December 12 and 13, 2016


News and Views


FIRST FACEBOOK WAS CRITICIZED FOR SPYING ON OUR KEYSTROKES AS WE WORK AND NOW THIS. ZUCKERBERG IS A CUTE YOUNG GUY, BUT NOT TRUSTWORTHY, IT APPEARS TO ME.


https://mg.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?reason=ignore&rs=1&ec=LaunchTAE15#9213242169

Facebook's censorship problem
Candace Clement, FreePress.net

freepress.net
Lucy,

When Donald Trump becomes president, Facebook is going to need to step it up.

In 2016, the company came under fire for complying with law-enforcement requests to censor videos of activists as well as those that documented police violence and other human-rights abuses.

Given that Trump is hostile to even the most innocuous forms of dissent, Facebook needs to address concerns about its censorship.

Tell Mark Zuckerberg we need Facebook to stop censoring activists and documentation of police violence.

Facebook’s track record on this is grim. In the last year there have been a number of incidents that have raised serious concerns about the company’s commitment to protecting its users. These include the deactivation of Korryn Gaines’ account as she livestreamed an encounter with the police, the removal of an iconic Vietnam War photograph, reports of suppression of indigenous resistance at Standing Rock, the continued removal of Black activists’ content, and the disabling of Palestinian journalists’ accounts following Zuckerberg’s meeting with the Israeli prime minister.

The social media giant may have wanted people to use its video livestreaming tool to share fun messages with friends, but any communication tool can also be used to document abuses and raise awareness about issues the mainstream media ignores.

When Facebook complies with law-enforcement requests to censor user content that depicts police brutality, it sets a dangerous precedent that further harms and silences marginalized communities, particularly communities of color.

Tell Facebook to stop censoring documentation of human-rights abuses and to come clean about how it handles law-enforcement requests to silence accounts.

Thanks for all that you do—

Candace, Joseph and the rest of the Free Press team
freepress.net

P.S. Urge Facebook to stop censoring videos and start protecting free speech.


Free Press and the Free Press Action Fund are nonpartisan organizations fighting for your rights to connect and communicate. Learn more at www.freepress.net.

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“ENEMIES OF THE STATE” AND FACEBOOK


http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/11/01/civil-rights-groups-urge-facebook-for-transparency-over-its-censorship-policy.html

Civil rights groups urge Facebook for transparency over its censorship policy
By Saqib Shah Published November 01, 2016

Graphic Art -- Facebook's logo is seen through a magnifier in front of a displayed PC motherboard, in this illustration taken April 11, 2016. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)


Despite promising to modify its news censorship policy, Facebook still has a lot to answer for when it comes to its role as a media provider. At least that's the view held by a coalition of rights groups that are demanding more transparency from the social network.

More than 70 advocacy groups -- including the American Civil Liberties Union, Black Lives Matter, and the Center for Media Justice -- have signed a letter addressed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging him to clarify his company's policy regarding content removal.

In the letter, the organizations write they are "deeply concerned with the…cases of Facebook censoring human rights documentation, particularly content that depicts police violence." They cite the removal of the iconic Terror of War photograph, reports of Black activists' content being removed, and the disabling of Palestinian journalists' accounts as recent examples of censorship on the platform.

The groups specifically request Facebook implement a number of changes. First, and foremost, they urge the platform to release basic data on all user censorship (including the number of takedown requests by law enforcement agencies) to the public. This particular demand sounds similar to the information detailed in Twitter's recent transparency report, which saw the platform identify the U.S. government agencies that make the highest volume of data requests.

More From Digital Trends

Sandberg admits Facebook messed up handling of 'Napalm Girl' photo

The coalition also wants Facebook to create a public appeals platform for Facebook users who have had content removed, and for the company to undergo an audit regarding the "outcomes" of its Facebook Live video censorship policy. The fourth, and final demand, requests the social network stop disclosing customer data to third-party agencies unless required to by law.

The furore over the company's approach to media content was reignited in September, when the platform removed the aforementioned "Terror of War" photo from the timelines of several users in Norway, claiming it breached its nudity policy.

The resulting outcry saw Facebook reinstate the image, and later add that it would allow " newsworthy" items (despite their sensitive nature) on a case-by-case basis.

On Monday, the company reiterated those claims in a meeting with the Association of Norwegian Editors in Oslo, reports Reuters.

"We have made a number of policy changes after The Terror of War photo. We have improved our escalation process to ensure that controversial stories and images get surfaced more quickly," said Patrick Walker, Facebook's director of media partnership for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"In the weeks ahead, we are going to begin allowing more items that people find newsworthy, significant or important to the public interest, even if they might otherwise violate our standards."

Facebook has continuously shunned any attempt to paint it as a so-called "media company." Whereas the letter from the advocacy groups claims Facebook is now a site that breaks the news, the company's COO Sheryl Sandberg recently stated its focus is on technology and building tools, not on making stories.



THIS NEXT ARTICLE IS A LITTLE OLD, BUT FULL OF GOOD INFORMATION. ONE TYPE OF INFORMATION WHICH FACEBOOK HAS DELETED IS THAT WHICH SHOWS POLICE AND RACIAL MINORITY CONFLICTS OCCURRING. THAT’S REALLY THE ONLY WAY WE WILL BE CERTAIN WHAT THE TRUTH IS. I DO HOPE THAT A TIME IS AT HAND WHEN FACEBOOK AND THE MAINSTREAM NEWS SOURCES WILL BE IN MORE TROUBLE FOR NOT REPORTING SUCH THINGS THAN FOR DOING IT. GO BLM. WHENEVER SOMEONE SAYS THAT OFFICIAL SECRETS ARE GOOD, I ALWAYS WONDER, “GOOD FOR WHOM?”


http://thefifthcolumnnews.com/2015/12/ten-facebook-pages-to-follow-police-brutality/

Ten Facebook pages to follow: Police Brutality
by Awakened Media • December 30, 2015


Cleveland, Ohio (TFC) – Here are some pages to follow on Facebook that are dedicated to police accountability, police brutality and the police state. Due to the increase in police abuse related cases, these sites are dedicated to sharing all relevant and up-to-date information. You will find a brief description about each page, group or organization. Some of the descriptions are in their own words, some are some are just a brief summary of what we found in their content. Stay informed. Stay up-to-date. Information sharing and educating is vital to this cause.

Killed by police: This page has a link to an up-to-date list of people killed by the police in the United States. When scrolling this page you’ll be informed of all current shootings resulting in death at the hands of the police. Multiple posts each day will keep you updated with this ever-growing problem.

Peaceful streets project: “The Peaceful Streets Project is an all-volunteer, grassroots effort uniting people to end the institutional violence taking place on our streets and in our society. Through community organizing and direct action tactics, the Peaceful Streets Project seeks to support communities in understanding, exercising, and standing up for their rights, as well as creating viable alternatives to the violent institutions of social control.”

Photo Credit: Mat Inman, Flickr United march against police brutality.
Photo Credit: Mat Inman, Flickr
United march against police brutality.

Mothers against police brutality: “is the new voice for justice for victims of police brutality and deadly force. We are multi-racial, multi-ethnic coalition uniting mothers nationwide to fight for civil rights, police accountability, and policy reform.”

Communities against police brutality As each new police brutality incident occurs in our area, many people respond in powerful ways to demand justice for the victim. But we have learned that handling each case separately is not an effective way to deal with police brutality. Reinventing the wheel with each new case almost assures there will be more cases.

This organization was created to deal with police brutality on an ongoing basis. We work on the day-to-day abuses as well as taking on the more extreme cases. We work to combat police brutality from many angles, including political and legislative action, education, research, and providing advocacy for victims and their families.

Our overriding goal is to create a climate of resistance to abuse of authority by police organizations and to empower local people with a structure that can take on police brutality and actually bring it to an end.

National police misconduct reporting page: No one disputes the idea that police misconduct is wrong, but reasonable people do disagree about the scope of the problem and how it ought to be addressed. The purpose of this project is to gather reports of credible allegations of police misconduct so policymakers (and others) can make informed assessments of the nature and circumstances of police misconduct, and consider proposals that can minimize wrongdoing. Individuals who are victimized by police misconduct should expect a review process that will seriously investigate complaints. Police officers accused of wrongdoing should expect to be treated fairly and with due process. Our objective is to identify policies that consistently uphold high standards of ethics, honesty, and professionalism from police officers and critique the policies that do not. We believe good policy analysis can improve governmental decision making.
The National Police Misconduct Reporting Project (NPMRP) was first established in 2009 by David Packman, a private researcher. In April 2012, Mr. Packman announced that he could no longer devote the necessary time to maintain his project and asked for a person or organization to assume responsibility for the reporting project. The Cato Institute [A KOCH BROTHERS ORGANIZATION] expressed an interest, and Mr. Packman subsequently agreed to transfer his ownership interest to Cato with no qualifications whatsoever.

Police the police: We are simply trying to have an open platform to document police misconduct, brutality and abuse of “authority.” We believe transparency of all government officials leads to accountability. So pick up your camera and help us Police the Police!

Police State America: This page was developed to serve one purpose, to expose the corrupt police state that is growing in the United States.

Stolen Lives Project: The mission of the Stolen Lives Project is to assemble a national list of people killed by law enforcement agents from 1990 to the present. Through grassroots efforts, over 2000 cases were documented in the second edition of the Stolen Lives book, which was published in 1999. Although just the tip of the iceberg, these 2000+ are evidence of a horrifying national epidemic of police brutality. The victims of police violence were part of our society, but rarely are their lives or names publicized, or the real circumstances surrounding their deaths investigated and made known. The Stolen Lives Project aims to restore some dignity to the lives lost. Though their lives have been stolen from us, we will not allow them to be forgotten.

Artists Against Police Violence: is an online space featuring graphics and artwork to be used for communities against police murders of Black people. We are calling all artists across the U.S. and the world to rise up against anti-Black police violence, with a focus on Black artists in particular. We strive to feature and generate a diverse collection of hi-res images to empower families, protests, social media, the streets and beyond. When the language that white supremacy and anti-Blackness have given us fails, we must rise with our broken tools and forge a new visual language toward accountability and justice. Join us in the collective cry that Black Lives Matter.

A.C.A.B. Community: [SEE BELOW] This page relates to police brutality and violence on a global scale. The content features a steady feed of police clash videos, memes, art work, and protests. If your interested in what policing and police conflict looks like in other countries this is the place to be.


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Tags: awakened media facebook police accountability police brutality Police the police top ten



“A.C.A.B. COMMUNITY” COMES UP WITH MORE THAN ONE SITE WHEN SEARCHED. THE MOST CAUSTIC AND PROBABLE IS A.C.A.B. @ THE ACABIST,” WHICH IS NOT “FAIR AND BALANCED” ANY MORE THAN FOX NEWS IS, SO I WON’T KNOWINGLY GO THERE IN THE FUTURE FOR INFORMATION, EXCEPT ABOUT INTERNATIONAL STORIES.

ANOTHER PAGE NOT MENTIONED ABOVE WHICH IS INTERESTING TO ME IS COPBLOCK. THIS IS A WEBSITE FROM A GROUP WHO REGULARLY TAKE THEIR CAMERAS OUT ON THE STREET AND FILM POLICE ACTIVITIY, AS WELL AS PRESENTING STORIES OF INTEREST ON POLICE OPERATIONS. THEY ARE NOT POPULAR WITH POLICE, BUT THEY DO TELL IMPORTANT STORIES THAT I HAVEN’T FOUND ELSEWHERE. TO SOME PEOPLE THAT MEANS THAT THE STORIES AREN’T TRUE, BUT I SEE NO PROOF OF THAT, ANY MORE THAN I TRUST OUR INFORMATION AS A WHOLE ANYMORE. IT PROBABLY WAS NEVER NECESSARILY TRUE, BUT I WAS BLISSFULLY UNAWARE OF THAT WHEN I WAS YOUNG.



SO, WHAT CAN BE DONE IF “THE GOVERNMENT” IS USING FACEBOOK AGAINST US?

http://bottomlineinc.com/facebook-is-spying-on-you/

Facebook Is Spying On You
Date: February 15, 2013 Publication: Bottom Line Personal Source: John Sileo

Six ways your privacy could be compromised

Please scroll down for the Facebook chat with John Sileo on online privacy and identity-theft protection…

A billion people worldwide use Facebook to share details of their lives with their friends. Trouble is, they also might be unintentionally divulging matters they consider private—to friends…coworkers, clients and employers…marketing companies…and even to competitors, scammers and identity thieves.

Six ways Facebook could be compromising your private information and how to protect yourself…


1. The new Timeline format exposes your old mistakes. Timeline, introduced in late 2011, makes it easy for people to search back through your old Facebook posts, something that was very difficult to do in the past. That could expose private matters and embarrassing photos that you’ve long since forgotten posting.

What to do: To hide Timeline posts that you do not wish to be public, hold the cursor over the post, click the pencil icon that appears in the upper-right corner, then click “Hide from Timeline” or “Delete.”

2. Facebook apps steal personal details about you—even details that you specifically told Facebook you wished to keep private. Third-party apps are software applications available through Facebook but created by other companies. These include games and quizzes popular on Facebook such as FarmVille and Words with Friends, plus applications such as Skype, TripAdvisor and Yelp. Most Facebook apps are free—the companies that offer them make their money by harvesting personal details about users from their Facebook pages, then selling that information to advertisers.

Many apps collect only fairly innocuous information, such as age, hometown and gender, that probably is not secret. But others dig deep into Facebook data, even accessing information that you may have designated private, such as religious affiliation, political leanings and sexual orientation.

What to do: Read user agreements and privacy policies carefully to understand what information you are agreeing to share before signing up for any app. The free Internet tool Privacyscore is one way to evaluate the privacy policies of the apps you currently use (www.Facebook.com/privacyscore). You also can tighten privacy settings by clicking the lock icon in the upper-right-hand corner. Select “See More Settings,” then choose “Apps” from the left menu. Under “Apps You Use,” click “Edit” to see your privacy options.

3. Facebook “like” buttons spy on you—even when you don’t click on them. Each time you click a “like” button on a Web site, you broadcast your interest in a subject not just to your Facebook friends but also to Facebook and its advertising partners.

But if you’re a Facebook user and you visit a Web page that has a “like” button, Facebook will record that you visited that page even if you don’t click “like.” Facebook claims to keep Web-browsing habits private, but there’s no guarantee that the information won’t get out.

What to do: One way to prevent Facebook from knowing where you go online is to set your Web browser to block all cookies. Each browser has a different procedure for doing this, and you will have to re-enter your user ID and password each time you visit certain Web sites.

Alternatively, to eliminate cookies created during a specific browser session, you can use the “InPrivate Browsing” mode (Internet Explorer), “Incognito” mode (Google Chrome) or “Private Browsing” mode (Firefox and Safari).

There also are free plug-ins to stop Facebook from tracking you, such as Facebook Blocker (www.Webgraph.com/resources/facebookblocker).

4. “Social readers” tell your Facebook friends too much about your reading habits. Some sites, including The Washington Post and The Huffington Post, offer “social reader” Facebook tools. If you sign up for one, it will tell your Facebook friends what articles you read on the site.

Problem: The tools don’t share articles with your Facebook friends only when you click a “like” button—they share everything you read on the site.

What to do: If you’ve signed up for a social reader app, delete it. Click the lock icon in the upper-right-hand corner, select “See More Settings,” then choose “Apps” on the left. Locate the app, click the “X” and follow the directions to delete.

5. Photo and video tags can hurt you. They could let others see you in unflattering and unprofessional situations. If you work for a straight-laced employer or with conservative clients or you are in the job market, you already may realize that it’s unwise to post pictures of yourself in unprofessional and possibly embarrassing situations. But you may fail to consider that pictures that other people post of you also can hurt you.

A Facebook feature called photo tags has dramatically increased this risk. The tags make it easy for Facebook users to identify by name the people in photos they post, then link these photos to the Facebook pages of all users pictured.

What to do: Untag yourself from unflattering photos. Hold your cursor over the post, and click the pencil icon. Select “Report/Remove Tag,” then follow the directions to remove the tag. Enable review of all future photos you’re tagged in before they appear on your Timeline. Click the lock icon in the upper right, then “See More Settings” and select “Timeline and Tagging.” Then click “Edit” next to “Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your Timeline,” and click “Enabled” on the drop-down menu.

6. Your Facebook friends—and those friends’ friends—may reveal too much about you. Even if you’re careful not to provide sensitive information about yourself on Facebook, those details could be exposed by the company you keep.

Example: A 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found it was possible to determine with great accuracy whether a man was gay. This was based on factors such as the percentage of his Facebook friends who were openly gay—even if this man did not disclose his sexual orientation himself.

If several of your Facebook friends list a potentially risky or unhealthy activity, such as smoking or bar hopping, among their interests—or include posts or pictures of themselves pursuing this interest—an insurer, college admissions officer, employer or potential employer might conclude that you likely enjoy this pursuit yourself.

What to do: Take a close look at the interests and activities mentioned by your Facebook friends. If more than a few of them discuss a dangerous hobby, glory in unprofessional behavior or are open about matters of sexual orientation or political or religious beliefs that you consider private, consider removing most or all of these people from your friends list or at least make your friends list private. Click your name in the upper right, then click “Friends,” then “Edit” and select “Only Me” from the drop-down menu.



WHY WE NEED NATIONWIDE EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE AS A KEY ELEMENT. COBB SAYS THE STUDENT’S STORIES ARE LIES. IF THIS IS TRUE, THOUGH, “PAID LEAVE” IS INSULTING, JUST AS WHEN POLICE SHOOT AN UNARMED BLACK MAN BECAUSE THEY “FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/parents-give-school-board-hell-after-teacher-accused-of-teaching-whites-are-superior-gets-paid-leave/

Parents give school board hell after teacher accused of teaching whites are superior gets paid leave
Erin Corbett ERIN CORBETT
13 DEC 2016 AT 11:26 ET

Photograph -- Monique Richardson (Screenshot, Action 41 News) from video titled Angry Parents Take Over School Board Meeting


Parents of South Middle School students in Lawrence, Kansas held a sit-in on a school board meeting Monday night after learning that the Board of Education reached a settlement with a teacher accused of racism, 41 Action News reports.

In mid-October, the school placed sixth grade social studies teacher Chris Cobb on paid administrative leave over allegations that Cobb had made racist comments about black students in the classroom.

Cobb resigned in November, however documents obtained by 41 Action News show that he was set up to continue receiving payments and benefits until the end of the current school year.

“Y’all stayed here and protected Mr. Cobb!” a parent yelled during Monday’s board meeting. Another shouted, “He gets to go around and tell our black children that 50 years ago, they weren’t considered human?”

Monique Richardson, whose son was in Cobb’s social studies class, helped organize Monday’s protest. Richardson and a group of other parents complained to the school in October about Cobb’s remarks.

At the time, she said, “We jumped straight into action.” She explained how Cobb had made comments “that whites are more superior than blacks and that because of the color of our skin, we’ll never make the amount of money that other races make.”

Chitama Chitama, another parent who immigrated to the U.S. from Tanzania, said both of his sons took Cobb’s social studies class. “Most of the time, they were complaining about how he does not like black folks,” Chitama said.

Monday’s sit-in went on for hours. Board member Marcel Harmon addressed parents, saying, “Obviously, we have some pretty upset individuals. As board members, we’re going to try and listen and move forward.”

Cobb released a statement on Dec. 8 in which he claimed the allegations were false. He wrote that he was “unjustly accused of making racially insensitive remarks in the classroom,” and pointed to his time serving for the Peace Corps in Africa to perhaps prove that point.

Cobb added that the sources of the accusations have “a well documented history of falsehoods.”

You can see clips of the action below.




https://www.laprogressive.com/scapegoating-blacks/

Rightwingers Scapegoating Again
BY LAWRENCE S. WITTNER
POSTED ON DECEMBER 11, 2016


Recently, many commentators have expressed surprise at the romance between the incoming Trump administration and the hate-filled ranks of racial, religious, and nativist bigots.

But, in fact, the phenomenon of scapegoating―blaming a hapless and helpless minority for problems caused by others―has been fundamental to advancing the fortunes of the political Right throughout modern history. In Europe, political reactionaries traditionally found the Jews a useful target, for Jews not only practiced a much-reviled religion, but were considered an inferior race and disloyal to the nations in which they lived. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Czarist Russia’s rulers launched bloody, devastating pogroms by Christians against the Jewish minority, plus anti-Semitic decrees and legislation that made life for Jews such a nightmare that large numbers fled the country. In subsequent decades, rightwing parties in Eastern and Western Europe also employed anti-Semitism as a staple of their campaigns, ultimately joining in Nazi Germany’s “final solution” to “the Jewish problem.”

In the wake of the disaster of World War II, Europe’s rightwing parties gradually changed their focus. Downplaying their traditional anti-Semitism, they began to whip up hatred against “guest workers” from southern Europe and Turkey and, more recently, Gypsies, North Africans, Muslims, and assorted refugees from the Middle East. Prating of their alleged national, racial, and religious purity, supposedly threatened by these “outsiders,” parties of the Right have attained popularity and won major election victories. They include the National Front (France), the Alternative for Germany, Progress Party (Norway), Law and Justice (Poland), the Freedom Party of Austria, the Swiss People’s Party, the Danish People’s Party, the Sweden Democrats, the United Kingdom Independence Party, the Golden Dawn (Greece), Lega Nord (Italy), and dozens of others.

Nor is this rightwing penchant for scapegoating minorities limited to Europe. In India, the ruling party is the BJP, a rightwing, Hindu nationalist political party that has arisen in recent decades with the avowed goal of saving the country from the danger of Muslims, at home and abroad.

How should this marriage of rightwing politics with racial, religious, and nativist passions be explained?

Psychologists and other social theorists have argued that human beings have an unfortunate tendency to blame others for problems that these others did not cause, especially if they constitute a small minority and, therefore, are unable to defend themselves.

But this phenomenon also acquired a political dimension. With the gradual democratization of politics in the nineteenth century, the wealthy grew increasingly fearful that the lower classes would use their right to vote–and thus to govern–to take away their wealth and power. And, in fact, the masses often did have that in mind as they promoted political parties and government policies to foster economic and social equality.

Simply championing a program of maintaining upper class privilege or of funneling even greater riches to the wealthy wasn’t going to win elections for the outnumbered upper classes and their parties on the Right. But, if the masses could be persuaded that their real problems didn’t lie with the privileges of the wealthy but, rather, with dangerous religious, racial, or foreign-born minorities, these parties’ election chances would be vastly improved. Not surprisingly, then, rightwing parties resorted to a bigoted appeal again and again. As Carey McWilliams, the long-time editor of The Nation, wrote of anti-Semitism, scapegoating served as “a mask for privilege.”

Certainly that’s how scapegoating worked in the United States. Although racial, religious, and foreign minorities served as targets for political abuse throughout American history, African Americans were particularly useful along these lines. The Southern planter class drew on racism to maintain its political power during the slavery era. And, even in the aftermath of the Civil War, the planters and the new industrial magnates defeated interracial working class alliances in the South by appealing to racism among poor whites. By fanning the flames of racism and using the Democratic Party to cement their rule in Southern states, wealthy Southerners succeeded in turning back Reconstruction, Populism, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, and union organizing drives.

Outside the South, America’s economic elite operated for a time within a Protestant-dominated Republican Party, where it drew upon prejudice against Catholics and Jews (which often overlapped with prejudice against immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe) that helped provide the GOP with a mass political base. Then, after the national Democratic Party passed civil rights legislation in the 1960s, Republicans saw an excellent opportunity to widen their support. Barry Goldwater, nominated as the Republican Presidential candidate in 1964, combined a vigorous defense of wealth with an assault on racial equality legislation. Subsequently, the GOP employed Richard Nixon’s “Southern Strategy,” Ronald Reagan’s dog-whistle appeals to prejudice, and George H.W. Bush’s racist Willie Horton campaign ads to appeal to racists in both South and North. From the standpoint of rallying a white majority, racist politics worked very well. Donald Trump’s combination of giveaways to America’s millionaires and billionaires with demagogic attacks on blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, and immigrants constituted only an extension of the GOP strategy.

By contrast, parties of the Center-Left and the Left usually supported the rights of racial, religious, and foreign-born minorities. In the United States, this opposition to discrimination–plus the long-term scapegoating of minorities by the political Right–has resulted in the fact that the Democratic Party now attracts the votes of the overwhelming majority of African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Jews, Muslims, and recent immigrants.

Even so, thanks to the efficacy of racial, religious, and nativist prejudice in election campaigns, we can probably expect that unscrupulous rightwing politicians will continue to draw upon bigoted political appeals. Given the power of scapegoating, there is no single way to resist this onslaught. But one way might be to expose the program of class privilege hidden behind the mask.

Photograph -- Lawrence S. Wittner
PeaceVoice



EXCERPT – “Given the power of scapegoating, there is no single way to resist this onslaught. But one way might be to expose the program of class privilege hidden behind the mask.”


THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT BERNIE SANDERS WAS DOING, AND UNFORTUNATELY THE BLM YOUNG BLACKS FAILED TO TRUST HIM BECAUSE THEY ARE TOTALLY FOCUSED ON SKIN COLOR RATHER THAN THE OVERALL CLASS STRUGGLE, AND FAILED TO FOLLOW HIM EXCEPT FOR A HANDFUL. THEY TRUSTED CLINTON, WHO HAD SPOKEN MUCH MORE OFTEN SPECIFICALLY IN TERMS OF BLACK ISSUES, THOUGH SHE HAD BEEN LUKEWARM FOR SOME YEARS ON BLACK AND WHITE RELATIONS, AND DEFINITELY ON THE GROWING GULF IN WEALTH. TO ME THE PROBLEM OF SHEER POVERTY WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR. SADLY, WE ARE NOW IN A SITUATION OF NEAR HELPLESSNESS UNLESS SOMETHING CHANGES. THE PROGRESSIVE DEMS, THE FEW, ARE TRYING TO MAKE PROGRESS, BUT THE MOUNTAIN IS HIGH AND OUR LEGS ARE SHORT. I PRAY THIS WILL GRADUALLY CHANGE. AMEN.