Poetry on Palestine, longing, and love Ahmad Ibsais I spoke your name to the dunes,their silence a mirror to my grief.Each grain of sand—a word I never said,a touch I never offered. How vast is the desert of longing,how endless its horizon.No shadow falls here but yours,no wind moves but to echothe sound of your absence. Come back,and I will pour oceans into your … [Read more...] about The Language of Grief
Focus on Pages
The "Focus On" section provides in-depth information and opinion on many facets of sustainability. (Although these topics may appear quite distinct and separate, it’s important to remember that they are interconnected and interdependent in multiple ways — in general, the 4 basic principles of ecology apply to all complex systems.)
When you select a Focus On… topic, the system will select all the articles and posts in that category with the most recent pages at the top, just under a brief introduction to the topic. (Many articles appear in multiple categories.)
Background & detail information is organized into the main categories listed in the left sidebar.
Place & Infrastructure
California Law Mandates Teaching About State’s Genocide of Native Americans
Gary Olson From the time the Europeans arrived on American shores, the U.S. government authorized more than 1,500 wars and attacks on Indigenous people, and after the “Indian wars” in the late 19th century, of the estimated 10 million to 15 million native peoples, fewer than 238,000 remained. In the past, I’ve written about these efforts in the Great Plains and upper … [Read more...] about California Law Mandates Teaching About State’s Genocide of Native Americans
Social Murder, Social Rage
Verso Books Exploitation, neglect, deprivation, death. These are not accidents of fate but the calculated outcomes of a system that prioritizes profit over human life. Friedrich Engels called it “social murder,” a term that cuts to the heart of capitalism’s hidden violence. It is murder disguised as policy, hidden behind the cold machinery of economic necessity, and … [Read more...] about Social Murder, Social Rage
Cities Made Differently: Try Imagining Another Urban Existence
We know from history that there are many ways we can live together—let’s explore the idea David Graeber & Nika Dubrovsky In thousands of ways, we are taught to accept the world we live in as the only possible one, but thousands of other ways of organizing homes, cities, schools, societies, economies, and cosmologies have existed and could exist. We started a … [Read more...] about Cities Made Differently: Try Imagining Another Urban Existence
Why Israel thinks it won in Syria
Asa Winstanley & Ali Abunimah Israeli tanks were reportedly on the outskirts of Damascus early on Tuesday, as Israel launched airstrikes across the country that are being called “the heaviest in the history of Syria.” The escalating Israeli attack on the country comes after President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia in the early hours of Sunday as US- and Turkish-backed … [Read more...] about Why Israel thinks it won in Syria
How to Understand the Change of Government in Syria
Vijay Prashad One of the most stunning events of the past few months has been the fall of Damascus. This fall had initially been expected over a decade ago, when rebel armies funded by Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United States crowded around the edges of Syria and threatened then President Bashar al-Assad’s government. These armies, backed by rich and powerful … [Read more...] about How to Understand the Change of Government in Syria
Gaza Tells Us Who We Are
Caitlin Johnstone Some days it’s hard to say which is more horrific: the Gaza genocide itself, or the moral decay throughout our society which makes it possible. I mean, the atrocities in Gaza have a couple million victims. If you add up the populations of the US, Europe, Canada, and Australia, you’ve got around a billion people living in a dystopia whose collective … [Read more...] about Gaza Tells Us Who We Are
The Story of the Land
Sarah Ali To Dad I looked at his teary eyes, and beholding something akin to happiness, I smiled. The man I have always known to be my father was back. He did not look like that unfamiliar man whom I could not fully recognize during the last three years. He was no longer that absent-minded, silent figure gazing at walls all the time and uninterestingly nodding whenever … [Read more...] about The Story of the Land
I am you
Refaat Alareer Two steps: one, two.Look in the mirror:The horror, the horror!The butt of your M-16 on my cheekboneThe yellow patch it leftThe bullet-shaped scar expandingLike a swastika,Snaking across my face,The heartache flowingOut of my eyes drippingOut of my nostrils piercingMy ears floodingThe place.Like it did to you70 years agoOr so. I am just you.I am your past … [Read more...] about I am you
To Kill a People
Chris Hedges Extermination works. At first. This is the terrible lesson of history. If Israel is not stopped — and no outside power appears willing to halt the genocide in Gaza or the destruction of Lebanon — it will achieve its goals of depopulating and annexing northern Gaza. It will turn southern Gaza into a charnel house where Palestinians are burned alive, decimated by … [Read more...] about To Kill a People