[Peace] Fwd: SATURDAY June 26, 8:30pm Party with a Purpose--Fundraiser for scholarships to send people to Socialism 2011

[Karen Medina]

[ SATURDAY June 26, 8:30pm Party with a Purpose--Fundraiser for
scholarships to send people to Socialism 2011. 908 S. Vine St., Apt.
3, Urbana.

I, myself, am going to Socialism 2011 and really look forward to the
companionship of others from Champaign-Urbana at the conference.
-karen medina ]

*Raise money for scholarships for activists to attend the Socialism
2011 Conference in Chicago
*Discuss and watch youtube videos about the fight Greek workers are
waging against austerity and draconian budget cuts.
*Listen to good music, talk politics, and have drinks
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ISO Champaign <iso.champaign at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 3:19 PM
Subject: SATURDAY: Party with a Purpose--Fundraiser for Socialism 2011
To: ISO Champaign <iso.champaign at gmail.com>


http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=176184099108364

Party with a Purpose: Fundraiser for Socialism 2011
Saturday, June 26, 8:30 PM
908 S. Vine St., Apt. 3, Urbana

Join the C-U International Socialist Organization & friends as we...

*Raise money for scholarships for activists to attend the Socialism
2011 Conference in Chicago

*Discuss and watch youtube videos about the fight Greek workers are
waging against austerity and draconian budget cuts.

*Listen to good music, talk politics, and have drinks


$5-$20 cover at the door, additional donations accepted for beer and
delicious baked goods.
For more information, call 415-713-6260 or email iso.champaign at gmail.com
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You’re invited...

SOCIALISM 2011: REVOLUTION IN THE AIR
Revolutionary politics, debate and entertainment
JULY 1-4 | CHICAGO
http://www.socialismconference.org

Everywhere we look in the world there are revolutions and struggles
that are challenging dictatorship, economic inequality, and
oppression.

>From Cairo to Madison, these struggles show us that "another world is
possible." But they also raise questions about what ideas, strategies,
and tactics are necessary to carry the struggle forward.
Socialism 2011 will provide an opportunity for new and veteran
activists to discuss what these events mean for our world, and for our
own movements today.

Last year, more than 1,500 people turned out to Socialism 2010 in
Oakland and Chicago.

Don’t miss the chance to meet with hundreds of others like you who
want to build an alternative to a system of greed, racism, war and
oppression.

Featured speakers: Ali Abunimah * Anthony Arnove • Omar Barghouti •
John Carlos • Todd Chretien • Mark Clements • Eric Cobb • Nicole
Colson • Dana Cloud • Paul D'Amato • Steve Early • Egyptian Activists
• Sam Farber • Joel Geier • Rayyan Ghumma • Anand Gopal • Glenn
Greenwald • Arun Gupta • Sarah Knopp • Dan Lane • Paul LeBlanc • Alan
Maass • Marlene Martin • Scott McLemee • Immanuel Ness • Khury
Petersen-Smith • Mostafa Omar • Helen Redmond •Jennifer Roesch •
Elizabeth Schulte • Helen Scott• Liliana Segura • Ahmed Shawki •
Sharon Smith • Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor • Jeffery Webber •Lee Wengraf •
Sherry Wolf • Elizabeth Wrigley-Field • Dave Zirin

Choose from more than 100 meetings, including: Egypt: The revolution
continues •Wisconsin: The end of the one-sided class war • Teachers
vs. billionaires: The fight for real education reform • Nuclear
madness: Why nuclear power is not a “clean” option • Sitdown! The rise
of the CIO • The Mexican Revolution of 1910 • Imperialism and
revolution in Libya • The fight for transgender rights • Class and
class struggle in Africa • Racism and inequality today: The state of
Black America • Malcolm X: A life of reinvention • Abortion without
apology: The case for a new movement • Out on the street: The housing
crisis and the movement against foreclosures • From the Moral Majority
to the Tea Party: Understanding the right in the U.S. • Crime, cops
and capitalism • Crisis and class struggle in the age of austerity •
The fight for immigrant rights after Arizona • Boycott, Divestment,
Sanctions: The global struggle for Palestinian rights • Portugal
1974-75

And many, many more:
http://www.socialismconference.org/talks

What they say about past Socialism Conferences...

The young people at the conference took me back in time to when you
were ready to stand for what was right. It lets you know that what you
may have planted years ago will come to reality today. I feel great to
have become a part of it.
—Dr. John Carlos, 1968 Olympic bronze medalist who raised the Black
Power salute.

Socialism conferences are exciting gathering places for students and
young activists, for revolutionary scholars and fighters for social
justice, to share ideas and experiences that can help us understand
and change the world. I've been to a couple—it's not enough. I'm
coming again.
—Paul LeBlanc, socialist and author

Visit the Socialism 2011 website for updates
http://www.socialismconference.org/

Register today online
http://www.socialismconference.org/register

Sponsored by the Center for Economic Research and Social Change,
publisher of the International Socialist Review and Haymarket Books,
and co-sponsored by the International Socialist Organization,
publisher of SocialistWorker.org
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

http://socialistworker.org/2011/06/22/struggle-of-the-squares

Comment: Panos Petrou

The struggle in the squares

June 22, 2011

Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou and his PASOK party
government survived a June 21 confidence vote in parliament, but he
will face continued mass protests as he pushes for yet more
devastating austerity measures.

Greece is in the grips of a desperate economic crisis. The government
has needed massive bailouts engineered by the European Union and
International Monetary Fund, but they have come with the demand that
the government slash spending, cut the wages and benefits of workers,
and privatize public enterprises.

But a new mass movement has arisen to give voice to the anger of the
mass of the population. Following the example of youth and workers in
Spain--and before that, the Egyptian revolutionaries of Tahrir
Square--the Greek "aganaktismenoi" ("indignants") have occupied public
squares. On June 27 and 28, the so-called "movement of the squares"
will demonstrate alongside the labor movement during a 48-hour general
strike called as parliament is set to vote on yet more cutbacks.

Panos Petrou, a member of the socialist group Internationalist Workers
Left (DEA) and a participant in the occupation in Athens' Syntagma
Square, explains how this powerful new movement developed.

Protesters in Thessaloniki fill a public square in protest against
austerity measures (Tom Tziros)

ON MAY 25, tens of thousands of people responded to a call on Facebook
to join a demonstration in Syntagma Square, a central square in Athens
outside the parliament building. It was a rather spontaneous
demonstration, inspired by the Spanish movement of the "Indignados"
(the "Indignants") who were occupying Plaza del Sol in Madrid.

Weeks later, Syntagma Square remains occupied by thousands of people,
and similar "camps" are functioning in many squares in many cities and
towns all around Greece. A new protest movement--known as "the
aganaktismenoi" (the Greek translation for the "Indignados") or the
"movement of the squares"--has emerged, and it is now a social force
that is further destabilizing the already shaken political system in
Greece.

On the days before May 25 and immediately after, the mass media tried
to flatter the people who came into the streets, simply to contain
their actions. The press highlighted the weaknesses of the movement,
praising them as its "gifts." The same political commentators who
viciously attacked all kinds of social protest in the past, whether
strikes or occupations or whatever, now glorified this "non-political
movement of all Greeks against all parties."

They portrayed the movement in the way they wanted it to develop--as a
"silent" expression of indignation against "politics," which would be
harmless for the capitalist class.

Unfortunately for them, this is far from the truth. While there is a
widespread anger against "politicians" in Greece, the true reasons for
this popular anger are the anti-worker policies of the government.
These policies are the product of the harsh austerity measures and
anti-social agenda of the "Memorandum" signed by the government and
the so-called "troika" of the European Union, European Central Bank
and International Monetary Fund, which are devastating the lives of
working people, youth, the poor, seniors and the unemployed.

These are the people who occupy the squares--the ordinary people of
Greek society. And far from being "non-political," these people are
discovering politics in the streets.

>From day one of the movement, one of the most exciting things about
the occupied squares has been the fever of political debate among
ordinary people. All sorts of people, meeting each other for the first
time in their lives, are gathering to debate about the political
system, the crisis, the public debt and how to deal with it--even the
way the economy is run in capitalist society.

This is mostly a youth movement--a movement of what the OECD calls
"Generation X": unemployed graduates, workers in precarious employment
situations, people usually left out of the unions, because the trade
union bureaucracy won't lift a finger to organize them.

But it is not only a youth movement. The squares have become a symbol
of resistance for hundreds of thousands of workers, seniors and so on.
According to a survey, more than 2.5 million people around
Greece--with a population of 10 million--have taken part in the
demonstrations during these past weeks. According to the same survey,
an astonishing 87 percent of people support the demonstrations, 81
percent believe that they will continue and 52 percent believe they
will "achieve something."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DOWN IN Syntagma Square, you can see live in front of your eyes how
people change as a result of the movement--how mass action can change
the people's minds and ideas.

Most people in the demonstrations are participating in mass action for
the first time in their lives. There are people who had been voting
for the two mainstream parties for years now say, "Finally, we woke
up!" There is also a whole generation of young people that had no
"ties" with politics, the ideas of the left or the social struggle
that is now exploding in the streets.

In the first days, you could see these contradictions in the street:
The chant of "Thieves, thieves" against members of parliament and
insulting gestures against the parliament building were the only forms
of expression. As the movement evolved, more political slogans have
emerged, with the chant "Hey, hey, ho, ho. Take the Memorandum and
go!" dominating.

What's more, the occupation of Syntagma Square has taken a life of its
own. Every night, there is a "People's Assembly," where thousands
gather around, discuss and vote for demands and the next steps of the
movement. It is a form of democracy that is far more democratic than
the one inside the halls of parliament.

In addition to the main Assembly, there are all kinds of working
groups focused on specific issues: a Politics Group, an Economy Group,
a Workers and Unemployed Assembly.

One of the most successful initiatives was the "Day of Popular
Discussion About the Debt." Economists who had taken a stand against
the Memorandum were invited to speak about the alternatives, and more
than 4,000 people attended the discussion, where they asked questions
about the future of the Eurozone, the possibility of a default, the
role of the banks and so on.

Syntagma Square has turned into a center of resistance. Most trade
union demonstrations end up at the square. On June 9, workers from the
Dodoni dairy company, which unites a number of agricultural
cooperatives in northwestern Greece, came to the square to protest the
planned sell-off of the company by the Agricultural Bank of Greece.
The workers distributed tons of milk to the demonstrators. On June 4,
LGBT demonstrators from the Athens Pride celebration defied the police
warnings and right-wing thugs claiming that they weren't welcome in
Syntagma, and marched to the square.

The Sunday demonstrations at the square give the opportunity for the
huge mass of sympathizers to protest--in this way, they are like the
"Fridays of Anger" in the Arab world.

Tens of thousands of people paralyze the downtown of Athens every
Sunday. On June 5, more than 200.000 people took part in one of the
largest demonstrations since the fall of the military junta in
1974--it was almost impossible to take a single step inside the
square.

The most exciting moment was when a group of Egyptians living in
Greece appeared, waving Egyptian flags and carrying a placard saying,
"From Tahrir Square to Syntagma Square." The applause and the cheers
were electrifying.

Egyptian, Tunisian and Spanish flags are a common sight at the
demonstrations in a display of internationalism--along with the
Argentinian flag and people banging pots, as protesters did during the
"Argentinazo" of 2001, which is a very popular example among
demonstrators. There is a slogan inspired by the rebellion in
Argentina that forced President Fernando de la Rúa to abandon the
presidential palace in a helicopter: "One magic night, like the one in
Argentina, we'll see who will manage to get in the helicopter first!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INSIDE THE movement of the squares, there is an ongoing political struggle.

Many demonstrators exhibit hostility to the left, with statements like
"politicians are all the same, " and the trade unions. This is a
left-wing criticism--the "realism" of the big parties of the
traditional left and their emphasis on parliamentary and electoral
politics has led many people to see them as "part of the system," and
there is widespread anger against the betrayals of the trade union
bureaucracy.

But right-wing and even far-right elements, disguised as
"non-political patriots," are consciously cultivating these ideas.
They are trying to give the demonstrations a conservative direction,
in order to exclude the left and the working class movement from the
squares.

It is crucially important that the organized left be present at the
demonstrations to explain that bureaucrats are one thing, but the
unions and their rank and file are another; that we need a radical
left which is not part of the system, but a force against it; and that
the real enemy is not some "corrupt politicians," but the bankers, the
industrialists and the whole capitalist class.

This kind of engagement has helped. The decisions and announcements of
the People's Assembly in Syntagma Square are clearly going in a
left-wing direction, with calls for strikes, declarations that all
workers on strike are "welcome at the square," and demands that have
been traditionally expressed by the left. The slogan of the radical
left, "We don't owe anything, we won't sell anything, we won't pay
anything," which was raised as a battle cry against debt and
privatization, is one of the most popular at the squares.

The movement reached its peak on June 15, when a 24-hour general
strike took place in addition to the mobilization at the square.
Masses of striking workers joined the thousands of "indignants" who
were surrounding the parliament building.

You could see the government's fear from early in the morning. Fences
were set up to protect the parliament building. Thousands of cops were
mobilized to enable MPs to enter--though most chose to stay home that
day.

Later in the day, the riot police attacked the demonstration. Tons of
tear gas was used on the streets around Syntagma, while the riot
police repeatedly tried to disperse the demonstrators, attempting even
a direct raid on the camp in Syntagma. But in an impressive display of
defiance, people held their ground, wearing headscarves, forming
chains, some of them dancing in the middle of the "battleground" to
show they were not afraid.

All day long, people were retreating for a few moments, only to come
back to the square minutes later. The mood was clear--that "They shall
not pass" and "We won't lose the square." Seniors, housewives, workers
and young people all faced police brutality--many of them for the
first time in their lives--but stayed on to occupy the square.

The solidarity shown by workers in hotels and cafeterias nearby
Syntagma was amazing. They opened doors, gave shelter to the
demonstrators and offered them water. The workers at the subway
station at Syntagma Square kept the station open on their own
initiative, offering a shelter to demonstrators, enabling the flow of
people from and at the demonstration, and even setting up a makeshift
clinic to take care of wounded demonstrators.

At the end of the day, when the battles around the square were over,
the people managed to hold their camp. That same night, thousands of
people returned to Syntagma to attend the Assembly, which was one of
the biggest since the start of the movement. The attempt to scare
people off had failed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THAT SAME day, the government nearly collapsed. Prime Minister George
Papandreou even considered resigning in order to form a new
government, either in coalition with the main right-wing opposition
party, or a government of "technocrats"--people directly from the
capitalist class.

The failure of these negotiations resulted in a reshuffle of the
current government, with Papandreou attempting to control the ongoing
rebellion inside his own party. To control potential rebels who are
considering a vote against a new package of even harsher austerity
measures and privatization), Papandreou asked for a confidence vote on
June 21.

The same day, the movement of the squares are organizing a "vote of
no-confidence on the streets," with huge demonstrations set for every
city. This comes after another massive mobilization on Sunday, June
19, which showed that neither police brutality, nor the maneuvers of
the government, can stop the people from demonstrating.

The battle is far from over. And importantly, there is the potential
of the workers movement joining the "indignants" in the squares. With
the government trying to privatize public enterprises, the powerful
trade unions in this sector are beginning to go on war footing.
Starting June 20, workers at the national electricity company began an
open-ended series of roling strikes.

The country's two main union federations, ADEDY for the public sector
and GSEE for the private sector, have been forced to escalate strike
actions. After years of ceremonial 24-hour strikes, the two
federations will hold a 48-hour general strike for June 27 and 28,
when the new package of cuts is supposed to be voted on the
parliament--the first joint action of its kind in more than 30 years.

The coming together of the enthusiasm and the militancy of the
movement of the squares with the power of the working class movement
is the best way forward. The squares must play a part in escalating to
strike action, and the workplaces need the direct, mass action that is
on display in the squares.

In the days to come, this will be the crucial task for the radical
left, the activists in the squares and the rank-and-file militants in
the trade unions. Members of DEA, who have been participating in the
movement from the beginning, are agitating around this slogan: "Bring
all the unions to the Square, bring the squares to every workplace!"




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ISO Resources:
isochampaign.org
internationalsocialist.org
haymarketbooks.org
socialistworker.org
isreview.org
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-- karen medina
"The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain