AFT: Endorsement of Kamala Harris for President
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share with Email By The American Federation of Teachers in Convention. July 24, 2024. WHEREAS, the AFT and our 1.8 million members are committed to making a difference in the lives of the students, patients and communities we serve by the work we do, the advocacy we pursue, and the real solutions we bring; and WHEREAS, the AFT and our members make meaningful change through that work, and through organizing and activism; and WHEREAS, the AFT and our members engage in politics not as a partisan tactic or destination, but as a means to turn our values and aspirations for a better life into a reality for all people; and WHEREAS, the 2024 elections are a battle for what kind of country we seek to be: one of community, or one of chaos; one of hope, or one of fear; one of democracy, or one of autocracy; and the stakes are existential, with our freedoms, rights and democracy hinged on the outcome of the election; and The resolves. RESOLVED, that for all these reasons and for our students, our patients, our families, our communities, our democracy and ourselves, the AFT endorses Kamala Harris for president in the November 2024 general election, subject to the ratification by the delegates to the 2024 AFT convention; and RESOLVED, that the AFT and our state and local affiliates will recruit and engage members in a coordinated get-out-the-vote effort to ensure they and their families are registered to vote; are informed of the positions of Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and other presidential candidates; and turn out on Election Day; and RESOLVED, that the AFT and our affiliates will provide the necessary resources and undertake the necessary comprehensive get-out-the-vote programs to educate and organize allies and the general public about the issues and the candidates in the 2024 election; and RESOLVED, that the AFT, in solidarity, will continue to work with and build a broad coalition effort with the AFL-CIO, other labor unions, and community partners in our collective effort to elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States. WHEREAS, President Joe Biden will go down as one of the most consequential and meaningful presidents in our history. He has made people’s lives better and has been a champion of workers, families, unions and democracy; and Here is what DSA national leadership says. https://www.dsausa.org/news/july2024_npc_newsletter/?
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NORTH STAR STEERING COMMITTEE STATEMENT ON BIDEN AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE
President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek re-election resets the dynamics of the 2024 Presidential election but does not change the basic task of socialists and progressives. The Biden administration made many positive contributions to the U.S., rebuilding from the economic decline of the Trump Administration, and providing more support for workers and their ability to organize than any administration in the past half century. We commend President Biden for rescuing the nation from Trump’s failure to provide an adequate and timely response to the Covid crisis. We support Biden’s positive responses to the climate crisis and thank him for his service in difficult times. President Biden has also failed in significant ways. His weak resistance to the brutal Israeli attack on the people of Gaza and continuing supply of military support to Israel is contrary to international law and must be denounced. His immigration policies have been repressive and he has been unable to enact reforms on immigration and student debt collection due to Republican stonewalling. What hasn’t changed is our primary task: the defeat of Donald Trump and the fascist threat he represents in 2024, embodied in the Project 2025 document. Success in defeating this threat demands solidarity among all forces opposed to Trump’s election. DSA should place itself squarely in the ranks of the gathering pro-democracy front and discard the ultra-left positions voiced in the NPC’s initial pronouncement on President Biden’s withdrawal from candidacy. The North Star Caucus Steering Committee stands ready to unite with all DSA members who recognize this historic opportunity to unite with the pro-democracy forces. We are committed to electing progressives and defeating reactionary measures at all levels of government on November 5th.
The Left must grasp the stakes and meet the moment
There is no hidden agenda for Donald Trump and his MAGA movement that has taken over the Republican Party. “Make America Great Again” openly leads the nation backward to what should have been a defeated political idea, that of the Confederacy. This New Confederacy promises unabashed white supremacy, disdain and hatred of those born in what they call the “shithole countries” of the global South, dictatorial presidential powers, repression of dissent, and the use of mob violence domestically and military adventurism internationally to enforce its political agenda. Trump started the year—even while facing civil and criminal trials involving more than 91 indictments—by releasing a comprehensive political program that he promises to immediately implement if elected president in November 2024. The centerpiece of his vision is a wish list of right-wing ethnic cleansing policies meant to secure and institutionalize white minority rule, with repercussions for the world, but especially for the people of Mexico and Latin America. Here are some of the horrific details. Mass Deportations Trump is calling for mass deportation of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, the great majority of whom are Mexican, but who also include Central Americans, Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, Chinese, and Muslims. The New York Times on November 11th ran an article titled “Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps, and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans.” The article provides a chilling description of the plan: “To help speed mass deportations, Mr. Trump is preparing an enormous expansion of a form of removal that does not require due process hearings.” He wants to build massive deportation camps to house the millions of immigrants and refugees they plan to remove from the US. Trump has publicly compared his plan to the infamous “Operation Wetback” of the Eisenhower administration, in which millions of Chicanos and Mexicanos, many of them US citizens, were rounded up and deported to Mexico. Most people don’t realize the horrendously broad impact of these policies, not only on those rounded up and shipped out, but on their families, their communities, on schools, local businesses, churches, and faith organizations, and unions with large numbers of immigrant worker members. To help Immigration and Customs Enforcement carry out sweeping raids, Trump plans to reassign other federal agents and deputize local police officers and National Guard soldiers voluntarily contributed by Republican-run states. He would pay for this terror project by using money from the massive US military budget, as he did during his first administration when Congress refused to fund his infamous border wall. An End to Legal Immigration Unlike during his first administration, Trump’s plan assumes broad judicial support from the reactionary Supreme Court majority that he appointed as well as from the hundreds of federal judges that he appointed during his administration. The racist neo-fascist agenda includes ending the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program altogether. It also includes ending the Temporary Protected Status Program that provides refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing systemic violence or natural disasters. Please read the entire document. https://liberationroad.substack.com/p/a-maga-victory-in-2024-will-lead This article was written by Bill Gallegos as part of Liberation Road’s “Adalante!” booklet series, in coordination with the Mexico Solidarity Project. A former member of the Brown Berets and a founder of the New Raza Left, Bill Gallegos has been an activist and theorist in the Chican@ Liberation Movement since the 1960s. ORGANIZING THE IGNORED, FORGOTTEN, AND SUPPRESSED: A POOR PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT ACTION AND AGENDA7/20/2024 ![]() By Kurt Stand, July 2024, Inspired by a call to build a movement for a “resurrection of justice, love, truth,” as opposed to an “insurrection of injustice, lies, and hate,” a few thousand people assembled in Washington, DC, for the Poor People’s Campaign Assembly on Saturday, June 24. DSA members from Prince George’s County in Maryland were there, but it was clear that for many in this racially, socially, and age-diverse group, going to public protests was not a common occurrence. Whether they had been mobilized by their church or union, whether they simply heeded the call and showed up on their own, they were serious about being there. As I wandered through the crowd toward the end of the rally, I ran into a group of hospital workers excited to be there, some coal miners who had come up from West Virginia just to be present, and many who sat on the ground listening (really listening) to the talks and nodding as they might in church. As at other Poor People's Campaign gatherings, the political message was not directed at institutions or organizations but at those who find themselves trapped in poverty, whose everyday existence is defined by the need to tread water to avoid drowning. And the message delivered was clear: those living in poverty are the “swing vote,” the ones who in their numbers and their moral strength can ensure the defeat of Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans in the upcoming elections. As PPC Campaign co-chairs Bishop William Barber II and Rev. Liz Theoharis expressed in their opening remarks, the choice is not about personalities, as the media might have us believe. It is about focusing on those issues the media, and most politicians, ignore: the realities of the grinding poverty that is the fourth leading cause of death in society. Their opening addresses also drove home the point that change comes from the bottom up, and rather than be distracted by whether people are liberal or conservative, left or right, people have to focus on the needs of those in our society who endure housing insecurity, food insecurity, and job insecurity. Politicians must address the needs of those who live paycheck to paycheck. We cannot accept a politics that “accepts” homelessness, hunger, and violence as immutable realities. Values A resurrection is a rebirth, building “from the ashes of the old,” if you will. And so the assembly called for “Moral Revival,” directly challenging Christian nationalism. Repairers of the Breach, the organization Barber founded and leads, stands for centering the language of morality by building a movement united across lines of race, class, gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, and faith in opposition to those who claim that the preeminent moral issues of our day are prayer in public schools, abortion, and property rights. The program of the assembly reflected those values. Big-name speakers were not on the program, the aim of which was to give voice to the voiceless. The speeches were divided into three cohorts: church leaders, unions, and impacted individuals. Each speaker had one-and-a half minutes, and the timing was strict; music would start playing the moment they reached the 90-second mark. This allowed many voices to be heard and forced speakers to come to the point quickly. In their own ways, each faith leader, regardless of affiliation, spoke to a sense of oneness: that we are each other’s keepers. This stands in opposition to any institutional religion corrupted by nationalism, racism, the idea that some countries or people are superior to others, and in opposition to church doctrines that proclaim that women should be subservient to men. By contrast, the language of universality used by the faith leaders was embodied in the political program of unity in support of social and economic justice, in support of peace and environmentalism. And contrary to the uniformity demanded by religious nationalists, this kind of unity embraces individuality and the sense of identity (or perhaps, better put, the multiple identities) we all have. This is an expression of the “Moral Fusion” that is central to the Poor People’s campaign and can be summed up in the biblical injunction “to do unto others as you would have done to you,” for our individual and collective needs are inextricable combined. A secular expression of this is embodied in union solidarity. And it is impossible to understand the significance of the assembly without recognizing that it was a “Poor People’s and Low Wage Workers” Assembly. Numerous unionists were present – hospital workers from 1199 Service Employees; hospitality workers from UNITE-HERE; members of the Amalgamated Transport Workers who have been engaged in big fights in Northern Virginia and Washington, DC; members of the American Postal Workers Union; and government workers from federal (American Federation of Government Employees) and state, county and municipal (AFSCME) unions, and many others. A union officer would speak, followed by a rank-and-file member. Bound by the same time limitation as faith leaders, their comments focused on the importance of organization in lifting wages and the need to mobilize voters to protect those gains. Rank-and-filers especially stressed the critical importance of the work they do. Underlying their comments was the key point that raising those at the bottom benefits all working people and is the only pathway to equality. Finally – and crucially – the people who suffer the most impact from poverty spoke from direct experience. A woman from Philadelphia told about watching the apartment complex where she lived and raised her children bulldozed by a developer who decided he could make more money by displacing people from their homes, a disabled women from Miami described her feelings after being told that she should lower her expectations and drop out of her college program, a man from Wisconsin described what it felt like to be denied needed medical coverage even though he had health insurance – and so it went, on and on. And the chant in response to each was, “We are the swing vote!” Past to Future Here is the Swing Vote for this election. Read more: Very valuable. Reposted from the DSA Religion and Socialism blog. ReligiousSocialism.org https://www.religioussocialism.org/organizing_the_ignored_forgotten_and_suppressed_a_poor_people_s_movement_action_and_agenda Recently, there's been some discussion about our chapter's endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in February. For clarity, AOC remains endorsed by NYC-DSA. Our chapter withdrew its request for national endorsement after the primary passed and the National Political Committee (NPC) honored this request. For context, please see NYC-DSA Steering Committee's statement about the endorsement process, posted past week on the national members-only forum, and the public message that NPC posted yesterday about the status of a national endorsement. For an understandable version of events, go to
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/us/politics/aoc-dsa-endorsement.html? Also; See Max Sawicky on this. Link on side. New York City DSA Continues Endorsement of AOC. July 11,2024. Recently, there's been some discussion about our chapter's endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in February. For clarity, AOC remains endorsed by NYC-DSA. Our chapter withdrew its request for national endorsement after the primary passed and the National Political Committee (NPC) honored this request. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULY3hl-JkNw&t=53s Also see: Statement on AOC’s Endorsement Status Jul 11 Written By Socialist Majority Steering Committee To be clear: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez remains endorsed by NYC-DSA—as she has been every re-election year since 2018—and no national endorsement has been revoked. Claims to the contrary are wrong. AOC has spent her career taking brave stances against the corporate establishment and the far right, despite the risks. More than nearly any other politician, she has used her material power to advance working-class liberation and the cause of democratic socialism. We haven’t agreed on every vote—but inside DSA, we don’t always agree with each other either. We still stand together. That’s why, when weighing in on re-endorsement, over 80% of NYC-DSA members and over 70% of national members were supportive. Also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEGB3NAxEh4&t=137s Understandable version of events. New York City DSA Continues Endorsement of AOC. July 11,2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULY3hl-JkNw&t=53s Also see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEGB3NAxEh4&t=137s Understandable version of events. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/us/politics/aoc-dsa-endorsement.html?searchResultPosition=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/us/politics/aoc-dsa-endorsement.html? ![]() Timothy Snyder. Those who wish to preserve the American constitutional republic should also recall the past. A good start would be just to recall the five basic political lessons of 1933. Recalling history, we act for a future that can and will be much better. As the United States hovers at the edge of fascism, the history of Germany can help. To be sure, Americans have other histories to ponder, including their own. Some American states, right now, are laboratories of authoritarian rule (and resistance). The American 1860s and American 1930s reveal tactics authoritarians use, as well as the weaknesses of the American system, such as slavery and its legacy. At those times, though, Americans were lucky in their leadership. Lincoln and Roosevelt were in office at the critical moments. And so we lack the experience of the collapse of the republic. We can certainly learn from contemporary authoritarian success, as in Russia and in Hungary, which I have written about elsewhere. Yet the classic example of a major economic and cultural power collapsing into fascism remains Germany in 1933. The failure of the democratic experiment in Germany led to a world war as well as the Holocaust and other atrocities. ….The lessons from Germany that I present below are not at all new. We have been trained by digital media to believe that only what happens right now matters. But the people who intend to destroy the American constitutional republic have learned from the past. One of the basic elements of Project 2025, for example, is what the Nazis called Gleichschaltung: transforming the civil service into a fascist nest. Those who wish to preserve the American constitutional republic should also recall the past. A good start would be just to recall the five basic political lessons of 1933. 1. Voting matters. Hitler came to power after an election which enabled his appointment as head of government. It is much easier for fascists to begin from within than to begin from without. Hitler’s earlier coup attempt failed. But once he had legitimate power, inside the system as chancellor (prime minister), he could manipulate it from within. In the American system, “voting” means not just going to the polls yourself, but making donations, phone-banking, and knocking on doors. We are still, happily, at the stage when unglamorous actions can make the difference. 2. Coalitions are necessary. In 1932, in the crucial German election, the far left and the center left were separated. The reasons for this were very specific: Stalin ordered the German communists to oppose the German social democrats, thereby helping Hitler to power. To be sure, the American political spectrum is very different, as are the times. Yet the general lesson does suggest itself: the left has to hold together with the center-left, and their energies have to be directed at the goal rather than at each other. Read more: https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-to-stop-fascism Union Organizer Apprenticeship Program - Apply by July 8
The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute (OI) is rising to meet the increased demand in union organizers by connecting passionate, social- and economic-justice-minded activists to careers as union organizers through our Union Organizer Apprenticeship Program. For the first time in many years, we are re-launching this high demand, paid training and placement program. Ideal candidates are looking for full-time, permanent work in a career where they can really make a difference for working people. Applications are open from 6/24/24-7/8/24 for the August 7-9th training in Nashville, TN. For more information or to apply, visit our website: https://aflcio.org/organizing-apprenticeship. It's undeniable that some things have changed since the debate, but one thing hasn't: Our democracy is at stake so anyone who cares about thwarting fascism must do whatever they can to keep Donald Trump from winning the White House.
PETER DREIER Jun 30, 2024Common Dreams If you watched the debate between former President Donald Trump and incumbent President Joseph R. Biden last Thursday night and then tuned in to Biden’s appearance a little more than twelve hours later at a rally in North Carolina, you would have been shocked by the contrast. Biden, who has struggled with a stutter throughout his life, has never been a great speaker. But that speech, like his 2024 State of the Union address, was pretty good. To put it bluntly, Biden seemed like himself. His affect was good. He wasn't stiff or disoriented. He was, of course, using a teleprompter at the rally, whereas at the debate he had to speak spontaneously. In North Carolina, he was speaking to a large enthusiastic crowd, compared to the empty room at the Atlanta debate. As with most politicians, the crowd lifted him up. … But are these pundits, columnists and editorial writers over-reacting? Do they reflect public opinion – or are they shaping it? Will the Democratic leadership—the big donors, as well as Biden and his family, be able to resist this wave of disapproval—even if they think it wiser to stay the course? Perhaps the pundits overestimate how much damage was done on Thursday night and do not give Biden’s voters enough credit for understanding how dishonest and deranged Trump is …. But we’re not in normal times, this is not a normal election, Trump is not a normal candidate, and he has shaped the media environment to his purposes. The media has normalized Trump’s extremism. To his credit, Biden did point out many of Trump’s lies. He also accused Trump of having “the morals of an alley cat,” a phrase we can expect to see reappear throughout the campaign. Unfortunately, however, the mainstream media have treated this contest not as if character mattered, but as an election between two old guys with different personalities and different views on policy issues. Biden's accomplishments have improved the lives of most Americans. In contrast, Trump’s four years in office were filled with chaos and ineptitude. This means that the media rarely report the substance of what each candidate has, and has not, accomplished; what they will and will not do; and whether these plans are realistic and responsive to what voters need. For example, despite overwhelming obstacles, Biden’s presidency has been a major success on a wide range of issues. He got stuff done. He paid attention to policy. Biden's accomplishments have improved the lives of most Americans. In contrast, Trump’s four years in office were filled with chaos and ineptitude. Despite having a Republican majority in both Houses, he couldn’t work with Congress to repeal Obamacare, one of the signature promises of his 2016 campaign. …. So, let's be clear. Whomever the Democrats’ presidential candidate is, the election will be decided by between 5,000 to 50,000 people in each of the following seven battleground states: Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. These numbers include Democratic-leaning voters, particularly Black and Latino voters, and young voters (who may decide not to vote or who might cast ballots for RFK Jr, Jill Stein, or Cornel West as a "protest"); and independent swing voters, including some who reluctantly voted for Trump in 2016, and perhaps even 2020, but are fed up with him now. These are the voters any Democratic candidate must persuade and turnout at this point. One thing hasn’t changed: Our democracy is at stake so anyone who cares about thwarting fascism needs to stop whining and do whatever they can to keep Donald Trump from winning the White House, regardless who is at the top of the Democratic ticket. Read more. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/should-biden-step-aside PETER DREIER Peter Dreier is the E.P. Clapp distinguished professor of politics at Occidental College. ![]() BY LAWRENCE WITTNER https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/19/how-donald-trump-worked-to-destroy-americas-labor-unions/ Although Donald Trump has been eager to garner support from American labor unions for his re-election campaign, there are lots of reasons he’s not going to get it. Chief among them is his record in sabotaging the nation’s labor movement. During his decades as a wealthy businessman, Trump clashed with unions repeatedly. And, upon becoming President, he appointed people much like himself―from corporate backgrounds and hostile toward workers―to head key government agencies and departments. Naturally, an avalanche of anti-union policies followed. Under Trump, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)―the federal agency enforcing the nation’s fundamental labor law, the National Labor Relations Act―led the charge. Instead of following the intent of the 1935 legislation, which was to guarantee the right of workers to union representation, the Trump NLRB widened the basis for denying that right. According to the NLRB, the nearly two million Uber and Lyft drivers, as well as other workers in the gig economy, were not really workers, but independent contractors and, as such, not entitled to a union. The NLRB also proposed depriving graduate teaching assistants and other student employees at private universities of the right to organize unions and collectively bargain. read more. Posted with permission of the author. ![]() National Poor People’s Campaign. March on Washington and to the Polls. June 29, 2024. Which Side Are You On ? Class politics. Mass Poor People’s Campaign and Low Wage Workers. Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly & Moral March on Washington, D.C. & to the Polls, Livestream Party for those unwilling or unable to travel to Washington DC for the event. Refreshments will be provided. Event is free and open to the public. The venue is St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 910 NW 38th St, Lawton OK 73505. The date and time are June 29, 9 AM to 1 PM. https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org Also see Reverend Barber, Poverty, Class and Voting. – video. https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/revbarber-poverty-class-and-voting “The Good News in 2024—Poor People Are the New Swing Vote” In a Washington Informer op-ed published last weekend, Bishop Barber notes that while the election season may look bleak, there’s reason to hope. “As a preacher, I learned a long time ago that you don’t get to the good news by looking away from problems; the good news is most often found right in the midst of trouble.” He points out that workers and their unions have had big wins and students and young people are flexing their organizing muscles. And he reminds us that when low-income people vote, they can swing an election. Toward the end of the piece, he makes a startling observation: “Both Democrats and Republicans have ignored low-income voters for decades precisely because they are unlikely voters. But when the nonpartisan Poor People’s Campaign, which I serve as a co-chair, surveyed poor people to ask why they don’t vote, the number one reason they gave was, ‘No one speaks to us.’” Featuring Bernie Sanders, AOC,( Alexandria Ocasio Cortez,) and many more. Billionaires can’t buy our elections. And, the ultra left should be sent home. UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Concludes that Israeli Authorities and Hamas Are Both Responsible for War Crimes 19 June 2024 States and companies must end arms transfers to Israel immediately or risk responsibility for human rights violations: UN experts UN report: Israeli use of heavy bombs in Gaza raises serious concerns under the laws of war UN experts condemn outrageous disregard for Palestinian civilians during Israel’s military operation in Nuseirat https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/world/middleeast/gaza-war-crimes-israel-hamas.html? The U.N. Report on Israeli and Palestinian War Crimes: What We Know The findings cite acts such as sexual violence and the deliberate killing or abducting of civilians by Hamas. They also accuse Israel of collective punishment and crimes against humanity in Gaza. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/world/middleeast/gaza-war-crimes-israel-hamas.html? https://jacobin.com/2024/06/un-israel-palestine-crimes-humanity ------ ------ ----- --------- U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said late Tuesday that Democratic and Republican leaders should withdraw their invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak at a joint meeting of Congress next month after he released a video attacking the Biden administration for "withholding" weapons from Israel's military. "This man should not be addressing Congress. He is a war criminal," Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote on social media. "And he certainly has no regard for U.S. law, which is explicitly designed to prevent U.S. weapons from facilitating human rights abuses." "His invitation should be revoked," she added. "It should've never been sent in the first place." ![]() The Cause That Turned Idealists Into Authoritarian ZealotsThe history of American Communism shows that dogma and fervor are no substitute for popular support. By Maurice Isserman For more than a century, the American left has been pulled in two directions. The better one seeks revolutionary change through the democratic process, as the Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs did in the early 20th century. Emulating the abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, Debs tried to convince people of many political persuasions to expand the promise of equality embedded in the Declaration of Independence. The Socialist Party that he led got more than 1,000 members elected to public office, and he himself attracted 6 percent of the vote when he ran for president in 1912. A competing vision arose during and after the First World War in Russia, a country that bore scant resemblance to Western democracies and had no tradition of government based on principles of equal rights. To overthrow Russia’s czar, Vladimir Lenin created a tightly organized and ideologically disciplined corps of “professional revolutionaries” who would dedicate “the whole of their lives” to the movement. Their success at destroying the old order in 1917 appealed to a contingent of American radicals who, in 1919, left the Socialist Party to form what would eventually be named the Communist Party USA. Like the original Bolsheviks in Russia, the CPUSA subordinated democratic ideals and individual conscience to the decisions made by a hierarchical party apparatus. That approach—which assumes that adherents’ fervor and discipline can compensate for a lack of popular support —has done little to create a more equitable society in the United States. I am a lifelong democratic socialist. I was a founding member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a group established in 1982 in the spirit of Debs, Garrison, and Douglass. I am also the author of Reds: The Tragedy of American Communism, a new history of that movement from 1919 to 1991. I wrote the book as a cautionary tale. The Communist Party’s ignominious history—of taking instructions from Moscow, drumming out dissenters, and making excuses for communist regimes’ human-rights violations in the name of revolutionary solidarity—should be a warning to ideologues pushing for greater uniformity on the left and to anyone tempted to think that dogmas, slogans, and tactical orders from headquarters should be accepted without debate. Unfortunately, some factions within the organized left are repeating the CPUSA’s errors today, most notably in their rigid, doctrinaire response to the Hamas attack on Israel in October. Read more. The Atlantic.com https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/06/what-failure-american-communism-should-teach-left/678697/? www.poorpeoplescampaign.orgwww.poorpeoplescampaign.orggNational Poor People’s Campaign. March on Washington and to the Polls.
Mass Poor People’s Campaign and Low Wage Workers. Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly & Moral March on Washington, D.C. & to the Polls, Livestream Party for those unwilling or unable to travel to Washington DC for the event. Refreshments will be provided. Event is free and open to the public. The venue is St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 910 NW 38th St, Lawton OK 73505. The date and time are June 29, 9 AM to 1 PM. In less than a month, thousands of impacted people, poor & low wage workers, and allies will join us in the nation’s capital for the June 29th “Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & Moral March on Washington D.C. & to the Polls” to demand that those running for elected office this year embrace a moral public policy agenda. This Monday, June 17, please join us for a National Virtual Rally from anywhere in the United States by watching a livestream we will be posting on our website. https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org ![]() Claudia Sheinbaum’s Victory Is a Triumph for Mexico BY KURT HACKBARTH Claudia Sheinbaum has won Mexico’s presidential election in a landslide. In her victory speech, she paid homage to the social movements of the past and promised to continue MORENA’s impressive record of social progress. …So far, Claudia Sheinbaum holds a thirty-point lead over her conservative rival, Xóchitl Gálvez, 58.3 percent to 28.7 percent, with third-party candidate Jorge Álvarez Maynez coming in at 10.5 percent. According to projections made by the National Electoral Institute, Sheinbaum’s final total was expected to fall within a range of 58.3–60.7 percent, outperforming all but a pair of final preelection polls. According to the institute’s conteo rápido, or fast count, the landslide was expected to carry over into Congress as well, with MORENA and its allies winning up to 380 of 500 seats in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, and up to 88 of 128 seats in the Senate. This would put the center-left coalition within range of its ambitious goal of achieving a qualified majority of two-thirds, which would allow it to pass constitutional reforms on its own (together with the state legislatures it controls). And not only did MORENA win the all-important mayorship of Mexico City with candidate Clara Brugada, the MORENA coalition is also set to pick up at least six of the eight governor’s races up for grabs. To put MORENA’s victory in perspective, Sheinbaum is on course to best Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)’s 2018 landslide victory of 53 percent by some five to seven points. Where AMLO received a historic total of thirty million votes, Sheinbaum will have received some thirty-five million. Similarly, Gálvez was running about ten to twelve points behind the conservative party’s total in that election. In 2018, the conservative parties Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and National Action Party (PAN) ran separately; this year, they ran in coalition. But instead of adding in numbers, the coalition wound up subtracting. A Refusal to Be Goaded True to her scientific background, Sheinbaum ran a disciplined, methodical campaign. Taking nothing for granted despite holding a virtually unchanged lead since announcing her candidacy, Sheinbaum racked up the miles, holding three times as many rallies as Gálvez. Where Gálvez veered from one uncosted policy proposal to another, Sheinbaum rolled out a hundred-point program that includes extending social programs and scholarships, continuing annual minimum-wage increases, consolidating Mexico’s push toward national health care, building a million affordable homes on a rent-to-buy plan, constructing seven long-distance train lines, avoiding the maquiladora experience of the 1990’s by mandating that companies investing in the “nearshoring” phenomenon provide higher wages and benefits, and — in what is certain to continue raising the shackles of multinational energy interests — a public sector–led energy transition building on Mexico’s state-owned oil, electricity, and lithium companies. More. https://jacobin.com/2024/06/claudia-sheinbaum-mexico-presidential-election jacobin.com/2024/06/claudia-sheinbaum-mexico-presidential-election ![]() The former president now seeking reelection had plenty of opportunities to raise wages or offer better worker protections. We know exactly what he did instead. LAWRENCE WITTNER May 21, 2024Common Dreams Although Donald Trump, as president, proclaimed in his 2020 State of the Union address that he had produced a “blue-collar boom” in workers’ wages, the reality was quite different. Using his control of the executive branch of the U.S. government, Trump repeatedly undermined the wages of American workers by blocking raises and imposing wage reductions. Only the preceding year, Trump derailed vital wage legislation. In July 2019―with the pathetically low federal minimum wage stuck at $7.25 per hour for a decade and some 13 million workers holding two or more jobs to support their families―the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed the Raise the Wage Act. If enacted, the legislation would have gradually increased the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour over a six-year period. But, instead of supporting the legislation or proposing an alternative, the Trump White House announced that, if the Senate passed the House bill, Trump would veto it. Consequently, the measure died in the Republican-controlled Senate. According to the AFL-CIO, the legislation would have raised the pay of 40 million American workers. That same year, Trump’s Department of Labor succeeded in rolling back planned wage increases for millions of workers by restricting eligibility for overtime pay. In 2016, the last year of the Obama administration, the Labor Department had issued a rule substantially raising the income level below which workers were paid time and a half for work done beyond 40 hours per week. But the Trump Labor Department, seizing on a delay in implementation occasioned by a judicial decision, lowered the level by more than $20,000, thus depriving 8.2 million American workers of the right to overtime pay secured under Obama. In August 2018, Trump canceled a scheduled 2 percent pay raise for millions of civilian federal employees, leading to criticism even from some Republicans. This action, plus other administration assaults on the rights of public employees, led to a massive flight of workers from government service. By the fall of 2019, there were 45,000 vacancies in the Department of Veterans Affairs alone. To fill these vacancies, the Trump administration hired large numbers of temp workers at low wages and with minimal benefits. Yet another administration policy that undercut workers’ wages emerged with the Trump Labor Department’s issuance of a “joint-employer” rule.The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 had been fashioned to ensure that businesses using staffing companies or subcontractors would be accountable for complying with basic workplace protections. Even so, the Trump administration’s joint-employer rule substantially limited liability for wage and hour violations, thereby making it harder for workers to hold all parties accountable. As a result, U.S. workers lost an estimated $1 billion annually thanks to subcontracting or wage theft by employers. Of course, not all Trump administration attempts at holding down wages succeeded. In 2017, the Trump Labor Department proposed that employers could simply pocket workers’ tips, as long as the workers were paid the minimum wage. Economists estimated that this policy would lead to the loss of $5.8 billion per year in tips for workers, 80 percent of whom were women. But after the discovery that Trump’s Secretary of Labor had gone to great lengths to hide his department’s findings about how harmful the new policy would be, Congress stepped in and amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to prohibit employers from seizing the tips of their employees. Another Trump administration failure occurred in connection with reducing the wages of farmworkers, some of the most exploited, lowest-paid workers in the United States. In mid-2019, the Labor Department proposed a new regulation that would change the rules of the H-2A visa program, used by agricultural employers to hire migrant farmworkers for seasonal work―for example, by President Trump’s wineries. As one of the rules changes would lower wage rates for H-2A farmworkers and, consequently, for their U.S. counterparts, the United Farm Workers challenged it in federal court and, ultimately, prevailed. Read more. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-working-class ![]() In an Historic Show of Labor Solidarity with Palestine, UAW Local 4811's Stand-up Strike Grows by 12,000. U.C. Workers. The academic workers at UCLA and UC Davis will join 2,000 already on strike at UC Santa Cruz. https://inthesetimes.com/article/uaw-4811-strike-ucla-university-of-california-israel-palestine-students-rafah-gaza active DSA participation in this strike. ![]() The votes are in! NYC-DSA is endorsing Rep. Jamaal Bowman for re-election to Congress in New York’s 16th District. AIPAC has declared him Enemy No. 1 for being one of the nation’s strongest voices against the genocide in Gaza, and NYC-DSA is ready to fight back against big money, fascism, corporate power, and the war machine. Now, let’s win every one of our races and send AIPAC and its imitators packing. This election is a referendum on pro-Palestine politics in the US. Palestine is on the ballot. While the bourgeois press was manufacturing consent for a genocide, Rep. Bowman stood strong and proud for his principles of justice and peace for all, and for a free Palestine. Now he needs all hands on deck to defend his seat against massive AIPAC spending--up to $20 million in the race. Bowman’s opponent hopes to ride into office on fear, racism, and corporate cash, and to scare legislators across the country from standing up against war and genocide. We need to defend the seats of pro-Palestine socialists in Congress and in Albany, and expand their ranks. Note. We do not claim that Christina is a North Star member. Simply that we love her video and we respect her work on the AOC campaign. We recommend supporting this work. We agree with her and support this endorsements . She has become an influencer.
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From mentoring to monitoring to joining in, there is much faculty can do to foster constructive outcomes and help young people confront the injustices of the world they are inheriting. Lee Smithey May 17, 2024 As tent encampments have sprung up on college and university campuses — including my own at Swarthmore College — some, but not all, administrators have called in armed police to arrest student protestors. To date, police have arrested more than 2,800 students across the U.S. In some cases, law enforcement officers have forcefully arrested faculty members as well. Predictably, the repression has backfired, fueled solidarity among educators and led to the establishment of even more encampments from coast to coast (141 campuses in the U.S. at last count). If you are an educator, you may have spent recent weeks grappling with your position with respect to student nonviolent resistance. You’re not alone, and in this moment, perhaps it is helpful to identify ways teachers and staff at schools, colleges and universities have supported students engaged in nonviolent civil resistance. Below, I will share a range of options, progressing from familiar faculty roles to those with greater proximity to student nonviolent action. https://wagingnonviolence.org/rs/2024/05/for-educators-grappling-with-student-protests-gaza-supporting-role/ Sanders:
Today, in 2024, our country once again faces a pivotal moment in American history. The crises facing us are enormous. The consequences if we fail are unthinkable. As the nation moves rapidly toward oligarchy, the billionaire class exerts enormous influence over the economic and political life of the nation. While the rich become much richer, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and real, inflation-adjusted wages for the average US worker have actually declined over the last 50 years. Never before have the 1% done so well, or enjoyed so much power. …. Bottom line: we must have the guts to take on and defeat a powerful and greedy ruling class and create a government which works for all, not just the few. The path forward is not easy. But now is not the time for despair or cynicism. During this pivotal moment, we must do what Americans have always done when change is needed: we must stand together, organize and fight for the country we know we can become. https://portside.org/2024-05-15/were-pivotal-moment-american-history-we-cannot-retreat? 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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