Friday, February 24, 2012

No War With Iran! No Imperialism!

The war machine is revving its engines and the propaganda is heating up. Who is it this time? Not the Russians, not the Iraqis, not the Afghanis, not the Somalis, not the Koreans -- the Iranians, a country which has historically taken a defensive stance, militarily, but has been the object of speculation, rumors and lies over its nuclear program. While the United States and Israel conspire to assert “stability” in the region, the lives of millions, if not billions of Persians, Arabs, Israelis, and Palestinians, hang in the balance. This will not be a clean war, it will not be any easy war, and it will certainly not be a just war.

As struggle comes to the forefront, the ruling class is looking for ways to divide and conquer. An attack on our Persian friends, or provoking an attack from the Iranian government, is an attack on the international working class. It is an affront to the international democratic movement and it is a means to an end: global control.

The ruling class lied about Korea, they lied about Vietnam, they lied about Kosovo, they lied about Iraq, they lied about Libya, they are lying about Iran.

Movie Screening and Protest
This Saturday - February 25th - 11AM
Rosh Street Cafe (Rohs an McMillan Streets)

Saturday, December 3, 2011

This is not comedy. This is abuse.

Acura's "Season of Reason" holiday sale seem to suggest that while saving money on a luxury car is a reasonable move, treating your employees with respect is not. And laughing at them as they are fired is perfectly acceptable.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Does Occupy Need Electoral Politics, pt 2

Turns out Dan la Botz has completely negated any need for me to write the second part of that article. Thanks for saving me the work Dan!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Does Occupy Wall Street need electoral politics?

The calls for OWS to stop being about “sleeping in parks” and to evolve toward “real politics” are getting louder by the day. “Real politics” meaning, of course, electoral politics. “Electoral politics”, of course, being code for “voting for Democrats”. These calls are coming most loudly from long-time Democratic Party loyalists. For instance, Van Jones, former member of Obama’s staff, claims there will be “2000 candidates under the 99% banner” in the 2012 elections. Unless the “Occupation Party” is off to a much better start than I think, what Jones means is that there will be 2000 candidates running as Democrats in the 2012 elections. Although their embrace of the Democrats may be less exuberant, the calls of people claiming to be to the left of the Democratic party for OWS to “work with Democrats” (i.e, vote for Democrats) have the same effect.When you check the box next to a candidate’s name it doesn't quantify your enthusiaism for that candidate or his/her party-the simple act of voting is all that matters.

The arguments for OWS becoming primarly about electoral politics usually hinges on two pernicious lies: a) that electing alleged allies to office is the only way to affect change, and b) that the Democrats are the only reasonable, serious choice in electoral politics for those on the Left. Each has the unfortunate flaw of being in direct conflict with recent (and even less recent) history.

Americans have been so conditioned over the last several decades to believe that electoral politics is the only way to get what they want (a self-serving view pushed by the parties in charge) that before last spring most Americans struggled to think of a way to change policies other than by voting for one of the two acceptable parties every two or four years. The Arab Spring has changed that; indeed, it directly inspired OWS. The people seeking change in Tunisia and Egypt didn't attempt to get “sympathetic” people from one of the acceptable parties elected so that they could change the system from inside. The people ditched the middle-man and demanded change directly-and they got it. Getting changes is not merely a matter of having people who share your views in office; it’s about bringing pressure. Pressure was brought to bear on Hosni Mubarak and before he finally capitulated he was offering all kinds of concessions. The current military rulers of Egypt have been reeling the past few days from the mass actions there. They've offered a number of concessions themselves. They’ve gone so far as offering ‘sincere’ apologies for those that have died at the hands of the police and army. Does anyone think that if the protests had been dispersed after the first day the army would be apologizing and offering to hand over power early? No, those were direct results of the pressure brought to bear. Closer to home, Occupy Rochester provides another proof that getting changes is not solely dependent upon having friends in high places. Occupy Rochester brought enough pressure that the mayor signed an agreement to allow them a 24 hour presence. This is the same mayor that had 48 Occupiers arrested in the days before the agreement was signed. It was the pressure brought to bear that changed the mayor's actions, not his sympathy. To pull examples from other times and places: did Gandhi and the Indian National Congress win India’s independence by trying to get sympathizers elected to British Parliament? Did postal workers in 1970 wait for allies in congress to allow them to organize? In both cases the answer is a resounding “NO!”-they organized and forced the hand of the government.

These examples and dozens more prove that getting change is not dependent on having friends in high places. If you have the people on your side the government will follow. That’s the task the Occupy movement needs to be focusing on: building support among the people and organizing that support. There is still much to be done, particularly when it comes to education. 60% of Americans say they don’t know enough about the Occupy Movement to have an opinion: we must educate them. Reaching out to organized labor (without being in thrall to them). Networking with other Occupy movements. Reaching out to underrepresented communities. These are the ways the Occupy movement will grow and build power-not by trying to get Democrats in office. The weapons of the 99% aren't congresses and city halls-those are controlled by the 1%. The weapons on the 99% are mass protests, mass occupations, mass strikes, and direct actions. The key part of all of these is the support and participation of the mass of the people, not government officials.

None of this is to say that electoral politics has no place: it does. The battle against SB 5 here in Ohio was one such example. However, that is the exception, not the norm. When most people refer to 'electoral politics' they are referring to elections. Participating in elections can be a good and necessary action, but when your system is broken and fundamentally undemocratic (one of the theses behind the OWS movement, correct?) it is counter-productive and downright suicidal for a movement like ours to make elections its primary or even a major concern.

Since this post has gone longer than anticipated and answering the second part of the argument for electoral politics will run at least as long I’m going to save that for a part 2. So check back soon.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Event: From Tahrir to Occupy

From Tahrir to Occupy
This is what a revolution looks like


Within the Occupy Movement, one word has been repeated again and again by activists: REVOLUTION!

Active for almost 3 months, the movement started out demanding accountability from the 1%, but it has turned into something larger. From Wall Street to Portland and everywhere in between citizens are turning out to demand change, true democracy and the freedom to control their lives.

Not unlike our brothers and sisters in Egypt, we are fighting against a system that has shown itself to be repressive and anti-democratic. We are finding out more and more, with the police raids on encampments in Denver, Oakland, New York and beyond, that the 1% are afraid of the 99% getting organized.

Join the Cincinnati International Socialist Organization as we talk about how this movement is different than any we’ve seen in America before, and how it has the makings of something truly revolutionary.

Friday December 2nd, 7:30 PM, University of Cincinnati - 256 McMicken Hall

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Occupy Cincinnati

A quick note about Occupy Cincinnati. There's been so much going on, and we're all wrapped up in organizing, so it's been difficult to take a snapshot for an update to the blog.

The occupation started in earnest October 8th with a march on Fountain Square that was reported by many mainstream news outlets. 1000 people are hard to ignore! Indeed the amount of press this movement has generated and maintained is impressive.

Due to a number of event conflicts Piatt Park finally was chosen as the 24 hr home of the occupation. It has symbolism as being the first public park in Cincinnati. The group maintained a constant presence until October 21st, when 24 people were arrested for staying in the park after hours. There is no public 24 hour space in Cincinnati and that is our main focus right now. The park board changed the rules on Thursday to say that people staying after hours will be arrested (they were previously just being ticketed). The new rules were welcomed as the "Cincinnati Parks Patriot Act."

So basically the people were arrested and hauled off. 100+ supporters witnessed from the street (the park sits in the middle of a boulevard), chanting the usual chants. As you may have heard, Carl Lindner, a capitalist who has owned Chiquita, American Financial, and a few other Cincinnati Businesses died Wednesday. They had a 15 mile parade in his honor, which happened to come by the park. They cleared us out just in time.

Early Friday, the people were bailed and then the crowd returned for 10 more arrests. The plan is to continue until we have a 24 hour occupation location. We're hoping that these arrests, though not violent, have galvanized the movement to a certain degree.

General Assemblies are held typically every night at 6pm in the park. Attendence of over 100 people is common, and in addition to dealing with the logistics of the movement, several points have been agreed for the platform. In general they are Justice, International Solidarity, and Equality. Under these headings specific points of unity have been approved.

Check out http://occupycincy.org to learn more, watch a live feed, and join the movement!