SIGN THE E-PETITION: GOV. CULVER – IOWA SAYS NO TO CUTS & AUSTERITY!
Tens of thousands on the streets of California – in strikes, walkouts, and protests. Thousands more across the country – in New York City, Minneapolis, Chicago, Orlando and more. Militant union locals, socialist parties, student groups – coming together.
Socialist Alternative was an early endorser of the Californian workers’ and students’ call for March 4th. And in Cedar Rapids, our branch responded by organizing a relatively small but important protest that marks the next phase of the national and international struggle, as well as here in Iowa. On the local news tonight, almost without precedent it was reported that there are people in the Hawkeye State organizing and saying NO to the bipartisan consensus of cuts, cuts, cuts. We went on camera and put forward our program – let the rich pay for the crisis they made, full funding for human needs instead of War and Wall St. – and boldly stated, when asked, that to realize that program a socialist transformation of society would have to be carried out by the people.
So, what’s next? All the organizations and individuals involved in March 4th must build on this empowering experience. To begin, we should turn out for the strongest possible coalition to demonstrate on March 20th – the seventh anniversary of the predatory, imperialist Iraq war that has cost the Iraqi and American masses so much pain, and only benefits big business interests. But we also have to look beyond that, as well.
To win, the working class, including the students and the unemployed, need a fighting program, concrete demands to struggle for. We need a mass political party that not only represents us, but is *made* of us – democratic from the ground up, with no illusions in the ‘benevolence’ of the ruling elite to grant us concessions. In short; March 4th has shown that in America there is a desire to struggle. What we need now, then, is a vehicle for that struggle.
We urge everyone reading this to sign our petition against Governor Culver’s program of savage cuts and attacks on our living standards. Click here to view it.
And, if you agree with our view that there is a burning need to restructure politics & the economy along truly democratic lines, we encourage you to join Socialist Alternative, the organization where the most conscious, determined elements of the working class come together to learn the history and the art of the labor movement, and to lay the foundation for that political vehicle our class so desperately needs.
[A video of a speech by S.A. member Tiffany Van Tomme will be uploaded soon.]
media links:
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/86428902.html – Protesters want education rights
http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=12087439 – Cedar Rapids group takes part in national day of action
