Workers’ organizations and individuals in Europe have been calling others to help build September 29 into a day that will begin to awaken a response by global workers to austerity and attacks on our rights.

In the United States students and workers have called for a repeat of last year’s mass actions and students walk-outs. On October 2nd and 7th actions are being called to stop budget cuts and other regressive measures which balance budgets on the backs of students, the poor and union workers.

We stand with the European workers and our fellow workers and students in the United States, raising our fists in defiance this September and October.

As socialists, we must reject the latest onslaught of neo-liberal attacks on students’ and workers’ rights, working conditions, social services for our youth, the elderly, and people living with disabilities.

Inasmuch as we call on the US and European governments to immediately halt austerity plans that are killing our people, we also remind our sisters and brothers in the movement that we cannot settle for reforms – we must reject capitalism as a whole. Just as globalization has opened borders to exploitation, we must stand united for the transformation of our societies from the rule of the wealthy few to the radically democratic governance of the collective wealth of the many.

Together we recognize that our politics and our approaches to this mass strike ought to reflect the open, transparent and democratic qualities that are prerequisites for genuine socialist democracy. It is necessary to show unity in action as well as theoretical, tactical, and political distinction from reformist parties and labor union bureaucracies.

With one voice, American and European workers, students and all oppressed by the capitalist system must rise up and demand an end to the war on workers, an end to the imperialist occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq; and an end to capitalism’s war on humanity, thus giving substance to the words:

Workers of the world, unite!

Wikileaks and the Afghan War
by Jim Sanders, Co Vice Chair Socialist Party USA
August 4, 2010

The recent release by Wikileaks of tens of thousands of previously secret documents from the U.S. war on Afghanistan has revealed in minute detail the ruthless brutality of this occupation. The Socialist Party USA opposed the attack on Afghanistan from the start and we continue to do so. We call for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and from Iraq.

The occupation of Afghanistan, and of Iraq, has further bolstered the disturbing trend toward the militarization of U.S. society. Under cover of “the war on terror,” the United States kidnaps its perceived enemies and tortures them. We demand an end to the extraordinary rendition program and the closing of the Guantanamo prison.

As cities and states confront declining revenues, and drastically reduce the provision of essential social services, the military continues to balloon, a bloated monster. We demand an immediate cut of 50% in the military budget, with more cuts to follow soon afterward until the U.S. military budget is no greater than any other country in the world.

The occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq are not mistakes, or overreactions to alleged threats. The United States has engaged in dozens of military actions throughout the world in recent decades. It does so for strategic reasons and to gain control of the valuable natural resources of less industrialized countries. Iraq holds one of the largest oil reserves in the world. Recent news reports indicate that Afghanistan contains huge untapped mineral resources. The Socialist Party USA stands in forthright opposition to U.S. imperialism, and to both the Democratic and Republican parties, which are tightly intertwined with the transnational corporations that benefit from these imperial adventures.

War is endemic to capitalism. For hundreds of years capitalist countries have sought to exert their military power to occupy weaker countries so as to control their natural resources. The United States is just the last in a long line of capitalist imperial powers. The capitalist system’s desperate need for financial profit at the expense of human needs and wants requires perpetual expansion. No leader, or group of leaders, dares to try to interrupt the rapacious, destructive growth under capitalism. Only the creation of a society based on the conscious cooperation of production to meet human needs can end war. This is the goal of socialism.

Imperialist wars will only come to an end when democratic socialism has replaced capitalism. The Socialist Party is ready to join with all of those who oppose the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq in a militant resistance to these wars, but we will do so while making it clear that the anti-war movement can only be effective when it presents an anti-imperialist critique of U.S. foreign policy, and that war is only one symptom of capitalism.

To register and for more information go to the SPUSA National Organizing Conference Information Page.

On Tuesday July 27 at 11am in Madison we will gather at the UW Campus Mall and march to the State Capitol.

On June 28 of 1969 fed up queers fought back when police began harassing them at the Stonewall Inn bar on Sheridan Square in New York City. By most accounts the most oppressed, drag queens and lesbians, lead the charge. This was a flashpoint in a long history of struggle. The homophile movement, the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis laid the groundwork for the uprising. Stonewall was also influenced by the feminist movement, the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, and the struggle against the war in Vietnam.

Gay Power and Gay Liberation were the rallying cries of Stonewall. The Stonewall riots demonstrate the power of resistance and confrontation against injustice. Socialist liberation goes beyond rights and demands full empowerment and participation. The Socialist Party USA celebrates the legacy of Stonewall and the movement for LGBTQ liberation.