‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Raise Your Voice – When patriots speak up
BY PETER MOLENAAR September 8, 2018, was a nationwide day of action around the theme: RISE FOR CLIMATE, JOBS, AND JUSTICE. The Minnesota summit was venued at the East Phillips Park Cultural and Community Center. The prevailing millennial voices were heard, still fresh from the financial crisis of 2008, and they were not hesitant to link the climate crisis to capitalism. To which I will add: The drive for infinite growth upon a finite planet suggests that this system is unsustainable and hostile to Earth”'s ecology. Meanwhile”¦ In our country, the top 10% own 80% of the wealth. These are the lazy stockholders who live high on the dividends of our collective labor. Actually, the planet”'s richest eight people own wealth equal to the poorest half of the world”'s population. Capitalism, which exists to maximize profits, is incapable of reversing this accelerating process. (more…)
Raise Your Voice ”“ Mother Earth knows
BY PETER MOLENAAR Editor”'s note: This article was written before the August 14th primary election. Our Franklin Avenue follows an old Dakota path to what were bountiful waters to the near west of us. Today we take this path to 2104 Stevens Avenue to find the headquarters of MN350, an organization which resists the forces of climate change. MN350 has worked to establish relations with the tribal bands further north. Unity with the peoples whose bond with water runs deep, is earnestly sought. Minnesota”'s water is under the threat of Polymet. Are there politicians who would endorse a 500-year threat to our well-being: the threat of arsenic and mercury contamination of the watershed which feeds Lake Superior? Under the banner of “national security” and a handful of “good jobs” lasting a mere 20 years, indeed there are. Editor”'s note: Subsequent to this writing, Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan have won the primary election. Note: I suggest we [...]
Raise Your Voice – Upholding native languages
BY PETER MOLENAAR I have again had the opportunity to meet with Anita Gates at the Pow Wow Grounds Coffee Shop on Franklin Ave. Anita has an advanced degree in the field of education and is certified to teach the Dakota language. The local American Indian Parents Committee actively shares her concerns regarding the status of Native education. They are all willfully determined, even if feigning submissiveness is occasionally deployed for navigational purposes. The preservation and promotion of Native languages is a priority. Should the rest of us care? About a hundred years ago, Lenin addressed the chauvinism imbued to Russian workers. He stated, in essence: If you intend to build a new world from the ashes of the old, abrogate your own nationalism while making concessions to the nationalism of oppressed peoples. Actually, this is a fundamental principle. What good are the Ojibwa and Dakota languages in today”'s world? When the Indian was taken from the man (stolen from the [...]
