A Spiral Toward Catastrophe
David Finkel
Posted February 4, 2023
The degenerative spiral in the so-called Israel-Palestine “conflict” is nowhere near reaching the bottom yet. Even to begin understanding it requires, first, demystifying terms like “conflict,” “cycle of violence” and related phrases that disguise the realities of daily killings — and violations of human rights and international law so routine (and so enabled by U.S. government policy and inaction) that they no longer qualify as news.
Even before the Jenin massacre by the Israeli military — followed by a lone Palestinian gunman killing seven Israelis outside a synagogue at a settlement in occupied east Jerusalem — the incidence of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli soldiers or settlers comes pretty close to the rate of mass shootings in the USA.
Justifying the raid on the Jenin refugee camp — the same locality where one or more Israeli snipers murdered journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh only months ago — the military said it was to remove an “Islamic Jihad” cell. Presuming this to be true, the question is: Why there would be such a cell there in the first place?
If there were any hope of peace, no such Islamic Jihad cell would exist, if only because the community wouldn’t tolerate it. In the present unbearable circumstances, people see these militant groupings as the only resistance in town, even though there is no “armed-struggle” road to Palestinian freedom. That’s why these episodes will increase in number and escalate in violence.
In the following notes I’ll try to lay out a few basic realities, and point to some important sources that English-speaking readers can follow for accurate information and unvarnished analysis…
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Nicaragua: Ortega and Biden Make a Deal
Dan La Botz
Posted March 5, 2023
About a week ago, on February 9, Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega released and deported 220 of his regime’s political prisoners. Taken from their prison cells, they were put on a plane, ignorant of the plane’s destination. One person speculated that they might be being sent to China. They were reportedly given a form to sign, saying that they were leaving Nicaraguan voluntarily. Two appear to have refused to sign the paper and go into exile, so they were returned to prison. One of them was Catholic…
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Giselle Gerolami
Posted February 24, 2023
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks is a 2022 documentary that was shown at the Detroit Film Theater on February 4, 2023 to a full house. February 4 is the birthday of Rosa Parks. The film, produced by Soledad O’Brien, is based on book by the same name by historian Jeanne Theoharis.
The film seeks to debunk myths associated with Rosa Parks and correct the erasure of her radical politics. Her life has often been reduced to a singular moment and a misunderstood one at that. It’s less that…
Railroad Working Conditions, Disasters, and Workers’ Organizing: Reflections of a former rail worker
Robert Bartlett
Posted February 22, 2023
In the wake of the bipartisan congressional imposition of a rail contract in December, there has been a focus on the inability to at least provide some sick days for rail workers, a “privilege” they have never had. What is lost in centering the dispute on that admittedly absurd denial is the overall deterioration of work conditions in an industry which has always been known for its focus on profits over safety for both workers and the communities through which trains pass.
The…
Solidarity with Ukrainian Resistance — Russia Out Now!
Ukraine Solidarity Network
Posted February 18, 2023
AN ONLINE RALLY in support of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion will be held SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 at 2:00 pm Eastern Time. The event is organized by the newly launched Ukraine Solidarity Network and presented by Haymarket Books. For information and registration, visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/russia-out-solidarity-with-the-ukrainian-resistance-tickets-536364238877?aff=ebdsoporgprofile .
Featured speakers are Ukrainian activists Yuliya Yurchenko and Vladyslav Starodubstev,…
Socialist Runs for Alder in Madison, Wisconsin
Marsha Rummel
Posted February 16, 2023
Marsha Rummel, our Solidarity comrade, is running for Common Council, District 6 in Madison, Wisconsin. The election will be held on April 4. She previously served as alder from 2007 to 2021, when she stepped down to open the door for other candidates to run in order to create a more diverse and representative Council. After redistricting left her district without an incumbent, and having had a needed break to reassess and rethink her goals for serving in local government, she decided she wanted…
February 16: International Actions to Free Mumia!
Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Posted February 12, 2023
This is the hour to fight for Mumia’s freedom. On Thursday, Feb. 16th, longshore workers in ILWU Local 10 will shut down the Ports of Oakland and San Francisco to demand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mumia was framed for killing a police officer. With Tyree Nichols’ murder, we know who the real criminals are!
Port Shutdown for Mumia, Thursday, February 16
March at noon from ILWU Local 10 (400 North Point St., San Francisco)to Harry Bridges…
Socialist Politics in Tenant Organizing
Recorded workshop from the Socialism 2022 Conference
Posted February 11, 2023
This workshop took place at the Socialism 2022 Conference in Chicago on September 4, 2022. Tenant organizers from City Life/Vida Urbana (Boston), Kansas City Tenants Union, and Los Angeles Tenants Union engaged in a deep dialogue about how tenant organizers connect their grassroots project to building socialist consciousness/organization. Speakers focused on strategies for overcoming shame/self-blame, developing members’ capacities for engaging in difficult conversations around oppression, cohering…
Solidarity with the Peruvian people
Executive Bureau of the Fourth International
Posted February 1, 2023
Against the murderous government of Dina Boluarte!
New immediate elections and National Constituent Assembly!
In mid-December, large and combative mobilizations took to the streets and squares of the main cities of Peru, in an uprising motivated by the coup perpetrated on 7 December by the right-wing majority Congress, which first dismissed and then had the elected President Pedro Castillo arrested — through the mechanism of the “decree of vacancy”, a sort of impeachment. The Congress replaced…
Second-Wave Feminists Join Call for Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Posted January 21, 2023
We, Second-Wave Feminists Still in the Fight, demand that Mumia Abu-Jamal be freed! Mumia is a Black journalist and political activist who was framed up in 1982 for the murder of a police officer, Daniel Faulkner, in Philadelphia. Some of us (Second-Wave Feminists) are older than Mumia, and some are younger, but we have all lived through and witnessed the many tragic decades Mumia has suffered unjustly incarcerated. He has been: falsely accused and convicted of killing Faulkner; sentenced to…
The six-week strike of UC workers — some reflections
Bill Balderston
Posted January 19, 2023
On Friday, December 23, the results of voting by two UAW locals at University of California (UC) still on strike were tallied. The results were fairly decisive, with members of UAW 2865 (representing teaching assistants, tutors, graders and readers) voting 11,386 to 7,097 for acceptance of the tentative agreement (TA), and SRU-UAW members (student researchers) agreeing by a larger percentage, 10,057 to 4,640.
Thus ended the six-week unfair labor practice strike, the largest academic strike in U.S….
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