Concrete Umbrella Records Blog

U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Chancellor Keesling died in Iraq on June 19, 2009, from “a non-combat related incident,” according to the Pentagon. Keesling had killed himself. He was just one in what is turning out to be a record year for suicides in the U.S. military. Read More Listen to this Column [...]

Malalai Joya is one of Afghanistan’s leading democracy activists. In 2005, she became the youngest person ever elected to the Afghan parliament. She was suspended in 2007 for her denunciation of warlords and their cronies in government. She has just written her memoir, “A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Woman Who Dared to Speak Out.” She spoke in New York at the Northeast Socialist Conference on October 23, 2009. [...]

Clarence Kailin was one of the last survivors of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a group of American volunteers who fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. Kailin fought in defense of Spain’s democratically elected government against a military coup led by Gen. Francisco Franco, backed by Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In one of his last public appearances, Kailin, a lifelong activist, told friends and supporters at his 95th birthday celebration in Madison, “We’ve got a lot of work to do.” Thanks to Karen Rybold-Chin for this video. [...]

Doing a little testing. Shit is going to look fucked up for a few

Halloween is around the corner, and children will soon be dressing up and chanting “trick or treat,” their demand for candy backed up by the threat of a prank. Climate-change activists, from pranksters to presidents, are doing the same. Read More Listen to this Column [...]

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Lt. Dan Choi doesn’t want to lie. Choi, an Iraq war veteran and a graduate of West Point, declared last March 19 on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” “I am gay.” Under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations, those three words are enough to get Choi kicked out of the military. Choi has become a vocal advocate for repealing the policy, having spoken before tens of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their allies at last Sunday’s National Equality March in Washington, D.C. Read more Listen to this Column [...]