Celebrate International Women's Day

On Wednesday, March 8th, International Women's Day, at 4 p.m. on the Greenfield Town Common, we will hold our annual rally and speak-out, entitled "Stop the War in Iraq! Stop the War on Women!" Our special guest speaker will be Verónica Leyva, a women's rights and workers' rights activist from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, who is on tour on behalf of the nearly 400 women brutally murdered in that city over the past decade where femicide has gone virtually uninvestigated and unsolved. We also will be demonstrating in solidarity with Code Pink's "Women Say No to War" rally being held that day in Washington, D.C. Please bring signs, banners, song sheets, and instruments. And be ready to join the Raging Grannies for lively renditions of their great, topical songs. Last year our IWD celebration got blizzarded-out. This year we have a back-up location: the Greenfield Library just up Main Street from the Common.

The following day, Thursday, March 9, Greenfield Community College's Social Sciences Department and the Diversity Programming Committee is holding an Open House from 10 a.m until 4 p.m. to introduce the community to the new Social Sciences Studio (Room 115 in the East Building) and to honor International Women's Day. Verónica Leyva will be speaking at 12:30 p.m., another opportunity for us to get information about the situation in Ciudad Juarez and to think about the connections between the lives and cultures of women throughout the world.

For a complete list of IWD events in Franklin and Hampshire county contact us or subscribe to the SPMA_News email announcements list.

2/20 International Women's Day Discussion and Meeting (Mon)

The next meeting of the Tom Mooney local of the Socialist Party will be held on Monday, February 20 at 7pm. We will meet at the graduate student lounge in the Campus Center on the UMass campus, which is opposite the Blue Wall restaurant on the ground floor. (If the lounge is closed, we will meet in the Blue Wall.)

On the agenda:
1) Discussion: International Women's Day (a speaker from Ciudad Juarez will be participating)
2) anti-war activities on March 18-20 (possibly going to Congressman Olver's office on March 20)
3) report from the national committee meeting held in Philadelphia, Feb 11-12
4) planning for the New England regional meeting March 25 in Holyoke
5) local electoral activity (we can start collecting signatures)
6) May Day.

If you are not a member and don't have a subscription to The Socialist, please contact us and we will send you a free copy of our International Women's Day issue.

SP Candidate for Graduate Employee Union Secretary Treasurer, UMass Amherst

Matthew Andrews, 25, is Male Vice-Chair of the Socialist Party USA and a Labor Studies student at UMass Amherst. He is a candidate in a special election being held to elect a new Secretary Treasurer for GEO, the graduate employees union which represents 2,500 workers. GEO members can vote Monday, Feb. 6 and Tuesday, Feb. 7 in the Campus Center concourse from 10am to 4pm and during the membership meeting 6pm on Wednesday Feb. 8 in the Campus Center room 162-175.

STATEMENT OF CANDIDACY

We are the union. Unity, democracy and grassroots participation by graduate student employees is the foundation of our strength. I am running for Secretary Treasurer to build upon GEO’s strengths and challenge attitudes of dependency on politicians and the law. Our last contract campaign made clear that we can expect a constant assault on the gains GEO has won unless we demonstrate a willingness to disrupt business as usual through collective action.

We cannot be strong by ourselves. We must build solidarity with other unions on campus, other grad students in the UMass system, and other Massachusetts public employees. GEO must be an ally in other social movements, for affordable higher education, universal health care, civil rights and against the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meaningful solidarity can only come when we share in each other’s struggles.

UMass, like other employers across the country, is trying to force rising health care costs onto employees. Military spending leeches half a trillion dollars from our federal budget, while social services, including funding for higher education and public employee wages, are being cut back. Our brothers and sisters at NYU are currently on strike to maintain union recognition and the right to bargain a new contract. Our immediate needs as university employees, and the long-term need for fundamental economic and social change, are inseparable. We must push forward or expect to be pushed back.

I am in my second year at the Labor Relations Research Center. I have been an activist for many years including most recently with GEO, the UMass Antiwar Coalition and other local causes. I have been both Secretary and Treasurer of the Young People's Socialist League. From that experience I have learned how to keep important membership and financial records, as well as set up organizational structures that facilitate getting work done. Last fall I was elected Male Vice-Chair of the Socialist Party USA at our national convention in Newark, New Jersey. This has given me additional leadership experience in a membership organization with an office and staff.

I have enormous respect for the work you do, and the fact that GEO is funded by your dues. As Secretary-Treasurer, I will dedicate myself to ensuring that every dollar spent serves your interests. As a Labor Center student, I will apply my education to make GEO more effective. As a socialist, I will link struggles and raise our standards for success. I am honored by the opportunity to offer you a meaningful choice in this election.


Matthew Andrews can be reached at mrandrew@lrrc.umass.edu