My April column explained what socialism is and what it isn’t. However, to effect actual change, we need something concrete to advocate for and organize around. Without a shared map of the territory, the idea of adopting socialist principles remains pie in the sky. The long censorship of the idea…
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The pandemic and social distancing have turned cities into a void. At the few places where there is still human contact, at home and at modified workplaces for example, there is a void of norms. No one knows how to act. In front of us, in the absence of our…
We are juniors at Olympia High School. After hearing about people suffering both directly and indirectly from the coronavirus last December, we felt driven to help. Students Against Coronavirus is a project under a student organization we created called “AI Benefit Projects.” Getting official approval to expand the project We…
The Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival was all set to celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, complete with tours, special guests, and, of course, over 500,000 sandpipers, dowitchers, plovers, and dunlins. The festival was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the Sandpiper Trail is opens. We can use this time…
Maybe there should be a dam —or several dams —on the Chehalis River. It’s just that these dams should not be built by the Army Corps of Engineers.
World BEYOND War * TESC's Pandemic Academy * The Chrysalis Project * Boldly Creating the World We Want * Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons * Hummingbird Solar Project
Only some of us are in this together. The COVID-19 pandemic makes connections visible, like a three-dimensional holograph that includes space and time. So do certain traumatic images. The virus has managed to travel the world, demonstrating how our fate is connected to the fate of people in countries everywhere.
Last month, WIP printed a photo of Father Leahy offering “curbside confessions” in Olympia. Then this happened: others have followed Leahy’s lead.....
The advent of a pandemic virus showed us in vivid terms that our healthcare system is a mess. The US response to the coronavirus has been disorganized, characterized by misinformation and confusion—and resulted in more deaths and infections than in any other developed country. And it’s not over yet.
Life on Earth and this nation cannot continue in this way. The prospect of four more years of Trump hovers over us like a bad omen, threatening all life. This calamitous prediction not only presages the future to come, but is also directly connected to the policies of the past and the present.
Olympia planners told developer Jerry Mahan he has to comply with city requirements, even though he has a powerful attorney and a lot of influential backers. Our February and March issues detailed how Mahan attorney Heather Burgess demanded that the city “timely complete” its review...
As many in Washington look for signs that the COVID–19 outbreak is slowing, some working in the food supply chain feel as vulnerable as ever—and are taking action. On Thursday, several labor organizations, including Familias Unidas por la Justicia and the United Farm Workers, filed a lawsuit in Skagit…
Works in Progress is celebrating thirty years as a community-based, volunteer-run, progressive community newspaper. WIP started as a community newspaper sponsored by the Thurston County Rainbow Coalition.
The Department of Corrections (DOC) is planning to open a new women’s prison at the site of the closed Maple Lane youth detention center in Grand Mound. This prison expansion is opposed by many area residents, and No New Women’s Prison, a group of criminal justice advocates with experiences in Washington prisons that formed in Fall 2019, is trying to stop it.
Who’s afraid of the big, bad Fox? Open government watchdog and advocate, Arthur West and his local group, WASHLITE (Washington League for Transparency and Ethics) have gained international media coverage for a lawsuit filed against Fox News and Rupert Murdoch for their repeated labeling of the COVID–19 virus a “hoax”.…
Dateline April 9: Tuesday was a nightmare in Milwaukee. Due to the lack of poll workers—most being elderly—and with the high number of COVID–19 cases spiking the city, polling places were canceled in droves. Neil Albrecht, Director of the City of Milwaukee Election Commission, could set up only 5 polling sites that met the CDC guidelines.
Olympia’s Planning and Development Department has decided that its new Housing Options Plan will have no significant impact on our environment and our neighborhoods. The plan prescribes new duplexes, triplexes, and apartments, along with larger and taller ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units, a.k.a. “back-yard cottages”), along with relief from parking, on-site…
At this country’s founding, members of the ruling class in most states granted the vote only to property-owning white men—- themselves. A right to vote was expanded during the nineteenth century, first to include all white men, then black men (although that right was obliterated by the end of the…
At the beginning of last year, Donald Trump lamented the lack of immigrants to the US “from places like Norway.” This excerpt from a Nation magazine interview with Ann Jones about her stay in that country explains why.
Guayaquil es un puerto fluvial, ubicado en la desembocadura del río Guayas en el Océano Pacífico; junto con Quito son las dos ciudades más importantes del Ecuador, económica y políticamente.
Guayaquil and Quito are the two most important cities in Ecuador economically and politically. Guayaquil, the epicenter of COVID–19 in South America, is a river port located at the mouth of the Guayas River on the Pacific Ocean.
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by -- Poetry
Low-wage workers are on the front line in the battle against coronavirus. While many workers have started telecommuting — and many others have unfortunately been laid off — low-wage workers are busy cleaning our streets, making sure we have enough to eat, and, of course, nursing us back to health…
In a culture driven by petro dollars, the Better World Club is an intentionally well-kept secret. Like AAA, BWC provides roadside assistance to motorists every day of the year, contracting with local small businesses to service vehicles in distress. Dollar for dollar and mile for mile, BWC offers the same…
Governments around the globe have had since December to prepare for the novel coronavirus. And while some countries have done better than others with their response, here in the U.S. the for-profit medical industry is practically ensuring that more people catch the virus and more die from it.
Bodhisattva vow: living to help others. We are all Sisters and Brothers. -- Poetry
We write to you as leaders from a diverse array of organizations building political power for young people in the United States. We are all deeply committed to ending a presidency that has set the clock back on all of the issues that impact our lives. While you are now…