Puerto Rico y la Reforma Contributiva 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 60, No. 1 Jan. 4, 2018 $1 People’s Korea resists U.S. threats By Deirdre Griswold This is the question that should have DPRK at the cruelest time of year in this more bombs on north Korea than in the been on the agenda of the U.N. Security far-northern country. The Korean people entire Pacific theater during World War Where does the danger of yet another Council on Dec. 22, when its 15 members must be tightening their belts and figur- II. People here cannot imagine what it war come from? voted for an even stiffer round of sanc- ing out how to stave off hunger and frost must have been like to build up an econ- Does it come from the Democratic tions against the DPRK. These sanctions during the coldest winter months. omy focused on meeting people’s needs People’s Republic of Korea, which has reduce the country’s ability to import How will the sanctions affect the when every single building higher than no military bases or soldiers or nuclear refined petroleum products by 90 per- schools in this socialist country, which one story had been blasted to bits by U.S. weapons anywhere in the world but on its cent and set a cap on crude oil imports. wiped out illiteracy decades ago and pro- planes during the Korean War. own soil? They also mandate the return within 24 vide every person with a free education? But the Koreans know the horrors of Or does it come from the U.S. billion- months of the estimated 100,000 DPRK How will they affect the hospitals and war. That is why they have focused on aire ruling class, which dictates U.S. mil- citizens working abroad, whose remit- clinics — where 70 percent of the doctors the need for self-defense ever since — to itary and foreign policy? tances to their home country contribute are women — that give total medical care defend what they have built up literally The U.S. has been militarily occupying to the national economy. and regular checkups free to the entire from the ashes. the southern half of Korea since 1945. The DPRK foreign ministry responded population? U.S. warplanes, warships, submarines, to these sanctions, declaring them “an act People living in the United States nev- U.S. a warfare state troops and military “advisers,” armed of war.” And rightly so. Because attempts er hear about the DPRK’s great social The total U.S. military budget for fis- with everything from assault rifles to to starve and freeze an entire country can achievements. They are made all the cal year 2018 is $824.6 billion, making nuclear weapons, are spread all over the be as deadly as shooting. more spectacular by the fact that the U.S. it larger than the military budgets of the world. The sanctions are timed to hurt the military, from 1950 to 1953, dropped Continued on page 8

DURHAM ANTI-RACISTS FACE TRIAL 2

MUMIA ALERT 6 HONORING ERICA GARNER and RECY TAYLOR 3 PUERTO RICO tax atrocity 6 Acts of solidarity 6,7 Subscribe to Workers World 4 weeks trial $4 1 year subscription $30 BRONX FIRE: Who profits? 7 Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program: workers.org/articles/donate/ Justice denied 10 Name ______

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Trial set for Jan. 11 Trial set for Jan. 11 Trial set for Jan. 11 Solidarity with Durham anti-racist fighters! By LeiLani Dowell premacy is not a crime. Organizers in Durham have initi-  In the U.S. ated a campaign for local community members to sign up Solidarity with Durham anti-racist fighters! ...... 2 Nationwide, activists are gearing up to show their sol- to be witnesses for the defense during the trial, allowing idarity with the anti-racist fighters who pulled down a them to testify on the impact of monuments to white su- Say their names! Recy Taylor and Erica Garner . . . . . 3 Confederate statue in Durham, N.C., on Aug. 14. With a premacy and the legacies of racism in the area. Plans are ‘The Hammer & Hoe: Alabama Communist Party’ Pt. 2 . 3 new court date set for Jan. 11, organizers are arranging also in the works for a People’s Tribunal in the days before Legal Aid lawyers protest ICE courthouse arrests . . . . 4 transportation to arrive in Durham in the days before. In the trial. Boston: Groups protest activist’s deportation . . . . . 4 addition, plans are being made for national solidarity ac- Finally, solidarity actions are being convened from ’Friends of labor’ and state repression ...... 4 tions between Jan. 11 and Jan. 15. Jan. 11, the court date in Durham, to Jan. 15, the national Poultry workers fight wretched conditions ...... 5 The state has continued its political maneuvering in re- Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, with the theme “In the lation to the actions on Aug. 14, as well as in response to spirit of Dr. King — workers’ rights, not white supremacy! On the picket line ...... 5 activists arrested during an anti-Klan protest in Durham Drop the charges against Durham activists!” The call will Philadelphia: Activists raise funds for Puerto Rico . . . 6 on Aug. 18. A judge has continued the case, with a court ask organizations and communities around the country Boston: ‘Decolonize Puerto Rico!’ ...... 7 date each month since Aug. 14, in an attempt to dampen to hold solidarity actions at racist monuments or other What’s really behind the Bronx fire ...... 7 the momentous solidarity from around the country. suitable targets. Georgia: No justice in 1946 racist lynching ...... 10 The anti-racist activists have asserted that, at the trial, For more information and to get involved, visit face- Iowa: Activists arrested protesting U.S. drone deaths . 10 they will insist that tearing down monuments to white su- book.com/DurhamWWP or doitlikedurham.org. Bay Area Hondurans denounce ‘electoral coup’ . . . . 11

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Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Kris Balderas Hamel, Monica Moorehead, Workers World Party is a revolutionary Marxist-­ Wages are lower than ever, and youth are saddled with Minnie Bruce Pratt; Web Editor Gary Wilson Leninist party inside the belly of the imperialist beast. seemingly insurmountable student debt, if they even make Production & Design Editors: Coordinator Lal Roohk; We are a multinational, multigenerational and multigen- it to college. Black and Brown youth and trans people are Andy Katz, Cheryl LaBash dered organization that not only aims to abolish capital- gunned down by cops and bigots on a regular basis. ism, but to build a socialist society because it’s the only WWP fights for socialism because the working class Copyediting and Proofreading: Sue Davis, way forward! produces all wealth in society, and this wealth should re- Bob McCubbin, Jeff Sorel Capitalism and imperialism threaten the peoples of main in their hands, not be stolen in the form of capital- Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, the world and the planet itself in the never-ending quest ist profits. The wealth workers create should be socially Greg Butterfield, G. Dunkel, K. Durkin, for ever-greater profits. Capitalism means war and aus- owned and its distribution planned to satisfy and guar- Fred Goldstein, Martha Grevatt, Teresa Gutierrez, terity, racism and repression, joblessness and lack of antee basic human needs. 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Commentary Say their names! Recy Taylor and Erica Garner

By Mikisa Thompson justice, even when the evi- dence is blatant, such as the Say her name: Mrs. Recy Taylor. Born Dec. 31, 1919, and died Dec. 28, 2017. video that recorded Eric Gar- Say her name: Erica Garner. Born May 29, 1990, and died Dec. 30, 2017. ner being murdered. The last week of 2017 we have lost two Black women. Both experienced the plight of The death of Erica Gar- being denied justice while being Black in America. ner’s father played a big factor in the death of Erica Garner Mrs. Recy Taylor: spoke up and named her perpetrators, herself. Living day by day, She was a revolutionary woman way even though there was a confession from knowing that your father before the #Me Too movement of today. one of the perpetrators, a grand jury de- didn’t receive the justice that During the Jim Crow period, on Sept. 3, nied justice for her, twice. he deserved and walking the 1944, in Alabama, Mrs. Taylor was kid- Somehow, through all of this, Black same streets with the officer napped, blindfolded, raped and brutally women are still “to blame” and are asked who murdered your father beaten by six white boys, all the while questions filled with contempt, such as are the slow death that Erica pleading for her life. “Why did you take so long to tell?” Garner went through. A Dec. 20 Democracy Now interview But Recy Taylor was only granted an Ms. Garner leaves behind with Nancy Buirski, director of the film, apology by the Alabama Legislature in two children: Alyssa and “The Rape of Recy Taylor,” noted that she 2011, a full 67 years after her attack. Eric. Her last wish was that was left on the side of the road, later to be Sexual assault by white men against you support foster children in WW PHOTO: DEVIN COLE some way, as she was in foster found by her father. Black women is white supremacy. Vigil for Erica Garner and Recy Taylor, Pensacola, Fla., Then Recy Taylor said “Enough!” and Dec. 30. care during her life. bravely named and identified her attack- Erica Garner: The system is stacked ers. Eleven years before the bus boycott She was the daughter of Eric Garner, health and justice systems. against us. Life is a race that we have yet in Alabama, Rosa Parks interviewed Recy who was killed by police in Staten Island, Living in a low-income neighborhood to master because the system works ex- Taylor for the NAACP as its chief rape in- N.Y., on July 17, 2014. Eric Garner was is genocide. Blacks and Latinxs make up actly as it is intended to. Mrs. Taylor spoke vestigator at the time. An Alabama Com- murdered by NYPD Officer Daniel Panta- the majority of people affected by pollu- up and wasn’t heard. Ms. Garner spoke up mittee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy leo using an illegal chokehold. It was all tion, and they also make up the majority for her father and was denied justice. Taylor was launched, marking the first caught on video, even Garner’s last words: of people in low-income neighborhoods. Justice isn’t blind at all. The system national campaign against the white su- “I can’t breathe.” It is now three years and A 2014 study found that members of ra- sees you, but does not count you in be- premacist rape of a woman of color. five months since Eric Garner was mur- cial and ethnic minorities are exposed cause of your Blackness and poorness. In a Dec. 28 tribute to Taylor in The dered, and there is still no justice. to levels of nitrogen dioxide, a common However, this will not last forever be- Root, Monique Judge said: “The racially Ms. Garner suffered an asthma attack, pollutant associated with asthma and cause we are the revolution. The actions motivated rape of Black women by white which triggered a heart attack, which led heart disease, that is 38 percent high- you take today to support Black women, men was as prominent during ‘Jim Crow’ to brain damage. Erica Garner was pro- er than in the air most white people who have been the truth-tellers for eons, as the lynching of Black men was, but it nounced brain dead five days after the breathe. (tinyurl.com/yabqk4kc) will build a new foundation. A foundation is a topic that is not as discussed. Sexual heart attack, and two days later she suc- The racial divide in the U.S. is that that will be free of white supremacy. violence against Black women often goes cumbed to death. elemental: Blacks and whites actually Protect Black women. Hear Black overlooked.” But her death was also the slow death breathe different air. women. Honor Black women. Fight for Even though Recy Taylor immediately due to systematic racial disparities in the Black people are continually denied Black women. Uplift Black women.

PART 2 Lessons of ‘The Hammer & the Hoe: The Alabama Communist Party 1928-1951’

This is Part 2 of a three-part series based on an article that originally appeared on of being a façade for a communist confer- Dec. 14 in the Forge, a socialist newspaper for the South (theforgenews.org). ence, which caused liberal leader Frank Graham to name six communists in the By Devin Cole this, a few radicals began to believe that conference. By 1939, members of SCHW radical sharecroppers, farmers and la- were calling for the expulsion of anyone White workers were unorganized and borers could infiltrate the Democratic they thought was a communist at their many were swept up in the racist, fascist Party and turn it into a radical commu- annual conference. Once again, liberal- rhetoric of local bourgeois governments nist party. ism submitted to reactionary politics and and the Ku Klux Klan. Thus, the fight for This strategy, known now as entry- radical Black communists were the ones higher wages and better working condi- ism, is not compatible with revolution- who suffered. tions fell on the shoulders of Black work- ary movements because oftentimes, the What liberals did not anticipate, but ers, who were studying and organizing organization or party which the infiltra- what the reactionary bourgeoisie wanted, their own communities to lead the way tors are attempting to breach has already were the lasting effects this would have for a socialist revolution in the South. gained a considerable influence and the on industrial labor in Birmingham, with As early as 1931, Black women led relief people in charge of it are steadfast in their its centralized labor system. Between committees for their communities. These views. Unfortunately, at this point, the 1939 and 1941, 50 anti-union bills were committees did everything from raising ACP was beginning to waver in strength introduced in Congress, tightening the money for families who were short on and influence among Black radicals, and grip on trade unions and skilled and un- Sharecropper Ned Cobb, a.k.a. Nate Shaw, rent to physically going out to public out- so many believed that entryism was an skilled labor in Birmingham’s industries. at 22, with his spouse, Viola, and their son lets and appropriating electricity from acceptable strategy. Leading the witch hunt in Birming- Andrew, in 1907. Cobb was a member of the those outlets for the homes of people who ham was U.S. Rep. Joe Starnes, who be- Alabama Sharecroppers Union, organized Anti-communist witch hunt had their power shut off. gan making McCarthy-like accusations by the ACP. Though in its time the Alabama Com- In 1938, Alabama communists teamed (though McCarthyism would not take munist Party was a force to be reckoned up with local Democrats and liberals to grip for another few years) that the Con- By the early 1940s, however, with many with, it ran into its own internal prob- organize the first Southern Conference gress of Industrial Organizations in Bir- liberals disillusioned and Black radicals lems. In 1938, the communists allowed for Human Welfare, a conference that mingham was filled with communists. and nationalists growing in numbers, themselves to work with liberals and promoted bringing New Deal ideas into This of course caused backlash from the the ACP began to grow again, despite a Democrats, mainly due to the declining the South immediately. very religious communities, who doubled major blow to its ranks in the heat of the strength of the Farmers’ Union, which The long-term goal of the ACP was to down on their anti-communist attacks, proto-McCarthy years. The ACP turned had previously been associated with the form a United Democratic Front. SCHW allowing unions to be controlled by reac- away from New Deal liberals, who had Sharecroppers’ Union. was already controversial in the planning tionary behaviors and views. very little concern for Black workers, la- Additionally, continuous threats from stages because of its commitment to call This continued so intensely that even borers and farmers. the KKK and local governments had for a repeal of the poll tax, which prevent- the liberals who had taken the side of the They began to grow their own cadres, stamped out many prominent commu- ed most poor workers, especially Black reactionary right were forced to retreat even resurrecting an idea brought up nist organizers and fronts. Some were workers, from being able to vote. into silence. The ACP abandoned any earlier in the party’s history: to form a beaten, some were forced to leave town, But in the early stages of planning, the hope it had for a Southern Democratic Farmer-Labor Party and put their own and some were murdered. Because of local government accused the conference Front. Continued on page 11 Page 4 Jan. 4, 2018 workers.org Legal Aid lawyers protest ICE courthouse arrests

By Betsey Piette Harlem rallied on the steps of Brooklyn Over 400 lawyers rally on the Borough Hall to protest these shocking steps of Brooklyn Borough U.S. Immigration and Customs En- seizures. They issued a joint statement ex- Hall, Dec. 7. forcement arrests of immigrants in pressing concern about “the proliferation WW PHOTO: ANNE PRUDEN courthouses have skyrocketed since the of ICE courthouse arrests since January.” Chalfen that “court officers are inauguration of Donald Trump in Jan- Speakers at the rally called on the Of- not complicit, do not coordi- uary 2017. So, on Nov. 28, when agents fice of Court Administration and Chief nate with, facilitate or impede with ICE snatched defendant Genaro Judge Janet DiFiore to take immediate actions by outside law enforce- Rojas Hernández in a Brooklyn Crim- action to limit federal immigration en- ment, including ICE agents, inal Court hallway, dozens of Legal Aid forcement’s ability to arrest clients in or when they effect an arrest lawyers responded in protest. These are around courthouses. The action was la- inside New York state court- the lawyers who most frequently defend bor-union initiated by the Association of houses.” (law.com, Dec. 7) low-income immigrants, documented or Legal Aid Attorneys/United Auto Work- The Dec. 7 rally was en- undocumented. ers Local 2325. lines allow ICE agents to conduct opera- dorsed by over 90 organizations, includ- The lawyers spontaneously stormed out Official OCA statistics counted Hernán- tions in courthouse public areas as long ing unions, and community action, legal of the court and marched to the Brooklyn dez as the fortieth person arrested by ICE as agents identify themselves upon entry. rights and immigrant rights groups. In a district attorney’s office. They demanded inside a New York City courthouse in 2017 is the first year that New York has statement, they emphasized that “ICE’s a policy to prevent court staff from collab- 2017. But the Immigrant Defense Project, tracked ICE arrests in courthouses. continued presence in our courts causes orating with ICE agents in seizing immi- an immigrant rights and legal assistance In Hernández’s case, one agent twice fear to those that have a right under the grants who’ve had to come to court. group, puts the number at 70. denied he was with ICE when Legal Aid Constitution to face any charges against On Dec. 7, over 400 attorneys from the National ICE internal policies direct attorney Rebecca Kavanagh inquired, yet them. They deter those seeking redress Legal Aid Society, the New York Coun- agents to limit arrests in locations des- moments later he assisted another agent from the courts and our staff’s ability to ty Defender Services, Brooklyn Defend- ignated as “sensitive,” including schools, in the arrest. At least three other court provide zealous representation to their er Services, The Bronx Defenders and hospitals and churches. These policies do officers were involved in the arrest, de- clients. The harm is immeasurable, and the Neighborhood Defender Service of not cover courthouses. Local OCA guide- spite claims by OCA spokesman Lucian it only stands to grow.” Groups protest activist’s deportation Boston

By WW Boston bureau ICE and held in intermit- on her back. Her own lawyer, family and of deported parents from the devastating tent solitary confinement for loved ones were not made aware of her collaboration between child protection Siham Tinhinan Byah, over six weeks with sporadic transfer and deportation until hours lat- agencies and ICE that harms so many an asylum-seeking single access to food and no medi- er. families and communities in this situa- mother and well-known cal attention at all. As an organizer, Byah was vocal in her tion. These organizations include Boston Boston-area communi- ICE officials and correc- solidarity with all immigrants, especially Feminists For Liberation, Boston Demo- ty organizer, was taken tions officers repeatedly lied undocumented migrant workers and asy- cratic Socialists of America, Internation- in the pre-dawn hours to Byah about her depor- lum seekers. She voiced unwavering sol- al Socialist Organization, Party for So- of Dec. 26 from a Bris- tation status. Despite hav- idarity with the Palestinian people. She cialism and Liberation, Boston May Day tol County, Mass., Im- ing received multiple U.S. spoke openly about the heavy repression Coalition, Workers World Party, Green migration and Customs Department of Homeland against women and workers in her home Rainbow Party and Cosecha. Enforcement detention Security communications country of Morocco. A demonstration to oppose the depor- center and deported to Morocco. stating that her petition for asylum was Boston-area and nationwide organi- tation of children is set for 1 p.m. on Jan. In early November Byah reported to pending, Byah was forced back to Moroc- zations are rallying to demand Byah’s 9 in front of the U.S. Immigration Court ICE for a routine check-in, part of her co by DHS in the middle of winter, with- return to her family in the U.S. and the at the JFK Federal Building in Boston. asylum petition legal process. She was out a chance to say a word to her children protection of her children. They are also (See the Facebook event page at tinyurl. detained that day, taken into custody by and with nothing but the thin clothing demanding protection of other children com/y95dxbr6.) Lessons from 80 years ago ’Friends of labor’ and state repression

By Martha Grevatt Little Steel strike: FDR says ‘plague on leader Albizu Campos, police killed 19 un- Carl Williams, both your houses’ United Mine armed protesters and wounded over 200. 2017 marked the 80th anniversary of Workers Puerto Rico, then as now, was a colony The Little Steel Strike of 1937 remains many important labor struggles. The vic- organizer, of the United States. No one responsible one of the bloodiest in U.S. history. Police tory of the Flint sit-down strike against District 19 in for the killings, including U.S.-appoint- and state-protected strikebreakers killed mighty General Motors breathed confi- Harlan County, ed Governor Blanton Winship, was ever 17 strikers. Chicago police killed 10 in the Ky., 1934. dence into the whole working class. There prosecuted. infamous Memorial Day Massacre. Seven were over 500 other recorded sit-downs In Harlan County, Kentucky — “Bloody more died in a series of deadly clashes in 1937, most ending with the employer The strike became more than a battle Harlan” — there were repeated violent at- throughout northeast Ohio. A supporter agreeing to union recognition. Millions between these companies and 80,000 tacks on union workers from 1931 to 1939 was killed in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of workers in auto, rubber, textile, retail, steelworkers seeking union recognition. by local police, vigilantes and federal were seriously injured and over 2,000 hotel and restaurant, agriculture, pack- The ruling class saw an opportunity, troops. Anti-union thugs killed the son of were arrested. inghouse and other industries flocked to with Republic President Tom Girdler as a union supporter in 1937. Mine owners “Little Steel” referred to eight actually unions affiliated with the militant Con- its protagonist, to break the CIO. More- operated with impunity. large corporations — Jones and Laugh- gress of Industrial Organizations. over, the forces around Girdler were de- That year, supporters of the United lin, Inland Steel, Republic Steel, Bethle- Events of 1937 hold important lessons termined to push back the New Deal re- Auto Workers were violently attacked hem Steel, National Steel, Crucible Steel, for workers today about the role of the forms won by the working class. by company goons and police in Detroit, Pittsburgh Steel and Youngstown Sheet state, even under a Democratic president. Despite intense repression, striking Flint, Saginaw, Mich., and Anderson, and Tube — which were only “little” when In 1936, when President Franklin Dela- pickets had been able to keep the mills Ind. In Detroit, police used tear gas and compared to the giant, U.S. Steel. no Roosevelt was seeking reelection to a closed, preventing scabs from coming brute force to evict women sitting down The steel bosses, including U.S. Steel, second term, the Democratic Party made in. By June, however, Democratic Gov. in the Bernard Schwartz Cigar Corp. and were intransigent when it came to allow- an appeal to “reelect Roosevelt — Friend Davey of Ohio was colluding with the in Yale & Towne locks. ing unions in the mills. However, after of Labor.” companies to force the mills open. His Three of the Scottsboro Nine, Afri- the Flint sit-down victory the company By 1937, however, this chief execu- argument was that those who wished not can-American men imprisoned without agreed to recognize the CIO’s Steel Work- tive of the capitalist state was presiding to strike had a “right to work.” trial for six years after being falsely ac- er Organizing Committee rather than over fierce and deadly repression against When CIO officials appealed to FDR cused of raping two white women, were suffer a costly strike. Numerous small- the masses of workers fighting for basic to intervene, the president showed his sentenced in 1937: one to 75 years, one to er steel companies followed suit, as did rights. true class colors. He drew an equal sign 99 years and one to death. Only in 1950 Jones and Laughlin after a brief strike, In Puerto Rico, the Ponce Massacre between the violence of the steel barons was the last defendant released. followed by Crucible and then Pittsburgh. took place on March 21 — Palm Sunday. and the militant resistance of the union, These are a few examples from 1937 On May 26, SWOC struck three hard- At a peaceful march protesting the im- much of it led by Communist Party Lead- that expose the class bias and racist char- line companies — Republic, Inland, and prisonment of Puerto Rican Nationalist ers Gus Hall, Robert Burke and others. acter of the capitalist state — no “friend Sheet and Tube — and one of Bethlehem’s Party leaders, including popular labor of labor.” mills shortly after. Continued on the next page workers.org Jan 4, 2018 Page 5 Poultry workers fight wretched conditions By Alex Bolshi and Sue Davis By Mike Kuhlenbeck lines.” (KNWA, North- west Arkansas News) Labor groups are fighting Last year, Oxfam N.C. Christmas tree workers stop for safer conditions for poultry published a shocking workers and against proposed report entitled “No Re- Scrooge wage theft measures to increase pro- lief,” revealing how non- When we light up Christmas trees, we don’t think about the work- duction speeds at processing union poultry workers ers who plant and harvest them. In North Carolina they’re Mexican plants. “earn low wages, suffer migrants who face harsh working conditions and intimidation in the The poultry industry is elevating rates of inju- fields. While the 2016 Christmas tree industry generated $2.04 billion, booming with record profits, ry and illness, toil in according to the National Christmas Tree Association (Telesur, Dec. a market dominated by corpo- difficult conditions and 25), none of these gains went to the workers. Instead, Scrooge bosses rations such as Tyson Foods, have little voice in the PHOTO: WWW.UFCW.ORG/TAG/TYSON/ abused and stole from them. Pilgrim’s, Perdue and Sander- workplace.” The report During spring planting, the owners of Hart-T-Tree farm in Grassy The National Employment son Farms. These corporations details how workers are denied Creek exposed workers to hazardous chemicals. Herbicides were Law Project has joined IWJ in jointly control roughly 60 per- adequate bathroom breaks, sprayed while the men worked nearby, a violation of chemical guide- a campaign to address these cent of the domestic chicken forcing many to wear diapers lines mandating a 10-day waiting period after application. Workers concerns. NELP’s Debbie Ber- market. Still unable to satisfy under their uniforms while became sick, suffering from headaches, dizziness, vomiting and diar- kowitz responded to the GAO their greedy appetite for prof- working the production line. rhea. During the harvest, instead of transporting workers in trucks, the report by stating, “The report it, the owners are forcing their “Routinely, poultry workers bosses forced them to ride on top of a tractor bed filled with shifting confirms that the meat and workers to pay with their health say, they are denied breaks to trees down winding mountain roads, which led to fractured arms and poultry industry, in its quest and sense of human dignity. use the bathroom. Supervisors bruised ribs. to keep production lines run- At the behest of poultry in- mock their needs and ignore But once the owners began deducting rent, electric and gas from ning at any and all costs, is not dustry owners, the National their requests; they threaten their pay — illegal under the H-2A visa “guest worker” program — the only cutting the corners on Chicken Council on Sept. 1 punishment or firing. Workers workers contacted the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, which rep- worker safety but further de- announced it was petitioning wait inordinately long times resents 10,000 H-2A workers in the state. FLOC discovered the bosses humanizing them by denying the U.S. Department of Agri- [an hour or more], then race had shorted workers’ wages, paying them $9 an hour, when the collec- them legally required bath- culture to increase the speed to accomplish the task within tive bargaining agreement of the N.C. Growers Association stipulated a room breaks.” limits allowed on produc- a certain timeframe [e.g., 10 minimum of $11.27. With FLOC’s help, the workers filed a grievance and Dangers in poultry plants tion lines, despite the current minutes] or risk discipline,” won; $330,000 in stolen wages was returned to 54 Hart-T-Tree workers. and the meatpacking industry speed already being hazardous said the Oxfam report. “A settlement of this nature being reached and paid out in a matter of are nothing new. The Amer- to workers’ health. To make a few weeks is unheard of in agriculture,” said Justin Flores, FLOC vice ican public first got a sordid matters worse, industry lob- Fighting modern-day president. As one worker told Payday Report, “We gotta organize; this is glimpse of such horrific work- byists are also pushing for the ‘Jungle’ conditions the hardest work out there. We’re human beings, too.” (Dec. 18) ing conditions in the muckrak- USDA and Congress to com- A recent report by the GAO ing novel “The Jungle” (1906) pletely eliminate federal limits also vindicates the Oxfam find- by socialist author and jour- CWA wins precedent-setting protections on production speed. ings and the concerns raised nalist Upton Sinclair. Focusing The Government Account- by workers for several years. for trans workers on the state of “Packingtown,” ability Office reports that poul- “When asked by GAO, work- The Communication Workers announced Dec. 21 that over 21,000 a name given to Chicago’s try workers are twice as likely ers in five selected states cited AT&T wireless retail workers have reached a precedent-setting tenta- stockyards, Sinclair demon- to suffer injuries on the job as bathroom access as a concern tive agreement. In addition to curbing outsourcing and raising pay, it strated the degradation and other workers in the U.S., due and said they fear speaking up provides the widest-reaching protections for transgender workers in unsanitary conditions con- to the nature of their work. The at work, where OSHA [Occupa- any telecom industry contract. The agreement includes the first-ever fronting workers, who were United Food and Commercial tional Safety and Health Ad- enforceable protections against discrimination based on gender identity risking their lives due to their Workers union says that “forc- ministration] inspectors typi- in 16 states with no statewide nondiscrimination law covering that bosses’ pursuit of profit. ing poultry workers and feder- cally interview them.” category. The agreement also outlines a clear process for redressing dis- Published over a centu- al meat inspectors to work sig- Labor groups such as In- crimination through the union grievance and arbitration process across ry ago, “The Jungle” raised a nificantly faster will increase terfaith Worker Justice are 36 states covered by CWA’s bargaining unit. public outcry for change. Re- the odds they’re injured and responding to the GAO re- “This contract shines a light on the union power to drive progress,” forms were passed through make chicken less safe for ev- port, raising public awareness stated Dennis G. Trainor, vice president of CWA District One. “Let this local and federal legislation, ery consumer to eat.” of the dangers in the poultry be a signal to opponents of LGBTQ equality, who are nearly always but that was not enough to se- Workers such as Rosa Rivas, and meatpacking industries opponents of workers’ rights too: We stand strong together and will tear cure the livelihood of workers a former employee of a Tyson and fighting for the rights of down all obstacles to full equality.” in the poultry and meatpack- Foods plant in Springdale, ­workers. CWA’s hard-fought agreement with AT&T, on which workers will vote ing industries. With the bil- Ark., have spoken out against The IWJ mission statement Jan. 12, also provides 10.1 percent pay raises over the four-year contract; lionaire class represented by a the wretched conditions they describes the group as “a na- by its end the workers will make on average $19.20/hour. Over the last reactionary Congress and the endure. After working at the tional network that builds col- 11 months, the workers held rallies and picket lines in 36 states and administration of President plant for over a decade, Rivas lective power by advancing the Washington, D.C., dramatizing their fight with a 3-day strike in May. Donald Trump, they are con- said, “My experience was the rights of workers” though the spiring to turn back the hands lines are going pretty fast, and labor movement and “engaging of time to repeal gains made by FDNY civilian workforce files discrimination suit people struggle to work as fast diverse faith communities and the working class and strangle A multi-million-dollar federal class-action lawsuit was filed Dec. 1 by as they ask us to work.” allies in joint action.” A delega- the labor movement. seven plaintiffs against the city of New York alleging the Fire Depart- The speed of the process- tion representing IWJ delivered Workers cannot rely on elect- ment systematically discriminates against African-American workers ing lines at the plant damaged a letter to Agriculture Secretary ed officials or capitalist bosses in its civilian workforce and Emergency Medical Service. Based on a Rivas’ hands. “Yes, my fin- Sonny Perdue and Undersec- to improve their situation. Only 2016 complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commis- gers still hurt from that and retary Carmen Rottenberg on a strong, unrelenting, work- sion charging discriminatory practices, the suit alleges that the FDNY sometimes my fingers still Dec. 12, urging them to ignore ing-class movement will be able continues to resist hiring African Americans, asserting it “remains one cramp up because of how fast the demands of the NCC and to achieve such a goal. of the least-diverse municipal agencies not only in New York City but we were made to work on the the owners they represent. in the nation.” Black FDNY firefighters settled a discrimination lawsuit three years ago. Continued from page 5 heart.” (Ahmed White, “The pecially active and formed the This lawsuit claims FDNY leadership hasn’t adopted practices to Invoking Shakespeare, he de- Last Great Strike”) backbone of the strike.” reduce or stop discrimination; Black workers are not promoted to de- clared “a plague on both your The strikers kept up the This kind of community cision-making jobs and are not compensated as much as other employ- houses.” fight, but by August the strike support was an essential factor ees; and City Hall has failed to control FDNY practices. Among their CIO leader John L. Lewis was defeated. Yet, out of 30- in hundreds of sit-downs and demands, the plaintiffs want the court to appoint an outside monitor to rightly condemned Roosevelt’s plus struck mills in seven thousands of strikes that won audit compensation for five or more years. (Amsterdam News, Dec. 14) decision “to curse with equal states, one was the scene of a union recognition in factories, fervor and fine impartiality partial union victory — In- hotels, restaurants and other Chicago hotel workers win both labor and its adversaries land’s Indiana Harbor mill. workplaces. when they become locked in “Everybody took part in this Unions can’t rely on so- ‘Hands Off, Pants On’ ordinance deadly embrace.” The ruling lively strike,” wrote observer called “friends of labor.” With millions of women testifying to sexual harassment or assault class recognized this signal Mary Heaton Vorse in “La- Unions must revive militant through #MeToo, women in UNITE HERE are leading the demand from FDR that the New Deal bor’s New Millions.” Women, class-struggle unionism and for justice against gender-based harassment inside their workplaces. was being reined in; the Buf- children and foreign language build solidarity — global as Housekeepers in UNITE HERE Local 23 in Chicago just won a new city falo Evening News correspon- groups had their own action well as local — of all workers ordinance called “Hands Off, Pants On” mandating a safe workplace for dent hailed this “change of days. “The Mexicans were es- and oppressed. women working in hotel rooms. (dclabor.org, Dec. 11) Page 6 Jan. 4, 2018 workers.org The new tax law’s impact in Puerto Rico

By Berta Joubert-Ceci percent on intellectual property — trade- can people as deserving either assistance people who are suffering from the corrup- marks, patents and technological devel- or respect, much less as another state. tion and abandonment of both local and An age-old Chinese proverb could be opments — of U.S. companies that oper- That reaffirms what independence leader federal governments — are ready. There applied to the situation that Puerto Ri- ate in the island. That these companies, Don Pedro Albizu Campos so often said: is not much to explain about the aban- cans on the island are experiencing after called “controlled foreign corporations,” “The USA is interested in the cage, but donment of the federal government; it is the devastating Hurricane Maria: “Give a had enjoyed generous tax exemptions in not in the birds.” enough to see the absence of the famous man a fish, and you feed him for a day. their place of origin in the U.S., even if Those who have been able to follow — blue roof tarps of FEMA in the mountains. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for production was in Puerto Rico, illustrates at the risk of becoming nauseous — the We must go to every corner of the is- a lifetime.” the inconsistencies and contradictions of attempts of the resident commissioner in land — from Culebra and Vieques, to Cabo The problem is that although Puerto Ri- the colonial state. Now, for this tax pur- Washington, PR Representative Jenniffer Rojo and Ceiba, to the poor barrios, to La cans know how to fish, the colonial condi- pose, the law reaffirms Puerto Rico as a González, and of Puerto Rican Gov. Ri- Perla, to Lloréns. The pro-independence tion to which they have been subjected for “foreign jurisdiction,” bringing into focus cardo “Ricky” Roselló to obtain from the and progressive movement, the dynam- more than a century prevents them from the 2016 U.S. court decision that PR be- U.S. Congress exemptions and benefits in ic youth groups that are picking up the fishing. Then there is that other saying longs to, but is not part of, the USA. the proposed tax law for Puerto Rico can revolutionary baton, the LGBT groups, that describes the Yankee colonialist, who As we explained in previous articles, the easily reach the same conclusions as did students, young and not so young, with or “is like the gardener’s dog, who neither empire develops and imposes its will on the independence movement, whatever without disabilities. eats nor lets you eat.” the various economic sectors according to their ideological orientation. González All of us need to unite to decolonize our- More than 100 days after Hurricane its interests. From the destruction of the is a member of the Republican Party in selves and Puerto Rico and to forge a new Maria’s devastation, there is still no reliable currency and the imposition of the dollar the U.S., but in PR she is a member of the homeland. There is creativity; what has electricity in almost half the island and the at the beginning of the 20th century, this same New Progressive Party as her boss been missing is the decisive will, and that is source of drinking water is precarious, includes the monoculture of sugar cane, Roselló. He, in turn, belongs to the U.S. flourishing in the thousands of community largely maintained by on-site generators. textile manufacturing and petroleum Democratic Party, showing the stupidity groups being born around the archipelago. Aid from federal entities — the Federal refining (of which there is none in Puer- of colonialism! We can, along with the Puerto Ricans in Emergency Management Agency and the to Rico) to the most recent development While Gonzalez wandered like a lost exile in the United States — together we are U.S. Corps of Army Engineers — has been bringing in high-polluting industries of soul through the corridors of the U.S. one people — as long as Puerto Rico is their criminally slow and inadequate, causing pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. Capitol, pleading to Republican Congress North Star and not the empire. hundreds of deaths due to lack of essen- Manufacturing, of which 40 percent is members for statehood and for favors, Long live a free and sovereign Puerto Rico! tial services. However, the U.S. govern- pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, her boss Roselló — submissive to the em- End the Fiscal Control Board! ment, like the gardener’s dog, prevents is the basis of the Puerto Rican economy pire — kept sending letters to and visiting Solidarity and justice, not charity! other countries from sending solidarity today. As U.S.-based companies, they take Congress members in Washington, beg- aid to the Caribbean archipelago to meet the profits generated by Puerto Rican la- ging for exemptions and crumbs. Stop the blockade of Puerto Rico! those needs. These are the precise needs bor to the United States. These are the in- In the end, the empire prevailed. Con- Repeal the Cabotage Law that were caused by Puerto Rico’s subju- dustries that will be most affected by the gressional ears refused to hear the re- and cancel the debt! gation to the empire, which caused the new tax, which puts the island’s govern- quests for help for the reconstruction of Joubert-Ceci is a native of the Bélgica economic collapse of its colony. ment and the Puerto Rican industrialists Puerto Rico after María. Congress will neighborhood of Ponce and is currently Is this anything but a perverse block- in total panic. They anticipate that the not negotiate an aid proposal for the living in exile in the city of Philadelphia. ade of an entire people? manufacturers will abandon the island, states and territories affected by the lat- taking with them the tiny 4 percent tax est natural disasters until January. Impact of ‘tax reform’ contribution to the coffers of the Puerto On top of this, the impact that the re- Rican government and leaving more than Decolonization now! Activists raise funds cently approved Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 70,000 workers unemployed. Although It is this last thrust that makes clear will have on Puerto Rico reveals that the the effects would probably not be seen the urgent need for a process of decolo- domination of the empire over this archi- until 2019, the fear is that it will be an- nization. The fantasy of the “Common- pelago adds up to criminal strangulation other hurdle to overcome if they want to wealth of Puerto Rico” ended in June for Puerto Rico by straitjacket. Many people in Puerto attract new U.S.-based industries. 2016 when Washington ruled that Puerto By Betsey Piette Rico describe it as “the other hurricane,” The indifference and contempt with Rico’s powers are at the steps of the U.S. Philadelphia referring to its devastating effect on the which the issue of Puerto Rico has been Congress, imposing immediately the dic- island’s economy. addressed in the U.S. Congress deserve tatorial Fiscal Control Board, the “Junta.” A delegation from Philadelphia that What does this law contain regarding a separate article because they reaffirm And now it remains clearer than ever that included members of the Internation- Puerto Rico? what pro-independence supporters have the United States neither is interested al Action Center, Philadelphia REAL Signed by the U.S. president on Dec. maintained for decades: The United in Puerto Rico being part of the United Justice and Workers World Party trav- 22, this law imposes a tax rate of 12.5 States is not interested in the Puerto Ri- States nor wants Puerto Rico to be part eled to Puerto Rico in a work brigade of it, that is, as another state. Along with in early November following hurri- 2017 should be buried all those mementos canes Irma and María. As a result of reading “51st State.” generous donations from the Calvary As long as Puerto Rico remains a col- United Methodist ony, there will be no economic develop- Church in West Phil- ment that benefits its population. adelphia, they were The work needed for decolonization is able to bring 18 so- enormous. It takes profound and consis- lar-powered lights tent work to break down what the Cointel- and USB charger kits pro, anti-independence police actions to distribute to fami- have built in Puerto Rico. Unity in action lies in mountainous is urgently needed; united decolonization regions which lacked campaigns are needed, despite ideologi- access to electricity. cal and tactical differences. However, support There are many examples, like the from the church did not stop there. In- struggle against apartheid in South Afri- spired by the work of the IAC’s delega- ca that was so successful: first of all be- tion, the congregation raised funds to cause of the struggle and militancy of the send more solar kits to Puerto Rico. The different South African groups — which IAC has offices at the Calvary Center for also had differences among themselves Culture and Community, which is housed — and also because of the huge interna- at the CUMC. tional movement where the goal was the The congregation turned their annual destruction of apartheid. holiday concert on Dec. 17 into a bene- There were both pacifist groups and fit to provide more solar kits and other those that believed in armed struggle; supplies for community organizations in each one did its part according to its ide- Puerto Rico. Almost three months after ology, but with the final goal of ending the powerful storms hit, electricity, water racist segregation. In Puerto Rico we have and other necessities are still scarce be- precedents: the telephone strike of 1998, cause of the U.S. government’s refusal to the struggle to rid Vieques island of the supply adequate aid. U.S. Navy and the campaigns for the lib- The event featured the big band sound eration of our political prisoners. of Big Push. A number of other perform- Now no less an effort is needed. It is es- ers joined in CUMC’s neighbor-to-neigh- sential. Above all, a great popular aware- bor action for Puerto Rico. They included For a ride from New York: 212.330.8029 ness campaign is needed. Jesse Roemer and EZUZ, the improv-fu- [email protected]: 215-724-1618; It is time for what this writer witnessed Donate: mobilization4mumia.com/donate-1 sion band Interminable and legendary during her recent trip to PR: The people — Int’l Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Int’l Action Center, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (NYC), Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, Educators for Mumia Philly funk band Breakwater. Vocalists workers.org Jan 4, 2018 Page 7

Raíces Borikén Collective says ‘Decolonize Puerto Rico!’

By Steve Gillis, financial secretary, culture and direct action to dismantle Steelworkers Local 8751 the imperialist, white-supremacist, cap- Boston italist, patriarchal system that has kept Puerto Rico under U.S. colonial subjuga- Blasting bomba, merengue and salsa tion for 120 years.” music, and chanting, “Cancel the debt!” Powerful artwork displayed the col- the Raíces Borikén Collective fired up lective’s demands. One showed a mother the blistering cold streets of Boston on clutching a child below M16-toting colo- Dec. 17, demanding “Decolonize Puerto nial soldiers and bristling barbed wire. Rico!” Patricia Chali’Inaru Dones of the It declared: “Release the aid! Repeal the United Confederation of Taíno People led Jones Act! Cancel the debt! Decolonize the militant action, which blocked major Puerto Rico!” downtown streets. Another poster blasted the U.S. Trump Protesters were outraged at the U.S. Congress, in which Puerto Rico has no government’s deadly neglect of hur- vote, for its new, “reformed,” 20 percent ricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and Wall tax on goods made in Puerto Rico — a de Street’s unnatural disaster of bankruptcy facto blockade of the island’s economy. administration. They gathered in Plaza The march blocked Massachusetts Ramón Emeterio Betances, named for the Avenue at the offices of Seth Klarman’s inspirer of Puerto Rico’s “Grito de Lares” Baupost Group, a hedge fund that “owns” armed uprising for independence in 1868. nearly $1 billion of Puerto Rican bond Ernesto Eroc Arroyo welcomed the “debt.” The action further highlighted WW PHOTO: STEVAN KIRSCHBAUM Boston, Dec. 17 hundreds gathered in the heart of Bos- Boston’s role as an administrative and fi- ton’s Puerto Rican community, Villa Vic- nancial center of colonial rule. “We are sick of these capitalists like plot of forced migration of your people toria. “Where I grew up, over there on the Boston boasts of its 18th-century “anti- Seth Klarman of Baupost making money from your land and your nation.” third floor,” recalled Arroyo, “was born the colonialism” against Britain, while the off the backs of working people in Puerto Every speaker denounced and called Puerto Rican struggle to block bulldozers city operates as a financial and legal cen- Rico and here in Massachusetts,” Mason for an immediate end to the U.S.-imposed and stop racist ‘urban renewal.’ Villa Vic- ter for the U.S. colonial project in Puerto continued. “It is time to decolonize Puer- Puerto Rico Oversight Management toria was a victory for decolonization.” Rico. It is home to Puerto Rico’s federal to Rico now, with the first step being to and Economic Stability Act (Promesa), Jasmine Gómez described Raíces district court as well as the Boston Group, cancel the debt to capitalists!” which, even before the hurricane, had Borikén Collective as “artists, activists which has funded massive school closures Steelworkers Local 8751 — the Boston forced Puerto Rico to slash pensions and and organizers, the majority of us women and privatization in Puerto Rico, and the School Bus Drivers — provided a mobile the minimum wage, close hundreds of and queer, who work through education, Blackstone Group of financiers, who are sound truck and handed out a statement schools and health facilities, lay off thou- rapidly turning the people’s beaches into in solidarity with Educamos, a Puerto Ri- sands of service workers, privatize social playgrounds and casinos for wealthy elites. can teachers’ union, saying: “While thou- services like water, electricity and educa- Outside the Baupost Group offices, Gil- sands of families have been forced out of tion, and liquidate people’s meager sav- Activists raise funds lian Mason of MA Jobs with Justice spoke Puerto Rico in recent months — many of ings, much of it in scam “funds” pushed on behalf of 160 labor organizations in whose children are now riding our school by UBS, Fidelity and other global finan- Philadelphia that coalition. Mason blasted “the eco- buses in Boston — we will continue to cial institutions, while demanding extor- for Puerto Rico nomic system and the vultures who or- fight with you in the hopes that our com- tionate, high-interest payments to Wall chestrated the crisis in Puerto Rico.” bined efforts will soon end this criminal Street that can never be met. What’s really behind the Bronx fire

By Nate Peters New York

The deadliest fire in this city in over 25 years erupted on the evening of Dec. 28. The large fire engulfed a residential build- ing in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx, claiming 12 lives. Beginning in the kitchen of a ground-floor apartment, the fire quickly spread to the top of the five-sto- ry, walk-up building through a stairwell. WW PHOTOS: JOE PIETTE Who was at fault in this catastrophe? Asaf Berrios on drum, left. Media coverage in the New York Times, Interminable, above. Daily News, Post and other media would have you believe it was the mother of two Aaron Lewis, Zara Sims and Theresa young children, who allegedly did not Marsh performed, along with the Calva- close her apartment door when she fled ry Choir. Nine-year-old Asaf Berrios, an with them, allowing the fire to spread amazing steel drum player, and his fa- more quickly. New York Fire Department Coverage in the New York Times is Under capitalism, housing is built and ther Raúl, who had recently arrived from Commissioner Daniel Nigro egged the typical: Despite at least eight articles and destroyed for the benefit of landlords Puerto Rico, gave a special performance. media on, saying, “Close the door, close 9,000 words written about the fire in the and their drive for ever-greater profits. Joe Piette and Mike Wilson, members the door, close the door” at a press con- three days afterwards, there is not a sin- The lives of tenants figure relatively lit- of the IAC delegation, described their bri- ference the next day. gle mention of the fire door requirement. tle in these calculations. Perversely, the gade’s work and what they witnessed in Barely mentioned in the frenzy to con- New York City landlords routinely landlord may even benefit from this fire: Puerto Rico. They urged the audience to demn a woman is that the NYC Fire Code avoid basic maintenance of housing stock With the current renters displaced, the continue their support. Students and fac- requires landlords to install self-closing, in working-class and oppressed neigh- landlord can remodel the building for ulty from the Workshop School in Phila- fire-resistant doors in all buildings with borhoods such as Belmont, where the more affluent tenants without a protract- delphia also participated by selling items three or more units. Such a door would have majority of the population is Latinx and ed legal struggle to remove the current that students had produced. They donat- contained the fire inside the apartment the median income is below $26,000. (ti- tenants. Historically, it is not unheard ed their proceeds toward the purchase of longer, giving residents time to escape. nyurl.com/ybg932hd) of for landlords to “burn out” tenants in a solar kit. Rather than expose landlord negli- Why would landlords pay for fire doors rent-controlled apartments to accelerate The evening ended with all the per- gence, most mainstream media rushed to now, when, in a few years, they can push renovation-for-profit. formers and audience members joining blame this woman. The capitalist media current tenants out and gut-renovate the Such a cruel, inhuman system, in which in a carol singalong. Donations to sup- would rather lay the deaths of 12 people building for wealthier, gentrifying ten- the lives of 12 people matter less than a port this fundraising effort can be made at the feet of a mother concerned with ants? Or sell the building for a big profit landlord’s profits, does not deserve to exist. at allmeansall.org/donate. Write “Puer- getting her young children to safety than to a developer who will tear it down and Only socialism, where housing is built and to Rico” in the comments section on the consider the culpability of the landlord, build luxury condos in its place for even maintained for the benefit of the people, ­donation page. D&A Equities. bigger profits? can provide decent, safe housing for all. Page 8 Jan. 4, 2018 workers.org

Peru Tens of thousands protest release of right-wing dictator Fujimori Families hold portraits of Fujimori’s victims in Lima, Dec. 28. sands more in Cuzco, Ayacucho, Piura, Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) have cut-rate prices to Western and Japanese Cajamarca, Chimbote, Huancayo, Puno been held in near total isolation in an iso- monopolies and in exchange for massive By Greg Butterfield and other cities throughout Peru. (La Ra- lated naval prison for more than 25 years. military aid from both Republican and dio del Sur, Dec. 29) Protests were also After Fujimori’s pardon, Guzmán’s Democratic U.S. administrations. On Dec. 24, President Pedro Pablo held across Latin America, in Madrid attorney, Alfredo Crespo, declared: “We Thousands of political activists and Kuczynski (PPK) shocked Peruvians and and New York. demand the freedom of Abimael Guzmán suspected “sympathizers” with the the world by pardoning former right- “We will march until the pardon is Reinoso. Twenty-five years in absolute armed resistance struggle were impris- wing dictator Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori annulled and Kuczynski resigns,” vowed isolation.” (RedMas.com, Dec. 26) oned. They were convicted by military oversaw a bloody 10-year reign of ter- Marco Arana of the Broad Front. (tele- courts where judges wore hoods to hide ror targeting Indigenous communities, SUR, Dec. 29) Crimes of Fujimori and imperialism their identities and where defendants leftist guerrilla movements and parties, “PPK has never invited us — the fam- Alberto Fujimori came to power in had no right to defend themselves. Many trade unions and peasant organizations, ilies of his victims — to visit him as he 1990 with a mandate from Wall Street to prisoners were tortured. Thousands students and women, and other progres- has Keiko and Kenji [Fujimori’s children, enact draconian International Monetary more were simply “disappeared.” sive forces. This genocidal campaign had leaders of the far-right Fuerza Popu- Fund austerity measures, privatize the Death squads targeted Indigenous the full support and active participation lar party],” explained Carmen Oyague, economy and crush the growing libera- villages in the Andes and impoverished of U.S. imperialism under Presidents whose daughter was one of nine students tion movements. shanty towns around Lima from which George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. and a professor kidnapped and murdered The crimes of Fujimori, the Peruvian the guerrilla movements drew support. That night — Christmas Eve – hun- in 1992. (The Guardian, Dec. 29) ruling class and U.S. imperialism were Mass graves are still being uncovered to- dreds poured into the streets of Lima documented in the pages of Workers day. and other cities to denounce the pardon A dirty political deal World throughout the 1990s. Fujimori also enacted a forced steril- and declare “¡Fujimori Nunca Más!” — Kuczynski was narrowly elected in In early 1992, Fujimori and his mili- ization program against 300,000 Indige- “Fujimori never again!” — and “Out, out, 2016 with support of some progressive tary/police allies carried out a so-called nous and poor women between 1996 and PPK!” calling for the current president’s forces who viewed him as the “lesser evil” auto-coup, suspending the Constitution, 2000, based on an earlier U.S. program resignation. (Reuters, Dec. 27) against opponent Keiko Fujimori. During dismissing Congress and the courts, and in Puerto Rico. The Lima protesters, joined by thou- the campaign he pledged not to pardon implementing martial law throughout In April 1997, Fujimori ordered the sands more the next day, were attacked the ex-president. the country. massacre of MRTA guerrillas who had by riot police with tear gas and trun- In fact, Fujimori’s pardon by President Little more than a month later, he or- occupied the Japanese Embassy in Lima cheons as they marched toward the hos- Kuczynski came just days after mem- dered the massacre of more than 400 po- to draw attention to the plight of political pital where Fujimori was staying. He was bers of the party headed by his children litical prisoners at Canto Grande prison prisoners. pardoned supposedly on “humanitarian” blocked PPK’s impeachment on corrup- outside Lima. Fujimori’s pardon now is a symptom grounds of ill health. Victims’ families tion charges. (La Radio del Sur, Dec. 29) U.S. military special forces intervened of a U.S.-inspired right-wing offensive and human rights organizations an- Fujimori served less than half of a 25- directly in the civil war under the guise to roll back Venezuela’s Bolivarian Rev- nounced plans Dec. 27 to challenge the year jail sentence for crimes against hu- of the “war on drugs.” Washington’s in- olution and the progressive governments pardon in court. (soychile.cl, Dec. 31) manity. Contrast his treatment with that telligence agencies participated in the and movements it has inspired through- On Dec. 28, more than 20,000 people, of leading leftist political prisoners. capture of revolutionary leaders. out Latin America. led by families of the massacred and “dis- Abimael Guzmán of the Communist Peruvian industries nationalized un- But the Peruvian people taking to the appeared” carrying photos of their loved Party of Peru—Sendero Luminoso (PCP- der left-nationalist military governments streets are showing the world they will ones, marched in Lima, joined by thou- SL) and Victor Polay of the Tupac Amaru in the 1960s and 1970s were sold off at not accept this without a fight.

People’s Korea resists US. threats

Continued from page 1 next nine countries combined. (thebal- in the world could be more justified in Will this latest resolution, instead of attack at any time without even the fig- ance.com) This huge budget feeds the claiming the need for this type of de- appeasing the imperialists, merely whet leaf of consulting Congress — because an military-industrial-banking complex fense? their appetite for more and more conces- official state of war already exists. and the tremendous income gap in this sions at the expense of the Korean peo- Were China and Russia to have vetoed country. The U.N. vote ple? When will the governments of China the sanctions resolution, they would cer- In late October, right before Trump’s China and Russia, world powers that and Russia draw the line and say, “No tainly have risked incurring the wrath of trip to China, the U.S. sent two more U.S. are the DPRK’s two northern neighbors, pasarán”? (“They shall not pass.”) the imperialists. But doesn’t going along Navy carrier strike groups to the Pacific, are the ones tasked by this new sanctions The problem is not just that an unfor- with such a resolution incur even greater making a total of three aircraft carriers resolution with cutting down most of its tunate incident could lead to war. The risk of emboldening the most aggressive and their accompanying fleets of cruis- oil shipments and sending home its na- problem is that U.S. policy, as expressed forces among the imperialist policy mak- ers, destroyers and submarines. There tionals working in their countries. in its pronouncements and its military ers, who want unchallenged domination have been so many U.S. warships in the Back on Sept. 6, the New York Times exercises, is to destroy the socialist gov- over the world and see both China and to Pacific this year that a number of serious reported that the Trump administration ernment of the DPRK and turn the north- a lesser degree Russia as rivals? naval accidents have occurred there. had “circulated a draft resolution at the ern half of Korea into a U.S. neocolony. The actions of the DPRK’s neighbors so Every summer, fall, winter and spring, United Nations Security Council that It should be remembered that no U.S. far must have confirmed to the Koreans the U.S. holds war “games” in south Ko- would effectively empower the United administration has been willing to sit that to prevent the U.S. from starting an- rea, practicing for the invasion of the States Navy and Air Force to interdict down with representatives of the DPRK other war, they must have a very power- north and the “decapitation” — the Pen- North Korean ships at sea, inspect them and negotiate an end to the state of war ful deterrent of their own. And isn’t that tagon’s own word — of its leadership. Re- to determine whether they are carrying that has existed since 1950, despite many, why both the USSR, when it existed, and cently, these U.S. military exercises have weapons material or fuel into the coun- many requests from the Koreans for such People’s China developed their own nu- included thousands of soldiers from Ja- try, and use ‘all necessary measures’ to discussions and a peace treaty. What this clear weapons in response to and despite pan, the hated colonial power that ruled enforce compliance.” means is that the Pentagon can launch an the threats from Washington? all of Korea from 1910 to 1945. People’s China and capitalist Russia In early December, the U.S. launched are said to have agreed to the Dec. 22 another set of these war “games” in which U.N. vote increasing sanctions on the six F-22 fighter jets, as well as six F-35As DPRK partly because of this U.S. threat and 12 F-35Bs, were involved for the first to start boarding Korean ships on the WAR WITHOUT VICTORY time. These supersonic aircraft zooming high seas. They are justifying their vote by Sara Flounders toward the DPRK border ramped up the as a means to avert an incident that could “By revealing the underbelly of the empire, Flounders sheds insight possibility that the Koreans might think lead to war. on how to stand up to the imperialist war machine and, in so doing, an attack had begun. However, they voted for previous sanc- save ourselves and humanity.” Faced with this relentless aggression, tions resolutions, and that did nothing – Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, Korean scientists have been able to con- to stop the U.S. from intensifying its war President, U.N. General Assembly, 2008-2009; struct nuclear weapons and a missile threats against the DPRK or keep it from Foreign Minister of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. system capable of delivering them to U.S. moving even more military personnel Available at all major online booksellers. targets if they are attacked. Given what and equipment into the area. PentagonAchillesHeel.com the DPRK is up against, what country workers.org Jan 4, 2018 Page 9 People’s movement fights electoral fraud PHOTO: TELESUR

By John Catalinotto government apparatus and its networks.” She added, “For the population, the Honduras Jan. 1 — Hondurans have been in the current political conflict is dangerous, streets risking their lives to protest fraud because the government disrespects the 2009, they violently in the recent presidential election in Constitution and the laws of the Repub- stopped it. And now it’s their country. But the U.S. government lic. But despite the attempted coup d’état our time to stop the dic- congratulated the regime of Juan Orlan- and the militarization of the conflict, tatorship and to start do Hernández, which refuses to concede the population continues to take to the again in the process for its loss to people’s candidate Salvador streets. Especially for the Indigenous building democracy, of Nasrallah. Corporate U.S. and European peoples, who see themselves as not rep- building confidence in media have barely reported a word of the resented in any political party, it is im- our government, and government’s slaughter of dozens of peo- mensely important to resolutely oppose of building new ways of ple in the protests. the government’s ‘Continue as before!’” development in Honduras. poor. There are 20,000 of them with To bring the facts to our readers, Work- Torres estimated: “We have more than “This is a political problem, this is a chronic disease because of the bad con- ers World has selected parts of recent 55 people killed. ... We know that they new coup, but now, as Mr. Castillo said, ditions in the system. They sleep right interviews with people on the ground in have been murdered all around Hondu- we are not the same people that we were there where they work. They don’t even Honduras. ras. If this were happening in another in 2009. We have lived eight years under have a mattress. They don’t have water. WW sources include a Dec. 28 in- country, Venezuela is the most likely ex- a dictatorship, and we are willing and Their children don’t go to school. They terview from the German newspaper ample, or Nicaragua, or El Salvador, then ready to end it.” don’t eat well. Then we’re fighting for us Junge Welt with Berta Zúñiga Cáceres, a they [the international bodies] would Castillo: “What I am sure of today and we’re fighting for them.” spokeswoman for the Indigenous organi- have already taken a stronger action. is that we’re going to fight. As a social Nairn called the popular struggle “an zation COPINH (Civil Council of Indige- “They see people being killed in Hon- movement we are not even thinking intifada of Hondurans against election nous and Popular Organizations of Hon- duras. Yesterday they killed a little girl about a new election. We are thinking fraud. But, more deeply, it’s a class upris- duras) and daughter of Berta Cáceres, and little boys. And they tell that we are about the fight for our rights. Even our ing against an oligarchy that the U.S. has one of the founders of COPINH, who was the violent ones because some people people who have been killed in the street been backing for decades. The U.S. first murdered in March 2016. throw rocks and people defend them- give us more energy, more commitment used it in the 1980s to stage the Contra Real News Network spoke on Dec. 15 selves while the military are shooting un- to continue fighting for their dreams. attack against Nicaragua. Honduras was with Gerardo Torres, the international armed innocent people.” “And we are ready, we are mobilized their base. Now they say it’s being used coordinator of the Opposition Alliance more than ever in the history of our coun- for the drug war. Against the Dictatorship, and with Dr. The people can fight for themselves try. We took the street in more than 158 “But it’s a de facto U.S. military oc- Luther Castillo, a Garifuna physician and Castillo: “As part of the people’s move- separate places in the last weeks. And cupation of Honduras, in a sense, since former vice minister in the Department ment, as part of the coalition of grassroots fighting with our hands, with our bodies, the U.S. has an actual base there, even of Health under the former president of movement, we expect nothing from the with nothing, with our consciousness, though foreign bases are prohibited by Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. OAS [Organization of American States]. with our heart to build a new country the Honduran Constitution.” And on Dec. 26, Democracy Now in- And we know that only people can save against the tear gas, against the ballot Nairn also mentioned that “unlike in terviewed Allan Nairn, who has been the people. Our people in the street can of the dictatorship, against all this. With Israel, where the army is deeply ideolog- reporting directly from the Honduran fight for themselves.” the blood of our people in the street. ical, fully indoctrinated to the project of capital city, Tegucigalpa. “This is bigger than the opposition, “They kill one, we take them home. We the government, in Honduras it’s only than the Alliance. This is the people’s say, ‘Go in peace,’ and we continue fight- certain sectors of the army and the police Electoral fraud movement. The biggest difference be- ing for them.” that have that character. I talked to many, All the commentators agreed with tween this and 2009? Today there are many dozens of army and police, and it’s what Berta Zúñiga Cáceres said: “It is ob- young people in the street.” The fight for the military clear that many of them don’t really like vious that there was an electoral fraud ... Torres: “They stopped a really good “And we’re fighting for the military being dragged along on a reimposition of because the electoral system is part of the process that President Zelaya had in too,” said Castillo, “because they are the Hernández government.”

Miners’ deaths spark growing protests Morocco

By G. Dunkel Amazigh people use for their nationality, make up about 40 percent of the people Brothers Houcine and Jedouane of Morocco. drowned in a clandestine, flooded, hand- Historically, the Rif has been the cen- made mine in Jerada, Morocco, on Dec. ter of struggle against France and Spain, 22. When their bodies were recovered a the colonial occupiers of Morocco, and day later, the protests started. against kings Hassan II and Mohammed Jerada was a major coal mining town VI, who took over rule after direct colo- until the government-owned mine closed nialism ended. in the 1990s, laying off 9,000 workers. On Dec. 27, the Party of Authentic Since then, scores of tiny mines have giv- Modernity led thousands of people in en work to hundreds who daily risk death marching on the city offices of Jerada to PHOTO: FRANCE24.COM and injury for a living. Some mines are protest sharp increases in electric and Thousands protest in Jerada, Morocco, Dec. 27. holes scarcely big enough for a small man water bills. Jerada is the poorest city in to use. Generally, miners make around Morocco. $11 a day. The four major labor unions in Moroc- TURN THE GUNS AROUND In the protests, thousands of people, co, joined by all the opposition political NEW Mutinies, Soldier Revolts and Revolutions many of them women and children, filled parties, then called a very successful by John Catalinotto the streets, demanding “jobs, dignity and general strike Dec. 29, which shut Jera- Weaving together GI letters, interviews and first-hand development.” These were the same de- da down, according to H24info.ma, a narratives with historical research, the author brings mands made by the protest organization Moroccan internet news service. The to life GI resistance in the Vietnam War era, shows its relation to capitalist state power and highlights why Hirak during large demonstrations in country’s major trading partners are still breaking the military chain of command is an essential October in Al Hoceima, a coastal city in Spain and France, its former colonial step to ending oppression around the globe. northeast Morocco. rulers. According to a year end report Al Hoceima is north of Jerada and by the Office of Foreign Exchange, major “If schools in the United States really wanted to impart historical truth, Catalinotto’s ‘Turn The Guns Around’ both are in the Rif region. This area exports are cars and coated wire for net- would be required reading. He tells the true story of has been the scene of such a major out- works and computers. this epoch. Few participants know more about the cry that King Mohammed VI brought in While sectors of the Moroccan econo- ­massive GI rebellion against the Vietnam War, the thousands of cops in September to put a my tied to neocolonial capitalism are de- anti-war ­veterans’ movement or the history of soldier lid on protests that were severely chal- veloping, the people living in the poorer revolts from the Paris Commune to the Portuguese lenging his regime. (Le Monde, Oct. 26) areas — not just in the Rif but also in the coup.” The majority of the population of the south of the country — are making their – Pvt Larry Holmes GI resister and organizer for Rif is Amazigh, often pejoratively called opposition to growing inequality firmly the American Servicemen’s Union 1972-74. Berber. The Imazighen, the name the and militantly known. Available at online booksellers Page 10 Jan. 4, 2018 workers.org No justice in 1946 racist lynching

By Dianne Mathiowetz Although thousands of FBI interviews A tax cut to hate Atlanta over five months took place, and early atten- The Atlanta Journal Constitution an- tion was put on several members of the Ku When Congress finally passed the trillion increase in the budget deficit nounced in an exclusive report Dec. 28 that Klux Klan, hostility and fear led a grand jury misnamed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and will be in the hands of the super-rich. the FBI had “quietly closed its investigation to indict no one. The suspects were provided it was signed into law, it was clear that They will use it to establish even great- into the murders” of two Black couples by a alibis and no physical evidence was found. what it represented was an enormous er control of future laws. racist mob in 1946 at Moore’s Ford Bridge transfer of wealth from all poor and The mythical increase in invest- in rural Walton County, Ga. The Georgia Eyewitness says cops were there almost all working people to the rich- ments and new jobs will fail to provide Bureau of Investigation is expected to do The level of racist intimidation can be est 1% of society. The biggest benefits tax income. To the extent U.S. capital- likewise by the end of January, with no one exemplified by the public beating of Lamar would go to the super-rich. ists plan at all, CEOs plan new invest- held accountable. Howard, a Black man who testified before It was the most reactionary change ments in technology that will reduce Often described as the “last mass lynch- the grand jury that he had overheard two of in social policy since the Bill Clinton jobs and cut labor costs. ing” in the U.S., the vicious, preplanned kill- the participants planning the ambush. How- administration pushed through “End- The ensuing increase in federal bud- ing of Roger Malcolm, Dorothy Malcolm, ard was later accosted at his job by two white ing welfare as we know it” in 1996. get deficits will become the pretext for George Dorsey and Mae Murray Dorsey men who, when arrested, admitted striking But the worst is yet to come. more attacks on the federal programs reveals the conditions of white supremacy him repeatedly. Yet they were acquitted by a It may take a while for TCJA’s im- that provide services: Medicare, Social and violence that dominated throughout jury in short order. pact to become clear. This is true even Security, Medicaid, what’s left of the the former Confederate states. Years would pass and the killers of Roger though there were plenty of critical ar- Affordable Care Act, Veterans benefits, The details of the case are well-known. and Dorothy Malcolm and George and Mae ticles and reports that showed how one environmental protection, food and Roger Malcolm had been involved in a Murray Dorsey continued to live and thrive or another group of middle-income drug regulation and other Health and physical fight with a white farmer, Barnette in Walton County. workers would be hurt. They showed Human Services programs, etc. These Hester, on July 14 and had stabbed him. In 1968, just before he was assassinated, how the cut in corporate tax from 35 cuts harm the entire working class, Hester was taken to a hospital for treat- the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sent a percent to 21 percent and the elimina- and Black, Brown and all oppressed ment and Malcolm was held for 11 days in young Southern Christian Leadership Con- tion of estate taxes for an estate less peoples, women, children, immigrants the county jail in Monroe, Ga. ference staffer, Tyrone Brooks, to Monroe than $11 million would benefit only the and people with disabilities dispropor- White landowner Loy Harrison bonded in advance of his planned visit to the town rich. tionately. Malcolm out for $600 on July 25. The Mal- after his return from Memphis. As a teenag- In some last-minute conspiring be- The Republican Party, which colms and Dorseys were sharecroppers on er, King had written a letter to the Atlanta tween the House and Senate, a few of pushed through the TCJA, is obvious- Harrison’s land. Accompanied to the jail by newspaper in 1946 denouncing the murders. the most outrageous “reforms” were ly an enemy of working people and a Dorothy Malcolm and the Dorseys, Harri- Brooks, who went on to become an elected summarily eliminated. These were the friend of the rich. The Democrats too, son then began the drive toward his farm in state representative in the Georgia House, “reforms” that aroused and mobilized for their feeble resistance to this bill, the late afternoon. pursued every lead in an attempt to bring sectors of the working class to demon- have shown that they are unwilling to Harrison said that when he reached the justice to the families of the Malcolms and strate against the bill. seriously challenge the interests of the Moore’s Ford Bridge, about an hour later, his Dorseys. For example, the provisions that capitalist class. car was stopped by a band of dozens of armed After decades of little new evidence, in graduate students would have to de- Thus the “tax reform” repeats the men who forced the two couples out of the 1991, Clinton Adams, a 55-year-old white clare tuition relief as income and the lesson shown in other areas: What’s ­vehicle, beating them and riddling their bod- man, told FBI agents that he and a boyhood rejection of interest deductions on stu- needed is an independent mobilization ies with 60 bullets at close range. Although friend had witnessed the murders while hid- dent loans were deleted. of the mass movement against the cur- the assailants’ faces were not covered, Harri- ing behind some trees. He claimed to have Without examining each change — rent government — which necessitates son claimed he didn’t recognize anyone. seen a police vehicle on site and named which will take much more space than that it be separate from the Democratic Dorsey was a World War II veteran who names. Adams said he had been warned to this editorial allows and will probably Party. had served in the Pacific. Reportedly, Doro- keep quiet and for years as an adult he moved keep tax attorneys and accountants Don’t just hate the TCJA. Fight it and thy Malcolm was seven months pregnant. The frequently, fearful of Klan retaliation. busy all year — we can conclude that what are the inevitable next attacks on brutality of the murders made national news, Adams, haunted by what he saw as a the great majority of the expected $1.5 the workers and oppressed. and the Truman administration ordered the 10-year-old boy, continues to hold to his rec- FBI to send investigators to Walton County. ollection of what he saw that day. Neverthe- There was no local police investigation. less, with many of the likely participants dead by that time, no official charges resulted. IOWA In 1997, a biracial group formed the Moore’s Ford Memorial Committee, which successful- ly secured a first-of-its-kind historical marker Activists arrested protesting on Highway 78. Located near the turn-off to the lynching site, it notes the racist act that took place there on July 25, 1946. U.S. drone deaths In 2001, then Gov. Roy Barnes officially ordered the Georgia Bureau of Investigation By Mike Kuhlenbeck a “Feast of Holy In- to re-open the case, followed in 2006 by the Des Moines, Iowa nocents Retreat.” As FBI. The lynching at Moore’s Ford Bridge they walked onto the joined the list of many other cold cases of Four anti-war activists were arrested base, deemed a “war unprosecuted racist murders that took place here Dec. 28 after protesting war crimes zone” by some, they during Jim Crow segregation. committed by U.S. armed drones flown were confronted by In 2004, Tyrone Brooks approached the out of the Iowa Air Guard Drone Com- Air Guard security memorial committee with a dramatic pro- Dec. 28 shortly before protesters were arrested. mand Center. and local cops, who posal: to re-enact the murders and preced- The drone strikes, launched under warned the demonstrators they faced strations by Des Moines Catholic Work- ing events at the actual locations on the an- the administrations of U.S. presidents arrest if they did not leave. ers, VFP members and their allies in re- niversary date. George W. Bush, Barack Obama and As most of the crowd left, four Cath- cent years. They have shown solidarity Year after year, in late July, local residents Donald Trump, are responsible for olic Workers members stayed and were with “those murdered and injured by and family members as well as people from thousands of deaths. According to the arrested: Ed Bloomer and Al Burney of U.S. drones,” according to a 2017 leaf- around the world gather in Monroe to witness Bureau of Investigative Journalism, be- Des Moines, Greg Boertje-Obed of Du- let publicizing a similar rally. They have a vile crime that mirrors past and present tween 737 and 1,551 civilians have been luth, Minn., and Brian Hynes of Brook- carried signs reading “End drone war- systemic injustices committed with impunity. killed in drone strikes since its data lyn, N.Y. The four were handcuffed be- fare” and “End war,” along with other More than seven decades have passed compilation began, with hundreds of fore being loaded into a police van. slogans denouncing the killing of civil- since four young Black people’s lives were the victims being children. Charged with misdemeanor tres- ians in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, ended by racist terrorists who were protect- Braving snow and cold weather, an- passing, they spent the night in Polk Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. ed by a code of violent white supremacy. ti-war demonstrators gathered for a County Jail, and the following day had Des Moines Catholic Worker and an- The official investigation and legal pros- “direct action” rally in the early after- a hearing before a judge. Burney en- ti-war organizer Frank Cordaro have ecution by the capitalist state have ended, noon at the Iowa center. They carried tered a guilty plea and was released previously called the actions of the but the trauma and pain remain. They con- signs reading: “Herod killed the infants. with a fine. Bloomer, Boertje-Obed and Drone Center “a scandal of high pro- tinue to spur on the struggle for real justice Matt 2:16. Today the Des Moines Armed Hynes pleaded “not guilty” in order to portion that the community has not ad- and liberation. Drone Command Center kills them too! argue their case before a jury. The Ber- dressed.” (kcci.com, June 28) Mathiowetz has attended the re-enact- Celebrate Christmas. Shut down DM’s rigan Catholic Worker House paid their Members of this coalition in the fight ment at Moore’s Ford Bridge multiple times Drone Command!” bonds, set at $300 each, according to against imperialist warfare and the per- and met the relatives of the Malcolms and Participants included Catholic Work- a news release obtained by Workers petuation of crimes against humanity Dorseys, who demand justice. See the book, ers members and local members of World. Their court date is set for Feb. 1. have vowed to resume their struggle in “Fire in the Canebrake: The Last Mass Veterans for Peace in this final event of This is just one of many such demon- the days, months and years to come. Lynching in America” by Laura Wexler, 2003. workers.org Jan 4, 2018 Page 11 WORKERS WORLD PARTY salutes PFLP on 50th anniversary The following solidarity statement was sent from Workers World Party to the ­Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on the 50th anniversary of the PFLP’s founding on Dec. 11, 1967. Workers World Party salutes the Popular Front for Syria by the U.S.-funded Israeli war machine shifted the ter dependence on war and destruction in the so-called the Liberation of Palestine on the 50th anniversary of balance of power in the Arab world in favor of the House “Middle East,” including the bloody Zionist occupation your foundation. We honor the memory of Dr. George of Saud and other Gulf dynasties and kept the oil wealth of Palestine. The Trump regime, representing the most Habash and Abu Ali Mustafa, Ghassan Kanafani, Mu- of Arabia flowing into the coffers of Wall Street banks desperate faction of the U.S. ruling class, seeks wider hammad Al Aswad, Shadia Abu Ghazaleh and so many and the U.S. military-industrial complex. war in the region. That is its ”peace plan.” It is part and other comrades martyred in the cause of liberation. But amidst these grim events, the Palestinian people parcel of its escalating war against people all over the They are heroes and inspirations not only for the people and their own resistance movement seized center stage. world, including the working class and oppressed inside of Palestine but for the workers and oppressed all over The PFLP brought the lessons of the great October so- the U.S. the world. We call for the freedom of Comrade Ahmad cialist revolution and of revolutionary struggles in Chi- The importance the imperialist ruling class attaches Saadat and all political prisoners held in the dungeons na, Vietnam and Cuba to that movement. You identified to strengthening the Zionist occupation and its war ma- of the racist settler state in Palestine. the enemies of Palestinian liberation as the alliance of chine must be matched by international solidarity with We condemn the Trump regime’s moving of the U.S. world imperialism, Israel, Zionism and Arab reaction. the people of Palestine, especially from here inside the Embassy to Jerusalem as yet another act of war by U.S. You identified the working class and peasants as the belly of the beast. Your struggle is our struggle. We de- imperialism against the Palestinian people. Jerusalem mainstay of revolution and placed the Palestinian strug- mand an end to U.S. arming and funding of the racist is the capital of Palestine, and Palestine must be free, gle squarely in the camp of the struggle of oppressed state of “Israel” and the removal of all U.S. military and from the river to the sea. people around the world against imperialism. You stood intelligence forces from the region. We stand with you The year 1967 was a grim time for the Palestinian and steadfast in word and deed against all schemes to de- until the entire land of Palestine is liberated and every Arab people. Fifty years after the Balfour Declaration rail, divide and subdue the fight for the freedom of all Palestinian has the right to live in every part of Pales- and 30 years after partition, the Zionist settler state of Palestine and the right of all Palestinians to return tine in peace and freedom. That will be a day of victory proved its worth to its imperialist creators. The June to their land. for workers and oppressed people everywhere. 1967 attack, which put the entire land of Palestine and Much has changed in the past 50 years — there have In the words of George Habash, “The oppressed and the Sinai and the Golan under Zionist rule, was exalted been victories and terrible defeats — but the struggle of starving of the world shall be victorious.” by the U.S. ruling class. They dreamed it would put an the Palestinian people remains a focal point of the glob- Long live Palestine! Long live the PFLP! Long live in- end to the nationalist wave unleashed by the 1952 Egyp- al war between oppressors and oppressed. Nothing il- ternational solidarity! Workers and oppressed people of tian Revolution. The devastation wrought on Egypt and lustrates the decay of U.S. imperialism more than its ut- the world unite! Bay Area Hondurans denounce ‘electoral coup’

By Dave Welsh spect for the votes of the people of Latin and U.S. favorite Juan Orlando Hernán- nounced that Nasralla was winning by a San Francisco America,” he added. dez against challenger Salvador Nasralla 5 percent margin with 71 percent of the The Nov. 26 Honduran presidential from the Alianza coalition. But after the votes counted, TSE abruptly stopped the In solidarity with their compatriots election pitted incumbent strongman Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) an- count and declared Hernández the win- in Honduras, who have poured into the ner. streets of that Central American country “They have stolen the votes from us,” in the hundreds of thousands, Hondu- San Francisco Nasralla said at a Dec. 10 march. “This rans living in the Bay Area have repeat- country will be ungovernable starting edly rallied in the Mission District to now.” protest widespread fraud in the Nov. 26 At the Bay Area rally, Quintano said presidential election. popular anger at the stolen election is “This new electoral coup calls for a broader and more powerful today than strong international response,” Porfirio after the coup in 2009. “Then, the pro- Quintano, of Bay Area Hondurans Unit- tests were mainly in the larger cities. ed against the Dictatorship, told a Dec. Today, the movement is everywhere in 28 rally. “Look what’s been happening. Honduras, including little villages in the Since the U.S.-backed 2009 coup in Hon- countryside. Today all the people are in- duras and their 2004 coup in Haiti, the volved in this fight.” U.S. imperialists have been complicit in Welsh was part of an International the ouster of elected presidents in Para- Action Center delegation to Honduras guay and Brazil, as well as their constant shortly after the 2009 coup, as well as an intrigues against the elected government international observer during the 2013 in Venezuela.” presidential “selection” of Juan Orlando

“It’s clear that Washington has zero re- PHOTO: BILL HACKWELL Hernández.

PART 2 Lessons of ‘The Hammer & the Hoe: The Alabama Communist Party 1928-1951’

Continued from page 3 which made its debut on Jan. 25, 1940. Unfortunately, the party’s resurgence passed directions down to expel anyone This strategy was effective. The SNA and rededication to the liberation of suspected of being a Party member. This candidates on the ballot. This party discussed labor struggles, anti-war ac- Black workers and an end to wage slav- led to the State Industrial Union Council, would support proletarian internation- tivities, the blooming Civil Rights move- ery would be cut short in 1941, when Nazi National Maritime Union and the Inter- alism and massive domestic reform that ment and police brutality, all without Germany invaded the USSR. The nation- national Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelt- would eventually become a socialist sys- ever revealing its ties to the ACP. The al CPUSA headquarters immediately er Workers voting to expel any and all tem and a revolutionary force in the deep few Marxist preachers who existed in turned from campaigns for self-determi- suspected members. South. the South were regular contributors who nation for oppressed groups within the In 1950, the Birmingham city council, took a unique approach to Marxism by United States, to anti-Hitler campaigns, working with the KKK, passed a city law Rise and fall explaining greed, poverty, capitalism and all or most chapters followed suit, in- banning the Communist Party’s activi- One of the strategies that the new and racism through biblical terms and cluding Alabama. ties, and in 1951, the Alabama Commu- members took, along with some of the references. This would become the most At this point, the ACP had so many nist Control Law was passed, requiring older comrades, was to begin publish- widely received propaganda for commu- prominent members who had formed all party members and communist front ing propaganda aimed at rural workers nism in Alabama and perhaps the Black their own organizations, or who were organizers to register with the Depart- and farmers who supported them with- Belt itself. dedicated to other organizations (such as ment of Public Safety or face a fine of up out using the word “communism” or any The resurgence in Alabama was a side LYS: the League of Young Southerners), to $10,000 and a prison sentence. This variation of it. This task was led by Joe effect of a national resurgence in the that the party went back underground, act would cause the ACP to formally dis- Gelders, a longtime communist and par- Communist Party itself, but the expo- the same underground it had come up band, with many of its members fleeing ty member. The end result was the Bir- nential growth in Alabama was nothing from in the early 1930s. the state altogether to avoid capture by mingham “Southern News Almanac,” short of extraordinary. In 1949, the CIO betrayed the ACP. It the KKK. Correspondencia sobre artículos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero pueden ser enviadas a: [email protected]

¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios! workers.org Vol. 60 Núm. 1 4 de enero 2018 $1 Impacto en Puerto Rico de la Reforma Contributiva

Por Berta Joubert-Ceci Firmada por el presidente estadoun- idense el pasado 22 de diciembre, esta Un milenario proverbio chino se po- ley impone una tasa de 12,5 por ciento dría aplicar a la situación que viven las y de arbitrios sobre la propiedad intelec- los boricuas en su tierra luego del devas- tual — marcas, patentes y desarrollos tador Huracán María: “Regala un pesca- tecnológicos — de compañías estadoun- do a un hombre y le darás alimento para idenses que operen en la isla. Ilustrativo un día, enséñale a pescar y lo alimentarás de las incongruencias y contradicciones por el resto de su vida”. El gran problema del estado colonial, estas compañías de- Orlando, Fla. consiste en que aunque las/os puertor- nominadas “corporaciones bajo control MO/WW FOTO: J. WHITE riqueños saben pescar, la condición co- foráneo” (CFC, en inglés), habían gozado lonial a la que han estado sometidos por de generosas exenciones contributivas en más de un siglo, se los impide. Luego está su lugar de origen en EUA aunque la pro- tadounidenses. inmenso. Se necesita un profundo y con- ese otro refrán para describir al colo- ducción fuera en PR. Ahora, la colonia — La indiferencia y el desprecio con que sistente trabajo de descomponer lo que el nialista yanqui que “es como el perro del que pertenece, pero no es parte de EUA, el tema de Puerto Rico ha sido tratado Cointelpro ha construido en Puerto Rico; hortelano, que ni come, ni deja comer”. como lo dictó el Tribunal estadounidense en el Congreso estadounidense merecen se necesita urgentemente una unidad en A más de 100 días de la devastación en 2016, está reafirmada como una “ju- un capítulo aparte pues reafirma lo que acción; se necesitan campañas descolo- creada por el Huracán María, aún no hay risdicción extranjera” para este propósito las y los independentistas han sostenido nizadoras poniendo aparte las diferen- electricidad constante en casi la mitad de contributivo. por décadas: a Estados Unidos no le in- cias ideológicas y de tácticas. la isla y la fuente de agua potable es pre- Como ya hemos escrito en artículos teresa el pueblo de PR como merecedor Ejemplos hay muchos. Como la lucha caria, manteniéndose en la mayor parte a anteriores, el desarrollo — e imposición de asistencia, ni respeto, ni mucho menos en contra del Apartheid en África del Sur fuerza de generadores. — de los sectores económicos lo hace el como un estado más. Se reafirma lo que que fue tan exitosa. Primeramente por la La asistencia de las entidades federales imperio según le convenga a sus intere- el Maestro Don Pedro Albizu Campos lucha y militancia de los diferentes gru- — FEMA y el Cuerpo de Ingenieros — ha ses: desde la destrucción de la moneda e tantas veces decía, “a EUA le interesa la pos surafricanos — que también tenían sido criminalmente lenta e inadecuada, imposición del dólar a principios del siglo jaula, pero no los pájaros”. diferencias entre sí. E igualmente por el causando cientos de muertes por falta de XX, el monocultivo de caña de azúcar, la Quienes han podido seguir — a riesgo enorme movimiento internacional donde servicios esenciales. Sin embargo, Esta- manufactura de textiles y refinamien- de intoxicarse — los intentos de la comi- la meta era la destrucción del apartheid. dos Unidos, como el mencionado perro to de petróleo (que por cierto no hay en sionada residente en Washington Jen- Ahí estaban tanto los grupos pacifistas del hortelano, impide que ayudas soli- PR), hasta el cambio más recientemente niffer González y el gobernador Ricardo como los que creían en la lucha armada; darias de otros países puedan arribar al a industrias altamente contaminantes de “Ricky” Roselló por lograr exenciones cada cual hacía su parte de acuerdo a su archipiélago para suplir esas necesidades farmacéuticas y equipos médicos. y beneficios para Puerto Rico en la pro- ideología, pero con la meta final de termi- que por obligación le corresponde al im- La manufactura es hoy la base de la puesta de ley contributiva en el Congreso nar con la segregación racista. En Puer- perio, causante de la debacle económica economía puertorriqueña y son precisa- estadounidense pueden fácilmente llegar to Rico tenemos precedentes: la huelga de su colonia. mente las farmacéuticas y la de equipos a las mismas conclusiones del indepen- telefónica del 1998, la lucha de Vieques, ¿No es esto acaso un perverso bloqueo médicos que constituyen más del 40 por dentismo, sea cual fuere su orientación y las campañas por la liberación de nues- de un pueblo? ciento de la economía. Estas son em- ideológica. González es miembro del tras/os prisioneros políticos. presas estadounidenses que además se Partido Republicano en EU pero en PR Ahora no puede ser menos. Es impre- Impacto de la Reforma Contributiva llevan a Estados Unidos las ganancias milita en el mismo Partido Nuevo Pro- scindible. Sobre todo, se necesita una gran Encima, el impacto que tendrá en Puer- generadas por manos boricuas. Son éstas gresista que su jefe Roselló. Éste a su vez, campaña de concientización popular. to Rico la recientemente aprobada Refor- industrias las que se verán más afecta- pertenece al Partido Demócrata de EU, Es el tiempo y creo, por lo que esta ma Contributiva estadounidense (Tax das con el nuevo impuesto, por lo que el ¡estupideces coloniales! escritora presenció durante su reciente Cuts and Jobs Act o TCJA en inglés) revela gobierno criollo y los industriales boric- Mientras González pululaba ignomin- viaje a PR, que el pueblo, ese pueblo la criminal estrangulación por la cami- uas están en total pánico presintiendo iosamente por los pasillos del Capitolio que está sufriendo con la corrupción y sa de fuerza que significa el dominio del que abandonarán la isla dejando a más estadounidense, suplicando por la es- el abandono tanto del gobierno criollo imperio sobre este archipiélago caribeño. de 70.000 trabajadoras/es sin empleo y tadidad y por favores a congresistas re- como del federal, está preparado. No hay Muchas personas en PR la describen como el irrisorio impuesto de 4 por ciento que publicanos, su jefe, el arrodillado gober- mucho que explicar sobre el abandono de “el otro huracán”, refiriéndose al devasta- aportan a las arcas del gobierno boricua. nador Roselló enviaba misivas y visitaba los federales, basta ver la ausencia de los dor efecto en la economía insular. Aunque los efectos no se verían hasta congresistas en Washington mendigando famosos toldos azules de FEMA en las ¿Qué contiene esta ley respecto a Puer- quizás el 2019, temen que sea un escol- exenciones y migajas. montañas. to Rico? lo más para atraer nuevas industrias es- Al final, el imperio prevaleció. Inclu- Hay que ir a cada rincón, desde Cule- so los oídos congresistas permanecieron bra y Vieques, hasta Cabo Rojo y Ceiba. sordos a los pedidos de ayuda para la re- A los caseríos, a La Perla, a Lloréns. El construcción de PR luego de María. Una movimiento independentista y progresis- El capitalismo en un callejón sin salida propuesta de ayuda para los estados y ta, los dinámicos grupos de jóvenes que territorios afectados por los últimos desas- están tomando la batuta revolucionaria, La tesis de este libro es que la crisis económica, tres naturales no se negociará hasta enero. los grupos LGBT, estudiantes, jóvenes y que se inició en agosto de 2007, marcó un punto no tan jóvenes, con o sin discapacidades. de inflexión en la historia del capitalismo. El autor ¡Descolonización urgente! Todxs a unirnos para descolonizarnos sostiene que el sistema no se recuperará, no Es esta última estocada la que pone en y descolonizar a Puerto Rico, forjar una volverá al ciclo capitalista normal de auge y caída. claro la necesidad urgente de un proceso nueva patria. Hay la creatividad, lo que Durante décadas, la clase capitalista ha utilizado la revolución tecnológica digital para de descolonización. El espejismo del “Es- falta es la voluntad decisiva, y esa se ve aumentar la productividad del trabajo a un ritmo tado Libre Asociado” terminó en junio del florecer en los miles de grupos comuni- récord. Menos trabajadores producen más bienes 2016 cuando Washington dictaminó que tarios que están naciendo alrededor del y servicios en menos tiempo con salarios más ba- los poderes de PR están en las puertas archipiélago. Podemos, junto con las y los jos. El resultado es una serie de “recuperaciones del Congreso estadounidense y se impu- boricuas exiladas/os en Estados Unidos sin empleos” que hace que las cosas vayan aún so la dictatorial Junta de Control Fiscal. — que son un solo pueblo — siempre que peor. Y ahora quedó más claro que nunca que Puerto Rico sea su norte y no el imperio. Goldstein utiliza las leyes de la acumulación a Estados Unidos no le interesa — ni qui- ¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre y Soberano! capitalista de Marx, y la tasa decreciente de ere — que Puerto Rico sea parte de EU, ¡Fuera la Junta de Control Fiscal! ganancia, para demostrar por qué el capitalis- o sea, otro estado. Con el 2017 se deben ¡Solidaridad y Justicia, no caridad! mo global ha llegado finalmente a un punto de enterrar también todos esos recuerditos ¡Alto al bloqueo de Puerto Rico! inflexión. El continuo estancamiento y el desempleo que decían “Estado 51”. ¡Derogación de la Ley de Cabotaje y generalizado provocarán inevitablemente un Mientras Puerto Rico siga como colo- cancelación de la deuda! resurgimiento de la lucha de clases que no se ve nia, no habrá un desarrollo económico La autora es oriunda del Barrio Bél- en EE.UU. desde la década de 1930; esta vez se para beneficiar a su población. gica de Ponce y exilada en la Ciudad de www.LowWageCapitalism.com dirigirá contra el propio sistema. El trabajo para la descolonización es Filadelfia.