‘Commentary’ Archives
RYV: Kanya Pays a Visit
By PETER MOLENAAR from the series Raise Your Voice Peter Molenaar Kanya Luchemba is an indigenous South African man, whose first language stems from Bantu. Years ago, his P.H.D thesis elaborated the theme: A History of Finance Capital as Pertains to Mineral Extraction Across the Globe. By way of UCLA, he landed here recently with a nephew’s wedding in mind. For several days, I was privileged to be his chauffeur!Note:By finance capital is meant: “the unity of industrial and banking capital.” By comparison, the principal owner of the neighborhood’s Smith Foundry actually occupied the front office on a daily basis, whereas the owners of world-wide mining concerns do nothing at all but enrich themselves. Hey, such is the nature of the imperial edifice.Wedding duties done, Kanya arose early enough to join the UPS Teamsters practice picket line. With some 340,000 workers, UPS is a multibillion-dollar corporation which seeks to rival mineral extraction in the arena of excess [...]
Something I Said: The Ku Klux Klan in Minnesota
By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes Mention the KKK and your next thought probably is its history of hunting, harassing and hanging black folk. However, it didn’t start there – at least not in Minnesota. African Americans simply became these terrorists’ preferred target (a black woman, Beulah Mae Donald, it turns out, bankrupted the organization in court). Before black people, Elizabeth Dorsey Hatle’s The Ku Klux Klan in Minnesota (The History Press) documents, it was Germans. That would eventually include Catholics, Jews and just about everybody who wasn’t them – working class Protestants.Newspapers like the Waseca Herald, Anoka Herald and Owatonna Journal-Chronicle helped things, along with Hollywood propagandist hit film, The Birth of a Nation, (originally titled The Clansman) aiding the cause. Which, importantly, selective law enforcement and slick politicians insidiously empowered. Earle Brown, for instance, qualified on both accounts. As Hennepin County Sheriff, he [...]
Raise Your Voice: A Fall From Grace
By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar Born to the Iron Range, once upon a time, Helvi Savola and Helen Kruth would, in their later years, take up residence in an apartment complex on the north edge of what is now Ventura Village. Peace and friendship with the Soviet Union was central to their vision of Peace on Earth. In Fact, they had been close associates of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (the “Rebel Girl”) who, in 1916, had witnessed striking Mesabi Range miners being clubbed and shot. (Note: an historical marker which honored Elizabeth, was recently taken down by Republican Party operatives.)Believe it or not, the words above are intertwined with a somewhat violent event which took place recently at 4200 Cedar Ave., home to Women Against Military Madness. Medea Benjamin was in town! Medea has co-authored: War in Ukraine—Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict. Here is one review: “Careful, informal, judicious… an invaluable guide” —Noam Chomsky. Why then was Medea assaulted by [...]
