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Our speaker will discuss the new edition of his book, Palestine, Israel, and U.S. Empire. This is  an essential book for the current moment, providing a sharp analysis of the struggle for Palestine, updated following the events of October 7, 2023. Taking an anti-Zionist perspective on the history of Palestine and Israel, Becker traces the movements of resistance from the division of the Middle East by Western powers and the Zionist settler movement, to the founding of Israel and its role as a watchdog for US interests, and on to present day conflicts and the prospects for a just resolution. This narrative is ...

In 1981 Paul Robeson’s son, Paul Robeson Jr, claimed that his father had told him privately that in June 1949 he, Paul Sr, learned about the persecution of some prominent Jews in the Soviet Union, but had never publicly revealed this fact and had asked his son to promise not to reveal it during his, Paul Sr’s, lifetime. In later years Paul Jr repeatedly confirmed this story. In a recent article Grover Furr checked this story against the evidence that is now available and drew the only possible conclusion: that Paul Jr’s story is untrue. In their latest book, Stalin ...

North Korea has declared that South Korea is no longer an appropriate counterpart for peaceful reunification. Furthermore, it declared South Korea its main enemy. To understand this moment---beyond the demonizing of North Korea---we must understand its causes and effects as well as what we must do for peace in the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. Dae-Han Song joined the peace and reunification movement in 2003 when US bombs fell over Baghdad. He joined the East Bay Korean Americans United for Peace to prevent preemptive attack against North Korea. He has organized for API Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL) ...

Even the corporate press pronounced Biden’s recent Summit of the Americas meeting in Los Angeles as a flop, while the balance between red states (and we don’t mean Republican) and blue states south of the Rio Grande is tipping to the left. Most recently, Colombia elected its first left leaning president, following similar victories in Chile, Peru, and Honduras, which in turn followed Bolivia, Argentina, and Mexico.  And the frontrunner in Brazil’s presidential contest slated for October is a leftist. Meanwhile Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela – countries led by explicitly socialist parties – remain in the crosshairs of US imperialism, suffering ...

Alexander Mckay is a UK-based political analyst and host of the fast-growing Marx Engels Lenin Institute streaming channel.  He will present an examination of the changes in the Russian economy and state throughout the Putin era and how these have impacted the war in Ukraine and the plans of US Imperialism.  Marx Engels Lenin Institute YouTube channel:https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCBigls8EH-PmXpjMS30gnvA Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarxEngelsLnin?t=ri0IpUukzgvanlAmZSFg8A&s=09 Official Telegram channel of the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute: https://t.me/armc1870 ...

Speaker will be ICSSMember Mehmet Bayram who has spent the past few months in his native Turkey and will report on what he has observed there ...

“Every Liberal is a Socialist. Every Socialist is a Communist. Every Communist is Moscow’s Spy.” So went a poster used in an anti-May Day “Loyalty Day” march in the high cold war period after WWII. But anti-Communism went far beyond traditional conservative and reactionary groups and became the foundation of a “cold war consensus” for U.S. domestic and foreign policy in the post WWII period. In my presentation I will examine the relationship between color racism as the model for anti-radicalism at home and in U.S. imperialism abroad, and the role of the Communist Party USA in its struggle against ...

Labor Day is more than just a holiday or a day for sales. From the first Labor Day March in 1882 in New York City to the the historic Pullman Strike of 1894, Labor Day has its roots in struggle. It was brought to you by the same folks who gave you the weekend: the Labor Movement. Labor Day is the twin of May Day! Let’s reclaim our history! Gene Ruyle is aetired union memtber with the California Faculty Association, a formeer delegate to the LA County Federation of Labor, and President of Veterans For Peace, East bay Chapter. He ...

It is thirty years since the Rwandan genocide.  The presentation will explain this horrific but poorly understood crime and its aftermath.  One consequence that will be discussed in greater detail is the tight-knit relationship between Rwanda and Israel.  Both countries depend on their victimization narratives to justify what they do in Gaza and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ann Garrison is a journalist who focuses on the countries of the  African Great Lakes Region.  She is a Contributing Editor of the Black Agenda Report, a contributor to Pacifica Radio and many other platforms.  Her previous presentation at ICSS can be found at https://icssmarx.org/us-shoots-itself-in-the-foot-in-africa-again-ann-garrison-sunday-april-16-2023-1030am-pacific-time/ ...

Based on personal experiences during his two to three weeks stay in China with his partner and child, the speaker will put forward observations, stories and interesting encounters. The speaker will try to highlight contradictions in Chinese society, capital and state, and would focus upon the present state of the Chinese economy, education, health and other parameters. The talk will also dwell upon how to characterize China. Should China be characterized as capitalist/state-capitalist or  market socialist (socialism with Chinese characteristics) or semi-peripheral or imperialist or semi-colonial or oppressed or oppressor? Should the emergence of China as a competitor of the ...

Report Back from Russia and Donetsk - Dan Kovalik - January 8, 2023 10:30 AM Pacific Time ...

Just back from the West Bank, international human rights advocate and lawyer Dan Kovalik will discuss the current situation in Palestine in light of historical developments. In addition to Gaza, the West Bank has been under ferocious Israeli attack and repression. The general population in the West Bank is experiencing increased Israeli settler violence with over 300 Palestinians murdered and 3000 arrested since October 7. Last month, our speak visited Cairo with the first international solidarity delegation, which tried unsuccessfully to enter Gaza and bring humanitarian aid through the Rafa crossing. Dan Kovalik has written extensively on international human rights ...

Mehmet Bayram just came back from visiting and traveling inside Turkey.  Capitalism and more integration to imperialism has left Turkiye as a failed, narco, gang-run country.  Corruption, smuggling, human trafficking, worker exploitation has become the norm under Islamofascism where in contradiction to classical fascism, the state has withdrawn from all spheres of life except those related to the political dictatorship or to the profit making areas of the few monopolies.  Resembling the Mad Max post-apocalypse films, daily life has been abandoned to gangs and these gangs control laws, rules, government and spheres of influence.  Mehmet will focus on regular daily ...

Sun., February 16, 2025, 10:30 am-12:30 pm PSTSyria Report-backSpeaker: Dan Kovalik Our speaker, international human rights advocate and lawyer Dan Kovalik just returned from Syria, once a beautiful country and the cradle of civilization. He visited so that we could speak out for people there who can’t speak out because they fear violent repression. Dan will report back on the current situation in light of historical developments. The new de facto government was in large part brought to power by the US and other foreign entities and does not have a mandate or right to rule. Multiculturalism has been destroyed ...

Our speaker, Danny Shaw, is among the many voices for Palestine who have been punished for speaking out against genocide. After 18 years of teaching in the Latin American and Latinx Studies Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, he was fired last month for his social media posts educating and organizing against the Israeli-U.S. genocide in Gaza. He has been camped out with the hundreds of students, faculty, alumni and staff that make up the Columbia Gaza Solidarity Encampment. We urge you to sign the petition in support of Danny Shaw, who has spoken at the Marxist Library ...

The left in India is woefully silent on this movement and has not even summarized the significance of the movement, let alone learn anything from it. The left in US today remains fairly unconcerned about the enduring farm crisis in the country. But should it remain aloof from it? Is there a problem with the “center-of-attention” of the left worldwide? Has it got side-tracked into politics of disinformation and politics of diversion? Has it become more or less a side-show for liberalism? Is it getting so caught up with electoral politics that it is failing to set a new agenda ...