Joseph Kishore | |
---|---|
National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party | |
Assumed office August 2008 | |
Chairman | David North |
Preceded by | Position established |
Personal details | |
Born | February 11,1980 |
Nationality | American |
Political party | Socialist Equality |
Website | Campaign 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]
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.
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]
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]
American working class
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." [15]
Donald Trump and Joseph Biden
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." [16] 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."
Identity Politics
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." [17] 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. [18]
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Kishore has described Sanders and 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." [19]
Ending the COVID-19 pandemic
Kishore has expressed opposition to what he describes as the policy of "Endless Covid" promoted by the ruling class. 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." [20] The Kishore campaign team uses N-95 masks,UV-far light,and Hepa filter units.
Israel-Gaza War
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." [21]
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 Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman 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.” [22]
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." [23] [24] 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."
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