The Party As Articulator, by Salar Mohandesi

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Dandelion Salad

by Salar Mohandesi
New Frame, June 10, 2021
June 13, 2021

Socialist political parties should work to connect rather than direct progressive struggles and organisations.

A mass uprising – one of the largest in the history of the United States – exploded after police murdered George Floyd in late May 2020. While thousands stormed the streets, some seasoned organisers mused on Twitter whether to even support the rebellion. Others were flat-footed at best, doing nothing more than issuing tone-deaf statements. Still others felt immediate solidarity, but stumbled to find a meaningful way to connect with the movement as explicit socialists.

Abolishing Police and Abolishing Militaries, by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, June 10, 2021
June 11, 2021

The similarities between the movement to abolish war and the movement to abolish police and prisons jump out at me anew when reading Mariame Kaba’s We Do This ‘Til We Free Us, which is about police and prison abolition. The book has a foreword by Naomi Murakawa that includes this:

David Swanson: We Can’t Save the Climate Without Ending War

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Watch the video below

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
World Beyond War
Originally posted May 22, 2019
June 10, 2021

“War and preparations for war are not just the pit into which trillions of dollars that could be used to prevent environmental damage are dumped, but also a major direct cause of that environmental damage.

U.S. Empire’s Final Collapse Draws Nearer, by Rainer Shea

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by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist
June 9, 2021

Modern imperialism, like the socioeconomic system it’s based upon, is a house of cards. Capitalism, the socioeconomic system that it depends on to continue functioning, wouldn’t be able to go on if its range of market control were to shrink too much. This is because capitalism’s natural tendency towards growth inevitably creates for it a crisis of overproduction, which can only be alleviated by perpetually expanding its market control. As Michael Parenti observed, there can be socialism in one country, but there can’t be capitalism in one country.

An Open Letter To President Joe Biden, As His Broken Promises Pile Up, by Greg Butterfield

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Dandelion Salad

by Greg Butterfield
Struggle ★ La Lucha, June 7, 2021
June 8, 2021

Dear President Biden,

Your broken promises are piling up. I took note of these headlines in just the last couple of weeks: “Joe Biden Surrenders On Federal Unemployment Benefits,” “Biden Drops Student Loan Forgiveness From Latest Budget,” “Biden offers to keep 2017 Trump tax cuts intact in infrastructure counteroffer to GOP,” “U.S. Says It Will Not Rejoin Open Skies Treaty With Russia.”

No Time to Relax: Dark Clouds in Biden’s America, by Paul Street

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by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, June 5, 2021
June 7, 2021

The sense of relief that came over many Americans after the malignant pandemo-fascist Donald Trump’s removal from power seems increasingly misplaced. The feeling of relaxation is understandable. The pandemic is in significant retreat inside the U.S. as summer dawns, thanks in part to the Biden administration’s vaccination efforts. The improved U.S. health outlook combined with Biden and the Congressional Democrats’ large opening stimulus package to spark some modest economic recovery and hiring expansion. Significantly vaccinated fans, shoppers, diners, vacationers, drinkers, entertainment seekers, and gamblers have returned to American major league baseball, basketball, and hockey games, beaches, bars, restaurants, hotels, casinos, movie theaters, concerts, and shopping malls.

South Africa: A Place Weeping

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Dandelion Salad

by New Frame
Johannesburg, South Africa
June 6, 2021

The social devastation of mass unemployment renders South Africa a non-viable society for millions. Something must give.

Unemployment in the United States peaked at 24.9% during the Great Depression. On the eve of Adolf Hitler’s ascension to power in 1933, unemployment in Germany was at 24%. The protests that launched the Arab Spring in 2011 were ascribed, in part, to what the International Labour Organization called an “extremely high youth unemployment rate of 23.4%”.

The Democracy Lab, by Rivera Sun

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by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
June 4, 2021

Winds of Change is the third novel in the Dandelion Trilogy by Rivera Sun. It’s a wild tale of resistance and resilience, people-powered democracy movements and the race for climate justice.

The Memorial Day Massacre by Sharon Smith + Labor History: Chicago Memorial Day Massacre 1937

The Chicago Memorial Day Incident

Dandelion Salad

by Sharon Smith
SocialistWorker.org
Originally posted May 27, 2011, written in May 1989
May 31, 2021

The presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed the reputation of the Democratic Party from the party of the Southern slaveholders to that of “friend of the working people”—a reputation that the Democratic Party, undeservedly, continues to enjoy.

U.S. Army: 0 — Internet: 1 by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
Originally posted May 26, 2019
May 30, 2021

The U.S. Army tweeted a harmless rah-rah tweet and got hit with a burst of reality never encountered on corporate-controlled media. Score one for the internet.

Chris Hedges: Corporate Tyranny: Chevron VS Donziger

Image by Rainforest Action Network via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on May 29, 2021

On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to Steven Donziger, the human rights environmental justice attorney about the grim reality when we confront the real centers of power.

Slaves to the Constitution, by Paul Street

Image by Brad Dougherty via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, May 21, 2021
May 28, 2021

Slavery lives on in U.S.-American life, crippling “our” supposed grand “democracy” in numerous ways. The massive wealth, income, and health gaps between Black and white Americans and the related persistent segregation and mass arrest and incarceration of Black Americans cannot be properly understood without reference to the two and a half centuries in which Black Americans were enslaved.

Larry Wilkerson: The US Should End Support For Israel and Saudi Arabia

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Dandelion Salad
May 27, 2021

theAnalysis-news on May 24, 2021

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson argues that American one-sided support for Israel is a danger to the region and U.S. interests. He says the U.S. should withdraw militarily from the Middle East and end support for Israel and Saudi Arabia. Doing so would encourage regional compromise, not war. Larry Wilkerson on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

The Spotlight on Israeli Apartheid Must Not Fade, by Kenn Orphan

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by Kenn Orphan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Halifax, Nova Scotia
May 26, 2021

Unlike ever before, Israel is finally seeing some major pushback that is international in scope. With its ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign exemplified by the expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, its attacks on worshippers at one of the holiest sites in Islam, Al Aqsa, and on the holiest of holidays, and its murderous and criminal assault on the captive population of Gaza, Israel has been put in an uncomfortable spotlight. But the key to dismantling its entrenched apartheid system lies in keeping that spotlight fixed, especially now that a ceasefire has been implemented. If attention is diverted, as Israel desperately wants, then it will become even more intransigent, especially as the Biden administration continues its business-as-usual approach.

Michael Hudson: Surprise: Corporate Junk Before Students?

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by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
May 25, 2021

theAnalysis-news on May 24, 2021

Why is the Fed buying corporate junk bonds and debt but won’t buy out student debt? Michael Hudson on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.