FIRST THURSDAY FORUMS

A MONTHLY FORUM SERIES OF IDEAS,
POLITICS, AND CULTURE

Dec. 1, 7:30 pm:

NOT JUST A GAME:
POWER, POLITICS & AMERICAN SPORTS

Dave Zirin - sports commentator (CNN etc.) columnist for The Nation

author of A People’s History of Sport

Documentary: “Not Just a Game”

Sports and Politics Don’t Mix!  Dave Zirin, whom Howard Zinn called “Most Valuable Sportswriter,” exposes, with this remarkable documentary film, the politics (militarism, racism, sexism, homophobia) actually dominating so much of sports – and highlights rebel athletes who have stood up for social justice. 

Zirin will be present for the discussion that follows. 

All Forums at FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE

4836 ELLSWORTH AVENUE

                       

$2.00 SUGGESTED DONATION FOR EACH FORUM

                       

Check us out on Facebook.  E-mail: isopgh@gmail.com

                  

DEMAND healthcare for ALL!

On the 46^th Anniversary of the Passage of Medicare

Elected officials of both major parties in Washington are currently “negotiating” cuts to Medicare, ostensibly to lower the deficit, but Medicare is less expensive than private insurance and protects seniors and the disabled from premature death and bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, our wealthiest individuals and corporations are being protected from paying their fair share in taxes and billions are spent on wars.

Here in Western Pennsylvania, UPMC and Highmark are engaged in a duel that puts patients at the mercy of these corporate powers and puts greed before individual and community need.

“Expanded and Improved Medicare for All”—H.R. 676 in the U.S. House of Representatives—provides healthcare for all, with full choice of doctors and hospitals,  at a fraction of the cost, by eliminating the insurance company middlemen and negotiating lower drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry.

H.R. 676, introduced by Congressman John Conyers, has 65 co-sponsors, including U.S. Representative Mike Doyle of Pittsburgh.

For decades, Medicare has helped millions of seniors and the disabled receive the necessary medical care that a civilized society should provide to all. 

PLEASE JOIN US AS WE PAY TRIBUTE TO THE ANNIVERSARY OF MEDICARE AND DEMAND THE PROTECTION, EXPANSION, AND IMPROVEMENT OF MEDICARE FOR ALL:

Friday July 29^th

11:15 – noon:
In front of office of U.S. Senator Pat Toomey,
100 W. Station Square Drive

12:30 pm – 1:15 pm:
In front of office of U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr.,
Regional Enterprise Tower, 425 Sixth Avenue

Sponsored by:  W. PA Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare   www.WPaSinglePayer.org, Healthcare4allPA  www.healthcare4allPA, and Save Our Community Hospitals  www.savebraddock.com. 

For more info contact: Co-Chairs, Western PA Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare--Sandy Fox @ 412-527-9072 or Ed Grystar @ 412-215-4141

SPEAK UP FOR JOBS AND AGAINST CORPORATE GREED

Economic Justice Committee of the Thomas Merton Center

urges ALL to attend this town meeting ...

SPEAK UP FOR JOBS

AND AGAINST CORPORATE GREED

MONDAY JULY 18TH AT 6:30 PM in Pittsburgh

KINGSLEY ASSOCIATION 6434 Frankstown Ave
Community Rally & Picnic starting at 5:00pm

The Congressional Listening Tour is coming to Pittsburgh

and we need YOU to speak out for our communities.

OUR COMMUNITIES NEED JOBS,
BUT CONGRESS GIVES TAX BREAKS
TO MILLIONAIRES & BIG CORPORATIONS. 

Join us for a chance to speak out and speak up for JOBS as the Congressional listening tour comes to Pittsburgh to hear what we have to say.

Congressman Mike Doyle, Congressman John Conyers and Congressman Raul Grijalva will come to LISTEN TO US as we tell them that we need Congress to invest in citizens, not corporations.

MONDAY JULY 18TH at 6:30 PM
  KINGSLEY ASSOCIATION 6434 Frankstown Ave

Come early and join the Community Rally with FREE FOOD and speakers
from 5:00 to 6:30 across from the Kingsley Association.

Don't miss your chance to be heard!

The Congressional Listening Tour includes 18 stops in cities across America to give the people a chance to speak out about how the economy is affecting them.  Members of Congress will listen to everyday citizens like us and take that back to Washington as they fight to restore the American Dream

RSVP on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/weareonewpa

MARXISM & ORGANIZATION

Presentation and power-point slideshow
with author PAUL LeBLANC

--FOLLOWED BY OPEN DISCUSSION--

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15 – 7:30 p.m.

in Pittsburgh’s picturesque Shadyside neighborhood

FOR DETAILS, CONTACT US:
isopitt@gmail.com or call 412-760-9716


How Can We Get to Socialism?
What did Marx & Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin, & Trotsky, Antonio Gramsci, and other socialists have to say?  What do YOU have to say?

COME SHARE WITH US 

-- POTLUCK REFRESHMENTS!!!

Make Exxon Pay Rally and March

Tired of Big Oil Not Paying Their Fair Share?

You pay your taxes, so why doesn't Exxon?
With gas prices topping $4 a gallon, it's no wonder Exxon is making record profits.

Had enough? Let's make big oil and gas pay their fair share.

Make Exxon Pay Rally and March

Friday June 10th, 3:30pm @ Market Square

Call 877-793-4238 or visit www.onepittsburgh.org for more info

Justice for Jordan Miles

On May 28th, members of our ISO Branch participated in the "Peoples Indictment" as part of the Justice for Jordan Miles activities in downtown Pittsburgh. Courtney and Nick have published the following article in Socialist Worker.org.  Justice for Jordan Miles

Economic Justice Forum

A filmed lecture and live discussion

Tuesday, May 24th - 7:30 p.m.

William Pitt Union, Dining Room B

University of Pittsburgh

Sponsored by the Economic Justice Committee of the Thomas Merton Center

and the Pitt ISO

CUTBACKS IN LIVING STANDARDS, EDUCATION & HUMAN SERVICES:

AUSTERITY . . . OR CLASS WAR . . . OR WHAT?

MONDAY, April 18th, 8:00 p.m.
University of Pittsburgh, Wm. Pitt Union,
Dining Room A

SEAN CHAMPAGNE (Pitt undergraduate student),
International Socialist Organization
ALICIA WILLIAMSON (Pitt graduate student),
Pittsburghers for Public Transit
Dr. PAUL LeBLANC (Pitt alumnus),
Economic Justice Committee, Thomas Merton Center

JOIN THE DISCUSSION - ALL ARE WELCOME

Here’s our e-mail address: isopitt@gmail.com
(and also find us on Facebook)

War and the Working Class: Lessons From the Past For Activists of Today

Saturday, March 26 · 4:00pm - 5:30pm

Stephen Foster Community Center

286 Main Street (between Butler Street & Penn Avenue – Lawrenceville)

Pittsburgh, PA

Join the Pittsburgh branch of the International Socialist Organization in welcoming Sharon Smith, author of Subterranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States and Women and Socialism, for a talk and discussion on the lessons from the U.S. labor movements’ involvement in earlier movements for peace and justice. Leading U.S. radical Mike Davis has called Smith a “brilliant worker-intellectual” and said that her Subterranean Fire “brilliantly addresses the crisis of the labor movement, skewering those who believe that renewal can from the top down, and encouraging those who are fighting to rebuild it from the bottom up.”

The Revolution in Egypt and Beyond

Popular movements across the Middle East and North Africa are sweeping away decades-old dictatorships. Activists all over the world - including right here in Pittsburgh - have marched and rallied in solidarity with these popular, democratic movements. The link between many of these repressive regimes and the U.S. government has placed an added urgency to the solidarity movement here. No link is more direct than the one the U.S. government has historically shared with the Egyptian dictatorship. After Israel, the repressive Mubarak regime is the second largest recipient of U.S. military aid - he's shored up his government with guns and influence bought with U.S. dollars for three decades.

Come join the Pittsburgh International Socialist Organization for a presentation and discussion on the revolutionary movements sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.

Where: William Pitt Union, Dining Room A

When: Monday Feb., 14 from 7:30 to 9:30