Chicago Teachers Stand Up to the SOCIALIST Billionaires’ Agenda p. 5 ALTERNATIVEIssue #22 - April 2016 Suggested Donation: $2 Stop Trump Build a Left Political Alternative What is Democratic How Do We Fight the Right? Socialism? page 6 Interview With Kshama Is Trump a Fascist? Sawant page 7 page 4 Who Can We -Mailing label here- Trust With the Environment? page 8 Why Bernie Sanders Should Run Through Boston Student Walkout November Against Cuts page 3 page 10 WHAT WE STAND FOR WHY I AM A SOCIALIST Fighting for the 99% J Immediate, unconditional legalization and J No budget cuts to education and social equal rights for all undocumented immigrants. services! Full funding for all community needs. J Build a mass movement against police A major increase in taxes on the rich and big brutality and the institutional racism of the business, not working people. The federal criminal justice system. Invest in rehabilitation, government should bail out states to prevent job training, and living-wage jobs, not prisons! Zach Shrewsbury cuts and layoffs. Abolish the death penalty. Black Lives Matter. Security Guard J Create living-wage union jobs for all the J Fight sexual harassment, violence against unemployed through public works programs women, and all forms of sexism. Seattle, WA to develop mass transit, renewable energy, J Defend a woman’s right to choose whether infrastructure, health care, education, and and when to have children. For a publicly affordable housing. funded, single-payer health care system with I first discovered I was a social- J Raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hour, free reproductive services, including all forms ist when I was in the Marine Corps adjusted annually for cost of living increases, of birth control and safe, accessible abortions. deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as a step toward a living wage for all. Comprehensive sex education. Paid maternity on the fence line. I remember seeing J Free, high quality public education for all from and paternity leave. Fully subsidized, high- the Cuban soldier across the field pre-school through college. Cancel student quality child care. from me through my binoculars, and J Equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and he seemed just the same as I and my friends enraged that African Americans and Latinos debt. Full funding for schools to dramatically and Muslims were all being demonized by the lower teacher-student ratios. Stop the focus transgender people, including same-sex were. Exhausted, hot, and wondering why he marriage. was there. Then it dawned on me ... that sol- media. I became a socialist to fight against on high stakes testing and the drive to all the injustice and inequality in this country privatize public education. dier, the so-called enemy is just like me. Money for Jobs and Education, I went on to discover and research about and the world. I sacrifice for all people so we J Free, high quality health care for all. Replace socialism after that moment and by watching can all live a life where no one goes hungry or the failed for-profit insurance companies with Not War the Occupy Wall Street protests. I became thirsty. A life where sick people are provided a publicly funded single-payer system as a J End the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. disgusted by the fact that people have to for. A life where we are all equals regard- step toward fully socialized medicine. Bring all the troops home now! pay thousands of dollars when they get sick; less of race, gender, or creed. As Eugene V. J A guaranteed decent pension for all. No cuts J Slash the military budget. No drones. Shut Debs said, “I have no country to fight for; my down Guantanamo. I was angry at the fact that all my friends to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid! were graduating college with $40,000 in country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the J Repeal the Patriot Act, the NDAA, and all J Stop home foreclosures and evictions. For debt. I was sickened at the fact that women world.” other attacks on democratic rights. public ownership and democratic control of are still fighting to be equal in today’s society Comrades, remember to never give up our fight! Never give ground! Solidarity forever! J the major banks. Break with the Two Parties when it’s so obvious they should be. I was J A minimum guaranteed weekly income of $600/week for the unemployed, disabled, of Big Business stay-at-home parents, the elderly, and others J For a mass workers’ party drawing together unable to work. workers, young people, and activists from Socialist Alternative At Seattle J Repeal all anti-union laws like Taft-Hartley. For workplace, environmental, civil rights, and democratic unions run by the rank-and-file to women’s campaigns to provide a fighting, fight for better pay, working conditions, and political alternative to the corporate parties. social services. Full-time union officials should J Unions and social movement organizations Sanders Rallies be regularly elected and receive the average should stop funding and supporting the In the week leading up to the wage of those they represent. Democratic and Republican Parties and Washington state caucuses on J instead organize independent left-wing, anti- No more layoffs! Take bankrupt and failing March 27, Bernie Sanders held companies into public ownership and retool corporate candidates and coalitions as a first step toward building a workers’ party. two rallies in Seattle. Over 800 them for socially necessary green production. copies of Socialist Alternative were J Shorten the workweek with no loss in pay Socialism and Internationalism sold to people heading into these and benefits; share out the work with the J Capitalism produces poverty, inequality, two events, showing the interest of unemployed and create new jobs. environmental destruction, and war. We need Sanders’ supporters in the ideas of Environmental Sustainability an international struggle against this system. socialism and in the call to build a J Repeal corporate “free trade” agreements, new party of the 99% that featured J Fight climate change. Organize mass protests on the cover of the March issue. and civil disobedience to block the Keystone which mean job losses and a race to the bottom for workers and the environment. On March 20, we talked to photo credit: Alex Garland XL oil pipeline, coal export terminals, and thousands of people outside Key J Solidarity with the struggles of workers and fracking. Massive public investment in Arena. We argued that Bernie, Kshama’s speech called for “taking [giant oppressed peoples internationally: An injury renewable energy and efficiency technologies even if he loses the nomination, should corporations] into public ownership.” At to one is an injury to all. to rapidly replace fossil fuels. run all the way to November as an inde- first, the reaction to this call was disjointed J J A major expansion of public transportation Take into public ownership the top 500 pendent and not let the political revolution and somewhat hesitant. Given a moment to provide low-fare, high-speed, accessible corporations and banks that dominate become co-opted by the corporate cam- to digest the idea, the crowd reacted with transit. the U.S. economy. Run them under the paign of Hillary Clinton. Many were under- strong applause for a demand that goes J Public ownership of the big energy companies. democratic management of elected standably concerned that an independent significantly beyond Bernie’s current All workers in polluting industries should be representatives of the workers and the left candidate would take votes away from program. guaranteed retraining and new living-wage broader public. Compensation to be paid on the Democrats and help Trump, assuming Our experience selling papers and the jobs in socially useful green production. the basis of proven need to small investors, he is the Republican nominee. However, response to Kshama’s speech are a graphic not millionaires. nearly everyone we talked to agreed that a illustration of how the Sanders campaign Equal Rights for All J A democratic socialist plan for the economy third party was necessary, and they were has politicized and radicalized millions, J Fight discrimination based on race, nationality, based on the interests of the overwhelming deeply frustrated with the Democratic particularly young people. It further shows gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, majority of people and the environment. Party establishment and its attempts to the huge opening for independent left age, and all other forms of prejudice. Equal For a socialist United States and a socialist hamper Bernie’s campaign. Nearly two politics and for building a socialist politi- pay for equal work. world. J hundred people signed up to learn more cal force. We will continue to engage in about Socialist Alternative. these discussions with Sanders support- Socialist Alternative Editor Tom Crean • Editorial Board Ty Moore, Calvin Priest, Tony Wilsdon, Jess Spear, Six days later, at Safeco Field, thou- ers in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York, Joshua Koritz, George Brown, Bryan Watson sands packed the baseball stadium and and other states where primaries are to be • [email protected] heard Seattle socialist City Councilmem- held in coming weeks. J • PO Box 150457, Brooklyn, NY 11215 ber Kshama Sawant speak before Bernie. 2 SOCIALISTALTERNATIVE.ORG•APRIL2016 POLITICS The Political Revolution Continues Bernie: Time to Plan The Jailbreak Stephan Kimmerle We have pointed out before that the Democratic establishment – As we go to press, despite Hill- reflecting the interests of the top ary Clinton’s big delegate lead, the one percent – cannot accept Sand- political revolution is alive and fight- ers’ full program of radical reforms ing back.