Yes! — Activists prepared for months, expecting Trump to steal the election. They were right, and he failed. [FULL LINK]
Category: Elections
Electoral Politics
Biden’s Pick for Secretary of State Has a Record of Militarism
Truthout, November 24, 2020: Despite Biden owing his election to the Democratic Party’s progressive base and left-leaning independents, he has nominated Antony Blinken whom The Washington Post has described as having “a centrist view of the world” and who has “supported interventionist positions”…
Most Dem Voters Are to the Left of Biden on Foreign Policy. Can He Be Moved?
Truthout, November 16, 2020: While he will certainly be an improvement over Donald Trump, Biden’s record is well to the right of most Democratic voters. Scores of foreign policy officials from the Bush administration and allied pundits endorsed Biden. This is not surprising in light of his support for Bush’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Arab dictatorships and the Israeli occupation…
Is the U.S. Prepared to Resist a Coup?
The Progressive October 26, 2020: President Donald Trump’s refusal to agree to a peaceful transfer of power has raised concerns that the Republicans may try to steal the 2020 Presidential Election… a growing network of organizations is already preparing to launch a large-scale civil resistance movement to defend American democracy.
Resisting Stolen Elections: Lessons from the Philippines, Serbia, Ukraine, and Gambia
ICNC October 23, 2020: Recent precedents we can learn from about how to stop attempts to overturn election results include… one in Southeast Asia, one in Africa and two in Eastern Europe… through large-scale nonviolent direct action. This article looks at these cases, and identifies key lessons.
VIDEO: Democracy Defense: Advice from Activists Around the World
Nonviolence International, Beautiful Trouble, BlackOUT Collective, and OR Books present a webinar on: “Democracy Defense: Advice from Activists Around the World.” [VIEW NOW]
Abortion Foes Should Vote Democratic
The Progressive October 8, 2020: The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court, which could result in the eventual reversal of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, has brought this contentious issue to the forefront.
INTERVIEW: 2020 Election, Nonviolent Action, and More
This Video Is no longer available.
VIDEO: Decision 2020
This Video Is no longer available.
INTERVIEW: Prof. Stephen Zunes on the 2020 Election
[LISTEN NOW] KSQD Podcast October 1, 2020: Professor Zunes talks about the recent debates, potential constitutional crises, voter suppression, and efforts to shore up voting rights in swing states. [DOWNLOAD THE MP3.]
Will Susan Rice Be Biden’s Pick For VP ?
KPFA FM Radio August 6, 2020. [Listen or download now]
Congressional Democrats Supported Violent Force Against Protesters in 2010
Truthout June 19, 2020: Congressional Democrats have begun speaking out against police-perpetrated killings as well as the use of excessive force against protesters and journalists… Democrats have even rejected the notion that if some members of an initially nonviolent crowd fight back when attacked by security forces, it legitimates the targeting of protesters or those recording the incident, much less justifying lethal force. However, 10 years ago this week, a majority of congressional Democrats defended Israel’s killing of 10 passengers and crew on the Mavi Marmara sailing as part of a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for the besieged Gaza Strip. The Israelis shot and killed 10 people aboard the ship, including five not resisting… most in the head.
Sanders Is Not Another McGovern. I Know – I Worked on McGovern’s Campaign; & PODCAST: Why Comparisons Between Sanders and McGovern Are Wrong
Truthout, February 26, 2020: With Bernie Sanders now the clear front-runner, we are hearing speculation — despite polls indicating otherwise — he would not be able to beat Trump in November. Repeated comparisons are being made to the 1972 landslide defeat of George McGovern — the only time the Democrats nominated a genuine progressive — with the implication that a similar fate would befall a Sanders nomination…
Also Podcast: YES! Rising Up With Sonali
Why Comparisons Between Sanders
and McGovern Are Wrong, March 2020.
Klobuchar Has Pushed Extreme Right-Wing Policy on Israel/Palestine
Truthout February 14, 2020; reposted at Portside.org: Much of the media has been focusing on the rise of centrist Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar as a serious contender in the Democratic presidential primary. Many progressives criticize her positions on climate change, environment, economic inequality, social welfare, the criminal legal system and her surprisingly right-wing foreign policy perspectives.
Biden Is Doubling Down on Iraq War Lies
Truthout & AntiWar.com, August 8 & 10, 2019: Biden has a long history of inaccurate claims regarding that oil-rich country… as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he insisted Iraq somehow reconstituted a vast arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, a nuclear weapons program and sophisticated delivery systems that had long since been eliminated…
The Other Reason Biden Shouldn’t Run
The Progressive, April 22, 2019: As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2002, Biden stated that Saddam Hussein had a sizable arsenal of chemical weapons as well as biological weapons, including anthrax, and that “he may have a strain” of smallpox, despite UN inspectors reporting that Iraq no longer appeared to have any weaponized chemical or biological agents…
‘More AIPAC Than J Street’: Kamala Harris Runs to the Right on Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy In Focus, January 28, 2019:
January 2017 Harris sided with Trump in criticizing the outgoing President Obama’s refusal to veto an otherwise-unanimous, very modest, and largely symbolic UN Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements. [Source]
Impeach Away! Thoughts on a Possible President Pence
August 22, 2018 in The Progressive, and Common Dreams: While many express concern that Vice-President Mike Pence, a Christian supremacist with more consistently hard right wing views than Trump, could replace him, Zunes argues Trump will likely be forced from office and this would be a positive development…
The Role of Civil Resistance in Bolivia’s 1977-1982 Pro-Democracy Struggle
July 2018 Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies II(1); also from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and at Research Gate: Despite being the poorest and least developed country in South America, Bolivia was the first to emerge from the period of military dictatorships that dominated the continent from the mid-1960s into the 1980s. This article examines the role of civil resistance in that country’s seemingly improbable early end to military rule, noting how a broad coalition of unions, intellectuals, the Catholic Church, and opposition parties succeeded in bringing down a series of military leaders, eventually ushering in elected civilian governance…
Villaraigosa still haunted by role as 2012 DNC chair
The Californian May 4, 2018: Despite endorsements from Luis Alejo, Simón Salinas, and other leading Monterey County Democrats, gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa has been struggling to gain traction statewide…