From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007-08) - On American Political Discourse –IT IS DESPERATELY NECESSARY TO WIN THIS BATTLE AGAINST BUSH’S WAR DRIVE….AND THE FIGHT BEYOND (2002) - A Leaflet

From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007-08) - On American Political Discourse –

Markin comment:

In 2007-2008 I, in vain, attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious, in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies, the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on.     

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IT IS DESPERATELY NECESSARY TO WIN THIS BATTLE AGAINST BUSH’S WAR DRIVE….AND THE FIGHT BEYOND

           Make no mistake Bush intends to go to war in Iraq despite the rational objection of the anti-war peoples of the world. We have, however, in rather short order been able to build an anti-war movement of massive proportions through shear determination. Now is the time draw the lessons from the past about how to continue build this movement and lead it to political power so that we can end war once and for all. If we fail we may not soon have another chance. The following program can serve as a basis for such a change.

         FOUR POINT PROGRAM FOR AN EFFECTIVE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT

1.     .TURN THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT INTO AN ANTI-IMPERIALIST MOVEMENT- THE MAIN ENEMY IS AT HOME

 

One of the lessons drawn from the Vietnam anti-war movement was to demonstrate that the actions of the American government were not just a result of bad policies but were endemic to the nature of capitalism in the modern era. If we do not draw that same analysis now and bring it to those who can at least see that something is desperately wrong with this system then we never will. The pacifist mood of the masses while commendable is mainly unformed and directionless. We must draw the lessons of history. In that regard the lessons of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the only successful anti-war movement in history, must be absorbed. We must make our own the slogans stated by Karl Liebknecht the German socialist in voting against war credits to the German government in World War I. The main enemy is at home. Not one penny, not one person for this war.

2.     STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE. DEFEND IRAQ AGAINST IMPERIALIST  ATTACK.

          The disparity between the mightiest military power the world has ever known and semi-colonial Iraq is apparent. It is the duty of every internationalist to understand that in the coming war we must stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people. The main danger to the peoples of the world today is not Saddam but the American government and its allies. We give no political support to Saddam and call for the people of Iraq to overthrow him. However, when war starts we must defend the Iraqi people DESPITE Saddam. 

 

3.    SUPPORT AND INITIATE ACTIONS THAT UNDERMINE U.S. AGGRESSION AGAINST IRAQ.

 

All actions to now, mainly demonstrations, against an invasion are helpful.  However, as the anti-war movement against Vietnam demonstrated these actions are not enough. It is necessary in your schools, labor unions, workplaces and in your activist groups to raise the question of concretely stopping the war. Call for student strikes, political strikes, labor strikes and other actions such as “hot-cargoing’ military goods. Develop actions that undermine the government’s ability to carry out their war plans. Speak to soldiers and their families

       About actions to stop their participation in the war effort.

 

4.   BREAK WITH THE DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES. FIGHT FOR A WORKERS PARTY.

 

          The essential unity of the traditional parties in this country the Republicans and Democrats on the question of Iraq and other social questions makes it clear that they do not represent the fundamental interests of working people and minorities in this country. We must build our own party centered on the workers and minorities of this country to fight against imperialism abroad and for a workers government at home

 

BRING THESE IDEAS TO YOUR SCHOOL, YOUR WORKPLACE, YOUR UNION AND YOUR ACTIVIST GROUPS-------FORWARD

CONTACT: THE COMMITTEE FOR AN ANTI-IMPERIALIST UNITED FRONT

LABOR DONATED

 

 

 

From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007-08) - On American Political Discourse – A CHANGE OF SLOGANS ON IRAQ (2007)

Markin comment:

In 2007-2008 I, in vain, attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious, in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies, the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on if you like     

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 A CHANGE OF SLOGANS ON IRAQ

IMMEDIATE UNCONDITIONAL WITHDRAWAL OF ALL U.S. TROOPS-AND MERCENARIES! OUT WITH THE HESSIANS!

Seemingly it is impossible for news coming out of Iraq in an average week to be anything but unrelentingly macabre and mind-boggling. Case in point- Over the weekend of September 15, 2007 a shooting incident occurred resulting in at least several deaths and injuries involving the 'private' security company Blackwater. Blackwater provides ‘support services’ to many American governmental agencies, in this case the U.S. State Department, in Iraq so initially the news seemed like just one more case of these otherwise unemployable cowboys getting out of hand and becoming panicky under ‘fire’. Needless to say Blackwater has denied all responsibility (and liability) for their actions. Moreover, they argue, even if things did get a little out of hand there may have been insurgents within a hundred miles of their employer’s destination so creation of a ‘free-fire zone’ was an appropriate response.   When I first read the report I purposefully held off comment because I was not sure which way the thing was heading, if any. Over the last several years there had been occasional reports on the doings of these so-called wildcat ‘service providers’. Now all hell has broken loose over the weekend shootings with the Iraqi government threatening reprisals and suspensions of permits. What gives?

Those of us who oppose this war, and particularly those of us who have fought it under the slogan of immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq, have been following the bouncing ball of timetables and ‘official’ troop drawdowns. In the meantime we have either ignored or downplayed the role that mercenaries, and frankly while these Blackwater agents and others may not satisfy that definition under international law that is what they are, have played in the ‘shadow war’. These are not nature’s noblemen (and women) but the dregs dragged from the hills of Arkansas, Idaho and the retirement communities around military bases, among others locales. Moreover, these people provide as much an ‘armed and dangerous’ threat to the Iraqi population as the ‘official’ troops. While the numbers are somewhat in dispute ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 this is, in effect, a parallel ‘unofficial’ very well paid American army. As the reports have dribbled out of previously unreported (or underreported) incidents a number of unidentified Iraqi civilians have alleged that they fear the ‘officials’ less than these rogue elements. Nice, right?

It is not as though we have not had our own experiences with these types. In the American Revolution we had to face those damn Hessians that George III (as far as I know not related to the current George, except politically in their joint fetishistic attachment to the prerogatives of the divine right of kings) send over to roust the rustics. By all reports the Hessians were the same kind of cutthroat hell-raisers as these foreign legionnaires fortune who are strutting around in Iraq today. Well, what does all this mean politically? Damn, as if we did not have enough to do in the withdrawal fight we now have to get out the old posters and rewrite our slogan- Immediate Withdrawal of All American Troops and Mercenaries from Iraq!  Hessians Out! Oh yes, by the way it would not be a bad idea to start subscripting to Soldier of Fortune magazine to see what the cowboys are up to these days. Enough said.

 

Bradley Manning's long quest for justice

History will judge harshly the US military's mistreatment of the alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower, who turns 25 this week

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• • Amy Goodman
  • guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 December 2012 09.58 EST
  • Jump to comments (322)

Supporters of Bradley Manning protest during his scheduled motion hearing, outside the gates of Fort Meade, Maryland. Photograph: Jose Luis Magana/Reuters

Pfc Bradley Manning was finally allowed to speak publicly, in his own defense, in a preliminary hearing of his court martial. Manning is the alleged source of the largest intelligence leak in US history. He was an intelligence analyst in the US army, with top secret clearance, deployed in Iraq. In April 2010, the whistleblower website WikiLeaks released a US military video of an Apache helicopter in Baghdad killing a dozen civilians below, including two Reuters employees, a videographer and his driver.
One month after the video was released, Manning was arrested in Iraq, charged with leaking the video and hundreds of thousands more documents. Thus began his ordeal of cruel, degrading imprisonment in solitary confinement that many claim was torture, from his detention in Kuwait to months in the military brig in Quantico, Virginia. Facing global condemnation, the US military transferred Manning to less abusive detention at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
As he now faces 22 counts in a court martial that could land him in prison for the rest of his life, his lawyer argued in court that the case should be thrown out, based on his unlawful pre-trial punishment.
Veteran constitutional attorney Michael Ratner was in the courtroom at Fort Meade, Maryland, that day Manning took the stand. He described the scene:

"It was one of the most dramatic courtroom scenes I've ever been in … When Bradley opened his mouth, he was not nervous. The testimony was incredibly moving, an emotional rollercoaster for all of us, but particularly, obviously, for Bradley and what he went through. But it was so horrible what happened to him over a two-year period. He described it in great detail in a way that was articulate, smart, self-aware."

Ratner said Manning described being kept in a cage in Kuwait:

"There were two cages. He said they were like animal cages. They were in a tent alone, just these two cages, side by side. One of them had whatever possessions he may have had; one of them, he was in, with a little bed for a rack and a toilet, dark, in this cage for almost two months."

Ratner quoted Manning from his testimony, recalling his words:

"For me, I stopped keeping track. I didn't know whether night was day or day was night. And my world became very, very small. It became these cages."

Ratner added: "It almost destroyed him."
After Kuwait, Manning was shipped to a brig in Quantico. Manning's civilian defense attorney, David Coombs, said earlier this month:

"Brad's treatment at Quantico will forever be etched, I believe, in our nation's history, as a disgraceful moment in time. Not only was it stupid and counterproductive. It was criminal."

The United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, attempted to visit Manning, but then refused when the military said it could surveil and record the visit. He reported:

"Solitary confinement is a harsh measure which may cause serious psychological and physiological adverse effects on individuals regardless of their specific conditions."

Manning's cruel treatment was described by officials as necessary, as he was a suicide risk. Yet navy Capt William Hocter, a forensic psychiatrist at Quantico, said he was no such risk, but was ignored. Hocter testified:

"I had been a senior medical officer for 24 years at the time, and I had never experienced anything like this. It was clear to me they had made up their mind on a certain cause of action, and my recommendations had no impact."

This first phase of the court martial, which Coombs calls "the unlawful pretrial punishment motion phase", considered a defense motion to throw out the entire case. While that is unlikely, observers say, the defense asked, as an alternative, that the court consider crediting Manning with 10 days' reduction from any eventual sentence for each day he spent suffering cruel and degrading punishment in Kuwait and Quantico, which could, in theory, trim six years from his prison time.
Bradley Manning is charged with releasing the WikiLeaks trove of documents, which included the Baghdad massacre video, two separate, massive tranches of documents relating to US military records from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and, perhaps most importantly, the huge release of more than 250,000 US State Department cables, dubbed "Cablegate". In an August 2010 assessment, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the document release "has not revealed any sensitive intelligence sources and methods compromised by the disclosure."
Manning has offered to plead guilty to releasing the documents, but not to the more serious charges of espionage or aiding the enemy.
Manning turns 25, in prison, 17 December, which is also the second anniversary of the day a young Tunisian set himself on fire in protest of his country's corrupt government, sparking the Arab Spring. A year ago, as Time magazine named the protester as the "Person of the Year", legendary Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg offered praise that rings true today:

"The Time magazine cover gives protester, an anonymous protester, as 'Person of the Year,' but it is possible to put a face and a name to that picture of 'Person of the Year.' And the American face I would put on that is Private Bradley Manning."

• Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
© 2012 Amy Goodman; distributed by King Features Syndicate

Pardon Private Manning Stand-Out-Central Square, Cambridge, Wednesday December 19th, 5:00 PM

Stand In Solidarity With Private Manning As We Celebrate His Birthday (December 17^th)

Let’s Redouble Our Efforts To Free Private Bradley Manning-President Obama Pardon Bradley Manning -Make Every Town Square In America (And The World) A Bradley Manning Square From Boston To Berkeley to Berlin-Join Us In Central Square, Cambridge, Ma. For A Stand-Out For Bradley- Wednesday December 19th From 5:00-6:00 PM

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The Private Bradley Manning case is headed toward a mid- winter trial now scheduled for March 2013. The recent news on his case has centered on the many (since last April) pre-trial motions hearings including defense motions to dismiss for lack of speedy trial (Private Manning’s pre-trial confinement is now entering 900 plus days), dismissal as a matter of freedom of speech and alleged national security issues (issues for us to know what the hell the government is doing either in front of us, or behind our backs) and dismissal based on serious allegations of torturous behavior by the military authorities extending far up the chain of command while Private Manning was detained in Kuwait and at the Quantico Marine brig for about a year ending in April 2011. Some recent news from the November 2012 pre-trail sessions is the offer by the defense to plead guilty to lesser charges (wrongful, unauthorized use of the Internet, etc.) in order to clear the deck and have the major (with a possibility of a life sentence) espionage /aiding the enemy issue solely before the court-martial judge (a single military judge, the one who has been hearing the pre-trial motions, not a lifer-stacked panel).     

For the past several months there has been a weekly stand-out in Greater Boston across from the Davis Square Redline MBTA stop (renamed Pardon Bradley Manning Square for the stand-out’s duration) in Somerville on Friday afternoons but we have since July 4, 2012 changed the time and day to 4:00-5:00 PM on Wednesdays. This Wednesday December 19th  at 5:00 PM  in order to continue to broaden our outreach we, in lieu of our regular Davis Square stand-out, are meeting in Central Square , Cambridge, Ma.(small park  at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue  and Prospect Street) for a stand-out for Private Manning. President Obama Pardon Private Manning Now!  

 

 

Perdón soldado Manning Stand-Out-Central Square, Cambridge, miércoles 19 de diciembre, 5:00 pm

Perdón soldado Manning Stand-Out-Central Square, Cambridge, miércoles 19 de diciembre, 5:00 pm
En solidaridad con soldado Manning Al celebrar su cumpleaños (17 de diciembre)

Vamos a redoblar nuestros esfuerzos para liberar privado Bradley Manning Presidente Obama Perdón Bradley Manning-¡Cada plaza del casco En Estados Unidos (y el mundo) A Bradley Manning Square de Boston a Berkeley para nosotros Berlin-Join In Central Square, Cambridge, MA. Para un stand-out Por Bradley-Miércoles 19 de Diciembre Desde 5:00-18:00
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The Private Bradley Manning caso se encamina a un juicio pleno invierno ahora programada para marzo de 2013. Las recientes noticias sobre su caso se ha centrado en los muchos (desde el pasado mes de abril) mociones previas al juicio audiencias, incluyendo peticiones de la defensa para desestimar por falta de juicio rápido (pre-trial privado Manning confinamiento está entrando ahora en 900 días más), el despido como una cuestión de la libertad de expresión y de supuestos problemas de seguridad nacionales (cuestiones para nosotros saber qué demonios está haciendo el gobierno, ya sea en frente de nosotros, o detrás de la espalda) y el despido basado en las graves denuncias de tortura comportamiento de las autoridades militares se extienden lejos de la cadena de mando mientras soldado Manning fue detenido en Kuwait y en el bergantín Naval Quantico durante aproximadamente un año que terminó en abril de 2011. Algunas noticias recientes de los 11 2012 preventiva de sesiones es el ofrecimiento de la defensa de declararse culpable de cargos menores (uso indebido, no autorizado de Internet, etc) con el fin de limpiar la cubierta y tiene la mayor (con la posibilidad de una sentencia de cadena perpetua) espionaje / ayudar al enemigo sólo cuestión antes de que el juez de la corte marcial (un solo juez militar, el que ha estado escuchando las propuestas de resolución de

Cuestiones Preliminares no, un panel condenado a cadena perpetua en fichas).
Durante los últimos meses se ha producido una semana de espera en el área metropolitana de Boston frente a la Davis Square Redline MBTA parada (rebautizada Perdón Bradley Manning Square durante la duración del stand-out 's) en Somerville viernes por la tarde, pero tenemos desde 04 de julio 2012 cambiado la hora y el día a 4:00-17:00 los miércoles. Este miércoles 19 de diciembre a las 5:00 PM con el fin de seguir ampliando nuestro alcance que, en lugar de nuestro habitual Davis Square stand-out, se reúnen en Central Square, Cambridge, MA. (Parque pequeño en la esquina de la avenida Massachusetts y Prospect Street) para un stand-out de soldado Manning. Presidente Obama Manning Perdón PRIVADAS ahora mismo!

The Michigan GOP’s Anti-Union Blitz

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Josh SagerDecember 13, 20120

Last Monday, Michigan was a state with long history of union protections and nobody was talking about this changing any time soon. Yesterday (Dec. 11^th, 2012), Michigan became a “right to work” state and unions were dealt a massive blow. In less than a week, more than 70 years of Michigan labor law was changed in what can only be described as a blitz attack by Republican legislators.
Rather than go through the normal legislative process, the Michigan GOP opted to pass “right to work” legislation quickly, and without any hearings or debate. In a period of less than 8 hours on December 6^th, both the Michigan state Senate and House met and passed versions of a state “right to work” law by a party-line vote; as Democrats currently lack the numbers to resist anything that is proposed by the Michigan state GOP, these versions of the law easily passed.
Yesterday, Governor Rick Snyder signed the Michigan “right to work” bill into law. From start to finish, the entire legislative process for this bill, from the first public discussion over the bill to its implementation into the law, took only six days.
The crafters of this bill have designed it to be very difficult to repeal and immune to a citizen’s referendum. By inserting an appropriations component into the bill, the Michigan GOP made the right to work law impossible to remove with a citizen’s repeal (like the financial emergency manager law was).

“Right to Work” or “Union”?

Michigan has been transformed from a union state to a “right to work” state—many people may not understand the impact of this, so here is a quick explanation:
In a union state, all workers who benefit from union collective bargaining activities are required to pay union dues, regardless of whether or not they want to join the union. Because unions bargain on behalf of all workers in a workplace, thus improving compensation, union shop laws ensure that unions are supported by all workers who benefit from union negotiations. These laws prevent the creation of a “free-rider” problem, where workers refuse to pay union dues and still get the benefits of union activities.
In a “right to work” state, there is no requirement that the workers who benefit from union activities pay union dues. Under “right to work” laws, it is up to individual initiative for workers to pay into unions and support union activities. As there is no requirement for the beneficiaries of union activities to pay union dues under “right to work” laws, the free-rider problem becomes an issue for unions and unions often lose power.
When compared, “right to work” states and union states have distinct differences in safety standards, compensation, and worker protections. Unions in “right to work” states find getting dues from all of their beneficiaries virtually impossible and gradually begin to lose power, if not disappear—this decrease in the power of labor leads to decreased benefits for workers:

• Compensation: Workers in “right to work” states receive an average of $1,500 per year less in wages than compared to workers in union states.
• Worker Safety: There are 52.9% more job related deaths (when adjusted for worker population) in union states than in union states.
• Economic Impacts: Adopting “right to work” legislation causes no increase in available jobs for a state when compared to union states.

The Outrage

The passage of “right to work” legislation in Michigan has been met with extremely intense negative reactions from worker’s rights groups and Democrats within the state. During the passage of the law through the state legislature the Democratic state lawmakers walked out (they lacked enough votes to obstruct its passage in any way) and large protests formed at the Michigan statehouse.
In the coming days, Michigan unions plan large protests and hope to make the public aware of this situation. The fast and irregular manner of the passage of this law, combined with the fact that it was passed immediately after the election lead many to see it as a fly-by night attack on union rights in the state. By giving no time for debate and passing this bill over the objections of the minority, the Michigan GOP has given many the feeling that they are
Governor Snyder has made a stark policy reversal in the area of “right to work” legislation. In his past comments, Snyder has called “right to work” legislation “divisive” and not something that he would support in Michigan. Obviously, his opinions have changed (or simply his real opinions have been revealed), and Snyder had no problem signing the Michigan “right to work” bill into law.
The passage of Michigan’s “right to work” law was pushed primarily by outside interests, including the Koch Brothers and their PAC “Americans for Prosperity.” To support the bill, Americans for Prosperity lobbied GOP legislators and even organized “grassroots protests” in support of the bill. In order to entice people to protest in favor of the right to work bill AFP bussed in “volunteers”, gave them pre-printed signs, and paid them with $25 prepaid gas cards (apparently real volunteers have been in short supply on this issue).
There is little that can be done to repeal this law until the Democrats retake the state legislature and executive branch, but protest appears to be only beginning. If the Wisconsin and Ohio labor protests during the last few years are any barometer, it appears likely that Michigan will be the staging ground for a massive political fight.

My Opinion

The passage of the Michigan “right to work” laws is a terrible blow to unions and is a two-pronged attack against the middle class and Democrats. “Right to work” laws are a boon to Republicans because they fulfill two of the core functions of the current Republican Party: Consolidating power through attacking Democratic institutions and facilitating corporate exploitation of workers.
Modern Republicans hate unions—and will go to great lengths to disrupt them—because unions prevent corporations (the top Republican donors) from exploiting workers and are the main source of Democratic funding. By attacking them, Republicans are able to simultaneously cater to their donors’ interests and hurt their political opponents.
Unfortunately for the people of Michigan, the wealthy interests who believe that they will profit from a race to the bottom for labor compensation appear to have taken aim at the Midwest. By “donating” money (Read: bribing) to politicians, the wealthy and corporate interests hope to crush labor unions and become the only major economic powers in American politics. Once labor unions are crushed, there will be no organized aggregation of resources to combat the big money donors of the right (corporations and wealthy conservatives). The right wing hopes to work state by state and gradually destroy unions’ ability to form.
The recent actions of the Michigan GOP are nothing less than an betrayal of their oaths of office—they are using their power to cater to the interests of the wealthy few and have intentionally thumbed their noses at the Michigan public (what else can we call doing this initiative weeks after the election and just before they lose total control over the state legislature); not once during their campaigns did Michigan GOP members express their intent to make the state a “right to work (or, as Obama called it “a right to work for less” state), and they waited until after the time of accountability to begin this legislative attack on unions.
The Michigan GOP is afraid of debating this bill openly and had to pass it with a legislative blitz attack. Hopefully, the people of Michigan remember this law when voting and will make better choices in future elections—choices which allow Michigan to return to a strong union state.

99% Spotlight: The Passion of Bradley Manning by Chase Madar

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Julie OrlemanskiDecember 11, 20120

Despite its title, The Passion of Bradley Manning is about more than the persecution of one U.S. dissident. Chase Madar’s 2012 book offers a kaleidoscope of perspectives on the fate of Private First Class Manning, who stands accused of the biggest intelligence leak in U.S. history.
Manning is currently awaiting trial in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after being held in solitary confinement for eleven months, in Kuwait and then Quantico Marine brig. In May 2010, while deployed as an intelligence analyst outside Bagdad, Manning allegedly leaked hundreds of thousands of restricted documents, many of which were published by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Wikileaks was initiated in 2006 to publish classified and leaked media, with the aim of promoting freedom of speech and information online. The documents reveal new information including civilian casualties in Iraq, human-rights abuses by U.S.-funded private contractors, and the role of spying, bribery, and deception in international diplomacy.
Manning’s story, as told by Madar, is just as much a tale about American society as it is about the young whistleblower. The Passion is many things at once: a biography; a celebration of Manning’s courage and conscience; an account of the “pathological over-classification” of government documents and the closed-door statecraft to which it gives rise; a report on the prevalence and horror of solitary confinement; and an argument against those who would sympathize and explain away Manning’s fundamentally political actions.

Manning’s intention in deciding to contact WikiLeaks was, in Madar’s words, “conscious, coherent, historically informed and above all political.

Chase Madar is a civil rights attorney in New York who writes for the London Review of Books, Le Monde Diplomatique, The American Conservative (where he is a contributing editor), and CounterPunch. Madar begins his book with a brazen rejection of Manning’s current status as a suspect awaiting military trial on 22 charges, including the capital offense of “aiding the enemy.” The book’s first sentence declares, “Bradley Manning deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
Madar next provides a biography of Manning. Madar weaves Manning’s own words throughout the narrative with comments drawn from the messages Manning exchanged with Adrian Lamo, a hacker and confidant who turned in the young soldier to federal authorities in May 2010. These chat logs are now public and available online.
The most important points to emerge from Madar’s story are the coherence and deliberateness of Manning’s political and moral convictions. These are revealed in Manning’s struggles to respond to the injustices he witnessed during his time in Iraq, including the abandonment of Iraqi protesters to the torture-prone Iraqi police, the slaughter of Iraqi civilians in the “Collateral Murder” video, and the realpolitik corruption evident in U.S. diplomatic cables. Manning’s intention in deciding to contact WikiLeaks was, in Madar’s words, “conscious, coherent, historically informed and above all political.”
In presenting such a strong case for Manning’s civic-minded motivations, Madar argues against numerous efforts to pathologize Manning’s behavior. Commentators have tried to patronizingly explain away Manning’s release of classified information as the symptom of his social maladjustment, his psychological instability, and his sexual and gender “confusion.” Against such reductive condescension, Madar convincingly demonstrates the deliberate, serious, and rational views that undergirded Manning’s acts of dissent.
It is perhaps because of his zeal to avoid any reductive psychologizing that Madar gives little attention to Manning’s potential gender transition. The book duly notes that in November 2009, “the soldier was considering gender transformation,” and that in May of 2010, “he was more and more intent on gender transition.” Yet no further comment is given. Madar nowhere acknowledges the dilemma that faces any writer telling Manning’s story: are male pronouns (i.e. “he” “his,” etc.) really the best ones to use? This is despite the fact the chat logs cited so frequently by Madar record Manning’s statement that “I wouldn’t mind going to prison for the rest of my life, or being executed so much, if it wasn’t for the possibility of having pictures of me… plastered all over the world press… as boy…”
Madar’s silence is particularly deafening in the chapter entitled “The Torture of Bradley Manning.” While Madar links Manning’s solitary confinement to the practice’s prevalence in the U.S. prison system, he makes no mention of transgendered prisoners who often face one of two grim fates: abuse by other prisoners or “safety” in solitary confinement. Nor does Madar mention the specifically sexual character of some of the abuse Manning faced while under “prevention of injury” watch at Quantico. (Manning testified about his brutal detention conditions on November 29; read about it here, or listen to an account here.)
(This article uses the pronoun “he” to reflect the most recent account available of Manning’s wishes.)
Madar’s book goes on to accomplish several useful tasks. It summarizes the major revelations of the leaks attributed to Manning, including the Iraq War Logs, the Afghan War Logs, and the State Department Cables. Madar sketches a brief history and strategic analysis of American whistleblowers – like Daniel Ellsberg, who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers at the height of the Vietnam War. While Madar expresses great admiration for these courageous voices, he also concedes that information alone is never enough. The public must be willing to act on what it learns. If we do not make demands in response to Manning’s revelations, we fail him as well as the vision of democracy he upheld.
A subsequent chapter argues that the cruelty of Manning’s conditions of incarceration are not anomalous or exceptional, but rather are typical of the American prison system. Finally, both the international laws governing warfare and the U.S. laws restricting freedom of information are held up for critique. All in all, The Passion of Bradley Manning places Manning’s story within the broad tableau of its global significance.
Two weaknesses qualify the Passion’s usefulness. First, it shows little evidence of primary research, like original interviews. Madar seems to have culled his knowledge almost entirely from existing news stories, blogs, and widely available documents. Nonetheless, the book does provide a useful service in bringing these scattered sources and accounts together.
However, footnotes substantiating individual facts would have been appreciated. A section at the back of the book does list the sources used in each chapter. But the reader who wants to check a particular fact may be unsure from which source it is taken. Because setting the record straight seems central to the book’s aim, providing clear and accessible references ought to have been a top priority.
Nonetheless, The Passion of Bradley Manning is a good resource for anyone wishing to learn more about this brave individual before the start of his trial in February of next year. In the meantime, Bradley Manning will turn 25 on December 17; it will be his third birthday in prison. Cards and letters of support can be sent to Commander, HHC USAG, Attn: PFC Bradley Manning, 239 Sheridan Ave, Bldg 417, JBM-HH, VA 22211.

WalMart Workers Taking Action Against the Corporate Giant Printer-Friendly E-Mail This Oct 16, 2012 By Steve Edwards and Joshua H. Koritz Many workers and activists have been excited by the recent reports of walkouts and strikes against Walmart. For years unions have tried to organize workers in this notoriously antiunion corporation. Walmart employs over 1.4 million people in the U.S. and many earn so little that they have to rely on food stamps and other government assistance. Activists want to know if the strikes at warehouses in California and Illinois and walkouts at retails stores in multiple states mark a turning point, or merely a ramping-up of the UFCW's public relations campaigns against the $400 billion retail giant? The warehouse strikes were launched by two separate campaigns, the one in Illinois led by Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ) with organizing staff from UE - the independent, Left-wing union that successfully occupied Republic Windows in December 2008 - and the California Warehouse Workers United which is sponsored by the SEIU and UFCW. In these warehouse strikes, "permanent temps" employed through employment agencies (rather than WalMart "associates" who are subjected to an intensively anti-union regime, complete with token company shares and an imposed rah-rah culture) were fighting back on behalf of workers who were fired for filing wage-theft claims. Having stepped to the front of the struggle the warehouse workers then marched to take their message to company HQ in Benton, Arkansas and to the retail stores, dozens of which have now seen walkouts. The Elwood, Illinois campaign was a smash success, with all employees returned to work after 21 days with back pay for the period they were on strike. This is a sharp victory which needs to be publicized far and wide. The warehouse organizing campaigns are of vital importance. In both cases these well-planned actions are aimed at organizing massive inland container ports - the Californian "Inland Empire"in the San Bernadino Valley and the giant warehouse complexes in and around Chicago which by some estimates is the world's biggest inland container port, built with public funds to take advantage of the existing confluence of road, rail and water transportation in the center of the continent - and handling almost a trillion dollars of goods every year. http://www.warehouseworker.org/industry.html Ongoing Campaign The United Food and Commercial Workers union or UFCW has been trying to organize WalMart stores since at least 1999. The only successful NLRB campaign in the US, in which meat cutters at a store in Texas voted to join the union, was met by WalMart closing all meat cutting operations at its US stores. A handful of election wins in Canada, where labor laws are less anti-union than in the US, have been confronted with store closures and also in several cases, decertification elections after the union failed to win a first contract. All of the big-box stores in the U.S. are anti-union. Target, Home Depot, Menards, Walmart and Costco (Costco, whose CEO was greeted as a savior at the Democratic Party convention!) try to brainwash employees with anti-union videos as a condition of employment and require managers to report anyone who they suspect of pro-union sympathies. This can reach such ludicrous extremes as supervisors being told to try to prevent employees from socializing off the job or even from learning each others' last names or friending each other on social media. WalMart was targeted by the UFCW and other unions because it's by far the biggest and fastest-growing, with more than 1.4 million workers in the US and profits so fabulous that the Walton family owns assets worth more than 42% of the rest of the inhabitants of the USA. WalMart has the most aggressive cost-cutting practices, subjecting workers to dangerous and discriminatory working conditions and pay and benefits so low that Human Resource staff routinely send workers to apply for public benefits - a taxpayer-funded subsidy for low pay and unaffordable medical benefits. (WalMart supported the passage of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare). The UFCW began its campaign when it saw that grocery chains like Safeway and Albertsons with whom it has existing contracts were threatened by competition from WalMart. Those companies' response to this competition was to demand concessions from their employees and this led to the initial organizing drives. When organizing was stymied by WalMart's highly sophisticated anti-union methods, the UFCW resorted to a series of campaigns that aim to enlist small businesses, environmentalists and organizations of women and people of color to paint WalMart as a bad corporate citizen and try to keep it out of urban markets. The problem with this approach has always been that it relies on people who don't work at WalMart to do the job. It is in effect a popular front, in which the feelings and agendas of small businesses and middle-class pressure groups, as well as the union's existing relationships with other employers, were given more consideration than the needs of the employees themselves. Following internal struggles within the UFCW, in which more militant tactics were given a boost by successes in the meat-packing field as well as elsewhere in the retail supply chain, the "OUR Walmart" group, an association rather than a union, which any employee can join for $5 a month, was launched as a counter to this problem and as a way for retail associates to gain a voice and some ownership over future campaigns. OUR WalMart The OUR Walmart campaign differs from previous unionizing efforts in that it is not immediately trying to organize workers into UFCW. OUR Walmart “works to ensure that every Associate, regardless of his or her title, age, race, or sex, is respected at Walmart. We join together to offer strength and support in addressing the challenges that arise in our stores and our company everyday.” More organizing drives should take on this model or some of the ideas from this model. Unions in their essence are organizations of workers banded together for mutual respect and power against the boss. A union is only as strong as the workers are united in their resolve to fight the bosses. No union can guarantee any raises or improvements in working conditions to workers, it can only promise that workers, by forming a union, will have the tools necessary to fight for what they need. Union organizers and supporters must return to making these class-based arguments for building unions. Union bureaucrats have buried these ideas as a threat to their status quo of negotiations and lobbying to form unions. This gives to workers the impression that they are little more than a “dues unit,” an idea reinforced in some unions that then discourage any shop floor organizing in favor of call centers to handle grievances and organizing. If union organizing drives operate only on the basis of promises of “vote for the union and you’ll get higher wages and benefits – oh and dues will be minimal” then working people will be forced to choose between the employer they don’t really trust, but who promises continued employment, versus the union which they don’t know and which they justly fear may be unable to effectively protect them from employer retaliation. OUR Walmart is also building international links. The Swiss-based organization UNI (http://www.uniglobalunion.org) held a three day conference in Los Angeles on October 3rd to prepare to launch a Walmart Global Union Alliance. All of this has enormous implications for the future of union organizing. To quote Sarah Frances, an OUR Walmart organizer who was interviewed for this article: "This coordination in organizing along the supply chain is especially notable, not only because it's against the world's largest (under)employer, but because it doesn't even bother to conform to the archaic NLRB rules. NLRB rules are for unions pre-globalization, in this day and age where we have a GLOBAL 1% that is exploiting us as a GLOBAL working class, we absolutely need to think on that GLOBAL scale. We have to cut out all the "who's in the bargaining unit? who's not?" and "Buy American" and just ask ourselves plain and simple, "who all needs to fold their arms to influence production?". This campaign answers that question by reaching out to the entire supply chain- from retail store employees across the US, to warehouse employees at the major ports in CA and IL, and textile employees in Bangladesh". Momentum is now building for actions at WalMart stores on "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving. WalMart is a huge foe of organized labor. The boycotts and publicity campaigns of the past thirteen years have not organized one single store. It is vitally important that the labor and pro-labor community supports their efforts to organize with their coworkers. All of organized labor should be prepared to help shut down WalMart with mass picketing at both retail stores and warehouses on November 23.

Socialist Alternative, P.O. Box 45343, Seattle WA 98145 Phone: (206)526-7185 Comments? Suggestions for improving our web page? Please email info@SocialistAlternative.org

Book Review: ‘The New Jim Crow’ — Review of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Printer-Friendly E-Mail This Nov 18, 2012 By Eljeer Hawkins Today the United States of America has become the leading society in world history to incarcerate its own population, standing shoulders above Iran, China and even the monstrous Stalin gulags in the Soviet Union, with 2.3 million men and women warehoused in prison cells and 6 million under criminal “justice” supervision. A hugely disproportionate number of these inmates are African American or Latino. In “Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress,” Dr. Becky Pettit, states: “Among male high school dropouts born between 1975 and 1979, 68 percent of blacks (compared with 28 percent of whites) had been imprisoned at some point by 2009, and 37 percent of blacks (compared with 12 percent of whites) were incarcerated that year. With increased numbers of youth caught in the school-to-prison pipeline, and with police state tactics like Stop and Frisk and vile acts of police violence like in Anaheim, we are witnessing a system of social control, criminality and a cheap labor system based on prison labor. Why History Matters Michelle Alexander’ book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” has greatly helped the developing grassroots movement to challenge this system of mass incarceration of working and poor people, particularly people of color and youth. Published in 2010, and recently released in paperback with a new introduction from Dr. Cornel West, “The New Jim Crow” has put into focus this new system of incarceration as a deliberate plan of social control. Alexander explains how, following the brief period of reconstruction following the abolition of slavery a “great comprise” between the Democratic and Republican party in the 1870s . Federal troops withdrawn from the south and the Democratic Party and former planter caste introduced the Jim Crow system of re-enslaving blacks in the south. Alexander shows how the establishment of this Jim Crow caste system was based on fostering disunity, (divide and conquer) among poor whites and blacks. Despite being given an elevated status above blacks, white workers and poor suffering low wages, they were also economically exploited the ruling white elite. Alexander explains the Jim Crow system of social control as: racial segregation, political disenfranchisement, judicial racism, an imprisoned black labor force based on phony criminal charges like vagrancy, and unbridled terror by the racist Ku Klux Klan. Alexander states, “Convicts had no meaningful legal rights at this time and no effective redress. They were understood, quite literally, to be slaves of the state. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had abolished slavery but allowed one major exception: slavery remained appropriate as punishment for a crime.” (p.31) Despite the formal abolition of slavery, black labor was enslaved in a system of mass incarceration cemented by judicial rulings, state and vigilante violence. Alexander affirms the historic importance of the civil rights movement and militant social struggle on the street in smashing the Jim Crow southern system and legislative victories; Brown vs Board of Education, civil rights and voting rights act. Alexander fails to highlight the development of black power activism particularly in the urban areas around the country that would challenge the constitutional reforms and gradual support for the Democratic Party by civil rights movement. The radical left black freedom movement was crucial in dismantling the inferiority complex and self-hate among black workers and youth, challenging the capitalist mode of production and white supremacy at the workplace, schools and communities. However, a ‘law and order’ southern strategy was soon developed by the rich white elite. This culminated in Richard Nixon’s successful 1968 presidential campaign. Using coded racial language to define the revolutionary movements and people of color particularly black youth as “criminals” this strategy politically disoriented and galvanized sections of white workers and poor not only in the south, but around the country, around the rich elite. New War on Communities of Color Today both parties of big business (Democratic and Republicans) follow policies that criminalize black and brown youth using this same strategy of associating blacks as “criminals,” “welfare queens” and “menaces to society”. This method of social control is so normalized in US society that it’s not even critically questioned by mainstream society. Crime and drug activity has been racialized despite similar crime rates among different ethnicities and whites. Alexander points out how communities of color became war zones: a highly militarized police force, millions of dollars allocated to fight “crime,” the elimination of well-paid union jobs and benefits, and the flooding of drugs to depoliticize the community. The War on Drugs became a one-sided attack as working class and poor communities. Alexander fails to see that the War on Drugs is historically linked to the FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover’s insidious Counter Intelligence Program (Cointelpro), which was, itself, a continuation of law enforcement used by the ruling elite to neutralize the movements of social struggle. The Palmer raids of the early 1900s, McCarthy witch-hunts of the late 40s early 50s are part of the US government’s violent program against the working class and poor. It is impossible to place the radical Dr. King, 21 year-old Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton or Malcolm X in the same political space as Wall Street funded corporate politicians like Barack Obama, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick or Newark mayor Corey Booker. In order to sanitize the radical and revolutionary movements of the 1960s, the corporate elite the radical and revolutionary leaders and organizations of the 1960s and 1970s had to be extinguished. The New N-Word is “Felony” Under the War on Drugs, extremely long mandatory minimum prison sentences were established for low-level drug dealing and possession of crack cocaine. Alexander makes the point that while many whites are ensnared in the drug policies, black and brown youth are disproportionately targeted. Alexander show how prison population continued to grow during President Bill Clinton’s 8 years in office, who was responsible for passing the federal “three strikes and you’re out” law in 1994. Even the first black president has sought to continue the War on Drugs despite his rhetoric against the policy, Alexander indicates, “…Obama is pledging to revive President Clinton’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program and increase funding for the Byrne grant program-two of the worst federal drug programs of the Clinton era.” (p.240) The prison label has become a scarlet letter on those entrapped in a system of incarceration, particularly non-violent drug offenders. Alexander states, “…people whose only crime is drug addiction or possession of a small amount of drugs for recreational use find themselves locked out of the mainstream society and economy-permanently.” (p.92). Upon release from prison, these men and women are denied voting rights, employment opportunities, federal funded public assistance and housing rendering outcasts in US society. This is the final nail in the new Jim Crow of system of social control that has now entrapped tens of millions of mainly black and latinos - system of economic servitude and denial of rights that affects every aspect of their lives. The distinct difference between Jim Crow policies in the post-radical reconstruction period and today is that under this new Jim Crow not all blacks are denied their humanity. The New Jim Crow is aimed at working class and poor blacks specifically. While sweeping away the old Jim Crow laws, the post-black freedom movement secured the ascendancy of only a tiny black political and economic elite who have become indifferent to this type of suffering by the black working class and poor, particularly among youth. This black political leadership has failed to mount any serous struggle against the new Jim Crow system of oppression. Why the New Jim Crow Matters Alexander correctly calls for a struggle against mass incarceration as part of a wider struggle against poverty and economic inequality. She invokes the need to rekindle the radical vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, and the need for a radical grassroots social and political movement to challenge the policies of big business. Dr. King’s legacy and political work should be instructive to us all as a great counterweight to the betrayal of the black mis-leadership class and the agenda of both parties of big business to criminalize, incarcerate and ignore a whole generation of youth of color trapped in the prison system. In order to make Dr. King’s radical vision a reality, a system change is necessary to uproot the seeds of racism and mass incarceration. Alexander fails to show how this New Jim Crow incarceration is a crucial tool of the elite to maintain the capitalist system by dividing the working class. As Eugene Debs stated, “Under the capitalist system, based upon private property in the means of life, the exploitation that follows impoverishes the masses, and their precarious economic condition, their bitter struggle for existence, drives increasing numbers of them to despair and desperation, to crime and destruction.” Alexander doesn't show the essential role that a working class movement must play to challenge capitalism and build a new socialist society. What must be recognized is Alexander’s developing consciousness based on events around these crucial issues facing working, poor and people of color and a system of mass warehousing of black and brown people. “The New Jim Crow” has raised the consciousness among this present generation, criminalized and discarded by capitalism. Community organizations like Cop Watch and activists like 70-year-old Joseph “Jazz” Hayden, a former prisoner, who utilize this book as an organizing tool for study groups and forums, beginning a process of educating and politically arming the working class, poor and youth. A united movement of the working class, poor, youth and people of color, and a resurgent militant prisoners’ rights movement, is needed to lead a struggle to dismantle the New Jim Crow. By combining this with a struggle against capitalism, we can forge unity among workers irrespective of color or race in the struggle to create a truly egalitarian society based on cooperation, solidarity and democratic socialism.

Socialist Alternative, P.O. Box 45343, Seattle WA 98145 Phone: (206)526-7185 Comments? Suggestions for improving our web page? Please email info@SocialistAlternative.org

Voters Reject Right-Wing Agenda — Prepare to Fight the Bipartisan Policies of the 1% Printer-Friendly E-Mail This Nov 9, 2012 By Bryan Koulouris and Ty Moore Tens of millions breathed an enormous sigh of relief upon hearing that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan wouldn't be entering the White House. Union members, women, African-Americans, Latinos and the LGBT community correctly saw the Republican agenda as a vicious and real threat. The right wing tried to steal the election with voter intimidation, suppression and fake-populist posturing on the economy in the final weeks, putting over one billion dollars in campaign cash into trying to disenfranchise the poor, young people and people of color. Obama's vote was nothing like the excited and energetic campaign of 2008. This year, voter turnout was down by 12 million compared to four years ago. Most people voted for Obama as a “lesser evil” rather than as the savior they saw in 2008, who would bring “hope” and “change.” Last year's Occupy Wall Street movement made an impact on this election by bringing a discussion about economic inequality between “the 99% and the 1%” to the forefront. A brighter spotlight shone down on the record $6 billion spent on federal races, to the outrage of millions. Occupy's message against corporate domination also fueled a healthy hatred for Mr. 1% himself, Mitt Willard Romney. Obama won this election in spite of his pro-corporate record. Banks received trillions in handouts while social services were cut and millions of families lost their homes. Many antiwar voters supported Obama, despite continued bombing of civilians in country after country, expanding Bush's model of an unaccountable imperial Presidency, waging war in Libya, and drone strikes around the world without discussion in Congress. Many of Obama's voters were deeply disappointed in his performance over the past four years, correctly seeing him as a puppet of Wall Street and the 1%. The Obama administration begins its second term without any real mandate. The Democratic Party “base” among the unions, people of color, women and the LGBT community, swallowed their anger at Obama during the elections, holding their nose to vote for the “lesser evil.” Now, with the elections behind them, all the pent-up anger and frustration is set to boil over. Demands for jobs, clean energy investments, education funding, housing rights, and solutions to an endless list of injustices will again come to the surface. And again, Obama will put the interests of Wall Street and big business first, provoking fresh outrage and opposition. The time is ripe for building new movements of workers and oppressed, politically independent of both corporate parties. Changed Situation and Attitudes For the first time nationally, voters in Washington, Minnesota, Maine and Maryland voted in favor of same-sex marriage rights, marking a historic turning point in the struggle for LGBT equality. Many other progressive ballot questions won across the country, from minimum wage increases to defense of union rights to measures against the racist “war on drugs.” Minnesota voters narrowly rejected an attempt enshrine the harshest voter restriction laws in the country into their constitution. This shows a shift in demographics and a shift in attitudes among young people and workers. Combined with massive working-class anger, this is the basis for explosive movements in the next year. Romney based his strategy largely on a solid white male vote (especially in the South) and hopes of a (rigged) low voter turnout. The Republican tactics ever since the 1960s have been to win elections by whipping up fear and hatred among white voters. This strategy will be more difficult to be implemented in national elections, a reality that will become even more clear with coming elections, as the rising generation reaches voting age. This election defeat will deepen this brewing crisis in the Republican Party, which will be forced to redefine its identity or face being reduced into a permanent minority party. While there wasn't a big shift in the composition of Congress along party lines, the changes in the Republican legislators are worth noting. The “moderate” Maine Republicans and “centrist” Dick Lugar are out of office as are several of the most crazed Tea Partiers. Despite many Tea Party defeats, the over-all balance of power within the Republican congressional delegation has shifted even further right, setting the stage for more bipartisan gridlock. Yet in Obama's victory speech, he repeated his stale pledge to “reach across the aisle” to the Republicans. In reality, Obama's bipartisanship is cynically designed to provide cover for his nakedly pro-corporate policies, which will soon be on display. Both parties are preparing historic cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and other vital programs before the end of 2012. This could provoke radicalization, street protests and further struggles. In this context, there will be opportunities to build mass united working-class resistance, anti-corporate electoral campaigns, and a political party of the 99%. Building the Socialist Movement in a New Environment The historic result for Socialist Alternative candidate Kshama Sawant in Washington State shows the potential to build the movement against capitalism. Running openly as a Socialist, Sawant got more votes than any Republican has ever received against Frank Chopp in this powerful Democratic politician's 18-year career. Running against budget cuts and corporate tax evasion, and calling for public ownership of Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon, Socialist Alternative's electoral challenge helped popularize the ideas of democratic socialism, winning over 11,906 working-class votes which is projected to grow to over 20,000 votes once counting is finished. This result is the biggest highlight for local independent left candidates in 2012 and needs to be built upon. To take advantage of this situation, we need to boldly call for organized resistance against cuts involving hundreds of thousands of union members, Occupy activists, community campaigners and young people. These coalitions will need to prepare for strikes and mass direct action to defend living standards against the corporate assault. Out of these struggles, we can lay the basis for what is needed—a mass party of working people with a democratic socialist program. In other news outside the two main establishment parties, we saw the threat of right-wing populism. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate, got over one million votes, three times the votes won by the most prominent left presidential candidate, Jill Stein from the Green Party. Like the Tea Party victories in 2010, this provides a glimpse of the potential for right-wing populist ideas to grow if the left and workers movement fail to build a mass political alternative to the hated corporate establishment. These elections, taking place in the fifth year of a grinding economic crisis, showed the deepening polarization in U.S. society. At root the political and social polarization flows from the sharpening class divide, and the growing desperation of tens of millions of workers. Lacking a clear working-class political voice in the elections, the contests between corporate politicians gave distorted expression to the class anger. In this situation, right-wing ideas could gather support, and the last four years have seen the rapid growth of hate groups. On the other side, where a bold lead from the left is given, the class polarization can also provoke people to consider far-reaching left-wing solutions. There is a widespread search for ideas that can offer a way out of the capitalist misery overseen by both parties of big business. As the Socialist Alternative campaign for Kshama Sawant in Seattle illustrates, U.S. society is becoming increasingly fertile for the rise of socialist ideas.

Socialist Alternative, P.O. Box 45343, Seattle WA 98145 Phone: (206)526-7185 Comments? Suggestions for improving our web page? Please email info@SocialistAlternative.org