“While things have shifted a tad for those of us still on the margins of society, the benefits of the change have befallen only to those who come from or have ascended to the upper tiers of society’s socioeconomic ladder. While race still matters as Cornel West’s bestseller of the same title waxes eloquently about, the daily bite and sting of racism, however, is cushioned by class and social upward mobility that gives the illusion to some that we are now in a post-racial era, especially in light of presidential hopeful Barack Obama.”..Rev. Irene Monroe

If your interested in Rev. Monroe’s full article click over to Bilerico Project. This article “Obama’s Chickens Have Come Home to Roost” can be found here and is entered on this blog as food for thought. Rev. Monroe has been a guest with us and has spoken to our Hartford lgbt community on several occansions  and writes a column for INewsweekly. [Read more →]

Note: This Draft Manifesto was produced by a group of Reconstruction Party activists who met in New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 26 in support of the International Days of Action against Neo-Liberalism. This draft is being submitted for wide discussion and amendments to all activists interested in joining the effort to build a Reconstruction Party. Sister Cynthia McKinney participated in this meeting and contributed to this Draft Manifesto.

What We Want; What We Believe; What We Need. Now!
Draft Manifesto for a Reconstruction Party

” . . . whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” — Declaration of
Independence

In the context of what is perhaps the most important Presidential election in a generation, we feel compelled to add our voices to the deafening silence coming from both the Democratic and Republican parties on the real issues of concern to us. We therefore insert this agenda — our agenda — into the current political discourse and assert our readiness to cast our votes on the specificity with which these issues are addressed in the electoral arena. We reject “differences” that will not make a difference and “changes” that will not bring about any change. The vision of the Reconstruction Party encompasses all communities in need of reconstruction. [Read more →]

by Eric Mann [a veteran of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the United Auto Workers (UAW), and was a delegate to the United Nations World Conference Against Racism.]

[printer friendly pdf]

The Opening Argument

Hillary Clinton is running an increasingly desperate, unprincipled, and racist campaign against Barack Obama. She must be stopped. At this moment in history the defeat of Hillary Clinton and the victory of Barack Obama in the forthcoming Democratic Party primaries in Pennsylvania, Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota, and Puerto Rico is a critical question facing the anti-racist, civil rights, and Black Liberation Movement. [Read more →]

The Internationale

by Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg complained to Pete Seeger that the traditional lyrics to the Internationale were somewhat dated. Pete Seeger said: “why don’t you write new ones?” So Billy Bragg did. For May Day 2008 Queers Without Borders sends out to all of you this wonderful version of the Internationale. The original Internationale was first written and sung after the brutal suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871. This rallying cry sings out loud and clear for all exploited and oppressed people of the world to rise up and overthrow their masters.

Over the weekend I read two blog posts about Barack Obama by two different white activists that I know. Both could be described as criticisms of Obama from the left. These are activists for whom I generally have some respect, and I’m convinced their comments come from a place of deep personal commitment to social justice. Even so, there’s something to that old saying about the road to hell being paved with good intentions, and in both instances I found myself wondering when we, as white activists, will begin holding ourselves accountable to black America rather than waiting for black America to be accountable to us. [Read more →]

The Workers Rose On May Day or Postscript To Karl Marx

Audre Lorde

Down Wall Street

the students marched for peace

Above, construction workers looking on remembered

how it was for them in the old days

before their closed shop white security

and daddy pays the bill

so they climbed down the girders

and taught their sons a lesson

called Marx, is a victim of the generation gap

called Marx, I grew up the hard way so will you

called the limits of a sentimental vision.

[Read more →]

Greg Butterfield sent a message to the members of Workers World Party.
 –Subject: Killer cops acquitted — Justice for Sean Bell protest TONIGHT          

New York Times Breaking News 9:14 a.m.3

Detectives in Bell Shooting Found Not Guilty of All Charges!          

NYPD has gotten away with murder AGAIN!          

JUSTICE FOR SEAN BELL AND ALL VICTIMS OF POLICE VIOLENCE!!
COME OUT APRIL 25th THE DAY OF THE VERDICT!! [Read more →]

No one really needs to say much more about this song. It still resounds today. I wanted to publish it here today because of the new 3 Strikes Law that was passed.  (check out Peter’s posting over at the Undercurrent click here.)  Len Chandler was born in 1935 in Akron, Ohio. He received a B.A. in Music Education from the University of Akron and a M.A. from Columbia. Chandler learned to play the guitar and played around Washington Square Park and landed a gig at the Gaslight Cafe. In the early 1960s Chandler began to be involved in the Civil Rights Movement and much of his material was related to the Black Panther Party.  A thank you to Len Chandler. Check more of Chandler out on you tube. His song Beans In Your Ears should be sung by everyone no matter what age. Try it here

Don’t forget to come out to the True Colors exhibition this Friday. The celebration of the founding of True Colors and a visual time-line created by Jamie Bassell and Kyle O’Toole will be a highlight of the festivities. True Colors a lgbt organization was established 15 years ago to provide support and services to sexual minority youth and families in Connecticut. Visit them on-line at: www.OurTrueColors.org.

The event is free and open to the public, the time 6:30-8:30. The location is the Elihu Burritt Library at Central Connecticut State University. Located within the Library is the Gender and Equity Collection a collection of the history of the LGBT movement in Connecticut which houses the archives of many individuals and organizations.

The Burritt Library has over the years hosted many GLBT exhibitions not only from their collections but from LGBT collectors as well.

The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-lgbt name -calling, bullying and harassment in schools. This years event will be held in memory of Lawrence King an 8th grader from California who was shot and killed Feb. 12 by a classmate because of his sexual orientation and gender expression. Hundreds of thousands of students will come together on April 25 to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior. For more information see here.

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A CRY FOR THE EARTH 

Earth Day Song sung by Penny Hamer-Sorell, Felicity, Mary on Guitar, Sean Moore on Accordion and Joey Fiasco the slide show. Thanks for this beautiful work of art for our planet our home.

Yesterday at the Transgender Lives Conference Diana who was on a panel titled, “National, State and Commmunity Trans Legislative Advocacy” brought up that during Trans lobby days that were recently held in Washington DC, HRC was no where to be found. Take a click over to The Bilerico Project and read what Marti Abernathey has to say here. 

Just a note to any conference participant: This old queer still doesn’t trust HRC as far as I can throw an elephant.  

Barack Obama: Substantive hope or pipe dream?

By Harvey Earvin and Howard Guidry

Harvey Earvin

Running on a message of change, presidential candidate Barack Obama has inspired hope never before witnessed in this century or perhaps even the preceding one. New voters, mostly young, filled with new hope and a renewed belief that America could one day live up to her creed, are flocking to the
polls in support of him.

Hope. Unity. Change. Obama certainly has the right message. Perhaps he’s even the right man. But is the Democratic Party the right party? And is the capitalist system the right system?

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Every step of the way in this contentious campaign the Clintons and key party members loyal to them have sought to marginalize Obama and reduce him to just another Black man by repeatedly injecting race into the campaign.

They have even tried to trivialize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the process. Even worse, at one point they outright excused and encouraged the fear and mistaken notions that many whites have of Blacks by saying, with an air of understanding and tolerance, that “some whites are just not ready to vote for a Black man to be president.”

[Read more →]

Angela Davis will be speaking on Thursday April 24, 2008 at the Torp Theatre, Davidson Hall on the CCSU campus. COME OUT TO GREET OUR LESBIAN SISTER. Ms Davis will discuss “Are Prisons Obsolete?” which will be followed by a panel discussion by current and former Ct. policy makers and practitioners. This talk and discussion will be held at 2:00pm.

At 5:30 Ms. Davis will speak on “Race, Class and Gender Issues In American Society.” This talk will be followed by a question and answer period. Both events are free and open to the public. Free tickets are available for the 5:30 lecture by contacting Centix at 832-1989. Centix is located at the Information Desk in the Student Center.

Angela Davis is a socialist organizer and helped to found the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism which broke from the Communist Party in the 90’s. Ms. Davis  does not consider herself to be a prison “reformer” but an abolitionist and refers to the United States prison system as the “prison-industrial complex.” Her solutions include abolishing prisons and addressing the class, race,and gender factors that have led to a large number of Blacks and Latinos being incarcerated. Davis also speaks out against the death penalty. [Read more →]

Anyone who can’t or chooses to not drink any beverage with caffeine in it take note. A month ago at one of my favorite places to buy organic herbs, I came upon a tea called Dawn Chorus. What a wonderful flavor and blend. This tea is a tea that one would send a special note to the Blender of teas to highly compliment the work. Mountain Rose Herbs describes this tea in this way.

“Dawns Chorus Tea is gentle, yet full of heart and substance, this delicately balanced tea is a perfect way to start the day, and offers just the right amount of pick -me-up during times of afternoon lethargy. This mildly sweet and lightly fragrant nettle-based infusion is a superb alternative to the caffeine kick found in green and black teas. A new favorite at Mountain Rose and highly recommended. Contains: Organic Nettle leaf, Organic Green Rooibos and Organic Rose Petals. Traditionally used for-General health and energy.” [Read more →]

Strike out

3-Strikes

Don’t Think 3- Strikes won’t Affect Your Family

Juveniles!

Rally AGAINST 3-STRIKES Legislation

Black Low and Clean Slate Committee are holding a joint press conference and educational forum on the critical importance of alternatives to incarceration and community reintegration.

…The proposed 3-strikes legislation is based on the Washington state model. According to the Sentencing Cuidelines Commission in Washington, although the law was intended to lock up the stte’s worst criminals, results show that blacks are given life sentences at a much higher rate than whites. he Sentencing Guidelines Commission in Washington report shows that blacks make up 3% of the state population, but 37% of the state’s three strike lifers.

[Read more →]

Read, Take Action and Forward!

Did you know that transgender individuals in CT can still be fired from their jobs or denied housing simply because of who they are?

A bill now before the CT House of Representatives (HB 5723–An Act Concerning Discrimination) would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression.

Contact your State Representative today to support this bill.

This bill is about simple fairness and deserves to become law.

But opponents of equality are using fear tactics to try and kill this legislation. YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED TODAY!

Take Action!

For more information on this bill and this topic see our webpage on gender identity and expression.

Read, Take Action and Forward!

NO NEED TO SAY MORE

 Come out on Saturday April 19th 8:00am registration.

Links to specific conference information are:
Conference Workshops: http://conference.transadvocacy.com/?p=12
Conference Timelines: http://conference.transadvocacy.com/blog/?page_id=6
Directions: http://conference.transadvocacy.com/?p=13 [Read more →]

In my e box this AM I found an article that is making the way around the lg (bt?) e-mail lists. The article was all about Obama and his views on LGBT issues and concerns. This was sent about by a person that I had been politically active and very close with a few years back but since have lost touch with over a flap concerning Ned Lamont, the multi-million dollar baby of the liberals and progressives who ran for the Senate against Joe Lieberman. Needless to say I did not support the man as I am a firm believer that no millionaire democrat or anything else for that matter can represent me as a low income worker and queer liberationists. I certainly did not like Lamont’s stand on Trans rights either. [Read more →]

Minneapolis is the shit. Big-ups.

A group of Latino workers, at the Twin Cities-based D’Amico’s & Sons restaurant chain have organized and taken direct action to resist being fired for receiving “No-Match” letters from the Social Security Administration. The workers ­ many who have well over a decade of service for the company ­ have been joined by family members, some co-workers, the Workers Interfaith Network (WIN), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Twin Cities General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) and others. [Read more →]

This picture is so beautiful that I just had to post it. For more information on the upcoming march in Chicago see here . Also see QWB archives here

So spoke Abe Osheroff a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Mr. Osheroff was a long time leftist provocateur who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War died in Seattle on April 6th. He was 92. His political involvement began when he was 12 when he joined a protest against the conviction of anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. He organized coal miners and steal workers, stood with evicted tenants and ran on the Communist Party ticket in New York. In 1964 he went to Mississippi to build a community center during Freedom Summer. A carpenter by trade he helped to organize a team of Americans to build houses for a peasant cooperative in Nicaragua when the Sandinista goverment was in power. In 1974 Mr. Osheroff made a movie, “Dreams and Nightmares” which told of his life in the Spanish Civil War. He left the Communist Party in 1956 but remained committed to leftist/peace/justice causes through-out his life. He drove a van around Seattle and spoke out against the war in Iraq through a loudspeaker. Abe Osheroff a true fighter for freedom, justice and peace may your dreams never die and may we have the courage to continue the good fight until the last of the evil bastards are destroyed. Peace.

“What workers everywhere need is SOCIALISM. Why? Because it’s the only system that takes the wealth of society—the wealth created by workers—out of private hands. We’re not talking about taking away workers’ personal property. It’s not socialists but capitalists who are taking away workers’ homes, cars and furniture and garnisheeing their wages. We’re talking about taking the billions stolen from workers’ labor away from the whole capitalist class and using it for people’s needs”. …Deirdre Grisworld In “Digging below the Surface” published Apr. 10 Workers World. For complete article here

Thanks to Queer@ for this info. 

*This is a very important report. Please take some time to read it over.*

Everyone should read (and the admin or bloggers should post the reportback from the Bash Back! Convergence we had:

Only one direction, trans and queer insurrection:

A reportback from the Bash Back! anti-RNC/DNC convergence

The Convergence:

The weekend of April 4th-6th, radical transfolk, queers, anarcha-feminists, from all over the country converged in Chicago for the Bash Back! anti-DNC/RNC convergence. In attendance were folks from Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, Tennessee, New York, Georgia, Missouri, Colorado, California and elsewhere. Groups including Bash Back!, Queer Action Network, the Revolting Queers, Unconventional Denver, The RNC Welcoming Committee, Anarchist People of Color, Roadblock Earth First!, the Pomegranate Health Collective,  and Code Pink were represented. The convergence succeeded in creating a safe space for queer, trans, gender-variant and womyn anarchists to meet and articulate our plans to crash the conventions. [Read more →]

 Click on over to our friends at the Bilerico Project and read all about what are sisters in the Trans community are doing as they get ready for the sleaze balls HRC to come to town. See Monica Roberts report here. A big thank you to Monica for this report. Now anyone who wondered just where this HRC was at will know. Just think calling the police on one’s own people. This mainstream crap just can’t be trusted. If the shit was hitting the fan these folks would turn any of us in just as fast as saying Jack Sprat.  This is just another case of these mainstreamers calling the police on our people. Remember the bashing our comrades in Gay Shame SF got outside of the G&L center.  SHAME ON THESE FOLKS! Read the posting about Bash Back in Chicago and the out of sight comment that was posted. Instead of lending a helping hand to our people they try to shut us down. STOP THEM IN THEIR TRACKS!

Thanks 100 times to the folks out in Houston for coming out and standing up to these creeps. Queers Without Borders stand with our people in Houston and send all good vibes and our RAH, RAH’s to this action. By our actions all over this country let it be known that we do not support HRC and they are not our leaders. This blog has spoken out against HRC since we first began to post and will continue to do so until they go the way of the dinosaur. Our fingers are crossed that more and more people will learn a lesson from this and not repeat the mistake called HRC.

The Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective Presents

Gay Bingo

Saturday-April 12, 2008

Hartford Marriott Rocky Hill

 100 Capital Blvd. Rocky Hill

Doors open at 6:30 and games begin at 7:30

Over $500.00 in CASH and PRIZES

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From our friends at RHA

“After about ten minutes of blocking traffic outside of the station Bash Back! Continued one block north to their final target. The Center on Halsted, Chicago’s multi-million dollar Gay and Lesbian Center, has repeatedly denied access to young Trans and Queer people who do not belong to the rich, white, Gay community. Two years ago the Center partnered with the Salvation Army in an anti-homeless campaign that called on people to stop giving money to homeless people on the street and instead donate money to them. Despite an international boycott by AIDS groups against Abbot Labs for their hostilities toward Thailand for producing generic AIDS drugs, the Center on Halsted still does work with Power Construction, who have contracts in the Millions with Abbott Labs. The protesters called the Center out on much of this before being surrounded by the police and pushed on the sidewalk.”

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080408082203218

People who start wars and profit from war are never those who go and do the fighting. Oh, this we know. But here is a wonderful idea. At least it would be a way of dealing with the infestation by those whom Malvina Reynolds wrote and Heather Lev sings about. You gotta love it. 

Take a pop over to the Hartford Undercurrent and read the posting, “Aladdin’s Hates Fags.” More important read the comment section. Don’t know if I should laugh or cry as they just don’t seem to get it.  Check it out here. We will see what other comments will be added. As Frank said thanks to our straight friends for confronting homophobia as they well should since it is a straight invention. But come on guys and gals don’t you think that there should be some Queer input on this. Do you think that we don’t have a voice. That we are all helpless little ones. Straights don’t wear our shoes nor do we theirs. In my humble opinion as a person who as been in the movement since 1963 I see this as very poor coalition building. Let those who are oppressed lead the charge. Out of the delegation that has said yes so far there are all straights as far as I know unless some are “queer on the side” and all of them white. The icing on the cake is comment #12 what a brush off. Like my thoughts don’t matter, I don’t care what you say. Here is what I say. I am very surprised. [Read more →]

Wednesday April 23, 2008

A talk by Prof. Aviva Chomsky on:

“They take Our Jobs! and 20 Other Myths About Immigration”

*a discussion on her recent book on the topic of immigration.

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“In the rush towards being accepted as normal, queer communities may lose one of their great strengths: an ability to examine social structures from a position of difference and, therefore, to work towards greater liberation for us all so writes Susan Thompson in her essay, “Speak Now or Forever Hold your Peace? Why we need  Queer Critiques of “gay” Marriage. Susan brings up many of the points that have been discussed on this site since we first opened. I will just name a few and then you can read the entire article by clicking here.

“Framing gay marriage only as a battle for civil rights excludes critiques that examine the issue in a broader social context-critiques that are central to queer theory and queer politics, and are currently dividing queer communities over the issue.” [Read more →]

According to an article published in the Hartford Courant on Thursday April 3 three adults die prematurely each week in Connecticut on the average because they lack health insurance. The focus and fact on the unisured in Connecticut and in many states across america will be released by Families USA. To read the full article click here .

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Steve Kretzmann’s excellect article, “Iraq= 25 million new cars and counting,” can be found over at Oil Change. His report on March 19, 2008 is just another reason that we stand opposed to the war on Iraq. Because of the war mongers our whole planet must suffer. Mr. Kretzmann’s article can be found here

Let’s Get a Move On

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