Author: icsswpadmin

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 from severe sanctions also known as unilateral coercive measures. What does this mean for US hegemony?

Speaking will be Roger Harris who is with the Task Force on the Americas, on the executive committee of the US Peace Council, and active with the #FreeAlex Saab and Sanctions Kill campaigns. Roger recently returned from the Workers Summit on the Americas in Tijuana, which was organized as an alternative to Biden’s summit as a place where countries besieged by and barred from the US could participate and meet with militants from workers, peace, human rights, and solidarity organizations (see Roger’s June 17, 2022 article in Counterpunch at:

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/06/17/summit-of-the-americas-flops-while-workers-summit-exposes-cracks-in-the-imperial-facade/

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 mission and to expose U.S.-NATO war aims and alliances in the region. He is the Coordinator of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice and on the Organizing Committee of the Socialist Unity Party.

Often we only see the border from the U.S. side, despite the fact that many more people live in the border region south of the wall than north of it.  Despite the media’s fascination with the wall, people live their lives and organize vibrant social movements that are virtually invisible in the U.S. Yet they have a direct impact. From winter strawberries to flat panel televisions, people north of the border consume what’s produced just a few miles south of it.  This presentation, with photographs, will probe more deeply into the lives of the people of the border itself, rather than simply see it as a wall, or a place people try to cross to enter the United States. It will pay particular attention to the rich history of the social movements in border communities, challenging often oppressive conditions.  The presentation is based on the new book, More Than a Wall / Mas que un muro, a book of photographs and oral histories created during 30 years of covering the people and social movements of the Mexico/U.S. border.  

Speaker: David Bacon,   a photojournalist, author, political activist, and union organizer who has focused on labor issues, particularly those related to immigrant labor. He has written several books and numerous articles on the subject.

Roe v. Wade to be abolished?

That’s the intent of the pending Supreme Court decision, a draft copy of which has already been leaked to the media. This will be a human rights disaster for women. On May 11,2022  the U.S. Senate voted down the Women’s Health Protection Act 49 to 51. The WHPA would have made abortion legal, eliminating the role of the Supreme Court on the issue of abortion and nullifying the pending Supreme Court decision,  How do we fight back against this grossly undemocratic decision? We certainly can’t trust the Democratic Party leadership,

Speaker: Rosa Astra, an Oakland-based militant journalist, community organizer, and activist with the ANSWER coalition.