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Veterans For Peace Anti-War March At Veterans Day Parade-Boston, Mass.-Nov. 11, 2012
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Saturday, November 17, 2012
An Injury to One is An Injury
to All:
A Conference in Defense of Civil Liberties and to End Indefinite Detention
Featuring:
Glen Greenwald - Author and Guardian Columnist
Sahar F. Aziz - Civil Rights Legal Scholar
Shahid Buttar - Executive Director, Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Steve Downs - Executive Director, National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms
Nancy Murray - Director of Education, ACLU of Massachusetts
Ruth Wilson Glimore - Scholar, Activist and Prison Abolitionist
John Woodruff - International Representative of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE)
And many others!
Saturday December 8, 2012
Semesters Hall, Student Center
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, CT
Dear Friends,
A Conference in Defense of Civil Liberties and to End Indefinite Detention
Featuring:
Glen Greenwald - Author and Guardian Columnist
Sahar F. Aziz - Civil Rights Legal Scholar
Shahid Buttar - Executive Director, Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Steve Downs - Executive Director, National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms
Nancy Murray - Director of Education, ACLU of Massachusetts
Ruth Wilson Glimore - Scholar, Activist and Prison Abolitionist
John Woodruff - International Representative of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE)
And many others!
Saturday December 8, 2012
Semesters Hall, Student Center
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, CT
Dear Friends,
Our movements and our communities are under assault. Rarely
a week goes by without the passage of a new repressive law, grand jury subpoena,
raid, sentencing, or court ruling targeting our movements. No minute goes by
without new deportations, arrests, illegal frisks, frame-ups and prison
sentences that divide and repress immigrant, African American, Latino, Muslim,
Arab, South Asian and other communities targeted by our government. The
repressive apparatus is strengthened daily. "Secure Communities" or S-Comm,
which connects local police forces to federal immigration authorities, has been
implemented in nearly every state and will be universal by 2013. The right of
the president to detain anyone (including U.S. citizens) without trial has been
codified into law, and is now being defended in the courts. The NSA's right to
spy on our e-mails and phone-calls without even suspicion of wrong-doing was
just approved once again by the House.
Deportations have grown to roughly 400,000 a year - between 1.5 and 2 times the rate during 2001-2008. 1 out of every 8 people in prison on planet earth is African American. (about one in four is American) In the last four years double the number of whistle-blowers have been prosecuted under the WWI Espionage act than in all previous years combined.
The last few months alone are stunning:
Deportations have grown to roughly 400,000 a year - between 1.5 and 2 times the rate during 2001-2008. 1 out of every 8 people in prison on planet earth is African American. (about one in four is American) In the last four years double the number of whistle-blowers have been prosecuted under the WWI Espionage act than in all previous years combined.
The last few months alone are stunning:
- In April, 2012 Tarek Mehanna began serving a 17 and one half year sentence for writings he placed online and a trip to Yemen.
- Between August and October, 2012 federal courts jailed three young Pacific Northwest anarchists for refusing to testify in grand-jury fishing operations. All three have spent significant time in solitary confinement. One of them - Leah Plante - was told she would be in solitary for her entire sentence of 18 months.
- On August 28, 2012 Dr. Shakir Hamoodi, an Iraqi-American engineer who spoke out against the invasion of Iraq, began serving a three year sentence for sending money to his family in Iraq which they needed for food and medicine during the U.S. sanctions regime.
- On Monday, October 29, 2012 the Supreme Court declined to hear the case of the Holy Land Five - five leaders of what had been the largest Muslim charitable organization in the U.S. - who are serving sentences ranging between 15 and 65 years for giving charity to Palestinians.
But on December 8th residents and activists from
Connecticut and the region will meet in New Britain to learn about each others
struggles and make connections necessary to mount a serious response to this
many-sided offensive. December 8th can be a critical step in building a
movement capable of defending our brothers and sisters when they are targeted
for their speech, their political activity, race, religion, or nation of origin;
that can prevent deportations; that can expose and challenge racial profiling
and the mass-incarceration of generations; that can defend workers organizing in
their work-places; that can overturn reactionary laws that restrict our basic
civil freedoms.
There is now one month before
the December 8th conference. We are at a critical moment where we need to buy
plane tickets for our speakers and finish gathering the funds to bring this
event together. (Sahar Aziz is coming from Texas and Glen Greenwald is coming
all the way from Brazil!) Between transportation, speaker Honoraria, and
publicity we need an estimated $6,500. This is also an ideal time to get the
word out far and wide. Please contact us if you can contribute financially or
in any other way.
To endorse, contribute, help
out, or for more information contact Dan at 860-985-4576 ordaniel.adam.piper@gmail.com
Send advanced registration fee, lit table fees or contributions to:
Send advanced registration fee, lit table fees or contributions to:
C/O of Dan Piper
103 Elizabeth street
Hartford, CT 06105
Make checks payable to: "CT Coalition to Stop Indefinite
Detention"
For more information see:
http://ctstopindefinitedetention.wordpress.com/
or http://www.facebook.com/StopIndefiniteDetention?fref=ts
Endorsing organizations (in formation):
Bill of Rights Defense Committee; National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms; Project SALAM; New England United; United National Anti-war Coalition; Committee to Stop FBI Repression; Connecticut Green Party; National Lawyers Guild-CT; American Friends Service Committee, Western MA; Muslim Student Association of CCSU; Stop the Raids, Trinity College; We Refuse to Be Enemies; West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice; CT United for Peace; Hartford Catholic Workers; Latin American Students Organization of CCSU; Connecticut Coalition for Peace and Justice-Hartford; Bethlehem (NY) Neighbors for Peace; Middle East Crisis Committee; Central Connecticut Chapter of Veterans for Peace; Occupy Hartford; Manchester Peace Coalition; Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba.
Hosted by CCSU YSA
Initiated by the Connecticut Coalition to Stop Indefinite Detention
(Contact
Marilyn (marilynl@alumni.neu.edu) if you are interested in carpooling
from Boston area)
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Dear Friend,
I want to give you a special invitation to attend the state convention of the Green-Rainbow Party (our Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party). I'll be there to talk about the presidential campaign - and where we go from here. And you can hear our Vice-presidential candidate, Cheri Honkala, speak at 12:50pm. Hope to see you there this Saturday! - Jill Stein
I want to give you a special invitation to attend the state convention of the Green-Rainbow Party (our Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party). I'll be there to talk about the presidential campaign - and where we go from here. And you can hear our Vice-presidential candidate, Cheri Honkala, speak at 12:50pm. Hope to see you there this Saturday! - Jill Stein
Think Globally, Run Locally - You're Invited to our 2012 State Convention November 17
Fill out the Registration form today. See agenda page for the day's schedule.
We're looking forward to a great 2012 Annual State Convention in
Worcester this Saturday, November 17. Cheri Honkala, co-founder, Poor People's
Economic Human Rights Campaign, anti-foreclosure activist, and 2012 Green Party
Candidate for Vice President will be our keynote speaker! Bill Strickland,
Afro-American Studies professor and co-founder of the Rainbow Coalition Party,
will speak on the need for alternate politics.
We will congratulate and thank Scott Laugenour for running an excellent local campaign that excited everyone around the state. We will also welcome back Jill Stein to Massachusetts after a
spectacular national campaign that was heard around the globe.
And we will meet the dedicated volunteers who have worked behind the scenes all
year on these campaigns and on keeping the party going. We'll roll up our
sleeves for the next stage in our growth and advocacy for people, peace and the
planet.
Please visit the Agenda Page to check out the detailed plan for the day. We will be:
Also, there is still time to help with the convention! We need GRP members like you to keep the event running smoothly, so please volunteer!
We're looking forward to a great 2012 Annual State Convention in
Worcester this Saturday, November 17. Cheri Honkala, co-founder, Poor People's
Economic Human Rights Campaign, anti-foreclosure activist, and 2012 Green Party
Candidate for Vice President will be our keynote speaker! Bill Strickland,
Afro-American Studies professor and co-founder of the Rainbow Coalition Party,
will speak on the need for alternate politics. We will congratulate and thank Scott Laugenour for running an excellent local campaign that excited everyone around the state. We will also welcome back Jill Stein to Massachusetts after a
spectacular national campaign that was heard around the globe.
And we will meet the dedicated volunteers who have worked behind the scenes all
year on these campaigns and on keeping the party going. We'll roll up our
sleeves for the next stage in our growth and advocacy for people, peace and the
planet.Please visit the Agenda Page to check out the detailed plan for the day. We will be:
- starting the day with coffee and music, led by Master of Ceremonies Scott Laugenour
- electing statewide party officers,
- hearing from several candidates about electoral politics.!
- enjoying a hot vegan/vegetarian lunch - included with registration fee for pre-registrants (please register by Friday noon).
Also, there is still time to help with the convention! We need GRP members like you to keep the event running smoothly, so please volunteer!
WHEN
November 17, 2012 at 9am
WHERE
Unity Hall, First Unitarian Church, Worcester MA
90 Main St
Worcester, MA 01608
Google map and directions
90 Main St
Worcester, MA 01608
Google map and directions
CONTACT
Richard Vaillette · rvaillette@gmail.com · 978-855-2470
Help
answer the question: HOW IS GREEN RAINBOW DIFFERENT?The Platform Committee seeks your help to say what the Green-Rainbow Party sees as a program for the people's government, locally and in Massachusetts. Please help our democratic process by bringing the diversity of Green-Rainbow views to the draft “Fundamental Platform” in progress (see webpage link). This will be an early agenda item at the convention. Please email questions or comments to platform@greenrainbow.net.
Help Develop Green-Rainbow Candidates
Now that the elections are over, the Candidate Development and Legal Committee (CDLC) will be reforming and looking ahead to the future. We need new members who want to help recruit and support GRP candidates for local and state level races in 2013 and 2014. We usually meet monthly by teleconference. Interested people should send their contact information to John Andrews, jandrews166@gmail.com.
See you Saturday!
Green-Rainbow Party
http://www.green-rainbow.org/
-=-=-
Green-Rainbow Party · PO BOX 87, N. Hatfield, MA 01066, United States
-=-=-
Newsletter of Socialist Alternative
November 12th, 2012
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Socialist Wins 28% of the Vote in Seattle - Historic Opportunities to Challenge Corporate Politics<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Y2bsE7DlpWO0BgjfLq6px48Mg2V4r7Lwq48WfNdG0Gua3F0pcGaHk2UnudOuNfPs8sWzXFnD3I1TUz4GndkvVGKpYWS87zvUPSdKkqr_mWOLvTrke8WleoUbPTW87cZZimlKjCKjvXCyOz8j7h_xjLgp8n3q9cTWuCrqE1J1DXk=>
By Philip Locker
"This is just the beginning!" Kshama Sawant promised supporters and voters on behalf of Socialist Alternative at an excited election night party on November 6 in Seattle, WA. While the presidential race was mainly about what to vote against (see article Right Wing Rejected in the Elections<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Y2bsE7DlpWM5EdneOcTp0nW6tFRFTaTHKErRecXoQso-EWyEhp82BptPmnxKDPxfY6S5qgrGNlAUAHcGdXJYBU2MtJkBs-jtUj9YdpQqy6Jhqg6mImBEv5H3e31rlOqrhVqDCuNxtn5UYSGcuFZIe6QQXdx1pOaj8YIlcq4odBg=>), an inspiring campaign in Seattle's 43rd district for Washington state house offered working-class voters a real alternative. The ongoing vote count at the time this article was written has Kshama Sawant winning over 28%, pointing toward a final number of over 20,000 votes.
Socialist Alternative ran against Frank Chopp, Speaker of the House and the most influential Democratic legislator in Washington state. Chopp represents the Washington establishment, a well-deserved target for the anger of frustrated, poor, working-class people, and young people in Seattle. The vote for Sawant marks the strongest opposition by far that Speaker Chopp has faced during his entire 18 years in office.
This record-breaking vote for an independent working-class candidate has raised the confidence of workers, young people, and activists that it is possible to struggle against looming budget cuts from the "fiscal cliff," attacks on public sector workers, education, and other social programs.
In Washington state, the Democratic Party won the governor's race and maintained their majority control over both houses in the state legislature. They will likely propose a further round of vicious budget cuts to social services is likely early next year, while they allow corporations such as Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft to get away without paying barely any taxes. Sawant, a union activist and teacher, commented, "Public sector unions like mine need to prepare for strike action against budget cuts. Workers and youth need to be ready to occupy the Olympia state capitol building against attacks on our living standards."
Based on this election breakthrough and the links built during the campaign, Socialist Alternative is using the profile and authority it has won to help to build a fight-back against all attacks on working people and oppressed groups in the coming weeks and months.
Sawant and Socialist Alternative are also forming a broad electoral alliance with other left-wing forces to use this result as a launching pad for a far bigger challenge to the Democratic Party. Concretely, Socialist Alternative is organizing for 2013 a slate of independent left-wing candidates to run for mayor and for all the open city council seats, all of which are currently held by Democrats. "We will go after them!" Sawant declared to huge applause of excited supporters on election night.
Election night also saw mass celebrations in the streets of Seattle after the passage of Referendum 74 for marriage equality and the defeat of Mitt Romney. Sawant addressed a crowd of over 2,000 people, saying "If you think that the Democratic Party politicians did this for you, let me tell you it was us that won this! The fight for LGBT rights has just begun - we still need to fight poverty, homelessness, and workplace discrimination!"
Socialist Ideas Gaining Support
"We achieved this election result as an openly Socialist campaign that was largely ignored by the corporate media, with no corporate donations, on a shoe-string budget," explained Sawant. The campaign had to take the Washington Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and King County to court to allow Sawant's party, Socialist Alternative, to be printed on the ballot.
As Sawant and campaign volunteers knocked on doors all around the district and spoke to union meetings, community forums, neighbors, and friends, they all had experiences that led them to the same conclusion - there is clearly an open audience for socialist ideas among a large section of young people and working-class people. This confirms what opinion polls since the Great Recession have consistently indicated.
After years of attacks by right-wing pundits claiming that any taxes on the rich are "socialist" and denouncing Obama as a "socialist," a growing number of people are looking to find out more about socialist ideas as a fundamental alternative to the failing capitalist system.
Secret of Success
The anger and distrust towards both corporate parties is reaching a boiling point across the country. In Seattle, as in most large cities across the country, there is deep discontent among progressive workers and youth at the Democratic Party, which has held a virtual monopoly on political power in the city and governed Washington state for years.
Frustration over unemployment, student debt, the healthcare crisis, budget cuts, and the suffocating domination of the super-rich was finally given an organized expression last year by the labor uprising in Wisconsin and the Occupy movement. While the elections in 2012 acted as a safety valve for the ruling class and succeeded in temporarily undermining these movements, that same fury at Wall Street and big business is still palpable and continues to be a key factor in U.S. politics.
Unfortunately, this mood across the country was not able to find a clear expression in the 2012 elections due to the failure of the left and the leaders of the labor movement and other progressive movements to organize a strong working-class political challenge to both parties.
It is in that context that the Sawant campaign starkly stands out. "Sawant nearly topped the combined national votes of all the socialist candidates in a single district! ... Make no mistake: Sawant and Socialist Alternative made history in Seattle" (The North Star, 11/8/12). Socialist Alternative's vote was the highest for an openly socialist candidate, including with union endorsements, in recent memory anywhere in the US. How was this possible?
The basis of the success of the Sawant campaign lay firstly in correctly recognizing the political space that exists for a working-class alternative that could bring the spirit and message of the Occupy movement into the elections. The campaign then moved quite audaciously to make use of the opportunity that this opening presented.
The campaign was able to connect to the mood of workers and young people by advancing concrete demands addressing questions facing ordinary people, such as calling for an increase of the minimum wage to $15/hour, a public jobs program to fight unemployment, a struggle to defend women's rights, and full equality for LGBT people. These immediate demands were linked with the overall need to fight against capitalism and transform society along socialist lines. This approach struck a chord with those searching for a bold alternative to the corrupt, broken political system.
The Sawant campaign also stood out as an energetic activist campaign. The district was plastered with campaign posters, and "Stop Chopp - Vote Sawant" yard signs were seen everywhere. The Sawant campaign tabled and leafleted in various neighborhoods, engaging thousands of people in political conversations. The campaign also systematically reached out to progressive organizations and unions, while also actively participating and helping promote various protests and community struggles taking place.
On numerous occasions, the campaign's enthusiasm and determination overcame various obstacles. A significant mid-campaign victory was the legal struggle to get Sawant's party listed on the ballot. This battle was also used to expose the undemocratic and rigged nature of corporate politics that imposes enormous hurdles against independent candidates.
When Sawant's employer, Seattle Central Community College, refused to rehire her in the middle of the election campaign in a blatant act of retaliation and political discrimination, a campaign was launched to defend her job and improve the appalling working conditions for adjunct community college teachers at her college and beyond. Not only did the campaign succeed in forcing the college administration to reinstate Sawant for the next academic quarter, but it also was able to reverse their previous policy of imposing a right-wing "free market" economics textbook in her classes.
There were also particularly favorable conditions for Sawant's campaign that not all independent left candidates will be able to immediately replicate. Frank Chopp was particularly vulnerable as a leading Democrat whose policies, despite his liberal rhetoric, are substantially to the right of the voters of the left-wing Seattle district he "represents." In this "safe" Democratic district, Seattle's main alternative weekly newspaper The Stranger broke with its general policy of supporting Democrats and endorsed Sawant, which helped the campaign reach a much larger audience. But The Stranger's endorsement was itself symptomatic of the growing discontent and ferment among the Democrats' base at their corporate policies.
Independent Working-Class Politics
As a prominent figure in Occupy Seattle, Sawant brought the spirit of this uprising against Wall Street into the election year. One of the main slogans in the Vote Sawant campaign was "A voice for the 99%," pointing towards the need for a new force, a real activist political party of workers, the poor, and young people.
Socialist Alternative used the terrain of the 2012 elections to stimulate a debate about the need to break from the Democratic Party, popularize socialist ideas, and help prepare the ground for future working-class battles. Outlined in "Imagine 200 Occupy Candidates This Year," Socialist Alternative argued there was a real opportunity to challenge the corporate duopoly if credible working-class campaigns were organized - and was able to set an impressive example with its own campaign in Seattle.
Despite all the special circumstances in Seattle's 43rd district, who could deny the power of this argument now? Unfortunately the call to Occupy activists to run a whole number of independent candidates across the country - as a tool to systematically reach out to the hundreds of thousands of workers and fight against corporate politics - was not heeded despite a few notable exceptions. The leaders of labor, civil rights, anti-war and environmental organizations overwhelmingly rejected all attempts to support independent left candidates. Instead of endorsing and actively campaigning for independent, working-class-based candidates, enormous sums were spent to support a big-business party.
Even in Seattle, where the "lesser evil" argument did not even apply since no Republican ran in the race, the main union leaders refused to support Sawant, a union activist running on an uncompromising working-class agenda against a big-business Democrat. They did not dare cross the powerful Speaker of the House, believing that they would somehow be rewarded for their endorsement of Chopp despite his long track record against working people. Of course, this "pragmatic" approach of supporting our class enemies is exactly what has led to the catastrophic decline of the labor movement, and only emboldens politicians like Chopp to carry out an even more blatant anti-worker agenda.
The 28% vote for Sawant is quite a rebuke to this timid strategy of the union leadership. If they had actually put their weight behind Sawant's campaign - actively promoting it to all union households in the district, mobilizing volunteers, and putting money behind the campaign - it is entirely conceivable that Frank Chopp would have been defeated, and a genuine fighter for working people would have been elected Speaker of the House.
The message is clear: The unions have to break with the Democrats and use their resources and influence to build a voice for workers and the 99%. Rank-and-file union members will need to lead the way in demanding their organizations take up such an approach.
The Sawant campaign is also an example for Occupy and union activists of how to link together protests and social movements and elections. Although the electoral system is rigged in favor of the corporate elite, the Sawant campaign shows how we can resist capitalism not only in the streets but also in the elections and reach a broader audience.
This is now an urgent task. Since Obama's re-election, he has signaled he is prepared to move even further to the right with offers to the Republicans to carry out major attacks on Medicare, Medicaid, and other social services as part of the negotiations to avoid the "fiscal cliff." These are just some of the battles to come.
That is the "beginning" spoken of by Kshama Sawant. Socialist Alternative will do everything in its power to make sure that the agenda of the 1% will meet a determined working-class and community resistance. As part of this process, Socialist Alternative is working to organize left-wing independent challenges for mayor and every city council seat in Seattle's 2013 elections, together with activists from Occupy, unions, and other social movements.
On a national level, Socialist Alternative is appealing to prominent figures in progressive politics, along with left-wing, Occupy, and working-class activists, to organize a joint speaking tour around the country with Kshama Sawant. This speaking tour is an opportunity to provoke discussion and debate on building mass struggles against Obama and the corporate agenda as well as the need to build towards working-class political representation, a new mass force of resistance, and as an immediate step putting forward left electoral challenges to the two parties of Wall Street in 2013 and beyond.
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Socialist Alternative | PO Box 150457 | Brooklyn | NY | 11215
November 12th, 2012
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For more 2012 election coverage and analysis, check out SocialistAlternative.org!<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Y2bsE7DlpWMCakoQUo4xN66r77pDc3HQ9NTn4YhMF6qbEF2iLhrGVrMWXEueUoMItqa0TU0_h48bA8fEFmBUa79HrtA7kmBPJrbe2sG-OqWudIVAiMapm8WOCL21cGQ5>
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Socialist Wins 28% of the Vote in Seattle - Historic Opportunities to Challenge Corporate Politics<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Y2bsE7DlpWO0BgjfLq6px48Mg2V4r7Lwq48WfNdG0Gua3F0pcGaHk2UnudOuNfPs8sWzXFnD3I1TUz4GndkvVGKpYWS87zvUPSdKkqr_mWOLvTrke8WleoUbPTW87cZZimlKjCKjvXCyOz8j7h_xjLgp8n3q9cTWuCrqE1J1DXk=>
By Philip Locker
"This is just the beginning!" Kshama Sawant promised supporters and voters on behalf of Socialist Alternative at an excited election night party on November 6 in Seattle, WA. While the presidential race was mainly about what to vote against (see article Right Wing Rejected in the Elections<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Y2bsE7DlpWM5EdneOcTp0nW6tFRFTaTHKErRecXoQso-EWyEhp82BptPmnxKDPxfY6S5qgrGNlAUAHcGdXJYBU2MtJkBs-jtUj9YdpQqy6Jhqg6mImBEv5H3e31rlOqrhVqDCuNxtn5UYSGcuFZIe6QQXdx1pOaj8YIlcq4odBg=>), an inspiring campaign in Seattle's 43rd district for Washington state house offered working-class voters a real alternative. The ongoing vote count at the time this article was written has Kshama Sawant winning over 28%, pointing toward a final number of over 20,000 votes.
Socialist Alternative ran against Frank Chopp, Speaker of the House and the most influential Democratic legislator in Washington state. Chopp represents the Washington establishment, a well-deserved target for the anger of frustrated, poor, working-class people, and young people in Seattle. The vote for Sawant marks the strongest opposition by far that Speaker Chopp has faced during his entire 18 years in office.
This record-breaking vote for an independent working-class candidate has raised the confidence of workers, young people, and activists that it is possible to struggle against looming budget cuts from the "fiscal cliff," attacks on public sector workers, education, and other social programs.
In Washington state, the Democratic Party won the governor's race and maintained their majority control over both houses in the state legislature. They will likely propose a further round of vicious budget cuts to social services is likely early next year, while they allow corporations such as Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft to get away without paying barely any taxes. Sawant, a union activist and teacher, commented, "Public sector unions like mine need to prepare for strike action against budget cuts. Workers and youth need to be ready to occupy the Olympia state capitol building against attacks on our living standards."
Based on this election breakthrough and the links built during the campaign, Socialist Alternative is using the profile and authority it has won to help to build a fight-back against all attacks on working people and oppressed groups in the coming weeks and months.
Sawant and Socialist Alternative are also forming a broad electoral alliance with other left-wing forces to use this result as a launching pad for a far bigger challenge to the Democratic Party. Concretely, Socialist Alternative is organizing for 2013 a slate of independent left-wing candidates to run for mayor and for all the open city council seats, all of which are currently held by Democrats. "We will go after them!" Sawant declared to huge applause of excited supporters on election night.
Election night also saw mass celebrations in the streets of Seattle after the passage of Referendum 74 for marriage equality and the defeat of Mitt Romney. Sawant addressed a crowd of over 2,000 people, saying "If you think that the Democratic Party politicians did this for you, let me tell you it was us that won this! The fight for LGBT rights has just begun - we still need to fight poverty, homelessness, and workplace discrimination!"
Socialist Ideas Gaining Support
"We achieved this election result as an openly Socialist campaign that was largely ignored by the corporate media, with no corporate donations, on a shoe-string budget," explained Sawant. The campaign had to take the Washington Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and King County to court to allow Sawant's party, Socialist Alternative, to be printed on the ballot.
As Sawant and campaign volunteers knocked on doors all around the district and spoke to union meetings, community forums, neighbors, and friends, they all had experiences that led them to the same conclusion - there is clearly an open audience for socialist ideas among a large section of young people and working-class people. This confirms what opinion polls since the Great Recession have consistently indicated.
After years of attacks by right-wing pundits claiming that any taxes on the rich are "socialist" and denouncing Obama as a "socialist," a growing number of people are looking to find out more about socialist ideas as a fundamental alternative to the failing capitalist system.
Secret of Success
The anger and distrust towards both corporate parties is reaching a boiling point across the country. In Seattle, as in most large cities across the country, there is deep discontent among progressive workers and youth at the Democratic Party, which has held a virtual monopoly on political power in the city and governed Washington state for years.
Frustration over unemployment, student debt, the healthcare crisis, budget cuts, and the suffocating domination of the super-rich was finally given an organized expression last year by the labor uprising in Wisconsin and the Occupy movement. While the elections in 2012 acted as a safety valve for the ruling class and succeeded in temporarily undermining these movements, that same fury at Wall Street and big business is still palpable and continues to be a key factor in U.S. politics.
Unfortunately, this mood across the country was not able to find a clear expression in the 2012 elections due to the failure of the left and the leaders of the labor movement and other progressive movements to organize a strong working-class political challenge to both parties.
It is in that context that the Sawant campaign starkly stands out. "Sawant nearly topped the combined national votes of all the socialist candidates in a single district! ... Make no mistake: Sawant and Socialist Alternative made history in Seattle" (The North Star, 11/8/12). Socialist Alternative's vote was the highest for an openly socialist candidate, including with union endorsements, in recent memory anywhere in the US. How was this possible?
The basis of the success of the Sawant campaign lay firstly in correctly recognizing the political space that exists for a working-class alternative that could bring the spirit and message of the Occupy movement into the elections. The campaign then moved quite audaciously to make use of the opportunity that this opening presented.
The campaign was able to connect to the mood of workers and young people by advancing concrete demands addressing questions facing ordinary people, such as calling for an increase of the minimum wage to $15/hour, a public jobs program to fight unemployment, a struggle to defend women's rights, and full equality for LGBT people. These immediate demands were linked with the overall need to fight against capitalism and transform society along socialist lines. This approach struck a chord with those searching for a bold alternative to the corrupt, broken political system.
The Sawant campaign also stood out as an energetic activist campaign. The district was plastered with campaign posters, and "Stop Chopp - Vote Sawant" yard signs were seen everywhere. The Sawant campaign tabled and leafleted in various neighborhoods, engaging thousands of people in political conversations. The campaign also systematically reached out to progressive organizations and unions, while also actively participating and helping promote various protests and community struggles taking place.
On numerous occasions, the campaign's enthusiasm and determination overcame various obstacles. A significant mid-campaign victory was the legal struggle to get Sawant's party listed on the ballot. This battle was also used to expose the undemocratic and rigged nature of corporate politics that imposes enormous hurdles against independent candidates.
When Sawant's employer, Seattle Central Community College, refused to rehire her in the middle of the election campaign in a blatant act of retaliation and political discrimination, a campaign was launched to defend her job and improve the appalling working conditions for adjunct community college teachers at her college and beyond. Not only did the campaign succeed in forcing the college administration to reinstate Sawant for the next academic quarter, but it also was able to reverse their previous policy of imposing a right-wing "free market" economics textbook in her classes.
There were also particularly favorable conditions for Sawant's campaign that not all independent left candidates will be able to immediately replicate. Frank Chopp was particularly vulnerable as a leading Democrat whose policies, despite his liberal rhetoric, are substantially to the right of the voters of the left-wing Seattle district he "represents." In this "safe" Democratic district, Seattle's main alternative weekly newspaper The Stranger broke with its general policy of supporting Democrats and endorsed Sawant, which helped the campaign reach a much larger audience. But The Stranger's endorsement was itself symptomatic of the growing discontent and ferment among the Democrats' base at their corporate policies.
Independent Working-Class Politics
As a prominent figure in Occupy Seattle, Sawant brought the spirit of this uprising against Wall Street into the election year. One of the main slogans in the Vote Sawant campaign was "A voice for the 99%," pointing towards the need for a new force, a real activist political party of workers, the poor, and young people.
Socialist Alternative used the terrain of the 2012 elections to stimulate a debate about the need to break from the Democratic Party, popularize socialist ideas, and help prepare the ground for future working-class battles. Outlined in "Imagine 200 Occupy Candidates This Year," Socialist Alternative argued there was a real opportunity to challenge the corporate duopoly if credible working-class campaigns were organized - and was able to set an impressive example with its own campaign in Seattle.
Despite all the special circumstances in Seattle's 43rd district, who could deny the power of this argument now? Unfortunately the call to Occupy activists to run a whole number of independent candidates across the country - as a tool to systematically reach out to the hundreds of thousands of workers and fight against corporate politics - was not heeded despite a few notable exceptions. The leaders of labor, civil rights, anti-war and environmental organizations overwhelmingly rejected all attempts to support independent left candidates. Instead of endorsing and actively campaigning for independent, working-class-based candidates, enormous sums were spent to support a big-business party.
Even in Seattle, where the "lesser evil" argument did not even apply since no Republican ran in the race, the main union leaders refused to support Sawant, a union activist running on an uncompromising working-class agenda against a big-business Democrat. They did not dare cross the powerful Speaker of the House, believing that they would somehow be rewarded for their endorsement of Chopp despite his long track record against working people. Of course, this "pragmatic" approach of supporting our class enemies is exactly what has led to the catastrophic decline of the labor movement, and only emboldens politicians like Chopp to carry out an even more blatant anti-worker agenda.
The 28% vote for Sawant is quite a rebuke to this timid strategy of the union leadership. If they had actually put their weight behind Sawant's campaign - actively promoting it to all union households in the district, mobilizing volunteers, and putting money behind the campaign - it is entirely conceivable that Frank Chopp would have been defeated, and a genuine fighter for working people would have been elected Speaker of the House.
The message is clear: The unions have to break with the Democrats and use their resources and influence to build a voice for workers and the 99%. Rank-and-file union members will need to lead the way in demanding their organizations take up such an approach.
The Sawant campaign is also an example for Occupy and union activists of how to link together protests and social movements and elections. Although the electoral system is rigged in favor of the corporate elite, the Sawant campaign shows how we can resist capitalism not only in the streets but also in the elections and reach a broader audience.
This is now an urgent task. Since Obama's re-election, he has signaled he is prepared to move even further to the right with offers to the Republicans to carry out major attacks on Medicare, Medicaid, and other social services as part of the negotiations to avoid the "fiscal cliff." These are just some of the battles to come.
That is the "beginning" spoken of by Kshama Sawant. Socialist Alternative will do everything in its power to make sure that the agenda of the 1% will meet a determined working-class and community resistance. As part of this process, Socialist Alternative is working to organize left-wing independent challenges for mayor and every city council seat in Seattle's 2013 elections, together with activists from Occupy, unions, and other social movements.
On a national level, Socialist Alternative is appealing to prominent figures in progressive politics, along with left-wing, Occupy, and working-class activists, to organize a joint speaking tour around the country with Kshama Sawant. This speaking tour is an opportunity to provoke discussion and debate on building mass struggles against Obama and the corporate agenda as well as the need to build towards working-class political representation, a new mass force of resistance, and as an immediate step putting forward left electoral challenges to the two parties of Wall Street in 2013 and beyond.
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On October 7 (the anniversary of the US attack on Afghanistan), a
delegation of 31 US antiwar activists marched with tens of thousands of
Pakistanis sickened by the civilian death toll and growth of rightwing reaction
brought on by the US drone war in Waziristan. Hear first-hand reports and view
slides from delegation members who just met with the families of drone victims,
with intellectuals, political activists, and others in Islamabad, Lahore, and
the tribal areas. We will also hear from Pakistanis on the impact of the US
“War on Terror” and drone attacks on Pakistan.
Thursday,
November 15, 2012
12:00 pm - 1:00
pm
Harvard
Yard
Do you
believe STRONG, STABLE JOBS and RESPECT FOR WORKERS should be
central to Harvard’s mission?
It is time
to STAND UP with Harvard’s 4600+
employees represented by HUCTW!
HUCTW workers have
been without a contract for months.
Meanwhile, Harvard
continues to insist that it cannot afford decent wage increases and affordable
health care plans for workers.
For more information,
see http://www.huctw.org/negotiations/rallyforafaircontract.html .
Harvard College
Student Labor Action Movement -- PLEASE FORWARD!
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Stand with Walmart Strikers on Black Friday
Event
Quincy Supports Walmart Workers on Black Friday
November 23 • 08:00 am 
Quincy, MA 
MassUniting 
darrin@massuniting.org Stand with Walmart workers in their fight for their rights. For decades, Walmart Stores, Inc have dragged down wages, forcing their workers to work irregular schedules, and intimidated and took retribution on any workers who fought back. It's time for the retribution to end, so come to this local Walmart to show your solidarity and tell Walmart that they need to pay their fair share.
Got a website? Click here to embed a widget of this event on your site.
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Dear
,
In
honor of Veterans Day last weekend, Under the Hood Cafe and Outreach Center
along with members of IVAW marched in the local parade outside of Fort Hood to
carry the message of veterans' and service members' Right to Heal.
In
this photo, IVAW member, Malachi Muncy, dramatizes the issue of reliance on
medication to treat soldiers and veterans suffering from various forms of
military trauma:
Malaichi
said, “It’s easy to remember the veterans coming home on planes and impossible
to forget those coming back in boxes. It’s those locked up at home with mounting
prescriptions, those falling into the judicial system, and those dying senseless
accidents that are being forgotten.”
For
more photos of this event, you can go to the Under the Hood Facebook page (and like
it!).
Under
the Hood and IVAW also used the parade to spread the word to active duty
soldiers about the Appeal for Redress, a project that makes it easy
for service members and veterans to reach out to members of Congress about the
lack of access to proper health treatment for PTSD, Military Sexual Trauma, and
Traumatic Brain Injury. If you are a veteran or service member, you can add your name to send a letter urging members of
Congress to take action around issues of proper health care in the military and
VA systems.
In
Solidarity,
Iraq
Veterans Against the War and the Afghanistan Veterans Against the War
Committee
P.S.
Please support the important work of Under the Hood Cafe and Outreach Center, a safe
haven outside of Fort Hood for soldiers and their families to get support and
alternative information about their rights.
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