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Articles by Bill Ayers
Clinging Onto Hope in Fascist Times: An Interview With Bill Ayers
“Our strength lies in a large political message, a large moral vision, a large mobilization of people, and that’s our only strength,” claims Bill Ayers. A retired professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Ayers is infamous for being a co-founder of the Weather Underground. Founded in 1969, the Weather Underground bombed various public buildings (most prominently the Pentagon and the Capitol) throughout the 1960s and 1970s in an effort to combat American imperialism and racism.
A Thousand Possibilities | Bill Ayers | INQUEST
The logic of prison abolition was first explained to me by the great freedom fighter Angela Y. Davis: Prison is not just a place, she said, it’s an ideology. The ideology limits our imaginations and shuts down our capacity to think more broadly and more bravely.
It May Not Be the Choice You Want, But Voting Remains Vital When Fascism Is on the Ballot
Two different things can be true at the same time: The lesser of two evils is still evil; the lesser of two evils is lesser. More than one thing is happening at once. Contradiction—the universal experience of all humanity. Think about the coming election: There are many, many reasons not to vote.
It May Not Be the Choice You Want, But Voting Remains Vital When Fascism Is on the Ballot | Common Dreams
Two different things can be true at the same time: The lesser of two evils is still evil; the lesser of two evils is lesser. More than one thing is happening at once. Contradiction—the universal experience of all humanity. Think about the coming election: There are many, many reasons not to vote.
Bill Ayers
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The Lesser of Two Evils: A Note on Voting 2024
I don’t actually think democracy is on the agenda as the Democrats say—and I wish it were—but a unique American fascism is surely on the agenda. Two different things can be true at the same time: the lesser of two evils is still evil; the lesser of two evils is lesser. More than one thing is happening at once. Contradiction—the universal experience of all humanity.
Tear down Stateville and Logan prisons. Then, let's find ways to reduce our bloated prison population. Original
If you had $900 million to spend toward creating a more flourishing future for Illinois, where would you spend it? Revitalized, state-of-the-art schools and community colleges come immediately to mind. Expanded parklands and art spaces. Affordable housing, healthy foods, and generous jobs programs. It’s a lot of money, and yet we have a lot of work to do, so let’s dream a bit. Neighborhood health clinics, accessible and wide-ranging public transportation, and on and on.
Remembering Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin and I met in 1966 when we were organizers in Cleveland with the Community Union, a loosely linked national network of grassroots groups determined to create a new and more participatory democracy by mobilizing citizens of disenfranchised communities into a powerful social and political force. I was 20 years old; Kathy was 21.
Kathy Boudin, Tireless Fighter for Justice -- Rest in Power
Kathy Boudin is gone. She died on May Day in Manhattan, with her son, Chesa Boudin (now San Francisco’s district attorney), and her partner, David Gilbert, at her side. She was 78 years old, and she’d lived a large and remarkable life. Friends and family gathered to grieve, to witness, to celebrate. And she did not leave lightly — like a big ship brought down in a violent storm, there was struggle till the end.
Right-Wing Book Censorship Is an Attack on the Minds of Children
A favorite quote from Stanley Kunitz, two-time poet laureate of the United States, hangs on a wall in my classroom: “Poets,” he writes, “are not easily domesticated… and they can be outrageous; but they are also idealists and visionaries whose presence is needed… to clear the air of corruption and hypocrisy, to mock oppression, and to challenge [spiritual] apathy.” Poets, yes, by all means, and teachers and students too, along with citizens and community members, researchers and artists,...
Collaboration and the Globally Distributed Workforce
To say 2020/21 has been a challenging year would be an understatement. The way we work has changed, probably forever, because of a global pandemic which has forced hundreds of millions of information workers to relocate to their kitchen or bedroom. And, having had a taste of freedom from daily commuting, many workers are reluctant to return to the five days a week workplace.
Under the Tree: A Seminar on Freedom with Bill Ayers: Ep. 25
1 hr 25 min We dive once more into the wreckage, and swim as hard as we can toward a distant and hazy horizon—a place of hope and possibility. To begin, Malik Alim offers another installment in his growing Freedom Chronicle, and lifts up a remarkable Chicago moment when activist organizers built Freedom Square, a brave space brought to life in the spirit of love and abundance. We are then delighted to invite Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law to join us Under the Tree.
Under the Tree: A Seminar on Freedom with Bill Ayers: Ep. 16
1 hr 1 min Joblessness is sky-rocketing, unnecessary suffering on the rise, even as we see plainly that there’s an endless amount of real work to be done: repairing the infrastructure, creating livable housing, improving the parks and public spaces, caring for the children and the elders, cleaning the environment, growing our food, and more. The “jobs economy” enthrones profit as it disconnects work from basic human needs—it’s called capitalism.
Speakers -- Live! 360 Events
November 17-22, 2019 Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando
Bill Ayers Interviews Maya Schenwar
Maya Schenwar, Editor-in-Chief, Truthout.org (Photo: Jill Brazel)From Maya Schenwar, Truthout’s editor-in-chief, comes a hard-hitting and personal exploration of the enormous damage prison causes by severing millions of people from their families and communities – and the practical alternatives to incarceration that can create a safer, more just world. Get this new book before it is available elsewhere, only on Truthout! Click here to order.
Bill Ayers: Breaking Bread with Breitbart
From left to right: Andrew Breitbart, Jamie Weinstein, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, and Tucker Carlson / Courtesy of Breitbart TV In December 2011 a tiny but wondrous Chicago program of the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) launched an online auction to raise needed cash.
Author Bill Ayers On The Eighteen Myths Of Public Education
Bill Ayers is best known as one of the founders the Weather Underground, which staunchly opposed the Vietnam War and dreamed of overthrowing the US government. He gained notoriety when the group was linked to multiple instances of violence against the government, however, the charges were dropped due to illegal evidence-gathering. Fast-forward a decade and Ayers became a professor in Chicago specializing in education reform.
Fellow White Men, Listen to the Voices You Have Ignored for So Long
"White Americans finding easy comfort in nonviolence and the radical love of the civil rights movement must reckon with the unsettling fact that black people in this country achieved the rudiments of their freedom through the killing of whites." -- Ta-Nehisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power In the quote above, Coates is referring to the bloodiest war in US history, the Civil War, a war begun by Confederate traitors willing to blow up the whole house in defense of a single freedom: their...
Kevin Coval Resurrects History in "A People's History of Chicago"
Bertolt Brecht opens his famous note "To Posterity" by naming his political moment: Brecht observes that "…to speak of trees is almost a crime /For it is a kind of silence about injustice!" and he urges his future readers ("You, who shall emerge from the flood /In which we are sinking") to speak not just of our weaknesses, but "Also of the dark time /That brought them forth." In a later poem he asked, "In the Dark Times will there be singing?" His answer: "Yes, there will be singing, singing...
My Dinner with Andrew Breitbart
Image: benjamin A few days later Carlson sent us the guest list: Jamie Weinstein, Matt Labash, Audrey Lowe, Buckley Carlson, and Andrew Breitbart. “Entertaining, civil people all of them, guaranteed,” he vouched. In December 2011 a tiny but wondrous Chicago program of the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) launched an online auction to raise needed cash.
U.S. Senate Oppose Confirmation of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education - The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
U.S. Senate Oppose Confirmation of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ deference to state flexibility, even with regard to compliance with federal civil rights laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); her claim that demonstrating support for Title IX enforcement guidance would be “premature;” and her lack of support for accountability for all schools receiving federal funds only serve to reinforce our conclusion that her inadequate previous...
Former Weatherman Bill Ayers on His Evolution Into an Activist
Attention all movement-makers! The time is ripe for radical social change and the new book from educator and activist Bill Ayers is sure to inspire you. Demand the Impossible! explores alternatives to today's endless war, environmental destruction and economic crisis, and suggests strategies for building a more peaceful world. Click here to order this book from Truthout today! PAUL JAY, TRNN: Welcome to Reality Asserts Itself. This is the Real News Network and I'm Paul Jay.
If you are angry or frustrated, do something about it
If you are angry or frustrated, do something about it I recently saw a bumper sticker on an old Chevy truck that read: "If you're not pissed off, you're not paying attention." When Socrates chose death over exile at his trial — apparently he had no Plan B — he uttered the celebrated words, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates championed observation, investigation, consideration.
We Only Move Forward When We Demand the Impossible: An Interview With Bill Ayers
History shows that progress only happens when we refuse to limit ourselves to the art of the possible, says Bill Ayers. (Photo: Courtesy of Bill Ayers) Attention all movement-makers! The time is ripe for radical social change and the new book from educator and activist Bill Ayers is sure to inspire you. Demand the Impossible! explores alternatives to today's endless war, environmental destruction and economic crisis, and suggests strategies for building a more peaceful world.
Confronting Contradictions on the Path to Revolution: A Review of "Demand the Impossible!"
Activists occupy a rotunda of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on December 20, 2014, to protest against police brutality. (Photo: Erik Davis) Attention all movement-makers! The time is ripe for radical social change and the new book from educator and activist Bill Ayers is sure to inspire you. Demand the Impossible! explores alternatives to today's endless war, environmental destruction and economic crisis, and suggests strategies for building a more peaceful world.
The Radical Imaginations of Our Children Should Be Nurtured
First-grade students learning contractions at the Detroit Leadership Academy elementary school in Detroit, Michigan, on May 4, 2016. (Joshua Lott / The New York Times) Attention all movement-makers! The time is ripe for radical social change and the new book from educator and activist Bill Ayers is sure to inspire you. Demand the Impossible! explores alternatives to today's endless war, environmental destruction and economic crisis, and suggests strategies for building a more peaceful world.
SEF Unity Connect
Sweden’s top-rated SharePoint and Office 365 conference returns to Stockholm 26-28 October at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm. SEF Unity Connect has been expanded to include more than 50 compelling sessions covering not only SharePoint on-premises and SharePoint Online, but also other Office 365 products including Skype for Business.
After Being Denied Parole 10 Times, Elderly Prisoner Allegedly Commits Suicide at Fishkill Prison
In upstate New York, the suspected suicide of 70-year-old prisoner John MacKenzie has drawn attention to how the state is refusing to release aging prisoners who have a low risk of recidivism. MacKenzie reportedly hung himself in his cell at Fishkill Correctional Facility after he was denied parole the previous week. It was his 10th denial of parole since he became eligible in 2000.
A Lawyer Who Turned the Tables: Graphic Biography Immortalizes Leonard Weinglass
Leonard Weinglass was a many-sided original: an authentically home-grown radical, a brilliant Constitutional scholar and law professor, a courtroom brawler who brought chutzpah and wizardry in equal measure before a jury, a passionate advocate for justice and a comrade of the rebels, dissidents and revolutionaries of his time. Lenny was one of a kind, and yet, as he himself would insist with characteristic humility and generosity, he was also simply one of us.
Mr. President, remember me? It’s Bill Ayers
Salon Editor in Chief Kerry Lauerman reached out to our favorite progressive thinkers and writers asking a simple question: What one thing would you ask President Obama to do in his second term? We'll be running their answers over the coming days.
40 Years after Kent State: The Shredding of Constitutional Liberty Still Goes On | Common Dreams
Again and again, we learn that war abroad will find a way home. On 30 April 1970, Richard Nixon announced the US invasion of Cambodia, a sovereign nation the US had been secretly bombing for several months. It was a saturation campaign involving 120 strikes a day by B-52s carrying up to 60,000 pounds of bombs each. But in the common doublespeak of war, the president claimed: "This is not an invasion of Cambodia ...
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