Dear Progressive Reader,
August 9 marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, with a nuclear weapon. Three days earlier, the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, by another U.S. warplane. This month, legendary antinuclear activist Helen Caldicott writes for the newest issue of The Progressive, “Seventy-five years after the dawn of the nuclear age, we are as ready as ever to extinguish ourselves.” And, she continues, “Our planet is in the intensive care unit, approaching several terminal events.” We are, she warns, perilously poised between a looming climate disaster and a potential nuclear one.
In the same issue, filmmaker and journalist John Junkerman reports on the Maruki Gallery, a museum in Japan that showcases artwork that chronicles the tragic events of August, 1945. When speaking with the museum’s curator earlier this year, he “stressed his sense of obligation to the future,” telling Junkerman: “Since Fukushima, and now with the pandemic, reality seems to be increasingly invisible to the eye.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his enablers are working fast and furiously to dismantle many of the structures of our democracy. This past week, news reports emerged of an imminent undercount in the decennial census. Last year, Sharon Johnson wrote for The Progressive on the importance of that census to properly allocate resources and political representation. Examples of the longterm effects she cites include: “three key educational programs [that] could be affected: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; Title I grants to Local Education Agencies to improve the academic achievement of the disadvantaged; and expansion funds for Head Start and Early Head Start. There might also be a decline in community development block grants and funds for the state’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).” she said.
Meanwhile, Trump’s newly appointed Postmaster General is apparently working to slow mail delivery to “cut costs” and create “efficiencies.” In effect, however, these changes damage the efficiency of mail-in voting as Mark Fiore illustrates in this week’s animated cartoon. And editor Bill Lueders describes his recent bout of email correspondence from the Trump family.
Michael Laser lists seven ways to help during the upcoming election in spite of the pandemic. Paul Von Blum offers another in a series of looks at political artists responding to recent racial justice protests. Amanda Solliday reports on the positive impacts of Black Lives Matter protests in small rural communities. And, Paul Buhle reviews a new book that showcases the lessons we can learn from the Cuban health care system.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
The Progressive is also co-sponsoring this year’s Netroots Nation conference. They write: "The 15th annual Netroots Nation conference is going virtual August 13-15! Join us for the biggest progressive conference in the country, with more 150+ hours of live interactive content and fun networking opportunities. This is a critical chance to strategize about how to win up and down the ballot in November—and how to make progressive change a reality once we’ve won. Progressive change can’t wait." More information is available at netrootsnation.org.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. – If you don’t already subscribe to The Progressive in print or digital form, please consider doing so today. Also, if you have a friend or relative that you feel should hear from the many voices for progressive change with our pages, please consider giving a gift subscription. A great new August/September issue will be in the mail early next, full of thoughtful and thought-proving content.
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