Grassroots Movements Against Data Centers Are At Risk Of Exploitation

On this Labor Day, while we celebrate the gains of the Labor Movement in the United States, it is also critical to assess the state of that movement today as we face many of the conditions that led to a surge in labor power during the early 20th century. In his new book, "Unions, Race and Popular Democracy," labor expert Dr. Kim Scipes compares two labor organizing committees that formed in the Midwest, one by the steelworkers and another by the meatpackers. Scipes joins Clearing the FOG to discuss the differences between top-down trade unions and grassroots industrial unions and how Social Justice Unionism confronted White Supremacy and won victories for all workers. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The US Federal debt recently climbed to $40 trillion, double what it was just ten years ago. The United States is borrowing at an unprecedented rate, putting itself and the whole world at risk of financial collapse. Professor Richard Wolff joins Clearing the FOG to discuss why the debt is rising so quickly, how it impacts our daily lives and more signs of a US empire in decline. Wolff explains that the election of Donald Trump and progressive Democrats are "votes of alienation" rather than being based on a political ideology. Wolff expresses optimism in the face of a rising interest in socialism and whether the US can transform away from capitalism or rescue it, as was done under FDR. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Data center fights arose organically and are having victories, with 500 laws passed in the last year, because they are grassroots, broad and militant. This has put them on the radar of political parties and large 'nonprofits' who seek to exploit them for their own gain. This week, Clearing the FOG speaks with Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, an international climate and environmental liberation advocate, about the potential of this movement to expand and have greater successes and the risks of involvement by the nonprofit industrial complex that commodifies social justice for monetary gain. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As the climate crisis intensifies, bringing extreme weather events, fires, droughts and flooding to our communities, and governments refuse to take effective action, a growing movement is amending state Constitutions to codify the right to clean air and water and a healthy environment. Clearing the FOG speaks with the founder of the Green Amendments For The Generations campaign, Maya van Rossum. An environmental lawyer, van Rossum explains how communities can win these amendments and use them to change the legal system that currently legalizes the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. She also talks about how Green Amendments strengthen the fights against data centers. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As the climate crisis ravages the planet with wildfires, droughts and floods, the wealthy are using private jets, which spew carbon into the atmosphere, more and more frequently. Not only does this exacerbate the climate crisis, but it is putting a strain on air travel infrastructure. Through a powerful private jet lobby, the cost of private air travel has been shifted to those who use commercial airlines and taxpayers. Chuck Collins of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, which recently launched its Tax Private Jet campaign, speaks with Clearing the FOG about the many reasons why we need to curtail private jet use and the growing movement to do that. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

It has been nearly four and a half years since the Russian intervention into Ukraine instigated by the United States and other Western nations. Ukraine, through its alliances with terrorist organizations on the African continent and in Syria, and now through its attack on an Iranian civilian ship, is demonstrating that it is a tool of Western imperialism. Clearing the FOG speaks with Phil Wilayto of the Odessa Solidarity Campaign about the long history of Ukraine's far right white supremacy elements, the 2014 US-backed coup and the West's efforts to prolong the war on Russia to serve their imperialist interests. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Surveillance systems and infrastructure are being built at an alarming rate in the United States. Often, contracts are signed with surveillance corporations without public input or oversight. At the same time, a national movement that spans the political spectrum is rising up to challenge the security state. Communities are removing infrastructure, canceling contracts and passing moratoria. Clearing the FOG speaks with Ed Vogel of Southerners Against Surveillance Systems and Infrastructure about the extent of surveillance on the streets, in our schools and elsewhere, and how people are investigating what systems are in their communities and are organizing to end mass surveillance. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

July 2 marked 1,000 days of the current phase of escalated genocide of Palestinians, particularly in Gaza. The Israeli military continues bombing and murdering Palestinians daily despite a ceasefire and blockading food, medicines, and other supplies from entering Gaza. Clearing the FOG speaks with Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon from the United States who has volunteered in Gaza twice and has spoken out about the atrocities being committed there. He reports on the state of the healthcare system and the illegal detention and torture of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and other Palestinians. Dr. Sidhwa makes the critical point that the United States is behind and responsible for all of the crimes being committed by the Zionist state. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

As people in the United States mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, stories of the Founding Fathers abound but much of this analysis misses the deeper account of how a decade of nonviolent resistance to the British Empire contributed to independence and was subverted by a military campaign led by oligarchic generals. Clearing the FOG speaks with author and nonviolence organizer Rivera Sun about that period where people used their power through boycotts, protests, and the creation of alternative institutions to become independent, and how this worried the wealthy class, which then wrote a property rights Constitution that was anti-democratic and founded a republic that permitted the ownership of people. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The United States and its allies have escalated their war on Latin America - killing hundreds of fisher people with impunity, invading and kidnapping the President and First Lady in Venezuela, tightening economic blockades, and manipulating elections. Clearing the FOG speaks with Claudia O'Brien-Moscoso of the Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team about recent right wing gains in countries such as Colombia, Peru and other countries in retaliation to the popular gains of the Pink Tide and how social movements are fighting back. O'Brien-Moscoso describes the international campaign to build a Zone of Peace in Our Americas. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.