We don’t win against oppression by being nice. We win by proudly violating the patriarchal, xenophobic, racist, sexist, classist norms of capitalism.
Author: Lois Weiner
LOIS WEINER writes widely about education, labor, and politics, specializing in teacher unionism. Her new book looks at lessons for the Left in capitalism’s alteration of work and education, and how teachers and their unions can resist with support to and of movements for social justice.
Education Reforms and Capitalism’s Changes to Work
Join us for a webinar Jan. 20, 2022, 7:30 pm (EST) as Lois Weiner and teacher union activists discuss how the revived attacks on teachers and their unions reflect capitalism’s chilling alteration of work. Details will be posted shortly.
Liberals Look To Weingarten, Again, To Betray Teachers, Parents, and Students
Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, is once again doing the work of big money.
On behalf of the New Politics editorial board
NP on Cuba: Consistent Opposition to US Imperialism and Support of Democratic Rights
We welcome the opportunity to clarify misrepresentations of New Politics editorial stance about Cuba and US imperialism.
Going into Labor
Going into Labor
Expecting working people to do the jobs for which they are paid and also help organize their workplaces is a huge ask. One invaluable asset we have is seeing the inseparability of struggles for social justice and workplace democracy.
Learning from Industrialization’s Mixed Legacy
Notes on Class Struggle Unionism under Biden
In my remarks I look back at the tradition of the Third Camp, articulated in publications of and about the Workers Party and Independent Socialist League, as well as my involvement in Berkeley with the Independent Socialist Club and the International Socialists.
Heads up! Chins down! Resisting the New Bipartisan Neoliberal Project in Education
Teachers’ work is being transformed beneath our collective nose. We have missed an opportunity to combat the project in its earliest stages but we cannot delay in understanding and combating the new iteration of neoliberalism’s global project in education.
Union Democracy is Our Goal But Is It Practical? Responding to Nelson Lichtenstein
Nelson Lichtenstein and I agree on two major ideas that I think distinguish our shared viewpoint from the practice of many union officials and some of their supporters on the left.
Unions, Democracy, and the Third Camp
Comparing Lessons from New Politics and Herman Benson
An analysis of debates among labor leftists about how a commitment to socialism “from below” should inform union activity.
Biden’s pick for Secretary of Education: What to expect from Cardona?
We should let Miguel Cardona know we have his back if he defends what schools, teachers, students really need – while we simultaneously prepare for his not doing so.
Teachers unions and the pandemic: Fighting for life and facing neoliberalism’s new bipartisan push
Biden will endorse the old normal Obama handed to Trump, but he will also push profiteering and control of education through technology, a project supported by both Democrats and the GOP from the start of Trump’s administration.
Say #ByeBetsy – and organize now to fight against Biden’s education policies
Biden’s victory now requires confronting his advocacy of disastrous education policies during the Obama administration, enacted under Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.
Fighting for teachers unions that speak back to power, defend students and social justice
School reopenings have become a point of political conflict on a national level, as parent, student, and teachers’ rights to have healthy, safe, equitable schools have been subordinated to the bipartisan consensus to put the economy and profit over human need.
Firing Up the House of Labor to Fight for Racial Justice: Confronting Hard Truths
Defending truths about union democracy and the inseparability of racial and economic justice in our society has shown to be extraordinarily demanding work, yet it is an unavoidable goal if the organized power of the working class is to (help) free the human race.
Building an Alternative to the Democratic Party
Bernie Sanders has ended his candidacy
When we feel our lives are in danger as they are in this pandemic, it can be very hard to look critically at national politics, by which I mean the end of Bernie’s candidacy and . . .
Philly Educators Have a Chance to Make History
Members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) have a chance to improve lives of Philly school educators and students, challenging control of schools by corporate elites, as did Chicago teachers when they elected a new generation of leaders from . . .
Writing an Obituary for Neocons
The New York Times obituary of neocon historian Gertrude Himmelfarb shows why neoconservatives remain a potent political force in U.S. politics: many liberals can’t imagine a socialist challenge to capitalism that doesn’t apologize for authoritarianism.
The NYT’s sentimental gloss of Himmelfarb’s . . .
Parents’ huge stake in the Chicago Teachers Union strike
A harsh reality of teachers’ strikes is that they hit parents – moms especially, who still do most of the work of caring for kids and housework – the hardest. Parents are left frantically searching for childcare options, especially if . . .
Education Workers in Chicago Are Challenging the U.S. Ruling Class
Though the media is casting the strike of education workers in the Chicago Public Schools as (just) another episode in the wave of teachers’ strikes, and the press in Chicago is doing its best to defeat the union, this contract . . .
review
Learning from the “Red State” Walkouts
Red State Revolt is based on Eric Blanc’s “on the ground” reporting for Jacobin on the 2018 walkouts of education workers in Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Arizona. He aims to tell the stories of the walkouts . . .
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