Past Posts by Descending Date

ICSS 20210411 Ten Things for US to Understand about Latin America Sun, Apr 11, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific Our speaker, Laura Wells, just returned from two weeks in Nicaragua with a delegation sponsored by Sanctions Kill, Alliance for Global Justice, and Friends of the ATC. When she received the announcement for the delegation, she felt instantly inspired. She had already visited the other two countries named as the "Troika of Tyranny" by Trump's Secretary of State Pompeo. She knew "tyranny" was a lie about Cuba and Venezuela and wanted to see if it was also a lie about Nicaragua. She ...
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ICSS 20210404 Sun, April 4, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific  Understanding the Mass Psychology of Neofascism Fascist rulers in the 20th century, as well as Neofascist forces across the globe in the early 21st century have managed to attract mass support from significant sections of working people. This is despite the fact that these reactionary projects intensify capitalist exploitation and undermine the material interests of many of their own followers. To understand this contradiction, we need to supplement current political economy analyses of Neofascism with a grasp of mass psychology processes, which are powerfully manipulated by neofascist leaders.Our speaker ...
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ICSS 20210328 What is Going on in Myanmar - KJ   Sun, Mar 28, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific What’s going on in Myanmar? On Feb 1st, 2021, the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) instituted a coup of the civilian government on the eve of the seating of the newly elected parliament,. Since then, the situation has resulted in mass protest while devolving into bloodshed. Journalist K.J.Noh will join us to discuss the history, geopolitics, and political economy of Myanmar to better understand the situation, what forces--historical, political, material-- are at play and what is at stake in this critical ...
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ICSS 20210307 Capitalism, Ecology, and Socialism   Sun, Mar 21, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific The Great Labor Rebellion of the 1930s. The topic will be the history of the 1930s. Not the Great Depression but the *responses* to it. Firstly the Great Labor Rebellion: the CP-led California farmworkers strike, the three left-led general strikes of 1934, the sitdown strikes, and the rise of the CIO. And secondly the capitalist response, the New Deal and FDR, how the capitalist class coopted Labor’s Giant Step, and how black people, Chicanos and women were mistreated under New Deal legislation. Our speaker ...
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ICSS 20210307 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 ...
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ICSS 20210228 Peace and Solidarity Movements Phyllis Bennis 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 ...
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ICSS 20200830  The Past and future of US policing.  By: Tony Platt Sun, Aug 30, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pmThe past and future of U.S. policingNoted historian and criminologist Tony Platt will share his long research and insights into the carceral state known as the USA. Tony Platt has been involved since the 1960s in issues relating to criminal justice, race, inequality, and social justice in American history. He taught at the University of Chicago, Berkeley, and California state universities. He is currently a Distinguished Affiliated Scholar at the Center for the Study of Law & Society in Berkeley’s Law School. A founding ...
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ICSS 20210214 History of Communist and Left Movements in Turkey   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 ...
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Sun., Feb. 7, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Dope + Capitalism = Genocide 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 ...
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ICSS 20210131 Master of Space - Bruce Gagnon Sun, Jan 31, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Master of Space: Corporate plans for the militarization & privatization of space DESCRIPTION: Bruce Gagnon will reveal the deadly connections between the corporate drive to 'control and dominate' space as spelled out in the US Space Command's 1997 planning document called Vision for 2020. https://thecommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Vision2020.pdf The gold rush is now underway as space technologies have matured to the point where mining the sky for precious resources becomes possible. Corporate forces intend to use the newly formed 'Space force' to guard the front gate ...
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Sun, Jan. 24, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm The US Capitol Building Riot and Its Blowback: The Only Thing Scarier than QAnon Is the Reaction to It The right-wing riot at the US Capitol on January 6 was a spectacle, complete with Confederate flags and a QAnon shaman in red-white-and-blue face paint. Some half of the active electorate sympathized with the belief that the 2020 presidential election was a steal. The other half of the active electorate was abhorrent, speaking with semi-religious reverence about the desecration of sacred institutions. The true blue had suspected that the Russians stole the ...
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Sun, Jan 17, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm The Farmer’s Movement in India Present protests of farmers have grown with tens of thousands in opposition to the three farm laws government of India passed in the parliament where the ruling BJP has majority, taking advantage of the Covid pandemic lockdown period which restricted the movements and thus also protests. These 3 laws have the purpose of denying fair prices to farmers, to the advantage of big (capitalist) privately owned corporations both Indian and foreign. They will be allowed to take over agricultural land, to hoard agricultural produce and sell them ...
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Sun, Jan 10, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Michael Roberts, The Story of the Year of the COVID: But What Now for 2021? 2020 will go down in history - a worldwide pandemic from a previously unknown virus deadly to humans, killing millions or leaving them with permanent health problems; forcing lockdowns across the world that destroyed the world economy in the worst slump in the history of capitalism; and driving millions globally into poverty and loss of livelihood. Where did all this come from? Can capitalism come out of this unscarred? With vaccines on the way is the ...
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ICSS 20200913 Sun, Sep 27, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Labor and Immigration David Bacon will talk about the struggles of farmworkers on the West Coast to organize, and the way it's affected by their work lives and status as immigrants. He'll include photographs and a description of his documentary work process. Our speaker, David Bacon is 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. Bacon's parents were strong supporter of unionism and his early interest ...
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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 ...
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ICSS 20200830  The Past and future of US policing.  By: Tony Platt Sun, Aug 30, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pmThe past and future of U.S. policingNoted historian and criminologist Tony Platt will share his long research and insights into the carceral state known as the USA. Tony Platt has been involved since the 1960s in issues relating to criminal justice, race, inequality, and social justice in American history. He taught at the University of Chicago, Berkeley, and California state universities. He is currently a Distinguished Affiliated Scholar at the Center for the Study of Law & Society in Berkeley’s Law School. A founding ...
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