Tidbits, Reader Responses and Announcements - August 23, 2012

* Re: The Far Right's Push for Power - Something to Think
  About (Laurel S. MacDowell, Chris Lowe)
* Re: NY Times Critic Calls for More Left Pressure to Make
  Obama do the Right Thing (Rick Kissell)
* Re: The November Election is About Voting to Defend
  Democracy - DSA Statement on the 2012 Elections (John
  Manning)
* The Ties That Bind Paul Ryan and Todd Akin (Marilyn Katz)
* The Other America: A 50th Anniversary Celebration - New York
  - Sept. 10
* A SOCIALIST LOOKS AT ELECTIONS 2012 - Bill Fletcher - New
  York - Sept. 24
* Labor Graphics/Comics Project - Illustrate! Educate!
  Organize! (Paul Buhle)
* Brecht Forum Seeks an Executive Director

==========

* Re: The Far Right's Push for Power - Something to Think
About

This article is a timely warning to those who see the Nov.
election as simply a battle between the Democrats and
Republicans. The actions of big money seemed organized not
random. Fascism has a particular meaning for an earlier
generation, but I too think the word fits the current American
situation and that is scary. It is also scary that those on
the left would decide to support a tiny third party or be
critical of Obama and unions at this point. Not that there is
not room for criticism, but it is much more important to work
inside the Democratic Party to get out the vote, to educate
people to vote in their own interest and in the interests of
the 99% to combat the anti-democratic actions of the 1% and
push the Democrats in a genuinely progressive direction. The
reactionaries, racists and sexists have taken over the
Republican Party big-time so it is important for people to
affirm democratic ideas and ideals to protect the rights of
citizens. And when one of the Republican lunatics makes a
statement like the Missouri Republican running for Senate who
talked about "legitimate" rape, whatever that is, it is
important to use such nonsense as an educational tool to
reveal to people what these people are about. Very important!
Great article.

Laurel S. MacDowell

===

OK, I've thought about it. Romney and Ryan are no more
fascists than Barack Obama is a socialist. The Koch brothers
and Sheldon Adelson do not control the Republican Party -- if
only the problem were that narrow.

Influence of reactionary elements of capital no more makes
fascism than support for government spending makes socialism.
Fascism is characterized not just by contempt for democracy,
but by programmatic ideological hostility to it and open
program to abolish it, and for legality likewise. It is
characterized by mass ideological parties that impose
conformity through intimidation with mass rallies, and mass
organized violent groups under party direction independent of
the judiciary or the military and police. It advances a
leader principle that apotheosizes a particular leader with
cult of personality methods. It attacks trade unionists,
opposition political parties and racial or ethnic scapegoats
not just with rhetoric or nasty policy but with imprisonment,
violence and murder.

It is possible that fascism is specifically characteristic of
capitalist economies centered on mass industrial manufacturing
production.

We face a different kind of politics and a different kind of
threat. We need analysis of what those politics are and what
that threat is in order to develop and appropriate response.
Crying fascist when that's plainly not true will only
discredit us. The fact that Portside propels me to spend time
thinking about what our political problem isn't rather than
what it is makes me depressed about prospects for developing a
better response.

Chris Lowe
Portland, Oregon

==========

* Re: NY Times Critic Calls for More Left Pressure to Make
Obama do the Right Thing

Let's no be totally naive about this: It was hardly a
coincidence that Obama's moves on gay rights, immigration, and
the Keystone pipeline all came shortly before the 2012
elections. The lack of a significant challenger from his left
(even within the Democratic primaries) means we have close to
zero leverage over the cynics who actually call the shots in
the Democratic Party (in contrast to the innocents who
populate that party's base).

Rick Kissell

==========

* Re: The November Election is About Voting to Defend
Democracy - DSA Statement on the 2012 Elections

In the spot we're in, the only way to defend Democracy is -
Elect The Lesser Evil!! - Then all join and fight to regain
our Constitution, Democracy and Bill of Rights!!!!

John Manning

==========

* The Ties That Bind Paul Ryan and Todd Akin

Rape-denier Todd Akin is right in line with the GOP's
staunchly anti-abortion platform. And so is Ryan.

by Marilyn Katz

In These Times - Web Only Features - August 21, 2012
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/13718/the_ties_that_bind_paul_ryan_and_todd_akin

Republicans, heeding their media strategists, are trying to
distance themselves from Todd Akin's absurd comment that women
cannot get pregnant from "legitimate rape." But we shouldn't
let them get away with it. Rather than making him an outlier,
Akin's comments are consistent with the words and actions of
the Republican Party - including its latest darling,
presumptive vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

Ryan is being touted as an economic expert, but his
legislative focus on economics is relatively new, whereas his
anti-choice record is pages long and more than decade old. Of
the 81 bills Ryan has sponsored or cosponsored in this
congressional session, only three have dealt with the economy.
The greatest number of bills he has backed on a single topic -
10 - have to do not with controlling the economy but
controlling women's bodies and what we can and cannot do with
them.

And that's not new. Over the thirteen years he's been in
Congress, Ryan has voted 59 times - every time possible - to
deny women access to abortion and even to forms of
contraception. The 59 pieces of legislation range from
declaring a fetus a human being with full legal rights to
allowing hospitals to refuse treatment to a woman who needs
post-abortion care - even if she is at death's door.

Nor are Ryan and Akin anomalies or renegades. Republicans have
introduced more than 1,000 anti-choice and anti-contraception
bills in state legislatures in the past two years, many of
which passed, especially in the 27 state legislatures under
GOP control. And just today the national party approved a
platform plank declaring abortion unconstitutional and calling
for a wholesale ban without any exception for rape or incest.

Not all Republicans are as careless in their speech as are
Todd Akin or Illinois's Joe Walsh, but they all share the
position that they have the right to impose their controls on
women's lives and bodies.

The record is clear: pro-gun and anti-choice, Akin, Ryan and
their Grand Old Party are a danger to women and other living
things.

==========

* The Other America: A 50th Anniversary Celebration - New York
- Sept. 10

Speakers:
Janet Gornick, Political Science, The Graduate Center, CUNY
William Kornblum, Sociology, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Ai-jen Poo, National Worker's Alliance
Maria Svart, Democratic Socialists of America

Monday, September 10th
6:00pm

The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Ave btwn 34th & 35th
Elebash Recital Hall

Michael Harrington's surprise bestseller The Other America
brought "our invisible poor" out of the shadows in 1962 and
had a crucial impact on welfare reform. How might it help us
face our current crisis of inequality? Join scholars and
activists as they explore Harrington's legacy and consider how
the landscape of poverty in America has changed - and how it
hasn't.

Co-sponsored by Dissent magazine, The Democratic Socialists of
America, The Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor
Studies, and the PhD program in Sociology

Free and open to the public. The building and the venues are
fully accessible.
For more information please visit
http://centerforthehumanities.org/
or call 212.817.2005 or e-mail [log in to unmask]

==========

* A SOCIALIST LOOKS AT ELECTIONS 2012 - New York - Sept. 24

Left Labor Project presents
A SOCIALIST LOOKS AT ELECTIONS 2012

Bill Fletcher Jr
Field Services and Education Director, AFGE
Author, "They're Bankrupting Us!" And 20 Other Myths about
Unions
Co-author, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor
and a New Path toward Social Justice

Monday, September 24, 2012
6 pm CWA 1180, 6 Harrison St (lower level), NYC
Subway: 1 to Franklin, A, C, E to Canal
Admission FREE

FIND US ON FACEBOOK
MORE INFO: 917-488-2515

==========

* Labor Graphics/Comics Project - Illustrate! Educate! Organize!

Paul Buhle and the Graphic History Collective is calling for
activists, artists, academics, and designers to collectively
participate in a global project about graphic activism. Our
intention is to produce new politically relevant graphic
histories to help inspire resistance and action.

Graphic novels are fast becoming a popular and accessible tool
of activism in the 21st century. From Persepolis (Paris 2000),
Wobblies: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the
World (New York 2005), and A Dangerous Woman: A Graphic
Biography of Emma Goldman (New York 2008) to A People's
History of American Empire (New York 2008), Pour en Finir Avec
Novembre (Montréal 2011), The Anti-Capitalist Comic Book
(Vancouver 2012), and May Day: A Graphic History of Protest
(Toronto 2012), it is clear that graphic novels are bringing
our radical past to life in new and exciting ways.

How can you get involved?

Our vision is to collect a number of short - 10 pages max -
graphic histories of resistance that illuminate the various
ways peoples from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences
have fought for economic and social justice around the world.
From organizing unions and waging militant strikes to forming
women's and queer caucus and erecting barricades on indigenous
reserves/reservations to block gas oil pipelines, we would
like to highlight peoples important stories of struggle
throughout history. Ideally, graphic histories will be made
available together online in a series or, depending on final
submission, collected, edited, and published with a
progressive press. To get a sense of what is out there
currently that we would want to build on and add a historical
element to, is the Cartoon Movement's comic section:
http://www.cartoonmovement.com/comic.

What is the next step? To get involved with what we are
loosely calling the "Global Graphic History Collective" please
email [log in to unmask] indicating the skills
you are willing to bring to the project and provide a sample
of your work (if relevant), along with an overview of your
ideas and how they fit into the larger vision of the GGHC.

We are looking for pitches or ideas by 21 November 2012.
Projects do not have to be completed until 2013. There are
multiple ways of participating:

Authors: If you are an author with an idea, please also make a
formal proposal outlining your idea for a (roughly 10 page)
political graphic history.

Illustrators: If you are an illustrator wanting to be paired
up with an author please indicate this.

Illustrating/writing teams: If you are part of an
illustrating/writing team (or do both tasks on your own), we
ask that you make a formal submission including a sample of
your work and a short outline of your proposed 10 page graphic
history, specifying its political message and relevance.

Graphic designers, communications, web: If you are a graphic
designer or are offering up web and communications skills to
help polish and promote our work please let us know. We want
to start our work quickly, so the deadline for submissions
will be 21 November 2012 with an intended completion date for
all pieces by 1 September 2013.

In love and solidarity!

Paul Buhle

References: For more about Paul Buhle see:
http://brown.edu/Departments/AmCiv/people/facultypage.php?id=10137

To see some of Paul Bulhle's graphic history projects see:
http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-American-Empire/dp/0805087443

For more about the Graphic History Collective see:
http://graphichistorycollective.wordpress.com/

To check of the Collective's first project, May Day: A Graphic
History of Protest see: http://www.btlbooks.com/book/may-day

==========

* Brecht Forum Seeks an Executive Director

The Brecht Forum (The New York Marxist School) is seeking
applications for the position of Executive Director. The
Brecht Forum is a 37 year old political education and cultural
center encompassing the New York Marxist School, the Institute
for Popular Education and Arts at the Brecht. For further
information, go to www.brechtforum.org

The candidate for the Executive Director position must have
overall agreement with the mission of the Brecht Forum along
with a commitment to Marxist education and community outreach.

S/he must have experience in exercising leadership in broad-
based non-sectarian movement-building and in social movement
activism.

The ED's primary responsibility will be to work with the Board
of Directors to implement the financial, organizational and
programmatic goals set by the Board. The ED will organize and
supervise the staff in all areas of work and assure staff
training and development. The ED will be responsible for
developing a collective process within the staff with mutual
trust and support as well as individual accountability. The
ED will facilitate productive communication and working
relations between the board, staff and external
constituencies.

In particular, the ED will assume overall leadership and
responsibility for oversight of finances, accounting controls
and fundraising, working closely with the fundraising staff-
person to ensure the Brecht's financial development.

Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.
Remuneration is consistent with movement sector pay scales.
Vacation, sick days and employer paid health care benefits are
included. Application deadline: September 15th. Fall
appointment anticipated.

Please email a letter of interest and a resume to Joan Gibbs
(Co-Chair of the Brecht Forum Board of Directors) at
[log in to unmask] and to [log in to unmask]

==========

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