Willamette Reds

Has Wheeler Closed the Door on a State Bank?

2012-01-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

During the last legislative session, Treasurer Wheeler was in full support of what he dubbed a "virtual" State Bank, and what thousands of Oregonians like you supported with your letters, phone calls, and trips to Salem.

However, last week Treasurer Wheeler made a statement that sounds like he's changing his tune, saying that his proposed Oregon Investment Act (OIA) "is not a back-door proposal to create a state bank, as some progressives have called for." [1]

Go here to take action.

To be clear, there ARE some things to like about the Oregon Investment Act. It has language aimed at helping get loans to Oregon small businesses. However, the bill also places a strong focus on incentivizing so-called "venture capital" expansion, going so far as to create tax advantages for venture capital firms should they bring their money to Oregon.

Right now, 66% of all bank deposits in the state are held by just five out-of-state banks. We need to be taking steps aimed at breaking our dependence on Wall Street, not further entrenching Oregon's reliance on out-of-state financial institutions. The OIA doesn't address this fundamental problem.

Go here to take action.

We came close to passing the "virtual" State Bank bill last legislative session and we can't let up now. The Oregon Investment Act provides an opportunity for the Treasurer to renew his support for state investment practices that focus on helping Oregon's small businesses and family farms - but that's certainly not what it emphasizes now.

Let's tell Treasurer Wheeler it's time to bring our money home and put it back to work for Oregon - not Wall Street.

Thanks for all you do,

Steve Hughes
Oregonians for a State Bank

P.S. Be sure to join us on Wednesday evening at the Salem Public Library for a forum on the grassroots legislative campaign to create a State Bank in Oregon.

1. Portland Tribune: Wheeler plan calls for new state economic development ‘powerhouse’

PCASC Anti-Oppression Training - Class Oppression

2012-01-31T14:26:00.000-08:00

TUES, Feb 21st
PCASC Anti-Oppression Training - Class Oppression
6-9pm PCASC Office, 2249 E Burnside, Portland
This workshop will be a chance for us to educate ourselves about the class system and how it divides us on a political and personal level. Please RSVP to abigail@pcasc.net if you can attend!

Direct Action Training for Everyone

2012-01-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

SAT, Feb 4th
Direct Action Training for Everyone
11am @ St. Francis, 1131 Southeast Oak Street, Portland
Want to learn how to make Civil Disobedience and Direct Action more fun, safer and more productive? Want to plug-in to the upcoming national call out against ALEC on #F29?
Want to plug-in to the action on February 29th? Want to pull-off more fun and more effective direct action? Come for the whole day, choose your favorite workshop, or just come for the benefit party at the Red and Black! Join us in preparation for the F29 Shut Down The Corporations day of action at the Direct Action Training For Everyone!

Schedule:

Non-violent direct action: This workshop is *highly recommended* for activists wanting to engage in civil disobedience and direct action or those new to these tactics. It will cover history of direct action, affinity groups, action planning, conflict management and fun action role plays.11:30 AM - 4PM (with 1-hour lunch break)

Media for direct action: Learn how to get media to your event, create effective press releases, talk to the media and get your message out to the public. 11:30 AM - 12:30PM

Blockades: Forest defenders and climate justice activists share tools to make actions more effective and activists very difficult to remove, from blocking roads to building entrances to... let your imagination run wild. 12:30PM - 1:30PM

Lunch! (donation suggested) 1:30PM - 2:30PM

Strategic Action Planning: Tools to make our actions more effective and achieve our goals with less burnout. This workshop could change your life. 2:30PM - 4PM

Coffee Break + Affinity Group Meet-up: 4PM - 5PM

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC): Why is ALEC the target of this day of action? Learn more about the way they control our democracy behind closed doors and how to stop them! 5PM - 5:30PM

Legal Support For Activist/Know Your Rights! Lead by lawyers supporting the Occupy movement, learn the rights you have when engaging with the police and how to support people risking arrest. People considering engaging in or supporting civil disobedience should attend this workshop. 5:30pm - 6PM

Benefit Party at the Red and Black Cafe! We've got Poor Boy's Soul, Henry Hill and more to stomp our feet to and dance the night away... until 10pm. A great way to unwind after an inspiring day of workshops. (donation supporting F29 suggested) 7PM - 10PM

This will be a day of training in beginning to advanced direct action skills aimed at building capacity and relationships for the national day of action on February 29th. While the thrust of the day will be trainings, we cannot build the world we want to live in without building community. So, there will fun socializing and community time throughout the day as well.

KANSAS CITY LABOR EDITOR RUMINATES ABOUT A TRUMKA E-MAIL

2012-01-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

I would think that the AFL President has been too busy to send out e-mails. He has been busy distancing himself from the most important labor struggle of our era which is shaping up at the Port Of Longview. He has been brushing up on his bureaucrat-eeze to make sure no one would think he is involved in solidarity actions for the ILWU - after all for him it is "merely a jurisdictional dispute". As the conflict was escalating Trumka was heading to Washington to sit in Michelle Obama's "box" for the State Of The Union speech. So I guess he did have time for e-mails.

Bill Onasch has a response:

Is the Era of the One Percent Over?
That was the question asked by AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka in the subject line of a “Dear Bill” e-mail message I received from him the day after the President’s State of the Union Address. He gushed the good news answer in the very first paragraph, “Did you see last night’s State of the Union? It was clear throughout the President’s speech that the era of the 1% is over.” Some Federation members may have missed the televised speech for example, those on picket lines at American Crystal Sugar, Cooper Tire & Rubber, and Fresno County–and undoubtedly appreciated and were relieved to hear this announcement.

Of course, brother Trumka does not make such bold assertions without corroborating evidence. “One big victory—among many—in last night’s speech was President Obama’s announcement of a thorough investigation into the misconduct in the mortgage market that wrecked our economy....Thank President Obama for listening—and urge him to keep it up.” We have heard similar pledges before. So far there are no reports of swarms of GulfStreams carrying the frightened rich to refuge in the Cayman Islands. As we enter Obama’s last year of this term, foreclosures still account for twenty percent of all home sales in the USA. There were, of course, some crooks in the financial sector who played minor supporting roles in triggering the Great Recession. But most of the housing and other bubbles that burst were the result of shenanigans legalized during decades of bipartisan deregulation.The President retained the Fed Chairman upon whose watch the melt down occurred. Chairman Bernanke, who believes public works programs prolonged the Great Depression, is known for the lightest hand on the rudder of all central bank heads. Obama’s Treasury Secretary still shares the same Clubrooms and vacation spots with his “too big to fail” peers who “earned” ten or more-digit bonuses for losing people’s homes and life savings–and Geithner has made clear he is anxious to get back to the private sector. Despite his long experience in financial circles as former AFL secretary-treasurer, Trumka–like every outraged liberal--remains convinced the system is basically good if we’re not victimized by rogue bad guys. They cannot allow themselves to accept the inconvenient truth–this is what capitalism looks like.

But wait, there’s more.“President Obama made it clear that children and our future must be priorities” my leader told me. He then hands off to expert opinion--Randi Weingarten of the AFT. Her joy overfloweth, “Obama also made clear tonight what America’s teachers have long understood: We can’t test our way to a middle class; we must educate our way to a middle class....Respecting public school teachers and providing them with the tools and resources they need to help our children learn and grow are essential to building a strong public education system, competing in a global economy and restoring economic opportunity for all.” When sister Weingarten finally takes her retirement she should consider a second career writing pop fiction. Not since Horace Mann’s fight for Common Schools prevailed in the nineteenth century has public education been under such powerful attack. “Austerity” measures have led to the closings of hundreds of schools, along with firings of tens of thousands of teachers around the country. Adding to the funding crisis, Obama’s “Race to the Top” is promoting privatization in all components of education; has declared war on teacher seniority (tenure); and virtually mandated concessionary renegotiation of a number of teacher union contracts.Back to Trumka: “And Obama demanded investment in good, high-paying jobs—and said he would work to bring manufacturing back to America.”U.S. manufacturing employment peaked in 1979 at about 19.5 million jobs. That has now slumped to about 11.8 million. But over this same period industrial production nearly doubled. Despite the very substantial offshoring of work since NAFTA and the China Trade Agreement, the USA is still an industrial powerhouse. This work is done with far fewer, but much more productive, workers--and mostly at substantially lower real wages. We used to say workers in such dire straits need a union. However, many of them are already paying dues to the AFL or Change to Win.

OCCUPY OAKLAND WILL PARTICIPATE IN MAY DAY GLOBAL GENERAL STRIKE

2012-01-30T17:24:00.000-08:00

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly passed the proposal today!

Occupy Oakland Call for Participation in a May 1, 2012
Global General Strike

The general strike is back, retooled for an era of deep budget cuts, extreme anti-immigrant racism, and massive predatory financial speculation. In 2011, the number of unionized workers in the US stood at 11.8%, or approximately 14.8 million people.

What these figures leave out are the growing millions of people in this country who are unemployed and underemployed. The numbers leave out the undocumented, and domestic and manual workers drawn largely from immigrant communities. The numbers leave out workers whose workplace is the home and a whole invisible economy of unwaged reproductive labor. The numbers leave out students who have taken on nearly $1 trillion dollars in debt, and typically work multiple jobs, in order to afford skyrocketing college tuition. The numbers leave out the huge percentage of black Americans that are locked up in prisons or locked out of stable or secure employment because of our racist society.

In December of 2011,Oakland’s official unemployment rate was a devastating 14.1%. As cities like Oakland are ground into the dust by austerity, every last public dollar will be fed to corrupt, militarized police departments in order to contain social unrest. On November 2 of last year, Occupy Oakland carried out the first general strike in the US since the 1946 Oakland general strike,shutting down the center of the city and blockading the Port of Oakland. We must re-imagine a general strike for an age where most workers do not belong to labor unions, and where most of us are fighting for the privilege to work rather than for marginal improvements in working conditions. We must take the struggle into the streets, schools, and offices of corrupt local city governments. A re-imagined general strike means finding immediate solutions for communities impacted by budget cuts and constant police harassment beyond changing government representatives. Occupy Oakland calls for and will participate in a new direction for the Occupy movement based on the recognition that we must not only find new ways to provide for our needs beyond thestate we must also attack the institutions that lock us into an increasingly miserable life of exploitation, debt, and deepening poverty everywhere.
IF WE CAN’T LIVE, WE WON’T WORK.

May Day is an international holiday that commemorates the 1886 Haymarket Massacre, when Chicago police defending, as always, the interests of the 1% attacked and murdered workers participating in a general strike and demanding an 8-hour workday. In the 21st century, despite what politicians tell us, class war is alive and well against workers (rank-and-file and non-unionized), students, people of color, un- and underemployed, immigrants, homeless, women, queer/trans folks, prisoners. Instead of finding common ground with monsters, it’s time we fight them. And it’s time we make fighting back an everyday reality in the Bay Area and beyond.

On May Day 2012, Occupy Oakland will join with people from all walks of life in all parts of the world around the world in a global general strike to shut down the global circulation of capital that every day serves to enrich the ruling classes and impoverish the rest of us. There will be no victory but that which we make for ourselves, reclaiming the means of existence from which we have been and continue to be dispossessed every day.
REVOLT FOR A LIFE WORTH LIVING

STRIKE / BLOCKADE / OCCUPY

Our slavery free world - really?

2012-01-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

Click on image to enlarge

Courage to Resist: Campaign to Free Bradley Manning

2012-01-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

Courage to Resist is a group of concerned community members, veterans and military families that supports military objectors to illegal war and occupation and the policies of empire. Our People Power strategy weakens the pillars that maintain war and occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere by supporting GI resistance, counter-recruitment and draft resistance, which cuts off the supply of troops. We are autonomous from and independent of any political organization, party or group.

Courage to Resist project director and Bradley Manning Support Network campaign organizer Jeff Paterson will provide multi-media presentations (see Pacific NW schedule below) to include:

---An overview of US v. Bradley Manning
---His report from the Fort Meade courtroom where Bradley had his first court hearing after 18 months of pre-trial confinement
---Updates on the international grassroots campaign
---An opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation to Bradley’s defense fund, which in addition to supporting public education efforts is responsible for 100% of Bradley’s legal expenses
---Introduction to the new Courage to Resist book, About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War—from Army Lt. Ehren Watada to PFC Bradley Manning, and two dozen other stories. Published by PM Press, September 2011.

Pacific Northwest January & February 2012 events presented by Jeff Paterson:

Corvallis, Oregon
- Monday, January 30 at 7:00pm - Odd Fellows Hall, 223 Southwest 2nd Street, Sponsored by Veterans for Peace-Corvallis. With musician David Rovics.

Eugene, Oregon
- Wednesday, February 1 at 7:30pm - First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St. - Sponsored by Community Alliance of Lane County. With musician David Rovics.

Portland, Oregon
- Thursday, February 2 at 7:00pm - First Unitarian Church, SW 12th and Salmon, Buchan Room, Sponsored by the Alliance for Democracy. With musician David Rovics.

Bellingham, Washington
- Friday, February 3 at 7pm - Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, 1155 N. State Street, Ste. 300, Sponsored by Veterans for Peace-Bellingham

Seattle, Washington
- Saturday, February 4 at 3pm - Revolution Books, 89 S. Washington Street

Seattle, Washington
- Sunday, February 5 at 3pm - University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 NE 43rd Street, Sponsored by Veterans for Peace-Seattle

Olympia, Washington
- Monday, February 6 at 3:30pm - South Puget Sound Community College, Bldg 26, Rm 102 Lecture Hall

Lakewood, Washington
- Monday, February 6 at 7pm - Coffee Strong Café, 15109 Union Avenue SW

Olympia, Washington
- Tuesday, February 7 at Noon - The Evergreen State College, Lecture Hall 3, Sponsored by SDS and the “Re-Interpreting Liberation” program

Contact Courage to Resist for more information regarding specific events.
For daily updates on the campaign to save Bradley Manning, visit
www.bradleymanning.org

Mexico: Non-violent struggle against the drug war; Olga Reyes to present in Portland

2012-01-26T13:14:00.000-08:00

Mexican peace leader Olga Reyes will speak in Portland on Saturday, February 4th, 5:00 PM at 1131 SE Oak St.

Portland Central American Solidarity Committee (PCASC) is co-sponsoring this event with Voz, AFSC, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the Oregon Peace Institute.

Olga is a leader in the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity in Mexico, and is a survivor of drug war related violence. Please join us as we listen to her story and learn more about the role of the US in the escalating drug war.

Olga Reyes' Background:

Olga Reyes Salazar comes from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, in Mexico. Her sister, Josefina Reyes, was a prominent activist for human rights and demilitarization in Juarez until she was murdered January 3, 2010, after one of her sons had been jailed and another murdered. In February 2011, Olga’s sister, brother, and sister-in-law were abducted, and subsequently found killed. Olga’s mother Sara issued a remarkable appeal to the kidnappers of her children in February, just before the family house was burned down.

Since the killing of her two siblings and sister-in-law in February, Olga has participated in the two “caravans of consolation” led by poet Javier Sicilia, that traveled from central Mexico to the U.S. border in June and to Chiapas and the Guatemala border in September.

Olga brings a powerful testimony of the human costs of the drug war, militarism and gun trafficking, and of the growing movement to forge a different path in Mexico. The United States plays an important part.

Oregon State Bank Forum February 1, 2012 ---- Salem, Oregon

2012-01-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

Oregon New Sanctuary Movement Dinner

2012-01-26T10:35:00.001-08:00

ONSM 3rd Annual “Love Has No Borders Celebration Dinner”
Saturday, March 17th, 2012
5:30pm-7pm
First Unitarian Church, Buchan Room
1011 SW 13th Ave, Portland
Tickets are $25. Save the date!

Join the Trust Women March

2012-01-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

This week marks the 39th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade ruling and advocates for women’s rights are celebrating an important victory. The Obama administration announced Friday that health insurers must provide free access to birth control as part of the reforms established by the Affordable Healthcare Act.

At the same time we are witnessing the most unprecedented assault on women’s reproductive health and rights.

The 2010 elections swept in anti-abortion and anti-contraceptive state legislatures across the country who quickly got to work attacking everything from women’s insurance coverage of abortion to state funding for birth control and cancer screenings.

135 reproductive rights laws were enacted in 36 states, 68 percent of which restrict access to abortion.

Over 86% of counties do not have an abortion service provider, funding for women's health care is increasingly restricted, and several states are seeking to pass "personhood" statutes which would criminalize abortion and even miscarriage.

It seems each state legislature tries to outdo the next with their war on women.

The US House of Representatives attempted to eliminate Title X, the federal program that helps provide reproductive health services to low-income and uninsured Americans. They are attempting to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding, which is being defunded by some reactionary state legislatures.

And because this is an election year, women's health and reproductive justice are in the spotlight.

All of the Republican presidential candidates are opposed to reproductive and health rights and favor the repeal of Roe vs. Wade and elimination of Title X funding.

This war on women is provoking a big fightback and a commitment to mobilize a massive vote in defense of women’s rights in November.

You can raise your voice today.

Reproductive-rights groups are fighting back with a simple but powerful pro-choice message: Trust women.

We’re joining with scores of organizations in the Trust Women online march. This is a way for us to stand in solidarity, show our numbers, and send a strong message to elected.

Click here to join the march and send your message.

The Trust Women March will deliver your message, along with those of all the other marchers, to Congress and other elected officials to make a difference for women's health and reproductive justice at the national and state level.

Now is the time to speak out.

Esther Moroze
CPUSA National Board

See related articles below:

“On Roe vs Wade Anniversary, a big win for women from Obama administration” PeoplesWorld.org, Jan. 23, 2012:

"White House stands firm in birth control battle," The Washington Post, January 20, 2012:

Act NOW to Suspend HEM Surcharges - Update

2012-01-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

After the HEM joint labor management committee recommended that HEM surcharges be suspended, SEIU 503’s PEBB representatives brought petitions signed by thousands of us requesting such a suspension to the January PEBB meeting where board members:

*pushed the deadline to fill out the Health Risk Assessment back a month to March 15 and
*agreed to call a special meeting to discuss all of the HEM committee recommendations on Thursday, February 16.

There is still time to sign the petition to suspend the surcharges. If you haven’t had the opportunity to do so already, please click on the following link to add your name:

Suspend HEM Surcharge Petition

As we said in our last email, we have no quarrel with the idea of a health engagement model. Getting people to actively participate in their health should lead to longer and healthier lives and bring down health care costs. However, it’s not clear to the committee that the current HEM model with its punitive surcharges will work and our top recommendation is to suspend the surcharges.

For more details on other recommendations the joint HEM labor management committee made, please see our January 13 email: http://www.seiu503.org/2012/01/pebb-suspend-hem-surcharges/

The PEBB meeting is open to the public so for those who want to attend, the special meeting is scheduled on Thursday, Feb. 16 from 10am – 1pm in the PEBB-OEBB board room at 1225 Ferry St in Salem. We will send a report out afterward to let you know the PEBB board responses to our recommendations.

In unity,

Keary DeBeck, DOJ, Salem
Sabrina Freewynn, OHA, Portland
Wednesday Martin, DHS, Roseburg
Lois Yoshishige, UofO, Eugene
Shaun Parkman, Alternate, OHA, Portland
Siobhan Martin, Staff Advisor

hemcommittee@seiu503.org

AFL-CIO’s Trumka Acknowledges Labor’s Divisions Over Keystone Pipeline

2012-01-26T09:21:00.000-08:00

On Thursday January 12, at the UN Investor Summit on Climate Risk, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke publicly about divisions in the labor movement over the proposed Keystone Pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico if built.

Disagreements between unions over the pipeline wasn't news, but the fact that Trumka acknowledged them was. It was the first time I've heard Trumka say that unions that were on different sides of the politically sensitive issue - some for, some against. Several AFL-CIO observers also commented that it was the first time they had a president of the labor federation talk about why unions were divided on key issues. (They declined to speak on the record because of the matter's sensitivity.)

Read more here.

INCOME INEQUALITY: NEW STUDY HIGHLIGHTS LGBT STATS

2012-01-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

There is a new report from the "Half In Ten" Program. This is a campaign by the Center For American Progress and other groups that aim to reduce poverty by half in ten years. The way things are going they have a tough row to hoe. But according to their latest study there are members of the LGBT community who experience vast income inequality compared to their heterosexual peers. "Lesbian couples tend to have much higher poverty rates than either heterosexual or male couples" according to the report titled, "Restoring Shared Prosperity: Strategies To Cut Poverty And Expand Economic Growth". Older Lesbian couples are twice as likely to live in poverty as straight couples. This is not surprising to our community but seeing the statistics certainly justifies what we already know. These statistics extend to the children of gay couples. Those children are twice as likely to be poor as sons and daughters of straight, married couples.

One of the solutions to start addressing all this disparity is Marriage Equality. However state by state equality won't change these statistics very much. It must be Federal Marriage Equality to make a real difference in our lives. Melissa Boteach who worked with this study explained by the numbers. "A married heterosexual couple with $45,000 in income filing their taxes jointly would get a $50 refund from the federal government. A same sex couple has to file separately and they would owe $2,165 in taxes." She goes on to explain the obvious, "Lesbian couples are especially hard-hit as women continue to make less than men - 78 cents to every dollar. That difference is strongly felt in families where two women are raising children."

But she doesn't continue with looking at the area where there is the most blatant heterosexual privilege, which is in the Social Security system. And unfortunately "Half in Ten" is calling for the passage of Obama's American Jobs Act which includes large cuts to the Medicare Program which will negatively affect all seniors living in poverty.

Canada's Harper government bans Internationale from Labour Temple dedication

2012-01-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

By Darrell Rankin
From The People's Voice.

The Winnipeg branch of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC) cancelled a ceremony to dedicate its Ukrainian Labour Temple as a National Historic Site. The AUUC made the decision 72 hours before the ceremony, once it was clear that Parks Canada had failed to send invitations or answer a letter about its unilateral demand to ban the hall’s choir from singing The Internationale.

The hall was designated a historic site in 2009. AUUC members were looking forward to the ceremony which included placing a plaque on the building. After months of agreement and rehearsing, Parks Canada informed the AUUC on Oct. 9 that it would not allow the choir to sing the working class anthem.

The choir had voted unanimously that during the scheduled time for the song it would remain silent and explain that the song was banned. The reasons for the ban are unknown, and will likely stay that way unless revealed by an access to information request.

How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

2012-01-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

The Sunday New York Times carried an interesting front-page article on why Apple and other companies do not produce products or provide services in the US with American workers, or at least do not hire at the levels they hire in China. It's a fascinating article with a minimum of capitalist double-speak. Read the article here.

Marxists and other socialists can have some fun with this article, reading it and debating it and making it popular. The capitalist doubble-speak in the article consists largely of obscuring the determining factor of wages in production and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall over time. There is also an implication of nationalism in the article. Still, the article states most of the facts bluntly and gives them to us straight from the horse's mouth.

How To Think About Socialism in Korea

2012-01-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

At the end of 2011 the Irish and international media had a feeding frenzy about the death of Kim Jong-il, head of state of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).

His death once again presented an opportunity for them to indulge in wholesale anti-communism, equating all the problems, tensions and difficulties on the Korean peninsula with the nature of the political-social system in North Korea and, by extension, with all those who advocate a socialist alternative to moribund monopoly capitalism around the globe.

RTE [Ireland's state radio and broadcasting company] wheeled out the director of Concern [a Third World aid NGO in Ireland] to give his tuppence-worth and his “extensive” knowledge of North Korea and the famine.

He spoke about seeing three young children badly affected by hunger, and he was sure they would have died a few months after he had seen them. No one asked whether this was a fact or just him surmising that to be the case.

The Irish Times had a number of features by experts of various kinds, parading their opinions as facts, most being superficial, vacuous and shallow, while the anti-communist left rowed in behind the official narrative of how we should all view events in that country.

Yes, the regime in the DPRK poses many questions for those of us who belong to the communist tradition within the working-class movement. How can one rationalise such behaviour as the mass weeping at the passing of the “Dear Leader,” and the serried ranks of army generals so prominent in events? But then again there is no such thing as a blueprint or road map or any one way to transform society or to build socialism. All processes are shaped by objective and subjective factors.

Read more here.

About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War--Corvallis

2012-01-23T10:46:00.000-08:00

Date: 2012-01-30

Event Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Location: Corvallis Odd Fellows Hall
223 SW 2ND ST FL 2
CORVALLIS, OR, 97333-4633
2nd floor, to the left

Organization: Veterans for Peace Chapter 132

Description: A public discussion and book signing with Jeff Paterson, project director, Courage to Resist, plus an update on PFC Bradley Manning, the accused Wikileaks whistleblower.

About Face -- a new book by Courage to Resist
Features the voices from the Courage to Resist audio project with exclusive interviews with Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg discussing the history of GI resistance from the Vietnam War to Bradley Manning and the current WikiLeaks revelations.

“About Face gives us important insights into the consciences of women and men who volunteer for the military but find they cannot obey orders to fight in illegal wars.” — Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army colonel and State Dept. diplomat.

A Corvallis World Forum event.

Sponsored by: Corvallis Odd Fellows & Veterans For Peace, Linus Pauling Chapter 132, Corvallis

FMI: Bart Bolger, VFP Corvalis, info@vfpcorvalis.org

The 1% In The Pacific Northwest

2012-01-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

From Michael Munk:

The New York Times reported recently on what income levels put people in > the top 1% in their cities. Obviously there were wide variations in the > income required to exceed the local 99%, but the national average was $380,000 a year. Read the story at :
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/business/the-1-percent-paint-a-more-nuanced-portrait-of-the-rich.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=one%20percent,%20many%20variations&st=cse

Here's how NW cities ranked:
Seattle: $ 408,000
Bremerton: $ 374,000
Bellingham: $ 346,000
Portland: $ 343,000
Spokane: $ 341,000
Salem: $ 316,000
Eugene: $ 301,000
Medford: $ 300,000
Richland: $ 299,000
Tacoma: $ 287,000
Olympia: $ 283,000
Yakima: $ 271,000

Into Sunlight

2012-01-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

A performance by Robin Becker Dance, inspired by They Marched Into Sunlight, a book by Pulitzer Prize winning author and Washington Post Senior Editor, David Maraniss. Maraniss' book, nominated for a Pulitzer in nonfiction, encompasses one week in 1967, juxtaposing the ambush of an elite army unit in Vietnam with an anti-war protest that turned violent in Madison, WI.

"Into Sunlight" choreographer Robin Becker recalls her inspiration: "When I read David Maraniss' powerful book on the Vietnam War, I immediately responded to the timelessness and universality of the themes and events he documented. I was deeply moved by the integrity, honor, and commitment of both those who fought the war, and those who fought against it. I embarked upon the creation of this dance, "Into Sunlight," hoping that the universal language of the body would reflect and offer the same sense of healing that David's words evoked in me."

This timely dance premiered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Hofstra University, New York, where it prompted interdisciplinary conferences exploring themes of cultural embodiment, the impact of war and violence, and the integrative power of art. The 92nd Street Y in New York City hosted additional performances, and the work continues to engage audiences and gain momentum from its impact, with more performances upcoming in 2012.

http://www.intosunlight.org/

WISCONSIN LABOR COUNCIL TELLS OBAMA TO TELL THE COAST GUARD TO "STAND DOWN"

2012-01-20T19:12:00.000-08:00

January 19, 2012

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Obama:

With over 200 present at our monthly meeting on Monday, January 16, delegates to the South Central Federation of Labor heard a very disturbing report about the planned use of U.S. military to intervene on the side of management in a crucial labor dispute in Washington State, and voted unanimously to condemn such intervention.

The International Longshoremen Workers Union is engaged in a crucial struggle at the Port of Longview, Washington, where a multinational company, EGT, is attempting to operate as the West Coast's only non-ILWU facility, despite promising otherwise when it received millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to build its grain exporting terminal. Now, as the first ship makes its way to the port to fill up with grain bound for Asia, it is reported that Coast Guard ships and helicopters will be used to escort this ship. Use of our tax dollars and our military to assist such union busting is horrifying.

Mr. President, as Commander in Chief, we call upon you to order the Coast Guard to stand down, to not interfere on the side of management in this labor dispute.

Sincerely,

James A. Cavanaugh
President

c: Rich Trumka, Sen. Kohl, Sen. Johnson, Rep. Baldwin, ILWU

Jim Cavanaugh, President
South Central Federation of Labor
1602 S Park St #228
Madison WI 53715 * (608) 256-5111
http://www.SCFL.org

__._,_.___

The NDAA: What It Means For Your Freedom--Salem Forum

2012-01-19T21:21:00.000-08:00

The Occupy Salem Education Committee presents Willamette Law Professor Susan Smith speaking on the civil liberties implications of the recently-passed National Defense Authorization Act.

This piece of legislation, which recently passed the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly and was subsequently signed by President Obama, despite his earlier vow to veto it, suspends some of our most cherished civil liberties. Learn how it could affect you!

Monday, January 23, 7 p.m. in the Paulus Lecture Hall at Willamette University's Law School (Room E 201). No charge.

Occupy The Courts In Salem Jan. 21

2012-01-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

Rally and March for Repeal of Corporate Personhood Followed by a General Assembly of People Representing Various Oregon Occupy Groups

Meet at Salem's First Congregational Church (changed from the Capitol steps due to the weather) at 11:45 a.m. Rally will be followed by a march through Downtown Salem at 1 p.m. After that, members of Occupy Groups from around Oregon will meet to discuss networking and future actions.

Iran solidarity group calls for halt to slide to war

2012-01-19T21:13:00.000-08:00

The ongoing killing of Iranian scientists has been condemned as a provocation to war by a leading solidarity organization campaigning for peace in the Middle East. The UK-based Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People's Rights (CODIR) last week pointed out that the assassination of 32-year-old chemist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan was the fifth time a scientist associated with Iran's nuclear program had been killed in the past two years.

CODIR says that if such actions had taken place on U.S. or British soil they would have been seen as tantamount to a declaration of war. The organization warns that there are elements within the Iranian regime which will see these actions in the same way and may foolishly and disastrously respond accordingly.

Read more here.

Hrant Dink And Protests In Turkey

2012-01-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

Plaque Installed in Memory of Dink, Crowds Take to the Streets

ISTANBUL (A.W.)–In the morning of Jan. 19, five years after the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor of the Turkish and Armenian weekly Agos, a new plaque was seen on one of the cobblestones of the Agos building in Istanbul. It read, “Hrant Dink was murdered here, January 19, 2007, at 15:05.”

“Hrant Dink was murdered here, January 19, 2007, at 15:05”

Meanwhile, an estimated 20,000 people flooded the streets of Istanbul on Jan. 19, marching in remembrance of the murdered journalist, to protest a recent court ruling that set free many of the murder suspects, and denounced the state of affairs in Turkey. They carried signs that read, “We are all Hrant Dink, we are all Armenian.”
Trial a disappointment
The anniversary of Dink’s death came two days after 19 suspects were acquitted of charges of being members of a terrorist organization that plotted the murder. Another suspect, Yasin Hayal, received a life sentence on charges of instigating the premeditated murder.

January 21--the one-year anniversary of Citizens United

2012-01-19T21:07:00.000-08:00

January 21 marks the one-year anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s notorious Citizens United decision declaring “corporations are people” and allowing corporations and billionaires to spend unlimited sums of money, without disclosure, in political campaigns.We have seen the results.

Since then a grassroots movement has grown across the country to reverse the decision including by amending the US Constitution.

This is a fundamental battle for democracy. Karl Rove’s American Crossroads has already pledged to spend at least $240 million in the elections of 2012. The extreme right-wing billionaire Koch brothers and other Wall Street corporations will spend hundreds of millions more to influence election outcomes.

The ruling laid out for all to see the corruption of the US Supreme Court and the ruthless goal of the top 1 percent: put a stranglehold on legislative bodies at every level to elect candidates that rubberstamp pro-corporate and rightwing policies.

The anniversary of the Citizens United ruling is a day for the 99 percent to stand up to Wall Street and big money! Take action with millions to undo the damage, including building the movement to amend the Constitution.

Move to Amend is planning a National Day of Protest to Occupy the Courts on January 20 at Federal courthouses in 100 cites. Find a local protest here.

United for the People is also organizing demonstrations across the country. Find a local protest here.

Common Cause is one of many groups organizing to “pass advisory initiatives or referendums condemning the decision in as many states as possible, slowly creating a groundswell for a constitutional amendment that would make it clear corporations are not people and that congress has the authority to limit campaign spending.” They have tools to get started here.

City councils are already passing resolutions and efforts are being made to get initiatives on state ballots in 2012. The campaign initially will target three states -- Colorado, Massachusetts and Montana. Recently, the Montana high court challenged Citizens United and upheld ban on corporate cash in elections. Read Peoplesworld.org coverage here.

People united can take back our country!

John Bachtell

CPUSA vice chair

Iranian Women: A Film Series In Portland

2012-01-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

The Middle East Studies Center and the Persian program in the Department of World Languages & Literatures at Portland State University are pleased to announce Iranian Women: A Film Series.

http://pdx.edu/wll/persian

The series will include the following screenings:

Women Without Men (2010)
Sunday, February 5 | 3 PM
George C. Hoffmann Hall, 1833 SW Eleventh Street
Shirin Neshat’s independent film adaptation of Shahrnush Parsipur’s magic realist novel. The story chronicles the intertwining lives of four Iranian women during the summer of 1953; a cataclysmic moment in Iranian history when an American led, British backed coup d’état brought down the democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, and reinstalled the Shah to power.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Shahrnush Parsipur, author of the book, Women Without Men.

Reception to follow.

Pearls on the Ocean Floor (2011)
Friday, February 10 | 7 PM
5th Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall Street
A thought-provoking, feature-length documentary examining the lives and works of Iranian female artists living and working in and outside the Islamic Republic. This unflinching and incisive study, featuring interviews with art luminaries Shadi Ghadirian, Shirin Neshat, Parastou Forouhar and others, captures the uncertainty of this momentous time in Iran’s history. Speaking with grace and honesty, these brave women express what is seldom seen in the western media: unique individual perspectives regarding issues of identity, gender, and the role that art plays in challenging the traditional stereotypes often associated with women in Iran.

20 Fingers (2004)
Saturday, February 11 | 7 PM
5th Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall Street
A film in several episodes with Bijan Daneshmand and Mania Akbari, exposing some of the issues of men and women within the confines of tradition and family life in Iran. Each episode is devoted to various life situations and displays a different form of male/female interaction. The placing of the actors in a moving vehicle or against a moving backdrop signifies the movement of life despite all the obstacles in its way. The film deals with the roots of dependencies, limitations, power struggles and conflict that are the familiar stuff of life of couples in the Middle East.

The Unwanted Woman (2005)
Sunday, February 19 | 3 PM
5th Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall Street
A woman trapped in an unhappy marriage, Sima must contend with a husband so insensitive that he makes no effort to hide his various sexual indiscretions. He forces her into an even more uncomfortable situation when he asks his wife to pretend she is related to his current girlfriend in order to avoid trouble from a society that punishes unmarried couples for being together in public.

All screenings are free and open the public

Presented with funding from Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute.

TUCSON: MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES ENDS, STUDENTS WALKOUT AND TEACHERS MONITORED

2012-01-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

I visited Tucson for the first time last week. On my first day there was a student strike as 400 students walked out of Cholla High School to protest the action of the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) to end the Mexican American Studies (MAS) Program. They marched to TUSD headquarters. The State Of Arizona passed a law aimed specifically at the MAS program because they claimed it "promoted one ethnicity over another". Students of any race can and do take these classes. A State Administrative Judge upheld the State School Superintendent, John Huppenthal's decision on ending the program and the TUSD decided to accept that decision and not to appeal.

A spokeswoman for TUSD told the students, "I feel your pain, go back to class". If they think this struggle is over they will be surprised. While the student's determination is clear, their teachers are finding themselves with strange and bizarre instructions for their lesson plans. Curtis Acosta reports that after a meeting with their site administrators they were told that their "entire curriculum and pedagogy must end immediately". The students are asking questions they cannot answer.

The teachers were told they cannot "teach any race, ethnic or oppression themed lessons or units". However they were not given any specific guidance, just that what they were doing is now illegal. When Curtis asked if he could start teaching Shakespeare's "The Tempest" he was told, "No, because due to the themes that are present and the likelihood of avoiding discussions of colonization, enslavement, and racism were remote"..(??) They still do not know if they will be found not in compliance if their students discuss themes of race, ethnicity or oppression. Teachers were also told they will be monitored, student work collected and books confiscated the following day.

We know these students who have now become seasoned activists will continue. But the interesting question is, "What will the teachers do?"

The Occupy Movement: Lessons for Revolutionaries

2012-01-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

The Occupy Movement: Lessons for Revolutionaries

Join the national call-in to defend Carlos Montes

2012-01-18T17:28:00.001-08:00

Carlos Montes appears in court on Tuesday, January 24.

Join the national call-in day to
-- President Obama at 202-456-1111 and
-- Attorney General Holder at 202-514-2001
Demand: “Dismiss the charges against Carlos Montes. There is no evidence!”

Contact us and let us know how your calls went: info@stopFBI.net

Chicano antiwar activist Carlos Montes’ next court hearing is Tuesday, January 24. Attorney Jorge Gonzalez will present and argue a legal motion to dismiss all charges on the grounds of insufficient evidence. This hearing will deal with the FBI-instigated Sheriffs raid, arrest, and prosecution of Carlos. Carlos Montes has declared himself “not guilty” on 6 felony charges, dealing with an alleged 42-year old arrest and firearms code violations. Montes’ arrest is part of the FBI attack on 23 other antiwar and solidarity activists.

Oregon Retirees Face Tough Times

2012-01-18T15:03:00.000-08:00

The new EPI report at http://www.epi.org/publication/bp334-oregon-retirement-security-needs-met/ begins:

This paper examines the retirement security of current Oregon retirees and prospects for the retirement security of current workers. By examining the income sources of retirees, we highlight Oregon retirees’ heavy reliance on Social Security income and uncover important, and sometimes dramatic, differences in the reliance on Social Security and retirement funds1 by income, race, and gender. Major findings include the following:

Social Security constitutes nearly half (47.6 percent) of all income for Oregon retirees.
Social Security’s share of income ranges from 26.5 percent for retirees in the top quartile of earners to 85.0 percent for those in the bottom quartile.
Retirement funds account for just 2.2 percent of annual income for retirees in the bottom quartile ($152 on average) but 41.0 percent of income for retirees in the top quartile ($21,511 on average).
White retirees fare better than people of color, and men fare better than women.
Retired Oregonians are less likely than Oregonians overall to live in poverty or extreme poverty, but retired Oregonians are also less likely than Oregonians overall to have incomes at or above 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

Immigrant Action Day in Salem this Saturday!

2012-01-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

Join us in Salem this Saturday for our 14th Annual Statewide Immigrant Action Day!

This Saturday , we will hold our 14th Annual Statewide Immigrant Action Day in Salem. The day long event will bring together delegations from Portland, Gresham, Cornelius, Hillsboro, Eugene, Springfield, Beaverton, Bend, Redmond, Madras, Sisters, Woodburn, Independence, Dayton, Dallas, Silverton, Lincoln City and St. Helens and Vancouver, Washington.

Immigrant Action Day 2012
Saturday January 21st, 10am- 2pm
Chemeketa Community College Building 2
4000 Lancaster Dr NE
Salem, Oregon

The focus of this year’s Immigrant Action Day will include the following topics:

• Restoring driver’s licenses for all in Oregon
• Stopping local law enforcement collaboration with ICE
• How to get involved with our children’s education
• Making your voice heard in elections
• Equality for all members of our community

Lunch and childcare will be provided to those attending the event.

Please RSVP with Christian Baeff by contacting him at 503-737-7014 or christian@causaoregon.org. Please also visit our Facebook Event Page by linking here.

Sponsored by the Multicultural Center and the group JUNTOS at Chemeketa Community College, the Salem-Keizer Coalition for Equality and with the support of Voz Hispana and Mujeres Luchadoras Progresistas.
We look forward to seeing you there!

Interest in Communism surges: Where is the CPUSA?

2012-01-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

A recent Rasmussen poll published on March 15, 2011 indicates that 11% of Americans favor communism over capitalism. Put that way, it may not sound like much, but if you look at the numbers it is significant in a country totally brainwashed by the capitalist controlled media. Based on a U.S. population estimate of 312,000,000 it means that roughly 34,320,000 people in the U.S. think that communism would be superior to capitalism.

Another poll recently conducted by the Pew Research Center suggests that 31% of people in the U.S. have a positive view of socialism (see article posted on this blog). That would work out to be 96,720,000 people having a positive view of socialism. In certain sectors of the population, this percentage is much higher. Among the 18 to 29 year old age group, 49% had a positive view of socialism. Among African Americans, 55% had a positive view of socialism and among liberal Democrats, 59% had a positive view of socialism.

All these figures add up to the fact that there are a large number of people in the U.S.A. who are open to both communism and socialism. This is truly amazing given the slander and lies hurled at socialists and communists since the horrible days of McCarthyism in the 1950’s. Because of the uninterrupted torrent of abuse from the right wing which has been so well publicized by the mainstream media, most people in this country don’t have a clue as to what are the aims of communists and socialists.

Many people would be shocked to learn that the primary aim of communists is to support working people in their struggle to achieve a better life for themselves. Communists understand that in order for this to happen, the working class must become the ruling class. As long as the ultra-wealthy are the ruling class, the working class will have to struggle for every scrap they get. Communists also understand that only a united working class can achieve the goal of the working class becoming the ruling class. As long as capitalists can divide working people by race, gender, culture, religion and other innumerable wedges that they use so effectively, true democracy of the people cannot happen and the working class will remain the oppressed class.

So, how has the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) leadership responded to this rising tide of interest in communism and socialism?

Read more here.

RAHM EMANUEL TRIES TO CRUSH THE BILL OF RIGHTS IN CHICAGO

2012-01-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago is attempting to clamp down on First Amendment rights to march and speak out against the NATO and G8 summits in May 2012.

Emanuel is trying to rush through the City Council on January 18^th a vote to greatly restrict the right to protest: raising fines for arrests during protests; making unreasonable demands on protest organizers, such as one marshal for every 100 marchers; a list in advance of all signs and banners in a march; and a list of all equipment for amplification of sound one week before any march. Also he wants permits for any sidewalk protest, which would be a major blow to unions and community groups.

Also, while the city has granted permits for a rally and march on the first day of the May 19^th – 21^st summits, organizers were told that permits could be revoked by the Secret Service.

We are asking supporters of the march against NATO/G8 to call Mayor Rahm Emmanuel on Tuesday January 17^th. (If you live in the City of Chicago, please also call your alderperson as well).

Phone number 312-744-5000

Demand the following:

1) Back off the changes to the ordinances covering protests and public assemblies.
2) Publicly call on the Secret Service to permit CANG8 to use the permit sites granted by the city.

Then, report your call afterwards by sending an email to cangate2012@gmail.com

Background:
On January 12, the City of Chicago granted permits to the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda (CANG8) for a rally and march on May 19. CANG8 is mobilizing against the summits of NATO/G8 occurring in Chicago that weekend. The two summits will be overlapping over 3 days.
CANG8 will continue building broad support for their demands for permits and exposing the NATO and G8 agendas of bankers, generals and heads of state of the wealthiest nations.
CANG8 is planning a family-friendly demonstration to take their message to within sight and sound of the McCormick Place where the summits are scheduled.
On the permit letters to the coalition from the City, a brief waiver statement reads:
Please note that the G8/NATO summits have been designated by the Department of Homeland Security as a Nation Special Security Event, which means the U.S. Secret Service is mandated by Federal law to head the design and implementation of an operational security plan for the summits. In the event the Secret Service designates specific security zones or areas that impact your event location, the Public Building Commission will work with you to find an alternate location for your event.
This threat of the Secret Service intervention is real. It appears the joint city-federal agency overseeing the summits might stop protests from reaching the eyes and ears of the rich and powerful who will be at McCormick Place in May.
In mid December Mayor Emanuel proposed the City Council vote to accept what he called temporary changes to city ordinances to make protests harder to organize and to threaten anyone who speaks up with enormous fines and police repression. In early January, the Mayor flipped the script, apologized for any miss understanding and said the ordinance changes would be permanent.
City council leaders were said to be in the “yes” camp, supporting the mayor, but a continuing pressure campaign that drew in Occupy Chicago, SEIU, the Teachers Union and civil liberties advocates softened their outright support. As reported in the press, on Jan. 12, the mayor’s office witnessed a rebellion by alderpersons who, for the first time, have said “no” to Emanuel.
The city council is scheduled to vote on Emanuel's ordinance changes at its meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 18. Two committees of the city council are scheduled to discuss the changes on Jan. 17. CANG8 is calling for a national call in day to demand Emanuel stop his efforts to deny the right to protest, and locally we are asking allies to call their alderperson to say no to the changes in the ordinances.

Dialectics and Systems Theory

2012-01-16T21:22:00.000-08:00

[Begin Quote]
In a generally sympathetic review of The Dialectical Biologist, and in personal conversation, John Maynard Smith argued that the development of a rigorous, quantitative mathematical systems theory makes dialectics obsolete [footnote to Smith's review]. Engels's awkward "interchange of cause and effect" can be replaced by "feedback" -- the mysterious "transformation of quantity into quality" is now the familiar phase transition or threshold effect. He noted that "even in my most convinced Marxist phase, I could never make much sense of the negation of the negation or the interprenetration of opposites." He could have added that hierarchy theory grasps some of the insights of "integrated levels" or "overdetermination."

Mary Boger, a leader of the New York Marxist school, has been urging me for years not to allow dialectics to be subsumed under system theory. Despite system theory's concern with complexity, interconnection, and process she has argued that it is still fundamentally reductionist and static, and despite the power of its mathematical apparatus it does not deal at all with the richness of dialectical contingency, contradiction, or historicity. Finally, she added that systems-theoretic "interconnection" does not grasp the subtleties of dialectical "mediation."

Here I attempt to systematize my own views as they have evolved in discussions with Mary Boger, Rosario Morales, Richard Lewontin, and other comrades.
[End Quote]

... To read in full see either,

Richard Levins, "Dialectics and Systems Theory," Essay Number 17 in Richard Lewontin's and Richard Levins's Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, Agriculture, and Health. Monthly Review Press, New York, 2007, pages 101-124.

or, "in a slightly different form" (Levins's words) in

Richard Levins, "Dialectics and Systems Theory," Science and Society, volume 62, number 3 (Fall 1998), pages 375-399.

Martin Luther King, Jr. In His Own Words

2012-01-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/16/special_dr_martin_luther_king_jr

REVIEW: Post-Modern Imperialism—Geopolitics and the Great Games, by Eric Walberg

2012-01-16T17:38:00.000-08:00

One of the disappointments of recent Marxist thought is a neglect of the theory of imperialism. It is not that imperialism is questioned by Marxists; it would be hard to find an advocate who denied its existence or historical significance. Indeed, few Marxists dispute (since the Lenin-Kautsky debate) the fundamental elements of imperialism as outlined by Lenin and presaged by Hobson; but its historical trajectory -- deflected by wars (hot and cold), shifting balances of forces and alliances, and economic upheaval – has received only cursory attention. All acknowledge that the dominant imperial center of power has shifted from Britain before World War I to the USA after the Second World War. Outside of the bizarre pseudo-Marxism popularized in the post-Soviet period (Hardt and Negri’s Empire and theories of the decline of the nation-state and ascendancy of the trans-national corporation, for example), most left-of-center political thinkers would concede that imperialism – especially, as expressed by US imperialism -- is alive and well today. Yet, Marxist studies have yet to provide a full, overarching account of the material forces that have shaped imperialism’s evolution over the last century and a half. We see this failing in the world-wide confusion and tepid resistance to NATO’s Balkan aggressions, the various contrived color “revolutions,” and the wars and interventions in the Middle East and Central Asia.

- from Zoltan Zigedy is available at:
http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/

Marching Today In South Carolina For Social Justice

2012-01-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

Each year on this day, we commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – a hero to generations of Americans.

As I prepare to speak today at an NAACP rally in front of South Carolina's state capitol, I reflect on how Dr. King risked everything to advance civil and human rights in America.

Despite repeated threats against his life, he spread the message of non-violent civil disobedience against unjust laws throughout the Jim Crow South and our nation as a whole.

His leadership has inspired Americans to win big victories that have moved our nation closer to the long-expressed, but yet-unrealized ideal that our school children repeat every day: we are "one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all".

Today, one of the greatest victories Dr. King helped win during his lifetime is under withering attack: The Voting Rights Act and the rights it protects – for all Americans to be able to participate in free and fair elections.

South Carolina has become ground zero in this battle that is taking place in state capitols across the nation.

On one side, you have civil rights activists and the U.S. Department of Justice fighting on behalf of thousands upon thousands of voters who would be disenfranchised by laws that introduce the first new financial and literacy-based obstacles to voting since we eliminated the poll tax and voting tests. Fighting on behalf of Americans like the students at South Carolina’s Benedict College, whose student identification cards have been deemed insufficient for use as voter ID. And we are fighting on behalf of senior citizens like Larry Butler, born here in 1926 when blacks often were not issued birth certificates. Now, for the first time in his life, if Mr. Butler wants to vote it will cost him $150 to obtain the documents required by South Carolina's voter suppression law.

On the other side, you have governors like South Carolina's Nikki Haley suing to gut the Voting Rights Act after the Justice Department blocked the state’s discriminatory voter ID law. I am proud to stand alongside Attorney General Eric Holder today in front of the South Carolina State House and recommit to protecting the right to vote.

Read the speech that I will give today in front of the State House, then share with us how you will help uphold voting rights in 2012:

http://www.naacp.org/KingDay

Today, NAACP State Conference presidents who are leading battles to defend voting rights in South Carolina and several other southern states will lead this march.

We march today to defend our right to vote and to defend our nation’s dream of America as a place where everybody works, everybody contributes, and everybody counts.

We march today for good jobs that can support our families, and an education for our children that will pave the way for them to do the same.

We march today to declare our intent to defeat the deeds of any Governor who would deify our great dreamer, but desecrate his dream.

Join us in making Dr. King's dream a reality– again, please take a moment read today’s speech, then share your plan to help us uphold voting rights in 2012.

http://www.naacp.org/KingDay

Thank you,

Ben

Benjamin Todd Jealous
President & CEO
NAACP

The Campaign To Free Ahmad Sa'adat

2012-01-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

10 Years in Prison, 10 Years of Struggle:

On the Anniversary of the Abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

www.freeahmadsaadat.org + campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org

Twitter:http://twitter.com/freeahmadsaadat

January 15, 2012 is the 10th anniversary of the abduction of Palestinian political leader Ahmad Sa'adat by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah at the hands of the PA intelligence services headed by Tawfiq Tirawi. Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been imprisoned for ten years - first by PA security, then under US and British guard in a PA prison in Jericho, and now, for the past six years, inside Israeli jails alongside thousands of other Palestinian political prisoners after a siege on Jericho and the kidnapping of Sa'adat and his comrades in 2006.

The kidnapping of Ahmad Sa'adat on January 15, 2002, was emblematic of the deep damage of the crime of "security cooperation" to the Palestinian people and their national cause. "Security cooperation" has meant nothing but attacks on the Palestinian resistance at the behest of Israel, committed by Palestinian Authority hands. The abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat, and his imprisonment - and that of his comrades - in the PA prison in Jericho, under U.S. and British guard, was a clear example of the PA's status as fundamentally beholden to the interests of Israel, the U.S. and other international powers, at the expense of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance.

The abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat has come to symbolize the thousands of Palestinians who have gone through the jails of the PA because of their loyalty to the Palestinian people, cause and resistance, and the impunity of PA officials - like Tawfiq Tirawi - who continue to find lucrative and influential positions within the Authority despite their shameless acts of betrayal, imprisoning, and abducting Palestinian leaders and activists.

This complicity with Israeli demands for the subjugation and suppression of the Palestinian people led directly to the Israeli assault on Jericho prison in 2006, where Ahmad Sa'adat and his comrades were immobilized in the face of Israeli occupation aggression. Sa'adat had never been charged with a crime throughout his four years in PA prison; his release had been ordered by the PA's highest court. Yet the PA refused to release Sa'adat, respecting the dictates of Israel, the US and Britain above Palestinian legitimacy; it claimed that it "could not guarantee his safety" outside the prison. Yet it simultaneously guaranteed that he and his comrades could not be safe from Israeli aggression, their locations known at all times by Israel and under the watchful eyes of U.S. and British guards, directly in collusion with Israel. (It should be noted that, forewarned of the attack, the U.S. and British guards absented Jericho prison at the request of the Israeli occupation army.)

Since his second kidnapping, from a PA prison to the heart of the occupation's jails, Ahmad Sa'adat has remained a leader of the prisoners' movement. Today, he has spent nearly three full years in isolation at the hands of the occupation. He was an inspiration - and his release from isolation a key demand of the prisoners' hunger strike that galvanized the Palestinian prisoners' movement and the prisoners' cause in October 2011.

Just as Sa'adat's kidnapping is a symbol of the crime of security cooperation, Sa'adat's imprisonment in the hands of the occupation is a symbol of the steadfastness of the nearly 5,000 prisoners inside the jails of the occupation - like his fellow prisoners, resisting isolation, refusing rights violations, and not allowing their will and strength to be broken by the actions of the occupation jailers.

Ten years after the abduction of Ahmad Sa'adat, this anniversary is a reminder that we must continue to organize, act, and demand the freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners, and expose the complicity of the U.S., British, Canadian and other international governments in the enforcement of "security cooperation" and the abuse and mass imprisonment of Palestinian political leaders and activists by the Israeli occupation. While the Quartet pushes the Palestinian Authority to return to bogus negotiations with the occupation (while the occupation continues settlement expansion, ethnic cleansing, land confiscation, home demolitions, isolation, solitary confinement, and mass imprisonment), it is urgent that we form an international popular basis of support for the Palestinian people and their activists and leaders inside the jails of the occupation, rather than those complicit with the occupation at the table of negotiations.

Take Action!

1. Picket, protest or call the Israeli embassy or consulate in your location and demand the immediate freedom of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners.

2. Distribute the free downloadable Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat flyer in your community at local events.

3. Write to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other human rights organizations to exercise their responsibilities and act swiftly to demand that prisoners' rights are recognized. Email the ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the conditions of prisoners, at JER_jerusalem@icrc.org, and inform them about the urgent situation of Ahmad Sa'adat. Make it clear that isolation is a human rights violation and a form of torture, and that the ICRC must stand up and play its role to defend prisoners' rights.

4. Email the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat at campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org with announcements, reports and information about your local events, activities and flyer distributions.

WHO IS AHMAD SA'ADAT?

Ahmad Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was elected to his position in 2001 following the assassination of the previous General Secretary, Abu Ali Mustafa, on August 27, 2001 by a U.S.-made Apache missile shot from an Israeli military helicopter as he sat in his office in Ramallah. PFLP fighters retaliated by assassinating Rehavam Ze'evi, the racist extremist Israeli tourism minister and head of the Moledet party, notorious for his political platform based on the "transfer" or ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, on October 17, 2001.

Sa'adat was abducted by Palestinian Authority security forces after engaging in a meeting with PA officials under false pretenses in February 2002, and was held in the Muqata' PA presidential building in Ramallah until April 2002, when in an agreement with Israel, the U.S. and Britain, he and four of his comrades were held in the Palestinian Authority's Jericho prison, under U.S. and British guard.

He remained in the PA jails, without trial or charge, an imprisonment that was internationally condemned, until March 14, 2006, when the prison itself was besieged by the occupation army and he and his comrades were kidnapped. While imprisoned in the PA jail in Jericho, he was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council. Since that time, he has been held in the prisons of the occupation and continually refused to recognize the illegitimate military courts of the Israeli occupation. He was sentenced to thirty years in prison on December 25, 2008 solely for his political activity, and has spent nearly three years in isolation at the present time.

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

January 15, 2012
The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/
campaign@freeahmadsaadat.org
Twitter: @FreeAhmadSaadat

Occupy The Courts--Portland

2012-01-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

Occupy the Courts will be a one-day occupation of Federal Courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday, January 20, 2012. Together we will lead the charge on the judiciary that created, and continues to expand corporate personhood rights. The most recent example of the Supreme Court activism in support of corporate domination is the Citizens United decision in January 2010 allowing corporate treasury dollars to fund so-called independent campaigns. And since then in the case involving Wal-Mart, they ruled in favor of Wal-mart by throwing out the class-action case by women of Wal-Mart. The court said the class was too large.

More than 100 cities across America will have Occupy the Courts events on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 Our Portland Occupy with both the good and bad judges will be

Pioneer Courthouse Square
11:30 AM - Gather
12 noon - Rally
12:30 to so - March around Pioneer Courthouse

Occupy Oregon Assembly - Jan 21 2012

2012-01-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

The second anniversary of the Citizens United decision on corporate personhood.

Occupy The Corporations!

Corporations Are NOT People!

Money Is NOT Speech!

When: Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:00pm
Where: On the Capitol steps
Schedule: 12:00pm -- Rally w/ Solseed, march at 1:00 p.m.

First statewide General Assembly at 4:00 p.m.

The Information Desk: info@osoga.com
Occupy Oregon Assembly - Facebook Event

More: www.osoga.com

Rights in the Workplace

2012-01-15T11:30:00.000-08:00

Editorial - New York Times - January 14, 2012

As a condition of getting and keeping their jobs, millions of employees in the United States have signed agreements to take any disputes with their employers to arbitration rather than court. Typically, the agreements also prohibit the arbitrator from consolidating similar claims.

Why employers like the agreements should be obvious: they pre-empt court challenges on workplace disputes and make it harder for employees to join forces to demand better treatment. As for why employees sign, they have no choice: their jobs require it.

The good news is that this is not the end of the story.

Editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/rights-in-the-workplace.html?src=recg

Community/Labor Solidarity Events In Portland

2012-01-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 13th, 6pm-9pm, Occupy Portland Open House, at St. Francis, 1131 SE Oak.

Wednesday, January 18, 7pm "HOPE IN HARD TIMES" A Conversation with Two of America’s Leading Organizers Saket Soni and Kris Rondeau, UO White Stag Buiilding, 70 NW Couch St.

Thursday, January 19th, 5:30pm, “I Can Fix it: Simple Steps to End Racism” PAT Office, 345 NE 8th Avenue includes dinner, but you need to RSVP: (503) 233-5018

Thursday, January 19th, 6:30pm, Tom Dwyer Movie Night: Network, will be shown at the SEIU Local 49 Union Hall, 3536 SE 26th Ave

Tuesday, January 24th, 7pm Longtime LGBTQ and Labor Activist Cleve Jones Speaks at the Univ. of Portland, Mago Hunt Arts Center

Saturday, January 28th, 1pm-4pm, Working Families Party/ Occupy Portland Candidate's Forum, Mayor and City Council candidates at Hoffman Hall, PSU

Sunday, January 29th, 3-5pm, Community Meeting to discuss solutions to unemployment, foreclosure, and food security, sponsored by We Are Oregon, at 19255 E. Burnside, more info semirs@seiu49.org

OREP will present "Everybody Wins in a Green Economy" on Monday, Jan 30th from 5-8PM at the Earth Care Summit (Highland Christian Center, 7600 NE Glisan St., Portland) and on Feb 5th from 1:30-3PM at Hillsboro Unitarian Church (22785 NW Birch Street Hillsboro, OR)

Tuesday, February 7th, 6pm, May Day Coalition first organizing meeting, VOZ Office, 1311 SE Oak

Martin Luther King Day Events In Portland

2012-01-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 13th, 5pm-8pm, Documentary, Brother Outsider, Speaker - Mike Crenshaw, At Moriarty Hall Auditorium, PCC Cascade Campus, Co-sponsored by PCC Queer Club

Saturday, January 14th, Job Fair 11AM – 3PM at Center for Intercultural Organizing, 700 N.Killingsworth; Non Profit fair 11AM-4PM Terrell Hall Cascade Campus; Films and Speakers 11:30AM - 4PM Terrell Hall 122, Film, A Force More Powerful (2 hrs.), Film, At the River I Stand (56 mins.); 4 PM in Moriarty Hall Auditorium: Film, COINTELPRO (56 mins.), Speakers - Adam Carpinelli & Kent Ford, Film, Black Power the Mixtape (96 mins.)

Monday, January 16th, 11am-6pm, MLK Celebration at Highland Christian Center 7600 NE Glisan St.

Monday, January 16th, Noon, Sisters of the Road 19th Annual MLK Day March “No One Is Illegal”, starting at the café – 133 NW 6th

Monday, Jan. 16th, 7:30pm, OCCUPY THE DREAM ~ A Morale Booster for the OWS Movement! In Observation of Martin Luther King Jr., Alberta Rose Theater, 3000 NE Alberta St.

Wednesday, January 18th, 5pm-8pm, PCC Moriarty Hall Auditorium, Co-Sponsored by MEChA , Film , Walkout (120 mins.), Film, Black Power the Mixtape (96 mins.) Schedule subject to change. Check Facebook for updates: http://www.facebook.com/events/223581637718886/

Upcoming Solidarity Actions In Portland

2012-01-13T15:04:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Actions:

Solidarity with ILWU Local 21: the ship is coming, but we don’t know when. At the January Steering Committee meeting, we passed a motion to mobilize for Longview to stand in solidarity when asked. There may only be a day or two’s notice, so please start thinking about freeing up some time and heading to Longview! More info soon. In the meantime, there is a public organizing meeting this Saturday, January 14th, 5-7pm, at SEIU Local 503, 6401 SE Foster

Thursday, January 19th, 4pm First Student Rally, These workers have been fighting for a contract for a year and a half. At the First Student bus barn, 1625 SE Hogan Road, Gresham.

Tuesday, January 24th, Prison Major Shareholders Divestment, contact ENLACE for info (503) 295-6466

Monday, January 30th, 3pm Walk Out to Stop Layoffs in Portland! Join Laborers’ Local 483 for an afternoon of action to protect your city services and stop layoffs. Walk out and rally at 3 p.m. in front of PBOT’s Stanton Yard at 2929 N Kerby. Followed by 4pm forum at Dishman Community Center at 77 NE Knott For more details, contact organizer Erica Askin at 971-322-8747

THE LONGVIEW LONGSHORE FIGHT--Join the Caravan to Mass Labor Protest

2012-01-11T16:33:00.000-08:00

From Local 21:

DEFEND OUR UNION AND OUR JOBS!!!

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is waging a battle against union-busting. ILWU Local 21 in Longview, Washington is under attack by a giant consortium, EGT, which has built a $200 million grain terminal and is running it as a scab operation. This directly violates the port agreement with ILWU which has had jurisdiction for over 75 years. This union-busting must be stopped. It’s the fight of working people everywhere.

If EGT succeeds, other grain handlers will push for scab operations as well. That would affect the entire ILWU, as grain contracts contribute 30% to our benefits. Not only health & welfare but also our pension fund, dangerously underfunded at 64%. Breaking ILWU jurisdiction would immediately threaten our container ports.

ILWU is one of the most militant unions in the country. This is a make-or-break struggle for all organized labor.

Longview Local 21 and San Francisco Local 10, Harry Bridges’s local, are asking for your support. The struggle is coming to a head as EGT plans to bring in a ship to load the scab grain stored in their terminal in Longview. This could happen at any time, possibly in mid- to late-January. We are urging workers to join a caravan to go to Longview from your area when the ship comes in and to participate in a mass labor protest rally.

It’s your right and your duty, to your fellow union members and to yourself.

If thousands of union brothers and sisters show up, along with supporters in other unions and the Occupy movement who have aided the struggle against EGT in Longview, we can put a stop to this union-busting operation. We won’t have much advance warning. So we need to prepare to come with our workmates, friends, family, with everyone who understands that our future is at stake in Longview. Get ready to be there!

It can be done. Longshore workers have done it. Last July a thousand ILWU members and supporters

blocked a train carrying grain to the scab terminal. On September 7, 400 union supporters blocked a grain train in Vancouver, Washington, and then again in Longview. The next morning hundreds of longshore workers arrived from all the Northwest ports before dawn, and news media reported thousands of tons of grain ended up on the tracks. The ports of Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Vancouver and Portland were shut down – the workers were all in Longview. Now we need you to “meet and greet” the scab ship.

The brothers and sisters in Longview are doing their part. Under a police reign of terror Local 21 with only 225 members has 220 arrests for defending ILWU jurisdiction. They have built a large and broad support campaign with rallies and mass pickets several totaling over a thousand.

Others have contributed too. On Nov. 2, Occupy Oakland mobilized 30,000 people to shut down the port to show their “commitment to solidarity with Longshore workers in their struggles against EGT in Longview, Washington.” Local 21 President Dan Coffman speaking about Nov. 2 at Occupy Oakland said, “You can’t believe what you people did for the inspiration of my union members...” And on Dec. 12, Occupy called to shut down the coast in support of the struggle in Longview. Again shipping in the port of Oakland was shut down, along with terminals in Seattle, Portland and elsewhere.

We’re all in this together. The San Francisco and Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Councils have already declared their support. We will be signing up people who are ready to go up to Longview in a caravan when they call us. Local 21 is leading the way. Northwest locals have stepped up to the plate, as has the Occupy movement. Now it is everyone’s turn. Together we have the power! Use it or lose it. Show that working people are ready, willing and able to fight for our rights.

January 4, 2012

Act NOW to suspend HEM surcharges

2012-01-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

FROM SEIU LOCAL 503:

I’m excited to report that our representatives on the HEM Labor Management Committee have won the adoption of a recommendation that PEBB suspend all fees associated with the Health Engagement Model. Please sign the petition, which our PEBB representatives will present at the next PEBB meeting on January 17 along with a call to support the HEM Committee’s recommendations.

As you may recall, PEBB adopted the HEM and other plan design changes in the final days of our contract negotiations last year. Our bargaining team won the establishment of a joint labor management committee to evaluate HEM and make recommendations for changes. Our members of this committee –Keary DeBeck (DOJ), Sabrina Freewynn (OHA), Wednesday Martin (DHS), Lois Yoshishige (U of O), Shaun Parkman (Alternate, OHA), and Siobhan Martin (Staff) – have worked with delegates from other unions and management to develop recommendations that PEBB will consider this month and in future meetings.

To be clear, the bargaining team, the HEM committee, our PEBB representatives, and I all believe that the idea behind HEM – health promotion – is a good one. If individuals are empowered with information, provided with incentives, and supported in the workplace, most will choose health and the costs of healthcare will be more sustainable. For a health promotion program to work, we believe it should be incentive-based rather than punitive, provide sufficient assurances around privacy and security of information, and recognize that unhealthy worksites – due to bully bosses or short staffing, for example – are major drivers of health problems.

Please be sure to sign the petition calling on PEBB to suspend the HEM surcharges. Please forward this email to coworkers and ask them to sign too! We will keep you informed on the outcome of the PEBB meeting and on further developments as both PEBB and the HEM Committee evaluate HEM and consider further changes for 2013.

And speaking of health care, please support our homecare members who are fighting efforts by the Governor to take health care insurance from half the members who now have it!

Listen to this ad running on radio stations across the state
http://www.seiu503.org/files/2012/01/R1201x36-RealShame-FINAL.mp3
Then take a moment to call 503-378-4582 and tell Governor Kitzhaber NOT to deprive homecare workers of their health insurance.

In Solidarity,
Heather Conroy, Executive Director

TAVIS SMILEY OUSTED AS MLK SPEAKER: THE 2012 CAMPAIGN HAS BEGUN

2012-01-10T15:38:00.000-08:00

Of course Martin Luther King would not want a discussion of poverty on his birthday.

The following is an article from BET: Politics

Tavis Smiley is learning that criticizing President Obama can be costly in more ways than one. The PBS talk show host ruffled feathers last summer when he accused Obama of not doing enough for poor African-Americans and launched with Princeton professor Cornel West a “poverty tour” of the U.S. to highlight economic disparity. Smiley was scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the 20th annual MLK luncheon on Jan. 16 hosted by the Peoria Civic Center, but has been replaced by Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson because of his comments.

“I don’t see my role as one of criticizing the president. I see my role as one of holding the president — this and every other president — accountable,” Smiley said in an interview on Fox News on Monday. “Something is wrong with this country … that so often the political right, and I am no defender of the political right … gets accused of playing the game of political correctness. What this underscores is that those on the left, the Democrats can play that game of political correctness as well.”

According to Smiley, six out of 1500 people who bought tickets for the event complained about his appearance. The fact that they prevailed, he said, is a “quintessential example of political correctness.”

“What’s important to us is putting together a luncheon that celebrates the life and work of Dr. King,” luncheon organizer Alma Brown explained last week. “And it became evident over the last few days that people were upset about comments that Tavis Smiley had made, comments that we weren’t aware of unfortunately, so we made the decision to cancel his contract.”

Condemn Use of U.S. Military to Escort Scab Grain Ship in Longview WA

2012-01-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

San Francisco Labor Council Resolution - Adopted Jan. 9, 2012 by unanimous vote (with one abstention)

Whereas, EGT, a joint venture led by multinational grain giant Bunge, agreed to hire union Longshoremen when accepting millions in taxpayer funds to build a huge new grain exporting terminal at the Port of Longview WA, but once the terminal was built has tried to void its contract and refused to hire ILWU labor. With the use of brutal police and courts and 220 arrests in the 225 member ILWU Local 21, EGT has managed to get enough scab grain across picket lines into the new terminal that EGT appears poised to load a ship soon in violation of their agreement with the port; and

Whereas, a solidarity caravan of thousands of union members and community activists -- endorsed by ILWU Locals 10 and 21, the S.F. and Cowlitz County (Longview) labor councils and many others -- is being organized to support our brothers and sisters in Longview, for an emergency mass protest when requested to do so, to confront union-busting by Wall Street on the Waterfront; and

Whereas, according to Longshore & Shipping News, within a month, the empty grain ship will be escorted by armed U.S. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the EGT facility. The Coast Guard is an integral part of the US Armed Forces, operating under the Department of Homeland Security (except when engaged in combat operations abroad, as it did in Iraq, when it operates under the Navy); and

Whereas, this is the first known use of the US military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of management in 40 years -- not since the Great 1970 Postal Strike when President Nixon called out the Army and National Guard in an (unsuccessful) attempt to break the strike. The use of the Armed Forces against labor unions is something you expect to see in a police state. This is part of a disturbing trend where the US military, acting as enforcers for the 1%, is poised to be used against our own people, as exemplified by the new law allowing the military to imprison US citizens indefinitely without trial; and

Whereas, now the US military, which has been oppressing, bombing and threatening other nations [a military that's paid for with the workers' taxes] is now being used against us, against American working people and our unions. To quote ILWU international President McEllrath: "ILWU's labor dispute with EGT is symbolic of what is wrong in the United States today. Corporations, no matter how harmful the conduct to society, enjoy full state and federal protection while workers and the middle class get treated as criminals for trying to protect their jobs and communities."

Therefore be it Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council condemn in the strongest terms the announced use of US Armed Forces (Coast Guard) to provide an armed sea and air escort for the empty grain ship, which is due to call at the new EGT grain terminal, Port of Longview, Washington, to load scab grain for export to Asia. We condemn this use of the military as part of a union-busting campaign to lower the cost of labor on the waterfront and destroy the union;

And be it further Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council join with allies in other cities on the West Coast to participate in any press conferences and demonstrations that are organized to denounce this use of the military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of Wall Street on the Waterfront;

And be it finally Resolved, that the Council circulate this resolution to affiliated unions, Bay Area labor councils, the California Labor Federation, as well as labor bodies in Oregon and Washington, for concurrence and action, and urge labor leaders including Richard Trumka and Mary Kay Henry to take a strong stand against this brazen assault on our labor rights and civil liberties.

(resolution submitted by Dave Welsh, NALC 214; Alan Benjamin, OPEIU 3, Maria Guillen, SEIU 1021; Frank Martin del Campo, SF LCLAA; Marcus Holder, ILWU Local 10 and Robert Irminger, ILWU-IBU)

Seattle Teacher's Union Hosts Cuban 5 Art Exhibit

2012-01-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

Jan. 10, 2012

National Committee To Free The Cuban Five

Seattle Teacher's Union hosts Antonio's art exhibit
Opening reception Thurs., Jan. 12, 2012

With an opening reception this Thursday, Jan. 12, the American Federation of Teachers Local 1789 of Seattle, Washington, is hosting the beautiful exposition of paintings by Antonio Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five unjustly imprisoned more than 13 years.

The M. Rosetta Hunter Gallery, home of the exposition, is centrally located in downtown Seattle at the main campus of Seattle Community College, 1701 Broadway. The opening reception is 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Thurs. Jan. 12.

Ken Matsudaira, director and curator of the gallery, has been working diligently to prepare the exposition. He says, "We are very excited to be able to host Antonio's art to reach to the community with the powerful message of his paintings and to tell the story of the Cuban Five. We feel privileged to host his art." He has also highlighted several poems of Antonio's in the exhibit.

John Martinez, organizer of the exposition and member of the AFT Human and Civil Rights Committee, says, "It is our hope that once our faculty members, staff, students, and the public are aware of Antonio's story, as well as the others, they will seek ways to help the Cuban Five win justice."

The M.L. King Central Labor Council, representing 130 union locals and 75,000 members, sent notice of the Exposition to all delegates of the council. There has been extensive outreach to all four College Campuses. Several programs will be held at the gallery to educate the public about the Cuban Five. The local chapter of National Committee to Free the Cuban Five will provide literature at the reception and through the showing. The exposition is an important way to break through the media censorship of the Cuban Five's 13-year-long battle for freedom.

A few days before his current transfer from Florence prison to a still-unannounced location, Antonio Guerrero expressed his appreciation to director Ken Matsudaira and to John Martinez for their support of him and his brothers, as well as the care and sponsorship of his paintings.

Martinez says, "In voting to sponsor Antonio's art show, From My Altitude, the Executive board of our union draws on the union tenet that 'an Injury to One is an Injury to All.'

"The union recognized the grievous nature of the human and civil rights violations committed against the Five, and the urgency to use this art show to further educate our membership, college staff, students and the public about this situation."

If you live in the Seattle, be sure and bring your friends to see the inspiring exposition!

Help organize a public event for the Cuban Five in your area!

Whether it is a public forum with speakers and a film on the Cuban Five, or if your community can host the art exhibit of Antonio Guerrero, if you can volunteer with our committee now or intern with us for a semester if you are a student, or intern during the summer, contact us today! There is so much more to do to win the Five's freedom. Any time you can give will help.

Contact us using the email address or phone number below!

Contact us: info@freethefive.org
Or call: 415-821-6545
Web: http://www.freethefive.org
http://www.facebook.com/FreeTheFive Free the Cuban Five Now!
Allow the families' visits!
Grant entry visas to
Adriana Pérez and Olga Salanueva!

National Committee To Free The Cuban Five | 2969 Mission Street | San Francisco | CA | 94110

Rally for Freedom for Patrice Lumumba Ford on January 13!

2012-01-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 13, 2012Time11:30am until 12:30pmWhere Federal Building 1000 SW 3rd Ave (SW 3rd & Salmon)

Description: In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, come join us to demonstrate for Patrice Lumumba's Ford's release in front of the Federal Building downtown (SW 3rd and Salmon).

Patrice Lumumba Ford is a conscientious, gentle and gifted man. Raised in Portland, Oregon, he earned his BA in Languages & East African Studies at Portland State University and then did graduate work at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Nanjing. While in China, distressed by the marginalization of the Muslim minorities, he became interested in Islam and converted. He married a woman he met in China and brought her to the US, where they had one son, born in 2001. At home in Portland, Lumumba taught children at a SW Portland mosque and, as a volunteer, helped settle new refugees.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the US government squandered the immense outpouring of international solidarity by bombing Afghanistan, putting American Muslim communities under siege, and resorting to highly publicized arrests to promote its new "War on Terror."

When thousands of Afghanis fled to refugee camps in Pakistan, in Portland Lumumba reacted with alarm. In October 2001, he and five other men traveled to China, where they requested visas from the Pakistani embassy at Beijing. His visa refused, Lumumba returned to the United States, his family, and his work helping new refugees.

One year later, in October 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft went on national television announcing the synchronized arrests of "terrorists" in Portland, Detroit, Seattle, and Lackawanna, New York. The arrests conveniently coincided with the administration's political needs: they preceded by six days the Senate vote allowing President Bush to invade Iraq. The publicity machine for the war on terror needed "dangerous terrorists."

Local newspapers dubbed defendants the "Portland Seven" (one man's wife sent emails to China), and federal prosecutors threatened them with life sentences should they exercise their right to trial. Unsophisticated defendants panicked and signed plea bargains scripted by the Justice Department, in which they agreed to help prosecute other Muslims -- known or unknown to them -- whenever asked!

Lumumba, the last to plead guilty, refused to sign the clause that would further the "war on terror" by helping with random prosecutions. For that refusal, in November 2003, he was given a sentence of 18 years for conspiracy to levy war against the United States. By way of enhancing his sentence, the Bureau of Prisons has been moving him every 18-20 months to one maximum security federal prison after another, just often enough to block him from applying for reclassification to a medium-security facility and thereby be eligible to come home to Sheridan. He has been railroaded to Kansas, Southern California, Florida, Colorado, and now Louisiana.

The time has come to look at this harsh sentence with our current understanding: Lumumba was punished for a legal trip to China, made under hs own name and passport. The "Portland Seven" case was the concoction of FBI agents who have been ordered to find -- or invent -- some terrorists. In recent years, this policy has been ramped up with sting operations and false arrests across the country.

As of October 4, 2011, Lumumba had served nine years. It's time to set him free!

Oregon Jericho
The Jericho Movement for Political Prisoner Amnesty
oregon.jericho@gmail.com
oregon-jericho.org
(503)-750-0523
P.O. Box 17420
Portland, Oregon 97217

Occupy Salem Forum On NDAA

2012-01-09T14:43:00.001-08:00

Occupy Salem’s Education Committee will present a forum on the National Defense Authorization Act and its meaning for your freedom, featuring WU Law Professor Susan Smith on January 23 at 7 pm in the Paulus Lecture Hall at Willamette University’s Law School.

Wisconsin & Beyond: Challenges for Unions in the 21st Century

2012-01-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

LERC Class: Wisconsin & Beyond: Challenges for Unions in the 21st Century
February 10-11, 2012

Springfield, OR

Join us for an eight hour Leadership School class taught by Gordon Lafer* which will focus on the unprecedented attacks on unions and workers’ rights in both the public and private sector. The class will examine the past year, understand who is behind the attacks, help think about what the future may bring here in Oregon, and help strategize about what role union members can play in strengthening the position of working people within the state.

*Professor Gordon Lafer spent 2009-2010 working in the U.S. Congress in Washington, DC, and will draw on lessons from DC to help make sense of what we face here in Oregon.

Jennifer Smith
Labor Education and Research Center
University of Oregon
541-346-2782

Corporate Personhood Teach-In In Corvallis This Wednesday

2012-01-09T11:30:00.001-08:00

Please click on image to enlarge.

Pdx. City Council Testimony and Vote on Resolution to End Corporate Personhood

2012-01-09T08:59:00.000-08:00

From The Portland Alliance:

Corporate "Personhood" is dangerous: We must stand up for civil rights and civic-engagement if we hope to secure peace, justice, and freedom. Deep pocket corporations must not be allowed to purchase more "rights" than everyday people can afford. We deserve equity and economic justice. "Granting corporations the status of legal "persons" effectively rewrites the Constitution to serve corporate interests as though they were human interests. Ultimately, the doctrine of granting constitutional rights to corporations gives a thing illegitimate privilege and power that undermines our freedom and authority as citizens. While corporations are setting the agenda on issues in our Congress and courts, We the People are not; for we can never speak as loudly with our own voices as corporations can with the unlimited amplification of money."

City Council Testimony and Vote on Resolution to End Corporate Personhood
Thursday, January 12 at 2:00pm
Location: Portland City Hall

Save the Date: National Day of Action January 24th

2012-01-08T15:14:00.000-08:00

Enlace, in partnership with community groups and unions across the US, is calling on all public and private institutions to divest their holdings in Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group, America’s largest for profit prison corporations which have profited from billions in taxpayer money. Together with Wall Street investors these companies finance anti immigrant laws like AZ Copycat Laws and lobby for anti immigrant federal policies like SCOMM.

Prison investors include Wells Fargo, Bank of America, General Electric, Fidelity, Wellington, and Vanguard.

We are coordinating a National Day of Action on January 24th. Actions are being planned across the US. To host an action and get involved contact Daniel at 213-284-3802 or Daniel@enlaceintl.org

Labor For Palestine Supports Longview ILWU

2012-01-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Just as the workers of the ILWU have stood in solidarity with Palestine, we stand with the workers of the ILWU in Longview, Oakland, and everywhere in their struggle to defend workers’ power and stop union-busting.
- - - - - - - -

Labor for Palestine:
Support the Longview Caravan and stop union-busting!

Labor for Palestine expresses its strongest solidarity with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its workers in Longview, Washington. ILWU Local 21 in Longview is under attack by a major corporation, EGT, which is running a non-union grain terminal at the port, violating the port agreement with the ILWU, which has governed the port’s operations for over 75 years.

The ILWU’s response to this union-busting attempt has been militant and strong, and the center of solidarity from the ongoing Occupy/Decolonize movements. If the ILWU’s jurisdiction is broken at the Port of Longview, union rights are under threat at container ports up and down the West Coast.

The ILWU struggle in Longview has drawn the attention and solidarity of popular movements across the U.S. and internationally as a central struggle for workers’ rights, and ILWU Local 10 of the Port of Oakland has been at the center of that organizing.

Occupy Oakland, working in solidarity with the ILWU, mobilized 30,000 people on November 2, 2011 to shut down the Port of Oakland in explicit solidarity with the struggle of Longview workers and the longshore workers of Oakland, and ports up and down the West Coast were shut down or protested on December 12, 2011 by Occupy movements in Seattle, Portland, Oakland and elsewhere, again in response to the ILWU battle in Longview.

ILWU Local 10 has itself come under attack by the Pacific Maritime Association, pursued in court because of its strong action against the destruction of public workers’ rights to organize in Wisconsin, shutting down the ports of San Francisco and Oakland for 24 hours on April 4, 2011. Despite threats to itself, ILWU Local 10 has once again stood in the front lines with ILWU Local 21 and in defense of the rights of all workers.

The workers of Longview have faced massive repression; ILWU Local 21 has only 225 members, but 220 arrests for participating in protests at the port to defend their union’s jurisdiction. They have brought over 1,000 people to the Port of Longview in protest, and inspired the Occupy protest actions at the ports up and down the West Coast.

Workers on the West Coast, including ILWU Locals 10 and 21 and the San Francisco and Cowlitz-Wahkiakum County Labor Councils, have announced plans for a caravan to Longview to join the workers in protest when called to action (http://www.transportworkers.org/node/2101).

ILWU Local 10′s defense of their sisters and brothers in the Port of Longview reflects a long history of domestic and international solidarity.

West Coast dock-workers refused to handle cargo for Nazi Germany (1934) and fascist Italy (1935); refused shipping for apartheid South Africa in the San Francisco Bay Area (1984); and refused to load bombs for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (1978). ILWU workers at all twenty-nine West Coast ports held a May Day strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008.

On June 20, 2010, they respected a community picket by refusing to load an Israeli ZIM ship docked at the Port of Oakland. The picket came at the behest of calls from the Palestinian labor movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions and followed in the footsteps of multiple resolutions passed by ILWU Local 10 in support of Palestinian human and workers’ rights.

In the same spirit of solidarity, Labor for Palestine supports the call for the Longview Caravan. Just as the workers of the ILWU have stood in solidarity with Palestine, we stand with the workers of the ILWU in Longview, Oakland, and everywhere in their struggle to defend workers’ power and stop union-busting.

www.laborforpalestine.net - info@laborforpalestine.net

Four (Incomplete) Peoples' Victories

2012-01-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

We had four important peoples' victories this week. These wins are the fruits of Occupy, the militant November protests and the tremendous dissatisfaction and anger surfacing from the people. They are incomplete wins, to be sure, but they demonstrate our capacity to gain ground in the present political moment.

Victory one: the Obama administration has been forced to propose new immigration rules which will provide waivers to undocumented workers with families in the US to leave the country and return. The proposals will also cut down visa wait times for immigrants from overseas to a few weeks. This begins to approach the problems created when ICE separates families and when undocumented workers get caught up in the federal bureaucracy as they try to obtain green cards.

Victory two: the federal government is changing its definition of "forcible rape" to include males and the types of sexual assault that are counted in the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. The new definitions will force state and local law enforcement to include these wider definitions in their reporting and will give us a clearer and more consistent social understanding of rape and sexual assault. The left has been pushing for this broader understanding for decades. The task before us is to keep up the pressure to create even broader definitions, include all law enforcement agencies in reporting and make national reporting mandatory for all law enforcement agencies. Beyond that, victim's rights organizations should be included in reporting as well, penalties for rape and sexual assault should keep pace with the new understanding of rape and these new definitions should be communicated and made part of school curriculum and sex education efforts.

Victory three: The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that workers cannot be prevented by contract from filing work-related group or class-actions. This decision will help mainly non-union workers because those workers are often forced to accept employment contracts which require that they pursue claims individually through arbitration, a stacked-against-the-worker process that often leave workers broke, dependent upon lawyers and/or blacklisted. This could result in more reliance by non-union workers upon lawyers and law firms specializing in employment law, but it could also compel more workers to organize. The ruling upheld the doctrine of collective worker rights in the face of an attack by the capitalists. Business groups essentially argued that workers are contractors or free agents but the NLRB disagreed.

Victory four: the minimum wage in Oregon is now $8.80 per hour. Employers have fought every increase in the minimum wage, and they are especially strong in their opposition these days, so this increase is especially dear to us. We want a living wage, not a minimum wage, of course, but the 30-cent increase will mean a great deal to the lowest paid workers and to those union workers who will receive automatic wage increases when the minimum wage goes up. We hope that this will revive the movement for living wages.

A Movement Without Demands?

2012-01-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

The question of demands infused the initial weeks and months of Occupy Wall Street with the endless opening of desire. Nearly unbearable, the absence of demands concentrated interest, fear, expectation, and hope in the movement. What did they want? What could they want? Commentators have been nearly hysterical in their demand for demands: somebody has got to say what Occupy Wall Street wants! In part because of the excitement accumulating around the gap the movement opened up in the deadlocked US political scene—having done the impossible in creating a new political force it seemed as if the movement might even demand the impossible—many of those in and around Occupy Wall Street have also treated the absence of demands as a benefit, a strength. Commentators and protesters alike thus give the impression that the movement’s inability to agree upon demands and a shared political line is a conscious choice.

Anyone who is familiar with the internal dynamics of the movement knows that this is not the case. Even if some occupations have released lists of demands, the entire question is bitterly contested in New York, where only independent organizations such as labor unions have released their own demands. In this essay, we claim that far from being a strength, the lack of demands reflects the weak ideological core of the movement. We also claim that demands should not be approached tactically but strategically, that is, they should be grounded in a long-term view of the political goals of the movement, a view that is currently lacking. Accordingly, in the second part of this text, we argue that this strategic view should be grounded in a politics of the commons. Before addressing the politics of the commons, however, we dispel three common objections that are raised against demands during general assemblies, meetings, and conversations people have about the Occupy movement.

Read more here.

10 Years too Many: Demand Closure on Anniv of Detainees at Guantanamo in Corvallis

2012-01-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

Date: 2012-01-11

Event Time: 11:30 am

Organization: Veterans for Peace Chapter 132

Description: 10 Years too Many: Local Social Justice and Human Rights Groups Mark Anniversary of Date First Detainees Arrived at Guantanamo Bay and Demand Closure of Detention Facility

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 will mark the 10th anniversary of the arrival of the first "war on terror" detainees at Guantanamo prison. There are still more than 100 men in this facility that Obama declared in an executive order three years ago he would close within ONE year. At least 88 of these men have been cleared of any charges at all, yet they still languish in the prison. All around the world on Wednesday, January 11; including the creation of a "human chain" in Washington, D.C. between the White House and the Capitol; thousands of people will be demanding the immediate closure of Guantanamo by having Obama honor his own executive order, as well as calling for proper trials or immediate release of detainees not charged.

Here in Corvallis, Oregon we are asking citizens to join in a march from the corner of 12th and Monroe Ave beginning at 11:30am on Wednesday. Limited parking is available at FUMC church lot. We will march to the steps of the OSU Memorial Union in front of the Quad for a short rally. Joseph Orosco of the OSU Peace Studies Program will speak, as well as Claire Syrett from the ACLU. The rally is scheduled to begin at Noon. Following the rally, marchers will walk along Monroe Ave. and into downtown Corvallis. Some will wear orange prison suits with black hoods.

This event is being sponsored by a variety of local social justice and human rights groups including Oregon Peace Studies, Veterans for Peace, Active for Peace and Justice of FUMC, Alternatives to War, Linn-Benton Pacific Green Party and Fellowship of Reconciliation.

For further information, contact Valerie White, valeriejwhite@comcast.net or 541-738-8275.

THE LONGVIEW LONGSHORE FIGHT---Sid Shniad

2012-01-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

Join the Caravan to Mass Labor Protest

DEFEND OUR UNION AND OUR JOBS!!!

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is waging a battle against union-busting. ILWU Local 21 in Longview, Washington is under attack by a giant consortium, EGT, which has built a $200 million grain terminal and is running it as a scab operation. This directly violates the port agreement with ILWU which has had jurisdiction for over 75 years. This union-busting must be stopped. It's the fight of working people everywhere.

If EGT succeeds, other grain handlers will push for scab operations as well. That would affect the entire ILWU, as grain contracts contribute 30% to our benefits. Not only health & welfare but also our pension fund, dangerously underfunded at 64%. Breaking ILWU jurisdiction would immediately threaten our container ports. ILWU is one of the most militant unions in the country. This is a make-or-break struggle for all organized labor.

Longview Local 21 and San Francisco Local 10, Harry Bridges’s local, are asking for your support. The struggle is coming to a head as EGT plans to bring in a ship to load the scab grain stored in their terminal in Longview. This could happen at any time, possibly in mid- to late-January. We are urging workers to join a caravan to go to Longview from your area when the ship comes in and to participate in a mass labor protest rally. It’s your right and your duty, to your fellow union members and to yourself.

If thousands of union brothers and sisters show up, along with supporters in other unions and the Occupy movement who have aided the struggle against EGT in Longview, we can put a stop to this union-busting operation. We won’t have much advance warning. So we need to prepare to come with our workmates, friends, family, with everyone who understands that our future is at stake in Longview. Get ready to be there!

It can be done. Longshore workers have done it. Last July a thousand ILWU members and supporters blocked a train carrying grain to the scab terminal. On September 7, 400 union supporters blocked a grain train in Vancouver, Washington, and then again in Longview. The next morning hundreds of longshore workers arrived from all the Northwest ports before dawn, and news media reported thousands of tons of grain ended up on the tracks. The ports of Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Vancouver and Portland were shut down – the workers were all in Longview. Now we need you to “meet and greet” the scab ship.

The brothers and sisters in Longview are doing their part. Under a police reign of terror Local 21 with only 225 members has 220 arrests for defending ILWU jurisdiction. They have built a large and broad support campaign with rallies and mass pickets several totaling over a thousand.

Others have contributed too. On Nov. 2, Occupy Oakland mobilized 30,000 people to shut down the port to show their “commitment to solidarity with Longshore workers in their struggles against EGT in Longview, Washington.” Local 21 President Dan Coffman speaking about Nov. 2 at Occupy Oakland said, “You can’t believe what you people did for the inspiration of my union members...” And on Dec. 12, Occupy called to shut down the coast in support of the struggle in Longview. Again shipping in the port of Oakland was shut down, along with terminals in Seattle, Portland and elsewhere.

We're all in this together. The San Francisco and Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Councils have already declared their support. We will be signing up people who are ready to go up to Longview in a caravan when they call us. Local 21 is leading the way. Northwest locals have stepped up to the plate, as has the Occupy movement. Now it's everyone's turn. Together we have the power! Use it or lose it. Show that working people are ready, willing and able to fight for our rights.

January 4, 2012

The Iron Lady: The Margaret Thatcher Movie We Don't Need

2012-01-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

From The Nation:

The Iron Lady just opened in London where, let's hope, it generates some serious critique. The critical silence in the US has been astounding only made worse by the praise, not just for the film but for its subject, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played in the movie by Meryl Streep.

Newsweek's holiday double issue slapped Streep as Thatcher on its cover, hailing "The New Thatcher Era." The feature story in summary reads: "Margaret Thatcher was the infamous Iron Lady the Brits love to hate. This month's bio starring Meryl Streep proves she was right all along."

Streep's already winning awards and accolades and Oscars are probably on the way. People are saying the film's no whitewash because it shows the former Prime Minister in her dotage, fighting dementia--three decades after she came to power. Director Phyllida Lloyd has described the treatment as operatic. Streep's called it revealing. The two collaborated before on the musical Mamma Mia! The truth is, in Lloyd's hands Thatcher's iron isn't just rusty, it's melted down and depoliticized, made feminist enough to root for and ultimately sad enough for some to sniffle at. The Iron Lady is Thatcher--The ABBA Version. It's the last thing we need, ever, and especially at this point.

Go here for more.

Movie Night January 19th, Portland, Ore.

2012-01-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

The Hot Situation In Longview, Wa.: ILWU Pres. Robert McEllrath: ‘Prepare to take action when EGT vessel arrives’

2012-01-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

Messages of solidarity and donations can be sent to ILWU Local 21, 617-14th Avenue, Longview, WA 98632, Dan Coffman, President, Shelly Porter, Sec.-Treas., phone: 360.423.0950, fax: 360.423.5498, email: ilwu21@iinet.com

ILWU Pres. Robert McEllrath: ‘Prepare to take action when EGT vessel arrives’

To: All Longshore, Clerk, and Walking Boss/Foreman Locals
January 3, 2012

Brothers and Sisters:

We are currently engaged in a labor dispute with one of our employers, EGT, in the Pacific Northwest. EGT continues to refuse to return to the negotiating table with Local 21 after walking away from nearly two years of direct contract negotiations over the terms of employment for the longshore workers that EGT would be employing at its new facility in the very location on public port property that longshore workers have been performing longshore work for decades.

We believe that at some point this month a vessel will call at the EGT facility in Longview, Washington. We have been told that this vessel will be escorted by armed United States Coast Guard, including the use of small vessels and helicopters, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the EGT facility and that the facility itself will be protected by a full complement of local law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions.

The purpose of this letter is to inform and prepare the Longshore Division locals for the action that we will take when that vessel calls at EGT’s facility.

Locals need to be aware of the narrow path that we must cut through a federal labor law (the Taft-Hartley Act) that criminalizes worker solidarity, outlaws labor’s most effective tools, and protects commerce while severely restricting unions. Because Local 21’s labor dispute is with EGT, federal labor law entitles the Local to conduct picketing and other collective actions directed at EGT. Further, while the NLRB, which administers Taft-Hartley, sought and received an injunction in federal court on behalf of EGT against the ILWU and its members, the federal court denied the NLRB’s motion to ban picketing at the EGT facility in Longview, preserving our First Amendment rights to peacefully picket the company.

The NLRB is currently seeking a second injunction, this time on behalf of PMA, on the theory that any disruption of work by the ILWU on the West Coast docks at the same time that the Union is protesting EGT constitutes a violation of Taft-Hartley. However, we have no dispute with PMA or its member companies. Thus, any showing of support for Local 21 at the time that a vessel calls at the EGT facility must be measured to ensure that the West Coast ports have sufficient manpower so as not to impact cargo movement for PMA member companies. A call for a protest of EGT is not a call for a shutdown of West Coast ports and must not result in one.

In addition, be aware that officers, rank and file, and union supporters have been aggressively arrested or summoned to court by the hundreds for demonstrating against EGT. We were also falsely accused of hostage taking by a local police chief and subject to numerous other false characterizations as criminals and thugs. We are now being methodically and maliciously prosecuted for exercising our free speech rights, prosecution designed to lead to jail time, prohibition on future lawful picketing, and permanent criminal records. In essence, the company that promised good local jobs and then outsourced them is being protected by law enforcement, which means that middle class taxpayer dollars are subsidizing union busting multinational corporate giant EGT’s fight against the ILWU and Longview’s working community.

The goal of any demonstration that takes place corresponding with the arrival of a vessel will be designed to send the following message to EGT and local and federal law enforcement: EGT is threatening the stability of the local community and the Pacific Northwest grain export industry; and law enforcements’ collusion with EGT is destroying the public’s trust.

When the time comes, the International Officers and the Coast Committee will communicate with the Longshore Division locals and publicize action that supporters of the ILWU can take to advance the cause against EGT and protest government collusion to protect commerce at the expense of workers and community. We fully understand that the ILWU’s labor dispute with EGT is symbolic of what is wrong in the United States today. Corporations, no matter how harmful the conduct to society, enjoy full state and federal protection while workers and the middle class get treated as criminals for trying to protect their jobs and communities. However, please take extreme caution when dealing with supporters of non-ILWU sanctioned calls to action relative to EGT. Everything is at stake for the community of Longview and our members – including personal freedom. We welcome outside support for our efforts against EGT but must make effective use of collective power.

We will communicate with the locals as to the estimated time of the arrival of the vessel.

In Solidarity,

Robert McEllrath
International President

Cuba: Interview with Mariela Castro, director of the National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX)

2012-01-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Cuba's President Raul Castro and the late Vilma Espin, a key figure in the Cuban Revolution, Mariela Castro Espin, director of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), is a tireless campaigner for the rights of gays, lesbians and transsexuals, who have suffered discrimination for a long time. She is the initiator of important changes that concern them.

L’Humanite: For many years now you’ve been struggling for the freedom to express one’s sexual orientation and gender identity in Cuba. What is the current situation regarding these freedoms?

Mariela Castro: This is a good moment. It’s the result of several years of work. Since the creation of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) in the 1960s, the road was opened to gradually doing away with prejudices related to sexuality and gender. This work has allowed us to tackle other forms of everyday discrimination in our culture and society. It’s not easy to change the thinking of society as a whole about homophobia. But each initiative can succeed through educational work that is supported by the media, TV and radio, as part of a complex strategy. We have to reach out to everyone. This implies the existence of the political will to carry out all these changes, which will be embodied in a specific law, explicit, to deal with this problem.

You have prepared a draft for this law. Is there any progress?

One of our legislative proposals is related to the Family Code, a civil law compendium that was put forward by the FMC and was discussed widely before being approved in 1975. This code works, but for more than 15 years now we have participated, as an institution, in the struggle of the FMC to modify it so that it better upholds the rights of women, children, the handicapped and the elderly. To this end, CENESEX proposes the inclusion of a new article on freedom of sexual orientation and gender identity. We’re not talking about an obligatory code, but one that would serve to instil values within the family.

Once this code is approved [by Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power – editor’s note], it will include other elements, because many other laws are going to change as well. With the new law, transsexuals will have the right to modify their identity documents. This presupposes access to gender reassignment surgery. In 2008 we managed to establish, under the Health Ministry, a number of specialised health-care procedures needed by transsexuals, including gender reassignment. These operations are totally free and are included in the state budget. Ours is the only country to have made such procedures completely free of charge. However, it’s still the case that one’s official gender identity does not change unless one has undergone the surgical procedure. This is what the new law aims to change. It’s already drafted and only needs to be put forward for political debate.

You haven’t faced any obstacles of a political or religious nature?

The obstacles are not the prejudices of the population as a whole. In this heterogeneous society in which we live, in the churches, and even in other institutions, there are people who support us and people who don’t. There are religious leaders who agree with us and others who don’t. There is no confrontation with Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and its Ideological Department, or with its liaison who has been most attentive and respectful. We have presented our case to them and they themselves have discussed it with religious leaders who were not in agreement. There is no discomfort, concerns yes, but no unease. We’ve talked about our own concern that we don’t run ahead of people, that we don’t upset them. Only dialogue can resolve disagreements. But there are things we won’t concede, such as gender reassignment surgeries. We consider these to be a question of health care and we won’t compromise on this. They have to be done, it is a right.

We know that several churches do not approve of same-sex marriage. Before we create a category of same-sex marriage, which is not necessary [i.e. any two consenting adults should be able to marry – editor’s note], we propose a legal union that would guarantee the rights of people of the same gender. They should not be discriminated against or excluded. The aim is that they have the same rights as heterosexual couples, above all in terms of property and inheritance. Our proposal is for consensual unions: same-sex couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples. There [should be] no difference.

Adoption is another question. Even this could be considered, but I think it would come up against resistance. As our population advances in terms of gender equality, this will not be a concern. We’ve observed the progress of the legislative process in other countries, including in Europe, and they had to proceed in the same way: start with one thing and then move on to another. In our case, we’re proposing neither same-sex marriage nor adoption. We’re making progress in the acknowledgement of the rights of the population and gender rights.

Is this a struggle for emancipation in the framework of the Cuban revolutionary process?

Of course! This is the framework, the context. I have Marxist training that allows me to understand the society in which I live and how we conceive of socialism. A society in transition to socialism, such as Cuban society, must be vigilant against reproducing the pre-existing mechanisms of domination. I see this struggle for the full dignity of people as being in harmony with the process of social transformation for the emancipation of human beings that is socialism. We cannot lose sight of this idea; without it we would just continue to reproduce the same attitudes towards women, gays or immigrants.

For the first time in the history of the PCC, sexual orientation rights are mentioned in the draft document that will be presented to the party’s National Conference in January 2012. This is being discussed by the general public. We at CENESEX have made several suggestions, particularly the inclusion of the concept of gender identity and not only that of sexual orientation, because with this concept of identity people will have gender rights.

Read more here.

Will The Focus Of 2012 Be Jobs?---Scott Marshall

2012-01-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

The Candidates and the President on Job Creation
As you can see above, the GOP candidates for president aren't too different from one another - nor from the president who got us into much of this mess: George W. Bush. Will tax cuts for the rich produce more jobs? Will gutting Medicare and Social Security help the 99%? Of course not. And, though Mitt Romney may call President Obama a "job destroyer," the facts show the opposite is true - especially since Romney has a proven record of job destruction.

Unemployment Benefits: Where are We Now?
As you probably know, at the last minute Speaker Boehner caved and the two month extension of unemployment benefits, as well as the working class tax cuts, were saved. However, that means that we need to gear up for another fight on both of these issues in February. Let's start off on the right foot by letting our elected officials know that unemployment benefits are the best stimulus for the country. What else happened at the end of the year? Here's a good summary by Mark Gruenberg in the People's World of what came to pass (or fail) as 2011 came to a close.

Create Jobs - Reduce Poverty
It seems like a no-brainer, but it deserves to be stated plainly: Creating Jobs Reduces Poverty! Here are two news items from Virginia and Michigan on jobs and poverty. Both of them can only work if government is directed to take the correct action. So, once again - look at the chart above and see where jobs creation and poverty reduction fits into the GOP plan for "recovery."

Please make sure to visit the People's World online for the best in worker's news!

Occupy Oakland-Port shutdown organizers and rank and file Longshore workers speak in Portland TOMORROW!

2012-01-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

Occupy Longview (Washington) is officially putting out a call to action to block the EGT grain ship expected to arrive mid-January.

Occupies in various cities have begun to plan caravans to Longview, WA pending the arrival of the ship.

Come hear Port shutdown organizers from Occupy Oakland speak alongside rank and file Longshore workers from Oakland and Longview about the significance of the Longview struggle, and what we can do when this grain shipment arrives!

Where: SEIU Local 503, 6401 SE Foster Road, Portland, Oregon

When: Thursday, January 5th, from 7-9pm

contact info@shutdowntheport.com for more information

DemoForum Luncheon with Tom Chamberlain, Oregon AFL-CIO President

2012-01-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

Marion Dems invite you to "DemoForum Luncheon with Tom Chamberlain, Oregon AFL-CIO President"

DemoForum Luncheon with Tom Chamberlain, Oregon AFL-CIO President
Wednesday, January 11 at 12:00pm
Location: Kwan's Cuisine in Salem

GOP Candidate Contempt for Blacks Continues--Crew of 42

2012-01-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

Think: When black people (otherwise knows as 40 million Americans) have come up in GOP presidential candidate discussion during the march towards the Iowa Caucus in what context has it been in?

One of the candidates, Ron Paul, has support from white supremacists? Is Paul rushing to the mic to voice concern in any way? Should NewsOne or any other new organization, be able to compile a 'Top 1o Racist Ron Paul Friends List' with ease? Is this the same Republican party that claims to want to court minorities? Blacks are 'brainwashed,' 'not working' unless it’s 'illegal.' We’ve become so accustomed to bigotry popping up from these candidates there is little reaction. Not even the NAACP has put out a routine press release on the general topic.

Read more here.

Many workers to benefit in 2012 from new Obama rules

2012-01-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

Determined to slow down and even reverse parts of the attack on workers' rights by GOP lawmakers, the Obama administration moved under the radar over the last month to issue some of the most pro-worker rules the country has seen in 35 years.

The new rules cover union elections, hours of work and wages, among other things.

Read more here.

"Certain Basic Questions": Corruption, Migration Policy, Foreign Policy---From Cuba

2012-01-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Cuban President Raul Castro at the closing session of the Cuban National Assembly:

In the midst of the ups and downs of the global financial crisis, the Cuban economy has shown an acceptable and sustained performance; the gross domestic product grew 2.7%, less than the 3% planned, basically due to the non-execution of investments and the shortfall of certain agricultural and food industry products and construction materials.

At the same time, the gradual recovery of sugar production was initiated in 2011, the record number of foreign visitors was exceeded, internal monetary balances and a favorable dynamic in the productivity-average wage relationship have been preserved. Structurally, the economy is improving on the basis of better adjusted proportions in relation to investment, prioritizing those of a productive and infrastructure nature.

We are continuing to move forward in reestablishing the international credibility of our economy, strictly meeting financial obligations resulting from debts to principal creditors, a policy which we shall continue to strengthen in the future.

Addressing this Parliament on December 18 of last year, I stated that before the end of 2011 we would end limitations on transfers from Cuban banks to other countries, to the benefit of foreign suppliers.

Today we are in a position to confirm that we have met this commitment and, moreover, procedures directed at avoiding new retentions in the future – except in exceptional circumstances – have been put into effect.

The economic plan for next year was drawn up in line with the guidelines approved by the 6th Party Congress and is qualitatively better in terms of the reconciliation of demands between producers and clients. However, financial tensions will be maintained, obliging us to continue reducing expenditures of all kinds, as these potential savings are still one of the primary sources of income at our disposal. The gross domestic product should grow by 3.4%.

Despite a planned increase in national production of foodstuffs, including rice and beans and thus a reduction in quantities imported, as a result of high prices in relation to food imports these will rise to more than $1.7 billion. This reality eloquently demonstrates the need to make significant advances in plans to cultivate all land remaining idle or insufficiently exploited.

The state budget deficit will remain at the same level as in 2011; in other words, 3.8% of the gross domestic product, rationally assuring free services to the population in the areas of health, education, culture and sports, as well as social security, subsidized basic items for families and individuals with insufficient means for the acquisition of construction materials, among others.

Read more here.

2011-2012: Summing Up, Taking Stock---Zoltan Zidegy

2012-01-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

People across the political spectrum share one thing: they sense that we are living at a critical moment in the history of capitalism. Where the last decade of the twentieth century brought a near-universal and smug celebration of capitalism’s success, the second decade of the twenty-first century finds uncertainty, doubts, and fears in every conversation about global capitalism.

As recently as 1999, capitalism’s managers – look-alike, sound-alike politicians, media puppets, and swaggering corporate managers – enjoyed the confidence of all but obstinate skeptics and those many living on the margins.

True, the so-called “anti-globalization movement” gained traction at the end of the twentieth century, but as a scattered, unfocussed movement against capital’s excesses and not its mechanism.

Today, everything has changed. Confidence in capitalism and its institutions is at a low never seen in most of our lifetimes. While I plead guilty as much as any Marxist in finding a “crisis” at every juncture, one can construct a plausible argument for locating profound contradictions in every bourgeois institution – the economy, the political system, ideology, and culture.

Read more here.

A Call To Action From The Cowlitz-Wahkiakum (WA) Central Labor Council

2012-01-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

This letter accompanies a resolution from the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum (WA) Central Labor Council supporting the ILWU.

It is estimated, sometime in late January or early February the [scab]EGT
facility at the port of Longview will receive its first grain ship to be loaded at its berth. The name and timing of this ship will undoubtedly be kept secret until the last possible moment. It is likely there will be a few days to as little as 24 hours notice of when the ship will dock. Notification will be given via the Internet and any other relevant means of networking throughout the country. We are imploring all able working class people willing to take time out of his or her own lives, to come to Longview, Washington for a historic protest.

This is the time for workers everywhere to take a stand. Unions and the working class standard of living that have benefited from collective bargaining for so long are in danger of being extracted completely. You can see this systematically taking place over the last 30 years or longer, and especially in recent times. Unions have lost ground over this period of time due to unjust anti labor laws, corporate influence on the government, and complacency on the part of organized labor among other reasons. We recognize the danger of, and view the government attack on collective bargaining of public employees as a warning shot to labor as a whole.

Wisconsin was ground zero and the spark that awoke the sleeping giant that is labor. Workers are beginning to remember there is indeed strength in numbers, regardless of how many unjust laws are made to divide us. We have not been pacified long enough, as to give up our constitutional rights or to give up all the gains our forefathers fought and died to achieve over the last hundred years.

People inherently ask WHY? Why should I, or others come to the aid of the ILWU? Why should I care, and what does it matter if this ship gets loaded and they lose this struggle? The ILWU has a proud history of being arguably the strongest labor union in the world for over almost 80 years. The secret of this success lies in the bottom up, rank and file democratic structure. This empowers and involves every member. And the intelligence and foresight of the leaders who knew without unity on the entire west coast and unity with the working class, there was no strength. EGT is attempting to break the ILWU. EGT is operating on public port property where the ILWU have worked for decades. They are in violation of their lease agreement, which states that the ILWU is to be the workforce on port property. Longshoremen have done work in port grain elevators before the ILWU was formed in 1934. If EGT succeeds, they will have essentially broken the ILWU.

First, they will set a precedent that work on public port docks is no longer automatically Longshore Jurisdiction. Then within less than a year, when the northwest grain handlers agreement is set to be negotiated, all the other grain elevators will seek to either go non-ILWU or will seek to match the eroded standard EGT creates. Shortly thereafter in 2014, the ILWU will negotiate its master contract with the Pacific Maritime Association. If they lose, you can bet the PMA will take notice and hit hard. Most importantly to note is that grain accounts for 30% of the ILWU health and welfare package. If you lose a third of your bargaining power and your traditional jurisdiction on port property, what are you left with?

Either no ILWU, or a union that would resemble nothing like what it once was. There would be little or no collective power up and down the west coast, and no way to fight for social justice or defend the working class, just as the ILWU has done for so long, in its entrenched and strategic position at the gates of international commerce.

Longshoremen have traditionally been a rough and tough bunch, but they always make sure to educate their members on the importance of history, unity and the power of collective bargaining. People nowadays forget or have not been taught their own history, they forget what it means to cross a picket line, and become a scab the rest of their life. For 30 years or more we have been sliding downhill, while some would argue unions have outlived their time. The reality is unions are the last defense when the imperfect system of checks and balances within our government fails to serve the interests of the workers.

The class struggle never really goes away. Right now the rich and the ruling class are attempting to deal a blow that labor might never recover from. The ILWU has always been the vanguard of labor everywhere. Today, the ILWU’s value of “An Injury To One, Is An Injury To All,” couldn’t be any more pertinent for all organizations. So please, if you believe in a better future for the 99% of us that work for a living, do what you can to support ILWU Local 21.

“The most important word in the language of the working class is solidarity”–Harry Bridges

In Solidarity,

Kyle Mackey, Secretary/Treasurer Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council

ILWU Local 21 Member

Meet Occupy Wall Street's Favorite Banker

2012-01-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

By Ryan Holeywell
SolidarityEconomy.net via Governing Magazine

Jan 4, 2012 - Try to find a bank president that’s beloved by supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It’s not impossible. You’ll just have to travel to North Dakota.

Meet Eric Hardmeyer, who bears the unlikely distinction of being perhaps the only banker in America who, in addition to being embraced by Wall Street protesters, has been exalted by the likes of Michael Moore, Mother Jones magazine, and the Progressive States Network, among other progressive stalwarts.

That’s because Hardmeyer heads the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the country’s only publicly-owned state bank. The institution, located ironically enough in a solidly red state, has become the darling of progressives who have become frustrated with corporate banks they say helped cause the financial crisis and resulting credit crunch.

Now, state lawmakers nationwide are pushing for the North Dakota model to be replicated in their home states. Since 2010, state lawmakers in at least 16 states have introduced bills to create a state bank, something similar, or study the issue, according to a study by the National Conference of State Legislatures. So far, momentum is slow. The movement has yet to produce another Bank of North Dakota, but advocates are hoping to raise the issue again in 2012 legislative sessions. Their pitch: publicly-owned banks can help create jobs, generate revenue for the state, strengthen small banks, and lower the cost of borrowing for local governments by offering loans below market rate.

Hardmeyer, who was named bank president in 2001, hasn’t always been such a well-known figure. But his profile has been raised over the last year – including in Bloomberg BusinessWeek -- and now he regularly fields calls from state lawmakers and other officials inquiring about his institution. “There hasn’t been a big push anywhere that I’m aware of until recently,” said Hardmeyer in a late December interview with Governing. “They’re interested in how it works, why it works, [and] what the roadblocks are.”

The bank was formed in 1919 with $2 million in bonds as a response to farmers who found they couldn’t get credit from out-of-state banks in Chicago, Minneapolis and New York. Today, the bank helps implement state economic development programs, lends money to businesses, serves as the depository of state funds and also functions as a "banker's bank" that performs tasks like check clearing for smaller institutions.

Much of the renewed interest in the bank stems from the same frustration driving the Occupy Wall Street movement, and Hardmeyer’s institution has come to represent something of an anti-bank. After all, advocates argue, the best way for taxpayers to occupy a bank is to own it. Instead of being bailed out by the government, Bank of North Dakota actually pays dividends to the state that shore up its coffers. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that since 1945, it has sent $555 million to the state general fund.

Instead of tightening up lending in response to the recession, BND actively tries to facilitate loans that traditional banks shy away from. “With this institution [and] its mission, it comes with a higher degree risk than what a traditional bank might be willing to tolerate,” Hardmeyer said.

When floods destroyed affordable housing in Minot, N.D. last year, the bank developed programs to help finance rebuilding. And as the western half of the state struggles with strained infrastructure in the wake of an oil boom, BND programs are helping to ensure capital is flowing to fund much-needed projects.

Yet BND doesn’t operate as a charity, and its finances are remarkably strong. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that it earned a profit of $62 million in 2010 – the seventh consecutive year it turned a record profit –and it has profited every year since at least 1971. Standard & Poor’s just increased BND's credit rating. The returns on its assets have consistently been larger than those of similarly-sized private banks, and a smaller portion of its loans have gone delinquent, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The bank has likely benefited more successful lending, lower costs and its tax-exempt status.

Yet most North Dakotans interaction with the bank is minimal. The institution operates from a single location in Bismarck, doesn't have ATMs, and doesn’t generally serve as a consumer bank. It lacks federal oversight, its loans aren’t insured by the FDIC, and its staff members are considered state government employees.

What it does do is partner with smaller, local banks throughout the state on various loan programs. In a typical transaction, a smaller bank would originate a loan, and BND could guarantee part of it or buy down the interest rate. The effect is that a business loan that might otherwise not have been made – or that might have only happened at a high interest rate -- can suddenly be offered at a reasonable price, prompting business growth and job creation.

The main intent is for the bank to serve as an economic development tool, said Hardmeyer. It works closely with the state’s commerce department, economic development corporations, and the legislature to develop programs that serve the mission. It’s overseen by a triumvirate of state officials that include the governor, the attorney general, and the agriculture commissioner, while the legislature sets its budget.

Many BND fans see North Dakota’s economy, currently enjoying a best-in-the-country jobless rate of just 3.4 percent and believe a similar publicly-owned bank could help fix financial problems elsewhere. But Hardmeyer himself downplays that optimism, pointing out that although his bank plays an important role in the state economy, North Dakota's boom likely has more to do with the energy sector. The Fed concurs: “With the possible exception of the Great Depression, BND’s contributions to stabilizing the state economy and finances appear to have been relatively minor.”

Still, advocates remain undeterred in their desire for public banks. “I’d much rather have my risk be put in a public institution than trust these bankers in Wall Street, who have proven themselves untrustworthy,” said Marc Armstrong, executive director of the Public Banking Institute, one of the issue's leading champions.

But there are serious challenges to the creation of a new state bank. One is the initial cost of capitalizing one. Another is the opposition from existing banks. The president of the community banks' trade association calls the model “socialistic.”

“Why don’t we just relabel the state capitols the Kremlin?” Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, told Bloomberg BusinessWeek. (Ironically, the Fed wrote that BND may actually be strengthening the role of community banks in North Dakota and limiting the presence of the big banks that they often struggle to compete with).

Meanwhile, the big banks would inevitably fight the measure, since they don't want to lose out on the opportunity to serve as the depository for state funds. “They’re the biggest lobby every in the history of mankind,” Armstrong said. In a conference call with activists last year, North Dakota State Sen. Tim Mathern said that if the bank didn’t exist, the state likely wouldn’t be able to create one in today’s political climate.

And there are some potential downsides to a state-owned bank. One of the greatest concerns is that a state official could somehow become involved in making lending decisions. That doesn’t happen in North Dakota, Hardmeyer insists, stressing the bank’s independence and the business-first mentality of its bankers.

Critics also say that public banks created today could disrupt the economy, since public funds would likely be withdrawn from existing commercial banks. And they cite the ever-present risk to state taxpayers of guaranteeing the deposits.

It's no surprise that several public banking efforts have stalled relatively quickly.

A Massachusetts commission that generated significant attention recommended against a state bank in August, citing the start-up costs, risks, and existing network of quasi-public lenders. And last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation calling for a study to consider the viability of a state bank.

Yet backers of public banks remain optimistic. They argue that the concept is so different from the existing idea of banking that they it will likely take several legislative sessions for the movement to gain steam.

BLACK AGENDA REPORT ASKS QUESTIONS ABOUT BLACK SUPPORT FOR OBAMA

2012-01-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

Glen Ford, Editor of "Black Agenda Report" asks us all questions to think about in 2012

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What if the First Black President eviscerated the rule of law, legalizing assassination and detention of U.S. citizens without trial? Would he still be considered a “credit to his race?” His supporters may convince themselves they are safe in Obama’s hands, but he has also “given President Gingrich or President Romney or President Palin those powers – the same powers Egyptian generals have used to imprison thousands of protesters in military jails.”

Is There a Limit to Black Tolerance of Obama's Police State, Assassinations and Wars

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“With preventive detention the law of the land and political assassination official U.S. policy, Obama is poised to enter the realm of the unthinkable.”

In my political circles, we used to go through the rhetorical exercise of asking each other, What does President Obama have to do to irretrievably alienate his core of supporters? What horrific atrocity would Obama have to commit, that would cause him to lose his solid Black base?

The problem with this little game of What If, was that Obama kept upping the ante, with one outrage after another, each more nightmarish than the last. What if he put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block? Obama promptly did that, two weeks before taking the oath of office. So we had to pick another hypothetical Obama act that might constitute a deal-breaker with Black America. How about: What if the First Black President launched an all out military attack on Africa? Seven months ago he did just that, in Libya, following up with a huge intensification of the cruelest war in the world, against Somalia, and the assignment of U.S. Special Forces to central Africa.

It was becoming evident that there was no line of civilized behavior that Obama would not cross in service of corporate empire at home and abroad. And yet, his core supporters had still not reached their limits of tolerance for the man in whom they had invested so much hope in 2008.

Now, with preventive detention the law of the land and political assassination official U.S. policy, Obama is poised to enter the realm of the unthinkable – a future of pure horror in which there is no rule of law. When a president can lock up or kill whomever he chooses, without formal charge or trial, the rule of law ceases to exist. The finality of that verdict is not mitigated by the fact that George Bush also believed, as does Obama, that U.S. law already implicitly gave presidents the power to indefinitely detain. It is now codified – a law that negates the rule of law.

“It was becoming evident that there was no line of civilized behavior that Obama would not cross in service of corporate empire at home and abroad.”

Obama’s guiding hand finessed the legislation through Congress, anointing this president and those who come after with the power to lock up American citizens for life without trial, or even being charged. Obama has given President Gingrich or President Romney or President Palin those powers – the same powers Egyptian generals have used to imprison thousands of protesters in military jails. Obama expresses sympathy for an Arab Spring while presiding over a dark American winter. This is his historical contribution: the evisceration of the Constitution as we had previously understood it, a far deeper mark on the historical record than breaking the White House color bar.

If there is any constituency for preservation of the rule of law, it must be Black America, a people whose lives on this continent began in the perpetual incarceration of slavery and who today comprise one out of every eight prison inmates on the planet, and whose political prisoners from a previous generation of struggle still languish behind bars. Is Black love of the idea of a Black president so perverse, that it would tolerate – or even celebrate! – a man who gives himself and his successors the power to imprison and kill at will?

Enough of this nonsense about greater and lesser evils. When it comes to murdering the Constitution, Barack Obama is a champion evil-doer.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

"Sisters Of The Road's 19th Martin Luther King Jr Day March & Rally"

2012-01-01T10:08:00.000-08:00

March for Martin... We, the 99% must stand up, speak out, and insist on Justice. ""I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." ""I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." ""Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals." ""He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." ""We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." ""Our nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power." ""We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear." ""In this Revolution no plans have been written for retreat." ""Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." "

Monday, January 16 at 11:30am

Location: Sisters Of The Road

Bring the War Dollars Home

2011-12-31T21:46:00.000-08:00

December 29, 2011

by Betsy Crites

The withdrawal from Iraq is to be celebrated like a migraine that finally subsides. It is what the majority of Americans have long asked for through pollsters and by their election of a president who promised to get us out. It is what peace advocates have marched and lobbied for since before the invasion began. So, yes, it’s wonderful to have those troops come home.

Military Personnel Finally Home

The sacrifices of our military personnel are to be applauded; they gave their all when asked to serve. Yet, out of respect for them and future vets, we must be honest with ourselves. This was not a “good war.”

Article: http://peaceworker.dreamhosters.com/2011/12/bring-the-war-dollars-home/

Occupy Wall Street Trims Beaks of Congo’s ‘Debt Vultures’

2011-12-31T21:42:00.000-08:00

December 27, 2011

by Greg Palast

[ED note -This article is the subject of a legal complaint from Peter Grossman.]

This past Sunday, a deputation from Occupy Wall Street crossed the bridge from Manhattan and brought its protest to the Brooklyn residence of one of New York’s “vultures” This type of vulture doesn’t roost in a tree, but in a swish brownstone.
Vulture Preys on the Congo

A “vulture” is a financial speculator who, as we recently reported, gets his hands on debts owed by desperately poor nations. The Brooklyn “vulture” targeted by OWS and Friends of the Congo is Peter Grossman. Two weeks ago, the Guardian exposed him as a financier who is demanding the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the world’s poorest nation, pay $100m to the hedge fund he manages, FG Hemisphere.

Article: http://peaceworker.dreamhosters.com/2011/12/occupy-wall-street-trims-beaks-of-congos-debt-vultures/

Thomas Frank: How the Right Wing Hijacked Rage Over the Economic Collapse and Swindled America

2011-12-31T21:36:00.000-08:00

By Jefferson Morley, Salon
Posted on December 28, 2011, Printed on December 31, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/153593/thomas_frank%3A_how_the_right_wing_hijacked_rage_over_the_economic_collapse_and_swindled_america

In his new book, “Pity the Billionaire,” Tom Frank turns his mordant eye on the unlikeliest political development of the Obama presidency: how the crash of 2008 served to strengthen the political right. The deregulation of Wall Street, championed for 30 years by right-wing leaders, had led to an economic catastrophe so frightening that the country elected a liberal Democrat to the presidency.

Yet two years later, the most conservative faction of the Republican Party, the Tea Party, had taken effective control of the House of Representatives, the regulation of Wall Street had stalled, and the champions of economic deregulation in Washington had emerged stronger than ever.

Frank, author of the bestselling book “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” provides a pithy and nuanced explanation of what he calls the “hard-times swindle.” He spoke with Salon from his father’s home in Kansas City, Mo.

Early in the book, you describe the moment in the spring of 2009 when free-market economics had been so thoroughly discredited that Newsweek could run a cover story proclaiming, “We’re all socialists now.” What happened? Why did that moment dissipate?

Article: http://www.alternet.org/story/153593/thomas_frank%3A_how_the_right_wing_hijacked_rage_over_the_economic_collapse_and_swindled_america

San Francisco Becomes First in Nation with $10 Minimum Wage (and the Sky Isn't Going to Fall)

2011-12-31T21:30:00.000-08:00

By John Schmitt, AlterNet

Posted on December 30, 2011, Printed on December 31, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/153620/san_francisco_becomes_first_in_nation_with_%2410_minimum_wage_%28and_the_sky_isn%27t_going_to_fall%29

View from the register, working at $7.35/hr in Ohio January

2009. Photo by Lucy Longtale

On January 1, the minimum wage in San Francisco will cross the psychological threshold of $10 an hour. An automatic cost-of-living adjustment built into city law will raise the wage floor 3.2 percent, from its current $9.92 to $10.24. Predictably, employers have been warning that the increase will cost jobs. In fact, a great deal of economic evidence suggests otherwise.

Last March, my CEPR colleague, David Rosnick, and I finished a detailed study of the employment impact of the first three years of the San Francisco minimum wage. Back in early 2004, San Francisco established a city-wide minimum wage of $8.50 --25 percent higher than the $6.75 California state minimum wage at the time and 65 percent higher than the prevailing federal minimum of $5.15.

Article:

http://www.alternet.org/story/153620/san_francisco_becomes_first_in_nation_with_%2410_minimum_wage_%28and_the_sky_isn%27t_going_to_fall%29

Statement of UE National Officers on the Occupy Wall Street Movement

2011-12-30T13:21:00.000-08:00

This Union supports Occupy:

UE - the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America - stands in solidarity with the "Occupy Wall Street" movement and the marches, protests, assemblies and occupations it has sparked across the country. In the past few weeks members of UE have joined in many of those actions, in cities including Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago, Davenport and Iowa City, Iowa; Charlotte, Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina; Burlington, Vermont; Charleston, West Virginia; and Los Angeles, California.

Three years ago - as the very moment when the reckless, unrestrained greed of Wall Street bankers and speculators was dragging the economy into a deep crisis - a bold action by 240 UE members at a small factory in Chicago captured the country's attention and gave voice to the anger of millions. The members of UE Local 1110 occupied Republic Windows and Doors to protest its sudden closing, and refused to leave until the company and Bank of America agreed to pay them the wages and benefits they were owed. Addressing themselves to the bank, which was largely responsible for the plant closing, the Republic workers and their supporters shouted, "You got bailed out, we got sold out!"

That chant, and the six-day plant occupation from which it arose, are now echoed in the Occupy Wall Street movement. The protestors, predominantly young, have revived the tactic of occupation which, in the form of sit-down strikes, was central to the growth of a militant U.S. labor movement in the 1930s. The factory occupations of the '30s not only brought millions of workers into unions. They also helped enact some of the most important economic and social reforms of the 20th century, and placed much-needed restrictions on the unbridled Wall Street greed that had caused the great stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.

Read more here.

ABOUT FACE - Military Resisters Turn Against War

2011-12-29T08:31:00.000-08:00

Date: 2012-02-02
Event Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Organization: Alliance for Democracy - Portland
More Info: http://www.afd-pdx.org

Description: Courage to Resist director Jeff Paterson and special guests will speak on release of new book, "About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against war.". In addition, they will discuss the Bradley Manning Support Campaign, included a report from the December pretrial hearing.
This book documents the resistance of American heroes--resistance to illegal wars, to immoral wars, and to government secrecy, that threaten the very foundation of our democracy. A must-read for every American"
- Marjorie Cohn, co-author, Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent.

$5-15 Donation requested but no one turned away

More information: David e. Delk, 503.232.5495, davidafd@ymail.com

Occupy the Courts

2011-12-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

Date: 2012-01-20
Event Time: 11:30 am - 2:00 pm
Organization: Alliance for Democracy - Portland
More Info: http://www.movtoamendpdx.org

Description: Occupy the Courts will be a one-day occupation of Federal Courthouses across the country (75 as of Dec. 28) including the US Supreme Court in Wash DC. Together we will lead the charge on the judiciary that created, and continues to expand corporate personhood rights.

Corporations Are Not People! Money is Not Speech!

Start gathering at 11:30.
Rally starts at 12 Noon
Rally is followed by march around the Pioneer Courthouse. While this is not official Federal courthouse, it is where the District Court judges have their offices as well as where some federal hearings and cases are heard.

More info: David Delk 503.232.5495, davidafd@ymail.com

Corporations Are Not People, Why They Have More Rights Than You Do

2011-12-29T08:27:00.000-08:00

Date: 2012-02-11
Event Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Organization: Alliance for Democracy - Portland
More Info: http://www.afd-pdx.org

Description: Jeffrey Clements reveals the far-reaching effects of this strange and destructive idea of corporate personhood, which flies in the face of not only all common sense but most of American legal history as well. Most importantly, he offers solutions - including a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United - and tools to help readers join a grassroots drive to implement them. Ending corporate control of our Constitution and government is not about a triumph of one political ideology over another - it's about restoring the republican principles of American democracy.

Jeffrey Clements is a co-founder of Free Speech for People, a national, nonpartisan campaign to Citizens United and pass the People's Rights Amendment. He has represented and advocated for people, businesses, and the public interest since 1988.
================================================
"A brilliant contribution to the literature on the crime of corporate personhood - and what we can do about it"
- Thom Hartmann, bestselling author of Unequal Protection and Rebooting the American Dream and host of the Thom Hartmann Program
================================================
$5-15 Donation requested but no one turned away
More information: David e. Delk, 503.232.5495, davidafd@ymail.com

EVA ATTACKS HOLLYWOOD AND DEFENDS STEIG LARSSON'S "GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO"

2011-12-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

If you have been under a rock (or otherwise engaged) during the last five years you might have missed the exploding popularity of Swedish activist Steig Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy". And in particular the anti hero Lisbeth Salander.

The back story is almost as compelling as the stories themselves. Steig Larsson was a lifelong socialist, feminist and crusader against the rise of the neo-nazi movement in Sweden. He wrote a series of three novels which focus on the issues that were important to him. They are semi-autobiographical. Before they were published he died of a heart attack. Because he was not married to his life partner Eva Gabrielsson and there was no will, his estranged father and brother have inherited his intellectual property rights.

About three years ago there were three films made in Sweden based on the trilogy. Much to Eva's surprise within a year of the Swedish films distribution in the U.S. there was an announcement that Hollywood had purchased the rights to "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." She was understandably concerned and has always maintained that she has no interest in the money but only the integrity of Steig's intellectual property.

When I heard that the Hollywood director David Fincher said he was "toning down" Lisbeth Salander's character I was not surprised. And I hoped we would hear from Eva soon. This week as the Hollywood film opens, she came forward and stated emphatically that Steig Larsson would never have approved of merchandise being linked to the film. She insisted that he would have used the buzz around his work to call attention to violence and discrimination against women. "We would never have sold any rights for merchandising. This has nothing to do with the books." The clothing label H and M has released a Dragon Tattoo Collection which they claim was inspired by the character Lisbeth Salander. Undoubtedly this would be the "toned down" Salander David Fincher was talking about.

Gabrielsson expressed concern that the political dimensions of Larsson's books, including the feminist hero will be overlooked. She states that Larsson wanted to show that gender imbalances exist, even in Sweden which has one of the world's most egalitarian societies. "The oppression of women is everywhere".

She was particularly enraged when the American actress Rooney Mara, who has the coveted role of Lisbeth Salander, spoke at a press conference last month. She stated that Salander is not a feminist and doesn't see herself as part of any group or subculture. I imagine the subculture comment is Hollywood code for "gee, she is a bisexual but not really". Eva is Swedish so maybe she is not used to Hollywood cleansing promotion of any possible controversy. Her outrage is clear. "Does she know what film she is in? Has she even read the books? Has she not had any coaching? Yes, Lisbeth is part of a movement. Her entire being represents resistance, an active resistance to whatever prevents women from advancing in this world and in worst case scenarios are abused like she was."

Gabrielsson also believes the feminist theme has been lost with the creation of the English title. "It sounds like a children's book". The Swedish title is "Man Som Hatar Kvinnor" - Men Who Hate Women. "That is the basic theme of these books".

We know Hollywood can do the violence and suspense part of these novels. But reading the books and renting the Swedish films will probably get you closer to Steig Larsson's original intent.

World Federation of Trade Unions 16th World Trade Union Congress

2011-12-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

Six reasons to oppose Keystone pipeline

2011-12-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

by: Sam Webb

There are many reasons to oppose the building of an oil pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to the refineries off the shores of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.

One: The employment impact of this Keystone XL pipeline will be far less than advertised. The GOP leadership says the pipeline "would create over 100,000 jobs," but this is a gross inflation. According to the State Department, it will provide about 6,000 temporary jobs for construction workers. But even this number may be a significant overestimation. As for permanent jobs, the number will be far fewer, somewhere in the hundreds, according to TransCanada Corp., the company that will build the pipeline if it is approved.

Two: Meanwhile the project will put at risk a quarter million ranches and farms that provide real jobs in the Great Plains states.

Three: The environmental impact of the pipeline is potentially huge. It will cross more than 2,000 waterways, including the Yellowstone River in Montana, threatening rivers, lakes and streams with the same kind of pipeline accidents that have occurred elsewhere.

Four: Alberta's tar sands produce bitumen, a low-grade crude oil, through a very dirty process that is destroying Canada's boreal forest. In doing so it is putting at risk woodlands, watersheds, animals, plants, and an entire way of life for native peoples living there. The current mining moonscape is the size of Chicago, but pales in comparison with the future size of the mining operation if the pipeline is built.

Five: Oil from the tar sands won't reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil as claimed. Most of the oil will be refined and then exported to other countries.

Six: The extraction of oil from the tar sands produces three to four times more pollution than is caused by the conventional production of North American crude oil. This is not to defend the latter (we need energy alternatives to the burning of fossil fuels), but only to give some sense of the scale of the emissions of carbon into the atmosphere from the mining of tar sands.

Read more here.

Schools in Crisis: An Our Oregon Mini-Documentary

2011-12-20T18:52:00.000-08:00

Homelessness and Education from Our Oregon on Vimeo.

Portland City Council Hearing on Overnight Sleeping in Vehicles

2011-12-20T16:32:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow, December 21 at 9:00am
Location: City Hall SW 4th and Madison

"Where the 99% Kicked Out the 1 Percent"

2011-12-20T14:45:00.000-08:00

Written by Bill Preston

From the remarks of Bill Preston, President AFGE Local 17, at a November 18 panel sponsored by U.S. Labor for Friendship with Cuba and the Metro DC Coalition to Free the Cuban Five.

Cuba is a country where the 99% actually took over and kicked the 1% out of power.

While we in the imperialist countries learn about current developments in Cuba's socialist economy, we cannot forget the internationalist duties of those of us who reside in the land of U.S. imperialism:

We cannot "forget even for one moment," Lenin argued, that "our" imperialists stand for the exploitation, oppression, and annexation of the nations and peoples who form the greatest masses of humanity, in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

For someone who lives in the U.S. who thinks they support socialism to fail to do this—to forget U.S. imperialism's historical and ongoing rapacious desires to exploit, oppress, and, yes, to annex Cuba—makes that U.S. person, as Lenin would put it, "an abettor of imperialism in practice."

In Lenin's time the struggle for the right of self-determination within the ranks of the Second International centered mainly on the advocacy and fight for freedom of secession for oppressed countries. "Without this," wrote Lenin, "there can be no internationalism." ("The Discussion on Self-Determination Summed Up," 1916.)

Today the struggle for the right of self-determination includes the right of socialist countries, like Cuba, where the working class is the ruling class, to independent development free from imperialism.

Read more here.

IRAQ'S FEDERATION OF WORKER'S COUNCILS AND UNIONS SPEAK

2011-12-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

Now That You Have Destroyed Our Country, Withdrawing Is Not Enough
To the American President Barak Obama
Nine years ago your military invaded Iraq claiming two justifications: the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the goal of spreading democracy. The first pretext was proved absolutely false, which even former-president George Bush has admitted. This was shameful. But in the name of spreading democracy, what Iraqis have witnessed instead it that the US spreads killing, looting, sectarian strife, militias, and terrorism. You imposed reactionary ideas, especially about women, so that sexual trafficking and prostitution are now increasing here. Our schools and universities have been destroyed and education has deteriorated. The US authorities you put in power over us, and later the government the US imposed upon us through the elections you administered have devastated our communities’ resources.

During the US occupation, Iraq experienced levels of crime and political chaos never before witnessed here, even during the conquest of Baghdad by the Mongol ruler, Hulagu Khan. Civilized life declined. The gains of decades of struggle to improve life in Iraq were wiped out. Evidence of centuries of historical development in Iraq, the achievements of the great Babylonians and the ruins of Sumer and Akkad were thoughtlessly destroyed as you turned them into army barracks. Your soldiers dug up the ground around the ruins, destroying even the clay tablets on which human beings first wrote letters thousands of years ago.

Not satisfied with merely destroying Iraq, the occupation forces created political structures that planted seeds of hate and enmity, and opposed all that was modern, advanced and striving for freedom. These new political structures created conflicts and renewed old disputes, throwing our society into a vortex of violence and corruption, destroying what had been a modern, urban culture.

Your withdrawal now – which we still do not trust to be total or final – will not solve the problems that our society faces. It will not end the crisis that the US created. We will need many long years to forget the painful memories and suffering of being victims of occupation. We will need decades to restore what you have destroyed and decades to save our future generations. You have left behind an environment polluted by radiation and soil poisoned with chemicals. Our children and our elders are dying from diseases caused by your weapons and destruction. They cry out for treatment, but there is no cure for their suffering. Many hope for death just to end their pain.

You have spent hundreds of billions of dollars that you collected in taxes from Americans who rejected war. Your country now suffers high unemployment. You forced your nation’s youth to kill innocent people under the pretext of fighting terrorism, while your own citizens opposed war and rejected your war policies. American workers declared their opposition to war with Iraq before the invasion. They joined anti-war groups and waged campaigns to stop the war. Your leaders may boast of victory but after withdrawal they will leave behind sorrows that don’t end. How can you withdraw without acknowledging the crimes that you have committed?

You owe the Iraqi people compensation. You must be responsible for the suffering of the innocent victims of your war. The people of Iraq retain the right to make these demands, even if your agreement with the Iraqi government does not mention our right.

Our voices are the voices of millions of Iraqi workers, the voices of the masses in our country. We are expressing our outrage over what is happening. At the same time our voices reflect the wishes of billions of people throughout the world – especially the American public who called for freedom from fighting wars and who asked to live in peace with other peoples. The thousands of people who are on Wall Street in the name of the “Occupy Movement” share this message of peace not war, a message that rejects humans abusing one another. Instead, we call for equality and an end to injustice – a call being heard throughout the world. We stand together with our colleagues in the Occupy Movement against the US war policies and the capitalist system that promotes them.

Fallah Alwan
President of the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq

__________________________________________

"Making Decisions the Ojibwe Way"

2011-12-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

The Occupy Salem Education Committee presents a video screening and discussion

What can Native American culture teach us about making crucial decisions? How can we know if our decisions are correct?

Calvin Hecocta, a wisdom keeper of the Klamath tribe, will share some reflections. Barbara Ray will screen the video "Making Decisions the Ojibwe Way" and Chuck Wynns will facilitate the discussion.

Wednesday, January 4, 7 p.m. at the Oregon PeaceWorks office, 104 Commercial St. NE, Salem, OR.

South Sudan: Africa's newest communist party

2011-12-19T11:21:00.001-08:00

By Kerryn Williams

December 16, 2011 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- Africa’s newest communist party has been born with the formation of the South Sudan Communist Party. On June 28, the SSCP was formally launched at a press conference in Khartoum. On July 9, the Republic of South Sudan officially came into being after seceding from Sudan.

The new party was established by the former section of the Sudanese Communist Party in the south, and also involves returning southern SCP members who fled to the north of Sudan during the civil war.

The party includes former SCP members who joined and were active at all levels in the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), now the ruling party of South Sudan.

Preparation for the new party began after the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, which ended the three-decade-long north-south civil war and paved the way for the January 2011 referendum on independence.

Long road to independence

The new South Sudan state faces enormous challenges after a long and difficult road to winning independence.

While the most recent phase of the war in the south, from 1983-2005, caused the death of some 2 million people, the conflict and the suffering of the people of South Sudan long predates this.

Under British colonial rule, divisions were perpetuated between the mostly Muslim, Arabic-speaking north Sudanese and the southerners, who spoke local languages and practised traditional indigenous religions.

Development, education and administration were all focused on the north, while the south was kept underdeveloped and isolated from its northern neighbours. Education in the south was left to the Christian missionaries.

In the late 1940s, prior to granting Sudan’s independence in 1956, the British colonial rulers began to impose Islam and the Arabic language on the south. After independence, power was handed to a narrow elite in Khartoum, which furthered the policy of “Arabisation” of the south. This was the basis for a two-decade-long civil war that killed half a million people.

In 1972 the war ended when the Jafaar Nimeiri regime granted limited autonomy to the south. However the government continued to deny southerners resources, development and political power.

In the early 1980s autonomy was revoked and Nimeiri subjected the south to a harsh form of Islamic sharia law. A rebellion of southern soldiers -- led by John Garang, who went on to form the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement/Army -- sparked the renewal of the civil war. This second phase lasted until the CPA was signed in 2005.

The 2 million deaths caused by this war included hundreds of thousands of victims of war-induced famine. The coalition government led by Sadiq Al Mahdi -- which came to power in 1985 after a mass popular uprising overthrew the Nimeiri dictatorship -- consciously blocked food aid to the south, as the army conducted a brutal campaign that displaced the overwhelming majority of the population.

After Al Mahdi was forced to open negotiations with the SPLM/A in 1989, the right-wing Islamic forces, who opposed any peaceful settlement of the conflict, launched a coup. In June of that year the National Islamic Front seized power and installed current Sudanese President Omer Al Bashir.

Visions for the south

From its formation, the SPLM/A campaigned for southern autonomy within a united, democratic and secular Sudan, which was the vision of the party’s founder John Garang.

However the SPLM/A leadership later shifted to support the secession of South Sudan.

There was a major setback to the struggle in the period following the CPA when John Garang, who became Sudan’s First Vice President after the CPA was signed, was killed in a helicopter crash in July 2005. Street battles erupted in Khartoum as southern youths accused the government of murdering Garang, and right-wing Islamic thugs conducted violent retribution.

After Khartoum failed to implement most of what it agreed to in the CPA, few people in southern Sudan retained any hope of achieving liberation while remaining within greater Sudan.

The referendum result was a near-unanimous endorsement of independence and from the towns to the villages across the south, there were euphoric celebrations in the streets.

Sudanese Communist Party

The Sudanese Communist Party, which was formed in 1946, has had extensive involvement in the struggle for justice and democratic rights in the south. One of the founders of the southern democratic movement, Joseph Garang, was a leader of the SCP. He was executed by the Nimeiri regime in the 1970s.

The SCP was a key force in the National Democratic Alliance, a coalition of northern opposition parties that worked in collaboration with the SPLM/A.

Up until the separation of South Sudan, the SCP continued to campaign for a united, secular, democratic Sudan, where the rights of all peoples were respected and resources and development were accorded equally across the vast territory.

However once it became clear that the people of South Sudan desired independence as the only viable means to escape Khartoum’s repressive rule, the SCP began preparing to launch a new, independent party in the south.

The SCP leadership in Khartoum put forward the perspective that the best way for members from the south who were living in the north to further the struggle was to return to South Sudan after independence and join the new SSCP.

Establishing a democratic state

The Republic of South Sudan’s first government faces the onerous task of rebuilding a devastated, war-ravaged country with low levels of literacy and education and very poor health indicators.

Attempts to establish basic infrastructure and services have been undermined by Khartoum’s efforts to extract maximum revenue from the south’s oil exports. While most of the north and south’s combined oil reserves lie in the south, the south’s oil must be exported via the infrastructure in the north and Khartoum has demanded substantial transit fees.

Violence from Khartoum and the continued threat of renewed war with the north remain. The Sudanese Armed Forces have for several months been conducting a sustained bombing campaign in South Kordofan and Blue Nile State, just north of the border with South Sudan. It has also aggressively pursued its claim over the disputed territory of Abyei, whose status was not resolved through the CPA.

The northern regime has also extended its bombing across the border into South Sudan’s northern states.

The SPLM government itself has faced much internal dissent, with widespread allegations of serious corruption and accusations that the ruling party favours the Dinka people over other groups within the diverse South Sudanese population. Since independence there have been numerous conflicts with armed groups opposed to the SPLM’s rule.

The government has also been criticised for curtailing democratic rights, including the arrests of journalists and other critics.

At a press conference in South Sudan's capital, Juba, on November 19, SSCP secretary general Joseph Wol Modesto called for a democratic, secular state to be established in South Sudan, The Citizen reported on November 21. He called on the new government to reduce its “huge administration” to enable better service delivery to the people, and for development to be balanced equally across the country’s ten states.

Modesto also denounced Khartoum’s bombing of several South Sudanese states near the border with Sudan.

According to the November 22 edition of the SCP newspaper Al Midan, Modesto welcomed the release of Al Masir (The Destiny) editor Ngor Aguot Garang, who had been arrested several weeks earlier. The press conference was held in the offices of Al Masir, a new Arabic-language newspaper.

Modesto also noted the problems of famine and deaths caused by disease epidemics due to the lack of a decent health care system. Modesto criticised government corruption and called for the establishment of an independent judiciary, democratic rights and a multi-party parliamentary system.

The SPLM government has introduced a new law prohibiting civil servants from being members of political parties, which the SSCP strongly opposes.

AllAfrica.com reported on December 6 that the SSCP issued a statement pointing out that civil servants played a decisive role in the long struggle for independence, so it was hypocritical to now deny civil servants the “right to participate in the political work through the parties of their own choice”.

The statement asked whether the thousands of SPLM members in the civil service will also be denied this right and banned from working in the party, or is the new law “designed to restrict and silence the opposition forces only?”

The SSCP said the outcome of the act would be to transform South Sudan into a one-party state. The Political Party Act also imposes harsh conditions for the registration of political parties, including the requirement that a congress of at least 500 members be held and the founding minutes be given to the Ministry of Justice. The SSCP likened these efforts of the government to regulate and control the activities of political parties to “an innovation of some totalitarian governments to restrict the activities of the parties”.

The SSCP said it was important in such a poor country with high illiteracy to allow the democratic space for political parties, student organisations, trade unions and the press to develop.

Conference Call On The Historic Wisconsin Recall Campaign

2011-12-18T21:30:00.000-08:00

Join the Communist Party USA on Tuesday, December 20 for a live interview on the historic Wisconsin recall campaign of Gov. Scott Walker and its implications for turning back the rightwing anti-labor assault and winning in the 2012 elections.

The recall movement sweeping the state has already gathered the minimum signatures needed for a special election and a month remains to withstand any challenge.

In a special live video interview, December 20, Ed Sadlowski, Jr., of AFSCME Council 40 Wisconsin, will discuss the the historic recall campaign against Gov. Scott Walker and the struggle going forward.

Tuesday, December 20
8:00 pm Eastern, 7:00 pm Central, 5:00 pm Pacific

Watch live video on Ustream or at CPUSA.org or listen in by phone. Call (605) 475-4850 and dial 1053538# after the prompt.

(Check Ustream to make sure your computer is compatible)

Check out coverage of the recall at the PeoplesWorld.org:

Wisconsin recall campaign off to blazing start: here

84 year old woman forced to pay $200 poll tax: here

Best wishes for the holiday season,

John Wojcik

PeoplesWorld.org Labor Editor

Egypt: Urgent Call for Global Solidarity

2011-12-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

NYC Labor Against the War
12.18.11 Occupy Wall Street Report:
Egypt: Urgent Call for Global Solidarity

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'Please mobilise urgently to demand that Egypt's military rulers immediately stop attacking protesters. Call on governments worldwide, and especially the Mubarak regime's main backers, the USA, UK and other western states, halt arms sales to Egypt and end their financial and material support for the repressive apparatus of the Egyptian regime.'
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Egypt: Call for global solidarity after 16 Dec army attack on protesters
Posted on December 18, 2011

Protesters against military rule in Egypt have appealed for global demonstrations against the latest brutal assault led by the Egyptian army on the sit-ins at the Cabinet Offices and Tahrir Square in Cairo on 16 December 2011.

By 18 December 10 people had been killed and hundreds injured in the attack. Solidarity protests were beginning to spread across Egypt and worldwide in response.

Please mobilise urgently to demand that Egypt's military rulers immediately stop attacking protesters. Call on governments worldwide, and especially the Mubarak regime's main backers, the USA, UK and other western states, halt arms sales to Egypt and end their financial and material support for the repressive apparatus of the Egyptian regime.

What you can do:

1. Organise or join protests outside Egyptian embassies worldwide. Send reports and pictures of protests to menasolidarity@gmail.com or post on facebook here: www.facebook.com/mena.solidarity

2. Organise a solidarity statement and collect signatures. Send or deliver to the Egyptian embassy in your country and send copies to menasolidarity@gmail.com or post on facebook here: www.facebook.com/mena.solidarity

3. Share and translate reports of the military attack on the protesters to help counter the lies being put out by Egyptian state media. Follow @3arabawy on Twitter and see Ahram Online's website for detailed coverage.

Salem Post Office Action TOMORROW

2011-12-18T21:18:00.000-08:00

People are planning to be at the Salem post office on 25^th St tomorrow from 11 – 1 with clipboard and petitions, informational flyers and signs to get signatures of support for keeping rural post offices open – it’s the biggest post office day of the year. 40 post offices in rural Oregon – and 4 distribution centers including our's in Salem have been threatened with closure. Because of public outcry some have been taken off the list and the closures have been delayed until May. We need to keep up the pressure to make sure rural areas don’t lose one of their few resources.

This is really not just about rural post offices – it’s about the continuing effort to downsize and privatize postal services – and doing this by forcing the post office to fund itself differently than any corporation or government agency has to. If you have some time to spend tomorrow we can use more people- even for ½ hour would be great.

Crippling the Right to Organize

2011-12-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

By WILLIAM B. GOULD IV
Published: December 16, 2011in the New York Times

UNLESS something changes in Washington, American workers will, on New Year’s Day, effectively lose their right to be represented by a union. Two of the five seats on theNational Labor Relations Board, which protects collective bargaining, are vacant, and on Dec. 31, the term of Craig Becker, a labor lawyer whomPresident Obama named to the board last year through a recess appointment, will expire. Without a quorum, the Supreme Court ruled last year, the board cannot decide cases.

What would this mean?

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/opinion/crippling-the-right-to-organize.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1

U.S. Trade Union Research Delegation to Cuba: April 25-May 2, 2012

2011-12-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

With U.S. Labor for Friendship with Cuba as a program consultant, Marazul Charters, Inc. is organizing a research delegation to Cuba for full-time trade unionists: April 25-May 2, 2012.

The research goals of the delegation are to (1) learn how the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), Workers' Central Union of Cuba, the country's national trade union federation, is working with the new economic policies within the context of socialism; (2) learn first-hand from Cuban workers about the accomplishments and new challenges of a different economic system than our own; (3) be apprised by the CTC about the effects of the 50-year old U.S. economic blockade against the Cuban people, and; (4) learn how full economic and trade relations between the U.S. and Cuba could help workers from both countries by providing economic opportunities.

The U.S. government continues to impose restrictions on travel to Cuba. But under a General License already issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, full-time professionals are permitted to travel to Cuba to conduct research in their fields. To qualify under the General License for professional research for this particular delegation, you must work full time as an appointed or elected official of a labor union or be an academic in this field.

The cost of the program is approximately $1,600 for double occupancy and $1,700 for single occupancy, which includes round trip air fare from Miami to Havana, a Cuban visa, hotel accommodations, breakfast daily, several additional meals, a bi-lingual guide, and a full research program. Delegates are responsible for their own air fare to and from Miami. The research program will include exchanges with CTC leaders and rank and file Cuban union members, visits to hospitals, labor unions, the Lazaro Pena School of the Cuban Workers, work sites, and the observance of Cuba’s May Day celebration on May 1st.

The deadline for all applications will be Friday, April 13, 2012.

If you are interested, or know someone who is interested, that meets the above qualifications - Interested persons should contact Marazul Charters at info@marazul.com. Marazul Charters will send you details on the arrangements, the qualifications, as well as the application form.

If you have specific questions about the program itself - Please contact Carl Gentile, Chairperson of U.S. Labor for Friendship with Cuba, at 1187@comcast.net and/or call 240-285-6519. U.S. Labor for Friendship with Cuba seeks to educate working people about Cuba’s accomplishments in eliminating hunger, joblessness, illiteracy, and making free quality health care and education available to its entire population; creating a society where the 99 percent are in control of their own destiny. We are also supportive of efforts to free the Cuban Five, who are unjustly imprisoned in the U.S. for fighting right-wing terrorism and for preventing attacks from Miami against Cuba by right-wing Cuban-Americans.