Decolonize Puerto Rico! Week of Action Sept 20-27

September 20 marks one year since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Over 4,600 people died in this catastrophe, meanwhile the poverty rate has surged over 50% since the disaster. One year later, the destruction of Puerto Rico has not ended, rather it has escalated. Nearly 300 schools have closed. Around 400,000 Puerto Ricans have since left the islands. All aspects of life in Puerto Rico are under attack by the dictatorship of the banks, the Fiscal Control Board. The cause of the suffering of millions of Puerto Ricans is no longer a natural disaster, but rather 120 years of US colonialism and exploitation.

September 23, El Grito de Lares, will be the 150 anniversary of Puerto Rico’s uprising for independence. During this week, September 20-27, join the over 50 organizations and leaders of the struggle for Puerto Rico to demand Decolonize Puerto Rico!

Visit http://puertoricotribunal.org/action/ to submit details of actions you’re planning or to find events near you!

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**September 20: One Year Since Hurricane Maria – Day of Action**

Support local Boricua-led actions in your area! (list in formation)
If there are no Boricua-led actions, organize a local demonstration at Santander Bank or US Federal Building in your area to demand: Reparations and Decolonization for Puerto Rico!

** September 21: Defend Public Education in Puerto Rico Call-in Day**

Call & Tweet Puerto Rico’s Secretary of Education, gringa Julia Kelleher, to demand: Stop Closing Schools! Stop privatizing education! Quality education is a right!
Call:(787) 759-2000
Tweet: @educacionPR, @SecEducacionPR

**September 23: Grito De Lares- Puerto Rican Uprising for Independence**

September 23, 2018 marks the 150 year anniversary of the Puerto Rican uprising for independence. Engage during this significant date by: Supporting Local Actions: (list in formation); Organizing a showing of a film on Puerto Rico like Lucha Si! Fight for Public Education in Puerto Rico

**Sign and Share the Petition to the US Government— Decolonize and Pay Reparations to Puerto Rico Now!** http://bit.ly/PRSolidarity

**Build the Puerto Rico Tribunal – October 27, 2018 – Holyrood Church (715 179th Street) in New York City

Plan to Attend the Tribunal in New York on 10/27: Organize a contingent to attend the Puerto Rico Tribunal in New York City on October 27

Donate to the Puerto Rico Tribunal: https://www.gofundme.com/tribunalpuertorico

Endorse the Tribunal: Get local unions and organizations to sign on as endorsers of the Puerto Rico Tribunal in New York: https://puertoricotribunal.org/endorse/

Follow the International Tribunal against US Colonial Crimes in Puerto Rico on Twitter and Facebook

https://www.uofmwatch.org/

Michigan Nurses Association

Despite a surplus of more than $100 million in fiscal year 2018, management is seeking cuts across the University of Michigan Health System, newly rebranded as Michigan Medicine.

U of M nurses are worried that this increasingly corporate attitude could negatively affect patient care. That is why RNs are fighting for a fair contract that includes staffing language that will put patient safety above profits.

Michigan Nurses Association

https://unac.notowar.net/

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) is the largest and broadest antiwar and social justice coalition in the United States. Our purpose is to bring together the disparate organizations and issues representing people in struggle today and to unify in collective action in opposition to the major perpetrator of war and injustice in the world – the United States government along with its allies and proxies. Click here to see UNAC Statements and Activities.

https://blackagendareport.com/

(Margaret Kimberley is a member of the UNAC administrative committee, she is on the coordinating committee of the Black Alliance for Peace and  Black Agenda Report editor and senior columnist)

The prison strikers are demanding:

    Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons and prison policies

    An immediate end to prison slavery

    Rescinding the Truth in Sentencing Act and the Sentencing Reform Act to give prisoners a possibility of rehabilitation and parole

    An immediate end to the racial overcharging, over-sentencing, and parole denials of Black and brown humans.

    An immediate end to racist gang enhancement laws

    No denying access to rehabilitation programs for prisoners considered violent offenders

The United States leads the world in many shameful measures, and mass incarceration is at the top of an infamous list. No other nation has as many people behind bars nor applies such overt racism in maintaining its penal system.One out of every eight incarcerated people in the world are black Americans. That is why the prison strike declared by the incarcerated and their supporters is so crucial. Their actions prove that this country lies when it claims to be an upholder of human rights.[read more]

https://blackallianceforpeace.com/events/membershipmeeting2018

BAP members, save the date to meet with other members and the Coordinating Committee to discuss the future of BAP in Atlanta, Sept. 21-22, 2018. Details to come in internal memos.

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) seeks to recapture and redevelop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist, and pro-peace positions of the radical black movement. Through educational activities, organizing and movement support, organizations and individuals in the Alliance will work to oppose both militarized domestic state repression, and the policies of de-stabilization, subversion and the permanent war agenda of the U.S. state globally.

http://nousnatobases.org/

First International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases
November 16-18, 2018, Dublin, Ireland. Add Your Support and Join Us. http://nousnatobases.org/

https://puertoricotribunal.org/

UNAC is an endorser of the International Tribunal on US Colonial Crimes in Puerto Rico, Holyrood Church / Iglesia Santa Cruz, 715 179th Street (at Ft. Washington Ave), New York, NY 10033.  For more information: https://puertoricotribunal.org/

As part of a campaign to educate the public and organize a stronger movement against ongoing – and ever increasing – US and Canadian sanctions and intervention on the Venezuelan people, we will be mapping out a national speaking tour by Steve Ellner during October and November 2018.

This is now more important with the recent US-Colombia backed assassination attempt on Venezuela President Maduro on August 4, and recent US judge ruling authorizing the seizure of Citgo’s assets in the US.

If you or your organization are interesting in inviting him to speak sometime this fall  – at a university, conference, library or community meeting, please contact us.

Or, if you have suggestions for us about where he could speak,  let us know.

This builds on our March 2018  Open Letter in Support of Mediation not Sanctions on Venezuela

https://www.marchonpentagon.com/

Our demands are simple: The complete end to the wars abroad; closure of foreign bases; dramatically slash the Pentagon budget to fund healthy social programs here at home: the only good empire is a gone empire.

The antiwar/peace, anti-imperialist voice has been shut out of and marginalized by many protests and movements especially since Trump’s inauguration. We are in solidarity with most social and environmental movements, yet many refuse to address war and the preparations for war. War affects us all in one way or another. War destroys the natural environment.

The “nuclear clock” is at two minutes to midnight, and with the threat of nuclear annihilation becoming an incomprehensible reality, WE MUST MARCH FOR PEACE AND AGAINST THE WAR MACHINE.

This is not, nor will it turn into, a Get Out the Vote Rally for the Democrat half of the War Party. This is a principled call to action against the entire rotten Empire.

​

Communist Workers League

Statement issued September 2, 2018

FORMER WWP MEMBERS LAUNCH NEW COMMUNIST FORMATION

Former members of Workers World Party from eight states gathered for a day-long national meeting in Detroit, Michigan, on September 2, 2018, to establish a new political formation in the United States called the Communist Workers League.

As revolutionary communists we understand that it is the historic task of the multinational working class to overthrow capitalism. It is our job to bring an anti-capitalist perspective to the working class by intervening with programmatic demands which create a bridge between the day-to-day needs of the workers and oppressed, on the job and in their communities, and the socialist program of the revolution.

We are joined together in our unconditional defense of the right of all oppressed nations to self-determination in the struggle against U.S. imperialism. This includes oppressed nations within the confines of the U.S. – African Americans, Latinx peoples, Arab peoples, Indigenous nations and colonized Puerto Rico. We fully defend all socialist countries against imperialist subversion and intervention, including Cuba, China, Vietnam and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as well as progressive governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and elsewhere. We support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination free from U.S.-backed and -funded Zionist genocide and occupation and for their right to return. We support the right of Syria, Yemen and Iran and all developing countries to exist without imperialist military intervention and political subversion.

We stand with all those fighting racism and national oppression and defending full rights for all immigrants including undocumented workers. We fully oppose sexism, and gender and LGBTQ oppression, and see the roots of that oppression in the emergence of private property and class society.

The comrades meeting today – young and old, Black, Arab, Asian, white and Latinx, women and LGBTQ comrades – are all committed revolutionary communists. We have led the fight against foreclosures, water shutoffs and the destruction of Detroit’s neighborhoods by finance capital; are housing, disability rights and labor activists from New York City; anti-police brutality fighters from New Jersey; anti-austerity organizers in Wisconsin and Illinois; and are active in anti-imperialist movements in the U.S and across the globe. One of our comrades led the support of the Cuban 5 in the reactionary bastion of Miami.

The first step the Communist Workers League is taking will be the launching of a new revolutionary publication that will combine original theoretical articles, news, art, features and analysis of current events in the U.S. and internationally. We will also be streaming Marxism classes and coordinating literature and other media production that will bring a revolutionary program directly to the workers and oppressed.

We understand that what is overdue in the U.S. is the formation of a mass Marxist-Leninist communist party. We are prepared to meet with any groupings, individuals or existing organizations who want to join with us in creating an alliance of forces that moves in the direction of forming a new communist party in the U.S.

We have revolutionary optimism that this rotten capitalist system is in its death throes and look forward to collaborating with all those committed to its overthrow. We look forward to collaborating with young communists emerging across the U.S. in harnessing their revolutionary zeal into organizing the workers for revolution.

Onward to the building of a Communist Party in the U.S. and the coming socialist revolution.

Communist Workers League

@Communist.Workers.League