FREEDOM SOCIALIST
Hope and inspiration
Thanks for keeping radical journalism alive as well as continuing to be anticapitalist and advocating for socialism and revolutionary feminism, unlike other parties (particularly the SWP).
You all bring hope and inspiration to many socialists across the globe.
William Devine, Alberta, Canada
VOTE SOCIALIST
Dump the two parties
How refreshing to read Megan Cornish’s article [“The case for voting socialist,” Vol. 41, No. 5]. We all know what Trump and the Republicans, and Biden and the Democrats stand for. It’s bourgeois parliamentarianism. And why, as socialist feminists, would one vote for a party whose aim is to uphold systemic oppression?
As a Scot, I scratch my head in disbelief that the so-called “most democratic country in the world” still has a two-party system. Here’s to the formation of an Independent Labor Party, not run by labor bureaucrats, but by democratically elected candidates from the working class.
Sandra MacKay, San Francisco
ACTIVISM
A long, worthy road
The revolutionary trends in both United Kingdom and the U.S. give encouragement to the world. I offer some advice to people who are new to activism. Real, lasting changes can take a long time. Excitement about revolution is a “powerful brew.”
In my 60 years of campaigning I have seen too many people suffer burn-out.
So please, take time out and catch up with loved ones and old friends or whatever it takes.
Martin Gilbert, Cumbria, United Kingdom
FROM BEHIND BARS
Inhumane conditions
I am currently incarcerated in a Texas prison.
At this moment the prison unit I’m assigned to is facing numerous complaints and lawsuits. The conditions are filthy and unhealthy toward human life.
Imagine living in a cell that constantly leaks urinated feces water onto the floor where we live. Rain water leaks through the cracks of our cells onto beds, personal property and other materials. Showers filled with mold and filthy slime. Living without electricity for hours, sometimes days, at a time.
The unit where I reside is unfit for the living. We as inmates have done everything imaginable to resolve these issues, but unfortunately we’ve been unsuccessful so far.
Marcellow Gibbs, Kenedy, Texas
ISRAEL
Free Palestinian prisoners
Radical Women chapters in the United States and Australia join Palestinian feminists and leftists in condemning Israel’s recent arrest and abduction of women’s movement and student leaders, former prisoners, and leftist organizers throughout the occupied West Bank of Palestine.
Khitam Saafin, President of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, and student leader Shatha Tawil, were seized after their homes were invaded in night raids.
Now, Khitam Saafin has been sentenced to six months administrative detention. This illegal practice imprisons Palestinians without charge or trial on the basis of so-called “secret files” and is indefinitely renewable.
The lives and health of these prisoners are in grave danger due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the terrible living conditions in Israeli prisons.
Israel’s occupation must end. Achieving lasting peace will require creation of a secular socialist state, where both Palestinians and Jews can live together as equals.
Free Khitam Saafin, Shatha Tawil and all Palestinian prisoners.
End the occupation.
For a secular, socialist Middle East.
excerpted from open letter RadicalWomen.org
The FS welcomes your feedback and opinions. Letters may be edited for length. Please write to 5018 Rainier Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98118, or email FSnews@socialism.com.
