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Social Movements

Why Has Progress In The National Single-Payer Movement Stalled?

August 5, 2023 Ed Grystar, Counter Punch. , , ,
With the public support for a national single payer system remaining strong and the need greater than ever, why is the movement stalled? What are the key sources of our power? Who are our allies? What can we do and how do we focus our energies to build the power necessary to end profiteering and make health care free at the point of service? More than a decade after the misnamed Affordable Care Act, (ACA) we still have tens of millions without any coverage while millions more are saddled with high deductible, narrow network “junk health insurance” plans. The pandemic exposed the USA’s bankrupt for-profit privatized “healthcare system.”

Lessons From Gramsci For Social Movements Today

August 2, 2023 Mark Engler and Paul Engler, Waging Nonviolence. , , , ,
He has been called one of the most original political thinkers of the 20th century. Historians point out that “If academic citations and internet references are any guide, he is more influential than Machiavelli.” And his impact on the way we think about the processes of social change has been described as “little short of electrifying.” The accomplishments of Antonio Gramsci, born in Italy in 1891, are all the more remarkable considering that his life was both short and notably difficult: His family was destitute in his childhood; he was sick for much of his life; he spent the prime of his adulthood confined to prison by Benito Mussolini’s fascists after his own party’s attempts to foment revolution had failed; he was often denied access to books during his incarceration; and he died at the age of just 46.

The Unity Of The Youth Of The World

July 28, 2023 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , ,
From 28 July to 5 August 1973, eight million people, including 25,600 guests from 140 countries, participated in the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin (German Democratic Republic or DDR). The festival was a key activity organised by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), formed at the World Youth Conference held in London (United Kingdom) in November 1945. The 1973 festival marked an epochal moment: the Vietnamese appeared to be on the march against US forces while, from Mozambique to Cabo Verde, the peoples of Portugal’s African colonies were preparing to seize power, and in Chile the Popular Unity government was in a major struggle against copper multinationals and Washington.

Housing Protest In Philadelphia

July 28, 2023 Joe Piette, Workers World. , , ,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The event was part of the national convention of the Center for Popular Democracy. Speakers from Philadelphia’s housing movement, including Darlene Foreman and Mel Hairston of Save the UC Townhomes Coalition, and Mohan Seshadri with the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance of Pennsylvania. State Sen. Nikil Saval and City Council member Jamie Gauthier also spoke.In her speech, Foreman essentially gave a status report on the two-year-long struggle to save UC Townhomes, one of the last predominantly African American-occupied, affordable housing developments in Philadelphia’s University City area.

Guatemalans Call For ‘The Flowers March’ To Defend Democracy

July 27, 2023 Telesur, Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
“Criminal structures do not want to relinquish power,” said Alida Vicente, mayor of Palin, Guatemala. On Sunday July 23, the Highlands Farmers Committee (CCDA), the Palin Indigenous Mayor’s Office, and students from the University of San Carlos (USAC) called for a “March of Flowers” to defend democracy in Guatemala. This happens at a time when the Prosecutor’s Office is carrying out persecution against the Seed Movement party (Semilla) which may jeopardize the holding of the presidential run-off scheduled for August 20.The “Flowers March” seeks to oppose the “dark political landscape” that Guatemalan elites are trying to consolidate, said Vicente.

Caribbean People: We Must Raise Our Voices To Defend Our Region!

July 26, 2023 Caribbean Popular Organizations, Black Agenda Report. , , , , ,
The looming threat of a US military invasion of Haiti, now supported by CARICOM, demands that the people of the Caribbean raise our voices against such a threat and against the unending US-led militarization of the region. This militarization undermines the 2014 Community of Latin American and Caribbean States’ (CELAC) declaration that our region should be a zone of peace. The USA and its core group, who operate as colonial overlords of Haiti, wantonly violate Haiti’s independence and sovereignty, as they pursue their centuries’ long spiteful policy of punishing the Haitian people for using force of arms to end the enslavement of African people and pushing for the same outcome in other territories in the Caribbean and Americas.

Mutiny In South And North

July 24, 2023 Peter Mertens, People's Dispatch. , , ,
History proceeds in waves, and I think it is important to understand the movement of history. The unipolar era under the dominance of the United States is coming to an end. The future belongs to multilateral relations between countries and peoples, with mutual respect and reciprocity, without outside political or military interference. Within this framework, enormous numbers of people have committed themselves in recent days to building lasting relations between Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe. We all know: as the movement of history continues, some cling frenetically to the certainties of the old world going down. For some European forces, respect and reciprocity are still difficult concepts.

Don’t Let The Chain Of Freedom Break At Your Link

July 23, 2023 Loretta Ross and Scot Nakagawa, Convergence. , , ,
The last 45 years have seen the consolidation of the far Right. While “many white liberals have been so eager to put the ideology of white supremacy behind them that they declare it prematurely dead over and over again.” Smith College Professor Loretta Ross and 22nd Century Initiative Director Scot Nakagawa have both engaged for decades in the fight against the far Right. In this conversation they look at the lessons that  Ross’ work with the National Anti-Klan Network hold for the present; how the landscape of the Right has changed; and how we should orient ourselves to the present. Convergence Editorial Board member Marcy Rein edited the transcript of their hour-plus dialogue.

There Can Be No Justice Until Capitalism Is Removed From The Earth

July 19, 2023 Tanupriya Singh, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
“What is the path that we are going to chart towards socialism?” This is the question that animated the first day of the ‘Dilemmas of Humanity: Pan African Dialogues to Build Socialism’ conference, which is being held in South Africa between July 17 to 20. The conference has been divided into commissions, each with a mandate to deliberate upon a particular theme and draft a concrete plan of action which will be adopted in the form of a resolution on the final day. The commissions on July 17 addressed the themes of food sovereignty and agroecology, gender struggles against patriarchy, and urban struggles for housing.

Africa’s Path To Socialism

July 17, 2023 Tanupriya Singh, People's Dispatch. , , ,
On Monday, July 17, 200 delegates from progressive organizations, political parties, people’s movements, and trade unions across the African continent will gather in Bela-Bela, South Africa for the “Dilemmas of Humanity: Pan African Dialogues to Build Socialism” conference.  Over the course of four days, delegates will interact and deliberate on the myriad challenges that capitalism poses for working class people today, and importantly, advance concrete proposals of action to build socialism “within our lifetime.”  The event is being held at a critical juncture. “The world is changing, and it is changing very fast, the exploitation of the working class has deepened, [and] imperialism is getting more belligerent,” Kwesi Pratt Junior, the General Secretary of the SMG, told Peoples Dispatch ahead of the conference.  

The People Are The Builders Of The Brazil’s Unified Health System

July 8, 2023 Gabriel Brito, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
Brazil’s 17th National Health Conference brought a significant portion of the social mobilizations that led to President Lula’s electoral victory to the federal capital Brasilia. It was a rare opportunity to see all, or almost all, the social struggles from different corners of the country in one place. The National Health Conference represented an important gathering point for different activists and generations, highlighting the long-standing challenges in the pursuit of social justice. The National Health Conferences are spaces for activists and the population at large to conduct dialogue with the government and influence the priorities and working of the Brazil’s famous Unified Health System (SUS).

Peruvians Call For 10-Day Struggle Against The Boluarte Government

July 4, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , , ,
On July 1 and 2, various social organizations and trade unions from the 25 regions of Peru held the First National Meeting of Regions and Organized People in the capital Lima to unite forces against the de facto government led by Dina Boluarte. During the two-day meeting, the Indigenous, peasant, social and union leaders agreed to organize 10 days of continuous social protests to demand Boluarte’s immediate resignation, closure of right-wing dominated Congress, new general elections, a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution, freedom of those arrested during protests and justice for those killed by the Army and the Police in the mobilizations.

People’s Movements To Converge For Dialogues On Socialism

June 29, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , ,
People’s organizations, leaders, intellectuals and progressive public figures around the world are set to converge in South Africa later this year, to “confront the crises of humanity with concrete alternatives and solutions.” The III International Dilemmas of Humanity Conference, organized by the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA), will be held between October 14 and 18, in Johannesburg. As per a statement released on Wednesday, June 28, announcing the upcoming conference, movements from around the world have initiated the process of dialogues and coordination for the upcoming event, which intends to “to debate and create consensus that will lead to a common platform for reflection and action.”

On The Dialectics Of Socialism And Western Marxism’s Purity Fetish

June 20, 2023 Gabriel Rockhill, Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
I think the book is quite an significant achievement, at two levels at least. One is that it manifests the collective ethos of everything that you’ve been doing at Midwestern Marx, which is quite an incredible undertaking. It is very impressive that a group of people can build on their own such a significant, collectively resourced institute that provides political education, brings people into the struggle, breaks down complex ideas, makes them accessible to a large audience, etc.  You occupy a very significant position, and I think an important element of Carlos’s work has to do with the ways in which he’s been working with other people in this collective endeavor, not simply to fight intellectually against the purity fetish, but to build institutional power in order to struggle back against it.

The Childcare Movement Is Rediscovering Its Power

June 16, 2023 Pamela Haines, Waging Nonviolence. , , ,
Last month, hundreds of childcare workers, families and children gathered in front of City Hall in Philadelphia for a Day without Childcare and a demand for better wages. It was a rousing, passionate event. A lead organizer of the event — and a third-generation childcare provider — Shineal Hunter, was thrilled. “This is a grassroots effort,” she said. “It’s just a beginning, a starting point to educate as many providers, parents and stakeholders and get them to jump on board. This whole opportunity is allowing me to see how much power we have to make change happen. We just have to join together and speak up.”
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