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Vol. 3 No. 3Fall 2011

The Urgency of the Moment and a Call to Action

by Carl Davidson, National co-chair of CCDS

Carl Davidson

The CCDS National Coordinating Committee met via video conference Sept 24, covering a range of topics from the battle for jobs to the upcoming 2012 elections and issued a call to the membership for urgent action.

The meeting opened with a presentation by Carl Bloice on the economic crisis and its meaning. “Today’s financial news,” he reported, “is of a new plunge in world-wide stock markets and fears of a double-dip recession.” We are at a turning point in the politics of the United States, he continued. “The situation has shifted drastically and it is therefore also a turning point in the politics of the left – whether we can meet the challenge. The program put forth by the Obama administration regarding jobs and the deficit are not an answer to the long range problems of the economy or even of the immediate crisis, he said, “but to the extent that they keep teachers in their jobs and so forth, the proposals are worthy. We should not stand aside and say ‘it’s not enough.’”

Bloice commented further on President Obama’s new combative turn on jobs and taxing the rich and said that while not adequate to solve the problem, they are likely not able to get through a GOP-hijacked Congress. But, he said, we have to fight for it anyway to break through the wall of resistance by the far right to any solutions at all. (Read entire article)


On Jobs & Deficit Obama Requires the Wind at His Back

by Carl Bloice

Carl Bloice
First the good news: The latest New York Times/CBS News found that most people are familiar with the American Jobs Act, President Obama’s $447 billion proposal to create jobs. According to the Times, “Almost half of the public is confident the plan would create jobs and improve the economy. A substantial majority of Americans support the main proposals aimed at creating jobs, including tax cuts for small businesses, improvements in the nation’s infrastructure and payroll tax cuts for working Americans.”

And, most people “strongly support his position that creating jobs should be a higher priority than cutting spending.”

Some more good news: Citing what it called one of “a few promising signs for Mr. Obama,” Times/CBS poll indicates, “Americans strongly support his position that creating jobs should be a higher priority than cutting spending. Democrats and independents agree on that view, while Republicans do not. And across party lines, Americans support his position that a deficit-reduction plan should include a mix of tax increases and spending cuts.” Polling also indicates that most liberals and independents support compelling the very wealthy to start paying their “fair share” of taxes, meaning their rate should be the same or higher than that of working people. A recent CBS/New York Times survey had 63 percent of respondents favoring increasing taxes on households earning more than $250,000 a year. (Read entire article)


We Really Are All Troy Davis

By Ted Pearson

Before Troy Davis was executed on September 21 millions of people all over the United States and the rest of the world demonstrated, demanding that his sentence be commuted. There is little doubt in the minds of these millions that this young Black man was innocent, or at least should be spared to be able to demonstrate his innocence if he could. Many members of the CCDS were involved in the demonstrations and vigils.

Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out last week on MSNBC that there were two other executions within a day of Davis’s that went relatively unnoticed. Those executed were people about whom there was little doubt regarding their guilt for truly heinous and terrible crimes. But it is the whole system that is flawed, O’Donnell said, and as long as ANY executions or legal homicides are tolerated, there will inevitably be innocent people murdered by the state. Troy Davis can inspire us to end all executions.

Sometimes a person emerges who touches millions with his clarity, determination, and faith that humanity can accomplish the seemingly impossible. Nelson Mandela is such a person. Harold Washington was such a person, and for at least a brief time so did Barack Obama appear to be. (Read entire statement)


Solidarity Time:
Young People Occupying Wall Street Are Standing Up for All of Us

By Carl Davidson
Keep On Keepin' On

We are the 99%
The actions of thousands of young people in New York City's financial district, simply calling themselves "Occupy Wall Street," is now entering a second week, with many camping out overnight in the area's parks. How long its will continue and whether its numbers will swell is anyone's guess, but the response of the NYPD in arresting and otherwise restricting them is already banging heads with our First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble.

"At Manhattan's Union Square, police tried to corral the demonstrators using orange plastic netting," reports the Sept 25, 2011 Washington Post. "Some of the arrests were filmed and activists posted the videos online. One video appears to show officers using pepper spray on women who already were cordoned off; another shows officers handcuffing a man after pulling him up off the ground, blood trickling down his face."

Most of the youth are students, but many are also unemployed and underemployed young workers. And a small but important grouping of staffers and activists with NYC's trade unions have also made their way downtown to spend a few hours helping out. New CCDS chapter has also given its support.

The students certainly have a just cause. While the denizens of Wall Street have bailed themselves out and paid themselves huge bonuses with trillions from the public treasury, these young people are saddled with a degree of crushing debt to pay for their educations that would have been unthinkable 40 years ago. If they manage to graduate, they face a financial burden large enough for a home mortgage-all before they start their first full-time jobs, assuming their lucky enough to find one that pays a living wage. (Read entire statement)

AL FISHMAN - IN MEMORIAM

Al Fishman
The Detroit City Council designated its main chamber - the Committee of the Whole Room - as a Peace Zone in memory of Al Fishman, lifelong peace activist who was a member of CCDS and participated on the Peace and Solidarity Task Force. The resolution, introduced by Council Member JoAnn Watson, states that Al Fishman was "one of our City’s finest Peace, Civil, Labor and Human Rights activists, advocates and champions, one of our true Citizens of the World."

Our Fallen Members - Gone but not Forgotten

Included in this Issue

Highlights from the National Coordinating Committee Meeting of 9/24/11- Pat Fry
Resolution of the CCDS NCC Meeting, Sept 30, 2011 - C Davidson
From Occupy Wall Street – Day 17 - Pat Fry
Planting and Reseeding: The Struggle Continues - Harry Targ
Labor Rights are Human Rights, the NYC Labor Day Parade and the Left Labor Project
Main Street or Wall Street: Which Side Are You On? - Sandy Eaton

Articles from Past Issues

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