Austin Socialism From Below Network

03/04/2021

https://section44.org/2021/03/04/inside-a-neighborhoods-fight-against-environmental-racism-in-htx-interview-with-four-fifth-ward-activists/

In January, the Department of State Health Services declared another cancer cluster in Houston’s Fifth Ward, with skyrocketing rates of leukemia and other illnesses in the area. &nbs…

05/14/2020

Sign and share this open letter! Support UT graduate student workers!

UT Austin Graduate Student/Worker Open Letter: COVID-19 Demands __________________________________________________________________________ HOW TO SIGN: UT graduate students, graduate organizations, and supporters, please add your name to the letter using this link. By signing you agree to have ...

05/06/2020

“On February 20, 1939, the stars and stripes waved next to the sw****ka in New York's Madison Square Garden. An enormous crowd sang the Star-Spangled Banner while giving the Hi**er salute. Guards in grey uniforms inspired by those of the N***s' paramilitary wing stood at attention in front of a 30-foot portrait of George Washington.

The German American Bund had filled the Garden with 20,000 supporters. Attempting to shake their image as a sauerkraut-munching Hi**er fan club, the Bund draped itself in the banner of Americanism and celebrated Washington's birthday. Banners proclaimed "Wake up America!" (copied from Hi**er's "Deutschland Erwache!"). The rally was protected by 450 uniformed stormtroopers from the Bund's Order Division, their version of the N***s Sturmabteilung or "Storm Division."

Less well known is that on that evening, the Garden was surrounded by at least 50,000 antifascists. Who had organised that counter-demonstration rally?“

On February 20, 1939, the stars and stripes waved next to the sw****ka in New York's Madison Square Garden. An enormous crowd sang the Star-Spangled Banner while giving the Hi**er salute. Guards in grey uniforms inspired by those of the N***s' paramilitary wing stood at attention in front of a 30-fo...

05/05/2020

Give comrades over at Puntorojomag.org a follow and read their bilingual contributions. Also, if you feel some type of way about what is next for the Latinx left or this specific piece, submit something (100-500 words) to [email protected]

Responses should focus on Latinx and POC experiences, reflections or perspectives.

"The efforts of the Sanders campaign to engage Latinx voters are impressive and laudable, and they give us an idea of what it would take to mobilize millions of young Latinx to engage in an election. Still, cultural competency and outreach is the minimum a campaign should bring to minority communities. Future socialist campaigns will need to deliberately address deeper issues facing communities of color, and clearly Sanders failed to convince Black voters that his coalition would successfully confront structural racism. While it is undeniable and significant that Sanders raised the political horizon of millions of Latinx and POC youth, an emphasis on electoralism alone gives an incomplete picture of where consciousness is at and where it can go."

Now that Bernie Sanders has left the race and endorsed Joe Biden, several articles in The Red Nation, New Politics, Latino Rebels and Jacobin, have assessed the campaign and offered next steps for socialists. At puntorojo, we’d like to contribute to this comradely debate by opening up our magazine...

09/14/2019

[Message from - Friday, September 13, 2019]

Hi, everyone! Thank you for standing by my side and supporting me. I am so very grateful.

I'm receiving your notes and letters, and I appreciate the love and support. I cannot wait until the day I can meet all of you, and we can work together to help others like me.

I read the The Guardian article published this week about me and my case, and I want to thank everyone who participated, especially Sister Helen Prejean and Texas Rep. Vikki Goodwin, as well as Heather Stobbs, who is Stacey's cousin. Let's continue fighting lies with the truth, and push back against rumours with facts. We must KEEP FIGHTING because this battle isn't anywhere near over.

My week has been okay. I had a phone call with one of my attorney's today, and I have a visitor tomorrow. I am feeling tired because "death watch" is exhausting and stressful, but, I'm in good spirits.

I love you all.

In solidarity.

In struggle,
Rodney Reed

07/12/2019

“Absence of political opposition at the top

The crisis is fuelled by the absence of substantial opposition at the top of US politics. Neither the national leadership of the Democratic Party, nor the leading presidential candidates have called for the immediate closure of the camps or that all asylum-seekers to be transferred into the country with refugee status. Only one congressional representative, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, has gone public to condemn the concentration camps, recently making a high-profile fact-finding visit to three sites at the border.

Leading Democrats have instead focused on aspects of Trump’s recent policy changes regarding asylum status and the past practice of family separation. Their approach amounts to criticism of the excesses created by his policies, but not criticism of the detention system or the criminalisation of migrants as a whole. Presidential contenders have focused their rhetoric on the centrality of winning the election of 2020, after which they have made only vague promises to change policy once in office.

Recently, Democrats divided in the Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives, allowing for enough votes to pass a Republican bill that hands Trump $4.6 billion to expand the concentration camp system. The spending bill is supposed to provide some money to improve “services” within the camps and shelters, but there are no requirements, guarantees, or checks written into the language of the bill. This means the Trump Administration has the final say on how to spend the money. As one dissenting congressperson declared, “This bill will fund a dysfunctional system…There are no standards that will force them to comply and be accountable to a basic level of humanitarian treatment and humanitarian needs.”

Upon investigation, the bill is not designed to provide aid for the migrants even with oversight. Rather it is an allocation to expand the detention system by giving the U.S. military a larger role in immigration enforcement. Among other provisions, the bill gives $145 million to the Department of Defence “to fund military expenses along the border, including facility maintenance, medical assistance and surveillance and enforcement operations.” It also increases pay for ICE and CBP agents, granting a $110 million pay raise in overtime funding as a reward for their service in rounding up and policing refugees in the concentration camps.”

http://www.rebelnews.ie/2019/07/11/close-the-concentration-camps/?

The US government is detaining thousands of migrants, in what can only be…

07/07/2019

Casa Marianella is one of the only shelters in the country for migrants and refugees after they’ve been processed through Customs and Border Patrol, according to Executive Director, Jennifer …

06/20/2019

Even under the Trump regime, there are things we can do to protect ourselves and our loved ones and prepare to better defend ourselves against raids. ICE may be acting with impunity, but people power will always be more powerful than the people in power. With rumors swirling of massive raids being