Fighting for our right to free speech

IN THE so-called progressive city of Madison, Wis., our branch of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) has been facing serious barriers to free speech. On the main pedestrian walkway of State Street, where we have set up literature tables and met people for years, we have been receiving hundreds of dollars in fines for various charges.

The city's legal structure has presented serious barriers, including requiring us to pay additional hundreds for permits and acquire a special exemption for "vending non-handcrafted goods," which is still pending. I know that other activists are facing similar attacks across the country.

Regardless of the specifics, there are some general points that should be made about this. This assault on free speech happens in a national context of increasing power and influence for the capitalists. Class inequality is staggering, and the recent legal decision by the Supreme Court to allow unfettered access by corporations to fund politicians is just a continuation of what we already knew: This system is run by and for the capitalist class.

Of course, the media fluctuates between "naively objective" and disgustingly sycophantic, and many people are becoming aware of this, and are seeking out alternative sources of information, including SocialistWorker.org.

I want to point out that the solid news coverage and analysis of SocialistWorker.org is, in part, a product of the supportive readers. The independence and reliability comes from the fact that we do not depend on corporate money to keep it going. So please donate what you can through the Web site or at the nearest ISO tabling if you like what you see.

I also wanted to point out that what the ISO does is unique. We do not just distribute information to people--exposing injustices, pointing out the bankruptcy of the Democrats and the system, and highlighting the movements that are developing. We do more. We seek to engage with people as socialist activists to convince them to organize with us to challenge the injustices that we all face.

Not only do we talk with people about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and our strategy for winning them, we invite them to the organizing meeting for the next protest. Not only do we talk about the victory of the anti-budget cut Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE) winning the Chicago Teachers Union elections, we invite people to study groups on books like Sharon Smith's Subterranean Fire, so we can learn the history of the labor movement together.

Not only do we talk about the attacks on immigrants, we organize panels of immigrant rights activists, and help organize protests at the next Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game and invite new people we just met to help us build it.

Not only do we talk about the need to stop the racist death penalty, we organize our tabling on State Street to coincide with a national day of action with Campaign to End the Death Penalty. We have people call in to the governor of Texas while activists are doing the same everywhere and others in Texas are organizing a rally at his mansion to demand the he not kill Kenneth Foster--and we successfully stopped that execution.

This is what free speech means to us; we use it to meet new activists, to build social justice movements, to educate ourselves and others, to shape national politics as much as we can, and to win people to socialism.

It's important to fight to defend our free speech, but also to use it to help us win a better world.
Ben Daniels, Madison, Wis.