Episode Details

Lois Weiner on "Where now for the US left?", during the movement against police brutality, racism, and more, sparked by the murder of George Floyd; in Covid-19 crisis; and in the wake of Sanders' withdrawal from the Democratic Party primaries in lieu of Biden; and more. Introductory speach from a Workers' Liberty meeting of the same name. Upcoming meetings at: https://workersliberty.org/c19-online Video: https://youtu.be/0yAqYrAKDu4 All audio: https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/ Lois Weiner is a US socialist activist, teacher trade unionist, and member of the editorial board of the socialist journal New Politics. **Questions from the floor** The following questions (abridged) were asked from the floor, as a prompt for Lois Weiners' introductory speech: - Are there any circumstances in which the left might support Biden? - Is the left or labour movement in any position to offer ideas or leadership to the Black Lives Matter/George Floyd movement against police brutality? - In that movement, what is the likelihood and what are the implications for the left of the police response esscalating even further, or of far-right provocateurs setting off a powder-keg? **Links referenced** Video on twitter: https://twitter.com/Brittm_tv/status/1266497944796225538 Mlitarization of police: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obama-police-militarization_n_3566478 About the "dirty break" and DSA: https://newpol.org/wading-through-contradictions/ New Politics journal: https://newpol.org **Original description** After Sanders, where now for the US left? Can the US socialist movement be renewed? After Bernie Sanders's withdrawal from the Democratic presidential primary, can the energy of his movement be developed to build towards a renewed socialist movement in the USA? What role might the Green Party presidential challenge of veteran socialist Howie Hawkins play? And how have US workers and their unions been responding to bosses' attacks during the coronavirus pandemic?