www.peoplesworld.org April 998, 2011

It’s not just Wisconsin: A nationwide counteroffensive is emerging

By Sam Webb

his is a moment of heightened class and section of the working class, the main social force democratic struggle. The signs are ev- combating right-wing extremism, a badly weak- erywhere - not least in states in the na- ened actor in U.S. politics and society. tion’s heartland. It isn’t a time for the But as Robert Burns said about “the best laid fainthearted.T schemes o’ mice an’ men,” they go oft astray. Nei- The Republican right is squeezing labor and ther labor nor its allies is rolling over and throw- other sectors of the people’s movement at the fed- ing in the towel. Instead, a working class led coun- eral, state and local level. Nothing like it has oc- teroffensive is emerging - so much so that it is fair curred in the post-World-War-II period. And we to say a new phase of a struggle is afoot, in which haven’t seen the worst of it. labor and its allies could turn the tables decisively Public workers are at the center of this attack in their favor. to be sure, but it also reaches beyond them to the entire working class and people. this week: While right-wing Republicans are doing the dirty work, not far behind, pulling the strings • A nationwide counteroffenseive is emerging where necessary, are major sections of the capital- • Editorial: Follow Jimmy Carter’s initiative on ist class, with a two-fold aim. • Paramilitaries alive and well in Colombia One aim is to shift the costs of the current cri- • In Ohio, outrage at Kasich budget sis of onto the American people, who • Pared artificial frontera en la Universidad de Arizona had no hand in its making. This is what the capi- talists always do in the midst of any economic cri- read more news and opinion daily at www.peoplesworld.org sis no matter if it is deep or shallow. The other aim - and this is what makes this crisis response from the top layers of capital dif- The battle in Wisconsin electrified the whole ferent - is to strategically undermine labor’s pow- country. But the counteroffensive is not just Wis- er in the political arena, much like it has done to consin - it is national in scope, diverse in form, labor in the field of collective bargaining. creative in tactics, and united in action. This na- If successful, it would leave the organized tionwide tapestry of struggle is multi-threaded,

Page 1 woven in varied patterns, loops and colors. ing up what was won and what was lost. Rather, it It is accompanied by a change in class mood, depends on which side is able to expand its sup- feeling and consciousness the likes of which we port, deepen its unity, and capture the initiative. have not seen in recent decades. In the felt experi- It also depends on which side is best able to frame ence of tens of millions, capitalism isn’t working the debate and win the battle for public opinion. As we dig into for working people, the American Dream is crum- And on these counts, labor and the people’s move- today’s struggles, bling, something better is needed. ments are scoring well. it’s not too early to The counteroffensive in my view dates back Already casting a long and ever-present shad- be thinking about to the 2006 elections, where labor and its allies ow over the nation’s politics, and pub- what has to be done scored a victory and thus threw the Bush adminis- lic discourse is the 2012 elections. to defeat right-wing tration on the defensive for the first time. No struggle has the same possibility to rear- extremism at the It continued in 2008 when tens of millions range the political balance of forces in a progres- polls next year. danced in unison on the political stage and elected sive direction as does the 2012 elections and its an African American president who promised a u- outcome. No other struggle has the same possibil- turn from the far-right policies of the Bush years. ity to throw the working class and people’s coun- This augurs well for the future, even though teroffensive onto an entirely new forward trajec- Republicans at the state and federal level, fresh tory. from a victory at the polls last fall, are pressing Labor may have fewer financial resources in their advantage. 2012, but its army of activists will be far bigger The GOP may register some victories, but and its ground game will be bolder. they will be short lived. In politics, winning and losing isn’t a matter Sam Webb is chair of the Communist Party USA. of simple arithmetic, not simply a matter of tally-

Follow Jimmy Carter’s initiative on Cuba

By PW Editorial Board

uring his trip to Cuba last week Presi- cause of the shooting down of two small aircraft dent Jimmy Carter called for ending that had been buzzing Havana illegally, an inci- the 50-year-old U.S. economic block- dent with which he argues he had no connection. ade of the island and freeing the Cu- He says in a new habeas corpus brief that he was The momentum banD Five, languishing in U.S. prisons. His state- not properly advised by counsel about the possi- is building for ments are a major breakthrough. We urge our bility of a separate trial on this count. The convic- positive change readers to immediately follow up with practical tions came in a joke of a trial in Miami where, it on Cuba and the action to end the blockade, which hurts American was recently revealed by activists supporting the Cuban Five. Keep workers as well as Cubans, and to bring freedom Five, the U.S. government had been secretly pay- it going. and justice to the Cuban Five, who were working ing journalists to stir up local feeling against the to prevent terrorist attacks on Cuba. defendants. This is the basis of Antonio Guerrero’s Speaking on Cuban TV, Carter repeated his habeas brief, which asks that his conviction and call for an end to the blockade. He added that he sentence of 21 years and 2 months be set aside. had already talked to Presidents Bush and Obama We urge our readers to explain the case. Ask to urge the release of the Cuban Five. He called others to sign, and send to others via email or so- the original trial that convicted the five Cubans cial networking tools, an online petition calling “very doubtful” and said their sentences were par- for release of the Five, which already has 1,000 ticularly unjust. signatures. Two of the five, Gerardo Hernandez and An- And contact your senators and representative tonio Guerrero, have filed habeas corpus briefs to and let them know you join Carter in wanting an challenge their convictions. Hernandez was con- end to the harmful blockade of Cuba. victed of murder and given two life sentences be-

www.peoplesworld.org Page 2 Paramilitaries alive and well in Colombia

By W. T. Whitney Jr.

aramilitaries killed Bernardo Rios on March 23 in Uraba, Colombia, just like they killed 200 other peace activists in San Jose de Apartado. In Medellin the Pday after Rios’s murder, someone killed 70-year- old David de Jesús Góez. He had testified against land takeovers. Reports proliferated that month of death threats against women, children and men. Paramilitary forces have displaced over four million rural people from 16 million acres of land. Drug traffickers, paramilitary chieftains, big farm operators and mining and oil corporations have moved in. The death toll has ascended into the tens of thousands. Urged on by Washington, the example, returned 37 parcels in Magdelena stolen government of President Alvaro Uribe took steps by paramilitaries under the command of “Jorge to deescalate the violence. 40.” Over just two months in 2003, that agency Paramilitary forces Under his 2005 Law of Justice and Peace, revoked peasant ownership of 134 tracts appropri- paramilitary leaders confessed to crimes and de- have displaced ated by paramilitaries in 13 municipalities. New mobilized troops. In return, they received light over four million owners, most of them colleagues of “Jorge 40,” sentences and guarantees they could keep stolen rural people from were given new titles. An online report claims di- land. They and their underlings would be protect- 16 million acres of rect local government negotiations with paramili- ed from future prosecution. But recent reports say land. taries led to land transfers. 12,000 of the 30,000 supposedly retiring paramil- New verbiage hints at backing off from para- itaries were unemployed men recruited for brief military demobilization. It crops up in the At- periods and given guns. And paramilitary killings torney General’s most recent annual report. The continue. introduction to the section on the Law of Justice In late 2010, Colombia’s Congress gave initial and Peace calls paramilitaries “criminal bands” approval to the “Law of Victims and Land Restitu- and acknowledges U.S. overview. Roundabout tion.” Critics object to its relieving the Attorney language suggests irresolution. General and judiciary of responsibilities to inves- Ivan Cepeda heads the Movement of Victims tigate and prosecute crimes attributed to “groups of State Crimes, or MOVICE, and represents the outside the law.” They protest executive branch leftist Alternative Democratic Pole in Congress. assumption of judicial powers. The proposed law Debating on March 23, Cepeda declared, “In Co- contains only nebulous provisions for the return lombia the horrible night of paramilitarism has of stolen land, but current President Juan Manuel not ended. Its structures remain intact.” He adds Santos has promised that some 880,000 acres that “the Santos government wants to make it ap- would be given back pear that criminal bands” are causing population The practice of land restitution has so far displacement, when in fact “recycled paramilitary fallen short. The Incoder land reform agency, for groups” are responsible. www.peoplesworld.org Page 3 local news Pared artificial frontera separa Local contact el campus de la [email protected] Universidad de Arizona Por Alexander Monarrez Maldonado In Ohio, n lo que se considera como El grupo de Asuntos Estudian- outrage at la mayor muralla “fronteri- tiles Chicanos / Hispanos colgaba za” artificial en EEUU, pro- fotos con biografías de figuras latinas Kasich budget fesores, empleados y estu- como César Chávez y el congresista Ediantes de la Universidad de Arizona Raúl Grijalva, hijos e hijas de inmi- By Rick Nagin ya están aprendiendo en carne propia grantes que han contribuido tanto a oral outrage echoed through- la inconveniencia e la inhumanidad la sociedad norteamericana. out the sanctuary of Trinity de una muralla que les separa a los Contribuían el Club Sierra y los Cathedral as public officials, seres humanos unos de los otros. Defensores de la Fauna Silvestre [De- labor, religious and commu- La obra, bautizada como “Mu- fenders of Wildlife] mostrando cómo nityM leaders denounced the “slash and sell” ralla a muralla: Concrete Connec- es que dañan la ecología y ponen en budget proposed by Republican Gov. John tions / Conexiones Concretas,” fue peligro la fauna silvestre las murallas Kasich at a town hall meeting here March construida para enfocar la atención fronterizas. 31. del público sobre las situaciones de la Funcionaban aperturas en la The proposal would cut state subsidies frontera México - Estados Unidos y en “muralla” como “controles” por to local governments in half, Cleveland’s Palestina e Israel. donde tenían que pasar los profe- Mayor Frank Jackson said, adding he just La “muralla,” alrededor de 1.000 sores, empleados y estudiantes, Mu- learned that millions more will be lost as Ka- pies de largo y seis pies de alto, ta- chos comprendían su propósito, pero sich plans to speed up cuts in the commer- pada con alambre de púas, fue simi- cuestionaban unos pocos la incon- cial activities tax on corporations. lar a muchas de las barreras que han veniencia de tener que pasar por los Ed Fitzgerald, the new Cuyahoga Coun- sido utilizadas para separar a países y “retenes.” ty executive, said layoffs in his departments pueblos. La “muralla” dividía al cam- Aquí el punto no fue la de causar have already begun and that the corporate- pus en uno de sus sectores más fre- inconveniencia pero más bien para Republican “agenda was always there. It’s cuentados. mostrar la necesidad de abrir un diál- just manifesting itself now, taking advantage Participaba una organización ogo abierto con los que estén a favor of the economic crisis.” estudiantil colgando varias fotografías de las fronteras, la separación a las The privatization project has been tamaño 8 x 10” de familias dividas por familias, y las murallas, mostrándolos turned over to a group, cynically named Jobs las murallas. Muestra una foto a una que no deben ser divididos los seres Ohio, a secret and semi-private agency. señora que acaricia a su sobrina por humanos solamente por su nacionali- Cuts to the public schools will mean una apertura en la cerca fronteriza, dad, sus creencias políticas o religio- 30,000 immediate layoffs with 14,000 more mientras muestre otra a una esposa sas, o hasta por una línea en la arena expected as a “ripple” effect, said Piet Van mexicana que había conducido tres nada más. Lier, a researcher with Policy Matters Ohio. horas solo para mirar a su esposo tras Enviaba la “muralla” un mensaje In addition, the schools, which educate 90 la cerca, luego que fue deportado él. poderoso y se espera que fuesen abier- percent of Ohio’s children, will suffer a fur- Colgaban otras organizaciones tos algunos ojos en el proceso. Quizás ther hit as Kasich plans to increase funds for mantas exigiendo un fin a las fron- algunos ya verían que la muralla fron- vouchers for private and charter schools. teras y a su militarización. Colgaba teriza que queda a solo 60 millas del State Senator Mike Skindell dismissed una organización una bandera pal- campus tiene cara y nombre, y que en Kasich’s claim of an $8 billion deficit as “a estina explicando cómo es que 3,8 este momento preciso hay seres ama- myth.” The real problem, he said, is the millones de palestinos subsisten bajo dos sentados en algún lugar pensando massive tax cuts to corporations and the ocupación militar ilegal Israelita, y rogándole a Dios que estén reunidos very wealthy enacted under Republican Gov. tras una muralla de 400 millas y 120 pronto. Bob Taft in 2005. Amy Hanauer, director of retenes de control. Policy Matters Ohio, said tax cuts to the rich account for over half the deficit and closing national contact some of the 128 tax loopholes and exemp- tions to corporations could actually produce Editorial: (773) 446-9920 Business: (212) 924-2523 a surplus. Email: [email protected]

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