Lori Berenson and Peruvian Anger

Berenson and Salvador

Today the NYTimes published an interesting and extensive article on the saga of leftist activist, Lori Berenson who has just been released from prison in Peru after 15 years of incarceration. She was convicted because her involvement with the revolutionary group, Tupac Amaru, although it was never clear exactly what she did with them beyond renting an apartment for some group members. She is now required to live in Lima, under supervised parole conditions, until 2015. At that point she will be forced to leave Peru and never return. While in prison, she met and married a fellow inmate and was allowed conjugal visits. In 2009, Berenson gave birth to her son Salvador. Women prisoners in Peru are allowed to care for their children up until the age of 3.

My S.O. (significant other) and I visited Peru this past summer. In Lima we stayed in the bustling, affluent and cosmopolitan district of Miraflores where Berenson's parent's pay for the apartment where she and her son, Salvador, reside. Upon moving into her place she was barraged with the rage of her neighbors who spit at her and shouted "terrorist." They protested her presence publicly and, as a result, she was unceremoniously returned to jail. And it was a fact that every person my S.O. and I spoke with in that country which included cab drivers, artists, store clerks, hotel employees, students, indigenous people and union members felt strong opposition to Lori Berenson and her struggle. Even when we pointed out that her intentions were good but she was a probably quite naive, they were unmoved by her plight.

The reasons we could deduce for this residual anger and resentment involve the bombings, oppression and general hardship that the Peruvian people endured in the 1980's. The fear, death and destruction of that era was considerable and those who were older haven't yet recovered. The wounds are still bloody and the scars are deep. I'm convinced that Berenson, who is said to speak Spanish with a Peruvian accent now, will never attain any degree of acceptance there.

The gist of what Peruvians said about her was, why doesn't she fix things in her own country before coming here and screwing around with ours? We took that advice to heart, and although we photographed and cheered many marches and demonstrations in that very activist country, we were cautious about joining the militants in their ranks. There is certainly much here in the USA that desperately needs our resources and attention.

Wisconsin Capitol Ordered Re-opened to All/Librarians March

Librarians on the March

A Wisconsin judge today ordered that the Madison Capitol be reopened to folks without ID as it is a public building today Tuesday, March 1st in response to a restraining order.State officials have not yet begun complying. A plan to clear out the protesters to clean the building was partially successful on Sunday but those who didn't leave voluntarily were allowed to staty overnight. Police have been standing in solidarity with pro-union activists as part of a united front. In the small city that had been created in Madison there was no incidence of theft or crime, according to Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now." A group of librarians joined the protest in solidarity (see photo at left).

Five-thousand people gathered at the Statehouse in Columbus Ohio to protest a similar bill proposed by Governor Kasich.

Childless by Choice: the Politics of Difference

Standing Out in a Crowd

Peer pressure to conform follows us throughout our lives. Presuming we survive our teenage years, we can choose to ignore tradition and follow the road less traveled. There is always a certain amount of sacrifice inherent in this decision and the perpetual assumptions of a traditional life will be constant and dog you wherever you go. Whether openly queer, proudly child-free, unabashedly atheist or marxist, these differences create divisions often making it harder to have the kind of conversations with co-workers, people we might encounter on jury duty, and just about everyone outside our circle. This can be more challenging than mainstream folks realize.

A close friend of mine who happens to be a mother felt invalidated by my recent blogging about discrimination against those of us who choose not to reproduce. Both myself and my sister, who is straight, made the decision to not have children an early age. I'm sure that hearing our mother continually harping on how the two of us ruined her life did not encourage us to follow in her footsteps. As a child I remember saying often that I didn't ask to be born and I was totally serious. There is beauty in the world but, in general, I wouldn't wish this life on anyone. It was not out of selfishness that I chose not to reproduce. I was truly motivated in the opposite direction.

Is the purpose of our time on earth to reproduce our species? Perhaps. Even so that doesn't mean everyone should be forced to do it. Do we live for some nebulous future or for the present? Well the inside-the-box thinking tends to lean toward the future. Buddhist thinking emphasizes the present. This starts to touch on that old religious question. Are we waiting for pie in the sky when we die or do we really want to be here now? We hear voices from the "family" contingent all the time. Minority stands must be heard as well! That has to be the reason that god invented the internet!

Support for Workers/ Economists Who Deserve Love

New Yorkers Show Support

As concerned folks gather in state capitals and urban centers across the country gather to support the last bastion of the rapidly disappearing middle class, ie: workers right to organize and bargain collectively, another huge rally is taking place in Madison. Today police are throwing out protesters with sleeping bags, tomorrow, Sunday, they are going to clear the building of people who have been camped out there for eleven days. At that point the protesters will have three options: 1. To walk out willingly when requested. 2. Make it clear that they are leaving against their will and leave in handcuffs. 3.Resist and be carried out. Options 2 and 3 may result in a misdemeanor arrest and fines.

Since the not-so-great economic collapse and recession this queer and aging hippie has become a bit of an armchair economist following a few leftward bound stars of the profession. Let's hear a shoutout for Paul Krugman, in spite of the fact that he works for the NYTimes, his pithy insights into the recent crash have given encouragement to all of us lowly working stiffs. In that linked article he gives tribute to another of my favorites, Naomi Klein, militant and erudite author of "The Shock Doctrine." Another Marxist of note is Richard Wolff, star of the video, "Capitalism Hits the Fan," which explains in laywoman's language the events which led to our present predicament. Now local Berkeley guy Robert Reich has spoken up eloquently about income inequality and support for public sector workers. My significant other (sig-o?) and I even ran into him in a local chain pharmacy I will not name. At about four-feet, nine inches tall, he's hard to miss. She tapped him on the shoulder and said, "keep up the good work!" Here's a recent piece of his defending social security. And last, but not least, the ever-informative, The Economic Collapse Blog by Michael Snyder.

We Need a Viable Third Party!

I don't care what name we give it. We could call it the Labor Party, like in the UK except without the u. Call it the Coffee Party or any other beverage that isn't taken but the fact is we need a viable alternative to the Republicans and Democrats. True, with Republican attack on unions and public sector workers has successfully caused the Democrats to step up their game. That is encouraging but it's not sufficient. We have to be united and fortified to ride out the coming attacks against us. Yes, we have been engaged in open class warfare since the economic meltdown of 2008 and, in case you haven't guessed, we have been hammered. Now they are just trying to drive the nails in our coffin. But surprise, surprise, we were not dead, only sleeping. Can a million Lilliputians defeat the sleeping giant of corporate greed? Can David slay Goliath? You know the answer already. We just have to get out butts in gear and full speed ahead!

As of today, the Wisconsin assembly railroaded through and passed the bill eliminating pubic sector workers bargaining rights. The measure now goes to the senate where Democrats have been absent for a week, trying to prevent the chamber from achieving a quorum.

Article from Alternet: Uniion Busting is Theft and St. Louis Post Dispatch: On Madison, class warfare comes out of the shadows.

Pink Slips, Pills, War on Women

Walker has now begun sending out as many as 6,000 layoff notices to public sector employees in Wisconsin. Even Lisa Fitzgerald, the wife of republican and state senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald has gotten one. This is a familiar strategy to try to scare folks into compliance. Just last year on March 5, 2010 the then mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom sent out more than 15,000 pink slips to city workers threatening us with termination.

In 1994, every employee of the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Newspaper Agency went out on strike. We were tired of working without a contract and going without cost of living raises for so long. After about one week of walking the picket lines, management sent out certified letters to all employees that said we would lose our jobs if we didn't come back to work. Luckily, when I answered my door, my porch was covered with strike/picket signs. The postman said he had a certified letter for some of this name, mine, but it was clear that she wasn't home to sign for it. "Yes," I replied, "she is gone and no-one knows when she'll return." I experienced so many acts of solidarity during that brief, 11 day, strike. BART employees gave us free rides, truckers brought us big boxes of burgers, it felt like a huge extended community.

Well, there seems to be a double dip in the housing crisis. Prices are still falling and new home sales are diving faster than a cormorant on cocaine, Obama's loan modification program has not functioned very well due to lack of cooperation from the banks, gas, food and the prices in general keep rising. Now, the media keeps telling us the recession is over, thinking if they repeat it often enough we will start to believe it.

And, if that's not enough salt rubbed in our wounds, yesterday I saw a televised ad for a new anti-depressant. The commercial begins something like...are you having money troubles, family problems?...Well, ain't that a kick in the head, sell us medication to take while you rob and rape us! This brings me to the GOP's new war on women. Their prescription for returning women to a subordinate class: make abortion illegal, change the definition of rape, and in Iowa and South Dakota there are bill being presented todecriminalize the murder of doctors in clinics that give women access to abortion. So much for all their talk about "right to life."

Obama and DOMA Split-up/ Punked Walker Praises NYTimes

At long last Obama's arc seems to be bending a bit toward justice in the case of queer civil rights. He has instructed his justice department to discontinue its practice of defending marriage as an exclusively heterosexual prerogative, to ignore section 3 of DOMA. Is it conceivable that our asleep at the wheel president is finally waking up the concept of equal rights for all? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, the terminally fascist-leaning governor of Wisconsin was duped into believing that he was speaking to Tyranny Party representative, super-capitalist David Koch when he was actually chatting the progressive editor of the Buffalo Beast, Matt Taibbi. During their extensive phone conversation, Walker praised a front-page article from the New York Times, vilifying "evil" public sector workers and stirring up resentment and misinformation in an attempt to divide and conquer the working class. After all, why punish the actual bankers and venture capitalists who caused this mess, when we can just turn our anger against each other. So much for the mainstream media and its complicity, lies and corruption!