An amazing victory for a community in Atlanta that didn't want the military helping to create a public high school for their children. Activists waged a two-month campaign to oppose the establishment of a military-themed high school which the U.S. Marine Corps and the DeKalb County Board of Education had hoped to open on Aug. 10. Relentless watchdogs of their school board, this team of parents, students and community members used media coverage and direct actions to successfully oppose the plan. That's the good news. The bad news is that Obama's new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is known in Chicago for having fostered many such schools during his tenure as superintendent of schools. And plans continue for military-themed high schools in other low-income areas around the country. Who's watching your school board?
Dear readers, notice much in the news today, and on Facebook, Twitter and in the blogosphere, about Afghanistan? No coincidence — hundreds of people in a huge coalition of peace groups including CODEPINK, United for Peace and Justice, Peace Action, American Friends Service Committee and more are doing all they can today in a National [...]
In the kitchen the other night, I was thinking about my nephew, the Marine lieutenant, and suddenly these words flashed through my mind: “I want him to come to my funeral. I don’t want to go to his funeral.” A few years ago, when my family gathered for my father’s funeral, the only thing that [...]
Check out our first video interview with Afghan, Pakistani and women from other countries under war. Here, Nooria talks about growing up in Afghanistan in the 70s, returning to Afghanistan after the US invasion, the Karzai government, the marital rape law that was passed in Afghanistan, and the effect of US troops on women and [...]
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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