Tidbits - March 14, 2013

Readers Comments on: Wealth Equality; Robert Reich on raising the minimum wage; Unions and evictions; Wither the Socialist Left? - another response to Mark Solomon; LA School Board election and Big Money; Hugo Chavez: Lest We Forget; Guns, the NRA and Newtown; Why not better unions; Philip Bonosky Memorial April 21 in New York; Francisco Aruca R.I.P.; Robin Hood rides again - April 20 - Washington; The Literary Left - Tribute in honor of Alan Wald - March 21 - Ann Arbor

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Re: Friday Nite Videos - March 8 - Wealth Inequality in America

Yesterday's "Friday Night Videos" has a video, a series of charts, basically, on our nation's recent dramatic skewing of Wealth inequality - into the extreme! Despite what we learned along these lines from OCCUPY WALL STREET, it is shockingly "worse than you thought." NB the last two slides have data resource links. 
Bill Marston
MoveOn.org exclusive
2 minutes and 25 seconds from now, you will have new knowledge about why it should happen immediately.
By Ann Carrns
March 7, 2013
Workers are paying a greater share of their health care costs, and that trend is likely to continue over the next several years. Employees contribute 42 percent more for heath plan coverage than they did five years ago, as against a 32 percent increase for employers. Employers said they planned to continue to raise the share of premiums paid by employees over the next three years. Read more here - http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/workers-share-of-health-costs…
[thanks to Ron Blum for forwarding this to Portside]
This is one of the most exciting articles from Portside Moderator I have read. It is wonderful to see unions returning to action after decades of passivity or, worse yet, corruption and tie-ins with mafias. They seemed to have forgotten their motto Solidarity Forever!
Nina Udovicki
Mark Solomon has written a brilliant and provocative piece that underlines what needs to be done today to further the people's movements and expand their scope to include the ultimate goal of a socialist future.  I would like to add one dimension to Mr. Solomon's discussion that he did not include, and that is the need to support but study and critically analyze the economic developments in the existing socialist states.  That includes China, Vietnam, and Cuba.  They have all moved, or are moving, away from the twentieth century model of socialism of the planned economy, and by their experiences can provide those of us outside their countries with invaluable material on the best way that we in the United States can bring about socialism.
There is also an important warning needed with the possible creation of an alliance of various socialist groups.  That warning is the danger of external and internal efforts to destabilize, weaken, and divide such an undertaking.  From the outside:   no one who has been in the movement for a long time needs to be reminded about the incessant efforts by the government and the media to undermine progressive movements.  From the inside:  sectarianism and jealousy (not to mention "agents provocateurs") whose actions will weaken the unity that is badly needed.
Those warnings aside, our country desperately needs, such an alliance.  It is never too soon.
David from Florida
Wow is our 'democracy' sick.  Candidates for SCHOOL BOARD election spending in the 1-2 million dollar range.   This could be nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory for the popular forces....
Tom Gogan
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thank you, thank you, thank you.
I could not understand this election at all -- how it became so huge and where all the money was coming from and, more importantly, why! .... which you explained very nicely.
I got three calls from the Kate Anderson campaign.....I was going to switch my vote until a Zimmer piece came that showed she was supported by Fox News.  Then it was a no brainer. 
I fear for education in the rest of the country where there will be no organization to fight the Fox.  I often like what Bloomberg does as a mayor .... what am I missing.  Sigh.
Eda Hallinan
I like your article entitled "Lest We Forget" and it is the concluding remarks that I have the most agreement, as you say the PEOPLE rose up. In fact I have called this the ascension of the people. A description I first read about from a speech given by Ahmed Sekou Toure first president of Conakry Guinea. In his article Toure describes the ascension of the masses as achieved through revolution; it's leaders, organizations, attending to the peoples aspirations for freedom and independence. Thanks for this piece. It illustrates what I have in my mind as a way to avoid hopeless feelings; that an attribute of this FALLEN leader is the ASCENSION of the masses. Of course many will disagree with me saying I don't know what I mean and I get that a lot, but I do know what I am saying. You are right the other did not finish the job, some were abruptly aborted in the revolutionary effort and we never saw the people actually rise up to confront imperialism. Again thanks for this piece.
Rashieda Shukuraht Weaver
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Maduro
Nicolás Maduro is now acting President of Venezuela, today had a long meeting with the Political Commission of the Communist Party of Venezuela, and then addressed its Twelfth Congress.  His speech was broadcast by TeleSur.  Among other aspects of this impassioned but fraternal and serious address, Maduro declared that the Communist Party will tomorrow form part of the political leadership of the Bolivarian Revolution. He will register his candidacy for president tomorrow, with the same programme presented by Hugo Chávez for the election last October.  He spoke, of course, of Chávez' legacy and the tasks outstanding, in this early stage of the transition to a socialist society.
Maduro emphasized the need to defeat the culture of violence, linked with drug use and traffic, which affects a large part of Venezuelan youth, and asked for help with this fight.  He highlighted the role of US-influenced TV in promoting this culture.
He also asked for help in the fight against the twin evils of bureaucracy and corruption.  Corruption has long been a pervasive ill in the country, and, he said, 'corruption is treason' to the revolution.
Maduro, like so many, felt the loss of Chavez much more than the loss of a parent, but this speech showed he has a clear vision of the way he will carry forward the transformation of society, based on his love of the people from which he came. Maduro's surname means 'mature' and this bus driver, with a long history now of political action and close cooperation with Chavez, is living up to his name and showing his potential to be a great political leader.
Daniel Morgan
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I AM AN AFRO AMERICAN VENEZUELAN BY BIRTH ,and I MOURN  THE LEADER HUGO CHAVEZ DEATH. may he rest in PEACE.
Lena Hayes
Michael Moore: a courageous man who is never afraid to tell truth to power. Read this essay but be warned that it could make you cry.
Mary K. Johnson
there  are far more weapons than ever, even if less homes have them...one person with five guns, etc.
Frank Scott
Another reason is that "good" unions were expelled by the CIO during the McCarthy era.
Michael Munk
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Michael Hirsch's piece on unions wonders why American unions are not doing more and better.
Unions in the U.S. are up against the largest most anti-union companies in the world and these businesses have the backing of the state. This combination of forces has destroyed much of the labor movement in America and is now attacking the legislative framework as well with more right to work laws and administrative stasis at the NLRB. So not much help from the law.
And then there is the Marxist left, which is actually anti-union. They harp on about conservative unions, about how great general strikes are, about how unions are reformist not revolutionary institutions and consistently critique the labor movement for not confronting capitalism. They have always played this role. I remember the quote of one union organizer during the second world war when people were joining unions in droves and organizers barely had time to sleep and in addition they had to deal with the Marxist minority that wanted the unions to not strike but support an all-out war effort because the Soviet Union at that time was an ally. The Marxists would set up alternative unions, or oppose the existing reformist leadership. This organizer said, "it is hard enough trying to organize a union without having Joe Stalin on your back." Mainstream labor in the Cold War years ditched any unions that had Communist leadership - partly to follow the government but also to get this internal opposition off their backs. Since then Marxists have always said in ejecting such unions, they ejected the vitality of the labor movement. But you will not hear many trade unionists saying that.
Even today, when unions and working people are on a rack of neoliberalism and conservative anti-union ideas, the left criticizes unions for not being active enough, for being bureaucratic and "porkchoppers." It is total nonsense. Unions are among the most internally democratic organizations in the North American economy. Many union leaders die young from overwork and from keeping in contact with their members, but you would never know it if you listened to the sitting chair marxists. There may be a few bad eggs, as there is in any organization, but unions have or have had real power to influence business on issues that affect workers through the process of collective bargaining, which is why companies hate them so much. Unions remain democratic with their constitutions, their by-laws, their conventions and their elections, unlike all companies including the media. Unions support Obama because the alternative is so much worse. Obama has not done much for them so hopefully in between all their other jobs they will organize politically and begin to have candidates that are pro-labor. That would make the Democratic Party more genuinely progressive. And i am sure if the Marxist left wanted to use their organizing skills to join with these working class organizations and help them organize politically instead of harping away on what Marx meant and the glories of the Soviet Union (a failed state), the unions might appreciate the help. They also need to enforce new election laws that limit donations, so that contests are fair and democratic. But i won't hold my breath. Most Marxists like to sit on the sidelines and criticize the "bureaucratic" unions, and that is not helping.
Laurel MacDowell,
Toronto, Canada
I'd love to see the names of the 49 members of Congress who didn't sign the letter, since mine is not on the list of those who did...but there's no link. Any way to provide the link or the list? Those folks deserve a letter of their own.
Wendy Fisher
Please join the family of Phi!ip Bonosky - novelist, journalist, political activist (1916-2013) in remembering his life.
Sunday, April 21st, 2013 - 2-5 pm
Winston Unity Center
235 West 23rd St., New York, NY
Refreshments served
norabo@optonline.net for more information
Published on Sunday, 10 March - Progreso Weekly
Progreso Weekly founder Francisco Gonzalez Aruca died unexpectedly of a heart attack in his sleep on Wednesday, March 6, in Denver, Colorado, where he lived. He was 72 years old.
In 1979, Aruca founded Marazul Charter, which specialized in travel to Cuba. In 1986, he moved to Miami to handle his thriving air travel business. Five years later he would go on to found Radio Progreso, his radio program, where he discussed Cuba-related issues from a perspective that had never been heard publicly in Miami.
His son, Daniel, in an email to Progreso Weekly editor Alvaro Fernandez, reminded him of words spoken by Aruca when describing his life: "If I die tomorrow, I know I have lived a very full life and that I lasted much longer than anyone ever expected."
Aruca is survived by his wife, Ann, and his three children - Michele, Debby and Daniel - and three grandchildren.
"Aruca was much more than a friend," said Fernandez. "For years I have said that he helped change Miami's political landscape for the better. I will miss him tremendously."
Messages can be sent to the family at:
Armando Garcia
Marazul Charters, Inc.
8324 SW 40 St.
Miami, FL. 33155
Robin Hood Rides Again in DC April 20
Saturday, April 20, 2013
12:00pm until 2:00pm in EDT
 Join Robin Hood in Washington, DC as he and his merry supporters march on the US Treasury, the World Bank & the International Monetary Fund. Finance ministers from some of the world's largest national economies - known as the G20 - will be meeting in town, as well as an annual gathering of leaders of the IMF and World Bank.
    12 p.m. - Rally at Murrow Park on Pennsylvania Avenue between 18th & 19th streets
    
    12:30 p.m. - March to the IMF, World Bank and US Treasury.
    
This two-day conference honors Alan M. Wald, H. Chandler Davis Collegiate Professor of English and American Culture, on the occasion of his retirement from teaching at the University of Michigan after 38 years on the faculty. The event celebrates Professor Wald's contributions to expanding the scope of U.S. literary studies and building American Culture at Michigan. Distinguished guest speakers will present new scholarship regarding literature and leftwing political movements worldwide.
Thursday, March 21
1:00 pm:  Founders Room, Alumni Center
Welcome to conference:
Prof. Terrence McDonald, Dean, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Prof. Paula Rabinowitz, University of Minnesota
1:15-3:15 (Panel  A) - Reading the Old Left Now
Chair:  Robbie Lieberman, SIU-Carbondale
Julia Mickenberg, University of Texas, "U.S. Women, the Pilgrimage to Russia, and the Question of Stalinism"
Sarah Ehlers, University of South Dakota, "Left of Lyric: Depression-era Poetry and Collective Life"
Keith Gilyard, Pennsylvania State University, "John Henry in the Work of John Oliver Killens"
Heather Bowen-Struyk, University of Michigan, "The Resurgence of Proletarian Literature in Japan in 2008"
4:00 (Keynote address)
Introduction of Michael Löwy:  Howard Brick, University of Michigan
Michael Löwy, Research Director emeritus, CNRS, Paris:"Jewish Radicals in Central Europe and the US: A Comparative Approach"
5:30-6:30:  (Reception) Alumni Center Lobby
Friday, March 22
Forum Auditorium, Palmer Commons
9:00-11:30 (Panel B) - New Visions of Literary Biography
Chair:  Rachel Peterson, Grand Valley State University
Lawrence Jackson, Emory University,  "Chester Himes, Fannie Cook and Bucklin Moon: American Novelists and the Edge of the Racial Frontier during World War II"
Dayo F. Gore, University of California-San Diego, " `A Black Woman Speaks...': Beulah Richardson's Life of Protest and Poetry"
Rachel Rubin, U-Mass Boston, "The Darker Brother and the Cracker Boy: Langston Hughes, Don West, and Poetry as Social Conversation"
Bill Mullen, Purdue University, "W.E.B. Du Bois and Socialism: A Call for Reassessment"
Marcial Gonzalez, UC-Berkeley, "Communism of the Will: Narrative Disclosures of a Mexican American Farm Worker"
12:30-2:45 (Panel C) - Toward an Activist, Internationalist American Studies
Chair:  Nathaniel Mills, California State University-Northridge
Eleni Varikas, Professor Emerita, CNRS, Paris, "Travelling Theories and Practices of Resistance within a Neo-Colonial Europe:  For a Feminism in the Plural"
Cary Nelson, University of Illinois, "Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture 25 Years Later: Stalinism and the Left"
Sarah Wald, Drew University, "Ecocritical Perspectives on the Mid-20th Century US Left."
Cheryl Higashida, University of Colorado, "Black Belt Queer Feminism: African American Women Writers on the Left in the Era of Decolonization"
3:00-4:30 (Keynote address)
Introduction of Tariq Ali:  Michael Löwy
Tariq Ali, "The Mirror of the World:  Poetry and Resistance"
4:30-4:45 (Conclusion)
Introduction of Alan Wald:  Konstantina M. Karageorgos, University of Michigan
Alan Wald, The Present of Future Things
For further information, contact Howard Brick (hbrick@umich.edu)

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