Topic 1 - 2008 Election Watch
관련 글 중에서 한 가지 - Election Madness (By Howard Zinn)
본문 중에서 몇 줄
Today, we can be sure that the Democratic Party, unless it faces a popular upsurge, will not move off center. The two leading Presidential candidates have made it clear that if elected, they will not bring an immediate end to the Iraq War, or institute a system of free health care for all.
They offer no radical change from the status quo.
They do not propose what the present desperation of people cries out for: a government guarantee of jobs to everyone who needs one, a minimum income for every household, housing relief to everyone who faces eviction or foreclosure.
They do not suggest the deep cuts in the military budget or the radical changes in the tax system that would free billions, even trillions, for social programs to transform the way we live.
None of this should surprise us. The Democratic Party has broken with its historic conservatism, its pandering to the rich, its predilection for war, only when it has encountered rebellion from below, as in the Thirties and the Sixties. We should not expect that a victory at the ballot box in November will even begin to budge the nation from its twin fundamental illnesses: capitalist greed and militarism.
So we need to free ourselves from the election madness engulfing the entire society, including the left.
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Topic2 - Gender/Feminism Watch
관련 글 중에서 한 가지 - Where we are stuck (By Robert Jensen)
그 글 말미에 적힌 한 문장
Feminism is a gift to men, if we are smart enough to accept it.
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Topic 3 - Labor Watch
관련 글 중에서 한 가지 - Labor Confronts Global Warming
본문 중에서 몇 줄
It is difficult to find on the AFL-CIO web site any significant expression of concern about global warming and its impact on working people, either in the US or around the world. Nor have we been able to find any indication that the executive council has endorsed positive alternatives to combat global warming.
A search of "Global Warming" on the Change to Win web site produces only the message "Sorry, your search was empty!" Asked about global warming, Change to Win's Andy Stern, however, has said, "I think the air we breathe and the water we drink and whether the world we live in is going to sustain itself is a big union issue." SEIU recently sent out emails encouraging people to participate in the nationwide "StepItUp2007" actions April 14 calling for an immediate cut in carbon emissions and a pledge for an 80 percent reduction by 2050.
Some unions, however, are seeking an approach to global warming that reflects the needs of all workers - indeed, all people - for protection against this menace. For example, a number of unions are working with the Cornell Global Labor Institute on a "North American Labor Assembly on Climate Crisis: Building a Global Movement for Clean Energy" May 7 and 8, 2007 in New York City. Trade union sponsors and endorsers currently include:
- 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
- Canadian Auto Workers (CAW)
- United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Local 2
- United Steelworkers of America (USW)
- UNITE HERE!
- American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
- California Faculty Association
- International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 805
- Social Service Employees Union Local 371
- American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
- International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)
- International Union, UAW
- United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE)
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