The Brief Origins of May Day, by Eric Chase

Image by brent granby via Flickr

Dandelion Salad
Originally published May 1, 2015

Republished with permission from IWW

by Eric Chase
IWW, 1993
May 1, 2024

Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers’ Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don’t realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as “American” as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.

Chris Hedges: How Kindness Saved My Life

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Watch the video below

Dandelion Salad
Originally posted Jan. 14, 2020
January 20, 2024

with Chris Hedges

Emir-Stein Center on Jan 6, 2020

Evil, even in the darkest moments, is impotent before the miracle of human kindness. This miracle defies prejudices and hatreds. It crosses cultures and religions. It lies at the core of faith. Take a brief journey through the eyes of American, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges to Jerusalem, Gaza, and Iraq, and discover the sacred bonds that make us human.

The Radicalization of Martin Luther King, Jr. + Where Do We Go From Here?

Image via Cocoabiscuit

Dandelion Salad
Previously published on Jan. 20, 2013
January 15, 2024

“One day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you’re raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.” — Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here?” Aug. 16, 1967

Happy New Year! Who Was The Radical MLK?

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Watch the video below

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas! + Happy Birthday to Jesus, the Anti-Imperialist Socialist!

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Watch the video below

Merry Christmas!

“All I want for Christmas is the abolition of imperialist white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy!”

When America Was “Great”… by Paul Street + Indigenous Peoples’ History is More Complicated Than a Holiday Myth

Image by Daniel Lobo via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published November 21, 2018
November 22, 2023

“Your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings… are… a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.” – Frederick Douglass, July 4th, 1852

Tell the Truth: Veterans Day Is A National Day of Lying, by David Swanson

Image by Leo Reynolds via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Nov. 12, 2018
November 10, 2023

Some are inclined to recognize that Trumpies are dwelling in an alternative universe in which neither climate collapse nor nuclear apocalypse is a concern but terrifying wild hoards of Muslim Hondurans are skipping and dancing into the Fatherland armed with gang symbols, deadly rocks, and socialistic tendencies.

A Veteran Remembers, by Howard Zinn + How the U.S. Poisoned its Veterans

Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Previously published Nov. 13, 2011
November 9, 2023

Let’s go back to the beginning of Veterans Day. It used to be Armistice Day, because at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I came to an end.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Kill Innocent Civilians, by Wim Laven + Understanding the Rage and the Horror + Israel’s 9/11? by Kenn Orphan

Image by Alisdare Hickson via Flickr

Updated: October 11, 2023

by Wim Laven
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
October 10, 2023

Turn on any mainstream news media and you are guaranteed to see grizzly details of violence transpiring in Israel and Palestine. Interviews with survivors and witnesses describing horrors; observers asking important question like “how could this happen?” and “why didn’t we stop it?” Sooner or later the politics, the leaders, and the responses become central to the story.

Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress, by Howard Zinn

Image by Anthony Catalano via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published October 13, 2009
October 8, 2023

An excerpt from A People’s History of the United States.

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island’s beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:

Labor Day: The Unknown Holiday, by Walter Brasch

Image by Children’s Bureau Centennial via Flickr

by Walter Brasch
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Sept. 7, 2009
September 4, 2023

It’s Labor Day, and that means millions of Americans are celebrating. Most Americans have no idea what Labor Day is, other than self-serving political speeches, hot dogs, burgers, a pool party, and the last day of a three-day holiday. Few even know that Labor Day exists to allow people to remember and honor the struggles for respect, dignity, and acceptable wages and working conditions for the rank-and-file employees.

Labor History: The Pullman Strike of 1894 + Fight for Your Rights!

By Galtzaurdin – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Dandelion Salad
Originally published Sept. 4, 2017
September 3, 2023

The Pullman Strike of 1894 Explained: US History Review

Keith Hughes on Jun 3, 2014

Join me as we take a look at a pivot strike in US History, the Pullman Strike of 1894. Perfect for inquisitive learners, students of the social studies and the cray cray on the internets.

Salt of the Earth

screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad
Previously posted May 7, 2017

ampopfilms on Jul 16, 2014

Salt of the Earth (1954) is an American drama film written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics.

Put Away The Flags, by Howard Zinn

Image by tq2cute via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 3, 2010
July 4, 2023

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

The Brief Origins of May Day, by Eric Chase

Image by brent granby via Flickr

Dandelion Salad
Originally published May 1, 2015

Republished with permission from IWW

by Eric Chase
IWW, 1993
April 30, 2023

Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers’ Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don’t realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as “American” as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.