Jack Kurzweil
From KeyWiki
Dr. Jack Kurzweil is a California activist, once married to Bettina Aptheker.
Free Speech Movement
As a graduate student, Kurzweil was involved in the Free Speech Movement and the Vietnam Day Committee at Berkeley[1].
Activism
As a Professor of Electrical Engineering at San Jose State University he was President of the SJSU California Faculty Association chapter (CFA). As a member of the CFA State Executive Board he co-chaired the Peace and Justice Committee. He represented the union on the Santa Clara County Central Labor Council. He was actively engaged in the defense of Angela Davis and the Soledad Brothers as well as Chile solidarity work. Since retirement, he has been involved in voter registration and anti war activities, primarily through the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club[2].
Communist Party reformer
In 1991 Jack Kurzweil was one of several hundred Communist Party USA members to sign the a paper "An initiative to Unite and Renew the Party"-most signatories left the Party after the December 1991 conference to found Committees of Correspondence.[3]
CrossRoads
In the mid 1990s was a contributing editor to Oakland based Institute for Social and Economic Studies- sponsor of CrossRoads magazine, which sought to promote dialogue and building new alliances among progressives and leftists... and to bring diverse Marxist and socialist traditions to bear while exploring new strategies and directions for the progressive political movements.[4]
CoC National Conference endorser
In 1992, Jack Kurzweil, vice president California Faculty Association, San Jose, endorsed the Committees of Correspondence national conference Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s held at Berkeley California July 17-19.[5]
Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s
The Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s was the Committees of Correspondence's first national conference held in Berkeley, California July 17-19, 1992.[6]
Workshops that were held at the conference on Saturday, July 18 included:[7]
Education The crisis of public education. What is needed to create a school system which is free, universally accessible, multi-cultural, integrated and which truly prepares young people for adult life?
- Alva Buxenbaum, AFT Local 2, NY
- Jack Kurzweil, VP, California Faculty Association, San Jose
- Pedro Noguera, Berkeley School Board
- Richard Hoyen, Caribbean activist, NY
US Labor Against the War
At a February 13, 2003 US Labor Against the War press conference in San Francisco, several local unionists spoke in support, including Jack Kurzweil, President, California Faculty Association .[8]
Nature, Society and Thought
In 2007, Jack Kurzweil, was an assistant editor of University of Minnesota based Marxist journal Nature, Society and Thought[9];.
Niebyl-Proctor
Jack Kurzweil is listed as a sponsor of the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library in Oakland California.[10]
"Support Bill Ayers"
In October 2008, several thousand college professors, students and academic staff signed a statement Support Bill Ayers in solidarity with former Weather Underground Organization terrorist Bill Ayers.
In the run up to the U.S. presidential elections, Ayers had come under considerable media scrutiny, sparked by his relationship to presidential candidate Barack Obama.
- We write to support our colleague Professor William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who is currently under determined and sustained political attack...
- We, the undersigned, stand on the side of education as an enterprise devoted to human inquiry, enlightenment, and liberation. We oppose the demonization of Professor William Ayers.
Jack Kurzweil, of the San Jose State University (Emeritus) signed the statement[11].
Bay Area New Priorities Campaign
Initiating signers, Bay Area New Priorities Campaign were;
- Aimee Allison, Host, KPFA Morning Show'
- Bob Brauer
- Mal Burnstein, California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus
- Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation
- Attenio Davis, War Times
- Pamela Drake, Oakland Community Activist
- Michael Eisenscher, US Labor Against the War
- Arthur J. Hatchett, Greater Richmond Interfaith Program
- Jakada Imani, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
- Sheila Jordan
- David Kakishiba, Oakland Board of Education
- Roger Kim, Asian Pacific Environmental Network
- Jack Kurzweil, Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club
- Ying Lee, Grandmothers Against the War
- Antonio Medrano, West Contra Costa Board of Education.
- Grace Morizawa, Asian Americans for Peace & Justice
- Jon Rainwater, Peace-Action West
- Wilson Riles, Oakland Community Action Network
- Walter Riley, Attorney and Civil Rights Activist
- Myrna Schnur, Co-Convenor, Gray Panthers - East Bay
- Sandra Schwarz, American Friends Service Committee
- Norman Solomon, Progressive Democrats of America
- Esperanza Tervalon-Daumont, Oakland Rising
- James Vann, Oakland Community Activist[12]
References
- ↑ http://www.concernedlisteners.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=3
- ↑ http://www.concernedlisteners.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=3
- ↑ Addendum to Initiative document
- ↑ Crossroads March 1996
- ↑ CCDS Background
- ↑ Conference program
- ↑ Proceedings of the Committees of Correspondence Conference: Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the '90s booklet, printed by CoC in NY, Sept. 1992 (Price: $4)
- ↑ http://www.laborstandard.org/Iraq/USLAW_press_conf.htm
- ↑ http://homepages.spa.umn.edu/~marquit/nst20n3-4a.pdf
- ↑ http://www.marxistlibr.org/sponsors.html
- ↑ Liberal Education website: List of Ayers Supporters
- ↑ Priorities Campaign website, initiating signers, accessed September 1, 2011
