A Hillbilly Syllabus — ChiTucky

“Perplexed by the specter of white poverty and apparent backwardness, liberals and progressives turned to Vance’s Elegy to understand Appalachians. Instead, what they found was a blame-the-victim and culture of poverty narrative that wouldn’t pass the smell test of racism in any other case.”

This is a partial list of some of the most useful resources that I’ve come across and recommend for people to read after/instead of Hillbilly Elegy.

via A Hillbilly Syllabus — ChiTucky

Karl Marx

via telesurtv.net: “Today (May 5th) we recognize the 200th birthday anniversary of the great Karl Marx. Marx’s revolutionary ideas continue to inspire working-class movements and struggles all over the world. Happy birthday, comrade!”

We cannot reject the toxic culture pornography has created without rejecting pornography itself

“We women ought to outright reject the lie that men have some kind of right to jack off to our degradation, much less engage in it ourselves. And we need to wake up fast if we’ve been further sold the lie that this is empowering.”

It is difficult to know where to begin to describe the toxicity of our current cultural reality. I suppose as good a place to start as any would be the aggressive and deliberate attempt by the pornographers to forcibly inject themselves into the mainstream. This shouldn’t surprise any of us when we all know that…

via We cannot reject the toxic culture pornography has created without rejecting pornography itself — Feminist Current

Radical feminism is the only solution to men’s ongoing ‘sexual misconduct’ — Feminist Current

“I’m not surprised,” women say, in response to the flood of revelations of sexual “misconduct” by men, especially men in positions of power. But none of us — women or men — should be surprised, because the United States is a patriarchal society and in patriarchy men routinely claim the right to own or control…

via Radical feminism is the only solution to men’s ongoing ‘sexual misconduct’ — Feminist Current

Spare Us Your Elegies: Who Will Advocate for West Virginia?

In recent years, indictments of extractive industry have come from those who have felt its slow violence. The sadness of West Virginia, its dead-last or worst-as-first ranking among the states, stems from the utter defeat its people suffered in the 20th century, resulting in their astonishing lack of control over their environment.

Spare Us Your Elegies: Who Will Advocate for West Virginia?

Sanders declares his allegiance to US imperialism

Sanders’ speech exposes, once again, the fraud of his election campaign claim to be a “socialist.”

Sanders is a longstanding supporter of American imperialism, a fact he has sought to conceal by avoiding discussion of foreign policy as much as possible.

Venezuela Armed Forces Reject Interference in Internal Affairs

“The thin democratic veil of the Venezuelan opposition has fallen, and it reveals the brutal interventionist force of the U.S. government, which has been behind the violence suffered by the Venezuelan people in the last four months. It is not the first time that we denounce and confront threats as ludicrous as those contained in this unbelievable document.”

Eugene Debs and the Kingdom of Evil

“I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.”

The Secret War Crime

“I had nothing. No family, no income. I was thinking, ‘How will I be able to take care of a child that reminds me, every time I look at its face, of what happened to me in the camp?’”

Philando Castile’s shooting, reflection and worry

“I worry that this case will corrode people’s faith in the criminal justice system,” said Chiraag Bains, a visiting senior fellow at Harvard’s Criminal Justice Policy Program. “You can do everything right and still get shot.”