Elecciones EE.UU. EDITORIAL  Leyes anti-latinos/as 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Oct. 25, 2012 Vol. 54, No. 42 $1 With labor & community support Low-wage workers take on Walmart By Kris Hamel tions. While Walmart workers in other parts of the world From Illinois to southern California, Walmart workers are unionized — the company first relented in 2006 to a STOP RACIST TERROR! union-organizing effort in China — workers at Walmart are fighting back against one of the most notorious union- New York City ➏ East Baltimore ➐ busting corporations in the United States. They are walk- at U.S. warehouses and stores labor under venomous ing out against unfair labor practices and protesting the anti-union rules and practices. Chula Vista ➎ & Oakland, Calif. ➐ working conditions and low pay foisted upon them by the “For over a year, Walmart retail workers have been largest retail corporation in the world. These courageous coming together to call for change at Walmart,” said workers, not members of any union, are organizing for Venanzi Luna, a Walmart worker and member of OUR dignity, respect and better working conditions for them- Walmart who took part in the walkout. “Through our ORGANIZE THE SOUTH! selves and their coworkers, families and communities. worker-led Organization United for Respect at Walmart, No KKK monument 3 They are gaining the support and solidarity of working workers like myself have been calling on the company people and the oppressed throughout the U.S. to address issues with scheduling, benefits, wages and Solidarity with immigrants 5 First, a two-week strike of Walmart warehouse work- above all, respect in the workplace. ers began in southern California on Sept. 12. The work- “But instead of being responsive,” Luna asserted, ers and their allies then marched 50 miles demanding “Walmart has lashed out at us for speaking up. The com- Walmart pay them stolen wages, rectify health and safety pany is trying to silence and intimidate us through unfair FREE CECE MCDONALD 2, 3 violations, and deal with discrimination and sexual as- disciplinary actions, cutbacks in hours and even firings. saults on the job. They won their strike when Walmart We’re on strike to protest these illegal attempts to silence agreed to address health and safety issues, hold inspec- us.” (forrespect.org, Oct. 4) tions and take responsibility for working conditions. The Los Angeles walkout and Pico Rivera protest Just a few days after that strike began, warehouse were organized by OUR Walmart, which is backed by workers at Walmart’s largest distribution center in North the Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW). America, in Elwood, Ill., went out Sept. 15 on an unfair la- Unionized Walmart workers from Africa, Great Britain, bor practice strike. These workers toil under brutal con- Latin America and Canada have met with Los Angeles ditions, as temps, often earning less than $200 per week. Walmart workers to coordinate support for the interna- On Oct. 1 the striking workers were joined by trade union tional struggle against Walmart. activists, religious leaders and community activists who “Energy around the calls for Walmart to change its marched on the distribution center and shut it down for treatment of workers and communities has been build- the day. Seventeen people were arrested for “obstructing ing,” according to OUR Walmart’s website, forrespect. a roadway” by police in full riot gear. They were eventu- org. “In just one year, OUR Walmart, the unique work- ally released. (Chicagoist.com, Oct. 2) Continued page 4 After a three-week strike in Elwood, the warehouse work stoppage came to an end when Walmart agreed to stop illegal retaliation against workers who speak out U.N. TROOPS OUT OF HAITI! 9 against bad working conditions. The victorious workers returned to work with full pay for all days they were out on strike. One-day walkout in Los Angeles area, an historic rst In an historic first, workers from nine Walmart stores in the Los Angeles area staged a one-day walkout on Oct. 4. Hundreds of Walmart workers and their supporters picketed outside the Pico Rivera, Calif., store with signs reading, “On Strike for the Freedom to Speak Out” and “Walmart Strike Against Retaliation.” Walmart store workers are called “associates” by the company in an obvious attempt to obviate their status as workers who deserve rights and decent wages and condi- SUBSCRIBE TO WORKERS WORLD 4 weeks trial $4 1 year subscription $30 Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program. For information: workers.org/supporters/ 212.627.2994 www.workers.org

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SYRIA more war threats 8 PUERTO RICO people’s victory 9 LIBYA & SOUTH AFRICA 11 Page 2 Oct. 25, 2012 workers.org

WORKERS WORLD Summer this week ...

 In the U.S. A youth in the struggle Low-wage workers take on Walmart ...... 1 Summer: A youth in the struggle ...... 2 Summer is an activist with the Revolutionary less and less satisfied with the ‘Prosecution fears support for CeCe’...... 2 Students Union in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she lives analysis of mainstream media. Community protests monument to KKK leader...... 3 with her partner Wilden and their daughter. Along Wilden and I began attending Curfew law put on hold ...... 3 with student organizing, Summer and Wilden have a revolutionary book club and worked in support of workers’ rights and in the Hundreds join trans march ...... 3 discussion group in Salt Lake anti-war movement. PHOTO: ASHLEY ANDERSON Grain Handlers to lock out longshore workers...... 4 City. We also started working I grew up Mormon in the very conservative state of Summer ‘Mic check’ solidarity with grocery workers...... 4 with a local peace coalition, Utah. It was taboo to even talk about politics around my Support for Walmart union organizing...... 4 family because it would somehow “ruin our family rela- helping to organize anti-war events in our area. Anti-Latino/a laws ignite the South ...... 5 tionships.” Despite this, towards the end of high school We took a little time off from political work to have Border Patrol guns down mother of ve ...... 5 I was exposed to radical left-wing politics through some a little girl named Violet, and after a couple of years friends of mine and started my journey to activism. we became politically active doing immigrant rights Victory for anti-stop & frisk activist ...... 6 I came to political activism in college by becoming in- work and fighting against repressive Arizona-style Heated debate on racist police abuse ...... 6 volved in an anti-Walmart campaign that was going on legislation in Utah. NYC transit o ers higher fares, more racism ...... 6 in Salt Lake City. Our goal was to provide the public with Wilden and I contacted many left-wing groups, Justice for Anthony Anderson Sr...... 7 information about the exploitation of workers and union but the one that impressed us the most was Workers Cop killer of Alan Blueford won’t be charged ...... 7 busting by this giant capitalist corporation. During this World Party. Paul Ryan’s lies: The truth about ‘central planning’ ...... 10 campaign, for the first time in my life, I began torec- WWP has a long history of working with working- ognize that life under capitalism is a constant struggle class and oppressed people to build community power  Around the world between people who work for a living and those that get and fight for our collective interests against the capi- What’s happening in Ecuador?...... 5 rich off exploiting them. talist class. We believe that the only way to have real The Marxist term for this is the “class struggle” — the U.S.-NATO driven to wage war on Syria...... 8 liberation and equality is to overthrow capitalism, and working class struggling against the capitalist class. One What’s really behind the attack on Malala Yousafzai ...... 8 that the only way to overthrow capitalism is through point that really resonated with me at this time was the Haiti: Cholera & hunger meet militant resistance ...... 9 conclusion that the capitalist system always puts profit solidarity and organizing in the working-class and op- People win battle with Puerto Rico Power Authority...... 9 before people. My partner Wilden and I soon became pressed communities. involved in the growing anti-war movement that was This outlook is directly tied to our understanding Libya becomes focus of U.S. election...... 11 forming around the time of the lead-up to the invasion of Marxism and the application of Marxist analysis to South African truckers end strike ...... 11 of Iraq by the U.S. We traveled to a huge anti-war rally the world today. We hope you join us in the streets in San Francisco in January 2003, where 100,000 peo- and in our communities to see what we mean by put-  Editorial ple came out to oppose the U.S. threats of war! ting Marxism into action! Another war prize ...... 10 With our political consciousness growing, we were  Noticias En Español Elecciones EE.UU...... 12 ‘Prosecution fears support for CeCe’ Leyes anti-latinos/as...... 12 Workers World The following was written by Leslie January — to begin a new year of struggle on the 55 West 17 Street Feinberg on Oct. 7. For more on the struggle activist calendar. New York, N.Y. 10011 to free CeCe McDonald, visit workers.org. A recent show of force at the St. Cloud, Minn., Phone: 212.627.2994 prison on Sept. 15 dramatically demonstrated In this message, I report my trial date and the E-mail: [email protected] that the 1%, and the criminally unjust system details of the plea deal that the Minneapolis city that maintains its rule, wants to thwart the Web: www.workers.org attorney’s office has put on the table. growing support that CeCe McDonald’s struggle Vol. 54, No. 42 • Oct. 25, 2012 At my pretrial hearing on Sept. 28, the date is inspiring. Closing date: Oct. 16, 2012 of the opening of my jury trial on a third-degree Free CeCe McDonald Supporters rode together in a group motorcy- Editor: Deirdre Griswold misdemeanor charge was set for Dec. 12. cle ride from Minneapolis to St. Cloud to visit McDonald That is not a speedy jury trial! I am ready to stand trial Technical Editor: Lal Roohk that day. When they arrived, St. Cloud officials had locked today. But the court has declined to schedule my trial in Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, down all the prisoners. SWAT teams were posted at ev- October, LGBTQ/+ History Month, or in November, the Leslie Feinberg, Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead, ery entrance, and all those who traveled to visit their loves month of Trans Remembrance events in the U.S. Gary Wilson ones were barred from spending precious time together. The scheduling of my trial for mid-December serves to West Coast Editor: John Parker bury publicity about the prosecution of an act of solidar- Message to prosecution: ‘No deal!’ Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, ity with CeCe McDonald. I thank Bruce Nestor and the National Lawyers Guild Greg Butterfield, Jaimeson Champion, G. Dunkel, A new year of struggle for your legal support. Fred Goldstein, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, In the U.S., the last two weeks of December are a time The Minneapolis city attorney has put a plea bargain Berta Joubert-Ceci, Cheryl LaBash, when students, teachers and school staffs are busily on the pretrial negotiating table. Here are the details as I Milt Neidenberg, Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt, working and then schools close down for winter breaks. understand them: Gloria Rubac Workplaces and government offices shut down for win- If I would plead “guilty” my sentence will be “stayed” Technical Staff: Sue Davis, Shelley Ettinger, ter holidays and New Year’s Day on the Gregorian calen- — no jail time beyond the three days I already spent in Bob McCubbin, Maggie Vascassenno dar. Many people travel and communications via work lockup; one year probation; three to five days of commu- Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Teresa Gutierrez, and social media often slow down. nity service. I would have to pay financial “restitution” Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna Lazarus, Michael Martínez, I am pressing to reschedule my trial date for mid- Continued on page 3 Carlos Vargas Supporter Program: Sue Davis, coordinator

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[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] New York, N.Y. 10011. workers.org Oct. 25, 2012 Page 3 SELMA, ALA Community protests monument to KKK leader By Dianne Mathiowetz known killer of Black people. dier general, they were met by an army of gomery, their numbers swelling to more By a vote of 4 to 0 with two abstentions, police and state troopers who tear-gassed than 25,000 upon arrival at the state The struggle to stop the construction of the Council stopped work on the monu- and beat the crowd. That day, March 7, capitol four days later. That night Viola a monument to Nathan Bedford Forrest, ment, pending a decision on the owner- 1965, has come to be known as Bloody Liuzzo, a Michigan mother drawn to the first grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan ship of the land. Williamson continues Sunday. Four days later, Rev. James Civil Rights movement, was murdered by and the man credited with building the to subvert the will of Selma’s Black com- Reeb, a Boston minister who came to sup- Klansmen as she was shuttling marchers white supremacist group into a national munity, now alleging the plot of land is port the struggle, was beaten to death on a back to Selma. force, has put a spotlight on Selma, Ala., privately owned by the Daughters of the downtown Selma street in broad daylight. For more information on the largely known today for its role in the Civ- Confederacy. Undeterred, two weeks later on March current struggle in Selma, visit il Rights movement. 21, some 3,200 marchers started to Mont- grassrootsdemocracy.net. Forrest made his fortune as a slave Legacy of struggle trader before the Civil War and led the During the Civil War, Selma was a establishment of the violent hate group center of munitions manufacturing criti- RHODE ISLAND which has terrorized Black communities cal to the secessionist confederacy. Like and others for decades. As a Confederate much of the South, which was under Jim general, he ordered the outright murder Crow segregation for decades, a small but Curfew law put on hold of hundreds of surrendering Black federal entrenched political and economic white troops and women at Fort Pillow. elite governed with a harsh hand, backed In 2000, Cecil Williamson, a life-long up by the violence of groups like the KKK. segregationist and current City Council Selma’s Black residents were subjected to president, co-founded Friends of Forrest night raids by robe-wearing Klansmen, and oversaw the erection of a statue dedi- beatings, lynchings, arson, rapes and the cated to Forrest in a city park. The statue ever-present threat of job loss and home was put in place five days after the first eviction. Black mayor of Selma, James Perkins Jr., Nevertheless, a movement for voting took office. Public protest forced the re- rights emerged led by the Dallas County moval of the statue to the city cemetery, Voters League, which struggled against where some Confederate war dead are the literacy tests and poll taxes that kept buried. 99 percent of the city’s Black residents Following the disappearance of the from voting. Student Nonviolent Coor- WW PHOTO: BILL BATEMAN statue this summer, Friends of Forrest dinating Committee organizers came to By Workers World Rhode Island bureau planned to replace it with a 12-foot monu- Selma in early 1963, and by 1965, 3,000 by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and ment surrounded by an iron fence, night people had been arrested in protests and $500 million by the Bush tax cut. Be hon- lighting and 24-hour security. The cem- attempts to register to vote. Joined by constituents and community est and say, ‘There’s no money for you.’” etery is in the Black community of Selma. On Feb. 26, 1965, Jimmy Lee Jackson organizations, the 11th Ward city council- Sheila Wilhem, a parent and Direct Ac- On Sept. 25, Selma residents, led by was killed by an Alabama state trooper man, Davian Sanchez, announced on Oct. tion for Rights and Equality member said, Malika Sanders-Fortier, marched from following a Civil Rights protest. Days 4 that he has placed his proposal for a “My kids have suffered from constant racial the Edmund Pettus Bridge to a City Coun- later, 600 people set off on a march from youth curfew in Providence, R.I., on hold. profiling and police harassment. A curfew cil meeting. They presented a petition Selma to Montgomery, determined to Instead, Sanchez said he will introduce would only make things worse for them with more than 325,000 signers from end the racist segregation that ruled their ordinances to improve youth employ- and all of our youth. They need jobs and across the country denouncing the con- lives. After crossing the Edmund Pettus ment and recreation, and ban practices recreation, not [hand]cuffs and curfews.” struction of a statue in honor of a well- Bridge, named for a Confederate briga- that can lead to racial profiling. Franny Choi of the Providence Youth “The goal of the curfew ordinance was Student Movement told Sanchez that to reduce violence in the city and make youth diversions would be more effective the city safer for our youth,” Sanchez stat- and less expensive. “With real community Continued from page 2 group photographs at October LGBTQ/+ ed. “However, after meeting with youth, support,” she said, “youth can pull them- for property “damage.” and November Trans Remembrance parents and community groups, I have selves out of the cycle of violence — even After my arrest, I was held without events with a sign or other message of decided that the best way to achieve this lead the charge to end it. Labeling them as bail for three days on a felony charge, support for CeCe McDonald. goal is to work toward bettering relations criminals only fuels the problem.” which threatened five years behind bars. Every day between now and the opening between police and youth, and creating Rochelle Lee of the RI Rosa Parks Hu- After mass outcry, the felony charge was of my trial I will try to post at least a pho- more positive spaces and activities for man Rights Committee added that “racial dropped. to a day from the “Free CeCe” slide show youth in the evenings.” profiling and criminalization of youth are Now I’m being threatened with one on social media, to build solidarity with “When you see how a curfew works, a part of a new ‘Jim Crow’ we are fighting year in jail. CeCe’s struggle and to thank the photogra- and how much it costs, it doesn’t make to abolish.” But the prosecution is willing to make phers for their permissions. I will also post sense,” said Joseph Buchanan of Rhode Those in attendance at the press confer- more time in jail go away if I’ll just “con- photos in search of the photographer/s in Island Black PAC, one of the groups that ence included members of the Olneyville fess” my “guilt.” order to give full photo credit. has been meeting with Sanchez. “We’d Neighborhood Association, Direct Action My message to the prosecution is: No Download permission forms at rather spend the money on programs for for Rights and Equality, the Rhode Island deal! iacenter.org/lgbt/cecemcdonaldpictures. youth, instead of police overtime, lost Latino Political Action Committee, the I want a speedy jury trial in which I Send photos/permissions to wages, courts and lawyers.” Mount Hope Neighborhood Association, can declare — not “plead” — that I am not [email protected] Bill Bateman of the Rhode Island Un- the SOS Save Our Schools Coalition, the guilty of any wrongdoing. or via social media. employed Council said, “Don’t tell us Rhode Island Peoples Assembly and the The action in which I delivered the peo- I’ll write more, when I can. there’s no money! Over the last 10 years, Rhode Island American Civil Liberties ple’s verdict — writing “Free CeCe Now!” Free CeCe now! Providence was robbed of $680 million Union. on the county jail wall that held her — that was my “community service.” I was demonstrating my responsibility to CeCe and to many communities to take action Hundreds join trans march against injustice. One thing is clear: The repressive forc- The second annual Philly Trans March es have the strength to hold me incommu- Oct. 6 was dedicated to Kyra (Kruz) Cor- nicado behind bars, but they don’t have dova, a 27-year-old Philadelphia trans- the power to stop the support for CeCe gender woman who was active in the McDonald from widening and deepening. Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative. Cordova was found shot in the Organizing solidarity head on Sept. 3. A $25,000 reward has As I write, transwomen of color are be- been offered for information leading to ing lynched in cities across the U.S. and the arrest and conviction of the person re- tortured in the prison-industrial complex. sponsible for her murder. Several family CeCe McDonald is surviving this war. members also spoke about the unsolved In honor of her ongoing struggle, I’m murder of Stacey Blahnik, a 31-year-old making an open call for photographs for African-American trans woman mur- a slide show dedicated to “Free CeCe” dered in 2010. in the no-cost author edition of “Stone Speakers raised the case of Cece McDon- Butch Blues.” ald, a young African-American transgen- The slide show is titled, “This is what der woman incarcerated for manslaughter cause of her race and gender. Well-known tion of her book, “Stone Butch Blues,” to solidarity looks like.” after an incident in Minneapolis that be- author and revolutionary, Leslie Feinberg, McDonald and the struggle to free her. Please consider making “Free CeCe” gan when she was violently attacked be- has dedicated the 20th-anniversary edi- —Report and photo by Joe Piette Page 4 Oct. 25, 2012 workers.org Grain Handlers to lock out longshore workers By Clarence Thomas Northwest Grain Handlers Association The employers have re- the grain negotiations in the Pa- negotiations are headed for a showdown. tained JRG Services Inc., a cific Northwest. Their aim is to cut This lightly edited article was written In fact, the Grain Handlers are expected division of Gettier Security, a costs and increase production at for the Port Workers United newsletter to lock out longshore workers on Octo- replacement workforce and the expense of hard fought long- in Oakland, Calif. Thomas is a third- ber 24 at six Northwest grain terminals special operations firm. This shore working conditions. generation member of the International in Portland, Ore.; Seattle, Tacoma, and is not the first time Gettier Nearly half of the grain in the Longshore and Warehouse Union Local Vancouver, Wash. has been used against ILWU U.S. expected to be exported 10, and co-chair of the Million Worker These grain negotiations are setting members. In the 2010 Bo- — including wheat, corn and March movement, who actively sup- the stage for the 2014 longshore contract ron, Calif., three-and-a-half- soybeans — will be handled by ported ILWU Local 21 in their battle negotiations, which will impact big mon- month lockout of more than PHOTO: DELORES THOMAS Northwest terminals. with the new high-tech grain export ey issues like pension and welfare. 500 ILWU Local 30 borate Clarence Thomas To win this struggle, it will take terminal in Longview, Wash. The Northwest grain terminal employ- miners, Gettier provided secu- ILWU rank-and-file unity along As a consequence of the January 2012 ers are demanding EGT concessions like rity and transported scabs for the inter- with an unprecedented alliance such as negotiated Export Grain Terminal con- the 12-hour shift, bypassing the union nationally notorious Rio Tinto corpora- that which was formed during the ILWU tract for International Longshore and hiring hall, ability to fire any longshore tion, a global mining and metals giant. struggle against EGT. That alliance in- Warehouse Union Local 21 in Longview, worker without cause, and more than The Grain Handlers include some of cluded Occupy, labor, community and Wash., dockworkers and the Pacific 700 other union busting demands. the largest agribusinesses in the world, grassroots social justice movements. such as Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Com- Plans are underway to organize boat modities Inc. They control and monopo- pickets on the Columbia and Willamette lize the world’s food supply chain. They rivers during the lockout. ‘Mic check’ solidarity have a global strategy which is driving with grocery workers Philadelphia Support for Walmart union organizing

No business as usual at Golden Farm Grocery.

On Oct. 13, a 13-person multinational and this writer insisted that seniors pay group from “99-Pickets” with Labor Oc- lower rates and offered pennies as pay- cupy Wall Street and Brooklyn’s Kensing- ment. The irritated managers took their ton OWS took action to support Golden baskets off the cashiers’ counters. Farm Grocery workers in New York City. Finally, activists gathered near the They delayed lines of store shoppers, cus- cash registers for a ‘“mic check!” They Close to 50 Food and Commercial of a dozen activists entered the store to tomers who declined to boycott the store left chanting, “We’ll be back and we’ll be Workers union members, Occupy Philly give the manager a letter addressed to as the picketers requested. The boycott stronger! We won’t take it any longer!” and other labor activists assembled at Walmart’s chairman of the Board of Di- will continue until the boss negotiates The “99-Pickets” members loudly ex- the front doors of Walmart, off Aramingo rectors, Rob Walton. Signed by some of the union contract and gives back pay — plained why everyone should support the Avenue in Philadelphia, on Oct. 10. They the community activists who had been minimum wage and overtime — to these grocery workers’ struggle — which is get- handed out fliers in support of “OUR leafleting outside, the letter asked the immigrant workers. ting daily support from Communities for Walmart,” the worker-led organization most profitable chain store in the world The workers’ supporters offered pay- Change and the union they voted to join: of the giant retailers’ “associates.” Most to cease “trying to silence and intimidate ments in pennies to buy groceries, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store shoppers were enthusiastic in taking fli- those who speak out through unfair dis- then couldn’t decide on purchases, and Union Local 238. Reportedly, owner Son- ers, some saying it’s about time the work- ciplinary actions, cutbacks in hours and changed them at the last minute or stalled ny Kim and the union will meet within ers there were unionized, with some even even firings.” The manager took the let- on paying. Others handed shoppers fliers days. signing petitions. ter, promising to give it to his superiors. about the workers’ plight. John Dennie —Report and photo by Anne Pruden After leafleting for 45 minutes, a group —Report and photo by Joe Piette Low-wage workers take on Walmart Continued from page 1 Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and day could potentially have ers’ organization founded by Walmart Sacramento, Calif.; Miami and Orlando, severe financial repercus- Associates, has grown from a group of Fla.; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago, ac- sions for the company. 100 Walmart workers to an army of thou- cording to Dan Schlademan, director of the The fear that this grass- sands of Associates in hundreds of stores UFCW’s Making Change At Walmart cam- roots, worker-led organizing across 43 states.” paign. Walmart workers also walked off might spread further seems The organization notes that as Walmart the job in parts of Kentucky, Missouri and to have struck a deep chord workers face many horrible conditions, Minnesota. (huffingtonpost.com, Oct. 9) in the capitalist ruling class “the company is raking in almost $16 On Oct. 10, hundreds of workers and in the United States. Major billion a year in profits, executives made their supporters gathered outside the big business media like the more than $10 million each in compen- Bentonville, Ark., Walmart headquarters New York Times and ABC sation last year. Meanwhile, the Walton where the annual investors meeting was News and other news outlets were forced PHOTO: ORGANIZATION UNITED FOR RESPECT Family — heirs to the Walmart fortune — taking place. The company has acknowl- to report on these developments. organize, occupy and fight back around [is] the richest family in the country with edged the workers’ legal right to strike The opening salvo began in February the U.S. Now, more low-wage workers of more wealth than the bottom 42 percent over unfair labor practices, but says it will 2011 when workers under attack in Wis- many nationalities, many of them women of [U.S.] families combined.” only talk to “associates” on an “individu- consin occupied their State Capitol to workers, are taking the lead, organizing, al” basis, not as a group. (ABC News) try to save public sector jobs and unions. speaking out and fighting back against the Strikes, protests spread further Now Walmart worker-organizers are Their struggle electrified workers and largest retail corporation in the world. Soon after the southern California walk- beginning plans for a strike on the busi- community members everywhere. Then For more information, photos and out and mass protest, Walmart workers est shopping day of the year, so-called in September 2011 the Occupy Wall Street videos on this growing struggle, join the walked out on strike Oct. 9 in at least a “Black Friday,” the day after “Thanksgiv- movement started when youth, with no Organization United for Respect page dozen cities and surrounding areas, includ- ing” when Walmart cash registers ring up prospects and no future other than low- on Facebook. ing Dallas and Austin, Texas; Seattle; Los 4,000 sales per second. A walkout on this wage slavery and high debts, began to Chris Fry contributed to this article. workers.org Oct. 25, 2012 Page 5 Anti-Latino/a laws ignite the South By Lamont Lilly precedents for states like South Caro- lina, Georgia and Arkansas. In its original format, Alabama’s Bea- In response to this yearlong battle, im- son-Hammon Act, HB 56, granted school migrant rights activists have stayed the resource officers the right to badger fifth course. Protesters have deployed an ar- graders on the basis of their immigration ray of tactics, such as rallies and commu- status. The Alabama Legislature, which nity forums, teach-ins and street block- passed HB 56 in June 2011, made Ala- ades. DREAM activists and immigrant bama the only state in the country requir- youth have conducted walkouts. Work- ing public school administrators to verify ers and adult cooperatives have orga- immigration data for new K-12 students. nized major strikes. Latino/a customers However, in August of this year, the have chosen to boycott local businesses, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down while tens of thousands have convened the student provision of HB 56, declaring in solidarity. Organizations such as the it unconstitutional and a legal breach of Steel Workers union, the American Plyer vs. Doe, which mandates that states Civil Liberties Union and the Immi- provide an education to all children re- grant Justice League have joined forces. gardless of their immigration status. The NAACP and the Southern Poverty The court also struck down Georgia’s HB Law Center are also on board. The 16th 87, a state proposal to criminalize “the Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, transporting and harboring of illegal im- Ala., — the same church bombed by rac- migrants.” The statute, a proposal with like Alabama’s poultry operations, were For those of us who are U.S. history ists in 1963 — has served as a rest haven no parallel within U.S. federal law, had devastated. Small farming operations buffs, one can’t help but draw a direct and planning headquarters. “anti-Latino/a” written all over it. were brought to a halt, as valuable work- correlation to Gov. George Wallace’s The bottom line is that HB 56 is a law When initially proposed, HB 56 and ers were scared indoors. Others simply stand against federal authorities in the that continues to ostracize and divide, HB 87 were sold as valuable pieces of migrated for the purpose of mere safety. 1960s. His hard-line stance for segre- conjuring fear and heightening the level legislation that would boost local econo- Such complications have also been used gation against the U.S. Supreme Court of innocent victims and false arrests — mies by cracking down on the presence of as justification for not paying temporary aroused racists nationwide. perpetuating a complete violation of civil undocumented immigrants entering the workers — hired and then fired a month In addition to federal judges, HB 56 liberties. These anti-Latino/a acts aren’t U.S. Conservatives billed such bigotry as later, and with no pay to show for it. Many has also caught the attention of President merely a matter of disenfranchisement. a quick fix to unemployment and poorly Latinos/as, documented and undocu- Barack Obama. Even he has gone on re- Latino/a immigrants are being denied the performing schools. mented, have refused to report crimes, cord stating that “it’s a bad law.” But then right to even exist in some states, to barely Instead, such rogue policies were a as any potential scrutiny by local law en- again, the Obama administration deport- breathe without some “officer of the law” complete setback to civil rights and due forcement could initiate an Immigration ed 396,000 immigrants last year. riding their backs with an iron boot. process. In Alabama, children of all ages and Customs Enforcement investigation. While members of Congress, federal True, the recent rulings by the 11th were deterred from attending school and Though portions of these bills were judges and state legislators continue to Circuit Court of Appeals represent some pursuing their education. Many with- repealed, human rights supporters have debate, human rights defenders welcome progress, but there should be no compro- drew out of fear that their families could continued to sound the alarm, for this the progress, limited though it may be, mise with laws that encourage hate. For be deported if questioned about their im- branding of social control affects all poor that has been made. We know, however, those of us who are abreast of such rac- migration status. According to the U.S. and oppressed people by creating fear that those of us who despise such racist ist regulations, let us spread the word Justice Department, more than 13 per- and frustration through alienation. bigotry must continue to raise our voices. and continue to organize. For those of cent of Latino/a children withdrew in Recently, the state of Alabama has Deleting a few provisions isn’t going to you who are learning of such injustice for the one year that HB 56 operated, before challenged the ruling of the 11th Circuit’s be enough here, not while racial profiling the first time, join the movement’s noble federal intervention. Instead of teaching three-judge panel and has asked for a new still runs rampant. cause. We the People say, “Freedom for geometry, classroom instructors were hearing. Though particular provisions When traffic stops and roadblocks be- all!” and “Down with HB 56!” forced to fish for birth certificates. were found to be outright unconstitu- come immigrant obstacle courses, ethics Lamont Lilly is a contributing editor As for those local economies and de- tional, in violation of the Equal Protection become a serious matter of legal concern. with the Triangle Free Press, columnist creasing unemployment rates, Alabama’s Clause of the 14th Amendment, state of- If justice fails to prevail in this case, such for the African American Voice and local number-one industry, agriculture, was ficials are arguing that federal courts over- structural hate could begin to blanket the organizer with Workers World Party. decimated. We’re talking about an agri- stepped state jurisdiction. Unfortunately, entire southern Black Belt, setting new He resides in Durham, N.C. cultural sector accustomed to generat- it seems that, like Arizona, Alabama is po- ing more than $5.5 billion per year. In- sitioning itself to take its immigration law dustries dependent upon migrant labor, all the way to the Supreme Court. Border Patrol guns What’s happening in Ecuador? down mother of ve

By Carl Muhammad warrant on an unidentified male when Chula Vista, Calif. Munique intentionally ran him down with her car, striking the agent hard enough to Approximately 300 people gathered in cause him to flip onto the hood and wind- the city of Chula Vista, seven miles from shield. The agent claims he was “dragged” the Mexican border, on Oct. 1 to mourn several hundred yards on the hood before the killing of Valeria Munique Tachiquin firing six to 10 bullets into the windshield. Alvarado by a plainclothes Border Patrol agent. “Munique,” as friends and family Eyewitnesses gave an entirely dierent called her, died on Sept. 28 under a hail account. of bullets from the thus far unidentified “As the car was backing up, the officer agent. was on the street walking towards the car The vigil for Munique was held near and discharging [his weapon],” said eye- the murder scene, where a memorial was witness Prince Watson. Other witnesses erected. The event was organized by the say they observed the car movingly slowly WW PHOTO: JOHN CATALINOTTO American Friends Service Committee in reverse away from the plainclothes and lasted about two hours. Mourners lit Latin American immigrants and other fael Correa founded the Alianza PAIS in agent. Witnesses also said he was not candles and chanted, “What do we want? activists attended a meeting at the Soli- 2006; its stated goal is to transform Ec- displaying his badge, nor did he identify Justice! When do we want it? Now!” and darity Center in New York City on the rev- uador so it represents “socialism of the himself as a Border Patrol agent. “¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” olutionary process unfolding in Ecuador. 21st century” and is in harmony with Gilbert Alvarado, the husband of the Family members spoke to the crowd, The International Action Center’s Latin nature and protective of this Amazonian slain mother of five, demanded answers. thanking them for their support. Maria America-Caribbean Solidarity Committee country’s unique biodiversity. “My wife got killed for no reason,” he said Puga, the widow of Anastacio Rojas, at- hosted the Oct. 13 bilingual meeting. In the spirit of Latin American solidar- during an interview with local media. tended the vigil and spoke in support of Members of the Alianza PAIS (Patria ity, the meeting was chaired by a member “Where is the evidence my wife threat- the Tachiquin and Alvarado families. For- Altiva I Soberana; Proud and Sovereign of Honduras USA Resistencia, and an up- ened a trained officer? I want justice.” ty-two-year-old Rojas was brutally beat- Nation Alliance) de Ecuador used power- date on the recent reelection of Pres. Hugo Munique’s father, Valentin Tachiquin, en and tasered to death by Border Patrol point projections and videos to support Chavez was given by a member of the New said the community support meant a agents at the San Ysidro, Calif., border their talks. They explained the history of York Bolivarian Circle “Alberto Lovera.” great deal to him and his family. “It gives crossing in 2010. the struggle in Ecuador, recent advances The photo shows the speakers and part of me power to continue on, seeing such a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol offi- and plans for the future. President Ra- the audience. lovely outpouring of love for our family — Michael Kramer cials claim an agent was serving a search and for Munique.” Page 6 Oct. 25, 2012 workers.org Jazz Hayden Victory for anti-stop & frisk activist By Dolores Cox sound basis for Hayden’s case. It was a rac- New York ist setup, an attempt to silence Jazz and intimidate others who may be exercising Joseph “Jazz” Hayden no longer faces their First Amendment right to dissent and fourteen years of imprisonment for bo- film so-called public servants on the job. gus weapons charges in his arrest last The D.A. admitted that he had insufficient December. evidence to support the charges. And it be- Hayden has been filming the New came evident in court that his arrest was York Police Department’s illegal stop- retaliatory. and-frisks in his Harlem community. After the hearing, supporters chanted, To date this year, there have been more “This is what victory looks like!” Hayden than 600,000 young Black and Latino stated he intends to continue his commu- men stopped, questioned and frisked for nity activism, exposing the NYPD, and to just walking, standing, sitting, driving or speak out against police brutality, illegal entering residential buildings because of stop-and-frisks and racial profiling in Har- their skin color, and not in the commis- lem and elsewhere. sion of a crime. Hayden repeatedly thanked everyone Dozens of supporters representing sev- for their continued support, saying it has eral social justice organizations rallied helped inspire him to do what he’s been in front of Manhattan Criminal Court on doing. “We must continue to apply pres- Oct. 11 to stand by this Black activist at his sure to correct the entire system. This is to hearing and fill the courtroom. They held be our focus. Without a demand and orga- signs saying “Innocent.” Pressure had WW PHOTO: ANNE PRUDEN nizing, there will be no justice, no fairness, also been put on District Attorney Cyrus Jazz Hayden, giving victory sign, and supporters Oct. 11. no change,” he stated. He added, paren- Vance’s office nationally and internation- thetically, that he witnessed three stop- ally. Thousands of people organized and agreed to plead guilty to the charge of dis- “community service” for years via his “cop and-frisks on his way to court. And that fought to keep Jazz free — and won! orderly conduct/reckless driving. He was watch” beat, Hayden will be relegated to he stopped and spoke to the victims, giv- Hayden’s case was adjourned in con- ordered to pay a $125 “surcharge” for the “stuffing envelopes” for five days. ing them support, and showing them that templation of dismissal. He will be on violation, which he paid upon leaving the The reason for Hayden being stopped someone cares. He urged everyone to do probation for six months and was ordered courthouse. and arrested by the cops proved to be the same whenever they witness injustice. to do five days of community service. He Ironically, having already performed highly questionable. The NYPD had no For more info, go to allthingsharlem.com. In NYC council meeting Heated debate on racist police abuse By Kathy Durkin was wrongfully arrested at the West In- crowd applauded, he said, “It’s not working pulled over and called ‘boy’ and fitting a de- dian Day Parade in Brooklyn last year. and it needs to be totally reformed. People scription, then it would be different.” Racist police practices were the focus Police shoved and hit him at Occupy Wall are suffering.” (New York Times, Oct. 11) For two hours, amid supporters’ cheers, of a struggle within the New York City Street’s anniversary rally in September, Council member Peter Vallone, the speakers challenged Michael Best, who Council on Oct. 10. even though he identified himself as a hearing’s chairperson, assailed the bills. represented absent Mayor Michael Bloom- A six-hour public hearing took place Council member. He attempted to stifle the righteous out- berg and Police Commissioner Raymond that day in the body’s Public Safety Com- Community leaders, advocates and rage at police behavior by Jackson and Kelly. Unsurprisingly, they vehemently mittee on the Community Safety Act in- residents testified on stop-and-frisk po- other African-American Council mem- reject any restrictions on the police. troduced by Brooklyn Council member licing. Djibril Toure, from the Malcolm bers, their allies and the audience, by Last year, NYC police conducted 685,724 Jumaane Williams. Its four bills aim to X Grassroots Movement, recounted his banning “outbursts.” He declared, “This stop-and-frisks; 87 percent targeted African curtail rampant, often brutal NYC po- search by Brooklyn police for no reason, isn’t a forum to make speeches.” Americans and Latinos/as. Half were youth. lice stop-and-frisk practices, barring il- and told of others, beaten while frisked. Bronx Council member Helen Foster The New York Civil Liberties Union web- legal searches; allowing people to refuse Robert Jackson, Harlem Council mem- courageously countered, “That should ap- site reports stop-and-frisks have increased searches; banning racial and other profil- ber, emphasized the growing anger of Af- ply to the chair, who has made his speeches 600 percent during the Bloomberg admin- ing; requiring police to produce IDs and rican-American and Latino/a communities and made clear how he feels. … I don’t work istration, with “discriminatory profiling” “justify” the stops; and instituting inde- at these police actions. He cited an audio- for you. I am not one of your boys. You will of “people of color, immigrants, the LGBT pendent oversight of the police. tape of police racially slurring a youth, and not talk to me like that. … If [Vallone’s] community … [public housing] residents, Williams, who is an African American, then demonstrated a police frisk. As the father were an 88-year-old, who’s being young people, the homeless and others.” Dominated by the banks NYC transit oers higher fares, more racism

By Tony Murphy politicians lined up to take the micro- sion ordering the ads to be run. The MTA board’s complicity in the pro- New York phone and denounce the hardship that That order gave the MTA board 30 war, anti-Muslim media campaign was increased fares would impose on people. days to do two things: one, review its “ap- then underscored by the new steps it ad- On Oct. 15, New York’s Metropolitan At the last round of fare hike public pellate options,” meaning decide whether opted for future noncommercial ads. At its Transit Authority announced the fourth hearings in late 2010, the politicians were it would appeal the ruling; and two, revise Sept. 27 board meeting, the board adopted round of fare hikes in four years. Dur- gone. And while this gave activists and its own guidelines governing noncom- new guidelines which would “untie” the ing that time the MTA has also been on a transit workers the ability to dominate mercial, that is, political ads. The board MTA’s hands in prohibiting speech. cutback frenzy. Dozens of station booths the hearings, the fare hikes and cuts went of bankers and real estate players refused But the new guidelines did not prohibit have been demolished. The transit agency through anyway. to do both. The MTA’s hands were not speech of the Geller variety on the basis has made it harder for people with dis- “tied” but “sat on.” of being racist and/or offensive. The new abilities to qualify for Access-A-Ride. Fightback campaign exposes Thus the ads went up in the New York guidelines prohibited ads that “would im- Charged with running public transpor- MTA’s racist politics subway system on Sept. 24, during the minently incite or provoke violence or oth- tation, the bank-owned MTA has become However, a fightback campaign against second week the U.N. was in session and er immediate breach of the peace.” a poster child for how drastically capital- the MTA has already begun — against the at the height of the media hysteria against In other words, in the wake of the rebel- ism is unable to provide people with the racist ads targeting Muslim people that Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s lions against U.S. embassies sparked by most basic services. the MTA ran on behalf of arch-racist Pa- visit to New York. The placement of the the crude anti-Muslim YouTube trailer, the One of the things making a fightback mela Geller. ads begat another media flurry in which MTA used, as the basis for future prohibi- campaign on this issue difficult is that The deliberateness with which the the racist language of the ads was repeat- tions, the media’s racist caricature of the after four years, the fare hikes and cuts MTA promoted war and racism highlights ed over and over. Muslim community as volatile. seem inevitable, an impression the MTA how thoroughly public transportation has By the end of that week, Israeli Prime The MTA has long played a role in the and its allies in the New York media are been hijacked by the 1%. And it obliter- Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held up a bogus “war on terror,” as SWAT teams only too happy to promote. ates its spokespeople’s protestations that cartoon of a ticking Iranian bomb before armed with submachine guns and accom- At fare hike public hearings in 2009, their “hands were tied” by a court deci- the U.N. General Assembly. panied by attack dogs regularly patrol the workers.org Oct. 25, 2012 Page 7 East Baltimore Peoples Assembly ’Justice for Anthony Anderson Sr.’ By Betsey Piette Baltimore Peoples Assembly was the sec- Members and friends of the Baltimore ond such community gathering this year Anderson family were at the to address the growing epidemic of police EBPA. Anderson’s younger On Oct. 13, community activists along abuse in Baltimore. As with the first As- brother, Leon Anderson, de- with friends and families of victims of po- sembly in June, the moving testimony scribed his own experience with lice brutality gathered for the East Balti- from community members was a clarion police harassment while driving- more Peoples Assembly for Justice for An- call to action. while-Black. “It doesn’t matter thony Anderson Sr. The outdoor assembly The Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, a where I am in Baltimore. Every took place on the vacant lot by a makeshift BPA organizer and president of the Bal- time I turn around the same po- memorial marking the spot where Ander- timore chapter of the Southern Christian lice officer is giving me a traffic son was brutally killed in front of family Leadership Conference, opened the rally ticket. We need to come together members by three Baltimore undercover in what he called “the Anthony Anderson and put an end to this madness.” police officers on Sept. 21. Field.” Witherspoon told those gathered, Sharon Black, a BPA organiz- The police claim that Anderson “choked “We know why we are here. Black women er, urged people to come out on and died after trying to swallow a bag of are being strip searched on the streets; Oct. 17 when BPA activists will drugs” was exposed as a lie on Oct. 2 with drug dealers are being robbed by mem- confront the Police Department the release of an official autopsy showing bers of the Baltimore Police Department. over the confirmation of An- Anderson died from a ruptured spleen Every single month we’ve been at a vigil thony Batts as Baltimore’s new caused by “blunt force trauma” that broke or a rally for someone killed by the police. police commissioner. as many as ten ribs. No drugs were found Our communities are under assault and As chief of police in Oakland, in his system. we won’t take it anymore!” Calif., Batts presided over nu- The Baltimore Peoples Assembly, or- Marcella Holloman described the kill- merous problems of police bru- ganized earlier this year in response to ing of her son, Maurice Donald Johnson, East Baltimore, Oct. 13. WW PHOTO: JOE PIETTE tality and abuse. In January, U.S. growing police terror, conducted its own by Baltimore police at her home on May District Judge Thelton Hender- investigation of witnesses who described 19. Holloman called the police when her Nakia Washington, whose boyfriend son warned that the Oakland Police De- how the police ran up behind Anderson, mentally ill son began to exhibit erratic was killed in March by police who shot partment would be placed under federal grabbed him around the knees, hoisted behavior. Since Johnson’s episodic illness him six times in the chest, condemned control unless the Department sped up him in the air and brutally slammed him was registered in the police data base she the BPD’s practice of giving paid leave to the pace of its reforms. Black told those to the ground. expected they would take him to the hos- officers under investigation for brutality. assembled, “We need to give Batts the Anderson was the thirteenth person pital for treatment. But rather than wait- “The cops kill a Black man and they get a kind of welcome that he’ll know that po- killed by Baltimore police since January ing for an ambulance, the two responding paid vacation — what kind of message is lice brutality and terrorism will not be 2012. The city has paid out nearly $17 officers entered Holloman’s home where that?” Washington said. She urged people tolerated in Baltimore City.” million over the last two years in police Johnson was sequestered and shot him to speak up about what’s happening in She urged people to carry cameras as brutality settlements. It spent another three times. their communities. “It won’t stop happen- they patrol their communities to record $10.4 million defending lawsuits in court. Renee Washington, whose fiancée was ing unless you stand up.” police harassment and terrorism. “We Meanwhile, much needed recreation brutally beaten and killed by three Bal- The outraged community has called for have the power to take back our commu- centers are being closed because the city timore police officers in 2001, told the the jailing of the three Baltimore police nities, to get the occupiers out — from the claims it lacks funds. crowd, “The police are not in our neigh- officers — Todd A. Strohman, Gregg Boyd rich running things in City Hall to the pit Gathering participants from as far away borhoods to protect us. They are here to and Michael Vodarick — who killed An- bull police they’ve put out in our streets. as Virginia and Pennsylvania, the East take us out, one by one, the men first.” derson and then lied about it. We demand community control now!” Travesty of justice Cop killer of Alan Blueford won’t be charged By Terri Kay ford, an African American, on May 6, just for its release. In it, the excuse for stop- vestigations by the California Attorney Oakland, Calif. before he was scheduled to graduate from ping the youths comes down to loose General, the United States Attorney and Skyline High School. baggy pants and one of the young men the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. In an Oct. 3 letter written to Oakland The shoddy DA report, published on- reaching to his hip “as if to check for a In addition, as a community response Police Chief Howard Jordan, Alameda line at tinyurl.com/cvb7j23, fails to ques- weapon” — or could it have been to pull to the widespread practice of racial profil- County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley tion many disturbing aspects of the case, up his pants, as Alan’s mother, Jeralynn ing, which targeted Alan Blueford and his announced her findings that “the evi- including why Alan and his friends were Blueford, said her son frequently did. friends in the first place, J4AB is organiz- dence does not justify criminal charges stopped in the first place. The police re- In the DA report, Officer Masso’s state- ing a Bay Area Families March Against against Oakland Police Officer Masso.” port was finally released to the Blueford ment that he fired at Alan while Alan was Racial Profiling on Saturday, Nov. 10, Masso is the Oakland Police Department family at the Oakland City Council meet- standing is taken for fact, but accord- beginning at noon at 14th and Broadway officer who killed 18-year-old Alan Blue- ing on Oct. 2, after months of demands ing to the Oakland Police report, 11 out in downtown Oakland to bring together of 12 witnesses said that Officer Masso families of victims of police brutality and first fired at Alan when he was lying on murder as a call to end the racial profiling subway. Since 2001, the New RESIST ANOTHER WAR This shows the domi- the ground. This important discrepancy which criminalizes Black and Brown men. York Police Department, re- nation of the MTA by the isn’t even mentioned in the DA’s cently joined by the airline NO to Racism banks. The new stadium report. industry’s Transportation is named after the scan- As a matter of fact, the angle Security Administration, has dal-ridden Barclays Bank, of bullets, as reported in the FIGHT ALL conducted racist-profiling & Anti-Muslim which financed it through coroner’s report, also only re- spot checks of people’s bags BIGOTRY– Forest City Ratner Compa- leased after months of demands, POLICE TERROR! and backpacks. nies, run by real estate de- has strong indications that with the And when the anti-war Tool of 1% Rule veloper Bruce Ratner, who Alan was already lying on the Solidarity International Action Center We–the 99%–need razed people’s homes so he ground when he was shot. The recently attempted to buy could build 16 skyscrapers. claim, which the DA supports, victims and their families ad space for anti-war mes- Unity & Solidarity! If Barclays can finance that Masso was in fear for his or SPECIAL GUES T S PEAKERS : Help place more anti-racism messages in public places by donating at: Jeralynn Blueford and Adam Blueford parents of sages of solidarity, the MTA www.iacenter.org/ad a new station, Wells Fargo others’ lives is not substantiat- 18-year-old, Alan Blueford Jr., unarmed and fatally shot by This is a paid advertisement sponsored by International Action Center. The display the police May 6 in Oakland, Calif. On Sept. 18, these parents, of this advertisement does not imply MTA’s endorsement of any views expressed. reneged on the agreement it can finance a reduction in ed by the facts. The DA’s report other family members and supporters shut down an Oakland made, pushing back the date fares. Citibank can finance also makes no attempt to ratio- City Council meeting demanding Justice for Alan Blueford. several times and insisting on ridiculously the expansion of services for the disabled, Jack Bryson, father of two sons who nalize the scatter of shell casings were with 22-year-old, unarmed Alan Blueford Jr. large disclaimers. The MTA’s stance could and Chase Manhattan Bank can finance Oscar Grant when he was fatally shot and the report that a gun was by a BART officer on Jan. 1, 2009 in not be more consciously political. the rebuilding of station booths. found 20 feet from his body. Oakland; activist with Oscar Grant Movement, Occupy Oakland and As the Republic Windows and Doors Justice for Alan Blueford campaign. Make banks pay for public transportation There are clearly enough Ramarley Graham, workers did in 2008 — when they got unarmed 18-year- Another factor helping the new struggle unanswered questions to dem- Open floor discussion to follow old killed in the Bank of America, the true power be- presentations bathroom of his against fare hikes could be the new sub- onstrate that the DA had no Bronx home Feb. 2 hind their bosses, to cough up the cash by the NYPd. way station the MTA opened at Barclays intent to conduct a fair and im- SAT  OCT 27 they were owed — New York riders can Center, Brooklyn’s new basketball arena. partial investigation. The Justice 2 pm – 4 pm SHARP Join these speakers & other victims of police violence demand that the banks, the true power 55 W. 17th St., 5th floor, Manhattan including Ramona Africa, survivor of the 1985 MOVE for Alan Blueford Coalition will house bombing in Philadelphia, at a public forum, After closing stations all over New York, Refreshments at 1:30 pm behind the MTA, pay to rebuild public  4 p.m. – 8 p.m. somehow a new $76 million station was be holding a press conference Read more on these SUN OCT. 28 transportation. The MTA is not “cash- important struggles RiVERSidE CHuRCH, 490 RiVERSidE dR. opened by what the media refer to as the this week. J4AB is considering at workers.org. For information, call Sandy Jones at 302.545.7023 strapped.” The money is there. Call 212-627-2994 or Jack Bryson at 510.355.6046 or go to “cash-strapped MTA.” the possibility of asking for in- for more information. www.facebook.com/events/368722873209314/ Page 8 Oct. 25, 2012 workers.org U.S.-NATO driven to wage war on Syria

By Ray Duprey by the Turkish government, according to and caused a widespread ripple effect of via. The imperialists are using the same the Oct. 9 Russia Times. instability throughout Northern Africa. pretext — “humanitarian needs” — once Turkey’s war jets forced down a civil- Turkey has been supplying and shel- Even now, European countries are pre- again. NATO is driven to conduct “mili- ian airliner flying from Moscow to Da- tering these rebels. It is easy for them to paring to intervene directly in Mali in tary operations,” in other words, to wage mascus. Thirty-five Russians and Syrians later turn around and incite reaction by northwest Africa. war on Syria, all in the name of “democ- were passengers on the Oct. 10 flight, using NATO-made weapons on NATO Under present conditions, the pervad- racy” for the Syrian people. Even with endangered by the action. U.S. spokes- countries. ing motive to chase the highest rate of the facts against them and continuing to person Victoria Nuland immediately Any rational-minded person would re- profit drives the individual NATO ruling mount against them as the conflict con- supported Turkey’s act of air piracy. Also, consider shelling a neighboring country classes’ interests, leading to aggressive tinues, NATO moves closer to the point of some 150 U.S. special troops moved into a knee-jerk reaction for six days straight actions by the state apparatus of each openly marching into Syria. Syria’s southern neighbor, Jordan. even as the facts begin to appear and the NATO country, that is, its army. What makes this drive unavoidable, as NATO and the major European NATO speculation decays in front of our very It is obvious, with the growing capital- Goldstein points out, can be found in Karl powers, Britain, France and Germany, eyes. If these actions appear irrational, ist crisis in Europe and the downturn of Marx’s explanation of the law concerning have supported Turkey against Syria de- they must be driven by powerful forces. the United States’ own economy, that the the declining rate of profit and capitalist spite Turkey’s aggressive moves. It is ap- In his 2012 book, “Capitalism at a imperialists have targeted Syria as the accumulation. Unable to regenerate capi- parent that NATO is edging toward direct Dead End,” Fred Goldstein analyzes with next step in a long line of steps they have talist profits by peaceful means, the U.S. military intervention against Syria. Tur- perfection the current economic issues taken since the fall of the Soviet Union and European imperialist powers seek key, which had also moved 250 tanks to that are the cause of military adventur- eliminated the imperialists’ most power- plunder through war. Conquest of Syria the Syria border, is spearheading the in- ism. Since World War II, the U.S has used ful opponent. The goal of this aggression opens another door, they believe, to seiz- tervention. war and the military budget to stimulate is capitalist domination of the planet. ing the natural resources of the Middle A week earlier, the Turkish parlia- its economy, and also to expand capitalist On Oct. 10, U.S. Defense Secretary East, that is, oil. ment voted to approve military opera- plunder and exploitation of cheap labor. Leon Panetta confirmed the deployment It is of the utmost importance that we tions across the Turkish-Syrian border, The capitalist hunt for the highest of U.S. troops in Jordan for alleged “hu- stand in opposition to these imperialist and soon after began “return” fire in the profit was the driving force behind wars manitarian needs.” Recently, 12,000 wars, which devastate the nations that are form of mortar-shelling of Syria. There in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, troops from various NATO nations con- the targets of the “interventions.” We must has been no proof that Syrian troops fired Haiti and, perhaps soon, Syria. In 2011, ducted military drills in Jordan. stand against both the military interven- the first missiles, and even a Turkish the CIA funded and trained Libyan oppo- tions and the economic warfare through Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria newspaper, Yurt, reported that the mor- sition forces, and NATO bombed Libya. sanctions. No more Imperialist wars! tar round that hit Akcakale was of NATO This brought about a bloody civil war The dominoes are falling into place, The writer is a revolutionary youth design and was given to the Syrian rebels that is still to this day not resolved fully, much as they did in Libya and in Yugosla- activist in Detroit. What’s really behind the attack on Malala Yousafzai

By Deirdre Griswold earthquake in 2005. reactionary but is also self-sacrificing titude spy planes over the Soviet Union. Then, in 2010, the worst floods in his- and relentless in its resistance to foreign It settled on Afghanistan. The CIA spent The horrible, near-fatal shooting of a tory swept through the river valleys of the domination. billions of dollars pulling together a coun- young Pakistani schoolgirl, reportedly northwest, causing more than a thousand ter-revolutionary army that launched a by members of the Taliban, has focused deaths and widespread homelessness. ‘Stop imperialist intervention’ clandestine war against the progressive world attention on the conflict between The pain of those suffering turned to an- The Pakistani bourgeoisie and military regime, which then had to turn to the So- the armed Islamic group and Pakistani ger when government assistance failed to have long been important allies of U.S.- viets for support. advocates of education for women. Ma- arrive. Anglo imperialism. For decades during In the long war that followed, the U.S. lala Yousafzai, 14 years old, was shot in “The anger of the flood victims poses the Cold War, the military ruled Pakistan bankrolled, armed and trained the most the head and neck while on a school bus, a danger to the already struggling gov- outright, receiving billions of dollars in reactionary, anti-woman, pro-landlord according to her classmates. She has been ernment, now competing with Islamist U.S. aid while crushing any opposition, forces in Afghanistan in order to bring flown to Britain to receive medical atten- movements to deliver aid in a region with especially from the left and the working down the leftist government, overturn its tion for severe damage to her skull. strong Taliban influence,” CBS News re- class. many reforms and use the country as a The daughter of a teacher, Yousafzai has ported on Aug. 3, 2010. Thus, even after In neighboring Afghanistan, however, military base in the region. been an outspoken advocate of schooling being targeted by a major military cam- a leftist revolution in 1978 brought to Among those on the CIA’s payroll were for girls since she was only 11, producing a paign just a year earlier, the Taliban were power a secular, democratic government Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. No one blog and giving many interviews. She has strong enough to provide assistance to that attempted to institute land reform, disputes this. gained worldwide attention and praise, flood victims who had received nothing canceled the debts of the peasants, and It is not the imperialist West that is go- especially from Western politicians and from the government, thus earning them championed women’s rights, ending the ing to rescue young women like Malala public figures. This is reportedly why she greater popularity. bride-price and opening up schools and Yousafzai from oppression. And it is not was singled out for attack. Meanwhile, the U.S. had begun tar- medical care to all. One of its leaders was Islam, even in its fundamentalist form, Her family lives in the Swat valley area geting the valley for its drone attacks on Anahita Ratebzad, a Marxist and founder that is responsible for her shooting. of Pakistan, a beautiful mountainous area suspected members of the Taliban. The of the Democratic Organization of Wom- Neighboring Iran, an Islamic state, to- that attracts many tourists. However, pilotless planes carried out devastat- en of Afghanistan. day has the highest female-to-male ratio most of the people living there are very ing missile strikes on what often turned After the revolution, women became 70 of primary school students in the world, poor. Many sympathize with the Taliban, out to be family gatherings — weddings, percent of the teachers, 50 percent of the according to UNESCO. And women make which has been resisting foreign interven- birthday celebrations — killing children, civil servants and 40 percent of the doc- up more than 60 percent of Iran’s uni- tion in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. women and men. tors in Kabul. (Journal of the American versity students. Yet it is under Western Until very recently, the Swat valley had All these factors — the natural disas- Medical Association, 1998) sanctions and war threats because of the a higher rate of literacy than the rest of ters, the U.S. war in Afghanistan and its What happened to this great achieve- popular 1979 revolution that broke the Pakistan and there were many schools impact on Pakistan, the government cor- ment for women? The Carter administra- neocolonial grip of U.S. and British oil for girls. What has happened there to ruption that is so glaring when citizens tion, reeling from the revolution in Iran companies. strengthen the influence of the Taliban, are homeless and starving while relief that toppled the Western-backed Shah To support the women of Pakistan and which takes an extremely reactionary po- funds fail to materialize — have com- and also closed a strategic U.S. base there, Afghanistan, we must demand: U.S. out! sition on women’s rights? bined to actually strengthen the political began looking for other countries in the No war, no drone attacks — stop imperial- influence of a movement that is socially region from which to launch its high-al- ist intervention! Factors behind Taliban’s inuence The poor people of the Swat valley in particular have suffered greatly in recent : Symbol of Resistance years. GAZA WAR In 2009, the Pentagon, fighting a full- A book of articles from WW, WITHOUT VICTORY edited by Joyce Chediac scale war against the Taliban in neigh- Sara Flounders The story of how Gazans withstood blockade boring Afghanistan, pushed the Pakistani “By revealing the underbelly and bombardment only to stand tall, refusing Army to carry out an offensive against the of the empire, Flounders sheds to give up the right to determine their own Taliban in the Swat valley that resulted in insight on how to stand up to lives and to choose their own government; the imperialist war machine and, the displacement of 2 million residents. how Gaza’s courage inspired a worldwide sol- in so doing, save ourselves and Many wealthy Pakistanis moved out of idarity movement determined to break the humanity.” the valley temporarily while the fighting blockade and deliver aid; exposes the forces was going on, leaving the poor to suffer behind the punishment of Gaza, and how – Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, Pres. of U.N. Gen. Ass., 2008-2009, Foreign the brunt of it. (Guardian, May 11, 2011) a growing people’s media is breaking the Min. of Nicaragua’s Sandinista gov. 1979-1990 Farmers in the valley were among the mainstream media’s information blockade. Available on amazon.com and 3.5 million Pakistanis who had already Available on amazon.com and other bookstores Joyce Chediac other bookstores been made homeless by a disastrous http://gazaresistancebook.com pentagonachillesheel.com workers.org Oct. 25, 2012 Page 9 HAITI Cholera & hunger meet militant resistance By G. Dunkel Confederation; Julio Turra, National that $12.50 a day is needed. The Martelly to players who have committed a foul and New York Executive Committee representative of government has announced that it in- must leave the game. They intended to United Trade Union Central of Brazil; tends to buy 300,000 sacks of rice from give these cards to Martelly. As famine lurks throughout Haiti and David Abdulah, Secretary General of the Japan and dump them on the market. There were also major protests in the cholera daily kills the weak, the very Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union of Trini- “The government decision to subsidize southern city of Les Cayes, where Sen. young and the old, the response of the dad; and Fignolé St. Cyr, of the Centrale rice ‘dumping’ is a direct consequence of Moïse Jean-Charles, a leader in the pro- Haitian people has been growing militan- Autonome des Travailleurs Haitiens. the protests of people who have seen their tests in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, cy. In massive numbers they have taken This delegation met with U.N. leaders cost of living rise,” rice farmer and peas- spoke. to the streets to demand an end to the cor- on Oct. 11, the day before the U.N. Secu- ant leader Nesly Voltaire in the Artibonite On Oct. 8, in Fort Liberté, a port in rupt regime of President Michel Martelly. rity Council was scheduled to vote on the told IPS. (ipsnews.net, Oct. 1) The gov- northeast Haiti, “One person was shot The Haitian people want an end to extension. They also addressed a protest ernment could also have given the money dead, three others injured, and a police the U.N. occupation force, called Minus- rally, organized by a coalition of Haitian to Haiti’s rice farmers to produce locally, substation burned. This is the final toll of tah, which brought cholera to Haiti less community and political groups in New which would mean the masses would have a demonstration. … Jean-Baptiste Bien- than two years ago. The cholera epidemic York, on the day of the vote. Micheli noted easier access to rice. In the meantime, the Aime, Department du Sud-Est senator has been traced to Minustah’s infectious in his talk that during the same day thou- Japanese rice is yet to be seen. elected from [former President Preval s] waste deposited in Haiti’s largest river, sands of workers were protesting the pres- The 80 percent of Haitians who live Inite party, who is on the spot, says the Artibonite. ence of Argentinian soldiers in Minustah on less than $2 a day are hungry because police shot at the demonstrators and used Minustah — a smokescreen for the im- in front of the Argentinian parliament. they don’t have enough money to buy teargas to disperse them because they had perialist powers, especially the United Turra said there were also a number of food, which is sold for a profit, not based blocked the National Road.” (Radio Kis- States, Canada and France — operates smaller demonstrations in Brazil. on need. If you don’t get enough calories, keya, recorded by BBC Monitoring Ser- like any other occupying army. Under Haitians, participating in the demon- it is practically impossible to do a full day vice, Oct. 8) the direction of its U.N. commander, Ma- stration, were visibly heartened by the in- of hard work without collapsing. Bien-Aime explained that the whole jor General Fernando Rodrigues Goulart ternational support their struggle had ob- The demand for food was a constant population of Fort Liberté, both propo- from Brazil, Minustah engages in rape, tained. However, the Security Council did refrain in the massive, militant demon- nents and opponents of Martelly, were pillage and arbitrary arrests, detentions extend the occupation for another year. strations held throughout the country in opposed to the government’s decision not and murders, with nothing stopping September, which were only intensified to build port facilities there, a devastating them. Minustah’s troops are all soldiers Famine due to capitalist market by Martelly’s pro-imperialist policies. The blow to its economy. Demonstrators were from oppressed countries, who get paid Even workers in Haiti with a stable demonstrations in October have been just also outraged that the cops shot and killed far less than their colleagues in the impe- job covered by minimum wage laws — a as militant and more harshly repressed. Georges Delius, who happened to be pass- rialist armies. minority since most workers, especially On Oct. 5, when Martelly and the U.S. ing by the demonstration on his way to The U.N. occupation of Haiti and its women, are in the informal sector — have ambassador were en route to inaugurate work with a shovel in his hands. unwillingness to acknowledge its respon- trouble covering the rising cost of food. a new road (of less than a mile) that the The presence of Minustah exists to pro- sibility for the cholera epidemic, which According to the government’s Haitian U.S. Agency for International Develop- tect Martelly from the righteous anger has killed nearly 8,000 Haitians and sick- Institute of Statistics and Data Process- ment had funded in the port city of Petit and heroic determination of the Haitian ened over half a million, remains a hid- ing, inflation was 1 percent just for the Goave, a small group of motorcyclists rec- people. The way the Haiti press is report- den issue in the United States. The racist month of August. These official figures ognized them and began shouting slogans ing the current protests appears to be an demonization of the Haitian people in the don’t reveal the real costs for poor people, like “Down with Martelly! Down with cor- extension of a similar period when no big-business press is a contributing fac- who can afford to buy only small quanti- ruption! Martelly must go!” amount of repression stopped the Haitian tor. Outside of the Haitian community, in ties of food. The World Bank reports that Bodyguards fired large amounts of masses from forcing the brutal former Latin America and the Caribbean, there the price of rice, the main staple Haitian teargas, beat some protesters, burned Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” is growing mass resistance to their coun- food, was up 1.31 percent in September. their motorcycles, and killed some of the Duvalier, out of power in 1986. tries’ participation in Minustah. A 2009 bill raising the minimum wage farmers’ animals. Facilia Hyppolite, 80, The Defend.ht website covered the A significant delegation of Latin Ameri- from $1.69 a day to $4.82 a day went into was asphyxiated by the tear gas. incident at Petit Goave, along with a can trade union leaders asked the U.N. effect Oct. 1 this year, according to Haiti’s On Oct. 7, in Port-au-Prince, the capi- number of other news services from not to extend Minustah’s mandate. The Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Jo- tal, and Gonaïves, Haiti’s third largest Haiti. Defend.ht also has extensive delegation included Pablo Micheli, Gen- sefa Gauthier. For a family of four to just city, thousands of protesters came out, videos, in Creole and French, focused on eral Secretary, Argentine Trade Union survive in Haiti, it is generally accepted waving the red cards soccer referees give the protests. PUERTO RICO People win battle with Power Authority

By Berta Joubert-Ceci northern coast, ending in San Juan. Pueblo — the environmental organization unions, community, women and stu- “Green Way” is an outrageous name that initiated the struggle — said, “Gov. dents groups. It reminded many of the Puerto Rico’s people won a vital envi- considering the tremendous environ- Luis Fortuño told a newspaper this week peoples’ struggle against the Navy bomb- ronmental struggle when acting Presi- mental destruction the pipeline would that his administration will not withdraw ing in Vieques. dent of the Puerto Rico Electric Power have provoked as it was to cross impor- the application for a permit for the pipe- This mobilization was a significant step Authority (PREPA) Josué Colón publicly tant aquifers that provide water to the line because USACE has recommended forward for the class struggle. The mili- withdrew a request for a permit to allow south, rivers, protected forests areas with not to stop obtaining such approval.” (pr. tant UTIER union represents PREPA’s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to con- biodiversity, etc. It would have affected indymedia.org) workers and was an important part of struct a 92-mile-long gas pipeline. Puerto the climate and exacerbated risks from The project has also underscored the the resistance; its public position on the Rico is barely 106 miles long and 37 wide. tsunamis, corrosion, floods, fires, earth- corruption that has plagued the Fortuño energy crisis reflected a deep political un- Since right-wing, pro-business and quakes and landslides, affecting directly administration since its beginning, in- derstanding of the situation. pro-statehood Gov. Luis Fortuño raised more than 200,000 people. Additionally, cluding payments to lobbyists and con- In his presentation during a pipe- the proposal two years ago, strong voices it would have required the expropriation tractors. line hearing, UTIER President Ángel opposing the project immediately began of at least 400 parcelas (plots of land) Figueroa Jaramillo placed the situation organizing to defeat the project. (See casapueblo.org) People’s struggle within the context of the global capitalist Studies also showed that the project, In spite of the millions wasted by the crisis and climate change. Stressing that The ‘tube of death’ which was proposed as low-cost alterna- government on publicity and consultants, in Puerto Rico, “The current government PREPA provides electricity, mainly tive green energy, would not lower utility however, the unity and perseverance of has decided to deal with the challenges generated by oil-fired units, for the whole bills to the consumer. the people finally won. Casa Pueblo, a posed by this crisis by implementing island. One gas-producing plant owned Some $80 million of the $800 million 25-year-old environmental activists’ or- neoliberal measures that not only do not by the foreign transnational, Ecoeléc- public-money budget have already been ganization located in the center of Puerto serve the fundamental problems but that trica, and located in the southern city of spent. Even before the project was ap- Rico, did an outstanding job in research- put all the weight and cost of the solution Peñuelas, provides 13 percent of Puerto proved, Fortuño had already spent sev- ing, exposing and organizing the people on those who have the least, increasing Rico’s gas. eral millions in advertising and consul- around the island. the gap between the economic sectors of In 2010, Gov. Fortuño declared an en- tants, paid to his business allies. With the help of local and foreign sci- the country.” ergy crisis in the island to pressure for Since Puerto Rico is a U.S. colony, any entists, engineers and environmentalists, Both Casa Pueblo and UTIER call for his pipeline proposal, which he called struggle on the island is also for indepen- Casa Pueblo published thorough investi- the involvement of the people in the de- the “Green Way”. It would have taken dence and self determination. Washing- gations and promoted popular participa- sign of a new direction for the environ- gas from Peñuelas, crossing to the north ton’s and U.S.-based corporations’ role is tion. It mobilized throughout the coun- mental policies and sustainable energy through the Central Mountain range and all over this project, and USACE was an try with full participation of all social production. end in three generating plants along the accomplice. In an article last June, Casa progressive organizations and parties, Page 10 Oct. 25, 2012 workers.org editorial Paul Ryan’s lies: Another war prize The truth about t has always been problematic that the social programs, higher taxes on poor and ‘central planning’ Nobel Peace Prize is awarded from the working people, massive layoffs and wage Ilegacy of a Swedish industrialist whose cuts. Sovereign countries were forced to millions came from munitions that made accept EU dictates. As a result, most of the By Caleb T. Maupin Germany in World War II. The USSR the late 19th and 20th century wars the smaller countries of Europe are mired in survived for another 45 years, trying to most deadly in human history. recession with no hope of recovery. The During his speech at the Republican recover from that horrendous war, while In 1973 the prize was awarded jointly Nobel prize itself has been reduced to $1.2 National Convention, Vice Presidential keeping up with a U.S. arms race that to Vietnam War criminal Henry Kissinger million from $1.5 million. The Nobel Foun- candidate Paul Ryan at one point referred threatened it with nuclear annihilation, and Vietnamese resistance leader Le Duc dation has said its investment capital took to the Obama administration as “cen- before imperialism succeeded in pulling Tho. Tho turned it down. a sharp hit in the 2008 financial crisis. tral planners.” In doing so, he insinuated down the planned economy. When the masses of people have pro- that President Obama was implementing The Nobel committee did it again in Tremendous gains in Cuba, north Korea 1993, awarding the prize jointly to apart- tested, they have been met by parliamen- economic policies similar to those of the heid’s Frederik Willem de Klerk and the tary huckstering, and when that didn’t Soviet Union, People’s Korea, Cuba and Cuba stands as a shining example of long-imprisoned African leader Nelson work, naked police repression was used. other countries engaged in socialist con- the superiority of central planning. Mandela. But it doesn’t stop there. struction. Immediately after the 1959 revolution, Now comes news that the Nobel com- After the downfall of many of the This accusation is, of course, outra- the Cuban government mobilized a mass mittee has awarded the prize this year to, socialist countries of Eastern Europe, geous. Obama has in no way altered the campaign against illiteracy. By 1962, of all things, the European Union. The the EU leaders pursued an aggressive capitalist economic setup of the United even before Cuba had nationalized all the EU has come to be despised and hated economic imperialism in these now “free” States. The banks, industries and media vital industries of the country, which had not only by the 500 million people who countries. Where there had been stable of the U.S. economy remain under pri- largely been owned by U.S. capitalists, il- live in the 27 nations that belong to the planned economies, rampant unemploy- vate, for-profit ownership. literacy had been abolished. organization, but by additional millions ment, economic insecurity and the rise Even health care, which A revolutionary Jonathon Kozol, the world- who have been on the receiving end of the of criminal enterprises such as human Obama campaigned for on YOUTH’S VIEW famous educator and activist, imperialism and militarism wielded by its trafficking accompanied the theft of state a reform platform and ad- wrote a glowing book entitled most powerful capitalist states. property on a monumental scale. Many dressed in the Affordable Care Act, re- “Children of the Revolution” that docu- Panos Skourletis, spokesperson for formerly public enterprises were not only mains squarely in the hands of insurance ments the amazing results of Cuba’s cen- Syriza, the main opposition party in privatized, but ownership was transferred companies, pharmaceutical cartels and trally planned educational system. Greece, spoke for the majority of opinion to large financial institutions located in for-profit hospital corporations. Cuba’s centrally planned health care around the world: “I just cannot un- the leading countries of the EU, such as Ryan’s accusation is also based on system provides Cubans with the highest derstand what the reasoning would be Germany and France. a false premise, namely, that “central life expectancy in Latin America. They behind [the decision of the Nobel com- The European Union has always been planning” as implemented in the USSR also have a lower infant mortality rate mittee]. In many parts of Europe but considered to be the not so hidden step- and other socialist countries rendered than in the United States. (CIA World especially in Greece, we are experiencing child of NATO — the military partnership negative results. Factbook) what really is a war situation on a daily between the U.S. and European capital- In addition to providing for the health Central planning enabled USSR basis, albeit a war that has not been for- ists whose crimes and interventions, care needs of its own people, Cuba also to defeat Nazis mally declared. There is nothing peaceful many of them far from Europe, are well exports more medical aid around the about it.” (Guardian, Oct. 12) known. The dropping of tens of thousands The Soviet Union, which inherited a world than any other country. Cuba also The EU has been the driving force be- of bombs on the former Yugoslavia, the huge, underdeveloped, agrarian society sends many teachers abroad as part of a hind moves to rescue the giant European brutal war against Libya, and the bloody after the 1917 revolution, was the first world literacy program. banks from the economic crisis of 2008 invasion and occupation of Afghanistan country to implement central planning. During the Korean War, the U.S. killed by forcing draconian austerity mea- are only a few examples. The Soviet Union had socialist goals, and millions of Koreans and destroyed every sures on the working masses of Europe. Most recently, the EU has been an the “commanding heights” of the econ- building above one story in the north. Member nations such as Ireland, which important source of war fever whipped up omy were held under state ownership With some Soviet aid, the north Ko- were reluctant to rescue their banks, were against Syria. Threats, intimidation and and control. In 1928, the Soviet Union rean government rebuilt the country by forced to accept high-interest “bailouts.” secret armed intervention have been ac- launched the first of its five-year plans. implementing central planning. Korea In other cases, the local national ruling companied by increasingly shrill calls for Unlike in capitalism, where the profit tripled its gross domestic product from classes have temporized, but ended up outright war. motive guides management decisions, 1953 to 1956. Such rapid economic re- accepting the EU’s “help.” Alfred Nobel’s munitions seem to have these five-year plans involved labor covery astounded world economists. This always came at a price: cuts in more influence than his “peace prize.” unions, Communist Party leaders, tech- (“Korea: Division, Reunification, and nicians and workers’ councils, who came U.S. Foreign Policy” by Martin Hart- together to rationally plan economic ac- Landsberg, Monthly Review Press, 1998) UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE tivity. During the “arduous march” period in STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION Maurice Dobb, an economics lecturer the mid-1990s, there was great suffering 1. Publication Title: Workers World 2. Publication Number: 053-990 at the University of Cambridge, exten- in People’s Korea due to flooding and 3. Filing Date: October 25, 2012 sively documented the results of the five- the loss of trade with the former Soviet 4. Issue Frequency: Weekly except rst week of January 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 51 year plans in his work entitled “Soviet Union. But even during this period the 6. Annual Subscription Price: $30.00 Economic Development Since 1917.” (In- socialist government made sure no per- 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Oce of Publication (Not printer): (Street, City, County, State, and ZIP+4) 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513; Contact Person: R. Neidenberg; Telephone: 212-255-0352 ternational Publishers, 1948) son was ever homeless. 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Oce of Publisher (Not printer): 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY He showed that by 1938, having built In contrast, the U.S. calls itself the 10011-5513 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor (Do not leave blank): the world’s largest hydroelectrical power richest country in the world, yet it has Publisher (Name and Complete Mailing Address): WW Publishers, Inc., 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513; Editor (Name and plant at the Dnieper dam, the amount of millions of homeless people, something Complete Mailing Address): Deirdre Griswold, 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513; Managing Editor (Name and Complete Mailing Address): Gary Wilson, 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513 electrical power in the Soviet Union was People’s Korea never had, even when 10. Owner (Do not leave blank. If the publication is owned by a corporation, give the name and address of the corporation immediately seven times what it had been 10 years drought followed by floods brought followed by the names and addresses of all stockholders owning or holding 1 percent or more of the total amount of stock. If not owned by a corporation, give the names and addresses of the individual owners. If owned by a partnership or other unincorporated rm, give its name and earlier. Coal production had also mul- widespread crop failure. (“North Korea, address as well as that of each individual. If the publication is published by a nonpro t organization, give its name and address.): WW Publish- tiplied by three and a half times during Another Country” by Dr. Bruce Cum- ers, Inc., 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513; Gary Wilson, 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages that period. mings, New Press, 2003) or Other Securities. If none, check box: None In 1938, the Soviet Union was produc- If Obama were indeed implement- 12. Tax Status (For completion by nonpro t organizations authorized to mail at special rates.) (Check One) The purpose, function, and nonpro t status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes: (Check one): Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months ing more tractors than any other country ing “central planning” in the U.S., as the 13. Publication Title: Workers World on earth. The Soviet Union also led the right-wing contends, things would un- 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: October 25, 2012 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: Average No. of Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months: a. Total Number Copies (Net Press Run): world in locomotive production. doubtedly have improved for working 4189. b. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail). (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (include paid In capitalist countries, huge increas- people here. distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies and exchange copies) 1586. (2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies) 97. (3) Paid Distribution Outside es in production mean more profits for To create a planned economy, capital- the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales and other Paid Distribution Outside USPS 62. (4) Paid capitalists. But this huge industrial ex- ism must be replaced by socialism. The Distribution by other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 1925. c. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4) 3670. d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail). (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included PS Form 3541 0. pansion rendered great results for the result would include full employment for (2) Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 33541 0. (3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USSR’s people. During this period 20 all, with health care and education avail- USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 16. (4) Free of Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (carriers or other means) 284. e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (Sum of 15d (1), (2), (3), and (4) 300. f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) 3970. g. Copies not Distributed 30. h. Total (Sum of 15f new tramway systems were built in Sovi- able at no cost. The ultra-rich owners and g) 4000. i. Percent Paid (15c divided by 15f times 100) 91% et cities, along with 80 new bus systems. of the means of production — who are No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date. a. Total Number Copies (Net Press Run): 4000. b. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail). (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (include advertiser’s proof and exchange copies): 1675;. The number of hospital beds per capita much fewer even than the 1% — would (2) Mailed in-County Paid Subscriptions (include advertiser’s proof and exchange copies): 89. (3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails including in rural areas doubled as millions gained be overthrown, and the 99% would hold Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution. Outside USPS 0. (4) Paid Distribution by other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 1815. c. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and(4) 3579. d. Free or Nominal access to medical care for the first time all economic and political power. Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail). (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 0. (2) Free Nominal in their lives. Paul Ryan is greatly mistaken in his Rate In-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 0. (3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 1. (4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means) 383. e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Central planning in the USSR led to accusations. Change of this kind has Mail (Carriers or other means) 384. f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) 3963. g. Copies not Distributed 37. h. Total (Sum of 15f and g) 4000. the creation of thousands of new high never come about as the result of an i. Percent Paid (15c divided by 15f times 100) 90% . 16. Publication of Statement of Ownership. Publication will be printed in the October 25, 2012, issue of this publication. schools, trade schools and universities election, especially an election of a party 17. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager or Owner: Deirdre Griswold, Editor, October 25, 2012 that provided free education. Soviet in- — the Democratic Party — that itself up- I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading informa- tion on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including nes and dustry, along with enormous human sac- holds and defends capitalism. It always imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties.) rifice, enabled the USSR to defeat Nazi requires a revolution. workers.org Oct. 25, 2012 Page 11 One year after Gadha assassination Libya becomes focus of U.S. election By Abayomi Azikiwe comments on the Libyan attacks leading Today both the Republican and Dem- has a reputation for being home to a sig- Editor, Pan-African News Wire up to the Oct. 16 debate. ocratic parties maintain their commit- nificant number of pro-Gadhafi loyalists.” After passage of United Nations Secu- ments to turn Libya into an outpost for (Oct. 15) One year since the brutal assassina- rity Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973, the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence The current regime is holding thousands tion of former Libyan leader Col. Moam- the U.S., NATO and its allies in the region Agency, transnational oil firms and inter- of political prisoners from the Black popu- mar Gadhafi, the Republican Party is us- began a seven-month bombing campaign national bankers. lation, namely, Africans from other parts of ing Libya’s political crisis in an attempt on March 19, 2011. By late October, NATO The current dispute between the two the continent. It has also detained several to defeat President Barack Obama in the had flown 26,000 sorties and dropped at ruling class parties stems from imperial- leading members of the previous govern- Nov. 6 election. Both U.S. ruling-class par- least 9,600 bombs on this country of ap- ism’s incapacity to subdue Libya and fear ment under extremely harsh conditions. ties backed the 2011 war against this oil- proximately 6 million people. within Pentagon, CIA and State Depart- Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, is being producing nation that had maintained the Millions of Libyans were impacted by ment circles that the entire operation will illegally imprisoned inside the country. highest standard of living in Africa. the war through the deliberate destruction soon unravel. Seif, whose trial was recently postponed, Ambassador Christopher Stevens and of the nation’s infrastructure. Along with a is still under indictment by the Interna- Bani Walid under siege three other U.S. personnel died in an naval blockade imposed against the Gad- tional Criminal Court on false charges assault on U.S. government buildings hafi government, Western banks seized One of the regions never subdued in filed during the 2011 bombing campaign. in Benghazi, which was the birthplace over $160 billion in Libya’s foreign assets. 2011 was the city of Bani Walid in Libya’s The ICC appears to be satisfied to allow of the counterrevolutionary war against News reports have estimated that from west. People there maintain a strong op- the continuation of his detention in Libya Libya in February 2011. The Obama ad- 50,000 to 100,000 people were killed position to the rebel regime, and were and eventual staging of a trial where no ministration sought to link this assault during the war. Thousands of Libyans credited with arresting a counterrevolu- viable judicial institutions exist. with protests of the vicious “Innocence and foreign nationals were imprisoned by tionary charged with fingering Gadhafi One year after the proclaimed imperi- of Muslims” film. the rebel forces, and many remain impris- for liquidation on Oct. 20, 2011. alist victory, and that of their puppets in Information soon reached the public oned today. The military forces have laid siege the region, the masses of Libya’s people that there was no such demonstration The war has left the country without to Bani Walid and are shelling the city. are far worse off than they have ever been outside the U.S. buildings. On “Face the an effective political, legal, economic and The U.S. State Department, which last since the Italian colonial era. This follows Nation,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Gra- security system. Armed militias roam the year claimed its intervention was based the same pattern of U.S. intervention in ham charged the administration — which streets of the cities and towns as well as on concern for Libyan civilians, has said Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Somalia — and it had repeated the story for a few days — the outlying areas. The initial National nothing about the looming humanitarian is developing in Syria. with “trying to sell a narrative, … that in Transitional Council regime that the im- crisis there. Imperialism has nothing to offer the the Middle East, the wars are receding perialists imposed failed to control the In Gadhafi’s home city Sirte, which oppressed nations and the international and al Qaeda has been dismantled” and militias. NATO bombs destroyed in 2011 in an working class as a whole except underde- the embassy attack “undercuts the narra- Since July’s sham elections, the Gen- effort to drive out and assassinate the velopment, political repression, economic tive.” (cbsnews.com, Oct. 14) eral National Congress has been unable Libyan leader, the current rebel regime exploitation and impoverishment. Wheth- U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) on to appoint a government due to infight- has imposed a curfew. Several gun battles er in the so-called developing states and the same CBS program said the Repub- ing and political intrigue. Corruption is have taken place in Sirte since Sept. 25, regions or within the industrial countries, lican criticism was designed to damage rampant. The U.S.-backed regime has and there is tremendous solidarity with capitalism is in terminal decline. The only Obama’s reelection prospects. Obama targeted select militias and requested and the people of Bani Walid. solution to this crisis lies outside the exis- has refrained from making additional sometimes forced them to disarm. Even the Saudi Gazette reported, “Sirte tence of this exploitative system. Labor actions spread as South African truckers end strike By Abayomi Azikiwe labor federation, with which SAMWU is Gold One, Atlatsa Resources and other tions of workers in the industry from Editor, Pan-African News Wire affiliated, issued a statement charging mining corporations have also dismissed conditions close to slavery to conditions “unacceptable favoritism, nepotism, po- employees for their involvement in “un- where workers have the power to bargain The 43,000-strong truckers’ strike litical interference in administrative mat- protected strike actions” — those not through their unions.” (cosatu.org.za) ended on Oct. 11. An agreement with ters and rampant corruption … in mu- authorized by officially recognized labor the South African Transport and Allied nicipalities in the North West Province.” organizations. WORKERS WORLD PARTY CONFERENCE Workers’ Union, a Congress of South (cosatu.org.za, Oct. 12) Bond rating agencies Moody’s and Conferencia del Partido WW/Mundo Obrero African Trade Unions (COSATU) affili- SAMWU wants the South African Local Standard & Poor’s cut South Africa’s cred- ate, resulted in 27 percent pay increases Government Association to implement it worthiness on Sept. 27 and Oct. 12, re- OCCUPY OCUPAR over three years. This was announced by a wage curve that would create salaries spectively. Finance Minister Pravin Gord- the Road Freight Employers’ Association, more equitable for all workers. The union han said that the ratings downgrade came FOR SOCIALIST REVOLUTION which had already reached an agreement says that up to 300,000 workers could be as a “surprise,” since the strikes have yet PARA LA REVOLUCIÓN SOCIALISTA with three smaller unions, which claimed involved in the national strike; this would to strongly influence the government’s Learn about Workers World Party to represent 15,000 workers. paralyze municipal services throughout revenue and budget plans. Conozca al Partido WW/Mundo Obrero The Federation of Unions of South the country. “There is no evidence that this will Africa (FEDUSA) was elated the strike throw us off course,” Gordhan said on Save the date Nov 17-18 had concluded. General Secretary Den- Mining strikes & terminations continue Talk Radio 702. Reserve la fecha 17-18 de noviembre nis George noted, “While we are mindful Gold Fields halted all production on Despite independent worker actions New York City venue TBA El lugar se anunciará of the cost to the economy and the lives Oct. 15 when 8,500 workers refused to go outside of COSATU and other unions, próximamente Cuidad de Nueva York lost in this strike, we are convinced that COSATU’s Mpumalanga branch and the A conference of communists & revolutionary forces into the mines. The corporation reported Una conferencia de fuerzas comunistas y revolucionarias the sector will now rebuild itself to the that nearly 20,000 of its 26,700 employ- National Union of Mineworkers issued a A Marxist discussion of the way forward advantage of the greater South African joint statement on Oct. 12 defending the ees at the KDC West and East gold mines in the class struggle Una discusión marxista economy.” (fedusa.org.za, Oct. 12) were involved in wildcat strikes through- movement’s many gains. It pointed to a sobre cómo avanzar en la lucha de clases Meanwhile, labor unrest is continuing “well planned, highly funded campaign out the industry. (Reuters, Oct. 15)  Evaluate the capitalist elections in other sectors of the work force. by some mine bosses and counter-revo- Gold Fields says it has lost 65,000 ounc-  Evaluación de las elecciones capitalistas Tahir Sema, spokesperson for the South es since the strike began, while AngloGold lutionaries to destabilize and reverse all  Discuss the Occupy Movement, racism African Municipal Workers Union, said, reports weekly losses of 32,000 ounces, the revolutionary gains achieved by NUM and police repression, liberation & revolution “The congress and the central executive and COSATU over the past thirty years. and Harmony says it is daily losing 20-25  Discusión sobre el Movimiento Ocupar, el racismo committee have agreed on a strike. We kg of gold at its Kusasalethu mine. “NUM has brought unity, defeated y brutalidad policial, liberación y revolución are waiting for the provinces to decide on Meanwhile, striking workers have re- apartheid laws, and tribalism in the min- To register email: Para registrarse envíe email a: a date and a strategy to be used during the jected another pay increase offer by mine ing, construction and energy sector. The [email protected] 212.627.2994 strike. … Guateng [Province] is preparing owners. NUM has improved the working condi- a meeting. It will come out last because of According to Swiss News, “Since Au- its sheer size.” (thenewage.co.za, Oct. 15) gust, 75,000 miners have downed tools If Workers World is essential to your political life – if you’ve come to rely The national strike began in North in often illegal and violent walkouts that on the paper – then please take the next step and support us nancially. West Province, when on Oct. 12, 3,000 are hitting economic growth and inves- workers took to the streets in the Bonjala tor confidence and raising questions Our readers can forge a special relationship $300 or more (as little as $25 a month) you also with the paper by joining the Workers World get your choice of ve books or People’s Video Region. Municipal workers in Limpopo about President Jacob Zuma’s leadership Supporter Program. Province also walked off the job. Network videos. shortly before a leadership election in the WW Supporters who contribute $75 a year In North West Province, SAMWU is de- ruling African National Congress (ANC).” receive a year’s subscription to the newspaper, To become a WW Supporter Program mail a manding the resignation of several politi- (swissinfo.ch, Oct. 15) a monthly letter with new publications, peti- check made out to Workers World with your cal appointees and municipal managers In retaliation for the wildcat strikes, tions and brochures and ve free trial subscrip- name, address, phone number and email to and the prosecution of some managers for Anglo American Platinum dismissed tions to give to friends. For $100 you also get a Workers World to WWP, 55 W. 17th St., 5th Fl., corruption. COSATU, the nation’s largest 12,000 workers earlier in October. The book published by World View Forum. And for New York, NY 10011. Correspondencia sobre artículos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero pueden ser enviadas a:  [email protected] ¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios!

POSTURA PARTIDO WW-MO sobre elecciones Leyes contra latinos/as l Partido Workers World-Mundo Obrero expone que no miremos a las elecciones capitalistas para propiciar los indignan al sur Ecambios que los/as trabajadores/as, los pueblos oprimi- dos, las mujeres, la comunidad LGBT, jóvenes, ancianos/as e Por Lamont Lilly tatal. Por desgracia, parece que como Arizona, Ala- inmigrantes necesitamos tan desesperadamente en este país. bama se está posicionando para llevar su ley migra- Las elecciones presidenciales intentan obliterar el hecho de En su formato original, la Ley Beason-Hammon toria hasta la Corte Suprema. que esta es una sociedad de clases altamente estratificada, con Alabama HB 56 otorgaba a los oficiales de recursos Para aquellos de nosotros/as que somos aficiona- la mayor brecha en riquezas de cualquier país desarrollado. escolares el derecho de acosar a los/as estudiantes de dos/as a la historia de Estados Unidos, no podemos A pesar de tanta habladuría sobre la “clase media”, es la clase quinto grado por su estatus migratorio. La Legisla- dejar de establecer una correlación directa con la capitalista — un minúsculo porcentaje de la población — quien tura de Alabama que aprobó la ley HB 56 en junio del postura del Gobernador George Wallace en contra posee y controla la enorme riqueza. En el otro polo está la clase 2011, convirtió a Alabama en el único estado del país de las autoridades federales en la década de 1960. Su trabajadora, la gran mayoría de la población, cuyas destrezas en que los administradores de las escuelas públicas postura de línea dura en pro de la segregación y en y esfuerzos construyeron la economía pero quienes están bajo verificarán los datos de inmigración de los/as nue- contra de la Corte Suprema de EE.UU. estimuló a los ataque en todos los frentes. vos/as estudiantes desde los grados infantiles hasta racistas en todo el país. El proceso electoral, tan dominado por el dinero de la clase el grado 12. Además de los jueces federales, el HB 56 también dirigente, no permite ni un susurro de esta monumental Sin embargo, en agosto de este año la Corte de ha llamado la atención del presidente Barack Obama. verdad entrar en los llamados debates. La discusión sobre el Apelaciones del 11º Circuito revocó la disposición es- Hasta él ha hecho constar que “es una mala ley”. Sin capitalismo está “fuera de la mesa” con ambos republicanos y tudiantil de la HB 56, declarándola inconstitucional y embargo, la administración de Obama deportó a demócratas, aún cuando el desastre social causado por la crisis una violación judicial de Plyer vs Doe, que establece 396.000 inmigrantes el año pasado. económica capitalista tritura las vidas de decenas de millones. que los estados proporcionen una educación a todos/ Mientras que miembros del Congreso, jueces fede- Las elecciones en Estados Unidos son altamente antidemocráti- as los/as niños/as, independientemente de su estado rales y legisladores/as continúan debatiendo, los/ cas, incluso comparadas con las de otros países capitalistas migratorio. Asimismo, el tribunal revocó la propuesta as defensores/as de derechos humanos agradecen el donde los partidos ganan escaños en parlamentos según una HB 87 de Georgia. Una propuesta de este Estado para avance, por limitado que sea. Sin embargo, sabemos base proporcional. Aquí en EE.UU. el “ganador lo toma todo”, criminalizar “el transportar y refugiar a inmigrantes que quienes despreciamos tal intolerancia racista, lo que significa que los partidos políticos progresistas que no ilegales”. El estatuto, una propuesta sin paralelo den- debemos continuar protestando. Eliminar algunas reciben financiamiento corporativo no tienen ninguna posibili- tro de la ley federal estadounidense, tenía palpables disposiciones no va a ser suficiente, siempre que la dad de tener candidatos electos. designios “contra la población latina”. discriminación racial siga desenfrenada. Con menos de un mes hasta el día de las elecciones, una Cuando inicialmente fueron propuestas, las HB 56 Cuando las paradas de tráfico y los bloqueos de campaña de propaganda enormemente cara y omnipresente y HB 87 fueron presentadas como valiosas piezas de carreteras se convierten en cursos de obstáculos está en marcha para convencer al pueblo de que la forma en legislación que podrían impulsar las economías locales para inmigrantes, la ética se convierte en un asunto que vote determinará el curso de los acontecimientos en los al tomar medidas enérgicas contra la presencia de in- de gran preocupación jurídica. Si la justicia no puede años venideros. Se trata de responsabilizar a las masas de migrantes indocumentados/as que en traran a Estados prevalecer en este caso, el odio estructural podría los ataques que vendrán sobre cada beneficio social ganado Unidos. Los conservadores estadounidenses formular- empezar a cubrir todo el sur, estableciendo nuevos durante años de lucha. on tal ley racista como una solución rápida al desem- precedentes para los estados como Carolina del Sur, Aunque no proveen soluciones concretas a las cuestiones pleo y al bajo rendimiento de las escuelas. Georgia y Arkansas. vitales de puestos de trabajo, cuidado universal de la salud, En su lugar, estas horribles políticas fueron un En respuesta a esta batalla que ha durado un año, educación, encarcelamiento masivo y brutalidad policial, y la completo revés a los derechos civiles y al debido pro- los/as activistas pro derechos de inmigrantes se han influencia del complejo militar-industrial-financiero sobre la ceso judicial. En Alabama, los/as niños/as de todas mantenido firmes. Los/as manifestantes han imple- política exterior y el presupuesto, los candidatos de los dos las edades fueron disuadidos/as de asistir a la es- mentado una serie de tácticas, como manifestacio- partidos capitalistas hacen parecer que todo depende de quién cuela y continuar su educación. Muchos/as dejaron nes y foros de la comunidad, seminarios y bloqueos sea elegido. Nunca mencionan el papel central que han tenido de asistir por temor a que sus familias pudieran ser callejeros. Activistas que apoyan el propósito de ley los movimientos de lucha de masas en cambiar la historia. deportadas si se les interrogaban sobre su estatus DREAM, los/as SOÑADORES, y jóvenes inmigran- Al mismo tiempo, mucha gente creyó genuinamente que migratorio. Según el Departamento de Justicia de tes han realizado paros. Trabajadores y cooperativas dieron un paso progresista cuando eligieron a Barack Obama EE.UU., más del 13 por ciento de niños/as latinos/ para adultos han organizado importantes huelgas. como presidente en 2008. Para los/as blancos/as que votaron as se retiraron en el año que la HB 56 estuvo vigente, Los/as clientes/as latinos/as han decidido boicotear para él, fue una medida sin precedentes no solo de apoyar la antes de la intervención federal. En lugar de enseñar a las empresas locales, mientras que decenas de miles igualdad en general, sino de aceptar el liderazgo afroamericano geometría, los/as instructores/as en el aula se vieron han respondido con solidaridad. en el país. Para los/as afroamericanos/as, la esperanza se elevó obligados/as a encontrar certificados de nacimiento. Organizaciones como la Unión de Trabajadores del sobre lo que aparentemente era la culminación de la larga lu- En cuanto a las economías locales y la disminución Acero, la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles y la cha contra el racismo y la opresión nacional con una votación de las tasas de desempleo, la industria número uno Liga de la Justicia para Inmigrantes han unido sus histórica por el primer presidente afroamericano — a pesar de de Alabama, la agricultura, fue diezmada. Estamos fuerzas. La NAACP y el Southern Poverty Law Center la supresión siempre presente del derecho a votar. hablando de un sector agrícola acostumbrado a gen- también se encuentran a bordo. La iglesia Bautista de Desafortunadamente, las elecciones del 2008 no cumplieron erar más de $ 5,5 mil millones al año. Las industrias la Calle 16 en Birmingham, Ala., — la misma iglesia con ninguna de estas cosas. Continúa el mismo estableci- que dependen de la mano de obra inmigrante, al bombardeada por racistas en 1963 — ha servido como miento racista. Las cárceles aún están llenas con 2,5 millones igual que las operaciones avícolas de Alabama, que- un refugio de descanso y planificación de la sede. de reclusos, casi todos/as gente de color y blancos/as pobres. daron devastadas. Las operaciones pequeñas de cul- La conclusión es que la HB 56 es una ley que estim- Los jóvenes negros y latinos en barrios empobrecidos son tivo cesaron, ya que los/as valiosos/as trabajadores/ ula el ostracismo y la división, conjurando el miedo detenidos, arrestados y cada vez más son ejecutados donde as se quedaban en sus casas atemorizados/as. e incrementando la cantidad de víctimas inocentes y viven por la policía. Los/as inmigrantes indocumentados/ Otros/as simplemente emigraron simplemente por falsos arrestos, perpetuando una completa violación as son deportados/as a un nivel sin precedentes. Las mujeres seguridad. Estas complicaciones también se han uti- de las libertades civiles. Estos actos anti-latinos/as pierden terreno por la reducción de puestos de trabajo en el lizado como justificación para no pagar a los/as traba- no son una simple cuestión de privación de derechos sector público, otro efecto del declive capitalista — y aumentan jadores/as temporales/as —contratados/as y despedi- civiles. A los/as inmigrantes latinos/as se les niega los ataques contra la anticoncepción y el derecho al aborto. Y dos al mes siguiente sin remuneración alguna. Muchos/ hasta el derecho a existir en algunos estados, a apenas la guerra contra los sindicatos se hace cada vez más fea, ya que as latinos/as, documentados/as e indocumentados/as, respirar sin que algún “oficial de la ley” esté a sus es- tanto las empresas privadas como los organismos guberna- se han negado a denunciar los delitos, ya que cualquier paldas atemorizándole. mentales trituran los contratos en los que los/as trabajadores/ escrutinio por la ley local puede iniciar una investig- Es cierto que las recientes sentencias de la Corte de as y sus familias han dependido. ación de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas. Apelaciones del Circuito 11º representan algunos pro- Fue la esperanza y el deseo de unidad lo que impulsó a Aunque partes de estos proyectos de ley fueron gresos, pero no debe haber ningún compromiso con Obama a la Casa Blanca. Los líderes del Partido Demócrata derogadas, los/as defensores de derechos humanos las leyes que fomentan el odio. Para aquellos/as de despertaron esta esperanza y luego la destruyeron al llevar a han seguido sonando la alarma, ya que esta marca nosotros/as que estamos al corriente de tales regla- cabo los dictados de los grandes bancos y corporaciones. Pero de control social afecta a todos/as los/as pobres y mentos racistas, no dejemos de correr la voz y seguir el sentimiento progresista de las masas no está muerto. Ocu- oprimidos/as, creando miedo y frustración a través organizando. Para aquellos/as de ustedes que están par Wall Street es un reflejo de eso. Puede ser renovado con de la alienación. aprendiendo sobre tal injusticia por primera vez, una verdadera lucha fuera de la arena electoral. Recientemente, el estado de Alabama ha impug- únanse a la causa noble del movimiento. Nosotros el No importa quién salga electo; serán los/as trabajadores/as nado la decisión del panel de tres jueces del 11º Cir- pueblo decimos, ¡”Libertad para todos/as”! y ¡”abajo construyendo alianzas con sus comunidades, tal como hicieron cuito y ha pedido una nueva audiencia. A pesar de con la HB 56”! los sindicatos en Wisconsin y más recientemente los/as mae- que unas disposiciones en particular resultaron ser Lamont Lilly es un redactor colaborador de stros/as en Chicago – no siguiendo como de costumbre, que se abiertamente inconstitucionales en violación de la la Triangle Free Press, columnista de la African moverán hacia adelante nuestras luchas. Para llegar allí debemos cláusula de Igual Protección de la Enmienda 14, las American Voice y organizador local del Partido romper con los dirigentes capitalistas y sus partidos políticos y autoridades estatales están argumentando que los Workers World/Mundo Obrero. Reside en Durham, tratar de construir órganos de poder popular independientes. tribunales federales sobrepasaron la jurisdicción es- Carolina del Norte.