March 22, 2012

Was Jesus a communist?

Was Jesus a communist? — Live Broadcast Mar 27

by: Communist Party USA
March 22 2012

Was Jesus a communist? A priest discusses the message at the heart of the gospel
Tuesday, March 27
8:00 pm Eastern (UTC -5:00)

You can also call in by telephone at (605) 475-4850 (long-distance phone charges may apply)
Dial 1053538# when prompted

A new short film by Matthew Modine is making the rounds at film festivals and is receiving positive reviews. 'Jesus Was A Commie' is sparking a new wave of discussion about religion and economics.

Tim Yeager, a dedicated trade union organizer and Episcopal priest, will speak about the economic and social justice message in Christianity in a video presentation March 27...

More details here for anyone who is interested -- http://cpusa.org/was-jesus-a-communist/


(And just for the record, in case anyone reading this gets confused, this is not advocating a third party - the CPUSA has endorsed Predient Obama for re-election in 2012)

March 22, 2012

Preparing for May Day -

An occupy member posted about upcoming activities for May Day and I wanted to bring them to everyone's attention:


Here are a few websites for info on #M1GS

What is #M1GS?

Worldwide, May 1st is traditionally a ‘Workers’ day – a day of Labor Solidarity, and a public holiday. It’s a day to celebrate and march in support of im/migrant rights. In protest against the corruption of the worldwide marketplace, which has led to illegal foreclosures, mass unemployment, low wages, high taxes and a penalization of all those who do not own the ‘99%’ of the world’s resources, and in solidarity with the im/migrant movements of May 1st, we decided to declare May 1st, 2012 a People’s General Strike. Instead of calling upon unionized Labor to make a specific demand (illegal under Taft-Hartley), we are calling upon the people of the world to take this day away from school and the workplace, so that their absence makes their displeasure with this corrupt system be known.


http://www.occupymay1st.org/

http://occupii.org/events/occupy-may-day-general-strike

Some recent news

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/occupy-wall-street-urges-strike-arrests-15957348#.T2t1Ddn8mSo

Calls for May Day general strikes by occupy general assemblies as of 9 March 2012:

Boston, Massachusetts, 7 January 2012
Brooklyn, New York, 19 January 2012
Bushwick, New York, 1 March 2012
Detroit, Michigan, 21 February 2012
Long Beach, California, 17 January 2012
Los Angeles, California, 19 December 2011
Oakland, California, 29 January 2012
Pasadena, California, 8 January 2012
Phoenix, Arizona, 8 January 2012
Portland, Oregon, 10 February 2012
San Diego, California, (day?) February 2012
San Fernando Valley, California, 23 December 2011
Seattle, Washington, 26 February 2012
Sydney, Australia, 18 February 2012
Tampa, Florida, 7 January 2012
Ventura, California, 7 February 2012
Wall Street, New York, 14 February 2012
Williamsburg, New York, 17 January 2012

http://generalstrikedetroit.tumblr.com/post/18012131742/calls-for-may-day-general-strikes-by-occupy-general


thanks, Zorra! http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1252&pid=1600

March 11, 2012

The World Top Incomes Database

Cited in Krugman's editorial yesterday, thought it might be useful to post it here for anyone who didn't see it. Goes to our discussion of global capital and how we workers have to organize on a global level to have any chance at defeating them:

http://g-mond.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/topincomes/

Very interesting data in here.


The Krugman editorial: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/the-swedish-one-percent/

March 10, 2012

Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov arrested in Moscow

The demonstrators gathered today to protest Vladimir Putin's presidential election victory



Russian opposition leader arrested as as thousands protest in Moscow against Putin's return to Kremlin

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 14:50 EST, 10 March 2012 | UPDATED: 15:07 EST, 10 March 2012

Police officers detained opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov after thousands of protesters flocked to a central Moscow avenue today to demand Vladimir Putin's resignation amid allegations of electoral fraud.

The rally had been widely seen as a test of whether the opposition is able to maintain its strength after Prime Minister Putin won a return to the Kremlin.

Putin, Russia's president from 2000 to 2008, had to step down in 2008 to avoid the terms' limitations. He won 64 per cent of the vote last Sunday and is set to stay in the Kremlin for the next six years.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2113146/Russian-opposition-leader-arrested-as-thousands-protest-Moscow-Putins-return-Kremlin.html#ixzz1ol95o85l

March 10, 2012

Women's Issues - A gender and class approach

In light of international women's day and the comments of a certain Republican commentator this week, this is a fine time to look at women's issues. As I pointed out when I provided you all with a copy of the USSR's constitution of 1977, the Soviets had codified equal rights for women. We have not done that here - and is there an argument to be made that it must go along with changing the political/economic system? Consider KKE's words on the matter -

International Women’s Day: Significant Activity of the KKE and the class oriented movement

The 8th March, the International Women’s Day was celebrated with a series of events and interventions of the KKE.

The KKE organized two central political events on this issue with the GS of the CC of the KKE, comrade Aleka Papariga. The subject was: “the consequences of the capitalist crisis on the life of the working woman and the proposal of the party for the way-out”. At the events the GS of the CC discussed with working women in industry and students at the University of Social Studies, in Panteion University. Aleka Papariga mentioned in her speeches amongst other things:

“the question for the vanguard is that struggle for the problems of equality, for the emancipation of women becomes an integral part of the struggle of the labour movement, an integral part of the struggle of all the organizations of the workers, the self employed, the poor farmers because we do not reproduce the discrimination between men and women -which we had never supported and continue not to support- and because the question of the women’s emancipation is a clear class and gender issue which in the final analysis concerns the workers family in its entirety, 100% (…)

We will not be able to understand this and above all we will not be able to repel this assault with a mass labour movement, if we do not understand the women’s question as a class and gender issue. Our propaganda will be incomplete. Of course, when we say class and gender we clarify that this is opposed to the view that holds the position that the women’s question, the inequality of women, is caused by men’s dominance, by the patriarchal views, by the male dominated society and that the issue will be solved through the conflict of the two genders. This must be clear”.

“According to the development of the class struggle capitalism made certain concessions reluctantly. This period is over. And you know that because today they take everything back. And this will not last for the next couple of years, until the PSI is concluded; they officially admit that our life has been mortgaged for 30 years, note it officially. So objectively, since the attack is unified and does not concern a single sector or a single aspect of life, the political choice on the agenda is the struggle for the overthrow of the political system, the struggle for the overthrow of the dictatorship of the monopolies, the struggle for the workers’ and people’s power...

Much more here: http://inter.kke.gr/News/news2012/2012-03-09-gynaikes

March 7, 2012

Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - 1977

I post this as an academic exercise. Has anyone actually sat down and read this?


I particularly liked these 2 articles (equal rights are on my mind this week):

Article 34. Citizens of the USSR are equal before the law, without
distinction of origin, social or property status, race or nationality, sex,
education, language, attitude to religion, type and nature of occupation,
domicile, or other status.
The equal rights of citizens of the USSR are guaranteed in all fields of
economic, political, social, and cultural life.

Article 35. Women and men have equal rights in the USSR.
Exercise of these rights is ensured by according women equal access with
men to education and vocational and professional training, equal opportunities
in employment, remuneration, and promotion, and in social and political, and
cultural activity, and by special labour and health protection measures for
women; by providing conditions enabling mothers to work; by legal protection,
and material and moral support for mothers and children, including paid leaves
and other benefits for expectant mothers and mothers, and gradual reduction of
working time for mothers with small children.

The way I would improve this is I would say equal before the law and use the words
gender and sexual orientation. This probably deserves a more thorough treatment
but I'd be interested in hearing which articles stand out to folks and what they might
amend. I had never read this before so it was very eye-opening to me.

http://www.constitution.org/cons/ussr77.txt

March 6, 2012

UPS Hearts Logistics. Pregnant Employees, Not So Much.

Posted by Ariela Migdal, Women's Rights Project at 12:25pm

Peggy Young delivered letters and packages sent by air for UPS. When she got pregnant after struggling with infertility and IVF, her doctor recommended that she not lift more than 20 pounds. She asked UPS, where she had worked since 1999, for a "light duty" assignment, so that she could continue working through her pregnancy.

UPS said no. It explained that its policy was to offer light duty assignments or "inside" jobs to lots of different kinds of workers who were temporarily unable to perform their regular tasks: workers who were injured on the job, workers with a qualifying disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, workers who lose their commercial driving licenses because of an off-the-job injury, and workers involved in a car accident.

As a result, Peggy was put on unpaid leave with no medical coverage.

Sound illegal? It is, and has been since 1978, when Congress amended the civil rights laws to require employers to treat pregnant workers the same as any other worker who is similar in his or her ability or inability to do the job. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is supposed to guarantee that, if the boss offers any other class of temporarily disabled workers a benefit or accommodation — like light duty, extra bathroom breaks, access to water, or a modified schedule — pregnant workers are given the same treatment...

More here: http://www.aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom-womens-rights-immigrants-rights/ups-hearts-logistics-pregnant-employees

March 4, 2012

‘Surprise’, it’s Putin

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/6249046.bin

Fisher: ‘Surprise’, it’s Putin, but opponents vow campaign of protests

Postmedia News March 4, 2012 12:27 PM

<snip>

But Sunday’s balloting appeared to confirm deep political fissures in the country that could spell grave trouble for the former president, current prime minister and future president.

Hundreds of thousands of well-educated middle class Muscovites as well as many residents of St. Petersburg strongly repudiated Putin on Sunday while an even larger majority of Russians living in the Urals, Siberia and the Caucasus have handed the former KGB agent who since 2000 has led Russia as president and prime minister another six years in power.

Pointing to the heaviest police presence in many years on the streets of Moscow on Sunday, as well as alleged irregularities at many polls, increasingly confident opponents of Putin condemned Sunday’s ballot as a farce. They vowed to keep up the pressure on Putin beginning on Monday by launching the first of what they claim will be many protests along the main thoroughfare leading to Red Square. The nationalist anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny said he was organizing an unauthorized march on the Kremlin on Monday. To try to force change, he also advocated a permanent tent presence of protesters similar to those of the Occupy movement in Europe and North America.

Backers of Putin have promised counter-demonstrations. But if recent experience is anything to go on, compared to opposition gatherings Putin’s rallies have largely been devoid of passion and have the look and the feel of staged events.

Competing demonstrations set up the potential for conflict. That possibility was underscored by the presence Sunday of several dozen buses and trucks loaded with police parked on just one street in the centre of Moscow. Similar groups of security forces were reported to be waiting in several other nearby places.

One of the problems for the opposition is that while it is unified in its opposition to Putin, it agrees on little else. Another is that whatever voting irregularities there may have been, Putin clearly continues to have huge backing outside Moscow, so the election is an expression of the democratic will of the people.

Among Putin’s challenges is that the capital’s political and cultural elite have it in for him. These voters have long had a disproportionate say in the running of Russia and the Soviet Union. They also live where most of the country’s immense wealth is concentrated.

Sunday’s ballot presents a number of ironies. Muscovites have unquestionably benefited the most from Russia’s oil and gas-soaked economy during Putin’s tenure, yet they are the ones who have loudly condemned the president-elect and his inner circle for grabbing a large share of the country’s economy for themselves and for not having completed meaningful economic and legal reforms to prevent what they have not been shy about calling thievery and banditism.

On the other hand, the hinterlands, which produce all of Russia’s energy wealth, have only received a tiny share of the lucre generated by almost record high prices for oil and gas. Yet voters in these distant regions still clearly admire and respect Putin...

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Fisher+Surprise+Putin+opponents+campaign+protests/6249071/story.html#ixzz1oBrgXtWz

March 1, 2012

All-India strike hits banking, transport services

Solidarity with our sisters and brothers in India as they organize -


New Delhi, February 28, 2012

Millions of workers of all political hues have gone on strike across India on Tuesday to express their anger at soaring prices and to back demands for improved rights for employees, trade unions and political activists said.

The strike, which includes workers from state-run phone companies, bus drivers and postal workers, is a new headache for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government as it grapples with weakening economic growth and faces elections in several states.

Workers linked to the ruling Congress party have also joined the protest and have promised further action if their demands are not met.

The protests are not expected to significantly affect banks and financial markets in Asia's third-largest economy, but traders said there could be some volatility in the bond market if volumes are lower than normal.

"Volumes could be lower, but settlement should happen," said a senior dealer at a state-run bank.

The strikers have a long list of demands. Among them, they want the government to take measures to contain inflation, provide universal social security cover for workers in the vast unorganised labour sector, and to stop selling stakes in state-run companies.

"We will have to think about our future course of action if the government does not come forward with proposals on how it will react to our demands," G. Sanjeeva Reddy, president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, the ruling party's trade union, said...

More here: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/All-India-strike-by-major-trade-unions-today/Article1-818173.aspx