UNC Sit-In Against Union Busting and Sweatshops Continues…

By Linda Gomaa, Chapel Hill, NC

Several students and workers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are entering the sixth day of a sit-in in Chancellor James Moeser’s lobby, the longest sit-in at UNC since 1993.   About 25 students and workers entered the administration building on Thursday, April 17th and have been occupying it ever since.  These students and workers are affiliated with Student Action with Workers (SAW), a UNC group affiliated with United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) international, as well as several other campus groups that are part of the Sweatfree Coalition and community-based youth group, Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST).

Rev. Wright, Obama and racism in the U.S.

By LeiLani Dowell

FIST in New York City

Now that a Black presidential candidate has a real chance of winning the Democratic nomination and even the presidency, we’re once again asked not to talk about oppression. We’re supposed to reject the teachings of, for instance, Malcolm X, and even Martin Luther King Jr. We’re supposed to deny what, for so many poor and oppressed peoples in the United States and throughout the world, is a clear-cut reality. We’re not supposed to be angry—and we’re definitely not supposed to speak up and fight back.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Such is the case in the media-bashing of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former spiritual mentor of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

In a media flooded with racist, sexist and anti-LGBT images and voices, the words of a Black man calling the U.S. on its violence and oppression are labeled “hate speech.” Obama’s opponent for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton, went so far as to put Wright on a par with Don Imus—who is back on the air even after his racist, sexist rants made international headlines.

The attack on the Rev. Wright is nothing less than nationalist baiting and anti-patriot baiting. It is being used not only to undermine Obama’s campaign, but particularly in an attempt to defeat the Black struggle.

The media, as they will often do when attempting to defile someone’s character, have reduced Wright’s comments to mere snippets and sound bites of supposedly inexplicable outbursts against the U.S. Even in that limited context, it is hard to find fault in his words.

For instance, the idea that HIV was created to target people of color (and LGBT people) is not new, and understandable given the overall government attack on those communities.

FREE JENA 6:Anti-racists tell fascist gang ‘No nooses’

By Tyneisha Bowens

Jena, La.

Anti-racist activists from many parts of the country march in Jena, La., Jan. 21. FIST photo Tyneisha Bowens

One hundred and fifty anti-racist activists continued the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 21 as they confronted members of the white supremacist organization, the Nationalist Movement, in Jena, La. The event took place on Martin Luther King Day in this small Louisiana town that has been the stage for what is being called the new civil rights movement.

The Nationalist Movement was in Jena for what they called “Jena Justice Day,” which was in opposition to the September 2007 mobilization of tens of thousands people in support of the Jena 6 and the overall message of equality that Martin Luther King Jr. preached. The white supremacists recently won a suit with Jena giving them the right to march there without a permit, carrying nooses and white cross flags and even firearms. Various anti-racist organizations, groups, and individuals drove into the city to say “No to nooses!”

WW photo: Sara Flounders

The diversity of the anti-racist group, which included Black, Latin@, Arab, Asian, Native and white folks, showed the unity that is being forged between oppressed nationalities in the United States. People came out from Los Angeles; Chicago; New York; New Orleans; Atlanta; Jersey City, N.J.; Durham, N.C.; and Jena.

At 9 a.m. the anti-racist activists met at two checkpoints outside of Jena and caravanned in for safety. “We have been harassed by the police, pulled over and ticketed almost everyday,” explained one of the organizers from the January 21 in Jena Committee. After caravanning into the town, the anti-racists held a rally in Jena’s park where the crowd listened to speakers including police brutality activist Juanita Young, Rev. Raymond Brown of Louisiana’s National Action Network, a representative of the youth group FIST—Fight Imperialism, Stand Together, Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a member of the Common Ground Collective and activists from cities across the country.

Appeal to Black Reparations Movement: Join fight for Reconstruction in New Orleans & Gulf Coast

The following statement was issued by the Rocky Mount, N.C.-based Black Workers League Reconstruction Commission on Jan. 11.

The reparations movement is an important section of the African American liberation movement. It is made up of various political and ideological tendencies and class forces and represents the largest alignment of Black liberation organizations and activists inside of the U.S. It offers a basic framework for connecting the struggles of Black people inside the U.S. to the struggles throughout Africa and the African Diaspora against the continuing super-exploited and genocide committed against our peoples, lands and communities by U.S. and global capitalism.

Pan Africanists and internationalists must viewed reparations as a demand against U.S. and global imperialism for the redistribution of the wealth amassed from the historical and continuing oppression of Africa and the African Diaspora.

The demand for reparations is core to the struggle for African American self-determination, national liberation and for building socialism in the 21st century. This means that the reparations movement inside of the U.S. must be anti-imperialist, mass- based, and active in mobilizing Black people and allies for radical structural changes that address historical problems on national oppression, and that seek to alter the balance of power in favor of the struggles against U.S. and world imperialism.

On Int’l Human Rights Day, Workers Demand Collective Bargaining, End to Racism

By Dante Strobino

On Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, public-sector workers in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia—in a common struggle to deepen the protections under state law for collective-bargaining rights, and all organized by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America—held simultaneous news conferences announcing the most recent step in the International Worker Justice Campaign.

UE organizer Ashaki Binta at news conference. Photo: UE

They are requesting that the Inter-American Council on Human Rights, a body chartered under the Organization of American States, investigate why workers are denied the fundamental human rights to organize and collectively bargain labor contracts with their employers.

The workers in these three states all suffer from different conditions and laws but they all share the fact that none of these states protects their right to collectively bargain. North Carolina, the state with the worst laws and conditions, where public-employee collective bargaining is actually illegal, was the prime focus of this action.

For several years, UE along with Black Workers for Justice and other community and labor organizations have been building a grassroots movement to demand repeal of General Statute 95-98, the North Carolina law prohibiting collective bargaining for public workers.

That Charming Man: Morrissey, a Racist too?

By Yolanda Carrington

Morrissey at the South by Southwest Festival, 2006.

The United States isn’t the only society plagued with xenophobia, as a recent controversy over a legendary singer’s remarks shows. And we sure aren’t the only society where white folks’ understanding of systemic racism is jawdroppingly low, nor is this great land the only society where most white folks will do anything to avoid discussing race. The latest racism scandal in the entertainment world involves not a tired shock-jock or stand-up comic, but the ethereal voice behind such classics as The Queen is Dead and Meat is Murder.

WWP conference draws activists from all over

By Jaimeson Champion and Brenda Ryan
New York

The Workers World Party national conference held here on Nov. 17-18 drew hundreds of people from all over the country, many of whom had never been to a party conference before. They were moved by the party’s linkage of the immigrant struggle to the economic crisis and rising racism and its commitment to the unity of the class struggle.

Namibia Donadio with LeiLani Dowell and Tyneisha Bowens of FIST.

“The over-riding theme of the conference is for people to unite,” said Sandra Hines, an African American from Detroit. “This is a people’s fight to unite against capitalism, imperialism and racism. As an activist I have to pass this message along, to bring people into the movement. It’s our job to enlighten other people.” The experiences of others at the conference “fired me up to be an activist,” she said.

Hines engaged in a fierce battle this year, running for Detroit’s public school board in the Fifth District against Joyce Hayes-Giles. Hayes-Giles is vice president of the school board and vice president of Detroit’s gas and light company, DTE Energy. As part of her grassroots campaign, Hines successfully fought to keep one of the neighborhood schools from closing. Of the 15,000 votes cast, Hines got more than 5,000 to some 6,000 votes for Hayes-Giles. She is now fighting for the right of students to take schoolbooks home to study.

Many young activists and students attended the conference, sharing their experiences in the struggle and discussing ways to build class solidarity for a socialist future.

Dec 4th- Say No to Racism from the Mexican Border to Jena, LA

Tuesday, Dec 4th at UNC-Chapel Hill

12noon: Speakout in Pitt

Speakers from the following organizations:
Black Student Movement
Arab Student Organization
Muslim East Student Forum
Black Workers for Justice
Fight Imperialism-Stand Together(FIST)
and more TBA

fliers available here

The youth group Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST) is calling for demonstrations, student walk-ins, teach-ins, any and all concentrated action for Tuesday Dec. 4th. The action is in response to the anniversary of the arrest of Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis along with a minor for the beating of Justin Barker—a white youth who hurled racial epithets and taunts at the young men.

Hundreds protest racist, sexist atrocity in West Virginia

By Dante Strobino

In the biggest expression of anti-racist outrage since the Sept. 20 Jena 6 rally, nearly a thousand people from all over the country gathered in Charleston, W.Va., the state capital, on Nov. 3 to support Megan Williams, a 20-year-old Black woman who survived a vicious, racist gang raping, torture and week-long kidnapping.

FIST and Workers World Party National Conference, NYC, Nov 16-18

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