• Estibadores cierran puertos • Las mujeres de las FARC-EP 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 57, No. 20 May 21, 2015 $1 Aid ship bound for Yemen, page 11. From Ferguson to Baltimore JAIL KILLER COPS! By Monica Moorehead report for this newspaper: “Data collected by the Ferguson Police Department from The murder of 18-year-old Michael 2012 to 2014 shows African Americans Police attack Africans Brown last Aug. 9 by white police of- account for 85 percent of vehicle stops, ficer Darren Wilson ignited an almost 90 percent of citations, and 93 percent two-week uprising in Ferguson, Mo. of arrests made by FPD officers, despite in Israel Led by Black youth, this rebellion began comprising only 67 percent of Ferguson’s the process of shining a spotlight on the population. African Americans are more deep-seated, horrifying atrocities that than twice as likely as white drivers to be have been taking place inside and outside searched during vehicle stops even after police departments around the U.S. for controlling for non-race-based variables many decades. The current ground zero such as the reason the vehicle stop was of this upsurge is Baltimore. initiated, but are found in possession of Even though the U.S. Department contraband 26 percent less often than of Justice in early March failed to in- white drivers, suggesting officers are im- dict Wilson for civil rights violations in permissibly considering race as a factor Brown’s murder due to “probable cause,” when determining whether to search.” it issued a damning report March 4 that (workers.org, March 10) confirmed rampant racism in the Fer- This report came less than four guson Police Department. This report months after a secretive Missouri grand would not have seen the light of day so jury failed to indict Wilson for Brown’s quickly were it not for the heroic rebel- murder. Also, the white Ferguson police lion that exposed the militarization of the chief, Thomas Jackson — reportedly a police there. Abayomi Azikiwe wrote about the DOJ Continued on page 6

See editorial, page 10. INTERNATIONAL STOP RACIST SOLIDARITY STATE TERROR

• Anti-war • No extralegal national killing of Mumia 3 conference 5 • What happened to Buffalo, N.Y., activists support Baltimore Rebellion, May 3. See more on page 7. • U.S. still kills Frank McQueen? 3 in Vietnam 8 Subscribe to Workers World • Cuba and • Justice for n 4 weeks trial $4 n 1 year subscription $30 the Cuban Five 9 Mario Romero 6 Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program workers.org/articles/donate/supporters_/ • Ho Chi Minh Name ______• Progressives win in Canada 9 on lynchings 6 Email ______Phone______

Street ______• Nazi defeat • From frontlines City / State / Zip ______in WWII 9 Workers World 212-627-2994 in Baltimore 7 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl, NY, NY 10011 workers.org Page 2 May 21, 2015 workers.org BP, Marathon strike still on

By Martha Grevatt Oregon, Ohio  In the U.S.

In the first national oil strike since 1980, the United Jail killer cops ...... 1 Steelworkers took on the most profitable industry in the BP, Marathon strike still on ...... 2 capitalist world on Feb. 1. The union selectively struck 15 Stop killing Mumia Abu-Jamal ...... 3 refineries of Shell, Marathon, BP and other transnation- Rally demands justice for Frank McQueen ...... 3 al conglomerates. Most of the thousands of strikers are now back at work, having won national and local plant Jim Miller, revolutionary worker and organizer . . . . . 4 agreements that address some of the union’s concerns — Bay Area, Calif.: ‘NO’ to gentrification ...... 4 overtime, job security, health care and the core issue that Transit workers fight back ...... 4 drove workers to walk the picket lines: unsafe conditions Conference: ‘End wars at home and abroad’ ...... 5 that endanger workers and residents of the surrounding communities. Detroit: Auto parts workers say ‘Union yes’ ...... 5 However, management is still playing hardball with WW PHOTO: MARTHA GREVATT Killed by police: Justice for Mario Romero ...... 6 BP refinery workers on strike in Ohio, May 8. the union and workers are still on strike in Whiting, Ind.; May 16 protest set: Baltimore struggle continues . . . . 7 Texas City, Texas; and Oregon, Ohio. phe in mind and the 10th anniversary of the BP explo- An activist’s narrative on Baltimore Uprising ...... 7 In Whiting, Local 7-1 has negotiated a tentative local sion marked this year, “There is not a lot of love between contract with BP but is fighting over the terms of the the workers and the industry,” a 13-1 member who works 40 years after the Vietnam anti-war movement . . . . . 8 return-to-work agreement. Plant management wants nearby for Shell, told this writer. “This is a strong local ‘Muzzling Mumia’ law struck down ...... 10 to cancel the long-term disability insurance policies for and a strong community.” strikers who did not personally pay the premiums while  Around the world BP ‘trying to bust the union’ they were on strike. Also, the local objects to the com- Ho Chi Minh: ‘On lynching and the Ku Klux Klan’ . . . . 6 pany disciplining members who allegedly committed in- This writer spoke with Local 346-1 members who are Eyewitness Vietnam: U.S. bombs still kill...... 8 fractions while on the picket line. on strike at the BP Husky refinery in Oregon, near Toledo, The number of unresolved local issues between Mar- Ohio. A group gathered at the union hall to discuss the Five Heroes strengthen Cuban Revolution ...... 9 athon and Local 13-1 in Texas City has dropped from 28 negotiations that had just taken place with a federal me- Ukraine, NATO and WW II history ...... 9 to 15, but the parties remain far apart. They disagree on diator present. The sticking point is “management rights” Alberta elections shock Canada’s 1% ...... 9 safety measures and forced overtime — life-and-death language. Plant bosses want to eliminate or combine jobs U.S.-backed Saudi war on Yemen continues ...... 11 issues in a refinery — and job security. This refinery was at their discretion — gutting contract language that says the scene of a tragic explosion 10 years ago that killed those changes have to be negotiated with the union. ‘Why I’m aboard the Rescue Ship to Yemen’ ...... 11 15 workers and injured more than 170. The union won The local even agreed to company demands to elimi- stronger safety language from BP, which owned the refin- nate certain positions. “But the company still said no,” a  Editorial ery at the time, but current owner Marathon wants to gut striker stated. “All I can figure is they’re trying to break Racism, imperialism & Israel ...... 10 those protections. the union.” A massive explosion took place in 1947 in the port of With more work being done by fewer workers who are  Noticias en Español Texas City, inhabited by 30,000 residents. When am- forced to work longer hours, fatalities and injuries occur. Estibadores cierran puertos monium nitrate on board the docked ship Grandcampa With a shrinking workforce having to constantly mon- en Área de la Bahía el 1º de Mayo ...... 12 ignited, the blast’s impact shattered windows 40 miles itor more aspects of the refining process, mental stress away in Houston. The shocks registered on a seismo- increases. That stress has the same intensity experienced Mujeres combatientes quieren lograr la paz ...... 12 graph in Denver. Flying red-hot shrapnel landed inside by air traffic controllers that led to their strike in 1981. the refineries, causing more fires and explosions. Some Only 15 out of 320 USW members have crossed the 581 people lost their lives and 3,500 were injured. line. Striker Mike told this writer, “Those are the ones I Workers World This unforgettable disaster symbolizes corporate dis- really give a hard time to.” Workers on the picket line are 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. regard for people’s safety. With that infamous catastro- solidly behind the union. New York, N.Y. 10011 Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.workers.org Vol. 57, No. 19 • May 14, 2015 Closing date: May 5, 2015 Editor: Deirdre Griswold Who we are & what we’re fighting for Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead; Web Editor Gary Wilson Hate capitalism? Workers World Party fights for a ­degrading people because of their nationality, sexu- Production & Design Editors: Coordinator Lal Roohk; ­socialist society — where the wealth is socially owned al or gender identity or disabilities — all are tools the Andy Katz, Cheryl LaBash and production is planned to satisfy human need. This ruling class uses to keep us apart. They ruthlessly su- Copyediting and Proofreading: Sue Davis, Keith Fine, outmoded capitalist system is dragging down workers’ per-exploit some in order to better exploit us all. WWP Bob McCubbin living standards while throwing millions out of their builds unity among all workers while supporting the Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, jobs. If you’re young, you know they’re stealing your right of self-determination. Fighting oppression is a Greg Butterfield, G. Dunkel, K. Durkin, Fred Goldstein, future. And capitalism is threatening the entire planet working-class issue, which is confirmed by the many Martha Grevatt, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, with its unplanned, profit-driven stranglehold over the labor struggles led today by people of color, immi- Berta Joubert-Ceci, Terri Kay, Cheryl LaBash, means of production. grants and women. Milt Neidenberg, John Parker, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Workers built it all — it belongs to society, not to a WWP has a long history of militant opposition to im- Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria Rubac handful of billionaires! But we need a revolution to perialist wars. The billionaire rulers are bent on turning Mundo Obero: Redactora Berta Joubert-Ceci; make that change. That’s why for 56 years WWP has back the clock to the bad old days before socialist revo- Ramiro Fúnez, Teresa Gutierrez, Donna Lazarus, been building a revolutionary party of the working lutions and national liberation struggles liberated terri- Carlos Vargas class inside the belly of the beast. tory from their grip. We’ve been in the streets to oppose Supporter Program: Coordinator Sue Davis We fight every kind of oppression. Racism, sexism, every one of imperialism’s wars and aggressions. Copyright © 2014 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium Contact a Workers World Party branch near you: workers.org/wwp without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly National Office Bay Area Cleveland Houston Pittsburgh except the first week of January by WW Publishers, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl. 1305 Franklin St. #411 P.O. Box 5963 P.O. Box 3454 [email protected] 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10011. Phone: Oakland, CA 94612 Cleveland, OH 44101 Houston, TX 77253-3454 New York, NY 10011 Rochester, N.Y. 212.627.2994. Subscriptions: One year: $30; institu- 510.600.5800 216.738.0320 713.503.2633 212.627.2994 585.436.6458 tions: $35. Letters to the editor may be condensed and [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] edited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to Boston Huntington, W. Va. Atlanta 284 Amory St. Denver [email protected] Rockford, IL Workers World, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY P.O. Box 5565 Boston, MA 02130 [email protected] [email protected] 10011. Back issues and individual articles are available 617.286.6574 Los Angeles Atlanta, GA 30307 5278 W Pico Blvd. on microfilm and/or photocopy from NA Publishing, [email protected] Detroit San Diego Inc, P.O. Box 998, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0998. A 404.627.0185 Los Angeles, CA 90019 P.O. 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[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] New York, N.Y. 10011. workers.org May 21, 2015 Page 3 Stop killing Mumia Abu-Jamal

By WW New York Bureau and Cornel West, professor, Union Theo- logical Seminary, and professor emeritus An important press conference was at Princeton ­University. held in Harlem, N.Y., on May 7 to contin- Dr. Suzanne Ross of the Free Mumia ue the national and international cam- Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) further stat- paign pressing for emergency medical ed in a media advisory: “Supporters of intervention for U.S. political prisoner Abu-Jamal note [in the open letter] that Mumia Abu-Jamal. An array of speakers the horrific medical care he has received demanded Abu-Jamal be diagnosed and at SCI Mahanoy with serious consequenc- receive immediate treatment by physi- es is by no means unique to him. They cians outside the prison system. call for an independent investigation of The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition the Pennsylvania Department of Cor- (New York City) organized the event and rections medical system. They note that stated in a release: this investigation must focus in particu- “The need for independent medical di- lar on profit-making organizations hired agnosis and treatment for renowned polit- by the Department of Corrections that ical prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is urgent. place priority on cost cutting rather than “An open letter was delivered on April the quality of care provided to prisoners. 29 to Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Wolf Fewer referrals to hospitals are made, and and Department of Corrections Secretary deaths increase. John Wetzel in Harrisburg documenting “Finally, given the extensive evidence the medical neglect and malpractice that of Abu-Jamal’s innocence, long prevented WW PHOTO: ANNE PRUDEN has characterized Abu-Jamal’s treatment. Pam Africa demands treatment for Mumia, May 7. from being addressed fairly in the courts, “Over a period of four months, Abu-Ja- and now the evidence that his very life is mal’s initial skin problem, diagnosed by Miguel d’Escoto, former Attorney Gener- and MOVE; Noelle Hanrahan, executive in danger while in the prison system, the the prison doctors as eczema, deteriorat- al Ramsey Clark, Danny Glover and Alice director of Prison Radio; Joseph Harris, letter calls for Abu-Jamal’s immediate re- ed drastically, and his health condition Walker.” M.D., of MD’s for Mumia; Larry Holmes lease from prison.” became life threatening from undiag- Participants demanded Gov. Wolf and of the People’s Power Assembly; Jamal Jo- A video of the press conference can be nosed diabetes as he went into diabetic Secretary Wetzel immediately allow out- seph, professor of Film, Columbia Univer- found online at youtu.be/Wat71Z_tl8o. shock in the prison. side doctors of Abu-Jamal’s choosing to sity; Juliette Seydi, assistant for Interna- For information on how to help in the cam- “This open letter was signed by, among conduct the proper diagnosis and treat- tional Affairs for the mayor of Saint-Denis, paign for immediate lifesaving medical many others, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, ment to save his life. Speakers included Didier Paillard, Comite Mumia Saint-De- care for Abu-Jamal, call the hotline at 212- Minister Louis Farrakhan, former presi- Pam Africa, of International Concerned nis; Estela Vasquez, executive vice presi- 330-8029 or visit freemumia.com. Join dent of the U.N. General Assembly Father Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal dent, Local 1199 Service Employees union; ­officialmumiaabujamal on Facebook. Another murder by cops Rally demands justice for Frank McQueen

By Joe Piette at them as he was leaving his estranged Chester, Pa. girlfriend’s home. But many questions remain. Who fired Family, friends and Philly REAL Jus- the first shot? Why were so many shots tice Coalition activists rallied on May 9 at fired? What were the names of all the po- the site of the June 2, 2014, police killing lice involved? Do any of the involved cops of Frank McQueen in Chester, Pa. have a history of police violence? Did the Delphine Matthews, McQueen’s moth- bullet that hit Officer Matt Stewart come er, brought a yellow school bus and sev- from friendly fire or another gun? Did eral carloads of supporters to the side- forensic evidence prove that McQueen’s walk across the street from 1210 Culhane hands were covered with telltale firearm Street, where speakers asked for witness- discharge residue? What about finger- es to come forward with any information prints? Were there any witnesses other about what really happened there after 3 than cops? Were there any videos of the a.m. last June 2. incident? Why was the full police report McQueen was a 34-year-old Black man never made public? studying for a master’s degree, and the au- The coroner’s report has not been made WW PHOTO: JOE PIETTE thor of the novel “Red Devil” and two oth- public, and McQueen’s personal belong- Protesters demand answers, May 9. er books. A 2011 interview with the writer ings have still not been released to his can be heard at tinyurl.com/ngzuj7t. mother. highest rates of people living in poverty Delaware County prosecutors refused to in the U.S., with more than 33 percent of reveal the cops’ names in the shootings of Missing details, many questions Appeal for eyewitness information the population below the federal poverty both McQueen and Bagley. In nearby Phil- Almost a year after he was shot over Rally participants handed out fliers to line. Seventy-three percent of Chester’s adelphia, prosecutors also refused to re- 20 times and killed by the Chester Police drivers in passing cars, asking them to residents are Black. (neighborhoodscout. veal the names of cops who killed Brandon Department, very little other information honk their horns if they opposed police com/pa/chester/) Tate Brown, a Black man also killed after a has been released. The police were quick brutality. Protesters talked about the case Chester police were also questioned traffic stop. (Wilson Times, March 5, 2013) to release McQueen’s criminal record, with area residents drawn by the chants about the killing of a 30-year-old man in Just as in the cases of Mike Brown, but a criminal record alone does not jus- and sound-system-amplified voices. 2012. An aspiring rapper who performed Eric Garner and untold other Black men tify police shootings. The whole group marched with ban- in Philadelphia, Noahcell Bagley was fa- and women, the police are systematically After an internal police investigation, ners and signs while chanting, “No jus- tally shot by cops after a traffic stop. Fac- allowed to shoot and kill whenever they the Chester Police Department claimed tice, no peace” and “Justice for Frank ing an outstanding arrest warrant against claim fear of harm. Refusing to release all the shooting was justified, saying a police McQueen” and handing out fliers to -by him, Bagley fled and was shot in the back details about police-involved shootings officer suffered a minor wound from the standers in the suburban neighborhood. of his right arm and buttocks. raises further criticism of the so-called alleged gun police claim McQueen fired Chester, a city of 34,000, has one of the “A Taser could have taken him down,” justice system. his mother Barbara Bagley said. “We all McQueen’s family is demanding that make our decisions in life. Noah made all information and evidence be released MARXISM, REPARATIONS & the Black Freedom Struggle his. Does that give the officer the right to and an independent investigation be An anthology of writings from Workers World newspaper. Edited by Monica Moorehead. take his life? These are the questions left conducted. Racism, National Oppression & Self-Determination Larry Holmes unanswered.” (Wilson Times, Jan. 21, A community event in honor of Mc- Black Labor from Chattel Slavery to Wage Slavery Sam Marcy 2013) Bagley’s mother is white and his fa- Queen’s life will take place on June 6 at Black Youth: Repression & Resistance LeiLani Dowell The Struggle for Socialism Is Key Monica Moorehead ther is Black. Chalmers Park at 30th Street and Lehigh Domestic Workers United Demand Passage of a Bill of Rights Imani Henry The district attorney cleared police of Avenue in Philadelphia. All proceeds Black & Brown Unity: Human Rights & Global Justice! Saladin Muhammad any wrongdoing because allegedly “At the will go to a college fund for McQueen’s

Harriet Tubman, Woman Warrior Mumia Abu-Jamal BARRON SAHU GRAPHIC: time that the officer discharged his ser- ­children. Racism & Poverty in the Delta Larry Hales vice revolver, the officer was in a situation Anyone with information about Frank Are Conditions Ripe Again Today? The 1965 Watts Rebellion John Parker where he reasonably believed his life to be McQueen’s death should contact Del- Available at major online booksellers. in danger of serious bodily injury or death.” phine Matthews at 267-393-3823. Page 4 May 21, 2015 workers.org Jim Miller, revolutionary worker & organizer

By Stephen Millies ita Orozco, Jim Miller and Bill Colangelo. These included Betsey Stergar and Al Ster- A few months later, “Red Squad” cops gar, and Shirley Plaster and Earl Plaster. James E. Miller fought for socialism attempted to storm the local party head- These four had stood firm during the and working people all over the world. He quarters. They were beaten back but sev- McCarthyite anti-communist witch hunt was just 65 when he died on April 14. eral comrades were arrested. of the 1950s and became teachers for a Jim grew up in Madison, Wis., and at- These cops were furious that YAWF new generation of revolutionaries. tended the University of Wisconsin during had helped organize an 800-person Milwaukee was one of the most segre- the late 1960s. The Black liberation strug- strong demonstration that night against gated cities on the planet. But thousands gle was surging forward and so was the George Wallace and Defense Secretary of Black workers were employed in the movement against the Vietnam War. Melvin Laird, who had spoken at two ad- city’s factories. As late as 1980, half of Like Berkeley in California, Madison joining meetings. the African Americans employed in Mil- and its big campus became a political The most serious charges were against waukee held manufacturing jobs. center. Police attacked University of Wis- Comrade Benita Orozco, who was facing Jim went to work in the bakery proud- consin students demonstrating against years in jail for allegedly beating police ly wearing a “Free Angela Davis” button James E. Miller Dow Chemical, which made millions at the Attica protest. on his leather jacket. He defended work- supplying the Pentagon with napalm that Collins Jr., Jesse Lee White and Earl W. Jim Miller became the heart and soul ers and became president of the bakery burned people alive. Black student ath- Leverette. They were framed on ridicu- of her defense, doing much of the tedious workers local union. letes at UW led struggles against racism. lous charges of firing a shotgun at a Mil- and painstaking work required by a legal Jim later became an American Federa- Tens of thousands of young people waukee cop through the back side win- defense. Judge Hugh O’Connell almost tion of State, County and Municipal Em- across the United States wanted to make dow of a Volkswagen Beetle! had conniptions when a jury acquitted ployees Union organizer in Fond du Lac, a revolution within what Che Guevara Every Sunday, YAWF members joined Benita Orozco. Wis., before returning to work in a bakery. called “the belly of the beast.” Jim Miller scores of other militants in picketing the Jim also helped to defend the anti-war Bakery work helped kill Jim. Like mil- was one of them. House of Detention, where the “Milwau- GIs known as the “Camp McCoy 3.” Their lions of other workers, Jim Miller’s early He was attracted to Marxist theory and kee 3” were held. Sheriff’s deputies point- indictment was announced by Attorney death is probably linked to occupation- read the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, ed their weapons at them. General John Mitchell, who himself was al causes. For years, Jim was forced to Mao, Plekhanov and Trotsky. Above all, Milwaukee police have a bloody his- later to be sent to prison as one of the crim- breathe in flour dust while working. Jim Miller was a fighter. tory of murder and brutality. During the inals in the Watergate case of illegal inter- But this didn’t stop Jim from enjoying He joined the Milwaukee branch of single month of December in 1974, cops ference in the 1972 presidential election. life. He was a loving father to Peter and Workers World Party in 1967 and became killed four Black people, including the What made Jim’s diligent effort even Sara Miller. chair of Milwaukee’s chapter of Youth unarmed 16-year-old Jerry Brookshire. more amazing was that he was working And while he was a student of Marxism, Against War and Fascism. YAWF contin- Milwaukee Police Chief Harold Bri- the nightshift at a bakery. Jim was also a sports fan, particularly of the gents in anti-war demonstrations proud- er repeatedly denounced YAWF in 1968 Dodgers, because Dodger African-Ameri- ly carried the flag of Vietnam’s National for daring to leaflet high school students. Union leader and father can star Jackie Robinson integrated major Liberation Front. Also in 1968, YAWF organized a bus to go Jim Miller was greatly influenced by the league baseball in Brooklyn. YAWF’s number one job was to fight to Chicago to protest Mayor Daley’s cops older, worker revolutionaries in the Mil- Long live the memory of Jim Miller, racism. YAWF members joined Father clubbing demonstrators at the Democrat- waukee branch of Workers World Party. bakery worker and revolutionary! James Groppi and the NAACP Youth ic Convention. Council in marching inside the old Mil- “Red Squad” police officers would reg- waukee Auditorium in 1968 to disrupt ularly park their vehicle in front of the presidential candidate George Wallace’s local Workers World Party and YAWF Transit workers fight back hate rally. Wallace was an Alabama gov- headquarters at 150 East Juneau. In 1971, ernor and one of the U.S.’s top racists. Milwaukee police attacked a demonstra- By Gene Clancy April 28 abruptly decided to discontinue Fighting racism meant defending tion protesting the Attica prison massacre. Rochester, N.Y. transporting Rochester public school stu- Black Panther Party members Booker T. They arrested three YAWF members: Ben- dents on city buses. He took this action More than 300 members and support- without even holding a Board of Com- ers of Local 282 of the Amalgamated missioners vote! In addition to callously Bay Area, Calif. Transit Workers militantly marched and stranding 9,000 mostly Black and Lati- picketed on May 7 at the Rochester Gen- no/a school students, this arbitrary move esee Regional Transit Authority head- Oakland would cause 144 layoffs — more than 40 City Council quarters. They held signs and chanted, percent of Rochester’s transit workforce. takeover, “It’s not fair! It’s not right! Fire Bill Car- In announcing his anti-union, an- May 5. penter tonight!” and “They say cut back! ti-student move, Carpenter resorted to We say fight back!” Protesters barged into racist rhetoric. He claimed that his deci- a scheduled RGRTA meeting after picket- sion was due to “student violence” at the ing for several hours. brand new, taxpayer-financed downtown ‘NO’ to The loud protests were directed at tran- terminal. (RGRTA website, April 28) He gentrification sit authority CEO Bill Carpenter, who on did not mention that the drivers and the

WW PHOTO: TERRI KAY By Terri Kay hood, said during the People’s City Coun- Oakland, Calif. cil: “The inconvenience we’re causing is temporary. The real inconvenience will Members of Black.Seed (formerly take place for Black and Asian Eastlake Black Brunch) and Asians4BlackLives residents if the city sells the land to the took over the Oakland City Council meet- luxury condo developer. These residents ing on May 5. In its place, the more than won’t be able to call the Eastlake neigh- 100 activists held a People’s City Council borhood home anymore.” (Save the E. meeting. The action was taken to oppose 12th Street Parcel for the People Face- the proposed East 12th Street apartment book page, May 5) tower, slated for development on public In the midst of a housing affordability land near Lake Merritt. crisis in Oakland, the city is proposing Community residents created a hu- to sell publicly owned land to private de- man chain in front of councilmembers’ velopers UDR and Urban Core to create seats and locked themselves to each oth- a 24-story, 300-unit, luxury high-rise er. They also sang, “Which Side Are You apartment tower near Lake Merritt. The On?,” a famous union song. The Council median rent would be $3,000 per month, adjourned their meeting without dis- and the development would not have any cussing items on the agenda, including affordable units. the proposal in contention. Across the bay in San Francisco, hun- During the People’s City Council meet- dreds of activists stormed into San Fran- ing, residents discussed gentrification cisco City Hall on May 8, protesting issues, such as development and dis- gentrification. Organized by the Plaza placement, as well as police practices in 16 Coalition, they marched inside with Oakland. Many speakers made import- a huge banner reading “No Monster in ant connections between police violence the Mission.” They demanded lawmak- and gentrification. ers place a moratorium on luxury-priced Xan West, from Black.Seed and a for- housing developments in the Mission mer resident of the Eastlake neighbor- District. For further info: call 215.386.1165 or 267.408.7802 or email us at [email protected] workers.org May 21, 2015 Page 5 Conference: ‘End wars at home and abroad’

By Betsey Piette ress in Newark, N.J., urged delegates to Secaucus, N.J. revitalize and strengthen our movements through an understanding that we are re- The United National Antiwar Coalition ally fighting one war on many fronts. He held its fourth national gathering in Se- raised the need to oppose “all U.S. boots caucus, N.J., May 8-10 under the theme on the ground; defeat the Trans-Pacific “Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad.” Partnership (TPP); fight union busting Over 400 delegates from the U.S. and and other attacks on the working class at Canada took on the task of challenging home; and challenge white supremacist endless U.S. imperialist wars abroad and attacks on Black and Brown people.” the increasing militarization of domestic Hamm urged UNAC to endorse the police from Ferguson, Mo., to Baltimore. July 25 Million People’s March against This conference was unique in the Racial Injustice and Economic Inequality history of the U.S. anti-war movement, in Newark, N.J., initiated by POP. WW PHOTO which has never before so clearly taken up Longtime anti-war activist Kathy Kelly Members of newly elected slate of USW 8751 with Pam Africa (center), May 9. the need to oppose the war waged against challenged people in the U.S. concerned oppressed communities in the U.S. Sup- by images of beheadings carried out by Siddiqui of Pakistan and Simon Trinidad nal on the Militarization of the Police & port for the resistance of Black and Brown the Islamic State to study the history of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forc- Structural Racism.” Flounders noted that youth who are standing up to an epidemic of the U.S. military, which includes the es of Colombia). Lynne Stewart, former 1.5 million Black men are “missing” in of police brutality was a central theme of slaughter of thousands of surrendering political prisoner, received a standing the U.S. today — many victims of prisons, many panels and workshops. Solidarity Iraqi soldiers in 1991 and the deaths of ovation after her remarks about fighting rotten medical care and police violence. messages came from Ukraine, Canada, over 500,000 Iraqi civilians, mainly chil- for human rights. Henry asserted that police brutality Cuba, Germany and Britain. dren, from U.S.-imposed sanctions. Pam Africa invited everyone to Phil- and gentrification go hand in hand. He Formed in 2010, UNAC has become Jaribu Hill, founder of the Mississip- adelphia for a mass rally marking the described hundreds of police checkpoints the largest anti-war coalition in the U.S. pi Workers’ Center for Human Rights, 30th anniversary of the police bombing in Brooklyn and Manhattan that target today, with nearly 120 member organi- called for solidarity with youth raising of MOVE. She gave an update on the seri- youth of color in order to push them out zations opposing U.S. wars in the Middle the banner “Black Lives Matter” and the ous health crisis facing political prisoner of their neighborhoods and make room East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. fight for “$15 and a Union.” Noting that Mumia Abu-Jamal as a result of pris- for wealthy whites. UNAC co-coordinators are lifelong an- resistance to the status quo is the only on officials attempting to murder him The panel included Orange, N.J., ti-war and labor activist Joe Lombardo way forward, she called the youth who through medical neglect. teacher Marylin Zuniga who is fighting and social justice activist Marilyn Levin. rebelled in Baltimore “young Steve Bikos efforts of the Fraternal Order of Police to Speaking at the May 8 opening session, and Harriet Tubmans.” Abolish the police & shut down capitalism have her fired after her third-grade stu- Lawrence Hamm, chairperson and found- The May 9 opening panel embraced Clarence Thomas, of the International dents spontaneously wrote get-well let- er of the People’s Organization for Prog- international struggles against imperial- Longshore and Warehouse Union Local ters to Mumia Abu-Jamal. ism, led by co-chairs Honduran activist 10 that has shut down ports in support of Larry Holmes, with the New York Peo- Lucy Pagoada and Janine Solanki, Palestine, South Africa and Mumia, stat- ple’s Power Assembly, raised that as far as from Mobilization Against War and ed, “If you want to stop endless wars, ra- the government is concerned, Black Lives Occupation in Vancouver. Panelists cial inequality, and police brutality, you Matter is today’s anti-war movement. He included Palestinian activist and au- have to shut down capitalism!” called on the traditional anti-war move- Transit workers fight back thor Susan Abulhawa; Johnny Achi, A highlight of the afternoon session was ment to come out fully in support of this with Arab Americans for Syria; Abay- a delegation of Boston school bus drivers Black, youth-led movement, stating, “We omi Azikiwe, from Pan-African News from United Steelworkers Local 8751, are not going to be relevant if we don’t do Wire; Joel Andreas, author of Addict- who have been fighting a nearly two-year this. The system needs to be abolished — ed to War; Bernadette Ellorin, with battle against attempts by transnational first the police, then capitalism.” BAYAN USA; Glen Ford, of Black corporation Veolia to bust their union. Resolutions passed at the final confer- Agenda Report; Irina Koval from USW 8751 President-elect Andre Fran- ence session on May 10 included a call Odessa, Ukraine; and Phil Wilayto cois described recent victories, including to support Black Lives Matter and other Transit workers in Rochester, N.Y., May 7. from the Virginia Defenders for Free- pushing back a company move to jail union anti-racist, pro-women and pro-lesbian- WW PHOTO: LYDIA BAYONETA dom, Justice & Equality. Former CIA founder and Vice President-elect Stevan gay-bi-trans-queer groups calling for ac- transit authority are in the middle of con- analyst Ray McGovern concluded the Kirschbaum and the stunning, landslide tions on May 21. There was also a call for tract negotiations. panel by noting that the U.S. thrives on victory of union progressives who cap- coordinated anti-war actions in October. Local 282 President Jacques Chapman confrontation because “conflict is good tured all positions in the local’s April 30 A resolution supporting Iran’s Red Cres- and Vice President Domminck Zarcone for business.” election. But, Francois noted, the battle cent ship taking humanitarian supplies fired back at Carpenter, accusing him Afternoon panels took up support for continues to reinstate four union leaders, to challenge the U.S. and Saudi Arabia of “reckless” behavior, leaving “the high political prisoners and the cost of end- including himself and Kirschbaum, who blockade of Yemen passed unanimously. school students in the lurch.” (Rochester less war and austerity. Alejandro Molina were illegally fired in October 2013. Audio and video coverage of this his- Democrat & Chronicle, May 9) They point- urged support for the May 30 March to Sara Flounders, of the International toric conference are at Go Pro Radio ed out that 7,000 of the students currently free Puerto Rican political prisoner Os- Action Center, and Imani Henry, with the Network and Community Progressive being served do not even go through the car Lopez Rivera. Also raised was the Brooklyn, N.Y., anti-gentrification group Radio (cprmetro.org). A complete list downtown terminal and that the Rochester need to free two international political Equality for Flatbush Project, chaired the of speakers, panels and workshops is City School District strongly opposes the prisoners held in U.S. jails — Dr. Aafia final session on May 9 billed as “Tribu- available at unacpeace.org. cancellation of the decades-long service. The same article quotes Chapman and Zarcone, saying, “RGRTA now potential- Detroit ly faces [Federal Transit Administration] claims that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act has been violated by cutting service in Auto parts workers say ‘Union yes’ a way which manifests an unlawful dis- criminatory practice.” When we think of low-wage work- Sakhti occupies the former Gener- Rochester has the third-highest rate ers, it’s often service workers who al Motors Ternstedt plant, shuttered of child poverty in the entire country. come to mind — fast food and retail during the wave of closings in 1987. The public schools are almost totally seg- workers in particular. Yet growing The plant was the first UAW plant regated and chronically underfunded, numbers of workers are toiling in non- to prove the effectiveness of a work while the teachers and their unions have union factories, supplying the auto in- slowdown in the 1930s. At that time been subjected to an unrelenting torrent dustry with parts, for little more than some UAW leaders were skeptical of blame and abuse. minimum wage. Over 70 percent of that the factory workers, a majority of At the same time that it is cutting its these workers are unorganized. them women and half of them Polish workforce, RGRTA is pursuing several These exploited workers are real- speaking, could be organized. Stan- multimillion-dollar expansion projects izing they need a union to boost pay ley Novak, a Polish-born communist and paying for them with federal, state and benefits and improve working organizer popular in the immigrant and local subsidies. All of them utilize conditions. On May 8 dozens of Unit- communities, helped the women win “eminent domain” laws to force residents ed Auto Workers members came out union recognition with this experi- out of their homes. early in the morning in Detroit with mental but effective strategy. With this latest move, Carpenter and signs to support workers at Sakhti — Sakhti workers are continuing this his politician and big business cronies have an upstart parts supplier where workers of the chants was “Nine dollars an hour legacy of struggle. Despite company in- clearly shown their hand. They are at- earn about $9 an hour — who were voting is slave pay, going union is the way!” Most timidation, including firings, by the end tempting to destroy both the public school in a union-representation election. of the workers honked their vehicle horns of the day the National Labor Relations system and union rights won by the work- More UAW supporters came back in the and gave a “thumbs up” or raised their Board reported that a majority voted for ers — while further slandering and isolat- afternoon to give the same morale-boost- fists. One courageous worker had a big the UAW. For further info: call 215.386.1165 or 267.408.7802 or email us at [email protected] ing Rochester’s oppressed youth. ing message to the afternoon shift. One “Union yes” sign taped to his van. — Story and photo by Martha Grevatt Page 6 May 21, 2015 workers.org

Killed by cops Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh Justice for Mario Romero ‘On lynching & the Ku Klux Klan’

This May 19 will mark the 125th birthday anniversary of the By Terri Kay great anti-imperialist leader, Ho Chi Minh. “Uncle Ho” was a Vallejo, Calif. leader of the National Liberation Front, a people’s army that defeated both French and U.S. military invaders in Vietnam. The Justice for Mario Romero Coa- In honor of this legendary figure and the current Black Lives lition held a rally on May 8 at the steps Matter uprising, WW is printing the following excerpts from a of Vallejo City Hall calling for a federal investigation by the U.S. Attorney Gen- report made by this Vietnamese communist at the Fifth Con- eral into the Vallejo Police Department. gress of the Communist International gathering held in More than 50 individuals held signs to July 1924 in Moscow during the “National and Colonial Question” protest police bullying, discrimination session. He died in 1969, six years before Vietnam’s liberation from and ­terror. WW PHOTO: TERRI KAY U.S. imperialism. Go to tinyurl.com/n5nlck6 to read the entire report. Also participating were members of Mario Romero supporters rally. the Oscar Grant Committee, the Nation- It is well-known that the Black race barbarous practice of lynching is spread- al Committee to Prevent Police Brutality, er, Cyndi Mitchell, Romero’s sister, has is the most oppressed and the most ing and continuing widely in the states the Anti-Police Terror Project and the strongly asserted that her brother had exploited of the human family. It is of the American Union. It has become Alan Blueford Center for Justice. They never gotten out of the car and that the well-known that the spread of capitalism more inhuman since the emancipation came to support the Romero family, but evidence showed he had his hands up and the discovery of the New World had of the Blacks, and is especially directed also to call for accountability and investi- when he was shot. as an immediate result the rebirth of at the latter. gations of police violence. The Facebook page for “California for slavery. What everyone does not perhaps From 1899 to 1919, 2,600 Blacks were On Sept. 2, 2012, Mario Romero, 23, the Rich Only??? Community Includes know is that after sixty-five years of so- lynched, including 51 women and girls and Joseph Johnson, 21, were sitting in Everyone,” states the protest demands, called emancipation, American Negroes and ten former Great War soldiers. Romero’s parked car in front of his home which include that “criminal charges be still endure atrocious moral and mate- Among 78 Blacks lynched in 1919, 11 in Vallejo, when they were gunned down filed against Sean Kenney and Dustin rial sufferings, of which the most cruel were burned alive, three burned after by police officers Dustin B. Joseph and Joseph for the murder of Mario Romero,” and horrible is the custom of lynching. having been killed, 31 shot, three tor- Sean Kenney. The Solano County coroner that drug testing be enforced for all Valle- [Charles] Lynch was the name of tured to death, one cut into pieces, one said Romero was shot 30 times. Johnson jo police officers … and that there must a planter in Virginia, a landlord and drowned and 11 put to death by various was also shot and wounded. be “an end to criminalization of homeless judge. Availing himself of the troubles means. Both police officers involved had been and disabled individuals and protections of the War of Independence, he took Georgia heads the list with 22 ­victims. cited for violence in the past: Kenney had against [police] terror.” the control of the whole district into Mississippi follows with 12. Both have been named in several fatal shootings Seniors at the rally also called for the his hands. He inflicted the most savage also three lynched soldiers to their and excessive force complaints, and many return of a pool table taken from the Flor- punishment, without trial or process of credit. complaints had cited Joseph for abusive ence Douglas Senior Center. It had been law, on Loyalists and Tories. Thanks to Among the charges brought against behavior. removed by the administrators, in what the slave traders, the Ku Klux Klan and the victims of 1919: one of having been a The Solano County District Attorney’s is characterized as a racist maneuver, one other secret societies, the illegal and member of the League of Non-Partisans Office announced on June 12, 2013, that intended to push African-American se- the police acted in self-defense. Howev- niors out of the facility. From Ferguson to Baltimore, JAIL KILLER COPS!

Continued from page 1 of detained juveniles. was called off. Many of those arrested ported killed during a rebellion in Seven out of 14 San Francisco po- still languish in jail without any due Tecumseh State Correctional Institu- Confederate sympathizer — was forced lice officers were suspended April 3 for process. tion in Nebraska. Prisoners there had to resign a week later. But the Ferguson sending racist and anti-gay text mes- The Baltimore police are notorious been complaining about overcrowding, police scandal was just the beginning. sages to each other, including calling for their brutality against the Afri- among other inhumane conditions they for the lynching of people of color. Fir- can-American population. Since 2012, are forced to endure. The prisons are Endless atrocities ing was recommended for the seven; an the department has paid out an esti- overflowing with workers behind bars On Dec. 4, after a two-year investi- eighth officer resigned and the other six mated $6 million in compensation to who are resisting isolation. gation, the DOJ issued a report on the received disciplinary actions. The probe the families of victims who brought Numerous announcements have been Cleveland Police Department, stating, also disclosed that sheriff’s deputies lawsuits against the police. made of probes into police abuse on the “unreasonable and unnecessary use of organized betting pools among prison Police scandal investigations are also city, county, state or federal level, but force” is systemic. The report went on to guards involving gladiator fights forced taking place in other cities, including this will not stop the epidemic of police say that not only were firearms used in- on prisoners. Deputies reportedly Seattle, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, killings and other forms of brutality, es- discriminately by a 65-percent-white po- threatened to withhold food and impose and countless others. pecially against Black and Brown youth. lice department against a population that violence on those inmates who refused Authorities are hoping against hope is 53 percent Black, but also Tasers, chem- to beat each other for blood sport. And Youth upsurge exposes economic that these investigations will somehow ical spray and beatings were employed. this is just the tip of the iceberg. injustice either slow down or bring to a halt al- The report also found that the police had The Ferguson rebellion ignited the together the anti-police youth upsurge used excessive force against people with And now Baltimore Black Lives Matter movement — initiat- that is permeating the country. How- mental disabilities and employed tactics And then came the recent federal ed by Black women and Black transgen- ever, these investigations are nothing that escalated potentially nonviolent en- probe into the Baltimore police depart- der people. This dynamic movement more than futile attempts to put band­ counters into dangerous confrontations. ment in light of the torture death of got an important jump start in 2012 aids on a malignant cancer that can of- (New York Times, Dec. 4) Freddie Grey, who lapsed into a coma before and after George Zimmerman fer no end to the disease, since it is the This report came less than two weeks after his spinal cord was severed April was acquitted of murdering 17-year-old capitalist system itself that breeds rac- after the heinous, fatal police shooting 12 while in police custody. Six police of- Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. ist terror, poverty, war and occupation. of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a Cleveland ficers, three white and three Black, have Since the Dec. 3 national uprising These youth are proof-positive that park on Nov. 22. Rice was carrying a toy been charged with his death, which oc- after a Staten Island, N.Y., grand jury where there is repression, there is resis- gun when shot by a white police officer curred on April 19. failed to indict the cop who killed Eric tance. Others in the working class will who had a known history of violence that Newly appointed U.S. Attorney Gen- Garner in a chokehold, the Black Lives be sure to follow their lead because the had led him earlier to resign from anoth- eral Loretta Lynch announced on May Matter movement has shut down high- police are no friends of the workers, es- er police department. Rice’s shooting was 8 that her office will be conducting an ways, malls, bridges, businesses, etc., pecially workers on strike or fighting for captured on videotape. investigation to determine whether the from coast to coast. These shutdowns $15 and a union. The police on the scene refused to let Baltimore police department “engag- have been accompanied with mas- To demand the jailing of killer cops Rice’s 14-year-old sister, Tajai, come to es in systematic discrimination, civil sive marches in the streets by militant or any brutal cops is an important first his immediate aid following the shooting; rights violations and excessive use of youth, sometimes for many hours. step. The next step is to take it to a high- instead they tackled her to the ground force.” Lynch visited Baltimore days be- The Black Lives Matter struggle has er political level by calling to disarm and and handcuffed her. Her younger brother fore making the announcement. helped to expose the root cause of this abolish the police. In their place must be bled to death in the back of a police car. A citywide rebellion led by Black endemic police terror: the intensifi- community-controlled and ­-organized On May 7, the San Francisco district youth erupted in Baltimore after the fu- cation of no jobs for young workers, self-defense squads to protect the peo- attorney’s office announced a widening neral of Freddie Grey on April 27. The especially youth of color. As youth un- ple from any form of oppression. probe into that city’s police abuse. Afri- Maryland governor’s response was to employment and underemployment Getting rid of the capitalist police can Americans comprise only 5 percent impose a five-day curfew and call out skyrocket to 40 percent and even 60 must become more and more a clarion of the city’s population but make up 50 thousands of National Guard. At least percent or more, so do police violence call for youth, who are already raising percent of those arrested and those incar- 500 people were arrested between and mass incarceration. the slogan of shutting down the entire cerated, as well as more than 60 percent April 27 and May 2 when the curfew On May 11, two prisoners were re- system. workers.org May 21, 2015 Page 7

May 16 protest set Baltimore struggle continues

By Baltimore WW Bureau him to turn himself in after he was pic- man being? The youth of Baltimore tured in a news media photo allegedly need our support. We demand: Drop May 11 — Close to 500 people have breaking a police cruiser’s windows. all charges and grant full amnesty! been arrested here since the rebellion Bullock is now facing life in prison. His The people of Baltimore, especially the that began on April 25 after the kill- bail was set at $500,000 — more than youth, need full employment at a liv- ing of Freddie Grey, yet another young three times the $150,000 set for the six able wage, decent education and hous- Black man who has died at the hands of officers charged with the assault and ing, not jails, racism and police terror.” the police. Some 33 of those arrested murder of Freddie Grey. The PPA points out that the strug- remain in jail. In an outpouring of support, anon- gle continues, not only for amnesty for Some were brutally beaten and pep- ymous donors have posted Bullock’s those arrested but for justice for Fred- per-sprayed by police even as television bail. die Grey; for the conviction and jailing cameras caught the action. Those still The local Baltimore movement, in- of the six police involved in his murder; being held are in central booking or at cluding the Baltimore People’s Power and for the fight to end police terror. a nearby juvenile facility, without due The governor has never even con- Assembly and the Bmore United Co- The group has plans for a massive tri- process. They were denied their right sidered declaring a state of emergency alition, has called for amnesty for all bunal and assembly on June 6, a date to see a court commissioner within the over Baltimore’s extreme poverty, un- those arrested. set prior to Grey’s death. (tinyurl.com/ 24-hour period previously required. employment and decaying schools and The People’s Power Assembly is plan- ou7wjyt) Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan provided homes in the Black community. These ning a massive protest on Saturday, Andre Powell, PPA volunteer and an excuse for this delay by proclaim- unbearable conditions are what under- May 16, at 3 p.m., gathering at McK- union activist, stated: “The June 6 ing a “state of emergency,” which also lie the struggle in a major city that has eldin Square, Light and Pratt streets, tribunal and assembly on police ter- authorized deployment of the National been stripped of its once plentiful in- in downtown Baltimore. (See tinyurl. ror and structural racism will take up Guard. dustrial jobs. com/mtpf2vz for updates.) the next steps, allow people to testify Those arrested included Baltimore A statement issued by the group says on police terror and project a citywide youth, journalists, medics and legal ob- in part: “How can city officials equate campaign for community control.” Ho Chi Minh servers. Allen Bullock’s parents urged property damage with the life of a hu-

Continued from page 6 (independent farmers); one of having BALTIMORE distributed revolutionary publications; one of expressing his opinion on lynch- ings too freely; one of having criticized Activist’s narrative on Uprising the clashes between whites and Blacks in Chicago; one of having been known WW PHOTO: BRENDA RYAN The following edited comments were [H&S Bakery magnate John] Paterakis, as a leader of the cause of the Blacks; posted on Facebook the last week in April RG Steel [Corp.] as well as [Baltimore May- and one for not getting out of the way by Baltimore activist and Workers World or Stephanie Rawlings-Blake]. We can’t let and thus frightening a white child who Party member Lee Patterson. A fuller the neoliberal crowd dictate the narrative was in a motorcar. In 1920, there were version of this article is at workers.org. on our oppression. Not one demand has From Ferguson to Baltimore, JAIL KILLER COPS! fifty lynchings, and in 1922 there were come from them to STOP KILLER COPS! twenty-eight. By Lee Patterson The violence is still coming from the cops These crimes were all motivated by Baltimore as we are told to “respect” the “rule of law.” economic jealousy. Either the Negroes in Hell, Nat Turner burned down his own the area were more prosperous than the The anger of Black people against cap- plantation. whites, or the Black workers would not italism exploded in rebellion last night *** let themselves be exploited thoroughly. [April 25]. The pain of homelessness, job- It was exhilarating yesterday, comrades In all cases, the principal culprits were lessness, miserable poverty and total vio- and I picking up our “Justice 4 Freddie never troubled, for the simple reason lence against human needs came back as Grey” placards and going out to show sol- that they were always incited, encour- payback against the ruling class. Lee Patterson speaks out at Workers World idarity with the community. On the bus aged, spurred on and then protected by A window pane busted in a department Party national conference, Nov. 15. yesterday, it was an adrenalin rush to hear politicians, financiers and authorities, store can be replaced. But the lives of Fred- ordinary working-class people talking and above all, by the reactionary press. die Grey, Tyrone West, Anthony Ander- Baltimore is a Third World country, about police murder and poverty. I gave The place of origin of the Ku Klux son as well as Preston Barnes, Simmont where decayed abandoned housing roofs high-fives to people getting on the buses, Klan is the southern United States. In Thomas and others could not be replaced. are falling inwards and trees grow through as they were all made fare-free. Drivers May, 1866, after the Civil War, young Racist denials of job opportunities, prison the windows while the glitter of Harbor were saying, “Never mind your passes or people gathered together in a small records, as well as homelessness exploded East and Johns Hopkins gentrification your fare. Just get on, hurry up.” locality of the state of Tennessee to set into a rebellion against the capitalist sys- rise in the sunshine. The class distinctions As I was on the way, people were say- up a circle. tem in Baltimore, and are about to explode and economic apartheid are becoming so ing that they were tired of low wages and The victory of the federal government nationwide. clear to the most oppressed. The smoke budget cuts and that the system, police had just freed the Negroes and made People are upset about the militariza- of pre-revolutionary consciousness is in and the politicians are responsible for them citizens. The agriculture of the tion of the cops all over the U.S., a vio- the air, and we communists must take full the rebellion in the streets and that the South — deprived of its Black labor — lent provocation of war from the capital- advantage to further raise the conscious- poverty and violence of the system finally was short of hands. Former landlords ist class. The violence doesn’t come from ness of our class towards the direction of exploded. were exposed to ruin. The Klansmen “outside protesters” but from the capitalist socialism. When I went out with my comrades, we proclaimed the principle of the suprem- class itself. People no longer are “comfort- *** went out into the streets and as we were acy of the white race. The agrarian and able” with their oppression and are fight- The ruling class media keep portray- walking out to Penn-North [a Baltimore slaveholding bourgeoisie saw in the Klan ing back. It’s RIGHT to rebel! F**k the po- ing the youth as “thugs” while complete- neighborhood], people saw our signs a useful agent, almost a savior. They lice and the capitalist system! ly ignoring police killings and poverty. and asked for them, gave us fists up and gave it all the help in their power. The The violence of cutbacks against the People are becoming more aware of class shouted solidarity. People were excited. Klan’s methods ranged from intimida- poor, water being turned off, record and their oppression... . The demonizing We walked into the area to see riot po- tion to murder. homelessness and record poverty took of the youth by the capitalist media is to lice in a war posture intimidation line. The Negroes, having learned during its toll on the people and it resulted in promote divisions between working-class They beat their nightsticks into their the war that they are a force if united, destruction and an explosion in anger of people. ... The rebellion makes sense. We shields as they shouted “MOVE! MOVE! are no longer allowing their kinsmen to the oppressed. We don’t want to “replace” have to guide the people in a revolutionary MOVE!,” closing in on the people as the be beaten or murdered with impunity. In capitalist politicians. We want to destroy direction. Freddie Grey was the straw that CVS smoked and burned. Then came the July 1919, in Washington, they stood up capitalism, the whole system and its pol- broke the camel’s back, and the potential smoke bombs and we comrades stayed to- to the Klan and a wild mob. The battle itician crooks. match stroke towards revolution. gether as people charged the police back, raged in the capital for four days. In *** shouting, “FASCISTS!” But what was re- Who the real ‘looters’ are August, they fought for five days against It’s not “looting” that is happening. It ally inspiring was to see people liberating the Klan and the mob in Chicago. Seven is the liberation of goods for the human *** the stores and supermarkets for toilet pa- regiments were mobilized to restore or- needs of the people. People are fighting Calling impoverished, hungry, disen- per, meats, food, diapers. ... der. In September, the government was back against the war on the poor. It is the franchised, undervalued people “looters” This rebellion was more than about obliged to send federal troops to Omaha end of the month, when people are at their is an atrocious slur by the media to divide Freddie. It was about water cutoffs, to put down similar strife. In various poorest and are forced to go to food pan- our class in a time of rebellion. The true poverty and police murder and system- other states the Negroes defend them- tries and churches for help as food stamps looters are the gambling industry, Michael ic oppression, as well as blue-on-Black selves no less energetically. and rent subsidies have been cut. Beatty [of Beatty Development Group], ­violence. Page 8 May 21, 2015 workers.org Eyewitness Vietnam: U.S. bombs still kill

By Joyce Chediac and Paul Wilcox bombs are the most malignant of the Quang Tri Province, Vietnam buried bombs and most easily picked up by children. Quang Tri is on the 17th parallel, which But Quang Tri is not alone. Some 7 artificially cut this country in half for two million tons of bombs were dropped on decades until Vietnam won its liberation Vietnam, nearly three times the amount in 1975. Surrounding it is a six-mile- dropped on all countries during World wide strip called the Demilitarized Zone, War II. According to the Vietnamese which saw the heaviest fighting of the 10- government, 16 million acres, or rough- year U.S. war. ly a fifth of the country, is contaminated Quang Tri Province, a little larger than with some 600,000 tons of U.S. bombs, Rhode Island, is the most bombed piece and only 5 percent has been cleared. of earth in history. The Pentagon dropped Washington boasts that it allocated more tonnage of explosives here, oblit- $62 million toward bomb cleaning in erating the provincial capital and about Vietnam. This is a drop in the bucket 3,500 villages, than was dropped on Ger- of U.S. criminal war pollution. A recent many in all of World War II. Vietnamese government plan to clear Some 20 percent of the U.S. weapons 1.2 million acres will cost $595 million did not detonate. (Huffington Post, Sept. over the next five years. WW PHOTO: JOYCE CHEDIAC 14, 2013) They are still here, armed and Sign outside a school warns students about unexploded weapons. dangerous, and they can be found in 83.8 From rainforest to moonscape percent of this province. Since 1975, some 7,078 people, or 1.2 One-fifth of Vietnam Unexploded bombs aren’t the Penta- Forty years after Vietnam decisively percent of Quang Tri’s population, have contaminated with explosives gon’s only legacy here. From 1961 to 1967, defeated the Pentagon and reunited the been killed and many thousands serious- We enter Klu village of the Paku people, the U.S. Air Force sprayed 20 million country, Washington’s war continues ly maimed — losing a limb, being blinded one of Vietnam’s 53 ethnic minorities. In gallons of concentrated herbicides over 6 by other means. Vietnamese people are or both — when they accidentally come the early stages of the Pentagon invasion, million acres of crops and trees, affecting killed and maimed every day by unex- upon U.S. mines and cluster bombs. the Paku people used their bows and ar- an estimated 13 percent of South Viet- ploded U.S. bombs littering the land- (Landmine Monitor 2013, Vietnam Pro- rows to fight U.S. fighter planes. Their nam’s land. Much of Quang Tri, one of the scape and hampering social and econom- file) Between 1975 and 2002 in Vietnam, determination to defend their land gave most heavily defoliated provinces, looked ic development. some 42,135 people have been killed and heart to many Vietnamese and showed like a moonscape by the end of the war. Vietnam’s environment is still strain- another 62,143 wounded by these bombs. the world the fighting spirit in Vietnam. We were glad to see that most of the ing to recover from the massive amount (AP, May 12, 2011) Ms. Thach, our guide, calls our attention land before us is now green. Our guide of defoliants the Pentagon sprayed here Most victims are young people in rural to a large sign in front of the school pictur- explained that reforestation was accom- for 10 years, destroying rainforests and areas, especially children naturally curi- ing a large bomb in the grass and a skull plished and erosion stopped by planting unique ecological habitats and poison- ous about a piece of metal glittering in the and crossbones. It reminds the children to fast-growing eucalyptus trees, which are ing the soil. Washington has neither ac- ground. Rice paddies are also common stay away from unexploded bombs. cut for timber. We also see cultivated ar- knowledged these war crimes nor made sites of explosions as people try to reclaim Quang Tri is the only province where eas of corn, cassava (tapioca) and coffee. significant compensation to Vietnam for land for farming. (Journal of ERW and students have to study textbooks on mine these terrible wrongs. Mine Action, Summer 2011) identification and prevention. Cluster Continued on page 10 40 years after Vietnam’s victory Looking back at the anti-war movement

By Deirdre Griswold grammed to believe it was patriotic advanced as the youth in the streets. to participate in atrocities. By con- YAWF adopted the slogan, “Stop In August 1962, when Youth Against trast, those in the anti-war move- the war on Black America,” that it War & Fascism held the first protest in ment can look back on their youth- brought to all the mass demonstra- the U.S. against the Vietnam War, the ful rebellion against the capitalist tions against the Vietnam war. At reaction of passers-by on 42nd Street state and its propaganda machine one annual peace rally in Central in New York City was puzzlement. They with pride and satisfaction. Park, more conservative organizers didn’t know where Vietnam was; some One of the biggest lies about the of the umbrella movement actually didn’t even know it was a country. U.S. movement was that it was against dissed anti-war forces in Harlem forces sent to South Vietnam at that time the U.S. soldiers. Hell, most of them by inviting Mayor John Lindsay were called “advisers.” Yet the resistance welcomed the slogan “Bring the GIs to speak right after he had signed of the Vietnamese to becoming a U.S. home now.” That’s what they wanted a stop-and-frisk order giving New neocolony and the struggle here against — just to come home, in one piece. York police an open door to arrest that dirty war were to define a whole gen- Our quarrel was with the high-rank- thousands of Black youth. eration. That generation is a lot older now. ing officers, the ones who go through WW PHOTO YAWF took scores of arrests that The U.S. escalation came in 1964, with the revolving door to lucrative exec- Deirdre Griswold carrying sign in August 1962 protest. day marching against that order — the fraudulent Bay of Tonkin resolution utive positions in the “defense” in- while Lindsay said nothing about Viet- passed by Congress that gave President dustry after they retire. And of course we Black and Brown GIs in particular nam in his brief remarks to the large rally Lyndon Johnson authority to send mil- demonstrated against the political archi- organized against the war. Many rec- and immediately went to speak at a small lions of young draftees to Vietnam. The tects of the war, in the Kennedy, Johnson ognized in the vile language their com- pro-war event elsewhere in the park. war finally ended on April 30, 1975, with and Nixon administrations, who saw it as manders used to degrade the Vietnamese Thus the struggle against the war also the ignominious routing of the last U.S. key to the worldwide effort of U.S. imperi- people the same racism and arrogance had to be a struggle against conservatism Embassy personnel from Saigon, who alist rulers to defeat communism. they suffered back at home. Young people in the movement itself, especially regard- clung to helicopter skids as they made What they meant by “defeating com- inspired by the Civil Rights movement ing national oppression and racism. their escape. munism” was stopping the effort of work- became increasingly anti-war, and soon YAWF was the youth organization of The 40th anniversary of that decisive ers and farmers around the world to take Black leaders like Stokely Carmichael, Dr. Workers World Party. Many other left par- defeat of the most powerful military ma- charge of society and distribute the wealth Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali ties sprung up in the 1960s, but few have chine on earth has now evoked many ret- only they create to its producers. The boss- and Malcolm X campaigned against it. endured today. The ideology that has sus- rospective accounts in the U.S. media. es wanted that wealth for themselves. The killing of four students at Kent tained WWP is based on a Marxist, class This writer, who was on that first U.S. It was these bosses in and out of uni- State University by the National Guard understanding of contemporary society. protest and hundreds of others as the form, not the GIs, who understood which on May 4, 1970, galvanized the move- The war drive is rooted in capitalism war and the movement against it grew, class had created that beastly war and ment into more militant actions. What itself, as the Russian revolutionary lead- picked up a copy of the April/May AARP followed its orders. YAWF, on the other has long been overlooked, however, is er V.I. Lenin explained so thoroughly in magazine the other day and found a pho- hand, helped the rank-and-file soldiers that just 11 days later, during a protest his 1916 work “Imperialism: The High- to of a YAWF demonstration in 1965 at build the American Servicemen’s Union against that massacre, police in Jackson, est Stage of Capitalism.” The anti-war the White House carrying signs saying to assert their rights — such as refusing Miss., shot and killed two Black students struggle must be part of the fight against “Bring the GIs home now.” It brought an illegal order like the order to fight in at Jackson State University and wounded all the evils of capitalism — low wages, back memories. Vietnam — as well as to reject racism, sex- many others. union-busting, racism, sexism, anti-les- Many former soldiers still carry the ism, saluting and “sir”-ing of officers, and bian/gay/bi/trans/queer bigotry, mass in- YAWF: ‘Stop the war on Black America’ physical scars of ferocious combat. Other all the other tricks of the military brass carceration, police terror and more. tormented souls suffer from post-trau- meant to divide the soldiers and keep The umbrella anti-war movement at Imperialism is the last stage of capital- matic stress disorder after being pro- them under control. that time was not as bold or politically ism — and this system has gotta go. workers.org May 21, 2015 Page 9 Five Heroes strengthen Cuban Revolution

By Paul Teitelbaum their homeland and the world. Along to every corner of the globe. Cuba is un- Havana with Cuban President Raúl Castro and flinching in its support for the liberation Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, struggles in Palestine, Latin America and Last Dec. 17, U.S. President Barack the five led this year’s massive May Day Africa. The worldwide anti-imperialist Obama announced the release of the celebration in Havana. More than a mil- and revolutionary movements are greatly three remaining Cuban Five political lion people filled the streets and marched inspired by Cuba’s example. prisoners — Gerardo Hernández, Ramón through the Plaza of the Revolution, Gerardo Hernández of the Cuban Five Labañino and Antonio Guerrero — after showing their joy at the return of the closed the International Solidarity Con- 16 years of unjust imprisonment in the Five Heroes and their determination to ference with the following comments, U.S. for the “crime” of fighting terror- continue constructing socialism in Cuba. showing the importance of unity and sol- ism directed against Cuba. The three re- More than 115 delegations from 17 coun- idarity. (Granma, May 4) turned home to join their two comrades, tries also participated in this historic “Today,” he concluded, “you congratu- René González Sehwerert and Fernando May Day march. late us, and you recognize that the resis- González Llort, who had already been re- On May 2, the International Solidari- tance of the Five is no more than the re- leased after serving their full sentences. ty with Cuba Conference met in Havana PHOTO: ISMAIL FRANCISCO sistance of the Cuban people, whom, for This historic announcement was no gift and focused on the gains made during the Gerardo Hernández at International Solidar- more than 50 years, imperialism has been from U.S. imperialism. It was a result of past year as well as the challenges ahead. ity with Cuba Conference. unable to break. They have not isolated the Cuban people’s unwavering commit- Unity in struggle and the strength of in- of Venezuela, fighting for the release of us; they themselves are the ones who have ment and the support of solidarity move- ternational solidarity had achieved two imprisoned Puerto Rican Independence been isolated, since a socialist Cuba perse- ments around the world demanding the great victories: The return of the Five fighter Oscar López Rivera and for the veres here, a people who are more deter- release of the Cuban Five. It signified a and the presence of Cuba at the Summit return of the U.S.-occupied Guantánamo mined than ever to struggle for its system. defeat for U.S. imperialism in its attempts of the Americas. These two topics, uni- naval base to Cuba, will require the ut- That is why we continue to trust in your to isolate and destroy the Cuban Revolu- ty and solidarity, were raised again and most unity and solidarity. support, your spirit of struggle and the sol- tion and represents an important victory again throughout the discussions at the Cuba is exemplary in demonstrating idarity of all of you brothers and sisters.” for the anti-imperialist movement. conference. unity and solidarity, as can be seen by Teitelbaum attended both the May The Five Heroes, as they are known in The battles ahead, which include put- its more than 50 years of resistance to Day celebration and the May 2 Interna- Cuba, continue to defend the Cuban Rev- ting an end to the criminal U.S. block- U.S. imperialism, during which it has tional Solidarity with Cuba Conference olution, meeting with people throughout ade, defending the Bolivarian Republic sent doctors, teachers and material aid in Havana. Ukraine, NATO and history Communists defeated Nazis in WWII By John Catalinotto the attack at Normandy. While this in- sia. sion and that its population supported the vasion and the later “Battle of the Bulge” This imperialist offensive has extend- government’s refusal to submit to NATO. Seventy years ago, on May 8 and 9, 1945, have prominence in U.S. military history, ed the NATO military alliance to coun- President Vladimir Putin had invited millions all over the world gave shouts of the fighting on the Western Front never tries bordering Russia. It allied with all the countries involved in the anti-Hit- joy and relief as the Nazi regime in Berlin reached anywhere near the magnitude of Ukrainian fascists to place an anti-Rus- ler alliance to the Moscow celebration, in- crumbled while the Soviet Union’s Red that in the East. People all over the world, sian coup regime in Ukraine, provoking cluding the current German government. Army rolled into the German capital and and especially the working class of Eu- a civil war. Even though Russia is now a NATO’s current offensive against Russia, hung the red flag with its hammer and rope and even of the United States, knew capitalist country and no longer part of however, pressured many to reject this sickle on top of the Reichstag building, of the Soviet role. Even decades of Cold a socialist USSR — whose very existence invitation. Competitive celebrations were the parliament. Throughout Europe in War propaganda were unable to erase it had challenged the rule of world impe- organized in NATO capitals and in some 1945 and the years following, even the en- from the collective memory. rialism — Washington and its allies still of the Eastern European states that have emies of the USSR had to acknowledge its aim to eliminate this competitor. been turned into imperialist client states. Propaganda war part of attack on Russia primary role in the Nazi defeat. To ensure that the 1945 Soviet victory The key places of conflict, however, were This year is the 70th anniversary of With the collapse of the Soviet Union would also be a part of the Russian lega- Moscow and Berlin. that great victory. However, the U.S.- in 1991, the imperialist ruling class in the cy, the current Russian government mo- Together with Putin in Moscow were led NATO governments have turned the West had another opportunity to rewrite bilized major celebrations in Moscow and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Cuban world’s celebration of the defeat of Na- the history of World War II. The goal of across the Russian Federation. Reports President Raúl Castro and Venezuelan zism into an ideological offensive against its bought-and-paid-for “historians” was were that a total of 20 million people President Nicolás Maduro, along with the Soviet Union and against today’s to erase the heroic contribution of the Red participated, with 16,000 Russian troops U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Russian Federation. Army and the first socialist state in the marching in Moscow past 3 million peo- other high-level representatives from The imperialist West has used ev- defeat of fascism. This effort has reached ple. From the viewpoint of internal mass South Africa, the Democratic People’s ery effort to diminish the Soviet role in a fever pitch this year, as the imperialist mobilization, Russia showed it was far Republic of Korea, India and the former smashing fascist Germany. It has used West had already begun an attack on Rus- from defenseless against Western aggres- Continued on page 10 this distortion of history as a weapon against Russia, which, even though now a capitalist country, has become an ob- stacle to U.S. world domination. Alberta elections shock Canada’s 1% By 1945, not only had Nazi rule su- per-exploited and oppressed workers By G. Dunkel sweep, while its supporters throughout and businesses and cutting back on the and nations throughout Europe, it had the country were jubilant. One professor, extractions of oil sands and other highly carried out programs of extermination of The New Democratic Party, whose born and raised on a First Nation reser- toxic materials from Alberta. vast sectors of the population. roots are in Canada’s labor and social vation in southern Alberta, stayed up all In a discussion of the economy during a In 1945 and the following decades, it democratic movements, swept Alberta’s night to watch the results because he was significant campaign debate between Jim would have been nearly impossible to elections on May 5, winning 53 of the 87 so surprised and happy. Prentice, the Progressive Conservative erase the truth of the Soviet role in win- seats in the provincial legislature. The Some substantive issues were raised in leader, and Rachel Notley, the New Dem- ning the war. Germany’s early victories, Progressive Conservative Party, which the campaign. The global fall in oil pric- ocratic Party leader, Prentice told Notley, beginning with its invasion of the USSR had run the province for the past 44 es has hit Alberta hard, especially since “I know that math is difficult.” (New York along an 1,800-mile front in June 1941, years, was ousted. The election results the Progressive Conservative government Times, May 6) This was considered by had ended with its defeat at Stalingrad in shocked Canada’s bourgeoisie. hadn’t set up a significant “rainy day” many to be a sexist, arrogant comment. the winter of 1943. Germany was driven Alberta is one of the major oil-produc- fund. The solution their campaign pro- Moreover, Notley, who will be the prov- back, despite having more than three- ing provinces of Canada and the single posed was austerity: laying off 2,000 peo- ince’s new premiere, is hardly a novice at fourths of its troops on the Soviet front. biggest exporter of oil to the U.S. It is ple, mainly in health care jobs, and slight- math; she began her career as a lawyer The Soviet Red Army had carried the regarded as Canada’s most conservative ly increasing taxes on individuals making negotiating contracts for labor unions in weight of the war and deserved the major province. Prime Minister Stephen Harp- more than $250,000 (Canadian). User, Alberta and British Columbia. credit for smashing Nazism. Communist er’s parliamentary seat and main base of cigarette and liquor fees and taxes would When Prentice was asked in a radio in- parties allied to the USSR also led the support are there. all rise, and so would parking ticket fines. terview who was responsible for the eco- resistance movements in countries occu- The Toronto Stock Exchange fell to its But while taxes would go up on individ- nomic crisis facing Alberta, he arrogantly pied by German imperialism. lowest point in a month after the elec- uals, so would the deficit. There would be said, “We all need only look in the mir- Not only Russians but all the peoples tion news broke. The Conservatives run- no increase in corporate taxes, and the ror.” (nationalpost.com, March 5) After of the multinational USSR had also suf- ning the federal government were said complicated royalty scheme on oil-sand losing the election, he resigned from both fered the greatest casualties that Nazi-led to be despondent and overcome with a and gas extraction wouldn’t be touched his party post and his legislative seat. German imperialism had inflicted. Some “morgue-like” spirit. in the Progressive Conservatives’ budget. The New Democratic Party might not 27 million Soviet citizens died. The major Canadian news services (CBC, March 26) have enough of a mandate to push its pro- The British and U.S. forces waited until devoted article after article to analyzing The New Democratic Party proposed gram through, but its win has certainly shak- June 1944 to open up a second front with the impact of the New Democratic Party increasing taxes on wealthy individuals en up Canada’s political ­establishment. Page 10 May 21, 2015 workers.org

‘Muzzling Mumia’ law struck down

By Betsey Piette Abu-Jamal, other current or former pris- Philadelphia oners and several media organizations. The case was argued before Judge Con- Racism, imperialism Efforts to uphold state-sanctioned nor on March 30 by attorneys David M. muzzling of political prisoner Mumia Shapiro, from the Roderick and Solange Abu-Jamal and other prisoners seeking MacArthur Justice Center of Northwest- and Israel to speak out about their cases or any oth- ern University Law School, and Eli Segal, er issue were delivered a significant set- on behalf of the American Civil Liberties back on April 28. Christopher Connor, Union. A Black man was walking home with against the Palestinian population. The re- chief judge for the federal court of the In delivering his decision Connor stated, his bicycle. On his way, he was attacked gime that enforces this is fully armed and Middle District of Pennsylvania, ruled in “The court concludes that the challenged by two cops, pushed to the ground and backed by U.S. imperialism because Israel favor of the plaintiffs who held that the statute betrays several constitutional re- savagely beaten. The cops told their su- offers a strong military base of operations so-called Revictimization Relief Act was quirements; the enactment is unlawfully periors that they were the ones attacked. in the vital oil-rich Middle East region. unconstitutional. purposed, vaguely executed, and patently But a bystander recorded the police attack Since the regime blocks entry to Pales- More commonly referred to as the overbroad in scope.” He further held that on a cell phone, and the recording was tinians living in Gaza or the West Bank to “Mumia Muzzling Act,” versions of the law the law is “manifestly unconstitutional, soon put on the Web. This sparked huge work in the Israeli sector, Ethiopian Jews were quickly passed by the Pennsylvania both facially and as applied to plaintiffs” protests stretching over several days, and are used as a source of cheap manual and House of Representatives and the Senate and in violation of the First and Fifth clashes with police, who used horses, stun contract labor and are heavily exploited last Oct. 22. Legislators were acting under Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. guns and water cannons. Many protesters by Israeli bosses. pressure from the Philadelphia Fraternal The First Amendment prohibits making were wounded, and 43 were arrested. Just as racism is fundamental to capital- Order of Police, who had failed in their ef- any law abridging the freedom of speech, This scenario is familiar to many Black ist rule in the U.S., just as it is the obscene forts to prevent Abu-Jamal from deliver- while also protecting freedom of the press. residents of cities and towns across the conception that drives the cruel police oc- ing a commencement address to Goddard Under the act, news outlets could be sued U.S., but it did not happen in Baltimore, cupation of the oppressed communities College students on Oct. 5. if they aired or quoted commentary from in Cleveland, in Los Angeles or in Fergu- here, just as it motivates cops to gun down In one of his last actions before Penn- prisoners. The Fifth Amendment outlines son, Mo. It happened in Tel Aviv, Israel, on unarmed Black men and women over and sylvania Gov. Tom Corbett was defeated constitutional limits on police procedure April 26. over again, just as it puts thousands upon in his bid for a second term, he signed the and due process of law. The Black man’s name is Damas Fikad- thousands of oppressed youth into pris- act in an elaborate ceremony at 13th and Over 20 years ago the U.S. Supreme ey. He is an Ethiopian Jew, one of some ons, that same racism is a mainstay of U.S. Locust streets in Philadelphia, scene of Court also held that restricting free ex- 140,000 who now live in the state of Is- imperialist rule around the world. And it is the 1981 shooting death of police officer pression of prisoners in order to protect rael. He is a computer technician and a at the very foundation of the garrison state Daniel Faulkner. While maintaining his crime victims from mental anguish was member of the Israeli military. His at- that is Israel, just as it is in the U.S. innocence, Abu-Jamal was sentenced in unconstitutional. Connor also noted that tack and the subsequent militant protests The heroic resistance struggle by the 1982 to death row for Faulkner’s murder the law was so indefensible that Penn- have exposed another racist facet of the Palestinian people in Gaza and else- until a global movement succeeded in re- sylvania’s attorney general had to distort U.S. imperialist-backed Zionist regime. where, the Black Lives Matter struggle leasing him to the general prison popula- its legislative intent to argue that it con- Ethiopian Jews face onerous discrim- that stretches from Ferguson to Los An- tion in 2011. formed to constitutional precedent. ination in Israel. More than 35 percent geles to Baltimore, and the Ethiopian Acting to preempt any implementa- Connor concluded his opinion by not- live under the poverty line, compared to Jewish struggle to end discrimination in tion of the reactionary law that would ing that the way to counter speech one 18.5 percent of Israelis in general. Many Israel strike a blow at the very heart of negatively impact the plaintiffs, their at- disagrees with is by speech, not repressive have been denied the right to rent apart- the capitalist and imperialist social and torneys appealed the law shortly after its laws. Apparently this message was lost on ments or to be enrolled in schools. Most economic structure, which needs to be passage. Plaintiffs included the Pennsyl- supporters of the defeated law, who are who have jobs are employed as unskilled brought down to end racism and oppres- vania Prison Society, Prison Legal News, already talking about filing an appeal. labor and are woefully underpaid. sion once and for all. In 2009, a young Ethiopian-Israeli university student named Idano tried to the People’s Liberation Army captured it the Strategic Air Command, said that his board a bus in Rishon LeZion city. She Eyewitness Vietnam: in 1968. We visit the war museum that “solution to the problem” in Vietnam was knocked on the bus door, but the driv- now stands there and honors the 320 to “bomb them back into the Stone Age.” er would not let her in. When the driver Division of the Liberation Army, which This is exactly what Washington tried to opened the door for someone else, she U.S. bombs still kill besieged the base; the ethnic minorities do — create as much damage as possible followed him inside. The driver told her, who fought with sticks, bows and arrows, in Vietnam, poison it, set it back, destroy Continued from page 8 “Can’t you see I am not taking Black peo- and scythes; and the women and men its infrastructure and burden it as much This is a far cry, however, from the ple? Do you have buses in Ethiopia, or who ceaselessly brought supplies over the as possible. LeMay added to his infamous three-tiered rainforest canopy that origi- even shoes?” (irinnews.com, May 9) Ho Chi Minh Trail. record by running as the vice presidential nally covered this land, with its varied In September 2011, some 281 Ethiopi- candidate on arch-racist Alabama Gov. vegetation, animal life and medicinal Deliberate U.S. destruction an Jewish children were prevented from George Wallace’s ticket in 1968. plants rivaling the Amazon in diversity Although U.S. imperialism lost this war, registering for school in Petah Tikvah The Pentagon still wages war on the and unique ecosystems. it still wrote about much of its history. town because of their “background.” In people of Vietnam — an economic war; In some areas of Quang Tri the ecology Washington neglects to report that some of 2012, protests erupted when four apart- a war of isolation; the lasting effects of a was so disrupted that reforestation was the heaviest U.S. bombing took place when ment buildings in the city of Kiryat Mal- genocidal war that killed about 3 million impossible, and only scrub brush grows. it was already clear that the Vietnamese achi refused to rent to Ethiopians. (ny- men, women and children; and a war of The Vietnamese call this invasive grass would win their complete independence. times.com, May 5) denial of any responsibility for this delib- on land that defoliants turned barren In 1965 General Curtis LeMay, head of In 1996, it was discovered that all Is- erate devastation. “American grass.” raeli hospitals had disposed of all the blood donated by Ethiopian Jews. Bombs couldn’t shut down Less than 2 percent of the Israeli pop- Ho Chi Minh Trail ulation, Ethiopian Jews make up 30 per- We stop at Route 9, where the Dakrong Communists defeated Nazis in WWII cent of the population in juvenile jails. Bridge crosses the Cam Lo River, the site The masses in Germany, especially the Many young Ethiopians report that they of a major road on the Vietnamese resis- Continued from page 9 working class, oppose and fear a wider face the same barrage of police abuse and tance’s north-to-south supply route called Soviet republics. NATO leaders, however, war in Ukraine, which is even more im- violence that young Black people face in the Ho Chi Minh Trail. When U.S. planes turned down the invitation. portant than the maneuvers of the Bonn the U.S. took out the bridge, says Thach, supplies government. Such a war, which could were carried through the river until the German workers fear wider war involve NATO and thus German forces, Constantly under attack bridge was repaired. Local women main- The other capital most affected by this seems all too close. Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, Even though Ethiopian Jews have tained the trail here, she adds. anniversary was Germany’s. The Berlin is only 750 miles from Berlin. maintained their religious beliefs for But all the Pentagon’s bombs and de- imperialists are securely tied, both po- In many German cities — among thousands of years, their religious prac- foliants could not shut down the Ho Chi litically and militarily, to U.S. imperial- them Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Tübingen, tices are constantly under attack in Isra- Minh Trail. Even the U.S. National Secu- ism, whether they like it or not. Thus they München, Heidelberg and Berlin — there el. Ethiopian Judaism is called Falasha, rity Agency’s official history of the war have done nothing to confront Washing- were demonstrations from May 8 to 10 by and their religious leaders are called the called the trail system “one of the great ton’s provocation of Russia in Ukraine anti-fascist and pro-peace groups. They Kesses. But the Kesses are not recognized achievements of military engineering of and have joined sanctions against Russia. protested racism, xenophobia against ref- as religious leaders by the Israeli reli- the 20th century.” On the other hand, the sanctions cost ugees and the militarization of German gious elite, nor are many of their religious Thach points to the tallest peak in the German business much more in trade foreign policy. rituals and doctrines. Israeli rabbinic au- highlands — what U.S. soldiers called and investment than they do U.S. indus- On May 10 in central Berlin, several thorities typically demand “conversions” “the Rock pile.” This high-tech observa- try and banking. Sometimes this contra- thousand demonstrators gathered be- before performing Jewish weddings for tion post was part of the base network the diction leads to exposures in the usually hind a banner reading “70th anniversary the Ethiopians. U.S. built along Route 9. pro-­NATO German corporate media re- of liberation.” Many carried red flags to Discrimination against Ethiopian Jews We stop at Khe Sanh, one of those bas- garding the role of fascists in the Ukraine show that the German working class, too, is part and parcel of the same racist Zion- es. Heavily armed and on high ground, regime, for example, or Kiev’s outrageous was liberated from the Nazi yoke by the ist social system that wages genocidal war Khe Sanh was thought invulnerable. But corruption. Red Army victory. workers.org May 21, 2015 Page 11 U.S.-backed Saudi war on Yemen continues

By Abayomi Azikiwe number of ordnance on Yemen in a failed pause in the bombing to allow relief to be ti has done more than the U.S. itself in Editor, Pan-African News Wire attempt to destroy the Shiite-based Ans- delivered to the people impacted by the evacuating distressed people fleeing the urallah forces, which have formed an bombing and the fighting on the ground. war in neighboring Yemen. The Al-Massirah television station in alliance with other political interests to The Saudi-GCC alliance gave the Houthis Aid shipments face Saudi-GCC blockade Yemen, which supports the Ansurallah oppose Washington’s attempt to control an ultimatum that they must stop their Movement (Houthis), broadcast a news this nation through Riyadh. This impe- resistance against the bombings or face Although the U.S. has reached a “deal” report May 11 showing civilians standing rialist-backed coalition, which receives more aggressive military attacks. with Tehran over its nuclear technolo- by a downed F16 bomber used by Moroc- logistical and intelligence support from This announcement was made by Ri- gy capabilities, the hostility toward the co, part of the alliance currently waging Washington, has intensified its bombing yadh during the May 6-7 visit by U.S. country continues. Many observers be- war on this Middle Eastern state. campaign against Yemen in an attempt Secretary of State John Kerry, who said lieve that the war against Yemen is de- The U.S.-made fighter plane is the to reinstall the fugitive President Abed that Washington supported the war signed to weaken the burgeoning influ- same aircraft used by other members of Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who now lives in against Yemen and made threats against ence of Iran throughout the Gulf region. the Saudi Arabian and Gulf Cooperation exile in Saudi Arabia. Iran, which is politically supporting the Several attempts by Iranian vessels Council waging an aerial war against Ye- According to Press TV on May 11: “Sau- Ansurallah Movement. Kerry also called and planes to provide assistance to the men, the most underdeveloped state in di aerial attacks on the impoverished for a ceasefire and said the U.S. would civilian population in Yemen have been the region. Arab nation continue to claim lives. In supply $68 million in humanitarian as- rebuffed by Saudi vessels, backed up by Morocco, one of only three remaining the latest raids, Saudi warplanes target- sistance to Yemen. U.S. warships. monarchies still reigning on the African ed the northwestern city of Ta’izz injur- Of U.S. foreign policy about the war, Tehran, however, has reiterated its com- continent, joined the alliance “to restore ing 11 people. Earlier, Saudi jets attacked Kerry stated, “We have urged all sides ... mitment to address the situation in Ye- legitimacy in Yemen” at the war’s incep- targets in Sa’ada and Hajjah provinc- to comply with humanitarian law and to men. As Press TV reported, “Iran’s Foreign tion in late March. The decision to join es, killing at least five people. They also take every precaution to keep civilians Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the the war against Yemen was made by King pounded a district in Bayda Province, out of … harm’s way, as well as to provide Islamic Republic is prepared to provide Mohammed VI absent any consultation leaving two people dead.” Also on May the opportunity for humanitarian assis- Yemen with any humanitarian aid and with parliament. (The Australian, May 11) 11, it was estimated that 11 people were tance … to be delivered.” (VOA, May 11) help the impoverished state work out a po- Reports indicate that Morocco has killed and more than 160 injured as Sau- Nonetheless, the Saudi-GCC alliance, litical solution to the ongoing crisis there.” provided six aircraft to the Saudi-GCC di jets struck an arms installation in the bolstered and coordinated by Washing- At a combined press conference in operational command, although there is capital city of Sana’a. ton, has consistently bombed residen- Tehran with South African Minister of virtually no information about the North Press TV reports that the raids set off tial areas, internally displaced persons International Relations and Cooperation African country’s involvement. These numerous explosions, scattering pieces camps, airports and telecommunications Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Zarif said, F16 jets appear to be the same type used of artillery, with one crashing into the infrastructure, creating enormous dislo- “Since the beginning of the crisis in Ye- in the Pentagon-led strikes against the roof of a residential structure. After the cation and outmigration. men and the start of the illegal attacks on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. attacks, clouds of smoke filled the sky After visiting Saudi Arabia, Kerry then the country, the Islamic Republic of Iran and additional materials were scattered went to the Horn of Africa nation of Dji- has explicitly announced that the Yemeni U.S.-backed war kills many across other neighborhoods. bouti, which houses the largest Pentagon [crisis] cannot be settled militarily and Since March 26, the Saudi-GCC co- Just days before, on May 7, the Saudi military base on the continent at Camp that these attacks will have no outcome alition has dropped an undetermined foreign ministry announced a five-day Lemonnier. The government of Djibou- but the killing of defenseless people.” ‘Why I’m aboard the Rescue Ship to Yemen’

The people of Yemen have long been who arm and coddle the Saudi regime, as By Caleb Maupin manding democracy and self-determina- held down by a corrupt, undemocratic well as the U.S. and British oil corpora- In the Persian Gulf tion in Yemen, the Kingdom of Saudi Ara- regime backed and supported by Saudi tions who make billions of dollars from bia has unleashed an intensive bombing May 12 — I am a radical journalist and Arabia and the U.S. The recently deposed this twisted relationship, are complicit campaign. Over 1,000 innocent civilians political analyst as well as an anti-war President Mansour Hadi ran unopposed in the crimes against humanity currently are already dead. Schools, hospitals, pow- activist working with the International in the 2012 election as the official Sau- taking place in Yemen. er plants and mosques are being targeted. Action Center, Fight Imperialism, Stand di-backed and -selected candidate. The The Yemeni people, despite this hor- As someone from the United States, Together (FIST) and the United National U.S./Saudi regime in Yemen has facilitat- rendous bombing campaign, have not nothing disturbs me more than the fact Antiwar Coalition. ed a horrific campaign of drone strikes by surrendered. The Ansarullah fighters that the cruise missiles and other weap- I am 27 and grew up in Ohio. I current- the U.S. military since 2002 that has left have aligned with the Yemen Army and ons used to terrorize and kill innocent ly live in Brooklyn, N.Y., with my loving countless innocent civilians dead. the tribal forces in a united front. Saudi Yemenis are provided by my own govern- spouse Meches. However, as you read this In response to years of impoverish- Arabia’s attempt to form a “Free Army” ment. Our government constantly utilizes message, I am thousands of miles away ment, repression and humiliation, the of Yemen mercenaries has complete- propaganda about “human rights” when from home on a ship in the Persian Gulf. people of Yemen have risen up in revolu- ly flopped. It is now reported that more attempting to isolate and demonize cer- Why am I at sea on the other side of the tion. The Ansarullah organization, com- than 642,000 Yemenis of various reli- tain countries, but for more than half a world? I am part of a humanitarian mis- monly called the “Houthis” in U.S. me- gious backgrounds have joined together century it has been coddling the Kingdom sion carried out by the Red Crescent So- dia, is at the center of a broad coalition to form people’s militias to beat back the of Saudi Arabia, one of the most blatant ciety of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We of forces that are writing a new constitu- Saudi assault. human rights’ violators on the planet. are attempting to bring medical supplies, tion. Popular committees have sprung up The Saudi regime not only beheads, flour and water to the people of Yemen. all across the country. A humanitarian mission tortures and exploits people within its On board the Rescue Ship with me are A criminal U.S.-Saudi war of aggression own borders, but it represses people Violence against a massive other peace activists from the U.S., Ger- In response to a massive uprising de- throughout the region. democratic upsurge many and France, as well as many doc- Despite what you have heard on CNN, tors and a few journalists from Iran. We this is not an ethnic or religious war. This intend to deliver our cargo of over 2,500 is not a “proxy war” with Iran. This is a tons of food and medical supplies to the popular, anti-imperialist struggle for de- port of Hodeidah on the Red Sea. Mujeres combatientes mocracy and independence led by the Ye- Everything on the ship has been care- meni people themselves. The Ansarullah fully checked to make sure nothing that quieren lograr la paz organization is aligned with Sunnis, sec- could be considered a weapon is on board. ularists and various forces from across This is a mission of peace, carried out by Continua de página 11 io, nunca discriminaríamos contra algui- Yemeni society who want to free their the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Cuando se les preguntó sobre el hecho en por su orientación sexual”. country from foreign hands. Republic of Iran, a nongovernmental orga- de que la cúpula del liderazgo - el Secre- La delegación disfrutó de esta rara In response to this massive upsurge nization recognized by the United Nations. tariado de las FARC - son todos hombres, oportunidad de aprender cómo la de- of people’s power, the Kingdom of Saudi Iranian jets attempted to deliver medi- las panelistas afirmaron que el objetivo mocracia real del pueblo - un proceso Arabia, along with ISIS and al-Quaida cal aid on April 28. They were cleared for es mejorar, que “estamos en un estado que hace un gran esfuerzo para hacer que in Yemen, is waging a campaign of vio- landing by Yemeni airports, but before perpetuo de crecimiento, para lograr ser las voces de las/os más oprimidos se es- lent terrorism. They hope to drown this they could touch down, they were re- mejor de lo que somos”. cuche - puede llevarse a cabo incluso en popular revolution in blood, beat down pelled by Saudi fighter jets. las condiciones más extremas de guerra, the Yemeni people and force them back Blocking the delivery of humanitarian Se respetan y protegen los derechos LGBT represión y austeridad neoliberal. under Saudi dominion. The U.S. govern- aid is an extreme violation of internation- La Subcomisión de Género también Martha Grevatt representó al Centro ment is supporting the Saudi regime and al law. As our craft propels through the está revisando todos los acuerdos para de Acción Internacional en la delegación its allies in their criminal attack, and this Persian Gulf, we are loudly urging that no que se respeten y protejan los derechos patrocinada por la Alianza para la Justi- is abhorrent and immoral. one interfere with this peaceful humani- LGBT. “Tenemos el máximo respeto por cia Global. La delegación también incluyó A few passing words of criticism and tarian mission. las personas vengan de donde vengan, a representantes de la Asociación Nacio- condemnation from U.S. officials do not Let the hungry children of Yemen live! sexualmente hablando,” una miembro del nal de Abogados y varios grupos de soli- change the reality of the ugly U.S. alliance This illegal, immoral blockade must end! grupo indicó. “Como cuestión de princip- daridad con América Latina. with the Saudi regime. The U.S. officials Don’t block the Rescue Ship! 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. 57 Núm.20 21 de mayo, 2015 $1 WW PHOTO A la izquierda, Berta Joubert-Ceci, con una líder de las FARC-EP, Victoria Sandino. Estibadores cierran puertos en Área de la Bahía el 1º de Mayo

Por Terri Kay En un mensaje leído a la multitud en la Plaza Oscar Grant, Clarence Thomas Oakland, California, 1 de mayo - Una de la Local 10 dijo: “Esta movilización de vez más las/os miembros del Interna- hoy es más que una protesta. Es un acto tional Longshore and Warehouse Union de resistencia. El Local 10 está cerrando (Sindicato Internacional de Estibadores y el tránsito de los cargamentos internacio- Almacenes) Local 10 realizaron una vali- nales. Al silenciar las grúas en los puer- osa hazaña cuando votaron por cerrar tos, nosotros, la clase obrera, hacemos todos los puertos en la Área de la Bahía y que escuchen nuestras voces fuerte y marchar a la Alcaldía de la ciudad de Oak- claramente por todo el mundo hoy. . . La land en contra del terror policial. El enfo- tarea suprema de la clase obrera es desa- que político en el momento de la decisión fiar a la América corporativa – de frente fue el asesinato por la policía, de Walter — como parte de un nuevo movimiento Scott el 4 de abril en Carolina del Sur. popular para todas/os los trabajadores y Scott tenía fuertes vínculos familiares oprimidos en este país”. con la Asociación Internacional de Estiba- Cat Brooks, Stacey Rodgers y Jack dores (ILA) allí, y el ILWU Local 10 votó Heyman, miembro jubilado de ILWU, co-presidieron la manifestación en la Pla- para mostrar su solidaridad con el ILA. FOTO WW: TERRI KAY “Yo sometí la resolución para cerrar el Local 10 de ILWU detiene trabajo para protestar contra brutalidad policial. za Oscar Grant. Otras/os oradores fueron puerto porque me siento orgulloso de la Fred Hampton, Jr., el tío Bobby (el tío de historia de resistencia de mi sindicato, Oakland, seguida de una marcha por los atención médica, libertad para Mumía Oscar Grant), Jeralynn Blueford (madre y sentí que era tiempo de que los traba- Proyectos Acorn en West Oakland y otra Abu-Jamal” y “Alto al terror policial, de Alan Blueford, quien fue asesinado por jadores se manifiesten fuertemente con- manifestación en la Plaza Oscar Grant ILWU Local 10”. la policía), mesha Monge-Irizarry (madre tra el terror de la policía”, dijo Stacey frente a la Alcaldía de Oakland. Las/os estudiantes en los parques de de Idriss Stetley), el rapero Boots Riley Rodgers, el miembro de ILWU que inició En el puerto, las/os trabajadores por- recreo de una escuela primaria y una es- y Judy Greenspan del Partido Workers la acción del puerto. “Estamos en un mo- tuarios denunciaron el terror policial, in- cuela secundaria en la ruta de la marcha World-Mundo Obrero. mento histórico en nuestro país. Los tra- cluyendo a la familia de Jeremiah Moore, saludaban y gritaban jubilosamente al Las/os organizadores incluyeron bajadores siempre han sido parte de los un hombre autista que la policía mató a pasar las/os manifestantes. Éstos, a su miem­bros de base del Local 10, el Proyecto momentos históricos de este país, y con- balazos en Valejo, Calif., el 20 de octubre vez se pararon para enseñarles consignas Anti-Terror Policial, Comité Organizador tinuamos ese legado el Primero de Mayo”. de 2012, y el tío de Richard ‘Pedie’ Pérez, como “Toda la noche, todo el día, lucha- de ONYX, el Centro Alan Blueford por la un hombre desarmado a quien miembros remos por Freddie Grey”. Justicia, Community Ready Corps, Par- Luego Freddie Grey fue asesinado del Departamento de la Policía de Rich- Cat Brooks, de ONYX y el Proyecto An- tido Workers World-Mundo Obrero, la por la policía de Baltimore. mond dispararon el 14 de septiembre. ti-Terror Policial, dijo en un comunicado Campaña Amor y no Sangre, y Answer. Hoy, Día Internacional de las/os Traba- La banda musical del ILWU encabezó de prensa, “La única forma que este país Los endosos sindicales incluyeron al Local jadores, la membresía del ILWU y más de la marcha. Las/os manifestantes llev- nos va a tomar en serio es si interrumpi- 1021 de los Empleados de Servicio (SEIU), 1.000 miembros de la comunidad salieron aban banderas, incluyendo una que decía mos su comercio y hacemos un impacto la Asociación de Educación de Oakland, el para mostrar su rabia sobre los recientes “Justicia para Yuvette”. Yuvette Hender- en su economía. No funciona el simple- sindicato de Estudiantes-Trabajadores de homicidios policiales y todos los casos de son fue asesinada el 3 de febrero por la mente apelar a su humanidad. Si ese hu- la Universidad de California (Local 2865 terror policial. El Local 10 y varios grupos policía de Emeryville. En otras se leía: biera sido el caso, la epidemia de genoci- de Trabajadores Automotrices Unidos, comunitarios y otros sindicatos organi- “¡Primero de Mayo!, ¡A luchar por Fred- dio negro a manos de la policía hubiera UAW) y la junta de minorías del Sindicato zaron una manifestación en el Puerto de die Grey!”, “No a la ejecución por falta de terminado hace décadas”. de Electricistas de San Francisco. Mujeres combatientes quieren lograr la paz

Por Martha Grevatt FARC-EP en la subcomisión. para obtener los ingresos necesarios que combatientes queremos lograr la paz”, ex- La Habana Las mujeres de las FARC-EP tomaron les son negados, algunas se convierten en plicaron. muy en serio las demandas planteadas por “mulas” que trafican drogas ilegales de Las panelistas también disiparon al- Las conversaciones de paz entre las las mujeres colombianas durante muchos Colombia. Como prisioneras políticas y gunos de los mitos sobre las mujeres en el Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Co- intercambios. Como consecuencia de ello, prisioneras de guerra, están sujetas a tor- ejército guerrillero. Los medios de comu- lombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) y se creó la Subcomisión de Género. tura y a violencia sexual. nicación capitalistas han presentado a las el gobierno colombiano, que tienen lugar Muchas de estas propuestas de organi- Todo esto salió a la luz cuando ambas mujeres de las FARC-EP como esclavas en La Habana, Cuba, están progresando zaciones de mujeres y de lesbianas, gay, partes en la Mesa de Conversaciones es- sexuales de los hombres combatientes, a pesar de muchos desafíos. bisexuales y transexuales, se hicieron a cucharon testimonios de las víctimas del haciendo declaraciones falsas sobre abor- Del 11 al 18 de abril, 33 activistas de través de un proceso que incluye un sitio conflicto, un proceso que las FARC-EP tos forzados y otros innumerables abusos. Estados Unidos, Colombia, Costa Rica y web creado por las FARC para presentar insistieron en que se diera. De las/os 60 Sin embargo, las mujeres siempre han Puerto Rico tuvieron la oportunidad de sugerencias que luego se presentan en la testigos, seis eran de organizaciones de desempeñado papeles principales desde reunirse en La Habana con miembros “Mesa de Conversaciones” (así es como mujeres y dos de grupos LGBT. Sus pro- la fundación de las FARC en 1964 y com- plenipotenciarias/os de las FARC-EP, así llaman al ámbito de las negociaciones en- puestas se integraron al proceso de con- prendan al menos el 30 por ciento de to- como con representantes del gobierno co- tre las FARC-EP y el gobierno). El proce- versaciones. Alrededor del 80 por ciento das/os los combatientes. Muchas juegan lombiano y de los países garantes, Cuba so es uno democrático que permite a las de las mujeres colombianas ha sido víc- papeles principales a nivel regional. y Noruega, junto con los asesores legales masas colombianas hacer conocer sus in- tima de la guerra en una forma u otra. Todas las mujeres reciben la misma españoles de las FARC-EP. quietudes y sugerencias. Más de 100 mil “Pero”, destacó Sandino, “no somos sólo formación que los hombres - su for- Una de las sesiones más esclarecedoras sugerencias se han recibido. víctimas, somos actores, somos agentes mación incluye “el aprendizaje de las fue nuestro encuentro con la Subcomis- Las mujeres sufren de manera despro- políticos. Hemos estado luchando y haci- causas fundamentales de la opresión, los ión de Género. Esta subcomisión se es- porcionada las consecuencias de la guerra endo demandas”. valores éticos y morales de ser revolucio- tableció para asegurar que cualquier ac- que el gobierno de Colombia, con el apoyo Mientras el gobierno colombiano tam- naria/o, y los valores humanitarios por uerdo entre las partes “avance la causa de de Washington, arremete contra el pueb- bién está representado en la subcomis- los que estamos luchando”. las mujeres, darle a los acuerdos parciales lo. Muchas mujeres han quedado viudas. ión, se hizo evidente que las mujeres de Los derechos de las mujeres y las/os una perspectiva de género, reconocer el Las mujeres comprenden el 70 por cien- las FARC-EP eran su fuerza motriz. Las niños, incluidas las que experimentan papel central de la mujer y la autonomía to de las millones de personas desplaza- siete mujeres y el hombre que habló con violencia doméstica, son atendidos en las de las mujeres para mejorar su posición”, das. Experimentan discriminación en el nuestra delegación sobre la subcomisión zonas bajo el control de las FARC-EP. según Victoria Sandino, una líder de las trabajo. Ven a sus hijas/os asesinados. Y pertenecían a las FARC-EP. “Las mujeres Continua a página 11