Economics of Empire

I wouldn’t usually post something like this, cause I think people have their own opinions about American foreign policy and I’m not trying to nag or put up a lot of of this kind of content.

But I wanted to mention the story of the first guy interviewed, Fernando Suarez del Solar.

He was really active in the anti-war movement when I was living in San Diego.

His son, Jesus Suarez del Solar, was one of the first soldier fatalities in the Iraq war.

He was killed when he stepped on an unexploded cluster bomb – an American weapon which very arguably violates international humanitarian law.

A long time ago, I listened to Fernando give a talk about losing his son and about a visit he made to Iraq.

His purpose for going was to show his solidarity with the Iraqi people’s desire to end the war.

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Here’s an interview with Fernando from a while back.

I didn’t realize this but he says U.S. military recruiters were going to Mexico to recruit at Mexican schools. I believe Jesus was awarded U.S. citizenship posthumously.

Kevin Danaher @ DC Green Festival

Yesterday, I listened to Kevin Danaher give the last keynote address at the DC Green Festival.

In 2000, The New York Times described Danaher as the “Paul Revere of globalization’s woes.”

His wife and fellow activist Media Benjamin introduced him after The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel gave a talk.

Both Danaher and Benjamin helped found Global Exchange, one of the organizations responsible for starting the Green Festival.

He laid out some pretty amazing ideas on jumpstarting the Green economy. He made me think that SF is gonna be ground zero for this innovation.

He also made me think the coalition of organizations he’s working with might be part of the answer to the question – what has happened to all of the anti-globalization protest energy that came to a head in Seattle at WTO?

Afterwards, I picked up his new book (pictured above).

It’s full of vignettes of folks who are doing really interesting work in the ‘green’ sector. I am planning on picking out the best ones and blogging about them.

There is some really good stuff.