The Left, Labor and Occupy (tags)
Barely half a year after it burst on the scene, the Occupy Wall Street movement is splintering left and right. This was inevitable in a movement that was united only in what it opposed and could never put forward a positive program, whether of reformist "demands" on the capitalist state or of revolutionary action against it. Liberals, who latched onto Occupy hoping it could pressure the Democratic Party in a more populist direction, want to expel "black bloc" anarchists. Reformist social democrats rail against "ultraleftists" in Occupy and cozy up to the labor tops. On the other side, many (but not all) anarchists oppose unions. Some are simply arrogant petty-bourgeois labor haters. Others are grappling with real problems, but with skewed analysis and dead wrong conclusions. Discussion of recent workers' struggles, from Wisconsin to West Coast longshore, underlines that the key question is leadership, but not just replacing one set of bureaucrats with another. Unions have always faced vicious anti-labor laws, but we have the power to defeat them. It is necessary to drive out the pro-capitalist bureaucracy, the labor lieutenants of capital, in order to turn the unions into instruments of revolutionary class struggle.
ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative) Has Brought Nicaragua out of Darkness (tags)
Nicaraguan foreign minister Samuel Santos explains how twice as many children are in school one year after the new government assumed power. Nicaragua now exports beans instead of importing beans. The South is helping itself.
ONLINE PETITION: Stop the War on Iran Before It Starts! (tags)
It is essential that all voices opposed to the devastation of a new war in the Middle East speak out now. We need funds for human needs, not endless war for empire. Iran suffered greatly at the hands of the US.
Green Party Candidate Camejo Had Command Performance In Debates (tags)
Green party candidate Camejo had a command performance on today's debates hosted by PBS. Only three candidates showed up for the affair, McClintock, Camejo, and Bustamante. He provided wittiness and comedy while being unafraid to expose the truth.