Daily News Digest Archives
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program:
1. Austerity,
2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and
3. The Iron Heel.
Daily News Digest March 8, 2017
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From Austerity!
Today Is International Women’s Day:
Alexandra Kollontai: How and Why was Women’s Day Organized?
A March 8, 1917 demonstration led by Alexandra Kollontai and other organizers.
Women’s Day or Working Women’s Day is a day of international solidarity, and a day for reviewing the strength and organization of proletarian women. But this is not a special day for women alone. The 8th of March is a historic and memorable day for the workers and peasants, for all the Russian workers and for the workers of the whole world. In 1917, on this day, the great February revolution broke out.[2] It was the working women of Petersburg who began this revolution; it was they who first decided to raise the banner of opposition to the Tsar and his associates. And so, working women’s day is a double celebration for us. But if this is a general holiday for all the proletariat, why do we call it “Women’s Day”? Why then do we hold special celebrations and meetings aimed above all at the women workers and the peasant women? Doesn’t this jeopardize the unity and solidarity of the working class? To answer these questions, we have to look back and see how Women’s Day came about and for what purpose it was organized. Not very long ago, in fact about ten years ago, the question of women’s equality, and the question of whether women could take part in government alongside men was being hotly debated. The working class in all capitalist countries struggled for the rights of working women: the bourgeoisie did not want to accept these rights. It was not in the interest of the bourgeoisie to strengthen the vote of the working class in parliament; and in every country they hindered the passing of laws that gave the right to working women. Socialists in North America insisted upon their demands for the vote with particular persistence. On the 28th of February, 1909, the women socialists of the U.S.A. organized huge demonstrations and meetings all over the country demanding political rights for working women. This was the first “Woman’s Day”. The initiative on organizing a woman’s day thus belongs to the working women of America. In 1910, at the Second International Conference of Working Women, Clara Zetkin[3] brought forward the question of organizing an International Working Women’s Day. The conference decided that every year, in every country, they should celebrate on the same day a “Women’s Day” under the slogan “The vote for women will unite our strength in the struggle for socialism”. During these years, the question of making parliament more democratic, i.e., of widening the franchise and extending the vote to women, was a vital issue. Even before the first world war, the workers had the right to vote in all bourgeois countries except Russia. [4] Only women, along with the insane, remained without these rights. Yet, at the same time, the harsh reality of capitalism demanded the participation of women in the country’s economy. Read More
Women’s Day History:International Women’s Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe. Since those early years, International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas. Increasingly, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. Below is a brief history of how the Day has evolved.
1909 The first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States on 28 February. The Socialist Party of America designated this day in honour of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions.
1910 The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women’s Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women’s rights and to build support for achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish Parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.
1911 As a result of the Copenhagen initiative, International Women’s Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded women’s rights to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.
1913-1914 International Women’s Day also became a mechanism for protesting World War I. As part of the peace movement, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with other activists.
1917 Against the backdrop of the war, women in Russia again chose to protest and strike for ‘Bread and Peace’ on the last Sunday in February (which fell on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar). Four days later, the Czar abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.
1975 The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March during International Women’s Year 1975.
1977 In December 1977, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions.
Images of the Day:
International Women’s Day – Remember Your Rights 
Equality for Women 
Quotes of the Day:
The term robber baron derives from the Raubritter (robber knights), the medieval German lords who charged nominally illegal tolls (unauthorized by the Holy Roman Emperor) on the primitive roads crossing their lands[1] or larger tolls along the Rhine river — all without adding anything of value, but instead lining their pockets at the cost of the common good (rent seeking). — Wilkipedia
International Women’s Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year.[2] In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women for their economic, political and social achievements. March 8, 1917 in the capital of Russia, Petrograd, began a demonstration of women textile workers, covering the whole city. This was the beginning of the Russian Revolution.[3] Declared a national holiday in the Soviet Russia in 1917, it was predominantly celebrated in socialist and communist countries until it was adopted in 1977 by the United Nations. — Wilkipedia
Videos of the Day:
Empire in Decay: Federal Government Falling Apart as Spying Allegations Fly Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says as a theory circulates in the intelligence community that the CIA asked the British to spy on Trump on behalf of the Democratic Party, the politicization of the intelligence agencies is a reflection of a dying empire
Judge Accepts Class Action Lawsuit Against Use of Slave Labor in Private Detention Centers The case could open up a pandora’s box of challenges against constitutional provisions for exploiting prison labor, says Black Agenda Report’s Glen Ford
U.S.:
Today’s Robber Barron Take a Page from the Original Robbers: Trump official admits Americans will have to pay for his infrastructure projects — Private investment in roads and bridges means Americans will pay more in tolls and fees. Any private firm that invests in infrastructure, however, will only do so if there’s a source of profit — the ability to charge people for using it — even if the government helps with financing. When Hannity asked Chao directly if this will mean new tolls on roads and bridges, she responded “that is certainly one example of how that would work.” Any private firm that invests in infrastructure, however, will only do so if there’s a source of profit — the ability to charge people for using it — even if the government helps with financing. When Hannity asked Chao directly if this will mean new tolls on roads and bridges, she responded “that is certainly one example of how that would work.” By Bryce Covert
Trump’s Generals Will Build on Obama Policies Toward a Permanent State of War for the U.S. It’s no secret that our new president loves generals. He has the most military-heavy foreign policy team in memory. By William D. Hartung
Why Trump’s Revised Executive Order Is Still a Racist Muslim Ban Whether or not the new Trump Executive Order banning visas for citizens of 6 Muslim-majority countries for a 90 day period and likewise excluding all refugees for six months stands up in the courts, it is still a piece of sordid bigotry. By Juan Cole
Russell Brand Pokes Holes in Trump and Fox News’ Anti-Immigrant Narratives (Video) “Isn’t it so extraordinary to learn that there’s no real correlation,” said the “Trews” host in a recent episode, “between immigration and violent crime?” Russell Brand argues that watching Fox News and listening to the new U.S. president creates this sense the immigration is the worst problem the country faces, even when facts contradict this idea. 
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 6, 2017 
An Electoral School for Black Self-Determination: The Black political class has “become servants of the Democratic Party and other institutions outside of our communities,” and must be replaced, said Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations. The coalition will hold a two-day electoral school, April 8 and 9, in St. Petersburg, Florida, to begin a campaign “to unleash a new force of people, and inject them into the electoral process based on a struggle for self-determination.” The coalition last year released a 19-point National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination with positions on the widest range of domestic and foreign policy issues. Candidates that support the Agenda should get Black support — even if they’re Democrats, said Yeshitela.
Blacks Need an Anti-War Movement, Not Anti-Russia Hysteria: The Democrats seem to have an objective interest in having us focus on Donald Trump, the person, as opposed to this system, itself,” said Ajamu Baraka, the former Green Party vice presidential candidate, a founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network, and an editor and columnist for Black Agenda Report. In this environment, anti-war views are regarded as suspect. “I’m involved in building a Black Alliance for Peace, to try to revive the Black anti-war movement — the Black anti-war consciousness,” he said. “We think we have a perfect opportunity, now that people are waking up out of this eight-year stupor, to bring the Black community back to where we used to be, as the most consistent anti-war population in this country. But, it’s difficult to do this when our people are getting caught up in this anti-Russian hysteria, too,” said Baraka.
Beyond Black Lives Matter: Despite its success in “changing the conversation about police brutality in the United States,” the Black Lives Matter movement “shows the limitations of social movements that do not advance beyond highlighting injustice,” said Dr. Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor, the author, activist and professor of African America Studies at Princeton University. In a speech at Detroit’s Wayne State University, Taylor said: “Knowledge, alone, of abuse, injustice and oppression” is not enough. “Indeed, mass movements of millions have to be mobilized to stare down the autocratic impulses of the regime in the White House.”
In Praise of Two Exemplary “Jailhouse Lawyers”: Mumia Abu Jamal spent many years on death row before his sentence was reduced to life in prison. The nation’s best known political prisoner has high praise for two other Pennsylvania prison inmates, Craig Williams and Shaun T. Walker, who were kept on death row for years, even after their death sentences were lifted. Williams, said Abu Jamal, is “one helluva jailhouse lawyer — still making new law.” Mumia and other inmates “have complained about hazardous brown water for several months, and prison officials have done nothing to fix the problem,” according to a public service announcement produced by the Move organization. “Enough is enough.” Activists are urging the public to call John Wetzel, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, at 717.728.4109, and “demand that inmates are given clean water for showers and personal use.” For more information, go to FreeMumia.com.
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour. Click here to download or listen to the show.
World:
