Category Archives: Section

The Anti-Democratic Movement Against Public Schools

Posted on 06/25/2022 by Pat Simpson

“The path to saving the nation is very simple—it’s going to go through the school boards.” – Steve Bannon The workingmen’s parties of the nineteenth century pushed hard, very hard for public schools and were key to their creation. Yes, … Continue reading →

 874 total views

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Reckless Law, Shameless Order: Behind the Scenes

Posted on 06/25/2022 by Nasrin Navab

  One afternoon in April of 2021 Faranak Miraftab called me to ask if I was interested in holding an art workshop with formerly incarcerated artists in continuation of the “IDENSCITY,” a conceptual art space that I had been developing … Continue reading →

 792 total views

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Arts, Immigrants, incarceration, Local Arts, Prison Arts, Prisoners, Voices, Voices of Color, Women | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Reckless Law, Shameless Order: Behind the Scenes

Feminism, the Environment and Stolen Land: Socially Conscious Music from Africa and the South Pacific

Posted on 06/25/2022 by Al Kagan

Readers may remember my two previous world music reviews, in the February 2021 and Summer 2021 issues of the Public i. All of the music described here was reviewed in the great magazine Songlines. The music is available on Apple … Continue reading →

 711 total views

Posted in Africa, Arts, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, International, Music, South Africa | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Feminism, the Environment and Stolen Land: Socially Conscious Music from Africa and the South Pacific

The Value of Transaction Taxes on Financial Instruments

Posted on 06/24/2022 by Paul Mueth

Financial transaction taxes (FTT) are an innovative system whose time has come again. There has been a narrow FTT in the UK since 1694, which raised $4.9 billion in 2020, and it hasn’t prevented the City of London from being … Continue reading →

 717 total views

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Biden’s Sanctions on Afghanistan Threaten to Kill More Civilians than Two Decades of War

Posted on 06/24/2022 by Mark Weisbrot

When President Joe Biden decided to withdraw the US military from Afghanistan last year, much of America’s news media came down on him like a ton of bricks. Republicans piled on, calling the withdrawal an “unmitigated disaster.” But getting out was the right … Continue reading →

 624 total views

Posted in Afghanistan, Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, International, Poverty, War | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Biden’s Sanctions on Afghanistan Threaten to Kill More Civilians than Two Decades of War

May Issue Front Cover

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Public i

The Cost of War  701 total views

 701 total views

Posted in Eastern Europe, Front Cover, International, Section, Ukraine, War | Comments Off on May Issue Front Cover

Progressive Dilemmas on Ukraine

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Richard Esbenshade

The Left has tangled itself in knots over how to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Early statements, such as by CodePink and Black Alliance for Peace, while putatively opposing war, laid emphasis on US and Western responsibility, NATO’s … Continue reading →

 1,028 total views

Posted in Eastern Europe, Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, International, Politics, Refugees, Ukraine, War | Comments Off on Progressive Dilemmas on Ukraine

The Great De-Centering: The World after Ukraine

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Janice Jayes

The Ukraine war is a turning point in history, but not the one you might be expecting. It won’t revive the Cold War. It won’t determine the survival of the Liberal World Order (whatever that is). And most decidedly, it … Continue reading →

 978 total views

Posted in Foreign Policy, International, International, Middle East, Politics, Racism, Ukraine, War | Comments Off on The Great De-Centering: The World after Ukraine

Book Banning, Gag Orders, and the Organized Right Wing

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Al Kagan

Book bannings are very much in the news these days. They are happening mostly in more rural school districts and in the South, but not only in these places. The American Library Association (ALA) issued a statement in November of … Continue reading →

 1,071 total views

Posted in Censorship, Education, Education, Free Speech, Libraries, Literature | Comments Off on Book Banning, Gag Orders, and the Organized Right Wing

Two Stories from Statesville Prison

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Leo Cardez

Saving Your Mind: Mental Health in the Age of Corona “This is some next-level shit. I thought I’d seen it all in my 20 years in prison,” said Murder (no real names used), my Quarantine Sanitation Specialist co-worker, as we … Continue reading →

 1,145 total views

Posted in Arts, incarceration, Local Arts, Prison Arts, Prisoners | Comments Off on Two Stories from Statesville Prison

Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners’ Mission to Bring Books (and Bibliophilia) Behind Bars

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Katherine Langdon

When it comes to helping people make a fresh start after incarceration and avoid returning to prison, few approaches are as effective and vital as education. Many people who wind up in the prison system do not have enough literacy … Continue reading →

 893 total views

Posted in Education, incarceration, Libraries, UC-IMC, UCIMC | Comments Off on Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners’ Mission to Bring Books (and Bibliophilia) Behind Bars

“It’s a Money Grab”: Billions in COVID Relief Going to Fund Police and Prisons

Posted on 05/12/2022 by Brian Dolinar

If you’re from inner-city Birmingham, Alabama, there’s a “99-percent chance” you have a family member or friend who has been incarcerated, according to Veronica Johnson, deputy director for the Alabama Justice Initiative, which has been fighting against a proposal to … Continue reading →

 710 total views

Posted in African Americans, COVID-19, incarceration, Justice, Police, police accountability, Policing | Comments Off on “It’s a Money Grab”: Billions in COVID Relief Going to Fund Police and Prisons

Local Emergency Rally for Reproductive Rights

Posted on 05/12/2022 by Public i

 Local citizens gather in front of the Urbana Courthouse on May 3 to protest the likely coming Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade and endangering women’s right to choose.  602 total views

 602 total views

Posted in abortion rights, Back Cover, health care, Women | Comments Off on Local Emergency Rally for Reproductive Rights

March Issue Front Cover

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Public i

WOMEN”S HISTORY MONTH ISSUE  792 total views

 792 total views

Posted in Front Cover, Labor, Labor militancy, Section, Women | Tagged , , | Comments Off on March Issue Front Cover

I Love My Job, But . . .

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Del Jacobs

The University of Illinois is part of the US land-grant university system. Each state has a land-grant university that operates a Cooperative Extension Service, which provides non-formal education to agricultural producers and communities in each county in Illinois. I work … Continue reading →

 1,145 total views

Posted in Labor, Labor/Economics, Section, social services, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Tagged , | Comments Off on I Love My Job, But . . .

Passing: Can One Ever “Pass”?

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Jim Barrett

I recently watched one of the most beautiful and perhaps also one of the most significant movies I have seen in a long time. Passing, based on a 1929 novel by the Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larson (1891–1964), is a … Continue reading →

 736 total views

Posted in African American women, African Americans, Arts, film, Racism, Section | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Passing: Can One Ever “Pass”?

SB 148 and the Assault On Teaching Black History

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

Florida’s SB 148 represents the surging wave of white supremacist fascism sweeping across the country. Entitled “An Act Relating to Individual Freedom,” it symbolizes the deceptive, authoritarian, and racist motivations that characterize the white nationalist Republican Party. By making the … Continue reading →

 781 total views

Posted in African American, African Americans, Education, Education, Section, Voices, White Nationalism | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on SB 148 and the Assault On Teaching Black History

Rally for Ukraine

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Public i

 691 total views

 691 total views

Posted in Imperialism, International, International, Section, Ukraine, War | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Rally for Ukraine

Local Community Protests Former Champaign Police Chief’s Teaching Appointment at Parkland College

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Public i

Former Champaign Police Chief Robert T. Finney was hired in August, 2020 to teach Community Policing as well as Introduction to Criminal Justice at Parkland College. “Unbelievable” is what one African American community member thought on hearing the news; “Shocking,” … Continue reading →

 1,353 total views

Posted in African Americans, Education, Justice, police accountability, Police brutality, Policing, Section | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Local Community Protests Former Champaign Police Chief’s Teaching Appointment at Parkland College

What’s With All That Socialism in South America?

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Michael Brun

The past twenty or so years in South America have seen several powerful electoral victories of socialist-aligned candidates and parties, followed by years of reform. Eventually the momentum for change slowed, however, to be followed by disappointment and defeat. This … Continue reading →

 4,448 total views

Posted in Economics, Imperialism, International, Latin America, Politics, Section, socialism | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on What’s With All That Socialism in South America?