The Progressive Honor Roll of 2013 - Most Valuable Protest: Mountain Moral Monday

[cbayer]

http://www.thenation.com/article/177654/progressive-honor-roll-2013#

We celebrate these heroes both for their accomplishments of the past year and their determination to do even more in 2014.

John Nichols December 18, 2013 |



This past year was about a lot more than Ted Cruz and the surreal shutdown politics of the Republican right. Across America, grassroots groups, bold unions, inspired activists, crusading editors and courageous elected officials did great things. They are the real heroes of 2013, and The Nation’s Progressive Honor Roll celebrates them for their accomplishments this year and their determination to do even more in 2014.

-snip-

MOST VALUABLE PROTEST: Mountain Moral Monday

When up to 10,000 North Carolinians rallied August 5 on Mountain Moral Monday in Asheville, the Rev. William Barber II, president of the state NAACP, announced: “This is no momentary hyperventilation and liberal screaming match. This is a movement.” The protests against legislative attacks on voting rights, public education and programs for low-income families began last spring at the state Capitol in Raleigh. But when the GOP-controlled legislature adjourned, the massive rally in Asheville signaled that the movement had spread. Barber declared that “from the mountains to the coast,” there is a movement for “a new South, a new North Carolina and a new future.”

MOST VALUABLE TRANSLATION OF THE POPE’S MESSAGE: Network

Pope Francis is Time’s “Person of the Year.” Why? Mainly because he’s reminded Catholics—and everyone else—not only of a duty to the poor, but of how the “tyranny of capitalism” impedes that duty. Now the question is whether the pope’s high-minded statements will translate into action. Network, the national Catholic social justice lobby, is trying to make the connection. The group that provided critical support for healthcare reform and challenged Paul Ryan’s budgets with its “Nuns on the Bus” tour issued a December appeal for Americans to “Join with Pope Francis to Pray and Act for an End to Hunger.” Network’s specific demand was that Congress protect food stamp funding. The broader message was a call for politicians to “prioritize people who are most vulnerable in our nation, remembering that the measure of our nation’s greatness is how we treat those who are struggling.”

more at link

[trotsky]

1. I realize that because you have decided I'm on the "bad guys" team...

and therefore unworthy of human interaction, that what I say here will mean nothing to you, but I would question the logic of naming a protest "most valuable" when it didn't actually stop or undo any of the things it was protesting against. Then there's the whole issue of tying one's political position to a religious interpretation - something President Obama himself spoke out against.

But the bigger head-scratcher here is cheering the new pope while simultaneously citing the "Nuns on the Bus" campaign. Does anyone recall how the new pope embraced "Nuns on the Bus"? Here's a little reminder:

Pope Francis supports crackdown on U.S. nuns' group

It's OK, I understand that your desire to cast out and demonize those who do not full-throatedly endorse the intertwining of religion and politics (at least when it's for things we like) overrides everything else. But can we at least agree to do some even-handed analysis and not dismiss the facts we don't want to hear?