Havana 2016. Flickr/Ken Walton. Some rights reserved.Olga, a former University teacher, remembered her faithful devotion to Fidel Castro when she was growing up in Santiago more than forty years ago. ‘Before the triumph of the Revolution I went to a Baptist private school. After I went to a state school, and I grew disenchanted with…
Month: March 2019
Amazing Women Refuse To Leave Until Random Skateboarder Gets It Right
Is there anything more nerve wracking then watching a skateboarder attempt some gravity-defying maneuver? You’re on edge just thinking about that landing. Well, a group of women turned from anxious spectators to personal coaches as they cheered on and high-fived a total stranger as he tried a series of skateboarding tricks. They even lent some moral support…
Behind the murder of Berta Cáceres: corporate complicity
Berta Cáceres and local assembly community members campaigning against the Agua Zarca dam. Photo: courtesy of the Goldman Prize. Berta Cáceres was killed while sleeping in her home in La Esperanza, Honduras on 3rd March 2016. Over the past few years, she had been harassed, and received multiple death threats for her role in the…
The Standardized Test Monopoly That Secretly Runs America’s High Schools
In April, my 10th-grade son did something I never managed to do in any class ever: He finished his entire world history textbook. All 1,258 pages of it. Some parents might breathe a sigh of relief over this accomplishment (as in, whew, my kid is not a slacker), but I was skeptical. “Did you actually…
Prolier-than-thou: talking about identity
Between two identitarian politics? 'Uncle Sam' poses with cardboard cut-outs of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, November 2016.Jane Barlow/Press Association. All rights reserved. In a recent essay for AlterNet, Bill Fletcher defends the general concept of identity politics in the following terms: "What passes for identity politics should actually be understood as social justice struggles…
We need to remove free movement from the vicious circle of security
Free spirit! Wikicommons/Pranjal Kumar. Some rights reserved.“Freedom is that possession which permits the enjoyment of all other possessions”, wrote Montesquieu. Yet, today we are led to believe that the only way to enjoy personal safety within society, and guarantee our individual and collective freedoms, is through preventive security and reinforced controls. How have we arrived…
Friendship For Sale
I like making friends in unusual ways. I once made a friend in college by approaching him at the dining hall and asking him what he thought about color. A coworker and I bonded in the break room over the fact that we both had the same shade of purple socks. I’ve made friends with…
COP21: the climate movement’s last summit?
The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles. Between October 2014 and March 2016 I studied how the climate movement was mobilizing around the COP21 climate summit in Paris. Although the focus of this research was academic, I have long wondered whether my research could…
Standardized Tests Don’t Show What Kids Know
Every year, policymakers across the U.S. make life-changing decisions based on the results of standardized tests. These high-stakes decisions include, but are not limited to, student promotion to the next grade level, student eligibility to participate in advanced coursework, eligibility to graduate high school, and teacher tenure. In 40 states, teachers are evaluated in part…
At the FBI, Great Power And Scandal Tend To Go Hand In Hand
Drama at the FBI is nothing new. Given its 109-year history, the FBI has seen many scandals and numerous directors come and go. Its directors, in fact, have always been the face and driving force of the FBI. Most have retired or moved on to other work, four were forced to offer resignations, but only…