Category — Watchdog

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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NEW YORK (AP) — A priest who runs a shelter specializing in outreach to homeless transgender youths was beaten with construction equipment and paint cans by a group of teenagers in a possible hate crime, authorities said Tuesday.Two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old were awaiting arraignment Tuesday on charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon, Queens prosecutors said. A 15-year-old was being charged as a juvenile in the Monday attack outside the Carmen’s Place shelter, prosecutors said. [Read more →]

Dear Friends,

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The recent votes in congress to give Bush $165 billion more for Iraq and also to authorize warrantless wiretapping make it clear that we urgently need to elect real progressive candidates, not conservative Democrats and corporate pawns in order to protect our rights and ensure peace.

In the meantime, we must keep pressuring the representatives we have now to avoid yet another disastrous war- this time with Iran.

Next week the House of Representatives is likely to vote on Resolution 362, also known as the Iran War Resolution. [Read more →]

For more information check out the posting here.  *Spread the word.* Thanks to Dr. Lilly von Marcab for this article and to International at http://www.indybay.org for publication. I found this article on Lesbian Pro this evening. Check them out www.lesbian.pro for loads of good stuff.

ok, not literally. but they are planning on installing these things, and it’s pretty clear who it’s aimed at. this shit is so crazy. hartford does NOT need bike racks, but it would be nice if the streets were more bike-friendly. as a former bike messenger, i can tell you there are PLENTY of good spots all over downtown to park your bike, and the rest of the city is just fine. sign posts, fences, etc etc etc.

the only reason i can think of why the City government would be wasting its time and money (which is the only thing the mayor/council are good at) is to entice more yuppies to spend time/move to the city. cuz, ya know, hartford ain’t nothin if it ain’t white. let me reiterate, bike racks are completely and utterly unnecessary. a little creativity is called for at times, but shit, come on yuppies. use some of that 4 year college indoctrination for something useful for once.

downtown is ripe for a good riot, and these racks will make useful material for barricades.

Greetings to all.

Our Blogger Registration is fixed and we invite each and everyone to post with us. We would love it. Just click on Blogger Registration.  When QWB started this blog we thought of this as a people’s blog much like our SPEAK OUT cart. Who speaks? We all speak. We would like this blog to become the Queer/LGBT and Ally forum of the area. Let’s talk multi-issue. 

On Tuesday May 27 Claude Holcomb of ADAPT brought our list of demands to City Hall that had been put together at a meeting on Friday May 23. What followed was a whirl wind of activity that proves Fight City Hall and you can sometime win. It also shows what a group of activists who stand their ground can achieve. For a list of the demands click here  

First it was the e-mail send out on Wednesday May, 28 from Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez to officials in Public Works and in the City Managers office. Since there is no privacy notation on it I will share the letter here. The mayor wrote:

“Please take immediate action to modify the front entrance to the Library with an automatic *door device that will accommodate our severely handicapped residents. While I appreciate the reasons that led to the decision to limit handicapped access to the side door on Arch Street, I feel that it is necessary to enable access in the front of the building to all. Please provide a written estimate of costs and construction start date to me no later than this Tuesday, May 29th.” Eddie A. Perez, Mayor. [Read more →]

“Over and Over again we told them, and they still don’t want to listen” my friend Claude Holcomb told me. “I guess they don’t get it”, I responded. Claude is the founder of ADAPT CT. whose site can be found here.  ADAPT has been working for 7 months now in trying to get the city of Hartford and the Hartford Public Library to fix a big mistake.  The city of Hartford built a beautiful addition to the public library. Everything is spanking clean and shiny and up to the minuet with the latest technology. They even put in a fine new ramp to get from street level up to the entrance but guess what? They forgot to make the doors accessible for people in wheel chairs. No button. No automatic door opener. Claude told me that in researching this the cost of a button and automatic door is around $2,000 dollars. Not very much at all. The city says that they can’t put a button because the door is glass. Well I don’t where they have been as many doors with a button are made of glass. In fact where I work we have them. But the thing that makes us the maddest is being told to use the back door. “Go around to the back, that’s accessible.”  Well, let me say this isn’t 1952. To say something like that is rather insulting. I wonder what it feels like to go up the beautiful ramp in your chair and then to be turned around at the door and told to go to the back. About three weeks ago I went down to Constituent Services and talked to a Sue Mc Mullen in the office. She told me that she was waiting to hear from corporation council on what the ADA law says and then could tell me how the city would proceed. Today I put another call in to her. She seemed to talk a good round and round talk, telling me what she thought I would want to hear. At one point she said, that it is only a few people who were complaining. Today May 13 I sent out a e-mail to some of my activist friends in the community about this matter. I have included it in this article. I will update this as more information comes in. All are welcomed to come to the meeting on May 23rd at 4:30 pm. The meeting will be held at 24 Park Place which is Park Place Towers, the 2nd building from the street.

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A prominent football player gang raped and murdered in South Africa last week was a victim of homophobic violence, according to activists. For the full story click here.

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 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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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!

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 →]

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 →]

“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 .

 ”1 LGBT Person has been murdered every 8 days so far this year and these are only ones we know about.” …Fight Out Loud

On May 15, 1988 Richard Reihl a gay man from West Hartford was murdered by two teenagers. By June 7th gays and lesbians of The Connecticut Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights formed a committee called the Anti-Violence Project in response to the murder. The Project’s mission was to monitor the Reihl murder case and assist the prosecution, educate the community on how to protect ourselves from violence and to combat hate crimes in Connecticut. An organization called Speak Out was formed to educate people by talking directly to many different groups about our lives. The only remaining active part of the original Anti-Violence Project is now called the Stonewall Speakers Bureau. The Bureau mainly goes into the schools for speaking engagements. [Read more →]

“The Vatican and Muslim leaders agreed to establish a permanent official dialogue to improve relations and heal wounds still open from a controversial papal speech in 2006. A joint statement said the first meeting of “The Catholic-Muslim forum” will take place on November 4-6 in Rome with religious leaders and scholars from both sides.” 

IN WARNING, IN WARNING, TAKE HEED EVERY MORNING.

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This panel on the War on Terror is sponsored by Amnesty International-on campus of Saint Joseph College. On the panel will be one of QWB’s and the progressive communities good friend and comrade Peter Goselin.  

Date: Tuesday March 11th, 2008

Location: Crystal Room, Mercy Hall, Saint Joseph College, 1678 Asylum Ave. W.H.

Time: 7:00 pm.

Panelists:

Peter Goselin, Esq. will be talking about government surveillance, Habes Corpus and the right to dissent.

Rabia Chaundry, Esq. will be focusing on the Islamic perspective of conducting war, as well as post-9/11 treatment of Muslims and immigration practices.

Stephen Kobasa, will concentrated on the Christian perspective of civil liberties and torture.

This program is free and open to the public. For information contact, wcabrera@sjc-edu. The main number of Saint Joseph College for information about the campus and directions to Mercy Hall call: 860-232-4571.

Gather 11:30 am at Joe Lieberman’s Office, 1 Constitution Plaza, corner Market and Kinsley St.  

    Then on to

Lamentation and Protest

12:00PM to 01:30PM

Hosted by Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice

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George David the CEO of United Technologies in his last full year as chief executive reaped $65 million in total compensation according to a report filled last Friday.

Juliet a friend of mine and a  member of ADAPT ask me if I would post about the American Anti-Vivisection Society. I said most certainly. She passed on to me a little leaflet that is a Compassionate Shopping Guide. Listed inside the guide are companies that do not test finished products, ingredients, or formulations on animals. Information about this guide and other information about the many projects that the groups works on can be found at www.aavs.org. If we want to be good stewards for the earth we must oppose testing for any reason on animals. [Read more →]

The Fascist Christian Nationalists are at it again, with House Resolution 888. I must admit I vomited after the third of the some 75 Whereas statements. As the Secular Coalition for America notes: … supporters of this resolution clearly call for a revised history of the United States as a Christian nation. And a few days ago, Huckabee was quoted as saying:

“[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it’s a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that’s what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards,”

Seems to me we are getting close to Step 1o of Naomi Wolf’s 10 steps to fascism.

This short but not so sweet article is addressed to the editor and publisher of The Metroline, New England’s oldest Gay and Lesbian  Publication. (Trans and Bi’s missing in action)  This article is also addressed to our Queer readers as food for thought. [Read more →]

The 4 justice and peace actions below, seemingly disparate, are linked together by the victims’ race/ethnicity and class. Whether it’s US foreign policy, Connecticut’s proposed criminal (in)justice policies, or US capitalism’s treatment of immigrants, the people who are targeted are almost exclusively working-class Arab, African-American, and Latino.

Christians recall this week the astrologers discovery of the new-born Christ-child in Bethlehem. They found him and his parents living homeless in poverty, ignored by those in power. Soon this family would flee state violence as they escaped into Egypt without documents. Let us take time this week to stand publicly in solidarity with our sisters and brothers who are regularly forgotten and excluded and let us not stop working for justice and peace until everyone is free. [Read more →]

*Happy New Year*

T. Trist who commented on one of the postings on QWB turned us on to a very interesting site. This site is called Faith of the Abomination. From the site are these words: “Faith of the Abomination is a provocative, independent documentary film created in Austin TX about the experiences of a lesbian couple who went undercover as a heterosexual couple inside a Evangelical Organization. The film is currently in post production.” The women also have a very interesting blog site at: http://faithoftheAbomination.com. You can also link from there to see a movie preview.

Thanks again to T. Trist for bringing this important work to the attention of QWB.

Broad Street Gallery
Trinity College
1283 Broad Street
Hartford, CT

Be our Guest:
A contemporary look at immigration.

November 9- 20, 2007

Opening reception
November 9, 6:30- 10pm

Art by David Bacon
and Marela Zacarias

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“Transwoman loses her job over the Bathroom issue.”

Filed by Alex Blaze, September 21, 2007

www.bilerico.com/2007/09/transwoman_loses_her_job_over_the_bathro.php

Let them show, let them show, let them show!

By Punk Pink

It seems the Grannies and Grandpa’s of Stratford are up in arms and complaining to their city council. Guess the old folks do not find the style of sagging pants and exposed underwear to be at all aesthetically pleasing and downright indecent. According to the old folks there are far too many young people parading around town showing off their skivvies that they have petitioned council member Alvin O’Neal to come up with a plan to put and end to this unsightliness.

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