Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture (Open Media Series)

Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture (Open Media Series)
Angela Y. Davis (Author)
(3)

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Human Rights

Revelations about U.S policies and practices of torture and abuse have captured headlines ever since the breaking of the Abu Ghraib prison story in April 2004. Since then, a debate has raged regarding what is and what is not acceptable behavior for the world’s leading democracy. It is within this context that Angela Davis, one of America’s most remarkable political figures, gave a series of interviews to discuss resistance and law, institutional sexual coercion, politics and prison. Davis talks about her own incarceration, as well as her experiences as "enemy of the state," and about having been put on the FBI’s "most wanted" list. She talks about the crucial role that international activism played in her case and the case of many other political prisoners.
Throughout these interviews, Davis returns to her critique of a democracy that has been compromised by its racist origins and institutions. Discussing the most recent disclosures about the disavowed "chain of command," and the formal reports by the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch denouncing U.S. violation of human rights and the laws of war in Guantánamo, Afghanistan and Iraq, Davis focuses on the underpinnings of prison regimes in the United States.

• Rank: #50159 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-04
• Released on: 2005-10-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 7.01" h x .51" w x 5.00" l, .20 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 132 pages

State of Exception

State of Exception
Giorgio Agamben (Author), Kevin Attell (Translator)
(14)

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Human Rights

Two months after the attacks of 9/11, the Bush administration, in the midst of what it perceived to be a state of emergency, authorized the indefinite detention of noncitizens suspected of terrorist activities and their subsequent trials by a military commission. Here, distinguished Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben uses such circumstances to argue that this unusual extension of power, or "state of exception," has historically been an underexamined and powerful strategy that has the potential to transform democracies into totalitarian states.

The sequel to Agamben's Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, State of Exception is the first book to theorize the state of exception in historical and philosophical context. In Agamben's view, the majority of legal scholars and policymakers in Europe as well as the United States have wrongly rejected the necessity of such a theory, claiming instead that the state of exception is a pragmatic question. Agamben argues here that the state of exception, which was meant to be a provisional measure, became in the course of the twentieth century a normal paradigm of government. Writing nothing less than the history of the state of exception in its various national contexts throughout Western Europe and the United States, Agamben uses the work of Carl Schmitt as a foil for his reflections as well as that of Derrida, Benjamin, and Arendt.

In this highly topical book, Agamben ultimately arrives at original ideas about the future of democracy and casts a new light on the hidden relationship that ties law to violence.

• Rank: #150140 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .34" h x 5.54" w x 8.48" l, .35 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 104 pages

Free the Copts: From Ancient Glory to Modern Oppression

Free the Copts: From Ancient Glory to Modern Oppression
The Australian Coptic Movement Association (Author), Ramy Tadros (Editor)

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Human Rights

On 1 January 2011, a bomb blast outside a Coptic church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria kills dozens of Copts attending New Year services. Media outlets from around the world replay footage of the carnage. Threats are made against Copts worldwide. Angered, anguished, and defiant, Egypt's besieged Copts flood the streets and clash with police in Alexandria and Cairo.

Twenty-five days later on 25 January 2011, Egypt's revolution begins and the events, once again, capture the international community's attention. But this time the world watches with inspiration, as the Egyptian people seek to topple a dictatorship.

Free the Copts provides a fresh perspective on Egypt's Copts, their culture, and their struggle against discrimination and persecution. Various politicians, journalists, academics, clergy, and activists from around the globe have contributed a range of articles to make this compilation a valuable resource about the Copts and their future in a changing Egypt.

• Rank: #71293 in eBooks
• Published on: 2013-06-12
• Released on: 2013-06-12
• Format: Kindle eBook
• Number of items: 1

Passionate Justice: A Progressive Memoir in Essays

Passionate Justice: A Progressive Memoir in Essays
Jonathan Wolfman (Author)
(2)

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Human Rights

Writing essays on social justice has been my daily passion and full-time work since 2008. To date, I've published roughly 1,500 pieces which have received excellent, helpful criticism from a group of longstanding, dear friends and from a consistent readership of fellow writers, first at Open Salon and subsequently at Our Salon. Some pieces have appeared on other sites, such as Talking Writing, Does This Make Sense, Pal Talk News, The Jewish Reporter, Punchnel's, Beguile, Castle Gay Guide, and A World of Progress. In early 2013, I began posting pieces readers have told me are their favorites every few months at the Daily Kos. Because this book is a personal memoir that draws on social history, it reflects both general social history and my own. I respond in my writing to world and national events that have worked their way into my personal and professional life and informed my values and worldview. I've found that historical events and the justice inherent in them (or the lack thereof) continually resonate in the present. ~Jonathan Wolfman

• Rank: #87553 in Books
• Published on: 2013-06-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 226 pages

So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government (Vintage)

So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government (Vintage)
Robert G. Kaiser (Author)
(21)

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Human Rights

With a New Foreword

In So Damn Much Money, veteran Washington Post editor and correspondent Robert Kaiser gives a detailed account of how the boom in political lobbying since the 1970s has shaped American politics by empowering special interests, undermining effective legislation, and discouraging the country’s best citizens from serving in office. Kaiser traces this dramatic change in our political system through the colorful story of Gerald S. J. Cassidy, one of Washington’s most successful lobbyists. Superbly told, it’s an illuminating dissection of a political system badly in need of reform.

• Rank: #34828 in Books
• Published on: 2010-02-09
• Released on: 2010-02-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.00" h x .90" w x 5.17" l, .88 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Genocide and Mass Atrocities in Asia: Legacies and Prevention (Routledge Contemporary Asia Series)

Genocide and Mass Atrocities in Asia: Legacies and Prevention (Routledge Contemporary Asia Series)
Deborah Mayersen (Editor), Annie Pohlman (Editor)

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Human Rights

The Citizen Lobbyist: A How-to Manual for Making Your Voice Heard in Government

The Citizen Lobbyist: A How-to Manual for Making Your Voice Heard in Government
Amanda Knief (Author), Rev. Barry W. Lynn (Foreword)

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Human Rights

More citizen involvement is needed in our government processes to ensure the voices of the people are heard over the money of paid lobbyists, unions, and coalitions, both in Washington, DC, and in state capitals across the country. Too often our public officials seem removed from the people who hired them to be their representatives and fail to work on their behalf. The Citizen Lobbyist is a handbook for anyone who wants to learn about how to be active in local, state, and federal government and have a voice in creating public policy. It gives a step-by-step plan on how to lobby elected officials about whatever issues you care about, offers information on how to plan a lobbying meeting for individuals and groups, and provides sample lobbying worksheets and resources to assist with finding legislative information and history. The Citizen Lobbyist is your go-to reference for being a grassroots activist and citizen lobbyist.

• Rank: #76292 in Books
• Published on: 2013-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .25 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages