Lynne at the Left Forum 2015

Lynne will be on 2 panels.  Information below.

“We are our own liberators! When we free our political prisoners, we free ourselves”

SATURDAY MAY 30 at 12:00pm – 01:50pm in Room L2.84

Chaired by Ralph and Lynne, featuring numerous former prisoners and supporters and those engaged today in this struggle.

When people fear their govt, there is tyranny. When the govt fears the people there is liberty.” Jalil Muntaqim states,“ …our humanity is challenged by the historical dynamic of racism and capitalism …the police are used as tools of the capitalist class to protect financial interest over human interest…(P)olice violence represents the interests of the State…the BPP was confronted with the full force of state violence, destroying a movement…The death of a movement for liberation serves to keep in place…state violence.” Resistance to this constant oppression was framed by Malcolm X & MLK. Pol. prisoners represent the theoretical & political position OF the world. We owe our human rights to pol. prisoners. LYNNE STEWART says,” … the “law” is what “they” want it to be at any given time. Witness the Dred Scott decision, the Japanese internment cases of WWII, and the Scottsboro and other legal lynching cases. In 2014, stemming from the series (ongoing since 1619) of unprosecuted crimes against the African American population, we confront the lawlessness, now inherent, of an ancient legal institution, the Grand Jury. The thread that links the attempts to legitimize mass extermination of the Muslim struggle for freedom to the 400 years of systematic extermination of the original inhabitants of this continent, to the systematic terrorism perpetrated against people of color in this country is racism fueled by capitalism…”

“Public Schools VS. Charter Schools – The Legacy of the NYC Community Control Struggle: The True Debate Must Be Education VS. Mis-education”

SATURDAY MAY 30 at 5:10pm – 07:00pm Room -1.81

Chairs/Facilitators: Ralph Poynter & Lynne Stewart—New Abolitionist

MovementSpeakers/Co-Facilitators: Anthony Gronowicz—Green Party, Pastor Sherri Jackson-Black—Brownsville Matters, Betty Davis—New Abolitionist Movement, Howie Hawkins—Green Party

Everyday children, especially Black & Brown, do not achieve in education is an educational loss…they fall further behind every child in the world. When the struggle for community control of schools was defeated, the struggle for true education, for children of color continued. Almost 50 years later, public schools write off these students. The system of Charter Schools controlled by corporations with only profits as a goal, rule. Children of color fall behind every day & all schools are responsible. However, the recent Charter School movement not only endangers the struggle to maintain democracy, it threatens the entire institutional history of public education. We must consider the struggle in society and in the schools to overcome authoritarianism and reach toward humanism. The New Abolitionist Movement insists our educational system be democratic.We have been distracted by debates of non-issues, the most prevalent being testing vs non testing. The true debate is education vs mis-education. The New Abolitionist Movement maintains that mis-education equals ethnic cleansing & the new slavery. To do nothing to change this is an immoral political position. The charter school movement endangers the struggle for democracy & threatens the entire institutional history of the public school system. Freire states, “…Problem posing education, as a humanist & liberating praxis, posits as fundamental that (humans) subjected to domination must fight for their emancipation.