Category Archives: Section

Poland: Following in Hungary’s Footsteps

Posted on 02/11/2018 by Richard Esbenshade

Second of two parts. On December 20, the European Commission—the executive arm of the European Union (EU), consisting of one representative from each of the 28 member countries—launched the “nuclear option” of EU politics against Poland: a proposed formal warning … Continue reading →

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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Nika Lucks

Posted on 02/11/2018 by Rachel Storm

A column curated by staff of the Urbana Public Arts Program Nika Lucks is a local photographer originally from the Chicago Southside. Her most recent work, People of Speech: Part I, draws inspiration from parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, … Continue reading →

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The Honduran Crisis: Not Quite Your Father’s Oligarchy…

Posted on 01/24/2018 by Janice Jayes

By Janice Jayes At first glance the political crisis in Honduras seems depressingly familiar: a military coup against a left-leaning President in 2009, continued repression of opposition groups, and now a Presidential election so full of irregularities that demonstrators refuse … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Environment, Honduran Election 2017, Human Rights, International, Land, military | Comments Off on The Honduran Crisis: Not Quite Your Father’s Oligarchy…

Water as a Human Right

Posted on 12/07/2017 by Jacquelyn Potter

By Jacquelyn Potter Jacquelyn Potter has an MS in Biology and serves on the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club Prairie Group. Her environmental interests range from water and air quality issues to land and wildlife issues. Water is essential for … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Environment | Comments Off on Water as a Human Right

‘No Taxpayer Dollars’ for Coaches at the U of I? You May Be Surprised

Posted on 12/07/2017 by Jay Rosenstein

by Jay Rosenstein Center for Advanced Study Professor of Media & Cinema Studies Jay Rosenstein is the award-winning filmmaker of In Whose Honor? (1997), The Amasong Chorus: Singing Out (2004), and The Lord is Not on Trial Here Today (2010) “It’s not … Continue reading →

Posted in University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off on ‘No Taxpayer Dollars’ for Coaches at the U of I? You May Be Surprised

The U.S. Military in Africa: a Workshop for the Militarization of Foreign Policy

Posted on 12/07/2017 by Janice Jayes

By Janice Jayes After four American servicemen were killed in in Niger in October, social media discussion fixated on President Trump’s insensitive remarks to the widow of one of the slain soldiers and questions about the logistics surrounding the unlucky … Continue reading →

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Stream some Laughs: Four Political Comedies from Mexico, Spain, and Puerto Rico

Posted on 12/07/2017 by Audrey Wells

Subtitles don’t bite. Turn them on, if you need, and check out a superb satire from Mexican director Luis Estrada, The Perfect Dictatorship (La Dictadura Perfecta, 2014), streaming on Netflix. Prepare to laugh and squirm. In this uncomfortably relevant and … Continue reading →

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4th Annual Welcome Awards Ceremony Celebrates What Makes America Great

Posted on 10/19/2017 by David Cisneros

By David Cisneros. State, national, and international news media have brought us a daily barrage of tragic or infuriating news stories. And national rhetoric increasingly features voices of nativism, racism, and hatred. In the face of all of this, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Immigration, Justice | Comments Off on 4th Annual Welcome Awards Ceremony Celebrates What Makes America Great

GEO Rally for Fair Contract

Posted on 10/19/2017 by Public i

On Wednesday, Oct. 4, the Graduate Employees’ Organization held a rally for a fair contract. The union had been without a contract for 50 days.  

Posted in labor, Labor/Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off on GEO Rally for Fair Contract

The YWCA: We Are on a Mission

Posted on 10/19/2017 by Andrea Rundell

Since opening on campus in 1884 as a women’s residence hall, the YWCA of the University of Illinois has served as an organization on a mission to promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. We recognize the powerful potential … Continue reading →

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The Water Project: Examining our relationship with our most precious resource

Posted on 06/30/2017 by Nancy Dietrich

Nancy Dietrich is a resident of Urbana who became an environmentalist because she likes to breathe clean air and drink clean water. “Destruction of water resources and of forest catchments and aquifers is a form of terrorism. Denying poor people … Continue reading →

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No Accident: White Cop Shoots Another Black Man in Champaign

Posted on 06/26/2017 by Brian Dolinar

The shooting of unarmed Black men by white police in the United States is a story that keeps repeating over and over. The recent case of a local 22-year-old African American man shot in the shoulder by Champaign police officer … Continue reading →

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Our Mahomet Aquifer

Posted on 06/17/2017 by Jacquelyn Potter

By Jacquelyn Potter, Sierra Club Prairie Group Jacquelyn Potter is on the Executive Committee of the local Sierra Club, where she is involved in activism with many issues, including water protection, and serves on the Mahomet Aquifer Model group. Water … Continue reading →

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People’s Climate March: History & Views from the Local & D.C. Marches

Posted on 06/17/2017 by Alice Englebretsen

By Members of Prairie Group of Sierra Club and Food & Water Watch Origins of the People’s Climate March By Alice Englebretsen Alice Englebretsen has been a member of the Sierra Club for many years, and originally got involved by … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Human Rights | Comments Off on People’s Climate March: History & Views from the Local & D.C. Marches

TRUMP EMBRACES 19th CENTURY ENERGY PLAN WHILE THE REST OF THE WORLD LOOKS AHEAD

Posted on 06/17/2017 by Pam Richart

On June 1, 2017, President Trump made it official: the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord. The 2015 Accord is an agreement among 195 countries to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Politics, Politics, Trump | Comments Off on TRUMP EMBRACES 19th CENTURY ENERGY PLAN WHILE THE REST OF THE WORLD LOOKS AHEAD

Our Seniors Are Still Not For Sale

Posted on 04/20/2017 by Josh Hartke

(Josh Hartke is a lifelong progressive activist and a member of the Champaign County Board from central Champaign. He serves on the Nursing Home Board of Directors, and cared for both his father and grandmother before they passed in Nursing … Continue reading →

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Full Transcript of Evelyn Reynolds’s CU Women’s March Speech

Posted on 02/23/2017 by Evelyn Reynolds

I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak here today. None of today’s speakers can fully represent the array of magnificent women in our community. Many of which don’t hold public positions of influence or prestigious titles. Many of whom are … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Feminism, Voices of Color, Women | Comments Off on Full Transcript of Evelyn Reynolds’s CU Women’s March Speech

Des-Ordenes Presidenciales

Posted on 02/23/2017 by Korinta Maldonado

Comenzamos con lo que en gran medida ha estado ausente en los llamados por los derechos de los inmigrantes: estamos asentados en tierras ocupadas como resultado de políticas de remoción y / o genocidio de los pueblos Nativo Americanos. En … Continue reading →

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The Extremes of Struggle at the Monster’s Heart: The Black Working Class and Socioeconomic Realities under Obama’s Neoliberalism

Posted on 02/23/2017 by Augustus Wood

“International capitalism cannot be destroyed without the extremes of struggle. The entire colonial world is watching the blacks inside the U.S…We are on the inside. We are the only ones who can get at the monster’s heart…”  — George L. … Continue reading →

Posted in African American, African Americans, Labor/Economics | Comments Off on The Extremes of Struggle at the Monster’s Heart: The Black Working Class and Socioeconomic Realities under Obama’s Neoliberalism

Fighting Mass Incarceration Under Trump: New Strategies, New Alliance

Posted on 02/23/2017 by James Kilgore

By James Kilgore Yusef Shakur is a Detroit community organizer who spent several years in Michigan state prisons. “The prison-industrial complex has found the right person to feed it,” he said in response to the election results. “Trump is of … Continue reading →

Posted in African American, Justice, Policing, Prisoners, Trump | Comments Off on Fighting Mass Incarceration Under Trump: New Strategies, New Alliance