Archive | September, 2008

All eyes on Wall Street – reframing the crisis

By Becky Tarbotton, September 30 2008

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All eyes on Wall Street – reframing the crisis

UPDATE: Activists Scale Flagpole Behind Iconic Wall Street Bull, Raise 150-Square Foot American Flag with ‘Foreclosed?’ Stamped Over It UPDATE 2: link to Flickr set UPDATE 3: High-res photo. — In the past few weeks, our economic system has sustained some of the most dramatic shifts of the past 50 years. Comparisons have been made [...]

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Reflections from Activist Summer Camp!

By joshua kahn russell, September 30 2008

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Reflections from Activist Summer Camp!

Ever wanted to know what happens at RAN’s activist training camps and network gatherings? Last week we co-hosted a gathering of 60 activists in Chicago with the Student Environmental Action Coalition. Below is a reflection from Robin Markle, one of the youth leaders in RAN’s network. Robin serves on the national council of RYSE (explained [...]

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Why the Bailout is a BAD Idea

By Julie, September 29 2008

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Why the Bailout is a BAD Idea

If you’re like me and have a feeling this is a crappy deal but you weren’t sure exactly why, take a look at David Sirota’s latest article on the subject. Here is a summary of the article… the top five reasons members of Congress should (and as we’ve seen today, many have) vote against the [...]

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Sailboat Banner Creates Waves in Cargill’s Backyard

By Andrea, September 27 2008

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Sailboat Banner Creates Waves in Cargill’s Backyard

On Lake Minnetonka today, just down the road from Cargill’s world headquarters, the rainforest agribusiness campaign set sail amongst the  hundred or so sailboats participating in a regatta in Wayzata Harbor.  We turned an M-20 sailboat into a floating banner in order to send Cargill a clear message in their own backyard.  The main sail [...]

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What progressives can learn from last night’s presidential debate

By joshua kahn russell, September 27 2008

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What progressives can learn from last night’s presidential debate

(RAN is a nonpartisan organization that takes no stand on any political candidates. The observations below are intended to be a reflection on strategy and communication for activists and organizers, not as an endorsement of either candidate, or a comment on the policies or positions they represent.) Last night I saw Obama debate McCain. It [...]

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Grassroots and online activists spread economic protests like wildfire

By Scott Parkin, September 25 2008

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Grassroots and online activists spread economic protests like wildfire

“‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice” Sometimes you have those moments when the world makes you feel like a character in a Lewis Carroll novel. The economic system is reportedly in meltdown (Washington Mutual gave us the largest bank failure in U.S. history tonight). The political system is reeling from an inability to actually deal with [...]

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Conservation Corp.: Enviros Ally with Big Grain Traders

By Branden Barber, September 25 2008

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Conservation Corp.: Enviros Ally with Big Grain Traders

(from multinationalmonitor.org – more than an interesting read. One of the best articles and analyses dealing with the problems of the ABC’s of Rainforest Destruction – and the relationships between the big companies and the big NGO’s – and the folks on the ground fighting to protect their communities and the integrity of the environment [...]

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Scandal as Citi Executive Leaves

By Jennifer Krill, September 24 2008

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Scandal as Citi Executive Leaves

More on the Wall Street meltdown below with an internal shake-up at Citi over its responsibilities to clients. If you’re in San Francisco, or in New York, come out tomorrow to tell all of Wall Street what you think we should be doing with $700 billion dollars. Fortune/CNN Money blogs September 22, 2008, 4:39 pm [...]

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Al Gore Calls for Civil Disobedience Again! Denounces “Clean Coal” as “Nonexistent”

By Scott Parkin, September 24 2008

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Al Gore Calls for Civil Disobedience Again! Denounces “Clean Coal” as “Nonexistent”

Last year in two different print publications, The New York Times and Rolling Stone, former Vice-President and Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore called for young people to commit civil disobedience to halt new coal fired power plants and climate change. Voicing his opinion at the Clinton Global Initiative, Gore said for the first time in [...]

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Financial Crisis 102: What’s this about a bail out? I thought we couldn’t bail out a dead planet?

By Becky Tarbotton, September 24 2008

2 Comments

Financial Crisis 102: What’s this about a bail out? I thought we couldn’t bail out a dead planet?

In my last post I mentioned the $700 billion of taxpayers money that the government is considering contributing to bailing out Wall Street. It’s a bad deal, no question about it. The proposal amounts to a blank check being written to the very institutions that have gotten us into this mess in the first place, [...]

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