Solidarity Rallies Back Chicago Teachers

BALTIMORE, MD, September 11 — “Stop Bill Gates and the billionaire Gestapo! Support the strike by teachers in Chicago!” This was one of the many chants that rang out as teachers and students rallied outside a public high school here.  

Rally participants were constantly re-energized by the enthusiastic honking of drivers in many of the trucks and cars that passed by, showing solidarity with striking educators in Chicago.

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Bangladesh: Women Textile Workers Battle Bosses

There’s no better reason why the working class needs an international party than the current struggle in Bangladesh where textile workers — 80 percent women — are waging a militant fight against the full force of the Bangladeshi government, local factory owners and international clothing retailers.

The workers make $35 a month, working 12- to 16-hour days, six days a week — barely a dollar a day. European and U.S. companies like Wal-Mart, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Carrefour, Tommy Hilfiger and American Eagle have flocked to Bangladesh to take advantage of the world’s lowest-paid and poorest workers. 

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Miners Gain; Thousands Spread Strike

Marikana, South Africa, September 19 — Strikes by thousands of miners have spread across the northern mining areas. They’re reacting to the August 16 police massacre at the Lonmin platinum mine and supporting the 3,000 miners who wildcatted on August 8. The striking rock drillers have now won an increase from $500/month to $1385/month. 

However, the walkout still includes 15,000 gold miners, six other Anglo-American platinum mines, the world’s top producer, and chrome miners. There have also been protests at Eskon Holdings, producers of 90 percent of the country’s energy.

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Bosses Racist Theory Attacks Youth

Once again, a study claims to have discovered a genetic basis for a complex social outcome — in this case, why students succeed or fail in school. Published in the July issue of Developmental Psychology, the journal of the American Psychological Association, this “gene discovery” by lead author Kevin Beaver, a criminology professor at Florida State University, follows a long and racist tradition of attributing genetic causes to alcoholism, intelligence, unemployment, criminality, and even the fear of snakes.  

Throughout the history of class society, the ruling class has used religion or pseudo-science to cast exploitation, oppression and injustice as inevitable. The field of genetics, in particular, has been repeatedly hijacked by slave-owners, captains of industry, and Germany’s Third Reich.  It’s not surprising that this despicable ideology has emerged once again, this time by capitalists who promote education reform.  

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Education, not Imperialist War!

The strike of 30,000 school teachers and education workers in Chicago is the necessary response to the attacks that students, teachers and parents have been facing for years.  It’s significant that the strike is happening in Chicago, which is the Ground Zero for fascist “educational reform.” That has the full support of the democrats and AFT president Randi Weingarten.  The charter school movement, school closings, increased testing and “data driven” teaching, the new evaluation measures, and the budget cuts have all been forced on the mostly black and Latino school population. This is clearly racist. But the working class is pushing back against these attacks in a way that we haven’t seen in 25 years.

“School Reform” Is about Control, Not Education!

These endless changes forced down the throats of students and teachers nationwide are more about disciplining us than education.  Obama and Duncan’s Race to the Top and the drive towards standardized curriculum and testing is part of the bosses move to win the hearts and minds of our students to fight in their expanding imperialist wars.  School reform in Chicago has shown it’s racist nature from the mass firings of veteran black teachers from schools that our students never deserved, discipline policies that force our students out of school and the hiring of young white teachers into schools that are still setup for failure. 

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Chicago Teachers STRIKE against Apartheid Edcuation

STRIKE AGAINST CAPITALISM!!

The Chicago teachers’ strike is a fight back against the racist conditions (overcrowded classes, segregated schools, etc.) our children face every day.  Strikes allow workers to feel the power that we have as a class to stop the bosses in their tracks.  The liberal Democrats, Obama and Duncan are leading the racist attacks on students and teachers in the U.S. with their “Race to the Top”.  The anti-racist fight that 26,000 Chicago school workers are waging is an inspiration to workers around the world, like the striking Lonmin miners in Marikana, South Africa.

SAME ENEMY, SAME FIGHT! WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!!

For better wages, working and living conditions the black mine workers have shut down the world’s third largest platinum mine.  Our working class sisters and brothers in South Africa are waging a strike against the mine owners and the racist liberal African National Congress (ANC).  The response of the liberal black led ANC to these workers demands was the racist police massacre of 8 miners on August 8^th and 34 striking miners on August 16^th.

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South Africa Massacre, U.S. Election Circus Expose Futility of Voting

As the Republican and Democratic Party convention circuses play out in the U.S., the recent massacre in South Africa (see page 8) shows the electoral system’s utter antagonism to the working class. On August 16, black and white police officers of the “freely elected” ANC (African National Congress) government shot dead 34 black miners striking at the Marikana platinum mine. “In the majority of cases, the bullet exited the body through the chest, suggesting the men were shot in the back while running away” (Independent, London, 8/30/12). To make matters worse, ANC regime prosecutors have charged 270 survivors of the massacre with murder, even though cops did the shooting. This has been withdrawn “provisonally” due to mass outrage.  

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Chicago Teachers Vote STRIKE

CHICAGO, September 3 — At least 10,000 Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) members and supporters attended a Labor Day rally here, followed by a march around City Hall and to the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) offices. Chanting, “the workers, united, will never be divided” and “we’re going to beat back the bosses’ attack.” Participants were enthusiastic and feeling their power. On August 30th, CTU’s House of Delegates had voted unanimously to strike on September 10.  Speaker after speaker rose to report members at their schools were ready to strike. This developed after months of CPS insults and attacks on students and educators, followed by rallies, marches, informational pickets and outreach to parents and community by CTU members.

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D.C. Rally Backs Wildcatting Miners

WASHINGTON, DC, August 27 — Workers and students organized by the Labor Committee of Occupy DC and PLP members targeted the embassy of South Africa, rallying to protest the murderous attack by the ANC-led government on the wildcatting platinum mine workers (see page 2,8). Thousands of workers and students saw our signs and heard our speeches and chants during rush hour. The Labor Committee passed out 500 leaflets while PL’ers distributed a Party leaflet and CHALLENGE.  

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Brooklyn PL’ers: It’s Not Just Atkins, It’s KKKapitalism

BROOKLYN, NY, August 25 — “Racist cops you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” rang out as demonstrators chanted throughout the summer in front of the 67th police precinct.

New York City’s cops, courts and media hoped to cover up the racist murder of Shantel Davis, a 23-year-old unarmed black woman who, on June 14, black NYPD Detective Phillip Atkins falsely accused of having a criminal record. For months protestors have fought back, forcing New York’s rulers to respond.

Shantel’s family and supporters, including many organized by PLP, have defied the cops, marching in the streets to that precinct without a permit, a change from earlier legal sidewalk marches.

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