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Shamus Cooke

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Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org)

OpEd News Member for 703 week(s) and 5 day(s)

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SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 14, 2014
A New Push for Peace in Syria? The giant U.S. corporations that benefit from Middle East dominance are applying maximum pressure to continue war. The stalemate has become so obvious and destructive in Syria that Russia and Egypt have inserted themselves as power brokers, which would act to bolster their political-economic leverage while pushing the U.S. out.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 26, 2012
A Corporate Versus a People's City Budget How are government budgets created, and in whose interests? In Portland, Oregon the city recently held the second and last of its public budget forums, where the community could offer feedback to help craft the city's budget.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 16, 2012
Why Labor's Rank and File Won't Campaign for Obama A surreal fog hangs over U.S. labor unions' enthusiastic endorsement of Barack Obama. When AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka announced the labor federation's recent endorsement, the exaggerated pro-Obama comments likely surprised union members everywhere. Has President Trumka paid any attention to the labor policies of President Obama?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 12, 2012
Will Occupy Spring Forward Or Meltdown? A healthy debate has finally gripped the Occupy Movement: there is now a discussion over strategy. Most Occupiers have learned that raw enthusiasm alone cannot bring victory to a social movement; ideas matter too. Action divorced from strategy equals wasted energy, divisiveness, diversions and unnecessary mistakes. Not all tactics push the movement forward.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Proxy War in Syria Threatens Catastrophe for Middle East In an effort to undermine Iran by overthrowing its strategic ally, Syria, western nations are using their Middle East client states to conduct a multi-pronged attack against Syria through the media, the Arab League, the United Nations and now through military proxy forces.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Truth Behind the Coming "Regime Change" in Syria The United States appears to be using a strategy in Syria that it has perfected over the years, having succeeded most recently in Libya: arming small paramilitary groups loyal to U.S. interests that claim to speak for the native population; these militants then attack the targeted government the U.S. would like to see overthrown -- including terrorist bombings -- and when the attacked government defends itself, the U.S. cries
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 14, 2012
Theory and Practice in Occupy The uninterrupted string of successes of Egypt and Tunisia haven't materialized for Occupy. We're in a lull period. Next steps are being considered and some tactics are being re-thought.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 1, 2012
The Threat of War Against Iran and Syria is Real For those who think that the United States wouldn't possibly instigate another war in the Middle East, think again. Empowered by his "success" in the bombing of Libya and consequent assassination of Muammar Qaddafi, Obama is now seeking to use the exact same strategy against Syria, while using alarming military threats against Iran. In both cases the U.S. is creating the conditions for war in a region that is already boiling
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 15, 2011
Reform vs. Revolution Within Occupy Many Occupiers have expressed a valid concern over the Obama campaign attempting to hijack the Occupy movement. To avoid this pitfall some Occupiers advocate more radical methods, ideas and strategies. But sometimes these tactics create new problems. While swerving safely left of the Democrats' grasp, some Occupiers have overreached and exited the orbit of most working people, who would otherwise naturally gravitate to the Oc
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 21, 2011
Labor Must Choose Between Occupy and the Democrats The Occupy Movement couldn't have come along at a worse time, from the viewpoint of the Democrats. Election season is just getting started and Occupy has thrown a giant wrench into the political machinery. Some labor leaders too are sensing "politics as usual" shifting under their feet
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 14, 2011
The Battles of Occupy Portland For those who were there, November 13th will be a day long remembered in Portland, Oregon. Occupy Portland again proved why it remains the 2nd strongest Occupy movement in the U.S. when it mobilized against police eviction. Instead of the Occupiers being evicted it was the police who were sent home demoralized.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 7, 2011
The Occupy Movement Needs A Good Fight Uniting the 99% in concrete struggle is the issue of the day, but time is short. The Occupy Movement has the nation's attention now, but working people's attention is conditional; they will stay focused on Occupy if Occupy is focused on them.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The Way Forward For Occupy Portland Portland is second only to New York when it comes to sustained Occupy power, but in a newly born social movement strength is not something to take for granted. The vast amounts of public support in Portland, earned through large demonstrations and strategic outreach, can be frittered away by the internal contradictions of the movement.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 27, 2011
Why The Far Right "supports" The Occupy Movement Should Occupiers be concerned that the Nazi Party has given official "support" to the Occupy Movement? Or be worried that other far-right groups -- including sections of the Tea Party -- are "pro occupy?" Absolutely. These groups have no place in an anti-corporate, pro-worker movement. The Occupy Movement's greatest strength -- its broad appeal -- can quickly become an exploitable weakness, and the far right smells blood.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Next Steps for the Occupy Movement As the Occupy Movement gains strength nationally and internationally, questions of "what next" are popping up. Although there are no easy answers or ready-to-order recipes for moving forward, there are general ideas that can help unite the Occupy Movements with the broader community of the 99% -- which is the most urgent need at the moment.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 13, 2011
The 1% and Capitalism There are certain policies that raise profits for corporations in general, including: destroying labor rights and attacking unions (since lower wages equals higher profits), slashing social spending (since corporations paying taxes cuts into their profits), cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (since corporations help pay for these too, lowering their profits), privatization, lowering corporate taxes, lowering taxes
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 7, 2011
Occupy Portland Is Born with Ten Thousand Strong It should be no surprise that a city dubbed "Little Beirut" by President Bush Senior -- due to the large protests against him -- began its "occupation" on a level on par with Wall Street.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Fuel for Occupy Wall Street's Fire Sometimes it explodes. But social explosions are rare events. Are the Wall Street protests and their nationwide copycats an explosion or just a flare up? For an explosion to happen there must be not only explosive material, but plenty of oxygen to feed the fire. For social movements this means that enough working people, students, and unemployed find the necessary unity and inspiration to push through obstacles and maintain
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 24, 2011
Obama Taxes the Rich for the Wrong Reasons President Obama may have opened Pandora's box with his latest tax-the-rich rhetoric, but he'll try to keep the lid half-shut. Truly informing the public about just how rich the rich are -- and just how much their taxes have been lowered over the decades -- would certainly cause working people to demand much more from the wealthy than Obama is.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 16, 2011
Obama Coopts The Labor Movement When governments fall deaf to social reality, it's up to working people to get loud. Obama's jobs speech proved that the Democrats -- like the Republicans -- suffer from massive hearing loss, unable to listen to the millions of people suffering from the intractable jobs depression.

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