ISO: Building Revolutionary Organization Today

Lots of people at a march holding picket signs and a very large long banner with red fist and words Solidarity trumps hate

Thursday, April 12, 7-8:30pm
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 30 W. Woodruff
The ISO’s Where We Stand document, which details ISO’s guiding political principles, reads:

“To achieve socialism, the most militant workers must be organized into a revolutionary socialist party. The ISO is committed to playing a role in laying the foundations for such a party. We aim to build an independent socialist organization, rooted in workplaces, schools and neighborhoods that, in fighting today’s struggles, also wins larger numbers to socialism.” (page 1) 

But what exactly is the theory behind this, and what does this theory look like in practice? How do our local branch routines and practices such as movement work, study groups, recruitment, and our organization’s newspaper relate to this project? 

Join us for a discussion on building revolutionary organization today. This meeting is both for members, and for anyone interested in learning about the theory and practice behind ISO's overall political project. 

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25 Years Later: Re-examining the Lucasville Uprising

A crudely hand lettered sign on what looks like a sheet saying The state is not negotiating

History books often contain a chapter that tries to answer the question: What caused such-and-such a revolt or revolution?
For example: What caused the “Boston Massacre” in 1770 when British troops stationed in Boston fired on a crowd that was pelting them with frozen snowballs and oyster shells? What caused the “Boston Tea Party” of 1773 when chest after chest of tea imported from Great Britain was thrown into Boston harbor? (Hint: There had not been a new tax.) What caused the beginning of actual warfare at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775?

The truth is that it is very difficult to be sure why human beings suddenly throw caution to the winds, and, knowing that there may be enormous consequences, take a stand and risk everything. Unsure as to the real causes of a rebellion, the historian may take refuge in a chapter title like “The Gathering Storm.”

Let’s see if we can do better regarding the causes of the longest prison uprising in United States history in which lives were lost, at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville, April 11-21, 1993.

The Authorities’ Account of Causes

Liars Lying About Nearly Everything

At least since the time of Marcus Tullius Cicero in the late Roman Republic everyone has certainly understood that politicians lie all the time. To be sure, President Donald Trump has been exceptional in that he has followed through on some of the promises he made in his campaign, insisting periodically that he has to do what he said he would do. Unfortunately, those choices he has made to demonstrate his accountability to his supporters have been terrible, including moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, threatening to end the Iran nuclear agreement and building a wall along the Mexican border. Following through on some other pledges has been less consistent. He has increased U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan and turned the war over to the generals while also faltering in his promise to improve relations with Russia. The potential breakthrough offered by promising exchanges during phone calls to Vladimir Putin have been negated by subsequent threats, sanctions and expulsions to satisfy hysterical congressmen and the media.

James Earl Ray was Innocent of the Assassination of Martin Luther King. Jr

The CIA owns everyone of any significance in the major media…We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American people believe is false.” – William Colby, Ronald Reagan’s Director of the CIA (1981)

 

“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” -- Abraham Lincoln

 

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." -- Theodore Roosevelt, (1906)

 

Challenges for Resolving Complex Conflicts

While conflict theories and resolution processes advanced dramatically during the second half of the 20th century, particularly thanks to the important work of several key scholars such as Professor Johan Galtung – see ‘Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means (the Transcend Method)’ – significant gaps remain in the conflict literature on how to deal with particular conflict configurations. Notably, these include the following four.

 

Prisoner Letter Writing + Film Screening

Bulletin board on the wall with words Prisoner Letter Writing and photos of a lot of men

Wednesday, April 11, 5:30-8:30pm
Columbus Metropolitan Library - Northside Branch, 1423 N High St.
Cages are disabling and traumatizing environments. As a result, prisoners suffer from low morale. They also suffer from a variety of human rights abuses committed by jail and prison officials such as torture and “extremely poor quality health care.” These forms of violence are state-sanctioned. Therefore, we can’t expect meaningful oversight of Ohio's concentration camps to come from the state.

Correctional officers practice sadism and identify targets for malicious repression by taking a path of least resistance. They are less likely to target a prisoner with outside support but more likely to target a prisoner who receives no mail. Since there is a lack of community support for incarcerated people, our aim is to use the tactic of One-Prisoner-One-Contact to maintain the security of prisoners while boosting their morale and providing community oversight of Ohio's prison system. We will use our penpal program to support each other across prison walls while strengthening the movement to abolish prisons.

Interview with John Brakey, election transparency

Bob interviews John Brakey, election transparency activist who is traveling the country to check out if every state uses the ballot imaging function on their voting machines to provide an audit trail.

http://www.wcrsfm.org/audio/by/title/the_other_side_of_the_news_march_30...

 

Caravan at border, Brookln shooting, Lucasville

Bob and Dan discuss Trump's latest craziness about the caravan of people at the Mexican border, the recent shooting of a black man in Brooklyn, and talk about some of the issues and events in the April Free Press, including a comemmoration of the 25th anniversary of the Lucasville prison uprising.

http://www.wcrsfm.org/audio/by/title/the_other_side_of_the_news_april_7_...

 

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