Community Events and Interviews: Recent Episodes
People's Republic
In the weeks after COVID-19, a couple in Del Valle, TX struggled to pay rent. They were both employed in carpentry, worked at the same business, and were tenants on the same lease. A reporter for the Austin American-Statesman implied the man was the sole breadwinner and leaseholder, while mentioning the woman only once: as a "live-in girlfriend." This reinforces sexist stereotypes about societal roles and completely erases the role of women in blue-collar professions. We speak with Sage Westbrook, a carpenter and one of the tenants in the story, to correct the record about her work. We also talk about the struggles women face in male-dominated blue-collar professions.
We hear from Richard Franklin, the president of Youth Unlimited and former Del Valle School Board member, about Del Valle's fight for community health services.
We speak with Austin DSA organizer Marina Roberts about her article in the Austin Chronicle, "Capitalism Has Failed Americans in This Crisis." We also discuss the latest wave of anti-government protests and the latest reports of Austin's police racism.
https://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2020-04-10/opinion-capitalism-has-failed-americans-in-this-crisis/
Winn discusses the mythology surrounding "green capitalism" and offers science-based alternative solutions "with teeth" to combat climate change.
Brianna discusses the commodity booms driving the construction of the Permian Highway Pipeline and the destruction of the Amazon, with a specific emphasis on class alignment and the dynamics of capitalist land control.
2016 presidential candidate, journalist, and political organizer Gloria La Riva reports back from her trip to Venezuela after her national Venezuela speaking tour. This extended version of our interview contains an extra 9 minutes of discussion.
Gloria La Riva speaks about her recent trip to Venezuela and the state of U.S. imperialism in Latin America. This was recorded at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas, on June 7, 2019.
This week, we speak with Julie Ann Nitsch, one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Austin officials that seeks justice for rape and sexual assault survivors. We are also joined by Elizabeth Myers, a partner with Thompson & Knight, who is representing Julie and the other plaintiffs in this lawsuit.
Denver teachers won massive gains from Denver Public Schools after just three days of striking. This follows 15 months of being stonewalled by DPS during contract negotiations. During the course of the strike, Denver Public schools insisted on keeping schools open, risking the safety of students. The district additionally threatened to report immigrant teachers to ICE and suspend the licenses of school nurses, among other Trumpian tactics, but were ultimately powerless to stop teachers’ solidarity. Moira Casados Cassidy, an ELL teacher and union organizer, joins us from Denver to take us through the unfolding of this struggle.
https://denverteachers.org
Donald Trump has attempted to declare a national emergency to get full funding for his border wall, but nearly unanimously, affected communities along the border say there is no crisis. In fact, the crisis at the border appears to be the environmental crisis that the Trump administration is threatening with the destruction of the National Butterfly Center to build a border wall. We are joined by Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe of southern Texas, to discuss indigenous peoples’ attempts to protect nature and native sovereignty around the artificial U.S.-Mexico border.
https://www.facebook.com/CarrizoComecrudoTribeOfTexas
A rash of attacks has hit a local mosque, as well as a Middle Eastern grocery store, and authorities believe it is likely the same person. Starting in Mid-August and continuing through September, this attacker has smashed windows, slashed tires, and urinated on one of the vans belonging to the North Austin Muslim Community Center. Is this a hate crime, and if so, how has this affected the Muslim community of Austin?
Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall has refused to fire police officer Amber Guyger, even as Guyger faces manslaughter charges for shooting Botham Jean in his own apartment on September 6. Meanwhile, community outrage continues to grow as Dallas PD fail to get their story straight. What will it take to get justice for Botham Jean?
Comedian Mo Amer talks with us about flying with Eric Trump, the evolving art of standup, and his Netflix special, which will take place at the Paramount on June 28.
Tickets available at:
7:30pm: https://tickets.austintheatre.org/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=3982
9:45pm: https://tickets.austintheatre.org/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=3983
This week, we are celebrating the 200th birthday of Karl Marx, one of the most influential political philosophers and the founder of scientific socialist thought. Beyond inspiring the socialist revolutions that have transformed societies across the globe, Marx made major breakthroughs in economic thought, theorizing the origin of commodity production and the labor theory of value. To study the living legacy of Marx today, we are now joined from Beijing by Ian Goodrum, an editor with China Daily and a member of the Communist Party USA.
From PSL Albuqerque:
“Russia, Russia, Russia!” is the mantra that seems to be on the lips of US politicians, state officials, and the corporate media journalists.
But it’s been well over a year, and no concrete and convincing evidence has been produced to backup the accusations of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 elections.
Is it truly Russia’s “meddling” in our election process that gave us Trump, as the Democratic Party establishment claims? Or are the reasons behind the “Russiagate” campaign not what they seem? Is it possible that everything wrong in American society is not Russia’s fault?
There is a political civil war going on within the summits of the capitalist political establishment, the ruling class centers of power in the intelligence agencies. The Russiagate propaganda and agitation campaign is designed to smear Trump. While we are no fans of Donald Trump ourselves, it is important to understand why big sectors of the ruling class and their operatives considered Donald Trump to be unfit for presidency and why the FBI and the intelligence agencies were targeting Trump even in 2016, and how this is crucial to seeing “Russiagate” for what it is.
Secondly, there is a qualitative re-orientation of U.S. foreign policy and the gearing up for “major power” conflict with Russia and China as the targets. The “Russiagate” phenomenon is being used to build a consensus in the U.S. for confrontation with Russia, for a sharp acceleration of militarism and a massive shift of public resources into the coffers of the Pentagon and war contractors.
Russiagate is also being used to smear the Left, to smear the Black liberation movement, to attack independent third political parties, like the PSL. Like the McCarthyist era Red Scare, the “russiagate” campaign today is being used to repress resistance to the system by targeting activists and independent journalists as “agents” of Russia.
We have entered a new, extremely dangerous moment, and it must be taken seriously.
Join the PSL on Friday the 13th to hear us make a case for why “Russiagate” is a political hoax, but one that is reorienting US foreign policy towards a larger, dangerous, war.
From PSL Albuquerque:
Every year on May 15, Palestinians around the world, numbering about 12.4 million, mark the Nakba, or "catastrophe", referring to colonization of Palestine by the Israeli settler-apartheid State, and the near-total destruction of Palestinian society by 1948 through the use of violence and forced exodus.
Leading up to the Nakba, on March 30th, Palestinians world-wide commemorate the theft of their homeland and the deaths of the demonstrators in the hands of Israeli forces during the 1976 nation-wide Palestinian strike, with Land Day. This year, during a major demonstration marking the 42nd anniversary of Land Day, Israeli army killed 17 Palestinians in Gaza. More than 1,400 others wounded by Israeli forces during the march calling for return of Palestinian refugees to their lands.
On Friday, in addition to the roots of Al-Nakba and Land Day, we aim to also address the question of Palestinian liberation and resistance in the context of the US-Israel relations in the Trump era.
The Revolution Organizing Center is wheelchair accessible, and has gender-neutral restrooms.
Message us at www.facebook.com/Abqpsl for any inquiries.
Comrade David and Comrade Katie of the Party for Socialism and Liberation - Albuquerque branch discuss Russiagate and Al Nakba.
Gloria La Riva of the Party for Socialism and Liberation speaks about imperialism, the prison-industrial complex, black liberation, and socialism at Pan African Connection in Dallas, TX.