Rebuffing the Bush administration, a federal appeals court Friday refused
to reconsider its ruling that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public
schools is unconstitutional because of the words "under God."
The case could go next to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Attorney General John Ashcroft condemned the decision and said the
Justice Department will "spare no effort to preserve the rights of
all our citizens to pledge allegiance to the American flag." But he
stopped short of saying the administration will appeal to the high court.
full story at yahoo news
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/02/28/3751693
yeah, i believe it was originally written by a socialist, actually.
Joe R. Golowka writes on Saturday March 01 2003 @ 02:09PM PST: [
reply | parent ]
Yes, it was written by Francis Bellamy who was a Christian Socialist who
believed in the authoritarian socialist ideaology advocated by his
cousin, Edward Bellamy. He believed in a highly centralized economy run
by the state and organized along militaristic lines. Those under 45 would
be denied the right to vote and young adults would basically be slaves to
the state. Anyone who didn't obey the "captains of industry"
would be jailed and only allowed to eat bread & water. It would
basically be a statist tyranny. He wrote a novel describing this
distopia, you can read it at
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bellamy-ed/works/backward/index.htm
writes on Saturday March 01 2003 @ 05:13AM PST: [ reply | parent ]
the ruling was amended a little. the pledge itself is constitutional, what is unconstitutional is reciting it in public schools.
But none of this matters. Tell every student you know that they do not have to recite the pledge, ever. If they are punished in any way -- from harrassment on school grounds to expulsion by the principal -- they can request school officials to rectify the matter. If something isn't done by the administration to protect their freedom of speech (in this case, freedom to not speak) they can sue all day long for civil rights violations.
MarkResist writes on Saturday March 01 2003 @ 08:19AM PST: [ reply | parent ]
Religious fundamentalism is an aspect of oppression which needs to be more directly addressed by anarchists. Certainly, making the material conditions better in the here amd now does a lot to undermine the appeal of these people. But we also need to keep reminding ourselves that vast segments of society are already under the sway of this authoritarianism.
Anarchists can make their own contribution to groups already fighting the right and present a wider anti-authoritarian critique. Many groups like People for the American Way and even the American Civil Liberties Union, while doing good work, are mired in reformist politics and lacking a more holistic analysis of things like the economy.
Queer Folks, Women who need abortions, sex workers, pot smokers(in short anyone who wants to have fun NOW, on this earth)suffer beneath the influence of theocrats intent on making/sustaining oppressive law. We talk of liberating desire. Well, I see enough religious oppression where I live to know that these fanatics are experts at keeping desire chained and shackled, through both law and fear!
This whole thing with the pledge kind of got me riled up to write this. Most people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson(and others to numerous to mention)support the worst excess of capitalism, a strong state and a very ugly veiw of the world( witness their support for Israeli imperialism)They are part of the "psychological opertions unit" of state and capital.
I think more propaganda work, as well as more direct action would be in order, especially since these people are looking at Ashcroft's repression as a way to fufill their own twisted version of facism.
Thanks For Listening, MarkResist
pr writes on Saturday March 01 2003 @ 10:33PM PST: [ reply | parent ]
What better time to destroy the god concept.We have insane religious bigots on two sides of a shooting war while priests of all persuasions are being caught literaly fucking up our children. I always thought anarchists would kill the state,then god,now it looks like it could go the other way because the only excuse for god is that it doesn't exist.
http://www.atheists-for-jesus.com/
