#historic pope Francis

[mondoreb]

End Times Prophecy Headlines: September 23-25, 2022

End Times Prophecy Headlines: September 23-25, 2022

End Times Prophecy Report HEADLINES FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY September 23-25, 2022 And OPINION “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” —Matthew 24:4 “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.” —Fyodor Dostoevsky ===INTERNATIONAL UKRAINE: Report details Russia’s damage to Ukrainian crop storage UKRAINE:…

[vox-anglosphere]

A historic meeting of Pope Francis with Canada's indigenous leaders

[eptoday]

A Vatican court has sentenced a once-powerful Italian cardinal to five years and six months in prison for financial crimes in a historic fraud trial focused on an opaque London property deal.

[mensfrightsactivist]

oh come ON

[olympeline]

Nations having human names is kinda odd when you think about it. You’d expect their people to just call them by their official names or else “motherland” or “fatherland.” So, here’s me coming in with a headcanon about where these human names come from (´∀｀)

A nation’s legal name, the one used on treaties and trade deals, can change over time. Or be different depending on who’s speaking. Germany is Deutschland to some his friends, Japan is Nihon at home, exonyms vs. endonyms, kingdoms become republics, yadda, yadda. But a nation’s human name - their gifted name - is forever. I call it “gifted” because it’s given to them not by the politics of the world, but by one of their citizens. One of their best and brightest. A son or daughter any of them could be proud of. Any human can try giving a nation a name, but if it isn’t the right one it won’t stick.

The first nation to get a human name was China when he met Confucius. They encountered each other on the road one evening waaay back around 467BC when the philosopher was on his way home. They talked, shared tea, and Confucius called China “Yao Wang” for the first time. China couldn’t explain it, but he just knew this was his name. Knew deep in his soul

Greece was second. He marched with Alexander the Great and finished the campaign as Heracles Karpusi. When the other ancient nations heard the news they were all very excited. Except Yao, who was put out that he wasn’t unique anymore lol. Then gifted names were officially “a thing” that nation people eagerly waited for. I imagine their naming days are very fondly remembered along with the human who was there for them. A few examples throughout history:

Russia knelt before Catherine the Great and rose up again as Ivan Braginsky.

Spain was invited to read a first draft of Cervantes’s and left as Antonio Carriedo.

Japan walked with Nobunaga the day before Anegawa and went to bed that night as Kiku Honda.

One of the sole exceptions to the usual way is America, who was named “Alfred” by another nation rather than a human. Arthur named Alfred after one of his favourite kings: Alfred the Great. Alfred chose the “F. Jones” part himself when he became independent. Before that he was Alfred Kirkland. This was a weird blip in nation people history, but they chalk it up to Arthur’s magic. As for Arthur himself, he was named by Merlin. Yes, that Merlin

I haven’t thought of specifics for every nation. A few ideas are Otto von Bismarck for Ludwig, Napoleon for Francis, and maybe one of the Popes for the Italy bros. What do you guys think? What historical figure might have named your nation?

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

"how can you joke about the Pope using a slur :/"

Because I think slurs about me can be objectively funny in certain context, hope this helps.

But if you want a more serious answer, joking about it is a way, as someone who was raised Catholic, to continue to express that I don't give a shit about the thoughts or opinions of an institution that was never going to accept me, whether they say it explicitly through slurs or through "softer" language like "hate the sin, love the sinner".

Pope Francis saying faggotry doesn't hurt me because I simply don't care what an octogenarian man at the head of one of the world's historically most oppressive institutions has to say about me. The Catholic Church thankfully has very little real power over me anymore so I do not care what they say.

[irithnova]

About my Siberia ocs...

So I think it's important to balance their characterisation in a way in which they are distinctive characters with interesting personalities and backstories but also acknowledges the challenges they face without making their entire character essentially "They're sad all the time because of Russia" or "Stop talking about their struggles under Russia I don't like politics."

I think both are problematic however I find the latter to be far more distasteful because well. This is a nation personification OC we're talking about and not only that, they're essentially nations within a nation (Russia) by virtue of colonisation and so are minority groups within the larger nation. Hell - because of displacement and immigration from European Russia , a lot of these groups are minorities within their own lands. It's a special case when dealing with minority groups/occupied people personifications and it's particularly egregious when someone wants to forgo any kind of acknowledgement of these power imbalances yet still insists that their interpretation is sensitive.

I've seen some pretty bad OCs of Siberian groups which are the product of the creator going "I hate politics stop talking about politics!" or, an almost direct quote, "I hate when people shove politics into historical hetalia." Which... Is an interesting take to say the least considering how history feeds into politics and vice versa. Historical hetalia is a beast in an of itself and is one of the only hetalia communities/bubbles in which "no politics" will get you laughed out the door from what I've seen considering *gestures to my previous statement*. If you've ever taken a history course - you'll know how much history and politics are intertwined.

This is how you get interps which consists of the likes of "Russia was wandering around the empty lands of Siberia" which not only blatantly disregards the brutality of the Russian colonisation of Siberia but also promotes the concept of "Terra Nullius" or "Virgin Land". I'm quoting myself from an even bigger post I have in store which focuses on anti Mongolian sentiment however stereotypes about Mongolians and Siberian groups often overlap because of their placement in Northern Asia, hence why it applies to both,

"In addition, to hone in on Mongolia being an "untouched, pristine" land - this is also a common trope that is launched towards traditionally nomadic "unsettled groups” (such as Siberian and Native American groups). The concept of "Terra Nullius", a Latin word meaning "nobody's land". It completely disregards the presence and rights of the people who inhabit the land and has been historically used to justify the colonisation and displacement of such groups - their land belonged to "nobody" so it was essentially up for grabs...It divorces the people from their landscape and paves the way for dangerous misconceptions and justifications to blossom.

Here is an example of "Terra Nullius" in action in a Russian propaganda poster, encouraging Russians to move to Kazakhstan."

Or interps such as "[Siberian group] has forgiven Russia for everything he did/most things he did and is in love with him" which implies that the mistreatment of the Siberian groups is merely something in the past when it is in fact ongoing. The mistreatment of Siberian groups such as the Sakha, Buryats, Chukchi and Tuvans has been all the more highlighted in their disproportionate mobilisation in the invasion of Ukraine - and the heaps of scapegoating that was subsequently shovelled onto them.

That's not to say ethnic minority soldiers in the Russian army shouldn't be held accountable for their crimes - however that and the fact that they themselves are victims of Russian imperialism can both exist as true statements. The scapegoating is so bad that even Pope Francis joined in, blaming the brunt of the war crimes committed onto "Non Russians" such as Buryats and Chechens, as they do not come from "Russian culture."

Back to my main point... I think the resistance to do research on and publicly acknowledge how these groups live under Russia and what kind of struggles they face in some kind of bid to "not paint them as victims!!11" is sorely misinformed and ignorant. Because well. They are victims.

Not in the sense that you should portray them as sad, pitiful, weak little meow meows but in the sense that yes they are living under Russian occupation and are an occupied people who's been subjected to centuries of Russification, and so compared to making an OC of Mongolia who is an independent nation state at least I think there is far less room to be hauling around "leave politics out of historical hetalia!" "don't talk to me about politics!" "stop victimising them!!" because then it leads to tone deaf interpretations such as "They've forgiven Russia for everything and is in love with him ♥️💖", "Russia is actually [Siberia groups] father", "Here is my singular Siberia OC who represents ALL Siberian groups and by the way Russia is their father" (yes these are all real interpretations I've seen and I've made a separate really strongly worded post ranting about it) and worse. I mean I've literally seen an "aph Siberia oc" who was Russia and France's love child. Terra Nullius executed Hetalia-style.

I don't really think I need to elaborate on why a singular Siberia OC is problematic - Siberia is filled with a myriad of different groups who speak different languages, have different origins and ways of lives and practices, different religions, who've experienced eras of peace and conflict with each other, etc and yeah to shove them all into one personification is an erasure of the sheer diversity that is in Siberia. I definitely don't need to elaborate on why making Russia a father to any of these groups is problematic, to say very the least.

On the point of "don't only portray them in a victimising lense", I think making Siberian groups all depressed all the time is also a Russia-centric perspective. Of course it's ignorant at best to not acknowledge their shared suffering because of Russia however when this point and this point alone is central to their character I believe in a way that it strips them of their autonomy and ability to feel things and do things outside of Russia's gaze. There is absolutely a lot of joy to be had despite their current situation, perhaps even in spite of their current situation. It's ok to give them odd quirks and put them in funny situations as well as acknowledge that they are an occupied people and approach that territory carefully when need be.

For example, I made my Buryatia bubbly and loud but made my Tuva a bit more deadpan because I see them as a pair who often associate with each other and I think the dynamic is funny. I also made Buryatia an overbearing "husband" to Soyot who is perpetually tired™ from all the se- .

I made a crack dynamic between Sakha, Evenkia and Dolgan where Evenkia was Sakha's teacher at first but then became a deadbeat dad leaving Sakha to primarily raise Dolgan, thus Dolgan takes after Sakha and is uh lawyermaxxing👍. Yukaghir is the little old lady of the group who is often forgetful but very nifty and Chukotka acts like a big sister to people which Koryak (who I see as her brother) always finds annoying and they often bicker. Ket is on the slightly edgy side and is extremely particular about his routines and Nganasan terrifies Nenet because he eats reindeer whereas Nenet doesn't.

All of these quirks/ more lighthearted interpretations and "they are an occupied people under Russia" can coexist. One should not be thrown out for the sake of the other.

I think there's also problem - though I've seen this far less, in making Siberia ocs purely as a middle finger at Russia. As in, you made the OC because you wanted to say loud and proud FUCK RUSSIA which well yeah, fuck Russia, but I highly doubt your interest in this group lies outside of wanting to #own the Russians which is dehumanising in and of itself. At least pretend to care about the history and culture instead of using an entire group of people to make a virtue-signally oc purely to try and upset some Russians.

Anyways yeah Siberia 👍

[badjershark]

All Cops Are Bastards... at least if you're Catholic

14 June 2024, 7:17 a.m. GMT

In an unscheduled announcement, Pope Francis, presumably in an effort to regain the trust of the historically anti-police LGBTQ+ community after being recorded using a homophobic slur, has declared that all marriages which resulted in a child who later became a police officer shall be annulled by the Catholic Church.

This latest papal decree comes as a shock to many clergy and laymen alike, but sources close the Pope say this has been at the forefront of his mind ever since a 2019 episode of Paw Patrol featuring a canine pope who made "undignified decisions" at the behest of the show's police dog, Chase. These decisions include using his forbidden powers to banish an unruly pigeon straight to hell after it tried eating a single grain of his holy kibble, using autotune software to exclude other animals from mass by saying prayers in a pitch so high only God and dogs can hear it, and ultimately destroying the fictional "pup mobile" in an effort to stop the mayor of Adventure Bay from codifying the Separation of Church and State.

In his statement, Francis said, "God, … in His infinite knowledge, knows which unions of Man and Woman will result in children who will later become police officers, and He does not recognize those unions in His Great Kingdom of Heaven."

The announcement may prove to be rather costly for the Church, as the Archdiocese of New York—which, since its elevation from diocese to archdiocese in 1850, has only ever had Irish-American leadership (we checked)—has released a statement claiming that, considering the long history of Irish-American police officers in New York City, the Church will have to do an intensive audit of its clergy to determine how many of them were unknowingly born out of wedlock, and thus falsely ordained. If this number proves large enough, it could lead to a significant portion of the Archdiocese's congregation learning that they, and their families, were never actually baptized. Religious scholars warn that this may lead to a schism or even the rise of seemingly oxymoronic "Irish-Protestantism," as some laymen would rather proclaim a false Pope than their own false baptism.

Francis has assured the press that he's "not worried about false baptisms at all," since baptisms within the Catholic Church need not be performed by a Catholic priest.

"The bigger concern is false marriages," says 52-year-old half-Italian professor of religious studies at Florida University College, Kingston whose name has been omitted as he asked to remain anonymous. "Think of how many people a single priest marries. Now imagine that priest's brother became a cop. Because of that brother's decision, now they're both the result of an illegitimate union, and all those people who think they've been married in the eyes of God have actually been living in sin this whole time, not to mention their children, who are illegitimate as well. It's really a cascading effect when you think about it. Our early calculations estimate that under this new rule, nearly one third of Catholics in the United States are bastards, and nearly one third of Catholic 'marriages' in the United States are illegitimate."

Some critics have drawn attention to the fact that this announcement comes just weeks after reports that the Church has purchased nearly $2.8 billion worth of stock in the U.S. wedding industry. When asked if the two events are related, the Vatican declined to comment.

[blueiskewl]

Vatican Returns 2,500-Year-Old Parthenon Sculptures to Greece

The Vatican has signed an agreement to return three sculpture fragments that have been part of the Vatican Museums' permanent collection for the past 200 years. Holy See officials have also indicated a timeline for their repatriation later this month, according to a press release. The move could ramp up the pressure on the British Museum to return the Parthenon marbles in its possession after decades of wrangling with the Greek authorities have shown signs of resulting in an agreement in recent months.

Officials signed off on the "donation" of the 2,500-year-old fragments — which show the heads of a horse, a bearded man and a boy — in a special ceremony at the Vatican on Tuesday attended by figures including Barbara Jatta, the director of the Vatican Museums. The Vatican previously announced plans to return the sculptures in December, shortly after Pope Francis met with Ieronymos II — the archbishop of Athens and Greece, and the head of the Greek Orthodox Church — in 2021.

The fragments will be definitively transferred to Athens on March 24 with a special ceremony planned to receive them, officials said in the press release.

Papamikroulis Emmanouil, who attended the signing ceremony on behalf of Ieronymos II, said in a statement that the agreement marked "a historic event," adding that he hoped Pope Francis' gesture would "be imitated by others." He also suggested the move "partially compensates for" traumas resulting from injustices of the past.

Setting a precedent

Sculptures and friezes previously removed from the Parthenon — a former richly-decorated temple on the Athenian Acropolis built by Pericles between 447 and 432 BC — are currently displayed in museums including the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Italy set a precedent for their return last year, when Palermo's Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum transferred a fragment to Athens showing the foot of a goddess peeking from the bottom of a tunic.

Debate over the Parthenon marbles currently displayed at the British Museum, which are known as the Elgin Marbles after the British ambassador who removed them in the 19th century, has intensified in recent months. Following initially secret talks between Greek officials and the British Museum, Jonathan Williams, the museum's deputy director, told The Sunday Times in August that they were "calling for an active 'Parthenon partnership.'" Last month, George Osborne, the chairman of the British Museum, hinted on BBC Radio that the marbles would be shared by and exhibited in both Greece and the UK.

Speaking at Tuesday's signing ceremony, Cardinal Vérgez claimed that returning the marbles would help countries build stronger ties.

"This gesture aims to build bridges of fraternity and show the world that a road of dialogue and peace always exists, as we hope will happen in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine," he said. "The Pope's art collection must become an important point of contact between peoples, faiths and the churches, overcoming every barrier."

By James Imam.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

LGBT+ Catholic Couples in Brazil Seek Blessing after Vatican Approval

Faithful celebrate Pope Francis's historic decision, even though priests are not obliged to administer the blessing

"The love of God is for everyone, and the church has finally had the courage to accept that," declares 25-year-old Daniella Cardozo from Rio de Janeiro. Bisexual, she has been in a relationship with Marianne de Luna, 28, since mid-2020. A Catholic, she plans to seek a blessing for their union after the Vatican's approval. In a historic decision, the Apostolic See authorized the blessing for same-sex spouses this Monday (18). In Brazil, the National Network of LGBT+ Catholic Groups celebrates the news. For the group, it recognizes and validates the existence of diverse families by the Catholic Church. It is, they say, a positive step towards visibility and acceptance of different forms of love in the community.

However, the papal government did not change its ban on same-sex marriage. The text signed by Pope Francis emphasizes that the act of liturgical giving to same-sex couples should in no way resemble marriage. According to Cardinal Odilo Scherer, archbishop of São Paulo, the opinion is clear. "These are blessings granted by the Church to individuals. This is different from celebrating a marriage or taking action with legal and institutional effects," he wrote to Folha.

Continue reading.

[simshousewindsor]

are the lord bishops different than the cardinals from the pope story?

Hi, Nony! Good question!! 😊 (apologies for the delay)

Yes, the Lord bishops are different than the Cardinal bishops.

Francis Benedict XVI, the Holy Pope, is Chief Pastor of the worldwide Cathlosim Church and Head of The State of King’s City in San Myshuno. The Vatisim Palace in the State of King's City is the official residence of the Pope of the Cathlosim Church.

Cardinals

The Cardinals are senior member of the clergy of the Cathlosim Church. Cardinals are created by the pope and typically hold the title for life. In 1886, Pope Flouris V limited the number of cardinals to 60: [3] five cardinal bishops, 40 cardinal priests, and 15 cardinal deacons.

The most solemn responsibility of the cardinals is to elect a new pope in a conclave, almost always from among themselves (with a few historical exceptions), when the Holy See is vacant. During the period between a pope's death or resignation and the election of his successor, the day-to-day governance of the Holy See is in the hands of the College of Cardinals.

above photo from "pope" story here

Cardinal bishops

Cardinal bishops are the senior order of cardinals. For most of the second millennium there were five cardinal bishops, each presiding over one of the six suburbicarian sees around San Myshuno: Franklen, San Bebinbur, Port Simia, Milletosa, and Ilbutrid.

There are currently 3 Cardinal bishops. The Dean of the College of Cardinals, Abraham Criste, Cardinal Walter Tesmond and Cardinal Luke Nicholas. There is 1 Camerlengo, Benjamin Carmichael III.

Queen Katherine I, the Sovereign, is Head of the Church of Windenburg. Buckingsim Palace in Buckingsimshire, Windenburg is the official residence of the monarch.

Bishops

The Church of Windenburg has a legislative body, General Synod. The most senior bishop of the Church of Windenburg is the Archbishop of Calgary. The second most senior bishop is the Archbishop of York. The Bishops of Easton and Henford are ranked in the next two positions, and as the holders of those sees they automatically become ex-officio members of the House of Lords.

The process of appointing bishops is complex, due to historical reasons balancing hierarchy against democracy, and is handled by the Crown Nominations Committee which submits names to the Prime Minister (acting on behalf of the Crown) for consideration.

Of the 57 archbishops and bishops in the Church of Windenburg, 5 are permitted to sit in the House of Lords.

Lord bishops

There are 5 bishops of the Church of Windenburg who sit in the House of Lords, which is the Second Chamber of the United Kingdom Parliament. Known as the Lord Bishops, they read prayers at the start of each daily meeting and play a full and active role in the life and work of the House.

Lord bishops sit as individual and independent Members of the House of Lords, similarly to the independent Crossbench Peers and those who are not party-affiliated.

Lord bishops provide an important independent voice and spiritual insight to the work of the House and, while they make no claims to direct representation, they seek to be a voice for all Sims of faith, not just Christians.

Thanks for the ask!! 💜

[historia-vitae-magistras]

I'm so late for this but, how does Matthew scare Alfred with his Catholicness? My own personal experience is just seeing an altar at my friend's devoted Catholic household 😭

So this is a very large and very complicated topic but I'm giving it a go. It's something that's mostly historical, a good chunk of the US is Catholic now but even 100 years ago that was a lot more controversial and 200 years ago unthinkable

Catholic Canada to the north, Catholic Mexico to the south. Early British colonists feared encirclement. This is the period in Americans history where colonists hadn't yet made it across the Appalachians and New France technically does surround it, it's just not settled.

Early American colonists, especially extremists in New England who later became WASPs were regularly raided by French Canadian settlers or First Nations groups aligned with France. Those settlers were often hauled to Quebec City to be ransomed if they were important, often in retaliation for the British seizing French ships which could easily cause food shortages in Canada. I wrote this happening to Alfred once and Matt bailed his ass out. It was probably the first time Matt disobeyed Francis actually. Also racism, because the French had much higher intermarriage rates with First Nations than the British though rather lower than the Spanish.

The British in America framed the world as Britishness and protestantism against French Catholicism. The perpetual wars between France and England, The war of Three Kingdoms or the English Civil War resulted from religious strife and other factors. Puritan paranoia was fueled by the proximity to Catholic Canada. Alfred's own overly adorable eldritch strangeness that lead to his turn doing the witchcraft conga might have been fueled in a small part by too much contact with Matthew as it was very common for less whacko New Englanders to trade and interact with French Catholics on the frontier. Religious strife was very much a source of pain and trauma for Alfred. Later, The Quebec Act of 1774 which was very generous to the French settlers the British had conquered a decade earlier because they ran out of money to do anymore ethnic cleansing like they did to the Acadians. This was one of the intolerable Acts that led to the American Revolution. It was quite literally allowing the antichrist to live on their northern border. Alfred is just really uncomfortable Arthur isn't forcibly dunking Matt at least into the Church of England. He loves Matt and I can see him being one of those weirdos who go "I fear for your immortal soul burning in the hell of the heretics" earlier in life.

But protestants to this day will call Catholic apostates (I'm technically a Catholic and was called this last year) the pope is the anti-Christ, yadda yadda. This is pretty much a non-issue for Matt now, except he gives Alfred shit like "Still having nightmares about stained glass and joy?"

The Irish had more problems than French Canada ever did, largely because of the French Catholic help the Americans got in their Revolution. But it was still a very real factor of discrimination against Irish and Italian Americans, and still is today for Hispanic Americans and Filipino-Americans especially. French Catholic Canada was scary because French Catholic Canada was armed. The Canada of history, especially for New England was a shadowy entity that stalked settlers in the woods and hunted them, raided them, killed and terrified them. That is not the case today, to put it mildly. Alfred's image of his brother is very selective. Cute broken baby he was when he was conquered, sweet and snuggly baby with too big blue eyes. Alfred is powerful now, he doesn't like to think about when he wasn't and Matt didn't automatically come second. And he loves Matt dearly so letting the religious trauma of their childhood become a thing Matt gives him shit about and Alfred rolls his eyes at was the more appealing offer.

[fionamccall]

Foundling names

At the Foundling Museum they have displays listing some of the new names given to the Foundlings when they arrived.

I was struck by how many of these were literary, historical or fanciful - a projection of the donors' fantasies on children - was this a kind thing to do or treating children a bit like naming a puppy? What did it mean to go through life saddled with the name Oliver Cromwell or William Shakespeare?

Names included:

Historical: Julius Caesar; Edward Plantagenet; Lambert Simnel; Edmund Ironside; Henry Agincourt; Emma Plantagenet

Tudor: Charles Brandon; Catherine Parr; Walter Raleigh; Francis Drake

Civil War: Oliver & Richard Cromwell; Edward Montagu; William Chillingworth

17thc/18th: Gilbert Sheldon; William Orange; Billy Culloden

Admirals: Admiral Benbow and Coram Benbow; Cloudesley Shovel

Literary: Robin Hood; Tom Jones and his love Sophia Western; Geoffrey Chaucer; Phillip Sydney; Alexander Pope; Nahum Tate; Samuel Johnson; William Shakespeare

Artists: Michael Angel; Inigo Jones; William Hogarth (possibly a bit confusing given his association with the hospital?); Anthony Vandyke; Peter Paul Reuben; Christopher Wren; Godfrey Kneller; Mary Addison; Richard Steel; John Dryden

Scientists: Francis Bacon; Edmund Halley

Virtues: Hopegood Helpless (a bit of puritanism coming in there perhaps?); Diana Thrifty; Prudence Friendly

Birds: Mary Dodo; Mary Swallow; Deborah Lark

Interesting to see one John Doe on the list as well - I thought this was a later, American thing.

[madamlaydebug]

Did you know that a large portion of CERN is located in a town that in Roman times was called Apolliacum?

The town of Apolliacum and it's Temple were dedicated to Apollyon- The Destroyer.

Built on this Historical site, CERN headquarters proudly displays a statue of Shiva- The Destroyer as the centerpiece of it's campus.

Coindence?

Never.

On September 23rd, CERN 's Large Hadron Collider will run at full capacity. When this happens it may replicate the 'Big Bang' or it could potentially bend space-time and open up a portal to another dimension for a fraction of a second...

Many fear that this search for 'Dark Matter' will create a Black Hole.

Will this secretive science experiment act in a Shiva- like way by Destroying the Planet while ushering in a New Era of Rebirth?

Pope Francis and Stephen Hawking have BOTH warned the masses about the Dangers of CERN 's Large Hadron Collider and yet the mainstream and politicians around the world have ignored their concern!

Will a portal be opened on September 23rd?

Why is this being kept a secret by the mainstream media?

[berniesrevolution]

CATALYST JOURNAL

While the uptick in strike activity in 2021 is heartening, its influence should not be exaggerated. The number and extent of job actions was noticeable but still very small by historical standards, and union density continued to decline. A significant labor upsurge might be in the works, but it is not in evidence yet.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis spoke movingly of the workers keeping the world turning in dark times:

People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history. Doctors, nurses, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caregivers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and public safety, volunteers, priests, men and women religious, and so very many others. They understood that no one is saved alone.1

These workers have done everything we’ve asked of them and more. They have been through hell, particularly those who have risked their health and well-being to care for the sick, educate the young, feed the hungry, and deliver the things the rest of us need to get through this period of grinding uncertainty. Employers, politicians, and talking heads have lauded them as essential workers, but the stark gap between the praise and the grim realities of working life in the United States — which was already miserable for millions before the pandemic — have pushed many to the breaking point. Indeed, record numbers of American workers have quit their jobs in what the media has dubbed the Great Resignation. According to the US Labor Department, 4.5 million workers voluntarily left their jobs in November 2021. The number of monthly quits has exceeded three million since August 2020, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down.2 Job switchers span the employment ladder, but turnover has been largely concentrated in the low-wage service sector, where workers are taking advantage of the very tight labor market to get a better deal for themselves. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, workers with high school diplomas are currently enjoying a faster rate of wage growth than workers with bachelor’s degrees, a remarkable situation that has not occurred in decades.3

Worker discontent is not only finding expression in the form of quitting and job switching. In 2021, we witnessed a modest increase in the frequency and visibility of collective action in the workplace. Tens of thousands of workers, union and nonunion alike, challenged employers through protests and strikes across sectors and in many different geographical regions. Workers in health care and social assistance, education, and transportation and warehousing led the way, but they were joined by workers in hotels and food services, manufacturing, and other industries. Protests and strikes tended to be concentrated in states where labor is relatively stronger, namely California, New York, and Illinois, but some states with low union density, like North Carolina, saw an uptick in labor action, too. Pay increases were easily the most common demand, but health and safety, staffing, and COVID-19 protocols were high on the agenda as well.

The year 2021 was less a strike wave than a strike ripple, and it has not yet resulted in any appreciable increase in unionization. A few trends stand out. The first is that labor protest and strike action were heavily concentrated among unionized groups of workers. Unionized groups of workers accounted for nearly 95% of all estimated participants in labor protests and more than 98% of all estimated participants in strikes. The second is that protests and strikes were concentrated by industry — namely health care and education, which together accounted for roughly 60% of all labor actions. Finally, protests and strikes were heavily concentrated geographically. Just three states with relatively high levels of union density — California, New York, and Illinois — accounted for more than half the total estimated participants in protests and strikes. In short, collective workplace action is by and large taking place where organized labor still retains residual sources of strength. In this context, spreading protest and strike action beyond its current industrial and regional confines depends on unionization in new places.

Conditions conducive to labor action — rising inflation, pandemic-related pressures, and a tight labor market — are likely to persist into 2022, and the Biden administration’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been meaningfully supportive of worker organizing. US labor is probably not on the verge of a historic breakthrough, but in this context, workers may have an opportunity to make modest material and organizational gains.

Making new organizational gains is critical to the fortunes of the labor movement and the reviving US left. The vast majority of the workers involved in strikes and labor protests last year were already members of unions, not unorganized workers looking to unionize. This is why it is so concerning that last year’s uptick in labor action occurred amid a further decline in union density in 2021. The overall rate of union membership stands at 10.3% of the total labor force, while the total number of union members, just over fourteen million in 2021, continues its long decline.4 While some have argued that treating union density as the key measure of labor’s strength is a mistake, it seems clear that, at least in the US context, where union density and union coverage almost entirely overlap, it does provide an effective measurement of working-class power.5

Boosting the level of union density should therefore be among the leading priorities of progressives and socialists in the United States. As the power resources school of welfare state scholars has long argued, the relative strength of the labor movement and its affiliated political parties has been the single most important factor shaping welfare state development over time and across countries. Here in the United States, where we have never had a nationwide social democratic party aligned with a strong labor movement, the weakness of working-class organization is clearly reflected in the fragmentation and stinginess of our welfare state. The state-level wave of attacks on organized labor that began in 2010 have made it that much harder for unions to defend working-class interests and reduce inequality. But the fact that they were able to meaningfully mitigate the growth of inequality, even during the period of neoliberal retrenchment, shows that rebuilding the labor movement needs to be a chief priority of any progressive political agenda.6 The Biden administration’s pro-union stance suggests it understands this. But if it’s unable to act decisively to boost union membership, all the pro-union rhetoric it can muster will ultimately amount to little.

TRACKING LABOR ACTION

Researchers at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) began documenting strikes and labor protests in late 2020. Their ILR Labor Action Tracker provides a database of workplace conflict across the United States, based on information collected from government sources, news reports, organizational press releases, and social media. It counts both strikes and labor protests as “events” but distinguishes between the two. The major distinction between strikes and labor protests, according to this methodology, is whether the workers involved in the event stopped work. If they did, the event is defined as a strike; if they did not, it is defined as a labor protest. The Labor Action Tracker also collects data on a number of additional variables, including employer, labor organization (if applicable), local labor organization (if applicable), industry, approximate number of participants, worker demands, and more.7

ACTION TYPES

In 2021, there were 786 events with 257,086 estimated participants.8 Over 60% of the events were labor protests, while less than 40% were strikes (there was one recorded lockout). Roughly one-third of the estimated number of workers participated in labor protests, while roughly two-thirds participated in strikes. Further, the average number of estimated workers per labor protest (188) was significantly smaller than the average number of estimated workers per strike (553, see Table 1 for details).

DURATION

Neither labor protests nor strikes tended to last very long, which tracks with the generally sharp decline in strike duration in recent decades.9 Labor protests in particular were very short affairs. Of the labor protests with a start and end date, 96% lasted for just one day or less. Strikes also tended to have a short duration, but they typically did not end as quickly as protests. Of the strikes with a start and end date, one-third lasted for one day or less. Roughly two-thirds of strikes (68%) ended within a week, and over 90% ended within thirty days. One strike stands out for its unusually long duration: a 701-day strike by United Auto Workers (UAW) members against a metallurgical company in Pennsylvania, which began in September 2019 and ended in August 2021.

INDUSTRIES

An informed observer will not be surprised by which industries saw the largest number of labor action events (Table 2). The leading two industries by far were health care and social assistance and education, which are both highly unionized and have been subjected to enormous pressures during the pandemic. Together, they accounted for nearly 40% of the total labor protests and strikes. These industries also comprised over 60% of the overall number of estimated labor action participants — health care with 41.5% of the estimated participants, education with 18.8%. The overrepresentation of health care and education workers becomes even starker when we compare this to their employment shares in the overall labor force. In 2020, these two industries accounted for 16.3% of total nonfarm employment — health care with a 13.8% share and education with 2.3%.10 Put another way, the share of health care workers in 2021 labor actions was roughly three times larger than their share in the nonfarm labor force, while the share of education workers was more than eight times as large.

These two pace-setting industries were followed by a second tier of industries including transportation and warehousing, accommodation and food services, and manufacturing. It is not surprising to see these listed among the most turbulent industries, as they contain a mix of highly unionized employers and nonunion employers that have become a major focus of labor organizing activity, namely Amazon — the most frequently targeted employer, with twelve total labor actions — which was the target of twice as many labor actions as McDonald’s, the second-most targeted employer.

The industrial distribution of labor protests generally follows the overall distribution of labor action, with the notable exception of manufacturing, which saw far more strikes than protests. While the health care industry did not experience the largest number of strikes, it accounts for more than half of estimated strike participants (53%). Workers in education (12.4%) and manufacturing (16%) also accounted for outsize shares of the estimated number of participants.

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[climatecalling]

How faith and religious communities resist or respond to the climate crisis is crucial, which means faith leaders and leaders with faith have great potential to educate and mobilize their members towards – or away from – sustainable living and environmental activism. ... A 2022 poll found that most American adults, including a large majority of Christians and people who identify with other religions – consider the Earth sacred and believe God gave humans a duty to care for it. But the poll also found that the most religious are the least concerned about the climate crisis – in large part because they’re more likely to align with the Republican party, which has a long history of climate denialism and climate action obstruction. ... Globally, political allegiance is a major driver in people’s climate beliefs, yet a growing number of spiritual and religious leaders – including Pope Francis – support collaborating across faiths and with scientists to pressure governments through advocacy. In the run-up to the recent UN climate talks in Dubai, faith and spiritual leaders representing Anglicans, Bohras, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Mahikaris, Sikhs, and Sunni and Shia Muslims urged politicians, businesses and financiers to adopt a rapid, just transition away from fossil fuels.