6/17 The Struggle for LGBT and Abortion Rights

Seattle Branch Meeting
Wednesday, June 17, 7pm
University of Washington School of Social Work Room 036 (4101 15th Avenue NE)

Political discussion: The Struggle for LGBT and Abortion Rights (60min)

Articles to read:

http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/15/why-two-bigots-ate-their-words
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/11/tired-being-told-dont-tell
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/10/met-in-the-middle-for-equality
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/09/pro-life-terrorists
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/05/a-womans-right
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/03/next-steps-for-our-movement
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/03/mourning-dr-tillers-murder
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/02/san-diego-sit-in
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/01/murdered-for-defending-abortion
http://socialistworker.org/2009/05/28/new-movement-for-abortion-rights
http://socialistworker.org/2009/05/27/protests-erupt-over-prop-8
http://socialistworker.org/2009/05/26/democrats-and-marriage-equality

Socialism 2009 Conference updates (20min)
The west coast meeting of our annual Socialism 2009 conference is just two weeks away! We'll have a brief update on registration, reading plans to get ready for the conference, publicity and logistics.

Gay Pride plans (10min)
The Gay Pride parade is Sunday, June 28. The ISO will be marching with the Queer Ally Coalition-led marriage equality contingent, which will hopefully draw hundreds among the half a million people in attendance. Mark your calendars!

Announcements (5min)

6/13 Protest War Criminal, Robert Gates at UW Commencement

Saturday, June 13th, 11:30am, at the UW Commencement Ceremony

Protest War Criminal, Robert Gates!

Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009
Time: 11:30am
Location: Meet-up at the IMA Gym
Street: 25th Ave., just north of Husky Stadium and Bank of America Arena

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and other concerned members of the University of Washington and Seattle communities strongly object to the decision to have Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaker at the June 13th UW commencement. Robert Gates should be held accountable for and prosecuted by appropriate legal authorities for the following crimes:


* Prosecuting illegitimate pre-emptive wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan

*Bombing civilian populations in Iraq and Afghanistan

*Failure to prosecute officials that carried out the crimes of torture in both Guantanamo and secret C.I.A. rendition sites.

These crimes are fundamentally incompatible with the ethical values of truthfulness, tolerance, and violation of Geneva Convention and the U.N. charter.

War criminals should not be allowed to speak at commencement ceremonies. The University of Washington should take back its invitation immediately.

EVERYONE: Join us for a protest rally beginning at 11:30 AM at the IMA Gym and proceeding to the area in front of the main entrance to Husky Stadium at 11:45.

GRADUATES and GUESTS who will be inside Husky Stadium: When Gates gets up to speak AND when he gets his honorary degree, let's turn our backs on him and show he's not welcome here.

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Over the past few quarters students, faculty, and community members have been mobilizing to end the CIA-related INSER program on campus and to fire CIA agent Tim Thomas who is currently a visiting professor.

While our tuition has been hiked and our academic programs cut, our campus is being used as research and recruiting station to support racist and undemocratic attacks on people of color and poor folks around the world. Gates is a former CIA director, and when the UW administration invited him to speak, they continued this trend of militarizing UW.

But it seems they've underestimated the UW community's commitment to democracy. Students and faculty have already helped shut down a CIA recruiting session by threatening to picket. Now many people are mobilizing to protest Gates. The days when folks would passively accept the inevitability of the "War on Terror" are over.

So let's invite all of our friends and family to have the kind of commencement WE want to have!

Let's reverse the militarization of the UW campus and show them
UW is for education, not for war and occupation!

6/10: Understanding the Economic Meltdown from a Socialist Perspective

1. Understanding the Economic Meltdown from a Socialist Perspective
While mainstream economists and policymakers are reeling, Marxists have been vindicated in their prediction that a host of problems in the system--overproduction, declining rates of profit, class inequality and speculative bubbles--would inevitably produce a serious global recession. But there is a debate among Marxists about how to understand both long-term declining rates of profit, and the reality of the booms in the period of monopoly capitalism, especially the large post-war expansion of the 1950s and 1960s.

To further this discussion we will be reading and discussing the following articles

Can Marxism explain the financial crash? Ashley Smith reviews The Great Financial Crisis, an important book that seeks to explain the economic meltdown from a socialist perspective

The U.S. economic crisis: Causes and Solutions by Fred Mosley ISR Issue 64, March–April 2009

as well as The crisis of Capitalism: Beyond Deregulation and Greed by Claudio Katz ISR Issue 65, May-June 2009 (This article is not currently available online, But the Current ISR can be bought at any ISO event, from individual members, and if you cant connect with us before next week, the ISO is also available at Barnes and Noble).

2. Socialism Conference Update and organizing
Updates on our building for the Socialism 2009 Conference: Building a New Left for a New Era, July 2-5 in San Fransisco
Full Conference Website * Highlight Videos * Schedule and Speakers