CME EVENTS SCHEDULE |
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The CME has been educating revolutionists since 1975 by hosting events that are free and open to the public. Through the generosity of volunteers, we provide lectures, films, book talks, strategy meetings and discussion groups from global, national, and local socialists for anyone who believes that capitalism isn't working, and wants to find a better way. We regret that the CME is not accessible.
EVENTS ARE BEING HOSTED ON ZOOM January 2021Saturday, January 9 | 3:00 – 4:30 PM
Arab Socialism to Islamic Revolution: A History of Resistance and Struggle Julia Kassem, Independent Journalist This event will be held on Zoom. Link is provided below. Julia Kassem is an independent journalist with degrees from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and American University of Beirut, who is currently pursuing her PhD in Development Economics at SOAS. Kassem's work has been featured in Counterpunch, Mint Press News, Almayadeen, Geopolitics Alert, and is a frequent guest on PressTV. In this talk, Julia will trace the development and history of Arab socialism from its ideological origins to its practical implications, highlighting the key historical figures and organizational agents that waged the most significant struggles against Zionism and imperialism in the mid-20th century. Moving into the post 1979 age, when neoliberal globalization and the Iran-Iraq war posed contradictions to the national question in a number of Arab socialist states. She will then contextualize current events and developments in the Arab and Islamic world as advanced by the succession of the Islamic Revolution in Iran as the present day steward of anti-imperialist resistance. From this point we pose continuing questions on the existential challenge of Arab socialism, as well as its continued presence and triumphs, with a vision of its application and place in light of current conditions in the Arab and Islamic world. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89716516778 Meeting ID: 897 1651 6778 One tap mobile +13126266799,,89716516778# US (Chicago) +16468769923,,89716516778# US (New York) Saturday, January 16 | 3:00 – 4:30 PM
Kamala Harris and the Future of the US Ruling Class Caleb Maupin, Center for Political Innovation Recording of the event: https://mega.nz/file/8NlXGKJI#ERGwLt85GYvNLZJJ_zvYBSCz29Tg7dPx8kDE4WRyfIM Caleb Maupin is a widely acclaimed speaker, writer, journalist, and political analyst. He has traveled extensively in the Middle East and in Latin America. He was involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement from its early planning stages, and has been involved in many struggles for social justice. He is an outspoken advocate of international friendship and cooperation, as well as 21st Century Socialism. In this talk, Caleb will discuss his new book Kamala Harris & The Future of America, which examines the life of Kamala Harris, and puts her rise to prominence in the context of changing US political discourse and the geopolitical stage. The discussion draws heavily from Marxism-Leninism, as well as psychology and economics, examining the roots of the crisis in the United States, as well as factors that contributed to Kamala Harris' career. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83473328160 Meeting ID: 834 7332 8160 One tap mobile +13017158592,,83473328160# US (Washington D.C) +13126266799,,83473328160# US (Chicago) Saturday, January 23 | 2:00 – 3:30 PM
Wage Theft in Massachusetts and the Failure of the State to Effectively Enforce Its Wage and Hour Laws Bill Okerman, Workers' Rights and Immigrants' Rights Activist This event will be held on Zoom. Link is provided below. Kim Bobo, in her 2009 book Wage Theft in America: Why Millions of Americans Are Not Getting Paid—And What We Can Do About It, documents how billions of dollars' worth of wages are stolen from millions of workers in the United States every year. Bobo has described it as "the crime wave no one talks about." That same year, the National Employment Law Project published a report titled "Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in America's Cities." The report documents a 2008 study of low-wage workers in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles in which researchers estimated that the total annual wage theft from front-line workers in the three cities approached $3 billion. A 2014 report by the Economic Policy Institute states, "If these findings in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are generalizable to the rest of the U.S. lowwage workforce of 30 million, wage theft is costing workers more than $50 billion a year." The report calls wage theft in the U.S. an "epidemic." And a 2017 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that "in the 10 most populous U.S. states . . . 2.4 million workers lose $8 billion annually (an average of $3,300 per year for year-round workers) to minimum wage violations—nearly a quarter of their earned wages." Here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Coalition to Stop Wage Theft estimates that employers steal about $700 million in wages from about 350,000 low-wage workers each year. And according to a 2015 report by Community Labor United titled "Gaming the System: How Employers Short-Change Workers and Get Away With It": "In Massachusetts and across the country, employers are subcontracting and outsourcing their work and distancing themselves from their responsibilities to their employees. Through practices such as multi-layered contracting, the use of staffing or temporary employment firms, franchising, misclassifying employees as independent contractors, and other means, employers are turning traditionally secure jobs into low-wage poverty jobs. While sometimes these practices reflect more efficient ways of producing goods and services, too often they are the result of explicit employer strategies to evade labor laws and erode worker protections." In his presentation, Massachusetts-based workers' rights and immigrants' rights activist Bill Okerman will discuss the serious problem of wage theft in Massachusetts and tell the story behind how the state has long been failing to effectively enforce its wage and hour laws. The presentation will include a discussion of Proposition 22—the California ballot initiative overwhelmingly approved on November 3 that allows app-based transportation and delivery companies, such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Postmates, to classify their drivers as "independent contractors," instead of "employees," and, thereby, exempts these "gig economy" companies from providing their drivers employee benefits—and its implications for the battle over the classification of "gig" workers that is already underway in Massachusetts. Bill Okerman is a member of the Needham Area Immigration Justice Task Force—and the point person for the Task Force's wage theft initiative—and a community ally of and advisor to the Boston Independent Drivers Guild. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88114398027 Meeting ID: 881 1439 8027 One tap mobile +13017158592,,88114398027# US (Washington D.C) +13126266799,,88114398027# US (Chicago) Saturday, January 31 | 6:00 PM
Joe Hill (1971) Zach George, CPUSA, Students and Youth for a New America, and Center for Marxist Education Grab your dinner or popcorn, and join us for the screening of a great film, followed by a discussion! In the early 1900's, the legendary Joe Hill emigrates with his brother to the United States. But after a short time, he loses touch with his brother. Joe gets a few jobs but is struck by all the injustice and tragedy going on. He becomes active in the forbidden union IWW, a union for workers without trades. It is forbidden to demonstrate and to speak in public but Joe gets around that by singing his manifests with the Salvation Army. He manages to get more and more people to get on strike with him but he also makes powerful enemies doing that. Finally he gets connected with a murder and during the trial he fires his lawyer and takes upon himself to become his own defender. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067276/) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87802597051 Meeting ID: 878 0259 7051 One tap mobile +16468769923,,87802597051# US (New York) +13017158592,,87802597051# US (Washington D.C) |
Speaker Invitation
The CME invites you to share your knowledge, expertise and passion for building a better world with the community. Email us at centermarxisteducation@gmail.com. Location
Center for Marxist Education
550 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd Floor Cambridge, MA, 02139 Parking
Metered parking is available in the area as well as several pay lots (free on Sundays).
Public Transportation
MBTA station on the Red Line and the Number 1 bus. 
Past Event Schedules
2017
2016
2018
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