South African miner tours Alabama . 3 TH£ Socialist Publication Fund rallies .. 4 What Louis Farrakhan stands for . 14

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 49/NO. 45 NOVEMBER 22, 1985 75 CENTS Mich. labor ·GD strike Union-led march rally for settled a free - in close in New Jersey S. Africa vote slams apartheid BY KATE KAKU BY JOANNE MURPHY DETROIT - More than I ,000 trade DETROIT - Members of the United unionists and community people gathered Auto Workers (UA W) voted 2,227 to together here October 26 at the United I, 943 November 12 to accept a contract Auto Workers (UA W) Local 600 hall for a with General Dynamics (GD), ending an Michigan Labor Rally for a Free South Af­ eight-week strike that halted production of rica. army tanks at five plants in Michigan, Horace Sheffield, president of the De­ Ohio, and Pennsylvania. troit Area Coalition of Black Trade Union­ Local 1200 members from the Warren ists (CBTU), chaired the rally . Bob King, tank assembly plant outside Detroit packed president of U A W Local 600 at the Ford the union hall for a meeting to discuss the Rouge plant, welcomed everyone on be­ agreement. Many arrived wearing "vote half of the membership-of Local 600. Tom no" T-shirts and stickers. The local voted Turner; president of Metro-Detroit AFL­ 933 to 240 to continue striking. CIO, encouraged labor to get involved in Speaking to the press as the totals were defending the rights of Blacks in South Af­ announced, Local I 200 President Jim rica. Coakley pointed out that ·'at three locations Jeanette Methobi, representative from all leadership was advocating that they ac­ the African National Congress (ANC), cept this agreement. Even with that . it brought fraternal greetings from the free­ barely passed.·· dom fighters of South Africa. "The rank and file is very adamant," he She said that the people of South Africa said. ··not only on the economic issues. but have declared war against apartheid. She things such .as wage progressions . where also pointed to the worldwide outcry new hires come in at 40 percent lower than against apartheid and the international iso­ other people. That's wrong. We should not lation of the regime in South Africa. have that in thi s union. She said, 'The struggle of the people of "Our demand was for parity I in wages South Africa is not just a racial struggle, and benefits with workers at Chrysler, but a struggle for democracy and for free­ which owned the tank plants until 19R2] ," Anti-apartheid march November 9 in Newark, New Jersey. dom. We will not rest until Nelson Man­ he continued. "Not only did we not get par­ deJa is free. We will not rest until the apart­ ity. we are going to fall further behind." heid system is completely dismantled. I am Local 1200 organized a strike solidarity BY HARRY RING The action began with a kick-off rally. here to pledge that the ANC will continue rally November 6, which drew 500 union­ NEW ARK Their banners and Demonstrators then proceeded across town to make apartheid ungovernable." She re­ ists. Speakers included Tom Turner. presi­ placards declared their purpose. and then marched back on Broad Street, ceived a standing ovation. dent of the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO, " Apartheid must go - District 65, the city's main downtown thoroughfare. Leo Robinson of the International Anita Hicks, president of American Feder­ UAW, AFL-CIO." As they marched, buses continued to arrive • Longshoremen's and· Warehousemen's ation· of State, County and Municipal Em­ "Postal workers for a free South Africa." from around the state. and when the main Union (ILWU) Local 10 in San Francisco, ployees Local 457; Bob Lendt, director of "Methodists united against apartheid." rally began at Military Park. the crowd had California, brought gre_etings from his UA W Region I B; Perry Johnson, director "Free Nelson Mandela - Newark tripled in size. union and from the North Bay Coalition of of UA W Region I; and Marc Stepp, UA W Teachers Union." Organizers said 10,000 participated. Black Trade Unionists. He asked for a mo­ International vice-president. "Muslims united against apartheid.'' Police put the number at 6,000. ment of silence for Benjamin Moloise, ex­ At the time the rally was held , GO was "Free South Africa - concerned com­ The demonstration renected the coali­ ecuted by the apartheid regime, and Jack­ threatening to discipline over workers 100 munity women of Jersey City." tion that built it. The largest numbers of son Taylor, member of the International with nine-month suspensions for strike-re­ " AME Zion Church against apart­ participants were in union contingents. Longshoremen's Association in Baltimore, lated activity. heid." There was a good church turnout. Students Maryland, who was killed by a police car "We shall not talk about anything until "No compromise with apartheid. Power from five of the city's. high schools while picketing. everyone who has been charged, the I 0 I , to the African people - American Postal marched, and some elementary students, Robinson pointed to ways in which his have been fully exonerated, and they too Workers Union ." including a group of Cub Scouts, aged union is helping the struggle of Blacks in can go back to work when everyone else Sponsored by the New Jersey Anti­ seven to nine. The great majority of the South Africa. His local has pledged $2,000 g{)es back to work," Stepp assured the Apartheid Mobilization Coalition, it was a protesters were Black. a year to the ANC. rally. statewide march and rally against apartheid Robinson also pointed to the direct con­ The ratified agreement rul es out any fir­ and for an erid to a ll U.S. ties with the ra­ The major union contingents were those nection between labor in the United States ings or disciplinary layoffs now, but allows cist Pretoria regime. It was held November of the International Ladies' Garment and South Africa. "The chairman of the the company to keep disciplinary letters in 9. Workers' Union, several postal workers' board at Ford promised $245 million to in­ the personnel files of I R strikers. The coalition included 185 labor, unions, and District 65. Buses brought auto vest in South Africa. Theri they came back At the rally, Coakley explained the his­ church, student, community. and political workers from as far away as Trenton. and closed the Ford Fremont plant. GM did tory of concessions imposed on GD work­ organizations. The demonstration was a solid boost for the same thing." ers in recent years, despite GO's huge prof­ The central force in the coalition was or­ everyone involved. Everyone felt the anti­ U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich .) in­ its. The new contract includes lump sum ganized labor, with District 65 of the apartheid movement had gained ground, Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 6 United Auto Workers playing the key role. and there was particular appreciation for labor's role in accomplishing this. One worker. part of a group from Inter­ national Association of Machinists Local S.F. conference on peace, jobs, and justice 1445 at Eastern Airlines, said, "We're backing this I 00 percent. Maybe we can do BY SAM MANUEL panels and workshops. the panel. Over 40 members of the something about racism in South Africa.· I SAN FRANCISCO - Three hundred Two prominent labor officials addressed machinists' union had registered for and at­ think it's time we moved forward . Bread­ people, many of them trade unionists, at­ the opening panel of the conference: John tended the conference. For many of them, and-butter issues are probably still number tended a conference on peace, jobs, and Henning, executive secretary-treasurer of this was a new experience. one, but we have to look at the interna­ justice held here on November 2. the California Labor Federation, and Wil­ Winpisinger attacked the growing ex­ tional picture now." The purpose of the conference was to liam Winpisinger, president of the Interna­ penditures for war under the Reagan ad­ And one of a group of about 50 workers discuss plans f01; organizing a united action tional Association of Machinists . ministration. He stated, "Under the Reagan from United Auto Workers Local 595 in in the spring against U.S . intervention in Henning pointed to the important begin­ administration, 95,000 people have been Linden said, "We're here for a very good Central America, against U .S. ties with ning made last spring by labor's participa­ drafted into poverty for the defense cause. The way the American government South Africa, for a freeze on nuclear tion in . the April 20 mobilization. He said, budget." is supporting South Africa isn ' t beneficial weapons, and for jobs. On April 20 this 'There is no reason for us to repeat what David Dyson, union-label director for to us . People are being murdered in South year, 50,000 people marched in San Fran­ happened during Vietnam. Then, the stu­ the ·Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Africa." cisco as part of a nationally organized pro­ dents, religious figures. and civil ri ghts Workers Union, spoke on a panel on or­ The impact of the action went way test that included marches in Washington, people were very active. We will ensure ganized labor and Central America. Dyson beyond those who joined the march. D.C., Los Angeles, and several other that labor's voice will be heard in the fu­ is also a leader of the National Labor Com­ As part of building support, a number of cities. ture. mittee in Support of Democracy and unions sold November 9 buttons in the The conference was broadly sponsored "The important lesson from Vietnam is Human Rights in El Salvador. workplaces they organize. by labor, including four central labor coun­ that for the first time a war was ended not Dyson underscored the importance of At the Bulk Mail Center in Jersey City, cils in the area - San Francisco, Santa with a victory for the government but by the foreign policy debate on Central Amer­ members of the Mailhandlers union sold Clara, Marin, and San Mateo. Labor also the actions of the people." ica taking place within the labor move­ I ,000 buttons in a single day. In other played an active role in the conference Winpisinger was the featured speaker on Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 5 Socialists in Dallas expand sales at area gates

BY SUSAN ZAMORA era! Motors plant' in Arlington, bers at this plant became very The team is anxious to return next ferson Street plant, the largest of DhLLAS- Following the Au­ Texas, where SWP and YSA familiar with the Militant and Per­ week and expects to have some in­ the three, for the past five years. gust . national convention of the members have worked for six spectiva Mundial last spring teresting discussions with these Many papers and several subscrip­ Socialist Workers Party, members years. For the first time, we were through our weekly teams. These workers about what they thought tions were sold during the 16- of the Dallas SWP and Young able to establish a regular plant sales were boosted by the SWP of the paper. month contract battle between the Socialist Alliance mapped out a gate sale at the Rockwell Interna- campaign for mayor of Dallas. To UA W and the employers that Another recently established reach even more USW A members ended last spring. More recently, sale has been to workers in Ft. we expanded our sales effort to the members of the SWP and YSA Worth at the massive General Dy­ second Dresser plant in south Dal­ have established plant gate sales at namics plant, which is organized SELLING OUR PRESS las . the Marshal( Street facility . by Lodge 776 of the TAM. The A new sale that has been of par­ Members of the SWP and YSA team that goes there reports sales ticular interest to us is the one to who work at Vought report that AT THE PLANT GATE of four, five, and eight copies of International Association of these consistent teams have been the Militant each week. Coverage Machinists (lAM) members at the invaluable to introducing the Mili­ of striking GO workers in Detroit, plan to regularize and expand tiona! plant organized by the Inter­ A vi all aerospace plant at the Love tant and PM to a broader number who are organized by the United weekly plant gate sales. We saw national Union of Electronic Field airport. After beginning the of workers inside each of the three Auto Workers (UA W), has been this as an essential part of using Workers. sale, the team discovered a second plants. The Young Socialist news­ of special interest. The lAM mem­ the press to reach out to a greater Militant salespeople have learn­ gate that turned out to be the en­ paper has also been well received bers in Ft. Worth struck GO last number of workers in the Dallas­ ed that the most important thing in trance that most workers use. at the plant gate. year in a battle against the bosses' Ft. Worth area with the truth about these sales is consistency, return­ Thirteen TAM members bought the SWP and YSA members in Dal­ proposed takeback contract. the U.S. war in Central America, ing every week for political dis­ Militant at this gate last week. The las are excited about our experi­ the heroic fight of the South Afri­ cussion. With that in mind, plant gate team said they noticed a LTV Vought is a major aero­ ences of the past nine weeks. We can people, and the battles of trade another place we go to regularly is real confidence in these workers. space and war production plant. It have succeeded in meeting and unionists against the bosses' of­ the Dresser · Industry Oil Tooling They seem to be accustomed to re­ employs 6,500 hourly workers at discussing politics with a greater fensive here in the United States. plant in Dallas, which is organized ceiving things at their plant gate, its three facilities in Grand Prairie. number and cross section of indus­ We immediately reestablished by the United Steelworkers of and they seemed very open and The Militant and Perspectil'll trial workers in the Dallas- Ft. plant gate sales at the huge Gen- America (USW A) . USWA mem- willing to check out the Militant . Mundial have been sold at the Jef- Worth area. Writer on Cuba and Nicaragua fights deportation

Author Margaret Randall, now teach­ to renounce my American citizenship. but from my colleagues, and from my stu­ and I think it's not because it's me. I think ing at the University of New Mexico in to acquire Mexican citizenship for reasons dents. that this is a case people see as very impor­ Albuquerque, is fighting a U.S. deporta­ of economic need. It's really interesting because here are · tant. and it's an issue they see as threaten­ tion order. She has been ordered exclud­ students, most of whom are not born in the ing to lots of people. ed under provisions of the McCarran I subsequently lived in Mexico, Cuba, 1950s, and , for the first time, McCar­ Act barring those noncitizens the gov­ and Nicaragua, as you know, and returned thyism is not simply something that they Q. Could you define a littlu more pre­ ernment deems politically undesirable. to this country in January of 1984. I heard about in some dim way, not even ciselr \\'hal the issue is:' Many noted public figures are support­ petitioned for my citizenship back, peti­ through their history books, or from some A. The issue is free speech; the issue is a ing her fight against this. tioning first for my permanent residency. aunt or some friend of a friend , but it's hap­ freedom of opinion issue; the issue is not The following interview with her was That procedure usually takes about 60 days pening to this nesh-and-blood person only freedom for somebody like myself ­ conducted in Albuquerque. in normal cases. I was fully aware that who's sitting in the room with them. and who is technically an alien. or who is being mine was not a normal case. I was not sur­ who they presumably even like. considered an alien - to hold and express Question. Are you optimistic about the prised that it didn 't take 60 days, or 90 And in the community I've gotten tre­ opinions that are contrary to the opinions appeal? days, or a hundred days. I did become sur­ prised when a year and a half had gone by, mendous support. The·defense committee held by the current administration of the Answer. I think we will win eventually. and I hadn ' t heard anything. I am now mar­ people like Arthur Miller, Edward Albee. United States. But it affects the right of I'm not sure exactly at what point, but I ried to an American citizen. Grace Paley, Alice Walker, Kurt Von­ people in this country. people who are citi­ think there's going to be a lot of support for negut, Jr., George Wald, and so on. So the zens, to hear of these views. And that is this case, and I think we are going to win. On the fourth of October I received the support I've gotten has been wonderful. where it becomes a First Amendment case. INS decision, which was negative. It is an Q. Could you please give us some back­ eight-page decision based almost exclu­ ground on your case. particularly on the sively on my writings, my opinions con­ sequence of events that led to the INS rul­ trary to U.S. policy during the Vietnam Mich. anti-apartheid rally ing denying you residency status:'. war. the bombing of Cambodia, the fact that in the '60s I called the police "pigs," The host union, UAW Local 600, had A. I left this country in 1961 and settled that I called the Attica prisoners my Continued from front page in Mexico in 1966. I became a Mexican the largest contingent at the meeting. But brothers. That kind of thing, that I showed troduced Dumisano Kumalo, representa­ many other unionists were there, including citizen through marriage to a Mexican citi- support for governments like the govern­ tive from the Union of Black Journalists of . zen. I needed to help support my children. from as far away as Flint, Michigan. Local ments of Cuba and Nicaragua. South Africa. 1200 also had an informational table on And it was difficult to do that, being a Kumalo refuted the red-baiting charge They invoked the McCarran-Walter Act their strike. They were able to sell over 100 foreigner. So, for purely econom1c that the anti-apartheid movement is com­ against me. It's a case that I not only see as buttons that read, "Bury concessions be­ reasons, I acquired Mexican citizenship munist-inspired. "I didn't have to go to being threatening to myself, but to people fore they bury us." through my husband. Moscow to get my pass. We are not being throughout this country, citizens as well as The Michigan Labor Committee for a I was told by my Mexican lawyer that I shot down by the KGB, but by the South aliens. Because it's certainly a case that Free South Africa plans to continue meet­ needed to advise the American embassy of African police." shows a lack of respect for a diversity of ing on a regular basis to discuss how that. But when I went to the American em­ Thousands of dollars were raised at the opinion. And it'sjl case I intend to fight. Michigan labor can help the struggle in bassy, they literally renounced my Ameri­ rally for the Black trade unions in South South Africa. can citizenship. They should have taken a Africa. UA W Local 1200, which has been Q . What kind of support are you get­ deposition about my intentions, sent that to on strike against General Dynamics for six ting ? Write for a free catalog of socialist the State Department, and the State Depart­ weeks, donated $100. The money was pre­ ment would have then made the decision. It A. The support I'm getting has been sented by Local 1200's president, Jim books and pamphlets Pathfinder may very well have been the same deci­ really overwhelming. I've had tremendous Coakley, on behalf of the membership. A Press. 410 West Street. New York. sion. But at least it would have gone on re­ support from the president of the university resolution was also unanimously passed in NY 10014. cord that my intention at that time was not of New Mexico, from department heads, opposition to apartheid.

The Militant tells the truth - Subscribe today! The Militant That's the way you'll get facts about Washington's war against working people at home and abroad: from Closing news date: November 13, 1985 South Africa, El Salvador and Nicaragua, to embattled Editor: MALIK MIAH workers and farmers in the United States. Read our pro­ Managing editor: posals on how to stop the U.S. government's support MARGARET JA YKO Business Manager: for the apartheid regime in South Africa, its interven­ LEE MARTINDALE tion in Central America and the Caribbean, and the em­ Editorial Staff: Rashaad Ali, Susan Apstein. Fred ployers' offensive here. Read our ideas on what it will Feldman , Andrea Gonzalez. Pat Grogan , Arthur take to replace this system of exploitation, racism , and Hughes. Tom Leonard, Harry Ring . Norton Sandler. sexism with a system that's in the inte rest of working Published weekly except one week in August and the people. last week of December by the Militant (ISSN 0026- At the plar1t gates, picket lines, and unemployment 3885). 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. Tele­ lines, the Militant is there, reporting the news, par­ phone: Editorial Office. (212) 243-6392: Business Of­ ticipating in the siruggle. To subscribe today, fill out the fice. (212) 929-3486. attached coupon. Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes of address should be addressed to The Mili­ Enclosed is :· LJ $3 for 12 weeks u $15 for 6 months tant Business Office, 14 Charles Lane, New York, o $24 for 1 year u A contribution N.Y. 10014. Name ______Second-class postage paid at New York . N.Y. POST­ MASTER: Send address changes to The Militant. 14 Address ______Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. Subscriptions: U.S. $24.00 a year. outside U.S. $30.00. By first-class City/State/Zip ------­ mail: U.S ., Canada, and Mexico: $60.00. Write for air­ Telephone ------mail rates to all other countries. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily rep­ Union/Organization ______resent the Militan(s views. These are expressed in edito­ Send to Militant, 14 Charles Lane, New York; N.Y. 10014 rials.

2 The Militant November 22, 1985 S. Africa union leaders tour Alabama mine BY MICHAEL GEISMAIER Co. Massey has kept miners out on strike BIRMINGHAM , Ala.- Two members for more than a year by refusing to sign a of South Africa's National Union of contract. She said she could not comment Mineworkers (NUM) toured this area Oc­ on whether U.S. corporations should di­ tober 22 and 23, taking to thousands the vest their South African holdings, because story of the struggles their union is waging. advocating divestment is illegal there. The tour of the two NUM members , A number of miners were curious about Abey LeRoux and Mannoko Nchwe , was how the struggle in South Africa today organized by the United Mine Workers of compared to the fight against Jim Crow America (UMWA) District ;w. segregation in the South. "The comparison can be made in terms News stories covering their visit were . of racism," said Nchwe . "Here there's a run in most focal newspap ~rs, including very subtle form of racism. But our strug­ front-page stories in both the Jasper Daily gle goes well beyond that. We are the vast Mountain Eagle and the Birmingham Post­ majority; we are the indigenous people; we Herald. The tour was also reported on are fighting to take back what is rightfully radio and television news programs. ours." At a news conference at UMW A Local She described the process of coloniza­ 2368's union hall in Brookwood, tion that led to the subjugation of the Afri­ Alabama, Charles Fuller, UMWA Interna­ cans, and their disfranchisement. tional auditor, introduced LeRoux and A fundamental goal of the struggle, she Nchwe. Fuller, who helped coordinate the said, is simply universal suffrage - one tour, explained, "The UMWA is opposed person, one vote, majority rule. to apartheid because it allows South Afri­ The· struggle , she explained, is funda­ Mannoko Nchwe, researcher for South Africa National Union of Mineworkers, talks can mines to operate on what amounts to mentally for national liberation. "We are to miners at Jim Walter Resources Number 5 mine in Brookwood, Alabama. Tour of slave labor. fighting as well for the land- as we have two NUM members, sponsored by United Mine Workers of America, was widely re­ 'This kind of slavery," Fuller continued, for the last 333 years." ported in local media. "hurts us in America as well as the people of South Africa." LeRoux, a diamond miner who is an NUM regional chairman, told reporters and UMW A members attending the news Banner sales at Nov. 9 demonstration conference that the NUM has a member­ BY HARRY RING tics. "I found myself talking continuously week, no small number- especially since ship today of more than 230,000, with November 9 was a banner day in our cir­ about all the political issues," Forrestal it rained heavily two days, leaving five to 160,000 members paid up. culation campaign. Members and support­ said. "People would stop and listen, and do the job. Yet they sold 342 Militants and He described barbaric working condi­ ers of the Socialist Workers Party and some would buy." 82 PMs -a solid total of 424. Young Socialist Alliance from Newark , tions, substandard pay , barracks housing, Mary Martin sold her 43 singles and I We couldn't reach sales director Ed New York, and even Philadelphia were in and the pass-book system . These, he said, subscription mainly to people coming off Warren , but sales committee member Newark to participate in the anti-apartheid are the targets of the union's struggle to im­ the buses for the demonstration. Holly Harkness told us how they did it. prove the lot of its members. demonstration and to get out the socialist press. Two of the single copies of the Militant ''To begin with , we did practically noth­ Nchwe , a researcher for the NUM, de­ Socialist book tables were set up near the and the subscription went to three postal ing else. All committee meetings were can­ scribed the South African white minority rally sites and salespeople hawked the Mil­ unionists. All three accepted her invitation celed or postponed. government's breaking of the September itant, Perspectiva Mundial, and the Young to our open house. NUM strike against nine mines in South "We talked to each member and asked Socialist to demonstrators and to passersby Meanwhile, we 're coming down the how many they realistically thought they Africa. "The police used brutality to crush in the busy downtown area. the strike," she said. "They fired tear gas home stretch on the drive and we can't af­ could sell. canisters at the workers, and they went in We sold 779 copies of the Militant, 64 of ford to relax a minute. - "People made an extra effort in selling with dogs, shooting workers with rubber Perspectiva Mundial (our Spanish-lan­ So far, we've sold 31,364 single copies on the job. Plant-gate sales picked up. and I ,337 subscriptions. bullets. We are now mobilizing for a na­ guage sister publication), and 64 copies of "But the big thing was in the com­ tional strike in support of our brothers who the Young Socialist. We weren't able to report it last week, munities and on the campuses. How did we were brutally crushed." · Thirty-six subscriptions to the Militant · but Chicago did an exemplary job in its do it? Well, we had 90 percent participa­ After the news conference, which was were sold. target week ending November I . tion and a majority went out three or four joined by Rev. Abraham-Woods of the B ir­ (These results will show up on next They set themselves a goal of selling 400 times. That's what did it." mingham Southern Christian Leadership week's scoreboard.) single copies of the Militant and PM that For sure. Conference, LeRoux and Nchwe drove to Frank Forrestal of New York took the Jim Walter Resources Number 5 mine , laurel on sales of single copies, with 45 where they had the opportunity to talk with copies of the Militant and 2 Young miners going in on the afternoon shift and Socialists. SALES SCOREBOARD coming off the day shift. If we awarded extra points for subscrip­ (Week #8: Totals as of Militant issue #43, PM issue #22) Black and white miners gathered around tions, Mary Martin of New York would the two visitors from South Africa to hear have been the real winner. SINGLE ISSUES SUBSCRIPTIONS Sold this week %of 10-week Sold so far firsthand what things were like there and to She so ld 40 Militants , 3 PMs, and I Mil­ Area Militant/PM goal reached Militant/PM learn what they could do to support the itant subscription. miners in South Africa and the NUM. One of the several runners-up, Carla Atlanta 81 /5 73 27/0 Asked about the apartheid system and Hoag of Newark, felt like she won a prize Baltimore 5510 74 3911 how it affects wages, LeRoux explained, because she had so many rewarding experi­ Birmingham 87/0 84 27/0 "A Black miner working underground ences. She sold 18 Militants, 3 PMs, and 6 Boston 81 /9 63 19/9 YSs. Capital District, N.Y. 5910 70 28/2 makes about 300 rand per month, and one Charleston, W.Va. 5010 40 15/0 rand is about half a dollar, so that's $150. Hoag works in a Newark chemical plant and is a member of the Oil , Chemical and Chicago 92114 84 43/ 1 Meanwhile a white miner makes about Cincinnati 46/0 85 12/0 $800 a month." Atomic Workers. She was pleased that two Cleveland 125/9 76 12/0 Nchwe and LeRoux described the total of her coworkers came to the demonstra­ Dallas 123/37 77 35/5 disregard for safety on the part of mine tion and a third who had promised to called Denver 48/0 72 31/1 management in South Africa. More than her up the night before for an "excused ab­ Detroit 76/4 62 56/3 600 South African miners die each year as sence." (He had-a funeral to go to.) Greensboro, N.C. 75/0 78 44/0 Houston 129/25 69 74/4 a result. For openers, she sold three papers to a Kansas City 120/2 136 13/0 LeRoux also descibed the jobs reserva­ group of students from Rutgers University Los Angeles 120/44 88 64/18 tion policy under which Blacks are prohi­ at New Brunswick, which had been the Louisville 42/3 78 17/0 bited by law from working in eleven jobs. scene of a big divestment sit-in last spring. Miami 53/2 65 22/2 They were delighted to see our press and Milwaukee 6412 75 22/4 Hearing LeRoux describe the barracks stopped to talk about their anti-apartheid Morgantown, W.Va. 24/0 79 7/0 where Black miners must live - six or activity. New Orleans 39/2 57 3911 eight to a room - some miners were re­ They also relayed an invitation to the New York 15515 48 66/2 minded of the days in the United States ·Young Socialist Alliance to attend a plan­ Newark 202/ 18 65 50/9 when miners had to live in company towns Oakland 70/21 79 34/10 ning meeting for a coming protest against Philadelphia 85/14 71 21/3 and buy at company stores. All agreed that CIA recruiters on campus. things in South Africa today are even Phoenix 89/25 88 12/21 Pittsburgh 41 /0 64 10/1 worse. One of the Militants she sold was to a Portland lOIII 68 16/0 A miner asked Nchwe about the role of group of high schoolers hurrying toward Price, Utah 24/0 43 7/0 corporations in South Africa. Even the sup­ the demonstration. Salt Lake City 5016 86 22/3 posedly liberal ones, she said, "are as reac­ "Where're you from?" she called after San Diego 5417 83 27/3 tionary as the other conservatives. They them. One turned back, "Westfield," and, San Francisco 90/30 85 34113 make superprofits at the expense of the seeing that as an inadequate answer, San Jose 86/11 65 35/13 73 24/4 Black miners. They still house them in bar­ added, "The Young Leftists. " Seattle 97/5 St. Louis 183/0 61 32/0 racks . They still separate them because of Finally, there was the young bystander Tidewater, Va. 10/0 82 10/0 their ethnicity. They are still just after prof­ and his family. He asked some questions Toledo 83/0 80 45/2 its . about the parade. He and Hoag each agreed Twin Cities 20317 74 5915 "Most of the so-called liberal American they looked familiar. They figured out he Washington D.C. 52119 113 36/11 companies like IBM help maintain the re­ worked at a plant where she has sold our Total sold this week 3,264/327 pressive government by their support and press regularly . At the plant, he hadn't bro­ Total sold to date 28,056/3,308 1,186/151 taxes . ken the ice on buying a copy. But at the "Some of these are the same companies · march, he gladly bought a PM. 10-week goal 40,000 2,000 that are giving your ' union such a hard Forrestal said his 47 sales to passersby Percent of national goal reached 78 % 67% time." She was referring to Shell Oil , were something like a street meeting. To be on schedule 80'ff 80% which is part owner of A.T. Massey Coal There was an obviously big interest in poli-

November 22, 1985 The Militant 3 Rallies spur final push for $125,000 fund

BY FRED FELDMAN PM covers not only Central America, but In the closing days of an emergency events around the world, including the campaign to complete the raising of a anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. $125,000 Socialist Publication Fund on Joe Kleidon, a mernber of the United schedule, successful rallies in many cities Steelworkers of America (USW A) at are helping generate needed momentum. Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point, had at­ The stepped-up effort includes gaining tended the AFL-CIO convention in new pledges, seeking increases in pledges California. He described the unpre­ that have already been made . and rapidly cedented debate there over Central Ameri­ collecting all pledged contributions. ca . The final tally of funds collected will be Malik Miah, editor of the Militant, was announced November 18 . the keynote speaker. Meeting the fund goal will make it possi­ ble to maintain and expand the Militant , William Shisana, a representative of the the Spanish-language biweekly Penpec­ African National Congress of South Af- tiva Mundial, the international news­ rica, gave greetings. . magazine lntercontinemal Press, the Building on the momentum from this Marxist quarterly New International, and rally, Baltimore fund supporters are mov­ Pathfinder Press books and pamphlets. ing to complete the collection of $1 , 900 Recent rallies highlighted the growing pledged by supporters of the socialist pub­ support and interest in the socialist publica­ lications. tions. In Milwaukee- where $2,500 has been pledged to the fund - speakers at the rally Good turnout in Los Angeles included Omari Musa, member of the Militant/Duane Stilwell • In Los Angeles, a representative of Socialist Workers Party National Commit­ Publication Fund makes it possible to print and distribute socialist newspapers and the Salvadoran liberation fight praises the tee; Dena Aronsen, of Artists Call for books. Above, socialist literature table at November 9 anti-apartheid rally in "good work" of Perspectiva Mundial in Peace; and Bill Lang, member of Allied In­ fighting U.S. intervention in his country. dustrial Workers Union Local 232. Newark. • In Milwaukee. a leader of farmers' Kitty Carlson Pityer, vice-president of struggles thanks the Militant for its "in­ Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance, sent a Press publication of Frederick Engels' Ori­ pledges to consider increasing them . More depth articles" on the farm crisis. message. "1. appreciate the Militant's gin of the Family, Private Property, and than $1 ,800 in additional pledges have • In New Orleans, an abortion rights coverage of the severe economic depres­ the State as examples of how socialist pub­ been obtained in this way . fighter describes some of the contributions sion facing family farmers across the na­ lications strengthen the women's rights In Dallas, where the fund rally will be of the Militant and Pathfinder Press books tion . It is gratifying to read the in-depth ar­ movement. held November 17, pledge increases so far to the defense of women's rights. ticles in your newspaper about a crisis that Participants in the rally pledged $1 ,200 total $560. • In Baltimore, a young garment work­ affects the economic stability not only of to the fund. Walter Weaver, an activist in the Coali­ er talks about the educational role played farmers, but of rural communities, small The October 9 rally in Philadelphia tion of Black Trade Unionists, and Dr. Ar­ by the socialist publications and by the towns, and cities as well." raised $700 in additional pledges. Harry turo Taca, a· supporter of the struggle for socialist bookstore in his area in his deci­ Elaine Kinch, cochair of the Central Ring, Militant staff writer, was a featured democracy in the Philippines, will be sion to join the Young Socialist Alliance. America Solidarity Coalition of Racine and speaker. among the speakers at the November 17 The rally in New Orleans was held Oc­ Kenosha, wrote: "I feel personally inde­ The rallies coming up in the next week rally in St. Louis. tober 19 . Rallies in Los Angeles, Philadel­ bted to your party for providing the back­ promise to have similar success. Jerry Griffin , of the American Agricul­ phia, Milwaukee, San Diego, and Balti­ ground to my political growth through your The Socialist Publication Fund rally ture Movement, will address the rally in more were held November 9. forums, workshops, and publications. November 17 in Newark will feature a rep­ Denver. More than a dozen rallies are scheduled "Because of my work with the Central resentative from Burkina Faso's Mission to The rally in Minneapolis-St. Paul will for the following weekend. America Solidarity Coalition, I not only the United Nations. Burkina Faso is a West feature a leader of Anishinabe Akeeng (the More than 80 people attended the rally in appreciate the excellent coverage of the African country where a national, demo­ People's Land), which is organizing a Los Angeles, and more than $900 was do­ Militant on Nicaragua, El Salvador, Latin cratic revolution is being carried out. ; struggle for Indian land rights. nated on the spot to the fund. Los Angeles America, the Caribbean situation, and the A representative from the African Na­ These and other rallies are playing a vital supporters of the socialist publications debt, but I find the information indispensa­ tional Congress Mission to the United Na­ role in the decisive push now under way to have raised nearly $8,000 so far, and ex­ ble.'' tions will also speak. Other speakers in­ complete the $125,000 fund-raising effort. pect to raise a total of $10,000 by In New Orleans, fund supporters staged clude Irwin Nack, president of American As we go to press, the fund stands at November 18 . a rally October 19. Rev. Warren Ray, Jr., Federation of Teachers Local 1796, and $131 ,500 pledged and $77,550 paid. The program included Oscar Cruz, who representing the Southern Christian Michael Hajduk, member of the board of We urge all Militant readers to join in spoke on behalf of the Revolutionary Dem­ Leadership Conference, spoke. education in Garwood and of the Society to the concerted effort during the next days to ocratic Front-Farabundo Marti National Cindy Lorr, a member of the reproduc­ Educate People. gain new pledges and contributions, in­ Liberation Front of El Salvador. "I read tive rights task force of the National Or­ In the course of building the rally , fund­ crease pledges already made, and collect every issue," he said of Perspectiva Mun­ ganization for Women, pointed to news raisers in Newark- as in many other cities all contributions in time for the final tally dial. He praised its "good work" in getting coverage in the Militant and the Pathfinder - are also asking people who have made November 18. out the truth about the struggle in El Sal­ vador. "With the help of people like you, we are certain to defeat the imperialist in­ tervention." S.F. peace, jobs, justice conference 'The Militant keeps getting better and better," said noted draft and civil liberties attorney Bill Smith in a message. Smith Continued from front page stead there were assistance programs given vice-president of the United Farm Work­ was an attorney for David Wayte, who was ment. He stated, "Last week at the conven­ to Somoza. ers; and Sherri Chiesa, president of the convicted of refusing to register for the tion of the AFL-CIO there was an impor­ "Since the revolution, we have gained Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union draft because of his antiwar views . tant debate on Central America. With this important rights, the right to health and Local 2 in San Francisco. Anthony Russo, a leader of the Commit­ debate, we put the government on notice safety on the job, the right to a contract, One of the liveliest panels was on the tee for Justice for Professor Ed Cooper­ that the support of labor will never again be and the training of trade unionists." struggle for a free South Africa, which fea­ man, also spoke. Cooperman, who had handed over on a silver platter." Garcia continued, "We have equal pay tured Naomi Tutu-Seavers, daughter of been active in providing humanitarian aid Keith Johnson, president of the Interna­ for equal work for women workers. Bishop Desmond Tutu. for Vietnam, was murdered by a right-wing tional Woodworkers of America, also Women are able to contribute to the coun­ She denounced the "reforms" of the Vietnamese exile who got off with a light spoke on the panel. He told of his recent try because we have provided the right to apartheid regime as "meaningless." "What sentence. trip to El Salvador and Nicaragua as part of child care while they work, in some cases good is the right of people to marry whom Pat Nixon, a leader of the Young a labor fact-finding tour. He stressed the at the place of work ." they choose, if they do not have the right to Socialist Alliance, voiced the indignation need for labor and all opponents of war to Pointing to the role played by the work­ live together?" she asked. "The regime has of all at the murder of Alex Odeh, a leader oppose U.S. intervention in Central Amer­ ing people in the Nicaraguan revolution , kept intact the Bantustan policy [of setting of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination ica. Garcia explained, "In our National Assem­ aside reserves for the African majority]. Committee. Odeh's killers have yet to be A big part of the debate on Central bly, 14 of the 96 delegates are from labor My people have rejected the Bantustan brought to justice. America at the AFL-CIO convention fo­ unions." since 1913. We are not struggling to re­ Mac Warren, National Organization cused on the emergency measures taken by form apartheid, but to dismantle it." the Nicaraguan government to combat at­ Mario Obledo, past president of the Tutu-Seavers is chair of the Bishop Tutu Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party , League of United Latin American Citizens pointed to the growing involvement of tacks carried out by the U.S. -backed and Refugee Fund, which aids those who have -armed contras and their supporters in Nic­ (LULAC) also spoke on the panel. He de­ been forced to flee South Africa. (Contrib­ unions and others in the anti-apartheid fended his recent trip to Cuba and opposed struggle and the open debate over Central aragua. Johnson stated, "While I feel we utions to the fund should be directed to: must speak out against these measures, we the U.S. blockade against that country . Bishop Tutu Refugee Fund, 30 Andor St., America at the AFL-CJO convention as of­ He said, "Many of my colleagues, espe­ fering new opportunities for revolutionary must never forget the real cause for these Hartford, Conn. 06106.) measures. And, we must focus our efforts cially the Cuban ones in Miami, were upset Later that day over a dozen workshops fighters. These changes are spurring in­ that I went to Cuba. But none of them com­ creased interest in political questions at ending our government's support for the were held to enable participants to discuss band of murderers known as the contras in plained about talking to the Russians or the the issues raised at the conference. Though among workers, farmers, and young Chinese. I can buy all kinds of goods from people. As a result , there are growing op­ Nicaragua." there was overwhelming support for a A highlight of the conference was the these countries. But I can't get a good cigar united action in the spring, no date was set. portunities to win new readers for the from Havana. The real point here is racism socialist publications. appearance of Edgardo Garcia, president Conference organizers explained that the of the Nicaraguan Trade Union Coordinat­ against my Latino brothers." main purpose of the conference was to Baltimore rally ing Council. The crowd rose and chanted, Obledo continued, "We have always bring people together and build support for The Baltimore rally heard Gertrude "No pasaran '" (They shall not pass!, refer­ been loyal citizens. In every war, we were an action in the spring. It was announced Hughes, a Black activist in the Central ring to the contras) as Garcia was intro­ the first to arrive and the last to leave. We that further meetings would be held to or­ America Solidarity Committee , describe duced . must not rush into a war in Nicaragua. ganize such an action. how she was using Perspectil'(l Mundial to Noting the hypocrisy of the U.S. gov­ Latin Americans in the United States must Those interested in participating in learn Spanish. ernment's claim for concern for democratic . take the lead on this issue." building support for the spring mobiliza­ Reading PM, she explained, helped her rights in Nicaragua, Garcia explained, to Other speakers on the panel included tion may contact the Mobilization for better understand the issues involved in the the applause of the crowd, "No one de­ James Herman, president of the Interna­ Peace, Jobs, and Justice, c/o ILWU Local Nicaraguan revolution and the U.S.­ nounced the lack of human rights in our tional Longshoremen's and Warehouse­ 6, 255 9th St., ~an Francisco, Calif. backed war against it . She pointed out that country before the defeat of Somoza. In- men's Union (ILWU); Dolores Huerta, 94103.

4 The Militant November 22, 1985 -BUILDING ANTI-APARTHEID AND ANTIWAR ACTIONS---- tive Director William Doherty growing concern and criticism of October 25. Two hundred anti­ 1977. 'Solidarity at September 20-21 to try to push U.S .foreign policy. · apartheid activists organized a spi­ The aim of the picket line was to home and abroad' their pro-U.S. government line on Ohio farmer John Burchett, rited picket line to protest the con­ pressure Ray Charles and other Central America. As Acosta who also recently returned from cert of singer Ray Charles, who performers not to return to South BY JOANNE MURPHY pointed out, "Ninety percent of Nicaragua, said, "In Nicaragua has performed in racist South Af­ Africa until apartheid is ended. DETROIT - "Solidarity at AIFLD's budget comes from the they are giving them ground, here rica. The Capital Di strict Coalition home and abroad" was the theme U.S. State Department." they're taking ground away." "Hey, Ray, you can't hide. you Against Apartheid and Racism or­ of a program sponsored by the The American Federation of 'The Bank of Philadelphia is sold out to apartheid" and "Free­ ganized the successful protest. Michigan Labor Committee m State, County and Municipal Em­ the main banker for Campbell dom yes, apartheid no!" greeted Support of Democracy and Human ployees Council 25 submitted a Soup and they also provide invest­ those concert-goers who crossed Rights in Central America. It was resolution to the state convention ments in South Africa," explained the picket line to attend the con­ Seattle longshore held October 17 in conjunction that differed sharply with the offi­ Baldemar Yalasquez of the Farm cert. with the Michigan State AFL-CIO official to speak cial position of the AFL-CIO. But Labor Organizing Committee, The manager of the Palace The­ convention. this resolution did not appear making the connection between ater estimated less than one-third to unions on Speaking at the program was among those that were printed for the exploitation of Black workers of the 3 ,000-seat theater was filled Francisco Acosta from FENAS­ the delegates. in South Africa and here . - well below the normal house apartheid TRAS (National Federation of Because of opposition in the Patricia Macceroni, editor of expected. Salvadoran Workers' Unions); resolutions committee, a Central the Wayne State Uni.versity stu­ Activists from the NAACP, BY KAREN RAY Frank Hammer, of United Auto American policy resolution favor­ dent paper South End, who was American-Arab Anti-Discrimina­ SEATTLE-" U.S. out of Cen­ Workers (UAW) Local 909 and ing U.S. policy was never brought fired for not allowing military ads tion Committee, Irish activists, tral America and South Africa" brother of slain American Institute before the convention for a vote. to be printed in the newspaper, Central America Solidarity Al­ will be the demand of a demon­ for Free Labor Development also spoke to the rally. liance, Solidarity Committee of stration and rally being organized (AIFLD) employee Michael Ham­ Other speakers included Anon the Albany Central Labor Council, here for November 16. mer; and Lois Sloan, striking Gen­ Detroit: 'Boycott Jabara, Palestine Aid Society; and Young Socialist Alliance The protest is sponsored and en­ eral Dynamics worker and mem­ Charles Brown, Detroit City joined the protest. dorsed by many Central America ber of UA W Local 1200. South Africa, Council; and Kathy Gonzales, In October 1980 Ray Charles solidarity groups, campus anti­ performed in apartheid South Af­ apartheid activists, religious or­ Acosta vividly describ.ed the re­ Michigan Interfaith Committee on not Nicaragua' ganizations, and trade unions. pression of unions in El Salvador Human Rights in Central Ameri­ rica. Before he went to South Af­ The protesters will picket at the and the U.S. government's role in ca, who chaired the rally. rica Charles received several re­ DETROIT - Chanting slogans quests by the African National Federal Building and march to the backing the government of Jose Over 20 high school students in both English and Spanish, 150 Congress, South West Africa Labor Temple for an indoor rally. Napoleon Duarte. He said the gov­ from three different schools also people marched through the People's Organization, and the Speakers at the rally will in­ ernment forces tried to kill him joined the march. Latino community to River Side Organization of African Unity not clude Leo Robinson of the Interna­ twice before he left his country. Park for · a rally to demand to collaborate with South Africa's tional Longshoremen's and Hammer asked the gathering, "Boycott South Africa, not Nica­ white-minority regime. Warehousemen's Uriion Local 10; "Who supports labor and who at­ ragua!" Albany protest Organizers of the picket pointed Basil Freeman of the African Na­ tacks labor? In Nicaragua there The October 26 march and rally out tnat Ray Charles' tour of South tional Congress; and a representa­ were !50 union agreements under was organized by the Detroit Coa­ hits Ray Charles Africa was particularly offensive tive from Nicaragua. Somoza. Now there · are over lition for Peace, Jobs and Justice. concert since one of his concerts was Robinson will begin a four-day I ,000. Under Duarte, in the At the rally Milt Tamber, staff­ scheduled in Soweto on October tour of Seattle on November 14 to months before I was there, 133 person for the American Federa­ BY GEORGE KONT ANIS 19- a day reserved by Blacks for speak to area trade unions on the unionists were assassinated." tion of State, County and Munici­ ALBANY, N.Y. - Chants of anti-apartheid protests in com­ growing involvement of labor in The AFL-CIO had brought pal Employees Council 25, told "Free South Africa, Free Nelson memoration of the banning of 18 the fight against apartheid. three Central American unionists the protesters of his recent trip to Mandela" reverberated off the en­ organizations and the jailing of 50 For more information call (206) to Michigan with AIFLD Execu- Nicaragua and of U.S. labor's tranc~ to the Palace Theater here leading activists on that date in 328-2451. Union-led march in New Jersey slams apartheid

Continued from front page An Episcopal bishop addressed the rally, Angel Dominguez spoke for the bitterly Lawrence Hamm represented the plants and shops they were sold by the hun­ along with the imam of Newark Muslims. exploited farm workers of South Jersey . A People's Organization for Progress. He dreds. Sale and display of the buttons There were other ministers as well. leader of the Farm Workers Organizing had played a leading role in the student sparked interest and extensive discussion Colleges and high schools were repre­ Committee, he said farm workers well un­ fight for divestment at Princeton Univer­ among workers. sented. derstand the meaning of the South African sity. Discussions at union meetings and arti­ Leslie Roberts, regional director of Dis­ fight against apartheid. "We know about "We must continue our divestment cam­ cles in union papers added to the awareness trict 65, chaired. American Indian Movement hits plan to recruit Indians to fight Sandinistas

BY FRED FELDMAN A news conference in San Jose, Costa Rica, November 10 announced plans to at­ tempt to recruit U.S. Indians into U.S.­ backed counterrevolutionary forces fight­ ing the Nicaraguan government. Three U.S. Indians appeared as the spokespeople for the recruiting effort. Their action was played up in the U.S. big­ business media: Russell Means, one of the three, was falsely proclaimed "a leader of the Ameri­ can Indian Movement [AIM]," in the November II New York Times. The other two- a teacher at the University of Col­ orado and an adviser to the U.S. govern­ ment on Indian affairs - were falsely painted as militant activists in the fight for Indian rights . They proclaimed the goal of recruiting to MISURASAT A, a guerrilla group led by Brooklyn Rivera, who also appeared at the news conference. Rivera once had a significant base among the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast region. The social advances the Nicaraguan revolution brought to the Atlantic Coast, including the willingness of the government to help the people of the Atlantic Coast achieve autonomy, have Militant/Dick Bancroft won over many Miskitos who were for­ American Indian leaders Vernon and Clyde Bellecourt appear with Sandinista leaders from Bluefields in Atlantic Coast re­ merly neutral or sympathetic to Rivera. gion during 1981 visit to Nicaragua. AIM says struggle of Indians in United States is against racist U.S. rulers, not Nicara­ The government's autonomy plan for the guan revolution. Atlantic Coast was arrived at after exten­ sive negotiations with Indian groups, in­ cluding MISURASAT A. Rivera broke off talks and resumed his war against the revo­ lution with the support of a faction of MIS­ UAW Region 4 hosts mtgs on S. Africa URASATA. The AIM leadership immediately re­ BY MAUREEN COLETTA floor on behalf of the UA W International signs that read, "'Constructive engage­ sponded to Means' efforts to turn Indians AND RITA LEE Executive Board. He called for "Sanctions ment' doesn't work!" and "Sanctions now! in the United States against Nicaragua. CHICAGO - United Auto Workers now!" 73% have no voice!" the unionists formed Speaking for AIM, Chief Executive Of­ (UA W) Region 4, representing 90,000 "The UA W urges imposing a ban on any a picket line that swelled to 200 people as ficer Nee-gon-way-we-dung (Clyde Bel­ members in Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, further investments or loans to either the passersby joined in . lecourt) pointed out that Means had twice has recently held a series of conferences public or private sectors of the South Afri­ Before reboarding the buses, the UA W announced his resignation from the organi­ and meetings that have taken up the issue can economy," Stewart said. He criticized contingent crossed the street and joined in zation. "To clear up any confusion,?' he of South Africa. the Reagan administration's policy of the picket line of the striking Chicago said, "Russell Means has been totally ex­ Representatives from the Chicago Free "constructive engagement" as encourage­ Tribune newspaper workers. They pelled from the American Indian Move­ South Africa Movement (FSAM) coalition ment and collaboration with the South Af­ marched with the strikers, exchanging in­ ment." were invited to speak to 75 UA W members rican government's suppression of the formation about the trade union movement AIM leader Vernon Bellecourt em­ at the Chicago Area Women 's Committee Black majority. in South Africa and the issues in the phasized that the organization stood behind meeting on September 29. The table set up "The UA W condemns the South African Tribune strike. The favorite chant by pick­ its April 4, 1985, declaration on Nicara­ by the FSAM coalition sold out its anti­ government for jailing leaders of the Trade ets was "Freedom! - from Chicago to gua: "We support the initiatives taken by apartheid buttons. Union Federation and charging them with South Africa." the Nicaraguan government toward auto­ On October 23, some 150 local union subversion for merely exercising their nomy for the Indian peoples inside Nicara­ representatives gathered at the UA W basic right to organize workers . The Black gua. We support the talks taking place be­ Chicagoland Civil Rights Committee con­ trade union movement in South Africa has UAW members end strike tween the government of Nicaragua, the ference. Members of the South African Na­ emerged as the primary vehicle of or­ at General Dynamics Indian organizations, and the Indian people tional Union of Mineworkers (NUM), who ganized power for that nation's 24 million in Nicaragua on autonomy, reconciliation, were touring the United States, spoke. Blacks. The UA W supports their struggle in a close vote and the repatriation of refugees in Costa James Motlatsi, president of the NUM, de­ to establish a democratic, unitary political Continued from front page Rica and Honduras. We support the many , scribed the brutal police attack on the Sep­ and governmental system within South Af­ payments, which he called "one of the many peace initiatives made by the govern­ tember strike, which forced the union to rica. To deny that 73 percent majority a biggest concessions of all time ." ment of Nicaragua toward the United suspend the job action. Motlatsi appealed voice in government is a national dis- "There are those who say you are going States. We support the unquestionable for aid for the victimized strikers. Jeffrey grace." · to receive something by taking a lump right of the people of Nicaragua to deter­ Magiba, NUM steward education depart­ Following the meeting. UA W members sum," he said. "You are going to receive mine their own future free from outside ag- ment instructor, also spoke. boarded chartered buses that brought them something now, and you are going to pay Continued on Page I 0 Regional Director Bill Stewart took the to the South African consulate. Carrying for it the rest of your life. "A lousy quarter, just a 1.25 percent in­ crease in your base pay, will result in $1,500 within the term of that agreement," 'IP' on the case history of a ·sect he explained. "If you take that $1 ,500 up front in a lump sum, you have it one time for the past few weeks the British the origins and evolution of the and never see it again. But if it's in your press has been filled with lurid WRP's degeneration has many im- ,..------, base rate , you have that $1 ,500 every three headlines about what has been portant lessons for class-struggle years for the rest of your working life." dubbed the "reds in the bed scan­ fighters. INTERCONTINENTAL The ratified agreement includes two dal." Jenness notes that the WRP's de­ base rate increases of 2.25 percent in the The pretext for this journalistic generation began more than two PRESS first year and three percent in the third sensationalism is a split in the cen­ decades ago when it refused to rec­ year. That's more than the company's orig­ tral leadership of the Workers Rev­ ognize a socialist revolution in PhilipQines inal offer, which was rejected by the mem­ olutionary Party, one of the main Cuba. The Healyites placed doc­ Washington Puts Heat bership in June. It also includes a lump organizations in Britain claiming trine ahead of facts, Jenness says. on Marcos Regime sum payment of $2,000 upon ratification adherence to Trotskyism. Intercontinental Press is a biweekly and a 2.25 percent pay ment next June , On October 19 the WRP central that carries more articles, docu­ based on the previous year's income. committee expelled Gerry Healy, ments, and special features on world UA W members had also demanded for many years the cult figure of the politics -from Europe to Oceania Martin Luther King's birthday as a holi­ WRP and its predecessor, the and from the Middle East to Central day. They got $125 in cash instead and had Socialist Labour League. America - than we have room for to give up three noating holidays. On the basis of a letter sent to the Full Text in the Militant. Subscribe now. Discussing the results of the vote with WRP's political committee from his ofANC 'Freedom Charter' the press, Coakley said. "If every local former secretary, Healy is charged Enclosed is D $7 .50 for 3 months. would use their education committee and Founding with abusing his authority in order D $15 for 6 months. D $30 for 1 Declaration the other committees they have to educate to organize sexual affairs with full­ year. of UDF their people, I don ' t think we would have time party staff members. Name ______National Forum's ratified this agreement." In the December 2 issue of Inter­ 'Manifesto of Borge on Nicaragua's Local 1200, he said, "is a very together continental Press , Doug Jenness Aqdress ______the Azanian 'State of Emergency' local. It was when we went out, and it is People' points out that many in the work­ Ortega's Speech to UN going to be even more so when we go back. City __ State __ Zip __ .______.J ----·- ·------· - · - ---·- ers' movement may think that there L______~ We stayed together. We are going back to­ is nothing political involved in this Clip and mail to Intercontinental gether feeling good about ourselves." split and that it should be ignored. Press, 410 West St., New York, NY ·He said that the vote in Lima, Ohio. This is false, he argues. Studying 10014. where the contract was narrowly approved, was a "good sign" for the future.

6 The Militant November 22, 1985 Women workers at Nicaraguan textile factory discuss role of women BY CINDY JAQUITH A number of women who had remained MANAGUA, Nicaragua - It was 2 silent throughout the meeting wanted to p.m. The whistle blew, announcing the end speak on this point. They pr.esented the of the first shift and the beginning of the issue of child care not as a demand on the second at the Texnicsa textile factory here. Nicaraguan government - which, as sev­ Workers began streaming toward the eral women pointed out, does not presently main gate. As they passed the cafeteria, have the resources to build them a center several women called out to them, urging - but as an appeal to international sup­ them to come inside for a meeting of porters of the revolution. AMNLAE, the Nicaraguan women's as­ Combatant Marfa Justina Lara took the sociation. floor to talk about what it would take to get About 35 women workers gathered in a center. The women would have to or­ the cafeteria for the meet'ing. Some were ganize, she said. They would have to be­ still wearing their caps to keep cotton dust come more active in AMNLAE. Like other out of their hair. speakers, she pointed out that international Aura Membreno, one of the workers aid was needed to raise the funds. Women workers at Texnicsa textile factory in Managua, Nicaragua. Nicaraguan rev­ who leads the AMNLAE chapter at Tex­ When the meeting adjourned, we were olution has given women opportunity to enter into struggle for their rights. nicsa, opened the meeting by introducing taken on a tour of the plant. First we saw the guests, including several Salvadoran the mechanics' workshops and the When we finished the tour, the second­ army to gain the confidence of peasants women revolutionaries and Bill Gretter and warehouse. Next to them, in the yard, lay a shift workers were heading to the cafeteria who had been intimidated by the mer­ myself from the Militant. Then she asked pile of spinning machines that cannot be for dinner. We were inv(ted to join them. cenaries just across the border. three of the textile workers present to say a used because they're missing parts made in The meal was good: rice with chile, Mejfa said she had been working at Tex­ few words. Two of them were "combat­ the United States. The workers try to repro­ cheese, fried bananas, and potatoes in a nicsa since 1963 . The plant has been great­ ants," women who have served in the San­ duce the spare parts they can. cream sauce. "Before the revolution, this ly expanded since the revolution, she said. dinista armed forces, defending the coun­ Inside the plant itself, cotton is spun into cafeteria was just for management," said It now employs I ,300 workers, considera­ try against the mercenaries armed and fi­ thread, woven into cloth, and then dyed. Ventura Yaldolimar, one of the workers bly more than under Somoza. nanced by Washington. This week, the plant was making cloth for who ate with us. "We didn't have any place Texnicsa was one of the plants where Marfa Justina Lara was one of the com­ consumer goods. The week before, the to eat." She pointed to a banner that read: workers used to be able to buy the cloth batants. In 1980 she joined a 750-member workers were producing olive-green mater­ "Luisa Amanda Espinoza Cafeteria." "She they produced at very cheap prices, thus all-women's battalion. She fought in the ial for military uniforms. was a girl who died fighting in the revolu­ supplementing their income. This policy, north of Nicaragua. The all-women's bat­ tion," she explained. "AMNLAE is named called "payment in kind," was ended by the talions have since been dissolved and Woman mechanic after her too - Luisa Amanda Espinoza government last spring because it was women are directly integrated into the mil­ We stopped in a repair shop along the Association of Nicaraguan Women." exacerbating the country' s economic prob­ itary units with men. way to meet a woman who has become a Another woman seated at the table was lems and deepening inequality among Lara spoke about how the Nicaraguan mechanic, one of the few in the country. Xiomara Mejfa Calderon, a combatant workers. revolution has given women the opportu­ She explained that with so many men in the who fought last March near the border with We asked the women what Texnicsa nity to enter into the struggle for their war, women like herself have been trained Honduras in Nueva Segovia province. She workers thought about the abolition of pay­ rights. "In the past, we were never taken to do these jobs. "Of course, there are still said her main work as a soldier was or­ ment in kind. Mejfa answered, "Well, into account. Today we are," she said. some men who think women are only good ganizing child care for peasants in the area. some people left the factory after that. The Through the revolution, women have for housework," she laughed. It was part of a project by the Sandinista conscious ones have remained." gained health care and education, she con­ tinued. Little by little, they are al so break­ ing into jobs previously considered male­ only. At Texnicsa, this includes electri­ cians and mechanics. Costa Rican unionists visit Nicaragua

'How a mother feels' BY BILL GRETTER ricultural Workers Union were interested members to participate in the trip. Ampara Sequeira, a member of the PENAS BLANCAS , Nicaragua - The in finding out about conditions on Nicara­ The visitors entered Nicaragua without Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs, spoke. government of Costa Rica has become in­ guan farms. The union organizes banana visas, being among the first to do so under Her son was killed in combat by the mer­ creasingly hostile in recent months to the workers on United Fruit Co. plantations, a new policy. Nicaraguan President Daniel cenaries. She said she wanted to take ad­ country's northern neighbor, revolutionary where they have been in constant conflict Ortega had announced a week before that vantage of the fact that journalists were Nicaragua. with the owners. But they stressed that Nicaragua would no longer require visas present "to tell you how a mother feels But Costa Rican trade unionists have a their visit was an informal interchange for Costa Rican citizens entering the coun­ when she loses her son. different idea. Sixty of them crossed the only. try . He issued an open invitation for Costa "My boy was barely 20, the oldest of my border here October I I to demonstrate Penas Blancas is a border post on Nica­ Ricans to visit Nicaragua. four children. He volunteered for the Pat­ their support for Nicaragua. "We thought it ragua's southern boundary, where the Pan­ On October 12 the delegation attended a riotic Military Service and went to the was important to have a large delegation of American Highway crosses into Costa meeting of more than I ,000 labor and farm mountains. I was sitting right here in this workers from a wide variety of industries ," Rica. Sapoa, the nearest town , is a tiny . leaders in Matagalpa, in the heart of Nica­ cafeteria when they brought me the news the unionists explained. 'This is intended cluster of houses two and a half miles up ragua's mountainous coffee-growing re­ he was dead." as a show of friendship with the people of the road. This is quiet farming country gion. Coffee is the country's biggest and Sequeira said she has another son who is Nicaragua." where fields of rice, sorghum, and banana most profitable export crop. It is thus ex­ 17. He will go into the service too. "I don't The Costa Rican visitors were invited by trees border scenic Lake Nicaragua. tremely important in an economy based want my children to go. but they will if The southern part of Nicaragua's Pacific Nicaragua's Sandinista Workers Federa­ largely on agriculture. necessary." she said. ··we will not surren­ Coast is relatively peaceful. "Compared to tion (CST) and by the unions of farm work­ The coffee harvest that will begin shortly der. We're going to keep fighting until we what's going on in the north of the country, ers, teachers, public employees, and health will be a major nationwide effort. In addi­ reach the end - the defeat of the im­ there's nothing happening here ," one of the tion to farm workers, 20,000 volunteers workers. Denis Melendez, international af­ perialist mercenaries. soldiers commented. fairs director of the CST, predicted that the will be mobilized, most of them students "Our kids have given us a great example visit and others like it could have "a big ef­ But 'Counterrevolutionary forces, who and public workers. International brigades of courage. If the parents have to take up fect" on relations between the two coun­ operate with impunity from Costa Rican will participate as well. guns too, we'll clo it." tries. "It reaffirms once again our desire for territory, are a constant threat. With pow­ The Costa Rican visitors attending the The Salvadoran women spoke, describ­ peace," he said. "We want to maintain erful mortars supplied by the U.S. govern­ meeting witnessed an extensive, democrat­ ing their struggle to overthrow the dictator­ ic discussion between revolutionary lead­ good relations with all of the countries in ment, and with the complicity of the Costa ship in their country. They said they Central America." Rican government which closes its eyes to ers and farm workers. Three members of wanted to have more links with women at Among the Costa Rican workers were their crimes, these terrorists are able to fire the National Directorate of the Sandinista Texnicsa and invited everyone present to represe'ntatives of several major union fed­ on Nicaragua at will. National Liberation Front were present, in­ . come to a celebration they were holding the erations, as well as members of unaffiliated The last big assault on Penas Blancas oc­ cluding Jaime Wheelock, the minister of next week . unions. One-third of the visiting unionists curred two years ago. Last month the bor­ agriculture. The ministers of transportation The textile workers also asked some were women. der post was attacked by mortar fire. "Of and internal commerce also attended. questions of us as U.S. reporters. What did The union of workers at the Costa Rican course the violation of our airspace is a Workers at the meeting had an opportu­ we think about women in Nicaragua" Is it Electrical Authority, which is not part of daily thing," the commanding officer nity to ask questions and express their con­ true there's a lot of unemployment and any federation, sent nine of its members to explained. "That never fails." cerns. Among these, the most important poverty in the United States'J see Nicaragua. Francisco Aguilar, execu­ The majority of the unionists in the was the need to defend the coffee pickers Costa Rican delegation were quite young. from attacks by the mercenaries. Wage Child-care center needed tive director of the union, explained that , although Costa Rica and Nicaragua are One older man wanted to make it clear that rates, food supplies, and allocation of Then several workers took the noor to geographically close, diplomatic relations he was there to repudiate his government's trucks and tires were also discussed. speak about their need for a child-care cen­ Some of the Costa Rican unionists will have not been close Ia tel y. support to the terrorists . "It's scandalous!" ter at or near the plant. The majority of he said. "Scandalous! The Costa Rican return to Nicaragua within the next few workers at Texnicsa are women, and many "Our goal is harmony ," he added. "Our government is guilty when our soldiers get months to help with the harvest. Alvaro are single parents. If they cannot find a rel­ government has a policy of confrontation killed in border incidents. And they have Mora is a member of the bank workers' ative to take care of their children while that leads to confusion. We want our mem­ the nerve to blame the Sandinistas! It union who participated in last year's coffee they're at work , they are sometimes forced bers to know what 's happening in Nicara­ makes me furious to see the way they're harvest and plans to come back. "I come to to lock the kids in the house. There have gua." He described trade union conditions trying to whip up the people of Costa Rica Nicaragua every year," he said. "And there been several incidents of children left alone in Costa Rica as "very difficult in the tele­ against Nicaragua." are a lot more like me. There's a lot of sup­ who accidentally set fire to the house. In communications industry." His union, the Employees Association port for the Nicaraguan revolution in Costa one case, three children died . Two representatives of the San Jose Ag- of the Technological Institute, sent 13 of its Rica. "

November 22, 1985 The Militant 7 \1l"XIuJ Poverty and debt in Citlj Central America The following commentary on Central this year. This means that Guatemala, El America's foreign debt was broadcast Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica will on Cuban radio September 25. Origi­ not even be able to stabilize their level of nally broadcast by the Havana Interna­ foreign exchange income from trade activ­ tional Service in Spanish, the English ities. Consequently, the interest and capital translation is taken from the October 1 of their foreign debt will grow along side Daily Report of the Foreign Broadcast their low exports. Information Service. Such are the causes for the increasing re­ bellion that is registered in. each one of Almost 75 percent of the Central Amer­ these countries. It has even taken the form ican countries' debt, which has risen above of national rebellion , first in El Salvador $15 billion, belongs to El Salvador, and then in Guatemala. The people's just Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras - demands for economic and social improve­ in other words , the nations in the area that ments are countered by the authorities' re­ devote large sums of money for their arms pression and new measuress which reduce )'ACIFIC OcEA~ buildup. These are also the nations that re­ even more the people's low purchasing gister the highest indexes of poverty in the power. N" region. The force of weapons represents the only The authorities in these four Central way in which

8 The Militant November 22, 1985 MARCH Indianapolis rally: For Womens Lives 'Stop the attacks on abortion clinics' BY JOHN WARREN to privacy and control over their own INDIANAPOLIS - On November 2 a bodies, but wrong to intervene economi­ MAIICH t-INftiiNATIONAI. WOMIN'S DAY crowd of 225 cheering supporters of a cally against apartheid?" WASHINGTON, D.C. MARCH woman's right to abortion attended In­ The action, called by NOW, was Assemble at I 0:00 a.m. on the Mall for marr:h. Rallfl at the Uncoln Menrarial to follow. dianapolis' first abortion rights rally in broadly supported. Cosponsors included: Meet NOW marcherS on the Mall in front ot the Smithsonian many years. Catholic Women for Reproductive Rights, Museums between 7th and 14th Streets. N. W., and between Independence and Constitution Awenues. Our Washlnston march The rally was called in response to an in­ Indiana Pro-Choice Action League, In~ will kick-off a week of public actions and demonstrations in support of women's rlehts and freedom ot choice. Route for cident in September, when an antiabortion diana Civil Liberties Union, Indiana Uni­ march to be announced. picket invaded an abortion clinic, rushed versity School of Law Women's Caucus, MAilCH II through the recovery room, and tried to Indiana Women's Political Caucus, In­ LOS ANGnQ MAACH handcuff himself to the treatment table. For dianapolis Network for Reproductive Assemble at 10:00 a.m. for march. aty Ra/lfl to foi/Qw. the past two years, right-wing opponents of Rights, Planned Parenthood, Jewish Com­ abortion have been harassing women seek­ munity Relations Bureau, League of Eleanor Smeal, president of Na­ Assembly and rally sites. and march route to be announced. tional Organization for Women, ing abortions at Indianapolis clinics. Women Voters, and the National Abortion told Texas conference that NOW At a press conference before the rally, Rights Action League. aims for massive turnout at t------~------t the Indianapolis chapter of the National Or­ The featured speaker was Sister Mar­ spring abortion rights marches. ganization for Women (NOW) demanded garet Traxler, one of the "Vatican 24," a FOR MORE INFORMATION ON OUR WASHINGTON AND LOS ANGELES MARCHES Leaflet for demonstrations was PHONE NOW S NATIONAL OFFICE AT (202} 347-2279 OR WRITE TO NOW MARC that the city government protect women group of nuns who have refused to recant a FORWOMENSLIVES. I401 NEWYORKAVENUE NW WASHINGTON DC 20005 mailed out to all NOW members. from this harassment. statement they signed condemning the The statement by NOW at the press con­ Catholic Church's stand against abortion. ference also pointed to the Reagan admin­ A statement of support from the Indiana istration's hypocrisy in refusing to enact Coalition of Labor Union Women was strong sanctions against South Africa. Re­ read. Texas NOW: 'All out for ferring to the Reagan administration's The crowd responded with loud cheering cutoff of funding for international family when rally organizers called on them to or­ planning agencies that perform abortions, ganize and spread the word on the March abortion rights march' the statement said, "Why is it OK to de­ 9, 1986, abortion rights march on Wash­ prive women the world over of their right ington, D.C. BY SUSAN ZAMORA Texas State NOW members unanimous­ AND LESLIE BRUCE ly passed a resolution that puts a priority on ARLINGTON. Texas Eleanor building the march. It resolved "that Texas St. Louis abortion rights action Smeal, the president of the National Or­ NOW will work to insure maximum par­ ganization for Women (NOW), was the ticipation," which includes plans for planes BY ELLEN DORFMAN to attempt to prevent the clinic from pro­ keynote speaker at the Texas State NOW and possibly buses that would make stops ST. LOUIS - Chanting "Back alleys, viding abortions and other services. convention held here October 18- 20. in El Paso, Houston, Austin, and Dallas to no more," 200 supporters of a woman's Horn even carried a fetus bare-handed to Smeal called on the 150 delegates and bring marchers to Washington, D.C. right to choose safe, legal abortion rallied the line of escorts to harass and intimidate observers to start organizing now for the Several anti-apartheid activists circu­ here October 26. them. "March to Save Women's Lives." which lated a national petition of the NAACP The rally, sponsored by the Missouri The clinic was well-defended and re­ will be held on March 9 in Washington, National Abortion Rights Action League mained open. The escorts from NARAL, D.C., and on March 16 .in Los Angeles, calling for an immediate end to the system of apartheid. About 80 signatures were col­ (NARAL), was called to respond to in­ NOW, and the Religious Coalition for California. The mass demonstrations to leted . creasing provocations and harassment by · Abortion Rights were mobilized to protect keep abor.tion safe and legal were called by right-wing antiabortion forces here. patients from harassment. the national convention of NOW last July The Militant Labor Bookstore table was NARAL called the demonstration across in New Orleans. well-received. Over $120 of both English­ the street from a concert sponsored by the Also, the St. Louis County police re­ ··we are going to show our numbers," and Spanish-language literature and T­ Americans for Life. The concert was part sponded to the increased pressure from the Smeal told the conference . urging the dele­ shirts were sold. Eighteen single issues of of the "Walk America -for Life" campaign, clinics and proabortion organizations. gates to make the demonstrations "the the Militant were sold, along with eight which includes exhibiting a coffin for a There were about 25 officers, a SWAT largest in feminist history." subscriptions to the Militant and one to its fetus named "Baby Choice." team, and three paddy wagons on the · "Abortion is a social good," Smeal said. Spanish-language sister publication, Per­ Right-wing preachers Norman Stone and scene. " It saves women's lives. " spectim Mundial. Sales reflected confer­ Jerry Horn are walking across the country NARAL began to organize escorts last To maximize participation for the ence participants' interest in the situation in collecting fetuses and displaying them in August after 300 antiabortion demonstra­ march, Smeal called for launching a earn­ Central America - especially Nicaragua small coffins at activities like this one. tors from 15 states descended on the West pus campaign to reach out to millions of -and in the origins of women's oppres­ The crowd at the abortion rights rally , County clinic. Their tactics include harass~ women of childbearing age, who have a sion. Books by Evelyn Reed, Marx, En­ drawn from all three National Organization ment, "sidewalk counseling," blocking the major stake in the battle for abortion rights. gels, and Lenin were sold. for Women chapters in the area, NARAL, doors of the clinic, and passively resisting the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and arrest. others, drowned out a small handful of Sixty-one were arrested and carried Women's rights backers defend people at the antiabortion concert. away one by one when the cops finally ar­ Earlier in the day, 35 proabortion activ­ rived after an hour's delay and seven phone ists, who were acting as escorts at the Re­ calls. Portland clinic from attack productive Health Services Clinic in West On September 14, the trained escorts BY AMY HUSK and other groups. The coalition was St. Louis County, stood up to the right­ were pressed into service when I 00 anti­ AND DEBORAH HIGDON formed in response to the recent step-up in wingers . abortion demonstrators picketed and at­ PORTLAND, Ore. - This city is be­ violence against Portland abortion clinics. The "Walk America for Life" campaign tempted to sit in at the Reproductive Health corning a battleground over women's right mobilized 100 antiabortion demonstrators Services Clinic in the City of St. Louis. Scheidler is the author of the book, to abortion. On October 28 Joseph Schei­ Closed; 99 Ways to Stop Abortion, which dler, a nationally known right-wing oppo­ advocates harassment of clinic personnel nent of abortion rights, led a mob of anti­ and patients. He has designated 1985 as the Antiabortion referenda defeated abortion pickets in an attack on the "Year of Pain and Fear" for abortion Lovejoy Surgicenter here. Scheidler was BY PAT GROGAN from the moment of fertilization. This law clinics. attempting to enter the clinic, which per­ Voters in three small New England would make it a crime if a doctor failed to Since his last visit to Portland in July, forms abortions. About 35 women's rights towns defeated antiabortion referenda that apply the same standards to fetal care dur­ violence against local clinics has escalated. activists were there to defend the clinic and appeared on the November 5 ballot. ing an abortion as during childbirth. At the Feminist Women's Health Center, give support to the women entering. Also at issue is a Pennsylvania statute clinic windows have been repeatedly bro­ The non-binding referenda posed the Scheidler's supporters attempted to pro­ that would require doctors to select the ken and phone lines have been cut. There question: should the 1973 Supreme Court voke a violent confrontation by kicking, abortion technique that would provide the was also an attempted firebombing at the decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized shoving, and punching the women and men best opportunity to keep the fetus alive. Lovejoy clinic. abortion, be overturned? Medical experts point out that this would defending the clinic. The clinic supporters These attacks are part of a broader offen­ In Bristol, Connecticut, 8,555 said responded by chanting, "Right to life - mean using caesarean surgery for many sive against women 's right to choose abor­ "no," with 6,737 voting "yes." it's a lie; they don't care if women die" and abortions, increasingthe risk to a woman's tion. Antiabortionists are petitioning in "Not the church. not the state, women will In Derry, New Hampshire, I ,650 re­ health by I ,000 to I ,500 percent. Oregon to put an initiative on the 1986 bal­ decide our fate ." jected overturning legal abortion, with A broad range of women's rights and lot to cut off state funding for abortions. At During an hour-long confrontation, I, 106 in favor. In Dover, New Hampshire, civil liberties organizations have filed present, Oregon is one of only 13 states women 's rights supporters successfully de­ a majority also voted against overturning amicus briefs in these cases, supporting and the District of Columbia that sti ll pro­ fended the clinic and prevented Scheidler Roe v. Wade . Roe v. Wade. These include: National Or­ vide state funding for abortions. and his gang from entering. Police finally These referenda are the first time that the ganization for Women, National Abortion moved the right-wingers away from the Supporters of women's rights in Oregon question of legalized abortion, as set out in Rights Action League, American Civil clinic entrance. are already organizing to defeat this initia­ the Roe v. Wade decision, has been put to a Liberties Union, Coalition of Labor Union The day before, Scheid.ler gave a speech tive. A recently formed group. the Pro­ vote. Women, National Black Women's Health in Portland and was picketed by over 65 Choice Coalition, is mapping out a cam­ The Reagan administration has inter­ Project, and the U.S . Student Association. abortion rights supporters. The picket line paign to defeat it. Part of their strategy in­ vened in two cases currently being heard In a victory for women's rights, the Sen­ was called by the Community Clinic De­ volves reaching out to labor unions, Black by the Supreme Court, asking the court to ate on November 7 defeated two attempts fense Coalition (CCDC). The CCDC in­ organizations, and churches, and drawing uphold two state antiabortion laws and to to prohibit the District of Columbia from cludes representatives from the National them into the campaign. Twenty-three overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade deci­ using its own funds to pay for abortions for Abortion Rights Action League, the Na­ groups have joined the coalition so far, in­ sion, which made abortion a woman's con­ women who cannot afford them. There are tional Organization for Women, the cluding the Northwest Joint Board of the stitutional right. only 13 states, plus the District of Colum­ Feminist Women's Health Center, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Work­ At issue in the cases is an Illinois law bia, that still provide funding for Medicaid Socialist Worke~s Party, Radical Women, ers Union . that defines the fetus as a human being abortions.

November 22, 1985 The Militant 9 Minn. Indians fight illegal land seizure

BY ELLIE GARCIA MINNEAPOLIS - A delegation of 50 met with representatives of the Min­ neapolis Star and Tribune to protest a crooked. racist editorial covering up illegal seizure of tribal land owned by the White Earth Reservation . Demands for honest coverage of the issue were presented. The delegation included representatives of Anishinabe Akeeng (the People's Land), leaders of the American Indian Movement (AIM), and supporters. Anishinabe Akeeng is a coalition of heirs and allottees to the land of White Earth Anishinabe Nation, also known as the White Earth Chippewa Reservation. Anishinabe Akeeng is fighting to stop the further theft of treaty-guaranteed lands and to recover what has been illegally taken since 1867. The editorial which prompted the meet­ ing called for passage of congressional bills, introduced by legislators from Min­ nesota, which would legitimize the theft of Anishinabe tribal property. Freedom struggle of Indian people includes fight to recover land stolen from them through genocide and broken treaties Anishinabe Akeeng demands that all stolen lands be returned immediately and have repeatedly stressed, "Our land is not pewas of the Mississippi Anishinabe estab­ Affairs. tees or heirs, the victims of these illegal for sale." lishing the White Earth Reservation. Then These are some of the facts Bellecourt takings. The protesters at the meeting with the the Nelson Allotment Act of 1889 removed laid out. Bellecourt called for a policy of "restora­ paper included Vernon and Clyde Bel­ the land from tribal control and imposed in­ • The State of Minnesota currently tion of lands, restitutions for the timber and lecourt and Janice Denny, leaders of AIM, dividual ownership of land. holds 160,000 acres of White Earth other resources degradation, and repara­ as well as Stephanie Autumn Peltier, wife By destroying communal guardianship Anishinabe land of which 30,000 acres are tions for the economic hardship suffered by of Leonard Peltier, who was railroaded to of land this act was designed to break up held with defective tit)(:. The attorney gen­ the Anishinabe people, all leading to an prison py the FBI. sovereign treaty lands of Indian nations. eral and other Minnesota legislators con­ economic reconstruction of an Indian fu­ Atso participating were Indian students An arrangement was legalized in which sider it generous to offer to return I 0,000 ture in America." from Heart of the Earth Survival School over the next 50 years Indian nations would acres of land that is rightfully the The U.S. government and various cor­ and Little Red Schoolhouse, the Minnesota lose two-thirds of their remaining lands by Anishinabe's and to offer the victims a $6 porations and their mouthpieces would Public Interest Project, and Young sale and swindle. Much of this land was million loan. have everyone believe that there is simply a Socialist Alliance. Originall y. the meeting rich with oil, coal, gold, silver, uranium, • Of 24,000 members of the White "land-ownership dispute" and that the solu­ was supposed to be between the paper's petroleum, and timber. The White Earth Earth Anishinabe. Nation, 4,000 members tion is for the rightful heirs to accept a pit­ representatives and a small committee. But Nation saw its land stolen bit by bit until reside within the treaty boundaries of tance for their stolen land. it was broadened out to include all those today only 6 percent - 48,000 acres - of White Earth while 20,000 members "have The onl y just and legal solution is to re­ who showed up at the protest at the news­ their land is controlled by Anishinabe. Of become scattered to the four winds due to paper. the remaining 94 percent- 792,000 acres turn immediately all illegally held land to the illegal taking and forced removal from the White Earth Anishinabe Nation. While the paper arrogantly rejected most - 26 percent is held by the state and fed­ their lands." of the demands for reasonable coverage, it eral governments, and 68 percent by non­ The U.S. government must make repa­ did print a statement by Vernon Bellecourt Indian private landholders. • Besides facing poverty after being rations not only for the crimes that it has on the pending congressional measure, and A federal investigation mandated by pushed off the land, the Anishinabe "do not committed but also for those crimes it has this was a victory . Congress examined a third of the White have the opportunity to benefit economi­ encouraged others to commit since 1867. The pending congressional bills are part Earth Reservation land base of 840,000 cally from the use of the land or from the Any difficulties that may result for farmers of a long history of racist crimes against In­ acres and found 200,000 acres with defec­ millions of dollars in timber and other re­ and others is a consequence of earlier il­ dians. By force of arms and genocide, In­ tive title. Congress terminated this investi­ sources taken illegally from these lands." legal government action and they should be dian nations were driven from their lands gation before completion. • The Department of Interior has fu ll y compensated by the government, not onto reservations. In September Vernon Bellecourt tes­ notified current property holders of defects by committing a new injustice against the In Minnesota the U.S. government en­ tified on behal f of Anishinabe Akeeng be­ in their titles but has not noti fi ed the allot- Anishinabe. tered into an 1867 treaty with the Chi p- fore the Senate Select Committee on Indian La. abortion clinics burned Do you know someone who reads Spanish? 'PM' on Philippine upsurge

Subic Bay n ava l ba se a nd Clark Air Base, the two biggest U.S . Petspecjil'tl military bases outside the conti­

nenta l United States, are loca ted .Mundialj in the Philippines. Their strat egic position a llows the U.S. to project ·Nicaragua its military might throughout se defiende Southeast Asia a nd th e P acific is­ de terror land region . The bases house a organizado tota l of 13,700 U .S. troops. A growing popular insurgency, porEUA mass protests against the "U.S.­ Habla Daniel Ortega Marcos dictatorship" (as m any ante Naciones Unidas One of two clinics in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, attacked by arsonists. Filipinos call it), a nd the country's Siguen firmes obreras en huelga wor st economic crisis h ave Wash ­ contra empacadoras en California ington worried th at Marcos' cor­ NEW ORLEANS - The National Or­ continue investigating the attacks and de­ rupt regime m ay lose control. Mineros negros sudafricanos ganization for Women (NOW) chapter manded protection for New Orleans clinics In the current issue of Perspec­ here held a news conference Saturday, by the local police. buscan solidaridad en EUA November 9, to respond to arsonists' at­ tiua Mundial, an article by Duane Kopaska-Merkel urged abortion rights Stilwell takes a look at the cu r­ tacks on two women's health clinics that occurred the week before in Baton Rouge. supporters to defend this right by joining rent upsurge in the Philippines. in the U.S. and a round the world. NOW's "March to Save Women's Lives" Also featured is a n a rticle by iSu scrfbete ahora ! One clinic was burned to the ground November 3, and a second was severely in Washington, D.C., on March 9. Selva Nebbia examining t h e deep damaged on November 7. economic crisis facing Chile under No one was injured in the attacks, which the dictatorship of Augu sto Subscriptions: $16 for one occurred before the clinics opened. Both AIM statement says year; $8 for six months; Intro­ Pinochet. Chile's per capita for­ clinics received repeated threatening phone 'Hands off Nicaragua' eign debt is one of the high est in ductory offer, $3.00 for three calls and have been the object of harassing the world, amou ntin g to about months. picket lines by right-wing opponents of Continued from Page 6 $2,000 per person. This is part of abortion rights. mine their own future free from outside ag­ th e backdrop to the growing pro­ 0 Begin m y sub with cur r ent Speaking at the press conference were gressiOn , including from the United t ests sh aking the Chilean regime I SSU e . Sheila Kopaska-Merkel, the president of States." today . N a me New Orleans NOW; Cindy Lorr, the The AIM statement concluded: "Finally, Loui siana State Reproductive Rights Chair we call on all of our warriors to reject the Perspectiua M undial is the Address of NOW; a representative of the American proposed recrui tment program and with Spanish -la ngu age socia list maga­ Civi l Liberties Union; and a representati ve City/State/Zip resolute determination to continue our zine th at every two week s brings of the Socia list Workers mayoral campaign struggle fo r our lands and our peoples, you the t ruth about th e struggles of Clip and mail to PM, 408 West St ., of Terry Hardy. All candidates for mayor from the Black Hills to Big Mountain, working people a nd the oppressed New York , NY 10014 . of New Orleans had been invited to the from White Earth to the Northwest Territo­ press conference. ries, and all across the North American Both NOW speakers called on the FBI to continent."

10 The Militant November 22, 1985 'Common Ground': attack on Boston's desegregation

BY JON HILLSON Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. J. Anthony Lukas. 651 pages, $19.95. Alfred A. Knopf Publishers. New York, 1985.

Was there a "common ground" somehow missed in Boston a decade ago, as the fight for Black equality evoked a racist response of white mobs hurling bricks , bottles. and obscenities at Black students boarding yel­ low school buses? Was the campaign to win equal educational opportu­ nity for BlacKs, and to end the system of separate and un­ equal schools, a mistaken notion , pitting Black worker against white? Did it unleash a battle with no winners? Militant/Jon Flanders Some 10,000 came out in May 1975 NAACP action that mobilized Boston's Black community for school desegre­ gation. New book ignores this and other actions that forced racist minority to retreat. Book's twisted history con­ BOOK REVIEW cludes that desegregation does not work.

Have busing and desegregation, in Boston and else­ was actively opposed by whites, passively accepte'd by The 1972 federal suit filed against the Boston School where, been the proof of failure of"liberal" social exper­ Blacks. Committee after seven years of its refusal to implement iments that make poor white face off against poor Black? This is false. the modest state civil rights law - the Racial Balance To these and similar questions raised by J. Anthony It negates two things . First, the rich and powerful re­ law - is pictured as a project of white lawyers, not of Lukas' new book. Common Ground, there are lots of an­ cord of grassroots Black community activism that longtime Black community activists, community organi­ swers in its 651 pages. marked the fight for school desegregation starting in the zations, and concerned parents. All of them wrong. 1950s and continuing through the climactic years after And when the buses do begin to roll in September 1974 Common Ground is an important book , though , not the Garrity order. with an explosion of racist violence that stunned TV because of what it says, but because of how it is being And secondly, Lukas makes no mention whatsoever of viewers across the country, Lukas confines his reportage used. the whites, in Charlestown and South Boston among to the details of white opposition. other places, who complied with and supported the court He refuses to even note the growth and breadth of or­ Promoted as definitive study order despite the threat of terror and violence by the anti­ ganization in the Black community, the emergence of a Lukas' work is being promoted as the definitive study busing gangs, of which Lukas' Alice McGoff was an en- pro-busing movement, its street demonstrations, picket of the Boston busing struggle, the subject of an eye-pop­ thusiastic leader. · lines, teach-ins, mass marches, neighborhood support ping publicity campaign of prominent reviews in the To cite such facts would contradict Lukas' theme: that projects, and the leading role of such organizations as the Washington Post, New York Times , major advertise­ busing and desegregation were not in the interests of NAACP and National Student Coalition Against Racism. ments, and, in Boston, public meetings, repeated re­ workers (by which he means whites) or Blacks. views, and even editorial endorsement by the Boston Fascinated with whites Lukas sees 1960s civil rights legislation as sowing the Globe. Lukas is fascinated with whites- especially with the seeds of racism among "disadvantaged· whites." Why? "white workers" who furiously battle Black children in "Civil rights legislation sought to override local law or As even the Boston Phoenix, a mass-circulation news­ actions he is compelled to admit reek of racist prejudice. custom- often equated with bigotry," he states. weekly hostile to desegregation, points out, Lukas "pro­ Central Black leaders like Boston NAACP President Amazing statement! Was Jim Crow segregation, ceeds from starting points that would have been liberal Thomas Atkins disappear from this history. lynching, and the tapestry of Black oppression in the heresy not long ago. Among them: that it is worth under­ Antibusing demonstrations of a few dozen people are South just a "custom" of white workers? Or was it in­ standing the resistance to busing as much more than race given pages and pages, while even the mere facts on pro­ spired and imposed by the capitalist rulers, who reaped hatred, as a symptom of white working-class life with its desegregation marches - which in 1974 and 1975 its benefits'> own deep sense of grievance; that the causes of Blacks mobilized tens of thousands and were never matched by can be seen not as distinct and isolated but as part of the Did crushing Jim Crow through mass struggle the bigots in size - do not exist for him. continuum of demands by immigrant groups on Boston strengthen or weaken racism? Not surprisingly, this twisted history of Boston con­ and similar cities; and that when a political battle, set in Anthony Lukas has an answer. cludes that desegregation doesn't work. motion by Black demands, was cast as a moral crusade Through talking to Alice McGoff, he finds she and her Lukas refuses to record the modest gains in Black rather than a political fight, the normal processes of poli­ friends felt , by the mid-1960s, that "politicians, profes­ achievement in the schools under desegregation, or the sors, and editorial writers"- the rich liberals- "were tics - the brokering of competing interests - broke truth that white test scores never dropped, but increased. down and could not function." proposing to take real things - money, jobs, housing, For instance, according to the Boston School Depart­ and schools - away from whites and give them to In other words, Lukas is saying that Blacks fighting for ment, Black students achieving basic competency in Blacks." reading in the second grade jumped from 67 percent to 92 their rights were no different than Italians or Irish before But nobody in the civil rights movement ever proposed them; that violent opposition to school busing and de­ percent between 1981-84; from 77 percent to 80 percent this. in grade five in the same period; and from 75 percent to segregation by whites had a progressive element to it; and What the Black movement fought for was equality: 79 percent in the same years in the eighth grade. that wheri Blacks and their allies decided to make de­ democratic rights, fair treatment, and an end to "legal" segregation and equality a cause and fight for its victory A similar increase in mathematics competency was racism and the effects of institutional discrimination. also recorded, as well as in writing. to the finish, they committed a great political sin. This required not only eliminating "white only" public In the same 1981-84 period, Latino students recorded This book is another weapon in the corporate-govern­ facilities and segregation in the South, but concrete steps increases in reading, math, and writing. So did whites­ ment offensive against Black rights, including desegre­ to make up for the profound effects of three centuries of for instance, white student achievement of basic reading gation and affirmative a

November 22, 1985 The Militant 11 -CALENDAR------~~------~------~---

ALABAMA tion: $ 1 per class. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. vin Berlowitz, Education Department, UC; Salt Lake City Birmingham For more information call (3 13) 862-7755. Steve Schumacher, Cincinnati Peace Education Socialist Publication Fund Rally. Grand open­ Farm Workers and Farmers Stand Up to Center; Devin Oldendick, Young Socialist Al­ ing of Socialist Books. Speakers to be an­ Behind the AIDS Hysteria. Speakers: Ron Ju­ Agri-business. Speakers: Elana Herrada, De­ liance. Sun. , Nov. 17. 7:30p.m. 4945 Paddock nounced. Sat., Nov. 16. Reception: 6:30p.m.; lian, Birmingham AIDS Outreach; Andrea troit Support Committee for Farm Labor Or­ Rd. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. rally, 7:30p.m. 767 S State, 3rd fl oor. Dona­ Baron, Socialist Workers Party. Sat.. Nov. 16, ganizing Committee; representative of Socialist For more in formation call (51 3) 242-7 161 . tion: $2. Ausp: Socialist Publication Fund . For 7:30p.m. 205 18th St. S. Donation requested.· Workers Party. Translation to Spanish. Sat., The Truth Behind the AIDS Hysteria . more information call (80 1) 355- 1124. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ Nov. 23, 8 p.m. 7 146 W McNichols. Donati.on: Speaker: Shane Que Hee, University Medical mation call (205) 323-3079. Boycott South Africa, Not Nicaragua! Speak­ $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more in­ Center; Ronn Rucker, president, Cincinnati ers: Pat Naidoo, exiled South African youth formation call (313) 862-7755. Gay Mental Health Professionals; Carol leader, member United Democratic Front. CALIFORNIA Lippmann. vice-president, UC Gay and Lesbian Bruce Plenk, participated in National Lawyers MINNESOTA Alliance; Lorraine Starsky, Sociali st Workers Guild fact-finding trip to Nicaragua; State Sen. Los Angeles Party. Sun. , Nov. 24, 7:30p.m. 4945 Paddock Terry Williams; others. Translation to Spanish. What's Happening In Nicaragua. Film. St. Paul Rd . Donation: $2 . Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. 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Donation: $2. formation call (41 4) 445-2076. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ The Soviet Union Today: Myth and Reality. KENTUCKY . mation call (503) 287-74 16. NEWYO~K Slideshow and presentation by Ardenne Bunde, Louisville Manhattan member of U.S.-USSR Friendship Society and The Middle East: Who Are the Real Ter­ Benefit Social for Political Prisoners in Ire­ UTAH Socialist Party, visited Soviet Union in 1985; rorists? Speaker: Jeanette Tracy, Socialist land and Chile. Video and speaker from the Price Dave Morrow, Socialist Workers Party; and Workers Party. Sun., Nov. 24, 7 p.m. 809 E Chilean Secretariat and Human Rights Commis, Debt Crisis in the Americas. Speakers to be Nicholas Topping, member Labor and Farm Broadway. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor sion; special guest: Mary Pike, attorney for Joe announced. Translation to Spanish. Sat., Nov. Party, toured Soviet Union in 1985. Sat., Nov. Forum. 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The Nation; Helen deportation by Israel Rodriguez-Trias, pediatrician; Ramon Sanchez­ MICHIGAN Parodi , head of Cuban Interests Section, Wash­ Four Palestinian leaders being held with­ tions both in Israel and in the occupied ter­ Detroit ington, D.C.; Wayne Smith, former head of out charges in Jnaid and Beersheba prisons ritories. In Tel Aviv , crowds of Arabs and U.S. Interests Section in Havana; Nelson Val­ received deportation orde r~ from the Israeli Jews, even some relatives of the four, dem­ Defending Labor Struggles from Detroit to des, professor of sociology, University of New South Africa: A Socialist Publication Fund Mexico; Ted Weiss, U.S. congressman. Fri .. government October 28. onstrated in front of the Defense Ministry Rally. Speakers: Malik Miah, editor of Mili­ Nov. 22. 7:30p.m. Hunter College Playhouse, They are Ali Abu Hilla!, a trade unionist October 30." Students demonstrated at Bir tant; Katherine Gonzalez, coordinator of 68th St. at Lexington Ave . Ausp: Center for and leader of the Workers Unity Bloc in the Zeit and Bethlehem universities and faced MICAH, lived in Nicaragua for 15 years . Cuban Studies and Inter-American Affairs Pro­ vi llage of Abu Dis; Hassan Abd al-Jawad, raids and attacks by the Israeli army. Translation to Spani sh. Sat., Nov . 16. Recep­ gram at Hunter College. For more information a journalist; Azmi Shuaidi , a dentist; and Protest messages are urgently needed to tion, 7 p.m.; rally, 8 p.m. 7 146 W McNichols. call (2 12) 242-0559 . . Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For Zaki Statieh, a former political prisoner re­ prevent their deportation and can be sent to more information call (313) ,862-7755. leased during a May 1985 prisoner ex­ Prime Minister Shimon Peres, the Knesset, Blacks in the United States: A History of OHIO change. Jerusalem, Israel, with copies to attorney Struggle. Speaker: Malik Miah, editor of Mili­ Cincinnati According to the November I Palestin­ Lea Tsemal, 2 Abu Obeida, Jerusalem, Is­ talll. Translation to Spanish. Sun., Nov. 17 at The Reagan-Gorbachev.Summit: Who is Re­ ian weekly, AI Fajr, "The intended depor­ rael, and Amnesty International, 705 G St. II a.m. and I p.m. 7146 W McNichols. Dona- sponsible for the Arms Race? Speakers: Mar- tations have provoked protest demonstra- NW, Washington, D.C. 20003. - IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP __;__------'------Where to find the Socialist Workers Party, GEORGIA: Atlanta: SWP, YSA , 504 Flat NEW JERSEY: Newark: SWP, YSA, 141 Dallas: SWP, YSA, 132 N. Beckley Ave., Zip: Young Socialist Alliance, and socialist Shoals Ave. SE. Zip: 30316. Tel: (404) 577- Halsey. Zip: 07 102. Tel: (20 1) 643-3341. 75203. Tel: (2 14) 943-5195. Houston: SWP, bookstores. 4065. NEW YORK: Capital District (Albany): YSA, 4806 Almeda. Zip: 77004. 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12 The Militant November 22, 1985 -THE ~REAT SOCIETY------'------

Maybe so - Literature of the Stifle that yawn - Despite the era[ financial experts who have bucks to rebuild the Statue of Lib­ place." church sanctuary movement for media whoop-de-do, few people charted the effects of sunspots on erty. Adman John Morrissey, who Central American refugees con­ are in a tizzy over the visit of the human behavior to predict the initiated the deal, explains, "When Miami Vice - Arturo Hoyo firmed government suspicion they British royal couple . In an ABC market. I approached a company, I said, had a rep as a bigtime thief. News­ were dealing with leftists. In one poll, 67 percent had no opinion of ' Hey, I'm not looking for a dona­ paper clippings detailed how in the prince, and 58 percent said the A fella's got to hustle- Gen­ tion. I'm here talking about an op­ good weeks he made as much as same about his spouse. The "don't eral Dynamics executive vice­ portunity to make a lot of money. $250,000. Released from jail, he know/don't care" opinion ran con­ president George Sawyer has been It will benefit everyone, most of was snapped up as a consultant by sistently higher among those who indicted for his story about how he all you .'" a Miami security firm which threw described themselves as "working got the job. As assistant secretary a fancy welcome home party. class." of the navy he supervised GO con­ Then the Miami Herald reported Sweet dreams - What do Harry tracts. Apparently he misspoke, that those clips had been created in those who have everything dream under oath, about the fact that dur­ the prison printshop. Ring of having? According to one ac­ ing this time he was negotiating Sounds reasonable - Increas­ count, Eunice Gardiner would like Miami Vice (cont.) - 'This for his present spot with the com­ ing numbers of business investors a private island of her own. Her situation is intolerable. It affects pany. religious group's pamphlet in the are turning to psychics and as­ family already has a 3,000-acre is­ the reputation of Miami." - federal file a reference to "solidar­ trologers. "You wouldn't want to land off Long Island . But she 'd Banker Charles Dascal, respond­ ity" is labeled "Marx's," and re­ sign over your inheritance, but I The pursuit of liberty - like one with white , silky sand and ing to a Police Department an­ ference to the righteousness of the · think there's a little bit of merit to Coca-Cola, American Airlines, a year-round warm climate. Plus, nouncement that $I 50,000 ear­ struggle of the poor and oppressed it," confides Mark Chaikin, a Wall and other corporate biggies are "I wouldn't mind a yacht and pri­ marked for a drug probe had dis­ is tagged as "left wing ." Street exec. Chaikin is among sev- squeezing publicity from hustling vate jet just to get on and off the appeared. Mexico's struggle against the debt in 1860s

BY RAUL GONZALEZ belled against the new constitution. Benito Juarez, the negotiated loans), but doing so of his own free will (dec­ The recent earthquake in Mexico- with its billions of new president of Mexico, was forced to flee from Mexico laring a moratorium) , without permission , is acting dollars in damage, loss of thousands of lives, disruption City, the capital . He organized a revolutionary govern­ exactly as the Mexican government has done towards its of industry and tourism, and the overburdening of ser­ ment from the port city of Veracruz. creditors on the present occasion ." vices - clearly places before the eyes of the world the For the next three years the revolutionary government The government of Juarez replied that the terms which impossibility of Mexico paying its debt to the imperialist of Juarez fought against the reactionary government of England, France, and Spain were placing on Mexico banks and governments of the world. the clergy and landlords. The latter enjoyed the active would put an end to the autonomy of the republic. It support of the Roman Catholic pope and the European would mean delivering Mexico' s economy into the hands Prior to the earthquake, the debt was an impossible powers, which extended loans to the reactionaries. With of foreign powers. burden on the government and people of Mexico. It is the U.S. Civil War rapidly approaching, the U.S. gov­ doubly so now. When Juarez declared the moratorium in July 1861 - ernment was able to provide only minimal but important a few months after the U.S. Civil War started - Eng­ Millions of working people around the globe are think­ aid to Juarez. By I 861 the Liberal government of Benito land, France, and Spain declared a joint intervention ing through the question of the crushing debt that Latin Juarez defeated the armies of the reactionaries and he was against Mexico to force it to pay the debt. These Euro­ able to return to Mexico City. pean powers used the moratorium as a pretext to both try The War of the Reform (as it is known in Mexican his­ to reclaim a foothold in the Americas and to affect the tory) was immensely destructive. Agriculture and indus­ outcome of the U.S. Civil War in favor of the slavocracy. AS I SEE IT try were at a standstill, the treasury of both governments In an article appearing in the New York Daily Tribune had been depleted , and the foreign debt had grown tre­ in November 1861, Karl Marx said, 'The contemplated mendously during the war. The Juarez government was America, Africa, and Asia owe to the imperialist banks intervention in Mexico, by England, France, and Spain, held accountable by England, France, and Spain for all is in my opinion, one of the most monstrous enterprises and governments. There is a growing movement for the the loans that they had made to the clergy and other reac­ cancellation of the foreign debts of these nations. ever chronicled in the annals of international history. " tionaries before and during the war. Though England and Spain eventuall y pulled back As the workers and farmers of Mexico grapple with the Faced with the threats of the European powers on the from the adventure, the French ruler Louis Napoleon devastation of the earthquake and the disaster of the debt, one hand and economic disaster for Mexico on the other, went full steam ahead with the invasion of Mexico and they will recall an important part of Mexico's revolution­ Juarez declared the two-year moratorium on all foreign declared one of his henchmen as "emperor of Mexico." ary heritage - the declaration, in July I 861, of a· two­ debts. The aim was to give Mexico time to rebuild . Later After a six-year struggle, Juarez and the Mexican year moratorium on the payment of all foreign debts. it would begin to repay those debts that it believed to be people fought and defeated the European intervention, just. As a result of a revolt against the dictatorial and cor­ restoring Mexico's sovereignty . rupt rule of G.en . Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, a new This announcement caused a panic among the banks Today's foreign debt similarly threatens the government came to power in Mexico in 1855. This new and governments of colonialist Europe. Sir C. Lennox sovereignty and independence of the countries of Latin government initiated a series of laws that were designed Wyke, an English diplomat, wrote to the Mexican for­ America. Fidel Castro explained it this way, "No country to break up the political and economic power of the Cath­ eign minister, "A starving man may justify, in .~is own that has consulted with the International Monetary Fund olic church and Mexico's semifeudal landlord class. eyes, the fact of stealing a loaf on the ground that imperi­ every month about what to do in its own home grounds These reforms, incorporated into the 1857 Mexican con­ ous necessity impelled him thereto; but such an argument can call itself independent." stitution, were aimed at the development of capitalist re­ cannot, in a moral point of view, justify his violation of As the international bankers and the U.S. imperialists lations in the countryside and the formation of a strong, the law . .. . If he was actually starving, he should have stand poised like vultures over Mexico, it serves well to centralized federal government. first asked the baker (the banks and governments of recall Juarez' moratorium on the foreign debt and The church and the hacendados (large landowners) re- Europe) to assuage his hunger (by more loans, or re- Mexico's heroic defense of its sovereignty in 1861 . Touring YSA leader builds fight against apartheid

BY PAT GROGAN having a pass book, gives the authorities a apartheid activists and a member of the "The fight of the people of South Africa handle to victimize and intimidate work­ American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Com­ is a fight for the rights of working people ers, al)d to superexploit them," he said. mittee. all over the world, including the rights of "And it can especially be used against The next stop on Marroquin's tour was immigrants in the United States," Hector those workers who are organizing to fight Dallas, Texas. Marroquin told a Phoenix rally called to back - workers the rulers deem subver­ "If there was a Nobel prize for lying, protest deportations of and discrimination sive," Marroquin explained ~ Ronald Reagan would receive it," Marro­ against immigrant workers. and political Lil

November 22, 1985 The Militant 13 ·-EDITORIALS--,;,______Karl Marx: a foreign policy What Louis Farrakhan stands for for working class Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Black nationalist ploited against the capitalist system, his nationalism can BY NORTON SANDLER Nation of Islam organization (NOI), has spoken to offer no , roa,d forward for Blacks and other working Reproduced below is an excerpt from the "Inaugural thousands recently in Washington, D.C ., Los Angeles, people. Address of the International Working Men's Associa­ Baltimore, New York, and other cities. These meetings tion ." The association is commonly called the First Inter­ Farrakhan's Black nationalism shows the limits of have generated widespread controversy about Farrakhan , national. The address. written by Karl Marx in October nationalism as a political perspective to end racist oppres­ both in the big-business media and in the left-wing press. - 1864. was included in the first pamphlet the new organi­ sion. Nationalism of the oppressed is progressive when it The size of Farrakhan' s meetings and the extent of the zation used to orient its members and to attract new adhe­ is linked to a working-class perspective and directed at debate over his ideas shows that the Nation of Islam is an rents. the racism of the oppressors- the ruling families , who important political current in the Black community that The formation of the First International had been made are all white. deserves to be evaluated seriously. possible by the growth of the working class between Most Blacks who attend Farrakhan 's meetings, the But as Farrakhan's political orientation shows, 1848 and 1864. The factory system, which had exploded majority of whom are workers, hope that the Black nationalist sentiment can be channeled in a procapitalist on the scene in England earlier in the century wi th the nationalist leader will offer a road out of the abominable direction. social conditions they are forced to live in . But most of The opposite course was taken by Malcolm X. OUR those who come looking for proposals and perspectives Malcolm was a revolutionary nationalist whose politi­ to advance the fight for Black rights come away disap­ cal evolution led him more and more to explain that the pointed. Farrakhan's proposals have no progressive po­ REVOLUTIONARY road to Black liberation is the overthrow of capitalist litical content beyond assertions of Black dignity that rule . Malcolm broke from the nonrevolutionary have been common to all serious Black nationalists in the nationalist policy of the Nation of Islam's founder, HERITAGE United States. His proposals are, in fact, an obstacle to, Elijah Muhammad. Farrakhan represents the continuity widespread introduction of machinery, began to grow ev­ and diversion from, advancing the fi ght against national of Muhammad's Nation of Islam. oppression, for Black rights, and for the interests of erywhere in Europe. working people. His nationalist program offers no way Farrakhan's anti-Semitism The working class was becoming conscious of itself. It had a growing component that was beginning to realize forward. Farrakhan' s attacks on Jews as a group reflects his that it shared common problems with workers in other What does Farrakhan propose? nonrevolutionary political approach as well. Jews as a countries. He says that the road to economic and political power whole become the scapegoat for the racist oppression of In the address, Marx said, "In all countries of Europe is for Blacks to develop their own economic base. He Blacks, not the capitalist state. urges Blacks to support a group he calls POWER (Peo­ it has now become a truth demonstrable to every unpre­ ple Organized and Working for Economic Rebirth). "Jesus had a controversy with the Jews," he said on judiced mind, and onl y denied by those whose interest it POWER's aim is to develop some Black-owned factories October 7 in New York City. "Farrakhan has a con­ is to hedge other people in a fool's paradise, that no im­ and other businesses. troversy with the Jews. Jesus was hated by the Jews. Far­ provement in machinery, no appliance of science to pro­ What is needed, Farrakhan explains, is for Black rakhan is hated by Jews. Jesus was scourged by Jews duction, no contrivances of communication, no new col­ people to spend their money to buy Black-made products in their temple . Farrakhan is scourged by Jews in their onies, no emigration, no opening of markets, no free and invest in Black-owned businesses. "I want to know, synagogues." trade, nor all these things together, will do away with the if we make our own toothpaste, mouthwash, and deodor­ "The scriptures charge your people with killing the miseries of the industrious masses .. .. " ant, can you see yourself buying it?" he asks. prophets of God," he declared. Marx pointed out that "the lords of the land and the lords of capital will always use their political privileges Utopian perspective "I am your last chance," he said of Jews. "You cannot for the defense and perpetuation of their economical This is a utopian notion. It assumes that Black eco­ say ' never again ' to God, because when God puts you in monopolies." nomic oases can be built within the existing economic the oven, ' never again ' don't mean a thing." The fou nding of the new international association was and political framework. But this approach is doomed to These are anti-Semitic and reactionary statements, re­ boosted by the common positions workers in different failure. Racist oppression, unemployment, imperialist miniscent of ultrarightist Christian groups that portray countries had come to on major political events . The first war, poverty, and inequality are rooted in the capitalist Jews as accursed because they allegedly ki lled Christ. was the U.S . Civi l War, where the fight against slavery system. Farrakhan's POWER cannot make a dent in this Farrakhan is expressing anti-Semitic prejudices and re­ won the support of Europe's workers and peasants . In system. At best, it will offer a more comfortable life for ligious myths that have long been fostered by the ruling England , the opposition to the slaveowners was so great a tiny handful of Blacks. class. that the only place agents of the Cqnfederacy could hold Farrakhan 's acceptance of the capitalist systetn means public meetings was on the floor of the cotton exchange. By focusing his fire on Jews as the problem, Farrakhan that he has no perspective of mobilizing Blacks and other A second event that brought working people of Europe working people to challenge the political rule of big busi­ lets the capitalist ruling families - the fountainhead of racist oppression and religious persecution - off the together was the struggle for independence from Russia ness. He doesn't help point a road forward that can waged by the Polish people in 1863. The crushing of the hook. mobilize Blacks, Latinos, women, working family farm­ revolt by the hated Russian czar aroused the anger of the His equating of Judaism and Zionism does the same ers, and unionists to struggle for political power. working masses. A revolutionary strategy starts with knowing who your thing. The fi ght of the Palesti nian people is for a demo­ cratic, secular Palestine, as the Palestine Liberation Or­ It was at a London meeting in solidarity with Poland enemy is: the capitalist ruling families, who own the organized by workers from several countries that the new ganization (PLO) explains. It is not against Jews. The banks and basic industries of this country. It is based on international was born. PLO explicitly rejects anti-Semitism. forging an alliance of Blacks and other workers and ex­ In the inaugural address, Marx used the Polish uprising ploited farmers to organize a revolutionary struggle The fact that at times Farrakhan denies being an anti­ Semite changes nothing. His prejudices are completely and the reactionary role played by the European govern­ against capitalist rule. Black self-determination is impos­ ments during the U.S. Civil War as a way of explaining alien to the outlook of Blacks and other working-class sible until the capitalist rulers are overthrown and re­ why the working class needs our own foreign policy. placed by a government of the oppressed and exploited fighters who aim to unite and mobilize the broadest pos­ - a workers' and farmers' government. sible forces to overturn this racist, exploitati ve system. * * * Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam reject this anti­ The ruling class uses prejudices against Jews, immi­ Past experience has shown how disregard of that bond capitalist perspective.- which is a revolutionary one. grants, women, gays, and others to deepen divisions of brotherhood which ought to exist between the work­ That's why it is not surprising that Farrakhan and the among working people and block united struggle . These men of different countries, and incite them to stand NOI are not in the leadership of any antiracist battles, prejudices help the rulers maintain and reinforce the ra­ firmly by each other in all their struggles for emancipa­ such as the anti-apartheid protests or the struggles to de­ cist and sexist oppression that are central to capitalist tion, will be chastised by the common discomfiture of fend affirmative action programs and stop police brutal­ rule. It is scapegoatism. their incoherent efforts. This thought prompted the work­ ity. Those struggles point toward class alliances of Like Farrakhan's political approach as a whole, his re­ ing men of different countries assembled on September Blacks and other working people against the capitalist actionary statements about Jews are an obstacle to ad­ 28, 1864, in public meeting at St. Martin's Hall, to found government; POWER does not. vancing the liberation struggle of Blacks and all op­ the International Association. pressed and exploited people. Another conviction swayed that meeting. Need revolutionary workers' party If the emancipation of the working classes requires The struggle for political power will require the de­ Racist smear campaign their fraternal concurrence, how are they to fulfill that velopment of a mass revolutionary workers' par:ty in The criticisms that class-struggle-minded workers and great mission with a foreign policy in pursuit of criminal which Black workers will play a vanguard role . Revolu­ farmers make of Farrakhan's program are done from the designs, playing upon national prejudices, and squander­ tionists welcome any attempt by Blacks, or workers as a standpoint of advancing the fi ght of Blacks and other ing in piratical wars the people's blood and treasure? It whole, to break from capitalist politics and begin taking working people against the rulers . was not the wisdom of the ruling classes, but the heroic steps toward independent working-class political action. Inevitably, the ruling-class media and politicians seize resistance to their criminal folly by the working classes of Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, however, take the op­ on Farrakhan 's statements to make reactionary, racist England that saved the West of Europe from plungi ng posite approach. Rather than welcoming the formation of propaganda against him and all Black people . New York headlong into an infamous crusade for the perpetuation the National Black Independent Political Party, the NO! Mayor Edward Koch, a Democrat, called Farrakhan "a and propagation of slavery on the other side of the Atlan­ supports Democratic Party candidates. Nazi in a clerical collar," for example. The Los Angeles tic . The shameless approval, mock sympathy, or idiotic In 1976 the NOI, for the first time in its 40-year his­ City Council accused him of_"racism, anti-Americanism, indifference, with which the upper classes of Europe tory, had its members register and vote . Until then, the and anti-Semitism." Republican Gov. George Deukme­ have witnessed the mountain fortress of the Caucasus NOI's policy on political matters had been abstention. It jian of California accused Farrakhan of "slandering the falling a prey to, and heroic Poland being assassinated began to praise Democratic politicians - Black and very country that protects his right to speak." The Wash­ by, Russia: the immense and unresisted encroachments white, including Chicago's racist mayor, Richard "Boss" ington Post said Farrakhan' s speeches constituted "big­ of that barbarous power, whose head is at St. Petersburg, Daley. It put an American flag on its weekly paper's time bigotry for the masses." and whose hands are in every cabinet of Europe, have masthead. In 1984 Farrakhan backed Jesse Jackson's Mayor Koch charged that "25,000 people knowingly taught the working classes the duty to master themselves presidential bid in the Democratic Party. In fact , Far­ came to hear someone spewing racism and hatred against the mysteries of international politics; to watch the dip­ rakhan only criticizes those capitalist politicians who at­ whites and anti-Semitism directed against Jews." lomatic acts of their respective governments; to counter­ tack him. Fighters who are seeking to advance the struggle act them, if necessary, by all means in their power; when against racism and all forms of oppression must continue unable to prevent, to combine in simultaneous denuncia­ Limits of nationalism to oppose and expose blatantly racist attacks against Far­ tions, and to vindicate the simple laws of morals and jus­ Because Farrakhan's political approach does not pro­ rakhan. The target of these attacks is not Farrakhan' s pro­ tice, which ought to govern the relations of private indi­ pose a revolutionary alliance of the oppressed and ex- gram, but a racist smear of Black people as a whole . viduals, as the ru les paramount of the intercourse of na­ tions. The fight for such a foreign policy forms part of the general struggle for the emancipation of the working classes. Proletarians of all countries, Unite!

14 The·Militant November 22, 1985 Boston-area IUE rejects GE's 'worker involvement'

BY KIP HEDGES at the same time that the Executive Board member had say that our jobs depend on programs like WI , while BOSTON - Members of Local 201, International filed a fundamental grievance, because the company was others say the plan is similar to agreements between Union of Electronic Workers (IUE), at four General refusing to bargain with the stewards .... 'Why have tea union and management in the steel and auto industries Electric plants in the Boston area took steps at their Sep­ and crumpets with the foreman when you're getting your where there is a spirit of joint cooperation. tember union meeting that can significantly strengthen head beat in in the shop?' asked one brother." One Local 201 Executive Board member responded to the local. They voted t6 end the union's two-year partici­ "No improvement," continued Electrical News, "was this approach by explaining: "It's true that WI is similar pation in a company-initiated worker involvement (WI) noticed in the constant hassles over even the smallest to auto and steel agreements. But that's precisely the group. matters, like a fair distribution of overtime, even though the company talks about a new cooperation." point. In auto and steel joint cooperation has meant Initially this was a program in which groups of 12 thousands of layoffs, worse working conditions; and fi­ Many union members have reported that in months be­ union members, a union steward, and a foreman would That's not fore and after the vote to end the union's participation in nancial concessions. Just look at Chrysler. where we're looking to go." the workers' involvement program there was a series of Company coordinator Edler laid out GE's response to company attacks on the work force. These included sus­ the union rejection of WI, saying, "I hope the union will pension of union stewards, a physical assault by a fore­ UNION TALK reconsider its position in the future. We intend to go for­ man on a steward, and attempts by the company to cut ward with the effort .'' piece-work rates. meet to discuss areas of common concern like what color For its part, the company bluntly explained its reasons A steward in the GE Aircraft Division, where the pro­ to paint walls, where to install water fountains. or how to for promoting WI in the October issue of Headlines , a gram is based, explained, "Sure they intend to keep up get picnic tables. company paper. It quotes GE's worker involvement co­ with the effort to put the screws to us . That's what they're After two years many union members who participated ordinator, Jim Edler. "Employee Involvement is a way all about - profit, productivity, and cooperation - at in WI saw it differently and said so at the union meeting. employees can impact how their work gets done and how our expense. Just look at our last contract. Each member The IUE 201 Electrical News reported their reaction: competitive the business remains. Several groups in West gave back thousands, and we have a two-tier wage. Is "Some speakers said the W . I. program was an attempt to Lynn [GE plant] have had exceptional success in prob­ that cooperation?" undermine the union. One member pointed out that in lems aimed at worker efficiency," he said. Building 40 the company was promoting the W. I. group Some members of Local 201 echo this sentiment and Kip Hedxes is a memher of/UE Local201. Anti-apartheid students fight attacks on movement

BY STEVE BLOODWORTH January explained that Northwestern has apartheid leaders were arrested following apartheid is and what the students are fight­ CHICAGO - Anti-apartheid student millions invested in companies doing busi­ an October I 0 board of trustees meeting. ing against. He cited the Freedom Charter leaders from three Chicago-area univer­ ness in South Africa. On two occasions last The students had been in the hallway out­ of the South African people and the leading sities spoke November 9 at a forum on May, students sat in at the president's of­ side the room where the board was meet­ role of the African National Congress. He Chicago's South Side sponsored by the fice in the Rebecca Crown Center. Stu­ ing. The campus police took pictures of noted the · importance of student confer­ Young Socialist Alliance. dents have renamed the center Nelson them that day . The following Sunday ences like the one he had attended at The students explained the anti-apart­ Mandela Center. A total of 122 students morning at 8 a.m., the cops came to their Hunter College in New York City the week heid and divestment fights on each campus were arrested and still face trial. homes and arrested them. They were before. He invited everyone to participate and the legal battles they are in to fend off The mass trial is to begin on November charged with "interfering with institutions in the midwestern Student . Conference charges stemming from anti-apartheid pro­ f8 at 9 a.m. at the Skokie, Illinois , court­ of higher learning. " Against Apartheid and Racism that will be tests at the Northwestern and University of held at the University of Chicago house. The protesters in the Northwestern case Illinois campuses. The speakers were Lisa November 16-17. " I may be standing before you again ask­ have already won a significant victory. The January, cochair of the Anti-apartheid Al­ ing for support, because I won' t stop until judge has granted them the ri ght to present liance at Northwestern University; Alan Cathy Gutekanst, chairperson of the the university divests or apartheid comes a "necessity defense." They will be al­ Maass and Bob Cotter from the University meeting and member of the Young down," January said. lowed to argue that they had to do what of Illinois Circle Campus Divest Now Coa­ Socialist Alliance. thanked the students they did to save lives and stop greater lition; and Sahotra Sarkar from Third Cotter told of the ups and downs of try­ and pledged the YSA 's full backing to the crimes in South Africa. World Political Forum at the University of ing to build an anti-apartheid movement at conference and support for their legal bat­ Chicago. his campus. He explained that campus anti- Sahotra Sarkar took time to explain what tles. -LETTERS An appeal for justice from Lindsey Scott We are devoting this issue's I had everything to live for and my be convicted for there was no evi­ letters column to an appeal we future in the United States Marine dence against me . received from a Black marine, Corps looked very bright. On October 3 I went before a Lindsey Scott. He has been military judge and jury consisting framed up for the rape of a 'Attempted murder' of seven marine corps officers. white woman at the Quantico On April 21, 1983, life as I The victim, who failed to iden­ U.S. Marine base in Virginia. knew it at the time came to an ab­ tify me as the perpetrater of this The following are excerpts rupt halt. I was made the suspect crime six months earlier, stood from his letter. of a rape and attempted murder of over me and said this is the man the wife of a fellow marine. My who raped me . My name is Lindsey Scott, and· initial reaction to these allegations My lawyer, who was so confi­ I am not appealing to you for sym- was one of shock and utter disbe­ dent outside of court, failed to pre­ pathy. I am appealing to you, the lief. I could not comprehend my pare for the trial. He did not inter­ masses at large, in hope that you commanding officer and fellow view any of the witnesses called can aid me in my quest forjustice. coworkers thinking that I could on my behalf. This led to their tes­ I who am innocent but incarcer- have committed such an atrocity. timony becoming confused, hurt­ ated ask very little of our society On April 25, 1983 , I was placed ing their credibility. as a whole. I humbly ask that you in pretrial confinement pending a But most important he did not hear my plea for help. My story is magistrate hearing to determine if interview a security guard at as follows . there was any evidence to-warrant Zayres department store where I In the fall of 1980 - having continued confinement. was shopping to buy my wife a graduated from Eastern Kentucky On May 5 Lt. Col. Richard birthday present. This witness University with a bachelor of sci- Harry ordered me released due to could have given me a complete ence degree in law enforcement there being no positive identifica­ alibi on the night in question. As it and marrying my wife, Lolita- I tion made, and all forensic labora­ turned out, she got confused on Militant/ErnestHarsch enlisted into the United States tory tests conducted to link me to the stand and the question of an Members of Prince William, Virginia, NAACP join James Scott Marine Corps. this crime came back negative. alibi was lost at that time. (second from left), Lindsey's father, and Lolita Scott (far right), In March 1981 I was stationed Even though I was released On October 3, I was convicted Lindsey's wife, at April 22 anti-apartheid antiwar demonstration in at the Quantico Marine Corps base from pretrial confinement things of these crimes: crimes that I did Washington, D.C. They were instrumental in starting Lindsey Scott in Quantico, Virginia.. I was as- continued to take a turn for the not commit, and sentenced to Defense Committee. signed duties as a military police- worst. My wife and I were har­ serve 30 years at hard labor in con­ man and it did not take me long to assed by people in the military finement. trial and that these charges be dis­ good living for my family. Instead excel in my performance as a community. This went to the point missed \}gainst me. I find my life destroyed while I marine. My service record was that it caused my wife to start hav­ Need support physically and mentally deterior­ ~potless ~nd I was selected as mil- ing trouble with her pregnancy. Since my conviction my family , We have started a defense fund ate in prison . That is why I bring ttary policeman and ma.nne of the On August 1O, 1983, I was for- supporters, and I have been fight­ in my hometown of Louisville. my case to you. the final court, the month on several occasiOns . . mally charged with these crimes. ing for my freedom . My case has Kentucky. Anyone who wishes to people's court. I was pr~moted very raptdly and Since 1 had never been in any type been presented on TV, the second contribute can send · check or Lindsey Scott upon reachmg the rank of corporal of trouble before, I selected a time being on the Sept. 8, 1985 , money order to Lindsey Scott Dec Fort Leavenworth, Kansas I st.arted to ~repare myself to e~ter lawyer from the local area out of "60 Minutes" program on CBS. fense Fund, c/o Father Patrick De­ offtcer-candtdate school. Dunng the yellow pages. He cost my wife , We are trying our best to get the lahanty, St. Charles Catholic this time I was also assigned duties and I all the money that we had public involved, for public pres­ Church. 2702 W. Chestnut St., The letters column is an open as a Criminal Investigator. saved up for our baby. sure will play a key role in what Louisville, Kentucky 40212. forum for all viewpoints on sub­ At this point in my life and ca­ happens to me . As for myself I have been con­ jects of general interest to our reer I was the happiest man in the 'Nothing to worry about' We are asking anyone who fined over two years now and readers. Please keep your letters world. I was a happily married This lawyer - Erin Kunhke, might want to help me in my fight there is no way to describe the brief. Where necessary they will man and my wife and I were ex­ Jr., of Dumfries, Virginia - reas­ for justice to write Gen. P.X. Kel­ mental anguish and suffering I be abridged. Please indicate if pecting our first child. sured my wife and I that I had ley , Commander, U.S . Marine have endured. you prefer that your initials In under two years I had moved nothing to worry about. He told Corps, Washington, D.C. 20350, All I wanted out of life was to be used rather than your full to the top of my prospective field. me that there was no way I could and demand that I be given a new serve my country and to make a name.

November 22, 1985, The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter freed BY RASHAAD ALI Humphreys pursued them anyway . He NEWARK- "I finally made it ," Rubin needed a conviction, so he used the murder "Hurricane" Carter told John Artis, after of a Black man six hours earlier by a white U.S. District Court Judge H. Lee Sarokin man in Paterson, in the midst of the Black released Carter from custody a little after 3 rebellion, to frame up Carter and Artis. He p.m. Friday, November 8. Artis was his said that they had killed the three whites to codefendant in the triple murder frame-up avenge the death of the Black. 19 years ago. The prosecution reinforced its case by The decision to release the former bribing two whites , Alfred Bello and Ar­ number one middleweight boxing conten­ thur Bradley, who were caught burglariz­ der took place after the judge, in a 70-page ing a factory near the bar. Bello and Brad­ ruling, overturned the 1976 conviction of ley swore that they saw the two frame-up Carter and Artis, citing "racial prejudice" victims leaving the scene of the killings. as the reason for the decision. In 1974 the two burglars, after the sta­ "Human decency," said the judge, tute of limitations on perjury ran out, re­ "mandates his immediate release ." The canted. They now claimed that they had standing-room-only crowd in the Newark not seen Carter and Artis, but were pushed courtroom cheered and applauded in ap­ to lie by the cops. proval. A broad defense campaign was or­ "Mr. Carter's past imprisonment may ganized for Carter and Artis. It won the have been a travesty - to continue it support of such well-known people as would be even a greater one," Sarokin Muhammad Ali , Bob Dylan, Jesse Jack­ said. "I cannot permit him to spend another son, and Norman Mailer. day or even an hour in prison , particularly After two years the New Jersey Supreme considering that he has almost spent 20 Court, bowing to public pressure and the years in confinel)1ent based in part upon a unraveling of the state's case, overturned At left, John Artis and his lawyer. Right, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. conviction which I found to be so constitu­ the 1967 convictions and ordered a new tionally flawed ." trial. "This is the place where Hurricane Car­ prosecutor. He fought against the release of The 48-year-old Carter, no longer sport­ But justice was not to be . Bello took ter had hi s last bout," the owner replies to Carter by charging that Carter was "a ing a shaved head and beard, thanked his back his recantation . Bradley didn't, but the often-asked question: "Is thi s the dangerous and violent person,and a threat lawyer, Myron Beldock, and Artis' was never called to testify at the trial. place?" to the community." lawyer, Lewis Steel, and said, "We did it." Carter and Artis were convicted a second The talk at Len's Place was different on Assistant prosecutor John Goceljak Standing on the federal courthouse time by a Paterson jury. November 8 when the judge's ruling was stated that it the appeals court refuses to steps, Artis told the press that it was ·'a joy Some things have changed in Paterson announced. Most of the talk was about reinstate the convictions, they will go to to finally have justice prevail." since the events of 1966 that stole 19 years Carter getting out, and the customers were the Supreme Court. The 70-page decision handed down by out of the life of Rubin Carter. The happy about it, according to the bar's Those of us who stood by the two frame­ Judge Sarokin was particularly critical of Lafaye,tte Bar and Grill is no longer a white owner. up victims over the years must continue to the frame-up method used by the prosecu­ hangout. It 's now Len 's Place, a neighbor­ One thing that has not changed, how­ be vigilant and demand: "Hands off Carter tion in the original 1967 trial and in the hood bar where Blacks freely go. ever, is the stance of the Passaic County and Artis'" 1976 retrial of Carter and Artis, who were both convicted and received life sentences. Sarokin said that the convictions were based "upon an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than dis­ N.Y. forum hears ANC, SWAPO closure," and that "the jury was permitted to draw inferences of guilt based solely upon the race" of the defendants. explain Cuba's role in Africa The ruling said, "Underlying the pro­ secutor's theory and summation is the in­ sidious and repugnant argument that this BY CAROL BURKE day a distortion of the history of Cubans in people have chosen their own government heinous crime is to . be understood and NEW YORK - 'The challenge is not Angola. We should all be paying tribute to and their own leaders, and he claimed that explained solely because the petitioners are just before the international community in the Cubans. In southern Africa they are right for the people of southern Africa . Black and the victims are white ," and general, but is particularly before the seen as the good guys for their support, be­ The meeting also saw the Cuban-made "without this unacceptable assumption, the American people," said Mfanafuthi Maki­ cause they are willing to fight with Afri­ film, Victory of Hope , which is about An­ prosecution's theory of racial revenge be­ tini, secretary for international affairs of cans, to die with Africans, for an end to gola. The sense of a coming "victory of comes a thin thread of largely irrelevant the African National Congress (ANC), apartheid." Makitini pointed to Reagan 's hope" in South Africa and Namibia, which evidence ahd impermissible inferences." who spoke at a forum at the New School speech at the United Nations to show that was very strong at this meeting, was best Carter's lawyer, Beldock, told a press for Social Research m New York the United States intends to "target Angola expressed by Makitini, who said, "Free­ conference that "it was a rotten case from November 8. Makitini said there is a press­ as they have targeted Grenada and Nicara­ dom for southern Africa is an idea whose the beginnin~ , filled with perjury. misrep­ ing need for international solidarity with gua." time has come. Victory in Namibia and resentation , and racial bias." the people of South Africa and Namibia in Toivo pointed out that the Nicaraguan South Africa is as certain as sunrise." John Artis, who has been on parole for their struggles against the apartheid regime the last four years, said, "It has taken 20 in Pretoria. years for the truth to come out and for His statements were seconded by the someone to show all the red herrings that other panelist, Toivo Ja Toivo, general sec­ Calif. UJeatpackers on strike the prosecution used to convict us. " retary of the South West Africa People's· Carter and Artis had steadfastly main­ Organization (SW APO). SWAPO is lead­ BY JEANNIE FRANKEL Other unions which have shown support tained their innocence and called the case ing the Namibian independence struggle AND W. JUNGERS are Local 9 of the Industrial Union of what it was, a frame-up. against South African colonial rule . VERNON, Calif. - Three hundred Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of While in prison, Carter refused to accept Toivo called on the audience to redouble striking members and supporters of Local America and members of Local 512 of the prison jobs or eat prison food, saying that their efforts to organize the movement to 274 of the United Food and Commercial International Ladies' Garment Workers' to do so would acknowledge his guilt. He demand disinvestment and sanctions Workers union (UFCW) rallied at the Union (ILGWU), who are currently on was able to survive on canned food pro­ against the apartheid regime and to collect Farmer John meat-packing plant here in the strike against the Somma Mattress Co. vided by his friends. material aid, such as food , clothing, and early morning of November 4 . The strike, Even though a court injunction limits the The backdrop to the frame-up of Carter medical supplies . which is in its fifth week, is developing number of pickets at the entrance to Farmer and Artis is the 1966 ghetto rebellion into a test of strength between the industry John to five, mass picket lines ofmore than against cop violence and racist oppression Both speakers pointed to the similar and the unions , 100 have lined the sidewalk facing the that took place in Paterson, New Jersey. slanders the U.S. government uses against Two weeks ago, workers organized by struck plant. On June 17 , 1966, three whites - two supporters of independence in southern Af­ the same local struck the McCoy meat­ The militancy and solidarity shown by men and one woman - were shot and rica and supporters of the popular revolu­ packing plant nearby . The McCoy Co. is the strikers has had its effect on produc­ killed at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in tionary governments in Nicaragua and demanding even greater cutbacks, includ­ Cuba. Toivo said , "To Reagan, democracy ing a reduction of the guaranteed work­ tion . Union officials estimate that no more Paterson. than I 0 percent of the normal work force is Carter and Artis were picked up by the means a puppet regime defending the inter­ week to 32 hours and mandatory overtime, ests of the United States. The indepen­ along with $2 to $3 per hour cuts in pay. inside the plant. Hog slaughtering has fal­ cops and charged with the killings. Neither len from six thousand per day to between was at the bar. dence of Namibia is being held for ransom Union solidarity with the strikers is four and six thousand total in the past five The Jack of evidence was shown by the by Reagan." growing. Last week, Cesar Chavez and The U.S. government demands that any other members of the United Farm Work­ weeks. fact that even the cop-run lie detector test Following the rally at Farmer John, the actions against the South African govern­ ers of America (UFW) spoke at a press and a powder test to see if they had fired pickets marched over to the. McCoy plant ment be linked to the withdrawal of Cuban conference outside the Farmer John head­ any guns- tests taken only hours after the and gathered in front of the main gate. troops and advisers from Angola. The quarters. On behalf of the UFW. Chavez killings - proved them innocent. One of Pickets were able to turn away some of the the victims, who survived for a month after panelists explained the real role of the Cu­ solidarized with the strikers and pledged scabs trying to enter. the bar shooting, also said Carter and Artis bans, who are in Angola at the request of the UFW 's support, including the use of were not the killers. Two grand juries re­ the Angolan government to defend the their printing facilities, mailing lists, and Messages of solidarity and contributions fused to indict them , and they were initially country against repeated attacks by South radio station. Union representatives from to the strike effort can be sent to: UFCW set free. Africa. Local 274 restated their call for a boycott Local274, 6801 E. Washington Blvd., Los But Passaic County prosecutor Burrell Makitini said, "Americans read every of all ~armer John products. Angeles, Calif. 90040.

16 The Militant November 22, 1985