Growing support for system change has not yet been matched by a serious public dialogue about what an alternative might look like. A new Pew poll published 12/28/2011 indicated that people who are under 30 or black are more likely to favor socialism than capitalism, but this does not correspond to clear ideas of what socialism is or how a socialist economic and political system would work. We offer up this FAQ as a contribution to the discussion.

Longview, Washington has become ground zero for one of the most important, intense battles in both the labor and Occupy movements. It's crucial that unions, Occupy activists, workers, and young people everywhere mobilize to Longview to help defend living wage union jobs when the EGT multinational corporation attempts to load grain on a ship without ILWU labor.

The December 12 west coast port blockade marked an extremely significant step forward for the Occupy movement. This coordinated disruption of international commerce significantly expanded upon the successful shutdown of the Port of Oakland six weeks before on November 2. By directly disrupting international trade and taking up common causes with the labor movement, the Occupy movement escalated its tactics from its initial approach of symbolic occupations of central squares to actively shutting corporations down and cutting into their profits.

On Monday November 28th the Washington State Government started a special session to discuss cutting an additional two billion dollars for the already stretched state government budget.

As we move closer to the November 23 deadline for the Congressional “Super Committee” to present its plan to cut $1.5 trillion from the federal budget deficit, both major parties have put forward proposals which sharply attack Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs. If these policies go through, it will be the most devastating attack on New Deal programs since they were first established. Massive struggles need to be organized to defeat these cuts.

Around the country, Socialist Alternative activists are playing an important role building the Occupy Wall Street protest movement and putting forward proposals for how it can grow in numbers and power. Here are four recent speeches from Socialist Alternative members at occupations in Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bellingham, WA, discussing next steps for the movement.

In the face of growing police repression of Occupy Wall Street protests across the country, and now that Occupy Seattle faces a critical juncture, we are urgently appealing for support from activists, workers and students in Seattle, around the U.S. and internationally.

In a few short weeks, the Occupy Movement has changed the face of U.S. politics. Well over 100 cities have ongoing occupations, with activists in 1,000 more cities and towns planning occupations or solidarity events. Hundreds of thousands have joined in the protests. Millions of working class people who clearly identify themselves as part of the 99% and oppose the 1% have been inspired by the bold stand taken against Wall Street and the corporate-controlled political system.

The explosion of the Occupation Movement demonstrated growing anger at the corporate policies coming from politicians in Washington. While many workers and young people were already clear about the role of Republicans, now more and more are seeing that the Democrats are also dedicated to the pro-corporate agenda.

The Seattle branch of Socialist Alternative has actively participated and helped build OS since its inception. Our members have joined in the movement’s demonstrations against economic injustice and big-business politics. We have also raised demands such as “Tax the Rich: Full Funding of Education and Health Care” and “A Sustainable Economy Democratically Run by the 99%,” which have received near unanimous support from the movement.

This successful mass direct action marked a huge victory for our right to protest and to build a powerful voice against Wall Street. For weeks the city government had chipped away at our ability to protest at Westlake in Seattle's notorious wet weather, and the occupation was edging toward the brink of collapse.

The exciting “Occupy Wall Street” movement has spread like wildfire across the U.S., tapping into deep-seated anger at Wall Street, corporate politicians and the richest 1%. After years of ongoing economic crisis with no solution or even any genuine debate in the mainstream, it seemed as if the only visible expression of the anger was coming from the twisted right-wing ideas of the Tea Party.

The #OccupySeattle movement took an important step forward on the 12th of October with student walkouts taking place around the city, including the University of Washington, Seattle Central Community College, Seattle University, Cornish College, as well as a number of high schools. Approximately 600 – 800 students joined the walkouts, called only one week earlier.

On 15 October, all around the globe, the “enraged,” the “indignad@s,” the occupiers of Wall Street, demonstrators all over Portugal, in Santiago Chile and in Cairo – and many, many more – will take the streets to challenge the power of big business. The magnificent movements of young people and workers in these struggles, with common causes, methods and demands, instinctively reach out to each other across borders and continents.