Tidbits - Sept. 24, 2020 - Reader Comments: Mourn RBG and Fight for the Living; Print your own ‘TRUMP 200,000; Bertolt Brecht on the Super-Rich; The Wages of Whiteness; lots of resources and announcements;
Mourn RBG and Fight for the Living
NBA Players Wear Special Lace Collars To Honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg (The Babylon Bee)
Re: Ginsburg’s Legal Victories for Women Led to Landmark Anti-Discrimination Rulings for the LGBTQ Community, Too (Stan Nadel)
Re: The Case for Consequences - Lock Him Up? (Tammy Thomas; Ramón Pito Santiago; Jack Parker)
You Asked For It: Download, print your own ‘TRUMP 200,000’ yard sign (Lalo Alcaraz)
The horses' asses of the Apocalypse -- cartoon by Joshua Brown
Re: Hold the Line Defend Democracy (Claire O'Connor)
Re: Environmental Movement Founders: Don't Vote for the Green Party (Gina Klein)
Re: Climate Crisis Will Force a New American Migration as Much of US Becomes Uninhabitable (Sonia Collins; Judith Halprin)
Re: The Super-Rich Are Raking in Billions (Victor Grossman; Jay Schaffner; Miriam Haiman-González)
It Can't Happen Here! -- Oops! My Mistake
Re: A Bold New Plan to Turn the Rust Belt Blue (Patricia A. Ford)
Re: The Media Learned Nothing From 2016 (Robert Supansic)
Re: North Carolina Nurses Win Union In Landslide After Bitter Opposition (David Newby; Buzz Davis)
McConnell Suddenly in a Rush -- cartoon by Dave Whamond
Re: Why Many Police Are Barely Distinguishable From Racist Vigilantes (Ramon Capois; Nancy Burge)
Re: The Wages of Whiteness (Ethan Young)
Re: The Abraham Accords: A Fever Dream of Dictators, a Nightmare for Palestinians (Joseph Maizlish)
Re: ‘Extreme Option: Overthrow Allende’ (Rita Molinelli Freytes; Diana Cordero)
Re: The Networks of Women Behind the Polio Vaccine (T.)
Your Action Needed:
Honor RBG through action (March For Our Lives)
Resources:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Presente! — Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
Teachers are paid almost 20% less than similar workers (Economic Policy Institute)
Video - The Italians: The Progressive Tradition (Vito Marcantonio Forum)
Announcements:
Meet the author of The Art of Organizing - October 5 (Hard Ball Press)
Just Transition–Transformative Strategies on the Frontlines of Struggle - October 7 (Labor Network for Sustainability)
¿Una Nueva Crisis? Reflecting Upon MAS' Legacy and the Future of Bolivia - October 8 (NACLA)
On-Line Discussion of the State of Illinois Labor in the Covid-19 Era - October 8 (Project for Middle Class Renewal)
Mourn RBG and Fight for the Living
NBA Players Wear Special Lace Collars To Honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg
September 22, 2020
The Babylon Bee
NBA players are honoring the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg this week by wearing pretty lace collars just like Notorious RBG used to wear. In a touching show of respect for the late Justice Ginsburg, and in solidarity with her progressive cause, Lebron James and the LA Lakers took to the court yesterday wearing a stunning variety of delicate white collars inspired by RBG's wardrobe.
According to several commentators on ESPN, the virtual teleconference crowd fell silent in reverent awe as the players all knelt down and chanted "RBG! RBG! RBG!"
"Yeah, RBG was an amazing person," said LeBron James after the game. "I have her biography right here and I totally read it right before the game. She was a judge. That's cool, I respect that. Judges judge things and not everyone can do that. She believed in Black Lives Matter and being on the right side of history and stuff."
Read full story here
And we can kiss all these gains and more goodbye if we don't get a Biden Presidency and a Democratic majority in the Senate with the backbone to increase the Court to 13 and give Biden 4 seats to fill. Sorry, but socialism is not on the current agenda, anti-fascism is.
Stan Nadel
Re: The Case for Consequences - Lock Him Up?
This is a long article but worth it even to skim through. Those that say that they're not voting for the person in the presidency but the platform..
Please just take a moment to look at this
Tammy Thomas
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
President Trump should be punished for lying to the usa on the issue of COVID 19. He down played the seriousness of the virus. Many lives would have been saved if he would had told the truth. If people would have known in the beginning the danger that was going to happen, they would have protected their love ones, now we are in a point where his followers act like a colt. I remember many years ago of Jim Jones, who killed his congregation drinking a deadly poison.
How can we accept this kind of behavior from a president of America. No money is worth the death of a love one.
Please go to vote, either by mail or in person, we shouldn't allow this to happen again.
Could you imagine if a War III would happen, he would be lying to the people to say don't worry be happy this will go away like a miracle.
Have all a lovely and safe day. God bless America
Ramón Pito Santiago
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
His treasonous and seditious acts are normally met with a punishment far more rigorous than just "lock him up"!
Jack Parker
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
You Asked For It: Download, print your own ‘TRUMP 200,000’ yard sign (Lalo Alcaraz)
You sent us email! You texted us! You asked for it, and now you’ve got it.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD trump200kpdfalcaraz.pdf. This 1.9 MB PDF file is suitable for printing your own lawn sign, yard sign, bumper sticker, and/or political poster. FYI, typical lawn signs are 18″ X 24″.
TRUMP 200,000 is © 2020 POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz and reproduced here with his permission. You are free to download and print this PDF, but please do not modify Lalo’s artwork. ¡Adelante, siempre adelante!
The horses' asses of the Apocalypse -- cartoon by Joshua Brown
Josh Brown
September 23, 2020
Life During Wartime
Re: Hold the Line Defend Democracy
This article is presenting a set of ideas on how to prevent expected reaction from the right immediately following election night. It even suggests various strategies. HOWEVER. it is very tangled and unclear. Isn't there a way to get that info in a better organized and usable way?
Claire O'Connor
Re: Environmental Movement Founders: Don't Vote for the Green Party
It is really hard to bite the bullet and NOT vote third party candidate, but it is ESSENTIAL. Read this powerful article.
Gina Klein
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Climate Crisis Will Force a New American Migration as Much of US Becomes Uninhabitable
Man,, that was depressing. But if we start acting like grown-ups, we can mitigate and deal.
Sonia Collins
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
and no one will want those people who bring pestilence and violence
Judith Halprin
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The Super-Rich Are Raking in Billions
This situation – obscenely immense piles of wealth next to miserable poverty – was succinctly explained by one of the very greatest of 20thCentury writers, Bertolt Brecht. I have done my best to translate it, taking some liberties to keep it in rhyme. I hope I will be forgiven!
A rich man and a poor man, there they stood,
And judged each other as best they could.
The poor man said, his voice at low pitch,
If I were not poor you’d not be rich.
(transl. V. Grossman)
For anyone who knows German, here areBrecht’s words:
Reicher Mann und armerMann standen da und sah’n sich an.
Und der arme sagtebleich, wär ich nicht arm, wärst du nicht reich.
Victor Grossman
=====
Biggest income inequality gap in history - Gives credence to what that old man of the 19th century said: "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer"
I said this on a term paper in AP U.S. History when I was in high school. Teacher wrote in the margin - Not true, this is Marxism.
Can say that because of this unjust income inequality gap, systemic racism and the over-riding need for peace and end to militarism, that I have been a socialist since that time, more than 50 years ago.
Jay Schaffner
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
#TrumpVirus has killed 200,000 people and counting. HE KNEW. Focus
Miriam Haiman-González
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
It Can't Happen Here! -- Oops! My Mistake
Re: A Bold New Plan to Turn the Rust Belt Blue
(posting on Portside Labor)
I read Steven Greenhouse's Portside article, A Bold New Plan with great interest given the current polarizing political climate we are experiencing in our nation. As the former Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who oversaw the Government Affairs Department I take exception with my former colleague Steve Rosenthal's Union 2020 project. While I don't disagree with Rosenthal's analysis and project, I would argue the Union 2020 project funds would be better spent on securing the votes cast be counted in the precincts where there is density of union members.
Rosenthal states Hillary Clinton received 425,000 fewer Michigan votes in 2016 than Al Gore did in 2000. According to a 2016 article in The Hill pinned by Harold Michael Harvey, American novelist and essayist, 70,000 ballots cast in just Detroit MI were not counted, a state Clinton lost by 10,000 votes.
An August 26, 2020 Detroit Free Press article noted a state audit revealed widespread discrepancies in the 2016 election stating 87 of the 490 voting machines in Detroit malfunctioned. In 2017 a recount challenge of the Detroit City Clerk election indicated a recount of 160 precincts, in 20% of these precincts, ballot boxes had broken seals and the numbers in poll books didn't match the number of ballots received. According to state law, ballots cast in those precincts couldn't be counted. Recently in the 2020 primary election, media reports have shown inaccurate counting of absentee ballots in 72% of precincts in Detroit. If the aforementioned problems are not addressed recruitment of former union and retired member voters would not be there to guarantee a Biden victory.
Union monies would be better spent in recruiting and training union members for precinct and poll workers and as candidates for important but overlooked elected/appointed positions such as Secretary of State, City Clerk and Registrar of Voters. Political activity should not be an election cycle project. Labors unions should view their political program in the same manner as their organizing program.
Significant union resources should not only be used to woo former union member voters, monies should also be allocated towards pursuing known and trusted commodities, union and non union African Americans voters, as well as the children and grandchildren of former and retired union members. Statistics have indicated African American women first and African American men second are the most likely to join unions. As has been demonstrated in recent elections, Black women have shown up and shown out in elections as indicated by voting 98% and the Black electorate voting 91% respectively for Hillary Clinton as stated in an August 2018 Pew Research Center Survey of the 2016 electorate. The Pew Research Center also found younger generations (Gen Zers & millennials) hold more liberal views on social and wage disparity issues than older generations.
Lastly, the November 3, 2020 election is not a referendum on Donald Trump or Trumpism. It is a referendum on who we are as a people of this nation. Trump's presidency has uncovered and exposed the ugly scars of systematic racism in the United States Of America. As stated by Harvey, the Supreme Court essentially did in their 2013 Shelby County, Alabama vs Eric Holder decision, by destroying key provisions of the Voting Rights Act is the equivalent of what President Rutherford Hayes did in 1877, when he removed the federal troops for the South in order to be selected president by the U.S. House of Representatives. We are weeks away from potentially returning to the days of Jim Crow. To quote the late Congressman Elijah Cummings, "We are better than this." We are truly fighting for the soul of this Country. I hope and pray we will prevail on Election Day.
Patricia A. Ford, Executive Vice President, SEIU (retired) 1996-2004
Board Member Congressional Black Caucus Institute
DeElla & Associates, LLC
Re: The Media Learned Nothing From 2016
Fallows misses the most pervasive media error: it’s not “fake news,” but fake ignorance. The media knows all sorts of things that they just don’t bother telling us about. (African-American and Latinx readers may wish to skip the rest of this paragraph since they are already well aware of the concept.) The media knew police departments were racist and that black men were being killed for no reason, but until recently said nothing. They are drawn to protests that involve violence and property damage like a flame draws the moth. But they make no attempt to assign responsibility. They know there are five possibilities: 1) protesters who react to police violence; 2) government agents trying to incite violence; 3) right wing militias; 4) freebooters taking advantage of the disorder; 5) unprovoked protesters. In saying nothing, they convey the impression that protesters are engaging in violence for the hell of it, rarely suggesting anything else. Or consider the recent Veterans Administration scandal. They jumped with both feet on low-level VA bureaucrats for fudging patient treatment schedules. They knew full well that VA budgets and staffing are set by Congress. When Congress shamefacedly finally increased the VA budget by $17 billion and staffing by 20,000, no one apologized to the bureaucrats. They know better about all of this stuff but still cluck over how ill-informed the public is.
Admittedly it is hard to tell fake ignorance from real ignorance in the media. Past administrations have privatized health care, the military, and a myriad of lesser government functions. Now Trump tries to privatize public education and the Post Office. Somehow the media are unable to connect those dots. That failure leads them into real ignorance. Having drunk the Reagan Kool-aid that privatization will make government cheaper and more efficient they are blind to the wildly swinging Republican Government Wrecking Ball. The media are unable to figure out that Trump and the Republicans do not believe government should be involved in public health generally and in fighting epidemics specifically. (To avoid public outrage at this fact, Trump & Co. try to turn the issue into one of “civil liberties,” leaving the media mystified.) Trump has tried to wreck the departments of State, Energy, Agriculture, the IRS, the EPA, and the CDC; the media think this is just another case of a new administration replacing the old with their people. And the replacements are a galaxy of incompetents, crooks, wreckers, saboteurs, and crazies. But there is no pattern there.
So let us go out on a limb. Why is this happening? We are in an era in which the globalized billionaire class is making its bid to control the world. Some of them, convinced of their unique genius, try to take direct control of governments in order to wreck them. Others, convinced of their unique genius, use their billions for “philanthropic” projects as a substitute for things governments should be doing. The media is truly ignorant of this, which is why they are mystified by the most fundamental issue of all: climate change. They cannot understand why so many in the billionaire class are climate change deniers. The media cannot bring themselves to see that the billionaire class simply doesn’t care about it. No more than they care about public health, education, or even the delivery of mail.
Robert Supansic
Re: North Carolina Nurses Win Union In Landslide After Bitter Opposition
(posting on Portside Labor)
A ray of hope on an otherwise dark, dark day...
David Newby
=====
Please talk with NNU because I think the nurses just organized a local here in Tucson, AZ under NNU.
Thanks much for the update and good news!!
Buzz Davis, Vets for Peace
McConnell Suddenly in a Rush -- cartoon by Dave Whamond
Dave Whamond
September 22, 2020
Re: Why Many Police Are Barely Distinguishable From Racist Vigilantes
Because they have the same agenda, which is to carry out an ethnic cleaning program that guarantees white numerical majority and, therefore, control of the election process as well as the government apparatus.
Ramon Capois
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
I believe those who support this will someday regret it
Nancy Burge
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
(posting on Portside Culture)
At last someone has gone to the political/intellectual root of the whiteness controversy. It was a response to the SNCC expulsion of whites and the challenge to 'organize your own.' This was distorted by Weatherman, who vilified white workers as hopelessly racist. It was further twisted over the decades by cultural studies scholars who popularized notions of inherent consciousness, and race as an eternal verity (for worse, but still mirroring the white supremacist myth that holds that it's for better).
But Kunzru could have dug deeper. In the late 60s, Allen and Ignatiev were also trying to respond to a standard idea of the old left, that racism was an ideology that a politically crafty capitalist class had infused into the minds of white workers to turn against their natural allies. This view was part of the strong syndicalist thread in Socialist and Communist Party thinking from the start, and revived by CP spin-off Progressive Labor Party (then furiously working to take over SDS) in their ultra left opposition to black nationalists like the Black Panther Party. The problem with the old view, which Allen and Ignatiev were grappling with, was that it never explained the tenacity of that ideology, which for most people made black-white unity seem anything but natural.
Ideology that becomes a social force must be grounded in material conditions, not just a Wall Street devil whispering in every worker's ear. Hence white skin privilege. This description of the differential in economic standing and democratic rights between workers white and black, or between all whites and all blacks, may not hold up to the tides of history. It may be of more use to capital than to labor, if it deflects from fighting real problems with real solutions, as Reed argues. But we need more than pleas for unity on one side of the left, and insistence on using race as a political value on the other.
Ethan Young
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The Abraham Accords: A Fever Dream of Dictators, a Nightmare for Palestinians
Another "peace deal" involving weapons sales as part of the payoff!
That is a confirmation of Kattan's point that this is a deal among those who rule their populations.
Joseph Maizlish, Los Angeles
Re: ‘Extreme Option: Overthrow Allende’
Declassified CIA files reveal how Nixon and Kissinger orchestrated the coup and overthrow of Allende, the president of Chile democratically elected by his people.
What came next, with the bloodthirsty dictator Pinochet, it chills anyone's blood.
Rita Molinelli Freytes
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
=====
And after the fall of Allende they install the worst dictator of that country in history a fascist dictator
Diana Cordero
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The Networks of Women Behind the Polio Vaccine
Fascinating. I may very well decide to get Oshinshky;s book. This story reminds me of another male-dominated science story, the discovery of DNA , that relied heavily on a woman who got very little credit for her key insight leading to the actual discovery. You can read all about it in The Double Helix, a book that is very readable and not too long and gives insight into male competitive behavior , more than the gender-role clueless author Watson knew.
T (possibly your favorite polio survivor?)
Your Action Needed -- Honor RBG through action
This one hits hard. Not only was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg a hero for equality and women’s rights, but she voted to uphold common sense laws and recognized our right not to be shot. In her prolific career on the Supreme Court and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, RBG stood for the constitutional necessity of gun violence prevention. If you’re interested in learning more, our Judicial Advocacy Team rounded up all the key decisions she weighed in on that have helped make us safer at the bottom of this email.
But right now, we NEED you to take action. The Supreme Court is now left with four gun extremists -- Justices who wrongly believe the right to firearms trumps all other rights, including our right to live. We cannot allow another extremist to join the bench. And it was RBG’s last request that her seat be filled after the new President is installed and the next Congress is sworn in. Here’s what we need you to do:
- We made a pre-filled form so you can easily email senators that have a duty NOT to vote through a nominee until after the inauguration. We’ll be calling on Monday when their offices are open, but this form is a quick click to make sure these senators understand that we are watching them and will hold them accountable.
- Sign up to volunteer at our text bank on Monday. We’re lining up text banks because it’s crucial that we change the dynamic in Congress. We need to elect leaders to Congress who keep their word, prioritize lives over guns, and listen to the will of the people. That happens by reaching young people and getting them to vote in this election.
- Fax your Senator - yes really. Apparently faxes are like letters, the senator’s staff must read every single one (which is not always the case with emails and calls). The simplest way to do this (because who owns a fax machine anymore other than your congress member?) is via FaxZero. This is a few more steps, but a great action to take if you have the spare few minutes. We made a guide with a pre-written message you can use.
Stay tuned for more actions and look out for easy ways to call your senators on Monday. We only have 45 days until the election is over. This is all hands on deck, so make sure you send an email through our form and then send this to a friend.
Finally, as a thank you to Justice Ginsburg, we are sharing some pivotal cases where she stood up for what was right. This is what it means to serve with moral clarity and with compassion.
United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
Justice Ginsburg joined a dissent defending Congress’ power to regulate gun possession in school zones, arguing that it does not exceed federal authority to legislate under the Commerce Clause.
District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
Justice Ginsburg joined the dissent against the ruling, “Neither the text of the [Second] Amendment nor the arguments advanced by its proponents evidenced the slightest interest in limiting any legislature’s authority to regulate private civilian uses of firearms.”
United States v. Hayes, 555 U.S. 415, (2009)
Justice Ginsburg read the majority opinion affirming federal law prohibiting people convicted of domestic violence crimes from owning guns.
McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
Justice Ginsburg dissented against the decision that the right of an individual to “keep and bear arms” is incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment.
United States v. Castleman, 572 U.S. 157 (2014)
Justice Ginsburg joined the majority in holding that a misdemeanor domestic assault conviction is a “crime of domestic violence,” thus subjecting the domestic abuser to firearm restrictions under federal law.
Voisine v. United States, 579 U.S. (2016)
Justice Ginsburg joined the majority holding that a reckless domestic violence conviction is a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence for the purpose of limiting access to firearms.
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, 590 U.S. (2020)
Justice Ginsburg joined the majority holding the case moot, preventing a potentially dangerous ruling that could have rolled back wide swaths of regulations on the use of firearms outside the home.
Last night, we took some time to honor her by co-hosting a vigil for RBG at the Supreme Court with friends from other groups. Let’s all bring her tireless RBG energy to the fight for justice.
In solidarity,
Tabitha Escalante, Judicial Advocacy Associate
Eve Levenson, Policy & Government Affairs Manager
March For Our Lives
March For Our Lives
P.O. Box 8929
Coral Springs, FL 33075
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Presente! — Poster of the Week
Artist Unknown
Digital Image, 2020
Tonight: Grieve. Weep and wail. Take a long walk. Pour a drink.
Tomorrow: Fight like hell. Organize.
Target candidates in vulnerable Republican Senate races and Republican Senators you think might still have a modicum of honor hiding in their Trumpian bones. CALL, don't email, their offices. Be as polite as you can manage and request that the Senate not confirm a Supreme Court nominee until after the election. And if Biden wins, not until after a new President is sworn in on January 20, 2021.
Do this every day until enough Senators have blocked Mitch McConnell. Don’t be afraid of making yourself a pain in the ass. You’re fighting for the lives of your children and democracy as we know it.
Here is the list. The first 9 names are in competitive races. Many of the rest of the names have expressed displeasure or loathing about Trump in the past five years. Perhaps they can be encouraged to remember they’re not just Republicans, they’re Americans.
NB: Although Lisa Murkowski has stated she will not vote for a new Supreme Court nominee, call her anyway. Do the same to Susan Collins. They’ve been known to flip-flop (see Kavanaugh). Let’s hold their feet to the fire.
- Lisa Murkowski (AL): (202)224-6665
- Susan Collins (ME): (202)224-2523
- Martha McSally (AZ): (202)224-2235
- Cory Gardener (CO): (202)224-5941
- Thom Tillis (NC): (202) 224-6342
- John Coryn (TX): (202) 224-2934
- Steve Danes (MT): (202) 224-2651
- Joni Ernst (IA): (202) 224-3254
- Lindsay Graham (SC): (202) 224-5972
- Mitt Romney(UT): (202)224-5251
- Chuck Grassley(IA): (202) 224-3744
- David Perdue (GA): (202) 224-3521
- Marco Rubio (FL): (202) 224-3041
- Ben Sasse (NE): (202) 224-4224
- Richard Shelby (AL): (202) 224-5744
- Pat Toomey: (PA) (202) 224-4254
Please send this email or something similar to people on your contact list. If you have friends who live in the States above, a call to their Senator would be very helpful.
Organize your own Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg vigil by downloading this toolkit by clicking here. Download posters for the vigil by clicking here.
A Hallelujah Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Source: Remembering RBG: Legal Giant’s Death Sparks Furious Fight in D.C. over Vacant Supreme Court Seat
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 103
Culver City, CA 90230
cspg@politicalgraphics.org
Teachers are paid almost 20% less than similar workers (Economic Policy Institute)
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Economic Policy Institute
1225 Eye St. NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-775-8810 • epi@epi.org
Video - The Italians: The Progressive Tradition (Vito Marcantonio Forum)
Vito Marcantonio Forum
381 Second Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Meet the author of The Art of Organizing - October 5 (Hard Ball Press)
A Winning Campaign told from a grassroots organizer.
When the new Boston Museum of Fine Arts administration took over, the director began taking away the museum guards' benefits. He even took away their chairs. That's when the workers began to whisper the word: "Union."
After a long, hard-fought battle, the workers won their election and became proud union members. But in time they realized that the International was in the back pocket of the museum owners. Now the workers faced their toughest challenge: to quietly mount a campaign that would vote out the corrupt union and vote in a new independent one before the International could take over the local. It was a one-in-a-thousand chance to stand up for union solidarity.
It was a chance they had to take.
Meet & chat with author Michael Raysson, Monday, October 5, 7 pm (EST)
ZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87282543527
Meeting ID: 872 8254 3527
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,87282543527# US (New York)
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Dial by your location
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Available from www.hardballpress.com and booksellers everywhere.
In solidarity,
Tim Sheard, editor Hard Ball Press
REGISTER NOW
For October 7, 2020
Just Transition–Transformative Strategies on the Frontlines of Struggle
How communities are navigating climate chaos, growing right-wing and racist violence and a global pandemic by tackling their root systemic cause.
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
7 p.m. Eastern | 6 p.m. Central | 5 p.m. Mountain | 4 p.m. Pacific
75 minutes in length
Please note special time. The Vice Presidential debate is later that evening.
As we stand at the intersection of multiple, intertwined global crises—an environmental justice pandemic, the threat of fascism and white supremacy, and the crash of the fossil fuel economy, it’s hard not to feel despondent about the future of humanity.
However, communities that have historically been most impacted by these crises—Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples on the frontlines of poverty, pollution and police violence, are also cultivating visionary strategies for building a better world—pathways to restore the balance of natural ecosystems and human relations, and sharing these across frontline struggles worldwide.
Host: Jeff Johnson - Former President, Washington State Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
Panelists:
- Rosalinda Guillen - Community 2 Community, Bellingham, WA
- Elizabeth Yeampierre - UPROSE, Brooklyn, NY
- Enei Begaye - Native Movement, Fairbanks, AK
- Kali Akuno - Cooperation Jackson, Jackson, MS
Who are these frontline community leaders?
This panel represents some of the most visionary leaders from Black, Brown and Indigenous communities across North America (Turtle Island)—organizing at the intersection of environmental justice in communities that have historically been the first and most impacted by both the storms, floods, fires and droughts associated with climate change, as well as people who have borne the most disproportionate burdens of pollution, poverty, police violence and pandemic perpetuated by the extractive economy driving climate change.
These four community organizers have been immersed in long-term campaigns and organizing strategies to build local, economic alternatives to replace the same extractive, industrial economy causing these crises, and linking their efforts with state, national and international movement alliances, such as the Climate Justice Alliance, representing the leadership of thousands of frontline communities. Register now »
What can we expect to glean?
- Labor and environmental activists can learn how grassroots struggles of radicalized communities are building power and effectively organizing against industries and government policies that are driving pollution, poverty, police violence as well as climate chaos.
- We can learn how international unions and green groups need to build shared vision and common cause, as well as bridge the racial divide with these Black, Brown and Indigenous communities who are first and most impacted by pollution, poverty, police violence and climate chaos.
- We can also learn how these frontline community strategies to dismantle today’s colonial, extractive economies and build local, living, caring and sharing alternatives - pose the best opportunities for all working class people seeking jobs that are healthy, sustainable and supportive of families and community wellbeing.
Labor Network for Sustainability
P.O. Box #5780
Takoma Park, MD 20913
¿Una Nueva Crisis? Reflecting Upon MAS' Legacy and the Future of Bolivia - October 8 (NACLA)
The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University (CLACS) and the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) present a panel discussion with journalist Linda Farthing and former Bolivian Ambassador Pablo Solón, on the upcoming elections in Bolivia. Moderated by Bret Gustafson (Washington University in St. Louis).
About the Event
Bolivians face the deepest political, economic, and public health crisis in recent history. On top of the tumultuous ouster/resignation of Evo Morales’ government in late 2019, the 2020 Covid19 pandemic has both revealed and critically deepened inequalities along ethnic/racial, class, gender, and urban/rural lines. The right-wing interim government of Janine Añez which seized power after Morales’ ouster (for some his flight/huida) quickly shifted policy rightward, furthering the erosion of basic human rights and democracy. By declaring herself a presidential candidate, Añez also reneged on promises to not seek power. The interim government has weaponized and used the public health pandemic to postpone elections and deepen pre-existing inequalities through the continuation of socially regressive policies, criminalization of dissent, and the acceleration of ecocide, partly inherited from the previous administration. Today an even more dangerous cycle of forest fires looms deep in the Chiquitania and Amazonian regions revealing the scars of ecological destruction caused by deforestation.
Elections will be held in 2020 but it remains unclear how any political outcome - democratic or not - is sustainable. In addition to the devastating social and public health crisis, a full-blown political crisis has erupted. This panel brings together two experts from distinct walks of life and fields of study and activism to reflect upon this period of transition. We will ask our speakers to look back and forward. Looking back we will ask them how do they narrate and assess the end of Morales' 14 years of power? What were some of the conditions that led to the downfall of Morales (historic, political and economic)? And what are the legacies of those 14 years? As we project forward: What are the possible outcome scenarios of the upcoming elections? What are the key outlines and dynamics in the crisis of politics and the state, and the state of play among Bolivia’s once robust social movements? How can we envision a more just future for Bolivia?
WHEN: Thursday, October 8th, 2020. 6pm-8pm ET.
WHERE: A Zoom meeting link will provided prior to the event.
About the Speakers:
Linda Farthing is a journalist and researcher who has co-authored three books on Bolivia. She has written for the Guardian, the Economist, Al Jazeera, Inter-American Dialogue, and The Nation.
Pablo Solón is a social and environmental activist and former ambassador for the Plurinational State of Bolivia to the United Nations (2009-June 2011). As Ambassador to the UN, Solón spearheaded successful resolutions on the Human Right to Water, International Mother Earth Day, Harmony with Nature, and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He was the chief negotiator for Climate Change of Bolivia and helped organize the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (April 2010). Solón was the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South in Asia (2012-2015) and currently is the Director of Fundación Solón - Bolivia.
Bret Gustafson (Moderator) teaches anthropology at Washington University in St Louis. He is the author of two books on Bolivia, most recently Bolivia in the Age of Gas.
NACLA
c/o NYU CLACS
53 WASHINGTON SQ. SOUTH FL. 4W
NEW YORK, NY 10012 | TEL: (212) 992-6965
With:
- Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea
- Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter
- Special Guest Senator Dick Durbin
The Project for Middle Class Renewal (PMCR) is a policy-based research unit within the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois.
Live virtual program to discuss issues paramount to organized labor as it responds to economic challenges and a global pandemic.