Socialism 2012: Educate Agitate Occupy

This June, the largest and best collection of activists and thinkers from all over the globe will be converging on Chicago for Socialism 2012.  Unlike other conferences, Socialism 2012 mixes the ideas and theory that make a movement possible, with the strategy and activism that makes change happen.  From Tuscon to Cairo, Austin to London, the last year has held a great hope for the possibility of a new world.  One based on solidarity and not oppression.

The Austin ISO is organizing comrades and contacts from all over the central Texas area to attend this amazing and invigorating weekend of activism and education.  The list of speakers is exceptional in both it's quality and quantity.  From Anarchism to Women's Liberation, there are discussions on almost every branch of movement work.  To check out the full list, visit http://www.socialismconference.org/talks

But the conference is not about lectures and theory, it is a chance to fuse the theoretical with the practical, a chance to meet and interact with activists working across the globe and unite in struggle with others who carry the flame of justice.  If a weekend interacting with some of the best minds and most committed fighters for justice sounds good to you, you should join us.

To get registered, find out about transportation from Austin as part of our Bus To Socialism 2012, visit http://isoaustin.blogspot.com/p/socialism-2012-educate-agitate-occupy.html

To find out more about the conference, including speakers, topics, etc, visit http://www.socialismconference.org/

Finally, if you can't make it, but would like to help other activists to attend this amazing weekend and contribute to their political development, please consider making a donation:

How Workers Can Win: Austerity, Occupy and the Future of the Labor Movement

Workers in Austin and across the world have faced brutal attacks which have intensified in the last few years. From Scott Walker’s assault on public sector unions in Wisconsin to charter schools in Austin swooping in to corporatize our public education system, the standard of living for working people is under attack. The legislature offers cuts to any programs that help working families, while extending tax breaks to the wealthy and millions in incentives to highly profitable corporations like Apple.

However, this is no longer a one sided battle. In response we have seen a rise in mobilization across the nation through the Occupy movement that is willing to stand up and fight back against the onslaught of capital against labor. Thousands of workers are currently on strike in Fort Worth as the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 776 battle against Lockheed Martin for health and pension benefits.

Join us in a panel discussion this Wednesday May 9th at 7PM at 1700 S 1st Street on the austerity being faced by workers and the movements that are fighting back.

Featuring:
Dana Cloud, author of We ARE the Union: Democratic Unionism and Dissent at Boeing
Jim Branson, Lead Organizer for Texas State Employees Union
Ken Zarifis, co-president of Education Austin

Facebook Event Page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/402189776469725/

Austin Celebrates International Workers Day

May 1st 6PM

Texas State Capitol
FB Page

May Day is an international day of action and protest in commemoration of the Haymarket martyrs who were killed while organizing for the 8-hour work day. It is in that tradition that we honor the historical struggle faced by working, poor, and unemployed people. We will highlight the struggles being battled by organizations in the Austin area, and work to reconnect everyday people with the idea and spirit of what it means to be a worker.

In recent years, immigrants have come out in protest on May 1st to show their opposition to anti-immigrant legislation. 10,000 protesters gathered in Austin in 2006 to show the strengh of their numbers and the power of their solidarity. It is in this tradition as well that we are inviting many groups to reflect the diversity of our coalition and bring forth the many different issues facing our communities.

As fellow members of the community we know that there is much work to be done to address the many injustices that affect our friends, families, and neighbors. A tiny minority has gotten rich, while all of us have been left to suffer the impact of their decisions.

May 1st, everyone is invited to take part in uniting for a struggle for a better world. We are all connected, employed or unemployed, immigrant or native, young or old. We are all united in our desire to create a better environment and conditions for each and every person. So join us. We will be gathering on the south side of the State Capitol at 6PM, followed by a march and rally at Austin City Hall.

In solidarity with your struggle and the struggles of workers around the world,
Austin May Day Coalition

Activate Austin
Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition
Austin Living River
Austin tan Cerca de la Frontera
CodePink Austin
Get Equal Texas
Grassroots Leadership
International Socialist Organization
Occupy Austin
Occupy UT
Texans United For Families
Texas Fair Trade Coalition
Texas Grey Panthers
Texas Labor Against the War
Texas State Employees Union
Travis County Green Party
UT Students Against Sweatshops
Workers Defense Project

For more information or to endorse, please contact maydayatx@hotmail.com, or visit www.maydayatx.org.

Answers from APD: Ahmede Bradley

Tuesday, April 10, 5:00 PM

E. 8th St. at IH-35 (west side of interstate)

Last Thursday, an APD officer shot and killed Ahmede Bradley, the latest in a series of killings of unarmed people of color by the Austin police.  Ahmede's mother, Angela Orr, is calling on concerned community members to join her tomorrow outside APD headquarters to remember her son and demand answers from APD.

More from Socialistworker.org:
Young, Black, and Criminalized
The Many Other Trayvons

The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx

Saturday, April 21, 2:00 PM

UT campus, Parlin 203

Over a hundred years ago, Karl Marx championed the struggles of a downtrodden working class against their capitalist masters and argued that oppression and inequality were at the very heart of the profit system.  His revolutionary ideas and writings remain strikingly relevant for us today. Join other activists for a discussion of Marx’s ideas and the fight for a socialist world.

Parlin Hall is is in the "six pack" of buildings to the south of the UT Tower.  Map here:
http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/par.html

Justice for Trayvon

One month ago in Florida, Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old wearing a hoodie who went to the store for some Skittles was gunned down in the streets by George Zimmerman, an overzealous "self appointed neighborhood watch captain" on a power trip.  Racism in this country is still very much alive and well.  Unsurprising in a country built on chattel slavery and oppression of indigenous people.  We see this locally in the fatal police shootings of Nathaniel Sanders and Byron Carter Jr., where Austin police officers have gunned down black youth sitting in their car.  The reason for approaching them with their guns drawn was the same as in the Trayvon Martin case, they looked "suspicious".

Everyone should realize what the suspicious word is code for.  They were approached and harassed because they were young black men, which the criminal justice system regularly targets for incarceration and daily police harassment in the form of patdowns.

On Tuesday, we will be standing at the South Gate of the State Capitol at 5PM along with others who tire of the racism and bigotry in this country that make it ok to gun down a youth in the streets because of the color of their skin.  Please join us in demanding justice for Trayvon Martin, Byron Carter Jr, and all others who have been victims of hate and racism in this country and around the world.  Wear your hoodie in memory of Trayvon Martin.

https://www.facebook.com/events/197134823722638/

More information:
http://socialistworker.org/2012/03/21/we-have-to-win-justice-for-trayvon
http://socialistworker.org/2012/03/26/the-call-for-justice-spreads
http://socialistworker.org/2012/03/22/raising-our-voices-for-trayvon

Education and Capitalism Book: Struggles for Learning and Liberation

EDUCATION & CAPITALISM: Struggles for Learning and Liberation

Featuring Sarah Knopp

Saturday, March 24, 4:30 PM

UT campus, Calhoun Hall room 100

Today a conservative, bipartisan consensus dominates the discussion about what's wrong with our schools and how to fix them. Their "solutions" scapegoat teachers, vilify our unions, and promise more private control and market mentality as the answer. In each case, students lose - especially students of color and the children of the working class and the poor.

"Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation" (Haymarket Books, 2012), written by teacher activists, speaks back to that elite consensus. It draws on the ideas and experiences of social justice educators concerned with fighting against racism and for equality. Informed by a revolutionary vision of pedagogy, schools, and education, "Education and Capitalism" paints a radical critique of education in Corporate America, past and present, and contributes to a vision of alternatives for education and liberation.

This event, taking place after the Save Texas Schools rally, features Sarah Knopp, one of the editors of "Education and Capitalism" and a public high school teacher in Los Angeles.

Hosted by the International Socialist Organization. Special thanks to Haymarket Books and the UT Center for Asian American Studies.

More about the book:
http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Education-and-Capitalism

Calhoun Hall is in the "six pack" of buildings to the south of the UT Tower. Map here:
http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/cal.html