Chicago, Feb. 3, 2018: Do it Like Durham! Black Liberation Month w/ Takiyah Thompson

Do it Like Durham! Black Liberation Month w/ Takiyah Thompson

37 S Ashland, UE Hall, Chicago, 6-8 P.M. 

Co-sponsored by Workers World Party Chicago, Black Lives Matter Chicago, & BYP100 Chicago.

Takiyah Thompson was the first of eight activists arrested in 2017 by Durham, N.C. police after organizing with the community to remove a racist confederate statue. Join us to hear from Takiyah along with local Chicago activists from Black Lives Matter, BYP100, & WWP Chicago about how they are continuing to fight white supremacy, both symbolically and practically. Come share your community’s struggles and discuss how we can work toward liberation together. Takiyah is a member of Workers World Party, a nation-wide revolutionary socialist organization.

Event is free & open to the public. Free snacks & drinks provided. Location is at Ashland and Monroe. 1/4 mile south of the Ashland Green/Pink Line stop, 3/4 mile north-east of Medical District Blue Line stop.

Do it Like Durham! Black Liberation Month w/ Takiyah Thompson

Image may contain: 1 person

Do it Like Durham! Black Liberation Month w/ Takiyah Thompson

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 Years Later: The Struggle Against Racism, War & Poverty Continues

https://www.newsghana.com.gh/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-50-years-later-the-struggle-against-racism-war-poverty-continues/

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire, http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/

Although the U.S. capitalist and imperialist system may appear to be strong in light of the indices emanating from the stock market and the Department of Labor, the contradictions between Black, Brown and White are reaching unprecedented levels. The gap is widening juxtaposing the rich and poor where the working class is exploited at unprecedented levels.

Lessons are to be learned from the events of 1968. It is essential to study these historical developments in order to devise new methods of struggle aimed at the empowerment of the people over the forces of oppression and exploitation.

St. Paul, MN, January 31: MN Works For Teachers Info Picket

Kelogg Mall Park, St. Paul, 4:30 P.M.

Our friends at the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers are engaged in bargaining for the common good with the school district. The district hasn’t even made an offer yet, on Wednesday educators will be voting to authorize a strike to continue creating the schools Saint Paul kids deserve.
Everyday these educators are standing up for our kids, let’s stand up for them!

Endorsed by – Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation15 Now Minnesota,Teamsters Local 320 and hundreds of rank and file workers!

Image may contain: 14 people, people smiling

AFT Files Amicus Brief in Janus v. AFSCME / Union YES. Jim Crow NO.

Brief lays out argument citing role of collective bargaining in improving public sector workplaces, repudiating plaintiff’s constitutionally flawed warping and weaponizing of the First Amendment

For Release:

Friday, January 19, 2018

Contact:

Andrew Crook
o: 202-393-8637 | c: 607-280-6603
acrook@aft.org

WASHINGTON—The American Federation of Teachers today filed an amicus brief(link is external) in support of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees against the corporate-backed plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME Council 31.

AFT President Randi Weingarten says: “The fight for prosperity and opportunity for all, embodied by the labor movement, is an anathema to the corporate backers of this case—the people funding it are the same people attacking civil rights, attacking voting rights and attacking public education.

“This case warps and weaponizes the First Amendment by enabling one person’s complaint—without any record or evidence—to undermine the interests of millions of workers across the country who benefit from collective bargaining. And it suggests that collective bargaining, which operates just like any other workplace consultation process, should draw far more constitutional scrutiny than its equivalents.

“The current law has preserved labor peace for four decades by balancing the interests of workers and employers and fostering partnerships to improve school districts and other public sector workplaces. We argue that engaging in collective bargaining is constitutionally no different than the state paying a consultant to advise it on employment relations issues. Further, the plaintiff’s argument is a dishonest rejection of established legal precedent, reaffirmed many times, and therefore must fail.

“I am confident that if the nine justices of the Supreme Court consider this case on the merits, not ideologically, they would agree.”

The AFT brief argues that the government here is an employer, not a sovereign, and that the First Amendment places far less restrictions on the government when it acts as an employer, as opposed to the stricter scrutiny when it acts as a sovereign.

Accordingly, just as there are no constitutional issues when an employer makes workplace decisions relying on the advice of outside consultants, there should also be none when those same decisions arise from collective bargaining, particularly where the costs for both come from the same pot of money available for wages and benefits.

The brief further shows how fair share fees are central to an efficient and effective public sector and describes how labor-management partnerships have thrived under their use.

The full AFT brief can be read here(link is external).

# # # #

The AFT represents 1.7 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.

Image result for union yes

A Call for A National Conference to Organize a Fightback to Defeat Austerity! Stop the war by the banks, corporations and government on the workers and poor! Saturday March 24, 2018, Detroit

Moratorium NOW! Coalition

http://moratorium-mi.org/

We want to extend an invitation to all progressive activists and organizations to participate in the National Conference to Fight Austerity in Detroit on Saturday March 24.  The purpose of the national conference is to map out a strategy for defeating the war being waged by the banks, corporations and government against the workers and oppressed.  Capitalism cannot continue unchallenged while our very lives are being jeopardized by the ruling elites who are determined to grow richer and more powerful at our expense, whipping up white supremacy, an anti-immigrant offensive attacks on women and anti-LGBTQ bigotry to keep our class divided.

Detroit along with colonized Puerto Rico has been at the epicenter of bank imposed austerity against the workers and oppressed in this hemisphere. But every U.S. city from Chicago to Baltimore to Cleveland to Baltimore to Milwaukee, from New York City to Oakland and Seattle, has felt the brunt of this attack in the form of cutbacks, school closings, mass transit cuts, water shutoffs, gentrification and destruction of public service unions.

The Trump tax plan and Pentagon War build-up continues the massive transfer of wealth to the rich at the expense of the poor.  This war by the banks and on the workers and poor is an international phenomenon spanning every continent. On March 24, we will hammer out a program on how to fight back against the war by the corporations, the banks and their lackeys in government at all levels on the workers and poor.

The conference will take up topics such as:

* The Destruction of our Communities by the Banks. * Tax giveaways to Dan Gilbert and the Ilitch business empire and gentrifiers everywhere.* The Trump Tax plan — A declaration of war by and for the rich on the workers and the poor.* The Pentagon War Buildup — funded by destruction of social services.* Continuing Water Shutoffs and Mass foreclosures. *The Destruction of public educations through defunding and privatization.* Mass layoffs at retail stores, restaurants, business offices and plant closings* Fighting for a real living wage for all workers* Challenging racism, sexism and LGBTQ oppression* Defending Immigrant Rights* Challenging mass incarceration and prison slave labor * Defending Puerto Rico where much the population remains without electricity because of mass robbery by the banks* The need for a universal healthcare program* Public transportation and accessibility for all within the urban and rural areas. *The growth in extreme poverty and homelessness.* Environmental Justice and the end to the poisoning of the poor. *Full rights for persons with disabilities.

The Conference will discuss these issues in depth from the perspective of how they all are products of a capitalist system where profits are everything and people mean nothing.  We will mobilize support for making May Day 2018 an anti-Austerity Day, as well as lending solidarity to the Poor Peoples Campaign. We will outline a program of action in solidarity with all movements working for social change and transformation.

Initiated by the Moratorium Now! Coalition. For information or to endorse:  contact 313-680-5508 – moratorium-mi.org — moratorium@moratorium-mi.org  Endorsed by:  Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association (DAREA); Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-MI); Fronteras Nortenas; Elena Herrada, Detroit School Board Member in Exile; Teresa Kelly, former editor, Michigan Citizen Newspaper; Detroit MLK Day committee; Reverend Ed Rowe; Lila Cabbil, People’s Water Board; National Action Network, Detroit chapter; Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement, Workers World Party

Moratorium NOW! Coalition

http://moratorium-mi.org/

The Right-wing Bradley Foundation Plots to Destroy Unions

https://dc37blog.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/the-right-wing-bradley-foundation-plots-to-destroy-unions/

“…The Bradley Foundation’s effort to build what it calls a “conservative infrastructure” throughout the country is in sync with the goal of the libertarian brothers David and Charles Koch to transform the political landscape of the United States. Bradley — with $835 million in assets in 2016 — is as large as the three Koch-family foundations combined.

This political transformation sought by the right’s network has many dimensions. Foundations promote a right-wing ideological perspective as they advise politicians and spew out position papers on government policy. Conservative groups on university and college campuses are creating a new generation of activists and zealots.

Unions, of course, are targeted because they have a powerful ground force that supports Democratic candidates; gives workers a voice in the workplace; protects government services and fights for political freedoms and a shared prosperity, an effort that could put an end to the country’s Great Depression-like inequality.

Often working outside of the public eye, the foundations are a hidden but key force in the effort of the radical right to solidify the power of the 1 percent, corporations and conservative ideologues in the United States.

It’s up to unions and other progressive organizations to stop them.

This article originally appeared in the October 2017 issue of Public Employee Press.

Madison, Feb. 4, 2018: DO IT LIKE DURHAM! BLACK LIBERATION MONTH COMMUNITY DISCUSSION WITH TAKIYAH THOMPSON

Workers World Party Wisconsin

https://www.workers.org/

Defend Durham

MADISON – Freedom Fighter Takiyah Thompson will be the keynote speaker Feb. 4, 2018 at a Black Liberation Month Community Discussion at 2146 E Johnson Street beginning at 2 p.m. This event is sponsored by Workers World Party Wisconsin and is free and open to the public.

Due to months of people’s protests, felony charges were dropped January 11, 2018 against Thompson and her co-defendants but the courts continue political maneuvers designed to both weaken the movement and punish rightful dissent. On Feb. 19, 2018 Thompson along with other anti-racist activists, will return to court in Durham, North Carolina to face trial on misdemeanor charges stemming from August 14 when a Confederate monument in Durham was torn down.

“The events of August 14 were acts of community service and defense. We have to remember what happened just two days before in Charlottesville, Virginia., when white supremacists terrorized, occupied, and brutalized its residents. Heather Heyer was murdered, and many other anti-racist activists were injured,” said Sam Olson, of Workers World Party Wisconsin. “The eleven now facing charges in Durham have done their service to the community. We call on Durham District Attorney Roger Echols to immediately drop all of the charges.”

Through a campaign launched by #DefendDurham, thousands across North Carolina and the United States have signed petitions and participated in multiple call-in days to drop the charges. The case has garnered national and even international attention, with many unions and other progressive organizations submitting statements noting the significance of the Durham actions and pledging support to beat the charges.

“Removing symbols of white supremacy from our community is not a crime. What happened on Aug. 14 was a service to the Durham community and an example of taking righteous action, a small step to correct centuries of injustice,” said Olson.

On Feb. 4 in Madison, Thompson, a member of Workers World Party and a student at North Carolina Central University, will describe her experiences. And along with other speakers, Thompson will make the connections between the legacy of Jim Crow laws in North Carolina which are increasingly being promoted in Wisconsin by those such as Governor Scott Walker and Art Pope who is now Chair of the Board of the Milwaukee-based right-wing Bradley Foundation.

THE MONEY BEHIND ART POPE…: https://www.facingsouth.org/2016/05/art-popes-money-helped-create-north-carolinas-bath

THE RIGHT-WING BRADLEY FOUNDATION PLOTS TO DESTROY UNIONS: https://dc37blog.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/the-right-wing-bradley-foundation-plots-to-destroy-unions/

MORE INFO:

Workers World Party Wisconsin

https://www.workers.org/

Defend Durham