Thursday, June 24, 7 p.m. Eastern Time – “The Tragedy of Science, from the Cold War to the Forever Wars”, featuring author Clifford Conner in New York, and discussant Daniel Tarade in Toronto. Link: https://youtu.be/MMIpx-zMqPQ
In great detail the unfolding Palestinian freedom struggle against the racist, Zionist, colonial, apartheid settler capitalist state of Israel has captured headlines worldwide and won the solidarity of humanity’s finest democratic and human rights fighters. That apartheid Israel receives $3.8 billion annually in U.S. military aid – exceeding all other countries – has been roundly condemned as has Israel’s role as the U.S. gendarme/imperial enforcer in the Middle East. I use the five adjectives – racist, Zionist, colonial, apartheid and settler – capitalist state advisedly, that is, to accurately describe the reality of Israel, yesterday and today. The horror of that reality, coupled with the heroic resistance to it by the beleaguered Palestinian people, has inspired tens and hundreds of thousands to mobilize in solidarity demonstrations around the world today. Several major U.S. cities have witnessed mobilizations of 10,000 or more, including New York and Los Angeles, with similar numbers in the streets in San Francisco, Chicago and elsewhere. 10,000 mobilized in Toronto; 20,000 in Montreal and thousands more across Canada. The mass protests in solidarity with the Palestinian people are not dissimilar to last summer’s anti-racist, anti-police brutality Black Lives Matter mobilizations. They have been markedly multi-racial and youthful. 100,000 took to the streets in London.
In the face of the ongoing, ten-year U.S./NATO-orchestrated war against Syria in collaboration with Turkey and the Gulf State monarchies – a war has taken the lives of some 500,000 Syrians and driven half the population into internal or external exile – the statement, signed by 300 Syrian expatriate writers, artists, academics and supporters from 34 countries, asserts against its opponents that, “America is not central to what has happened in Syria, despite what these people claim.” [Emphasis added.]
President Joe Biden, in announcing an ostensible end to the US war in Afghanistan, is continuing his streak of paying eloquent lip service to progressive causes while maintaining the implied status quo. In a televised address from the White House on April 14, Biden said, “it’s time to end America’s longest war. It’s time for American troops to come home.” But just a day later, the New York Times reported without a hint of irony that “the Pentagon, American spy agencies and Western allies are refining plans to deploy a less visible but still potent force in the region.” This means we are ending the war, but not really.
Thursday, May 6 4 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. EST, “The Persecution of Julian Assange” featuring Nathan Fuller, Courage Foundation campaigner in New York. Host: Elizabeth Byce. Discussants: Corey David in Toronto.
Saturday, May 1, 1 p.m. Eastern Time, a united front celebration of Workers’ Day, featuring Socialist Action leading member Julius Arscott (the Labour Forward candidate for President of the Canadian Labour Congress), Yvonne Hanson, chair of the Vancouver Socialist Unity Assembly, and Christopher Thompson, interim leader of the New Brunswick NDP and a prominent Socialist Caucus activist. Event co-chaired by Elizabeth Byce.
Friday, April 30 7 p.m. Eastern Time, Socialist Action Annual Celebration of International Workers’ Day – a cultural/political event. With speeches by John Clarke, Zahia El Masri, Dirka Prout, Barry Weisleder, Chris Thompson, Hannah Leichnitz, Gary Porter, Jeff Mackler, and music by HOTCHA!, Kevin Barrett and the Special Interest Group, Glen Hornblast, Y.C. Lee, Sandra Griffith-Bonaparte and Emily Steers. Host: Elizabeth Byce.
Thursday, April 22 4 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. EST, “James P. Cannon and the Foundations of Trotskyism” featuring Bryan Palmer, Emeritus Professor of History at Trent University, Ontario, and author of “James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left 1890-1928”. Host: Elizabeth Byce. Discussants: Jeff Mackler, national secretary, Socialist Action – USA.
Grace Carlson was the only female member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) (predecessor organization of Socialist Action) to be convicted and sentenced under the notorious anti-communist Smith Act of 1940. She was sentenced to sixteen months in the Federal Correctional Facility For Women in Alderson, West Virginia. The trial and convictions of the 17 male leaders of the SWP is a well known part of Trotskyist history. All 18 leaders were convicted of allegedly trying to overthrow the U.S. government by force and violence on the eve of the U.S entrance into World War II . (See “Socialism On Trial” by James P. Cannon).
Thursday, April 15 4 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. EST, “Is China Socialist or Capitalist?” with leading anti-poverty activist John Clarke in Toronto. Host: Elizabeth Byce. Discussants: Professor Ken Hammond in New Mexico, USA. Watch here: https://youtu.be/yU5YGBuKvuc Enjoy Socialist Action Webcasts every week!You can…
Below is the download for the March 2021 edition of the Socialist Action newspaper. March 2021 issue-compressedDownload
Antonio Gramsci is one of the few Marxist historical figures who have consistently retained popularity in the halls of universities and academic journals over the last three decades. His influence is regularly cited in political, cultural, anthropological studies as an important theoretical authority. Activists on the left also credit Gramsci with having formulated innovative and useful theoretical concepts about political struggle and capitalism.
Some fifty people in about 20 cars took to the streets of downtown Toronto on March 28 to demand an end to the punishing trade blockade that the United States imposes on Cuba. Braving cool temperatures and a steady rainfall, participants in the car caravan en route waved flags, honked horns and chanted in Spanish "Cuba, Si! Blocqueo No!"
By Ekin Kiziltan Trading power and the capacity to make deals with other nations are fundamental parts of how a country operates today. No nation or group of nations can provide for its citizens in incomplete isolation, which is why…
Read More Sanctions on Trial: Embargoing in the Wrong Direction
· The statement below was presented by Socialist Action Treasurer Elizabeth Byce to lead off the SA webcast on March 4, 2021. A women's conference of the Socialist International in Copenhagen in 1910 launched International Women's Day globally in 1911. Trotskyist parties,…
Read More On the 110th Anniversary of IWD: For Feminism and Socialism!
By Yves Engler Domination by multinational corporations and “light skinned” local capitalists — that’s the story of Haiti as illustrated by one recent event. The day after his already paper-thin constitutional legitimacy completely eroded Jovenel Moïse gave significant amounts of Haitian land…
Thursday, March 18 4 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. EST, “The Sport and Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich Are Stealing Canada's Public Wealth” (published 2019) with author Linda McQuaig. Host: Elizabeth Byce. Discussants: John Orrett in Thornhill and Emily Steers…
Thursday, February 25 7 p.m. EST, 4 p.m. PT Canada, NATO and the Threat of Nuclear Weapons with Tamara Lorincz, member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, and discussant Yves Engler, Canada’s foremost foreign policy critic. Watch here: https://youtu.be/Hrucs2KgARk…
Read More WEBCAST: Canada, NATO and the Threat of Nuclear Weapons
We were greatly saddened to learn that on February 5, 2021 Ernie Tate died at his home in Toronto at age 86 following a struggle with cancer.In honour of his remarkable life as a revolutionary socialist, below is a review…
by Panchali Kar If we take a close look at the BJP government, we get a clear picture of its thoroughly reactionary stance. Working class and impoverished people have been targeted by the BJP government, whereas the corporate elite has…
Read More Understanding the Ongoing Farmers’ Protest in India
