THE Bork nomination: what stand for workers •• 2. The story of Hector Marroquin . • . .. 8 Interview with Nicaraguan unionist . 11

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLiSHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 51/NO. 27 ·JULY 17, 1987 75 CENTS Behind Congress moves to gag antigov't protests southern Mrican groups

BY ERNEST HARSCH in Panama Without any public fanfare or mention in the major news media, the House of Repre­ BY ERNEST HARSCH sentatives has adopted several measures "We reject the United States campaign that directly attack the right of southern Af­ against Panama!" "No to interventionism!" rican freedom organizations to address the "Panama yes, intervention no!" U.S. people. Those are among the slogans that have During a one~week period in mid-June, featured at many of the marches and dem­ the House passed these measures in the onstrations held in that country in recent form of amendments to the State Depart­ weeks to counter a right-wing mobilization ment Authorization Bill. They seek to cur­ aimed at toppling the Panamanian govern­ tail the movement and activities within the ment. United States of the African National Con­ The major U.S. news media has largely gress (ANC) of South Africa and the South ignored these actions. Instead it has fo~ West Africa People's Organisation cused on the antigovernment protests or­ (SWAPO) of Namibia. The amendments . ganized by business and professional also viole.nce-bait those two groups, which groups .. These have been portrayed as a are fighting to rid South Africa of the hated popular movement for democracy, against apartheid system and free Namibia from a repressive military regime. South African rule. That image is false. It seeks toobscure One amendment, proposed by Rep. Pat­ the bUe aims of the opposition forces in Panama - well as the direct support rick Swindall (R.- Ga.), would specifically as restrict the movement of representatives of they are receiving from Washington. the ANC and SWAPO (as well as of the To working people and other supporters Palestine Liberation Organization) to the of Panamanian sovereignty, the questions confines of those cities where the organiza­ at stake are clear: tions have their missions. The amend­ Will Washington once again be able to ment's wording is vague enough that this impose a government of its choice, as it has so many times before? Will Panama regain restriction could be applied against any public spokesperson of the two groups, not sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone in just those officially attached to the ANC 1999, as stipulated by existing treaties, or and SW APO missions. will the zone remain under· U.S. military In response to growing support in United States for southern African freedom fight­ No. such travel restrictions would apply occupation? ers of African National CongreSs and South West Africa People's Organisation, to representatives of the apartheid regime. In a country that has so long suffered House of Representatives adopted measures to restrict their ability to reach U.S. au­ As a justification for this measure, the Continued on Page 10 ·diences. Swindall amendment red-baitS the ANC and· SWAPO by claiming that· the restric­ tions are intended to "keep Soviet and Soviet-bloc intelligence operatives out of Why 18 workers perished in boxcar the United States." Rep. Dan Burton (R.-Ind.) putforward BY JIM WATSON to die. The problem of insufficient oxygen said a demonstration protesting the deaths two other amendments, both of which were EL PASO, Texas- The story is a grim was compounded by the fact that the train will be held July 17. passed. One would reduce U.S. funding by one. Nineteen undocumented workers hop­ was held up for two hours in EI Paso while The shock of these deaths runs deep in 25 percent for any United Nations project if, in the judgement of the White House, its ~d an eastbound Missouri Pacific freight Ia migra supposedly inspected it. EI Paso, which is more than 70 percent "primary purpose is to benefit the ANC." train here on the evening of July 1. Within The people in the car had to remain per­ Hispanic. Nearby in the small community Burton's second amendment calls for a 12 hours, 18 of them died from dehydra­ fectly quiet so as not to be discovered. By of Sierra Blanca, where the boxcar was dis­ study of alleged "ANC forced detention tion and suffocation after being locked in the time the work began on the escape covered, residents were visibly shaken. camps." After some discussion, the Demo­ an air-tight boxcar. hole, it was too late. Billy Addington, a Sierra Blanca grocer, cratic-dominated House decided to modify The deteriorating Mexican economy is said immigrants had been passing through "There was blood all over the boxcar, the town for years trying to evade Ia migra. this latter amendment by calling for a simi­ forcing a growing number of Mexicans to apparently from where they were vomit­ The boxcar deaths reminded him of movies lar study of South African government de- ing, and· clothes were scattered all over about Nazi concentration camps. Continued on Page 2 from where they were trying to keep cool See editorial on page 14. by peeling their clothes off," said border patrol cop Mike Williams. Haitian strikes demand ouster try to get across the border to find work. The lone survivor got through by breath­ But it is becoming increasingly dangerous. ing through a tiny hole in the floor he had In 1985, bodies of 12 drowning victims gouged with a railroad spike and a paring of ruling mili.tary council were recovered from the Rio Grande, knife. · which divides this metropolitan area of 1.5 BY MARGARET JAYKO strikes and protests called by a broad coali-. The media has carried extensive cover­ "The people are fed up. We must have a tion of 57 opposition organizations. million people into Juarez, Mexico, and El age of this event blaming smugglers for the Paso. change of government." By the end of the week, soldiers had deaths. Little mention is made of the grind­ This statement by one of the leaders of killed 23 people and wounded more than So far this year 42 bodies have been ing poverty in the Mexican interior and the the ongoing protests against the military re­ 100. pulled from the river. intense exploitation of Mexican workers by gime in Haiti sums up the mood among the The government's concessions, rather These figures do not include those U.S. companies on both sides of the bor­ masses of people of that impoverished than quelling the mass movement, have maimed and killed in the El Paso rail yards. der. Caribbean country. sparked renewed calls for the regime's res­ Confrontations with the U.S. Border These U.S. companies, with "twin­ On July 2, Haiti's government was ignation. Patrol (La migra) have become increasingly plant" facilities on both sides of the border, forced to retreat on its decision to take con­ The national strike resumed Monday, nasty. La migra routinely makes more than pay workers on the Mexican side between trol of the upcoming elections for public July 6, · after a weekend break to allow 20,000 arrests a month here. 50 and 75 cents an hour. office out of the hands of the constitution­ people to buy food and other necessitie~. ally designated electoral council and give it Businesses, offices, stores, and pubhc Recently Ia migla agents have been in­ The League for Immigration and Border to the Ministry of the Interior. transportation remained closed. volved in the shooting and drowning of Rights Education (LIBRE) issued a state­ The government was also compelled to Soldiers were instructed to stay off the Mexicans, and they chased a teenager onto ment that began, "Why did 18 men perish announce that it would rescind its dissolu­ streets, thus allowing the July 6 and 7 pro­ a highway where he was sbUck by a car and . in a boxcar near Sierra Blanca? Because, tion of the Autonomous Confederation of tests to proceed peacefully. killed. They also drove into Juarez and set like millions of other people in America, Haitian Workers. Meanwhile, U.S., French, and Cana­ fire to a house there. they were trying to get to work. But unlike The ruling junta had declared the union -dian diplomats assured the military regime so-called 'legal' humans who enjoy the According to the lone survivor of the dissolved on June 30. Because the union's of their governments' continuing support. boxcar incident, three coyotes (smugglers) dignity of riding in a car or bus, the men officers are facing charges of intimidation Washington funds Haiti's rulers to the tunC? died because they were forced to travel like made arrangements for the 19 people to and incitement to riot, however, the union of $100 million. The U.S. government was board the boxcar as it pulled out of El Paso. freight, like insects. Such is the reality of will have to have a new executive commit­ also the biggest backer of the tyrannical work for poor people from Third World One of the coyotes stayed behind. The tee, according to government spokes­ Duvalier dynasty, which was ousted as a countries, who, due to our cynical immi­ other two were supposed to stay on board people. And no date was set for the union's result of popular protests in February 1986. gration policy, are classified as illegal and cut a hole in the floor of the boxcar so reinstatement. The current ruling council was handpicked the group could exit in Fort Worth. aliens." The concessions were forced·on the gov­ by "president for life" Jean-Claude Apparently the two were among the first Eddie Nathan, an organizer for LffiRE, ernment by a week of national general Duvalier as he was fleeing the country. Will BOrk nOminatiOn speD end to 'riglits?

BY FRED FELDMAN cratic rights like the separation of church away at or roll back the democratic and so­ letter.of the law had changed or because President Reagan's nomination of Fed­ and state were gifts from benevolent cial gains won since the 196()s. Powell or others who switched sides had eral Appeals Court Judge Robert Bork for judges that can be taken back by mean­ Since Reagan came to office in 1981, the suddenly become foes of job discrimina­ the U.S. Supreme Court has stirred up a spirited ones. This is false. These rights White House has attempted to take some tion. wide-ranging debate. The retirement of were won in struggle, and they cannot be The latest rulings.registered the widen­ Judge Lewis Powell is what opened up a taken away without a fight. iniatives to push back abortion rights and affrrmative action. But this effort has run ing support for affrrmative action, particu­ space on the bench. No court, let alone a single "swing larly in the labor movement, and the stiff Reagan praised Bork as an "intellectu­ vote," can restore the "separate but equal" into big obstacles and has made little head­ way. The gains won by Blacks, women, resistance to attacks on it. The rulers were ally powerful advocate of judicial re­ doctrine that provided the legal justifica­ forced to set aside the idea of a head-on as­ straint." Behind this platitude, however, is tion for the system of racial segregation. and others have wide popular support. sault, despite the calls for this by · the These gains have been institutionalized, Bork's ugly record on democratic rights. The overturn of that doctrine by the courts Reagan administration. Tbe appointment Among his reactionary stands are oppo­ in the 1950s and '60s registered victories and working people have come to see them as part of their basic rights. of Bork, even if he is confrrmed, will not sition to the 1973 Supreme Court decision won by working people at home and change these facts. that recognized women's right to abortion. abroad. · That was reflected in last year's Su­ Bork has urged that the First Amend­ Nor will Bork's potential "swing vote" preme Court votes reafftrming a women's Role of court rulings ment to the Constitution be reinterpreted to be able to outlaw abortion rights. The 1973 right to abortion and this year's votes up­ Adding another outright reactionary like allow more suppression of free speech Roe v. Wade decision declared abortion holding the constitutionality of affrrmative Bork to the court could result in more court rights. He has consistently ruled against the rights to be inherent in the constitutional action programs. rulings attacking democratic rights. There rights of defendants in criminal proceed~ right to privacy. This was another fruit of The struggle over affrrmative action has have been plenty of those in recent years, ings. the victorious civil rights movement, highlighted the inability of the courts to such as the rulings upholding the death Right-wing forces, who have taken which dealt such blows to every· kind of take ground by fiat that the. rulers have penalty and "preventive detention" of blows and lost some posts in the Reagan discrimination arid opened the door to an been unable to win from working people in people without bail or charge. · administration since the Iran-contra arms expansion of rights for all ·the oppressed struggle. But despite the boasts of the rightists and deals surfaced, are elated by the appoint, and exploited. . the dirges of the liberals, the court cannot In 1978 the Supreme Court attempted to ment. Daniel Popeo of the Washington Tens of thousands of women and their roll back the fundamental gains won by deal a heavy blow to affrrmative action. In Legal Foundation crowed, "We have the supporters marched and rallied for legal working people in the last 30 years. opportunity now to roll back 30 years of abortion. And thousands of women gave a deciding opinion written by Justice Lewis Powell, the court ruled that Allan Bakke, a Laws and court rulings reflect the class social and political activism by the Su- their lives, victims of the back-alley butch­ relationship of forces - the outcome of preme Court." · ery that stemmed from outlawing abortion. white student, ·had been discriminated against by a medical school's affirmative battles fought on the streets, picket lines, No 5-4 vote on the Supreme Court will and elsewhere. An attempt by the rulers 'Swing action program that sought to increase the vote' force women and.their allies to give up a today to sweep away affrrmative action, Editors of major dailies have reinforced right that is a matter of life and death. number of Black, Latino, and Asian stu­ dents. abortion rights, or other conquests would this claim by portraying outgoing Justice For more than a decade the ruling spark massive · battles with huge political Powell as the "swing vote" in many 5-4 families have been on the offensive against But in 1987, Powell formed part of a risks for the rulers. ·court decisions that upheld constitutional the rights and living standards of working court majority that upheld similar pro­ In battles of this scope, the alleged rights. ' people. As part of this drive, they have grams aimed at reducing job discrimina­ swing vote of Bork or any other robed reac­ Prominent Democrats like Sen. Edward probed and tested for openings to chip tion. The shift did not occur because the tionary will count for very little. Kennedy have vowed to fight Bork's ap­ pointment when it comes up for confrrma­ tion in the Senate. Kennedy warned that placing Bork on the court might enable Reagan to "impose his reactionary vision Congress seeks to gag African groups of the Constitution on the Supreme Court and on the next generation of Americans." Continued from front page · the anti-ANC clauses oflast year's act, has The response in Washington has been to Most union officials, and leaders of civil tention camps. In either its original or mod­ admitted that the information used in his al­ try to silence these voices, to keep the U.S. rights and women's rights groups, have ified version, this measure seeks to equate legations against the organization was pro­ people from hearing the truth about what is echoed this theme. the ANC with the oppressive apartheid re­ vided by "South African intelligence and going on. in southern Africa and what the Benjamin Hooks, executive director of gime. other sources." U.S. government's actual role is. The the National Association for the Advance­ If incorporated into the Senate's version amendments essentially seek to censor ment of Colored People (NAACP), and of the same appropriations bill, the Swin­ Attempt at censorship ideas and information. Ralph Neas, executive director of the dall and Burton amendments could soon The attacks against the ANC and This congressional campaign against the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, for become law. SWAPO come .at a time when the. two southern .African freedom -organizations example, declared that Bork's confrrma­ groups are winnihg a wider audience here. has beeli paralleled by similar attacks tion would "jeopardize the civil rights Slanders The fact that they are supported by millions against those governments in. the region achievements of the past 30 years. The groundwork for these most recent · of people at home gives them tremendous that provide refuge and assistance to the "Well-established law on affrrmative ac­ attacks on the ANC and SWAPO was laid moral and political authority. ANC and SWAPO. tion, on privacy, on women's rights, and last year, when Congress adopted the Com­ Much of the time of members of the In May, the Senate approved a resolu­ school desegregation could overnight be prehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. That ANC's UN mission in New York is spent tion calling on the Reagan administration substantially eroded or overturned," they measure did mandate some limited sanc­ touring the country, speaking to college to halt all U.S. aid to any government in said. tions against the apartheid regime, but it students, church groups, trade unions, and the region that practices "state terrorism" How should working people view this · also was tarred by provisions directed others about the struggle in South Africa. - a term used by the White House and debate? against the ANC. ANC members living in other cities (many Pretoria alike to refer .to any form of assis- First of all, it would be a big error to ac­ Those provisions helped feed slanders of of them students) are also often called upon tance to guerrilla movements. ' cept the claim that the rights won in recent the ANC as a "terrorist," "communist­ to speak at anti-apartheid rallies and meet­ The Senate also adopted, by a 94-0 vote, years by Blacks, women, and all working dominated" organization and sought to ings. a resolution urging the White House to im­ people can be swept aside.by Bork's poten­ have the ANC ·registered as a "foreign The direct participation of the ANC and pose full-scale economic sanctions against tial "swing vote." agent." They also mandated the State De­ SWAPO has been a factor in helping Angola. Sen. Robert Dole (R.-Kan.) has partment to prepare a report on the extent strengthen the U.S. anti-apartheid move­ put forward a similar bill that would man­ Rights aren't gifts from courts of Communist Party "infiltration" of the ment. Their emphasis on the need for date such sanctions. This view is based on the notion that the ANC. That report, delivered to Congress in breaking all ties with the South African re­ The American Committee on Africa and elimination of legal, Jim Crow segrega­ January, contained further red-baiting gime has also helped keep the spotlight on other U.S. anti-apartheid organizations are tion, the wi.niling of women's right to smears. U.S. government and corporate complicity urging action to prev:ent these from becom­ abortion, and the maintenance of demo- Burton, who was also a _key proponent of with apartheid. ing law.

The Militant tells the truth - Subscribe today! The Militant The Militant is written in the Closing news date: July 8, 1987 interests of workers and farm­ Coeditors: MARGARET JA YKO and DOUG JENNESS ers. Every week it tells the Circulation Director: MALIK MIAH Nicaragua Bureau Director: CINDY JAQUITH truth about the war Washing­ Business Manager: JIM WHITE ton and the employers are wag­ Editorial Staff: Susan Apstein, Fred Feldman, Ernest ., .' . ing against working people at Harsch, Arthur Hughes, Sam Manuel, Harvey McArthur I home and abroad. We provide (Nicaragua), Roberto Kopec (Nicaragua), Harry Ring, ' "J\. ~ ?f~ first-hand coverage of events in Norton Sandler. - -J•..> · Published weekly except one week in August and the last other countries, such as Cuba, week of December by the Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 Burkina Faso, and the Philip­ West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Editorial Of­ pines. In addition, regular on­ fice, (212) 243-6392; Telex, 497-4278; Business Office, the-scene reports come from our (212) 929-3486. Nicaragua Bureau. Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes of address should be addressed to Tbe Militant Business Enclosed Is Subscribe today. Office, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. I 0 $3.00 for 12 weeks, new readers If you already have a sub­ Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. POST­ $6.00 for 12 weeks, renewals scription, by renewing now for MASTER: Send address changes to. The Militant, 410 West 0 St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Subscriptions: U.S., Canada, 0 $12.00 fcK ala months six months or a year you'll re­ ceive a free issue of New Inter­ Latin America: for one-year subscription send $24, drawn I 0 $24.00 fcK oae yar on a U.S. bank, to above address. By first-class (airmail), N... ______national (cover price $6.50), a send $60. Britain, Ireland, Continental Europe, Africa: magazine of Marxist politics send £25 check or international money order made out to and theory published in New Pathfinder Press and send to Pathfmder, 47 The Cut, London Stabi ______ZIP ------. York. The current issue fea­ SEI 8LL, England. Australia, Asia, Pacific: send Austra­ I =------UaloaiSc:llooi/Orp.izatl------TeJ.pMae lian $60 to Pathfinder Press, P.O. Box 37, Leichhardt, Syd­ tures the article, ''The Second ney, NSW 2040, Australia. Send to THE MBnANT, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014 Assassination of Maurice Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent 1 Bishop," by Steve Clark. the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant July 17, 1987 ·Rallies. back· fight·against gov't spying Unionists, antiwar fighters, and defenders of immigrant .rights speak out

BY FRED FELDMAN for the rights of the LA 8. Unionists, opponents of the U.S. war in Other messages of support were sent to Central America, fighters for Black rights, the rally by actor and unionist Ed Asner and victims of police frame-ups and spying and Congressman Esteban Torres. are speaking out at rallies across the coun~ Talks by Marcia Halverson, a TWA try in support of the Political Rights De­ flight attendant fighting for reinstatement, fense Fund. and Harold Mitchell, president of Ameri- · The PRDF has helped fund and publicize can Federation of State, County, and the suit brought by the Socialist Workers Municipal Employees .Local 100, high­ Party and Young Socialist Alliance against lighted the PRDF rally in Cleveland June the FBI and other government political 20. police operations. The suit won a historic Halverson described her experiences in ruling against the government last August. the strike by the Independent Federation of Now the two organizations are fighting for Flight Attendants. "I'm embarrassed at an injunction barring the use of files how naive I was before, but I learned. The gathered on them illegally by the FBI. courts, the police, the Federal Aviation Jack Foley, director of District 1 of the Administration, and the State Department Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, all eased the way for the company to hire sent a message to the June 27 rally in Los and retain strikebreakers." Angeles. "We cannot sit idly by and allow Mitchell, who is also cochair of the local our rights to be taken away, which are Coalition of Black Trade Unionists guaranteed by the Constitution of the (CBTU), described spending 27 months in United States. The Political Rights De­ jail for his role in anti-Ku Klux Klan rallies fense Fund issue·needs labor leaders' and in northern Ohio in the mid-1960s. While members' full support." he was in prison in 1968, the Ohio National More than 100 people attended the rally, Guard occupied the jail to suppress a pro­ which heard Ruben Villareal, a business test by inmates, .and four prisoners were Fred Blair, a leader of TecNica (which sends skiUed workers as volunteers to Nicara­ agent for the International Ladies' Garment killed. gua), voices support of suit against FBI spying at Los Angeles rally for political Workers' Union, denounce raids by immi­ Mitchell read the resolution of support rights. Blair denounced FBI harassment of volunteer workers on their return from gration cops on Los Angeles garment for the SWP-YSA lawsuit adopted by the Nicaragua. shops. The raids single out union activists. last national convention of the CBTU in St. The Immigration and Naturalization Ser­ Louis. vice is "a contra army in the United The featured speaker in San Diego June Marine Corps reserve. He described how tests. FBI agents searched her home three States," dec13red Peter Schey, executive 12 was Kristen Crabtree, an 18-year-old military regulations attempt to suppress the times, on the pretext of searching for Black director of the National Center for Immi­ student at the University of California at constitutional rights of soldiers and urged activist Joanne Chesimard. "They're ter­ grants Rights. San Diego. Crabtree had been physically the PROF to continue efforts to get out rorizing me every day and then calling me facts about the SWP and YSA suit among a terrorist," she said. Michel Shehahdeh also spoke. He is one assaulted by an FBI agent while taking photographs for the campus newspaper at a GI's. Phil Mclewin, president of the Bergen of the Los Angeles 8, seven Palestinians The rally in Newark June 27 was held at and a Kenyan facing deportation proceed- • rally protesting campus recruiting by the County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, FBI and CIA. the Metropolitan Ecumenical Center. Dave sent a message of solidarityto the rally. ings for alleged association w,ith a Palestin­ Robinson of the center opened the rally by Charged with assaulting a federal offi­ The Newark rally raised $2,200 in con­ ian organization. Shehahdeh pointed out describing being told by a State Depart­ cer, she faces three years in prison if con­ tributions and pledges toward the national that the government had singled them out ment official that he and the local office of victed. PRDF goal of raising $90,000 by July 19. for attack because it viewed Palestinians as the North American Committee on Latin Another speaker was Kelly Cookson, the "weak link in the civil liberties chain." America (NACLA), a group opposed to In San Diego, the rally culminated a who recently completed four years of ac­ They miscalculated he said, citing the U.S. foreign policy, were under federal fundraising effort that has brought in tive military service and two years in the. wide support won in the continuing fight surveillance. $2,300 in donations and pledges. In Cleve­ Cate Woods, president of the Trenton, land, the rally culminated a drive that net­ New Jersey, chapter of the National Or­ ted $1,250 for PRDF. About $1,800 was ganization for Women, also spoke. collected or pledged at the Los Angeles Political Rights Defense Fand Woods described .her run-ins with the meeting. political cops, beginning with a 24-hour $90,000 Fand Scoreboard surveillance of her apartment by the FBI This article is based in part on reporting by and New Jersey state police in 1982 be­ Marty Pettit, Laurel Kelly, Ken Honda, (as of July 7, 1987) cause of her involvement in antidraft pro- and M.J. Rahn. Region Goal Received % Region Goal Received % Wisconsin 1,200 1,360 113 Oregon 1,200 435 36 · Pennsylvania 2,200 2,405 109 Arizona- Illinois- NewMex. 1,010 327 32 Prisoners aid suit against FJJI Indiana 2,500 2,402 96 Northern Washington California 7,000 2,105 30 On June 9 the Political Rights Defense local police dressed in flak jackets and state 2,000 1,730 87 Nebraska- Fund received nine sponsor cards in the armed with shotguns. These prisoners were New Jersey 5,000 3,802 76 S. Dakota 750 196 26 mail·from inmates incarcerated in Western then kept locked up for two days and sub­ Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Texas 3,500 2,460 70 New England 3,020 755 25 jected to cell-by-cell strip searches. Efforts by the guards to pin the ·fire on Ohio 2,810 1,941 69 Iowa 750 160 21 These new endorsers were gathered by prisoners failed when fire officials ruled Mid-Atlantic 3,025 603 19 Gary Georgia, a PRDF supporter impris­ Southern that it would have been impossible for California 11,200 7,475 67 Colorado 1,200 130 11 oned there. them to have done so, since the fire started Georgia 1,500 969 65 Minnesota- Prisoners in this facility had been vic­ after the nightly "lockup." Missouri- N. Dakota 2,750 306 11 timized recently by prison officials after After going through these experiences, Kansas 3,550 2,094 59 N. Carolina 1,00) 96 10 guards accused them of setting a fire that and after reading the decision in the New York 9,100 5,185 57 Florida 1,020 28 3 caused the emptying of the north cell block Socialist Workers Party's case against gov­ Utah 1,950 1,058 54 Alabama 1,200 20 2 on the morning of January 27. More than ernment spying and disruption, Georgia re­ W. Virginia- Michigan 2,00) 4() 2 700 prisoners were forced to stand outside quested PRDF literature and a supply of Kentucky 2,200 1,141 51 Other 15,00) 10,002 67 in 4-degree cold, surrounded by state and sponsor cards and circulated them. Louisiana 1,000 368 37 Total 90,635 45,593 55 'Militant' will not publish next week

The Militant will be taking a one-week reorganizing, and updating our photo files. loin file liglll break next week in order to complete a We ended up throwing away many photos major clean-up and reorganization of our that were either of poor quality or not use­ for democrafic rigllls • • • offices. ful for our current needs: Belpllut Po61ic:al Biglall Delease Fllllll preted llut BiD of Biglall. Sapport Last February we also shut down for a This will make it easier to find and use week to begin the process of reviewing the ones that best illustrate the paper. llut sailllroaglallly llae SocilllisiWorken Pm1y 111111 Youg Socialist every file and piece of equipment we had in We are also doing some work to improve llliimce agaiasl govenuaal spyiag. order to get rid of the useless and broken, our extensive file of newspaper clippings obtain necessary equipment that we didn't - what is called "the morgue" - and our • Contribute to the $90,000 fund have, put our files in order, and do a files of the many publications we receive. thorough cleaning. Our decision to take on this project now • Sponsor the suit against FBI spying is part of the response to the in­ The effort is being carried out in con­ Militant's crease in struggles by working people • Get & distribute information on the suit junction with the other staffs that we share a building with at 410 West Street in Man­ against attacks by employers and the gov­ 0 Enclosed is my tax-deductible conlrihulioo ol: ernment. One measure of this has been the $500 __ hattan: the Spanish-language monthly $100 __ $IO __ other $__ Kame ___'------increase in our circulation. Address ______magazine Perspectiva Mundial; Pathfinder 0 I want to be a spoDJOr of the PRDF. Reorganizing and cleaning our premises City ______publishing house; Photo Comp Press; and D Send me __ copies of the federal judge's decision the Library of Social History. will put the Militant in the best possible against FBI spying and hanwment ($1 each). State ______Zip------shape to respond in an even more timely 0 Send me __ copies ol an 8-page lahloid containing Organization----'------~ One of the biggest projects we undertook and effective manner to these new develop- · the Justice Department's attack on the deciaion. Reprints Signature government agencies' statements claiming "right" to spy. ------on the fourth floor, which is occupied by ments. the editorial staffs of the Militant, Perspec­ Send to: Political Rights Defense Fund, P.O. 1m 649, Cooper Station, Hew York. IU. 10003 We will resume publication with the tiva Mundial, and Pathfinder, was sorting, issue dated July 31.

July 17, 1987 The Militant 3

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BY BILL JOHNSON 90 percent of flights, costing the company t>ETROIT- "What do we want? Par­ a large amount in FAA fines and customer ity! When do we want it? Now!" chanted ·complaints. 600 members of International Association In recent negotiations Northwest has at­ of Machinists Local 141 as they staged a tempted to split mechanics and ticket rally at the Metro Airport here June 22. agents from ramp personnel, offering wage The unionists, who are mechanics, fleet increases to the first two groups. But union service cleaners, baggage handlers, and negotiators said no to this divide-and-rule other ramp personnel and ticket agents scheme. from first and second shifts assembled dur­ ing their break period to send Northwest Flight attendants, facing similar union­ Orient a message of union solidarity. busting tactics, also solidarized with the The demonstration focused on North­ ramp workers. Some face an annual pay west's suspension of union Vice-president gap of up to $15,000 between former Re­ AI Wojcik for his defense of union mem­ public and Northwest' flight attendants. bers facing stepped-up company harass­ The International Brotherhood of Team­ ment and firings . sters recently won the right to represent all The workers by demanding parity want the flight attendants. Northwest to sign the proposed lAM tran­ Republic pilots also face wide pay dis­ sition agreement to upgrade the former Re­ crepancies relative to Northwest pilots. public Airlines employees who now work The pilots' and flight attendants' cases are for Northwest since the October 1986 in arbitration now . · merger of the two companies. Former Re­ public employees make anywhere from $3 Northwest claims that it needs to remain to $4 less than Northwest employees in the competitive and cannot afford to upgrade same job classifications. Republic workers. But the company just Northwest refused to check off dues signed a $20 billion contract for 200 ·new from wages of the 15,000 new members of planes with the European Airbus consor­ the union. Altogether the lAM represents tium and awarded ·top management huge 23,000 Northwest employees. A recent bonuses. Northwest Board Chairman Ste­ At Minneapolis airport demonstration June 25, Northwest workers demanded up­ court ruling on this, however, declared the ven Rothemeier, for example, got a raise grading the pay of former Republic workers. Machinists' union members there and company must now collect the dues. this year of $250,000 plus 54,000 shares of in Detroit have been refusing overtime in fight for wage parity. Management then moved to lay off 650 stock valued at over $4 million. workers. Here in Detroit, it has stepped up harassment - suspending ground service {iersonnel on such charges as "horseplay" and "dropping a piece of baggage." TextHe union discusses war, imports In Minneapolis and Detroit the union has responded to the antiunion campaign by BY RICH STUART Many delegates addressed the need to workers into the union. discouraging workers from working over­ MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - More than organize the hundreds of thousands of non­ Hector Marroquin, a Mexican-born time, which the company desperately 2,000 delegates attended tlie June 15-21 union garment and textile workers in the worker who has been.fighting for the right needs- especially since the layoffs. This convention of the Amalgamated Clothing United States. In the South, only 25,000 to live and work in the United States for a campaign has been nearly 100 percent ef­ and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). out of 500,0()0 textile workers are or­ decade, participated in the workshop, re­ fective, forcing the company to declare an ACTWU mainly represents textile and ganized. laying his experiences under the new law. "emergency" on. occasion to force some apparel industry workers in the United Considerable discussion took place on workers to fill work stations for the next States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also or­ the issue of immigration. Many delegates Rich Stuart is a member of AC1WU shift. ganizes headwear and footwear workers. opposed the new Immigration Reform and Local319T at Highland Yarn Mills in High Nationally lAM members have launched Many delegates, reflecting the composi­ Control Act as a threat to the labor move­ Point, North Carolina. Also contributing a safety-first campaign. They are paying tion of the union, were women, and a sig­ ment. Lydia Sanchez Bracamonte, an to the article were AC1WU members Ellie careful attention to loading and unloading nificant number were Black or Latino. ACTWU organizer in Chicago, told a Beth Brady from Morgantown, West Vir­ planes. Mechanics, ramp personnel, and Much convention time went into install­ workshop that the new law is the biggest ginia, and Markie Wilson from Portland, pilots are assuring the 100 percent safety of ing Jack Sheinkman as union president. He obstacle she has faced in trying to organize Oregon. _ all aircraft by adhering to all Federal A via­ replaced Murray Finley, who retired. tion Administration safety regulations. Guest speakers included Pennsylvania This has resulted in delaying more than Sen. John Heinz, Atlanta MayorAndrew Young, and AFL-CIO President Lane Philippine JDine union leader Kirkland. Maine paperworkers A central theme struck by top ACTWU officers was the need to elect a Democratic JDeets with U.S. coalJDiners resist takebacks Party president in 1988: Preoccupation with the presidential elec­ BY-PAT NIXON . the workers stuck together and won both BY DENISE MciNERNEY tion was combined with a constant push for SHEFFIELD, England- During a June the fresh water and reinstatement of the ANDBARBARAS~ONS delegates to step up support to legislation 19 visit to the national headquarters of Brit­ five. JAY, Maine - Some 1 ,200 workers restricting foreign imports into the United ain's National Union of Mineworkers Cueva said there are 65,000 miners in went on strike at the large International States. ACTWU officials claimed import (NUM) here, a delegation of U.S. union­ the Philippines. Miners' wives have to Paper Co. (IP) mill here June 16. restrictions would solve the problems of ists was introduced to Susan Cueva, a rep­ work to augment their families' income. Members of Local 14 of the United layoffs, plant closings, and employer de­ resentative of the May 1 Movement Many are exploited through a homework Paperworkers International Union and mands for concessions. (KMU) in the Philippines. system that forces them to sew or make Local 246 of the International Brotherhood Many important issues were never dis­ plastic flowers for very little money. of Firemen and Oilers voted by a 9-to-1 Cueva said the KMU has more than We were inspired by the example of cussed, including the September expir~tion margin to reject the company's demands 600,000 members. It is the largest and Cueva's international solidarity. She at­ of the contract covering thousands of most militant union federation in that coun­ for concessions. tended the 1OOth Yorkshire Miners' Gala They join 1 ,600 unionists on strike at IP ACTWU members in the apparel industry. try. The current contract was negotiated in the next day. She also gave the women plants in Mobile, Alabama, and DePere, Cueva, who is an organizer for the miners greetings to take to the June 26-28 Wisconsin. 1985. At that time union members had con­ cessions imposed on them, which included KMU-affiliated Miners Union of the Coal Employment Project (CEP) confer­ The workers here had offered to stay on ence in Birmingham, Alabama. being forced to accept lump-sum payments Philippines, talked to our delegation, most the job under the terms of the old contract, of whom are women coal mine['S, about but IP rejected this. in place of regular hourly wage increases. The greetings, read to the CEP meeting ACTWU members in Montreal waged a conditions in the gold and copper mines in said in part, "Our mineworkers feel a The takebacks included a 12 percent cut northern Luzon Province. in pay and a new productivity scheme that successful five-week strike against the strong common bond with the minework­ lump-sum payments last winter. Two of the five mines in that area are or­ ers of the U.S. who are fighting the same would combine job classifications, gut ganized by the KMU. Miners there are the seniority, and allow the company to con­ multinational exploitation. Opposition to the U.S. government's highest-paid," receiving about $3 a day. "We applaud your fight against racism, tract out maintenance work. Strikers say · support for the Nicaraguan contras was a Gold miners are x-rayed everyday when 500 jobs would be lost immediately. sexism, and multinational imperialism in major topic of discussion in convention they leave the . mine. Brushing aside the South Africa and other parts of the world. IP hired BE&K Construction, a strike­ sessions and workshops. danger caused by radiation exposure, the breaking outfit, to work in the mill in case We feel proud to join you in an expression Sheinkman pointed to ACTWU's en­ company claims the X rays cut down gold of international solidarity and extend an in­ the union rejected the contract. BE&K em­ dorsement of the April 25 demonstrations thefts. ployees, management personnel, and scabs vitation for you to visit us and witness our against the war in Central .America and Workers live in small villages near the struggle in the Philippines." are now trying to keep the mill operating. against South African apartheid. mines. Housing is crowded with no toilets Union members are angry. Their anger A number of delegates took the floor to or running water. Very little education is has been fueled by the doubling of IP's Pat Nixon works as an operator at the voice their opposition to the U.S. govern­ provided, and Cueva said many miners are Chevron oil refinery in El Segundo, profits in 1985 and 1986. ment's war against Nicaragua. Julia Hicks illiterate. Local 14 member Mike Burke said if the California, and is a member of Oil, Chem­ from Portland, Oregon, expressed solidar­ Health care is inadequate. A doctor vis­ ical, and Atomic Workers Locall-547. workers accept the company's offer they ity with the family of Ben Linder, the U.S. its the local clinic once a week. Cueva will be treated like dogs. engineer murdered by the contras. explained that the miners make jokes abou~ This fight follows a 76-day strike last the situation because they are always given year at Boise Cascade's paper mill in Montreal delegate Nancy Walker ex­ aspirin, regardless of the problems they Labor news in the Militant plained that the Canadi.an government's nearby Rumford. That company used have. Anaverage of one miner a month is The Militant stays on top of the most goons to help reopen the plant, and 350 of complicity in the war lias become a big killed on the job at each mine. issue in that country. important developments in the labor the 1 ,200 members of the paperworkers' movement. It has correspondents who union lost their jobs to replacement work­ The resolution on foreign affairs that The rivers have been polluted by the work in the mines, mills, and shops ers. was passed called for ending aid to the con­ mining companies, and drinking water is where the events are breaking. You Strikers at IP are being joined on the tras. brought into the area, but only three times a won't miss any of it if you subscribe. See picket line by unionists from the Boise About 20 delegates attended a presenta­ week. Recently workers struck when no the ad on page 2 of this issue ·for sub- Cascade plant and from the shipyard in tion by Miriam and John Linder, sister and fresh water was delivered for three weeks. scription rates. -"' Bath, Maine. brother of Ben Linder. Five miners were fired in retaliation, but

4 The Militant July 17, 1987 Lessons\ of Grenada-are focus .of Trinidad event BY NELS J'ANTHONY stated. According to Jagan, Coard and his PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago supporters "began organizing the New -The lessons of the Grenada revolution, Jewel Movement, transforming it rather, including of its overturn in October 1983, into a Marxist-Leninist party with very were the focus of an important discussion rigid discipline." at a forum held here in the Oilfields Work­ Where Coard went wrong, Jagan pro­ ers' Trade Union hall. posed, is not realizing that a Marxist-Len­ The June 25 meeting, entitled "The inist party was not needed· in Grenada, Caribbean After October '83," was part of since Bishop was taking revolutionary pos­ a series organized by the First Caribbean itions. "It was not necessary at that point in Peoples International Bookfair and Book­ time to organize the communist party," fair Festival held here June 21-July 5. Jagan stated, " ... \and that is where the Speaking at the forum were Dennis mistake was made." Thomas, a representative of the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement (MBPM) from Bishop set example Grenada, and David Abdullah, an execu­ Lucien Perutin of the People's Union for tive member of the OWTU. the Liberation of Guadeloupe, pointed to Ian Belgrave from the executive com­ the example Bishop set in the fight for na­ Militant photos by Sam Manuel mittee of the bookfair chaired the meeting tional liberation. Perhaps Maurice Bishop Dennis Thomas of the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement (left) and David Abdullah and opened with a review of the history of didn't say "every time, 'I am Marxist-Len­ of Trinidadian oil workers' union defended the record and memory of Bishop and the Grenada revolution and the tole of inist,'" Perutin said, "but I think he was other assassinated leaders of the revolution. Maurice Bishop, prime minister of Gre­ very intelligent to try to find a way to nada until he was murdered on October 19, develop the revolution in a small country at tion was conscious of what it was doing, I think Bishop had the idea he was starting 1983. this moment." and its counterrevolutionary course ended to build one. "But that party was taken over Belgrave said that those weeks were Mac Warren of the Socialist Workers up destroying the revolution. by a Stalinist faction led by Coard, who "perhaps the most agonizing moments in Party in the United States stated that the "used the party to take over the army. They Caribbean history." He stressed the need Maurice Bishop was a communist, a Coard clique's murder of Bisholhmd other Marxist leader of Grenada's working used the army to overthrow the revolu­ for discussion and evaluation of the lessons leaders of the revolution made it impossi­ tion." of Grenada. people, Warren said. "Read Bishop's ble to wage an effective defense of Gre­ speeches and look at the Coardites' actions At the end of the meeting, Belgrave The forum provided an opportunity for nada against the criminal U.S. invasion. summarized the discussion. It was, he said, such a discussion. More than 200 people and you tell me which one is communist," Differing with Cheddi Jagan, Warren Warren said. "a debate that is long overdue and that has attended, representing labor organizations said that he didn't think that the actions of to go on if the mistakes and fundamental in many Caribbean countries aqd diverse Coard and his supporters could be charac­ "I think a communist party was neces­ errors of the experience of Grenada are not political views. Many were participants in terized just as "mistakes." The Coard fac-. sary in Grenada," Warren explained, "and to be made again." the Fifth Trade Union Conference on Unity and Solidarity of the Caribbean Workers held in Trinidad June 22-24. MBPM representative Thomas de­ Vote for Sinn Fein shows Irish party strong scribed the destruction of gains made by the Grenada revolution. ij:e pointed to the BY MARK LICHTMAN including the Catholic hierarchy," she eight Irish Republican Army fighters who MBPM as the organization that is fighting The June 11 elections in Britain, which explained. "The Social Democratic and were recently entrapped and executed by against the recolonization of Grenada. The resulted in a third term for Conservative Labour Party got open support against us British forces in Lougghal. MBPM, he said, is also fighting to make Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in­ from London, Washington, !tnd Dublin, House raids, beatings during interroga­ sure "all attempts to discredit and destroy cluded the election of members of parlia­ including a large amount of money from tion, arrests, and torture are at new highs, the name of Maurice Bishop· and the Oc­ ment from the British"occupied colony of the National Endowment for Democracy, a she said. She described the fight that has tober 19 martyrs are not effective." Northern Ireland. U.S. government operation." been waged to hold funerals for some vic­ These were the first elections to the Brit­ The drive to defeat Adams was backed 'Destroyed from within' tims of repression. ish parliament since the 1985 agreement up by violence, McClelland said. "During Abdullah of the OWTU stressed that, "When Larry Marley was killed by a between the British government and the the election campaign, there were numer­ death squad, the Royal Ulster Constabul­ "the revolution was destroyed from within, government of the Republic of Ireland (the ous attacks on Sinn Fein election workers. not by the invasion as some would still like ary [local police force backing British rulel 26 southern counties of Ireland, which be­ Alex Maskey, Sinn Fein chairperson in and British army delayed his funeral for six to make us ·believe. The revolution was de­ came formally independent of Britain in Belfast, and campaign worker Brendan stroyed Oct. 19, 1983, with the murder of days and refused to allow his family to 1921). The pact upheld continued British Davidson were shot." bury him because there would be a tricolor Maurice Bishop, Jackie Creft, and the rule in Northern Ireland. She said that repression has steadily in­ other martyrs." [the Irish flag] on the coffin. When the au­ Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, creased in Northern Ireland since the agree­ thorities were forced to back down, Abdullah identified Deputy Prime was reelected to parliament, defeating J.G. ment was signed. "Since that time, more thousands lined the route of the funeral. Fi­ Minister Bernard Coard as the head of the Hendron of the Social Democratic and than I ,200 families have been driven from nally, the people's resistance has won the counterrevolution in Grenada. He de­ Labour Party (SDLP) by more than 2,000 their homes with petrol bombs thrown into right to bury our dead in peace." fended Bishop as a leader who sought to in­ votes. Sinn Fein candidates drew more their windows and other violence. The McClelland urged U.S. working people stitutionalize political power in the hands than 83,000 votes altogether. death squads linked to both the British to join the international protests against the of the Grenadian people. Sinn Fein fights for a united, indepen-. Forces and the loyalist organizations British occupation forces' use of strip­ "Clearly, in the process of building a dent Ireland free of British occupation and [groups backing British rule] have become searches to humiliate women political pris­ revolution," Abdullah said, "one has to en­ economic domination. The SDLP accepts more active." She cited the example of oners in Northern Ireland. sure that the party clearly reflects the inter­ British rule and competes with Sinn Fein ests of the people and is not able to divorce for the support of the oppressed nationalist itself from them, as a large section of the population of the north. party in Grenada was able to do in 1983 as The elections also resulted in the defeat evidenced by the Coard clique and its ac­ of Enoch Powell, an ultrarightist supporter Just out! tions." of British rule in Northern Ireland, by The discussion following these initial SDLP candidate E.K. McGrady. presentations revealed a breadth of view­ The Militant recently interviewed points on the events in Grenada. Martha McClelland about the election re­ New International Clive Nunez, a former leader of the sults. McClelland is a leader of Sinn Fein transportation workers' union in Trinidad, and the Irish Women's Study Group in the "The argued that the CIA and other U.S govern­ Northern Ireland city of Derry. A former ment agencies played a decisive role in or­ political prisoner in Northern Ireland, she Second ganizing the overthrow of the Bishop-led was in New York as part of a U.S. tour. government. "There· was definite infiltra­ "Sinn Fein held its own and dashed the Assassination tion of the Central Committee of the New hopes of the British government. The elec­ tions· did not show any dropping off of sup­ Jewel Movement [and] in the study group ~the cuba\ 0 of that Coard had," Nunez stated. He said that port for Sinn Fein in the wake of the 1985 \,atYi ~~~ut\otl l\ \\istot\C M . B. h , Coard was used by the CIA and then dis­ pact. People rejected the myth that the c.anad0;;w.~.11$1~'-t l'\Oment aunce IS op carded when he had served its purpose. Hillsborough Pact can lead to British with­ lS'I ~ --:__...-.~:·\C. sYttC\\tS fl'/ Responding to these reml!J'ks, John drawal and permanent peace in Ireland." UU'' ... ~~ 1Vl0f\""Lcl\s1\IO an article by LaRose, onetime general secretary of the Sinn Fein presented its own peace pro­ c,ontta ~~1G\.t West Indian ·Independence Party, pointed posals in the campaign. ~1:t.e:!':IO~·'iea=t~ra:t~io~n~--=·"":::::lS'I v.\\1«"" SteveA response Clark to the recent out that the tsarist secret police had pene­ "Our peace plan," McClelland said, slanders against the late prime minister of trated the Bolshevik Party in Russia before "called for recognition that the north of Ire­ ' Grenada, Maurice Bishop, and his political contributions October 1917, but that didn't "prevent a land is no longer a part of the United King­ to the revolutionary struggle in Grenada and throughout the Carib~ revolution from taking place . . . and that at dom. The British military forces and ad­ bean and Central America. the same time does not establish a counter­ ministration would remain only as long as revolution." it takes to arrange their permanent with­ Please send me this issue Cheddi Jagan, a leader of the People's drawal by a definite date~

Progressive Party (PPP) in Guyana, con­ "We propose the holding of a constitu­ ~arne ______tended that the downfall of the Grenada tional conference based on· free elections revolution was a product of Bernard throughout Ireland, including representa­ Addre~~:' ------Coard's theoretical mistakes. The New tives of unions, women's organizations, Jewel Movement, when it was first started churches, and other groups to discuss a fu­ Ci~------·in the early 1970s, was a petty bourgeois ture government of a united Ireland." State/Zip ------~--­ revolutionary democratic party, just as the The election was a tough fight, McClel­ PPP was in Guyana in the 1950s, Jagan land explained. "We entered this .eleCtion Clip and mail $6.50 to New International, 410 West St., New said. "Coard brought in, through the youth battle facing opposition from all the allies York, N.Y. 10014. movement, the Marxist elements," he of the British and Free State governments,

July 17, 1987 The Militant s ··visit-to-· a small farm in Yorkshire, England Farmers upset over production quotas

BY NORTON SANDLER land. One is paid off, the other nearly com­ KNOTIINGLEY, England - Turning pleted. around in the midst of pushing sheep Peter is a member of the National Farm­ '< through a pen, Marjorie Swales was quite ers Union (NFU). He explained that most surprised to see three people peering at her NFU members generally back the Conser­ from behind the fence. After a quick dou­ vative Party. ble take, Swales recognized Dot Ryan as In spite of the recent good years, the. one of the unexpected visitors. Swales expressed some reservations about Ryan is an activist in Women Against Pit the future. Closures, an organization that carries out Britain is a member of the European activity in solidarity with Britain's Na­ Economic Community (EEC). The Com­ tional Union of Mineworkers. mon Market administered by the EEC sets agriculture production quotas, and many The rolling hills of the Yorkshire coun­ farmers are being told to curtail their out­ tryside are covered with farmland. The put. is also one of Britain's main coal-min­ area John MacGregor, Britain's minister of !flg regions and it is common to see crops agriculture, recently said, "I would be extending to the boundaries of the mines. doing our farmers no service if I were to During a recent visit to the Castleford kid them that we in the Council of Minis­ Women's Centre, U.S. rail worker Joe ters will be able to avoid coming to terms Swanson and I mentioned to Ryan that we with the harsh realities of agriculture were interested in visiting a farm. The next surpluses and overspending." afternoon Ryan drove us around Yorkshire Marjorie Swales readying sheep for shearing. The Swales have had "a few good eventually stopping at the Swales' home. A Noting that many people around the years" but expressed doubts about future for Britain's small farmers. teenager directed us to the field where her world are starving, Marjorie said, "I think parents and brother were shearing sheep. it's a shame that land has to have quotas." · "Some farmers are being told to grow lower than before," added Peter. private owners may well lead to even less ·.' ~ ·. Marjorie Swales invited us to climb the trees on the land or tum their farms into "Grain used to be shipped by train," he rail service in parts of the country. "I don't -' fence and take a look at the operation. She .~. . golf courses," Peter explained. said, "now it's almost always by lorry know if privatizing everything is so good," and her husband Peter were pushing their Peter replied. 125 sheep through the pen. Their son Paul They also noted that land values had fal­ [truck]." len $815 an acre over.the past year. was assisting the two men who had been Rail worker Swanson said Prime Minis­ . The Swales emphasized that they want hired to do the clipping. ''The machinery people are beginning to ter Margaret Thatcher's campaign to resell to remain farmers. "It's a good life," Mar­ feel the pinch, some have sales 40 percent After watching for 20 minutes or so, large portions of the British rail system to jorie said, "I wouldn't want to leave it." Swanson and I began talking to the Swales. . Sheep are not the mainstay of their farm, which has been in the family for over 30 years. They have over 300 acres cultivated Women help .win New Mexico coal strike in wheat and oilseed rape, a plant grown for producing cooking oil and perfumes. BY NORTON SANDLER Eileen Lopez, Eloise Watchman, and Lor­ women out there they hated us," Watch­ Until a few years ago they concentrated BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - "I sincerely raine Gleason. Lopez is also a member of man said. on dairy farming and also had a few hogs. believe that if it hadn't been for the ladies Local 1332. Gleason and Watchman are Peter says the farm is doing better since being out there with their support, and the leaders of Local 1332's Women Auxiliary. Kids come out they began growing crops. "We've had a kids being out there with their support, The three women are Navajos; Twite is a "When the kids came out with us, it even few good years," he said. "Wheat was sell­ P&M could have actually won the strike." white miner. made it worse for the company. They said ing for £100 a ton ($163) three years ago, in court that they didn't want kids and Ted Twite was making these comments The hard-fought 75-day P&M strike now it's selling for £120 ($196). Some began February 20. women out there on the highway, we were people want to limit the amount of nitrogen to 35 people who crammed into a 'room a nuisance to the public, we were eyesores we put down, but we're going for the high during the Coal Employment Project con­ "The first few nights of the strike a for the public. All of a sudden they were yields. We're looking to get four tons an ference here to listen to a special presenta­ couple of hundred men were out there," concerned that one of the kids might get hit acre," he explained. tion on the recent strike at the Pittsburg and Watchman said. Then the picket lines kept by a vehicle. They came up with all kinds "Me and my son do it iill," he said, "dur­ Midway coal mine. The P&M operation is getting smaller. "I guess everybody fig­ of crazy excuses," she explained. on the Navajo Reservation near Gallup, ing the busy months we work until mid­ ured, 'What am I doing here?'" The women also played an important night. We don't mind the hard work, we New Mexico. The Coal Employment Pro­ role in explaining that P&M's parent com­ ject (CEP) fights to get women jobs in the It was at this point that Local 1332 Pres­ know there will be a break later. The sheep pany, Chevron Oil Co., was "pulling the coal industry. · ident Phillip Henio began encouraging the keep us busy when other things slow down. wives of strikers to begin attending meet­ strings" during the strike. A delegation of Most farmers in this valley don't hire any­ Twite is pit chairman of United Mine ings. women traveled to Denver to picket Chev­ body," he added. Workers (UMWA) Local 1332. Also par­ ron's offices there. The Swales had two mortgages on the ticipating in the June 27 presentation were "We were concerned with feeding the Twite said P&M issued an ultimatum to men on the picket line," Watchman said, the strikers, "If we didn't return to work on and,. "the meetings were also used to ex­ · Monday, April 27, everybody would be · plain the reasons· for the strike to make it frred." YQung socialists will boost really known to the ladies what Article 2 On April 25 a member of Navajo Tribal was all about." Council Chairman Peter MacDonald's of­ fice issued a statement applauding P&M 's subscription renewal drive Preferential hiring decision to reopen the mine. This angered Article 2 of the UMWA's proposed con­ the miners who had been appealing to the that the paper is part of the YSA' s "arsenal BY JIM WHITE tract settlement pertained to job security for tribal council for support. to get out the truth about workers' strug- · The Young Socialist Alliance, a nation­ UMWA members at the P&M mine. P&M "On Monday morning they had possibly gles, Cuba, Nicaragua, andsocialism." wide socialist youth organization with leases land on the reservation on both sides 65 people cross the line," Twite said. "On The added boost from the YSA will be members in more than 70 cities, has de­ of Highway 264. Most of the mining is Tuesday they probably had 80 that went in. welcome in the drive. Last week was slow, cided to m~e the Militant renewal drive done on the north side. Twite said the coal They didn't have a real big increase on partly because of the mail around the July one of its major activities this summer. on that side will be completely mined out Wednesday. That's when the ladies and all 4th holiday weekend. We received 32 re­ This will add considerable clout to the ef­ within a few years. The union wanted our Navajo brothers and sisters formed up newals, which is a little off the pace of fort to win. a maximum number of long­ guarantees that laid-off UMWA members and 400 people marched on the chairman's about 50 per week we had been receiving. term readers for the paper. would get first preference for hiring at any [MacDonald's] office there in nearby Win­ Greg McCartan, a national leader of the A reader from Eugene, Oregon, re­ new mines P&M opens in the area. dow Rock, Arizona, and got the tribe in­ . YSA, explained why. "The renewal drive newed and sent us a note, in which he volved." offers the YSA an opportunity to increase raised a common concern. He writes, Most P&M miners are Navajo. A hand­ The tribal.co uncil asked P&M to return the number of readers among young people "Your international stories are sensational. ful are from other Indian tribes, and a few to the negotiations and the strike was set­ who have begun to look at the paper as a Sorry I can't afford a whole year's sub­ are either Chicano or white. Navajo law tled a few days later. P&M agreed to add political tool. And of course, the YSA has scription right now, but please send me takes precedence over other contracts with­ 3,500 acres to the boundaries of the mine. a lot to gain. Since the best way to geta re­ three more months. A lso, I don't want to in the boundaries. of the Navajo Nation. Sandra Moronez, who participated in a newal is to go back to subscribers where miss one week of the Militant, so if this is And the tribe has mandated preferential recent strike at the FMC mine in Kem­ they live, work, or go to school, that's processed too late, please send me the back hiring of Navajos. merer, Wyoming, told the meeting that the what we are organizing to do. issues I will have missed." The union and the women's auxiliary fight waged by UMWA members and their helped explain that the UMWA defends the supporters in New Mexico and Arizona had "When we talk to young people who We were asked similar questions this Navajo Preference Act and countered the a big impact on getting the coal companies have been reading the Militant for several week by readers in Texas and West Vir­ company's lies that implementation of Ar­ to settle other strikes in the West this months," he said, "we not only want to get ginia. The answer is that we keep an ade­ ticle 2 would not violate tribal law. spring. them to renew. We want to get them to join quate supply of the paper to refill orders for UMWA organizer Charlie Tipton urged the YSA." our distributors, and orders for missing or .. As the issues became clearer, the Coal Employment Project Conference par­ Circulating the Militant was a focus of back issues. Copies of the paper are avail­ women's auxiliary began to take on a big­ ticipants "to stand at the bath houses and the YSA' s national convention in May. able for the current and -previous calendar ger role in the strike. In addition to provid­ take up a collection" for Local 1332 mem­ The report' on the convention in the July­ year. Right now, all of 1986 and 1987 are ing every shift of picketers with a hot meal, bers Roscoe Scott and Francis Barney v.;ho August issue of the Young Socialist, the available as back issues. Longer than that, the women began to participate in the pick­ were suspended for six months at the end YSA's bimonthly publication, quoted the newsprint deteriorates. The only good et lines and a number were arrested during of the strike. James Winfield's report on "Summer copies of the paper are in bound volumes the strike. Contributions for Scott and Barney can Tasks and Perspectives": "The Militant is and on microfilm. ~ ·on Sundays the guys would have meet­ be sent to Phillip Henio, President of the YSA's newspaper - it helps clarify If you renew, we will gladly supply any ings and the women would go out there. United Mine Workers of America Local what's going on week by week." He added issue you miss, if you request it. Let me tell you when the company saw 1332, Navajo, New Mexico 87328.

6 .The Militant July 17' 1987 FactS ·about how AIDS is ·transmitted Response to questions from 'Militant' readers

BY MARGARET JAYKO them. But while there may be some more Reprinted in the box on this page are ex­ well-off people who get their kicks by shar­ cerpts from two letters the Militant has re­ ing dirty needles, it's a fact that the over­ ceived commenting on an article and an whelming majority of the drug addicts who editorial on AIDS (acquired immune defi­ contract AIDS come from the poorer layers ciency syndrome) in the June 19 issue. of society. The points raised by readers Bruce Mar­ Most of the.200,000 drug addicts in New cus and Mohammed Oliver are right at the York City - half of whom are thought to heart of the political debate and discussion be infected with the AIDS virus - come on what should be done about AIDS and from the working class, not the middle those who contract it. class or ruling class. Among these people, it is an epidemic. Who gets AIDS and why In the racist United States, anything that Both readers write that the Militant seri­ hits the working class disproportionately ously downplays the risk of contracting hard is going to afflict Blacks and Latinos AIDS through vaginal intercourse. This is especially, since they are overwhelmingly a key question of fact. working class. And AIDS is no exception. The Militant's opposition to mandatory Blacks and Latinos make up 38 percent testing and quarantining, and our proposals of the AIDS cases that Have been diag­ for what the government should be doing nosed nationally; 80 percent of the children about AIDS, hinge on the facts about how born with AIDS are Black or Latino; and difficult it is to transmit the disease and the the majority of women with AIDS are fact that it is highly concentrated among Black or Latino. gay men and impoverished intravenous It is precisely because the main victims drug users. of this disease are gays and poor people I wrote in the June 19 Militant that "be­ that the government does nothing about it. cause the AIDS virus is fragile, it dies As the Militant editorial explained: New York City demonstration, 1983. quickly outside the body. It can only be "The cynical call for free needles for IV . transmitted through infected · blood and drug users as the way to slow down the semen being brought into direct contact spread of AIDS assumes that nothing can .. with the bloodstream. be done about drug addicpon among the ' "This is quite different than the mode of poorest layers of society. I{uling-class pol­ Two letters to 'Militant' transmission of the microorganisms that iticians and movie stars can go to Betty Margaret Jayko's article on AIDS .the alarm about the widespread discrimi­ cause venereal diseases like gonorrhea and Ford's fancy rehab center; 'addicts in Har­ (Militant June 19) provides useful infor­ nation inherent in the "mandatory test­ syphilis. Those organisms can thrive in any lem get a couple of free needles - if mation to answer the reactionary hys­ ing" scam. bodily fluid and can enter the body through they're lucky." teria being whipped up around the "man­ But in the process of this much needed mucous membran~s .... The Militant calls for taking the profits datory testing" campaign. clarification, more than a little bit of "But there is no substantial evidence that out of the drug trade by decriminalizing Together with the accompanying overstate~ent and oversimplification the AIDS virus is passed through any other possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia editorial, it helps debunk the myths and crept in. bodily fluids - vaginal secretions, saliva, as part of a massive, government-funded lies being shouted from virtually every Bruce Marcus tears, or mucous; only semen and blood. rehabilitation program. newspaper headline and by politicians of New York, N.Y. Thus the oft-repeated statement that AIDS The condom campaign both parties. is passed through 'sexual intercourse' or Some points in the article, however, * * * 'sexual contact,' or 'exchange of body Oliver writes that what the Militant are not correct or are open to possible fluids' is misleading and, therefore, false. editorial had to say about condoms could serious misinterpretation. The Militant takes a good stand in It is only passed through certain kinds of be taken to mean that we don't think they The article categorically asserts that speaking out against the reactionary plan sexual activity and certain body fluids." serve any purpose in slowing down the only :'impoverish¢ drug users ... share to submit prison inmates and immigrants The pattern of AIDS transmission in the spread of AIDS. · · needles" and explains that therefore to mandatory testing for antibodies to United States bears this · out: the over­ Here's what the editorial said: transmi&sion of AIDS is not a significant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), whelming majority of those who have con­ "The other proposals to deal with AIDS risk to other IV drug users. which is the bug responsible for ac­ m.cted AIDS are gay · men or intravenous [in addition to mandatory testing] - abs­ It is unlikely that hard evidence can be quired immune deficiency syndrome drug users or both. They contracted it, by tain from sex; only engage in 'socially ac­ obtained for this statement. While the (AIDS). and large, as a result of sharing needles ceptable' kinds of sex; everyone use con­ spread of the disease through the sharing Unfortunately, in blasting this reac­ without first sterilizing them or through doms all the time - are similar to the man­ tionary campaign of repression aimed at anal intercourse. · of contaminated needles may be more datory-testing proposals in that they all at­ prevalent among impoverished drug covering up the government's refusal to Yes, AIDS can be transmitted through tempt to create the atmosphere that AIDS is users, the fact is that drug users from all adequately combat AIDS, the Militant vaginal intercourse; as I indicated in my ar­ a disease that is spreading in epidemic social layers and classes share needles blows off its nose to spite its face. · ticle. It's a lot more difficult, however, to proportions among the entire population. If during drug use. In her 'article "Fact vs. myth: how spread it that way than through anal inter­ that were true, however, people like Researchers from the National Acad­ AIDS is transmitted," Margaret Jayko course. Marcus is right when he writes that Reagan would be showing a lot more con­ emy of Sciences trying to ascertain the leaves Militant readers with the mis­ I based my arguments on anatomy-fewer cern about doing something about it. spread of AIDS through contaminated taken notion that because the riskofHIV blood vessels near the surface of the v~gina "All the talk about condoms does serve a needles reported great difficulties in ob­ infection through most heterosexual in­ as compared to the rectum mean a much purpose - and a reactionary one at that­ taining accurate information due to the tercourse is slim, it's virtUally nonexis­ lower risk of infected blood or semen en­ in relation to AIDS. It covers up the fact very illegality of drug use itself. tent. tering the bloodstream during vaginal in­ that the ruling families of this country re­ Most importantly, the article seriously In the same issue (June 19), the pa­ tercourse than.during anal intercourse. fuse to take any serious measures to slow underestimates the spread of AIDS due per's editorial on the subject goes even down the spread of AIDS because they to heterosexual, vaginal intercourse. further, calling "all the talk about con­ Why impoverished drug users hard hit aren't concerned about saving the lives of a Its arguments based on anatomy and doms" reactionary. Marcus questions my contention that bunch of gays, drug addicts, and prosti­ its assertion that "most doctors and re­ This statement is patently· false - as "not all those who shoot drugs are equally tutes." searchers agree that the chances of are most absolutes. Some of the talk at risk [of contracting AIDS], however. It's _ I agree with Oliver that "some of the talk women passing AIDS to a man during about condom use in relation to helping only impoverished drug users - a high about condom use in relation to helping to sexual intercourse are very small in­ to prevent HIV infection is right on percentage of whom are Black and Latino prevent HIV [human immunodeficiency deed" are not widely documented and target. · - who share needles. Middle-class and virus, which causes AIDS] infection is are contradicted by the National I don't dispute that it's more difficult ruling-class drug addicts aren't likely to right on target." The example he cites of Academy of Sciences 1986 study. to transmit HIV during vaginal inter­ have to use someone else's dirty needle." the educational campaign waged by gay course than it is during anal intercourse; Marcus is right - it's not only im­ According to that study, "HIV can be men's groups is an excellent example of transmitted during heterosexual inter­ however, such transmission does occur. - poverished drug users who pass needles what needs to be done on a much larger course ... 21 of 57 (37 percent) of per­ Clearly, regular use of condoms among each other without first cleaning scale. sons who were long-term heterosexual markedly reduces the incidence of HIV A campaign to get out the truth about transmission. But, as Jayko and the Mil­ Sub8cribe!-----, partners of AIDS or ARC [AIDS-related AIDS and to fight for measures to aid those complex] patients but had no other itant editorial explain, not everyone is most victimized must be done as part of an AIDS risk factors had confirmed an­ likely to have sexual intercourse with OUNG SOCIALIS effort to combat prejudice against gays and tibodies to HIV. . . . All these studies someone infected with HIV. those addicted to drugs. Prejudice has been An educational campaign about the The July-August issue of this revolu­ suggest that vaginal intercourse was a tionary youth newspaper is just off the utilized by the ruling class to win accep­ route of infection. Such findings docu­ need to regularly use condoms should be tance for treating AIDS as a crime and press. This bimonthly covers the fight ment the existence of male-to-female mainly directed at gay men, IV drug against U.S. contra war in Nicaragua, those who are infected as criminals (see ar­ and female-to-male transmission." users (which includes most prostitutes), apartheid in South Africa, and the ticle in July lO Militant on "Why gov't prostitutes who are not IV drug users, struggles of working people and youth treats AIDS like a crime':). Since probably as many men are and the communities of the working in the United States. The political content of virtually all the bisexual as exclusively homosexual and class and oppressed nationalities - ads, literature, and government statements have homosexual relations infrequently especially among the youth of these ta for lib iuu• Name ______I've seen pushing general use of condoms and heterosexual relations __:_ often in a communities. as the solution is reactionary: AIDS is marriage - frequently, the possibilities Although it's true that the ruling class "really" only a problem if. people who for broad tran6nrission of AIDS outside is using the campaign to get people to Address------aren't gay or drug addicts start to get it. of the current high-risk groups are very use condoms to cover up its refusal to C~------But as I explained in the Militant last real. really fight AIDS, that's no reason to State ____ Zip _____ week, "We must tell the truth that everyone The Militant article and editorial were imply that there's no basis for using who gets AIDS is a human being and de­ right on the mark in pointing out that them. Clip and mail with payment to: serves to be treated as such - whether AIDS can't be transmitted through ordi­ Mohammed Oliver YOUJIIr SoetaJtwt nary day-to-day contact and in sounding 64 Watts St., N.Y., N.Y. 10013 they're gay, addicted to drugs, or prosti­ Cleveland Heights, Ohio tutes, or whether they are Black or Latino." I 7 . . ector Marroquin: the story of J An undocumented worker's struggle for the legal right to live in

BY HARRY RING U.S. living standard was readily apparent. was a government pension of less than $50 ital. Bursts of machine-gun fire killed more It will be 10 years this fall. And it was apparent with the U.S. ·a month. With a big family it was impossi­ than a hundred students and wounded un­ I was in the San Antonio, Texas, head­ tourists ·who came to Matainoros for the ble for his mother to hold a job. counted more. quarters of the Socialist Workers Party products of Mexican artisans, which can be His uncles contributed a little. "It was a ''This had a profound impact on my when a phone call came from the SWP bought so cheaply with U.S. dollars. small amount," Hector said. "I resented life," HeCtor said. "We not only had to live branch in Houston. A member of the party "You couldn't help but resent them. this. I knew they were in a position to pro­ in these conditions, but when people pro­ there· was in jail in Eagle Pass, a border They seemed so much better off," Hector . vide help. I felt it was unjustified." tested, and organized to demand our rights, said. town in the Rio Grande Valley. While continuing in school, Hector and this was the way the government 1 He had been arrested by an Immigration Hector got to see the tourists up close. his older brother and sister all found work. sponded." When he was 9 or 10, his father insisted cop while returning from a visit to Mexico. Hector became an auto mechanic's When Hector was 16 and in his last year that he and his older brother put in time · The identity papers he was carrying, indi­ helper, working 10 hours a day after school in intermediary school he took a step up the selling gum and shining shoes. The few cating U.S. citizenship, were found to be and earning about $4 a week. Then he economic ladder. A visiting encyclopedia false .. pesos they earned didn't weigh that much salesman met him and was impressed. He in the balance. But, his father insisted, they switched to becoming a carpenter's helper, He was jailed, held incommunicado for but the wages remained the same. got Hector a job as a salesman. several days, and then brought before a had to learn about earning a living. "I was by far the youngest of the sales­ judge who gave him a three-month sen­ Hector's father was a strong influence Along with school and the job, the older people," Hector said. "I must admit, I w· ­ tence. Then they let him make a phone and example. He worked at the busy border children had to pitch in to help their mother a good salesperson. I think people were im­ call. crossing as a customs official, calculating at home. "It was rough," Hector said. pressed- a 16-year-old with an avocado­ His name was Hector Marroquin. and collecting import duties. "You were always tired. And you didn't green suit and a tie, with a briefcase and A Mexican student activist, Hector had In those days, before the catastrophic develop like the other kids." ·· this professorial presentation - all of fled to the United States in 1974 when the drop in the value of the peso, many Mexi­ For his mother the situation was even · which you're trained to do.'; Mexican police leveled the frame-up cans in border areas shopped in the United rougher. charge that he had ben involved in a mur­ States. Returning with their purchases, "At one point we considered dropping On to coUege der at the University of Nueva LeOn in payoffs to custom officials were a matter of out of school so we could work more The money Hector was able to save sell­ Monterrey. routine. And, where contraband was in­ hours, make more. But she w.ouldn't agree ing encyclopedias made the family del.. · When he was arrested at Eagle Pass, volved, the ante went up. with that. She insisted that all of us go to sion that he go on to college realistic. Hec­ Hector had been living and working in this But Hector's father didn't get rich in school." tor enrolled at the university in Monterrey. country as an undocumented immigrant for customs. "He wouldn't accept bribes," His mother was born in Baja California, This was a big new turning point in his life. three years. But in the clutches of the Im­ Hector said. "He considered it an insult to on the west coast ofMexico. Her parents He entered the school of economics, migration Service, it didn't look like Hec­ his integrity. were Indians who had migrated there from thinking he would learn how the system :· .. tor was long for the United States. "He had three brothers who were cus­ Chile. works and, with that, be in a better position But now, a decade later, I sat with Hec­ toms officials," Hector added. "They were Two years after his father's death, a new to help change it, a utopian notion he soon .tor in the Militant editorial office discuss­ all Well to do~" family difficulty added to Hector's de­ became disabused of. ing his ongoing fight to remain here and, in His father had other strong convictions. veloping awareness of injustice. His But Hector learned a lot. Being in Mon­ . some detail, his personal history, begin­ He didn't go to church and didn't favor his mother had another child. Hector's uncles terrey, a major industrial city of 2 million, ning in his home town of Matamoros. family going. "He was a believer," Hector were righteously indignant, condemning was in itself a big learning experience. But first, Hector's current status. He found an inexpensive rooming house Within hours after his phone· call from in a poor working-class neighborhood. It jail, the SWP had a lawyer on the way to was a few blocks from a big smelting plant. Eagle Pass. La Raza Unida Party of Texas The husband of the house worked there and also provided a lawyer. would talk about life in the factory. "And just seeing the thousands of work­ Sought political asylum ers coming in and out of the plants made . An. application was promptly filed for the working class more real," Hector said. political asylum on the grounds that he had His first year there were a lot of student a well-founded fear that if returned to protests at the campus. There were de­ Mexico he faced torture or death at the mands for freeing the student political pris­ hands of the police. oners jailed after the Mexico City massacre The fight to keep Hector here was under and demands around, other student issues. way. Initially it was under the auspices of The students appealed to the workers ·~ the Hector Marroquin Defense Committee, the city for support, and they gave it. And and then the Political Rights Defense Fund. there were strikes at the plants that the stu­ Hector has tirelessly stumped the coun­ dents pitched in to help. try, and his fight has won significant publi<; "We participated in picket lines, helped support. make banners, wrote leaflets. The solidar­ ity worked both ways," Hector said. Because he is .an avowed socialist, the "I think my experiences in Monterrey, Immigration and Naturalization Service­ after my childhood experiences, gave r Ia migra - stubbornly opposed his asylum the beginnings of class consciousness," claim. Hector's request was finally re­ Hector reflected. "I began to more con­ jected by the courts. sciously take the side of the working With that, he applied for permanent resi­ people." dence on the basis that he had become mar­ ried to a: U.S. citizen. A good student . ofdinarily, such an application would be With the continuing encyclopedia sales a matter of routine. But Hector has been Hector Marroquin providing a flexible schedule, he was ab'~ waiting four years for a reply. to participate actively in the student strug­ Then Hector applied . for "amnesty" gles and still get good grades. under the new immigration law .. That ap­ explained. "But he said the church was cor~ her behavior and cutting off the modest as­ In 1969, while the student movement in sistance they had given. plication is now being processed. Mean­ rupt." Mexico City was largely .repressed, it was He taught the children more. As a young while, in a major gain, he was granted tem­ still active in Monterrey and other cities. ~ man at the end of the World War II, he had 'Our brother' porary legal residence and Social Secu­ Students were becoming very frustrated immigrated to Chicago and worked laying "But my attitude," Hector emphasized, rity card in May of this year. with what they were being taught and the "and my brothers and sisters, was to see Listening to Hector's account of his railroad track. way the universities were run. He was on the job about three years and this newborn baby as our brother- which early life you wouldn't guess that one day "This was true everywhere, and espc he would be fighting for the right to live in then returned home. he is - and to have solidarity with our cially in the school of economics," Hector the United States, even though he was born He wanted to marry and raise a family . mother. said, "After the first year it was very clear close enough to the border "to throw a rock But he was determined that his family "The way I looked at it was that she was that we were being trained to serve the in­ across." would be Mexican. young and had a right to do what she terests of the rich. We were not being The third oldest of 10 children, Hector "He said he didn't mind the work, and wanted with her life, to look for another trained to change the social conditions." lived in Matamoros until he was 16. the pay wasn't bad," Hector said. "But he companion if she wished to. That was her The demand for a different concept of a perfect right." Matamoros is just across the Rio Grande had some real bad experiences with racist university had spread internationally dur­ from Brownsville, Texas, and, when Hec­ discrimination. His experiences with the At the same time big events were also ing that time and it was strong in Mexic, tor lived there, had a population of about foremen, with the bosses, were degrading. shaping Hector's view of the world. The students wanted what they called an 200,000. "He didn't want any of us to be born in In 1967, when he was about 14, there "autonomous" university," Hector explain~ the United States," Hector continued. came the news of the assassination of Che 'Maquiladoras' ed. "It was a demand for the democratiza­ "We were all born in a hospital a half Guevara by Bolivian troops and the CIA. tion of the university, a university . con­ At that time, the maquiladoras were mile from the border. He still had his green Che had a deep influence on the youth of trolled by the students and faculty, inde­ card and we could have been born in the Me.Xico and all of Latin America. "To us, first being established in Matamoros. pendent of business and the state. A uni­ Under a U.S.-Mexican agreement, these United States and been citizens. But he he was an example of revolutionary com­ versity, the way we saw it, that would be made a conscious decision that we would mitment, self-sacrifice," Hector said. are Mexican border-town plants where committed to a program aimed at soci ' goods made in the United States are assem­ all be Mexicans." "Today I still consider him one of the great and economic problems .'' bled and shipped back duty free. The Mex­ When Hector was 12, tragedy struck. revolutionary leaders." ican workers earned as little as $2 a day. His father was killed in a car accident. And, in 1968, at ·a time when a An Important factor in the thinking of Matamoros had all the problems· of an worldwide youth radicalization left a students, he added, was what they were underdeveloped area. Poverty, high un­ Meager pension strong imprint on Mexico, there came the learning about the Cuban revolution. At the employment. Shopping·and visiting across On top of the deep loss, the family was savage troop assault on student demonstra­ economics school, for instance, they re­ the border, Hector recalled, the higher plunged into economic hardship. There tors at the University of Mexico in the cap- ceived a number of Cuban publications, in-

8 TheMUitant July 17, 1987 'I . ~is light f the U.S.

eluding the Communist Party paper Granma and the magazine Bohemia. 'A different way' "They were the most demanded items in the library," Hector said. "There you got a glimpse of a different way of organizing dety and economic life. "You could see planning being done in the interest of the people - the building of homes, schools, hospitals. That was a dif~ ferent world, a different way of doing things." Hector began a real study ofeconomics, turning to the works of Karl Marx and r-ederick Engels. To this day he has a cherish~d copy of Left, Mexican immigrants in west Texas. Right, undocumented workers arrested by immigration cops in Florida. Hktor Marroqufn: the ftrst volume of Marx's Capital. "The fact is you come here as an immigr~t; and you join the ranks of the working people of this country. I would like to see the words In a police attack on protesters, a gas 'illegal' and 'alien' erased from the language. I believe in the world working class- beyond any borders." grenade was ftred into the school library. Later, cleaning up the debris, the copy of he would be jailed and tortured to extract a Hector got someone to call a friend who people I had known in Monterrey. But this Capital was tossed on a rubbish heap. Hec­ "confession." came down quickly and signed papers tak­ was from the inside." tor retrieved it and studied it. Hector decided not to stick arourid. He ing responsibility for Hector's bill. "The ftrst chapter was hard," he said. "It went to Baja California where he stayed Apparently that entitled him to some at­ The speedup \vOk me a long time but I went through the several months. Then he read in the papers tention, but not much, Hector was assigned There were pressures on the job. Several volume." that a professor at the unive~ity had been to a prison ward. other undocumented workers on the line He added, "You knowit still smells of found dead, a victim of torture. Bones had "That was okay," Hector says. "For the were in a frenzy to hold the job. They kept tear gas. It never went awaycompletely." been broken, fingernails extracted. pushing up production. Hector and others Meanwhile, the government was on the most part the prisoner patients were real ''That was no ordinary killing," Hector tried to persuade them to slow down. offensive against the students. In January nice people - mostly Chicanos and said. "All the evidence pointed to the Blacks." The boss would complain, "You can do 1972 Hector suffered a new traumatic ex­ police." perience. His roommate and close friend, Hector's leg was put in a cast and he was better, the other guy does better." Hector He added, "That's when I decided to .>us Rivera, was murdered by the cops. left to heal. When they discharged him he · responded, "Yes, but he's crazy." leave Mexico." There had been a bank holdup in Mon- was on crutches with his leg still in the Hector lined up another, better job. He cast. Across the border got bired by a big Coca-Cola bottling and ____ ~------distributing plant, working in a department ,, He went to the home of his friend Maria. Relatives pitch in that repaired trucks and painted the Coke We've been able to win the They decided to get married and that she Relatives of Maria in Chicago offered to colors and logos on new ones. would go with him. They crossed the bor­ help out and Hector and his companion support and solidarity· of der and went to Houston. went there. "They had a very little house While working there, Hector was able to uterally tens of thousands How did they arrange all of this? and they shared it with us," Hector recalled participate in a successful Teamster union "Friends from Matamoros," Hector re­ appreciatively. "Later they went back to organizing drive at the plant. of working people . . . plied simply. "Matamoros was one of the Mexico. I think they were undocumented Meanwhile, he had become involved multiplicity of underground railroad stops too." with the Socialist Workers Party. Mexican workers have built over the dec.: Before the car accident and their move to ~------'' Bythenftector had obtained a set of pa­ ades." Chicago, Hector and his companion had terrey that was credited to urban guerrillas. pers. After a period, he went to a hospital In Houston, friends helped them get an discovered the party. She was watching TV This was used as the pretext for a stepped­ to have the cast removed. apartment and Hector found a job. one day and called out excitedly, "Look, up witchchunt. The police came to an He started out without any 10, just an as­ They X-niyed his leg and removed the there's a socialist on! I didn"t know there anartment of two teachers where the sus­ sumed name and a concocted Social Secu­ cast. The leg, they found, had been com­ were any here." pletely broken and the cast had done ncr }J<:Cts were supposedly hiding. Rivera was rity number. It was Pedro Vasquez, then the SWP visiting them when the police arrived and No papers meant employers would pay good. He had needed surgery from the out­ candidate for mayor of Houston, speaking ordered them out. As he emerged, he was him even less than the customary low set to jointhe bone back together. By then, in Spanish and English - and including cut down by gunftre. wages drawn by the undocumented. the. Chicago doctors feared, the damage the address of the party bookstore. By chance, Hector was playing football was such that they might have to amputate. with friends nearby. They heard the gunftre His ftrst job was as a bartender's assis­ Fortunately this wasn't so. Surgery was Hector and Maria went to the bookstore, and then the ambulance sirens. They ran to tant in a busy disco. He worked 10 hours a possible and fmally the leg healed. bought literature, and enjoyed some politi­ see what was happening. day and the wage was $1.80 an hour, cal discussion with the people there. "When I got there, Jesus was on the straight time. The doctors told him he could sue the sidewalk, bleeding but obviously still He and his undocumented coworkers Houston hospital for damages. Hector A new way alive. They just let him bleed to death." had to tolerate racist insults from some of smiled. In his situation he knew he had no On his return from Chicago, Hector de­ the customers, '\~specially after they had a case. cided, "I was going to give up the life of an During all of this, Hector and Maria had Mass protest few drinks." undocumented worker, the way I had been "At the beginning it bothered me a a son, Andres. But Maria decided that she living it. Living in fear, not doing any­ The students held a funeral march for whole lot," Hector said. "I wasn't used to thing. It was inhuman. I decided to put ______~_ Rivera, with some 5,000 participating. it." ,, everything on the line and become fully ac­ They tried to march to police headquarters He decided to get a different job. I no longer have any tive." l _.· a protest there, but it was repressed by He became a busboy in a plush French He began attending forums, engaging in the police who used tear gas. restaurant patronized by oil executives and discussion. He participated regularly in the The police followed up with systematic hesitation about where I other well-heeled types. . Saturday morning sale of the Militant. victimizations of student activists. There The pay was better, but "it was still very belong. More and more were framecups, beatings, and torture. oppressive," Hector recalled. "These Hector still remembers what an impor­ People were kidnapped and disappeared. people expected a lot of attention. They felt immigrants feel that we're tant day it was for him when he was voted The movement declined. they could yell at you, demand what they part of the U.S. working into membership. And with an appreciative Several students who had been arrested wanted. You had to put up with a lot." chuckle, he adds, "Nobody asked me for r ~ tortured told Hector the police had class . • . papers." questioned them specifically about him. Smash up ______,, He quickly assumed responsibilities in the organization, ftrst as Militant sales di­ Two years went by. Despite the atmos­ Then came a devastating accident. A rector, then as bookstore director. phere of repression, there was political dis­ couple they had become friends with of­ fered to take Hector and Maria to the beach couldn't cope with the life of an un· Then, he decided to make a weekend cussion and debate, arguments about how documented immigrant, and she ·and to move forward. in their new car. visit to Mexico. He wanted to talk with a They got into a bad collision. The driver Andres returned to Mexico. "We remained lawyer he knew to see if it was now possi­ Then one day in January 1974, Hector friends," Hector said. \ turned on the radio and learned that the li­ and Maria escaped with bruises. The ble to clear himself of the accusations . .rian at his school had been assassinated. driver's wife was killed. Hector suffered a Hector went back to Houston where the against him. And he visited his former wife Two days later, Hector's picture, along broken leg, a fractured pelvis and a job situation was better. This time, he de­ and his son. with those of three other students, appeared punctured lung. cided, he would ftnd a factory job. And he Hector never did see the lawyer, who in the papers with the police assertion that did, at an aluminum plant employing about was unable to keep the appointment. they had been involved in the slaying. Separated from the others, he was taken to a hospital emergency room where they 400 workers, mainly Blacks and Chicanos. And corning back across the border, he "It was a straight frame-up," Hector cut off his clothes and stopped the bleed­ It was nonunion. Hector started out at the was nabbed by the migra agent at Eagle minimum wage, but the boss apparently said. ''The librarian was killed in the pres­ ing. Pass. realized he was a good worker. When Hec­ ence of a number of students. They saw the "While they were doing this," Hector re­ When he was ftnally permitted a phone tor said he was quitting, he raised it to ...... ling. No one ever came forward and said called, "others were asking my name, my call and contacted the SWP, the ftght $4.75 an hour. it was me, or the other students accused by Social Security number, for my papers. I began to prevent his deportation. the cops." told them I was a citizen, but they didn't The work was hard, assembling screens The events of the 10 years since then Determined to clear himself of the believe it." on a fast-moving assembly line. But Hector added a lot to Hector's political education. charge, · Hector consulted with several From the emergency room they wheeled liked it. "This was my ftrst experience as One thing he learned from documents lawyers. They agreed he would never get a him into a corridor and left him there. an industrial: worker," he said. "It made me obtained under the Freedom of Information fair trial. The likelihood they said, was that Finally, from his table in the corridor, feel comfortable. These were the kind of Continued on Page 13

\ I July 17, 1987 The Militant 9 Jefiirit'l itntigovernm.ent protests in Panama

Continued from front page ington for more weighty backing . . under the U.S. boot, these are issues that U.S. Ambassador Arthur Davis has been aro~ strong reactions~ . especially active in meeting with opposi­ tion figures and criticizing the govern­ A Yankee base ment's steps to contain the unrest. · U.S. domination goes back to the ear­ Elliott Abrams, assistant secretary of liest days of Panama's existence. state for inter-American affairs, gave a Just two weeks after Panama declared its June 30 speech in which he called on independence from Colombia in 1903, the Panama's military leaders to "remove their new government signed a treaty with institution from politics," that is, hand over Washington for .the construction of a CI\Dal power to the bourgeois opposition parties. across the isthmus. One of Abrams' aides was more blunt, stat­ The Panainanian government granted ing that the speech was intended to send a Washington "the use, occupation, and con­ signal that Washington considered Noriega trol'' of the 10-mile-wide zone of land that. "an obstacle." includes the canal "in perpetuity." It also accorded Washington a right to maintain On June 26 the U.S. Senate adopted, 84 "public order'' in Panama City, Col6n, and to 2, a resolution that called for Noriega's other parts of the country, and to build mil­ ouster. Senators Edward Kennedy and AI~ itary bases and station troops in the zone. fonse D' Amato were key proponents of Since then, Washington bas used its ab­ this resolution. An amendment introduced solute control of the Canal Zone to further by senators Christopher Dodd and Daniel its domination over the country as a whole. Evans that would have reiterated Senate · U.S. corporations and banks flocked to support for the 1977 canal treaties was de­ Panama, many of them benefiting from tax feated. . breaks and other concessions. U.S. invest­ Based on discussions with a range of of- . .ments in Panama now figure in the billions 1959 demonstration against U~S. occupation of Panama Canal, one of many actions ficials from the State Department, Penta­ of dollars. that eventually forced Washington to agree to return canal to Panamanian gon, National Security Council, and Con­ A series of subservient governments sovereignty. U.S. authorities are now promoting right-wing protests in hopes of. un­ gress, the June 21 Miami Herald reported were placed in power. Presidential candi­ dermining that agreement. that one of the "scenarios" for Panama dates not favored by Washington were being worked out in Washington proposes forced out by threats of direct U.S. military pledged to return the Canal Zone to ernment vowed to adhere to the canal "that if Panaina is not adequately prepared intervention.(a point to keep in niind when Panamanian sovereignty on Dec. 31, 1999. treaties, maintained cordial relations with or lacks a fully functioning democracy, the u.. S. officials today demand "free elec- They also provided for the evacuation of Cuba, and played a key role in the Conta­ United States may have to reconsider band­ tions" in Panama). · · the u ~ s. military bases at the same time·. dora negotiations aimed at ending Wash­ ing over the canal to Panama at the sched­ The Canal Zone itself was transformed Although most of the U.S. ruling class ington's contra war against' Nicaragua. uled time on grounds that chaos could dis­ into one big complex of U.S. military viewed the treaty as a necessary conces­ The drive against Noriega was prefi­ rupt the smooth operation of the canal." bases. It is the headquarters of the U.S. sion, d~signed to head off a mounting gured in a secret, Nov. 1, memo cir­ Southern Command, which coordinates all popular explosion in Panama, important culated within the U.S. Army's Southern Panamanian officials report that Wash­ U.S. military and intelligence activities in sectors attacked the treaty as a "sellout." • Command. As the June 21, 1987, Miami ington has also made informal proposals Latin America. Many conservative politicians, includ­ Herald reported, the memo "said that for keeping military units in Panama after ing Ronald Reagan, campaigned against under an evolving foreign policy concept Dec. 31, 1999. 1977 treaties signing a treaty. During his 1976 bid for called Systematic Change, the United The 10,000 U.S. troops now stationed in the Canal Zone have been put on alert, and Popular opposition to this U.S. domina­ the Republican presidential nomination, States could 'modify or remove' unwanted more troops have been sent there, without tion bas built up over many decades. for example, be declared, "When it comes 'elements' in a given country. The memo the permission of the Panamanian govern­ Demonstrations in the 1930s forced a re­ to the canal, we bought it, we paid for it, cited Panama as a testing ground." ment and in violation of the 1977 treaties. vision of the original canal treaty, remov­ it's ours, and we should tell Torrijos and In mid-1986 a U.S. Senate committee ing Washington's right to militarily inter­ company that we are going to keep it." and major big-business papers like the New In response to these increasingly serious vene outside the Canal Zone. After coming into office in 1981 , York Times opened a slander campaign threats, Panama has received solidarity More demonstrations were held in the Reagan stated that he would abide by the against Noriega, fed by officials of the from other governments in Latin America, 1950s and '60s, challenging U;S. control treaty, which was already ail established State Department, Pentagon, and various including those of Cuba and Nicaragua. over the Canal Zone itself. In 1964 some fact. But it is now clear that the govern­ intelligence agencies. They accused Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega v.isited iO Panamanians were murdered when U.S. ment - and this includes the Democratic Noriega of being a major drug dealer, of Panam.a June 24, and four days later Nica­ troops fired on a demonstration. majority in Congress, as well as the Repub­ ordering the murder of a political oppo­ ragua's Foreign Ministry called on "all In·· 1968 Gen. Omar Torrijos seized lican administration - is not entirely rec­ nent, of rigging the 1984 elections, and of governments of Latin America and the power. His regime pressed Washington for onciled to giving up control of the canal or providing intelligence information to Caribbean to close ranks in. defense of concessions over the canal. Huge demon­ of the U.S. bases there. Cuba. Panamanian sovereignty and indepen­ strations were held, with the government's For more than a year now, U.S. interfer­ Cuban President Fidel Castro, who de­ dence." support, to protest the U.S. presence. ence in Panamanian politics has taken the nied any intelligence dealings between Opponents of U.S. intervention have Following protracted negotiations, a form of a campaign to oust Gen. Manuel Cuba and Noriega, called this U.S. cam­ also been mobilizing in Panama. Virtually series of treaties was signed in 1977 be­ Noriega, who succeeded Torrijos as de paign a "dirty war against Panama." It was daily demonstrations have been held by tween Torrijos and then U.S. President facto head of state two years after Torrijos designed, Castro said, to provoke instabil­ students, trade unionists, and others to con­ James Carter, replacing the original 1903 died in a 1981 plane crash. ity that could then be used by W asbington demn Washington's efforts to oust the gov­ treaty. In them, the U.S. government Noriega was targeted because his gov- as an excuse for not complying with the ernment. canal treaties. And to express the Panamanian people's Reactionaries mobilize determination to prevent any reneging on the canal treaties, demonstrators have Subscribe to 'Perspectiva M undial' In early June of this year, Col. Roberto taken up the popular slogan, "Not a step Diaz Herrera was ousted as the Panama­ July issue: Cuban union leader speaks backward!" nian military's chief of staff. He then As a reader of the Militant you echoed most of the earlier U.S. accusations are familiar with our weekly against Noriega; and added a few of his coverage of the struggles of work­ own (such as a clai~ that Noriega had as­ ing people around the world. sassinated Torrijos). Dfaz Herrera also said be was receiving psychic messages from an If you can read or are studying EU fuera del Golfo Persico Indian guru. Spanish, there is a complemen­ Brushing aside serious questions about tary monthly magazine .for you: ESPECIAL Dfaz Herrera's credibility, domestic oppo­ nents of the government seized on his Perspectiva Mundial. PM is a Entrevista charges to launch a series of business shut­ Spanish-language socialist maga­ mn~ente downs, street demonstrations, boycotts, zine that carries many ofthe same Central de pot-banging protests, and other actions to articles you read in the Militant. Trabajadores :- ·. . de Cuba press their demand for Noriega's ouster. The National Civic Crusade, the main P.dlk EUA The July issue features an in­ coalition that bas organized the protests, is terview with Jesus Antonio Es­ Consreso dominated by the Chamber of Commerce, en Hartford L1der de Ia huelga de ~ 0 • candell, secretary of international porlos Watsonville desuibe Catholic church hierarchy, and associa­ CarlbbuD · MilES relations of the Central Organiza­ deredlos de como los obreros tions of doctors, dentists, life insurance ---=:Sn -=·- tion of Cuban Trade Unions. los boricuas ganaron Ia lucha brokers, real estate dealers, and other pro­ Workers in every factory in fessionals and businessmen. Cuba are taking part in a "rectifi­ Few workers heeded the group's strike cation, process," a deep political Subscriptions: $7 for one year; call. Ricardo Monterrey of the Workers' discussion to solve problems of $4 for six months; Introductory Confederation of the Republic of Panama waste, inefficiency, and poor qual­ offer, $2.00 for five months. declared, "There is not a single laborer in ity of goods. 0 Begin my sub with current the civil clubs; there are only the managers, Socialism ~an't be built only on issue. the executives who fire us. But today they the basis of economic mechanisms call on us to strike. : . . We are not going to and incentives, Escandell ex­ Name ------­ let ourselves be fooled." Many of Panama's Blacks, who make up plains. "Political consciousness is Addre~ ------needed." He lays out what this a large proportion of the working class, City/State/Zip ______sarcastically refer to the opposition fortes new process means for Cuban as the rabiblancos, the "white tails." workers and the role of the trade Clip and mail to PM, 410 West St., unions in it. New York, NY 10014. u.s. threats With only limited support inside Panama itself, the opposition has looked to Wash-

10 The Militant July 17, 1987 Nicaraguan unionist on high turnover of factory workers

There has been a sharp decline in the Nicaragua? standard of living of Nicaraguan workers due to the U.S.-sponsored contra war. Silva. We can't be antiscientific and One result is that many leave factory march against history. Here, experience jobs· in hopes of making more money in has taught us that the working class tends what is known as the "informal sector." to grow everyday, to gather strength, and to become capitalism's gravedigger. This generally refers to those who make their income as self-employed market ven­ Kopec. So in absolute numbers there dors, cab drivers, launderers, seamstress­ are more workers today, say in textile, es; or carpenters. The rapid, high turnover of workers has than before the 1979 revolution? disrupted production and undermined the Silva. There are more workers now than development of a trained work force. before the revolution's triumph. I used to The problem is most serious in the tex­ work at Fanatex when there were only 900 tile, garment, and shoe industries, which workers there. Now there are 1,500. At the employ 9,000 workers, 70 percent of them Texnicsa factory they used to employ 900 female. workers, wh_ereas now they have 1,400. To learn more about how Nicaragua's Turnover is not a sign that the working revolutionary government and union class is disappearing. The machines always movement are trying to improve industrial have workers operating them. working conditions and stabilize the work Everyday new workers are joining the force, Roberto Kopec interviewed. Donald working class. Young men being dis­ Silva on June 8. charged from the army are entering the Silva is a leader of the Sandinista Work­ work force. ers Federation (CST) and head of its tex­ Nicaraguan garment plant. Union leader Donald Silva explained that U.S.-run war is Kopec. What is the average wage for tile, garment, and shoe manufacturing di­ cause of workers leaving factories to seek more lucrative jobs. Problem is most seri­ textile workers? vision. The factories he refers to in the in­ ous in textile, garment, and shoe industries. terview are all state-owned textile or gar­ Silva . It is the lowest of all the [industri­ ment plants. al] branches. Women working in textileare The translation is by the Militant. paid an average of 54,600 c6rdobas a month. -·WORlD NEWS BRIEFS-- * * * The President's Office on Women put Kopec. What is the current rate of turn­ out a study in May on the problems of South Koreans demand ground Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic over of workers in the textile, garment, and women textile workers. The study says that Front, they were killed in armed encoun­ shoe industries, and what causes this turn­ at Fanatex, only 15 percent of the women release of prisoners ters. over? are at the top of the wage scale for produc­ But lawyers for human rights groups tion workers, while 30 percent of the men Silva. In the second half of 1986, the The South Korean government's re­ cited physical evidence indicating that at · average turnover rate was 40 percent. are. luctance to release all political prisoners least some of the victims did not fire any In the first quarter of1987, the situation We cannot have women's wages be so and its slowness in implementing other weapons, and that they were shot at low in such an important branch of indus­ got worse. However, we were able to par­ democratic concessions have spurred close range. The opposition Christian tially slow down the rate of workers quit­ try. continued protests there. Democratic Party labeled the regime's ting thanks to the measures adopted [by the The problem of turnover also has to do The government claims there are just account "obscure and contradictory." government] April 1. with the question of child care. When 1 , 150 political prisoners in the country, Funerals for the murdered activists - ':rtlese ·ineluded an increase in'·wages ·, a we've asked worker:s, ·:well. wh_y ~~ yo1,1 but _human_ rights activists put the drew thousands ofparticipants, and stu­ quitting?" they tell us that it's because of policy of prioritizing basic consumer goods number at 1 ,850. So far, only a few dent protests erupted in Santiago, Val~­ their children. Sometimes they don't have for the productive sector, and incentives hundred have been set free. paraiso, and Concepcion. for production, seniority, and working anybody to look after them. A baby-sitter On July 3, some 20,000 students ral­ may charge 20,000 c6rdobas a month, nights. lied at Yonsei University in Seoul. The war situation has caused a drop in which the workers can't afford. Speakers expressed deep skepticism of Since last year we've trjed to solve this 14 die in Guatemala production. The industrial sector suffers a the regime's intentions and its willing­ deficit of hard currency for its imports. problem. We now have a cbild-care center ness to carry out promised reforms. from U.S. defoliation for 300 children at Fanatex. With the child­ Some condemned the U.S. domination This has meant that factories are not At least 14 Guatemalans have died operating at full capacity, and that the care center, turnover has decreased a little of South Korea. "The United States bit, and productivity has increased. . treats Korea like dirt," one proclaimed. from drinking contaminated river water, workers, even if they make great efforts, it was reported June 19. The deaths oc­ are not able to meet their production goals, A year ago we also established a child­ The next day, Rob Tae Woo, chair­ care center at the. Cotexma plant, and on man .of the governing Democratic Jus­ curred in parts of the countryside that which reduces their overall pay. have been sprayed by toxic defoliants Furthermore, the informal sector has July 17 we will inaugurate a center for the. tice Party, met with a group of women children of people working in five factories whose relatives are political prisoners. from U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency managed to undermine the consciousness planes. , of a layer of workers. We cannot say that along the Northern Highway [the main in­ When he refused to give a firm commit­ dustrial belt]. ment to free the prisoners, the women Some Guatemalan press reports indi- · everyone understands the role .of the work­ cate the defoliant used is. glyphosphate, ·• ing class. Sonie sectors of the working responded angrily, scuffling with gov­ Kopec. How many textile workers have. ernment officials. a highly toxic chemical that is banned in class may engage in activities that do not the United States. A television report in­ correspond to the interests of the class as a joined economic brigades [volunteer Outside, other women demonstrators groups of employees who work overtime to were attacked by riot police after they dicated that napalm was also used, start- ' whole. ing a huge forest fire that has already de­ Nevertheless, starting in April, our increase production]? protested the relatively light sentences meted out to several policemen con­ stroyed 1 ,500 square kilometers of rain­ branch of industry began to see a small Silva. Currently there are 1,500 work­ forest. trend toward attracting back to the industry ers in economic brigades throughout this victed of killing a stUdent activist in Jan­ uary. Although the Guatemalan government those skilled workers who left to join the branch, 70 percent of them wom~n. claims the spraying is intended to elimi­ informal sector, who left because of the Just a few hours after these protests, at midnight, Lee Han Yol, a 21-year-old nate poppy and marijuana crops, as well country's economic problems. Kopec. How is participation in such as the medfly, the areas affected are . student from Yonsei University, died in We can report that at the Pros an factory brigades encouraged? those where guerrilla groups have been at least 10 workers, skilled and with many a hospital of head wounds he received Silva. On the one hand, there is the active. years experience, have returned to work, from police. This brought new student moral incentive of being a vanguard work­ Peasant groups, coffee growers, the convinced of their vital role in production demonstrations at the campus. er, of being recognized by fellow workers, national university, and the Environ­ for the economy and for society as a whole. Protests have also taken place in · by society as a whole. mental Commission of the Guatemalan At the El Triunfo garment factory, seven Kwangju, the southern city that has long On the other hand, we are working been a center of antigovernment opposi­ Congress have demanded a halt to the women workers who had left have re­ spraying. turned. At the· Fanatex textile plant, 40 heavily with material incentives. The van­ tion. Student demonstrators were at­ guard workers of the economic brigades workers, long-time employees, returned. tacked by riot police there July 3, and are guaranteed clothing and shoes, not only This was accomplished through the several dozen student leaders were ar­ for themselves, but for their families as work of union members who visited the rested. Okinawans demand well. workers in their homes to talk with them Also, in every workplace we are giving closing of U.S. bases about their important role in production. the best workers other incentives. Let's say Protests in Chile hit a certain worker is in the vanguard in pro­ More than 18,000 demonstrators Kopec. Which workers are most likely duction and needs sheeting material for his murders of 12 activists turned out in Okinawa June 21 to protest to quit factory jobs? roof. Well, we'll provide it for free. the presence of U.S. military bases on Silva. Well, most of the people leaving We have also acquired some basic grains Students, human rights activists, the island, which is governed by Japan. are new workers. Few of the old workers such as rice andbeans, as well as sugar, so church figures, and representatives of The demonstrators formed a human leave. They love their factory, having we can give five pounds of each to the best opposition political parties have pro­ chain around the Kadena U.S. air base, perhaps been among its founders and hav­ workers. tested or questioned the killing in mid­ ~d released 10,000 balloons proclaim­ ing lived through countless problems in its Along with the material incentives we June of 12 alleged guerrillas by Chile's ing, "No More Bases" and "Peace." history. don't forget the moral incentive, because political police, the CNI. The action was sponsored by otherwise we can fall into an error. The nine men and three women were Okinawa labor unions and was support­ Kopec. Does the fact that some people In fact, we tell workers that the moral in­ shot down in five separate incidents. Ac­ ed by the 4.5 million-member General are leaving the factories to become vendors centive a Nicaraguan worker should strive cording to the regime, which accused Council of Trade Unions of Japan and or artisans mean, as some have claimed, for is to become a member of the San­ them of being members of the under- the Japan Socialist-Party. that the working class is disappearing in dinista National Liberation Front.

July 17, 1987 ~Militant 11 ·-CALENDAR...... -. ------defend CALIFORNIA Nebraska, Socialist Workers Party and Young Rallies to democratic rights Socialist Alliance. For more information call Oakland (515) 246-1695. OHland (East Bay) Socialist Summer against government spying School. MARYLAND Sat., July 18, 3-5 p.m. ''The Second Assas­ Birmingham, Ala. Miami sination of Maurice Bishop." Baltimore . Sun., July 12, 4 p.m. 16th Street Baptist Thurs., July 16, 7:30p.m. Reception, 6:30 Sat., July 25, 3-5 p.m. "What Causes War Socialist Summer School. Learn about the ori­ Church, 1530 6th Ave. N. Donation: $3. For p.m. Haitian Activities Center. 28 NE 54th - .How To Fight It." gins and development of revolutionary work­ more information call (205) 323c3079 or St. Translation to Spanish and Creole. Dona­ All classes translated to Spanish and held at ing-class politics. "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific." Two 933-6124. tion requested. For more information call 3808 E 14th St. Donation: eight classes, $6; (305) 573-7681. single class, $1. Sponsors: Young Socialist Al­ classes on Frederick Engels' pamphlet. Class 1: liance and Socialist Workers Party. For more Sat., July 18, 1:30p.m.; Class 2: Sun., July 19, information call (415) 261-3014 or 658-8898. 1:30 p.m: Kansas City, Mo. Phoenix "Lenin's Unfinished Fight: the Future of the FLORIDA Soviet Union." Speaker: Doug Jenness, Sat., July 18, 7:30 p.m. Reception, 6:30 Sun., July 19, 4-6 p.m. Reception, 3-4 coeditor of the Militant. Sat., July 18, 7:30 p.m. St. Mark's Church, 1101 Euclid Do­ p.m. Valley Garden Center, 1809 15th Ave. Miami p.m. nation: $3. For more information call (816) (one block north of McDowell). Translation SodaUst Summer School. Classes on the "Renewal or Death." A class on a recent 753-0224. to Spanish. For more information call (602) "Workers' and Farmers' Government, a Popu­ speech by Fidel Castro. Sat., July 25, I :30 p.m. 279-4585. . lar Revolutionary Dictatorship." Every Sunday "Celebration of the Cuban Revolution." AU events sponsored by Political Rights Defense Fund. at 4:30p.m. Repeated on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Speakers: Rena Cacoullos, national secretary of Translation to Spanish and Creole. 137 NE 54th the Young Socialist Alliance, recently returned St. Sponsor: Socialist Workers Party. For more from Cuba; Lenore Foerstal, instructor at Mary­ information call (305) 756-1020. land Institute College of Art, twice visited Cuba. Sat., July 25, 7:30p.m. U.S. Government in the Iran·Iraq War. ployment Project.·Sat., July 18, 7;30 p.m. 402 GEORGIA All events at 2913 Greenmount Ave. Dona­ Speakers to be announced. Sun., .July 19, 7 N. Highland Ave. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Mil­ p.m. 2219 E Market St. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Atlanta tions requested. Sponsors: Socialist Workers itant Labor Forum. For more information call The Labor Movement in El Salvador: an Party and Young Socialist Alliance. For more Militant Labor Forum. For more information (412) 362-6767. EyeWitness Report and Slideshow. Speaker: information call (301) 235-0013. call (919) 272-5996. Ernest Mailhot, Socialist Workers Party, mem­ Cel~brate the 28th Anniversary of the Cuban TEXAS ber International Association of Machinists MINNESOTA Revolution. Program of speakers. Sun., July Houston 26, 7 p.m. 2219 E. Market St. Donation: $2. Local 702. Visited El Salvador and Nicaragua St. Paul Socialist Summer School. A series of six class­ on Postal Workers for Peace tour. Translation to Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ es on .the foundations of communist politics. Nicaragua Work Brigades: What They Are mation call (919) 272-5996. Spanish. Tue., July 14, 7 p.m. 132 Cone NW. and How You Can Join One. Speakers: Open to both English- and Spanish-speaking Donation: $2.50. Sponsor: Militant Laoor former brigadistas. Sat., July 18, 7:30 p.m. OHIO participants. Classes every Sunday at 11 a.m. Forum. For more information call (404) 577- 508 N Snelling Ave. Donation: $2. Sponsor: and Thursday at 7 p.m. through Aug. 6. 4065. Militant Forum. For more information call Cleveland Classes held at 4806 Almeda. Donation: (612) 644-6325. Socialist Summer School. Three classes on $1 .50 per class. For more information call (713) ILLINOIS Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Frederick 522-8054. Chicago NEW YORK Engels. Sundays at 2 p.m. on July 12, 19, and 26.2521 Market Ave. Sponsor: Socialist Work­ Cuba: the Unfolding Revolution. Brooklyn WASHINGTON Class: ''The Cuban Road to Socialism." ers Party and Young Socialist Alliance. For Seattle Citywide rally for Unity Against Spying and more information call (216) 861-6150. Speaker: Omari Musa, Socialist Workers Party. Disruption on Black Liberation. Mon., July Socialist Summer School. Two series of class­ Sat., July 25, 3 p.m. · 13, 7 p.m. Brown Memorial Baptist Church. OREGON es. Forum: "A Celebration of the Cuban Revolu­ Gates and Washington Ave. ("A" train to Clin­ Series on Stalinism. Sundays at 2 p.m. on tio!}." Speaker: Duane Stilwell, chairperson ton and Washington). Sponsor: New York 8+ Portland July 12, 19, 26, and Aug. 2. 'Readings from the Chicago Young Socialist Alliance. Sat., July Defense Committee Against Fascism. Socialist Educational Weekend. Revolution Betrayed, In Defense of Marxism, 25, 7:30p.m. Cuban-style dinner, 5 p.m. Forum: "Cuba, Eyewitness Report." Presen­ Our Power Is That of the Working People, and · Both events at 3455 S Michigan Ave. Trans­ Manhattan tation and slideshow by Cathy Sedwick, partic­ New International No. 6. lation to Spanish. Donations: class, $1.50; Will There Be a Ninth Anniversary of the ipant in recent Venceremos Brigade to Cuba. Series on the fundamentals of Marxism. forum, $2; dinner $2.50. Sponsors: Socialist Nicaraguan Revolution? Will Reagan's Poli­ Sat. , July 25, 7:30p.m. Dinner, 6 p.m. Dona­ Thursdays at 6:30p.m. and Saturdays at 1:30 Workers Party and Young Socialist Alliance. cies Prevail? Speakers: Michael Ratner, Center tion: $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. p.m. on July 11, 16, 18, 23, 25, 30, Aug. I , For more information call (312) 326-5853. for Constitutional Rights; Elisabeth Linder, Two classes. "The Cuban Rectification Pro­ and Aug. 6. Readings from Socialism: Utopian mother of Ben Linder. Fri., July 17, 7:30p.m. cess: A Turning Point in the Revolution." and Scientific, Wage-Labor and Capital, Value, Washington Square Methodist Church, 135 W. Speaker: Cathy Sedwick. Sat., July.25, 4 p.m. Price and Profit, and the Wages System. IOWA 4th St. Sponsor: Casa Nicaragua. For more in­ Des "The Second Assassination of Maurice Translation to Spanish. All classes at 5517 Moines formation call (212) 769-4293. Bishop." 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Speaker: call (503) 287-7416. See. A panel of brigadistas to NiCaragua dis­ metics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Mary-Alice Waters, member of Socialist Work­ Socialist Summer School. Two seven-week cuss their experiences there. Translation to Women. Speaker: Pat Grogan. Sun., July 19. ers Party Political Committee, reported for Mil­ class series. "Marxist Philosophy." Readings Spanish. Sat., July 18, 7:30p.m. 5517 Rainer ll Class 1, a.m.-1 p.m.; Class 2, 3- 4 p.m. itant on Third Congress of the Cuban Comunist from Frederick Engels' Anti-Duhring. Every Ave. S. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor All events at 2105 Forest Ave. Donations: $2 Party and congress of the Union of Young Com­ Wednesday at 6 p.m. through August. Forum. For more information call (206) 723- each class, $5 for weekend. Sponsors: Des munists. Translation to Spanish. Fri.; July 24. "Basic Marxist Economic Theory." Read­ 5330. 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The Role of the Britain and from conference of the Coal Em- mation call (304) 345-3040. -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP------Where to find the Socialist Workers Party, GEORGIA: Atlanta: SWP, YSA, 132 Cone 55104. Tel: (612) 644-6325. Mark Mateja, Edinboro University of Pa. Zip: Young Socialist AUiance, and Pathfinder St. NW, 2nd Floor. Zip: 30303. Tel: (404) 577- . MISSOURI: Kansas City: SWP, YSA, 1641 2. Tel: (814) 398-2574. Philadelphia: bookstores. 4065. 4725 Troost. Zip: 64110. Tel: (816) 753-0224. SWP, YSA, 2744 Germantown Ave. Zip: ll..LINOIS: Chicago: SWP, YSA, 3455 S. St. Louis: SWP, YSA, 4907 Martin Luther 19133. Tel: (215) 225-0213. Pittsburgh: SWP, ALABAMA: Birmingham: SWP, YSA, Michigan Ave. Zip: 60616. Tel: (31 2) 326- King Or. Zip: 63113. Tel: (314) 361-0250. YSA, 402 N. Highland Ave. Zip: 15206. Tel: .. 1306 1st Ave. N. Zip: 35203. Tel: (205) 323- 5853 or 326-5453 . NEBRASKA: Omaha: SWP, YSA, 140 S. (41 2) 362-6767. 3079. 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12 The·Militant July 17' 1987 ~ · THE GREAT SOCIETY---~---~----~- Would that it were so-If you edly renowned ecologist and USA, 1987 - Fernando Cano, Now here's a deal-When the tee on the Arts and Humanities. watched those news scenes of biologist and a proponent of the an immigrant worker from pope visits the Detroit area this Blass is Nancy's favorite dress de~ South Korean cops gassing, Malthus theory that food supplies Guatemala, is suing an Oregon fall, GM will donate 100 new Pon­ signer and Bloomingdale is a tight can't keep up with population, farm operator for $150,000 in thics for use by the papal delega­ family friend. opines, "Since Ethiopia has far too damages. He charged supervisors tion. The cars, which will feature many people for its resources, if carried guns to keep workers from white paint and maroon interiors, Ho, ho! - ''These days you you give food and save lives .. . leaving, and that he was assaulted will then be turned over to dealers. don't dare call it an affair." ...:..._ you increase suffering and ulti­ and forced back on the job. He's Presidential aspirant Alexander mately increase the loss of life." suing under a little-used antipeon­ Bon apetit! -"In the 1980s, Haig on why·he calls contragate a Harry age statute. choosing what to have for dinner "brouhaha." Ring in the fish store is a game of Rus­ Something to be proud of - Love at first sight-Somehow sian roulette." - Report by en­ What with that indictment for it seems reasonable that the in­ vironmentalists on the contamina­ That's a relief- We felt a lit­ punching, and kicking demonstra­ palming off cars used by company flight magazine of union-busting tion of New England-area seafood tle uneasy that we didn't reach for tors, you might be interested in the brass as new, we assume Chrysler Eastern Airlines would feature a by massive discharges of sewage our checkbook when Oral Roberts official police figures, 6,305 riot will go heavy on that Lee Iacocca glowing salute to the 50th anniver­ and waste. announced that if he didn't raise police injured; compared with 146 commercial, "The pride is back!" sary of the union-busting Hormel that $8 million by the deadline, protesters. They could show some of the Co. 's Spam. Or that Democratic March of American culture­ God would call him home. But banged-up cars that were so skill­ Senate Majority Leader Robert President Reagan plans to appoint now he discloses that regardless of Kill 'em now so they don't die fully touched up you couldn't see Byrd scarfs down Spam on white Bill Blass and Betsy Bloom­ when he leaves, he'll return with later- Garrett Hardin, an assert- the bent frame. with mayo three times a week. ingdale to the President's Commit- Jesus. Story of Hector Marroquin's fight to live in U.S.

Continued from Page 9 struggle with Ia migra, 10 years in which "There's more of a sense of self-confi­ migrant and you join the ranks of the work­ Act was that the FBI and CIA had a file on we've been able to win the support and sol­ dence," he said. "Immigrants are coming ing people of this country. him while he lived in Mexico! idarity of literally tens of thousands of to the realization that we have rights and The FBI began keeping tabs on Hector working people, of Blacks and Latinos, we have to fight for these rights." "Though I had hesitations at the begin­ when he was a 15-year-old high school stu­ both individuals and organizations." ning, I no longer t!tve any hesitation about dent in Matamoros. According to the files, Forty years ago, his father resolved he where I belong. More and more immi­ It's this broad support, he says, that has he was deemed to be "procommunist." wanted no part of this country. Today, grants feel this way, that we're part of the made the ongoing fight possible. Today, an "I was surprised," Hector admits. "It Hector is fighting for his right to stay here. U.S. working class. important factor, he adds, is the decision worried me and it made me angry to see Why? won last August by the SWP in · its suit such a violation of Mexican sovereignty." "It took us a long time to overcome t:l)e against the federal government. "The role of U.S. big business is evident "!·understand how my father felt," Hec­ 'alien' syndrome, the 'illegal alien' syn­ Judge Thomas Griesa's decision, bar­ in Mexico," he added. "You see it in all the tor responded. "In his time there was little drome. ring illegal victimization of the organiza­ signs advertising U.S. companies. And in real possibility to fight back, to organize to tion and its members, extends to immigrant "That's the kind of thinking they want to politics you learn something of the extent do it. Today you can do that. Orie reason members. The court decision notes the Im­ instill in immigrant workers so they can ex­ to which U.S. business and banking inter­ for this, in my opinion, is the tremendous migration Service declaration that it does victory won by the Black people in de­ ploit us, and drive us back when they feel ests dominate many Mexican companies. not consider membership in the SWP a like it. Well, we're part of this working "And you knew of the CIA operations in stroying Jim Crow segregation. I think that basis for seeking someone's deportation. class, and we're here to fight the rulers of Mexico. The attack on the students in victory gave a big impetus to all working people, including immigrants. this country, along with the rest of our Mexico City by the anriy in 1968, that was "That makes it more difficult for them to class." done in collaboration with the CIA. move against me," Hector observed. "I was forced to come here," he con­ "But I didn't realize the FBI was operat­ tinued, "forced by the political oppression He leaned forward and emphasized: ing there too. It makesyou angry." A new mood in my country, an oppression in which the "We have as much right as they- the rul­ Discussing his fight to remain here, Hec­ Also, he added, there is the growing FBI and CIA has a real role. ers- to be here." tor said, "It's been 10 years of constant change in the attitude of immigrants. "When I came I didn't have a clear idea Hector concluded: "I would like to see how long I was going to stay, and actually .the word 'illegal' and the word 'alien' I had in mind eventually being able to go · erased from the language. I believe in the back. world working class - beyond any bor­ Meat-packers protest Spam shindig ders. We are part of one and the same fam­ "But the fact is you come here as an im- ily." BY PIDL NORRIS Support group leader Barbara Collette AUSTIN, Minn. - On the July 4 explained that backers of the fired meat­ weekend, the Austin United Support packers were denied permission to have a Group sponsored a series of dinners .and float in the parade. -10AND25 YEARS AGO----- rallies and a tent city, protesting Geo. A. About 150 attended the support group's Hormel & Co.'s 50th anniversary celebra­ the Socialist Workers Party, analyzed the July 3 rally. Two hundred attended its rally countermovements toward the left and tion of its product, Spam. the next day. THE MILITANT The support group backs efforts by 850 right that are beginning to produce a deeper Behind the rally platform, support group meat-packers, former members of United July 15, 1977 polarization of political trends in the members worked on a red, white, and blue United States. The main channels of Food and Commercial Workers union decked float. Signs on the float read, radicalism today center around the antiwar (UFCW) Local P-9, to regain their jobs. The Jan. 17, 1977 New York Times "Uncle Sam, not Uncle Spam." movement, the s~ggle for civil rights, de­ They were not allowed to return to work as pointed to these Panamanian assets: fense of the Cuban revolution, and opposi­ part of a settlement ending the 1985-86 On July 4, the support group also held a • It is a major banking center, with tion to the anticommunist witch-hunt, he strike at Hormel's meat-packing plant press conference at the house of veteran more than 70 foreign banks holding de­ here. meat-packer John "Skinny" Weis. His yard posits of more than $99 billion. said. The Spam celebration was organized as was made into a cemetery, with 850 cross­ • It has a huge copper deposit in Dobbs pointed out that the fears generat­ part of this city's July 4th events. In weeks es on it symbolizing the former P-9 strik­ Chiriqui Province. ed by the threat of nuclear war are giving leading up to the events, the company and ers. • The eastern half of the country, which new characteristics to the peace . move­ ment. There is a shift from individual con- . its political servants in Austin tried to dem­ As part of the support group's effort to is rich in forest resources, is being opened scientious objection to broader patterns of onstrate that the area is united again behind have Hormel products boycotted, the press up for the ftrst time. Hormel. They also tried to smear the sup­ was presented with a leaflet pointing out • Per capita figures on foreign invest­ collective antiwar action. There is greater port group as violent. the unhealthy ingredients in Spam. ment and U.S. aid show Panama in ftrst support for unilateral disarmament by the place internationally. United States and more discussion of the The spectacular figures on U.S. invest­ need for a radical reconstruction 'of society. ment and aid were in large part the result of Such slogans as "Let the people vote on nu­ The Socialist Workers Party and Washington's special relationship with clear tests" can help direct the growing Panama. mistrust of the war-makers toward consid­ Young Socialist Alliance invite you to a The canal alone, theNew York Times re­ eration of class methods of antiwar strug­ ported in a Feb. 14 editorial, "reduces the gle. delivery price of American exports and im­ The leftward trends find their counter­ ports by $1.5 billion a year and yields toll parts in a resurgence of ultrarightist activity revenues of $150 million a year, out of on the campuses and within the population. which the United States pays Panama $2.3 "Our party has the duty to alert the work­ million ...." ing people to the dangers represented by these forces which feed upon the crisis of In addition, American military savings American imperialism," said Dobbs. resulting from use of the facility average The default of the union leadership pre­ $200 million a year. sents a tremendous educational task to the About 83 percent of the products ex­ socialist vanguard, Dobbs concluded. ''The ported by Panama in 1968 went to the long period of labor passivity has sowed August 8-13 United States. Sixty percent of all capital in doubts among the younger generation that Panamanian companies comes from U.S. the workers can meet the revolutionary Unionists, students, and activists in the anti­ sources. war, anti-apartheid, farm, Black- and women's­ needs of our time. rights struggles, and international fighters will These circmnstances make it necessary be attending. Participants will discuss political . for our party to bridge·the gap in historical situation facing working people in the U.S. and THE consciousness by teaching the oncoming internationally. Conference will feature classes, generation the class-struggle record of the special programs, and workshops. Translation MILITANT American workers, by helping to develop to Spanish and French provided. Published in the Interest• of tile Worlcift9 People left wings in the unions, and linking stu­ July 16, 1962 Price lOc dents with the young workers in their strug­ For more information contact the nearest SWP gles. This is essential to train a vigorous branch or YSA chapter listed on page 12. In a report on the current political situa­ new socialist leadership for the next wave tion, Farrell Dobbs, national secretary of of mass radicalization."

July 17, 1987 The Militant 13 What ·muddleheads· don't explain about Gullt in the boxcar murders the LaRouchites , . BY DOUG JENNESS A half dozen of the young Mexicans who suffocated to have ·been compelled to cross the border "illegally" There are some matters that journalists and news com­ death in a U.S. boxcar were from the town of Pabell6n de because U.S. policy won't permit more than a handful to mentators seem to be incapable of handling except in the Arteaga. There a mother of one. spoke out angrily and enter legally. . · most muddleheaded fashion. One is Lyndon LaRouche sharply. . This is designed to ensure a pool of workers who are and the organization he leads, the National Democratic "Maybe," she told a U.S. radio reporter, "this w~ make compelled to take the hardest, dirtiest jobs at the lowest pay Policy Committee (NDPC). people in the United States see the poverty and suffenng we because they are legally vulnerable. ·.. .·· Last week a federal grand j~ry in Boston indicted have here." And in the process of making their way to such jobs, the LaRouche on charges of conspiring to block an investiga­ For too long, she added, undocumented workers have undocumented must contend with the abuse of the tion of a credit card fraud by his supporters. Thirteen been treated "as animals" in the United States. immigration cops, and risk their very lives. . She posed the question: "If they're going to use thein as "We want to be treated as human beings," the mother in workers, why are they forced to go there _in this m~er?" Pabell6n de Arteaga declared. Her question goes to the heart of who ts responstble for That's reasonable enough. To meet their simple demand LEARNING ABOUT the boxcar murders. requires scrapping an .inunigration policy that h~ just claimed hundreds of lives, most recently the 18 m the SOCIALISM U.S. officials say they are hunting for a Mexican boxcar. inunigrant smuggler who reportedly locked the 18 in the One of the 18 had written a poem, found in a notebook in people linked to LaRouche had been indicted on credit sealed boxcar. Presumably, if they find him, he will be the boxcar. Entitled Elllegal- the lllegal- it ends with card fraud and other criminal counts last year. charged with responsibility for the deaths. a tribute to a return trip to Mexico. The last stanza read: Reporting LaRouche's indictment, New York Times That will help shield the real killer. . "How beautiful is the United States. reporter Matthew Wald stated, "It marks a major mile­ Criminal responsibility in this case rests squarely wtth lllinois, California and Tennessee. stone in a political saga that began more than a decade the U.S. government. The 18 deaths are the fruit of an But over in my country, ago on the far left of American politics, switched abruptly_ inunigration policy that is racist and anti~working class. A piece of the sky belongs to me. . to the extreme right, and now lies in an area that is diffi­ That policy was further codified in the new immigration Goodbye, Laredo, Westlaco and San Antomo. cult to characterize in traditional terms." law, which aims to stamp "illegal" on undocumented Houston and Dallas are in my song. I'm not singling out Wald for special fire. He's just a workers as indelibly as ranchers brand cattle. Goodbye, El Paso. I am back, Charnizal. run-of-the-mill scribbler for the boss press whose appar­ For generations, Mexicans in desperate need of jobs Your friend, the illegal, has returned." ent bafflement by the LaRouche phenomenon is fairly typical. Moreover, I've noticed over the past couple of years that Wald's formulation in regard to LaRouche-"diffi­ cult to characterize in traditional terms" - appears in New exposUre of N.Y. cop spying most of the Times coverage on LaRouche regardless of who signs the article. If the writer doesn't put it in, an editor does. Recent revelations confirm that the New York police guidelines, only criminal probes are supposedly permit­ Far from being undefinable in traditional terms, there have continued illegal surveillance of Black activists de­ ted.) is precisely a traditional term to define the LaRouchites: spite a 1986 agreement that supposedly set oversigh~ Without offering a shred of evidence, the cop added, fascist. I don't use this characterization light-mindedly or "guidelines" for secret probes of political and civil rights "These people are very violent." . as an epithet. But the positions and actions of the organizations and individual activists. Meanwhile, a federal official responsible for supervis­ LaRouchites clearly identify them as such·. Cops have been taping, photographing, and videotap­ ing probation for the eight said the New York police had The LaRouchites have established a pattern of physical ing Black community figures at meetings and demonstra­ not informed him of any planned crimes by the eight. intimidation and violent and provocative behavior. They tions. They operated under the direction of a "Black · Commissioner Ward said that the surveillance of the have used goon-squad attacks on working-class political desk" in the secret Intelligence Division. This was dis­ eight had been approved by a court-created panel, as re- vanguard organizations; and threatening phone calls, ver­ closed by July 1. quired by the guidelines. · New York Newsday bal abuse, and harassing lawsuits are the NDPC's stock­ Earlier it was revealed that the same police unit had For the police snoopers, going after the eight opened in-trade. been making tapes of a popular talk show on a Black the door for broader targets. ·· The LaRouchite outfit has disassociated itself from radio station on which many prominent Black figures Files were opened on prominent figures, it was previous fascist movements in other countries, and has voiced their views. explained, not to keep tabs on them but merely to have a attempted to wrap itself in its own homespun American According to the paper, files have been accumulated record of meetmgs or activities at which any of the eight cloak. Nonetheless, the fascist· character of its demagogy on 200 Black activists, including such figures as Calvin might be present. · is striking. Butts, pastor of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church. In other words, according to the cops, it might not be . First, is the conspiracy axis of the LaRouchite pro­ Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward responded to the legal to secretly videotape a Black leader speaking at a· paganda. According to their litany, drug dealers, ter­ radio-monitoring revelation by ordering it halted while a rally. But, if one of the eight were in the audience it rorists (according to LaRouche, primarily instigated by check was tnade to determine if it violated the 1986 would meet the guidelines. Moscow), and bi~ bankers have ganged up internation­ guidelines. The guidelines were the product of a suit brought ally to create the conditions for exorbitant interest rates, Supported_by Mayor Edward Koch, Ward responded against the police by the Black Panther Party and other unemployment, famines, massive drug addiction, and to the secret files exposure with a cover story. He as­ victims of illegal cop spying, infiltration, and provoca­ other social afflictions. Opposition to this conspiracy is serted that the only ones tabbed for surveillance were the tion. the framework in which the NDPC presents its dem­ "New York 8." In an out-of-court settlement, it was agreed in Sep­ agogic solutions to the problems of what they refer to as The eight are Black activists who had been prosefuted tember 1986 that a panel would be created, including two "the unrepresented majority, the forgotten majority." by the fed~ral government on conspiracy charges involv­ cops and a retired judge, to oversee secret police activity. They talk about forging an "alliance" of industrial ing asserted bank robbery plans. The cops are supposed to getthe panel's permission to in~ capitalists, farmers, and workers- that is the "produc­ In August of 1985, they were found not guilty of these vestigate groups or individuals, show that criminal activ­ tive sectors"- to take on the bankers. The aim of this charges. Six were convicted of alleged illegal gun pos­ ity is involved, and respect constitutional rights. "producers' front," is to make the "American system"­ session and two for possession of false IDs. They were Some of the plaintiffs have now asked for legal review that is, capitalism - work, to be more productive. sentenced to probation and community service. of whether the agreement has been violated. .This radical demagogy covers up the key social rela­ With that, the eight promptly resumed their activity in Meanwhile, it's cl~ar that with .or without the tion in U.S. capitalist society - the exploitation of wage the fight against racism and, just as promptly, the police guidelines, the cops are determined to continue their ille­ labor by capital. Even if LaRouche's notion thaf the snoopers went to work. gal efforts to curb the movement against racism. In order banks should get off the backs of "productive capital" A police official told reporters the surveillance of the to advance that movement, a strong fight against their were realized, this would not do away with the exploita­ eight was "a criminal investigation." (Under the dirty tricks is essential. tion of the working class and its need to fight to advance its economic, social, and political interests. A lot more could be said about the LaRouchites' nos­ trums, but I want to conclude by briefly taking up another question: Why has Washington launched a crackdown on Defend meat-packer .leaders! LaRouche and his followers at this time? They are scarcely a threat to the capitalist parties. A scurrilous lawsuit has been filed in a federal district Meat-packers throughout· the Midwest are putting. up The reason for the concern about the LaRouchites is court against two leaders of the 1985-86 Hormel meat­ stiff resistance to the takeback demands of the packing­ that they expose the ugly face of a tendency that exists in packers' strike in Austin, Minnesota. house bosses. There are currently nearly 7,000 meat-pack­ the mainstream of capitalist politics, in what is consid­ · United Food and CommerCial Workers union official ers on strike at Iowa Beef Processors, John Morrell & Co., ered to be "legitimate" politics, in this country. Joseph Hansen is charging Jim Guyette and Kathy Buck and Patrick Cudahy plants. Recently 700 unionists at Swift The NDPC grabs hold of right-wing· and reactionary with driving the Austin UFCW local into financial insol­ Independent packing plants in Worthington, Minnesota, positions and attitudes that are held both by some Demo­ vency and with misappropriating pension-fund monies and St. Joseph, Missouri, were able to beat back most of crats and some Republicans and takes them one or two during the strike. that employer's takeback demands without a strike. steps to the right. Hansen was appointed trustee of Local P-9 when it was And workers at the ConAgralArmour plant in Mason When President Reagan bombed Libyan cities in April placed in receivership by the UFCW tops in the midst of City, Iowa, voted to be organized by the UFCW. That is 1986, the NDPC called for bombing Libyan oilfields and its militant strike. The suit demands that the two repay the largest UFCW organizing victory in a packing plant declaring "total war on terrorism." When conservative thousands of dollars to the trusteed local. since 1979. William Buckley proposed tatooing AIDS "suspects," Guyette and Buck, who were removed as P-9 officers As these struggles against the packinghouse bosses the LaRouchites pressed for rounding up the "suspects" when the trusteeship was imposed, have explained that develop, more and more workers inevitably come to the and placing them in detention centers. retired meat-packers always .received their pension conclusion that the UFCW officialdom's collaboration More than other small · fascist outfits today, the checks and denied that the funds were misused. with the employers is an obstacle to their fight. Hansen's LaRouchites have succeeded in attracting public atten­ This latest attack is consistent with the policy em­ lawsuit is designed to send a warning to UFCW members tion - even more than their relatively small numbers ployed by UFCW officials since the beginning of the inclined to challenge these policies. might indicate they could. They have carved out a small Hormel fight. They publicly attacked the strike, tried to The UFCW top officialdom's use of the courts to try to niche in the mainstream of electoral politics, as was dem­ prevent contributions from union locals around the coun­ bankrupt Guyette and Buck and prevent them from being onstrated last year when two of their members won the try from reaching the embattled P-9 membership, and able to hold union office again is an attack on all meat­ Democratic Party nomination for lieutenant governor and eventually negotiated a sweetheart contract with Hormel packers, and all other unionists, and should be protested secretary of state in Illinois, as well as the Democratic that denied jobs to 850 of the strikers. throughout the labor movement. nomination for several congressional seats in other states. This has served to increase the embarassment in ruling circles regarding the LaRouchites, and stepped up the government's resolve to deal them some blows.

14 The Militant July 17, 1987 .san Francisco airport workers back rightS fight

BY RICH LESNIK with the airline. The negotiations are deadlocked, which was passed by a substantial majority. Scores of union Supporters of the Political Rights Defense Fund has led to an increase in attendance at 1781 union meet­ members approached the PROF table after the meeting, (PROF) in International Association of Machinists ings. Spirited discussions · have taken place, with many and_20 became sponsors. - "· (lAM) Local Lodge 1781 scored a major advance re­ workers wanting to know what's going on' with the The PROF case and the fight for democratic rights was cently in their campaign to spread the word about the negotiations. a hot topic on the job the next day. Five more workers Nelson's brief presentation went over the history of the signed up as PROF endorsers. SWP-YSA lawsuit against Attorney General Edwin Later in the month, Nelson spoke to 150 workers on Meese, the FBI, and other government cop agencies. He Second shift. He thanked the local for its support and in­ UNION TALK explained that last August Federal Judge Thomas Griesa vited those present to attend an upcoming PROF rally. had found government spying on the two organizations to After the meeting, dozens of rally leaflets and packets Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialist Alliance be in violation of the Constitution and ordered the gov­ explaining the case were distributed. A · couple mote lawsuit against illegal government spying. ernment to pay damages. It is fighting to overturn the de- workers became sponsors, and four booklets containing Lodge 1781 represents more than 8,000 mechanics, cision. · Judge Griesa's decision were sold. baggage handlers, cleaners, and food service workers at Nelson also. stressed the importance of the unions the San Francisco airport. Most of us work for United being involved in politics. A necessary part of that in­ A few days later a mechanic at the maintenance base Airlines. volvement, he said, is defense of political rights. talked to a PROF supporter about the case. He was We began the campaign by having discussions with He was greeted with applause, and a serious discussion angered over the CIA's long record of dirty tricks, the in­ coworkers at United's giant maintenance base here. ensued. One unionist asked what concrete steps Meese . ternments in Northern Ireland, the war in Vietnam, and Then, in May, arrangements were made for PROF had taken to have the decision reversed. Nelson said 11 the murder of Ben Linder. West Coast labor spokesperson Greg Nelson to speak be­ government agencies had submitted affidavits in an at­ "Do you know what you are?" the mechanic said to the fore the union executive board. tempt to beat back the judge's order prohibiting use of the PROF backer. "You're a militant, like there used to be a Although they didn't make an immediate recommen­ illegally obtained files. lot of around here 10, 15 years back. It's great to see that dation to endorse the case, the board invited Nelson to Nelson said support for the PROF in the labor move­ again." address the regular·membership meeting in June. ment is crucial to countering the government's drive to District 141 of the lAM, which represents United em­ weaken or overturn the decision. Rich Lesnik is a member ofJAM Local Lodge 1781 at the ployees nationwide, is currently involved in negotiations A motion to endorse the PROF and to contribute $250 San Francisco airport. -LETTERS----- 'Baby M' demonstration this fall against apartheid and the war in Central The July 3 article on the 'Baby America. Other students are con­ M' case should win the Jesse sidering doing the same. Helms award for illogic and irre­ Naomi Craine sponsibility. Detroit, Michigan Mary Beth Whitehead under­ stood the contract, and it was le­ gally binding. She was not forced Medical aid to sign it by a "capitalist court" or Members of 36 organizations any form of capitalism. that are part of the National Cen­ · The article says William Stern's tral America Health Rights Net­ biological ties mean nothing, but work came to New York from Whitehead's for some reason do. around the country to discuss pros­ It says that there is a "double pects for continuing medical aid to ..standard" because Whitehead was Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El asked personal questions, _and Wil­ Salvador. The network's fourth liam Stern was not. Whitehead's annual convention was held at lawyer had every opportunity to ask Columbia University Teachers Willi~ and Elizabeth Stern per­ College June 12-14. sonal questions. International representatives The article also stated that teen­ also participated. Dr. Violeta Del~ age mothers are poor not because. gado of COPROSAL swke to the they are mothers, but that plenary. The group is comprised capitalism is wholely responsible. of Salvadoran health-care profes- Capitalism is only partly responsi­ sionals whose main emphasis is on · '------;..,.;,___ ...;;.. ______.;..;...... ;..;....;:;;;..;..;...;.....___:;=---z;;..-=---___:;;._ ___ _. ble. H they had not gotten preg­ the training of medical personnel H. Payne nant, or if they had aborted, orif and the delivery of medical I also got to meet Ben Linder, before the march, shop stewards · how normal, everyday people are they had put the baby up for adop­ supplies to their country. COP­ . and grew to know him enough that had come around to our work being treated. ROSAL will be conducting a tion, they could get a high school his murder was .a perso~al blow to areas to tell us all to don our red A prisoner diploma and get a good job. Thus, nationwide tour of the United me. shirts. Houston, Texas young women have three options States in the next year. Its primary to delay motherhood, and focus will be addressing the trade The eighth anniversary of the Marchers were in high spirits socialism is not necessary to solve union movement. • July 19 revolution is quickly ap­ and happy to explain why they Revolution this particular problem. Zelmira Garcia of the Nicara­ proaching and political freedom is were taking part in the demonstra­ The revolutionary program of DanRobrish guan embassy in Washington and . alive and well despite the CIA­ tion. A Black woman who works Washington, Madison, and Jeffer­ Bethesda, Maryland Magda Enriquez, an ambassador contra terrorist attacks. Maybe the for Southern Bell explained, "We son, in effect, proclaimed that at-large of Nicaragua, emphasized younger revolutionary party of the have been losing enough over the never again shall this country be Antiwar conference that the goal of the movement in Sandinista National Liberation past few years. We make all their subservient to a foreign power. Last month I attended a Student the United States must be to pre­ Front could be an inspiration to the profits, and we demand some jus­ After the encampment at Valley Conference on Central America vent any future invasion of Nicara­ Cuban Communist Party by show­ tice." Forge, we learned that the· desire and the Draft along with 125 gua by U.S. troops. ing that other political parties are At a news conference held after to chart our own destiny could pre­ others. Three-quarters of the par­ Zoilo Torres, associate editor of okay: dissent does not mean dis­ the march, Charlie Bryan, presi­ vail over the greatest navy de­ ticipants were high school students the United Auto Workers District loyalty. dent of lAM District 100 that rep­ ployed in the colonial world. from the metro-Detroit area. The 65 newspaper, and Paul Filson, an Fidel must realize that not resents Eastern workers all over Against incredible odds, we over­ event was organized by a group of international representative of the allowing other parties like the country, along with other labor threw the yoke of British im­ antiwar activists from a high Amalgamated Clothing and Tex­ Trotskyists is not the best way to officials from various unions in perialism. school in Birmingham, Michigan. tile Workers Union, headed a move to people's democracy in the Miami area, announced that a Since overthrowing the repres­ The major focus of two panel workshop on the role of the U.S. Cuba or anywhere. large "Jobs With Justice" rally sive Somoza dictatorship and discussions and. most of the classes labor movement in Central Ameri­ Jack Bresee would take place July 29 at the achieving its independence, the was the war in Central America. ca. Brooklyn, New York Miami Beach Convention Center. Nicaragua of today has no death The biggest debates were around Art Walters The event will be attended by squads, the death penalty has been the issue of aid to the contras. New York, New York trade unionists from all over south abolished, and a democratic·court A couple of right-wingers had Eastern workers Florida. Officials stated that the system has been established. Con­ been invited as speakers, but the Sensational An important protest against purpose of the rally was to let it be trast such basic human rights ob­ Eastern Airlines' union-busting vast majority of the participants Your international stories are known that there must be an end to jectives to the right-wing police drive was held in Miami June 23. states Reagan so passionately de­ were opposed to the U.S. war in sensational. worker abuse. Nicaragua. This attitude was seen More than 3,000 Eastern workers, Zena McFadden . fends in places such as Chile, El Sorry I can't afford a whole members of the International As­ in a reactionary class given by one year subscription right now, but Miami, Florida Salvador, South Africa, and South of the two speakers on "U.S. For­ sociation of Machinists (lAM) Korea. please send me three more Local 702, marched in front of the eign Policy in Central America." months. Also, I don't want to miss The Nicaraguan dream of today About 30 students and other peace airline's corporate headquarters Point blank is the same as the American dream one week of the Militant so if this during lunch break. Some 200 activists continually heckled and is processed too late, please send I am a prisoner in the Texas De­ of yesterday: not to dominate, ex­ contradicted the speaker, who had workers from other unions in the partment of Corrections. I do not pand, or conquer, but merely to me the back issues I will have area participated with us. only one supporter in the room. missed. have much contact with the out­ aspire to justice and indepen­ Conference participants saw the The majority of the lAM march­ side world except what I can read dence. S.M. ers wore red T -shirts in a show of gathering as a step toward uniting Eugene, Oregon in old newspapers people have Doug Owen and broadening a number of an­ unity. "Red T-shirt days" have be­ thrown away. Hawthorne, California tiwar student groups that have come a tradition at the Eastern sprung up at area high schols. Nicaragua maintenance facility here in I would like to request a sub­ The letters column is an open These groups are now in contact Thanks to the Militant for the Miami. Mechanics, cleaners, and scription to the Militant. I have forum for all viewpoints on sub­ with each other and will probably continuing coverage on Nicara­ other lAM members wear the read several issues and find them jects of general interest to our work together on future events. gua. shirts as a show of defiance most interesting because of the readers. Please keep your letters Students from one high school I returned from Nicaragua after against company harassment, fact that they have spoken point brief. Where necessary they will met a week after the conference to a three-month stay with even more which includes giving out poor­ blank in articles of national and be abridged. Please indicate if talk about summer activities. They respect for the Nicaraguan people performance letters, days off with­ worldwide views. you prefer that your initials be discussed helping to build a local than before I visited their country. out pay, and firings. On the day The articles are clear and show used rather than your fuU name.

July 17, 1987 The Mllitant 15 THEMILITANT U.s. ·cities deepen ties to Nicaragua 350 attend 'Sister Cities' conference in Seattle BY ILONA GERSH ''The sister-city relationships have al­ SEATILE - Across the United States lowed us to know each other people to there are now 57 city governments with of­ people," Baltodano said. ''These relation­ ficial ties to cities in Nicaragua. And 30 ships should also strengthen your under­ more cities are in the process of formaliz­ standing of Nicaragua and your commit­ ing such ties of solidarity. ment to us. The people of these cities in Some 350 representatives from 70 proj­ Nicaragua are flesh and blood like you, ects sponsored by these sister cities fighting for freedom and justice. Our gathered here June 26-28 for the second people are workers, humble peasants. annual conference of the U.S.-Nicaragua They deserve to live in peace. Sister Cities Association. The participants "Our people are defeating the contras," came from 32 states. she added. ''The job of fighting to prevent Sister-city associations are involved in a an invasion by U.S. armed forces must be wide range of projects to provide material yours in the United States." She urged ac­ aid to Nicaragua. Some raise funds to con­ tivists to build a broad antiwar movement struct schools or provide pencils and here to prevent further escalation of the textbooks. Others are building support and U.S. war drive. funding for medical centers and supplies. Mayor speaks In the past several years, U.S. sister cities have sent thousands of tons of mater­ Government and community figures from Seattle addressed the conference, in­ ial aid ~orth millions of dollars to Nicara­ guan cities and villages. cluding Mayor Charles Royer; Ricardo Twenty-six Nicaraguan government Sanchez of the League of United Latin leaders and representatives of mass organi­ American Citizens (LULAC), Concilio for zations attended the conference. the Spanish Speaking of King County; Roberto Maestas, president of the Seattle­ Monica Baltodano, vice~rninister of the Managua Sister City Association; and Ministry of the Presidency, addressed the May 10 memorial march in Seattle for Ben Linder, U.S. volunteer murdered by con­ Harold Belmont of the Suquamish Tribe. opening and closing sessions, as well as a tras. Many Seattle government and community officials addressed Sister Cities meet­ Dennis Banks, of the American Indian public event on June 27. She reported on ing. Seattle is sister city to :[\'lanagua. Movement (AIM) also addressed the con­ the progress made in Nicaragua since the ference, announcing his plans to accept an overturn of Anastasio Somoza's regime in invitation to tour Nicaragua next fall. 1979. Before the triumph of the revolution, "These achievements," she said, "have todano explained. "To fight the contras, we Elisabeth Linder-whose son, Ben Lin­ unemployment was 32 percent; today it is 6 been accomplished by our people at their ' have had to mobilize a lot of people, and der, was murdered in Nicaragua April 28 percent, she pointed out. The infant mor­ own expense, but with the aid of those like spend a lot of money for gas, food, boots, by U .S.-directed contras-also spoke. An tality rate has dropped from 121 to 61 per you from many countries. It is these and uniforms for the troops." announcement at the closing session of the 1,000 births. More than 5 million acres of achievements that the people are defending "Medical equipment, pencils, supplies, conference urged all those participating to land has been given to more than 100,000 with their lives." are all needed, but most of ali your solidar­ help raise $200,000 for a fund to finish the peasant families. In 1982 there were 2,681 The U.S.-backed contra aggression has ity," she told conference participants at the hydroelectric plant Linder was working on schools and 172 health centers; now there made everyday life and progress for the public rally. '.'Come tour our small country. when he was killed . . are 5,073 schools and 491 health centers. Nicaraguan people very difficult, Bal- We know the people of North America are Also announced was Nicaragua Net­ not Yankees, but friends. We think that work's emergency campaign to protest the this has been the greatest achievement of· June 23 House of Representatives vote to the sister-city program: the corning to­ restrict U.S, travel to Nicaragua. New Miami magazine will gether of people." She went on to say, Baltodano anounced the. Nicaraguan "You have shown us your solidarity. For us government will be hosting next year's sis­ Ben Linder will always express this frater­ ter-cities conference, to be held in Mana­ serve as a forum on Cuba nity with us. gua. BY NANCY COLE bers, and the new magazine includes an ar­ MIAMI - A well-attended news con­ ticle evaluating the first 10 years of the ference here June 30 announced the rebirth brigade. Philadelphia cops attack rights of Are ito, a magazine "to contribute to the When asked by an unfriendly reporter if pluralization of the political process in our he is pro-Castro, G6mez explained, "I sup­ BY JEANNETI'E TRACY revelations that Philadelphia police, FBI, Cuban communities." port the process in Cuba because the PHILADELPHIA - The Committee in and other cop agencies are infiltrating local Areito was first published in Miami in majority of Cuban people support it." Solidarity with the People of El Salvador peace groups in a program to 't)revent "ter­ 1974, but right-wing threats and pressures The articles in the 50-page magazine (CISPES) and the Pledge of Resistance rorism" at the bicentennial events July 16 soon forced its move to New York, where cover a wide variety of issues, including have filed a lawsuit here in U.S. district and a planned visit by President Reagan on it appered until 1985. interviews with the bishop of Havana on court against the denial of their rights to September 17. This time, declared its new editor the church and state in Cuba and with freedom of speech and assembly during the Police Chief Tucker has admitted that up Andres G6mez, "we're here to stay. We're former contra leader Edgar Chamorro on official celebration of the 200th anniver­ to 25 cops have .infiltrated local groups or not going to leave Miami again. We will the CIA and the contras. sary of the U.S. Constitution. engaged in other illegal surveillance. publish here!" "There is a campaign of misinformation The two groups, which oppose U.S. for­ These include such alleged "terrorist" or­ In his statement to the news conference, against Cuba by the U.S. government," eign ·policy in Central America, were ganizations as the Pledge of Resistance, G6mez said, "Our magazine will serve G6mez explained. ''They try to present the joined by other organizations in filing the Unitarian Society of Germantown, and primarily as a forum where individuals defections of Cuban officials with an image suit June 29 against the City of Philadel­ CISPES. from all political persuasions, the right, the of cataclysm in Cuba that is far from real­ phia; Chief of Police Kevin Tucker; We the When questioned about this, Tucker re­ center, and the left, will be able to present ity," G6mez said, promising that Areito People, 200, Inc., the organization spon­ sponded, "My view is that I have a respon­ their' points of view. We are convinced that would seek to "fill the void that exists on soring the official bicentennial of the Con­ sibility to We the People to prevent situa~ this is the only way we can solve the prob­ responsibile and accurate information stitution ceremonies in this city; and other tions from occurring. Everything we have lems affecting us all and achieve a much about Cuba." To that end, the first' issue city and federal officials. done is within the law and appropriate." needed political development. contains an article on Cuba's rectification The lawsuit stems from incidents that Mayor Wilson Goode also endorsed the "The ultra-conservative sector in our process, the current effort to reorient the occurred on May 25 when CISPES, the cop spy tactics. "It is the police depart­ community," he said, "has been able to revolution. Pledge, and others organized a peaceful ment's job to insure that they have proper stifle the changes that ought to occur natu­ Other features incluqe a firsthand ac­ protest of U.S. policy in Central America intelligence about violent behavior on the rally when a new generation gains political count of the problems faced by recent during the opening program of the Bicen­ part of any group. There is a delicate bal­ power and begins to voice its opinions. To Cuban exiles in the United States and a poll tennial Celebration of Free Speech. Vice­ ance between whether. or not a group is fight against this state of affairs we have of Miami's Cuban community on the Iran­ president George Bush was the featured passive or whether or not it is a violent sought out younger people in our commu­ contra scandal. speaker. group." nity and have made them part of our ef­ The magazine also carries poetry and The 300 demonstrators were prevented None of the groups targeted have ever forts." other cultural articles. by police from entering Independence engaged in violent behavior, proposed vio­ G6mez added, "We have been accused The press run for Areito' s first issue was Mall, which was open to other members of lent behavior, or in any way been a party to ofbeing the fringe in our community. But 10,000 copies. For two nights following the public. Protesters were confined within violent behavior; but this· has not stopped we're not the fringe. We are a minority the news conference, supporters of the barricades, signs were removed, and sev­ city officials and the cops from branding which voices sensible solutions. This magazine carried out free drops of Areito in eral protesters were manhandled by the them as potential "terrorists." Even the magazine shows we are legitimate mem­ various neighborhoods of Miami's Little cops. editors of two big-business papers here, the bers of this community." Havana. When individuals wearing political but­ Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News, Although Areito is not affiliated with the Individual subscriptions for the United tons or carrying signs attempted to enter have criticized the cops and city officials Antonio Maceo Brigad~ - the group of States and Puerto Rico are $12 forfour is­ the mall they were told they would not be for overstepping their bounds. Cubans and Cuban-Americans who favor sues or $26 for 10 issues. To order, write allowed in unless. they removed all protest Local peace groups here have pledged to normalization of U.S. relations with Cuba Areito, Inc. , P.O. Box 44-1403, Miami, signs. Four people were arrested. continue their activities, including plans - G6mez was one of its founding mem- Florida 33144. The lawsuit also follows on the heels of for the July 16 march and demonstration.

16 The Militant July 17, 1987