Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The Latest From The “Occupy May 1st” Website- March Separately, Strike Together –International General Strike- Down Tools! Down Work Computers! Down Books!- All Out On May Day 2012- Why You, Your Union, Or Your Community Organization Needs To Join The May Day 2012 General Strike In Boston (And Everywhere)-Stand Up!-Fight Back!

Click on the headline to link to updates from the Occupy May 1st website. Occupy May Day which has called for an international General Strike on May Day 2012. I will post important updates as they appear on that site.
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An Injury To One Is An Injury To All!-Defend The Occupation Movement And All The Occupiers! Drop All Charges Against All Occupy Protesters Everywhere!

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Fight-Don’t Starve-We Created The Wealth, Let's Take It, It’s Ours! Labor And The Oppressed Must Rule!
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OB Endorses Call for General Strike

January 8th, 2012 • mhacker •

The following proposal was passed by the General Assembly on Jan 7, 2012:

Occupy Boston supports the call for an international General Strike on May 1, 2012, for immigrant rights, environmental sustainability, a moratorium on foreclosures, an end to the wars, and jobs for all. We recognize housing, education, health care, LGBT rights and racial equality as human rights; and thus call for the building of a broad coalition that will ensure and promote a democratic standard of living for all peoples.
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Why You, Your Union, Or Your Community Organization Needs To Join The May Day 2012 General Strike In Boston-Stand Up!-Fight Back!


Markin comment:
Last fall there were waves of politically-motivated repressive police attacks on, and evictions of, various Occupy camp sites throughout the country including where the movement started in Zucotti (Liberty) Park. But even before the evictions and repression escalated, questions were being asked: what is the way forward for the movement? And, from friend and foe alike, the ubiquitous what do we want. We have seen since then glimpses of organizing and action that are leading the way for the rest of us to follow: the Oakland General Strike on November 2nd, the West Coast Port Shutdown actions of December 12th, Occupy Foreclosures, including, most recently, renewed support for the struggles of the hard-pressed longshoremen in Longview, Washington. These actions show that, fundamentally, all of the strategic questions revolve around the question of power. The power, put simply, of the 99% vs. the power of the 1%.

Although the 99% holds enormous power -all wealth is generated, and the
current society is built and maintained through, the collective labor
(paid and unpaid) of the 99%- we seldom exercise this vast collective power in our own interests. Too often, abetted and egged on by the 1%, we fruitlessly fight among ourselves driven by racism, patriarchy, xenophobia, occupational elitism, geographical prejudice, heterosexism, and other forms of division, oppression and prejudice.

This consciously debilitating strategy on its part is necessary, along with its control of politics, the courts, the prisons, the cops, and the military in order for the 1% to maintain control over us in order not to have to worry about their power and wealth. Their ill-gotten power is only assured by us, actively or passively, working against ours our best interests. Moreover many of us are not today fully aware of, nor organized to utilize, the vast collective power we have. The result is that many of us - people of color, women, GLBTQ, immigrants, those with less formal educational credentials, those in less socially respected occupations or unemployed, the homeless, and the just plain desperate- deal with double and triple forms of oppression and societal prejudice.

Currently the state of the economy has hit all of us hard, although as usual the less able to face the effects are hit the hardest like racial minorities, the elderly, the homeless and those down on their luck due to prolonged un and under- employment. In short, there are too many people out of work; wage rates have has barely kept up with rising costs or gone backwards to near historic post-World War II lows in real time terms; social services like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security have continued to be cut; our influence on their broken, broken for us, government has eroded; and our civil liberties have been seemingly daily attacked en masse. These trends have has been going on while the elites of this country, and of the world, have captured an increasing share of wealth; have had in essence a tax holiday for the past few decades; have viciously attacked our organizations of popular defense such as our public and private unions and community organizations; and have increase their power over us through manipulating their political system even more in their favor than previously.

The way forward, as we can demonstrate by building for the May Day actions, must involve showing our popular power against that of the entrenched elite. But the form of our power, reflecting our different concepts of governing, must be different from the elite’s. Where they have created powerful capitalist profit-driven top down organizations in order to dominate, control, exploit and oppress we must build and exercise bottom-up power in order to cooperate, liberate and collectively empower each other. We need to organize ourselves collectively and apart from these top down power relationships in our communities, schools and workplaces in order to fight for our real interests. This must include a forthright rejection of the 1%’s attempts, honed after long use, to divide and conquer in order to rule us. A rejection of racism, patriarchy, xenophobia, elitism and other forms of oppression, and, importantly, a rejection of attempts by their electoral parties, mainly the Democrats and Republicans but others as well, powerful special interest groups, and others to co-opt and control our movement.

The Occupy freedom of assembly-driven encampments initially built the mass movement and brought a global spotlight to the bedrock economic and social concerns of the 99%. They inspired many of us, including those most oppressed, provided a sense of hope and solidarity with our fellow citizens and the international 99%, and brought the question of economic justice and the problems of inequality and political voiceless-ness grudgingly back into mainstream political conversation. Moreover this highlighted the need for the creation of cultures, societies, and institutions of direct democracy based on "power with"- not "power over"- each other; served as convivial spaces for sharing ideas and planning action; and in some camps, they even provided a temporary space for those who needed a home. Last fall the camp occupations served a fundamental role in the movement, but it is now time to move beyond the camp mentality and use our energies to struggle to start an offensive against the power of the 1%. On our terms.

Show Power

We demand:

*Hands Off Our Public Worker Unions! Hands Off All Our Unions!

* Put the unemployed to work! Billions for public works projects to fix America’s broken infrastructure (bridges, roads, sewer and water systems, etc.)!

*End the endless wars! Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal of all U.S. /Allied Troops and Mercenaries from Afghanistan (and the residue from Iraq)! Hands Off Iran! Hands Off The World!

* Full citizenship rights for all those who made it here no matter how they got here!

* A drastic increase in the minimum wage and big wage increases for all workers!

* A moratorium on home foreclosures! No evictions!

* A moratorium on student loan debt! Free, quality higher education for all! Create 100, 200, many publicly-supported Harvards!

*No increases in public transportation fares! No transportation worker lay-offs! Free public transportation!

To order to flex our collective bottom up power on May 1, 2012 we will be organizing a wide-ranging series of mass collective participatory actions:

*We will be organizing within our unions- or informal workplace organizations where there is no union - a one-day general strike.

*We will be organizing where a strike is not possible to call in sick, or take a personal day, as part of a coordinated “sick-out.”

*We will be organizing students to walk-out of their schools (or not show up in the first place), set up campus picket lines, or to rally at a central location, probably Boston Common.

*We will be calling in our communities for a mass consumer boycott, and with local business support where possible, refuse to make purchases on that day.


These actions, given the ravages of the capitalist economic system on individual lives, the continuing feelings of hopelessness felt by many, the newness of many of us to collective action, and the slender ties to past class and social struggles will, in many places, necessarily be a symbolic show of power. But let us take and use the day as a wake-up call by a risen people.

And perhaps just as important as this year’s May Day itself , the massive organizing and outreach efforts in the months leading up to May 1st will allow us the opportunity to talk to our co-workers, families, neighbors, communities, and friends about the issues confronting us, the source of our power, the need for us to stand up to the attacks we are facing, the need to confront the various oppressions that keep most of us down in one way or another and keep all of us divided, and the need for us to stand in solidarity with each other in order to fight for our collective interests. In short, as one of the street slogans of movement says –“they say cut back, we say fight back.” We can build our collective consciousness, capacity, and confidence through this process; and come out stronger because of it.

Watch this website and other social media sites for further specific details of events and actions.

All out in Boston on May Day 2012.

From The Desk of Noelle Hanrahan- In The Matter Of Mumia Abu-Jamal- The Struggle Continues -Free Mumia Now! -10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO FREE MUMIA (and de-incarcerate the nation)

3 February 2012-Mumia Out of Solitary

On January 27, class-war prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was finally released from solitary confinement into the general prison population at SCI Mahanoy in Frackville, Pennsylvania. In the last issue of WV, we published a letter by the Partisan Defense Committee protesting that prison authorities had vindictively kept Mumia in solitary under onerous special restrictions following the decision by the Philadelphia district attorney to not seek a new death sentence. In a message thanking those who signed petitions on his behalf—some 5,500 people, according to freemumia.com—or wrote statements of support, Mumia noted that “this is only part one” in the struggle for freedom. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!

* * *

(reprinted from Workers Vanguard No. 995, 3 February 2012)

Workers Vanguard is the newspaper of the Spartacist League with which the Partisan Defense Committee is affiliated.

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10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO FREE MUMIA (and de-incarcerate the nation)

I
Get involved. Join us. For • updates, alerts, and ways you can plug into the movement in your local community, check out:
• ICFFMAJ (International
Concerned Friends and Family of
Mumia Abu-Jamal) and the Free
Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
at www.freemumia.com
m Prison Radio at www.prisonradio.org
• EMAJ (Educators for Mumia Abu-
Jamal) at www.emajonline.com

2
Contact John Wetzel, . Secretary of the Pennsyl­vania Department of Corrections,
and ask that the inhumane con­ditions, isolation, and torture of inmates be immediately corrected.
John Wetzl, Secretary,
Department of Corrections
2520 Lisburn Road
P.O. Box 598
Camp Hill, PA 17001-0598
Phone: (717) 975-4928
Email: ra-contactdoc@pa.gov

3
Call, write, email Philadelphia District Attorney to
demand a new trial for Mumia:
Seth Williams, Philadelphia DA Three South Penn Square Philadelphia, PA 19107-3499
Phone: (215) 686-8000 Email: DA_Central@phila.gov

4
Organize a showing of . two new hard-hitting documentaries:
Long Distance Revolutionary—
A Journey with Mumia Abu-
Jamal (Street Legal Cinema, www.
mumia-themovie.com)
Justice On Trial—The Case of
Mumia Abu-Jamal (Big Noise
Films, www.bignoisefilms.com/
films/tactical-media/ii4-justice-
on-trial
Combine your showing with a speaker; contact EMAJ (Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal), www. emajonline.com.

5
Listen to Mumia's . commentaries at www. prisonradio.org and ask your local community radio station to include them in their programming. Make a donation to Prison Radio, www.prisonradio.org
Prison Radio
PO Box 411074
San Francisco, CA 94141
Keep Mumia's voice and the voices of other political prisoners on the airwaves.

6
Support the investigation . into the Philadelphia District Attorney's corruption
and suppression of key evidence in Mumia's trial. Send your contribution to:
The Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal P.O. Box 2012 New York, NY 10159
Make checks payable to "National Lawyers Guild Foundation" earmarked "Mumia."

7
Write to . Mumia Abu-Jamal:
Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335 SCI Mahanoy 301 Morea Road Frackville, PA 17932

8
Call i-Soo-VISIT-PA
to say you will only vacation in Pennsylvania when Mumia is granted a new trial, a moratorium on executions is enacted, and the MOVE 9 are set free.

9
Read Mumia's new . book, The Classroom and the Cell Conversations on Black Life in America, and his new pamphlet addressed to the Occupy Movement, Message to the Movement. Both are available through Prison Radio, www.prisonradio.org. Ask your local bookstore to carry Mumia's books.

10

Join your local Mumia
organizing group, or
start a new one.
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TAKE ACTION NOW

(1) Demand that Mumia Abu-Jamal be
transferred to General Population!
Demand the shutdown of RHU (Restricted
Housing Unit) Torture Blocks!
John Wetzel
Secretary, Department of Corrections
2520 Lisburn Road
P.O. Box 598
Camp Hill, PA 17001-0598
Phone: (717) 975-4928 Email: ra-contactdoc@pa.gov

John Kerestes
Prison Superintendent SCI Mahanoy (see address below)
Phone: (570) 773-2158 Fax: (570) 783-2008

(2) Demand that the District Attorney
petition the court to free Mumia, based on
suppression of evidence and prosecutorial
misconduct.

Seth Williams, Philadelphia DA Phone: (215) 686-8000 Email: DA_Central@phila.gov Three South Penn Square Philadelphia, PA 19107-3499
(3) Send Mumia a note of support.

Mumia Abu-Iamal
AM 8335 SCI Mahanoy 301 Morea Road Frackville, PA 17932

SOLITARY FACTS:

Solitary confinement typically means: 23
or more hours a day in a 6x9 cell; meals and
communications with prison staff passed
through a slot in the solid steel cell door; exercise
alone, in a fenced or walled "dog run"; routine
denial of visits, telephone calls, television, reading
materials, and pencils and paper.

Isolation Units have never been shown to
serve any legitimate penal purpose, and may
in fact increase both prison violence and
recidivism.

The construction of dungeons, holes, and
Isolation Units has dramatically outpaced the
skyrocketing prison population growth of the
last 30 years. Today, over 80,000 prisoners are
held in solitary, 25,000 of who are in long-term
solitary "supermax" units.

Numerous studies have noted psychological
damage caused by solitary confinement. As little
as a week in solitary has been shown to affect
EEG (brainwave) activity. For those prisoners
already suffering from, or prone to, mental
illness-which in some states can make up nearly
half of all inmates in solitary-the experience
of such punishment can cause extreme mental anguish and irreparable psychological damage.

A clear majority of Americans oppose the
use of torture under any circumstances, but
prisoners often remain in isolation for months,
years, and even decades.This widespread form
of torture has received scant media attention.

For more information visit www.hrcoalition. org and the investigative news site www. solitarywatch.com.

From The Desk of Noelle Hanrahan- In The Matter Of Mumia Abu-Jamal- The Struggle Continues-Free Mumia Now!

3 February 2012-Mumia Out of Solitary

On January 27, class-war prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was finally released from solitary confinement into the general prison population at SCI Mahanoy in Frackville, Pennsylvania. In the last issue of WV, we published a letter by the Partisan Defense Committee protesting that prison authorities had vindictively kept Mumia in solitary under onerous special restrictions following the decision by the Philadelphia district attorney to not seek a new death sentence. In a message thanking those who signed petitions on his behalf—some 5,500 people, according to freemumia.com—or wrote statements of support, Mumia noted that “this is only part one” in the struggle for freedom. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!

* * *

(reprinted from Workers Vanguard No. 995, 3 February 2012)

Workers Vanguard is the newspaper of the Spartacist League with which the Partisan Defense Committee is affiliated.

***************
Prison Radio • PO 60x411074, San Francisco, CA 94141 • www.prisonradio.org • info@prisonradio.org

From The Desk of Noelle Hanrahan

January 26, 2012
Dear Friend,

Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence is gone! Your solidarity made this happen. Finally and irrevocably, Pennsylvania Governor Corbett and company cannot legally execute Mumia.

The steps we must now take will be some of the hardest of this long and difficult struggle. For thirty years Mumia was held in solitary on death row, under a sentence of death.

His conditions have been arduous, obscene, and Kafkaesque. Although hard to believe, his conditions are now far worse.

DEATH SENTENCE VACATED — ISOLATION INTENSIFIED

The state realizes it is losing the struggle. Many people the world over are fighting for Mumia's freedom. More and more people are becoming aware of the state's suppression of —evidence and prosecutorial misconduct. Marty—-are mobilizing. In their desperation the state is trying to silence Mumia and silence us.

SHUT DOWN TORTURE UNITS

In December Mumia was removed from death row at SCI Greene and thrown into solitary confinement, "the hole," deep inside SCI Mahanoy.

Conditions are draconian, dehumanizing, and brutal. One hundred Mahanoy inmates are being held in RHU (Restricted Housing Units) and long term solitary confinement, isolated for 23 to 24 hours every day. Glaring lights remain on around the clock. With the exception of two brief phone calls, one to his wife, Mumia has been denied phone access for over a month. In his first week at Mahanoy he wrote on bits of paper with a rubber flex pen. This week he has a few more sheets and four books. He has no access to news reports. He does not have adequate food. When Mumia leaves his barren cell he is chained in wrist irons to belt around his waist.

He is strip-searched before and after being led to a "dog pen" for solitary exercise for one hour each day. During the most recent visit, behind Plexiglas, he was chained hands to a leather belt around his waist.

"Mumia may be in solitary, but he is not alone. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections holds approximately 2,500 people in solitary confinement on any given day, many of them for years at a time."
-Human Rights Coalition

Make no mistake. These conditions are clearly designed torture.

MUMIA REMAINS ON THE AIR

"Prison and government officials are trying to censor and silence Mumia Abu-Jamal I stand as one of many Americans who believe that there is tremendous value in his voice being heard. I and others will fight to make sure that both his voice and his body are free."
-Ron Kovic

In spite of state censorship and state-sponsored torture, Prison Radio continues to bring you Mumia's essays. We have launched a new series featuring notable Mumia supporters who have stepped up to give voice to his censored words. Marc Lamont Hill recently recorded Mumia's essay
"The Prison," and Ron Kovic (author of Born on the Fourth of July) recorded "Toy Soldiers," which Mumia wrote on a scrap of paper in the hole at Mahanoy. Visit prisonradio. org to hear these new commentaries.

TOY SOLDIERS, Written December 17, 2011

For Mumia Abu-Jamal, I am Ron Kovic author of Born on the Fourth of July.
According to recent news accounts, shattered and shredded body parts and remains of U.S. servicemen were found in a landfill. Despite political spins, this sobering image is a telling, true-life metaphor for what those In power really think of soldiers, many of whom are but boys and girls freshly loosed from High School.

In recent years, politicians, especially when on TV or radio talk shows, are apt to say, when addressing a vet, "I thank you for your service." In truth, this is robot-talk, kind of like when a parrot is trained to say, "Hello!", and about as meaningful.

The American poet, e.e. cummings once said, "A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat, except a man." John Africa said, "A politician will tell you he wasn't born of a woman, if it'll get you to vote for him."

In these passing years, since g/n, wars have been fought that h-ave devastated countries, economies, and world peace. Untold thousands have died, many for nothing more, nor less, than American paranoia. Thousands of U.S. soldiers have died defending American lies.

And tens of thousands have returned, bodies, minds, souls shattered by political calculations driven by arrogance, greed and sheer stupidity. Thousands of marriages have ended in divorce because of forced years apart, and families have been broken asunder because some greasy politician wanted to play 'War-President' (or Senator, or Representative).

In a real sense, military body parts tossed into landfills as trash is more than metaphor. It is truth.

CALL TO ACTION

We ask you to join us by raising your voice against the degrading treatment that Mumia Abu-Jamal is suffering at Mahanoy. As we take this critical step for justice, we know that we do so on behalf of all of our brothers and sisters in prison throughout the United States.
We know that this is part of the far-reaching, life-affirming commitment to freedom.

Demand that the RHUs are shut down. Demand that Mumia Abu-Jamal be immediately moved to General Population, with access to food, contact visits, and the outside world. The prison administration blithely states that "paperwork from the court" and "classification issues" and "standard operating procedure" and Mumia's "hair length" prevent his transfer to General Population. This disinformation is transparent. Please visit Human Rights Coalition, www.hrcoalttion.org, and the investigative news site Solitary Watch, www.solitarywatch.com, to learn more.

Bring Mumia Home!

If you receive this and Mumia has been moved out of solitary to General Population already, please still call and protest all solitary confinement. The next step after ending solitary is freedom. As Bret Grote says at the Human Rights Coalition:

"There is no dream too big and no action too small. Let's keep at it till the walls crumble."

We are asking you to stand with us as we strengthen our work and solidarity in 2012. We need your assistance now more than ever.

We ask you to call, write, organize, and give. Every gift is crucial, but please consider making a donation of $250 dollars, which would help produce a new essay, so we can continue being a lifeline for Mumia and other political prisoners.

Toward Justice and Freedom,

Noelle Hanrahan

Prison Radio/Redwood Justice Fund

PS: Give $25 and receive Mumia's brand new pamphlet, Message to the Movement, from the Open Media Series. $100 receive Classroom and the Cell, by Mumia and Mark Lamont Hill, Third World Press. $1,000 receive the complete Mumia Abu-Jamal library, including any new title sent upon release.

P.P.S. Save the dates! Critical Hearing in Lynne Stewart's Case—challenging her conviction and draconian sentence often years! Lynne Stewart, 72, a respected human rights attorney and political prisoner, February 29,2012, at the Federal Court Building, 500 Pearl Street in New York City. Gather on February 28th at Tom Paine Park (next to the court) for an all-night vigil. Come with your drums, your sleeping bags, and banners. Support Lynne, Leonard Peltier, Mumia, Bradley Manning, and all of those who struggle for justice, www.lynnestewart.org

Also save this date—April 24th. A large scale "Occupy for Mumia and End Mass Incarceration" Free Mumia demonstration at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C.

From The "Libertarian Communist Federation" Newspaper #6-POSIBILIDADES RADICALES-en la Huelga de Verizon-Victory To The Verizon Workers!

POSIBILIDADES RADICALES-en la Huelga de Verizon

El pasado 7 de agosto, 45.000 em-pleados de Verizon fueron a la huelga por casi tres semanas sobre las demandas de la empresa a que los empleados con-tribuyan al pago de sus planes de salud, a que la companfa sea permitida a des-pedir trabajadores de manera mas arbi-trariamente, a lossalarios estar ligados al rendimiento laboral, y la suspension de intereses en pensiones por el resto del ano. Dos sindicatos, los Trabajadores de Gomunicaciones de America (GWA) y la Hermandad Internacional de Traba­jadores Electricos (IBEW), de declara-ron en huelga para defender sus sala-rios y beneflcios. El dfa despues de un mitin en Rhode Island donde hubo 800 trabajadores representados por el IBEW. Vistiendo sus camisetas rojas del sindi­cato, y letreros huelguistas colgados de sus cuellos, empezaron la huelga con un planton de veinticuatro horas al dia.

Plantones, sin embargo, no fue todo lo que estaba sucediendo. Algunos trabajadores atacaron a la companfa a traves de ac-cion directa clandestina. Verizon informo de decenas de casos de sabotaje. Algu­nos trabajadores danaron o destruyeron lineas telefonicas de Verizon a traves de todo el noreste del pais. Esto fue conde-nado oflcialmente por la burocracia sin-dical. Grupos comunitarios fueron a la ayuda de Verizon tambien, organizando eventos como "Miercoles Inalambricos," donde simpatizantes de los sindicatos iban a las tiendas de Verizon y marcharon fuera de ellas para disuadir a el publico de apoyar financieramente a la empresa.

Despues de alrededor de tres sema­nas, sin embargo, la Union suspendio la huelga. El dfa despues de un gran mitin en Providence, Rhode Island al que mas de 400 personas en camisas rojas y otros con letreros sindicalistas asistieron, los trabajadores tuvieron que volver a tra-bajar sin contrato alguno,. iQue, enton-ces, fueron algunas de las limitaciones a la estrategia del sindicato que causo a el liderazgo a cancelar esta huelga con tan-to apoyo popular antes deganar primero el contrato?

Una de las mayores preocupacio-nes era la seguridad financiera de los mismos miembros del sindicato. Ni la GWA ni la IBEW tenfan un fondo de huelga dispuesto a aminorar la carga. Ademas, solo una parte de la fuerza de trabajo de Verizon esta sindicalizada, la parte que trabaja las lineas terrestres de la empresa. El servicio inalambrico y los empleados en sus tiendas no don parte del sindicato. Gon una mayor parte de la sociedad organiza-da, los sindicatos podrfan negociar con una posicion mas fuerte. Su estrategia de plantones no infligio dano financiero suflcientemente fuerte a la empresa, ademas que las medidas de accion directa fueron denunciadas por la dirigen-cia del sindicato, y por lo tanto no fueron hechas de manera suficientemente generalizadas.

La ineflcaz y minimalizada estrate­gia de plantones,y la falta de un fondo de huelga son tipicos de los sindicatos principales del pais, y su estructura an-tidemocratica y burocracia tampoco ayu-dan. Parecio como si el liderazgo prin-cipalmente deseaba permanecer cono administradores del trabajo, en algun lugar entre los trabajadores y la admin-istracion de empresas - y su resultado es que la tropas no tienen una estrategia ganadora. Lamentablemente, debido a la brevedad de la huelga, fue diffcil para los radicales realmente intervenir y par-ticipar con las tropas sindicalistas hasta el punto que poder haber influenciado el planteamiento de algunas medidas mas drasticas, aunque si hubo oportunidad de dejar ideas flotando alrededor de como ayuda a los trabajadores que se sienten impotentes en una sindicato de esta fn-dole.

Miembros de Lucha Gomun partic-iparon a traves de todo el noreste en las lineas de huelga para apoyar y de-sarrollar relaciones con los huelguis­tas de Verizon. Nosotros escuchamos y argumentamos por una estrategia ganadora al lado y para algunos de los trabajadores mas militantes, y vimos posibilidades radicales de potencial cre-cimiento de consensos de reforma, sabo­taje, ocupaciones y plantones. Gon esta huelga ahora finalizada, lamejor manera de avanzar para cualquier radical es el conseguir organizar mas trabajadores para hacer el trabajo que los sindicatos de empresa no quieren, o no pueden hacer.

From The "Libertarian Communist Federation " Newspaper #6- RADICAL POTENTIALS IN THE VERIZON STRIKE-Victory To The Verizon Workers!

Markin comment:

While it is the duty of every pro-labor militant to support striking workers ( picket lines mean don't cross) it is extremely hard to intervene and agitate from the outside as we find out every time a strike happens (far too few of late). Thus the immediate necessity is to create rank and file caucuses of the militants inside the unions to fight the union bureaucracy's do-nothing strategies and to fight to to extend the union's reach by organizing the whole industry in one industry-wide union. Easy enough to say but hard work ahead if the communications unions are to survive in this tough global tech market.

RADICAL POTENTIALS IN THE VERIZON STRIKE

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Common-Struggle-Libertarian-Communist-Federation/292180050829038

Starting August 7, 45,000 Verizon employees were on strike for nearly three weeks over the company's demands that employees contribute to healthcare premiums, the company be allowed to more easily fire workers, wages be tied to job performance, and pension accruals be halted for the year. Two unions, the Gommunication Workers of America (GWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), took to the picket line to defend wages and benefits. In Rhode Island there were 800 workers represented by IBEW. Wearing their red IBEW shirts and picket signs around their necks, they began the strike with twenty-four hour picket lines.

Picketing, however, was not all that was happening. Some workers attacked the company through clandestine direct action. Verizon reported dozens of cases of sabotage. Workers were damaging and destroying Verizon phone lines throughout the Northeast. This was officially shunned by the union bureaucracy. Community groups went to the aid of Verizon was well, organizing events such as "Wireless Wednesdays" when supporters of the unions would go to Verizon stores and picket to discourage people from financially supporting the company.

After around three weeks, however, the union called off the strike. The day after a large rally in Providence, Rhode Island, to which over 400 people in red shirts and union signs attended, the workers were back to work without a contract. What, then, were some of the limitations to the union strategy that caused the leadership to call off the largely-successful and popular strike without winning the contract first?

One of the biggest worries was the financial security of the union members themselves. Neither the CWA nor the IBEW had a strike fund prepared to ease the burden. Only part of the Verizon workforce is in the union - the landline part of the company. Wireless and retail are left without a union. With a larger part of the company organized, the unions would have been in better positions. Their strategy of picketing did not inflict enough financial damage onto the company and direct action measures were denounced by the union leadership and thus were not widespread enough.

The lack of a strike fund and narrowed strategy of picketing are typical of business unions, alongside their bureaucracy and undemocratic structure. It appeared as though the leadership mainly wanted to remain managers of labor, somewhere in between the workers and the companies management - the result being the rank and file were kept from creating a winning strategy. Unfortunately due to the shortness of the strike, it was difficult for radicals to really intervene and engage with the rank and file to the point there some action could be taken, but still there were ideas floating around on how to aid workers who felt powerless in a business union.

Members of Common Struggle all across the Northeast participated in the picket lines to support and build relationships with the striking Verizon workers. We listened and agitated for a winning strategy with some of the most militant workers, and saw radical possibilities in potential reform caucuses, sabotage, occupations, and sit downs. With the strike over, the best way to go forward for any radical is to get more workers organized - to do what the business unions will not or cannot do.

From The "Libertarian Communist Federation" Newspaper-Periodista revolucionario se enfrenta a cadena perpetua-Libertad inmediata para Mumia!

El 7 de Diciembre, el Abogado del Distrito de Filadelfla, Sr. Seth Williams, anuncio que el ya no persistirfa a la pena de muerte para el revolucionario Negro, el periodista y prisionero politico de Pennsylvania Mumia Abu-Jamal. Este anuncio ha sido presentado el 11 de Octubre despues de la sentencia de la Gorte Suprema que mantuvo la apelacion federal de la decision de retirar completamente la option de la pena de muerte. Abu-Jamal ha sido transferido a un Institute Gorreccional Estatal Mahanoy en Frackville, PA para cumplir con una sentencia de cadena perpetua sin derecho a la libertad condicional.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, quien fue acusado en 1982 de haberle dado muerte a un policia de Filadelfla, ha estado en la lista de personas sentenciadas a muerte por 30 anos. El juicio fue condenado por Amnistfa Internacional por no cumplirse con el mfnimo estandar de justicia. Eso demuestra diplomaticamente hablando: puesto que durante el juicio, el juez prometio a los demandantes que se haria "frei'r al negro." Desde entonces, las cortes de apelaciones nan sido arrasadas por la defensa para asi mantener a Mumia en prision o en las mismas circunstancias, bajo la sentencia de muerte.

Despues de todos estos precedentes, en que se nan lanzada a la basura las decisiones, las cuales mantenian a Mumia bajo la misma decision, por las mismas cortes, muchos de sus seguidores apelaron al Departamento de Justicia de Los Estados Unidos de Norteamerica y su nuevo Abogado General, Eric Holder, para que se abriera la investigation debido a la .violation de los derechos civiles de Mumia. Sin dejar de sorprender, el Sr. Holder estuvo del lado del sistema racista de las corporaciones, el cual ha mantenido a Mumia en la carcel por tanto tiempo; por lo tanto, el no hizo nada.

Los que apoyan a Mumia no se estan dando por vencidos. Despues de todo, si no hubiese sido por todo lo que ellos han hecho a traves de decadas, Mumia estaria ya muerto. Ellos estan llevando este caso a un nivel internacional para avergonzar aun mas a los Estados Unidos y acrecentar el apoyo dentro del pafs para su liberation inmediata. Gomo
revolucionarios anarquistas, nosotros apoyamos estos esfuerzos. Mas aun, decimos:

!ABAJO GON LOS POLIGIAS Y LAS CORTES!

Una larga lista de Abogados Distritales, comenzando con el
Gobernador Ed Rendell, han hecho de este caso un partido
de "football" politico en vez de la busqueda de la verdad.
El Abogado Distrital actual, Sr.Seth Williams, es solamente el
ultimo de ellos.

La prision por vida o cadena perpetua no es una
accion que se pueda aceptar. Nosotros exigimos la libertad
inmediata de Mumia Abul-Jamal, quien es un hombre
inocente. Nosotros exigimos la libertad basandonos en el
hecho que el ha pasado 30 anos en reclusion incomunicada
bajo una sentencia de muerte que se ha descubierto ser
inconstitucional. Un Informe especial de las Naciones
Unidas de los Derechos Humanos recientemente
ha dicho que un periodo de 15 DIAS de reclusion
incomunicada constituye ser considerada una tortura.
Nosotros tambien exigimos que el estado deje
de utilizar las prisiones y la pena de muerte como un modo de aterrorizar a la clase trabajadora y a las personas oprimidas.

(4) El Abogado Distrital,Sr. Williams, deberia de
mantener las promesas de Lynn Abraham, la cual
prometio dejar vacante cualquier condena basada
en evidencias que no han sido manejadas de manera
apropiada, con pruebas falsas y otros abuses ligados
a la justicia en su propio departamento. Gomo
revolucionarios anarquistas de la lucha obrera, nosotros creemos que en el lugar de tener un estado con su armada, sus policias, sus cortes y un complejo del sistema penal que impone el capitalismo; las personas deberian de tener la capacidad de gobernarse ellos mismos a traves de federaciones de organizaciones democraticas. La production y el trabajo deberian de estar organizados para cumplir con las necesidades; el medio ambiente deberia de ser respetado y sostenido; las personas deberian de ser juzgadas de acuerdo a quienes son , no segun su raza, genero u orientation sexual. Para poder hacerlo, llamamos a una accion directa
de las masas como: huelgas generates, boicots y bloqueos en contra de los capitalistas y el estado.

Nosotros exigimos la libertad inmediata de Mumia. Primero, nosotros creemos en la amplia evidencia de que el es inocente. Segundo, el estado capitalista es el organizador principal del terrorismo en contra de la clase trabajadora y en contra de los oprimidos--solo recordemos la bomba que ellos lanzaron en contra de MOVE el ano 1985, la cual mato a 11 personas y quemo un barrio completo de Filadelfla.

Contacto: La Coalition para la Liberation de Mumia Abu-Jamal de New York (212) 330-8029.

La Coalition necesita contribuciones—ninguna contribution es muy pequena. Por favor envie los cheques en nombre de "FMAJG/IFGO" la Coalition para la Liberation de Mumia Abu-Jamal, P.O. Box #16, College Sta., New York, N.Y. 10030

Cheque: www.freemumia. com para los planes de protesta en el Departamento de Justicia en Washington D.C.

From The "Libertarian Communist Federation" Newspaper #6 -Revolutionary journalist faces lite in prison-Supporters say: FREE MUMIA NOW!

Revolutionary journalist faces lite in prison-Supporters say: FREE MUMIA NOW!

On December 7th, Phila­delphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced he would no longer pursue the death penalty for Black revolutionary journalist and Pennsylvania political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. This announcement comes after an October llth US Supreme Court ruling that upheld a federal appeals court decision taking, the death pen­alty off the table. Abu-Jamal has been transferred to State Correctional Institute Maha-noy in Frackville, PA to serve life in prison without parole.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, con­victed in 1982 of the killing of a Philadelphia cop, has been on death row for 30 years. The trial was condemned by Amnesty International for failing to meet even minimal standards of fairness. That's putting things diplomatical­ly: during the trial the judge promised he would help the prosecution 'fry the nigger/ Appeals courts have since ruled over their own prece­dents in order to keep Mumia in prison or on death row.

After one such precedent-trashing decision, which up­held Mumia's conviction by the same court which over­turned his sentence, many of his supporters appealed to the U.S. Justice Depart-
ment and new Attorney Gen­eral Eric Holder to open an investigation into the viola­tions of Mumia's civil rights. Unsurprisingly, Holder sided with the racist corporate sys­tem which has kept Mumia in jail for so long; that is, he did nothing.

Mumia's supporters are not giving up. After all, with­out the hell-raising that they have done over the decades, Mumia would already be dead. They are taking the case to international arenas to em­barrass the United States fur­ther and to deepen support domestically for his immedi­ate release. As revolutionary anarchists, we endorse these efforts. Moreover, we say:

DOWN WITH THE COPS & THE COURTS!

Why?

(1)A long line of District Attorneys, beginning with former governor Ed Rendell, have made the case into po­litical football rather than a search for truth. The current DA, Seth Williams, is merely the latest.

(2)Life in prison without parole is unacceptable. We demand the immediate re­lease of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man. We demand his release based on the fact that he has served some 30 years in solitary confinement under a death sentence which has been found to be unconsti­tutional. The United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights recently stated that a period of more than 15 DAYS in solitary confinement consti­tutes torture.

(3)We also demand that the state cease to use prisons and the death penalty to ter­rorize working class and op­pressed people.

(4)DA Williams should keep the promises of his pre­decessor, Lynn Abraham, who vowed to move to vacate any conviction based on improper evidence handling, perjury, and other abuses of justice in her own department.

As revolutionary class struggle anarchists we believe that in place of a state with its armies, cops, courts, and pris­on complex to enforce capital­ism, people should be able to govern themselves through federations of democratic or­ganizations. Production and work should be organized for meeting needs; the environ­ment should be respected and sustained; and people should be judged by who they are, not by their race, gender,
or sexual orientation. To get there we advocate mass di­rect action, such as general strikes, boycotts, and block­ades, against the capitalists and the state.

We demand Mumia be re­leased immediately. First, we believe the ample evidence that he is innocent. Second, the capitalist state is the prime organizer of terrorism against working class and oppressed people^] ust remember the bomb it dropped on MOVE in 1985, killing 11 people and burning down an entire Philadelphia neighborhood.

Contact: The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition of New York Hotline - 212 330-8029.

The Coalition needs con­tributions — no amount is too small. Please send checks made out to FMAJG/IFGO to the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, P.O. Box 16, College Sta., New York, N.Y. 10030

Check www.freemumia. com for plans to protest at the Department of Justice in Washington D.G.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Ancient dreams, dreamed-Those Old Homesick Blues- Magical Realism 101

“Good luck, and don’t forget us, Peter Paul,” yelled John “Swifty” Sweeney as the last of the Markin household goods were placed in the moving van for the trip across town to their new digs in North Adamsville. “Don’t worry Swifty I’ll be back in a couple of days. No way as I going to leave my friends here in the projects. I didn’t want to move so I’ll be back just like nothing happened,” yelled Peter Paul right back. And that simple statement, kind of, for the moment at least, put Peter Paul’s, and his best friend Swifty’s world back in order.

Peter spoke the truth when he said that he didn’t want to move, move even from the projects that he had been moaning and groaning to get out of for years, once he realized that there was no cache, no respect and no percentage in being from that far down on the totem pole once he escaped to North Adamsville. The taste, taint, touch of the projects followed like some low-tide mud flat fetid clam swamp.

His parents had, in that hard-scramble both working crumby jobs 1950s “golden age” gathered enough dough together to get a midget house in North Adamsville where his mother, Delores, had grown up and where his grandparents had always lived. But when push came to shove and moving day arrived he went “on strike.” Tears streaming down his face he refused, utterly refused, to help load things up in boxes and crates and it was all that he could do to compose in his bravado “farewell” to his friend.

And so a few days later, boxes and crates settled in the house, unpacked mainly, although as always with moves it takes time to get everything new set up, Peter Paul got out his old Schwinn one-speed bicycle with the patented foot brake petal and started out across town to the projects like some stray lemming back to the sea, and back to the only life that he had known in his long twelve, almost thirteen years of life. He rode like the wind through the town hardly containing himself, his thoughts, and his energies to be back with the old tribe, the guys (mainly) who made project life at least bearable. And number one, numero uno, in that universe was Swifty (and had been for a while now that Billie Bradley, king hell king of the Adamsville projects night, junior division, had “stepped-up” to robbing gas stations with older guys and Peter Paul had backed off, backed way off from that scene)

Sure enough as Peter Paul headed up Captain’s Walk the central hang-out place there was Swifty hanging out with Bennie Bopper, a guy from school, a goof in a lot of ways but a guy to keep company with until something better turned up, AND Theresa Green, Peter Paul’s old crush flame goddess save-the-last-dance-for-me sitting very close, very, very close to Swifty. Peter Paul flushed and then yelled out, “She’s your girl now, I guess, Swifty.” And already feminine female Theresa soft-whispered back, “No sir, Peter Paul I am just keeping Swifty company, Benny’s my honey now, now that you’re gone.” Peter Paul flushed again, flushed that Theresa, who did not say word one when he told her his family was moving across town and flushed that Benny Bopper took his place. Although now that he had “new” eyes he could see where a girl like Theresa might go for Benny on the rebound. Good old Swifty, no way.

So that day, a week later, and a couple of weeks and a couple more times after that Peter Paul would show up and he and Swifty and Benny’s Theresa (with or without Benny) would cut up old torches. And on those days Peter Paul was happy, happy for the smells, sounds and sights of the old neighborhood, the old blessed projects.

Then one day a couple of months later Peter Paul mounted his trusty bike for another trip “home.” Damn that it would have to be a windy day, a windy day when he decided, not exactly knowing the best route, that if he travelled along the shoreline he would probably make good enough time and maybe cut across some of that wind. Now for those who must know the exact route this effort required going over the high-span Squaw River Bridge, the bridge that separated North Adamsville from Adamsville proper. Not a big bridge not a Brooklyn Bridge, Golden Gate concoction, far from it. But almost as if there was some mystery pull (or push, for that matter) to it that bridge seemed a bridge too far, an un-arched, un-steeled, un-spanned, un-nerved bridge too far.

See Peter knew that the die was cast that day, or at least he did when he had time to reflect on it later. Knew one- speed bicycle boy, dungarees rolled up against dog bites and geared meshes, churning through endless heated, sweated, no handkerchief streets, names, all the parts of ships, names, all the seven seas, names, all the fishes of the seas, names, all the fauna of the sea, names that the old home was past. That once twelve-years old, now thirteen, bicycle boy had hard churned miles to go before sleep, searching for the wombic home, for the old friends, the old drifter, grifter, midnight shifter petty larceny friends, that’s all it was, petty and maybe larceny, hard against the named ships, hard against the named seas, hard against the named fishes, hard against the named fauna, hard against the unnamed angst, hard against those changes that kind of hit one sideways all at once like some mack the knife smack devilish thing had to move on. End of story.

From "Divest From War"-U.S./Allies Hands Off Iran!

Help Stop the Next WAR

Are you worried about an Israeli attack on Iran dragging the US and the entire Middle East into yet another war?

Do you feel helpless in the face of our so-called elected officials' unwillingness to stand up to the Israeli government?

What Can We Do?

The Israeli government is not worried about the US Congress or any western government. However, they are worried about grassroots boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movements that are challenging their impunity. We can use this concern to help raise the cost of an attack on Iran, and thereby help prevent the next war in the Middle East.

By signing the Divest From War Pledge, you commit to boycotting Israeli products and divesting from Israeli government bonds if Israel initiates a preemptive attack on Iran.

After you sign the pledge, be sure to spread the word nationally and internationally.

We can stop the next war, but only if we mobilize large numbers.

Some helpful new sites:

National Iranian American Council: www.niacouncil.org

Al Jazeera English: www.aliazeera.com

Interesting article on results of Pentagon Iran "war games" simulation: http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun ol am/2012/03/20/iran-war-game-predicts-dire-consequences-for-u-s-forces-after-israeli-attack/

Greater Boston Move to Amend-Join us as we put corporate personhood and money in politics to a public vote!-

Markin comment:

I place some material in this space which may be of interest to the radical public that I do not necessarily agree with or support. Off hand, as I have mentioned before, I think it would be easier, infinitely easier, to fight for the socialist revolution that to expect that a constitutional amendment to limit corporate influence in their capitalist system would be effective.
****************
The people will be heard!Join us as we put corporate personhood and money in politics to a public vote!

Are you disgusted with the influence of big money in politics?

Do you feel the political power of large corporations has eroded our
democracy?

Do you believe corporations should not have the same constitutional rights
as human beings?

Many of us across the state and around the country believe that we need a Constitutional amendment to restore our democracy to "We the People." Big-money campaign donations drown out the voices of the vast majority of Americans, and distort both our elections and how our legislators shape the policies that affect us. The Citizens United decision has just made a bad system much worse. We need an amendment to our Constitution to overturn Citizens United and restore the vision of government of, by and for all of us. Visit movetoamend.org for information about Move to Amend and its proposed Constitutional amendment.

We will win this amendment if we build a campaign based on a strong grassroots movement!

The time is right, and YOU can help right here, right now!

Move to Amend volunteer groups in Massachusetts have embarked on a campaign to bring public attention to the need for an amendment and enable the people to demonstrate their support for it in the voting booth. We are working to place "Public Policy Questions" on the November 2012 ballot in legislative districts around the state. Move to Amend affiliates are working with Common Cause of Massachusetts and other local, state, and national organizations.

You can download an overview of the campaign, including expected language of the proposed ballot question, at our website, gbnita.org.

To undertake this campaign in your district, we need volunteers. Will you help?

TO VOLUNTEER, or for more information, contact campaign@gbmta.org, visit gbmta.org, or call 781-894-1179.

We hope you can join us,

The volunteers of Greater Boston Move to Amend

Greater Boston MOVE to AMEND -END CORPORATE RULE. LEGALIZE DEMOCRACY.

Greater Boston Move to Amend * gbmta.org * 781-894-1179 * PO Box 540115, Waltham MA 02454

Victory To The Verizon Workers-FIGHT FOR GOOD JOBS—AND STAND UP TO CORPORATE GREED

FIGHT FOR GOOD JOBS—AND STAND UP TO CORPORATE GREED

Send a message to Verizon: Stop assaulting the middle class.

Verizon has made tens of billions in profits and its top executives walked away with $283 million in salary and bonuses in the last four years. But when it comes to the 45,000 workers who have made their success possible, Verizon cries broke.

Verizon has sent thousands of American jobs overseas and wants to outsource even more, gut pensions, charge current and retired employees thousands of dollars more for health benefits—even cut disability benefits for workers injured while doing their jobs.

It's wrong. But together we have the power to make it right.

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Call Congress NOW: 888-768-6167

Tell them to support the the U.S.Call Center Worker and Consumer
Protection Act (H.R. 3596)—and stop allowing companies like Verizon
to ship good jobs overseas.

Help spread the word:

Visit StopVerizonGreed.org to learn how to take action.

Don't stand by—stand up. It's time for Verizon to stop trying to destroy the-middle class.

A message from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

www.StopVerizonGreed.org

Help Generate and Demonstrate Public Support For a Constitutional Amendment to Restore Democracy to the People-A Move to Amend Priority Campaign for 2012

Markin comment:

I place some material in this space which may be of interest to the radical public that I do not necessarily agree with or support. Off hand, as I have mentioned before, I think it would be easier, infinitely easier, to fight for the socialist revolution that to expect that a constitutional amendment to limit corporate influence in their capitalist system would be effective.
*******
The next meeting of Greater Boston Move To Amend will be April 19, 2012 at 7pm (meet for cookies at 6:30) in the YWCA's Sylvia Room, at 7 Temple Street. Central Square, Cambridge

Help Generate and Demonstrate Public Support For a Constitutional Amendment to Restore Democracy to the People

A Move to Amend Priority Campaign for 2012

In Massachusetts, voters can put what is called a "public policy question" on the state ballot in state representative and senatorial districts. Public policy questions allow voters to show legislators how a majority of voters in their district wants them to vote on an issue. While these votes do not bind the legislator, they are a concrete way to demonstrate voter "will."

Move to Amend (MTA) in Massachusetts has chosen this as a priority activity for 2012 because it enables us to educate large numbers of people and demonstrate wide public support for our goals, so that legislators will eventually vote to amend our constitution and restore our democracy.

We can decide on the number of legislative districts we want to work in, and identify the best ones for educating voters and winning strong majority votes. The strategy will be to choose districts where there is a strong volunteer group to do an effective public education campaign.

Common Cause Massachusetts has also chosen public policy questions as a priority strategy in Massachusetts, and MTA expects to work closely with them on this effort. We hope many other groups
will join in.

State Process and Timeline:

In early April, MTA and Common Cause will submit proposed language to state officials -the language that we want to appear on the ballot. They give advice as to whether it has the correct form to appear on the ballot.

By April 24, the Secretary of the Commonwealth has petition forms ready for the public.

We collect signatures from voters in any district we have chosen. Deadline for submitting signatures to the local registrars is July 3. For state rep. districts we must collect 200 valid voter signatures, therefore we should seek at least 260 signatures. For state senate districts we must
collect 1,200 valid signatures, and therefore should seek 1500-1600 signatures.

The local registrars validate the signatures and submit them to the state by August 1 (this is when we will know for sure that the question will appear on that districts ballot.)

The Secretary of the Commonwealth and Attorney General determine the final language that can go on the ballot and determine which districts have met the required signatures.

The question appears on the ballot on November 6, state and national election day, in every district that qualifies.

To see the Secretary of the Commonwealth web page on this go to: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleguide/guidepubpol.htm

The campaign is a vital step toward winning Massachusetts' support for a constitutional amendment to defend democracy from undue corporate influence and unrestrained political spending!

We hope you are willing to participate and we want to put this question to the voters in every district where we can win.

Would you be willing to help with this ballot campaign in your district?

If you're thinking of getting involved, contact us so we can help determine the feasibility of a successful effort in your district. Write to campaign@gbmta.org.

During the campaign, we can provide materials to distribute, fact sheets to explain our goals, training for volunteers and general advice! But we will have to determine whether you have the volunteers to do a successful public education campaign in your district.

Your first step is to gather a group in your district and ask yourselves, whether you have the capability to help with:

Collecting the necessary signatures on the petition (May through July 2)

Raising some funds for materials (by August 1)

Distributing literature throughout the district (events, door to door, etc.)

Conducting a public forum or two (best in September and October)

Placing letters to the editor or other stories in local papers and media

Covering polls on voting day with handouts and signs (November 6)

Ballot Language

Move to Amend and Common Cause in Massachusetts have worked on ballot language that both groups can support and this language is what we expect to put on the ballot.

The state requires that the Public Policy question begin with: "Shall the (senator or representative) from this district be instructed to vote in favor of... " and our expected language is:

Shall the state (senator/representative) from this district he instructed to vote in favor of a resolution calling upon Congress to propose and send to the States for ratification an amendment to the U. S. Constitution stating that 1) corporations are not entitled to the constitutional rights of human beings and 2) both Congress and the States may place limitations on political contributions and political spending.

This language may slightly change upon further consultation with state officials, but we expect this to be very close to final wording.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

The Old "Beat" Town, Circa 2010

Crossing the Squaw River Bridge from the Boston side these days, walking-sore-footed, ankle-ached, worn-out, scuffed leather shoes, rounded-heel shoes, soles thinned-out shoes walking-just as was almost always my mode of transportation, and maybe yours, in the old days, and sometimes for me in the not so old days-ain’t like it used to be. That new (1970s new, anyway), higher-standing , pot-holed patched, unevenly asphalt-paved even on good days, uninviting, if not just plain dangerous, walk-way, ugly slab-concreted, built by the lowest bidder, bridge that routes traffic, hither and yon, is not like the old one, “ walking to think things over friendly."

Not today, anyway, as I brace myself for a serious look see at our beat-up, beat-down, beaten-back, back-seat-taking, smudged-up, blood and sweat-stained, bitter-teared (very bitter-teared), life-drained, seen better days (although I do not, personally, remember having seen those better days, but people keep saying, even now, there was a such a time so let’s leave it at that), almost genetically memory embedded , character-building (yes, that old chestnut, as well), beautiful (yes, beautiful too, oddly, eerily beautiful, or as mad, shamanic poet Yeats, he of that that fine Anglo-Irish word edge, would put it, "terrible beauty a-borning" beautiful ), old working class home town.

It’s silly, I know, to get misty-eyed over it but I miss the old archaic pre-1970s drawbridge bridge with its ghastly-green gates to stop car traffic (how else could you describe that institutional color that no artist would have on his or her palette, and no serious professional business painter would stoop to brush on anything much less a gate) and the lonely stony-eyed concrete medieval fortress of a tower (and its poor, bored, had to be bored, keeper, or tender or whatever you call that “look out for the big boats coming and going” guy, and it was always some old guy who looked like he could swap stories, buddy to buddy, with King Neptune, and probably did) to let the bigger boats, courtesy of the law of the seas, make their way to dock.

Or, better, I hope, I fervently hope, for the boats to get clearance from that old codger, old Neptune’s brother, to race, to crawl, to putt-putt, to hoist sail or whatever such boats do to get to the open sea, the wide open blue-grey, swirling, mad, rushing, whirling dervish of a sea, out to beyond the breakwaters, out to beyond the harbor islands, to the land becoming mere speck, and then mere vanish, and more adventure than I could even dream of, or think of dreaming of. At least I hope those oil-stained, diesel-fuelled (including those awful faint-producing fumes), powerfully-engined, deep-drafted, fully–stocked boats that drove river traffic and stopped car traffic came back or went out in search of those adventures away from the placid wooden-lumbered doldrums docks up along the Adamsville side of the river.

But, one thing is for sure, whatever happened to the boats, or on them, that old bridge, that old green-gate painted monster of a drawbridge, gave you a chance to pause mid-bridge, fright-free, not-having-to-watch-your-back-for-fast-cars-caroming-by free , to look up and down midstream; to dream, perhaps, of tidal drifts and fair winds to the far reaches of this good, green planet, as far as you could carry yourself and your backpacked, bed-rolled belongings, or as long as the money held out; to bestir yourself afresh to think of oneness with the seventy-eight trillion life forms (hey, I didn’t count them, alright, this is just an estimate, a very rough estimate) that flow in the murky, and on some days very murky, depths right before your eyes down to our homeland, the sea; to dream vista dreams of far-away picture postcard cooling ports-of-call in the sweaty, sultry summer day airs or churn madly with the flow of wild summer night airs that led from the old home town west, north, south, somewhere, anywhere; to dream the dream of dreams of misspent (no way, no way misspent), suggestive, very suggestive, radio-blared Lets Spend The Night Together or The Night Time Is The Right Time, whiskey-bottle in hand (or, maybe, beer-canned if dough was tight, or way back when and you were underage if your wino buyer didn't show that night), best-gal swinging Saturday nights(quaint, okay, but we are all adults and you know what I mean) ; and, to think that one thought, that one midstream on the bridge-driven thought that would spring you from the woes of woe begotten, troubled-filled (for me, and, maybe, you) dear, (now dear, anyway) beat, ancient-ached, old timey, presidential graveyard of a growing-up home town.

This new one, this new bridge, as I stand mid-bridge and peek back to my left routes, if you can even call it that, traffic via a Daytona race track-worthy, curvy-swurvy ramp to the beach, Adamsville Beach, down the now, in places anyway, three lane-wide, freshly-paved and white-lined Adamsville Shore Drive. That’s our old Adamsville Boulevard, down by the shore everything’s alright, of sacred ashy memory. And as I watch the traffic flow, the car traffic I think not of vanilla, too bright, too light, too slight day time beach, for now, because I am flooded with visions of the “real” beach of my manic dreams- “the night time is the right time" beach. Enough of daytime, kiddish, bucket and shovel whines and childish butterfly daydreams, enough. Alright?

I just now, and you can follow along too, float dream of teenaged Saturday nights, or maybe even Friday nights, or both, cruising, nowhere, somewhere, anywhere, to the pink- blue, cloud-swollen, sun-devouring, Western night-dream skies, always just beyond our reach. Of you riding "shotgun" in your buddy’s car, a be-bop car, or, I hope, at least bop, late 1950s, and pray hard for a ’57 Chevy or something “cool” like that, borrowed from his old man, stopped at close by high school (remember), Essot gas station and filled, two-dollars-worth-of-gas-check the oil-please-filled. Or his own car, your buddy's, the old man's leavings, given gratis, when that self-same old man stepped up to a new, bigger-finned, power-steered, rumble-engined, airplane of a car, a new sign that he had “made it” in hard dollar America.

Of stolen sickly-sweet wines or breathe-soured whiskeys to ward off the night-forebodings, made sweeter or more sour by the stealing from that same old man’s, or maybe your old man's, liquor cabinet, if they had such an upscale thing, or else just from some dusty high cupboard shelf so the kids can’t get at it place. And, and, oh boy, visions of those moon-beamy, dreamy, seamy, steamy Saturday night beach parking, car-fogged, car-wrestled, “submarine races” watchings that were the subject of Monday morning boys’ rest room (okay, “lav”) roll call, recital and retailing (or, hell, probably in the girls’ room too, I bet, but the now women can tell their own tales). Whoa!

Beatified night-dreamed beach Adamsville Shore Drive also routes, now that my blood pressure has returned to normal, to daydream summer sunbathing, or maybe even before summer sunbathing for early tans to drive away the fierce, ghost-like New England winter pales, in the real sun daytime down by the weather-beaten yacht clubs (tumble-weedy, seedy, paint-needy Adamsville Yacht Club and Squaw Rock Boat Club, okay). Away, well a little away, from the early encountered mephitic sea grass marshes near the Causeway (you know where, right?-the old First National supermarket, now CVS drugs-for all occasions-store location), away from the deadened, fetid, scattered sea grasses and the muck, and in plain kid talk, away from the “stinks”, away from the tepid waves apologetically splashing on the ocean smooth-stoned dunes, away too from the jelly-fish (are they poisonous, or not?) spawning and spattered along the edges of the low tide line, and, most fervently, away, away from the oil-slicked mud flats of childish shovel and pail clam-digging adventures, clams squirting and screaming from their sand hovels that need not detain us here, that story has been told elsewhere by me, and often.

Once you have passed the fetid swamps, the mephitic marshes…, but wait a minute, who knows such un-childlike, or un-teenager-like, for that matter, words like fetid and mephitic and where, as a child, even if you knew the words, would you connect those words with pail and shovel digging to China, or some faraway place, beach; with tide-melting, furtive but fevered, sand castle-making, beach; with coolly and focused looking for treasure, somebody’s leavings, some body’s rich leavings so you think, beach; with learning about the fury of Mother Nature and the pull and push of tides first hand when old Mother (like womb mother) turns her fury on, beach; with later finger (or stick) sand-tracing of your name defying the tides to erase your brand as you fight, and fight hard, for your place in the sun (and maybe linking up your sweetie’s name, just for good measure, in that struggle with eternity), beach; with fellaheen digging for clams for fun or profit (or food for table, who knows) down at the Bay View end, beach; with family barbecue outings, hot dogs and hamburgers, extra ketchup, please, beach. With, well, beach, beach. No, fetid and mephitic will not do, I like my dreams, my child remembrance dreams, cloud puffy and silky.

This bridge, this too far bridge, this man-standing memory bridge, or however you named it, or whatever you thought of it, or wherever you were heading, destiny-heading, heading to your growing-up-like-a-weed town, heading just like a-lemming-to-the-sea town pushes the brain in a couple of directions. Heading south anyway, shore drive south, south to the rivieras, south to the old time kid’s Paragon Park. Rickety, always needed, desperately needed, fresh paint coat, landlocked, off-limits showboat bar-entranced (a gay place, before gay word existed as a social category, but what did we know then, or care, just quarters for skees, please, ah, please), ocean-aired, between-the toes-sanded, sun glass-visioned against the furious midday sun Paragon Park. Roller coaster Paragon Park (hey, maybe sick, before you got the hang of it, right), wild mouse (kid's stuff, ya I know) Paragon Park, cheap, colorful skee ball points trinket prize, sugar high, lips smacked cotton-candy, stuck to the roof of your mouth, roof of the world, salt water taffy-twisted, hot-dogged (hold the mustard, no onions), pin ball wizard’d, take your baby to the carnival feel the tunnel of love, Paragon Park.(Or later, coming of another age, the Surf, and a whole other memory bridge of dreams, not for now though.)

Or south of that south to some old time, unnamed, misty adventure, some ancient Pilgrim-etched mayflower rocky-shored adventure, some ancient forebear's praise Jehovah plainsong heard whistling through some weed-filled granite slate graveyards, not mine; mine is of shanty Irish "famine" ships and old kicked out of England convict labor, hell-hole, "hillbilly" Appalachia work the coal mines, boats. Down along that old slow as molasses, take your time, wait at every just barely red stoplight, watch out for side-glanced cop cars, two-laned, white stripped, no passing (hardly), ocean-touched (in places) road. Memory-washed, memory-etched, memory south youth road, ah.

Yes, that cotton-candy dream is enough to stir even a hardened soul, but as I shift, stiffly shift, weight on my tired old high-soled, age-qualified, age-necessary, bop-bop shoes(no more of "young" fashionista statement, skinny-soled, fire engine red Chuck Taylor’s, now of sturdy, new age, aero-flow, aero-glow, aero-know, aero-whatever, for this heavy work, this airy memory work, bop-bop shoes), I stand straight up in mid-bridge balance and veer my head to the right. That move makes me focus my mind’s eye to the heart, the soul, the guts of the old growing-up town via a narrow, straight and narrow, slit in the road, a road constructed in such a way as if to say no cuts-ups, fops (quaint, again), or oddballs wanted here, as it swerves to the edgings, the bare edgings, amidst the gathering flotsam and jetsam as it piles up on riverside old Main Street and as it meanders along like some far-removed river of its own, river of its own sorrows, river of its own pent-up angers, toward the Square.

But more than sorrows, ancient sorrows, more than angers, angers of whatever age, I am attacked, and not just in my mind’s eye either, by the myriad mirror-glassed buildings, mostly office buildings, maybe some apartments or condos but I hope not, that reflect off each other in some secret Bauhaus bright light, dead of night pact, post-post-modern architecture I am sure, functional I am sure, although when future, future generations dig up the artifacts I am also sure they will be as puzzled by the idea of such forms of shelter and commerce as I am. And beyond those future subjects of artifact a picture, a picture to feed the hungry buildings, of tactless, thoughtless pizza shop, take-out or eat-in, of whatever name, donut shop, take-out or eat-in, of whatever name, hamburger shop, take-out or eat-in, of whatever name, Applebee’s family-friendly food named, now you-name-it-for-me, please, fast-food shop, mini-mart shop, fill-up gas-station of many names, Hess named, that dot, no, deluge strip mall-heavy Main Street up pass our sanctified raider red-bled high school. And beyond to dowdy, drowsy, dusty–windowed (really, I actually touched one once, not a white glove inspection but it, the window that is, didn’t pass muster even by my liberal standards), how do they stay in business against the pull of the major chains (or their chains), small-stored, small-dreamed business ownership, Norfolk Downs.

Norfolk Downs, the good old “Downs” (although we just called it plain, old, ordinary, vanilla-flavored, one-horse Norfolk Downs back in the day) anchored still by named pizza shop, Balducci’s. Balducci’s of after school pizza slices or after night time across the street hang-around underground bowling alley hungers. Plain, please, no one hundred and one choice toppings, thank you, and coke (bluish-green bottled Coca-Cola, okay, for the evil-minded): of nickels and dimes dropped in one-armed-bandit jukebox to hear the latest Stones (or Beatles) tune, or whatever struck a chord in those jumping-jack times, maybe some mopey thing if girl desire was high; yes, but also of weary, so weary, lonely, so lonely night time standings up against the front door wall, waiting, waiting for...(and, maybe, someone, some guy, some long side-burned, engineer-booted guy, cigarette pack, unfiltered, rolled in tee-shirt guy, some time machine guy, is still waiting, still holding up that wall today. Nobody told him the world, the world that counts, the teen world, had moved to the malls). And beyond Norfolk Downs, up that asphalt river, on to the fate of a million small city centers, ghost-towned, derelict, seen better days, for sure, no question, no question, Adamsville Center.

But I find myself , just now, as a stream of cooling air, finally, finally crosses my bridge-stuck, bridge-dreamed path, not in thoughts of jumbled mist of time high school-hood Saturdays nights (nor Friday nights either) in Norfolk Downs pizza parlors or bowling alleys, but of whirling past anciently walked, shoe leather-beaten (always leather-beaten, crooked-heeled, thinning-soled shoes that could be the subject of their own separate bridge-like dream thoughts), oceaned-breezed (just like the breeze crossing over me now , ‘cause that is where it is coming from, it has to be), sharp-angled memories: some of hurt, some of high-hatted hurt, worse, a few, too few, of funny kiddish, ding-dong dumb done things (ever when too old to hide under that womb-like kiddish umbrella), the memories that is, of Atlantic tide streets, of breezing Adamsville bays, of oceans-abutted streets etched deep, almost DNA deep.

Name names. Okay. Well-trodden Appleton Street sidewalks, drawn like a moth to flame to some now-forgotten she, by flickering, heart-quickening, unrequited, just barely teenage, but self-consciously teenage anyhow, romantic trance longings, doggedly working up non-courage, yes non-courage a very common thing in those days, to speak, or better, to write that one word, that one word still now not easily come by, that would spark interest (her interest), as I turned from boy to the buddings of manhood; of the close-quartered, no space, no space for anything but small pinched, tightly pinched, dreams , no room to breathe, no room to breathe anything but small breathe, hacked up, asphalted-up, lawn-free yards to quench driveway car thirsting, two and three-decked Atlantic Street houses passed on quick high school cross country practice runs; of family relative-burdened, just getting-started in adult life, small, cramped five room and tiny bath apartment dotted Walker and Webster Streets; of the closely-cornered, well-kept small manicured-lawn’d, busily repair-worked, no beach parking on the street in summertime, working class cottage-mansions of Bayfield Road (I always forget which is North and which is South, but no matter the description fits both as they feed to the endless sea stopped by that infernal stop light that keeps you waiting, waiting beyond impatience, to cross to the much repaired and replaced seawall and view of seaward homeland.); of Adamsville North Junior High School’d (ya, I know, Middle School) teen angst (under either junior or middle school names), mad, hormonally mad, teen-brokered years, world wised-up with some twists, but also world sorry, straight-up, Hollis Avenue; and on and on, through to the beach-drained, tree-named streets. Sanctified beyond name streets all; beat, beatified streets all; mist-filled dream streets all; memory-soaked streets all; be-bop, then real gone daddy, now hip-hop, big old pie-in-the-sky looking for the universe somewhere, streets all.

But enough of old dog-eared memories let me get moving, after all with this bridge, this “new” bridge, one has to cross with purpose, serious purpose, and maybe a wing and a pray that one can get back to the old home town in one piece or, at least, be able to think that one precious thought that drove me, lemming-like, here in the first place. I walk down the broken hand-railed, dirt-piled , drift winds-sent littered steps to get off the bridge and immediately stretched before me ; one million water-logged, stubbed cigarette-butts; one thousand stray, crushed, empty, cellophaned cigarette-packages blown around seeking their rightful owners; one hundred infinite brand-named (ice cold something pictured Bud Lite seems like the winner), crushed (or at least dented) beer cans; assorted, unnumbered, brown whiskey(or were they gin) bottles, mainly cheap from the look of them, a drunkard’s feast at one time; high gloss advertisement mailings(endless CVS drugs to take your world’s pain away, Shaw’s food to curb that incurable hunger that gnaws away at your stomach, Wal-Mart back-to-school trinkets, gadgets and throw-aways when the kids find out, and find out fast, that this crap is not “cool”, K-Mart holiday bargains, three for a dollar); yellowing, dated, newspapers (local this-and-that news, distant war drum news, more war drum news from some other earth corner, bad news badder, and celebrity relief news, Lady GaGa, or some such doings, that’s the ticket for our times) strewn every which way, discarded fast food packages of all descriptions that I have no time to describe. On to the street I step, the hard-scrabble North Adamsville street. Home.

Standing In Solidarity With Private Bradley Manning During The Week Of April 23-29 In The Boston Area-Why I Will Be Standing With Private Manning On Friday April 27th In Davis Square, Somerville And Saturday April 28th At Park Street Station In Boston

Click on the headline to link to the Private Bradley Manning Support Network for the latest information on his case and activities on his behalf .

We of the anti-war movement were not able to do much to affect the Bush- Obama Iraq War timetable but we can save the one hero of that war, Bradley Manning.

According to the Private Bradley Manning Support Network there are a series of actions planned in Washington, D.C at the Justice Department on April 24th and at Fort Meade, Maryland on April 25th and 26th in connection with the next round of legal proceedings in his case. I had originally intended to travel down from Boston to take part in those events that week but some other obligations now prevent me from doing so. Nevertheless there two on-going activities in the Boston area where those of us who support freedom for Bradley Manning can show our solidarity during that week.

Every Friday from 1:00 -2:00 PM there is an on-going solidarity vigil for Brother Manning at the Davis Square Redline MBTA stop in Davis Square, Somerville.

Every Saturday from 1:00-2:00 PM there is an on-going peace vigil/speak-out in our struggle against the war (or wars) of the moment being orchestrated by the American government and its allies at the Redline MBTA Park Street Station in Boston (Boston Common). Bradley Manning’s case is a natural extension of those struggles.

Please plan to attend either or both of these events on Friday April 28th (Davis Square) and/or Saturday April 29th (Park Street) to stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning. I have included my original comment made when I had expected to go down to the Washington/Fort Meade events as motivation for you to stand with Bradley on those days here in Boston.
*************
Why I Will Be Standing In Solidarity With Private Bradley Manning At Fort Meade Maryland On Wednesday April 25th At 8:00 AM - A Personal Note From An Ex-Soldier Political Prisoner

Markin comment:

Last year (2011) I wrote a little entry in this space in order to motivate my reasons for standing in solidarity with a March 20th rally in support of Private Bradley Manning at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia where he was then being held. I have subsequently repeatedly used that entry, Why I Will Be Standing In Solidarity With Private Bradley Manning At Quantico, Virginia On Sunday March 20th At 2:00 PM- A Personal Note From An Ex-Soldier Political Prisoner, as a I have tried to publicize his case in blogs and other Internet sources, at various rallies, and at marches, most recently at the Veterans For Peace Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade in South Boston on March 18th.

After I received information from the Bradley Manning Support Network about the latest efforts on Private Manning’s behalf scheduled for April 24th and 25th in Washington and Fort Meade respectively I decided that I would travel south to stand once again in proximate solidarity with Brother Manning at Fort Meade on April 25th. In that spirit I have updated, a little, that earlier entry to reflect the changed circumstances over the past year. As one would expect when the cause is still the same, Bradley Manning's freedom, unfortunately most of the entry is still in the same key. And will be until the day he is freed by his jailers. And I will continue to stand in proud solidarity with Brother Manning until that great day.
*****
Of course I will be standing at the front gate to the Fort Meade , Maryland on April 25th because I stand in solidarity with the actions of Private Bradley Manning in bringing to light, just a little light, some of the nefarious doings of this government, Bush-like or Obamian. If he did such acts they are no crime. No crime at all in my eyes or in the eyes of the vast majority of people who know of the case and of its importance as an individual act of resistance to the unjust and barbaric American-led war in Iraq. I sleep just a shade bit easier these days knowing that Private Manning (or someone) exposed what we all knew, or should have known- the Iraq war and the Afghan war justification rested on a house of cards. American imperialism’s gun-toting house of cards, but cards nevertheless.

Of course I will also be standing at the front gate of Fort Meade, Maryland on April 25th because I am outraged by the treatment meted out to Private Manning, presumably an innocent man, by a government who alleges itself to be some “beacon” of the civilized world. Bradley Manning had been held in solidarity at Quantico and other locales for over 500 days, and has been held without trial for much longer, as the government and its military try to glue a case together. The military, and its henchmen in the Justice Department, have gotten more devious although not smarter since I was a soldier in their crosshairs over forty years ago.

Now the two reasons above are more than sufficient for my standing at the front gate at Fort Meade on April 25th although they, in themselves, are only the appropriate reasons that any progressive thinking person would need to show up and shout to the high heavens for Private Manning’s freedom. I have an additional reason though, a very pressing personal reason. As mentioned above I too was in the military’s crosshairs as a citizen-soldier during the height of the Vietnam War. I will not go into the details of that episode, this comment after all is about brother soldier Manning, other than that I spent my own time in an Army stockade for, let’s put it this way, working on the principle of “what if they gave a war and nobody came”.

Forty years later I am still working off that principle, and gladly. But here is the real point. During that time I had outside support, outside civilian support, that rallied on several occasions outside the military base where I was confined. Believe me that knowledge helped me get through the tough days inside. So on April 25th I will be just, once again, as I have been able to on too few other occasions over years, paying my dues for that long ago support. You, Brother Manning, are a true winter soldier. We were not able to do much about the course of the Iraq War (and little thus far on Afghanistan) but we can move might and main to save the one real hero of that whole mess.

Private Manning I hope that you will hear us and hear about our rally in your defense outside the gates. Better yet, everybody who reads this piece join us and make sure that he can hear us loud and clear. And let us shout to high heaven against this gross injustice-Free Private Bradley Manning Now!

Standing In Solidarity With Private Bradley Manning During The Week Of April 23-29 In The Boston Area-Why I Will Be Standing With Private Manning On Friday April 27th In Davis Square, Somerville And Saturday April 28th At Park Street Station In Boston

Click on the headline to link to the Private Bradley Manning Support Network for the latest information on his case and activities on his behalf .

We of the anti-war movement were not able to do much to affect the Bush- Obama Iraq War timetable but we can save the one hero of that war, Bradley Manning.

According to the Private Bradley Manning Support Network there are a series of actions planned in Washington, D.C at the Justice Department on April 24th and at Fort Meade, Maryland on April 25th and 26th in connection with the next round of legal proceedings in his case. I had originally intended to travel down from Boston to take part in those events that week but some other obligations now prevent me from doing so. Nevertheless there two on-going activities in the Boston area where those of us who support freedom for Bradley Manning can show our solidarity during that week.

Every Friday from 1:00 -2:00 PM there is an on-going solidarity vigil for Brother Manning at the Davis Square Redline MBTA stop in Davis Square, Somerville.

Every Saturday from 1:00-2:00 PM there is an on-going peace vigil/speak-out in our struggle against the war (or wars) of the moment being orchestrated by the American government and its allies at the Redline MBTA Park Street Station in Boston (Boston Common). Bradley Manning’s case is a natural extension of those struggles.

Please plan to attend either or both of these events on Friday April 28th (Davis Square) and/or Saturday April 29th (Park Street) to stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning. I have included my original comment made when I had expected to go down to the Washington/Fort Meade events as motivation for you to stand with Bradley on those days here in Boston.
*************
Why I Will Be Standing In Solidarity With Private Bradley Manning At Fort Meade Maryland On Wednesday April 25th At 8:00 AM - A Personal Note From An Ex-Soldier Political Prisoner

Markin comment:

Last year (2011) I wrote a little entry in this space in order to motivate my reasons for standing in solidarity with a March 20th rally in support of Private Bradley Manning at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia where he was then being held. I have subsequently repeatedly used that entry, Why I Will Be Standing In Solidarity With Private Bradley Manning At Quantico, Virginia On Sunday March 20th At 2:00 PM- A Personal Note From An Ex-Soldier Political Prisoner, as a I have tried to publicize his case in blogs and other Internet sources, at various rallies, and at marches, most recently at the Veterans For Peace Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade in South Boston on March 18th.

After I received information from the Bradley Manning Support Network about the latest efforts on Private Manning’s behalf scheduled for April 24th and 25th in Washington and Fort Meade respectively I decided that I would travel south to stand once again in proximate solidarity with Brother Manning at Fort Meade on April 25th. In that spirit I have updated, a little, that earlier entry to reflect the changed circumstances over the past year. As one would expect when the cause is still the same, Bradley Manning's freedom, unfortunately most of the entry is still in the same key. And will be until the day he is freed by his jailers. And I will continue to stand in proud solidarity with Brother Manning until that great day.
*****
Of course I will be standing at the front gate to the Fort Meade , Maryland on April 25th because I stand in solidarity with the actions of Private Bradley Manning in bringing to light, just a little light, some of the nefarious doings of this government, Bush-like or Obamian. If he did such acts they are no crime. No crime at all in my eyes or in the eyes of the vast majority of people who know of the case and of its importance as an individual act of resistance to the unjust and barbaric American-led war in Iraq. I sleep just a shade bit easier these days knowing that Private Manning (or someone) exposed what we all knew, or should have known- the Iraq war and the Afghan war justification rested on a house of cards. American imperialism’s gun-toting house of cards, but cards nevertheless.

Of course I will also be standing at the front gate of Fort Meade, Maryland on April 25th because I am outraged by the treatment meted out to Private Manning, presumably an innocent man, by a government who alleges itself to be some “beacon” of the civilized world. Bradley Manning had been held in solidarity at Quantico and other locales for over 500 days, and has been held without trial for much longer, as the government and its military try to glue a case together. The military, and its henchmen in the Justice Department, have gotten more devious although not smarter since I was a soldier in their crosshairs over forty years ago.

Now the two reasons above are more than sufficient for my standing at the front gate at Fort Meade on April 25th although they, in themselves, are only the appropriate reasons that any progressive thinking person would need to show up and shout to the high heavens for Private Manning’s freedom. I have an additional reason though, a very pressing personal reason. As mentioned above I too was in the military’s crosshairs as a citizen-soldier during the height of the Vietnam War. I will not go into the details of that episode, this comment after all is about brother soldier Manning, other than that I spent my own time in an Army stockade for, let’s put it this way, working on the principle of “what if they gave a war and nobody came”.

Forty years later I am still working off that principle, and gladly. But here is the real point. During that time I had outside support, outside civilian support, that rallied on several occasions outside the military base where I was confined. Believe me that knowledge helped me get through the tough days inside. So on April 25th I will be just, once again, as I have been able to on too few other occasions over years, paying my dues for that long ago support. You, Brother Manning, are a true winter soldier. We were not able to do much about the course of the Iraq War (and little thus far on Afghanistan) but we can move might and main to save the one real hero of that whole mess.

Private Manning I hope that you will hear us and hear about our rally in your defense outside the gates. Better yet, everybody who reads this piece join us and make sure that he can hear us loud and clear. And let us shout to high heaven against this gross injustice-Free Private Bradley Manning Now!


An injury to one is an injury to all, ANTI-IMPERIALISM, anti-militarism, frees all class-war prisoners, free Bradley manning, PARTISAN DEFENSE COMMITTEE

From The Archives Of The Class Struggle-5th ANNUAL NEW ENGLAND SOCIALIST CONFERENCE

5th ANNUAL NEW ENGLAND SOCIALIST CONFERENCE

APRIL 14TH -15TH (SATURDAY AND SUNDAY)

@ The Democracy Center
45 Mount Auburn St Harvard Sq, a short walk from the T

FEATURING- Saturday, April 14th (Day 1)

10am to 11:30-Rally/Forum -

"We Won't Pay for Their Crisis"

11:30 to 12:30-Workshops:

Lessons of Wisconsin Book Launch

Dismantling Sexist Culture

Youth Fight for Jobs

Marxism and Anarchism

12:30 to 1:30-Lunch

1:30 to 2:30-Forum - Independent Left Politics 2:30 to 3:30-Workshops:

Racism, Prisons and Police Brutality

Consumer Activism: Does "Move your money" really work?

Harvard No Layoffs Campaign

Environment

3:30 to 5pm- International Struggles Forum: Featuring Greek, Nigerian and English speakers.

Sunday, April 15th (Day 2)
12 noon to 1 pm-Socialism Frequently Asked Questions

1 pm to 3pm-DISCUSSION on with PDA: "Should the Left Support Democrats?"

-labor donated-

boston@SocialistAlternative.org http://boston.socialistalternative.org

774-454-9060

From The Coalition Of Immokalee (Fl)Workers (CIW)- Stop & (Sweat) Shop Supermarkets Bargain For Fair Wages And Working Conditions Now !

From The Coalition Of Immokalee (Fl)Workers (CIW)- Stop & (Sweat) Shop Supermarkets Bargain For Fair Wages And Working Conditions Now !

WARNING

Stop & Shop tomatoes may be harvested by Florida farmworkers under the following conditions:

Sub-poverty wages

Workers are paid virtually the same piece rate (an average of 50 cents per 32 lb. bucket) as they were 30 years ago. At this rate, a worker must pick over 2.5 tons of tomatoes to earn Florida minimum wage in a typical 10-hour workday. Most workers earn less than $12,000 per year.

Denial Of Fundamental Labor Rights

Farmworkers in Florida have no right to overtime pay, no health insurance, sick leave, paid vacation or pension, and no right to organize in order to improve these conditions.

Modern Day Slavery

In the most extreme conditions, farmworkers are held against their will and forced to work for little or no pay. Federal Civil Rights officials have success­fully prosecuted seven slavery operations involving over 1,200 workers in Florida's fields since 1997, prompting one federal prosecutor to call Florida "ground zero for modern-day slavery." In 2010, federal prosecutors indicted two more forced labor rings operating in Florida.

For decades, Florida's farmworkers faced poverty wages and daily violations of their basic rights - including modern-day slavery in the most extreme cases - in order to harvest the food on our plates.

Today, however, a new day is dawning in the fields. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) — an internationally-recognized farmworker organization — has reached groundbreaking agreements with ten of the world's leading food retailers, including McDonald's, Subway and Trader Joe's. Hailed by the New York Times as "possibly the most successful labor action in the U.S. in twenty years,"the Fair Food Program establishes a worker-designed code of conduct in the fields and requires retailers to pay one more penny per pound for the tomatoes they buy to go directly to the workers who picked them—all of which is monitored and enforced by the independent Fair Food Standards Council.

Supermarkets like Ahold (parent company of Stop & Shop) leverage . their high-volume purchasing power to demand the ever-lower prices that result in farmworker exploitation. By refusing to partner with the CIW, the steps the company has claimed to take fall far short of the substantive, verifiable and enforceable standards that the situation requires, consumers expect, and others within the industry have embraced.

Demand that Stop & Shop uphold farmworker rights and join the Fair Food Program!

www.ciw-online.org

From Un-Occupied Boston- Radio "Occupy Boston"-www.obr.fm

From Un-Occupied Boston- Radio "Occupy Boston"-www.obr.fm

radio-www.obr.fm

OBR Working Group Meetings

Mondays & Fridays

7pm-9pm E5, 33 Harrison Ave, 5th Fl Boston

Join the movement to craft a radio station for everyone, where all voices are heard. Help OB Radio build a News program, a talk show or a program dedicated to independent tunes.

We're seeking producers and show hosts as well as members behind the scene.

Meeting are open & all are welcome.

Occupy Boston Radio is a community based and volunteer run Internet radio station broadcasting out of the metropolitan Boston area.

OBR strives to facilitate, offering a wide variety of individuals and groups an opportunity to share their experiences, concerns, and perspectives over the Occupy airwaves.

OBR Trainings/Workshops
Producer Training 04/T1 & 04/14
Program Dev Workshop 04/18 & 04/21
Editing Workshop 04/25 & 04/28
&
Saturdays 10am-12pm
Wednesdays 6pm-8pm

E5, 33 Harrison Ave, 5th Floor Boston (Chinatown MBTA stop)

Learn to broadcast using a computer. Create & develop your own radio show. Refine your audio editing skills. Free & Open to ALLI

Website: www.OBR.fm http://www.occupyboston.org/radio/

Phone #: (617) 50-MY-RAD

* Wikh http://wiki.occupyboston,org/wiki/WG/radio * Twitter:@occupybosradio

* Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Boslon-Radio/252192604847461

* WePay: hffps://www. wepay.com/donations/oceupybostonradio

OCCUPY BOSTON COMMUNITY GATHERING-WHAT'S THE LINK BETWEEN WAR & THE ECONOMY?-Monday April 23rd- 6:00-8:30 PM

OCCUPY BOSTON COMMUNITY GATHERING

MONDAY, APRIL 23 6:00-8:30PM

WHAT'S THE LINK BETWEEN WAR & THE ECONOMY?

Presentation: The Price of War

A short presentation from the New Priorities Network

Panel: Community Impact

A discussion with activists from the local community, peace, labor, and veteran movements about how the war impacts their communities:

Tyrek Lee I Vice President, 1199 SEIU Massachusetts

Oliver Hendricks I City Life / Vida Urbana, Coalition to
Fund Our Communities / Cut Military Spending by 25%

Duncan McFarland I United for Justice with Peace

Rachel McNeill I Veterans For Peace

Discussion: Where do we go from here?

ORGANIZED BY THE FREE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY

For more information, email fsu@lists.occupyboston.org, or visit wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/fsu.

St. Paul's Cathedral, 138 Tremont St, Boston
(Across from the Park St T Stop - Red Line)

From #Ur-Occupied Boston (#Ur-Tomemonos Boston)-General Assembly-The Embryo Of An Alternate Government-Learn The Lessons Of History-Lessons From The Utopian Socialists- Charles Fourier and The Phalanx Movement-“The Phalanx on Parade: Its Sixteen Tribes”

Click on the headline to link to the archives of the Occupy Boston General Assembly minutes from the Occupy Boston website. Occupy Boston started at 6:00 PM, September 30, 2011. The General Assembly is the core political institution of the Occupy movement. Some of the minutes will reflect the growing pains of that movement and its concepts of political organization. Note that I used the word embryo in the headline and I believe that gives a fair estimate of its status, and its possibilities.
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An Injury To One Is An Injury To All!-Defend All The Occupation Sites And All The Occupiers! Drop All Charges Against All Protesters Everywhere!
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Charles Fourier (1772-1837)

“The Phalanx on Parade: Its Sixteen Tribes”

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Source: The Utopian Vision of Charles Fourier. Selected Texts on Work, Love, and Passionate Attraction. Translated, Edited and with an Introduction by Jonathan Beecher and Richard Bienvenu. Published by Jonathan Cape, 1972;
First Published: La Phalange 1845-49.
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden.


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When a Phalanx gathers for ceremonial occasions such as receptions and important festivities, it forms a vast series consisting of thirty-two choirs (sixteen male and sixteen female) each of which parades with its own special costumes and ornaments. This series, which can be called the basic series, is one of those which has the same distinguishing features throughout the globe. In all countries it adopts the thirty-two colours specified for each of its thirty-two choirs; these colours are required only on its pennants, plumes and distinctive ornaments.

Each of the thirty-two choirs has three uniforms for the three seasons — hot, cold and moderate. Each has its banners, its officers and its own special form of corporate enthusiasm, all of which serve as powerful stimuli in work and other activities. Since I will often be referring to this series, it should be described in great detail. In the outline that follows I designate under the name of tribes the double choirs of men and women and boys and girls who belong to the same age group.





Fight-Don’t Starve-We Created The Wealth, Let's Take It, It’s Ours! Labor And The Oppressed Must Rule!
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Below I am posting, occasionally, comments on the Occupy movement as I see or hear things of interest, or that cause alarm bells to ring in my head. The first comment directly below from October 1, which represented my first impressions of Occupy Boston, is the lead for all further postings.
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Markin comment October 1, 2011:

There is a lot of naiveté expressed about the nature of capitalism, capitalists, and the way to win in the class struggle by various participants in this occupation. Many also have attempted to make a virtue out of that naiveté, particularly around the issues of effective democratic organization (the General Assembly, its unrepresentative nature and its undemocratic consensus process) and relationships with the police (they are not our friends, no way, when the deal goes down). However, their spirit is refreshing, they are acting out of good subjective anti-capitalist motives and, most importantly, even those of us who call ourselves "reds" (communists), including this writer, started out from liberal premises as naive, if not more so, than those encountered at the occupation site. We can all learn something but in the meantime we must defend the "occupation" and the occupiers. More later as the occupation continues.
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In the recent past as part of my one of my commentaries I noted the following:

“… The idea of the General Assembly with each individual attendee acting as a “tribune of the people” is interesting and important. And, of course, it represents, for today anyway, the embryo of what the ‘new world’ we need to create might look like at the governmental level.”

A couple of the people that I have talked to lately were not quite sure what to make of that idea. The idea that what is going on in Occupy Boston at the governmental level could, should, would be a possible form of governing this society in the “new world a-borning” with the rise of the Occupy movement. Part of the problem is that there was some confusion on the part of the listeners that one of the possible aims of this movement is to create an alternative government, or at least provide a model for such a government. I will argue here now, and in the future, that it should be one of the goals. In short, we need to take power away from the Democrats and Republicans and their tired old congressional/executive/judicial doesn’t work- checks and balances-form of governing and place it at the grassroots level and work upward from there rather than, as now, have power devolve from the top. (And stop well short of the bottom.)

I will leave aside the question (the problem really) of what it would take to create such a possibility. Of course a revolutionary solution would, of necessity, have be on the table since there is no way that the current powerful interests, Democratic, Republican or those of the "one percent" having no named politics, is going to give up power without a fight. What I want to pose now is the use of the General Assembly as a deliberative executive, legislative, and judicial body all rolled into one.

Previous historical models readily come to mind; the short-lived but heroic Paris Commune of 1871 that Karl Marx tirelessly defended against the reactionaries of Europe as the prototype of a workers government; the early heroic days of the Russian October Revolution of 1917 when the workers councils (soviets in Russian parlance) acted as a true workers' government; and the period in the Spanish Revolution of 1936-39 where the Central Committee of the Anti-Fascist Militias acted, de facto, as a workers government. All the just mentioned examples had their problems and flaws, no question. However, merely mentioning the General Assembly concept in the same paragraph as these great historic examples should signal that thoughtful leftists and other militants need to investigate and study these examples.

In order to facilitate the investigation and study of those examples I will, occasionally, post works in this space that deal with these forbears from several leftist perspectives (rightist perspectives were clear- crush all the above examples ruthlessly, and with no mercy- so we need not look at them now). I started this Lessons Of History series with Karl Marx’s classic defense and critique of the Paris Commune, The Civil War In France and today’s presentation noted in the headline continues on in that same vein.
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A Five-Point Program As Talking Points

*Jobs For All Now!-“30 For 40”- A historic demand of the labor movement. Thirty hours work for forty hours pay to spread the available work around. Organize the unorganized- Organize the South- Organize Wal-Mart- Defend the right of public and private sector workers to unionize.

* Defend the working classes! No union dues for Democratic (or the stray Republican) candidates. Spent the dues on organizing the unorganized and other labor-specific causes (example, the November, 2011 anti-union recall referendum in Ohio).

*End the endless wars!- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Afghanistan! Hands Off Pakistan! Hands Off Iran! Hands Off The World!

*Fight for a social agenda for working people!. Quality Healthcare For All! Nationalize the colleges and universities under student-teacher-campus worker control! Forgive student debt! Stop housing foreclosures!

*We created the wealth, let’s take it back. Take the struggle for our daily bread off the historic agenda. Build a workers party that fights for a workers government to unite all the oppressed.

Emblazon on our red banner-Labor and the oppressed must rule!
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