by The Editors
Trump’s election signaled a victory for racism and sexism that is not reserved just for Republicans and open fascists. These ideas and practices also flourish under liberals like the Clintons and Obama, who supported wars against people in Iraq and Syria, gutted welfare programs devastating women and children, and deported millions. Continue reading “It’s Capitalism: Racism and Sexism Win With Any President”
by The Editors
Police Violence IS a Public Health Issue at APHA
An exciting victory in the fight against racist police violence was won at the American Public Health Association convention on November 1, 2016. Over 10,000 largely progressive health workers meet annually to present public health data and program outcomes. Members may also propose policy resolutions to represent the organization’s agenda. The cautious and conservative leadership review them and recommend approval or rejection, although a representative membership body votes to accept or reject them. Continue reading “APHA: Police Violence IS a Public Health Issue”
The American Public Health Association holds its Annual Meeting October 29-November 2 for over 13,000 members. Blog editors and other anti-racist public health workers will support 2 resolutions on police violence and cholera in Haiti. If you belong to APHA, come to the hearing on Sunday, October 30 from 3:30 to 6:00 in the Convention Center. Continue reading “Going to APHA?”
Racism often characterized and determined the success or failure of union organizing and strikes. The Knights of Labor, formed in the 1880s, included black and white skilled and unskilled workers while the trades oriented AFL refused to admit black or unskilled workers. The IWW, the Wobblies, led by leftists, organized multiracial struggles in the mines and other industries. In the 1930s as the Depression deepened, the communist led CIO recruited black and white skilled and unskilled workers. However, its inclusionary practices didn’t often extend to fighting the extra exploitation black workers faced in more dangerous and lesser paid jobs. The labor movement reveals how workers overcame or capitulated to the racism the capitalists nurtured to maintain their own wealth and power. Continue reading “Union Organizing”
The Editors
We don’t have to choose between a racist war-monger or a racist wall-builder in November. Let’s build movements instead. Either candidate means disaster for workers and students. Trump is clearly a racist, xenophobic, megalomaniacal loser, and we needn’t fear that any of our readers will vote for him. However, Clinton may be even more dangerous. She represents the main liberal wing of American capitalists and has supported the wars in Iraq and Libya and wants more aggressive action in Syria. She has a long history of racism and sexism, supporting mass incarceration, NAFTA, ending welfare for poor women, and opposing health benefits for new and undocumented immigrant families. Continue reading “DON’T VOTE — ORGANIZE”
The Editors
Is World War III around the corner? From 60 Minutes to the journal of the Council on Foreign Relation(CFR), Foreign Affairs, a recent focus has been on the likelihood of war, even nuclear war, between the major powers. We must not let that happen. Continue reading “UNITE TO FIGHT THE SPECTER OF WAR”
by Ellen Isaacs, August 7, 2016
Appeared on Counterpunch, 8/9/16
THE PLATFORM OF THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES has been created by a large coalition of black activists and has caused a great deal of discussion and controversy, especially over the criticism of Israel. We admire the detailed way in which the oppression of black people in the U. S. has been catalogued, and note that the authors call for unity with other oppressed people – women, immigrants, gender-different, poor workers, and indigenous peoples. The platform also correctly assesses the ways in which the U. S. attacks and kills workers around the world, from Asia to Africa to South America to the Middle East. Continue reading “THE PLATFORM OF THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES MISSING: A CLASS ANALYSIS OF RACISM”
by Ellen Isaacs, July 2016
Nowhere in the world today is there more evidence of the destructive nature of racism and nationalism than in Israel, a state that aspires to be exclusively Jewish. It is true that Jews were persecuted for many centuries, ostracized, isolated, and murdered, more so in Western countries than in the East. The culmination was the slaughter of 6 million by the Nazis. The mistake that Zionists (those who seek to build a Jewish state) make is believing that anti-Semitism is ineradicable and different from other forms of racism. Thus many have been won to believe that their security rests in isolating themselves and practicing racist persecution of Palestinians and other minorities within Israel. Continue reading “ISRAEL: A STUDY IN RACISM AND NATIONALISM”
by Ellen Isaacs
At least 4 young men of color have been killed by the police in the last 2 weeks: Pedro Villanueva, Delrawn Small, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, although there has been little publicity or outrage about the first two. Even the mass rebellions in Ferguson and Baltimore have not changed the impunity with which cops can murder black and Latin citizens. Although many cities have paid millions of dollars to the families of murdered relatives in the last two years, conceding that malfeasance occurred, and some cops have been fired, not one has gone to jail. Continue reading “MORE RACIST POLICE TERROR. UNITE AND FIGHT BACK.”
by Karyn Pomerantz
The Free State of Jones is an amazing story of an organized revolt against the Confederacy during the Civil War in Mississippi by white farmers and escaped black men and women (maroons). They organized themselves into an armed fighting squad that dominated 1/3 of Mississippi, one of the most racist states. Continue reading “The Free State of Jones Movie Review: Multiracial Attacks on the Confederacy”
