[Educationforall] International Students for Social Equality

[Kurt Wellman]

The I.S.S.E. will be forming a new Cadre at City College in the fall, this is a Socialist Club, allied with the Social Equality Party, interested students or faculty, please email me off list.
The state of world affairs as mankind enters the second decade of the 
21st Century shatters any hope that the new millennium would put an end 
to the wars, violence, and poverty of the 20th Century.  Despite the 
integration of world economy and great advances in technolo...gy 
and communications, billions live in hunger and humanity is beset by 
unending wars. The decade began with an earthquake in Haiti, the Western
 Hemisphere’s poorest country, whose death toll shows the horrible 
effects of social inequality.  In the United States, millions have been 
thrust into poverty, while more jobs have been lost than at any time 
since the Great Depression. After handing out trillions to the banks, 
the US government—at both the state and federal level—is pushing through
 unprecedented cuts in education and other social programs.  The 
financial elite, with the arrogance and sense of entitlement of an 
aristocracy, has exploited the crisis of its own making to vastly enrich
 itself, inflating new speculative bubbles that will lead inevitably to 
another financial crisis.  The war against the working class 
domestically is coupled with war abroad. Continuing on Bush's "wars of 
the Twenty-First Century," Obama has launched a “surge” in Afghanistan, 
quickly followed by the addition of a new potential target in the 
unending “war on terror”—Yemen. At the same time, the US is increasing 
threats against Iran and China.  Without the independent intervention by
 the working class, deepening world conflicts are leading to a world war
 bloodier than those of the 20th Century.   *A SOCIALIST PROGRAM*  The 
ISSE is an organization of students around the world that insists that 
the great problems of our epoch can only be solved through a socialist 
movement of the international working class. Human progress is blocked 
by the capitalist system, which subordinates all considerations to the 
drive for corporate profit and the accumulation of personal wealth.  The
 ISSE demands:  • End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan! The ISSE calls 
for the immediate withdrawal of all US troops and private mercenaries 
from Iraq, Afghanistan and every other country the US seeks to 
subjugate. The American war machine must be dismantled, and the vast 
sums expended upon it used to pay reparations to the societies 
devastated by American bombs and to help meet pressing social needs at 
home.  • Billions for education and social programs! The ISSE demands a 
massive reallocation of resources worldwide to provide employment for 
all those who need it. There is plenty of work to be done, including 
meeting the basic needs of the population for food and shelter, 
rebuilding schools, expanding access to health care, and providing 
cultural institutions accessible to workers and young people.  • 
Nationalize the banks and major corporations! The financial aristocracy 
is the principal block to any solution to the crisis facing billions of 
people. To break its stranglehold over the world economy, the ISSE calls
 for the nationalization of the banks and all large corporations under 
the democratic control of the working population.  • For social 
equality! Democracy is incompatible with the immense levels of social 
inequality that prevail in the US and throughout the world. The ISSE 
calls for a program of wealth redistribution, including a sharp increase
 in taxes on the rich and the expropriation of all sums amassed through 
speculation and fraud.  For the political independence of the working 
class  The issues students face—including rising tuition, massive debts,
 the starving of resources for public education—are inseparable from the
 broader questions confronting the working class. None of these problems
 can be solved on the campuses alone. Students seeking to oppose war and
 inequality must reach out to workers throughout the country and 
internationally.  A turn to the working class does not mean an alliance 
with the trade unions. These organizations, supposedly defenders of the 
working class, are in fact dominated by well-heeled executives and 
partners of corporate management. They have collaborated in pushing 
through concessions while seeking to keep workers tied to the political 
establishment. The ISSE calls for the building of independent 
rank-and-file education, workplace, and neighborhood committees to unify
 all sections of workers and youth.  Above all, however, the working 
class needs its own political party, in opposition to the Democrats and 
Republicans, the parties of the corporate elite. The ISSE completely 
rejects the position that these parties of the corporate elite can be 
pushed to the left through protests and demonstrations.  Many young 
people voted for Obama hoping for “change” from the Bush administration.
 These hopes have very rapidly turned to disillusionment and anger as 
the new administration has only deepened the right-wing policies of its 
predecessor. The author of the Audacity of Hope has turned out to be the
 most audacious of liars.  The experience of the Obama Administration 
demonstrates that there can be no change through the existing 
institutions. The US is a democracy in name only; behind the façade of 
elections lies a completely corrupt political system beholden to the 
financial aristocracy.  The ISSE seeks to build a mass political 
movement of the working class that will fight for power, establish a 
workers' government, and reorganize society on a democratic, egalitarian
 and rational basis.  For socialism and internationalism  The two basic 
features of capitalism—private ownership of the means of production and 
the division of the world economy along national lines—block the 
rational use and development of man's productive forces. None of the 
problems humanity confronts can be dealt with on a national level.  The 
problems faced by working people and youth of every country are 
fundamentally the same. In all countries, the ISSE opposes nationalism, 
chauvinism, racism and protectionism, which are simply means to divide 
and weaken the working class. Working people of all countries must join 
together in a common struggle.  Socialism—the rational and democratic 
control of the economy to meet social need, not private profit—arises as
 a historical necessity from the breakdown of capitalism. The ISSE has 
unshakable confidence in the development of an international socialist 
movement because socialism corresponds to the objective interests of the
 working class, the vast majority of humanity.  Socialism can only be 
achieved by conscious effort. A movement must be built and a struggle 
waged. We call on students and young people to carry forth this fight 
and build the ISSE.  Join the fight for socialism! Join the ISSE!

Kurt A. Wellman EFA



http://www.educationforallcoalition.com/

http://www.meetup.com/San-Diegans-Fighting-For-Educational-Justice/

http://www.witches.meetup.com/1369/



"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in periods of moral crisis maintain their neutrality" Dante


      
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