Curated Links

Toward an Independent Politics

Brian K. Noe · May 21, 2014 ·

From Socialist Worker:

The Democratic Party is a capitalist party, not a party representing the working class. No matter who votes for it–and, of course, the majority of Democratic voters are workers–the party apparatus itself is set up to reflect, and to some extent, organize the political interests of big business.

The mechanisms by which this takes place are hidden in plain sight: a campaign finance system that channels corporate money to political candidates; a network of think tanks and academic institutions that articulate the positions of Corporate America; a lobbying machine that applies continual pressure to legislators, the executive branch and the unelected government bureaucracy, at the federal, state and local level, to carry out the corporate agenda.

Read the full editorial. Declaring independence from the 1 Percent | SocialistWorker.org.

Benghazi Truth Bomb

Brian K. Noe · May 14, 2014 ·

President Barack Obama has waged illegal wars (Libya), armed Islamic fundamentalists (Syria), provoked civil wars (Ukraine) and asserted the right of the president to order the assassination of any person, including American citizens, without trial or even a hearing. The Obama administration has built up the infrastructure of a police state, greatly expanding the US spying apparatus and seeking to monitor and collect the telecommunications, email and Internet activities of virtually everyone on the planet.

But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is pushing for an investigation, not of any of these countless crimes against international law, the US Constitution and basic democratic rights, but of … White House talking points on Benghazi.

Lies My Postmaster General Told Me

Brian K. Noe · May 13, 2014 ·

The Postal Service has been reporting revenue increases for five straight quarters. So why is Postmaster General Donahoe minimizing that winning streak? Over the last few years, faced with falling revenue, postal management has closed post offices, slashed rural office hours, sold historic buildings, cut jobs, and consolidated processing plants. It continues to seek closings and service cuts, such as eliminating Saturday delivery; but some of these moves have been delayed or curtailed by pushback from the public, from employees, and from legislators.

Working Class History in the New Century

Brian K. Noe · May 12, 2014 ·

Sharon Smith, author of Subterranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States, has written a new introduction for a forthcoming Spanish edition of the book, which expands on the history through the last decade. It appears today on Socialist Worker in English, with the permission of the publisher.

Read it: Taking the fire forward | SocialistWorker.org.

May Day 2014

Brian K. Noe · May 1, 2014 ·

we want to feel the sunshine
we want to smell the flowers
we’re sure that god has willed it
and we mean to have eight hours

we’re summoning our forces from
shipyard, shop and mill
eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
eight hours for what we will

What is May Day?

New Study: Charter Schools Hurt Poor Kids

Brian K. Noe · April 25, 2014 ·

Adopting a “school reform” agenda that encourages privatization actually makes the problems worse, according to a new study.

“In pushing these efforts, politicians, rightwing think tanks, chambers of commerce, and, most of all, the American Legislative Exchange Council are actually creating the very problem of failure in the school system they claim their privatization plans will help address.”

Read about it: Scathing Report Finds School Privatization Hurts Poor Kids – In These Times.

Remember Ludlow!

Brian K. Noe · April 24, 2014 ·

From Trish Kahle:

Remembering only the massacre at Ludlow obscures the vital fact that a group of coal miners–most of them immigrants–managed to organize a strike across racial and ethnic lines, and brought southern Colorado to the brink of revolution. It also obscures the tremendous courage with which miners and their families faced down the power of capitalism and the state–and conceals the role socialists and other radicals played in organizing the strike and rebellion. Finally, it sidelines the incredible–and immediate–solidarity expressed by other workers with the strikers in the Colorado coalfields.

A Reminder from Chomsky: It’s the Institutions that Matter

Brian K. Noe · April 23, 2014 ·

Tim Donovan has an interesting piece over on Salon encouraging the Left to keep our focus where it matters.

He includes this quote from Noam Chomsky.

When you look at a corporation, just like when you look at a slave owner, you want to distinguish between the institution and the individual. So slavery, for example, or other forms of tyranny, are inherently monstrous. The individuals participating in them may be the nicest guys you can imagine. Benevolent, friendly, nice to the children, even nice to their slaves. Caring about other people. I mean, as individuals they may be anything, but in their institutional role, they’re monsters, because the institution is monstrous.

Read the article: Noam Chomsky was right: Why the Koch brothers are obscuring the real enemy – Salon.com.

First Videos from Labor Notes 2014

Brian K. Noe · April 10, 2014 ·

Labor Notes 2014 in Chicago was an incredible weekend of inspiration and activism. This was my first Labor Notes, and I hope to make in an annual ritual. Highlights, for me, were the Friday afternoon Chicago Labor history tour (conducted by the ILHS), the Saturday afternoon STOP Staples protest, and (of course) the Friday and Saturday night Folk Music singalongs, spearheaded by members of the Seattle Labor Chorus and Anne Feeney.

How could I forget to mention the incredible and boisterous impromptu singalong in the Crowne Plaza lobby into the wee hours of Sunday morning with young Wobblies and Occupy kids from Portland, Chicago and the Twin Cities?

Labor Notes has the first videos from the conference posted on their site now. I’m looking forward to more.

Need an inspiration fix? Here are a few video highlights for those who couldn’t make it to the record-breaking 2014 Labor Notes Conference—or those already ready to relive it.

See them here: First Videos from the 2014 Labor Notes Conference | Labor Notes.

Our Lives Literally Aren’t Worth 57 Cents to the Corporations

Brian K. Noe · April 8, 2014 ·

Elizabeth Schulte reports on the toll from corporate negligence at GM.

FIFTY-SEVEN cents. That’s what it would have cost General Motors (GM) to change a faulty part to blame for crashes that have killed at least 13 people.

The calculation comes from a 2005 internal company document obtained by congressional investigators, who provided the evidence for an April 1 congressional hearing on GM.