Nov 12

Democrats Steer to the Right and into Defeat

PictureIf progressives can learn one thing from the 2014 election cycle, it is that they no longer have a place in the Democratic Party.

With Republicans on the offensive, Democratic incumbents and hopefuls spent the entire election running away from anything perceived to be associated with President Obama. In effect, this created numerous Democratic campaigns that ran to the right of a president that was already on a long-standing drift to the right of his own. This is in contrast to the normal state of affairs, which is where Democrats campaign on ideas that appeal to the progressive base and then do not deliver when elected.

This set of events left progressives and even many liberals without the party that they would normally identify with and vote for. The result was a sweeping defeat for Democrats in the congressional and gubernatorial elections, losing their Senate majority in the process.

At the same time that voters gave a resounding defeat to the Democrats, they also voted heavily in favor of raising the minimum wage in several states. Voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota all approved minimum wage initiatives by double-digit margins, while at the same voting down statewide Democratic candidates by double-digit margins in three of the four states. By doing this, working class voters have proven that they are prepared and willing to embrace the issues and cast off the party and politicians that fail to deliver on them.

Outside of the twin parties of capitalism, Tuesday’s election saw candidates running to the left of the Democrats collectively receive over a quarter of a million votes. The parties and specific beliefs of these candidates may be different, but the fact that so many people threw their support behind at least one left-wing candidate cannot be ignored. Our own Adam Adrianson can take credit for 33,000 of these votes from his Socialist Party campaign for the Michigan State University Board of Trustees.

Moving forward, progressives in the United States have to realize that they no longer have a party that represents them. The Democratic Party is on a one-way charge to the right, and progressive-minded people have no place on that trip.

Politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are the limit of what the Democrats have to offer. They serve as icons to entice progressives and liberals with populist messaging and hopes of building a radical element within the Democratic Party. In reality, they are puppets meant to distract voters and activists with hopes that will never be realized in the current political alignment.

Aside from staying in place and becoming increasingly marginalized and powerless, the only alternative for progressives in the United States is to break from the Democratic Party and move to the Left. By this, we mean the real Left, rather than the left that the Democratic Party has pretended to be.

Socialism, specifically democratic socialism, offers the social justice and economic democracy that progressives yearn for but will never see in a Democrat majority or the capitalist system. By moving towards democratic socialism, working class people who currently identify as progressive or liberal will find radical ideas they could have never dreamed of with the Democrats, along with a rapidly growing movement that is dedicated to building a new society of radical democracy from below.

We hope you will join us in this struggle.

Socialist Party USA National Action Committee 11/8/2014

Apr 26

NO SURRENDER TO THE BANKS-BACKED COUP FOR CITYWIDE FORECLOSURE!

detriseup1Socialist Party USA Metro Detroit Local Statement on the “Emergency Manager” Takeover of Detroit.

The Socialist Party of Metro Detroit expresses its staunchest opposition to the state-imposed suspension of elected governance of the city of Detroit, and likewise reaffirms its demand for the immediate restoration of elective home rule to each of the numerous other cities and school districts within and beyond Metro Detroit now operating under the unilaterally-held control of state-installed “Emergency Manager” fiefdoms.
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Mar 17

Kilpatrick Conviction: A Reminder Of Neoliberal Corruption

On March 11, 20kwamecuffed13, Detroit offered a not so subtle peek into a future that should be avoided at all costs. Former Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on multiple charges of fraud and racketeering for doling out no-bid contracts in exchange for kickbacks. This is not just a moral failing of Kilpatrick nor just business as usual in Detroit, a city that has been circling the drain for decades nor is it a powerful message that will curtail future corruption. Shakedowns, racketeering and extortion are standard practice in a neoliberal state.
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Nov 15

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

A statement from the Socialist Party USA

Image from Jewish Voice for Peace http://www.jvpchicago.org/resources/brief-history

(passed by the SP-USA National Convention 2011)

The SP-USA supports the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) on Israel. The global movement for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights was initiated by Palestinian civil society in 2005, and is coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), established in 2007. BDS is a strategy that allows people of conscience to play an effective role in the Palestinian struggle for justice.

For decades, Israel has denied Palestinians their fundamental rights of freedom, equality, and self-determination through ethnic cleansing, colonization, racial discrimination, and military occupation. Despite abundant condemnation of Israeli policies by the UN, other international bodies, and preeminent human rights organisations, the world community has failed to hold Israel accountable and enforce compliance with basic principles of law. Israel’s crimes have continued with impunity.

In view of this continued failure, Palestinian civil society called for a global citizens’ response. On July 9 2005, a year after the International Court of Justice’s historic advisory opinion on the illegality of Israel’s Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), a clear majority of Palestinian civil society called upon their counterparts and people of conscience all over the world to launch broad boycotts, implement divestment initiatives, and to demand sanctions against Israel, until Palestinian rights are recognized in full compliance with international law.

The campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) is shaped by a rights-based approach and highlights the three broad sections of the Palestinian people: the refugees, those under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinians in Israel. The call urges various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law by:

Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall; Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194. The BDS call was endorsed by over 170 Palestinian political parties, organizations, trade unions and movements. The signatories represent the refugees, Palestinians in the OPT, and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Mar 16

Massacre in Afghanistan – Time to End the Occupation

Statement by the Socialist Party USA, National Action Committee March 13, 2012

The bloody US occupation of Afghanistan reached a new low as a 38 year old US Army Staff Sergeant embarked on a killing spree that resulted in 16 civilian deaths.  Most of the victims were children, all were unarmed and many were not only shot and stabbed, but burned alive.  The solider had already done three tours in Iraq and had suffered a traumatic brain injury.  Despite this, the US military certified him as a sniper and shipped him out to join the occupying forces in Afghanistan – another tool in their killing machine.  So while Pentagon spinsters play off the attack as the action of one “troubled individual” with “family problems,” Afghan civilians see it for what it is – another illustration of the violence of an occupying army.

The killings come on the heels of mass protests in the capital of Kabul and other cities over the  burning of the Koran by the US military.  This, along with the videos of American soldiers urinating on dead Afghans has fueled the mass anger that was released in street protests and increased insurgent activity.  Afghan civilians have now spent more than a decade living under the military occupation of NATO forces led by the US government.   This means restrictions on civil rights, death by drone bombing and a seemingly endless  series of military offensives by NATO forces.

American elections have provided no relief to them as Barack Obama has proved to be every bit the war President that George W. Bush was.  Scandals about private mercenaries have done little to relieve the oppression.  And even the massive financial crisis that has gripped the Western world has done nothing  to weaken the will of the global militarists to rule over Afghanistan.  Deeply politically entrenched military weapons makers and military service company lobbyists have made common cause with war hawks in the Pentagon to ensure that the military occupations continue despite budget cutbacks elsewhere.

Only a globally coordinated anti-war movement that connects people in NATO countries with Afghan civilian groups can drive out the occupiers.  This movement will not be made by governments or NGOs or by social media outlets.  It can only come to life as a result of the determined resistance of everyday people who are willing to put their bodies on the line in the name of peace.

Instead of such a movement, Afghans have faced a series of betrayals by the West.  Under the guise of supporting democracy in Afghanistan, the US  installed Hamid Karzai as the puppet President of the country.  Not surprisingly, the Karzai government has proven to be a deeply corrupt and oppressive regime that aims at securing privileges for a close circle of friends while obeying the orders of the occupiers.  This has resulted in mass discontent in the population and the resurgence of support for Taliban resistance forces.  It is a cruel twist for Afghan civilians that Western Occupation has provided a new future for Taliban fundamentalism.

The recent acts of the Occupiers, especially the Koran burnings and the massacre of innocent civilians, demonstrate that this bloody occupation must end immediately.  Americans have a global responsibility to participate in a movement to remove US troops immediately.  This is a desperate short-term goal for the global anti-war movement that has resonated throughout the various Occupy Wall Street movements.  In the longer term though, we need more than this.  Our movement needs a sustained push to put an end to the Military Industrial Complex.

Many people ask Socialist Party USA members why we are running a candidate for President this year.  The killings in Afghanistan provided a clear answer to this question.  Stewart Alexander and Alex Mendoza carry a clear message of anti-militarism with them on the campaign trail.  The peace initiative they propose is one that can resonate throughout the globe.  An immediate 50% cut  to the military budget, the removal of US occupying troops, the elimination of all foreign military bases and the responsible elimination of weapons of mass destruction set the Socialist Party USA apart from the Democrat and Republican parties of war.

This is not about a “disturbed” 38 year staff sergeant or about building democracy in Afghanistan or about weakening the grip of the Taliban. Democratic Socialism is about building a peaceful world that puts an end to one of the greatest threats to human security in the 21st century – the US military.  Our democratic revolution is built upon the hopes and aspirations of millions of people throughout the world to live a life based on peace, solidarity and freedom.  The immediate removal of US troops from Afghanistan and a moratorium on drone bombings are small steps in that direction.  Only democratic pressure from below can make this happen.