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On December 16, participants in Rancho Los Cerritos’ Long Ago Long Beach program came with their families to see the art they created. They also toured this famous local historic site, and had a chance to experience life as it was like for a 19th century California rancho family. 

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Crafting With Sheila For my video assignment, I interviewed Sheila O’Rourke, a local artist who currently crafts jewelry and decorative art. 

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This week, I interviewed Tiffany Tharpe, founder of Black Girls Trekkin, a hiking group focused on increasing the visibility and presence of Black women-and people of color in general- in the hiking and conservation scenes. The interview has been edited for time and clarity (1:56).

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On October 7, 2018, a fascist won nearly 50% of the vote in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election. Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain who still praises the old military dictatorship he served, is a racist, homophobic, misogynistic chauvinist who revels in violence. A darling of the Brazilian and US elite, he promises to crush the left, and the rights of women, workers, indigenous people, and human rights groups, and further erode Brazil’s fragile democracy. He promises to open up Brazil’s natural resources and economy to foreign, and especially US corporate interests. Often dubbed Brazil’s Trump or, more absurdly,Tropical Trump in the English-language press, the fact of the matter is that he far more dangerous than Trump. Though they have similarities, Bolsonaro has the institutional backing of a military only a few decades removed from power, an even greater appetite for violence, and the benefit of much weaker democratic norms and institutions. In this article for Brasil Wire, sociologist, international relations specialist, and adviser to the PT or Worker’s Party Marcelo Zero lays out some of the reasons for Bolsonaro’s strong victory, and suggests some tactics for beating him in the second round later this month. According to Zero, defeating Bolsonaro and what he represents will require a broad alliance of all progressive, democratic forces in Brazil. This alliance will have to fully “translate what fascism means, concretely, to the people.” The situation for Brazil is dire, and given Brazil’s size and influence in Latin America and the world, a global threat. If Bolosnaro wins, it may be even more significant than Pinochet’s US-backed coup in Chile.

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This is a classmate of mine telling a harrowing bathroom story. It is not political in any way...or is it? It’s not. 

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Middle East Eye reports on the latest dire news from Yemen, where the US-backed, Saudi-led war continues to wreak havoc, and aid groups like Save the Children continue to document the suffering with little response from the powers that be. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International, gives an eyewitness account in the report. “Millions of children don't know when or if their next meal will come," Thorning-Schmidt said. "In one hospital I visited in north Yemen, the babies were too weak to cry, their bodies exhausted by hunger."

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As this Newsweek article details, anarchist organizers provided vital relief to suffering communities across Puerto Rico, delivering food, water and basic health care, and installing “a solar-powered ‘micro-grid ‘ in Mariana, a self-sustaining electric system owned and managed by the community.”  In the aftermath of Maria, similar grassroots organizations have proven to be more flexible and accountable to Puerto Ricans than the government or large NGOs.

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Workers at McDonald’s restaurants in 10 cities nationwide walked off the job on Tuesday”, the Guardian reports, “to demand that the company address sexual abuse and harassment, including by forming a committee comprised of workers, corporate and franchise representatives, and national women’s groups. Organizers said this was the first nationwide strike ever called specifically to protest sexual harassment.” The importance of this action can’t be understated. Working class women, especially working class black and brown women, are not the public faces of the #MeToo movement, and have far fewer resources to combat predators and the systems that protect them, but they are not powerless. Women like Adriana Alvarez, who is quoted in the Guardian piece at length, are ready and willing to fight back.    “Adriana Alvarez, 26, noted that she went on strike for a day in the spring when the latest EEOC complaints were filed. Since she felt McDonald’s has done nothing to improve the situation, she was eager to again walk out of the McDonald’s she works at in the Chicago suburb of Cicero.“The public doesn’t know what we go through, behind the counters, in the bathrooms, in the janitors closets,” she said. “I really hope this does make a statement. We’re sick and tired of having to deal with this.”

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Using data from the rent market trends website Rent Jungle, the Daily 49er reports that rent rates near CSULB have reached record levels. As the report details, university programs like the Basic Needs Initiative do provide vital assistance to students. However, they fail to get at the roots of the problem: in this case, a city that places private profit over human needs and human rights. Is that the kind of Long Beach we want?

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Marielle Franco, a socialist activist and city councilor from Rio De Janeiro, was assassinated along with her driver  six months ago. She was killed not only because she was an unapologetically Black, queer woman from the favela, but because she was a fighter for the oppressed people of Rio and all of Brazil. In this powerful Time article, Marinete de Silva, Marielle’s mother, reflects on the meaning of her daughter’s life, death, and the struggle for justice.

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Hello and welcome to Marx’s Beard Lint! This is a blog I’ve created for my multimedia journalism class, with a hefty dash of spicy, red-hot politics. I’ll update with a new post every Thursday, so stay tuned. This is not a radio or a television. You can’t stay tuned. Just come back if you’re interested.