Monday, June 01, 2009
Green Dot's Locke charter: Reality bites, and the press starts to get it
In Green Dot's Locke charter: Reality bites, and the press starts to get it Caroline Grannan looks at how the rosy relationship between neoliberal charter operator Green Dot and the media is starting to crack a little now that the figures from the hostile Locke take-over are now known. Steve Barr, Marco Petruzzi, and Ben Austin were boasting before the take over of Locke, that they would turn the school around in a matter of months. However, when they are given similar conditions to LAUSD without the ability to skim and cherry pick students they haven't produced 800 APIs, even with the millions from Broad and Gates. Instead of handing more money to these six figure salary types, we should be working to keep our schools public. It's time to support our students, parents, and UTLA instead of funneling our hard earned tax dollars into Steve Barr's lavish Silver Lake home.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Taking Back Our Schools - Potluck/Rally - Monday, June 1, 2009 @ 6:00pm
Taking Back Our Schools - Potluck/Rally - Monday, June 1, 2009 @ 6:00pm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=87183968465
Hungry For A Better Education
Monday, June 1, 2009 from 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Leichty Middle School
650 S. Union, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Map: http://bit.ly/Cvl6r
hungerstrike@riseup.net
Description
Family Dinner - Join us for a potluck-style dinner in front of Leichty Middle School. Some hunger strikers will be breaking their fasts while others will begin theirs. Sign up to bring a dish by contacting Julie Van Winkle
There will be spoken word poetry (we're expecting Mark Gonzales!), a kids' craft table, traditional dances by the Danzantes, and a food drive - bring non-perishable food to donate to the local food bank!
CAMP OUT!
We are not ready to have our students placed in ridiculously large classes and see teachers who have worked so hard be laid off or sent to other schools. To sympolize our refusal to abandon our schools, we will be camping out in front of the school after the event ends. Tents, toilet facilities and security will be provided. Please consider signing up for the community camp-out.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=87183968465
Hungry For A Better Education
Monday, June 1, 2009 from 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Leichty Middle School
650 S. Union, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Map: http://bit.ly/Cvl6r
hungerstrike@riseup.net
Description
Family Dinner - Join us for a potluck-style dinner in front of Leichty Middle School. Some hunger strikers will be breaking their fasts while others will begin theirs. Sign up to bring a dish by contacting Julie Van Winkle
There will be spoken word poetry (we're expecting Mark Gonzales!), a kids' craft table, traditional dances by the Danzantes, and a food drive - bring non-perishable food to donate to the local food bank!
CAMP OUT!
We are not ready to have our students placed in ridiculously large classes and see teachers who have worked so hard be laid off or sent to other schools. To sympolize our refusal to abandon our schools, we will be camping out in front of the school after the event ends. Tents, toilet facilities and security will be provided. Please consider signing up for the community camp-out.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
An article honestly assessing Green Dot on the LA Times?
Looks like Broad's and Gates' millions combined with Barr's idiotic idea to apply failed "free market principles" to pedagogy have so far resulted in an epic fail! This is perhaps the first honest article the Los Angeles Times has ever done on the neoliberal Green Dot organization. It could have to do with writer, close friend of Ben Austin, and Green Dot cheerleader, Howard Blume being on vacation. Regardless, all their lies are meeting the exposure of reality. Remember, this is the model Arne Duncan, the frighteningly unqualified Secretary of Education will try to force upon all of us.
So far, not a single student at Locke 1 has tested as proficient on the school's benchmark exams in algebra. Locke 2 is in similar straits. Students disappeared during the school year; new students with their own difficulties signed up. These are the same intractable problems Locke suffered from as an L.A. Unified school.
The other thing is the article spells out, in no uncertain terms, what we have described as "cherry picking." While reactionary Steve Barr has denied his neoliberal charters skim the cream of the crop, in practice, this is exactly what they do.
Previous Green Dot charters, opened as alternatives to failing public schools, attracted motivated families that came from far-flung communities to place their children on waiting lists. As a result, enrollment was predictable and stable.
Another thing is Steve Barr, Marco Petruzzi, and Ben Austin were saying before the take over of Locke, that they would turn the school around in a matter of months. While the unqualified barons of private education make their six digit salaries, lets see how their prognostications have turned out:
Plastered on the pale-blue portables in a corner of the Locke campus are cheery motivational signs bearing the number 652. "Operation Proficient: 652," one reads. "652. We are on our way," another cheers. The number is the Academic Performance Index score -- the state's key accountability measure -- that the school hopes to reach. It's a long way from the 800 that represents a successful school, but it's an almost unimaginable leap from Locke's pre-charter score of 515, which placed it at rock bottom.
Regardless of what happens in the future, the Locke experience demonstratively proves UTLA's point. Smaller class sizes, parent involvement, and more money spent per class room changes everything. While neoliberal Green Dot is able to tap the vast fortunes of predatory monopoly capitalists like William Gates, and neoliberal billionaires like Eli Broad for now, what will happen after privatization of all our schools? Doubtful that the Wall-Mart model of education would attract any more right wing donations after that.
We need to fight to keep the public in public schools. We need to fight these massively funded, racist, right wing institutions that would ossify the segregation of our schools. We need to organize our communities and support UTLA against the onslaught of those that would turn the honorable profession of teaching into a minimum wage job. La lucha Sigue!
Where change begins at L.A.'s Locke High School
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Press release from the Hunger Strike and Teach-In for the Kids of LAUSD: Hungry for a Better Education
HUNGRY FOR A BETTER EDUCATION
Media Contacts:
Fast Participant (Español) – Jose Lara
(714) 864-0543
Fast Participant – Sean Leys
(323) 490-2412
Teacher Organizer – Kelly Flores
(323) 286-5244
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Teachers, Parents, and Community Members Announce Hunger Strike and Teach-In for the Kids of LAUSD: Hungry for a Better Education
Los Angeles, California – Nearly a dozen individuals, including LAUSD teachers, concerned community, and a single father will undergo a full-fledged, water-only fast beginning the evening of Wednesday, May 27th, 2009.
The objective of these actions is to call attention to School Board Members Garcia, Flores, and Vladovic’s plan to put nearly a half billion dollars of federal stimulus money into a savings account while raising class sizes and laying off some of the district’s best, most exciting, vibrant new teachers. Our demand is for a new LAUSD budget that defends students’ classrooms.
LAUSD has received nearly a billion dollars in federal stimulus money. President Obama has repeatedly announced that the purpose and top priority for this money should be to keep jobs and to inject the money as quickly as possible into the economy; however, Board Members Garcia, Flores, and Vladovic have voted to approve a budget that does just the opposite. Their budget calls for saving half of the money and laying off 2,500 desperately needed teachers, the future of the profession. Worse still, their plan calls for raising class size – the single biggest factor in determining students’ success.
Hunger strikers are willing to continue the fast until all demands are met. Such drastic cuts call for drastic actions.
Demands
1) Protect out students’ education by NOT increasing class size
2) Protect the future of education in LAUSD by NOT laying off our new teachers
Fasters’ Itinerary
Wednesday-Friday: Following the press conference, fasters will be working in their communities building support. Teachers will be at their schools teaching. They may be contacted individually.
Saturday: Hungry for Education Teach-in and Speak Out. Fasters will be available at this event.
Sunday and afterwards: Fasters will begin an encampment and be available for interviews. 5:00pm, Location TBA.
Locations
Press Conference
May 27th, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Gratts Elementary School
309 Lucas Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Hungry for Education Teach-in
May 30st, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Centro Cultural Francisco Villa
2100 Maple Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90011
Fasters (Partial list):
Sean Leys
Teacher at Lincoln High School, fast organizer, English only
(323) 490-2412
Jose Lara
Single father of child at First Street Elementary School, teacher at Santee High School, fast organizer, English and Español
(714) 864-0543
Brenda Barragan
Pink Slipped Teacher at Santee High School, English and Español
(323) 533-8976
Elizabeth Juarez
Third grade teacher at Hooper Avenue Elementary, English and Español
(818) 239-9395
Alexia Lewis
Substitute teacher at Lincoln High School, artist, civil rights activist, English only
(323) 369-5109
Gladys Mazariego-Hamdi
Math and special education teacher at West Adams Preparatory High School, English and Español
(818) 568-8004
Martin Terrones
Filmmaker, community activist, founder / executive director of Chicano/Latino Artists for Social Equality (CLASE), English and Español
(310) 591-7560
Media Contacts:
Fast Participant (Español) – Jose Lara
(714) 864-0543
Fast Participant – Sean Leys
(323) 490-2412
Teacher Organizer – Kelly Flores
(323) 286-5244
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Teachers, Parents, and Community Members Announce Hunger Strike and Teach-In for the Kids of LAUSD: Hungry for a Better Education
Los Angeles, California – Nearly a dozen individuals, including LAUSD teachers, concerned community, and a single father will undergo a full-fledged, water-only fast beginning the evening of Wednesday, May 27th, 2009.
The objective of these actions is to call attention to School Board Members Garcia, Flores, and Vladovic’s plan to put nearly a half billion dollars of federal stimulus money into a savings account while raising class sizes and laying off some of the district’s best, most exciting, vibrant new teachers. Our demand is for a new LAUSD budget that defends students’ classrooms.
LAUSD has received nearly a billion dollars in federal stimulus money. President Obama has repeatedly announced that the purpose and top priority for this money should be to keep jobs and to inject the money as quickly as possible into the economy; however, Board Members Garcia, Flores, and Vladovic have voted to approve a budget that does just the opposite. Their budget calls for saving half of the money and laying off 2,500 desperately needed teachers, the future of the profession. Worse still, their plan calls for raising class size – the single biggest factor in determining students’ success.
Hunger strikers are willing to continue the fast until all demands are met. Such drastic cuts call for drastic actions.
Demands
1) Protect out students’ education by NOT increasing class size
2) Protect the future of education in LAUSD by NOT laying off our new teachers
Fasters’ Itinerary
Wednesday-Friday: Following the press conference, fasters will be working in their communities building support. Teachers will be at their schools teaching. They may be contacted individually.
Saturday: Hungry for Education Teach-in and Speak Out. Fasters will be available at this event.
Sunday and afterwards: Fasters will begin an encampment and be available for interviews. 5:00pm, Location TBA.
Locations
Press Conference
May 27th, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Gratts Elementary School
309 Lucas Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Hungry for Education Teach-in
May 30st, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Centro Cultural Francisco Villa
2100 Maple Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90011
Fasters (Partial list):
Sean Leys
Teacher at Lincoln High School, fast organizer, English only
(323) 490-2412
Jose Lara
Single father of child at First Street Elementary School, teacher at Santee High School, fast organizer, English and Español
(714) 864-0543
Brenda Barragan
Pink Slipped Teacher at Santee High School, English and Español
(323) 533-8976
Elizabeth Juarez
Third grade teacher at Hooper Avenue Elementary, English and Español
(818) 239-9395
Alexia Lewis
Substitute teacher at Lincoln High School, artist, civil rights activist, English only
(323) 369-5109
Gladys Mazariego-Hamdi
Math and special education teacher at West Adams Preparatory High School, English and Español
(818) 568-8004
Martin Terrones
Filmmaker, community activist, founder / executive director of Chicano/Latino Artists for Social Equality (CLASE), English and Español
(310) 591-7560
CCCOP's latest on LAPD's murder of Susie Pena
The latest from the community watch group:
OBAMA-HOLDER: STOP THE KILLER COP AWARDS! NO TROPHYS FOR KILLING BABY SUSIE!
The Coalition for Community Control Over the Police will picket outside the LAPD awards ceremony 10:30am Thursday, May 28 at the Kodak Theater, where the LAPD’s highest honor will be given to 10 of the SWAT stormtroopers who killed 18 month old baby Susie Pena in Watts in 2005. The Medal of Valor, approved by Mayor Villaraigosa’s appointed Police Commission, is "awarded to officers who distinguish themselves by conspicuous bravery or heroism above and beyond..."
Chief Bratton has orchestrated the rewards for killing baby Susie in line with his official denial that his death squad killed her. He recently postponed Lorena Lopez’ (Susie’s mother) lawsuit while he shops for a new coroner to re-write the autopsy, to exonerate his force from the infant’s death, and remove himself from liability as he seeks a third term.
The Coalition for Community Control Over the Police calls on Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama’s Justice Department to fully enforce the federal Consent Decree, to follow through on its lawsuit against the LAPD for refusing to break its “pattern and practice” of civil rights violations, and for the implementation of an all-elected, all-civilian police control board with full authority over the department.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Is the on-air-bully projecting?
"Rush Limbaugh's race to the bottom" in Salon. There's a rumor he was telling the truth regarding his OxyContin fueled trip to the Dominican Republic. The story goes: the boxes of Viagra weren't for him, they were for friends he planned to meet, only the vial of amyl nitrate was Mr. Limbaugh's.
Friday, May 15, 2009
My wife and I are outraged by the LAUSD RIF
Ms. Garcia:
My wife and I live in District 2. We are appalled that Mr. Cortines and the LAUSD board are cutting some 5,500 teachers, when funds have been made available to retain those jobs. Before going to work today, we marched alongside the parents, students, and teachers from Miguel Contreras Learning Complex this morning against the disgusting injunction Mr. Cortines obtained to support his vicious cuts.
We are further outraged by Mr. Cortines collaborative efforts with union busting charter schools and other privatization methods. Given the Superintendent's quarter million dollar a year salary, it is no surprise that he would spearhead an effort to vilify hard working teachers making a fraction of what he makes. While he enjoys lunches with Steve Barr, Eli Broad, and other enemies of public education, those of us that work for a living and pay taxes are standing by our sisters and brothers in UTLA. We don't want class size increases! We don't want teachers being laid off! We are tired of the wealthy getting a free lunch on our backs!
Ms. Garcia, I have voted for you several times in the past. However, I can guarantee you will not get my vote in the future if you don't take a stand on this. Furthermore, I will use all my resources and wherewithal as a community organizer to spread the word that you are against our students, parents, and teachers. LAUSD should have been standing alongside UTLA protesting the Governor's budget cuts and demanding more resources for our schools. Instead LAUSD has engaged in the most despicable union busting, and has supported the most reactionary elements in our city -- including the big money interests that would privatize our schools. Budget crisis? Tax the rich!
Sincerely
RD Skeels and YJ Lee
Barrio Echo Parque residents for 14 years
My wife and I live in District 2. We are appalled that Mr. Cortines and the LAUSD board are cutting some 5,500 teachers, when funds have been made available to retain those jobs. Before going to work today, we marched alongside the parents, students, and teachers from Miguel Contreras Learning Complex this morning against the disgusting injunction Mr. Cortines obtained to support his vicious cuts.
We are further outraged by Mr. Cortines collaborative efforts with union busting charter schools and other privatization methods. Given the Superintendent's quarter million dollar a year salary, it is no surprise that he would spearhead an effort to vilify hard working teachers making a fraction of what he makes. While he enjoys lunches with Steve Barr, Eli Broad, and other enemies of public education, those of us that work for a living and pay taxes are standing by our sisters and brothers in UTLA. We don't want class size increases! We don't want teachers being laid off! We are tired of the wealthy getting a free lunch on our backs!
Ms. Garcia, I have voted for you several times in the past. However, I can guarantee you will not get my vote in the future if you don't take a stand on this. Furthermore, I will use all my resources and wherewithal as a community organizer to spread the word that you are against our students, parents, and teachers. LAUSD should have been standing alongside UTLA protesting the Governor's budget cuts and demanding more resources for our schools. Instead LAUSD has engaged in the most despicable union busting, and has supported the most reactionary elements in our city -- including the big money interests that would privatize our schools. Budget crisis? Tax the rich!
Sincerely
RD Skeels and YJ Lee
Barrio Echo Parque residents for 14 years
Thursday, May 14, 2009
A parent revolution?
L.A. Parents Union, effectively an astroturf front group for Green Dot, is funded for the most part by Eli Broad and William Gates. Hardly advocates of progressive education or social equality. What the 'Parent Revolution' (have to love the extreme right wing's appropriation of terms once reserved for the social justice struggle) does do is it dupes parents into supporting 'non-profit' organizations like Green Dot which pays massive six digit salaries to Steve Barr, Marco Petruzzi, and Ben Austin. These same fat cats drone on about how UTLA rank and file are overpaid.
An end goal to their union busting efforts, will be to apply 'free market principles' like competition between their privatized schools. That's right, the same thinking that brought us the dot.com disaster and the housing bubble fiasco. How apropos, considering Steve Barr's Silicon Valley roots, and connections to super-rich venture capitalists. While he's not lounging around his opulent Silver Lake home insinuating UTLA bureaucrats have carnal relations with sus domestica, he is working with some of the most reactionary elements in Los Angeles to destroy the last vestiges of public eduction.
Private institutions, answerable to no one, will replace schools as we know them. Once they have displaced public schools, the impetus to improve education will give way to their true motive. Like all efforts to maximize profits (yes Green Dot is a non-profit, but read the rules governing non-profits, especially those for salaries), through downward pressure on spending per student and teacher salaries in order to increase Mr. Barr's and his cronies' incomes substantially.
Far from the 'revolutionary instigators' right wing libertarian admirers call them, Mr. Barr and his highly paid wrecking crew will join the pantheon of profiteering crooks like the Waltons, Gates, and Madoffs.
An end goal to their union busting efforts, will be to apply 'free market principles' like competition between their privatized schools. That's right, the same thinking that brought us the dot.com disaster and the housing bubble fiasco. How apropos, considering Steve Barr's Silicon Valley roots, and connections to super-rich venture capitalists. While he's not lounging around his opulent Silver Lake home insinuating UTLA bureaucrats have carnal relations with sus domestica, he is working with some of the most reactionary elements in Los Angeles to destroy the last vestiges of public eduction.
Private institutions, answerable to no one, will replace schools as we know them. Once they have displaced public schools, the impetus to improve education will give way to their true motive. Like all efforts to maximize profits (yes Green Dot is a non-profit, but read the rules governing non-profits, especially those for salaries), through downward pressure on spending per student and teacher salaries in order to increase Mr. Barr's and his cronies' incomes substantially.
Far from the 'revolutionary instigators' right wing libertarian admirers call them, Mr. Barr and his highly paid wrecking crew will join the pantheon of profiteering crooks like the Waltons, Gates, and Madoffs.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Protesters Take On America's Toughest Sheriff (VIDEO)
@Seanjean922, where did you get that hundreds of thousands of victims idea? Lou Dobbs, John Tanton, or a Stormfront message board? As for your condescending and patronizing "Many of you young white Americans have not traveled beyond America's borders," I'm a middle aged Navy veteran that has traveled outside these borders many times. Sorry, you can't excuse away white supremacy with your vapid and specious arguments. This country has a long history of vicious treatment towards people from other lands; taking examples like the Chinese Exclusion act, or the Japanese Internment Camps for starters. Excusing racism, white supremacy, and ethnocentrism by saying it happens in other places is wholly unacceptable -- you have to fight it where ever it is. If I lived in another country where racism was rampant, I would fight it there. I live in Los Angeles, and for years have marched and organized alongside all the people you vilified in your post -- Koreans, Salvadorians, Mexicanos, Filipinos, Ecuadoreans and so many more. These undocumented peoples, "Illegals" to quote your disgusting language of our oppressors, are hard working and honest peoples. I've stood toe to toe with vile filthy racists from white supremacist groups including the Minutemen, Stormfront, SOS, and other Klansman. Sadly, your above prose sounds strikingly familiar to the things they always say.
About Video On HuffPost
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Thursday, February 05, 2009
08-Feb-09 SCIC planning meeting and SCIC/SAR sign making for ABC Demo
Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 11:00AM
SCIC Planning Meeting
Centro Cultural Francisco Villa
2100 Maple Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90011
(21st x Maple; facing Santee Education Complex)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2100+Maple+Avenue+LA,+CA+90011&sll=34.100294,-118.235523&sspn=0.01425,0.021479&g=1900+N+San+Fernando+Road,+Los+Angeles,+CA&ie=UTF8&ll=34.035484,-118.261857&spn=0.028522,0.042958&z=15&iwloc=addr
Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC) comprises a wide range of immigrant rights groups, NGOs, activists, and students with common agreement on these two points:
1) an immidiate end to the ICE raids
2) full legalization for undocumented immigrants.
SCIC calls demonstrations and other political actions.
http://immigrationcoalition.org/
SCIC Planning Meeting
Centro Cultural Francisco Villa
2100 Maple Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90011
(21st x Maple; facing Santee Education Complex)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2100+Maple+Avenue+LA,+CA+90011&sll=34.100294,-118.235523&sspn=0.01425,0.021479&g=1900+N+San+Fernando+Road,+Los+Angeles,+CA&ie=UTF8&ll=34.035484,-118.261857&spn=0.028522,0.042958&z=15&iwloc=addr
Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC) comprises a wide range of immigrant rights groups, NGOs, activists, and students with common agreement on these two points:
1) an immidiate end to the ICE raids
2) full legalization for undocumented immigrants.
SCIC calls demonstrations and other political actions.
http://immigrationcoalition.org/
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
SCIC Planning Meeting to Protest ABC's "Homeland Security USA"
Please come to the planning meeting for the SCIC's next action:
Sunday, January 25, 2009 at noon.
Domingo, 25 de Enero a media dia.
Señor Fish Restaurant, Downtown
422 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012.
This is the planning meeting to create a protest at ABC's studio location in Los Angeles demanding they discontinue their racist "Homeland Security USA" program. Glamorizing agents that break up families, imprison hard working people, and enforce arbitrary immigration laws creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in immigrant communities, and emboldens racist nativist groups.
Students, individuals, and groups in agreement with the SCIC's points of agreement are welcome to join the coalition.
1) Alto a Las Redadas / End the Raids
2) Legalizacion / Legalization
For more information of ABC's "Homeland Security USA" please join:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38289708327
Southern California Immigration Coalition
immigrationcoalition@yahoo.com
http://immigrationcoalition.org/
(323) 602-3480
(213) 234-8561
Southern California Immigration Coalition
28th St. Elementary School Acorn Chapter, Associtation of Raza Educators, Brown Berets, Comite de Mujeres Patricia Marin, CISPES-Los Angeles, Committee on Raza Rights-Oxnard, Danza Azteca Cuahtemoc, Frente Contra las Redadas, Hermandad Mexicana Transnational, Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, Homies Unidos, IDEPSCA, Internet MECHA, International Socialist Organization, MAPA, National Immigrant Solidarity Network, Palisadians for Peace, Placita Olvera Working Group, Puerto Rican Alliance, Radical Women, School of the Americas Watch, L.A. Somos Raza, Union del Barrio, and many more.
Email us to endorse the campaign at immigrationcoalition@yahoo.com
Sunday, January 25, 2009 at noon.
Domingo, 25 de Enero a media dia.
Señor Fish Restaurant, Downtown
422 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012.
This is the planning meeting to create a protest at ABC's studio location in Los Angeles demanding they discontinue their racist "Homeland Security USA" program. Glamorizing agents that break up families, imprison hard working people, and enforce arbitrary immigration laws creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in immigrant communities, and emboldens racist nativist groups.
Students, individuals, and groups in agreement with the SCIC's points of agreement are welcome to join the coalition.
1) Alto a Las Redadas / End the Raids
2) Legalizacion / Legalization
For more information of ABC's "Homeland Security USA" please join:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38289708327
Southern California Immigration Coalition
immigrationcoalition@yahoo.com
http://immigrationcoalition.org/
(323) 602-3480
(213) 234-8561
Southern California Immigration Coalition
28th St. Elementary School Acorn Chapter, Associtation of Raza Educators, Brown Berets, Comite de Mujeres Patricia Marin, CISPES-Los Angeles, Committee on Raza Rights-Oxnard, Danza Azteca Cuahtemoc, Frente Contra las Redadas, Hermandad Mexicana Transnational, Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, Homies Unidos, IDEPSCA, Internet MECHA, International Socialist Organization, MAPA, National Immigrant Solidarity Network, Palisadians for Peace, Placita Olvera Working Group, Puerto Rican Alliance, Radical Women, School of the Americas Watch, L.A. Somos Raza, Union del Barrio, and many more.
Email us to endorse the campaign at immigrationcoalition@yahoo.com
Monday, January 12, 2009
When laws are immoral, and serve to perpetuate racism
The following was written in response to a Facebook discussion board on the "ABC: Take "Homeland Security USA" reality show OFF the air!!" group. An individual posts a seemingly innocuous question entitled "What is the root of the concern about this show?" There is some banter back and forth, but the person initially posing the question eventually makes their point. They argue this is "a society based on rule of law." This threadbare argument, used by reactionaries and liberals alike, is premised on the notion that the state is somehow a neutral entity. The reality is the state was created as a means of maintaining class inequality and enforcing the rule of the few over the vast majority of us. Rather than an impartial arbiter, the capitalist state, along with its laws, serve the interests of those who rule. Very often the laws under the most "enlightened" bourgeois representative democracies are quite horrible. He further goes on to argue that just showing the factual accounts of DHS personnel outside the context of who they serve, and to what purpose they serve isn't intended to try and polish a tarnished DHS/ICE image. He then argues that the function of this show is utterly apolitical, and serves no propagandistic purposes whatsoever. Any immigrant rights activist knows from experience that DHS/ICE is not an apolitical department full of hardworking people safeguarding us from the other (read brown people). I think my following post really drives this home. -- Robert D. Skeels
Mr. [name withheld] has won me over with his verbosity and convoluted logic. Indeed, this is a country based on rule of law, and by extension, those paid to uphold such laws are heroes! In light of this we should beg Mr. Arnold Shapiro to produce the following shows as pitched below (obviously historical reenactments, but in spirit, identical in context to Homeland Security USA).
Defenders of Democracy - U.S.A. Against the Victimizing Vote
This Arnold Shapiro produced made for TV movie follows the travails of brave U. S. Attorney Richard Crowley doing his job to make sure those who would threaten our democracy by voting illegally pay for their crimes. When undesirables turn up to flout the law and vote in violation of the 1870's Enforcement Act, Richard Crowley does his prosaic and apolitical duty of prosecuting.
Separate, but Equal U.S.A.
If safeguarding Americans from the nefarious other from without constitutes brave and selfless service, how about from within? Just a few decades ago, before interference with States' Rights, certain folk knew their place. In fact, their place was inshrined in law. "Separate, but Equal U.S.A." is Arnold Shapiro's attempt to show how southern law enforcement protected our communities from those that would illegally cross lines they weren't supposed to cross, and committing dangerous acts like sitting on the wrong part of the bus and leering at our womenfolk. "This isn't political or about whether Jim Crow was morally wrong." said a Shapiro spokesperson. "This is about average men on the front lines upholding the laws at that time."
U.S.A. Marshals: Breaking the Contraband Network
Our democracy has always been a nation of laws, and any law or law enforcement agency protecting the sanctity of private property should be afforded the highest honors of all. This series follows ordinary U.S. Marshals performing their sacred duty of tracking down those stealing plantation property. These brave men also investigate a wide underground network of conspirators and lawbreakers aiding and abetted these fugitives. While critics of this Arnold Shapiro produced series see it as a defense of chattel slavery, they need to understand these brave marshals didn't write the "Fugitive Slave Law of 1850," they merely did their jobs.
Shall I go on?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Victory for the Republic Workers
We want to celebrate the Republic Windows and Doors workers' victory of preventing the bosses and bankers from stealing their hard earned vacation, severance, and insurance pay. However, our Saturday protest is still on. First we want to raise awareness of what just happened -- a successful factory occupation, here stateside in 2008. Also, while Bank of America is trying to sound magnanimous about making these loans, these workers might still have jobs if the bank loaned when the company was still operating. Bank of America's David Rudis remarked the bank had "no obligation to pay Republic's employees." Frankly we the workers, read taxpayers, were under no obligation for the $25 Billion recently handed over to his bank.
This struggle is a microcosm of all our struggles, and is praxis of some major points. First, it highlights the power of workers, and our ability to face down the bosses using our most powerful weapon, the strike. Second, the working class struggle is one and the same as the immigrant rights struggle. Not only were a good portion of the UE workers at Republic immigrants of Latino descent, but this is one of several recent immigrant workers' fight back actions in Illinois including Cygnus Corp. Lastly, it shows the degree of militancy and organization it will take to gain victories in both the current economy and political atmosphere.
A list of related Republic Windows and Doors articles
This struggle is a microcosm of all our struggles, and is praxis of some major points. First, it highlights the power of workers, and our ability to face down the bosses using our most powerful weapon, the strike. Second, the working class struggle is one and the same as the immigrant rights struggle. Not only were a good portion of the UE workers at Republic immigrants of Latino descent, but this is one of several recent immigrant workers' fight back actions in Illinois including Cygnus Corp. Lastly, it shows the degree of militancy and organization it will take to gain victories in both the current economy and political atmosphere.
A list of related Republic Windows and Doors articles
Monday, November 17, 2008
Paul Krugman Schools George Will On The Great Depression
I think people are misunderstanding Krugman on the effect of the war. He isn't repeating the reactionary dribble that the war saved the economy, but stating the economy recovered. What he doesn't discuss here is important. The only way to prevent the "tendency of the rate of profit to fall" is to destroy capital (mostly means of production in this case). When WWII is considered in a context of every competing country's (allies and opponents), means of production was essentially wiped out, we have the real reason for the United States' economic recovery after the war. The right wing can never admit this since there are too many ideological penalties the come with it. If war really was a easy way to fix economies, why the slumps after Viet Nam, Gulf War I, the current occupations?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Paul Krugman Schools George Will On The Great Depression
Austrian school economics, brought to you by the same kooks that deify Ayn Rand, and actually think there is a way for markets to expand infinitely. For those unfamiliar with this discredited school of economics, they actually do consider Greenspan and Friedman as being left, since anything that hints of regulating the monstrosities of capital is considered left of Austrian School. Free markets always have and always will fail miserably, the contradictions inherent in the profit system insure this, and history has proven it time and time again.
A little hint for acudoc, you've misidentified the so called producers in your pro ruling class diatribe, and it sure isn't the greedy captains of industry you worship. There are producers in society, and they do create all the wealth. They are called the workers.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Saturday, November 15, 2008
"The Secular Case Against Gay Marriage," or the Capitalist Case?
The MIT article exposes itself all the more when you consider the doctorate the author is working on. His thesis is quite simple and rehashes what the revolutionary left has said for over a century, albeit from the vantage of the oppressors.
Capital always needs exploitable labor, but doesn't want to pay for its reproduction. It uses the state (formed for capitals' common interests) to subsidize the cost of reproducing the next generation of labor. LGBT people, according to Kolasinski, supposedly aren't contributing to the labor pool, and hence shouldn't be "subsidized." Never mind that in the regressive tax structure we live under such subsidies actually come out of our pockets anyway, his argument is surprisingly honest in terms of how their class views ours: work, breed, work...
Kolasinski then takes out insurance at the end of his piece with oft repeated, "if we let them marry, then what's next?" A reactionary straw-man that frequently devolves into discussions of bestiality and what have you.
As a straight, married, Californian, I will be standing alongside my LGBT sisters and brothers on Saturday. An injury to one is an injury to all!
Capital always needs exploitable labor, but doesn't want to pay for its reproduction. It uses the state (formed for capitals' common interests) to subsidize the cost of reproducing the next generation of labor. LGBT people, according to Kolasinski, supposedly aren't contributing to the labor pool, and hence shouldn't be "subsidized." Never mind that in the regressive tax structure we live under such subsidies actually come out of our pockets anyway, his argument is surprisingly honest in terms of how their class views ours: work, breed, work...
Kolasinski then takes out insurance at the end of his piece with oft repeated, "if we let them marry, then what's next?" A reactionary straw-man that frequently devolves into discussions of bestiality and what have you.
As a straight, married, Californian, I will be standing alongside my LGBT sisters and brothers on Saturday. An injury to one is an injury to all!
Friday, October 24, 2008
I profoundly admire Apple for taking a stand against Prop 8 (Prop Hate)
From their website, posted on October 24, 2008 at 10:18 (http://www.apple.com/startpage/):
No on Prop 8
Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Blaming the victims of the crisis
Recently I was arguing the same point this article makes with some petty bourgeois acquaintances, one a hopeless reactionary, the other a closet libertarian. They were making Wall Street's case that the entire financial crises is due to the government forcing innocent institutions like Countrywide to lend to brown (read Latino) and black people. I said "even if they did, and loans were made to every single black and brown person in the country, that still only accounts for roughly 20% of the loans. How do you account for the other 80%?" They were unable to answer it, and just reiterated the right wing 'talking points.'
Hands down the best prose on SW this year
Brian Jones is a genius, witness:
I'm not sure which is more frightening, though: watching McCain and Palin whip a crowd into a patriotic, anti-Obama frenzy with racist code words, or watching McCain try to backpedal when audience members drop the code and speak in plain language?
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Called the Congressperson!
I have very little faith in bourgeois representative democracy, but there are times when you can get a little bit of input. While we all know struggle is far more important than voting, the looming danger of HR 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act was worth the quick phone call to voice my opposition. Representative Xavier Becerra, had the good sense (or at least political acumen) to vote against the first version of the bill. I called his office today to thank him for that and to strongly state my opposition to the Senate revisions. Lets hope the House rejects the "Bankster Bailout" again. While Bush and all the other ruling class representatives are trying so hard to convince us we are all in the same boat, we always need to remember -- "the working class and the employing class have nothing in common."
Monday, September 29, 2008
Care to try again, Dick?
"The fact is, the markets work, and they are working," said Cheney in an interview in his White House office. "And people - some of the big companies obviously - have taken risks. Risk means risk. And there's an upside as well as a downside in some of the choices they've made. We have to be careful not to have this set of developments lead us to significantly expand the role of government in ways that may do damage long-term for the economy."
The same goes for Democratic efforts to curb the predatory lending practices that left naive homeowners in trouble, says Cheney: "We don't want to interfere with the basic, fundamental working of the markets."
Your markets are working alright! Thanks Dick, for making our case for socialism even more compelling and easier to win people over to. While the real solution to the crisis is a socialist revolution, here are some stopgap reforms to carry us through the year.
- Use the newly nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac to refinance all troubled mortgage holders with 30 year fixed rate notes on a fair and realistic valuation of their homes, not the over-inflated housing bubble prices. Let the investment banking industry take the losses on all refinanced price differences.
- Institute an immediate and progressive wealth tax with severe penalties for capital flight.
- Institute a immediate windfall tax for record profit making petroleum corporations, in fact, let's extend that to all the non-bid contract war profiteers as well.
- Repeal the Bush tax cuts for the obscenely rich, create a much more progressive tax structure, and remove all tax loopholes and subsidies for corporations.
- End the brutal occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq (with half of that 2.1B a week being used for reparations).
- National single payer healthcare.
- Take the 700B and rebuild inner cities, create a national public transportation system, and invest the rest in public research and development of alternative energy sources.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Worst Crisis Since '30s, With No End Yet in Sight
The folks at the Wall Street Journal Online finally being honest about the inherent failure of free markets? Important how they don't mention the contradiction of privatization of profit, but socialization of losses, but it is the WSJ after all. A glimpse of how they view us:
In other words, the working class always bears the burden--during boom or slump. Our task is to organize against them placing this on us! Times like this expose their proffered excuse for sucking surplus value out of us, "because we [the capitalists] take all the risks," for the lie it always is.
...to the discomfort of workers -- companies are quicker to adjust wages, hiring and work hours when the economy softens.
In other words, the working class always bears the burden--during boom or slump. Our task is to organize against them placing this on us! Times like this expose their proffered excuse for sucking surplus value out of us, "because we [the capitalists] take all the risks," for the lie it always is.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Crisis in Capitalism (a redundant phrase, really)
When I gave my sub-prime mortgage crisis talk in 2007, skeptics were saying it was no big deal. "The economy will rebound," "deregulation is always a good thing," trust the market," etc. Armed with Marxist analysis of economics and recognition of the fundamental principles of a crisis of overproduction, allowed us to see the sub-prime mess was just a precursor of a much larger catastrophe. A good time to re-read Rosa Luxemburg, to understand how credit eventually exacerbates crisis. This is playing out exactly the way she explains in "Reform of Revolution."
The bi-partisan neoliberal project is now bearing fruit. While the Bush gang certainly helped to accelerate this with their murderous 2.1 billion dollar a week occupations, the chicken were going to come home to roost eventually. It is going to take serious struggle on the ground to keep this entire thing from being placed on our backs.
A system out of control
Crucial analysis of the scope of the crisis, and addresses how there isn't any quick fix using their usual tools. This article is a must read!
Working harder and falling behind
The ruling class wants someone to pay to get them out of their latest crisis. Guess who they want that to be?
US Economy: Rudderless and Reeling from Direct Hits
When fiscal conservatives like Paul Craig Roberts agree with us on deregulation being a prime cause, you know the system is in crises.
The bi-partisan neoliberal project is now bearing fruit. While the Bush gang certainly helped to accelerate this with their murderous 2.1 billion dollar a week occupations, the chicken were going to come home to roost eventually. It is going to take serious struggle on the ground to keep this entire thing from being placed on our backs.
A system out of control
Crucial analysis of the scope of the crisis, and addresses how there isn't any quick fix using their usual tools. This article is a must read!
Working harder and falling behind
The ruling class wants someone to pay to get them out of their latest crisis. Guess who they want that to be?
US Economy: Rudderless and Reeling from Direct Hits
When fiscal conservatives like Paul Craig Roberts agree with us on deregulation being a prime cause, you know the system is in crises.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Now hidden, now open
Looks like more and more people are beginning to see through the lies this system is based on.
How bad will it get?
Well, at least the billionaires and hedge fund managers made money. Now, we working class people will face the pain from their extravagance and excess. Their free market correction consists of them taking the money and running, while workers suffer the attendant consequences.
Americans may be losing faith in free markets
When the cognitive dissonance between the ruling class propaganda and people's actual experience becomes too great, they begin questioning the false premises this society is based on. The only thing free markets have done, ever, is make the rich all the more richer. The best part is the end of the article where reformism is hinted at.
Why the Bail Out of Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae is Bad Economic Policy
Capitalism's very foundation is the socialization of labor, risk, whatever, and the privatization of profit. The parasites (capitalists) are usually good at obfuscating this, but when the inevitable crisis inherent in the system exposes them, the fact of exploitation is revealed to all.
How bad will it get?
Well, at least the billionaires and hedge fund managers made money. Now, we working class people will face the pain from their extravagance and excess. Their free market correction consists of them taking the money and running, while workers suffer the attendant consequences.
Americans may be losing faith in free markets
When the cognitive dissonance between the ruling class propaganda and people's actual experience becomes too great, they begin questioning the false premises this society is based on. The only thing free markets have done, ever, is make the rich all the more richer. The best part is the end of the article where reformism is hinted at.
Why the Bail Out of Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae is Bad Economic Policy
The Wall Street Journal seems closer to reason than the Democratic Congress. Over the weekend its editorial clarified what socialists since Marx have been saying: "What taxpayers need to understand is that Fannie and Freddie already practice socialism, albeit of the dishonest kind. Their profit is privatized but their risk is socialized."
Capitalism's very foundation is the socialization of labor, risk, whatever, and the privatization of profit. The parasites (capitalists) are usually good at obfuscating this, but when the inevitable crisis inherent in the system exposes them, the fact of exploitation is revealed to all.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Quick Thoughts on Furman's 'Wal-Mart: A Progressive Success Story'
Just read Jason Furman's laughable paper on Wall-Mart "Wal-Mart: A Progressive Success Story." Early on he writes "A Harvard applicant has a higher chance of being accepted than a person applying for a job at that Wal-Mart," as anecdotal support as to why he feels Wall-Mart jobs are great "opportunities." Talk about strained analogies!
In sections where he cites studies on Wall-Mart's economic impacts, Furman liberally quotes findings supporting his conclusions, but immediately cites inconclusiveness whenever the studies differ from his thesis.
Later, when discussing rates of exploitation various companies have in comparison, he writes:
This assumes the only option Wall-Mart would have was Furman's arbitrary choice of $5,000! A figure lower than that seems inconceivable to Furman, who earlier in the same section of his paper speaks of "Wal-Mart's mind-boggling $10 billion in profits." Somehow there is no room for wage increases or better benefits. Nope, it's an all or nothing proposition for neo-liberal proponents.
While the paper as a whole glosses over any information contrary to his conclusions, the best part is when he addresses Wal-Mart's notoriously rampant sexual discrimination and other lawbreaking:
For free market champions like Furman, these are legal issues unrelated to economic questions entirely. Never-mind that gender based pay gaps and unpaid overtime are economic issues by their very nature.
Furman's rosy conclusion that Wal-Mart is in fact a progressive force in society is closely tied to his wholesale apologetics for Clinton era social welfare slashing. Throughout his piece Furman refers to the gutting of the social safety net under the Clinton presidency as "making work pay." What this odd phrasing really means is making workers pay. With Barack Obama's recent appointment of Jason Furman as top economic advisor, one worries what a possible Obama administration holds in store for workers.
In sections where he cites studies on Wall-Mart's economic impacts, Furman liberally quotes findings supporting his conclusions, but immediately cites inconclusiveness whenever the studies differ from his thesis.
Later, when discussing rates of exploitation various companies have in comparison, he writes:
"If Microsoft paid each of its employees an additional $5,000 or expanded its health benefits, its profits would be largely unchanged. If Wal-Mart took the same step -- and did not pass the cost on to consumers -- it would be virtually wiped out."
This assumes the only option Wall-Mart would have was Furman's arbitrary choice of $5,000! A figure lower than that seems inconceivable to Furman, who earlier in the same section of his paper speaks of "Wal-Mart's mind-boggling $10 billion in profits." Somehow there is no room for wage increases or better benefits. Nope, it's an all or nothing proposition for neo-liberal proponents.
While the paper as a whole glosses over any information contrary to his conclusions, the best part is when he addresses Wal-Mart's notoriously rampant sexual discrimination and other lawbreaking:
"Finally, Wal-Mart should obey labor laws that bar gender discrimination, unpaid overtime and environmental laws like the Clean Air Act."
For free market champions like Furman, these are legal issues unrelated to economic questions entirely. Never-mind that gender based pay gaps and unpaid overtime are economic issues by their very nature.
Furman's rosy conclusion that Wal-Mart is in fact a progressive force in society is closely tied to his wholesale apologetics for Clinton era social welfare slashing. Throughout his piece Furman refers to the gutting of the social safety net under the Clinton presidency as "making work pay." What this odd phrasing really means is making workers pay. With Barack Obama's recent appointment of Jason Furman as top economic advisor, one worries what a possible Obama administration holds in store for workers.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Rachel Ray faux Kuffiyeh flap
What repressive fashion measures will the jingoistic reactionary right wing media impose on us next? In addition to her ignorance, Michelle Malkin has once again proven her insanity, racism, and xenophobia know no bounds.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24860437/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/24864619#24864619
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24860437/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/24864619#24864619
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Cuba Will Live
Saul Landau writes an interesting piece on how reactionaries held an event honoring murderous terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Let's play Pay for your Occupation!
That's right! For the low, low price of millions a month your nation can enjoy the following amenities:
All these and so much more, courtesy of Senate Democrats!
One wonders if Rumsfeld and his fellow war criminals had this mind when they were claiming their war of aggression 'would pay for itself.'
http://socialistworker.org/2008/05/12/paying-to-be-occupied
- The constant fear of dying by small arms fire, cluster bombs, white phosphorus, random mortar shells, and a host of other grisly products of the U.S. military-industrial-complex.
- The ability to be abducted and tortured (er, sorry, harshly interrogated) for months on end.
- The right to hand over all rights to your natural resources to transnational corporations.
- The outright destruction of all important infrastructure and most housing.
- Mass unemployment with the added feature of harsh anti-union laws.
- The freedom to leave your lifelong home and join the millions of unemployed refugees either in camps in neighboring nations or within your own borders with no hope of ever returning home. For no extra cost, learn to fear your neighbors of decades as part of a colonial style divide an conquer scheme.
- An added benefit of tons of radioactive depleted uranium littering your entire country.
- Occasional and infrequent access to clean water, electricity and other necessities.
All these and so much more, courtesy of Senate Democrats!
One wonders if Rumsfeld and his fellow war criminals had this mind when they were claiming their war of aggression 'would pay for itself.'
http://socialistworker.org/2008/05/12/paying-to-be-occupied
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Hands off Iran!
These are the notes from a talk I gave in the Summer of 2006. While some of the events and information is dated, the situation is still as tense. This talk was heavily informed by Revolutionary Rehearsals by Colin Barker, ed., International Socialist Review, and other sources. I've recently read David Barsamian's 'Targeting Iran,' and am about to start Phil Marshall's 'Revolution and Counter Revolution in Iran.' When I've completed reading that I will probably take this talk, combine it with the another Iran talk I gave in the Fall of 2007, and turn it into a proper essay when finished. ~ Robert D. Skeels
We are here to talk about the current U.S. threat to Iran. If you listen to the mainstream corporate media, this discussion takes an opposite tack, suggesting somehow that Iran poses a threat to the U.S., but as we will see this simply isn't the case. We will look at the facts about Iran's nuclear program. We will also look at some of the reasons why the U.S. is menacing Iran, Iran's importance in the region, and recent history. Lastly we will discuss what kind of anti-war movement is needed to take on the issues regarding Iran. Let's take a look at the administration's ongoing "Iran is a nuclear threat" propaganda first so that we can dispel rumors and conjecture and move on the the actual situation.
Since Bush declared Iran as part of his "axis of evil," his administration has openly talked of regime change in Iran. This is nothing new, it is part and parcel in the policies set in the 2002 National Security Strategy -- often referred to as the Bush doctrine. Nor is the fact that such calls for regime change are central to documents from the Plan for the New American Century, and similar Clinton administration strategy documents calling for full spectrum dominance and the like.
Despite strong sentiment in much of the U.S. ruling class to realize regime change in Iran, there are several things holding it back. First and foremost is the failed occupation of Iraq, which has the U.S. military completely tied down and is drawing more and more resources as time goes by {might want to mention 3,700 more troops bound for Iraq}. Another reason is that until fairly recently, the Bush administration had no compelling justification other than some strained excuses of Iran sponsoring a few groups the State Department classifies and terrorists. This alone wouldn't produce broad public support for U.S. military intervention, nor win support from the world community. As all of the initial "justifications" for invading Iraq have been proven patently false, polls overwhelmingly showing people not only against the Iraq war, but now saying it never should have be instigated, the Bush administration's desire to expand its imperial adventures in the Middle East were effectively on hold.
When Iran announced it had restarted its nuclear research work and had successfully enriched fuel grade {3.5%} level uranium, those calling for Iranian regime change felt they finally had an issue on which the could get some traction on. The Bush administration has been making ominous threats. The most memorable are John Bolton's "tangible and painful consequences," and Dick Cheney's "meaningful consequences." The far right pundits have discussed using bunker busting bombs, including the nuclear variety of such devices. Before attributing such bellicose posturing to the neocons or the right, we need to look at the leading Democrats, who not only share the same policies, but in some cases sound more hawkish than their supposed opposition. Howard Dean called for a "harder line on Iran." John Kerry insisted the Administration "has not been tough on Iran... you have to keep your eye on the target." Liberal darlings Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have strong opinions: the former calling for "surgical missile strikes," the later saying "we can not take any options off the table... they [Iran] will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons."
All this tough talk might seem understandable if Iran was actually creating weapons and threatening to use them. Problem is, it isn't. Iran, unlike its regional neighbors Israel, India, and Pakistan, is a signatory of the {sign 1968, ratify 1970} of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (henceforth NPT). Further, Iran signed an additional protocol in 2003 allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wider access and inspection abilities than normal NPT requirements. Under the NPT Iran is completely within its rights to research and develop nuclear power. Iranian officials state they want nuclear power for areas in Iran which are difficult to transport petroleum to, and so that more petroleum is available for export.
As for the threat of weapons development -- Iran has no weapons grade uranium, in fact it has very little fuel grade uranium.. As of March 6, 2006 the General Director of the IAEA {Mohamed El Baradei} reported "the Agency has not seen indication of diversions of nuclear materials to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices."
Facts like these are all but ignored by the U.S. media, echoing government misinformation including the now famous "Iran could produce nuclear bomb in 16 days" headline based on an absurdly hypothetical 350 fold increase in production cited by an assistant secretary of state {Stephen Rademaker}. In reality Iran, assuming no technical difficulties, and that its intentions were to create a weapon, is at least a decade away from such an endeavor. In 2005 the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate cited at least 10 years, as does the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Earlier this year U.S. National Intelligence Director (and mass murderer) John Negroponte estimated 2010 to 2015 as the earliest Iran could have a weapon -- again this is assuming they are engaging in such development. Eric Ruder's article in Socialist Worker issue 592 talks of how Iran would require 16,000 centrifuges to refine for a weapon. A far cry from their existing 164 centrifuges, and well above the Iranian offer {rejected by the U.S.} to limit their centrifuge count to 3,000. He also points out that Iran doesn't have enough uncontaminated uranium to do so anyway, which would require them to import uranium or refining technologies they don't have.
At this point there can be little doubt that any talk of an Iranian nuclear weapons program is nothing more than propaganda and misinformation just like the WMD lies that were told before Bush invaded Iraq. But just like those lies, which were initially accepted because they were repeated shrilly and endlessly, the Iran lies will undoubtedly be repeated ad infinitum for some time to come. While From Iran's standpoint it would actually make sense to develop nuclear weapons in self-defense, but as we have seen, they don't have such a program. Additionally, On August 9, 2005 Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a fatwa that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that Iran shall never acquire these weapons. We've established Iran poses no threat to the U.S., so let us look at the U.S. threat to Iran.
Iran finds itself surrounded by the very power that claims its threatened by them. Currently the U.S. has colonial style military occupations both to Iran's immediate east and west in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. has countless air-bases in the region including those in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and others -- not to mention the gulf is full of U.S. carrier groups. Then there is Israel, the only real nuclear threat in the Middle East and a primary cause of regional instability, which is following the U.S. lead on the current posturing towards Iran. Dick Cheney had the Pentagon draw up plans for an all out attack on Iran if any terrorist events happen in the future, regardless if Iran had anything to do with it {I wonder what he would do if operation rescue, one of our biggest domestic terror organizations attack a clinic?}. If we can believe everything that sources including New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh have written, then U.S. special forces and operations are already in Iran targeting assets and contacting potential allies for a U.S. attack.
The ongoing U.S. and Israeli threats against Iran last year led to natural nationalist and anti-imperial feelings among Iranians, and is partly the reason for Mahmud Ahmadinejad's victory. The hypocrisy of the U.S. and Israel leading the charge against alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program is staggering. The following quote from Socialist Worker illustrates this:
We are back to the real reasons the U.S. is menacing Iran, a desire for regime change, American hegemony in the Gulf, and a furthering of its imperial aims. As former U.N. Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter said recently: "The Bush administration does not have policy of disarmament vis-a-vis Iran. They do have a policy of regime change." With this we need to examine exactly what the U.S. wants and why.
Iran is the largest and most heavily populated country in the Persian Gulf. It is the world's forth largest oil producer. Throughout history it has been a major player, but the only history U.S. imperialism is interested in is the petroleum era. More specifically since the 1950's when the CIA initiated a coup d'etat to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammed Mosadeq, whose "crime" was nationalization of Iranian oil, and install the brutal regime of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi--the Shah.
During the 1970's a genuine working class movement began challenging the Shah, whose military and secret police were infamous for vicious repression. At it's high point, the Iranian working class created shoras throughout industries, workplaces, and communities. Shoras which are worker's councils, which we typically call soviets, were the organizing points from which they revolution sprung. Mass movements, protests, sit ins and work stoppages crippled and eventually toppled the Shah's brutal rein. This deserves much more time, which we don't have time to do justice here. For those of you that haven't read it, I strongly suggest getting a copy of "Revolutionary Rehearsals" and reading the Iran chapter. The worker's revolution that ultimately overthrew the Shah had some ideological and organizational weaknesses primarily because of leftist leadership which lacked a grounding in the real Marxist tradition. That left, heavily influenced by currents of Stalinism and elitism, was prone to abandoning principle and made major tactical errors including focusing solely on the overthrow of the Shah and not preparing the working class to assume rulership for such an eventuality. This left a power vacuum which allowed Ayatollah (Seyyed Ruhollah) Khomeini to place himself at the head of the the revolution. Using a combination of populism and anti-imperialist sentiment, mixed with aspirations of creating an Islamic republic, Khomeni became the de facto leader during and after the 1979 overthrow of the Shah. His spiritual beliefs aside, Khomeini was a firm believer in free market capitalism, which meant his consolidation of power required dismantling the same revolutionary powers that placed him at its head. In a short time his counterrevolutionary moves saw a total elimination of both Iran's left and the workers' organizations so effective at toppling the Shah. What remained is the current ruling class of Iran, a mix of Theocrats and capitalists who are to all intents and purposes, as repressive as the Shah was.
From the standpoint of U.S. imperialism, the revolution was disastrous. The U.S. lost one of its strongest allies in the region which was more like Israel and less like Saudi Arabia in terms of using its U.S. supplied military hardware for regional control. In interest of getting back to current time, I need to gloss over very important events including the U.S. Embassy seizure, the USS Vincennes shooting down a civilian airliner {Iran Air Flight 655}, the U.S. encouraging, funding and arming of both sides of the Iraq Iran war {1980-88}, Reagan's Iran-Contra Affair, and others.
The current situation with Iran and its relation to U.S. imperialism is complicated and I can't hope to possibly cover everything here. It is important to discuss some topics in relation to current tensions in Iranian U.S. relations outside of the nuclear issues.
Iran's importance as of late is very much an issue of globalization. It has seen major investment and economic alliances from Europe, Russia, and Asia -- particularly China. Much of this has been in energy related developments and pipelines, but also in other industries. This flurry of foreign investment, plus promises to relax social restrictions is what brought former President Mohammad Khatami to power. However, his devotion to neo-liberal capitalism, which has created unemployment and stagnant wages, also saw a revival in working class struggle. Working class dissatisfaction with Khatami, anti-imperialist sentiment, and national pride over Iran's nuclear program are all part of what brought current President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to power. However, his equal commitment to Iran's capitalist class has resulted in continued working class struggles as seen in the recent Tehran bus drivers strike. Iran's economic connections with the counties mentioned above are part of what has prevented the U.S. from securing U.N. actions like sanctions, and kept it from getting any international support for its saber rattling. In reality, this growing of Iranian influence on a world scale is what is really fueling calls for regime change.
In a true twist of irony the U.S. has further increased Iran's power and importance in the region through its failing occupation of Iraq. Following the classic colonial strategy of divide and conquer, the artificial sectarian divisions the U.S. created in trying to pacify Iraq have resulted in creating a powerful Shiite government with strong ties and sympathies to Tehran. The very reactionaries that were boasting "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad, Real men want to go to Tehran" have created conditions that have strengthened Iran and other Shiite run countries hands considerably in the region and given rise to further dissent in Arab states that serve U.S. interests. This is another reason why the U.S. ruling class is united in calls to threaten Iran, as U.S. credibility and influence in the region is seriously threatened.
All of this leads us back to the Bush doctrine and what kind of anti-war movement is necessary to combat it. The Bush doctrine makes specious claims to wanting to establish freedom and democracy throughout the Middle East. U.S. imperialism has a long history of supporting democracy in the region. For example: the KING of Saudia Arabia, the KING of Jordan, and the SHAH of Iran. In a word, the U.S. isn't interested in anything other than proxies to serve its interests. U.S. handling of the democratically elected Hamas proves this, as does the carefully crafted Iraqi constitution that prevents it from voting on things like ending U.S. occupation or re-nationalizing industries.
In the last weeks the U.S. has acquiesced to calls for diplomacy and will join in the Iran Six (Britain, France, China, Russia, Germany, and the U.S.) for multi-lateral talks over Iran's rights under the NPT. It did this only after it failed to bully other U.N. members into imposing sanctions, and is predicating it on a precondition that Iran suspend nuclear activities. This far from being the end of a military threat -- Condoleezza Rice called the talks "one last excuse" for Iran to resist American demands.
The anti-war movement needs to demand that the U.S. enter talks in good faith without any preconditions at all. The movement needs to demand that Iran's calls for security guarantees be granted and the the U.S. stop its rhetoric about all options being on the table. Furthermore it needs to demand a real negotiations to see resolution 687 realized, creating a WMD free Middle East -- including those of the U.S. and Israel.
This is why I feel it is important to be a member of the ISO (if you're not--you should be), where we are able to sharpen and then present these arguments to a larger audience. To be successful the anti-war movement must be principled and make the understanding, acknowledgment, and resistance the U.S. imperialism its very foundation. The ISO argued early in favor of the Iraqi resistance, and while we were criticized by liberals at the time, it is easy to see what has prevented the U.S. from moving on to Iran and Syria is the brave Iraqi resistance. An effective anti-war movement cannot compromise on issues like Palestine, must not accept arguments in favor of "humanitarian" occupations, and cannot allow itself to be silenced to avoid offending pro-war candidates like it did in 2004. We must make our voice clear and to quote our flyer for this talk: "U.N. sanctions or U.S. bombs, we say Hands off Iran!"
We are here to talk about the current U.S. threat to Iran. If you listen to the mainstream corporate media, this discussion takes an opposite tack, suggesting somehow that Iran poses a threat to the U.S., but as we will see this simply isn't the case. We will look at the facts about Iran's nuclear program. We will also look at some of the reasons why the U.S. is menacing Iran, Iran's importance in the region, and recent history. Lastly we will discuss what kind of anti-war movement is needed to take on the issues regarding Iran. Let's take a look at the administration's ongoing "Iran is a nuclear threat" propaganda first so that we can dispel rumors and conjecture and move on the the actual situation.
Since Bush declared Iran as part of his "axis of evil," his administration has openly talked of regime change in Iran. This is nothing new, it is part and parcel in the policies set in the 2002 National Security Strategy -- often referred to as the Bush doctrine. Nor is the fact that such calls for regime change are central to documents from the Plan for the New American Century, and similar Clinton administration strategy documents calling for full spectrum dominance and the like.
Despite strong sentiment in much of the U.S. ruling class to realize regime change in Iran, there are several things holding it back. First and foremost is the failed occupation of Iraq, which has the U.S. military completely tied down and is drawing more and more resources as time goes by {might want to mention 3,700 more troops bound for Iraq}. Another reason is that until fairly recently, the Bush administration had no compelling justification other than some strained excuses of Iran sponsoring a few groups the State Department classifies and terrorists. This alone wouldn't produce broad public support for U.S. military intervention, nor win support from the world community. As all of the initial "justifications" for invading Iraq have been proven patently false, polls overwhelmingly showing people not only against the Iraq war, but now saying it never should have be instigated, the Bush administration's desire to expand its imperial adventures in the Middle East were effectively on hold.
When Iran announced it had restarted its nuclear research work and had successfully enriched fuel grade {3.5%} level uranium, those calling for Iranian regime change felt they finally had an issue on which the could get some traction on. The Bush administration has been making ominous threats. The most memorable are John Bolton's "tangible and painful consequences," and Dick Cheney's "meaningful consequences." The far right pundits have discussed using bunker busting bombs, including the nuclear variety of such devices. Before attributing such bellicose posturing to the neocons or the right, we need to look at the leading Democrats, who not only share the same policies, but in some cases sound more hawkish than their supposed opposition. Howard Dean called for a "harder line on Iran." John Kerry insisted the Administration "has not been tough on Iran... you have to keep your eye on the target." Liberal darlings Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have strong opinions: the former calling for "surgical missile strikes," the later saying "we can not take any options off the table... they [Iran] will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons."
All this tough talk might seem understandable if Iran was actually creating weapons and threatening to use them. Problem is, it isn't. Iran, unlike its regional neighbors Israel, India, and Pakistan, is a signatory of the {sign 1968, ratify 1970} of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (henceforth NPT). Further, Iran signed an additional protocol in 2003 allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wider access and inspection abilities than normal NPT requirements. Under the NPT Iran is completely within its rights to research and develop nuclear power. Iranian officials state they want nuclear power for areas in Iran which are difficult to transport petroleum to, and so that more petroleum is available for export.
As for the threat of weapons development -- Iran has no weapons grade uranium, in fact it has very little fuel grade uranium.. As of March 6, 2006 the General Director of the IAEA {Mohamed El Baradei} reported "the Agency has not seen indication of diversions of nuclear materials to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices."
Facts like these are all but ignored by the U.S. media, echoing government misinformation including the now famous "Iran could produce nuclear bomb in 16 days" headline based on an absurdly hypothetical 350 fold increase in production cited by an assistant secretary of state {Stephen Rademaker}. In reality Iran, assuming no technical difficulties, and that its intentions were to create a weapon, is at least a decade away from such an endeavor. In 2005 the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate cited at least 10 years, as does the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Earlier this year U.S. National Intelligence Director (and mass murderer) John Negroponte estimated 2010 to 2015 as the earliest Iran could have a weapon -- again this is assuming they are engaging in such development. Eric Ruder's article in Socialist Worker issue 592 talks of how Iran would require 16,000 centrifuges to refine for a weapon. A far cry from their existing 164 centrifuges, and well above the Iranian offer {rejected by the U.S.} to limit their centrifuge count to 3,000. He also points out that Iran doesn't have enough uncontaminated uranium to do so anyway, which would require them to import uranium or refining technologies they don't have.
At this point there can be little doubt that any talk of an Iranian nuclear weapons program is nothing more than propaganda and misinformation just like the WMD lies that were told before Bush invaded Iraq. But just like those lies, which were initially accepted because they were repeated shrilly and endlessly, the Iran lies will undoubtedly be repeated ad infinitum for some time to come. While From Iran's standpoint it would actually make sense to develop nuclear weapons in self-defense, but as we have seen, they don't have such a program. Additionally, On August 9, 2005 Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a fatwa that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that Iran shall never acquire these weapons. We've established Iran poses no threat to the U.S., so let us look at the U.S. threat to Iran.
Iran finds itself surrounded by the very power that claims its threatened by them. Currently the U.S. has colonial style military occupations both to Iran's immediate east and west in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. has countless air-bases in the region including those in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and others -- not to mention the gulf is full of U.S. carrier groups. Then there is Israel, the only real nuclear threat in the Middle East and a primary cause of regional instability, which is following the U.S. lead on the current posturing towards Iran. Dick Cheney had the Pentagon draw up plans for an all out attack on Iran if any terrorist events happen in the future, regardless if Iran had anything to do with it {I wonder what he would do if operation rescue, one of our biggest domestic terror organizations attack a clinic?}. If we can believe everything that sources including New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh have written, then U.S. special forces and operations are already in Iran targeting assets and contacting potential allies for a U.S. attack.
The ongoing U.S. and Israeli threats against Iran last year led to natural nationalist and anti-imperial feelings among Iranians, and is partly the reason for Mahmud Ahmadinejad's victory. The hypocrisy of the U.S. and Israel leading the charge against alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program is staggering. The following quote from Socialist Worker illustrates this:
THE U.S. refusal to consider Iran's proposal to make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone exposes what all the U.S. hype about Iran's supposed nuclear weapons program is really about. On the surface, Iran's proposal appears to fit U.S. aims. In fact, the U.S. used U.N. Security Council Resolution 687, passed in 1991, which for "establishing in the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction" as justification for its 2003 war on Iraq. But Israel is currently the only nuclear power in the Middle East--with an arsenal of some 300 nuclear weapons. The U.S. doesn't want to eliminate nuclear weapons in the Middle East--so long as they remain in the hands of an ally.
We are back to the real reasons the U.S. is menacing Iran, a desire for regime change, American hegemony in the Gulf, and a furthering of its imperial aims. As former U.N. Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter said recently: "The Bush administration does not have policy of disarmament vis-a-vis Iran. They do have a policy of regime change." With this we need to examine exactly what the U.S. wants and why.
Iran is the largest and most heavily populated country in the Persian Gulf. It is the world's forth largest oil producer. Throughout history it has been a major player, but the only history U.S. imperialism is interested in is the petroleum era. More specifically since the 1950's when the CIA initiated a coup d'etat to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammed Mosadeq, whose "crime" was nationalization of Iranian oil, and install the brutal regime of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi--the Shah.
During the 1970's a genuine working class movement began challenging the Shah, whose military and secret police were infamous for vicious repression. At it's high point, the Iranian working class created shoras throughout industries, workplaces, and communities. Shoras which are worker's councils, which we typically call soviets, were the organizing points from which they revolution sprung. Mass movements, protests, sit ins and work stoppages crippled and eventually toppled the Shah's brutal rein. This deserves much more time, which we don't have time to do justice here. For those of you that haven't read it, I strongly suggest getting a copy of "Revolutionary Rehearsals" and reading the Iran chapter. The worker's revolution that ultimately overthrew the Shah had some ideological and organizational weaknesses primarily because of leftist leadership which lacked a grounding in the real Marxist tradition. That left, heavily influenced by currents of Stalinism and elitism, was prone to abandoning principle and made major tactical errors including focusing solely on the overthrow of the Shah and not preparing the working class to assume rulership for such an eventuality. This left a power vacuum which allowed Ayatollah (Seyyed Ruhollah) Khomeini to place himself at the head of the the revolution. Using a combination of populism and anti-imperialist sentiment, mixed with aspirations of creating an Islamic republic, Khomeni became the de facto leader during and after the 1979 overthrow of the Shah. His spiritual beliefs aside, Khomeini was a firm believer in free market capitalism, which meant his consolidation of power required dismantling the same revolutionary powers that placed him at its head. In a short time his counterrevolutionary moves saw a total elimination of both Iran's left and the workers' organizations so effective at toppling the Shah. What remained is the current ruling class of Iran, a mix of Theocrats and capitalists who are to all intents and purposes, as repressive as the Shah was.
From the standpoint of U.S. imperialism, the revolution was disastrous. The U.S. lost one of its strongest allies in the region which was more like Israel and less like Saudi Arabia in terms of using its U.S. supplied military hardware for regional control. In interest of getting back to current time, I need to gloss over very important events including the U.S. Embassy seizure, the USS Vincennes shooting down a civilian airliner {Iran Air Flight 655}, the U.S. encouraging, funding and arming of both sides of the Iraq Iran war {1980-88}, Reagan's Iran-Contra Affair, and others.
The current situation with Iran and its relation to U.S. imperialism is complicated and I can't hope to possibly cover everything here. It is important to discuss some topics in relation to current tensions in Iranian U.S. relations outside of the nuclear issues.
Iran's importance as of late is very much an issue of globalization. It has seen major investment and economic alliances from Europe, Russia, and Asia -- particularly China. Much of this has been in energy related developments and pipelines, but also in other industries. This flurry of foreign investment, plus promises to relax social restrictions is what brought former President Mohammad Khatami to power. However, his devotion to neo-liberal capitalism, which has created unemployment and stagnant wages, also saw a revival in working class struggle. Working class dissatisfaction with Khatami, anti-imperialist sentiment, and national pride over Iran's nuclear program are all part of what brought current President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to power. However, his equal commitment to Iran's capitalist class has resulted in continued working class struggles as seen in the recent Tehran bus drivers strike. Iran's economic connections with the counties mentioned above are part of what has prevented the U.S. from securing U.N. actions like sanctions, and kept it from getting any international support for its saber rattling. In reality, this growing of Iranian influence on a world scale is what is really fueling calls for regime change.
In a true twist of irony the U.S. has further increased Iran's power and importance in the region through its failing occupation of Iraq. Following the classic colonial strategy of divide and conquer, the artificial sectarian divisions the U.S. created in trying to pacify Iraq have resulted in creating a powerful Shiite government with strong ties and sympathies to Tehran. The very reactionaries that were boasting "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad, Real men want to go to Tehran" have created conditions that have strengthened Iran and other Shiite run countries hands considerably in the region and given rise to further dissent in Arab states that serve U.S. interests. This is another reason why the U.S. ruling class is united in calls to threaten Iran, as U.S. credibility and influence in the region is seriously threatened.
All of this leads us back to the Bush doctrine and what kind of anti-war movement is necessary to combat it. The Bush doctrine makes specious claims to wanting to establish freedom and democracy throughout the Middle East. U.S. imperialism has a long history of supporting democracy in the region. For example: the KING of Saudia Arabia, the KING of Jordan, and the SHAH of Iran. In a word, the U.S. isn't interested in anything other than proxies to serve its interests. U.S. handling of the democratically elected Hamas proves this, as does the carefully crafted Iraqi constitution that prevents it from voting on things like ending U.S. occupation or re-nationalizing industries.
In the last weeks the U.S. has acquiesced to calls for diplomacy and will join in the Iran Six (Britain, France, China, Russia, Germany, and the U.S.) for multi-lateral talks over Iran's rights under the NPT. It did this only after it failed to bully other U.N. members into imposing sanctions, and is predicating it on a precondition that Iran suspend nuclear activities. This far from being the end of a military threat -- Condoleezza Rice called the talks "one last excuse" for Iran to resist American demands.
The anti-war movement needs to demand that the U.S. enter talks in good faith without any preconditions at all. The movement needs to demand that Iran's calls for security guarantees be granted and the the U.S. stop its rhetoric about all options being on the table. Furthermore it needs to demand a real negotiations to see resolution 687 realized, creating a WMD free Middle East -- including those of the U.S. and Israel.
This is why I feel it is important to be a member of the ISO (if you're not--you should be), where we are able to sharpen and then present these arguments to a larger audience. To be successful the anti-war movement must be principled and make the understanding, acknowledgment, and resistance the U.S. imperialism its very foundation. The ISO argued early in favor of the Iraqi resistance, and while we were criticized by liberals at the time, it is easy to see what has prevented the U.S. from moving on to Iran and Syria is the brave Iraqi resistance. An effective anti-war movement cannot compromise on issues like Palestine, must not accept arguments in favor of "humanitarian" occupations, and cannot allow itself to be silenced to avoid offending pro-war candidates like it did in 2004. We must make our voice clear and to quote our flyer for this talk: "U.N. sanctions or U.S. bombs, we say Hands off Iran!"
Monday, March 03, 2008
Local Man Sues Government After Being Wrongly Deported
What happens in an atmosphere of racist anti-immigrant sentiments. Here's wishing the ACLU gets a huge settlement out of the Department of Faderland Security, and the funds would come directly of the xenophobic right wing's taxes only.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Exchanges with White Supremacists
While I shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place, I made a comment post in response to a YouTube post that blacks somehow perpetrate more racism towards whites (I am rdsathene). My follow up post with the links was never posted because YouTube comments don't allow for links, and I realized the utter lack of historical knowledge and unprincipled politics of the types posting on YouTube would have been a waste of my time. Notice how 'CoollrThnU' immediately resorts to ad-hominum attacks and jingoistic U.S. nationalism.
rdsathene
Equating the racism of the oppressor to the racism of the oppressed? Blacks suffer a double oppression in the U.S., and are in no position to use racism to oppress whites economically or politically. The converse, of course, has been true ever since whites enslaved blacks. Anything appearing as racism from black individuals is typically a reaction to suffering a lifetime of real racism and oppression here in the cradle of racism.
CoollrThnU
Ameerica is not the fucking "cradle of racism", doucebag. The fucking European CREATED racism, or at least were the first to act upon it in a major way.
rdsathene
Yes, I'm a "doucebag" [sic] for pointing out something widely known. White supremacists here can save their comments for someone who cares to hear their racists drivel. Here are a few places to start for the under-educated:
rdsathene
Equating the racism of the oppressor to the racism of the oppressed? Blacks suffer a double oppression in the U.S., and are in no position to use racism to oppress whites economically or politically. The converse, of course, has been true ever since whites enslaved blacks. Anything appearing as racism from black individuals is typically a reaction to suffering a lifetime of real racism and oppression here in the cradle of racism.
CoollrThnU
Ameerica is not the fucking "cradle of racism", doucebag. The fucking European CREATED racism, or at least were the first to act upon it in a major way.
rdsathene
Yes, I'm a "doucebag" [sic] for pointing out something widely known. White supremacists here can save their comments for someone who cares to hear their racists drivel. Here are a few places to start for the under-educated:
- http://www.isreview.org/issues/26/roots_of_racism.shtml
- http://johnmolyneux.blogspot.com/2007/03/marxism-and-oppression.html
- http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/unknown-date/black-power.htm
Monday, January 14, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
If Your Commute Is Getting Longer, Blame the Cell Phone
Not sure if I needed a study to confirm this...
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Vick Behind Bars
Quote from a young woman to Dave on society's current hatred of Michael Vick:
Do you think if people knew how many pets died in Katrina, more people would care what we are going through?
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Hersh: children raped at Abu Ghraib, Pentagon has videos
So much for Rumsfeld's 'fraternity pranks.' They all need to be marched out on the Hague.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
The Soldiers Project
Free, Confidential Psychological Counseling for Veterans. Important PTSD resource.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Fixing MacPorts Lynx Version 2.8.6rel.5_0+ssl colors
This is a minor update to the past write up Fixing MacPorts Lynx Version 2.8.6rel.4 colors
The MacPorts developer have changed most of the paths, so the old method of fixing things broke. I am posting the old and new paths here. It is doubtful the diffs in the original article are still valid, but the items needing change are exactly the same. I figure anyone technical enough to follow the original fixes can figure out what I mean.
Portfile
/Users/Shared/var/db/dports/sources/rsync.rsync.darwinports.\
org_dpupdate_dports/www/lynx/Portfile
is now
/Users/Shared/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/www/\
lynx/Portfile
Config File
/Users/Shared/var/db/dports/build/\
_Users_Shared_var_db_dports_sources_rsync.rsync.darwinports.\
org_dpupdate_dports_www_lynx/work/lynx2-8-6/lynx.cfg
is now
/Users/Shared/var/macports/build/\
_Users_Shared_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.\
org_release_ports_www_lynx/work/lynx2-8-6/lynx.cfg
and
/Users/Shared/var/macports/software/lynx/2.8.6rel.5_0+ssl/Users/Shared/\
etc/lynx.cfg
The MacPorts developer have changed most of the paths, so the old method of fixing things broke. I am posting the old and new paths here. It is doubtful the diffs in the original article are still valid, but the items needing change are exactly the same. I figure anyone technical enough to follow the original fixes can figure out what I mean.
Portfile
/Users/Shared/var/db/dports/sources/rsync.rsync.darwinports.\
org_dpupdate_dports/www/lynx/Portfile
is now
/Users/Shared/var/macports/sources/rsync.macports.org/release/ports/www/\
lynx/Portfile
Config File
/Users/Shared/var/db/dports/build/\
_Users_Shared_var_db_dports_sources_rsync.rsync.darwinports.\
org_dpupdate_dports_www_lynx/work/lynx2-8-6/lynx.cfg
is now
/Users/Shared/var/macports/build/\
_Users_Shared_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.\
org_release_ports_www_lynx/work/lynx2-8-6/lynx.cfg
and
/Users/Shared/var/macports/software/lynx/2.8.6rel.5_0+ssl/Users/Shared/\
etc/lynx.cfg
Friday, November 23, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Friday, October 05, 2007
Arundhati Roy on nationalism
Nationalism of one kind or another was the cause of most of the genocide of the twentieth century. Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's brains and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.
--Arundhati Roy
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Rose Schneiderman on Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public and we have found you wanting. The old Inquisition had its rack and its thumbscrews and its instruments of torture with iron teeth. We know what these things are today; the iron teeth are our necessities, the thumbscrews are the high-powered and swift machinery close to which we must work, and the rack is here in the firetrap structures that will destroy us the minute they catch on fire.
This is not the first time girls have been burned alive in the city. Every week I must learn of the untimely death of one of my sister workers. Every year thousands of us are maimed. The life of men and women is so cheap and property is so sacred. There are so many of us for one job it matters little if 146 of us are burned to death.
We have tried you citizens; we are trying you now, and you have a couple of dollars for the sorrowing mothers, brothers and sisters by way of a charity gift. But every time the workers come out in the only way they know to protest against conditions which are unbearable the strong hand of the law is allowed to press down heavily upon us.
Public officials have only words of warning to us – warning that we must be intensely peaceable, and they have the workhouse just back of all their warnings. The strong hand of the law beats us back, when we rise, into the conditions that make life unbearable.
I can't talk fellowship to you who are gathered here. Too much blood has been spilled. I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Calvinist Style
A friend forwarded this to me.
On the Whosoever.org website, Thomas Woodrooffe describes Mother Teresa's actions in Calcutta in 1993. She tended intimately to the sick and dying without asking them their religious beliefs or judging them for any behavior that might have played a part in their illness. In contrast, fundamentalist missionaries were roaming Calcutta's streets at the same time, handing out religious propaganda to the diseased and destitute, warning them they'd face eternal damnation if they'd didn't convert to the One True Way. Keep that difference in mind during the coming weeks, Scorpio. You're in a phase of your astrological cycle when you have tremendous power to heal people, fix misaligned energy, and provide the kind of moral leadership that raises everyone's integrity levels. Be like Mother Teresa, not the fundamentalist missionaries.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Live Tapioca Equinox Acoustic Show
Friday, September 7, 2007 at 9:00PMTapioca Equinox at Tangier
2138 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz, CA 90027
Acoustic Room—21 and Over, $10 Opens the Door
Check out some Tapioca Equinox songs on the myspace!
Make it legal for my Daddy to come back
Young Kayla wasted no time when offered markers and a poster board after informing her we were fresh out of signs. The placard she crafted for the march was more poignant and far more profound than any of ours. It read: "Make it legal for my Daddy to come back with his family please."Kayla, like some 1,500 other marchers endured 90 degree heat to march on Saturday August 18th. Participants walked along Broadway Street to Los Angeles City Hall in an immigration rights event called by the March 25th Coalition. The event's demands included stop the raids and amnesty now. Many groups participated, including Emergency Response Network members who carried a blue banner inscribed "Alto A Las Redadas" (Stop The Raids). Lively chants accompanied marchers along their route, and speakers addressed the crowd at the end point rally.
Socialist Worker had an opportunity to interview Kayla's mother, Linda, regarding the story behind her daughter's placard.
"My husband was deported five months ago. He lived here for 36 years, he went to school here. We've been married 28 years, and have six children and seven grandchildren. Now that he is gone we are struggling. I just had my phone cut off. I can't pay my bills and one of my daughters is expecting."
Linda's story, like so many others, exposes how current immigration policy and I.C.E. raids break up families. We need to continue protesting and building organizations like the Emergency Response Network to prevent families from being separated.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
The Great LA Healthcare Rally 2007/08/11@1PM
Saturday, August 11, 2007 @ 1:00PM
First and Spring Streets (L.A. City Hall South)
Demand real universal care for all! Stop insurance profits forever! Held by Labor Task Force for Universal Healthcare, endorsed by the L.A. County Federation of Labor.
First and Spring Streets (L.A. City Hall South)
Demand real universal care for all! Stop insurance profits forever! Held by Labor Task Force for Universal Healthcare, endorsed by the L.A. County Federation of Labor.
Defend Leimert Park from the MinuteKLAN 2007/08/11@11AM
Saturday, August 11, 2007 @ 11:00AM
Martin Luther King Blvd. and Crenshaw Blvd.
Take a stand against racist and anti-immigrant groups trying to sow the seeds of division. Leimert Park residents have a long history of black/brown unity, and refuse to allow the KKK, MMP, SOS, or any other white supremacist ideologies in their neighborhood. We kept Ted Hayes and his gang out of the Park last month, time to do so again!
Martin Luther King Blvd. and Crenshaw Blvd.
Take a stand against racist and anti-immigrant groups trying to sow the seeds of division. Leimert Park residents have a long history of black/brown unity, and refuse to allow the KKK, MMP, SOS, or any other white supremacist ideologies in their neighborhood. We kept Ted Hayes and his gang out of the Park last month, time to do so again!
Monday, August 06, 2007
Awesome Labor Victory Readings!
If you haven't read Shaun's UPS article, please do now: When Big Brown was shut down. Afterwards, check out this inspirational piece on the YouTube America's Victory: The 1997 UPS Strike
More importantly, Todd covers a contemporary example of how our most powerful weapon--the strike--remains the most important component in working class struggle.
More importantly, Todd covers a contemporary example of how our most powerful weapon--the strike--remains the most important component in working class struggle.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
MS-DOS paternity suit settled
One more lie in the predatory monopolist's revisionist history unveiled.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Did Tim Donaghy and crew fixed game 3 of Suns-Spurs?
For those of us that found the Phoenix-San Antonio series highly suspect, a preponderance of evidence confirming those suspicions evolves.
Friday, July 20, 2007
USS Florikan (ASR 9)
I served the empire when I was a very young man. The bulk of that military service was on the USS Florikan (ASR 9). The above linked site has some good photos, allows registration of when you were aboard, and to see others serving that same period. I recognized two names and left a message for one. The Florikan was a submarine rescue ship, but its primary functions were diving and salvage. Despite Navy divers being the best in the world, I was witness to a fatality, and two divers suffering the 'bends'—one of those cases debilitating. The diver killed in a dive accident had a son just a few years younger than my closest friends and I. His father would bring him aboard when he had weekend duty, and we would hang out with him since our age gap was neglible. Those heady days of being out to sea, the anecdotes, and everything else deserves eventual commitment to prose.
I also have some amazing photographs of the USS Florikan anchored just off Catalina Island. We would then serve as an offshore mooring for subs (they don't have the best anchoring abilities) and then everyone would use our boats for Avalon shore leave. The photographs feature the last commissioned diesel electric submarine lashed to one side and a brand new Los Angeles class nuclear attack boat along our other. I don't remember the names of the subs (it's been decades). I do remember it was poignant for the 'bubble-heads' (submariners), seeing that juxtaposition of old and new. I also have a photo of a good friend named Fernando Alfonso and my self with Diamond Head behind us as we sailed to our new home port in Pearl Harbor from our previous one of San Diego (alternatively 32nd Street and Point Loma). That photo was right after I got my shiny Surface Warfare pin (ESWS). I need to scan those photos, and place them online.
2007-07-24: More Florikan information: USS Florikan (ASR 9) some early history (looks like this link is gone now).
2010-04-12 I finally did get around to scanning and posting photos. Was also happy to see former shipmates making comments here as well.
2011-01-06 Please read the comments to learn about the USS Florikan's current status.
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I also have some amazing photographs of the USS Florikan anchored just off Catalina Island. We would then serve as an offshore mooring for subs (they don't have the best anchoring abilities) and then everyone would use our boats for Avalon shore leave. The photographs feature the last commissioned diesel electric submarine lashed to one side and a brand new Los Angeles class nuclear attack boat along our other. I don't remember the names of the subs (it's been decades). I do remember it was poignant for the 'bubble-heads' (submariners), seeing that juxtaposition of old and new. I also have a photo of a good friend named Fernando Alfonso and my self with Diamond Head behind us as we sailed to our new home port in Pearl Harbor from our previous one of San Diego (alternatively 32nd Street and Point Loma). That photo was right after I got my shiny Surface Warfare pin (ESWS). I need to scan those photos, and place them online.
2007-07-24: More Florikan information: USS Florikan (ASR 9) some early history (looks like this link is gone now).
2010-04-12 I finally did get around to scanning and posting photos. Was also happy to see former shipmates making comments here as well.
2011-01-06 Please read the comments to learn about the USS Florikan's current status.
\
Monday, July 16, 2007
"Red Hill" Echo Park Film Screening
Echo Park Film Center's Spring 2006 youth documentary project centers on the "Red Hill" era, a time during the 1930s, '40s and '50s when Echo Park was a center of leftist political activity. Learn about your neighborhood's radical past and how this history has continued to affect and influence community activism in the years since! Numerous veteran activists are profiled in this documentary.
Friday July 20 - 6:30 pm
Edendale Library
2011 Sunset Blvd. 90026
Enter parking lot on Alvarado, north of Sunset
Friday July 20 - 6:30 pm
Edendale Library
2011 Sunset Blvd. 90026
Enter parking lot on Alvarado, north of Sunset
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Immigration bill dead in Senate
Although the reactionary white supremacists of the Klan, Minutemen, SOS, CBA, NA, etc. are hailing the defeat of the bill as a victory, we on the principled left see it as a victory too. The Times article mentions phone systems crashing from high volumes of racist calls opposing the bill as being "amnesty." Aside from being dead wrong on its face, any way of seeing a bill that clearly was only about enforcement, militarization of the border, extorting money from poor undocumented peoples, and featuring a self-deportation "touch-back" clause as amnesty is ludicrous.
For us no bill is certainly better than draconian measures congress and Bush have been proposing. The downside is the ongoing inhumane ICE raids continuing to disrupt our communities, families, and lives. While we need to continue fighting back against the raids, we also need to restate the only acceptable approach to this imagined crisis manufactured by the racist, isolationist right wing. Real amnesty for all undocumented peoples! Now, no strings, no questions asked.
Bush, with his hideous legacy of a presidency should for the first time in his life do the right thing -- grant amnesty. Eight years of shameless handouts to the rich, the bare racism of Katrina's aftermath, the untold hundreds of thousands dead from his unconscionable invasions and occupations, the inhuman torture in Abu Gharib and Guantanamo, and so on. The very least Bush could do to put a single check-mark in the column of decency of his otherwise vile presidency is grant amnesty.
For us no bill is certainly better than draconian measures congress and Bush have been proposing. The downside is the ongoing inhumane ICE raids continuing to disrupt our communities, families, and lives. While we need to continue fighting back against the raids, we also need to restate the only acceptable approach to this imagined crisis manufactured by the racist, isolationist right wing. Real amnesty for all undocumented peoples! Now, no strings, no questions asked.
Bush, with his hideous legacy of a presidency should for the first time in his life do the right thing -- grant amnesty. Eight years of shameless handouts to the rich, the bare racism of Katrina's aftermath, the untold hundreds of thousands dead from his unconscionable invasions and occupations, the inhuman torture in Abu Gharib and Guantanamo, and so on. The very least Bush could do to put a single check-mark in the column of decency of his otherwise vile presidency is grant amnesty.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Beating Back the Klan
Saturday The Klan, SOS, MMP, F.A.I.R. front group CBA, and other white supremacist groups held a rally and march down Crenshaw Blvd. The theme of their little hate fest was that undocumented workers are somehow lowering standards of living. Ironically, their initial rally was located in front of the Wall-Mart on Crenshaw and MLK. If they wanted the real reason for declining standards of living, they should have looked at the sign behind them. Led by opportunist Ted Hayes, the group of about 60 marched towards Leimert Park with the intention of holding a hate rally and trying to incite brown black division.Fortunately, neighborhood locals combined with anti-racist activists to thwart their plans. Blocking all access to the Park, those countering the Klan refused to allow a park known for its multi-cultural music and African cultural scene to host a rally of white supremacists. Seeing that opposition to the minuteKlan outnumbered both the supramacists and the riot gear clad police by about 4 to 1, police decided to ask Hayes and his ilk to disperse after several tense hours of standoff.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Friday Cats
These little kitties were born in March 2007. I didn't get the count of the original litter, but I was happy to see that three lived. The downside is that the feral population is getting too large again.Technorati Profile
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Gouged at the gas pumps, by Geoff Bailey - SW #635
The entire article is excellent. The following quote is from the article:
Essentially, this is an example of a cartel in practice that holds monopolistic control of a market. Bourgoise anti-trust law doesn't apply here since these corporations don't conspire. A de facto cartel is a cartel nonetheless. Lenin's monumental work 'Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism,' is still the best resource for understanding how capital is compelled to monopoly, then cartels and trusts, then imperialism.
Reading Lenin's book then re-reading this Socialist Worker article would provide newer comrades and ISO contacts with a deeper understanding. This article provoked a lot of discussion in our pre-sale meeting for a Los Angeles SW sale. One comrade asked how the Marxist view that capitalism represents an unplanned economy could explain things like cartels. The answer of course is that while individual corporations, or a specific sector of a market engages in planning, that the effects on other parts of the economy or society are not taken into account.
A good example relating to the oil cartel's price gouging is how it raises prices on other items because the increase in transportation costs. Further, consumers have less income to spend on other goods, which in turn can cause a crisis in overproduction, etc.
'Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism' available at your local ISO branch, Haymarket Books, or online at the Marxist Internet Archive.
As writer Dave Lindorff put it on CounterPunch: "The oil industry has in practice conspired to limit refining capacity, so that companies can keep pushing up the price of gas artificially--only they've done this without ever having to meet in secret and cut a deal, because they all have complete competitive information on each other's inventories, internal pricing and refinery capacity."'
Essentially, this is an example of a cartel in practice that holds monopolistic control of a market. Bourgoise anti-trust law doesn't apply here since these corporations don't conspire. A de facto cartel is a cartel nonetheless. Lenin's monumental work 'Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism,' is still the best resource for understanding how capital is compelled to monopoly, then cartels and trusts, then imperialism.
Reading Lenin's book then re-reading this Socialist Worker article would provide newer comrades and ISO contacts with a deeper understanding. This article provoked a lot of discussion in our pre-sale meeting for a Los Angeles SW sale. One comrade asked how the Marxist view that capitalism represents an unplanned economy could explain things like cartels. The answer of course is that while individual corporations, or a specific sector of a market engages in planning, that the effects on other parts of the economy or society are not taken into account.
A good example relating to the oil cartel's price gouging is how it raises prices on other items because the increase in transportation costs. Further, consumers have less income to spend on other goods, which in turn can cause a crisis in overproduction, etc.
'Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism' available at your local ISO branch, Haymarket Books, or online at the Marxist Internet Archive.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
You start with a spark
And it occurred to me that the future of the working class isn’t going to be decided in the halls of Congress--it’s going to be decided in a Vons parking lot, and I’m going to be standing in that parking lot playing that song.
-- Tom Morello
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Demonstration Against LAPD May Day Brutality
We demonstrated against the LAPD's vicious May Day attacks on families at MacArthur Park on Thursday May 17, 2007. Although the march and rally were organized by the right wing of the immigrant right's movement, there was still an air of radicalization and people still are not satisfied with the all too quick to conciliation tone.Outrage at LA cops’ May Day assault by Randy Childs is a great summary of the violence the state is willing to use against its citizens when ruling class hegemony is threatened. The new sanctuary movement in SW is a great article on how ordinary people are fighting back against Washington's racist anti-immigrant tide.
Sweet Friday Felines
The Hermetic Order of the Tapioca Equinox got me back into wanting to do occasional Friday Feline posts again!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Friday, May 04, 2007
May Day March Downtown Los Angeles 2007
Although the police were edgy with us, we didn't have to suffer the brutal LAPD attacks meted out against the peaceful participants in MacArthur Park. More on that soon.
Don Larsen of the Utah County Republican Party calls illegal immigrants "Satan's minions."
The cited article is a good indication of reactionary republican racist thought, but the comments on GNN under the abstract are a fun read.
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