Dear Progressive Reader,

A devastating war continues in Ukraine. Last week photojournalist Daniel Brown visited the suburbs outside Kyiv and sent us a gripping photoessay chronicling the devastation. “As the destruction and rubble is being cleared, the civilian death toll from the Russian occupation around Kyiv continues to rise,” Brown writes. What remained after Russian troops retreated, he says, “was a devastated population and a shattered civilian infrastructure.”

Last year, for its fiftieth anniversary, Marvin Gaye’s classic album “What’s Goin’ On” was released in graphic form. “You see, war is not the answer,” Gaye sang. “For only love can conquer hate.” Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies point out in an essay this week that “Americans are rightfully horrified to see Ukrainians killed by Russian forces, yet we regularly accept justifications when people are killed by U.S. or allied forces.” The real issue, they remind us, is that “we should never forget that the supreme war crime is war itself.”

Today is the anniversary of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” King, while imprisoned for participating in a non-violent demonstration, drafted a letter to local clergy. He sent it out to several publications, including The Progressive, where it appeared under the title, “Tears of Love.” King spoke directly to those urging moderation in the struggle for civil rights, writing, “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.” Five years later, King would be killed by an assassin’s bullet, and a week after that, President Lyndon Johnson would finally sign the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Eleanor Bader reviews a new book, Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections. The book, which looks at the movements behind the victories in the 2020 elections, is a timely read in the lead-up to the 2022 midterms. It is, Bader tells us, “a reminder that we need to make our agenda known and use every possible avenue, including voting, to create the world in which we wish to live.”

Sarah Cords reviews another new book, Talking to the Girls, which provides an important look back at the history of the March 25, 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The story of this unsafe workplace, although more than a century old, is just as important for workers today, as the book’s editors tell her in an interview: “Stories of workers’ struggles to keep safe during the pandemic and of inhumane conditions at meat-packing facilities, Walmart stores, and Amazon warehouses right here in our own backyards remind us that workplace safety is just as urgent a concern for American workers today.”

Also this week, Jeff Abbott reports on the dangers to working journalists in Latin America. Bill Blum examines the growing calls for Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself on matters relating to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And Christopher Blackwell writes from his prison cell about the importance of education in preventing recidivism.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. – If you were unable to attend our live event with renowned author Noam Chomsky and interviewer David Barsamian discussing their two new books chronicling their thirty-five years of conversations, it is available to view on our YouTube channel. You can also get one of the books with a donation of $50 or more to The Progressive at this link.

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