Steelworkers in Ill. Fight Honeywell Union Busting
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AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.00 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Stalinists covered up Nazi massacre of Jews at Babi Yar — PAGE 6 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE Vol. 78/no. 37 October 20, 2014 ‘Militant Low on arms, Steelworkers in Ill. fight follows fights Kurds battle Honeywell union busting of workers Islamic State Build Oct. 11 solidarity rally in Metropolis worldwide’ in Syria by maGGIE TRowE by BRian WILLiams As Militant supporters took part For the last three weeks, reaction- in labor actions and social protests ary Islamic State units totaling some and knocked on doors in working- 10,000 combatants, with superior class neighborhoods last week, 290 arms, including tanks and anti-air- people subscribed for the first time or craft weapons, have forced their way renewed their subscriptions. The in- to the outskirts of the Kurdish city of ternational drive to expand the read- Kobani in northern Syria. The city ership of the socialist newsweekly is sits on the Turkish border, where the still ahead of schedule, but we need government of President Recep Tayy- Continued on page 3 ip Erdogan has deployed troops and tanks. Washington has turned a deaf ear to Kurdish requests for anti-tank weapons to defend Kobani and is not coordinating operations with the re- ported 3.000 Kurdish fighters there. U.S. warplanes, however, have started USWA Local 7-669 Sign up 2,400 bombing raids in the area. Honeywell locked out workers at uranium conversion plant in Metropolis, Illinois, after union Washington and Ankara brand the rejected bosses’ contract demands. Above, protest at company offices in Washington Sept. 25. subscribers! Kurds fighting in Kobani as “terror- BY JOHN HAWKINS gotiations resumed Oct. 2-3 without Sept. 6 - Oct. 28 (week 4) ist,” because of ties to the Kurdis- CHICAGO — Members of United reaching an agreement. tan Workers Party (PKK) of Turkey, Steelworkers Local 7-669 — locked- The recently expired contract was a group so labeled by the U.S. and out at Honeywell’s uranium conver- ratified in August 2011, after a hard- Country quota sold % Turkish government. PKK forces sion facility in Metropolis, Illinois, fought union struggle against a com- UNITED STATES have been fighting for autonomy and since Aug. 1 — are reaching out for pany lockout that lasted 14 months. Chicago* 170 130 76% Kurdish rights in Turkey and in 2013 solidarity. Honeywell prepared for the lockout, Washington* 110 82 75% signed a cease-fire with Ankara. The company locked out about 150 lining up an army of scabs well ahead The Kurds — an oppressed nation- workers on the day of their contract of time. But not one member of Local San Francisco* 165 107 65% Continued on page 9 expiration, 11 days into talks. Ne- 7-669 crossed the picket line. Union- New York* 210 133 63% Continued on page 4 Atlanta* 155 95 61% Philadelphia* 120 69 58% Protests in Savannah, Ga., demand: Boston 60 34 57% Nebraskans for Houston* 115 65 57% Arrest cop who killed Charles Smith Peace discuss Brooklyn* 210 116 55% Nebraska* 164 85 52% farmers, labor, Lincoln* 11 9 82% Omaha* 153 76 50% climate change Seattle* 130 60 46% by maGGIE TRowE Los Angeles 105 48 46% LINCOLN, Neb. — More than 100 people from across the state came to- Miami 105 44 42% gether for the Nebraskans for Peace Twin Cities 125 50 40% annual conference here Oct. 4 to dis- Total U.S. 1944 1118 58% cuss, debate and get involved in social Continued on page 7 PRISONERS 20 21 105% UNITED KINGDOM London 120 82 68% Inside Manchester* 95 72 76% Cuban doctors begin to arrive UK Total 215 154 72% 4 CANADA Fight to free Cuban 5 wins Calgary 50 34 68% support at Neb. conference 6 Montreal 60 36 60% Police officials in Savannah, Georgia, claim Charles Smith had gun and was trying to Canada Total 110 70 64% escape while handcuffed in squad car when officer David Jannot shot him dead. Above, Hong Kong protesters press conference demanding Jannot’s arrest. Seated is Smith’s mother Penny Nelson. demand political rights 9 NEW ZEALAND 70 28 40% BY DAVE FERGUson vowed that the protests demanding —On the picket line, p. 5— SAVANNAH, Ga. — Hundreds of the officer’s arrest will continue. AUSTRALIA 70 39 56% Autoworkers in Indiana push people, mostly young workers, turned City officials were quick to meet Total sold 1430 60% out at the funeral here Sept. 27 for with Smith’s family members and back two-tier wages Should be 1371 57% Charles Smith, a 29-year-old Black other protesters, apparently seeking San Francisco ferry captains man fatally shot by police officer to head off a repeat of the scene that strike to block insurance hike * Raised quota David Jannot nine days earlier. Many Continued on page 4 Book by Chinese-Cuban generals reviewed in Iran Below is a review by the Iran Book sions, including voluntary military mis- News Agency of Our History is Still sions in Angola from 1975 until 1988. Being Written: The Story of Three In those 13 years, Cuba responded posi- Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban tively to Angola’s request for help. At Revolution by Armando Choy, Gustavo that time Angola was just gaining its Chui, Moisés Sío Wong, and Mary-Alice independence from Portugal. The goal Waters. The book was published in Iran of Cuban volunteers in Angola was to by Talaye Porsoo, which translated the defeat the armed forces of the apartheid Pathfinder Press book of the same title regime of South Africa. The apartheid into Farsi from English. The semioffi- regime, which had the support of im- cial news agency published the review perialism, had attacked Angola to pre- July 2 under the headline, “The Story of vent it from gaining its independence. Three Young Cubans in ‘Our History is Finally in March 1988, in the famous Still Being Written.’” Translation of the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the armed review is by the Militant. forces of South Africa suffered a major Iran Book News Agency reviewed Farsi edition of Our History is Still Being Written: The Story defeat at the hands of the Cuban and of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution, shown above on IBNA website. Our History is Still Being Written is African forces.” the title of the story of three Chinese- The book consists of three sec- that brought down the U.S.-backed heid army of South Africa in March Cuban youth who participated in vari- tions: “The Difference is a Socialist dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and 1988 in the battle of Cuito Cuanavale ous revolutionary actions and in the Revolution: Chinese in Cuba”; opened the door to the socialist revo- has been explained here in quite an in- process of these struggles, helped pre- “Strengthening the Revolution”; and lution in the Americas. ... Through teresting way. pare the path toward socialist revolution their stories the economic, social, and “The Special Period and Beyond.” In In the speech by Nelson Mandela in in the Americas. political forces that gave birth to the addition, the book has an appendix the appendix, we read: In this book we read the story of Cuban nation and still shape our epoch titled, “Cuito Cuanavale: A Victory for unfold. the three young Chinese-Cubans who the Whole of Africa.” The Cuban people hold a special joined the Cuban Revolution from In the introduction to the book, The introduction continues: place in the hearts of the people of three different social backgrounds. For Africa. The Cuban internationalists by Mary Alice Waters, president of The lucrative trafficking in tens upon 50 years after the triumph of the 1959 have made a contribution to African Pathfinder Press and editor of the tens of thousands of Chinese peasants Cuban Revolution they have partici- Marxist magazine New International, — their impressment, their death-ship independence, freedom, and justice, pated in revolutionary operations from we read: transport to Cuba, their indentured la- unparalleled for its principled and self- Cuba to Angola in Africa and from bor on sugar plantations supplement- less character. From its earliest days Nicaragua to Venezuela. In this pro- Our History Is Still Being Written adds ing the dwindling supply of African the Cuban Revolution has itself been cess all three became generals of the one more chapter to the chronicle of slaves, and above all their resistance, a source of inspiration to all freedom- Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba. the Cuban Revolution as told by those struggles, and unblemished record of loving people. In this book they discuss the histori- who were — and more than fifty years combat in Cuba’s 1868-98 indepen- We admire the sacrifices of the later remain — on the front lines of cal immigration of Chinese to Cuba dence wars against Spain — all that is Cuban people in maintaining their in- that epic battle. and the social and political forces that sketched here in broad outlines. It is a dependence and sovereignty in the face Armando Choy, Gustavo Chui and story largely unknown outside Cuba. formed the Cuban nation. Moisés Sío Wong, three young rebels of a vicious imperialist-orchestrated According to the publisher: “Armando of Chinese-Cuban ancestry, became Our History is Still Being Written, campaign to destroy the impressive Choy, Gustavo Chui and Moisés Sío combatants in the clandestine strug- which was published concurrently in gains made in the Cuban Revolution. Wong, all served in international mis- gle and 1956-1958 revolutionary war English and Spanish, was put together … We admire the achievements of the and written over a four-year period.