Professional Documents
Culture Documents
President Obama must know that it is impossible to protect the Arctic while allowing Shell to drill
for oil 70 miles off the coast of Alaska. He cannot have it both ways. His policies and proclamations
are irreconcilable.
Bianca Jagger
Founder and Chair, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation
Sanders should learn from what happened with Black Lives Matter. A candidate can't rely on people
knowing what he's done in the past and needs to both speak about that past record and about what
he's going to do right now.
The most amazing -- and decidedly Christian -- thing Francis has done since ascending to the papacy
is his not-so-subtle attempt last week to welcome divorcees back to the church's fold. The move not
only shows signs of a warmer, gentler Church, it also embraces and (literally) legitimizes people like
me.
The military cemeteries of the United States, whether on American soil or foreign shores, contain
the remains of men whom war has taken from their families. Any loss of a life is a tragedy, but the
unfulfilled human potential that perishes as a result of war is doubly so.
Republicans know they can't beat Hillary fair and square. All they can do is hope to confuse and
exhaust enough Democrats who lose their nerve and chicken out when it comes to refuting false
attacks on her.
From neighborhoods to states, from the suburbs to the city, and from farms to factories, people are
blazing a clean energy path to economic growth and greater equality.
As we remember on September 15, please pause to know that for many, justice forgot. Maybe this
year we can work to change the philosophy that is still at work in our nation that produces hate and
murder.
We just witnessed the embarrassing results of the last US attempt to train Syrians: only few
completed the training, and once they reached Syria, they were ambushed, shot, kidnapped, or went
missing.
Amitai Etzioni
Professor of international relations, George Washington University
After six years of silent preparations, the Obama White House has recently unveiled some bold
diplomatic initiatives. As these moves unfold, Obama is revealing himself as one of those rare
grandmasters who appear every generation or two with an ability to go beyond mere foreign policy
and play that ruthless global game called geopolitics.
Alfred W. McCoy
Let's pay close attention to what happens in Europe in the wake of two events of major importance:
the Greek crisis, with the attendant risk of failure of the Euro area, and the refugee tragedy, which
has reached massive proportions against a backdrop of growing populist, demagogic, xenophobic,
and racist tendencies.
Gianni Pittella
MEP, President of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament
As proud as I am to discuss my heritage, I was constantly put down in school for claiming to be
"something I'm not." My light olive-colored skin is all that people needed to know to slap a label on
me and call me white. I wanted so badly to represent the culture I held so close to my heart in a
physical way, but I couldn't.
What Donald Trump doesn't understand is this. Historically speaking, government antipoverty
programs haven't weakened the work incentive. On the contrary, welfare has provided the
temporary lifeblood that Sarah, her daughter, and thousands of law-abiding citizens like them
depend on, not for convenience, but for survival.
Call your state senators, your assembly members, your mayors, and your city councils. Tell them that
you want to protect your kids. You want to protect your communities. Hell, you want to protect
yourself.
Shawn VanDiver
Navy veteran and Co-Director of the Truman National Security Project San Diego Chapter
A review of Israel's detention policy reveals how outrageous and convoluted the legal system behind
this policy is. Israel maintains a perpetual state of emergency as a political tool to provide the legal
rationale, however twisted, for the policy of continuing administrative detention.
The U.S. will arrive with its strongest-ever commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with
a proven record of success over the past decade, and with a Clean Power Plan from the EPA that can
get us all the way to a 30 percent reduction in emissions and beyond. We're not alone, either.
I'm tired of it because, at best it silences women and keeps their voices out of the pulpits and the
classrooms. At worst it traps women and girls in abusive and damaging situations, and fuels a
culture of male privilege and power.
The genie cannot be put back in the bottle and wars cannot "unhappen". Yet besides the
humanitarian help which decency dictates should be offered to refugees, the resort to diplomacy
instead of war would also help millions of people now fleeing their countries and trying to make a
new life elsewhere.
By Tony Abbott's reckoning there are two main culprits in the growing toxicity of the Australian
landscape -- poll-driven politicians and a "febrile" media that "rewards treachery."
The SDGs and Universal Declaration should be a packaged deal. At UNGA, leaders will commit
themselves to the former. But for that commitment to bear fruit, they must also rededicate
themselves to the latter.
Kerry Kennedy