Emergency Teach-In NYC: October 30: It's worse than you think

Spread the word:

World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime
Emergency Teach-Ins Nationwide Oct. 26 - Nov. 5:
It's worse than you think: where the Bush regime is taking the world and why it must be stopped

NYC flagship teach-in Monday 10/30
Synod Hall at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
110th Street at Amsterdam Avenue
Doors open: 6:30pm
Program starts: 7:00pm (don’t be late)
Donation: $10-20
With Les Roberts (an author of study revealing 655,000 Iraqis killed by war), Chris Hedges, Bill Goodman, Cristina Page, & Larry Everest.

For outreach email supersabina13@yahoo.com

Friday, October 27: Union Square in the evening, focus on getting the word out about the Teach-In, 5:30-9:00pm

Saturday: Meeting Union Square, 1-7pm

Sunday: Meeting Union Square, 1-7pm

Check with Sabina or the local chapter, probably will focus more on the Upper West Side and around Columbia University.


Events to get out Revolution:

1) “Letting Go of God” runs through Sunday at Ars Nova, 511 West 54th Street, Clinton; (212) 868-4444.

Can an atheist lift the spirit? In her searing and bracingly funny solo show “Letting Go of God,” Julia Sweeney traces her bumpy journey away from religious faith in an accessible, no-frills format that suggests the kind of inspirational self-help lecture you might see around PBS pledge time. [NY Times Review, 10/24/06]


2) Who Killed Bob Marley?

Off Broadway, The Gatehouse
The Gatehouse, [former pumping station] 150 Convent Avenue at 135th Street, now performance space for Harlem Stage/Aaron Davis Hall, at CCNY


PLOT DESCRIPTION
"Who Killed Bob Marley" is Roger Guenveur Smith's new multimedia meditation on the power of water, scored by Marc Anthony Thompson. Smith journeys to hurricane-swept Jamaica to make a film about a suicidal American poet. His fiction then reveals a strange and dangerous truth. — TheaterSource

Opening Date: Oct. 24, 2006Closing Date: Oct. 28, 2006Remaining Shows:Oct. 26, 2006 7:30 p.m.Oct. 27, 2006 7:30 p.m.Oct. 28, 2006 7:30 p.m.
Ticket Price: $35; $150 on 10/24Ticket Information: Box Office: 212-650-7100; Ticketmaster: 212-307-7171, http://www.ticketmaster.com

Wednesday, November 1

6:00 p.m. - Democracy, Pluralism, and Religion. The New School, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor. Admission: $8 Webcast to be posted following the event. The Wolfson Center for National Affairs presents a panel exploring whether religious fundamentalism can ever live with the pluralist paradigm and vice versa. Moderated by Sondra Myers, co-editor of The Pluralist Paradigm: Democracy and Religion in the 21st Century, the panel will include: Robert J. Drinan, S.J., former Massachusetts Democratic congressman; Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, vice president of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership; Dr. Munir Jiwa, Adjunct Faculty, Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School; and Patrice Brodeur, Canada Research Chair on Islam, Pluralism, and Globalization at the Université de Montréal.
6:30pm-8:00pm - Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution- 92nd Street Y. Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street. Renqiu Yu. From 1966-76, Mao mobilized the revolutionary fervor of his youthful Red Guards to attack old customs, habits, culture and thinking. This complex era destroyed many lives yet lifted many peasants out of extreme poverty. Renqiu Yu, a professor at the State University of New York at Purchase, teaches modern Chinese history. Tickets are $25; $20 for China Institute members.

11/08/2006

11:00 AM. Thomas Jefferson: The Intellectual as Politician, Libertarian and Slaveholder. The Original “Greatest Generation”Founding the American Republic. What explains the simultaneous emergence of Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison? Why was virtue more important than power to their self-image? How did they address the tortured issue of slavery, and where did they stand on church and state? These and other questions will enliven the discussion as we explore both myth and reality in the founding generation. Does Jefferson live up to the Jeffersonian myth? Suggested reading: Bailyn, To Begin the World Anew, chapter 2. Inquire about the series discount for all six sessions of The Original "Greatest Generation." Patricia Bonomi is Professor of American History Emerita at New York University. She is the author of books on colonial New York, and religion and politics in early America, as well as co-editor of The American Constitutional System Under Strong and Weak Parties.

Friday, November 10

6:30 p.m. - As Opposed to What? Lewis Lapham and Gary Younge on Creating a Real Opposition Force in American Politics. The New School, Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street. Admission: $8. After the midterm elections have passed, what will really change? While electing Democrats is the establishment's only prescription for six disastrous years of Republican control in Washington, few people have any illusions that the Democratic Party represents a true opposition force in U.S. politics. Join two of the country's favorite columnists, Gary Younge, the Guardian newspaper's U.S. correspondent, and Lewis Lapham, longtime editor and now editor emeritus of Harper's magazine, to discuss what it will take to create a real opposition movement in America today. Co-sponsored by The New School and The New Press.

Thursday, November 30 and Friday, December 1, 2006

Punishment: The U.S. Record. The Land of the Free? A conference on who, what, why and how we punish. Our nation's prison population has soared by more than 600% since the 1970s, despite a drop in crime rates. As of 2005, over two million people were imprisoned in this country: almost one in every 136 U.S. residents.
Black men, who make up 6% of the U.S. population, comprise over 40% of our prison population. A black male born today has a 32% chance of spending time in prison.
Eleven states do not allow ex-cons to vote. Nearly 2,800,000 American children have at least one parent in prison or jail.
What does this mean for our democracy? Where do our concepts of punishment come from? What is the effect on our families, communities and the economy of our staggeringly high incarceration rate?
Join us as we examine the foundations of our ideas of punishment, explore the social effects of current practices and search for viable alternatives to our carceral state.
This conference is supported by the Russell Sage Foundation, The Open Society Institute’s U.S. Justice Fund, the Ford Foundation and The J.M. Kaplan Fund and is also cosponsored by the ACLU.

BIG WEEKEND - 10/21 - 10/22

For those coming out for Saturday's immigrant rights march to distribute Revolution, meet at Revolution Books at 11:00 am.

SATURDAY: MARCH & RALLY FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS!
Saturday, Oct. 21st 1pm
Union Square & March to Times Square

We defeated Sensenbrenner last spring, now let's keep fighting for our rights! Now, rather than hear our demands for real immigration reform, politicians are ramming through more laws to deport more people, take away more rights, and cause more deaths at the border.

BRING PICTURES OF YOUR FAMILY & FRIENDS WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES AT THE BORDER, BEEN DEPORTED OR DETAINED, OR AFFECTED BY UNJUST LAWS TO PLACE ON A BORDER WALL OFREMEMBRANCE & RESISTANCE.

In their names, we demand:
Full legalization for all!
An end to deportations, detentions, raids, & police collaboration!Family reunification!
No more laws that will kill more people at the border!Rights & protection for all workers!

For more info or to endorse:
http://nyunitedforimmigrantrights.blogspot.com
917-472-1105

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SUNDAY: STEP OUT FOR THE 11TH ANNUAL NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST THIS OCTOBER 22, 2006
2pm rally at Union Square

Nicholas Heyward Sr., father of Nicholas Junior, who was killed by a housing cop in September 1994, stated in a recent interview, “Since 9/11, this whole situation with police brutality has heightened so much, that it is more important today that October 22nd continues to demonstrate and bring out the reality of what's happening. If you are someone who has fought against or spoke out against police brutality in the past, it should be essential for you to be at October 22nd National Day of Protest.” (Revolution #66, October 22, 2006)

This year’s theme, in light of an escalation of police killings, coupled with a rapidly decaying situation as this country moves quickly into a police state, is appropriately, “Homeland Security = More Stolen Lives.” (Stolen Lives in the term activists from the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality use to denote those loved ones whose lives literally have been stolen at the hands of law enforcement.)

To read the 2006 Call for the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, go to www.october22.org. For more information about this year’s rally and march, 866-235-7814, or oct22ny@yahoo.com.

Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a GenerationNo More Stolen Lives!
October 22 - Wear Black!
http://october22-ny.org

SUPPORT THE COLUMBIA STUDENT PROTESTERS

Rev. 10.13.06
Revised flyer. Please post and make copies, distribute widely.

SUPPORT THE COLUMBIA STUDENT PROTESTERS
AGAINST FASCIST VIGILANTE MINUTEMEN

NO CHARGES, NO DISCIPLINE AGAINST THE PROTESTERS

NO HUMAN BEING IS ILLEGAL

Wednesday, October 4, students at Columbia University took the stage with a banner saying "No One Is Illegal" in three languages to protest the appearance of Jim Gilchrist and two other leaders of the Minutemen hosted by the College Republicans of Columbia University. These students were widely supported on campus, by the audience at the event and by hundreds of demonstrators on the street outside. When they unfurled their banner they were physically attacked by the campus Republicans hosting the event (see video at youtube.com) and the event was then shut down.

A frenzy of accusations that the Minutemen were victimized by "progressive secular fascists" exploded on Fox News, the internet and in New York's tabloid newspapers. Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points of October 6th said: "All over the country these kinds of fascist tactics are being used by fanatical secular progressives who seek to impose their views on others, and silence and/or harm people who oppose them... This kind of anti-American behavior must be condemned by all Americans."

New York City Mayor Bloomberg and Columbia University President Bollinger both issued statements attacking the students in the name of "academic freedom." Campus security is investigating activists, including combing FaceBook, a huge campus-oriented internet network, for on-line organizing for the action. The university is under intense political lynch-mob pressure to penalize the students, with demands from Bill O'Reilly et al: "Columbia University must be held to account. Alumni should stop all donations to Columbia."

Who are these Minutemen?

The Minutemen are a fascist paramilitary organization that advocates and deploys armed patrols on the border to hunt down immigrants like animals. They advocate and organize the removal of water and food stations maintained by religious and other concerned individuals to save the lives of people forced to cross through dangerous and isolated desert terrain.

Quoted in Revolution newspaper, Enrique Morones of the group Border Angels said, "Before I.N.S.’s Operation Gatekeeper, which was implemented in 1994, there was one estimated death along the border every month. Since then, an estimated 4,000 people have died trying to cross the border." Morones told Revolution that 4,000 bodies have been accounted for, but that the realistic number may be considerably higher, "possibly as much as 10,000 deaths." According to Morones, "This increased militarization and vigilantes like the Minutemen have forced migrants to more extreme and remote parts of the desert. Since last year, there have been over 464 migrant deaths--a number higher than the previous year." (Revolution Newspaper #45, Revcom.us)

Today huge migrations of people are thrown from one end of the world to another by the race of imperialist capital for the highest profit. Under NAFTA and other treaties, millions of small corn farmers and others in Mexico have been destroyed and are forced to cross over to "El Norte" through the most dangerous border areas. They live and work in super-exploited conditions in the shadows of American society.

These are the vicious imperialist relations that vigilantes like the Minutemen have a special place in enforcing.

Now the students who went on stage to protest the Minutemen at Columbia have been slammed in the name of "academic freedom" and "freedom of speech." Look. The Minutemen have nothing to do with contributing to academic freedom or freedom of speech any more than the Ku Klux Klan would be promoting critical thinking by coming to Columbia University. Do we need much more debate, dissent and critical thinking throughout all of society, on the big questions confronting people in this country and the world? YES WE DO. Do we need much more academic freedom and inquiry on campuses everywhere? YES WE DO. This is essential for humanity to understand the world as it is and bring about any kind of future worth living in. The Minutemen and the Klan are about just the opposite. They are first cousins whose only reason for existing is to enforce -- with the noose and the gun -- the nightmare of those living at the bottom of the most powerful imperialist country in the world.

Let’s talk about what IS happening with "academic freedom" at Columbia University and academia throughout the US, and what these rants about the "left wing dictatorship" at Columbia are in the service of.

Much more critical thinking and inquiry is needed on campuses and in all of society. In fact, a political and intellectual chill has been imposed on campuses across the country in the name of opposition to a supposed "left-wing dictatorship." Right-wing operative David Horowitz's spring 2006 book "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America," brands as "terrorists, racists, and communists" a list that includes 9 Columbia professors – more than at any other campus – along with many more of the most distinguished scholars and public intellectuals in the country. Hitler youth-types are fielded by Horowitz's "Students for Academic Freedom" and others to secretly record lectures by progressive professors to feed to the "Right Wing Noise Machine" and to use as pretexts for formal complaints.

These forces are the spearhead on college campuses for the overall Bushite program of empire and theocratic fascism. They are determined to shut down the small remaining space in academic and intellectual discourse where some basic truths about the US - like the genocide of Native Americans, the theft of one-third of Mexico, the slavery of Black people and a history of patriarchy, and today’s real consequences of US empire on people around the world - are researched and taught.

The demands of the Horowitz forces for "balance in academia" might appear on the surface to be reasonable and fair. But under thcover is a witch-hunt aimed at suppressing critical thinking altogether, especially views that challenge imperialist narratives of the "greatest country on Earth," etc., etc. Unchallenged imperialist narratives are essential in the cultivation of a base of support among people in this country for the expansion of brutal empire-building from Iraq to Iran (including the active planning for deployment of tactical nuclear weapons), for the legalization of torture and secret indefinite detention of so-called "enemy combatants" (a designation to be made solely by the President with no legal recourse), for the wholesale shredding of basic rights and legal protections, and for increased repression on the border, including measures to build a huge wall on substantial sections.

Witness the Horowitz-led attacks on University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill for his anti-imperialist statements, and on the Columbia MEALAC (Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Culture Department) and Prof. Massad in 2004 for teaching the truth about Israel's acts and policies against the Palestinian people. As a result of this attack in 2004, MEALAC is now run under receivership. "New ground rules are being established: any criticism or even questioning of the institutional foundations of the United States, or of the motives and interests behind its policies, will be treated as essentially treasonous. Left unopposed, this trajectory will lead to a situation of uncontested indoctrination enforced by the state." [www.defendcriticalthinking.org, an on-line statement initiated by academics opposed to the suppression of critical thinking In the universities.]

The College Republicans of Columbia University are directly connected to the Horowitz forces. Their President, Chris Kulawik (also the president of the Columbia College Conservative Club), is a poster on Horowitz’s Frontpage.com website and wrote a 2005 article in the Columbia Spectator entitled "In Defense of McCarthy" and believes that "The claims levied against Senator Joseph McCarthy, historical fallacies which have stuck through the decades, have wrought a grave injustice." Senator Joseph McCarthy led a witch hunt in the 50s that blacklisted thousands of intellectuals, actors and others out of positions and political life on the basis of accusations of being communists. THIS is the "academic freedom" being promoted in opposition to supposed "left-wing dictatorship" on campuses.

From the article "Nazi Cleansing of America's Universities: Could It Happen Here?" by Reggie Dylan in Revolution Newspaper # 65:

"...The answer to the question 'Could this [Nazi cleansing of universities] happen here?' is, YES. But it could also be prevented, and something much, much better brought into being. As an important part of that, there is a need for political, ideological, and theoretical debate and clarity around the importance not only of challenging the direction the country as a whole is being driven toward, and the role the universities should play in society at this time, but also the need to fiercely defend, while deepening, an understanding of the scientific approach to reality. This must go right up against the onslaught by reactionaries gathered around Horowitz and ACTA (American Council of Trustees and Alumni), as well as by the Christian fascists, who would impose their absolutist concepts of 'Biblically revealed truth' with all the horrors that means for humanity."

Support the protesters at Columbia No Charges! No Human Being is Illegal!

Revolution Communist Party, New York Branch

Literature available at:
Revolution Books
9 West 19th Street/212-691-3345/revbooksnyc@yahoo.com

Hear Bob Avakian, Chairman of the RCP on:
"Why Do People Come Here From All Over the World?"

"Why We're In The Situation We're In and What To Do About It, A Thoroughly Rotten System and The Need For Revolution"

"'Balance' Is The Wrong Criterion - And A Cover for a Witch-hunt - What We Need is the Search for the Truth: Education, Real Academic Freedom, Critical Thinking and Dissent"

Audio talks available at Revolution Books and online at: bobavakian.net and revcom.us

October 13-16 Weekend Plans

The plans below are partial. Please check daily for updates.

We should do a "two-for-one" promotion of last week's issue (Bush and Hitler: The Chilling Parallels) and the current one, along with subscription cards for everyone. Last week's was such a great intro to Bob Avakian and his writings. We should really keep getting it out in quantity and max out over the weekend.


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13

6-8 PM – Rally and Tribute in Harlem in Support of Lynne Stewart. St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, 9 West 130th Street, between 5th Avenue and Lenox Avenue. Speakers include Attorney Michael Tarif Warren, Attorney Roger Wareham, Elombe Brath,. Camille Yarbrough, Playthel Benjamin, Herman Ferguson, Father Luis Barrios, Viola Plummer, Rosa Clemente, Larry Holmes, Dr. Andree-Nicola McLaughlin, Dr. Sam Anderson, Willie Camacaro, Mae Jackson, Poet George Edward Tait, Louis Ryees Rivera, Nellie Hester Bailey, etc.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14

1-4 PM - Strand - Hang out with authors on the CSPAN2/BookTV Bus parked at Strand main store, Broadway/11th Street. 1:00AM - 04:00PM - Meet authors Mark Halperin(at 11:30), Jim Powell (at 12:30), David Cannadine (at 1:00), Katha Pollit (at 1:30), Robin Morgan (at 2:30) and Elizabeth Holtzman (at 3:30) who will be signing copies of their books on the bus.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15

Bryant Park “The Great Read”
11:15 – Noon - New York Times Op-Ed Panel: The Art of Being Opinionated, Green Tent, Panelists: Carolyn Curiel, Frank Rich and Carla Robbins, moderated by Andrew Rosenthal, New York Times Deputy Editorial Page Editor.
5 – 5:45 p.m. - Religion: A Crisis of Faith, Yellow Tent, Panelists: Bart D. Ehrman, Chris Hedges, Herbert Krosney, Suzanne Oliver, Ranya Idilby and Priscilla Warner. Moderated by Laurie Goodstein, national religion correspondent for The New York Times. The war on terror has become a debate waged on religious terms. These esteemed authors explore the roots of religion-fueled political conflicts, and discuss the role faith has played in wars from past to present.

4-7 PM - Rally for defense of Lynne Stewart. Riverside Church, South Hall, A spirited and inspirational rally is being planned by the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16

9:30 AM. Lynne Stewart’s Sentencing. US District Court, 500 Pearl Street, Judge Koeltl’s Courtroom. From the Lynn Stewart Defense Committee – ‘Cme to court to show your support fro Lynne. The government wants to sentence Lynne Stewart to 30 years in prison! To punish her for doing her job and to instill fear in the criminal defense bar!”

7:00 PM (doors open 6:30) - Seymour Hersh and Scott Ritter at the New York Society for Ethical Culture (Concert Hall). Join former UN Special Commission weapons inspector Scott Ritter, author of Iraq Confidential and Target Iran (Nation Books) and Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh, for a discussion on the Bush administration’s secret plans for the next front in the War on Terror. Find out why Ritter–an early and outspoken critic of the war in Iraq–believes that in the case of Iran, “we are seeing history repeat itself." A book signing with Ritter and Hersh will follow the event. Admission: free. Suggested donation: $15. Cosponsored by The New York Society for Ethical Culture, Democrats.com, and the Public Concern Foundation.

New statement on Minutemen

SUPPORT THE COLUMBIA STUDENT PROTESTERS AGAINST FASCIST VIGILANTE MINUTEMEN

NO CHARGES, NO DISCIPLINE AGAINST THE PROTESTERS

NO HUMAN BEING IS ILLEGAL

Last Wednesday, October 4, students at Columbia University took the stage with a banner saying “No One Is Illegal” in three languages. to protest the appearance of Jim Gilchrist and two other leaders of the Minutemen hosted by the College Republicans of Columbia University. These students were widely supported on campus, by the audience at the event and by hundreds of demonstrators on the street outside. When they unfurled their banner they were physically attacked by the campus Republicans hosting the event (see video at youtube.com) and the event was then shut down.

A frenzy of accusations that the Minutemen were victimized by “progressive secular fascists” exploded on Fox News, the internet and in New York's tabloid newspapers. Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points of October 6th said: “All over the country these kinds of fascist tactics are being used by fanatical secular progressives who seek to impose their views on others, and silence and/or harm people who oppose them... This kind of anti-American behavior must be condemned by all Americans.”

New York City Mayor Bloomberg and Columbia University President Bollinger both issued statements attacking the students in the name of “academic freedom.” Campus security is investigating activists, including combing FaceBook, a huge campus-oriented internet network, for on-line organizing for the action. Bollinger's attack on the students did not succeed however in inoculating the university for “allowing” dissent against the Minutemen, as O'Reilly et al. demanded that “Columbia University must be held to account. Alumni should stop all donations to Columbia.”

Who are these Minutemen?

The Minutemen are a fascist paramilitary organization that advocates and deploys armed patrols on the border to hunt down immigrants like animals. They advocate and organize the removal of water and food stations maintained by religious and other concerned individuals to save the lives of people forced to cross through dangerous and isolated desert terrain.

Quoted in Revolution newspaper, Enrique Morones of the group Border Angels said, “Before I.N.S.’s Operation Gatekeeper, which was implemented in 1994, there was one estimated death along the border every month. Since then, an estimated 4,000 people have died trying to cross the border.” Morones told Revolution that 4,000 bodies have been accounted for, but that the realistic number may be considerably higher, “possibly as much as 10,000 deaths.” According to Morones, “This increased militarization and vigilantes like the Minutemen have forced migrants to more extreme and remote parts of the desert. Since last year, there have been over 464 migrant deaths--a number higher than the previous year.” (Revolution Newspaper #45, Revcom.us)

Today huge migrations of millions of people are thrown from one end of the world to another by the race of imperialist capital for the highest profit. Under NAFTA and other treaties, millions of small corn farmers and others in Mexico have been destroyed and are forced to cross over to “El Norte” through the most remote and dangerous border areas to avoid the Border Patrol and the terror of vigilantes like the Minutemen. They live and work in super-exploited conditions in the shadows of American society.

These are the vicious imperialist relations that vigilantes like the Minutemen have a special place in enforcing. The Minutemen are the cousins one generation removed of the Ku Klux Klan which enforced brutal Jim Crow segregation and exploitation in the South. This is what the Minutemen came to Columbia to justify and extol.

Now the students who went on stage to protest the Minutemen at Columbia have been slammed under the cover of “academic freedom.”

Reality is being turned on its head! Let’s talk about what IS happening with “academic freedom” at Columbia University and academia throughout the US.

In fact, a political and intellectual chill has been imposed on campuses across the country in the name of opposition to a supposed “left-wing dictatorship” in academia.

Right-wing operative David Horowitz's spring 2006 book “The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America,” brands as “terrorists, racists, and communists” a list that includes 9 Columbia professors – more than at any other campus – along with many more of the most distinguished scholars and public intellectuals in the country. Hitler youth-types are fielded by his “Students for Academic Freedom” and others like it to secretly record lectures by progressive professors to feed to the “Right Wing Noise Machine” and to use as pretexts for formal complaints.

These forces are the spearhead on college campuses for the overall Bushite program of empire and theocratic fascism. They are determined to shut down the small remaining space in academic and intellectual discourse where some basic truths about the US - like the genocide of Native Americans, the theft of one-third of Mexico, the slavery of Black people and a history of patriarchy, and today’s real consequences of US empire on people around the world - are researched and taught.

The demands of the Horowitz forces for “balance in academia” might appear on the surface to be reasonable and fair. But under this cover is a witch-hunt aimed at suppressing critical thinking altogether, especially views that challenge imperialist narratives of the “greatest country on Earth,” etc., etc. at a moment when those narratives are essential in the cultivation of a base of support among people in this country for the expansion of brutal empire-building from Iraq to Iran (including the active planning for deployment of tactical nuclear weapons), for the legalization of torture and secret indefinite detention of so-called “enemy combatants” (a designation to be made solely by the President with no legal recourse), for the wholesale shredding of basic rights and legal protections, and for increased repression on the border, including measures to build a huge wall on substantial sections – on the basis of so-called “safety” for Americans.

Witness the Horowitz-led attacks on University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill for his anti-imperialist statements, and on the Columbia MEALAC (Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Culture department) and Prof. Massad in 2004 for teaching the truth about Israel's acts and policies against the Palestinian people. “New ground rules are being established: any criticism or even questioning of the institutional foundations of the United States, or of the motives and interests behind its policies, will be treated as essentially treasonous. Left unopposed, this trajectory will lead to a situation of uncontested indoctrination enforced by the state.” [www.defendcriticalthinking.org]

The College Republicans of Columbia University are directly connected to the Horowitz forces. Its President, Chris Kulawik (also the president of the Columbia College Conservative Club), is a poster on Horowitz’s Frontpage.com website and wrote a 2005 article in the Columbia Spectator entitled “In Defense of McCarthy” and believes that “The claims levied against Senator Joseph McCarthy, historical fallacies which have stuck through the decades, have wrought a grave injustice.”

Senator Joseph McCarthy led a witch hunt in the 50s that blacklisted thousands of intellectuals, actors and others out of positions and political life on the basis of accusations of being communists. THIS is the “academic freedom” being promoted in opposition to supposed “left-wing dictatorship” on campuses. From the article “Nazi Cleansing of America's Universities: Could It Happen Here?” by Reggie Dylan in Revolution Newspaper # 65:

“...The answer to the question 'Could this [Nazi cleansing of universities] happen here?' is, YES. But it could also be prevented, and something much, much better brought into being. As an important part of that, there is a need for political, ideological, and theoretical debate and clarity around the importance not only of challenging the direction the country as a whole is being driven toward, and the role the universities should play in society at this time, but also the need to fiercely defend, while deepening, an understanding of the scientific approach to reality. This must go right up against the onslaught by reactionaries gathered around Horowitz and ACTA (American Council of Trustees and Alumni), as well as by the Christian fascists, who would impose their absolutist concepts of 'Biblically revealed truth' with all the horrors that means for humanity.”

Support the protesters at Columbia No Charges! No Human Being is Illegal!

Revolution Communist Party, New York Branch

Literature available at:
Revolution Books
9 West 19th Street/212-691-3345/revbooksnyc@yahoo.com

Hear Bob Avakian, chairman of the RCP on:
“Why Do People Come Here From All Over the World?”

“Why We're In The Situation We're In and What To Do About It, A Thoroughly Rotten System and The Need For Revolution”

“'Balance Is The Wrong Criterion - And A Cover for a Witch-hunt - What We Need is the Search for the Truth: Education, Real Academic Freedom, Critical Thinking and Dissent”

Available at Revolution Books and online at: bobavakian.net and revcom.us

---------------------

ONE EXTRA NOTE: The Chicago Revolution editor ask those who distributed Revolution newspaper on October 5 to send comments from people you spoke to, feedback on the paper, the sights and sounds of October 5. Please send your report to getoutrevolutionnyc@yahoo.com and it will be forwarded to Chicago..

October 7, 2006

Plans to Get Out Talks and Paper

Students at Columbia U took righteous political action against Gilchrist, head of the Minutemen. People who had right on their side felt they could and did politically shut down these reactionary forces who were being given a platform in the halls of academia to justify attacks and brutality against immigrants on the border. Now the students are coming under vicious attack in the media, by the college pres who emailed the entire college community, by the Mayor who criticized Pres Bollinger, and various editorials in the tabloids. The College Republicans are sponsoring another event on Wednesday evening 10/11, this time with a former Nazi and a former PLO person who is now a staunch pro-Zionist, and all eyes are going to be on how all this unfolds.

Columbia University has been a focal point for the last several years for attacks on critical thought in academia, and the vitriole in the media claims "academic liberal thuggery" and "victimization" of fascists who in fact have the support of the highest halls of power under this regime.

Talk #7 is very important to get out there along with all the Talks; likewise for introducing people to the Chairman. This week we should be going for injecting the Talks in key areas of concentration along with a major promotional push with the remainder of the thousands of Revolution newspaper we have. Make promotions bundle of 50-100 with subscription cards. Get them out in key communities, in the hands of store owners, street vendors, regular readers of the paper. Raise funds thru 6 week subs and people paying for bundles that they will take out broadly in their community or among their customers, and from ties who can be brought forward in this moment to financially support the newspaper.

We should especially saturate the Columbia University area with bundles of papers and stickers. Stacks of 100+ should be left in the stores and cafes along with the subscription cards. We should stuff professor mailboxes with Talks cards and newspapers with the subscription card and a nice card or sticker right on the paper that says it is a promotional copy.

We should be doing the same in the NYU and East Village area.

Focus Among the Basic Masses
We should make a concerted push with the Talks in the neighborhoods and the projects. We should speak to people there who came to the 5th, some of whom may hav ealready heard some of the Talks and get them hundreds of stickers (new ones are available on the Revcom web site which have one title per sticker.). If they blast this around the area and let people know that people are gathering to get into this the next day, it could be a big hit and there could be a synergy between people havbing been out there on the 5th, bringing forward others and getting intoTalk 1 or the Cosby Talk with growing sections of people. WE should also be saturating with stacks and bundles of papers (see above) and raising funds in the course of this.

Don't forget to report for each day!

3 Day Blitz
Columbia Team
This is a priority this week!

Sunday Teams
Reds, East Village and NYU
Columbia and Upper West Side
2nd Ave Projects
Harlem
Brooklyn (part of the day with the 2nd Ave projects)

Monday and Tuesday
Columbia, Upper West Side (96th St-125th St)
Reds, NYU and East Village Area
Brooklyn
Harlem 2nd Ave project

Orientation October 5-10 --- All Out with the MP3 Talks (and Revolution newspaper)

From the WCW website:

Actions to Drive Out the Bush Regime occurred from coast to coast on October 5 in over 200 locations. Several thousand took to the streets in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, hundreds acted in cities such as Tucson, Portland, Atlanta, and Austin, and in many small towns and cities scores of people went to intersections, town centers, local beaches, and wherever they thought they would reach the most people in their areas with the message that This Regime Does Not Represent Us and We Will Drive it Out.

Across the country, people young and old showed the heart and courage to confront the reality of the fascistic and war mongering direction the Bush Regime has been driving this country and the entire world. Together, we made a powerful and precious political statement - one that is being debated and seriously considered but that must still be acted on by people in a more massive way to actually shift the political dynamics in this country. The thousands who acted are the nucleus of a spreading movement that must now go on and win the argument with those who still are on the sidelines. Where Bush's whole agenda is repudiated and he and his Regime must leave office in disgrace. THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!

In New York, we received a warm reception from many of the people who came out determined to drive out the bush regime, as well on the route of the march. Some of the team members had people coming up to them, asking what was the newspaper all about. At different moments there was a scene with the Spanish paper team getting the paper into the hands of workers at stores along the route. People asked if it was the newspaper of Bob Avakian’s party. We met many people who are very, very concerned about the future and who were curious and looking for ways out of the madness. Our orientation called for people to be introduced to the party and the Chairman thru the newspaper and hundreds of people met us thru that. Some of the comments about the cover article on Bush/Hitler and people’s response to the centerfold: who is this guy?, curiousity about the Memoir. Some people who had heard of Chairman Avakian and others just found out about the paper. We did not reach the full potential in the mass of people who were there, building strength along the way, and putting the paper in people's hands, at what could be a turning point in their lives, meeting the Chairman though the pages of the newspaper, something and someone who has the potential to actually lead us out of this.

Right now we want to consolidate what we did indeed bring forward, the contacts made, etc. One thing to note is that people came to a listening session of the Talks off of the flyering on Oct 5). The principal way that people will further meet the party and the Chair right now and through which relationships are further developed and consolidated should be by listening to the 7 talks now. Our aim is to get out over the next week: 1000 MP3s, 8000 papers, and raise $4500.

There is now a greater basis and a greater necessity to get these talks out—familizaring people with the sweep of our communist ideology and goals overall, and continuing to build on the synergy between getting out the 7 Talks and mobilizing the masses to drive out the Bush regime. From the article in the paper a few weeks ago: “One thing that comes through: there is nothing else like this speaking to the how-to-live-and-die questions that are on people’s minds… These talks open up, from many different angles, the nature of this system and the need for revolution—and this came through in the correspondence.” The first talk for instance speaks to a big question up on people’s minds. The title says something which we have found many, many people are thinking about “Why are we in the situation we are in today and what to do about it? A Thoroughly Rotten System and the Need for Revolution” This is true for all of the other Talks too, the big questions and contradictions in society that they speak to, which are on people’s minds. We have to grasp that things have changed and meet the new necessities head on, with a vision of what we have here and the openings out there in society.

A point of orientation: we need specific goals for the weekend and next week, and then sum up along the way. Some questions for summation —what are people saying about the talks? Which titles are generating a lot of interest? How have people been able to raise funds? What are the problems you are running into and how to overcome them by relying on the masses? We really need to put these questions and this understanding into the hands of the broadest numbers of people.

There needs to be a big focus on the campuses—primarily Columbia but NYU. At Columbia earlier this week, the Chicano and Black Student organizations disrupted a program put on by the Republicans featuring Minutemen, taking on their program and making it impossible to have their program. This Republican group is bringing a former Nazi (and other reactionaries) to speak early next week to have an even bigger program. The youth need to get with the Chicano and Black student groups. We could have a major impact on a campus. Could the youth get with a campus radio station and talk to them about playing some of Talk 1 for instance? Could the campus be blanketed with 1,000 stickers with the different titles of the Talks? Could the youth then have a flyer announcing listening sessions on the area that evening etc, and then in the neighborhood, go to all the bookstores, and other stores. They should sell MP3 Talks. We could have new distribution centers for the area, etc.

There must be immediate follow up on all the people we just met. If new contacts haven't been call, that must happen immediately. The 7 Talks are the main way to further develop and consolidate off of the 5th. For instance, we should have met a lot of youth on Oct 5th. We need to follow up asap and could set up a listening session for this evening somewhere—and then these youth can be part of going out to Columbia tomorrow—we need to quickly be able to see the potential and then jump to quickly transform the situation.

Some other important things to focus on:

- New Yorker festival – today and tomorrow
- Movies Reds and US vs. John Lennon, So Goes the Nation, and others – Reds especially all week several showings
- Housing project at 2nd avenue in the 20s.
- Union Square generally—the idea is to have a table with the talks, papers etc and then some powerful agitation and people in orange jumpsuits—this is a good idea and could be especially powerful in Columbia.
- Some people came off of articles in El Diario and there has also been coverage in it yesterday and we should really build off the momentum created here with the talks and paper.

Here are goals for some of the areas—in Harlem and Brooklyn, in going back to many of the stores, street vendors etc. we should aim to get out 100 MP3s over the week-end. Please wrangle over this and come up with commensurate goals for the newspaper and for funds to be raised. Everyone should set goals for the 7 Talks and the papers.

(Some further thinking on creating a more dynamic and lively situation: Have someone dress up as George Bush and his gang (Halloween Aventure probably has masks and the bookstore has 1 George Bush mask). The Bush character would go up to one (team member who acts like someone hanging out), points to them, and fingers them as "enemy combatant", forces them to put on the orange jumpsuit, into humiliating poses or kneeling, etc. Then, do the same for other people who are looking on, drawing in masses, audience particpation. Of course, thee are some who will not want to be involved or shy about performance pieces so we should be mindful of them. Also, could include the tearing up of habeus corpus.)

Getting this Amazing Issue and the MP3 Talks Out to People

From the WCW website:

Actions to Drive Out the Bush Regime occurred from coast to coast on October 5 in over 200 locations. Several thousand took to the streets in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, hundreds acted in cities such as Tucson, Portland, Atlanta, and Austin, and in many small towns and cities scores of people went to intersections, town centers, local beaches, and wherever they thought they would reach the most people in their areas with the message that This Regime Does Not Represent Us and We Will Drive it Out.

Across the country, people young and old showed the heart and courage to confront the reality of the fascistic and war mongering direction the Bush Regime has been driving this country and the entire world. Together, we made a powerful and precious political statement - one that is being debated and seriously considered but that must still be acted on by people in a more massive way to actually shift the political dynamics in this country. The thousands who acted are the nucleus of a spreading movement that must now go on and win the argument with those who still are on the sidelines. Where Bush's whole agenda is repudiated and he and his Regime must leave office in disgrace. THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!

Getting out 8,000 newspapers and 1,000 MP3 Talks this weekend to the next issue

This Thursday, the paper was very visible in many hands at the Union Square rally. Some getting ready to take the subway home got the paper off of the compelling front page, and some came to the WCW action instead of going home. We want to build off of that momentum and have a bigger team at Union Square Saturday afternoon (and possibly Sunday too) distributing the paper and the Talks. So, this is what the schedule looks like:

FRIDAY

Reds, Village East Cinemas, 181 Second Avenue 11:30am 3:15pm 7:00pm 10:45pm. (Also Jesus Camp is showing here at 12:10pm 2:10pm 4:10pm 6:15pm 8:20pm 10:30pm)

The US Government VS. John Lennon - Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 East Houston Street, 11:10 am, 1:15, 3:20, 5:30, 7:35, 9:50


SATURDAY

11 am - Harlem. Meet at Strictly Roots, 7th Ave and 123rd Street

Brooklyn

Union Square in afternoon

Reds, Village East Cinemas, 181 Second Avenue 11:30am 3:15pm 7:00pm 10:45pm. (Also Jesus Camp is showing here at 12:10pm 2:10pm 4:10pm 6:15pm 8:20pm 10:30pm)

The US Government VS. John Lennon - Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 East Houston Street, 11:10 am, 1:15, 3:20, 5:30, 7:35, 9:50


SUNDAY

12 noon - Harlem. Meet at Strictly Roots, 7th Ave and 123rd Street

Brooklyn

Reds, Village East Cinemas, 181 Second Avenue 11:30am 3:15pm 7:00pm 10:45pm. (Also Jesus Camp is showing here at 12:10pm 2:10pm 4:10pm 6:15pm 8:20pm 10:30pm)

The US Government VS. John Lennon - Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 East Houston Street, 11:10 am, 1:15, 3:20, 5:30, 7:35, 9:50


MONDAY

Reds, Village East Cinemas, 181 Second Avenue 11:30am 3:15pm 7:00pm 10:45pm. (Also Jesus Camp is showing here at 12:10pm 2:10pm 4:10pm 6:15pm 8:20pm 10:30pm)

The US Government VS. John Lennon - Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 East Houston Street, 11:10 am, 1:15, 3:20, 5:30, 7:35, 9:50

TUESDAY

Reds, Village East Cinemas, 181 Second Avenue 11:30am 3:15pm 7:00pm 10:45pm. (Also Jesus Camp is showing here at 12:10pm 2:10pm 4:10pm 6:15pm 8:20pm 10:30pm)

The US Government VS. John Lennon - Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 East Houston Street, 11:10 am, 1:15, 3:20, 5:30, 7:35, 9:50

----------------------------
Note:
Wednesday, October 11, 6:00 PM - BOOK CELEBRATION- Politics and Jesus: A Conversation between Dr. Obery Hendricks and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Langston Hughes Auditorium, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515Malcolm X Boulevard, (Enter at 103 West 135th Street), New York

Getting Ready for Oct 5 - (Urgent) Build the Revolution Selling Teams for Thursday!

To All Friends of Revolution Newspaper,

"Bush & Hitler: The Chilling Parallels", "Special four-page supplement: MEET BOB AVAKIAN, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party" -- These are some of the front page articles in the new issue. This is an amazing issue! We are calling for all those who have read and like the newspaper, who like and love Chairman Avakian, to join the Revolution selling teams to reach the tens of thousands who come on Thursday to drive out the Bush regime. IMMEDIATELY, call everyone you know to join selling teams. On Thursday, we will meet at Revolution books, 9 West 19th Street at 9 AM.

Demonstrations are planned on October 5th in over 175 cities and the number continues to grow on a daily basis. People from all walks of life have seen or heard the World Can't Wait ads and they are preparing to act on October 5th. And, they are acting to change the course of history. We have a tremendous responsibility and necessity to the people to introduce them to Revolution Newspaper and Bob Avakian. These people that hate the direction that the world is headed need to be introduced to a truly liberating ideology, party and leader.

We must step forward into this historic day, October 5th and be on a mission to bring Revolution newspaper and Bob Avakian into this mix. There are indications that turnout might be significant in many places, including here in New York, so everyone should think big and broadly about distribution and who should be called forward to be part of that. We need to think now about HOW WE WILL DISTRIBUTE THOUSANDS of newspapers. And, everyone should have an all day and all night spirit and start making plans right away.

This issue, Revolution #64, will be a 20-page paper, with a 4-page pullout with excerpts from the Memoir and the Observation book. Street Corner Symphonies from the Memoir, Pgs 67-71, the concluding section pgs. 440-446 and Three Alternative Worlds from the Observations book will be excerpted, and the 7 Talks will be featured.

Make the calls, get crews and teams together and make plans now. We have a tremendous opportunity that we must not squander to tell people about a leader, Bob Avakian, and introduce them to a paper that can guide them through the twists and turns of the struggle.