Iligan City, Mindanao, Philippines – Starting July 16, there will be hundreds of activists from the U.S., Canada, Europe and around the world in the Philippines in a show of international solidarity. Organized by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, this is taking place as developments in the international and national economy have seen a rising level of attacks on Filipino working people and the environment. There is also a growing level of imperialist intervention in the Philippines as the U.S. steps up its war preparations in the Pacific.

The solidarity mission will spread out across the country to visit areas where indigenous peoples such as the Lumad and the Subanen are standing up to multinational mining companies. Then they will gather in Davao City in Mindanao for a conference on human rights, the second one being held here in recent years.

Among the organizers, there is a definite sense of accomplishment as the U.S. contingent expanded from 80 to 114 people in the last weeks of preparation. This growth in solidarity efforts is in response to the growing level of violence faced by Filipino peasants, the Muslim people of Mindanao, as well as the indigenous communities here. The most recent example of repression was the massacre of starving farmers in the city of Kidapawan in Mindanao on April 1.

Large scale mining: A known evil

There is a broad level of awareness of the ongoing crises in the country. For example, on the topic of imperialist globalization, Iligan City was a bustling success story 30 years ago, and now has seen the closing of its major steel mill and a general decline in the economy under the impact of the free market, neoliberal policies of successive governments in Manila. Locals express their anger that the National Steel company, in which they took pride, was bought by a Malaysian steel company and then closed.

The economic policies associated with ‘free trade’ deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership also bring with them the rising level of human rights abuses, damage to the environment and violations of the rights of indigenous peoples.

A local businessman named Jowe told a story that revealed that large scale mining in Mindanao is already a social question here. “A Catholic priest in Zamboanga [in southern Mindanao] was asked to bless the funeral of a man involved in mining. The priest refused because of the terrible effects against the people by the mining companies such as the Canadian corporation, Toronto Ventures Incorporated. This was unexpected, but the real surprise came next. The dead man’s family then appealed to the bishop, with whom they had some influence, but he, too refused to intervene because of the controversy.”

#IliganCityMindanao #Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #humanRights #JoeIsobaker #Mining #Asia

Chicago, IL – 200 people rallied in solidarity with Palestine on Al Quds Day. Al Quds is Jerusalem in Arabic. Joe Iosbaker of the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, spoke at the rally, making the following remarks:

“One year ago, Israel launched a 51-day bombing campaign against Gaza. 2300 deaths, including over 500 children, were the result.

We are gathering today as part of the International Day of Al Quds.

Today, I am here to demand an end to U.S. aid to Israel. Israeli officials are war mongers. In their propaganda, they claim that they minimize the deaths of civilians by the pinpoint accuracy of their bombs and missiles. Yet over 500 children died last summer, and a majority of the 2300 deaths are civilians.

Is there any truth to what the Israelis say? Yes, I believe that their weapons are pinpoint accurate. I believe it because they are made by companies like Boeing, headquartered in Chicago. Many of the bombs dropped in the past three wars on Gaza were equipped with GPS systems made by Boeing. Boeing promises that their smart bombs will hit within 30 feet of their targets.

The Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance system also has a camera on it which sends the pilot that launches them a photo just before impact, so the pilot can make last second adjustments for greater accuracy. Like the drone operators, the Israeli pilots can see the kids, the women and the elderly that they are hitting just before impact.

The civilian deaths then aren’t accidental. They are calculated to cause the greatest suffering to the Palestinian people, to break their will to resist.

We who live in the U.S. have a special responsibility – to oppose the U.S. backing of the Israeli murderers; the $3 billion annually in military aid; and the American corporations that invest in Israel to keep their apartheid system going.

I want to speak about the movement in solidarity with Palestine here in the U.S. This past week has seen more victories for the BDS campaign, with the United Church of Christ overwhelmingly voting to cut their ties with companies that are invested in Israel.

The week before, there was the news that direct foreign investment in Israel had fallen by 50% over the previous year.

Israel is facing the same reality as South Africa did when it was under white minority rule. Only the U.S. government, the worst oppressors in the world, will continue to back Israel.

But they can’t hold back the tide. Israel is living on stolen land and borrowed time.

Of course, they can make a lot of people suffer. Even here in Chicago, we have an example of this in the case of Rasmea Odeh. Rasmea is a Palestinian, who was a victim of Israeli occupation 45 years ago. She was tortured by Israeli occupation prison guards until she confessed to a bombing. After she was released from Israeli prison in a prisoner exchange, she immigrated to the U.S. with her dad, a U.S. citizen. She became a citizen and a leader in her community here in Chicago. Then, the U.S. Department of Justice came after her as part of their attack on the Palestine support movement. Now she faces being imprisoned and deported because she didn’t say on her application for citizenship that she had been tortured by the Israelis.

In September, we will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to be in court when Rasmea appeals her conviction. Please plan to go there with us, so the judges can see the breadth of her community support.”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #JoeIsobaker #AlQuds #MiddleEast

Stephie Taylor, a key organizer with the University of Minnesota SDS chapter said, “We are happy to have the convention in a Midwest city again. We expect young activists from all over the country to show up and talk about important issues of today like opposing U.S. wars, fighting racism and sexism, and how to bring change to the rising costs of education, student loans and access to education. This will be a convention to remember.”

The plenary sessions and workshops feature some of the most influential leaders against war and oppression in the country.

Hatem Abuddayeh will speak for the Rasmea Odeh Support Committee. He will be joined by Jenn Meeropol of the Rosenberg Fund for Children who will chair the session, “From Ferguson to Palestine: Political Repression is a Crime!”

Joe Iosbaker of the United National Antiwar Committee will speak at the anti-war plenary, “From the Belly of the Beast: Fighting Back against U.S. Wars and Imperialism.”

SDSers and other student leaders will speak on “Education Is a Right: Campus Economic Fight Backs and Achieving Access to Higher Education for Everyone.” This will detail the SDS national “Education for All” campaign that fights for immigrant student rights on campus.

There will be workshops about student activism, including “Building Struggle in Red States.” “Combatting Chauvinism,” and “Empowering People of Color through Political Struggle.”

On Oct. 13, the final day of the convention, SDS will vote on various resolutions submitted by SDS chapters speaking out on different people’s movements within the U.S. and around the world. SDS will adopt these resolutions nationally for chapters to orient their work for the coming year. Resolutions in the past included condemning U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, condemning systemic racism and repression against African-American, Chicano and Latino youth, combatting attacks on students’ rights, and opposing tuition hikes.

The convention will take place at Blegen Hall at the University of Minnesota. For more information or if you want to donate to the convention, please visit http://newsds.org or go to National Students for a Democratic Society’s Facebook page at https://facebook.com/StudentsForADemocraticSocietyNational.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #EducationRights #JoeIsobaker #TuitionEquity

Stephie Taylor, a key organizer with the University of Minnesota SDS chapter said, “We are happy to have the convention in a Midwest city again. We expect young activists from all over the country to show up and talk about important issues of today like opposing U.S. wars, fighting racism and sexism, and how to bring change to the rising costs of education, student loans and access to education. This will be a convention to remember.”

The plenary sessions and workshops feature some of the most influential leaders against war and oppression in the country.

Hatem Abuddayeh will speak for the Rasmea Odeh Support Committee. He will be joined by Jenn Meeropol of the Rosenberg Fund for Children who will chair the session, “From Ferguson to Palestine: Political Repression is a Crime!”

Joe Iosbaker of the United National Antiwar Committee will speak at the anti-war plenary, “From the Belly of the Beast: Fighting Back against U.S. Wars and Imperialism.”

SDSers and other student leaders will speak on “Education Is a Right: Campus Economic Fight Backs and Achieving Access to Higher Education for Everyone.” This will detail the SDS national “Education for All” campaign that fights for immigrant student rights on campus.

There will be workshops about student activism, including “Building Struggle in Red States.” “Combatting Chauvinism,” and “Empowering People of Color through Political Struggle.”

On Oct. 13, the final day of the convention, SDS will vote on various resolutions submitted by SDS chapters speaking out on different people’s movements within the U.S. and around the world. SDS will adopt these resolutions nationally for chapters to orient their work for the coming year. Resolutions in the past included condemning U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, condemning systemic racism and repression against African-American, Chicano and Latino youth, combatting attacks on students’ rights, and opposing tuition hikes.

The convention will take place at Blegen Hall at the University of Minnesota. For more information or if you want to donate to the convention, please visit http://newsds.org or go to National Students for a Democratic Society’s Facebook page at https://facebook.com/StudentsForADemocraticSocietyNational.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #EducationRights #JoeIsobaker #TuitionEquity

Chicago – A coalition of anti-war groups came together today, Sept. 10, outside the Federal Building here to take a stand against U.S. plans to bomb Syria and intensify its intervention in Iraq. The press conference was timed to take place before President Obama speaks tonight to push the plan for air strikes and another $500 million for the U.S. proxy army trying to overthrow the government of Syria. The groups in Chicago included Voices for Creative Non-Violence, Gay Liberation Network, 8th Day Center for Justice and the Anti-War Committee (AWC) – Chicago.

The following are the remarks by Joe Iosbaker of the Anti-War Committee (AWC)-Chicago:

“We’re here to add our voices in opposition to new wars launched by the U.S. in Iraq and Syria. Like most people in the U.S., we are sick of war after 13 years of it.

“Last summer, I travelled to Syria to witness the elections there. I learned that Obama wasn’t telling the truth about Syria. We’d been told that the people of Syria wanted the U.S. military to intervene there. In truth, I found that the Syrian people – I met and interacted with thousands at polling places in Homs, in Damascus, and even saw refugees at the Syrian consulate in Beirut, Lebanon – what they want is to defeat the U.S.-backed armies.

“When President Obama speaks tonight, there’ll be no debate. Both political parties, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, all support these moves to war. The rise of the Islamic State, IS or ISIS, was the perfect pretext that our rulers here needed to get us into another war.

“They needed something to help them convince people here; because we saw last year that world public opinion wasn’t ready to go to war behind the U.S. in Syria. Even the U.S. lapdog, the United Kingdom, wouldn’t support that plan to attack Syria, also based on a lie that the Syrian government used chemical weapons.

“We have to refuse to go along with Obama’s attacks on Iraq and Syria.

“They say ‘More war! We say, no more!’”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Afghanistan #PeoplesStruggles #Iraq #JoeIsobaker

Chicago, IL – Despite being the target of a major political attack by the U.S. government, Rasmea Odeh continues to work for the Palestinian people. This is why the 22nd Annual People’s Thanksgiving Dinner, held in Chicago Dec. 8, honored her with the “Nelson Mandela Award: Opposing Israeli Apartheid is not a Crime.”

70 people gathered to recognize her and a number of other important activists. They met at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, despite an early blizzard that made getting to the church hazardous.

In presenting the award, Muhammad Sunkari of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network referred to the late leader of the national liberation movement in South Africa. “When Ted Koppel interviewed him after his release from prison, Mandela defended the ANC’s [African National Congress] ties to the Palestine Liberation Organization. He called the Palestinians, ‘comrades in arms.’ I would say that a great example of a comrade of Mandela is Rasmea Odeh.” In accepting the award, Odeh was in good spirits. She thanked everyone, saying, “I need your support, and we all need each other’s support to stand strong and continue.”

The event is held annually by Fight Back! news and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). The dinner raised over $3000 for Odeh’s defense campaign, as well as $1000 to help continue the work of Fight Back! news.

Another emotional moment in the dinner was an award presented to Pete Camarata. Camarata was a co-founder of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). His award, entitled the “Big Bill Haywood: Class Struggle Award” was presented to him by Richard Berg. Berg, a long time reformer in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), has known Camarata for 25 years.

The framed award, reading, “For his lifelong dedication to the liberation of the working class,” was accepted by Camarata’s stepson, Jackson Potter. Potter is the staff coordinator of the Chicago Teachers Union. He explained that Camarata couldn’t attend the dinner because he is fighting cancer. A statement from Camarata read in part, “I thank FRSO for the award, and I accept it with the knowledge that my activism belongs to the movement and the brave people who built TDU, the movement in this country and around the world.” Awards were also presented to Sarah Simmons and Newland Smith, both activists in the Anti-War Committee-Chicago and to Michael Sampson, a Dream Defender from Tallahassee, Florida.

Joe Iosbaker of FRSO spoke to the crowd. He noted that last year’s event celebrated the successful defense of Carlos Montes. “Next year, we plan to be back here to celebrate with Rasmea for a victory over this new attack!” Iosbaker put the defense of Odeh in a broader context, including the ongoing investigation of 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists by the U.S. attorney. “Our advances can be quickly taken from us by the likes of Mayor Emmanuel or President Obama or Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas.”

Citing the many crimes of the U.S. empire at home and abroad Iosbaker continued, “We in FRSO have come to the conclusion that the existing order of things is unacceptable. For that reason we have decided to build a revolutionary organization.” Summing up, Iosbaker said, “Whenever we celebrate the advances made in the struggles we are part of, FRSO always names the way of life that is better than capitalism – that way of life is called socialism. We know a big change will take a lot of work, but we do think it will happen.”

#ChicagoIL #InJusticeSystem #Palestine #PeoplesThanksgiving #thanksgiving #PoliticalRepression #JoeIsobaker #Tallahassee #RasmeaOdeh #MichaelSampson

At the start of this month, the whole world was tense as the U.S. proclaimed it was going to start missile strikes against Syria. It seemed likely that the U.S. wouldn’t stop after a few days of war, but would continue to attack Syria and cause as many deaths as the puppet FSA [Free Syrian Army] had caused in two and a half years.

Then Russia proposed a diplomatic solution to take Syria’s chemical weapons and, to the surprise of all, President Obama accepted it.

But then John Kerry said that the U.S. would only go along with putting Syrian’s weapons under international control if there was the threat of force in a UN resolution. Then this Friday, the U.S. had to back down on that in the United Nations Security Council resolution on eliminating Syrian chemical weapons. They had to drop the threat of force if Syria doesn’t comply.

Stepping back, we can see that for two and a half years, the U.S. has funded and directed forces to intervene, with the Gulf Cooperation Council, NATO and Israel playing roles; on the other hand, the U.S. has refused direct military action [such as]bombing, invasion.

What explains this contradiction? Why couldn’t the U.S., the most powerful military might on earth, carry out war on this small nation?

There other developments about the U.S. intervention in Syria that seem contradictory:

The U.S. has spent two and a half years funding and helping to direct an armed attack on the Syria’s government and the people of Syria. They intervened during the Arab Spring, the moment there was a mass protest movement there against unpopular policies of opening the economy to investment and then the resulting austerity measures.

They armed the only forces they found, including forces aligned with the Salafist movement, Al Nusra Front and other Al Qaeda linked groups.

On Sept. 26, we learned that the most significant of the ‘moderate’ armies fighting the Syrian government have quit the U.S. puppet FSA and joined forces with Al Nusra. They have called for an Islamic front, instead.

But in the Sept. 26 issue of Foreign Policy magazine, the most influential publication on the topic in D.C., they put out that they think Assad will go and be replaced by former Defense Minister, Ali Habib. The article reflects thinking in the White House about how to resolve the Syrian conflict, as well as the worries in Washington and Israel that the sectarian, foreign-led and dominated armies aligned with Al Qaeda would come to power if the U.S./Israel succeed in forcing out Assad.

How come the U.S. says that its main mission on earth is to fight Al Qaeda, but then it arms Al Qaeda against countries that have never attacked the U.S. Isn’t this a contradiction, too?

Let’s answer that by looking at some general questions: What is the status of U.S. power in the world today? What factors is the U.S. dealing with? And what determines U.S. policy in a particular country?

U.S. is weaker and there’s a rising trend toward independence from their control

The world has changed since the days after 9/11. The camp of resistance is growing and U.S. influence is in decline.

The economic crisis gets part of the credit for that. Although the capitalists don’t suffer like we do when there’s a crisis, it has weakened the power and prestige of the rich countries and the corporations.

But even before that, Bush’s invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the Cheney/Rumsfeld plan to go after “Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan” had all been an effort by the U.S. to turn back the hands of time, to put the U.S. back on top of the world they had ruled in the 1950s and 1960s.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended in defeat and stalemate. One clear consequence: the U.S. can’t use the method of massive invasions any more.

And the role of Russia in the struggle over Syria shows that the U.S. has to deal with rising powers, like the BRIC nations. Russia and China made it clear the U.S. wouldn’t get a United Nations Security Council vote for this war.

The people of the U.S., Britain and the other members of the NATO are sick of war and they’re sick of being lied to. When the U.S. upped the ante on Syria, things came to a head. President Obama found himself isolated on the world stage and domestically.

So the sudden changes in U.S. plans around Syria are a result of contradictions: first, the U.S. puppet army is losing to Syria’s army and militia; second, there’s a contradiction between the U.S. and Russia, which is no longer standing aside while the U.S. wages war; and third there’s a contradiction between the U.S. and it’s NATO allied governments and the peoples of those countries.

U.S. objectives remain

Of course, the changes in military form haven’t changed the underlying content of U.S. objectives: this place is an empire. The rulers want cheap labor and control of natural resources in other lands. They are like vampires – they have to have it.

On the one hand, the U.S. is weaker and unable to get what they want; on the other hand, they are compelled to keep trying. Rumsfeld’s vision of invading Syria is gone, at least for now.

But the arming of Al Qaeda armies is not a contradiction. U.S. imperialism will back whoever and whatever serves its interests. In one country, Al Qaeda linked is the worst threat to humanity; in the next country, they are recipients of arms and intelligence to fight a government that the U.S. has determined must go.

New focus on Iran

These losses have made the U.S. focus more on Iran. A new president in Iran doesn’t change that. The U.S. has adopted the stand toward Iran that they won’t accept an independent power in the Middle East. Syria is aligned with Iran, and so the fate of the two countries is tied together in the view of the empire.

The Arab Spring: A threat, then an opportunity

But right now the U.S. can’t handle a war of a similar or greater scale than Iraq. That’s why the U.S. was both anxious and excited by the Arab Spring. They used the dissatisfaction throughout the region, which was aimed squarely at U.S. puppets in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain, to go after governments with a history of independence from the U.S.: Libya and Syria. The U.S. maneuvered to take control of the situation and develop contradictions in their favor in Libya. With the success of their operation there, they felt they were in a much better position step up their attempts to topple the government of Syria.

As in Libya, they offered support to the Islamists, even though supporting them in Libya resulted in ‘blowback,’ in the attacks on Western oil installation in Algeria and the U.S. embassy.

Summation

The U.S. seems to be acting in a contradictory way in Syria, but something unites their decisions in every action they take: is it in the interests of U.S. imperialism?

They want to go to war with Syria and Iran, but they don’t have the support or the resources for an invasion.

They want to bomb Syria, but they can’t get support at home or in Britain and more countries are standing up to them.

They are willing to back any force against Assad, even though they worry about Israel, for example,being attacked by the mercenary armies they have created.

New Tactics

Invasions aren’t popular, and the U.S. can’t rely on an Arab Spring to emerge everywhere.

If you can’t invade, how does an empire achieve its objectives of punishing independent people or rebellious populations? The answers: proxy armies, drone warfare and special operations. Proxy armies are being used in Syria and before that Libya. Drone warfare first emerged in use against Pakistan, because the Pashtun people that have been the main base of the national resistance live on both sides of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. The Obama administration then has taken the technology to Yemen, Somalia, Mali and Iran. We know that they intend to use it even more in the future because one growth area in the Pentagon’s otherwise shrinking budget is the budget for drones.

Conclusion

In our work against U.S. wars, we have to stand against threats to arm puppet armies; to assassinate or back coups; to carry out bombing and missile attacks; and we have to oppose drone warfare, as it is the most popular form of their undeclared wars.

#Chicago #ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Imperialism #Iran #Syria #drones #JoeIsobaker #ArabSpring #MiddleEast #USA

Joe Iosbaker, an activist with the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, was part of the panel.

The following is the speech that Iosbaker delivered:

The Anti-War Committee is opposed to U.S. intervention in Syria. The U.S. is at war, and we are trying to stop that and prevent further intervention. I’m going to speak about some of the wrong ideas that we encounter in the anti-war movement in the course of organizing protests against the U.S./NATO/Israeli war on Syria.

Wrong idea number one: The U.S. is not at war in Syria and is trying to not get dragged in

We hear this in two versions, one from liberals and one from so-called leftists.

Liberal Version

The war in Syria is a civil war between Sunni forces oppressed by an Alawite minority government; and Alawite and Christian forces aligned with the government because they fear the victory of the Jihadist Sunni forces. The Obama administration is hesitant to intervene – they don’t want another Libya, but are being pushed by hawks like John McCain and Hilary Clinton. Obama doesn’t want to look weak.

Underneath these ideas is a belief that Washington’s entrance into the war would be a humanitarian act devoid of imperial machinations.

Response: This is relatively easy to refute simply by pointing to the billions of dollars of control that U.S. military aid buys over Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Those countries are part of the U.S. team; they wouldn’t be intervening without U.S. knowledge and consent.

Further, while issuing denials of involvement at each stage, the truth continues to leak out. A New York Times article earlier this year reported that a Qatari minister admitted that the CIA was sitting in their meetings as early as Oct. 2011 to decide where arms should go to in Syria.

‘Leftist’ version

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is part of the Syrian revolution that emerged with the Arab Spring protests in 2011. The revolution took up armed struggle after violent repression by Assad’s brutal military. The local revolutionary councils continue to run the communities and therefore the revolution should be supported. However, the Obama administration doesn’t want to support this democratic revolution, so the U.S. isn’t intervening.

Response: Whatever grievances the protesters in Syria had in 2011, the Gulf monarchies and Turkey, along with the CIA, leapt in at the opportunity that was provided. The U.S. was already funding rightist groups in Syria in 2005. After the street protests, within months, arms began to flow from Qatar and Turkey.

The fantasy that the revolution is alive and not dominated by imperialism ignores two truths that all political forces on earth know: First, the lines have been drawn quite clearly – a sectarian army backed by imperialism vs. a government with a history of resisting imperialism. Those who align themselves with foreign armies are considered traitors. And second, political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. If there are still local committees that have some political and social ideas separate from the foreign dominated armies fighting the Assad government, they will have no say in any post-war Syria.

Wrong idea number two: The Assad government is brutal, so how can we blame the FSA for accepting weapons that are supplied by Saudi Arabia and Qatar? Response: Although it is a struggle to get through the mass of pro-rebel propaganda, truth has come out. For instance, independent sources state that the largest numbers of casualties have been [inflicted on] forces associated with the government – soldiers and militia; second, civilians, including heavy Alawite casualties; and third, rebel troops.

But again, for anti-war forces in the U.S., there’s no other way to read this idea but a call for somebody to intervene to topple the government of Syria. In other words, some imperialist intervention is good.

The anti-war movement has to be very clear: the U.S. cannot play a progressive role in the affairs of another country.

Wrong idea number three: The war in Syria is a U.S./Russian proxy war Response: The mainstream media runs out this idea more and more. Characterizing the war in Syria as a proxy war lets the U.S., NATO and Israel off the hook. They are waging a war on the government and people of Syria because they want a puppet in power. The Russians are providing weapons to the government of Syria to resist that war. “Proxy war” makes it seem like both sources of arms are equally to blame for the fighting in Syria. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Wrong idea number four: The FSA grew from the Arab Spring protests against austerity. Response: What is the economic program of the rebels? No doubt everyone is aware of the violent sectarianism of the rebels, but look at the economic program of the U.S. and Gulf state-led Syrian National Council (SNC). The SNC calls for a Marshall Plan, basically looking to U.S. and Western financial agencies to recreate the Syrian economy. It is well known that U.S. investment leads to the domination of an economy by U.S. interests and not to prosperity for the majority. The policies of opening up to the West by Assad’s government and the resulting austerity measures were the cause of the Arab Spring protests in Syria in 2011. The SNC program doesn’t represent the demands of the protesters for an end to those policies.

What should the stand of the U.S. anti-war movement be?

First, recognize that the U.S. is at war. Second, in my opinion, the Syrian government ought to be defended. And more than ever the U.S. and the worldwide anti-war and social justice movement must demand, “Hands off Syria!”

For me, the starting point in looking at the world is this: the main struggle in the world today is between imperialism and the oppressed nations and people. The center of this world wide contest is the battle to control the natural resources – oil – of the mainly Muslim nations of the Middle East. This is the leading edge of the imperialist campaign to use military might to put them back on top of the world capitalist heap, which they can’t accomplish through economic means. The imperialists have lost ground over 70 years to the nations and people of the world. Their drive to turn back the hands of time is leading them to get rid of every government of an oppressed nation that resists imperialist dictates, and Syria and Iran are the two most important.

#ChicagoIL #Syria #USImperialism #JoeIsobaker #Intervention #InternationalStruggle #basharAlassad #MiddleEast

But in December, he was given a two-week suspension without pay. The charges against Randy stemmed from his defense of a coworker in his duties as a union steward.

What led management to suspend Randy?

Several of the departments in the hospital, including Environmental Services, Central Sterile Supply, Patient Transport, Dining Services and Material Management, have a terrible history of violations of the union contract, such as failing to meet the deadlines for providing information, failing to respond to requests for meetings and allowing grievances to go unanswered.

Randy won’t tolerate the union contract being treated this way, and is forceful in demanding the respect of these managers. This is the first reason that management has attacked him.

Randy is their scapegoat

Why is this suspension happening now? In November 2011, there was a murder that occurred in the Medical Center. A man killed his ex-wife after management put them both on the same shift, together with her new boyfriend. All three employees involved worked in Environmental Services and the incident exposed the failures of the management methods in that department.

These methods include: -- Disrespect of employees: BSWs should be recognized for their contribution to keeping the hospital free of germs. Instead they get yelled at and told to work harder. -- Overwork: As the medical center has multiplied the number of patients it sees, the work load on every building service worker has increased. -- Denial of benefit time usage: Management doesn’t want employees to use benefit time for vacation and sick leave. -- Divide and conquer: In order to keep workers from uniting against them, older workers are pitted against new; men against women; and nationality against nationality. —Discipline equals punishment: Workers get written up all the time. They work in fear of being moved to a new assignment or work area; of the loss of pay if suspended; and the ultimate threat of loss of their job.

Shadow of the plantation

There’s another underlying reason for the attack on Evans: racism. UIC is an employer whose labor relations were built on white supremacy. When UIC was built in the 1960s, the administration created a racist, two tier pay system. Mostly white workers in Urbana were paid one rate; mostly Black workers in Chicago were paid $1 or $2 an hour less. This system stayed in place until Local 73 grew strong enough to win the Urbana pay grades for all (see Fight Back article http://www.fightbacknews.org/2001fall/chiworkerswin.htm )

What management gives with a tea spoon, they take away with a shovel

When the workers – Black, Latino and white – won that victory in 2001, it didn’t bring an end to the system of racist discrimination at UIC. At the time of the victory over the pay disparity, there were almost 400 BSWs at UIC. Today there are only 250. This was management’s revenge for the workers victory in 2001: downsizing. Today, each worker is doing the work that had been done by two.

Taken together, this labor system is what led to the toxic climate in which the murder took place last year. Rather than dealing with this underlying tension, management is sweeping it under the rug. Are workers angry? Of course they are! Working hard in the face of disrespect, while top bosses get rich off their labor, makes people angry.

The murder last year put the spotlight on hospital administration. Now management is taking the attention off them and putting it on Steward Evans.

Local 73: The only defense workers have

With management like this, workers need union stewards like Evans, a person who is not afraid to speak up.

Local 73 is defending Evans. The union has grieved the suspension, will file an unfair labor practice charge against UIC for targeting a steward for union activity and continue to fight managers who behave like this.

This is not a threat: this is a promise. Human Resources at UIC needs to learn the difference.

#ChicagoIllinois #ChicagoIL #UniversityOfChicago #SEIULocal73 #RandyEvans #JoeIsobaker