Red Line in DC. The line will be drawn, the battle is here.

Posted: May 28, 2024 in Fight Back, Fight On!, Fight war and war mongers, For your information, resistance, Solidarity, The People Rising
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Red Line at DC

National Mobilization: Surround the White House for Gaza

Saturday, June 8

12:00 p.m.

The White House

Last night, the Israeli military carried out a horrific massacre in Rafah, bombing a refugee camp in a so-called “safe zone” and igniting a massive blaze that claimed at least 45 lives. Unless we act now this genocidal assault will only expand. To demand an end to Israel’s killing spree and raise our voice for a free Palestine, tens of thousands will surround the White House dressed in red, building a human red line around the White house on Saturday, June 8.

This emergency action was called by the convening organizations of the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, attended by 3,600 people and endorsed by 450 organizations.

June 8 marks 8 months of U.S.-Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people, and marks the 54th anniversary of the occupation of Gaza. A month ago, Biden said that the invasion of Rafah was a red line. But now, the invasion of Rafah has continued for weeks, has expanded to the entire Gaza Strip, Biden’s red line is nowhere to be seen. Instead of following through and stopping military aid to Israel, Biden has authorized billions more in weapons shipments to be used to kill and massacre Palestinians.

Biden hasn’t drawn the line, but we can. On June 8, we will come together from across the country and surround the White House. Wearing red, and raising our demands high, we will show the world that we are the red line. We demand an immediate ceasefire, an immediate end to the siege on Gaza, the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, and an end to the occupation of Palestine.

Stop the Genocide! We are the red line! Free Palestine!

 

Two new books about Vladimir Lenin.

Posted: May 27, 2024 in *Celebration*, Fight On!
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Two things that have always interested me about any of our revolutionary people was what brought them to this point and what was their life like outside of the fight.

One thing that I learned and held dear all of these years is a lesson from Sunday School. The lesson was about how we were supposed to act toward those among us who were “the least of these.” As a young kid I took this lesson and many others to heart, and this is what has informed my politics to this day. I always asked what this or that will do for the least of these. If I could not answer in a satisfactory manner that would not only help but really help, then I would not support whatever action was deemed of revolutionary importance at the moment. Or I should say what was the newest reformist action that was deemed important. Leaving folks behind, taking a step-by-step approach, which usually benefits the comfortable class within first, or throwing anyone off or in front of the bus because we were afraid of what the powers that be would think or how they would react was never my cup of tea.  I fully realize that fighting for everyday issues is important but not the end all and be all.

So, what do/did revolutionary people do it their “little spare time.” What lessons learned and what framed the thinking of these folks. And when things got rolling what hours in the day could be set aside for family, for fun, for relaxation for just being human. What a wonderful opportunity these two books present to learn about a great revolutionary man and his life outside of the fight.

I was pleased to find these two new books both available at Leftwing books found Here.

Lenins childhood

Lenin’s Childhood

When he died suddenly in 1967, Isaac Deutscher had completed only the compelling first chapter of a long-anticipated biography of Lenin, published here. It covers Lenin’s family background, birth and early years in the backwater town of Simbirsk up to the execution of his brother, a traumatic formative event. Drawing on a lifetime of background research, including access to the closed section of Trotsky’s archives, Lenin’s Childhood gives a novel interpretation of the earliest influences on Lenin’s personality and thinking. Most of all, it is a glimpse into an unfinished work which would have striven to save Lenin from fanatical anti-revolutionary condemnation and, perhaps more important, from uncritical communist beatification.

This anniversary edition includes an introduction by Deutscher’s biographer, Gonzalo Pozo, which situates the Lenin project within Deutscher’s oeuvre and discusses the sources, influences and evolution of his never completed life of Lenin.

About the Author

Isaac Deutscher was born near Krakow in 1907. First a poet and literary journalist, he joined the outlawed Polish Communist Party in 1926, where he was active until his expulsion in 1932. He moved to London in 1939 just before the outbreak of World War II to embark on a successful journalistic career. In 1946 he decided to become a freelance historian, writing many books, of which the most important is perhaps his Trotsky trilogy.

Lenin’s Childhood

Isaac Deutscher

Publisher: Verso

Year: 2024

Format: Paperback

Size: 113 pages

ISBN: 9781804292778

Book two.

The other Lenin

Not By Politics Alone: The Other Lenin Read the rest of this entry »

This is not the way we put an end to war!

Posted: May 26, 2024 in Fight On!, Fight war and war mongers, for your reflection, Peace, War No More, We fight on
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A reflection on Memorial Day 2024.

Think about this. The Eskimos Have No Word For War.

Posted: May 26, 2024 in LOVE, War No More
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This is a poem that was read today at MCC in Hartford. We want to share it with our readers.

MCC HARTFORD

READINGS: May 26th, 2024, Memorial Day

Closing Words

Our closing words today are a poem by Mary Oliver:

The Eskimos Have No Word for “War”

Trying to explain it to them

Leaves one feeling ridiculous and obscene.

Their houses, like white bowls,

Sit on a prairie of ancient snowfalls

Caught beyond thaw or the swift changes

Of night and day.

They listen politely, and stride away,

With spears and sleds and barking dogs

To hunt for food.

The women wait,

Chewing on skins or singing songs,

Knowing that they have hours to spend,

That the luck of the hunter is often late.

Later, by fires and boiling bones

In streaming kettles, they welcome me,

Far kin, pale brother,

To share what they have in a hungry time

In a difficult land. While I talk on

Of the southern kingdoms, cannon, armies,

Shifting alliances, airplanes, power,

They chew their bones, and smile at one another

The Garden Series + Flying fluff

Posted: May 25, 2024 in *Celebration*, a story, The garden
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When we are off our soap box we love to garden. Here is a photo of one section of our front sitting porch.

May 26 Front Porch garden

Close up of the Rhododendron bush in our side yard. Everywhere when out walking the Rhododendron bushes are looking really well this year. 

May 26 Rhododendron

***and now a word from Helpful Hannah who is always ready to be helpful.

“Oh Hannah, what is all that white fluff flying around in the air around here? It is getting everywhere all over the grass, on the flowers, on the carpet and if I open the door it acts like flies and tries to get in the house.” Sweep it up impossible as it’s like trying to sweep up feathers and I know what that is like since I once worked in a pillow factory.” Help it is all over the indoor/ outdoor carpet on my porch. 

Cottonwood seeds in flying fluff.

May 26 Cotton Wood Fluff

The white fluff is the vehicle for the seeds from the poplar trees. The fluff flies from late April to early May into June. Millions of seeds from each tree are helped to travel by the cottony fibers. Read the rest of this entry »

Rest in Power George Floyd

Posted: May 24, 2024 in Call to Action, Cops are not our friend, Fight Back, Fight On!, for your reflection, LOVE
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George F.

George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020)

In the garden. May 23, 2024

Posted: May 23, 2024 in From us to you, Plants We Love, The garden
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May 21 24 Shed Garden

In the corner of the shed garden. Foxglove, Fern, Clematis, Joe Pye Weed. 

Along the back fence. Hosta, Ferns, Anise Hyssop, pot of Parrot, Lilies, Jack in the Pulpit. 

May 19 along back fence

Wild area along the back fence. 

May 19 Wild area along back fence

Pots and Shed Garden 

May 19 Pots and shed garden

Knock knock, Bang, Bang, We are fucking mad!

Posted: May 23, 2024 in *Celebration*, Call to Action, Fight On!, for your reflection, Our Stories
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Your time has expired, you have fucked around with us far too much. Your road doesn’t belong on our map. NO, NO MORE! Get your fucking heavy hand off our necks. Ah those nights in June 1969 and this night June 27th, 1969. 

The uprooted parking meter as a weapon in OurStories. 

The image of a parking meter being wielded as a weapon became a powerful symbol of defiance and resilience during those historic events. 

parking-meter-penniesjpg-60a26facfc33f791

A symbol of resistance?

What is the meaning of this?

What about this section of the great Stonewall rebellion. More on this “after the jump.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The Kettle Was Starting To Whistle, But The People Had Cupcakes Stuffed In Their Ears.

Posted: May 19, 2024 in *Celebration*, Call to Action, Fight On!
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It is our honor to announce that a new book by punkpink and Tommy Gun is being readied for publication. Below is an excerpt from the book.

The Kettle Was Starting to Whistle but the People Had Cupcakes Stuffed in Their Ears.

Way before the piss puddling poodle pride, before the sparkling glitter on our naked asses, way before the rainbow flags from sweat shops flew everywhere and later some cried when those in power said no to the fly,  before all the corporate love frisbees tossed in the air, atm machines giving out promises, cops kisses rather than clubs upside our heads, and politicians loving us, hold on to them or they may when the shit hits the fan run for the hills thinking that they were lose from what others have labeled degenerate. They’ve stepped in it, they wear it. ( we enter that to the yellow striped belly ones who jump on the bandwagon and to their corporate masters) Yes way before it was easy.

We hold dear the belief that one must scandalize those who cling to respectability. Many of us liberationists don’t want what straight, middle-class white Capitalist America has. (1) We want a new world in which conventional structures of domination are abolished. Anyone who doesn’t, loves the enemy too much. Point them out, shake them down, throw that bucket of water, like the wicked witch hear them scream “I am melting.”

The messy fight back, and radical potential of Stonewall has been assimilated as an easy shorthand for the success of U.S. liberalism, with step-by-step inclusion. (2) Surely it is this step-by-step vision of Stonewall—rather than a drag king hitting a cop that we have become. (3) The bland white bread. The get along little doggie, this is what we got might as well get used to it.  This is what we will give to you, like it or lump it. So, we do and allow some to rewrite the narrative to claim ourstories for themselves.

As long as the diversity isn’t too strange it’s okay. But of course, that is a shifting position. What is strange to May Buffy Fluff who lives in suburbia is commonplace to many of us. What is acceptable to the fluffy glitter-soaked crowd is not at all where it is at with many of us. Play dates are over baby just ask your neighborhood fascist. Read the rest of this entry »

The Black Antifascist Tradition.

Posted: May 18, 2024 in Call to Action, Fight On!, Fight the Right., For your information, knowledge is power
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The Black Antifascist Tradition

The Black Antifascist Tradition: Fighting Back From Anti-Lynching to Abolition

Jeanelle K. Hope, Bill V. Mullen (eds.)

Publisher: Haymarket Books

Year: 2024

Format: Paperback

Size: N/A pages

ISBN: 9798888900949

The story of the fight against fascism across the African diaspora, revealing that Black antifascism has always been vital to global freedom struggles.

At once a history for understanding fascism and a handbook for organizing against, The Black Antifascist Tradition is an essential book for understanding our present moment and the challenges ahead.

From London to the Caribbean, from Ethiopia to Harlem, from Black Lives Matter to abolition, Black radicals and writers have long understood fascism as a threat to the survival of Black people around the world—and to everyone.

In The Black Antifascist Tradition, scholar-activists Jeanelle K. Hope and Bill Mullen show how generations of Black activists and intellectuals—from Ida B. Wells in the fight against lynching, to Angela Y. Davis in the fight against the prison-industrial complex—have stood within a tradition of Black Antifascism.

As Davis once observed, pointing to the importance of anti-Black racism in the development of fascism as an ideology, Black people have been “the first and most deeply injured victims of fascism.” Indeed, the experience of living under and resisting racial capitalism has often made Black radicals aware of the potential for fascism to take hold long before others understood this danger.

The book explores the powerful ideas and activism of Paul Robeson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Claudia Jones, W. E. B. Du Bois, Frantz Fanon, Aime Cesaire, and Walter Rodney, as well as that of the Civil Rights Congress, the Black Liberation Army, and the We Charge Genocide movement, among others.

In shining a light on fascism and anti-Blackness, Hope and Mullen argue, the writers and organizers featured in this book have also developed urgent tools and strategies for overcoming it. Read the rest of this entry »

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