Legendary labor rights and civil rights Leader Dolores Huerta joined striking Oakland Teachers on the picket line Feb. 22, 2019!

#WeAreOakland #OUSDstrike 

http://misiones.minrex.gob.cu/en/articulo/remarks-ambassador-anayansi-rodriguez-permanent-representative-cuba-un-solidarity-ceremony

Ambassador Anayansi Rodríguez and Ms. Gail Walker of IFCO/Pastors For Peace

Dear friends, sisters and brothers of the Solidarity Movement with Cuba in the United States,

It is with great joy that we celebrate with you the 60th anniversary of our undefeated Revolution. And it is not only joy that we feel when we are here; above all, we are deeply grateful for having received so much solidarity from you.

At this moment, we recall the many actions of support we have received from your side in the last two years that I have served here. And I think particularly proudly of the recent battles in which you joined us, last October, publicly supporting the Cuban Revolution during the vote on our resolution against the blockade. You were there, on the front line, in the streets, on October 31 and November 1st, when we delivered 10 resounding blows to the enemy at the United Nations. And you again expressed your solidarity with the Cuban and Bolivarian Revolutions in the face of the failed attempt to condemn Venezuela in the Security Council on January 26.

We would like you to know that we greatly admire the courage you have shown, because we are aware the environment is very hostile.

And precautions were needed, because the enemies of the Revolution, those who support the blockade, who do not want a normal and civilized relationship between our countries, were taking some action, even in this city. Logically, we were concerned because it is known that these people do not want peace. These people have been and continue to be supported by confessed terrorists who have plunged our Homeland into mourning more than once. These people encourage confrontation and hostility as they made their living from it for a long time. They have filled their pockets with money stained with the blood of good Cubans.  And we worried. But right away we said: “Our friends in the United States are people with great dignity and ethics. They will never encourage confrontation”. We also said: “Our friends know what the sense of duty is. Our friends have stood by our side even under the most difficult circumstances, and if the time comes to raise the sword again and set off to fight, they will also be with us!”

And we know this because the dignified people of the United States, whom you represent, have always been on the side of Cuba’s independence, defending our right to be free and to live in peace. And you have done so not only over the last 60 years, but since the very beginning of this Revolution, which is the same and only revolution since 150 years ago.

This Revolution that you are supporting today is the Revolution of Céspedes and Agramonte, of Maceo and Martí. It is the same Revolution in which young American Henry Reeve, born precisely in this city, in Brooklyn, was known for his courage as a combatant and chief of the Liberation Army. It is the same Revolution that hundreds of humble citizens of New York supported and helped to pay for, along with the tobacco workers in Tampa and Key West, summoned by Martí.

It is the same Revolution that raised again the Centenary Generation led by Fidel and which many sons of this city supported by giving everything, even -and in not a few cases- to their last penny.

With that historical legacy we have come to this day.  And we are proud to say that from those glorious days of the beginning of our independence struggles up to now, we have always had the solidarity, support and selfless contribution of all of you, the sons of the best and most noble of the American people.

We are proud to say that you, the members of all generations of the Movement of Solidarity with Cuba in the United States, are also the Cuban Revolution: those who contributed to shaping the July 26 Movement in the early 1950s; those who accompanied and supported from here the struggle in the Sierra Maestra Mountains; those who welcomed Fidel in the Hotel Theresa in Harlem; the courageous forerunners of the Antonio Maceo and Venceremos Brigades; those who did not hesitate to put their own lives at risk in order to break the blockade in the caravans of Pastors for Peace; those who accompanied the battles for the return of Elián and the Five Cuban Anti-terrorist Heroes to their homeland; and those who over these years, including the young people who are joining us today, have supported the fight against the criminal blockade imposed on Cuba. In all of them and in all of you lie the spirit of the Revolution and the spirit of Fidel.

As you are all aware, today we continue the battle under adverse circumstances, with the Empire acting with more hostility and arrogance, seeking to harden the blockade and resuming the confrontation discourse, not only against Cuba, but also with particular fury against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and against the right of the peoples of Latin America to remain free, independent and sovereign.

So the battle is not over. For revolutionaries and Revolutions like ours there will be no easy situations.  And in this adverse context that we are facing, it is crucial to always keep in mind one of the greatest lessons that Commander in Chief Fidel has left to us, which is our permanent revolutionary intransigence and faith in victory.

We can tell you out of profound conviction that we will not give in to the enemy. We will never allow concessions that will harm the sovereignty and independence of our Homeland. We will never negotiate our principles or accept conditions of any kind, as we have never done in the history of the Revolution.

Both, you and we, can feel profound satisfaction in paying tribute to those who forged the nation we have today, by reaffirming the determination to continue to defend and strengthen this victorious Revolution, willing to give our all.

Let us resolve to face these new challenges imposed upon us by history, guided by the example left to us by Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Carlos Muñiz Varela, Lucius Walker, the Eternal Commander Hugo Chávez Frías and our Fidel. We owe them and we owe you the duty, the responsibility to never give up in the struggle, to continue fighting for a better Homeland, which was the ultimate dream of the founding fathers of our independence.

Long live our Socialist and Democratic Revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble!

Long live our undefeated and ever-present Commander in Chief Fidel!

Long Live the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela!

Long live the friendship between our peoples!

Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!

https://fighting-words.net/2019/02/20/no-wall-no-ban-no-state-of-emergency/

Border wall protesters at the National Butterfly Center wildlife preserve near the Rio Grande River in Mission, Texas | Photo: Veronica Cardenas/Reuters

By Communist Workers League

The only crisis at the border is the one Trump and the ruling class are creating. Thousands of refugee and immigrant children have been held in camps at the border, and some are dying in detention. Central American refugees, including large numbers of women and children, are fleeing extreme violence, caused by U.S. “drug wars” and anti-democratic policies in countries like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. We support asylum for the Central American and all refugees! U.S. government sanctions and war threats against the legitimately-elected Bolivarian government of Venezuela, supported by both Republicans and Democrats, are causing even more instability in the region.

Trump has attacked Mexicans and all people of Latin American heritage, calling them “rapists, criminals, drug-dealers, and bad hombres,” and issued executive orders to exclude Muslim immigrants with his travel ban. He moved to deny temporary protected status to refugees from countries such as Haiti, Nigeria and El Salvador, who he referred to as “shithole countries.” He claims that immigrants and refugees are coming to take jobs, but Trump was the one who took jobs away from workers in the United States, most recently with the month-long government shutdown! This week’s budget agreement, averting another shutdown, was accomplished with the Democrats’ allocation of over a billion additional dollars towards “border security.” Instead of challenging the narrative on the need for this, they challenged the practicality of a wall vs high tech and other more efficient solutions to the non-existent problem.

What’s the significance of Trump’s “state of emergency”?

Trump’s justifications for declaring a state of emergency to fund his border wall serve as a convenient cover for a broader move toward authoritarianism. By declaring a state of emergency, Trump has just opened the door to a set of broad legal powers that have the potential to challenge “democracy” as we know it in the U.S. He could use this power to enforce his white supremacist world view, taking money from Sanctuary Cities, challenge LGBTQ2S legal identification, compel the National Guard to pick up all undocumented people, impose stop-and-frisk policies in communities of color across the country, and many other repressive actions. He could also take over internet traffic, block any website he deems unacceptable, interfere with individuals’ emails, and enable only his own fake news to hit the airways. He could even deploy the military within the United States to suppress political protesters.

Is this a step towards fascism?

Presidential states of emergency are almost always associated with sanctions, trade, or war – all to support the U.S. empire. They have been declared 60 times since the power was enabled by Congress in 1976. This ongoing presidential encroachment is part of the broader shift away from the semblance of democratic control in the U.S. – a semblance which, while superficial for whites, has scarcely existed at all for the nationally oppressed.

In declaring a state of emergency to usurp Congress’ “power of the purse,” Trump is essentially disenfranchising the entire population of the U.S. by saying that he, as president, can “trump” or overrule Congress. In the U.S., bourgeois democracy was designed with three seats of power as a balance against autocratic or fascist rule. The Supreme Court has already been stacked in such a way as to enable the rollback of countless years of struggle to pass progressive legislation. If Trump gets away with overruling Congress, this will lock his control to a new level.

It’s up to the people

We can’t rely on the Democrats to put an end to this legislatively. We need mass mobilization in the streets and workplaces, by unions and mass organizations, to defeat this attack. The gains that are under attack were not won in the electoral or legislative arena. They were won by mass struggle. Now is the time to fight back. Get in the streets. In the weeks to come, we need to continue organizing and planning many ways to protest. Say no to white supremacy, yes to families and refugees, no to bans and walls.

This statement was originally posted on communistworkersleague.org on Feb. 17, 2019

Angela Davis: No Shades, No Bounds

Reeve Union, 748 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh, WI, 5 – 6:30 P.M.

To kick off Women’s Herstory Month, Dr. Angela Davis will come to the UW Oshkosh campus to discuss the lack of justice for women of color.

Sent to radio station WDET Feb. 21, 2019

To Whom It May Concern,

Upon service of this letter, you are hereby given notice of our intent to picket your office every Friday evening. Your office, as a syndicated member of National Public Radio, has promoted numerous lies and distortions about the legitimate government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela designed to sway public opinion and legitimize the U.S. government’s attempts to bring about regime change.

We, as representatives of poor and working people, emphatically reject the coverage promoted on your station slandering the legitimate president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. In the interest of the observation of international law and the right of all nations to sovereignty within their own territory, we ask that the residents of Michigan be given access to another narrative with respect to Venezuela. In reality, the people of Michigan and of Detroit have much more in common with the people of Venezuela than the people seeking to overthrow the government of Venezuela.

To that end, we, the undersigned, request that your offices provide us with airtime to tell an alternate story about Venezuela. As a publicly-funded non-profit, your offices have a responsibility to the public above and beyond any responsibility to corporate donors, most especially companies such as Enbridge and Koch Industries who have a vested interest in the de-nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry.

The people of Michigan have a right to the truth that public radio services ought to uphold. Please respond with any correspondence to this email–you can expect to see us this Friday.

Sincerely,
Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI)

Feb. 22, 2019 Protest at WDET: Viva Venezuela: Protest WDET’S Misinformation And Propaganda

By B.D.

Over 100 people gathered outside the US Mission to the United Nations on Monday, Feb. 4 for a rally called by the Dec. 12 Movement in solidarity with the people of Venezuela against the Trump regime’s attempted takeover of their country. Chants of “People of the world unite, Venezuela is our fight!” and “Down with imperialism, power to the people!” barraged the Embassy. Speakers at the rally included Pam Africa of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal, Viola Plummer and other leaders of the Dec. 12 Movement, former political prisoner Tarek Haskins and representatives of New York’s Haitian community.

A statement handed out by December 12 members declared:  “We are here because U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo has finally told the truth ― the U.S. wants control of Venezuela’s oil. “We are here because the U.S. wants to steal oil, discredit socialism and carry out regime change in Venezuela ― then on to Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba.
“We are here because as African people we’ve benefited from the subsidized oil that Venezuela provided our communities in the U.S., in the Caribbean and in Africa.”

https://bit.ly/2SSNOVZ

Do we starve our public neighborhood schools so that they are cut and privatized or do we re-invest in our public neighborhood schools for our students and for a thriving city? Oakland teachers say re-investment. And we #StandWithOaklandTeachers#WeAreOakland #Unite4OaklandKids

Oakland Education Association