ISO Pittsburgh: November 2014

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Conflict Kitchen cooks again

The Conflict Kitchen in Pittsburgh serves up justice with a side of community support, explain Josh Cascone and Alex Wood.

AFTER A death threat temporarily closed the Conflict Kitchen on November 8, the take-out eatery/art project reopened on November 12 after an outpouring of support from the community.
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The struggle for justice in Palestine is continuing to build in Pittsburgh. The Conflict Kitchen's reopening represents a victory for the local Palestine solidarity struggle and was only possible due to the hard work of local activists speaking out against the injustice of U.S. government support for Israel's occupation of Palestine. As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, the United States is "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." Justice must therefore begin with Palestinian solidarity and opposition to U.S. aid for occupation and apartheid.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Hugo Chavez: Socialist of the 21st Century?

A Forum with Mike Gonzalez

Visiting Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Author, Hugo Chavez: Socialist of the Twenty-First Century

How did Hugo Chavez help the working class of Venezuela?
What was the role of the working class in the revolutionary struggle?
What is the state of the “revolution” after Chavez?
What is “socialism of the 21st century?”

COME JOIN THE DISCUSSION!

Thursday, November 20

7:30pm

Thomas Merton Center

5129 Penn Avenue

Hugo Chavez: Socialist for the Twenty-first Century by Mike Gonzalez

http://www.revolutionarylives.co.uk/his-death-left-a-number-of-unanswered-questionsmike-gonzalez-introduces-hugo-chavez/

Who We Are

We are the Pittsburgh branch of the International Socialist Organization. Our members are involved in helping to build a number of struggles: the movement to stop American wars abroad, fights against racism and anti-immigrant scapegoating, the struggle for women's rights like the right to choose abortion, opposing anti-gay bigotry, pushing for environmental justice, and standing up for workers' rights. We are committed to building a left alternative to a world of war, racism and poverty.

Read our "Where We Stand" pamphlet for more information.

Why Socialism?

The misery that millions of people around the world face is rooted in the society we live in--capitalism, where the few who rule profit from the labor of the vast majority of the population.

In the U.S., a tiny proportion of the population enjoys fantastic wealth, while millions of people live in desperate poverty, and many more live paycheck to paycheck. Yet we have the resources to feed, clothe and educate everyone on the planet.

A world free of exploitation--socialism--is not only possible but worth fighting for. The ISO stands in the tradition of revolutionary socialists Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky in the belief that workers themselves--the vast majority of the population--are the only force that can lead the fight to win a socialist society. Socialism can't be brought about from above, but has to be won by workers themselves.