As elections for state and local offices are approaching, American politics is hitting a new low. There are huge issues facing US society. These include the expanding US occupation of Afghanistan as well as the failed occupation in Iraq, the Gulf of Mexico/BP oil disaster and its long term consequences, the near bankruptcy of many states and cities in the country, the continued economic crisis and mass unemployment… The list goes on.

Rather than focus on any of these, the focus is increasingly on an issue that does not impact the lives of one US resident in a million....

To read more, see link:

http://worldwidesocialist.net/blog/2010/08/the-mosque-at-ground-zero/

August marks the 65 anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Annual commemorations are held there to mark this event, but this year was the first time that a representative of the US government was present (in Hiroshima).

Hiroshima

Hiroshima was the first city to be visited by nuclear slaughter. On August 6, 1945, the first bomb was dropped. In a tenth of a millisecond, a fireball reaching 300,000 degrees centigrade was formed.

To read more, see attachment

The Wikileaks Documents and US Goals in Afghanistan

By

John Reimann

Exactly a week after some 90,000 US military daily reports were published by the web site www.Wikileaks.org as well as several mainstream papers (including the New York Times and Germany’s Der Spiegel), US Secretary of “Defense” Robert Gates went on record saying that the 2011 planned withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan will be “limited”. This comment also came just two days after a little-noticed report on a change in goals and strategy of the US regime.

To read more, see attachment

Hi

 

If this was forwarded to you, you can get The Fellow Travelers' Advisory delivered to your inbox every month by subscribing at http://annefeeney.com/newsletter.html 

 

Please support my work! Buy or download my CDs at http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid - Thank you!

 

IMMEDIATE DESTINATIONS:

 

5 August - Lund, Sweden - Visfestivalen

3 September - Marseilles, IL

4 September - Barrington, IL

5 September - HELP ... got any ideas in the Chicago area? (within 3 hours)

6 September - Pullman - Chicago, IL

 

Full information about these shows appears at the bottom of this message and continuously updates at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html

 

It has been three years since Naomi Klein's book, "The Shock Doctrine - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" was published. Since that time, capitalism's economic crisis has metastasized, and part of Klein's analysis has proven extremely useful in understanding much of the response of the capitalist politicians. Another part of her analysis has also been shown to be faulty (at best).

What is positive is that her book has played a huge role in revealing that the claims of the free marketeers that they believe in political freedom is an absolute lie. She has shown how the free marketeers' aims have nothing to do with a "free" market but are really just about helping giant corporations further loot the public treasuries and increase their wealth.

However, the main question facing the workers' movement is: "What must be done about this?" In order to answer this, the movement must understand how and why the free marketeers gained such prominence and what are the alternatives to the "free" market. Here, Klein's analysis is faulty at best and outright misleading at worst.

GENERAL STRIKE

Oh mighty arm of LABOR
Reject the boss's jargon.
Unsheath and wield thy saber.
From strength we need to bargain.
The Ruling Class's Law,
They know where they can stick it.
We'll fight them tooth and claw,
With boycott and with picket.

By Worker's Rank and File,
We call for GENERAL STRIKE.
We shall not say "Sieg Heil",
To the Capitalist's Reich.
Our bourgeois managerial,
Exploiters we refute
And their gunboat imperial
Wars to rob and loot.

The Management cannot resist,
The numbers in our throng.
With blood-red flag and tight mailed fist,
In a Union We Are Strong!
The Management we must impeach.
Seize Cheney's lavish ranch.
The Power Structure we must breach.
Upturn it Root and Branch!

Raise the Arm and Hammer.
Sing the Internationale.
It's for freedom that we clammer,
And social rationale.
May the Workers' ranks assemble,
In each and every sector.
May the Ruling Classes tremble,
At Revolution's spectre.

G. Marx Houston
x356095 sfba gmb
6-21-10

Below is list of the IWW Fellow Workers who are participating in this Year's LaborFest

Fellow Worker Alice Rugoff (member, LaborFest Writers' Group & Labor Fest Organizing Committee)

JULY 6th (Tuesday) 7 PM (Free) - Reading & Writing Workshop
Short Readings of her own works
Writing Exercise on theme "Put the Struggle Back
in Labor"
at: Bird & Beckett Bookstore, 653 Chenery, SF

JULY 11th (Sunday) 7 PM (Free) - Poetry Reading
California Working Class Divas
MC for City Lights Poetry Reading
at: City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus at Broadway, SF

JULY 13th (Tuesday) 7 PM (Free)
Labor Storytelling in The New Depression
Dialogue of spoken word and music + Open Mike for
labor stories, music songs, poetry
"Expendable People: Catching up with the Needs
of Humanity"
at: Farley's, 1315 18th Street, near Texas, SF

JULY 31st (Saturday (Free) -
Play Reading - "Kenny's Journey"
Words and Music by fw Alice Rugoff,
Directed by fw Alice Rugoff

A protest was recently held at the Oakland docks against an Israeli ship that was due to be unloaded there. There was wide celebration on the left that this unloading was delayed for 24 hours. While this was a success, some weaknesses were also revealed. For more, see the attached article.