AUSTRALIA $1.50 · canada $1.00 · france 1.00 euro · new zealand $1.50 · uk £.50 · u.s. $1.00 INSIDE Sankara: ‘We know we can count on revolutionary people of Cuba’ — PAGE 8 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE vol. 78/no. 3 january 27, 2014 Help win Boss negligence poisons Jobless rate new readers, water in West Virginia drops without long-term ‘Can’t drink, wash clothes, brush your teeth’ recovery in subscribers employment by emma johnson by brian williams In the coming weeks, subscrip- Although the Labor Department re- tions for the close to 3,000 readers ported a decline in the unemployment who signed up for the Militant in the rate in December, actual joblessness fall campaign will expire. If you are remains at the same high level it has one of them, we urge you to continue been for the past four-and-a-half years reading the working-class press and of the so-called recovery from the renew your subscription. 2007-2009 recession. Most of you decided to take out the Official unemployment figures trial subscription for new readers, $5 dropped to 6.7 percent last month for 12 weeks. Some of you took ad- from 7 percent in November. This vantage of the special offer on nine was the result of nothing other than books when you signed up. This offer the way government statisticians is still available for regular readers. handle joblessness by not counting Check out the ad on page 3 and con- those whom they consider have given tact a distributor near you. up looking for work. The number of The purpose of the introductory 12- “discouraged” workers has risen by week offer is to allow new readers the Getty Images/Tom Hindman nearly 2 million over the past year. As opportunity to follow the paper’s cov- After residents of Charleston, W.Va., spent hours waiting for water truck Jan. 10, supply ran out this category grows, the unemploy- in 20 minutes. Freedom Industries never reported 7,500 gallon leak of toxins into water supply. erage of the struggles of workers and ment rate is pushed down. farmers, discussion of political ques- by emma johnson cook in it, we can’t brew coffee, we The government also reported that tions of crucial importance to work- The uncontrolled consequences of can’t brush our teeth, we can’t wash only 74,000 new jobs were created in ing people, and to see the value of capitalist production came down on our clothes,” said Kirk Bentley, a sur- December, the lowest figure in three continuing to get the socialist news- 300,000 people in West Virginia Jan. face miner, by phone Jan. 12 from years. There are still more than 1 mil- weekly. 9, when a chemical spill made their lion fewer jobs since the onset of the As Militant supporters around the water unusable for days. capitalism chews up recession at the end of 2007, accord- Continued on page 3 “We can’t drink the water, we can’t ing to the Wall Street Journal. And workers, soil, air, water if population growth is taken into ac- —See editorial page 9 count, there are 7.8 million fewer jobs Protests of African refugees spur available. Madison in Boone County. “All we “The saving grace may be that win- can use it for is flushing the toilet. We ter weather is responsible for some discussions by workers in Israel can’t do the dishes, so we had to go out of the sharp decline,” stated a Jan. and get a lot of paper plates and plas- 11 Journal editorial, seeking to cast Continued on page 9 Continued on page 5 London inquest whitewashes cop’s killing of Mark Duggan BY JONATHAN SILBERMAN was Rupert Sylvester, whose son Rog- LONDON — More than 500 peo- er was killed by police in ple demonstrated outside Tottenham 15 years ago. The killing was initially police station in north London Jan. ruled unlawful by an inquest, only to 11. Joined by scores of residents who be overturned by a High Court judge. lined nearby sidewalks in this work- Rally chair Stafford Scott, coor- ing-class neighborhood, they pro- dinator of Tottenham RIGHTS, re- tested the “lawful killing” verdict of viewed a long list of prominent cases an inquest jury into the 2011 police of deaths in police custody, including . Continued on page 2 Oren Ziv/Activestills.org Duggan, who was unarmed, was Protests by Eritreans and Sudanese in Israel have won more attention and sympathy to their shot twice by an unnamed cop Aug. fight to stay and work in the country free from government detention and other discrimina- tory measures. Above, Jan. 9 protest in Tel Aviv on fifth day of strike by African workers. 4, 2011, after the taxi Duggan was rid- ing in was stopped by officers from a Also Inside by seth Galinsky Some 20,000 marched in Tel Aviv special unit. Seen by many as an ex- “We used to be scared, but now we Jan. 5, the first day of a refugees’ pro- ecution, the killing sparked protests Contract signing ‘bonus’ are united,” Filimon Abraham, a kitch- test strike, chanting “We are not crim- and across the country. The jury turned over to build party 2 en worker from Eritrea, said from Tel inals, we are not infiltrators, we are ruled the cop’s shooting was lawful, Aviv, Israel, Jan. 11, referring to protests refugees.” The march was followed but did not dispute that Duggan was Saudi gov’t carries out by African refugees against detentions by daily actions over the next four not wielding a gun. mass deportations 3 and other efforts by the Israeli govern- days, including a Jan. 8 demonstra- “The fight goes on for as long as it ment to force them out of the country. Continued on page 6 takes. We’re in it for the long haul,” Kenneth Edelin: Champion “Protests will not help. Strikes will said Carole Duggan, his aunt and the of rights of women, Blacks 4 not help,” Prime Minister Benjamin main speaker at the protest. “This is Netanyahu said in a statement Jan. 5. not just about Mark. There’s no jus- Exhibit of art by one of “We are determined to remove the il- tice in this country.” Cuban 5 in New Zealand 6 legal infiltrators.” Sharing the platform at the rally Inquest backs killing by cop Continued from front page Shah, whose mother was among 96 Cynthia Jarrett in 1985, Joy Gardner Liverpool football supporters killed at in 1993, Roger Sylvester in 1999, Jean a 1989 match in Sheffield as a result of Charles de Menezes in 2005 and Ian . After two decades Tomlinson in 2009. of campaigning, the cover-up of cops’ According to INQUEST, a charity responsibility for what is known as the that focuses on deaths in police custody, Hillsborough disaster was exposed in a 1,476 people have died as a result of po- 2012 public inquiry report. lice action since 1990. But the last time After the shooting of Duggan, the a cop was successfully prosecuted for government-appointed Independent killing someone was in 1969. Police Complaints Commission said “We may have got some solace if Duggan had shot first. The truth started Mark Duggan had been the last, but coming out shortly afterward, heighten- since his killing there have been oth- ing distrust of the commission among ers,” Scott said. A close friend of Leon working people. Briggs, who died in police custody in Police told the inquest that Duggan Luton Nov. 4, joined the platform. was a member of a gang, the “Totten- “Don’t give up,” Marcia Rigg, sister ham Man Dem” that includes “48 of of Sean Rigg, who died in police cus- Europe’s most violent criminals.” The tody in 2008, told participants. “Sean’s cops said they were following the cab case has now been reopened” as a result Duggan was in because they believed of the ongoing public fight. he was carrying a gun related to a drug Militant/Jonathan Silberman Rigg’s message was echoed by Becky deal. The police rammed and boxed in Hundreds protest outside police station in Tottenham neighborhood of north London against the cab with three police vehicles. inquest ruling that shooting of Mark Duggan by cop in August 2011 was “lawful killing.” Duggan was shot after he got out of the cab. London Mayor Boris Johnson ex- “The majority of people in this coun- A cop, called “V53” to conceal pressed sympathy to Duggan’s family, try know that he was executed,” Car- his identity, told the inquest that he while paying tribute to the police for ole Duggan told the press outside the shot Duggan twice believing in a their “high professional standards.” courtroom after the decision. “freeze-frame moment” that Dug- gan was an armed threat. The only nonpolice witness told Contract signing ‘bonus’ turned over to build party the inquest that Duggan had his arms raised when he was shot. Carole Lesnick and Eric Simpson in San Francisco, members of the Machinists The jury concluded that Dug- Union at United Airlines, recently sent in “blood money” donations for a total gan probably had a gun, but had of $725.28 to the Socialist Workers Party Capital Fund, which finances long- thrown it away before getting out range work of the party. Blood money is a term to describe bonuses and other of the cab. No witness said they bribes used by bosses to press us to accept wage cuts, dangerous work condi- tions and speedup. Below is a note Simpson sent in with his contribution. saw Duggan throw anything away.

Police say they recovered a I just put a money order in the mail for the Capital Fund. The money repre- gun 10 to 20 feet from the cab. sents a lump-sum payment from the recent contract settlement, a smaller sign- But no DNA, blood or fingerprint Militant/Jonathan Silberman ing bonus and the November productivity bribe. “This is not just about Mark,” said his aunt Carole evidence linking it to Duggan The signing bonus was a straight-up bribe to sweeten approval of a take-back Duggan. “There’s no justice in this country.” was found. contract. The lump-sum payment was a far more effective bribe masquerading as retroactive pay. It was calculated as a percentage based on hours worked over a worker’s years of service since the expiration of the last contract. Some workers got thousands of dollars; some were dissatisfied with the amount they were given, since there was a cap to the payouts. I showed the money order around at work, along with the Militant column on the IAM fraction’s previous Capital Fund contributions. The discussions were interesting. Several people agreed that the lump sum was a bribe to win contract ratification, and were proud to have been part of the minority that voted against If you like this paper, don’t miss an issue! the contract.

Nearly 3,000 people To make a blood money contribution to the Socialist Workers Party Capital signed up to receive the Fund, contact Militant distributors listed on page 8. ‘Militant’ by mail during the recent subscription drive. If

you are one of them and like send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to above what you’ve been reading, The Militant address. then don’t forget to renew. Vol. 78/No. 3 Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: For one year send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to Closing news date: January 15, 2014 If you don’t have a subscrip- Militant/Jacquie Henderson above address. tion, sign up for the special Truck driver Jorge Vega, left, renews Editor: Doug Nelson Canada: For one year send Canadian $45 Militant subscription when supporters of to the Militant, 7107 St. Denis #204, Mon- offer and try it out. socialist paper knock on his door in March. Editorial volunteers: Tom Baumann, treal, Quebec H2S 2S5. Róger Calero, Naomi Craine, Seth Galinsky, Eleanor García, Emma Johnson, Jacob United Kingdom: Send £26 for one year Perasso, John Studer, Brian Williams, by check or international money order Rebecca Williamson. made out to CL London, First Floor, 120 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Bethnal Green Road (Entrance in Brick Published weekly except for one week in Lane), London, E2 6DG, England. January, one week in July, one week in Republic of Ireland and Continental August and two weeks in September. Europe: Send £85 for one year by check or NEW READERS NAME Business manager: Lea Sherman international money order made out to CL London at above address. The Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 306 W. q.$5 for 12 issues ADDRESS 37th Street, 13th floor, New York, NY France: Send 76 euros for one year to 10018. Telephone: (212) 244-4899 Diffusion du Militant, P.O. Box 175, 23 rue Fax: (212) 244-4947 Lecourbe, 75015 Paris. RENEWAL CITY STATE ZIP E-mail: [email protected] New Zealand: Send NZ$50 for one year to Website: www.themilitant.com P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140, New Zealand. q $10 for 12 weeks PHONE e-mail Australia: Send A$50 for one year to P.O. . Correspondence concerning subscriptions Box 164 Campsie, NSW 2194, Australia. or changes of address should be addressed Pacific Islands: Send NZ$50 for one year UNION/SCHOOL/ORGANIZATION to the Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 13th q.$20 for 6 months floor, New York, NY 10018. to P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140, New Zealand. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY. Submissions to the Militant may be pub- q $35 for 1 year Clip and mail to the militant, . 306 W. 37th st., 13th Floor new york, ny 10018. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to lished in the newspaper in print and digital the Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor, format. By submitting, authors represent New York, NY 10018. that their submissions are original and 12 weeks of the Militant outside the U.S.: Australia and the Pacific, A$8 • United consent to publication in this manner. Kingdom, £3 • Canada, Can$7 • Caribbean and Latin America, US$10 • Continental SUBSCRIPTIONS: United States: For Signed articles by contributors do not Europe, £10 • France, 12 euros • New Zealand, NZ$7 • All other areas, US$16 (Send one year send $35 to above address. necessarily represent the Militant’s views. payment to addresses listed in business information box) Latin America, Caribbean: For one year These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant January 27, 2014 Expand ‘Militant’ readership Saudi government carries out mass deportations Continued from front page door,” Tom Fiske said by phone from world continue to go door to door in Minneapolis Jan. 14. “During the working-class neighborhoods and to drive we reached out much broader participate in labor battles and po- into the city and got to know it better. litical activities, seeking to win new So now we keep going, finding new subscribers, they will also be getting areas that we try out. Last weekend in touch with those of you whose sub- we did sales in the area where the ex- scriptions are running out, to see what hibit is going to be.” you think about the paper and to help “We’ve also organized work to as many as possible to renew. win renewals and promote the books “We have been making a consistent on special,” Fiske said. “Every effort to get back to all subscribers Wednesday evening we get together to make sure they receive the paper and organize to contact subscribers and know about the book specials,” and set up meetings with them.” Out reported Katy LeRougetel from of this effort a worker at American Montreal Jan. 13. Crystal Sugar in North Dakota, On Jan. 8, LeRougetel and Félix where workers fought a 22-month

Vincent Ardea met with Alexis lockout from 2011 to 2013, just sent Reuters/Faisal Al Nasser Lafleur, a University of Montreal in a one-year renewal. Some 1 million migrant workers have been forced out of Saudi Arabia since student who took out a subscription “Can I receive The Communist March last year as part of a “Saudization” campaign by the monarchy. Above, in November and got the French- Manifesto as advertised in Militant an Ethiopian worker argues with a Saudi cop Nov. 11 as he and others await language edition of Thomas Sankara no. 46?” wrote a prisoner in Texas deportation. Speaks. when he sent in the slip for his six- In addition to 150,000 workers from Ethiopia, 400,000 from Yemen, and “Experiences like the one in month renewal. “I have been trying more than a 100,000 from India, hundreds of thousands from other countries, Burkina Faso should be an exam- hard to receive this publication and so including Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal and Pakistan have been deported. ple for workers all over the world,” far no luck. It has been an eye opener The labor law was changed in March to oblige bosses to hire a certain he said. “In fact, it’s because of to the world and now I will soon be percentage of Saudis or face financial penalties. Official Saudi unemployment Pathfinder’s efforts to circulate such part of it.” is already 12 percent, and is estimated to be double that among the two-thirds books that I decided to subscribe to During the drive, the Militant ex- of the population who are under 30. the Militant.” panded its readership among fellow Non-Saudi workers were given until Nov. 4 to “fix their status” or be subject Lafleur wanted to know more about workers behind bars. Many inmates to deportation. Non-Saudi workers are tied to the boss who sponsored them an upcoming showing at his univer- show the paper around and help to under an onerous form of contract labor common in the oil kingdoms of the sity of “I Will Die the Way I Lived,” win new readers. Arabian Peninsula that is designed to stunt the development of a hereditary an exhibit of watercolors by Antonio “I would be thankful to be added proletariat and prevent labor organization. Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five. He to your mailing list,” a prisoner in Saudi Arabia has 30 million residents, more than 9 million are noncitizens without rights. After the U.S., it is the world’s second biggest source of bought The Cuban Five: Who They Pennsylvania wrote. “Another inmate remittances from migrant workers sending money home. Are, Why They Were Framed, Why shared a few of his issues with me — emma johnson They Should Be Free to prepare to and I was impressed by both the con- build a Feb. 6 panel presentation on tent and the quality.” the fight to free the Five. Follow the example of the fellow Guerrero’s watercolors will also worker behind bars in Pennsylvania or the Militant at (212) 244-4899 or show in Minneapolis from Feb. 4 un- and join the effort to further expand [email protected]. til Feb. 28 (see ad on page 5 for both the readership of the paper. To get a You can also mail in the renewal militant exhibits.) subscription or renew, contact a dis- form that comes with your subscrip- “We’ve continued going door to tributor in your area listed on page 8 tion’s last three issues. labor forums california Special offers with ‘Militant’ subscription San Francisco Independence for Puerto Rico! Free Oscar López! Fri., Jan. 24, 7:30 p.m. 5482 Mission St. Tel.: (415) 584-2135. The Cuban Five Malcolm X, Black Who They Are, Why They Were Liberation, and the Road georgia Framed, Why They Should Be Free to Workers Power Atlanta Women’s Right to Choose Abortion: A from pages of the ‘Militant’ by Jack Barnes Fight in the Interests of Working People. $3 with subscription (regular $5) $10 with subscription Speaker: Lisa Potash, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., Jan. 24, 7:30 p.m. 777 Cleveland (regular $20) Ave., Suite 103. Tel.: (678) 528-7828. The Changing Face of U.S. Politics Working-Class Politics Cuba and Angola illinois Chicago and the Trade Unions Fighting for Africa’s Freedom From Cambodia to the U.S.: Fight for a by Jack Barnes and Our Own Higher Minimum Wage, Safety, Unions. Speaker: Alyson Kennedy, Socialist $10 with subscription (regular $24) by Nelson Mandela, Fidel Workers Party. Fri., Jan. 17, 7:30 p.m. 806 Castro, Raúl Castro; Cuban W. Washington Blvd., Room 202. Tel.: The Working Class and the (312) 055-0111. generals and combatants; Transformation of Learning Gabriel García Márquez The Fraud of Education Reform iowa $6 with subscription Des Moines Under Capitalism (regular $12) The Fight Against Police Brutality by Jack Barnes and Torture. Speaker: John Hawkins, Socialist Workers Party. Sat., Jan. 25, 7:30 $2 with subscription (regular $3) Women in Cuba p.m. 3707 Douglas Ave. Tel.: (515) 707- 1779. We Are Heirs The Making of a Revolution of the World’s Revolutions Within the Revolution new york by Thomas Sankara by Vilma Espín, Asela de los Manhattan Class Struggle and Social Contradictions Speeches from the Burkina Santos, Yolanda Ferrer $10 with subscription in Israel Today. Speaker: Lea Sherman, Faso Revolution 1983-87 Socialist Workers Party. Fri., Jan. 24, 7:30 (regular $20) p.m. 545 Eighth Ave., between 37th and $5 with subscription (regular $10) 38th St., Room 1410. Tel.: (212) 629-6649. Thomas Sankara Speaks Women and Revolution The Burkina Faso Revolution The Living Example new zealand 1983-1987 Auckland of the Cuban Revolution Nelson Mandela and the Democratic $10 with subscription (regular $24) Revolution in South Africa. Speaker; by Asela de los Santos, Mike Tucker, Communist League. Fri., Mary-Alice Waters and others Jan. 24, 7 p.m. Donation: $5 waged, $2 See distributors $3 with subscription unwaged. 4/125 Grafton Road. Tel.: (09) on page 8 (regular $7) 369-1223. The Militant January 27, 2014 3 Kenneth Edelin: Champion of rights of women, Blacks Doctor defended right to abortion, beat back frame-up BY SUSAN LAMONT oxygen while it was “being born.” Ede- Kenneth Edelin, a Boston physician lin testified that the fetus was not viable, and life-long champion of women’s estimating that his patient’s pregnancy rights who gained national attention was at most 22 weeks along. through a successful fight against an Michael Ciano, an alternate juror anti-abortion frame-up, died of cancer from East Boston, shed light on the Dec. 30 at age 74. racist character of the frame-up when In 1973 — the same year of the Su- he told the press about comments by a preme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling number of jurors, all of whom, includ- that decriminalized abortion — Ede- ing Ciano, were Caucasian. “That n----r lin became the first African-American is as guilty as sin,” said one, according to serve as chief resident in Obstetrics to Ciano. and Gynecology at Boston City Hos- “The anti-abortion forces didn’t just pital. Two years later he was charged stumble onto this case,” Edelin told the with manslaughter over an abortion Boston Globe. “They had been watch- Above, Dr. Kenneth Edelin speaks to sup- and convicted in a trial marked by ing me for about two years.” Edelin be- porters of women’s right to choose March racist bigotry. His defense campaign came a target when he and a few other 9, 1975, after frame-up conviction on became intertwined with the fight for doctors were featured in an article on manslaughter for performing abortion. Black rights and school desegregation fetal research in the New England Jour- Left, Edelin is welcomed back as chief resident of Obstetrics and Gynecology that was raging in the city at that time, nal of Medicine in June 1973. at Boston City Hospital day after convic- strengthening both the struggles for In September 1973 Edelin drew at- tion, which was overturned in 1976. women’s emancipation and against rac- tention for speaking out in defense of ist discrimination. a woman’s right to choose abortion at conviction in a Feb. 20 news confer- The public campaign to defend Ede- The attack on Edelin was led by lo- a city council hearing organized for the ence and called on NAACP chapters lin continued until his conviction was cal Democratic Party politicians, along benefit of “right to life” groups. around the country to defend Edelin: overturned by the Massachusetts Su- with local Catholic Church figures, At the same time Edelin was indict- “The weight of the evidence in the case preme Judicial Court in 1976. Massachusetts Citizens for Life and ed, four of those participating in the fe- was so overwhelmingly on the side of Edelin remained a staunch propo- other forces, some of which also helped tal research project were charged under the doctor that we can only explain the nent of women’s right to abortion. He mobilize sometimes violent protests an 1814 statute against “grave robbing” verdict as having been motivated either became chairman of the Department of aimed at blocking school desegregation. and “illegal dissection.” by religious bias, racial bias, or both.” Obstetrics and Gynecology at Boston Area-wide busing had been ordered by The Philadelphia Tribune and other University, serving until 1989, while federal Judge Arthur Garrity in 1974 ‘I believe in a woman’s right’ Black community newspapers spoke also director of Ob-Gyn at Boston City under the reverberating impact of the “I believe very strongly in a woman’s out against the verdict. “In the two Hospital and managing director of the working-class struggle for Black rights right to determine what happens to her years since the Supreme Court’s his- Roxbury Comprehensive Community that had overthrown Jim Crow segrega- body,” Edelin told the Boston Phoenix toric ruling, deaths resulting from abor- Health Center in Boston’s Black com- tion less than a decade earlier. at the time. “During illegal abortions, tion operations have declined by 81 per munity. “Abortion should not be permitted many women died. And many wom- cent, but Dr. Edelin’s conviction may Edelin served as chairman of under any circumstances despite the en suffered. And the problem is, the force many women back into the arms Planned Parenthood Federation of decision of the United States Supreme women who died are poor women, and of the quacks and butchers who used to America from 1989 to 1992. During Court,” Raymond Flynn, Democratic mainly black women.” snuff out women’s lives in backrooms his tenure, he wrote in 2007, the group state representative from South Boston Evonne Gilbert, the woman who had and dark alleys,” a Feb. 22 Tribune edi- “fought back with marches, demon- and a leader of the racist anti-busing the abortion, volunteered to testify for torial stated. strations and promised that we would drive, wrote in a letter reprinted in the Edelin. “I was grateful for the offer,” he not allow ourselves to be censored.” Boston Real Paper. wrote years later, “but decided that her Edelin fight gains broad support In 2007 he published the story of Edelin was one of only two doctors at privacy was more important than hav- In the weeks and months that fol- the fight against his frame-up, Broken Boston City Hospital who volunteered ing her take the witness stand.” lowed, a broad defense campaign was Justice: A True Story of Race, Sex and to perform abortions, sometimes work- Buoyed by Edelin’s conviction, capi- launched to demand Edelin’s convic- Revenge in a Boston Courtroom. ing overtime and Saturdays without talist politicians and hospital adminis- tion be overturned. Public meetings, “For me, the struggles for reproduc- pay. trators in other states took steps to re- rallies and other protests won national tive rights for women and Civil Rights In April 1974 Edelin was indicted for strict abortions. attention and support. for African-Americans are inter- manslaughter based on an abortion he On Feb. 17, 1975, two days after Ede- On May 3, 1975, 1,000 supporters twined and at the same time parallel,” had performed on a young Black wom- lin’s conviction, supporters of women’s marched to the Massachusetts State- Edelin wrote. “The denial of these two an. He was convicted in February 1975 rights responded with a march of 2,000 house, chanting “Defend Dr. Edelin, rights is an attempt by some to control and sentenced to one year probation. through downtown Boston. defend abortion rights.” the bodies of others. Both are forms of The prosecution charged that in per- Boston NAACP President Thomas The demonstration culminated a slavery. We must never let slavery in any form return to America.” forming an abortion by hysterectomy, Atkins, a leader of the Boston school week of activities called by the Coali- “The rights of women to make Edelin had deprived “a baby boy” of desegregation battle, condemned the tion to Defend Abortion Rights. “The choices about their pregnancies and week of activity has been publicized doctors to be able to offer their pa- through large-scale leafleting, appear- tients the most appropriate care con- ances on numerous radio talk shows, tinues to be under attack,” he wrote at articles in all the major press, and even the end of the book. “Recent Supreme a booth at Jordan Marsh, Boston’s larg- Court rulings have further restricted a est department store,” the Militant re- woman’s right to choose.” ported. A few weeks earlier, the racist anti- desegregation outfit ROAR — “Re- store Our Alienated Rights” — had Abortion Is a broken up a rally at Boston’s Faneuil Woman’s Right! Hall in support of the Equal Rights Amendment — a proposed constitu- by Pat Grogan, Evelyn Reed tional amendment prescribing equal Why abortion rights for women that never passed — rights are central and threatened to do the same to future not only to the actions in defense of women’s right to fight for the full choose. emancipation of “If you’re really for women’s rights women, but to you have to be against forced busing,” forging a united a ROAR leader said after the attack. and fighting labor But broad support for the May 3 ral- movement.—$6 Demonstration in Boston Dec. 14, 1974, demanding desegregation of public schools. ly combined with well-organized mar- Democratic Party leaders used City Hall to mobilize racist forces in pitched battles to stop bus- shaling by demonstrators resulted in a PathfinderPress.com ing at same time as they organized attack against Edelin and women’s right to choose abortion. successful action with no disruptions.

4 The Militant January 27, 2014 No recovery of jobs Continued from front page This is in addition to the these figures in the best light. 1.3 million jobless workers But the weather, besides result- who stopped getting fed- ing in a decline in construction jobs, eral benefits Jan. 1. As % of population doesn’t have much to do with the Under these conditions, with a job (dotted) years of stagnant employment facing bosses have been driving declined following working people. Bosses are not ex- against wages and work- recession, jobless panding investment in production and ing conditions. With a rate rose (solid). hiring workers because under current 2-cent hourly increase in But then unemployment rate conditions it would be less profitable workers’ paychecks in De- declined from 10% to 6.7%. for them to do so. At the heart of the cember, wages rose just While % of population with a problem is a long-term tendency to- 1.8 percent for the year, a job stayed around 58.5%. ward declining rates of industrial decline in real wages giv- profit, which has led to a slowdown en rising energy and food in capitalist production and trade on prices. During the reces- a world scale. sion, median household in- The percentage of the population come declined by $1,006, with a job in December was 58.6 per- according to Sentier Re- cent — around the same level it has search. Since the recession Because unemployment rate doesn’t count jobless workers Labor Department says have given up, rate has hovered at since it sharply declined ended in June 2009, it has declined over last four years, despite lack of any real recovery. At same time figures mask jobs crisis, they from 63 percent in 2007. dropped by another $2,535. also point to real trend: over time discouraged workers do drop out of workforce, which begins to shrink. As of December nearly 92 million adults are not counted in the labor force, a figure that has risen by 11.2 State gov’ts chip away at women’s right to abortion million over the past five years. Long-term unemployment remains by john studer all counties, and 97 percent of those in Some of the most onerous restric- at record-high levels. Nearly 38 per- Since the U.S. Supreme Court Roe rural areas, have no abortion facilities. tions have been struck down. On Jan. 13 cent of those receiving unemploy- v. Wade decision decriminalized abor- There have been few mass street mo- the Supreme Court let stand an appeals ment benefits have been out of work tion in 1973, opponents of women’s bilizations against these attacks, leav- court ruling overturning an Arizona for more than six months. Each week rights have chipped away at access to ing opponents of women’s rights with state law that criminalized virtually all that Congress debates whether to pro- the procedure. In 1976, Congress passed the initiative. At the same time, recent abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, vide federal jobless benefits, another the Hyde Amendment, which barred polls show around 70 percent continue which the lower court said violated Roe 72,000 workers will see their benefits use of federal funds for abortion under to back the right. v. Wade’s “unalterably clear” language. end as state compensation expires. Medicaid. This law has been renewed repeatedly and was recently extended to private insurance plans women can pur- Help fund Egypt reporting trip chase under Obamacare. Worker-correspondents are preparing for a trip to Egypt to report on chal- Showings of paintings State legislatures have imposed wait- lenges and struggles of working people there and to help staff a booth for by Antonio Guerrero, ing periods, mandatory ultrasound ex- Pathfinder Press at the 45th Cairo International Book Fair Jan. 22-Feb. 4 featur- ams, parental notification for young ing titles in Arabic, Farsi, English and other languages. one of the Cuban Five women, requirements that abortion pro- The team will include members and supporters of the communist move- viders have admitting privileges in near- ment in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Greece and Lebanon. I Will Die the by hospitals and that their clinics meet They will visit working-class areas in Cairo and other cities, meet with union- all the standards of ambulatory surgical ists and farmers about strikes, lockouts and other struggles they are involved Way I Lived facilities, shortened the time period in in, and about conditions in the country today. They will send back first-hand which abortion is legal, restricted medi- reports to be run in the Militant on the efforts of workers and farmers there to cation abortion, and more. defend and use political space. Over the past three years, such efforts The Cairo Book Fair is the largest yearly cultural event in the Middle East. have increased. From 2011 to 2013, state Last year 1.7 million people visited the fair from Egypt and 24 other countries. legislatures passed 205 new restrictions The Militant is appealing for funds from readers who want to help defray on access to abortion rights, as opposed the substantial costs of the trip and make possible similar reporting trips in the to 189 enacted in the decade before. future. Contributions can be sent to the Militant, 306 W. 37th St., 13th floor, These attacks have especially restrict- New York, NY, 10018. ed access for working-class women and — John studer those in rural areas. Some 87 percent of 25, 50, and 75 years ago

January 27, 1989 January 27, 1964 January 28, 1939 Exhibits The efforts of Latin American gov- A general strike that paralyzed Cuz- OMAHA, Neb. — When an irresist- ernments to keep up interest payments co, Peru’s third largest city; increasing ible union meets an “immovable” boss Minneapolis, Minn. on the $430 billion they owe to financial conflicts and arrests as peasants oc- group, then either the boss group moves, February 4-28 institutions in the imperialist countries cupy large landed estates; an agrarian or goes broke. That’s the way the cards Opening reception: Fri., Feb. are creating a social and economic ca- reform bill bogged down in Peru’s par- lay on the table in the epic 20-week bat- 7, 6 p.m. Regla de Oro — Art tastrophe for working people. This was liament; and a vote of no-confidence in tle between the Omaha General Drivers Gallery and Fair Trade Gifts, 2743 driven home by two recent events — the governing party’s prime minister. Union 554 (Irresistible!) and the Omaha Lyndale Ave. S. Tel.: (612) 866- the attack by Mexico’s government on Such are the powerful repercussions Business Men’s Association. 1247; (612) 378-7134. Exhibition the oil workers’ union and the imposi- on Peru’s political life of the Indian The nonunion boss operators must face the fact that they no longer repre- schedule: Tue.-Fri., 12PM-7PM; tion by Brazil’s government of new, peasants’ growing demand for “Land sent a majority of their own industry. Sat., 11AM-7PM.; Sun., 11AM-4 PM anti-working-class austerity measures. or Death.” Driving down the standard of living Cuzco, ancient Inca capital, was Within the Omaha region, 68 percent Montreal, Canada of workers and farmers in Latin Amer- shaken Dec. 20 by a militant 24-hour of the over-the-road motor freight in- Thurs., Feb. 6, 5 p.m ica makes it easier for the employers to general strike. The strikers’ cen- dustry have signed up. “Art and Liberation.” Université step up attacks on wages, living stan- tral demand was the release of Hugo The significance of this strike would be difficult to overestimate. It opens de Montréal, 3200, Jean-Brillant, dards, and union rights elsewhere. Blanco and 60 other peasant leaders up another inland empire to the enter- Room B-3260. Speakers: Alain The labor movement and farmers’ held prisoners by the government, ac- organizations around the world need cording to an Agence France Presse ing wedge of militant union organiza- González González, Cuban consul to throw their full backing behind the report. tion. That this significance is realized general; Claude Morin, honorary working people of Latin America in Cuzco’s general strike, organized by by unions throughout the entire 11-state professor; Félix Vincent Ardea, stu- the defensive struggles they are wag- a united front of peasant, student and area is proved by the cash-on-the-line dent; Catinca Adriana Stan, teach- ing. We should join them in demanding workers’ organizations, underscored contributions as well as fraternal greet- ing assistant. Tel.: (438) 822-9500. that the unpayable and inhuman debt be a hunger strike by imprisoned peasant ings to the besieged strikers which are canceled now. leaders, including Blanco. pouring in.

The Militant January 27, 2014 5 ‘Humor from My Pen’ in New Zealand, now in Wellington Refugees’ fight in Israel Continued from front page “The Knesset members from tion of 10,000 in Jerusalem in front of Meretz [a social-democratic politi- the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. cal party] said from the Knesset po- Since 2006 nearly 36,000 Eritreans dium that ‘nothing would happen to and 15,000 Sudanese have entered Is- the State of Israel if it took in those rael from Egypt’s Sinai desert, fleeing 53,000 people,’” Interior Minister repressive regimes in their home coun- Gideon Sa’ar told Hayom daily. “I dis- tries. Because it does not have diplo- agree with people who hold that view. matic relations with Sudan, the Israeli As far as Jewish identity and the de- government can’t legally deport the sire to blur it are concerned, whether Sudanese. Repression in Eritrea is so or not that is the intention of those widely recognized that it is politically who support the foreigners, that will difficult to deport Eritreans. be the result.” At first Israeli authorities issued The protests and latest government temporary visas and gave them bus measures, including ordering more tickets to Tel Aviv. of the refugees to go to Holot, have “They didn’t give us permits to sparked a nationwide debate. Hayom Militant/Patrick Brown work or anyplace to live. We learned published a poll saying that 61 percent WELLINGTON, New Zealand — More than 40 people packed into the Hebrew, got jobs, paid rent on our of Jewish Israelis want the Africans Deluxe Café Jan. 10 for the opening here of the exhibition of political car- own,” Abraham said. Hotel, restau- deported and only 11.6 percent think toons by Gerardo Hernández, one of the Cuban Five. The exhibition, titled rant and cleaning companies wel- they should be allowed to live and “Humor from My Pen,” has been touring this country for more than two comed the Africans as a source of work in Israel. years, helping to build support for the campaign to free the Five. cheap labor. “If they hire Israelis they “I think half the country is for us “The new year marks the 55th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban will have to pay them a lot more sal- and half don’t want the refugees,” Revolution,” said Cuban Ambassador Maria del Carmen Herrera, at right ary,” Abraham said. “That’s why they Mohamed Salih, a Sudanese leader in left photo, who welcomed participants. The last 55 years of revolution want to use us.” of the protests from Arad, told the have seen achievements that have benefited the Cuban people, and relent- In June 2012 the Knesset passed Militant. “Students from Ben Gurion less efforts by Washington to overturn them, Herrera said. She encouraged a law allowing the government to University and from Tel Aviv Univer- support for the International Commission of Inquiry into the Case of the Cuban Five, to be held in London March 7-8. imprison migrants for three years. sity say they stand with the refugees. — Janet Roth The government began building a Many Israelis have gone to Holot to 140-mile-long high-tech fence to keep bring them food and clothing.” the Africans out. The number of new Salih described talking to a Jewish arrivals dropped from about 2,000 a taxi driver who backs the anti-refugee a human rights issue,” Shay Cohen, sands of Ethiopian Jews,” Hashem month at the beginning of 2012 to 34 measures. “‘The Asian workers come an organizer for Koach La Ovdim, a Mohameed, a former member of the in the first six months of 2013. here with a five-year work contract,’ union federation founded in 2007, told Knesset who is Palestinian from the The Israeli Supreme Court struck the taxi driver told me. ‘Then they go the Militant Jan. 13. “It’s also a labor Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, said by down the law in September 2013, say- back home. But you Africans want to issue. Workers without work permits phone Jan. 11. “Israel doesn’t need to ing that three years was too long. The stay here forever,’” Salih said. are used as a weapon against Israeli push these refugees away, they can let law that replaced it allows the govern- “If they are refugees, fine. But most workers and the solution is solidarity them live here.” ment to jail refugees for up to a year come to make quick money, many are with their struggle for equal rights. “In our heads Palestinians all be- and to hold them indefinitely in so- criminals,” Haim Sahar, a leader of They should be issued work visas and lieve the Sudanese and Eritreans are called open detention facilities, such a recently successful Histadrut orga- be able to join the union.” right. But few of us would join the as Holot in the Negev desert, where protests, we have our own problems,” nizing drive at Pelephone cellphone Range of views detainees have to be present for three company, said from outside Tel Aviv he said. roll calls during the day and return Jan. 12. The detention center is a shel- Cohen is part of an organizing drive After the government declared an every evening. ter, Sahar said. “Inside you have edu- among ultra-orthodox Jewish workers official mourning period following “The government says the open de- cation, doctors, food. They should say at a chicken processing plant. “They the Jan. 11 death of former Israeli tention is not a jail. If they need to check ‘thank you.’” hold a wide range of views, from very Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, leaders on me every couple of hours, if I can’t The Histadrut, the largest union hostile to solidarity with the African of the Sudanese and Eritrean commu- move where I want, then I’m in jail,” federation in the country with close asylum-seekers,” he said. “It’s inter- nity put a hold on further demonstra- Noury Musa, a pastry kitchen worker ties to the government, has not taken esting everyone feels free to discuss tions. from Sudan who works at a Dead Sea a position on the refugee question. these things.” “About 50 percent of us have gone resort, said in a phone interview. “We support the asylum-seekers as Many of the African refugees work back to work,” Salih said. “Many peo- side by side with Jewish and Palestin- ple have financial problems, they need ian workers. “Most of the workers in to pay rent.” Some were fired when the pastry kitchen are Russian Jews, they tried to return to work, he said. Who are the Cuban Five? but I also have co-workers who are Sudanese and Eritrean workers are Arabs,” Musa said. “Many co-work- discussing their next steps. ers have called me and asked if they “They want us to leave,” Musa said. can help me in anyway.” “So to where? I am not going to en- “Israel has absorbed tens of thou- danger my life again.”

Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón “Now and then the workers are Labañino and René González are Cuban revolutionaries who during the 1990s accepted assignments from the Cuban government to gather information on victorious, but only for a time. the operations and plans of Cuban-American paramilitary groups based in The real fruit of their battles lies, southern Florida. These rightist outfits, organizing on U.S. soil with virtual not in the immediate result, but in impunity, have a long record of carrying out bombings, assassinations and other deadly attacks, both against targets in Cuba and supporters of the Cuban the ever expanding union of the Revolution in the United States, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. workers.” On Sept. 12, 1998, the five were arrested by the FBI. They were framed up —Karl Marx and Frederick Engels and convicted on a variety of charges, which included acting as unregistered agents of the Cuban government and possession of false identity documents. Written in 1848, the Communist Without a shred of evidence, three were charged with “conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information.” Manifesto explains why Hernández was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, based on communism is the line of march of the pretext that he bore responsibility for the Cuban government’s 1996 shoot- the working class toward power, down of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft that had invaded Cuban airspace “springing from an existing class in disregard of Havana’s repeated warnings. He is serving two life terms plus $5 15 years. His wife Adriana Pérez is barred from entering the United States. struggle, a historical movement The frame-up and continued incarceration of the Five is part of Washington’s going on under our very eyes.” decades-long campaign to punish the working people of Cuba for making and defending their socialist revolution. René González returned to Cuba in May 2013, halfway through his parole. www.pathfinderpress.com

6 The Militant January 27, 2014 Israel boycott weakens fights of Palestinians, workers False apartheid analogy distracts from real class struggle in Israel, Palestinian territories by seth galinsky set out to exploit the labor of the right- The Dec. 15 vote by the American less Black majority to create superprof- Studies Association to endorse a boy- its for the capitalist class. The founders cott of Israeli academic institutions has of Israel sought to expel as much of the been hailed as a victory by those who Arab majority as they could and make see the boycott, divestment and sanc- their profits by creating an almost all- tions campaign as a way to force the Is- Jewish working class. raeli government to end its occupation Israel today is the most economi- of Arab lands, obtain full equality for cally and socially developed capitalist Palestinians in Israel, and win the right nation-state in the Middle East, with a of return for Palestinians who lost their large proletariat and substantial mid- dle-class layers. Its power is backed by the most formidable military in the ComMentarY region. And despite its original goal of expelling the Palestinians, they make homes in Israel. However, the boycott up more than 20 percent of its citizens. campaign is an obstacle to these and Israeli capitalism exploits Jewish, im- other fights by working people in Israel migrant and Palestinian labor, includ- and the Palestinian territories. ing from the Palestinian territory of The Association for Asian Ameri- the West Bank. At the same time Israel is a bour- Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org can Studies backed the boycott in Working people are motor force of Palestinian liberation struggle, from fights against job and April and the Modern Language As- geois democracy, which affords work- housing discrimination in Israel to demanding end to Israeli blockade of Gaza Strip. Above, sociation debated the question at its ing people a degree of political rights March 1, 2013, protest in Bil’in village against separation wall Israeli government erected Chicago convention this month. and space to organize and act in their across West Bank to defend land grabs by settlers and maintain Jewish majority in Israel. Leaders of the Palestinian Cam- class interests that for the most part paign for the Academic and Cultural does not exist elsewhere in the region. Apartheid prevented the formation have failed miserably,” he said. “We Boycott of Israel contend that Israel Like other developed capitalist na- of a modern nation. It institutional- thought anything you can do to get is the world’s unique pariah nation to- tions, it is full of class antagonisms and ized racial and tribal differentiations the Israeli government to change, we day, similar to the white-supremacist social contradictions. and blocked development of modern thank you for it.” apartheid state of South Africa that classes, including a hereditary work- But after taking a post at the Uni- was overthrown in the early 1990s. Apartheid: a state of ‘white race’ ing class among Blacks. versity of Oxford he has begun to They say their effort is modeled on the Apartheid South Africa was not a Following World War II, South Af- question the tactic. “A physics profes- campaign for international sanctions nation in any meaningful sense but a rica’s rulers were largely successful sor here refused to accept a doctoral against apartheid but they say nothing state of the “white race.” Less than 20 in implementing their vision of this student because he came from Israel,” about the mass struggle organized by percent of the population living in the unique system of capitalist wage slav- he said. “I’m probably one of the last the African National Congress, which territories under its control — those ery under feudal-like forms of subju- people to bring up anti-Semitism, but was the key to the democratic revolu- defined by law as persons “of the white gation. Its success was its downfall. it reeks of that.” tion in South Africa. race” — had rights of citizenship. Such blatant and socially explosive Paz-Fuchs raises an important point. While the expression “Israeli apart- Blacks could not vote, change jobs at contradictions became impossible to The Jewish question does not go away heid” has become accepted by some will or own land. They had to carry hold together. and capitalism remains a death trap who support the Palestinian struggle, government-issued passes at all times The Israeli rulers’ goal was very dif- for the Jewish people. Anti-Semitism, the analogy is false. and could not travel from one side of a ferent: the removal of the Arab inhab- Jew-hatred and conspiracy theories, Both apartheid South Africa and Is- town to the other without permission. itants and the setting up an all-Jewish dredged up from the past, seek to get rael have roots as settler colonies and Anytime the government chose, it nation from the Mediterranean to the working people to scapegoat Jews for bulwarks of imperialism in underde- could send unruly African workers Jordan River. Today they have aban- the crisis of capitalism and divert their veloped regions of the world. But the back to isolated Bantustans, so-called doned this failed vision and instead are attention from the real enemy: the two are otherwise quite different in homelands in impoverished rural ar- looking for ways to adjust their borders bosses and their system of exploita- key respects. South African apartheid eas. and maintain an Israel with a Jewish tion. Bending to anti-Semitism poses a majority. danger to the working class and to the In the West Bank, the Israeli govern- Palestinian struggle. ment has built a wall between Jewish and Arab areas, and constantly en- Joining debate ‘more powerful’ croaches on Palestinian territory with In 2011 British novelist Ian McEwan settlements. It keeps the Gaza Strip was invited to Israel to accept the Jeru- blockaded, preventing Palestinians salem prize for literature. He refused there from working in Israel and from to heed calls to boycott the invitation. normal trade and travel relations with Instead, in a speech widely reported the rest of the world. This reinforces on in Israel, McEwan denounced the their dependence on handouts from Israeli government for the “continued the United Nations and other agen- evictions and relentless purchases of cies, stunting development of the class Palestinian homes in East Jerusa- struggle. lem, the process of the right of return Palestinian citizens of Israel face granted to Jews but not to Arabs” as systematic discrimination in jobs, well as for turning Gaza into “a long- education, government services, land term prison camp.” He also criticized ownership and housing. Hamas for embracing “the nihilism At the same time Jews and Arabs in- of the suicide bomber, of rockets fired side Israel can ride the same buses, go blindly into towns, and the nihilism of to the same universities, work in many the extinctionist policy towards Israel.” of the same factories, belong to the “What he did was so much more same unions and fight side by side for powerful and took more courage than better wages and conditions. Jewish refusing to come,” Paz-Fuchs said. and Palestinian citizens of Israel were The boycott campaign is based on both part of social protests over hous- “the logic of pressure, not diplomacy, ing and inflation that swept the country persuasion, or dialogue,” Lisa Taraki, in the summer of 2011. a leader of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott Opens door to anti-Semitism’ of Israel, said in an August 2011 inter- Israeli law professor Amir Paz- view in al Jazeera. “No amount of ‘ed- Fuchs told the Militant by phone from ucation’ of Israelis about the horrors of Oxford, England, Dec. 30 that he sup- occupation and other forms of oppres- Photos: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org ported the boycott movement when he sion seems to have turned the tide.” Israel’s working class has been changing, including by addition of more and more immigrants. Notion that Israel is apartheid-like state deserving worldwide isolation turns away from class lived in Israel out of “frustration.” But just as there are two Americas struggle and possibilities to strengthen fight against national oppression of Palestinians. Top, “I felt like we had worked over the — the America of the wealthy capital- social protest by Jews and Palestinians in Haifa, Israel, Jan. 1, 2012. Bottom, Jewish, African last 30 years to get the government to ist property owners and the America and Arab workers on strike at Pri Galil food processing plant near Golan Heights, 2009. stop its most flagrant violations and Continued on page 9

The Militant January 27, 2014 7 ‘We know we can count on revolutionary people of Cuba’ Below are excerpts from Thomas gives them the strength to wage ever Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso more important battles. Comrade Fidel Revolution: 1983-1987, one of Path- Castro and his comrades in the Sierra finder’s Books of the Month for Janu- Maestra in 1956 were simply carry- ary. In September 1984 Sankara, cen- ing forward the same revolutionary tral leader of the revolution in Burkina battle by the Cuban people for their Faso, headed a delegation to Cuba, full freedom. The revolutionaries and where he received the Order of José the Burkinabè people, who spent years Martí. The excerpt is from remarks combating reactionary and proimpe- at the ceremony by Armando Hart, rialist regimes in Burkina Faso, were a member of the Cuban Communist following in the footsteps of the battle Party’s Political Bureau and minis- waged by José Martí and they continue ter of culture, followed by Sankara’s to do so today. response. Copyright © 1988 by Path- Cuba and Burkina Faso are so far finder Press. Reprinted by permission. and yet so near, so different and yet so similar, that only revolutionaries can un- derstand the sincere love that pushes us Books of irresistibly toward one another. Thomas Sankara, left, central leader of revolution in Burkina Faso from 1983 until his assassi- nation in 1987, receives Order of José Martí from Cuban President Fidel Castro, Sept. 25, 1984. My country is small. It covers 274,000 the month square kilometers and has a population our countries; to dignity and honor; or olution on me, is more than a symbolic of seven million — seven million peas- armando hart to the struggle against imperialism, co- gesture. It is a pledge of political sup- ant men and women, who for centuries Comrade Fidel; lonial and neocolonial domination, and port to my country, Burkina Faso, and lived under conditions identical to, if Dear Comrade Captain Thomas San- for genuine national liberation. You, its democratic and popular revolution. not worse than, those endured by your kara, president of the National Council Comrade Thomas Sankara, display all It is a firm pledge based on the memory people under the fascist Batista dictator- of the Revolution and head of state and these merits simultaneously. of one of the greatest patriots not only ship. Safe drinking water, three meals government in Burkina Faso; First we should underscore the deep of Cuba and Latin America, but of all a day, a clinic, a school, and a simple Dear comrades of the visiting delega- feeling of friendship and solidarity corners of the world where peoples are plow are still elements of an ideal in life tion; with which the leadership of our party, fighting for freedom and independence. that millions of Burkinabè have not yet Comrades: our government, and the entire Cuban This distinction demonstrates the achieved after a year of revolutionary We have the honor this evening of people have been following the revolu- Cuban people’s deep feelings of love power. I must explain that the National carrying out the resolution of our Coun- tionary events unfolding in the former for the Burkinabè people. Did not José Council of the Revolution and the people cil of State, which confers on you, dear Republic of Upper Volta, today know by Martí himself entitle his unforgettable of Burkina Faso conquered state power President Sankara, a high and distin- its new name, Burkina Faso. work, “Love Is Repaid with Love”? José and wield it today under the weight of a guished decoration: the Order of José Revolutionary peoples, those who Martí, who at the early age of sixteen heavy legacy from the past. Martí. Our revolution reserves it, very have experienced the hard struggle for was deported from his country because But there are positive examples such selectively, as a well-deserved recogni- independence, dignity, and develop- of his revolutionary political ideas, felt as yours that revive the morale of the tion of those who have rendered out- ment, have no difficulty understanding the reality of militant solidarity among less-determined, strengthen the revolu- standing service to the cause of the peo- the efforts and battles of other frater- the peoples of the world in his blood and tionary convictions of others, and spur ple, to international relations between nal peoples. They feel the need to im- bones. people on to struggle against the cen- mediately extend political support and Peoples of the world love one an- ters of hunger, disease, and ignorance solidarity — both of which are so im- other, and they know how to love. For that still exist in our country. JanuaryBooks portant at all times, but even more so at nine years, Martí lived in the United We have been fighting, we fight, and of the Month the outset of a revolution. This is how we States, Mexico, and Guatemala, where we will continue to fight to create, with feel toward the people of Burkina Faso, he became part of the people and earned our own hands, the material founda- PATHFINDER toward the process of renewal and trans- their love. Without that profound love, tions for our happiness. At all times in

READERS CLUB 25% formation taking place in their country when he was deported — it happened this fight, we know we can count on discount SPECIALS and toward their outstanding leader, twice in his short life, in 1869 and 1879 the firm support of the revolutionary Captain Thomas Sankara. … — he could have been discouraged and people of Cuba and of all who have em- Thomas Sankara Speaks his morale might have flagged. But in braced José Martí’s ideals. The Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-87 Thomas Sankara 1895 José Martí returned to his country May José Martí hear me! May this by Thomas Sankara Comrades: and took up arms against the colonial In speeches and interviews, Sankara medal guide me and my comrades in speaks for the people of Burkina Revolutionaries do not waste time oppressors. The man who died at Dos leading our revolution to victory at the Faso and Africa, and as an outstand- hypocritically praising one another, a Ríos did so for the freedom of all the service of the people who demand their ing revolutionary leader of working common practice among reactionaries. world’s peoples. He belongs to us all, to share of happiness! It is no accident at people the world over. The tribute that the people of Cuba Cuba and to Burkina Faso. all that our national slogan is captured in $24. Special price: $18 have paid to my people, by conferring The precious blood of heroes like him one you know so well: Speeches for Socialism the highest distinction of the Cuban Rev- nurtures the peoples of the world and Homeland or death, we will win! by James P. Cannon $25. Special price: $18.75 Writings of Leon Trotsky if you like this paper, look us up (1929) Where to find distributors of the MINNESOTA: Minneapolis: 416 E. AUSTRALIA by Leon Trotsky Militant, New International, and a full Hennepin Ave., Suite 214. Zip: 55414. Sydney: 1st Flr, 3/281-287 Beamish $35. Special price: $26.25 display of Pathfinder books. Tel: (612) 729-1205. E-mail: tcswp@ St., Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing qwestoffice.net address: P.O. Box 164, Campsie, NSW 2194. Teamster Politics UNITED STATES Tel: (02) 9718 9698. E-mail: cl_australia@ by Farrell Dobbs NEBRASKA, Lincoln: Tel: (402) 217- optusnet.com.au Tells how rank-and-file Teamsters CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4025 4906. E-mail: [email protected] in 1930s led fight against anti- S. Western Ave. Zip: 90062. Tel: (323) Omaha: 3302 Q St. (Upstairs) P.O. Box CANADA 295-2600. E-mail: [email protected] union frame-ups and assaults by 7908. Zip: 68107. Tel.: (402) 779-7697. QUEBEC: Montreal: 7107 St. Denis fascist goons; the battle for jobs San Francisco: 5482 Mission St. Zip: 94112- E-mail: [email protected] 1015. Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail: swpsf #204 H2S 2S5. Tel: (514) 272-5840. E-mail: for all; and efforts to advance @sbcglobal.net [email protected] independent labor political action. NEW YORK: Manhattan: 545 8th Ave., Room 1410. Zip: 10018. Tel: (212) $19. Special price: $14.25 FRANCE FLORIDA: Miami: 7100 Biscayne Blvd., 629-6649. E-mail: [email protected] Suite 306A. Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 757-8869. Paris: P.O. 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 40-10-28-37. American Railroads: E-mail: [email protected] PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 3701 The Case for Nationalization E-mail: [email protected] GEORGIA: Atlanta: 777 Cleveland Ave. Pulaski Ave. Zip: 19140. Tel: (215) 225- by Dick Roberts 1270. E-mail: [email protected] $17. Special price: $12.75 SW Suite 103. Zip: 30315. Tel: (678) 528-7828. NEW ZEALAND E-mail: [email protected] TEXAS: Houston: 4800 W. 34th St., Auckland: 4/125 Grafton Rd., Grafton. Intensifiquemos la lucha Suite C-50L. Zip: 77092. Tel: (713) 476- Postal address: P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140. ILLINOIS: Chicago: 806 W. Washington Tel: (09) 369-1223. E-mail: [email protected] (Intensify the Struggle) Blvd. Suite 202. Zip: 60607. Tel: (312) 455- 0733. E-mail: [email protected] by Nelson Mandela 0111. E-mail: [email protected] $15. Special price: $11.25 WASHINGTON, D.C.: 143 UNITED KINGDOM IOWA: Des Moines: 3707 Douglas Ave. Kennedy St. NW, Suite 15. Zip: ENGLAND: London: First Floor, 120 Join Pathfinder Readers Club 20011. Tel: (202) 536-5080. E-mail: Bethnal Green Road (Entrance in Brick for $10 and receive Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 707-1779. E-mail: discounts all year long [email protected] [email protected] Lane). Postal code: E2 6DG. Tel: (020) 7613-2466. E-mail: [email protected]

Order online at MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 13 WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier : Room 301, 3rd floor, Hilton www.pathfinderpress.com Bennington St., 2nd Floor, East Bos- Ave. South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) House, 26–28 Hilton St. Postal code: M1 2EH. Offer good until January 31 ton. Zip: 02128. Tel: (617) 569-9169. 323-1755. E-mail: seattleswp@qwestoffice. Tel: (016) 1478-2496. E-mail: clmanchr@ E-mail: [email protected] net gmail.com 8 The Militant January 27, 2014 Editorial Israel boycott Continued from page 7 of the working class — there are two Israels. Similar Capitalism threatens soil and worker class divisions exist within the Palestinian territo- Every week new devastations are visited on work- dumped into the Elk River, refuses to make their files ries. ing people and the air, soil, food and water we rely on, on the chemical’s effects public, saying they’re “pro- Viewing all Israelis — and Taraki means Israeli a result of the bosses’ unrelenting drive for profit that prietary.” Jews — as enemies and Israel as a special apart- motivates production under capitalism. This week For the working class, job safety, consumer protec- heid state that must be destroyed, blocks Palestin- 300,000 people in West Virginia had to forgo drink- tion and environmental protection are inextricably ians from winning potential allies among working ing, bathing, washing dishes and other use of the pub- tied together. And what are often called environmen- people of all nationalities and religious beliefs. It lic water supply or face being poisoned by the owners tal issues are not special “scientific” questions that can also provide cover for Jew-hatred to hide and of Freedom Industries, who let dangerous industrial can be abstracted from the class struggle. fester, whatever the intentions of boycott support- chemicals leak into the Elk River. “If we translate everything commonly thought of ers. Water authorities in Cincinnati were preparing to as an environmental issue into how to advance the This can be seen in the boycott campaign against shut the intake valves on their system as the spill’s protection of the working class, and how the working the G4S private security firm for equipping Israeli chemical plume drifted by on the Ohio River Jan. 14. class can extend that protection to all, then we can prisons in the West Bank. But G4S also equips The week before, derailed tank cars filled with hardly ever go wrong,” Jack Barnes, national secre- prisons in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and in the highly volatile Bakken-shale crude oil exploded and tary of the Socialist Workers Party, wrote in Capital- United States. Are U.S. prisons, or those in Sau- burned for days outside Casselton, N.D. — by chance ism’s World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the di Arabia for that matter, a better model for their just a mile or two from town. Millennium. treatment of workers and oppressed people behind The bosses exploit labor without regard to the lives The source of ecological destruction and its effect bars than Israel? The Israel boycott campaign stands in con- and limbs of working people, as they engage in cut- on human life is capital’s unquenchable search for trast to the revolutionary course followed during throat competition without concern for the social con- profits through the exploitation of land and labor. It the fight against apartheid. The African National can be confronted only in struggle against the exploit- sequences of their “cost cutting” methods. Congress won leadership of the vast majority of Capitalism, Karl Marx observed in 1867, works so ing class in power, as working people organize and Africans in struggle on the basis of the 1955 Free- the propertied classes accumulate profit “by simul- fight to wrest some control over working conditions dom Charter, which called for a South Africa that taneously undermining the original sources of all and the processes of production. “belongs to all who live in it, Black and white.” wealth — the soil and the worker.” It can only be stopped through the conquest of po- And they meant it. That course ensured victory by The bosses act as if dangers their system of produc- litical power by the working class, whose objective in- winning support among all nationalities, including tion and distribution poses to both labor and nature terests lie not in the accumulation of personal wealth a substantial number of Caucasians, to the side of are nobody’s business but their own. Eastman Chemi- but in meeting the material and cultural needs of hu- the ANC. cal Company, which manufactures the toxic brew manity today and for future generations. But there is no revolutionary leadership in Israel or the Palestinian territories today. Hamas and Fa- tah, which claim to speak in the name of Palestin- ians, are bourgeois organizations that are obstacles to the struggle. They don’t have a program that of- Boss negligence poisons water in W.Va. fers a way forward for the Palestinians, much less Continued from front page “The valley where Charleston is situated is called one that can attract allies among Jewish, African tic forks and knives. It’s a major inconvenience.” ‘chemical valley’ because of all the chemical plants immigrants and other workers in Israel. Boone is one of nine counties affected by the wa- there,” Cindy Rank, chair of West Virginia Highlands This doesn’t mean the fights for Palestinian ter ban Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin ordered. Schools shut Conservancy’s mining committee, told the Militant rights and against national oppression should wait down, restaurants closed, hotels canceled all reserva- Jan. 13. “They are all located on river banks. There for other developments in the class struggle. But it will not succeed in the long run unless it wins al- tions. Workers lost several days of wages. On Jan. 13, have been lots and lots of problems just in recent lies among working people inside Israel. And any the ban began to be gradually lifted, but many will be years.” advance in the Palestinian struggle must be cham- In August 2008, two workers were killed after an without water for several more days. pioned by the labor movement in Israel if workers explosion in a plant owned by Bayer CropScience, On the morning of Jan. 9, the West Virginia De- there are to break down divisions fostered by the partment of Environmental Protection responded to situated near Charleston on the Kanawha River. For bosses that keep them hamstrung. complaints about a licorice-like odor from residents several hours managers refused to tell emergency per- Palestinian working people, not the Palestinian near a chemical storage site. When inspectors arrived sonnel the nature of the blast or what toxic chemical it bourgeoisie, are the motor force for the liberation at the plant they saw chemicals leaking from a rup- released. struggle and the fights for Palestinian rights that tured tank. A concrete block dike, meant to serve as The plant produced methyl isocyanate, the same are going on today: from fights against job and a secondary containment, also let the chemical spill chemical that caused the industrial disaster in Bhopal, housing discrimination inside Israel to the fight by through into the Elk River. India, in December 1984 that resulted in the deaths of Bedouins in the Negev to remain on the land they Up to 7,500 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane metha- 15,000 people. have lived on for decades, to fights against the West nol (MCHM) leaked into the river, a mile upstream of In January 2010, DuPont Corp.’s chemical manu- Bank wall and the economic embargo of Gaza, for the intake pipes for the West Virginia American Wa- facturing plant in Belle had three serious gas leaks water rights and to win freedom for Palestinian po- ter Company. MCHM is used to separate sellable coal within 33 hours that killed one worker when he was litical prisoners in Israel’s jails. from waste material attached to it. exposed to phospene, a gas used as a chemical weapon Because Israel is the most developed capitalist Freedom Industries, the owner of the plant, pro- in World War II. country in the region, with a powerful multination- cesses and stores chemicals in 14 shoreline tanks 2.5 Following the Bayer plant leak the federal Chemical al working class, there are more opportunities than miles upstream from downtown Charleston, the state Safety Board issued a report in January 2011 with pro- ever for advancing these fights. capital. The company had not reported any leak or ac- posals for a new “Hazardous Chemical Release Pre- But the boycott campaign’s schema of Israeli cident. It took more than a day before the bosses held vention Program.” The board repeated the proposals apartheid leaves its supporters disoriented and a 10-minute-long press conference Jan. 10, claiming in September that year in a report on the DuPont leak. unable to embrace real developments in the class they were focused on cleaning things up. They have In June 2011, the state’s departments of Environ- struggle in Israel, like the ongoing fight of Suda- made no comment since. The public relations firm mental Protection and Health and Human Resources nese and Eritrean immigrants for refugee status. The road forward for working people is not the they hired dropped them as a client Jan. 12. decided not to implement them. Industry groups, in- cluding the American Chemistry Council, said they “destruction of Israel” — anymore than the “de- struction” of the U.S. or Russia — but the forging ‘It’s a wake-up call’ would “create unnecessary redundancies, as well as of a revolutionary movement and a communist the imposition of additional economic burdens on lo- “We haven’t really had much information about the leadership of Jewish, Arab and immigrant workers chemical involved and how much has actually spilled,” cal industries, communities and state governments.” and farmers that will advance the fight for Palestin- Bentley said. “It’s a wake-up call, we’ve got to be care- ian national rights and lead working people to take ful with our water, we can’t live without it. I don’t like power out of the hands of the capitalist rulers in what’s happening. I haven’t heard much about health Recommended reading Israel and the region. effects yet, but I’m sure that will come.” “The Stewardship A revolutionary government will invite Pales- “There’s not much known about this chemical,” tinians scattered throughout the world to return to Elizabeth Scharman, director of the West Virginia of Nature Also Falls to their homeland. And in the face of rising rightist Poison Center, told the Charleston Gazette Jan. 10. the Working Class: In movements as capitalism’s crisis of production and She said it could cause respiratory problems, burning Defense of Land and trade deepens, it will open its doors to Jews fleeing of the eyes and skin, and prompt vomiting and diar- Labor” in New Interna- reaction anywhere in the world. rhea. tional No. 14. Only 200 of 84,000 in the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s inventory are tested for effects on ‘Militant’ Prisoners’ Fund drinking water and other water quality. Order from: The Prisoners’ Fund makes it possible to send prison- By Jan. 12, 169 patients had been treated and re- pathfinderpress.com ers reduced rate subscriptions. To donate, send a check leased from area hospital emergency rooms, accord- or contact a or money order payable to the Militant and earmarked $14 ing to the West Virginia Department of Health and distributor listed on “Prisoners’ Fund” to 306 W. 37th St., 13th Floor, New Human Resources. Ten were admitted for further ob- page 8 York, NY 10018. servation.

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