‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Jim Brown’s Ghost
from the Series Raise Your Voice... By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar Jim (a.k.a. Jack) lived much of his later years at 2517/2519 17th Avenue. He was a descendant of the Sami people, the reindeer pastoralists of Norway and Sweden, who had fled north as per an influx of landholding farmers. Naturally, Jim identified with the indigenous people of the Americas. Note: our Norway House and the American Swedish Institute are local sources of Sami history in the Phillips Community. Some 25 years ago, Jim found me turning soil in the 17th Avenue Community Garden. The time had come for us to distribute the People’s World, a product of an entity affectionately referred to here as the “Community Party”. Hey, as a skilled mechanic, Jim served in two theaters of the war to preserve democracy against the forces of fascism. Were he still alive, would he support Trump’s plan to burn the planet under a fossil fuel dictatorship… a plan where their offspring survives and ours [...]
Parks for the People
from the series Raise Your Voice By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar Representative Ilhan Omar spoke in solidarity with our park workers. PHOTO: Peter Molenaar For this year’s July 4th, I celebrated our nation’s first revolution by attending a rally at the Minneapolis Labor Center. Over 300 parks workers had gone on strike. “Solidarity Forever” was the theme.Why would a retired foundry worker like me bother to support parks workers? Here is the answer: Park workers create beautiful sanctuaries for people like me and you. Should we not pay them a decent wage? Hey, no more tax breaks for the rich folks, please, and for God’s sake, no more costly wars.Remember the ancient cormorants which visit Powderhorn Park every year… the ducks, geese, and the occasional loon… even the soaring eagle which inspired the fancy dancer at Cedar Field. This is why we love our park workers! Solidarity forever! Peter Molenaar advocates a broad united-front, even as he describes [...]
Democracy and You
from the series Raise Your Voice! By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar Democracy is by one definition: “a system of government by the whole population or all eligible members of a state.”“All eligible members?” Note: the ancient Athenian democracy emerged in the context of the existing slave system. In the United States, democracy was initiated in the context of a developing capitalism in conjunction with the then modern system of chattel slavery.In our world, the influence of a small minority called capitalists taints democracy. For this reason, many of us don’t vote! Indeed, our bourgeois-democracy is a reflection of the capitalist system. Before too long, our ruling class will be unwilling and incapable of resolving life and death issues confronting the masses.Does the struggle within bourgeois-democratic institutions have any bearing on the realization of our socialist vision? I am not alone in answering: YES!And neighbors beware: Go online to contemplate the Trump [...]
