$4 at Newsstands and Bookstores SocialistViewpoint H The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it. —Karl Marx H MARCH/APRIL 2017 VOL. 17 NO. 2 A Watershed Election for U.S. Imperialism - Page 2 The Historic Women’s Marches of January 21, 2017 - Page 14 New York Taxi Drivers Take Solidarity Action - Page 21 Trump’s War On Women Women’s March responds to President Trump’s declaration of war on women By Shakaboona Let’s face it. President Trump’s entire The Women’s March on ened a sleeping giant to begin the presidential election campaign was so Washington, organized by dynamic revival of the women’s movement. misogynistic, sexist, anti-choice, and anti- National Co-Chairs, including Angela So let the dishonest news media women’s rights, that women of America continue to mischaracterize and cast had no other option but to fight back The Women’s March doubt on the success of the Women’s against what can only be called Trump’s March on Washington. You know who declaration of war against women. on Washington is not doubting the potential power of On January 21, 2017, a day after represents the start of the over-one million women protes- Trump’s presidential inauguration, a widespread tors? President Donald Trump, the women responded to President resistance to Donald Republican Party, and the dishonor- Trump’s declaration of war on their able Democratic Party! bodies by marching—a 600,000-strong, Trump’s presidency. standing army of women (and men) —Prison Radio, January 30, 2017 Y. Davis, Gloria Steinem, Carmen protestors on Washington, D.C.; by Write to: fielding over one million women pro- Perez, Tamika Mallory, and Linda Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall #BE7826 testors at 670 sister marches in cities Sarsour, was a spectacular historical SCI Rockview, Box-A across America; and by fielding an event that will change the political auxiliary force of three million women landscape in years to come and awak- Bellefonte, PA 16823 protestors at 600 sister marches on sev- eral continents around the world. The Women’s March on Washington rep- resents the start of a widespread resis- Introduction from the Editors tance to Donald Trump’s presidency. This issue of Socialist Viewpoint socialism. That’s a very general idea, Immediately after the Women’s has a lengthy analysis by Lynn but it is a logical alternative to the March demonstration, media talking- Henderson that puts the Trump reformists who look for support and heads and news pundits began attempt- presidency in the context of the col- aid within the Democratic Party, or ing to mischaracterize the Women’s lapse of the capitalist system. Marx the Green Party. Neither of these will March with false claims of the march predicted this and it’s been going on do. Neither represents the working having no single message, being divi- for a long time, but it seems to be class. We must have organized, inde- speeding up of late. We are seeing pendent, mass action in the streets sive, and having no clear objective. capitalism in its dying days—which and in the political arena. They made such false claims of the of course, doesn’t mean we’re home Women’s March, despite the fact that This issue also features several free. It’s a choice—socialism or bar- the protestors presented a unified mes- articles about the Women’s March barism—and at this point, we seem sage that they will not allow President and its meaning for a growing move- to be well on the way to barbarism, Trump to roll back hard-won equal ment of resistance to President and large sections of the world prole- rights for women; that one million tariat are already living in conditions Trump and the capitalist political women of differing ethnicities, reli- of barbarism. Understanding this and economic agenda. Significantly, gions, and beliefs, came together in a seems basic to what needs to be done, several prisoners welcomed the unified front to oppose President specifically, a thorough break with Women’s March, showing that uni- Trump’s anti-women’s rights policies the two-party duopoly; the forma- fied mass defiance of oppression is and platform; and that their objectives tion of independent working class welcomed by the most oppressed, are several, but primarily to protect organizations that are thoroughly who understand that an injury to women’s rights on a broad range of anti-capitalist; thoroughly democrat- one, is an injury to all and the con- social issues. How clear do the media ic; thoroughly based on the working verse, resistance from one segment of want it? Should the women protestors class (employed and unemployed); the oppressed is in the interests of all spell everything out for the media as if to chart an independent course for the oppressed. they were children? FC SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 17, No. 2 SocialistViewpoint March/April Vol. 17, No. 2 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT www.socialistviewpoint.org CONTENTS email: [email protected] (415) 824-8730 U.S. and World Politics Martin Luther King’s Radical Legacy .................37 Introduction from the Editors ...................... FC By TeleSUR Trump’s War on Women........................... FC The Beatification of Obama .........................38 By Shakaboona By Kit A Watershed Election for U.S. Imperialism ............2 Here Comes the Police State .........................40 By Sarah Lazare By Lynn Henderson Stop Klan-Nazi Terror ..............................43 Women’s March Values and Principles ...............12 By Mike Alewitz The Historic Women’s Marches of January 21, 2017 ...14 Building a Movement Against Trump’s Violence ......44 By Kamran Nayeri By Michael Steven Smith Women On Strike!..................................16 Massive Anti-Trump Rallies Across Mexico ...........45 By Linda Martín Alcoff, Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, By Common Dreams Staff Nancy Fraser, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Rasmea Yousef Odeh, Felicia Browne: Revolutionary Warrior ...............46 Angela Davis and Barbara Ransby By Pauline Murphy Obama’s Muslim-Ban List...........................18 By Sarah Harvard Incarceration Nation Ten Thousand Immigrants Go on Strike in Milwaukee ..19 Thank You Sisters!..................................47 By Wladek Flakin By Jaan Laaman Political Prisoner Ruchell Cinque Magee .............48 Hey, Hey, Donald J., How Many Kids By Kiilu Nyasha Will You Deport Today? ..........................20 By Sarah Lazare Life Sentences Are Slow Death Behind the Walls.......50 Kim Brown Interviews Glen Ford New York Taxi Drivers Take Solidarity Action ........21 Visit to a Jailhouse Environmentalist .................52 Trump’s War on Dissent ............................22 By Suzanne Ross By Flint Taylor Chemical Weapons in U.S. Prisons ...................53 Flint’s 1000-Plus Days Without Safe Drinking Water ..23 By Sarah Lazare By Glen Ford Texas Prisoner Beaten and Starved to Death ..........55 The Fight for Medicare for All .......................24 By Creede Newton By Glen Ford Texas Prison Free Speech Ban........................58 Class Is Where We Find Our Strength ................25 By Kamala Kelkar By Steven Strauss and Andrea Bauer Bloody Violence Among Texas Prisoners .............60 Standing Rock Burning .............................26 By Keith “Malik” Washington By Brianna Provenzano Custer Died For Their Sins ..........................61 Thoughts on the News ..............................27 By Kevin Cooper By Carole Seligman A Crack in the Wall Of Death ........................62 Billionaires Must Be Made Extinct ...................28 By Mumia Abu-Jamal By Glen Ford Department of Corrections Appeals . 62 Unspeakable: the Black Book of Imperial Terrorism ...29 By Mumia Abu-Jamal By Paul Street To Those Who Kept Me Alive....................... BC Dawn of the Resistance..............................33 By Chelsea Manning By Mark Harris Letters to the Editors ..........................63 Socialist Viewpoint (ISSN 1535-5438) is published bi-monthly by the Socialist Viewpoint Publishing Association, 60 29th Street, #429, San Francisco, CA 94110. Rates: For one year (6 issues): Introductory rate in the U.S. $20.00; Regular rate in the U.S. $30.00; Bargain rate: $35.00 for two years; All other countries $50.00 (Money orders, checks, etc., should be in U.S. dollars.) Periodicals Postage Paid at San Francisco, California. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Socialist Viewpoint, 60 29th Street, #429, San Francisco, CA 94110 Vol.Vol.Vol. 17, 17,3, No.No. 22 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 1 U.S. and World Politics U.S. AND WORLD POLITICS A Watershed Election for U.S. Imperialism By Lynn Henderson The 2016 presidential election con- And they correctly concluded that between another Bush and another cluded with the improbable election of the existing political parties and the Clinton as the nation’s 45th president. real estate billionaire and reality show entire body of politicians that make Their arrogance stunned much of the celebrity Donald Trump. In this his- them up, not only had no solutions, American electorate and opened the toric election the dual parties of U.S. but no desire or self-interest in chal- door for the improbable candidacies of capitalism ended up presenting the lenging this. They also knew of course two “outsiders” with no real support in American electorate with the choice that not everybody was hurting. Under the official two-party system. One was between two individuals who were uni- the joint leadership and policies of the billionaire reality TV host Donald versally recognized as the most unpop- both capitalist parties the “one per- Trump, the other a self-proclaimed ular, distrusted candidates in the histo- cent” has been doing fabulously well, “socialist” Bernie Sanders. Their candi- ry of U.S. presidential politics. How did even outstripping in concentrated dacies were universally written off with this happen? Was it just a fluke? Was it wealth the fabled one percent of the derision and ridicule by all the political just the accidental luck of the draw? notorious “Gilded Age.” This then was experts and commentators.