AMERICAN LEFT HISTORY

This space is dedicated to the proposition that we need to know the history of the struggles on the left and of earlier progressive movements here and world-wide. If we can learn from the mistakes made in the past (as well as what went right) we can move forward in the future to create a more just and equitable society. We will be reviewing books, CDs, and movies we believe everyone needs to read, hear and look at as well as making commentary from time to time. Greg Green, site manager

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The Latest From The Rag Blog

Click below to link to The Rag Blog

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/

Markin comment:

I find this The Rag Blog website very useful to monitor for the latest in what is happening with past tense radical activists and activities. Anybody, with some kind of name, and who is still around from the 1960s has found a home here. So the remembrances and recollections are helpful for today’s activists. Strangely the politics are almost non-existent, as least any that would help today, except to kind of retroactively “bless” those old-time left politics that did nothing (well, almost nothing) but get us on the losing end of the class (and cultural) wars of the last forty plus years. Still this is a must read blog for today’s left militants.

Additional Markin comment:

I place some material in this space which may be of interest to the radical public that I do not necessarily agree with or support. Off hand, as I have mentioned before, I think it would be easier, infinitely easier, to fight for the socialist revolution straight up than some of the “remedies” provided by the commentators in these entries. But part of that struggle for the socialist revolution is to sort out the “real” stuff from the fluff as we struggle for that more just world that animates our efforts.

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Alan Waldman :
All hail (Sid) Caesar!

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Remembering the late, great Sid Caesar, who didn’t laugh at my jokes…

Sid Caesar, 1922-2014. Photo by Wally Fong / AP. Image from The Hollywood Reporter.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | February 19, 2014

The wonderful Sid Caesar just died at age 92. What a tremendous talent!
From 1951 through 1958 he starred in the 90-minute classic sketch comedy Your Show of Shows and then Caesar’s Hour, where he and highly gifted sidekicks Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris delighted 60 million viewers a week. It was written by a Who’s Who of comic scribes, including Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart and young Woody Allen.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Actors, Alan Waldman, Caesar's Hour, Comedians, Deaths, Obituary, Rag Bloggers, Sid Caesar, Television Stars, Your Show of Shows | 1 Comment

The Latest From The Rag Blog

Click below to link to The Rag Blog

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/

Markin comment:

Additional Markin comment:

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Drought | 12 Comments

Dave Zirin :
Sochi 2014: Where Pussy Riot gets whipped by Cossacks

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Members of the punk rock collective Pussy Riot were attacked by Cossacks and horsewhipped in the streets of Sochi.

Masked members of the Pussy Riot collective leave a police station in Sochi. Photo by Reuters. Image from the International Business Times.

By Dave Zirin | The Rag Blog | February 19, 2014

In Cairo’s Tahrir Square, way back in 2011, there was a moment that starkly showcased the aspiration for a better future alongside the past puking up its own barbarism. That was when the masses of people who had fearlessly gathered to raise demands for a democratic Egypt, were set upon by men on horses and camels, brandishing swords.
This was more than an attempt at intimidation. Egypt, as the second highest recipient of U.S. military aid, had better weapons at its disposal than horses and swords. It was meant to summon the most atavistic fears among protestors and conjure images of age-old horror stories only whispered by elders.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 2014 Winter Olympics, Agit Prop, Dave Zirin, Direct Action, Gay Rights, LGBT, Musicians, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Police Brutality, Punk Rockers, Pussy Riot, Rag Bloggers, Russia, Russian Cossacks, Sochi Olympics, Sports, Tahir Square, Transgenders, Vladamir Luxuria, Vladimir Putin | 2 Comments

The Latest From The Rag Blog

Click below to link to The Rag Blog

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/

Markin comment:

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Pyat Quartet, Rag Bloggers, Ron Jacobs | Leave a comment

Bob Feldman :
A People’s History of Egypt, Part 18, 1962-1976

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Nasser establishes a national party then moves to isolate Communists; his successor, Anwar Sadat, aligns Egypt with the West.

Egyptian leaders in Alexandria, 1968. From left: Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, Ali Sabri, and Hussein el-Shafei. Photo from Bibliotheca Alexandrina and Gamal Abdel Nasser Foundation / Wikimedia Commons.

By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | March 1, 2014

[With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman's Rag Blog "people's history" series, "The Movement to Democratize Egypt," could not be more timely. Also see Feldman's "Hidden History of Texas" series on The Rag Blog.]
In 1962, in an effort “to absorb all progressive political forces” in the country “into the state system” of Egypt, Nasser’s military regime established the “Arab Socialist Union” as the one official political party, according to Tareq Y. Ismael and Rifa‘at El-Sa’id’s The Communist Movement in Egypt: 1920-1988.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Anwar Sadat, Arab Socialist Union, Bob Feldman, Egyptian Communists, Egyptian History, Egyptian Jews, Egyptian Left, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Islamic Fundamentalism, Muslim Brotherhood, People's History of Egypt, Rag Bloggers, World History | Leave a comment

The Latest From The Rag Blog

Click below to link to The Rag Blog

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/

Markin comment:

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Michael James :
Poor whites respond to Black rebellion, plus Buffalo Gap and the Klan, 1967-’68

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The summers of 1967 and ’68 were hot — real hot — and we were in the ‘guts of the ogre.’

james 2 - LADO_Training_1967._Posters_on_MJ's_Apt._Wall_(3)

Posters on the wall above my desk. Uptown Chicago, 1967. Photos by Michael James from his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.

By Michael James | The Rag Blog | March 3, 2014

[In this series, Michael James is sharing images from his rich past, accompanied by reflections about -- and inspired by -- those images. This photo will be included in his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James' Pictures from the Long Haul.]
The summer of 1967 was hot — real hot. Temperatures soared and so did social unrest. Air conditioners were scarce and so was any semblance of authentic legislation to alleviate poverty and its co-conspirators, repression and neglect.
On the worst of the hot days I would go in DeMars restaurant in Uptown, order a strawberry ice cream sundae, black coffee, and ice water, and sit in an air-conditioned turquoise booth that gave me a view of the intersection of Wilson and Sheridan. Nights were the worst. I attempted sleep after a cold shower, lying naked on the bed with a fan blowing over me.
Continue reading →

Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 1968 Democratic Convention, Black Power, Black Uprising, Civil Rights Movement, Community Organizing, Fannie Lou Hamer, JOIN Community Union, Memoir, Michael James, New Left, nostalgia, Peace Movement, Peggy Terry, Pictures from the Long Haul, Rag Bloggers, Rennie Davis, Rising Up Angry, SDS, Sixties, SNCC, Travel, Uptown Chicago, Vietnam War | 3 Comments

The Latest From The Rag Blog

Click below to link to The Rag Blog

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/

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Lamar W. Hankins :
Legislative harassment: The plan to destroy women’s constitutional rights

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

For the last 40 years, a cabal of authoritarian, mostly religiously-inspired people has worked to diminish women’s constitutional right to control their bodies.

Political cartoon by Pat Bagley / Salt Lake Tribune.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | February 4, 2014

Human beings are constantly trying to change reality. I don’t object to this characteristic. In fact, I’ve spent a good deal of my life opposing some of the worst realities of the species: war, poverty, racism, sex discrimination, environmental destruction. What I have never tried to do is diminish anyone’s constitutional rights. But this is the chosen work of some in this country when it comes to women’s control of their reproductive processes.
By reproductive processes, I mean not only childbirth, but also contraception and termination of unwanted pregnancies, whether because of personal circumstances, the health of the fetus, or the physical or mental health of the woman.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Abortion Rights, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Rights, Family Planning, Health, Lamar W. Hankins, Personhood Movement, Rag Bloggers, Religious Right, Reproductive Rights, Roe v. Wade, War on Women | 3 Comments

The Latest From The Rag Blog

Click below to link to The Rag Blog

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/

Markin comment:

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comment

Mariann G. Wizard :
VERSE |’Texas gay marriage: Soon come?’

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Ah, Gay Paree! Image from first Gay Marriage Show in Paris, 2013. Photo by Francois Guillot / AFP.

Texas Gay Marriage: Soon Come?

By Mariann G. Wizard | The Rag Blog | March 5, 2014

Candidates claiming to support the Constitution
need to get hip: Love’s sweet institution
will soon be respected in fair distribution.
Today’s headlines say gays may marry here;
this makes me feel glad, if not fully queer!
I congratulate warmly dear friends lez and gay;
I’m delighted for you on this wonderful day.
But as marriage comes to you, tread carefully, please:
like any rosegarden, it’s buzzing with bees!
Continue reading →

Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Gay Marriage, LGBT, Mariann G. Wizard, Poetry, Rag Bloggers, Verse | 1 Comment

The Latest From The Rag Blog

Click below to link to The Rag Blog

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/

Markin comment:

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McEnteer, Rag Bloggers, Ritual, Spring Training | 1 Comment

Bob Feldman :
A People’s History of Egypt, Part 19, 1976-1989

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

U.S.-aligned Sadat regime answers labor uprising with mass arrests; Sadat assassinated; poverty worsens.

From left: Menachem Begin, Jimmy Carter and Anwar Sadat at Camp David, September 7, 1978. Image from Jimmy Carter Library / Wikimedia Commons.

By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | March 11, 2014

[With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman's Rag Blog "people's history" series, "The Movement to Democratize Egypt," could not be more timely. Also see Feldman's "Hidden History of Texas" series on The Rag Blog.]
In January 1977, the U.S. government-aligned Sadat regime again made mass arrests when mass demonstrations broke out in Cairo and the 12 other main Egyptian cities. The demonstrators were protesting the Egyptian government’s efforts to take away food subsidies the government had been providing for Egypt’s still-impoverished masses.
Continue reading →

Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Anwar Sadat, Bob Feldman, Egyptian Communists, Egyptian History, Muslim Brotherhood, People's History of Egypt, Rag Bloggers | Leave a comment

AMERICAN LEFT HISTORY

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Alan Waldman :
All hail (Sid) Caesar!

Remembering the late, great Sid Caesar, who didn’t laugh at my jokes…

Dave Zirin :
Sochi 2014: Where Pussy Riot gets whipped by Cossacks

Members of the punk rock collective Pussy Riot were attacked by Cossacks and horsewhipped in the streets of Sochi.

Bob Feldman :
A People’s History of Egypt, Part 18, 1962-1976

Nasser establishes a national party then moves to isolate Communists; his successor, Anwar Sadat, aligns Egypt with the West.

Michael James :
Poor whites respond to Black rebellion, plus Buffalo Gap and the Klan, 1967-’68

The summers of 1967 and ’68 were hot — real hot — and we were in the ‘guts of the ogre.’

Lamar W. Hankins :
Legislative harassment: The plan to destroy women’s constitutional rights

For the last 40 years, a cabal of authoritarian, mostly religiously-inspired people has worked to diminish women’s constitutional right to control their bodies.

Mariann G. Wizard :
VERSE |’Texas gay marriage: Soon come?’

Texas Gay Marriage: Soon Come?

Bob Feldman :
A People’s History of Egypt, Part 19, 1976-1989

U.S.-aligned Sadat regime answers labor uprising with mass arrests; Sadat assassinated; poverty worsens.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Remembering the late, great Sid Caesar, who didn’t laugh at my jokes…

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Members of the punk rock collective Pussy Riot were attacked by Cossacks and horsewhipped in the streets of Sochi.

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Nasser establishes a national party then moves to isolate Communists; his successor, Anwar Sadat, aligns Egypt with the West.

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The summers of 1967 and ’68 were hot — real hot — and we were in the ‘guts of the ogre.’

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For the last 40 years, a cabal of authoritarian, mostly religiously-inspired people has worked to diminish women’s constitutional right to control their bodies.

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Texas Gay Marriage: Soon Come?

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U.S.-aligned Sadat regime answers labor uprising with mass arrests; Sadat assassinated; poverty worsens.

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