Action Alert!!

International Day of Action - March and Rally in New York City
May 2, Sunday, 2 PM.

March and Rally in New York City for peace, human needs, and nuclear disarmament. Rally location and march route not yet confirmed.

An international conference will be held April 30-May 1 in New York City, which will coincide with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at the United Nations. They are part of an international campaign to highlight the need for nuclear disarmament linking it to the current economic crisis, the military budget and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. United for Peace and Justice and Abolition 2000 were the initiating organizations but there is now broad international participation and leadership. For more general information: http://peaceandjusticenow.org/.

Metro NY CCDS has endorsed the May 2 action and will be organizing a contingent. This will be a major action and nearby areas especially, should organize broad participation.
To contact Metro NY CCDS via email: metroccds@gmail.com.

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Help Haiti - Drop the Debt
Sign the Petition Now!
http://one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/index.html?rc=haitidebt

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The Gaza Freedom March

By Ira Grupper

This column is about the Gaza Strip. So we have no room to discuss the U.S. economy’s impact on the U.S. working class: mortgage foreclosures still swamping federal efforts; six million people with no income but food stamps; the hoopla when GE announced it would create 400 jobs in Louisville (of course, that will bring the number up to a total of about 4,500 workers—not the 26,000 in 1974). Unemployment is still on the rise in the land of the brave and the home of the free.

We turn, instead, to the Middle East, and, specifically, Gaza, that tiny slice of land sandwiched between Israel and Egypt. Its population of 1,500,000 Palestinians, perhaps the densest compacting of humans on earth, is in a very slow death spiral: Israel will not allow food convoys in. Nor can Palestinian women with pregnancy complications easily, if at all, get to hospitals outside Gaza. Some women have literally died near the border checkpoints because Israel would not let them through.

This is collective punishment, a crime against humanity, a crime recognized by the civilized world as barbaric, retributive.

And now Egypt, ruled by Hosni Mubarak’s iron hand all these years, and with that same hand stretched out for U.S. aid, is bowing to Israeli pressure, and maybe U.S. pressure, and walling in the Palestinians.

Hence, the Gaza Freedom March. One thousand four hundred people, hailing from forty three nations around the world, massed in late December in Cairo, Egypt. We attempted to enter Gaza, to march in solidarity with our walled-in Palestinian sisters and brothers. (read entire article)

*Upcoming Events | "Events Calendar"

CCDS Statements

Statement on Senate Health Care Bill

by National Executive Committee and the CCDS Healthcare Committee

January 2010
We in the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) have watched the health insurance reform process with wide eyed optimism and hope. Hope that our elected officials and President Obama would put politics aside and do what is best for the American people- make affordable and equitable health care accessible to all. However the bill that was approved by the Senate deviates significantly from “the promise” of affordable and equitable health care for all.

CCDS continues to support single payer as the best health care option to contain health care costs and provide access to everyone. However, in light of the questionable decision to remove the option of single payer coverage at the state and national level from the policy discussion, CCDS supports notable provisions of the House bill, such as: (read entire statement)

Current Developments in the Struggle for the Human Right to health care in the USA

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Statement on "The Jobs Crisis: What to do About It"

by National Coordinating Committee of CCDS

January 2010
On November 17th, a coalition of trade unions, civil rights, women’s and many other progressive organizations came together to discuss and adopt an “Urgent Call for Action to Stem the US Jobs Crisis.” A 5-part approach that mirrors the AFL-CIO position on a jobs program was embraced. It calls for large-scale job creation in public and private sectors, additional aid to state governments in crisis, extension of emergency relief programs for the unemployed, and investment in infrastructure and tax credits.

“If we act quickly, a jobs program could put millions of people to work in 2010,” said Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change, one of the sponsoring organizations at the Nov 17th program. (read more)

Article of the Week

To be Posted