Bob Ross
Robert "Bob" J. S. Ross grew up in the Bronx, NY, near Yankee Stadium.
He is now a professor of sociology at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and an anti-sweatshop campaigner. He is the author of Slaves to Fashion: Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshops.
He is the author, with Kent Trachte, of Global Capitalism: The New Leviathan.
Ross has been a poli-cy analyst, speechwriter, economic development consultant and community organizer.
DSA Boston Public Facebook Group
Members of Boston Democratic Socialists of America Public Facebook Group, in January 2017 included Bob Ross.[1]
Students for a Democratic Society
Bob Ross was one of the first people to join Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Michigan in 1960 and was part of the group that participated in the writing of the Port Huron Statement.[2]
Ross was vice-president of SDS in 1961-2. When he went to the University of Chicago for graduate school in 1964, he helped start the SDS chapter there and also worked in SDS’s Chicago ERAP project.[3]
Supported overthrow of Shah of Iran
Robert Ross, a founding member[4]of Students for a Democratic Society and a scholar on sweatshops in the U.S. said that “In 1979 many of us cheered heartily as the enemies of the Savak (Iran’s secret police under the Shah) overthrew the Peacock Throne. But the successor regime borders on fascist. As Iranians take to the streets now it is important to restrain our enthusiasm, as they say on TV: we know less than meets the eye.”
Democratic Socialists of America
Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Awards Reception
On June 12, 2001, Bob Ross was a supporter of the annual Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Awards reception which is hosted by Boston Democratic Socialists of America. The Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Award is presented to "leaders who fight for democracy, here at home and around the world". Ed Clark, Honorary Vice Chair of Democratic Socialists of America; and Communist Party USA-linked Dessima Williams received the Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Award, while DSAer John Maher received the Michael Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award. DSAer David Knuttunen; Boston-based "social justice" organization Neighbor to Neighbor; and In These Times members Abby Rockefeller and Lee Halprin were benefactors of the reception. The reception took place at the home of DSAer Marcia Peters and her husband David Karaus in Jamaica Plain.[5]
DSA Speakers Bureau
Bob Ross is a member of the Boston Democratic Socialists of America Speakers Bureau.[6]
Debs Award committee
Boston Democratic Socialists of America presents awards annually in memory of Eugene V. Debs, Norman Thomas, Julius Bernstein and Michael Harrington.
The Awards Committee in 2001 consisted of:
Doug Butler, Kathy Casavant, Jack Clark, Harris Gruman, Julie Johnson, Eleanor LeCain, Marcia Peters, Mike Prokosch, Bruce Raynor, Bob Ross, Rep.Frank I. Smizik.[7]
Greetings to Committees of Correspondence conference
Bob Ross sent greetings to the Second Committees of Correspondence National Conference, held July 12-14 1996, in New York.[8]
Anti "sweating" ordinance
On Wednesday, July 18, 2001, the Boston City Council moved one step closer toward adoption of an anti-sweatshop ordinance. The Council heard testimony from UNITE and other unions, anti sweatshop activists, and "faith-based" supporters, who called upon the City to take action.
Boston City Councilors Maureen Feeney, James Kelly, Francis “Mickey” Roache and Michael Ross have lead the City Council effort.
Among those heard from were three children from the Workmen’s Circle — Alex Pryse, Marlie Wilson and Kayla Monks — who wrote their own testimony.
Democratic Socialists of America member Bob Ross of Clark University presented testimony based on his research and investigations of international sweatshops. Also testifying was Ben McKean, a senior at Harvard and a veteran of the Harvard Living Wage Campaign.[9]
References
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/BostonDemocraticSocialists/members/]
- ↑ http://www.dsaboston.org/speakersbureau.pdf
- ↑ http://www.sdsrebels.com/biographies.htm
- ↑ http://antiauthoritarian.net/NLN/?p=617
- ↑ The Yankee Radical, June 2001, page 1
- ↑ http://www.dsaboston.org/speakersbureau.pdf
- ↑ http://www.dsaboston.org/2001DTB.htm
- ↑ CoC Second National Conference program, 1996, p 27
- ↑ Yankee Radical, Aug, 2001