Pirate Radio Station in San Francisco

Written by Katie Bezrouch

I believe in responsible media. I spend a good portion of my week fighting for media accountability. I humbly attempt to create factual, amenable media myself, every week. When newspapers and magazines quote white nationalists, I publicly argue that they should be cited that they are white nationalists. When radio stations and news channels give a microphone to bigots who transmit racist propaganda, (that in turn generates violent hate crime) the public should hold those stations accountable. But responsible media doesn’t have to mean bound, or censored communication with the public. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. The amount of genuine alternatives to pre-produced, syndicated corporate radio and TV stations is multiplying rapidly,… Read more

“Organic Means Respecting Workers’ Rights”

Written by Katie Bezrouch

On Labor day Ronnie Cummings, the co-founder and director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), wrote an open letter to John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods Market (WFM). The letter is a response to WFM’s threat to sue the OCA for violating their “intellectual property rights.” This unwarranted claim is undoubtedly a knee-jerk reaction to a petition circulated by the OCA titled: “Tell Whole Foods and UNFI: Organic Means Respecting Workers’ Rights.”

Instead of acknowledging the bogus claim, Cummings decided to take the higher ground and give WFM a chance to redeem itself. In the beginning of the letter, Cummings is quick to point out that “A number of our members, as well… Read more

News

FAIR Concludes Week of Hate

Written by Katie Bezrouch

On September 15th and 16th the anti-immigrant group, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), hosted its “town hall of the airwaves” in D.C. to blast hate speech across the nation. The well-known hate group rounded up around 45 extremist radio talk show hosts to help spread its paranoid and malevolent messages about immigrants. FAIR also used this opportunity to meet with elected officials and shove their bigoted agenda down their throats.

The anti-immigrant superstar Lou Dobbs was among the radio panelists. His burning hatred for people of color (especially Latinos) was alive and well. He has many ties to the John Tanton Network – an assemblage of highly controversial anti-immigrant organizations orchestrated by John… Read more

News

Ten Reasons Glenn Beck Should Get Off the Air and Never Come Back

Written by Katie Bezrouch

1 ) Over thirty companies have stopped running ads on the Glenn Beck show due to his racist statements.

2 ) Beck once aspired to be a top 40 radio DJ (snort).

3 ) He Relayed this message to a 7-year-old girl who wrote a poem about white nationalism: “You want to go to Africa? I will personally purchase your airfare. I’ll do it. It’s one-way. You have to sign a contract that you will never return to the United States.”

4 ) He endangers the eardrums of listeners. Hear for yourself – if you dare. Pay close attention to his astounding vocabulary and turn down the volume to prevent damage.

Immigration

Racism & Sexual Abuse Allegations in Nebraska County

Written by Katie Bezrouch

Serious allegations of sexual abuse and racial discrimination are coming out of Northeast Nebraska this week as the second employee of the Dakota County Jail filed a federal harassment lawsuit.

In June, Charvette Williams, who served as a corrections officer for the jail, filed a lawsuit against the county board, the sheriff and supervisors for discrimination in the workplace. Williams alleges that she was “sexually harassed and subjected to gender and racial discrimination by her employers at the Dakota County Jail.” She has also accused the department of unfair hiring practices, claiming that less experienced white men were employed at higher wages.

Video Contest Extended

Written by Katie Bezrouch

Imagine 2050 has received so many great submissions we decided to keep the party rolling for a few more days. The editor has decided to extend the deadline for submitting a video to August 25th at midnight CST and the voting period to August 27th at 9:00am CST. Note to submitters the editor will NOT be on the selection committee, but instead will monitor submissions for content and copyright issues.

So now you have a whopping FIVE more days to send us your ideas. Get inspired. Get busy. Get filming.

Oh and don’t forget that the top five videos will be featured at the Imagine 2050 Anniversary show in Chicago on August 27th, and on… Read more

Immigration

Is Treehugger Embracing Hate?

Written by Katie Bezrouch

It really bummed me out to read David Friedlander’s article on treehugger.com titled, Yale Essay Says Sustainability and Open Immigration are Often at Odds. The author is not thoroughly informed on immigration, and badly mangles the issue of sustainability and immigration. He should be careful about wandering into this area unless he is fully versed on the environmental agenda of the anti-immigrant movement.

In Friedlander’s piece, he refers to a statement made in an article posted on Yale Global: “Contrary to popular thought, the dominant force fueling America’s demographic growth is not natural increase, but immigration. This is because… Read more

Politics

Venezuela’s President Silences TV and Radio

Written by Katie Bezrouch

Back in 2006 Hugo Chávez began to intimidate the private media industry in Venezuela. Last week, he started to follow through with his threats and implement closure tactics.

In ’06 the Venezuelan president said he would not renew the license for the Radio Caracas Television which he said expired in March 2007. The head of RCT – the county’s second largest media company – insisted it must be an error, as its license was not up for renewal in the near future. Then in 2007, “The same month that RCTV’s license expired, also expired the broadcasting licenses to Venevision, VTVChávez supporter station), among other stations, but the only one not… Read more

Food Justice

Chicago Ready for Action on Green Food

Written by Katie Bezrouch

Chicago is poised to be the first city in the nation to pass a resolution for a healthier, more sustainable food system. Last week Chicago’s Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities Committee presented a proposal to the city council called the “green food resolution”. It is a nonbinding initiative that encourages the city to help make fresh, locally grown food available to Chicagoans.

“BE lT RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council encourages individuals, civic associations, and community based organizations to grow local, organic gardens, and institutions and businesses to offer more plant based foods; and

BE lT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council promotes the… Read more

Health

Organic Food Cheaper than Conventional

Written by Katie Bezrouch

Actually, it always has been. Bear with me long enough to glance at the big picture I’m going to paint. First think about the differences between organic and conventional. Take into consideration all of the chemical pesticide related health problems that come with the package of conventionally grown food, for the consumer and the farm worker. Acknowledge the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on medical bills to treat obesity, diabetes, heart-attacks, and countless other food-related illnesses that are consistently encouraged by (dare I say due to) the highly processed crap we’re fed by food giants conglomerates and the fast food industry.

Think about the billions of dollars coming out of taxpayer’s wallets to subsidize… Read more