Seattle International Socialist Organization

1/26: Reform or Revolution Educational Meeting UPDATED LOCATION

2012-01-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

THURS, Jan 26
7-9PM
UPDATE: Univ of Washington Thomson Hall Room 211 (campus map)

RSVP on facebook

Written by German socialist, Rosa Luxemburg, in 1900, Reform or Revolution discusses the relationship between reforms under capitalism and the revolutionary goal of a new economic and social order. As socialists, we support both! The Occupy movement raises questions about what's next and the question of the role of movement demands. Join us for this exciting and timely discussion!

While reading the book is strongly encouraged, it is not necessary to join in the discussion.

The book is available online through the Marxist Internet Archive or for purchase from Haymarket Books.

1/19 City Meeting Cancelled

2012-01-19T12:24:00.000-08:00

Due to the weather, we have decided to cancel tonight's meeting.

Stay warm and safe!

The solidarity we need for Longview

2012-01-19T10:50:00.000-08:00

By Sam Bernstein, Dan Trocolli and Darrin Hoop
Originally published at socialistworker.org

LONGSHORE WORKERS in the small city of Longview, Wash., are in a life-or-death struggle for their livelihoods and community against multinational conglomerate EGT Development.

The 200 members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21 have been escalating their struggle to force EGT--an international consortium of several Fortune 500 companies that has built a new $200 million state-of-the-art grain terminal in Longview--to honor a nearly 90-year-old commitment to union longshore labor working the West Coast ports.

In the course of the struggle, ILWU members and their supporters have organized mass pickets of hundreds to block trains from bringing grain to the terminal. The union rightly maintains that it is protected by the First Amendment right to protest on public, port-owned property.

The company and the state have taken a hard line. Local 21 is up against multiple global corporations, heavily militarized police and private security, the National Labor Relations Board, and another union--Operating Engineers Local 701--which is providing scab labor. Some 75 of Local 21's members have been arrested. The local has been fined more than $300,000. Its members have faced injunctions, pepper spray and relentless police harassment and brutality.

As the date for the first operational ship to be loaded at the EGT terminal nears, labor and Occupy activists are planning for mass protests in Longview. The rise of the Occupy movement has provided a perfect opportunity for wide layers of working people to mobilize in support of, and in solidarity with, Local 21 and their struggle.

On January 2, the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Council--the umbrella union body for the Longview area--adopted a resolution calling for "friends of labor and the '99 percent' everywhere to come to the aid of ILWU Local 21, and to support them in any way possible in their fight against multinational conglomerate EGT." The labor council call requests "that anyone willing to participate in a community and labor protest in Longview, Washington, of the first EGT grain ship do so when called upon by this body."

The following day, ILWU International President Robert McEllrath, who was arrested last September as part of a protest that blocked a train headed to the terminal, issued a letter calling for action when the ship arrives: He wrote:

When the time comes, [we will] publicize action that supporters of the ILWU can take to advance the cause against EGT and protest government collusion to protect commerce at the expense of workers and community...We welcome outside support for our efforts against EGT.

Occupy activists up and down the West Coast have responded to the call for solidarity and are in the midst of preparing for caravans to Longview when the first ship comes in.

However, a minority of Occupy activists are putting this potential unity in jeopardy through attitudes and tactics that are hostile to the ILWU and organized labor. This came to dramatic head at a Longview solidarity meeting held in Seattle on January 6.

Read more »

UW The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx Series

2012-01-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

Join the UW ISO for our series of talks and discussions about the revolutionary economic and political ideas of one of the world's most controversial and influential philosophers.

The discussions will take place in Thomson 211 at UW on the following dates:

January 12th 5:30PM - Socialism Not Capitalism: Capitalism is a system set up by and one that benefits the 1%. Socialism is a society based on workers collectively owning and controlling the wealth their labor creates.

January 26th 7:00PM - Reform or Revolution: We support reforms to improve our lives under capitalism, but they won't end inequalities. Capitalism must be replaced by a democratic workers state based on councils of workers delegates.

February 9th 5:30PM - Worker's Power: Workers of the World Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!" Socialism is working class self-emancipation. Only mass struggles of workers can put an end to capitalism.

February 23rd 7:00PM - Equality and Liberation: Capitalism divides the working class based on sexual, gender, racial and other distinctions. The liberation of the oppressed is essential to socialist revolution and impossible without it.

March 1st 5:30PM - Revolutionary Party: To achieve socialism, the most militant workers and students must be organized into a revolutionary socialist party. The ISO is committed to playing a role in laying the foundations for such a party.

1/12: City Meeting

2012-01-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

THURS, Jan 12
7-9PM
The Summit
420 E Pike St (map)
Enter on the west side of Summit Ave, between E Pike and E Pine Sts
Looking for a UW Meeting? Click here.

How do we build solidarity between labor and occupy?

We have a historic opportunity to connect the occupy movement with the crucial labor struggle of ILWU Local 21. Discuss local developments and the debates that have arisen among activists in the course of building solidarity here in Seattle.

Read more:
Take a stand for the ILWU
Longview's call for solidarity
Tactics and the port shutdown
Uniting to resist the employer's attacks

Branch Organization Discussion
With new and exciting opportunities for organizing in the new year, we'll discuss branch organizing priorities and areas of work.

Police Brutality Work Update
An update on the latest plans for the upcoming protest demanding Police Chief Diaz resign Saturday, January 14.
RSVP to event on facebook.

Take a stand for the ILWU

2012-01-09T14:06:00.000-08:00

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is battling to get multinational conglomerate EGT Development to honor the union's West Coast contract and use ILWU labor at a new $200 million grain terminal. When picketing disrupted test-run operations at the terminal, the company countered with harassment and state repression--ILWU Local 21 has been fined over $300,000, and at least 75 of its 200 members face some form of citation, fine or arrest.

Sometime between the beginning of January and early February, EGT plans on unloading its first barge grain shipment using scab labor--and then loading its first scab ship.

On January 2, the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Council --the umbrella union body for the Longview, Wash., area--adopted a resolution calling on union members and supporters to participate in a protest against the first EGT grain ship. Below, we reprint the resolution passed by the council and a call to action from one of its officers.

Resolution of the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Council
Adopted January 2, 2012

Whereas: the ILWU has always been at the forefront in the struggle for social justice and better working conditions. And,

Whereas: ILWU Local 21 has inspired working people worldwide. And,

Whereas: ILWU jurisdiction is under an unprecedented attack. And,

Whereas: It is clear to all working people that EGT is seeking to race to the bottom and destroy a long history of good family wage jobs throughout the area. And,

Whereas: The Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Council, hereinafter called the Council, recognize the blatant union-busting tactics of EGT, as well as the danger of losing the ILWU as a powerful ally for the working class. And,

Be it Resolved: That this Council call out to friends of labor and the "99 percent" everywhere to come to the aid of ILWU Local 21, and to support them in any way possible in their fight against multinational conglomerate EGT. And,

Be it further Resolved: That this Council request that anyone willing to participate in a community and labor protest in Longview, Washington, of the first EGT grain ship do so when called upon by this body. And,

Finally be it Resolved: That the Council forward this resolution to all local unions, the Washington State Labor Council, Oregon Federation of Labor, California Labor Federation, the AFL-CIO and all other relevant organizations.

Respectfully submitted,
Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Council Executive Board
Jeff Washburn, president
Tim Pfiefer, vice president
Kyle Mackey, secretary/treasurer
Lynda Hart, trustee
Dale Barto, trustee
Lowell Lovgren, trustee
Rex Osborne, seargent at arms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A Call to Action
IT IS estimated that sometime in late January or early February, the EGT facility at the port of Longview will receive its first grain ship to be loaded at its berth. The name and timing of this ship will undoubtedly be kept secret until the last possible moment.

It is likely there will be a few days to as little as 24 hours' notice of when the ship will dock. Notification will be given via the Internet and any other relevant means of networking throughout the country. We are imploring all able working class people willing to take time out of his or her own lives, to come to Longview, Washington, for a historic protest.

This is the time for workers everywhere to take a stand. Unions and the working class standard of living that have benefited from collective bargaining for so long are in danger of being extracted completely. You can see this systematically taking place over the last 30 years or longer, and especially in recent times. Unions have lost ground over this period of time due to unjust anti-labor laws, corporate influence on the government, and complacency on the part of organized labor among other reasons.

We recognize the danger of, and view the government attack on, collective bargaining of public employees as a warning shot to labor as a whole. Wisconsin was ground zero and the spark that awoke the sleeping giant that is labor. Workers are beginning to remember there is indeed strength in numbers, regardless of how many unjust laws are made to divide us. We have not been pacified long enough as to give up our constitutional rights or to give up all the gains our forefathers fought and died to achieve over the last hundred years.

People inherently ask WHY? Why should I, or others come to the aid of the ILWU? Why should I care, and what does it matter if this ship gets loaded and they lose this struggle?

The ILWU has a proud history of being arguably the strongest labor union in the world for almost 80 years. The secret of this success lies in the bottom up, rank-and-file democratic structure. This empowers and involves every member. And the intelligence and foresight of the leaders who knew without unity on the entire West Coast and unity with the working class, there was no strength.
EGT is attempting to break the ILWU. They are operating on public port property where the ILWU have worked for decades. They are in violation of their lease agreement, which states that the ILWU is to be the workforce on port property. Longshoremen have done work in port grain elevators before the ILWU was formed in 1934. If EGT succeeds, they will have essentially broken the ILWU.

First, they will set a precedent that work on public port docks is no longer automatically longshore jurisdiction. Then within less than a year, when the northwest grain handlers' agreement is set to be negotiated, all the other grain elevators will seek to either go non-ILWU or to match the eroded standard EGT creates. Shortly thereafter, in 2014, the ILWU will negotiate its master contract with the Pacific Maritime Association. If they lose, you can bet the PMA will take notice and hit hard.
Most importantly to note is that grain accounts for 30 percent of the ILWU health and welfare package. If you lose a third of your bargaining power and your traditional jurisdiction on port property, what are you left with? Either no ILWU, or a union that would resemble nothing like what it once was. There would be little or no collective power up and down the West Coast, and no way to fight for social justice or defend the working class, just as the ILWU has done for so long, in its entrenched and strategic position at the gates of international commerce.

Longshoremen have traditionally been a rough and tough bunch, but they always make sure to educate their members on the importance of history, unity and the power of collective bargaining. People nowadays forget or have not been taught their own history. They forget what it means to cross a picket and become a scab the rest of their life. For 30 years or more, we have been sliding downhill, while some would argue unions have outlived their time. The reality is unions are the last defense when the imperfect system of checks and balances within our government fails to serve the interests of the workers.

The class struggle never really goes away. Right now, the rich and the ruling class are attempting to deal a blow that labor might never recover from. The ILWU has always been the vanguard of labor everywhere. Today, the ILWU's slogan of "An injury to one is an injury to all" couldn't be any more pertinent for all organizations. So please, if you believe in a better future for the 99 percent of us that work for a living, do what you can to support ILWU Local 21.

"The most important word in the language of the working class is solidarity"--Harry Bridges

In Solidarity,
Kyle Mackey, secretary/treasurer, Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council and ILWU Local 21 member

Interview: Longview's call for solidarity

2012-01-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

In the small city of Longview in Washington state, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21 is locked in a battle to force multinational conglomerate EGT Development to use ILWU labor at a new $200 million grain terminal--the first new terminal built on the West Coast in the last 25 years.

When picketing by hundreds of unionists and their supporters disrupted test run operations at the terminal, the company countered with harassment and state repression--Local 21 has been fined over $300,000, and at least 75 of its 200 members face some form of citation, fine or arrest. However, in a setback for EGT, the two cases that have gone to court so far have resulted in acquittals for Local 21 members.

Sometime between the beginning of January and early February, EGT plans on unloading its first barge grain shipment using scab labor--and then loading its first scab ship with grain destined for Asia. Local 21 President Dan Coffman summarized the stakes in this modern-day labor war by saying, "We view this as an attempt by corporations to try to break the strength of the ILWU."

In December, Occupy Longview put out a call "to all Occupies, from New York City down to Florida, all the way through to the West Coast, to join us in solidarity in Longview" in protest against the scab barge and ship when they arrive at the Port of Longview. Paul Nipper, a spokesperson for Occupy Longview, talked to Darrin Hoop about the importance of the call for people to caravan to Longview--and why Local 21's struggle is crucial not only for the Longview community, but for people all over the U.S.

WHY DID Occupy Longview (OLV) vote to call for a caravan to Longview to support ILWU Local 21 in its struggle against EGT?

THE GROUP voted to move forward with this action because we view Longview as ground zero in the labor movement right now. The ILWU is considered to be one of the most powerful unions in the country and world as well. If "the corporations" are successful in busting up a union as strong as the ILWU, who's next? The answer is obvious--anyone who gets in their way.

WHY IS this struggle one the Occupy movement nationally should support?

THE OCCUPY movement is all about supporting the middle class and trying to level the playing field between corporate power and people. Union workers are part of the 99 percent. It is a verifiable fact that when unions are strong, the middle class is strong. It's no coincidence that with the decline of union membership, the rest of the middle class has suffered.

The members of OLV are all in agreement that unions have the final grip on our voices in the workplace, and even in our unbalanced political system. We also agree that it is inevitable that if the remaining unions in this country are overpowered and busted up, our voice will no longer be heard in both arenas.

Read more »

The brutal legacy of Seattle police

2012-01-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

By Johnny Mao
Orginally published at socialistworker.org

THE MEDIA spotlight on the Seattle Police Department (SPD) grew wider and more intense on December 15 when the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) released the results of an 11-month-long civil rights investigation.

The shooting murder of John Williams in August 2010 by officer Ian Birk and subsequent public outcry spurred the federal investigation, and the results have become another firestorm for discussing serial police brutality in Seattle.

Evidence in the report, corroborated by the accounts of citizens and SPD documents, shows a "pattern or practice" in which the SPD violated the U.S. Constitution by engaging in excessive force with "deficiencies in SPD's training, policies and oversight," where "starting from the top, SPD supervisors often fail to meet their responsibility to provide oversight of the use of force" with "troubling practices that could have a disproportionate impact on minority communities."

The report also found that excessive force was enabled by "vague" use-of-force policy, "pervasive underreporting" and a lack of "true finding nor remediation" in failing to seriously punish any abuses of authority.

Police Chief John Diaz and Mayor Michael McGinn were caught off-guard by the announcement, and their meeting with the Feds reportedly "ended in raised voices and bitter accusations by city and police officials, upset at the Justice Department's findings," according to the Seattle Times.

In anticipation of the Justice Department announcement, police officials proposed their own review of police shootings through an independent auditor. "It is my hope that the DOJ will be as cooperative as we have been and allow the police department to examine and study the data that helped them come to their conclusions," Seattle Police Officers' Guild President Rich O'Neill said in a statement.

McGinn, Diaz and O'Neill attempted to defend themselves in public statements. "[Diaz] has implemented reforms to [SPD] training, community outreach and professional accountability, and continues to do so," said McGinn.

"I want to make this clear," Diaz told reporters after the results of the report were released. "The department is not broken."

However, Seattle NAACP President James Bible has said that the SPD needs to "clean house," echoing calls of community groups, such as El Comité Pro-Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social, who are calling for Diaz to resign. "The Seattle-King County NAACP has been aware of the pattern of excessive force for the past 25 years," said Bible.

Read more »

1/5: UW Meeting

2012-01-04T23:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome back from Break! We'll have our first meeting of the quarter at 5:30pm this Thursday in Thomson 211.

Agenda:
1. Intro to the UW ISO (30 min)
We'll talk about what the UW ISO hopes to accomplish this quarter and answer questions about how our group works on campus and off.

2. Labor War in Longview (45 min)
A labor struggle of national importance is taking place just two hours south of us in Longview by members of ILWU Local 21 and the union busting grain conglomerate EGT. Solidarity is urgently needed as EGT is expected to unload a scab ship in late January or early February. Hear about organizing plans in Seattle including a solidarity meeting this Friday (see announcement below).

Read more about the struggle:
Labor war in Longview
Rallying support in Longview
The battle of Longview
ILWU Local 21 Facebook Page

3. UW General Assembly (30 min)
Next Tuesday UW will be having it's first General Assembly to talk about what we want for our campus, outside bureaucratic channels.We'll discuss the GA and how to help organize for it.

Check out http://uwgenassembly.org/ for more info

1/4: City Branch Meeting Agenda

2012-01-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

This week we're having our City meeting on Wed night so that we can attend Thursday's event BDS: A Call to Action with Omar Barghouti and we'll also be in a new location, just a few blocks from our previous meeting space at SCCC.

Wed 1/4 7pm

The Summit, First Covenant church's new meeting space at the site of the old Honda and Yamaha dealership on the corner of Pike and Summit (420 E.Pike, Seattle, WA 98122).
Please come to the Side Door on the West side of Summit Street half way down the block between Pike and Pine, next to the parking garage entrance.

Agenda:

1) Fighting Police Brutality (45 min)
After the release of the Department of Justice's damning report on the serial racism and brutality of the Seattle Police Department, organizing is underway to demand justice and accountability!
Full text of the DOJ report
The Seattle Police Department's Epic Crash: A History, in Brief
Defend the 99%: Bring Diaz Down

2) Labor war in Longview (45 min)
A labor struggle of national importance is taking place just two hours south of us in Longview by members of ILWU Local 21 and the union busting grain conglomerate EGT. Solidarity is urgently needed as EGT is expected to unload a scab ship in late January or early February. Hear about organizing plans in Seattle including a solidarity meeting this Friday (see announcement below).
Labor war in Longview
Rallying support in Longview
The battle of Longview
ILWU Local 21 Facebook Page

3) Vote on meeting location (20 min)
We'll be meeting in a new space -- and we have the opportunity to continue meeting here. We'll discuss the costs and vote on whether to continue meeting weekly at The Summit.

4) Announcements (10)

1/5 & 1/6 Events: BDS: A Call to Action with Omar Barghouti

2012-01-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

THURS, Jan 5
6:30 PM
Bloedel Hall, St Mark's Cathedral
1245 10th Ave E, Seattle

And
BDS Action Workshop -- FRI, Jan 6
6:30PM, AFSC Meeting Hall
9th Ave and NE 40th St, University District

Omar Barghouti is an independent Palestinian commentator and human rights activist. He is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

Barghouti's book BDS: The Struggle for Palestinian Rights is available from Haymarket Books.

1/6: Solidarity Meeting: Defend ILWU 21

2012-01-02T01:30:00.000-08:00

Friday, Jan. 6th, 6pm

Labor Temple, Hall 8, 2800 1st Avenue (at Broad), Seattle

4pm - Come early for a planning meeting for solidarity caravan to Longview to meet the ship

Speakers From:

- ILWU Local 21 (Longview)
- Million Workers March, S.F.
- Jack Heyman, ILWU 10 (retired)
- Occupy Oakland
- Occupy Seattle

Longshore workers are battling for their jobs and our future. The multinational EGT is trying to bust International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21 by hiring scab labor in their new grain terminal. West Coast Occupy forces are mobilizing to support
their struggle and help block an expected grain ship in late January.

Join us in discussing how to build an effective movement that can meet our needs as workers -- unionists, unemployed, low-waged and casualized.

Donate at the meeting or send contributions to:
ILWU Local 21, Attn: EGT Fighting Fund,
617 14th Avenue, Longview, WA 98632

For more info call 206-424-4547 or email seattleportsolidarity@gmail.com

Sponsored by members of Occupy Seattle

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T11:43:00.000-08:00

We're taking two weeks off for the holidays.

It's been a fantastic year, a year of revolt from below and struggle for the 99%. Inspiring struggles from Tunsia and Egypt to Wisconsin to Wall Street. Working people of the world have said "enough is enough" and begun to organize and fight back. 2012 should be an exciting year in its own right, building on that momentuem.

A few articles to keep you busy:
The year of revolt
Jesus the revolutionary?
The ancestors of Occupy
The Egyptian revolution continues

And, as always, these archives should help fill your holiday down time:
International Socialist Review
Socialist Worker
We Are Many

UPDATED: January meeting announcements will be posted before the new year. The first Seattle city branch meeting will be Wednesday, January 4, 2012.

Seattle students against cuts

2011-12-16T11:08:00.000-08:00

Dan Trocolli reports on a spirited demonstration against education cuts in Seattle.
December 16, 2011
socialistworker.org

CHANTING "WE'RE the future of our nation, no more cuts to education!" high school students from all over Seattle walked out of class December 14 to protest proposed cuts in education funding. Nearly 700 students converged on the University of Washington's Red Square for a rally that challenged state lawmakers' plans for more budget cuts.

Washington faces a $2 billion shortfall this year, and Gov. Christine Gregoire called a special session of the state legislature starting November 28 to balance the budget before the regular session starts in January. After nearly $10 billion in cuts over the last three year, Gregoire is proposing over $250 million more in reductions from K-12 education and another $160 million from higher education.
The student walkout was sparked after protests against the special session in the state capital of Olympia. Unions representing state and municipal employees mobilized rallies during the first week of the session. Teachers in the Social Equality Educators (SEE), a rank-and-file group of activist teachers from the Seattle area, helped lead attempts by union and community activists to Occupy the Capitol building and disrupt the legislature.

A judge has declared that Washington's legislature is out of compliance with the state constitution mandating education funding to be the state's "paramount duty." Therefore, SEE sent a team of teachers to Olympia to make a citizen's arrest of the legislature for breaking the law. As the House session began, SEE members unfurled a giant banner reading, "Citizen's Arrest: Lawbreakers need to fully fund education" from the balcony of the House chambers at the beginning of the session.

Back in Seattle, when students at Garfield High School learned that a teacher, Jesse Hagopian, was arrested for "mic-checking" the Senate Ways and Means committee, they moved into action. Students created a Facebook page titled "Free Mr. Hagopian." Within hours, they had hundreds of students following it. When Hagopian was released later that day, students changed the group's name to "Seattle Student Walkout for Education."

On December 7, over 500 Garfield students walked out of class and marched to City Hall. Students made flyers to hand out detailing the cuts and the impact on education. Once at City Hall, they organized a speakout using the people's mic, having filled up the front steps of the building. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn came out and praised students for their efforts.
Garfield senior and Black Student Union President Obadiah Terry remarked on the support for the walkout:

You can look around your class and see you've got 34 students in a 28-student room, or your teacher has to move around the school and share rooms, or your science teacher has to buy materials for hands-on labs. You can see it all around you, and when everyone realizes it at once, we all know we need to do something about it together.

Haymarket Books for the holidays!

2011-12-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

Haymarket Books is offering a fantastic discount for the holidays!

Fill your bookshelf or check off your holiday gift list with 40% off and free shipping through December 15 with the code OCCUPY40.

The discount applies to any title including recently released titles like Too Many People? by Ian Angus and Simon Butler, On History by Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone, and A Time to Die: The Attica Prison Rebellion by Tom Wicker.

Occupy and women's rights

2011-12-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

Leela Yellesetty explains why the Occupy movement must embrace women's rights.

December 13, 2011

socialistworker.org

WOMEN ARE a majority of the 99 percent.

We are still paid, on average, only 77 cents to a man's dollar (that number drops to 68 cents for African American women and 58 cents for Latinas). When one takes into account the impact of childbearing and the fact the women still bear the brunt of unpaid labor in the home, this figure slides further downwards. One study measuring the cumulative impact over 15 prime-earning years found that women actually make 38 cents for each dollar a man makes.

This should come as no surprise living in one of the only countries in the world--along with Swaziland and Papua New Guinea--which does not require employers to provide paid maternity leave.

Women are disproportionately impacted by the budget cuts that are shredding the social safety net. Nationally, about two-thirds of adult recipients of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program are women. Women and people of color are also overrepresented in public-sector jobs, and therefore are particularly vulnerable to the onslaught of layoffs and pay cuts these budget cuts entail.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, women lost 72 percent of 378,000 government posts cut between July 2009 and March 2010.

In my home state of Washington, women constitute 54 percent of individuals enrolled in the government's Medicare health care program. The governor's latest budget proposal includes $2 million in cuts to maternal and child health and $1.8 million to family planning--in addition to the complete elimination of the Basic Health Program, which provides coverage to the state's poorest residents--again, disproportionately women.

Meanwhile, the 1 percent here in Washington state continues to reap the benefits of generous tax loopholes and the most unfair tax structure in the country. We are home to four of the 23 richest people in the country: Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen. There seems to be a gender imbalance on that end as well.

Read more »

IVAW and Seattle ISO member Jorge on Democracy Now

2011-12-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

“I see the struggle that’s going on with the port workers and the truck drivers down in Seattle and across the West Coast,” Gonzalez says, who was pepper-sprayed on Monday while taking part in the Seattle protest. “They deal with the same issues like mental health, homelessness. Veterans, they see themselves connected with all these issues.”

Jorge Gonzalez is the Executive Director of Coffee Strong, an anti-war, pro-soldier coffee house outside of Fort Lewis, and a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

12/15 District Mtg

2011-12-11T16:29:00.001-08:00

THURS, Dec 15

7-9PM

UW Savery Hall Room 130

(Campus Map)

This Thursday we will be getting together all our comrades from the Puget Sound area for a district organizing meeting before taking two weeks off for the holidays. Our next meeting will be Thursday, January 5, 2012.

NBC report back and Dec 12th & 14th assessments
The National Branch Council, a body of representatives from ISO branches in over 50 cities across the country, will be having a conference call this Tuesday to assess the state of the occupy movement nationally. We will assess the actions in Seattle this week, including the Dec 12th West Coast port shutdown and the Dec 14th student walkouts as well as what's next for the Occupy movement nationally.

Building the ISO across the Puget Sound
2011 has been an incredible year for activism, and as a result the audience for socialist politics has never been greater. In addition to experiencing growth in the Seattle branches and the launching of a new Everett branch, we have met people in other cities and on other campuses. We will discuss a proposal to reach out to these areas by building study groups and speaking events culminating with the a one-day Puget Sound Socialist Conference sometime in March.

Fundraising
We will vote on a district goal and fundraising plans for the annual Center for Economic Research and Social Change fund drive. CERSC is the publisher of Haymarket Books and the International Socialist Review which have been key tools for arming a new generation of activists with ideas for changing the world. In addition we'll be discussing fundraising parties, trivia night, t-shirt sales and more!

12/8: UW Brainstorming for next Quarter & Doodle Poll

2011-12-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

This Thursday is our last meeting of the Quarter.
Since folks are busy studying for finals we're going to keep the meeting to an hour and just do a casual brainstorm of ideas for next quarter.

Thurs 7-8pm
Savery 130

Feel free to join us even if you haven't been able to be involved yet this year, it's not too late to contribute your ideas and get involved next quarter.

And on that note we've know a number of people weren't able to make our meetings this quarter with their class schedule, soooo it's time for the......

....Doodle Poll

http://www.doodle.com/5gximm9y78vk36h9

We'd love to find a time that works better for everyone that wants to be involved so please fill out the Doodle Poll -- just enter your name and check off the times that work for you for a weekly meeting next quarter.

12/8 City Mtg: What's Next for Occupy Seattle?

2011-12-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

THURS, Dec 8
7-9PM
SCCC Room 4135

Looking for a UW meeting? Click here.

What's Next for Occupy Seattle?
A 72-hour eviction order has been issued to clear the encampment at SCCC by Friday afternoon. Seattle is one of the last remaining encampments in the country, but as cities elsewhere have shown "you can't evict an idea whose time has come". Whatever happens with the encampment, the movement of the 99% will continue. This will be a chance to discuss overall trajectory, the next two sections will focus on specific actions next week.

Read more:
A closed bank put to good use
Why the movement shouldn't #OccupyXMas

December 12 West Coast Port Shutdown
The Oakland General Assembly has called for a coastwide blockade of ports in solidarity with struggles of port truck drivers in LA and the ILWU in Longview. Hear about plans for the action here in Seattle.

Read more:
Why we called for a port shutdown
Labor war in Longview

December 14 Student Walkout
Students at Garfield and other high schools organized a successful walkout against cuts to education last week, and now they're organizing an even bigger one on the 14th!

Read more:
Garfield seniors to state: Don't pawn off our future
Protesting Washington's painful cutbacks

Seattle Transit Riders Union
An organizing update.

NEXT WEEK! District-wide meeting
December 15th will be our last meeting of 2011 and we would like to get all of our members and allies from around the region to come out to discuss some exciting plans, including: Puget Sound Socialist Conference! Speaking tour! Fundraising! Holiday reading plans!

Full agenda and location forthcoming, but plan to be there!

2011: Year of revolt

2011-12-07T20:05:00.001-08:00

ISO Year In Review 2011 from N Alexander on Vimeo.

Protesting Washington's painful cutbacks

2011-12-06T15:12:00.001-08:00

Occupy activists join with labor and community groups to demand that Washington state tax the 1 percent instead of cut services, reports Sam Bernstein.
December 5, 2011
socialistworker.org

THOUSANDS OF Occupy, labor and community activists from around Washington state converged on the Capitol building in Olympia, Wash., November 28 to protest a new slate of devastating budget cuts on the first day of a 30-day special legislative session.

Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire convened the special session in order to cut $2 billion from the $8.7 billion discretionary state budget. Since the Great Recession began three years ago, the legislature has cut $10.5 billion from education, health, human services and state employees. Just six months ago, legislators slashed $5 billion without raising a cent in new revenue. The Democratic Party controls both houses of the legislature.

The day of direct actions started with teach-ins organized by the Washington Education Association and Washington Federation of State Employees as well as a rally and march led by Occupy Olympia. While a mass rally was held on the steps of the Capitol building, two dozen teachers attempted to disrupt a session of the full legislature with a "mic check" before they were physically removed by the Washington State Patrol.

Hundreds of protesters then marched to occupy the House Ways and Means Committee meeting. Initially, state troopers would not let the protesters in. Following loud chanting, banging on the doors and minor scuffles, several dozen demonstrators broke into the hearing room.

As soon as the meeting started, Jesse Hagopian, a teacher at Garfield High School in Seattle, along with other teachers from Social Equality Educators, "mic checked" the committee. "We, the educators of Washington State, will not remain silent while the state legislature cuts the funding to our schools," they chanted. While attempting a citizen's arrest of legislators for failing to uphold their state constitutional duty to fully fund public education, Hagopian was arrested by state troopers.

The crowd of protesters continued to use the people's mic to speak out against years of painful cuts to the 99 percent's standard of living. After about 15 minutes, legislators canceled the committee meeting.

"We have campaigned, petitioned, lobbied and testified through the established political process for three years," transit activist Chris Mobley explained. "But instead of listening to us, they just slashed the budget more and more. They've given us no choice but to disrupt that process through direct action and democracy. It's time we force them to listen to us."

Read more »

Study Group: Black Liberation and Socialism

2011-12-04T16:33:00.001-08:00

Thursdays before City branch meetings

6-7PM*

SCCC Room 4135

RSVP on facebook

*On Thursday, Dec 8, the study group will begin at 6:30PM

This is a history that you probably didn't learn in high school. This weekly round table analyzes the material roots of racism, as well as the successes and failures of movements against racism. This includes the struggles in which black and white workers united together.

How do we bring the interrelations of race and class in the United States to the forefront? Let’s discuss the relationship between anti-racist struggle, and the fight for a liberated future for us all.

Reading the book Black Liberation and Socialism is encouraged but not necessary for discussion. Topics include, but are not limited to: Slavery in the United States, Abolitionism, The Civil War and Reconstruction, and Populism.

Facilitated by Jesse Hagopian, Seattle ISO member and Garfield history teacher

UPDATED: 12/1 City Meeting: Eyewitness from Egypt!

2011-12-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

THURS, Dec 1

7-9PM

NEW! SCCC Room 4135
1701 Broadway at Pine St

Looking for a UW meeting? Click here.

Eyewitness from Egypt

Seattle-based, Egyptian-born activist Yasmin Elbaradie has recently returned from Cairo. Come with your questions about the recent resurgence of protests and strikes and the upcoming elections-- results of which we may know by then.

Read more:
Egypt's revolution returns to the streets
A letter from Cairo to the Occupy Movement

Occupy Olympia
A report back from the week's actions against the special session of the legislature and building for Saturday's union rally (info and carpooling info on that action to follow).

Socialism in Everett
A report on work up in Everett pulling together a group of people interested in socialism and next steps towards building a new branch up north!

Labor war in Longview

2011-11-30T10:44:00.001-08:00

November 30, 2011

The small city of Longview in southwestern Washington state is currently ground zero for one of the most militant U.S. labor struggles in decades.
Since May, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21 has been escalating the fight in a two-year-plus battle to force the multinational conglomerate EGT Development to honor its contract and use ILWU labor at a new $200 million grain terminal in Longview. This is the first new terminal built on the West Coast in the last 25 years.
In the course of the battle in Longview, ILWU members and their supporters have blocked trains from bringing grain to the terminal and organized mass pickets to disrupt its operations. But the company is taking a hard line. Local 21 is up against multiple global corporations, police and private security, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and another union--Operating Engineers Local 701, which is providing scab labor.
Now, after a series of test runs, EGT is planning to bring in its first ship in mid-December. Separately, the Occupy movement--whose call for a general strike and day of action in Oakland, Calif., on November 2 in protest of vicious police violence shut down that city's massive port--is calling for protests at ports up and down the West Coast on December 12 in defense of the movement and longshore unionists. The ILWU has not endorsed this call.
The Longview struggle is a crucial test for labor and the wider working-class movement. In late November, Darrin Hoop interviewed Local 21 President Dan Coffman and Local 21 Vice President Jake Whiteside. In this excerpt, they about the background and significance of this modern-day labor war--for workers in Washington state and around the country.

ILWU members in Longview have confronted grain shipments headed for the new EGT terminal

COULD YOU tell us how this struggle began?

Dan: It would have been early 2009. When we heard about this elevator being constructed in our community, there were a lot of high expectations. If you look at the paper here from November 2009, it talks about how this elevator is going to create 50 new longshore jobs. The new $200 million project was going to put construction people in this community back to work, and this is when our unemployment rate was pushing right around 15 percent.
As soon as ground construction started with the building of this thing, people realized that local labor was not getting any of this action. What we found out is that Bunge was bringing in every non-union type of company to do this project. The high expectations were soon evaporating right in front of our eyes.
At the same time, the ILWU always felt confident, because we have a working agreement with the port that has been in existence for 70-plus years. We felt confident that we were going to sit down and get an agreement with Bunge.

YOU MENTIONED Bunge--that's the main one of the three corporations that make up EGT, right? The others are Itochu, based in Japan, and STX Pan Ocean, based in South Korea.

Dan: In negotiations, Bunge talked about how it had planned this for five years prior. The terminal is EGT, but if you look at it, the 51 percent controlling partner is Bunge North America, based in New York state. We negotiated for close to 14 months, and we were negotiating throughout the whole thing with Bunge. You never saw an Itochu official at the table. You never saw an STX Pan Ocean person at the table.
Bunge is part of what we call the grain cartel, which is the equivalent of the oil cartel. There's a handful of players in the grain cartel, and Bunge is one of them--along with Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, Louis Dreyfus, Gavalon. Actually, if you look at it, they're probably more powerful than the oil cartel, because people have to eat, and they know that.
Itochu is a logistics firm out of Japan that has a lot of trucking and shipping interests. Then the shipping lines company they needed to haul their product was Pan Ocean. What they did was triangulate their corporations to meet all their needs, and it became a partnership.

WHY DID they pick Longview?

Dan: We're a small port. I think they probably thought that being such a small port, they could do what they've done throughout the whole world--they could come in and micromanage not only us, but the community as a whole.
Jake: I think one of the main things about Longview is the geographical location. It's the first place you come to on the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean. We're set up with a rail system. I-5 is right there. None of that is a coincidence. It was definitely orchestrated, almost brilliantly.

WHAT WERE the key issues during negotiations?

Dan: The two sticking points were straight-time pay and who was in the master console room. They wanted two 12-hour shifts for a 24-hour period. And during that 12 hours a day, they didn't want any of that to be overtime. It was going to be straight time only.
The other big sticking point was that, in a grain elevator, they have what they call the master console. He controls the flow of grain throughout that facility. Bunge didn't want any union member in that control room. We told them we don't care if you have 50 supervisors in there, there needs to be one longshoreman. We don't take orders from a supervisor. We needed that buffer between management and labor.
In the beginning, they offered us a total of three jobs in the whole facility. We finally got them to up that to four when we asked for a lead man or a general foreman. On top of that, there'd be a need for two millwrights and one electrician, for a total of seven jobs.
We started our negotiations on January 20, 2010 in Portland, Ore. We broke off negotiations, I believe, at the end of February of 2011. During our negotiations, they weren't willing to budge on one thing. I didn't call them negotiations--I called them dictations--dictations by three giant conglomerates that wanted it all their way.

WHAT IS the significance of this new terminal?

Dan: This new elevator is going to pour 40 percent faster than the last one that was built on the West Coast and have about a 30 to 40 percent decrease in the labor needed to operate this facility.
If you can imagine a Panamax ship being loaded in about a 24-hour period, that's basically unheard of. You're talking 50,000 to 60,000 metric tons of whatever product being loaded in over a 24-hour or less period. That's huge volumes at super-fast speeds. These people are recreating the playing field for the grain industry.
This new elevator is going to meet their needs logistically to supply them with an easier route to get their product to Southeast Asia and Japan. They had to set up an elevator on the West Coast to achieve that.

Updates from Occupy Olympia

2011-11-27T22:15:00.001-08:00

On Monday, November 28th unionists, Occupiers and activists from around the state will converge on Olympia to challenge the $2 billion cuts the legislature is set to begin during their special session.

Follow us on twitter @SeattleISO for on-the-ground updates and photos!

Time to Occupy the Capitol

2011-11-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

If the legislature wants to cut from the 99 percent, there will be no business as usual. It's time to Occupy the Capitol on November 28!

Chris Mobley reports on Occupy activists' plans to challenge more budget cuts.

November 23, 2011

www.socialistworker.org

OCCUPY ACTIVISTS in Washington state are gearing up for the next stage in our struggle: Occupy the Capitol to oppose another round of budget cuts.

Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire has called for a special session of the state legislature to cut an additional $2 billion out of the state budget. At a recent press conference, Gregoire even admitted, "We have shredded our social safety net."

This move comes on top of $10 billion in state budget cuts over the last three years, which have resulted in furloughs and layoffs for state employees, a 47 percent increase in tuition at public universities, the gutting of social and health services, and many other attacks on the basic quality of life for the 99 percent of Washington.

What effect will this round of cuts have? Here is what has been proposed:
-- Some 13,000 legal immigrants would be cut from the state's food assistance program--their only source of food aid because they are ineligible for federal food assistance.
-- About 35,000 people would be kicked off the Basic Health Plan, ending a program that subsidizes health care for poor.
-- Another 21,000 people enrolled in the state's Disability Lifeline and ADATSA (Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Treatment Support Act) programs would have their medical services cut off.
-- Two wards at Western State Hospital would be closed. These currently serve 52 patients with conditions such as traumatic brain injury or dementia.
-- Foster care, juvenile rehabilitation and substance abuse treatment programs would be slashed by $118 million.
-- A levy equalization program that helps school districts with a poor property tax base will lose half its funding, for a total of $150 million. This will dramatically increase class sizes in affected districts and could shorten the school year.
-- The budget for state colleges and universities will lose another $225 million.
-- Funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs will drop by $240,000.
-- The nuclear waste site cleanup program at Hanford--the most contaminated nuclear site in the nation--will lose $581,000.
-- The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, the agency responsible for issuing budget forecasts, will be cut by $94,000. The agency warned Gregoire that a "10 percent cut will eliminate our agency, because we will not have the rudimentary necessities to fulfill our core mission."

ON NOVEMBER 21, in response to mounting pressure from social services providers, unions and the threat of a Madison-style occupation of the state Capitol, Gregoire proposed an emergency revenue measure--something she hasn't done before during three-year-long budget crisis. Her proposal would raise $550 million by increasing the state's regressive sales tax by half a cent. This would require voter approval in a special spring 2012 election.

The $550 million this measure would rise is not only a drop in the bucket relative to the $10 billion in cuts to the state budget, but it further adds to the tax burden on those who would be most affected by the cuts--Washington's poor and working class.

Because the state has no income tax system, Washington relies on regressive sales and property taxes to meet its budget needs. A study by the Sightline Institute ranks Washington dead last in tax fairness. According to the study, the bottom 20 percent of income earners pay 17.3 percent of their income in taxes of various kinds, whereas the top 1 percent of income earners pay just 2.6 percent in taxes.

The state government does have progressive funding sources at its disposal, but it refuses to use them.

Each year, the state gives away $6.5 billion via tax loopholes, mostly to big business. Washington-based Microsoft received $143 million last year in special tax breaks, and aircraft maker Boeing got $104 million. JPMorgan Chase, which took over Washington Mutual in 2008, continues to receive a $120 million tax break on interest collected on first-time mortgages. There are also loopholes for cosmetic surgery ($6.25 million this year) and private jet enthusiasts ($5 million this year).

Another option for the legislature is to tax the rich. Last year, voters rejected Initiative 1098, which would have imposed a 5 percent income tax rate on individual incomes over $200,000 per year and a 9 percent rate on incomes over $500,000 per year. It would have raised $2 billion annually to fund education and health care.

The legislature could pass such a measure outright with a two-thirds majority, or it could put the proposal on the ballot again with a simple majority vote. As the effects of the budget crisis and the worsening economy hammer away at people, voters may be in a different mood than 2010.
Instead, lawmakers have hid behind Initiative 1053, pushed by right-wing hack Tim Eyman. I-1053, which was passed by voters in 2010, requires the state legislature obtain a two-thirds super-majority to increase taxes. Many prominent legal scholars argue that I-1053 is unconstitutional, but lawmakers have yet to challenge it.

What makes this year's budget battle different is the impact of the Occupy movement. Thousands of people in Washington state have marched, protested, camped and organized. The November 28 demonstration is built around the hope that these thousands will join join public-sector workers, students and the poor in standing up for the 99 perent.

Unions and student groups are renting buses to transport people to the capitol of Olympia on November 28, when the special session begins. Acts of civil disobedience are being planned, and activists from all of the state's Occupy encampments have pledged to take over the Capitol building in protest of the cuts.

If the legislature wants to cut from the 99 percent, there will be no business as usual. It's time to Occupy the Capitol on November 28!

What you can do

For more information on the plans for the November 28 demonstration, visit the Occupy the Capitol and Occupy Olympia websites.

UW meetings & events through the end of Nov

2011-11-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

Hello UW folks -- with midterms and Thanksgiving coming up and several special events we won't be holding our regualr Thursday meetings until the end of the month. There's plenty going on so please join us at these upcoming events:

WED 11/16 7-8:30pm, Gowen Hall 301
Join us for our yearly Debate with between the ISO, the Young Democrats, the College Republicans, Young Americans for Liberty (libertarians)!

The topic of discussion will be the Obama administration's proposed jobs plan.
Info and RSVP on facebook

SAT & SUN 11/19-20

Northwest Marxism Conference in Portland!
With workshops on:

Why Marx Was Right
No Power Greater: Marxism and the Centrality of Class
The Roots of Racial Oppression
The Minneapolis Teamster Strike: A Case Study in Working Class Power
Theories of Womens' Oppression
Workers' Democracy: A Society Worth Fighting For
Sexuality & Socialism
Capitalism in Crisis: A Marxist Analysis of the Current Economic Situation

RSVP on facebook Check out the full schedule and register online
Interested? Need a ride? Email info@seattleiso.org to carpool with us.

MON 11/28

Occupy The Capitol! Stop Cuts, Make the 1% Pay!
Supporters and occupiers of Washington State, Unite to protest at the start of the special legislative session pushing $2.7 billion more in deadly budget cuts.

Info and RSVP on facebook Email info@seattleiso.org to carpool with us.

We'll resume normal meeting on Thursday December 1st!

This weekend! NW Marxism Conference

2011-11-19T14:51:00.000-08:00

Spots still available!

Saturday and Sunday, Nov 19-20
Portland State University

RSVP on facebook
Conference Website

Interested? Need a ride? Email info@seattleiso.org to carpool with Seattle area activists!

Capitalism isn't working. Socialism is the alternative—a world organized for human need, not profit, where resources are controlled by and for the vast majority, instead of by a tiny rich minority. Real change depends on struggle and action by our side.

The recent revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia have inspired struggles against injustice and austerity across the globe. Massive demonstrations have erupted across Greece, Spain, Britain - and most recently, the United States - occupying public squares and capital buildings in defiance of cuts in social services and workers' standards of living promoted by their governments.

Capitalism has never operated according to the interests of the majority of people. It has always been a system of exploitation and oppression that benefits only the wealthy and powerful. The struggles against austerity and oppression that have emerged in 2011 show that a fightback is possible, and that ordinary people can change society for the better. It's an excellent time to fight for a better world, a world free from the misery of capitalism. Join us and help build a REAL future for workers and students everywhere!

The Northwest Marxism Conference is one of many regional Marxism conferences nationwide that are dedicated to arming a new generation of activists and organizers with arguments and ideas for a revolutionary socialist alternative, learning our history of rebellion and resistance, and discussing strategies for building organization and winning struggles for real change.

Full schedule, registration and more information at the conference website!

11/7: Strikes and Occupations: A Radical History of Seattle's 99%

2011-11-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Join the UW ISO for this Forum & Discussion

Monday 11/7

7-9pm, Savery Hall 132

RSVP on Facebook and Like our New UW ISO page

We are the 99%! The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to over 1,000 cities in the U.S. and around the globe. Millions are discussing why this movement is important, what it's demands are and how to build it bigger. But Occupy Seattle is only the latest in an incredible history of radical struggle in Seattle.

In 1919 a General Strike of 100,000 workers saw workers run the city for 5 days. Sit-ins led to the formation of the Black Student Union at the UW in 1969. Protests against the WTO rocked the city for a week in 1999.

Join us for a discussion on what lessons we can learn today from the history of strikes and occupations throughout Seattle's radical past.

11/3: John Carlos & Dave Zirin

2011-11-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Instead of our normal Thursday UW & City branch meetings we'll be going to
The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World
Discussion & Book Signing

Thursday 11/3. 7pm

Northwest African American Museum

2300 S Massachusetts St.Seattle 98144

Seen around the world, John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s Black Power salute on the 1968 Olympic podium sparked controversy and career fallout. Yet their show of defiance remains one of the most iconic images of Olympic history and the Black Power movement. Here is the remarkable story of one of the men behind the salute, lifelong activist, John Carlos.

Join John Carlos and his co-author, Nation sports editor Dave Zirin, for a book discussion and signing to celebrate the release of "The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World."

Please purchase tickets though CD Forum at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/205183 Tickets are $10 each regular and $8 if you use discount code: NAAMCARLOS

Check out this great video: John Carlos & Dave Zirin Speak at Occupy Chicago

For more information, please contact:
Brian J. Carter | 206-518-6000 x 103 | bcarter@naamnw.org

11/2: Student Walkout in Solidarity with Occupy Oakland & Protest against Jamie Dimon CEO of JP Morgan Chase

2011-11-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of #Occupy action happening this Wed 11/2

12pm UW Student Walkout in Solidarity with Occupy Oakland
The Occupy Oakland general assembly has put out a call for a General Strike on November 2ccupy Oakland & Protest against Jamie Dimon CEO of to protest the brutal crackdown by cops against their movement. From Atlanta, to Chicago and now Oakland, the police are using brute force to attempt to shut down encampments. If they get away with using force to shut down Occupy Oakland, this will give the green light for the same kind of brutality to be used all over the U.S. with the same goal. We are all Oakland! Let's show them the power of the 99% standing in solidarity!

12pm - Meeting at Red Square for a speakout. Then we'll march/bus to SCCC for a rally with students and Occupy Seattle

RSVP on Facebook

Protest Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, speaking at UW Business School event
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase will be visiting Seattle, speaking at the downtown Sheraton at a UW school of business event.Yes – this is the same Jamie Dimon that called foreclosures “debt relief.” The same Jamie Dimon that called banking regulations “un-American.” The same Jamie Dimon that raked in $10,000 per hour while too many Washingtonians don’t even have jobs. The same Jamie Dimon whose company Chase helps themselves to a piece of an $86 million tax loophole and to millions from an EBT contract with the state, while we face $2 billion in budget cuts. That Jamie Dimon is coming to our city at the request of the UW Business school!

Let's show him (and the UW Business school) what Seattle really thinks of banksters like him! We'll be taking on Dimon with 2 awesome events.

1pm: Meet at Seattle Central Community College - 1 hour speak out.
2pm: March and action at a major Chase Branch.
6pm: Meet at Westlake Park march to the Sheraton where Mr. Dimon will be speaking.

This is the perfect chance to strike back against the 1% so please join us and invite all of your friends to this Facebook event! We’re going to let Jamie Dimon know that the 99% isn’t going to stand by while greedy big banks continue to wreck our economy. That it’s time for the mega-rich to pay their fair share so our country can invest in Jobs, not cuts.

10/29 Occupy Seattle Teach-in: Another World is Possible! What Is Socialism and How Do We Get There?

2011-10-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

SAT, Oct 29
4-5pm
Occupy Seattle, Westlake Park

RSVP on facebook

How do we get to a world were the 1% doesn't dominate the economy and the political debate?

As socialists we believe in the self-emancipation of the working class from the bonds of capitalism. We must organize to get to that type of world! But how? And who has the power to change society? And how do we overcome the obstacles that keep us divided?

Join us for a teach-in on why socialism. Bring your questions, bring your debates and bring your ideas!

An Occupy Seattle teach-in. For more info on other Occupy Seattle events check their calendar.

10/29 Teach CHASE a Lesson!

2011-10-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

*UPDATED*

"Teach CHASE a Lesson"Occupy Seattle day of action!

Saturday, October 29th
12 PM
Westlake Plaza (on 4th Ave. between Pine and Pike)

UPDATE: Facebook event now up: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=268835849822528

"There is a lot of money washing around the world, and obviously we are the beneficiary of that,"
CHASE CEO Jamie Dimon this April

CHASE Bank has profited through the recession that it had a big part in causing and was able to compensate Mr. Dimon, to the tune of $20.8 million dollars last year.

CHASE pays no state taxes on its in-state mortgage interest income. This loophole was created for Washington State based WAMU, but since the “housing bubble” lending binge that crashed our economy and bankrupted WAMU, it now benefits Chase and other banks. Their fair share would add nearly $100 million per year to our State’s sorely strapped budget.

CHASE acquired billions of dollars during the bailout at a near-zero % interest rate, money that they are now loaning back to the U.S. Treasury at a rate 12 times higher. They are taking more money from taxpayers, rather than investing to create jobs.

Teachers in Seattle are facing layoffs as the legislature struggles to cover its $5 billion + budget shortfall. In addition, Seattle teachers have seen their pay cut by 1.9%.

Cuts to bus routs, healthcare, homeless shelters, and other social services have made the lives of 99% of the population more difficult.

This is not a spending crisis. It’s a revenue crisis that is caused when entities like CHASE pay little to no taxes on their vast fortunes. The money to pay for social services is there. Teachers, other public employees, and the 99% are not the cause of the crisis, and should not pay for it!

Sponsored by Occupy Seattle, the Social Equality Educators (SEE) and the Seattle International Socialist Organization.

10/27: UW Branch Meeting Agenda

2011-10-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

The UW Branch will meet
THURS 7-9pm, Savery Hall 130
(If you're looking for the city branch meeting click here)

This Week's Agenda:

1. Meaning of Marxism Discussion, One hour
Chapter Four "How Capitalism Works and How it Doesn't" on Marxist Economics.

2. Branch details--40 minutes
a.) Update on RSO registration process.
b.) Next public meeting? If we want to do it, how should we build it?
c.) Quick update on Occupy UW organizing.
d.) How do we want to set up future branch meetings?
e.) branch roles (who is doing what? are we missing anything?)

3. NW Marxism Conference -- 20 mins
This year's NW Marxism Conference will be THE place for progressives, socialists and activists to debate and discuss. Occupy movements have roared to life in cities and towns across the US. In order to build the movement bigger and stronger we must learn lessons from other cities and share our own. We must also deepen our political understanding of the economy, the state and the power of the working class to build a new society. We'll discuss political and logistical preparation for the conference, happening in Portland, OR.

Full schedule, registration and more information at the conference website.

10/27 City Meeting Agenda

2011-10-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

Thurs, Oct 27
7-9PM
SCCC Atrium
(1701 Broadway, at Pine St.)

Looking for a UW meeting? Click here

Occupy Seattle Updates, Logistics and Next Steps
Occupy Seattle, and Occupy movements around the country continue to grow and develop, but also run against real challenges. Last night, activists and demonstrators were attacked in Oakland, CA by police, who shot tear gas and rubber bullets. Earlier this week, Occupy Seattle voted to move the encampment to Seattle Central Community College this weekend. In Boston, activists with Occupy the Hood held an important demonstration the explicitly linked Occupy Boston with communities of color and took a stance against racism and police brutality.

Come discuss the latest in the movement! We will also discuss plans for the CHASE bank action and our Occupy Seattle teach-in on Saturday.

Read more:
How the 1 percent rules
Reports of Occupy Everywhere
Socialist Worker coverage of Occupy Everywhere

NW Marxism Conference
This year's NW Marxism Conference will be THE place for progressives, socialists and activists to debate and discuss. Occupy movements have roared to life in cities and towns across the US. In order to build the movement bigger and stronger we must learn lessons from other cities and share our own. We must also deepen our political understanding of the economy, the state and the power of the working class to build a new society. We'll discuss political and logistical preparation for the conference, happening in Portland, OR.

Full schedule, registration and more information at the conference website.

10/20: City Meeting Agenda

2011-10-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

Thurs, Oct 20
7-9pm
SCCC Atrium
(1701 Broadway, at Pine St.)

Looking for a UW meeting? Click here

Socialists and Movements
The Occupy movements continue to grow, giving activists progressive stripes new energy. As socialists, this is exactly what we have been waiting for, what we always knew was possible and now we're seeing unfold before our eyes-- masses or ordinary people standing up, speaking out, and organizing on a scale we haven't seen in many years, and it is only growing and spreading (now on a global scale!). But how do socialists relate to movements that don't have specifically revolutionary demands? What is the relationship between reforms and revolution? And why would socialists, who explicitly want to overthrow capitalism, fight for reforms in the here and now?

Come join a discussion on the role of socialists in movements, what we have to learn from the movement and what socialists and radicals can contribute.

Read more:
Socialists and movements

Occupy Seattle Nuts and Bolts Organizing
The Occupy Seattle movement is fluid and changes daily. As the ISO, we aim to be there, supporting and building the movement. Bring your ideas as we discuss ways to strength the politics and connections of the movement!

Read more:
Occupy goes global
The Stranger coverage of Occupy Seattle

Socialist Worker coverage updated daily!

PTA needs to do their homework on Democracy, Go to an Occupation

2011-10-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

Seattle Teachers at Occupy Seattle, Photo by Rachel Wilsey

Dan Trocolli
Seattle Teacher and member of Social Equality Educators and the Seattle International Socialist Organization

I started my Saturday morning going to the Washington State Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Legislative Assembly to assist parents in Parents Across America-Seattle, an activist group of parents, in opposing charter school legislation in Washington. It wasn’t easy waking up at 6am on a Saturday, but I knew it was important that people know the negative effect that charter schools can have on our public schools.

As a teacher, one would think that parents in the PTA, would be very interested in hearing from teachers about significant changes to Washington laws on delivering a public education to their children, particularly given the well known fact that teachers are underrepresented in PTA’s all over. Imagine my shock when approaching a group of parents in the hotel lobby with flyers only to have one woman tear the stack of flyers out of my hand in a completely hysterical rage as well as another teacher.

I wanted to let delegates in the PTA know how charters have a higher teacher turnover, unfairly exclude underperforming students and siphon money from other public schools. However, we were unable to continue handing out flyers and talking to parents about a teachers’ perspective on charter schools. The president, vice president and executive director of the state PTA all tried to assure us that they would consider approving the flyer for distribution. Never mind that the debate and vote was set to occur in mere minutes.

Turns out the vote to support legislation in Washington for the creation of charter schools passed by a mere 9 votes, despite the PTA’s own survey of members that found a majority opposed to bringing charters to Washington. In fact the influence of corporate, pro-charter forces, such as Stand with Children, at the top of the PTA have such a hold that the organization did not give delegates any information critical of charters at all.

The outcome was a difficult to face given the attacks on public education these days. However, my disappointment was short lived as I made my way to Occupy Seattle. There was an immediate contrast of the undemocratic repression I experienced at the PTA convention with the people’s democracy of the occupation’s rally and march.
The rally at Westlake Park, part of an international day of action in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, was already in the thousands when I got there. Teachers in the Social Equality Educators (SEE), a rank and file group of educators in Seattle, gathered in a contingent. We had a table with a sign-up for union members and labor supporters of the occupation. We displayed our banner, “Bail out Schools, Not the Banks!” and answered questions of protestors visiting our table.

There were people discussing all sorts of political questions all over the square, including, among other things, charter schools. Various groups had tables where they distributed all sorts of propaganda on issues like corporate greed, the war in Afghanistan and socialism. And individual protestors had many myriad homemade signs raising many social issues as well.
But this was just the beginning. On the march protestors stopped and occupied for some moments the Pike Place Market intersection. When an ambulance neared unable to get through, protestors needed no instructions and immediately parted to let them through chanting, “This is what Democracy looks like.”

When the march neared the plaza, SEE members organized an impromptu sit-in in front of the CHASE bank across the street. Thousands sat in the street, the sidewalks and the plaza listening as teachers and community members sounded off on corporate greed and what it will take to curtail it.

Later protestors re-occupied Westlake Park with over a hundred tents. The sense that it is possible to make the change we want to see in the world was palpable and that solidarity with one another is key in making that change happen. Most people coming to the occupations have a healthy rejection of free market, corporate driven solutions to public ills such as charter schools.
Like the Occupiers, most teachers recognize the undue influence of the uber-wealthy 1% on school reforms such as charter schools and merit pay. It’s these changing winds that might be frustrating the angry woman from the PTA.

The PTA should take a lesson and hold their Legislative Assembly down at Westlake Park. They may learn a thing or two from the other 99% about democracy and what’s needed to improve public education.

First published at Seattle Education

10/20: UW Meeting Agenda

2011-10-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

The UW Branch will meet
THURS 7-9pm, Savery Hall 130
(If you're looking for the city branch meeting click here)

This Week's Agenda:

1. Club details 10 mins

RSO and ECC registration club registration
Tabling schedule

2. Meaning of Marxism Discussion, 40 mins
Chapter Three "The Marxist View of History"

3. Occupy Movement Discussion, 35 mins

Last week we voted to discuss the following article on labor participation on the Occupy Movement:
Same struggle, same fight

4. Northwest Socialist Conference - 5 mins
Sat Nov 19th, we'll be heading down to portland for the Northwest Socialist conference, one of six regional socialist conferences nationwide that are dedicated to arming a new generation of rebels, activists and organizers with arguments and ideas for a revolutionary socialist alternative, learning our history of rebellion and resistance, and discussing strategies for building organization and winning struggles for real change. Check out all the conference details here

5. Next week's agenda - 5 mins

Occupy Seattle Video and Photos

2011-10-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

Great Video of Jesse Hagopian Speaking at Occupy Seattle this past Saturday.

Jesse Hagopian at OccupySeattle from Elliot Stoller on Vimeo.

And check out photos albums on our facebook page
we've got albums up from the past two weeks, Oct 5th, Oct10th and Oct 15th.

10/13 UW meeting: The Meaning Of Marxism, Occupy Seattle & Fall Plans

2011-10-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

The UW Branch will meet
THURS 7-9pm, Savery Hall 130
(If you're looking for the city branch meeting click here)

1. For the First part of our meeting, we’ll discuss the Introduction and first two chapters of The Meaning of Marxism by Paul D’Amato (26 pages total)

Intro: The Relevance of Marxism
Ch 1: From Millenarianism to Marx
Ch 2: Marx’s Materialist Method

So pick up the book and join the discussion! If you need a copy of the book please contact us isouw@uw.edu

2. Occupy Seattle -- After our political discussion we’ll discuss developments in the Occupy Seattle movement, including Wed’s student walkout as well as next steps.

3. Brainstorm activities, meetings, actions etc that we may want to do this quarter! Bring your ideas about things you want to learn, how we can spread the word on campus, and what social-justice campaigns we should to get involved in.

10/13 City Meeting: Occupy Seattle & Fall Organizing

2011-10-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

The City branch will meet

THURS, Oct 13

7-9pm

SCCC Cafeteria

(1701 Broadway, at Pine St.)

Looking for a UW meeting? Click here

Occupy Seattle: Report Back and Looking Ahead

The Occupy Wall St action has become a national movement. In dozens of cities activists have camped out protesting the social inequality in this country. Spurred on by class anger, people are organizing and taking action against the richest 1%. We will discuss the latest in on-going struggles locally and nationally, and how to build the strongest movement possible.

Support for Occupy Seattle Swells

Stepping up the struggle

Autonomy Zone on Wall St?

Fall Organizing Perspectives

In light of so much going on and exciting opportunities for activism, we will discuss the structure and organization of the branch.

Support for Occupy Seattle Swells

2011-10-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

10/10/11
Story by Sam Bernstein

SEATTLE -- Occupy Seattle received a major boost on Saturday as supporters from the community and organized labor came out for a large rally and march in Westlake Plaza, the site of the ongoing encampment.

Following an antiwar rally Friday evening that brought hundreds out to mark the 10th anniversary of the war on Afghanistan, the Saturday rally brought thousands more out to show their solidarity and check out the Occupy Seattle encampment--most of them for the first time.

The rally was planned months in advance to commemorate Indigenous Peoples' Day, but as soon as Occupy Seattle sprung up, organizers opened it up to the Occupy Seattle movement. As labor unions and community groups began endorsing Occupy Seattle, they made this rally the first focal point for mobilizing their memberships in support of Occupy Seattle.

SEIU Local 925, representing 23,000 workers in Washington State--mostly at the University of Washington, sent an email to their entire membership urging them to get involved. "These courageous young activists have given us all a shot of inspiration and hope that we can indeed turn this country around," they wrote. The King County Labor Council also urged its 75,000 members to participate.

"Labor organizations have a huge responsibility in stepping up and helping out people that don't have a voice," Pedro Espinoza, a member of the carpenters union, told Q13 Fox News.

Read more »

Occupy Movement - What's the message?

2011-10-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

The mainstream media cant stop repeating the same talking point "what's the message?" "There's no message?" etc.. Well in this fabulous video, P.J. O'Rourke gets his ass handed to him by Alan Grayson who articulates is brilliantly!

Great Interview on the Occupy Movement

2011-10-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

Get Involved in Occupy Seattle check out the Occupy Seattle website for more info

SAT: Occupy Seattle Rally - We are the 99%

2011-10-07T15:15:00.001-07:00

We are the 99%!

The spirit of the Occupy Wall Street protest is spreading throughout the country. There are now Occupy protests in every state in the country. From San Francisco to Washington, DC people are gathering together, united around frustration and anger over the richest 1% controlling the political debate, economic decisions and the media outlets that influence them. Over 8,000 people marched in an unpermitted march in Portland, OR last night. In Los Angeles, United Teachers Los Angeles voted to stand in solidarity with the protesters, marking important connections with labor. In New York, the occupation continues to grow after tens of thousands marched on Wednesday.

Organizers with Occupy Seattle have called for a rally tomorrow, Saturday, Oct 8 at Westlake Plaza beginning at noon.

The King County Labor Council has come out in support of Occupy Seattle The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), with over 42,000 members statewide, has also set statements of solidarity and support. The Stranger and other news outlets are promoting tomorrow's action heavily. The will be the biggest action of Occupy Seattle yet.

The Seattle ISO will be there, in solidarity and to help organize. Please join us!

Read more:

Making common cause against Wall Street

Occupy comes to your town

Occupy Seattle website

10/6: City Organizing Meeting

2011-10-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

City Organizing Meeting
THURSDAY, October 6th
7pm
SCCC Cafeteria (1701 Broadway, Capitol Hill)

Please note: we are now meeting on Thursdays!

Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Seattle (45 min)
The Occupy Wall Street movement is spreading! Thousands marched in New York this weekend, while hundreds gathered at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle to demand that the rich pay for the economy they destroyed. We will discuss the rapidly evolving movement and how we can build it bigger and stronger in Seattle.

Check out these articles:
Raising the voice of protest
Declaration of the occupation of New York
We are the 99 percent
Continued updates at Occupy Wall St

Socialist Worker (3o min)
Socialist Worker is the voice for our side. Published daily online, it provides unapologetic pro-working class coverage and analysis of world news and politics. We will discuss our use of the paper at tablings and events.

Planning for City Kickoff Meeting (30 min)
Our city branch fall kickoff is just around the corner. Join our discussion of how to build for this important meeting!

10/6: UW Fall Kickoff Meeting

2011-10-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

Join the UW Socialists for a forum & discussion on
The International Youth Revolt &
Why Socialism is back on the Agenda

Thurs 10/6 7pm

UW, Savery Hall 130
RSVP on Facebook

"We are the 99%". This sentiment highlights the feelings of millions of people in the U.S. that stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests taking place in New York City and around the U.S. The super-rich destroy the economy and receive $16 trillion in bailouts. Wars for oil are fought for the rich, not the rest of us. Whether it's the racist execution of Troy Davis, restrictions on women's right to an abortion or the continued denial of gays and lesbians the right to marry, the rich and their government use oppression to keep people down and to attempt to prevent the "99%" from uniting. However things are changing. From the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, to mass student protests in Britain, Spain and elsewhere, to the protests in Madison, WI, to the Occupy Wall Street protests, millions of people around the world are fighting back.

As socialists we want to help lead these struggles, but also understand how the problems in this world stem from the system of capitalism. We need to end capitalism. This can only be done by the active participation of millions upon millions of workers and students around the globe. We aim to build an organization of revolutionaries with these goals in mind. Join us for a discussion about the growing international revolt against the injustices of capitalism and why we think the fight for a socialist society is back on the world agenda!

There will be a short presentation followed by group discussion & refreshments!

Welcome Back UW Students!

2011-09-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great time tabling at Dawg Daze this week, thanks to everyone who came out for a shift at the table.

And WELCOME to all the new folks we met. Our Kick-Off Meeting info is posted below, but take a few minutes to explore our site. We have two branches of the ISO in Seattle, one in the city and the student club at UW so this site gives info about both.

Check out our About Us page for more info on our politics and browse the blogroll in the right column to see past meetings and commentary.

If you missed us at the Dawg Daze Student Activities Fair this week we'll be at the Common Spaces Brunch on Saturday which is essentially a mixer of social and environmental justice groups on campus and in the community. Come on out to participate in discussions on how to build multi-issue and intersectional movements!

We hope to see you Thursday at our kick-off, but in the meantime if you have questions or want to meet-up to talk more about our politics feel free to contact us at isouw@uw.edu or 206-309-7274.

9/28: Final Summer Study Series: Lenin & the Revolutionary Party

2011-09-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Wed 7-9pm
UW Campus
Parrington Hall, Room 106

In part two of our discussion we’ll explore the development of the Bolshevik Party in the years leading up to the 1917 Russian Revolution, specifically the period following the "dress rehearsal" revolution of 1905. If you have not yet read Building the Party by Tony Cliff you should begin with that. Folk's who have already read Cliff's book will read Lenin and the Revolutionary Party by Paul LeBlanc, or one of the other books listed under the supplementary reading.

WED September 28: Lenin & the Bolsheviks 1906-1914

Main Reading
Building the Party by Tony Cliff, Ch. 13-20
-or-
Lenin and the Revolutionary Party by Paul LeBlanc, Ch. 7-10

Intro/overview:
The Birth of Bolshevism by Paul D'Amato (ISR)

Supplementary Readings:
The Myth of Lenin's Elitism by Paul D'Amato (ISR)
What is Economism? by Duncan Hallas (ISR)

Local News Roundup

2011-09-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Check out these recent Socialist Worker Articles written by Seattle folks

Showdown at Suncadia
Some 200 activists turned out as the Association of Washington Business held its annual policy summit at the Suncadia resort.

Seattle protest takes on Chase
More than 200 turned out in Seattle for a protest against Chase Bank organized by Working Washington.

Tacoma teachers defy injunction to strike
Dan Trocolli, a teacher and member of the Seattle Education Association, reports on the high stakes in a struggle of fellow teachers in Tacoma

A manufactured postal crisis
Tom Larsen looks at the crisis of the U.S. Postal Service--and how it's being used as a cover to push for massive layoffs and privatization.

Showdown for the ILWU
A battle to stop a scab grain port in Longview, Wash., has led to an old-school labor showdown--which may be a sign of things to come.

Michael Eric Dyson & Michele Alexander on Troy Davis

2011-09-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

Excellent 6-minute clip of Michael Eric Dyson hosting MSNBC's Ed Show with The New Jim Crow author Michele Alexander discussing the Troy Davis execution.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A Personal Reflection on the Murder of Troy Davis

2011-09-22T14:49:00.001-07:00

My sadness and anger last night was only rivaled by the nights Stan Tookie Williams was murdered by the state of California and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars started. I've been an activist for 11 years and these nights have been the hardest. The brutality, depravity, and senselessness of this system never cease to amaze me. Yet, hundreds of thousands of people were moved to action to save Troy Davis. Our only hope is to continue in Troy's foot steps and re-double our efforts in the fight for justice. We are all Troy Davis. We will never forget Troy Davis.

-- Sam Bernstein

Kevin Coval: "Troy Davis and The Need for (A)New Brigade"

2011-09-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

This was written yesterday, before Troy was murdered, but is even more important today. Leave it to a poet to make such a powerful an eloquent call to action. Please read his whole post its beautiful, but here is a teaser:

"because, this is an issue of grand, historic inequity and current injustice, it exists at the intersection of where a new movement can be born. in the radically integrated center of the working class who knows this country is run by and for the wealthy...

WE, the people, know these truths to be self-evident: rich, racists run america. today in 2011, when the country murders a(nother) Black man, whose guilt is at least not beyond a reasonable doubt, we must begin to look for alternatives to the status quo. we must use our resources, not capital and a paid police force, but the collectivity of our mass, our bodies that can organize together. it is all we have and all we need."

Read the whole article here

ABC video and article

2011-09-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly decent coverage from the mainstream press (after the fact, of course). ABC has a video which shows a lot of the protests and also an article in which they talk to Troy's sister, Kimberly.

Check it out here:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/troy-davis-sister-kimberly-davis-recounts-moments-executed/story?id=14580835

William Jelani Cobb Reports from the Prison Gates

2011-09-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

Last night, historian and author William Jelani Cobb spent seven hours outside of the Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia, demonstrating, documenting—then mourning—the execution of Troy Davis. Excerpts from his talk this morning with Color Line's Akiba Solomon:

For some reason I didn’t think the execution was going to happen.

I know. Despite all we know about this country, you want to believe that things have changed.

You posted lots of photos and tweeted throughout the night, but you weren’t there in a professional capacity. What compelled you to go down there?

Well, it was political and personal. Politically, I felt that as a person of conscience I could not just sit back and not let my voice be heard when the state was going to execute a man [amid] damning questions about the nature of the trial. Personally, I think about this in terms of my father who left Georgia in 1941 for New York and never came back. When you’d ask him about his home state, he would spit before describing how a black man’s life had no value there. Now, I believed in this narrative of me coming back to Georgia. [Living and teaching here] was almost a way for me to prove that things had changed, that the efforts of all of our people had born some fruit. But now, ironically, I can see where my father was right. It turns out these people have no concern for justice and the judicial system is a sham. When you look at the evidence in this particular [case], this literally could be any of us.

Read the full conversation at Colorlines.com

A Wrenching Night of Global Solidarity as Georgia Kills Troy Davis

2011-09-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

More photos and reflections from the vigils in GA and around the world at Colorlines.com

Protesters chant Anti-death penalty slogans for Davis, hopeful he will receive a stay. Stephen Morton/AP Photo

Could Troy Davis Save Reginald Clemons?

2011-09-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

From Crooksandliars.com

Yes, Troy Davis has been killed, after a roller coaster ride through the end stages of an execution. But he left a message behind, which said this, in part:

This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.
I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,
“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

I want to take him at his word, and as it turns out, right after I wrote my final post about Troy's execution, someone suggested I look at Reginald Clemons' case, pending in Missouri...

Read the full article at http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/could-troy-davis-save-reginald-clemons

Camapign to End the Death Penalty: "DON’T MOURN, ORGANIZE!"

2011-09-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Today is a DAY OF OUTRAGE!
What you can still do for Troy Davis!

Date: September 22, 2011 1:45 pm
Location: Everywhere!

DON’T MOURN, ORGANIZE! The courts and the criminal justice system have failed Troy and all of us. We know that it’s up to a grassroots movement of people who care about justice to create the change we want. Before he was executed, Troy told his supporters, “There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country."

FIGHT, WE WILL!

The Campaign to End the Death Penalty has a page full of ways you can be involved in the fight for justice: http://nodeathpenalty.org/events/today-day-outrage

Death Penalty Photography Documentary Project - Photos from the Prison Grounds

2011-09-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Photos from the ground outside the prison on the night of Troy Davis's execution in Jackson, Georgia.

Check out the full album on Facebook

Why did Obama let Troy die?

2011-09-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

The first African American president of the United States knew full well there were ways to act if he wanted to stop a legal lynching.

September 22, 2011 | www.socialistworker.org
by Sherry Wolf

BARACK OBAMA refused to lift a finger or say a word to stop the murder of an innocent man in Georgia on September 21.

We were told that Troy Davis was convicted of a state crime, not a federal one, and so the president couldn't commute his sentence. With minutes to go before he was scheduled to be die, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement saying, "It is not appropriate for the President of the United States to weigh in on specific cases like this one."

Bullshit.

In the last decade alone, presidents have declared multiple wars without Congressional approval, they have defied international law through special renditions torture program, they have run a gulag at Guantánamo Bay, they have ripped up civil liberties to read our e-mails and rifle through our trash. Obama himself has just waged a months-long extra-legal war on Libya.

It defies all logic and experience to assert that the leader of the most powerful military and economic empire in the history of the world couldn't intervene to stop the state of Georgia from murdering an innocent man.

As Edward Dubose, president of the NAACP's Georgia chapter, said, "The president is the president. If he chose to intervene, he could." 
Read more »

After Troy Davis's Death, Questions I Can't Unask

2011-09-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

A note from the Author, Dave Zirin, Sports editor for The Nation Magazine:
Folks - I know this is usually a sports column so I apologize. But the execution of Troy Davis has taken over my brain. In honor of Troy Davis, I gave more than I can afford to the Campaign to the End the Death Penalty. at the following link. Please do the same. http://bit.ly/qnxerv

Also, please check out and pass around today's column.
In struggle,
Dave Zirin
________

After Troy Davis's Death, Questions I Can't Unask
September 22, 2011 | www.thenation.com

by Dave Zirin

1. Can Troy Davis, who fought to his last breath, actually be dead this morning?

2 - If we felt tortured with fear and hope for the four hours that the Supreme Court deliberated on Troy's case, how did the Davis family feel?

3. Why did the state of Georgia need to leave him strapped to the death-gurney while waiting for the Supreme Court to rule?

4. Why does this hurt so much?

5. Does Judge Clarence Thomas, an impovershed African American son of Georgia, ever acknowledge in quiet moments that he could easily have been Troy Davis?

6. What do people who insist we have to vote for Obama and support the Democrats "because of the Supreme Court" say this morning?

7. Why does the right wing in this country distrust "big government" on everything except executing people of color and the poor?

8. Why were Democrats who spoke out for Troy the utter exception and not the rule?

9. Why didn't the New York Times editorial page say anything until after Troy's parole was denied when their words wouldn't mean a damn?

9. Why does this hurt so much?

10. How can Barack Obama say that commenting on Troy's case is "not appropriate" but it's somehow appropriate to bomb Libya and kill nameless innocents without the pretense of congressional approval?

11. What would he say if Malia asked him that question?

12. How can we have a Black family in the White House and a legal lynching in Georgia?

13. Why does this hurt so much?

14. Can we acknowledge that in our name, this country has created hundreds of thousands of Troy Davises in the Middle East?

15. Can we continue to co-exist peacefully in a country that executes its own?

16. What the hell do I tell my seven year old daughter who has been marching to save Troy since she was in a stroller?

17. If some Troy's last words were, "This movement began before I was born, it must continue and grow stronger under we abolish the death penalty once and for all", then do we not have nothing less than a moral obligation to continue the fight?

Murdered by the American injustice system

2011-09-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

The state of Georgia has succeeded in killing Troy Davis--but his struggle for justice will never be forgotten by those who stood in solidarity with him.

September 22, 2011 | www.socialistworker.org

AN INNOCENT man was tortured for hours and then murdered in cold blood. That's the only way to describe the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia last night.

For over two decades, Troy endured a nightmare at the hands of police, prosecutors and the court system at every level--from his arrest during a frenzied hunt to arrest a Black man for the murder of a white Savannah, Ga., police officer; to the travesty of a trial in which he was found guilty and sentenced to death; to the years he spent pleading for one judge after another to consider the evidence that proves he's innocent.

But the American system of injustice had a final sickening twist in store for Troy.

Shortly before his scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court took up his lawyers' last-minute appeal for a stay of execution. The 7 p.m. deadline came and went, and Georgia officials announced they would delay the execution until the justices finished their review.

Troy's family and supporters--gathered outside the prison in Georgia, and at meetings, protests and vigils around the country--celebrated what seemed to be a reprieve, until it sank in that the delay was temporary, and could end at any moment with a decision from the high court. Thousands of people who desperately wanted Troy to live spent the next three hours in agony.

Then came the decision--a one-sentence order that the Supreme Court would not grant a stay.
The state of Georgia moved ahead with its murder quickly. It happened fast because, according to reports, Troy had remained strapped to the execution gurney the entire time.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reflection from Colorofchange.com: "Troy Davis is dead; the movement continues"

2011-09-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

At 11:08 pm Wednesday, the state of Georgia killed Troy Davis. Just before he was executed, Troy maintained his innocence, urged people to dig deeper into the case to find the truth, and said "For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls, may God bless your souls." It's a tragic day for Troy, for his family, and for equality, fairness, and justice.

It's hard to know what to say at a time like this. In this moment, and in the days and weeks before Troy's execution, we've felt all kinds of things — anger, sadness, inspiration, hope and hopelessness. This is a time to mourn and remember Troy, to contemplate the profound loss we're facing, to send love and support to Troy's family and friends. It's incredibly important to take the time to spiritually and emotionally care for Troy's family and the amazing community that has arisen to support Troy — and it feels hard to muster the energy to do much more than that.

But before he died, Troy told us that this was about more than him — and he called on those of us who have fought against his execution to continue fighting for justice, even if we weren't successful in saving his life. Now is also an important moment to take stock of what's brought us to this point — the criminal justice system that allowed this to happen, and the movement we've built to fight for Troy and others facing injustice and oppression at the hands of that system.

Race, the criminal justice system, and the death penalty
At every stage of the criminal justice system, Black people and other minorities face inequality and discrimination. We all know about people who've been treated unfairly by police or by the courts. When the entire system treats Black people unequally, it means that the death penalty is applied unequally too. Troy Davis' case underscores the way in which this systemic inequality can lead to a tragic miscarriage of justice.

In most cases, people who've been treated unfairly or wrongly convicted have some chance to correct the injustice. People who have been mistreated by the police can sue them. People who are wrongly serving time can be granted new trials, can be released from prison, and are sometimes entitled to compensation. As we all know, the safeguards that can correct abuse by the criminal justice system often fail, and rampant inequality persists. Usually, people can at least keep trying.

But there's no way to correct a death sentence. If Troy Davis were serving a sentence of life in prison without parole, he could continue to press the legal system to grant him a fair trial — but because the death penalty exists, he will not have that opportunity.

Troy Davis' case has sparked a national conversation about the death penalty. In the past, much of the debate around the death penalty has focused on the morality of killing people as a legal punishment — a very important question that brings out a lot of strong opinions. But even if we completely leave aside the question whether or not it can ever be right for the government to punish a murderer by killing them, there's an entirely different debate to be had — whether or not we can have the death penalty and actually avoid the possibility of killing innocent people. In a criminal justice system that routinely misidentifies Black suspects and disproportionately punishes Black people, Black folks are more likely to be wrongfully executed.

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that the death penalty has been used to kill innocent people many times. Since 1973, more than 130 people have been released from death row because of evidence that they were wrongly convicted. Troy Davis is one of many people who were executed despite serious questions about their guilt, and he's called on his supporters to continue working to end the death penalty.

A group of NAACP organizers went to visit Troy in prison yesterday, and NAACP's Robert Rooks said this about the visit:

For someone that was facing death the very next day, he was just full of life and wanted to spend time talking to the younger staff, the interns, giving them direction and hope and asking them to hold onto God. And he challenged them. He challenged them by saying, "You have a choice. You can either fold up your bags after tomorrow and go home, or you can stand and continue this fight." He said it doesn’t—it didn’t begin with Troy Davis, and this won’t end if he is executed today. He just asked us all just to continue to fight to end the death penalty, if in fact he’s executed.

A powerful movement
For years, ColorOfChange members have been an important part of a growing movement to stop Troy Davis' execution. Hundreds of phone calls from ColorOfChange members to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole helped delay Davis' execution twice. Over the past year, there's been a huge outpouring of support for Davis from ColorOfChange members — more than 100,000 of us have signed petitions, and we raised more than $30,000 to run radio ads in Georgia calling for justice for Troy.

And we've been part of an even bigger movement — NAACP, Amnesty International, National Action Network, Change.org, and others have all been a major part of the fight for Troy Davis, and there are now over close to a million petition signatures overall. Prominent people from all across the political spectrum have spoken out: members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Desmond Tutu, former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, former FBI Director William Sessions, former Georgia Republican congressman Bob Barr, and former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher.
This movement couldn't stop Davis' execution — but it's a movement that won't die with Troy Davis. There's no better way to honor Troy's memory than to keep fighting for justice.

Thanks and Peace,
-- Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
September 21st, 2011

Save Troy Davis

2011-09-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

Troy Davis's clemency has been denied.
His execution is set for 7pm EST (4pm Pacific), TODAY, Wed the 21st.

Come out to speak out against this horrendous ruling and Honor Troy's Life.

WED 9/21 3:30-6pm

SCCC, Pine and Broadway Seattle, WA

Coverage on the fight for Troy Davis

Georgia Senator and the Southern Center for Human Rights Urge Execution Staff to Strike & Refuse to Kill Troy Davis

STOP THIS MURDER!
Georgia's relentless drive to execute Troy Davis exposes the racism and state violence at the heart of the system.
http://socialistworker.org/2011/09/21/dont-let-them-murder-troy

A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE
An innocent man could be executed in Georgia on Wednesday if no official or court intervenes to stop this travesty.
http://socialistworker.org/2011/09/20/troy-davis-denied-clemency

Read more »

Statement From Troy Davis

2011-09-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

To All:
I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can't even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.
Read more »

9/21: Rising Resistance in the US

2011-09-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

New figures show that 1 in 6 Americans live in poverty, nearly 50 million have no health insurance and a whole generation is being lost to unemployment. What is the government’s response? Obama proposes cutting Medicare and Social Security and the racist Republican freak-show rolls on. And to top it all off, on September 21, the state of Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis, an innocent African American man, falsely accused of killing a police officer. Meanwhile, the white cop who the whole world knows murdered Oscar Grant was just released from prison after spending just one year in jail.

But resistance is finally growing. Riots in London, general strikes in Greece, mass demonstrations in Spain... and the Arab revolutions continue to expand, even as the U.S. and NATO try to co-opt the Libyan revolt that toppled Ghadafi. Here at home, Verizon workers struck for two weeks, ILWU members in Washington are fighting to defend union jobs, teachers in Tacoma walked off the job and have defied court injunctions to return to work, and protests against police brutality and the death penalty are spreading.

Join us as we discuss the current US political situation, what we can expect from working class fightback in the US, and what that means for our organizing this fall.

Wed 9/21 7pm

UW Campus
Parrington Hall, Room 106

9/7: Organizing Meeting

2011-09-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Wed 7-9pm
UW Campus
Parrington Hall, Room 106

The start of school is fast approaching, So we've pushed the Study group originally scheduled for today back a week to give us time to make some important decisions about our organizing on campus in the fall. We'll spend the bulk of the meeting discussing Fall UW plans - how do we want to organize, will we have a separate student branch etc. And then we'll have a 30 min section on holding the Northwest Socialist Conference in Portland this year!

**************

And Next Week We'll Continue our Summer Study Series, moving on to discuss Lenin and the Revolutionary Party

WED Sept 14: The Birth of Bolshevism through 1905

Intro/overview
The Birth of Bolshevism by Paul D'Amato (ISR)

Main Reading:
Building the Party by Tony Cliff, Ch. 1-12
-or-
Lenin and the Revolutionary Party by Paul LeBlanc, Ch. 1-6

Supplementary Readings
The Myth of Lenin's Elitism by Paul D'Amato (ISR)
What is Economism? by Duncan Hallas (ISR)
Leninism Under Lenin by Marcel Liebman
Lenin's Political Thought by Neil Harding
Lenin Rediscovered: What is to be Done in Context by Lars Lih

8/31: Jim Crow in Palestine

2011-08-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Wed 8/31 7pm
Eyewitness report from Palestine
UW, Parrington Hall 106

Jesse Hagopian recently returned from the West Bank, Sderot (bordering Gaza), Tel Aviv, and occupied East Jerusalem, where he was part of the first African Heritage delegation to Palestine. The delegation, sponsored by the Interfaith Peace Builders (IFPB), brought African Americans--including several who grew up under Jim Crow segregation--with firsthand experiences of racism in the U.S. to Palestine in order to express solidarity with the struggle for liberation there. As Israel has again begun bombing Gaza, debates arise about the nature of the mass public housing movement among Israelis, and mass movements in the Middle East continue to reshape the Arab World, come join the International Socialist Organization for this eyewitness account and slide show of apartheid in the holy land--and help organize opposition an alternative.

Jesse Hagopian, a member of theInternational Socialist Organization, is a public high school teacher in Seattle and a founding member Social EqualityEducators (SEE, a rank-and-file organization of teachers in the Seattle teacher's union). Hagopian serves on the Board of Directors of Maha-Lilo—“Many Hands, Light Load”—a Haiti solidarity organization. Hiswritings on Palestine, Haiti and in defense of public education have appeared in, The Seattle Times, socialistworker.org, Real Change, Truth Out, TheProgessive.org, Common Dreams, Counter Punch, and BlackAgenda Report.

Summer Study Series: Party & Class

2011-08-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

This week we begin Part Two of our Summer Study Series -- Lenin & the Revolutionary Party.

Given the new era of class struggle and fight back against austerity and oppression, the question of how to best organize our side has a new urgency. Come discuss the role of the revolutionary party and learn from the history of the Bolsheviks, who carried out the first successful socialist revolution.

WED August 24: Party & Class

7-9 pm Room 106

UW, Parrington Hall

Intro/overview:
Lenin's Theory of the Party by Todd Chretien

Main Reading:
Party & Class (collected essays)

Supplementary Readings:
Marxism and political organization by Elizabeth Schulte
Lenin's Return by Helen Scott, Paul LeBlanc & Lars Lih
Marxism & the Party by John Molynieux

8/17: Recession 2.0 & Veterans, bus riders and womens rights organizing reports

2011-08-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Wed 7-9pm
UW Campus
Parrington Hall, Room 106

1) Recession 2.0?
(30 mins)
Stock prices are once again in freefall following Standard & Poor's downgrade of the US credit rating last week, triggering fears of a double dip recession. Coming on the heels of a "recovery" which has brought nothing but skyrocketing unemployment, foreclosures and budget cuts for ordinary people, what will this latest crisis mean for the working class and US politics in general?

Check out these articles:
What's causing the market mayhem?
Killing off the welfare state
Euro saved at workers' expense

2) Organizing Reports and Discussion
(30 mins each)

Iraq Veterans Against the War convention report-back
Jorge G attended the annual IVAW convention in Portland this last weekend, and he'll give us a report on how it went, plans for IVAW organizing locally, and potentially a discussion on possibilities for antiwar organizing in Seattle

Save Our Metro
The newly-formed Save Our Metro is hitting the streets organizing in opposition to proposed cuts to bus services activists with the campaign will will report on how the organizing's been going, next steps after the car-tab and future plans.

Seattle Clinic Defense
Seattle Clinic Defense has been taking on the Knights of Columbus, supporting planned parenthood and holding book discussion groups. Liz will tell us all about how it's been going.

**********

And Next Week We Continue our Summer Study Series, moving on to discuss Lenin and the Revolutionary Party

WED August 24: Party & Class

Video-Revolt against Austerity in Britain

2011-08-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

British Socialist Donny Gluckstein spoke last week at the UW about the revolt against the austerity budget in Britain. Very timely due to recent events.

8/10: The Paris Commune: A Revolutionary Democracy

2011-08-05T14:54:00.001-07:00

Special presentation by the author Donny Gluckstein (visiting from London!)

Wednesday, August 10, 7pm
UW Parrington Hall room 106

For two months in 1871, the workers of Paris took control of Europe’s most celebrated capital city. When they established the world’s first workers’ democracy—the Paris Commune—they found no ready-made blueprints, and no precedents to study for how to run their city without princes, prison wardens, or professional politicians. All they had was the boundless revolutionary enthusiasm of Paris’s socialists, communists, anarchists, and radical Jacobins, all of whom threw their energies into creating a new society.

As the city’s bakers, industrial workers, and other “ruffians” built new institutions of collective political power to overturn social and economic inequality, their former rulers sought to thwart their efforts by any means necessary—ultimately deciding to drown the Communards in blood.

By paying particular attention to the historic problems of the Commune, critical debates over its implications, and the glimpse of a better world the Commune provided, Gluckstein reveals its enduring lessons and inspiration for today’s struggles.

About the author

Donny Gluckstein’s previous books include The Nazis, Capitalism and the Working Class (Bookmarks, 1999) and The Tragedy of Bukharin (Pluto, 1994). Gluckstein is a lecturer in history in Edinburgh and is a member of the Socialist Workers' Party (UK).

Learn more

Intro/overview:
The Civil War in France (Review) by Elizabeth Lalasz

Main reading:
The Paris Commune: A Revolutionary Democracy by Donny Gluckstein

Supplementary readings:
The Civil War in France by Marx
The Women Incendiaries by Edith Thomas

8/3: Donny Gluckstein: Revolt Against Austerity in the UK

2011-08-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

750,000 Public Sector workers struck across Britain on June 30th against austerity and cuts imposed by the ruling Conservative Party. In December over 50,000 students demonstrated in London against increased education fees and stormed the ‘Tory’ Party headquarters. Don’t miss this chance to discuss the growing fightback against austerity with one of Britain’s leading Socialists!

Donny Gluckstein is a veteran member of the British Socialist Workers Party, a lecturer in history in Edinburgh, and and author of many books including Marxism and the Trade Union Struggle with Tony Cliff, The Paris Commune: A Revolutionary Democracy, The Nazis, Capitalism and the Working Class, The Tragedy of Bukharin, and The Western Soviets: Workers’ Councils Versus Parliament in 1915-20.

7/27: Study Series Part One -- State and Revolution

2011-07-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Join us this week for the first meeting in our Revolutionary Socialist Summer Study Series

Wed 7-9pm
UW Campus
Parrington Hall, Room 106

Part one: Marxism & the State

The revolutionary waves sweeping the Middle East and North Africa raises anew the question of the power of the state: what kind of power does it wield, who should control it, and what is the best way to confront and change it? Join us for a two part discussion on the nature of the state and what must be done to create a truly democratic society.

WED July 27: State & Revolution

Intro/overview:
Marxism and the State - speech by Todd Chretien at Socialism 2011

Main reading:
State & Revolution by Lenin

Supplementary readings:
Socialism & Democracy by Paul LeBlanc (ISR)
The Origin of the Family, Private Property & the State by Engels
Marx & Engels on the Death of the State by Hal Draper

And next up in the series
We have a Special presentation by the author Donny Gluckstein (visiting from London!) on the world’s first worker's democracy, The Paris Commune -- Check out the details here and pick up his book at any of our meetings

Palestine Blog #7: The Black Panther Party of Israel

2011-07-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 22

After all I have learned from my teacher and friend Aaron Dixon, the founder of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party, I was especially intrigued and exited to learn about the Black Panther Party of Israel (I’ll refer to it as BPP-I). We were met by a young European Israeli who introduced us to the history of the BPP-I and showed us a short film about the founding of the party. Later we got a walking tour from Reuben Abergel, an original founder of the Israeli Black Panthers. The BPP-I was formed in the early 1970s by Mizrahi Jews—Jews of North African and Middle Eastern decent who faced sever racism in Israeli society—publicly spoken of by Israeli politicians as animals, denied access to proper education and housing, bared from jobs. They thought about naming their organization the Roaring Lions, but they decided it would put more fear in the Israeli government to associate themselves with the militancy of the Black Panthers—and it worked. Israel freaked out, and Mizrahi Jews began joining. Critically, The BPP-I didn’t limit their political activity to defending Mizrahi Jews, but also joined in solidarity with Palestinians struggling for their rights in an important showing of solidarity across religions in the struggle for social justice.

--Jesse

P.S. I got sick and had to leave the BPP-I tour early. My illness kept me from writing for a couple of days and made me miss a day of the trip. I have fully recovered now, and have had some amazing experiences staying in Palestinian homes in the West Bank over the last three days. I hope to share them with you all soon.

Palestine Blog #6: African Palestinians: The Playbook of Liberation

2011-07-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 21^st

Today African American Heritage delegation met with representatives of the African Palestinian community who have a small district in the Old City of Jerusalem. African Muslims making their pilgrimage to Mecca from Senegal and north Africa would often add a trip to Palestine to visit the Al Aqusa Mosque. Over time, some of these Africans stayed and built up a community. These African brothers and sisters welcomed us into their community and told us of their double burden of fighting against the Israeli occupation and against racism. The were careful to distinguish between the prejudice they can sometimes receive from their Arab Palestinian bothers and sisters, and the institutional racism that is perpetrated against them from the Israeli state.

This African Palestinian community lives very close to the Al Aqusa Mosque and have become some of the primary caretakers of it. That is why when Arial Sharon and his Israeli security forces entered the grounds of the Mosque, these African Palestinians played an important role in the second intifada.

The man we spoke to spent over a decade in an Israel prison for his involvement with the resistance. He told us a moving story a successful hunger strike they underwent to get a basketball so they could have some recreation. My thoughts immediately strayed back to the United States where Pelican Bay State prisoners have inspired inmates across California to conduct a hunger strike for their rights.

As Mark, a member of our African Heritage delegation, has repeated often on our trip, "Oppression uses the same playbook the world over, and so does liberation."

Palestine Blog #5: Zionism is Racism

2011-07-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 20th 2011

We were all tense as we entered our bus this morning.

The night before, the African Heritage delegation to Palestine held a meeting to discuss how we would cope with our scheduled meeting in the morning with a group of Israeli settlers in Hebron that are led by the notorious right-wing extremist, David Wilder. My dad Gerald had met with one of their representatives when he saw him three years ago and he had been upfront about the fact that Jewish people would take over Hebron, even if it meant killing all the Palestinians.

We were originally scheduled to meet with Wilder himself, but he was going to be away, so we were planning on meeting with one of his spokespeople. Our decision, as an African American delegation to meet with his spokesperson wasn’t made lightly. Several members of our delegation had direct confrontations with the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi, and in Birmingham, Alabama, among other places during the 1950s and 60s. We felt that to meet with this Israeli settlement society that is openly racist and proud of terrorizing Palestinians, throwing them out of their homes at gun point, and spitting on their children, would be akin to sitting down with the KKK to hear why they hate Black folks. Needless to say, we didn’t decide to go to this meeting without a lot of consideration. We concluded that we would be stronger advocates for Palestinian rights if we had heard directly from these settlers and could explain their ideological connection to the KKK with greater vividness.

As it turns out, the spokesman we met with made a concerted attempt to hide the message that my dad had gotten before—most likely it due to the fact that we were an African American delegation and he knew from the jump that we wouldn't like anything he said. He even tried to impress us by telling us that he has an Arab friend! Even with the restraint he was showing, he couldn’t resist a few disgusting lies such as the settlers are justified in taking Palestinian land because Palestinians choose not to be citizens. After saying his piece he quickly cut off questions before I could get anything out and told us we could go to their museum where we would be met by a guide that could answer any further questions. I was hoping that we would get a chance to grill this guide about the settlements—but the guide never showed up.

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Click for bigger version

We then left to see the Palestinian side of the so-called H2 designated part of the city of Hebron. Every part of the Palestinian territory has a different legal designation—Zone A, B, C, H-1, and H2. When we got out of the van at the checkpoint, we were approached by a Palestinian kid, maybe four years old, who was selling bracelets. The IDF soldiers didn’t want the kid around us and ran up to our delegation with his M-16 and told the kid to get behind the barricade. This kid put a smile on my face as he was obviously taunting the soldiers in Arabic and running in between our legs to avoid the clutches of the IDF.

Finally, the soldier got a hold of his collar and dragged him behind the barrier.

---

Next we went through the checkpoint to the Ibrahim Mosque—the same mosque where in 1994, an Israeli settler came in and shot down scores of Palestinians. In fact, later in the day we met a 19-year-old kid whose father was killed in the massacre and his family was left destitute, so he was on the street selling bracelets to tourists. While inside the Mosque, dozens of M-16 toting IDF came inside on a tour to see the tomb where Abraham is buried, not bothering to remove their shoes like everyone else in an effort to humiliate the Palestinians.

---

Finally, we met up with our tour guide, a man named Issa. Issa is the leader of Students Against Settlements. His first words to us related the story of him getting there to see us that day by crossing the check point. The IDF asked for his papers, took them and without looking at them sat back down in their station. When he complained that they had left him standing there for no reason, they came and hit him in the stomach. Issa then got the commanding officer and complained to him, but the commander said he was lying. Finally, they let him pass when he recited the law and threatened to contact an Israeli lawyer he knows.

Click for bigger version

Issa began the tour by showing us how the Palestinians closed down shops in Hebron, H-2 (meaning that Israel maintains security control and control of the municipal government). The Israeli government wants to transfer all the Palestinians in H-2 Hebron, to H-1 Where the Israelis control the security but the Palestinians maintain the municipality and the social services.

The most incredible part of the tour came when we entered a section of the shopping district in the alley-way that had metal grates over the top of the corridor. Issa explained that the settlement we had gone to earlier that day was directly above us, and that the Palestinians work and live down below where we were standing. It was immediately apparent why they had constructed a grate over the entire corridor: the settlers had thrown all kinds of garbage, rocks, and knifes. We saw one section of the grating that had been destroyed by acid they had thrown down and we found out that now they urinate out of their windows down on the Palestinian shops.

As we were leaving Hebron I saw a concrete block that someone spray painted that read, “Zionism, is Racism.”

-Jesse Hagopian

Palestine Blog #4: I leaned more today than I have any other day of my life

2011-07-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

I leaned more today than I have any other day of my life.

In the morning our amazing tour guide, took us to the Old City—the section of East Jerusalem enclosed by original wall built by the Romans—and we saw most of the holiest sites for Jews, Muslims, and Christians. After going through a couple of security stations and metal detectors we began our tour by going to the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Mosque—considered the third holiest site to Muslims. On September 28, 2000 Ariel Sharon disrespected the Palestinians entering the grounds of the Mosque with some 1,500 riot police, which touched off the second intifada (uprising), or what’s know as the “Al Aqsa intifada.” While our guide was explaining the religious significance of the mosque and the political history of its link to the intifada, a group of Israeli settlers, escorted by the IDF, came to the grounds of the mosque to provoke the Palestinians. In a show of resistance, the Palestinians began chanting “Allah Akbar”—“God is great". As their chants grew louder and more IDF showed up, it became quite tense and the even the IDF realized that the settlers should move along.

We then proceeded to some of the most sacred places to the three major monotheistic religions—including walking the path that Jesus took while he carried his cross to his crucifixion and the tomb from which he was resurrected.

In the afternoon we met with Micha, a former IDF soldier and now a member of the Israeli Committee against House Demolition (ICAHD). Micha was also the founding member of Breaking the Silence, an organization of former IDF soldiers speaking out against the occupation. He gave us a great history of the Zionist movement and the founding of Israel and at each point in his talk he explained the lies he learned in school and the reality of life for the Palestinians.

Afterwards, our delegations traveled with him on a tour of Jerusalem where he showed us this reality—and how the Israeli system of Apartheid works to control and degrade Palestinians. Since the 1970s, all of city of Jerusalem is part of Israel--divided into East Jerusalem where Palestinians live, and West Jerusalem where Jewish Israelis live.

We drove down a road in west Jerusalem with nice sidewalks and tree-lined streets, only to see it all disappear into the East Jerusalem ghetto. The first thing Micha pointed out was the small water towers on top of all of the houses because Israel doesn’t supply the Palestinians proper water.

He showed us Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem housed in trailers—no gym, no playground, no science labs...I immediately thought of the school/trailers in Haiti that the Clinton Foundation provided in Léogâne that was recently exposed to be filled with formaldehyde and the kids had to end the school year early because they were getting sick…Ahhh, occupations… Micha explained that as the textbooks in these Palestinian schools wear out they are increasingly receiving Israeli textbooks, which describe the founding of Israel as great movement for independence instead of a genocide and disposition.

He showed us a home that had been bulldozed by the Israeli government and explained the policy that has led to hundreds of Palestinians losing their homes; Palestinians have to get permits to modify their homes or build new ones, but they can only get these permits if they have the original documents and blueprints for their buildings. Since only wealthy Palestinians can have someone draw up these documents, the vast majority of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem can be deemed illegal and subject to demolition. The Israelis will post a note giving warning and then they will show up unannounced, remove the furniture from a home while most of the family is gone, and bulldoze it to the ground. Micha told us of one student who brought his favorite toy to school every day because it wasn’t sure when the bulldozers were coming.

Next he took us to a section of the apartheid wall—so called “security barrier”—that broke up East Jerusalem. The wall is really overwhelming; thirty feet in the air and spans some 600 miles. Micha broke down why the wall has nothing to do with Israeli security. There are enough gaps in the wall that anyone motivated enough to conduct a suicide bombing would probably be up for driving the extra couple of hours out of the way to get around the barrier. Moreover, Hamas has renounced suicide bombings. The real reasons behind the wall became clear to us on the ground—cut off Palestinians from important resources, such as the aquifers, and to cut off Palestinians from their land to open up space for more Israeli settlers to take over Palestinian land.

But as someone spray-painted on the wall, “The hands that build, can also tear down.”

-Jesse Hagopian

7/20: Women's Liberation and Socialism & Organzing at UW

2011-07-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Please Note: We have shifted our summer meeting space to UW due to difficulty getting a room at SCCC.

Wed 7-9pm
UW Campus
Parrington Hall, Room 106

1) Women's Liberation and Socialism:

The most accurate way to judge a society, wrote Leon Trotsky, a leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, is to look at the position of women. The day-to-day realities for the majority of working women in the U.S. today--lower wages, dwindling reproductive freedom, and discrimination and harassment on the job--reveal a society that doesn't measure up at all to that standard. We'll discuss the idea that the discrimination and oppression suffered by women lies in capitalism--and that socialism offers the hope of a new world of freedom.

Some readings:
Women's liberation and socialism
A woman's place is in the revolution
Engels and the origins of women's oppression
Women, work and the family today
Whatever happened to feminism?

And an audio recording of a fabulous talk from the Socialism conference: Raunch Culture and the New Sexism

2) Assessment of the UW branch (60 min)

This summer both our branches (UW students and city branch) are meeting together. In this section UW comrades will present an assessment of how things went at UW this spring. Come be part of the discussion to assess both the strengths and weaknesses of the organizing and help make plans for a strong fall kick-off!

Palestine Blog #3: “What is the purpose of your trip?” The African Heritage Delegation enters Israel/Palestine

2011-07-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

July 18th, 2011

Today the historic African Heritage delegation of IFPB stepped on to Palestinian soil. We are joined by the “Today’s Youth, Tomorrow’s Leaders” young peoples’ delegation co-sponsored by IFPB and AFSC. We arrived in the Ben-Gurion airport in Tel-Aviv and in general we didn’t have an inordinate amount of obstacles to entering the country.

At the same time, a few of us were targeted for special questioning that made for a very tense atmosphere. Given that Palestinian solidarity activists had conducted a “Flytilla” civil disobedience delegation to Israel last week, we knew that the security would be heightened.

Avery, a member of our delegation, realized he was being observed on our flight from the UK to Tel-Aviv. A man sat next to him that asked him a lot of questions about our trip and our reasoning for coming to Israel. When Avery asked this man if he had any suggestions for where to go he replied, “Ask your trip leader,” making it clear that his questions weren’t friendly airplane chatter. Then as soon as I got off the plane, an airport security agent pulled me aside and grilled me: “What is the purpose of your trip?…Where are you going?...What is the purpose of your stay?…Which locations are you going to?...Why are you here?” If I had answered, “To help bring about peace and justice,” I would have surly been deported. So I just said, “To see the Holy Land,” over and over again. She eventually let me go join up with the rest of the delegation.

When I got to passport control, the first question the women asked me was, “What religion are you?” After a few questions she decided I need further interrogation. She pulled me out of line, took my passport, and proceeded to a back room. She emerged a few minuets later with a man who approached me speaking in Arabic. I told him I didn’t understand what he was saying, and replied, “Are you sure?” Once it was established that I didn’t speak Arabic, the women then began going through the questions again, “Why are you here, where are you going, how long are you going to be here, etc…” Fortunately, the Jewish leader of the Youth delegation was by my side during this round of questioning. She explained that the purpose of our trip was to see the Holy Land. Then when she explained that she had studied in Israel and knew my father that they ceased questioning me and allowed me to pass.

Getting on our tour bus was a relief, but I could feel the tension in the group grow again as our tour guide began to explain what we were seeing out of the window. He explained that Israeli license plates were all yellow and Palestinian license plates were green and white. He told us that we wouldn’t see any of the green and white plates on the road we were taking because Palestinians would be subject to relentless harassment by the IDF if they were to travel on this road. He then proceeded to point out roads nearby that disappeared into a hill and told us that Palestinians have to use a separate highway network in the region that is largely underground. This network of roads often greatly increases travel times. The apartheid apparatus began to come into focus as we passed through two check points on our way from the airport in Tel-Aviv, saw barbed wire fences lining the highways, and heard the explanation from our guide about the different legal statuses that Palestinians live under, depending on their location.

We made it to the Holy Land Hotel and I am going to crash soon…We have a tour of the Old City early tomorrow morning.

Palestine Blog #2: Where in the world is reconciliation peace and justice needed most?

2011-07-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

“As a people who survived the middle passage and Jim Crow segregation—and organized successful struggles against those forms of oppression—we have a responsibility speak out about the occupation of Palestine and share with Palestinians the lessons of our struggles.” My dad and trip leader, Gerald, powerfully expressed the reasoning underpinning our African Heritage delegation to Palestine during our orientation today with the Interfaith Peace Builders.

And one after another, each of the Black activists who explained why they had chosen to participate in this delegation proceeded to electrify the room with their stories of how they had become politically active and dedicated to Palestinian liberation. Several of the delegates grew up in the Jim Crow South and participated in Black freedom struggle there. Gloria (pictured at right) grew up in Mississippi, led some of the sit-ins, and was one of the first Black teachers to integrate a formerly white school in the state. Mark, the final speaker told a moving story of a time when he was faced with a life threatening trip to the intensive care unit. After surviving that experience he was searching for what his purpose in life was. He concluded with a description of a conference he attended called, “The Jamestown Summit for Atoning for the Legacy of Slavery and Genocide,” where the question was asked at the end of the conference that has come to define his purpose: “Where in the world is reconciliation peace and justice needed most?” He is answering that question by joining our delegation.

Today we leave on this the first African heritage delegation to Palestine. I can’t express how fortunate I am to be traveling to this land of apartheid and resistance with people who helped win the Black freedom struggle that brought down the Jim Crow system.

This experience will surely change my life.

--Jesse

P.S. I hear that the some of the activists in the flotilla got their boat out of the harbor in Greece are pressing ahead with their voyage to deliver aid to Gaza. I hope they make it!

Jesse is Headed to Palestine -- and he'll be blogging!

2011-07-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

On July 17th Jesse Hagopian will be traveling to the West Bank of the Palestinian occupied territories. He is joining a delegation of African Americans led by the Interfaith Peace Builders (for more information about his delegation visit: http://www.ifpb.org/africanheritage/default.html). During his two week trip, Jesse will be meeting with activists on all sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, doing several home stays with Palestinian families in the West Bank, taking a tour of the apartheid wall, and visiting schools.

Jesse will be providing regular updates on his travels through this blog -- so check back often and please help spread the word to all those fighting for Palestinian liberation!

Jesse will be reporting back on his experience in Seattle in early August. For more information on potential events or to request Jesse to come speak with your organization, please call 206-309-7274 or email info@seattleiso.org.

Palestine Blog #1: To Speak Truth with Power

2011-07-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

I was living in Washington D.C. in 2002 when the struggle for Palestinian liberation first entered into my political consciousness. I had been working with the Mobilization for Global Justice to help organize a protest at the site of the World Bank against their structural adjustment programs and neoliberal economic policies that were devastating developing countries’ economies. While we were organizing this demonstration I began to take more notice of news describing the second Palestinian “intifada” or uprising. Some of the organizers who knew much more about politics in the Middle East and the Palestinian struggle for liberation from Israel decided that our protest against the World Bank should also take up the issues facing Palestinians and their supporters. On the day of the protest I was surprised to see a contingent of some ten thousand Palestinians and their Muslim and Arab supporters marching towards our demonstration of half the size. But it wasn’t only the size of the pro-Palestine contingent that caught me off guard. Their bellowing cry of “Free, Free Palestine/Long Live Palestine/Long Live the Intifada/Intifada, Intifada” infused the rally with an urgency that I had never felt at a protest before. After that demonstration I knew I had to find out what had animated so many thousands of people around Palestinian rights.

Since I began studying the Israeli occupation of Palestine, I have seen Israel devastate the Palestinian population with weapons made in the USA; I have seen Israel launch a war on Lebanon with false pretense; I have seen them build an apartheid wall through the West Bank that has demolished homes and cut off Palestinians from their farm land; I have seen Israel turn the Gaza strip into a giant prison by sealing off the boarders and refusing to allow medical supplies and other basic necessities to enter. I have seen Israel murder aid workers on a flotilla that was sent to break the blockade of Gaza and deliver medical supplies.

I say I have seen all these things, but in reality I have only read about them—so when my dad invited me to join him on an African American delegation to Palestine that he was helping to lead, I knew I had to go.

At the same time I wasn’t sure if I should go.

A year and a half ago my one-year-old son, wife, and I survived the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. My wife was scheduled to lead a training on HIV and we had arrived in Haiti two days before the quake. In the aftermath of the quake we helped set up a make shift clinic in front of the hotel to assist hundreds of badly injured Haitians who were coming for first aid. This experience took a toll on me physiologically and has been difficult to cope with at times. This is why when I told a friend I was thinking of going to Palestine he said, “Can’t you just go to Hawaii this summer?” He had a point, I could use some R&R.

And yet my experience in Haiti also made me want to go to Palestine more than ever. In the aftermath of the quake I saw the way the world’s powerful nations allow aid to pile up on the tarmac of the airport and refuse to deliver desperately needed food and water. I saw the U.S. respond by sending over 20,000 troops to Haiti, a country that needed 20,000 doctors.

And then I also saw the corporate media coverage that trumpeted the amazing relief effort that was carried out under difficult conditions.

The Haitian people are still living under a UN occupation that is being funded and directed by the United States. The impact this occupation may be hard to learn about in the U.S., but for Haitians it is clear: there are still hundreds of thousands of Haitians who are still homeless, the UN has introduced cholera to the island that has already killed more than 5,000 people, and the U.S./UN oversaw a completely fraudulent election that brought to power an ally of the former dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier. While we in the U.S. occasionally hear about the difficult plight of the Haitian people, we are rarely told of the U.S.’s role in maintaining the misery.

I am now committed to going to the country that has been under the longest occupation; to see, unfiltered by fox news, the struggles of the Palestinian people. I hope to come back home and, as one of the Black women who helped organize our delegation put it, “Speak truth with power.”

--Jesse

P.S. Tomorrow night I leave for Washington, D.C. for a one-day orientation with the other delegates and then on Sunday we leave for Palestine. I hope to provide regular updates on my experiences in the West Bank.

No Cuts to Metro, No Regressive Taxes!

2011-07-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

Chris Mobley testifies at the Metro Transit Hearing on 7/12/11. No Cuts to Metro Service, No Regressive Taxes, Make the Employers Pay!

Look out for a full article authored by Chris explaining the budget crisis and alternative solutions to the the $20-car-tab-fee, it will be posted soon!

7/13 Austerity and Struggle in Greece & Summer Study Series

2011-07-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

Wed 7/13 7pm

SCCC room 4115

Meeting Agenda

1) Europe's Hot Summer Pt 1: Greece (45)

As Greece once again nears the prospect of defaulting on its debt, the government is calling for even more austerity on workers who have already seen their livelihoods drastically reduced. The response has been over a month of mass strikes, occupations of the public squares and crackdown by the police. Discuss the ongoing revolt in Greece and what it means for the rest of the region and the world.

Latest coverage from SW:
What happens if Greece defaults?
From Austerity to Action
What's at Stake in Greece?
Showdown in Greece
The Struggle of the Squares

2) Meeting location change (15)
So it looks like we don't have club status at SCCC after all and will be looking to move meetings to UW for the summer. Details will be provided at the meeting and alternate proposals may be raised.

3) Marxist Summer Study Series Proposal (20)
After last week's discussion we have a tentative proposal for our summer study series. Details are below. It's ambitious but we think doable if we put the time into it. This will also be a great series for newer folks to read with us and really explore and discuss the foundations of our politics. Questions, changes, counterproposals are welcome and then we'll put it to a vote.

Note on the Lenin readings: the suggestion is that anyone who hasn't yet read Building the Party focus on that, otherwise read the LeBlanc. If you've read both then you can focus on the supplemental readings-- there is plenty there!

4) Jesse's going to Palestine! (30)
As most of you probably heard by now our own comrade Jesse will be leaving for Palestine at the end of the week! Hear about his plans and discuss what kind of report back events are being planned on his return.

Marxist Summer Study Series Proposal:

Part one: Marxism & the State

July 27: State & Revolution
Main reading:
State & Revolution by Lenin

Supplementary readings:
Socialism & Democracy by Paul LeBlanc (ISR)
The Origin of the Family, Private Property & the State by Engels
Marx & Engels on the Death of the State by Hal Draper

August 10: The Paris Commune
Main reading:
The Paris Commune: A Revolutionary Democracy by Donny Gluckstein

Supplementary readings:
The Civil War in France by Marx (plus ISR Review)
The Women Incendiaries by Edith Thomas

Part two: Lenin & the Party
August 24: Party & Class
Main Reading:
Party & Class (essays)

Supplementary Readings:
Lenin's Theory of the Party by Todd Chretien (ISR)
Lenin's Return by Helen Scott, Paul LeBlanc & Lars Lih (ISR)
Marxism & the Party by John Molynieux

September 7: The Birth of Bolshevism through 1905
Main Reading:
Building the Party by Tony Cliff, Ch. 1-12
-or-
Lenin and the Revolutionary Party by Paul LeBlanc, Ch. 1-6

September 21: Lenin & the Bolsheviks 1906-1914
Building the Party by Tony Cliff, Ch. 13-20
-or-
Lenin and the Revolutionary Party by Paul LeBlanc, Ch. 7-10

Supplementary Readings (for both sections):

The Myth of Lenin's Elitism by Paul D'Amato (ISR)
The Birth of Bolshevism by Paul D'Amato (ISR)
What is Economism? by Duncan Hallas (ISR)
Leninism Under Lenin by Marcel Liebman
Lenin's Political Thought by Neil Harding
Lenin Rediscovered: What is to be Done in Context by Lars Lih

TUES: Metro Transit Cuts Hearings!

2011-07-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

The hearings on the Metro Transit cuts are tonight!

Every significant bus route is on the chopping block. Metro is facing a 17% service reduction. Nearly 80% of bus riders will have their route either reduced or eliminated. In a region where half of our greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation these cuts will not only be devastating to our community, but also to our environment.

Join us tonight at the public hearing on the cuts to begin a campaign to demand no cuts to our transit service. Working people didn't create the economic crisis, so why should we pay for Wall St.'s greed?

6-8pm (we'll be getting there at 5:30)
King County Council Chambers, 10th floor
516 Third Avenue (at James)
Seattle, WA 98104

Join us to testify against the cuts, and help sign people up to engage in a grassroots, direct action campaign against any cuts. The hearings are focused on whether or not to adopt a $20 car tab fee to fill the budget gap, but our main focus will be against any cuts. Ultimately, the businesses in King County that depend on their employees being able to get to and from work need to pay for quality, accessible public transit -- not working-class drivers.

7/6: Socialism Conference Report Back & Summer plans

2011-07-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Wed 7/6 7-9pm
Seattle Central Community College, Room 4115

Meeting Agenda:

1) Socialism 2011 report back (50 min)
This year's Socialism conference was the best yet-- with 1300 people attending from all across the the US and several other countries as well. We heard from those on the front lines of the struggle from Egypt to Wisconsin, and discussed how we can rebuild a fighting revolutionary left in this country. Check out the report-back article in the post below and look for video and audio recordings of the workshops at wearemany.org - there are already a few up with many many more to come in the next few weeks.

We'll have a round robin report from those of us who attended the conference sharing our experience, what were our favorite workshops, what did we learn and how we can apply these lessons to our work here in Seattle in the year to come.

2) SAVE THE DATE: Donny Gluckstein in Seattle! (20 min)
Author of numerous books and longtime member of the British Socialist Workers Party Donny Gluckstein will be in Seattle on vacation this summer and has graciously offered to do a couple meetings with us while he's in town. This will just be a short section to discuss how we want to build for these two meetings:

8/3: The Revolt Against Austerity in Britain
Check out these SW articles on the recent public sector worker's strike there:
http://socialistworker.org/2011/06/30/britain-public-sector-strike
http://socialistworker.org/2011/07/06/living-public-sector-pension-l

8/8: The Paris Commune: A Revolutionary Democracy
For this one be sure and pick up a copy of Gluckstein's book just republished by Haymarket! http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/The-Paris-Commune

3) Summer education plans (30 min)
Hopefully people have lots of ideas coming out of the conference! The center is suggesting full branch study groups on Leninism. We can potentially do a couple things as a whole branch as well as smaller groups meeting separately. Let's discuss and vote on what we want to do.

Where socialism was in the air

2011-07-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

Nicole Colson reports from Chicago on the Socialism 2011 conference--a gathering of important left voices and activists from both the U.S. and around the globe.

July 6, 2011 | socialistworker.org

MORE THAN 1,300 socialists and activists from across the U.S. and around the globe turned out in Chicago June 1-4 for "Socialism 2011: Revolution in the Air," sponsored by the Center for Economic Research and Social Change and cosponsored by the International Socialist Organization.

The conference is the largest annual gathering of socialists in the U.S.--this year's was the largest single conference in the more than two decades that it has been held. Multiracial and multi-generational, participants expressed new optimism about fighting for a better world, especially after the inspiring revolutions and rebellions in the Middle East, and the mass workers' protests in Madison, Wis.

As he began his discussion of "Civil Liberties Under Obama," Salon.com columnist Glenn Greenwald told the crowd:

I speak at a lot of events these days, a lot of college campuses and conferences and the like, and this is definitely the most--what's the word?...energetic gathering that I've ever been at.
It's interesting, a lot of times, that if people gather for the purpose of engaging in systemic critiques of political systems and political power and the like, this sort of gloominess sets in--I'm sure you're familiar with it and have encountered it--that's grounded in this defeatism...
The exact opposite energy has been really palpable at this conference. Not just this commitment to talking about the need for change, but a real belief in the possibility for it. It's really encouraging and inspiring to be around a gathering of so many people from so many different age groups and backgrounds who really are committed to that vision.

Phil Smith, an ISO member in Denton, Texas, was at his first Socialism conference. "I thought it was excellent," he said, "I live in a very conservative state and, by necessity, [left-wing activists are] very close in Texas. It's really great to come up to Chicago and have people from all over the country. You don't even know these people, and you're instantly just as close-knit. I've never experienced anything like this."

Smith said one of the best meetings he attended was SocialistWorker.org columnist Sherry Wolf speaking on "The Myths of Zionism." "The energy in the room was really fantastic," he said. "Everyone in the room was for [Palestinian liberation], and it was interesting being in a room with 80 people totally down for Palestine. A room of atheists, Jews, Muslims."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THERE WERE more than 120 talks throughout the weekend on topics ranging from the Marxist theory of the state, to the need for a new abortion rights movement, to the uprisings in the Middle East.
Talks by Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah and Omar Barghouti, a founder of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, were packed with Palestinian rights activists talking about their attempts to promote the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaign.
Meanwhile, at a meeting on "Abortion Without Apology: The Case for a New Movement," a packed room of activists from across the U.S. spoke not just of the need for a new women's rights movement, but of what they are doing now to make it happen.

Lindie Ngobeni, a member of the ISO from Boston who also was attending the conference for the first time, said, "It was awesome to see just how many people there were attending. I've been at UMass-Boston organizing, and to actually see this on a bigger scale puts things in perspective--what you're building for when you're doing something on your campus, and what it's part of in the larger sense."
Mark Clements, an organizer with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and former prisoner who served 28 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit, said, "It was an exciting opportunity to allow people to grow." He spoke along with Leela Yellesetty on "Challenging the New Jim Crow."

Clements added: "That's what activism is all about, teaching people about what needs to be confronted. We're dealing with so many different issues--from housing, to discrimination of rights, down to juveniles being mistreated by our criminal justice system. I think that [the conference] was dynamite. I'm waiting on next year already."

Dr. John Carlos--the 1968 Olympic medalist who, along with Tommy Smith, raised the Black Power salute at the Mexico City Games--also spoke at Socialism. "To come back to the Socialism conference is fantastic--to see so many young, enthusiastic people trying to make it a better society for all people and have no fear for who the enemy may be," he said. "They are trying to make what's wrong right."
Carlos spoke alongside Nation sportswriter Dave Zirin, on "Sports and Resistance," and he also premiered his book The John Carlos Story, cowritten with Zirin. As Carlos said, "For me to come back and have an opportunity to convey some of my thoughts and feelings, and some of my history and my experiences, it's a wonderful feeling."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SOME OF the most inspiring moments of the weekend came from activists from the Middle East who have witnessed firsthand the power of ordinary people to change the world.

"We are at a moment now where we see the utter bankruptcy of the political system in this country as a vehicle for progressive change on any issue," Ali Abunimah told a packed plenary session of more than 1,000 people. "If we want this change to happen, we're going to have to go out and do it ourselves, just like they're doing it in Egypt."

Mostafa Omar, an activist living in Cairo, spoke of the importance of bringing together activists from various struggles not only around the U.S., but across the globe:

The thing that I really got from the conference is that there are so many socialists and activists involved in a wide variety of struggles--many, many struggles all around this country. If you look at them from the inside, they might look small. But if you look at the bigger picture, these struggles are incredibly important, whether they win or lose. Every single struggle in the United States really is a stepping stone towards developing consciousness and organization.

The other thing that I noticed is the tremendous amount of commitment from those socialists and activists on a daily basis. A commitment, not only to fight those small struggles, but to prepare for a bigger battle to change the whole system. We've also had many, many small struggles in Egypt--and sometimes, people didn't know where these struggles would go. But ultimately, every single struggle they fought over the years made a difference in January and February 2011.

These are lessons that activists in the U.S. are learning as well. At the weekend's final plenary session, Sam Jordan, a long-time member of the ISO in Madison, Wis., spoke about the battle over workers' rights in Wisconsin:

We're at a point where we can see the day when...we can cast aside the parasites who exploit us every day. There's a real possibility to build a socialist movement in the United States, capable of ushering in a society that is organized to meet human need, not corporate greed.

Recordings from many of the conference talks will be available at WeAreMany.org.

6/22: The nature of revolutions

2011-06-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hi all, Just a reminder that this will be our last meeting before the Socialism 2011 Conference in Chicago. We will not have a meeting next Wed June 29 so people can take that last week to relax and focus on reading before we travel to Chicago.

Ok, on to this week's agenda....

1) ISR article Discussion: The Nature of Revolutions (45 min)
We will discuss Duncan Hallas' article from the current International Socialist Review on the The nature of revolutions. It's from a speech delivered in 1998, but incredibly relevant in today's context, looking at revolutions historically and drawing out the implications for revolutionary organization. Should be a great piece to get our wheels turning for discussions at the conference.

2) Socialism Conference Workshop Discussion -- Small group breakouts (45 min)
We'll get into small groups and discuss which workshops we'd like to go and brainstorm things we'd like to read in preparation. Groups can also discuss any ideas/proposals for a session they think the entire branch should attend together.

Liz speaks at SlutWalk Seattle

2011-06-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

Liz Fawthrop from Elliot Stoller on Vimeo.

For More Info About SultWalk Seattle check out their webpage

Be sure to check out these great articles from SocialistWorker
The roots of sexual assault
Sparks of a new women's movement
and other coverage of SlutWalks across the country

6/15 Intro to Marxism & Trivia Night!

2011-06-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

On June 15 we will not be having a regular branch meeting. Instead, at 7pm in the regular meeting room we'll kick off a Meaning of Marxism discussion series, which will be followed by a Trivia Night Fundraiser at 8pm.

7pm Meaning of Marxism Study series first meeting
SCCC Room 4115

Are you interested in learning more about the politics of the International Socialist Organization (ISO)? For those that are, the Seattle ISO is organizing a 6-week study group on the ISO's Where We Stand articles and Paul D'Amato's book The Meaning of Marxism. If you're interested in joining the ISO or if you want to get a better grasp on Marxist theory or our political tradition this is the study group for you.

The Meaning of Marxism can be picked up at the first meeting of the study group. Where We Stand articles can be found online Here

Part 1: Socialism, not capitalism
Readings: Meaning of Marxism

Intro: The Relevance of Marxism
Chapter 1: From Millenarianism to Marx
Chapter 2: Marx’s Material Method
Chapter 3: The Marxist View of History

Where We Stand Articles
    •  A few profiting from the many
    •  To each according to their needs
    •  Standing on the shoulders of giants

then

8pm TRIVIA NIGHT!
Politics, Pop Culture, Sports

Bill’s Off Broadway
725 E Pine St.

PRIZES!
Including 4 $25 gift certificates to Bill's Off Broadway & more!

$10 ENTRY PER PERSON
NO TEAM LIMIT
RSVP on Facebook
Fundraiser to support Seattle students and activists traveling to the Socialism 2011 Conference in Seattle

6/8: Anti-Deportation campaign & SlutWalk Seattle

2011-06-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

Note: As UW wraps up class for the summer break the UW students will join back with the Seattle branch and we will meet as one group through the summer, with the students kicking off ther own group again at the UW in the fall.

7pm Wed 6/8
SCCC room 4115

1) Stop a deportation! (30 min)
One of our Teachers has a high school student who is currently facing deportation and he wants to fight it. He will becoming to this week's meeting to tell us more about his situation and discuss what we can do. Come out to help kick off an anti-deportation campaign.

2) Seattle SlutWalk (30 min)

Seattle SlutWalk is happening on June 19, it's an anti-sexist march and rally "to show that, no matter what you're wearing, no one deserves to be raped, assaulted, or harassed" and it's looking to be huge! Liz will give us the rundown on what it's all about, how we can build for it and plans for the day of.

Read coverage & debates about SlutWalk at socialistworker.org:
Challenging Sexism USA
Sparks of a new women's movement
Walking to say we've had enough
Why I won't call myself a "slut"
These are protests against sexism
In defense of SlutWalk protests
The point of the SlutWalk protests
Reviving the fight against sexism

3) Socialism updates (30 min)
Last week we went around the room and discussed who we were inviting to Socialism 2011. This week we'll update each other on how those conversations have been going.

4) Branch Business (20 mins)
We'll vote on where to meet for the summer and discuss other branch business.

6/11: Radical Book Sale

2011-06-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

We'll be selling Radical Books and other Garage Sale sundries this weekend at the Capitol Hill Garage sale

Sat 6/11, 10-3pm

FedRep Park,
(Corner of Federal and Republican on Capitol Hill)

Deeply Discounted Book Prices -- Left wing Literature and Classic Marxist Texts
Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, Mike Davis
Anti-war, Anti-racist, US History, Revolutionary History, Marxist Theory and Socailist Pamphlets galore

Fundraiser to support Seattle students and activists traveling to the Socialism 2011 Conference in Seattle

6/1 City Branch meeting

2011-05-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

Wed 6/1 7pm
SCCC room 4115

1) Recent developments in the Middle East (40)

Join us to discuss the latest developments in the ongoing revolt and repression across the region with blogger extraordinaire JustJennifer! She has been following these events closely and helping get the word out from activists on the ground through the Eyes on Egypt and the Region group on DailyKos.

Read more analysis at Socialist Worker and the International Socialist Review:
Reigning in the Revolution
Turning point in the struggle?
Egypt's unfinished revolution
Libya's revolution, U.S. intervention, and the left
Hypocrisy, ideology, and imperialism

2) Socialism Conference (30)

Socialism 2011 will be the biggest gathering of the revolutionary left in this country and it's only about a month away! There is a huge opening to revolutionary politics right now, with people eager to discuss politics and get active! We'll discuss how our group is doing in ptrparing for the conference -- who we're talking to and how we're going to get them to the best political event of the year! Check out the great article by Sherry Wolf on the conference just below this post -- and here's the promo video:

Socialism 2011 - Revolution in the Air from International Socialist on Vimeo.

3) Fundraising (30)

Following off the last point, it will take money to ensure that everyone who wants to go to the conference can. We will distribute fundraising letters, vote on a proposal to make bumper stickers, and split up to discuss plans for our upcoming garage sale and trivia night!

4) Announcements (10)

A Political Orgy for the Left

2011-05-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

By Sherry Wolf, reposted from Sherry Talks Back

Where can radicals sit and have a beer with Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald, get advice from the man behind the 1968 Olympics Black Power fist, John Carlos, and share breakfast with criminal justice writer/activist Liliana Segura or Anand Gopal, whose unembedded reporting from Afghanistan is supreme?

Where do you go to discuss the meaning of revolutions in process and revolutions deferred with the participants in those struggles from Egypt and around the Middle East?

Socialism 2011: Revolution in the Air will highlight these folks and others, but more than 1,200 workers and students will be attending this largest gathering of the far left in the United States, taking place in Chicago, July 1–4, 2011.

Some of the participants and speakers giving the 100 talks will be familiar to progressives. Dave Zirin, the hilarious and insightful Nation sports columnist who snags regular appearances on Rachel Maddow, Morning Joe and ESPN will be there, as always.

Most are lesser-known figures. But once you hear Nicole Colson give one of her smashing culture talks—this year’s is called “A riot of my own: The Clash”—you’ll be a convert to this annual orgy of left politics, debate and entertainment.

This is no snoozy, academic affair, though academics will be well represented. They shed whatever pedantic leanings are preferred in academe in order to lead interactive discussions on everything from the history of Black Reconstruction to Marxism and morality.

Whether you’re looking to delve into questions about historical figures like Rosa Luxemburg, Crazy Horse and Malcolm X or sort through what it actually means to be a Trotskyist, this is the place to be.

If you’re tearing your hair out about economic questions—and really, who isn’t?—Joel Geier will crack you up as he takes you down a labyrinthian path to grasping the mutating crisis of global capitalism. Joel evokes a sort of Woody Allen meets Alan Greenspan persona, reborn as a flaming Bronx-raised Marxist. Trust me, you’ve never laughed so hard while learning economics.

Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions leader Omar Barghouti will be speaking on that rising movement and yours truly will be taking on the myths of Zionism—AIPAC, watch out!

We’ll hear from the new generation of Latino, Black, women and LGBT leaders speaking on raunch culture, the legacy of colonialism, transgender struggles and capitalism and sexuality.

Veterans from labor struggles past like Dan Lane and new labor militants like Brian Jones and Megan Behrent fighting to revive Madison-like tactics—including many of that struggle’s leaders—will be there participating in discussions and giving talks themselves.

Sal Rosselli, head of the National Union of Health Care Workers and Steve Early, whose new book Civil Wars in U.S. Labor is out, will be among the hundreds of workers there trying to carve out a new direction for labor today. With Socialistworker.org‘s labor columnist, Lee Sustar, whose encyclopedic knowledge of labor history is truly stunning—you will get years’ worth of learning in one weekend.

I’ll be blunt, most Americans have never heard powerful public oratory from the mouths of ordinary activists and are blown away by the the insight and wit of Socialism speakers. Pull up a chair and listen to Sharon Smith, who was a child sweatshop worker from Rhode Island and is now a socialist activist and author. Or check out talks by Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor, Ahmed Shawki, Alan Maass or Paul D’Amato and you’ll ask yourself why the hell you’re stuck listening to uninspiring blowhards on TV when these folks can tear it up so effectively. (We do know the answer, of course, but all the same, they deserve their own shows.)

I cannot say or write enough magnificent things about this annual event because for me it has truly been life-affirming and transforming.

And lest you think that reds are a bunch of teetotaling chatterboxes—though sober yammerers are more than welcome and embraced—the parties are frankly a blast and often go on till morning with music, dancing, drinks and 3 am debates about modern art and dialectics.

I watched Democracy Now‘s Amy Goodman practically sink to her knees in prayer when she first laid eyes on Haymarket Books’ thousands of titles and display of red lit. It is a sight our Barnes & Nobleized nation rarely ever glimpses.

There’s an embarrassment of riches when it comes to public speakers and the range of talks at Socialism 2011. Do not miss this once-a-year opportunity to hang out, meet, learn and feel thoroughly human and accepted with a crowd of socialists.

Besides, there are revolutions taking place, where better to be than with a bunch of revolutionaries? It’s our time, revolution’s in the air!

Here’s a promo video, enjoy!

Socialism 2011 - Revolution in the Air from International Socialist on Vimeo.

The Seattle ISO is organizing a group of activists to attend the conference together -- if your interested in coming with us please email info@seattleiso.org or call 206-309-7274

5/23 & 24: Revolution in the Air: Build the Socialist Movement

2011-05-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

Two events in May:

Monday, May 23, 7pm

University of Washington Seattle Campus, Smith Hall 105
RSVP on facebook

Tuesday, May 24, 7pm

Seattle Central Community College, Room 4115

RSVP on Facebook

Epic revolutions are spreading throughout North Africa and the Middle East and have shown that masses of ordinary people can take control of their own lives. The heroic struggle of theworkers of Wisconsin to defend their unions has inspired people across the country to fight back.

We need an alternative to the current system of austerity, war and profiteering - an alternative based on the needs of working people not Wall Street. Come to this forum and get involved inthe socialist movement!

FEATURED GUEST SPEAKER: KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a doctoral candidate in the department of African American Studies at Northwestern University. Her research looks at the struggles and campaigns of African Americans against housing discrimination and redlining in the late 1960s in Chicago. She wrote an award winning paper based on her initial research on Blacks and housing discrimination called, "The Race Tax: Black Chicago's Fight for Homeownership."

She is active in local housing struggles in Chicago and is an organizer with the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign. Taylor has had several articles published on racism in the United States for publications like CounterPunch, The Black Commentator, Black Agenda Report, Gaper's Block, New Politics and the International Socialist Review among others. She is on the editorial board of the International Socialist Review.

Below is a fabulous video of Keeanga speaking last year on "The Black Power Revolt of the 1960's"

Black Power Revolt of the 1960's - Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor from RedReel on Vimeo.

5/26: Panel: From WI to WA: How Can We Stop the War on Workers?

2011-05-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

A Panel of Labor Activists Speak Out

7pm Thurs May 26th
Seattle Labor Temple
(2800 1st Ave, Seattle 98121)

The corporate elite and politicians have decided that workers, students, and the poor will pay for the economic crisis. Instead of taxing the rich and corporations, they’re using huge deficits as an excuse to attack workers’ rights and living standards.

But the massive uprising of workers in Wisconsin showed the potential to reverse this vicious assault. A mass sick-out–a strike–of teachers led to a weeks-long occupation of the capitol building and the largest labor rallies that this country has seen in decades.

Here in Washington, the state legislature is about to decide on $5 billion in cuts–most to be paid by teachers, students, public sector unions, the poor and the old. Yet several of the richest people in the world live in this state.

How can workers organize and fight? What struggles is labor currently waging?

Featuring:
Rodolfo Franco: President, Washington Federation of State Employees Local 304
Lee Newgent: Executive Secretary, Seattle Building & Construction Trades Council
Terri Mast: Secretary-Treasurer, Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific representing state ferry workers
Steve Garey: President, United Steel Workers Local 12-591
Dan Troccoli: Seattle Education Association and Seattle Equality Educators, eyewitness to Wisconsin revolt

Sponsored by Social Equality Educators

5/18: City Branch Organizing meeting

2011-05-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

Wed 5/18
7pm SCCC room 4115

1) Social Equality Educators (40 mins)

Our members have been doing really important work in the Seattle teacher's union for the last several years and it is really starting to pay off. This coming week they're holding a forum on racial equity in education as well as a protest to school Chase bank. Hear about how this work is going, how we can help, and next steps.

2) Socialism 2011 Conference (30 min)
Chris will report back from the national conference call and next steps here in Seattle to build for Socialism 2011! Bring your ideas and think big for how we can win our closest contacts and allies to attending, publicize this far and wide, and fundraise to make sure everyone can make it.

3) Website changes - (30 min)
This will be the chance for the branch to weigh in a new design for the Seattle ISO website-- how do we want to promote and project ourselves online and any ideas and feedback.

4) Announcements (10 min)