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Marine Le Pen Is a Fascist—Not a ‘Right-Wing Populist,’ Which Is a Contradiction in Terms

Marine Le Pen is the latest fascist to be called a “Right Wing Populist” by the corporate media.

There is no such thing. 

Let’s be clear: Populists are leftists. We support human rights, social democracy, peace and ecological sanity.

“Populists of the Right” are fascists. Their goal has a clear definition, as put forward by the term’s originator, Benito Mussolini: “Corporate control of the state.” 

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When they take power, they become National Socialists, using the government to enrich the corporations and the rich, rather than Democratic Socialists, or social democrats, using the state to serve the people.

Subterranean Fire: A History of US Working Class Radicalism

Newspapers with headlines about strikes

Thursday, April 27, 7-8:30pm
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and University Center, 30 W Woodruff Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Facebook Event

As we approach the Day Without an Immigrant nationwide series of protests scheduled for International Workers' Day on May 1, taking the time to learn about the long and rich history of labor struggles in this country -- and the radical origins of May Day -- has become especially important. 
Join us for our next monthly study group as we read and discuss "Subterranean Fire: A History of Working Class Radicalism in the United States" by Sharon Smith. By situating the ongoing decline of the labor movement in this country's larger history of working class struggle, Smith argues for a perspective of rank-and-file unionism that remains vital today. 
Copies of the book are available through ISO Columbus. 

TOSCA Opera Review

It never fails to amaze me how what we see on stage or screen often reflects what’s going on in the real world, aka “out there in TVLand.” For instance, I previously pointed out how LA Opera’s January/ February production of Mozart’s 18th century The Abduction from the Seraglio, largely set in Turkey, mirrored today’s ongoing debate over Islamic extremism versus so-called “moderate Muslims.” Now, hard on the heels of Bill O’Reilly’s (long overdue) ouster from Fox News, Giacomo Puccini’s 1900 opera Tosca is being performed on the boards of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through May 13.

April 25th - Two activist events

The words A Fierce Green Fire over a green background that turns into fire in the sky

A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet
Tuesday, April 25, 7-9pm at the Drexel Theater, 2254 E. Main St.
Earth Day and People's Climate Mobilization Special Event - FREE!
This powerful film is the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement - grassroots and global activism spanning fifty years from conservation to climate change. From halting dams in the Grand Canyon to battling 20,000 tons of toxic waste at Love Canal; from Greenpeace saving the whales to Chico Mendes and the rubbertappers saving the Amazon; from climate change to the promise of transforming our civilization... the film tells vivid stories about people fighting - and succeeding - against enormous odds. Donations support the nonprofit Drexel theatre. Reserve free tickets on Eventbrite.

​The United States Can't Stop Making War​

A Morning Consult poll winks at me from my inbox: 57 percent of Americans support more airstrikes in Syria.

My eyeballs roll. Hopelessness permeates me, especially because I’m hardly surprised, but still . . . come on. This is nuts. The poll could be about the next move in a Call of Duty video game: 57 percent of Americans say destroy the zombies.

This is American exceptionalism in action. We have the right to be perpetual spectators. We have the right to “have an opinion” about whom the military should bomb next. It means nothing, except to those on the far end of the Great American Video Game, where the results are real.

The Democratic Party’s Anti-Bernie Elites Have a Huge Stake in Blaming Russia

After Hillary Clinton’s devastating loss nearly six months ago, her most powerful Democratic allies feared losing control of the party. Efforts to lip-synch economic populism while remaining closely tied to Wall Street had led to a catastrophic defeat. In the aftermath, the party’s progressive base -- personified by Bernie Sanders -- was in position to start flipping over the corporate game board.

 

Aligned with Clinton, the elites of the Democratic Party needed to change the subject. Clear assessments of the national ticket’s failures were hazardous to the status quo within the party. So were the groundswells of opposition to unfair economic privilege. So were the grassroots pressures for the party to become a genuine force for challenging big banks, Wall Street and overall corporate power.

 

In short, the Democratic Party’s anti-Bernie establishment needed to reframe the discourse in a hurry. And -- in tandem with mass media -- it did.

 

The reframing could be summed up in two words: Blame Russia.

 

“TEN FILMS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD” SERIES SCREENS THE FALL OF THE ROMANOV DYNASTY

Los Angeles, April 21, 2017 - The Russian Revolution is coming to L.A.!

 

As Angelenos commemorate the L.A. urban rebellion’s 25th anniversary the 1927 documentary THE FALL OF THE ROMANOV DYNASTY- about Russia’s 1917 urban uprisings - is being screened as part of the “TEN FILMS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD” series, a cinematic centennial celebration the of the Russian Revolution.

 

What: THE FALL OF THE ROMANOV DYNASTYscreening.

 

When: Friday,7:30 p.m., April 28, 2017.

 

Where: The L.A. Workers Center, 1251 S. St. Andrews Place, L.A., CA 90019.

The Impact of the Failed Charter School Industry on Public Education and Taxpayers

words Charter Schools in yellow on black surrounded by dollars

Dennis Kucinich will have a Press Conference about the issue of the impact of the Charter Schools Movement and other privatization schemes on Public Education and Ohio Taxpayers at the Statehouse Women’s Gallery on Monday, April 24, at 10:00 AM. Please come and support former Cleveland mayor and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich as he exposes the corruption behind the charter schools. 

Tuesday night, April 25, 6:30 PM - there will be a Columbus: Town Hall Meeting at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Rd. Dennis Kucinich will talk there about  large privately-owned for-profit corporations lobby their way into the educational system, donate vast sums to legislators, get themselves classified as "Public Schools" and operate, in many cases, without accountability and oversight.

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