‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Raise Your Voice: A worker”'s proud moment
By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar Circulating within the ranks of organized labor is a sign-on statement with the caption: “Union Members Stand United with Rep. Ilhan Omar.” It reads: “Rep. Ilhan Omar is a fighter for working people who upholds her time as a union member with pride and continues to stand with unions, with working people, and with all who are oppressed. “Just a couple months into her first term as one of the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress, Rep. Omar faces unprecedented attacks. Her statements and intentions are being purposely twisted in cynical and disingenuous ways to try to discredit and isolate her. “As union members we understand the importance of solidarity when our union siblings are under attack. The biggest enemies of working people and unions, like Donald Trump and his followers ”“ who themselves are guilty of enabling violent antisemitism and white supremacy ”“ are stoking the [...]
Raise Your Voice: Blessed community
Peter Molenaar By PETER MOLENAAR Feb. 11, 2019”¦ I would brave the slippery streets, with the ongoing sixth mass species extinction in mind, in order to participate in the public visioning phase of the HOTB Mayday Parade. This was to be the last opportunity to make a modest appearance. The chairs of the Avalon meeting room were well occupied to receive Sandy Spieler”'s guidance. As it turned out, Sandy had been entitled to choose this year”'s theme, and rightfully so. In keeping with Martin Luther King”'s intent, she chose: “Blessed Community.” To develop this theme, the gathering was tasked to a rotating series of workshops, set in the auditorium. My first stop was captioned: “Barriers to a Blessed community.” The tally of square sticker tag commentary was to reveal an old question of causality: Is the human condition a consequence of “human nature,” or is human nature a reflection of social systems? An [...]
Raise Your Voice: Contradictions within the popular front
By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar Readers will recall that, owing to internal contradictions, everything exists in motion, both coming and going; changing under the influence of external factors. Our “popular front” form of resistance is no exception to the rule. Yes, indeed: “the lesser of two evils sometimes rises to the level of a necessity.” But, given the opposing camps within the Democratic Party, we must reckon with certain consequences of our actions. Positively speaking, though, we of the fifth district should feel very proud for having elected Ilhan Omar to the U.S. Congress. Already, Ilhan has achieved a degree of planetary fame, for having slapped the face of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (and all Trump supporters) who are hell-bent to destroy our country by dividing us. And now, from within the Progressive Caucus, Ilhan has joined hands with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in support of a Green New Deal. Should we all join hands to preserve [...]
