New York Governor Cuomo announced earlier this year a program called “Excelsior,” which claimed to provide free tuition for all New York college students. The reality is different.
Articles
Sovereignty for Chagos
Against occupation by UK and U.S. imperialism, a resolution calls for an International Court of Justice opinion recognizing Mauritian sovereignty over Chagos.
Across U.S. students fight fascism
Students around the country protested neo-fascist speakers this spring. .
Review: “October: The Story of the Russian Revolution”
Review of the book “October: The Story of the Russian Revolution” by China Miéville.
Handicap This! July-August 2017
“No cuts to Medicaid” sit-in; UK official endorses forced institutionalization; nursing homes dump people with disabilities; rally at Illinois Capitol demanding budget; four prisoners with disabilities executed in Arkansas.
Decommissioning nuclear reactors
How is decommissioning of nuclear power plants being regulated to protect public safety? How can nuclear communities undergo a transition to new and productive jobs for the stranded workers?
“Science Not Silence”
About 1,000 people rallied on Earth Day at the campus of Cal Tech in Pasadena, Calif., under the banner of “Science Not Silence,” part of nationwide protests.
Voices from the inside out: “I Am Not Your Negro”
Review by a prisoner of the companion book to the documentary film “I Am Not Your Negro” on James Baldwin, whose title speaks to the liberation of New Afrikan people in Amerika. .
Editorial: Trump’s attack on climate and labor
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change is an attack on labor, not, as he claims, for the good of workers. The solution is not to spread illusions about international negotiations. What is needed is to confront capitalism’s suicidal path both in immediate battles and in raising the banner of a new society of freely associated labor. .
The struggle for immigrants’ rights challenges humanity
The massive increase in inhuman attacks against immigrants and undocumented people in the U.S. is spurring new activism and urgency. .
The view from solitary
Jonathan J. Rodriguez submits a drawing of the view from his solitary cell.
Counter-fascist rally in Portland, Oregon
July 4, 2017Participant report on the June 4 rally against the fascists’ “Free Speech Rally” in Portland, Oregon, and the police intervention on the side of the fascists. .
Solidarity with Folsom hunger strike
July 2, 2017Report on the 21-day hunger strike begun by prisoners at Folsom State Prison’s administrative segregation on May 26th.
Discussion article: The French presidential election: ‘En Marche,’ indeed! Toward what?
From Paris, Francis Sitel analyzes the results of the 2017 presidential elections in France: Where does opposition stand in relation to election-winner Macron? .
From the writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: A concrete universal: Marx’s “Capital”–Part 1
Continuing to mark the 150th anniversary of Karl Marx’s Capital, Vol. I, we present excerpts from “Marx’s Transcendence of and Return to Hegel’s Dialectic,” a draft chapter for Dunayevskaya’s book Philosophy and Revolution, taking up the profound humanist transformation from Marx’s Grundrisse into Capital.
China’s tentacles
Report on the Belt and Road Forum held in May in China and its connection with China’s imperialist and anti-labor actions.
Readers’ Views: July-August 2017, Part 1
Readers’ Views on Philosophy and Revolt vs. Trumpism; Trump and the Left; Injustice to Immigrants; Anti-Woman, Anti-Labor Uber; ACT UP; From Iran; To Mexico; Why Read News & Letters?
Los Angeles Rebellion 25 years later
July 1, 2017Report on the the 25th Anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles Rebellion on April 29, 2017.
Editorial: Imperial carve-up of Syria?
June 30, 2017The maneuvering of imperial powers to carve up Syria amid the regime’s ongoing bloodbath reveals the logic that results when the masses are not allowed their self-activity. .
Woman as reason: Syrian Familes for Freedom
The activities and meaning of the new Syrian group Families for Freedom, which demands a stop to the forced disappearances of their husbands and children; and refuses to leave their relatives fate in the hands of armed actors.
Queer Notes, July-August 2017
Queer notes on rejection of the Darlington Statement in Australia; first Pride celebration in Beirut, Lebanon, and one year mark of the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, Fla.
Women Worldwide, July-August 2017
Women Worldwide column on Sister Uncut; Facebook group Female in Nigeria; University of Colorado sanctioning its chancellor and football coach for domestic violence, and activist Maddy Rasmussen
Review: Pimp State
Review by Adele of the book “Pimp State: Sex, Money and the Future of Equality”, by Kat Banyard, which challenges the notion that
the sex industry should be either legalized or decriminalized.
Letter from Mexico: A new moment for revolution?
Around 800 Native people from all over Mexico met May 26-28 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, to create an Indigenous Governing Council (IGC) and name its spokeswoman.
Spectrum strikers hanging tough
Report on the three-month strike begun at the end of March by by workers at Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable) who are demanding a new contract.
Learning from miners
Former miner Andy Philips speaks about the interest in Marxist-Humanism at his assisted living facility.
Baby Jayden Khoza, murdered in South Africa
Baby Jayden Khoza, two weeks old, lost his life during the brutal police assault on the Foreman Road community in Clare Estate, Durban, on May 29, 2017.
Which vision for rebuilding Detroit?
Does housing in Detroit in 2017 mean large tracts of vacant land and substandard houses ripe for development and easy slumlord profit, or a focus for community organizing to take back our city? .
World in View: European voters hold off fascism
The recent elections in France and Britain have been a welcome setback for that fascist Right which saw Trump and Brexit as a cresting wave carrying them to state power.
World in View: Saudi threat to Qatar
Qatar isn’t Yemen, and the Saudis won’t attack it. Qatar will not accept the Saudi demands.
World in View: Nigerian girls freed
Following long negotiations, the fundamentalist cult Boko Haram released 82 Chibok schoolgirls it kidnapped in 2014, but questions and deep divisions in Nigerian society remain.
World in View: Venezuela crisis demands a new vision
Despite difficulties, there are tendencies within the Left in Venezuela and Latin American who are critical of Maduro and trying to work out support of the Venezuelan masses, along with opposition to neoliberalism and U.S. imperialism.
World in View: Colombian uprising
During years of peace negotiations between the government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, grassroots groups pushed for issues of racial and economic justice. With Colombia entering a new stage, the struggle continues.
Protesters counter fascist rally in Portland, Oregon
June 9, 2017An activist reports on the June 4, 2017, action by anti-fascist protesters against a rally of hate made up of Proud Boys, Militiamen, and Nazis who were protected by Portland cops who attacked anti-fascists.
25 years since the Los Angeles Rebellion
June 5, 2017A participant reports on the actions on April 29, the 25th Anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles Rebellion, when over 500 Latino, Asian, and Black and white mostly youth marched through the streets starting from Florence and Normandie, where the Rebellion began.
Thousands demand Trump release his tax returns
Participant report of the April 15, 2017, thousands strong protest in Los Angeles demanding that Donald Trump release his tax returns.
Review: ‘I Am Not Your Negro’
From a prisoner’s perspective, Faruq reviews “I Am Not Your Negro,” a documentary film and companion book produced by Raoul Peck that concentrates on the writings and life of James Baldwin.
‘Science Not Silence’
June 4, 2017Participants report on the April 22 Science Not Silence demonstration where about 1,000 people rallied at the campus of Cal Tech and made ready to march in defense of science and of rational thought itself.
May-June 2017 N&L available on the web
May 18, 2017The May-June 2017 issue of News & Letters, Vol. 62, #3, is available on the web.
View the issue online or as pdf.
Draft for Marxist-Humanist Perspectives, 2017-2018: Philosophy and revolt confront Trump’s drive to fascism
Contents:
Introduction
I. Trumpism as an excrescence of world capitalism’s crises
II. The capital relation
III. U.S. forces of revolt as reason; philosophy as force of revolution
IV. International crises
V. Lies, facts and ground
VI. [=>]
O’Hare workers push for union rights
Women workers at O’Hare Airport spoke out on their conditions of labor working for private contractors.
Time Warner Cable (Spectrum) workers striking for three months and counting
When Time Warner Cable became Spectrum, the company promised a new deal for consumers and small businesses. But the new corporation launched an assault on its employees; and now, three months into the strike, the union is hanging tough.
VII. Tasks
May 17, 2017Although we do not have a daily newspaper, this crisis-ridden period compels us to strive to act as if we do. Organizational tasks as always are meant to include, not exclude, friends and new contacts who are not yet Marxist-Humanists.
VI. The Russian Revolution, 100 years ago and its meaning today
Whatever lip service is paid to the Russian Revolution’s 100th anniversary, its significance as a historic event and as a link to the thought and practice of Marx has been obscured because of the abandonment of revolutionary perspectives. It is high time to push to the forefront the role of the philosophy of revolution in permanence in facing the reality of dialectics of liberation, 1917 and 2017.
V. Lies, facts and ground
The administration’s war against truth and reason, such as climate change denial, calls for more than fact-checking. What is needed is to establish a totally opposite ground, that of liberation.
IV. International crises
The people’s revolutionary struggles form the ground for approaching developments including Trump’s attack on a Syrian military base. The human-to-human communication found in places like Kafranbel has been a form of theory in itself. The deadliest weapon of mass destruction in the Syrian conflict has been the lie that there is “no good alternative” to Assad, echoing the bourgeoisie’s “no alternative” to capitalism. The state of Europe today illustrates the central importance of revolutionary solidarity.
III. U.S. forces of revolt as reason; philosophy as force of revolution
The unprecedented Women’s March on Washington the day after Trump’s inauguration revealed the blossoming of a universal movement with many particulars, from women’s demand to control their own bodies, to Black Lives Matter, to the struggle at Standing Rock.
II. The capital relation
The capital relation is spelled out as alienated labor, automation, destruction of jobs, unraveling of the social fabric–fertile ground for reactionary ideology, scapegoating, and fascism. Yet the human Subject’s quest for freedom continues.
I. Trumpism as an excrescence of world capitalism’s crises
Trumpism’s self-perpetuating disorder is based on negation of social movements, trying to stifle the positive in their negation of this exploitative society. His deceit and power grabs express capitalism’s disintegration, exuding racism, sexism, and fascism.
Draft for Marxist-Humanist Perspectives, 2017-2018: Philosophy and revolt confront Trump’s drive to fascism
The true alternative to the threat of fascism is the path to a new society based on revolution from below. Can that happen without a unity of practice with theory, without the organization of thought embodied in an actual organization?
World In View: War-torn Congo faces new round of violence
May 15, 2017Congo’s President Joseph Kabila finally agreed to step down after his second term after large protests in Kinshasa; however, tribal militias Kamuina Nsapu and Bundu kia Kongo arose and many thousands are perishing from wars as the world looks the other way.