Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Convinced Yet? (General Strike Now!)

 

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." --Frederick Douglass
 
"The world is dominated culturally, economically and militarily by a regime that just killed women's rights protections because they make Jesus mad." --Caitlin Johnstone

Convinced Yet?

words and protest photos by C. A. Matthews

I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. This is all getting a bit ridiculous. I discussed the history and likely outcome of the Supreme Court's recent ruling a little over a month ago in a piece entitled The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade. I followed up a week later at the first pro-abortion rights protests with Your Obedience Is Prolonging This Nightmare. Go back and read those two articles and then tell me that I'm not prescient. Go on. I'll wait.

Okay, now that you're back, and scratching your head over what we can do next to protect our human rights, let's get down to brass tacks. It might be too late. The damage has been done, and we can't overestimate the damage enough. Americans have sleepwalked into allowing the oligarchs, a.k.a. the 1%, a.k.a. the billionaires, a.k.a. the true rulers of our country and the world, into doing whatever the hell they want to whomever the hell they want, whenever they want.  Here are a few examples:

Equal rights/equal pay for women? Whatever! Put out the fire and put your bra back on, Grandma.

LGBTQIA rights and marriage? Excuse me? These persons don't exist in our perfect society ruled by white, hetero, cis-gendered males of wealth and privilege. Go back into your closets and shut the f*ck up.

Public schools? Desegregated public schools? To paraphrase a younger Joe Biden, "We aren't going to let our superior white offspring go to school in the jungle with all those brown and black kids." And besides, government school vouchers are good at religious schools now according to the Supreme Court. We only want our children associating with people going to heaven with us, not straight to hell where everyone who is not us automatically goes to upon death, an early death probably brought on by malnutrition caused by childhood poverty.

Yes, they'll be coming for more than just your or your friends' right to have an abortion. Count on it.

So, what are we to do? Voting harder doesn't work. Voting doesn't seem to work period. According to the infamous Princeton study, politicians don't even listen to us little people, the 99%. Money is what influences their actions. We'll never have as much money as the top 1% or even top 10%, so we'll never be able to influence politicians the way the wealthy can. 

Stop wasting your tears on feeling betrayed by "progressives" or "The Squad" or whoever lied to you to get your vote and/or a donation out of you. Their job is to manipulate you into thinking the system works for the poor and struggling of America. But the system is corrupt. It's broken. It's not worth saving.

Get over acting like "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" as John Steinbeck once put it. Even if you consider yourself "middle class," you are desperately poor compared to the billionaires who own everything, including our government. You ain't ever going to be allowed in their club, let alone dictate terms to them.

That means there's only one thing left we can do. We can use our vast numbers to overtake and take down the super-wealthy minority from their position of power. We can even the score and even out the inequalities of our society. We can start by letting them know in no uncertain terms that We The People are in charge.

How do we take charge? Two words: General strike. 

Our super power is our labor. In case you haven't noticed, rich folks don't know how to do shit for themselves. They have slaves--I mean, wage slaves--to do everything for them… Everything from cleaning their mansions to mowing their estates to painting their fingernails to piloting their private planes to wiping their backsides. If We The Workers don't do the work, the one-percenters are effectively dead in the water, particularly if the captain of their yacht abandons ship with them on it in the middle of the ocean.

And a general strike doesn't have to be one big, long, dragged out affair that happens everywhere at the exact same time. A general strike can be a series of shorter strikes done in rapid succession and spread across a wide variety of industries and occupations. Medical workers can strike at the same time as teachers and fast food workers. The next week it can be civil servants, airline pilots, and telecommunication workers. And so on. The main thing is that workers are all agreed to keep inconveniencing the oligarchs until they capitulate to the workers' demands.

What if you're unemployed or retired or disabled? You can help the strikes by boycotting businesses and institutions that treat their workers disrespectfully and cruelly. You can use your voices and wallets to support strikers by helping them stay out on the picket lines for as long as necessary and relieving them from time to time. Just the fact that we are the majority of Americans gives us unspeakable powers over the tiny majority that hoards most of the material wealth on this planet.

So, get creative and stick it to the Man. The Man undoubtedly wants to stick it to us. 

The actions of the 1% wealth-hoarders indicate that they're aware of our great power. It's why they've been militarizing your local police. It's why they continue to build up our bloated military (while simultaneously raking in lots of profits from the military industrial complex). The only way they know how to keep us in line is by force and violence. The oligarchs long have been dreading the day when working class Americans woke up to the fact that they've never lived in a democracy. The US is actually a corporatocracy ruled by those who come into the world connected to great wealth.

There are very few Cinderella stories in reality--it's why it's a fairy tale. Reality is much harsher. Rich kids inherit a ton of cash and get to go to the exclusive schools. They automatically go to the top positions of government and industry upon graduation. Poor kids stay in poor jobs and sometimes become even poorer than their parents' generation.


We The People need not be shy about it any longer. We know we need to redistribute the wealth of our land to all the people. No American should go hungry, or without health care, or a roof over their head. There is more than enough for everyone. It's the distribution methods that are totally f*cked. It's the corrupt distribution of wealth in the US that allows the homeless to die on the streets when there are homes enough for all--and then some.

That's why it's so obvious that our politicians are on the take from the 1%. They gladly perpetuate this screwed up distribution system to keep the majority of us poor and struggling so that a mere handful can enjoy every creature comfort ever invented. Politicians can't wait to be in that top percentage group, too.

So here's a plan: General strike. Stop wasting time voting for those now currently in office backed by the corrupt establishment political parties. Support leaders who aren't in the pockets of Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Ag, etc. Chase the oligarchy away. Tear down the system. Rebuild it back better. Be open to change and a new way of doing things that is truly democratic, not just pretend democratic like the mess we've got currently.

Convinced yet? If you are, get going!

If not, re-read this piece and ask yourself, "Why do I not believe I'm worthy of the human rights the Supreme Court has taken/will continue to take away from me?" Deep down, you know you are worthy. Leave behind the abusive relationships that make you feel unworthy of equality, liberty, and justice.

It's time. We need you on the picket line.


A telling quote:

That’s why America’s authoritarians are out of control. They are reveling in their power so much they’re flaunting it. They’re openly, gleefully saying that, next, they’re going to come for gays, kids, minorities of every kind, everyday marriages, families. When authoritarians are that open, my friends, you had better understand: it’s a message. They’re trying to humiliate you, because they are no longer afraid. They are only this open when they are unleashed to the maximum degree, and unafraid of any form of consequences whatsoever. --Umar Haque, If You're Scared For America, You're Still Not Scared Enough

Related articles:

When Joe Biden Voted to Let States Overturn Roe v. Wade https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/us/politics/biden-abortion-rights.html

Just Hurling Money at the Democrats Won't Save Abortion Rights https://www.rsn.org/001/just-hurling-money-at-the-democrats-wont-save-abortion-rights.html

How the Democrats Are Culpable in the Erosion of Abortion Rights https://www.gp.org/democrats_are_culpable

If You're Scared For America, You're Still Not Scared Enough  https://eand.co/the-end-of-roe-is-the-beginning-of-a-totalitarian-america-c9038f7d1d91  

The Creative Methods Workers Are Using to Stop Bosses' Abuse https://popularresistance.org/the-creative-methods-workers-are-using-to-stop-bosses-abuse/

What Overturning Roe v. Wade Means for Pregnant People in Pollution Hotspots  https://grist.org/health/what-overturning-roe-v-wade-means-for-pregnant-people-in-pollution-hotspots/ 

As Roes Falls, Criminal Defense Lawyers Sound Alarm About Mass Incarceration  https://www.npr.org/2022/06/16/1105291030/scotus-roe-v-wade-abortion-law 

GUIDE: How Will My State Be Impacted by the Overturning of Roe v. Wade? https://therealnews.com/guide-how-will-my-state-be-impacted-by-the-overturning-of-roe-v-wade

Green Party Calls for Mass Mobilizations to Protect Reproductive Rights https://www.gp.org/green_party_calls_for_mass_mobilizations_to_protect_reproductive_rights?

"A Revolutionary Ruling--And Not Just For Abortion"  https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/25/a-revolutionary-ruling-and-not-just-for-abortion-a-supreme-court-scholar-explains-the-impact-of-dobbs/

How Clarence Thomas' Concurring Opinion Suggests Other Rights May Be Vulnerable After Roe  https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/clarence-thomas-2657559336/

Fascist Republicans Kill Roe v. Wade, Useless Democrats Let It Happened https://www.directleft.com/p/fascist-republicans-kill-roe-v-wade

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-ministry-of-truth-v-roe-v-wade.html 

Your Obedience Is Prolonging this Nightmare  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/your-obedience-is-prolonging-this.html

 

Seen on Twitter:

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Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Teachers Are Not Babysitters, Nurses Are Not Disposable


Teachers Are Not Babysitters, Nurses Are Not Disposable

 by C.A. Matthews

After spending years in college studying for a profession you feel "called" to do, you'd hope you'd garner more respect, more compassion from your bosses than a curt declaration of, "We don't care if your health is at risk. Get back to work. Now. Or else."

But that's exactly what's happening in Year Three of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Two examples recently in the headlines: public school teachers and hospital nurses. These professions primarily have been held by females, many of them women of color and single mothers. Their bosses--school superintendents and hospital administrators--are roles primarily held by males, and white males at that.

Another worrisome connection between these two particular professions is that both have come under the scrutiny and control of private corporations in recent times, albeit in somewhat different manners. 

Nurses nowadays mostly work for private, for-profit hospitals and clinics. They are discouraged from organizing or joining a union. The first emphasis of their job performance is on generating profits for their stockholders, not necessarily on providing the best patient care possible. The faster patients come and go into the hospital, for instance, the quicker their private insurances can be billed, and the more money is made for the hospital/health insurance networks CEOs.

Public school teachers have been backed into a corner when it comes to contract negotiations by the threat of school districts allowing private "charter schools" to open up in their towns. Charter schools tend to hire less educated, less qualified teachers for less pay, and they're not open to unions. They follow cookie-cutter educational plans that "guarantee success" according to the CEOs of these educational corporations.

It's a well known fact that public school districts regularly receive kickbacks from these charter school corporations. But rarely is this kickback money utilized to improve the public schools' facilities or equipment or increase compensation for the teaching staff. Inner city public schools in particular have received less and less funding as more and more charter schools have sprung up. 

Sadder yet, many public schools are seen as simply "daycare services" by many private businesses. They exist simply so parents of grade school-aged children can work outside of the home. The quality of education isn't as important as keeping the kids out of their parents' hair so they can continue working many hours in low-paying jobs.

Could the influence of private corporations explain the ill treatment teachers and nurses have received recently from politicians? Politicians in the US are an example of yet another profession that also has been heavily influenced by private corporations, particularly since the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has threatened public school teachers who have gone on strike because it simply isn't safe to teach in person during  this recent surge of omicron variant COVID-19. She refuses to allow them to have online learning classes, and instead is trying to force both students and teachers back into non-well-ventilated school buildings. Why is the health and safety of children and teachers not seen as important as the profits of the corporations who want their parent-employees back slaving away in warehouses, factories, retail stores, hospitals, and restaurants?

Many nurses have been working with less-than-adequate PPE and N95 masks for almost two years now. Many have become ill and some have died because of this lack of safety equipment. They have been forced to work overtime and endure long shifts, which further drains their health and puts them at risk of catching COVID. Nurses have walked out and threatened strikes nationwide because of these hazardous work conditions, although the mainstream media has conveniently not followed many of these stories. Why haven't the nurses' demands been met by management?  After all, we are in the midst of a health crisis--shouldn't all health workers' safety be paramount to profits?

And there's that word again: profits. Teachers aren't seen as educators who wish to instill the love of knowledge in their students and help children grow in wisdom. Nurses aren't seen as caregivers who wish to ease pain, cure illness, and take the best care of their patients as humanly possible. No, these professions have been downgraded to their barest of functions in order to make the most profits for their related private corporations.

Public school teachers exist to babysit the kids of the poor working classes, so that these distracted parents don't realize how much better pay they deserve for working dead end jobs where massive profits go straight into the pockets of CEOs to buy yet more yachts.

Nurses exist to push profit-generators--that is, patients--through the medical-industrial complex quickly, so that maximum amounts of money may be extracted with the least amount of time and material spent on said profit-generators.

And if these teachers and nurses should get sick on the job during this pandemic? Well, they are tossed to the side and simply replaced, right? Workers are a dime a dozen in the eyes of elitists--especially female workers, POC workers…

Is it any wonder why the aroma of a general strike is in the air?

In the following video, Lee explains the history of why capitalists feel generating profits are much more important than workers' lives. https://youtu.be/GrMp_cOyf0E  

Related Articles:   

This is NOT  Pandemic of the Unvaccinated  https://peterdaou.substack.com/p/this-is-not-a-pandemic-of-the-unvaccinated  

Affordable Child Care is the Boost Our Economy Needs https://scheerpost.com/2022/01/07/affordable-child-care-is-the-boost-our-economy-needs/  

Chicago Teachers Voted to Teach Remotely Amid Omicron Wave https://popularresistance.org/chicago-teachers-voted-to-teach-remotely-amid-omicron-wave/ 

Schools Need More Resources Before They Can Open Safely Chicago Teacher Says  https://truthout.org/articles/schools-need-more-resources-before-they-can-open-safely-chicago-teacher-says/ 

Instead of More Support, Schools Have Upped Demands on Teachers During  Pandemic  https://scheerpost.com/2022/01/09/instead-of-more-support-schools-have-upped-demands-on-teachers-during-pandemic/  

Teachers Fighting For School Safety Are Not The Enemy https://therealnews.com/teachers-fighting-for-school-safety-are-not-the-enemy

US Workers Are Still Quitting Their Jobs In Record Numbers https://jacobinmag.com/2022/01/labor-jolts-quits-employment-wages-unions  

Take This Job and Shove It (music video): https://youtu.be/gj2iGAifSNI  

Nurses on COVID Frontline Speak Out (video) https://youtu.be/40WAimj8Aac

Omicron Spike Is Training Straining Hospitals As Health Care Workers Leave the Profession  https://truthout.org/video/omicron-spike-is-straining-hospitals-as-health-care-workers-leave-the-profession  

Seen on Twitter:    

The most effective thing we can do right now is support teachers & other workers who strike to oppose unsafe conditions. The most powerful thing we can do is disrupt the economy until the government enacts actual public health policy. — Bree Newsome Bass (@BreeNewsome) January 6, 2022 

Going to work should not mean putting your life and the lives of your loved ones in danger.

It is time for @OSHA_DOL to issue a permanent standard and #ProtectNurses and health care workers who are on the front lines working to save the lives of others!https://t.co/6C2xlzsftt— Bonnie Castillo (@NNUBonnie) January 5, 2022
 
All teachers should just quit and let the system deal with finding babysitters elsewhere. — GodandtheBear☭ (@GodandtheBear) January 7, 2022
 
Not wanting to die at work is not “selfish.”

***

National Nurses United

Last week, NNU President and RN Jean Ross told the CNN Newsroom the truth: that by weakening their Covid-19 isolation guidelines to seven days for health care workers — and even less time if there are staffing shortages — the CDC is putting thousands of lives at risk.

While the CDC now claims this change is motivated by science, nurses know it’s motivated by something else entirely: employers wanting workers back on the clock fast, regardless of whether it’s safe, to maximize their profits.

 We’ve fought since day one of this pandemic for protections for nurses and health care workers based on science and the precautionary principle, and we’re not backing down now. will you help us draw attention to this failure to protect patients, nurses, and other health care workers by joining our national day of action on January 13?

join us »

On this national day of action, nurses, other health care workers, and activists across the country will be standing up for change — and C.A., having your support at this critical moment will make a huge impact.

This move by the CDC comes as Omicron is exploding across the country, single-day records for Covid-19 cases continue to be broken, and the number of available ICU beds dwindles in hospital after hospital. What’s more, this change comes right as OSHA announced its plan to rescind hard-won emergency protections for health care workers.

Plain and simple, ​​we are dumbfounded and enraged by these actions and the very real risk they pose for nurses, other health care workers, and patients. But we refuse to go backward, and we need your help to protect nurses and patients now.

Join us in fighting for our nurses, patients, and other health care workers by signing up for our national day of action on January 13th. After signing up, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to take action.

join us »

Thanks for your support,

National Nurses United

***

 
take action against methane pollution
Take action!

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to hear from YOU about regulating methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.

Every year, the oil and gas industry emits hundreds of millions of tons of methane from wells, pipelines, and storage facilities. Methane has a massive impact on global warming, around 80 times the impact of carbon dioxide in the short term.

Leaking wells can also release toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and particulate matter into the air that harm people locally.

That’s why it's so important that the EPA is proposing to take action to dramatically reduce methane emissions from both existing and new wells and infrastructure nationwide for the first time.  

But, there will be strong opposition to the rules and efforts to water them down.

The EPA needs to hear that you support the commonsense regulations proposed which are essential to protecting the planet and our own health. 

Take action against methane pollution

For a greener world, 



Todd Larsen
Executive Co-Director for Consumer & Corporate Engagement
Green America 

***






In December, not long after workers in Buffalo, New York successfully organized the first Starbucks union, we reported on what happened to Brittany Harrison, a Starbucks store manager in Arizona.

Starbucks fired Brittany Harrison after she exposed the company’s union-busting plans. Now Brittany’s store in Mesa, Arizona is following in Buffalo’s footsteps and unionizing in response to Starbucks' behavior.

They’re facing Starbucks' extreme anti-union tactics at their own store.

As these courageous Starbucks workers fight to become the next unionized Starbucks store in the U.S., the More Perfect Union media team is there to cover it and expose Starbucks management for not living up to the values they advertise. Help stand in solidarity with workers by watching and sharing our reporting now!

Image of a woman at a computer with her head in her hands. Headline reads: Crackdown on Subscription ScamsWATCH, SUBSCRIBE & SHARE

Starbucks has pulled out all the stops to try and kill workers’ attempts to form a union.

Intimidation tactics such as flooding the floor with managers who, in the words of one worker, are “trying to figure out ways that they can fire us.” Managers eavesdrop on conversations. They hold special meetings, splitting workers up, and providing free pizza -- then telling them they “have to vote no” on forming a union.

The biggest anti-union move of all was to fire Brittany Harrison while she’s battling cancer after more than 4 years working her way up to managing her own store, because she released a video exposing an anti-union meeting led by Starbucks HQ.

Silence is not solidarity. That’s why we need your help today. Check out More Perfect Union’s exclusive report, then subscribe to our channel and help boost our reach by sharing to your social networks today.

Thank you for working to build a More Perfect Union.

In solidarity,

-Faiz

Faiz Shakir, Co-Founder
More Perfect Union

 

 

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