‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
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 [...]
My Sister’s Ghost
from the series Raise Your Voice By PETER MOLENAAR Peter Molenaar Home again from ponderosa pine and snow-covered peaks… Heidi Hernandez was an accomplished horsewoman who, for a living, scrubbed clean the places meant for tourists. Her children will carry forward her opposition to all forms of oppression. In her memory: If it is true (as some people say) that consciousness is a product of the evolution of matter. Then, let it be said that our Mother Earth gave birth to a splendid spirit… named Heidi! To the gathering she declared: those who vote for Little-Boy-man will receive visits from my ghost. Naturally, son Micah’s Latina child plays with daughter Laura’s Asian-Indian babies… and then there is Lani. Lani expresses an indigenous Hawaiian aspect, to which she has recently added expressions of significant affections for another female. Smile, please. Which reminds me that, a few years ago, the Steel Workers Union convened here. I wrote at the [...]
