Reader Comments: Guilty But Not Impeached; Bernie Sanders campaign; Martin Luther King's Legacy; Organizing Workers; Afghanistan, Guantánamo; Black History Month resources; Labor Scholarships available; Harry Belafonte celebration; Announcements;
Mitch McConnell’s conduct of Trump’s Senate trial recalls the baleful history of southern racial injustice in the civil rights era. Wow, such truth. Wish we would all have seen and heard the truth at Trumps trial but Moscow Mitch saw to it that we had that southern type of justice.
Dershowitz is lauded as having one of the best legal minds of our time. But. He seems to have extreme lapses in judgment. As part of the Epstein underage sex crime debacle, he stated he only got a massage. Same decision a drunken sailor would have made with an underage girl, maybe. So, when you defend trump you enter into the irrational, untrue and indefensible.
I live in Puerto Rico the Youth is powerful. 600, 000 thousand voted a Governor in office down here. And 1.5 million young people got his corrupted ass out in 72 hours. I'm 60 years of age and never in my life time have I seen a multitude of Young people determine and willing to run over the capital building.
America is a great country with energy, enterprise and know how. Its people are friendly and there is prosperity even if it is unevenly shared.
Politically many people are brainwashed by corporate America and by organized religion.
The result is America is way behind other industrial countries when it comes to universal health care and other social programs. So go Bernie go and congratulations to the youth supporting him. Change in the political system is long overdue. After watching the Senate's self interested approach to impeachment this past week, it is clear that substantial change is necessary. But you will still be up against the great performer, Trump.
Read the history of the failure of people to unite and compromise that let to Hitler. And MLK used strategy and compromised. This is dangerous, revisionist rhetoric.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Every time she speaks she says things I've been thinking but didn't know. What a bold, revolutionary, DANGEROUS power she offers us!
Claire O'Connor
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Some of us won't live long enough for "incremental changes" to make any difference. We've got one chance left to fix this mess. Don't blow it.
With its adherence to centrism over progressivism, the Democratic Party is run by “true believers” in the notion that “we can capitalism our way out of poverty” by rejecting bold, far-reaching initiatives like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal in favor of incremental changes to the healthcare and economic systems.
“And that’s an area where I agree with Dr. King, that that assessment is flawed,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said. “We can’t sit around and use the high school history version of Dr. King,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “King’s life did not end because he said ‘I have a dream.’ It ended because he was dangerous to the core injustices of this nation…If we want to honor him, we have to be dangerous too.”
“By reporting what multimillionaire and billionaire CEOs say about efforts to change a system they so clearly have a huge stake in staying the same, without highlighting, or even mentioning, their conflict of interest, corporate media are doing their audiences a disservice—effectively propagandizing them into supporting a model their owners and advertisers benefit from. If media are to perform their role as the fourth estate properly, they should really be scrutinizing power, not uncritically amplifying it.”
This all very nice, and informative, about how to use public media and the press, but it doesn't say anything about how to approach your fellow colleagues and determine whether there is some wide spread dissatisfaction and the how to build a cadre of Activists who you can rely on to help organizing. Also one should talk about mapping the workplace and accessing co-workers commitment to organizing a union. Will they pursue this no matter what? Are they interested by still need reinforcing? Are they non-committal? Or are they actively anti-union?
The one on one communications are still critical whether via social media or in person, though the latter is almost always more effective.
Anyhow, this is not really a guide to organizing your workplace, but more of a guide about how to not get caught.
For profit, corporate health care is an oxymora and will NEVER provide the health care we all deserve. Only "beneficiaries" are CEOs and BIG shareholders. Singlepayer health care NOW!
These are the reasons why I left work at Walgreens. It costs pharmacists their health to try and please both the non pharmacist supervisors and clients.
The stress is terrible and to be constantly pressed to meet a sales / profit goals is unbearable.
U.S. came, U.S. wrecked their land, U.S. stole their oil. It's the same old song.
Mike Liston
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This article articulates what I have been trying to say for years to people. Gaddafi kept the region stable. Of course, I am one of the few Americans who read his Green Book. It's a short read, only 110 pages or so. Thanks for the article
The Washington Post recently released the Afghanistan Papers, which are internal government documents that exposed the lies told to the American people, documenting early on that the Afghanistan War was a debacle and could not be won. Yet, our government chose to continue that war now in its 19th year.
As the mother of an infantry officer who served in Zhari District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, at the height of President Obama’s surge, I have a question: How do three Presidents and top military leaders responsible for the Afghanistan War, justify their actions to those mothers who lost a child for no good reason?
Our government, and those who enable endless war, have clearly shown us what they think of our military men and women, the ones they proclaim to honor and respect – that, in fact, their lives are disposable, and can be simply thrown away, sacrificed for lies, unwilling to admit the Afghanistan war could not be won, damn the consequences.
As the Afghanistan Papers clearly outline, lies were told to benefit ladder climbing officers, falsely documenting progress on their watch, when none was made. And lies were told by our government leaders, on both sides of the aisle, who knew, or should have known that the war was futile. And the arms makers made a killing off of killing, raking in billions of dollars, year after year. They were just fine with the concept of endless war and endless profits. All of this is despicable and disgraceful. Those in power have deeply betrayed our military men and women.
These facts are just another way to continually torture families who lost a loved one, or whose family member returned home from war broken, physically and mentally.
And to add more insult to injury, Congress overwhelmingly approved, in the wake of these horrendous revelations, the ever-increasing Pentagon budget of $738 billion.
Also, the U.S. has dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 than at any other time since the war began. In 2019 alone, the US dropped 7,423 separate munitions on Afghanistan targets representing a dramatic increase in bombings since President Barack Obama's "surge" in 2010, when 5,101 bombs were dropped. These bombings have greatly increased civilian casualties. And to what end? Killing civilians is the most effective recruitment tool, creating more enemies determined to fight America.
So, for the record – we have documented proof that the U.S. government has gone to war for lies in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. And these lies have cost the lives of at least 66,000 U.S. troops and the lives of well over a million civilians.
How can we ignore these facts? Where is our humanity? Where is our anger?
The war in Afghanistan is criminal, the horrors outlined in the Afghanistan Papers demand accountability. Congressional hearings must be held and the Afghanistan War must end now.
We must stop the killing, take the trillions of dollars devoted to endless war and instead invest in our people, invest in our environment, and invest in our future.
Stop the Madness – No More War.
Mary Hladky
United for Peace & Justice Coordinating Committee
Military Families Speak Out, a UFPJ member group
Take action to stop this.Tell Congress to pass the NO BAN Act. It will not only repeal the current MuslimBan, it will also prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion by any president.
As an organization that stands with social movements and communities resisting oppression, we know that change is possible when artists, storytellers, and lawyers dream together. This Black History Month, we celebrate the extraordinary Black artists, storytellers, and lawyers who have challenged the world we have and helped us imagine the world we want to see. We are proud to highlight this special group of creatives, allies, and movement partners who are using their tremendous gifts to advocate for racial justice, human rights, and social and political transformation.
Activism through artists
For over 50 years, we have been uplifted, sustained, and inspired by countless artists who not only urgently “reflect the times,” but whose work charts an irresistible future.
We have strategized with the legendary Harry Belafonte and rapper Tef Poe during the Ferguson uprisings; we partnered with Grammy Award-winning jazz great Esperanza Spaulding and the extraordinary poets Saul Williams and Aja Monet on the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. We’ve worked with artist and actor Yasiin Bey to end stop-and-frisk; filmmaker Stanley Nelson on the legacy of Black radical activism; Danny Glover to address the political crisis in Haiti; filmmaker Jacqueline Olive on modern-day lynchings and Broadway performer Tanya Birl to end solitary confinement.
We worked in partnership with Jay-Z on the closure of the infamous jail on Rikers Island; actress Kerry Washington on police killings and filmmaker dream hampton on trans justice. We have a continuing partnership with The Dream Unfinished Activist Orchestra’s annual concert for Civil Rights, which has featured talents of vocalist Helga Davis, violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins, award-winning contemporary composers like Jessie Montgomery and Courtney Bryan, and vastly underappreciated past composers like Florence Price and William Grant Still.
Our Executive Director Vince Warren, a jazz and funk musician, often says “There are only two things worth doing in life - alleviating pain, and creating beauty.” At the Center for Constitutional Rights, we honor the Black artists who do both, who do it all. Here’s to Black History, Black Future, and Black Art!
FEATURED ARTISTS:
Darlene Newman
Zeelie Brown
Dario Calmese
Center for Constitutional Rights https://ccrjustice.org
666 Broadway
7th Floor
New York, NY 10012
By Taylor Pittman
Updated February 1, 2019 HuffPost
February marks Black History Month, and storytime is just one of the many occasions when you can teach your kids about the accomplishments of black pioneers and trailblazers.
With suggestions from the organizations above, plus some others, we put together a list of kids’ books by black authors, about black figures or focused on black culture.
In the spirit of Audre Lorde, who encouraged Afro-Germans to make themselves visible within a culture that kept them isolated and silent, Black Solidarity in a Global Context is a month of programming that explores the deep roots of art, activism, and culture between Germany and the Black world.
With the rise of new far-right movements globally, international solidarity and the exchange of artistic and activist practices are an increasingly important aspect of anti-racist work. While new knowledge is now almost immediately shared via social media, this solidarity has a rich, often hidden history. From Black GIs who recognized the linked threats of American racism and European fascism, to international anti-apartheid work and the Black power movement, Black activists have consistently shared tactics and inspiration in the ever-present struggle against white supremacy. Through film screenings, talks, and panel discussions, this event series sheds light on both the often-lost history of transatlantic Black solidarity and contemporary movements for creative expression, solidarity, and equality across the African diaspora.
PROGRAM Feb 6: Talk & conversation | C& Projects x RAGGA NYC: Planetary Connections
@Goethe-Institut, 7:00 PM
Feb 13: Screening of Leo Hurwitz’s Strange Victory, with Michael Gillespie (CCNY Associate Professor of Media and Communication Arts)
@Maysles Cinema, 7:00 PM Get tickets
Feb 18: Screening of Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years
@Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, 6:30 PM
Feb 26: Screening of Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners, and conversation with director Shola Lynch
@Goethe-Institut, 7:00 PM
Feb 29: Black Solidarity In A Global Context: A Transatlantic Roundtable
@Goethe-Institut, 4:00 PM
LOCATIONS
Goethe-Institut New York: 30 Irving Place
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung: 275 Madison Avenue, suite 2114
Maysles Documentary Center: 343 Malcolm X Blvd
A panel of experts will confront the dangerous consequences of the US government prosecuting Julian Assange under the Espionage Act of 1917.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
2:00 PM – 4:30 PM EST
CUNY School of Law
2 Court Square West
Queens, NY 11101
Leading journalists, attorneys, and human rights defenders will hold a panel discussion just weeks before the extradition trial of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who if sent to the United States would face the first ever charges of Espionage for the publication of truthful information in the public interest. If the Trump Administration can imprison a foreign publisher for life for exposing war crimes, what can't it do? And is the New York Times next? These esteemed speakers will consider these questions and what we can do to protect the First Amendment.
Speakers:
Jim Goodale, former NYT General Counsel
Renata Avila, human rights attorney
Glen Ford, executive editor, Black Agenda Report
Max Blumenthal, journalist, The Grayzone
New video statements from:
Noam Chomsky
Alice Walker
Daniel Ellsberg
Moderator:
Idalin Bobé, founder of TechActivist.org
The Courage Foundation is an international whistleblower support network, campaigning for the public and legal defense of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks at defend.wikileaks.org.
Sponsored by FAIR, National Lawyers Guild-NYC, NYC Free Assange, Big Apple Coffee Party, OR Books
Click here for map: A short walk from the Court Square Subway Station (7 train, E train, G train)
Plans for the upcoming World Conference, Rally and March for Disarmament, Peace, Climate & Justice taking place from April 24-26, 2020 are moving along. Hundreds of U.S. and international activists will be coming to Riverside Church on April 24-25 and joining a march from Union Square to the U.N. on April 26. We are expecting 800 Japanese activists, including hibakusha, to mark the 75th Anniversary of the atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We will be connecting our issues: prohibition and elimination of all nuclear weapons, reversing the climate crisis, and social and economic justice. Come be a part of the planning and outreach on February 13th and fill out your free registration here for the April 24-25 conference.
Reports from NYC Organizers involved with 2020 Climate, Justice, Peace/Disarmament Campaigns
Updates on World Conference Program/Registration - Joseph Gerson of AFSC & CPDCS. FREE registration https://worldconference2020.org/
Updates on World Conference Rally/March - Aziz Dehkan
Organize! Breakout Sessions
International Information - Facilitator: Joseph Gerson
Rally/March Organizing - Facilitator: Aziz Dehkan
Outreach by Boro - Facilitator: Sally Jones
Action Calendar - Facilitator: TBD
Art Projects/Art Build - Facilitator TBD
Meeting Facilitators: Aziz Dehkan and Deseri Tseptis
Initiating organizations: American Friends Service Committee, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, Gensuikin, Gensuikyo, International Pax Christi, International Peace Bureau, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, International Trade Union Confederation, Mouvement de la Paix, Movimiento Antinuclear de la República Argentina (MARA), Nihon Hidankyo, Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition, Peace Action, U.S. Labor Against the War, Western States Legal Foundation
Thursday, February 13, 2020
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Goddard Riverside Bernie Wohl Center
647 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10025
We invite you to celebrate and learn about the life of Jack O’Dell, one of the great radical strategists and thinkers of the last seventy-five years. Jack recently passed away at the age of 96 and has left a legacy of activism that few can match.
Monday, February 24, 2020 - The webinar will begin at 6 pm Pacific Time Webinar to commemorate the life and work of Jack O’Dell
Bill Fletcher, Jr. will lead a round table conversation with people who worked with Jack: Jane Power, Nikhil Singh, James Campbell, Leslie Cagan, Sharon Maeda, Gene Bruskin and Michael Zweig.
The webinar will begin at 6 pm Pacific Time and run for 90 minutes. (Be sure to adjust time to where you live.)
Jack was rarely in the public eye, yet his work changed the world. He embodied the class, race and gender intersectional approach to theory and organizing that we so urgently need today. Among his many roles were lead organizer of the voter registration campaigns in the South led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; chair of the Board of Pacifica Radio for twenty years, leading what was the most important left voice on radio in the US; served as a shop steward of the National Maritime Union in the 1940’s, a position that ignited his lifelong commitment to the labor movement; and editor and contributor to Freedomways, the leading theoretical journal of the civil rights movement, from 1961 – 1986.
In the peace movement, Jack held positions in SANE-Freeze and the peace activities of the American Friends Service Committee, was a leader of the anti-war movement's opposition to the first Gulf War in 1990-91, and was a lead organizer of the 1982 march against nuclear weapons that brought one million people to New York City’s Central Park. He was a close advisor, particularly on international issues, to Rev. Jesse Jackson during his presidential campaigns and the Rainbow-PUSH coalition. Jack was the driving force in imagining and drafting the Democracy Charter (www.asej.net) to serve as a vehicle in building a multi-issue, interconnected movement for substantive democracy in the United States.
The webinar is open to all. You can submit comments or questions by email to [email protected] beforehand or by using the chat function during the webinar.
The webinar is sponsored by the Socialist Education Project of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism of which Jack was an advisory board member.
Tishman Auditorium
63 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10003
With Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren vying with a crowded field to take on Donald Trump in the November presidential election, the Democratic Party is on the cusp of nominating the most progressive candidate of our lifetimes.
Plenty of progressives like both candidates but is it time to choose? On the eve of Super Tuesday, join The Nation in a debate at the New School on February 24, at 6:30PM. Moderated by Editor of The NationD.D. Guttenplan, speakers Zephyr Teachout, Bhaskar Sunkara, Brad Lander, and Maurice Mitchell will debate which candidate will best defeat Donald Trump and deliver fundamental progressive change. Admission is $10. We'll see you there!
Stars will gather at The Apollo in New York City on March 1 to celebrate the life and work of cultural icon Harry Belafonte.
Celebrities including Common, Maxwell, Shelia E., Macy Gray, and Talib Kweli will pay homage to the actor and singer, whose career as an entertainer and activist has spanned decades.
City Winery will present the event with proceeds from the celebration going to the Popular Democracy Movement Center and the Harry Belafonte 115th Street New York Public Library.
Throughout his life, Belafonte also known as the “King of Calypso,” has received tons of recognition for his work as an actor, singer, and humanitarian.
He won an Emmy in 1960 for Revlon Revue: Tonight with Belafonte. Along with a Tony Award, he earned three Grammy’s for his albums Swing Dat Hammer, An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba, and Belafonte At Carnegie Hall. He even received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award from the academy. In 2015, Belafonte was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards.
Tickets for the celebration go on sale Friday, January 17 at 10 a.m. ET.
Scholarships to Promote Diversity and Strengthen our Movements for Labor Rights & Social Justice!
Full Tuition for the MA in Labor Studies or BA in Urban & Community Studies.
For Info & Tips: [email protected]
Strong candidates:
• Are passionate about labor rights and social change
• Have a strong academic background
• Possess leadership skills or leadership potential
• Will complete Part I of the application by March 3, 2020
What Students Learn
Students in the M.A. in Labor Studies program develop critical thinking, analytical, and leadership skills, while learning: labor law, history, practical skills, and contemporary challenges facing labor. The program is designed to support working adults or full-time students. The B.A. in Urban and Community Studies(labor concentration) curriculum examines policies and governance processes that affect diverse urban working-class communities. B.A. applicants must have completed 60 college credits.
Deadlines:
Applicants must first apply to the M.A. in Labor Studies or the B.A. in Urban and Community Studies program by March 3, 2020. Contact [email protected] or 718-440-1550 (day, evening or weekend) for information and tips on writing a successful application.
Diversity Scholarship applications must be received by March 24, 2020.
Are you concerned about workers’ justice and women’s issues? Are you interested in trying out a job in the workers’ rights movement, but not sure where to start? Apply to be a 2020 WILL Empower Apprentice! Our Apprenticeship Program is a paid opportunity for recent college graduates and rank-and-file activists to explore what it’s like to work for the labor and workers’ justice movement, and to gain the skills and knowledge you need to begin making a difference.
Consider applying to be a 2020 WILL Empower apprentice. Applications are now open, and are due April 15, 2020. Apprentices will begin work in September 2020. Find out more here.
WILL Empower apprentices work for 3-12 months with unions and worker organizations across the nation. The WILL Empower apprentices may work in a variety of capacities, including organizing, research, communications, politics, mobilization, and policy. Pay starts at $15 an hour.
The 2019 apprenticeship class included ten apprentices. They worked for: Jobs to Move America in Birmingham, AL; the NC State AFL-CIO in Raleigh, NC; the Memphis Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO in Memphis TN; the United Campus Workers / CWA in Nashville, TN; UNITE HERE Local 25 in Washington, DC; Bargaining for the Common Good Network in Washington, DC; the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Washington, DC; the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance in Washington, DC; and the Street Vendor Project in New York, NY.
Each WILL Empower apprentice has two female mentors, one inside the host organization and one who is external to the organization. WILL Empower apprentices participate in an orientation and training in early September at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, before beginning their placements.
“I left the gathering with a renewed commitment to fighting for economic, racial, and gender justice in my life/career and in what I hope and believe will be lifelong, supportive relationships with women who have already helped me become a better version of myself,” wrote Lorelei Christie in a blog post about her experience as a 2018 WILL Empower apprentice.
WILL Empower (Women Innovating Labor Leadership) is a multi-pronged initiative designed to identify, nurture, and train a new generation of women. It is a joint project of Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor and Rutgers University SMLR’s Center for Innovation in Worker Organization.
Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor
209 Maguire Hall | Georgetown University | 37th and O St NW
Washington, DC 20057
(202) 687-2293
Center for Innovation in Worker Organization
School of Management and Labor Relations
94 Rockefeller Rd | Rutgers University
Piscataway Township, NJ 08854
(848) 445-5973
The Seattle General Strike of February 1919 was the first twentieth century solidarity strike in the United States to be proclaimed a “general strike.” It led off a tumultuous era of post-World War I labor conflict that saw massive strikes shut down the nation's steel, coal, and other industries and threaten civil unrest in a dozen cities. The Seattle General Strike Project is a multimedia website exploring this important event. It is part of the Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium based at the University of Washington.
On the morning of February 6, 1919, Seattle, a city of 315,000 people, stopped working. 25,000 union members had joined 35,000 shipyard workers already on strike. The city's AFL unions, 101 of them, had voted to walk out in a gesture of support and solidarity. And most of the remaining work force stayed home as stores closed and streetcars stopped running. The city was stunned and quiet. While the mayor and business leaders huddled at City Hall, eight blocks away the four-story Labor Temple, headquarters for the Central Labor Council and 60,000 union members, hummed with activity. An elected Strike Committee had taken responsibility for coordinating essential services. Thousands were fed each day at impromptu dining stations staffed by members of the culinary unions. The teamsters union saw to it that supplies reached the hospitals, that milk and food deliveries continued. An unarmed force of labor's "War Veteran Guards" patrolled the streets, urging calm, urging strikers to stay at home. On the second day, the Mayor threatened to declare martial law and two battalions of US Army troops took up position in the city, but the unions ignored the threat and calm prevailed. "Nothing moved but the tide," remembered a striker years later.
Nothing moved but the tide
In that sense, the strike was a success. Big strikes in the past had usually led to big violence, but this one remained completely peaceful, and in doing so provided a model for later mobilizations. On the other hand, it was becoming clear that the sympathy strike was not working. Most of the local and national press denounced the strike, while conservatives called for stern measures to suppress what looked to them to be a revolutionary plot. More important, the federal officials charged with managing the shipyards, refused to negotiate. Some of the unions wavered on the strike's third day. Most others had gone back to work by the time the Central Labor Council officially declared an end on February 11. By then police and vigilantes were hard at work rounding up Reds. The IWW hall and Socialist Party headquarters were raided and leaders arrested. Federal agents also closed the Union Record, the labor-owned daily newspaper, and arrested several of its staff. Meanwhile across the country headlines screamed the news that Seattle had been saved, that the revolution had been broken, that, as Mayor Hanson phrased it, “Americanism” had triumphed over “Bolshevism.” That was not story that most of the strikers would tell, nor the lesson that generations of labor activists would draw from it. The Seattle General Strike lasted only six days, but, in a variety of different ways, has continued to be of interest and importance ever since.
This multimedia website explores the history and consequences of the Seattle General Strike of 1919. Below you will find original research articles, digitized newspaper articles and other important documents, photographs, and extensive bibliographic materials. Start by watching two short videos, one produced by KCTS, the other an excerpt from Witness to Revolution: The Story of Anna Louis Strong produced and directed by Lucy Ostrander. Then read Roberta Gold’s article from the Encyclopedia of Labor History Worldwide and "An Account of What Happened in Seattle and Especially in the Seattle Labor Movement, During the General Strike, February 6 To 11, 1919" written by Anna Louise Strong and members of the General Strike Committee. Daren Salter has created a dramatic slide show that tells the story of the strike with photos and headlines illustrating key events. The most detailed account is the new centennial edition of the The Seattle General Strike by Robert L. Friedheim brought up to date with an introduction, photo essay, and afterword by James N. Gregory.
A panel of experts will confront the dangerous consequences of the US government prosecuting Julian Assange under the Espionage Act of 1917.
