‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Living With Cave Bear
By Peter Molenaar Ursus spelaens (Cave Bear) emerged one million years ago, coexisted with Homo neanderthalenis for 300,000 years, then went extinct in the period of Homo sapien ascendency. Cave Bear was a big vegetarian. In those Ice Age winters, he and his kind occupied in masse the great caves of Europe. There, they would hibernate. Who doubts that our own brethren and Cave Bear coexisted as cohabitants of the cave? Neanderthal man had entered the scene, spear of Africa in hand. Nonetheless, necessity and fear imposed a powerful tension. We soon learned, however, that Cave Bear had come to sleep, and after all, would prefer not to mess with us. So then we, with our fire and spears, held the raiding hyenas at bay, while the old bears, which had come to sleep forever, provided a ton of meat. Enter the dark cave”¦ (more…)
Saving Capitalism
By Peter Molenaar Author Robert Reich”'s most recent book bears the title: Saving Capitalism - For the Many, Not the Few. Those of us born to black and white TV, might remember Robert as the Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. Of interest currently, is the former secretary”'s endorsement of Bernie Sanders. Certainly, the Sanders Campaign reflects a new mass consciousness, formed in the wake of the “Great Recession.” However, is this campaign merely an effort to save capitalism, or is it an aspect of a process towards a fundamental transformation (i.e., towards public ownership of financial institutions and the dominant means of production)? Meanwhile”¦ In its March 2016 issue, Southside Pride published the article: “Socializing Capitalism ”“ Creating a Market Economy with a Social Conscience.” The author, Kari Andrade, claims to be a capitalist! Oh, my”¦ Perhaps she has read the book of Reich. However, Ms. Andrade begins by [...]
Black Lives Matter
By Peter Molenaar Note: “Motherless Child” is title of a traditional Negro spiritual, dating back to the era of slavery when it was common practice to sell children away from their parents. The following, written in 1952, is taken from the work of William Z. Foster: “During the three-and-a-half centuries since the first English colonies were planted along the Atlantic Coast, the landowner and industrialist rulers of this country, to further their own greed, have committed many monstrous crimes against the growing American people. They barbarously stripped Indians of their lands, broke up their social institutions, and slaughtered them. The rulers relentlessly exploited the immigrant wage workers and their children, forcing them down into poverty and ignorance, mangling them in unprotected industries, and hurrying them off to premature graves. Time and again, these predatory vultures have cynically sent off the sons of the nations to reactionary wars, to be killed [...]
