Category — Food for thought

An Old Jewish Anarchist Revoluntionary Anthem

It’s Dawn Already, Wake Up! Open Your Eyes!

www.akpress.org/2006/items/ana

This is a wonderful historical piece that I found today. Enjoy.

Actions challenge criminal injustice system

By Gloria RubacHouston, Published Jul 18, 2008 12:18 AM

The Harris County criminal justice system here has historically been racist and targeted the poor, with justice denied for untold generations. Within the last year, the struggle against this system has intensified to the point that ruling-class politicians have been challenged to examine its violent and racist practices.

July 10 rally demands indictment of racist vigilante Joe Horn;Photo: Jon Axford
Recently the federal Department of Justice did a five-day examination of the Harris County Jail, a massive complex of detention centers where more than 100 prisoners have been “found” dead.

A Houston Chronicle review of state and county records reveals that from January 2001 through December 2006, at least 101 inmates-an average of about 17 per year-have died while in the custody of the jail. In 2006 alone, after three consecutive years of failing to comply with state standards, the jail recorded 22 in-custody deaths.

At the times of their deaths, at least 72 of the inmates-more than 70 percent-were awaiting court hearings and had yet to be convicted of the crimes that led to their incarceration. [Read more →]

According to the News & Observer, L.F. Easton III of Raleigh North Carolina refused to lower the American Flag for Jesse Helms and he resigned instead.

“L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he’d ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms. Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, defying a directive sent to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley. When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours’ delay, one of Eason’s employee hung the flags at half staff. He told his staff that he did not think it appropriate to honor Helms because of his “doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice,” and his opposition to civil rights bills and the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.”

In John F. Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage he writes abut people who had the courage to stand up for what they believe in, well Mr. Eason has the courage. He had the courage to stand up against popular opinion, to stand up against bigotry and prejudice and it made him a true hero in my book.

Thanks to Diana for sending us the above piece. [Read more →]

Posted by Rowland Keshena on A Radical in Bermuda.

The Greenward Shift of the American Revolutionary Left

(Are Cynthia McKinney and the Green Party a real alternative for American workers and youth?)

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As I posted last night, one my biggest gripes with sections of the American revolutionary left (including the US branch of the IMT) is that they are undergoing a reorientation away from the construction of a new revolutionary worker’s movement and towards the left-social democrats of the Green Party USA. Two of the more prominent revolutionary socialist groups to have backed the Green Party this year are the Workers International League (the American branch of the IMT) and Solidarity. So we must ask ourselves, is the Green Party USA the best alternative out there for workers and revolutionary change? Also what is going on with current attempts to unify the campaigns of several American revolutionary socialist groupings?So to the first question, does the Green Party represent the best interests of the workers and revolution in the United States? I would have to say no, especially when we throw in the idea of revolution. While I’ll admit that the Greens are far more progressive than the Democrats, (just see here and here), and they certainly are at the forefront of the battle to protect the environment (something all real socialists support), they are still broadly a left-social democrat institution. Now, I know right now you might be saying “but I really like the Green Party’s platform“, hell so do I, it has many great points to it, and as I said, it is certainly far more progressive and left than even the most extreme Democrats like Dennis Kucinich, but the intrinsic problem with the Greens is that they have not come to grips with the systemic nature of the capitalist problem, even as it pertains to the environmental question. At the moment they still are in the mode of trying to reform capitalism into a cleaner, nicer, less-heartless variety, but once they realize that capitalism is irreformable I fully believe that their platform will shift more to the left. The Green Party does not offer up the fundamental revolutionary change that is really needed to emancipate the working class. So why support a non-revolutionary organization when well established revolutionary parties and movements already exist?

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A musical slide show of today’s Cuba and its contrast to Gitmo. Music by Los Lobos, Photo’s by Dan Heller, posted on you tube by gustaf3. Thanks to all for this tape.

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To read some more on the Metroline click on over to Diana’s Little Corner in the Nutmeg State. There you will find her “Revisionist History Part II.”

not that i was ever a boyscout though i did find this article (linked from the New Haven Independent blog) an interesting read.  I wonder how they would react to a heterosexual Tranny (either youth or adult) in their presence?  Perhaps the US Blood Banks will take heed.

By Henry Fernandez | July 8, 2008
A few weeks ago, my three-year-old son fell and cut his head open, spewing blood like only a head laceration can. I applied direct pressure, calmed him down, checked for symptoms of shock, and secured the wound while maintaining the pressure by wrapping his head. Then we rushed him to the hospital where a couple of stitches and tears later, he was just fine. I learned how to handle that situation three decades ago from the Boy Scouts. [Read more →]

Hartbeat Ensemble, Hartford’s Theater for Change will once again give free performances this July in the parks of Hartford. The plays this year are about people and health care. There will be family activities and live music starting at 4:00 and the performances begin at 5:00. Hartbeat suggests that one brings a picnic lunch or buy food from local vendors. In case of rain the performances will take place at Hartford Children’s Theater, 360 Farmington Ave in Hartford.  [Read more →]

As a follow up to the prior piece on the call for a Transforming Justice Northeast, I am posting the conference minutes from the 2007 SF conference. Great reading and vital work by some great activists! Perhaps if the current day Metroline carried pieces like this it would be worth reading rather than wiping your butt with

Transforming Justice

ENDING THE IMPRISONMENT & CRIMINALIZATION OF TRANSGENDER & GENDER NON-CONFORMING PEOPLE

In April 2006, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project in New York City contacted LGBT, prisoner rights, and human rights activists and attorneys across the country to create a national conversation about transgender imprisonment issues. Over the next year and a half, a vibrant coalition of local and national organizations came together to plan Transforming Justice, the first-ever national gathering of LGBTIQQ former prisoners, activists, attorneys, and community members to develop national priorities towards ending the criminalization and imprisonment of transgender communities.

The planning process had two main components: the first was a Local Coordinating Committee led by formerly imprisoned transgender people along with allies and representatives from the TGI Justice Project, the Trans/Gender Variant in Prison Committee, Critical Resistance, Justice Now, Community United Against Violence (CUAV), [Read more →]

Check out James Wagner recent posting, “Obama really gets religious-but we will pay for it.” The posting can be read here. While your at it take a look around James’s site. Some wonderful things can be found there.

Rene Marie sings 

The Socialist Party Presidential nominee Brian Moore was interviewed on WTIC 1080 of Hartford Ct. by Colin McEnroe on his show, Afternoons with Colin McEnroe. Among the topics discussed were what exactly a socialist is, Brian’s positions on various issues, an update on ballot access and the purpose of his candidacy. For more information about the Socialist Party presidential ticket of Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander, please visit the following campaign websites: http://www.brianmoore.com/and http://www.votesocialist2008.org/.

Todd Vachon the Socialist Party candidate for the Ct. 2nd District sent the interview our way. His site: www.votevachon.com.

BEWARE OF THE PREACHER MAN!!!

“Want to define love, commitment, family, and sexual merrymaking on your own terms? Honey, that’s so last century.” Click here to read Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore thought provoking editorial from the San Francisco Bay Guardian published June 25, 2008.

“Now that the California Supreme Court has struck down the ban on same-sex marriage, everywhere we hear of couples who’ve been together 10, 20, or 30 years (or six months) rushing to tie the knot and proclaim: “finally … it’s … legitimate!” It’s hard to imagine a more wholehearted rejection of queer struggles to create defiant ways of living and loving, lusting for and caring for one another — methods not dependent on inclusion in the dominant institutions of straight privilege.”

WHO: Political Music Video critical of governments in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DRedNC6p4U

“Come Out” is a piece of music written in 1966 by composer Steve Reich. This piece was written and performed at a benefit for the retrial of the “Harlem Six”, six black youths arrested for committing murder during the 1964 Harlem Riots for which only one of the six was responsible. For more info on this amazing piece see here. The Choreography Dance was added in 1982 by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Michele Anne De May. Check out more of Reich’s music exp. “Clapping Music” found on you tube, which is an attempt to write a piece of music requiring nothing more then the human body.

With the recent Metroline crap still stinking I thought I would go back into my archives and tell a few of ourstories about when some of my friends and I stood up against anyone trying to revise, rewrite, ignore, omit, erase, suppress, or deny our people. Straight culture has used every trick in their book to deny our people, trying to take them from us and ignoring the fact that some of the greats of the arts and of this world were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer persons. 

The extraordinary philosopher, movement builder, writer, folklorist, historical researcher, gay man and former communist Harry Hay in his essay, “The Hidden Ones, Christianity’s First Closet Case” seeks to reconstruct a part of our stories that have been hetrosexualized, namely the story of who were the real Adam and Eve. This important corrective reconstruction returns our people to their rightful place busts open the lies of straight societies religions and allows us to reclaim  our rightful heritage. I submit this to our readers as an essay to read and ponder to see how full of tricks the dominant culture can be. Read it and shake your heads over the oppression that has come out of that one little false story which through the political opportunism of the Christians first sculpted and then governed the guilt of Westerners for over 2,000 years. Robert Graves states in his book “Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis,” that Jehovah clearly did not figure in the original myth. As he puts it, “It is the Mother of All Living (Eve)…who casts Adam out of her fertile riverine dominion because he has usurped some prerogative of hers.” Adam the temple prostitute denying his true gay nature, betraying his scared oaths,his service to the great Mother and joining in with the invading wandering tribes. This dear friends was the original sin. Next time one of those religious ladies tells you it was Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve punch her in her nose. Lay her flat. She walks hand in hand with the oppressor. Give her a good one for all of our people who have been burned at the stake, condemned by religious authorities, marked off for extinction, eaten alive by dogs and wild beasts, castrated, electric shocked, jailed, sent to concentration camps, beaten on city streets and killed on country roads. Yes, go ahead give her a good one. If the powers that be lie to us about how human existence began on the earth what other lies have they told us?  [Read more →]

This was passed out as a  flyer at the Boston dyke march, to which the Boston local of NEFAC was invited to table and march. I’m not personally a fan of the term “anarchist-communism,” even though I’ve found myself affiliated with NEFAC.  Generally I prefer “social anarchism,” but these labels could generally just as easily apply: anarcho-syndicalism, libertarian socialism, libertarian communism, revolutionary anarchism, free communism/socialism, etc etc etc. I need to start hassling uncle Noam, the great linguist who also happens to be an anarcho-syndicalist, to see if he can come up with a label that’s not quite so damn clumsy or problematic…

by Thomas Giovanni

- Boston NEFAC

Anarchist communism is- and has always been- against all oppression and exploitation of people over people including any system where a person or group of people has privilege or power over any other person or group politically, economically, socially or otherwise.

It is for a cooperative and free social order aimed at the equal freedom of all humanity achieved through: directly-democratic decision-making, a social/cultural value system actively opposing domination, privilege, oppression and exploitation and a classless economy where all contribute according to their ability and receive according to their needs.

It was developed in the 1800s by revolutionaries who observed the natural tendency of generally communal and generally self-managing people -both within emerging economic imperialist states and within colonized states exploited by imperialists around the world- who resisted forced incorporation into a developing white-supremacist, patriarchal, authoritarian, industrial capitalist system. Of course, to develop anarchist communism the logic of the generally communal and generally self-managing societies had to be taken to their natural conclusions: that it’s neither desirable nor necessary for any human or group of humans to control, dominate, rule, exploit, decide for, oppress or otherwise cause harm to any other human or group of humans. [Read more →]

In this time where we wait for actual change, we write, we speak and hope that our words will send the spark that leads to an idea that brings on change. Real change. That needed condition.

But where today do we speak of revolution? Those who are filled with far too much now occupy the places that once were the breeding ground for action.

But some of us are reminded while some they sleep, that is days gone by, the bank burned on the corner was a testament to revolt and was worth more than our words, our writing, our thousands of leaflets and slogans that denounced oppression, and the way things are. [Read more →]

Let’s all take a listen

as  

A Revolutionary Speaks.

We are Here

By Robin Passariello Mc Haelen

A person’s a person

No matter how queer

The world better listen

We are here, we are here.

Gay, Bi or Straight-ish

Boi Dyke or Bear

Trans Guys and T -Girls

We are here, we are here.

Drag Queens and Leathermen,

Butch, fly or femme

We are all of us Family

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Anti-War Spaghetti Dinner

6:00 pm Saturday June 14th

United Methodist Church of Hartford

571 Farmington Ave, Hartford

Help Send Activists to the National Assembly Against the War in Iraq in Cleveland Ohio. Nearly 500 organizations and leaders have joined the call for the National Assembly to End The War in Iraq scheduled for June 28-29 in Cleveland, Ohio. Called in order to “place on the agenda of the entire US antiwar movement a proposal for the largest possible united mass mobilization to stop the war and end the occupation,” the Assembly offers every participant a vote and the right to propose resolutions and amendments.

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PRIDE IS MORE THAN A TRINKET TRIBE

PRIDE IS ABOUT A REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT AND PEOPLE

June 2008 marks the 39th year after the rebellion at the Stonewall Inn in NYC. This marked the start of the massive LGBT movement in the United states. It was on those nights in June and early July that our people in New York’s Greenwich Village fought back against police harassment, injustice and opperssion that we faced daily. Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of this rebellion. It is never too early to reflect on where we as a people have been, where we are now, and where we are going.

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A few quotes from Mr. Holmes analysis. For the full report click here. 

“Many if not most of Obama’s foreign policy advisors are veterans of Bill Clinton’s presidency but, despite that fact, so far as the masses see the war, while Rodham Clinton seems to be for change, Obama sees to represent more change. The catchword here is “seems”. In fact Rodham Clinton, McCain and Obama have all pledged to continue the occupation of Iraq after the elections. They have all also vowed to intensify the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, attack Iran “if necessary” support Israel to the hilt and continue the blockade of Cuba.”

“The masses did not launch Obama’s presidential campaign-a section of the ruling class and its political operatives did. Some in the ruling class got behind Obama merely to advance their faction fight against the Clintons inside the Democratic Party. And yes, some of those opposed to Clinton are misogynist, plain and simple. But others in the ruling class have rallied behind Obama because they view him as better suited than Clinton or McCain to deal with a central crisis of U.S. imperialism. They need to find a way to halt the rapid deterioration of its position as the world’s dominant economic and military power.” 

“The foreign debate among the candidates seems to have been reduced to whether or not U.S. imperialism should talk to its enemies with Obama advocating the talk instead of–or in addition to–a war policy.” 

QUEERS WITHOUT BORDERS (QWB) 

Who we are. 

A small group of Queers activists who are active in the anti-war movement began meeting several years back to bring a queer presence to the many movements that we as individuals were involved in. Our name Queers Without Borders was taken from the slogan, “We are here, there and everywhere.”  It logically follows in our mind then that all issues are our issues. We stand with all who fight oppression. We work to build a new day of justice and a culture of peace. 

Over the years we have actively help to plan and to participate in all sorts of activities.  We firmly believe that for the lgbt community to not take a multi-issue stand is foolish and unwise and any single issue stand denies our true heritage. The following is just some of the events that we worked on. These are not listed in chronological order. [Read more →]

I am Claude Holcomb from ADAPT of Connecticut. I am here on the steps of City Hall because a friend of people with disabilities, Reverend Wade Blank, taught me that if you believe your rights are being compromised, you need to speak up. The library has denied access to people with all types of disabilities, not just people with severe disabilities, or people who use wheelchairs. Not having a power door at the main entrance of the library affects anyone who uses an assisted devices, such as a can, walker, crutches or scooter. It also affects people who have service animals and people who are elderly. [Read more →]

Note: The following remarks are by Jerimarie Liesegang.  Jerimarie is the Director of Ct. TransAdvocacy Coalition and a founding member of Queers Without Borders, Hartford Ct. When the city announced that it was going to correct the problem Jerimarie chose not to give her speech. I publish it here as it is a damn good speech and shows our willingness to correct this situation. Thanks Jerimarie for your leadership on issues affecting our people and many others.

It’s a Travesty.

As one enters New York Harbor the Statue of Liberty proudly proclaims, “Give us your poor, tired, your huddled masses longing to be free.” As one approaches the front doors of the Hartford Public Library in a wheelchair you see the proclamation: “Give us your poor, your tired, your homeless, your sexual predators..and those in wheelchairs GO AROUND BACK for your are NOT Welcomed through these front doors!”

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Note: These remarks were presented by African American Lesbian Activist Regina Dyton at the May 30th Press Conference at City Hall Hartford. 

The City of Hartford Commission on LGBT Issues is proud to stand with ADAPT, all members of the disability rights community, Queers Without Borders and all other allies to protest the lack of equitable access to the Hartford Public Library.

The ramp at the front of the library invites all who need to use it to enter with dignity, on par with all people wishing to use the library. The inoperable door at the end of the ramp sends a message of inequality, not to mention the work it take for many pepole to get to the end of that ramp, only to find no access. those who need the ramp include not only those using wheelchairs, but those who have difficulty walking up stairs and those who use walkers. All of us who find a dead-end at the end of the ramp are instructed to use the accessible entrance at the back of the library, next to the parking lot. As an African American woman in her 50s, using the back door sounds all too familiar. If it ain’t right for me, how can it be right for someone else? That entrance is commonly used by people who drive to the library (as it is next to the parking lot) or others who choose to use it. It is unfair to provide choices for some and none for others. [Read more →]

“Israel was built over the debris of 400 destroyed villages and sorrows of 750,00 people, both Christians and Muslims, expelled from their land.” To read Bessy’s entire article click here. This article appeared in the Hartford Courant, Friday May 16, 2008.

Seeking Justice is never out of date.

The Connecticut Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will present its 21st festival this year from May 30-June 7, 2008. All screenings will take place at Cinestudio, 300 Summit Street, Trinity College in Hartford. For festival info: 860-568-1136. Click here for full schedule, tickets, and all other details.

[Preface: My gratitude to CT blogger Gideon, from whom I learned about the movie described below in his blog A Public Defender. Though I encourage everyone to read Gideon’s blog to understand more about what’s really going on in the trenches of criminal defense law, it’s lucky for us that he also raises other important issues.]

It’s a difficult 21st century balancing act. Revolutionaries have a positive obligation to validate peoples’ deeply held and powerful spiritual experiences and beliefs. We especially have an obligation to create a space for stories of real people that have been marginalized by white supremacist and sexist and heterosexist ideas about “normalcy’ and “rational thinking.” For millions of people, their spiritual experiences and religious affiliations are expressions of resistance to oppression. It is sometimes the only language allowed to people whose very existence as human beings is denied on a daily basis. [Read more →]

One of our links is AngryBrownButch. The site is run by Jack and always contains some real good stuff. Click on over there and read Jack’s article, The honeymoon is officially over, about the Obama/Rev. Wright controversy. Check out Jack more often from our sidebar.

cynic: an idealist whose rose-colored glasses have been removed, snapped in two and stomped into the ground, immediately improving their vision. …from the Cynic’s Sanctuary. 

I going off this blog for now. My writing is going on a vacation, a little leave, a bye; bye. I need to think and get my stuff in order, stuff that needs to be in order maybe, and if I find nothing needs to be in order than I will come back out swinging. The other day I read over a pamphlet that a friend of mine had written and I read these words, “Without an alternative a critique would be nothing more than an exercise in cynicism and depression.” I remarked that some of my written works come out of being depressed and out of a certain amount of cynicism. He then told me that the line was written for me. I don’t know if this is good or bad, a put down, a rebellion of youth against old, or what but aim to study it. I think that anyone being presented with something like this needs to check it all over before going any further. I don’t want everyone thinking that I am just a Koo Koo oddball. A person to run away from or cross to the other side of the street if they see me coming. Oh wait, they do that now. Maybe my breath smells. [Read more →]

“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 →]

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.

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