Indy Blog | The Indypendent

Mad, Passionate Love -- and Violence

PostedFebruary 22, 2012

When you fall in love, it’s all about what you have in common, and you can hardly imagine that there are differences, let alone that you will quarrel over them, or weep about them, or be torn apart by them -- or if all goes well, struggle, learn, and bond more strongly because of, rather than despite, them. The Occupy movement had its glorious honeymoon when old and young, liberal and radical, comfortable and desperate, homeless and tenured all found that what they had in common was so compelling the differences hardly seemed to matter.

Until they did.

The Gas Wars

PostedFebruary 22, 2012

Nothing drives voter sentiment like the price of gas – now averaging $3.56 a gallon, up 30 cents from the start of the year. It’s already hit $4 in some places. The last time gas topped $4 was 2008.

Hypocrisy on Fair Wages

PostedFebruary 21, 2012

Conservatives these days walk a tricky line when it comes to wages. On the one hand, they strive to defend the just earnings of capitalist lords of enterprise. On the other, they try hard to foster resentment of any working people who might actually enjoy living wages and decent benefits. In a nutshell: while Wall Street bankers deserve every penny they get, public school teachers—to take just one example—are overpaid mooches who are leeching off society.

Willie Baptist: "Poverty and Homelessness is Big Business"

PostedFebruary 21, 2012

Willie Baptist, author of Pedagogy of the Poor, speaks at the release of "Banking on Vacancy: Homelessness and Real Estate Speculation," a report issued by Picture the Homeless and the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development discussing vacant buildings and homelessness in New York City. Baptist is also a Poverty Scholar at Union Theological Seminary and a member of the Board of Directors of Picture the Homele

36,000 Quebec Students Strike Over Tuition Hikes

PostedFebruary 21, 2012

An estimated 36,000 post-secondary students in Quebec have left their classrooms for strikes planned in response to proposed tuition-fee hikes. The Charest government plans to double tuition (the current $2,200 fee will rise to $3,800 over the next five years).

How Greece Could Take Down Wall Street

PostedFebruary 20, 2012

In an article titled “Still No End to ‘Too Big to Fail,’” William Greider wrote in The Nation on February 15^th:

Financial market cynics have assumed all along that Dodd-Frank did not end "too big to fail" but instead created a charmed circle of protected banks labeled "systemically important" that will not be allowed to fail, no matter how badly they behave.

Sudden Business Closures in Chicago Prompt Wage Theft Fights

PostedFebruary 20, 2012

Losing your job is hard on any worker. But imagine discovering from the company website that your job is gone.

It happened in December to 136 employees of an upscale bakery in the Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood. Unfortunately, worker center advocates say, such sudden closures with mass firings are not uncommon. Two Chicago worker centers are fighting for laid-off workers left in their wake.

Why Students Are Hunger Striking in Virginia

PostedFebruary 20, 2012

Twelve students at the University of Virginia on Saturday began a hunger strike for a living wage policy for university employees. They've taken this step after having exhausted just about every other possible approach over a period of 14 years. I was part of the campaign way back when it started. I can support the assertion made by hunger-striking student A.J. Chandra on Saturday, who said,

Banana Republic Legacy Thrives in Today’s Latin America

PostedFebruary 19, 2012

The term “banana republic” has become a cliche to describe economic imperialism throughout history, but the legacy of colonialism persists in Latin America today. The tradition of predatory capitalism echoed in the recent death of Miguel Angel González Ramírez, a member of the Izabal banana workers’ union SITRABI in Guatemala.

Despite Fukushima Disaster, World Moves Towards More Nuclear Power

PostedFebruary 19, 2012

Despite the Fukushima nuclear disaster, potentially flawed plant design and worlwide protests, the world is moving towards building more nuclear power plants.

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