oaklandsocialist
The administrator of this blog site, I am a lifelong socialist and a retired carpenter and the former recording secretary and an expelled member of Carpenters Local 713. I was expelled for my leading role in the 1999 SF Bay Area carpenters wildcat strike as well as for his opposition to the union bureaucracy in general. I was one of the founding members of a small group called Labor Militant, which was the forerunner to Socialist Alternative. Along with a small group of others, I was expelled when that group started to adapt to the union bureaucracy. I have also visited the workers' movement internationally, including in Pakistan, Egypt (during the Arab Spring), Britain, Mexico and Chile (during the uprising there in 2020). Unless otherwise specified, I am the author of the articles that appear here. Although I am the main author, Oaklandsocialist welcomes articles on any issue that relates to the working class. Contact us at Oaklandsocialist@gmail.com.
South Korea – towards a general strike
Here is a video of the struggle of railroad workers in South Korea against privatization. After a mass police assault and mass arrests, there is now a move towards a general strike […]
Exchange with Global Warming “Skeptics”
As a sailor, I like to read the free sailing magazine published here called Latitude 38. While it has excellent coverage of sailing-related issues, the publisher/editor is somewhere to the right of […]
Kshama Sawant inaugurated
Here is a video of the inauguration of new city officials in Seattle. Sawant’s speech begins about 30 minutes into the ceremony. The other speeches are typically canned and boring, but it’s […]
Holiday Greetings
What better way to commemorate this holiday season that to recall this day 99 years ago, when British and German troops used Christmas to declare a truce. If just one or two […]
The New Apartheid: The rise of Zionism and the founding of the Israeli State
Now updated pictures: left – victims of Deir Yassin massacre; right – Vladimir Jabotinsky, pro-fascist Zionist leader “Today, Zionism is a major force amongst the world’s Jews. Probably the great majority within […]
Refugee protest in Israel
Here is a video of several thousand African refugees protesting their treatment in Israel. One points out that in the past, Israel was established as a country for refugees. Another comments that […]
The mood in Chicago
Apparently, Al Sharpton called a town hall meeting in Chicago related to the corruption of local politicians. The video shows the mood that is building up there. Several speakers blamed the voters […]
The Demise of the WASP
Today’s Wall St. Journal has an incredible article on the demise of the “WASP” – White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant – as the unchallenged ruling stratum in the US. They describe how in the past, […]
A Woman Ahead of Her time: My Mother, Miriam Wolf Wasserman
by John Reimann Every year around this time of year I think about my mother. Had she lived, she would have been 95 this Christmas Eve. Her death (from breast cancer) […]