Blog for Peace and Freedom

This link to the original article on the World Socialist Web Site. WSWS home page.

Obama education plan to push competitive funding
By Patrick Martin
15 March 2010

President Obama released plans Saturday to overhaul the No Child Left Behind law, embracing the main thrust of the right-wing education plan adopted under the Bush administration, while proposing modifications that would in many cases make even greater inroads into the principle of universal, high-quality public education.

Most significantly, the administration plan would change the funding mechanism established in the bedrock Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), one of the last major progressive reforms enacted in the United States, substituting grants awarded on a competitive basis for a formula that awarded funded largely based on population.

While overall federal aid to schools would increase by 16 percent, to $29 billion, many low-performing schools in impoverished areas would face the loss of much of their federal funding if they fail to meet required benchmarks. More…

This link to the original World Socialist Web Site. WSWS home page.

WSWS Perspective
Lehman bankruptcy report exposes Wall Street criminality
15 March 2010

A report released March 11 by a bankruptcy court-appointed examiner concludes that in the months leading up to its September 2008 collapse, the Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers issued financial statements that were “materially misleading” and its top executives engaged in “actionable balance sheet manipulation.”

The 2,200-page document details accounting fraud on a massive scale, involving secret transactions that enabled the bank to falsify its level of debt and conceal the scale of its losses from toxic mortgage-linked assets. More…

This link to the original World Socialist Web Site article. WSWS home page.

Obama spearheads nationwide assault on public schools
By Kate Randall
13 March 2010

The Obama administration is spearheading an unprecedented assault on public education in the US. The White House and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are promoting a nationwide wave of school closures, teacher and staff layoffs, attacks on teachers’ wages and conditions, and an expansion of privately run charter schools—all in the guise of education “reform.”

This agenda is being carried out in school districts across the country over the angry opposition of students, parents and teachers. At a highly-charged meeting packed with parents and teachers on Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, the district’s school board voted to endorse a plan by the superintendent to shut down 28 of the city’s 61 schools and to cut 700 of 3,000 jobs, including 285 teachers’ jobs. More…

This link to the original World Socialist Web Site article. WSWS home page.

World’s billionaires grew 50 percent richer in 2009
By Andre Damon
12 March 2010

2009 will be remembered by millions of ordinary people as the year they lost their job, their house, or the prospect of an education. For the rich, however, it was a bonanza.

The world’s billionaires saw their wealth grow by 50 percent last year, and their ranks swell to 1,011, from 793, according to the latest Forbes list of billionaires.

The combined net worth of these 1,011 individuals increased to $3.6 trillion, up $1.2 trillion from the year before. On average, each billionaire had his or her wealth increase by $500 million. More…

Many articles and videos are available at this dedicated web site: The Dexter Avenue Fire Inquiry

Citizens Inquiry into the Dexter Avenue Fire: Utility Shutoffs and the Social Crisis in Detroit

The Socialist Equality Party is calling on workers, young people and all those concerned about the worsening social conditions in Detroit to participate in a fact-finding inquiry into the January 5 house fire on Dexter Avenue that killed two disabled men and another Detroit resident. The inquiry will be held on March 20, from 1-5 pm, at Wayne State University in Detroit (see below for full details). Contact us today to become involved!

The Dexter Avenue fire was caused by a space heater being used to warm the house because DTE Energy had cut off gas and electric service to the two-story home in July, 2008. This tragedy was one of many similar cases. Since the end of last year, at least ten fire-related deaths have taken place in Detroit, the majority of which occurred in homes where utilities had been turned off and families were seeking to cope with freezing temperatures. This included a fire that resulted in the death of a baby on Detroit’s east side. More…

Learning to use communications technology, while valuable, should not be overemphasized at the expense of learning the principles of organizing. While computer-based research and education has expanded our access to information, learning to evaluate information for its applicability requires greater focus. Analysis of communications in conflict, otherwise known as psychological warfare, thus serves as a prerequisite to effective engagement in netwar.

Comprehending how activism functions in this context, helps to distinguish between consciousness-raising and capacity-building. While not mutually exclusive, they are also not synonymous.

As more young people become involved in politics, they will, like us, live and learn from their mistakes. What they need to know in the digital age, is that connecting with millions through mass communication means little if the interaction fails to redistribute the power needed to socialize wealth and democratize capital ownership.

Chris Hedges, a columnist on the truthdig website, writes:

There are no constraints left to halt America’s slide into a totalitarian capitalism. Electoral politics are a sham. The media have been debased and defanged by corporate owners. The working class has been impoverished and is now being plunged into profound despair. The legal system has been corrupted to serve corporate interests. Popular institutions, from labor unions to political parties, have been destroyed or emasculated by corporate power. And any form of protest, no matter how tepid, is blocked by an internal security apparatus that is starting to rival that of the East German secret police. The mounting anger and hatred, coursing through the bloodstream of the body politic, make violence and counter-violence inevitable. Brace yourself. The American empire is over. And the descent is going to be horrifying.

You can read the full article at http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/calling_all_rebels_20100308/