Michael S. Roth
May 7, 2024 The encampment at Wesleyan University went up on the night of Sunday, April 28, during a planned rally in support of Palestinians. . . . The students were well aware that I’d already gone on record—several times in print—with respect to Gaza since the heinous terrorist attacks of October 7. On that day I wrote about Hamas’s “sickening violence” against Israel, and since then I have written about the dangers of antisemitism and Islamophobia at home and about the loss of innocent life in Gaza. So I can’t argue that university leaders should keep quiet or say something evasive about “principled neutrality.” Indeed, the students reminded me of a phrase I’d used: “Neutrality is complicity.” Although I am one of the only American university presidents to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, the students in the meeting did not find that nearly enough. Mere words, they told me, are just another form of neutrality. They accused me of trying to hide behind them. And outside the chants grew louder: “Roth, Roth, you can’t hide / you can’t hide from genocide.” When I walked home, an angry crowd of maybe 75 followed close behind. Michael S. Roth is the president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. His most recent books include Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses. We urge you to read the whole article at: https://newrepublic.com/article/181341/wesleyan-president-not-calling-police-student-gaza-encampment
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by Bill Barclay This article is from the March/April 2024 issue. . Consider two views of the economy of the People’s Republic of China: View 1. China leads the countries labeled the “Global South.” China will soon overtake the United States in economic size. China’s renminbi threatens the hegemony of the U.S dollar. China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” may displace the West’s dominance in international lending. View 2. China faces a major debt crisis. Wealthy Chinese are getting money out of the country, buying apartments in Tokyo, and stowing gold bars abroad. Chinese youth are “lying flat,” rejecting pressures to out-perform their compatriots. China’s growth rate is slowing. Both pictures painted above capture only a part of China’s complex reality. Understanding these contrasting pictures requires an analysis of China’s growth model, the combination of policy choices and actions, and their intersection with the changing global political economy over the past four decades. What is going on in China? And what might the future hold for China’s economy? Dangerous Inflection Point: Is China's Growth Model Exhausted? https://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2024/0324barclay.html Read the entire piece. Bill Barclay is a Co Chair of the North Star Steering Committee. By Peter Dreier It is hard to find an objective analysis of the ongoing student protests about Israel and Palestine – which so far have taken place on over 50 campuses and led to over 2,000 arrests -- or the wider war that has provoked the demonstrations. Here are 20 observations to help understand what's happening: 1. Most of the student protesters want an end to the horrific violence, deaths, and violations of basic human rights (housing, health care, food, water) that they see on TV and on social media every day. 2. The pro-Palestine protest movement is not monolithic. The majority of students participating in rallies and encampments don’t support Hamas (a theocratic, anti-women and anti-LGBTQ terrorist organization) or want to see the mass murder or exile of Israeli Jews. But a small fraction of protesters DO support Hamas and they are typically the ones driving the narrative. For example, when the national office of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) called Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel "a historic win for the Palestinian resistance," and when 34 Harvard student organizations issued a joint statement saying they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence," that can reasonably be interpreted as support for Hamas. These views are often what the media reports and what gets the headlines. Most news outlets, particularly TV, are suckers for extremism. So we wind up with media reports that emphasize the most extreme views, similar to how the handful of anti-war protesters in the 1960s who supported the National Liberation Front got disproportionate media attention, which sociologist Todd Gitlin described in “The Whole World is Watching,” published in 1980. 3. Most student protesters are not seeking to dismantle Israel as a nation. Beyond a ceasefire in Gaza, they want an end to the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and to Israel’s widespread discrimination against its Palestinian citizens. They want equality and peaceful co-existence between Jews and Palestinians. They want Netanyahu gone, but they don’t know enough about Israeli politics to know what kind of government might replace him and his government. Most don’t have clear or well-reasoned thoughts on the end-game, but neither do most well-informed experts. Many of the protesters I’ve talked to share some vague idea that a two-state solution would be a good idea, but they don’t understand what that would look like. 4. Most of the protesters don’t know much about Israel-Palestine history, the displacement of Palestinians from Israel and of Jews from Arab countries after Israel was founded in 1948. They know very little about the long history of anti-Semitism across the centuries and around the world, including the Holocaust. As a result, they view Israel’s founding and 76 year history mostly through the lens of European colonialism and the displacement of Palestinians rather than view Palestinians as, in the words of the late Edward Said, a Columbia University professor and a Palestinian, “the victims of victims, the refugees of the refugees” – a more nuanced understanding of the origins of the current crisis. They know little about Israel’s current demographics – for example, that many Israeli Jews are not white and not descended from the early Jewish settlers from Europe. They don't know about the Israeli peace movement or groups like Standing Together, founded by Israeli Jews and Palestinians to work toward mutual understand, justice, and peace. Many don't understand the geo-politics of the Middle East and what it would take to forge a real peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians that would require pressure from other Arab governments, the US, the EU, and the UN to allow separate self-governing nations for both Jews and Palestinians. 5. On the extreme left, however, Israel is not a nation to be reformed, or to share its geography with Palestinians based on full citizenship and equality, but to be eliminated. Among those who view themselves as revolutionaries, there is clearly a double-standard regarding Israel. There are many countries with worse human rights records than Israel, some of which receive military aid from and trade with the U.S., but the extreme left doesn't demonize them the way it demonizes Israel. They do not call for the dismantling of Yemen, Syria, China, Iran, or any other sovereign nation, no matter how egregious its human rights record. Likewise, they use terms like apartheid and genocide to describe Israel and call for its extinction, but don't apply these ideas consistently toward other countries. For example, the US is certainly a settler colonial society. The original colonizers, who came from England, Holland, and Spain, engaged in genocide against native Americans and pushed those who survived into reservations under intolerable conditions. They promoted or at least benefited from slavery, and when slavery ended they instituted Jim Crow, an American version of apartheid that involved legal segregation in jobs, housing, education and other core aspects of society. The majority of Americans today are descendants of white immigrants, who fled oppression and destitution and arrived in the US in the 19th and 20th centuries from Greece, Sweden, Italy, Ireland, Russia, Poland, Norway, and other European nations. Most white immigrants were peasants or workers who struggled to gain acceptance and a foothold into the working and middle classes, although their whiteness offered some advantages not available to black, Brown, Asian and native Americans. Only a small fraction made it into the ruling class or social elite. But the extreme left does not insist that the descendants of those early colonizers who perpetrated human rights atrocities -- say, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Mayflower Society - or the descendants of subsequent white immigrants who shared some of America's prosperity - be expelled from the country. Nor does the extreme left insist on dismantling the United States as a nation as punishment for its racism and human rights abuses. Most American liberals, progressives, and leftists seek, instead, to create a more humane society by adopting policies that recognize these historic injustices based on race, class, gender, ethnicity, and indigenous status. 6. Jews were among the white immigrants who arrived in the US in the 19th and 20th centuries, although they were often described as a separate race. Most students also know little about the persistence of anti-Semitism throughout American history, including ugly stereotypes and discrimination in housing, jobs, colleges, hotels, and social clubs. As a result, they have a distorted view of the number and influence of Jews in the United States. This is not their fault. They have been mis-educated. But their ignorance has consequences. Anti-semitism has ebbed and flowed in US history. It has certainly been increasing over the past decade, There was a big upsurge of right-wing anti-Semitism, blatant and often violent, when Trump started campaigning for president in 2015 and it has continued ever since, reflected by the 2017 Charlottesville march, by shootings at synagogues, and by the growing assertiveness and visibility of white Christian nationalism. There's also been an upsurge of left-wing anti-Semitism, not as widespread or as violent, triggered by the war in Gaza. Anti-Semitism is not the same as anti-Zionism, but sometimes the two overlap. When Jewish students hear slogans like “intifada forever,” “Zionists don’t belong here,” or “Settlers, Settlers Go Back Home, Palestine Is Ours Alone,” they aren’t unreasonable to view them as attacks on Jews. When protesters tell Jewish students to “go back to Poland,” when they see swastikas on campus buildings, or view the poster of UC-Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, sponsored by SJP, that calls him a “Zionist” and depicts him with blood on his knife and fork “while Gaza starves,” they recognize it as anti-Jewish bigotry. Such incidents only have to happen once and they can be hard to forget. 7. Some Jewish students feel uncomfortable on campus because anti-Israel/pro-Palestine views are the default position for many of their fellow students and many of their professors, especially in the humanities and social sciences, even faculty who have no expertise in their areas. Some report facing a social penalty among other students if they express pro-Israel views, even if they are critical of many of its policies. Most faculty don’t discuss the issue of Israel and Palestine in their classes but many have signed petitions and public statements that make their views visible. 8. So I understand the concern among Jewish students and their parents about feeling "uncomfortable." But for most Jewish students, even those involved in Hillel or J-Street, feeling “uncomfortable” is not the same as feeling “traumatized” or "vulnerable,“ or "unsafe,” which is how their feelings are typically depicted by groups like ADL, Mothers Against College Anti-Semitism, and some Hillel and Chabad rabbis. In fact, there have been very few physical assaults on Jewish students and the few that have occurred are made visible in ways that make it appear to be a serious trend. Any physical assault is one too many, but Jewish students are not cowering in their dorm rooms fearful of being physically attacked. I have no doubt that some Jewish students feel traumatized, vulnerable, disoriented, and unsafe, and we should not deny those feelings. For many of them, it is the first time they've experienced blatant expressions of anti-Semitism and such vociferous attacks on Israel and they are not prepared emotionally. Neither are they prepared intellectually, in part because most Jewish institutions - summer camps, day schools, youth groups, and synagogues - have ignored some harsh truths about Israel. 9. Based on my conversations with pro-Palestine non-Jewish protesters at Occidental and some at UCLA, I don’t believe that most of them are anti-Semitic. They are all very critical of Israel, for good reason. Most believe that Israel is an apartheid state, that its history is one of settler-colonialism, and that the current assault on Gaza is a form of genocide. I may not agree with all this, but there is a legitimate case to be made for all of these accusations. It can’t just be called “anti-Semitism.” 10. But there are groups with a stake in exaggerating and weaponizing the kind and scale of campus anti-Semitism, among them the grandstanding Republicans in Congress, their white evangelical allies, and groups like ADL, Mothers Against College Anti-Semitism, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). I would like to see an honest accounting of all such incidents on college campuses (slogans shouted and verified, posters and graffiti, signs at rallies, physical assaults, identified by campus and, if possible, where and when), but I don’t trust the ADL to do it, because for them, most criticism of Israel is considered a form of anti-Semitism. (I would also like to see an honest accounting of incidents of Islamophobia on campuses). 11. Since 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu has been Israel’s Prime Minister for 18 of the last 28 years. So understandably, most American college students – in fact, anyone under 30 years old -- identifies “Israel” with Netanyahu, an authoritarian and a racist. If the only U.S. president since the mid-1990s was Donald Trump, most young people in the US and around the world might think that the US has become a fascist country. So it should come as no surprise that a 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that 56% of Americans under 30 had an unfavorable view of Israel – a dramatic shift within a decade. In fact, polls show that even most young Jews under 30 are highly critical of Israel. Almost half (45%) of Jews under 30 have been to Israel at least once but only 35% say that caring about Israel is “essential” to what being Jewish means to them, according to a 2021 Pew survey. Among Jews under 40, a whopping 43% think that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is similar to American racism, 33% believe that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians, 38% said that Israel is an apartheid state, and 20% oppose Israel’s right to exist, according to a 2021 survey of American Jewish voterscommissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute. Orthodox Jews, who constitute about one-tenth of all Jews, are more likely than others to support Israel without question, but there are few of them on most university campuses. Many (perhaps most) Jewish college students are supportive of Palestinian self-government. A few get involved with groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, but most of them do not take part in the campus pro-Palestine movement because the conversation has become so polarized that it is difficult to have a serious discussion about a complex subject. Most Jewish students don't identify with or support the small number of Jewish thugs at UCLA and elsewhere who have attacked pro-Palestine protesters. 12. One of the key demands of the pro-Palestinian protest movement is for universities to divest their endowments from corporations that do business in Israel - a strategy that played a key role in the 1980s movement to challenge the apartheid government in South Africa. The BDS (boycott, divest, sanction) movement has been around for years, but it has accelerated since the current wave of protest after October 7. (Note to organizers: The 10 universities with the largest endowments – Harvard, University of Texas, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, University of Pennsylvania, Texas A&M University, University of Michigan, and the University of California – own 29% of the $839 billion in endowments of all American universities and colleges). There is a logic to the strategy to pressure corporations to stop doing business with Israel, but the idea of boycotting Israeli institutions involved in cultural and intellectual work - including cultural exchanges with the U.S., such as inviting Israelis to speak in this country and ending exchange programs for students and faculty at US and Israel universities -- is not very strategic. Israeli writers, artists, and academics are among the strongest critics of Israel's right-wing government and policies. We should be encouraging them to visit the US and for Americans to visit Israel to meet them. 13. What’s troubling is that a relatively small group of ultra-left sectarians, some of them involved with Students for Justice in Palestine, have controlled the narrative and have influenced how the protests have been portrayed in the media. (I don’t know if this is also true of Jewish Voice for Peace, which shares many of SJP's views). Such groups, like the ANSWER Coalition, are not simply random “outside agitators,” as they are often described. These are ideological organizations with few but very disciplined members. They don't believe in electoral politics as a vehicle for change. They don’t believe in negotiation and compromise. Some of them believe that more and more militant protest and confrontation leads to repression, that repression expands sympathy for the protesters and the cause, and that somehow this will catalyze a growing cadre of “revolutionaries.” That's an absurd bit of fanaticism, but there are ultra-left groups that still believe this, as the Weathermen - a splinter group from SDS - believed it in the late 1960s. 14. University and college administrators play into their hands when they bring police on campus and arrest even peaceful protesters pitching tents on the quad, singing, chanting, even praying. The extremists among the protesters put college administrators – most of whom want to allow students to protest, but who also feel it necessary to make sure that the universities can function, such as holding classes and graduation exercises, and may be under pressure from trustees or elected officials to “restore order” -- in a no-win situation. The most radical factions among the protesters have engaged in destroying property – such as breaking into Hamilton Hall at Columbia University – for which they were understandably arrested. (A few protesters even insisted that the university bring food while they occupied the building). 15. Most of the student protesters don’t appear to understand what’s going on in this regard. They don’t consider these ultra-left sectarians to be their leaders, but they are caught up in the exhilaration of the moment and the legitimate cause of ending the violence and starvation in Gaza. It would be great if the majority of leftists and progressives could police and separate themselves from its most extremist members, but this is very difficult to do. (It is also difficult for conservatives to police their most extreme members, as we see happening in Congress). The more reasonable members of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), for example, should publicly criticize those DSA chapters who have participated in rallies and other events sponsored by extremist groups and failed to challenge their pro-Hamas rhetoric, a sin of omission with serious consequences. Republicans and even moderate Democrats have accused progressive Democratic politicians with close ties to DSA of being anti-Israel, even pro-Hamas, and even anti-Semitic. Some progressive politicians, and a growing number of DSA members, have quit the organization over its silence about Hamas and related issues. 16. Let's be clear that the Republicans in Congress like Elise Stefanik (R-NY) are exaggerating and weaponizing anti-Semitism on campus to win elections and promote their right-wing goals, which is to weaken (and even de-fund) American universities, which they view as bastions of liberal ideas, students, faculty, and voters. Stefanik and her ilk don't give a damn about Jews or anti-Semitism, but they are smart enough to seize the opportunity to demonize universities, setting a trap for the poorly-prepared presidents of Harvard, Penn, and Columbia (and perhaps others in the future) whose wishy-washy testimony undermined their credibility. 17. At the same time, the failure of some colleges and some college faculty to encourage disagreement and debate, to encourage students to understand the importance of the First Amendment in the history of progressive movements, and to take conservative views seriously - if for no other reasons than to provide students with opportunities to test and sharpen their own liberal/progressive views - plays into the hands of right-wingers who love to attack "woke" universities and so-called "cancel culture." 18. Although the protests are spreading, most of them have taken place on relatively elite universities and liberal arts colleges. According to a recent Generation Lab survey, the overwhelming majority of American college aren’t participating in campus protests. In fact, only 13% of students said that the Israel-Gaza war is a top issue for them. Of greater concern to today’s college students are healthcare reforms (40%), educational funding and access (38%), economic fairness and opportunity (37%), racial justice and civil rights (36%), climate change (35%), and gun control and safety (32%). When asked who they blame for the situation in Gaza, 34% said Hamas, 19% blamed Netanyahu, 12% blamed the Israeli people, and 12% blamed President Biden. 19. But the campus encampments and other protests have understandably gotten a great deal of media attention. Trump and the Republicans are weaponizing and taking advantage of the upheavals to help them win in November. In a remarkable bit of political ju-jitsu, the party that instigated and now justifies a violent insurrection at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 is campaigning as the party of "law and order." The Republicans are repeating Richard Nixon's strategy in 1968. Even though the violence at the 1968 Democratic convention was caused by the police attacks on anti-war protesters (the official report described it as a “police riot”), Nixon blamed the chaos on the protesters, whom he depicted as anti-American. This helped him win the White House. I worry that similar protests over Israel/Gaza at this summer’s Democratic Party convention in Chicago - even if they are not assaulted by police as took place in 1968 - will help Trump and the Republicans win. The presidential election will be won or lost in a handful of swing states - Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. In each state, the Biden could win or lose by a few thousand votes. If enough liberal and progressive Democrats - particularly young people, including college students - decide not to vote for any presidential candidate, or to vote for Cornel West or Jill Stein, that could swing the election to Trump. The same is true for Arab voters in Michigan. I don't think they've given sufficient thought to the dangers of electing a fascist president, even if they don't agree with Biden on how he's handled the situation in Gaza and US military aid to Israel. 20. If Trump is elected, and the Republicans control both houses of Congress, we will see the most reactionary, racist, anti-union, anti-democratic, anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-LBGTQ, anti-First Amendment, pro-gun rights, anti-abortion, anti-environment, Christian nationalist tyrannical government in U.S. history. Trump will appoint at least one or two more Supreme Court justices, guaranteeing a reactionary court for the next 50 years. Trump will weaken government protections for consumers, workers, and the environment, weaken voting rights, undermine laws against discrimination, and reverse Biden-era policies to reduce student debt, expand health insurance, cap drug prices, and support unions. Every progressive movement will be repressed and put on the defensive. In a second term, Trump will be even more supportive of Netanyahu and Israel’s right-wing factions, making the prospect for peace even more remote, as well as supported of Putin and other despots and bullies, destabilizing the world in ways we can't even yet imagine. Peter Dreier is the E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics at Occidental College BY
ASTRA TAYLOR LEAH HUNT-HENDRIX Pro-Palestine student protesters are being smeared as puppets of shadowy “outside agitators.” The presence of community members and experienced activists in the protests is nothing to be ashamed of: we need outside agitators to build a better world. We need ‘outside agitators’ Pro-Palestine student protesters are being smeared as puppets of shadowy “outside agitators.” The presence of community members and experienced activists in the protests is nothing to be ashamed of: we need outside agitators to build a better world. Read Full Article → WAR/PEACE • April 25, 2024 • Kurt Stand
At a labor press conference/rally on December 14 in front of the White House, Brandon Mancilla – child of Guatemalan immigrants and director of United Auto Workers (UAW) District 9 – announced the union’s call for a cease-fire in Gaza noting: “We opposed fascism in World War II, we opposed the Vietnam War, we opposed apartheid South Africa and we mobilized union resources in that fight.” This was amplified in a subsequent UAW statement that added opposing the Contra War to the precedents behind the union’s demand for a ceasefire. That history is a reminder that when unionists call for a ceasefire and justice for Palestinians, they are acting within a tradition of international solidarity that links domestic struggles against corporate greed with international struggles against war, racism, and injustice. To understand the growing support within union ranks for an end to unconditional US military and financial support for Israel in its conduct of a brutal war, it is important to look back at the legacy to which the UAW statements refer. Sections: World War II Vietnam South Africa Contra War ( Nicaragua. Guatemala, El Salvador) Immigrant Organizing Cease Fire: Gaza https://socialistproject.ca/2024/04/from-wwii-to-gaza-us-labour-opposition-war-fascism/? Issue resolved.
We will keep you informed. Duane Campbell www.iuf.org/news/may-day-celebrating-democracy-as-the-struggle-accelerates/https://www.iuf.org/news/may-day-celebrating-democracy-as-the-struggle-accelerates/
The Vermont Senator, one of America’s highest-profile Jewish lawmakers, said the Israeli leader was head of an ‘extremist and racist government’ and that the US campus protests against the Gaza war are ‘not antisemitic’ By Andrew Feinberg The Independent, UK April 25, 2024 - Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is pushing back after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused US college students protesting against the war in Gaza of being antisemitic. On Wednesday, Netanyahu’s office released a video of the US-born Israeli leader attacking the student-led protests that have taken over campus spaces at numerous universities. In the video, Netanyahu referred to the protesters as “antisemitic mobs” and accused them of physically attacking Jewish students and faculty. The Israeli leader added: “This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It’s unconscionable. It has to be stopped.” Senator Sanders — one of America’s highest-profile Jewish lawmakers — responded in a statement on Thursday in which he directly refuted Netanyahu’s accusations and addressed him by name. “No, Mr Netanyahu. It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – seventy percent of whom are women and children. It is not antisemitic to point out that your bombing has completely destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving more than one million people homeless – almost half the population,” Mr Sanders said. The Vermont Senator — an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats — continued that it was “not antisemitic” to say that the Israeli government “has obliterated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – electricity, water, and sewage” or “to realize that your government has annihilated Gaza’s health care system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing more than 400 health care workers”. “It is not antisemitic to agree with virtually every humanitarian organization in saying that your government, in violation of American law, has unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid coming into Gaza, creating the conditions in which hundreds of thousands of children face malnutrition and famine,” he continued. Sanders closed the statement by again addressing the Israeli leader directly and calling antisemitism “a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people”. “But, please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government. Do not use antisemitism to deflect attention from the criminal indictment you are facing in the Israeli courts. It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions,” he said. Protests have taken place at multiple prominent US universities including Yale, Columbia University, New York University, University of Southern California, and the University of Texas, Austin. Riot police were called to multiple campuses on Wednesday, and scores of students have been arrested in the last two weeks.
https://x.com/GregCasar/status/1783607704449110219
Robert Reich (April 23, 2024)
Can we be clear about a few things? Protesting this slaughter is not expressing antisemitism. It is not engaging in hate speech. It is not endangering Jewish students. It is doing what should be done on a college campus — taking a stand against a perceived wrong, at least provoking discussion and debate. Education is all about provocation. Without being provoked — stirred, unsettled, goaded — even young minds can remain stuck in old tracks. Israel’s war on Hamas is horrifying. The atrocities committed by both sides illustrate the capacities of human beings for inhumanity and show the vile consequences of hate. For these reasons, it presents an opportunity for students to reexamine their preconceptions and learn from one another. If Columbia, Yale, or any other university now roiled by student protests were doing what it should be doing, it would be a hotbed of discussion and debate about the war. Disagreement would be welcome; demonstrations, accepted; argument, invited; differences, examined and probed. The mission of a university is to coach students how to learn, not tell them what to think. It is to invite debate, not suppress it. Truth is a process and method — more verb than noun. I love it when my students take issue with something that I or another student has said, starting with “I disagree!” and then explaining why. Disagreeing is not being disagreeable. Disagreement engenders thought and discussion. It challenges students to reconsider their positions and probe more deeply. Which is why universities should encourage it. Why they should protect unpopular views. Why they should invite and welcome speakers with views that rile many students. To be riled up is to be attentive, open to new ideas. And why peaceful demonstrations should be encouraged, not shut down. It is never appropriate to call in armed police to arrest peaceful student demonstrators. Finally, it’s why universities should go out of their way to tolerate expression that may make some people uncomfortable. To tar all offensive speech “hate speech” and ban it removes a central pillar of education. Of course it’s offensive. It is designed to offend. There is a limit, of course. Expression that targets specific students, “doxes” them, or otherwise aims to hurt them as individuals doesn’t invite learning. It is a form of intimidation. It should not be allowed. I’m old enough, and have been a professor long enough, to have seen campuses explode in rage — at bigots like George Wallace when he ran for president, at the horrors of the Vietnam War, at university investments in South Africa, and at efforts to prevent free speech. Some of these protests were loud. Some caused inconvenience. Some protesters took over university buildings. But most were not violent. Nor did they seek to harm or intimidate individual students. Whenever university presidents have brought in the police, and students have been arrested and suspended, all learning has stopped. Which brings me to the central role of university faculties in protecting free expression on campus. This role is especially critical now, when the jobs of university presidents and trustees have degenerated mainly into fundraising — often from wealthy alumni who have their own myopic views about what sorts of speech should be allowed and what should be barred. The faculty of Columbia University has every right — and, in my view a duty — to protect peaceful free expression at Columbia with a vote of no confidence in Shafik’s leadership, and seek to end her presidency. The Columbia faculty along with those of Yale, NYU, and other campuses now engulfed in protests against what is occurring in Gaza should do everything in their power to use the resulting provocations, inconveniences, and discomforts as occasions for learning rather than repression. Anti-woke Republicans attacked Columbia University. It capitulated | Alisa Solomon, Marianne Hirsch, Sarah Haley and Helen Benedict https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/18/columbia-university-congress-antisemitism-republicans-gaza?CMP=share_btn_url From the Guardian – Opinion It’s hard to believe that the hearings genuinely seek to protect Jewish students when its grandstanding inquisitors include Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York who has trafficked in white nationalist conspiracy theories’ Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP In a congressional hearing, Republicans used specious charges of rampant antisemitism to advance an illiberal agenda on campuses As Jewish faculty at Columbia University, we watched with alarm as our president, Minouche Shafik, appeared before the House education and workforce committee on Wednesday to answer questions about antisemitism on our campus. While we are deeply concerned about antisemitism, we are also disturbed by the ways the hearing – like those in December, and surely those to follow – used specious charges of rampant antisemitism to advance an illiberal agenda. Read more https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/18/columbia-university-congress-antisemitism-republicans-gaza?CMP=share_btn_url Rand Wilson and Peter Olney It’s time for a serious reckoning — and for working people across the country and the labor movement, there is much at stake. In about seven months, the presidential election and votes in key house and senate districts will determine much of the political landscape for labor over at least the next four years. Some members of the very pro-labor Squad are facing primary challenges, bankrolled by AIPAC because of The Squad’s moral clarity and defense of Palestine. AIPAC is not to be underestimated; in 2022 it succeeded in helping take down Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) who was a staunch supporter of labor. So our first task this election season is to defend elected progressives in the primaries. It is their voices (and votes) who have been the loudest in the political arena in pushing Biden on many domestic and foreign policy fronts — including both labor and Gaza. Despite all Biden’s failings — and to be sure, his role in the genocide of Palestinians is unconscionable and indefensible — if Trump and his fascist legions recapture power, it will be a very real danger to our racial, gender, climate and economic justice movements, including the labor movement. Our democracy is far from the one we need — and deserve — but under Trump it will be further dismantled and most of the significant gains achieved through the Biden National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would be wiped out. Read more. In These Times https://inthesetimes.com/article/labor-2024-political-dilemma-biden-trump-gaza-election Steve Tarzynski
Barbara Ehrenreich died on September 1, 2022 at age 81. Coming from working-class roots, she was celebrated as an author, most notably for her 2001 Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, which dealt with the working lives of low-wage women workers. Working at these jobs herself to understand them better, she wrote a powerful report about the many hardships faced by the people who do these jobs every day. But Barbara was much more than a public intellectual and an author of numerous hard-hitting books and essays of social and political commentary. She was a renowned socialist feminist activist, an early leader of the Democratic Socialists of America, and most important for me, a pioneering critic of our health care system. Along with Deirdre English, Barbara co-wrote the groundbreaking pamphlets, “Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers” (1972) and “Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness” (1973). The first focused attention on the historic role of women as healers and of their oppression and subjugation by an always threatened and threatening white male hierarchy throughout the ages. And the second focused on women’s care experiences in a class-based, racist, and sexist system. Barbara was also a staff member and on the editorial board of the Bulletin of the Health Policy Advisory Center (Health -PAC) which was published in the 1970s and 1980s and was an important resource for us, when we were young health care activists learning about the system while fighting to change it. Along with her then-husband, John Ehrenreich, she wrote the book The American Health Empire (as another Health-PAC document, 1971), which detailed the growing influence of corporations in the medical care system. A half century before the current destructive impact of private equity’s invasion of our health care system, Barbara was warning about the corrosive influence of the profit motive, sexism, and racism in the financing, organization, and delivery of U.S.medical care. On a personal note, I was fortunate to have known and worked with Barbara when she was a co-chair along with Michael Harrington of the Democratic Socialists of America. I served on the DSA National Board with her in the 1980s and observed and learned from her up close. I have fond memories of many conversations with her and remember her warmth, authenticity, humility, intelligence, and sardonic wit. She did not suffer fools gladly, though, and was even less tolerant of know-it-all men. Some of my favorite memories will be of Barbara cutting down to size some of the more arrogant male activists and leaders, long before “mansplaining” was a term. In her own moving essay on Barbara’s passing, Deirdre English wrote in Mother Jones magazine, “Mother Jones said, ‘pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.’ But Ben Ehrenreich [her son] wrote that Barbara ‘…wasn’t much for thoughts and prayers, but you can honor her memory by loving one another and fighting like hell.’” The last thing Barbara would want is for us to feel sorry for ourselves about her passing from this world. She would urge us to carry on, no doubt ending with a witty remark. We can best honor Barbara by continuing to do the long-term hard work to create a more accessible, high quality, equitable, and affordable health care system as part of the larger effort of creating a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. See also: https://www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/remembering-barbara-ehrenreich-1941-2022/ https://www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/barbara-ehrenreichgroundbreaking-critic-of-u-s-health-care%EF%BF%BC/
Happy Birthday Dolores Dolores Huerta turns 94 today, April 10th! Throughout her remarkable life, she led boycotts alongside Cesar Chavez that changed the landscape of labor rights and inspired generations to fight for a more equitable world. But Dolores' work doesn't stop here. The Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF) carries her torch, building upon her legacy by empowering marginalized communities through grassroots organizing, education, and civic engagement. Today, as we celebrate Dolores' birthday, we invite you to join us in securing the future of her impact. Ed note. Dolores was a member of DSA from 1982 until at least 2016. I do not know if she remains a DSA member. She was an Honorary Chair of DSA from at least 1990 until the 2017 Convention. She spoke at numerous DSA functions and conventions. The honorary chairs were abolished in that year. Note: Sanders has encourage all to share these views. ( below) I am writing to let you know that I recently launched a new podcast. In the first few episodes, John Nichols and I discuss my recent book, "It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism" — which, if I must say so myself, is a very good book. I wanted to share the first few episodes with you. I hope you'll take the time to watch, save for later, and share with your friends. To start, you can find all the episodes and different places to watch or listen to them at this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2331318 Otherwise, here the first few episodes on YouTube: Episode 1: The Political Revolution Bernie Sanders. Last Friday, D. Taylor stepped down as president of UNITE HERE—the union of hotel and casino employees. His nearly dozen years at the helm of one of America’s most member-involved unions saw it become an improbable political powerhouse in a host of swing states and key elections. By Harold Meyerson , American Prospect If anything, Taylor’s tenure coincided with industry practices that should have made already difficult union-building all the harder. These days, the people working behind the hotels’ registration desks and in kitchen and waitstaffs may well be employed not by the hotel itself but by contractors—a route hotel owners have taken precisely to thwart their workers going union. Despite that, UNITE HERE has continued to unionize hotel and casino workers not only in its Nevada stronghold and in such legacy cities as New York, but also in the otherwise non-union South. During Taylor’s presidency, the union not only organized 140,500 new workers, but fully half of them were in right-to-work states, which most unions shun for fear that workers benefiting from union contracts there would exercise their right not to pay union dues. Which gets us to what’s really distinctive about UNITE HERE: It generally wins a level of worker allegiance that leads workers to join, and pay dues, even when they don’t have to. Las Vegas, where the local now claims roughly 60,000 members, has been ground zero for such successes. There, Taylor and his presidential predecessor, John Wilhelm, pioneered practices of involving workers in organizing, mobilizing, and bargaining at levels that are uncommon in most unions. That involvement has tended to pay off, literally, in the contracts the union has won. During Taylor’s tenure, that involvement has also spurred the union’s political programs. Most unions still do politics by writing checks to the candidates they back, while some of the largest and disproportionately public employee unions—the two teacher unions, AFSCME and SEIU—can fund massive electoral operations that take to the airwaves and also have members and other canvassers knocking on doors and working the phones. UNITE HERE doesn’t have that kind of treasury and can’t afford to hire non-member canvassers, as some unions do. But beginning in Nevada, where it’s long been much the biggest union, it has enlisted its hotel housekeepers, waiters, and cooks to become the state’s most potent door-knocking and phone-banking force, often alongside the Democratic machine built by the late Sen. Harry Reid. During Taylor’s tenure, the union began playing a similar role in other key swing states where its locals had similarly motivated members. In 2020, it mobilized many hundreds of its members in four swing states that gave Joe Biden the presidency: Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and, of course, Nevada. Its precinct walkers came from those states’ unionized hotels, as well as from those in such neighboring states as New York and California. Moreover, as UNITE HERE secretary-treasurer Gwen Mills (who now succeeds Taylor as president) told me in 2020, the union’s electoral training program for members also provides union organizing training as well. In speaking with Taylor last month, he voiced both a cautious optimism about his union’s trajectory, and some frustration at the labor movement’s hesitation to exploit the unusually pro-union climate now abroad in the land. "Right now," he said, "we have a high level of worker militance, the highest level of public approval of unions in 60 years, the most pro-union administration in our history, and a labor shortage that gives workers more power. If we fail to take advantage of all that, historians will say we didn’t do justice to the next generation of workers." Doing justice, in Taylor’s view, would require waging a unified labor campaign to organize the commanding heights of the economy—companies like Amazon. "That will take not one union but a powerful coalition of unions, a force like the CIO in the 1930s," he said. "We have to increase union density if we’re ever going to reduce the crazy levels of economic inequality that we have. The whole movement needs to step up." https://americanprospect.bluelena.io/index.php?action=social&chash=1d94108e907bb8311d8802b48fd54b4a.2647&s=f3196cb603d6d11dedcd326ed6daf0e3 I'm forwarding this appeal - I can only respond to the most urgent but I plan to send Jamaal as much as I can. I am very proud that DSA national has joined the Resist AIPAC coalition. We are standing with the Squad and everyone AIPAC is trying to destroy. Working Families Party, Sunrise, Justice Democrats, a whole slew of anti-MAGA allies.
It's not just Gaza, though OUR power has forced the US to permit a cease fire resolution to pass the UN Security Council today! The same forces that oppose Bowman are attacking reproductive freedom, sexual rights, immigrants, BIPOC Justice, education, voting rights and unions. I'll be sending out a list soon of the other Resist AIPAC groups so you can link up in this common cause. But for now, please think how you can help. ¡Venceremos! North Star Steering Committee * * * Hey team, it's Jamaal Bowman, can I have a few minutes of your day? 1️⃣I'm up against an AIPAC-backed opponent who is being funneled millions *just* to defeat me. 2️⃣After his launch, he raked in $1.4 million - that's a lot to compete with. 3️⃣This is my last FEC deadline before our primary, so this goal has never been more important. Please, will you chip in to help me defeat my MAGA-funded opponent and keep fighting for Black and Brown communities? I truly need a grassroots team behind me right now. https://act.bowmanforcongress.com/go/eoq-goal Thank you! Jamaal Reply STOP to Opt Out Robert Reich,
The 2024 general election is now underway. Like most of you, I’ve found myself immersed in many conversations about the threat to our nation — and the world — posed by Donald Trump. Just to be clear, I’m not talking about conversations with Trump supporters. I’m referring to conversations with people who are fully aware of the damage Trump has already done and the even greater danger he presents if reelected. Understandably, many of the people I talk with express rage and despair. It’s natural that we want to share our anger. Someone who has attempted to jettison the rule of law, unleashed violence on the U.S. Capitol, and seeks to wreck our constitutional system is once again the candidate put forward for president by the Republican Party. Why isn’t he already imprisoned? When rage is driving us, despair is often in the passenger seat. It’s easy to feel dismayed that so many of our fellow Americans (sometimes even within our own families) have been seduced by this man and manipulated by his Republican lapdogs and the right-wing media. Our hearts ache for our nation and the ideals on which it’s based, and for the previous generations that have sacrificed their lives in service of those ideals. I’m convinced that Trump can be beaten. But to ensure Joe Biden’s reelection, we must communicate effectively and concretely with one another about how to do so and what we’re going to contribute to the effort. We cannot be spectators. Over and above feelings of rage and despair, we need to emphasize the urgency of defeating him along practical lines with steps all of us can take: getting out the vote, identifying and engaging voters who are on the fence, doing our damndest to discourage potential Biden voters from voting for third-party candidates, and focusing on winning swing states. We must not allow our rage and despair to get in the way of communicating such urgency, developing such strategies, and committing to effective action. The next 33 weeks will test our individual and collective capacities. We need to stay focused on what must be done. Trump is neither inevitable nor invincible. Democracy is our precious legacy, and we must do everything humanly possible to preserve and strengthen it. Robert Reich, March 25, 2024. Read the tribute.www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/maria-svart-built-dsa/
https://www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/maria-svart-built-dsa/ by David Duhalde by Paul Garver A shorter version of this article was published in Chartist 327 The MAGA Right The largest hegemonic bloc in US politics remains the MAGA ‘Make America Great Again’ Right, closely associated with its Maximum Leader Donald Trump. Roughly 30% of the US electorate, including a solid majority of evangelical Protestants, appears to remain loyal to Trump, even as federal and state courts find him guilty of rape, tax evasion, and other financial crimes. Even though President Trump helped to foment the attempted insurrection of January 6th 2021 intended to overturn his clear electoral defeat, and thereby should have made himself ineligible to serve in any federal office as a promoter of insurrection, he will surely win the Republican nomination for the presidency. Most Republican leaders, some of whom fear that a Trump candidacy will alienate independent voters, fall into line with MAGA out of fear or expediency. MAGA’s and Trump’s proclaimed intention is to seize political control of the nation, and to cement that control into the indefinite future. Republicans have no plan for governing the nation, leading to a ‘clown show’ in Congress, in which the most extreme elements of the Right wreck any effort at reaching the basic compromises essential to preserve essential public services. Government is to be discredited and disabled, so that constituencies who need its services for survival are discouraged from voting at all. Congressional Republicans have rejected a tentative agreement with Biden that they had proposed linking continued aid to Ukraine for more border security. The leading strategist for deliberately sowing political chaos is Donald Trump himself, who believes that as President he will be able to pardon himself and not serve lengthy prison sentences or pay hefty fines for his numerous political and financial crimes. So far, each new indictment brings Trump a flood of cash from his admirers. The most ruthless right-wing thinker for Trump is Steven Bannon, a neo-Fascist who openly courts the global Right and admires Putin, but he has numerous enablers, including former presidential candidates he is brushing aside in Republican primaries. The possibility of a second Trump administration poses a lethal threat to American democracy. Trump has promised to wield Presidential power in a personal and vindictive way against all his perceived enemies. The Center The Right faces a Center, the majority faction of the Democratic Party, led by incumbent President Joe Biden. In 2020 the Democratic Center demonstrated that it could win a narrow national electoral majority against an incompetent sitting President. Biden carried most ‘purple’ swing states by winning strong majorities among young people, women and people of color, even as most white men, evangelical Christians, and rural and small-town voters opted for Trump. Normally an incumbent President who managed to guide the nation through the pandemic crisis, and emerge with a relatively strong economy would be assured of re-election. While the most optimistic hopes of young people crushed by student debt, environmentalists confronting the climate crisis, and immigrant communities were not realized, the Biden administration seemed to be trying hard enough, with setbacks attributed to obstinate resistance from Republicans and a few right-wing Democrats. However, the mainstream Democratic Party has been hollowed out by decades of neo-liberal ‘triangulation’ on major economic and social policies, including those crucial for winning and retaining the support of the working class, racial minority, women, and youth constituencies essential to a Democratic victory. Rhetorically Biden Democrats talk a lot about the interests of these constituencies, but in reality they often cater to the whims of the wealthy individual and corporate donors that fund their campaigns. Biden has chosen, or been forced, to take retrograde steps on immigration, student debt and the environment that may be justified by narrow political calculations but are likely to alienate activists from such crucial constituencies. The Left The small democratic socialist grouping in Congress does not mirror the spoiler role of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) extremists. Bernie Sanders and the Squad critically support many initiatives of the Biden administration, while promoting stronger progressive measures on student debt, climate, and workers’ rights. Recently Biden has voiced greater support for unions, by his appointments to the National Labor Relations Board and even joining an autoworkers’ picket line. Here he is aligned with the broad Left and socialist movements. A strong consensus has emerged on the Left around support for a diverse and inclusive workers’ movement based on grassroots organizing. Rank-and-file reform caucuses in the UAW (United Autoworkers) and the Teamsters (Truck Drivers) have helped elected union leaderships mobilize their memberships for successful campaigns and strikes. DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) members in the UAW, mainly in its growing division of academic workers, worked to elect the reforming leadership of Shawn Fain. Eco-socialists in DSA have rallied to support the UAW’s campaign to organize a Just Transition to electric vehicle production and won a major campaign to require New York State’s public power authority to prioritize renewable power sources. The revival of a militant labor movement in which DSA plays a constructive role bodes well for the future of democratic socialism. However, it is difficult for DSA to imagine joining in a united front with centrist Democrats to defeat a MAGA takeover that would preclude space for the development of democratic socialism. DSA and much of the US Left still focus too strongly on the evils of neo-liberalism and the shortcomings of the Biden administration, regardless of the MAGA threat. Gaza Crisis This has been even more challenging since the Gaza crisis strengthened the centrifugal forces within the Democratic Party. The Biden administration intensified US military and diplomatic support for Israel despite the suffering of the civil population of Gaza. Despite widespread popular support for a ceasefire, including the majority of union members, progressives in Congress, led by the democratic socialist Squad members and Bernie Sanders, are suffering strong attacks from the mass media for expressions of solidarity and support for Palestinians. Pro-Israel political action committee AIPAC is targeting democratic socialists supporting Palestine in Congress by funding right-wing opposition candidates in Democratic primaries and/or their Republican opponents. AS a ‘big tent’ organization, DSA is often divided on international issues. This is less so on Palestine, where DSA conventions previously endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. After initially muddled rhetorical responses that alienated some members who felt its statements were too pro-Hamas, DSA settled into support for less rhetorical but more effective actions. Younger DSA activists, especially Jewish-Americans, Muslim-Americans and other members of color have particularly engaged in this issue, joining mass demonstrations, lobbying legislators, and organizing labor unions in support for de-escalation and a cease-fire. DSA leaders joined a hunger strike, while spokespersons for major US unions supporting de-escalation were DSA members, including a Regional Director of the UAW. While DSA seems to pass the ‘stress test’ of Gaza by better alignment with the democratic socialist members of Congress, and collaboration among its national leadership, its National Labor Commission, International Committee and Elections Committee, that cannot be said of the Democratic Congressional leaders. Rather than respond positively to the significant bloc in Congress calling for de-escalation and a ceasefire in Gaza, to the majority of Democratic voters appalled by the carnage in Gaza, and to growing street demonstrations supporting Palestinian civilians, Democratic congressional leaders like Nancy Pelosi falsely accused the demonstrators of being influenced by Putin. Many Democrats voted with Republicans to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib for her advocacy of Palestinian rights. Biden is hampered by his apparent frailty of old age and his lack of charismatic speaking ability to campaign effectively. Polls indicate that almost any other Democrat would defeat Trump more easily. Trump is nearly as old as Biden, but has the energy and demeanor of a spoiled two-year-old brat throwing temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his way. This endears him to a sector of the electorate (predominantly male) that misinterprets Trump’s behavior as ‘manly’ and strong. I personally hope that ‘Good old’ President Joe Biden has the wisdom to allow someone else to run against Trump in 2024. I fear that (his nickname) ‘Genocide Joe’ could lead the Democrats to defeat. But maybe women facing the annihilation of their reproductive rights, and unionized workers hoping to consolidate their reviving labor rights will vote in sufficient numbers in key states like Michigan to balance the defection of Arab-American voters. Shawn Fain, the energetic new President of the UAW, provides a good model for creating a Center-Left United Front. Following its impressive strike victory against the Big Three auto companies, the UAW both endorsed a Gaza ceasefire and the Biden candidacy, citing his support for workers’ rights. Turning back the danger of a disastrous MAGA seizure of power will require such a sophisticated approach. (Update March 6 The North Star Steering Committee invites you to participate in an interactive North Star member Zoom meeting to discuss how we can take action, both inside DSA and with other progressive organizations, to build the united resistance to Donald Trump’s election, keep the Senate Democratic, and flip the House. Topic: NS Decisions and action plan. Time: Mar 20, 2024 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88190781674? us02web.zoom.us/j/88190781674? pwd=YktYWlM2NUNNL3B0K3JTcE5aSlpOUT09 Meeting ID: 881 9078 1674us02web.zoom.us/j/88190781674? Passcode: 764920 Please join us. The primary is over. This is it. The election will once again be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And, frighteningly, at this point most polls have Trump in the lead. The question we now face is a simple one. How do we defeat Trump and his right-wing extremist allies in the House and Senate? How do we elect more Progressives to Congress? And, frankly, the answer is complicated by the reality that the Democratic establishment is ill-prepared to do that. They have relatively little support within the working class. Their support among the Latino community is declining. And they are even seeing a drop In support from the Black community - historically the Democrats strongest base of support. Their support among young people is declining. The Democrats are also weak in terms of generating grass-roots activism or excitement. We have to do things differently. While most Democrats will focus their attention on Trump's indictments, his insults and outrages, our job is to be laser-focused in reminding people of the fraud and pathological liar for working people we all know Trump to be. For instance: This is a president, Donald Trump, who said he was going to provide health care to everyone, yet tried to throw 32 million people off of health care and has pledged to continue to try and accomplish that goal. This is a president who said he was going to stand up for working families and who promised to pass tax reform legislation designed to help the middle class, yet 83 percent of his tax benefits go to the top 1 percent. This is a president who promised to take on the pharmaceutical companies. He said they were "getting away with murder." Yet, drug prices continue to soar and he appointed a drug company executive as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This is a president who promised to take on the greed of Wall Street, but then proceeded to appoint more Wall Street titans to high positions than any president in history. This is a president who appointed vehemently anti-labor members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This is a president who believes climate change is a "hoax", and appointed agency leaders and judges who consistently undermined our ability to move toward sustainable energy and protect the environment. This is a president who said he would do "everything in my power to protect our LGBT citizens," yet went out of his way to attempt to deny them from getting the health care they need and allow discrimination against them in the workplace. This is a president who brags about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade and denying reproductive rights to millions of women across the country. This is a president who said that if he won that America would be respected again around the world, yet as a result of his anti-democratic and incompetent policies has succeeded in significantly lowering the respect that people all over the planet have for the United States, all while embracing right-wing authoritarian rulers around the world. This is a president who not only rejected his own defeat and attempted to incite an insurrection to stop Congress from certifying the election, but worked overtime to make it harder for people to vote and easier for billionaires to buy the outcomes of elections. I happen to believe that if Trump is elected once again this November, the 250 year old experiment of modern democracy in this country may very well come to end. The truth is, Donald Trump sold out the working families of this country once, and if he wins again all of the anti-worker, anti-democratic policies he pursued during his first term will only be magnified. He is a menace to working people whose rejection of climate science threatens the future of this planet. We have to appreciate how unbelievably severe the current moment is. This is not the message most Democrats trying to defeat Trump will communicate, but it one we must relentlessly remind the working people of this country about ahead of November's elections. So there it is. A lot of important work ahead of us. Planning. Save the date: March 20 – 7 pm EDT/ 4 pm PDT We are planning an interactive North Star member Zoom meeting to discuss how we can take action, both inside DSA and with other progressive organizations, to build the united resistance to Donald Trump’s election, keep the Senate Democratic, and flip the House. I Opposed Humphrey in ’68. All I Did Was Help Prolong the Vietnam War.
Michael Kazin When I was young, the left I was a part of helped elect Nixon. Please don’t make a similar mistake today. I remain as committed to the ideals of the left as I was back in 1968. But back then, in my small, disruptive fashion, I may have helped elect a president who ended the era when liberals dominated American politics, enacting policies like the Civil Rights Act and Medicare that benefit tens of millions of people. Under Richard Nixon, the nation began to move rightward, a shift from which we are still struggling to recover. Before the Watergate scandal brought him down, he also took four long years to withdraw U.S. troops from Vietnam, after another 20,000 or so U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians had died. Donald Trump may not embroil the nation in a long and bloody foreign conflict. But he’ll hand Ukraine to Putin, and he’ll give Israel a total free hand to kill as many Palestinians as it can. And here at home, Trump has already vowed to wage a war against “the Communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” Such invective most definitely includes young Americans who sympathize with the Palestinian cause. To support the Democrat who runs against him next year should not be shrugged off as voting for a lesser evil. It will be a necessary choice to preserve what, in his final speech, Martin Luther King Jr. called “the right to protest for right” that is so vital to whatever “greatness” our nation possesses. Read the entire Piece. https://newrepublic.com/article/177353/hubert-humphrey-1968-loss-prolong-vietnam-war Michael Kazin’s latest book is What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party. He teaches history at Georgetown University. |
Principles North Star caucus members
antiracismdsa (blog of Duane Campbell) Hatuey's Ashes (blog of José G. Pérez) Authory and Substack of Max Sawicky Left Periodicals Democratic Left Socialist Forum Washington Socialist Jacobin In These Times Dissent Current Affairs Portside Convergence The Nation The American Prospect Jewish Currents Mother Jones The Intercept New Politics Monthly Review n+1 +972 The Baffler Counterpunch Black Agenda Report Dollars and Sense Comrades Organizing Upgrade Justice Democrats Working Families Party Poor People's Campaign Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism Progressive Democrats of America Our Revolution Democracy for America MoveOn Black Lives Matter Movement for Black Lives The Women's March Jewish Voice for Peace J Street National Abortion Rights Action League ACT UP National Organization for Women Sunrise People's Action National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Dream Defenders |