Brexit

Now, a slight majority of British citizens voted to leave the EU. The Brexit referendum is over and the consequences for the future of the UK economically are uncertain. We know what the European Union is all about. The EU has made many bad policies from migrant restrictions to the austerity policies against Greece and other nations. We know that the European Union is run by the European ruling class and has promoted the NATO escalation near Russia. The EU promotes the Fortress Europe agenda. This policy harms the thousands of fleeing refugees from Libya, Iraq, and Syria and (the West are all complicit in the wars in those Middle Eastern nations which has exacerbated the migrant crisis in the first place). Cameron, has even proclaimed an “Age of Austerity” as his government imposes cuts of £210 billion, (€263 billion), equivalent to over 10 percent of Britain’s GDP, at the cost of the destruction of 20 percent of all public sector jobs, millions more in the private sector and the decimation of vital services. Also, many people of the Leave campaign are racists and xenophobes like Nigel Farage. Many of the Leave campaign want to cause the city of London to secure more global markets against their European rivals of Berlin and Paris. The Tory Party with people like Boris Johnson and Michael Grove including the UKIP are part of the Leave movement. I have no issue with the growth of anti-establishment sentiment in the world. What I do have a problem with is the growth of right wing nationalism that is anti-immigrant,anti-intellectual, and anti-social justice as expressed by Donald Trump in America, Farage in Britain, Marine Le Pen in France, and other folks in other European countries. The alliance of the pseudo-left and the right in clamping down on immigrants is truly disgraceful. Therefore, the controversies and the potential end of the EU never started with Brexit. It started long before. Prime Minister Cameron has said that he will resign in October of 2016. A Conservative Party Prime Minister could exist in the near future. Writing in the Financial Times, British lawyer David Allen Green explained Brexit voting is “advisory,” not “mandatory.” Parliament has final say. Ultimately, the Brexit doesn’t end the struggle for justice internationally. It will take months or years for the UK to be fully gone from the European Union. The victory of Brexit ought to trigger withdrawal from the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty (The Treaty of Lisbon introduced an exit clause for members who wish to withdraw from the Union, under Treaty on European Union Article 50). In fact, it makes little difference to the working class whether Britain remains in the EU or not. Either way, the capitalist class will continue its attacks against living standards and workers’ rights. The real alternative is to conduct a vigorous struggle against cuts and austerity, and for the social transformation of society in Britain, Europe and a world scale. Ultimately, I decide to not to follow the Remain or Leave side. I believe in following an independent course of class consciousness and supporting the working class and the poor of the UK to have their liberation along with international workers’ solidarity.


To begin, Jackie Robinson was born in January 31, 1919 in Cairo, George. His parents were Jerry and Mallie Robinson. He was the youngest of five children. His siblings are Edgar, Frank, Matthew, and Willa Mae. Jackie Robinson's extended family had a residential plot having two small houses at 121 Pepper Street in Pasadena, California. Jackie Robinson experienced discrimination including his family. By 1920, Robinson’s family moved to Pasadena, California. In Pasadena, his mother worked various jobs to support her family. Robinson experienced poverty and his minority friends were excluded from many recreational opportunities. In 1919, 76 African Americans were lynched in America.  In 1920, the Negro Leagues were created. One of his friends was Carl Anderson. During the 1920’s and the 1930’s, the Harlem Renaissance existed where African American writers, artists, and musicians developed culture and great work which was centered in Harlem, NYC. In 1935, Robinson graduated from Washington Junior High School. He enrolled in John Muir High School (Muir Tech) in the same year. He was known for his great athletic abilities. Mack was his brother and he was a silver medalist at the 1836 Summer Olympics. Mack and Frank (they are both his brothers) inspired Jackie Robinson to pursue sports. In Muir Tech, Jackie Robinson played many sports at the varsity level like football, basketball track, and baseball. On baseball, he played shortstop and catcher. He was the quarterback on the football team. He was a guard on the basketball team. On track and field, he won awards in the broad jump and he was a member of the tennis team. In 1936, Robinson won the junior boys singles championship in the annual Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament and earned a place on the Pomona annual baseball tournament all-star team, which included future Hall of Famers Ted Williams, and Bob Lemon.  In late January 1937, the Pasadena newspaper reported that Robinson "for two years has been the outstanding athlete at Muir, starring in football, basketball, track, baseball and tennis." Jackie Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College or the PJC. He continued to play athletic sports like basketball, football, baseball, and track. Most of his teammates were white just like in John Muir High School. Robinson suffered a fractured ankle in the football field, which delayed his deployment status while in the military. In 1938, he was elected to the All-Southland Junior College Team for baseball and selected as the region's Most Valuable Player. Even from the earliest times of his life, he questioned authority. On January 25, 1938, he was arrested after vocally disputing the detention of a black friend by the police. He got a 2 year suspended sentence. Robinson stood up against racism in public and in private.  Frank Robinson (to whom Robinson felt closest among his three brothers) was killed in a motorcycle accident. The event motivated Jackie to pursue his athletic career at the nearby University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he could remain closer to Frank's family. Robinson came to UCLA after he graduated from PJC in the spring of 1939. In UCLA, he won varsity letters in baseball, basketball, football, and track. He was one of the 4 black players in the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team. Others were Woody Strode, Kenney Washington, and Ray Bartlett. UCLA was college football’s most integrated team during that time. He won the 1940 NCAA Men’s Track and Field Championship in the long jump, jumping 24 ft. 10 ¼ in.   Back then, he didn’t do so well in baseball ironically enough in UCLA. While a senior, at UCLA, Jackie Robinson met his future wife named Rachel Isum. She was born in 1922. She knew about Robinson’s athletic career at PJC. Robinson left college in 1941 just in the spring semester of 1941. He worked in as an assistant athletic director with the government’s NYA or National Youth Administration in Atascadero, California. The government ended its NYA operation. So, Robinson traveled to Honolulu in the fall 1941 to play football for the integrated Honolulu Bears (or a semi-professional team). He returned to California in December of 1941 to pursue a career as a running back for the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast Football League. During this time, there was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States overtly was overtly involved in World War II. This ended his football career. Jackie Robinson was soon drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley, Kansas in 1941. This would change his life forever.


By the 1970’s, the Black Panthers and America entered a new era of history. We see the rise of the Nixon administration. The Nixon administration with J. Edgar Hoover continued policies in repressing the Black Panthers, the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement, the women’s rights movement, the labor movement, the Native American movement, etc. By 1970, the Black Panthers experienced massive murder and repression by the federal government. 28 Black Panthers were murdered. Hundreds of others were placed into jail. Albert Woodfox was a Panther who was recently released from prison. From May of 1967 to December 1969 alone, the Black Panther Party was hit with 768 arrests and almost $5 million bail bonds. In 1969-1970, Black Panthers traveled across the globe in order to get support for their cause. Some traveled into Scandinavian nations like Sweden and Norway and these nations had social democratic policies. In those nations, left wing activists organized a tour for Bobby Seale and Masai Hewitt in 1969.  At each destination along the tour, the Panthers talked about their goals and the "Free Huey!" campaign.  Seale and Hewitt made a stop in Germany as well, gaining support for the "Free Huey!" campaign. In 1971, the Black Panther Party focused heavily on a revolutionary internationalism that respected the liberation struggles of nations against Western imperialism. They focused on class analytical issues. Many leftist groups allied with the Panthers in legal aid, organizing anti-police brutality rallies, promoting anti-war events, and other events. Throughout the 1970’s and the 1980’s, many Black Panthers organized ambulance services, health care programs, political programs, educational schools for the youth, Free Breakfast for Children programs, assistance to prisoners, and other progressive efforts to help the community. Women leadership in the Black Panthers grew and the female BPP leaders believed in equality and womanism. It would be in August 1970 that Huey P. Newton would be released from prison. Newton would continue to make great analysis of the political systems of the world and speak great words. Also, he would make mistakes in his life. Many Panthers traveled into North Vietnam, North Korea, and China to oppose American imperialism. Eldridge Cleaver (who became a Republican reactionary and followed the Mormon religion. In the near future, I’m going to mention these things in more detail) told Black GIS to support liberation by not supporting the Vietnam War. Huey P. Newton sincerely wanted liberation for black people. From 1971 to the end of the Black Panther Party FBI/COINTELPRO-advanced tactics caused a rift between Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver.  Bobby Seale ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign in Oakland as a Democrat in 1973. This was part of electoral politics. By the 1980’s, the Black Panther Party ended. The surviving Black Panthers do teach us lessons today. The history of the Black Panther Party during the 1970’s and the 1980’s must be known as a way for us to promote better ways of carrying on during the 21st century. Today, we believe in political independence, workers’ solidarity, gender equality, and the repudiation of imperialism (regardless if a Republican or Democratic President executes imperialist, neoliberal policies).


 
Since the dawn of human history, human beings have used and studied technology. Technology is very important, because it deals with the development and sustenance of society and civilizations. From the Great Pyramids and other temples to modern skyscrapers today, humanity relied on technology, science, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and other skills to make awe inspiring structures a reality. In our generation, there is the growth of green technology and the importance of STEM fields. Many young people are learning about coding and molecular biology too. All of the concepts are vital, because we need STEM fields and the development of tech jobs in order for us to further cultivate an advanced civilization. In the 21st century, we live in a new era. We have computers that are small in size, but have massive computing power. We have satellites, and underwater vehicles which can travel long distances. We live in a world where Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other diverse social media formats allow people internationally to communicate with each other simultaneously. We have massive amount of futuristic devices that detect sound, measure distance, gauge electrical power (in the realm of ohm, volt, watt, etc.), decipher temperature, and create beautiful art too. That is why it is important for us to understand mathematics. Mathematics is how we measure the physical travel of particles, how we count money, and how we gauge power in physics among many circumstances. We should encourage always the youth and adults to pursue fields in technology if they desire too. We certainly need more plumbers, architects, electricians, builders, teachers, historians, social activists, computer science experts, and other tech experts which enrich the world in general. Some of our greatest inventors in human history used determination, a love of STEM fields, and dedication to achieve their goals. Anyone, regardless of their color, nationality, or sex, have the right to develop and use technology in enumerable, positive avenues.



Maglev and other high speed traveling vessels are international. They exist in America, Europe, Asia, and in other places of the world too. High speed vehicles can make journeys last much shorter than using conventional buses or trains. Some high speed rail travel by Maglev and others travel by electricity too. Some travel faster than 250 mph. The first of such systems in the modern age operated in Japan as early as 1964. It was called the bullet train. Usually, high speed trains operate on a standard gauge tracks of continuously wielded rail on grade separated right of way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design. Some high speed trains have passengers and others carry freight service. Back in 1899, high speed development started in Germany. There was the Prussian state railway joined with 10 electrical and engineering firms. They electrified 45 miles of military owned railways between Marienfelde and Zossen. The line used a three phase current at 10 kilovolts and 45 Hz. The Van der Zypen & Charlier company of Deutz, Cologne built two railcars, one fitted with electrical equipment from Siemens-Halske, the second with equipment from Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft(AEG), that were tested on the Marienfelde–Zossen line during 1902 and 1903. On 23 October 1903, the S&H-equipped railcar achieved a speed of 206.7 km/h (128.4 mph) and on 27 October the AEG-equipped railcar achieved 210.2 km/h (130.6 mph). These trains demonstrated the feasibility of electric high-speed rail; however, regularly scheduled electric high-speed rail travel was still more than 30 years away. Back then, electric railroads existed. Yet, the cost and disasters delayed high speed trail systems. In America, there were fast speed trains in America. Extensive wind tunnel research – the first in the railway industry – was done before J.G.Brill in 1931 built the Bullet cars for Philadelphia (P&W). They were capable to run at 92 mph. By the 1950’s, faster trains existed. The modern high speed rail service was developed by Japan. Japan back then had 45 million people and Tokyo plus Osaka was densely populated.  Shinji Sogō, President of Japanese National Railways, insisted strongly on the possibility of high-speed rail, and the Shinkansen project was implemented. A test facility for rolling stock, now part of the line, opened in Odawara in 1962. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen began service on October 1, 1964, in time for the Olympics. The Shinkansen system was expanded and passengers traveled in the system too. They traveled almost 200 mph. It has improved over the years in terms of line speeds, noise control, aerodynamic drag, braking systems, and other parts of its infrastructure. By the 1960’s, high speed train systems were developed in Europe and America.

By Timothy