Category — Fight Back

It’s Still the Economy, Stupid! No, Seriously. I Mean It.

(Some Thoughts on the HIV Epidemic, Social Problems, and Capital)

Deric Shannon

I picked up a copy of the International Herald Tribune recently on a flight from Madrid to Paris. My friend and co-conspirator, Abbey, and I have been doing a lot of traveling lately and a free copy of an English-language newspaper is a hot commodity for an hour and a half plane ride, particularly this one since I left the “Marx for Beginners” book I was reading at home! I nestled into my seat, prepared for being a little unsettled—what counts for “news” is usually disturbing as all hell, after all. [Read more →]

Forwarded to us by our comrade Regina… From Negrilstories.ca  This is a long though very thought provoking piece if you were wondering WTF around the Dudus saga so poorly reported or analyzed by our corrupt corporate media channels.

Tivoli Gardens is a manipulation
To create the outrageous situation
For a ‘legitimate’ American invasion

Sugarcane, bauxite, tourism - all locked up tight
Deep, deep oil - now seeing the light
Poverty and oppression - things still not right
Freedom from Babylon - bubbling into sight

Politicians in power - caught in a trap
Reaching for gold - can’t give it back
Jamaica’s new wealth - Babylon wants to tap
Satellite blackmail - no stopping that

 As the Dudus saga plays itself out in Kingston, two of the questions that remain unanswered are ‘why is the United States pushing so hard?’ and ‘why now?’. The world is full of dons and drug lords, not to mention the fact that the American plate is full with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a billion Muslims who are being encouraged to attack anywhere at anytime. You would think that they had more immediate things to concentrate on.

Yet they continued to poke and push, treating every Jamaican that went through U.S. customs like a criminal, openly questioned the personal honesty of the the Prime Minister Bruce Golding and even suggested that the Jamaican Labor Party were in violation of their mandate to govern Jamaica. In fact, the Americans haven’t even got an Ambassador to Jamaica anymore. Obama has left the position open, a serious diplomatic slap in the face. All of this tension is for the Don of Tivoli Gardens? Something isn’t right. Dudus just isn’t that big of a problem.

The idea that outside interests have manipulated the situation for a long time begins to form when you question the truth of what we are being told. For two years now Dudus has had an excellent run, controlling the docks in Kingston (on Tivoli Gardens turf, and the true value of the constituency) with his buddies running the government. He has grown more powerful than ever before, with so much money that he doesn’t have to rely on politicians for anything. In the old days back in the 1970’s, when the street gangs were first created by the political parties, they had to get their weapons and cash from the JLP or the PNP, but since the cocaine business showed up, that relationship has slowly turned full circle. Now the politicians need the gangs to control the vote, but the gangs don’t need the politicians for support. They have become an independent power. [Read more →]

The gears of capitalism are oiled by the blood of the workers

A great piece below titled The Greeks Get It ~ cross-posted from Truthdig.org.

Posted on Truthdig.org on May 24, 2010

By Chris Hedges

Here’s to the Greeks. They know what to do when corporations pillage and loot their country. They know what to do when Goldman Sachs and international bankers collude with their power elite to falsify economic data and then make billions betting that the Greek economy will collapse. They know what to do when they are told their pensions, benefits and jobs have to be cut to pay corporate banks, which screwed them in the first place. Call a general strike. Riot. Shut down the city centers. Toss the bastards out. Do not be afraid of the language of class warfare—the rich versus the poor, the oligarchs versus the citizens, the capitalists versus the proletariat. The Greeks, unlike most of us, get it.

The former right-wing government of Greece lied about the size of the country’s budget deficit. It was not 3.7 percent of gross domestic product but 13.6 percent. And it now looks like the economies of Spain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal are as bad as Greece’s, which is why the euro has lost 20 percent of its value in the last few months. The few hundred billion in bailouts for other faltering European states, like our own bailouts, have only forestalled disaster. This is why the U.S. stock exchange is in free fall and gold is rocketing upward. American banks do not have heavy exposure in Greece, but Greece, as most economists concede, is only the start. Wall Street is deeply invested in other European states, and when the unraveling begins the foundations of our own economy will rumble and crack as loudly as the collapse in Athens. The corporate overlords will demand that we too impose draconian controls and cuts or see credit evaporate. They have the money and the power to hurt us. There will be more unemployment, more personal and commercial bankruptcies, more foreclosures and more human misery. And the corporate state, despite this suffering, will continue to plunge us deeper into debt to make war. It will use fear to keep us passive. We are being consumed from the inside out. Our economy is as rotten as the economy in Greece. We too borrow billions a day to stay afloat. We too have staggering deficits, which can never be repaid. Heed the dire rhetoric of European leaders. [Read more →]

http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2009/12/walter-trochez-active-member-of.html

Walter Tróchez, the human rigths defender, member of the gay, lesbian, trans and bisexual community and active member of the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d’Etat, was killed this morning. Below there is a denunciation from the human rights organization CIPRODEH, a press release from Feminists in Resistance, and a denunciation written by Walter before he died about the repression against the LGBTQ community in Honduras under the de facto government. Killing of human rights defender Walter Tróchez On December 4th the human rigths defender, member of the gay, lesbian, trans and bisexual community and active member of the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d’Etat Walter Tróchez was kidnapped and savagely beaten around the Obelisco Park of Comayaguela by four masked men who came in a gray pickup truck without plates, presumably from the police investigative unit (DNIC) (a vehicle of similar description that he had denounced a few months back had been watching his home, forcing him to move).

[Read more →]

hbeftmwu9n

from the audre lorde project

Since 2005, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) communities in New York City have been urging the Human Resources Administration (HRA) to address the rampant Transphobia, discrimination, and harassment that Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people in New York City face when seeking to access welfare/public assistance.

In June of 2008, a week before the Fourth Annual Trans Day of Action (annual March organized by TransJustice of the Audre Lorde Project) which was set to protest at HRA headquarters, HRA officials agreed to meet with TransJustice to hear community concerns.  After this first meeting with HRA in the Fall of 2008,      TransJustice formed a committee of organizations including the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Housing Works, Queers for Economic Justice and others, to develop a HRA procedure to address transphobic discrimination at HRA. To date HRA has not approved this new procedure. [Read more →]

Michaelangelo Galloza at the memorial for Sylvia Rivera noted that he and Rivera had been “lifted up by  the Young Lords and the Black Panther Party.” He said the oppressors “still haven’t realized that all the oppression fuels the flames of desire. Galloza described the common ties that he and Sylvia Rivera shared with their revolutionary heroes, including Pedro Albizu Campos, Lolita Lebron and Marsha P. Johnson. What they shared, he said, is that “we are survivors of a war against us, a war we were born into.” With a call to continue the struggle for liberation, Galloza concluded, “We have to work on what separates us from our own spirits by the tools of the oppressors. … By following the truth, we will win.”

[Excerpt from Vicente “Panama” Alba]

Forty years ago this summer the presence of the Young Lords came into the consciousness of all New Yorkers.   What had

On Sunday, August 23rd, at 12 noon, many of those who made up this movement will gather at the First Spanish Methodist Church on 111th St and Lexington in NYC’s El Barrio.  This is an invitation to our friends and allies to join us. [Read more →]

Hello all, if you hadn’t heard yet, there will be a dinner, panel
discussion, and small break out groups to discuss the G20 and
resistance to it this September.

The event description and bios for the speakers (more may come) are
below.

Event: G20 Rock Out!!

Date: Thursday, August 13th

Time: 5:30 pm-Dinner
7:00 pm-Participatory Panel Discussion (mostly Question and Answer format)
8:30 pm-Break out groups and other activities

Place: The Discovery Zone, 74 Dwight St., New Haven, CT.

The event description is below and the flier and bios for the speakers
(more may come) are attached. For more info contact
irongoddessofmercy@riseup.net. Tell your friends and pass this event
on to groups or folk who might be interested.

Come on out!!

Globalization has promised us better lives, not for just the United
States, but for the world. The free movement of goods, ideas, and
people across borders should be something that enriches lives and
communities globally. Instead the IMF, World Bank, WTO, G8, G10 and
G20 have imposed the worsening of living, working and environmental
conditions globally, and threatened the independence and
self-direction of communities. Here in the United States, many
industries and jobs are moving abroad to take advantage of the
desperate circumstances corporate globalization has created.

[Read more →]

From jason at www.blackandpink.org 

URGENT PRESS CONFERENCE ON MONDAY AT 3PM IN DUDLEY SQUARE
END YOUR SILENCE, END THE VIOLENCE!!!
NO MORE YOUTH DEATHS
LET DARRELL OUT OF SOLITARY
INVESTIGATE MASSACHUSETTS PRISONS

Darrell Jones is a prisoner at Old Colony prison. He has been working mad hard from the inside to stay connected with the community and harness the influence of OG’s in prison to support young folks in the street by encouraging them to stop violence and stay out of prison. They created a video series to share with young people in our communities. They are horrified by the lack of relevant support for youth, and are scared like many of us for what the summer will bring without resources or jobs.

Darrell also created the only program in Old Colony to serve black men called African Heritage. It was the best attended program in

[Read more →]

from our comrades at radical women…

Immigrant rights are a feminist fight!

Around the world, May Day is a working peoples’ holiday. For decades, the United States has tried to ignore it. But massive May Day marches in 2006 demanding justice for immigrants sparked a resurgence of this day of action. And those huge mobilizations made a difference.

They led to the utter defeat of the racist Sensenbrenner bill in the U.S. Congress. And they fueled successful opposition to all the “reforms” lawmakers have come up with since then. Most of these unacceptable proposals included temporary worker programs, forced detentions, militarized borders, and exorbitant fines for undocumented workers. However, ICE raids and deportations are still a brutal reality. And now the world has plunged into a financial crisis. [Read more →]

The Sex Workers Empowerment Project (SWEP), $pread Magazine, and WITNESS are hosting a full-day training on video advocacy, specifically for sex worker organizing and advocacy. This training will provide participants with a range of effective strategies for using video in their human rights documentation and advocacy, including a basic overview of filming. The training focuses on Setting up a “cop watch” program, including effectively utilizing video to be used in legislative advocacy and to present to UN treaty bodies in order to pressure responsible parties to take action to stop abuse by police.

.
WHO: Sex Worker advocates and organizers
WHEN: 9am - 4pm, Friday May 8th at the WITNESS conference center in Brooklyn. Morning coffee and lunch provided (with vegan-friendly options).
COST: $20 (covers the basic costs– use of facilities, lunch, etc.). If someone would like to attend and cannot afford the entire $20, please contact Email SWEP@gmail.com

..
. THERE IS A LIMITED SPACE. Please rsvp to SWEP@gmail.com  if you plan to come. Your input about what else might be useful to learn or incorporate in this training would be greatly appreciated.  Please include any and all suggestions in your RSVP. Thank you!

More About the Training: [Read more →]

….Just got this in this morning. From what I understand, the occupation only lasted a few hours before police dropped tear gas into the building, arrested the students, as well as supporters and demonstrators on the outside. A report from a comrade in NYC said that red and black anarchist banners flew outside the building and one participant said “We demand everything! We demand communism!”…Brave souls and let’s hope this trend spreads to other universities and workplaces. We can run our own lives without the need for bosses–whether capitalist bosses or political bosses! Smash capitalism and the state!

THE NEW SCHOOL HAS BEEN REOCCUPIED!
SUPPORT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY!
PLEASE COME TO 65 5TH AVE, BETWEEN 13TH AND 14TH STWE NEED YOU!!!
RALLY AT 9AM!!!!!

New School students have just reoccupied the entire graduate faculty building at 65 5th Ave, in NYC, fully barricading themselves inside until President Kerrey and Vice-President Murtha resign. This is the same building that was occupied from December 17-19th of last year in protest of President Bob Kerrey’s mismanagement of the university. On February 10th, students announced they would “shut down the university” if President Kerrey and Vice-President Murtha did not resign by April 1st. With their demand still unmet as of this date, students have once again reclaimed this neglected, symbolic building which housed the New School for Social Research. This time, however, the entire building has been occupied. On the 75th anniversary of the University in Exile, New School students are reclaiming the tradition of protest and political action that birthed the university and gave it meaning for generations to come.

Around the world, International Women’s Day is a time to commemorate the courageous battles by and for women. Inspired by the valiant struggle of female garment workers in the United States, German socialist Clara Zetkin in 1910 proposed March 8 as a working-class women’s holiday to celebrate past victories and carry the fight forward.

Today we salute the women organizing for equality, social and economic justice and an end to brutal living conditions. In Iceland, women with pots and pans protested - demanding aid for people not banks, criminal investigations and electoral reform. Shortly after the demonstrations the prime minister and cabinet resigned! The Puerto Rican teachers’ union, which is 80 percent women, went on strike to stop the privatization of schools. A recent general strike in France denounced cuts in teacher positions, and demanded job security and a halt to President Sarkozy’s tighten-the-belt reforms. Worldwide women, men and youth poured into the streets to stop Israel’s savage attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. In the U.S., Stella D’oro workers in the Bronx - largely immigrant women of color - have been on strike for over six months to prevent new owners from chopping wages by 25 percent and busting their union. [Read more →]

 There’s a lot of talk and confusion about Main Street versus Wall Street these days. But there was no confusion on Feb. 28 at the Boston fight-back conference about what side people need to be on. The 60 leaders, all veterans of many years of struggle, came to organize a response to the unprecedented crisis of capitalism ravaging their communities.

The conference was co-chaired by Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, Miya X from the Women’s Fightback Network, and Bob Traynham, a longtime Boston school bus driver and member of Local 8751. [Read more →]

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Now here’s a debate you can’t miss, if you are free on Wednesday Evening, March 11th.  (Many thanks to Tessa for the cc)

The Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut will be debating the Executive Director of the Family Institute of Connecticut Peter Wolfgang at the Lincoln Theater on the University of Hartford’s campus. Doors open at 7 p.m.  To see more details, click this link.

Thanks to circle(a)matt for this article.

by Jeff Subhumyn

Wobbly City newsletter

Monday, February 16th The New York branch of the Starbucks Workers Union held an energetic 8 hour picket outside two separate Starbucks locations. Originally planned as a “loose informal picket” outside the Union Square East Starbucks location, managerial stupidity and increased union-busting activity on the part of Starbucks turned it into a media circus and all night protest. Between the time when the picket was planned and when it actually took place Starbucks decided to fire yet another union barista, Sharon Bell from the 17th and Broadway location, conveniently located across the park from Union Square East.

The picket was called to protest the recent wave of Starbucks lay offs and draw attention to the refusal of Starbucks to pay severance, in spite of claiming in several press releases to the media that they will be providing severance pay to all laid off workers. The message was expanded to include the demand for the reinstatement of Sharon Bell and an immediate end to the illegal, unethical, nationally coordinated union-busting operations of Starbucks Coffee. [Read more →]