Speak Out Socialists

Capitalism and the Climate Emergency

Speak Out Now — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0700

Climate change is the most severe crisis of our time. The future of life on this planet is at risk. Despite the serious warnings of climate scientists, corporations around the world continue to be directed by their drive for profits. And the governments that represent their interests continue along the same path of environmental destruction. The future of our species cannot remain in their hands. The choice in front of us is clear – we have to organize our forces to save ourselves and life on our planet.

March Townhall: End the War on the People of Ukraine!

Speak Out Now — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 05:00:00 -0700

For organizational resources or to learn more, go to: https://speakoutsocialists.org/no-war-in-ukraine-2/

Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine is devastating the country — bombing hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, houses and more. Civilian death tolls are estimated to be in the thousands, and over two million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries.

We must oppose Russia’s brutal and totally unjustified attack on Ukraine. We must also oppose the aggressive goal of the U.S and NATO to dominate the region, which helped to provoke Russia’s attack. The Ukrainian people are being used as pawns in the struggle between these major powers.

In cities across Russia people are facing the brutality of the police as they say “NO!” to this war. And people around the world are beginning to show their opposition as well. We, in the U.S., have an obligation to join this opposition and declare our support for the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future.

For organizational resources or to learn more, go to: https://speakoutsocialists.org/no-war-in-ukraine-2/

February Townhall with Dave Zirin on The Kaepernick Effect: How Taking a Knee Sparked a Movement

Speak Out Now — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 11:42:26 -0800

In 2016, amid an epidemic of police shootings of Black people, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began a series of protests on the field, refusing to stand during the U.S. national anthem. By taking a knee, Kaepernick’s simple act spread like wildfire throughout American society, becoming a powerful symbol of resistance to the systemic racism in this country.

Listen in to hear author Dave Zirin speak about his latest book The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World, as well as sports and resistance in the recent period. Dave Zirin is the sports editor of The Nation, a columnist for The Progressive, and the host of the Edge of Sports podcast. His many other books include A People’s History of Sports in the United States, Game Over, Bad Sports, and Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports.

Workers Corner #2

Speak Out Now — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 09:30:36 -0700

This episode is a conversation centered around the union organizing drive of Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, the PRO Act, and workers' organizing in general.

Workers Corner #1

Speak Out Now — Sun, 02 May 2021 19:42:46 -0700

In this episode, we comment on the aftermath of the organizing effort at the Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, and the significance of Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, endorsing Biden's latest infrastructure plan.

Workers of the World: Growth, Change, Rebellion (Talk by Kim Moody)

Speak Out Now — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 13:28:50 -0700

Kim Moody is a longtime activist, socialist, a founder of Labor Notes, and author of many books on rank and file unionism and politics.

10/14/20: Whose History?

Speak Out Now — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 01:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from October 7-14.

00:45 Columbus Day or Indigenous People’s Day? Whose History?

10:41 Alameda Health System Strike: Showing What Workers are Capable of

13:41 Armenia and Azerbaijan at War

18:22 No Relief for Workers as Stimulus Delayed Until After Election

19:50 Trump’s Middle East Deals: Cynical Politics, Not Peace

25:27 The Pope and Politics: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

27:19 The Economy’s Getting Better? Who Are They Kidding?

10/07/20: Trump's Campaign Goes Viral

Speak Out Now — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 18:15:48 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from October 1-7.

00:45 Trump’s Campaign Goes Viral

05:22 Grand Jury Cover-Up in the Breonna Taylor Case

09:10 Forced Sterilization of Immigrant Women

11:01 Virtual Learning Part 2: The Parents

14:41 Plastic-Digesting Enzymes!

17:03 Trump Refuses to Denounce White Supremacists in the Debate

19:25 The Supreme Court: Judicial Servants of the Ruling Class

27:24 Anniversary of the Tlatelolco Massacre in Mexico City

31:19 Trump’s Tax Evasion: A Normal Part of the System!

33:30 The COVID-19 Response: Decreasing Restrictions and Increasing Deaths

36:41 The California Wildfires: Mismanagement and Climate Change

9/30/20: End Times? Or Seize the Time!

Speak Out Now — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 01:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from September 13-30.

End Times? or Seize the Time!

Microplastics: A Huge Problem

COVID-19: What’s the Vaccine Timeline?

Virtual Learning is NOT the Same as Being in a Classroom

Nurses Win Union Recognition for the First Time at a Major North Carolina Hospital! But the Struggle Continues.

Indictment in Breonna Taylor Case is Another Racist Attack

Bacon’s Rebellion and the Making of “Race” in the United States

Shifting CDC Guidelines Expose an Unequal System

RBG: Celebrate Her Life, But Be Prepared to Keep Fighting for What We Need

Despite Black Lives Matter PR, NFL’s Actions Speak Louder than Words

Wildlife Populations Have Decreased Two-Thirds Since 1970!

Why are 12,000 Refugees Sleeping on the Side of the Road in Greece?

Mines in Congo Eat Human Beings Alive

Big Pharma: Cutting Corners, Risking Lives

It’s Not Just Trump. The Whole System Insults and Exploits Veterans!

9/12/20: California Fires: The Climate Disruption We Were Warned About

Speak Out Now — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 01:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from September 3-12.

California Fires: The Climate Disruption We Were Warned About

Rochester: Protesters Demand Justice

Will Public Transportation Survive the Pandemic?

Worst Year Ever? It’s not 2020 – It’s Capitalism

Chadwick Boseman’s Untimely Death Highlights Racial Health Disparities

The Battle of Blair Mountain: A Worker’s Uprising Worth Remembering on Labor Day

Attica Prison Revolt – The Struggle Against Injustice Continues

Herd Immunity: A Game of Chance

New York City has big problems – and Wall Street and the Politicians Make Them Worse!

The Real Violence Isn’t the Demonstrations

COVID-19: A Natural Event, But a Human-Made Catastrophe (Talk by epidemiologist Rob Wallace)

Speak Out Now — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 01:00:00 -0700

While viruses do occur naturally, there is very little that is natural about the COVID-19 pandemic. The global animal and agriculture industry has become one large virus producing system, increasing the likelihood of pandemics. Instead of working towards reducing the production of pandemic level viruses, for decades countries have been accelerating the conditions that produce them. This virus may not have been preventable but it did not have to become a pandemic.

We were joined by Rob Wallace, an evolutionary epidemiologist at the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps and author of Big Farms Make Big Flu and co-author of Neoliberal Ebola: Modeling Disease Emergence From Finance to Forest, and other books.

Read some recent articles on this topic by Rob Wallace here:
COVID-19 and Circuits of Capital
Capitalism is a Disease Hotspot

On the Brink of Starvation: COVID-19 and the Global Food Chain (Talk by Raj Patel)

Speak Out Now — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 01:00:00 -0700

Raj Patel discusses the causes and enormous impact of the global food crisis, which has only been intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic. Please join us. All participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and share their experiences from their workplaces or community.

Raj Patel is an activist, journalist, film maker and professor, currently teaching at the University of Texas in Austin. He studies the global food system and is actively engaged in creating alternatives to what exists today.

His first book was Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. His second, The Value of Nothing, was a New York Times and international best-seller. His latest, co-written with Jason W. Moore, is A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things.

Socialism 101: Lessons of the Russian Revolution

Speak Out Now — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 01:00:00 -0700

Part Eight of our Socialism 101 series.

9/3/20: Mr. Rogers vs. Darth Vader

Speak Out Now — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 01:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the week of August 27 - September 2.

Mr. Rogers vs. Darth Vader

Belarus: The Power of Workers

Lucky To Have A Job

The NBA Walkouts and Obama

Get Your Knee Off Our Necks: March on Washington

Hurricane Laura: A Climate Change Disaster

Assumed Innocence and Guilt – A Matter of Race

Boycott Sends Shockwaves through Professional Sports as NBA Players Demand Justice for Jacob Blake

Tip of the Iceberg: Voting Rights Attacked in Tennessee

CDC: Ignoring Science, Appeasing the Trump Administration

Breaking Deadly Records: The U.S. Healthcare System

Coronavirus Cures Brought to You by…the MyPillow Guy?

Convalescent Blood Plasma: FDA approves of another treatment for COVID

Postal Workers Resist Attacks

8/26/20: An Awakening Decades in the Making

Speak Out Now — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:29:16 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the weeks of August 13-26.

An Awakening Decades in the Making

Steve Bannon’s Border Wall – A Scam On Top of a Scam

Schools Forced to Choose: Learn Remotely or Risk Lives

Tech Companies Are in It for Themselves

Politicians’ Attacks on the U.S. Postal Service are Not New

Women’s Suffrage: 100 Year Anniversary

Wisconsin Shooting: Another Racist Cop Attack

Safety Net with Huge Holes – Alameda Health System Attacks Healthcare Workers

Fire! Climate Catastrophe at Home

The Height of Hypocrisy: Biden Quotes Civil Rights Leader Ella Baker

Kodak and Trump Playing with Taxpayers’ Dollars

Belarus: “Go! Do not come back!”

Drilling in the Arctic: Capital Reigns Supreme

Fear and Mistrust: Vaccine Production in the U.S.

Baltimore: Deadly Explosion and Aging Infrastructure

Arizona School Teachers and Staff Fight Back against COVID

Socialism 101: When Workers First Took Power: The Paris Commune

Speak Out Now — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Part Seven of our Socialism 101 series.

8/12/20: As Millions Lose Their Jobs, Politicians Disagree on the Crumbs to Give Workers

Speak Out Now — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the week of August 6-12.

As Millions Lose Their Jobs, Politicians Disagree on the Crumbs to Give Workers

New Jersey Public Transit: It Should be Free!

U.S. Shows Workers Can Return to Work Safely – If they are NBA Players!

Capitalism: A Filthy System

Beirut Explosion – Another Example of the Ruling Class’s Contempt for Human Life

The NLRB Shows Which Side It’s On

Pro-Big Business CDC Facilitates a More Swift Return to Work

8/5/20: Whose Laws and Whose Order?

Speak Out Now — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the weeks of July 23 - August 5.

Whose Laws and Whose Order?

Rising Evictions Show the Priorities of This System

Iranian Activists Sentenced to Death

Polar Bears Gone by 2100

Public Transit in Crisis

Remembering the Legacy of John Lewis, Civil Rights Activist

Biden’s Climate Plan Won’t Save Us

Socialism 101: Why the Working Class Needs to Take Power to Save the World

Speak Out Now — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Part Six of our Socialism 101 series.

Socialism 101: How Capitalism Works and Where It Came From

Speak Out Now — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Part Five of our Socialism 101 series.

7/22/20: Reopen the Schools? Our Health vs Profits

Speak Out Now — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 16:54:48 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the week of July 15-22.

Reopen the Schools? Our Health vs Profits (main editorial)

Only One Abortion Provider in the Whole State!

Removing Racist Team Names is Long Over Due: What’s Next?

PG&E: When Criminals Rule

We Can Only Depend on Ourselves, Not the Courts

July 19, 1979: Nicaragua: The Sandinista Revolution

Trump Sends Federal Agents in Unmarked Vans to Arrest Protesters

Who to Blame for California’s New Lockdown?

International Students Still Face Risks

COVID-19 Is Not a Hoax!

7/15/20: Maquilas and Coronavirus: Workers Figthing Govts & Corporations for the Right to Live

Speak Out Now — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 13:16:37 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the weeks of July 7-15.

Maquilas and Coronavirus: Mexican Workers Fight U.S. Corporations and Government for the Right to Live

Millions Deprived of Health Coverage When We Need It Most

Energy Secretary Credits Activists for Shutting Down Pipelines

Trump Administration on the Pandemic: “People Will Get Over It”

Supreme Court Fast-Tracks Oil and Gas Pipelines. Our Power to Stop Them Is Through Mobilizing.

Brazil’s President Tests Positive for COVID

Students Organize in Solidarity as ICE Announces it will Deport Students in Online Classes

South Pole Warming Three Times Faster Than the Rest of the Earth

Walk Out at Whole Foods: Standing Up for Black Lives!

San Francisco General Strike 86 Years Ago: The Power of Worker Solidarity

The 4th of July – Independence for Whom?

Bringing down the Statues that Glorify Racism

Socialism 101, Part 4: What Will It Take?

Speak Out Now — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 04:30:00 -0700

Part 4 of our Socialism 101 series, originally read on zoom on Saturday, June 27th.

Socialism 101, Part 3: Reform or Revolution: The Role of the State

Speak Out Now — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Part 3 of our Socialism 101 series, originally read live at a zoom discussion on Sunday, June 21st.

7/1/20: U.S. Politicians are Guilty of Murder

Speak Out Now — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the week of June 25 - July 1.

U.S. Politicians are Guilty of Murder! (main editorial)

Second Week of Shipbuilders’ Strike

Defend Chicago Bus Driver Who Took a Stand Against Police Operations!

June 30, 1918: Eugene V. Debs Jailed for Opposing Imperialist Violence

Putting a Band-Aid on the Cancer that is Capitalism

Nursing Homes Evict Non-profitable Patients

June 27, 1954: A Bloody CIA-Sponsored Coup in Guatemala

Police Treat Racist Militia Murderers with Care

Phoenix Trump Rally: Spreading Misinformation is State-Sanctioned, but Protesting Lies is Unlawful

6/24/20: We Must Go Beyond Defunding the Police

Speak Out Now — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the week of June 18-24.

We Must Go Beyond Defunding the Police (featured article)

Who Would Have Thought?

Climate Change Sets a Scary Record in Siberia

COVID-19 Reality is Scary. So is Trump’s Denial.

Second Wave? No, We’re Still in the First

First Covid-19, and Now Hunger Too

A Court Victory for Dreamers – But We Have to Keep Fighting

Corporations Try to Exploit the Black Lives Matter Movement

Deep Fake Technology: A Dangerous Tool

6/17/20: This Whole Racist System is Guilty!

Speak Out Now — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Commentary and analysis by Speak Out Now from the week of June 11-17.

This Whole Racist System is Guilty! (main editorial)

The Price is Wrong: Vaccine for Profit

The First “Pride” Was a Riot. Stonewall Uprising, June 28, 1969: We Remember.

The Supreme Court Upholds LGBTQI Rights

Trump Rolls Back LGBTQI Protections – Unacceptable!

Campaign Rally in Tulsa, Rally or Racist Pageant?

Say His Name! Rayshard Brooks: Another Racist Cop Shoots to Kill

Defund the Police?

Navajo Nation Tragedy: Not All Communities Suffer COVID-19 Equally

Socialism 101, Part 2: Why We Need Socialism

Speak Out Now — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 04:30:00 -0700

Part 2 of our Socialism 101 series, originally read on zoom on Sunday, June 14th. You can participate in our next Socialism 101 discussion live. To find out more, visit the events page on our website.

Socialism 101, Part 1: Why Capitalism Must Go

Speak Out Now — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 04:00:00 -0700

Part 1 of our "Socialism 101" series, originally read on zoom on Sunday, June 7th. You can participate in our next Socialism 101 discussion live. To find out more, see the events page at our website.

Speech #2 from George Floyd Solidarity March

Speak Out Now — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 04:30:00 -0700

Activist from Speak Out Now speaks at the George Floyd Solidarity protest at Oscar Grant Plaza on Monday, June 1st.

Speech #1 from George Floyd Solidarity March

Speak Out Now — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 04:00:00 -0700

“This time we need to get rid of capitalism once and for all.”

An activist from Speak Out Now speaks at the George Floyd Solidarity March, a rally organized by Oakland youth on Monday, June 1st in front of Oakland Technical High School.
Watch the speech on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeRa6epFmUg