Category Archives: Section

The Sangamon River Anthology of Champaign County Poetry

This summer Reger completed editing and publishing the Sangamon River Anthology of Champaign County Poetry. Here he shares the foreword from that volume to introduce the project and offer a glimpse into the collection’s themes. Poetry in Champaign County has … Continue reading

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America, I’m Writing You a Poem

America, I’m writing you a poem: All words I learned at your side,In these days of your decline, reaching Up to regain yourself, to get back To a state of reason and equanimity. Though your path is nearly severed, And … Continue reading

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August Issue Back Cover

LOCAL PROTESTS  338 total views,  4 views today

 338 total views,  4 views today

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Belden Fields: Human Rights Scholar

Review Belden’s book Rethinking Human Rights for the New Millennium (2003), addresses a conflict among three human rights theories and provides a compelling synthesis of the three. According to The Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal, . . … Continue reading

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A Belden Fields Memory

It’s February 8, 1990. The U of I Board of Trustees are meeting. The Coalition Against State Sponsored Terrorism (CASST) is protesting against CIA recruitment on campus. We have members inside the meeting planning to disrupt, but not get arrested. … Continue reading

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Belden’s Work in the Union of Professional Employees and Campus Faculty Association

I worked closely with Belden in the Union of Professional Employees (UPE) and later in the Campus Faculty Association (CFA). UPE voted to change its name to CFA in 2007. This article is an attempt to reconstruct Belden’s work in … Continue reading

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Posted in Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government, In Memoriam, labor, Labor/Economics, Section, union soldarity, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Belden’s Work in the Union of Professional Employees and Campus Faculty Association

In Celebration of My Political Advisor-Turned-Surrogate Father: Belden Fields‬

In 2025, in my eleventh year serving Champaign-Urbana as state representative, the world seems to be coming apart at the seams. We have a madman in the White House, who is shredding the last remnants of dignity our country had … Continue reading

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Belden’s French Connection

I met Belden in 1963. We both were residents at the Cité Universitaire Internationale and attended the same seminar on the 1930s at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). It was the start of a close friendship spanning … Continue reading

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Summer Issue Back Cover

Community Memorial We hope you appreciate this special issue of the Public i remembering our colleague Belden Fields. It was gratifying for us to put it together. The IMC will be hosting a memorial at some point in the near … Continue reading

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May Issue Front Cover

HANDS OFF! RESIST!  830 total views,  3 views today

 830 total views,  3 views today

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Indivisible Illinois Empowers Progressive Advocates

Indivisible began at the national level after the 2016 election. A few Democratic congressional staffers decided that there needed to be a grassroots movement on the left similar to the Tea Party movement on the right. Since then, the Indivisible … Continue reading

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“We’re Good, They’re Evil,” Israel Defense Forces Reservist Tells Chabad Audience—While Protesters Object to a “Murderer” on Campus

On March 5, the Chabad Center for Jewish Life at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign hosted Ari Kalker, a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who spoke about his combat experiences in Gaza. Meanwhile, protesters across the street shouted … Continue reading

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Yemen, Gaza and the Obscenity of the Collateral Damage Claim

It’s telling that Americans discussing the March Signal leak detailing plans for the US air strikes on Yemen have focused more on White House emoji choices than the death tolls. This is what “over-the-horizon” warfare means for Americans now: it … Continue reading

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Israel Anti-Boycott Act a Threat to Free Speech

As part of our continuing republication of past articles written by our late cofounder, editorial collective member, and longtime social activist Belden Fields, we chose the article below, from our September 2017 issue, for its clear relevance to the ongoing, … Continue reading

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UCIMC 25th Anniversary Announcement

 440 total views,  2 views today

 440 total views,  2 views today

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Four Feds Arrest Two Men at Traffic Court

This article was originally published on the author’s Substack on April 7. ICE Arrests Resume at the Courthouse My phone rang early on Tuesday morning last week just before 9 a.m. It was Lis Pollock, head public defender at the … Continue reading

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Remembering the Work of International Human Rights Lawyer Francis A. Boyle

Francis Anthony Boyle passed away suddenly on January 30, 2025 at age 74. Francis A. Boyle was always in the right kind of trouble. Boyle was an international and human rights lawyer and professor in Urbana. He spent his life … Continue reading

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May Issue Back Cover

WEFT 90.1 FM, WRFU’s Sister Station, Needs Your Support For several years, WEFT’s feed line cable, which runs from the transmitter on the ground near Mahomet to over 300 feet up the antenna, has been deteriorating. In December, 2024 WEFT … Continue reading

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Feb./Mar. Issue Front Cover

THE PEOPLE FIGHT BACK!  1,047 total views,  3 views today

 1,047 total views,  3 views today

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Unleashing the Brownshirts

This article, lightly edited for style, was previously published on January 28, 2025 in the News-Gazette as a “My Turn” guest column, under the title “Echoes of William Shirer’s Berlin Diary.” Used with permission. One of the first acts of … Continue reading

 613 total views,  3 views today

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