The U.S. trade union movement finds itself today on a global battlefield filled with landmines and littered with the bodies of various social movements and struggles. Candid, incisive, and accessible, Solidarity Divided is a critical examination of labor's current crisis and a plan for a bold new way forward into the twenty-first century. Bill Fletcher and Fernando Gapasin, two longtime union insiders whose experiences as activists of color grant them a unique vantage on the problems now facing U.S. labor, offer a remarkable mix of vivid history and probing analysis. They chart changes in U.S. manufacturing, examine the onslaught of globalization, consider the influence of the environment on labor, and provide the first broad analysis of the fallout from the 2000 and 2004 elections on the U.S. labor movement. Ultimately calling for a wide-ranging reexamination of the ideological and structural underpinnings of today's labor movement, this is essential reading for understanding how the battle for social justice can be fought and won.

Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice

Business & Money

Fletcher Jr., Bill

Gapasin, Fernando

Economics

University of California Press

From Wisconsin to Washington, DC, the claims are made: unions are responsible for budget deficits, and their members are overpaid and enjoy cushy benefits. The only way to save the American economy, pundits claim, is to weaken the labor movement, strip workers of collective bargaining rights, and champion private industry. In "They're Bankrupting Us!": And 20 Other Myths about Unions, labor leader Bill Fletcher Jr. makes sense of this debate as he unpacks the twenty-one myths most often cited by anti-union propagandists. Drawing on his experiences as a longtime labor activist and organizer, Fletcher traces the historical roots of these myths and provides an honest assessment of the missteps of the labor movement. He reveals many of labor's significant contributions, such as establishing the forty-hour work week and minimum wage, guaranteeing safe workplaces, and fighting for equity within the workforce. This timely, accessible, "warts and all" book argues, ultimately, that unions are necessary for democracy and ensure economic and social justice for all people.

"They're Bankrupting Us!": And 20 Other Myths about Unions (Myths Made in America)

Beacon Press

In 1970, a sniper’s bullet shocks the sleepy Cape Cod village of Osterville. David Gomes, a young reporter for the Cape &amp; Islands Gazette covers the story, thinking his reporting might lead to a job with a major metropolitan newspaper. With protests against the Viet Nam war and the rise of the Black Panthers roiling the county, the murder investigation becomes deeply personal when Gomes, a Cape Verdean American, encounters the smoldering racial antagonism between the descendants of Cape Verde and African-Americans, as well as the deep-seated hatred toward all people of African descent among members of the white community. Gomes soon learns that investigating a murder can put him in the cross-hairs of a cold-blooded killer. It’s a dangerous place for the young reporter as he peels away layers of family history in his quest to discover the motive behind a savage act of murder, and comes to understand a complicated, contradictory history of his own people.“Bill Fletcher pulls together history and mystery to create an exciting and compelling story of race and revenge. It is truly an unexpected page turner.” ~Danny Glover “Fletcher has woven an engrossing story that harkens back to the forties while he connects the seventies and sprints forward to the 21st century. I feel this is just the beginning of a trove of fiction waiting to spring from this author’s deeply creative imagination.” ~ Herb Boyd, Neworld Review"Set amidst the rich cultural mix of Cape Verdean and Portuguese fishermen who came to the country as free men and consequentially fought being seen as the descendants of slaves, Fletcher lets a son of those men tell the story, a journalist, bent on relieving the suffering of one family he ends up finding the truth is more complicated, the villain a victim too of a bigger cruelty and devastation that stretched through the generations. ~Walter Mosley"...grabbed me in the first pages and kept me riveted with a tangled story of racism and identity based in a Cape Verdean community. David Gomes, a local Cape Verdean journalist, grabs onto a murder story that could propel him to fame or kill him. As he disentangles the complex web of relationships and resentments, Gomes runs headfirst into personal as well as family conflicts. Cape Verdeans are Portuguese though many of them have African ancestry. The tensions within this community as well as the racism targeting those of African descent are as compelling as the brutal murder that opens the story. A great read!" ~Ruth Needleman

The Man Who Fell From the Sky

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Hard Ball Press

2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Amilcar Cabral, revolutionary, poet, liberation philosopher, and leader of the independence movement of Guinea Bissau and Cap Verde. Cabral's influence stretched well beyond the shores of West Africa. He had a profound influence on the pan-Africanist movement and the black liberation movement in the US. In this unique collection of essays contemporary thinkers from across Africa and internationally commemorate the anniversary of Cabral’s assassination. They reflect on the legacy of this extraordinary individual and his relevance to contemporary struggles for self-determination and emancipation. The book serves both as an introduction, or reintroduction, to one whom global capitalism would rather see forgotten. Understanding Cabral sheds light on the necessity of grounding radical change in the creation of theory based on the actual conditions within which a movement is attempting to develop. Cabral’s theoretical ideas and revolutionary practice of building popular movements for liberation are assessed by each of the authors as critically relevant today. His well-known phrase “Claim no easy victories” resonates today no less than it did during his lifetime. The volume comprises sections on Cabral’s legacy; reflections on the relevance of his ideas; Cabral and the emancipation of women; Cabral and the pan-Africanists; culture and education; and Cabral’s contribution to African American struggles. A selected bibliography provides an overview of Cabral’s writings and of writings about Cabral. CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS Senai Abraha • Makungu M. Akinyela • Kali Akuno • Samir Amin • David Austin • Ajamu Baraka • Jesse Benjamin • Angela Davis • Demba Moussa Dembélé • Jacques Depelchin • Mustafah Dhada • Jean-Pierre Diouf • Miguel de Barros •Aziz Fall • Grant Farred • Bill Fletcher Jr • Mireille Fanon-Mendès France • Hashim Gibril • Nigel C. Gibson • Patricia Godinho Gomes • Lewis Gordon • Adrian Harewood • Augusta Henriques • Wangui Kimari • Redy Wilson Lima • Ameth Lo • Richard A. Lobban, Jr • Filomeno Lopes • Brandon Lundy • Firoze Manji • Perry Mars • Bill Minter • Explo Nani-Kofi • Barney Pityana • Maria Poblet • Reiland Rabaka • Asha Rodney • Patricia Rodney • Carlos Schwarz • Helmi Sharawy • Olúfémi Táíwò • Walter Turner • Stephanie Urdang • Chris Webb • Nigel Westmaas • Amrit Wilson

Claim No Easy Victories: The Legacy of Amilcar Cabral

History

Manji, Firoze

Americas

CODESRIA Conseil pour le Developpement de la Recherche Economique et Sociale en Afrique

Stand with Ukraine: Debunking the Propaganda (United Resistance Support Archives)

Horesh, Theo

Weinberg, Bill

Everhard, Jeffrey D.

Starodubtsev, Vladyslav

Smith Ph.D., Barbara

Dmitryev, Franklin

Bard, Geof

Pierson, Charles

Karadjis Ph.D., Michael

Independently published

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