects?
The MiBiz article makes it clear that the local elite business community fully endorses his projects, as well as the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority (DDA). There is no mention of working class people, racial minorities or those who live anywhere other than the downtown business districts. So it seems clear who the beneficiaries are.
The MiBiz article also mentions a third project by Rick DeVos, called Momentum. Momentum is a business “boot camp” where applicants are vetted and are then eligible for much larger capital investment funds. The project provides mentors (all White business people) and a group of business sponsors that also attempt to present themselves as “community minded.”
The MiBiz article ends with one more comment from Rick DeVos that is also instructive. “I love ideas, and I love the connection between ideas. I love innovation and trying things in that spirit of rebelliousness you have to start from when you’re trying to do something new. … Anything we can do to support that is a good thing.”
First, there is nothing rebellious about anyone who was born into wealth and continues to promote well accumulation for a chosen few. Second, there is nothing terribly innovative about any of the projects that Rick DeVos has created to far. The 5×5 and Momentum projects are both designed to do what organizations as old as the National Manufactures Association – generate more wealth for a select few and then make the claims that this new wealth will trickle down to benefit everyone.
The trickle down notion is even what drives ArtPrize if one considers who the primary beneficiaries are of that project. The downtown businesses – hotels, restaurants, clubs and private parking lots – are the big winners. Sure some working class people might make extra tips, but the whole idea is based on the fact that hundreds of artists will invest their unpaid labor with only a handful of artists getting paid.
ArtPrize is also “successful” in that it has received an uncanny amount of local news coverage (which is essentially free advertising), so much so that in 2010 ArtPrize coverage trumped election coverage despite the fact that there was a Governor’s race. Add to this the recent announcement that ArtPrize is receiving $100,000 of federal money, which essentially means that working people are partially subsidizing a project that will disproportionately benefit the business class.
For all the claims that Rick DeVos is a rebellious guy who is stepping out from the shadows of his father and grandfather, we think it would be more accurate to say that he is continuing the family tradition of transferring wealth to a chosen few while most of the community struggles to meet its basic needs.
ABC and WZZM 13 give McDonalds a free pass on their ongoing campaign to target children
Yesterday on the ABC show Good Morning America, there was a perfect example of the inherent flaw in commercial media – the inability to seriously challenge corporate interests.
Good Morning America reporter George Stephanopoulos presented a story about the McDonalds Corporation’s decision to revise their Happy Meal package to include fruit. This decision by the fast food giant to provide the same kinds of food “stuff “ – chicken nuggets and fries – clearly demonstrates that they are primarily interested in public perception over real nutrition.
Good Morning America then blew a perfect opportunity to actually confront what any reasonable person would see as a complete scam from McDonalds. The show invited the President of the McDonalds Corporation to the show and did not hold them accountable for decades of targeting children with unhealthy food.
In watching the video you hear George Stephanopoulos refer to “some critics” who would rather see the Happy Meal discontinued, but the ABC commentator did not identify any of these “critics” nor provide them with equal airtime to challenge the McDonalds Corporation.
What viewers hear instead are vague commitments from McDonalds about providing nutritional information in every Happy Meal box. At one point Stephanopoulos even admits that he can hear his children telling him to take them to McDonalds so they can have some fun.
It’s bad enough that a major TV network gives a free pass to a company that is complicit in obesity, ecological destruction, worker exploitation and deceiving children (as documented in the film McLibel), the ABC Network provided a national forum for McDonalds to continue to lie to the American public.
To make matters worse, Michelle Obama then released a statement saying:
“McDonald’s is making continued progress today by providing more fruit and reducing the calories in its Happy Meals. I’ve always said that everyone has a role to play in making America healthier, and these are positive steps toward the goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity.”
At the local level, ABC affiliate station WZZM 13 not only plugged the Good Morning America story about McDonald’s claim to care about children, they also missed a big opportunity to take the fast food giant to task for decades of targeting children with unhealthy foods.
Channel 13 invited 2 local moms to come and “debate” the McDonalds Happy Meal issue in their TV studio. However, the 7 minute segment basically consisted of one mom saying she never takes her kids to fast food restaurants and the other saying she does is every once in a while. In other words, McDonalds got a free pass on WZZM 13, since their decades long practice of targeting children with unhealthy foods was pretty much ignored.
WZZM 13 could have provided viewers with valuable information from the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood or encouraged parents to read an excellent toolkit for how to fight fast food marketing produced by the Berkeley Media Studies Group. The local ABC affiliate could also have invite a public health official or someone from the local group Stop Targeting Our Kids (STOK) so that viewers would have a greater opportunity to understand how McDonalds deceives children. The fact that WZZM 13 did not hold the McDonalds Corporation accountable is no surprise considering McDonalds is a regular advertiser on the local ABC station.
Tuesday afternoon, a press conference alongside the Grand River brought representatives from the Sierra Club, We Are the People and the Blue Green Alliance together to challenge new Michigan legislation (HB4326/SB272) that destroys crucial environmental, consumer and worker protections and strip the governor’s authority to protect the Great Lakes. According to Sue Levy, representing the UAW, “4326 prevents the state from adopting standards that are tougher than federal standards. We will have to rely on Washington to protect Michigan’s resources and workers. It will tie our hands from protecting the Great Lakes. Fewer environmental resources will mean fewer workers on the job.”
Mike Berkowitz, chapter organizer for the Sierra Club, stated, in a press release circulated at the start of the press conference, “This legislation sends a clear message that state politicians don’t think the Great Lakes are worth protecting. Washington bureaucrats are not better equipped to protect the Great Lakes than the people who live right here in Michigan. This ‘one-size fits all’ approach won’t protect ‘Pure Michigan’ and it won’t create a single job.”
Berkowitz recapped that statement when he took the podium. He also shared examples from recent history that reaffirmed the dangers of the new legislation. Because Michigan’s governor has the authority to protect the Great Lakes, in 1976, Governor Milliken was able to save Lake Erie by instating limits on phosphorous. Berkowitz noted that Governor Granholm’s stronger-than-federal mercury limits have prevented even higher levels of this deadly toxic metal to enter the food supply of Michigan populations dependent on fish for sustenance. And, Michigan’s more stringent regulation of CAFOs has protected the Great Lakes, inland lakes and rivers, like the Grand, from being turned into manure filled dumping grounds. (CAFO stands for concentrated animal feeding operations, i.e. huge factory farms.)
“Imagine the Grand River here, filled with feces and urine,” Berkowitz said.
Last, Mark Schaur, from the Blue Green Alliance (a front group for the Democrats) took the podium. He reiterated his quote from the same press release, “Racing to the bottom on environmental protection and worker safety isn’t a jobs plan for Michigan. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Instead we need to build on Michigan’s unique assets—its people and its natural resources—to create the good jobs of the 21st century here.”
He went on to say that Michigan’s people and natural resources “power our economy,” stating that this legislation would ultimately make the US economy less competitive and cause us to lose the “race” for green jobs to China and Germany.
During the question and answer period following the presentations, GRIID asked if any of the speakers knew of industries or entities who had lobbied to get HB4326/SB272 passed. No one had an answer. However, the easily accessible minutes of the May 18, 2011 Committee on Regulatory Reform listed the following supporters of the bill:
- Michigan Association of Home Builders.
- Telecommunications Association of Michigan.
- Michigan Chamber of Commerce
- Michigan Farm Bureau
- National Federation of Independent Business,
- Michigan Manufacturers Association
Clearly, HB4326/SB272 is a dangerous affront on Michigan’s environment. Combining the environmental impacts with the call for more jobs and a stronger economy may be a good strategy in this instance. However, the environmental crises we now face–locally and globally–require an immediate and radical shift in our patterns of consumption. Green jobs and new technologies are not enough.
Detroit City Council First in Michigan to Support a Ban of Dangerous Gas Drilling Technique
This article is re-posted from Food & Water Watch.
Last Friday, Detroit’s City Council became the first in Michigan to pass a resolution supporting a ban on a controversial gas drilling technique known as fracking. The Council passed the resolution unanimously. Council member JoAnn Watson offered up the resolution, and several local activists attended the Council meeting to show their support. In banning fracking, Detroit joins 65 other municipalities across the United States who have taken action against the practice.
“Detroit sent a strong message indicating that a ban on fracking is necessary to protect public health and preserve Michigan’s natural resources,” said Lynna Kaucheck of Food & Water Watch. “Michigan sits in the middle of 20 percent of the world’s available fresh water; that means we have a distinct responsibility to protect this vital natural resource. The time to ban fracking in Michigan is now.”
Fracking involves injecting water, sand and toxic chemicals deep underground to break up dense rock formations and release natural gas. Opponents of fracking cite the high potential for water and air pollution as a leading reason to ban the practice. Over 1,000 cases of water contamination have been reported near fracking sites.
Public opposition to fracking has escalated in recent months, with concerned residents and environmental and consumer advocacy groups campaigning against the practice. Recent reports show that oil and gas interests have leased nearly $200 million worth of Michigan-owned drilling rights in the Collingwood-Utica formation in the last year. The Collingwod-Utica formation is a deep shale deposit that rests under the northern portion of Michigan’s lower peninsula.
“Its time our state lawmakers truly put the state of Michigan and its tourism and agriculture industries ahead of greedy oil and gas interests” said Kaucheck. “We need to support the industries that make our state great, instead of selling of our natural resources to the highest bidder.”
In other parts of the Midwest where fracking is increasingly common, residents have reported complications ranging from headaches and blackouts, noxious odors in the air and sudden blindness, hair loss and death among their livestock.
A 2011 Cornell University study found that the process of fracking also releases methane, which according to the EPA, is 21 times more damaging of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Similarly, a study released by researchers at Duke University in April found methane levels in shallow drinking water wells near active gas drilling sites at a level 17 times higher than those near inactive ones.
“This resolution is a great first step and a bold statement from the Detroit City Council,” said Kaucheck. “We hope that other municipalities and the state follow suit.”
Earlier this year, the U.S. House and Energy Commerce Committee determined that 14 oil companies had injected 780 million gallons of fracking chemicals and other substances into U.S. wells between 2005 and 2009. This included 10.2 million gallons of fluids containing known or suspected carcinogens.
The companies however, are not required to disclose the chemicals in fracking fluid, which they claim should be protected as a “trade secret”. They are also exempt from seven major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act.
Scientists at the Endocrine Disruption Exchange who tested fracking fluids found that 25 percent can cause cancer; 37 percent can disrupt the endocrine system; and 40 to 50 percent can affect the nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems.
Last month Food & Water Watch released a report entitled The Case for a Ban on Fracking. The report reveals how the natural gas industry’s use of water-intensive, toxic, unregulated practices for natural gas extraction are compromising public health and polluting water resources across the country.
The Case for a Ban on Fracking is available here.
A map of municipalities that have taken action against fracking is available here. As of today, Grand Rapids has not taken action to ban fracking.
Milk for Thought’s Big Pink Bus in Grand Rapids Thursday
On Thursday July 28th, Milk for Thought’s “Latch On America Tour” Big Pink Bus will park at Rosa Parks Circle for a full day of events celebrating and promoting breastfeeding.
The fun starts at 10 a.m. Grab a sign and welcome the bus when it arrives at 10:20. According to its website, “At Milk for Thought, we want to change the landscape of breastfeeding — from attitudes to advocacy to education. Our goals are to work collaboratively to empower pregnant and breastfeeding moms by connecting them to local experts and counselors, baby-friendly hospitals and birthing centers, support groups, and other mothers who are out there and want so much to help. Instantly, new moms will get the support, encouragement, and shoulder to lean on that they need to have a successful breastfeeding journey.”
Why all the hype about breastfeeding? Here’s just a few of the many reasons. Breastfed babies are healthier, smarter and less prone to ear infections, allergies, diabetes and asthma. Breastmilk is inexpensive (think free), convenient and is the only true species-specific formula available for human babies. Mothers who breastfeed enjoy the relaxing effects of oxytocin each time their babies suckle. They are less prone to breast cancer, osteoporosis and ovarian cancer.
The fun starts at 10 a.m. Grab a sign and welcome the bus when it arrives at 10:20. The day’s line-up includes a line-up of speakers including the Healthy Kent Breastfeeding Coalition, physicians, elected officials, breastfeeding mothers, authors, La Leche League and representatives of Milk for Thought as well as live musical entertainment.
Of special note, at 1:30 p.m., Troy, Michigan mother, Afrykahn Moon, will share her experience of being kicked off a public transit bus there for breastfeeding her two-week-old son.
Multiple community partners will have resource tables. In the “Faces of Breastfeeding in Michigan” photography area, visitors can have their pictures taken to share what breastfeeding means to them.
For the full listing of speakers and events, visit the Facebook event page.
GRIID is taking a break for a week
From now through July 25 GRIID will be taking a break from posting, but will resume writing independent news, providing news analysis and documenting local justice campaigns beginning July 26.
(This article by Dave Lindorff is re-posted from Common Dreams.)
The smoking ruin that is the Obama White House, and the rotting corpse that is the Democratic Party, have, incredibly, together been boxed into a corner by, of all things, the certifiably insane Republican Party.
This amazing situation has resulted not through any brilliant strategy on the part of the Republicans, but by the self-inflicted wounds of the Democrats.
Faced with a collapsing economy that is at serious risk of performing a reprise of the Great Depression, Congressional Democrats and President Obama were in a perfect position to grab the flag and run home with it by declaring war on unemployment and on the party that has unequivocally declared itself openly to be the standard bearer of the wealthy and powerful.
All the president and Congressional Democrats had to do was announce that Social Security, Medicare, education and programs to protect the poor were all off limits in any discussion of the federal budget, and to declare an immediate 25% cut in military spending, as called for earlier by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee.
How hard would that have been to do? The polls show it’s what the public wants. Any elected official who did this, particularly someone elected and re-elected as a Democrat, would have been hailed by voters for such a bold action.
According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in late May and released June 11, 60% of Americans correctly attribute the nation’s enormous deficit primarily to military spending, which eats up 52% of every tax dollar (Social Security and Medicare are entirely funded by separate payroll taxes, and not only have not contributed a single dollar to the federal deficit, but have been routinely borrowed from by the government to finance the deficit in the government’s operating budget caused by military spending). Only 24% blame the deficit on domestic spending other than military (and probably every one of those is a Republican or right-wing independent who likely believes that the earth was created 6000 years ago, and is flat, and who will never vote Democratic no matter what).
That same poll showed that the vast majority of Americans (73%) object to proposals to cut the budget by reducing federal funding for social programs, or federal funding to the states for education, or by reducing Social Security benefits (59%), for example by raising the retirement age.
What the Pew poll finds Americans do support is raising the cap on income subject to the Social Security Tax (FICA), from its current meager level of $106,000, to cover all income (66% in favor). They also favor raising taxes on those households that earn more than $250,000 a year (65% in favor), and they favor getting rid of tax deductions for corporations, which have allowed many wildly profitable companies like Exxon, GE and News Corp to pay no corporate taxes despite earning billions of dollars in profits (62% in favor). They also overwhelmingly favor reducing America’s military operations overseas, where the US currently maintains over 800 bases in countries all over the world, including wealthy allies such as Europe and Japan (62% in favor).
After being deluged with poorly written, simplistic and often ideologically-driven news stories all year hyping the supposed budget “crisis,” the percentage of Americans who say they are worried about the budget deficit has crept up from 24% to 28%, but far more Americans say they are worried about the jobs crisis (38%, up from 34% in March).
If you were a political advisor in the White House, or in the Democratic Congressional Committee or the Democratic National Committee, one would think that seeing those numbers, the strategy going forward would be obvious: declare the country to be facing New Depression, call the Republican Party out as a bunch of know-nothings, end the wars, bring the troops home, slash military spending, call for higher taxes on the rich, and, in Congress, introduce a public jobs program every day of every week, forcing the Republicans to vote them down, one after another through the next election day.
But the Democratic Party, as I said, is a rotting corpse, and it certainly is not an organization that sees itself as fighting for the common man and woman.
As for the White House political team, and the president himself, they seem to have long since lost their grip on reality.
The president has been hanging around with Wall Street bankers, taking their money and their self-serving ideas, for so long now he actually thinks like them. Congressional Democrats, like their Republican colleagues, are so covetous of corporate campaign cash and lobbyist perks that, with a few exceptions, they can’t imagine crossing any corporate interests.
This is not a case of Democrats being stupid. You’d have to be far worse than stupid not to see the correct political strategy to adopt at this point.
What has happened is that the Democratic Party is no more. It is, at this point, all about current incumbents gaining the favor of the corporate elite, lulling the public into a non-voting torpor or stupor, and of course, arguing that people worried about the nation’s future should vote for them yet again because “the Republicans are worse.”
In a press conference on Friday, President Obama made some incredible statements, all demonstrably untrue. He said “We are all part of the same country,” and yet he surely knows that when it comes to the leaders of America’s biggest corporations, including GE, whose chairman Jeffrey Immelt he appointed to head his Jobs Council, this is demonstrably false. While many of these leaders may be Americans by birth, the companies they run and represent earn the majority of their revenues and profits from operations abroad, and are thus, technically speaking, foreign enterprises, with foreign interests that trump any US interests. Obama said, “We are all in this together,” speaking of the supposed debt “crisis,” but of course, he has announced himself ready to cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid programs, upon which poor and working class families depend, while leaving the rich largely unscathed. He has said it is the “will of the people” to cut the budget, but to the extent that that is even true, which is highly debatable, the will of the people is actually to cut military spending, not to cut Social Security or Medicare or even budgets for education or Medicaid.
The good news is that an increasing number of Americans appear to be finally realizing that this president is a fraud–a shill for bankers, the corporate interests and the neo-con military establishment who has just been posing as a man of the people.
The bad news is that there is little likelihood of any Third Party arising before 2012 that could seriously contest the national election, meaning that we are probably headed for either more of the same or a for Republican-led government.
The hope has to be that the blatant sell-out of the public interest and the national interest by both parties and by the president is becoming so self-evident that the American public will actually wake up from its media-induced somnolence and will abandon them both.
The institutional obstacles to such an unprecedented rebellion are of course enormous, but then, these are unprecedented times.
Based on the book by Pepi Leistyna, Class Dismissed navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television’s beginnings to today’s sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows.
Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV’s disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants — stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy.
7 p.m. Thursday July 21
IATSE Labor Hall
931 Bridge St NW
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Donations are welcomed. The screening will be followed by a discussion.
This event is co-sponsored by the Grand Rapids IWW and The Bloom Collective.
New Media We Recommend
Below is a list of new materials that we have read/watched in recent weeks. The comments are not a “review” of the material, instead sort of an endorsement of ideas and investigations that can provide solid analysis and even inspiration in the struggle for change. All these items are available at The Bloom Collective, so check them out and stimulate your mind.
Howard Zinn on History – This newly released collection of essays is another marvelous tribute to the man who gave us another way of viewing history in his seminal work A People’s History of the United States. These essays cover 5 decades and include themes like direction action, freedom schools, Columbus, beyond voting, radicalism, socialism and the US as Empire. Zinn’s style and personal commitment to working for systemic social change make these essays timeless and are a real tribute to how history can be both documented and taught. Highly recommended!
Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the road to economic, social and ecological decay, by Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler – For anyone concerned about the future of the planet and particularly global warming, this book clearly demonstrates that we need to make a radical shift in transportation. The co-authors show that more than any other consumer items cars have had more of a damaging ecological impact than any other commodity we have used in the past 100 years. Their book is written somewhat like a travelogue as they both attempt to move across the US and find that it is nearly impossible without a car. More importantly they look at the economic, class and sociological impact of cars and not just the environmental impact. Stop Signs is an important and sobering book about the urgency of our times.
Ours to Master and to Own: Workers’ Control from the Commune to the Present, by Immanuel Ness and Dario Azzellini – This book was one of those history books that leaves you feeling mad that you were not taught this information in school. There is such a rich history of worker councils, workers communes and worker owned enterprises that gives one hope that more of this could happen if we were just aware of it. The co-authors take us through the last 150 years to show that all over the world workers have been deeply committed to creating structures based on cooperation for the purpose of wanting more than just better wages. Worker run operations are also highly committed to different economic models, models that are in direct conflict with Capitalism. Ours to Master and to Own is an inspiring book that demonstrates we don’t have to follow the so-called free market model and attend business school in order to provide basic services for our fellow humans. This book can provide us with lessons on how we need to restructure our economic system that is not simply limited to buying local.
The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman (DVD) – This new documentary is a powerful film about the real status of public education in this country and a scathing respond to the privatize mantra that is the core message of last years’ film Waiting for Superman. The film is produced by New York educators and includes lots of information on campaigns to fight the privatization of public education. The film relies heavily on both parent and student perspectives, which gives the film more authenticity than just having experts comment. An important film for all communities faced with budget cuts and private sector forces that want to take over public education.
