Re: Reminder: There is a War(s) On: Mayday, Chalmers Johnson In Le Monde and more

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

How do we effectively protest the SEIU riot?
Susan

On Sunday, April 13, 2008, at 10:26 PM, Rich Gibson wrote:

> Dear Friends,
>
> There are actions running up to Mayday in communities all over the US  
> and around the world, many of them in response to cutbacks in  
> education, health care, and jobs demanded by ruling elites. When they  
> say "Cutback," or "Get Back," we should say, "Fightback."
>
> Here is the call for Mayday actions from the Rouge Forum  
> http://www.richgibson.com/rouge_forum/CutbackFightbackFlyer.pdf
>
> and an original Mayday flyer (takes a minute to come up as it has  
> graphics)
> http://www.richgibson.com/rouge_forum/mayday.pdf
>
> and the traditional Rouge Forum Mayday flyer  
> http://www.richgibson.com/mayday.htm
>
> and a Mayday song, en espanol  
> http://calacapress.com/gigantedespierto/mp3/PrimeroDeMayo.mp3
>
> Mayday is an international workers' holiday. Rouge Forum members have  
> celebrated Mayday for eleven years with parties, demonstrations, book  
> talks, film (like "This Land is Mine," or "Salt of the Earth,") and  
> discussion groups. However, until the massive general strike initiated  
> by immigrant workers in 2006, most people in the US thought that  
> Mayday, was "Law Day," a day set aside to celebrate obedience and  
> loyalty to laws designed to protect property, not people, promoting  
> the ethics of slaves.  
> http://www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/2008/home.shtml
>
> In the face of real promises for perpetual war from all the actors in  
> the hothouse for witless patriotism that is US capitalist democracy we  
> should do all we can to shut down schools, the military, and  
> workplaces on Mayday, marching in the streets against the empires'  
> wars, against the nationalism that makes them possible, and against  
> further cuts into the lives of poor and working people---and against  
> the failed system of capital itself---toward a world where people can  
> live more or less equitably, creatively, in freedom and community.  
> Surely we can see the choice is equality or barbarism. Where we can,  
> we should conduct freedom schools about the history of Mayday and why  
> it is we must fight again.
>
> Here is Chalmers Johnson writing in Le Monde on Why the US is Really  
> Broke http://mondediplo.com/2008/02/05military
> but oil profits and CEO pay are higher than ever. The degree of the  
> cuts, or the gains made by working people, will depend on the level of  
> resistance, and its wisdom, that we are able to mount. The coffers are  
> not empty.
>
> Most Mayday actions will take place outside and beyond the support of  
> most unions, other than the Longshore Workers in Oakland who will shut  
> down the ports for one shift.
>
> As an indicator of the current state of the US trade unions, we should  
> condemn the leadership of the Service Employees International Union  
> who used violence this weekend to attack leaders of the California  
> Nurses Association at the Labor Notes Conference in Michigan. SEIU  
> President Andy Stern's  SEIU''s fascist thugs assaulted CNA's leaders  
> who are, now, among the last unionists in the US who understand that  
> workers and employers have contradictory interests. Stern is busy  
> collecting dues from union members, really extorting money as he makes  
> deal after deal with employers to win check-off. His bogus Justice for  
> Janitors campaign typically wins workers the minimum wage, minus dues  
> to Stern, and declares that a victory.
> http://www.calnurse.org/media-center/press-releases/2008/april/rns- 
> condemn-violent-service-union-attack-at-michigan-event-hundreds-of- 
> seiu-staff-bused-in-to-smash-into-meeting-to-attack-rns-and-break-up- 
> conference-on-union-democracy.html
>
> New organizations, like Calcare or the Rouge Forum, will be necessary  
> to develop the theory and practice of worthwhile resistance in the  
> coming period.
>
> all the best,
> r
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