Author Archives: Biko

A Profound Attack on Workers and Their Organizations

Viewed by many as the most serious assault on labor organizations in recent history, the Supreme Court decision in Janus vs AFSCME is a call for the unions and worker organizations to adopt more militant and aggressive tactics in dealing with employers. Following is a statement by the Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) with an analysis and ideas on the way forward.

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U.S. SUPREME COURT  DEALS BODY BLOW TO PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS, HURTS ALL

“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans such as ‘right to work,’” Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1964. “It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.  “Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions for everyone…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer, and there are no civil rights.”

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Dismantle the US Africa Command(AFRICOM)

As part of the annual African Liberation Day Observances, the Black Alliance for Peace has called for removing US troops from the African Continent. They have called on the

On May 25, African Liberation Day, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) called on the United States government to dismantle the U.S. African Command (AFRICOM) and withdraw all U.S. forces from the African continent. This demand is in line with the main objective of the newly formed Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases—of which BAP is a founding member—which was formally launched in January. The coalition demands the closure of 800-plus U.S. military bases in other countries, which would save more than $150 billion that could then be re-allocated to realize the economic human rights of the working class and poor in this country.

In our statement on African Liberation Day we called on the members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to publicly oppose the aggressive militarization of the African continent, ramped up by the Obama administration and being continued by the Trump administration.

 

During the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) actions to end the War Economy, Militarism and the Proliferation of Gun Violence that began this week, BAP is calling on the campaign to take an unequivocal stance in opposition to AFRICOM. Just as we called on the CBC to take a public position against the aggressive expansion of U.S. militarism in Africa, we are also asking the PPC leadership and all activists supporting this week of actions to join us in demanding the United States pull out of Africa and close all U.S. military bases on foreign soil.

For BAP, it is clear the U.S war on “terrorism” in Africa was and remains a subterfuge to expand U.S. influence and its physical presence there. The destruction of Libya, the ongoing war in Somalia, the dismemberment of Sudan, the millions of lives lost in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the widespread political instability throughout the continent is the concrete result of U.S. policies and not some internal or externally motivated “terrorism” and therefore must be opposed by all who claim to represent the interests of Black people.

The PPC states “[t]he truth is that instead of waging a War on Poverty, we have been waging a War on the Poor, at home and abroad, for the financial benefit of a few.” There certainly has been a war. However, it is not “we” who are waging this war but them, the racist capitalist oligarchy that has been operating against the interests of the majority of the people in the United States and throughout the world.

BAP sees a clear connection between the war being waged against Black and poor people domestically through the Obama and Trump administrations’ Department of Defense 1033 program, which has resulted in the obscene militarization of the police, and the U.S. commitment to “full spectrum dominance” that translates into a permanent war against colonized people of color globally. That is why we agree with the PPC’s focus on gun violence, but we say the focus must be even more explicit.

Netfa Freeman, organizer with Pan-African Community Action (PACA) and a member of the BAP Coordinating Committee, points to both the internal and external on issues of militarism and gun violence: “The double standards and dirty-trick twists and turns of the U.S.’s industrial-police-military-intelligence complex has operated on two complementary and parallel tracks when it comes to war, repression, and militarism in Africa and in Black communities within U.S. borders,” he says. “Those tracks are militarized domestic repression in the form of over-policing, police murders and mass incarceration, and in Africa the phony war on terrorism.”

The PPC’s clear demand for “demilitarization of our communities” including “ending federal programs that send military equipment into local and state communities” is in sharp contrast to the support of repressive federal policies by a majority of Black lawmakers at the national level.

In July 2014, two months before the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, 80 percent of the CBC voted against ending the 1033 program; last July, a majority voted in favor of the obscene increase in the military budget that exceeded the $54 billion increase demanded by Trump; and just a week or so ago, a majority of the caucus voted in favor of a right-wing federal “Blue Lives Matter” bill, making “assaults” on police officers a federal hate crime!

The Democratic Party that vehemently opposed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he finally broke with the Johnson administration and the party establishment to oppose the Vietnam War, and which gave political cover to and justifications for the murderous assault against the Black Liberation Movement, is the same party that today supports the war agenda of the corporate and financial oligarchy. It is the same party that under Obama accelerated the 1033 program and prosecuted only one of the dozens of killer-cops that executed black, Latinx and Native people across the country.

BAP is not fooled by the diversionary politics of the Democratic Party. We are clear that opposition to war, militarism and all forms of gun violence requires taking on both parties representing the two wings of the ruling class. A bill providing a blank check to the Trump administration to wage war across the planet in the form of the new “authorization to use military force” is an example of the bi-partisan commitment to permanent war and repression as U.S. policy.

Moral stances also require explicit political positions. Opposition to war and gun violence requires that real political connections are made and concrete positions taken against policies that perpetuate the moral offenses that we oppose.

It also means that those who claim to represent the oppressed must be held to account. The members of the Congressional Black Caucus have failed to represent the interests of their Black constituents who have consistently opposed war and domestic militarism.

BAP applauds the effort by the PPC to recapture the moral ground lost to the right-wing counter-revolution of the 1970s and ‘80s as well as to the moral bankruptcy of the Obama presidency. However, we believe that in this era of right-wing ascendency represented by Trump and the liberal authoritarianism of the Democratic Party, it is important the interests and politics of the working class and poor are clearly delineated from those of the capitalist oligarchy. This means that our politics must be clear and our rhetoric devoid of liberal ambiguities in order to expose the nature and interests of the oppressive system and state.

Our task today is even more pressing than it was 51 years ago when Dr. King called on the oppressed and their allies to defeat “the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism.”

That is why during this week of action called for by the PPC, BAP is making a clear call for the U.S. to leave Africa and for the people to control the police in their communities. Nothing short of this would reflect the morality and politics of the original Poor People’s Campaign and the revolution of values advocated by Dr. King.

On May 25, African Liberation Day, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) called on the United States government to dismantle the U.S. African Command (AFRICOM) and withdraw all U.S. forces from the African continent. This demand is in line with the main objective of the newly formed Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases—of which BAP is a founding member—which was formally launched in January. The coalition demands the closure of 800-plus U.S. military bases in other countries, which would save more than $150 billion that could then be re-allocated to realize the economic human rights of the working class and poor in this country.

In our statement on African Liberation Day we called on the members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to publicly oppose the aggressive militarization of the African continent, ramped up by the Obama administration and being continued by the Trump administration.

During the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) actions to end the War Economy, Militarism and the Proliferation of Gun Violence that began this week, BAP is calling on the campaign to take an unequivocal stance in opposition to AFRICOM. Just as we called on the CBC to take a public position against the aggressive expansion of U.S. militarism in Africa, we are also asking the PPC leadership and all activists supporting this week of actions to join us in demanding the United States pull out of Africa and close all U.S. military bases on foreign soil.

For BAP, it is clear the U.S war on “terrorism” in Africa was and remains a subterfuge to expand U.S. influence and its physical presence there. The destruction of Libya, the ongoing war in Somalia, the dismemberment of Sudan, the millions of lives lost in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the widespread political instability throughout the continent is the concrete result of U.S. policies and not some internal or externally motivated “terrorism” and therefore must be opposed by all who claim to represent the interests of Black people.

The PPC states “[t]he truth is that instead of waging a War on Poverty, we have been waging a War on the Poor, at home and abroad, for the financial benefit of a few.” There certainly has been a war. However, it is not “we” who are waging this war but them, the racist capitalist oligarchy that has been operating against the interests of the majority of the people in the United States and throughout the world.

BAP sees a clear connection between the war being waged against Black and poor people domestically through the Obama and Trump administrations’ Department of Defense 1033 program, which has resulted in the obscene militarization of the police, and the U.S. commitment to “full spectrum dominance” that translates into a permanent war against colonized people of color globally. That is why we agree with the PPC’s focus on gun violence, but we say the focus must be even more explicit.

Netfa Freeman, organizer with Pan-African Community Action (PACA) and a member of the BAP Coordinating Committee, points to both the internal and external on issues of militarism and gun violence: “The double standards and dirty-trick twists and turns of the U.S.’s industrial-police-military-intelligence complex has operated on two complementary and parallel tracks when it comes to war, repression, and militarism in Africa and in Black communities within U.S. borders,” he says. “Those tracks are militarized domestic repression in the form of over-policing, police murders and mass incarceration, and in Africa the phony war on terrorism.”

The PPC’s clear demand for “demilitarization of our communities” including “ending federal programs that send military equipment into local and state communities” is in sharp contrast to the support of repressive federal policies by a majority of Black lawmakers at the national level.

In July 2014, two months before the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, 80 percent of the CBC voted against ending the 1033 program; last July, a majority voted in favor of the obscene increase in the military budget that exceeded the $54 billion increase demanded by Trump; and just a week or so ago, a majority of the caucus voted in favor of a right-wing federal “Blue Lives Matter” bill, making “assaults” on police officers a federal hate crime!

The Democratic Party that vehemently opposed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he finally broke with the Johnson administration and the party establishment to oppose the Vietnam War, and which gave political cover to and justifications for the murderous assault against the Black Liberation Movement, is the same party that today supports the war agenda of the corporate and financial oligarchy. It is the same party that under Obama accelerated the 1033 program and prosecuted only one of the dozens of killer-cops that executed black, Latinx and Native people across the country.

BAP is not fooled by the diversionary politics of the Democratic Party. We are clear that opposition to war, militarism and all forms of gun violence requires taking on both parties representing the two wings of the ruling class. A bill providing a blank check to the Trump administration to wage war across the planet in the form of the new “authorization to use military force” is an example of the bi-partisan commitment to permanent war and repression as U.S. policy.

Moral stances also require explicit political positions. Opposition to war and gun violence requires that real political connections are made and concrete positions taken against policies that perpetuate the moral offenses that we oppose.

It also means that those who claim to represent the oppressed must be held to account. The members of the Congressional Black Caucus have failed to represent the interests of their Black constituents who have consistently opposed war and domestic militarism.

BAP applauds the effort by the PPC to recapture the moral ground lost to the right-wing counter-revolution of the 1970s and ‘80s as well as to the moral bankruptcy of the Obama presidency. However, we believe that in this era of right-wing ascendency represented by Trump and the liberal authoritarianism of the Democratic Party, it is important the interests and politics of the working class and poor are clearly delineated from those of the capitalist oligarchy. This means that our politics must be clear and our rhetoric devoid of liberal ambiguities in order to expose the nature and interests of the oppressive system and state.

Our task today is even more pressing than it was 51 years ago when Dr. King called on the oppressed and their allies to defeat “the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism.”

That is why during this week of action called for by the PPC, BAP is making a clear call for the U.S. to leave Africa and for the people to control the police in their communities. Nothing short of this would reflect the morality and politics of the original Poor People’s Campaign and the revolution of values advocated by Dr. King.

For media inquiries, email info@blackallianceforpeace.com

https://blackallianceforpeace.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5845ddb951de35b8eb11e0eee&id=b3b8e17f84&e=07a91f7961

 

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BWFJ DENOUNCES THE MURDER OF PALESTINIANS; SUPPORTS RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION, RIGHT OF RETURN

Date: Mon, 14 May 2018

Black Workers For Justice (BWFJ) calls on all Black leaders and activists to speak out and call for an end to the recent Israeli killings of Palestinians who are protesting in their own territories of Gaza and Jerusalem!  The Trump Administration and  U.S. government are supporting the Zionist colonial state and their murders of over 53 people and over 1000 injured!
Dr. Martin L. King stated in 1967, that the U.S. is the greatest purveyor of all violence in the world today. And as we approach Malcolm X’s 93rd birthday, we must remember his words that capitalism and Imperialism  are like vultures, preying on the oppressed.
Jerusalem was home to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, until the Zionists killed and expelled the Palestinians from their land in 1948. Today, the pro-Zionist Trump Administration is continues to force oppressed Palestinians from their homes. By declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and moving the US embassy there amid controversy and protest, the Trump administration has insulted the Palestine Peoples Nation and struggle for liberation from Zionism and US/European  Imperialism.
BWFJ is calling on all African Americans to recognize and examine the connection between the Black struggle for self-determination here in America, and that of the Palestinian people. Our people here in America face attacks on our communities through gentrification, attacks on our bodies through police brutality, and attacks on our livelihoods as the cost of living rises but wages remain the same. Our sisters and brothers in Palestinian face similar threats as they remain severely oppressed under an Israeli system of apartheid.
We must hold rallies, informational pickets, student teach-ins, lunch and learns, and other activities to publicize and support the struggle of the Palestinian people!
Self Determination for African-Americans  and the oppressed Palestinian Nation!
End the murders of all Blacks, Brown, Palestinian, and oppressed people at home and abroad!

North Carolina Teachers Rising Up

May 16, 2018 represents North Carolina educators’ entry into the nationwide teacher rebellion against the attacks on public schools. Following the courageous efforts of teachers in West Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, North Carolina educators are part of the growing resistance to the failures of state legislators to provide children with a sound basic education. That education includes adequate and safe facilities, up to date learning materials and highly qualified and well-paid teachers and education support personnel which includes teacher assistants, social workers, psychologists and bus drivers.

In this moment education workers are on the cutting edge of the struggle of public employees and the people of this country to keep our institutions in the public domain and not be offered up to greedy profit seeking corporations who care nothing about our well being and quality of life. Their only concern is the bottom line. This means that bus drivers, sanitation workers, fire fighters, caseworkers and so many more have a common fight.

This fight requires many tactics. Taking to the streets is key to making the others, like voting and lobbying, effective. We cannot outspend the 1%. At the end of the day, withholding our labor is the key device in our toolbox. The teachers realize this and at the same time have been clear on making sure that our children are safe and fed because this fight fundamentally is for our children and our families.

We support these demands (in addition to others) regardless of what political party has control of the legislature:

  • Increase per-student spending
  • Increase pay for educators with a plan to get to the national average and immediate across the board pay raises for all state employees. Repealing corporate tax breaks can pay for this.
  • Increase funding for textbooks, supplies and materials so educators do not have to spend hundreds of dollars of personal funds to do their jobs.
  • No performance-based pay but a pay scale that values veteran educators, and provides pay incentives for advanced degrees.
  • Increase teacher retiree pensions by 3%; provide state funded health insurance
  • Freeze any increases in health care costs for public employees, which require no additional resources from the State. Maintain comprehensive health insurance coverage for all State employees.
  • Accept federal funds to expand Medicaid, giving affordable health care to the one-quarter of North Carolina students who live in poverty.
  • Stop the attacks on public schools by placing a moratorium on new charter schools and private school vouchers.
  • We also demand the repeal of NC General Statute 95-98, which denies public employees the right to collectively bargain for higher wages, better and safer workplaces, and stronger protections against discrimination.

As the parents and grandparents of Black children we call on education workers and unions to join us in the fight to end the “school to prison pipeline”, eliminate the achievement gap, create a historically accurate and anti-racist curriculum and implement restorative justice instead of punitive discipline and remove School Resource Officers (SRO’s).

Education is a Human Right!

All out for May 16th!

All out for the Poor Peoples Campaign!

 

(Black Workers for Justice*bwfj.org)
[gview file=”http://bwfj.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/North-Carolina-Teachers-Rising-Up.pdf”]

No to US Led War on Syria!

Again, we see the US government trying to start another war as a diversion from the capitalist crisis that is causing great suffering among masses of working-class and poor people. The U.S. wars violates international   laws and U.S. Constitution , while  attacking basic democratic and human rights to challenge the suffering and brutality carried out by the capitalist economy and the “State” (government).

Trump got elected president on the racist promise of making America great again !  Trump is intensifying the War on Black America – killing, maiming and jailing Black and Brown people, criminalizing immigrants and Muslims and fostering regime change throughout the Americas.

This attack on Syria is part of a US led global war that incudes the War on Black America. Black people must oppose this war on Syria, all wars abroad and in the US.  This war contributes to the economic and social crises . As our tax  money is spent by the ruling 1 % for war , there is more cuts to public services, schools, vocational education, jobs, healthcare, affordable housing, clearing up the environment, repairing the infrastructure, supporting veterans that are disabled and mentally broken from fighting in these imperialist wars.

The struggle for Black liberation must also be a struggle against imperialist wars. The European heads of the global capitalist system – US, France and the UK are again deciding what part of the world they want to dominate and control for increasing their wealth and positioning their militaries to dominate the world.

 

We Say No to US Led Racist and Imperialist Wars!