Women of all generations streamed on to the National Mall Saturday morning, gathering for the Women’s March on Washington to push back on the Republican agenda and offer a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump’s history of derogatory comments about women. After a day of grandeur, pomp and circumstance for Trump, buses and planes of protesters arrived in the nation’s capital Friday night and Saturday morning.
Category: Activism
Chelsea Manning: a potent symbol for transgender Americans
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Army shows Pfc. Chelsea Manning. For most Americans, Manning has been a hero or villain based on how they view her decision to leak classified material.
Discredited Former New York Times Reporter Disregards Her Own Record While Smearing Chelsea Manning
A prominent journalist who spread lies the U.S. government used to sell the war in Iraq-which led to the deaths of an estimated 1 million-plus people-implied that whistleblower Chelsea Manning has blood on her hands for exposing U.S. atrocities in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Manning, who has been serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, had her prison sentence commuted on Tuesday, January 17, after years of pressure from grassroots activists and advocacy groups.
These courageous HIV advocates will lead the way against Trump in 2017
Donald J. Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are a threat to everything HIV advocates have been fighting for during the last thirty years, and that includes access to healthcare, bans on insurance companies using HIV as reason to deny coverage, HIV prevention programs like PrEP, and the dignity with which we treat those who are most vulnerable to HIV infection. This new political reality is reflected in the 2017 list of HIV Advocates to Watch from Queerty health writer Mark King’s blog My Fabulous Disease .
EPA critic Scott Pruitt faces Senate panel in bid to lead agency
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, the man President-elect Donald Trump wants to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, will ask a select group of senators Wednesday to allow him to lead an agency he has spent much of his career trying to dismantle. Environmental activists call Pruitt dangerous and Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will look to put his views of science and climate change on trial.
ACLU Calls on Americans to Take “The People’s Oath” and Pledge …
Building on the sense of urgency and desire to take action that many Americans feel as we approach Donald J. Trump taking the Presidential Oath, the American Civil Liberties Union invites people to create their own oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution through its new campaign – The People’s Oath – launching this week to coincide with the 2017 Presidential Inauguration. Starting Jan. 16, individuals are encouraged to go to peoplesoath.org to add their own ending to: I do solemnly swear to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States to ensurea for example, that I’m the only one who gets to decide what to do with my body or a that my Muslim-American brothers and sisters get the same rights I do.
EU: Orwellian Counter-Terrorism Laws Stripping Rights Under Guise of Defending Them
Sweeping new laws are driving Europe into a deep and dangerous state of permanent securitization, Amnesty International said on the publication of a comprehensive human rights analysis of counter-terrorism measures across 14 EU member states. Dangerously disproportionate: The ever-expanding national security state in Europe reveals how a deluge of laws and amendments passed with break-neck speed, is undermining fundamental freedoms and dismantling hard-won human rights protections.
Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims mourn the end of the Obama era – and worry about Trump
Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims have been described as the most friendless people in the world. But for the past four years they had one powerful friend – and he lived in the White House.
A Dead Kangaroo, a Bleeding Pig: Hollywood’s Top Animal Training Firm …
“Bloody, raw lesions” and overgrown hooves are alleged in a PETA complaint to have plagued a pig from ‘College Road Trip.’ A complaint filed with the USDA alleges that scores of acting animals were neglected or mistreated by Birds & Animals Unlimited .
LGBT activists brace for efforts to undermine their gains
In this April 25, 2016 file photo, protesters head to the legislative building in Raleigh, N.C., for a sit-in against House Bill 2, a contentious law that limited protections for LGBT people. After a string of major gains in recent years, LGBT activists are bracing for a different task in 2017 – trying to prevent Republicans in Congress and state legislatures from undermining those gains.
LGBT activists view Obama as staunch champion of their cause
It was a new look for the White House, bathed in rainbow colors to celebrate the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage nationwide. “To see people gathered in the evening outside on a beautiful summer night, and to feel whole and to feel accepted, and to feel that they had a right to love – that was pretty cool,” he said a few days later.
Second Thoughts From a Member of Pantsuit Nation
Full disclosure #1: I am a member of Pantsuit Nation, that Hillary Clinton adoring Facebook group that has, more than anything else in the past few months, served as testimony to the viral power of the internet and the upside to armchair activism. Full disclosure #2: I loved Pantsuit Nation.
Republicans finally have the power to repeal Obamacare, but they’re still not sure how
Healthcare workers, patients, seniors and others rally in Los Angeles against GOP plans to repeal Obamacare. Republicans are quickly discovering that repeal is easier said than done.
Three steps for progressive resistance and rebuilding as Trump era launches
As the new year begins, any honest progressive knows the political outlook is bleak. But if we’re going to limit the damage that President-elect Donald Trump inflicts on the country, then despair is not an option.
The Cory Booker Dilemma for Progressive Animal Activists
During the 2016 Democratic primary, I was very much a Bernie Sanders partisan. The candidate was so much on my mind, that when I was writing my biography of Ronnie Lee, founder of the Animal Liberation Front, my subject emailed me on more than one occasion to say I’d accidentally substituted his name with that of the Vermont senator’s in the manuscript draft! Now, there was a period during the primary in which it seemed that the animal activist group Direct Action Everywhere was only protesting at Sanders’ rallies.
Letter: Activism is key to climate progress
Kudos to Sen. Elizabeth Warren for her op-ed opposing more natural gas infrastructure. She notes that many constituents feel their concerns about energy and climate change are ignored.