Monday, February 1, 2021, 3:30 PM
Join the Poor Peoples’s Campaign to launch Moral Mondays during the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration. On the anniversary of the start of the sit-in movement on February 1, 1960, in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Poor People’s Campaign will launch a new series of Moral Mondays to mark the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration. This Monday, we will push Democrats, Republicans and independents to immediately enact a living wage of $15 an hour covering all minimum-wage workers, including tipped workers, and stronger, expanded union rights. We will hold a massive call-in to the offices of Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell as we also demand just COVID relief.  PoorPeoplescampaign.org/livestream.  More information here.

The majority of Americans, and the vast majority of people in other countries throughout the world, heaved a sigh of relief when Joe Biden won the 2020 US presidential election. Hopes for the future soared, as the world seemed to be rid of Trump at last!

There is so much wrong with Donald Trump that one hardly knows where to start. He is a bully, braggart, narcicist, racist, mysogenist, habitual liar, and tax evader, in addition to being demonstrably ignorant. He has contempt for both domestic and international law, as well as for the US Constitution. In the words of Michael Moore, he is a “part-time clown and full-time sociopath”. However, it is Trump's climate change denial, withdrawal from the Paris agreement, and sponsorship of fossil fuels that posed the greatest threats to the future of humans society and the biosphere.

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The Tidal Wave of Indigenous Cinema continues to swell with Hawaiian filmmaker Ciara Lacy’s stirring This is the Way We Rise, a poetic short about Polynesian slam poet Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio now playing at the Sundance Film Festival. Jamaica is the daughter of Jon Osorio, Dean of Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaiʻi, an author and renowned songwriter who composed one of my three favorite Aloha “State” songs, “Hawaiian Soul”, about the fabled Native activist George Helm.

It seems that Jamaica has picked up not only her talented dad’s way with words, but also his commitment to the struggle for the liberation of the Kānaka Maoli (indigenous people of Hawaiʻi). In Rise we see Jamaica perform slam poetry at various venues, including Nuyorican Poets Café in Manhattan and the White House for the Obamas and their daughters (the former president, of course, was born in Oahu – not that he ever lifted a finger to help the Hawaiians that I know of).

When local media reported Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan was stepping downon Thursday, January 28, many Columbus residents were relieved and hopeful. The Columbus Dispatch quoted Mayor Andy Ginther’s rationale for asking the chief to leave: “Columbus residents have lost faith in him and in the division's ability to change on its own.” Ginther demoted former Chief Quinlan back to deputy chief.

Ohio’s capital city experienced a tumultuous year of social justice protests and the continued exposure of the Columbus Division of Police’s racist and violent activities. Black Lives Matter protests starting with George Floyd’s murder by police in the spring were marred by numerous incidents of excessive police violence and over-charging protesters – resulting in promises from city government that things would change.

“Quinlan represents the status quo, which is evident when you look at the lack of impactful changes he failed to make,” a current Columbus police officer noted, “the City of Columbus and the Division of Police are worse off now than when he took over.” 

On the January 25th global day of action to end the war on Yemen one of the most dramatic actions that moved the demand for peace into the most media stories was taken by members of World BEYOND War and our allies, including Labour Against the Arms Trade in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

We blocked trucks outside Paddock Transportation International. Paddock ships armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia for the Saudi-led war on Yemen — or at least it tries to!

Paddock’s trucks were delayed and their office flooded with calls. A great deal of attention was brought to the issue. For the first time, a Liberal Member of Parliament broke with the government’s position and publicly supported our demands.