worker |
January 18, 2015 |
6:44 pm | Bernie Sanders, Economy, political struggle, Social Security |
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worker |
January 17, 2015 |
8:38 pm | African American Culture, African American history, National, Struggle for African American equality |
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JANUARY 20, 2014
http://kalamu.com/neogriot/2015/01/17/history-video-martin-luther-king-jr-on-the-humanity-of-jazz/
Martin Luther King, Jr.
On The Humanity
Of Jazz
In the speech he gave before the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington in August 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., employed the refrain, “Now is the time.â€Â Was he inspired by Charlie Parker’s, “Now’s the Time,†the original blues that Bird recorded on his Savoy Jazz debut in 1945? As evidenced by his introductory remarks for the Berlin Jazz Festival the following year, King had a profound appreciation of jazz.
(Mahalia Jackson, wearing corsage, looks over at MLK speaking at the March on Washington.)
In September 1964, as the guest of Mayor Willy Brandt, King spent two days in (West) Berlin. During the whirlwind visit, he gave a sermon to a crowd of 20,000, visited the Berlin Wall, and attended a memorial concert for President Kennedy. It’s also long been reported that he gave the keynote address to the inaugural Berlin Jazz Festival, but in recent years that’s been disputed by Bruce Jackson and Professor David Demsey of William Patterson University. Whether spoken or merely written for the festival’s program, King offers genuine insight about the role that jazz musicians played as they “championed†the search for identity among African Americans. “Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of ‘racial identity’ as a problem for a multi-racial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls,†King wrote. (Read the complete text below.)
Duke Ellington composed “King Fit the Battle of Alabam,â€Â for his 1963 musical, My People.  It was staged in Chicago for the Century of Negro Progress Exhibition celebrating the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. Alas, it never got to Broadway, but some of the music was later incorporated into the Sacred Concerts. “King Fit the Battle…†celebrates MLK, lunch counter sit-ins, freedom riders, and satirizes the notorious Birmingham, Alabama Sheriff Bull Connors. While he was in Chicago, Ellington met Dr. King in a meeting that was arranged by Marian Logan, wife of Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s friend and physician, Dr. Arthur Logan.
One senses that Dr. King would have understood what Stanley Crouch meant in his 2009 Daily News column lamenting the absence of jazz in the public rituals of the Obama administration. “Jazz predicted the civil rights movement more than any other art in America…Jazz was always an art, but because of the race of its creators, it was always more than music. Once the whites who played it and the listeners who loved it began to balk at the limitations imposed by segregation, jazz became a futuristic social force in which one was finally judged purely on the basis of one’s individual ability.â€Â Or, as King famously put it, “Judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.â€
Speaking of Birmingham, here’s the John Coltrane Quartet playing “Alabama†on Ralph J. Gleason’s public television series, Jazz Casual.  Coltrane composed the elegy in commemoration of the four girls murdered in the fire-bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on September 15, 1963. Trane first recorded the piece on November 18; this was taped on December 7.)
Humanity and the Importance of Jazz
“God has brought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create – and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.“Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music.
“Modern Jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.
“It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of “racial identity†as a problem for a multi-racial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm
that which was stirring within their souls.“Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down. And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.â€
>via:Â http://nepr.net/music/2014/01/20/martin-luther-king-jr-humanity-jazz/
worker |
January 17, 2015 |
8:24 pm | Analysis, Economy, International, Latin America, political struggle |
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TeleSUR English, January 15, 2015
Since being elected, Bolivian President Evo Morales has carried out policies to create employment throughout the country.Â
Bolivian Minister of Labor Daniel Santalla announced Wednesday that Bolivia has generated a half a million jobs in both the private and public sectors since 2006.
“There was major increase in employment throughout the country since 2006, according to the data we have, in both the public and private sector have created more the 500,000 jobs in the country,†he stated.
Santalla attributed the increased employment levels to the policies carried out under President Evo Morales’ administration, which has aimed to expand employment opportunities, especially for economically marginalized communities.
However, the minister also noted that the creation of jobs must also include the generation of “decent and dignified†forms of labor in which workers should receive benefits from social security.
Since 2005, the Bolivian government has made considerable progress in terms of improving labor legislation, including:
• Prohibiting unlawful firings
• Legalizing strikes
• No longer allows employers to fire women with children less then a year old
• Allows women to have paid day to go the gynecologist
• Providing three months of paid benefits after a worker is fired or resigns
Most importantly, from 2005-2013 Bolivia has achieved an increase in real minimum wage of 104 percent, higher than any other Latin American country, according to the International Labor Organization.
Â
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Morales-Government-Generates-Massive-Jobs-Growth-in-Bolivia-20150115-0032.html
CUBASI
by Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada
January 16, 2015 | Comment
Last December 17th, the US president Barack Obama corrected an excessively long injustice, and simultaneously he changed the direction of history by releasing five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters who were in prison for more than 16 years.
By acknowledging the failure of anti-Cuban policies, re-establishing diplomatic relations, removing all possible restrictions at hand, proposing the complete elimination of the blockade and demanding a new age in the relation with Cuba, all in a single speech, he (Obama) surprised everyone, including brainy analysts.
The hostile policy set up by President Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) —before Obama was born— was followed by Democrat and Republican presidents of the U.S., and it was later codified with the Helms-Burton Law, approved by Bill Clinton in 1996.
It was pretty successful in the early years. In 1959, with the Triumph of the Revolution, the U.S. was at the apex of its power. It exercised unchallenged hegemony over several countries of the world, especially in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. expelled Cuba from OAS and the island was isolated. Cuba was then helped by the Soviet Union and its associates at the COMECON (Council of Mutual Economic Assistance), made of countries that signed the Warsaw Pact.
The falling of the so-called “real socialism†gave false hopes to those who believe it was also the end of the Cuban revolution.
They imagine the imminence of a long period of unipolar dominance. Gloating about good times, they do not notice the deep sense of things happening: the end of the Cold War opened new spaces for social struggles and made Capitalism face new challenges to overcome.
The fall of the Berlin Wall prevented them from seeing that in February 1989, Venezuela was shocked by a social uprising called “El Caracazoâ€, sign of the blossoming of a new epoch in Latin America.
Cuba survived the collapse of former allies. Its resistance was key factor for the deep transformation of the continent. The policy to isolate Cuba failed years ago since the U.S. ended isolated itself, as stated by current Secretary of State, John Kerry.
A new relation with Cuba was paramount for Washington. The U.S. needed to approach its relation with the continent, no longer its backyard. The achievement of such a goal is fundamental now. The U.S. cannot lead as it did before.
There is still a long way to go to reach that level of relation. First, the economic, commercial, and financial blockade must stop, as major sectors of U.S. business world are urging.
However, to normalize relations it is essential to learn how to coexist with a different viewpoint and eradicate old dreams of domination. It would imply to respect the sovereignty of people, fundamental principle of the UN Chart, which is not convenient for the most powerful countries.
In relation to the freedom of the Cuban Five, all U.S. presidents have used —without exception— the power granted by the Article II, Section 2, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution. All of them have used it for more than two centuries and nothing has stopped them.
Such paragraph in the Constitution authorizes the President to cancel the sentences and grant pardons, in cases of alleged crimes against the United States.
There were lots of reasons to demand executive clemency for the Cuban Five. In 2005, a judge panel of the Appeal Court revoked the process against them —defining the case as a “perfect storm of prejudice and hostilityâ€â€” and ordered a new trial.
In 2009, the same court determined the case has nothing to do with neither espionage nor national security in the United States. Both verdicts were approved with full consensus.
Regarding another important charge, that of “conspiracy to commit a murder†against Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, his prosecutors admitted it was impossible to prove such false accusation and they even tried to remove it in May 2001 in an unprecedented move. Such idea came from the attorneys of former President George W. Bush (2001-2009).
Five years had passed and Gerardo awaited any response to his repeated appeals to Miami court to free him, or at least revise his case, or order the government to present the “evidence†used to condemn him, or agree to listen to him about the extent of the money involved in such media campaign to trigger that “perfect stormâ€.
The court never answered back. No words from bigger media groups were hear before that unusual paralysis of the judicial system. It was obvious it was a political case and only a political decision could solve the situation. No one else but the President could do it.
Obama showed wisdom and determination when he faced with courage the basic problems rather than limiting himself to free any person. The Cuban Five saga was the consequence of an aggressive strategy and the best move was to put an end to both things simultaneously.
No one can deny the transcendence of the announcement of December 17th. It would be a mistake, however, to ignore that there is still a long, winding way to go. It will be necessary to advance firmly and wisely.
Written by Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, CubaSÃ
January 15, 2015
Cubasi Translation Staff
worker |
January 16, 2015 |
9:09 pm | Analysis, Bernie Sanders, Economy, National, political struggle, Social Security, Veterans |
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By A. Shaw
An alliance between GOP reactionaries and DP reactionaries now conspire to make huge 20% cuts in social security disability benefits for 1,000,000 disabled veterans and 11,000,000 disabled US citizens.
Sen. Bernie Sanders stands up for these workers who are about to get robbed.
Even without the assistance of DP reactionaries, GOP reactionaries already dominate the legislative and judicial branches of the bourgeois democratic regime in Washington DC. The DP however still dominates the executive branch of the bourgeois state in Washington DC.
While two branches of the exploitative and oppressive bourgeois regime in Washington plot to cut the financial benefits of disabled workers, these legislative and judicial branches of the bourgeois regime conspire to cut taxes paid by rich individuals, big corporations, and banks. The regime allows the rich to pay a smaller percentage of their income than the percentage workers must pay.
So, proportionately, the workers bear a heavier load.
The benefit cuts that the reactionaries are pushing intensifies the exploitation of disabled workers.
When these disabled workers were able-bodied and employed, they earned their disability benefits by the deduction on a collective basis of social security taxes from their paychecks.
Now that disabled workers are unemployed, the reactionaries who occupy high places in bourgeois regime intend to renege the government’s promise to pay fair and reasonable benefits.
Of special interest are the cases of 1,000,000 disabled veterans.
Again and again, the bourgeois and imperialist regime in Washington oppresses US citizens, mostly workers, into waging unconstitutional and illegal wars of aggression against the innocent people of foreign countries. The most striking example is the war of aggression by US imperialists and their regime against the completely innocent people of Iraq who have now suffered well over a million war-related fatalities occasioned by an US imperialist invasion and occupation and rationalized by a gigantic and transparent lie that weapons of mass destruction were stored in Iraq.
The US people, including US troops, should have resisted and should now resist the imperial war of aggression against Iraq, just as, earlier, the US people, including US troops, heroically resisted the US imperialist war against the people of Vietnam.
Hundreds of thousands of US troops were oppressed by the  bourgeois regime in Washington into the aggression against Iraq. Thousands of US troops lost their lives and tens of thousands suffered and are suffering disabling injuries.
The disabled came and still come home from the wars, and are welcomed by the rotten, lowdown, filthy, reactionary GOP scum that dominates the US House of Representatives and the US Senate.
The GOP scum tells 1,000,000Â disabled veterans, “Thanks suckers,” we, the GOP in the US Congress, are going to cut your money.
Contrary to the lies and rants of the GOP scum in Congress,  these 1,000, 000 veterans fully earned their full social security disability benefits by their lost and torn limbs, by their amputations, and by the destruction of their mental and emotional normality.
The Lord knows we need Sen. Bernie Sanders as Pres. Bernie Sanders.
worker |
January 16, 2015 |
9:04 pm | Analysis, Bernie Sanders, Economy, National, political struggle, Social Security, Veterans |
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Friday, January, 16th, 2015, 1:23 pm
Source: PoliticusUSA
At a press conference today, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) shredded the Republican budget plans while taking Republicans to task for cutting Social Security benefits for 1 million disabled veterans.
During the press conference, Sen. Sanders said:
I must say that the budget passed last year by the Republican House which called for massive cuts in Medicare,Medicaid, education, nutrition, affordable housing, and other programs impacting the lives of working Americans, while providing huge tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations, is a budget approach which moves us in exactly the wrong direction. And, needless to say, I will do everything that I can to oppose a similar type of budget if that is what the Republicans will be proposing this year.
So, here we are. The middle class is in decline. Millions of seniors are struggling to pay for their food, their medicine and their heat. On the very first day of Congress, the Republicans in the House made a change in its rules that could lead to a 20 percent cut in Social Security disability benefits for 11 million Americans, including 2 million children, over a million veterans, and over 150,000 surviving spouses. In other words, in the midst of massive wealth and income inequality, the Republicans want to make massive cuts in a program that benefits some of the most vulnerable people in this country.
….
Let’s be clear, what the Republican plan is. What they are saying is that either there will be cuts to the disability program, or if that fund is to be replenished, the money will have to come from cuts to Social Security retirement benefits. And, House Budget Chairman Price is already talking about including Social Security cuts in the Budget Resolution that he will be writing. Needless to say, that is totally unacceptable. When we talk about Social Security today what we should be talking about is expanding benefits not cutting benefits. And, I and other members of the Senate are working on legislation to do just that. And, at a time when multimillionaires pay the same amount of money into the Social Security Trust Fund as someone making $118,500 that cap on taxable income must be raised.
The idea that Republicans are poised to cut benefits for 11 million disabled Americans was bad enough and repulsive to Americans on all ends of the political spectrum. What is even worse is that Republicans are planning to cut benefits for men and women who were disabled while risking their lives in service of their country. The Social Security Disability program is paid into by every worker in America. Sanders pointed out that a young worker has a 33% of receiving these benefits at some point in their life.
Veterans who sacrificed their country should not have their benefits cut. People who paid into the program should not have their benefits cut. Disabled Americans, who are living on a few dollars, can’t afford to have their benefits cut. Congressional Republicans don’t have the right to make these cuts to the disability program. The money that has been paid into the system doesn’t belong to them. Those funds were paid into the system by workers who expect their benefits to be there.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) recently tried to claim that half of the people who are receiving Social Security Disability benefits can work. The reality is that the Disability application process is a difficult one. Fifty-nine percent of those who apply for disability benefits are rejected.
Sen. Sanders was right to go on the attack against the Republican agenda. Veterans and all disabled Americans deserve better from their country than the treatment that they are receiving from Republicans. Liberals, conservatives, and everyone in the middle should stand up in united outrage against the Republican scheme to take from those who can least afford to lose precious resources.
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