Organize Education [an excerpt]

Across New York City parents, teachers and students are getting organized - from the bottom up - to take on mayoral control of schools and the drastic cuts to K-12 and higher ed programs that make it harder for kids to succeed and teachers/parents to support them towards that success.

We know that when we organize, we win. We did it when we kicked Cathie Black out of the chancellorship, and we’ll do it again when we send Mayor Bloomberg out of office with his failed policies in his greedy hands. This weekend, there are two important events happening towards that goal:

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Coalition for Public Education 3rd Annual Convention    
Saturday, 9-5pm
Community Service Society of NY - 105 E. 22nd Street, New York, New York
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/501379333205516/

and

Envisioning Student Unionism in NYC
Ya-Ya Network: 224 W. 29th St, New York, New York 10001
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/480974888601877/
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Let’s come together and take on the corporate model of education, and proclaim that WE ARE STUDENTS/TEACHERS/PARENTS, NOT CUSTOMERS!

See you soon,

Justin Wedes
Editor, OurSchoolsNYC
Co-Principal, Paul Robeson Freedom School 

An Open Letter to Ann Coulter

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Tim Shriver

John Franklin Stephens

The following is a guest post in the form of an open letter from Special Olympics athlete and global messenger John Franklin Stephens to Ann Coulter after this tweet during last night’s Presidential debate.

Dear Ann Coulter,

Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow.  So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?

I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow.  I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you.  In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.

I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.

Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.

Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.

Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me.  You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.

I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.

Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.

No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.

Come join us someday at Special Olympics.  See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.

A friend you haven’t made yet,
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia

EDITOR’S NOTE: John has previously written powerful opinion pieces on the R-word.

Read one here.

Can the broad left grow together? Can we create ways to meet the monumental challenges that the American left faces today?

From the People's Record

October 23, 2012

The far left is continuing to grow in North America and around the world. From the conversations we’ve been having with lifetime leftists and activists around this country that much is clear. People likeleftist economist Richard Wolff and Baltimore community leader & Black Panther Reverend Annie Chambers are telling us that the left in America & around the world is growing at a rate they’ve never seen before. Things are possible now that haven’t ever been possible before in their lifetimes. You’d have to go back to the Depression-era left to find a time in North America with a left as swelling as ours is today, they say. That’s inspiring.

With capitalism in crisis and an empire stretched to capacity, high unemployment and low prospects for a future for the indebted youth, we have unprecedented opportunities and unprecedented challenges on the left today.

One of those challenges is the tendency of the left to fracture, disagree and eventually self-destruct. There are many factors that influence a sectarian left; any group of people who desperately want to create a new, better kind of world but genuinely disagree about the means by which we might get there are going to have passionate quarrels. The differences between progressives, anarchists, communists and socialists are many but so are the similarities. And it’s in that similar space - the desire to destroy corporate (and for many, capitalist) influence - that we can work together and grow together.

Another pressing challenge for the left is the need for spaces in an alternative society - the need for leftist organizations, collectives, co-operatives, and Workers Self Directed Enterprises to prepare room for growing numbers of people newly disenfranchised with the system of capitalism, who need a place to plug into that doesn’t just suck energy from them, but spaces that also nourish, empower and encourage them in the fight against capitalism. We need welcoming institutions that comfort and educate those who are broken from the horrors of capitalism and institutions that simultaneously channel energy into attacking the system that is at the root of the world’s most horrific problems.

One such institution working on just that is Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore. It consciously aims to meet both of the above needs through collective decision-making, left-infrastructure building, and by building spaces that are inclusive to and encourage dialogues among the broad left.  Red Emma’s isn’t your typical bookstore/café; it welcomes the homeless, provides free computer use for the community, provides anti-capitalist education and hosts leftist readings & conferences.

But it isn’t your typical anarchist bookstore either. Red Emma’s expressly aims to bridge the gap between Marxist-socialists and anarchists, and all others among the fractured left. When asked what concerned her most about the left, collective founding member Kate Khatib said the fear of sectarianism was what kept her up at night. It was important to her and to many members of the collective, to focus on projects like Red Emma’s and the Baltimore Free School (one of the divergent projects of Red Emma’s) that aim to appeal to the broad left.

And Red Emma’s is growing, allowing those getting involved to plug into a community of leftists, to stay educated and to make a small amount of money in order to live to fight another day. Creating sustainable infrastructure on the left is at the core of what Red Emma’s hopes to accomplish.

What Red Emma’s is building, in the same vein as the movement Democracy at Work is building, answers some of the biggest problems on the left today.

The People’s Record also hopes to play a part in building infrastructure for disenfranchised citizens and aims to aid the fight for a new united left through a few different projects we’ve been working on. Please take a look at what we’re doing and contact us if you have any interest in getting involved with any of our projects.

-Robert

Romney family buys voting machines through Bain Capital investment

Bain Capital has bought the electronic voting machines that will calculate millions of votes in Ohio. How is that ethical or legal?

Third Party Debate Coverage

Larry King, the host of Larry King Now on Ora TV, and Christina Tobin, founder and chair of the Free and Equal Elections Foundation, will serve as moderator for a special 2012 Presidential debate. This debate will take place on October 23 at 9:00pm EDT at the Hilton Chicago and streamed LIVE on Ora TV.  

Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Jill Stein (Green Party), Rocky Anderson (Justice Party), and Virgil Goode (Constitution Party). Both Obama and Romney were invited, but declined the offer. I know many of you probably believe that it is pointless to watch this debate because you feel that a third party candidate will not be going into office this year, but please do yourself the favor of staying an informed citizen. The two-party political system leaves a lot of voices silenced or unheard, so this is a great opportunity to hear alternative ideas for our country’s future. The best part about this debate is that it’s going to be ninety minutes long and features questions from both King and questions submitted by voters through social media (via the hashtag #AskEmThisLarry). The debate will also be broadcast on C-SPAN, Al Jazeera English and RT, as well as streamed online by Ora TV and Free & Equal.

 Even the “alternative” debates exclude socialists and communists. 

Swing State Papers Flock to Obama, Deem Romney Unworthy of Presidency

By: Sara Jones (from politicususa.com)

The swing state Colorado Durango Herald endorsed Obama for a second term, writing that Romney is not even a viable alternative and his mysterious platform consists of nothing more than nostalgia for the 1950s. Most damaging, and a sentiment shared by many editorials endorsing Obama, they write that Romney has no core conviction other than that he should be president:

Unfortunately, the Republican Party has offered no credible alternative. Its platform consists of little more than nostalgia for the 1950s, and its presidential candidate largely remains a mystery. Romney has publicly demonstrated no core convictions beyond his obvious belief that he should be president. He apparently thinks that simply not being Obama is qualification enough. It is not."

They also point out what few have mentioned about the Obama Stimulus, “It looked forward via the first substantial commitment to research and development of green technology…” They praise Obama for elevating our image overseas by working with other nations, and cite his sanctions on Iran as an effective example of Obama working with other nations.

Of all of the thoughtful editorials out there, this one got to something too often ignored — how we use government, what its purpose is. They write that Obama has used government to bolster the economy, invest in education, innovation and more.

Read more 

Salt Lake Tribune endorses President Obama over Mitt Romney, who organized city’s Olympics

Salt Lake Tribune endorses President Obama over Mitt Romney, who organized city’s Olympics

"The Salt Lake Tribune endorsed President Obama for reelection Friday, with an editorial that was highly critical of Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who is as close to being a favorite son candidate from Utah, the historic and cultural center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a non-resident can be."

All Indian Pueblo Council Endorses President Obama

“The President has kept his word to Indian Tribes,” said Isleta Pueblo Governor Frank Lujan. “He has engaged our Pueblo through yearly consultations. The Recovery Act in particular provided funding for our infrastructure and created jobs for our tribal members. We will do whatever we can to ensure President Barack Obama is re-elected.”

Read Here