Recent Statements

Statement on Gay Pride 2010
by the SPUSA Queer Commission June 9, 2010

On June of 1969 fed up queers fought back when police began harassing them at the Stonewall Inn bar on Sheridan Square in New York City. By most accounts the most oppressed, drag queens and lesbians, lead the charge. This was a flashpoint in a long history of struggle. The homophile movement, the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis laid the groundwork for the uprising. Stonewall was also influenced by the feminist movement, the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, and the struggle against the war in Vietnam.

The first organized group that sprang from the Stonewall Riots was the Gay Liberation Front which was consciously named after the Vietnamese Liberation Front and included socialists, communists, anarchists and other radicals.

The Socialist Party USA stands with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning people for liberation and full and equal participation in society. LGBTQ people deserve the same rights of marriage as heterosexuals, including the right to adopt children. LGBTQ people who chose to enter the military should have every right to live openly without penalty or harassment, and have every right that their heterosexual peers have.

Gay Power and Gay Liberation were the rallying cries of Stonewall. The Stonewall riots demonstrate the power of resistance and confrontation against injustice. Socialist liberation goes beyond rights and demands full empowerment and participation. The Socialist Party USA celebrates the legacy of Stonewall and the movement for LGBTQ liberation.



Statement on Israel's Latest Outrage
by the SPUSA International Commission- June 7, 2010

It is almost beyond belief that Israel could again shock us, after the siege and blockade of Gaza, the destruction of Lebanon, and decades of brutal colonization of the Palestinian people. Yet, in the early dawn hours of May 31, military forces of Israel attacked an unarmed aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip, massacring between nine and sixteen civilians, injuring as many as sixty. The convoy intended to breach the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, delivering humanitarian aid supplies to the Palestinian people. The ships were attacked and seized in international waters, in violation of international maritime law.

The International Commission of the Socialist Party USA strongly condemns this act of piracy and murder. We join tens of thousands around the world in demonstrating against Israel's crimes at all Israeli consulates and embassies. We demand Israel immediately end the cruel and inhuman blockade of Gaza and withdraw from the Occupied Territories. Until this is done, we call for all to join in the international boycott of Israel and Israeli goods. We demand an end to all American military aid to Israel. We demand an international tribunal to pursue the crimes against humanity committed by Israel. The seized goods must be delivered to Gaza and restitution must be made to the injured and the families of the slain.

Israel is not alone in blame. The United States is also at fault. Without the five billion dollars that the American taxpayer annually gives to Israel, the Israeli military would not be capable of such murderous disregard for human life. It is through this payoff that the American ruling class maintains its grip on the politics of the Middle East through division of the workers. It is through this payoff that Israel is able to ward off its enemies and international criticism of its policies. It is through this payoff that Israel continues to illegally occupy Palestine and the Golan Heights of Syria. It is through this payoff the Palestinian people are colonized. This donation, taken from the American workers to divide their brothers and sisters in the Middle East, must cease.

Israel's continuing colonization of Palestine and the resultant war crimes and crimes against humanity are the fundamental reasons that peace does not exist in the Middle East. The Israeli military must withdraw from Palestine.

Which Side Are You On?

It's time President Obama, the Democrats, and the American people choose between populism and corporatism. There is a class struggle between the corporate rich and "the people" (workers, poor, etc.) Unfortunately, the Obama administration and the Democratic Party can't seem to make a decision on which side to fight for.

The Democratic Party establishment, including Bill Clinton and the Obama administration, tried to STOP progressive candidates from challenging their established (corporate) Democratic candidates in primaries last week. Bill Clinton himself tried to persuade Joe Sestak not to run against former Republican Arlene Specter in PA, and campaigned for corporate whore Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas.

President Obama refuses to take a hard stand against BP in the Gulf, or STOP oil drilling off the coast, to placate "moderate" Republicans and Democrats, just as he refused to push for single-payer health insurance.

With the threat of another recessionary dip in the economy, Obama refuses to push for a bold progressive economic agenda, and is caving in to the "deficit hawks" who want to slash government spending and are pushing for cutting Social Security and Medicare.

When will Obama and the Democrats learn how to fight for workers? Will they side with workers ("the people") against the corporate elites? Not likely, since the Democratic Party, including Obama, are in bed with the corporate elites as much as the Republican Party.

Obama Needs to Decide Which Side He is On: Corporatist or Populist

Robert Reich: Why We're Falling into a Double Dip-Recession

Long-Term Unemployed Now 46% of Unemployed (Highest on Record!)

Obama Warns of Massive Layoffs of Teachers, Police & Firefighters (Congress refuses to Act)

The Do-Nothing 44th President

Glenn Greenwald Clobbers Eliot Spitzer on Gaza Flotilla

Must See Video: Glenn Greenwald Clobbers Eliot Spitzer on Israel's Attack on Gaza Flotilla



Israeli Legislature Reveals Terror on Flotilla Ship-Accuses Israel of Intentionally Killing Peace Activists

TONIGHT: Vigil for the Gaza Flotilla

Last night, Israeli soldiers shot at and boarded a ship in international waters, which was part of a small fleet headed for Gaza carrying aid workers, activists, and humanitarian supplies. After hoisting a white flag and offering no resistance, around ten unarmed civilians on the ship were killed and at least thirty wounded.

NY Times

Al-Jazeerah

Live Report and Footage from Ship as Israel Attacks

Please attend the vigil tonight at Poplar and Highland: We will not tolerate Israel's aggression towards international aid workers and peace activists, nor will we tolerate continuous acts of violence towards the people of Palestine. End the illegal siege of Gaza, end US military aid to Israel, and end the occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem NOW.

Poplar & Highland
6-8pm
Today, Monday May 31, 2010

Any questions about tonight, please email: memphissocialist@yahoo.com
-Sally

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is not about sales and buy new a new matress, and it should not be about glorifying war and jingoistic national patriotism. We should remember why war is bad, and remember the dead who speak to us from their graves:

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America's War On Iraq: 4,718
icasualties.org/oif/

Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 1,789

Cost of War in Iraq Afghanistan
$1,000,042,858,296

Falling Off the $1 Trillion Cliff


10 Things to Remember on Memorial Day

MLK vs. War

Dr. Martin Luther King spoke against the Vietnam War and American imperialism and tied the war in Vietnam and war spending to the neglect of the poor in the United States.

"Silence is Betrayal"

What is Wrong with this Picture?

Capitalism vs. Socialism: Big Surprise in New Polls

Capitalism: Big Surprises in Recent Polls

A new Pew Poll shows widespread skepticism about capitalism and hints that support for socialist alternatives is emerging as a majoritarian force in America’s new generation.

Carried out in late April and published May 4, 2010, the Pew poll, asked over 1500 randomly selected Americans to describe their reactions to terms such as “capitalism,” “socialism,” “progressive,” “libertarian” and “militia.” The most striking findings concern “capitalism” and “socialism.”

Pew summarizes the results in its poll title: “Socialism not so negative; capitalism not so positive.”

“Capitalism” is still viewed positively by a majority of Americans. But it is just by a bare majority. Only 52% of all Americans react positively. Thirty-seven percent say they have a negative reaction and the rest aren’t sure.

A year ago, a Rasmussen poll found similar reactions. Then, only 53% of Americans described capitalism as “superior” to socialism.

Meanwhile, 29% in the Pew poll describe “socialism” as positive. This positive percent soars much higher when you look at key sub-groups, as discussed shortly. A 2010 Gallup poll found 37% of all Americans preferring socialism as “superior” to capitalism.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a “Center-Right” country but a populace where almost 50% are deeply ambivalent or clearly opposed to capitalism.

More interesting, in the Pew poll, just 43% of Americans under 30 describe “capitalism” as positive. Even more striking, the same percentage, 43%, describes “socialism” as positive. In other words, the new generation is equally divided between capitalism and socialism.

The Pew, Gallup and Rasmussen polls come to the same conclusion. Young people cannot be characterized as a capitalist generation. They are half capitalist and half socialist. Since the socialist leaning keeps rising among the young, it suggests—depending on how you interpret “socialism”—that we are moving toward an America that is either Center-Left or actually majoritarian socialist.

May Day Protests

Hundreds of Thousands of Workers March in Global Protests on May Day

Thousands March on Wall Street

Video of Wall Street Protest

Rally for Rights (Rescheduled for Sat. May 8)

Rally For Rights
Manifestación para los Derechos Civiles
Saturday, May 8 :: Sabado, 1 Mayo
12:00pm - 2:30pm
National Civil Rights Museum
Museo Nacional de los Derechos Civiles

REFORM IMMIGRATION FOR AMERICA

Arizona Legalizes Racial Profiling