[ Reader Comments: Climate Strike demands; Immigrant detention;
Labor movement - responses to multiple xxxxxx posts; Germany;
Venezuela; China; Trade War; Cuba; Lebanon; Russiagate; How to Help
the Bahamas; Resources; Announcements; and more...]
[[link removed]]

TIDBITS - SEPT. 19, 2019 - READER COMMENTS: CLIMATE STRIKE DEMANDS;
IMMIGRANT DETENTION; LABOR MOVEMENT - RESPONSES TO xxxxxx POSTS;
GERMANY; VENEZUELA; CHINA; CUBA; LEBANON; RUSSIAGATE; HOW TO HELP THE
BAHAMAS; RESOURCES; ANNOUNCEMENTS; AND MORE...  
[[link removed]]


 

September 12, 2019
xxxxxx

*
[[link removed]...]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

_ Reader Comments: Climate Strike demands; Immigrant detention; Labor
movement - responses to multiple xxxxxx posts; Germany; Venezuela;
China; Trade War; Cuba; Lebanon; Russiagate; How to Help the Bahamas;
Resources; Announcements; and more... _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, Shorts, AND
cartoons - Sept. 12, 2019, xxxxxx

 

The #ClimateStrike demands (Global Climate Strike)
Impacting All States  --  cartoon by Robert Ariail
Re: What Happens in El Norte Doesn’t Stay in El Norte (Aida Rivera)
Re: Hundreds of Amazon employees plan to walk out of work in protest
of Amazon’s environmental policies (Organization for a Free Society;
Jules Bernstein; Stephanie Luce)
Re: Socialism Used to Be a Dirty Word. Is America Now Ready to Embrace
It? (Jeff Bast)
Squeeze Play  --  meme from SolidarityINFOService
Re: Detained Immigrants Claim They Were Forced to Work Without Pay
(Barry Cuthbert; Greg Luzietti; Judith Halprin; David Pere Esteves)
Re: ‘Using Power Builds Power’: Meet the Woman Tipped to Lead the
Labor Movement (Carolfrances; Jerome Nicolas; Nick Conder)
Re: Here Is a Helpful List of Exactly Where Unions Need to Be (Allan
Rivera)
Re: Reject the 'Jobs Versus Environment' Narrative – We Can Do Both
(Steven Wishnia)
Re: Elizabeth Warren's Plan to Break Wall Street's Stranglehold (Jack
Radey)
Re: The American Left Needs a Contemporary Thad Stevens (Progressive
Pup)
Re: German Elections: Mixed Joy and Great Sorrow (Jose Rinaldi Jovet;
Vernon Huffman)
Re: Economic Sanctions: War by Another Name (Cher Lunn)
Re: Roots of the U.S.-China Trade Conflict (Steve in Wuhan)
Cuba Travel Bills: The Time Is NOW! (Mavis Anderson - Latin America
Working Group)
Re: Struggles against Racism and Exploitation: Lebanon's Progressive
Movements Face Old and New Challenges (Stan Nadel)
Re: The Pentagon Wants More Control Over the News. What Could Go
Wrong? (Dave Lott)
Comment on Russiagate (John Gehan)
Re: Geologists Uncover History of Lost Continent Buried Beneath Europe
(Carl Davidson)
Re: Leon Wofsy: The Organizer -- 1921-2019 (Aaron Libson)
Re: Did Not Know It Was Possible For a Show to Be This Stupid (Harold
Dyck)

YOUR HELP NEEDED:

SUPPORT OUR NEIGHBORS IN THE BAHAMAS AFTER THIS CLIMATE CATASTROPHE
 --  8 WAYS TO HELP THE BAHAMAS RECOVER FROM HURRICANE DORIAN
(COLORLINES)

RESOURCES:

Censoring the Working Class - Banned Books Week
How Charitable are Billionaires? (IslamicHelp -UK)
Amazon Rainforest Still Burning - Poster of the Week (Center for the
Study of Political Graphics)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Performance by Locked-Out Members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
- Takoma, MD - September 17 (Bread & Roses)
An Inter-generational Conversation with Dr. Angela Y. Davis - New York
- September 23 (National Conference of Black Lawyers)
The Green New Deal, Net-Zero Carbon, & The Crucial Role of Public
Ownership - New York - September 28 (International Conference for
Unions and Movement Allies)

 

THE #CLIMATESTRIKE DEMANDS

My name is Katie Eder. I’m a 19-year-old climate justice activist,
and the executive director of Future Coalition — we’re
coordinating a coalition of youth-led organizations organizing and
mobilizing for the Climate Strike on September 20th.

By now, you’ve probably received plenty of emails about the Climate
Strike on September 20th. You probably already know that masses of
people of all ages will join youth in the streets in over 500 US
cities. But you might still be wondering, _why are all these people
striking? Why should I get involved?_

TODAY, I’M PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE US CLIMATE STRIKE YOUTH
COALITION HAS FINALIZED A SET OF BOLD DEMANDS. RSVP BELOW TO A CLIMATE
STRIKE EVENT WHERE YOU LIVE, THEN READ OUR DEMANDS BELOW.

Join an Event 

Use the map below [[link removed]] to find and
RSVP for an event near you.

[[link removed]]

Too often, we think about solutions in a very small-minded way, inside
the box, way. We don’t have time to stay in the box. We need to be
more innovative with our solutions and ask for what we need, not what
we think could be possible or has been possible in the past.

WE DEMAND:

* A Green New Deal that immediately halts all new fossil fuel
projects and transitions our economy to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
* Respect of Indigenous lands and sovereignty — the US government
must halt all resource extraction on or affecting Indigenous lands,
and recognize the Rights of Nature into law.
* Environmental justice for communities on the frontlines of poverty
and pollution, and sanctuary for all migrants.
* Protect and restore 50% of the world’s lands and oceans; stop
all deforestation by 2030.
* Invest in sustainable agriculture, not agribusiness.

We know what we’re asking for goes beyond the scope of what’s been
achieved so far, but that’s precisely why we’re demanding it. We
have just 11 years left to cut global emissions in half, and to do
that, we need to work together to make these demands a reality .

IF YOU’RE READY TO START FIGHTING FOR THESE DEMANDS, SIGN UP TO JOIN
A CLIMATE STRIKE EVENT WHERE YOU LIVE.

Our only hope of achieving the sweeping transformation we need to save
our futures is with the power of a mass movement. That movement that
has existed in the US for decades is unifying and growing right now.
PEOPLE IN OVER 100 COUNTRIES ARE MOBILIZING FOR THE CLIMATE STRIKE —
AND OVER 500 US LOCATIONS IN ALL 50 STATES, AS WELL AS PUERTO RICO AND
GUAM, ARE JOINING IN ON THE ACTION.

Together, _we_ are the hope for a different future than the one fossil
fuel billionaires want to condemn us to. We still have the power to
create the change we need, but only if we work together. THAT’S WHY
WE NEED YOU.

Forward,

Katie Eder - Future Coalition

Global Climate Strike - Sep. 20–27
[[link removed]]

 

IMPACTING ALL STATES  --  CARTOON BY ROBERT ARIAIL
 

Robert Ariail
September 7, 2019
The Sumter (SC) Item
[[link removed]]

 

RE: WHAT HAPPENS IN EL NORTE DOESN’T STAY IN EL NORTE
 

Much of US policies towards Central America in the near past
sustaining dictators, training soldiers to maintain dictatorships for
the benefit of some America companies is one of the biggest causes of
the exodus from Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Aida Rivera
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HUNDREDS OF AMAZON EMPLOYEES PLAN TO WALK OUT OF WORK IN PROTEST
OF AMAZON’S ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

Organizing the logistics sector is key to (re)building working class
counterpower! Organizing a red-green alliance is the key to
ecosocialism! #WorkersPower #UnionizeAmazon #AmazonStrike
#Ecosocialism

Organization for a Free Society
[[link removed]]
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Hey, Jeff Bezos: I'm an Amazon worker and this is why I'm joining the
climate strike | Technology | The Guardian
[[link removed]]

Jules Bernstein

     =====

Climate strike!

Stephanie Luce
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: SOCIALISM USED TO BE A DIRTY WORD. IS AMERICA NOW READY TO EMBRACE
IT?
 

It appears that giving billions of dollars to corporations is ok but
food stamps and medical assistance to poor and needy people is a bad
thing to conservatives.

Jeff Bast
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

SQUEEZE PLAY  --  MEME FROM SOLIDARITYINFOSERVICE
 

A system that generates unchecked #globalwarming, #militarism and
#foreverwars is a threat to #humanity and all other living things. It
presents the choice of a slow death through #climatechange or a quick
one via #nuclearholocaust. We can and must do better!

If you agree, please share.

more here [[link removed]]

 

RE: DETAINED IMMIGRANTS CLAIM THEY WERE FORCED TO WORK WITHOUT PAY
 

Slavery has been legalized in America, again

Barry Cuthbert
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Welcome to the new slavery.

Greg Luzietti
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Dickens is no longer the fiction of a bygone era, the abuses of 19th
century England are alive in America, the only difference being that
it is a profiteering scam to boot. Grotesque.

Judith Halprin
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

All for profit prisons system must be shutdown. That operation should
be run entirely by government.

David Pere Esteves
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: ‘USING POWER BUILDS POWER’: MEET THE WOMAN TIPPED TO LEAD THE
LABOR MOVEMENT

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

    “People think power is a limited resource,” she said in
Atlanta. “But using power builds power.”

That’s exciting!

Carolfrances

     =====

"Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants,
has struck a chord with activists calling for her to run for labor’s
top job: president of the AFL-CIO"

I endorse this course of action.

Jerome Nicolas
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

I saw her speak in Atlanta—she’s phenomenal. The American labor
movement would be extraordinarily lucky to have her take the top spot.

Nick Conder
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HERE IS A HELPFUL LIST OF EXACTLY WHERE UNIONS NEED TO BE

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

Organized labor should be organized. Not just organized at a single
shop, or in a single union, or in a single industry, but strategically
organized on a national scale so that it can deploy its resources to
organize the places that most need to be organized. Unions need to
move in tandem with the economy itself. They need to be where the work
is going. And where will that be in the coming decade?

Allan Rivera
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: REJECT THE 'JOBS VERSUS ENVIRONMENT' NARRATIVE – WE CAN DO BOTH
 

The unions that criticize the Green New Deal tend to be in the
building trades, where things like pipelines create lots of jobs, and
mining. I don't think their opposition is intractable--covering labor
news, I've had an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
official tell me that wind power in upstate New York was giving his
members the work they lost when fracking was banned, and one from the
Plumbers say that the transition to renewable energy had to be done
"slowly and correctly." The world may well be heating too fast to do
it slowly, but doing it correctly means taking seriously one of the
two basic premises of the Green New Deal: That this transition needs
to be done in a way that creates good jobs and doesn't hurt workers.

Unions have good reason to fear a reprise of the Clinton-NAFTA
attitude—telling a laid-off factory worker in Decatur, Illinois
"your job's a thing of the past, we'll give you a six-week course in
Microsoft Excel and you can move to Silicon Valley and get with the
future." Also, environmentalists should not use the argument that "the
only jobs created will be temporary." In construction, ALL jobs are
temporary; when the project's done, it's over.

The tragedy of the 1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade
Organization was that instead of the story being the "Teamsters and
turtles" alliance, that environmentalists were realizing that jobs
were important and organized labor realizing the environment was
important, it became "crusty punks in black bandannas breaking windows
in Starbucks."

Steven Wishnia
New York City

 

RE: ELIZABETH WARREN'S PLAN TO BREAK WALL STREET'S STRANGLEHOLD
 

Don't break their stranglehold. Break their back. There is a
difference.

Jack Radey 
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

RE: THE AMERICAN LEFT NEEDS A CONTEMPORARY THAD STEVENS

The Pup looked up some quotes. Thanks for bringing this up. It's
poster making time.

Progressive Pup
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

    

 

RE: GERMAN ELECTIONS: MIXED JOY AND GREAT SORROW
 

True, the German neo-Nazis did not win in the eastern states of Saxony
and Branderburg but they almost did. They made great gains. These are
neo-Nazis in Germany and in ex Communists states!! Scary.

Jose Rinaldi Jovet
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Die LINKE should consider merging with the Greens. There is no major
conflict in their platforms. Solidarity forever!*

Vernon Huffman

 

RE: ECONOMIC SANCTIONS: WAR BY ANOTHER NAME
 

Yup, that's how the US does it!

Cher Lunn
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: ROOTS OF THE U.S.-CHINA TRADE CONFLICT
 

Refreshing to see something other than crude US centric China-bashing
coming from social democrats. It seems however, that social democrats
have to bend themselves in pretzels to avoid using the term
"socialist" to describe China`s political economy. Central planning
still exists in the PRC, even if the social democrats call it
"regulation" and forget that all land in China is owned by the state.
During the reform and opening up, villagers came to the factories, but
retained household registrations and hence, maintained land use
rights.

The authors fail to mention the poverty elimination program, and the
already existing "green new deal" with Chinese characteristics,
adopted during the last two CPC congresses. The article highlights
Chinese working conditions and the Gini coefficient, 38.6 but fails to
note that about 40% of the population is engaged with agriculture, and
not quite fully involved with a cash economy. The costs of living vary
sharply between regions, between provinces, and between towns,
villages, and cities.

The article derides the official Chinese trade unions, but China is
one of the handful of social formations whose state and leading party
earned their legitimacy through a worker and peasant protracted war of
resistance to invasion and occupation, and through decades of civil
war. Trade unions are subordinate to the party with its 90 million
members.

Passes to travel outside their places of origin? mmmm. That was way
before I arrived in Wuhan, before the high speed rail system. I worked
in a Chinese company, the only foreigner, on a Chinese pay scale with
Chinese benefits, those benefits included two meals a day, company
housing, and limited health insurance. My cash pay amounted to $150
dollars a week, USD. I was one of the ant people, making about twice
the wages of a factory worker, but with the expectations of a
westerner from a developed capitalist state, not a farmer from the
village.

China is a large diverse country, and changing every day. Happy
Mid-Autumn Festival and National Holiday. On October first, the
People`s Republic of China will be seventy years old, 1949-2019.
 
Steve in Wuhan

 

CUBA TRAVEL BILLS: THE TIME IS NOW!
 

Congress is finally back in session after their August recess. You
know what that means. _NOW_ is the time to make your voice heard on
our right to travel to Cuba!

It’s no secret that since Trump has been in office, the White House
has completely undermined decades-long efforts to re-establish
diplomatic ties with Cuba through aggressive rhetoric and rollbacks,
unnecessary travel restrictions, and harsh sanctions. These measures
have failed for over 50 years to affect any real change, hurting only
ordinary Cubans caught in the middle of this policy mess. 

But hope is not lost. There's new energy around travel legislation in
both the Senate and the House. The potential for progress is _REAL_. 

What’s Going On?

On July 29, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the FREEDOM FOR
AMERICANS TO TRAVEL TO CUBA ACT OF 2019 (S. 2303)
[[link removed]].
The bill, which has 46 Democratic and Republican CO-SPONSORS
[[link removed]],
would allow Americans to travel to Cuba “in the same way that they
can travel to every other country in the world except North Korea, to
which President Trump banned travel by executive order.”

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA-2) and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN-6) introduced an
identical bill in the House - H.R. 3960
[[link removed]]
with 19 additional bipartisan CO-SPONSORS
[[link removed]].
“It’s time for us to listen to the majority of Americans,
Cuban-Americans, and Cubans who do not support the travel ban, and get
rid of it once and for all,” said Rep. McGovern. 

TAKE ACTION

We were on the brink of ushering in a new era of progressive Cuba
policies, even ending the travel ban and trade embargo once and for
all. That progress has been threatened. We cannot leave positive
changes up to chance. We must act quickly and decisively. In other
words, Congress needs to hear _your_ voice. 

Call Now!

We need _you_ to make three quick and easy phone calls: one to each of
the offices of your two senators and one to the office of your
representative. <<FIND THEM HERE.>>
[[link removed]]

_HERE’S A SAMPLE SCRIPT:_

“My name is _____, and I am a constituent from _____. I urge
Representative ________ to co-sponsor H.R. 3960./I urge Senator
________ to co-sponsor S. 2303. An overwhelming majority of Americans
favor unrestricted travel to Cuba. This administration’s attempts to
reverse advances made in engagement with Cuba, a country that poses no
threat to our national security, are unwarranted. Cuba is progressing;
and right now, we can help best by allowing U.S. citizens to travel
there freely.”
    

Calls are the most effective way of getting your senators' and
representative's attention, so we can’t stress enough how important
it is for you to pick up a phone _RIGHT NOW_ to voice your emphatic
support for this new legislation.

What we need now is the committed outreach of Cuba activists around
the country in contacting their senators and representatives to get
them on board. If yours are already on the legislation (check out the
co-sponsor lists at the links above), it still helps to call their
office to thank them and to ask them to be active in promoting the
travel bill. MAKE SURE THEY ARE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY!

We're counting on you!

In solidarity,

Mavis Anderson

Latin America Working Group [[link removed]]
2029 P Street NW, Suite 301
Washington, District of Columbia 20036
(202) 546-7010 | [email protected] [[link removed]] 

 

RE: STRUGGLES AGAINST RACISM AND EXPLOITATION: LEBANON'S PROGRESSIVE
MOVEMENTS FACE OLD AND NEW CHALLENGES
 

This is very good as far as it goes, but in ignoring the treatment of
Palestinians and not even mentioning Hezbollah it leaves some very
large holes in its analysis.

Stan Nadel

RE: THE PENTAGON WANTS MORE CONTROL OVER THE NEWS. WHAT COULD GO
WRONG?

EXCERPT

DARPA now is developing a semantic analysis program called
“SemaFor” and an image analysis program called “MediFor,”
ostensibly designed to prevent the use of fake images or text. The
idea would be to develop these technologies to help private Internet
providers sift through content.

It’s the latest in a string of stories about new methods of control
over information flow that should, but for some reason do not, horrify
every working journalist.

Dave Lott
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

COMMENT ON RUSSIAGATE

For the last few years, particularly since the 2016 presidential
election, “the Russians” have been the object of scorn, derision,
contempt, ridicule, and hostility by many in government and
establishment media. Russians have been portrayed as sinister,
dishonest, plotting, dangerous, and evil. They, and their president,
have been fair game in social media, editorial pages, cartoons and
memes, and opinion pieces that all pretend to have inside knowledge of
the Russian character and psyche.

If this characterization of a racial or ethnic minority were directed
at a group in the United States, it would justifiably be condemned as
racist or ethnically chauvinist.

We do not (at least should not) accuse Hispanics of being lazy, or
African-Americans of being untrustworthy, or Italian-Americans of
being criminally inclined. Yet, when referring to “the Russians,”
it has become permissible to suggest that they are a flawed, sinister,
and dangerous people plotting to harm Americans.

This is nonsense. “The Russians” are not the enemy, not the bad
guys. They are seeking to survive, and thrive, in a world made
dangerous by the United States and its corporate masters. They are not
aggressors, unlike the United States with its hundreds of military
bases around the globe, and most often have been the recipient of
subversion by the United States.

The New Cold War and its current Russiagate incarnation, launched
after Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump in 2016, is intended to
provide an excuse for the Clinton loss and provide an enemy that
justifies increased military spending and endless worldwide wars. The
Russians are an imaginary threat, kept alive by the managers of U.S.
foreign policy and the beneficiaries of the myth of American
exceptionalism.

John P. Gehan

 

RE: GEOLOGISTS UNCOVER HISTORY OF LOST CONTINENT BURIED BENEATH EUROPE
 

There's a good case that South America is Atlantis, the continent, and
if you go up the Amazon toward Peru/Bolivia, you can find the ruins of
Atlantis, the city.

Carl Davidson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: LEON WOFSY: THE ORGANIZER (1921-2019)
 

My brief connection to Leon was at the age of 15 I joined the Labor
Youth LeAgue (LYL ). It succumbed to McCarthyism and capitulation to
it.

Aaron Libson

 

RE: DID NOT KNOW IT WAS POSSIBLE FOR A SHOW TO BE THIS STUPID

(posting on xxxxxx Culture
[[link removed]])
 

Nothing new about this insane pro-American imperialist brainwashing.
Still sticks in my mind how, during the Reagan era, amidst the effort
to destroy the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, they came out with
one of the worst pieces of war propaganda I ever saw, the disgustingly
notorious Red Dawn.

Harold Dyck
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

SUPPORT OUR NEIGHBORS IN THE BAHAMAS AFTER THIS CLIMATE CATASTROPHE
 --  8 WAYS TO HELP THE BAHAMAS RECOVER FROM HURRICANE DORIAN
 

Volunteers walk under the wind and rain of Hurricane Dorian, on a
flooded road after rescuing several families that arrived on small
boats, near the Causarina bridge in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Bahamas
Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo  //  Miami Workers Center
8 WAYS TO HELP THE BAHAMAS RECOVER FROM HURRICANE DORIAN

“We are in the midst of one of the greatest national crises in our
country’s history.”

Ayana Byrd
September 4, 2019
ColorLines
[[link removed]]

Hurricane Dorian
[[link removed]] is
the most powerful storm to ever hit the Bahamas. Making landfall as
a Category 5
[[link removed]] on September
1, the hurricane not only brought flooding rains and wind gusts up
to 220 mph
[[link removed]],
but it stalled over the area, moving at just 1 mph for much of the
day. The devastation is greatest on Abaco
[[link removed]] and Grand Bahama
[[link removed]] islands. More than 13,000
houses, or about 45 percent of all homes, were damaged or destroyed
in these areas, The Associated Press
[[link removed]] reports.
And thousands of people in the majority Black
[[link removed]] area
need food and clean drinking water. Seven
[[link removed]] people
have been reported dead as of Wednesday (September 4), but the number
is expected to rise as rescue crews arrive.

“We are in the midst of one of the greatest national crises in our
country’s history,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis
[[link removed]] told
news the outlet.

As residents recover, there will likely be stark differences in how
various communities access financial resources; beyond the resorts on
Grand Bahama, Abaco
[[link removed]] is
mainly inhabited by fishermen, manual laborers and migrants from
Haiti. As one of the Caribbean islands closest to the United
States—it is just 50 miles
[[link removed]] from
the Florida coast—Americans frequently visit the Bahamas for both
vacation and business. So it is not surprising that many in
the U.S. have mobilized to organize relief efforts.

These organizations are working to help communities facing
socioeconomic challenges after Dorian:

THE NEW FLORIDA MAJORITY (NEWFM)

Social justice organization New Florida Majority
[[link removed]] partnered with a dozen South
Florida organizations—including the Florida Immigrant Coalition
[[link removed]], Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center
[[link removed]] and the Miami Workers Center
[[link removed]]—to support community
emergency operations centers (CEOCs) in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm
Beach and Jacksonville. These centers were meant to provide resources
and relief if Dorian struck Southern Florida. Since that region was
spared the brunt of the storm, the CEOCs are now collecting items and
money to help the Bahamas. “Miami has a rich Bahamian history and
it’s only right for us to assist our families and neighbors in the
Bahamas,” said Valencia Gunder
[[link removed]], CEOC founder and
criminal justice program manager for the New Florida Majority.
Donate here [[link removed]].

WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN

Celebrity Spanish chef José Andrés
[[link removed]] and his nonprofit, World Central
Kitchen [[link removed]], have been in
Nassau, Bahamas, launching four kitchens
[[link removed]] to
make meals that can be flown into Abaco and Grand Bahama. Make a
donation here
[[link removed]].

How do we organize a response in Bahamas? Here’s our current map we
are working from…. @WCKitchen
[[link removed]] has kitchens
ready to go and shelters mapped out. If kitchens are destroyed, we
build one and cook in big paella pans! [link removed]
[[link removed]] pic.twitter.com/fa4sBN8qMe
[[link removed]]

— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) September 1, 2019
[[link removed]]

 

GOOD 360

An Alexandria, Virginia-based charity, Good 360
[[link removed]] has been providing international disaster
relief for more than three decades. It is now requesting
that corporations donate items for the Bahamas, including water,
diapers, bedding, portable chargers and tarps. Individuals can make
cash donations. To give, click here [[link removed]].

HKERS EMERGENCY FUND

In 2015, when Hurricane Joaquin
[[link removed]] hit
the Bahamas, friends Lia Head-Rigby and Gina Knowles—two Bahamians
living in the U.S.—decided
[[link removed]] to
do something more than watch the news and feel terrible. They formed
HeadKnowles and raised relief money, then did the same thing
when Hurricane Matthew
[[link removed]] hit
the island chain. The org has teams on the ground and is focusing on
the people of Abaco and Grand Bahama. Head-Rigby, who flew over the
region after Dorian hit, told the The Associated Press
[[link removed]], “It’s
total devastation. It’s decimated. Apocalyptic. It’s not
rebuilding something that was there; we have to start again.”
Donate here [[link removed]].

TEAM RUBICON USA

This nonprofit [[link removed]] brings together
military veterans and first responders to volunteer internationally
during times of crisis. While they help all in disaster zones, the
organization’s focus [[link removed]] is
on bringing assistance to vulnerable and socioeconomically at-risk
populations who may not have the resources to rebuild. Its work
includes removing debris, rebuilding homes and organizing local
volunteers. The team went to the Bahamas before Dorian to board
windows and lay down sandbags; it returned as part of the cleanup
effort. Donate here
[[link removed]].

WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE

This New York City-based nonprofit
[[link removed]] partners with local organizers to protect
water ecosystems around the world. Its website
[[link removed]] reports that its Bahamian Waterkeepers are
“ready to deploy to the scene, as soon as they can, to evaluate
environmental impacts, assist citizens and inform the public.”
Donations can be made by clicking here
[[link removed]] and
then selecting “Hurricane Dorian—Bahamas” to direct your gift.

GRAND BAHAMA DISASTER RELIEF FOUNDATION 

Grand Bahama Disaster Relief Foundation
[[link removed]] was formed by Grand
Bahama Port Authority [[link removed]] in response to
Hurricane Dorian. Through it, people can donate goods at official
drop-off locations (including in the United States). The site also
contains a list of government approved nonprofits and charities. To
donate money, go here [[link removed]].

HUMANE SOCIETY OF GRAND BAHAMA

As with all natural disasters, humans are not the only ones who need
assistance. Accordingly the Humane Society of Grand Bahama
[[link removed]] is asking for donations to help it
rebound. As of press time, its staff, 75 dogs and 50 cats had
been rescued [[link removed]], but the center,
founded in 1968 to provide shelter for the island’s homeless and
abused animals, needs to be rebuilt. Donate here
[[link removed]].

 

CENSORING THE WORKING CLASS - BANNED BOOKS WEEK
 

Banned Books Week is coming up later this month, commemorating the
efforts of librarians and educators to fight back against censorship.
As Kathy M. Newman writes in this week's Working-Class Perspectives
[[link removed]],
books offering progressive views of working-class people and class
activism have been frequent targets, but censors have also censored
images.Limitations on free speech are even more important in the
workplace, where they restrict what workers can say or write and
undermine their right to organize.

Please feel free to repost and join the conversation in the COMMENTS
section of the blog site.

John Russo
Visiting Scholar
Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and Working Poor
Georgetown University
Co-editor, Working-Class Perspectives
[email protected]
 

 

HOW CHARITABLE ARE BILLIONAIRES?
 

Real-Time Wealth vs. Donations based on 2018's Financial Year
[[link removed]]

Check it out
[[link removed]] - In the
time you're on this page, see how much these internet billionaires
made, and around 50% of that went to Jeff Bezos. And 40% of all money
donated from these Billionaires came from Warren Buffett.
 

Sources:

* Forbes 400 - The Definitive Ranking Of The Wealthiest Americans
[[link removed]]
* A leaked memo shows Bloomberg reached $10 billion in annual
revenue last year, and some insiders will receive a special bonus
[[link removed]]

Thanks to IslamicHelp.org.uk [[link removed]] for sending
this to xxxxxx.

 

AMAZON RAINFOREST STILL BURNING - POSTER OF THE WEEK

 

Chico Mendes 1944-1988
Doug Minkler
Silkscreen, 1989
Berkeley, CA
The Amazon Rainforest continues to burn—and our future is at
stake. The struggle to save the world’s rainforests has been going
on for decades, and thousands of environmental activists have been
murdered trying to protect them. CSPG’s POSTER OF THE WEEK was made
30 years ago, to commemorate Chico Mendes, the 19th rural activist to
be killed in Brazil in 1988.

 
On Friday, September 20, millions will walk out of schools,
workplaces, and homes to join young climate strikers on the streets
and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels. Visit
[link removed]
[[link removed]]
to find the events near you.
 
OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE — LET’S ACT LIKE IT.
DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE FOR EVERYONE.
 
 
POSTER TEXT: 
CHICO MENDES 1944-1988
FATHER OF THREE, UNION ORGANIZER AND FOUNDER OF THE
ALLIANCE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE FOREST.
Working with rubber tappers and the Union of Indigenous Nations, he
pioneered the creation of extractive reserves (areas set aside for
collecting sustainable forest products such as rubber and Brazil
nuts). He opposed the cattle barons and plantation owners who were
turning the fertile rainforest into barren desert, and who eventually
ordered his murder.
 
To help carry out Chico's work and to join in the international demand
that his killers be brought to justice and cease attacks on union
organizers and rubber tappers, please contact: Rainforest Action
Network [[link removed],], 301 Broadway,
San Francisco, CA 94133
 
 
Sources:

* Global Climate Strike - September 20 - 27
[[link removed]]
* More than 1,700 activists have been killed this century defending
the environment (The Conversation)
[[link removed]]
* The Amazon rainforest is still burning and we’re all in danger
(Los Angeles Times)
[[link removed]]
* World of Change: Amazon Deforestation (NASA Earth Observatory)
[[link removed]]

_Written by Carol A. Wells, Founder & Executive Director, CSPG_

Center for the Study of Political Graphics
[[link removed]]
3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 103
Culver City, CA 90230
310.397.3100

 

PERFORMANCE BY LOCKED-OUT MEMBERS OF THE BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
- TAKOMA, MD - SEPTEMBER 17
 

Locked-out Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians – members of AFM
Local 40-543 – will perform music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Claude
Debussy, Yuko Uebayashi and Brian Prechtl (see below for details), as
well as provide an update on the ongoing lockout.

The performance
[[link removed]]
– part of Local 40-543’s Make Music with Baltimore Symphony
Musicians Project and co-presented by the DC Musician’s Union (AFM
Local 161-710), the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO and the DC
LaborFest, is free, but ATTENDEES ARE URGED TO SUPPORT THE BSO
MUSICIANS THROUGH THEIR GO FUND ME ACCOUNT
[[link removed]].

PROGRAM
YUKO UEBAYASHI - SUITE FOR FLUTE AND CELLO
_Marcia McHugh, flute_
_Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello_

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - SUITE NO. 2 IN D MINOR FOR CELLO SOLO, BWV
1008
_Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello_

CLAUDE DEBUSSY - SYRINX FOR FLUTE SOLO
_Marcia McHugh, flute_

BRIAN PRECHTL - TO A STRANGER (BASED ON A POEM BY WALT WHITMAN)
_Marcia McHugh, flute_
_Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello_
_Brian Prechtl, Percussion_
_Judith Krummeck, Narrator_

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17   --  6:00 -- 8:00 PM

Busboys and Poets Takoma [link removed]
[[link removed]]
235 Carroll St. NW
Washington DC

FREE - REGISTER
[[link removed]]

 

AN INTER-GENERATIONAL CONVERSATION WITH DR. ANGELA Y. DAVIS - NEW YORK
- SEPTEMBER 23
 

 

THE GREEN NEW DEAL, NET-ZERO CARBON, & THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF PUBLIC
OWNERSHIP - NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 28
 

This conference has two main goals. The first goal is to show how both
public ownership and a public goods approach is critical to achieving
“zero carbon” and the other core objectives of the Green New Deal.
The second goal is to make visible key struggles around ownership and
control—including anti-privatization fights—that are taking place
around the world , and how these struggles are leading to a “new
internationalism” that puts both class and climate at the center of
progressive politics.

CONTEXT: CLIMATE POLICY FAILURES AND THE NEED FOR RADICAL ALTERNATIVES

Calls for a Green New Deal in the US have resonated around the world.
Driven by concerns about climate crisis, the GND has also become a
rallying cry for those who seek radical and urgent action to combat
rising levels of inequality, racial injustice, as well as the rise of
corporate power.

The GND has also endorsed the “net-zero carbon” target articulated
in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and governments at national,
state and municipal levels (including New York State and New York
City) have adopted similarly ambitious climate goals.

But according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
effective action on climate change “would require rapid,
far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”
within a dozen years or less. Establishing targets, while important,
are clearly not enough. Meanwhile, neoliberal policies aimed at
“mobilizing private investment” in order to promote “green
growth” have shown themselves to be completely incapable of even
slowing the rise of emissions. These same policies have increased
inequality, injustice, and precariousness all over the world.

The need for a radical change in policy is today indisputable. This
realization has sparked a growing movement of unions and other allies
that see the need to extend public ownership and democratic control
over key economic sectors—such as energy, finance, and
transportation—in order to ensure that the world has a fighting
chance of addressing the climate emergency in ways that advance social
and economic justice and equality.

PARTICIPANTS AND PARTNERS

We will be joined by unions and policy allies from Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa,
Uruguay, and the UK.

The meeting is being organized in partnership with: National Nurses
United (NNU) [[link removed]]; New York State
Nurses Association (NYSNA) [[link removed]]; United
Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE)
[[link removed]]; Canadian Union of Public Employees;
[[link removed]] National Union of Public and General Employees
(Canada) [[link removed]];Transnational Institute
[[link removed]]; The Democracy Collaborative
[[link removed]]; Science for the People
[[link removed]]; DSA’s Ecosocialist Working
Group
[[link removed]]; #NationalizeGrid
[[link removed]]; Our Public Power (New York)
[[link removed]]; New York Communities for Change
[[link removed]].

Saturday, September 28, 2019
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM EDT

CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
25 West 43rd Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10036 

Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. The program will start at 9:00
a.m. and end by 5:00 p.m. Full program and speakers to be announced.

*
[[link removed]...]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

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