Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1259
September 6, 2016
Hidden History: US Workers’ Bitter Struggle for Labor Rights
Plutocracy II: Solidarity Forever
Directed by Scott Noble (2016)
Film Review
Plutocracy II (the sequel to Plutocracy) covers the resistance movements that arose in response to the brutal sweatshop conditions of US mines and factories in the late 19th century. Prior to the rise of the labor movement, most US workers earned starvation wages, as well as experiencing the highest rate of work place accidents and deaths in the developed world.
This documentary traces the rise of the Molly Maguires, the United Mine Workers, the Western Federation of Miners, the American Railway Workers Union (started by Eugene Debbs), the American Federation of Labor (which only represented white male skilled workers), the Peoples Party (aka the Populist Party), the Socialist Party, the International Workers of the World (IWW) and the progressive and anarchist movement.
Solidarity Forever also highlights the extreme violence used by industrialists and federal and state governments to suppress these movements. During this period, the Pinkerton’s guards (a private army hired by corporate elites), national guardsmen and even US troops openly shot and killed nonviolent strikers without fear of legal repercussions.
The parts of the film I found most interesting concerned the IWW and the anarchist movement. I was previously unaware of IWW’s strict code of nonviolence, despite the stark brutality they experienced at the hands of government authorities. I was also unaware of their role in empowering Mexicans, African Americans and women to assume lead organizing roles – nor that the IWW organized the highly successful (women’s) textile workers strike in Lawrence Massachusetts in 1912.
I was also intrigued to learn about a faction of the early anarchist movement that engaged in “Propaganda of the Deed,” planning and carrying out assassinations of industrialist, generals and politicians in the hope of inspiring mass insurrection.
I was previously unaware of the involvement of the early progressive movement (which had its origins in middle class Christianity) in the eugenics movement and Native American residential schools.
September 5, 2016
Victories, Resistance and Determination
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Update on recent victories.
The last few weeks and months have seen a series of encouraging wins on the environmental front:
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Election Fraud Report Recommends Primary Results for Hillary Invalid*
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The states in which EJUSA found strong and compelling evidence of election fraud against Bernie Sanders are Alabama, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Election Fraud Report Recommends Primary Results for Hillary Invalid*
A report by the non-profit election integrity organization Election Justice USA (EJUSA) is recommending that Democratic primary results in numerous states, including New York and California, be decertified and that the paper ballots be counted by hand in all states which show irregularities, where paper ballots are available.
The report, “Democracy Lost: A Report on the Fatally Flawed 2016 Democratic Primaries,” questions the legitimacy of the nomination of Hillary Clinton. It is co-authored by the 100th president of the American Statistical Association, Fritz Scheuren, a professor at George Washington University. The report declares:
““We conclude by calling for decertification of the 2016 Democratic primary results in every state in which we have established a reasonable doubt as to the accuracy of the vote tally.”
The states in which EJUSA found strong and compelling evidence of election fraud against Bernie Sanders…
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Biggest Strike in world: India Engulfed in Red Banners as Workers Strike Back
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Workers’ demands include monetary controls to prevent inflation, universal social security coverage, a rise in the minimum wage, an end to pro-employer labor law amendments, an assured pension for the entire working population, and a ban on foreign ownership of the country’s strategic sectors, such as defense, insurance and railways.
IN PICTURES: Tens of millions of workers shut down the country in what is believed to be the largest labor action the world has seen.
The working class of India struck back hard on Friday in a nationally coordinated labor action led by the Center of Indian Trade Unions. The historic work stoppage is by far the largest strike the country—and possibly the world—has ever seen, and reflects a high degree of class-conscious militancy on the subcontinent.
Central and local unions across the country kicked off the mass demonstration 6 a.m. on Friday local time.Photo:Communist Party of India (Marxist)
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September 4, 2016
Open Up the Debates: Green Party’s Jill Stein Accuses Democrats & GOP of Rigging Debate Rules – (Petition Link Included)
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Sign petition to open the debates to 3rd parties – only 4,000 signatures needed to reach 100,000 goal.
Finding Truth In an Illusory World
~@ Rigging debate rules, imagine that… What isn’t rigged?… Put corruption through its’ paces, at least the issue will be brought to public awareness… I checked Jill Stein’s website and the petition now stands at 93,549 signatures – Out of 100,000 signatures needed… For anyone wishing to sign, you will find it here…http://www.jill2016.com/openthedebatespetition
Democracy Now!
http://democracynow.org – While polls show Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are among the least popular major-party candidates to ever run for the White House, it appears no third-party candidates will be invited to take part in the first presidential debate next month. The debates are organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties. Under the commission’s rules, candidates will only be invited if they are polling at 15 percent in five national surveys. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein have…
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Relocalization: “Reshoring” the US Garment Industry
photo credit: seattlemade.org
The creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995 would lead hundreds of US corporations to shut down their American factories and “offshore” them to third world countries with lower wages and fewer environmental regulations. This trend was most pronounced in the textile and clothing industry. Between 1900 and 2011, US employment in apparel manufacturing dropped by over 80% from 900,000 to 150,000 jobs.
Thanks to the largely grassroots relocalization movement, this trend seems to be reversing. According to economist and author Michael Shuman, rebuilding local economies devastated by trade deregulation is one of the most effective tools for dismantling corporate rule. For every dollar spent in a local business, 45 cents remains in the local economy – in contrast to 10 cents for every dollar spent in a corporate retail chain. (See 2010 Harvard Business Review)
America’s Burgeoning Sewn Goods Industry
While most local economy activism has focused on food production and banking, the last decade has also witnessed numerous attempts across the US to “reshore” sewn goods production. Efforts in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Portland have been the most successful. Consumer research suggests the most important driver behind this movement has been growing consumer demand for corporate transparency and accountability. A 2014 Nielson Survey reveals that 42% of consumers are “willing to pay more for products and services provided by companies committed to positive social and environmental impacts.”
Consumers are also increasingly concerned about the environmental profile of the textile and clothing industry, the world’s second most polluting industry (behind oil). Third world dying mills, which use 200 tons of water for one ton of fabric, cause serious contamination when they return the water to local rivers untreated.
They’re also really wary of a particularly environmentally destructive trend known as “fast fashion”. The latter produces cheap, poorly constructed clothing to be worn once or twice and discarded.
Seattle’s Experiment with Sewn Goods Manufacture
Seattle is the latest city to attempt to foster the development of a local sewn goods industry. In 2015, the Seattle Good Business Network (SGBN)* received a Duwamish River Opportunity Grant to investigate opportunities for expansion of sewn goods manufacture in Seattle.
Sewn Goods Case Studies by Rachel Beck and Molly Parkhan, the report of this investigation, is a fascinating read. I was particularly intrigued by their detailed descriptions of the origins thriving sewn goods industries in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Portland. The report finishes with some optimistic predictions and solid recommendations for the successful expansion of Seattle’s local sewn goods industry.
*Founded in 2010, SGBN is a “network of residents, local businesses and non profit and municipal organizations dedicated to building a vibrant and sustainable local economy based on shared environmental and community values.”
Homeland eyes special declaration to take charge of elections
By Paul Bedard
From Washington Examiner
Even before the FBI identified new cyberattacks on two separate state election boards, the Department of Homeland Security began considering declaring the election a critical infrastructure, giving it the same control over security it has over Wall Street and the electric power grid.The latest admissions of attacks could speed up that effort possibly including the upcoming presidential election, according to officials.
“We should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process, is critical infrastructure like the financial sector, like the power grid,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.
“There’s a vital national interest in our election process, so I do think we need to consider whether it should be considered by my department and others critical infrastructure,” he said at a media conference earlier this month hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
Source: Homeland eyes special declaration to take charge of elections
September 3, 2016
CHOLESTEROL DRUGS (STATINS) LINKED TO DIABETES, BRAIN DAMAGE & MUCH MORE
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Given that 50 years of research has failed to find any link between high cholesterol levels and either heart disease or stroke, you have to wonder why doctors continue to prescribe statins. See Why the Low Fat Diet Makes You Fat and Gives You Heart Disease, Cancer and Tooth Decay.
What?s the deal with Cholesterol? Good, bad, both, myth? Perhaps it is a myth, something that?s been made into a problem so pharmaceutical companies can keep raking in the cash? Statins alone generate billions of dollars a year. The important point to take note of is the fact that Statins, drugs designed to lower ones cholesterol, are one of the biggest drugs prescribed to patients, and one of the biggest earners for pharmaceutical companies, which is concerning.
Why is it concerning? Because over the years, it?s become more and more difficult for people to trust pharmaceutical companies for several different reasons. Whether it?s about studies that continue to expose the harmful effects of various drugs, or the chief editors of Major Medical journals like Dr. Richard Horton (editor in chief of the Lancet )?blowing the whistle,? so to speak, there is large . (1)(2
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CIA’s clandestine meeting in Istanbul on coup night
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Turkish police release details of CIA meeting with coup plotters.
CIA’s clandestine meeting in Istanbul on coup night
As more evidence surfaces daily, it will be evident that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was playing a huge role behind the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey
Henri J. Barkey, former CIA personnel and the current Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, known as the policy maker for U.S. authority, was the second top American figure who orchestrated the coup attempt in Turkey.
According to Istanbul Police’s Intelligence, Counter Terror, Cyber Crime and Criminal Units, Barkey was holding a meeting with 17 top figures, most of them foreign nationals, at a hotel on Istanbul’s Princes Island on July 15, the day of the failed coup attempt in Turkey.
Barkey was staying in the Splendid Hotel, which was used as a British Military Headquarters during the days of occupation in 1919, between July 15…
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Engineers Proves Native Americans Were Right about the Dakota Pipeline*
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Native American protest vindicated – Dakota Access Pipeline is illegal. Army Corps of Engineers confirms the company building the pipeline doesn’t have a written easement to build on Corps property.
Engineers Proves Native Americans Were Right about the Dakota Pipeline*
By Matt Agorist
Earlier this month, a few dozen Native Americans showed up to protest the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile-long pipeline that would cross right through their sacred land. As word spread, however, the few dozen turned into more than 4,000 native Americans. Because of the large turnout, a brief victory ensued for the people after the developers of the four-state oil pipeline agreed to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline until after a federal hearing.
Before the hearing started, however, North Dakota homeland security director Greg Wilz ordered the removal of state-owned trailers and water tanks from the protest encampment, despite the sweltering heat, because of alleged disorderly conduct.
In spite of the government clamping down on them, the protesters remained vigilant. And, on Friday, they saw another victory. The Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that Energy Transfer Partners, the company…
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