Justice for the Jena 6! Drop the Charges Now!
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· AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · SWEDEN KR10 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE March on Washington protests Iraq war — PAGE 3 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 71/NO. 36 October 1, 2007 Justice for the Jena 6! Minnesota meat packers Drop the charges now! rally to defend union We stand with the thousands march- ing in Jena, Louisiana, and in solidarity NLRB calls decertification election actions across the country on September 20 to demand justice for the Jena Six. These six Black youths face felony charges with possible decades-long prison terms because they stood up to racists who hung nooses at their high school. Far from an “innocent prank,” EDITORIAL nooses are aimed at terrorizing Blacks and anyone else who gets “out of line” in capitalist society. They recall decades Militant/Tom Baumann September 19 picket line outside Dakota Premium Foods preceded rally backing meat of legal and extralegal violence—from packers there defending their union from a company decertification drive. Klan lynchings to cop riots. The harsh prison sentences hang- BY REBECCA WILLIAMSON Premium Foods beef slaughterhouse ing over the heads of the Six are all SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minnesota, here. The plant is organized by the too familiar for millions of working September 16—The National Labor United Food and Commercial Workers Relations Board (NLRB) announced (UFCW) Local 789. The Daily Town Talk/Tia Owens-Powers people caught up in the capitalist “jus- July 31 march through Jena, Louisiana, de- tice” system. Black men are more than September 12 that a union decertifica- The election will take place at least manded justice for six Black students. Continued on page 9 tion election will be held at the Dakota Continued on page 9 Jena 6 fight resonates widely As we go to press... Seventy unionists from the Twin County, and Municipal Employees BY JACQUIE HENDERSON day in the fight for justice for these Cities area, including workers at Local 3800, currently on strike against HOUSTON, September 14— men, called the Jena Six, when a state Dakota Premium Foods, rallied across the University of Minnesota. Thousands of people throughout appeals court threw out the felony the street from the plant after work. Earlier in the day, a delegation of southern states and beyond are mo- conviction against Bell. The judge Among the unions represented were six Dakota workers went to the com- bilizing to demonstrate September 20 ruled that Bell, who was 16 at the time the Teamsters, Service Employees pany offices on their lunch break to in Jena, Louisiana. They are demand- of his arrest, should not have been International Union, United demand management allow union ing freedom for Mychal Bell and that tried as an adult. Transportation Union Local 660, representatives into the plant and felony charges be dropped against District Attorney Reed Walters said and American Federation of State, stop harassment of union activists. five other Black Jena High School he would appeal the decision to the students. state supreme court. Bell could still A small victory was registered to- Continued on page 4 White House: Meat packers Campus meeting on Cuban 5 Iraq ‘drawdown’ union sues ICE part of long-term over Swift raids draws students, others in D.C. troop presence BY JOE SWANSON BY Janice lynn ried out violent attacks on Cuba from AND SETH GALINSKY WASHINGTON, D.C., September the United States. BY DOUG nelson DES MOINES, Iowa—The union 12—Some 175 students and others at- Weinglass explained how defense Achieving Washington’s goals in that represents workers at five of six tended a meeting today hosted by the lawyers had argued unsuccessfully for a Iraq will require a long-term military Swift & Co. meatpacking plants tar- Howard University Law School on the Continued on page 7 presence, President George Bush, geted in a massive immigration raid last case of five Cuban revolutionaries being Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. am- December is suing the federal immigra- unjustly held in U.S. jails. bassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, have tion police. The event was the first in a series of Underdevelopment all said in recent speeches. The three The United Food and Commercial public events about the case in the area. have also ratcheted up pressure on Workers (UFCW) filed the suit They are part of a month of stepped-up magnifies impact of Iran, and to a lesser degree Syria, September 12 in a U.S. district court in activities in an international campaign Indonesia quakes citing those governments as a major Amarillo, Texas. It charges that the U.S. to build support for the Cuban Five. problem for U.S. interests in Iraq and Immigration and Customs Enforcement “This is the first time in history BY Paul PEDerson the Middle East. Continued on page 8 that we’ve seen a conviction on espio- September 16—At least 12,000 homes In a September 13 speech, Bush nage charges without a single piece of in Indonesia’s Sumatra island were de- supported Petraeus’ recommendation classified documents,” said Leonard stroyed in a series of earthquakes that to Congress days earlier to reduce Weinglass, one of the attorneys for the began September 12. The first quake U.S. troops in Iraq to their “pre-surge Also Inside: Cubans. Weinglass was the featured registered 8.4 on the Richter scale. It level”—from 20 to 15 combat bri- speaker at the event. “Of 20,000 pages was followed the next day by two more gades—over the next nine months. Activist fighting deportation of documents that were seized, not one that registered 7.1 and 7.8 along with an “Long-term U.S. ground force viabil- speaks at N.Y. forum 2 was classified.” estimated 60 aftershocks. ity will benefit” from such a draw- Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo The destruction of life and infrastruc- down, said Petraeus, the top U.S. 51 arrested in Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando ture was magnified by the underdevelop- military commander in Iraq. Both he Iowa immigration raid 4 González, and René González have ment of Indonesia stemming from cen- and Bush warned against “premature” been locked up in U.S. jails since 1998. turies of direct colonial rule, followed troop reductions and made no further Che Guevara: ‘Revolution needs A federal court in Miami convicted and by decades of imperialist exploitation projections. an entire people mobilized’ 6 sentenced them on frame-up charges and misrule by local capitalist regimes. Petraeus said his recommendation in 2001. The five were in the United The economy of Indonesia is dominated was based on the progress U.S. and Socialist candidates campaign States monitoring counterrevolutionary by Australia, Japan, the United States, allied forces have made on the ground at Australia protest 8 Cuban-American groups that have car- Continued on page 5 Continued on page 9 Political activist fighting deportation speaks at N.Y. forum BY Gabriel GarcÍA said, “the fight by 12 million undocu- Socialist Workers Party, pledged con- and MARTÍN koppel mented workers across the country for a tinued support for Toro’s fight against NEW YORK—At a Militant Labor general amnesty.” He pointed to the im- deportation. He explained that the Forum held here September 7, political portance of the May Day mobilizations same profit drive by the capitalists that activist Víctor Toro described his fight by immigrant workers the last two years, has drawn millions to this country as a against deportation. Two months earlier and the example of Elvira Arellano, who, source of superexploited labor was the he was arrested by immigration cops although recently deported to Mexico, one responsible for the recent deadly while on a train in upstate New York, continues to speak out for the legaliza- mine collapse in Utah. In both cases, he returning from California, where he had tion of the undocumented. said, the result has been resistance by campaigned for the legalization of un- Toro also backed the struggle of working people and discussions on how documented workers. Peruvian workers who emigrate to his to fight most effectively. Toro, a founder of the community native Chile. “They are bombarded by He pointed out that growing numbers group Vamos a la Peña del Bronx, propaganda that Chile is a land of op- of immigrant workers are losing their has been active in support of immi- portunity. The reality is that nearly one fear and joining struggles, both for the grant workers, in defense of the Cuban million Peruvians are forced to work legalization of the undocumented and Revolution, and other political work there for wages of $2 a day.” fights to organize or strengthen unions Militant/Paul Pederson since he arrived in the United States in Paul Pederson, who spoke for the to defend safety and dignity on the job. Víctor Toro is fighting deportation 1984. Noting the approach of September 11, he said that while the media focuses on ‘Offside’ shows women in Iran challenging restrictions the attacks on the World Trade Center, the date also marks the bloody U.S.-backed Offside, 2006, 88 minutes, directed military coup that overthrew the gov- by Jafar Panahi. ernment of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973. He explained that, as a member of IN REVIEW the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) in Chile, he opposed the Pinochet BY Cindy JAQuitH regime’s reign of terror, was jailed, and Offside is an Iranian film that pres- later left the country as a political refu- ents a refreshing, fun look at how young gee. Today he remains without papers women in Iran are challenging restric- because the Chilean government claims tions on their rights—in this case, the he is officially classified as “dead.” right to go to soccer games.