May 2012
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Greece: Euro crisis deepens →
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras: it’s “a war between people and capitalism”
The Greek elections called on May 6 resulted in a political earthquake. Powerful after-shocks are still hitting the global economy, the EU, and Greece itself. These are now set to be the precursor to even stronger political and social upheavals in Greece and throughout the EU.
The workers’ organisations and youth in...
April 2012
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- - Justice Issue 82 Now Online! ... →
The latest issue of Justice Newspaper is now online! Please check it out, and if you feel up to the challenge, show off by doing a socialist crossword puzzle! Of course, make sure to let us know if you’re successful :-)
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FORUM | AFTER TRAYVON'S MURDER: CHALLENGING...
7:30PM TUESDAY, APRIL 3RD @ MAYDAY BOOKS (301 CEDAR AVE S)
SPEAKERS: * Rose Brewer, Professor of Afro-American & African Studies at the University of MN * Mel Reeves, longtime community organizer against police brutality and racism * Ty Moore, organizer with Socialist Alternative and on the Editorial Board of Justice newspaper
The murder of Trayvon Martin and the police attempt to...
Trayvon Martin Murder: Another Victim of Racist... →
On February 26, 17-year old Trayvon Martin was murdered in cold blood. He was unarmed. His only crime was being young, black, and wearing a hoodie. A national outcry has emerged because Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman—a self-appointed “neighborhood watch volunteer”—has claimed self-defense and the police have still not arrested him!
Police officials say there is “no evidence to...
March 2012
11 posts
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Spring Fever Grips Occupy Homes
By Kenny Guenther The early spring weather has everybody out and about and feeling good, and Occupy Homes activists are no exception. On Saturday March 10th, a team of sixteen gathered at the North Regional Library in Minneapolis and set out to knock on doors and spread the message: we intend to stop big banks and their servants in government from taking our homes and destroying our lives and...
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(1933 vs. 2012) MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES NOW!
By Nick Shillingford South Minneapolis Homeowner and member of the Canvassing Sub-Committee of Occupy Homes
The call for an immediate moratorium (government imposed suspension of activity) on all foreclosures is not a new idea. In fact a moratorium was put in place by the Minnesota legislature to halt foreclosure proceedings in 1933 during the Great Depression. In the mid-west this movement was...
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“Stop Foreclosures! Stop Evictions!” Occupy Homes...
By Ty Moore, Minneapolis
“We are building a real movement here, a real mass campaign,” explained Chris Gray, an activist with Socialist Alternative who coordinates Occupy Homes’ canvassing operation in Minneapolis. “If we can mobilize the community to stop Monique’s eviction, this thing is gonna really blow up.”
At 8:30am on Monday, March 5th, over 100 supporters packed the eviction hearing for...
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Obama Stops Keystone XL in Senate BUT “Welcomes”... →
On March 8, the Senate narrowly rejected an amendment to a transportation bill to force the approval of the TransCanada Corporation’s Keystone XL pipeline, a 1,700 mile pipeline that would bring heavy tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas to be exported abroad. The pipeline would be the longest oil pipeline outside of Russia and China, which would exacerbate the global climate...
After the Defeat of SOPA and PIPA - What Was... →
On October 26, 2011, the House of Representatives introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) with the support of both political parties. Building on the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), SOPA would have given the United States government unprecedented powers to censor the internet. Three months later, both SOPA and PIPA were withdrawn in the face of a growing protest movement culminating in a...
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Playing Politics with Women’s Bodies - The Battle...
By Kelly Bellin With each passing week, the right-wing fundamentalists tighten their grip over the Republican Party. Their latest frenzied attempt to limit women’s access to contraception will likely backfire on Republicans electorally. Yet as Obama responds with concessions, this right-wing ideological offensive dominates the public debate. The mess started when the Obama Administration...
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Dismantling Rape Culture, Dismantling Capitalism
As the right-wing attacks on women’s reproductive health intensify, many republican politicians have claimed that the issue of women’s access to contraception is second to the discussion on religious practices. Yet, this week, Rush Limbaugh has used his radio show to play out the disgusting reality of this debate - of trying to control women’s bodies and sexuality. At this...
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World economy: The year of all risks — On the... →
“2012 will not be a walk in the park”, warns Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF. The world capitalist economy is on the brink of a new downturn, with a recession in Europe and a marked slowing of China, India and other semi-developed economies. The eurozone debt crisis is far from resolved and could trigger a new global banking and economic crisis at any time. LYNN WALSH reports. AT THE...
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War Clouds Gather Over Iran — Western powers step... →
War clouds are gathering, once again, over the Middle East. Heightening tensions over the last months between the US and its allies and Iran have seen covert assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, cyber warfare, attacks on Iranian military and missile installations, and a build-up of Western forces in the region and speculation of military preparations for air attacks on Iran. All this is...
February 2012
11 posts
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You Cant Have Capitalism Without Racism — Looking... →
Malcolm X was Assassinated 47 years ago today. In remembering his legacy we direct you to a 2005 article by Hank Gonzalez from the 40th anniversary of Malcolm’s death.
Indiana and the “Right to Work” →
By Marty Harrison
“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining… We demand this fraud be stopped.” –Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In no state is there a legal right to a...
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Breaking News: Ninth Circuit Rules Prop 8 Is...
Comment by Nick Shillingford
A Federal appeals court has ruled that Proposition 8, a ballot initiative banning same-sex Marriage recognition in California starting after Same-Sex Marriage legalization in 2008, is unconstitutional. The court said in part that the law “serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to...
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Forum Report-back: 70 attend forum on rape culture...
By Ginger Jentzen
With the help of the Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) Pride Club, and the enthusiasm of 70+ people in attendance, Socialist Alternative lead a panel and discussion entitled “Dismantling Rape Culture, Dismantling Capitalism,” on February 1st. The panel examined cultural acceptance for sexism and objectification of women, victim-blaming and homophobia, in an...
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Mumia Abu-Jamal out of solitary confinement for...
Comment by Ryan Timlin
On January 27th, for the first time in 30 years, Mumia Abu-Jamal has been put in General Population after being held in Administrative Custody (“The Hole” or Solitary Confinement) at SCI Mahanoy, Frackville, PA for seven weeks.
The sudden change in the Governments decision comes on the heels of the pouring out of anger around the Troy Davis Execution. In Troy Davis case...
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Susan G Komen for the Cure deprives 150,000+ women...
Comment by Kelly Bellin
Update: Due to the intense fightback, Susan G Komen for the Cure has reversed their decision to remove all funding from Planned Parenthood. This in itself is a success for Planned Parenthood in not only the re-funding, but the surge of support (and donations) that they received in reaction to being persecuted by SGKomen. Women need accessible reproductive health services,...
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January 2012
24 posts
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Kansas City Ends Domestic Violence Ordinance -... →
By Ann Waddell
In October, the District Attorney of Shawnee County, which encompasses Topeka, Kansas, announced that he would cease to prosecute domestic violence cases within the city of Topeka.
He argued that with recent budget cuts he no longer had sufficient resources and that the city should take on the burden of these prosecutions.
The city council responded by repealing their ordinance...
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Answering Common Questions - Socialism FAQs →
By Brandon Madsen
With the rise of the Occupy movement, opposition to the existing political and economic order has gone mainstream. It’s hard to imagine that the bandana-clad woman on the cover of Time magazine – representing “The Protestor,” Time’s “Person of the Year” – has many nice things to say about capitalism, and the ubiquity of the Guy Fawkes mask – popularized by “V for Vendetta”...
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Obama Overrules FDA, Restricts Birth Control for... →
By Andrea Perry
Obama recently defended the decision of his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to continue limiting the over-counter availability of Plan B, the morning after pill, to women under 17. The Federal Drug Administration approved the over-counter use of the drug for women of all ages last February and says this is the first time the Secretary of Health has...
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Big Media Bought the Politicians. Don’t Let Them...
Comment by Nick Shillingford
The internet has given people across the globe previously unprecedented access to information and the ability to communicate with individuals in almost any city center. But the increase in free sharing of information, music, books, films and other media has also begun to eat into the profits of the huge media companies of the world.
While the executives of the huge...
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A Historic Day for Graduate Assistants!
Comment by Tom Raley
Just today, Graduate Assistant employees at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities delivered a request to University President Eric Kaler to file a joint petition for union certification. The Graduate Student Workers Union/United Auto Workers (GSWU/UAW) have been organizing a union drive on campus to organize the 4,500 graduate assistant employees, and upon obtaining a...
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20 Hour Workweek Called for by Capitalist...
Comment by Tom Raley
A recent article published by the Guardian of London claims that top economists are now urging something that we as Socialists have long argued for. The article claims that the working week should be cut to a maximum of 20 hours. This is an interesting read, coming from a relatively mainstream news source; and all in all, a policy like this just makes sense.
...
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Taking the Occupation Home: Fighting foreclosures...
By Kenny Guenther, Minneapolis
The foreclosure crisis is hitting the Twin Cities hard. According to a study by Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, Minneapolis alone has had over 13,000 foreclosures since 2006, with a majority of evicted families moving out of the city.
In November, a campaign was launched by a coalition of activists, including Occupy Minneapolis and Socialist Alternative, to...
Greece: New round of austerity announced by... →
Xekinima national meeting discusses balance sheet of 2011’s class struggles and prospects for workers’ fight-back in 2012
Niall Mulholland, CWI
Yesterday, the German and French governments put pressure on Greece to “find a solution” to its debt crisis, threatening to deny its government another 130bn euro bailout unless it reaches agreement with its bondholders. Investors are being urged to...
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Kazakhstan: In defense of the oil workers →
Union bureaucracy and ’left’ groups attack CWI’s solidarity with strikers
Rob Jones, CWI Moscow
With unbelievable brutality, the Nazarbayev regime in Kazakhstan attempted to break the spirit of oil workers in Zhanaozen and Aktau, using troops, police, live bullets, mass detentions, curfews and torture. Even the regime admits that 16 people were killed and many more wounded in December. The...
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Nigeria solidarity: Hundreds protest at London... →
Diaspora protest against fuel subsidy removal
Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales) reporters
Hundreds of Nigerians gathered outside the Nigeria House Embassy in central London on Friday 6 January. They did so to join with their brothers and sisters who, in their country of origin, have moved into struggle against the removal of the government’s fuel subsidy, a move which has pushed the...
Nigeria: For a strategy and tactics to ensure... →
For a serious fight against President’s New Year “gift”. No rotten compromise!
Article from special edition of Socialist Democracy, paper of the Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI in Nigeria)
The declaration of “indefinite strikes, mass rallies and street protests” by both NLC (Nigeria Labour Congress) and TUC leaders, against the so-called fuel subsidy withdrawal by the...
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Kazakhstan: Curfew and state of emergency extended... →
Nazarbayev regime cancels elections in city
Campaign Kazakhstan reporters
Campaign Kazakhstan has appealed again today for donations and messages of protest to support the fight against the dictatorial Nazarbayev regime after state forces carried out a massacre of workers on 16 December. Previous reports from witnesses on the ground, as well as extensive coverage of the struggle as it developed...
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Tar Sands Timetable Sped Up - Payroll Tax Bill... →
By Joshua H. Koritz
Two days before Christmas, 2011, President Obama signed a bill that forces a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days as part of a two month payroll tax cut extension. The Keystone XL pipeline would transport oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas.
If approved by Congress, the land needed for the underground pipeline would...
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Nigeria: General strike against fuel price hike →
For all out mass action from 9 January!
Leaflet produced by Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI in Nigeria)
The dramatic attack on living standards launched by the Nigerian government this week provoked a wave of protest as has been featured on socialist world.net. Now, in response to pressure from the working and poor masses, the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress have announced...
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India: Nuclear energy projects are high ways to... →
Jagadish G Chandra, Bangalore, New Socialist Alternative (CWI India) In the past century, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Three Mile Island accident, the unforgettable tragedy at Chernobyl and the recent nuclear disaster at Fukushima are warning signs on the imminent dangers of nuclear energy.
Whatever may be the arguments and parading of lies by the pro nuclear...
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School Reform by the 99%
Comment by Chris Gray
Who’d have thought that education reform could happen without high-stakes testing and dismantling public sector unions? While U.S. public schools are constantly compared to the successes of European, specifically Scandinavian, schools pundits of America’s corporate education “reform” neglect the fact that these regions were the scenes of massive...
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Al Jazeera Documentary on Decline of U.S. Labor...
Comment by Chris Gray
This short Al Jazeera documentary on the “Decline of labor unions in the U.S.” does an excellent jobs of showing the long-term decline and major challenges facing the unions. But it also shows the huge potential to rebuild union power and numbers out of the mass anger building up within working class communities and among the youth. The blurb introducing the...