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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Against the Current
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!
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.
Read more...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.
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!
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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- Fired for Organizing at Work: Some Lessons
by Paul Fudder posted on 03/16/10
- Second Annual Convention of Labor Campaign for Single Payer, March 5-7, 2010
by Milton posted on 03/13/10
- Trail of Dreams, bound for DC, passes through Georgia
by Tim S posted on 03/12/10
- Chicago immigrant youth are Undocumented and Unafraid
by Isaac posted on 03/11/10
- Women's Day March in San Antonio Says “Ya Basta” to Abusive Treatment of Workers
by Chris posted on 03/10/10
- Tres resolutivos del Congreso Mundial de la IV internacional sobre México
by International Viewpoint posted on 03/9/10
- Disability and socialism
by Chloe posted on 03/9/10
- Pakistan: Women workers march in Lahore to observe International Women Day
by International Viewpoint posted on 03/8/10
- Salt of the Earth, Classic of Feminist Cinema [Full Video]
by Isaac posted on 03/8/10
- Solidarity with Haiti!
by International Viewpoint posted on 03/7/10
from the Webzine
- This is Only the Beginning
6 days 7 hours ago - Building North-South Solidarity
6 days 7 hours ago - Final Resolution, in English
6 days 20 hours ago - Response to Erik and Chloe on disability
6 days 20 hours ago - Solidarity's take on the Fifth International
6 days 21 hours ago - Socialists/Disability
1 week 6 hours ago - The FSLN and Solidarity
1 week 8 hours ago - Not facetiously or
1 week 1 day ago - Please download and submit a single-signer petition for the CDA
1 week 1 day ago - Crimson Ride Drivers--Update
1 week 3 days ago
One Year of Obama and the Democrats’ Debacle
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.
Read more...
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.”
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.orgRead 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...
Reflecting on Roe v. Wade in 2010
Shortly after the 1973 Supreme Court decision that overturned the laws outlawing abortion I attended a workshop in which one of the lawyers who successfully argued the case outlined how the right would move to introduce a new round of laws targeting abortion. These included:
- Laws requiring minors to obtain permission from one or both of their parents.
- Laws requiring spousal consent.
- Laws burdening clinics with excessive record keeping or other requirements limiting access.
- Laws restricting second- and third-trimester abortions.
- Laws amending federal programs to eliminate access to abortion.
These were to then chip away at the principles outlined in Roe v. Wade before launching a frontal assault on the 1973 decision.
All of these were to be accompanied by right-wingers harassment of clinics--which is where most abortions occur--and the clinic’s health care providers, particularly doctors.
After almost forty years, how has access to abortion--which represents just one aspect of women’s reproductive life--fared?
Clearly abortion as a medical procedure exists, however access remains limited. Both poor women on Medicaid and women provided with military health care are unable to obtain abortions under their coverage. Similarly to access to birth control information, the legal right to abortion has never been accompanied by access. Clinics set up to perform abortion services must follow strict regulation but also secure their facility from terrorist attack.
Ninety percent of women who want an abortion are able to obtain one within the first semester of their pregnancy, when the procedure is relatively uncomplicated and inexpensive. Pregnant teenagers in need of an abortion but unwilling or unable to secure parental consent have been able to use a judicial bypass--but this requires perseverance and is dependent on the judicial system!
Typically states demand that women seeking abortion receive a lecture--often written by legislators, not medical personnel--on the risks and alternatives. They are shown drawings of a developing fetus and must sign a form acknowledging having received the information. Then the woman must wait 24 hours before returning for the procedure. In Michigan, for the 40% of women who must travel 400 miles to a clinic, this means they must be away from home and work significantly longer and need to find overnight housing.
The right wing has been able to pass a federal law outlawing the rarely used intact dilation and extraction procedure used for a very small percentage of late-term abortions (something less than 0.2% per year). With the passage of the emotionally named Partial Birth Abortion Act, a medical procedure was banned, subjecting doctors to prison for performing what many medical personnel consider the safest method at that stage of the abortion. Those who need a late-term abortion usually were happily anticipating the birth of the child, only to discover a severe abnormality or their own life endangered by the continued pregnancy.
Women’s bodies continue to be contested terrain. That can be seen in the 2009 debate over health care, where the right demanded that no insurance policy that covered abortion could receive any federal money. Given that most policies do cover this service, the successful lobbying by the right wing produced bills that, if passed, would eliminate coverage from most plans.
The continued onslaught of judgmental right-wing fundamentalism is not limited to abortion, but pervades most public discussions of sexuality and childrearing. We can take notice that another anniversary of Roe v. Wade, although battered and inadequate, has passed and still stands. Yet we see how much remains to be done.
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