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An Open Letter to Barack Obama
Change We Can Believe In
Dear Senator Obama,
We write to
congratulate you on the tremendous achievements
of your campaign for the presidency of the
United States.
Your
candidacy has inspired a wave of political
enthusiasm like nothing seen in this country for
decades. In your speeches, you have sketched out
a vision of a better future—in which the United
States sheds its warlike stance around the globe
and focuses on diplomacy abroad and greater
equality and freedom for its citizens at
home—that has thrilled voters across the
political spectrum. Hundreds of thousands of
young people have entered the political process
for the first time, African-American voters have
rallied behind you, and many of those alienated
from politics-as-usual have been re-engaged.
You stand
today at the head of a movement that believes
deeply in the change you have claimed as the
mantle of your campaign. The millions who attend
your rallies, donate to your campaign and visit
your website are a powerful testament to this
new movement's energy and passion.
This
movement is vital for two reasons: First, it
will help assure your victory against John
McCain in November. The long night of greed and
military adventurism under the Bush
Administration, which a McCain administration
would continue, cannot be brought to an end a
day too soon. An enthusiastic corps of
volunteers and organizers will ensure that
voters turn out to close the book on the Bush
era on election day.
Second, having helped bring
you the White House, the support of this
movement will make possible the changes that
have been the platform of your campaign. Only a
grassroots base as broad and as energized as the
one that is behind you can counteract the forces
of money and established power that are a dead
weight on those seeking real change in American
politics.
We urge
you, then, to listen to the voices of the people
who can lift you to the presidency and beyond.
Since your
historic victory in the primary, there have been
troubling signs that you are moving away from
the core commitments shared by many who have
supported your campaign, toward a more cautious
and centrist stance—including, most notably,
your vote for the FISA legislation granting
telecom companies immunity from prosecution for
illegal wiretapping, which angered and dismayed
so many of your supporters.
We
recognize that compromise is necessary in any
democracy. We understand that the pressures
brought to bear on those seeking the highest
office are intense. But retreating from the
stands that have been the signature of your
campaign will weaken the movement whose vigorous
backing you need in order to win and then
deliver the change you have promised.
Here are key positions you
have embraced that we believe are essential to
sustaining this movement:
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§ Withdrawal
from Iraq on a fixed timetable.
§ A response to the current economic
crisis that reduces the gap between
the rich and the rest of us through
a more progressive financial and
welfare system; public investment to
create jobs and repair the country's
collapsing infrastructure; fair
trade policies; restoration of the
freedom to organize unions; and
meaningful government enforcement of
labor laws and regulation of
industry.
§ Universal
healthcare.
§ An environmental policy that
transforms the economy by shifting
billions of dollars from the
consumption of fossil fuels to
alternative energy sources, creating
millions of green jobs.
§ An end to the regime of torture,
abuse of civil liberties and
unchecked executive power that has
flourished in the Bush era.
§ A commitment to the rights of
women, including the right to choose
abortion and improved access to
abortion and reproductive health
services.
§ A commitment to improving
conditions in urban communities and
ending racial inequality, including
disparities in education through
reform of the No Child Left Behind
Act and other measures.
§ An immigration system that treats
humanely those attempting to enter
the country and provides a path to
citizenship for those already here.
§ Reform of the
drug laws that incarcerate hundreds
of thousands who need help, not
jail.
§Reform of the
political process that reduces the
influence of money and corporate
lobbyists and amplifies the voices
of ordinary people. |
These are
the changes we can believe in. In other
areas—such as the use of residual forces and
mercenary troops in Iraq, the escalation of the
US military presence in Afghanistan, the
resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and
the death penalty—your stated positions have
consistently varied from the positions held by
many of us, the "friends on the left" you
addressed in recent remarks. If you win in
November, we will work to support your stands
when we agree with you and to challenge them
when we don't. We look forward to an ongoing and
constructive dialogue with you when you are
elected President.
Stand firm
on the principles you have so compellingly
articulated, and you may succeed in bringing
this country the change you've encouraged us to
believe is possible.
Here is a list of early
signatories to this open letter:
| Rocky Anderson
Moustafa Bayoumi
Norman Birnbaum
Professor Emeritus
Georgetown University
Law Center
Tim Carpenter
Progressive Democrats
of America
John Cavanaugh,
director
Institute for Policy
Studies
Juan Cole
Chuck Collins
Phil Donahue
Barbara
Ehrenreich
Eric Foner
Milton Glaser
Robert Greenwald
William Greider
Jane Hamsher
Tom Hayden
Christopher Hayes
Richard Kim |
Stuart Klawans
Bill McKibben
Walter Mosley
Tom Engelhardt
Tomdispatch.com
Jodie Evans,
co-founder
CODEPINK: Women for
Peace
Thomas Ferguson
Bill Fletcher Jr.,
executive editor,
BlackCommentator.com
Chip Pitts
Frances Piven
Elizabeth
Pochoda
Katha Pollitt
Marcus Raskin
Betsy Reed
Richard Parker,
president
Americans for
Democratic Action
Gary Phillips
Writer and
activist
Jon Pincus
achangeiscoming.net
and member of Get FISA Right |
Bob Scheer
Herman Schwartz
Jonathan Schell
Gene Seymour
David Sirota
Norman Solomon
Author and Obama
delegate to Democratic National
Convention
Mike Stark
Jean Stein
Matt Stoller
Jonathan Tasini
Zephyr Teachout
Studs Terkel
Katrina vanden
Heuvel
Gore Vidal
David Weir
Howard Zinn
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Source:
The Nation
August 18, 2008
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Open Letter from
an African to the American President Barack Obama on
the War in Libya
By Jean-Paul Pougala
translated from French by
Sarli Sardou Nana
Mr. President,
It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this
letter to appeal to you to take heed to the message
that the House of Representatives sent out to
Americans yesterday (24/06/2011) by rejecting the
text authorising U.S. military intervention in
Libya, and to end the on-going attacks against the
Libyan people with the most extravagant excuses like
that is to protect them.
Three years ago you ignited an entire continent, the
African continent during the presidential primaries
of the Democratic Party. And when you were elected
president, we believed and saw in you, this son of
Africa who had succeeded and could now serve as
reference for a billion Africans. You seemed to be
the hero we have never had, because our heroes have
become legends based on the emotions aroused by
their short lives (all killed by the Europeans).
With your election as President of the United States
of America, we thought for a moment that you were
that Black Demi-God that Africa is still searching
for after all these years of shame while in contact
with Europe. Yes Mr. President, we knew that you
were voted by Americans to maintain the interests of
your country, but what did you expect?
Did you think you were also our President, that you
had our genes? We had dreams with our eyes wide open
that you are also our black brother. All of us saw
you as one of us, as someone who was able to
understand the cries and sufferings of Africans
better than any other person in position of power on
earth. We wore your shirts, we chanted your
strapline YES WE CAN, but in our minds in Africa, we
had given it a different meaning. The explanation
was that the fate of a forsaken race had suddenly
taken a new turn for the better, the same process of
evolution of other races. CHANGE! Indeed.—Pougala
posted 2 August 2008
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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