Author: Common Dreams

In the United States, the right-wing voter suppression efforts reached a level not seen since the era of segregation, when white supremacists in the South had passed laws to deny Black Americans the right to vote and threatened everyone who dared to resist with violence. The nation is now divided between people who want a multiracial democracy in which every American is allowed and encouraged to vote and those who yearn for an anti-democratic system in which an extremist white minority has unchecked control over everyone else. The latter group is represented by the Republican Party, which is brazenly...

Millions of jobless workers in Republican-led states across the U.S. are growing increasingly worried that they soon will not be able to afford rent, medicine, and other basic necessities as GOP governors rush to cut off pandemic-related unemployment benefits, a widely condemned attack on struggling people that the Biden administration insists it is powerless to stop. At least 22 Republican governors  so far have moved to withdraw from a federal program that boosted regular unemployment checks by $300 per week to help jobless people weather the ongoing economic crisis. Of those Republican-led states, 19 are also ending their participation in...

In an effort to curtail police militarism, anti-war group Win Without War on April 29 released an activist guide titled Stop Militarizing Our Communities: 5 Things You Need to Know About the 1033 Program. The activist guide was authored by Tanaya Sardesai, a student at Pomona College and a former intern at Win Without War, and centers on the Department of Defense’s 1033 program, which is responsible for supplying military weaponry to domestic law enforcement. “Foreign policy and domestic policy are intertwined,” said Sardesai. “Violence committed against communities of color abroad fuels violence against communities of color at home....

“It’s official: the Republican party is more devoted to a one-term, twice impeached con man than they are to the truth and protecting our democracy. Truth shouldn’t be political. Those who speak uncomfortable truths should be heard, not pushed to silence. Every step along the way, Republicans have had a chance to steer their party in a better direction. Instead, they chose the politically expedient route. None of this has to do with how best to serve our country or how to benefit our neighbors. It isn’t policy based or even ideologically driven. It is simply a die-hard devotion...

As the mother of an Army infantry officer who served for 13 months during former President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan surge, in the Zhari District of the Kandahar Province, I feel tremendous relief that President Joe Biden is calling the troops home from Afghanistan. I also feel an overwhelming sadness for the men and women who served in Afghanistan, especially for those who did not come home, were injured (physically or mentally), or committed suicide. I also feel great sadness for the huge losses and suffering the Afghan people endured and will continue to endure in their homeland, destroyed by...