MAY DAY: General Strike! Shut it down.
FEB. 17: General Strike Against Trump
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY MARCH 8: The Next Step: Women’s General Strike, March 8, 2017
MAY DAY: General Strike! Shut it down.
FEB. 17: General Strike Against Trump
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY MARCH 8: The Next Step: Women’s General Strike, March 8, 2017
(1) What has happened?
On Friday Jan. 27th 2017, president Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) that bans the nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States with any type of immigrant or non-immigrant visa. This action is also banning refugees and US permanent residents (green card holders). According to the estimations, around 134 million people are affected by this action [1]. Although the EO is temporary and the visa ban is in place for 90 days, based on a CNN interview with a White House official, we are in a state of uncertainty as this might be the initial step to establish a broader ban.
(2) Who are we?
We are a diverse group of academics attending universities all across the United States. We all have dreams of not only receiving the best education, but also serving the nation that has granted us this valuable opportunity. We have similar views, plans, and ambitions as our neighboring colleagues and we too are looking for a better future in this country that has welcomed us with open arms.
(3) How are we affected by the recent action?
According to the EO, we are banned from entering the US for at least 90 days. If authorities decide to extend the 3 month period, we will not be able to visit our families back home. Many of us are seeing all of our hard work and achievements being reduced to none. We are facing a very heartbreaking dilemma in the midst of this difficult time and are looking to you, our friends and colleagues to stand united.
(4) Who else is looking for a solution to this action?
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is challenging the constitutionality of this EO in federal court, and has earned a temporary stay of this action. This development, although very encouraging, is temporary which means more consequential legal battles lie ahead.
NIAC (National Iranian American Council) is actively looking for solutions to this action.
(5) What is the mission of “Academics United – No Visa and Immigration Ban” rallies?
To shine a light on the impact of this action on thousands of honest and ambitious students. The visa ban is displeasing and politics should never be imposes on the academic community.
(6) When and where is the rally?
Thursday, Feb 9 2017 at 11:00 am
The judge’s temporary restraining order represents a major challenge to Trump’s action, although his administration could still appeal the ruling and have the policy upheld.
The new Republican president’s order signed on Jan. 27 triggered chaos at U.S. airports last weekend. Some travelers abroad were turned back from flights into the United States, crowds of hundreds of people packed into arrival areas to protest and legal objections were filed across the country.
The challenge was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The Seattle judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take on Trump in court on issues beyond immigration.
The decision came on a day that attorneys from four states were in courts challenging Trump’s executive order. The Trump administration justified the action on national security grounds, but opponents labeled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs.
Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order that allowed some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump’s three-month ban.
Also on Friday in Virginia, a federal judge ordered the White House to provide a list of all people stopped from entering the United States by the travel ban.
The state of Hawaii on Friday joined the challenge to the order, filing a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.
The order also temporarily stopped the entry of all refugees into the country and indefinitely halted the settlement of Syrian refugees.

Some of the airport protests across the United States.
Fill in the form below to send a message telling U.S. Attorney for District of Columbia Channing D. Phillips to drop all charges against DC Jan 20 Trump resisters NOW!! http://www.workers.org/j20/sign-trump-resisters-petition/

Baltimore, MD
On Wednesday, two Republican Congressman, Steve King of Iowa and Joe Wilson of South Carolina, introduced “Right to Work” legislation on the national level. Today, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stated that President Trump “believes in Right to Work” and Vice President Mike Pence “has been a champion of this as well.”
We know firsthand in Wisconsin that Right to Work does nothing to create jobs or help workers get ahead. Right to Work is union-busting legislation designed to give corporations more power in the workplace and tilt the balance even further against working people.
We can’t stand silently by while this legislation gets even an ounce of consideration on the national stage. This is a bill that threatens the foundation of the labor movement in all 50 states, and must be stopped.
Right to Work drives down wages for both union and non-union workers. Right to work is an unsafe, unfair and unnecessary government intrusion in the workplace. When you weaken unions, you weaken the last remaining check on corporate power and greed. Right to Work is linked to lower wages and decreased safety levels for all workers in states where it is law.
In Wisconsin, Right to Work has already passed and hasn’t created one new job or helped any working person. In fact, a PEW study concluded that Wisconsin’s middle class is shrinking faster than any other state in the nation. Now, they want to take this bad idea to the entire country.
For working people, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, the introduction of Right to Work at a national level is a direct attack on our livelihoods and the ability to support our families. The fallout from this policy would be far-reaching. Not only would workers in all 50 states see their wages lowered and our standard of living undermined, but our entire economy and businesses which rely on a vibrant middle class would be adversely impacted.
We know our economy works best when workers have the freedom to stand together as a team in strong unions and negotiate together for better wages, work-life balance and a better life. Strong unions and collective bargaining provide pathways into the middle class for millions of workers and together unions work to leave behind a better workplace for the next generation.
In Solidarity,
Phil Neuenfeldt, President
Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer
The Rockford branch of Workers World Party will be hosting a free public class on “Fascism: What It Is and How To Fight It” by Leon Trotsky, Sunday, Feb. 12 at 712 Lafayette Ave, from 12pm-2pm.
It is crucial that all progressives and revolutionaries arm themselves with theory in this period of intense repression and heroic resistence!
A free pdf of the work can be found here:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm

http://tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=19765
US American author and socialist activist John Catalinotto granted an interview to Investig’Action to talk about his new book, “Turn the Guns Around”. We discuss the resistance to the Vietnam War from within the US army and historical soldier revolts that were decisive in revolutionary uprisings, turning “a weapon of oppression into a tool for human liberation”, and what progressive forces can learn from this.
“Turn the Guns Around” is a history, and it’s a history in two ways. In one way it’s a history of the period between 1962 and 1975, when the US was carrying out a colonial and anti-communist war against the Vietnamese people. And during that war, a movement that was opposed to war, that was opposed to racism, grew up within the US armed forces. This caused an enormous amount of problems for the Pentagon and for the officers of the military. It forced them to really change a lot their policies. This movement played a role in the victory (defeat from the US government’s perspective) in Vietnam. Of course the greatest sacrifice and the greatest struggle was waged by the Vietnamese people themselves, but the opposition inside the US military played a role in that final victory.
The other way is that I brought up other historical events where movements inside the military led to actual political or social revolutions, or combinations of those, which included the Paris Commune, the two Russian Revolutions of 1917, the revolt of the German North Sea Fleet in 1918 and the revolt inside the Portuguese military in 1974. And I did that in order to provide for new generations of activists in the United States an understanding of what the capitalist state is, and of the relationship between the military and the state. So it’s a history that combines those two ideas…”