‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Democracy Defense Networks Loom
from the series Raise Your Voice!... By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar To begin once again on a personal note: subsequent to his having a stroke, the writer here continues to reconnect a broken brain to a broken body, a body broken by 35 years of heavy labor at Smith Foundry, an enterprise which famously polluted the lungs of children (now totally absent from the zone near Cedar Ave. and 28th Street). Which is to say: he will continue to march with the masses, with a cane in hand, but the rapid-response mode is not in his future. Even so, he took part in a UNIDOS assembly held at El Colegio (4137 Bloomington Ave.) where, in keeping with the rapid-response networks that engaged the ICE occupation, democracy-defense networks were envisioned. Naturally, our polling places will be defended, while a list of triggering possibilities is pondered, such as: cancellation of mid-term elections, or perhaps another violent episode of election result denial. PETER MOLENAAR [...]
At the Capitol
from the series Raise Your Voice... By PETER MOLENAAR The May Issue of the alley rendered space to a Somali perspective in the aftermath of operation Metro-Surge. The above photo, taken not long ago, captured the integrity of a community, the essence of their prayer: hear the whimpering of babies beneath the rubble of Gaza. PETER MOLENAAR advocates a broad united-front, even as he describes socialism as the future solution.
On Defending Democracy
from the series Raise Your Voice... By PETER MOLENAAR Protestors in downtown Minneapolis. PHOTO: Peter Molenaar Peter Molenaar ‘Democracy’ is derived from the Greek words: demos (people) and kratos (rule). In short, democracy is a system of government where significant power is vested in the people. Imagine: political equality, voting rights and majority rule. Whereas ‘fascism’ (when fully fledged) is an open dictatorship of the most reactionary sector of monopoly-capital. Indeed, such dictatorships have historically emerged incrementally. Naturally then, we applaud our NO KINGS MOVEMENT for having mobilized hundreds of thousands in the here and now! Meanwhile, some from our community don’t even bother to vote… presumably because, under our existing economic system, democracy is distorted and diminished by the force of capital and the associated political opportunism. That said: a bourgeois-democratic republic is preferable to a fascist regime! Therefore, [...]
