The Tools Of Nonviolent Struggle Should Never Lose Their Edge

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
January 6, 2019

The tools of nonviolent action and the skills of struggle are as vital to these times as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Training to use them is as essential as learning how to use a computer. The ability to boycott and strike is as important as the ability to drive a car. Every citizen who knows how to use email should also know how to protest, walk-out, shut-down, occupy, blockade, and more. This is the only way the power of the people can hold the power of oligarchs in check.

I Call For A Constitution 2.0

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 16, 2018

If we, the people, wrote a constitution now, what would go in it? Equal rights for women, men, non-binary, and undefined? Caps on wealth tied to poverty levels? Rights of nature? Reparations for past crimes, wrongs, and thefts? Limits on military spending? A free and open Internet? Abolition of mass incarceration, or the entire prison system; replaced with restorative and community justice? Free healthcare for all? Living wages or universal basic income? Would we keep corporate personhood or the electoral college?

The Openly Plutocratic Domination of U.S. Politics by Paul Street

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by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street
November 14, 2018

So often, underlying structures and institutions of oppression escape serious scrutiny amid our country’s most high-profile political dramas. Take the recent conviction of Jason Van Dyke, the white Chicago police officer caught on tape four years ago firing 16 shots into 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader: Liberals Are Not Progressives–They Are Into Empire and Corporate Welfare

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader

RT America on June 23, 2018

Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate and former Presidential Candidate, discusses American Mythology with Chris Hedges.

Michael Parenti: Free Speech In The Face Of Oppression + Free Speech – At A Price by Michael Parenti

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by Michael Parenti
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Sept. 4, 2011
April 26, 2018

48South7th on Aug 31, 2011

Author Michael Parenti challenges his audience to learn about and advocate free speech in the face of oppression. From the origins of the Bill of Rights up to today’s challenges by the FBI and other government entities, Parenti says, it is essential to stand up for one’s rights. He spoke at an event sponsored by the South Bay Committee Against Political Repression.

The Problem is Civil Obedience by Howard Zinn + Matt Damon Reads from Howard Zinn’s Speech

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by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Previously published on November 25, 2013
March 22, 2018

[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.

“An Idiot Surrounded by Clowns”: Why Trump (Still) Sits in the White House by Paul Street + Max Blumenthal on Fire and Fury, Clinton Probe, and Russiagate

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by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street
Previously published at Counterpunch
January 6, 2018

Most of the media’s attention on journalist Michael Wolff’s “explosive” new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House has focused on the disclosure that Trump’s former political strategist Steve Bannon used the words “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” to describe Donald Trump, Jr. and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner’s infamous June 2016 meeting with Russians claiming to possess damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

Michael Parenti: Capitalism vs. Reality (2015)

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

with Michael Parenti
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 20, 2017

anti-imperialism on Oct 31, 2017

Springfield, Illinois, 6th October 2015.

This took ages to upload and the audio might be a bit loud or quiet at some points, sorry.

Pull Down That Statue of the U.S. Constitution by David Swanson

Image by Brad Dougherty via Flickr

with David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
September 17, 2017

Nobody, not racist warmakers, not imaginary non-racist warmakers, not founding fathers, not radical protesters should be made into a deity, larger than life, in marble or bronze, on horseback or otherwise. Nobody is that flawless, and nobody’s story so withstands the test of time. We need human-sized statues and memorials of whole movements.

Will the Federal Civil Service Defend Us? by Ralph Nader

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Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
August 8, 2017

As the Trump wrecking crew ramps up its destructive campaign against federal health and safety protections and social services for impoverished, disabled and vulnerable people (young and old) the latest targets of their ire are the federal civil servants who faithfully keep our government functioning here and abroad.

Edward Snowden: Liberty VS Surveillance

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Ruptly TV on Apr 18, 2017

National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden is due to participate via a video link during an international conference at College of William & Mary in Williamsburg on Tuesday, April 18.

The Problem is Civil Obedience by Howard Zinn

Image by Kenneth Lu via Flickr

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.

Ralph Nader: Scalia, Hillary Clinton and the Upholding of Corporate Supremacy, Part 2

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Dandelion Salad

with Ralph Nader

TheRealNews on Feb 22, 2016

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader says both the Republican and Democratic parties are subservient to corporate power.

The Conundrums of Justice Scalia by Ralph Nader + A Cover for Corporatism in Scalia’s “Originalism”

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Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
February 20, 2016

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin “Nino” Scalia evoked widespread commentary about how outspoken he was both on the Court and at law schools and other forums where he often lectured and sometimes tangled with audiences. Knowing of Justice Scalia’s unusual expressiveness for a jurist, my colleague Robert Weissman and I wrote him a challenging letter in 2006, starting with these words:

Do Away With Elections? by Arthur D. Robbins

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by Arthur D. Robbins
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, March 24, 2015
November 11, 2015

Do away with #elections? To even think such a thought is treasonous. An election, or should I say a presidential election, is one of the few occasions, or should I say the only occasion, on which we take a genuine interest in government. We are spectators at a sporting event, a mix of a bullfight, prizefight and a barroom brawl. We get into heated arguments about which team is “better” about who deserves to win, about which gladiator will be the best for the country. There is an uppercut, a right cross, a roundhouse and he or she (not too often) is down for the count. No, he is not out. He is on his knees, struggling to his feet. The crowd roars.