One Game At A Time - Why Sports Matter

As a radical and a sports fan and player I had to check out One Game at a Time which was designed to show radicals why they should value sports and games.  Hern starts the book by explaining that he wants readers to consider the sporting world; from watching to playing, to cheering, to obsessing, to caring; as an avenue for struggle and politics.  Obviously I am not the target audience for this book since he seeks to convince non-sports fans of these ideas.

Perhaps that is the problem that found me waiting for him to make his point.  Unfortunately his thesis isn't supported well in this short volume.  While it may work for non-sports fans, this book is severely lacking for me.  Having read a number of Dave Zirin's books, I was greatly disappointed in the references to radical politics and struggle and how sports plays this role.  In fact he seems to point to how sports is not the place for radical politics and struggle more often than not.  From suggesting how Michael Jordan was unable to question even the sweatshops of Nike because of the capitalist nature of sports and endorsements that require a player to stay in line if they want to be well off into their retirement.

Despite what I feel is a blatant lack of support for his thesis, Hern is able to demonstrate a number of examples of positive social interaction in sports.  From a transgender sports writer in baseball to Muhammad Ali to the NHL's work to prevent bullying; especially with regards to LGBTQ; there are a number of positive attributes to his book.  Even though he throws names out there that will probably boggle the minds of non-sports fans and even admits so but he follows as wanting to make sure that book is accessible to sports fans as well and these names help him make his point. 

With all the negatives and the some positives, this book is good for the audience it was written for as another example of the possibilities of sports in our world presenting a space for positive struggle and radical politics. 

Review of Hey Shorty!

Hey, Shorty!: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets

By: Girls for Gender Equity (GGE), Joanne Smith, Meghan Huppuch & Mandy Van Deven

 

This amazing short book discusses how the authors worked to find out the sexual harassment and violence occurring in the New York City by accompaniment.  They recruited teens from all of the Boroughs of NYC each year starting in 2001.  From the humble beginnings on 9/11 to empowering these young women to realize the daily harassment, street calls, unwanted sexual touching/mimicking of sexual acts that they faced to creating a survey of hundreds of students, this book describes the work of GGE and their mentors.  Since the book is so short it is hard to write a lot about but it was interested to get perspective from the mentors and also short comments from the student participants on the work they were doing and how it impacted them.  The publishing of the book was followed by a tour which I didn't get to see but the book is a must read for young adults seeking to end patriarchy and work for equity as well as real world examples of bringing pressure on a school district, possibly one of the largest in the country led by a group of teenage girls. 

They also produced an accompanying movie short to the book, here is a preview:

Tropic of Chaos by Christian Parenti

 

After hearing about how depressing this book was from friends and being inquisitive about the massive undertaking to create it from Africa to Asia to the Americas I finally got around to reading Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence.  Of course I had to wait for it's publication in paperback because of budgetary concerns but it was worth the wait.  Please pick up this primer on the effects of climate change that have played out so far from Christian Parenti, available at Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, Powell's Books or your local indie bookstore.

Key to the arguments of the book are numerous reports on climate change, to include a discussion of the massive efforts to deny climate change exists.  One report from 2007, from the CNA Corporation lists, among other things that climate change is a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.  In addition, the reports states that, "When a government can no longer deliver services to its people, ensure domestic order, and protect the nation's borders from invasion, conditions are ripe for turmoil, extremism and terrorism to fill the vacuum..."  Think again about how the right wing in the U.S.  persecutes "illegal aliens" and at the same time works so hard to deny that the climate is changing, sounds like they are extremists created when the nation, U.S. can no longer deliver services to its people, services like education for all, housing for all, health care for all...

Another source of information on how to determine failed states is Foreign Policy magazine and The Fund for Peace index, which uses 13 criteria to determine a state's relative failure.  They are: mounting demographic pressure (think favelas in South America or the urban slums in India as seen in Slumdog Millionaire), massive population movements, legacies of vengeance, chronic and sustained migration, uneven economic development (in the U.S. the growth of the 1%'s wealth during the Great Recession), sudden economic downturns, corruption, criminalization of the state, deterioration of public services, arbitrary use of state violence and human rights abuses, the relative autonomy of the security forces, factionalism among state elites, and finally, external intervention by other states or para-state forces.  Certainly we can see many of these factors playing out in the U.S. to include the one I pointed out, there is arbitrary use of state violence in detaining peaceful protesters leading up to or during every major demonstration in the country.  For example, the "NATO 3" are currently under trial in Chicago, see: "NATO 3" Oral Argument Unfolds on Illinois Terrorism Statute's Constitutionality and other actions show the autonomy of security forces to infiltrate legitimate organizations and perpetrate human rights abuses by not declaring "free speech zones" to protect the elite of the G8, NATO, G20, RNC, DNC, etc. from the concerns of the public.  Deterioration of public services unfolds as attacks on unions, from teachers to government employees; lack of adequate and affordable health care, thousands of unsafe bridges across the country.  Corruption plays out under the scenes as the Citizens United ruling has allowed unprecedented giving to political campaigns by the elite. 

As I mention above, the book moves around the globe tracing the impacts of climate change, changing weather patterns affecting tribal herders in Africa, rural farmers in India and Afghanistan, and farmers in the nations south of the U.S.  Farmers in areas of Asia used to a dependent Summer and Fall rains to allow growth of two harvests of cotton have seen the season monsoons disappear or appear as devastation.  In addition, the  farmers of Asia have been hoodwinked by the "Green Revolution" which promised increased yields.  Instead it has left in it's wake the removal of nutrients from the soil, requiring farmers to leverage more credit to continue but then face unstable weather.  This has resulted in tens of thousands of climate refugees and farmer suicides, many just drink the pesticides they had to purchase on credit because they cannot stand the suffering any more.  A promising quote comes from Chief Meteorologist in Kenya, James Muhindi, "The best we can do to adapt to climate change is to maintain our forest cover."  He recognizes the vital importance of preventing desertification which is growing the Sahara in Africa and is evident in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya.

The book starts out in Africa where a cattle herder was shot days before Parenti arrived and his body still lay on the dried out ground.  Here he discovered and began his linkage of climate change, geographical shifts in populations and the violence that plays out because of these two.  Herders from enemy tribes have been forced to try and water their animals in close proximity because the only source of water is a well that an NGO built right near the tribal boundaries.  In addition, the breakdown of states such as Somalia have created black markets for guns, ammunition and stolen cattle.  The convergence of all of these factors leads back to the dead herder that Parenti starts the book with and continues to refer to throughout the pages.

As he moves to Asia, the collapse of the Soviet Union and political power plays during the Cold War and continuing today as active occupation of Afghanistan and airborne occupation of Pakistan and other countries in the area has lead to destabilization.  Farmers who cannot count on required water and instead grow poppies because they get more than they would for wheat but the poppy plant uses 1/6 of the water required for wheat.  The continued occupation by U.S./NATO forces which go and destroy this crop only fosters support for the Taliban who support it's growth but tax the farmers who can now make enough to survive when they cannot depend on water for growing other crops.

Finally, Parenti makes his way back to the Americas.  Here he starts with the huge contrasts of the massive favelas in Rio that stand in contrast to the massive Jesus statue which overlooks them.  He discusses a number of factors that have created the dislocation of farmers, primarily related to unreliable rains (common theme throughout the globe).  He also shows how countries forced to take IMF and World Bank loans often ended up in worse because of them.  Jumping around the Americas he ends with Mexico before detailing the failure of the U.S. and it's massive empire to set a standard or even begin to work on mitigation to prevent climate change, from the failure to sign the Kyoto protocol to the lack of any concrete decision in Cancun in 2010.  He largely focuses on Juarez, Mexico and the crime there as contrasted with the rich suburbs right across the Rio Grande.  Climate migrants move to Juarez and attempt to get the the "land of opportunity" by crossing the made up line that is called the international border.

In summary, I would recommend this book for a global look at what has happened so far concerning climate change instead of the largely U.S. based look that we are used to seeing.  It's supporting documentation from the scientific community and the lack of critical thinking in the U.S. to acknowledge there is even a problem or to begin to act on the problem is a clear mistake by the political leaders of the country.  He lists a number of ways that this could happen to include the government purchasing solar, wind, wave power to provide a boost to these industries which will allow for the prices of household/community investments to decrease and uses IBM as the comparison to show how the government can provide a jump-start to mitigation techniques.  Obviously the military budget can be cut in effective ways to allow for this government spending which would create jobs and probably help the economy but with a failure of active leadership in the legislative and executive branches of government we are unlikely to see any action taken without a diverse and large movement to force such change to occur.  Also necessary is a re-kindling of critical thinking which has been demonized as a way to keep the status quo.  He also mentions taxes, up to Reagan, the top 5% paid over 70% income tax, today that figure is much lower and Obama recently allowed the tax cuts for the elite to continue.  This tax revenue could also assist the government fostering of mitigation techniques while funding agencies such as the EPA to actively penalize companies that contribute to global carbon dioxide emissions and other toxins but are not punished for failing to meet requirements.

Review of Truth and Revolution

Truth and Revolution

A History of the Sojourner Truth Organization, 1969–1986

Michael Staudenmaier (Author); John H. Bracey (Foreword)

• Publisher: AK Press
• Format: Book
• Binding: pb
• Pages: 400
• Released: May 17, 2012
• ISBN-13: 9781849350976

Michael Stuadenmaier wrote an in-depth study of the Sojourner Truth (Communist) Organization entitled Truth and Revolution.  The book was fostered by an encounter that one of the members of a collective he belonged to had when she went to get some fliers printed for a counter-convention to the DNC in Chicago in 1996 and encountered a print-shop that gave them the fliers for only the cost of materials.  The author later learned that the print-shop was run by two former STO members, including founding member Don Hamerquist.  Over the following years, he came to know them more and learned more about the organization and why they donated labor to the fliers and had done similar acts while STO was an active organization.  The book falls largely on STO documents, including it's numerous publications both internal and external, and the author's interview with a number of members.

The organization was particular from other left organizations at the time, and probably today as well, in being based on two distinct features.  First it re-articulated Antonio Gramsci's theory of "dual consciousness" by arguing that the working class displayed both a board acceptance of the status quo and an embryonic awareness of its own revolutionary potential as a class.  Secondly, the organization was at the forefront of challenging white-skin privilege and white supremacy.  Through the second feature the organization over the course of it's existence worked as an ally of numerous organizations from militant Puerto Rican independence organizations to the League of Revolutionary Black Workers to South African Refugee Aid Fund.  They not only worked to support revolutionary movements and groups but brought a critical analysis to the work of these groups they worked with.  However, there were times when they didn't critically analyze their own plans such as when they helped MLN picket a debate for Chicago mayor in a largely Latin@ community but on the condition that STO could leaflet.  Their leaflet denounced the African-American candidate and the other candidates but also hurt their connection to the MLN.  The organization was largely white, and chose to leaflet in a non-white neighborhood denouncing that a vote for Washington was a vote for the status quo.  They could have easily found another venue in a white neighborhood to do such leafletting and instead focusing on supporting the MLN as an ally organization.  

For all of it's downfalls, which there are a number, including the fact that the group splintered on multiple occasions because of disagreements about where to go or what the focus of the group should be; the organization did one thing fairly well by bringing in fellow travelers to it's dialectic's courses.  These courses not only were intensive study of a broad range of critical thinkers both historical and contemporary: Hegel, Luxemburg, Gramsci, Lukacs, Twain, C.L.R. James, W.E.B. Du Bois, George Rawick, two members of STO: Ken Lawrence and Noel Ignatin (later Ignatiev).  Of these C.L.R. James had a lot of influence early on in the organization especially for the leadership in convincing them of their folly in supporting Stalinism.  These courses also fostered a transformative learning culture because the group had been criticized as having a few intellectual heavyweights who dominated things.  So students would often end up teaching the next session but the teachers weren't necessarily seen as those who know it all but often just facilitated discussion of the difficult topics at hand. 

The book offers a plethora of sources to document the history of the organization as well as introducing books and pamphlets for further information when the author couldn't get bogged down in details.  To this extent the bibliography at the end of the book, which is almost 12 pages long, lists STO literature, a lot of which is now online, but also theoretical books as well as historical books which would be beneficial to many.  In addition the book offers, at least in my view, a number of examples of why some guiding principals are necessary for an organization to move forward as the organization kept jumping focus to different places from industrial workplace organizing to supporting national liberation organizations to joining forces with the anti-nuclear movement.  This is reminiscent of the current International Socialist Organization active today largely in college campus towns.  

As a member of IVAW, it is important to see how a group can fail to succeed when it doesn't have 1) a clear vision of where is it going (i.e. guiding principals), 2) there is not active leadership building of the membership (at one point Staudenmaier lists the tasks of the Kansas City branch leaders and it is hard to believe that they could do so much work) to prevent burnout and also allow new leaders to step up and allow active leaders to step back when they need to, and 3) a focus on all of the systems of oppression that allow capitalism to continue on it's never-ending demand for growth (STO did focus heavily on white skin privilege and was successful at times in creating diverse actions such an anti-nuclear protest in Mississippi involving African-American workers and an organizer alongside white allies in an area dominated by the Klan at the time, it failed to take on sexism both in society as a whole and in the organization.  It's critique of capitalism involved waiting for the revolutionary moment to appear and try and capitalize on it.  However during it's existence the possibility of a revolutionary moment in the U.S. grew less and less as the anti-war movement of the 60s shifted focus to electoral politics and the general right-ward shift in the country occurred with de-industrialization and eventually Reaganomics.  Staudenmaier lists this failure as linked to a deliberate focus on "mass" and "class" over "party" focusing on the decisive role of the masses of people would play in any revolutionary upsurge.) 

In the current political environment this book gives these three points further importance for an organization like IVAW.  The public is not swayed by morals, dead Iraqis or Afghans or Pakistanis mean nothing to them.  For us to succeed as an organization this points us to solidarity work, the Right to Heal from the traumas of militarism for both veterans, military members, and citizens of occupied (physically and by air) countries.  It also leads to something that we recently started in earnest: creating leaders from our members through the VOT and publishing the training materials they are discussing to facilitate a path for new members to learn techniques and history that can help them become leaders more easily.  Our strategic planning process will ensure that point 1 is met and when the process is reactivated in 5 years or so it will continue to be met as conditions in the political landscape change.  By creating an organization that focusing on anti-oppression in numerous ways we can minimize the pitfalls that STO experienced.  As veterans we are obviously directly connected to take on militarism in society, but also sexism, racism and others based on our experience in one of the most oppressive organizations in the world, the U.S. military.

In conclusion, I would recommend this book to folks from the Midwest, since STO was primarily based out of Chicago, and anyone interested in learning from other organizations positives and negatives.  This book also had important historical facts that were new to me.  While STO was busy supporting Iranian revolutionary organizations, the U.S. was attempting to build a nuclear power plant in Iran through it's support of the Shah (today the U.S. media continues to scrutinize Iranian plans for a nuclear reactor while then it was supportive).  The book also was important in relating what was happening when David Gilbert was underground, since I recently read his new book, Love and Struggle.  There is so much to learn from other organizations and this book is certainly a great contribution to helping members of organizations seeking to topple those systems of oppression learn from others mistakes and successes.