DOCSLIB.ORG

“You've Been Lied To: the REAL Christopher Columbus”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“You've Been Lied To: the REAL Christopher Columbus” Student Name: Class: “You’ve Been Lied To: The REAL Christopher Columbus” Expert Pack: Grades 9-10 Table of Contents Text #1: Christopher Columbus’ Soldiers Chop the Hands off of Arawak Indians Who Failed to Meet the Mining Quota (Artistic Engraving)………………..…………………………………..14 Text #2: History vs. Christopher Columbus (Short Film)………….……………………………………...15 Text #3: Truth about Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day (Film).......…………………...16 Text #4: Did Columbus Really Discover America? (Short Film)……………………………………….17 Text #5: Christopher Columbus: The Age of Discovery (Informational Article) ……….…...18 Text #6: The Four Journeys of Christopher Columbus (Map)………..…………………………….....24 Text #7: EXCERPT FROM: “The Journal of Christopher Columbus” (Primary Source)…......25 Text #8: EXCERPTS FROM: “The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account” (Primary Document: Historical Account)….…..…………………………………………………………………32 Text #9: Time to Abolish Columbus Day (Informational/Opinion Article)………..……………..40 Extended Reading 1: Columbus Day (Comic and Text)…………………………………………………..47 Extended Reading 2: Debate.org (Interactive Website)…………………………………………………..48 Extended Reading 3: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (History Text)………………………………………………………………………………..49 Extended Reading 4: A Young People’s History of the United States: Columbus to the War on Terror (For Young People Series) (History Text)…………...…………………….. ……………..50 Extended Reading 5: “How Columbus Sailed Into US History, Thanks to Italians”…...… ....51 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..52 Page 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS The Table of Contents lists of the texts in order of their suggested reading, including text complexity information and a brief synopsis of the text. A note on complexity analysis: The expert packs were created using both quantitative and qualitative considerations. The Reading Maturity Metric was used to calculate the quantitative analysis, including the CCSS grade band ratings. The CCSO rubric for informational texts was used to conduct the qualitative assessments and ratings align to the CCSSO rubric. Reading Maturity Metric: http://www.readingmaturity.com/rmm-web/#/ CCSSO Rubric: included at the end of the Table of Content Text Complexity Information Brief Synopsis Text 1: Quantitative: N/A Visual Art This image reveals some of the Christopher atrocities that Columbus Columbus’ Soldiers perpetrated on the Native Chop the Hands off "They would cut an Indian's hands and Americans of the Caribbean. of Arawak Indians leave them dangling by a shred of skin ... Student should closely examine it Who Failed to Meet [and] they would test their swords and and document what they see. the Mining Quota their manly strength on captured Indians Students can also read and analyze and place bets on the slicing off of heads the quote that accompanies the Author: Theodor de or cutting of bodies in half with one blow. image. Bry ... [One] cruel captain traveled over many leagues, capturing all the Indians he could Genre: Artistic find. Since the Indians would not tell him Engraving who their new lord was, he cut off the hands of some and threw others to the Cost/Access: $0.00 dogs, and thus they were torn to pieces." ‘ - Bartolomé De Las Casas, https://commons.wik imedia.org/wiki/File: Christopher_Columb us%27_Soldiers_Cho p_the_Hands_off_of_ Arawak_Indians_who _Failed_to_Meet_the_ Mining_Quota.jpg Page 3 Text 2: Quantitative: N/A Video Filled with facts and developed by History vs. TED Ed, this well-produced cartoon Christopher Qualitative: puts Columbus Day on trial: two Columbus Purpose: Slightly Complex. One clear cartoon lawyers and a judge purpose for this film, explicitly stated. consider both sides of the Author: - Alex Christopher Columbus debate. Gendler, TED Ed Structure: Moderately Complex. Information presented very quickly, images Genre: Short Film occasionally essential in order to make meaning Cost/Access: $0.00 Language: Moderately Complex... Mostly https://www.youtube contemporary, contains some Tier 3 .com/watch?v=GD3d academic language giDreGc Knowledge Demands: Moderately Complex. The video provides ample information and can be approached without domain-specific knowledge. Text 3: Quantitative: N/A Video Documentary excerpt interviewing Truth about professors – focuses on the Christopher Qualitative: “message from God” aspect and Columbus and Purpose: Slightly Complex. One clear the wrongness of this symbol. The Columbus Day purpose for this film, with information excerpt allows students to consider clearly presented the arguments laid out in the Author: Excerpt from previous video while listening to the documentary Structure: Moderately Complex. researchers and historians discuss The Canary Effect Information presented very quickly, the issue. attention to the speakers and what they Genre: film are presenting essential order to make meaning Cost/Access: $0.00 Language: Moderately Complex... Mostly contemporary, contains some Tier 3 https://www.youtube academic language .com/watch?v=DWdl Ak3739g Knowledge Demands: Moderately Complex... The video provides ample information and can be approached without domain-specific knowledge. Text 4: Quantitative: N/A Video Did Columbus really discover Did Columbus America? This fast-paced History Really Discover Qualitative: Channel video explores this America? Purpose: Slightly Complex. One clear question, and the myths Page 4 purpose for this film, with information surrounding the traditional story of Author: History.com clearly presented Columbus’s journeys. Genre: Short Film Structure: Slightly Complex. Information presented in a clear, chronological way. Cost/Access: $0.00 Language: Slightly Complex... Contemporary, student-friendly language; http://www.history.c contains some Tier 3 academic language om/topics/exploratio n/columbus-day Knowledge Demands: Moderately Complex... The video can be approached without domain-specific knowledge, but is supported by the two previous videos as students move into reading about the subject. Text 5: RMM 8.9 Introductory text from the History Christopher CCSS: 6-10 Channel on Columbus’ overall life. Columbus: The Age Dale Chall: 10.66 This piece explains that he did not of Discovery Flesch-Kincaid 11.5 discover America and explores the controversial legacy of his Author: History.com Qualitative: exploration. Purpose: Slightly Complex. Explicit and Genre: Informational focused. Article Structure: Moderate Complex. Cost/Access: $0.00 Subheadings enhance understanding and support connections between ideas; organization is sequential. http://www.history.c om/topics/exploratio Language: Moderately Complex. Largely n/christopher- conventional and contemporary columbus/print vocabulary; sentence structure is relatively accessible, with some occasional complexity. Knowledge Demands: Very Complex. The article is intended to provide information, but the descriptions of the journey require an understanding of the world map. Students should be encouraged to use an atlas or globe for clarification. Text 6: Quantitative: N/A Map depicting the four journeys of The Four Journeys Christopher Columbus; supports Page 5 of Christopher Qualitative: N/A the reading students completed Columbus about the later voyages in the previous article. Author: Genre: Map Cost/Access: $0.00 https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Voyages_of _Christopher_Colum bus#/media/File:Viaj es_de_colon_en.svg Text 7: RMM: 9-10 This excerpt, taken from the actual EXCERPT FROM: CCSS: 9.3 journals of Christopher Columbus, “The Journal Of Dale-Chall: 7.85 outlines his first encounters with Christopher Flesch-Kincaid: 10.4 Indigenous people, as well as his Columbus” Qualitative: intentions in the region. Students Purpose: Very Complex. Purpose can be will need to read closely to uncover Author: Christopher inferred through reading, but presents the nuance behind what Columbus Columbus both abstract and straightforward themes is outlining. Genre: Primary Structure: Moderately Complex. No text Source features or graphics; organization is generally chronological and narrative Cost/Access: $0.00 Language: Very Complex. The language is http://www.american not contemporary and text contains journeys.org/pdf/AJ- archaic speech patterns, vocabulary, and 062.pdf domain-specific references; sentence structure is, at times, complex Knowledge Demands: Very Complex. Relies on an initial understanding of the arrival of Columbus and the Spaniards, prior understanding of Indigenous peoples would support visualization of Indigenous peoples as well as Columbus, his boats, and the arriving Europeans. Text 8: RMM: 10.1 A slave owner turned Dominican EXCERPTS FROM: CCSS: 9-12 friar, Bartolome de Las Casas “THE Dale-Chall: 8.44 traveled to the Caribbean and DEVASTATION OF Flesch-Kincaid: 11.4 witnessed the events taking place. Page 6 THE INDIES: A He became convinced that the BRIEF ACCOUNT” Purpose: Moderately Complex. Text does actions taken by the Spaniards were not have an explicit purpose but it can be unjust, and became a champion for Author: Bartolome inferred through reading. the Indigenous peoples in the de Las Casas, 1552 region. In this text, he outlines the Structure: Moderately Complex. No text many atrocities that the Spaniards Genre: Primary features or graphics; organization is committed in the Caribbean, both Document: Historical generally chronological and narrative during Columbus’s time, and after. Account Language: Very Complex. The language is This text has been excerpted for the Cost/Access:
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Q Kevin Ginter, 1998
    CACIQUISMO IN MEXICO: A STUDY IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY HISTQRIOGRAPHY Mémoire présenté à Ia Faculté des études supérieures de L'Université Lava1 pour l'obtention du grade de maître ès arts (M.A) Département d'histoire FAcULTÉ DES LETTRES WNNERSITÉ LAVAL Q Kevin Ginter, 1998 National Libmry Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services seMces bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada The author bas granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seU reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Table of Contents Foreword.. ..................................................... -......,.-.,.,...II Introduction .......................1 . Objectives...................................................................... -1 Kistoriographical
    [Show full text]
  • The Age of Exploration
    ABSS8_ch05.qxd 2/9/07 10:54 AM Page 104 The Age of 5 Exploration FIGURE 5-1 1 This painting of Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas was done by Louis Prang and Company in 1893. What do you think Columbus might be doing in this painting? 104 Unit 1 Renaissance Europe ABSS8_ch05.qxd 2/9/07 10:54 AM Page 105 WORLDVIEW INQUIRY Geography What factors might motivate a society to venture into unknown regions Knowledge Time beyond its borders? Worldview Economy Beliefs 1492. On a beach on an island in the Caribbean Sea, two Values Society Taino girls were walking in the cool shade of the palm trees eating roasted sweet potatoes. uddenly one of the girls pointed out toward the In This Chapter ocean. The girls could hardly believe their eyes. S Imagine setting out across an Three large strange boats with huge sails were ocean that may or may not con- headed toward the shore. They could hear the tain sea monsters without a map shouts of the people on the boats in the distance. to guide you. Imagine sailing on The girls ran back toward their village to tell the ocean for 96 days with no everyone what they had seen. By the time they idea when you might see land returned to the beach with a crowd of curious again. Imagine being in charge of villagers, the people from the boats had already a group of people who you know landed. They had white skin, furry faces, and were are planning to murder you.
    [Show full text]
  • Age of Exploration Flyer
    POSTER INSIDE POSTER Age of Exploration A DIGITAL RESOURCE Introduction Explore five centuries of journeys across the globe, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, new trade routes, and conflict over territories. Overview This impressive multi-archive collection focuses on “This remarkable collection European, maritime exploration from the earliest voyages of Vasco da Gama and Christopher provides the documentary Columbus, through the age of discovery, the search base to interpret some of the for the ‘New World’, the establishment of European settlements on every continent, to the eventual major movements of the age discovery of the Northwest and Northeast Passages, of exploration. The variety and the race for the Poles. of the sources made available Bringing together material from twelve archives from opens perspectives that should around the world, this collection includes documents challenge students and bring the relating to major events in European maritime history from the voyages of James Cook to the search for period to life. It is a collection John Franklin’s doomed mission to the Northwest that promotes both historical Passage. It contains a host of additional features for analysis and imagination.” teaching, such as an interactive map which presents an in-depth visualisation of over 50 of these Emeritus Professor John Gascoigne influential voyages. University of New South Wales Highlights Material Types • Captain Cook’s secret instructions, ships’ logs and • Le Livre des merveilles by Marco Polo including the • Diaries, journals and ships’ logbooks journals from three voyages of James Cook, written illuminations of Maître d’Egerton – this illuminated Printed and manuscript books by various crew members and Cook himself which relate manuscript compendium dates from c.1410-1412 and • to early British Pacific exploration and the search for is comprised of geographical works and accounts of • Correspondence, notes and ephemera Terra Australis.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Colonial History Four of Seven
    Early Colonial History Four of Seven Marianas History Conference Early Colonial History Guampedia.com This publication was produced by the Guampedia Foundation ⓒ2012 Guampedia Foundation, Inc. UOG Station Mangilao, Guam 96923 www.guampedia.com Table of Contents Early Colonial History Windfalls in Micronesia: Carolinians' environmental history in the Marianas ...................................................................................................1 By Rebecca Hofmann “Casa Real”: A Lost Church On Guam* .................................................13 By Andrea Jalandoni Magellan and San Vitores: Heroes or Madmen? ....................................25 By Donald Shuster, PhD Traditional Chamorro Farming Innovations during the Spanish and Philippine Contact Period on Northern Guam* ....................................31 By Boyd Dixon and Richard Schaefer and Todd McCurdy Islands in the Stream of Empire: Spain’s ‘Reformed’ Imperial Policy and the First Proposals to Colonize the Mariana Islands, 1565-1569 ....41 By Frank Quimby José de Quiroga y Losada: Conquest of the Marianas ...........................63 By Nicholas Goetzfridt, PhD. 19th Century Society in Agaña: Don Francisco Tudela, 1805-1856, Sargento Mayor of the Mariana Islands’ Garrison, 1841-1847, Retired on Guam, 1848-1856 ...............................................................................83 By Omaira Brunal-Perry Windfalls in Micronesia: Carolinians' environmental history in the Marianas By Rebecca Hofmann Research fellow in the project: 'Climates of Migration:
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 17.1 European Exploration and Expansion
    CHAPTER 17.1 EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND EXPANSION MOTIVES AND MEANS • Age of Discovery: Period from 1500-1800 CE in which Europeans sailed and explored the rest of the world • Motives for exploration: • Fascination with Asia • Marco Polo’s book The Travels detailed his exotic travels became popular with Europeans • Economics • Hopes of opening new markets to trade for spices, precious metals • “Gold, glory, and God” • A belief that Europeans must Christianize indigenous peoples MOTIVES AND MEANS • Means of exploration: • Caravel: small, fast ship with a longer range and larger cargo hold than previous ships • Advances in cartography more accurate maps, astrolabe, compass • Knowledge of wind patterns PORTUGUESE EXPLORERS • Portugal was first to explore; led by Prince Henry the Navigator • Discovered gold on western coast of Africa (“Gold Coast”) • Vasco de Gama sailed around tip of Africa and reached Calicut, India • Made large profit from Indian spices • Portuguese fleets returned to India to defeat Muslims and create trade monopoly • Portugal dominated trade in India and China, but did not have the population to colonize SPANISH EXPLORERS • Europeans knew world was round; did not know existence of the Americas • Sailed west to find a different route to Asia • Christopher Columbus sailed to find India for Spain • Found Caribbean islands which he thought were islands just outside of India • Never reached mainland Americas • Ferdinand Magellan: first to sail completely around the globe by sailing around the tip of South America; killed in Philippines …Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparing and Contrasting Views of Christopher Columbus, European Explorers and Native Americans
    I. Reaction Paper Assignment Comparing and contrasting views of Christopher Columbus, European Explorers and Native Americans. o Columbus, the Indians and Human Progress. Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (2003), Chapter 1. o The Age of European Discovery. Schweikart and Allen, A Patriot’s History of the United States (2004), Chapter 1 What do you know about Columbus? Odds are, your ideas may not reflect the latest in historical research, or may be incomplete. (With thanks to Professor McKay.) In any discussion of the value of history, it's important to include this important objective: "to build that bridge that links past and present history together." History informs the present, helps us to put order into the chaos going on around us, and to recognize that people who have come before us experienced and overcame many of the same challenges we are experiencing today. Today we have a particularly pressing need to understand war. Before 9/11, few students had an interest in war. But now there seems to be a pervasive need to understand what causes war, what effects war has on society, what can be done to avoid war, or what can be used to justify our current foreign policy. That students are interested in this topic shows that our present needs determine, in fact dictate, what we consider to be important in the past. And the needs of society at a given time play an important role in how historians interpret the past. During the 1950's, when the Cold War was just beginning, we as a society had the need to prove how superior our democratic institutions were to the Soviet's.
    [Show full text]
  • Letter of Christopher Columbus to Luis De St. Angel on His First Voyage To
    National Humanities Center Resource Toolbox American Beginnings: The European Presence in North America, 1492-1690 Library of Congress P. Forlani, Vniversale descrittione di tvtta la terra conoscivta fin qvi, world map, Venice: 1565, detail with approximate route of Columbus’s first voyage added “the glorious success that our Lord has given me in my voyage”* LETTER OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ON HIS FIRST VOYAGE TO AMERICA, 1492 Written in 1493, to the Treasurer of Aragon, Luis de St. Angel, who had provided Castile Taíno Indians his settlement La Navidad on the north coast of present-day Haiti SIR: S I know you will be rejoiced at the glorious success that our Lord has given me in my voyage, I A write this to tell you how in thirty-three days I sailed to the Indies with the fleet that the illustrious King and Queen, our Sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many islands inhabited by numberless people; and of all I have taken possession for their Highnesses by proclamation and display of the Royal Standard [Spanish flag] without opposition. To the first island I discovered I gave the name of San Salvador in commemoration of His Divine Majesty, who has wonderfully granted all this. The Indians call it Guanaham.1 The second I named the Island of Santa Maria de Concepcion; the third, Fernandina; the fourth, Isabella; the fifth, Juana; and thus to each one I gave a new name.2 When I came to Juana, I followed the coast of that isle toward the west and found it so extensive that I thought it might be the mainland, the province of Cathay
    [Show full text]
  • Jmedgenet-2020-107595.Full.Pdf
    Developmental defects J Med Genet: first published as 10.1136/jmedgenet-2020-107595 on 5 April 2021. Downloaded from Original research Phenotypic spectrum and genomics of undiagnosed arthrogryposis multiplex congenita Annie Laquerriere,1 Dana Jaber,2 Emanuela Abiusi,2,3 Jérome Maluenda,2 Dan Mejlachowicz,2 Alexandre Vivanti,2 Klaus Dieterich,4 Radka Stoeva,2,5 Loic Quevarec,2 Flora Nolent,2 Valerie Biancalana,6 Philippe Latour,7 Damien Sternberg,8 Yline Capri,9 Alain Verloes,9 Bettina Bessieres,10 Laurence Loeuillet,10 Tania Attie- Bitach,10 Jelena Martinovic,2,11 Sophie Blesson,12 Florence Petit,13 Claire Beneteau,14 Sandra Whalen,15 Florent Marguet,1 Jerome Bouligand,16 Delphine Héron,17 Géraldine Viot,18 Jeanne Amiel,19 Daniel Amram,20 Céline Bellesme,21 Martine Bucourt,22 Laurence Faivre ,23 Pierre- Simon Jouk,4 Suonavy Khung,24 Sabine Sigaudy,25 Anne- Lise Delezoide,24 Alice Goldenberg,26 Marie- Line Jacquemont,27 Laetitia Lambert,28 Valérie Layet,29 Stanislas Lyonnet,30 Arnold Munnich,30 Lionel Van Maldergem,31 Juliette Piard,31 Fabien Guimiot,24 Pierre Landrieu,21 Pascaline Letard,22 Fanny Pelluard,32 Laurence Perrin,9 Marie- Hélène Saint- Frison,24 Haluk Topaloglu,33 Laetitia Trestard,34 Catherine Vincent- Delorme,13 Helge Amthor,35 Christine Barnerias,36 Alexandra Benachi,2,37 Eric Bieth,38 Elise Boucher ,31 Valerie Cormier- Daire,19 Andrée Delahaye- Duriez,22,39 Isabelle Desguerre,36 Bruno Eymard,40 Christine Francannet,41 Sarah Grotto,42 Didier Lacombe,43 Fanny Laffargue,41 Marine Legendre,43 Dominique Martin- Coignard,5 André Mégarbané,44 Sandra Mercier,14 Mathilde Nizon,14 Luc Rigonnot,45 Fabienne Prieur,46 Chloé Quélin,47 27 48 49 ► Additional material is Hanitra Ranjatoelina- Randrianaivo, Nicoletta Resta , Annick Toutain, published online only.
    [Show full text]
  • Freshwater Use Customs on Guam an Exploratory Study
    8 2 8 G U 7 9 L.I:-\'I\RY INT.,NATIONAL R[ FOR CO^.: ^,TY W SAMIATJON (IRC) FRESHWATER USE CUSTOMS ON GUAM AN EXPLORATORY STUDY Technical Report No. 8 iei- (;J/O; 8;4J ii ext 141/142 LO: FRESHWATER USE CUSTOMS ON AN EXPLORATORY STUDY Rebecca A. Stephenson, Editor UNIVERSITY OF GUAM Water Resources Research Center Technical Report No. 8 April 1979 Partial Project Completion Report for SOCIOCULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF FRESHWATER USES IN GUAM OWRT Project No. A-009-Guam, Grant Agreement Nos. 14-34-0001-8012,9012 Principal Investigator: Rebecca A- Stephenson Project Period: October 1, 1977 to September 30, 1979 The work upon which this publication is based was supported in part by funds provided by the Office of Water Research and Technology, U. S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C, as authorized by the Water Research and Development Act of 1978. T Contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Office of Water Research and Technology, U. S. Department of the Interior, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute their endorsement or recommendation for use by the U- S. Government. ii ABSTRACT Traditional Chamorro freshwater use customs on Guam still exist, at least in the recollections of Chamorros above the age of 40, if not in actual practice in the present day. Such customs were analyzed in both their past and present contexts, and are documented to provide possible insights into more effective systems of acquiring and maintain- ing a sufficient supply of freshwater on Guam.
    [Show full text]
  • Make Seattle Affordable—For All
    Feb 2015 Newsletter of Councilmember KSHAMAKSHAMA SAWANTSAWANT This city has made glittering fortunes for the super wealthy while the needs of working people and the poor are ignored by an out of touch political establishment. Let us join together in a struggle for a more equal and just society. Dear friends Make Seattle & neighbors, We have officially completed a year in Affordable – For All! office and what a year it’s been! • Thanks to our hard-fought 15 Now his year will be one of struggle for are being evicted by out-of-control rent hikes campaign, we passed the historic $15 racial justice, affordable housing, and in neighborhoods from Capitol Hill to the minimum wage in Seattle. progressive taxation. The $15 min- Central Area. This is the issue that affects -or imum wage law that we fought for and won dinary people the most, and is at the center • To crack down on rampant wage T theft in our city, we won additional needs to be enforced. of Kshama Sawant´s efforts to make Seattle funding for the new Office of Labor As the city council elections approach, affordable for all. Standards. voters need to ask themselves which candi- Since Kshama was elected to the City dates will defend their interests and which Council through a grassroots campaign, she • Together with indigenous activists, we will represent the business-as-usual politics of has fought hard for the needs of working peo- established Indigenous Peoples’ Day. the corporate elites. ple. Refusing any corporate donations, she re- These and many other victories have While Seattle’s wealthy developers make lies on the support of workers and progressive shown what is possible when we build enormous fortunes, we face the fastest rising activists.
    [Show full text]
  • In Defense of Kshama Sawant
    In Defense of Kshama Sawant Call it a voter-suppression effort, ex post facto. The attempt to remove Kshama Sawant from her seat on Seattle’s City Council through a recall petition is a blatant attack on the democratic rights of constituents — and on the emergence of a new socialist left as a current in American politics. Sawant is the public face of Socialist Alternative, one of numerous small Marxist organizations in the United States. But defending her from corporate and right-wing attack is an issue that everyone on the left in the United States should support. Sawant has been elected to her position three times now, running on a platform of solidarity with the Seattle’s workers — backed up by heavy and long overdue taxation of the city’s millionaires and billionaires. In the summer of 2020 she gave full support to Black Lives Matter. And that seems to have been the proverbial straw breaking the camel’s back: Sawant’s activity in solidarity with BLM features prominently in the recall campaign’s complaints about her. With hindsight, it’s clear that Sawant’s election to City Council in 2013 foreshadowed the groundswell of support for Bernie Sanders’s presidential run in 2016. The platform for her first campaign included public ownership of Washington state’s corporate behemoths, including Microsoft and Amazon. More recently, her page on the City Council website has demanded taxation “to fund immediate COVID-19 relief for working people, and then to go on in 2021 and beyond to fund a massive expansion of new, affordable, social housing and Green New Deal renovations of existing homes.” In 2019, Amazon contributed $1.5 million to a political action committee opposed to Sawant, who was reelected anyway.
    [Show full text]
  • Victory for $15 in Seattle!
    $1.00 VICTORY FOR RALLY: Victory for $15 $15 2pm Sunday in Seattle! in SEATTLE JUNE 8 @ LAbor Temple 2800 1st Ave SEATTLE How Socialists Built a Winning Movement How Socialists Built a Winning Movement Also come to the... By Socialist Alternative VICTORY PARTY eattle is the first major city to pass a $15/hr minimum wage. 100,000 Sworkers will be lifted out of poverty and millions will be inspired all & CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER over the country and around the world. $15 entry (no one turned away) On June 2nd Seattle’s City Council voted unanimously to raise the Doors open at 6:30pm Friday June 6 city’s minimum wage to $15/hr. Starting April 1, 2015 all workers in @ Washington Hall (153 14th Ave Seattle) big businesses like McDonald’s, Starbucks, Macy’s and Target will see an immediate increase to $11 an hour and by 2025 all workers will be @ www.socialistalternative.org making a minimum of $18 an hour. /SocialistAlternativeUSA Altogether it is estimated that Seattle businesses will have to pay their @SocialistAlt workers an additional $3 billion in wages over the next ten years! This demonstrates that “struggle pays,” that ordinary people can take on [email protected] the biggest corporations in the world and win, when we organize and (206) 526 7185 fight back. Now is your chance to be part of this struggle. Help us build the socialist movement as the backbone for rebuilding the labor movement and creating a new mass party of and for the 99%. Join Socialist Alternative! A Socialist ELECTED TO CITY COUNCIL The movement of fast food workers, inspired by Occupy, put $15 on the agenda across the country.
    [Show full text]