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Joseph Kishore

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Joseph Kishore
Kishore in 2013
National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party
Assumed office
August 2008
ChairmanDavid North
Preceded byPosition established
Personal details
Born (1980-02-11) February 11, 1980 (age 44)
NationalityAmerican
Political partySocialist Equality
WebsiteCampaign website

Joseph Kishore (born 1980) is an American Marxist and writer who has been active in the Trotskyist movement since 1999. He is the National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and a writer for the World Socialist Web Site.[1][2]

In February 2024, SEP (US) National Chairman David North announced that Kishore was selected by the SEP as its presidential candidate in the 2024 US election. His running mate for vice president is Jerry White.

Kishore's political program includes the expropriation of the largest banks and corporations (to be placed under worker control), the end to the Gazan genocide and the immediate withdrawal of all US troops and military aid abroad, and the establishment of basic social rights of the working class (including the right to a livable income, leisure, and decent and affordable housing).[3]

Career

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Kishore became active in the socialist movement in 1999 while attending Rutgers University in New Jersey. He joined the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (then called Students for Social Equality), and then later joined the Socialist Equality Party.

Kishore was first elected National Secretary of the SEP in 2008, at the party's founding congress, and has been re-elected to the position since then.[4][5] In 2020, Kishore was the presidential nominee of the SEP in 2020 United States presidential election with running mate Norissa Santa Cruz.[6][7] He was selected again in 2024, to be the SEP's presidential candidate.

Political activity

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Kishore writes and comments on both American and international matters,[8][9][10] as well as on science. He has written and commented on US labor struggles, including the auto industry and public education, as well as the history of the socialist movement.[11]

As National Secretary of the SEP, Kishore participated in the party's intervention in the Workers Inquiry into the Bankruptcy of Detroit, a campaign in defense of the Detroit Institute of Arts and the austerity measures imposed by the 2013 Detroit bankruptcy.[12][13]

Views

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Kishore advocates for the overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of an international, socialist society. He stated in a 2020 interview that the working class "must take political power in their own hands, seize the wealth hoarded by the rich and turn the giant banks and corporations into democratically-controlled utilities."[14]

The political program of Kishore's presidential campaign, along with that of his running mate, Jerry White, was adopted by the 8th National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), held from 4 to 9 August 2024. The program argued that "Not since the end of World War II in 1945 has the threat of a catastrophic third world war been so imminent as it is today. ... The crisis of global capitalism finds its most concentrated expression in the United States. Bourgeois democracy in America is on its last legs." The program called for the "expropriation of the banks and financial institutions," and the "nationalization of the major corporations."[15]

American working class

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In a speech on May Day in 2014, Kishore said:

"The American working class is the sleeping giant of world politics. The financial aristocrats confront no more powerful adversary than the workers of this country."[16]

In 2024, Kishore gave a speech at the Haymarket Memorial in Chicago, as part of May Day celebrations by the International Committee of the Fourth International[17]. Kishore noted,

"The International Committee of the Fourth International is marking May Day, the international day of working class solidarity. But what many workers may not know is that May Day had its origins here at Haymarket, and in the Eight Hour Day movement that emerged after the Civil War."

Recounting the history of the Haymarket Massacre, Kishore noted that the origin of May Day was bound up with the Second International's decision for "a great international demonstration" to "mark the recent American events."

Donald Trump and Joseph Biden

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Speaking about the 2024 American presidential election at a 2023 May Day Rally, Kishore stated, "the population of the United States is to be presented with the 'choice' between perhaps the two most hated political figures: the current president, Biden, an aging octogenarian who can think of nothing but war, and the fascist conspirator himself, Trump."[18] Kishore argued that "unending war... has not ushered in an 'American century,' but a series of ever more extreme economic and political crises," referring to January 6 as an "attempted fascistic coup, spearheaded by the former president Trump."

Immigration and open borders

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The Kishore campaign in statement published on 13 September 2024 denounced what he termed an "anti-immigrant campaign spearheaded by Trump and his fascistic allies, with the complicity of Biden, Harris and the Democratic Party." Immigrants, Kishore argued, should "have the right to travel as they see fit. ... There are plenty of resources available to provide everyone, regardless of nationality or immigration status, a good-paying job, a home, free healthcare, free education, a clean environment, access to culture and a world free from imperialist war." Kishore advocated for the "dismantling of ICE, CBP, DHS—the entire border police state apparatus," and called for workers to put "an end to the nation-state system."[19]

Identity politics

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Kishore has been critical of racial and gender-based identity politics, stating in 2019, "The politics of racial, gender and other forms of identity is the politics of the upper-middle class, of all races and genders. It is a mechanism for dividing the working class, subordinating it to the right-wing, pro-war politics of the Democratic Party, and a mechanism for carrying out bitter struggles within the top ten percent for access to positions in academia, corporate boardrooms and the state."[20] Kishore's essay Race, Class, and Socialism appeared alongside interviews with historians Gordon Wood and James McPherson in a volume critiquing the New York Times' 1619 project from a socialist perspective.[21]

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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Kishore has described the Democratic Party US Senator Bernie Sanders and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as "channeling opposition into the Democratic Party." He wrote, "the fundamental fraud promoted by Sanders, along with individuals such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is that the Democratic Party can be pushed to the left and made a force for progressive change."[22]

Ending the COVID-19 pandemic

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Kishore has expressed opposition to what he describes as the policy of "forever Covid," in which SARS-CoV-2 has been allowed to spread freely amid the collapse of public health measures. He argues that this policy has been fully implemented by the Biden administration, with the support of both the Democrats and Republicans. In June, during his 2024 presidential campaign, he exclaimed, "the SEP fights for a policy of global elimination—of COVID-19 and other viruses. The public health measures necessary to eliminate and eradicate deadly pathogens are well known. What prevents their implementation is the capitalist system and the interests of the ruling oligarchy."[23] The Kishore campaign team uses N-95 masks, far-UV disinfection devices, and HEPA filters at their public meetings, to protect attendees from COVID-19 and other airborne pathogens.

Israel-Gaza War

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As part of an international tour in his presidential campaign, Kishore delivered a speech in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 10 December 2023 on the subject of Israel's war in Gaza. Kishore termed the war waged by Israel a "genocide," citing a contemporary estimate of the death toll in Gaza as 17,000 people, including women and children. Kishore argued that this had the "the full support of the Biden administration in the United States" and stated that "the war on Gaza and the US-NATO war in Ukraine against Russia are in fact two fronts in a rapidly escalating world war."[24]

Speaking on 24 July 2024 at a rally staged in Washington DC to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before the US legislature, Kishore criticized US Senator Bernie Sanders and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's attitude to the war, claiming they "combine insincere criticism with absolute support for the Democratic Party." He emphasized that his election campaign focused on appealing to the working class not the Democratic Party, stating, “The Socialist Equality Party and our election campaign insist that it is not a matter of appealing to the war criminals to change their course. No, we do not plead with the criminals to cease their crimes.”[25]

Capital punishment

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On 20 September 2024, Kishore issued a statement calling for "the abolition of the death penalty in all cases." The death penalty, he wrote, "was the most abhorrent expression of the American gulag that imprisons more than 2 million citizens and residents in its prisons and jails." He specifically demanded a stop the execution of Marcellus Williams, whom he termed "an innocent man on Missouri's death row."[26][27]

2020 presidential campaign and ballot access

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In 2020, Kishore filed lawsuits in Michigan and California alleging that requirements to gather 200,000 signatures for ballot access was "effectively impossible" given the "ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and the state's countermeasures to it."[28][29] The lawsuits argued that "the outbreak of the coronavirus left [Kishore's campaign team] no choice but to cancel all subsequent public events and campaign activity, including ballot gathering and initiatives, so as to protect volunteers, staff and the public at large from spreading the coronavirus."

Selected writings

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  • The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party (US) with David North[30]
  • The Crisis of the World Capitalist System: The Perspectives and Tasks of the Socialist Equality Party 2008-2010
  • The Defense of Culture and the Crisis in Detroit

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Fernandez, Ivan (21 April 2011). "Barack Obama is Definitely Not a Socialist, Says Joseph Kishore, National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party". LA Weekly.
  2. ^ "ISSE/SEP meetings in the US". World Socialist Web Site. February 10, 2009.
  3. ^ "The 2024 US elections and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party". World Socialist Web Site. 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  4. ^ LeBlanc, Beth. "Socialists: Democrats trying to keep us off Michigan ballot to protect Biden". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  5. ^ "Socialist Equality Party (US) holds National Congress". World Socialist Web Site.
  6. ^ "FEC Form 1: Statement of Organization" (PDF). FEC.gov. January 21, 2020.
  7. ^ "Socialist Equality Party to run Joseph Kishore for President, Norissa Santa Cruz for Vice President in 2020 US elections". World Socialist Web Site. January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  8. ^ Belof, Jonathan. "How Piracy is Affecting Economic Development in Puntland, Somalia". Journal of Strategic Security. 6 (1): 7.
  9. ^ "UN: Evidence Rebels used Chemical Weapons got from Syria Refugees". YouTube. Russia Today. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  10. ^ Cole, M. (2011). Racism and Education in the U.K. and the U.S: Towards a Socialist Alternative. USA: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230103801.
  11. ^ "Lenin Lives? Revolutionary Reaching out to Austerity Generation". YouTube. Russia Today. 22 Jan 2014. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20.
  12. ^ The Truth Behind the Bankruptcy of Detroit. USA: Mehring Books. 15 April 2014. ISBN 9781893638440.
  13. ^ Heddaya, Mostafa (2013-10-17). "Detroit Sports Profit as DIA Collection Considered for Collateral". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  14. ^ Candidate, Joseph Kishore, 2020 Presidential (2020-10-19). "Joseph Kishore: Presidential Candidate 2020 Q&A". www.vaildaily.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "The 2024 US elections and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party". Socialist Equality Party presidential campaign page. 2024-09-08. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  16. ^ "Joseph Kishore: May Day and the American working class". World Socialist Web Site. 2014-05-10. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  17. ^ "The Haymarket Martyrs and the origins of May Day". World Socialist Web Site. 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2024-09-30.
  18. ^ International May Day Online Rally 2023, retrieved 2024-02-26
  19. ^ "Oppose the Fascistic Attack on Haitian Immigrants!". Socialist Equality Party presidential campaign page. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  20. ^ Perspectives for the Coming Revolution in America: Race, Class and the Fight for Socialism, retrieved 2024-02-18
  21. ^ North, David; Mackaman, Thomas, eds. (2021). The New York Times' 1619 Project and the racialist falsification of history: essays and interviews. Oak Park, Michigan: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-893638-93-8.
  22. ^ "Bernie Sanders draws his campaign to an end: The political lessons". World Socialist Web Site. 2020-03-19. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  23. ^ "The socialist response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic". socialism2024.org. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
  24. ^ "Imperialism, the genocide in Gaza, and the world struggle for socialism". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  25. ^ "Kishore speech, Washington DC, 24 July 2024". Twitter/X. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  26. ^ "Stop the execution of Marcellus Williams! Abolish the death penalty!". Socialist Equality Party Presidential campaign page. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  27. ^ "Kishore Twitter thread, 23 September 2024". Twitter/X. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  28. ^ "Kishore v. Whitmer, Case No. 20-11605 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  29. ^ "Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denies SEP challenge to restrictive ballot access laws in Michigan". World Socialist Web Site. 2020-08-25. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  30. ^ Kishore, Joseph; North, David (2008). The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party (US). Mehring Books. ISBN 9781893638075.

External sources

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