Tom Hayden's Blog, page 34

A Story About Eric Garcetti

I have a story to tell you about Eric Garcetti.

CIA Hearings Open Window of Opportunity

The peace movement, human rights and civil liberties groups, Congressional progressives and even officials in the Obama administration can work on diverse pathways to prevent the consolidation of another Imperial Presidency.

A Turning Point Against the Drone Policy

The Senate hearings on the CIA this week were a turning point in rethinking US drone policies, the first official ripping away of the official veil of secrecy after a decade of congressional silence and administrative cover up.

What’s Next for the Dreamers?

Yesterday was momentous in my UCLA class on democracy and social movements. While President Barack Obama was announcing his immigration reform agenda, we were studying the case of the Dreamers, the student movement for immigrant rights, which won historic recognition from Obama in June 2012. Lecturing yesterday were Professor Kent Wong, director of UCLA’s labor studies center, and Betsy Estudillo, an undocumented graduate student now examining ways to sustain the morale of the movement while also organizing car wash workers. 

Vietnam Between China and the U.S.

Vietnam and the United States are growing closer in response to the power of China, an irony not surprising to anyone with an understanding of Machiavellian politics.

From Ground War to Long War to Hell

Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Mali, Somalia and Algeria, drone strikes, indefinite detention and torture, secret operations – all of these controversies and more are connected by a “shadow war” and cannot be resolved without a departure from or change in its guiding doctrine; nor can the Central and Latin American drug wars, which derive from that same poisoned root.

Obama Launches Legacy Conference

President Barack Obama’s campaign organization is launching a new drive to secure a progressive legacy on gun control, climate change and immigrant rights, issues dear to grassroots activists where a major push against the main drift is needed. Eight thousand Obama volunteers will convene over the Inaugural weekend to commit themselves to the work.

Buried History in Hanoi

Out beyond the swank poolside bar at Hanoi’s Metropole hotel, which I visited last month, a gated entrance opens onto a dark set of stairs. At the bottom is a dank and musty bomb shelter, and, for those who can read Vietnamese, a sign in golden lettering explaining that Joan Baez and Jane Fonda once took refuge there.

The Battle for Memory in Hanoi

Out beyond the swank poolside bar at Hanoi’s Metropole hotel, which I visited last month, a gated entrance opens onto a dark set of stairs. At the bottom is a dank and musty bomb shelter, and, for those who can read Vietnamese, a sign in golden lettering explaining that Joan Baez and Jane Fonda once took refuge there.

Charges Dismissed Against Alex Sanchez

Vowing to “rebuild Homies Unidos,” gang peacemaker Alex Sanchez walked out of federal court a free man for the first time in nearly four years.