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For more than a century, a trend within Western Marxism has been to retreat from endorsing actually existing socialist projects such as the Soviet Union and retheorizing their significance in relation to capitalism. In this context, these scholars have begun to, in effect, reject imperialism as a driving force of capitalism, while obscuring the central regressive role of the US in particular. Such re-theorization downplays the historical significance of actually existing socialism and especially socialist projects in the Global South, often by reframing them as part of global capitalism or global modernity. Recent versions of Western Marxism often conflate capitalism ...

ICSS 20200802 Sun, Aug 2, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Cuba: This is what medical internationalism looks like!. Please join us for what will be an illuminating conversation on contemporary Cuba's medical Internationalist work. Featured speakers will include Abraham Vela MD (a 2016 graduate of the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba) and Gail Walker (director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace). The event will be moderated by longtime Cuba solidarity activist Tony Ryan. Hold the date and please help in spreading the word!. Resources: ...

1. Myth: Russia’s “Special Military Operation” (SMO) is an unprovoked war of conquest2. Myth: Russia miscalculated its military strategy in its invasion of Ukraine Russia is losing the war.3. Myth: the claim that Ukraine is natizified is a Russian propaganda ploy4. Myth: the world is united against the "Russian aggression" in Ukraine, Russia is isolated and growing more isolated.5. Myth: the economic sanctions against Russia are working, the Russian economy is a shambles, Putin is isolated, and the sanctions will eventually topple the "Putin regime" Instead of an hour presentation followed by a discussion, we will split the session into ...

The United States was a leading democracy two centuries ago. Now many other nations have leap-frogged over the US by developing better political/electoral systems. As a consequence, they also have better systems for healthcare, higher education, housing, and justice combined with increased personal safety.     The locked-down two-party system has joined with the vast inequality of wealth and power in the US in order to raise hurdles to block solutions that people want, create, and support. We will take a good look at those hurdles, many of which are now being highlighted during the presidential campaign of Cornel West, who is ...

ICSS 20200823 Sun, Aug 23, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Drastically Cutting the Military Budget Why Is It Not a Campaign Issue? Hunger and homelessness stalk the poor. Jobs lost in the pandemic and the resulting economic collapse may not come back or will be even lower wage than before. Public education and transportation along with protecting the environment are on the chopping block, while the billionaires are raking in money. Our cities and states are economically strapped. Yet, elected officials have no idea how to run them without raising local taxes, laying off workers, or slashing benefits. Meanwhile ...

Marcy will share the work of CODEPINK's Drop the ADL campaign, which involves passing resolutions at union meetings, testifying before local school boards and educating teachers and parents about the Israel lobby group. She will also discuss rank and file Drop the ADL organizing at the NEA, the largest teachers union and the largest union in the country. Marcy Winograd, coordinator of CODEPINK'S Drop the ADL campaign, co-produces CODEPINK Radio and organizes with the California legislative team of Jewish Voice for Peace-Action. A member of CTA and UTLA Retired, Marcy blogs about militarism and US foreign policy at CounterPunch, Common Dreams, CODEPINK ...

Both parties prepare for war to stall the decay of U.S. world domination — and since 1999 alone, these parties have overseen wars of aggression in Europe, Africa and Asia and imposed coups and sanctions worldwide. Both parties support NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. Both support and arm Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Lebanon. Both back surrounding China with U.S. air and sea power as well as economic war against China. What working-class organizations must analyze and prepare for is how to confront the post-election period. Since the two parties have real differences in composition and tactics, the ...

Sun, Nov 21, 2021: 10:30 AM Pacific Time Elections in Nicaragua: a Report Back From an On the Ground Observer - Rick Sterling  ...

The U.S. has for decades had a strongly enforced two-party system. While there are differences, they both support US imperialist domination of the world — militarily and economically — and have earned their description as "two parties of War and Wall Street." This presentation will focus on the opportunities and hurdles of creating an anti-imperialist political party that can serve as the electoral arm of the movement. Butch Ware sees five areas which need to be addressed and developed with the goal of winning power to change the United States’ direction: vertical integration, culture, fundraising, team-building and demographics. Butch Ware ...

Our speaker, John Parker began his trip to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on April 27 as part of a fact-finding mission organized by Struggle-La Lucha newspaper in the U.S. to gather eyewitness observations and testimony of Lugansk residents. He also visited Russia, where he conducted interviews and was present at the May 9 Victory Day parade, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany and honoring the 27 million Soviet people who died fighting fascism. John Parker was a candidate for U.S. Senate in the June 7th election. He recently returned from Russia and the Donbas region on a fact-finding ...

 Rick will speak about his recent trip to Russia and especially Crimea. In 2014, following the coup in the Ukrainian capital, Crimea had a referendum and decisively decided to secede from Ukraine and "re-unify" with Russia.  In many ways, the situation in Crimea is emblematic of the Ukraine conflict.  Rick will describe what he saw and learned on this trip. Rick Sterling is a Bay Area journalist, active with Mt Diablo Peace and Justice Center and Task Force on the Americas.  ...

American labor is deindustrialized, deunionized, fragmented, and pauperized. Its debased condition is a prisoner of its form: that of a commodity, forever cheapening, like all others. Bereft of political leadership, labor instinctively grasps at populist rhetoric, rejecting the neoliberalism and “new world order” of America’s oligarchs. Indignant, the ruling class shames it as “deplorable”, “far-right”, and “Putin’s puppets”. In a culture devoid of class identity, America proffers individual identity as the new religion, as the new “sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world”. Labor, the unifying property of humanity, is submerged beneath the media’s vilification by ...

Sun., April 20, 2025, 10:30 am-12:30 pm PDT From Shanghai to Xinjiang Speakers: Elicha Gastelumendi & Rick Sterling Elicha Gastelumendi and Rick Sterling will talk and show photos from their October 2024 visit to China. They were on their own in Shanghai and will describe what they saw in a regular community far from the booming downtown. Following that, they joined a delegation to Xinjiang organized by retired San Francisco Judge Julie Tang. Xinjiang is a large "autonomous region" thousands of miles west of Shanghai. This was a central gateway in the times of the Silk Road and in the ...

Recently back from a humanitarian mission to besieged Gaza, which was denied entry by Egyptian authorities, our speaker will explain how the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians is a natural outcome of Zionism. The social dynamics of domination inevitably lead to genocide given sufficient time. This is the logical consequence of exceptionalism. The resistance forces of the Palestinians and their allies have planned for a confrontation of unlimited duration, while Israel plans only short, massive attacks designed for a quick, decisive victory, which in this case is illusive. This is the main reason they have chosen genocide as a tactic ...

Victor Grossman, born in 1928, is an American journalist, writer, and popular speaker, who defected to the USSR in 1952.  He has since lived in East Germany, then the reunified Germany chronicling life, politics, and humanity ...

ICSS20200906 Group Discussion: Before and After November 2020 There are increasing concerns as to what will happen before, during, and after our November election so this is an opportunity to express our concerns. Our group discussion will be introduced by Gene Ruyle and other ICSS members with ample opportunity for discussion. Be prepared to voice, and defend, your views  For background, we will post a list of recommended sources in early September, for example in Democracy Now, the New York Times, and elsewhere ss they develop. ICSS member Sharon Rose will moderate. Resources: Session resources ...