New
Ground #128.2
02.15.2010
Contents
0. DSA News
Democratic Socialism: Real Change
for a Change
Bring America Home
1. Politics
Illinois Budget Crisis by Bob Roman
Comments on the Tobin Tax
March for Immigration Reform
March Against the War
2. Ars Politica
Happy Birthday, Nelson Algren
3. Democratic Socialism
Argentine Cooperatives: Resistance
Is Survival
4. Upcoming Events of Interest
DSA News
Democratic Socialism: Real Change
for a Change
The National Conference
of the Young Democratic Socialists
Join young activists from all over the
country for a unique opportunity to attend interesting workshops,
lectures, and discussions while connecting with youth working
for radical social change.
Featuring:
- Cornel West
- Gayatri Spivak
- Frances Fox Piven
- Liza Featherstone
- Christian Parenti
- Bertha Lewis
- and more
When: Friday,
March 5 through Sunday, March 7
Where:
Norman Thomas High School
111 E 33 St.
New York, NY 10016
Website:
http://www.ydsusa.org/news/a-real-change-for-a-change
Registration:
http://www.dsausa.org/yds/Feb2010/confreg.html
Contact:
yds@dsausa.org, 212 727 8610,
ydsusa.org
Bring America Home
Author, journalist, columnist
William Greider speaks at the 52nd Annual Debs - Thomas
- Harrington Dinner honoring Carl Rosen and the People's
Law Office on Friday, May 7th. For information or to order
tickets, click
here.
Politics
Illinois
Budget Crisis
by Bob Roman
New Ground has been among those predicting disaster because
of the ongoing failure of responsible political leadership in
Illinois. (There's more, but most recently New
Ground 127 and New
Ground 126.2.) Illinois is not unique, of course. The
Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has issued a report that most
states are suffering a shortfall in revenues. Even accounting
for efforts to close the gap, CBPP anticipates the shortfall
for 2010 and 2011 to total something on the order of $350,000,000,000
nation-wide.
Illinois' $14.3 billion deficit is not
the worst. In absolute terms California, Arizona, and New York
are larger. Expressed as a percentage of the state's general
fund, Illinois is still in the runner-up position, Nevada rising
to #3, but the deficit for Illinois still amounts to 40.9% of
the general fund budget. If you need any indication that "cutting
waste" and promoting "efficiency" are nothing
more than weasel words for doing nothing, these facts should
be that.
In a recession or depression, deficit
spending is not a bad thing. But Illinois and the other states
can't print money, and like most states Illinois is required
have a balanced budget, or at least something it can pretend
is balanced. Thus the deficit is paid for by simply not paying
outstanding bills, looting special funds, and other such accounting
tricks. The tricks work for a while, too. Then you cut services
and lay off workers. None of these are good policy, especially
in a recession or depression.
The Progressive States Network is circulating
a sign-on
letter for state legislators to urge the President and Congress
to move swiftly on job creation and state fiscal relief. There's
also a tool citizens can use to urge
their state legislators to sign on. While Federal assistance
is needed in the short term, the Progressive States Network argues
that the fiscal crisis is in large part a result of a failure
of politics, that the crisis can be solved and the anti-tax
movement is mostly a failure. (Indeed, Arizona is #2 on the
fiscal failure list in large part because, unlike most other
states, the conservatives have had their way with the state's
finances.)
Comments on the Tobin Tax
In response to a request by
the International Monetary Fund, Chicago
Political Economy Group and the Democratic Socialists of
America have jointly submitted Public Comment on the economic
implications of a possible Financial Transactions Tax in the
United States. View
the Submission.
March for Immigration Reform
On March 21, organizers are
planning a March in Washington, DC, with which they intend to
pressure President Obama and Congressmen like Senator Durbin
to enact comprehensive Immigration Reform. The goal is to bring
together 100,000 people, and organizers in Illinois are working
toward recruiting 10,000 riders to DC on 200 full buses. For
more information, see the Progress
Illinois account by Angela Caputo, and for information how
to help, go to the Illinois Coalition
Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
March Against the War
At its February 13th meeting,
the Chicago DSA Executive Committee voted to endorse the March
18th march against the war. The 18th is a Thursday, so the march
will begin at 5:30 PM at the Federal Plaza in the Loop. After
a brief rally in the Plaza, the marchers will proceed up Michigan
Avenue. The Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism does have
a permit, so come one and all. Click
here for more information.
Ars Politica
Happy Birthday, Nelson Algren
The Nelson Algren Committee
hosts the 21st annual Nelson Algren Birthday Party on Saturday,
March 27, 8 p.m. at St Paul's/Acme Art Center, 2215 W. North
Avenue in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, Algren's home turf.
The Party pays tribute to the National Book Award-winning author
of The Man with a Golden Arm, Chicago: City on the
Make and other works that combine gritty noir realism
with a profound compassion for the underdog.
The event also honors community artists
and activists who work in the Algren spirit. This year's recipients
of the Nelson Algren Committee Award include film preservationist
and presenter extraordinaire James Bond and legendary stride
piano player and teacher Erwin Helfer. Past Algren Award winners
including scholar and Obama biographer John K. Wilson,
ace journalist Kari Lydersen and political maven Don Rose
will attend the event and say a few words.
Veteran photographer and Algren cohort
Art Shay is a regular attendee at the birthday event, and his
slide presentation/Q&A will give attendees a firsthand look
at Algren's world. This year's celebration will also feature
Algren scholar Nathaniel Mills, discussing Algren's art and politics;
notable local poets Charlie Newman, John Goode and Paul Ryan;
and musicians John Garvey and Larry Jones. On display will be
the Nelson Algren Archive, a collection of materials put together
by the Committee to commemorate Algren's tenure in Wicker Park,
as well as video footage of Algren in full storytelling action.
This year's event is dedicated to the
memory of Howard Zinn, whose People's History of the United
States is history as Algren would have written it, from the
standpoint of humanity. Our sponsor is the Near Northwest Arts
Council, whose visionary director, Laura Weathered, has overseen
many a Birthday Party.
Admission is $10 at the door, with seniors
and students (bring that ID!) admitted at the knockdown price
of five bucks. Libations will be available at a cash bar, with
the proceeds dedicated to keeping Algren's memory alive. Committee
members Warren Leming and Hugh Iglarsh will help MC this years
event; Alice Prus will lead partygoers in a rendition of the
traditional Polish birthday anthem "Sto Lat," ably
assisted by Nina Gaspich and Kurt Jacobsen. Door prizes and refreshments
will also be featured.
When the Committee started in the 1980s,
most of Algren's work was out of print. In 2010, all of Algren's
work is available (thanks in part to Committee support), his
house is graced by a plaque, he has a memorial fountain right
on the Blue Line, City on the Make has been dramatized
by the Lookingglass troupe, and a passel of startlingly famous
writers and actors performed a reading of his work at a centennial
celebration last year at a packed Steppenwolf Theatre. But Algren's
genius has never been fully recognized in his hometown, and the
Committee's work continues. For updates and more information,
visit our Web site at www.nelsonalgren.org.
Democratic Socialism
Argentine Cooperatives: Resistance
Is Survival
While it's Venezuela that is
currently fashionable on the U.S. left, Argentina's response
to its preview of the current economic crisis was a wave of plant
occupations and consequent worker ownership. At In These Times,
Adam Case looks at how the movement is doing:
"What started as desperate solutions
to a severe economic crisis have evolved into established business
models. 'What the recuperated factories in Argentina are showing
is a model of economic justice,' says Eduardo Murúa, founder
of the National Movement of Recuperated Businesses (MNER), an
organization tying together workers at the various Argentine
worker-run businesses. The nearly 200 businesses, which employ
close to 10,000 people, are worker-managed and worker-operated,
with many paying equal wages regardless of position or experience."
Read more here.
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.
Wednesday, February 17, 11 AM
Rally and Lobby Day in Support
of HB174
State Capitol Rotunda Springfield, IL
Rally to protest and lobby to avert the looming disaster in state
finances and public services in Illinois. Responsible
Budget Coalition. For information, call Tom Wilson at Access
Living 312.640.2125
Thursday, February 18, 6:30 PM
"On the Ground: Labor's
Struggle in the Airline Industry"
DePaul Univeristy, 14 E. Jackson, Room 1454, Chicago
Dominican University professor Liesl Orenic will speak on her
book, "On the Ground, Labor's Struggle in the Airline Industry."
After Liesl's presentation, she will autograph copies of the
book for sale. A beer, wine and food reception will follow the
presentation. Sponsored by DePaul University Labor Education
Program.
Saturday, February 20, 1 PM to 4 PM
The Power of Active Nonviolence
Sisters of St. Joseph, 1515 W. Ogden Ave, LaGrange Park
7th annual gathering of the West Suburban Faith-based Peace Coalition.
Workshops. For more information.
Saturday, February 20, 1:30 PM to 4:30
PM
Obama Year One: Taking Stock
Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan, Room 232, Chicago
A New New Deal event featuring Amy Dean, Tom Balanoff, Judith
LeBlanc, Mel Rothenberg, Dr. Ann Scheetz, Cristobal Cavazos.
For more information call Bill Barclay @ 708.386.1371 or go to
the New
New Deal Coalition.
Friday, February 26, 7:30 PM
Finance for People, Not Bankers!
The Unitarian Church of Evanston, 1330 Ridge Ave, Evanston
Professor Gerald Epstein discusses what is at the root of the
current economic crisis and what we can do. Sponsored by Neighbors for Peace
and Roosevelt University Department of Economics.
Friday, February 26 through Sunday,
February 28
Peace on Earth Film Festival
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater, 77 E. Randolph,
Chicago
Hosted by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, free and
open to the public: "...raising awareness of peace, nonviolence,
social justice and and eco-balanced world." Click
here for more information.
Saturday, February 27, 2:30 PM
"Capitalism Hits the
Fan"
Lincoln Park Library, 1150 W. Fullerton, Chicago
In this documentary film, University of Massachusetts Economics
Professor Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of
today's economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making
and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of
American-style capitalism itself. An Open University of the Left
event. Click
here for more information.
Thursday, March 11, 11 AM
Abolish the Death Penalty
Lobby Day
The State Capitol, Springfield
The day begins with a rally in the Capitol Rotunda. For more
information, see the Illinois
Coalition to Abolish the Dealth Penalty.
Thursday, March 18, 5:30 PM
End the Wars and Occupations
Now! Fund People's Needs, Not Corporate Greed
Federal Plaza, Dearborn & Adams, Chicago
Brief rally followed by a permitted march on Michigan Avenue.
For information,
click here.
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