Mundo obrero ¡Luchemos por un programa obrero para salvar empleos y viviendas! 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Oct. 16, 2008 VOl. 50, NO. 41 50¢ Finance collapse spreads worldwide Fight for food, fuel, housing challenges capitalism

By Jaimeson Champion global capitalist system more unstable. runs that have obliterated financial insti- The increasingly global character of tutions in the U.S., multiple European In recent years, many bourgeois econo- this crisis was evident on Oct. 6 when countries have hurriedly announced plans mists have advanced the theory that capi- European and Asian stock markets began to guarantee bank deposits. Sweden, talist economies around the globe have the week with steep plunges. Germany, Denmark, Ireland and Spain all largely “decoupled” from the world’s larg- The FTSE in Britain, the DAX in announced new deposit insurance plans. est economy in the U.S. The theory goes Germany and the CAC 40 in France all fell that the advent of the European Union more than 5 percent on Oct. 6. In Asia, the Capitalism: a crisis-prone system and the growth of powerful economies in Shanghai Composite and the Nikkei also that must go

Asia have limited the risk that an econom- fell more than 5 percent on Oct. 6. Capitalist politicians and pundits have ww Photo: alan Pollock ic crisis in the world’s largest economy The Oct. 3 announcement that the U.S. recently been advancing the claim that could spread globally. Congress had passed an unprecedented this crisis was avoidable, and that it was FORECLOSURE So much for wishful thinking. The global and criminal $700 billion giveaway to a matter of a “lack of regulation” in the FIGHTBACK capitalist system is now deep in the throes the banks has apparently done little in financial markets that led to the current of the largest economic catastrophe since the way of calming U.S. or international meltdown in Boston and Michigan 6-7 the Great Depression. The systemic crisis markets. The major U.S. indexes also But the reality is that economic crises that first emerged in the U.S. housing sec- went into free fall at the opening bell with such as the one the world is currently suf- tor has now spread to nearly every market the Dow down nearly 600 points by mid- fering through are inherent to the capital- in nearly every corner of the globe. day on Oct. 6. ist mode of production. These crises result NO BORDERS! As Venezuela President Hugo Chávez Treasury Secretary Paulson attempted from capitalist overproduction. Latin American unionists said at a recent summit in Brazil, the eco- to sell the U.S. public on the bailout by As Karl Marx wrote in “Theories of tour U.S. 9 nomic crisis emanating from the U.S. has saying that without passage of the bail- Surplus Value,” “Overproduction is spe- “the power of one hundred hurricanes.” out bill, the economy would self-destruct. cifically conditioned by the general law of Following the dissolution of the Soviet Despite the passage of the bailout bill, the the production of capital: to produce to Union, which had provided a counter- economic storm is clearly continuing with the limit set by the productive forces, that ABOLISH PRISONS weight to U.S. imperialism, the U.S. has gale force. is to say, to exploit the maximum amount brutally extended its economic hege- European leaders announced their own of labor with the given amount of capital, Thousands at conference 3 mony around the world. The tentacles of round of bailouts of financial institutions without any consideration for the actual U.S. finance capital have been sunk into over the weekend of Oct. 4-5. On Oct. 5, limits of the market or the needs backed nearly every market, in every corner of the bailouts were announced for Hypo Real by the ability to pay.” globe, greatly increasing the risk of conta- Estate, a large German mortgage lender, Crises of overproduction erupt when CRISIS WITHIN gion. The growing cross-border intercon- and for Fortis, a Belgium-based banking workers can no longer afford to buy all the THE CRISIS 5 nectedness of production networks and and insurance company. multitude of goods which the capitalist has streams of finance capital has made the Apparently fearing the kind of bank Continued on page 6

New YOrk emerGeNcY meetiNG Actions to hit banker bailout By LeiLani Dowell called on an emergency basis in response to the $700-billion bailout of the banks and the ever-increasing hardships facing working and oppressed people, a meeting of 100 activists and organizers was held here at the solidarity center on oct. 4. the meeting, which was attended by a large number of youth, trade unionists, community and anti-war activists, teamster leader. chris Silvera. Open mike session. focused on building a movement in new York and nationally to counter the economic attacks on poor and working people Continued on page 6

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City/state/Zip Workers World Speakers leilani Dowell Youth breakout group. 55 W. 17 st. Ny, Ny 10011 212-627-2994 www.workers.org and larry Holmes. ww Photos: Monica Moorehead

WW IN 1986 U.S. bombs Libya 10 PENTAGON HQ UNWELCOME Africom stays in Germany 11 Page 2 Oct. 16, 2008 www.workers.org Imprisoned Rev. Pinkney runs for U.S. Congress H In the U.S. Actions to hit banker bailout ...... 1 By Andrea Egypt Imprisoned Rev . Pinkney runs for U .S . Congress. . . . . 2 Detroit Critical Resistance fights to abolish prisons...... 3 Due to the great outpouring of support in Michigan, Community demands change following Taser tragedy . . . 3 Rev. Edward Pinkney has become the Green Party can- Solidarity school forges Southern workers’ unity . . . . . 4 didate in the 6th District Congressional race. He is run- Ohio foreclosure prompts suicide attempt...... 4 ning against incumbent U.S. Congressman Fred Upton, Capitalism breeds war, depression...... 5 a political heir to Whirlpool Corporation-Harbor Shores Michigan foreclosure moratorium...... 6 Community Redevelopment Inc. Cleveland: 'Bail out workers, not bankers'...... 6 Reverend Pinkney won the nomination even though Berrien County’s criminal justice system has locked him Call to action...... 6 away on a 3-to-10-year prison sentence. The reverend is Boston activists confront bankers to stop evictions . . . . 7 Benton Harbor’s community activist and minister for the Mumia on ’Fall of the House of Capital?’...... 7 oppressed and dissident African-American, Latin@ and Economic crisis: It isn't just greed...... 8 white populations. Rightists deprive youth of voting rights...... 8 Despite his imprisonment, Rev. Pinkney remains defi- Rev. Edward ant and vigilant against the ruling elites of this southwest Pinkney H Around the world Michigan community. Reverend Pinkney continues to gain tremendous sup- Financial collapse spreads worldwide...... 1 port from people inside and outside Benton Harbor. community. The white-dominated power structure in Latin American trade unionists tour in Boston...... 9 Many see in his case the blatant contradictions within the Berrien County is seeking to bring about the massive dis- WW in 1986: Stop Reagan’s terrorism against Libya!. . . 10 legal system. Activists are keeping in contact with Rev. placement of the African-American community through Africans reject U .S . Africa Command ...... 11 Pinkney inside the prison walls as they monitor his con- political disenfranchisement, home foreclosures and cor- Agent Orange in Vietnam ...... 11 ditions, treatment and the damages caused to him and porate development projects. his family by the unjust sentence imposed upon him by Reverend Pinkney’s continuing unjust imprisonment H Editorials the Berrien County court system. is shining a spotlight on the power structure of Berrien Of guns and gold...... 10 Former Congresswoman and current Green Party County. His illegal imprisonment stems from the fact Presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney, visited Rev. that he poses a threat to the ruling-class objectives Pinkney last year during his court-ordered home confine- of the Whirlpool Corporation-backed Harbor Shores H Noticias En Español ment on a tether. McKinney continues to lend her sup- Community Redevelopment project, which plans to Dádiva a los ricos enciende la ira del pueblo...... 12 port, along with that of many other activists from sur- destroy Jean Klock Park in Benton Harbor. rounding counties. After seizure of that public property, the HSCR intends Reverend Pinkney was picked up from his home by to transform it into a three-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Berrien County authorities in December after statements Golf Course for private use. In no way will that benefit the he made were published in an article in the People’s African-American community. Tribune newspaper based in Chicago. Reverend Pinkney When the HSCR project was first proposed, Rev. quoted from the book of Deuteronomy in the Bible about Pinkney organized the Black Autonomy Network of what “God shall visit upon the iniquitous” as an expres- Community Organizations, a people’s movement of sion of his religious beliefs. resistance and protest. At the same time he continually Workers World According to the authorities in Berrien County, these revealed the names of those responsible for the pover- 55 West 17 Street statements supposedly violated the conditions of his ty, unemployment and adverse conditions of the poor New York, N.Y. 10011 parole and landed him in prison for 3 to 10 years. people of Benton Harbor as they struggled to meet their Phone: (212) 627-2994 In response to this unjust sentencing, his defense basic needs. Fax: (212) 675-7869 committee has broadened its scope by bringing in the The elite powers of Benton Harbor want to remain E-mail: [email protected] American Civil Liberties Union, which has agreed to nameless and faceless so they can continue with their Web: www.workers.org handle possible constitutional violations in his case. plans to remove the majority of the African-American Vol. 50, No. 41 • Oct. 16, 2008 In regard to his original conviction in May 2007 on population. Reverend Pinkney has lifted the cloak and Closing date: Oct. 7, 2008 four felony counts and one misdemeanor for vote fraud identified who is really responsible for the conditions of Editor: Deirdre Griswold and ballot tampering, the National Lawyers Guild filed the poor people in Benton Harbor. This is the real threat a 115-page brief in the Michigan Court of Appeals. that keeps Rev. Pinkney behind bars. Technical Editor: Lal Roohk Simultaneously, his supporters have petitioned Michigan Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Governor Jennifer Granholm to grant clemency or vacate How to help Rev. Pinkney Leslie Feinberg, Monica Moorehead, Gary Wilson the conviction. Reverend Pinkney’s supporters ask those who would West Coast Editor: John Parker The persecution of Reverend Pinkney has become like to help in the struggle to free him to do two things: Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, a classic example of injustice within the United States 1) Send letters or postcards supporting Rev. Pinkney’s Greg Butterfield, G. Dunkel, Fred Goldstein, political system. As his case becomes more well known application to the parole board. The text can be as sim- Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, David Hoskins, and resistance to his railroading grows, it exposes the ple as: “I support Rev. Pinkney’s application for pardon.” Berta Joubert-Ceci, Cheryl LaBash, Milt Neidenberg, widespread problems associated with jury selection and Address them to Michigan Department of Corrections, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Minnie Bruce Pratt the violations of First Amendment rights related to free- Office of the Parole Board, Pardons and Commutations dom of speech and religious expression. Coordinator, P. O. Box 30003, Lansing, MI 48909. Technical Staff: Sue Davis, Shelley Ettinger, 2) Write letters and cards to Rev. Pinkney and tell Bob McCubbin, Maggie Vascassenno What threat does Rev. Pinkney pose? him you support him: Rev. Edward Pinkney #294671- Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Teresa Gutierrez, Reverend Pinkney is both an activist and a man of the G46, Ojibway Correctional Facility, N5705 Ojibway Rd., Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna Lazarus, Michael Martínez, cloth. His activism is deeply rooted in opposition to the Marenisco, MI 49947-9771. Carlos Vargas corporate redevelopment and gentrification plans for See bhbanco.blogspot.com for more ways to help Copyright © 2008 Workers World. Verbatim copying Benton Harbor, an oppressed majority African-American Rev. Pinkney. and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium JOIN US. National Office Buffalo, N.Y. Houston Richmond, Va. without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World Party 55 W. 17 St., 367 Delaware Ave. P.O. Box 595 P.O. Box 14602, Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published week- New York, NY 10011 Buffalo, NY 14202 Houston, Richmond, VA 23221 ly except the first week of January by WW Publishers, (WWP) fights on all 212-627-2994; 716-566-1115 TX 77001-0595 [email protected] 55 W. 17 St., N.Y., N.Y. 10011. Phone: (212) 627-2994. issues that face the Fax (212) 675-7869 [email protected] 713-861-5965 working class and Rochester, N.Y. 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[email protected] 313-831-0750 [email protected] New York, N.Y. 10011. [email protected] [email protected] www.workers.org Oct. 16, 2008 Page 3 Critical Resistance fights to abolish prisons By Gloria Rubac participants would read, answer and pro- Oakland, Calif. cess prisoners’ mail. A striking character of the conference At a massive, well-organized and politi- was the large number of youth, people of cally radical conference called CR10, some color and lesbian, gay, bi, and trans peo- 3,000 prison abolitionists from coast to ple who not only attended CR10 in large coast gathered in Oakland, Calif., for three numbers but who led and participated in days of reflecting, strategizing, collaborat- workshops, plenary sessions, security and ing and organizing around abolishing the entertainment. prison-industrial complex (PIC). At a workshop called “Live from Death The conference was held on the 10th Row,” Barbara Becnel mesmerized the anniversary of the founding of Critical large crowd by telling her story of friend- Resistance, an organization formed in ship with California death row prisoner 1998 to launch a movement to eliminate Stanley Tookie Williams until she wit- prisons, detention, policing and surveil- nessed his execution in 2005. She has lance used by the PIC to “solve” problems just released a brought on by poverty, racism, homeless- documentary on ness and sex and gender oppression. Williams entitled WW photos: Gloria Rubac CR10 included hundreds of workshops, “TRIBUTE: Stanley Above, SoffiyahE lijah listens as a film series, performances, meetings, Tookie Williams, Green Party's presidential candi- strategy sessions, regional meetings and 1953-2005.” date Cynthia McKinney speaks on cultural expressions from dance to drama, A death row Cointelpro. Second from left, Pam from spoken word to drumming. prisoner from San Africa, fourth from left, Ramona The atmosphere in the opening ple- Quentin called in Africa. nary session was electric as it opened live via telephone and one of the three Black Liberation with Native drumming. Then the Welfare to the workshop Army members ambushed by state Poets brought the house down with their and spoke to the police on the New Jersey turnpike sharp-edged hip-hop dedicated to Hassan crowd. in 1973, was part of the closing Shakur, unjustly executed in Texas in Family members, plenary. 2006. From San Francisco 8 member journalists and In a workshop on Cointelpro, Hank Jones to former political prisoner activists involved Green Party presidential candidate Linda Evans to INCITE! Women of Color in the Jena Six case Cynthia McKinney told the standing- Against Violence leader Andrea Smith to did a workshop room-only crowd, “Our government Palestinian-American poet and activist organized by Jesse Muhammad with the tured Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. of the has been wrong since the founding of our Suheir Hammad, the speakers set the high Final Call newspaper. Prisoners of Consciousness Committee country. ... This government would stoop political tone for the weekend. The Jericho Movement, which is hold- and Julia Wright, journalist, activist and to the lowest level possible to achieve their A standing ovation followed Miss ing activities at the United Nations in New daughter of author Richard Wright, as goals. Through Cointelpro, a heinous U.S. Major, an elder, African American, for- York the weekend of October 10-12, ran well as music by the Welfare Poets. government program, they would destroy merly incarcerated transgender activist of a workshop on political prisoners along There were several workshops on long- families by locking people up, they would 35 years, who spoke of her love and con- with the National Boricua Human Rights term isolation in prison, which is usually kill, they would incarcerate. They do this cern and activism for transgender women Network. referred to with expressions like solitary with the help of the corporations and the of color locked in U.S. prisons. Actors read parts from a new and confinement, Special Housing Units, media, from the New York Times to the The evening ended with Angela Davis graphic drama called “Lucasville: the supermaximum prisons, and supersegre- New Orleans Times Picayune. This needs igniting the crowd when she called for an Untold Story of a Prison Uprising,” which gation by different departments of correc- an open hearing!” end to prisons in the United States. She exposed how the state of Ohio framed up tion but which the men and women who The three days invigorated, educated was swarmed afterward, particularly by five innocent men and put them on death have to live under these conditions call and inspired the thousands of activists youth of color who wanted photos and row after a 1993 prison uprising. “torture.” attending to carry on the struggle from autographs from a hero that they had read Ramona Africa of the Move Organi­ From the Angola 3 to the San Francisco county jails, to ICE detention centers, to about and admired and were now meeting zation and Pam Africa of International 8, from Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard state and federal and military prisons. in person. Concerned Family and Friends of Peltier to the Puerto Rican independen- As Ramona Africa told a crowd: “Do During the entire conference the Mumia Abu-Jamal held a workshop on tistas, political prisoners were discussed whatever you can for Mumia and for all California Prison Focus and the Prison Abu-Jamal. They later held a commu- all throughout the conference. A taped prisoners. Victory is never giving in. We Activist Resource Center had thousands of nity meeting at the New Black World, message from political prisoner Sundiata must think strong and be strong. We will letters from prisoners and a space where a West Oakland social club, which fea- Acoli, driven underground by Cointelpro win!” n Community demands change following Taser tragedy By Jaimeson Champion world. Hopefully this will change some- ... There needs to be an intermediary Khiel Coppin was an 18-year-old Brooklyn, N.Y. thing. Hopefully no one will ever have to between the community and the NYPD.” African American with a psychiatric dis- go through this again.” (New York Post, Lisa Ortega from RIPPD said that com- ability who was killed on Nov. 12, 2007, On a recent windy night in Brooklyn, Oct. 3) munity intervention teams would be com- when the NYPD fired 20 rounds at him the flickering glow of a dozen small can- Many community groups and organiza- mitted to nonviolent de-escalation tech- outside his Gates Avenue apartment in dles illuminated a bouquet of flowers tions in Brooklyn and around the city are niques performed by mental health work- Bedford-Stuyvesant. They claimed they with a note, bearing the inscription “We saying that this tragedy must serve as a ers, not armed cops. Ortega explained thought the hairbrush he had in his hand Love You, We Miss You.” The makeshift catalyst for a complete overhaul of the way that community intervention teams are was a deadly weapon. memorial marks the spot on Tompkins in which emergency situations involving already being used successfully in other Bedford-Stuyvesant, a community Avenue, in the neighborhood of Bedford- individuals with psychiatric disabilities cities in the U.S. and that community largely of Black and Latin@ people, has Stuyvesant, where Iman Morales was are handled in New York. input and community oversight in the cre- frequently suffered racist violence and killed on Sept. 24 by a member of the New At a rally and march organized by Rights ation and implementation of these teams indignities at the hands of the police. York Police Department’s Emergency for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Dis­ is absolutely essential. In the hours before Coppin’s death, his Service Unit. abilities on Oct. 1, demonstrators called on Ortega told Workers World: “Training mother had contacted an MCT through Morales was a friendly and hardwork- the city to end the SWAT-team-like tactics alone isn’t going to do it. You could have Interfaith Hospital in Brooklyn and asked ing man who had a psychiatric disabil- too often employed by the ESU and instead the best training in the world but if there them to come assess and assist her emo- ity. He was emotionally distressed on the implement community intervention is no accountability, if there is no com- tionally distraught son. The team went to afternoon of Sept. 24 when he climbed, teams with trained mental health workers munity oversight, then it’s a façade and it Khiel’s apartment but left without seeing unclothed, onto a ledge outside his apart- and complete community oversight. does not work.” him after his mother informed them that ment. He was then shot with a Taser gun The rally featured speakers from 100 Indeed, the city’s only other means for he had momentarily left the premises. by a member of the ESU, causing him to Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, responding to situations involving indi- Members of Coppin’s family were criti- plunge more than 10 feet to his death on the National Congress for Puerto Rican viduals with psychiatric disabilities are cal of the MCT, saying the team left pre- the sidewalk below. Rights and Make the Road New York, 23 mobile crisis teams (MCTs) spread maturely and missed a critical opportunity Following this avoidable tragedy, on among others. throughout the five boroughs. These teams to prevent Khiel’s death. Increased com- Oct. 2 the cop who gave the order to use the Freeborn Gill, a speaker from RIPPD, are contracted out by the Department of munity oversight and accountability could Taser gun on Morales committed suicide, said: “We stand in solidarity to stop this Health and Mental Hygiene to private, prevent these types of service lapses. leaving behind three young children. kind of abuse. We demand that the com- for-profit hospitals around the city. Many Immediate action must be taken so that Morales’s brother, Jesse Hernandez, missioner come out and speak to us and of these teams have drawn criticism for these types of tragedies never occur again. said: “One of the things my brother always listen to the resolutions that we have. ... their lack of accountability to the commu- For more information, visit www.rippd. said was that he wanted to change the The whole NYPD needs to be revamped. nity, as in the death of Khiel Coppin. org. n Page 4 Oct. 16, 2008 www.workers.org Solidarity school forges Southern workers’ unity

By Dante Strobino St. Helena Island, S.C. Workers and From Sept. 18 to 21 dozens of working- activists class fighters from unions, workers’ cen- at labor ters, anti-gentrification organizations and school. academia attended the Southern Solidarity WW PHOTO School in St. Helena Island, S.C., to build unity among Southern workers fighting for democratic, rank-and-file, struggle- oriented organizations. According to the Center for Labor Renewal, which organized the school, “Some of our working class organiza- tions are trying new approaches, but they remain small, mostly local in scope, and by thousands of face contradictions of their own. African-American “The crisis demands bold initiatives that women, who were focus on transformation of existing work- later joined by 200 er institutions, building an all-inclusive white women. This movement, and powerful social mobiliza- strike inspired the tion for economic and cultural justice.” song “We Shall Delegations came from Longshoremen’s Overcome,” which Local 1422, the Charleston dock work- later became the anthem of the Civil Rights importance to the military-industrial tunity to bring workers and activists from ers, home of the Charleston 5; Electrical Movement. Third was the 1969 Charleston complex, with 35 to 45 percent of troops around the U.S. South together to discuss Workers’ Local 150, the North Carolina hospital workers’ walkout against racism coming from the region and 56 percent critical and sensitive questions related to Public Service Workers Union; the Food and being paid wages below the federal currently stationed there. organizing the South. and Commercial Workers’ Justice at minimum. Among many other important dis- “The presence and participation of Smithfield Campaign; and the Freightliner The workers’ school was brought to the cussions was one about race lead by Bill rank-and-file workers and members of the 5, five fired members of Auto Workers’ South by the Center for Labor Renewal, Fletcher of the Center for Labor Renewal. North Carolina Public Service Workers Local 3520 in Cleveland, N.C. launched in 2006, which has set up similar He went into the historical development Union UE Local 150 and IAM Local W369 Representatives of Black Workers for schools in the Midwest and Northeast. of the “white” race and gave examples of from eight different workplaces in the Justice, Power U from Miami, and U.S. All 13 Southern states combined have why “race is never static.” state, and Charleston, S.C., dockworker Labor Against the War attended, as did fewer union members than the state of At another session on understand- members of ILA Local 1422 provided rich several workers currently on strike at the New York, making the region of strategic ing Black and Brown unity, facilitated by lessons, social bonding and a spirit of Moncure Plywood factory organized by importance for labor organizing. Janieve Williams of the Latin American worker solidarity.” Machinists’ Local W369 in rural Chatham Participants heard a compelling pre- and Caribbean Community Center, work- According to Shannon Reaze, a com- County in North Carolina. Other unionists sentation by the Institute for Southern ers were able to challenge ideas about munity organizer in Miami with Power came from Texas, Arizona and Georgia. Studies, which pointed out that the South immigrant workers which the bosses U, “The school was important for build- Workers were there to learn about labor has the largest-growing population in the spread to create disunity. Participants ing new ideas and relationships that can history in the South. Kerry Taylor from country. South Carolina also has the larg- also talked in depth about migration due take the social labor movement to the next the Citadel gave a powerful presentation est-growing immigrant population, fol- to imperialism. level in combating neo-liberalism.” about three critical strikes in low-country lowed by Tennessee and North Carolina. The conference ended with a long strat- Reaze added, “The global South and the South Carolina. First was the story of more The Southern Studies speaker noted egy session where workers shared their Southern region of the U.S. must see their than 4,000 African-American laborers in that Charlotte, N.C., is the headquarters struggles and discussed how to build sup- relationship to one another. Youth are the the rice fields in Beaufort who struck in of such finance capital giants as Bank of port for each other. ones who can carry that torch the furthest. 1876 while the post-Reconstruction econ- America and Wachovia, and housing fore- Saladin Muhammad, an organizer The Solidarity School was a great place for omy was in shambles. closures disproportionately affect home with the International Workers Justice young community and labor organizers to Second was the 1945 strike in Charleston owners in the South. Campaign of UE, described the Southern take up that mission and have our elders at the American Tobacco Company, led The speaker also pointed to the South’s Solidarity School as “an important oppor- there to guide us.” n Ohio: Foreclosure prompts suicide attempt By Martha Grevatt taking out another mortgage for $46,400, the next day. On Oct. 1 police came to her Carlene Balderrama in Taunton, Mass. which she in turn refinanced again in home, but after Fannie Mae representa- (ABC News Medical Unit, July 25) Scam artists who prey on the elderly are 2004 with a $45,620 mortgage from the tives failed to appear, they began to leave. There could well be more such trag- generally not able to elicit much public notorious and now defunct predator, After hearing gunshots, a neighbor, using edies in Ohio where the foreclosure rate sympathy. Nor are they likely to get much Countrywide Home Loans. a ladder to get in a second-floor window, is one of the highest in the country and assistance when they fall upon hard times. This endless cycle of getting out of debt found Polk wounded. She was rushed to the unemployment rate is second only to True or false? by going into more debt was explained the hospital and is now recovering. Michigan. Akron is one of the hard-hit That depends on whether it’s an indi- by Mellanie Rittenour, who worked for Fannie Mae now states it will forgive areas in the state. According to Council vidual predator or a corporate predator. MBNA America from 2000 until 2006. the mortgage and allow Polk to stay in her President Sommerville there were 99 Last month the troubled Federal National “It was required practice in the collections home. This action came about only after foreclosures in one month just on the Mortgage Association—“Fannie Mae”— department to ask customers with credit Cleveland Congressman Dennis Kucinich city’s East Side where Polk lives. (ABJ, was deemed worthy of a $200-billion tax- card trouble if they owned a home. If the described the incident—“a human face for Oct. 3) payer bailout. answer was ‘yes,’ the call was immediately a great national tragedy”—on the House The twin crises of unemployment and Fannie Mae is again in the spotlight after transferred to the mortgage department. floor during the bailout debate. (ABJ, home loss are not unrelated. While hous- the suicide attempt of 90-year-old Addie Failure to do so led to a dock in bonus Oct. 3) ing prices are lower in the Great Lakes Polk. On Oct. 1 this Akron, Ohio, widow pay.” (ABJ, Oct. 3) While one elderly woman’s nightmare region than in much of the U.S., the steel, shot herself in the chest rather than be put Then the home is typically appraised may be over, the “great national tragedy” auto and rubber bosses have destroyed out of the home she and her late husband above its market value, leaving the hom- will undoubtedly drive more of those fac- jobs and driven down wages to the point had lived in since 1970. Now Polk has been eowner owing more than the house can ing eviction and foreclosure to desperate that owning a home is now unaffordable declared “the poster child for this foreclo- possibly be sold for. This is how Addie acts. In the past year there have been a for many. sure crisis we are facing” by Akron City Polk found herself in foreclosure in number of fatal suicides and murder-sui- The scenario of blocks and blocks with Council President Marco Sommerville. September 2007, after which Fannie Mae cides tied to home loss in Oregon, Texas, boarded-up houses has forced housing (Akron Beacon Journal, Oct. 3) took over the loan from Countrywide. Indiana and Massachusetts. values to fall. This, combined with the The Polks purchased their home for When the sheriff’s sale was conducted “Loss of a home ranks with loss of a predatory practices of mortgage lenders, $10,000 and paid off the initial mortgage last June, Fannie Mae bought the home close loved one and loss of a job as among has made it nearly impossible for working in 1982. In 1994 Robert Polk, a retired from itself for $28,000—though on the the top causes of extreme stress and people to escape the cycle of debt. rubber worker, passed away, and by 1997 books Polk owed $45,000. despair for people,” explained Dr. Bruce Ohio activists have begun discussions Addie Polk had taken out a second mort- On Sept. 30 Polk confirmed by phone Cohen, professor of psychiatry at Harvard on launching a campaign for a morato- gage for $21,000. She paid it off in 2001 by that she would be escorted from her home Medical School, after the July suicide of rium on foreclosures and evictions. n www.workers.org Oct. 16, 2008 Page 5 Capitalism breeds war, depression Following is an excerpt from the intro- top 1 percent received 21.8 percent—the yachts, jets, mansions, servants and every expansion. Capital flooded into the for- duction to the forthcoming book “Low- highest percentage of total household form of obscene luxury, they still have mer Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, India Wage Capitalism” by Fred Goldstein to income since 1928, the year before the hundreds of billions in money capital left and other places. The upturn in economic be published by World View Forum. stock market crashed. (Inequality.org) over. And, as Karl Marx showed, capital output accelerated in the mid-1990s with From 2000 to 2007 the wealthiest 400 cannot rest, cannot remain idle. It seeks the development of the Internet and The Crisis within the Crisis individuals in the U.S. got a $670-billion profit, and it seeks to maximize profit. related technologies. From 1995 to 2000, As the crisis mounts there will be finger increase in their wealth and owned $1.5 For example, the two largest industrial venture capitalists, who are really fronts pointing by politicians and pundits alike, trillion. While the top 1 percent of house- corporations in the U.S.—General Electric for the big banks, poured billions of dol- meant to assuage the anger of the masses. holds earn more than the bottom 50 per- and General Motors—both have huge lars in speculative capital into technology Official opinion is blaming the situation on cent, they own more than 90 percent of financial subdivisions. GE plows billions companies. New companies were being greed and on a failure of regulation. To be the wealth. (Figures from Sen. Bernie in profits into GE Capital, which invests created on a daily basis. The stock mar- sure, the bankers on Wall Street are vora- Sanders’ speech against the bailout.) tens of billions in loans all over the globe. ket boomed, creating the so-called “dot- cious and greedy. And it is obvious that These are truly staggering numbers and GM’s financial arm is GMAC. (In 2008, to com” bubble—until the overproduction of the destruction of regulatory restraint on have profound implications for the profit raise capital, it sold 51 percent of GMAC technology led to another collapse, begin- finance capital opened the door wide to an system. to Cerberus, a private equity firm.) While ning in March 2000. From that time until escalation of gambling and speculation— The working class produces all wealth, GM has downsized its production and October 2002, $5 trillion in paper wealth to the “casino” economy. all value in society. The class struggle is forced a large part of its workforce to take was wiped out and an economic downturn This deregulation began with the Reagan really a struggle over which class will get buyouts, the company has expanded its developed simultaneously. administration, passed a milestone in the a larger or smaller share in the social sur- lending. The same goes for Ford, Chrysler In the 110 years since the Spanish- Clinton administration with the repeal of plus created by labor. If the bosses get and other industrial giants. Instead of American war of conquest, imperialist the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, more, the workers get less, and vice versa. investing surplus capital in their own capitalism has brought an endless cycle and continued in the current Bush admin- This is what makes class antagonisms companies, they use it to make loans. of wars, recessions, depressions and more istration. Alan Greenspan, former head of irreconcilable. The collapse of the housing boom in wars. After each economic downturn, the Federal Reserve System, presided over Saying that there is growing income August 2007, followed by turmoil in the the system has had to resort to military much of this deregulation during his reign inequality in the U.S. is really a masked capital markets, was only the latest in a expansion and financial manipulation to of 19 years, from 1987 to 2006. way of saying that there has been a broad series of capitalist crises. revive itself. But to say that deregulation is the cause redivision of the social surplus in favor of During the Reagan administration, a During the depression of the 1930s, of capitalist excesses is to put the cart the capitalist class and to the detriment of severe recession in 1982 and 1983 sent Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to get the before the horse. It is the irrepressible the working class. The bosses and bank- unemployment above 11 percent. The cap- economy going with the Works Project capitalist lust for profit itself that leads to ers have taken a larger and larger relative italist class used the opportunity to begin Administration and by allowing workers’ excesses. These excesses, such as the wild share and the working class has received the technological restructuring of indus- wages to rise. But by 1937-1938, after a speculation in stocks and land deals that a correspondingly smaller share. try, leading to millions of workers losing brief uptick, there was a second depres- led up to the market crash of 1929, led to However, the rate at which the owners high-paying jobs. Reagan then stimulated sion. Only preparations for World War II New Deal-era regulations restricting the of capital have accumulated this wealth the economy with $2 trillion in military and conquest in the Pacific and Europe financiers—but only after the speculative exceeds the rate at which it can be rein- spending, using Cold War propaganda to revived the U.S. economy. horse was out of the barn and millions vested profitably in productive capital. justify this huge handout to the military- Throughout the entire Cold War period, had been ruined. The scientific-technological revolution industrial complex. U.S. capitalism was dependent on military The gradually accumulating need of has made business more and more pro- The economy expanded and the stock spending to keep its economy going. The capital to engage in speculation inevita- ductive. The workers turn out more goods market boomed again—until it collapsed growth of the military-industrial complex, bly results in the destruction of regula- and services in less time with each new in October 1987 with record losses. Several with its web of prime contractors and tens tory restraint. The system itself creates advance in technology. trillion dollars of paper wealth were wiped of thousands of subcontractors thriving excess money capital and drives it more Furthermore, the anarchy of produc- out. An economic collapse was prevented on Pentagon appropriations for war and and more toward financial speculation tion—that is, the unplanned and com- only when Alan Greenspan, who was for arms exports, was the principal means and investment in paper wealth that has petitive nature of capitalist production— appointed head of the Federal Reserve of keeping the capitalist economy from no relationship to underlying value. sends each capitalist grouping in search in August 1987, poured tens of billions of sinking into stagnation and depression. The fact is that the bankers and the rich of greater and greater market share in dollars into the financial system to sup- This history illustrates that since the in general have vastly increased their for- pursuit of profit, to the point that they col- port the banks and the stock market on turn of the twentieth century, capitalism, tunes in the last three decades. Income lectively produce a glut of commodities on an emergency basis. This emergency res- in order to sustain itself, has had to resort inequality in the U.S. has become notori- the market and can no longer sell them at cue of the economy lasted only until 1991, to artificial measures that bring disaster in ous around the world. For example, in 1976 a profit. This is a fundamental feature of when there was another recession. their wake, in the form of war, depression the top 1 percent of households received capitalism and cannot be eliminated. However, the collapse of the USSR, also or both. 8.9 percent of total income. In 2005 the And after the rich spend billions on in 1991, stimulated a decade of capitalist Oct. 3, 2008

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here is my donation $500 $250 Low-Wage $100 $50 $35 $25 $_____ other (write checks to world View Forum.) Capitalism: or donate $______by Visa or Mc Colossus with feet of clay card #______exp. date ____ /____ world View Forum announces the coming publication of an important new book, “low-wage capitalism: colossus signature ______with Feet of clay” by Fred Goldstein. this work is essential reading for all who want to under- NAme (Please print) stand how the new phase of globalized high-tech imperialism is creating worldwide wage competition and impoverishing Address the multinational working class in the u.s. using Marxist analysis, this work explains the social forces CIty stAte ZIP behind the current economic crisis and through historical however, the high cost of printing and binding examples points the way to future class struggle. the book cause us to turn to you for financial the 320-page book contains a bibliography, endnotes, support. PhoNe\emAIL graphs, and charts; its contents are fully indexed. whatever contribution you can make to print every aspect of production—writing, editing, proofreading, this important book will make a difference! orgANIZAtIoN/UNIoN/sChooL cover, book design, and indexing—was done by voluntary everyone who donates $25 or more will receive WORLD VIEW FORUM a copy of this book. labor. 55 west 17th St., Fifth Floor New York, NY 10011 Page 6 Oct. 16, 2008 www.workers.org Local politicians, unionists back foreclosure moratorium By Bryan G. Pfeifer a representative criminal bailouts of Wall Street and the Detroit DETROIT of the American craven capitulation by Democrats and Federation of Republicans alike to the bailout bill. Following on the heels of a militant Teachers; media “We will not support the bailout. We and successful march, rally and people’s workers, includ- will not go along with it. Where’s the hearing Sept. 17 in Lansing, Mich., as ing Radio France jobs bill? Where’s the health care bill? well as other ongoing protest actions, International Where’s the education bill?” demanded the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop correspondents; Abayomi Azikiwe of the Moratorium Foreclosures and Evictions continues and Moratorium NOW! Coalition. While drivers honked building its statewide network demanding NOW! Coalition their horns in support, the crowd held the state legislature enact Senate Bill 1306, members. two massive banners and chanted, a two-year foreclosure moratorium bill. “The foreclo- “Bail out the people, not the banks” and The coalition’s activities are increasing sure and eviction “Moratorium Now!” and gaining wider support as poor and crisis has reached After the protest, an activist delegation working people’s resistance continues epidemic propor- entered the federal building to register amid the ongoing criminal, racist, multi- tions not only in their protest that Democratic Sen. Carl billion-dollar bailouts of the Wall Street ww Photo: alan Pollock the United States Levin had voted for the bailout bill. After bankers and bosses. but in the world they were told Levin wasn’t in, the delega- A series of events the week of Sept. 28 in package to create jobs, like those created economy. A moratorium is the answer, tion was virtually tossed out of the pub- Detroit and Lansing demanded passage of by the Works Progress Administration not a taxpayer bailout,” said Clarke. lic building by security and cops. But the the bill and money for people’s needs, not in the 1930s, for heads of households “In the midst of a $700-billion Wall activists eventually won a meeting with a more bailouts for the rich and their wars. in Detroit, and providing tax credits for Street bailout, Congress still has no staff representative. The delegation made JoAnn Watson, an African-American small businesses. answers for struggling homeowners. it clear this was only the beginning of city councilor in Detroit, held a press Press conferences in Lansing and Detroit Michigan should take this opportunity mass protests; they would be back. conference at City Hall Sept. 29. This on Oct. 1 were sponsored by Michi gan to set a positive example for our nation Upcoming activities of the Moratorium action followed a resolution passed by the State Senator Hansen Clark, sponsor of SB by freezing foreclosures for two years, NOW! Coalition include ongoing protests, Detroit City Council Sept. 22 demand- 1306. Currently the bill is being held up in allowing people to stay in their homes mass leafleting, speaking events and orga- ing Congress bailout housing and mort- committee by Rep. Randy Richardville. and make reduced payments until they nizing for a statewide organizers’ confer- gage crisis victims by enacting a two-year The Michigan State AFL-CIO attend- can get back on their feet.” ence scheduled for early December. national moratorium on foreclosures. ed the Lansing press conference and Clarke added, “The Michigan AFL-CIO The next meeting of the Moratorium “If we can bail out Freddie Mac and expressed support for SB 1306, as did is stepping up to support legislation that NOW! Coalition will be on Oct. 11 at the Fannie ($200 billion), AIG ($85 billion), Linette Crosby, a mint farmer from St. protects Michigan residents during the Central United Methodist Church, 23 E. and the ‘Big Three’ auto companies ($25 Johns, Mich., whose family farm of 96 current financial crisis, and I urge state Adams, 4th floor, Detroit. For more infor- billion), then we should be able to help the years has been foreclosed. The bank is lawmakers to do the same.” mation or to send a donation, call 313- people whose tax dollars will be used for scheduled to take the farm’s inventory on A loud noon demonstration at the 887-4344; email moratorium@moratori- these bail outs,” said Watson in a media Nov. 1. (www.getmint.com) McNamara federal building in downtown um-mi.org; or visit www.moratorium-mi. release. “The bill is needed because Congress Detroit took place on Oct. 3 to protest the org. n Watson noted that in Michigan, with has, for now, taken this issue of helping unprecedented job losses in the auto people faced with foreclosure off their industry—more than 200,000 jobs lost table, which was wrong for them to do,” New York emergency meeting since 2000—the Detroit metropolitan area said Mark Gaffney, president of the has gone from the highest home owner- Michigan AFL-CIO. “The Federal bailout ship rate to the highest foreclosure rate. package, which will commit taxpayers to Actions to hit banker bailout Watson said the Detroit City Council $700 billion, will not work without a bill Continued from page 1 as the next step forward, a proposal initi- demands that Michigan senators and like Sen. Clarke’s.” by the banks, wall street, and federal and ated by the youth group Fight imperialism, Detroit-based congressional representa- The Detroit press conference was local governments. stand together (Fist) was approved, which tives contribute to Detroit’s economic attended by Dave Ivers of the Metropolitan the urgent necessity for a people’s fightback calls for nationally coordinated, local actions recovery by instituting a national mora- Detroit AFL-CIO; David Sole, president of against foreclosures, evictions, job losses, from oct. 24 through 27. initial endorsers budget cuts and more was expressed by torium on foreclosures for at least two Auto Workers’ Local 2334; Rev. Ed Rowe include the ad-hoc national network to stop numerous participants. the event followed Foreclosures and evictions, Moratorium now! years, earmarking a $1-billion economic of the Central United Methodist Church; a series of emergency protests that occurred coalition to stop Foreclosures and evictions on wall street in previous weeks, as well as (Michigan), troops out now coalition and the national protests on sept. 27, all demanding women’s Fightback network. n CLEvELAND: money for people’s needs as opposed to capi- talist greed. To endorse, read call below.

The following call to action—initiated by the youth group Fight Imperialism, Stand Together and endorsed by the Ad Hoc National Network to Stop Foreclosures & Evictions, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures & Evictions, Women’s Fightback Network & Troops Out Now Coalition—was raised and approved at an emergency meeting of 100 activists in New York on Oct. 4. To endorse, e-mail [email protected].

A Call to Action OctOber 24-27 Bail out the People—Not the Bankers Nationally coordinated, local mass Actions ‘Bail out workers, not bankers’ Organize marches and demonstra- • No layoffs—extend unemployment tions in front of banks—especially benefits JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, While the Senate was preparing to pass H, I, O/Wall Street has got to go” and “It’s • No utility shutoffs Wells Fargo and Citibank—or at your a $700-billion bailout of the richest banks our money, it’s our right, we need people’s • Debt relief for students, poor and local federal reserve bank; organize in the world on Oct. 1, a group of work- oversight.” During the lunch-hour protest, working people a teach-in or a public hearing on the ers and foreclosed homeowners protested many passersby gave the thumbs-up while • Protect public and private pensions Wall St. crisis. in Cleveland’s financial district. A woman motorists honked in support. These are some of the growing list of • Jobs at a living wage who had already lost her home remarked, Part of a national day of protest, the demands that activists will be raising We are outraged Congress has “The blood in the streets of Cleveland is demo nstration was called by Jobs with at events between Oct 24-27: approved a $700-billion bailout of the ignored as Washington focuses only on the Justice and joined by members of ACORN • Emergency moratorium on home banks. blood on Wall Street.” (Association of Community Organizations foreclosures and evictions At a time of massive home foreclo- Dozens of signs demanded “Mortgage for Reform Now), FIST (Fight Imperialism, sures, job layoffs, rising food prices • No budget cuts in education, heath moratorium” and “Bail out workers, not Stand Together) and the Peoples Fightback and cutbacks in social services, includ- care and all social services bankers.” Others posed the question: Center. Continued on page 8 “What about us?” Chants included, “O, — Report and photo by Martha Grevatt www.workers.org Oct. 16, 2008 Page 7

mumia Abu-Jamal from death row Activists confront ‘Fall of the House bankers to stop evictions of Capital?’ By Frank Neisser Following is an edited version of an Oct. 1 “Bail out the people, not Wall Street BOSTON. audio column posted bankers!” resounded in the streets out- online at www.prison- side the Colonnade Hotel during the Oct. radio.org . Go to www. 6 lunch hour as activists in the struggle millions4mumia.org to read legal and against foreclosures, evictions and util- political updates on his case. ity shutoffs demonstrated at the “Open By the time you read this, the Doors” conference. $700-billion bailout will have been old Hosted by the Warren Group, the con- news, one of the biggest transfers of ference included banks, mortgage com- wealth in history. But it will not heal panies and such insurance companies as that which ails the nation as it trips and Bank of America, SBLI insurance compa- stumbles like a drunken sailor on shore ny, TD Banknorth and many others. leave. Speakers at the conference included Gov. The reasons are simple. Deval Patrick, Congressperson Barney For the problems are systemic, built Frank, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, into the rapacious nature of the machin- the Director of Community Affairs for ery humming all around us. This Rube the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Goldberg-like contraption of democratic U.S. Department of Housing and Urban forms at the service of the financial ser- Development and others directly involved vices industry is a bottomless maw, a in creating the financial crisis and forcing gaping mouth that is never sated. people out of their homes. Why was there no alarm when millions Cameras from all major TV channels ww photo: Stevan kirshbaum of people lost their homes to foreclosures rolled as the protesters demanded an made inevitable by variable mortgage immediate moratorium on foreclosures As Frank scurried past the protest- evictions; stop utility shutoffs and restore rates? When millions lost manufacturing and evictions. They expressed outrage at ers and into the hotel, Miya Campbell of services immediately; and roll back food jobs to low-paying service gigs? When liv- the $700-billion giveaway to the banks FIST taunted him from the microphone, and fuel prices. ing standards crumbled, and when take- while poor and working people contin- demanding to know why he was afraid to The protest also focused attention on home pay fell to 1972 levels? ue to be evicted and have their homes speak to or hear from the people. She also the recent $700-billion bailout of Wall Where was the alarm? foreclosed. highlighted how youth and their needs Street as well as the $315-billion bailouts There was no alarm for this—the blind The protest was called by the Women’s are closed out of the “Open Doors” con- of American International Group, Fannie market at work, the leveling way of glo- Fightback Network, the youth group Fight ference, with schools being closed and Mae, Freddie Mac and Bear Stearns. balism, the new world order moving Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) and students out on the streets and homeless Demonstrators stressed that poor and through, preparing the way for the tri- the International Action Center. There was because of foreclosures. working people need assistance, not the umph of capitalism uber alles. strong participation from Steelworkers’ Shortly afterward, a delegation of 15 banks whose racist, corrupt, predatory Few were the politicians who gave Local 8751, the Boston School Bus Drivers demonstrators moved into the hotel practices created the crisis. voice to this immense social suffering. Union, including President Frantz Mendes and chanted loudly as they approached Nan Genger of the Women’s Fightback Fewer still used their power to try to and Vice President Steve Gillis. the hall where the event was held. They Network pointed out that poor and work- assuage their pain, for they too were Also participating were Bishop Filipe were barred by security from reaching ing people will be forced to bear the brunt drunk on the wine of globalism. Teixeira, OFSJC; members of the Raging the conference area, but their loud chants of these bailouts as services and programs But when the ripples spread upwards, Grannies; and students and youth who resounded throughout the hotel and their are slashed on federal, state and local lev- from the foreclosed homes to the fore- helped make placards and a banner which message was heard. els. This money, as well as the nearly $1 closing banks and from the banks to read, “Bail out people, not banks—Mora- The police were brought in to threat- trillion being spent on wars in Iraq and investment houses, Congress steered torium on evictions and foreclosures.” en the demonstrators with arrest if they Afghanistan and the hundreds of billions from their drunken stupor and rang The demonstration lasted from 11:30 didn’t leave. Speakers pointed out how this going to the Pentagon, belongs in our com- alarm bells the loudest. a.m. until 1 p.m., with a militant picket line so-called “Open Doors” conference was in munities, where it’s needed for education, “It’s an economic 9/11!” some bel- and chanting interspersed with speakers fact open only to rich thieves, conspiring youth programs, healthcare, affordable lowed. “It’s a financial tsunami!” said condemning the bailout and demanding to rob the people’s money. The delegation housing and jobs at livable wages. others. that the money be used for the peoples’ then rejoined the picket line outside. This protest was part of the national When Americans were hoodwinked needs. When Barney Frank, chairman of The protest focused on the grow- movement calling for a moratorium on into subprime loans and millions were the House Financial Services Committee, ing demand that Gov. Patrick declare foreclosures and evictions initiated by faced with foreclosures, where was the arrived, he was greeted with: “Barney an “economic state of emergency” in the Ad Hoc National Network to Stop alarm? Frank, we say no! Wall Street bailout’s got Massachusetts and implement an imme- Foreclosures and Evictions. (www.stop- More importantly, where was the help to go!” diate moratorium on foreclosures and foreclosuresandevictions.org) n for those who were endangered? Nowhere—nowhere. If they helped them, the present eco- WORKERS WORLD PARTY nomic crisis would’ve been mitigated. Instead, we’re in a situation where a scam artist sets up shop on a street cor- ner, playing a fraudulent 3-card Monty hustle and along comes a cop. The cop, Why Capitalism Must Go! instead of rousting the scam artist, goes into the pockets of every passerby and delivers the stolen loot to the scammer. conFerence • sAT • SUN • NOV 15 • 16 The scam artist, of course, is the fin- new York citY ancial investment houses; the cop, of course, is Congress—and you are the Karl Marx (place to be announced) passersby, hustled and robbed by both was correct! of them. t o P ics will include . Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote, An assessment of the elections, no matter who wins 160 years ago, that the State is but the the deepening economic crisis— executive for the capitalist. After what we What is it & how can we fight back? are all seeing, who can doubt it? • Plenaries The Empire is crumbling. n Supporting the right to self-determination against • Discussion imperialism in the Middle East, Latin America, groups Caribbean, Africa, Asia & inside the U.S. We Want Freedom • Music/ Pushing forward the class struggle =UNitY spoken word against racism, national oppression, immigrant bashing, A life in the black Panther Party • Strategy women’s oppression and LGBT oppression Mumia abu-Jamal provides a history of the sessions founding of the Philadelphia Black Panther Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) Party in this book. Mumia, known to the world on organizing youth & students as a wrongly convicted political prisoner held Why capitalism is the problem and for 25 years in Pennsylvania’s death row, is SAVE THE DATE! exacting and luminous in his history. Socialism is the solution Order on line at —much more www.Leftbooks.com Page 8 Oct. 16, 2008 www.workers.org Economic crisis: It isn’t just greed By Stephen Millies of Treasury bills and bonds which helped and an economy that dwarfed all others. because of the vast cost of occupying other finance the Pentagon. Corporations like But the Soviet Union survived and was countries. President Lyndon B. Johnson Everybody is blaming greed for the Bell Labs were bought up. growing dramatically. fueled inflation by printing dead presi- economic crisis. Even John McCain, who This wasn’t enough to consume the Millions of French and Italian workers dents to help pay for the Vietnam War. doesn’t know how many houses he owns. torrent of dollars. So they poured capi- voted for communist parties. The Chinese Other countries demanded gold for With their yachts, private jets and mul- tal into mortgages and other financial Revolution shook the world. People in Asia their dollars. Suddenly in 1971, Nixon tiple mansions, the billionaire parasites instruments. and Africa were revolting and demanding stopped this exchange of gold—that is, deserve to be hated. Greed, however, has The United States was consistently run- independence. Yankee imperialism was real value—for dollars and devalued the been around for thousands of years, ever ning a foreign trade deficit of 5 to 6 per- hated throughout Latin America. dollar itself by 10 percent. since most human societies were divided cent of its economy. Part of it came from A global class war compelled Wall A surcharge was placed on imports. into rich and poor. U.S. corporations importing goods from Street to open its market—previously sur- These acts destroyed the exchange rate Greed alone doesn’t explain where all their plants abroad. rounded by tariff walls—to other coun- system the United States engineered at the cash came from to fuel the housing How did the U.S. get away with it for so tries, despite the opposition of industrial Bretton Woods in 1944. boom and overall expansion of credit. long? Any other country would have been capital centered in the Midwest. “Politics Nixon also imposed phony price con- Millions became ensnared by predatory brought to its knees, like when the British was in command,” as Mao Zedong would trols and a real freeze on workers’ wages. lending, while billions of credit cards were pound collapsed in the 1960s. have said. U.S. imperialism enjoyed for decades a mailed out. Ultimately the law of value asserted Germany and Japan were turned into reactionary holiday away from the law of Crunch time came during a period of itself. military vassals in exchange for the chance value. This vacation was extended by the capitalist overproduction, when cars, to sell their commodities in the United collapse of the Soviet Union. houses and other commodities couldn’t Origin of the crisis States. Countries continued to ship vast quan- be sold at a profit. Capitalism starts with the exchange of The U.S. could afford to do this because tities of commodities to the United States Credit is capital. Whether it takes the commodities. Despite monopoly prices, of its monopoly position at the time. But and hoped to get rid of their dollars. What form of money or commodities like goods colonial robbery and other boons, these monopoly breeds lethargy. Foreign capi- else could they do? and services, capital is a social relation exchanges demand that equal amounts of talist rivals had to be more nimble. But all holidays must end. Today the between paid and unpaid labor. socially necessary labor change hands. Big U.S. corporations depended on United States is in a weaker position vis- The origin of capital is the new value— Exchanging trillions of IOUs, that is, cost-plus Pentagon contracts for much à-vis its capitalist rivals than in Nixon’s called surplus value—produced by work- tokens of value for the real values repre- of their profits. Half of U.S. research and era. ers which is stolen by their exploiters and sented in imported goods, couldn’t last development was done for the military. Trillions of dollars on bank ledgers rep- called profits. forever. The dollar fell dramatically, par- By the late 1960s the U.S. still had a resent nothing. That’s what’s “clogging The continuous reinvestment of these ticularly against the euro, the currency trade surplus with the rest of the world. the arteries” of world finance, resulting unpaid wages to get more surplus value is used in most of Western Europe. But it was running a financial deficit in the credit freeze. n called capitalist accumulation. The origin of the present crisis began But first the capitalists have to sell their with the monopoly position of the United stuff in the capitalist market. The annual States at the end of World War II. Virtually $15-trillion United States market remains every capitalist rival of Wall Street was in Rightists deprive the biggest of them all. ruins. At least 25 million people in the It was U.S. imperialism’s foreign trade Soviet Union died saving the world from deficits, reaching $800 billion annually, Hitler. youth of voting rights which helped create this credit expan- The United States then accounted for time, registering people to vote, debating sion. Capitalists in other countries had half of world capitalist production. Ten By Caleb T. Maupin the issues and such, the strategy of the to do something with the mountains of years later in 1955, 40 percent of the right-wing Republican Party has been to dollars they accumulated through trade world’s steel was produced in the United So many young people depend on disenfranchise these young people. The surpluses. States. financial aid to go to college. Many other rightists must believe it is impossible to They bought trillions of dollars worth U.S. imperialism had nuclear weapons young people depend on the tax benefits of being claimed as a dependent on their win the support of youth. parents’ tax return. Only time will tell whether 2008 is Recently, in attempts to stifle the voice a repeat of 2000 and 2004. In 2000 Finance collapse of the young, voting officials have threat- Republicans targeted Black people for ened to take these things away from young disenfranchisement. A false list of fel- spreads worldwide people if they dare to vote. ons prevented thousands from voting in Falsely claiming that students can only Florida, some of them even being dragged Fight for food, fuel, housing challenges capitalism vote in the area where their parents reside, away from the polling places by police. It not where they attend college, these harsh was clear in 2000 that a large majority of Continued from page 1 threats were made to college students in Black people would vote for the Democrat directed them to produce. Overproduction Virginia and Colorado. Al Gore and against George Bush. leads to glutted markets, which in turn lead They were made because all data point In 2008, with harsh lying threats of to a falling rate of profit for the capitalists. to the fact that young people, who have losing financial aid, it looks as if the Faced with a falling rate of profit, the capi- so much at risk with the current financial Republican Party aims to rob youth of what talist class responds with wage cuts and system, are going to be voting strongly in civil rights marchers fought and some died mass layoffs in an effort to cut costs. favor of Barack Obama’s candidacy for for, the right to vote. This right is again These factors are evident today with president. being threatened by the rules regarding Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez con- housing markets around the globe glut- As universities are loaded with young student voting in some states. n ted with millions of unsold homes, prof- demns U.S. economic policies at emer- gency summit. Left to right, Venezuela’s people being politically active for the first its continuing to hemorrhage out of the President Hugo Chávez, Bolivia’s President banks and corporations, and layoffs and Evo Morales, Brazil’s President Luis Inacio wage cuts continuing unabated. Lula da Silva and Ecuador’s President But an alternative to this rotten crisis- Rafael Correa pose for a picture after a A Call to Action prone system exists, and that alternative meeting in Manaus Sept. 30. October 24-27 is socialism. Under socialism, production is not directed by the capitalist class, and challenge to U.S. imperialism in the hemi- Bail out the People—Not the Bankers it is not undertaken with the objective of sphere. The seeds of a socialist revolution Nationally Coordinated, Local Mass Actions obtaining profits. Rather, under social- are sprouting in the militant demonstra- Continued from page 6 ism production is organized to meet spe- tions against rising food and fuel costs and needs. cific human needs. Under socialism, the that have taken place across Africa, Asia, ing education, how dare these politi- With that in mind, we are calling absurd calamity of millions of foreclosed Europe and the U.S. And they are sprout- cians hand out billions of dollars to the for nationally coordinated, local days homes sitting vacant while homelessness ing in the spontaneous demonstrations filthy rich! of action on the weekend of October rises would not occur. against the bank bailouts that have been Students and youth have seen their 24 through 27. The elimination of production for profit taking place across the U.S. jobs and student loans disappear, while We are asking for grassroots, com- eliminates the root cause of crises of over- In his forward to Karl Marx’s “A Critique we and our families scramble to make munity and youth organizations, trade production. Faced with a global economic of Political Economy,” Frederick Engels, ends meet. An Associated Press writer unionists, anti-racist forces, the anti- crisis of historical proportions, the need referring to crises of overproduction, wrote, noted that $700 billion could pay the war movement and everyone who’s to eliminate capitalism and replace it with “Each successive crisis is bound to become average wages of 22 million people in just mad as hell about the “bailout” to socialism has never been greater more universal and therefore worse than the U.S. for a year—or pay off the total both endorse this call and take own- Fortunately, the seeds of a worldwide the preceding one.” He predicted that the outstanding student loan debt, which ership of it—plan actions during this socialist revolution are daily being sown. end result would be “a social revolution is currently at $550 billion—or cover time in your cities across the country. The seeds are sprouting in the worker- such as has never been dreamt of in the universal health care for six years. During this unprecedented eco- led movements that are fighting against philosophy of the economists.” We know that NOW is the time to nomic crisis, we must mobilize, orga- foreclosures and challenging capitalist With the growth of working-class soli- ACT. These politicians, in the pockets of nize and fight back until the demand property relations in the process. They are darity, the 21st century working class is big business, have only their interests in becomes reality—bail out the people, sprouting in the resurgence of the Latin capable of proving Marx and Engels were mind. It’s up to us to fight for our rights not the bankers! American left, which is providing a direct right. n www.workers.org Oct. 16, 2008 Page 9 Latin American trade unionists tour in Boston By Frank Neisser Progressive prelate and school bus driver union officials greet unionists Boston from Colombia, Nicaragua.

In the first stop of a two-week tour that against police brutality, including will take them to 12 cities from coast to organizing May Day demonstra- coast, Colombian Oscar Gustavo Penagos tions. The two visitors called for Ortiz and Nicaraguan Fredy Franco, both workers’ solidarity from Alaska trade union leaders, met with union- to Argentina. Franco spoke of the ists and community leaders in Brockton, progressive political direction Chelsea, Charlestown and Boston. developing in Latin America from Penagos Ortiz is a sociologist and a law- Cuba to Venezuela to Bolivia and yer and a union director with the Bogotá, including Ecuador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Sintratelefonos telephone Brazil and Chile. He called for workers union. He has defended people workers, unionized, unorganized, whose human rights have been grossly and in community organizations violated through massive detentions. to unite, “look to the South” and Fredy Franco is a sociologist and his- stand united against imperialism, torian and is the general secretary of the neoliberalism and colonialism in Federation of Educational Professionals the Americas. of Higher Education of Nicaragua. Penagos discussed the failure of (FEPDES). the neoliberal ALCA project of U.S. impe- To an attentive audience of drivers, the his union, the telephone workers union, The delegation was welcomed Sept. 30 rialism for a “Free Trade Agreement of the guests described the progressive collabo- through the Colombian government’s at the Saint Martin de Porres Church in Americas” and of the success of ALBA, the ration among Latin American nations in a efforts to privatize phone service. This Brockton—a center of the movement for Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America project spearheaded by Cuban doctors to was an effort, he said, to throw the gains immigrant rights and social justice—by spearheaded from Venezuela. Under provide eyesight-saving surgery for tens and protections of the unionized workers Bishop Felipe Teixeira OFSJC, a delegation ALBA, progressive regional cooperation of thousands of workers throughout the out the window. The councilors agreed to of USW 8751 officials and International and collaboration is promoting social continent. They discussed the economic develop a resolution condemning both the Action Center (IAC) members. justice and equality and upholding sover- collapse of capitalism and how the pro- killings of trade unionists and the effort to An 8:30 a.m. meeting at the Chelsea eignty against the onslaughts of imperial- gressive governments of Latin America privatize the phone service and submit it Collaborative, an immigrant organizing ist neoliberal globalization. are working toward a different model to the Boston City Council for approval. project in the community with the largest At the Charlestown School Bus Yard, focusing on the needs of working people. Later that afternoon, the delegation immigrant population in the Boston area, the delegation joined a yard meeting with Penagos called for workers’ solidarity observed a local rally for immigrant rights kicked off the next day’s tour. The meet- the USW 8751 workers. Union President against the assassinations of trade union calling for an end to ICE raids. ing was facilitated by Tony Hernandez, Frantz Mendes and Charlestown Chief leaders in Colombia. That evening the delegation partici- organizer for District 65, Painters and Steward Andre Francois facilitated the Later the Team Unity—Boston’s city pated in an IAC organizers’ meeting and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO and chaired meeting, which de-facto took over the coun­cilors of color—hosted a reception for forum in the Jamaica Plain neighbor- by Gladys Vega, director of the Chelsea company’s bus yard. As bosses scurried the tour at City Hall. City councilors Chuck hood of Boston. Members of the July 26 Collaborative. away to hide in their offices, the delega- Turner and Charles Yancey and Councilor Coalition and of the New England Human Vega described efforts of the Chelsea tion addressed the rank-and-file drivers Sam Yoon’s staff plus other staff members Rights for Haiti group also participated Collaborative for immigrant rights and in front of a Workers World Party ban- were there. The unionists spoke of the in the meeting. The unionists shared ner reading in exciting social progress being made in Latin information and strategies with activists English and America. They also described the human- engaged in the struggle against the bailout Spanish, rights challenges caused as U.S. imperial- of the banks and the call for a moratorium “Globalize work- ism and the local reactionary oligarchies on foreclosures and evictions. ers’ solidarity.” try to defeat and turn back that progress Accompanying the tour were Detroit through attempted coups and the murders activists Ignacio Meneses of the UAW City Councilor of trade union leaders in Colombia, includ- and Cheryl LaBash, co-coordinators of Chuck Turner second from left. ing 45 so far this year alone. the U.S.-Cuba Labor Exchange, the tour Penagos Ortiz described the attack on organizer. n ww Photos: Stevan Kirshbaum

MUNDO OBRERO Dádiva a los ricos enciende la ira del pueblo ¡Luchemos por un programa obrero para salvar empleos y viviendas! Continua de pagina 12 deudas hipotecarias malas — y probable- ización y tecnología avanzada, han alcan- en esta sociedad. Se encuentran en las jun- llamado “aterrizaje suave”. mente esa cifra sea más grande porque los zado nuevas alturas. tas de las corporaciones. A éstas les acon- Pero ya sea que la crisis económica banqueros se ocultan todo unos a los otros Este sistema se basa en las ganancias. sejan y financian sus préstamos. Venden se desarrolle gradualmente o se acelere y también al gobierno. Con cada aumento Las ganancias son la razón de ser de capi- acciones y bonos corporativos en el mer- súbitamente, la clase dominante tratará de su crisis, ellos amontan más deudas las talismo. El motor del sistema entero es la cado. Los dueños de capital productivo y de desviar todo el sufrimiento hacia l@s cuáles pasan a la clase trabajadora y a la producción para la obtención de ganan- los financieros parásitos están completa- trabajador@s. Mientras más grande sea la clase media. cias. Sacar las ganancias más altas es mente entrelazados unos con el otro. crisis de la clase dominante y de los ricos, la meta de cada capitalista, desde el/la Las necesidades humanas no son parte Rescate del capitalismo más tratarán de imponerla al pueblo. La dueñ@ de algún pequeño taller hasta la de sus cálculos. El hecho de que la gente serie de rescates financieros por el gobi- La realidad es que el rescate de los ban- corporación transnacional más grande. necesite vivienda, comida, educación y erno es un gran ejemplo. cos es realmente el rescate del capitalis- La especulación y el apostar por obtener cuidado de salud no significa nada para Ellos empezaron con los $29 mil mil- mo. Los bancos son el corazón y el alma ganancias inmediatas salen naturalmente ellos si no pueden sacarle ganancias. lones para que JPMorgan Chase adquiri- de capitalismo. Ellos han estado metidos del sistema. No es una aberración ni una Los banqueros que le están quitando era el banco de inversiones Bear Stearns, en una orgia de especulaciones durante anormalidad. sus casas a la gente, están vinculados que estaba en quiebra. una década. Ellos inflaron los valores de Los banqueros que engañaron a l@s con las corporaciones que le están quita- Luego dieron $200 mil millones más la Bolsa e inundaron los mercados mundi- trabajador@s con hipotecas engañosas ndo el empleo a l@s trabajador@s. Están para los bancos de hipoteca Freddie Mac ales con títulos respaldados por hipotecas y sin seguridad, y luego las vendieron a conectados con las compañías de utili- y Fannie Mae. sin valor. Crearon una montaña de capital otros capitalistas, ganando altas remu- dades que apagan la calefacción a la gente Después vinieron los $85 mil mil- ficticio que superaba enormemente su val- neraciones y ganancias, estaban haciendo en el invierno, con las cadenas de super- lones para AIG, la enorme compañía de or verdadero, el cual debe ser creado por lo que hace la clase dominante todo el mercados y corporaciones del agro nego- seguros. l@s trabajador@s trabajando. Y ahora ese tiempo en cada oportunidad. cio que suben los precios de los alimentos, Ahora que la crisis está extendiéndose, valor falso está comenzando a colapsar. El punto de partida de la explotación y con las compañías de petróleo que están los jefes corporativos quieren que el gobi- Éste no es que el capitalismo se haya y ganancia capitalista es el dinero. Sin detrás de la invasión de Irak y del precio erno les dé un regalo de $700 mil millones “equivocado”. dinero ningún capitalista puede emplear alto del petróleo. para todos los bancos. Y puede que eso no Éste es la expresión más plena de lo que trabajador@s o comprar materia prima o Detrás del problema del rescate finan- sea suficiente. es el capitalismo. Pánicos y colapsos han suministros para comenzar el proceso de ciero de los bancos, de los embargos en las Ellos conceden que por lo menos $4 bil- sucedido a través de la historia del capi- explotación y sacar ganancias. viviendas y del desempleo, está el propio lones (millones de millones) representan talismo, pero ahora, en la era de global- Los banqueros controlan todo el dinero sistema capitalista de ganancias. Page 10 Oct. 16, 2008 www.workers.org Stop Reagan’s terrorism Of guns and gold against Libya!

ow have a few imperialist coun- Everyone should know by now that for Workers World is in its 50th year of hood of Bin Ashur. tries, with a relatively small the past half century, these oppressed publication. We are reprinting articles The Libyan leader’s 15-month-old Hproportion of the world’s popu- countries have been trying to free from our archives on major develop- adopted daughter, Hana, died from a lation and an even smaller share of its themselves from political and financial ments of past years. This one on the fractured skull two hours after the bomb vital natural resources, been able to keep enslavement to the imperialists. Literally bombing of Libya appeared originally blast. Qaddafi’s 3-year-old son Camis and their grip over the globe for more than a hundreds of millions of people in the in the April 24, 1986, issue. his 4-year-old son Sef el-Arab were century? And what effect will the present so-called Third World have committed seriously wounded. Safiya, the Libyan economic crisis have on their power? their lives to the struggles for national By Joyce Chediac leader’s wife, suffered from the shock. It is true that the imperialists have liberation. In the neighborhood of Bin Ashur, the most developed—and most expen- Some have had class-conscious, com- The Reagan administration’s WW at least six houses were literally torn sive—armed forces in the world, by far. munist leadership. In other places, the murderous bombing of Libya, which in 1986 apart by bombs. Other homes suffered Especially the United States, which leaders have been bourgeois nationalists, resulted in at least 100 civilian from fallen walls, shattered windows spends as much on its military as the rest even religious clerics. What all these situ- deaths, was a long-planned act of and blown-out doors. ABC Network of the world combined. ations have in common is the deep desire aggression and war. News on April 14 showed a 30-foot bomb But the answer lies in the nature of cap- of the people to free themselves from for- The Reagan administration has claimed crater in the middle of a Libyan street, italism in its present stage—imperialism. eign domination and exploitation. that its April 14 attack on this northern with apartment buildings on both sides While the early colonial empires relied That is what has fueled the resistance African country of 3.5 million people was severely damaged. on sheer bloodletting and military domi- in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and now a response to the death of one U.S. soldier At Tripoli’s Central Hospital, Dr. Fathi nance to conquer huge areas, that no lon- in Pakistan, to the U.S. invaders and the in the April 5 bombing of a Berlin night- Bengazi, head of the emergency ward, ger sufficed once the oppressed peoples transnational corporations and banks club. In the largest air assault since the reported that 60 to 100 people were being gained experience in using the weapons they serve. Vietnam War, some 120 aircraft rained treated in that hospital alone for serious of their oppressors and were able to Which brings us to the second ques- destruction on points around the cities of injuries incurred in the Pentagon’s bomb- organize in mass to resist. The Haitian tion: How will the present world eco- Tripoli and Benghazi because Washington ing. Many were children. There were 15 Revolution, that magnificent uprising of nomic crisis affect both the stability of claimed that Libya was responsible for the bodies in that hospital’s morgue, two of a whole population against their colonial imperialism and the growing struggles to Berlin bombing. them infants. Correspondents who viewed slave-master overlords, was proof of break free of its grip? Today’s New York Daily News, how- the dead said that most were in bedclothes that—a preview of what was to come. All the signs are that the weakening of ever, reveals that this assault had been in and some were horribly mutilated. Two All the colonial powers knew it, and the dollar and the banking and financial the works for nine months. The Pentagon other Tripoli hospitals were treating the it shook them to the soles of their boots. crisis have already given heart to those even staged a practice bombing simulat- wounded. Many, many anti-colonial rebellions fol- trying to push the imperialists out of ing the long flight and refueling condi- Today, Libyan families rendered home- lowed over the next century and a half. their countries. While the media didn’t tions of the invasion of Libya. Clearly the less by the U.S. attack are camping out in By the time the U.S. ruling class began give much coverage this year to the Berlin bombing was only the excuse to parks. to extend its power overseas, it had a speeches by various leaders at the U.N. attack Libya. new weapon of conquest: capital. True, General Assembly, their tone of defiance It began in July 1985, says the News, Schools, centers for disabled its methods of intervention may have was breathtaking compared to that at with an options paper drawn up by bombed been just as bloody as those it sought to similar sessions just a few years ago. then-National Security Adviser Robert Rajab Azzarouk, Libya’s delegate to the replace. But the reason the U.S. came out “Capitalism is the worst enemy of McFarlane, and later endorsed by United Nations, pointed out at a special on top and was able, for example, to rip humanity,” said President Evo Morales Secretary of State George Shultz. session of the Security Council yesterday the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico of Bolivia. He also accused the U.S. of “On Oct. 18, eleven F-111s accompa- that the Pentagon also bombed schools, a away from Spain in the war of 1898 was being behind recent acts of sabotage and nied by flight escort and refueling planes center for the disabled and the civilian sec- not just superior military power. massacres of Indigenous people in his were scrambled on a surprise super secret tion of the Tripoli airport. Also damaged It was the strength of U.S. finance country. mission and flew across the Atlantic were the French, Swiss and Rumanian capital. The export of capital, for the pur- President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and dropped mock bombs over Goose embassies and the Austrian and Japanese poses of super-exploitation abroad, vastly warned, “The hegemonistic pretensions Bay, Canada. Air Force officials told the diplomatic residences. enriched the millionaires at home while of the American empire are placing at New York Daily News that the mission This is the bombing attack that the it cultivated a class of compradors, flun- risk the very existence of the human was a drill for the strike early Monday Reagan administration has said it is keys for imperialism, in the territories species.” morning.” “happy” about. This is the genocidal acquired. “The American empire in the world is assault which Deputy Secretary of State Especially after World War II, the reaching the end of its road,” predicted No act of self defense Whitehead called “absolutely essential.” power of U.S. finance capital to extend its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of This was no “act of self defense,” as Clearly this attack was aimed at the whole tentacles around the world through loans Iran. Vernon Walters, U.S. ambassador to Libyan people, whose hatred for U.S. and investments led to the era of “neo- The leaders of these three countries the United Nations, claimed before the imperialism will now be even greater. colonialism.” Country after country was were all elected by their people. They Security Council yesterday. It was an arro- The U.S. savage bombing raid and caught up in the web of debt to the impe- differ politically from each other, but gant and criminal act of terrorism in vio- massacre of Libyan people has been rialist banks and governments, becoming they’re all on Washington’s hit list. In lation of both U.S. and international law. denounced by governments and progres- poorer and poorer as these great, munifi- assailing U.S. imperialism, they are dar- While the Pentagon has bragged about sive forces around the world. When the cent “lenders” grew richer and richer. It ing to speak for billions of people around a “surgical strike” on “terrorist nerve cen- Nazis bombed civilian areas during World seemed that development was impossible the world. The emperor’s fancy gold ters,” the facts reveal that the attack was War II, it was roundly decried in the U.S. for poor countries unless they submitted clothes are disintegrating. Finally, that genocidal in character. There were high media as genocide, and rightly so. to the yoke of debt to imperialism. can be said out loud. n numbers of civilian casualties, including The U.S. media, however, have not women and children. uttered a word of criticism for the indis- At least 100 civilians were killed, criminate killing of Arab people. On the according to Western diplomats, and at contrary, the so-called “objective” press least that many wounded as laser-guided has become an active part of Washington’s Market Elections U.S. bombs rained down on the Al-Azziziy racist and chauvinist war hysteria against How Democracy Serves the Rich barracks in Tripoli, where the Qaddafi Libya and all Arab people. The media By Vince Copeland family lives, and the residential neighbor- have played down both the civilian casu- Every four years, big money chooses the presidential candi- alties and the worldwide outrage at the dates. Their war chests filled to the brim, they are then packaged Pentagon attack and have even repeated by the media as ‘the people’s choice.’ It's U.S.-style democracy— Pentagon alibis that the Libyans bombed of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. But how do these chosen themselves! politicians win the votes of the millions as well as the millionaires? Libyan families were not the only vic- Who has been excluded from voting? How were electoral tims of this criminal U.S. assault. Fernando politics used to betray Black freedom after the Civil War? Ribas-Dominicci and Paul Lorence, two Order online from Leftbooks.com U.S. airmen, were killed when their fight- N o v. 27 er plane was downed in the raid. Ribas- Dominicci was from Puerto Rico, an island The 39th annual Day of Mourning Subscribe to Workers World Newspaper will be held on “Thanksgiving” Thursday, Nov. 27 nation held in bondage by Washington. Trial subscriptions four weeks for $1 One year subscription for $25 at 12 noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Mass. These first casualties of the Pentagon war on Libya would be alive today had it not Name______Phone ______A dinner/social will follow a march and rally. The event is being sponsored by been for the Pentagon’s lust to increase address ______Email ______United American Indians of New England. its dominance in the oil-rich and strategic Middle East. n City ______State ______Zip ______For more updates, go to www.uaine.org. Clip & return to Workers World 55 W. 17th St., 5th Fl., NY, NY 10011 For New York transportation, call the 212.627.2994 fax: 212.675.7869 www.workers.org email: [email protected] International Action Center at 212-633-6646. n www.workers.org Oct. 16, 2008 Page 11

New image falls flat Africans reject U.S. Africa Command

By Abayomi Azikiwe bility for Madagascar, the Seychelles and Somalia, where it claims al-Qaeda opera- oppose this effort on the part of imperial- Editor, Pan-African News Wire the Indian Ocean area. tives have sought shelter and where train- ism to further its economic and military Africom will be headed by a four-star ing may be taking place. The U.S. has grip over large sections of the African On Oct. 1, the much-anticipated United general, William E. Ward, who is African- launched a number of airborne attacks on continent. It is clear that several areas States Africa Command (Africom) was American. When the Bush administration suspected al-Qaeda personnel in Somalia of the continent have been selected for officially launched. This military reorga- first announced in February 2007 that without, it must be said, much success.” direct military intervention to enhance nization of U.S. forces to oversee devel- it would launch this new reorganization According to the BBC article, the second U.S. control over oil and other strategic opments in the entire continent has been plan, the nations of South Africa, Nigeria, priority of Africom is to secure oil resourc- resources that are key to the continued met with strong objection from the major Zimbabwe and others immediately es for U.S. markets. With the increasing dominance of capitalist globalization. political states and regional blocs there. denounced the concept and urged other levels of resistance in Iraq and throughout Recent diplomatic and military efforts Despite a 19-month effort to win African states to follow suit. the Middle-East region, the transnational against the nations of Somalia, Sudan acceptance for this plan, the headquar- Since this time period the U.S. has oil corporations are looking to Africa to and Zimbabwe must be analyzed in light ters of Africom remains in Stuttgart, attempted to cover up its true imperial- supply greater amounts of petroleum to of the formation of Africom. These coun- Germany. ist objectives and to promote Africom as the U.S. and other Western imperialist tries have sought to move in a political Although the west African state of another assistance program that would countries. direction independent of U.S. influence. Liberia has expressed interest in hosting enhance the continent’s ability in various “Africa is the world’s primary growing The corporate media outlets within the Africom, the only real base of U.S. opera- areas, including national security, techni- oil market; the U.S. already gets about 20 imperialist states have continually slan- tions is Camp Lemonier in Djibouti in the cal development and governmental capac- percent of its oil supplies from West Africa dered the leading political forces within Horn of Africa. (Liberia has maintained ity building. and the U.S. is committed to increasing these areas and are constantly attempt- close ties with the U.S. since its inception In a recent State Department-spon- its supply of oil from the continent to 25 ing to influence public opinion towards as a semicolonial outpost where former sored Voice of America radio interview, percent by 2015,” the BBC article stated. accepting direct military intervention. slaves sought an independent existence Mauro De Lorenzo, a resident fellow for There was also concern expressed by the Consequently, anti-war and anti-impe- during the early and middle 19th century. foreign and defense policy at the right- BBC that the political situations in Sudan, rialist groups in the capitalist states must In 1926, the Firestone Company acquired wing American Enterprise Institute, told Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, oppose Africom and its military interven- control of one million acres of Liberia reporter Peter Clottey from Washington all oil-rich states, were not necessary con- tionist program for the African continent. and soon had turned the country into the that Africom would bolster Africa’s secu- ducive to U.S. strategic interests. The potential for wider military conflicts world’s largest rubber plantation.) rity situation but played down its impact. Finally, the BBC identified the necessity, on the African continent involving direct The U.S. military base in Djibouti has “I think it’s a positive development, but as far as U.S. imperialism is concerned, to and indirect U.S. involvement is all too existed since at least 2002, when the Bush one which almost no one will notice in counteract the emerging influence of the real. administration began to place greater Africa in their daily lives. Africom is sim- People’s Republic of China on the African In Somalia, a U.S.-backed invasion by emphasis on the Horn of Africa, claiming ply going to take over the programs and continent. China not only has developed Ethiopian troops in December 2006 has that so-called “Islamic terrorists” were objectives that were previously carried economic partnerships with numerous created the worst humanitarian crisis on utilizing neighboring Somalia as an area out by three separate U.S military com- African countries but has intervened at the the continent. In Zimbabwe, the U.S., of operation. mands,” said the AEI spokesperson. United Nations Security Council to pre- along with Britain and the European Reports have also surfaced since 2007 De Lorenzo sought to ease the concerns vent further sanctions against Zimbabwe Union, has imposed sanctions that have that the southern African nation of Bots- of African states by saying that “Most gov- and Sudan, two states that have been tar- had a devastating impact on this south- wana was being courted over the possibil- ernments won’t notice much of a differ- geted by the U.S. for regime change. ern African nation’s economy. In Sudan, ity of establishing an Africom base in this ence. The content of what they are engag- “China has prospered in Africa, leaving the conflict in Darfur has been utilized to largely arid and sparsely populated dia- ing in with the United States is not going the rest of the world—particularly Western push for the arrest of that nation’s head mond-rich country, which borders both to change very much right now. And cer- countries—behind. Africom represents of state and for U.S. intervention through Zimbabwe and South Africa. (Kenya Daily tainly citizens will not see anything new or part of a new U.S. strategy to engage with a purported U.N. peacekeeping force. Nation, Sept. 13, 2007) surprising as a result of this.” Africa,” the article continued. Therefore, U.S. military involvement However, an article published on the “The U.S. government has been care- in Africa can mean only greater insta- Attempt to reorganize British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ful to point out that the establishment of bility and underdevelopment on the U.S. military operations Web site on Oct.1 indicated that the num- Africom will not mean any new perma- continent. Prior to the creation of Africom, the ber one priority of Africom was the so- nent military base in Africa and says there U.S. military command structure in Africa called “war on terrorism.” The U.S. has no is no hidden agenda. But such assurances Abayomi Azikiwe is editor of the was divided among three other regions: faith in those states it has funded to work have apparently done little to lower levels Pan-African News Wire. He was an the Central Command (Centcom), which toward eradicating the purported influ- of skepticism.” organizer of the U.S. Imperialism was responsible for Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, ence of al-Qaeda and other organizations & Africa conference sponsored by Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya; the that are targeted as a threat to imperialist Challenges for anti-war, anti- MECAWI in Detroit on Feb. 23. European Command (Eucom), which cov- interests. imperialist movement The conference condemned Africom and ered other states on the continent; and the The BBC article stated that “The main With the formal launching of Africom, called for the peoples of Africa to reject Pacific Command (Pacom), with responsi- area of concern currently for the U.S. is it is essential that people within the U.S. its aims and objectives. Agent Orange in Vietnam ‘Our hearts are still bleeding’

By Ellen Catalinotto Giang of the U.N. mission of the Socialist New York Republic of Vietnam told the audience. As a former soldier, he had looked forward “Thirty years after the war we give with anxiety to the births of his children, birth to innocent deformed babies. … not knowing what deformities they might Our hearts are still bleeding,” Dang Hong suffer as a result of his exposure. Nhut told a meeting here Oct. 4. Mrs. Thousands of former GIs are similarly Nhut was exposed to Agent Orange when afflicted by Agent Orange poisoning. she was part of the resistance to the U.S. The U.S. sprayed 82 million liters war against Vietnam. She is in this coun- of dioxin-containing Agent Orange on try for the Fourth Vietnam Agent Orange Vietnam. Justice Tour, calling for compensation for As part of the peace accords signed the millions of Vietnamese suffering from when they were driven out of Vietnam, exposure to the toxic defoliant two gen- the U.S. agreed to compensate for some erations later. of the destruction inflicted on the land More than a decade after the war end- and people. ed, Tran Thi Hoan was born without legs But no compensation has been paid. and a deformed arm. Now a 21-year-old The Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and college student, she addressed the meet- Responsibility Campaign has filed suit Frank Velgara. Vietnamese food and a cul- ww Photo: ellen catalinotto ing in English and sang a song asking for against Dow and Monsanto for profiteer- tural performance were provided by the Vietnamese women give strong argu- some help to alleviate the suffering. ing from illegal chemical warfare. Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence ment that U.S. pay for Agent Orange's Between 2.5 and 4 million people are Other speakers included Frank Stearns Youth Leadership Project. damages. affected, including 150,000 children born of New York City Veterans for Peace, Further information can be found at with missing limbs, Ambassador Bui The Merle Ratner, Esmeralda Brown and www.vn-agentorange.org. n Mhndo Obrero ¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los países, uníos! Dádiva a los ricos enciende la ira del pueblo ¡Luchemos por un programa obrero para salvar empleos y viviendas! Por Fred Goldstein indocumentad@s, al crecimiento del imientos desarrollados y publicados por el se detengan los cortes de luz y gas, y que FBI, la CIA y de muchas otras cosas más. Secretario”. haya una reducción en los precios del gas, 30 de septiembre—El establecimiento Estos ideólogos sólo están en contra de Paulson era el ejecutivo en jefe del alimentos y otras utilidades. Hay que pro- político-financiero del capitalismo esta- la intervención del gobierno que pueda banco inversionista Goldman Sachs. Él es teger los ahorros y las pensiones de l@s dounidense se ha quedado anonadado por poner restricciones a la actividad incans- líder para los banqueros más grandes. Este trabajador@s. El pueblo pobre y trabaja- el fracaso en su intento inicial por hacer able en busca de ganancias de las grandes proyecto le daría autoridad única para tra- dor necesita una cancelación general de que el Congreso aprobara una dádiva de empresas. tar no sólo con la deuda hipotecaria, sino sus deudas y un fin a las confiscaciones y $700 mil millones de dólares para los Es difícil decir si est@s derechis- con “cualquier instrumento financiero que embargos salariales. bancos. tas votaron “no” por una preocupación el Secretario, después de consultar con el Mientras sube la crisis de los estados y Frente a un escenario de caídas de ideóloga, por proteger sus asientos en la Presidente de la Junta de Gobernadores de las ciudades, debe haber una morato- bancos en Estados Unidos y Europa y de Cámara, o por ambas razones. Cualquiera del Sistema de la Reserva Federal, deter- ria para poner un alto a los recortes pre- súplicas por la Casa Blanca y el Secretario que fueran sus motivos, su retórica políti- mine que la compra sería necesaria para supuestarios de los programas sociales. del Tesoro, la Cámara de Representantes ca en contra del “gobierno grande” que promover la estabilidad del mercado finan- El costo razonable para los servicios de el 29 de septiembre, venció el proyecto recibía grandes aplausos por Wall Street, ciero”. En otras palabras, Paulson puede salud, de las viviendas y para la educación del regalo con 228 votos en contra y 205 repentinamente se ha convertido en algo comprar deudas de tarjetas de crédito sin de alta calidad debe ser un derecho. a favor. Inmediatamente después del obsoleto por la crisis actual. valor, de préstamos estudiantiles, deudas Son l@s trabajador@s y l@s oprimid@s, voto, las tres bolsas de valores de Estados Los viejos magnates de Wall Street de préstamos para carros, o cualquier otra l@s jóvenes y l@s ancian@s quienes Unidos tuvieron descensos históricos, las lograban obtener su ayuda de la Reserva clase de deuda de cualquier institución necesitan los billones de dólares que el bolsas de valores globales cayeron ini- Federal muy quedamente, tras bastidores. financiera que le de la gana. gobierno quiere entregar a los banque- cialmente y los mercados de créditos se En la crisis actual, de repente se encuen- Pero el Tesoro no estaría bajo ninguna ros. La Corporación Federal de Seguro de hicieron más estrictos mientras el temor tran en la desesperada necesidad de abi- obligación de prestar ayuda crediticia a Depósitos (FDIC por las siglas en inglés), sacudía a Wall Street. erta y directamente meter sus manos nadie fuera de los bancos. que supuestamente debe asegurar los El voto en contra fue una derrota para en las arcas del Tesoro de los Estados Y con la cuestión de supervisión, ni depósitos individuales de hasta $100.000, la triple alianza de banqueros, represen- Unidos. Los banqueros que están detrás un solo oficial electo estaría involucrado. acaba de asumir $40 mil millones de deu- tados por el Secretario del Tesoro, Henry de la crisis actual necesitan deshacerse La junta de supervisión consistiría del da del banco Wachovia. Estos $40 mil Paulson y el Presidente de la Reserva de billones de dólares en deudas tóxi- Presidente de la Junta de Gobernadores; millones fue el precio que pagó el gobierno Federal, Ben Bernanke; la adminis- cas que fueron adquiridas robando a Paulson, como Secretario del Tesoro; para que la Citigroup asuma el control de tración Bush; y el liderazgo del Partido l@s trabajador@s y después robando al el director de la Agencia Federal de Wachovia y evitara su quiebra. Demócrata. Todos ellos trabajaron ardu- resto del mundo vendiendo estas malas Financiación de Viviendas, creada el pas- Esos $40 mil millones, más una bue- amente para lograr este rescate. hipotecas. L@s derechistas del “no al ado julio por Paulson; por el presidente na porción de los $700 mil millones que Es muy probable que otra ronda de gobierno grande” aclamados una vez por de la Comisión de Intercambio y Finanzas el gobierno quiere otorgar a los bancos presión política por los altos niveles lleve Wall Street, están completamente fuera (SEC por las siglas en inglés); y por el sec- pueden ser utilizados para ayudar a l@s a que los bancos se salgan con la suya. Ya de sincronización con las necesidades de retario de Viviendas y Desarrollo Urbano. dueñ@s de casa que enfrentan ejecución se está publicando la nueva versión por sus amos en la actual crisis. Esto es lo equivalente a pedir que los hipotecaria. los medios noticieros corporativos, ame- Cualquiera que sea el destino final del ladrones protejan la bóveda con dinero. Desde el punto de vista estrictamente nazando a l@s trabajador@s con que no proyecto de rescate, sobresalen dos cosas Lo importante de esto es que el liderazgo capitalista, la ayuda a l@s dueñ@s de casa recibirán sus cheques si no se aprueba importantes. Primero, la clase obrera, del Partido Demócrata estaba anunciando transformaría las deudas malas en deudas una versión del proyecto de ley. Pero con l@s oprimid@s, toda persona que sufra que esta era una versión nueva y mejorada pagables. Verdaderamente disminuiría los emails y las llamadas telefónicas a l@s de los embargos de sus viviendas, l@s del proyecto de rescate. Pero l@s dueñ@s la crisis financiera del sistema. Además, polític@s en contra del proyecto de res- desemplead@s, l@s que no tienen cui- de casas, l@s trabajador@s endeudad@s, al mantener a la gente en sus casas, evi- cate llegándoles entre 100 y 200 a 1 antes dado de salud, deben formular su propio l@s estudiantes sobrecargad@s de présta- taría que más casas entren al mercado y del voto, la presión política de abajo por programa para resolver sus problemas. Y mos, las familias luchando para pagar disminuiría el exceso de propiedades sin el momento ha sobrecogido a Paulson, segundo, el pueblo debe llevar a cabo una las deudas creadas por enfermedad, pér- vender. Bernanke y compañía. lucha independiente para lograr estas dida de empleos, o cualquiera de las cien Pero los banqueros prefieren recibir demandas. razones por las cuales l@s trabajador@s dádivas del gobierno y seguir con las ejecu- Partidos leales al capitalismo se encuentran forzad@s a endeudarse bajo ciones hipotecarias. No quieren establecer están llenos de miedo Lo que dice el proyecto de rescate el sistema capitalista que paga salarios de el precedente de otorgar un alivio a l@s La creciente crisis económica ha pro- Un vistazo a lo que dice el proyecto miseria, a fin de cuentas no reciben nada. dueñ@s de casa porque esto conduciría a ducido una crisis política en los partidos de rescate da la razón. El liderazgo del El proyecto de ley originalmente tenía una avalancha de peticiones populares de fieles al capitalismo. Por un lado, esta vez Partido Demócrata trató de endulzar el sólo tres páginas y le daba autoridad total a toda clase de ayuda. el Partido Demócrata no pudo forzar a un proyecto con un lenguaje atractivo sobre Paulson. Después de días de negociaciones Es inútil contar con el gobierno capi- 40% de sus miembr@s a que ratificaran ayuda a l@s dueñ@s de casas, respons- creció a cien páginas y le otorgaba todavía talista o los partidos corporativos para este gigantesco regalo a los multimil- abilidad, supervisión, etc. Pero esto es un autoridad a Paulson y a su comité supervi- dar asistencia voluntariamente a la clase lonarios, especialmente frente al aumento engaño para proveer una cobertura políti- sor de poderosos oficiales financieros. trabajadora multinacional de una manera de despidos y de embargos de viviendas. ca que proteja a l@s polític@s en caso de que haga una diferencia genuina en las Particularmente fue evidente el que una que ocurra una rebelión popular. Trabajador@s necesitan vidas de los millones que están sufriendo al mayoría de la Junta Congresional Negra Sobre la cuestión de poner un alto sus propias demandas perder sus casas, sus empleos y sufriendo y la Junta Congresional Hispana se rehu- a las ejecuciones hipotecarias, la pro- Entonces, es crucial que l@s traba­ por otras penurias. La única manera que saran a firmar. puesta de ley indica que el Secretario del jador@s tengan un programa claro e ocurra el cambio verdadero y profundo es Por otra parte, la derecha republicana Tesoro hará “exhortar a los servidores de inequívoco de demandas que satisfagan como resultado de una lucha. trató de posarse como defensores del las hipotecas… a que se aprovechen” de sus propias necesidades y le impongan El rescate de los bancos no va de ninguna pueblo, tirando demagogia hipócrita en varios programas para “minimizar los la carga a los banqueros y a los ricos para manera a detener la crisis de sobreproduc- contra del “gobierno grande” y los avaros embargos”. En otras palabras, la protec- que ellos paguen. Hay un creciente movi- ción que está adelantando el capitalismo banqueros. Pero en realidad sus pro- ción contra las ejecuciones hipotecarias miento a través del país para demandar hoy en día. Esta crisis está bajo del pánico puestas eran para desregular la industria es completamente voluntaria y depende una moratoria en las ejecuciones hipo- que está desarrollándose no sólo en los banquera y permitir la entrada al negocio enteramente de la voluntad del proveedor tecarias y en los desahucios. Las ejecu- Estados Unidos sino también en Europa, sucio del rescate financiero, de los juga- de la hipoteca. ciones hipotecarias son en este momento Asia y el resto del mundo. Lo que Paulson dores de fondos de alto riesgo y de los Y sobre la cuestión de la autoridad de de suma importancia. Sin embargo, con y Bernanke tienen en mente es desacelerar multimillonarios de capitales privados. Paulson para dirigir el espectáculo, el hasta 10.000 personas al día enfrentando la crisis y controlarla. Ellos quieren evitar Pero por supuesto, la oposición de proyecto de ley dice que “el Secretario está la pérdida de sus casas, la crisis del pueblo un colapso súbito, un choque social que no la derecha al “gobierno grande” no se autorizado para comprar, y hacer com- va mucho más allá. sólo resultaría en una caída aguda de las extiende al crecimiento del Pentágono y promisos de comprar activos problemáti- Mientras la tasa de desempleo sube, ganancias de las corporaciones y los ban- su guerra de billones de dólares en Irak, cos de cualquier institución financiera, y es urgente demandar que se ponga un cos sino que pudiera iniciar una intensifi- al crecimiento del aparato represivo de la de acuerdo a las condiciones y arreglos alto al cierre de lugares de trabajo y a cación de la lucha de masas. El objetivo de Seguridad de la Patria y su persecución que el Secretario considere necesarios, y los despidos y que se extiendan los ben- Washington y Wall Street es arreglar un de l@s inmigrantes y trabajador@s de acuerdo con… las políticas y proced- eficios por desempleo. Es imperativo que Continua a pagina 9