When The Revolution Comes by Gaither Stewart

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by Gaither Stewart
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
Previously published August 8, 2011
June 22, 2017

The Historical Gastonia Textile Mill Strikes Are Not Forgotten

When in the early part of this millennium I was writing a rather surrealistic novel, ASHEVILLE, about the town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina where I started out my life, I ran into the story of the Asheville-based self-professed Communist writer, Olive Tilford Dargan, of whom I had never heard before. Visiting then her gravesite in the little known Green Hills Cemetery in West Asheville and researching her and her activities I fell into a gossamer review of early 19th century labor struggles in the good old U.S. South.

Untrump the World — It Won’t Self-Impeach and The Unifying Force of War Abolition by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, June 17, 2017
June 19, 2017

Remarks at United National Antiwar Coalition in Richmond, Virginia, June 17, 2017

Did you hear about Trump calling up the mayor of Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay and telling him that, contrary to all appearances, his island is not sinking? I want to focus on one element of this story, namely that the guy believed what he was told, rather than what he saw.

Chris Hedges: Rise of the New Black Radical

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on May 6, 2017

On this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges is joined by Adam Jackson, CEO of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a grassroots group working to improve the lives of African Americans in his home city of Baltimore. RT correspondent Anya Parampil looks at the rise of the new black radical.

It’s About Bringing Your Congress Back Home, Citizens! by Ralph Nader

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Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
May 3, 2017

The large marches, in Washington, DC and around the country, calling attention to importance of science and focusing on the calamitous impacts of climate change had impressive turnouts. But the protests would have been more productive if they concentrated more – in their slogans and signs – on 535 politicians to whom we have given immense power to influence policies relating to those issues, for ill or for good.

Critical Thinking: A Bridge to the Future, Part 5 by Arthur D. Robbins

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by Arthur D. Robbins
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained
May 2, 2017

War has indeed become perpetual and peace no longer even a fleeting wish nor a distant memory. We have become habituated to the rumblings of war and the steady drum beat of propaganda about war’s necessity and the noble motives that inspire it. We will close hospitals. We will close schools. We will close libraries and museums. We will sell off our parklands and water supply. People will sleep on the streets and go hungry. The war machine will go on.

The Answer Is: Medicare for All

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Dandelion Salad

Democracy Now! on Mar 27, 2017

http://democracynow.org – On Friday, House Republicans failed to muster enough support to pass the GOP healthcare plan, which some call Trumpcare. In response, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has announced he will soon introduce a bill to create a single-payer healthcare system. Several progressive groups are backing a single-payer system, including the Working Families Party, the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, CREDO, Social Security Works and National Nurses United. For more, we speak with Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. She is a professor at CUNY-Hunter College and a primary care physician. She is also a lecturer at Harvard Medical School.

The Problem is Civil Obedience by Howard Zinn

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by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Previously published on November 25, 2013
Originally published on www.thirdworldtraveler.com
1970, from the Zinn Reader, Seven Stories Press
February 7, 2017

[By the latter part of May, 1970, feelings about the war in Vietnam had become almost unbearably intense. In Boston, about a hundred of us decided to sit down at the Boston Army Base and block the road used by buses carrying draftees off to military duty. We were not so daft that we thought we were stopping the flow of soldiers to Vietnam; it was a symbolic act, a statement, a piece of guerrilla the after. We were all arrested and charged, in the quaint language of an old statute, with “sauntering and loitering” in such a way as to obstruct traffic.

Lessons of the Harvard Dining Hall Strike Victory by Ed Childs

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Dandelion Salad

by Ed Childs
Workers World, Feb. 3, 2017
February 6, 2017

Part 1: Advance preparation

The 750 striking Harvard University Dining Service workers — cooks, dishwashers, servers and cashiers — brought multibillion-dollar Harvard University to its knees on Oct. 25, 2016. After a three-week strike, the university bosses caved, giving the members of UNITE HERE Local 26 even more than they had initially demanded. Most importantly, all the health care takeaways the Harvard Corporation had demanded were off the table. The strike victory holds valuable lessons for the workers and oppressed in the age of global capitalism — particularly now, under the Trump administration and the rise of fascist, racist elements. Workers World’s Martha Grevatt interviewed Chief Steward Ed Childs, a cook and leader in Local 26 for more than 40 years. This is the first in a series of articles based on the interviews where Childs explains how the workers won.

President Trump: The Final Assault on Cooperation and the Environment by Graham Peebles

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by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
February 2, 2017

A silver lining of action and fury is bubbling inside the prevailing gloom that is the election of Donald Trump.

His presidency may prove to be the final straw in the decades long assault on brotherhood, human kindness, cooperation and society inculcated during the Thatcher/Reagan era; the ultimate action that triggers an unstoppable popular uprising, uniting people in common cause against the abhorrent ideals that are causing despair and anger amongst millions of people. A global campaign, based on and calling for unity, tolerance, cooperation and social responsibility.

The Anti-Trump Protests: Don’t Ask: Where Were You For The Last 8 Years? by Bill Dores

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Dandelion Salad

by Bill Dores
Workers World
January 30, 2017

Since the election of Trump, spontaneous protests have erupted as well as the massive counter-inaugural marches on Jan. 20 and worldwide women’s marches on Jan. 21. Some leftists and anti-war people on social media have had nothing but criticism for the protests and skepticism regarding their participants.

Emergence: Revolution Within and Without

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
January 30, 2017

A self-organizing movement like the Dandelion Insurrection relies on the collective and individual capacity of our participants. We are only as strong as the synergistic sum of our parts. The weaknesses of each person affect the effectiveness of the whole movement. The wisdom or folly of every individual contributes to either the intelligence or foolhardiness of our shared strategies and decisions.

Protests Against Trump’s Refugee Ban

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Dandelion Salad

‘Let them in!’: Protesters rally at JFK against Trump’s refugee ban

RT on Jan 29, 2017

Protesters rally at JFK Airport during a demonstration against the new immigration ban issued by President Donald Trump.

Chris Hedges: Learn to Work With People That Think Differently From Us + Inaugurate the Resistance!

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

truthdig on Jan 22, 2017

Truthdig correspondent Donald Kaufman met up with columnist Chris Hedges on Saturday at the Women’s March on Washington and discussed the significance of the event and the challenge of creating meaningful dialogue between supporters and opponents of President Trump. Drawing in part on his experience as a journalist covering resistance movements abroad, Hedges also commented more generally about the nature and birth of nonviolent revolutions and how they can sometimes begin with relatively little in the way of specific agendas.

Dorothy Day: Our Problems Stem From Our Acceptance of This Filthy, Rotten System by Richard Sahn

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by Richard Sahn
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
First published at The Contrary Perspective
Originally posted March 24, 2015
January 17, 2017

In 1933 Dorothy Day, a progressive journalist and Catholic convert, and Peter Maurin, a French peasant and philosopher, founded an anarchist-pacifist movement and newspaper they called the “Catholic Worker.” The paper was meant to be the Christian answer to the Communist Party paper, “The Daily Worker.” Not affiliated with the Catholic Church, the movement aimed to follow the Christian gospels by promoting peace—nationally and internationally—and serving the poor and homeless. It urged a culture where the scholar could be a worker and the worker a scholar. It advocated non-violent changes in the very structure of society, based on social justice and economic equality.

Chris Hedges: Liberal Elites Spoke The Language Of Values While Thrusting A Knife Into The Backs Of The Underclass

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Jan 7, 2017

On this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges discusses strategies of resistance with Michael Gecan, author of “Going Public: An Organizer’s Guide to Citizen Action”. RT Correspondent reports on the godfather of community organizing, Saul Alinsky.