New Ground 107
July - August, 2006
Contents
New Ground 107.1 - 07.22.2006
0. DSA News
Chicago DSA Membership Meeting
A Note from the Editor1. Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance
Defending Workers' Rights2. Democratic Socialism
Frank Zeidler 1912 - 2006
3. Upcoming Events of Interest
New Ground 107.2 - 08.07.2006
0. DSA News
Chicago DSA Membership Meeting
SI Calls for Cease-Fire1. Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance Fight Continues
Local 1 Rising2. Upcoming Events of Interest
New Ground 107.3 - 08.30.2006
0. DSA News
Your Support Is Needed
Summer, 2006, "Democratic Left"
DSA Statement on the Rights of Undocumented Immigrants
New on the Chicago DSA Web Site1. Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance
Immigrant Workers Justice March
Peace Fair
Students for a Democratic Society Reloaded2. Democratic Socialism
The Soul of Socialism
3. Upcoming Events of Interest
Crime and Punishment Reconsidered
by Tom Broderick
When it was decided that we needed to be tough on crime, there was an outcome that was not publicly discussed by the politicians who supported locking people up and throwing the keys away. As we build more prisons to house more people for longer periods, the incarcerated will grow old and die in these institutions.
Our criminal justice system is about punishment. Caring for an aging population is not something it can cope with. As physical or mental health deteriorates in people, they require more attention. They may need increased medical care, special therapy, a variety of costly medicines, and physical modifications to living spaces. But if we're talking about the incarcerated, well, what's to talk about? They're convicted criminals.
When I asked one prison official why a weight machine had been removed from a prison, the response was "this is not a country club." After the removal, some of those who once used it became visibly heavier. Obesity is linked to several health problems. So not only will our prisons be warehousing great numbers of people for many, many years, they will be manufacturing health problems. How will this growing population of aging and infirm prisoners be dealt with?
At this point, I could offer up something like: "As a tax payer, I object to this bumbling plan that is only going to increase my tax burden." But really, I'm against this tough on crime, three strikes your out mentality that we've been sold as criminal justice. Poverty, oppression and the lack of opportunities for a successful and meaningful human life are the crimes we need to get tough on. These are not accidental conditions, but attacks on the rights of human beings. We need to refocus the war on crime.
In the meantime, what are we going to do with the growing population of prisoners aging inside the Illinois penal system? Right now, the problems that can come with aging, become additional burdens on the convicted and their loved ones. As the mind goes, the cage is the cure. As the body goes, the remedy is the same. Some form of over the counter analgesic can be purchased through the commissary. This is cost containment that promotes suffering.
The Illinois Legislature passed a joint resolution that calls for a committee to study long-term and life sentencing, House Joint Resolution 80 (HJR80). State Representative Art Turner (D-9) introduced it during the last legislative session. Among the issues that will be considered are: costs of confinement, warehousing prisoners, life without parole, truth-in-sentencing, recidivism, and whether long-term incarceration is the best use of state funds to further the goal of public safety.
Among the elements of the Resolution:
"Section 11 of the Illinois Constitution states: 'All penalties shall be determined both according to the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship';
"Illinois is one of only 11 states that has life without parole sentences and one of only 6 states where all life sentences are without parole;
"Thirty years ago only a handful of prisoners in Illinois served sentences longer than 30 years; this year approximately 4,000 Illinois prisoners have sentences of 30 years or more . . . amounting to about 10% of all Illinois prisoners;
"In Illinois at least 500 people each year are sentenced as lifers or long-term prisoners;
"It costs at least one million dollars to confine a person in prison for 30 years;
"It is estimated that close to half of those lifers and long-term prisoners will never be released from prison if current policies stay in place."
There will be seventeen Committee members, appointed as follows: 3 by the Senate President; 3 by the House Speaker; 2 by the Senate Minority Leader; 2 by the House Minority Leader; 1 by the Attorney General; 1 by the Governor; 1 by the Cook County State's Attorney; 1 by the Cook County Public Defender; 1 by the State Appellate Prosecutor; 1 by the State Appellate Defender; 1 by the Illinois Department of Corrections. It is unlikely that the Committee will be appointed until after the November elections.
There will be public hearings. If you remember the public hearings that were held when former Governor Ryan was considering commuting the sentences of everyone on death row, the hearings were tragedies. These could easily be a replay of those. When family victims of serious crimes are told that those convicted of the crimes will spend between 30 years and life behind bars, there is a conclusion. Changing those sentences will cause problems. There is already tension about this in the movement to abolish the death penalty. Life without possibility of parole was and is a key element in doing away with state exterminations.
While those behind bars are included in the census, they can't vote. It will take a great deal of pressure on the Committee to require any hearing of the incarcerated, but their voices need to be part of this.
The Committee will hold public hearings and submit a written report about long-term prisoners to the General Assembly by June, 2007. The report could include recommendations to change conditions within the prison system, including sentencing. It could also make recommendations that do not require legislation. However, since the Committee will not likely be in operation until after the November elections, there will not be much time to do any in-depth work.
The Long-Term Prisoner Policy Project
(LT3P) is a project of the John Howard Association. The John
Howard Association is a Chicago-based organization concerned
with prisoners' rights, and the LT3P is taking a lead roll in
influencing the outcome of the Committee's work. They have identified
issues that they would like to focus on and create position papers
around. These include: reduction in sentences, basic fact sheet
about long-term prisoners (demographic information, etc.), health
care in prison, mental health care in prison, programs in prison,
clemency, transfer policy, special focus on Tamms (a Super-Max
prison in Illinois), restorative justice, and how long-term incarceration
affects prisoners' families and loved ones. If you would like
to work on any of these issues, please contact Shaena Fazal at
the Long-Term Prisoner Policy Project at 312 782 1901.
Don't Sleep with Stevens!
by Bob Roman
"Don't Sleep with Stevens!" the J. P. Stevens Campaign and the Struggle to Organize the South, 1963 - 1980 by Timothy J. Minchin. Gainseville: University Press of Florida, 2005. 264 pages, $ 59.95
Trust a journalist for the conventional wisdom. In Stephen Franklin's excellent account of three major labor confrontations in 1990s central Illinois, Three Strikes, he describes his story as grinding "through the inability of labor's breathless old guard to catch up with corporate America's new tactics and defend the workers' rights that had been so hard won 60 years earlier." He continues, a bit further on, "This was not the new global economics. It was the old rule of the strong making the rules. When the unions had the upper hand, they did the same. But those days were gone. The unions had squandered their talent and insight."
Trust the conventional wisdom to be at least partially correct. Typically, though, the fact of the matter is more complicated and ambiguous than what you would gather from the conventional wisdom. And the circumstances of labor's decline are not an exception. This is one reason why Don't Sleep with Stevens! is an important book. Another is the ongoing amnesia that afflicts our culture. The Textile Workers Union of America's 17 year campaign to organize the textile giant J. P. Stevens was an epic battle, worthy of the lyrics of Homer, if not Edgar Lee Masters.
Timothy Minchin will not provide you with that lyrical an account. But this first book-length treatment of the campaign will provide you with a challenge to the idea that labor simply collapsed on its back and that it didn't go down fighting, often in creative ways. For in fact, it was in the J. P. Stevens campaign that innovative techniques such as corporate campaigns were invented and others, such as worker organizers, card check recognition, international union solidarity, and the consumer boycott, were further refined. These tactics were not applied from the very beginning but evolved in response to Stevens' adamant opposition to its employees organizing.
The decline of labor isn't Minchin's concern; his focus is on the campaign itself. Consequently, one important question is not much covered in the book: how did the small community of labor leaders view the campaign's outcome? Did they look at the Stevens campaign as an inspiration or, because of its ultimate outcome, as a fight more expensive than they could afford?
Because from the very beginning of the campaign, the Stevens campaign was envisioned as something much greater: an opening wedge for organizing the union movement in the South. It was not a trivial commitment. Between 1963 and 1980, the union movement spent at least $30,000,000 on the campaign, over $100 million in today's money. The campaign essentially bankrupted the Textile Workers, leading to its 1976 merger with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. The merged Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) finished the campaign in 1980 in difficult financial circumstances. ACTWU proclaimed the campaign a success but did the labor movement, apart from natural self-congratulation, really agree?
Minchin doesn't tell you. But the reader does get a fairly intimate look at how the union's tactics and strategies evolved in the face of J. P. Stevens' resistance, how the company's tactics evolved, how each side miscalculated the response of the other, and the degree of resistance from the union's own constituency: the workers at J. P. Stevens. Was the campaign a success? Minchin echoes the proclamation of victory, but he gives you enough information for you to jump to your own conclusions.
In truth, "success" depends upon the criteria you use for judging victory. As a campaign, it reached a favorable exit point: an agreement by J. P. Stevens to recognize the union in plants where it had already successfully organized, a contract, and agreement to apply that contract in any other plants the union successfully organized afterwards. Okay: success.
But J. P. Stevens did not agree to cease its opposition to the union in its unorganized shops. ACTWU was largely unsuccessful in organizing in the few years left to J. P. Stevens, before the growing wave of "free trade" imports resulted in its takeover. Nor did the agreement open any doors to other union organizing in the South. None of this could have been encouraging to any unorganized workers contemplating a union. By these measures, the campaign was hardly a victory.
On the other hand, it is clear that J. P. Stevens made some very significant improvements in occupational health and safety and employee relations directly in response to the ACTWU's organizing efforts. And to one degree or another, some of these practices were adopted by other employers for a time, if only because they had to. Furthermore, the campaign itself was the proving ground for a wide range of strategies and tactics presently employed by unions including, it seems to me, the present campaign directed at Wal-Mart. In a very real way, this campaign is one of the places where the 21st Century union movement was born. By these measures, the campaign looks better.
Don't Sleep with Stevens is one of the latest titles in a series, "New
Perspectives on the History of the South", edited by John
David Smith and published by the University Press of Florida,
where Minchin has contributed most of the labor titles. The book
deserves to be widely read, but the price the University Press
has put on it guarantees obscurity. If you or your institution
has the disposable income to buy it, do so; otherwise, your local
public library's interlibrary loan department would be happy
to find it for you.
Noon of the Dead
by Bob Roman
When Bush came to Chicago to revive Judy Barr Topinka's dead in the water campaign for Illinois Governor with a transfusion of $1,500,000 raised at a noon hour luncheon in the Drake Hotel, there was a diverse collection of groups interested in expressing their displeasure and, perhaps, seizing a portion of the media moment. Thus it came to pass that a few hundred gathered at the extreme south end of Lincoln Park, across the street from the Drake but out of sight from Dubya and Republican financiers.
It was two, maybe three separate demonstrations that sunny July 7th. The larger (with the better, unusually adequate sound system) was organized by an ad hoc coalition centered around the Gay Liberation Network, Chicago Area Code Pink, and others: roughly the same collection of groups that had organized a similar protest outside the Chicago Hilton and Towers against Dubya last January.
The other was organized out of Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky's office and included groups like Planned Parenthood, Chicago Federation of Labor, and others. This event was aimed mostly at mass media, with the intent of firmly nailing Dubya's more unpopular positions to Topinka.
Chicago DSA signed on to the Gay Liberation Network press release and forwarded the Chicago Federation of Labor's email announcement of the event.
The former group occupied the northeast corner of Oak and Michigan, the latter set up camp a bit further north under a gazebo. According to rumor, the two groups were to have coordinated their speakers, but (rumor true or not) speakers from both ended up speaking at the same time. While it's true that demonstration oratory ends up ignored by attendees as often as not, this instance caused some distress and confusion.
And then there was the third camp, or camps.
One "third camp" was represented by a slightly hysterical geezer, a militant of some obscure sect, with a bullhorn. He began the ancient chant of not a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans the moment the folks under the gazebo began their program; they seemed to infuriate him more than Dubya. This was a serious problem as both sides were armed with similar 10 watt horns.
Another third camp was, of course, the anarchists. Largely clueless regarding politics, the half dozen or so members of this group did what they usually do: demand attention. They do know how to make an entrance, though. And this time their bid for attention involved burning the U.S. flag. Not just one flag, but a box full. While our local bloc noir had the foresight to bring an accelerant, the flags nonetheless tended to melt rather than burn, releasing black clouds of toxic fumes. The anarchists were good enough to scrape the melted plastic from the sidewalk at the end of the rally.
It was a fun demonstration, colorful and rich with symbolism. But politically it was very much a fiasco.
Whatever the political affects, passersby
were generally supportive, and more than one said, "Thank
you for doing this."
No to torture was one of the themes.
Code Pink's opinion of Dubya, shared
by many: King George.
Coffee, Tea, but not Bush. Incidentally:
Union, Yes!
Illinois Federation of Labor's President,
Margaret Blackshere, addresses the gathering at the gazebo.
The police were
also generally friendly though their numbers were slighly excessive.YDS Summer Conference
The Young Democratic Socialists' Summer
Conference will be held August 11 through 13 at the International
Center for Tolerance and Education in Brooklyn, New York. You
can expect a fun, informative, and empowering weekend gathering
before the fall semester begins. We're getting commitments from
people to attend now. Each YDS Chapter and Organizing Committee
should aim to have at least two participants at the conference.
If you have any questions, need help with travel arrangements
or raising funds, please contact us ASAP: call 212.727.8610 or
go to http://www.ydsusa.org.
Free housing in NYC is available!
New
Ground #107.1
07.22.2006
Contents
0. DSA News
Chicago DSA Membership Meeting
A Note from the Editor
1. Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance
Defending Workers' Rights
2. Upcoming Events of Interest
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DSA News
Chicago DSA Membership Meeting
Christopher Bond is a member
of the Labour Party of Ireland. He is working in Chicago for
the summer at Illinois Public Interest Research Group (Illinois
PIRG). Chris will be discussing Socialism in Ireland at the Chicago
DSA August Membership meeting: 7 P.M., Tuesday, August 8th.
This will be at the Chicago DSA office, located in the Tower
Building, 1608 North Milwaukee Avenue, Room 403, Chicago, very
near the Damen Avenue stop on the CTA Blue Line to O'Hare. The
office phone number is 773 384 0327. Please join us in welcoming
Comrade Bond to Chicago DSA.
A Note from the Editor
You may have noticed that this
internet edition of New Ground has been coming out rather
less frequently than previously. New Ground is a volunteer
project, you should know, but much of my time this past month
has been occupied by moving. I do not wish to move, but the building
is being gutted and converted to condominiums.
There's a lot to be said about condo conversions, not all of it bad, but tenants in a building being converted are often treated like vermin. While there are laws protecting tenants, the laws are often ignored, up to and including forcible (and illegal) evictions.
There were a number of my neighbors who had been through two, sometimes three conversions in the past six years, some not at all polite. (I was a condo conversion virgin.) They were not about to sit through the remainder of their leases with no building services or to allow the developer to harass them out earlier. We organized a tenant rebellion.
The rebellion has succeeded in maintaining building services. And we may succeed in winning some compensation for the trouble of moving, basically putting on the developer's books an expense that is typically "externalized".
There are two not incompatible approaches to this. One is to mobilize the masses to confront the exploiting oppressor. The other is to bring in the lawyers. We largely did the latter because, as a result of the 1970s and 1980s tenants' rights and consumers' rights movements, Chicago has some decent (if largely not enforced) protections on the books.
The point being: if you're a Chicago
renter facing a condo conversion, there is help available if
you're willing to help organize your neighbors. Here's where
we went for help:
http://www.tenants-rights.org/
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Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance
By a parliamentary maneuver,
opponents of the ordinance postponed a vote from the June meeting
of the Chicago City Council until, quite likely, the July meeting
on Wednesday the 26th. This has allowed the big money opponents
(not just Wal-Mart but also Target and the Chicago Chamber
of Commerce) to do automated push calling pitching an absence
of a requirement for paying a living wage as a tool for economic
development, at least, or maybe blackmail.
The ordinance would require large retailers with more than $1
billion in sales to pay a living wage of $10 per hour and provide
$3 per hour for benefits by 2010.
Here's your chance to do some last minute lobbying:
https://action.popuvox.com/default.aspx?actionID=271
Defending Workers' Rights
Last week hundreds gathered
in a picket outside the regional offices of the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) in Chicago. They were protesting the prospect
of the NLRB redefining the concept of "supervisor",
thus making millions of workers not eligible for union membership.
They were also protesting the NLRB's decision to not take
oral testimony in the cases where this is an issue. You can add
to the pressure by going to:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/kentuckyriver_cases
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Democratic Socialism
Frank Zeidler, 1912 - 2006
There are probably a considerable
number reading this who are thinking, "Frank who?"
This is too bad. In the first three decades of the last century,
the old Socialist Party of America may have been a marginal presence
on the national stage, but it was a viable political vehicle
in a considerable number of municipalities around the nation.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was one of the major Socialist Party strongholds.
As the last Socialist mayor of Milwaukee (1960), Zeidler had
been the object of fond nostalgia for those dreaming of a Socialist
Party revival. But he was also a major Milwaukee civic institution.
Zeidler's obituary has appeared in any
number of publications, but Art Kazar has suggested one worth
checking out for those interested in learning more:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=459264
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Upcoming Events of Interest
Events listed here are not necessarily endorsed by Chicago DSA but should be of interest to DSA members, friends and other lefties. For other events, go to http://www.chicagodsa.org/page9.html.
Saturday, August 5, 8 PM
Democratic Transhumanism:
a Technoprogressive Perspective
Lincoln Restaurant, 4008 N. Lincoln, Chicago
DSA member Ben Hyink presentation on "how biopolitics has
become an independent variable in the 21st Century and why contemporary
progressives need to embrace technological development and regulate
it for safety and to expand access." $3 tuition plus $5
minimum food and drink. For information, go to http://www.collegeofcomplexes.org/
Sunday, August 6, 2 PM
Hiroshima Day 2006
"Nuclear Energy" sculpture, east side of Ellis Av between
56th and 57th Streets, Chicago
A remembrance of the consequences of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki in August, 1945. Sponsored by Illinois Peace Action,
Hyde Parkers for Peace and Justice, Hyde Park Committee Against
War and Racism, American Friends Service Committee, Logan Square
Neighbors for Justice and Peace. For information, email ilpeaceaction@yahoo.com
or go to http://www.webcom.com/ipa
Tuesday, August 8, 7 PM
Chicago DSA Membership Meeting
Chicago DSA Office, 1608 N. Milwaukee, Room 403, Chicago
For more information, email chiildsa@chicagodsa.org
New
Ground #107.2
08.07.2006
Contents
0. DSA News
Chicago DSA Membership Meeting
SI Calls for Cease-Fire
1. Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance Fight Continues
Local 1 Rising
2. Upcoming Events of Interest
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DSA News
Chicago DSA Membership Meeting
Christopher Bond is a member of the Labour Party of Ireland. He is working in Chicago for the summer at Illinois Public Interest Research Group (Illinois PIRG). Chris will be discussing Socialism in Ireland at the Chicago DSA August Membership meeting: 7 P.M., Tuesday, August 8th. This will be at the Chicago DSA office, located in the Tower Building, 1608 North Milwaukee Avenue, Room 403, Chicago, very near the Damen Avenue stop on the CTA Blue Line to O'Hare. The office phone number is 773 384 0327. Please join us in welcoming Comrade Bond to Chicago DSA.
SI Calls for Cease-Fire
"The Socialist International, deeply
concerned at the continuing conflict in the Middle East, by the
pain and tragedy which continues to afflict innocent civilians,
women and children, once again strongly reiterates its call for
an end to the hostilities in the region and for an urgent and
immediate ceasefire."
To read more, go to:
http://www.socialistinternational.org/main.html
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Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance Fight Continues
By an apparently "veto proof" majority, the Chicago City Council passed a "Big Box Living Wage" ordinance at its July meeting. The ordinance requires large retailers with more than $1 billion in sales to pay a living wage of $10 per hour and provide $3 per hour for benefits by 2010.
Mayor Daley has yet to indicate whether or not he will veto the ordinance, and it is unwise to assume the ordinance would retain all its aldermanic supporters if he did. Clearly Daley is not happy with the legislation.
Nor is most of Chicago's business class. Target announced it was canceling the construction of one of its new stores in Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times reported this "news" with headlines larege enough for the start of World Wars III and IV.
So the fight isn't over. Call Mayor
Daley and tell him to sign the ordinance into law:
312.744.3300.
Local 1 Rising
UNITEHERE's Hospitality Division is working toward negotiating hotel contracts nationally ( see http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng105.html#anchor451818 ). Here in the Chicago area, contracts are expiring at the end of August. Last time the hotel owners were trampled by a stampede of panicked politicians and gave up a much improved contract without the workers having to strike. Can the workers do it again? Help improve the prospects by marching down Michigan Avenue in solidarity with the workers on Wednesday, August 9. The march begins at 5 PM at the Ogden School, 24 W. Walton, Chicago. For more information, call Local 1 at 312.663.4373.
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Upcoming Events of Interest
Events listed here are not necessarily endorsed by Chicago DSA but should be of interest to DSA members, friends and other lefties. For other events, go to http://www.chicagodsa.org/page9.html.
Tuesday, August 8, 7 PM
Chicago DSA Membership Meeting
Chicago DSA Office, 1608 N. Milwaukee, Room 403, Chicago
For more information, email chiildsa@chicagodsa.org
Wednesday, August 9, 5 PM
Hotel Workers Rising: March
Down Michigan Avenue
Ogden School, 24 W. Walton, Chicago
UNITE HERE Local 1's contract with Chicago hotels ends 8/31.
Show your solidarity by marching!
August 11 - 13
National Immigrant Rights
Strategy Convention
Holiday Inn Hillside, 4400 Frontage Rd, Hillside
Organized by the May 10th Movement. For more information, go
to http://WWW.MOVIMIENTO10DEMARZO.ORG/page4.html
Saturday, August 12, 2 PM
The Commodification of Everyday
Life and Popular Culture
In These Times, 2040 N. Milwaukee, 2nd Floor, Chicago
A presentation by Dr. William Pelz. An Open University of the
Left event, $5 tuition. For more information call 847.677.5474
or go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oulchicago/
New
Ground #107.3
08.30.2006
Contents
0. DSA News
Your Support Is Needed
Summer, 2006, "Democratic Left"
DSA Statement on the Rights of Undocumented Immigrants
New on the Chicago DSA Web Site
1. Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance
Immigrant Workers Justice March
Peace Fair
Students for a Democratic Society Reloaded
2. Democratic Socialism
The Soul of Socialism
3. Upcoming Events of Interest
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DSA News
Your Support Is Needed
Just what does it mean to be
a "democratic socialist"? In DSA, it could mean any
number of things. We don't insist that members subscribe to a
particular doctrine. Indeed, socialism should probably be referred
to in the plural as the term, like DSA, encompasses a number
of intellectual traditions that both conflict with, overlap with,
and compliment one another. Add to that the typically American
tendency to treat schools of thought as intellectual buffets:
a little of this, a little of that, no thanks none of the
other. In DSA, "democratic socialism" depends a lot
on just who you've asked.
The idea that collective effort makes a problem, a struggle, the production of wealth easier is one of the things these traditions have in common: that solidarity and cooperation are good things.
This is one of the reasons why I hope you'll accept my invitation to participate in our 11th Annual Labor Day issue of New Ground.
New Ground is one of Chicago DSA's very own projects. I think we can be proud of it. The publication is far better than an organizational newsletter needs to be; its content serves a very real public education function regarding the political issues we are involved in. And while the web has enabled us to expand our content to include more ideological topics, to be more timely, and to provide opportunities for collective lobbying of government and hectoring of corporations, print on paper is not obsolete. But it is not cheap.
Your support is absolutely crucial to
our work. Please help us continue with our part in this project
of reconstructing America. Solidarity is a process of call and
response, and I hope you will take this occasion to answer a
call. Please participate in our annual Labor Day issue of New
Ground. A flyer (PDF format) with the requisite information
is available here:
http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngpromo.pdf
Summer, 2006, "Democratic
Left"
DSA's national publication,
Democratic Left, is available online in PDF format at:
http://www.dsausa.org/dl/Summer_2006.pdf
Statement on Rights of Undocumented
Immigrants
At its summer meeting, DSA's
National Political Committee adopted a statement on the rights
of undocumented immigrants. The text is included in the Summer
issue of Democratic Left, but it's also available here:
http://www.dsausa.org/LatestNews/2006/immigrant%20rights.html
New on the Chicago DSA Web Site
It's history, but we've just
added photos and some commentary on the 1977 Thomas Debs
Dinner to the Debs Thomas Harrington Dinner archives.
The photos were done by the late Syd Harris though unfortunately
we have only contact sheets to work from. The 1977 Dinner honored
Charles Hayes, a future Congressman but then Vice President of
the Amalgamated Meat Cutters (a predecessor to the United Food
and Commercial Workers). The speaker was the noted economist
Robert Lekachman. Check it out here:
http://www.chicagodsa.org/d1977
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Politics
Big Box Store Ordinance
Speaking of the United Food
and Commercial Workers, supporters of the Big Box Store Ordinance
held a noisy Noon hour march and rally to pressure Mayor Daley
to sign the ordinance rather than veto it. Nearly 100 people
marched from the Thompson Center to the 5th floor of City Hall
(the Mayor's office). About a third were from the UFCWU, another
third from ACORN, and the rest a hodgepodge from SEIU and other
unions, politicians, Metro Seniors in Action, DSA, and the CP.
The issue will be decided by Wednesday morning, September 13,
when the City Council meets again. Daley has until then to veto
the Ordinance. He's threatened to do so. If he has, there will
be another City Hall demonstration at the Council meeting. Stay
tuned.
In the meantime, you can express your opinion to the City Council
and da Mayor courtesy of the Chicago Federation of Labor by going
to:
https://action.popuvox.com/default.aspx?actionID=281
Immigrant Workers Justice March
The continued prospect that
Congress might enact unjust, repressive legislation against undocumented
immigrants is being countered by the March 10th Movement. They
have issued a call for a march from Chicago to House Speaker
Dennis Hastert's office in Batavia. The march will begin on Friday,
September 1, Noon, at Wentworth and Cermak in Chicago and arrive
in Batavia on Monday, September 4. On Tuesday, September 5, a
public hearing on immigration issues is planned.
This action is attracting some pretty broad support though it's
also obvious that groups are bringing their own meanings to the
event. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
For more information, go to:
http://www.movimiento10demarzo.org/page9.html
and
http://www.icirr.org/
Peace Fair
If the 2nd Annual Peace Fair
is anything like the first, it will be great fun as well as great
politics. The fair will be on Saturday, September 9, from Noon
to 5 PM, as before in Scoville Park in Oak Park. DSA will be
among the groups with a table at the fair; come see us! For more
information, go to:
http://www.opctj.org/docs/peacefair06.html
Students for a Democratic Society
Reloaded
You might be surprised to learn
that the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was "refounded"
at a founding convention earlier this month at the University
of Chicago, just a few dozen blocks south of where it self-destructed
in 1969. This is actually not a new development, having been
preceded by some meetings on the Port Huron Statement ( for example,
see http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng83.html#anchor191132
). There was even a stand alone "chapter" of SDS
at DePaul University about a decade or so ago. It also seems
to me that collegiate and geezer nostalgia about "the 60s"
(for and against) has been a minor undercurrent in U.S. politics
for some time now. Certainly the organizers of this new SDS have
been spending time constructing a mythology for the new organization
that encompasses both the hopeful idealism of the early years
and the sex and violence of the Weathermen. This has driven skeptical
ideologues and pedantic historians straight up the wall and through
the ceiling, but it's really too soon to say what practical affect
this historical "kit bashing" will have.
Being the new kid on the block, the new SDS will inevitably attract
more interest than it would otherwise. Based on my experiences
with new organizations, I'd say keep an eye on the bottom-line:
how much money does it have? The original SDS had, in its early
years, access to labor money, not only through the League for
Industrial Democracy but through its own fundraising efforts.
Enthusiasm will substitute for money somewhat, but only somewhat.
The University of Chicago YDS chapter, incidentally, helped obtain
the meeting space for the founding convention.
For more information, see the In These Times article at:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2796/
or go to the SDS web site:
http://www.studentsforademocraticsociety.org/
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Democratic Socialism
The Soul of Socialism
In the latest issue of New
Politics, DSA member Ron Aronson looks at the experience
of socialism in the 20th Century and speculates on its relevance
in the 21st. Go to:
http://www.wpunj.edu/%7Enewpol/issue41/Aronson41.htm
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