Detroit–The unemployment crisis is reaching far into the future. Whereas many government and private economists have been predicting that the economy will pick up in the next quarter or the next year, new reports conclude that in 50 U.S. metropolitan areas, it will take at least a decade to regain employment lost since the 2008 [=>]
United States of America
Car wash workers unionizing
October 2, 2011Editor’s note: On Aug. 6, 15 young Mexican workers and student activists picketed the Robertson Car Wash for seven hours in support of low-wage immigrant car wash workers. They again picketed on Aug. 14, along with additional students from the AFL-CIO Union Summer program.
Of the very few drivers who came to have their cars washed, [=>]
No to ‘Secure Community’
September 29, 2011Los Angeles–On Aug. 13 the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles (CHIRLA), held a press conference against Secure Community (SC), the federal government program that allows local police to act as federal immigration agents. Under the program, over a million immigrants have been deported, most after being stopped for minor offenses.
According to CHIRLA: “From [=>]
Queer Notes, September-October 2011
September 27, 2011by Suzanne Rose
While returning from a bar last month in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, three men were detained by the police because they thought two of them looked feminine. The three were jailed for a week and two were tortured and abused by the police. One man was released, but the other two were [=>]
‘A Strange Stirring’ book review
September 26, 2011A Strange Stirring: ‘The Feminine Mystique’ and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s, by Stephanie Coontz (Basic Books, New York), 2011.
A Strange Stirring is an examination of the situation of U.S. women during the years surrounding the 1963 publication of Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique and how it helped the feminist movement change our [=>]
Expose demonization of Black Gay youth
September 25, 2011Chicago—Editor’s note: News and Letters Committees hosted a forum in our Chicago office on Aug. 8 on the response within the Gay community to the Facebook page Take Back Boystown posting videos of Blacks fighting as a way to demonize “outsiders” coming to Gay institutions and bars. Below is part of the discussion among panelists [=>]
Somalia famine, climate and capitalism
September 18, 2011The famine in the Horn of Africa is finally getting attention, though it has been years in the making, now that shocking pictures of starving Somali children have become a regular feature on the nightly news. So far tens of thousands of people have died, half of them children under the age of five.
The suffering [=>]
Pelican Bay hunger striker speaks
September 14, 2011Pelican Bay, Calif.–Here in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU), a number of us prisoners decided to launch a peaceful collective protest in the form of a hunger strike starting July 1. This action is necessary due to the anti-human, draconian institutional policies implemented by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
According [=>]
From the Writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: Deep recession, rate of profit and the supreme commodity, labor power
September 12, 2011From the Writings of Raya Dunayevskaya
Editor’s note: Written in the midst of the last double-dip recession in the U.S., the piece excerpted here was originally titled, “In the U.S. and globally: deep recession, military buildup and the pulling apart of political alliances.” It was published as the lead article in the April 1982 N&L.
The depth of [=>]
Political spectacles cannot hide reality of deranged capitalism
September 11, 2011by Ron Kelch
At the end of a months-long political spectacle in Washington–manufactured over irrelevancies concerning what should have been a routine raising of the national debt limit before the Aug. 2 deadline–reality struck with a bombshell: the anemic “jobless” recovery in the U.S. has stalled. The economy is getting worse and there is no solution [=>]
New September-October 2011 issue of News & Letters now available online
September 10, 2011News & Letters, Vol. 56, No. 5
September-October 2011
Lead
Political spectacles cannot hide reality of deranged capitalism
At the end of a months-long political spectacle in Washington–manufactured over irrelevancies concerning what should have been a routine raising of the national debt limit before the Aug. 2 deadline–reality struck with a bombshell: the anemic “jobless” recovery in the U.S. [=>]
Straight, No Chaser
August 29, 2011Warner Brothers presents Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser directed by Charlotte Zwerin. Produced by Charlotte Zwerin and Bruce Ricker. Executive Producer Clint Eastwood.
Art is the eternal particular, the unmediated, mediating term in which the human face is recognized. A familiar tune, like a familiar face, catches us unawares and we smile in recognition. We find ourselves whistling.
To [=>]
Gil Scott-Heron’s life
August 25, 2011When Gil Scott-Heron passed on May 27, we lost one of the great artists of our time. As the “Winter In America” of which he sang stretches on, cold and brutal, his voice remains as relevant as his presence is missed.
Coming out of the Black Power movement, he had a keen understanding of where Black [=>]
News and Letters panel on “Boystown: Class, Race and Public Space”
August 20, 2011Here are links to some local news coverage of a recent meeting of the Chicago Local of News and Letters Committees:
Windy City Times: Community groups continue to focus on Lakeview
Gay Chicago: Panel addresses Lake View’s summer turmoil
Here’s the flyer for the meeting:
News and Letters Committees invites you to a forum on:
The panel of [=>]
Mumia Update
This past spring, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 1982 death sentence was, again, ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In violation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Mills v. Maryland, the jury was improperly led to believe that only evidence on which the jury unanimously agreed could be considered to reach [=>]
Stand up, Chicago!
August 16, 2011Chicago–Thousands of people rallied on June 14 under the banner, “Give It Back!” Three separate marches downtown, each led by a 12-foot-tall “corporate welfare king” puppet, met up outside a Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce summit. Then 24 people sat down in the street and were arrested. There were contingents of teachers, healthcare workers, janitors, anti-eviction [=>]
Grocery workers rally
August 13, 2011Los Angeles–On June 14, 1,000 mostly young grocery workers and their supporters gathered and marched for a fair contract at the East Hollywood Vons Supermarket. They represented 60,000 workers of the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) at Vons, Ralph and Albertson Supermarkets who have been without a contract for over three months.
Management has demanded [=>]
Stop Colombian FTA
August 10, 2011Chicago–On June 10, several dozen activists from FSPA Justice & Peace Coordinating Committee, 8th Day Center for Justice, News and Letters Committees and others marched to Obama’s campaign headquarters here to forcefully remind the President of the promise he made as a candidate in 2008 to “oppose the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA)” while trade [=>]
End Obama’s wars!
August 5, 2011Editorial
Following his triumphant announcement on May 1 that Osama bin Laden had been killed in al Qaeda’s secret headquarters in the garrison town of Abbottabad, Pakistan, President Obama as Commander-in-Chief had enough political cover from the warmongering right wing that he probably could have declared “Mission Accomplished” and ordered an abrupt departure from Afghanistan. His [=>]
Review of Unplanned
August 4, 2011Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader’s Eye-Opening Journey across the Life Line by Abby Johnson with Cindy Lambert (SaltRiver, 2011).
The religious Right has hailed Unplanned as an anti-abortion classic for a new era. It signals more cooperation between ultra-conservative Catholics and evangelicals. The book claims that newer anti-abortion protesters are non-violent [=>]
Civil War still hotly contested
July 24, 2011Essay
by Robert Taliaferro
The history of the U.S. is a quagmire of facts and near fictions; conflicting thoughts and ideas; established truths and myths, and nowhere is this more evident than when one discusses the causes and effects of the Civil War. This is especially evident on its 150th anniversary as some try to rewrite history, [=>]
Lift campus wages!
June 13, 2011Memphis, Tenn.–On April 8, over 75 students, faculty, and staff members of the University of Memphis came out in support of a living wage for campus workers. Some workers have been employed at the university for more than 15 years, and they have not seen a raise in over four years.
The custodial staff only makes [=>]
Making teachers mad
June 10, 2011Los Angeles–In the school district where I work, they have cut two hours per day from the non-teaching staff. It affects insurance for employees with a family. A security worker told me, “I lose $700 per month.” Teachers are losing six furlough days per year, and step increases are frozen. That is in an economy [=>]
California’s real history
June 9, 2011Rulers & Rebels: A People’s History of Early California, 1769-1901 by Laurence H. Shoup.
Laurence H. Shoup presents the history of California from the European incursion of Native America by the Spanish to the Great San Francisco Waterfront Strike of 1901. His interest is agency from below in the form of direct action: “The stories told in [=>]
Immigrant rights are workers’ rights
June 6, 2011Los Angeles–At a March 5 gathering sponsored by the Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC), over 60 people gathered to address immigrant workers’ concerns, such as stopping the attacks on and the abuse of vendors, the need for “Legalization now,” abolishing Arizona SB 1070, and ending police harassment and brutality.
An LAPD officer shot and killed Carlos [=>]
‘Man in a cage’
June 5, 2011Amarillo, Texas–The people in charge of this prison unit’s law library (which is in charge of providing indigent inmates with supplies and postage) flex their supposed power on the poor prisoners. They are known to openly and willfully interfere with inmates’ legal work and appeals, while being free to abuse the poor who are incarcerated [=>]
Queer Notes, May-June 2011
June 4, 2011Middle school student Noah Hornik of Palo Alto, Cal., is organizing the “It Gets Indie” benefit concert in San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall to raise awareness and support prevention of Queer youth suicide. Noah was motivated by suicides of Queer youth, witnessing numerous incidents of harassment, and the passage of Proposition 8.
* * [=>]
CUNY student walkout
May 31, 2011New York–Over 100 students at Queens College City University of New York (CUNY) walked out of classes on March 31, protesting state budget cuts that would affect not only the cost but the quality of their education. Students are alarmed at the impending teacher layoffs and the curtailment of curriculum. The students marched onto one [=>]
Vetoing city elections: Benton Harbor and Michigan’s “emergency financial manager law”
May 23, 2011Flint, Mich.– Michigan has a new emergency financial manager law that threatens the very existence of local governments and of collective bargaining agreements. This law, effective March 16, is the direct result of the election of a Republican governor, Rick Snyder, and a Republican House and Senate.
Under the old law, the financial manager effectively took [=>]
Remember Ssangyong
May 22, 2011It has been two years since the management of Ssangyong Motor Company in Pyongtaek, South Korea, announced layoffs of 1,000 workers. Shortly thereafter, those workers occupied their plant and held it for 77 days, from May to August 2009, when they finally succumbed to a massive police and army assault.
In the aftermath, many militants were [=>]
‘We are one’ campaign
May 21, 2011Oakland, Calif.–Dozens of labor groups rallied at Frank Ogawa Plaza on April 4th as part of the nationwide We Are One campaign in support of public sector employees in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. It was the 43rd anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination. King had gone to Memphis, Tenn., to join Black sanitation workers’ struggle [=>]
Hate out of Chicago!
May 20, 2011Chicago–Twice in April, Chicagoans took to the streets to protest the presence of hate and ignorance in the Windy City.
On April 2, the Chicago-based, Catholic anti-choice group, Pro-Life Action League (PLAL), hosted a tribute dinner for Joe Scheidler at the Merchandise Mart Holiday Inn. Scheidler is a well-known bigot who is not just anti-choice, but [=>]
Voices from the Inside Out: Remembering John Alan
May 18, 2011by Robert Taliaferro
John’s writings are strikingly poignant and timeless, with a prosody that is uniquely old-school. The body of his work is eloquently instructive and historically prescient.
In reading his columns we are challenged to look upon his words as more than philosophical constructs; there is a timelessness that reminds us that history–if left to its [=>]
Workshop Talks: Air safety pinned on isolated controllers
May 17, 2011by Htun Lin
Threatening to fire every air traffic controller who has been “sleeping on the job,” Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said, “We will not sleep” until this problem is solved. It’s easy to vilify ordinary workers. The truth is, those who control the conditions of work, like LaHood, are really the ones who have [=>]
Japan: earthquake, tsunami and meltdown
May 9, 2011From the new issue of NEWS & LETTERS, May-June 2011
Part III of
Draft for Marxist-Humanist Perspectives, 2011-2012
Revolution and counter-revolution take world stage
Contents:
- I. The Arab Spring
- II. The wars at home
- III. Japan: earthquake, tsunami and meltdown
- IV. Revolution, organization and philosophy
- V. Marxist-Humanist Tasks
(Part I and II were posted in the last two days. Parts IV and V to come [=>]
The wars at home
May 8, 2011From the new issue of NEWS & LETTERS, May-June 2011
Part II of
Draft for Marxist-Humanist Perspectives, 2011-2012
Revolution and counter-revolution take world stage
Contents:
- I. The Arab Spring
- II. The wars at home
- III. Japan: earthquake, tsunami and meltdown
- IV. Revolution, organization and philosophy
- V. Marxist-Humanist Tasks
(Part I was posted yesterday. Parts III through V to come in the next few days)
II. The [=>]
The Arab Spring
May 7, 2011From the new issue of NEWS & LETTERS, May-June 2011
Part I of
Draft for Marxist-Humanist Perspectives, 2011-2012
Revolution and counter-revolution take world stage
This special issue carries our Draft Perspectives Thesis, part of our preparation for the national gathering of News and Letters Committees. We publish it because our age is in such total crisis, facing a choice between [=>]
May-June 2011 issue of News & Letters is available online
May 6, 2011News & Letters, Vol. 56, No. 3
May-June 2011
Draft for Marxist-Humanist Perspectives, 2011-2011
Revolution and counter-revolution take world stage
Revolution and counter-revolution have forced their way to the center stage of history. In Tunisia and Egypt, revolutions have opened tremendous possibilities and spread the fire of their passion all across the Arab world and from China to the [=>]
On the significance of Sept. 11, 2001
May 3, 2011This is the statement that News and Letters Committees issued after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks:
A Statement from the National Editorial Board of News and Letters Committees
Against the Double Tragedy:
Say no to terrorism and Bush’s drive to war!
September 16, 2001
A double tragedy descended upon the world with the barbaric, cruel and inhuman terrorist attack [=>]
World in View: Famine in North Korea
April 21, 2011by Gerry Emmett
North Korea is approaching another famine with reports of 50% to 80% of the barley and wheat harvest wiped out by cold weather. Malnutrition has increased.
Part of the problem is the cut-off of food aid by South Korea and the U.S. over the recent military escalation. This hasn’t cut supplies to the military, [=>]
World in View: Racist convicted
April 19, 2011by Gerry Emmett
Racist Shawna Forde was convicted of first degree murder in Pima County, Ariz., Feb. 14. The coordinator of the Minuteman American Defense (MAD) border patrols and her two colleagues—Jason Eugene “Gunny” Bush and Albert Gaxiola—shot and killed Robert Flores, 29, and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia in May 2009 in Arivaca. Bush had ties [=>]
Queer Notes, March-April 2011
April 17, 2011by Elise
Transphobia is alive and well. Transgender woman Chrissie Bates was found stabbed to death Jan. 10 in her apartment in Minneapolis, Minn. She’s identified as Christopher P. Bates by the police investigating the crime. A vigil was held for her Jan. 21 by Queer rights group OutFront Minnesota. And, in Honduras, officials are being called [=>]
FBI hounds Memphians
April 14, 2011Memphis, Tenn.–In response to the roundups of Colombia and Palestine solidarity activists across the Midwest by the FBI, members of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center (MSP&JC) and the Socialist Party organized a street demonstration last year in front of the Federal Building condemning the Neo-McCarthyite surveillance of peace activists. We waved at passing cars [=>]
Rally in Asheville
April 10, 2011Rally in Asheville
Asheville, N.C.–About 500 union supporters rallied at Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville on Feb. 26 at noon to show our solidarity with workers in Wisconsin.
Despite North Carolina’s “right-to-work” laws, there are still unions in Asheville, and those unions were front and center. Union members from the United Steel Workers, the Teamsters and [=>]
I love LA, not job cuts
April 9, 2011From the March-April 2011 issue of News & Letters:
Los Angeles–On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, over 700 city workers gathered for one hour at City Hall under the theme “I love LA” to protest cuts in city services and layoffs, with more furloughs and deferred raises. A speaker said that the $588 million giveback from deferred [=>]
Protest Brown’s cuts
April 8, 2011Hundreds of low-income and unemployed people and people with disabilities marched through San Francisco on Feb. 28 wearing signs identifying services they would lose under Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed draconian cuts. They chanted, “They say lie down and die/we say organize,” and demanded budget solutions that do not devastate lives. Their sentiment was that the [=>]
Free Diego Garcia! Chagos for the Chagossians!
April 6, 2011Port Louis, Mauritius–The Oct. 30-Nov. 2 LALIT International Conference to “Free Diego” was timed so right and politically so spot on that it seems to have been a catalyst. An instant effect was that during our conference, the prime minister announced Nov. 3 would be “Chagos Day” and commemorated every year. Also during the conference, [=>]
Solidarity with Mexican miners
March 31, 2011Chicago–Black, Latino and Anglo workers here showed solidarity with workers in Mexico on Feb. 19, the fifth anniversary of the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster in Mexico. Over 100 people came out, mostly steelworkers, joined by Jobs with Justice, Arise Chicago Worker Center, and News and Letters.
In recent years the National Union of Mine, Metal, [=>]
Walk for Choice 2011
March 29, 2011Chicago–Feb. 26 was International Walk for Choice day, made urgent in the U.S. by the inhuman legislation pending in Congress (see article this page). Besides Chicago, Walks–really demonstrations–were held from coast to coast in more than 50 cities, from Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Cruz in California, to New York City; from Olympia, Washington, [=>]
Workshop Talks: Rank-and-file workers will have their say
March 27, 2011by Htun Lin
All eyes are on the massive worker protests in Madison, Wisconsin, against Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to totally bust public sector unions by stripping them of collective bargaining rights. Many pundits say this is a power grab to hurt Democrats, but the demonstrations have brought out something much deeper that speaks to all [=>]