“I wrote this song when Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa. It was one of the high points in the struggle for peace,… Read More »FREEDOM HAS COME by Bev Grant, sung by the Brooklyn Women’s Chorus
Emma Goldman (1869–1940) stands as a major figure in the history of American radicalism and feminism. An influential and well-known anarchist of her day, Goldman was an early advocate of free speech, birth control, women’s equality and independence, and union organization. Her criticism of mandatory conscription of young men into the military during World War I led to a two-year imprisonment, followed by her deportation in 1919. For the rest of her life until her death in 1940, she continued to participate in the social and political movements of her age, from the Russian Revolution to the Spanish Civil War.
Read More »Emma Goldman
The legend of Sister Rosas act of courage and dignity is often described simply as moment of defiance in a one-day out of the blue incident. In truth it was an act of preparation. Rosa Parks worked hard at her political consciousness. She registered people to vote, took the stairs at work, rather than ride the Negro Only elevators, and resisted entering the back door of buses as far back as 1943.
“I did not get on the bus to get arrested,” she later said. “I got on the bus to go home.” (…) “When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night.”
“We were pretty angry when we saw such luxury. For over forty years
ChevronTexaco was growing richer while we were growing poorer. We knew
there was a big difference between the two sides of the creek, but we
didn’t know how much until the day we women crossed to the other side.
For ten days hundreds of women occupied the terminal until the oil
company agreed to provide our village with electricity and water, and
to build schools, a community center, and houses. It also agreed to
increase student scholarships and help us women set up poultry and fish
farms.
“We did in ten days what the men had not done in
years. And do you know what the men say now that we have won? That we
are “big-headed.” The elders are worried that our new assertiveness
will weaken their authority. They’re worried that we will enter their
shrine. Well, who knows? That, too, may be just around the corner. . . “
Read More »Felicia Atsepoyi (Mama Ayo)
Amy Goodman is a left-wing American broadcast journalist and author. She is best known as the host of Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now! program. As an investigative journalist, Goodman has aggressively pursued human rights violations in East Timor, Nigeria, and other countries.