Down with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"! Defend LGBT Rights!

A freshman in the Naval ROTC at George Washington University named Todd Belok has been dismissed from the program for homosexuality. Read more about his story in the student newspaper.

Michael Komo, the president of Allied in Pride at GW, issued the following state via a Facebook group:

We can no longer sit by and watch it tear apart the lives of our friends, family members, and classmates. We must take action now. We are organizing a protest that will be inclusive of all colleges in D.C. Our "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" protest will take place on Saturday, February 28, starting at 1:00 p.m. We will be meeting in Kogan Plaza. It is located on H Street in between 21st Street and 22nd Street. We need your help to make this as successful as possible. Some of the organizations that will be participating in the event at GW include Allied in Pride, College Democrats, Black Student Union, Remix, Jewish Progressive Association, and many more. If you would like to be a part of our movement, please let me know via e-mail (michaelrkomo@gmail.com). Please feel free to spread the word to any and all organizations at your school or any other school in D.C. you think would like to participate.

The International Socialist Organization opposes all forms of oppression, including "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" homophobia. We everyone who can will turn out to support this protest.

New Issue of International Socialist Review

The March/April issue of the International Socialist Review is back from the printers and should be available in bookstores -- and from ISO members -- before long.

For now, its table of contents as well as a couple of article can be read online.

The Onion: "Nation Instinctively Forms Breadline"

NEW YORK—Drawn by a strange force they could neither resist nor describe, millions of Americans reportedly dropped what they were doing Tuesday and, acting as if by instinct alone, gathered into one massive nationwide breadline.

According to witnesses, citizens across the country exited their homes in near unison, leaving behind growing stacks of bills, empty kitchen cupboards, and what was once a life of comfort to form the spontaneous, 2,000-mile-long queue.

more

Time for Radical Change

Join us for a discussion of the new political period opening up in the United States and the world.



Time: 7 pm on Thursday, February 26
Place: Sankofa Books, 2714 Georgia Ave. NW

For more information, write iso_district@yahoo.com or call 202-903-6906

Fighting Back

The mayor of Lansing, Michigan won't put up with anti-worker questions about the auto industry from a Fox News anchorman:



Towards the end, some protectionist thinking starts to come out -- such is the reality of uneven class consciousness. But how often do you hear someone defending the working class on TV in such a combative way?

Read more about it here.

The Battle of NYU

Meanwhile, back in New York....



Today New York University has shown its true face more than ever. Claiming to be a "private university in the public service," it is clearly not even in the service of those students whose tuitions allow it to exist.

Earlier today, NYU cut power to all outlets in the occupied space and turned off the wireless internet. Obviously this was an attempt to silence and intimidate the occupiers who have broad-based support.

Then, NYU said it would negotiate and instead detained and suspended the student negotiators when they showed up. Security has now broken through the barricade and people are being detained and suspended.

Instead of dialog and negotiation, the NYU administration has shown they prefer the authoritarian, dissent-quashing, dictator route. It is a true reflection of how they run their university. Nothing but thugs with suits on, interested in getting rich under the guise of "education."

Be prepared to defend any individual or group that is targeted academically or legally for their role in the occupation. Widespread support for the occupation and its demands will not be extinguished by NYU's hypocritical, tyrannical behavior.

Email NYU Administrators. Demand amnesty and no suspensions:

NYU President John Sexton: john.sexton@nyu.edu

John Beckman, NYU Spokesperson: jhb5@nyu.edu

Office of the Provost: provost@nyu.edu

Office of the Vice President: evp@nyu.edu

Here is John Sexton, NYU President, so people can call as well as email:
(212) 998-2345

See also the Take Back NYU blog

Voices of Resistance: Standing Up To Injustice and War

Spread the word: Four appearances in the DC area in March by Laila Al-Arian and Dave Zirin speaking out against the "War on Terror"

LAILA AL-ARIAN is the daughter of Palestinian political prisoner Dr. Sami al-Arian. Laila has been a tireless advocate for the case of her father who was politically targeted by the U.S. government in its post-9/11 domestic witch-hunt; he has been imprisoned since February 2003 on baseless, trumped-up federal charges. Laila is also a writer and producer for Al-Jazeera English and a contributor to The Nation magazine. She has written extensively on the Middle East and Palestinian resistance to occupation. Her work has appeared in The Independent, The Guardian, Alternet and Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, among other publications. She is the coauthor of the recent book, Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians.

DAVE ZIRIN is a prominent political sportswriter for The Nation and author of A People's History of Sports. Dave is an author with Haymarket Books and a contributor to the International Socialist Review. Analyzing the convergence of sports and politics, Dave is also a columnist for SLAM Magazine, The Progressive and is an op-ed writer for the Los Angeles Times. It was recently revealed that Dave was one of many social justice activists illegally spied on by the Maryland State Police for speaking out against the war and against the death penalty.


LOCAL TOUR STOPS:

• March 2: George Washington University, Marvin Center Grand Ballroom at 8pm (Endorsed by Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Arab Students Association)

• March 4: University of Maryland, College Park, Woods Hall 1130 at 7pm

• March 17: Georgetown University at 7:30pm (Location TBA) (Endorsed by Students for Justice in Palestine)

• March 26: Sankofa Books at 7pm

LGBT Group Tagged as "Terrorist"

Equality Maryland, the state's largest gay civil rights group, was revealed this week to be among the many peaceful protest groups that were once designated a "security threat" by state officials.

The Washington Post reported Friday that the Maryland State Police's Homeland Security & Intelligence Division gave Equality Maryland the designation and considered the organization a terrorist group. The designation has since been rescinded.

more

In the Ditch

A radio commentary by Doug Henwood, editor of Left Business Observer:

Quite a spectacle in Congress on Wednesday, wasn’t it? Watching the assembled CEOs of our biggest banks testifying really put all our pathologies on display. On one side of the table, the bankers looked like dim and evasive hacks—it was easy to see how they drove their vehicles into the ditch. But on the other side of the table, many of the Congresspeople looked like preening and devious hacks. Where were they while the bankers were driving the vehicles into the ditch? And what really do they presume to do about all this? Nationalize the banks? Ha....

Here's the whole thing. See in particular his concluding lines:

An old-style Labour MP is said to have complained to [Tony] Blair about all the right-wing things he had to say to get elected. Blair’s response: “It’s much worse than that. I really believe it.” The same for Obama, I’m afraid. The combination of an economy stuck in the mud and an aroused populace could change that. But not yet.

Coverage of UDC Protest

See also WJLA's story

Socialist Worker article on UDC here

UPDATE: Article in The Washington Informer

Georgetown for Gaza

Relieve the Suffering of the Palestinian People
by Farah El-Sharif

As members of Georgetown for Gaza, greeting our friends and professors on campus with “Happy New Year” after winter break seemed bitterly paradoxical.

As we returned to the comfort and luxury of Georgetown, in the Gaza strip the advent of 2009 (1430 Hijri) came loaded with blood, destruction, and terror. Last month, more than 1,300 people were killed, with at least 95 bodies having been pulled from the rubble since Israel halted its assault on January 18. About 1,200 of the dead have been civilians and well over 300 of them were children. To date, 13 Israelis have been killed in rocket fire, 10 of whom were soldiers.

The situation became so dire that Gazans called on international aid agencies to provide them with the white sheets needed to bury the scores killed; it seems the price of a Palestinian life has dwindled so much that it cannot even rest in peace after death.

read the whole article here

SAVE UDC! NO TUITION HIKES! DEFEND OPEN ADMISSIONS!

WHAT: Rally to save UDC, Washington DC's only public university, from a proposed 100% tuition hike and the end of open enrollment.

WHEN: 6pm, Tuesday February 10th

WHERE: UDC, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Inspired by the students of Gallaudet University, students at UDC will be holding a "sleep out" from Tuesday, Feb 10th at 10 AM to 7 pm on Wednesday, Feb 11th.

The 6pm rally is meant to provide community members and alumni to show their solidarity and support.

A 100% tuition hike will make the cost of UDC prohibitive to thousands of low income students. Education is a right not a privilege and it's time to stand up!

You Are Here

This table shows the number of jobs lost or created (in thousands) at X number of months into a given recession.

The blue line is the recession that began in 1990. The one in red is the recession starting in 2001. The green line represents the crisis underway now.



via the Bureau of Labor Statistics

ISR Reading Group Meets on 2/12

We'll be digging into two article from the latest issue of International Socialist Review. The discussion starts at 7 pm on Thursday, Feb. 12 at La Casa Community Center (3166 Mt. Pleasant Street – Columbia Heights metro).

One of the articles, Sherry Wolf's "Stonewall: The Birth of Gay Power," is now online. The other, "The Return of Keynes?" by Petrino DiLeo, is available only in the print edition of the magazine, at least for now. The issue is on sale at bookstores, including Borders and Barnes & Noble.

Another recent article by Sherry Wolf, "LGBT Political Cul-de-sac: Make a U Turn," appears in the latest issue of New Politics.

Save UDC!

End of Open Admissions, 137% Tuition Increase at UDC
Amidst Recession and Mass Layoffs
by Marco Murillo

In a city where longtime residents have seen their community institutions either transformed, sold off or simply terminated, the University of the District of Columbia is next on the chopping block. The Board of Trustees will vote on February 11th, 2009, to decide whether or not to go through with a tuition increase. Many UDC students are native Washingtonians whose current tuition is around $3,300. It would increase immediately in September 2009, to $7,000 per year for students in a 4-year program.

Students and faculty are outraged at the potential hike. For many, UDC is the only viable collegiate institution where working class individuals can further their education.

"What do the people that think they had a way out do now?" expressed returning student Christina Cameron. "They are not thinking about us. They did not ask us."

The tuition hike accompanies another unprecedented outrage: the end of the corner stone of UDC: open enrollment. District of Columbia Public School graduates will now need to obtain a 1400 on their SAT and a 2.0 grade point minimum to gain admittance. As school President Allen Sessoms said coldly, “[We] will no longer have open admission. The community college takes care of that.” The “community college” in question is called, Southeastern University. Located in South East i D.C. where the demographic is mostly Black. UDC is in white upper North West. This stinks of resegregation for thousands of black and latino students. Is President Sessoms sending a subliminal message that we should all stay where we are? While students are outraged, there is some confusion about fighting back.

"Although I understand student opposition," explains Senior Journalism major, Ra-Jah Kelly , "it's important that we understand that all we want is better services."

It's true. We do all want better services, but what the University of the District of Columbia is suggesting will not mean better services. Proof of that are the buy outs proposed of long time faculty members, which the faculty union strongly opposes.

The school president says all the cuts and tuition hikes are because of budget shortfalls. But in an economic climate where banks are getting bailed out by the billions. In a hostile economic climate where banking elites like Citigroup can buy a new $50 million private jet with bailout money from Washington's "golden parachutes," it's inconceivable that some of this capital cannot be allocated to UDC.

"Students need to come out in hordes!" proclaims English composition professor Sahibzada.

We need to fight back and solidierize with all those who oppose this disproportionate proposal.

There is a rally this Thursday at 2pm on the second floor of building 38.

Come make your voice heard on Tuesday, February 10, at 10:00am in front of UDC where students will be “sleeping in” in front of the school until 7pm the following night!

Meeting 2/11 at University of Maryland

WHAT: War, Recession, and Obama: Socialist Strategies for Winning Radical Change
WHEN: Wednesday, February 11th; 7pm
WHERE: 1124 Jimenez Hall

2 million people came to Washington on January 20th DC to celebrate the Obama era and call for change. There is no question that the election of an African American President in a land built by slaves is profound and historic. But for those of us who want change, challenges are everywhere: there is an economic meltdown that is throwing people out of work by the thousands. There are wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There are tuition hikes and cut backs of services at public universities. At the same time, bank CEO's have given out billions of the bailout money in executive bonuses! The time for change did not end with Obama's election: it began. Join the UMD socialist group, the International Socialist Organization, for a meeting to debate and discuss strategies for winning radical change right here and right now.

Contact: umd_socialist@yahoo.com

Dave Zirin on Sports in an Economic Crisis

Branch Meeting on 2/5

Come talk politics and organizing with the DC International Socialist Organization!

2 million people came to Washington on January 20 in DC to celebrate the call for change. There is no question that the election of an African American President in a land built by slaves is profound and historic. But for those of us who want change, challenges are everywhere: wars in Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq rage on, bankers are being given billions in taxpayer money, and jobs, healthcare, and education are suffering. Ordinary people are feeling the brunt of these attacks across the country.

The people of DC are no exception. The President of the University of the District of Columbia recently announced his proposal for tuition hikes and an end to open enrollment at the city's only public university. Students at UDC are rightly fighting back. Come join local activists with the DC ISO as we talk about standing with the students of UDC against the attacks on education, building against the war on local campuses, and fighting for real grassroots change in the form of jobs, education, and healthcare.

When: Thursday, February 5 @ 7 pm

Where: La Casa Community Center (3166 Mt. Pleasant Street – Columbia Heights metro)

Contact: iso_district@yahoo.com or 202-903-6906