Join us for Labor Day 2022, a family-focused event on the Summerfest grounds on Monday, September 2022.
This year we are renewing our promise to “Organize the Future” -the next generation of workers, unorganized shops, and new industries – because we know that everyone benefits from being in a union.
Thanks to the generosity of our local unions and union members, Laborfest is free and open to the public! We will feature special children’s activities on the Summerfest grounds, a raffle for children, the splash pad and fountain, the wonderful renovated playground, and more. For adults there will be an array of food and beverages, adult bingo, wrestling, a classic car show, and live musical entertainment on the MillerCoors stage.
But before you head to the lakefront, be sure to visit the parade route to see the union members in their trucks, on their Harleys, and marching with their locals in downtown Milwaukee.
Laborfest parade will kick off from Zeidler Union Square on 4th and Michigan at 11am.
Please call the Milwaukee Area Labor Council with any questions at 414-771-7070.
UW Health Nurses have voted to strike for union recognition starting September 13! Madison Area DSA has shared a number of ways you can support them:
1. Fill out the picket support sign up form to sign up for the picket line, for flyering at shift changes, and more.
2. Join the Wisconsin Loves UW Nurses United Facebook page and post a message of support. 3. Write letters of support for the nurses to the UW Health & Clinics Authority Board and send to corporategovernance@uwhealth.org
4. They are also starting a UW Nurses United hardship fund to support nurses who will lose income during the strike.
Since the early 1980s, the prison population in the United States has grown exponentially with African Americans, Latin Americans and other working class people making up the majority of those incarcerated in the dungeons of the world’s leading capitalist state.
During the previous decade on September 9, 1971, several thousand inmates at the Attica Prison in New York State took control of the correctional facility to demand radical changes in the way people are treated while incarcerated.
Less than three weeks prior to the Attica Rebellion on August 21, George L. Jackson (1941-1971), was martyred during an escape attempt from San Quentin prison in California. One year earlier on August 7, 1970, George Jackson’s younger brother, Jonathan Jackson, just 17-years-old at the time, was killed along with William Christmas and James McClain. Jonathan Jackson had walked into a Marin County, California courtroom where Christmas, McClain and Ruchell Cinque Magee were on trial. Christmas, Magee and McClain were given weapons by Jonathan Jackson as they took Superior Court Judge Harold Haley, prosecutor Gary Thomas and three jurors hostage.
As they walked the hostages outside the courthouse and into a rented van, other law-enforcement officers opened fire on the vehicle killing Jackson, McClean, Christmas and Judge Haley. Ruchell Magee was wounded and was the only survivor among the armed guerrillas. These events were covered widely in the corporate press. Later that same year, George Jackson would publish his book of prison letters entitled “Soledad Brother.”
Angela Davis, at the time a member of the Communist Party, was terminated from her teaching position at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) during 1969. The then Governor Ronald Reagan deliberately interfered with the administration of colleges and universities throughout the state. The year before, in 1968, the longest student strike in U.S. history took place at San Francisco State College, where an alliance led by African Americans, fought pitched battles to make sure the institution did not function on a normal basis. The SFSC strike of 1968-69 included at one point the faculty union which was under attack by the board of regents and Reagan.
Davis later became involved with the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee in 1970 and worked with Jonathan Jackson in political and legal efforts to exonerate his older brother George. Law-enforcement and media sources claimed that the guns utilized in the Marin County rebellion led by Jonathan Jackson were registered in the name of Angela Davis.
As prosecutors in Marin County focused on Davis as a suspect in an alleged conspiracy, the professor and activist went underground for two months. She was captured and imprisoned in October 1970. An international political and legal process would result in her acquittal on all charges by the summer of 1972.
It was the African American inmates which led the Attica insurrection in 1971 after being politicized by the numerous organizations operating on the outside including the Black Panther Party (BPP), Nation of Islam and the Young Lords Organization (YLO). The advent of the movement for Civil Rights and Black Power during the 1960s attracted thousands of youth activists who were committed to total freedom within their lifetimes.
Nehanda Enters the Struggle for Black Liberation ….
On Monday, August 22, vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, announced, that 266,927 assemblies were organized at the national level last weekend.
Cabello described the process, whereby the party’s “street speakers” were renewed, as “extraordinary”:
“Extraordinary process; beautiful. The 266, 927 assemblies throughout the country: this is said and written very quickly. The problem is to do it.”
Cabello detailed how extraordinary actions were witnesses during the process, including a beautiful call in which the collective prevailed, to the widespread participation of party members.
“We have no choice but to feel proud and happy about the results of this weekend, where all of Venezuela and our militants and supporters have chosen the new street teams,” Cabello said.
More participation Cabello stressed that women took a leading role in the election of the street teams that were held last weekend throughout the country.
“Men were defeated, each in turn, is the prevalent general perception,” said Cabello. “Women took control of almost all the streets of Venezuela.”
Cabello reminded party members that this Saturday, August 27, the elections of the heads and work teams of the communities will be held.
This process will be carried out by the promoters, elected during the first assemblies, and the recently elected street speakers. He recalled that private interests have no place in this process.
Cabello recalled that the renovation of PSUV grassroots is a strength for the revolutionary forces:
“It helps us to strengthen the party even more, because it is a form of democratic expression that becomes a great force by itself,” Cabello said, and pointed out the legitimacy earned by his street teams, derived from their election by the party bases.
Since April it has been reported that Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his administration have deported over 7,000 migrants from southern Texas to New York City. Buses have been filled with migrant families and individuals and sent north to the Big Apple. Reports indicate that these people are arriving in New York hungry, thirsty and in need of medical attention.
Most of those put on the buses are forced to do so or have boarded misinformed about what is happening to them. This policy by the ultra-conservative Republican governor and his minions amounts to mass kidnapping.
According to the online Free Dictionary kidnapping is “the crime of unlawfully seizing and carrying away a person by force or fraud, or seizing and detaining a person against his or her will with an intent to carry that person away at a later time.” Governor Abbott ought to be charged with multiple counts of this felony.
Officials of the City of New York along with numerous charity organizations have been meeting the buses upon arrival. Many migrants have ended up in homeless shelters which are not adequate for long term housing and are in short supply. Others are ending up on the streets. If the migrants have any family in the United States they have ended up many hundreds of miles from those relatives.
While the Texas “final solution” to migrants fosters racism and reaction, the “liberal” welcome in New York City is barely a bandaid applied to a gaping wound. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have put forward a comprehensive approach to deal with the large number of migrants entering the United States. Homelessness, unemployment, hunger, lack of health care and other ills are already widespread in this country due to the capitalist economic system and its political minions.
In fact the policies of the U.S. government toward the rest of the world’s nations, economic, political and military, are the root cause of mass migrations taking place in many regions. Imperialist military aggressions across the globe have driven millions of desperate people to risk everything to escape from terrible conditions. The imperialists cause the problem and then blame the victims, often using the issue to whip up right-wing sentiment among the masses at home.
Ending the imperialist policies abroad and the anti-working class policies at home will require a broad revolutionary challenge to the capitalist system and its two loyal parties. Such a struggle can only succeed when the working class inside the U.S. embraces and involves the millions of migrants, documented and undocumented who have come to this country.
Migrants deported from Texas arrive in New York City. | Photo: fox26houston.com
MARRCH would like to welcome students (and everyone who would like to attend) back with a speak out and march to the Capitol for abortion rights. We’ll start by the library for a speak out then march to the Capitol.
In 2019, a survey found 1 in 4 UW-Madison undergrad women experienced sexual assault. The number is higher (63%) for LGBTQ+ students.
There are roughly 15,640 female undergraduates at UW; 11%, or 1,720 students, are raped each year. Of these, approximately 20% get pregnant, meaning that approximately 344 abortions are needed each year due to rape.
People deserve agency over their bodies no matter the circumstance. They should be able to decide whether to carry a child. We understand that college party culture goes hand in hand with rape (mostly unreported), and rape goes hand and hand with unwanted pregnancy. We understand that it is your body and your choice no matter what, for your duration at Madison.
Come make your voices heard with MARRCH, a group that is ready to welcome you, march with you, and support you during your time in Madison.
Join your MTEA siblings this Labor Day for Laborfest 2022! Register below – the first 100 MTEA members to register will receive a $10 Laborfest food/beverage card!
MTEA Volunteers Needed!
MTEA needs members to take volunteer shifts to help at the Zeidler Park staging location. Please click here to volunteer: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JR96GL5
Labor Day Schedule | Monday, September 5
10:00-10:45am | Gather at the MTEA tent in Zeidler Park. The MTEA tent will be set up on Vel R. Phillips Ave. between Michigan and Everett Streets.
11:00am | Parade to Laborfest grounds
Noon | Laborfest opens at the Summerfest grounds. Entry is free for everyone!
Food and Drink Cards
Free food and drink cards will be provided for the first 100 MTEA members who RSVP below. You must be present at Zeidler Park by 10:45am to receive your food and drink cards. Click below to register and reserve your food and drink tickets.
Buses
ATU Local 998 transit workers are providing a free shuttle bus service from the Summerfest grounds to Zeidler Park beginning at 8am. The shuttle bus will run until the roads are closed for the parade. We recommend taking a shuttle before 9:45am.
There will be an ADA bus to take people down to Laborfest who are not able to walk the entire parade route. It will pick people up on the corner of Vel R. Phillps Drive (4th Street) and Wisconsin Avenue at the end of the parade.
MTEA T-shirts
Remember to wear your MTEA Green! A limited supply of MTEA T-shirts will be available for purchase at Zeidler Park for $15. Cash or check only.
Laborfest
Following the parade, the festival opens at the Summerfest grounds with free entertainment all day long for the entire family.
• Live Music • A Union Industry Display – Proudly displaying Union Made products and Services • Entertainment for Children • Classic Car Show • Food and Beverages available for purchase. • Raffle tickets to win cash prizes. The grand prize this year is $5,000 cash. • And more!
We hope to see you Monday, September 5 as we celebrate Labor Day together in solidarity with workers from across the city.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited three African Union (AU) member-states during early August in an attempt to enhance the presence of Washington on the continent.
This tour came amid an escalation of tensions between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China in regard to their relations with Washington.
Blinken first visited the Republic of South Africa where he had a joint meeting with Naledi Pandor, his diplomatic counterpart. Pandor reiterated the views of the African National Congress (ANC) government which has refused to denounce Moscow over its special military operation in Ukraine.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has stated that the U.S. should encourage a diplomatic resolution to the war in Ukraine. This view is at extreme variance with that of the administration of President Joe Biden which has sent billions of dollars in military equipment and other support aimed at continuing the war.
Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have called for the weakening and removal of the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Biden administration has imposed unprecedented draconian sanctions against Moscow, forcing U.S.-based firms to leave the country and making it even more difficult for nations around the world to conduct trade with Russia.
Historically during the period of the Soviet Union, the socialist state supported the national liberation movements and progressive governments on the African continent during the 1950s through the 1980s. Those states in Eastern Europe which were allied with the Soviets also participated in providing scholarships, military training and joint economic projects.
As hundreds of U.S.-based corporations and the Pentagon provided direct economic, intelligence and military support to the racist South African apartheid system prior to the democratic breakthrough of April 1994, the socialist countries including the Soviet Union, the Comecon sector, China, Cuba, Yugoslavia, among others, were diplomatically and materially bolstering the struggle to win independence and non-capitalist development.
Since the ascendancy of the ANC to power in South Africa in May 1994, successive administrations have sought to rebuild and sustain normal relations with Washington and its allies. However, there are issues which have continued to divide Pretoria and Washington.
Ukraine is not the only point of disagreement involving geopolitical positions. South Africa has remained a staunch proponent of Palestinian liberation along with calls for the departure of the Kingdom of Morocco which has occupied the Western Sahara for more than four decades. In contrast, the administrations in the U.S. since 1948 have provided unconditional diplomatic, material, military and public relations support to the State of Israel. In regard to the Western Sahara question, the previous administration of President Donald Trump recognized the “sovereignty” of Morocco over the political, military and economic control of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the provisional government representing the Western Sahara, previously a colony of Spain until the 1970s….
Mellody Hobson is the Chair of Starbucks’ board and the newest owner of the Denver Broncos. We went to the Bills – Broncos game today to tell Mellody Hobson that we bust Broncos in Buffalo, not unions!!! #mellodyhobson#starbucks#bills#broncos#buffalobills
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 