Peace Events Page

Occupy Homes Protest Forces Delay of Sheriff Sale

We republish here a press release from Occupy
Homes MN following a successful campaign to
stop US Bank from auctioning off the Vinje
family's home. Thanks to all Socialist
Alternative members across the country who
participated in the national call-in campaign
to US Bank VP Tom Joyce. - Ty Moore

After a week of escalating pressure demanding
US Bank postpone the sheriff's sale of John and
Lucinda Vinje's home, Occupy Homes won another
11th hour victory today. John Vinje led a
contingent of 50 Occupy Homes MN supporters
into the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Civil
Division where the sale was to take place at
11:00am this morning. Speeches, chants, and
song filled the marbled hallways in the ground
floor of city hall. No potential buyers were
seen entering the courtroom the entire time,
and just after 11:30am it was announced that
US Bank had delayed the sale to May 29th.

Following the victory, John said: "This shows
that the power is now with the people, and not
with large, monolithic corporations, like US
Bank. Homeowners throughout Minnesota facing
foreclosure, facing sheriff's sales, should
get together with their community and demand a
postponement and renegotiation. They should get
connected with Occupy Homes because we can save
homes throughout the state of Minnesota when
we all work together."

Today's action followed a week of escalating
pressure on US Bank, including a national call-
in campaign aimed to VP Tom Joyce, and a march
on US Bank CEO Richard Davis' mansion on April
7th. Ty Moore, an organizer with Occupy Homes
explained: "We've got the banks scrambling
already, but this fight is just beginning.
John's victory, following Monique and Bobby's
victories, is sending a message. Minnesota
homeowners aren't going to leave their homes
quietly and in shame anymore. It's the banks
and CEOs like Richard Davis who should be ashamed!"

Occupy Homes MN achieved national media attention
after winning Bobby Hull's foreclosed home back
after US Bank bought his property at a sheriff
sale, and repeatedly delaying the eviction of
Monique White, who also received her original
mortgage through US Bank. John and Lucinda
Vinje are among a growing number of homeowners
joining together through Occupy Homes to fight
back against the unjust and illegal banking
practices behind the foreclosure crisis.

John and Lucinda Vinje bought their home in 2008,
the first house either of them had ever owned.
John is an Air Force veteran now working as a
security guard, and Lucinda has worked a
government job for ten years. But when
financial difficulties caused them to fall
behind on payments by just two months, US Bank
refused their request to repay their arrears in
installments and immediately began foreclosure
proceedings. Meanwhile, Lucinda has been forced
into "medical retirement" due to a chronic
condition, adding financial strain on the family.

If US Bank would renegotiate their mortgage to
current market value as the Vinje's request,
they could afford the payments. After six
months of delays, in March US Bank offered them
a measly $97 less on their monthly payments.
Both John and Lucinda have worked their entire
lives, but now stand to lose the only home they
have ever owned.

************************************************

Trayvon Martin Murder:
Another Victim of Racist U.S. Capitalism

Mar 23, 2012
By Christian Brooks

On February 26, 17-year old Trayvon Martin was
murdered in cold blood. He was unarmed. His
only crime was being young, black, and wearing
a hoodie. A national outcry has emerged because
Martin's killer, George Zimmerman - a self-
appointed "neighborhood watch volunteer"-has
claimed self-defense and the police have still
not arrested him!

Police officials say there is "no evidence to
contradict Zimmerman's self-defense claim,"
but the 911 tapes clearly demonstrate that
Martin was chased down and shot. In fact,
Zimmerman has a clear history of racial
profiling as he has made 46 calls to 911
regarding "suspicious" persons in the past.
We demand the immediate arrest and prosecution
of Zimmerman with an independent community
investigation of the incident that includes
representatives of civil rights & workers organizations.

The police just put Trayvon in a body bag and
took him to the morgue as a "John Doe". They
made no effort to contact his family even
though they had his cell phone. Trayvon's
family didn't find out for nearly three days!

Trayvon is a victim of a modern-day lynching,
which exposes, once again, the ugly underbelly
of U.S. society and the institutional racism
and criminalization of youth that every black
community across the country faces every day.
The U.S. has a higher rate of incarceration
than any other nation, with over two million
people in prison, the majority of which for
non-violent offenses, and they are
overwhelmingly people of color.

Record of Repression

This is not an isolated incident, but is
directly in line with the Sanford Police
Department's track record. The officer in
charge of this case was involved in a previous
case, in which he initially didn't arrest a
police lieutenant's son for attacking a black
homeless person on camera. Clearly, the official
justice system is unreliable to keep our communities safe.

Although not as severe, the Occupy movement has
also faced repression and begun to get a taste
of what the police force is all about:
maintaining the status quo and defending a
social order where the rich get richer and the
poor get poorer.

The policies of the 1%, such as budget cuts and
closing schools, home foreclosures and
evictions, layoffs, low-wages, and overseas
wars only hurt us, the vast majority, while
they give themselves massive bank bailouts and
tax breaks. Furthemore, the attacks on working
people and the poor disproportionately affect
black and Latino communities.

In the last three years, Obama has done nothing
to fundamentally improve the conditions of
black people. He has betrayed the hopes in him
as the first black president. His words for the
family of Trayvon Martin, coming only after a
national outcry, ring hollow. Under Obama
institutional racism hasn't been eradicated.
If anything, it has gotten worse with increased
black unemployment, decimated social services,
and increased racial profiling by the police.

For instance, New York's "stop and frisk" policy
of cops stopping people on the street without a
warrant has resulted in searches of 4 million
New Yorkers, over 85% of them black and Latino.
Racism is built into the capitalist system that
both parties, Democrats and Republicans, help
to defend and oversee. As Malcolm X said "You
put the Democrats first and the Democrats...
put you last."

This whole system is rotten to the core. To get
justice for Trayvon Martin we need to follow
the example of the civil rights movement and
mobilize mass protest actions in the street and
mass civil disobedience. To end racism and
poverty altogether we need to fundamentally
transform our society.

Over a million people have signed an online
petition for Zimmerman's arrest. Thousands have
mobilized in the streets in major cities. We
need to take these actions further by
mobilizing demonstrations which link up the
murder of Trayvon Martin with a broader struggle
against racism, making demands such as:

Immediately arrest & prosecute George Zimmerman for murder.

For an independent investigation and inquiry
by community members, including representatives
of civil rights and workers organizations.

Repeal the "stand your ground" legislation,
which undermines public safety by legalizing
murder in cases where gun owners "feel threatened."

End police brutality and the institutional
racism of the criminal justice system.

Abolish the death penalty.

Invest in rehabilitation, job training, and
living-wage jobs, not prisons or detention centers!

End racial profiling by the police and other
racist practices such as "stop and frisk."

End the racist war on drugs.

End unemployment and poverty, which is the basis
of most crime, by creating living-wage jobs for
all through a massive public works program.

We need to break with the two parties of big
business, which clearly have no interest in
dealing with the problems facing African-
Americans, or working people and youth in
general. Both parties represent a system that
has failed to provide decent living standards
or the prospect of a safe future. Instead we
need to promote independent left candidates as
a step towards building a new party for working
people and youth that fights consistently
against racism and all forms of oppression.

You can't have capitalism without racism. We
need a society based on the needs of working
people, youth, and the environment - a socialist
society that establishes genuine social
equality and democratic rights for all.

***********************************************

Urgent Solidarity:
Stop the Eviction of Monique White!

Like millions of other families, a single
mother living in North Minneapolis, Monique
White, is facing an eviction hearing on Monday.
The police could arrive any day after that to
rip her and her family out of their home.

Occupy Homes MN is fighting back! We can stop
it! You can help! Let the Senior VP of US Bank,
the Mayor, and FreddieMac's attorneys, know
that when Monique speaks, her voice is multiplied
by the millions that make up the 99%.

*You can make a difference
with three short phone calls!

*Call back every day until they negotiate with Monique White.

*Invite your friends to do the same

Make sure to introduce yourself!


-Call R.T. Ryback, Mayor of Minneapolis

Remind him that the police protect and serve the
people, not the profits of the big banks. Tell
him not to use the Minneapolis Police Department
to evict Monique White!

Number: 612-673-2100

-Call Tom Joyce, Senior Vice President of US Bank
Tell him to negotiate with Monique White, and
give her an affordable mortgage.

Number: 612-303-3167

e-mail: thomas.joyce@USbank.com


-Call Reiter and Schiller,
local FreddieMac Attorney's office

These lawyers have handled hundreds of thousands
of foreclosure cases. Tell them to postpone the
eviction notice on Monique White.

Number: 651-209-9760

DONATE: Donate to Occupy Homes today
to help Monique and other homeowners
fend off the big banks.

Background Story

Monique bought her home in North Minneapolis in
2003, the first person in her family to own a
home. She is a single mother.

She made timely payments on the home until the
housing bubble burst, causing the entire economy
to spiral into recession. Because of state
budget cuts, Monique and 2,000 other co-workers
lost their jobs overnight. Monique kept her
part-time job, but could not afford the payments.

Monique says "I'm not asking for a handout.
All I'm asking for is that they come to
meet with me and negotiate."

On Friday, March 24th Monique was served with
an eviction notice. 51% of the homes in her
neighborhood have been foreclosed on already;
US Bank received record profits last quarter.

It's time to draw the line in the sand, and
demand US Bank stop ruining neighborhoods,
and negotiate with all homeowners.

It's time to tell Mayor Ryback that the police
department should serve the people, not the
profits of the banks.

Please sign the change.org petition
demanding that US Bank negotiate with Monique!

http://www.change.org/petitions/ceo-us-bank-
negotiate-with-monique-to-stop-her-eviction

***********************************************

Mobilize to Support Longshore Workers

Defend Living Wage Jobs in Longview, WA

January 12 , 2012
By Ramy Khalil and Patrick Ayers
SocialistAlternative.org

Longview, Washington has become ground zero for
one of the most important battles in both the
labor and Occupy movements. In this small town
on the southwestern coast of Washington, the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU) is engaged in a crucial battle with EGT,
an international conglomerate of grain
exporters. EGT is trying to operate the first
grain terminal in 70 years without ILWU labor,
attempting to break the power of the ILWU.

For over two years, Local 21 of the ILWU in
Longview has been waging a heroic struggle to
defend living wage union jobs. Now, EGT is
expected to send its first ship to the new
terminal at Longview in January or early
February to load grain bound for Asia using
non-ILWU labor. Local 21 is calling on the
Occupy movement and workers everywhere to
resist this attack on the union by responding
with a massive protest in Longview when the
ship arrives. Occupy Longview is calling on
people to make it impossible for the ship to
load grain without ILWU labor. It's absolutely
crucial that unions, Occupy activists, workers,
and young people everywhere mobilize to Longview
to help defend these decent-paying union jobs.

It's been over two years since EGT was first
awarded public land and tax breaks to build the
first export grain terminal in the U.S. in 25
years. Taxpayers contributed to a $200 million
state-of-the-art facility that's guaranteed to
rake in profits for exporters, and now EGT
wants to operate it on the cheap. EGT has sued
the Port of Longview attempting to wiggle out
of their legal contract that requires them to
use ILWU labor, and they walked away from
negotiations with the ILWU, hiring Operating
Engineers Local 701 to scab on the ILWU,
despite the engineers union being condemned
by a whole slew of unions.

Local 21 has had jurisdiction over jobs at the
Port of Longview for more than 70 years, and
good ILWU jobs have been the essential lifeline
that hard working families depend on. If EGT
gets away with violating its legal contract to
operate this terminal with ILWU labor, what
other jobs on the waterfront will be attacked next?

Local 21 has faced enormous obstacles in its
fight against the EGT multinational corporation.
Practically the entire establishment - the
police, the courts, the media, and the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) - have sided with
EGT against the ILWU. The media spread lies
about Local 21 taking "hostages" in an action
in September. Police have hounded union members.
220 people have been arrested in the local of
225 members on spurious charges in this struggle.
And when the EGT ship arrives, the ILWU has
been told the ship will be escorted by the
U.S. Coast Guard, helicopters, and police from
multiple jurisdictions, even though EGT will be
breaking its legal obligation to use ILWU labor!

This is the first known attempt to use the U.S.
military to intervene in a labor dispute on the
side of management in 40 years since the
historic postal strike of 1970 when President
Nixon called out the Army and National Guard in
an unsuccessful attempt to break the strike.
The struggle between the ILWU and EGT has
exposed the nature of capitalist society where
the system is completely stacked in favor of
the richest 1% against working people.

In spite of all the forces arrayed against local
21, Local 21 has a lot of support from unions,
the community, and Occupy, and too much is at
stake for Local 21 to back down. That's why the
Longview community and supporters throughout
the region felt they had no choice but to use
militant tactics including unauthorized wildcat
strikes, blockading trains, and dumping grain
on train tracks.

The ILWU expects to receive possibly up to 4
days' notice when the EGT ship arrives. When
that ship arrives and the ILWU puts out the
call to action, everyone must do everything
they can to come protest in Longview.

Like the historic labor struggle in Wisconsin in
February 2011, this action is a crucial battle
for all workers, not just the ILWU. It has the
potential to be a turning point for the labor
movement and the Occupy movement that could
strengthen the movement of the 99% against the
1%. If EGT succeeds, however, it will be a
green light to other employers to intensify
exploitation of workers. As the Secretary/
Treasurer of the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor
Council stated, "in 2014, the ILWU will
negotiate its master contract with the Pacific
Maritime Association. If they lose, you can bet
the PMA will take notice and hit hard."

Occupy Longview issued a statement "calling out
to all occupies, from New York City down to
Florida, all the way through to the West Coast,
to join us in solidarity." ILWU Local 21 and
the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council
have both passed resolutions and organized
public meetings calling on the wider labor
movement and "everyone in the 99%" to mobilize.

The ILWU is one of the most militant unions in
the country that has a tradition of supporting
other workers and struggles by oppressed groups,
and now the rest of the 99% needs to return the
favor to the ILWU.

Unions are the main organizations that working
people have to resist the attacks of big
business. That's why all workers, especially
port workers, must support this call and make
the trip to Longview. Not just ILWU members,
but Teamsters, non-union truckers, railroad
workers - all workers as well as Occupy
activists and young people have an important
stake in making sure we organize the most
powerful action possible with the widest
number of people.

EGT and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA -
shipping companies association) are clearly
ruthless capitalist entities, and we must be
prepared to defend ourselves with any necessary
tactic. The PMA is pressuring the NLRB to seek
an injunction to declare any disruptions of
ports illegal under the anti-union Taft Hartley
Act. While this is no minor threat that could
result in fines and permanent criminal records,
we cannot accept corrupt laws designed to
provide special privileges for the richest 1%
when living wage jobs are on the line. The best
defense against Taft Hartley is to build the
biggest, strongest movement of workers and
supporters possible, effectively making it
politically unviable for EGT. the PMA, and the
government to enforce Taft Hartley. At the same
time, we need to work to repeal the Taft Hartley
Act by building a new political party of unions,
workers, the Occupy movement, and our allies
that clearly stands with the 99%, not the
richest 1%. It's also crucial that the entire
labor movement and Occupy mobilizes massive
solidarity and prepares for any retaliation
against the ILWU.

With a determined approach and massive militant
action, the labor movement and Occupy can stop
EGT from operating a scab terminal, we can
defend ILWU jobs, and we can help build a new
vibrant labor movement.

Mobilize to Longview!
Defend Living Wage Jobs!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!

***********************************************

Labor Solidarity

Defend ILWU Local 21

Longshore workers are battling for their jobs
and our future. The multinational EGT is trying
to bust International Longshore and Warehouse
Union (ILWU) Local 21 by hiring scab labor in
their new grain terminal. West Coast Occupy
forces are mobilizing to support their struggle
and help block an expected grain ship in mid
or late January.

Donate contributions to:
ILWU Local 21, Attn: EGT Fighting Fund,
617 14th Avenue, Longview, WA 98632

For more info: 206-424-4547 or seattleportsolidarity@gmail.com

Sponsored by members of Occupy Seattle

************************************************

The 1919 Seattle General Strike

Excerpt from Howard Zinn's
A People's History of the United States:

The war was hardly over, it was February 1919,
the IWW leadership was in jail, but the IWW
idea of the general strike became reality for
five days in Seattle, Washington, when a walkout
of 100,000 working people brought the city to a halt.

It began with 35,000 shipyard workers striking
for a wage increase. They appealed for support
to the Seattle Central Labor Council, which
recommended a city-wide strike, and in two weeks
110 locals - mostly American Federation of Labor,
only a few IWW - voted to strike. The rank and
file of each striking local elected 3 members
to a General Strike Committee, and on February
6, 1939, at 10:00 A.M., the strike began.

Unity was not easy to achieve. The TWW locals
were in tension with the AFL locals. Japanese
locals were admitted to the General Strike
Committee but were not given a vote. Still,
sixty thousand union members were out, and
forty thousand other workers joined in sympathy.

Seattle workers had a radical tradition. During
the war, the president of the Seattle AFL, a
socialist, was imprisoned for opposing the draft,
was tortured, and there were great labor
rallies in the streets to protest.

The city now stopped functioning, except for
activities organized by the strikers to provide
essential needs. Firemen agreed to stay on the
job. Laundry workers handled only hospital
laundry. Vehicles authorized to move carried
signs "Exempted by the General Strike
Committee." Thirty-five neighborhood milk
stations were set up. Every day thirty thousand
meals were prepared in large kitchens, then
transported to halls all over the city and
served cafeteria style, with strikers paying
twenty-five cents a meal, the general public
thirty-five cents. People were allowed to eat
as much as they wanted of the beef stew,
spaghetti, bread, and coffee.

A Labor War Veteran's Guard was organized to
keep the peace. On the blackboard at one of its
headquarters was written: "The purpose of this
organization is to preserve law and order
without the use of force. No volunteer will
have any police power or be allowed to carry
weapons of any sort, but to use persuasion only."

During the strike, crime in the city decreased.
The commander of the U.S. army detachment sent
into the area told the strikers' committee that
in forty years of military experience he hadn't
seen so quiet and orderly a city. A poem printed
in the Seattle Union Record (a daily newspaper
put out by labor people) by someone named Anise:

What scares them most is
That NOTHING HAPPENS!

They are ready For DISTURBANCES.

They have machine guns

And soldiers,

But this SMILING SILENCE

is uncanny.

The business men

Don't understand

That sort of weapon...

It is your SMILE

That is UPSETTING

Their reliance

On Artillery, brother!

It is the garbage wagons

That go along the street

Marked "EXEMPT

by STRIKE COMMITTEE."

It is the milk stations

That are getting better daily,

And the three hundred

WAR Veterans of Labor

Handling the crowds

WITHOUT GUNS,

For these things speak

Of a NEW POWER

And a NEW WORLD

That they do not feel

At HOME in.

The mayor swore in 2,400 special deputies, many
of them students at the University of Washington.
Almost a thousand sailors and marines were
brought into the city by the U.S. government.
The general strike ended after five days,
according to the General Strike Committee,
because of pressure from the international
officers of the various unions, as well as the
difficulties of living in a shut-down city.

The strike had been peaceful. But when it was
over, there were raids and arrests: on the
Socialist party headquarters, on a printing
plant. Thirty-nine members of the IWW were
jailed as "ring- leaders of anarchy."

Socialist Alternative:

www.SocialistAlternative.org
seattle@SocialistAlternative.org
206-713-9098

*************************************************

West coast ports shut down!

On December 12th the ports up and down the West
Coast, and several more nationally, faced major
protests organized by Occupy activists alongside
rank-n-file longshore workers, truckers, and
others. Despite widespread condemnation in the
corporate media and opposition from conservative
union leaders, the actions were a major success.

Mass community pickets successfully shut down
the ports in Oakland, Portland, and Longview,
WA, while port traffic in Los Angeles, Long
Beach, Seattle, and elsewhere was substantially
disrupted. Linked here is the text of a leaflet
Socialist Alternative members passed out at the
port protests on December 12th.

Check SocialistAlternative.org

in the coming days for a fuller report,
analysis, and proposals for next steps.

***********************************************
***********************************************

New peak of occupy movement with protests in Oakland

OCCUPY WALL STREET NEWS:

On October 26, the Seattle Central Community
College President issued an open letter
prohibiting Occupy Wall Street protesters from
relocating the base of their operations to the
south plaza of Seattle Central Community College.

http://www.king5.com/news/Seattle-Central-
Community-College-responds-to-Occupy-Seattles
-planned-move-132653008.htm

However, under massive, determined pressure
from protesters, students, faculty, and the
labor movement, he has now backed down!

He completely reversed himself, issuing this
new public statement on Friday, October 28!

http://capitolhillseattle.com/2011/10/28/occupy-seattle
-central-a-letter-from-occupy-to-the-farmers-market

This victory shows that when workers, unions,
and young people take a strong stand and
mobilize hundreds of people, we are more
powerful than those officially in power!

Now we need to go all out to get as many people
as possible to show support and help us camp out
and occupy the south plaza of the college.

Come stand in solidarity with students, faculty,
and staff struggling against tuition increases,
layoffs, and budget cuts! Come resist budget
cuts to social programs for people of color,
women, the elderly, and workers, while the
richest 1% receive bailouts and tax breaks!

Join in solidarity with demonstrations all
around the world today demanding a 1% "Robin
Hood tax" on all financial investment
transactions and currency trades.

Support for the Wall Street protests has been
demonstrated by a student walkout of 200-300
Seattle Central Community College students and
from the faculty union, student government,
campus publications, and staff members.

However, the Seattle Central Community College
President, Paul Killpatrick, has not welcomed
the movement. Please call and/or email the
Seattle Central Community College President
to tell him:

Do not allow police harassment of students,
staff, or other Wall Street protesters camping
in front of Seattle Central Community College

Do not retaliate against students or staff for
supporting education budget cuts protests!

Phone: (206) 934-4144

Email: pkillpatrick@sccd.ctc.edu

Copy and email the model letter below.

If you can't camp out, please come be there in
support as long as you can this weekend, drop
off food, blankets, camping supplies, financial
donations, film the police, contact politicians
and the media.

Please forward this widely!

MODEL LETTER TO SEATTLE CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENT

Please copy and email this letter to the college
president ASAP. It's not so bad if they receive
a bunch of similar letters as long as they hear
from LOTS of people. Email it to

pkillpatrick@sccd.ctc.edu

and also call his office at

(206) 934-4144.

Dear President Killpatrick,

I support the Wall Street protests, and I urge
you not to allow police to violate citizens'
Constitutional rights to freedom of speech
and freedom of assembly. The police arrested
peaceful protesters, and the Mayor banned a
protest camp at Westlake, leaving protesters
no option but to relocate elsewhere. You, on
the other hand, can avoid enormous bureaucratic,
logistical headaches with the police and bad
publicity by simply providing the protesters
a space outside your college to demonstrate peacefully.

A central issue we are highlighting is the need
for more government investment in education
rather than bank bailouts, subsidies, and tax
breaks for the richest 1% and Wall Street firms.

Seattle Central Community College and other
colleges are being absolutely devastated by
budget cuts. The only way to begin to reverse
these catastrophic budget cuts, which are only
aggravating the economic crisis, is increasing
taxes on those who can afford them most -
millionaires and corporations - and government
job creation programs to stimulate the economy.

We are also pressuring the government to end
the extremely costly wars to direct those funds
toward jobs and educational institutions,
including Seattle Central Community College.

We and the M.L. King County Labor Council are
mobilizing thousands of union members and
supporters to participate in the demonstration.

We urge you, specifically:

1. Not to allow police harassment of students,
staff, and demonstrators camping in front of
Seattle Central Community College

2. Not to retaliate against students or staff
who support these protests against education budget cuts

Support for relocating the protest to your
college has already been demonstrated by a
student walkout of 300 Seattle Central Community
College students, by the the faculty union,
student government, campus publications, staff
members, and Student Leadership. Students and
faculty are organizing emergency meetings to
organize student walk-outs and high profile
protests if you violate citizens' rights, which
will bring only further headaches and negative
publicity, which we hope you will avoid.

Protesters will clean up after ourselves, and we
will not damage any property. We have contacted
the Farmers' Market, and they have made clear
that they have no problem with our presence,
and we will not interfere with their market.

Thank you for your understanding.

************************************************

Go here to download flier and spread the word!

http://www.pariscommune.org/sccc-handbill.pdf

GO here to download poster!

http://www.pariscommune.org/sccc-poster.pdf

Go here to donate or mail a check payable to
Socialist Alternative to PO Box 45343, Seattle, WA 98145.

http://socialistalternative.org/


We must:
defend our Constitutional First Amendment rights
to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

We must show the government and the police,
who are controlled by the richest 1%, that they
cannot violate 99% of the people's right to
protest. But we will only succeed if lots of
people camp out and show support. Join us!

No tuition hikes, layoffs, or education budget cuts!

Jobs not cuts! Healthcare not war!

Tax corporations & the richest 1%!

Break Wall Street's power - Build the movement of the 99%!

Speak out against police repression of protests!

Defend freedom of speech and assembly!

***********************************************

Hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!
No cuts to education and social services!

We need jobs, not cuts! Fund a federal public
works program to create millions of jobs
for the unemployed.

Make Big Business Pay! For major tax hikes
on the super-rich and corporations!

End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan!
Slash Pentagon spending!

We cannot afford any of the proposed cuts to
education and the social safety net. We need to
build massive protests in the streets to make
our voices heard. Protests are already being
organized in the home district of Patty Murray,
national co-chair of the Super Committee and
other members of the Super Committee.

By spreading these protests across the country
in a coordinated national week of action, we
have a rare opportunity to attract media
attention and have an impact on this
crucial national debate.

Join us! We will be organizing in cities
across the country.

This unpresedented attack on social services
that working families depend on cannot go
unanswered! Check in with us regularly for
day by day updates. If you would like to
organize in your own area, or for more info'
on how to get involved, please Contact Us at:

contact.socialistalternative@gmail.com


We hope you will join our cause to tell congress:

WE NEED JOBS NOT CUTS!

**********************************************

NEWS ON - Occupy Seattle:

Monday morning 75 Seattle police moved in to
seize over 150 Occupy Seattle tents in Westlake
Park and arrested 9 people. While this is a
setback, it is not unexpected. Nor does it take
away at all from Saturday's huge victory
described below when hundreds of people defied
the police and the Mayor and re-asserted our
right to occupy Westlake and protest Wall Street.

The key lesson, described below, is that we can
win if we mobilize large enough numbers of
workers and youth with well-organized mass
direct action. In order to continue to defend
our occupation from police repression we need a
larger, more organized, determined movement.

The Occupy Seattle movement needs to rapidly
discuss this latest setback and work out plans
for how to respond. Socialist Alternative will
post our ideas as soon as possible.

=============================================

Mass Occupation Defeats Seattle Mayor, Police -
Big Victory for Occupy Wall Street Movement

By Patrick Ayers

SEATTLE, WA - On Saturday, the Occupy Seattle
movement against Wall Street surged forward.
Between 3,000 - 5,000 took part in the largest
protest here since the protests started a
couple weeks ago. This was followed by the
largest General Assembly yet, with over 600
people in attendance. Then, hundreds stayed for
an action called "the night of 500 tents" - a
mass overnight occupation of Westlake Park,
the symbolic heart of Occupy Seattle.

This successful mass direct action marked a huge
victory for our right to protest and to build a
powerful voice against Wall Street. For weeks
the city government had chipped away at our
ability to protest at Westlake in Seattle's
notorious wet weather, and the occupation was
edging toward the brink of collapse.

"First the City took away our tents. Then they
told us we couldn't sleep under the awnings.
Then they said we couldn't have umbrellas or
tarps" explained Kshama Sawant, an Occupy
Seattle activist and member of Socialist
Alternative. "We fought back by mobilizing a
mass occupation with hundreds of people, and
the City has backed down for now. So, we are
staying. Westlake is occupied."

Early in the day it was clear that the overnight
occupation could succeed. Hundreds of people
sat down in the middle of Fourth Ave during an
afternoon march to a local Chase bank in
downtown Seattle. Protesters made impromptu
speeches using the "people's microphone"
where the crowd loudly repeats speeches made
by activists so the entire crowd can hear
what is being said.

The crowd cheered loudly when speakers called on
people to continue the movement and to spread
it, occupying schools, banks and workplaces.
But, the loudest cheers were in support of the
mass overnight occupation of Westlake Park.

At 5 PM, tents were rapidly set up - in defiance
of the Democratic Party Mayor Mike McGinn's ban
on tents who had warned protesters they would
be arrested if they stayed at the park past 10
pm. Despite this intimidation, one activist
counted 167 tents by midnight.

40 protesters had been arrested at Westlake in
the preceding days. But on Saturday, just a
handful of police stayed through the night in
an unsuccessful effort to harass and intimidate
protesters, with nobody being arrested.

What made the biggest difference on Saturday was
our numbers. Before Saturday, the Occupy Seattle
movement had only achieved relatively small but
important numbers of overnight protesters.
Activists learned from the success of the mass
occupation in Portland, Oregon where hundreds
have camped every night since October 6, and we
made a huge effort to mobilize large numbers of
people to force the city authorities to back down.

We also could count on the support and sympathy
of wide layers of the public. While the protests
in Seattle have involved no more than a few
thousand people, thousands more have been
following the occupation online in support.

A diverse group of supporters that could not
stay overnight donated supplies, tarps, and
tents to those that could. A local pizza shop
arranged a deal so supporters could donate
pizzas to the occupiers and have them delivered.

Debate in the Movement

On one hand, Mayor McGinn denied us the right to
occupy Westlake Park, the commercial hub of
Seattle. On the other, he offered City Hall -
a much smaller, less visible space - as a
"legal" alternative to Westlake. A minority of
Occupy Seattle activists have illusions in the
Mayor and police and supported the move to City
Hall, but the vast majority saw the move as
totally unacceptable.

"The movement should decide for ourselves where
to protest and when the protest ends - not the
Mayor and not the police," explained Philip
Locker, a Socialist Alternative member who
helped bring dozens of Occupy Seattle activists
together on Saturday night to coordinate
defense of the Westlake occupation.

The debate over City Hall or Westlake had
created bitter divisions, demoralizing many
activists. A way to overcome this and take the
movement forward was found on Wednesday night,
when Socialist Alternative members made a
proposal to the General Assembly for a mass
occupation of Westlake of hundreds of people
with the bold name, "the night of 500 tents."

The proposal found overwhelming support and
helped rally the activists who were eager to
defend our right to protest Wall Street. The
proposal received a boost from the favorable
mood at the Wednesday General Assembly after
more than 800 students walked out of classes
from at least four different Seattle colleges
and multiple high schools.

The most determined activists and most of the
hardcore occupiers themselves - the ones who
had braved arrest and the rain to provide the
backbone of the movement - immediately helped
spread support for the action. Posters,
handbills, and emails were immediately
distributed and then massively distributed
around the city and nearby cities, helping to
generate a buzz.

While we did not reach the 500 tent mark as we
had promoted, we achieved the far more important
goals of retaking Westlake on the basis of a
mass re-occupation, defeating the city's attacks
on our right to protest, and taking forward
the growing movement here against Wall Street.

Socialist Alternative played a decisive role
helping the movement in Seattle make this
important victory. Socialist Alternative
members have participated since the beginning,
playing prominent roles in the General Assembly,
and working with other activists to build
Saturday's mass occupation and make it a success.

We also got an enormous response for our
socialist ideas. This experience highlights
both the tremendous opportunities ahead for
socialists to help protest movements find a
way forward, and the opportunities to win a
new generation to building a socialist future.

Please sign this petition to Seattle Mayor
McGinn to tell the police:

"Hands Off Occupy Seattle Protesters!"

We demand that you, Mayor McGinn, call off the
police, and that Occupy Seattle be allowed to
exercise free speech and voice its opposition
to corporate control by demonstrating in
Westlake Park in the city center where the
targets of these protests, the multi-national
corporations and banks, are located.

We demand no restrictions on First Amendment
rights to assemble, including attempts to seek
protection from the weather, any time - day or night.

Anne Slater,
Radical Women

RWseattle@mindspring.com
www.RadicalWomen.org

Break the power of Wall Street -
Build the movement of the 99%!
Tax corporations & the richest 1%!

Jobs not cuts!

Education not war!

Speak out against police repression of protests!

Defend freedom of speech and assembly!

For more on the Occupy Seattle movement, visit

www.OccupySeattle.org

************************************************
************************************************

A Socialist Strategy to Build the
Occupy Wall Street Movement

All around the world attention has been drawn to
the occupation of Wall Street. The protests
have captured the imagination of thousands and
inspired new occupations which are spreading
across the U.S.

The police crackdown in New York, intended to
intimidate this movement, completely failed
to break our spirit. Now we are more determined
than ever to fight. Inspired by revolutionary
upheavals in Egypt and across North Africa, as
well as the mass youth occupations in Spain and
Greece, protestors have taken to the streets of
New York and cities across the U.S. to stand up
to the domination of Wall Street and Big
Business over our lives.

Below the surface there is deep anger in U.S.
society which only seemed to be getting a
twisted expression in the right-wing lunatics
of the Tea Party. But the mass movement in
Wisconsin this spring, and now the occupation
of Wall Street provide a glimpse of the
enormous potential to turn that anger into a
progressive social movement.

How can we take the struggle forward?

Many are occupying to "liberate space" in order
to build a new, more equal and just community,
hoping it will inspire others to follow. While
the Wall Street occupation is an example of a
community based on democracy, cooperation and
solidarity, unfortunately the occupation alone
will not be enough to build a mass movement
capable of changing society.

Many have alluded to Egypt saying that a growing
occupation with one basic demand is how the
dictator was overthrown. But in fact, the
situation was more complicated than that. In
the week before Egypt's dictator Mubarak was
ousted, the working class entered the scene
with decisive strike action paralyzing key
parts of the economy.

The occupations in Spain and Greece have been
much bigger than Wall Street, but they, too,
need the more powerful forces of the working
class to move into action in order to win.

In Wisconsin, a huge occupation of the Capitol
lasted for over 3 weeks and was at the center
of mass demonstrations of the workers and youth.
They could have won if that movement had moved
toward a general strike of public sector workers
to shut the state economy down.

Instead the Wisconsin battle was consciously
derailed by the Democratic Party and the top
union leadership by diverting the mass movement
into a campaign to recall the Republicans from
power... to elect Democrats in their place.

However, the Democrats, like the Republicans,
are a party of Wall Street and Big Business,
and they offer no solutions. We need an
independent struggle which seeks to draw in
the widest layers of workers and youth.

United we have the power to withdraw our labor,
stop "business as usual," and hit the banks,
corporations and ruling elite where it counts.

We need to build up the confidence to take such
bold measures. That's why Occupy Wall Street
needs to call for mass demonstrations around
key demands that address the burning issues
that working people and youth face like jobs,
education, healthcare and so on.

System Change

Not only the economy but society as a whole is
in a deep crisis. Global capitalism is a failed
system that cannot overcome the problems of
growing inequality, poverty, mass unemployment,
environmental destruction, and war which it
creates. The movement has to challenge Wall
Street and both parties of big business. We
must stand up to their policies where they try
to solve their economic crisis on our backs in
order to maintain a system which only benefits
the elite in the first place.

But we must also provide a clear alternative.
We need to fundamentally transform society to
one not based on profit but instead on meeting
everyone's basic human needs. The only real
alternative to corporate greed and capitalism
is democratic socialism where the economy,
workplaces, and society as a whole is
democratically run by and for the overwhelming
majority of people.

Join Socialist Alternative! We Say:

Spread the occupations across the U.S. and into
schools and communities. For systematic, mass
campaigning to mobilize the widest layer of
workers, young people & labor unions into struggle.

Organize weekend mass demonstrations that call
for: No cuts to social services, A massive jobs
creation program, Major tax hikes on the super-
rich and big business, End the wars, Slash the
military budget, Defend union & democratic rights.

Build on the National Week of Action to combat
the Congressional Super Committee plan for $1.5
trillion in cuts to social services.
We demand jobs not cuts!

Build the Bellingham protest

Prepare to run independent anti-corporate,
working-class candidates in 2012 to challenge
the policies of the two parties of Wall Street
as a first step towards forming a new party of
the 99%, a mass workers' party.

End the dictatorship of Wall Street! Bring the
big banks that dominate the U.S. economy into
public ownership and run them under the
democratic management of elected representatives
of their workers and the public. Compensation
to be paid on the basis of proven need to small
investors, not millionaires.

Build the movement to replace the rotten system
of capitalism with democratic socialism and
create a new society based on human need.

*************************************************

GLOBAL CRISIS -- GLOBAL RESISTANCE!

The Revolt against Capitalism and the Socialist Alternative

A wave of revolt is sweeping the world.
In the Middle East, uprisings topple dictators.
In China, mass strikes defy repression. In
Wisconsin, workers occupy the capitol building
for weeks. And as global capitalism plunges
into a renewed recession, workers and youth
are responding with general strikes, mass
occupations, and powerful protests.

The super-rich continue to demand even more tax
cuts, budget cuts, and layoffs. But a growing
majority around the world are declaring,
“We won’t pay for your crisis!"

************************************************

Tacoma Teachers Defy Judge and Continue Strike!
Sep 14, 2011

By Alton Sierra and Mary Smith

By a vote of 87%, more than 1900 teachers went
on strike Tuesday morning in Tacoma. Instead of
negotiating with teachers today, the school
district petitioned the court which ordered
teachers back to work. However teachers showed
great solidarity, voting this morning to defy
the injunction and continue the strike.

The main issue is that, under the proposed
contract, principals and administrators would
have the power to arbitrarily transfer teachers
based on a subjective assessment system,
overriding seniority. Instead of teachers being
protected from arbitrary discipline and at whim
transfers, teachers will be at the mercy of the
administration and principal, who would target
activist teachers. Other issues include adding
two students to each class & a 1.9% cut in pay.

The teachers have been on strike for three days
now, the school board refused to negotiate with
teachers over the summer and in September hired
a private negotiator who is trying to ram
through attacks on teachers & the teachers' union.

The Tacoma News Tribune has been leading the
charge against teachers and printing hateful
rhetoric that included a blog recommending that
people who oppose the strike drive by and show
their disagreement by holding up their middle
finger. Visiting the picket line, we found
teachers were confident and enthusiastic and
told us they have received an outpouring of
community support. Many students are standing
with their teachers on the picket line and
passing drivers show their support with
frequent honks. Local businesses have also
provided discounts to teachers and offered
restroom facilities, free coffee and donuts.

As Socialist Alternative members, we have been
visiting the picket line daily, standing in
solidarity with the teachers and students.

A victory for the teachers would be a step forward
for defending public education in Tacoma.

---------------------------------------------

GET ACTIVE!

Longshore Workers Dump Grain, Shut Down Ports:
Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett ports all reportedly shut down

Sep 10th, 2011

By Patrick Ayers

Hundreds of longshore workers in Longview,
Washington state, broke into a new $200 million
grain terminal and dumped more than 10,000 tons
of grain on railroad tracks on Thurs, Sept 8th.

The ports of Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett were
all reportedly shut down by wildcat actions
as longshore workers spontaneously flocked
to Longview in support.

This militant action is the latest development
in a dispute between the International Longshore
Workers Union (ILWU) Local 21 & EGT Development,
a consortium of three companies that wants the
new grain terminal to operate without the ILWU.

Since July ILWU members and supporters have sat
down on train tracks and occupied the new
terminal, resulting in 100 arrests, but there
were no attempts to bring in grain shipments.

But last week a federal judge issued a temporary
restraining order at the request of the
National Labor Relations Board, which said ILWU
pickets had harassed EGT workers. Once the
restraining order was in place, the railroad
decided to try once more to ship grain

-----------------------------------------------

Book Review: Reviving the Strike
Aug 31st, 2011

By Marty Harrison

In a refreshingly straightforward style, Joe
Burns argues persuasively that the cause of
union decline is our inability to wage a
successful strike. That is, one which shuts
down production and compels the employer to
accede to union demands.

His new book, Reviving the Strike, details the
decades of anti-union legislation, National
Labor Relations Board decisions, and Supreme
Court rulings that have outlawed everything
that works: sympathy strikes, bans on
replacement workers, secondary boycotts,
and other muscular tactics that gave unions
a fighting chance.

**********************************************

Tar Sands Solidarity Seattle:
Tell Obama, No Keystone Pipeline!

Thousands of national leaders and everyday
citizens are protesting in Washington DC
against the proposed Keystone XL tar sands
pipeline. We implore Obama to honor his
campaign promises, to say NO to lobbyists
that would put American land from the
Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico at
great risk.

Join Bill McKibben of 350.org, labor leaders,
celebrities, major US environmental leaders,
and people like Cherri Foytlins who WALKED
from New Orleans to DC to protest the dirty,
dangerous tar sands. In part of Alberta the
size of Florida, an area that must remain a
precious forest, land is being scraped and
mined, rivers and lakes are being toxified,
all for a sandy, gritty oil substance that
must stay in the ground, not sent to Texas,
not sent to China.

Support the 381 brave activists arrested in
DC so far since Aug. 20. Support the thousands
prepared to be arrested into September to
protect our country and our climate from an
unfathomable crime against humanity, against
nature and against good sense.


************************************************

How to Organize a Union In Your Workplace

With the economic crisis threatening to enter
into another recession, working people are being
forced to pay for the crisis we did not create,
through cuts to education, social programs,
layoffs, and unemployment. Meanwhile the
perpetrators of the crisis, banks and big
business, enjoy record profits and generous
federal bailouts.

The inspiring mass struggle in Wisconsin against
the attack on collective bargaining rights (the
right for working people to collectively bargain
with management over pay, benefits, working
conditions, etc), education, and social programs
coupled with the 45,000 strong Verizon worker
strike, demonstrates that unions and the labor
movement are vital vehicles to resist the
attacks to our living standards.

With Democratic politicians presiding over severe
cuts to our social safety net and hardly any
attempt to create jobs, how are we working people
to fight for a better life and a brighter future?

Discuss the benefits of you and
your co-workers joining a union!

************************************************

Soldiers Organize & Fight Back:

"Justice for Sgt. Kirkland!"

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?
eid=266227136725060

Active-duty soldiers, veterans, military
families speak-out at Fort Lewis;

Eyewitness accounts of the wars and mental
health treatment from soldiers and veterans

The case of Sgt. Kirkland exposes the criminality
of the entire system - from abusive mental health
care, to endless wars we have no reason to fight

Win justice for Kirkland, and the millions of
lives ruined by the Pentagon's decisions.

Soldiers collectively organize in their own
interests to combat the absurd orders and
criminal treatment from this government...
you can get involved.

For more information, email

info@marchforward.org

or visit

www.MarchForward.org

************************

More info on the case:

“All the clinicians up here are being
pressured to not diagnose PTSD”

- Army Mental Health doctor

Last year Sgt. Kirkland, an infantryman stationed
at Fort Lewis, was on his second combat tour in
Iraq when he was sent home for mental health
reasons. Sgt. Kirkland attempted suicide three
times in a matter of 2 weeks, then was rated a
“low risk for suicide” by Army mental health
doctors, mocked and ridiculed by his chain of
command, given no treatment but handfuls of
pills, then assigned to a room by himself (a
violation of Army regulations for soldiers at
risk of suicide). Sgt. Kirkland killed himself
shortly thereafter. He left behind a wife, baby
daughter, and a caring family.

Sgt. Kirkland is one of thousands who have been
killed by the Army's criminally negligent mental
health care. But this time was different...

Fellow soldiers in Kirkland's unit, 4-9 Infantry,
began organizing together against the treatment
they were receiving and publicly speaking-out to
expose the crisis in today's military:

A government that has been carelessly sending us
for 10 years to 2 unpopular, endless occupations;
a government that has billions for defense contractors
but "not enough money" to stop a record-
breaking suicide epidemic.

Go here to read more:

http://www.answercoalition.org/march-forward/
stateme​nts/soldiers-speak-out-on-memorial-day.html

But the campaign to win justice for Kirkland and
to expose the criminality of the system is just
getting started. Thousands around the country
have signed the petition, and have gotten the
word out to many more. Attention around this
blatant example of how much our lives matter
to Washington is growing nationwide.

Go here to sign the petition:

http://www2.answercoalition.org/site/Survey/ACTION
_R​EQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&SURVEY_ID=8441

Please join us as veterans and soldiers lead
the way by taking their lives into their own
hands and organizing against the reckless orders
that have cost so many lives.


*************************************************
*************************************************

Capitalist Leaders Desperate to Calm Turmoil
Clare Doyle, International Secretariat of the CWI

As their system continues to slide into its worst
crisis since the 1930s, the frantic efforts of
world capitalist leaders to reverse the process
are farcical, contradictory and ineffective.
“Is anyone in control? Is this a runaway train?”
asked a presenter on a British news programme on
Monday evening - the day Wall Street crashed by
6% and markets everywhere plummeted.

Read online at:

http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5220

-----------------------------------------------

Israel: Mass Movement Erupts Against Rule of Capital
Shahar Ben-Khorin, Socialist Struggle Movement
(CWI Israel/Palestine)

6 August 2011 saw 300,000 people flooding the
streets of Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities
in Israel roaring: "The people demands social
justice!" – echoing the slogans of the
revolutionary upheavals in the Arab World.

In real terms, it was the largest ever
demonstration in Israel. With officially low
unemployment and a growing economy, Israel is
now shaken by an historic mass movement. Not
yet by the oppressed Palestinian masses, but
mainly by Israeli Jews, putting the support
for the regime into question.

Read online at:

http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5218


------------------------------------------------

London Riots: Fatal Police Shooting
Sparks Eruption of Protest
Sarah Sachs-Eldridge, Socialist Party
(CWI England & Wales)


Tottenham is located in the borough of Haringey,
north London, where over 10,000 people claim
jobseeker’s allowance. One ward, Northumberland
Park, is among the most deprived areas in Europe.

The council has voted to add to this immiseration
with £41 million in cuts to vital public services
and jobs. Tottenham is also where the 1985
Broadwater Farm riots took place, sparked by the
death of Cynthia Jarrett, linked to the police.
And now Tottenham is burning again.

Read online at:

http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/5219


-------------------------------------------------

Both Parties Complicit in Rotten Debt Deal
- Time to Fight Back
By Teddy Shibabaw and Ty Moore

A rotten deal of historic proportions has been
cut. Using the looming threat of a disastrous
debt default as cover, Democratic and Republican
leaders rushed a bill through Congress to raise
the debt ceiling and cut $2.5 trillion over ten
years from the federal budget. There were no tax
increases on the wealthy, not even a limited
closing of some tax loopholes. Virtually all the
pain will fall on working-class and poor people,
through cuts to programs and services.

Read online at:

http://www.socialistalternative.org/
news/article12.php?id=1656


*************************************************

Murdochgate:

What is the solution to the corruption
in corporate, for profit media?

Nationalise Murdoch’s press!
12/07/2011

‘Murdochgate’ is Britain’s Watergate

Editorial from the Socialist, paper of the
Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales)

‘Murdochgate’ is Britain’s Watergate. In
politics, as in nature, the ‘butterfly effect’
operates. A seemingly small event – the famous
metaphor of the flutter of a butterfly’s wings –
can begin a chain of events resulting in massive
unforeseen consequences. In the case of the
Watergate break-in, it led to the discrediting
and downfall of Richard Nixon, the President of
the most powerful nation on earth, the US.

Cameron and his corrupt, rotten government
deserve the same fate today. Watergate exposed
the rottenness at the heart of the US
administration and threatened the social system
it was based upon, capitalism. The US ruling
class took fright, in particular, at the
seemingly out-of-control, semi-dictatorial regime
of Nixon and his acolytes, which continued and
expanded the adventure of the Vietnam War that
was not over by the time of his eviction from
the White House. But Watergate also lifted the
lid to expose the web of lies and conspiracies
involving capitalist politicians, criminals and
the state. Only by the diligence of a few
committed reporters and the fact that Nixon had
taped all his crimes and misdemeanours did the
truth eventually come out. Similar revelations
are now taking place here. Cameron, the Murdoch
empire and the police have been involved in a
corrupt attempt to subvert the democratic rights
of the British people.

It was the exposure of the disgusting hacking of
murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s mobile phone
by the lowlife employed by Murdoch’s News
International which represented the tipping
point. The mass outrage that this provoked –
similar to but on a much larger scale than the
reaction in Liverpool to the Sun’s attack on
Liverpool football fans at Hillsborough –
shattered the plans of Murdoch and others like
Cameron and the Coalition government to ride out
the storm provoked by the hacking scandal. Only
days before, it was clear that the so-called
Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was preparing to
agree to Murdoch’s bid for majority ownership of
satellite station BSkyB which would allow him to
control 40% of Britain’s media outlets. It is
very doubtful – if not ruled out – that even
Cameron could proceed to ratify this deal in the
face of mass outrage at the Murdoch empire and
its acolytes. A mass campaign to oppose the deal,
largely organised through new media such as
social networking, has mobilised 170,000
objections to the takeover of BSkyB!

Further revelations about the hacking of the
families of war dead and the relations of the
7/7 victims only reinforced the mood. In its
wake, politicians, capitalist reporters and
commentators, and the police who hid the
evidence of criminal activity by Murdoch
employees – including those at the top of News
International, Rebekah Wade and Murdoch’s son
James, were all hypocritically and nauseatingly
scrambling over one another to distance
themselves from their former patron. Alastair
Campbell, Blair’s PR front man, rubbished
weapons expert David Kelly and journalist Andrew
Gilligan for telling the truth about the ‘dodgy
dossier’ and weapons of mass destruction.

Now, with a straight face, he writes in
the Financial Times [11 July]:

“At the reception [for Rebekah Wade’s wedding] I
had a brief conversation with Mr Cameron. I said
I hoped he would not win the upcoming election,
but that if he did, and if he wanted to act to
improve political debate and standards in the
press, I would support him… ‘It’s got worse,
hasn’t it?’ he said. I replied that he would be
a much stronger prime minister were he to take
office not feeling he owed anything to the big
media groups. At that point Mr Murdoch joined
us, and we changed the subject. Perhaps we
should not have done so. That we did, however,
illustrated something of the dishonesty at the
heart of what are essentially political and
commercial relationships.” Cameron has even had
the brass neck to argue ‘we were all in it
together’ in kowtowing to Murdoch. Well we aren’t!

All those who fought back against capitalism were
vilified mercilessly by the Murdoch and right-
wing gutter media in general. Tony Benn, when he
stood for the deputy leadership of the Labour
Party, was compared to Hitler, as was Arthur
Scargill before, during and after the miners’
strike. The heroic Liverpool Militants, along
with those who scored a victory over Thatcher
in the epic poll-tax battle, were singled out
for special treatment. Tommy Sheridan is in jail
today because of a vendetta by Murdoch personally
to ‘get this little communist’. It has now been
subsequently demonstrated by the latest
revelations that it was Murdoch and his shameful
‘witnesses’ who were lying and, in Andy Coulson’s
case, suppressing evidence which would have
helped Tommy Sheridan in court.

Cameron, Osborne and the rest of the gang that
dominate this illegitimate Coalition government
cannot be allowed to just distance themselves
from Murdoch now. Cameron and his wife wined and
dined, and ‘hacked’, in the horse-riding sense,
with Rebekah Wade and James Murdoch. They were
as thick as thieves in what was dubbed the
‘Chipping Norton’ set. Cameron unbelievably still
describes Coulson as a ‘friend’: ‘Tell me who
your friends are and I will tell you who you are.’

More importantly, this affair has exposed the
virtual stranglehold which Murdoch has exerted
over British government policy and all important
aspects of life in the last decades. One Murdoch
editor told John Major – the previous Tory Prime
Minister – that he would pour ‘a big bucket of
shit’ over his head if he did not comply with
Murdoch’s orders. Andrew Rawnsley, of the
Observer commented: ‘And the foul stuff was duly
tipped over him.’ Tony Blair famously flew to
Australia to get on his knees to Murdoch in
order to gain his support before the 1997 election.

Once elected, Murdoch was often referred to as
the ‘24th member of the Cabinet’! Murdoch
visited Blair three times personally in order
to pressurise him on behalf of George Bush to
support the Iraq invasion. Not that Blair needed
all that much persuasion. But it is a fact that
the mass of the British people demonstrated
unequivocal opposition to this; but that was
incidental. The diktats of American imperialism
through the medium of Murdoch were pre-eminent.
Moreover, we learn now that as Blair was
preparing to leave 10 Downing Street in 2007,
Murdoch was already lurking in a Bentley ready
and eager to see the new man Gordon Brown to
press on him his orders!

It is to the eternal shame of ‘Labour’ leaders
that it has been media ‘personalities’ like Hugh
Grant and comedians like Steve Coogan who have
been left to tell some of the truth about the
News of the World and Murdoch. Coogan stated on
Newsnight [8 July]: “People keep saying it is a
very bad day for the press. It is a wonderful
day for the press: a small victory for decency
and humanity… People talk as if they have fallen
below their usual high standards. They were
already in the gutter, it is just that they have
sunk lower than anyone thought they could.”

Even now, with his back to the wall, Murdoch
through his acolytes has warned new Labour
leader Ed Miliband that News Corporation ‘will
turn on him and his staff’ for having the
temerity to demand the resignation of Rebekah
Wade at the same time as he expressed opposition
to the BSkyB deal going ahead. However Miliband
did this only after the scandal of the Milly
Dowler hacking was revealed. Moreover, his
strategy director, Tom Baldwin, was urging
Labour MPs only a few weeks ago not to raise
the issue of Murdoch’s takeover of BSkyB!

Previously, he sipped champagne while attending
Murdoch’s party just weeks previous to this! He
now claims this was merely a ‘social occasion’!
Nothing could be further from the truth. All the
evidence shows that Murdoch invitees are there
to be politically nobbled, to ensure that
political leaders of all the main parties toe
Murdoch’s line. If they don’t, they can expect
the same kind of treatment meted out to the
‘uncompliant’. Murdoch even tried to use Tony
Blair to lean on Gordon Brown when he was prime
minister to silence Labour MP Tom Watson, who
has courageously been to the forefront together
with Guardian journalists like Nick Davies in
exposing this scandal.

All of this indicates the warped character of
British ‘democracy’. The Observer, in its
editorial, admits as much: “Over 40 years,
Murdoch convinced the establishment that he can
make or break political reputations and grant or
take away electoral success. In doing so, he has
come close to gelding parliament, damaging the
rights of citizens and undermining democracy.”

Everyone can have their say and vote as they
like so long as the big capitalists and the
hired liars in the press and the media can
decide what happens. It is not just Murdoch
who exercises semi-dictatorial rule in seeking
to shape public opinion in Britain. Equally
undemocratic are those press moguls like Paul
Dacre of the Mail group whose journalists often
dip their pens in mad-dog saliva against
individuals and the labour movement.

The concentration of media ownership has now
produced a situation whereby 10 corporations own
75% of the media. This has resulted in huge job
losses amongst journalists. 200 journalists and
other staff have lost their jobs with the closure
of the News of the World. We can honestly say
that we do not regret the demise of this
muckraking paper. But no one can support in a
period of mass unemployment people being thrown
out of their jobs and in such an arbitrary
fashion. And how many tears were shed by the
capitalists for the 1,400 workers who lost their
jobs when Murdoch moved his newspapers lock,
stock and barrel to Wapping in 1986?

However, the current undemocratic situation of
the press and the media in Britain will not be
cured by a few cosmetic measures such as ‘the
strengthening of the press complaints committee’.

This will be no more effective in checking anti-
working class gutter journalism than police
violence will be checked by the police
investigating themselves. Nor is it sufficient
merely to call, as some on the left incredibly
have done, for the ‘break-up of the Murdoch empire’.

We don’t want mini-Murdochs to replace the slain
monster. All those responsible for violating the
confidentiality and rights of individuals should
be brought to book, charged and if found guilty
should receive the appropriate punishment. But
even if this was to happen it would not alter
one jot the grip exercised by undemocratic forces
– beholden to capitalism – over the media.

New alternative socialist media must be built by
the trade unions and working people. But this
must be accompanied by raising now the need, in
the first instance, for the democratic
nationalisation of the printing presses,
television and radio under democratic popular
management and control – beginning with the
state confiscation of the resources of News
Corporation, which has demonstrated that it is a
danger to democracy itself. We, the working class
and the labour movement, do not want to take over
the Sun, the Daily Mail or even the ’august’ Guardian.

We opposed the state monopoly of news and
information that existed in Stalinist states.
The real alternative is democratic working-class
and popular control of the press and media in
general. This will not result in a monopoly for
the government or one party but allow access to
the media in proportion to political support.

Capitalism and Stalinism defend undemocratic
control of the media by a minority. Socialists
stand for taking the ‘production of information’
out of the hands of a minority and into the
hands of the majority, which would allow full
freedom of discussion and decision-making.

*************************************************


Lessons from

EUROPEAN STUDENT PROTESTS

Fight our own budget cuts here!


Democratic Gov. Gregoire is proposing
yet another budget with brutal cuts
to education and healthcare:

Cut over $100 million from higher ed.
and raise UW tuition by 11%/yr for 2 yrs.

That’s over a 50% increase since 2008!

Slash $2.2 billion from K-12 schools

Eliminate Basic Health for 66,000
elderly, children and poor people

End Disability Lifeline payments for the disabled

By refusing to campaign for “tax the rich”
Initiative-1098 or raise taxes on corporations,
Gov. Gregoire is forcing students & workers to pay
for the economic crisis that the bankers created.

Millions of European students and workers have
taken to the streets against tuition hikes and
public service cuts. Join us in organizing
similar protests here to defend public education
... and our future!

- Visit

www.SocialistAlternative.org

for great pro-labor, anti-war news, analysis & campaigns.

- To find out more or get involved with
Socialist Alternative, contact:

206-841-5566

Seattle@SocialistAlternative.org