Author: icsswpadmin

ICSS 20210307 – Capitalism, Ecology & Socialism – Raj Sahai

ICSS 20210307 – Capitalism, Ecology & Socialism – Raj Sahai

Posted by | Mar 7, 2021 | |

Capitalism, Ecology, and Socialism
Forest fires in California, thawing of ice in the arctic, Glacier melting in The Himalayas, floods and bitter cold in Texas; and the Covid pandemic are all tied to the global warming from cumulative effects of capitalist commodity production over the past 200 years. Air pollution in much of world has worsened. Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, and China taking the role of a biggest commodity producer for the world; other than tiny Cuba, there is no model of development that does not contribute to worsening of the ecological crisis all over the world. Class differentiation is leading to right-wing populism, threatening social peace in many countries. The internal contradictions of capital are extreme. To survive, capitalism requires even more exploitation of natural resources and human beings of the world, witness the farmers fighting capitalist predation laws in India. Result of all this is more pollution of air, sea and land on a scale that is undermining the very basis of healthy human existence on earth. Can the alienated individualism and consumerist way of life created by late stage capitalism be ended by a new socialist revolution? Can a new socialism build a healthy materially adequate society for all human beings which lives in balance with Nature?
Our Spesker, ICSS Member Raj Sahai will explore ideas and invite discussion with the participants, in a work in-progress.

LOGIN INFORMATION
The meeting will be opened up, as usual, at 10:15 for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc. We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open for informal discussion.

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ICSS 20210228 – Peace and Solidarity Movements – Phyllis Bennis

ICSS 20210228 – Peace and Solidarity Movements – Phyllis Bennis

Posted by | Feb 28, 2021 | |

Sun, Feb 28, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific Time The Recent Past and Future of Peace and Solidarity Movements, 2008 – 2021 and Beyond The anti-war movements in the US and across the globe were at their peaks through the first years of the post-9/11 wars. They were broad, diverse, international, and powerful. They did not succeed in preventing the 2003 US/UK invasion of Iraq, but they set the stage for future movements and future victories, including stopping US bombing campaigns in Syria and escalation in Iran, parts of the Arab Spring uprisings, and more. By the time the Obama administration came into office in 2008, the movement in the US was already facing new challenges. And over the next several years its power, size, breadth, and influence had all diminished. Many blamed it on “oh the peace movement was just too enthralled with Obama” and they stopped working. But that claim, while holding a grain of truth among a few sectors of the movement, does not explain the changes. Phyllis will discuss that history, and look forward to today’s legacy and new anti-war organizations, and the rise of anti-war/anti-militarism components in a broad range of intersectional organizations.

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ICSS 20210221 – The Politics Behind the Western – Campaign against Russian and Chinese Athletes Rick Sterling

ICSS 20210221 – The Politics Behind the Western – Campaign against Russian and Chinese Athletes Rick Sterling

Posted by | Feb 21, 2021 | |

Sun, Feb 21, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm

The Politics Behind the Western Campaign
against Russian and Chinese Athletes
Rick Sterling will discuss the banning of Russian athletes beginning with the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Summer Olympics and continuing through banning Russian participation in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He will analyze the “state sponsored doping” accusations that have been made by the World Anti-Doping Agency. What are the accusations and what is their credibility? Who is Grigory Rodchenkov and what role has he played?
Rick will also discuss the case of Sun Yang, probably the most famous Chinese athlete. Sun Yang has won many international swimming events and holds the world record in the 1500-meter event. In 2019, Sun Yang was found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation and was banned from international competition for 8 years. The case was appealed to the highest court adjudicating international sports. In a ruling that shook the swimming world, the court overturned the decision because of racist tweets by the Italian head judge. These tweets were revealed in Rick’s article lto be discussed on Monday. Sun Yang’s lawyers used this information to successfully challenge the decision. There will be a new hearing with new judges.
Rick will put these cases in the context of the politicization of athletics and western efforts to attack Russia and China in this international arena.
Rick Sterling is active in Task Force on the Americas (https://taskforceamericas.org/) and Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center (https://ourpeacecenter.org/).
He researches and writes articles on diverse subjects – from the campaign to save the City College of San Francisco, to Syria, to international sports.
He can be reached at rsterling1@gmail.com

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ICSS 20210214 – Communism and the Left in Turkey – Yusuf Gursey

ICSS 20210214 – Communism and the Left in Turkey – Yusuf Gursey

Posted by | Feb 14, 2021 | |

Sun, Feb 14, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
History of Communist and
Left Movements in Turkey
Comrade Yusuf Gürsey is organizing this with some other possible speakers.
Yusuf writes: “I am Turkish and born in Turkey but now residing in New Haven, CT. I am a member of of the US Peace Council and CPUSA and an associate of Communist Party of Turkey (TKP). I am a retired physicist from Middle East Technical University Ankara, Turkey but lately I have become an independent researcher in linguistics and history. I am also very knowledgeable about the struggles in other Middle East countries, particularly the Arab World and I am involved in Middle East Solidarity work. I had become first familiar with Left Movements in Turkey through the students of my parents in Middle East Technical University since 1967 when I was in junior high school and that was also the year I became a supporter of the Palestinian cause.:
We are more or else certain that Ekim Kılıç an officer in the Labour Party (Turkey) of the Kurdish nationality will join us. Also a comrade from the TKP but this is not confirmed.

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ICSS 20210207 – Dope + Capitalism = Genocide – Danny Shaw

ICSS 20210207 – Dope + Capitalism = Genocide – Danny Shaw

Posted by | Feb 7, 2021 | |

ICSS 20210207 Dope + Capitalism = Genocide – Danny Shaw
Sun., Feb. 7, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm

The title of this program comes from a slogan by the Black Panther Party. Without a class analysis, we can never understand the epidemics of violence, addiction, and trauma that plague our communities. Join Danny Shaw, author of My Son Blazes within Me: So Many Contradictions, So Little Time for a discussion of the intergenerational trauma that is inherent to capitalism and imperialism and how we fight back, all day, every day.

Our speaker, Danny Shaw, teaches Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the City University of New York. He holds a master’s in international affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is fluent in Spanish, Haitian Kreyol, Portuguese, Cape Verdean Kreolu, and has a fair command of French. He works as an international affairs analyst for TeleSUR, RT, and other international news networks. He has worked and organized in seventy different countries, opening his spirit to countless testimonies about the inhumanity of the international economic system. He is a senior research fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (https://www.coha.org/).

Danny is also a retired Golden Gloves boxer, who fought twice in Madison Square Garden for the NYC heavyweight championship. He teaches boxing, yoga and nutrition, and works as a Sober Coach. He works to keep young people out of the military and prison industrial complex. He is a mentor to many guiding them through the nutritional, ideological, social, and emotional landmines that surround us. He is the father of two young Life Warriors, Ernesto Rafael and Caũa Amaru.

Danny Shaw is the author of six books, which are available on the web: 365 Days of Resistance; Shedding that which is Not Us: A Working-Class Guide to Life Foods Training and Healing; The Saints of Santo Domingo: Dominican Resistance in the Age of Neocolonialism; My Son Blazes within Me: So Many Contradictions, So Little Time; Paisajes de Amor y Combate; and Los Santos de Santo Domingo.

In preparation for this program, we recommend two of his articles on Marxism and generational trauma:

https://liberationschool.org/50-years-since-the-panthers-formed-capitalism-drugs-still-genocide/

https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/to-live-among-broken-men-theorizing-rape-and-incest

Or check out this video of Danny being interviewed by Max Blumenthal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcfsxE5ARqQ&t=781s

#ModerateRebels: Revolutionary anti-imperialist struggle from the Bronx to Venezuela, Dominican Republic to Haiti.

#drugs #capitalism #BlackPanthers #Genocide #epidemic #heroin

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