Re: Bernie Sanders: Here's What We Want

 

It doesn't mention Gun Control or full Financial Disclosire by Candidates but I can get behinds these especially the Voting Proposals.

 

James Zeke Bond

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

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We like the Voting Proposals.

 

Help Me Register to Vote - 50 States

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

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Let's hammer out the planks of the platform, to include the middle class and replace the corporate corrupting influences of greed and war!

 

Lewis R Mefford

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

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So why in hell is he voting for Hillary, as he said on CNN?  I get the kool-aid but I'm stunned when he has other options.

 

Claire Carsman

 

 

 

 

Re: The Clinton Campaign Is Obstructing Change to the Democratic Platform

 

Bill McKibben is on fire here describing the process of vague platform-writing. The Hillary campaign has been voting down specific proposals, especially (as described here) those designed to address climate change. Does the platform matter? Well only if the candidate runs on it instead of from it, IMO. Of course the Bernie campaign lost, of course the Hillary campaign decides how it will proceed. If, though, any reaching out to us Berniebots is to be done, it will have to be on the issues not just on the fear of the Donald, no matter how scary he is. Thanks to Portside for the link.

 

Daniel Millstone

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

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Anyone that thinks Clinton will address climate change is fooling themselves.

 

"And it was there that the essential dynamic quickly emerged. The Clinton campaign was ready to acknowledge serious problems: We need fair trade policy, inequality is a horrible problem, and unchecked climate change will wreck the planet. But when it came to specific policy changes, they often balked. Amendments against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and backing Medicare for all failed, with all the Clinton delegates voting against."

 

John Jernegan

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

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"We all agreed that America should be operating on 100 percent clean energy by 2050, but then I proposed, in one amendment after another, a series of ways we might actually get there. A carbon tax? Voted down 7-6 (one of the DNC delegates voted with each side). A ban on fracking? Voted down 7-6. An effort to keep fossils in the ground, at least on federal land? Voted down 7-6. A measure to mandate that federal agencies weigh the climate impact of their decisions? Voted down 7-6. Even a plan to keep fossil fuel companies from taking private land by eminent domain, voted down 7-6. (We did, however, reach unanimous consent on more bike paths!)...

 

We need unions and working people and environmentalists fully engaged this time around, backing the Democrats with passion and energy. Above all we need young people, who voted for Bernie by a 7-to-1 proportion....

 

I'm willing to bet the platform will get substantially stronger before all is said and done, because I think the Sanders run really has changed the party, and very much for the better."

 

-Bill McKibben

 

Amy Horwitz

re-posting of Portside post to the Robert Lunz Group South Carolina Chapter Sierra Club. 

 

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Of course Bill doesn't mention dirty dangerous expensive nuclear. The platform should address that as well.

 

Susan Corbett

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

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I hope that the final paragraph of the piece is true and accurate. Sanders has been a game-changer for me and many close to me, but the DNC/Clinton throw us crumbs here and there but continue a tepid, personality-cult campaign. Unwise.

 

Greg Burrows

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

 

 

 

Re: Unity Efforts Hit Snag at Final Meeting Over Democratic Platform

 

I don't really think the Democratic Party desires unity with Bernie's supporters! They'd just prefer we be "brought to heal", get in line and do their bidding! Sorry, ain't happening!

 

William

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

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The 15 dollar minimum wage has been very successfully championed by the Service Employees Union competitor to AFSCME. A very shocking thing as AFSCSME state Federations had supported the 15-hour minimum wage.particularly in Washington State and others. The AFSCME position is ridiculous as it would raise the wage of many of it members while pushing up wages for those already at that level

 

Tom Suber

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

 

 

 

Re: My Role With the Democratic Platform Drafting Committee

 

Thank you Bernie Sanders, James Zogby and Cornel West, for putting the issue of Israel/Palestine front and center in today's political discourse! Seems there are a lot of people, good honest and politically left of center people, that have refused for years to even discuss a two state solution! I count some very good people with which I am fairly close that have refused to have this discussion, thanks again for keeping the subject alive, front and center!

 

William Proctor

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

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Article by James Zogby, member of the Democratic Platform Drafting Committee.

 

Richmonders for Peace in Israel and Palestine:RPIP-RVA

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

 

 

 

Re: Abortion Clinics in Texas Cannot be Shut Down: Supreme Court

 

The cynical right wing ploy to dress up its anti-abortion ideology in a clown costume of concern for women's health failed miserably. It was so naked in its hypocrisy as to make a mockery of law and common sense. This is not a victory of the court so much as a result of decades of women's struggles that have shifted mainstream culture in favor of choice and women's rights. That's what "pro-life" is all about.

 

Robert David Cohen

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

 

 

 

Re: Is Brexit Win a Warning Signal for Trump-Era America?

 

Why, among all these profound analyses of the Brexit, are people of color never included in "the people" discussed?  Why are anti-racist "white" people not counted.  Do these pontiffs think that the rich suffer when fascists agitate "white" workers to attach their African and Asian brothers and sisters? 

 

It's time to get real.  If the far right is going to be defeated there has to be a very conscious, planned, and systematic fight-back against white supremacy.  So far, in the U. S. at least, this fight-back is being led by Black people, youth especially.  Labor has taken important steps to join this fight-back.  The Chicago Teachers Union, is an example.  The CTU has linked its struggle for an elected school board and decent schools with the struggle of the broad movement for an elected police board and community control of police.

 

Unity of the working class does not happen by accident, especially when very well organized and financed fascist movements are working assiduously to break it up.  Less talk and more action against white supremacy and the 1 per cent is the order of the day. 

 

Ted Pearson

 

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Such a great photograph. If you haven't seen "You've been Trumped", check it out on Netflix.

 

Sarah Grey

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

 

 

 

Re: Dear State Department: Bombing Syrian Troops Would Be Illegal

 

Shouldn't we be asking just who are these fuckers in the State Department, who appointed them, and who supports them?

 

Paul Lauter

Allan K. and Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of Literature (Emeritus)

Trinity College

 

 

 

 

Re: Why are Mexican Teachers Being Jailed and Killed for Protesting Education Reform?

 

Teachers would not need unions if they were paid fairly for their investment in university training and professional development. This is a "profession" paid like labor. That all aside, the union busting around the world will only lead to a richer top percent and blood in the streets.

 

Karyne Dunbar

 

 

 

 

Re: Former Chilean Military Official Found Liable for Killing of Victor Jara

 

justice too long denied-- may our interventions and regime change efforts in the future reflect much greater wisdom and patience than from this awful era!

 

Chuck Weed

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

 

 

 

Re: Port Truck Driver Strike Attracts Global Eyes

 

This is exactly what Marx and Engels talked about when they said "workers of the world unite". These workers control supply chains between ports, rails, warehouses and distribution centers. Who is dependent on them? The retail industry, aerospace and the defense industry, to name just a few. In order to deal serious blows to capitalism we have to intervene so that we can slow down and stop the accumulation process. There is enormous potential here.

 

Planning Beyond Capitalism

Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

 

 

 

Re: Trump's Bid to Become Born-Again Fails As Jesus Turns Down Friend Request

 

That's cute but Jesus would not turn anyone down.

 

John Bush

 

 

 

 

Senate Report Clears Rouseff of Budget Manipulation

 

A report prepared by analysts in the Brazilian Senate have said there is no evidence that suspended president Dilma Rousseff participated in fiscal wrongdoing.

 

 

 

 

Watch here. 

 

 

teleSUR English

 

 

 

 

Remembering James Green (1944 - 2016) - Activist and Labor Historian

 

 

 

 

With great sadness we mark the passing of James Green, former president of the Labor and Working Class History Association (LAWCHA); scholar, activist, and mentor to countless labor historians. He died yesterday [June 23, 2016] following a long battle with cancer. In April, at the LAWCHA-OAH banquet, Jim was honored with LAWCHA's Distinguished Service Award, the text of which follows:

 

LAWCHA's Award for Distinguished Service to Labor and Working-Class History this year goes to James Green, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Massachusetts Boston, in honor of his exemplary contributions to the field and its members and this organization over so many years.

 

In seven books, many articles, films, exhibits, local tour guides, and other cutting-edge labor education and public history projects, Professor Green has opened new avenues of scholarly inquiry and pioneered new ways to communicate historical narratives to broad audiences.

 

Devoted first and foremost to education, Green has made labor history into public history over the last half century at the University of Massachusetts, while providing models for other labor historians to follow, including by his role in documentaries of working-class history in "The Great Depression," with Blackside Productions, and most recently "The Mine Wars," aired nationally this year in PBS's distinguished "American Experience" series.

 

As an activist, Jim has been part of nearly every struggle for social justice over the past five decades.

 

A founding member of LAWCHA, Jim was elected President in 2003 and during his term of office helped launch the organization's journal, LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas, serving later as associate editor.

 

For all of this and much more, we present this award to our colleague and comrade Jim Green.

 

Sadly,

 

James N. Gregory,

President, Labor and Working Class History Association

 

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James Green, RIP

 

James Green, preeminent labor historian, has died. His books reached far beyond the academy to transform popular understanding of the United States' most dramatic labor incidents. Probably his most famous book is Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing that Divided America. His last book was also brilliant. The Devil Is Here In These Hills: West Virginia's Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom brought the reality of the incredibly terrible lives of these workers and their rebellion that led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest civil uprising in the United States since the Civil War, into the public consciousness. His book was adapted by PBS into a documentary for The American Experience titled The Mine Wars, which is also quite excellent. A great historian and a great loss. 

 

Erik Loomis,

posted on the website -  Lawyers, Guns & Money

 

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JamesGreenWorks - the website of Jim Green

 

 

 

 

 

This Week in History - June 27, 1954: Jacobo Arbenz Guzman Deposed in Guatemala

 

On June 27, 1954, democratically elected Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was deposed in a CIA-sponsored coup to protect the profits of the United Fruit Company. Arbenz was replaced by decades of brutal U.S.-backed regimes who committed widespread torture and genocide.

 

This painting by Diego Rivera, "Gloriosa Victoria," tells the story of the 1954 overthrow of the democratically-elected Jacobo Arbenz government. Coup Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas greets secretary of state John Foster Dulles, who holds a bomb with the face of Eisenhower, surrounded by people who were murdered in the coup. To his left is U.S. ambassador John Peurifoy with military officers and CIA director Allen W. Dulles whispering in his brother's ear. On the right, the archbishop of Guatemala, Mariano Rossell Arellano, blesses the act, while Guatemalans protest.

 

Read a description of the coup in an excerpt from the book Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez here. Here are resources from Teaching for Change on the history and literature of Central America.

 

Zinn Education Project

 

 

 

 

 

Mass Nonviolent Action Against War: Washington, DC - September 26

 

 

 

World Beyond War is planning a big event in Washington, D.C., in September 2016, just after the International Day of Peace, including a conference running from 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. on Friday September 23, 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday September 24, and with speakers and activist workshops from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday the 25th. We're also working with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) which is planning a nonviolent activism training and planning session on the 25th and a nonviolent action in D.C. on Monday morning September 26th, with support from Campaign Nonviolence.

 

Join us to learn about and engage in working on viable alternatives to war and militarism.

 

No War 2016: Real Security Without Terrorism

 

When you register, you can let us know which days you will attend and whether you wish to take part in the nonviolent activism on the 26th. If you would like to take part in that action only, and not the conference, please contact Malachy Kilbride. 

 

As the war system keeps societies in a state of permawar, we have reached  a stage in human history at which we can say with confidence that there are better and more effective alternatives. Of course we know the question: "You say you are against war, but what's the alternative?" This event will develop answers to that question, building on World Beyond War's publication A Global Security System: An Alternative to War. http://worldbeyondwar.org/alternative (A second edition will be published before the conference and we welcome all input!)

Speakers committed to being part of the events in Washington, D.C., include: Dennis Kucinich, Kathy Kelly, Miriam Pemberton, David Vine, Kozue Akibayashi, Harvey Wasserman, Jeff Bachman, Peter Kuznick, Medea Benjamin, Maurice Carney, David Swanson, Leah Bolger, David Hartsough, Pat Elder, John Dear, Mel Duncan, Kimberley Phillips, Ira Helfand, Darakshan Raja, Bill Fletcher Jr., Lindsey German, Maria Santelli, Mark Engler, Maja Groff, Robert Fantina, Barbara Wien, Jodie Evans, Odile Hugonot Haber, Gar Alperovitz, Sam Husseini, Christopher Simpson, Brenna Gautam, Kent Shifferd, Patrick Hiller, Mubarak Awad, Michelle Kwak, John Washburn, Bruce Gagnon, David Cortright,Michael McPhearson, Sharon Tennison, Gareth Porter.

Click here to see photos and bios of all speakers.

Partners Include: Jubitz Family Foundation, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, RootsAction.org, Code Pink, International Peace Bureau, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Jane Addams Peace Association,

Co-Sponsors Include: Washington Peace Center, Pace e Bene/Campaign Nonviolence, Liberty Tree Foundation, Veterans For Peace,TheRealNews.com, United for Peace and Justice, Nonviolence International, Peace Action Montgomery, Fellowship of Reconciliation,Military Families Speak Out, Peace Action, WILPF-DC, International Movement for a Just World (JUST), Center for Bangladesh Studies,Society for Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University, Nuke Watch, Friends of Franz Jagerstatter,

Venue: No War 2016 will be held at American University’s School of International Service, in the Founders Room and a number of other rooms in the same building. We thank Jeff Bachman for the wonderful venue! [map]