No Kings: Timothy Snyder

 No Kings Day

Freedom Video.

https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/when-we-say-no-kings-we-mean-freedom?

DSA Issues Freedom Advisory About Florida Actions Toward Fascism

 DSA ISSUES A FREEDOM ADVISORY.

Following the lead of LULAC ( League of United Latin American Citizens), the NAACP,  California, and others.

 

On our blog.

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/freedom-advisory-against-florida-fascism

 

MAY 24, 2023

Today, the Democratic Socialists of America is issuing a freedom advisory for the people of Florida in opposition to the fascist actions of its politicians. We recognize the travel advisory issued by Florida Senator Rick Scott as part of a continued pattern of red-baiting and attacks against Black organizations like the NAACP in our country’s history. Scott’s “socialist travel advisory” is a mocking response to the NAACP rightfully warning people about the openly hostile laws created and upheld by Florida Senator Rick Scott and Governor Ron DeSantis that target African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. 

 

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/freedom-advisory-against-florida-fascism

 

Consistent with our resolution to Unite to Fight the Ultra- Right. 

Freedom to Teach

Freedom to Teach

 

Across the U.S., educators are being censored for broaching controversial topics. Since January 2021, researcher Jeffrey Sachs says, 35 states have introduced 137 bills limiting what schools can teach with regard to race, American history, politics, sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Sachs has been tracking this legislation for PEN America, a writers organization dedicated to free speech. He says the recent flurry of legislation has created a "minefield" for educators trying to figure out how to teach topics such as slavery, Jim Crow laws or the Holocaust. One proposed law in South Carolina, for instance, prohibits teachers from discussing any topic that creates "discomfort, guilt or anguish" on the basis of political belief. 

"That means that a teacher would have to be very, very careful about how they discuss something like, let's say, fascism or racism or antisemitism," Sachs says. "These are political beliefs, and it means that teachers are going to have to second-guess whether they can describe that political belief in as forthright and honest a way as we wish for fear of falling afoul of this bill."

EDUCATION 

Why education was a top voter priority this election

Critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how race and racism function in American institutions, has inspired a backlash in conservative circles across the United States. In one of his first acts in office, Glenn Youngkin, the Republican governor of Virginia, established a hotline to allow parents or members of the community to report critical race theory in the classroom. Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, a conservative mom's group is offering a $500 bounty to catch teachers who break a state law prohibiting certain teachings about racism and sexism. 

"I think it must be a very terrifying time to be an educator at any level in higher ed or in K-12," Sachs says.

Read more.

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/1077878538/legislation-restricts-what-teachers-can-discuss 

Tom Torlakson supports teachers rights to teach

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today released the following statement regarding theVergara, et al. vs. State of California, et al. lawsuit:

"The people who dedicate their lives to the teaching profession deserve our admiration and support. Instead, this ruling lays the failings of our education system at their feet.

"We do not fault doctors when the emergency room is full. We do not criticize the firefighter whose supply of water runs dry. Yet while we crowd our classrooms and fail to properly equip them with adequate resources, those who filed and support this case shamelessly seek to blame teachers who step forward every day to make a difference for our children.

"No teacher is perfect. A very few are not worthy of the job. School districts have always had the power to dismiss those who do not measure up, and this year I helped pass a new law that streamlined the dismissal process, while protecting the rights of both teachers and students. It is disappointing that the Court refused to even consider this important reform.

"In a cruel irony, this final ruling comes as many California teachers spend countless unpaid hours preparing to start the new school year in hopes of better serving the very students this case purportedly seeks to help.

"While the statutes in this case are not under my jurisdiction as state Superintendent, it is clear that the Court's ruling is not supported by the facts or the law. Its vagueness provides no guidance about how the Legislature could successfully alter the challenged statutes to satisfy the Court. Accordingly, I will ask the Attorney General to seek appellate review."

Dolores Huerta to receive Medal of Freedom

Farm worker movement hails Dolores Huerta’s 
‘Lifetime of self-sacrifice and deep dedication’

 
United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez and Cesar Chavez Foundation President Paul F. Chavez issued the following joint statement from the farm worker movement’s Keene, Calif. headquarters on the announcement that President Obama will present Dolores Huerta with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
 
Cesar Chavez once described Dolores Huerta as “completely fearless, both mentally and physically.”
 
Over six decades, Dolores Huerta put the nonviolent fight for civil and labor rights ahead of her personal interests, and sometimes before her personal safety. Like all the farm worker strikers and boycotters, she accepted a life of voluntary poverty for many decades. Her dynamic and inspiring leadership through the most difficult and turbulent times in the farm worker movement’s history established her not only as a leader of farm workers but as a role model for women and men across this nation and beyond.
 
We congratulate Dolores on receiving the nation’s highest civilian honor. No one is more deserving after a lifetime of self-sacrifice and deep dedication to defending the poorest and most abused people in our country.
Dolores Huerta is an Honorary Chair of DSA. 

Democracy, academic freedom, and the need for teachers' unions

Democracy , Academic Freedom and the need for teachers’ unions.

Recent events and controversies  such as the banning of Ethnic Studies classes in Arizona have again shown   the need for teachers’ unions.

In 2009  far right wing politicians and activists have passed legislation  such as Arizona House Bill 2281 authored by Tom Horn  to prevent the teaching of U.S. history to Mexican American students that includes the history of the Mexican American people in Arizona .

We first need to address the issue of perspective to clarify these issues.  There is a political spectrum of views from Right to Center to Left.  When someone is on the extreme Right- such as Tea Party advocates- anyone on the other end of the spectrum is portrayed as dangerous and even un-American.  Recent political campaigns calling President Obama a socialist- which he is not- and the legislative assault on immigrants in Arizona and 20 other states point to the deepening political divisions in our society.  A group of Republican activists have filed to place an Arizona type law SB1070 on the California ballot.  It would go even further than Propositions 187 and 227 already passed by the California voters.

When you stand on the far right others to your left can be seen as dangerous.

Right Wing
           When you stand on the far left everything to your right ( including the political center) can be seen as potentially fascist.

            In this situation, accusations of extremism get distorted.  Teachers, particularly history and social studies teachers came under attack when they promote a democratic exchange of ideas.