Tidbits - Sept. 19, 2019 - Reader Comments: Climate Strike demands; Immigrant detention; Labor movement - responses to Portside posts; Germany; Venezuela; China; Cuba; Lebanon; Russiagate; How to Help the Bahamas; Resources; Announcements; and more...
The #ClimateStrike demands (Global Climate Strike)
Impacting All States -- cartoon by Robert Ariail
Re: What Happens in El Norte Doesn’t Stay in El Norte (Aida Rivera)
Re: Hundreds of Amazon employees plan to walk out of work in protest of Amazon’s environmental policies (Organization for a Free Society; Jules Bernstein; Stephanie Luce)
Re: Socialism Used to Be a Dirty Word. Is America Now Ready to Embrace It? (Jeff Bast)
Squeeze Play -- meme from SolidarityINFOService
Re: Detained Immigrants Claim They Were Forced to Work Without Pay (Barry Cuthbert; Greg Luzietti; Judith Halprin; David Pere Esteves)
Re: ‘Using Power Builds Power’: Meet the Woman Tipped to Lead the Labor Movement (Carolfrances; Jerome Nicolas; Nick Conder)
Re: Here Is a Helpful List of Exactly Where Unions Need to Be (Allan Rivera)
Re: Reject the 'Jobs Versus Environment' Narrative – We Can Do Both (Steven Wishnia)
Re: Elizabeth Warren's Plan to Break Wall Street's Stranglehold (Jack Radey)
Re: The American Left Needs a Contemporary Thad Stevens (Progressive Pup)
Re: German Elections: Mixed Joy and Great Sorrow (Jose Rinaldi Jovet; Vernon Huffman)
Re: Economic Sanctions: War by Another Name (Cher Lunn)
Re: Roots of the U.S.-China Trade Conflict (Steve in Wuhan)
Cuba Travel Bills: The Time Is NOW! (Mavis Anderson - Latin America Working Group)
Re: Struggles against Racism and Exploitation: Lebanon's Progressive Movements Face Old and New Challenges (Stan Nadel)
Re: The Pentagon Wants More Control Over the News. What Could Go Wrong? (Dave Lott)
Comment on Russiagate (John Gehan)
Re: Geologists Uncover History of Lost Continent Buried Beneath Europe (Carl Davidson)
Re: Leon Wofsy: The Organizer -- 1921-2019 (Aaron Libson)
Re: Did Not Know It Was Possible For a Show to Be This Stupid (Harold Dyck)
Your Help Needed:
Support Our Neighbors in the Bahamas after this Climate Catastrophe -- 8 Ways To Help The Bahamas Recover From Hurricane Dorian (ColorLines)
Resources:
Censoring the Working Class - Banned Books Week
How Charitable are Billionaires? (IslamicHelp -UK)
Amazon Rainforest Still Burning - Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
Announcements:
Performance by Locked-Out Members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - Takoma, MD - September 17 (Bread & Roses)
An Inter-generational Conversation with Dr. Angela Y. Davis - New York - September 23 (National Conference of Black Lawyers)
The Green New Deal, Net-Zero Carbon, & The Crucial Role of Public Ownership - New York - September 28 (International Conference for Unions and Movement Allies)
My name is Katie Eder. I’m a 19-year-old climate justice activist, and the executive director of Future Coalition — we’re coordinating a coalition of youth-led organizations organizing and mobilizing for the Climate Strike on September 20th.
By now, you’ve probably received plenty of emails about the Climate Strike on September 20th. You probably already know that masses of people of all ages will join youth in the streets in over 500 US cities. But you might still be wondering, why are all these people striking? Why should I get involved?
Today, I’m proud to announce that the US Climate Strike youth coalition has finalized a set of bold demands. RSVP below to a Climate Strike event where you live, then read our demands below.
Join an Event
Use the map below to find and RSVP for an event near you.
Too often, we think about solutions in a very small-minded way, inside the box, way. We don’t have time to stay in the box. We need to be more innovative with our solutions and ask for what we need, not what we think could be possible or has been possible in the past.
We Demand:
- A Green New Deal that immediately halts all new fossil fuel projects and transitions our economy to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
- Respect of Indigenous lands and sovereignty — the US government must halt all resource extraction on or affecting Indigenous lands, and recognize the Rights of Nature into law.
- Environmental justice for communities on the frontlines of poverty and pollution, and sanctuary for all migrants.
- Protect and restore 50% of the world’s lands and oceans; stop all deforestation by 2030.
- Invest in sustainable agriculture, not agribusiness.
We know what we’re asking for goes beyond the scope of what’s been achieved so far, but that’s precisely why we’re demanding it. We have just 11 years left to cut global emissions in half, and to do that, we need to work together to make these demands a reality .
If you’re ready to start fighting for these demands, sign up to join a Climate Strike event where you live.
Our only hope of achieving the sweeping transformation we need to save our futures is with the power of a mass movement. That movement that has existed in the US for decades is unifying and growing right now. People in over 100 countries are mobilizing for the Climate Strike — and over 500 US locations in all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Guam, are joining in on the action.
Together, we are the hope for a different future than the one fossil fuel billionaires want to condemn us to. We still have the power to create the change we need, but only if we work together. That’s why we need you.
Forward,
Katie Eder - Future Coalition
Global Climate Strike - Sep. 20–27
Impacting All States -- cartoon by Robert Ariail
Robert Ariail
September 7, 2019
The Sumter (SC) Item
Re: What Happens in El Norte Doesn’t Stay in El Norte
Much of US policies towards Central America in the near past sustaining dictators, training soldiers to maintain dictatorships for the benefit of some America companies is one of the biggest causes of the exodus from Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Aida Rivera
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
(posting on Portside Labor)
Organizing the logistics sector is key to (re)building working class counterpower! Organizing a red-green alliance is the key to ecosocialism! #WorkersPower #UnionizeAmazon #AmazonStrike #Ecosocialism
Organization for a Free Society
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Hey, Jeff Bezos: I'm an Amazon worker and this is why I'm joining the climate strike | Technology | The Guardian
Jules Bernstein
=====
Climate strike!
Stephanie Luce
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Socialism Used to Be a Dirty Word. Is America Now Ready to Embrace It?
It appears that giving billions of dollars to corporations is ok but food stamps and medical assistance to poor and needy people is a bad thing to conservatives.
Jeff Bast
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Squeeze Play -- meme from SolidarityINFOService
A system that generates unchecked #globalwarming, #militarism and #foreverwars is a threat to #humanity and all other living things. It presents the choice of a slow death through #climatechange or a quick one via #nuclearholocaust. We can and must do better!
If you agree, please share.
Re: Detained Immigrants Claim They Were Forced to Work Without Pay
Slavery has been legalized in America, again
Barry Cuthbert
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
Welcome to the new slavery.
Greg Luzietti
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Dickens is no longer the fiction of a bygone era, the abuses of 19th century England are alive in America, the only difference being that it is a profiteering scam to boot. Grotesque.
Judith Halprin
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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All for profit prisons system must be shutdown. That operation should be run entirely by government.
David Pere Esteves
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: ‘Using Power Builds Power’: Meet the Woman Tipped to Lead the Labor Movement
(posting on Portside Labor)
“People think power is a limited resource,” she said in Atlanta. “But using power builds power.”
That’s exciting!
Carolfrances
=====
"Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, has struck a chord with activists calling for her to run for labor’s top job: president of the AFL-CIO"
I endorse this course of action.
Jerome Nicolas
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
I saw her speak in Atlanta—she’s phenomenal. The American labor movement would be extraordinarily lucky to have her take the top spot.
Nick Conder
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Here Is a Helpful List of Exactly Where Unions Need to Be
(posting on Portside Labor)
Organized labor should be organized. Not just organized at a single shop, or in a single union, or in a single industry, but strategically organized on a national scale so that it can deploy its resources to organize the places that most need to be organized. Unions need to move in tandem with the economy itself. They need to be where the work is going. And where will that be in the coming decade?
Allan Rivera
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Reject the 'Jobs Versus Environment' Narrative – We Can Do Both
The unions that criticize the Green New Deal tend to be in the building trades, where things like pipelines create lots of jobs, and mining. I don't think their opposition is intractable--covering labor news, I've had an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers official tell me that wind power in upstate New York was giving his members the work they lost when fracking was banned, and one from the Plumbers say that the transition to renewable energy had to be done "slowly and correctly." The world may well be heating too fast to do it slowly, but doing it correctly means taking seriously one of the two basic premises of the Green New Deal: That this transition needs to be done in a way that creates good jobs and doesn't hurt workers.
Unions have good reason to fear a reprise of the Clinton-NAFTA attitude—telling a laid-off factory worker in Decatur, Illinois "your job's a thing of the past, we'll give you a six-week course in Microsoft Excel and you can move to Silicon Valley and get with the future." Also, environmentalists should not use the argument that "the only jobs created will be temporary." In construction, ALL jobs are temporary; when the project's done, it's over.
The tragedy of the 1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization was that instead of the story being the "Teamsters and turtles" alliance, that environmentalists were realizing that jobs were important and organized labor realizing the environment was important, it became "crusty punks in black bandannas breaking windows in Starbucks."
Steven Wishnia
New York City
Re: Elizabeth Warren's Plan to Break Wall Street's Stranglehold
Don't break their stranglehold. Break their back. There is a difference.
Jack Radey
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The American Left Needs a Contemporary Thad Stevens
The Pup looked up some quotes. Thanks for bringing this up. It's poster making time.
Progressive Pup
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: German Elections: Mixed Joy and Great Sorrow
True, the German neo-Nazis did not win in the eastern states of Saxony and Branderburg but they almost did. They made great gains. These are neo-Nazis in Germany and in ex Communists states!! Scary.
Jose Rinaldi Jovet
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Die LINKE should consider merging with the Greens. There is no major conflict in their platforms. Solidarity forever!*
Vernon Huffman
Re: Economic Sanctions: War by Another Name
Yup, that's how the US does it!
Cher Lunn
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Roots of the U.S.-China Trade Conflict
Refreshing to see something other than crude US centric China-bashing coming from social democrats. It seems however, that social democrats have to bend themselves in pretzels to avoid using the term "socialist" to describe China`s political economy. Central planning still exists in the PRC, even if the social democrats call it "regulation" and forget that all land in China is owned by the state. During the reform and opening up, villagers came to the factories, but retained household registrations and hence, maintained land use rights.
The authors fail to mention the poverty elimination program, and the already existing "green new deal" with Chinese characteristics, adopted during the last two CPC congresses. The article highlights Chinese working conditions and the Gini coefficient, 38.6 but fails to note that about 40% of the population is engaged with agriculture, and not quite fully involved with a cash economy. The costs of living vary sharply between regions, between provinces, and between towns, villages, and cities.
The article derides the official Chinese trade unions, but China is one of the handful of social formations whose state and leading party earned their legitimacy through a worker and peasant protracted war of resistance to invasion and occupation, and through decades of civil war. Trade unions are subordinate to the party with its 90 million members.
Passes to travel outside their places of origin? mmmm. That was way before I arrived in Wuhan, before the high speed rail system. I worked in a Chinese company, the only foreigner, on a Chinese pay scale with Chinese benefits, those benefits included two meals a day, company housing, and limited health insurance. My cash pay amounted to $150 dollars a week, USD. I was one of the ant people, making about twice the wages of a factory worker, but with the expectations of a westerner from a developed capitalist state, not a farmer from the village.
China is a large diverse country, and changing every day. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and National Holiday. On October first, the People`s Republic of China will be seventy years old, 1949-2019.
Steve in Wuhan
Cuba Travel Bills: The Time Is NOW!
Congress is finally back in session after their August recess. You know what that means. Now is the time to make your voice heard on our right to travel to Cuba!
It’s no secret that since Trump has been in office, the White House has completely undermined decades-long efforts to re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba through aggressive rhetoric and rollbacks, unnecessary travel restrictions, and harsh sanctions. These measures have failed for over 50 years to affect any real change, hurting only ordinary Cubans caught in the middle of this policy mess.
But hope is not lost. There's new energy around travel legislation in both the Senate and the House. The potential for progress is real.
What’s Going On?
On July 29, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Freedom for Americans to Travel to Cuba Act of 2019 (S. 2303). The bill, which has 46 Democratic and Republican co-sponsors, would allow Americans to travel to Cuba “in the same way that they can travel to every other country in the world except North Korea, to which President Trump banned travel by executive order.”
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA-2) and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN-6) introduced an identical bill in the House - H.R. 3960 with 19 additional bipartisan co-sponsors. “It’s time for us to listen to the majority of Americans, Cuban-Americans, and Cubans who do not support the travel ban, and get rid of it once and for all,” said Rep. McGovern.
TAKE ACTION
We were on the brink of ushering in a new era of progressive Cuba policies, even ending the travel ban and trade embargo once and for all. That progress has been threatened. We cannot leave positive changes up to chance. We must act quickly and decisively. In other words, Congress needs to hear your voice.
Call Now!
We need you to make three quick and easy phone calls: one to each of the offices of your two senators and one to the office of your representative. <<Find them here.>>
Here’s a sample script:
“My name is _____, and I am a constituent from _____. I urge Representative ________ to co-sponsor H.R. 3960./I urge Senator ________ to co-sponsor S. 2303. An overwhelming majority of Americans favor unrestricted travel to Cuba. This administration’s attempts to reverse advances made in engagement with Cuba, a country that poses no threat to our national security, are unwarranted. Cuba is progressing; and right now, we can help best by allowing U.S. citizens to travel there freely.”
Calls are the most effective way of getting your senators' and representative's attention, so we can’t stress enough how important it is for you to pick up a phone right now to voice your emphatic support for this new legislation.
What we need now is the committed outreach of Cuba activists around the country in contacting their senators and representatives to get them on board. If yours are already on the legislation (check out the co-sponsor lists at the links above), it still helps to call their office to thank them and to ask them to be active in promoting the travel bill. Make sure they are on the right side of history!
We're counting on you!
In solidarity,
Mavis Anderson
Latin America Working Group
2029 P Street NW, Suite 301
Washington, District of Columbia 20036
(202) 546-7010 | lawg@lawg.org
This is very good as far as it goes, but in ignoring the treatment of Palestinians and not even mentioning Hezbollah it leaves some very large holes in its analysis.
Stan Nadel
Re: The Pentagon Wants More Control Over the News. What Could Go Wrong?
EXCERPT
DARPA now is developing a semantic analysis program called “SemaFor” and an image analysis program called “MediFor,” ostensibly designed to prevent the use of fake images or text. The idea would be to develop these technologies to help private Internet providers sift through content.
It’s the latest in a string of stories about new methods of control over information flow that should, but for some reason do not, horrify every working journalist.
Dave Lott
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
For the last few years, particularly since the 2016 presidential election, “the Russians” have been the object of scorn, derision, contempt, ridicule, and hostility by many in government and establishment media. Russians have been portrayed as sinister, dishonest, plotting, dangerous, and evil. They, and their president, have been fair game in social media, editorial pages, cartoons and memes, and opinion pieces that all pretend to have inside knowledge of the Russian character and psyche.
If this characterization of a racial or ethnic minority were directed at a group in the United States, it would justifiably be condemned as racist or ethnically chauvinist.
We do not (at least should not) accuse Hispanics of being lazy, or African-Americans of being untrustworthy, or Italian-Americans of being criminally inclined. Yet, when referring to “the Russians,” it has become permissible to suggest that they are a flawed, sinister, and dangerous people plotting to harm Americans.
This is nonsense. “The Russians” are not the enemy, not the bad guys. They are seeking to survive, and thrive, in a world made dangerous by the United States and its corporate masters. They are not aggressors, unlike the United States with its hundreds of military bases around the globe, and most often have been the recipient of subversion by the United States.
The New Cold War and its current Russiagate incarnation, launched after Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump in 2016, is intended to provide an excuse for the Clinton loss and provide an enemy that justifies increased military spending and endless worldwide wars. The Russians are an imaginary threat, kept alive by the managers of U.S. foreign policy and the beneficiaries of the myth of American exceptionalism.
John P. Gehan
Re: Geologists Uncover History of Lost Continent Buried Beneath Europe
There's a good case that South America is Atlantis, the continent, and if you go up the Amazon toward Peru/Bolivia, you can find the ruins of Atlantis, the city.
Carl Davidson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Leon Wofsy: The Organizer (1921-2019)
My brief connection to Leon was at the age of 15 I joined the Labor Youth LeAgue (LYL ). It succumbed to McCarthyism and capitulation to it.
Aaron Libson
Re: Did Not Know It Was Possible For a Show to Be This Stupid
(posting on Portside Culture)
Nothing new about this insane pro-American imperialist brainwashing. Still sticks in my mind how, during the Reagan era, amidst the effort to destroy the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, they came out with one of the worst pieces of war propaganda I ever saw, the disgustingly notorious Red Dawn.
Harold Dyck
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo // Miami Workers Center
8 Ways To Help The Bahamas Recover From Hurricane Dorian
“We are in the midst of one of the greatest national crises in our country’s history.”
Ayana Byrd
September 4, 2019
ColorLines
Hurricane Dorian is the most powerful storm to ever hit the Bahamas. Making landfall as a Category 5 on September 1, the hurricane not only brought flooding rains and wind gusts up to 220 mph, but it stalled over the area, moving at just 1 mph for much of the day. The devastation is greatest on Abaco and Grand Bahama islands. More than 13,000 houses, or about 45 percent of all homes, were damaged or destroyed in these areas, The Associated Press reports. And thousands of people in the majority Black area need food and clean drinking water. Seven people have been reported dead as of Wednesday (September 4), but the number is expected to rise as rescue crews arrive.
“We are in the midst of one of the greatest national crises in our country’s history,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis told news the outlet.
As residents recover, there will likely be stark differences in how various communities access financial resources; beyond the resorts on Grand Bahama, Abaco is mainly inhabited by fishermen, manual laborers and migrants from Haiti. As one of the Caribbean islands closest to the United States—it is just 50 miles from the Florida coast—Americans frequently visit the Bahamas for both vacation and business. So it is not surprising that many in the U.S. have mobilized to organize relief efforts.
These organizations are working to help communities facing socioeconomic challenges after Dorian:
The New Florida Majority (NewFM)
Social justice organization New Florida Majority partnered with a dozen South Florida organizations—including the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center and the Miami Workers Center—to support community emergency operations centers (CEOCs) in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Jacksonville. These centers were meant to provide resources and relief if Dorian struck Southern Florida. Since that region was spared the brunt of the storm, the CEOCs are now collecting items and money to help the Bahamas. “Miami has a rich Bahamian history and it’s only right for us to assist our families and neighbors in the Bahamas,” said Valencia Gunder, CEOC founder and criminal justice program manager for the New Florida Majority. Donate here.
World Central Kitchen
Celebrity Spanish chef José Andrés and his nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, have been in Nassau, Bahamas, launching four kitchens to make meals that can be flown into Abaco and Grand Bahama. Make a donation here.
How do we organize a response in Bahamas? Here’s our current map we are working from…. @WCKitchen has kitchens ready to go and shelters mapped out. If kitchens are destroyed, we build one and cook in big paella pans! https://t.co/yNzrfrKIaS pic.twitter.com/fa4sBN8qMe
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) September 1, 2019
Good 360
An Alexandria, Virginia-based charity, Good 360 has been providing international disaster relief for more than three decades. It is now requesting that corporations donate items for the Bahamas, including water, diapers, bedding, portable chargers and tarps. Individuals can make cash donations. To give, click here.
HKers Emergency Fund
In 2015, when Hurricane Joaquin hit the Bahamas, friends Lia Head-Rigby and Gina Knowles—two Bahamians living in the U.S.—decided to do something more than watch the news and feel terrible. They formed HeadKnowles and raised relief money, then did the same thing when Hurricane Matthew hit the island chain. The org has teams on the ground and is focusing on the people of Abaco and Grand Bahama. Head-Rigby, who flew over the region after Dorian hit, told the The Associated Press, “It’s total devastation. It’s decimated. Apocalyptic. It’s not rebuilding something that was there; we have to start again.” Donate here.
Team Rubicon USA
This nonprofit brings together military veterans and first responders to volunteer internationally during times of crisis. While they help all in disaster zones, the organization’s focus is on bringing assistance to vulnerable and socioeconomically at-risk populations who may not have the resources to rebuild. Its work includes removing debris, rebuilding homes and organizing local volunteers. The team went to the Bahamas before Dorian to board windows and lay down sandbags; it returned as part of the cleanup effort. Donate here.
Waterkeeper Alliance
This New York City-based nonprofit partners with local organizers to protect water ecosystems around the world. Its website reports that its Bahamian Waterkeepers are “ready to deploy to the scene, as soon as they can, to evaluate environmental impacts, assist citizens and inform the public.” Donations can be made by clicking here and then selecting “Hurricane Dorian—Bahamas” to direct your gift.
Grand Bahama Disaster Relief Foundation
Grand Bahama Disaster Relief Foundation was formed by Grand Bahama Port Authority in response to Hurricane Dorian. Through it, people can donate goods at official drop-off locations (including in the United States). The site also contains a list of government approved nonprofits and charities. To donate money, go here.
Humane Society of Grand Bahama
As with all natural disasters, humans are not the only ones who need assistance. Accordingly the Humane Society of Grand Bahama is asking for donations to help it rebound. As of press time, its staff, 75 dogs and 50 cats had been rescued, but the center, founded in 1968 to provide shelter for the island’s homeless and abused animals, needs to be rebuilt. Donate here.
Censoring the Working Class - Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week is coming up later this month, commemorating the efforts of librarians and educators to fight back against censorship. As Kathy M. Newman writes in this week's Working-Class Perspectives, books offering progressive views of working-class people and class activism have been frequent targets, but censors have also censored images.Limitations on free speech are even more important in the workplace, where they restrict what workers can say or write and undermine their right to organize.
Please feel free to repost and join the conversation in the Comments section of the blog site.
John Russo
Visiting Scholar
Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and Working Poor
Georgetown University
Co-editor, Working-Class Perspectives
Jbrusso@ysu.edu
How Charitable are Billionaires?
Real-Time Wealth vs. Donations based on 2018's Financial Year
Check it out - In the time you're on this page, see how much these internet billionaires made, and around 50% of that went to Jeff Bezos. And 40% of all money donated from these Billionaires came from Warren Buffett.
Sources:
- Forbes 400 - The Definitive Ranking Of The Wealthiest Americans
- A leaked memo shows Bloomberg reached $10 billion in annual revenue last year, and some insiders will receive a special bonus
Thanks to IslamicHelp.org.uk for sending this to Portside.
Amazon Rainforest Still Burning - Poster of the Week
Doug Minkler
Silkscreen, 1989
Berkeley, CA
The Amazon Rainforest continues to burn—and our future is at stake. The struggle to save the world’s rainforests has been going on for decades, and thousands of environmental activists have been murdered trying to protect them. CSPG’s Poster of the Week was made 30 years ago, to commemorate Chico Mendes, the 19th rural activist to be killed in Brazil in 1988.
Sources:
- Global Climate Strike - September 20 - 27
- More than 1,700 activists have been killed this century defending the environment (The Conversation)
- The Amazon rainforest is still burning and we’re all in danger (Los Angeles Times)
- World of Change: Amazon Deforestation (NASA Earth Observatory)
Written by Carol A. Wells, Founder & Executive Director, CSPG
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 103
Culver City, CA 90230
310.397.3100
Performance by Locked-Out Members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - Takoma, MD - September 17
Locked-out Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians – members of AFM Local 40-543 – will perform music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Claude Debussy, Yuko Uebayashi and Brian Prechtl (see below for details), as well as provide an update on the ongoing lockout.
The performance – part of Local 40-543’s Make Music with Baltimore Symphony Musicians Project and co-presented by the DC Musician’s Union (AFM Local 161-710), the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO and the DC LaborFest, is free, but attendees are urged to support the BSO musicians through their Go Fund Me account.
PROGRAM
Yuko Uebayashi - Suite for flute and cello
Marcia McHugh, flute
Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello
Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite No. 2 in D Minor for cello solo, BWV 1008
Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello
Claude Debussy - Syrinx for flute solo
Marcia McHugh, flute
Brian Prechtl - To a Stranger (Based on a poem by Walt Whitman)
Marcia McHugh, flute
Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello
Brian Prechtl, Percussion
Judith Krummeck, Narrator
Tuesday, September 17 -- 6:00 -- 8:00 pm
Busboys and Poets Takoma https://www.busboysandpoets.com
235 Carroll St. NW
Washington DC
An Inter-generational Conversation with Dr. Angela Y. Davis - New York - September 23
This conference has two main goals. The first goal is to show how both public ownership and a public goods approach is critical to achieving “zero carbon” and the other core objectives of the Green New Deal. The second goal is to make visible key struggles around ownership and control—including anti-privatization fights—that are taking place around the world , and how these struggles are leading to a “new internationalism” that puts both class and climate at the center of progressive politics.
Context: Climate Policy Failures and the Need for Radical Alternatives
Calls for a Green New Deal in the US have resonated around the world. Driven by concerns about climate crisis, the GND has also become a rallying cry for those who seek radical and urgent action to combat rising levels of inequality, racial injustice, as well as the rise of corporate power.
The GND has also endorsed the “net-zero carbon” target articulated in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and governments at national, state and municipal levels (including New York State and New York City) have adopted similarly ambitious climate goals.
But according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), effective action on climate change “would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” within a dozen years or less. Establishing targets, while important, are clearly not enough. Meanwhile, neoliberal policies aimed at “mobilizing private investment” in order to promote “green growth” have shown themselves to be completely incapable of even slowing the rise of emissions. These same policies have increased inequality, injustice, and precariousness all over the world.
The need for a radical change in policy is today indisputable. This realization has sparked a growing movement of unions and other allies that see the need to extend public ownership and democratic control over key economic sectors—such as energy, finance, and transportation—in order to ensure that the world has a fighting chance of addressing the climate emergency in ways that advance social and economic justice and equality.
Participants and Partners
We will be joined by unions and policy allies from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Uruguay, and the UK.
The meeting is being organized in partnership with: National Nurses United (NNU); New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA); United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE); Canadian Union of Public Employees; National Union of Public and General Employees (Canada);Transnational Institute; The Democracy Collaborative; Science for the People; DSA’s Ecosocialist Working Group; #NationalizeGrid; Our Public Power (New York); New York Communities for Change.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM EDT
CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
25 West 43rd Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10036
Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. The program will start at 9:00 a.m. and end by 5:00 p.m. Full program and speakers to be announced.
