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1

War Room / Davis GA breaks with Democrats

« on: December 01, 2011, 05:36:25 pm »

Occupy UC Davis protesters adopt resolution calling for break with Democratic Party
By David Brown
1 December 2011

On Tuesday evening, the general assembly of Occupy UC Davis passed a resolution denouncing the attack on Davis students, calling for a break with the Democratic Party and the construction of an independent social and political movement of the entire working class.

The resolution, the first of its kind adopted at an Occupy protest, lays out a clear political perspective to counter the growing attacks on protests against inequality in the United States. It comes a week and a half after the brutal pepper spraying of unarmed students protesting against rising tuition and inequality.

The attack on UC Davis students is part of a nationwide crackdown on Occupy demonstrators, organized by both Democrats and Republicans and overseen by the Obama administration. On Wednesday morning, police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, both controlled by Democratic Party mayors, cleared out encampments. (See “Police attack Occupy camps in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, arresting 350”)

The resolution at Davis was adopted by about 70 students participating in the general assembly. It was presented by Eric Lee, a supporter of the International Students for Social Equality, and a member of a newly-formed committee established to mobilize broader support in the working class.

In addition to calling for a break with the Democratic Party and a turn to the working class, the resolution stresses the international character of the attack on workers and youth, and condemns the hypocritical posturing of American imperialism as a defender of democratic rights.

The resolution reads in full:

We, the students of UC Davis, condemn the brutal police assault and pepper spraying of fellow students, who were peacefully protesting on November 18.

This attack is part of a nationwide—in fact global—crackdown on demonstrations against social inequality and the domination of politics by the rich. While the American government invokes “democratic rights” to justify wars abroad, it responds to social protests at home with riot police, tear gas and rubber bullets.

While Chancellor Linda Katehi is directly responsible for the police raid, she was enforcing a nationwide campaign orchestrated by the entire political establishment. Throughout the country, Democratic and Republican politicians—including the Brown and Obama administrations—are dismantling public education, cutting social services, and undermining all our basic social and democratic rights. Some of the most brutal attacks on Occupy demonstrations have been carried out by Democratic Party mayors.

The way forward is clear: No support should be given to either of the two parties! The dictates of the banks and corporations can be countered only through the independent social and political struggle of the entire working class.

We call upon students and working people all over the world to support our struggle against budget cuts. Our fight is your fight! Right now, students and workers in Greece, England and Egypt are engaged in a common struggle.

The global protests that began in 2011 must be expanded to a mass movement of students and workers to defend our rights and finally put an end to the domination by the corporations and super-rich over political and economic life.

At the assembly, the only objection raised was a concern that addressing the wider problems would lead to a lack of focus on the local and immediate role that Chancellor Katehi played in the police assault on students November 18. The general assembly overall felt that the line ascribing direct responsibility to Katehi sufficiently addressed that concern.

“This is an important resolution—I’m glad it passed,” Lee said. “There are many political questions that have to be tackled if the protests against inequality are to be driven forward. There are definite efforts by the trade unions and other political forces to channel mass anger behind the Democratic Party in one form or another. There is a real danger that opposition will be co-opted or will disintegrate into shallow protest politics. This is only the beginning of an effort to fight for a fundamentally different political perspective.”

The United Auto Workers (UAW), which has unionized graduate students at UC Davis and other campuses, has been involved in conference calls with organizers at UC Davis and helped coordinate a protest of the UC Regents meeting on Monday. The protest was turned into a question and answer session with the “student regent” and successfully diffused. The Regents unanimously passed a budget that will lead to sharp tuition hikes.

In the wake of demonstrations on Monday, the Occupy Davis general assembly has focused much of its attention on the occupation of Dutton Hall, an administrative building on campus. The assembly approved a set of three limited demands, including the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi, the reform of the campus police, and a halt to fee increases.

These demands have also been supported by UAW Local 2865. The leadership of the local has recently passed into the hands of a “progressive” faction—the Academic Workers for a Democratic Union—but this has not altered its orientation to the Democratic Party. Their reformist coalition, called “Refund California,” asks the Regents and Chancellor Katehi to sign a pledge to support higher education by backing several Democratic Party measures.

In earlier discussions of the general assembly, supporters of the ISSE raised the objection that without political clarification, an occupation of the hall could easily become channeled into a protest directed at the UC administration and the Democratic Party.

The author also recommends:

Unite the working class to defend public education and democratic rights!
Statement of the International Students for Social Equality
[28 November 2011]

2

General Discussion / Davis GA breaks with Democrats

« on: December 01, 2011, 05:33:40 pm »

Occupy UC Davis protesters adopt resolution calling for break with Democratic Party
By David Brown
1 December 2011

On Tuesday evening, the general assembly of Occupy UC Davis passed a resolution denouncing the attack on Davis students, calling for a break with the Democratic Party and the construction of an independent social and political movement of the entire working class.

The resolution, the first of its kind adopted at an Occupy protest, lays out a clear political perspective to counter the growing attacks on protests against inequality in the United States. It comes a week and a half after the brutal pepper spraying of unarmed students protesting against rising tuition and inequality.

The attack on UC Davis students is part of a nationwide crackdown on Occupy demonstrators, organized by both Democrats and Republicans and overseen by the Obama administration. On Wednesday morning, police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, both controlled by Democratic Party mayors, cleared out encampments. (See “Police attack Occupy camps in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, arresting 350”)

The resolution at Davis was adopted by about 70 students participating in the general assembly. It was presented by Eric Lee, a supporter of the International Students for Social Equality, and a member of a newly-formed committee established to mobilize broader support in the working class.

In addition to calling for a break with the Democratic Party and a turn to the working class, the resolution stresses the international character of the attack on workers and youth, and condemns the hypocritical posturing of American imperialism as a defender of democratic rights.

The resolution reads in full:

We, the students of UC Davis, condemn the brutal police assault and pepper spraying of fellow students, who were peacefully protesting on November 18.

This attack is part of a nationwide—in fact global—crackdown on demonstrations against social inequality and the domination of politics by the rich. While the American government invokes “democratic rights” to justify wars abroad, it responds to social protests at home with riot police, tear gas and rubber bullets.

While Chancellor Linda Katehi is directly responsible for the police raid, she was enforcing a nationwide campaign orchestrated by the entire political establishment. Throughout the country, Democratic and Republican politicians—including the Brown and Obama administrations—are dismantling public education, cutting social services, and undermining all our basic social and democratic rights. Some of the most brutal attacks on Occupy demonstrations have been carried out by Democratic Party mayors.

The way forward is clear: No support should be given to either of the two parties! The dictates of the banks and corporations can be countered only through the independent social and political struggle of the entire working class.

We call upon students and working people all over the world to support our struggle against budget cuts. Our fight is your fight! Right now, students and workers in Greece, England and Egypt are engaged in a common struggle.

The global protests that began in 2011 must be expanded to a mass movement of students and workers to defend our rights and finally put an end to the domination by the corporations and super-rich over political and economic life.

At the assembly, the only objection raised was a concern that addressing the wider problems would lead to a lack of focus on the local and immediate role that Chancellor Katehi played in the police assault on students November 18. The general assembly overall felt that the line ascribing direct responsibility to Katehi sufficiently addressed that concern.

“This is an important resolution—I’m glad it passed,” Lee said. “There are many political questions that have to be tackled if the protests against inequality are to be driven forward. There are definite efforts by the trade unions and other political forces to channel mass anger behind the Democratic Party in one form or another. There is a real danger that opposition will be co-opted or will disintegrate into shallow protest politics. This is only the beginning of an effort to fight for a fundamentally different political perspective.”

The United Auto Workers (UAW), which has unionized graduate students at UC Davis and other campuses, has been involved in conference calls with organizers at UC Davis and helped coordinate a protest of the UC Regents meeting on Monday. The protest was turned into a question and answer session with the “student regent” and successfully diffused. The Regents unanimously passed a budget that will lead to sharp tuition hikes.

In the wake of demonstrations on Monday, the Occupy Davis general assembly has focused much of its attention on the occupation of Dutton Hall, an administrative building on campus. The assembly approved a set of three limited demands, including the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi, the reform of the campus police, and a halt to fee increases.

These demands have also been supported by UAW Local 2865. The leadership of the local has recently passed into the hands of a “progressive” faction—the Academic Workers for a Democratic Union—but this has not altered its orientation to the Democratic Party. Their reformist coalition, called “Refund California,” asks the Regents and Chancellor Katehi to sign a pledge to support higher education by backing several Democratic Party measures.

In earlier discussions of the general assembly, supporters of the ISSE raised the objection that without political clarification, an occupation of the hall could easily become channeled into a protest directed at the UC administration and the Democratic Party.

The author also recommends:

Unite the working class to defend public education and democratic rights!
Statement of the International Students for Social Equality
[28 November 2011]

3

War Room / UC Davis Chancellor Katehi’s past: police repression in Greece, FBI spying in th

« on: November 28, 2011, 10:18:48 am »

UC Davis Chancellor Katehi’s past: police repression in Greece, FBI spying in the US
By Jack Hood
28 November 2011

The pepper spraying of peaceful student protesters at the University of California, Davis has become a focal point for national outrage over the police repression of demonstrations against social inequality.

The police action was ordered by UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, who was acting on behalf of the UC Regents and the Democratic Party-controlled political establishment in California, which is determined to enforce a new round of drastic tuition increases on students. Katehi has spent the past week and a half defending herself against demands for her resignation, while making half-hearted attempts to distance herself from the police violence.

However, Katehi’s claims of innocence in the matter are belied by her past. She has played a major role in developing repressive measures against students protesting austerity measures and is a prime example of the growing nexus between corporate CEOs, academic administrators and the police-intelligence apparatus.

Katehi’s has been involved with police crackdowns in her home country of Greece, is one of 20 administrators involved in a national FBI network aimed at monitoring “anti-U.S.” activities on college campuses, and has overseen an administration-run campus infiltration program.

At a rally of students last Monday, Katehi made a backhanded reference to the suppression of Greek students during an uprising against the military junta in 1973. “There is a plaque out there that speaks about 17 of November in 1973, and I was there. And I don’t want to forget that, so I hope I will have a better opportunity to work with you, to meet you, to get to know you,” Katehi announced.

Aside from its hypocrisy, this reference contains an implicit threat. Katehi, as part of a team of bankers, speculators, and administrators, has worked to bring police back onto Greek university campuses after a nearly 30-year ban on such activity.

Campuses in Greece became an important focus of opposition to the Greek junta in 1973. Throughout the year, students gathered at Athens Polytechnic under the banner of “Bread, Education, Freedom” to protest the forced conscription of any students deemed to be “subversive.” In February of that year, students began a campus occupation. In November, they launched a general strike, which was met with military force on the 17th of the month.

The ultra right-wing dictatorship, with the help of fascist armed thugs, massacred 24 students as they successfully ended the occupation. Several of those killed were run over by tanks.

The brutality contributed to mass opposition that eventually led to the dictatorship’s downfall the following year. In 1982, the Greek parliament passed the Academic Asylum Law, which required police to request permission from a prosecutor before entering a campus.

Recently, however, Chancellor Katehi served on a team of representatives from the European Bank, European Commission, and International Monetary Fund, along with educators and administrators from across the world, to call for an end to these restrictions.

The team, called the “International Committee On Higher Education in Greece,” issued a report earlier this year, which Katehi co-signed, that called for an increase in police presence on campus under the guise of ensuring a “safe” environment.

“University campuses are unsafe,” the report claims. “While the [Greek] Constitution permits the university leadership to protect campuses from elements inciting political instability, Rectors have shown themselves unwilling to exercise these rights and fulfill their responsibilities, and to take the decisions needed in order to guarantee the safety of the faculty, staff, and students. As a result, the university administration and teaching staff have not proven themselves good stewards of the facilities with which society has entrusted them.

“The politicizing of universities – and in particular, of students – represents participation in the political process that exceeds the bounds of logic. This contributes to the rapid deterioration of tertiary education [emphasis added].”

According to the panel, then, peaceful student protesters like the ones who were pepper-sprayed at UC Davis “exceed the bounds of logic” and are helping to bring about the “rapid deterioration” of higher education.

The language used by the committee is strikingly similar to that used by the UC Davis administration to justify the deployment of police against students. On the morning of the police violence, the administration sent a letter to students warning that police action was necessary so that students “could learn and work in a safe, secure environment without disruption.”

In August, Greece’s PASOK government, headed by George Papandreou, approved the repeal of the Academic Asylum Law. Until his resignation on November 11, Papandreou oversaw the imposition of austerity measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund and the European banks, including further attacks on public education.

On November 17, 2011, the 38th anniversary of the massacre at Athens Polytechnic, the new Greek government authorized police entry at a university in Thessaloniki. This was the first time since 1982 that police have been allowed on a university campus.
FBI involvement

In the United States, Chancellor Katehi has participated in a national network of college presidents that works with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to “promote discussion and outreach between research universities and the FBI.”

The network is called the “National Security Higher Education Advisory Board,” and it is responsible for disseminating information regarding any activity by students and faculty that may be considered subversive.

The FBI has confirmed Katehi’s active involvement in the program. “Because of the nature of the material they discuss,” explains UC Davis administrator Andy Fell in a story from the campus faculty newspaper, Dateline, “board members must hold ‘secret’ security clearances.”

In light of this evidence of collusion with the FBI, the true meaning of Katehi’s claim that she wants to “get to know” students becomes clear.

Katehi herself boasted upon her appointment, telling the California Aggie, the UC Davis newspaper, in October 2010: “My participation allows me to visit with like-minded chancellors and presidents of major research institutions, to explore and share best practices that ensure our researchers and our research remain safe and unimpeded.”

That the real target of such activities is the politicization of students is made clear by Katehi’s involvement with the “Student Activism Response Team”—a group of 33 administrators from a variety of student service centers whose responsibility it is to infiltrate peaceful student demonstrations and disseminate information to the UC Davis Police Department. The team, active since at least 2009, is still in existence today.

The results of a Freedom of Information Act filing released last year documents the actions of the infiltration team. One email from an administrator released through the FOIA request, titled “Student Activism Response Protocol” and dated August 18, 2010, explains that administrators were given the responsibility to “receive information from all Student Affairs staff regarding any anticipated student actions, not just those of registered student organizations,” “inform police and request standby support if appropriate” and “notify and maintain communication with news service.”

Katehi’s sordid past and present actions exemplify a political establishment, comprised of both the Democrats and Republicans, that is thoroughly hostile to the interests of students, and ruthlessly determined to enforce the dictates of the corporate and financial elite in the face of growing mass opposition.

4

War Room / locked toilets and their implications

« on: November 17, 2011, 08:43:15 am »

I have heard that access to the portal toilets is being limited and that they may be locked and require getting a key to use.
I think it is a quite rational and necessary action. However,  if that is indeed the case or even if restrictions were just considered it underscores the idea that the objective conditions create your consciousness and brings into question utopian notions of "prefiguring" the future society in small model communities.
ON has in many ways bent over backward to treat everyone who has shown up humanely and with respect if not  with real affection (something I could not find it in my heart to do for the Vanderbilt Young Republicans). One would expect then that when it comes to sharing toilet facilities there is nothing more inhumane than denying a person - especially the "homeless" -  the right to use the facility. But that is exactly what happens when the economics of paying for portable toilets forces rational but cruel restrictions. Despite the best intentions of ON to treat people decently, the movement is forced to do just the opposite. And if ON is to be the model of a future community, I certainly can't imagine a world where toilets are locked.
Scarcity changes peoples' minds and behavior.
Think of it this way: look at a traffic jam. There is not a single person who wants to be in that mess. And most of the drivers have no desire to inflict discomfort on those around them. But completely independent of their individual wills and their group will, they are still in a traffic jam torturing each other. Learning how to be respectful, kind and caring about other motorists means very little if you do not change the objective conditions.
To paraphrase Marx, humans do create their own history but not as they please and not under the circumstances they choose.
Changing the world requires laying an objective foundation that makes utopian blueprints possible. Scarcity, production for profit, anarchy in production and private ownership of the resources and machinery will always be an obstacle to the kind of world all of us want. It certainly means providing more than enough public toilets.

5

General Discussion / WSWS: Attacks on Occupy movements

« on: November 17, 2011, 08:35:53 am »

The shutdown of Occupy Wall Street
17 November 2011

The Socialist Equality Party condemns the move by New York's multi-billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, to forcefully shut down the occupation of Zuccotti Park in Manhattan early Tuesday.

The police raid is a blatant violation of basic democratic rights, including freedom of speech and assembly. The reasons for clearing out the protesters cited by Bloomberg, and parroted by the media and the entire political establishment, are nothing more than flimsy pretexts.

The American ruling class is once again demonstrating that it will not tolerate any opposition to its interests. The attack on the Occupy protesters makes clear that the defense of democratic rights is incompatible with the enormous levels of social inequality that sparked the Occupy movement itself.

The military-style police action in New York, involving hundreds of officers, was carefully coordinated with similar actions throughout the country. The mayors of major US cities, both Democrats and Republicans, have held meetings and conference calls to work out the best way to strangle the protests.

In the past week alone, police raids have been carried out in Portland, Oregon; Oakland and Berkeley, California; Denver, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri and a number of other cities. Behind the scenes, local administrations were advised by the FBI and Obama's Department of Homeland Security.

The raids have involved an overwhelming mobilization of police, decked out in riot gear, employing tear gas and batons—or worse—against unarmed demonstrators. Since the movement began in Manhattan two months ago today, nearly 4,000 people have been arrested. Several of those arrested Tuesday morning are still being detained and have yet to be charged.

Through its own actions, the ruling class is demonstrating to millions of people that the state is not a neutral arbiter. It is their state, staffed by their political representatives. The interests and needs of the majority of the population have absolutely no effect on the course of government policy.

These conditions are not unique to the United States. The move to shut down Occupy Wall Street came the same week that Europe replaced two governments in an effort to more quickly push through massive austerity measures against overwhelming popular opposition. Mario Monti, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, has been installed in Italy, while Lucas Papademos, a former vice president of the European Central Bank, has been installed in Greece. Meanwhile, the ruling class of Britain has used new “total policing” methods to suppress and intimidate demonstrations by students against tuition hikes.

In the United States, the operation has involved all levels of government and both political parties. Many of the mayors ordering the most brutal raids are Democrats.

As for the Obama administration, it has remained virtually silent. On Tuesday, with Obama away in Asia, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney responded to a question about the New York raids by justifying the actions. “Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech,” he said, had to be “balanced” with “the very important need to maintain law and order and health and safety standards, which was obviously a concern in this case.”

The mass media, which functions as little more than a government appendage, has played its assigned role. The semi-fascistic fulminations of the New York Post and other right-wing publications have been joined by carefully placed articles in the liberal press aimed at justifying the repression. The New York Times on Wednesday editorialized that Bloomberg's actions were motivated by “legitimate worries” and were “justifiable legally.”

The Occupy demonstrations are an initial expression of popular anger over enormous levels of social inequality. Three years after the economic crisis that began in 2008—and nearly three years into the Obama administration—the conditions of life for millions of people are increasingly intolerable. The financial aristocracy has dictated policy, looted the country and restored its wealth to even higher levels. Now it is demanding unprecedented cuts in social programs.

Hatred of these conditions is broadly felt, and the Occupy protests have won the support of broad sections of the working class. Whatever the attempts by the media and the political establishment to pollute public opinion, mass sentiment is instinctively anti-capitalist and hostile to the giant banks and corporations.

A successful struggle against these conditions, however, depends on the independent political mobilization of the working class. No other social force can settle scores with American capitalism and all the ills that go with it—inequality, the destruction of democratic rights, and war.

The basic interests of the working class are incompatible with the capitalist system. It is not a matter of protesting to the powers that be, but of mobilizing the working class for the taking of political power and the reorganization of economic life to meet social needs, not private profit. This means a break with the capitalist two-party system and all those who work to channel opposition behind the Democratic Party.

It requires the nationalization of the banks and major corporations under the democratic control of the population. Wall Street must not simply be occupied, it must be expropriated, and the vast sums accumulated by the financial elite must be made available to meet pressing social needs in the United States and internationally.

The fundamental task is the building of a new political leadership that seeks to unify all of the struggles for jobs and decent living standards, in defense of democratic rights, and against war on the basis of a socialist program. The Socialist Equality Party is spearheading this fight. We urge all workers and youth seeking to carry forward the fight against Wall Street to study our program and join the SEP today.

Joseph Kishore

6

General Discussion / Socialist demands worth considering

« on: November 16, 2011, 06:31:18 pm »

Declaration of principles of the International Students for Social Equality - United States

Mankind has entered the second decade of the 21st century to find itself beset by unemployment, wars, inequality and poverty.

Despite great advances in technology and communications, twenty-five million people in the United States are without jobs. Worldwide, billions live in hunger and humanity is beset by unending wars.

After giving trillions of dollars to the banks, the US government—at both the state and federal level—is pushing through unprecedented cuts in education and other social programs. Meanwhile the financial elite, with the arrogance and sense of entitlement of an aristocracy, has exploited the crisis of its own making to vastly enrich itself at the expense of working people. At every job, wages have fallen and the workload has risen, to the direct benefit of the rich.

This war against working people is coupled with war abroad. Continuing on Bush’s “wars of the 21st century,” Obama has launched a “surge” in Afghanistan and a new imperialist war against Libya, together with threats against even more countries, including Iran and China.
A socialist program

The crisis that began in 2008 has revealed itself as far more than an economic downturn; it is the failure of an entire social system—capitalism.

The ISSE is an organization of students around the world that insists that chronic social problems can only be solved through a socialist movement of working people. Human progress is blocked by the capitalist system, which subordinates all considerations to the drive for corporate profit and the accumulation of wealth for the few.
The ISSE demands:

    Jobs for everyone who wants to work! Billions for education and social programs! We demand a reallocation of resources worldwide to provide employment for all those who need it. There is plenty of work to be done, including meeting the basic needs of the population for food and shelter, rebuilding schools, expanding access to health care, and providing cultural institutions accessible to workers and young people.
    End the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya! The ISSE calls for the immediate withdrawal of all US troops and private mercenaries from Iraq, Afghanistan and every other country the US seeks to subjugate. The American war machine must be dismantled, and the vast sums expended upon it used to meet pressing social needs.
    For social equality! Democracy is incompatible with the levels of social inequality that prevail in the US and throughout the world. The ISSE calls for a program of wealth redistribution, including a sharp increase in taxes on the rich and the expropriation of all wealth amassed through fraud.
    Nationalize the banks and major corporations! The financial aristocracy is the principal block to any solution to the crisis facing billions of people. To break its stranglehold over the world economy, the ISSE calls for the nationalization of the banks and all large corporations under the democratic control of the population.

For the political independence of the working class

The issues students face—including high tuition, joblessness, debts, and the starving of resources for public education—are inseparable from the broader questions confronting the working class. None of these problems can be solved in schools and campuses alone. Students seeking to oppose social inequality, unemployment, and war must reach out to workers throughout the country and internationally.

A turn to the working class does not mean support for the trade unions. These organizations, supposedly defenders of the working class, are in reality dominated by well-heeled executives and partners of corporate management. They have collaborated to impose concessions while seeking to keep workers tied to the political establishment. Against the existing trade unions, the ISSE calls for the building of independent rank-and-file workplace, education, and neighborhood committees to unify various sections of workers and youth in a common struggle.

Above all, the working class needs its own political party, in opposition to the Democrats and Republicans, the parties of the ruling class. The ISSE rejects the position that these parties can be pushed to the left.

Three years ago, many young people voted for Obama hoping for “change” from the Bush administration. These hopes have turned to disillusionment and anger as the new administration has only expanded the right-wing policies of its predecessor.

The experience of the Obama administration shows that there can be no change through the existing institutions. The US is a democracy in name only; behind the façade of elections lies a completely corrupt political system beholden to the financial aristocracy.

The ISSE seeks to build a mass political movement of the working class that will fight for power, establish a workers’ government, and reorganize society on a democratic, egalitarian and rational basis.
For socialism and internationalism

The two basic features of capitalism—private ownership of the means of production and the division of the world economy along national lines—block the rational use and development of mankind’s productive forces. None of the problems humanity confronts can be dealt with on a national level.

The problems faced by working people and youth of every country are fundamentally the same. In all countries, the ISSE opposes nationalism, chauvinism, and racism, which are means to divide and weaken the working class. Working people of all countries must join together in a common struggle.

Socialism—the rational and democratic control of the economy to meet social need, not private profit—arises as a historical necessity from the breakdown of capitalism. The ISSE has unshakable confidence in the development of an international socialist movement because socialism corresponds to the objective interests of the working class, the vast majority of humanity.
For the rebirth of the socialist movement

The International Students for Social Equality, the student movement of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Committee of the Fourth International, fights for the revival of a socialist movement among young people throughout the country, as part of an international socialist movement of the entire working class.

The ISSE stands in the tradition of genuine revolutionary socialist internationalism, from the origins of Marxism in the 1840s, through the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the implacable struggle, led by Leon Trotsky, against the bureaucratic degeneration of the Soviet Union under Stalin. Throughout the 20th century, the Trotskyist movement opposed Stalinism, reformism and all attempts to find substitutes for the independent revolutionary mobilization of the working class on the basis of a socialist program.

In the 21st century, the ISSE, SEP and ICFI are fighting to unify and mobilize the working class and youth internationally, to prepare the working class for the conquest of political power and the establishment of a genuinely democratic, egalitarian and socialist society.

We call on students and young people to carry forth this fight and build the ISSE.
Join the fight for socialism! Join the ISSE!

We urge all students to study the program, history and analysis presented on the World Socialist Web Site. Make the decision to join and build the ISSE and help build a club of the ISSE at your school or university.

7

General Discussion / Locked toilets and the implications

« on: November 16, 2011, 05:18:22 pm »

I have heard that access to the portal toilets is being limited and that they may be locked and require getting a key to use.
I think it is a quite rational and necessary action. However,  if that is indeed the case or even if restrictions were just considered it underscores the idea that the objective conditions create your consciousness and brings into question utopian notions of "prefiguring" the future society in small model communities.
ON has in many ways bent over backward to treat everyone who has shown up humanely and with respect if not  with real affection (something I could not find it in my heart to do for the Vanderbilt Young Republicans). One would expect then that when it comes to sharing toilet facilities there is nothing more inhumane than denying a person - especially the "homeless" -  the right to use the facility. But that is exactly what happens when the economics of paying for portable toilets forces rational but cruel restrictions. Despite the best intentions of ON to treat people decently, the movement is forced to do just the opposite. And if ON is to be the model of a future community, I certainly can't imagine a world where toilets are locked.
Scarcity changes peoples' minds and behavior.
Think of it this way: look at a traffic jam. There is not a single person who wants to be in that mess. And most of the drivers have no desire to inflict discomfort on those around them. But completely independent of their individual wills and their group will, they are still in a traffic jam torturing each other. Learning how to be respectful, kind and caring about other motorists means very little if you do not change the objective conditions.
To paraphrase Marx, humans do create their own history but not as they please and not under the circumstances they choose.
Changing the world requires laying an objective foundation that makes utopian blueprints possible. Scarcity, production for profit, anarchy in production and private ownership of the resources and machinery will always be an obstacle to the kind of world all of us want. It certainly means providing more than enough public toilets.

8

General Discussion / WSWS news and analysis on Occupy movement arrests

« on: November 15, 2011, 12:08:17 pm »

The crackdown on Occupy protests and the criminalization of dissent
15 November 2011

Throughout the United States, city administrations are moving to break up encampments of the Occupy protests, trampling underfoot the constitutionally protected right of assembly.

Police cleared out the Occupy camp in Oakland, California in a predawn raid on Monday, resulting in 32 arrests. This followed the shutting down of the Portland, Oregon encampment, in which 50 people were arrested. Last week, police used truncheons to hit unarmed students attempting to set up a camp at the University of California, Berkeley.

According to one tally, there have been over 3,600 arrests at Occupy protests, mostly in the United States, including 943 in New York City, 370 in Tucson, 352 in Chicago, 206 in Oakland and 153 in Boston.

Many of the raids have been carried out by police in riot gear, in some cases using rubber bullets and tear gas cases, as in last month’s attack on Occupy Oakland. Those arrested have been subjected to arbitrary and punitive measures, including high bail and trumped-up charges.

The violent clearing of the encampments has been carried out under trivial and false pretenses. Citing health and public safety concerns, and the enforcement of various local and municipal ordinances, the police, largely at the order of Democratic Party city administrations, are moving to deny freedom of speech.

The moves to shut down the Occupy movement are a clear demonstration of the indissoluble link between the fight for the social rights of working people and the defense of democratic rights. The expression of social and political opposition is increasingly incompatible with the structure of society in the United States, in which a tiny financial aristocracy has enriched itself through the impoverishment of the vast majority.

The past decade has seen a steady erosion of democracy in the United States, particularly in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11. The most basic constitutional freedoms have been undermined as the government has asserted the power to spy on the population, arrest and detain people without charge, and carry out raids on political groups on the flimsiest of grounds. This has been accompanied by a vast expansion of the military-police-intelligence apparatus.

This assault on democratic rights has been justified on the grounds of the “war on terror.” From the beginning of this attack, however, the World Socialist Web Site explained that its real target was the emergence of any opposition to the reactionary policies of the financial aristocracy that controls the political system.

The Occupy protests are only an initial expression of the opposition and anger felt by hundreds of millions of people throughout the United States—and billions throughout the world—to the growth of social inequality and the domination of the financial aristocracy. Yet the public expression of these mass sentiments is criminalized in a country whose government routinely uses democratic pretenses to bomb and invade sovereign states.

These are international questions. The police violence against protesters in the United States is part of a global crackdown on popular opposition to austerity and inequality. Last Wednesday, the city of London put into practice a plan referred to as “total policing” in response to a protest against the tripling of tuition at universities. Four thousand police were deployed—together with helicopters and ten-foot-high barricades—in response to a protest of only 8,000.

In Greece and Italy, the banks are carrying out a policy of regime change: replacing elected officials with so-called “technocrats” who, backed by the full force of the state, will seek to implement unpopular cuts to social programs, mass layoffs and wage cuts.

The reaction of the state to popular protests makes clear that the fight for social equality and the defense of democratic rights requires a struggle against the entire political establishment and all of its institutions. In the United States, the entire political system, including both the Democrats and Republicans, is impervious to the views, demands and needs of working people and youth. It is an instrument of the corporate-financial elite and cannot be swayed simply by protest.

The Democrats have been particularly duplicitous in this regard. Jean Quan, the Democratic mayor of Oakland, has repeatedly claimed to “support” the Occupy movement, even as she has overseen police repression and intimidation against protesters.

Obama plays the same role. While posturing as a supporter of the movement’s aims, he has remained silent while thousands are arrested, tacitly endorsing the repression. Meanwhile, the policies of the administration over the past three years have ensured that the banks and financial institutions are more profitable than ever, while the vast majority of the population suffers the impact of mass unemployment, declining wages and sweeping cuts in health care, education and pensions.

The increase in police repression is part of the drive to shut down and demobilize the Occupy movement. There is a two-pronged approach: ever-greater police repression on one hand, and the deliberate attempt by the trade unions and the various middle class pseudo-left organizations to subordinate the movement to the Democratic Party.

In contrast to the claims of these organizations, which promote the mantra of “no politics” or identity politics in order to exclude socialist politics, the issues that are beginning to be raised by the Occupy movement are intrinsically revolutionary. They come into conflict with the capitalist system and all of the political institutions dedicated to the defense of this system. The immense social inequality that corrupts American society and political life did not arise from nowhere. It is the natural outcome of capitalism.

The only social force capable of leading the fight against the political dominance of the financial elite and defending democratic rights is the working class. The fight against social inequality can find genuine expression only as an independent political movement of the working class that has as its aim the establishment of a workers government and the transformation of the economic system in the interests of social need rather than private profit—that is, on the basis of socialism.

Andre Damon

9

General Discussion / Occupy news from WSWS

« on: November 09, 2011, 09:28:19 am »

Three occupations continue in Maine
By our reporter
9 November 2011

Three separate occupations are continuing in the state of Maine, including Portland, the state’s largest city, the state capital of Augusta, and Bangor, the third largest city and a commercial center for eastern and northern Maine.

BangorThe Occupy Bangor protest

The encampment at Portland’s Lincoln Park has been in place since September 30. In Augusta the protesters set up tents in Capitol Park, near the State House, on October 15. In Bangor the occupation is now in its third week.

The Bangor City Council threatened about 10 days ago to evict the few dozen protesters who were camping overnight in Peirce Memorial Park. In response, the occupiers set up their tents on the grounds of the Bangor Public Library. The local authorities have so far accepted this move, no doubt concerned that a confrontation might generate even greater support for the Occupy movement.

The library board voted by a 6-2 margin November 1 against a motion to forbid the protesters from camping at the library. The library director said that free speech rights under the First Amendment were involved—“They have the right to share their views with the public.” The chairman of the library’s board reported that there had been 30 phone calls in the hours after the report of the library’s decision, and they were unanimous in support of the Occupy protesters.

The WSWS spoke to several participants in the protests in Augusta and in Bangor. One young woman in Augusta, who had been a teacher, said that “capitalists are not listening to the earth—they are only taking from the earth.” Another participant, who had majored in computer repair, said that employers now demand at least three to five years’ experience. He said the Democrats are part of the system and would do nothing about the grievances of the working class.

In Bangor, an assembly/circle was held one day last week, at which participants spoke briefly. One 17-year-old student said her father is a teacher, but four or five jobs are required to keep the entire family going. A doctor from Eastern Maine Medical Center spoke on the inequality in the health care system and its impact on the poor and on wide sections of workers.

Another protester spoke on workers being forced to stay on the job past retirement age. In the course of the discussion, a supporter of the Socialist Equality Party spoke briefly on the political issues facing supporters and sympathizers of the Occupy movement, especially the need for a clear political break with the Democratic Party and those who give it backhanded support.Occupy protesters face more arrests, threats to encampments
By Kate Randall
9 November 2011

As the Anti-Wall Street protests that began in New York City near the end of their second month, occupations in a number of cities continue to face police harassment, arrests and threats to their encampments. The protests began September 17 in New York City when protesters set up the Occupy Wall Street camp in Lower Manhattan.

In California, sheriff’s deputies arrested nine Occupy Fresno protesters early Tuesday morning. Protesters have been camping in a city park for four weeks, but arrests began after their facility-use permit expired last week and a county ordinance banning use of the park between midnight and 6 a.m. took effect.

Tuesday’s arrests followed arrests the two previous days. Eight protesters were arrested on Monday and 13 on Sunday. Protesters have vowed to remain at the park every night.

In Riverside, east of Los Angeles, 11 protesters were arrested near City Hall Sunday afternoon after several demonstrators refused police orders to remove their tents from the public plaza.

Protester Kathryn Stevenson, a teacher at Moreno Valley College, told the Los Angeles Times, “It got pretty violent out there—the cops were in riot gear.” She said police had been warning the Occupy Riverside protesters since last Friday that they might move against the encampment. Protesters suspect city leaders fear the protest will disrupt the upcoming holiday light festival on the plaza.

In Tucson, Arizona, Occupy protesters have filed a lawsuit against the city, the Tucson Police Department, Republican Mayor Bob Walkup and members of the city council. Volunteer attorneys of the Occupy Tucson Legal Working Group have filed a civil rights suit in federal court asking “for a temporary restraining order to stop arrests at Veinte De Agosto Park,” where protesters have been camping out.

The attorneys represent more than 100 people who have been arrested since October 15, when Occupy Tucson protesters began their action, camping out at Armory Park, Veinte De Agosto Park and at the library plaza in downtown Tucson. City Attorney Mike Rankin responded Monday afternoon, “As to the lawsuit, the city’s position remains unchanged. The codes we are enforcing comply with constitutional requirements and are enforceable.”

Five people were arrested early morning Monday in Atlanta, Georgia near the downtown park that has been the site of the Occupy Atlanta protest. One protester was arrested inside Troy Davis Park (formerly Woodruff Park), while four others were arrested near the park—three for traffic violations and one for obstruction of a police officer.

The arrests came the day after 20 protesters were arrested in a late-night raid, when Democratic Mayor Kasim Reed ordered police in riot gear to move against protesters rallying around the park, which protesters had vowed to reoccupy. On October 26, 53 Occupy Atlanta protesters were arrested when police forcibly evicted them from the park in an early morning raid.

In a veiled threat against Occupy protesters, authorities in Washington DC have issued statements claiming protesters in the nation’s capital have been “increasingly confrontational” and “aggressive.” The statements follow incidents over the weekend in which three protesters were struck at a demonstration and a fourth was hit in a separate accident.

Police did not bring charges last Friday against the driver of a silver Lexus that struck three Occupy DC protesters, including a pregnant woman, outside an event for Americans for Prosperity, where protesters were demonstrating. After speaking with witnesses, DC police concluded that the collision was unavoidable and the driver would not be charged.

On Monday, Occupy protesters called for a further investigation after they discovered a police report showing that a car of similar description was involved in a hit-and-run accident just prior to the other incident. Georgia Pearce, the woman hit, says she was attempting to block traffic but had not stepped in front of the approaching car. She said she was suffering from head trauma and “can’t even see straight.”

Later Monday, Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued a statement saying that while previous protests by Occupy DC had been peaceful, demonstrators have “become increasingly confrontational and violent toward uninvolved bystanders and motorists.” She claimed, “Demonstrators have also jeopardized the safety of their own children by using them in blockades.”

Mayor Vincent Gray issued a similar statement, saying that demonstrators have “turned more aggressive.” He added, “We will not tolerate behavior that jeopardizes public safety.”

In Philadelphia, Occupy DC protesters have been in negotiations with the city over alternate sites for their encampment, presently set up at Dilworth Plaza next to City Hall. If no agreement is reached, protesters face a possible showdown with city authorities, who are scheduled to begin a $50 million renovation of the site this month.

Across Canada, Occupy protesters are facing numerous threats by city authorities to dismantle their camps, most of which were set up about three weeks ago. In Victoria, British Columbia, protesters rejected a notice of removal on Monday and marched to City Hall to deliver a letter of protest.

In Vancouver, BC, city authorities posted a notice demanding protesters leave their camp, citing a death on Saturday, drug-related infractions, sanitation and other hazards. The notice stated, “Staff have been directed to end the encampment in a way that can be done safely and peacefully while reserving the right to protest.” Protesters have vowed they will not leave voluntarily.


Occupy Los Angeles: “Obama promised us hope and change, and we got war and poverty instead.”
By our reporters
9 November 2011

The Occupy Los Angeles movement has entered its second month. Several hundred protesters remain encamped next to city hall.

While the protest remains centered around concerns over economic injustice and rising levels of inequality both in the US and internationally, the lack of politics and demands has allowed the movement to be infiltrated by various Democratic party elements.

Occupy Los AngelesThe Occupy Los Angeles encampment

Members of the Los Angeles City Council along with Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, have freely mingled among the protesters encouraging them, in the words of City Council Eric Garceti, to “stay as long as you like.”

The move was hailed by the leadership of Occupy LA along with an attendant promise by the city council to institute a banking reform bill which was nearly dead on arrival. Soon after the bill was announced, the city treasurer announced that enacting the bill would result in tens of millions of dollars in breach of contract penalties with the banks.

Soon after, the city council reneged on its promise to allow protesters to stay “as long as they liked,” citing concerns that the cost of resodding city property would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

During the past several weeks, the United Teachers of Los Angeles union has held a fraudulent “Occupy LAUSD” action in parallel with Occupy LA, which has drawn a contingent of the latter around the union’s bankrupt perspective of holding only the Los Angeles Unified School District accountable for school cutbacks and layoffs. The union’s aim is to exonerate the Democratic Party, which in recent years has launched the largest attack on public education in US history, of any responsibility.

Last Saturday, a bank transfer march and rally was held by the Good Jobs LA coalition, a group led by the Service Employees International Union and other pro-Democratic party outfits. The group describes itself as “a grassroots organization of neighbors coming together, block-by-block to reclaim the American Dream for working families by holding wealthy corporations accountable to pay their fair share, create good jobs, and invest in the future of our communities.”

The aim of the event was to persuade protesters and passersby to close accounts at large banks and transfer their funds to smaller lending institutions and credit unions. At the close of the march, several prominent Democratic and pro-Democratic party functionaries spoke at city hall. Among them were Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor under Clinton, and Robert Scheer, the prominent ex-radical journalist who recently supported the candidacy of reactionary Kentucky “Tea Party” congressman Rand Paul.

Remarks made by Reich, now professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, centered around denunciations of the large banks while making no mention of the billions in public funds made available to them with no strings attached under the Obama administration. Scheer cynically advised protesters to make appeals to more progressive layers within the Democratic Party. At one point, he claimed that the problem with the presidency of Clinton was that in the “Battle of the Bobs,” Reich and former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, it was Rubin who won out in the end.

The aim of all these speakers and organizations is to channel protesters back into the Democratic Party fold by fostering the illusion that through contained protest actions, the ruling elite can somehow be pressured to change course, enact better legislation, select more socially-minded individuals to do its bidding, etc. Workers and students must reject all attempts by the Democratic Party to make such inroads, whether they are made directly or indirectly through the trade unions and ex-left organizations which support them.

The World Socialist Web Site spoke to several protesters encamped at Los Angeles City Hall last Saturday.

“Corporations own everything,” commented Thaddeus Ressler, a writer and Army veteran. “There’s nobody to lobby for the people, but there are plenty of lobbyists for the corporations and the banks.”

Juan Cortes spoke about his reasons for attending the Occupy LA protest. “I am here because I am one of the victims of the banks. They took my house and I want to see how we can unite with those who have lost their jobs so we can take actions against the banks. I want us to take back what they stole from us.

“Congress is corrupt. I am on board 100 percent with the fact that there’s not going to be any justice via the election of this or that Republican or Democrat.”

Rose Contreras, a hot dog vendor, said, “The truth is that a lot of us small business people along with working people are facing a critical situation. We have to fight for everyone’s welfare. And this fight is a world fight.

“The rich aren’t thinking about the plight of the poor. It’s as if we didn’t exist. If it wasn’t for the poor, they wouldn’t have any wealth at all. We’re the ones who do the work for them.”

SanderSander

Sander Hicks, a carpenter and independent publisher, has also been to the Occupy Oakland encampment where more than 50 protesters were brutally arrested by police less than two weeks ago. “I’ve researched Obama,” Sander said. “His ties to Wall Street are easier to understand when you realize that he’s a progressive in name only. He represents mainstream politics as usual.”

Jay is a journalism student at the University of Southern California and a former veteran. “I'm here doing research for my class. I’m definitely in favor of the Occupy Wall Street protests because I know that it stands for a re-evaluation of the social system.”

JayJay

“I’m also a veteran,” Jay added. “I fought in Iraq. The war was obviously made up—it was all about markets. I felt exploited and still do. I take loans and I use the GI Bill, but tuition is a big concern nonetheless. The thing that concerns me the most is that I have to go into debt to get an education only to find afterwards that there are no opportunities.”

JC works as a web designer and entrepreneur. “I’m here to add my support for the movement. The fact that he hasn’t come out to address the people and our concerns should prove to everyone that political faith in him is a fallacy. George Bush promised us war and we got war. Obama promised us hope and change, and we got war and poverty instead.”

The Socialist Equality Party and International Students for Social Equality will be holding a public meeting this coming Sunday, November 13 to discuss the Occupy Wall Street and the way forward for workers and youth. For more information on the Los Angeles meeting, click here. Details on other meetings across the country can be found here.Protesters in Quebec City were told Monday to leave their camp, four days after city officials served an eviction notice, citing health and safety concerns. Police carried out a raid that same day, carrying away firewood, tarps and other equipment.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, Occupy protesters have made a deal with authorities to temporarily relocate their camp to allow city officials to organize Remembrance Day ceremonies at the city’s main war memorial.

10

General Discussion / More Occupy news from WSWS

« on: November 08, 2011, 04:49:16 pm »

World Socialist Web Site wsws.org
A generation ago, young US households were
three times wealthier than today
By Andre Damon
8 November 2011
The wealth of typical households headed by people
under 35 has collapsed over the past quarter-century,
while the disparity in wealth between generations has
quadrupled, according to a new analysis of Census
Bureau data released Monday by the Pew Research
Center.
In 2009, the median household headed by people
under 35 had 68 percent less wealth than their
counterparts in 1984. The household wealth of the
typical family headed by someone under 35 was
$3,662, down from $11,521 in 1984.
This has left the generational gap in wealth at the
highest level on record. A typical household headed by
someone 65 and older now has a median household
wealth of $170,494, a figure 47 times greater than that
of the younger generation. In 1984, this ratio had been
10 to one.
The wealth squeezed out of young people was not
transferred between generations; rather it went into the
pockets of the super-rich. Between 1979 and 2007,
roughly the period covered by the Pew Research study,
the richest 1 percent of US households nearly tripled
their income and doubled their share of the national
income.
The growth in the generational disparity has been the
result of a confluence of social maladies. The fall in
wages since the early 1980s has affected young
workers more immediately than older ones. Likewise,
the growth in education costs has affected young
people more than other groups.
The report also notes that the collapse of home values
has affected the distribution of wealth; young
households were more likely to buy a home at the
height of the real estate bubble, and lose more of their
investment. As the report notes, “If it had not been for
home equity, the median net worth of older American
households in 2009 would have been 33% lower than
that of older households in 1984, instead of 42%
higher.”
Younger people have also been disproportionately
affected by unemployment. The share of the under-35
population employed has fallen 9 percentage points in
2010, compared to a 6.2 percent drop for the
working-age population as a whole.
But growing poverty and indebtedness are by no
means confined to the young. The same day as the Pew
Research Center published its report, the US Census
Bureau introduced a new, alternative measure of
poverty that increases the number of people classified
as poor, particularly among the elderly.
The report found that 49.1 million people lived in
poverty in 2010, up from the official estimate of 46.6
million released in September. The figure put the
poverty rate at 16 percent, up from 15.2 percent
according to the official figures.
The new measure estimates the poverty rate among
Americans 65 and older at 15.9 percent, compared to 9
percent in the earlier data, because it factors in medical
bills.
The new poverty statistic is more complex than the
official figures released September—which were derived
simply by multiplying a minimum food budget by a
factor of three—and includes regional and age-based
variations in costs of living and healthcare expenses.
The new figure represents a half-hearted response to
criticism that the official poverty rate vastly
underestimates the number of people facing poverty.
But it in represents an array of statistical tweaks while
keeping the threshold for poverty unrealistically low,
resulting in a continued underestimation of the real
prevalence of poverty.
These figures come only days after another report, by
© World Socialist Web Site
the liberal non-profit policy group Demos, showing the
disastrous impact of the economic crisis on young
people. This report examines the social basis of the
collapse in household wealth, including skyrocketing
education costs, falling wages, and a precipitous drop
in employment.
Tuition and healthcare costs are among the main
drivers of growing living costs for young people. The
report noted that tuition is, on average, three times
higher today than in 1980, from $7,600 in the 2010
academic year, up from $2,100 in 1980 for public
4-year colleges.
As health care costs have skyrocketed, more and
more workers are forced to pay medical costs out of
pocket. The report noted, “In just 10 years,
employer-sponsored insurance dropped 12.8% for
workers 18-24 and 8.5% for workers 25-34.”
Falling wages and growing costs have caused an
increase in indebtedness. The report notes that credit
card debt for those between 25 and 34 rose 81 percent
between 1989 and 2007, to an average of $6,255. But
this is dwarfed by the increase in student loan debt,
which for all sections of the population has grown an
amazing ten-fold between 1997 and 2011.
This growing indebtedness, combined with mass
unemployment and falling wages, has caused a growth
of defaults and bankruptcies among young people.
Between 2007 and 2009, the proportion of student
loans in default after two years increased by almost a
third, from 6.7 percent of all loans to 8.8 percent.
These conditions have drastically altered young
people’s domestic and family-planning decisions. The
economic crisis has caused half of young people to
postpone purchasing a home, one third to delay moving
out on their own, and 30 percent to delay starting a
family, according to the study.
The report noted that in 1980, ten percent of men
aged 25 to 34 lived with their parents. By 2010, that
figure had jumped to 16 percent.
These figures show the extent to which the economic
crisis is affecting all sections of society. The younger
generation is so beset by unemployment, skyrocketing
tuition, and falling wages, that the average young
person does not have enough cash to pay for a hospital
stay.
The older generation, meanwhile, faces the prospect
of continual attacks to the Medicare, Medicaid, and
Social Security programs, on which they depend. Even
among the older population, despite being eligible for
Social Security and Medicare, fully 15 percent,
according to the new study, are below the poverty line.
The Obama Administration’s policy of promoting
low-wage jobs—particularly for young people—and
endless austerity measures, directed against the retired,
will only further exacerbate the miserable conditions
facing both sections of the working class.
To contact the WSWS and the
Socialist Equality Party visit:

First arrests in Occupy Detroit protest
By Shannon Jones
8 November 2011

Wayne State University campus police arrested two Occupy Detroit protesters last week after they allegedly tried to interrupt the videotaping of a top Wall Street executive. The arrests were the first in the three weeks of protests by Occupy Detroit.
Occupy Detroit encampment

The protesters were part of a group opposing the appearance of Duncan Niederauer, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. Niederauer was previously an executive at Goldman Sachs. A flier distributed by Occupy Detroit accused Niederauer of being “a chief culprit in the culture of greed and corruption on Wall Street that helped cause the financial crisis.”

The two arrested protesters face disorderly conduct charges.

About 150 people have joined the Occupy Detroit encampment at Grand Circus Park on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit. On Sunday, some 500 people participated in a labor solidarity march from Hart Plaza to the encampment. The event was backed by the United Auto Workers, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees and other area unions, who are attempting to channel the occupy movement behind support for the Democratic Party.

Among those attending the rally was Democratic US Congressman Gary Peters, who in remarks to the press sought to portray the toothless bank regulation bill enacted by Congress last year as an example of the Democratic Party’s anti-Wall Street credentials.

As for the United Auto Workers, its claim to oppose the 1 percent is equally fraudulent. Over the past weeks UAW officials have been busy ramming through sellout contracts at the Big Three Detroit auto companies over massive rank-and-file opposition. Wall Street has hailed the new agreements with the automakers for increasing labor costs by the smallest margin in four decades.

Visiting the Occupy Detroit encampment last week was the Reverend Jesse Jackson. The long-time Democratic Party operator has traveled to a number of Occupy encampments across the United States as part of an effort to divert the anger of protesters from the Democratic Party city administrations in Oakland and other cities that have sent police to attack protesters.

In Detroit, Jackson said nothing about the police attacks on the Occupy movement. Instead he patronizingly compared the Wall Street protests with the civil rights protests of the 1960s. Ignoring the issue of the fight against social inequality that has been raised by the protests, he pointed to the recent decision by Bank of America to withdraw its proposed $5 monthly debit card fee as a sign of the success of the Occupy movement.

The World Socialist Web Site interviewed a number of those involved in the Occupy Detroit encampment.
Caroline

Caroline, a graduate student in ecology and biology at Wayne State University and a member of the Occupy Detroit media committee, explained what happened with the arrests last week. “The CEO of the New York Stock Exchange was taping an interview and two of my friends got in,” she said. “One stood up and asked why he [Niederauer] hadn’t been arrested because of his activities during the economic meltdown. A couple of minutes another stood up and tried to ask a question and she was arrested too. They were released after a group of 50 of us marched to the police station.”

Caroline explained how she got involved in the occupy movement: “My mom was a member of SDS; I was upset that my generation wasn’t doing anything. A month ago Occupy Wall Street started getting media attention. I was one of those who started an Occupy Detroit Facebook group. All of a sudden I had 900 people on it. So we decided to have it here.

“This is an American version of the Arab Spring. That is what inspired it. Now we have a lot of veterans supporting, especially after Oakland where that kid got hurt.”

Nate, age 21, who is currently unemployed, told the WSWS why he was supporting the occupy movement. “I was a stagehand,” he said, “I worked with the stagehands union in the area at the Detroit Opera House and other locations. When the movies came to town I started working in the movies. When (Michigan Governor) Snyder cut the tax breaks for the film industry, I lost my job.

“For me there was a lot of inspiration from Occupy Wall Street. I think we have been overdue for something like this. I have definitely gained a much deeper appreciation for politics.”

Jill Blair is a student at Oakland Community College. She told us, “I came down here and I haven’t left—I think I have left for six hours in total. There are so many issues. The main thing that brought me down here was the bus layoffs. I had to wait three or four hours for a bus to go to school. There were times I had to get up at three or four o’clock in the morning to get to school by noon. Then there is also the issue of student loans.

“I just want change. I think everyone wants change. Everyone is just fed up. I have never been happier in my life than I have been with Occupy Detroit. We are all doing something important. We’re a big family. It is worldwide.”
Colin Kitchen and Jill Blair

Colin Kitchen said, “I am a psychology student. This movement is bringing back my faith in people. If the system is broken you can only put duct tape on it so long before it collapses. This system is designed around greed. It will never be fair. I don’t have all the answers, I just know that it is wrong.”

He added, “Politics is about money. It will always be about my wallet is bigger than yours. It is part of capitalism.”

Brittany, a nurse, came down for the afternoon to show her support. “I was an ardent supporter of Obama,” she said. “I learned my lesson on that one. He said during the debates that he would close Guantanamo. As commander in chief all he had to do was say it to make it happen.
Brittany

“Withdrawing from Iraq feels like a hollow victory because in the process we are going in to so many other countries. We are drone bombing four or five countries now. They are completely ignoring the War Powers Act.

“We do a shoddy job of taking care of the poor in this country. It is shameful. Our health care system is in a state of crisis. We spend a much larger share of our GDP on health care than any other country; at the same time we have a poor life expectancy. We are the only country to deny health care based on employment.

“What we have now is that those making health care decisions are not health care providers. They are the ones in insurance companies and large heath care companies. They make a better profit when people are sick.

“The pharmaceutical companies are murdering people. I have seen people die. There are people in there who should be prosecuted for premeditated murder.

“I don’t mind being the voice of socialized medicine. Education and health care are human rights.

“It has been the working people who have pushed things forward—the eight hour day, child labor laws—labor pushed for it through protests and strikes. And I have to say it was the socialist movement that pushed us leaps and bounds ahead.”

Ramon Martinez, a student at Grosse Pointe South High School, said, “I know it’s going to be hard going to college. My mom’s not going to help me; my dad’s not going to help me. I am going to end up taking out some loans from the bank. I will be in serious debt. Quite frankly, I am scared.”

His friend Lindsay, from Grosse Pointe North, said, “I think the wars are going to get worse. It is a big uproar with everyone being controlled. The gap between rich and poor is just getting bigger and bigger. The wealthy are in their own bracket and they just keep getting wealthier. There is really no middle class.”

11

General Discussion / More Occupy news from WSWS.com

« on: November 07, 2011, 09:49:02 am »

World News
Occupy Pittsburgh protesters oppose police repression in California

By Samuel Davidson, November 7, 2011

About 150 workers, students, and unemployed are beginning the fourth week of their tent city, known as Occupy Pittsburgh, as part of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street protesters around the country.
Police arrest 20 Occupy Atlanta protesters during late-night rally

By Kranti Kumara, November 7, 2011

Mayor Kasim Reed, a Democrat, deployed police against peaceful Occupy Atlanta protesters Saturday night, arresting 20, including journalists and a passerby.

12

General Discussion / WSWS Anti-Wall Street stories

« on: November 04, 2011, 12:32:03 pm »

Sharp rise in extreme-poverty neighborhoods in the US since 2000

By David Walsh, 4 November 2011

A new Brookings Institution report reveals that the population in extreme-poverty neighborhoods rose by one third in the US from 2000 to 2005-2009.
Anti-Wall Street protests

Arrests follow Occupy Oakland demonstrations

By David Brown, 4 November 2011

A one-day protest in Oakland, California on Wednesday was followed by early morning arrests and tear gas, while the trade unions moved quickly to reopen ports that were closed for the evening.


New York City: Dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters going to trial for arrests

By Sandy English, 4 November 2011

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators arrested on September 24 appeared in court Thursday, with most of them rejecting a plea bargain and electing to fight the charges.

13

General Discussion / Anti-Wall street run down in World Socialist Web Site

« on: November 03, 2011, 08:18:22 am »

I would like to do these daily for I think the WSWS offers a unique and valuable perspective. If this is considered an abuse of the forum or some form of political spaming - which I don't think is true in either case - I will certainly consider ending it.- WD

Anti-Wall Street protests
OaklandThousands march in Oakland to defend Occupy movement

By Jerry White, 3 November 2011

Thousands of protesters participated in a day of marches and demonstrations in Oakland, California Wednesday, eight days after a violent attack by police on the Occupy Oakland encampment.
SEP speaker opposes “no politics” at Occupy London Stock Exchange

By Aidan Claire, 3 November 2011

A number of the organisers at the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp, established October 15 outside St Paul’s Cathedral, have insisted that “no politics” should be its guiding principle.

14

General Discussion / Why we should not be herded into the Democratic Party -Health Care

« on: November 02, 2011, 08:45:19 am »

Dems Propose $400 Billion in Medicare Cuts

October 27, 2011 by Healthcare-NOW! 
Filed under Single-Payer News

   

By Sam Stein for Huffington Post –

Democrats on the congressional super committee have produced a “presentation” that would include a roughly equal mix of spending cuts and revenue increases to achieve an estimated $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion in deficit reduction.

The early reviews among progressives is that the outlines, as introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on behalf of a number of Democrats on the Committee, contain a mix of good and bad policy. The good is the reliance on revenues and the decision to include between $200 billion and $300 billion in new economic stimulus in the presentation. The bad is that the plan calls for around $400 billion in Medicare cuts, half of which would be drawn from reducing benefits to recipients. The confusion stems from the party’s willingness to shoot far above the $1.5 trillion target that the super committee is supposed to aim for.

Sources tell The Huffington Post that the party has also staked out another position that the base will likely applaud. The presentation produced by Baucus and other Democrats does not call for a raising of the Medicare eligibility age. The idea of increasing that age from 65 to 67 had been a controversial component of talks that President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner had held in late August when negotiating legislation to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

Though the shift would have been done in increments over many years, health policy analysts noted that it would have disproportionately hurt blue collar workers — who can’t afford to spend additional time in their late years in the work force — without saving much money: Medicare spending is far heavier during life’s later years.

When the president submitted his own proposal to the super committee, he scrapped the idea of raising Medicare’s eligibility age. Congressional Democrats have followed suit.

Continue reading…

15

General Discussion / Some International and local Anti-Wall street stories available from WSWS

« on: November 02, 2011, 08:09:18 am »

Occupy Wall Street Protests
Occupy Albany action enters second week

By Philip Guelpa, November 1, 2011

On Saturday October 29, Occupy Albany protestors, who have been encamped in downtown Albany’s Academy Park across from the State Capitol for over a week, held a number of activities, including a “People’s Speak Out,” during which anyone who wished to could address the gathering. The tone of the affa
Occupy Wall Street organizing underway in La Crosse, Wisconsin

By our reporter, November 1, 2011

Supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement are working to build up Occupy LaCrosse. They’ve been barred from camping out in Cameron Park in the downtown area, and a group has initiated a petition campaign to secure their right to establish an encampment. Meanwhile, they are holding rallies, bannering a
Police order end to occupation in Perth, Western Australia

By our correspondents, November 1, 2011

Occupy Perth, formed in response to the anti-Wall Street protests in the US against social inequality and corporate power, merged with the CHOGM demonstration, intending to begin an occupation following it.
Occupy movement continues in upstate New York

By Steve French, November 1, 2011

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner reportedly made an appearance at the encampment at Perseverance Park in Syracuse, New York state’s fifth largest city. The mayor brought hot coffee and offered to keep an open dialogue about logistical issues at the protest site. Miner’s visit took place in the aftermath o
Occupy Bristol, UK: Mounting threats to clear camp

By our reporter, October 31, 2011

There are growing threats to clear the Occupy Bristol from local authorities, MP’s and officials of the church, which is the freeholder of the land where the occupation is taking place.
Church and City move to evict Occupy London camp

By Julie Hyland, October 31, 2011

Legal moves to evict the Occupy the London Stock Exchange protest camp from outside St Paul’s Cathedral, central London are to start today.
Occupy London protesters: “This is a global movement”

By our reporters, October 31, 2011

The World Socialist Web Site spoke to protesters involved in the Occupy London protest outside St Paul’s Cathedral.
Police attack Occupy protests in Denver, Colorado

By Joseph Kishore, October 31, 2011

Police action in Colorado’s capital city, which included several injuries and 20 arrests, was part of a wave of repression in the US over the weekend, including in Nashville, Portland, Oregon, Rochester, New York and Austin, Texas.
Protesters rally in Melbourne, Australia after police violence

By Will Morrow, October 31, 2011

Large numbers of police gathered again on Saturday in a provocative show of force, and protestors were barred from establishing a new protest site in central Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens.