Stop AI Data Centers -- Sunday May 17th

This is the announcement for the upcoming Workers Strike Back monthly meeting.

 

Join Workers Strike Back at Our May National Zoom Meeting. STOP the Data Centers and AI Layoffs! If you’re in or around the Peoria, IL area, join our in-person meeting at the Peoria Public Library, 1312 W Lincoln Ave, Peoria, IL 61605

RSVP NOW Working-Class people around the nation are fighting back against Big Tech Billionaires who are pushing for a massive expansion of Hyperscale data centers. One such fightback recently occurred in Pekin, Illinois, near Peoria, where I live and where I am helping to build Workers Strike Back. Working people in Pekin got organized and fought back against a planned 321-acre hyperscale data center. Workers Strike Back was proud to join the fight! Our movement went up against big tech and real estate billionaires and multimillionaires and also the Democratic and Republican parties. Democratic and Republican politicians alike have shamefully provided tax incentives for Data Centers to developers. In Illinois, Democratic Governor and billionaire JB Pritzker signed a bill in 2019, with bipartisan support, that has provided billionaires with an estimated $983 million in lifetime tax breaks and benefits as “incentives” to build at least 27 data centers. Instead of taxing the rich to fund working-class needs like free healthcare for all, they have tried to do all they can to hold a red-carpet welcome for the AI billionaires. But it shows that the class allegiance of the Democratic and Republican parties is with the billionairess, not with the working class. Working people organized City Hall speakouts, yard sign distribution, and canvassing shifts to oppose it. Workers Strike Back members played a key role in the City Hall speakouts by putting forward a fighting, class struggle approach, and politically explaining to our fellow workers that we need to create a credible political threat to the establishment politicians who don't respond to moral appeals, but instead can be swayed only by the organized strength of working-class movements. A crucial aspect of this was exposing the real role of the Democrats and Republicans during the speakout at City Hall. This meant rejecting the rules of “decorum” that the establishment imposes on working people to try and render our movements ineffective. Because of the mass mobilization of working people and our strategy, the movement in Pekin won! Our movement’s victories to date: We forced Governor Pritzker to put a hold on the tax breaks for new data center developments We forced the Republican Mayor of Pekin, Mary Burress, to announce in March that the city would not be moving forward with the data center project We forced Democrats and Republicans on the Pekin City Council to vote unanimously to stop the sale of public land to the data center developer, Western Hospitality Partners

Congratulations to the working people of Pekin, Illinois! This victory is proof that when working people get organized to fight for our demands, we can win. This strategy - the strategy of class struggle - is needed in every city hall, in every workplace, in every protest. Our methods for fighting back need to be crystal clear that our allies are the working class in the fight against data centers, big tech, and the billionaire class as a whole. Our enemies are anyone who sides with them, like the corporate politicians in the Democratic and Republican parties. Join Workers Strike Back for our monthly national meeting over Zoom on Sunday, May 17th to talk about lessons from the struggles that Workers Strike Back members have been engaged in and how you can get active in the fightback against the AI and data center boom. These data centers are being massively expanded due to the increasing need for corporate data storage and the advancement of dystopian AI technologies that are designed to increase billionaire profits while systematically depriving workers of our basic rights and quality of life. One such instance is the pervasive use of AI in health insurance and the systematic denial of care by corporations like UnitedHealthcare. Sometimes, these technologies are used in even more sinister ways: companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Palantir are all using their data management and AI tools to allow the Israeli military to track and target Palestinians and journalists in the ongoing, brutal genocide in Gaza, and also to help ICE target and detain immigrants in the United States. Not only are data centers used in the most horrific ways by these corporations, they also consume eye-popping amounts of energy. In some cases over 100 megawatts of continuous energy, which could be used to power up to 100,000 small homes. This massive energy demand from these monstrous data centers has led to an increase in utility rates for working-class people in many areas. These massive hyperscale data centers are also consuming hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per hour, and in most cases the energy supplied to power these data centers comes from burning fossil fuels, which is further exacerbating the climate catastrophe. The energy consumed by the largest data centers is equal to the entire output of a medium-sized power plant. The increasing need for energy and water, and the cynical sourcing of this energy by the capitalist class, are going to have a disastrous impact on the climate. The billionaires profiting from these data centers know the real dangers that spring from their actions all too well, and they do not care because they have no regard for our lives and the impact on our communities. The same is true for the Democratic and Republican parties, which are both parties of Wall Street and war. Working people need to fight to take the big energy corporations and big tech companies into democratic public ownership to be run by workers, so that we can democratically and scientifically decide what technologies to use and how to use them, while also protecting the environment. The climate impact of Trump's war on Iran and the deregulation of fossil fuels is further driving us towards climate apocalypse. What we need is a lightning-fast transition to green energy and infrastructure that can only be carried out by a socialist society. Solidarity, Justin Smeltzer Workers Strike Back Peoria, Illinois

Join Workers Strike Back at Our May National Zoom Meeting. STOP the Data Centers and AI Layoffs! If you’re in or around the Peoria, IL area, join our in-person meeting at the Peoria Public Library, 1312 W Lincoln Ave, Peoria, IL 61605

RSVP NOW

What We Stand For: Fight the Rich! End the Billionaire Class & Their System Workers Need a Real Raise — $25/Hour Minimum Wage Good Union Jobs for All Stop the Climate Catastrophe — Take Big Energy Corporations into Workers’ Ownership Fight Racism, Sexism & All Oppression Stop Mass Deportations Medicare for All & Quality Affordable Housing — Tax the Rich End the Genocidal War on Gaza — No Military Aid, No Occupation Bring Down Trump, the Billionaires & Their Two Parties No More Sellouts — We Need a New Mass Party

AMERICAN TRICKSTER: THE HIDDEN LIVES OF CARLOS CASTANEDA (book launch)

I read one of Carlos Castaneda's books in my early teens, was fascinated but wasn't sure what to make of it. A very interesting discussion, especially where it intersects with the story of ethnomethodology, which I read about in another book, The Trickster and the Paranormal, a number of years ago.

https://fstube.net/w/qwBFLVnCYvycAgmC34YgVv

Meta is making Instagram DMs unsafe – what can you do about it?

 

This message came today from EDRi:

Dear friend, Meta is changing something important on Instagram from May 8 and it will affect hundreds of millions of people. We think it’s  important you know about it. From May 8, Meta is stopping end-to-end encryption on Insta- gram direct messages. If you use DMs to stay connected to  friends and loved ones, this matters for you. Without encryption, your messages are no longer secure. They no longer stay be- tween just you and the person you messaged - Meta could also take a peek.  Encryption is crucial for our daily communication, to organise in communities, for journalists to hold power to account, for people to access sensitive healthcare, and for free and democratic societies to continue existing. This is why we are calling on EU lawmakers to safeguard our ability to communicate without intrusion by protecting encryp- tion and banning spyware. You can join us, and thousands of other people, by signing our petition.

Sign the petition: Keep It Safe and Secure

Military Disability Compensation Claims Spike

A FOIA request by the Informed Consent Action Network has revealed an alarming spike in cardiovascular and neurological conditions amongst US military personnel starting in 2021, the first year COVID-19 vaccines were mandated for all branches of the US Armed Forces.

 

Workers Strike Back May Day

 

RSVP to join Workers Strike Back on May Day! New York, NY Rochester, MN Normal, IL Detroit, MI Seattle, WA

Many working people around the world will be taking to the streets on May 1st for International Workers' Day to fight back against the billionaire class and their system of capitalism that is depriving working people of basic healthcare needs and escalating brutal imperialist wars. That is why for this May Day, Workers Strike Back is demanding: TAX THE RICH AND FUND HEALTHCARE, NOT WAR! We are supporting Kshama Sawant's independent revolutionary socialist campaign for Congress, which is calling for free healthcare for all funded by taxing the rich, and an end to all military aid to Israel and no weapons or tech for genocide or imperialist war! Working people are sick of both parties of Wall Street and war and are desperately looking for an alternative. Many of the existing May Day events are correctly geared towards fighting the Trump administration which has carried out relentless attacks on working people over the last year and a half, but many of the organizations and individuals leading these events unfortunately give cover to the thoroughly pro-war anti-worker Democratic Party. In December an overwhelming number of Congressional Democrats, including Kshama's opponent Adam Smith, voted to finance Trump's attacks on Iran and Venezuela by signing a war spending bill that handed Trump more than $900 billion for the bipartisan U.S. war machine. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are completely opposed to any policies that are in the interest of the working class, and they are both capitalist warmongering parties down to their bones. Some of the big May Day protests that Workers Strike Back members will be tabling at are calling for fighting the billionaires and for “No Work, No School, No Shopping”. Unfortunately, most of the existing labor leadership is tied at the hip to the Democratic Party that is funded by and serves the billionaires, and this means that these same labor leaders are completely unwilling to call any type of strike or protest that could damage their cozy relationships with the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, all the people who participate in the action of not going to work or school will be doing so on an individual basis, which will have no significant impact on the profits of the billionaire class. This is part of the failed strategy of business unionism that is employed by the vast majority of labor leaders, who seek mutual agreement with the bosses and their political parties rather than organizing working people into a militant fight back. The rotten alliance that business unionist labor leaders have made with the Democratic Party has led to the major US unions largely sitting on the sidelines while their members and other working class people are being abducted by ICE, and while 300,000 Federal public sector workers were laid off by Trump. The Trump administration has also rammed through massive tax cuts for the rich while the working class faces an unbearable cost of living crisis due to catastrophic wars in the Middle East and billionaire greed. Labor leaders' aversion to class struggle methods has meant that they have stood by while Trump carried out the wars and while the Democrats funded the horrific genocide in Gaza. What we need is organized mass strike action, mass protests, and mass civil disobedience to stop the deportation machine and end all imperialist wars, and to go on the offense for things like free healthcare for all funded by taxing the rich. That is why it is important that Workers Strike Back will be present at May Day events all over the country to talk to people about the urgent need for fighting class struggle movements and campaigns like Kshama's independent revolutionary socialist campaign for Congress, and for our unions to break from the Democratic Party. Kshama's example from her decade on the Seattle City Council is unfortunately the only example in recent history of anyone using their elected position to raise working-class demands and then build fighting movements to win them. Kshama led movements to win the highest minimum wage in the nation, the Amazon Tax, landmark renters' rights law, and much more. We need this across the nation. That is why working people should support Kshama’s campaign and fight to elect the first-ever revolutionary socialist to Congress. If you are in the Seattle area join the Kshama for Congress contingent at May Day. Workers Strike Back will also be hosting a rally in Rochester, Minnesota at Soldiers Field, and tabling in Detroit, Michigan; Normal, Illinois; and New York City. Solidarity, Workers Strike Back RSVP to join Workers Strike Back on May Day! New York, NY Rochester, MN Normal, IL Detroit, MI Seattle, WA

What We Stand For: Fight the Rich! End the Billionaire Class & Their System Workers Need a Real Raise — $25/Hour Minimum Wage Good Union Jobs for All Stop the Climate Catastrophe — Take Big Energy Corporations into Workers’ Ownership Fight Racism, Sexism & All Oppression Stop Mass Deportations Medicare for All & Quality Affordable Housing — Tax the Rich End the Genocidal War on Gaza — No Military Aid, No Occupation Bring Down Trump, the Billionaires & Their Two Parties No More Sellouts — We Need a New Mass Party

Get Involved - Join Workers Strike Back!

Intellectual Freedom Protection Act

 

 

One of the panelists for yesterday's FIRE monthly member call linked in the chat to their draft Intellectual Freedom Protection Act. Here's the text:

 

WHEREAS in 1957’s Sweezy v. New Hampshire, the Supreme Court of the United States observed that “[t]he essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident. No one should underestimate the vital role in a democracy that is played by those who guide and train our youth. To impose any strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our Nation. . . . Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise, our civilization will stagnate and die.”; and

WHEREAS ten years later in Keyishian v. Board of Regents, the Supreme Court further declared that academic freedom “is a special concern of the First Amendment, which does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.”; and

WHEREAS in Healy v. James, the Supreme Court stated that “the precedents of this Court leave no room for the view that, because of the acknowledged need for order, First Amendment protections should apply with less force on college campuses than in the community at large. Quite to the contrary, ‘the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools.’”; and

WHEREAS in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from compelling an individual to engage in speech, proclaiming that “if there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”; and

WHEREAS many colleges and universities require or invite current and/or prospective faculty to demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), often through a written statement that factors into hiring, reappointment, evaluation, promotion, or tenure decisions; and

WHEREAS vague or ideologically motivated DEI statement policies can too easily function as litmus tests for adherence to prevailing ideological views on DEI, penalize faculty or applicants for holding dissenting opinions on matters of public concern, and, as the Supreme Court warned against in Keyishian, “cast a pall of orthodoxy” over our public college and university campuses; and

WHEREAS a survey by the American Association of University Professors of hundreds of colleges and universities found that more than one-fifth of higher education institutions include DEI criteria in tenure standards, and of the institutions that do not include tenure standards, nearly half indicated they are considering adding such criteria in the future; and

WHEREAS a survey by the American Enterprise Institute of academic job postings found that nearly 20 percent required DEI statements; and

WHEREAS according to data presented at an academic conference in 2022 at the University of Southern California, a majority of tenured/tenure-track faculty members surveyed in a study indicated that they disfavored a candidate for an academic position when the applicant's DEI statement didn't reference race/ethnicity and gender diversity, reflecting the fact that DEI statements are used to favor candidates who endorse prevailing campus ideological orthodoxies; and

WHEREAS according to a forthcoming FIRE survey, faculty are split evenly on whether DEI statements are a justifiable requirement for a university job (50%) or are an ideological litmus test that violates academic freedom (50%), and three-in-four liberal faculty support mandatory diversity statements while 90% of conservative faculty and 56% of moderate faculty see them as political litmus tests; and

WHEREAS the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits public universities from compelling faculty to assent to specific ideological views; 

Now, therefore, the State of ____ enacts the following:

A. No public institution of higher education shall condition admission or benefits to an applicant for admission, or hiring, reappointment, or promotion to a faculty member, on the applicant’s or faculty member’s pledging allegiance to or making a statement of personal support for or opposition to any political ideology or movement, including a pledge or statement regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, patriotism, or related topics, nor shall any institution request or require any such pledge or statement from an applicant or faculty member. 

B. If a public institution of higher education receives a pledge or statement describing a commitment to any particular political ideology or movement, including a pledge or statement regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, patriotism, or related topics, it may not grant or deny admission or benefits to a student, or hiring, reappointment, or promotion to a faculty member, on the basis of the viewpoints expressed in the pledge or statement. 

C. Nothing in this Act prohibits an institution from requiring a student, professor, or employee to comply with federal or state law, including anti-discrimination laws, or from taking action against a student, professor, or employee for violations of federal or state law. 

D. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or restrict the academic freedom of faculty or to prevent faculty members from teaching, researching, or writing publications about diversity, equity, inclusion, patriotism, or other topics. 

E. Nothing in this Act prohibits an institution from considering, in good faith, a candidate's scholarship, teaching, or subject-matter expertise in their given academic field.

F. Each public institution of higher education in the state shall post and make publicly available all training materials used for students, faculty, and staff, on all matters of nondiscrimination, diversity, equity, inclusion, race, ethnicity, sex, or bias, and all of its policies and guidance on these issues, on its website.

G. A person whose rights were violated through a violation of this act may bring an action against a public institution of higher education, and its agents acting within their official capacities, in a state or federal court of competent jurisdiction to receive declaratory relief or enjoin a violation of this Act. If a court finds a violation of this act, the court shall provide a prevailing plaintiff appropriate equitable remedies, and award damages, reasonable court costs, and attorney’s fees. 

H. The Attorney General may file suit to enjoin a policy or practice prohibited by Section A or Section B. 

I. If an institution, or any of its employees acting in their official capacities, are found by a court or the institution to have violated this Act, the institution may take disciplinary action against the responsible employees in accordance with the institution’s policies and procedures.

J. In addition to any relief under Sections G and H, the [State Fiscal Officer] shall impose an administrative penalty of $100,000 against a State Education Institution for each violation of this Act. The penalty shall be deposited in the [State Treasury] and shall be allocated to each State Education Institution that is not currently in violation of this Act and has not violated this Act within the preceding two fiscal years.

K. Any action brought pursuant to Section G must be brought within 1 year of the latest date the Act is alleged to have been violated.

L. If any provision of this chapter, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this chapter and the application of its provisions to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.

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FIRE proposes alternative formulations of an enforcement provision for consideration:

Alternative A

In addition to any relief under Sections G and H, the [State Fiscal Officer] shall impose an administrative penalty of $30 per student enrolled at the institution on a full-time basis in the fiscal year preceding the violation, against a State Education Institution for each violation of this Act. The penalty shall be deposited in the [State Treasury] and shall be allocated to each State Education Institution that is not currently in violation of this Act and has not violated this Act within the preceding two fiscal years. 

Alternative B

In addition to any relief under Sections G and H, the [State Fiscal Officer] shall impose an administrative penalty of the lessor of $300,000 or 1% of the State Education Institution’s budget during the fiscal year preceding the violation, against a State Education Institution for each violation of this Act. The penalty shall be deposited in the [State Treasury] and shall be allocated to each State Education Institution that is not currently in violation of this Act and has not violated this Act within the preceding two fiscal years.

Behind the Mike Again

I hadn't performed in person since the pandemic began. Tonight I got the chance to do so again at Out of the Box, a "queer open mic" now held monthly at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany as part of William Way Community Center's programming.

I recited my six-verse haiku "Please Daddy," which I composed in October 2019 and performed shortly after at the now-defunct Erotic Literary Salon. This poem also appears in print as part of the anthology queerbook, put together by Giovanni's Room from submissions to its literary contest in 2020.

I followed up by singing, for the first time ever, my kinky parody of the Amyl and the Sniffers song "Bailing on Me," composed just last month.

Water Department Projects in My Neighborhood

According to a flyer stuck in my door the other day, the Philadelphia Water Department is holding a community meeting Tuesday, April 21st, at 6:30 to inform and solicit feedback on planned water projects in Mill Creek. The meeting will be held at Middle Years Alternative School, Room 108, 4725 Fairmount Avenue, an ADA accessible site.

According to this map, a new water main and sewer are planned for my block as well as a tree trench almost directly in front of my house. 

I'm planning to attend and invent you to do so too if you live in the neighborhood or are otherwise interested in such projects.