On Strike!

We are thrilled to have as our guest antiwar journalist Chris Hedges. Many who are watching will already know Chris Hedges. Chris covered the first Persian Gulf War in the 1990s for The New York Times, where he refused to participate in the military pool system that restricted the movement of and reporting by journalists. In 2003, Chris gave a commencement speech at the graduation ceremony for Rockford College in which he criticized the then ongoing American imperialist invasion of Iraq. His microphone was shut off three minutes after he began speaking. Crhis had to end the commencement speech short because of the disruptions, which included an additional microphone cut, foghorns, and chants of "God Bless America." Clearly, we are in a completely different period - student antiwar protest movement. In fact, when Chris was speaking on the megaphone at the campus antiwar protest at Princeton University last month, when the campus police and administration prevented Chris from speaking, the students chanted “ let him speak, let him speak!” Chris has long spoken out against the two warmongering parties in the United States, the Democrats and Republicans, and called for a new party for working people. In the 2008 United States presidential campaign, Chris was a speechwriter for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. Chris also supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein against the Democrat’s and Wall Street’s candidate, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 election. We need to continue building the momentum of the campus anti-war movement with a nationally coordinated mass protest at the DNC in Chicago in August, and by sharing lessons from campus unions that have passed resolutions and strike authorizations in solidarity with the student protests and against police repression. We also need the rank and file of the labor movement to put forward resolutions to rescind their union’s endorsements of Biden. Campus unions should provide a lead to the antiwar movement by calling for a one-day nation-wide strike and walk-out against the war. This is what it will take to end the war- shutting down the profits of the capitalists.

We are joined by a special guest, Cora Bergantiños-Crespo. Cora is a geneticist, and the outgoing President of UAW 4100, the union of postdoctoral researchers at Columbia University and Mount Sinai Hospital. She is also a member of Socialist Alternative and Workers Strike Back. Cora talks to us about what escalation strategy the anti-war movement, and specifically the campus encampment protests, urgently need. She describes the role of the labor movement, and the need to harness the power of organized labor in order to end the war on Gaza and end all U.S. military funding to the Israeli state. A lot of political analysts are comparing this moment to 1968, when the movement against the Vietnam War took its protests to the DNC, and faced all kinds of police repression. That DNC was also in Chicago just as it will be in August this year. It is absolutely crucial that the anti-war movement builds for mass protests at the DNC. The campus protests are an enormous and historic development, but we also know from history that student protests alone will not be enough to end the genocidal war or the stranglehold of Wall Street billionaires on universities, much less on our society as a whole. They have the potential, however, to be a spark for even larger developments. There was a near revolution against capitalism in France in 1968 - major student protests acted as a spark that initiated a mass movement leading up to a general strike in France. A revolution would have been possible, which could have then spread regionally and globally, had it not been for the betrayal of the leaders of mass worker organizations who undermined the movement and failed to provide any leadership, in effect rescuing the capitalist class. If you live in or near Seattle, join us in person for a special rally and public meeting on May 16th at 6PM at Smith 120 on UW campus, where we will discuss these and other next steps for the antiwar movement. And on Sunday May 19th, Workers Strike Back and Socialist Alternative are hosting a national public meeting over Zoom to discuss how we can take this movement forward by bringing the momentum of the student protests to the DNC in Chicago this August, and having campus worker unions across the country take up the example of UAW 4811’s strike authorization vote and WEA members’ resolution to rescind the endorsement of Biden and bring a powerful challenge to US imperialism and end this genocidal war. On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/mem... Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back.

The antiwar movement has gained renewed momentum, with dozens of university campuses across the nation seeing mass encampments and protests against the Israeli state’s genocidal war on Gaza.  Reports indicate that arrests of students had exceeded an estimated 1,800 as of May 2nd, with hundreds facing criminal charges as well as suspension and even expulsion. Some campuses have been subjected to particularly brutal police repression. One of the people arrested at the campus protests was JILL STEIN, who along with Cornel West is one of the two left antiwar Presidential candidates running this election year. This episode is a special conversation with Jill Stein about the antiwar movement and what it will take to end the war on Gaza. On Strike will also be bringing you a sit-down interview with Jill Stein, in which we will talk more about her campaign. Jill Stein's support of the antiwar movement is obviously a SHARP contrast to President Biden, the warmonger-in-Chief. Those of us who oppose the war on Gaza and who oppose Biden’s attacks on working people should absolutely NOT vote for Biden in November. Supporting Democratic candidates as the supposed lesser evil with the idea that it will stop the rise of the right wing is both a failed, and completely counterproductive, strategy. Working people and the antiwar movement also absolutely cannot have illusions in Trump or RFK Junior. Working people and young people need to support and build for the largest possible vote for the antiwar campaigns of Jill Stein and Cornel West this November, as a step towards building a new antiwar party for the working class. On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/membership  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow  On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back.

In this exclusive interview with Shawn Fain, the President of the United Auto Workers (UAW), we spoke about the union’s historic victory last week in Chattanooga at the Volkswagen plant, with a stunning 73 percent of workers voting yes.  The Chattanooga victory was driven by bottom-up, rank-and-file organizing, and it was inspired by the record gains won by last year’s UAW strike of the Big 3 automakers, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. You’ll also get to hear from UAW rank-and-file members on what they think about how things are going, with their own criticisms of last year’s Stand Up Strike and proposals for what needs to be done. This isn’t like other interviews on UAW. On Strike asked Fain questions that labor leaders almost never get asked, including about the war on Gaza, his position on Biden, this year’s presidential election, and the need for a new party for working people. In the interview, Fain justifies the UAW endorsement of Biden on the basis of fearing a second Trump Presidency. But invoking lesser evilism as an argument to vote for Biden turns reality and history on its head. The Democratic Party, because of its decades of betraying working people, has been the best builder of Trumpism. On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/membership  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow  On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back.

The fight to unionize Amazon is taking place at multiple facilities in multiple states around the United States, as well as globally. Amazon is the second largest corporation in the U.S. and unionizing it is a crucial task of the working class in the U.S. and globally. The path to rebuilding a fighting labor movement must go through this trillion-dollar corporation. In the struggle to unionize Amazon, what is the role of the big, existing unions, and what is the role of independent unions? What will it take to unionize the behemoth? This week On Strike meets with independent union organizers in North Carolina who are fighting to unionize in the South, at the RDU1 facility. Their union is called CAUSE, Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment. They talk with us about Amazon’s union busting, discrimination against immigrant workers, and their demands for $30 an hour, 180 hours paid time off, longer breaks, and much more. They also explain why they don’t support Biden or the Democrats, and why we need a new party for working people. On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/membership  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow  On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back.

Haiti has become engulfed in an unprecedented crisis of deadly gang violence over the last several weeks. Political gangs vying for control of the capital city, Port-au-Prince, have effectively laid siege to the city, storming prisons, seizing control of the port, torching shops and buildings, destroying hospitals, and taking over the main international airport. The United Nations estimates that eighty percent of Port-au-Prince is now under gang control, pointing towards a veritable collapse of society.  Over 300,000 Haitians have been forced to flee their homes, and thousands have become victims of indiscriminate violence at the hands of the armed gangs. Over 1,500 people have been killed since just the start of this year, and morgues have been overflowing with bodies. Hospitals are flooded with countless patients with gunshot wounds, many of them civilians hit in gang crossfire. Harrowing reports of kidnappings, gang rapes, and homes being burned add to the picture of a nation in the throes of a deep-rooted crisis. To help us understand the roots and historical context of this crisis, why it should matter to American working and young people, how it relates to the other crises internationally under capitalism, and what strategy is needed to end the crisis in Haiti, we have two special guests today. Toya Chester is a rank-and-file member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Eric Jenkins is an educator in the Philadelphia Public School district, and is a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Both Eric and Toya are among the leaders of the Black Caucus of Socialist Alternative. On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/membership  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow  On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back.

Today we’ll be doing the second part in our series on the US-China Cold War. In January, we spoke with Tom Crean of US Socialist Alternative about the Cold War. Today we'll be talking with Chong, a socialist organizer from China and an editor of the dissident website Chinaworker.info. Today, the world is increasingly shaped by two imperialist superpowers - the US and China -  which are locked in an increasingly intense competition for domination of resources and influence in a global economy characterized by falling profits and rising instability. Inter-imperialist conflict is not a temporary historical aberration, but rather the norm of capitalism — a norm that is reasserting itself as the era of neoliberal globalization with the US as an uncontested super power has come to an end. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 marked the start of the  first “hot” war of the new Cold War era, with the US and Western Imperialist powers on one side using Ukraine as a proxy for their interests and China backing Russia on the other. Neither imperialist camp waging this war has the interests of the working class in Ukraine, Russia, or anywhere, at heart. This conflict was the first of more to come, with further devastating proxy wars likely to spring up across the globe. A war between the US and China over Taiwan, which US military brass have openly acknowledged they’re preparing for, would threaten even greater horrors. How are these conflicts likely to develop? What have been the impacts of recent mass protests in China against Xi’s regime? How can we build a united international movement to end imperialist war and exploitation once and for all? On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/membership  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow  On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back.

Hundreds of thousands of people are voting “uncommitted” in the Democratic Primary, as a rejection of the terrible options being thrust on them in the form of a Biden and Trump rematch this year.  Opposition to the genocidal war on Gaza has been the single most important factor in driving the “uncommitted” vote. But it’s not only the war driving the growing opposition to Biden. In the absence of any other avenue for working and young people to push back against Biden and Trump, the Uncommitted and Abandon Biden movements are also helping to channel the frustrations of young people over many things, such as the cost of living, piling household debt, and chronically underfunded social services.  So the big question is: what can working people, and those opposed to the war on Gaza, do to get organized in the lead-up to November? How do we defeat Trumpism and the right wing? How do we use the anger at Biden reflected in “uncommitted” and Abandon Biden to build the movement for a new party for working people? What is the strategy for the anti-war protests in order to successfully force an end to the horrific war on the Palestinian people? What role does the labor movement have to play in all of this? How can working-class power, particularly the power of strike action be used to stand up against the war on Gaza and the ongoing attacks on working people’s standards of living in the US? On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/membership  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow  On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back, hosted by Kshama Sawant and Bia Lacombe.

There is a profound crisis in public education in the United States. For decades, politicians at the state and federal levels have starved public schools of necessary funding. School buildings across the US are falling apart and in need of major repairs. Educators are buying school supplies with their own money. Class sizes have increased dramatically in school districts across the country, negatively affecting student outcomes and increasing educator workload and exhaustion to unsustainable levels. On average, teachers made 26.4% less than other similarly educated professionals in 2022—the lowest level since 1960. Underfunding schools, and attacks on educators’ and other public school unions, has been a bipartisan policy by both the Republican and the Democratic Parties. These politicians cite budget shortages and lack of revenue, cutting teacher pay and closing schools entirely while cutting taxes on the rich. Taxing wealthy corporations and billionaires, meanwhile, would raise the money necessary to fix many of these urgent issues.  The crisis in education is only deepening, but inspiring struggles of unionized educators across the country have shown that there is a way forward if we have the right strategies and tactics to win. It’s important that we draw out the lessons of these struggles, because they apply not just to educators, but workers everywhere looking to fight back. On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/membership  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow  On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back, hosted by Kshama Sawant and Bia Lacombe.

Last month, over 1.5 million people protested in Germany, bringing entire cities to a standstill, in what became the largest wave of protests in the history of the country. Cities like Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich each saw hundreds of thousands of protesters out on the streets. The protests were the result of widespread outrage at horrific anti-immigrant deportation plans by the so-called Alternative for Germany, or AfD for short, a right-wing populist party, and against the overall shift to the right by the establishment parties in the country. The protests have since continued into their fourth week, with hundreds of thousands of people still marching in the streets. To help us understand more about what’s happening in Germany, the way forward for the protest movement, and why this matters for working and young people in the United States and globally, we are fortunate to have with us today Claus Ludwig, a member of Socialist Alternative in Germany, a sister organization of Socialist Alternative here in the US. Claus is a union activist in the public sector, and the editor of sozialismus.info, the online and printed newspaper of Socialist Alternative in Germany. Claus was active in the antifascist movement in the early 1990s, and at that time, co-founded the Youth Against Racism movement in Europe. He is the author of a book titled Firebugs, about the rise of the AfD, published in 2017. He was also a council member in the city of Cologne for Die Linke, or the left party in Germany from 2004 to 2014. On Strike is 100% funded by working people. BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back now to support our work: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/membership  Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OnStrikeShow  On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back, hosted by Kshama Sawant and Bia Lacombe.