Tidbits - June 17, 2021 - Reader Comments: Infrastructure Plan, Filibuster, Manchin, GOP; Nuclear Weapons; Backroom Attack on Single Payer; Israeli Apartheid; China; Korea; Guns, Racism; Stop NYT Union Busting; announcements; more....
Re: Progressives Tell Biden “No Climate, No Deal” on Infrastructure Plan (Charlie Hogue)
Unicorn Manchin -- cartoon by Rob Rogers
Re: The Case for Prosecuting Donald Trump (Ruth Gauzza; David Alman)
In-N-Out: That’s What Trump’s “Justice” Is All About -- cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz
Re: U.S. Led 2020 Nuclear Weapons Spending; Now Biden Going “Full Steam Ahead” on Trump’s Nuclear Plans (Laurel MacDowell)
Re: Paid Sick Leave is a Women’s Health Issue (Heidi Nepveu)
Re: A Backroom Deal To Kill Single Payer (Gina Klein)
Real Democrats -- cartoon by Mike Stanfill
Re: How an American Family Raised on GE Wages Copes With Income Inequality (Adam Kaszynski)
Re: Two Former Israeli Ambassadors to South Africa Join Tsunami of ‘Apartheid’ Accusations Against Israel (Geoff Mirelowitz)
Re: Global Left Midweek - Focus on China (Dan Morgan)
Re: America’s Gun Obsession is Rooted in Slavery (Peter J. Nickitas; Fred Lonidier; Arlene Halfon)
Re: After Homosexuality (John Obrien)
Resources:
One Pipeline Down, More to Stop — Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
Take Action:
Send a letter: New York Times, Stop Union Busting (The News Guild of New York, Local 31003, CWA)
Announcements:
Webinar: Tackling Austerity Budgets - June 23 (A New Deal for Higher Education)
Struggles On The Ground Against White Supremacy - June 30 (Online University of the Left (OUL) and People’s World)
Climate Crisis and The War Machine Music Contest! - submission deadline July 15 (Veterans for Peace)
Sixth Annual Virtual Korea Peace Advocacy Week - July 12-16 (Korea Peace Network, Korea Peace Now Grassroots Network, Peace Treaty Now)
Re: Progressives Tell Biden “No Climate, No Deal” on Infrastructure Plan
Damn straight OAC
Charlie Hogue
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Unicorn Manchin -- cartoon by Rob Rogers
Rob Rogers
June 15, 2021
robrogers.com
Re: The Case for Prosecuting Donald Trump
We should do this and stop this from happening again.
Ruth Gauzza
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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I'm astonished at your belief that Mr. Trump committed no crimes that are now, under existing laws, triable in our courts. Even more astonishing, President Biden seems to agree with you, and now our government will defend Mr. Trump against accusations of rape. What' next? Coronation of King Trump?
David Alman
In-N-Out: That’s What Trump’s “Justice” Is All About -- cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz
Lalo Alcaraz
February 20, 2020
Pocho Magazine
This is a shocking article! Nuclear weapons have not been a prominent issue for quite a few years, but obviously greater public vigilance is needed. In the media coverage of the G7 meetings, I have seen no mention of the escalation of nuclear weapons, which means the public is left uninformed. There needs to be a dramatic policy shift on this issue but the politicians are lackadaisical about it, and companies keep producing and making much money from it.
Laurel MacDowell
Re: Paid Sick Leave is a Women’s Health Issue
(post on Portside Labor)
It's a public health issue as well.
Heidi Nepveu
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: A Backroom Deal To Kill Single Payer
(posting on Portside Labor)
This is infuriating! I cannot believe that union memberships oppose single-payer health. This is a play by union leaders to keep justifying union existence. They really need to find another reason to justify themselves to their members and support this legislation that will be of HUGE benefit to most New Yorkers. Union members call your union leaders!
Gina Klein
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Real Democrats -- cartoon by Mike Stanfill
Mike Stanfill
June 7, 2021
Raging Pencils
Re: How an American Family Raised on GE Wages Copes With Income Inequality
(posting on Portside Labor)
Great article
Adam Kaszynski
Read and share. This brief, powerful statement is one of facts as well as opinion. The signers can hardly be accused of anti-Semitism.
"The West Bank today consists of 165 'enclaves' – that is, Palestinian communities encircled by territory taken over by the settlement enterprise. In 2005, with the removal of settlements from Gaza and the beginning of the siege, Gaza became simply another enclave – a bloc of territory without autonomy, surrounded largely by Israel and thus effectively controlled by Israel as well.
"This week, we mark the fifty-fifth year since the occupation of the West Bank began. It is clearer than ever that the occupation is not temporary, and there is not the political will in the Israeli government to bring about its end.
"Human Rights Watch recently concluded that Israel has crossed a threshold and its actions in the occupied territories now meet the legal definition of the crime of apartheid under international law. Israel is the sole sovereign power that operates in this land, and it systematically discriminates on the basis of nationality and ethnicity.
"Such a reality is, as we saw ourselves, apartheid."
It’s apartheid, say Israeli ambassadors to South Africa
“It is clearer than ever that the occupation is not temporary, and there is not the political will in the Israeli government to bring about its end.”
June 8, 2021
GroupUp.org.za
Geoff Mirelowitz
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Global Left Midweek - Focus on China
Not really addressed in these articles is China's geopolitical role. You may be skeptical or cynical about the long term development of China from its 'first stage of socialism' but its importance for the independence of other countries is crucial. For example, Pedro Castillo, from an avowedly Marxist party has been elected President of Peru. As China is now Peru's main market for its copper, the USA will not be able to strangle the economy, as it did with Allende in Chile in 1971/3.
Dan Morgan
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: America’s Gun Obsession is Rooted in Slavery
The Second Amendment recognizes the unalienable right of self defense, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, age, disability, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, social origin, or sexual identity. Let each of us exercise this right now, because despots still abound, and the abuse of this instrument by slavers does not denigrate its fundamental, paramount importance.
AIM, Black Panthers, and Captain Herbert Aptheker’s midnight marches of African-American GI’s stationed in Alabama—in direct defiance of Alabama sundown ordinances—invoked the Second Amendment and all struck blows for liberty—deeds that must be remembered and renewed with fervor!
Peter J. Nickitas
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Also Indian removal...
Fred Lonidier
=====
I wonder if our new "Originalist" member of the Supreme Court will remember the background for the Second Amendment when she rules on the "Constitutionality" of gun restrictions when it is claimed not to be for "Originalist" purposes.
Arlene Halfon
Washington, DC
(posting on Portside Culture)
How About - End Homophobia AND
AFTER HETEROSEXISM?
John Obrien
One Pipeline Down, More to Stop — Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
Sarah Farahat
سارة فَرَحات
Justseeds
Digital Print, 2021
Portland, OR
The Keystone Pipeline will not be built! This is a major victory for everyone organizing against climate change and reliance on fossil fuel. The Canadian developer abandoned the project after President Biden revoked the permit.
But now we must block the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, an even larger pipeline being built to transport the dirtiest of dirty oil extracted from Canadian tar sands. On Monday, June 7, 2021, the largest civil disobedience to-date against Line 3, took place in northern Minnesota. Led by indigenous women, an estimated 3,000 water protectors gathered and more than 100 were arrested.
Meanwhile, the Dakota Access Pipeline, the target of many struggles, continues to operate until a court-ordered environmental review is finalized in 2022.
Please sign the Petition to Stop Line 3
Sources:
- “Not Having It”: Winona LaDuke on Mass Protest by Water Protectors to Halt Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota
- Enbridge Line 3 divides Indigenous lands, people
- Macalester students contribute to #StopLine3 resistance through online art
- Keystone XL Pipeline Developer Cancels Project, Ending Decade-Long Battle
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 103
Culver City, CA 90230
T: 310.397.3100 / F: 310.397.9305
admin@politicalgraphics.org
Send a letter: New York Times, Stop Union Busting (The News Guild of New York, Local 31003, CWA)
We call on Meredith Levien (CEO), A.G. Sulzberger (Publisher), and managers of The New York Times to stop breaking federal labor law, stop union-busting, and recognize the Times Tech Guild union.
A strong majority of the 700 tech workers of The Times announced our union drive in April and requested voluntary recognition, a process which the Times editorial board endorses and that the company granted in 2019 to the Wirecutter Union. Times management responded with a concerted anti-union campaign to try to pressure and influence our coworkers through a series of mandatory anti-union meetings and misleading one-way communications. The Times has further escalated their anti-union campaign by violating federal labor law, so we have filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge at the National Labor Relations Board.
It is our right as workers to organize and show support for our union, and this right is protected by federal labor law. But Times management is telling our colleagues that we cannot show public support for our union if we work with interns or are seeking a promotion. Managers have also begun “polling” workers about their union support, a tactic that is forbidden by law as it is commonly used by management to interrogate, suss out, and target union supporters. The Times is using these combined coercive tactics to attempt to prevent us from exercising our rights to join together and bargain for a more equitable, sustainable, and diverse workplace. Our union, the Times Tech Guild, would be the largest union of tech workers to bargain for a contract in the United States. It is crucial that we put an end to the myth that tech workers are somehow different from other workers by enforcing our rights, both for our union and the future tech workers who will follow us.
It’s clear the Times won’t practice their own stated values without public accountability. Join us in telling CEO Meredith Levien: stop union-busting. Recognize our union, The Times Tech Guild, and meet us in good faith at the bargaining table.
Webinar: Tackling Austerity Budgets - June 23 (A New Deal for Higher Education)
The goal of this webinar is to demystify higher ed finance and prompt action. We want to emphasize that (1) austerity is not just about the loss of certain revenues and supposed shortfalls, but also about choices regarding how to use revenues, (2) TT and NTT faculty can get the skills and info to engage in budget action, and (3) faculty can build alliances with staff, students, alumni, and community for shared budget action to realign campus and statewide priorities.
The webinar panelists are:
- Tracy Berger, a communications specialist at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder and a member of the United Campus Workers Colorado (UCW-CWA 7799) Steering Committee;
- Aimee Loiselle, a postdoctoral fellow at Smith College and current co-facilitator for Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education;
- Steve Newman, an associate professor of English at Temple University, and a member of the Steering Committee for A New Deal for Higher Education;
- Eleni Schirmer, who is finishing a PhD at UW-Madison in Educational Policy Studies, and a member of the Teaching Assistant’s Association, AFT 3220;
- Helen C. Scott, a Professor of English at the University of Vermont, and department representative for United Academics, the faculty union, and a board member of Vermont AFL-CIO state labor council; and
- Nancy Welch is Professor of English and member of United Academics AFT/AAUP at the University of Vermont.
Grassroots Organizing: The New Poor People’s Campaign and Showing Up for Racial Justice
Wednesday, June 30 -- 7:30-8:30 pm EST
Speakers:
- Reverend Sarah Monroe, Chaplain of the Harbor (COH). Sarah Monroe founded Chaplains on the Harbor in 2013. She was ordained to the priesthood on April 23, 2014 and serves as priest and missioner with COH. She works in both Aberdeen and Westport, focusing on pastoral care and street outreach, leadership development, worship, and community building. She is engaged in the New Poor People’s Campaign in the state of Washington.
- Ash Overton, New Conversation Initiative, formerly with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). Both organizations use “deep canvassing” to mobilize for voter participation. “Deep canvassing is about working to create mutual understanding grounded in lived experience, instead of in debate or talking points.”
Progressives everywhere are concerned about the spread of white supremacy, neo-fascist movements linked emotionally to former president Donald Trump. Although Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, he managed to secure 74 million votes. As a result of the election, the Democratic Party has slim majorities in both legislative chambers, conservatives control the Supreme Court and campaigning has already begun for the 2022 Congressional elections. In addition, some 30 states are red; that is governorships and legislative bodies are controlled by the Republican Party.
While political movements struggling against racism, worker exploitation, misogyny and environmental damage have grown, the future remains unclear. And it is in this context that struggles to build multiracial working-class movements are more vital than ever. But what is being done to build such movements? What can progressives learn from on-the-ground movements? What must we do to attract those 74 million voters and build for survival in 2022 and 2024?
To address these issues, Peoples World.org and OUL are hosting a discussion on June 30, 2021. Please plan to attend and register in advance:.(After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.)
We invite you to attend and share your experiences and ideas.
Climate Crisis and The War Machine Music Contest! - submission deadline July 15 (Veterans for Peace)
Veterans For Peace is asking artists to write songs and create music videos around the theme of “Climate Crisis and The War Machine.”
The “Climate Crisis and The War Machine Music Video Contest” is about making the links that break the chains of big oil. The US military is the largest consumer of fossil fuels and the largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s time to challenge the status quo and free people from the illusion that war keeps us safe.
These videos will be featured not only as a part of the Veterans For Peace National Convention, but on our social media, website, and our Gamers For Peace Twitch Channel. We will choose a first prize and runner up in each of the following five categories: Hip-hop, Pop, Country/R&B, Folk/Spoken Word, and Rock. The music video can take many forms, anywhere from a live performance recorded on your phone, to a fully produced, multi-camera music video. All levels of experience are welcome! First prizes get $1000 each and runners up get $500 each. In addition, each of the 10 winners chosen will perform at a concert for The Veterans For Peace National Convention on Aug 14, 2021. (Official contest rules)
Veterans For Peace
3407 S. Jefferson Ave, #219
St. Louis MO 63118
vfp@veteransforpeace.org or
feedback@veteransforpeace.org
(314) 725-6005 (office)
(314) 227-1981 (fax)
Join hundreds of people across the country in nationally coordinated virtual advocacy meetings to urge your Member of Congress to support:
- A Peace Agreement to end the Korean War;
- Life-saving humanitarian assistance; and
- Other humanitarian issues such as lifting the travel ban, reuniting separated families, and repatriating the remains of U.S. service members.
What to expect:
Prior to the advocacy week, you will
- Be trained on how to lobby Members of Congress; and
- Be invited to educational webinars.
- Trainings and webinars will take place in the evenings (8pm ET) prior to the virtual advocacy week.
During the advocacy week, you will
- Have 1 to 3 meetings with Members of Congress and/or their staff.
- Meetings with Members of Congress will take place during the week, typically between 9am and 6pm ET.
- Meetings usually last about 30 minutes, and coordinators will do their best to work with your schedule.
After the advocacy week, you will:
- Have the option to attend a casual virtual happy hour and debrief.
Organized by: Korea Peace Network, Korea Peace Now Grassroots Network, Peace Treaty Now