Justicia para George Floyd 12 Editorial – Crisis económica 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 62, No. 23 June 4, 2020 $1 Not a riot —

REBELLION!By Monica Moorehead various degrees of murder, and Chauvin be charged with first-degree murder. June 1—​A militant, youth-led upris- An independent autopsy on June 1, paid ing, ignited by police terror, has swept for by the Floyd family, found that police across the United States like wildfire, were responsible for his death by “medical and is now entering its second week. Even asphyxia” when he was deprived of oxygen Trump’s proudly declaring himself the to the brain for almost five minutes. He “law-and-order” president by threaten- died at the scene, not at the hospital. This ing the presence of federal troops in many autopsy’s findings contradict the initial cities—​and the present catastrophic findings released by the Hennepin County COVID‑19 pandemic, resulting in over medical examiner, which claimed that pre- 102,000 U.S. deaths and rising—​have existing conditions caused Floyd’s death, not been able to contain this uprising not homicide by cops. sparked by a horrific videotaped police On May 26 protests began to erupt in murder exposed on May 25 for the whole Minneapolis and other cities demand- world to see. ing justice for Floyd and arrests of the For almost nine minutes, George Floyd, officers. In an audacious act on May 28, PHOTO: BRAD SIGAL a 46-year-old Black man, was tortured youth torched the Minneapolis Police Minneapolis, May 27. More pictures, pp 6-7. and then lynched by Minneapolis police Department’s Third Precinct headquar- as he lay face-down and handcuffed in the ters, where the four officers had worked. street. One police officer pressed his knee Dozens of curfews declared in many to Floyd’s throat while two police officers cities—​backed up by the presence of Defend resisters! pinned him down on his stomach. Before local and state police and the National Floyd completely lost consciousness, he Guard—​have not deterred young peo- was yelling “I can’t breathe” and calling ple from exercising their right to stay in Defend the uprising! for his late mother. Floyd was initially the streets to let their outraged voices detained after being accused of using a be heard, even if they had to take arrests People are rising up, rising up against Tenn., the city hall and courthouse were counterfeit $20 bill. for “civil disobedience,” if necessary. police violence! Smoldering rage ignited in set on fire. Cop cars were overturned and Even though the police officers—​Derek Thousands of people have been arrested a firestorm throughout the U.S. when police burned in New York City, Rochester, N.Y., Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander for breaking curfew over six days of lynched George Floyd in Minneapolis on Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cleveland, Los Kueng and Tou Thao—​were fired after political outrage, expressed by burning May 25. Immediately there Angeles and elsewhere. And, the incident, none of them were immedi- cop cars and shutting down bridges and was public outrage, after see- editorial yes, “property” was dam- ately arrested and charged with Floyd’s interstates. ing how white supremacists aged, the property of capi- death. It took four days after the lynching Even reporters from mainstream media killed Ahmaud Arbery as he jogged through talist banks and big chains—​Wells Fargo, for John Harrington, commissioner of the like CNN and MSNBC have either been his neighborhood and after invading police Starbucks and AutoZone torched and other Minnesota Department of Public Safety, to detained or indiscriminately hit with rub- shot Breonna Taylor to death in Kentucky buildings caught in the spreading blaze. announce that Chauvin was arrested and ber bullets and pepper spray, along with while she was asleep in her own bed. All For centuries in the U.S., white suprem- charged with third-degree murder and sec- protesters. Isolated incidences of young were Black; all are dead. acists—​as agents of the state or as vigi- ond-degree manslaughter. The other offi- people, including children, being tased, The videotape of Floyd being lynched lantes like the Ku Klux Klan who “work cers still have not been arrested or charged. pepper-sprayed and knocked down by by a cop during long minutes of deliber- hand-in-hand” with the state (sometimes The Floyd family is demanding that offi- riot police were caught on videotape and ate strangulation propelled thousands and one and the same)—have​ lynched African- cers Lane, Keung and Thao be charged with Continued on page 5 thousands of people—​multinational, mul- American people and other people of color tigendered workers and oppressed people with impunity. To this very day, it is almost of all backgrounds—​into the streets. impossible to get a charge of murder—​ The people held the racist “injustice sys- much less a conviction—when​ a cop kills a tem” and the cops accountable. The Third person of color “in the line of duty.” JUNE IS PRIDE MONTH Precinct building in Minneapolis—​where It took four days of countrywide protests the four cops who killed Floyd were sta- and physical rebellions to get just one of LGBTQ2+ solidarity 8 tioned—​was burned down. In Nashville, Continued on page 10

Larry Kramer, 1935-2020 9 Food, housing

and water 3 4–5 Trump, WHO, Big Pharma 3 • Celebrating Anti-Racist Protests Mumia’s birthday • Photos from around U.S. 6-7 • Resistance roundup • Whose violence? 10 • Empty Cleveland jail! • Worker solidarity 11

Brazil & COVID-19 11 Page 2 June 4, 2020 workers.org Workers World A communist newspaper, a collective organizer this week ◆ In the U.S. By Minnie Bruce Pratt World newspaper: “A [communist, revolutionary] news- paper is not only a collective propagandist and a collec- Not a riot—rebellion​ ...... 1 This is a slightly edited version of a talk given during tive agitator, it is also a collective organizer. … [It] may WW: communist newspaper, collective organizer . 2 the “What Road to Socialism?” webinar held by Workers be compared to the scaffolding erected around a building Big banks profit from COVID‑19 ...... 3 World Party on May 16. under construction; it marks the contours of the structure Economics behind the rebellion ...... 3 and facilitates communication between the builders, per- When I first started writing for Workers World/Mundo mitting them to distribute the work and to view the com- Striking packinghouse workers win ...... 3 Obrero newspaper, longtime comrade Leslie Feinberg said mon results achieved by their organized labour.” Trump, WHO and the pandemic ...... 3 to me that older comrades always told hir, “Remember, no When Workers World Party was established in 1959, Marc Lamont Hill on Mumia’s birthday . . . . . 4 Party action is over until it’s written up for the paper!” the founders followed Lenin’s lead in immediately estab- Behind the Walls: Resistance roundup ...... 4 That’s because the newspaper is an integral gear in lishing Workers World as a national newspaper, with the Workers World Party’s Marxist-Leninist democratically first issue coming out in March 1959. Now—61 years Cleveland action demands prisoner release . . . .5 centralized process. later—the paper continues to publish on a daily basis on Historic uprising resists racism, killer cops . . . 6-7 That perspective comes from V. I. Lenin’s 1901-1902 the web and in a downloadable weekly PDF print edition. Solidarity with all LGBTQ2+ workers! ...... 8 book, “What Is to Be Done?” In one section, “Plan for The process Lenin outlined is still followed by Workers Organizing health care for patients, not profits . . 8 an All-Russia Newspaper,” Lenin sharply argued that a World/Mundo Obrero. Every week an appeal for news and national revolutionary newspaper was needed to effec- suggested articles is sent out to the entire membership Women and gender-nonconforming people fight . . 8 tively accomplish communist organizing in the vast ter- and branches, along with an invitation for any comrade Workers’ assemblies ...... 8 ritory of imperial Russia, including its conquered nations. or candidate to participate in the weekly national editorial Workers unite to fight racism, cops, pandemic . . 9 Lenin argued against social democratic proposals that meetings, held by phone and on the web. To rebel is justified ...... 10 there should be only local individual newspapers. These In these meetings the editorial staff discusses news and democratic socialists predicted that a party structure— topics of the week from a revolutionary Marxist perspec- ◆ Around the world and ultimately revolution—would somehow coalesce (!) tive, and a new issue of the paper is put in motion. These out of these small, separate efforts. analyses and reports then return to the local level through Bolsonaro the ‘biggest threat’ to COVID response . 11 Instead, Lenin advanced a structure for a national rev- the newspaper for review, study and growth in action. ◆ Editorial olutionary communist newspaper. First, comrades report For more on “WW Newspaper and Communist on the facts of local conditions from far-flung and dispa- Organizing,” see our online class at workers.org. And final Defend resisters; Defend the uprising! ...... 1 rate locations to the national newspaper. Next, national news flash! There is a new, dynamic Prisoner Page in WW editorial and political comrades analyze that informa- called “Tear Down the Walls!” that is bringing forward the ◆ Noticias en Español tion from a Marxist perspective to glean insights into the struggles of incarcerated people as an integral part of the Justicia para George Floyd? ...... 12 overall current state of the working class under imperialist global working class. Crisis económica ...... 12 capitalism. You can read those stories and more in Workers Finally, through the reports chosen and the analyses World/Mundo Obero every day at workers.org—where developed for the national newspaper, the theoretical as Marxist-Leninists, we “write it up for the paper!” impact of local reporting circulates back to organizers and readers. They then undertake the next round in revolu- Pratt, born and raised in Alabama, is an anti-racist, tionary action—and reporting. white, Southern lesbian and one of the managing editors Over a hundred years ago, Lenin described Workers of Workers World/Mundo Obero newspaper. Workers World 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. New York, NY 10011 Phone: 212.627.2994 Join us in the fight E-mail: [email protected] for socialism! Web: www.workers.org Vol. 62, No. 23 • June 4, 2020 Workers World Party is a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist people are gunned down by cops and bigots on a regular Closing date: June 3, 2020 party inside the belly of the imperialist beast. We are a basis. Editor: Deirdre Griswold multinational, multigenerational and multigendered orga- The ruthless ruling class today seeks to wipe out Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, Martha Grevatt, nization that not only aims to abolish capitalism, but to decades of gains and benefits won by hard-fought strug- Monica Moorehead, Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt build a socialist society because it’s the only way forward! gles by people’s movements. The super-rich and their Capitalism and imperialism threaten the peoples of the political representatives have intensified their attacks on Web Editors: ABear, Harvey Markowitz, Janet Mayes world and the planet itself in the neverending quest for the multinational, multigender and multigenerational Prisoners Page Editors: Mirinda Crissman, Ted Kelly ever-greater profits. working class. It is time to point the blame at—​and chal- Production & Design Editors: Gery Armsby, Sasha Capitalism means war and austerity, racism and lenge—the​ capitalist system. Mazumder, Scott Williams repression, attacks on im/migrants, misogyny, LGBTQ2+ WWP fights for socialism because the working class oppression and mistreatment of people with disabilities. produces all wealth in society, and this wealth should Copyediting and Proofreading: Paddy Colligan, It means joblessness, increasing homelessness and impov- remain in their hands, not be stolen in the form of capi- Sue Davis, S. Hedgecoke erishment and lack of hope for the future. No social prob- talist profits. The wealth workers create should be socially Contributing Editors: LeiLani Dowell, G. Dunkel, lems can be solved under capitalism. owned and its distribution planned to satisfy and guaran- K. Durkin, Sara Flounders, Teresa Gutierrez, Joshua The U.S. is the richest country in the world, yet no one tee basic human needs. Hanks, Makasi Motema, Gloria Rubac has a guaranteed right to shelter, food, water, health care, Since 1959, Workers World Party has been out in the Mundo Obero: Teresa Gutierrez, Carlos Vargas education or anything else—​unless they can pay for it. streets defending the workers and oppressed here and Wages are lower than ever, and youth are saddled with worldwide. If you’re interested in Marxism, socialism Supporter Program: Coordinator Sue Davis seemingly insurmountable student debt, if they even make and fighting for a socialist future, please contact a WWP Copyright © 2020 Workers World. Verbatim copying it to college. Black, Brown and Indigenous youth and trans branch near you. ☐ and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. If you are interested in joining Workers World Party contact: 212.627.2994 Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly except the last week of December by WW Publishers, National Office Boston Durham, N.C. Portland, Ore. 147 W. 24th St., 2nd floor 284 Amory St. 804 Old Fayetteville St. [email protected] 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10011. Phone: New York, NY 10011 Boston, MA 02130 Durham, NC 27701 212.627.2994. Subscriptions: One year: $36; institu- Salt Lake City 212.627.2994 617.522.6626 919.322.9 970 tions: $50. Letters to the editor may be condensed and 801.750.0248 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] edited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to [email protected] Workers World, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY Atlanta Buffalo, N.Y. Houston San Antonio 10011. Back issues and individual articles are available PO Box 18123 335 Richmond Ave. P.O. 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WW Commentary Big banks profit from COVID‑19 Food, shelter, even water at risk for millions By G. Dunkel by the tens of millions turned to food of units, while small landlords control a is the proper response to not paying your banks. But the major federal program—​ handful. Affordable housing—​where units rent, no matter what tragedy dislocation On top of COVID‑19, another epi- Supplemental Nutritional Assistance rent for up to $600 a month—​is almost and homelessness may bring. Many small demic—one​ of growing hunger, evictions Program—​requires a time-consuming always provided by small landlords. landlords would rather make a deal, but and foreclosures—​now looms over mil- application-verification process. The financial media were surprised that the banks ultimately call the shots. lions of poor people in the United States. Most food banks are private, nonprofit 90 percent of renters were somehow able They are disproportionately Indi­ initiatives, staffed by volunteers and often to pay their rents in May. They explain that Even water isn’t safe genous, African American, Latinx and funded by the state or city. However, city the $1,200 federal stimulus checks and Water is part of the essential social safety other people of color. Many live far from money has mostly gone to replace school access to a federal add-on to unemploy- net that has become unavailable to many. big population centers. breakfast and lunch programs that ended ment insurance—​$600 a week for many Poor communities in the desert or From March to the end of May, more when public schools closed. workers—provided​ a cushion. Also, many arctic areas of the United States, where than 40 million workers lost their jobs Given the tremendous shock that states have imposed restrictions on evic- many Indigenous and people of color and applied for unemployment insur- COVID‑19 expenses have inflicted on tions that let workers who couldn’t make live, struggle to sell the bonds they need ance. That doesn’t include the millions state/city revenues, the funds devoted their rent still stay in their homes. to supply residents with water and sew- of undocumented workers who are out to feeding the hungry in the United But the federal money basically sunsets erage. Interest rates set by the banks are of work and don’t qualify for the benefits. States must come ultimately from the on July 31, while eviction prohibition gen- more than these communities can afford. Since 40 percent of U.S. households banks. They will only lend the money if erally expired on June 1. What happens In Utqiagvik, Alaska, for example, live paycheck-to-paycheck, without they expect to make profits—​meaning if next? the most northern community in the enough savings to cover an unexpected state/city borrowers don’t default. Bexar County, Texas, for example, U.S.,where the Inupiat are the majority, $400 bill, they urgently need the money which includes the city of San Antonio, it costs $7,000 to connect a house to the provided by unemployment insurance. Money for rent and mortgage expects to be deluged with evictions. Last water/sewerage/electric grid. But the UI systems, which are state-run payments running out year, even before the pandemic and eco- Some 40 percent of households in the with federal oversight and emergency Housing in the United States is divided nomic crisis, landlords filed more than Navajo Reservation, which is spread over financial support, couldn’t handle the into two separate markets—​home own- 21,000 eviction cases in the county. three states in the Southwest and is home burst of applications. ers and renters. The banks and pension funds that hold to 250,000 people, have no access to run- Their computers were overloaded and In the rental housing market, some the mortgages on most of these rental prop- ning water. crashed. Their telephone lines—​many big landlords control tens of thousands erties have evidently decided that eviction So hundreds of thousands of the poor- states require a call to verify eligibility—​ est people in the U.S. lack the water they were so flooded that some people had to need to flush toilets or even wash their call thousands of times before they could Economics behind the rebellion hands—a​ basic sanitary measure essen- get through. In some states, particularly tial to limiting the spread of COVID‑19. Florida, applicants had to pick up the Between March 18 and April 10, over U.S. billionaire wealth increased by This reality of extreme inequality is one forms at libraries or government offices 22 million people lost their jobs as the $282 billion, an almost 10 percent gain. of the biggest reasons the U.S. now leads and mail them in, creating major delays. unemployment rate surged toward 15 the world in COVID‑19 cases. ☐ Just to put food on their table, workers percent. Over the same three weeks, — Institute for Policy Studies. Striking packinghouse workers win signed agreements for safety

By Jim McMahan agreement at Allan Brothers won increased safety Seattle measures in the crowded packinghouses and includes masks, plastic shields and a $1-an-hour Immigrant workers, on strike against Washington raise. Negotiating committee member Agustin state fruit packinghouses since May 7, won another vic- Lopez said, “I am very happy, because employees tory on May 28. The workers’ negotiating committee will go back to work with their heads held high and came out from Allan Brothers with a signed agreement with a lot of pride.” (tinyurl.com/yddgtcdw) and their fists held high. On May 30, an 85-car solidarity caravan from the Striking Washington state fruit packers. The Latinx workers in Yakima have won three signed labor movement drove to the picket lines in Yakima agreements so far with the nonunion companies. The from Seattle, the Tri-Cities and Spokane. Larry Brown, given to undocumented workers! workers in Yakima Valley made their mark by joining a president of the Washington State Labor Council AFL- Thousands more essential workers are now coming to growing working-class movement for basic health and CIO, told strikers that unions have to fight against the Yakima for the cherry harvest and later the apple har- safety on the job and against racist disrespect by the murderous police racism of Minneapolis, while under- vest. The packinghouse workers and their supporters bosses. The fruit packers are still striking two obstinate standing that packinghouse workers are also part of the have complained loudly to the government about lax and racist bosses. struggle against racism. safety in the agricultural industry. On May 26, the striking workers caravaned to Olympia, State regulations allow for farmworkers to be dou- the state capitol. They went to Gov. Jay Inslee’s man- Essential im/migrant workers fight for justice ble-bunked in rooms of up to 15 workers. Farmworkers are sion and the state Department of Labor and Industries. Since May Day, im/migrant workers, many consid- usually crammed tightly into vans when they are driven They brought over 200 safety complaints against their ered essential, have protested against being completely to the fields. COVID‑19 spreads very easily under these bosses and demanded better standards from the state excluded from the CARES Act. Passed by Congress and conditions. At a farm in Tennessee, 100 percent of the 200 government. signed by Trump, this $2.2 trillion legislation doles out produce workers recently tested positive for COVID‑19. Yakima County has the highest rate of COVID‑19 most of its funds to big business. But not one cent of the Solidarity with packinghouse workers needs to extend cases on the West Coast. (tinyurl.com/y7e25htm) The $1,200 checks or any unemployment compensation was to farmworkers. ☐ Trump, WHO and the pandemic By Deirdre Griswold to battle multiple diseases? Does Trump as of the end of May. And already tens of is found, it will be patented by one of the join imperial Rome’s Nero in spewing out millions of workers in the U.S. have lost U.S. pharmaceuticals and sold at a price Smack in the middle of the biggest pan- dictats just for the gratification of his ego? their jobs, due to the economic disruption that can bankrupt not just individuals, demic in a century, President Donald Trump But there’s more to it than that. caused by the virus. but nations themselves. has announced he is withdrawing the U.S. What’s the motivation for Trump’s It is a matter of extreme urgency that a The one bright spot right now is that from the World Health Organization. move? Clearly, it’s not to protect the breakthrough be made to prevent further scientists in the People’s Republic of One would expect Trump’s decree to health of the population. Just the oppo- spread of the disease. China are working hard on creating a vac- bring an outcry from all the people here site. COVID‑19 is a worldwide problem. Recently, the WHO announced mea- cine, and China has announced that it will who specialize in public health. That’s People in the U.S. will benefit when a vac- sures to stimulate international cooper- be made available to the world. happening, but it’s not getting the news cine against COVID‑19 is made available, ation in the development of a vaccine to This pandemic makes it clearer than coverage it deserves. no matter which country’s scientists are counter COVID‑19 and to make it available ever that we need to get rid of the cap- What gives the White House occu- able to come up with it. to all countries. That is exactly what the italist system that profits the very few pant the power to disregard the medical U.S. fatalities from COVID‑19 are the wealthy U.S. pharmaceuticals do not want. and build a socialist society that can plan community and dis all the countries in highest in the world of any one country. It Poorer countries are extremely worried economic development to satisfy human the world that rely on WHO’s expertise has killed more than 106,000 people here that when a cure or preventive medicine need, not corporate greed. ☐ Page 4 June 4, 2020 workers.org

Marc Lamont Hill ‘Outside the logic of the Prison’ on Mumia’s birthday By Marc Lamont Hill we’ve seen. Just last week, people received We call for the release of all political a phone call saying that he had been taken prisoners right now because it is the right These slightly edited remarks on the need to the hospital with COVID‑19, making us thing to do. But we also make a bolder to move away from prisons for resolving think that he’d been given a death sentence. call, a more radical call, and that is the the problems of society and ending prisons That’s the type of cruelty and the type of abolition of prison itself. were given April 24 at the “U.S. Empire evil the prison industry, and the prison Marc Lamont Hill vs. Political Prisoners” webinar teach-in specifically targeting Mumia Abu-Jamal, Moving outside the ‘logic’ of prison sponsored by Mobilization4Mumia and demonstrates every single day. We must move into a moment that no long-term abolition goal, we need to held in honor of the 66th birthday of polit- It’s not just about Mumia, because right longer uses the prison as the resolution to exercise abolitionist principles right now ical prisoner and revolutionary Mumia now we are in a human rights crisis, a crisis our social contradictions. The prison must because COVID‑19 has created a human Abu-Jamal. of carcerality, a crisis of mass incarceration. no longer be a resolution to harm that is rights crisis that amplifies the already The U.S. Empire feeds off of mass incar- done. The prison must no longer be the res- existing human rights crisis. It’s such an honor to be here tonight, ceration. Ever since the slave enterprise, olution to all of our challenges in society. To live in a U.S. prison right now is to surrounded by so many brilliant thinkers when African people were brought here We must call for the end of prison con- live with a death sentence. Whether you’re and courageous activists, freedom fight- and enslaved, the U.S. has made its money, struction right now. We must call for there for three months or six months, ers who have been long distance runners, it has built an empire, it has expanded its decarceration. That means we must begin whether you’ve gotten a life sentence, you and political prisoners who have made the economy off of human captivity. to let people out of prison immediately. are on death row right now if you’re in a ultimate sacrifice, giving their all, their Even as we moved into a postslavery We must call for ex-carceration. That U.S. prison. The type of social distancing very bodies to the struggle. moment, all we did was shift the means of means we have to stop putting people in that the best medical experts—​not the Tonight what brings us together is the captivity. Now, instead of putting people prison. That means we have to legalize president, but the best medical experts—​ 66th birthday of our dear brother Mumia on plantations, we have people in a cage, things, that means we have to dismantle suggest can’t be exercised in prison. The Abu-Jamal, one of the great freedom fight- in what we call “correctional” facilities, jails laws that criminalize. We have to decrim- type of protection that you want to be able ers, one of the greatest truth-tellers that and prisons, juvenile facilities and such. inalize, get rid of this logic of criminaliza- to engage in, you can’t in prison. we’ve ever seen—​and a political prisoner. We continue to take all of our contra- tion. We must think about restraint of the So anybody who’s incarcerated right Since 1981 we’ve been battling and dictions as a nation and put them behind few; we must think about how we can pro- now doesn’t even have the means to fighting and struggling to liberate Mumia. bars, whether it’s mental illness, whether tect society from harm that is done, but defend themselves. What they’re getting is Mumia is such a passionate voice, such a it’s poverty, whether it’s homelessness, outside the logic of the prison. cruel and unusual punishment. In areas of courageous voice, we need him so desper- whether it’s drug addiction—and​ of course, And we must build a caring community. the world right now, infection rates were ately on the other side of the dungeon. And political dissent. Anyone who dares speak We must develop the resources and the 1 and 2 out of 1,000. Then you go into we’re gonna continue to fight until he’s out. out against this empire ends up in a cage. infrastructure; we must find ways to pro- Rikers Island in New York City, and you If anybody knows Mumia, they know That’s why we have Mumia Abu-Jamal in tect those who are vulnerable. We must got 54 out of 1,000. that he wouldn’t want us here talking a cage. That’s why we have Sekou Odinga find ways to invest in those who have not Can you imagine being anywhere in the about him. Mumia would want us to talk in a cage. That’s why we had Herman Bell been invested in. We must find ways to world with 54 out of 1,000 people as the about his case, but he’d also want us to put in a cage. That’s why we continue to have provide food, clothing and shelter for infection rate, and not see that as a human his case in the context of everybody else’s. everybody from here and around the globe every single person. rights crisis? Unless it’s poor people, Mumia is being held under the most caged, when they have the audacity to That’s what this is about—​what abo- unless it’s Black people, unless it’s Brown absurd, violent and ugly circumstances that speak out against the empire. lition is about. But we not only have the people. Free all political prisoners! ☐

behind the walls Resistance roundup By Mirinda Crissman Prisons, jails and migrant detention centers stand in defiance of public health Prisoners are acting to protect themselves needs every day. The colonizing capitalist and each other in the middle of the global class has murdered countless humans in pandemic as they protest inhuman cages a myriad of ways for hundreds of years. across the country and across the world. In They will continue to do so at an unprec- the brutal facilities of incarceration in the edented rate, unless we act in response U.S. alone, there have been hundreds of to what those affected are calling for. recorded actions related to COVID‑19 since Incarcerated people are alive, ready to late March. fight and yelling to be heard in any way The frequency of this resistance clearly they can. They have the right to resist demonstrates that prison conditions are rap- their premature death, by any means idly deteriorating in the present health crisis. necessary. Solidarity with our incarcer- As the prisoner support group Free Them All ated siblings! Free Them All—for​ public Connecticut says, “Jail and prison walls can’t health! contain the spread of the virus. What is on the This list of prisoner actions from outside will be on the inside, and what hap- perilouschronicle.com is extensive—and​ WW PHOT:O: JOE PIETTE pens to our communities on the inside will by no means represents all actions, many A Philadelphia caravan on March 30 demands freedom for all incarcerated in Pennsylvania prisons. affect us all.” (freethemallct.org/about) unknown or unreported:

May 20: Hunger strike at Florence May 4: Protest at Dillwyn April 22: Disturbance at Westville April 12: Uprising at Cummins Unit, Ark. Correctional Center, Ariz. Correctional Center, Va. Correctional Facility, Ind. April 12: Uprising at Ellsworth May 19: Sit-in protest at Shelby May 3: Protest at Catahoula April 22: Protest at D.C. Central Correctional Facility, Kan. County Jail, Tenn. Correctional Center, La. Detention Facility, Washington, D.C. April 12: Escape attempt at Southwest May 14: Uprising at Georgia Diagnostic May 2: Fire and disturbance April 20: Protest at Franklin Medical Arkansas Community Corrections and Classification State Prison at Cummins Unit, Ark. Center, Columbus, Ohio Facility, Texarkana, Ark May 11: Disturbance at Redgranite May 1: Uprising at Bristol County April 20: Disturbance at Bridge April 12: Uprising at Crossroads Correctional Institution, Wis. House of Correction, Mass. City Center for Youth, La. Juvenile Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. May 10: Uprising at Covington May 1: Uprising at Southern State April 19: Disturbance at Gus Harrison April 11: Uprising at La Palma County Jail, Ala. Correctional Facility, Vt., during May Correctional Facility, Mich. Correctional Center, Ariz. May 9: Work stoppage at Northwest Day protest outside the walls April 19: Attack on guards at Sumter April 11: Protest at East Mesa Reentry Detention Center, Wash. April 30: Strike organized by ICE Correctional Institution, Bushnell, Fla. Facility, San Diego, Calif. May 8: Hunger strike at North Lake detainees in Women’s Unit, Adelanto April 17: Disturbance at Pendleton April 11: Coordinated threat of suicide Correctional Facility, Mich. Processing Center, Calif. Correctional Facility, Ind. at Cook County Jail, Chicago May 6: Group escape from Ouachita April 29: Uprising at Cook April 16: Escape from Columbia April 10: Food strike and work stoppage Parish Work Release, Monroe, La. County Jail, Chicago Correctional Institution, Wis. at Irwin County Detention Center, Ga. May 6: Food strike at Marion April 28: Refusal and attack on guards April 14: Prisoners attack guards, attempt Correctional Institution, Ohio at Cook County Jail, Chicago to free others at Cook County Jail, Chicago workers.org June 4, 2020 Page 5 Cleveland action demands prisoner release By Martha Grevatt deaths in 2018 and another in 2019. An investiga- Cleveland tion by federal marshals found that prisoners faced inadequate food and sanitation, overcrowding, medi- May 29—Today​ a combination car/pedestrian protest cal neglect and other mistreatment, including torture in downtown Cleveland called for the Cuyahoga County by guards. The jail held many because these prisoners Jail to release more prisoners and end “inhumane treat- could not afford bail. ment.” Similar actions have been taking place around In response, activists, prisoner family members Ohio, which has the highest COVID‑19 prisoner death and other concerned people in Cleveland formed the rate in the country. This demonstration was called by coalition in late 2018. the Coalition to Stop the Inhumanity at the Cuyahoga Since the pandemic, hundreds of prisoners have County Jail. been released from the county jail, reducing over- Prisoners banged on the bars as they looked down at crowding. However, the government provides no a large group of people in solidarity. Dozens of cars, with resources to survive outside jail and forces prisoners taped-on messages of “Free them all” and “RIP George to pay over $200 a month for required ankle brace- WW PHOTOS: MARTHA GREVATT Tamir Desmond,” circled the “Justice Center.” Desmond lets. Those left inside are still being mistreated. Cleveland, May 29: ‘Release prisoners and provide resources.’ Franklin and 12-year-old Tamir Rice were killed by As the coalition pointed out in a news release: “The Cleveland police—​Rice in 2014 and Franklin this year. Cuyahoga County Jail has completely mismanaged George is George Floyd. the pandemic for the incarcerated peoples at the jail. rest of the community safe from COVID‑19 is to release Others stood outside the building, which houses the People who have tested positive for the virus have been them without payment, prejudice, or opposition and pro- jail as well as the courts, and chanted, “Free them all” put into solitary confinement without medical attention. vide them with the resources to live on the outside.” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Armand Budish has to go!” There is no way for incarcerated people to social distance Organizations plan more car/pedestrian combination County Executive Budish is responsible for the deplor- and there is a complete lack of personal protective equip- protests in coming weeks in Columbus and outside the able conditions at the county jail, which led to eight ment. The only way to keep incarcerated people and the state prison in Belmont. ☐ Not a riot — REBELLION! Continued from page 1 complaints had been filed against Chauvin His tweets have referred to the protesters Prominent amateur and professional for misconduct; only two were heard. with the racist connotation of “thugs.” He sports figures have spoken out against shown on social media. Many of the signs carried in the pro- has stated that when the “looting” starts, racism, and in some cases, attended Young protesters have used guerril- tests read: “Abolish the police!” “All cops the “shooting” starts. He has declared the demonstrations along with entertainers. la-like tactics to evade police, who are are bad!” and “All cops are bastards!” “antifa” movement (aka anti-fascists) a Protesters have taken a knee in the armed to the teeth with batons, rubber Systemic racism has also been a big “terrorist” organization, and he has called streets in solidarity with former National bullets, chemical irritants and even tanks. focus of the protests. Protesters cited an governors “jerks” if they don’t “dominate” Football League quarterback Colin The youth have had only rocks, water incident when Christian Cooper, a Black and arrest protesters. By their very pres- Kaepernick, who first took a knee in 2016 bottles, bricks and even skateboards to man birdwatching in New York’s Central ence, the police incite violence, not the in opposition to police brutality. defend themselves with. Park on May 25, was approached by protesters. This uprising has also had a ripple Amy Cooper, a white woman. She called Trump made a veiled threat to call out effect around the globe, with solidarity White supremacy and 911 to tell the police “there’s an African- his neofascist base to confront the pro- actions in cities in Africa and the Middle police violence linked American man threatening my life,” testers before he backed off on that threat. East, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Young people are fed up with not only which endangered him. And demonstra- Thousands of protesters confronted Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, New what happened to Floyd, but with police tors raised the name of Ahmaud Arbery, Secret Service agents and local police Zealand and elsewhere. killings of Philando Castile, Jamar Clark an unarmed jogger who was shot to death in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., Liberal bourgeois and reactionary pol- and other Black people in Minnesota. on Feb. 23 by white supremacists near across from the White House on June 1. iticians and their media mouthpieces are In fact this uprising—​which has spread Brunswick, Ga. It took police two months For several nights firecrackers exploding attempting to drive a wedge between par- to at least 130 large and small U.S. cities—​ to arrest them and the third person who were loud enough for those in the White ticipants in the uprising, labeling many has helped to expose the cases of other recorded the video of the shooting. House to hear. Black protesters “peaceful” and many Black people who recently lost their lives White supremacist, pro-Confeder- There is no telling how long this upris- white protesters “anarchists.” to police violence. These include Breonna ate symbols have not escaped the wrath ing will last, whether it will be days or These apologists for the ruling class Taylor, the 26-year-old EMT worker who of the protesters, who have toppled or weeks or longer. There is one absolute: are fearful of how far and how deep this was shot eight times in her bed on March defamed Confederate monuments in This rebellion is unprecedented for not rebellion could go in rupturing the frag- 13 by Louisville, Ky. police; Tony McDade, Birmingham, Ala.; Nashville, Tenn.; only being composed of predominantly ile capitalist system, already reeling from a trans man shot to death on May 27 in Richmond, Va.; and Charleston, S.C. The young people, but it is multinational with the coronavirus pandemic and the ongo- Tallahassee, Fla.; and David McAtee, a United Daughters of the Confederacy Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian and ing economic crisis. popular vendor fatally shot today, also by Memorial Building in Richmond and the white protesters joining together. They This rebellion needs political solidar- Louisville police—​just to name a few. Market House, the site of a slave auction refuse to be silent when it comes to being ity, not isolation! That is reason enough The protests have linked these individ- in Fayetteville, N.C., were torched. in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter to demand: No police state! No military ual cases to all forms of police violence in movement and for condemning all forms dictatorship! Amnesty for all arrestees! Black and Brown communities, includ- Global defense of solidarity of police violence. Withdraw the police and National Guard! ing disproportionate cases of harass- Trump has been called the “number one This uprising, much like the pandemic, No justice! No peace! ☐ ment, arrests and shootings. Eighteen white supremacist”—​and rightfully so. has impacted every sector of U.S. society.

Donate a Workers World subscription to a prisoner Marxism, Reparations and the Black Freedom Struggle “Inmates need Workers World papers. has always provided FREE subscriptions and other When you’re locked up, you need an radical printed materials to prisoners in the U.S. One An anthology of writings intellectual light to shine through in three subscribers to Workers World is a person from Workers World who is currently behind bars—in​ hundreds of pris- the darkness of state oppression. If newspaper. you’re a free person reading this, and ons across dozens of states. WE NEED YOUR HELP to provide even more pris- you care about the struggle against Edited by Monica oners with FREE subscriptions to Workers World! mass incarceration, please take out a Moorehead. We receive hundreds of phone calls, letters and subscription for an incarcerated person. subscription requests from prisoners. In addition to Racism, National Oppression & Self- It means more than you could possibly the work we do fighting racism, imperialism, gender Determination • Black Labor from imagine.” oppression and labor exploitation every day, we need Chattel Slavery to Wage Slavery • —Makasi Motema the resources to keep operating the only revolution- Black Youth: Repression & Resistance ary communist printed weekly in this country. • The Struggle for Socialism Is Key You can donate a subscription to Workers These resources also allow us to continue our daily • Domestic Workers United Demand Passage of a Bill of World Patreon to go to an inmate—today​ at work of organizing defense committees, coordinat- Rights • Black & Brown Unity • Harriet Tubman, Woman patreon.com/wwp/. ing prison visits, planning demonstrations and mass Warrior • Racism & Poverty in the Delta • Haiti Needs Workers World is an independent, revolutionary mobilizations for prisoners, and shedding light on Reparations, Not Sanctions • Alabama’s Black Belt: Legacy of communist newspaper that began publication in prison conditions. Slavery, Sharecropping & Segregation • Are Conditions Ripe 1959, and has grown to be published weekly in print Donating now is an immediate way you can help Again Today? Anniversary of the 1965 Watts Rebellion and daily on the web. We are committed to build- fight this racist, capitalist system and empower ing solidarity among workers and oppressed peoples our readers to tear down the walls once and for all. Download it from workers.org/books. around the globe. For that reason Workers World Donate today at patreon.com/wwp Also available at major online booksellers. Page 6 June 4, 2020 workers.org Historic uprising resists racism, killer cops

Minneapolis

George Perry Floyd (1973–2020) Breonna Taylor (1993–2020)

American Indian Movement PHOTO: BRAD SIGAL Minneapolis, May 27. PHOTO: BRAD SIGAL activists, Minneapolis, May 27. Cleveland

Oakland, Calif.

Salt Lake City

WW PHOTO: SUSAN SCHNUR Over 8,000 people marched on the “Justice” Center Complex in Cleveland on May 30. Protesters ranged from youth of color to whole families, including young children with small signs calling The Justice for George Floyd and Breonna for justice. Even after police escalated Taylor Car Caravan in Oakland, Calif., brought their attack on the protest, thousands out more than 7,000 cars and thousands of of youths who stayed downtown into people with handmade signs. the evening showed great courage by countering police attacks.

WW PHOTO: JOANNA STRAUGH West Virginia Grady County Jail, Okla.

WW PHOTO: OTIS GROTEWOHL Around 400 people in solidarity with the growing rebellions—a majority Black youth—rallied outside a Wheeling, W.Va., Prisoners inside the Grady County Jail in police station. Other rallies were held in Chickasha, Okla., rally for George Floyd. Huntington, Charleston and Parkersburg.

Los Angeles San Antonio

Pensacola, Fla.

Los Angeles demonstrators, May 30.

WW PHOTO: B.S.L. Chanting ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘No Justice, No Peace’ The Graffiti Bridge, Pensacola, Fla., May 30. PHOTO: STRIVE and demanding an end to police brutality and the many injustices faced by Black and Brown people, over 5,000 people of diverse backgrounds gathered in downtown San Antonio, Texas, on May 30. workers.org June 4, 2020 Page 7 Historic uprising resists racism, killer cops

Buffalo, N.Y. Boston

Over a thousand people in Buffalo, N.Y., May 30. WW PHOTO: ELLIE DORRITIE Tony McDade, killed at age 38

Boston, May 29.

New York City

WW PHOTO: TONY MURPHY WW PHOTO: G. DUNKEL Left: Over 1,000 antiracist protesters marched May 30 in the Jackson Heights/Elmhurst area of Queens—home to thousands of migrant workers, especially Latinx workers hit hard by the pandemic. Marchers carried signs including ‘It’s Right to Rebel!’ ‘Billionaires Are the Real Looters!’ ‘Bangladesh for Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Say His Name: George Floyd!’ Right: Over 3,000 people rallied in Union Square on May 30 and then marched through downtown Manhattan.

Philadelphia Newark, N.J.

WW PHOTOS: JOE PIETTE Demonstrators target statue of hated former Philadelphia Over 5,000 people rallied and marched in downtown top-cop and mayor Frank Rizzo May 30. Protests continued in Newark, N.J., from the steps of the Essex County Philadelphia on June 1. Courthouse to Newark City Hall.

Triangle Area, N.C. In North Carolina, a day of protest began in Durham on May 30, when hundreds took the streets in the afternoon, marching from the jail through downtown. In the evening thousands converged on downtown Raleigh, the state capital. Demonstrators surrounded and pushed inside the city courthouse. Riot police attempted to surround the protesters from the outside, but were themselves surrounded.

WW PHOTO: DURHAM WW BUREAU Atlanta WW photographer targeted by police By Workers World Philadelphia bureau and injuring my hand. “As a retired U.S. Postal Service letter On June 1, while taking photos at carrier, I’ve donated my photo skills to a Justice for George Floyd march in many progressive community organiza- Philadelphia, Joe Piette, whose photo- tions free of charge over the last decade. graphs appear frequently in the pages of My photos of the June 1 protest, plus Workers World was intentionally targeted thousands of other photos of commu- by police. nity events, can be viewed at tinyurl. PHOTO: STEVE EBERHARDT This is one of many reports of journal- com/yd9jqps8/. Atlanta march on May 29, initiated by young women of color, brought 5,000 ists, including photographers and camera “I can’t afford to buy another cam- people on a route that included the State Capitol and CNN world headquarters. crews covering the George Floyd protests, era so I asked all the people who have The marchers gathered at the statue of Henry Grady, a white man of the enslaving, being purposely targeted and injured by viewed and liked my work over the lynching “Old South.” A moment of historic significance occurred when a Black police, often with rubber bullets. years to help me buy a replacement. elder climbed the statue with a sign “Stop Black Lynchings.” Immediately he was joined by many youth who used the statue as a platform to lead Black Lives Matter Piette told Workers World: “As cops My gofundme goal was reached in just chants. Over two days of rallies, every Atlanta protest was met with hundreds were shooting tear gas and rubber bullets hours. What I don’t need for the camera of armed police forces who consistently used tear gas, flash bombs, tanks and at nonviolent protesters, a cop shot a rub- will be donated to the Philadelphia Bail armored vehicles to repress the righteous outrage of the youth. ber bullet at me, destroying my camera Fund.” (tinyurl.com/yd9jqps8/) Page 8 June 4, 2020 workers.org Solidarity with all LGBTQ2+ workers! By Ezra Echo gay men and trans women of color. The LGBTQ2+ working class looks like states LGBTQ2+ youth have a 120 percent The LGBTQ2+ working class looks all the students who have been forced out higher risk of becoming homeless than This is a slightly edited version of a like my fellow gay and nonbinary barista of their safe spaces at school and back to their cisgender/ heterosexual counterparts. talk given during the “What Road to coworkers here in Buffalo who are making homes with sometimes unsupportive or It’s impossible to list in three minutes all Socialism?” webinar held by Workers more money on unemployment than they downright hostile family members. the people who are part of the LGBTQ2+ World Party on May 16. ever have while working. The LGBTQ2+ working class looks like working class, but our struggle was born out The LGBTQ2+ working class looks like all the imprisoned lesbian, gay, bisexual of the oppression of the working class, as The LGBTQ2+ working class looks like the LGBTQ2+ AAPI (Asian American and and transgender people who deserve to be all special oppressions are. We cannot and my gay, bisexual, and trans comrades who Pacific Islander) folks here in the U.S., released, especially in the midst of this viral should not be separated from that struggle. usually would be gearing up for our collec- who are facing even more harassment pandemic and are dying as a result of it. We need to have solidarity now more than tive celebration of Pride Month and the 51st during this time. The Stop AAPI Hate The LGBTQ2+ working class looks like ever with all our LGBTQ2+ comrades. annniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Reporting Center received over 1,700 all the homeless LGBTQ2+ youth who can’t The LGBTQ2+ working class looks like reports of incidents of discrimination possibly shelter in place because they don’t Echo (they/them) is a new member of all the people involved in those rebellions and harassment since it was established have homes in the first place. A study done WWP in Buffalo, N.Y., a nonbinary les- against police brutality: the butch lesbians, on March 19, up through May 13. by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago bian, an artist and a writer. Organizing health care for patients, not profit By Taegan attention and organizational culture of capitalism and health, then it is our duty to fight to change efforts being placed on doc- settler-colonialism. them, just as we would a bacterial infection. This is a slightly edited version of a tors and nurses. In order to join our Cuban We also need to struggle with our talk given during the “What Road To Within the party, we sup- comrades on the path toward co-workers who hold backward positions Socialism?” webinar held by Workers port these organizational a communist economic and and combat all instances of racism, sex- World Party on May 16. efforts, while recognizing health care system, we must ism, xenophobia, transphobia and other that they are not enough. begin the process of divorc- forms of bigotry in medicine. I appreciate being given the chance to The formation of a health care workers’ ing medical care from its capitalist base. If we organize the people and take speak on such a critical topic as health caucus that includes people not typically Medical professionals must immerse the necessary steps to eliminate cap- care in the so-called United States. Many regarded as health care workers—hospi- themselves in their communities and italist ideology and culture, then the comrades have already spoken of the cur- tal laundry workers, massage therapists, organize health clinics that are controlled natural empathy and desire to help oth- rent conditions within the health care sec- patient technicians, workers in assisted by the people—and completely reject ers—which so many of us health care tor, so I’ll save us from rehashing what we living facilities and more—represents capitalist nonprofit methods. workers have—will overcome this mur- all know: Capitalists are using the pan- only a launching point for us. I’ll refrain from going into specifics, derous system of capitalist health care. demic as an opportunity to monopolize There is a dire need to create a health but this must also include taking actions and undermine what few rights we have care system that cares more about patient that subvert the capitalist system for the Taegan (she/her) is a transwoman, and bleed workers dry. health than profits. This not only needs benefit of our patients. Our medical the- Emergency Medical Technician and mem- For the most part, current efforts to a socialist economic revolution, but ories also need to be rooted in dialectical ber of the Central Texas branch of WWP. organize health care workers around the a cultural one. The U.S. medical sys- materialism. If the living, environmental She is a veteran of the U.S. Navy who capitalist response to COVID‑19 have been tem was born of white supremacist and and cultural conditions that our patients hopes to live in service to workers and the limited to trade unionism, with the bulk of eugenics ideology, the ideology and experience are negatively impacting their oppressed against the empire. Women & gender-nonconforming people: Workers’ assemblies Nothing to lose but our chains by Makasi Motema working class. We need workers’ assemblies to take control of our econ- By Phebe Eckfeldt sexual abuse, harassment and violence. This is a slightly edited version of a omy. We need health care and housing Domestic violence is on the rise. Women talk given during the “What Road to to fall under the control of workers’ This is a slightly edited version of are viewed as private property. Some Socialism?” webinar held by Workers assemblies. If a business decides its a talk given during the“What Road to women fight every minute of every day World Party on May 16. workers are essential, then it’s essen- Socialism?” webinar held by Workers just to stay alive because they have debili- tial that workers’ assemblies control World Party on May 16. tating post traumatic stress disorder from The U.S. claims to be a democracy, that business. This is what we mean living under capitalism. but this claim is totally divorced from when we say, “All power to the work- In his book “High Tech, Low Pay,” Sam But let us gain courage and strength the reality of class struggle. The wealthy ers’ assemblies.” Marcy, the late Workers World Party by going back a few years to the dawn of ruling class, which owns most of our Comrades in Workers World Party’s chairperson, talks about how technol- humanity when there was a matriarchy, economy through the stock market Durham branch have already taken the ogy has diminished the number of skilled meaning the “absence of male suprem- and banking system, also has complete lead in building workers’ assemblies. workers compared to unskilled workers, acy,” the absence of patriarchy. If we look ownership of our electoral process. The There, workers are banding together changing the social composition of labor. back at all of human history as 365 days, politicians we elect are the servants of and vowing to organize the South. And So there are more women, Black, Latinx one year’s time, the matriarchy existed for capitalists, who will never do anything that movement is spreading. and LGBTQ2+ people in the workforce. 360 days! Please don’t forget this. to harm the interests of their masters. The movement is spreading because There are fewer privileged workers, and V. I. Lenin, leader of the Russian This is not a democracy; it is a dic- workers understand that if we don’t their influence is lessened. The political Revolution, said: “It has been observed tatorship of the rich. True democracy organize, we won’t win. Workers leadership has shifted to the working-class in the experience of all liberation move- would reflect the popular will of the understand that if we turn away from elements—​those who know intimately ments that the success of a revolution masses, the bulk of whom belong to building a mass base, we are conceding what racism, sexism, ableism, misogyny, depends on the extent to which women the working class. Socialist revolutions victory to the ruling class. And workers bigotry and xenophobia are. They are more [and gender nonconforming people] take aim to take control of the means of understand that, in this moment in his- left, more conscious and more militant. part in it.” production—the levers which control tory, we can’t accept defeat. We have to An estimated 47 percent of the work- Through our work in the Party, we can our economy—and establish rule by demand victory. force is women. Sam Marcy calls that the bring women together. We can listen, the working class. That’s why workers’ We have to do this now. Nonunion “feminization of labor.” deep-organize, educate and empower assemblies are so important, because workers must be unionized, and Women and gender-nonconforming each other. We can establish Women’s they can become an engine of workers’ unionized workers must be radical- people are literally fighting for our lives! Assemblies. We can revitalize the democracy and workers’ control over ized. Tenants, apartment blocks and Consciousness about class, race, capital- Women’s Fightback Network. the economy. entire neighborhoods must be brought ism and imperialism is rising; it is start- The coronavirus has highlighted what The history of socialist revolutions together to fight landlords, developers ing to take leaps and bounds—​and finally we know: Socialism is the medicine we is the history of political base-building. and police oppression. Socialists must leaping into action. need! The Internationale, the song that is Before the October Revolution of 1917, seed ourselves throughout the working Women begin to realize they have the universal anthem of the working class workers organized into political bodies to class to provide political agitation, edu- nothing to lose but their chains. In the and oppressed the world over, proclaims: control their political and economic lives. cation and organization. past couple of years, we have witnessed “The earth shall rise on new foundations. This went beyond unionizing. Workers’ This is our moral duty—to unite women rising up and taking bold action, We have been naught. We shall be all!” councils, even without the sanction of the the working class, to build a workers’ demanding justice, dignity, respect and a government, decided the most important democracy, to use all our energy to defy living wage. They are prisoners, sex work- Eckfeldt (she/her) has been a member political questions of the time. They were the capitalist ruling class. ers, teachers, hotel workers, nurses, immi- of the WWP Boston branch for over 40 the government of a state unto them- grants, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, years. She is a mother of three, a nurse, selves, a workers’ state that fought for Motema (he/him) is a contributing and Dalit. And they are reproductive jus- a retired member of the Harvard Union the interests of their class. editor of Workers World Newspaper tice fighters, mothers taking over aban- of Clerical and Technical Workers, and Just as in 1917, the problems we face and a member of Workers World doned housing and many others. a founder of the Women’s Fightback today can only be solved by a united Party’s New York City branch. Every day women are fighting against Network in Boston. workers.org June 4, 2020 Page 9 Larry Kramer, 1935-2020: An appreciation By Shelley Ettinger In the months and years following, the AIDS activist movement would carry out many militant actions. They I joined ACT-UP/NY soon after it formed, in the spring barricaded and sat in at pharmaceutical company head- of 1987. Thirty-three years later, I still have vivid memories quarters. They crashed medical conferences and corpo- of the weekly meetings, which crackled with the electric rate board meetings. They disrupted reactionary religious energy of hundreds of angry people jammed into the first- events. They demanded attention, and action, and even- floor meeting room in the LGBTQ Center in Manhattan. tually they won real change. Many, probably most, had not been political activ- ists before the AIDS crisis erupted. Now, as they orated, Rage at oppression debated, strategized in that rundown old building on So who was Larry Kramer? He was first and foremost West 13th Street, they were creating a new movement, a gay man. His bitter, painful experience of gay oppres- one that would make history and save lives. The task was sion drove everything he did. His rage, his furious, pas- enormous: to force the government, the ruling class, the sionate rage at heterosexism, homophobia, LGBTQ2+ medical establishment, the pharmaceutical industry to oppression was endless and profound, and it helped give take real action to combat AIDS. rise to a great social movement. Tens of thousands were dying. Most were gay men and Larry Kramer He was an artist, a brilliant novelist and playwright, people of color. By 1987 the AIDS epidemic had been though, as Tony Kushner noted in a May 29 New York raging in these communities for years. The poorest, Times article, Kramer “sacrificed for the sake of his those with least access to medical care, were falling fast- organization—​vital, but not, Larry saw, sufficient. unceasing activism some of what he might have accom- est. People were attending funerals, scratching names Something else was needed: a fight. A real, bare-knuck- plished artistically.” out of address books, trying to go on, to stay alive, with les, no-holds-barred fight had to be waged. Larry was a Jewish child of the Depression. Later in no hope of support or aid from any official source. And so Larry Kramer, along with a few others, founded life he was comfortable financially. He was never a revo- There were no effective treatments. There was no the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. lutionary. But he always considered himself an outsider, nationally coordinated public health effort to educate It quickly developed and grew. Taking lessons from an “other” in this society that he excoriated in his work, people about methods to prevent the spread of HIV. The the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement and literary and political. He was a radical, and a true militant. president, Ronald Reagan, had never once spoken the of course the LGBTQ2+ movement, the young organizers In ACT UP meetings I knew Larry only as an angry word AIDS in public. who soon assumed leadership fashioned ACT UP into a speaker, up in the front of that first-floor room at the Meanwhile, anti-gay and racist violence was on the street-fighting powerhouse. center. I usually sat near the back, which his fiery energy rise as reactionary forces whipped up fear and scape- ACT UP/NY’s first big action took place March 24, easily reached. Friends tell of a different Larry up close goating campaigns. 1987. Hundreds poured onto lower Broadway in the and personal, a sweet, kind, loving soul. This was the juncture when Larry Kramer stepped up early morning hours, targeting big business as the cul- I got to witness that sweet side a few years before he and started the movement that would change everything. prit for AIDS-based discrimination and the failure to died. After not seeing Larry in person for decades, I ran Movements are made up of many people. Mass struggle develop and fund affordable AIDS treatment drugs. into him at a deli one afternoon in the Village. I knew is just that, a mass undertaking, and no one individual can The call to action proclaimed: “No More Business As he’d weathered several major illnesses; he seemed bent accomplish everything. Still, leadership is decisive. And Usual!” The goal: to shut down Wall Street. and frail. I said hi and introduced myself as someone Larry Kramer was the leader we needed at the height of We did just that. I was one of over 100 people arrested who’d been in ACT UP in the early years. He perked up, the AIDS crisis. at the Wall Street action that morning. While cops straightening his spine, giving me the widest, warmest A few years earlier, as AIDS emerged as a deadly threat, dragged us off, hundreds more stayed, chanting the smile, and reached in for a hug. For some reason we Larry had been one of the founders of Gay Men’s Health newly minted and now famous ACT UP slogan: “Act up! both got a little teary-eyed. We chatted a bit, then said Crisis. GMHC developed into a community service Fight back! Fight AIDS!” goodbye. ☐ Workers unite to fight racism, cops, pandemic By Sue Davis death: “Our members—​bus drivers—​ “While Jobs With Justice supports issued a statement May 27 that over 100 have the right to refuse work they con- all workers who wish to form a union TWU members have died of COVID‑19, There has been a groundswell of sider dangerous or unsafe during the and have a voice on the job, the death of while more than 50 ATU members have worker solidarity with protests against pandemic; so do Minneapolis bus driv- George Floyd at the hands of police is yet died. While “states reopen, more peo- the racist police killing of George Floyd ers—​our members—​have the right to another example of a local police union ple are boarding our buses and trains. in Minneapolis on May 25. refuse the dangerous duty of transport- that spends more time nurturing a cul- Transit agencies and governments need First, reports came in from Minneapolis ing police to protests and arrested dem- ture of white supremacy and violence to work with our Union to listen to what that some bus drivers had refused to onstrators away from these communities than democratizing the workplace. Police we learned since this outbreak began. cooperate with cops in using public buses where many of these drivers live. This is officers should not be above the law, and Critical changes need to be made now to transport people arrested during pro- a misuse of public transit. should not be able to negotiate conditions to protect transit workers and riders, so tests there. Bus driver Adam Bruch told “If any good is to come of this, we in that put them above the law.” more lives won’t be lost.” Payday Report: “As a transit worker and the labor movement and the nation must A May 29 article in The New Republic, ATU drivers in Connecticut held a union member, I refuse to transport my unite to stop the systemic cycle of injus- titled “No More Cop Unions,” states rally May 20 in Bridgeport demanding class and radical youth [to jail]. An injury tice, racism and hatred that plagues our that if the AFL-CIO “wants to prove improved safety, especially more masks to one is an injury to all. The police mur- country.” (May 28) that it’s seriously committed to racial and gloves. “We have people who are dered George Floyd and the protest … is Statements condemning the murder of justice and true worker solidarity, the scared to go to work because they’re completely justified and should continue George Floyd and calling for justice were AFL-CIO must permanently disaffiliate afraid of dying,” Veronica Chavers of until their demands are met.” (May 30) also issued by Richard Trumpka, president from the International Union of Police ATU Local 443 in Stamford told WTNH. Soon the Minneapolis Transit Service of the AFL-CIO; Mary Kaye Henry, presi- Associations and sever its ties with any At least one Connecticut bus driver has canceled service completely. “Many [driv- dent of the Service Employees (SEIU); and and all other police associations.” already died. ers are] unwilling to do anything for the many national and local unions, including Booker Hodges, a former Minnesota The Washington Post ran a detailed police and put themselves in harm’s way National Nurses United. police officer who wrote a 2018 blog post article May 31 revealing that more than for the police that created this mess to on Police One, pointed out that over the 100 workers in the $800 billion grocery begin with,” added Burch. Calls to expel law enforcement years many union members have pro- industry have died from the pandemic. Bus drivers in New York City, repre- ‘unions’ from labor movement tested against police officers, criticized Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) sented by Transport Workers Union Local Some unions immediately responded police unions for defending members’ Local 400 is demanding their members 100 in the Amalgamated Transit Union, to the racist outrage of Floyd’s murder abuse of power and called for no binding have access to all benefits and protections also did not cooperate with the police. A by calling for all so-called law enforce- arbitration for police officers. of other essential workers, such as access video of a bus driver refusing to transport ment unions—​city and county police, “If and when reforms are introduced in to testing, treatment and personal protec- people arrested during protests in front Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the wake of an abuse of police powers. … the tive equipment. of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center went viral Customs and Border Protection, and bottom line here is all too plain: The police The unofficial tally of worker actions Friday night, May 29. Department of Corrections officers—​ to do not want reform; they want the freedom and strikes in Payday Report has grown J.P. Patafio, vice president of Local be disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO, its to operate with impunity,” asserted author to 230 since March 1, including a group 100, was quoted in VICE as saying: “We state federations and all other unions. Kim Kelly in the TNR article. of coffee baristas in Philadelphia and the didn’t do it during … Occupy Wall Street. “There can be no worker solidar- Citing the labor song “Which Side Are fast food workers who went on strike in Oakland, Calif., after they were asked to … I told the Manhattan Transit Authority ity between survivors and perpetra- You On?” Kelly concluded: “As we once wear dog diapers as masks. our workers won’t be used to drive tors of police violence,” stated United more … ask ourselves that question, the cops around. That’s in solidarity with Auto Workers Local 2322, represent- only acceptable response is crystal-clear: Primary sources are Payday Report, Minneapolis bus drivers. Our members ing student workers at the University of that we’re on the side of the workers, not May 28-30, which led to other sources. do not work for the NYPD. We transport Massachusetts Amherst. For other union their abusers and oppressors.” Information from social media via Labor working families of NYC.” (May 29) statements supporting disaffiliation, see Against Racist Terror contributed to this International President of the #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd on Facebook. Struggle against COVID‑19 continues article. Amalgamated Transit Union John Costa Jobs With Justice Executive Director Meanwhile, workers’ struggle against issued a statement condemning Floyd’s Erica Smiley spoke out on May 29: the coronavirus continues. The ATU Page 10 June 4, 2020 workers.org

editorial Defend resisters! Defend the uprising!

Continued from page 1 class will let millions die, as long as their oppression, the cops keep occupying, school-to-prison pipeline. Countless peo- property—​and the state system that props demonizing and killing them, their loved ple everywhere are contributing to bail Floyd’s killers arrested. He was not even it up—​is left untouched. When cops kill, ones, their co-workers, members of their funds for those arrested in the protests. charged with first-degree murder, while they are virtually untouchable because the communities. These youth are eyewitness As the state ramps up brutal attacks the three cops who assisted the killer are “duty” of police is first and foremost to beat to some of these deaths, or they see them on demonstrators with tear gas, pepper still walking free. down working and oppressed people and on videotape over and over, becoming spray, rubber bullets and armed troops, An intensive ruling-class propaganda to keep any protest from touching the prof- consumed with the nightmare that what our solidarity must be sustained. campaign is underway to shift attention its or property of the capitalist class. happened to George Floyd or Breonna More solidarity would be if state National and responsibility away from the state, as Taylor could happen to them. Guard members everywhere refused to the main instigator of violence against the No future under capitalism This young generation is the new noth- occupy their friends and neighbors with people, and instead blame protesters. The protesters are overwhelmingly ing-to-lose-but-their-chains generation, military force. For white demonstrators, State authorities, like the U.S. pres- young people who are working or unem- and they are leading the battle against the more solidarity would be to go to protests ident, are defaming the rebellious pro- ployed, who are of oppressed nationali- murderous state. and accept the leadership of Black organiz- testers with racist code words and trying ties and genders. Caught in the historic They—​and we—need​ active, strategic ers. More solidarity would be joining with to split the movement by demonizing the COVID‑19 pandemic, they are losing jobs solidarity to win. oppressed Black, Brown and Indigenous “radical left”—​anarchists and anti-fas- in the unprecedented economic crisis Already there have been inspiring exam- people to defund and dismantle the police, cists (antifa), whom Trump has declared a or risking their lives to keep “essential” ples: Union bus drivers across the U.S.—​ to challenge an unjust legal system and “terrorist group.” Big-business commen- unprotected, low-paying jobs. Maybe they the majority workers of color—​refused fight to free all those imprisoned. tators are trying to split protesters into or their family or neighbors can’t pay rent to transport arrested protesters. A young A new generation is leading—​against good “peaceful” people and bad “violent” and are being evicted from their homes or white woman in New York City knocked a racism and for justice, against dead-end people, white youth versus Black youth, are sick, maybe dying, because health care bicycle cop to the ground after he punched existence under capitalism and toward and “law-abiding” protesters versus those is just for people with money. They face a a young Black woman protester. The a better world. They are not “rioters”—​ who were only harming property. bleak future, if they survive the present. Minneapolis school board severed ties they are resisters. Act in solidarity with And there is the key word. The ruling And in the middle of this storm of with the city’s police force—​a break in the them and their uprising—​now! ☐

Against police violence and capitalism To rebel is justif ied By Monica Moorehead George Floyd. Everyone who watched the corporate media rushed to defend the video saw a white racist cop, Derek the capitalists’ sacred private property Workers World salutes all the brave pro- Chauvin, choke Floyd to death with his and labeled some protesters “violent.” testers in Minneapolis, currently ground knee as he was begging for his mother and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other zero against police terror. We also salute his life while three other cops, Thomas officials called for “calm.” those activists in Los Angeles, Memphis Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, This posturing repeats the standard and other cities who are organizing pro- did nothing to stop this atrocity. attempt by capitalist politicians who seek tests and braving the pandemic to be in the The long unheard Black community to drive a wedge between the masses on PHOTO: THEGRIO.COM streets or in car caravans to show solidarity in Minneapolis only needed a spark—​ the issue of nonviolence. Protester in Minneapolis in response to cop with the demand: Justice for George Floyd Floyd’s execution—​to arouse its collective They focused on the same argument in murder of George Floyd. and all victims of police violence. anger built up during years of humiliating Watts, Los Angeles in 1965; in Newark, The corporate media call the May 27 pro- police occupation, harassment, beatings N.J., and Detroit in 1967; in the hun- billionaire ruling class that wants to test in Minneapolis a “riot.” In a speech on and arrests—​and rise up. Even the sta- dreds of uprisings following King’s assas- keep hidden its super-exploitation of the March 14, 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther tistics justify their anger: Of those who sination in 1968; the Miami rebellion of workers and oppressed. But when rebel- King Jr. defined that term, saying, “A riot police shot in Minneapolis from late 2009 1980; the Los Angeles rebellion in 1992; lions do break out, the ruling class will is the language of the unheard.” Following to May 2019, some 60 percent were from and Ferguson, Mo., in 2014. unleash its state apparatus—​the police, his assassination less than a month later, the Black community—​though they make In his 1992 pamphlet, “A Marxist Defense Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Black people rose up in hundreds of cities up only 20 percent of the total population. of the LA Rebellion,” Workers World Party the National Guard and even the Army in in righteous protest. They were heard. (New York Times, May 28) chairperson Sam Marcy wrote: “In times an attempt to terrorize neo-colonized peo- So was the Black population of Righteous protesters broke the win- when the bourgeoisie is up against the wall, ples in the Black, Brown and Indigenous Minneapolis. During the May 27 action, dows of the Third Precinct headquarters when the masses have risen suddenly and communities. community members broke the win- where the four fired cops were once based. unexpectedly, the bourgeoisie gets most When the masses rebel, they are not dows and slashed the tires of a long line They picked up tear gas canisters the cops lyrical in abjuring violence. It conjures up only rebelling against the state, but they of police cars while arrogant cops drove targeted at them and threw them back at all sorts of lies and deceits about the unrul- are rebelling against an oppressive system them. The community, united in action, the police. They burned or expropriated iness of a few among the masses as against that denies them the basic necessities of raised one powerful voice to say: “We are goods from AutoZone, Target and other the orderly law-abiding many. life—​jobs, housing, health care, education all George Floyd”—meaning​ that any one businesses. “Marxism here again cuts through it all. and the right to live free from all forms of them could wind up a victim of a police The Marxist view of violence flows from of oppression, etc.—​in order to fulfill the lynching at any place or time. A class view of violence an altogether different concept. It first of inherent profit drive of capitalism. The protests responded to the May 25 Once the protests moved from “peace- all distinguishes between the violence of As Marcy emphasizes, any sponta- videotaped lynching of a Black man, ful” on May 26 to direct action on May 27, the oppressors as against the responsive neous or unorganized violence from the violence of the masses. Just to be able to oppressed is self-defense against the orga- formulate it that way is a giant step for- nized armed force of the state. There is no Support the Marxist voice for LGBTQ2+ rights ward, away from disgusting bourgeois equal sign between the two; they represent praise for nonviolence. It never occurs to two distinct, antagonistic social classes. Ever since the Stonewall Rebellion CeCe McDonald, who was charged with any of them to show that the masses have From diverse ideological perspectives, erupted June 28, 1969, Workers World manslaughter after defending herself from never made any real leap forward with what both King and Marcy stated connect has covered the global struggle to end a racist, bigoted attack. the theory of nonviolence. Timidity never to today’s events in south Minneapolis homophobia and all forms of discrimina- WW helps to build mass struggles, like made it in history. However any oppressed community sees tion, persecution and violence against les- what’s going on now in the streets from “Indeed, Marxists do prefer nonvio- fit to fight back against legal and extralegal bian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and coast to coast. This righteous outpouring of lent methods if the objectives the masses terrorism—be​ it the police or neofascists—​ gender-nonconforming communities. rage and protest over the racist cop mur- seek—​freedom from oppression and alongside mainly antiracist white youth, WW has consistently backed up our activ- der of George Floyd comes as the COVID‑19 exploitation—​can be obtained that way. is justified. It should be supported and ist coverage with analysis. In the early 1970s, pandemic disproportionally impacts Black, But Marxism explains the historical evo- defended against we ran a series of articles that quickly led to Brown and Indigenous peoples. lution of the class struggle as well as the the slanderous publication of the book “Roots of Lesbian Please help us get out the word. For a struggle of oppressed nations as against attacks and lies and Gay Oppression: A Marxist Analysis.” donation of at least $75 a year—or​ $100, or oppressors.” propagated by It has since been translated into Spanish. $300 or much more if you’re able—​mem- There are two factors that these multi- right-wing and Then in the 1990s, WW Managing Editor bers receive a year’s subscription to WW, a generational events have in common: First, even so-called and globally recognized transgender leader monthly letter about timely issues and five they were ignited by police terror, espe- liberal media and Leslie Feinberg wrote a series of 25 arti- free subscriptions to give to friends. Write cially killings of Black people; and second, politicians, whose cles later published in pamphlet form as checks to Workers World and mail them, they were major rebellions, carried out by primary objective “Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba.” with your name and address, to 147 W. 24th the oppressed and their allies against their is to apologize for They were followed by the series “Lavender St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10011. Or sign oppression due to decades-long inhumane a rotten system & Red” about socialism and the LGBTQ2+ up online to donate each month. struggle. In 2012 Feinberg wrote in defense We’re grateful for your help in building conditions caused by capitalism. living on borrowed Rebellions scare the hell out of the time. ☐ Read Marcy’s pamphlet of African American transgender woman Workers World—sign​ up today! ☐ at workers.org/books/ workers.org June 4, 2020 Page 11 Brazil’s Trump Bolsonaro ‘biggest threat’ to COVID response By Martha Grevatt buy a hot dog from a vendor—​without a 19 percent of the population—​almost 40 face mask and deliberately flouting social million people—​were officially poor. On May 9, The Lancet medical journal, distancing guidelines—​residents banged Things like adequate food, health care in assessing the COVID crisis in Brazil, pots and pans and hurled insults at him: and clean drinking water—​needed to wrote that “perhaps the biggest threat “killer,” “assassin,” “fascist” and “garbage.” resist and recover from infection—​are to Brazil’s COVID‑19 response is its “We are in the midst of a pandemic,” out of reach for many. This situation president, Jair Bolsonaro.” When ques- said Antônio Carlos Costa, an activist pas- worsened after the illegal coup which tioned by journalists about the country’s tor in Rio de Janeiro. “People are dying in removed President Dilma Rousseff in high rate of infection, Bolsonaro had packed hospitals, and you don’t see him 2016. Hospital overcrowding has reached answered—​this is a direct quote—​“So shed a single tear.” (Guardian, May 24) disastrous levels since the first cases of Mothers on May 31 carry photos of their what? What do you want me to do?” Widespread condemnation of COVID‑19 were identified. sons and others killed by Brazilian police. This is a politician who takes great Bolsonaro’s “so what” attitude began before Conditions are especially difficult for pride in being compared to U.S. President the infection numbers skyrocketed. Several Afro-descendant and Indigenous com- are not homegrown problems. They are Donald Trump. Brazilian scientific and human rights orga- munities—​for whom Bolsonaro shares the product of centuries of colonialism, Now Bolsonaro’s Trump-like response nizations sounded the alarm with an April Trump’s racism. Brazil’s 100 million peo- imperialism and neocolonialism—​first to the pandemic has contributed to Brazil 7 manifesto titled “Pact for Life and for ple of African ancestry, many of whom live imposed by the Portuguese colonialists having the second-highest number of con- Brazil.” Organized by renowned Brazilian in favelas, have higher than average pov- and then by U.S. capitalists. firmed COVID‑19 cases in the world—the photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, artists, erty rates. And among Brazil’s 900,000 Other countries in Latin America are highest being the U.S. As of June 1, almost intellectuals, scientists and celebrities from Indigenous people, the COVID‑19 death in similar dire straits—​and for the same 515,000 Brazilians are known to be around the world signed a May 3 open let- rate is twice the national average. (CNN, reason. Going back to the 19th century’s infected and over 29,000 have died. ter warning of a health catastrophe. May 24) Monroe Doctrine, U.S. imperialism has Bolsonaro has also parroted Trump’s On May 31, favela residents held a Black viewed the conquest of Latin America as denial of climate science. He has delib- Death toll: legacy of colonialism Lives Matter demonstration in Rio de its “manifest destiny.” Monroe’s legacy is erately allowed climate-related fires to and imperialism Janeiro, chanting “I can’t breathe” in sol- the rising rate of COVID‑19 infection in destroy wide swaths of the Amazon rain- Beyond Bolsonaro, Brazilians face enor- idarity with George Floyd. They read out countries like Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and forest, displacing Indigenous communities mous obstacles to containing the spread the names of residents murdered by Rio’s Colombia, as well as Brazil. and threatening the “lungs” of the planet. of the coronavirus. Poverty is widespread, police—​some 1,546 last year alone. They By contrast Cuba, which has been a None of this has endeared Bolsonaro with 13 million people living in crowded clashed with Bolsonaro supporters carry- liberated socialist country since 1959, is to the Brazilian masses. On May 25, when ghettos known as favelas, where social ing what were described as neo-Nazi flags. sending doctors all over the world to help he stepped outside his home in Brasilia to distancing is nearly impossible. In 2018, Brazil’s poverty and discrimination defeat the pandemic. ☐ Striking New Orleans sanitation workers fired, replaced by prison slave labor

By Joshua Hanks been sold off to private firms that oper- The Cubans recognize how crucial is the large number of inmates provide labor in ate for a profit and often cut corners to work done by sanitation workers. agriculture, manufacturing and services Sanitation workers in New Orleans are increase their profits’ bottom line. Cuba’s health care system has highly like sanitation. They also work in the state fed up with low pay, long hours and haz- While the city was still under a manda- positive results. It delivers high life expec- capital, filing papers and cleaning the faci- ardous conditions. Their problems are tory evacuation order following Hurricane tancy and low mortality rates compared lities for the governor and lawmakers. magnified by the COVID‑19 pandemic Katrina in 2005, all New Orleans public to its neighbors—​and even compared to In response to a massive outpouring which has officially killed nearly 1,000 schools were hastily privatized, making developed capitalist countries like the U.S. of frustration from the community over people in the city’s metropolitan area. the city the first in the country to have Yet the Cubans do this while having far less the firings and use of prison labor, the Close to 20 city sanitation workers who an entirely privatized education system. money and resources at their disposal. parent company released a statement work for Metro Disposal, a private com- This privatization trend continued to con- After the May 5 protest, Metro Disposal saying: “Metro Services Group has long pany, held a protest on May 5, demand- sume other city services as well, including fired several workers. Some of the remain- been an advocate of helping persons who ing hazard pay due to the increased risks sanitation. ing workers formed the City Waste Union; had been incarcerated return to society in they face during a pandemic. The workers yet so far management has refused to vol- a meaningful and productive way. Metro are paid only $10.25 an hour and want Prevention the best medicine untarily recognize it. Instead, the company makes no apologies for this policy as a a pay increase to $15 an hour. They are Sanitation workers are an integral part ordered the striking workers to vacate the core element of our commitment to being demanding better personal protective of the public health workforce. Their role premises. Management then brought in good corporate citizens.” equipment as well, which they say has not could be viewed as just as crucial, or even prison laborers from nearby Livingston This public relations statement been regularly provided by management. more crucial, for public health than the Parish in an attempt to break the strike. attempts to cover up the company’s One of the workers explained, “They role of medical workers. Sanitation work- According to Louisiana law, incarcerated exploitation of prison laborers and give us masks that are ruined after a cou- ers prevent diseases at their source. And laborers can be paid only 13 percent of the ignores its refusal to recognize the san- ple days and nothing for the rest of the as the coronavirus pandemic has clearly normal pay of $10.25 an hour. itation workers’ union—​but it doesn’t week. We get work gloves but no latex shown, prevention is the best medicine. Lock5 LLC, the private supplier of pri- fool anyone. This shows how critically gloves. If we are cut, we can get infected.” In socialist Cuba, where the public son labor, can keep up to 64 percent of the important it is for labor and community Over the past several decades, New medical system faces shortages of certain already meager wages. This means that pri- organizations to show solidarity with san- Orleans, like many cities in the U.S., has medicines, devices and supplies due to son laborers essentially endure a modern itation workers and incarcerated workers experienced the privatization of a large the U.S. blockade of the island, preven- form of slavery. Louisiana has one of the and demand fair wages and treatment for number of public services. They have tive medicine plays a much bigger role. highest incarceration rates in the world. A them all. ☐ En una grave crisis económica, lecciones de los más oprimidos Continúa de la página 12 ahora aquellos que no tienen “nada que el núcleo de esta solidaridad, como siem- un derecho! ¡Liberarse del racismo y de perder excepto sus cadenas”, como dice pre lo ha sido, ya que la clase dominante todas las formas de opresión son dere- Luchar por sus vidas no es una metáfora, el Manifiesto Comunista. capitalista vuelve a reunir a todas sus fuer- chos! ¡La libertad del encarcelamiento, ya sino una verdad literal, ya que los traba- Estas son las “cadenas” de la esclavitud zas oficiales y vigilantes de neofascismo sea en las cárceles o centros de detención, jadores “esenciales” de bajos salarios que asalariada. para tratar de convertir a los trabajadores y de la deportación, es un derecho! todavía están en el trabajo se enfrentan blancos en contra de las nacionalidades Y en nuestro mundo, estos derechos cara a cara con sus jefes en un intento de Lecciones de luchas pasadas oprimidas y otras agrupaciones oprimidas. son para todas las personas, ya sea en la obtener equipos de protección personal Lo más importante ahora es recordar La otra lección clave que nos dieron los “fuerza laboral” oficial o no. que salven vidas y otras garantías de salud. las lecciones de lucha que nos han dado combatientes antes que nosotros es apun- Todos los días durante esta crisis eco- Para los trabajadores sin empleo, la quienes lucharon durante siglos contra tar y soñar para el mundo que queremos, nómica pandémica, los más oprimidos “ayuda” económica de los Estados Unidos el colonialismo, la esclavitud y el capita- no el trato que ofrecen nuestros opreso- lideran la lucha, y todos los días nos están o los gobiernos estatales es completamente lismo de los Estados Unidos. res. Ahora es el momento de avanzar en enseñando nuevamente una antigua lec- inadecuada, si no se retiene deliberada- Lo primero y más importante es la soli- las demandas que nos acercan al mundo ción por el luchador por la libertad negra mente. Hasta el 15 de mayo, según One daridad, la necesidad de forjar lazos de que soñamos. Frederick Douglass: “Sin lucha, no hay Fair Wage, el 44 por ciento de las perso- simpatía, unidad y fuerza, para luchar en Decimos: ¡La comida es un derecho! progreso”. nas que solicitaron el desempleo han sido las batallas de cada uno como si cada una ¡Un trabajo es un derecho! ¡Un salario Avancemos para enfrentar ese desafío, denegadas o aún esperan ser aprobadas. fuera nuestra. y/o un ingreso garantizado más que vivir donde sea que estemos. Solidaridad para Muchos millones de trabajadores son La lucha contra la supremacía blanca es son derechos! ¡La atención médica es siempre. ☐ 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. 62 Núm. 23 4 de junio 2020 $1

FOTO: BRAD SIGAL Manifestantes frente al departamento de policía de Minneapolis antes de ser agredidos por Comentario de WW/MO policías, 27 de mayo. ¿Quieres justicia para George Floyd? ¡Encarcelar y condenar a policías asesinos! Por Monica Moorehead Por favor. Por favor.” (CNN, 27 de mayo) llevaron a cabo una mini-rebelión, cor- de las leyes de la sociedad para proteger Sus súplicas fueron ignoradas hasta tando los neumáticos de los coches de los intereses de la pequeña y super rica 27 de mayo - Fue un déjà vu. Otro hom- que permaneció inmóvil y fue declarado la policía y rompiendo las ventanas del camarilla que administra las ganancias de bre negro capturado en video, primero, muerto en el Centro Médico del Condado recinto. La policía tomó represalias dis- Wall Street. siendo torturado y luego asesinado por de Hennepin. Floyd había sido acusado parando irritantes químicos y balas de Estos intereses son diametralmente un oficial de policía blanco. de intentar pasar un billete falso de $20 goma. Para aliviar el dolor insoportable, opuestos a los intereses de miles de millo- Fue hace casi seis años cuando, el 17 de en una tienda de conveniencia. la gente corría a las tiendas para que le nes de trabajadores y personas oprimi- julio de 2014, millones de personas vie- El policía que mató a Floyd, Derek rociaran la leche en los ojos. A pesar del das, una clase global que no posee nada ron con horror cuando Eric Garner, de Chauvin y los otros tres policías con él brutal asalto de la policía, la protesta duró pero se ve obligada a luchar diariamente 43 años, fue estrangulado por un oficial fueron despedidos, pero al 27 de mayo horas, hasta las 9 p.m. cuando la lluvia por el derecho a las necesidades humanas de policía blanco de Staten Island, Nueva ninguno de ellos había sido arrestado ni dispersó a la multitud. básicas para vivir y prosperar: empleos, York. Se podía escuchar a Garner decir, acusado de asesinato, una demanda que ¿Por qué abolir la policía? vivienda, atención médica, alimentos, repetidamente, “no puedo respirar”, la familia de Floyd y muchos otros han Cuando el ex mariscal de campo de San educación y mucho más. antes de morir de un paro cardíaco. hecho públicamente. Francisco [fútbol estadounidense], Colin La clase dominante depende del brazo Desde ese trágico día hasta el verano de Kaepernick, se arrodilló durante la ejecu- extralegal del estado para defender sus 2019, el Departamento de Policía de Nueva Ataque violento contra ción del himno nacional en la temporada intereses. Es por eso que la policía toma York tardó cinco años en despedir al policía los manifestantes de fútbol 2016-17, se vio obligado a tomar una posición de no intervención hacia los asesino Daniel Pantaleo, quien, hasta ese Una vez que el video se volvió viral en las esta acción luego de los asesinatos poli- neofascistas armados que exigen la rea- momento, había estado en “licencia admi- redes sociales, los hashtags #GeorgeFloyd ciales de Alton Sterling en Baton Rouge, pertura de negocios durante la pandemia. nistrativa” y todavía en la nómina. y #GeorgeFloydwasmurdered se convir- Luisiana, y Philando Castile en un subur- Pero están más que dispuestos a atacar Un gran jurado optó por no acusar a tieron en las principales tendencias en bio de Saint Paul, Minnesota, el verano a los manifestantes desarmados que exi- Pantaleo por asesinato en primer grado, Twitter. Incluso cuando el alcalde Jacob anterior. gen justicia para las víctimas de la bruta- pero Ramsey Orta, un transeúnte puerto- Frey anunció el despido de los cuatro ofi- Desde que asumió esta postura heroica, lidad policial, como Rodney King en 1991, rriqueño que grabó el asesinato en video, ciales, esto no impidió que una multitud Kaepernick ha sido “descartado” por los Michael Brown en 2014 y George Floyd ha estado encarcelado desde 2016, su cas- multinacional de miles, negros, latinos, propietarios y la jerarquía de la Liga esta semana. La gente conecta cada vez tigo por exponer este crimen atroz. indígenas y blancos, tomara las calles de Nacional de Fútbol. No ha tomado otra más estos puntos. Un avance rápido hasta el 2020, cuando Minneapolis, a pesar de las continuas preo- jugada desde el centro desde el final de la La policía no existe bajo el capitalismo el 25 de mayo, un hombre negro de 46 años cupaciones sobre el distanciamiento social. temporada 2017. para “proteger y servir” a la gente. La en Minneapolis, George Floyd, conocido La mayoría de los manifestantes usaban Kaepernick estaba atrayendo la aten- policía existe para proteger y servir a la por sus amigos y compañeros de trabajo máscaras mientras cantaban: “No hay jus- ción mundial no solo a estos dos asesi- propiedad privada de la clase dominante como “Big Floyd”, también fue estrangu- ticia, no hay paz”, “Policías asesinos a la natos particulares, también captados en reforzando, de manera represiva, la lado por un oficial de policía blanco, quien cárcel”, “Abolir a la policía” y “Black Lives video, sino también a la epidemia des- supremacía blanca desde arriba, especial- presionó su rodilla en el cuello de Floyd Matter”. Los padres incluso trajeron a sus enfrenada de brutalidad policial e injus- mente la guerra desproporcionada contra durante casi ocho minutos mientras otros hijos enmascarados a la marcha. ticia racista, desde el perfil racial hasta las personas de color. tres oficiales observaban. Floyd, que fue Este desafiante acto demostró cuán el asesinato directo de personas negras La única justicia real para Eric Garner, esposado durante el asalto, era un amigo enojada y apasionadamente la gente que- y morena desarmadas, sin importar su Breonna Taylor, George Floyd y otrxs del cercano del ex jugador de la Asociación ría protestar por este asesinato, así como edad, género o discapacidad. mundo es abolir la policía. Eso solo puede Nacional de Baloncesto Steven Jackson. los residentes negros, con máscaras, Es por eso que las acciones de ocurrir con, primero, el encarcelamiento Esta atrocidad fue capturada en un salieron a las calles de New Brunswick, Kaepernick todavía resuenan hoy cuando de policías asesinos y, en última instan- video de 10 minutos por Darnella Frazier. Georgia, a principios de este mes por el hay un asesinato policial. cia, la abolición del capitalismo a través Se podía escuchar a Floyd haciendo eco asesinato de Ahmaud Arbery en febrero La policía no son solo personas arma- de una revolución socialista que de una de las palabras de Garner: “No puedo res- por un supremacista blanco y su hijo. das con uniforme. Son una fuerza letal vez por todas pone a los trabajadores y las pirar”. También se le escuchó decir: “Me Una vez que los manifestantes llegaron que forma parte del aparato represivo del personas oprimidas en el poder. ☐ duele el estómago. Me duele el cuello. al Cuartel General del Tercer Recinto, estado, como las cárceles, los tribunales, Todo duele. Dame un poco de agua o algo. donde se encontraban los cuatro policías, los militares, etc., que existen por encima En una grave crisis económica, lecciones de los más oprimidos Estados Unidos se encuentra en una cri- indocumentados. y pagan salarios anuales medios de solo les paga un 15 por ciento menos que a los sis económica histórica y aplastante, ace- Los capitalistas usan estos números $18.000. (tinyurl.com/ya38q5tf) trabajadores varones blancos, con una lerada por la pandemia de COVID‑19. Si para evaluar el daño económico a su Los trabajadores de bajos salarios que mayor brecha para las mujeres de color. bien la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales clase y hacer planes para ahorrar sus están oprimidos a nivel nacional (indí- (tinyurl.com/y9xzcvvr) informó el 21 de mayo que la tasa oficial ganancias. genas, negros, latinos, isleños de Asia y Según el BLS, en 2019 solo el 19,3 por de desempleo era del 14,7 por ciento, ese Los comunistas miran estos números el Pacífico) siempre reciben salarios aún ciento de las personas con discapacidad mismo día la revista Fortune, una voz de y saben que somos nosotros y nuestra más bajos y de nivel de pobreza que los incluso estaban empleadas. la clase capitalista, dijo que la familia, amigos y compañe- blancos pobres, algunos grupos hasta dos Los comunistas observan estos hechos tasa de desempleo real de los ros de trabajo esperando en veces menos. (tinyurl.com/yces3tuv) y saben quién está sufriendo, y noso- EE. UU. ahora era del 22,4 editorial las líneas de automóviles de El racismo vuelve a levantar su fea tros observamos a nuestra familia, por ciento. seis millas de largo por ali- cabeza en el hecho de que un tercio de amigos y compañeros de trabajo y tam- Esta es la tasa de desempleo más alta mentos, tratando de obtener atención todos los musulmanes de EE.UU. viven bién vemos quién se está organizando de EE.UU. desde la Gran Depresión de médica de emergencia de un médico en la línea de pobreza o por debajo de militantemente. la década de 1930. Hasta el 21 de mayo, cuando se perdió el seguro médico con el ella; la mayoría de los musulmanes de Porque en todo Estados Unidos los 38,6 millones de personas habían solici- trabajo, tratando de mantener de ser des- EE.UU. son negros, latinos o asiáticos. trabajadores de bajos salarios y oprimi- tado el desempleo, más que la población alojado porque no hay dinero para pagar (tinyurl.com/yblpzncz) dos están aumentando, desde trabajado- combinada de 21 estados. Una cuarta el alquiler. De los 23 millones de trabajadores res de saneamiento hasta trabajadores parte de los trabajadores en Hawai, Los comunistas miran las estadísticas con salarios bajos, dos tercios son muje- de salones de salud, desde enfermeras Michigan y Nevada están sin trabajo. y conocen los hechos ocultos: la mayoría res. Si se mantuvieran las estadísticas hasta trabajadores de plantas empaca- (bls.gov/bls/news.reles) de las personas que pierden empleos ya para las personas no conformes con el doras de carne. Están siende liderados Y estas estadísticas no comienzan son trabajadores de bajos salarios, por- género, un número aún mayor esta- por personas de color, mujeres, personas a tener en cuenta un estimado de 2 que casi la mitad de los trabajadores de ría en la categoría de “mujeres de bajos LGBTQ2+ y personas con discapacidades, millones de trabajadores encarcelados, EE.UU. entre 18 y 64 están empleados salarios y trabajadoras oprimidas por el todos se alzan para luchar por sus vidas. junto con los trabajadores migrantes en trabajos de pobreza de bajos salarios género”. Por lo general, a las mujeres se Continúa en la página 11