Protest to Mark Nine Years of War in Afghanistan

Thursday October 7 • 5:00-6:30pm • Corner of Poplar and Highland

MEMPHIS -- The Mid-South Peace & Justice Center, the Progressive Student Alliance of the University of Memphis, the Memphis Socialist Party, and other concerned residents from across the city will gather on Thursday, October 7th to protest the immoral and unnecessary war in Afghanistan on the 9th anniversary of our invasion.

While our government fails to provide adequate jobs, homes, education and healthcare for the people of this country, the cost of our futile imperialist adventure in Afghanistan has exceeded $1 trillion. "It's outrageous that millions go jobless at home while billions are handed over to war profiteers," says Jeffrey Lichtenstein, a member of the Progressive Student Alliance.

The staggering economic cost of the war is dwarfed by its devastating social cost. More than 100,000 Afghan civilians and 2,130 coalition soldiers have been killed during the 3,285 days of Operation Enduring Freedom. Violence has increased dramatically following Obama's surge and continues to escalate. Our drone attacks and preparations for an indefinite military occupation have not improved security in the region but have instead contributed to its deterioration. Neal Gammill, Air Force veteran, explains, "I've been to Afghanistan; the people of Afghanistan need jobs, they need schools, they need infrastructure. They do not need more bombs, more troops, more U.S. interventionism."

Groups of concerned Memphians will gather to denounce the occupation of Afghanistan and call for an immediate end to this racist war for profit. We remember that OUR fight is against racism, unemployment, and poverty here at home. We call all residents of Memphis to join us and demand that not one more life—civilian or soldier—be brutally squandered in our names.

What: This Thursday concerned citizens from across the mid-south will come together to protest the ninth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan and call for an end to the occupation.

When: October 7, 2010 • 5:00 - 6:30pm

Where: Corner of Poplar and Highland



"Operation Recovery": On 9th Anniversary of Afghan War, Veteran-Led Campaign Seeks to End Deployment of Traumatized Soldiers

Murfreesboro Activists Confront Islamaphobia

On July 14, reactionaries roused by mega-church leaders and gubernatorial candidates protested the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission's approval of the Islamic Center's plans to build a mosque with educational and recreational facilities in Murfreesboro, TN.

Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom staged a successful counter-rally in solidarity with the Muslim people of Murfreesboro, several of whom have been the target of death threats. The folks in support of religious freedom outnumbered the opposition, largely affiliated with World Outreach Church, and the Commission is so far standing by its decision to allow construction.

The opposition to the Islamic Center has garnered national attention, and the right-wingers have been collecting signatures to present to Commissioners at their next meeting on August 12.

Below is a video clip of Lieutenant Governor and gubernatorial candidate Ron Ramsey speaking at a campaign event in Chattanooga. Starting at 3:06 in the video, the fear and ignorance fueling the opposition is painfully clear in this irrational and racist diatribe against Muslims.



Regardless of the tactics used by powerful mega-churches and right-wing bigots in state government, the people of Middle Tennessee will stand up for religious freedom and not allow the Planning Commission to give in to Islamaphobia on August 12.

Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom on Facebook...

read socialistworker.org interview with Jase Short, member of Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom...

read Huffington Post response to Ron Ramsey...

watch Nashville news coverage of July 14 protests...

watch Daily Show clip on the opposition...

t r u t h o u t: BP's Scheme to Swindle the "Small People"

Monday 19 July 2010
by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t

Gulf Coast fishermen and others with lost income claims against BP are outraged by a recent announcement that the $20 billion government-administered claim fund will subtract money they earn by working on the cleanup effort from any future damage claims against BP. This move, according to lawyers in Louisiana working on behalf of Louisiana fishermen and others affected by the BP oil disaster, contradicts an earlier BP statement in which the company promised it would do no such thing.

read more...

Merton & Princeton Garden

In 2009, the Memphis SP helped to establish and fund a garden at the corner of Merton & Princeton, which has become an open community garden, with planting space and food available to anyone interested fresh produce and organic gardening methods.






We can always use help from anyone interested in weeding, mowing, mulching, or otherwise tending to the plants. Feel free to stop by anytime to pull a few weeds, and be sure to take some cucumbers, butternut squash and basil! If you would like more information on what you can do to help, please email us at memphissocialist@yahoo.com.

BP: The Case for Public Ownership -- In These Times

BP: The Case for Public Ownership -- In These Times
Article by SPUSA Co-chair Billy Wharton

It’s not the Crimes, It’s Capitalism: The Gulf Oil Spill

by the Socialist Party USA National Committee - June 20, 2010

By now, nearly everyone on the planet is aware of the creeping disaster that is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Many call the oil spill a crime. People are rightfully outraged and many are calling for criminal prosecution of the British Petroleum Corporation. Many blame the problem on corporations. While it is clear by now that crimes were committed, this is not the issue. The fundamental problem isn’t the crimes. The problem is capitalism.

Workers and the environment are perpetually exploited by corporations for profit, but the true nature and functions of corporations must be understood. Corporations are no more than tools of capitalism. While it is important to recognize and disable the tools of exploitation, it’s even more important to recognize who wields those tools: the capitalist class.

Even without these tools, this would still be happening under capitalism. Before there were corporations as we know them, labor was mercilessly exploited (often under deadly conditions), poisons were dumped into the waters, forests were mowed down, and the skies were blackened with industrial waste. Corporations don’t destroy people and the environment; capitalism does.

This is because the capitalist system is a continuous race, because the failure to keep up means destruction by the competition. Capitalists are forced to seek every advantage to make a profit. This, not simply greed, is the reason why capitalists are forced to crush unions, slash wages, increase hours, cut corners and lower safety standards. This, not greed, is why the capitalist fights against regulations, and ignores them when he can.

British Petroleum is only one of many corporations that evade basic safety standards. Only a few months ago we saw the deaths of dozens of miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine for the same reasons. On the Deepwater Horizon, eleven workers were killed, seventeen injured. While this disaster never should have occurred, under capitalism, these disasters are inevitable.

The supply of energy in all its forms is held hostage to a system that must put profits above everything. Held hostage by corporations, Congress betrayed the public by capping damages arising from environmental catastrophes. Government regulators are held hostage too by capitalism, betraying the public by looking the other way or even aiding the capitalists.

The Socialist Party USA calls for the immediate socialization of all energy companies and the creation of a publicly owned entity that can meet energy requirements while being operated under community and worker control. These corporations should be transferred to the public sector without compensation. Because of the inherent danger in deep water drilling, the SPUSA calls for the total ban on offshore exploration, drilling, and for immediately phasing out of existing off shore wells.

The United States must reverse its dependence on oil and gas. The SPUSA calls for free mass transit and a massive program to greatly expand light rail in urban areas and build a network of inter-city fast rail. Electrical energy needs should be met through the use of renewable resources such as wind and ocean power.
The oil spill is indicative of the necessary disregard of human life and our environment that is fundamental to the capitalist market economy. Efforts to tinker with this system, attempting to regulate capitalism, are bound to fail. Only the abolition of the for-profit, market system and its replacement with a democratic, socialist society can prevent more catastrophic ecological disasters.