https://www.facebook.com/events/1899075593644423
Socialism Conference: Building a People's Party
Saturday, May 20 at 10a-4:30p
2936 W 8th St, Los Angeles, CA 90005
Register for the conference by emailing your name and phone number to la@pslweb.org to save your space!
Donald Trump has launched an unbridled war on the people on behalf of billionaires and bigots. His immediate executive orders have targeted Muslims, immigrants, women, Trans youth, and Black people severely. His appointments and early policies also reveal a total disdain for any of the hard fought gains won by people's movements from the last century, including environmental protections, Civil Rights, unions, public education, and social services. His belligerence has extended across the world with war threats on multiple countries, a grossly expanded military budget, and resumption of a nuclear arms race.
But the attacks on oppressed people at home are not limited to those carried out by racist ICE and cops. Since Trump's inauguration more than 90 bomb threats have been made on Jewish centers, dozens of mosques have been burned, over 400 reported hate crimes have taken place, including murders carried out by white supremacists. When confronted, the government's reply to this surge in racist violence has been little more than a shoulder shrug.
The Democrats have postured as though they are resisting this assault on people's rights but their record already tells a different story of continued bootlicking of Wall Street and the military. Nothing is more telling of this fact than their decision to maintain the status quo leadership by electing Tom Perez as DNC and refusing to ban corporate lobbying. The only "resistance" the Democrats have mounted is one based on the desire of the Pentagon and CIA to launch an all out war on Russia despite the fact it is the people of the U.S. and the people of Russia who will suffer while they and their children sit comfortably on Capitol Hill raking in money.
A glimmer of hope has risen up though with innumerable protests taking place all over the country from the mass actions in defense of Native rights to marches for healthcare and political strikes by immigrants and women. It was the people who defeated the first Muslim ban when they boldly took over airports. Only this militant, independent action can stand up to Trump, the duopoly, and Wall Street.
And while Wall Street and the pentagon have their representatives in the Democrats and Republicans, we too, the people, need our own leaders. Only a true people's party that fights for the people's rights can build and lead a resistance movement capable of defeating Trump and his worse policies. Only a true people's party can finally break the dictatorship that the billionaires and bankers hold over society and build a new world.
Join the Party for Socialism and Liberation for our Los Angeles Socialism Conference titled, "Building a People's Party". We will have a series of workshops and panels to discuss burning questions facing the people and movement in the era of Trump. We will engage in practical discussions about building a people's party and the fight for socialism.
Limited parking on Westmoreland/8th. Red and Purple line to Wilshire/Vermont station.
To register and save your space email la@pslweb.org with your name and phone number.
Workshop Descriptions:
//From basic needs to basic rights through socialism//
The political establishment and corporate elites have taken aim at our healthcare system with the hope of eliminating healthcare for over 25 million people, slashing drug and mental health programs, and gutting what few laws exist to defend working people’s rights to access healthcare with no alternative plan to address these unmet needs while healthcare professionals and their allies continue to demand a single-payer system.
Banks continue to foreclose and evict millions of people despite no banker facing any prison time for their crimes that caused the 2007-2008 housing crisis. Cities across the country are facing skyrocketing rent and mass homelessness despite the fact that millions of homes continue to sit vacant. Local government, banks, and property developers have poured millions into gentrification schemes that displace working and poor families and ramp up police militarization.
As Betsy DeVos takes to the helm the fight for quality public education has entered a critical moment. Teachers unions and students continue to unite to push back against school privatization. College students continue to resist tuition hikes and the exorbitant student debt that has impoverished thousands of young people in their attempt to secure an education.
Join us as we talk about these basic human needs, how the dictatorship of the rich in our country stands in the way, and why fighting for a socialist future is the only way to guarantee our rights to healthcare, housing, and education. Learn how buildinga government with direct power in the hands of the people will meet these needs as basic rights.
//Black freedom struggle and socialism//
The radical, Black liberation struggle was reignited by the murder of Trayvon Martin and the uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore that shook the country. This fight spread like a prairie fire across the U.S. and the globe as protesters shut down freeways, took over police departments, carried out boycotts, strikes, and resisted organized white supremacy. Now the ‘law and order’ chorus of the Trump administration has become a green light by Klansmen Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the police to kill without fear of federal scrutiny in any case. The private prison industry is seeing a spike in investment as the promise of further criminalization is on the horizon. From slavery or Jim Crow to the ongoing fight against police terrorism and mass incarceration the movement for Black freedom has always been central in the fight of all poor people in the U.S. for equality and basic rights.
Join us as we talk about the radical political tradition of Black resistance, the current fight for Black freedom, and how socialism and national liberation go hand-in-hand.
//Women and queer resistance to patriarchy//
Women and LGBTQ folks have always been on the forefront of the struggle for liberation, and this time it's no different. In one of the largest displays in decades the Women's March took a clear stand against the brazen patriarchy of the Trump administration. The disgusting, misogynistic government from Trump to spineless Congressional officials have given their stamp of approval to countless attacks on women and LGBTQ people in the last few months. The government has given states the right to defund Planned Parenthood in an attempt to cut off access to abortion. Roll backs on what limited federal programs exist for addressing rape and domestic violence by the government show that women are not a priority at all. In addition, Title IX has come under assault in an attempt to strip what little rights exist for LGBTQ people when it comes to access to jobs, housing, education or improving the treatment of LGBTQ youth in school. The war on women and LGBTQ people waged by the political establishment is an attempt to roll back the gains of the radical LGBTQ and feminist revolt of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Join us as we analyze the roots of patriarchy and discuss the critical role of women and LGBTQ people in building the resistance.
//Defeating Pentagon and Wall Street global domination//
Unity was achieved between Democrats and Republicans finally as the priorities of the corporate elites and Pentagon took center stage with the bombing of Syria on basis of assumption and aggressive threats against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. These unilateral acts show that the war machine is in full swing and seeking to deepen U.S. involvement in military conflicts that threaten to become global as Russia and China continue to resist U.S. attempts at hegemony. These war drives are clearly, as in the case of Iraq and Libya before, about the bottom line of U.S. banks and corporations and have nothing to do with “humanitarianism” as often purported in the corporate controlled press. In fact, it is the U.S. military and corporate elites who have caused a true global refugee crisis as millions flee the bombs dropped by the U.S., the economic devastation caused by U.S.-backed free trade agreements, or the total destruction of the environment in their home countries by the overconsumption of fossil fuels in the developed world.
These poor and working people who migrate to the U.S. now face exploitative low-wage work, rampant xenophobic racism, and a life in the shadows attempting to avoid the current wave of ICE raids that continue to tear families apart. In spite of the attacks on immigrants and refugees the people have stood up and fought back with strikes and occupations across the country.
Join us for discussion on the potential for regional or global war, how capitalist destruction is driving mass global migration, the fight to defend immigrant families in the U.S., and how organizing to put power in the hands of the people can solve these systemic problems.
//Resurgent radical environmentalism and Native resistance//
New warnings come out each day from climate and environmental scientists of the devastating impact of our global economic system on rising temperatures, ocean acidification, resource depletion, and widespread desertification that has already led to mass extinctions and threatens human life on the planet. A closer look at any city across the country shows how this system allows corporations, especially oil and utility monopolies, to poison poor people and communities of color with their waste. These same companies who poison urban populations with the transport, refining, and consumption of fossil fuels are attempting to steam roll over Native communities. Natives who continue to defend their lands and treaties from the encroachment of resource extraction companies inspired poor and working people across the country during the Water Protector resistance to DAPL at Standing Rock. The current administrations irrational penchant for fossil fuels and racist disregard for the sovereignty of Native people was made abundantly clear with unilateral actions to eliminate environmental regulatory enforcement, silence all rational science on climate change, and move ahead with national oil projects that will violate Native reservations and sacred sites.
Join us for a discussion on the fight for Native self-determination, a sustainable existence, and how a people’s party can lead the way.
//From union struggle to workers' power//
Low-wage workers around the country continue to struggle for a union and livable wages through strikes and protests and in solidarity across industries. The fight for higher wages and better working conditions has continued to fuel a broader conversation about the vast wealth hoarded among the top 1% while wages for all workers have stagnated for decades. In addition, thousands of workers in public sector, healthcare, and teaching unions, among others, have been fighting to defend their organization against attacks by the political establishment who are bent on either eliminating unions or making them toothless through right-to-work legislation and other means. This assault on labor is the culmination of a decades-long war by the corporate elites to eliminate the militancy of workers organizations that had once commanded millions of people and struck mighty blows against corporate and banker domination. This erosion of militancy has been critical for the corporate elites to be able to further rob us of the wealth we produce while working for the companies they own.
Join us to learn how the struggle for union rights is central in the fight to improve the lives of all working people. We will analyze the role played by unions in the fight for revolution and the construction of a new world.
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