How US Energy Policy Got Militarized—The association between "energy security" (as it's now termed) and "national security" was established long ago. President Franklin D. Roosevelt first forged this association way back in 1945, when he pledged to protect the Saudi Arabian royal family in return for privileged American access to Saudi oil. The relationship was given formal expression in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter told Congress that maintaining the uninterrupted flow of Persian Gulf oil was a "vital interest" of the United States, and attempts by hostile nations to cut that flow would be countered "by any means necessary, including military force." To implement this "doctrine," Carter ordered the creation of a Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, specifically earmarked for combat operations in the Persian Gulf area. President Ronald Reagan later turned that force into a full-scale regional combat organization, the U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM. Every president since Reagan has added to CENTCOM's responsibilities, endowing it with additional bases, fleets, air squadrons, and other assets. As the country has, more recently, come to rely on oil from the Caspian Sea basin and Africa, U.S. military capabilities are being beefed up in those areas as well. Alternet

At the age of 17, Meybelin Bernárdez is clear about the future: "When I finish my studies, I'll return to help my community get on its feet," the young Garifuna woman from Honduras, who is studying medicine in Cuba, says without hesitation. With her head held high, she adds: "I want to be an example for future generations of women. The conditions we live in are really bad, we have a lot to do for our people."Her mother, whose skin is as dark as hers, taught her that the most important thing in life is to study. "But a poor black girl like me couldn't even dream of being a doctor without this scholarship," she tells IPS. Bernárdez belongs to the Garifuna ethnic group, descendants of African slaves who survived the sinking of two Spanish galleons off the coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in 1635, where they intermarried with members of the local Carib tribe. The Garifuna are estimated to number around 600,000 in Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico and the United States today. Bernárdez's words summed up the reality faced by the large majority of black women and girls in Latin America - although there are more and more who are actively rebelling against the role of victim of racial discrimination. IPSNews

Bamboo Bikes in the Developing World / Idea behind Bamboosero

Black Poetic is a social consciousness raising, performance troupe I belong to that uses poetry to enlighten, inspire, and educate the Black community and the community at large with an emphasis on Black youth.—Peace, Mary

Political philosophy, Literature, Caribbean history, Language studies. According to Prof. Anthony Bogues, The Sovereignty of the Imagination gives us that capacity for language and therefore the ability to name and establish categories. But this is not just a literary capacity; it allows us to define freedom. George Lamming recognizes the centrality of the quest for freedom for the social group that he calls 'this world of men and women from down below.'

George Lamming is an illustrious Caribbean novelist and cultural critic from Barbados. His novels and volumes of essays and literary criticism offer insightful analyses on history, western philosophy, racism, colonization, education, literature and Caribbean independence.

Du Bois-Malcolm-King / Beyond Vietnam A Time to Break Silence / I Have a Dream / MLK Chronology / Harry Reid and the Demagogues