• AUSTRALIA $2.00 • BARBADOS $2.00 • BELGIUM BF60 • CANADA $2.00 • FRANCE FF10 • ICELAND Kr150 • NEW ZEALAND $2.50 • SWEDEN Kr12 • UK £1.00 • U.S. $1.50 INSIDE Canadian government expands military forces — PAGE 4 SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 57/NO. 4 January 29, 1993 Stop the bombing of Iraq! Washington Protest at unleashes White House three strikes hours after in five days first bombs BY GREG McCARTAN BY DEREK BRACEY WASHINGTON, D.C. — One hundred The United States launched three major people assembled outside the White House attacks on Iraq in five days starting January here within several hours o f the January 13 13. In the most significant attack, U.S. war­ bombing o f Iraq by U.S. warplanes. ships in the Persian G ulf and the Red Sea Sponsored by the Washington Peace fired 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles January Center, the demonstration called on the 17 at an industrial complex eight miles from Bush administration to end its attacks and downtown Baghdad, Iraq’s capital. threats o f further military assaults on the The missile attack came four days after Iraqi people, demanded an end to the sanc­ U.S., British, and French warplanes bombed tions against Iraq, and called for the with­ sites in southern Iraq. Another group of drawal o f U.S. ground troops from the planes bombed the same site on the morning region. o f January 18. Youth from several area campuses turned The cruise missiles caused damage in out and helped lead spirited chants of, “ Stop the war, we want peace, U.S. out o f the Middle East,” and “ B ill and George — See editorial, page 14 bring ’em back, stop the bombing o f Iraq.” The protesters marched from the White Baghdad itself. The Associated Press news House to the headquarters o f President-elect Wreckage at Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, struck by U.S. missile. Three people were killed agency reported three known deaths and B ill Clinton’s transition team where chant­ and several injured in Baghdad as result of attack on nearby industrial plant. accounts o f injuries in several parts of the ing continued followed by brief remarks by city. One of the Tomahawks struck the demonstration organizers. Rashid Hotel, often used by international wreckage. Viewers could read the marking that seals had been placed on some o f the In addition to calling on “ U.S. and Allied journalists, leaving a crater 10 feet deep and “ Williams International, Jacksonville, Flor­ machines to prevent them from being used military forces [to] immediately halt the air 20 feet across in front o f the hotel. The ida,” as well as its serial number. Williams without detection. strike against Iraq,” a statement issued by hotel’s power was knocked out and several International Corp. makes the turbofan en­ The Bush administration had been pre­ local groups called for an emergency session inches of water flooded the floor. Two o f the gine for Tomahawk missiles. The Pentagon paring the missile attack for several days. It o f the United Nations Security Council to hotel’s workers were killed. later admitted that some o f the missiles were was initially intended to happen on January “ review the validity o f the U.S.-French- The Pentagon initially denied that the routed over Baghdad and that one may have 15 but was called o ff after hesitations by British ‘no fly zones’ in Northern and South­ missiles hit anything except the intended hit the hotel. British prime minister John Major. Major ern Iraq.” target and said the hotel was probably hit by The targeted industrial complex, the and others in the United Nations Security Iraqi antiaircraft fire. Reporters from the multibillion-dollar Zaafaraniya industrial Council wanted to give Iraq another chance television news channel CNN, however, park, had two dozen buildings which to follow their dictates. Mounting deaths filmed a piece o f metal pulled from the housed advanced machinery. Bush admin­ In a previous attack January 13, U.S., istration officials claim that the complex French, and British planes carried out a of Somalis from was part o f a nuclear weapons develop­ 30-minute bombing raid in southern Iraq. ment program. More than 80 strike aircraft and 30 support U.S. shootings Gary M ilhollin, director o f the Wisconsin planes participated in the attack on four Project on Arms Control, said attacking the missile batteries and four communication BY BRIAN WILLIAMS complex had more political than military and radar centers. Initially the Pentagon The U.S. military is continuing its cam­ significance. M ilhollin said the equipment claimed that all targets were hit. Two days paign of harassment o f Somalis, while wor­ in the complex could be used for civilian or later it announced that only one o f four rying about the ability o f a United Nations military purposes. targeted surface-to-air missile units was force to replace the nearly 24,000 U.S. R olf Ekeus, chairman of the United Na­ hit. troops on the ground in Somalia. tions commission that is overseeing demo­ Iraq reported that the January 13 raids hit Meanwhile, the heads of Somalia’s feud­ lition o f Iraqi weapons, said that inspectors mostly nonmilitary targets and that 19 peo- ing armed gangs have finally signed a had visited the plant four times. Ekeus added Continued on Page 11 “ peace agreement” designed to promote im- perialist-style law and order. With many o f their forces concentrated in the capital city of Mogadishu, U.S. marines Clinton reneges on have been carrying out raids on market areas , in search o f weapons. Nearly 1,000 U.S. troops backed by helicopter gunships con­ will forcibly return refugees ducted a day-long assault January 11, seal­ ing o ff an extensive area o f market stalls that sell a wide variety o f items from guns to BY BRIAN WILLIAMS destroy their boats, and return them to Haiti. cherry tomatoes. Backtracking on a promise made during Twelve Coast Guard cutters, five smaller Several days earlier 450 marines carried his campaign for U.S. president, B ill Clinton patrol boats and at least Five Navy ships out a similar attack on a market area in stated January 14 that he w ill continue, and along with airplanes are expected to be in northern Mogadishu. in fact reinforce, the policy begun by Pres­ place o ff the shores of Haiti by January 20. Some o f the items of equipment seized ident George Bush of forcibly returning all This amounts to a dramatic increase from were obsolete or broken weapons. These Haitians fleeing military repression in their the three U.S. cutters that have been sta­ arms are a legacy of the vast arsenal shipped country. tioned o ff Haiti for the past several months. to Somalia by the Soviet Union in the 1970s The U.S. military is planning to surround and by the U.S. government from 1977-90, Haiti with an armada o f Navy and Coast ‘A barricade around Haiti’ to support the corrupt dictatorship o f M o­ Guard vessels in what amounts to a virtual “ They’re putting a barricade around Hai­ hammed Siad Barre who ruled the country blockade aimed at halting what is expected ti,” stated Daniella Henry, director of the from 1969 until January 1991. to be a surge in the number o f refugees Haitian American Community Council in “ Many Somalis appeared to welcome the fleeing the island. U.S. forces w ill continue Del Ray, Florida. “ For what? So that people operation,” the Washington Post reported. to seize Haitians in international waters, Continued on Page 10 Continued on Page 12 IN BRIEF______Over 100 killed in S. Africa jails 1991 as linked to toxic chemical exposure At least 117 South Africans died while in tests to which U.S. soldiers were subjected police custody in 1992, according to the during World War II. Human Rights Commission. Tsepo Len- More than 60,000 soldiers and sailors gwati, a 27-year-old man, was “ shot dead were exposed to chlorinated mustard gas by unknown gunmen while handcuffed and and an arsenic-laden chemical called Lew­ alone” in jail. John Cele, a trade union o ffi­ isite at military research facilities in the cial, “ allegedly shot himself during interro­ United States, and then sworn to secrecy. gation.” In many cases the police have not An estimated 4,(XX) were exposed to as released the name or cause o f death. much gas as they would have encountered After pathologist Jonathan Gluckman in a full-scale chemical attack. The tests spoke out against the many deaths occurring were not publicly acknowledged until June in prison, the South African minister o f law 1991. and order in July 1992 promised a report on the causes o f all deaths in police custody in Domestic partner rights extended the previous two years. That report has not A new executive order by New York City yet been published. mayor David Dinkins allows unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples in Honduras banana workers strike that city to register as “ domestic partners,” More than 6,(XX) workers employed by becoming eligible for some o f the rights Chiquita Brands International Inc. went on extended to married couples. These include strike in Honduras January 8, paralyzing hospital and jail visitation rights and some production. The banana workers are protest­ benefits for partners o f city employees, but ing company plans to close four plantations not health insurance. it claims are unproductive. Some 800 work­ In December the University of Chicago ers at the plantations slated for closure had and Stanford University adopted policies been idled for almost a month before the extending health and other benefits to same- strike began. sex domestic partners o f employees.

Mexico adopts new currency Guatemalans at refugee camp in Mexico pack in hopes of returning to their homes Accord reached on Quebec dam The Mexican government began the new The Hydro-Quebec utility company has year by issuing a new currency. The “ new export of arms in an attempt to boost the ecological, economic, and political points of signed an agreement with the Grand Coun­ peso” now going into circulation is equiva­ economy. New legislation is being prepared view.” cil o f the Cree and two Cree Native com­ lent to 1,000 pesos under the old monetary that would lift restrictions imposed on the munities to pay $50 million in compensa­ system. The value of the Mexican currency weapons industry in 1989 by the federal Refugees return to Guatemala tion for environmental damage. The agree­ had dropped to just $.00032, which meant government o f the former Czechoslovakia. ment allows the company to complete two Several thousand Guatemalans prepared dams that w ill be able to generate 1,152 even small items cost thousands o f pesos. Slovak prime minister Vladimir Meciar to return home from refugee camps in Mex­ megawatts o f electricity on the La Grande In 1987, with annual inflation close to stated that the drop in arms production over ico January 13 under an agreement reached 160 percent, the Mexican government be­ River, 600 miles north of Montreal. the past three years had devastated the coun­ in October between their representatives gan an austerity drive with the stated aim of The Cree w ill drop lawsuits that sought try’s economy and contributed to an unem­ and the governments o f Mexico and Guate­ lowering inflation. In the five years since, to block the construction. The money is ployment rate of 12 percent. mala. On at least two occasions the Guate­ supposed to be used “ for various commu­ inflation has slowed, but conditions have malan government has pulled out o f similar nity and economic activities” including re­ continued to deteriorate drastically for commitments to allow back into the country Moscow plans more reactors creational centers and public works. working people. the 43,000 refugees in Mexico, most of The Russian government plans to build at Since 1987 prices officially rose 210 per­ whom are Indians. cent, but the minimum wage went up only least 30 new nuclear power plants by 2010, Bush frees convicted INS cop Despite the repatriation accord the Gua­ doubling the country’s nuclear energy ca­ 120 percent. By conservative estimates, the temalan defense minister, Brig. Gen. José In one o f his last acts as president, George purchasing power of most workers has pacity. At least one o f the new plants would García Samayoa, has threatened to arrest the Bush on January 15 freed a federal immi­ dropped by a third. A scheduled 7.5 percent be o f similar design to the Chernobyl plant returnees, charging them with supporting gration agent who had been convicted of raise in the minimum wage for 1993 w ill be that exploded in 1986, causing thousands of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary violating the civil rights of neighborhood enough to pay for a small pack o f chewing deaths and illnesses in Ukraine and Belarus. Union, which has waged a guerrilla war store owners in the predominantly Domin­ gum a day. The plan was approved without publicity against the regime for the past decade. ican area o f Washington Heights in New at a December 24 cabinet meeting, despite York City. Slovakia to increase arms exports objections from Russian president Boris German economy weakens The agent, Joseph Occhipinti, had served The government of Slovakia has an­ Yeltsin’s ecology advisor, Alexei Yablokov, eight months o f a 37-month prison sen­ New data shows Germany’s economic nounced plans to increase its production and who called it “ unacceptable from the legal. tence. His case had become a cause célèbre slide accelerated in the latter part o f 1992. among police officers. After being released New orders to western German manufactur­ from a prison camp in Florida, he was ers fell in November for the eighth consec­ greeted at the airport by dozens of cops; utive month. Unemployment in the west Guy Molinari, the Staten Island Borough rose to more than 2 million in December, president; and a group o f Guardian Angels, increasing the jobless rate to 7.4 percent. In the vigilante group. the eastern portion o f the country, unem­ At Occhipinti’s trial, 36 witnesses — ployment stands at 13.5 percent. The auto nearly all residents and merchants from giant Volkswagen confirmed January 13 its Washington Heights — testified that he had plans to cut 30.000 jobs at plants throughout ransacked their businesses and then coerced the world. the store owners to sign false statements. Occhipinti, an Immigration and Naturaliza­ Harm from gov’t W W II gas tion Service agent for 22 years, justified tests was worse than admitted these actions claiming he had been rooting A new National Academy o f Sciences out drug dealers and “ illegal aliens.” study adds four respiratory cancers; skin Occhipinti has vowed to return to Wash­ cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary dis­ ington Heights, assertedly to seek out evi­ ease, and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia to dence proving he had been framed. a list o f seven other illnesses recognized in — N A O M I C R AIN E

2 The Militant January 29,1993 Clinton prepares for austerity and war

BY GREG McCARTAN ments for the wealthy as an example o f why WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a series of entitlement programs should be cut back. preinaugural press conferences and con­ Perot uses his argument for “ saving” Social gressional hearings. President-elect Bill Security as a wedge to gain acceptance for Clinton and his top government appointees transforming it from a universal pension sought to dispel hopes among working peo­ system into a “ means-tested” one, that is, ple and youth that there w ill be a break in accessible only to certain sections of the the bipartisan offensive against their liveli­ population according to income level or hoods and rights, other criteria. “ Clinton could end up looking a lot like Harry Figgie, corporate executive and au­ Ross Perot,” a Washington Post article noted thor o f Bankruptcy 1995: The Coming Col­ after incoming administration officials lapse o f America and How to Stop It, ad­ Mass struggles won right to workmen’s compensation, social security, and other “enti­ raised the “ budget deficit” scare as a reason vised Clinton in a recent opinion column tlements.” Above, 1932 protest for unemployment compensation in New York. to call for austerity. Among other things they that he must “ mobilize the American people expressed support for taking an ax to enti­ to support the debt-fighting initiative, to nual appropriation w ill not lead to lower Saying it might be labeled “ radical” or tlement programs such as Social Security, stop demanding more than our country can spending for any program that enjoys broad “ racist,” Schaefer went a step further with Medicare, and Medicaid; backing away afford, and to accept the shared sacrifice this political support.” a proposal to “ require women to get Nor­ from campaign promises for social spending battle w ill require. There must be no sacred Putting such hesitations aside, the gover­ plant” — an implanted birth control device to create jobs; and enacting some sort of cows,” he wrote, “ especially in entitlements, nors o f both Maryland and Virginia put — “ or require men to have a vasectomy if consumption tax or large increase in the which consume so much o f our budget.” so-called welfare reform at the center of they’re on welfare and have a certain num­ federal gasoline tax. their respective “ State of the State” mes­ ber of illegitimate children.” The president-elect had plenty o f oppor­ Writing in the conservative monthly The sages in the days before Clinton’s inaugura­ Virginia’s Democratic governor, Douglas tunities in the final days of the Bush admin­ American Spectator, Karl O ’Lessker cau­ tion. Wilder, advocated a “ workfare” program istration to support Washington’s military tioned against “ Demagoguing the Deficit.” with his own twist: recipients would be assaults on peoples around the world as Urging that some action be taken to cut Aid Democratic governor W illiam Schaefer forced to sign contracts to “ keep their chil­ well, from the bombing of Iraq to the indef­ to Families with Dependent Children or o f Maryland announced he had created a dren in school, maintain current immuniza­ inite occupation o f Somalia and threats of other programs, O ’Leasker says these w ill Welfare Policy Commission with the ex­ tion schedules and to do their best to provide military action in the former Yugoslavia. be “ tough decisions” because “ Social Secu­ plicit purpose of looking “ at how we can a livable environment for their children.” Clinton also announced he w ill continue rity and other entitlements incontestably en­ reduce the welfare rolls,” which he de­ The largely bipartisan agreement on this Bush’s policy o f forced repatriation o f Hai­ joy the support of the American people.. . . scribed as part o f “a runaway welfare system tians fleeing that country’s military-backed Changing from entitlement funding to an- in this state.” Continued on Page 14 dictatorship. (See article on page 1.) These moves indicate the harsh reality of what the new Democratic administration has in store for working people and youth Clinton cabinet nomin e e s : 'Nothing around the world: austerity at home and war abroad. fo r Wall Street to worry about' ‘Everything is on the table’ Following the release o f new government BY DEREK BRACEY Altman said he thought “ one form or Thomas. For example, during the Reagan figures raising the estimated federal spend­ In interviews and statements before con­ another of a new tax on consumption is administration, Baird assisted in a contro­ ing deficit in 1996 by $60 billion to $254 firmation hearings in the Senate, the mem­ necessary,” including a possible gasoline versial case that reversed the denial of tax- billion, Clinton’s budget director, Leon tax. exempt status to racially discriminatory Panetta, told a January 11 congressional bers o f President-elect B ill Clinton’s new cabinet have made clear the administration’s Bentsen placed the reduction o f the defi­ schools, a denial that was established under hearing, “ Our first priority is to develop that intention to maintain the course set by Ron­ cit ahead o f any other concern, saying the President Richard Nixon. deficit reduction plan.” ald Reagan and George Bush. Clinton administration has “ a strong com­ “ Everything is on the table,” Panetta said, Baird also assisted the legal repre­ mitment to cut [that] deficit and to do it in including Social Security. He added that he This course has been notable for its ag­ sentation o f public transit agencies fighting a major way.” Along with Panetta and A lt­ did not rule out a steep hike in gasoline gressive defense of U.S. ruling-class inter­ Congress’s application o f minimum wage man, Bentsen acknowledged that the admin­ taxes. ests abroad as depression conditions begin and overtime compensation provisions of istration would seek cuts in entitlement pro­ Taking aim at entitlements — programs to grip the world. It also includes sharp the Fair Labor Standard Act to state and grams like Social Security and Medicare. local employees. with an automatic budget allowance that is attacks on working people in the United Discussing these appointments, a Clinton not reviewed in yearly budgets — has be­ States, as the bosses attempt to bolster their Ronald Brown, who is to be secretary of adviser underlined: “The message to Wall come a growing theme o f the Democrats, declining rates o f profit by extracting more commerce, is a longtime lobbyist and deal- Street was steady as she goes, nothing d if­ Republicans, and other politicians such as wealth from workers and farmers. maker. He is a partner at Patton, Boggs and ferent or innovative to worry about here. Ross Perot. Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen, Clinton’s Blow, one o f the most powerful law firms This is the establishment here, all people Bush pressed this assault during the pres­ pick for treasury secretary; Leon Panetta, in Washington with 1,500 clients, which very concerned about the deficit.” idential debates last October. “ I believe we the budget director; Roger Altman, nominee include major corporations and govern­ Robert Reich, in line to be labor secretary, need to control the growth o f mandatory for deputy treasury secretary; and Robert ments. The firm represented the emirate of has won praise from the top union bureau­ spending,” he said. “ That’s the main grow­ Rubin, appointed senior economic adviser, Abu Dhabi during legal proceedings on cor­ cracy for his statements that the two-decade ing thing in this budget. . . Two-thirds o f the have all raised similar themes of cutting the ruption in the Bank o f Credit and Commerce decline in union membership “ isn’t healthy. budget, I as President never get to look at, government’s deficit as top priority and rais­ International. Workers need a voice.” never get to touch.” ing revenue through new regressive taxes, Reich emphasizes that unions should be Among Brown’s most notorious clients During the election campaign Perot dem­ such as a value-added tax or a major hike in “ very creative” in working with manage­ was the brutal Duvalier government in Haiti. agogically attacked Social Security pay- gasoline taxes (see article above.) ment to help “ make [the work] environment His firm received $12,500 a month from more friendly.” These are code words for Haiti until the Duvalier family fled the coun­ giving up hard-won union rights. try in 1986. Brown maintains that the firm Miami protest targets treatment of In his confirmation hearings, secretary represented the government o f Haiti, not the of state nominee Warren Christopher, family, despite the fact that the firm inter­ Haitian refugees held in detention called for tougher measures against Serbia. vened to secure the release o f a brother-in- He also insisted that Clinton stands “ shoul­ law o f dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier who der to shoulder” with Bush on his anti-Iraq had pleaded guilty to drug charges in a U.S. BY LAURA GARZA porting the right o f the Haitians to receive policy. court. M IA M I— About 150 people marched political asylum and to be treated in the Clinton’s choice pick for attorney gen­ Brown has stayed on at the law firm on the road leading to the Krome Detention same way as Cubans who arrive in Miami. eral, Zoë Baird, has such a right-wing record Center January 15 to demand the immediate The discussion has also drawn attention despite being chairman o f the Democratic that a Wall Street Journal columnist com­ Party since 1989. He w ill resign to take his release o f the more than 100 Haitian refu­ to the vastly different treatment that Haitians pared her to Supreme Court Justice Clarence gees being held there. The protesters were who have ended up in Cuba receive com­ cabinet post. also demanding an end to the U.S. policy of pared to those in the United States. An stopping the boatloads of Haitians fleeing article in the Miami Herald, which appeared the military government in their homeland the same day as Clinton’s announcement, and forcing them to return. The protest took noted the “ respect and generosity” with place the day after Bill Clinton announced which Cuba treated the Haitians. “ They his intention to continue this policy. treated us well,” said Jean Mercera, who The police placed barricades, including chose to return to Haiti. “ They gave us parked buses, across the road to prevent the whatever we needed.” The Haitians were protesters from coming within sight o f the provided with clothing, toiletries, and ample detention center. The Immigration and Nat­ food, including fish and chicken, despite the uralization Service wanted to be sure that severe shortages faced in Cuba. the Haitians inside were not aware o f the At a well attended M ilitant Labor Forum demonstration. held the night of the protest, one partici­ Several o f the Haitians have continued a pant who had arrived from Haiti during hunger strike to protest the unequal treat­ the past year spoke o f his determination ment given to Haitian refugees compared to to keep fighting. He said that after visiting those from Cuba. The hunger strike was many Caribbean countries and seeing the launched after a group o f Cubans who had same problems of poverty and unemploy­ hijacked a plane to come to the United States ment all over, he believes the United States were released after only a day at the deten­ fears the fight for democracy in Haiti. If tion center. The protests and discussion the Haitian people were to succeed in run­ sparked by the hunger strike have had an ning their own country, he said, it would impact on the Cuban community in Miami. set an example for people throughout the Several groups have issued statements sup- Caribbean.

January 29, 1993 The Militant 3 Canada’s rulers take steps to increase military role abroad

BY ROBERT SIMMS the naval blockade against Iraq and Cana­ TORONTO — Canadian defense minis­ dian fighter jets participated in bombing ter Marcel Masse announced January 1 his raids against the Iraqi population. Since then government’s willingness to use its military the Ottawa government has been campaign­ forces to help enforce the United Nations- ing for increased imperialist military inter­ imposed no-fly zone over Bosnia in the vention in the former Yugoslavia and for a former Yugoslavia. The announcement is more open shift of the United Nations from another in a series o f decisions by Canada’s “ peacekeeping” to “ peace-making.” capitalist rulers to step up the use of Cana­ In a speech last December Prime Minister dian troops abroad since their participation Brian Mulroney called on the United States, in the U.S.-led war against the people o f Iraq France, and Venezuela to take joint military two years ago. action with Canada in Haiti. “ If the political decision is to enforce [the “ We shouldn’t be sitting idly by worrying Canadian troops in Yugoslavia. Canada has more than 4,000 troops stationed abroad, no-fly zone], we’ ll be ready to do it,” Masse about Bosnia and Cambodia and Somalia nearly 10 percent of UN troops on “peacekeeping” missions around the world. said following a four-day visit to Canadian alone,” Mulroney said. “ We should also be troops stationed in Croatia. Canada, along trying to help the Haitians recapture their we face a very serious challenge in Canada Canadian troops abroad serve one purpose with other members o f the NATO military own democracy in this hemisphere.” about our armed forces in light o f whole new only — to defend the commercial and po­ alliance, agreed to enforce the no-fly zone As a result o f Ottawa’s military initiatives geopolitical realities.” She stressed, “ I be­ litical interests of the handful o f m ulti­ — if asked by the United Nations — at a a discussion has developed among Canada’s lieve it’s highly premature to beat our millionaire and billionaire families that the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting last capitalist politicians on the goals and costs swords into ploughshares. federal government serves. The rulers are month. of this government’s military intervention “ The demands on our military, whether it trying to use their limited military weight Last August, Canadian troops were abroad. is participating in international peacekeep­ as a small imperialist power to increase their among the first to take up combat positions The federal government recently ended ing and peace-making operations, or even influence in the context of the depression at the Sarajevo airport. Currently 2,400 Ca­ Canada’s 28-year UN “ peacekeeping” oper­ encountering future peril in areas o f insta­ and sharpening trade wars between the im­ nadian troops are deployed in the former ation in Cyprus, arguing it would save $14 bility, is a real challenge for us,” she said. perialist countries. Yugoslavia as part o f the 20,000-strong UN m illion dollars a year and free up 600 troops Canada has become the 11 th-largest m il­ “ From the Korean War to the invasion o f operation consisting of troops from 30 coun­ for “ more productive” missions. A t present itary spender in the world. The federal gov­ Somalia, Canadian troops have participated tries. Canada provides almost 10 percent o f the ernment has more than doubled its military in every so-called peacekeeping operation A detachment o f 150 Canadian soldiers 45,000 troops operating in the world under spending in the past decade. The 1992 war by the United Nations, at the expense of arrived in Macedonia January 6, near the the UN flag. budget was $12.5 billion compared to $5.6 workers and farmers everywhere,” Steele Serbia-Macedonia border. More than 700 A January 7 editorial in the Toronto Globe billion in 1981-82. noted. “ As the depression of the world cap­ UN-organized troops are being sent to the and M ail argued for training the United Over the past 15 years military spending italist market system worsens, our answer area, which risks being drawn into the wid­ Nations to function as a “ world cop.” The has grown faster than almost any other gov­ to the drive toward a new interimperialist ening arena of the war among the bureau­ editors state that in carrying out this role the ernment program. The Defense Department slaughter of working people should be to cratic regimes in the former Yugoslavia. United Nations would simply be “ exercising is the biggest landlord in Canada, owning make efforts to reach out to workers fight­ Three hundred Canadian troops along powers [in the UN Charter] that it has pos­ more than 33,000 buildings — almost half ing imperialist domination around the with hundreds o f U.S. soldiers captured the sessed since its birth” to “ take action by air, a building for each o f its 80,000 military world. Somali town o f Belet Huen near the Soma- sea or land forces as may be necessary to personnel. “ This means demanding the withdrawal lia-Ethiopia border December 29. Belet restore international peace and security.” o f Canadian troops from all UN operations. Huen, which has a population o f about The Globe points out that under the UN Against workers’ interests It means canceling the debt of Third World 150,000, was the last major town designated Charter “ any domestic matter that might be In year-end interviews on CBC television countries to Canadian banks. And it means for takeover by the U.S.-led force in Soma­ construed as a threat to international peace both Liberal Party federal opposition leader demanding an end to the renewed military lia. and security — Yugoslavia’s death throes, Jean Chretien and Audrey Mclaughlin, fed­ threats and attacks against Iraq and the bar­ Angola’s civil war or even Somalia’s famine “ We passed the word yesterday that any­ eral leader of the New Democratic Party, baric economic embargo that is causing body who has a weapon parallel to the ground — can trigger action by the Security Coun­ endorsed the sending of Canadian troops to misery and death to the Iraqi people,” the is a threat and w ill be dealt with,” said Cana­ cil under the Charter.” Somalia and raised no serious questions Communist League candidate said. dian lieutenant colonel Carol Mathieu, the The Globe calls for the establishment of about the use o f Canadian troops in the commander of the Belet Huen forces. a UN standing army composed o f elements former Yugoslavia and Cambodia. The trade By the end of January, 1,250 Canadian of the armies o f member countries so that union officialdom also endorses Ottawa’s troops w ill be on the ground in Somalia as the Security Council would be able to act in so-called peacekeeping role in the world. part o f the occupying force of 24,000. a crisis “ without going begging for Wash­ John Steele, Communist League candi­ In Cambodia, several hundred Canadian ington’s help.” date in the upcoming provincial by-election troops are currently deployed together with Gen. Lewis MacKenzie has called for in the Toronto riding o f St. David-St. thousands o f UN troops. A small number of more money and troops to maintain Cana­ George, spoke out against this widening use Canadian troops are also stationed along the da’s so-called peacekeeping role in the o f Canada’s armed forces. Kuwait-Iraq border along with other m ili­ world. “ Our infantry force is 1,200 members “ Ottawa’s announcement that it is ready tary personnel from the coalition that waged smaller than the Metro Toronto Police force. to help enforce the UN no-fly zone over the war against Iraq. Yet we’re policing the world,” he com­ Bosnia, its participation in the imperialist plained. occupation o f Somalia, and the UN military Campaigning for peace-making Newly appointed defense minister Kim operation in Cambodia are not in the inter­ During the Persian G ulf war the Canadian Campbell stated at her January 4 swearing- ests o f working people,” he said. government sent warships to help enforce in ceremony that “ there’s no question that “ Ottawa’s military budget and the use of Israel refuses to allow return of Palestinians

BY SARA LOBMAN triates. “ For the first time in 20 years, Leb­ don’t believe that expressing sympathy for While 413 Palestinians deported by Israel anon has taken a stand.” a banned organization is a crime,” he said. December 17 remain stranded on a strip of According to the New York Times, Leba­ Some international pressure against Israel Israeli-occupied land in southern Lebanon, nese commentators have said that Lebanon, continues. Foreign ministers o f the 21-na­ the Israeli government now acknowledges which is home to 400,000 Palestinian refu­ tion Arab League recommended January 12 that 16 o f the men were wrongly deported. gees, plans not only to block the door to that the United Nations Security Council Earlier the Israeli army had announced that more Palestinians but to try to get many impose sanctions on Israel. Citing a double 10 had been deported by mistake. already in Lebanon out of the country, if and standard, the League’s secretary general So far only one person, a 16-year-old when an independent Palestinian entity is pointed to the harsh treatment being meted youth from the West Bank, has been allowed created. out to Iraq for violating UN Security Coun­ to return home. He and a seriously ill depor­ The Israeli army has also reported that if cil resolutions. tee were airlifted out o f Lebanon January 9. those deported “ by mistake” do reenter Is­ The United Nations passed a resolution The sick man was moved to a hospital in rael, they w ill return “ to their previous status December 17 demanding that Israel allow Israeli-controlled territory. The airlift was before the deportation.” In almost all cases the Palestinians to return home. The U.S. necessary because the Israeli army has this means jail, since most have been con­ government has said it w ill resist any moves mined the road that the Palestinians traveled victed of security offenses in the West Bank to apply sanctions to enforce the resolution. into southern Lebanon to prevent their re­ and Gaza Strip. While warning that Israel’s refusal to al­ turn. The Israeli revision of the number of low the deportees back threatens the Middle Because o f the Israeli refusal to allow the Palestinians it says were deported by mis­ East peace negotiations, the ministers re­ Palestinians to return home by land, the take follows accusations by a human rights jected a call by the Palestine Liberation remaining 15 deportees that can legally re­ monitoring group, Middle East Watch, that Organization (PLO) to suspend the peace turn are unable to do so. Lebanese prime Israel had made more errors than it was talks scheduled to reopen in Washington on minister Rafik al-Hariri has said that the admitting. “ These people seem to have been February 20. January 9 airlift was a “ one-time mission” deported because they were the easiest ones Most o f the Arab League ministers indi­ and that anyone else returning to Israel w ill to deport,” said the group’s executive direc­ cated they w ill continue the bilateral and have to leave the way they came. tor, Andrew Whitley. multilateral talks with Israel in preparation Lebanon argues that the Palestinians are Whitley explained that the expelled Pal­ for the Washington meetings. The PLO said Israel’s problem. “ We have closed the door estinians include some who, while support­ it w ill not participate in the February talks to the deportees,” said Lebanon’s president, ing anti-Israeli fundamentalist groups, were if the issue of the deportations has not been Elias Hrawi, in a speech to Lebanese expa­ not personally responsible for violence. “ We resolved.

4 The Militant January 29,1993 W hat is road for Somali working people? Lessons from Thomas Sankara, leader of Burkina Faso revolution of 1983-87

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS characteristics, the same function, and the posed in Burkina Faso a decade earlier. AND GEORGE FYSON same role o f safeguarding the interests of In an October 21,1983, speech broadcast The U.S. invasion o f Somalia, launched imperialism and its national allies.” on national radio and TV on behalf of the under the guise o f a humanitarian aid mis­ Sankara spoke with confidence about the National Council of the Revolution, sion, has raised a number o f questions about prospects for revolutionary change. He Sankara explained that this would involve how to resolve the tremendous economic pointed to the need o f the Voltaic people to a struggle “ against those who starve the and social problems plaguing that country “ take charge of their own development and people, the agricultural speculators and cap­ and many others throughout Africa. destiny.” italists of all types,” and it would provide Is Somalia a “ failed nation” whose only “ The revolution aims to transform all “ protection against imperialist domination hope for survival is to be taken over and run as economic, social, and cultural relations in o f our agriculture in terms o f orientation, a United Nations trusteeship? Are large de­ society,” he said. “ It aims to create a new imperialism’s plunder o f our resources, and tachments of foreign troops needed to distrib­ Voltaic man, with an exemplary morality the unfair competition o f its imports with ute food and restore order? Is the answer sim­ and social behavior that inspires the admi­ our local products.” ply to flood the country with food, thereby ration and confidence of the masses. Neo­ making military action unnecessary? colonial domination reduced our society to Problems of foreign aid The answer to these questions begins with such degradation that it w ill take us years to At an August 1984 news conference cel­ understanding that the actions o f imperialist cleanse it.” ebrating the one-year anniversary of the powers — the United States, Italy, Britain, From day one of the revolutionary gov­ revolution, Sankara addressed questions he France, and others — over many decades ernment assuming power. Committees for would come back to many times — prob­ are responsible for the current plight of the the Defense o f the Revolution (CDRs) were lems created as a result o f the massive Somali people. To believe that those gov­ organized in all neighborhoods, workplaces, foreign aid that had been provided to his ernments can now be “ saviors” flies in the and military units. The CDRs strove to de­ country. face of what they have done until now. mocratize power by becoming organs “ Aid to Burkina Faso must serve to Although lack of food remains a major Militant/Emest Harsch through which the people could exercise strengthen, not undermine our sovereignty,” problem in some areas o f Somalia, simply Thomas Sankara speaking in New York real decision-making power on a local level. Sankara declared. “ It should help to destroy calling on imperialist governments to pro­ City in October 1984. the need for further aid. A ll aid that puts vide food rather than troops — as the M ili­ Food self-sufficiency further aid to death is welcome in Burkina on behalf of the CNR, frankly explained the tant itself has done in editorial articles — is The CDRs helped carry out a national Faso. But all aid that creates a beggar men­ not the solution to what peasants and work­ challenges confronting the revolutionary literacy drive in the three main indigenous tality, we w ill have to do w ithout.. . . You ers in Somalia face. In fact, Washington’s regime. “ The legacy bequeathed to us by 23 languages. In addition, a national immuni­ cannot make a revolution or gain your in­ argument for sending troops is based, with years of imperialist exploitation and domi­ zation campaign succeeded in vaccinating dependence without a certain amount of a considerable degree o f logic, on the need nation is a heavy one,” stated Sankara. “ The 2.5 million Burkinabé children against men­ stoicism and sacrifice. This is what the peo­ to police distribution and make sure food task of constructing a new society cleansed ingitis, yellow fever, and measles. The con­ ple of Burkina impose on ourselves.” gets to the people who need it. of all the ills that keep our country in a state struction of schools, roads, and public hous­ Two months later, on October 4, 1984, The problem confronting the toilers of of poverty and economic and cultural back­ ing was begun. In 1985 a campaign was Sankara spoke before the 39th session of Somalia is a social question — in whose wardness w ill be long and hard.” launched to plant 10 million trees in order the UN General Assembly where he interests is the country going to be governed. to slow down the southern advance o f the solidarized with the struggles o f oppressed Neocolonial legacy Only a revolution that organizes and mobi­ Sahara desert. Organizations o f youth, peoples throughout the world — from the lizes working people in the towns and the Sankara explained, “ neocolonial society women, elders, and a national peasants Palestinians to antiapartheid fighters in countryside can solve the social crisis and colonial society differed not at all. The union were formed. South Africa — and spoke about the wracking Somalia. colonial administration was replaced by a One of the major goals prioritized by the challenges facing the revolution in Burkina. neocolonial administration identical to it in revolution was the fight for self-sufficiency “ My country is the quintessence o f all the Lessons from Burkina Faso revolution every respect. The colonial army was re­ in food production. This question is a press­ misfortunes of the peoples,” said Sankara, The revolution that unfolded in the West placed by a neocolonial army with the same ing necessity in Somalia today as it was Continued on Page 11 African country of Burkina Faso under the leadership of Thomas Sankara from 1983— 87 offers some lessons very relevant to the road forward in Somalia today. A valuable early debate on colonialism Burkina Faso was colonized, like Soma­ lia, by European imperialist powers. The BY SARA LOBMAN of the slaves to fight against wage slavery” British and Italians divided up what com­ In the above article Brian Williams and with "the sale by the slaves of their right to prises the current state o f Somalia, and the George Fyson make the point that simply liberty for a few pence.” Lenin pointed to French ruled over Upper Volta. Both nations calling on imperialist governments to pro­ the importance of seeing the toilers o f the succeeded in winning political inde­ vide food rather than troops is not the solu­ oppressed countries not as victims, but as pendence in 1960, and both continued to tion to what peasants and workers in Soma­ potential fighters. suffer under neocolonialism in which eco­ lia face. They explain that the only road In an article written just after the Stuttgart nomic domination by the imperialist powers forward is the mobilization of working peo­ conference ended, Lenin explained that it stunted the prospects for social development ple to transform the production and distri­ was not a question of rejecting the struggle and progress. bution o f food and all other goods on the for reforms, but o f “ whether we should In 1981 Upper Volta, as Burkina Faso was basis o f human needs, not profit. make concessions to the modem regime of then called, was one of the poorest countries Instructive lessons on this question can bourgeois plunder and violence.” in the world. With a population o f 7 million, be gained from a debate on colonialism in the infant mortality rate was 208 for every the early years o f this century. Before World Most importantly, Lenin pointed to the 1,000 births; the average life expectancy War I, leaders o f the Second International, revolutionary struggles of the toilers in the was only 40 years; up to 98 percent of the which was the international organization of colonial world. In 1905, massive demon­ population was illiterate; the average yearly the communist movement at that time, dis­ strations in Persia had forced the Shah to income was $150; and there was one doctor cussed and debated questions o f colonialism grant a constitution. In Turkey, a revolution­ for every 50,000 people. With the continual and the solution to the crisis facing the ary movement in the army won an agree­ southward advance of the Sahara desert — toilers of the economically backward coun­ ment from the monarchy to restore the con­ a phenomenon aggravated by imperialist- tries. Two counterposed viewpoints were stitution. Ferment in China led to the 1911 imposed patterns of agriculture and trade — put forward. national revolution that overthrew the Man- drought and famine had plagued the country A record o f the discussion is contained in chu dynasty and proclaimed a republic. In­ since at least 1970. volume 1 of the Pathfinder series The Com­ Vladimir Lenin dia and Egypt were witnessing growing Sankara, a low-ranking officer in the Up­ munist International in Lenin’s Time, entitled struggles against British rule. The “ awaken­ per Volta army, was a popular public figure. Lenin's Struggle fo r a Revolutionary Interna­ of unfortunate peoples in the colonies.” ing of Asia,” Lenin said, opened up a new In January 1983, Sankara was appointed tional. Eduard Bernstein declared that the socialists stage in the struggle o f the world proletariat. prime minister in a military government Under the pressure o f the impending war, should recognize “ the need for civilized formed a short time before. He proceeded a growing section of the International’s “ The Asiatic revolutions have again people to act somewhat like guardians of the to use his post to issue strong anti-imperial­ leadership began to reflect the interests of shown us the spinelessness and baseness of uncivilized.” The draft resolution submitted ist statements and to urge the people of “ their own” imperialist ruling classes as op­ liberalism,” Lenin wrote in a 1913. “ After to the Congress by the majority o f the colo­ Upper Volta to organize themselves to de­ posed to the international working class. the experience both of Europe and Asia, nial commission, while deploring the “ cur­ fend their rights against both domestic and Arguments in favor o f a benevolent and anyone who speaks o f «on-class politics and rent methods of colonization,” warned that foreign monied interests. humanitarian colonialism began to fill the non-class socialism, ought simply to be put the "proletariat in the capitalist countries Along with other radical-minded junior International’s discussions. “ If the repre­ in a cage and exhibited alongside the Aus­ must bear increasing burdens.. . . The dep­ officers, Sankara came into increasing con­ sentatives of civilized countries come as tralian kangaroo or something like that.” uties o f the Socialist parties should propose flict with proimperialist forces in the gov­ liberators to the alien peoples in order to to their governments that they conclude a These questions were not academic. In ernment. On May 17, 1983, he was deposed bring them the benefits o f culture and civi­ treaty and create a colonial law that would the summer o f 1914 the long expected im ­ as prime minister and placed under house lization,” Eduard David, delegate from Ger­ perialist world war began. On August 4, the arrest. Thousands of young people took to protect the rights of the native peoples.” many, said in the debate on the Draft Reso­ deputies of the Social Democratic Party in the streets demanding Sankara’s release. The congress defeated the commission lution on Colonialism at the 1907 Stuttgart the German parliament sided with their own On August 4, 250 soldiers and other op­ Congress o f the international, “ then we So­ resolution by a vote of 127 to 108. “ The civi­ rulers in voting for the war effort. The Sec­ ponents of the regime freed Sankara and cial Democrats w ill be the first to support lizing mission that capitalist society claims to ond International was dead. overthrew the ruling military regime. San­ such colonization as a civilizing mission.” serve is no more than a veil for its lust for con­ kara became president of the new National Henrick van Kol, from the Netherlands, quest and exploitation,” the final resolution The victory of the Russian revolution in Council of the Revolution (CNR). added, “ We Dutch are one of the oldest said. October 1917, however, inspired millions o f The revolution brought gains for the coun­ colonizing peoples. But we have reached the V.I. Lenin, was a leader o f the Russian oppressed peoples across Asia who could try’s peasants and workers, particularly in the point where murder, torture, burning, and Bolshevik Party that in 1917 would lead the now count on a powerful ally in their struggle areas of health care, education, and popular plundering are no longer everyday recur­ workers and farmers of the tsarist empire to for national and democratic rights. For the organization. rences in the Dutch colonies.” power. He sharply opposed any concessions first time, Lenin explained, the workers and In October 1983, two months after win­ Most o f the arguments were motivated by to colonialism, and denounced those who the oppressed peoples of the world could be ning government power, Sankara, speaking references to the need to help “ the millions equated the “ improvement o f the conditions part of a truly international movement.

January 29,1993 The Militant 5 Steelworker officials discuss upcoming contract negotiations

BY DON MACKLE on proposals that would help employers tional steel strike and forced compulsory ar­ AND JOSEFINA OTERO be more competitive in exchange for cer­ bitration on union contracts until 1980. The tain supposed job guarantees. “ The indus­ ENA was finally tom up by the steel industry PITTSBURGH — The Basic Steel In­ try has needs and the American economy because the companies were unwilling to pay dustry Conference o f the United Steel­ has needs,” USWA president Lynn W il­ even the minimal wage increases stipulated workers of America (USWA), involving liams stated. He announced that the union in the agreements in exchange for the no­ presidents o f local unions in that industry, would offer early contract negotiations strike pledge. met here January 5 to discuss upcoming with steel companies in hopes o f signing contract negotiations with major steel pro­ long-term agreements. Big-business press encouraged ducers and iron ore mining companies. “We are willing to recognize signifi­ Agreements with five major corporations A January 6 article in the Wall Street cantly longer agreements,” said Williams. — Bethlehem, National, Armco, Inland, Journal reported favorably on the out­ “ We could foresee, say, a nine-year con­ and LTV — expire July 31. Some 48,000 come of the January 5 union conference. union members work at the five compa­ tract with ENA [Experimental Negotiating Entitled “ USW Relaxes Its Hard Stance nies. Agreements].” USWA officials labeled On Labor Pacts,” the big-business paper such negotiations guidelines the “ new di­ took special note o f the fact that union Several major steel corporations have rections course.” officials had made suggestions on “ ways been pressing for early contract negotiations In exchange for aiding the companies, to cut work forces and relax stringent in order to gain immediate concessions from USWA officials said the union would de­ work rules.” the union. Steel companies have combined mand “ no concessions” on wages and “ It sounds like a more head-out-of-the- this effort with actions to press the U.S. benefits. They would also seek no-layoff sand approach," said John Jacobson, a steel government to curtail imports from other policies and greater worker involvement industry consultant. He was delighted that countries and get a further advantage over in decision-making, including a possible the union gathering signaled that “ the tough Militant/Tom Nichols their competitors. USWA officials recently spot for union officials on corporate guy approach seems to be giving way to a Steelworker from Ravenswood, West Vir­ joined six specialty steel companies in filing boards o f directors. kinder, gentler approach.” ginia. USWA members there won jobs charges against Brazil, France, and India to The ENA, which Williams described in As a result of technological advances, back after 20-month company lockout cut imports. positive terms, was a special agreement extensive work rule changes, and produc­ that ended last June. Large U.S. steel cor­ Rather than prepare the union for a signed by 10 basic steel companies and top tivity drives — already implemented porations are seeking major concessions fight, the USWA conference concentrated union officers in 1973 that prohibited a na- throughout the industry — USWA union from union. membership involved in steel production has dropped from 380,000 in 1980 to the current 140,000. USX, the country’s ma­ of collaboration with the bosses, follows the Illinois steelworkers irate at jo r steel producer, has chopped its work course union officials have been on for force dramatically. USX now has 18,000 years. This course has done little to ward o ff employees producing 9.5 m illion tons of the drastic lowering of the standard o f living news of possible concessions steel a year. In 1982 the company em­ o f working people and massive job losses ployed 120,000 steelworkers, who pro­ that have resulted from the steel companies’ BY ELLEN HAYWOOD which was the subject of the article, said the duced 10.3 m illion tons. scramble for profits. Wall Street Journal account of the meeting G R AN ITE CITY, Illinois — A recent The perspective adopted at the Basic Don Mackle is a member USWA Local 1170 was inaccurate. Wall Street Journal article on negotiations Steel Industry Conference meeting, based in Cleveland. Josefina Otero is a member o f perspectives for the United Steelworkers Ellen Haywood works at National Steel and on appeals to enforce protectionist measures USWA Local 1141 in Washington, Pennsyl­ o f America (USWA) sparked a wide-rang­ is a member o f USWA Local 16. against foreign competitors and other forms vania. ing discussion and some angry comments from steelworkers here at National Steel. The article was entitled “ USW Relaxes Its Hard Stance On Labor Pacts; Steel Union Trial o f Palestinians resumes in Los Angeles Says It Plans to Seek Ways to Trim Work Force, Ease Rules.” It was xeroxed and BY HARRY RING If judge Einhorn rules that the PFLP is The basis for the deportation order was posted on bulletin boards around the LOS ANGELES — The deportation terrorist, and is upheld by the federal courts, the government allegation that Bridges was plant. hearing against two Palestinian solidarity his ruling w ill have the force of law. This a member of the Communist Party. “ I was irate,” exclaimed Ken Polo, a la­ activists resumed here with a frontal attack would mean that any immigrant who has In 1945, the Supreme Court reversed that borer on the galvanizing line who read the by the defense on the constitutionality o f the given support to the PFLP could be subject deportation order. article. He thought helping employers to cut hearsay nature o f the government’s case. to deportation. Defense attorney David Cole explained the work force was “ falling right into the The defendants, Khader Hamide and To establish its claim that the PFLP is that the court based its reversal on the fact companies’ hands.” Michel Shehadeh, are among the “ Los Ange­ terrorist, the government is relying solely on that the case against Bridges was based The article explains that union officials les 8” who were arrested six years ago. The the testimony of two “ expert” witnesses — exclusively on hearsay evidence. would agree to help reduce the work force seven Palestinians and the Kenyan wife of Ariel Merari, an Israeli professor, and Paul and health costs through a “ managed-care” one were charged with “ abetting” the Popular Wilkinson, British professor. Cole, a law professor at Georgetown Uni­ plan in exchange for alleged job security and Front for the Liberation o f Palestine. The Both are hirelings of their governments versity, said the high court had agreed that no wage or benefit concessions. PFLP is an affiliate of the Palestine Libera­ and both are purported experts on “ interna­ a deportation proceeding is a civil matter. “ The idea that we should agree to cut jobs tion Organization. Washington brands both tional terrorism.” But the court added that the deprivation of in exchange for maintaining our own wages the PLO and the PFLP as “ terrorist.” Thus far, their testimony has been exclu­ rights involved in a deportation is so great and benefits is against unionism,” one fur­ Shehadeh and Hamide are permanent le­ sively o f a hearsay nature — a rehash of that the due-process rules that apply in crim­ nace operator explained . “ We’re supposed gal U.S. residents. To be deported, they must voluminous newspaper clippings and mate­ inal cases must also be maintained in depor­ to be fighting for more jobs, not helping to be stripped o f that status. The remaining six rial from the various secret government dos­ tation proceedings. cut them.” face deportation on charges of technical visa siers to which they have access. Cole granted that the Supreme Court did Many workers also expressed outrage at violations. Such hearsay evidence — which can’t be not specifically bar all hearsay evidence, but union officials giving in to company de­ In a two-segment hearing before Immi­ confronted or cross-examined — is gener­ it was unambiguous in declaring that such ev­ mands before a fight. “ To come out before gration Judge Bruce Einhom, the govern­ ally barred in criminal cases but is consid­ idence alone was not sufficient to deport contract negotiations even begin and an­ ment is seeking a legal ruling that the PFLP ered admissible in civil cases. someone. is terrorist and that the defendants should be From the outset of this hearing, Einhorn nounce they’re going to lay down and play Cole said that the Immigration courts deported for aiding it. has insisted that since it is not a criminal dead makes me furious,” said Kathy Loep- have consistently ignored that decision. ker, a m illwright in the continuous caster A 1990 revision of immigration statutes trial — the defendants face deportation, not department. provides that support to “ terrorists” by non prison — hearsay evidence is admissible. The defense also argued that, contrary to court rulings, the government employs a dou­ The article explained that union officials citizens is a deportable offense. However, as However, at a recent session, the defense ble standard in its use of the term terrorism. “ w ill consider long-term agreements, men­ yet there is no legal definition o f terrorism. confronted him with a key Supreme Court tioning a nine-year accord as one possibility.” The reluctance of the lawmakers to define decision to the contrary. Einhorn conceded that might well be. Joe, an oiler in the basic oxygen furnace de­ the term may well stem from a concern that In the 1930s, after a series of Immigration But, he asserted, that's not relevant to partment, pointed out, “That’s a nine-year no­ it would fit the many assassin squads in hearings, the government ordered the depor­ whether or not the PFLP is terrorist. strike pledge. We need to have that strike other countries that are armed and financed tation o f Harry Bridges, then the top official Referring to the comment made by threat to hold over the company’s head. Look by Washington. in the west coast Longshore union. George Bush, when he was vice presi­ what they do to us now in three years — with dent, that one man’s terrorist may be an­ nine years they’d really stick it to us.” other man’s freedom fighter, the judge Local union officials who attended the said that the government defines the issue Basic Steel Industry Conference meeting, Schedule of Carlos Tablada’s Canada Tour politically and, perhaps, sometimes hyp­ ocritically. But, Einhorn said, he intends to define it legally. Below is the schedule for the Ontario QUEBEC and Quebec legs of Cuban economist “This is a case of ‘first impression,’ ” he Montreal: University of Montreal, Carlos Tablada’s tour o f Canada. (See declared. “ There is no precedent.” Wed., Jan. 27, 11 a.m. • M cG ill Univer­ article on page 16.) A former government prosecutor, Ein­ sity, Wed., Jan. 25,4:30 p.m. • Cégep du horn added that, like everyone, he had his ONTARIO Vieux Montreal, Fri., Jan. 29, 2 p.m. • political views. Citywide meeting, Centre St.-Pierre, Toronto: University o f Toronto, Fri., 1205 Visitation, Sat., Jan. 30, 7 p.m. But, he asserted, “ When I enter this court­ Jan. 22, 1 p.m. • Citywide meeting, 252 Quebec City: Laval University, Thurs., room, I check my politics at the door.” Bloor St. W „ Sat., Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m. • Jan. 28, 11:30 a.m. • Citywide meeting, York University, Mon., Jan. 25, 1 p.m. In the courtroom audience, there were 155 boulevard Charest, Thurs., Jan. 28, Hamilton: McMaster University, Mon., smiles o f disbelief. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25,7:30 p.m. Ottawa: Carleton Uni­ Because the lawyers on both sides are all versity, Tu., Jan. 26, 2 p.m. from outside Los Angeles, the court sessions are scheduled to meet their various commit­ ments. The hearing is now recessed until For details call: (416) 533-4324 in Toronto or (514) 273-2503 in Montreal. February 22.

6 The Militant January 29, 1993 Frame-up victim in France wins acquittal

BY DEREK JEFFERS Roman was kept in prison four and a half cember trial against Roman and Gentil, little case against Roman, the prosecutor him­ PARIS — In a trial that received banner years until his acquittal. Shortly after hav­ doubt was aired in the media as to the guilt self called on the jury to acquit Roman in headlines in papers throughout France, ing made his forced confession he repudi­ o f both men. Roman’s confession, even his final plea, which it did. Richard Roman, accused o f raping and mur­ ated it, explaining it had been extracted though it had been quickly retracted, was The Jourdan family, completely disori­ dering six-year-old Céline Jourdan in 1988, from him under extraordinary police pres­ the main evidence used against him. ented by four and a half years o f cop assur­ was acquitted by jury trial in Grenoble on sure. A turning point, however, was reached ances that both Gentil and Roman were December 17 after the police frame-up Witnesses gave contradictory accounts of in the trial when one o f the witnesses, responsible for Céline’s death, was dumb­ against him unraveled. His codefendant, Roman’s comings and goings on the fateful named Célerier, who had been vacationing founded and furious over the jury verdict. Didier Gentil, was convicted and sentenced evening o f July 26, 1988. One o f the several at La Motte-du-Caire with his family at One of the victim ’s uncles swore to Roman to life imprisonment. The death penalty was judges in charge of pretrial proceedings, the time of the murder, testified that police he would kill him. abolished in France in 1981. Judge Bonnet, moved to dismiss charges had applied considerable pressure to get The trial has highlighted methods com­ When Céline Jourdan was found to have against Roman at one point, citing the lack him to falsify his testimony. In fact, this monly employed by the police — and not been raped and killed on July 26, 1988, in o f evidence. Higher judicial authorities, witness, his wife, and their teenage daugh­ only in cases against immigrants, unionists, la Motte-du-Caire, a small village in south­ however, refused the motion. ter said they saw Roman come down to or political activists — to obtain false con­ ern France, local police quickly focused A defense committee for Roman was the village from his house at 9:30 p.m. on fessions and railroad innocent people to on Richard Roman. An engineering student organized, mainly by family and friends. July 26, 1988, making it impossible for prison. who had given up his studies to become The growing defense campaign provoked him to have killed the child. Police made a shepherd near la Motte-du-Caire, Roman a violent reaction from other forces, among this witness move up this time to 8:30 Derek Jeffers works at the General Electric wore long hair, went barefoot, and had them Céline Jourdan's family, encouraged p.m., explaining he should not help out a Company-Alsthom transformer plant in long been in the bad graces o f the local by the cops who organized the frame-up. "monster” who had already confessed. Saint Ouen. near Paris. He is a member o f head of police. These forces claim to have gathered hun­ When Célerier later told cops he intended the Metalworkers Union Federation, which He was arrested soon after the murder, dreds of thousands o f signatures on peti­ to tell the truth in court, they threatened is affiliated to the General Confederation detained hours for a brutal interrogation at tions calling for re-establishment o f the to arrest him for perjury. of Labor (CGT). police headquarters, and badgered into death penalty for Roman and Gentil. At During the trial it was shown that no confessing to the crime. Didier Gentil also one o f the judicial reenactments o f the less than eight witnesses had changed their confessed to the rape of the child and ac­ crime in the village, Roman’s lawyer was testimony to make it fit the case against cused Roman o f killing her. Physical evi­ stripped half-naked by a hostile crowd and Roman. Finally, Didier Gentil took the Framed activist in dence o f sperm and hair found on the repeatedly hit until cops finally moved to stand and apologized to Roman for having jail over four years victim ’s body backed up Gentil’s confes­ protect him. named him, im plicitly withdrawing his ac­ sion. No such evidence was found in the cusation that Roman had been present dur­ case of Roman. Pressure on witnesses ing the rape and had murdered Céline Branded as a child-molester and killer, At the beginning o f the spectacular De­ Jourdan. Faced with the collapse of his Iowa cops try to pin murder charge on youth

BY MAURICE WILLIAMS had speculated that the murder weapon was When White was arrested, the Register DES MOINES, Iowa — Joseph White an extraordinarily powerful .44-caliber printed his criminal record, which consisted was arrested and charged with murder De­ Magnum “ Desert Eagle,” an Israeli-made, only of petty crimes. As a juvenile his record cember 5. The police have produced no semiautomatic firearm. But they later said would be inadmissible in court. evidence connecting White to the crime he the gun was the same as one that they ac­ The paper also printed an article about his is charged with — a November 29 robbery cused White of having in his possession father, who was involved in a 1976 shootout and double murder at Drake Diner, a local before the murders. with Des Moines police that resulted in his restaurant. The cops have not been able to produce death. Joseph White was two years old at White, who is 17, has maintained his any physical evidence to arrest anyone. But the time. innocence. Meanwhile, Des Moines cops the pressure began to mount after a few days The smear campaign has not gone unchal­ Militant/Margaret Jay ko have engineered a series o f slanderous sto­ for them to arrest a Black male. lenged. Herbert Rogers Sr., a Des Moines Mark Curtis ries filled with speculation to back up their Many Black youths were searched and lawyer who attended the police interview of charges against him. eyed with suspicion. Some Black workers the youths, said, “ I don’t believe [the police) Mark Curtis, a union and political W hite’s cousin, Alfred Clark, also 17, was in Marshalltown, an hour’s drive north of have the right suspect or witness. The way the activist, was arrested and framed by the arrested with him and is being held at a here, were stopped and questioned. So many interview went, I didn't think the information Des Moines, Iowa, police on rape and youth facility on a parole violation. No Black men were stopped and searched with­ provided would incriminate anyone.. . . The burglary charges in March 1988. At the charges have been filed against Clark, al­ out cause that several dozen Black youths only question I had was, when are they going time o f his arrest, Curtis, a meat-packer, though police allege he drove a getaway car. protested outside the police station against to be released?” Drake Diner employees Cara McGrane, the blatant infringement on their rights. was involved in a fight to defend 17 The relatives o f the two youths held a 25, and Tim Burnett, 28, were shot to death Even the Des Moines Register felt obliged immigrant coworkers who were facing news conference and said the teenagers are at point-blank range at the restaurant. Ac­ to respond to the racist character of this cam­ deportation. being unfairly treated. “ 1 think the kids are cording to witnesses the assailant used an paign, making reference to the “ notorious The young unionist did not receive a being railroaded,” said Dora James. White’s automatic handgun and fired only two shots Charles Stuart murder case in Boston, in fair trial. No direct evidence that he grandmother. in the slayings before he fled out the front which a rich white man coolly murdered his committed a crime was presented and door. Both victims died instantly. pregnant wife and then blamed it on a mythi­ Polk County attorney John Sarcone, who key facts were withheld from the jury. The execution-style killings prompted Des cal Black assailant.” filed the criminal charges, has won his re­ He has now served more than four years Moines cops to launch an all-out manhunt to At the same time, article after article have quest to have White’s case moved to adult o f a 25-year sentence. court. No date has been set for the trial. arrest a suspect. “ It’s not common fora robber appeared in the Register about gun control Curtis has won support in his fight to go into any business that has a lot of and crime in Des Moines neighborhoods. A legal defense fund has been established for justice from workers, students, and witnesses,” Sgt. Ray Rexroat told the Des The cops say the worst crime rates are in for the two youths. democratic rights activists around the Moines Register. Thirty-five to 40 people predominantly Black and working-class world. The Mark Curtis Defense Com­ were eating or working in the diner at the time areas o f the city. Maurice Williams is a member o f United mittee can be contacted for more in­ o f the shootings. No one else was injured. Some politicians, including Iowa governor Food and Commercial Workers Local 1149 formation about his case at the address After the arrests, police produced a tape Terry Branstad, have seen this as an opportu­ and works at the Monfort packinghouse in listed in the advertisement below. o f the 911 emergency call from someone at nity to drum up support for the death penalty. Marshalltown, Iowa. the restaurant the night o f the murders. The Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965. cops asked the caller, “ Is he Black?” One cop advocating the death penalty, Lt. W. So far police have not found the murder L. Johnson, told the Register, “ We need the weapon. Three days after the murders, they common sense to shoot our mad dogs.” Literature available from the Mark Curtis Defense Committee The Frame-up of Mark Curtis by Margaret Jayko. This pamphlet tells Supreme Court rules civil rights law the story of Mark Curtis, a unionist and fighter for immigrant rights, who is serving a 25-year sentence in an Iowa prison on trumped-up rape charges. does not apply to clinic blockades 71 pp., $5. Order from Pathfinder, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014. (Please include $3 for postage and handling.) BY SARA LOBMAN The Ku Klux Klan Act has been invoked Why Working People Should Join the Fight to Free Mark Curtis The U.S. Supreme Court ruled January dozens of times in the last few years by by Harvey McArthur. Presents clear and convincing answers to the campaign 13 that a long-standing federal civil rights abortion clinics seeking federal court pro­ of slanders that aim to justify the frame-up of Mark Curtis. 24 pp. $1. law cannot be used to stop antiabortion tection from disruptive protests organized activists from blockading clinics. In a 6-3 by Operation Rescue and other antiabortion State o f Iowa v. Mark Stanton Curtis. Transcript of September 1988 decision the court said the C ivil Rights Act groups. trial that found Curtis guilty of sexual assault and burglary. 446 pp. $30. of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan In the summer o f 1991 federal judge Pat­ Act, does not provide abortion clinic pa­ rick Kelly used the civil rights law as the The Stakes in the Worldwide Political Campaign to Defend tients with protection from blockades and basis for ordering federal marshals to protect Mark Curtis by John Gaige. A pamphlet that explains the political intimidation by antiabortion groups such as three clinics in Wichita, Kansas, when local background to Curtis’s case, the frame-up, and unfair trial. 25 pp. $1. Operation Rescue. authorities were reluctant to move against The Frame-up of Mark Curtis, a VHS video produced by Hollywood The 1871 law was originally enacted to the rightist forces that were blockading the director Nick Castle. This effective 49-minute documentary has clips from protect freed slaves from harassment by the facilities. TV news broadcasts on Curtis’s fight for justice; scenes from the trial; and Ku Klux Klan. The law makes it illegal for The current ruling stems from a lawsuit interviews with Curtis, his wife Kate Kaku, and others. This video is available two or more people to conspire “ for the filed by women’s clinics and abortion rights for the cost of reproduction and shipping. $15. purpose o f depriving any person or class o f activists in the Washington, D.C., area that persons” from exercising rights guaranteed sought to prevent right-wing protesters from For these and other materials (including in Spanish) write or call the Mark Curtis Defense under the U.S. Constitution. Later court rul­ closing abortion clinics in late 1989. In re­ Committee, P.O. Box 1048, Des Moines, IA 50311. Phone (515) 246-1695. Bulk quantities are available. Payments should accompany orders and checks can be made ings, however, restricted application o f the sponse to this lawsuit, a federal district out to Mark Curtis Defense Committee. Please allow 2 weeks for delivery. law to situations involving racial or other judge, and later the U.S. Court of Appeals “ class-based” hostility. Continued on Page 10

January 29,1993 The Militant 7 South Africa 'stands at gateway to future’ African National Congress calls for end of white m inority’s political power

The African National Congress’s Na­ of the oppressed, including the ANC, should of the people. But this can only be achieved sions and debate both inside the ANC and tional Executive Committee issued the be representative o f all the people of our if they break with the apartheid past. In this in the broader public arena, provided us following statement January 8, on the country, including those in the white com­ way, they w ill be able to play a constructive with the framework of policies for a truly occasion of the ANC’s 81st anniversary. munity. role in enhancing the unity of our people democratic, humane and just society. We Subheadings have been added by the M il­ Today we are proud to see the concept and help restore themselves to the respect need to carry this to all our formations, itant. and practice of non-racialism increasingly they deserve. which must ensure that it becomes the prop­ accepted as the perspective o f most political National unity, non-racialism and a com­ erty of the people as a whole. This must Fellow South Africans, Comrades and Com­ formations of our country. We are inspired mon patriotism are the cement which w ill involve reinvigorating and expanding the patriots, by the widespread acceptance of the mutu­ bind a nation at peace with itself and in organisation o f the ANC at regional and Today, January 8th. marks the 81st anni­ ally dependent principles of democracy, harmony with the natural world we inhabit. local levels and its links with the people. versary o f the African National Congress. equality, justice, peace and reconciliation. Events since early 1990 have made the The momentum for change is gathering We observe this important date at a mo­ When the people of our country stated in country swing between moments of high force. We must make it unstoppable. ment when our country stands at its gateway the Freedom Charter in 1955 that “ South expectations and of despair. There have There are those political formations to the future. 1993 is destined to be the year Africa belongs to all who live in it, black been those who have sought to postpone and which fear change and are totally opposed when we bring to an end the exclusive and white ...,” they summed up our com­ delay the process of transition. Today all to democratic elections. They are products exercise of political power by the white mon yearning for democracy, non-racialism South Africans realise that we need to move o f apartheid thinking. They fear the w ill of minority. At last we shall together set our­ and national unity. In the Freedom Charter forward decisively and with the utmost the people. They cling to ethnic fiefdoms selves on the path to democratic rule. our people put together a vision o f the future speed. Each day that passes is a day of and racism. But. they are part of a dying This historic moment in the transition to based on prosperity for all. The Charter deprivation, o f hunger, of rising unemploy­ order. Unless they are able to place the people’s power w ill express itself through a expresses a goal which the ANC and all ment, o f violence, increasing crime and in­ national interest above their party political general election which must be held before other democrats in our country have been security for all. and personal agendas they w ill confine the end of 1993. The elections w ill be the striving for in opposition to the policies of The transition to democracy is the key to themselves to the role of spoilers and will first in our country when all the people. successive apartheid regimes. resolving the deep-seated social and eco­ be judged accordingly. nomic crisis. We are under no illusion that The ANC maintains that the negotiations this transition to democracy w ill be plain process should be as inclusive as possible. There are those political formations which fear change sailing. We are faced with a regime which Our call to all formations to join Codesa is seeks to preserve its privileges and assure open-ended. But, we insist that no one and are totally opposed to democratic elections. But its power. It has often failed to adhere to should be allowed to hold the transition to they are part of a dying order . . . agreements it has reached with the ANC. democracy to ransom. The elections cannot be delayed beyond 1993. To arrive at this Corruption of security forces point we have to address two related ques­ It is a regime which still refuses to ac­ tions effectively. These are curbing the vi­ black and white, the privileged and the de­ A ll sectors o f our society yearn for the knowledge the crime o f apartheid. Even olence that continues to blight our country prived, w ill vote together as equals in an urgent realisation o f a system in which they when the De Klerk regime has been forced and the creation o f a climate conducive to undivided South Africa. As we move into can realise their full potential. It is crucial to acknowledge that senior SADF |South free political activity. that workers and the rural masses, and par­ this phase let us ensure that this vote leads African Defence Force] officers are in­ to the systematic empowerment of all and ticularly the unemployed youth, continue to volved in the violence and in efforts to ANC stands for peace especially South African women. strive for better conditions, jobs and land in destabilise the negotiation process and the The ANC stands for peace. To end the Through the exercise of this inalienable the context o f a growing economy. Families ANC, it continues to deny that there is a violence, during the course of 1992, the right of all people to determine their future, have all reason to unite in the search for Third Force. It persists in shrouding in se­ ANC has: w ill be bom a sovereign Constituent Assem­ affordable prices on shop shelves. crecy the corruption and the role o f its se­ • called for an urgent meeting of all bly which w ill also function as a democratic Students, teachers and parents deserve a curity forces. signatories to the National Peace Accord to and non-racial Interim Parliament and an better deal in education, a system based on The only way to secure the future is for strengthen the accord and publicly renew Interim Government of National Unity, rep­ non-racial and democratic principles — not the De Klerk regime to come clean and out their joint commitment to peace; resentative of and accountable to the people on the wealth they command. A better health into the open. Along this path, we shall • secured international involvement, as a whole. Through this democratic vote system which caters for all is not a privilege, ensure that the defence of the country is through the United Nations, the Organisa­ the people shall determine the shape o f our but a right which must be guaranteed. It is placed correctly into the hands o f the people. tion of African Unity |OAU] and the (Brit­ country for decades to come. It is within our abominable that senior citizens should con­ It is the people who have fashioned the gains ish] Commonwealth, which has resulted in power, as a country and a nation, to secure tinue to be subjected to racial discrimination we have registered. It is the people who are the stationing o f monitors in South Africa; this year a decisive victory which w ill place and inhuman treatment. the defenders o f the progress we have made. • actively engaged in local and national us on the road to resolving the centuries-old Professionals merit an environment in It is the people who are the force who w ill peace initiatives as part o f a determined struggle against brutal oppression and ex­ which they can exercise their creativity carry our country into the future. effort to bring people together at grassroots ploitation, on one hand, and the quest for without the confining ideology of racism. Our optimism for 1993 rests on the fact level. genuine emancipation of all our people, on Business-people deserve secure investments that mass action, public exposures, interna­ Yet the carnage continues. The terrorism, the other. in conditions o f social harmony. tional pressure and the consistent espousal destabilisation and repression that emanates This history o f conflict created a deeply A ll communities have a right to housing o f democratic rule are the basis for the from within the security forces, and State divided country. As we strive to create the and living conditions free o f crime and so­ advances that we have been making. agencies, including the various Administra­ new, we w ill have to start from the heritage cial disintegration. Through these instruments we must ensure tions in different parts of South Africa, must o f a society tom apart and driven by hatred A ll South Africans, be they African, Col­ that the regime abandons its bankrupt strat­ be rooted out without any equivocation and and division; a society which imprisoned oured, Indian or White — men and women, egy o f negotiating with whilst simulta­ delay. both the oppressed and the oppressor. The young and old — deserve a better deal. neously seeking to undermine the ANC. Free political activity and a culture of future cannot be built by ignoring or deny­ They deserve lasting security and a stable The key steps that have to be taken during political tolerance must be created. The vi­ ing the past. Nor can there be reconciliation environment. And the problems o f the past this year are: olent conflict between members o f different without acknowledgement by the architects and the present cannot be resolved by means o f apartheid and by all other South Africans of modified apartheid, no matter how sweet- of the wrongs they have committed. sounding the phrases o f representatives of Our country cries out for the creation of space to enable this heinous system. The time has come to Divided society translate this vision into reality as a united people to fashion a vision of our country through the Those who usurped power in our country people, through genuine democracy, justice did everything possible to divide our society and good government. process of free and energetic debate . . . so that they could continue to rule. They As we strive to achieve these objectives, ------used their deadly instruments, which in­ we must also break down and abolish the cluded racism, tribalism, ethnicity, sexism, divisions and antagonisms which were used • Resumption o f multilateral talks in political organisations must be brought to corruption in all its forms and a particular to deny all our people democracy, peace and Codesa (Convention fora Democratic South an end. and sectarian theological outlook — all of prosperity. This year must therefore be the Africa], The National Peace Accord must be fully which sought to rob our people of the bond year which opens up ever-widening scope • Ensuring a climate of free political implemented and strengthened. Codesa which derives from the understanding that for democratic participation and empower­ activity in all parts of our country. agreed that all armed formations and police all human beings are equal. Today all o f us, ment. • Establishment of the Transitional Ex­ forces be placed under the control of a both culprit and victim, are reaping the ecutive Council and its sub-structures as statutory Transitional Executive Council. whirlwind of the destructive seeds Apart­ Building a nation well as an Independent Elections Commis­ This must be effected as soon as this Coun­ heid sowed. We are in the midst of the process of sion and Independent Media Commission so cil is established. This w ill lay the basis for Those South Africans who have had the building a nation. To achieve this we must as to ensure free and fair elections. the creation of a truly representative South wisdom to stop and think have always ensure that the diversity of cultures, lan­ • Elections for a Constituent Assembly African army in which Umkhonto we Sizwe known that the day of reckoning would guages and religions of our people flourish. and an Interim Government o f National shall have a crucial role to play. come. They recognised that in the end many Overcoming the divisive heritage o f the past Unity before the end of 1993. No more lives must be lost! Let us develop of our people would coalesce into distinct, w ill require a conscious effort to promote • Reincorporation of the so-called in­ the most powerful public campaign for peace belligerent camps. We, for our part, as an institutions and practices which w ill — for­ dependent bantustans. that our country has ever seen! Such a cam­ organisation have known that there could be mally and informally — create the condi­ paign should unite all our people in action, no peace among the people until all of us tions in which we all learn to treat our Prepare ourselves to govern regardless o f race, gender, class, political af­ acknowledge that we are one people who languages, cultures and religions with equal The challenge facing the ANC is two­ filiation, age, religion or geographic loca­ share a common patriotism and a common respect and dignity based on a common fold. On the one hand, we have to pursue tion. This would be the best way to pay trib­ destiny. patriotism. the struggle strenuously on all fronts to en­ ute to thousands who lost their lives in the It is for these reasons that at its inception In this nation-building effort the ANC sure that negotiations are successfully con­ carnage ravaging our country. in 1912 the ANC spoke out against “ the also recognises that we shall have to make cluded to bring about democratic rule. On demon o f tribalism” . It is for these reasons provision which w ill restore to a place of the other hand, we need to face the challenge International monitors that, in actual struggle, we constantly sought dignity and respect the institution of o f forthcoming Constituent Assembly elec­ We count on the international commu­ to forge the unity of the oppressed and chieftainship. Our traditional leaders were tions and prepare ourselves to govern. nity to increase its presence and to play exploited. To secure genuine emancipation reduced to the status o f paid servants of the The policy conference of the ANC, an even more vigorous role in its interven­ we struggled to ensure that the organisations apartheid state and cut o ff from the service through a thoroughgoing process o f discus­ tion for peace. The stationing of interna-

8 The Militant January 29, 1993 tional monitors has been an impor­ We appeal to all those o f our com­ tant achievement o f our movement. patriots who fear the prospect o f dem­ It has reinforced the efforts o f our ocratic change. What they should fear people against those who have no are the consequences o f the absence regard for human life. It has of change. Any continuation of the strengthened the forces for democ­ past would mean that our country racy and peace in our country1. sinks further, with all its people, into In this regard, we would like to pay the depths o f a general crisis which tribute to the OAU for responding to would benefit no one and from which the appeal o f the ANC and ensuring it would be impossible to extricate that the intervention of the United itself in the foreseeable future. Such a Nations and other international bod­ disaster we must avoid at all costs. ies became possible. Those who entertain the delusion Our country cries out for the cre­ Militant/Greg McCartan that the process o f change can be ation o f space to enable people to Workers march in Pretoria. ANC statement explains, “Our perspectives are governed by the ideal stopped or postponed through vio­ associate without let or hindrance; to expressed in the Freedom Charter: The people shall govern!” lence and subversion should abandon propagate and discuss views without this hopeless project. Similarly, no fear or favour; to fashion a vision of one who claims to uphold the true and show the way forward in all areas of • to develop common positions relating our country through the process o f free and interest of the freedom o f our people should life. This is the only way to ensure that they to the principal elements of the policies that energetic debate. act in a way that enhances the role o f those re-affirm, through the vote, that the ANC should be implemented when the Interim Those who are committed to democracy who want to plunge our country into race represents their true aspirations. Government of National Unity is estab­ and peace cannot allow a situation to persist conflict and civil war. None, including those lished; whereby anybody, whoever they might be, within the security forces and the white Mobilize and organize the people • to engage the general public in dis­ denies the people their right to a climate right, should take it upon themselves to Every effort has to be made to strengthen cussion of these constitutional and govern­ conducive to free political activity. In all create a situation in which more lives will the ANC/SACP|South African Communist ment policy positions, so as to develop a parts o f the country, including the so-called be lost and more blood shed, as a result of Party 1/COSATU[Congress of South African national consensus around the key pillars o f homelands, whether “ independent" or not, a vain effort to defend the ultimately inde­ Trade Unions] alliance so that we carry the the process of transformation; all organisations and individuals must enjoy fensible. country to effective democracy. In the Cam­ • to mobilise the nation as a whole to the same rights and the same opportunities It is clear that, during this year, we shall paign for Peace and Democracy during 1992, to organise, to assemble and to propagate join in the struggle to curb and end the also see the establishment o f the multi-party our Alliance reached new heights and dem­ violence; their views. Transitional Executive Council, with its onstrated its immense capacity to mobilise As soon as it is elected, the Constituent • to mobilise the nation as a whole to substructures to be followed by an elected and organise the people. Alliance structures Assembly w ill commence its work of draft­ act together to ensure the existence of a Interim Government of National Unity. It is at the local and grassroots levels were cre­ ing and adopting the new constitution for climate conducive to free political activity therefore important that we give attention ated. These functioned with single-minded which millions o f our people are waiting. in all parts of our country; to the development of governmental pro­ purpose and provided the critical element We are committed to ensuring that this con­ • to elaborate and implement a pro­ grammes to be implemented during these which helped remove blockages in negotia­ stitution, the supreme law of the land, en­ gramme o f work directed at voter education phases. tions and ensured forward movement. shrines and expresses the perspective con­ and ensuring that the people exercise their These changes w ill, among other things, tained in the Codesa Declaration o f Intent The Patriotic Front, made up of both po­ hard-won democratic right to vote; and bring more people into public administra­ litical formations and organisations o f civil of multi-party democracy in a united, non- • to win these voters over to support the tion, to create more representative and society, and representative o f the over­ racial and non-sexist South Africa. policies put forward by the ANC and its therefore legitimate structures o f govern­ whelming majority of the citizens of our A critical element o f this constitution allies. ment. country, is a vital instrument for the achieve­ must be an entrenched and enforceable Bill Together, at national, regional and local ment o f these objectives. of Rights which would protect fundamental levels, let us speak with one voice, explain­ Worsening situation for millions human rights and lim it the power o f any What are the tasks o f the Patriotic Front ing honestly what we want for our country The movement away from almost 45 parliament to take away these rights. This during this historic year? Put simply and and what we want its future to be. At the years of exclusive rule and domination by w ill also require that the judiciary be recon­ directly, they are: same time, let us act as a united force for the National Party w ill create the possibility stituted to ensure that it is independent, • to ensure the successful conclusion of peace, tolerance and a new life of freedom for our country to begin to address the non-racial and non-sexist and therefore ca­ the negotiations taking place in Codesa; and prosperity for all South Africans. fundamental question of improving the pable of enjoying the support and trust of • to develop common positions with quality of life o f all citizens. The desperate all South Africans. regard to the fundamental constitutional po­ Against political intolerance and worsening situation faced by millions sitions that w ill be put to the electorate at These objectives must instruct the conduct o f our people, o f unemployment, landless­ Rule of, and equality before, the law large and to the Constituent Assembly. o f all our members and formations, prohibit­ ness, homelessness, hunger, the diseases of Provision w ill have to be made to ensure These would include provisions relating to ing any activity on our part which leads to vi­ poverty, o f a disastrous educational system, that the entire system o f the administration workers’, women's and children’s rights as olence, political intolerance and provides ex­ and so on, cannot be allowed to continue. of justice is not subject to political manipu­ well as the role o f civil society and the place cuses for those who wish to delay the process We cannot hold out the false promise that lation. In this way it w ill become possible of traditional institutions of government; of democratic transformation. Continued on Page 11 to guarantee the application of the two fun­ damental principles o f the rule of, and equal­ ity before, the law. Our perspectives are governed by the ideal expressed in the Freedom Charter: The people shall govern! We are therefore deter­ mined to ensure that government is as close to the people as possible. Our constitutional proposals, therefore, include the essential element that, in addition to effective central government, manifesting the reality o f one South African nation, there should also be strong, meaningful and representative re­ gional and local government capable o f ex­ pressing the w ill of the people in the conduct o f their daily lives. Attachment to labels, such as “ federal­ ism” , w ill not take the discussion anywhere — least of all if the insertion o f such con­ cepts is aimed at emasculating central gov­ ernment, seeking to maintain the status quo of a South Africa fragmented into racial and ethnic compartments and promoting the par­ tisan interests o f particular political or­ ganisations. The constructing of a constitutional frame­ work for a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist society should unite all genuine democratic forces in our country, regardless of other differences that they otherwise might have. Therefore we believe that it w ill be one o f our central tasks during this year to en­ hance the degree of unity and raise the level of united action o f these forces in the pursuit of common goals. Central to this exercise is the urgent need to build the organisation of the ANC at every level. We dare not rest on our record of struggle which has brought our country to this crucial moment. We must take our pol­ icies to the grassroots, organise our people

January 29, 1993 The Militant 9 Clinton to continue policy of forcibly returning Haitians

Continued from front page “ It is very clear that out in the country­ can die there? This is just like they are under side,” Guttentag continued, “ the military house arrest.” knows what every person is doing. There is “ Blockades are acts o f war,” commented no way for people to apply [for asylum] in Rick Swartz, an attorney for the National Co­ secret. People remain in hiding and there are alition for Haitian Refugees in Washington, military roadblocks everywhere.” D.C., who termed the announcement “ a dra­ matic reversal o f promises made by Clinton.” Humanitarian policy? In the 15 months since a military coup Clinton motivates his call for the use of overthrew the democratically elected presi­ U.S. military ships to prevent Haitians from dent, Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, more than leaving as a humanitarian policy designed 40,000 Haitians have taken to boats to escape to save lives. This was the same rationale military repression and horrendous living put forward by Bush when he announced conditions in Haiti. Since last May when the policy in the first place. More than 40,000 refugees have fled Haiti since the September 1991 military coup. Bush issued the executive order for the Coast As does Bush, Clinton insists on making Guard to directly repatriate Haitians seized a distinction between Haitians who are eco­ about people preparing to risk their lives in relatives had died on previous boat trips. on the high seas, some 5,000 people have nomic and political refugees. As the January flimsy boats. That’s not the road to freedom.” “ Unless we have our president back, we been forced back to Haiti. 14 Washington Post points out, however, Aristide’s support for Clinton’s policy is would rather die at sea than die here.” During the election campaign in May, many Haitians considered themselves “ both based upon private assurances of support Clinton had stated, “ 1 am appalled by the Meanwhile all reports coming out o f Hai­ political and economic refugees, because that he has received from the new president. decision ... to pick up fleeing Haitians on ti indicate that m ilitary repression continues the two problems were connected.” “ There is no doubt he [Clinton] is support­ the high seas and forcibly return them to unabated. In December, for example, m ili­ The day before Clinton’s announcement, ing me,” stated Aristide in a January 15 Haiti before considering their claim to po­ tary forces attacked demonstrating students Aristide publicly urged Haitians “ to stay interview with the New York Times. at the University of Haiti, seriously injuring litical asylum. It was bad enough when home and help reestablish democracy.” In an “ I f Clinton picks us up today, then we w ill there were failures to offer them due pro­ 72 people. Many o f those who speak up in appeal broadcast on the Voice of America ra­ try again tomorrow,” stated 23-year-old cess in making such a claim. Now they opposition to the m ilitary have been abduct­ dio station, he said, “ It hurts me a lot to think Witzer Joseph, whose father and 22 other are offered no process at all before being ed and killed. returned.” With no end in sight to their oppressive living conditions and in light of Clinton’s promise, Haitians in record numbers have Haiti Solidarity actions called for Feb. 7-13 been making plans to flee the island. In the first two weeks o f 1993 the Coast Guard has BY MARTIN KOPPEL Aristide, tighten the nominal U.S. embargo pie “ to raise in a strong voice” the demand already intercepted 900 Haitian refugees. Activities w ill be taking place around the on Haiti, and provide safe haven for Haitian for justice for Haitian refugees. U.S. officials claim they have counted country February 7-13 as part of a Haiti refugees. More information on the nationwide more than 1,000 boats capable of carrying Solidarity Week. Many of the public events Laurie Richardson, co-director of the events can be obtained from Quixote Cen­ up to 150,000 people that are being readied w ill call on the U.S. government to admit Quixote Center, said in a phone interview ter/Haiti Reborn, P.O. Box 5206, Hyatts- to set sail from Haiti. A boat that left the Haitian refugees, to enforce the embargo on that the Haiti Solidarity Week actions w ill ville, M D 20782. The telephone number is island in late December carrying 396 Hai­ Haiti, and to exert pressure to restore the be an opportunity for large numbers o f peo- (301)699-0042. tian refugees sank southeast o f the Bahamas. elected government o f President Jean- Cuban authorities reported rescuing eight Bertrand Aristide in that country. survivors from this vessel. Another boat The actions w ill coincide with the second FROM THE PATHFINDER MURAL------with 352 people recently reached Miami. anniversary o f Aristide’s inauguration as the first democratically elected president of Harriet Tubman led antislavery fight UN observer force urged Haiti. He was overthrown by the military in Clinton’s Haiti policy also calls for send­ September 1991. Tens o f thousands of peo­ This monthly column features the the Fugitive Slave Law. This law required ing additional Immigration and Naturaliza­ ple have fled Haiti to the United States since working-class leaders and fighters for so­ U.S. marshals in northern states, where slav­ tion Service (INS) officers to take applica­ then. President George Bush, however, is­ cial justice from around the world who ery was illegal, to arrest runaway slaves and tions for political asylum inside Haiti, and sued an executive decree in May ordering are depicted on the Pathfinder Mural. return them to the south. The law also for­ for deploying as many as 500 United Na­ the forcible return o f refugees to Haiti, The six-story mural was painted by an bade citizens, in both the north and the tions “ human rights” observers in that coun­ where they face repression at the hands of international team of 80 artists from 20 south, to aid those escaping. try. A 16-member observer team sent to the military-backed regime. countries. Included in the mural are por­ Haiti in the fall by the Organization of The week of solidarity activities was The Underground Railroad responded to traits of revolutionary leaders such as American States remains confined to the called by a range o f organizations including the new law by extending its lines into Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Nelson M an­ capital, Port-au-Prince, by order of the m il­ the Quixote Center/Haiti Reborn, the Haitian Canada. Tubman played a crucial role in dela, Fidel Castro, and Karl M arx, whose itary-backed government o f Prime Minister group Tenth Department, American Friends this, helping transport more than 300 people speeches and writings are published by Marc Bazin. Service Committee, Southern Christian to freedom. In 19 trips, she never lost a Pathfinder Press. The INS has meanwhile announced it is Leadership Conference, Clergy and Laity passenger. considering setting up operations at five Concerned, Washington Office on Haiti, and Tubman was a well known abolitionist. BY SARA LOBMAN sites on the island, and assigning “ upwards numerous Haiti solidarity organizations. She worked with John Brown, Frederick Harriet Tubman was an ex-slave, a lead­ o f 20 immigration agents” there. Local events in cities from San Francisco Douglass, and others. By 1858, her work ing abolitionist, and the most famous “ con­ The Bush policy is “ no less illegal now to Washington, D.C., w ill include demon­ was known in antislavery circles in En­ ductor” on the Underground Railroad, the that it has been endorsed by Clinton than it strations, teach-ins, film showings, religious gland, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Liberia, network that transported slaves in the Unit­ was when it was announced by Bush,” com­ services, and vigils. The Quixote Center is and South America. ed States to freedom in the north. mented Lucas Guttentag, director o f the sponsoring a full-page ad in the Washington Bom around 1820, Tubman escaped from In the summer o f 1860, Tubman spoke American Civil Liberties Union’s immigra­ Post with signatures o f prominent individu­ a plantation in Maryland in 1849 and made regularly at women’s suffrage meetings, tion project. Guttentag just returned from a als demanding that President-elect B ill C lin­ her way north to Pennsylvania. After work­ conventions o f Blacks, and at abolitionist five-day trip to Haiti. ton take steps to facilitate the restoration of ing as a maid in several hotels in Philadel­ gatherings. She participated in the debates phia and Cape May, New Jersey, she re­ and discussions on the approaching civil Supreme Court ruling on clinic blockades turned south to help hundreds o f others war. Tubman, like Douglass, was in favor escape slavery. o f using any means necessary to overthrow slavery. Continued from Page 7 ed has dwindled over the past two years. In 1850, under pressure from southern in Richmond, Virginia, argued that women Defenders of a woman’s right to abortion plantation owners, the U.S. Congress passed During the war, Tubman worked for the In­ were a “ class o f persons” protected by the noted that many other legal avenues exist telligence Service o f the General Staff of the 1871 law. for state and federal courts to defend access U.S. Army, organizing a spy and scouting Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to abortion clinics. corps for the Department of the South. She ar­ writing for the majority opinion, rejected Abortion rights activists in Washington, gued that the army should be open to Blacks, this argument. “ There are common and re­ D.C., are preparing to strengthen the defense and she herself led 300 Black troops in a m il­ spectable reasons,” Scalia said, “ for oppos­ o f two dozen facilities in the area.“ We have itary campaign that lifted confederate torpe­ ing (abortion] other than hatred of, or con­ to protect our own rights because the courts does out o f the Combahee River, freed 750 descension toward . . . women as a class.” won’t do it for us,” explained Beth Kingsley, slaves, and drove the slaveholders inland. Justice John Paul Stevens, in one of two a leader o f the Washington Area Clinic De­ Carole Byard painted the portrait of Tub­ minority opinions, commented on the vio­ fense Task Force. man on the Pathfinder Mural. She also lent activities o f the antiabortion forces. The painted the portrait o f Malcolm X. rightist demonstrators’ goal, Stevens said, is to “ deny every woman the opportunity to Help defend The Pathfinder M ural and the Pathfinder exercise a constitutional right that only Washington, D.C., clinics M ural bookstore are located at the corner women possess.” Operation Rescue has announced it will o f West and Charles Streets in New York Operation Rescue hailed the latest deci­ disrupt Clinton inauguration events and fol­ City. The bookstore offers a complete selec­ sion and called for supporters to join the orga­ low this with attacks on Washington, D.C., tion o f Pathfinder books and pamphlets as nization “ in the streets” for “ child-saving” clinics January 22 and 23. The Washington well as postcards, posters, and T-shirts de­ Area Clinic Defense Task Force has asked activities January 20-23 in Washington, picting the mural. Contributions fo r the pro­ supporters to be on alert January 20 and 21, D.C., and other cities around the country. Pat­ and to join mobilizations to defend clinics motion, development, and preservation o f rick Mahoney, a national spokesperson for by going to 1000 16th St. NW, at 5:30 a.m. the mural can be sent to: Friends o f the Operation Rescue, pointed out that the num­ January 22 and 23. Militant/Sara Lobman Pathfinder Mural, 191 Seventh Ave., New ber of abortion opponents willing to be arrest- Harriet Tu bman’s picture on mural York, NY 10011. Telephone: (212) 727-8421.

10 The Militant January 29,1993 W hat is road for Somali working people?

Continued from Page 5 sign o f anything that could be called de­ Cooperation, yes! We need the cooperation The Somali people, for example, have “ a painful synthesis of all of humanity’s velopment.” of all the peoples of the entire world. But been plagued by some of the same problems suffering, but also, and above all, a synthesis Citing a recent study on the character of we really do not want aid that nurtures a with aid organizations as Sankara con­ of the promise o f its struggles.” this aid, Sankara points out, “ the only goal welfare mentality in us.” fronted in Burkina. o f foreign aid is to continue developing Sankara consistently pointed to the polit­ Aiding underdevelopment nonproductive sectors, imposing unbearable ical challenges facing the people o f Burkina CARE backs invasion Returning to the question o f the prob­ burdens on our meager budgets, disorganiz­ and the progress being made by them in A January 19 article in the New York- lems associated with foreign aid, Sankara ing our countryside, increasing the deficits forging a new society as they advanced their based Village Voice, entitled “ Manna from said, “ Very few countries have been as in our balance of trade, and accelerating our revolutionary struggle. Heaven? Somalia Pays the Price for Years inundated as Burkina with every conceiv­ indebtedness. “ We have to work at decolonizing our of Aid,” describes how food aid to Somalia able form o f aid. Theoretically, this aid is “ In general, the policy of foreign aid and mentality and achieving happiness within was used to keep the masses destitute and supposed to work in favor o f our devel­ assistance produced nothing but disorgani­ the limits of sacrifices we should be w illing in a state o f dependency while at the same opment. In the case of what was formerly zation and continued enslavement,” ex­ to make,” stated Sankara in a 1985 interview time helping to prop up the brutal pro-U.S. Upper Volta, you can search in vain for a plained Sankara. “ It robbed us o f our sense with a Swiss journalist. “ From imperial­ military dictatorship of Siad Barre. The au­ of responsibility for our own economic, po­ ism’s point o f view it is more important to thor, Michael Maren, worked in Somalia as litical, and cultural territory.” dominate us culturally than militarily. Cul­ part o f a U.S. relief organization starting in “ We chose to risk new paths to achieve tural domination is more flexible, more ef­ 1981. Washington greater happiness,” he continued. “ We chose fective, and less costly.” A December 24 Wall Street Journal col­ to apply new techniques and to look for Speaking August 4, 1987, on the revo­ umn by Alexander Cockburn, who regularly launches attacks forms of organization better suited to our lution’s fourth anniversary, Sankara writes for the Nation, points out that one of civilization. We abruptly and definitively pointed with pride to some of the revolu­ the major relief organizations — CARE — against Iraq rejected all forms o f foreign diktats, thus tion’s gains. “ For the new society, we must operates in Somalia as a subcontractor for creating the conditions for a dignity worthy have a new people, a people that has its the U.S. government-funded Agency for Continued from front page of our ambitions.... own identity, knows what it wants and how International Development (AID), and for pie were killed. Fifteen people were re­ “ We swear — we state categorically — to assert itself, and understands what w ill the UN World Food Program. CARE hap­ ported injured. Iraqi television showed that henceforth nothing in Burkina Faso will be necessary to reach the goals it has set pens to be one o f the most vocal backers of scenes o f injured children. Iraqi president ever again be undertaken without the partic­ for itself. Our people, after four years of the U.S. military intervention, calling for Saddam Hussein also said that the targets of ipation of Burkinabé. Henceforth, we w ill revolution, are the embryo o f this new peo­ linking up food distribution with a more the raid suffered only superficial damage. conceive and decide on everything. This is ple. The unprecedented decline of passive aggressive policing role by the U.S. troops. U.S. defense secretary Dick Cheney de­ a precondition. There w ill be no further resignation among our people is a tangible When several other aid organizations in­ scribed reports o f civilian casualties as “ gib­ assaults on our sense of decency and dig­ sign of this. cluding the British-based Save the Children berish.” nity,” stated Sankara. “The democratic and popular revolu­ and Oxfam sought to voice criticism about Another U.S.-led bombing squadron re­ tion,” he continued,“ needs a convinced peo­ the invasion, they were bluntly ordered by turned on January 18 to try to destroy the Food aid as an obstacle ple, not a conquered people — a people that the British government to keep such views targets that were missed in the January 13 In an April 1986 talk to the first national is truly convinced, not submissive and pas­ to themselves. raid. U.S. planes also struck twice in north­ conference of the CDRs Sankara noted, “ Our sively enduring its destiny.” The Sankara-led revolution in Burkina ern Iraq on January 17. In one incident, an country produces sufficient food to feed it­ The revolutionary process in Burkina shows that it is possible for working people Iraqi plane that U.S. officials said entered self. ... But unfortunately because of our Faso was halted when Blaise Compaoré, the anywhere in the world to start from even the no-fly zone was shot down. U.S. jets also own lack of organization, we’re still forced to minister o f state and justice, led a counter­ the most backward levels o f development attacked an Iraqi antiaircraft missile battery. hold out our hands for food aid. This food aid revolutionary coup October 15, 1987, in and begin to chart a course toward genuine Government spokespeople said the battery is an obstacle to us, instilling in us and plant­ which Sankara and 12 of his aides were political and economic independence in had activated its targeting radar and aimed ing in our minds the habit and welfare re­ murdered. which the masses themselves become the at U.S. jets. flexes of the beggar. We must do away with The 1983-87 revolution in Burkina Faso initiators o f deep-going social and political The Bush administration said the bomb­ this aid through increased production! We contains rich political lessons for working change. ing attacks were to pressure the Iraqi gov­ must succeed in producing more because it’s people of Somalia as well as tens o f millions Neither food aid nor imperialist troops ernment to comply with UN Security Coun­ natural that he who gives you food also calls of others throughout Africa and elsewhere in offer a way forward. Only the road of rev­ cil resolutions. Th e U.S. government has the tune. the world who are caught in what appears to olutionary change opens up the possibility demanded that Iraq guarantee United Na­ “ ‘Rely on our own resources,’ ” he ad­ be an endless cycle o f hunger, poverty, and of charting a course toward genuine social tions planes unlimited access to its airspace ded, “ must cease to be merely a slogan — underdevelopment resulting from decades of development in Somalia and throughout A f­ and to stop challenging Washington’s en­ we must be obsessed with it Aid, no! imperialist exploitation and oppression. rica. forcement o f two no-fly zones in the north and south of Iraq. The UN planes, which would carry nuclear inspection teams, had been banned by Iraq January 8. The inspec­ tors were told they could travel to Iraq in South Africa ‘at gateway to future’ chartered Iraqi jets. The Iraqi ambassador to the United Na­ Continued from Page 9 they refuse to break with the past. problem of Western Sahara. tions, Nizar Hamdoon. said, shortly before a solution to these problems can be found We appeal to the international community The shameful conflict in the former Yu­ the first bombing raid, that Baghdad was overnight. Yet a beginning has to be made, and the solidarity movement with its proud goslavia must be brought to an end. In ending its ban on UN flights in Iraqi air­ and made soon. history o f anti-apartheid activity to help us particular, the so-called ethnic cleansing in space. But at a January 16 news conference This w ill entail many things, among them ensure that the ideal of democracy is Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the atrocities that in the capital, Iraqi deputy prime minister measures aimed at ensuring sustained eco­ realised in South Africa. A t this decisive go with it, should no longer be tolerated. Tariq Aziz said that because of its dispute nomic growth, a more equitable distribution moment their support is more crucial than As we change the manner in which South with the United States concerning the no-fly of wealth, and of income and opportunity ever before. Africa is governed during this year, our zones, the safety o f UN planes flying in especially with regard to the women of our As part of the process of our entry into possibilities w ill increase not only to change these zones could not be guaranteed. country, the rationalisation and restructuring the world we shall have to do everything in our own situation, but also to make our Aziz said the Iraqi military had been di­ of state expenditure, the elimination o f cor­ our power to help ensure that Southern A f­ contribution to the building o f a new world rected to attack the many U.S. jets that are ruption in the public sector and an appeal to rica is a region o f democracy, peace, stabil­ order o f democracy, equality, peace and intruding on Iraqi territory. Iraq has told the the international community to come to our ity, mutually advantageous co-operation and prosperity. United Nations that if the military incursions aid. prosperity. Let us claim our right to make this con­ on its airspace stop, then Iraq could guaran­ Any political arrangements enabling tribution on the basis that, within our own Angola and Mozambique tee inspectors greater access. democratic rule will be nullified if we do national borders, we are creating a society Pentagon spokespeople reported that Ir­ not ensure a stable and growing economy. We support the peace processes in Angola based on the same principles o f democracy, aqi guns fired on U.S. jets flying over the Both the workers of our country and busi­ and Mozambique aimed at attaining democ­ equality, peace and prosperity for all. ness have a crucial and decisive role to play racy, national reconciliation, peace and re­ northern zone January 14. Iraq proposed that We enter 1993 conscious o f important in this regard. construction. In both cases, we have the duty UN planes enter Iraq from the west, avoid­ landmarks in our people’s history. This year It is crucial that the people should not to reciprocate the support the governments ing the no-fly zones. The United Nations marks the 80th anniversary o f the passing only get the vote, but also begin to see a new and the peoples of these countries extend rejected the Iraqi recommendation. away of King Dinizulu ka Cetshwayo, one future dawn with regard to jobs, land, food, and have extended to our own programme UN representatives have also said that o f the first honorary presidents o f the ANC. housing, health and education. Without this, o f transformation. We condemn the contin­ groups of Iraqis have regularly been cross­ It is also the 80th anniversary of the passing the people cannot even begin to regain their ued destabilisation interventions of the ing the newly redrawn border with Kuwait o f the infamous Land Act o f 1913 which dignity as human beings. Without this, we apartheid regime in Angola. and retrieving Iraqi material. Iraq maintains sealed the dispossession o f the African peo­ cannot say we have begun to dismantle the We look forward to the termination o f the they have UN authorization to get the ma­ ple. We recall with pride the heroic 1913 criminal and destructive system o f apart­ fratricidal wars and conflicts on the African terial, stored at the former Iraqi naval base mass resistance o f women against the im ­ heid. continent, especially in Somalia, Liberia at Umm Qasr. A UN committee recently position o f passes. redrew the boundary, taking a valuable strip As we progress towards the democratic and Sudan. Th ey have imposed enormous This is the centenary year of the arrival of Iraqi territory, including the base, for settlement, more windows to the world w ill suffering on the people of these countries o f Mahatma Gandhi, that symbol o f resis­ open for our country and people. We should and unnecessary burdens on the neighbour­ Kuwait. tance to white domination and colonialism. value and nurture this development. The ing states. We appeal to the belligerents in B ill Clinton, the U.S. president as of Jan­ It also marks the 10th anniversary o f the critical element with regard to ending South these countries to stop the bloodletting, co­ uary 20, said he w ill continue the tough formation of the United Democratic Front Africa’s isolation w ill not be statements operate with their neighbours and the United stance on Iraq. “ There is no difference be­ which epitomised the unity in struggle of made by this or the other politician, but the Nations, to arrive at a speedy settlement of tween my policy and the policy o f the pres­ the democratic forces. ent administration,” Clinton emphasized at actual movement forward towards the these conflicts. We salute all those who paid the supreme a January 14 news conference. Clinton said démocratisation o f our country. We are encouraged by the initial steps that sacrifice to help bring our country to this he supported all the bombing raids. Warren have been taken to find a peaceful solution World looks to us decisive moment. Christopher, Clinton’s nominee for secre­ to the problems facing the Palestinian and Let us grasp the opportunity and respond tary of state, said he had “ continuing total The world looks to us, who know the true other peoples in the Middle East. The recent to the challenge o f this year with the spirit support” for the bombing and predicted that meaning of racism and racial oppression, to actions o f the Government o f Israel are a and steadfastness that has always been the the new administration could “ perhaps use create a political and social order which w ill major setback to the search for a peaceful hallmark o f the ANC. even greater force to ensure” enforcement make a critical contribution to the world­ solution and have been rightly condemned of UN sanctions. wide struggle against racism. by all who seek peace. Let us make 1993 the year during which In Baghdad, demonstrations began Janu­ A ll humanity is ready and w illing to assist We support the initiative of the Secre­ our country effectively enters the transition ary 16 commemorating the second anniver­ us achieve this result which has universal tary-General of the United Nations to im­ to democratic rule: the year o f votes for all sary of the G ulf War and protesting the implications. This is an opportunity we dare plement the programme o f action agreed in which we mobilise for a decisive victory continuation o f UN sanctions. not allow anyone to frustrate simply because by the OAU and the UN to resolve the for the forces o f democracy. January 29,1993 The Militant 11 Mounting deaths of Somalis from The Militant Labor Forum is a weekly day: An Eyewitness Report. Speaker: Greg Ro­ tarions! Speakers: Hanna Eady, director. New free-speech meeting for workers, farm­ senberg, traveled to India in December to attend Image Theater, Palestinian artist; George Chal­ ers, youth, and others. All those seeking Asian Students Association conference, member. mers, Socialist Workers Party, member. Interna­ U.S. shootings to advance the fight against injustice and United Auto Workers Local 879. Sat.. Jan 23, tional Association of Machinists. Sat., Jan 30, 7:30 p.m. 508 N. Snelling Ave. Donation: $3. Tel: exploitation are welcome to attend and 7:30 p.m. 1405 E. Madison. Donation: $3. Tel: Continued from front page (612) 644-6325. (206) 323-1755. participate in these discussions on issues “ One Somali, however, presented the troops of importance to working people. with a letter in English protesting the sei­ MISSOURI At the Militant Labor Forum you can WASHINGTON, D.C. zures. ‘ You have no right to take the guns, ’ the express your opinion, listen to the views St. Louis 20th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade: The Fight letter read in part. 'Thanks for nothing.’ ” of fellow fighters, and exchange ideas on The Clinton Presidency: Challenges Facing for Abortion Rights Today. Panel of speakers. Youth and Tr ade Unionists. Sat., Jan. 30, dinner A January 12 letter sent by the marine how best to advance the interests of work­ Sat., Jan. 23, 5 p.m. 523 8th St. SE. Donation: 5:30 p.m., program 7:30 p.m. 1622 S. Broadway. commander in Somalia, Maj. Gen. Charles ers and farmers the world over. $4. Tel: (202) 547-7557. Translation to Spanish. Wilhelm, to his troops, warns "We are now Donation: $4 program, $5 dinner. Tel: (314) 421 - 3808. involved in what may be the most demand­ ing part o f our mission, restoring stability to ALABAMA Mogadishu. Because we have been shot at, N EW JERSEY because we are now busy collecting weap­ Birmingham Newark BRITAIN The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and ons within the city . . . if we are not careful Stop the Bombing: Say No to Washington’s Manchester the Struggle for Black Rights Today. Sat., Jan. War against the Iraqi People. Sat., Jan. 23,7:30 we w ill start thinking that we’re at war.” Crime, Drugs, and Punishment: Whose Inter­ 23.7 p.m. I l l 21st St. S. Donation: S3. Tel: (205) p.m. 141 Halsey St., 2nd floor. Donation: $3. Tel: ests Do They Serve? Sat., Jan. 23, 6 p.m. Unit This coincided with the first combat death 323-3079. (201)643-3341. 4, 60 Shudehill. Donation: £1. Tel: 061-839 of a U.S. marine in Somalia. The U.S. m il­ The Clinton Presidency: Challenges Facing 1766. itary’s more aggressive actions have led to CALIFORNIA Youth and Tr ade Unionists. Sat., Jan. 30, dinner more and more Somali deaths. Marines 5:30 p.m., program 7:30 p.m. 141 Halsey St., 2nd Behind the War in Yugoslavia: An Eyewitness Los Angeles Account. Speaker: Anne Howie, Communist opened fire January 10 on what they said Washington’s Continuing War against Iraq. floor. Donation: $4 program. $5 dinner. Tel: (201) was an armed patrol o f eight Somalis, killing 643-3341. League. Unit 4. 60 Shudehill. Donation: £1. Tel: Speaker: Kevin Jones, Socialist Workers candi­ 061-839 1766. three of them. date for Los Angeles City Controller. Sat., Jan. Six other Somalis were shot dead and six 23, 7:30 p.m. 2546-C W. Pico Blvd. Donation: NEW YO R K more wounded January 15 when U.S. sol­ $4. Tel: (213) 380-9460. Translation to Spanish. Manhattan CANADA diers, allegedly patrolling for bandits, fired San Francisco Defending Abortion Rights Today. A panel dis­ Vancouver on a farm truck outside the town o f Bale Open U.S. Borders to Haitian Refugees: Eye­ cussion. Sat., Jan. 23. 7:30 p.m. 191 7th Ave. Dogle. At least four o f those killed were witness Report from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Donation: $4. Tel: (212) 675-6740. Open the Border to the Haitian Refugees. Speaker: Harvey McArthur, recently renamed civilians caught in the cross fire. Speaker: Harvey McArthur, Militant reporter. Support Asylum for Haitian Refugees. Speaker: from visit to detention camp for Haitians at the On January 13 a U.S. marine barged into Sat., Jan. 23, 7 p.m. Photo exhibit at 4 p.m. 3284 Harvey McArthur, recently returned from visit to 23rd St. (near Mission). Donation: $5. Tel: (415) detention camp for Haitians at U.S. naval base at U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Sun., Jan. a private home in Mogadishu where he shot 282-6255. Guantanamo Bay. Sun., Jan. 31.7 p.m. 191 7th 24, 3 p.m. 3967 Main St. (between 23rd and 24 and killed a Somali man. The following day Germany: The Fight against Racist Attacks. Ave. Donation: $4. Tel: (212) 675-6740. Ave). Donation: $4. Tel: (604) 872-8343. U.S. military commanders issued new Speaker: Markie Wilson, Socialist Workers Party, guidelines somewhat restricting the pre­ member. Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Lo­ NORTH CAROLINA vious practice o f house-to-house searches cal 1-326. Sat.. Jan. 30,7 p.m. 3284 23rd St. (near ICELAND by marines. Mission). Donation: $3. Tel: (415) 282-6255. Greensboro The Fight against Racism in Germany. Reykjavik “ You don’t know who the enemy is .. . . Speaker: John Cox, recently returned from M il­ Somalia: Aid or Invasion? Speaker: Gylfi Pall They can talk to you during the day and FLORIDA itant reporting trip to Germany. Sat.. Jan. 23,7:30 Hersir. Sat., Jan. 23, 1 p.m. Klapparstig 26. Tel: shoot at you at night,” complained a marine Miami p.m. 2000-C S. Elm-Eugene Street. Donation: (91) 17513. sergeant, expressing the frustration o f a Stop U.S. War Moves against Iraq. Sat., Jan. $3. Tel: (919) 272-5996. United States against Iraq: What it is Really growing number o f marines. 23, 7:30 p.m. 137 NE 54th St. Donation: $3. Tel: Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It. Sun., About. Sat., Jan. 30, 1 p.m. Klapparstig 26. Tel: “ I ’d like to see the Americans out o f here (305) 756-1020. Translation to Spanish. Jan. 24, 11 a.m. 2000-C S. Elm-Eugene Street. (91) 17513. as soon as possible,” stated Rep. John Donation: $1. Tel: (919) 272-5996. Social Rights or Charity? Sat., Feb. 6, 1 p.m. Murtha, the chairman o f a seven-member GEORGIA Klapparstig 26. Tel: (91) 17513. congressional delegation that visited Soma­ Atlanta PENNSYLVANIA lia in mid-January. “ The longer we’re here, The Fight for Women’s Rights Today. Speaker: Philadelphia the more involved we get. The more in­ Susan LaMont, Socialist Workers Party, member. The Clinton Presidency: Challenges Facing NEW ZEALAND volved we get, the longer the deployment.” Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Youth and Tr ade Unionists. Sat., Jan. 23, dinner Christchurch Union Local 365. Sat., Jan 23, 7:30 p.m. 172 5:30 p.m., program 7:30 p.m. 1906 South St. Worries about UN replacements Trinity Ave. SW. Donation: $3. Tel: (404) 577- Donation $4 program, $5 dinner. Tel: (215) 546- Class Conflict and Social Crisis in India To­ 4065. 8196. day: An Eyewitness Report. Speaker: Felicity Washington is counting on a sizable, Coggan, traveled to India in December to attend well-armed UN force to replace U.S. troops U.S. Rulers Drive to War in Yugoslavia. Speaker: Richard Rathers, Socialist Workers Asian Students Association conference. Sat., Jan. in Somalia, but there is growing worry by TEXAS Party, member Amalgamated Clothing and Tex­ 23, 7 p.m. 593a Colombo St. (upstairs). Tel: (3) U.S. military personnel on the prospects for tile Workers Union Local 365. Sat.. Jan. 30,7:30 Houston 365-6055. Opponents of U.S. Embargo against Cuba this. There are now 34,000 troops operating p.m. 172 Trinity Ave. SW. Donation: $3. Tel: Wellington under U.S. command in Somalia. This in­ (404) 577-4065. Speak Out. Speakers: Jackie Floyd, Socialist cludes more than 10,000 troops from 21 Workers Party; Jeff McCrary, Rice University Hands Off Iraq! What’s Behind U.S. Attacks? Speaker: Janet Roth, Communist League. Sat., other countries, with another 5,000 soldiers student, participated in Pastors for Peace U.S.- ILLINOIS Friendshipment to Cuba. Sat., Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30,7 p.m. 23 Majoribanks St., Donation $3. promised. Among the troops on the ground Chicago 4806 Almeda. Donation: $3. Tel: (713) 522-8196. Tel: (4) 384-4205. are 200 sent by Kuwait and 2,500 from Italy. The Clinton Presidency: Challenges Facing Thus far only Belgium, Italy, India, and Youth and Tr ade Unionists. Sat., Jan. 23, dinner WASHINGTON Pakistan have pledged troops for the next 5:30 p.m., program 7:30 p.m. 545 W. Roosevelt SWEDEN Seattle phase of the operation under UN military Rd. Donation: $4 program, $5 dinner. Tel: (312) Stockholm command. Most other nations, including 829-6815 or 829-7018. Defend Abortion Rights! Twenty Years after Roe v. Wade. Speakers: Hilda Cuzco, Socialist Somalia, Yugoslavia, Iraq: Will Clinton Con­ France and Canada, have said their troops Workers Party; others. Sun., Jan. 24, 4:30 p.m. tinue the War Drive? Speaker: representative, w ill leave when the U.S. troops depart. MINNESOTA 1405 E. Madison. Donation: $3. Tel: (206) 323- Communist League. Sat., Jan 23, 4 p.m. The Defense Department announced Jan­ St. Paul 1755. Translation to Spanish. Vikingagatan 10 (T-bana St Eriksplan). Tel: (08) uary 15 that 850 U.S. marines w ill be with­ Class Conflict and Social Crisis in India To- Israel’s War on Palestinians. Stop the Depor- 31 69 33. drawn this month. About 5,000 U.S. troops are expected to remain as part of the UN force. In addition the U.S. military is plan­ ning to station a rapid-deployment marine — IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER , LOOK US U P -- battalion offshore. Where to find Pathfinder books and NEW YORK: New York: 191 7th Ave. Zip: Tel: 071-928-7993. Ten days after the formal end of the Jan­ distributors of the M ilitant, Perspectiva 10011. Tel: (212) 727-8421; 167 Charles St. Zip: Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Postal uary 4—5 UN-sponsored conference on So­ Mundial, New International, Nouvelle In­ 10014. Tel: (212) 366-1973. code: M4 4AA. Tel: 061-839 1766. malia, the heads of the feuding factions ternationale, and Nueva Internacional. NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: 2000-C Sheffield: 1 Gower St., Spital Hill, Postal signed an accord declaring a national cease­ S. Elm-Eugene St. Zip 27406. Tel: (919) 272- code: S47HA. Tel: 0742-765070. fire and calling for the disarming of their UNITED STATES 5996. ALABAMA: Birmingham: HI 21st St. CANADA militias. OHIO: Cincinnati: P.O. Box 19484. Zip: South. Zip: 35233. Tel: (205) 323-3079. 328- 45219. Tel: (513) 221 -2691. Cleveland: 1863 W. Montreal: 6566, boul. St-Laurent. Postal The conference, which was dominated by 3314. 25th St. Zip: 44113. Tel: (216) 861-6150. code: H2S 3C6. Tel: (514) 273-2503. eight former army generals and eight colo­ CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546 W. Pico OREGON: Portland: 2310 NE 8th #1. Zip: Toronto: 827 Bloor St. West. Postal code: nels, hopes to undertake a massive disar­ Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460, 380- 97212. Tel: (503) 288-0466. M6G 1M1. Tel: (416) 533-4324. mament o f Somalia’s population. According 9640. San Francisco: 3284 23rd St. Zip: 94110. PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 1906 Vancouver: 3967 Main St. Postal code: V5V to the Times, some 100,000 Somalis still Tel: (415) 282-6255. South St. Zip: 19146. Tel: (215) 546-8196. Pitts­ 3P3. Tel: (604) 872-8343. possess weapons. CONNECTICUT: New Haven: Mailing ad­ burgh: 4905 Penn Ave. Zip 15224. Tel: (412) Somalia’s two main warring factions — dress: P.O. Box 16751, Baybrook Station, West 362-6767. ICELAND Reykjavik: Klapparstig 26. Mailing address: led by Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid and Haven. Zip: 06516. Tel: (203) 772-3375. TEXAS: Houston: 4806 Almeda. Zip: 77004. P. Box 233, 121 Reykjavik. Tel: (91) 17513. Mohammed A li Mahdi — are also planning FLORIDA: Miami: 137 N.E. 54th St. Zip: Tel: (713) 522-8054. 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. to set up a joint police force in Mogadishu UTAH: Salt Lake City: 147 E. 900 S. Zip: MEXICO GEORGIA: Atlanta: 172 Trinity Ave. Zip: 841II. Tel: (801) 355-1124. to perform some of the tasks of imposing 30303. Tel: (404) 577-4065. Mexico City: Apdo. Postal 27-575, Col. law and order currently being undertaken by WASHINGTON, D.C.: 523 8th St. SE. Zip: Roma Sur. Mexico D.F. ILLINOIS: Chicago: 545 W. Roosevelt Rd. 20003. Tel: (202) 547-7557. the U.S. marines. Zip: 60607. Tel: (312) 829-6815, 829-7018. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 1405 E. Madison. NEW ZEALAND IOWA: Des Moines: 2105 Forest Ave. Zip: Zip: 98122. Tel: (206) 323-1755. Auckland: La Gonda Arcade, 203 Karan- 50311. Tel: (515) 246-8249. WEST VIRGINIA: Morgantown: 242 Wal­ gahape Road. Postal Address: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: Labor news in the M ilita n t MARYLAND: Baltimore: 2905 Green- nut. Mailing address: P.O. Box 203. Zip: 26507. (9) 379-3075. mount Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (410) 235-0013. T he M ilitant stays on top of the Tel: (304) 296-0055. Christchurch: 593a Colombo St. (upstairs). MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 780 Tremont Postal address: P.O. Box 22-530. Tel: (3) 365- most important developments in the St. Zip: 02118. Tel: (617) 247-6772. AUSTRALIA 6055. labor movement. It has correspon­ Sydney: 19 Terry St., Surry Hills, Sydney MICHIGAN: Detroit: 5019'/2 Woodward Wellington: 23 Majoribanks St., Courtenay NSW 2010. Tel: 02-281-3297. dents who work in the mines, mills, Ave. Zip: 48202. Tel: (313) 831-1177. PI. Postal address: P.O. Box 9092. Tel: (4) 384- and shops where the events are break­ MINNESOTA: Twin Cities: 508 N. Snelling BARBADOS 4205. Ave., St. Paul. Zip: 55104. Tel: (612) 644-6325. ing. 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12 The M ilitant January 29, 1993 National health care, anyone? — Whatever it takes — Masako ples to do likewise, spurring the Asian. But the folks who run the the shouting gets specific. Like, In addition to “ earning” $129.500, Owada, who w ill marry Japan’s sales o f home furnishings, etc. lucrative annual Tournament of “ Give me a raise!” congressional perks include free crown prince, is a government of­ Meanwhile, since the announced Roses are all white and, with a lone ficial and a Harvard grad. So one betrothal, the Japanese stock mar­ exception, all male. The nine mem­ Chocoholic’s dream — A truck fim i is marketing a swimsuit that ket dropped another 2.8 percent. bers o f the executive committee are went o ff the road in North Carolina, w ill assertedly make women look white males and with the exception spilling 45 drums of chocolate Maybe longer than the jo b — For syrup and 50 bags of cocoa. We “ intelligent but active.” And the o f a recently appointed woman who women entering a profession, as­ don’t know if the driver had OD’ed president of Sony says the wed­ is white, so are the heads o f the 28 sembling a proper wardrobe takes on the aroma, but according to a ding w ill boost the dismal sales of standing committees. a lot of dollars. So, Nordstrom's news account he was charged with high-definition TVs. He promises Personal Touch department has driving while “ impaired.” that Owada w ill look “ even pret­ Curse away capitalism? — At a come up with a how-to pamphlet, temple north of Tokyo, several hun­ tier and more intelligent” on the “ Investment Dressing." A Personal Welcome the troops back from dred people assemble on New Year’s use o f a Capitol medical service $8,000 set. Touch manager says, “ The clothes ??? — It was offered for last Xmas, staffed by doctors, nurses, and med­ may be more expensive, but they Eve to vent their feelings about the but it could become a year-round ical technicians. Miracle at the altar — Japanese last longer.” social ills that afflict their lives. item. A kingsize toy soldier that capitalists say the slated royal wed­ Women, generally expected to avoid lights up the lawn at night. It’s 6'6" Preventive medicine — Also avail­ ding w ill spark the battered econ­ W hite Rose Tournament — In improper language, can join in curs­ tall, so it come in three easily as­ able to members of Congress — omy. In particular, they predict, the Pasadena. California, a majority of ing out the wrongdoings that beset sembled parts — head, body and $50-a-year health club memberships. nuptials w ill stimulate other cou­ the population is Latino, Black, and them. Occasionally, a reporter notes, legs. $ 1,500. Filipino youth leader on U.S. troop withdrawal

BY GREG ROSENBERG together with Clark A ir Base, which closed International Monetary Fund results in 40 “ Ramos is not intent on conducting genu­ NEW DELHI, India — Amante Jimenez, in 1991. served as launching points for percent of the national budget going to pay ine peace negotiations with the revolution­ 24, is the national chairperson of the League troops, bombers, warships, and weaponry in for the foreign debt,” which is more than ary force.” Jimenez explained. “ Their ap­ of Filipino Students. In an interview here conflicts from the Vietnam War to the as­ $30 billion. proach remains a military one. The armed during the December 11-16 Asian Students sault on Iraq. Farmers, said Jimenez, are being driven forces are stepping up their operations in Association conference. Jimenez outlined “ It is almost certain that arrangements o ff tracts of land south o f Manila and on northern Luzon. They have called for an some of the challenges facing working peo­ granting the U.S. access to Philippine air the island o f Mindanao to open up export- expansion of the paramilitary units. They ple in the Philippines. and naval ports shall be reached in the near oriented agricultural areas. The govern­ are preparing to buy six Italian S-211 jet Jimenez said the victory registered by the future,” Jimenez said. Announcements from ment’s projection for 2 percent economic fighters for aerial bombing operations.” withdrawal o f U.S. troops from the huge Washington and Manila in the past two growth in 1993 would be adjusted to a 1.8 Jimenez pointed out that protests have Subic Bay Naval Base last November months indicate that U.S. warships, aircraft, percent decline if money being sent home been held against government deals with “ didn’t signal the dawning of a new era of and troops w ill continue to have some ac­ from overseas contract workers were sub­ Westinghouse Corp., which built a faulty national freedom. During the very same cer­ cess to such facilities. In addition to being tracted. nuclear power plant in Morong in central emonies, (Philippine president Fidel] Ra­ able to project its massive military power The League of Filipino Students chair­ Luzon province. Westinghouse bribed for­ mos called for a review o f the 1951 Mutual worldwide, Jimenez said that “ access and person, who was jailed in early 1992 after mer Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos Defense Treaty, claiming the United States military presence remain one of Washing­ being roughed up and arrested by police to the tune o f $17 m illion in 1974, w in­ is compelled to assist the Philippines in case ton's foremost economic leverages in the for participating in a demonstration at the ning a contract to build the plant for $500 of conflicts arising from the issue of the region, especially against the emergent eco­ U.S. embassy in Manila, also discussed m illion. The construction cost for the first Spratly islands.” nomic superiority of Japan in Southeast the 500 political prisoners being held in o f the two units has risen to $2.2 billion. Asia.” The Spratly islands are a tiny island group jail. “ Most o f them are worker and peasant Jimenez said the U.S. Nuclear Regula­ in the South China Sea, midway between Economic conditions in the Philippines activists slapped with criminal charges,” tory Commission noted that the plant the Philippines and Vietnam. Oil explora­ continue to put a severe squeeze on working he said. stands on an earthquake fault and is lo­ tion is taking place in the ocean surrounding people. Jimenez said Ramos, who was m il­ In 1992 the Ramos government un­ cated eight miles from the active Natib the islands, whose ownership is disputed itary chief under former president Corazon banned the Communist Party of the Philip­ volcano. Ramos is currently working to between Vietnam. China, and the Philip­ Aquino, “ projects that the Philippines shall pines and freed party leader Satur negotiate an out-of-court settlement with pines. become Asia’s next economic miracle." Ocampo, along with Rodolfo Salas, who Westinghouse. The government has no Subic was the largest U.S. military base This is a fallacy, however, Jimenez said. the regime says is the head of the insur­ plans to stop payments on the $2.2 billion in the world outside the United States. It, "The government’s blind obedience to the gent New People’s Army. nuclear debt package. Vigils, rallies protest death penalty 1942, issue o f the M ilitant, were part of the as Washington state hangs prisoner “ evidence" introduced by Post Office De­ partment officials at the Washington hearing BY GEORGE CHALMERS The death penalty is a weapon of terror and to consider revocation o f the Militant's sec­ SEATTLE — Westley Dodd was exe­ intimidation used by a small wealthy class ond-class mailing privileges. cuted by hanging January 5 at the State against us. We working people are viewed The insertion into the record o f the quo­ Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington. It as a criminal class by them. tations from Randolph’s speech was in­ was the first execution in three decades in “ Among the inmates there are no m illion­ tended to show how the M ilitant had vio­ Washington state and the first hanging in the aires or billionaires," Severs added. “ Forty lated the Espionage Act. United States since 1965. percent of the people on death row are The announcement that the People’s Re­ Actually, however, as a reading of the Dodd had been convicted o f sexual abuse Black, while Blacks make up about 12 per­ public of Korea had seized a U.S. spy ship excerpt w ill show, it proved nothing but that and murder in the deaths o f three boys. As cent of the population as a whole. Capital off its coast, and Washington’s reaction to the M ilitant supports the struggle for Negro with the execution of Gary Gilmore in 1977 punishment is a court-approved extension of that announcement, both point to the danger equality, and that the attack on this paper after capital punishment was reinstated as a the summary ‘justice’ meted out daily on our created by U.S. imperialism in this section constitutes the first step toward the suppres­ legal form of punishment by the U.S. Su­ streets by the police. o f the world. sion or intimidation o f all independent tend­ preme Court, Dodd was a prisoner who “ This state has a ‘sexual predator’ law A special correspondent o f the New York encies in the labor, liberal, and Negro move­ waived his right to appeal and asked to be where you can be convicted of a crime, do Times in Washington said on Jan. 23 that ments. your time, be released on parole, and then executed. there is “ no doubt” that the U.S. ship was Following is the excerpt introduced into be reviewed by a board that determines One week before the execution the Amer­ “ trying to pinpoint the sites o f key radio and the Washington hearing last week: ican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a whether you’re a potential repeat offender,” radar stations in North Korea,” to help “ While he opened his remarks with an lawsuit, arguing that hanging constitutes Severs continued. “ If this is their opinion, American engineers “ design jamming de­ expression of hope ‘for the triumph of the cruel and unusual punishment and should you are incarcerated indefinitely with no vices and other electronic countermeasures United Nations,’ Randolph was immedi­ not be permitted. Other vehicles for appeal opportunity for appeal. Fifteen people are to cripple enemy radar in the event of com­ ately compelled to characterize, at least by were precluded because of Dodd’s refusal currently jailed under this law.” bat.” implication, the true character of the war: to support them. The Washington State Su­ TV channels 4 and 7 and their radio Washington’s arrogance was never more ‘Unless this war sounds the death knell to preme Court ruled against the lawsuit, how­ affiliates covered the forum and featured it apparent in its reaction to this defensive the old Anglo-American empire systems ever, citing Dodd’s request for hanging as a on the 11:00 news that night. move by the Koreans. Members o f Congress which is the hapless story o f exploitation factor in their decision. Vigils protesting the execution were held said it was an “ act of war” for the Koreans for the profit and power of a monopoly At a January 2 speak-out on the death in Tacoma, Seattle, Olympia, and Walla to do what they did — as if the U.S. has the capitalist economy, it w ill have been penalty sponsored by the Militant Labor Walla. More than 100 people attended the right to send spy ships into the waters o f any fought in vain.’ O f course, Randolph Forum in Seattle, Monica Zucker, a member vigil at St. James cathedral in Seattle and 50 country any time it wishes. knows well that Churchill and Roosevelt o f the steering committee o f the Washington stood on the steps of the capitol building in Those opposed to the war in Vietnam are not fighting to sound the ‘death knell’ Coalition Against the Death Penalty and a Olympia. Dan Hancock was among a group should raise their voice against the threaten­ to American and British capitalism, but to member of the ACLU, described capital o f students there from North Thurston High ing talk o f “ war” going on in Washington, preserve it. punishment as the culmination of injustice School who felt that “ the death penalty is and demand that the U.S. stop all provoca­ in a system based on violence. “ We’re deal­ total hypocrisy.” Though Dodd may want to tive spy raids on North Korea and get its “ (Randolph said:] ‘This system grew fat ing with problems as if we’re at war with die, many on death row don’t, said Hancock. troops out of South Korea. and waxed powerful o ff the flesh and blood our own people,” she said. Outside the Walla Walla prison the night and sweat and tears o f the tireless toilers of Zucker added that “ 29 or 30 prisoners o f the execution, news reports indicated that the human race and the sons and daughters were executed in the U.S. in 1992, the most “ several hundred” death penalty supporters T H E MILITANT of color in the underdeveloped lands o f the since the death penalty was reimposed in rallied and about 50 opponents held a protest P U IU IK IO IN THI IMTItltTS Or TH( WOKKIHO P IO P II world.’ 1976.” there. NEW YORK. N Y FIVE (5) CKVTN “ ‘We must develop a series o f marches Mark Severs, Socialist Workers candidate One protester, local farmer Dean Weaver, January 30, 1943 o f Negroes at a given time in a hundred for U.S. Senate in the 1992 elections, said, “ We’re a farming community, and I cities or more throughout the country, or pointed to the vigils and protests scheduled think that has dignity, but I don’t think Excerpts from a speech made by A. Philip stage a big march o f a hundred thousand in the days before the execution and to the killing people has any dignity.” Randolph, national director o f the Negro Negroes on Washington to put our cause into need for a public discussion. He stated that March On Washington Movement, to a con­ the main stream of public opinion and focus this is a “ crucial fight that w ill be with us George Chalmers is a member o f Interna­ ference of that organization held in Chicago the attention o f world interest. This is why until the brutal system of profits is replaced. tional Association o f Machinists Local 289. last September and printed in the Oct. 3, India is in the news.. . . ’ ”

January 29,1993 The Militant 13 —EDITORIALS ------Clinton prepares for austerity and war

Continued from Page 3 Hands off Iraq! course results from the need of the wealthy U.S. rulers to drive down the social wage o f working people. This is not The cowardly bombing of Iraq by U.S. military forces, it is not about to end. He urged that Clinton could “ perhaps the hourly wage paid by the employer but the government- with some help from Britain and France, is a brutal viola­ use even greater force.” funded social benefits working people have won in struggle. tion of that nation’s sovereignty. The Saddam Hussein regime is a creation o f successive This social wage is based on the premise the government Washington is asserting it has the right to lash out at w ill U.S. administrations. Through a long war with Iran and should provide basic protection from the impact of the ups against Iraq, and by extension anywhere in the world where right up to Baghdad’s invasion o f Kuwait, Washington and downs of the capitalist business cycle, some form of in­ it feels its interests are being threatened. Through naked made considerable efforts to fund, arm, and egg on his come after retirement at an age when it can still be enjoyed, force the U.S. rulers hope to maintain their domination brutal regime. While Washington would like to get rid of medical coverage, and other social benefits. The assault on over this oil-rich region and get an upper hand against their Hussein, the U.S. military actions against Iraq today hurt such programs runs in tandem with the employers’ drive imperialist rivals headquartered in Paris, London, Bonn, above all the country’s people, not its corrupt leaders. against the hourly wages and job conditions of tens of m il­ and Tokyo. lions o f working people. The continuing military assault against Iraq is also a Various pretexts are cited for bombing Iraq and killing Reduction o f the social wage along with the hourly wage warning to other regimes in the area, particularly Iran. Ever working people of that country — United Nations inspec­ is essential for the employers, both individually and col­ since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Washington has never tion teams are not being allowed in; Baghdad is violating lectively, to compete against their imperialist rivals abroad dropped its goal of turning it back. It was Baghdad’s brutal the so-called “ no-fly” zones on its own territory; nuclear and to make working people pay for the crisis o f the world war against Iran after the revolution that made Saddam weapons are allegedly being built. The Bush administra­ capitalist economic system. Hussein such a favorite of Washington for a decade. tion has used whatever justification it thinks will gain The fact that the government is taking on this challenge popular support for its “ right to intervene.” Washington’s actions against the people of Iraq also is relatively new. The nationwide movement of working Waving the appropriate UN resolutions Washington has shed light on the continuing intervention o f U.S. forces in people that forged the industrial labor unions in the 1930s established “ no-fly” areas over nearly two-thirds o f Iraq. Somalia. That action is no more humanitarian than the established for the first time the assumption that the gov­ These exclusion zones, where Iraqi planes w ill be and have bombing of Baghdad. Many Somalis have already been ernment is responsible for providing a basic level o f un­ been shot down on sight, are as much a violation of Iraq’s killed as a result o f this mission. Through gaining accep­ employment compensation, food and housing, and other right to determine its own affairs as the bombing of tance for military intervention in Somalia, Washington social rights to all those affected by the workings o f the Baghdad. hopes to make it easier to conduct its actions against Iraq capitalist economy. Massive bombing and other m ilitary assaults during the and wherever else it feels m ilitary action is needed in other This conquest was a break from the previous degrading U.S.-led war against Iraq in 1991 left much o f the country parts of the world. system of private and public charity for small layers o f the in ruins and took as many as 150,000 lives. The economic Working people have no interest in the wars that Wash­ very poor — the so-called workhouses, poor farms, and embargo against the people of Iraq, which remains in effect ington is embarking on, be they in Iraq, Somalia, and soon poorhouses, which date back two centuries to the rise of to this day, has produced great hardship and thousands Yugoslavia. Protests should be organized to demand: industrial capitalism and the dispossession and ruin of more deaths. Bombing Iraq now is a continuation o f the hundreds o f thousands o f small farmers and artisans. carnage Washington began two years ago. And Warren Stop the bombing! Christopher, the new secretary o f state, made it clear that U.S. hands o ff Iraq! Extent of rural crisis Just why the labor movement needs to rechart a similar course today to protect working people from the ravages o f the current depression was spelled out in some reports by sources that are not unfriendly to the new Democratic Defend Social Security administration. Hoping to cash in on Clinton’s promise o f a $20 billion- a-year program to upgrade roads and other infrastructure, “ Clinton could end up looking a lot like Ross Perot,” These entitlements make up part o f the social wage that the National Association o f Counties and two similar noted the Washington Post after officials o f the new pres­ the capitalist ruling class — now with Clinton as chief organizations urged the new president to release some $3 idential administration hinted that entitlement programs executive officer— is determined to cut back on. billion immediately for rural areas. such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid could be In addition to cuts in social programs, politicians of “ Our infrastructure is in bad shape,” said Kenneth cut to bring down the budget deficit. Clinton’s rapid back­ various stripes are urging an increased gasoline tax to cut Stoner, president o f the association. Stoner is the commis­ ing o ff from campaign promises should help dispel the the budget deficit. This would supposedly equalize the sioner of Phillips County in Clinton’s home state o f A r­ fantasies o f those who may have had illusions that the burden among all. But a tax on gasoline is the most kansas. O f the county’s 28.000 residents, some 11,000 White House with a Democratic family in residence might regressive kind of levy — an unemployed auto worker w ill receive food stamps. do better by working people. be forced to share the same hardship as the head o f General Stoner noted that the nationwide rural poverty rate of In order to gain support for the idea of cutting social Motors. 16.1 percent was significantly higher than the 13.7 percent programs, politicians argue that the “ rich don’t need social The capitalists have billions o f dollars that could be used for urban areas. O f the 3 million miles o f rural roadway, security.” Such programs should be “ means tested” they to raise the social programs and the living standards of work­ less than half is paved and 180,000 bridges are in need of say — so that funds go only to those truly in need. ing people rather than lowering them. The profits they repair, a report by the association says. Billionaire Ross Perot even made the “ generous” offer to squeeze from the fruits of our labor would be more than The unemployment picture is similar. In the fifth quarter forego social security benefits himself. But any attempt by enough. Any money shaved from social benefits, or raised o f the official upturn from the 1990-91 recession, govern­ the government to make social security a “ means tested” from higher taxes, to pay o ff the deficit isn’t “ shared sacri­ ment unemployment figures stand at 7.3 percent — higher program is simply a cover to begin taking back one o f the fice.” Such moves just make working people pay to fatten than at the trough o f the downturn. giant conquests o f the working class. It leads in the direc­ the wallets of the wealthy bondholders who enrich them­ In mid-January the Labor Department released the initial tion of reestablishing the degrading “ poorhouse” system selves from interest payments on the national debt while results o f its new way o f calculating the unemployment of public and private charity. placing the burden for the economic crisis on our backs. level. The figures w ill surprise few. Some 1.8 million Social programs that are designed to benefit all citizens As the new Clinton administration begins to take aim workers previously counted as fully employed because have never been the result of government largess. Some at social programs, the labor movement should prepare to they worked 35 hours a week have been actually working form of income after retirement, medical coverage for the fight. What working people need is jobs for all, which can two or more part-time jobs. Another 5.3 million workers elderly and the very poor, unemployment compensation, be achieved by shortening the workweek with no cut in must work both a full-time and a part-time job to make and other social programs, are the result of decades of pay, and a federally funded public works program. We also ends meet. About 900,000 people listed as wage earners struggle by working people. They are the product o f the need an expansion o f the social security system. have been working in family businesses without pay. And labor movement fighting for the government to take re­ What the labor movement must fight for is a social nearly 2 million women consider themselves forced to sponsibility for the basic needs o f all working people who security system that is universal — free public health pro­ work part-time because they lack child care. are regularly victimized by the normal workings of the grams, education, and other social programs for all. The capitalist economy. government should tax the wealthy, not working people. Gas or consumption tax To make matters worse the Clinton administration is considering the most regressive kind o f taxation to increase government revenues, such as adopting Perot’s proposal for a 50-cent-a-gallon gas tax. Clinton rebuffs Haitians Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, echoing Trea­ sury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, argued that “ as a nation, we President-elect Bill Clinton’s declaration that he w ill tions, many Haitians know that simply by taking this step have been consuming too much and investing too little.” continue George Bush’s policy o f forcibly repatriating they are setting themselves up for further harassment, Altman, a former investment banker, said “ one form or Haitians into the hands o f a bloodstained military regime beatings, and even death at the hands of the military, another of new tax on consumption is necessary” to raise should be condemned by all supporters o f social justice. For those who have actually filled out such applications, the government’s income flow. To back up the Bush-Clinton policy, Washington has the record shows that the U.S. government continues to “ There were a lot of good arguments made for the gas boosted its military presence o ff Haiti’s shores to include reject most of these asylum requests despite strong evi- tax,” Clinton said after his two-day televised meeting on 22 U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships, in a blockade dence showing well-founded fear o f persecution. The M i- the economy in Little Rock, Arkansas, earlier this month. designed to prevent Haitians from leaving the island. ami Herald recently reported on the case of a Haitian man Vice-president-elect A1 Gore and budget director Panetta Clinton’s actions contradict the lofty statement he made w^o was turned down for asylum, though he had been have long been advocates o f the tax. The proposal also has during his presidential campaign when he condemned beaten by four soldiers. The Immigration and Naturaliza- the backing o f U.S. automakers. Bush’s forced repatriation policy as a violation of elemen- tion Service Agent (INS) cynically explained that if indeed While preparing for a new round o f assaults at home, tary human rights. Now Clinton, like Bush, describes this the army was out to get him, the soldiers would have killed Clinton administration officials stressed, in the words of outrageous policy as a humanitarian effort designed to save him when they had the chance. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, that the use of lives. The attempt to draw a distinction between economic and military “ force in certain circumstances — and its credible The blockade being imposed on people leaving Haiti is political refugees as a basis to bar the vast majority of Hai- threat in general — w ill be essential to the success of our all the more hypocritical in light o f Washington’s weaken- tians from even being considered for asylum makes a mock­ diplomacy.” ing of the economic embargo o f that country, which was ery of justice. A ll Haitians seeking to escape the island are In testimony before Congress, Christopher cited the case announced by the Organization o f American States shortly victims o f both military repression and grinding poverty, o f the former Yugoslavia, where he said “ Europe and the after Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted which is the product of decades of imperialist exploitation world community in general must bring real pressures, in September 1991. In February of last year the Bush and oppression of Haitian workers and peasants, economic and military, to bear on the Serbian leadership administration exempted from the embargo all U.S. busi- The M ilitant urges all of its readers to participate in the to halt its savage policy o f murder, rape and ethnic cleans­ nesses with factories in Haiti. And many European gov- February 7-13 Haiti Solidarity Week of activities being ing.” emments have completely ignored the embargo from the organized by a range of organizations in cities around the On the bombing o f Iraq, Clinton said, “ I think it was the beginning. United States. These actions can be used to press Wash- right decision, done in the right way. We’ve been very Clinton, like Bush, suggests to Haitians that rather than ington to end its policy of forced repatriation, open U.S. supportive of President Bush.” Christopher added that he leave Haiti in boats they should apply for U.S. asylum right borders to Haitian refugees, and enforce the economic backs so-called war crimes trials against Iraqi government there on the island. However, given the repressive condi- embargo against the illegal regime. officials.

14 The Militant January 29, 1993 The US Air-British Airways merger controversy

BY EDWIN FRUIT responsibility and total commitment to protect the jobs of was by pointing out that British Airways uses Boeing BALTIMORE — The proposed alliance between Brit­ thousands of USAir and British Airways employees (U.S.), aircraft and General Electric engines, while United has ish Airways, the world’s largest carrier o f international in addition to maintaining a viable competitive air transport orders from the European aircraft-maker Airbus. passengers, and USAir, the sixth-largest airline in the system in America for the traveling public,” he wrote. USAir heads urged their employees to send letters to United States, collapsed just before the new year. The U.S. In October 1AM general vice-president John Peterpaul, Congress supporting the alliance, while United, American, Department of Transportation was prepared to veto the deal echoing the line of the heads o f United, Delta, and Amer­ and Delta heads encouraged their employees to write unless London agreed to open British airspace to more U.S. ican airlines, explained, “ Ideally, we want British Airways letters opposing the deal. flights. The British government refused to give in and to stay out o f the management o f USAir and for the British Airways withdrew from the plan. European skies to open up for all U.S. carriers.” Workers must fight regardless USAir has been in financial straits for several years. A Workers w ill have to continue fighting for better work­ combination of mergers and a depressed economy, along ing conditions, higher wages and benefits, and against with intense competition, contributed to this situation. In layoffs, regardless o f who is at the helm of the company. UNION TALK the past five years several major airlines have been forced to shut down, including Eastern, Braniff, Midway, and Pan Capitalism is in crisis worldwide, as is clearly seen in the airline industry. Many airline workers have worked for Am. In the past few months there has been a big media blitz a number of companies as airlines are bought out, merge, Other airlines, such as TWA, America West, and Conti­ around the merger. Full-page ads appeared in major dailies go into bankruptcy, or go out of business. Allying ourselves nental, are in bankruptcy court. A new round o f layoffs and signed by the corporate heads o f United, Delta, and Ameri­ with any boss can only be a dead end, as they all try to wage cuts was just announced by Northwest, Alaska, and can airlines opposing the deal, and by USAir and British A ir­ weaken our unions and drive down our wages. ways representatives urging approval. U.S. transportation USAir’s antilabor position was made clear during the secretary Andrew Card estimated that more than 100,000 let­ recent strike, which ended with a concession contract, and ters on both sides of the issue had been sent to his office. through its success in beating back a union-organizing At USAir, where I work, most people had a wait-and-see drive by ramp service workers and caterers. attitude. They were concerned with keeping their jobs, and if the alliance would do that they were for it. The an­ British Airways has also been hostile to its work force, nouncement that the deal had fallen through did not cause in both the United States and Britain. Just recently, British any big concern. One worker remarked, ‘‘This isn’t about Airways proposed a 25 percent reduction in wages, which foreign control. It’s about competition and American Air­ the union rejected. The company agreed to ongoing nego­ lines doesn’t want another strong airline with international tiations only after a systemwide strike by the Transport and General Workers Union was threatened. British Airways links.” Many workers at United Airlines voiced opposition to has also been successful in forcing separate contracts for its domestic and international divisions, another tactic to the deal, thinking a USAir-British Airways alliance would British Airways planes at London’s Heathrow airport divide the work force. make it harder for United to compete and therefore might put their jobs in jeopardy. We need to achieve unity in struggle with other working Ironically, employees at United and USAir are not only United airlines, following similar moves by Delta and people, regardless o f our nationalities. Multinational cor­ members o f the same union, the International Association American. porations have no problems crossing borders to promote of Machinists (IA M ), but are in the same district and at USAir was looking for an alliance that would strengthen the interests of the rich. We have to do likewise to fight many airports belong to the same amalgamated locals. its position and give it access to profitable international for our common interests. For example, we should link up By adopting the slogan “ What is good for the company is routes. British Airways was promised 44 percent of USAir with our brothers and sisters in Britain who are trying to good for us,” workers fall into a deadly trap. We begin to see in return for a $750 million investment. defend their standard of living. each other as enemies, instead of uniting to fight against lay­ For months USAir executives campaigned to convince In the process we can begin to transform our unions into offs, wage cuts, and deteriorating living standards, which are the U.S. government and the public that such an alliance fighting organizations to defend working people against all by-products of the dog-eat-dog capitalist system. would be “ good for American business.” They claimed the the maneuvers of the bosses and their governments whose IAM international officials, who generally support pro­ alliance would save the jobs o f47,000 workers in the United only aim is to increase their profits at our expense. tectionist measures as a way of “ saving American jobs,” States employed by USAir. The heads of American, United, found themselves in a sticky position. One section of the and Delta, on the other hand, complained this would give Edwin Fruit is a member o f IAM Local Lodge 846 and officialdom was against the alliance while other top o ffi­ British Airways complete access to U.S. markets while con­ works for USAir at Baltimore-Washington International cials favored it. tinuing to restrict their access to British airspace. They raised Airport in Baltimore. Janice Lynn, a member o f IAM Local 1AM international president George Kourpias, in a letter the specter of foreign domination over a U.S. company. Lodge 1759 who works for United Airlines at Dulles to Card, endorsed the alliance. “ This organization has the USAir officials tried to show how “ American" the deal Airport in Virginia, also contributed to this article.

Discussion on Somalia wasn’t clear to him that the U.S. to search them. It then emerged that fast 12, Northern Ireland). Please instead, weapons o f terror against was attempting to set up a govern­ the men were undercover British send messages o f support and more entire populations — akin to the More than 200 people attended a ment in Somalia. soldiers. Some time later an armed importantly protest to your nearest gas chambers o f the Nazis. Could public forum December 21 in New These comments drew a heated unit of the Irish Republican Army British Ambassador or Consul and we imagine saying that a workers’ York City, sponsored by W BAI-FM response from a number of partici­ arrived, took the soldiers into their otherwise raise the matter in your state had a right to build an equal Radio. Th e program, “ Somalia To­ pants. One woman said, “ Wait? For custody, and shot them. The mem­ locality. Your intervention may help number o f gas chambers to the Na­ day and New Militarism,” took what? It may be too late to do any­ bers of this unit have never been to end the agony of these men and zis, in the name of self-defense? place at the Martin Luther King, Jr., thing after they get their feet dug identified or imprisoned but many their families. Just as the M ilitant has correctly Labor Center, the union hall of Lo­ into the soil.” others have. Steven Hepburn concluded that nuclear power has cal 1199 of the Hospital Workers Elizabeth Kealy The British Government has Middlesex, England no legitimate role in this world, as Union. New York, New York never explained what the two sol­ an inherently toxic technology, I Among those participating in the diers were doing nor why it was believe this conclusion should be panel were Samori Marksman of Nuclear missiles that, unusually, there were no police extended to nuclear missiles. W BAI-FM and the African and Car­ British injustice Mary-Alice Waters’s letter to the officers present at the funeral. The Albert Fried-Cassorla ibbean Resource Center; a repre­ The British State has a despica­ New York Times on the Cuban Mis­ State nevertheless was bent on Melrose Park, Pennsylvania sentative of the American Friends Ser­ ble record of human rights abuses sile Crisis helped clear the air on an vengeance and so blatantly distort­ vice Committee (AFSC); Dr. Ngugi in Ireland. In particular during the important aspect of this world-shak­ ed the law in order to secure the Wa Thiougo, a Kenyan novelist and current phase of the “ troubles” it ing event. That the Times did not conviction of men who had no part historian; Mursal Farah and Dr. has wrongfully imprisoned many print it is an expectable disappoint­ in the killings. Asha Samaad Matias, both from the Irish women and men whose only ment — that the Militant did proves Malcolm X award Somali Association for Relief and real crime has been to be in the The burden of the prosecution’s once again what an indispensable The Militant recently received Development (Safrad); and Dr. Said wrong place at the wrong time. In­ case was that those who disarmed resource it is in defense of our class. a “ Keeper o f the Flame Award” Samatar. a Somali professor of his­ ternational pressure has often been the unknown gunmen and then I would like to venture a different certificate, issued by the M al­ tory at Rutgers University who ac­ the key factor in securing the free­ moved them to Casement Park political opinion on one important colm X Lovers’ Network “for companied the U.S. Marines in dom o f many o f those so victim ­ must have known that they would issue relating to the crisis: the wis­ maintaining the legacy and ide­ Mogadishu. ized. It is in the light of this that I be murdered and that they therefore dom of allowing missiles to be als o f El Hajj Malik El Shabazz Dr. Samaad Matias and Farah write to you on behalf of the Case­ shared a common purpose with placed in Cuba. First, let’s be clear (Malcolm X) in the hearts and revealed the hypocrisy and cyni­ ment Park Accused, the latest vic­ those who actually carried out the about what we agree on: Cuba has minds o f our people.” The cer­ cism in the U.S. government’s stat­ tims of British injustice. shootings. Five men have been sen­ a right to self-defense; the U.S. had tificate was dated November 2, ed purpose for launching the inva­ The Casement frame-up begins in tenced to life imprisonment on this missiles in Turkey, and missiles in 1992, in honor of Black Solidar­ sion. Both Safrad representatives March 1988. A massive funeral for dubious legal basis. Three of these Cuba could be construed as quid ity Day and signed by Preston explained the disregard for the three Irish Republicans, executed by — Pat Kane, Michael Timmons, pro quo. Wilcox, Editor/Curator. Somali people’s needs by relief the British Army in Gibraltar, was it­ and Sean Kelly — never even went However, I believe that no state agencies themselves, and the steps self the object of a murderous assault near Casement Park and so could has a right to even threaten to anni­ forward that were being made with­ by the Loyalist Michael Stone. scarcely share a common purpose hilate workers with weapons of The letters column is an open in the country before the invasion Th ree mourners were killed outright with an IRA unit o f whose exist­ mass destruction. The deaths o f 180 forum for all viewpoints on sub­ took place. and over thirty were injured. In the ence they were unaware. million U.S. citizens in a nuclear jects of general interest to our I spoke during the discussion hours preceding the subsequent fu­ Widespread concern about these holocaust, and the deaths of m il­ readers. Please keep your let­ about the importance of seeing the neral of Kevin Brady (one of Stone’s cases has been voiced with Amnes­ lions elsewhere from a nuclear ex­ ters brief. Where necessary they Somali people as potential fellow victims) another Belfast Catholic ty International, the Committee on change, would have done terrible will be abridged. Please indicate fighters, not victims that needed was assassinated by the death the Administration of Justice, the damage to the condition o f workers if you prefer that your initials Washington to set up a government squads of the Loyalist UDA. Haldane Society of Lawyers, and worldwide. This is incontrovert­ be used rather than your full for its own interests. At one point a car drove at high the British National Council for ible. The mere fact o f a workers’ name. Dr. Samatar responded that the speed into the procession, its two C ivil Liberties, all producing re­ state having missiles, even as an central problem the Somali people occupants produced revolvers, and ports critical o f some aspects o f the alleged deterrent, makes it more po­ The M ilita n t special prisoner face is starvation, and the multina­ a shot was discharged. Fearing an­ legal process. Two campaigns have litically feasible for imperialist pol­ fund makes it possible to send tional force led by the U.S. military other Loyalist killing spree a cou­ been formed to reverse these mis­ iticians to actually use theirs. reduced-rate subscriptions to is providing the relief needed. He rageous group of (unarmed) carriages of justice, the Justice for Therefore, the stationing o f Soviet prisoners who can’t pay for went on to say that he had never mourners advanced and disarmed the Casement Park Accused Cam­ missiles in Cuba was a big mistake. them. To help this important before witnessed such a welcome the two men. While some searched paign (8 Archway Mall, London, Nuclear weapons are not precise cause, send your contribution response to troop deployment by a the vehicle for explosives others N1 5RG, Britain), and the Case­ machines aimed at war-makers’ to Militant Prisoner Subscrip­ people. He believed a “ wait-and- moved the unknown assailants to ment Accused Relatives Commit­ abilities to produce further war ma­ tion Fund, 410 West St., New see” approach was the wisest as it the nearby Casement Park in order tee (5-7 Conway St, Falls Rd., Bel­ teriel or move troops. They are, York, NY 10014.

January 29,1993 The Militant 15 Cuban to tour Canada and Britain

trade union leaders in the Ford car plant in Che Guevara and London; an event at Latin America House, the organizing center of many Latin Amer­ ican solidarity campaigns in London; and a the revolution in meeting with members of Parliament. Carlos Tablada’s tour comes at a time of in­ Cuba to be topic creased interest in Cuba due to the depth of the economic crisis here where many young of British tour people are looking for alternatives to capital­ ism. Recent television documentaries and BY JOYCE FAIRCHILD press reports on the Cuban missile crisis have LONDON — Cuban economist Carlos also heightened interest in Cuba. This has Tablada w ill tour Britain February 3-13 and been increased by press exposures o f Brit­ 22-28. He w ill be speaking at public meet­ ain’s involvement in the missile crisis. The ings in London, Manchester, and Sheffield December 23 Independent reported, "A se­ on "The challenges facing the Cuban revo­ cret agreement allowing United States bomb­ lution today.” ers to launch air-strikes against Cuba from a Tablada is the author o f Che Guevara: British base in the Bahamas during the 1962 Economics and Politics in the Transition to missile crisis has been disclosed by the Cam­ Socialism. The book outlines how Guevara, paign for Freedom of Information.” a leader of the Cuban revolution in the One example o f growing interest that ex­ 1960s, sought to lead Cuba’s working peo­ ists in Britain on events in Cuba was a recent ple to take control o f the country’s economic meeting that was organized by Labour Party and political institutions and transform members of Parliament who just returned themselves in the process. Guevara ex­ from a delegation to Cuba. plained that socialism could not be built by Marcella FitzGerald, coordinator of Tab­ utilizing capitalist market methods. lada's tour here, explains that "more and The tour in Britain is part of a European more young people are asking questions tour to launch the new French-language edi­ about Cuba today like: how can Cuba sur­ tion o f Tablada's book. He w ill speak in vive? The aim o f this tour w ill be to allow cities in Belgium, France, and Sweden. as many of these young people as possible Militant/Janet Post This w ill be Carlos Tablada’s second visit to hear Carlos Tablada’s views.” Carlos Tablada speaking in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1989. to Britain. In November 1990 he conducted Those interested in helping to publicize a three-week tour in Britain where he ad­ the tour and in receiving more information of the visa application were sent on or after to speak on their campuses. dressed 15 college lectures and seminars, on Tablada’s speaking engagements can that date. The letters were sent by a range of The visa was finally issued January 15, four public meetings, a conference o f farm­ contact Pathfinder bookshops in London, figures in university and trade union circles just two days before Tablada’s planned de­ ers, a conference on the Third World debt, Sheffield, or Manchester (see addresses on and from student associations and organiza­ parture date. a meeting at the House o f Commons, and page 12). tions that promote solidarity with Cuba. After leaving British Columbia, Tablada meetings with trade unionists. In all Tablada Inquiries were made by federal members travels to Ontario where he w ill speak in To­ spoke to more than 1,500 people. o f Parliament Warren Allmand and Svend ronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. The tour ends There is already broad interest in Robinson; well known civil rights lawyer in Quebec with engagements in Montreal Tablada’s forthcoming visit here. Endorsers Cuban economist Clayton Ruby; François Demers, dean o f the and Quebec City. Tablada then flies to Eu­ o f the tour include Ken Cameron, general Faculty of Arts at Laval University in Que­ rope where meetings have been organized in secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), to speak in eight bec City; Robert White, head of the Cana­ Britain, Sweden, France, and Belgium. who recently visited Cuba; a member of the dian Labor Congress; and many of the uni­ For details of Tablada’s Canada tour meet­ European Parliament; and 11 members of Canadian cities versity professors who have invited Tablada ings, see page 6. Parliament including Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn. The FBU, which recently sent a BY GRANT MILLER union delegation to Cuba, is also financially M O NTREAL — A 14-day tour of sponsoring the main public rally that Carlos Canada by Cuban economist Carlos U.S.-based terrorists threaten Tablada w ill address February 27 at the Tablada w ill start January 18 in British Trades Union Congress headquarters in Columbia. Tablada w ill be speaking on Congress House. “ Challenges before the Cuban revolution new wave of attacks on Cuba Many academic figures have sponsored today.” The eight-city tour is sponsored by the tour. These include Professor J.C. Pathfinder, the publisher in English and BY DAN FEIN Convicted felons are barred from carrying Dunkerley o f Queen Mary and Westfield French of Tablada’s book Che Guevara: weapons. College in London, Shubi Ishemo of Hallam Economics and Politics in the Transition M IA M I — U.S. authorities are giving the University, and Barry Wilkins of the Uni­ to Socialism. green light to stepped-up terrorist activities For two days the jury in this case heard versity of Wales in Cardiff. In the days leading up to Tablada’s depar­ launched against Cuba from U.S. territory. testimony about the violation committed by Among other organizations endorsing the ture for Canada, several prominent individ­ On January 6 U.S. district judge James Bryant and three others in a speedboat pi­ tour are the Association o f South African uals made inquiries to the Ministry of Em­ Lawrence King threw out two federal weap­ loted by Bryant o f Cuba’s territorial waters. Students, the Kurdistan Solidarity Commit­ ployment and Immigration to express their ons charges against Tony Bryant. Bryant had The four are members o f Comandos L, a tee, and the Young Communist League. concerns about delays in the issuing of a visa been rescued from Cuban waters July 4 of Miami-based right-wing terrorist organiza­ Carlos Tablada w ill be addressing a meet­ for Tablada that were threatening the tour last year by the U.S. Coast Guard, which tion that has taken public responsibility for ing of students at Queen Mary and Westfield itself. The application for the visa was made discovered guns in his speedboat. recent armed attacks against Cuba. College in London. Other events being to the Canadian embassy in Havana Decem­ Bryant, a former member of the Black Bryant claimed he and his accomplices planned include a meeting with a group of ber 7. Panther Party, hijacked a plane to Cuba in were in Cuban waters to rescue rafters leav­ South African students, a discussion with A total o f 37 letters o f invitation in support 1969, a crime for which he was convicted. ing Cuba. Their speedboat hit a rock and they called the Coast Guard for help. The Coast Guard found four guns in the speed­ boat after towing it to the shore. Angolan people push back UNITA attacks Bryant said he had no idea the guns were on board. The judge agreed and threw the BY GREG McCARTAN South African regime, Savimbi’s drive to oust layers of the population hold him responsible case out. Fighting between government troops and the ruling Popular Movement for the Libera­ for the damage and hardship caused by the The next day Bryant called a news con­ the terror outfit UNITA has spread across tion of Angola (MPLA) has left the country imperialist-backed war. ference where he announced new raids much o f southern Angola. UNITA forces deeply divided and war-ravaged. In addition to Benguela and Lubango, gov­ against Cuba. “ From this point on we’re at have been driven from several cities, ac­ Savimbi stepped up his military assaults ernment forces recaptured the cities of Caxito war,” he said. “ The U.S. Neutrality Act cording to Associated Press and Reuters shortly after United Nations-supervised and Ndalatando and opened a drive on doesn’t exist.” dispatches. elections were held last September. Although Huambo, the headquarters of Savimbi’s oper­ The Neutrality Act bans the planning and Government-led forces have done best in the MPLA won a majority of seats in parlia­ ations. Fighting is also taking place in Cuito launching o f military expeditions from U.S. cities where civilians have been armed and ment, Savimbi garnered enough votes to and Dundo, according to press reports. soil against countries with which the United allowed to help push UNITA (National deny Angolan president José Eduardo dos States is not at war. Union for the Total Independence of An­ Santos a majority in the presidential race. Casualties have been high because civil­ gola) out of occupied areas. The first such Calling the vote results a fraud, Savimbi’s ian participation in the battles has taken Bryant declared Comandos L w ill target action took place in the capital city o f Lu­ forces occupied parts o f the capital city and place on the initiative of the population and military and economic sites in Cuba, such anda last October and has been repeated in captured several strategic towns. was not organized along traditional military as hotels. He warned foreign tourists to stay the coastal town of Benguela and Lubango, Savimbi won a hearing in the elections by lines. Two hundred reportedly died in fight­ out of Cuba to avoid becoming victims of ing in Lubango and at least 100 in Huambo. 400 miles southeast of the capital. placing blame on the MPLA for the country’s the violence. UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi has organ­ tremendous economic and social problems. A UNITA radio broadcast denied govern­ For decades the U.S. government has ig­ ized a war of attrition against the government He presented little in the way of a program ment claims that Huambo had been cap­ nored violations of the Neutrality Act by since the nation won independence from Por­ and faces a challenge in transforming UN ITA tured. “ Government forces are still under Comandos L and other terrorist organiza­ tugal in 1975. With significant military and into an organization that can contest for polit­ fire and have sustained heavy human and tions that train and launch armed attacks political backing from Washington and the ical support in the long term, given that wide material losses,” it said. against Cuba from southern Florida.

16 The Militant January 29, 1993