Newark Mayor Cory BookerThe bosses want nothing more from their schools and youth organizations than the preparation of the next generation of loyal workers and soldiers. It is a positive development that in the debate world lots of students argue against capitalism. Over the past weeks debate teams have organized picket lines at Senate offices protesting the imperialist invasion of Haiti and also protested Newark Mayor Corey Booker’s opening remarks at a tournament with eighteen letters reading CAPITALISM = POVERTY.
Booker’s lame reply was that he was making capitalism work in Newark, where unemployment rates top 50% among black youth aged 18-30, by bringing in micro-loans to encourage small business. A lot more could have been done to disrupt his speech and a lot remains to be done to keep the U.S. bosses invasion of Haiti in the front of people’s minds. But debaters are learning that real change comes from more than just talk. PLP and CHALLENGE are in the mix to point out the path to real change: communism.