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Author: Franklin Dmitryev
Readers’ Views, July-August 2014, Part 2
From the July-August 2014 issue of News & Letters
UNCHAINING THE DIALECTIC
Raya Dunayevskaya’s 1953 breakthrough on Hegel’s Absolute Idea enabled her to illuminate a path not traveled by previous generations of revolutionaries. She is quite emphatic in raising the importance of “Unchaining the Revolutionary Dialectic” (May-June 2014 N&L), and capturing what [=>]
Readers’ Views, July-August 2014, Part 1
From the July-August 2014 issue of News & Letters
RESPONSES TO MARXIST-HUMANIST PERSPECTIVES
The Marxist-Humanist Perspectives (N&L, May-June 2014) give a critical assessment of the polarization between the oppressive forces of capital’s social relations and humanity’s efforts to realize human dignity. It shows humans are not just passive victims of capital. First [=>]
From the Writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: The Free Speech Movement
Suddenly, a generation of new radicals was born to replace “the silent generation” of the 1950s. By winter 1964 a new form of revolt, with a new underlying philosophy, called itself the Free Speech Movement. It becomes necessary to view the moment when the student revolt culminated in a mass sit-in.
Detroit retirees fight for public workers
Intense pressure builds as 38,000 retired Detroit City workers approach a voting deadline on the fate of their pensions and healthcare benefits under the Plan of Adjustment of the unelected Detroit Emergency Manager for the city’s bankruptcy filing.
Which side is UAW on?
From the July-August 2014 issue of News & Letters
Detroit—The United Auto Workers (UAW) union elected Dennis Williams, former UAW secretary-treasurer, as president for a four-year term during the union’s Constitutional Convention held in Detroit on June 4-5. Following his election, Williams pledged to eliminate the existing two-tier wage system that pays new hires [=>]
Fast food workers betrayed by so-called ‘leaders’
New York—Last year, when thousands of fast food workers walked off their jobs defying their corporate bosses and marched and rallied for a $15 minimum wage and the right to organize a union, many people who have spent their lives fighting for justice in the workplace were excited.
‘Generation Roe’
Review of “Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement” by Sarah Erdreich
‘Bring back our girls!’
July 6, 2014From the July-August 2014 issue of News & Letters
Chicago—Joining actions across the U.S. over Mother’s Day weekend, several hundred people here rallied on May 10 in support of the over 200 Nigerian girls kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram on April 15. At the rally, which was overwhelmingly African-American and Nigerian, we called [=>]
Women WorldWide, July-August 2014
Oppression of women in tech industry; El Salvador demonstrations over miscarriage jailings; Brazilian Stop the Catcalls project.
Childcare NOW!
From the July-August 2014 issue of News & Letters
Photo for News & Letters by Franklin Dmitryev
New York—Women and men demonstrated June 1 at the Left Forum demanding childcare. Despite being a forum for progressives, the Left Forum has never offered childcare.
WOMAN AS REASON: Isla Vista murders fueled by misogyny
July 5, 2014When you are despised for who you are, as those murdered by Elliot Rodger were—and women are not the only ones on a list that includes any differently sexed person, immigrants and all minorities but especially Blacks, people with disabilities, and that’s only in the U.S.—then a revolution has to be more than an economic change, it even has to be more than “from each according to his or her ability, to each according to his or her need.” Revolution has to be so deep and total that all human relationships are transformed. To do so, it must be total from the start…
WORLD IN VIEW: New imperialism founders on Iraq
A lightning offensive saw Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, fall to the insurgents. The pattern extended itself to Tikrit, farther south, then Samarra, and the battle spread to the oil refining center of Baiji. Most of this was first attributed to ISIS. The question was asked, then: Why and how could a well-armed force of 20,000 Iraqi troops, armed and trained by the U.S., dissolve in the face of 800 terrorists?
WORKSHOP TALKS: Veteran Affairs care is for data
Healthcare reform took cost-control ideology to a whole new level. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been transformed into its opposite by the HMO industry which sacrifices the lives of patients and workers alike for the sake of fiduciary health.
EDITORIAL: In the Ukrainian cauldron
Facts on the ground threaten to spin out of control, increasing the danger of a full regional war in the eastern region, the possibility of dismemberment of Ukraine, and an intensification of U.S.-Europe vs. Russia saber-rattling. However, these are only the latest moments of the “pseudo-concrete”–the false alternatives that have arisen, seeking to usurp the movement of self-determination that was manifest in the Maidan Nezaleznosti (Independence Square) occupation in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev.
Low-wage workers strike, reach for a new way of life
July 1, 2014The recent wave of strikes at Walmart and fast food restaurants signals the discontent brewing among the growing number of low-wage U.S. workers. They give notice that the far-reaching restructuring of jobs that was accelerated by the Great Recession also has a subjective side of revolt.
A week of strikes and demonstrations at Walmarts across the country peaked with events in 20 cities on June 4 alone. Chants of “Respect! Now!” joined the official demands of “$25,000 per year and enough hours to support our families” and an end to retaliation against workers who strike or speak up.
The Left Agenda at the Maidan and After
June 30, 2014On April 12, 2014, Kyiv hosted a conference The Left and the Maidan which brought together activists from anarchist, socialist and communist organisations that had been involved in the Maidan movement in late 2013–early 2014. The large number of participating activists who represent the various political groups and initiatives evolving as a part of the Maidan movement is clear evidence against the alleged absence of the Left in the Maidan movement. The discussion was centered on why the Left failed to take an organisational form and become as visible a factor of the Maidan as the right.
Praxis en América Latina No. 11
Praxis en América Latina: nuevo número.
revista Praxis en América Latina – teoría/practica
No. 11 mayo 2014
http://www.praxisenamericalatina.org/indice-5-14.html
Sección especial: Escuelita Zapatista
From the Preface to The Philosophic Moment of Marxist-Humanism
May 26, 2014Integral to Dunayevskaya’s work of 1986-87 was her concentration on a crucial problem of our era—the relationship between the search for non-elitist forms of organization and the dialectics of philosophy. That relation is crucial to work out if we are to overcome the legacy of unfinished, aborted, transformed-into-opposite revolutions. In singling out these 1953 Letters [=>]
Readers’ Views, May-June 2014
May 25, 2014LABOR AND IMMIGRATION
On April 8, about 100 people, the majority young Latinas/os, gathered in front of Los Angeles City Hall to protest the deportation of immigrants. Obama’s administration has aggressively deported 2,000,000 immigrants. We held signs reading: “Not Even One More!” and “No Separation of Family!” Separation of family members has serious adverse effects [=>]
Handicap This! May-June 2014
May 24, 2014Hungary’s discrimination; violence against women with disabilities in EU; Jenny Hatch wins right to make her own decisions; death of Michael Anthony Kerr, a North Carolina prisoner with disabilities.
Disabled demand services from DHS/DRS
May 23, 2014Chicago ADAPT, along with Community Alliance and Northside Action For Justice, held an action at the offices of the Department of Human Services, which also houses the office of the Department of Rehabilitation Services because of the conflicting and confusing information we were getting from the state heads of human services versus the various DRS offices throughout Illinois.
2010s
May 22, 2014access the download links
2000s
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1990s
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1980s
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1970s
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1960s
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1950s
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Québec election the ‘dirtiest campaign’
The results of the Québec Election on April 7 are a disaster that may have implications for all of North America.
NYC fighting the test
May 21, 2014Rallies and protests were held at over 30 New York City schools on the first day of state-enforced mandatory standardized English language testing.
Third anniversary of the Syrian Revolution
Two busloads of people from Chicago joined thousands gathered in Washington on March 15 to mark the third anniversary of the Syrian Revolution.
Same-sex marriage
May 20, 2014Roundup on advances and resistance on same-sex marriage in churches and states.
Queer Notes, May-June 2014
Mississippi pro-discrimination law; Gay rights in India’s election; sexual and gender diversity classes in Nepal.
Stop the spies and lies
May 19, 2014200 youths of all races gathered at the Norwalk Fusion Center on the First National Day of Protest. Protests were also held in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston, Dallas, San Francisco and Oakland.
Peace activist veteran run down
Tom Gilliam, an activist and survivor of the Vietnam War, was run down from behind by a mini-van. Police are stonewalling the investigation.
Kissinger’s holocausts
May 18, 2014People from a dozen or more anti-war organizations gathered in front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel to confront former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, named keynote speaker for the Awards Banquet of the Illinois Holocaust Museum.
South Africans: don’t vote for messiahs!
From UPM: The formation of the Black Consciousness Movement in this country was a realization by Black people that we could no longer stand and be spectators of the game we are supposed to be playing. This election season continues to demonstrate the relevance of Biko’s teachings.
Minimum wage is a starvation wage
May 17, 2014Wages have stagnated for several decades— the standard of living of Americans today is less than it was in 1972. The average wage of a worker today is $20.39, not the $38 an hour it would be if wages had kept up with inflation.
UPS drivers risk jobs for solidarity
When driver Jairo Reyes was fired by UPS at one of its Queens locations, 250 drivers did what any class-conscious union member would do: a protest rally demanding that Reyes be rehired. UPS fired all 250 workers.
Equal Pay Day rally
May 16, 2014Report on a rally in Chicago for Equal Pay Day.
Women Worldwide, May-June 2014
Women’s Memorial March in Canada, and Save Wiyabi Project; premiere of docudrama film “¡PODER!” on girls in Concepcion Chiquirichapa, Guatemala; Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s “Stop Telling Me to Smile” project.
‘We do change in prison’
May 15, 2014“When I came to prison, I was angry. I was hurt—physically, mentally and spiritually. I have fought very hard to become a person who lives with dignity.”
Godless Americana
Review by Adele of “Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels,” by Sikivu Hutchinson (Infidel Books, 2013).
Massacres continue in Central African Republic
May 14, 2014Violence continues in the Central African Republic. French troops are present, but not heavily involved in peacekeeping. The French were never in CAR for humanitarian reasons, but to protect investments, something that has become less pressing for them with the closure of their once-profitable Areva uranium mine.
India’s Modi: ‘free market’ authoritarian
Narendra Modi states openly that his program will be to unleash “free market” reform coupled with authoritarianism in government. Modi’s history tells us what his authority portends: the massacre of 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat.
Bosnians develop revolutionary democracy
May 13, 2014A revolutionary movement in Bosnia is bringing new life to the ideas that meant everything to supporters of the 1990s people’s struggle there. Despite the efforts of bureaucrats and tyrants, the fundamental character of multiethnic Bosnia has continued to develop. At its core, the current movement is directed against the rule of capital.
Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe
Chernobyl is a compendium of 23 years of scientific observations generated between the 1986 accident and 2009. The book is encyclopedic, beginning with an overview as the contamination swept west through Europe and east through the Caucasus, northern Africa, northern South Asia and across the Pacific to California.
Fukushima protest
May 12, 2014Demonstrators gathered in front of the Japanese Consulate in Chicago on the third anniversary of the first meltdown at the Daiichi nuclear plant at Fukushima. The purpose of the protest was to shine a spotlight on the continuing crisis: that radiation continues to be released into the water and into the air, despite the efforts of workers who at risk of life and health are quickly acquiring lifetime doses of radiation.
Birth control and being human
The war against birth control is a war against the idea that women are actually human beings who have a right to control their fertility and plan when and if to have a child.