Against the Current

Published bimonthly since 1986, AGAINST THE CURRENT is a Solidarity-sponsored analytical journal for the broad revolutionary left. The March/April issue features the Educational Crisis in California and the Unfolding Fightback with articles by students and workers in the University of California system. For International Women's Day there are reviews on gender, sexuality and liberation by Catherine Sameh, Chloe Tribich and Kate Flynn. Other articles include Malik Miah on Obama Forgets the Black Community, Michael Steven Smith on Lost Liberties in the Age of Obama and Kim Moody on the Crisis and Potential in Labor's Wars and coverage on Honduras and Gaza.
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International Viewpoint is the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International. IV is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.

Put a Socialist in the Senate!

LaBotz, Buckeye Socialist, Senate 2010

Dan La Botz, a 64-year old Cincinnati school teacher, has filed petitions with the Ohio Secretary of State to become the candidate of the Socialist Party for the U.S. Senate. La Botz, who needed 500 signatures to get on the Socialist Party primary ballot, filed petitions with approximately 1,200 signatures on Thursday, Feb. 18. La Botz, a long time labor and social movement activist, is the candidate of the Socialist Party of Ohio which is the state organization of the Socialist Party USA.

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Keep up with the campaign!"
DanLaBotz.com

Buttons to Build the Movement

Order these eye-catching buttons to spread the demand for social and economic justice. If you don't have paypal, email us!


Reads Bail out People, not Wall Street!. Around the edge, these 2 1/8" buttons read "Free Health Care," "Defend Public Services," "Living Wage Jobs," "Free Higher Education," "Troops Home Now," "Rebuild the Gulf Coast," and "Affordable Housing."

Bright orange 1 1/2" buttons boldly demand: "Bring the Troops Home Now!" Wear one everywhere to start a conversation about why US occupation can never be a force for liberation, and people's needs should come before the massive military budget.

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Produced during the massive immigrant rights demonstrations of 2006, these 2 1/8" buttons read, in Spanish and English: ¡exigimos Paz, Legalización, y Trabajos para Todos! we demand Peace, Legalization, and Jobs for All!

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Videos from Solidarity's Educational Conference

November 14-15 in New York City, Solidarity held a successful conference featuring engaging talks on a number of topics. Click here to view these videos from "Their Crisis, Our Movements"

- Crisis of Capitalism, Challenge to the Movements (David McNally, New Socialist Group)
- The New Imperialism and The Global Fightback (Vivek Chibber, Christy Thornton, Jonah McCallister-Erickson)
- The State of Resistance in Communities & the Workplace (Normahiram Perez, Steve Downs, Penelope Duggan)
- Race and National Liberation Under Obama (Glen Ford, Lalit Clarkston)

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Solidarity depends on the generous contributions of its friends and allies to continue its work. Please consider giving!

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Last fall, in the discussion that produced our analysis of “Obama After 200 Days,” we said it would be premature to speak of a “crisis” for the administration. A year after the euphoric 2009 inauguration, it no longer looks premature. People who looked to Obama and the Democrats for leadership are bitterly disappointed, and a very peculiar brand of rightwing politics has seized the initiative.
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Regroupment & Refoundation of a U.S. Left

As part of the preparation for our 2008 Convention, members of SOLIDARITY have begun a political document describing some perspectives for socialist renewal in the twenty-first century. We welcome responses to this initial draft of the document. Some of the themes here have also been developed in Solidarity's Founding Statement and our 1997 pamphlet, “Socialist Organization Today.”

— Introduction
— Social Movements over the Last Two Decades
— Regroupment, Refounding and the Arc of Resistance
— Refounding a New Left: Next Generations & Their Experiences
— The Tasks and Possibilities of a U.S. Refounded Left
— Refounding the Left: Taking Our Past Into Our Future

New Pamphlet: Hell on Wheels

New from Solidarity! Long time transit worker activist Steve Downs has written a pamphlet charting the twenty year story of New Directions, a rank and file caucus in New York City's transit union that he helped build and develop - including the challenges of keeping the rank and file democracy movement alive after New Directions won control of the local.

Read an interview on Zmag.org
Read a review and order your copy today!

From Abortion Rights to Reproductive Justice

New from Solidarity's Feminist Commission, this leaflet responds to the right wing attack on reproductive freedom and argues that the movement must go beyond "pro-choice" to true reproductive justice. This socialist and anti-racist feminist agenda would take up issues such as access to health and child care, forced sterilization, and the division of "productive" and "reproductive" labor.
Download the pamphlet...

Social and Natural Disaster in Haiti: How to Help

by Enku Ide

The 7.0 earthquake that razed much of the Haitian capital on January 13 has led to a uniquely devastating humanitarian crisis. The death toll is still uncertain and estimates range between 50,000 and 500,000. The need for international relief is clear.

Haitians searching for earthquake victims

This tragedy is compounded by U.S. and European intervention into Haitian internal politics, which has caused centuries of poverty and underdevelopment. The vast majority of Haitians are poor and working people, who labor in sweatshops at poverty wages for U.S. corporations like Disney. Their attempts to organize are routinely and violently suppressed.

In the capital of Port-au-Prince, many neighborhoods and even the presidential palace, UN headquarters, and the senate buildings lie in ruins. Hundreds of injured Haitians a day are crossing into the Dominican Republic, and hundreds of thousands are displaced within Haiti.

U.S. mainstream media are using this disaster to drum up PR for corporate charity, as U.S. banks and corporations send millions to the Red Cross and other relief organizations. While any help that addresses the direct needs of Haitians in trouble is needed and rightly applauded, there is a certain irony in celebrating the charity of corporations that have long-term interests in maintaining the status quo of poverty and pillage in Haiti, the poorest country in our hemisphere.

Working people and our organizations in the United States are also organizing to help meet the direct needs of our Haitian brothers and sisters. These appeals for donations and aid come out of solidarity and present an opportunity to relieve some of the immense suffering of the Haitian people. As Haiti begins to rebuild and heal, many of these organizations also look to a day when fights for justice for the poor can create a society where the effects of natural disasters can be better addressed by an independent government with space for unions and other working-class organizations.

  • The Miami Workers’ Center, a community-based workers’organization with Haitian members, would like you to know about Batay Ouvriye, a grassroots worker and peasant organization especially active in the Free Trade Zones and sweatshops. Donating to Batay Ouvriye will strengthen autonomous workers’ movements and popular demands of the poor, lessening the unnatural devastation of poverty and structural racism that makes natural disasters so much worse. You can find out more about Batay Ouvriye at http://batayouvriye.org or make a donation at http://miamiautonomyandsolidarity.wordpress.com.
  • Grassroots International has been supporting Human Rights and other popular organizations in Haiti since 1983. Using these pre-existing networks, Grassroots International can reach people across the island and throughout the most-affected zone to provide direct relief. Please visit http://www.grassrootsonline.org/ to find out more and where to donate.
  • The AFL-CIO Solidarity Center is accepting donations to help Haitian workers and mobilize Haitian unionists living in the Dominican Republic. Donate and read correspondence from someone on the ground.
  • National Nurses United, the largest RN union, is coordinating a nurse volunteer mission to Haiti. NNU Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro says, “Nurses will be fundamental to the disaster relief process, to provide immediate healing and therapeutic support to the patients and families facing the devastation from this tragic earthquake.” RNs can sign up on the NNU website.
  • Transport Workers Local 100 in New York City, where a sizable Haitian population lives, kicked off their initial donation with $10,000. Concerned people can add to this pool at their website.
  • TransAfrica, a longtime friend of the labor movement, is accepting donations for worthy relief organizations on its website. Along with Jobs with Justice, TransAfrica is calling for a moratorium on deporting Haitians who are living in the United States without proper documentation (which is common in severe natural disasters or wars). Learn more about TransAfrica’s requests.
  • The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is asking for support for a community-based organization, Zanmi Lasante. You can find more information and where to donate at the CIW's site.