lfo. ),,~/1 ". 40th anniversary o:f Second Declaration of Havana THE -PAGE9 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 66 NO . 7 FEBRUARY 18. 2002 30,000 in Derry demand Bay Area unionists justice in British massacre hit firing Workers, youth oppose anti-Catholic violence of socialist BY JULIE CRAWFORD DERRY, Northern Ireland- In what many called the largest march ever held here to demand justice for the massacre of 14 worker Irish freedom fighters by . British troops in BY BILL KALMAN 1972, at least 30,000 people took to the streets in a show of strength February 3. SAN FRANCISCO- "Mr. Italic's fight Workers, youth, and people of all genera­ shows that workers have no boundaries­ tions· took the cold, damp weather in stride we suffer the same wherever we are," said as they traced the route of the civil rights Tony Segarra at a meeting here to defend marchers three decades ago January 30. They , fired Miami garment worker Michaelltalie. rallied at the spot where British paratroopers "But they use the sons and daughters of opened fire on the action, .killing 14 and · workers in America to fight against work­ wounding many more. The 1972 march was ers around the world." culled to oppose the internment without tri\}1 Segarra is a member of the Filipino Work­ of thousands of civil rights and republican ers Association in the Bay Area. He helped activists by Britain in August 1971. organize a protest in front of the embassy of . Ever since, the fight to expose the respon­ the Philippines here last week to demand an sibility ofBritish imperialism for the assault, end to the renewed U.S. military activity in that country. Pat Segarra, oftheAnak Sayan­ break the! whit~wush of the events organized by London, and clear· the names of those Filipino Youth, added, "We must oppose and ·killed has· been intertwined with the battle expose the U.S. military intervention in the to·gct the British out of Northern Ireland Philippines and around the world." altogether. London has kept Ireland divided Thiny-five people attended the January and claimed the northern six counties as part 29 meeting here, and another 45 turned out of the United Kingdom. Since late 1969 the next day in San Jose to hear the socialist British imperialism has militarily occupied garment worker talk ,about his fight to be the -north, impo&ing a reign of terror on the of youth, .and reinstated at Goodwill. Italic also addressed Cathojic_population: · for 30th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. In 1972, British troops opened fire on a civil a meeting on "Civil Liberties and You" in Rally cha-irman Eanionn McCann de­ rights march killing 14.A fight to expose British Imperialism's cover-up has been waged Fremont, sponsored by Tri City Peace Ac­ Continued on Page 4 by Irish freedom 'fighters ever since. Some called this year's march the hugest ever. tion. and spoke to a high school class at Foothills Middle College in Los Altos. Italic, who ran for mayor of Miami on the Socialist Workers Party ticket, was fired October 22 after speaking out against the Coal bosses devastate workers' comp pay U.S. war in Afghanistan and in defense of the Cuban Revolution during a televised BY FRANKFORRE.STA'L According to the most recent Workers' try. Following a .national trend, workers' candidates' debate. Goodwill CEO Dennis . PiTISBURGH-Aftcr years of cheating Compensation Fund audits, the top coal com­ co'mpcnsation benefits to injured workers Continued on Page II and -obstruction by the West Virginia coal panics t.hat owe money include Island Creek have beer dropping. (After looking at the bosses, a dozen major coal producers agreed Coi,ll ($128.4 million); Massey Energy ($71 Bush Administration's proposed budget, this to pay nca·rty $50 million'in delinquent work­ million); the Pittston Company ($53.2 mil­ trend will continue as Washington plans fur­ ers' compensation premiums. The $50 mil­ lion); National Mines ($35.3 million); ther cuts in demestic programs, including Havana book lion is a far cry from the $406 million that Peabody Coal ($31.8 million); Dal-Tcx Coal job, health, and safety programs.) coal companies owe to the Workers' Com­ ($20.6 milljon); Bluestone Coal ($18.6 mil­ The early January out-of-coun settlement pensation Fund. Lawyers for West Virginia lion); and. USX Corp. ($15.8 million). was aptly described by a forn1er West Vir­ .fair is festival governor Robert Wise said the settlement" was West Virginia is the second largest coal­ ginia Supreme Court Justice, who said the a "good deal''-even though some $295 .mil­ producing· state and has one of the largest situa!ion "smelled like a rotting carp." Un­ lion in interest payments was "forgiven." concentrations of coal miners in the .coun- paid Workers' Compensation premiums be­ of Cuban came a hot political issue in 1993 after the Charleston Gtizette published a series of in­ depth articles about how the large coal com­ Revolution Hundreds condemn cop killing panies we~c using contractors to avoid their BY MARTIN KOPPEL responsibilities and to weaken the union. HAVANA-:-Tens of thousands of people of Haitian youth in New York The series, "Coal field Contracts: Mining are expected to attend the II th Havana In­ at Whai Price?" contained reports based on ternational Book Fair, which opens here BY CAROLE LESNICK government records, internal company docu­ February 7. The 10-day fair. which is being l3ROOKLYN, New York- The Haitian ments, as well as interviews with miners, held at the historic San Carlos de La Cabana community here has organized a series of contractors, and company and union officials. fortress overlooking the Havana Bay, is a The Affiliate&Construction Trades Foun­ protests against the January 16 police kill­ major cultural event in Cuba and through­ dation (ACT), the main labor organiz_ation out Latin America. ing of Georgy Louisgene, a 23-year-old · Continued on Page 6 worker. New York cops James Muirhead and · Preparations for the event have been Joseph Thompson shot Louisgene at the prominently publicized in the Cuban me­ Vanderveer Estates housing project in East Now avc1ilable from futhjinder dia. Thousands of working people, students, Flatbush. The· two fired eight shots, five of professionals, and others have been mak­ which hit Lowisgene, who was pronounced From the Escantbray ing plans to visit· the fair, often saving their dead at the site of the shooting. to th~ Congo: money weeks ahead of time to purchase Four hundred ·people turned out for In the Whirlwind of books and pamphlets. Special shuttle buses Louisgene 's funeral Febl'l!ary 2, which was are being provided to facilitate travel to the followed by a ma~ch. Encouraging people the Cuban Revolution fair from different parts of Havana. Last year a record 200,000 people attended. to come to the action, his sister Abellard Interview with Vfctor 'Dreke, + The popularity and mass character of the Louisgene told the Daily Challenge, "We l-eading partiCipant in Cuba"s want people to come from everywhere. It's book fair here is a product of the Cuban not a matter of a Brooklyn man, of a Hai­ revolutionary movement. Revolution. In 1961, I 00,000 young people tian man,.it's a problem within the city ·of + Join in the international mobilized by their revolutionary lcadcr!jhip sprea&out across the country and wiped out New York . It should be a concern to-every­ campaign to read, sell, and illiteracy in a one-year campaign. For the body." distribute this new title. Following the funeral mpss, marchers past four decades, expanding access to edu­ acconipa_nied family members and the fu­ Order your copy now! cation and culture has been a cornerstone of building a society where workers and neral cortege to 350 I Foster Avenue where Funeral and march for Georgy Loulsgene, Sec advertisement page 9 J Continued on Page 12 Continued' cJn Page 7 who was killed by pollee, drew 400 people. '----'------_ ___j Washington sharpens trade v\/eapon -- page 3 Petition by Israeli reservists reflects wider·war weariness BY BRIAN WILLIAMS posing no danger whatsoev~r- to the tro'ops. War-weariness in the Israeli population ' Ariel Shatil, 32, said that in the Gaza S~p and th\! steppcd~up military repression by last September, his squad was supp~sed to lhe Israeli state against Palestinians fight­ fire heavy machine guns at a Palestinian ing ·for self-detenn,ination have led .to cx­ town. ''The gunfire penetrates thin walls and pr~ssions of dissent by members of the Is- windows, and that kills people, imd you raeli aniled forces. · don't know who you're killing,"· he said. More than I 00 Israeli Army reserv.ists Zonshein said that in an area . where he have now signed a public statement saying served, houses and orchards were bulldozed that if called up to duty they will refuse to in response to Palestinian gunfire. serve in the ocq1pied territories of the West "We all have limits," he stated. "You can ·Bank and Gaza Strip. "We ..yill no longer be the best office.r, and suddenly you're re­ ·fight beyond the Green Line for the purpose quired to do things that you can't be asked ·of occupying, deporting, destroying, block­ to do: to shoot at people, stop ambulances, ading, killing, starving; and humiliating an destroy house11 when no ·one )mows who entire people," declared t11e petiti'on pub­ lives in them." lished in Israel's bcst-sellin!i'daily pewspa­ Responoing sharply to the growing ex­ pression of opposition to the Israeli ruiers' Palestinian wo nspect collapsed r~f of metalworks plant near Gaza,City de- per Yedioth Ahronoth. "The price of occu­ stroyed by rockets. fired by Israeli helicopters Febr~ary 4. · pation is the l·oss of the · Israel Defense I.niliti!ry operations in the We"st Bank and Forces' semblance-ofhumanity and the cor­ Ga'za, the army's chief of staff, Lt. Ge!J . ruption of all of Israeli society," the decla­ Shaul' Mofaz,. commented, "This is more tion of the Palestinian Authority." · tioned within 100 y&rds of the compound · ration also stated. The Green Line refers to than refusal to serve. This is, incitement ·to of Palestinian Authority president Yasir the boundaries before the Israeli government rebellion." · Gas workers strike ·. Arafat in the West Bank c.ity of Ramallah. launched a·war against surrounding Arab Prime Minister Ariel Sharon added his At the same time, working people \vithip In response to two reci:nt suicide t>omb countries in 1967, capturing the West·Bank, own. warning: :"It will be the beginning of Israel have been involved'ih several strike attacks in Jerus.alem, including one by a the Golan Heights, the Sipai peninsula, and the..end of democracy if soldiers don't carry actions ag"ai~st government austerity·.de­ · young Palestinian woman qn January 27, · .the Gaza Strip. Th.e Sinai was later returned oui the decisions ofthcr elected governmen1." ,mands. Worker~ employed. by the Pi Glilot Israeli authoriti'cs have erected police check­ ·to control .of Egypt. . Most Israeli men are tequired to serVe as Gas Company walked ofT the job January points on' the roads between Easi Jerusalem "The statement, by combat officers and aryny reservists until they are 45 yea,rs old. 31, closi"'g fuel supply depots .around the ·and the city's Jewish neighborhoods, and are soldiers, amounted to the largest organfzed Since September 2000, more than 500 have country. The workefS arc protesting an an­ disc_4ssing a plan .to surround the city with refusal by reservists to serve in the West refused to serve in tbe occupied ierritories. nouncem<:nt by management that 40 work­ barriers that WOUJd totally :leparate if from Bank and Gaza in the last 16 months" since The ·majosity. have been quietly released. ers would be dismissed and wages for the ncigbbor.ng Palestinian communities in the the latest upsurge in the ·Palestinians' fight · About 40 have been sentenced to up to 28 remairting 180 .would be cut by 20· percent. West Barrie. · · against Israeli occupation, noted the New days in jail. The workers rejecte,d a call by the Nationa~ S,haron, ~.,who is scheduled to mee! witq., York 'fimes. · In mid-January, ~ortly after the Israeli ln'frastructure Ministry to postpone their President Georg~ Bush in Washington, Feb-· The iwo reserve lieutenants who drafted army had demolislied.60 Palest inial\ home's strike and begin immediate n_egotiations ruary 7, placed hlmself at the center of fur­ the sta~cment, David Zonshein, is, a soft­ in a Gaza refugee camp, an article appeared with the company. ther controversy: when he told the newspa- ware engineer, andYaniv Itzkovltch, 26, a in 'Ha .'aretz by Dr: Yigal Shochat, a physi­ According to an article in Ha 'aretz, . per Maariv .that he was sof'lj Israeli forces university teaching assistant, said that their cian who used to be an Israeli tighler pilot, "Workers' committees from. the Nationlll did riot kill Arafat when i.hey had a ch!lnc~ goal was to tollect 500 signatures on the calling on F-16 pilots to refuse to 'bomb Insurance lnstitute ... arc eipected to escala.te _in Lebanon 20 years ago. protest petiti.on. They have both been sus­ Palestinian-cities. work disputes, which have been going· on Despite Sharon':; ·tough talk. the Israeli 'pended from their parairoop battalion by · "The 'divided opinion in the military for the past two-and-a-half weeks." They arc ruling class has · been . unable to build up a their commanding officer. ranks," noted a February 1· article in the demanding that 150 to 200 new employees prowar spirit amohg the population. The· pe­ In interviews in Yeaioth Ahronoth some London-ba~d Independent, "was further be ·added to branches around ~ country .. · tition by the reservists, while signed by a of these' reservists have been speaking out exposed by revelations that a group of se• Meanwhile', a strike by .disab.It.:d workars small numbCr, takes place in the context of a about Jhe experiences they had as part of . nlor reserve fficers ted by a brigadier-gen­ entered its -50th day February ·3 as protest­ weariness growing with the war against the the Israeli military otcupation force. The ~ e eral, wen! planning ·to prcse'nt the· govern ~ ers continued to demonstrate at the entrance Palestinians and'a lack ofperSpec.tivc for .any included firing at Palestinian boys who were men! with proposals for the reoccupation ·ot to. the Labor and Social Affairs Min)stry in solution other than continued violence. . throwing stones as far as I 00 yards away, the WJ:st Bank and Gaza. and the dcst(UC· Jerusalem. Added to this' arc worries among Israeli rulers over the prospects that the Jewish Assassinations of Palestinian fighters population will, in the long ~n. become a The Israeli rxgime contin9es to carry out minority. With the Arab and Palestinian,birth a pol_lcy of what they call"targetc~ killings" rates significantly hig~er than that of the involving the assassinatron of Palestinians Jewish populatiQn; the Israeli gov~."mment THE deemed to be. leadin'g the fight against mili­ has been encouraging immigration into the MILITANT tary occupation oft he West Bank and Gaza. country. Dozens. have been kHicd as a result of this · An lnyestor ~· Business Dilily article noted policy, which .just reinforced the 'dctcrmi­ that instead of a net immigration, ii:Jdications · .Take down Conf~derilte f!ag natiqn of Palestinian fighters to press for­ are that Israelis are leaving tlie . country in ward the tight 'for their rights. greater numbers. "Many Israelis have dual Workers and yo11t~ ·in Solit~ · Since the upsurge of protests started in Citizenship and are spending more of their Caroli,a continue to protest September 2000, more than 250 Israelis and time outside Israel," the article said. "For 800 Palestinians have beon killed. Thou­ recent immigrants from the 'former Soviet the Co.nfeder~tejlagjlying Off sands ·more Palestinians have been Union, Israel has become a way station. . the stall!: capitol grounds. The , wounded. lsrl}ell forces have conducted They move to Israel, then move to the O.S. 'Militant~ brings yo11 coverage · deep incursions into Palcstinian-cqntrollcd The · Censu~ Bureau estimates there are territory in the West Bank. For the pa~t two 24,QOO Israelis in the U.S. illegally," the . of d~monstriztions and work­ months Israeli Army tank.s have been st~~ paper reported. · · . ing:class·battles.reflected in tl1e fight to bring dow.n 'this . symbol ofracism and terror above address. By firsi-class (ainnail), send $80. · aimed at all worki{lg pef!ple.· The.' M-ilitant · Asia: send SBO'drawn on a U.S. bank to u~vc address. .. Vol. 66/No. ':/ ca'nada: Send Canadian S75 for onc-yc!Jr Closing news datr: Ft;br~ary 6, 2002 subscriplion 10 Mililani; .4613 St. 'Laurent, Ediior: GREG McCARTAN Montreal, Quebec H2T I R2. SU:BSCIIIB.E··TGDAY.t .. Business Manager: JACK WILLEY • Britain, Ireland: £36 for one year by check Edilorial Sluff: R6ger Calero, Martin Koppel, or intemationJII money order made ol}t 10 Mili­ Jack Willey, Brinn Williams, and Maurice Will- tant Dislribuiion. 4 7 The Cut, London, SE I 8LL, NEW. READERS iams.. . Ii:rigland. 9olltlnental Euroj.e, Africa, Mlddfe Young !i_ocialists column cdiior: ROMINA East: £40 for one year by check or iniemational GREEN . ·money order made· out to Militant Dislribution af'above address. · 0 $10 for 12 issues Published weekly excepl for one ~cek ·in June, Augusl and December. 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2 · The. Militant February ·18, 2002 Washington sharpens its trade weapon BY JACK WILLEY series of competitive devaluations by other The U.S. ruling class has continued its Asian countries could trigger' a flood of low­ course of taking advantage of its economic priced exports to the U.S." and military dominance'to advance its trade The government in south Korea has also interests against ito/imperialist rivals in Brit­ accused Tokyo of tacitly approving the de­ ain, France, Germany, Japan, and efsewhere. cline in the yen 's value. This is a particu­ Wasbington has become increasingly ag­ larly sensitive question as Japan is Seoul's gressive in imposing tariffs against imports second-largest trading partner next to the under the pretext of "anti-dumping" laws, United States. The Korea Trade-Investment at the same time as it gives billions of dol­ Promotion Agency said south Korean ex­ lars in tax breaks to U.S. companies to boost porters are losing out to Japanese manufac­ their competitive position. turers as a result. The U.S. rulers are also taking a tough stand against a number of semicolonial Agriculturf!.I products countries on a range of goods from agricul­ Washington is also waging trade wars on tural products to textiles and steel. agricultural and fishing products on behalf Conflicts between Washington and its of the giant monopolies that control the buy­ imperialist rivals have arisen over a bill ap­ ing and selling of food and fibers . It barred proved by Congress soon after the Septem­ imports of sugar from Mexico while flood­ ber II events. The defense legislation al­ ing its southern neighbor with low-cost corn lows the Air Force to spend as much as $20 syrup. And import duties on garlic have gone billion over I 0 years in leasing I 00 Boeing through the roof, boosting its price on the 767 jets to replace the current fleet of air­ U.S. market. borne fuel tankers. To the north, while most of the $1.3 bil­ European Union (EU) officials accused lion in trade that crosses the border between Washington of applying subsidies to the the U.S. and Canada every day remains aerospace giant that give it an edge over its duty-free, the two countries are in the midst rival , Airbus. They pointed out that the deal of trade disputes over lumber, steel. wheat, had not been opened to competitive bidding _and tomatoes. Eigfity-seven percent of and that Boeing's commercial operations are Canada's total exports go to the United in fact underwritten by large government­ States. funded defense and space operations- the Last year, the U.S. government imposed fuel tanker plan being the latest example. 32 percent tariffs on Canadian softwood Airbus is a consortium put together by the lumber. Canadian officials say that the mea­ British, French, German, Italian, and other sures have harm!'!d ~ n already weakening imperialist pow~ rs in Europe. economy and forced mills to shut down . Several U.S . politicians and aerospace Sawmill ~losures have pushed thousands of industry executives fired back, charging that people out of work. Airbus receives state subsidies through gov­ Just months ago the U.S. Commerce De­ Airbus, backed by imperialist powers in Europe, is in competition with Chicago-based ernment loans. In an effort to take some partment placed "anti-du mping" duties on Boeing. The European Union is protesting a Pentagon deal giving Boeing $20 billion to heat out of the dispute, the Air Force com­ greenhouse-grown tomatoes from Canada. lease 100 jets. The lease would help bolster Boeing's slumping commercial sales. mand announced that they may consider a an industry that expo ed 224 million tender by Airbus. Although the latter claims pounds of tomatoes to the U.S. Iast year. One prices. While the basa fi sh looks and tastes Americas (FTAA) pact in mid December that it can lease the aircraft for 40 percent British Columbian company faces a 34 per­ like catfish, Congress temporarily forbade after provisions disadvantageous to Brazil's less money, the Air Force had shown no in­ cent tariffand.most others a 24 percent levy. Vietnamese importers from labeling it as capitalist rulers began to come to light. terest in giving ~he contract to a foreign com­ The U.S. rulers are now threatening pen­ such . The Senate may make the ban perma­ "If the American position in light of the petitor. A Boeing spokesman said that the alties on Canadian,wheat and steel. They nent under an upcoming farm bill- a move ·fast track ' is going to be extremely restric­ government will simply use the Airbus of­ will make a final decision February 15 on that could potentially slash Vietnamese im­ tive in relation to Brazilian products that are fer to win some concessions from the Chi- whether to impose duties. on durum and ports into the country. competitive for export," he said. ''the Bra­ cago-based CQmpany. · spring wheat. The North Dakota Wheat Catfish farming has expanded in the last zilian counteroffer will be equally restric­ On January 22, in the latest round of puni­ Commission marketing director Jim decade as small capitalist ventures have tive ." Lafer was referring to the"fast-track'' tive measures against the U.S . C?tpitalists' Peterson has charged Canada's wheflt board tapped into this lucrative niche market. The authority granted U.S. president Bush in competitors, the U.S. International Trade with using ~·monopoly powers" to engage Department of Agriculture has enc !-'raged negotiating trade agreements:The bill grant­ Commission imposed about $500 million in in "price undercutting" and with offering many working farmers struggling . lli JTiake ing this power was touted as giving Bush tariffs on enriched uranium imports from four other indirect subsidies to farmers. ends meet to convert their rice or ybean the ability to present trade agreemen s to ~U-member countries. The duties were ,set fields into fish farms. Having done that. they Congress for straight yes-or-no votes. The at more than 32 percent for Eurodif, the Fishy pretext to curb Vietnam's exports are forced to compete with the larger ven­ legislators would supposedly lose the abil- French government-controlled supplier, and Meanwhile, Washington continues to put tures. In the U.S .. 120 million pounds of ity to make amendments. · at more th~n 2 percent on shipments by the squeeze on countries oppressed by im­ catfish fillets are consumed each year. In the It turns out. however, that the bill requires Urenco, a British-German-Dutch consortium. perialism. A recent example is the move to state of Ark ~nsas alone. the industry made Bush to obtain Congressional approval be­ Washington claims the uranium compa­ severely restrict fish imports from Vietnam. $750 million dollars in 200 I. fore reducing tariffs.on nearly 300 products, nies are "unfairly subsidized" and that Vietnamese companies have captured 20 Brazilian foreign minister Celso Lafer most of them agric ltural. They include France's exports were sold at an "unfairly percent of the domestic catfish market in just issued a sharp warning to Washington over some of Brazil's most important exports. low value." The trade commission said the four years, selling "basa" fish 'at lower the future of the Free Trade Area of the Continued on Page 7 United States Enrichment Company- the only U.S . producer of enriched uranium­ will gain up to $100 million in additional profi Is from the tariffs. Capitalist recession bites as numbers Washington is also considering slapping tariffs of up to 40 percent on steel imports to protect the U.S . steel trusts' home mar­ ket. The move has not met with unanimous seeking shelter, welfare benefits go up consent in the U.S. ruling class. Major cor­ pora,ions that heavily use steel in their prod­ BY ROGER CALERO titlements guaranteeing benefits to all who never dreamed of being h.t>meless, homeless ucts banded together in the Emergency The number of homeless families seek­ need them, as was the case with AFDC. or living in their cars. Or desperate," J. Tho­ Committee for American Trade have ing emergency shelter has hit record num­ Concerned with the number of people who mas Mullen, president of Catholic Charities launched a counteroffensive to fight the tar­ bers in several U.S. cities, and for the tirst are needing assistance, officials fr.om sev­ in Cleveland, told the Tim es reporter. iff increases. They say the tariffs and quo­ time in six years the number of working eral state governments are saying their funds The newspaper cited a recent survey by tas would cost U.S. companies that use steel people receiving welfare benefits went up. will soon run out. One official in New York the U.S. Conference of Mayors showing a up to $34 billion over four years. These statistics are part of the stark impact state said the government was being left drastic i.ncrease in the need for shelter in two of the capitalist recession on workers, as tens "holding the bag when the national dozen major cities. Request for beds in U.S. rulers lecture Tokyo of thousands continue to face layoffs, pay economy slows and people need help." homeless shelters increased by at least 20 Despite these moves, U.S. Treasury se-c­ cuts, or short workweeks. The economic situation has deteriorated percent in Kansas City, Denver. New Or­ retary Paul O'Neill lectured the Japanese A study released in January by the Inde­ so rapidly that th.e state of New Y.9rk has leans. and Trenton, New Jersey. government about protectionist measures on pendent Budget Office registered an in­ had to submit a request for a $740 million The sharp raise in homelessness has been January 23 during a visit to Tokyo. Address­ crease of 5,000 people in New York City loan from the federal government to be able spurred by the growing shortage of afford­ ing the continued decline of Japan's who were receiving welfare benefits in the to pay unemployment'benefits. able housing. The Washington Post reported economy, the second largest in the world, last quarter of 200 I. . The onset of the recession has brought to January 23 that in the nation's capital alone O'Neill spoke against moves ·to let the yen The report noted a drop in the benefit rolls light the increased number of bureaucratic there are 12,000 names on the waiting list fall in relation to the dollar. of some 6;400 people from November to obstacles put in the way of workers who for government Section 8 housing vouch­ "The weight of historical evidence shows December last year. This decline was due need benefits. The Independent Budget Of­ ers. and 8,400 families waiting for public that those who have tried to fix underlying t~ the fact that 38,800 families in New York fice survey estimates that at the present time housing. economic problems with protectionist mea­ City alone were cut off federal welfare pro­ five people, including children, will be Officials in New York City say that the sures-and I count artificially depreciating grams in DeceJllber a.fter reaching the five­ added to the rolls for every I 0 jobs lost. A increase in the cost of housing, combined the yen as one of those-actually weaken. year lifetime Umit set in 1996 by the Clinti)n decade ago, before the Clinton '.'welfare re­ with a reduction in the number oflandlords their own economy," he said. administration. The survey also warned that forms" were enacted, eight people began honoring government vouchers and further A depreciating yeo allows Japanese com­ more people who have lost federal assis­ receiving benefits for every l 0 jobs lost. cutbacks in social programs, could force panies to gain a competitive edge for their tance will turn to state-financed programs A feature article in the Los Angeles Times thousands of people with AIDS .and other exports by making them cheaper on the in the coming months. January 12 focused on the record number disabilities into the streets. world market. At the same time the Under the 19961egislation responsible for of homeless people in major cities across Charities that provide emergency funds currency's decline increases the cost of im­ the devastating cutback in welfare benefits the country. The article reported that there to families on the verge of becoming home­ ports irito Japan. The yen has dropped I 0 and the elimination of Aid to Families with has been a dramatic increase in the number less are quickly running out of money due percent against the dollar since November. Dependent Children (AFDC), the states are of families being evicted from their homes to the overwhelming demand. "There is The January 24 Financial 1imes of Lon­ to assist t~ose ineligible for federal pro­ and apartments because they are not able to nothing out there, absolutely nothing," a don expressed one of Washington's con­ grams with funds doled out in block grants pay the rent. social worker with the Salvation Army told cerns, stating that '1Jt.th.e worst scenario, a by Washington. These programs are not en- "We are going to see some people who the Los Angeles Times. February 18,2002 The Militant 3 Immigrants face growing cop, rightist attacks in Europe

BY M.WRICE WILLIAMS the working class. After the September I I With a rise in the number of rie.htist and events the German go ernment has used its cop a saults against and killings ofi'ffimigrant antiterror campaign to promote repressive worker.P in Europe. the question of immigra­ measures targeting immigrants who are tion has become a centraJ one from Denmark Muslims. Reactionary legislation was to Italy and-from France to Poland. signed into law December 8 that authorized A number of capitalist go ernments in the banning of religious organizations if they Europe are promoting policies tllat give are deeme6 to be"undermintng democrdcy'· more room for conservative and right-wing or "inciting violence:· · · outfits to campaign for restrictions on the Four days after the new law t ok effect right of these working people. These the go ernment banned 20 organizations groups and parties are taking advantage of and conducted more than 200 raids in seven the tightening economic situation to at­ cities. entering offices. homes. and mosques. on fiP,I'PIInhl•r tempt to divide the working class by mak­ Rightists have also made gains in Den­ raids and banned 20 organi- ing immigrants scapegoats for rising un­ mark. where elections took place last No­ employment and worsening social condi­ vember. The right-wing Danish People ·s tions. Party doubled its seats in parliament and The man. Rodney Mack, the principal ral workings of capitalism. Labor follows The free movement of people m an ex­ became the third-largest party in the coun­ trumpet player in the Barcelona Symphony capital flows, and capital constantly seeks panded European Union (EU) has been a try.-Its leader, Pia Kjaersgaard, scapegoated Orchestra, was attacked by four cops in an layers of toilers to draw in and superexploit contentious issue among the 12 countries Muslims in the wake of the attacks on the underground garage after he left rehearsal. in order to boost profit rates and interna­ seeking to join the EU. The French and World Trade Center and campaigned for The cops claim that they were looking for a tional competitiveness. And population German governments. among others. are greater restrictions on immigrants. car thief who was "Black and roughly trends in Europe are pressing the capitalists demanding that citizens of new member Denmark's former prime minister, Poul Mack's height." Mack says the police did to open the doors of immigration simply in countries not be allowed to travel unre­ Nyrup Rasmussen, who was trounced in the not identify themselves. ln the end he was order to prevent negative population growth. stricted in the EU for up to eight years. They elections, was dealt a blow one year earlier charged with resisting arrest and attacking In a July 2000 speech the European Com­ also stipulate that countries gaining admit­ by the People's Party, which spearheaded a police officer. missioner for Justice and Home Affairs, tance must beef up their eastern borders with the defeat of a referendum on, adopting the The NAACP expressed its outrage that Antonio Vitorino, said the EU is "facing a Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to prevent euro. Rasmussen campaigned for joining the neither the Spanish nor the U.S. govern­ changing economic and demographic situ­ unregulated immigration in!o Europe. currency union, but the ''no" vote won by ments have taken any formal action against ation which. I believe. calls into question 53.1 percent. the police officers. Spanish officials later our existing response to the phenomena of Anti-immigrant campaign in Germany "I fear things could get worse with this admitted the beating was a "misunderstand­ migration .... the zero immigration policies "With 4.3 million une~pl<~yed we can't new government," said ·zarah Ahmed, a ing." but added that Mack fit the "charac­ of the past 25 years are not working, but, in have more foreign workers coming into shopkeeper from Syria. Immigrants were teristics" of skin color and height of the sus­ addition, they are no longer relevant to the Germany." Edmund Stoiber. of the conser­ being blamed for Denmark's growing eco­ pect the police were trying to apprehend. economic and demographic situation in vative Christian Social Union, told report­ nomic and social problems, he said. Cops and the fas~ist National Front in which the Union now finds itself." ers January 16. Stoiber, who is premier of "Ugly remarks increased after Septem­ Britain have collaborated in attacks on work­ Without a change in current birth rates Bavaria. was recently chosen as the party's ber II." said Wallid el-Amrani, a student ing people from the Indian· subcontinent among Europeans, the population of the candidate for chancellor. In challenging the from Jordan. "I often get called names when who live in the, towns of Bradford and continent will fall from 380 million to 340 incumbent social democrat . Gerhard I go out on the town for a beer." Burnley. Last July cops escorted a group of million by 2050. France. Germany. Italy. and Schroder to a series of televised debates, he The Danish ruling class has kept tighter I 00 racists from the predominantly Asian the United Kingdom were the destinations said he would "like to meet him when the controls on immigration than most European area of Burnley to the largely white area of for the big bulk of immigrants over the past jobless figures come out in February and countries. Out of a population of.5.3 million the town and then pulled away to allow the decade. But to keep their populations at the ask him what he plans to do about it." fewer than 5 percent are foreign born. fascists to launch attacks on a few Asian same level. the four countries will need to A few months ago the reelection of properties nearby. One resident said he spent increase immigration from 237.000 a year Schroder was considered a cakewalk in na­ Beating by cops in Spain 30 minutes calling the police while 60 thugs to 677.000 a year over that time period: tional elections scheduled for September. The Spanish cops· treatment of immigrants torched his home and shop. When the Gem:tan government agreed to Stoiber. however. has opened up a small lead from Africa has been highlighted in the re­ allow computer-related industries to hire and of 3 percentage points in the opinion polls. cent brutal beating in Barcelona of a U.S. Capihtl needs labor bring in up to 30,000 foreign workers in While Schroder has backed measures to citizen who is Black. The National Associa­ The growth of immigration over the past 2000, opposition parties responded with the make it easier for some industries to hire tion for the Advancement of Colored People de~ade, and the incorporation of tens of slogan, "Kinder statt lnder:· or "Children workers from abroad. his government has is pressing the U.S. ambassador to Spain to millions of immigrants into the working instead oflndians," pressing the rightist pro­ also carried out as aults against sections of file a formal complaint with Madrid. class across Europe. is a result of the natu- paganda that German women should bear more babies rather than allow immigration from India. 30,000 in Derry demand justice from British Similar conflicts in Scandinavia On January 17 three fascist youth in Nor­ Continued from front page parts of Ireland, including the Irish Repub­ as well as progress in the fight to expose the way were sentenced to prison for knifing to scribed the event as ''the greatest gathering lic. People filled three coaches from Gallo­ British government's responsibility for the death Benjamin Hermansen. a 15-year-old of people" ever witnesse.d in Derry. The fea- • way in the west of Ireland. Kerrill Qualter 1972 massacre. helped ensure the massive African-Norwegian, last year. At their trial tured speakers at the rally included Alex was on one of them. He said. "I am a repub­ turnout for the anniversary march this year. the three defendants, who are members of a Attwood of the reformist Social Democratic lican and the uni!ed Ireland I fight for will With the advance of the Irish freedom fascist gang called the Bootboys. testified Labor Parry: Geraldine Doherty. of the follow as we fight for equal rights." Robert struggle, and pressure from the campaign to that they thought Norway should be reserved Bloody Sunday Relatives. whose uncle Duffy came on one of 20 coaches from demand justice in the case, the British gov­ for white Norwegians. "We hate foreigners." Gerard Donaghy was killed by the British: Belfast. He had taken part in rallies to sup­ ernment under Labour prime minister An­ they reportedly said at their trial. and Gerry Kelly. the vice president of Sinn port parents at the Holy Cross school. where thony Blair agreed in 1998 to a new inquiry The immigrant population in Norway has Fein, the political party that is leading op­ rightist thugs were attempting to prevent into the killing. A previous l:learing, called more than doubled since 1980 and now ac­ position to British rule in Northern Ireland. Catholic school children from entering the the Widgery Commission. was part ofa gov­ counts for 5.5 percent of the country's 4.5 McCann. one of the leaders of the 1972 school by the front door. ernment cover-up. It sought to clear the sol­ million people. Rightist figures have sought march. chaired the rally and gave a conclud­ The rear of the march was brought up by diers. officers, and London of any wrongdo­ to scapegoat noncitizens for rising unemploy­ ing address. a several-thousand-strong contingent from ing. while placing the blame for the murder­ ment, a housing crisis, and other social prob­ "Bloody Sunday was planned ... to terror­ the Derry Trades Union Council. The par­ ous assault on the Irish freedom fighters. The lems. The right-wing Progress Party emerged ize the ationalist and Republican people," ticipation of trade union members in orga­ commission hearings, headed by British as a force in the country's elections last Sep­ Kelly told the rally. "It was designed to in­ nized contingents was bolstered by the re­ judge Lord Saville, began last November: tember while the former ruling Labor Party timidate us ...to abandon our quest for civil cent union mobilization against right-wing. The Saville tribunal has been holding suffered its worst defeat in 80 years. rights and national rights." anti-Catholic violence. hearings here, and taking testimony from All the traditional bourgeois parties McCann said. "We have come a long As part of a half-day strike by postal work­ eyewitnesses. Many say they feel as if they adopted aspects of the Progress Party's anti­ way. .. the shining goal of justice for the ers January 18 to protest the murder of a are being prosecuted while testifying, but welfare. anti-immigrant program. The Bloody Sunday dead is now in sight. The Catholic letter carrier by pro-British right­ the crowd was clearly determined to con­ Progress Party itself waged a campaign to Bloody Sunday march has come to repre­ i ts and death threats against Catholic school tinue the fight until the truth comes out. limit immigration to I ,000 people a year and sent all those who suffer under imperiali m teacher • local trade union activists say they Tony Doherty, whose father was killed on championed a proposal to deport immi­ and oppression all around the world. In win­ organized a rally of I 0,000 workers at the Bloody Sunday, aid that for the families of grants who have allegedly committed a ning justice we will win omething for op­ town. On February 4 postal workers walked those killed, testifying at the tribunal "is a crime. While the rightist outfit is not a for­ pressed people from all parts of the earth." out again after a phone called named a Catho­ horrible experience. But we need a sense of mal part of the new coalition government, The official theme of this year's march was lic postman and warned him not to enter the achievement. We forced the British govern­ two of its members were appointed to chair "One World. Many Struggles," to point to predominantly Protestant Waterside. The ment to admit the original inquiry was a the Finance Committee, which oversees the the connections with other countries fight­ workers refused to return to the jobs until the whitewash. We disagree with the inquiry national budget, and the Social Affairs Com­ ing against imperialism. pro-British Ulster Defense Association issued moving to Britain but now it is going, we mittee, which deals with health and welfare The march was led by a contingent carry­ a statement denying association with the will go too and call to those in Britain who issues. ing photos and crosses bearing the names of threat A mass meeting was organized for believe in truth and justice to join us." In Sweden ultrarightist skinheads sav­ their relatives killed by the British troops. postal workers to hear the statement. Among other events, a memorial service agely beat a Hungarian-born worker last They were followed by Republican bands, The week leading up to the action fea­ held January 30 was attended by more than year as he left his job as a ticket collector in contingents protesting police collusion with tured fund-raising concerts, panels on po­ I ,000 people. At another meeting a week a subway station. Two months later traffic right-wing death squads, Sinn Fein_youth and lice brutality against immigrants, a concert before in London, Sinn Fein councilor Gerry cops gunned down Idris Demir, a Kurdish party branches, and solidarity groups from by Christie Moore, and a television premiere O'Hara noted that one of the British army immigrant from Turkey. Faced with the the United Kingdom, the United States, the of two movies, "Bloody Sunday" and"Sun­ barracks in Derry was due to be closed by threat of deportation, Demir had fled after Basque country, Italy, iUld Germany. day," depicting the events of I 972. the British. calling it "a step forward." He failing to proVide the cops with identifica­ Thousands at the march carne from other The mobilization over the past months, Continued on Page 14 tion and was shot in the back. 4 The Militant February 18, 2002 In Ireland, stores order 355 Pathfmder books

BY ANN FIANDER were for Pathfinder books on the Cuban cuss Pathfinder's list, look over samples, and How f'ad~l! Sluves Have Come, by Nelson MANCHESTER, England-In three Revolution. These included 23 copies ofChe study the catalog. This buyer decided to or­ Mundela and F'del Castro. days of intensive sales work in Ireland at Guevara Talks to Yormg People and 9 der 20 of each of four titles: Capitalism's Tire reps found noticeable interest in the end of January, two volunteer Pathfinder copies of Playa Giron/Bay of Pigs: World Disorder, Che Guevara Talks to Young Pathfinder's 'titles by South African leader sales rep~esentatives · visited 19 stores and Washington's First Military...fJefeat in the People, . The. Assassination of MalctJlm X, Nelson Mandela on the revolutionary gained orders for 355 book~ published or Americas by Jose Ram6n Fernandez and and Nelson Mandela Speaks. struggle to overthrow the apartheid regime. distributed by the publisher of revolution­ Fidel Castro. A few buyers, when contacted by phone A total ef 42 books and pamphlets by ary literature. In I 0 of the 19 stores visited buyers before the trip, were not willing to make Mandela were ordered. Forty-eight books The top-selling title was Capitalism's placed orders illl.mediately. Two promised appointmeJJtS but nevertheless asked the of speeches by U.S. revolution'ary leader World Disorder by Jack Barnes, with 35 to send in orders, three took su~gested or­ sales reps to visit their stores to lellve cata­ Malcolm X were also placed and six titles copies ordered. At all the visits the reps ders, and four asked fqr catalogs to be left logs and a suggested order. The team made on the struggle for women's liberation. In snowed a copy of this book to buyers and with them. The sales team drew its .list of sure to do this to 1ay the basis for orders in one city center store, a buyer said he wanted explained how it covered the economic cri­ stores to target from previous contacts, the future. a range of books for his philosophy section. sis in t11e world today, and pointed to sec­ Internet searches, and a directory of book­ In fact, in two such stores the buyers came He ordered OJ')e of each title by George tions on Ireland, the United Kingdom, Ar­ stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. out to meet the representative and look over Novack listed in the cptalogue. gentina, and India. Eight bookstores placed Bookstores v.isited included those in the city the suggested order. At another, the volun­ A number of buyers said they ·Jiked orders. centers, at airports, and at campus commer­ teers had mailed the catalog to the buyer in Pathfinder's books. One who placed a small Buyers at stores also placed orders for 14 cial stores, as well as outlets run by. politi­ advance. She studied it and then asked a order for a city center store noted the high copies of Pathfinder's newest title From the cal organizations. colleague to look at the books. He ordered quality of the.books. At a campus store the .£scambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind The team's first sales appointment in seven books, including Black Music, White · manager said he was impressed with the of the Cuban Revolution by Victor Dreke. Dublin was at a store outside the city c'enter Business and John Coltrane and the Jazz quality o(the archive photographs, calling Indeed, just under 40 percent of all the that has a high volume of sales. Over cof­ Revolution of the 1960s, both ~y Frank them "really lovely." He listened tci a brief orders...:.....some 130 books and pamphlets- fee, the buyer was happy to take time to dis- Kofsky, and Nelson Mande{a Speaks and explanation of the international project of Pathfinder volunteers to turn the entire backlist o(the publishing house into ready­ to-print digital files. Having begun by say­ 'A wonderful accomplishment' say ing he would not 'order any books, he held up Che Guevara Talks to Young People to look at. He decided to order two, "if only supporters ofnew Birmingham ·bookstore because of the quality of the front cover." The sales team visited foul" university BY CHERYL GOERTZ campuses.to meet bookstore buyers and do BIRM-INGHAM. Alabama-The new A some initial work promoting Pathfinder's list Pathfinder bookstore on Bessemer Road was among academic staff. One visit was to a filled to capacity January 27 by supporters large campus library where the acquisitions who gathered to celebrate the relocation of lib~arian spent considerable time going the bookstore to the Five Points West area through the catalog and showing the team of this city. · around the facility. He offered to pass the Coal miners. textile and other workers. catalog, together with an order form. to the and youth from the University of Alabama political sciences librarian. were among the 20 participants in the day's Following up on suggestions from book­ events.'.Socialist workers ~nd youth traveled store buyers, the volunteer reps met with the from Atlanta and Charlotte. North Carolina. head of the politics department at one uni­ for the-program as well. versity who looked through the catalog. He The featured presentation was given by made further suggestions for the team about Ma'mud Shirvani. editor of Pathfinder's who to contact among his colleagues in Ire­ Farsi-language prog~m . He spoke Qn "Im­ land and England about ordering Pathfinder perialist ·Militarism from the Middle titles. He invited the team to leave catalogs Eas~ to the Indian Subcontinent: Wash­ for the other members of the department. ington's War Abroad-Extension of Grow· "Pathfinder was taken seriously and ingAttacks on Workers at Honte." Sfiirvani. treated with a lot of respect by buyers and who ed.ited the Farsi-language edition of academics we met," commented sales team Malcolm X Talks to Young People, also gave member Debbie Delange shortly after re­ a class on "Malcolm X and the fight against turning from Ireland. She illustrated this impe'rialism today" over the course of the point with a comment from a .campus book­ Mililllnt!Davc Wulp store buyer who ordered History ofthe Rus­ wee~end's events. Above, Ma'mud sian Revolution by Leon Trotsky, among "Five Points West is part of the historic Shirvani spoke on Ensley area of Birmingham, home to thou­ other titles. He said that ··no self-respecting Washington's war bookstore should be without this book." sands of steelworkers and other industrial at· home and workers,-many of them Black, and now in­ abroad. Right, cel­ cludes a growing. number of Latino work­ ebra.tion of aew ers," said textile worker Susan LaMont. who bookstore location Fflrmers buy Pathfinder welcomed everyone to the program.'"Since, attracte.d 20 par­ we've started concentrating more of ur ticipants. / at protest in Greece, Militant sales in this area, we're finding many workers and young people who are complishments of discuss political struggles glad to hear about a bookstore like Path­ the new location and fipc;ler 9peqing in their neighborhood." Grand Opening of BY GEORGES MEHRABIAN LaMont read a message to the meeting the Pathfinder Book­ ATHENS, Greece-Two supporters of from Willie Evans. a leading activist in the store. This is another Pathfinder set up a literature table at the strike that recently ended after nearly four milestone that has Tembi Pass in Greece during a protest by years at Titan Tire in Natchez, Mississippi. been etched iit time, farrrlers (see article page 16). The table con- Evans, a member of United Steelworkers of leading toward our goals of educating· the Pathfinder Bookstore has to offer." tained Greek-languag¢'tranSlations of Path- America Local303L, wrote in part: "I send workers, farmers, miners, and the young .The program was chaired by Brian Tay- finder titles as wellil. several English-lan- warm greetings to you on this blessed day, generation in their rights by means of the .lor, a member of United Mine. Workers o( guage books and the Militant newspaper. and congratulate you on the wonde!"ful ac- · many books and other materials that the America Local2l33. Taylor told the. audi- The table was set in front of a roadside res- ence about the ~pcoming Ha-.iana lnterna- taurant not far from the toll booths. tional Book Fair, which Pathfinder will be As farmers walked by as they went in for participating in along with an internati.onal coffee, refreshmen'ts, or some food, several delegation. stopped and took a· look at the books. Six The week before the opening, the Bir- picked up copies of Farmers Face the Cri- mingham Times, !l newsweekly widely read sis of the ~ 990s by Doug Jenness. One in this city's Black community, did an in- stayed at the table for nearly three-quarters terview with Taylor about the new book- of lJl hour to talk about questions ranging store. The article appeared a few days be- from the crisis. farmers face in Greece, to · fore the event. the resistance·ofthe Palestinian people and "Well, get ready for something totally the U.S. imperialist wa~jn Central Asia. new," wrote Times journalist Rabel Hardrick Another farmer was interested in the ex- in the January 24 issue. "Birmingham's ample of the Cuban Revolution and picked superbusy ~way is about to welcome a up a copy of the Greek-language editio11-of new bookstore dealing with economic and The Second Declaration of Havana. social issues .... Pathfinder coordinator Brian The next day th ~eam of volunteers vis- 11!- .... - .... Taylor says B.essemer Road is the ideal lo- ited bookstores in the town of Larissa. the ~- cation for a Pathfinder Bookstore.... This is .largest city in the Thessaly region. Three ~ not the best time for small businesses. but bookstores were found that carry a wide [for] what Pathfinder is and does. it's actu- . range of titles, including p~litical books. ally prime time.'' One placed an order fof't4 Greek-language Participants in the grand opening donated !x>oks and pamphlets that include th'e articles -- more-than $600 to help with renovation of and documents "lmperialism"s March To- the- bookstore. Volunteers have pitched in wards Fascism and War," The Second Dec- .~ _, . since early January to get the store m shape. laration ofHa\'ana. "' 1848 To Today: Cpm- ln addition to workers and youth from Bir- munism and the Fight for a Popular Revo- . mingham who worked on fixing up the lutionary Government."· Farmers Face the bookstore, a team of Pathfinder supporters CrisLr of the 1990s. and The Truth About ....,_ ____: · .. -~...... ~ ... from Atlanta eame over·oneweekend to help Fugoslavia: NATO's War against the Work------get the premises rea~en for business. in~ People o.f'r'uf!oslai,ia. Februarv f8. 2002 The Militant 5 Coal bosses devastate workers' comp pay Contlmd from front page 'llf using contractors." behind 21 lawsuits filed to force the coni By employing contractors, the coni cor­ companies to pay up, was disapp1linted with potations had pthcr goals us well. One of the settlement, saying that the amount was th ~ most important was to switch liabilities, too low. Not surprisingly, the West Virginia often wfcrred to as "legacy costs," of their Cool Association, opposed the agreement union miners. onto the contractors. For ex­ because it "still contends the coal compa­ ample, when a longtime union miner retires nies weren't responsible for their .subcon­ while working for the contractor, that con­ tractors debts," according to the Daily Mail, tractor is responsible for paying his pension a big-business newspaper in Charleston, and lifetime health benefits. This is how West Virginia. colT) panics like Massey and Peabody got rid At the same time that the coal bosses were of their unio.n workers. skirting their workers' compensation obliga­ tions, the fund fell deeper and deeper into Benefits won by union In 1940s crisis. In 1995 the Workers' Compe11sation These benefits were won by the t.mion Fund hod $2.2 billion in "unfunded liabili­ through hard fought bnttles.in the 1940s. In ties." In response, former West Virginia gov­ the recent period, th'c union organized adem­ ernor Gaston Caperton led an assault' on the onstration of 8,000 miners in Washington in wor~' compensation law. One.of the worst May 2000 to demand that the government features included a provision making it harder ·honor its commitment to support lifetime for injured workers to qualify for lifetime 'health benefits for retired coal miners. "permanent total disability" benefits. In addition, the coal bosses.uscd contrac­ The employers abused the workef$' com­ tors to bypass safety regulations contained pensation system and the state went along in the 1969 Coal Mine, Health and Safety with it. "For ycnrs; the Workers Compensa­ Act, as well us the 1977 Surface Mining tion Fund failed to collect•prcmiums·from Control and Reclamation Act, which im­ employers, especially mining companies, posed new environmental standards on all amounting to hundreds of millions of dol­ coal companies. These laws were the-prod­ lars in losses," reported the Gazette. uct of a decade-long fight by the United Steve White, executive. director of ACT, Mine Workers of America (UMWA). said, "Injured workers were made to pay for In all of this the coni companies hod one bad debts of coal companies. And the prob­ objective in. mind: increase profits. Most lems weren't being corrected. Benefits got contracts between the large coal companies cut, but the problem of companies n¢t pay­ and the contractors included the uoiloteral ing premiums continued." right of the coal company to cut prices and A West Virginia official hod an opposite to cancel contracts on short notice. Numer­ response. "It was critical to address work­ ous small contractors were forced to declare ers' compensation and its many financial bankruptcy. It was not uncommon for con­ problems to improve West 'v'1rginin 's bond tractors not to pay workers' compensation rating on Wall Street," he said. While ACT premiums,~nxcs, or royalties to the UMWA was organizing to keep the lawsuits olive, a health and pension funds, and in some cases, In came concerted effort, led by William Vicweg, a even wages. Miners were left out in the cold for democracy In the late 1960s and early 1970s •.The high former Bureau of Employment Commis­ with nothing. point was the black strike of 45,000 coal miners In West VIrginia In 1969 whq sioner, was made to kill the lawsuits. Contract mining was not a small part of demonstrated In tlie state capital until a favor-able black lung bill was passed. Above, Vieweg was an executive and lawyer for coal production. In 1991, coal from contract black lung march In Charleston, West Virginia, February 1969. Island Creek Cent Co. between 1976 and mining accounted for 42 percent of all coal 1986. However, 'he foiled in his attempt to mined in southern West Virginia, eastern The most importnQt change in workers' suit in .serious injury. blame the contractors for the nonpayment Kentucky, and southwestern West Virginia. compensation came in the aftermath of the The West Virginia Office of Miners of the unpaid premiums. Echoing this claim, Contractors also accounted for a high per­ upsurge in miners' fight for democracy in Health and Safety and Training is woefully Bluefield Coal president James Justice said, centage of injuries and fatalities in the the late 1960 and curly 1970s. The high inadequate. In 200 I West Virginia spent $6.2 "We had no due, none, that anybody owed mines. point was the black lung strike of 45 ,000 million on mine safety. about $4 million less anything Ul'\til the article came out in the Fr9m ifs inception in 1913, the workers' cool miners in 1969, who demonstrated in than Kentuck_)', which is also under clos'e Charleston Ga=eue in December of 1996." compensation system has worked poorly the West Virginia state capital of Charles­ scrutiny for safety violations. Under today 's Vicweg 's effort was slapped down by a with workers getting the short end of the ton until a favorable black lung bill was law a killed miner brings no more than a McDowell County judge last full, who said stick. The system is bused on a "social con­ passed. $200 to $300 tine against the coal boss. For he had breached his "fiduciary duty," call­ tract" whereby injured workers are compen­ l.h the next few years, new laws were the first time in two decades there nrc a sig­ ing his actions "irresponsible and without sated for injuries quickly, and individual passed forcing the participation of ~mploy­ nificant rrumbcr of young inexperienced any basis." employers are immune from costly injury­ ers in workers' compensation and increased miners in Southern Appalachian coalfields. Getting away with murder related lawsuits. Even with this favorable funds were allocated for inj!Jrcd workers. As in the past, the fight around safety- from The facts behind the agreement show how setup, the bosses have been let off the hook The .political importance of the work­ workers' compensation for industriql inju­ the coal bosses have been getting away with countless times. "For years, the Workers' ers' comp.ensntion issue will only increase ries, to black lung compensation, to prevent­ murder. In response to a miners' upsurge Compensation system paid a pittance, or in the years ah~d as the employers inten·­ ing mine explosion like the one in Alabama around health and safety issues and union nothing at all for bodies destroyed in the sify their attack on the conditions of coal lust September- will be growing concerns democracy in the 1970s, one of the ways ~ines, mills and factories," reported the miners and other workers in West Virginia. for coal miners and coal field communiti'Cs. the coal bosses have sought to brenk the Gazelle. Last year West Virginia led the· natiori in Alr~udy this year, four coal miners have United Mine Workers union was through the In addition, the coal bosses have consis­ coal mine fatalities with 14, the largest been killed- all of them in the Southern usc of.contractors. Particularly in the south­ tently challenged workers' compensation increase in years and double the fatalities Appalachian coalfields. em Appalachian coalfields of Kentucky, claims to the point that in recent years 40 of the· previous year. Nationwide, 42 min­ Virginia, and West Virginia, coal companies to 50 percent of all' cases before the Su­ ers were killed in the mines in 200 I. There Frank ForreS(al is_ a member ofUnited Mine began to hire contractors to mine their coal, preme Court have been workers' compen­ is also a big jump in serious health and Workers ofAmerica Local 1248 and works thereby shifting the costs of mining onto sation appeals. safety violations, including those that re- in southwestern Pennsylvania. smaller companies. In practice this meant the contractors beca~e responsible for pro­ viding health care, pensions, and workers compensation benefits. Youth group in Atlanta demands inmates rights The "philosophy" behi~d the switch to widespread usc of contractors was spelled BY JAMES HARRIS in the jail, but asked the Militant not to in­ "I have had several calls that the food is cold, out in a confidential dQcumcnt, "The ATLANTA_:_Chnnting, "Inmates are hu- clude her name because she was afraid her tlie water is cold, and inmates are sleeping Mnssey Coa,l Company Doctrine.," which man not animals," and "Inmates have tights husband could be victimized. She said her on the floor and being bitten by spiders. begun circulating in the early 1980s. Ac- too;" 25 people stood outside the Cobb husband and other inmuies were underfed. There ore no recreational. or educational fa­ cording to the"doctrine,'' less attractive re- County Adult Detention Center February 2 They are routinely given a single peanut cilities inside," he said. "There is also evi­ serves, for example low coal scums, should protesting the conditions in the jail. As the butter sandwich for lunch and can wait as dence that Cobb County will hold a person be mined by ~;ontractors. "We nrc willing demonstrators chanted and held up signs, long as I 0 hours for their next meal. for up to 19 months on a misdemeanor to settle for a smaller but reasonably assured inmates crowded into the few tiny windows Two Latinos coming out after a visit nod­ charge ':Vithout ever seeing a judge." 'profit, but avoid the mining risk," it said. that weren't blocked out to wave cncour- ded their heads in agreement after getting a Another group that New Order is net­ Rcporting on how widespread this prac- agcment. transln!ion of the woman's description of the working with is Mothers Advocating Juve­ tice became, the Gazette noted that Massey The demonstration was called by New conditions in the prison. They already knew nile Justice (MA.I.Q, which held a rally of and Island Creek used more than 725 dif- Order, a group of working-crass youth that the words for p~nnut butter because the man close to I00 people January 29 to protest ferent contractors in West Virginia and Ken- has been organizing actions against police. they were .visiting had complained about it. Georgia laws that treat children as adults in .tucky. The paper reported most state ngcn- pJ:ofiling and harassment In the Cobb Denise Watson said that the inmates re­ the prison system. The rally also -backed cies "never try to untangle complex corpo- County area of Georgia. Ldst October New ceived inadequate medical cure. Watson, parole for juveniles. -- rate webs. Records show the West Virginia Order organized the first demonstration in w,hose son bad been an inmate, said, "Ifone Under a law passed in Georgia in 1994, Workers' Compensation Fund, for example, anyone's memory against .racial profiling in ·of them has problems·with .their teeth they youth between the ages of 13 and 17 con­ has done little in the past to force Massey, the county. They have been active since then just pull the tooth. There is no other dental victed of certain crimes like armed robbery Island ~reek and other companies to pay and have catted another demonstration for care or if you ne d medicine you have ta must serve a_mandatory prison sentence of millions of dollars owed by their contract February 23 . pay for it." Watson said prisoners had.to pay t6 years with no chaqce ofp~role. Accord­ miners." A number of participants joined the Feb- $5 for one Tyleno1 pill. Others nodded in ing to a MAJJ fact sheet, 94 percent of chil­ The move to contractors was carefully ruary 2 action after hearing Gerald Rose, a~cment with her statements. dren in the Georgia prison system are Black planned out and executed by the big coal the founder of New Order, speaking about Black, white, and Latino visitors to in­ and have no right to education or health care. companies. In 1993, Thomas Hoffman, a the protest on television. Some of the pro- mutes at the facility were overwhelmingly MAJJ will also be a part of the Fe&runry 23 Bituminous Coal Operators Association testers have family members who are cur- friendly to the action. Some sponlaJ!cously dc;monstrntjon. This action will take place spokesman who is currently the head of rently incarcerated in the jail .A 111ajority of joined ln. All had stories about the brutal at 12:00 noon on the comer of-South Cobb CONSOL, said, "Look around corporate the participants ~ave had brushes with the conditions inside. Drive and Cohcord Road. Call (7'70) 438- America at what people are doing to avoid Cobb County '1ustice" system. Gerald Rose said that for the last several 7938 for more information. hcalt)t-carc and other payments. They're A woman who participated with two other weeks he has been getting reports that contracting out work. That's the whole point members of her family described conditions people are being mistreated in the"facility. James Harris is a textile worker in Atlanta. 6 The Militant February 18,2002 Bosnians protest U.S. taking six men to cages in Cuba BY ROGER CALERO 1990s to fi ght on the ide of the Bo ni an army The Bosni an gove rnment 's decision to against Serbian forces. The imperialists claim hand over six men to U.S. authorities has that hundreds of Islamic militants residing provoked a strong reac ti on among the ma­ in Bosni a have turned the country into a jority Muslim populati on in Sarajevo. The springboard for terrorist activitie . · six we re accused of being linked to an al So far at least 20 people 11 ave been Jlr­ Qaeda network that planned attac ks aga inst rested by Bosni an and NATO authorities, the U.S. embassy and American military · who have launched investigations ofl Iamie fac ilities in Bosni a. humanitarian organization s. Last October Despite the decision by a Bosni an court NATO troops raided the office of a charity to release them for lack of evidence of their supported by the. Saudi government. The involvement in any terrori st attacks, the. ix squad confiscated computer equipment and men were given to U.S. forces and taken to arrested two Bosni an employees. Some I04 the American nava l base at Guantanamo, Arab residents have had their citize nship uba. Both the U.S . and Bosni an authori­ revoked as part of the Bosnian government 's ti es insisted that the six still represe nt "a "antiterrorist" policies, and even form er Above, wives of the six men credible threat." military comm and ers who fou ght on sent to Guantanamo, Cuba, The news th at six men rounded up in Bos nia's side have faced deport atio n. were among thos.e who pro­ Bos ni a are among th e I 00 being kept in . "What th e previous government has been tested the deportations out­ Guantanamo in chicken-wire cages on­ doing is something that we won't stand for," side Bosnian government stantl y hac kl ed and handcuffed- is at odds said the acting interi or mini ster of Bosni a­ building In Sarajevo on with Washington 's portrayal of the camp as Herzegovina, referring to the pre ence of January 26. Right, pollee a jail for "unl awful combatants" captur«d immigrants. "We are goi ng to correct that," attack an earlier protest. in Afghanistan. The U.S. government re­ he added. fused to classify the men as prisoners of war Was hin gton has praised the Bosni an capture the two war criminals or guarantee they. will be treated under pro­ government's moves aga inst th e Islamic has nothing to do with the visions of th e Ge neva onvention. ~roup s. "We deeply appreciate th~ r effort s di sconte t generated by the On January 18, the day the accused men both to protect our safety and to promote arrests and deportations of were transferred to custody of U.S. authori­ security in your country," said the U.S. am­ Muslim citizens, the Ameri­ ti es, orne 300 people- including famil y bassador in Bosni a. can embassy pl as tered the members, fri ends and other supporters­ The arresis have fu eled criticism of what city of Sarajevo with posters attempted to block the move by demonstrat­ many see as the imperi ali sts' double stan­ offering up to $5 million for in g in front oft he jail in Sarajevo where the dl\J'd in relation to the ca pture of Bosni an information about the two. Effort s by the U.S. soldiers. Under the gui se of "keeping ix had been held since October. One day Serb leaders accused of atrocities again t imperi ali st rul ers to '.'bring to justi ce" those peace" in the region, the imperi ali st occ u­ earli er a Bosni an court had granted an or­ Bosni an Muslims. they deem wa r criminals has been part of pying forces have used th eir military pres­ de r aga inst the deportation of fou r of the · In response, Washington announced th at it s justification for U.S. and NATO military ence to advance imperi ali sm's goal of wea k­ men. The demonstrators were dispersed by it would "redouble" efforts to catch two intervention in the region. ening and ultimately reversi ng the conquests police armed in ri ot g ar. erbs indicted in 1995 for wa r crim es . Currently, there are approximately 21,000 of th e 1940s ·worker and peasa nt s revolu­ Of th e six, fiv e are ori gin ally fr om !aiming that their renewed campaign to NATO-led troops in Bosni a, including 3, I00 tion in Yugoslav ia that overthrew capitali sm. Al giers, and one from Yemen. All are mar­ ri ed to Bosni an women. Many of the pro­ tests aga inst th eir deport ation have been spearheaded by their wives. Miners union opposes proposed cuts in safety The deport atio ns were made possible when the Bosni an government decided to BY ROGER CALERO [Mine and Safety Health Administrati on] the agency increase the number of work ­ strip th e five men of their Bosni an citi ze n­ In response to the budget proposals re­ inspection mi ght have saved th e li ves of place inspec ti ons fro m 36,400 to 37,700 for ship. Thi s has ge nerated wider out rage leased by the Bush admini stratidn, United those·l3 l)erocs who di ed last Se ptember­ th e nex t fi sca l year. among the Muslim populati on. Many ee Mine Workers of America (UMWA ) presi­ or the 29 other miners who were killed na­ Along with eliminating all funding for the the e move as part of the broader att ac k dent ce il Roberts released a statement Feb­ ti onwid e in 2001 - but it could have," he Mi grant and Seasonal Fa rm work ers pro­ on their- right and the growing U.S. int er­ ruary 5. Roberts challenged aspects of the continued: "I chall enge President Bush to gram, th e Bush administration is also pro­ ve nt io n and control of Bosni an institution . proposal th at will land out to working publicly reconcil e how- in the fa ce of ri s­ pos ing cut s in the Office of Federal on­ Although the country has a gove rnment, people, such a cut s in workplace training ing coal mine acc idents and fatalitie - he trac t ompliance. This office is responsible th e imperi ali st-backed United Nati ons ad­ and safety programs and reducti on in fed­ can ju ti fy cutting fund s desperately needed for oversee ing affirm ative acti on and oth'er ministration effectively governs the territory, eral safety inspectors and enforcement age n­ to enforce Ameri ca's mine safety and health programs concerning di scrimination on th e can overrule any institut ion, and even ha cies. laws," wrote the union official. job by federal contrac tors. The budge t ax the power to remove elected offi cials. "On cptember 23, 200 I, th e UMWA Among the cuts, th e Bush administration may also fall on the Women's Bureau, which "The Ameri cans wanted the Al geri ans mourned the deaths of 13 heroes who per­ is pu hing for a $7 million reduct ion in fund ­ deals with problems and concerns of women and got th em," sa id Vl ado Adamovic, a ished in a series of explosions at a Jim Walter ing for safety enforcement along with elimi­ in the workplace. Bosni an upreme ourt judge quoted in the Resources coal mine in Brookwood, Al a­ nating 65 ~ S HA inspectors overseeing coal Seeking to increase gove rnment interven­ Washington Post Janua..Y 31. "As a citizen, bama," aid Roberts. "For three yea r mines. tion in the uni ons, the Bush administration all I can say is it was an extra- legal proce­ straight , coal mining death nationwide have Further undermining safety on the job, has included 13 percent and 9 percent in­ dure," he added. The same article in the Post been on the ri se. In response to that reality, Bush seeks to chop $9 million in programs creases for the Office of l abor-Management described the cover of a popular Bosni an th e Bush administration is now proposing run by the La bor Department 's Occupa­ Standards and the Office of Inspector Qen­ magazine depi cting the fi gure of Uncle am to deeply cut money to th e agency charged tional afcty and Hea lth Admini strati on eral rc pcctive ly. These agencies are respon­ urinating on the co unt ry's constitut ion and with policing Ameri ca's coal mines in an (OSHA) at the same time that he demands sible for auditing and investi gating uni ons. the European Human Ri ghts onvention. effort to reduce the number of accidents and Washington and other European powers fatalit ies. This is definitely not the directi on have demanded the Bosni an government de­ we should be taking." port Muslims who came to Bosnia in the early "We may never know if one more MSHA Hundreds condemn cop shooti~g Continued from front page lenge that the family hasn't 'heard anything the youth was gu nned down . The route was from the police sid e. except the 4sual. But Washington sharpens trade weapon heavily policed and parti cipants in th e pro­ we have a IQt of community support." onllnued from Page 3 ers. Brazil is considering filin g formal com­ test were quick to express their anger and The protest came only two days before such as suga r, soybeans, and orange juice. pl aints with the WTO over U.S. protec tion determin ation in a mixture o English, an action to mark the third anniver ary of Brazil ' pres ident , Fe rn ando Henrique of its soybean and cotton industri es." French, and rcolc. hants of "NYP 'the poli ce killing ofAm adou Diallo in 1999. ardo o, said that th e United tales "has A recent USDA report on subsidies drew murderers!" and "No justi ce, no peace!" This kill ing followed the brutal torture of recently passed fas t-trac k for FTAA nego­ th e ire of agribusin es e by presenting the were joined by "Nou We," rcole for "We fellow Haitian t\bner Louima. Poli ce also tiations, but with conditions wh ich, if they fac t th at most such pay ment s go to th e witness"- pointing the fin ge r f responsi­ killed Patrick Dori smond, a youn g Haitian­ are taken to th e letter, mean that there would wealthie t farmers. bility for the killing, and prev i s cop kill­ American, in March 2000. be no FTAA ." Washington aga in showed its hard-nosed ings and a auIt s, stra ight at the New York Dahoud Andre of the Haitian oa lition These measures co in cid e with approach to trade co mpetition from its "al­ l?o licc Department. for Justice explained that the protests "don't Washington's preparations to pass a $175 li es" during a January visit by Turkish Prime The cops have sa id to the media th at they end with the funeral." In a phone conve rsa­ billion I0 -year sub idy program for the larg­ Minister Bulent Eccvit.A January 17 article shot Loui sgcne in elf-defense, claiming he tion with the Militant he aid future ac ti ons est capitali st farm ers and agricultural busi­ in the Wa ll tree/ Joumal tated that "de­ charged them with a knife and a ti ck. Police arc being planned. nc scs in the United tate . spite it s importance a a potenti al all y ommis ioncr Raymond Kelly sa id at th e Partic ipant s in th e protc t, in cluding Noting moves by the European Uni on to against Iraq, Turkey joined a Jc'ngthcning li t time oft he shooting that Louisgcnc had been members of the Haitian oa lition for Ju s­ cut subsidies to farmers on the continent , of ant i-terror allies th at have come away behaving in a "deranged" manner. tice, the Hait i Support Network , and rh e an arti cle in Ba rro n ~~· report ed that "major empty-handed trying to win trade conce - At the protest those who knew Louisgcne Alliance of Haitian Immigrants, arc deter­ agri culture- producing nation [that) took a sions from the U.S." said the poli ce portrayal of the vi ctim had mined to follow through on the appeal made more aggressive stance in the WTO [World Ecevit had little to show after urging Wash­ nothing to do with the man they knew. Some by Aoc llard Louisgcnc. Trade Orga ni zati on] ministeri al talks last ington to open up its markets to Turkish steel pointed out th at th e youn g work er onl y On Radi o Lakay tw o day s lifter her November in Qatar... arc now press ing the and textile import . Instead, Washington aid weighed 11 5 pounds and could not be con­ brother's killing, she ca ll ed on th e whole U.S. on its own agricultural protectionism. it would urge the International Monetary sidered a hrcat to we ll -a rm ed police. community "to help u in thi fi ght for jus­ Braz il 's agri cultural mini ster, Pratin i de Fund to loan the country more money. On Loui sgcnc, 'who wa born in Haiti and had ti ce. We must put an end to these assass ina­ Moraes, aid Bra.zil won't t.ake part in dis­ February 4the IM F announccd11 $16 billion li ved in the Umtcd States for nine years, ti ons." cussion for a Free Trade of the Americas package of loans for Turkey, deepening it s worked at a VS drug store. until the U.. reviews ubsidies to its fann- debt bondage to U.S. impcn !!_li sm. Abell ard Loui sgt:ne told th e Daily Ita/- ara Katz contributed to this article. February 18, 2002 The Militant 7 Behind Washington's hostility toward Kore.an workers state

BY PATRICK O'NEILL bombs that it had been developing fo r use Among the countries named by U.S. against north Korea. president George Bush as members of an On the economic fron t, the U.S. govern­ "axis of ev il'' in his January 29 State of the. ment imposed sanctions on north Korea in Un ion address wa the Democratic Peoples 1950. authorized under the Trading with the Republic of Korea (DPRK). "North Korea," Enemy Act. That same year Washington he sa id, ''is a regime arm in g with mi 'siles launched its invasion of the peninsula. The and weapons of mass destruction, while sanctions were slightly eased in June 2000, starv ing its citize ns .. . America wi ll do what but all exports and imports require expcess is necessary to ensure our nation 's security," approval by the U.S. government. he said, including the development and de­ ployment of"effective mi.ssile defenses." Revolutionary struggles in Korea In five decades of Washingt01i 's hostil ­ The roots of th at invasion and the unre­ ity toward Korea, the slander that the gov­ mitting hostility of the super-rich U.S. rul ­ ernment of the DPRK is ''starving it s ing class toward north Korea li e in th e revo­ people" must stand as particularly outra­ lutionary struggles of working people across Students in Seoul welcome the Korean People's Army In first stage r northern geous to the--wo rkers and peasants of that the peninsula during and after World War army instituted a widely popular land reform in the areas of the south that it liberated. country. The DPRK. suffering a -y.ears- long II. Korea', occupied by Japanese troops dur­ drought, has appealed to countries of the ing wars against China and Tsari st Russia Yalu River, which borders China. democrati c rights, the so uth Korean rul ers world for massive food aid. Washington, beginning in 1894, had been form ally an­ The new workers and farmers govern­ were forced to end military rul e and hold . using food as a weapon, has tied its miserly nexed by Tokyo in 19 10 with the tacit agree­ ment in China respqnded by sending more election s. The country 's first civilian pres i­ contributions to pressuring Pyongyang to . ment of Washington. The world war pro­ than I million troops into th e war on the dent was elected in 1993 . With support for accept a range of economic and pol.itical vided an opening to Korean workers and side of the north. U.S. forces were pushed reunification as strong as ever, the south concessions. peasants to step up their struggles for na­ back, almost to where the demarcation line Korean government has moved to accom­ The Korean revolution carried out a mas­ tional independence and social justice. had been to begin with . modate north Korean proposals for nego­ s i~e land reform, a measure 'opposed by · Meeting at·Yalta in February 1945, rep­ Washington carried out large-sca le bomb­ tiations, as th e government in th e north con­ Washington, and ex tensive engineering resentatives of the 'Soviet Union and the ing for more than two years, especially over tinued·tO advancC[jts perspective of a peace­ projects to increase production of ric e and United States, the two major powers allied the north . Saturation bombing of the ne>rth fu l negoti ated process of unitication . In the other basic necessities. Korean workers and in the fight aga inst Tokyo, agreed to divide was fina ll y sca led back when it was deter­ so uth, the Internal Security law forbidding peasants rebui)t their country from the dev­ Korea at the 38th parallel. Before Soviet and mined that no meaningful targets were left any political activity fayprable to the north astat ion of saturation bombing by U.S. U.S . troops entered the country later that in the resulting wasteland . Areas in the south or in support ofreumficlftfon remains on the forces during the Korea War. year, however, local revolutionary commit­ were also bombed. The truth about the fre­ books, however, even as current pres ident The fact that the' Korean people have tees divested the Japanese aut horities of quent atrocities carried out or supervised by Kim Dae Jung has participated in talks with fought for their independence and national power throughout the country, and a U.S. forces is still being uncovered through Pyongyang. sovereignty, made a soc ialist revolution in People's Republic, with it s capital in Seoul, the efforts of survivors and others in Korea . In 1994, th e DPRK government signed the north, and refused to accept th e forced was estab li shed. Almost 6 million U.S. troops were even­ an ag reement with U.S. representatives de­ division of their counp.-y, is a thorn in the Once deployed in the south, the U.S. com­ tually involved, 54,000 of whom died . Up claring a moratorium on it s nuclear program

side of imperialism. And 1 like other coun­ mand disregarded this government. After to 4 million Koreans were killed, the great in exchange for co mmitments to build tries, the ability of the Koreans to build, abandoning an attempt to reinstate the Japa­ majority of them civilians. power plants and provide the country with launch, and export longer-range mi ss il es nese authorities- a move ,w hich sparked . The U.S. rulers, who viewed the war in fuel oi l until the facili ti es are completed. poses a problem for Washington's unchal ­ widespread protests- U.S. General Hodge Korea as the front line of their response to More recently, it dec lared a unilateral sus­ lenged world hegemony. declared that "military government is the the anti -imperialist revolution throughout pension of miss il e testin g until2003 . "There On February 2 the DPRK issued a state­ only government in south Korea." Asia, and a stepping stone to aggression is no ev idence it has reprocessed spe nt ment protesting the th reat and sayi ng that An order ·issued by U.S. Gen. Douglas aga inst China, were stunned by the res is­ nuclea r fue l over the past decade," reported th e U.S. president had made the country "the MacArthur statc;:d: "The entire administra­ tance of the Korean fighters and hundreds th e Washington Post. second target of the anti-terrorism war." In tive power of the territory of Korea south of of thousands of hinese volunteers. It was another statement, President Kim Jong-11 parallel 38 is under my jurisdiction. The the first ever such defeat of the U.S. armed Clinton freezes talks with Pyongyang declared north Korea, home to 22 million population shou ld unreservedly obey th e force s. Moreover, the mobili 7.jitions by Chi ­ In late 2001, h~ev e r , Clinton's admin­ people, to be "inviolable territory." orders issued over my signature. Those act­ nese workers and peasants to defend their istration put a fre'eze' on it s talks with Like hi s predecessor William Clinton, ing against the occupati on or .y iolating or­ revolution in the face of imperiali st threats Pyongyang. Throughout hi s admini strat ion Bush has repeatedly claimed that north Ko- der and tranquillity will be mercilessly and cu lminated in th e establishment of the Clint?n had accused north Korea, along with . rea has constructed "weapons of mass de­ severely punished. For the period of mili- . world's most populous workers stat e. Iraq, Iran, and other countries, of being a structi on." Neither mentions that for more tary occupation, English is introduced as the No Korean peace n-eaty was signed, leav­ "rogue state" capable of launching a nuclear than twd decades the largest concent !fl.! ions official language." In February 1946 Wash­ ing the combatants sti ll officially at war to­ missil e or a biological attack at the Unit,ed ofU .S. armed forces in Asia have been based ington installed the dictator Syngman Rhee. day. The 38th parallel marks the demilita­ States. The all egations have been used to in south Korea and neighboring Japan .' By contrast, the Soviet forces recognized rized zone between north and south - now justify a renewed effort by Washin g t~)n to Some 37,000 heavily armed U.S. troops the republic and sanctioned the activities of the site of a I50-mile-long wall built in 1977 build a missile shie ld . Bush has maintained arc stationed ~ t the Demilitarized Zone and people's committees, which had seized by Seoul with U.S. backing - and the most the free ze on talks, steppep up the rhatoric, at dozens of other Korean military installa­ Japanese and Korean co ll aborators' prop­ important and explosive unresolved national and 'poured more money into th e weapons tions, while 48,000 are based in Japan. They erty. The northern government legalized all division imposed by the victors of World program . are 'backed up by the nuclear-armed U.S. peasant seizures-of land, and confiscated th e War II . The north Korean government and people Seventh Fleet. U.S. forces and the 650,000- land of the Japanese colonialists, their col­ also face hostility from neighboring impe­ strong south Korean army cond,uct large­ laborators, and rent-racketeering landlords. U.S. backs dictatorship in south rialist Japan. Ort De~ember 22 a'Japanese sca le annual ex~rcises targeting the north . From the start the U.S.-backed south Ko­ In the decades after the war, Washington Coast Gua rd vessel fired ·on and sank a sh)p During U.S. imperialism's war against rean government opposed national reunifi­ backed the military govemiJl,ent in the south, and its 15-member crew after 29 hours [of Afghanistan 'the Pentagon revea fed it used cation , rejecting proposals from the north both in its warlike stance toward Pyongyang survei llance and pursuit involving up to four a new generation of huge bunker-busting to merge the two administrations. Ul)ifica­ and in its repression of struggles by work ­ Japanese boals. The inctdent took place tion, meanwhile, was not on ly uni ­ ers, farmers, and students. The U.S. troops outsit.le J apanese te'T ritorial waters. versally expected and demanded; stationed in Korea provided backing to the Pyongyang has denied Japanese claims that 0 .... 100 it also corresponded to the brutal military crackd n on student and the sunken vessel was a north Korean spy peninsula's natural economy. The labor protests in the southern city of ship or involved in. Slll1Jggling drugs, stat­ north was a source of wheat, fish, Kwangju io 1980.At the same time the U.S. ing that the sinking of the ship was "noth­ CHINA fertili zer, and heavy industrial and Japanese corporations and banks poured ing but brutal piracy." products, while the south produced billions of dollars of investment into the Sout~ Korean government figures hatte consumer goods and rice. south, using it as an export platform and expressed unease auhes'e growing ~enjiions , profiting from the low wages paid to its anll particularly at Washington 's warlike U.S. invasion and war workers. The industrial working class grew rhetoric. An official in Kim Dae lung's Na­ With the beginning of the Ko­ in numbers and confidence, building pow­ tional Millennium party described earli er rean War on June 25, 1950, mili­ erfu l unions and winning some significant threats against the north as "very disappoint­ tary forces from the north rapidly wage increases. ing ..l' he United State.s delivers ultimatums liberated more than 90 percent of During the 1990s, th e U.S. rulers in ­ and threats, and of course north Korea feels Korean territory, including' Seoul , creased pressure on the north , s~ king to it luis to reaet.:' the capital of the south . In those ar­ take advantage of the collapse of the Soviet Citi,ng south Korean "analysts ·and offi­ eas where Syngman Rhee 's troops Union and the associated slump in the cial s," the Washington Post cranked out the. were driven out, land reform was country's foreign trade. When agriculture uslnl l propaganda portraying the no,rth Kg­ instituted by the northern army, a was hit by a combination of drought, floods, rean government as aggress ive toward the measure welcomed by the impov­ and other disasters, Washington acted to south. "Any military action against the erished peasants. sabotage United Nations food aid . In spite North Korean regime would invite immedi­ SOUTH · Washington then sent large num­ of these efforts, however, the workers state ate catastrophe for Seoul; a city of I 0.3 mil­ KOfEA bers of troops, ships, planes, and did not collapse; nor did its government lion that is :34 miles away from the' border tanks in order to try io smash the make the kind of concessions demanded by and within range ofNorth Korean arti ll ery," north Korean forces and regain the imperialists. In recent years, the the paper said. But it added a bit of the truth : domination of at least part of Ko­ economy in the north has shown modest "Residents of Seoul, where one-fourth of rea. It was unable to deal a dec i­ growth again, although drought and short­ all south Koreans live, seem less concerned sive biow to the north Korean army, ages continue. about the danger from North Korea than but it pushed its troops back to th e In the face of sustained struggles for from Washington ."

8 The Militant February 18, 2002 This mass of humanity has said 'enough' 40 years ago, .· second Declaration ofH~vana resounded through Americas

. This DlO(Ith marks the 40th anniversary of struct the necessary unity of action of the the Second Declaration of Havana. Printed democratic and progressive forces of our· below is an excerpt from ihe final pages of p'eoples. They are defects of growth, infan­ the declaration, printed. by Pathfinder Press. tile sicknesses of tlie revolutionary move­ The declaration was widely discussed by ment th at mu s1 be left· behind . In th e working people in' Cuba and approved . by anti feudal aAd anti-imperialist struggle it is acclamation after being delivered by' Fidel - possible t.o bring the majority oflhe people Castro to a rally of one million in Havana resolutely behind goals. of libepatioo that Feb. 4, 1962. The perspectives in the anti­ unite the spirit of the working class, the peas­ capitalist document struck throu&hoyt the ants, the intellectual ~orkcrs , thc petty. bour­ Americas like a bolt of lightning because geoisie, and the most progressive layers of they cutthrougl;tdecades of lies and distor­ the national bourgeoisie. These sectors com­ tions and illuminated the centuries of prise the immense majority of the popula­ struggle against colonial and imperialist tion and join together great soc ial forces domination of Latin America and the Car­ capable of sweeping outtbe i'Vperialist and . ibbean. The declartllion points to the ex­ reactionary feudal rule . In that broad move­ ample of the Cuban Revoluiion as the way ment they can and ml!SI struggle ·together forward for the oppressed and exploited in· for the good of our nations, for fhe good of the Americas and worldwide. ' our peoples, and for the good of the Ameri­ . Three years carl fer, on Jan. I, 1959, rebel cas, from the old Marxist milttant, right up forces led by Fidel C\lstro, Ernesto Ch,e to the sincere Catholic wtio has nothing to Guevara, Camilo Cienfu gos, ~nd others had do with the Yankee m6nopoli sts and the f ~ u­ oyerfhrown the U.S.-backcd dictatorship_of dal lords of the land. . Fulgencio Batista and paved the way for a That movement would pull alongside it government representing-the class interests Bohemia the most progressive elements of the armed of workers and fam1ers . . Cuban workers sign the Second Declaration-of Havana, February ·1962. forc6s, also humiliated by the Yankee mili­ In May of that year the Cuban Revolu­ tary missions, the betrayal of national inter­ tion initiated a deep-'going agrarian refom1, ~orably destined to arise out ofexisting con­ rural · poor constitute a tremendous poten­ ests by the feudal oligarchies, .a9d the sacri­ confiscating the large landed estates of for, dJtions in our socioeconomic reality, a real­ tial revolutionary force. fice of national sovereignty to Washington's eign and Cuban owners and distributing land ity that exists to an even greater degree in a The am1ies, tl)e force on which the power dictates. titles to hundreds of thousands of peasants. good number of Latin American countries. of the exploiting clallses re'st, are built and Where the roads for the peoples arc By late · 1960, 1hrough mass mobilizations It inevitably occurs that in the nations equippeO for conventional war. However, closed, where the repression of workers and of workers and peasaflts, Cuba had nation­ where the control of the Yanke!! monopo­ they become absolutely impotent when they peasants is fierce, where the. rule of the Yan­ alized the country's mines, mills, factories, lies is strongest, the exploitation of the oli­ have to .confront the irregular struggle of the kee. monopolists i ~ \I!OJlgest, the first and and banks and opened the first sociajist revo­ garchy cruelest, and the situation of the la­ peasants on their own terrpin . They lose ten most important task ts ~to understand !hat it lution in the Americas. boring and peasant masses most unbear~ble, men for each revol11tionary fighte~;, who falls, is neither honorable nor correct to beguile OnAprill9, l961;u.s: imperialismsuf­ the ·political power appears most solid. The and demora,lization spreads rapidly among people with the fallaciou s and convenient fered its first military defeat in· the Ameri­ state ofsieg~ becomes habitual, every mani­ them-from having to face an invisible and illusion of uprooting- by legal means that' cas, as the Cuban Revolutionary Armed festation of disconreilt by the masses is re ~ invincible enemy ,who does noi offer them do not and will not exist- ruling classes that Forces apd popular militias, defending tbeir pressed by force. The democratic path is the opportunity of showing off their acad­ are e'ntrenched in all the state posi tions, revolution, crushed within 72 hours. the cl~sed completely. The brutal character of' emy tactics and their. swaggering, which monopolizing· equcatior\, owning all the U . S.-o(ga~ized mercenary invasion at the dictatorship, the fom1 of rule adopted by the they use so much in military displays to curb means ·of information, possess ing infinite Bay of Pigs. . . ruling classes, reveals itself more clearly the workers and students in the cities. financial resources- a power lhat the mo­ The invasion was~art of. an acceleration than ever. It is then that the revolutionary The initial struggle by small combat units nopolies and oligarchies will defend with of hostile acts by the billionaire ruling fami­ explo~ion of the p,eoples becomes inevitable. is incessantly fed by new force s, the mass blood and fire and with the might of their lies of the United Sfates and their govern­ Although it is true that in those underde­ moveriu~ nt begins, and the old order little by police and armies. ment in . Washington. Tlie Second Declara­ veloped countries of America the working little starts to break into a thousand pieces. tion of Havana a year later came days after class generally is relatively small, there is a That is the moment when the working class The duty of every revolutionist Cuba had been expelled at Washington's bc­ social class which, because of the subhu­ and the urban masses de.cide the battle. The duty of everY revolutionist is to make h~st from tile Organization of American man conditions in which it lives, constitutes What is it that from the beginning of the the revolution . It is known that the revolu­ States (OAS). Tpe OAS called on govern­ a potential force thar, led by the workers and struggle of those first nuclei, makes them tion will· triumph in the Americas ancj ments in th.c hemisphere to cut all ecqncimic the revolutionary intellectuals, has a deci­ invincible, regardless of the numbers, power, throughout the world, but .it· is not for re\'SII" and diplomatic tics with Cuba. On 'February sive importance in the struggle for national' and resources of their em:mies? The aid of lutionists to sit in the doorways of their 3, just one day earlier, Washington had im­ liberation: the peasants. the people, and they'will be able to count houses waiting for the corpse of imperial­ posed a trade embargo .against Cuba, a policy Our countries combine the circumstances on that help of the people on an·· ever grow- · ism to pass by, The role of Job does not suit that remains in place today, forty 'y~ars later. of an underdeveloped industry with. those ing scale ..· . a revolutionist. Each year thht the liberation This pa11_1phtet is copyright © 1994 by of an agrariq_n regime of a feudal character. But the peasantry is a class which, be­ of Latin America is speeded up will mean Pathfinder Press, reprinted by pem1ission. That is ~IW with all the hardship!l of the cause of the uncultured state In 'which it is the lives of millions of children saved, mil­ ->. conditions of life of the urban workers, the' kept and the isolaJion in which it lives, needs lions of intellects saved for culture, an it1fi­ rural population lives in even more horrible the revolutionary and political leadership of nite quantity of pain spared the people. Even To the accusation that Cuba wants to ex­ condition~! of oppression and exploit.ation. the working class and the revolutionary irr­ if the Yankee imperialists prepare a bloody port its revolution, we .reply: Revolutions are But it is also, with exceptions, the absolute tellectuals, for without them it would not drama for Latin America, they will not suc­ not exported, they are made.by the people. ·majority sector, at times exceeding 70 per- by itself be able to plunge into the struggle ceed iru:rushing the peoples' struggles; they What Cuba can give to the .peoples, and cent of the Latitmerican population. and achieve victory. · Continued on Page 14 has already gi~en, is iJs 'examplc. Discounting t e landlords, who often re ~ And what docs the Cuban revolution side in the citie , the rest of that great mass National bourgeoisie cannot lead teach? That revolution is possible, that the gains its livelihood working~s peons on the In the actwrl1li!t'torical conditions of Latin ?'"""'~ people can make it, that in the contemporary haciendas for the wost miserable' wages, or America, the national bourgeoisie canno! · The Second world there are no forces capable.of halting work the land under conditions of exploita­ lead the antifeudal and anti-imperialist the liberatiqn movement of the peoples. tiory that in no manner 'put the Middle Ages · struggl~. Experience shows that in our na­ Declaration of Havant~ Our tril,1mph ~ould never have been fea­ to shame. These circumstances are those tions that class, even when its interests are with the Fl~ Declaration of Havana sible if the revolution itself had not been in- which detem1ine that ·in Latin America. the .in contradiction to those ofYankee imperi­ Two decjar41tions by the Cuban people alism, has been incapable of confronting it, for the national bourgeoisi e- is paratyzed by to the oppressed and exploited through- fear of social revolution and frightened by out the Americas-ea~h of them ap­ NOW·I\VI\ 11 Al3 11: FHOrvl the cry of the exploited masses. proved by accla­ Facing ihe dilemma of imperialism or mation a( rallies of cal challenge of our revolution only its most progressive layers more than a mil~ F.._mthe epoch. will be with the people.. . lion people ... The Escatnbray. At the heart of The current world correlation of forces I this.,book lies the and the universal movement for the libera­ First Declaration of to the .congo willingne.ss, deter- ' tion of the colonial and dependent peoples Havana, issued i IN THE WHIRLWIND OF mination, and cre­ points out to the warking class and the revo­ September f960, THE CUBAN REVOrUTION ative joy with lutionary intellectuals ofLatiflAmerica their proclaims "the which Cuba's true role, which is to place themse lves reso- right of the peas­ working people . lutely in th~ vanguard of the struggle against "We were ready to die to' bring ants to the land; down the Batista dictatorship," have, for more imperialism and feudali sm. . says Cuban re-volutionary Vidor · than forty years, Imperialism, utiJi zing the great rnovte the right or tlfe Dreke, "but we illdn't know the defended their revolutionary course against monopolies, its news services, its periodi­ ~ workers to the flnt thing aboUt revolution." the Imperialist qastion to the north. cals, books, and reactionary newspapers, fruit of their labor; and the right of na­ resorts to the most subtle lies to sow tions to nationalize the imperialist mono­ In his account of how easy it became In English and Spanish, $17.00 divisionism and incul.cate among the most . polies. "The second declaration, from Feb­ after the 1959 victory of the Cuban. Special offer: $13 ignorant people fear and superstition agajnst Revolution to "take down tpe rope" thet revo·lutionary ideas that can and should ruarv 1962, is a call for continent-wide 1 for decades had segregated 'blacks from frighten only the powerful exploiters with revolutiqnary struggle·. "What does the whites at dan14es in town ~quares, yet their worldly inter sts and privileges. Cuban Revolution teach?" it asks. "That Available from bo-'lkstores, Including how enormous was the battle to trans­ Divisionism, a product of all kinds of revolution is possible:: Booklet $4.50. form the so~al relations .uoderlylng this those listed on page 12; write prejudices, false ideqs, and lies; sectarian­ Also available in French and Spanish. and all the other "ropes" inhe~ited from Pathfinder, 410 West St., New York, ism; dogmatism, a la~k ·of broadness in ana­ colonialism, capitalism, and Yankee domi­ NY 10014., Tel : (212) 741-0690, or visit lyzing the role of each social layer, its par­ Available at bookstores listed on page 12, www:pathfif)derpress.com. P.lease nation, VIctor Dreke captures the historr- ti'es, organizations, and leaders~thes~ ob- or visit WININ. pathfinderpress . ~om . include $3 for sl'lipping and handlfng. February 18, 2002 The Militant. 9 'Tbe right to speak Strike by New York nurses is solid your mind is the most basic right' BY JAMES HARRIS in," said ltalie. VALDOSTA, Georgia- Michaelltalie, a ftalie recounted for the audience the facts Miami garnienl'worker who is fightin g' his arpund his fight. "As acaqdidate for mayor political firing from his job' as a sewing of the ;S) ity of Miami I spoke out in favor of machine operator" at Goodwill Industries in the Cuban Revolution, for the right of work­ Miami, presented his case to a January 26 ers to fonn unions, and against the ~ar in JllCCting of about 30 members of 'the Afghaoistan ..This proved too much for r:ny People's Tribunal of Valdosta. 'rhe- Peopl!! 's employer, Goodwill Industries. I was fired ·tribunal is a civil rights organization based explicitly for' my political ideas." in southe'm Georgia made up of fanners and Italic alsp explained that he had cam­ ·Ron . rural workers . paigned for an increase in the minimum The me!lting w ~s called to hear from Ita lie wage. Many ·of his cer offonner Availablc.from bookstores, including those )ist(d on page 12 or visit the job. We will not be silenced and we are P&M ~~~kers who work at the Kemmerer www.p athfindefpress.com. infinitely gratefuho learn that you will not· mi~e . "We think we :will get a good response be silenced either:'' .from ~em as well," Alessio said. :o The Mlllta.nt February 18,2002 Bay Area unionists hit political firing of socialist worker

Continued from front page officials are tloatil)g the idea of legalized Pastrana told the Miami Herald that he dis­ torture, both at Camp X-Ray and here at­ missed Italic because ''we cannot h~ve any­ home. This is directed against workers and )nc ~ho is attempting to subvert the United farmer-s in -this country." States of America" work at the plant. Denise Alvarado, a mem~r of Comj.te 98 Goodwill did not contest Italic's filing for that organizes -solidarity with the struggles LJncmployment benefits', and the State of of the Puerto ~ic~ people, also~ke at the Florida (,Jnemployment Compensation Pro­ meeting. Sh.e p<)inted out how the prqlesters \V(lrn stated in awarding ItaHc's benefits that on Vieques who are ppposing the U.S. Navy's the "claimant was discharged because of use· of the island for mock invasions aqd tar­ political views. No information has been get practice have been brutalizea-"by U.S. mbmitted which substantiates misconduct." marshals and Navy personnel for the crime Supporters of workers' rights and Italic's of trespassing on their own land. fight have formed the Committee to Defend "There have been 1,200 arrests in the last Free.dom of Speech and the Bill ofRights, two years," she said. "We have to stind to­ Iande· G1rard which is sponsoring his nationwide tour. gether to fight unjust abuses." She also ·ex­ Mike Italie, right, with California dairy farmer Frank Faria, who was active in orga­ Many people in the Bay Area were able plained that her organization is raising.fi,mds ni:itng milk dumps to protest low. prices farmers received frpm milk processors. to learn about Italic's struggle"January 28 to travel to 1Cuba this March to attend the on radio station KPFA's popu1ar interview "Tear Down the Walls ~· conference, orga­ American Civil Liberties Union of South­ Hiam Yassin.e. said that she too had been program "Living Room," hosted by Kris nized as part of the struggle to win amnesty em California and the National Asian Pa­ fired from Macy's in Santa Clara because Welch. Ita lie speke along with, Alia for political prisoners held in U.S. jails. cific American Legal Consortium, aims to of her nationality. Yassine, a Palestinian who Atawneh, a Palestinian now living ih the have this law struck down for being uncon­ wears a head covering. was alleged~y fired United States. Atawneh is fighting her Oc­ Fight of airport screeners stitutional and discriminatory. because she offered a customer a I 0 per­ tober 9 firing by Macy's department store. In the discussion period, Daz Lamparas cent discount, a common practice at the She says she was singled out by the bosses who has endorsed Italic's. fight and is an •Workers produce the wealth' store. because of her nationality. organizer with Service.Empldyees Interna­ ·In San Jose, supporters of_ Italic's fight John Fogarty saluted Italic's fight for con­ The public event here the following day tional Union (SEfU), explained ~Jnother as­ held a public event at the SEIU Local f87-7/ stitutional rights, "which is what the people was held at the Quaker Meeting House in pect of Washington's assau)t on workers· Janitors for Justice union h~ll. Joining Italic of Northern Ireland are fighting for." The downtown San Fruncisco. Italic explained rights. on the platform was Alia Atawneh; Jose First Amendment of the U.S. Coostitution the working conditions at Goodwill, a non­ Last November, Congress passed the Sandoval •. central organizer of 1he rolling guaranteeing the freedom of speech and union cmpleyer, and the support he has won Aviation and Transportation Security Act, . demonstrations demanding drivers licenses assembly. "is first because without it. the across the country in his fight against the w.hich mandates that the 28,000 workers at for immigrant workers; John Fogarty, west­ other nine amendments mean nothing." he political firing. The socialist pointed to a airports who screen bags be replaced by next ern regional representative of the Irish said. "It's not enough to have a Bill of number of other cases of workers, students, November with· a federalized workforce. American Unity Conference; Dave Wald, a Rights. You have to fight for them everyday and teachers he has met who are standing Those employed must show proof of U.S. member ofln{<>rmed, which organizes·soli­ or they're· just . w~rds on paper. We support up to the employers and the government to citizenship. darity with the Cuban Revohpion; and Rick Mike in his fight!" protest ·victimization similar to what he "The SEIU has filed a lawsuit on behalf Trujillo, a transit wqrk r who helped orga­ Courtney and Brown had just won a law­ faced at the hands of the Goodwill bosses. of nine st:reeners against this law, which nize the meeting, and Amy Courtney and suit the day before against the California De­ "The execution tpday of Stephen Waype violates the 'due process' provisions of the Cassandra Brown, who had"just won a free partment ofTransportation becaose the state Anderson by· the State of California fits in Fifth Amendment," L~mparas said. It is es­ speech lawsuit. The speakers \!X pressed their agency had taken down their antiwar ban­ with the ruling-olass attacks on workers' timated that a quart!!r of screeners around solidarity ~ith Italic and spoke about the ner~ overlooking the freeway while leaving rights," Italic said. "Pain of death is the ulti­ the country are not U.S. citizens,!Jnd that in struggles they were ihvolved in. U.S. flags hanging there. "Thank you mate penilhY that the rulers use against California some 40 percent ofthe.screeners Zak Khan far explained that his wife Alia Michael for fighting for all of us." Brown working people." State govemo·r Gray Davis at the Los Angeles and San Jose airports are was fired ."because she explained that Pal­ · said. had turned down Anderson's clemency pe­ non-citizens. The number rises to 80 per­ estini'ans did not like. the U.S. support fot A number of individuals and organizations tition January 26. cent . at the San Francisco International air­ Israel. The U.S. is snifting towards what we who were not able to make the public meet­ "It is working people who are the targets port. Many of the screener workers are Fili­ lived with back home." he said: "More mili- ings sent statements of. support. These in­ of the rulers campaigns against 'crime~ and pinos. tarization and spying." · cludedAnamaria Loya. executive director of 'terrorism,"' "-fie said. "U.S. government The SEIU lawsuit, filed togetherwitlfthe In the discu~sion period a friend ofAlia's, La Raza Centro Legal in San Francisco; Frank Faria. a dairy farmer from Escalon, California, active in organizin~ the milk dumps two years ago to protest the low price Dairy farmer: 'I support freedom of speech' farmers got from the milk processors; and Wendall Chin, of the Chiriese Progressive The following written statements were In San Jose: Carollo: Association m San Francisco. Chin pointed read at the public meetings in San Fran­ "While terminating a nonunion worker (or "On behalf of La Raza Centro Legal, I out in his statement that "it is cntical that cisco and San Jose supporting the Michael artiqdating a controversial political position am writing to urge you to uphold the con­ workers are allowed to organize without sup­ ltalie defense case. may be technically legal, it flies in the face stitutional rights of Mr. Michael)talie. It is . pression from institutions and agencies.'' of the democracy that we are supposedly our understanding that Mr. Italic was fired Al'so sending messages were Ron Lind. Amy Dean, executive .director, Santa fighting to defend. R~gardless of whether or fr6m his employment at Goodwill Industries secretary-treasurer of United Food and Clara County/South .Bay Labor Council, not we agree with Michae~ Italic, we should solely for holding different political views Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local428 in San Jose, California: not sit idly by and allow the employers to than those held by his employer. It is our San Jose; Amy Dean, executive director of ''A boss's disagreement with the political begin to move down such a slippery slope." further understanding that Goodwill CEO the South Bay Labor Council, Santa Clara; opinions expressed by an employee is not. Dennis Pastrana has publicly stated that this and Riva Enteen, of the National Lawyers cause for dismissal and should not sit well Wenda II Chin.of the Chinese Progres­ is the sole reason for firing Mr. Italic. Guild. Enteen wrote, "It is outrageous that with any trade unionist. In this case brother sive Association in San Francis•: Mr. Italic has. a constitutionally-protected Michael Italic was fired purely on his po­ Michael Italic, a sewing machine operator "The Chinese Progressive Association right to freedom of expression. We are ap­ litical beliefs. People of consc1ence must in a nonunion plant and a candidate who (CPA) extends words of solidarity in support palled by the actions of Goodwill CEO Den­ stand firm and demand that this injustice be qualified for ballot status for the office of of Michael Italic's case and the importance nis Pastrana." We urge you to do wftatever is remedied." mayorofMiami, Florida, was fired for prac­ of protecting our freedom of speech and de­ in your power to provide justice in this mat­ ~Iter Johnson, head of the San F.rancisco ticing the same rights all of us use and de­ mocracy. It is critical that workers are allowed ter. Mr. Italic should be immediately rein­ Labor Council; has also endorsed the case. pend on everyday: namely, free speech. to organize without suppression from insti­ stated to full employment without harass­ Supporters of Italic's case at both meet­ The proud and long-standing tradition of tutions and agencies. The CPA wishes the best ment from his employer." ings responded to an appeal for contribu­ the Santa Clara Coupty/South Bay Labor towards Mr. Italic. Good luck!" tions to cover legal expenses and the gen­ Council is to oppose infringements on the A letter from Louie Rocha, president eral work of the Committee to Defend Free­ Bill of Rights in any form. The First AMend­ Frank Faria, dairy farmer and mem­ of Communication Workers of America, dom of Speech and the Bill of Rights in Mi­ ment right to fr~e speech should never come ber National Farmers Organization in ~ocal9423 in San Jose, to Goodwill CEO ami. Deborah Liatos, a meat packer and at the expense of losing your job. Escalon, CaHfomla: Dennis Pastrana: supporter of Ita lie's fight who chaired both Under union protection, any local would nThere are a lot more people that support "Everyday we see new ways the terror­ meetings, annpunced·that a total of $1 ,405 be ji,IStly calling for immediate reinstatement Michaelltalie's case than.you ,would think. ists have succeeded in their efforts to de­ was collected, with another $565 pledged of brother Italic to. protect not just him, but While Americans are often afraid to go stroy the freedom that we enjoy as Ameri­ to lielp carry on Italic's fight. all the brothers and sisters at the plant and against popular policy~ we have had free­ cans. The latest I found is the actions you To schedule....speaking engagements for elsewhere." dom of speech for so long that w.e assume took in firing Michael Itahe for his political Michael Italic in your area, please send the it's our right. But yet we have a case where views. proposed dates and events planned to the Ron Lind, secretary-treasurer United it was denied. We have to get back to What Whether I -agree or not with Mr. Italic's Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech Food and Commercial Worken Local428 this country was built on. perspective is nor the issue, but rather his and the Bill of Rights. P.O. Box 510127. Somebody has to stand up and become a right to state his opinions in our free, demo­ Miami, FL 33151-0127. Tel: (305) 724 rallying pqi~t. It's too bad it has com~ to cratic society. Hi6 opinions may not be what 5965 or E-mai I: DefendFree-Spcech this, but it was also too bad that we l)ad to is popular but they are his views and his right @yahoo.com dump milk to make a point while people to express them must be allowed. Isn't free­ The committee is urgently in need of around the world go hunsry. If they can do dom of speech one of the many privileges fi.lnds to produce literature, pay for phone this to Mr. Italic, they can do it to anyon~ . I the people ofAfghanistan were deprived of? calls, and plan travel. Financial contribu­ THE MILITANT express my support for freedom of speech 1sn 't this censorship? tions. large and small, can be sent to the r· and protest Mr.1talie's firing." As a labor leader, I feel obligated to chal­ abov.e address. Please make checks out to lenge this attack on all workers rights. Re­ the Free Speech Defense Fund. A letter from.Anamaria Loya, execu­ instate Michael ltalii! and allow freedom of vvvvvv. the•nilit&lnt.co•n-· tive director, La Raza Centro Legal in speech to be one of the greatest privileges Bill Kalman is a member of UFCW Local San Francisco to Miami mayor Joseph Americans possess." I 20 in San Lorenzo. California. February 18, 2002 The Militant H Hava-na book fair is: festival of revolution Continued from front page booth is an intemationaJ ·team of workers, fanners hold power. Young Socialists, and other supporters of lqe Havana International Book Fair; held r . ·. the communist movement from Canada, since 1984. took place every two years until France, Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, and :WOO. Since then it has become an annual the United Kingdom. 'event. as publishing in Cuba haS steadily re­ Pathfinder is organizing tlu;ee special pre ~ coyered from the depths of the economic cri­ senta~ons at this yel;lf'S fair. One will launch sis·that followed the collapse efthe regimes From· the Escambray .to the. Congo: In rite in Eas_tem E£1rope and the Soviet Union and Whirhyind of the Cuban Revolution, al} in­ devastati<;>n of Cuba's foreign tradt;. This year. terview with Cuban revqh•tionary Victor for the first time, in the tQree weeks follow­ Dreke, who fought in the revolutionary war, ing the-Havana event. the book fair will go was a leader of the struggle to wtoe out U.S.­ on the road to. some 15 cities in provinces .directed <;~·rrevolutionary bnnds in the throughout Cuba. This will make books-more Escambray mountains in the first half of the accessible to hundreds of thousands of Cu­ 1960s, and was second in command of an bans beyond Havana. -Internationalist missi011 in the Congo in . !!orne .66 Cuban publishers and at least 1965 led QY Emesto Che Guevara. 51 foreign publishlhg houses are expected Another event will present Pathfinder's to have exhibits. This year the fair is dedi­ Playa Girim/Bay ofPigs : Washington :~'First cated to Cuban poet and author Miguel Military Defeat in the Americas. by Fidel .,Barnet. The guest of honor is Franoe, with a Castro and Jose Ramon Fermindez. special pavilion featuring publishers from Fernandez, who will be the featured speaker that CoUntry. as well as seminars and other at the event,' commanded the main column a c tivitie~ on the works of Victor Hugo. Jules .Pathfinder Press ·is organizing three spe<:ial presentations at the Havana International in the battle that defeated a U.S.-organized Verne, and other French literary figures. Book_Fair this year•. One will launch From the Escainbray to the Congo: In th,e Whirl­ mercenary .invasion4 at the Bay of Pigs in Special .presentations will be held on a wind of the Cuban Revo(ution,.an interview with Cuban ~volutioilary Victor Dreke. 1961. wide rang~ ofbooJCs. They include titles by From left, Mary-Alice Waters and Mike Taber from,Pathfinder Press with Victor Dreke · A third event, organized jointly with the Cuban writers such as Nancy Morejon and . Q in Havana in December 2~01. Cuban publishertiicontinental, will present Anton . Arrufat, .U.S authors- sucH as -Ray Pathfinder's Women s l:.iberation and the Af­ Bradbury and D3?hiell HaJ11mett. and Nor­ rica'!. Freedom Struggle by Thomas wegian, African, and Caribbean literature. Batista dictatprship_to victory i!l 1959; by closely with him in the revolutionary gov­ Sankara, .the central leader of the 1983-87 · A numb.e( of titles by prominent parii_ci­ Enrique Oltuski, one of the leaden; of the ernment in the e~ly 1960s_. ' popular democratic revolution in the West pants in the Cuban Reyolution will be fea~ underground revolutionary struggle in the As in previous years, Pathfinder Press has African country of Burkina Faso. al}d Equal tured. They include. among others, books.by citjes organized by the July 26 Movement in a stand at the Havana book fair, featuring iry and Social Participation of Women ;in Gen. Raul Menendez Tomassevich. a com­ the late 1950s; and by Orlando Borrego. who many of its more than 300 titles. which of­ Mo=ambique. bataill in the RebelAnny. which led the revo­ 1ought. under the command of Emesto Che fer the indispensable continuity of the mod­ Immediately following the closing of the luti'onary struggle agai~st .the U.S.-backed Guevara in the Rebel Army and worked em working-class movement. Staffing the Havana fair. the Association of CombatantS of the Cuban Revolution is sponsoring a se-_, ries of presentations of From the Escdmbray to the 'Cortgo in half a dozen cities apd towns ~MILITANT LABOR ' fORUMS~ in the central provinces of Villa Clara and CALIFORNIA Abby Tilsner. Socialist Workers Party, Fri. Feb. the Congo: II] the Whirlwind ofthe c;,jban Revo­ Sancti Spiri!U5. Dte,ke and_the book's editor. . Los Angeles 8. 7:30 p.m. 506 Springfield .-lve.. 3rd Flo01: lr(tion. Fri .. Feb. 8. 7:30 p.m. '54'5 8th Avenue Mary-Alice Waters. will present the book in D()ltatiiJn: $4. Tel: (9 73) 643-334 /. 14th Floor. Donat ~o n : 54. (212) 695-·7358. Santa Clara. Sa gua Ia Grande. Piacetas. Collapse of Enron: :xample of What Capi­ talism Hol!is In St• e for Working People. Upper Manhattan Manicaragua, Sancti Spiritus. Trinidad, and F_ri .. Fc;b. 1_5. 7:30p.n 12:! 9 S. CenrraiAI'I:'IIIIe. NEW YORK Malcolm.X: His Legacy for the :Working-Class Topes de Collantes. The Association orga­ Tel : (323) 233-9372. Movement. Speaker: Seth Dellinger. Yo.ung So­ nizes Cuban revolutionary figh_ters .of many Brooklyn cialists. Fri.. Feb. 8. 7:30 p.m . 599 W. /87th generations. ranging from the struggle against G_EORGlA Communism and the Explosion of Popular Street. 2nd FJoor. Donation: S5. Tel: (2 /2) 740- the Batista dictatorship to internationalist Resistance In Argentina. Speaker: Romina -1611 . missions around the world. Atlanta· Green. Socialist Workers Party and Young So-· The Fight Against Racist Toda,·. Fri . Feb. 15 . ciali sts. participant in iHilitanii Perspectil·a 7:30p.m. :! 791 Lakewood ·e .. SW [el: (4 (14) NE\VZEALAND ''-!rmdial rep9r1ing trip to Argentina. Fri .. Feb. 8. Auckland 76 3-~ 900. 7:30p.m. 372A 53rcJ St. (at .4th Aw.j Ormation: 55. (7/ 8) 567-80/4. Oppose Use of.. Anti-Terrorism'" Laws against Supporters of Tamil Struggle for Self-Deter-. IOWA Garmen~ District mlnation in Sri Lanka. Speaker: George Des Moines Cuba's Proletarian Internationalism and Its Arulanantham. president. New Zealand Tamil Celebrate the New Book from Pathfinder Impact in Afr{ca. Speaker.: Luis Madrid. So­ Society. Fri .,:Feb. 15 . 7:00 p.m. 7 Mason Al'e .. pathfinderpress. com Press~ From the Esc:ambray to the Congo: Jn cialist Workers Party. helped to interview Victor Oralrulw. Suggested donation: SJ. Tel: (09) 176- the Whirlwind of the C,uban Revolution. Dreke for Pathfinder's From ·the £scam bray ro 8885. 'Speaker:.Joe S'wanson. Socialist Wdrkers Party. Sun. Feb. 17 . I :30 Jf.m. Lunch at 12:00 noon. Donation: $5 f oru(ll. -$5 lunch. £1 Hajj Malik £1 Shaba:.=: a Documentary on -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOO-K US ·UP the Life and Ideas of MalColm X. Fri. Feb. 22. 7:30p.m. Donatioir: $5. Both ew/11.\' at 3710 6th Where to find Pathfinder books and Zip: 48244. Tel: (313) 554-0504. Campste, NSW 2J.94. Mailing address: P.O. Avenue. Tel: (515) 188-2970. distributors of the Militant, Perspectiva E--mail: I 04127 [email protected] . Box K879, Haymarket, NSW 1240. Tel : (02) 9'718 9698. Mundial, New International, Nouvelle MINNESOT.:\: St. Paul: 113 Bernard St.. E-mail: [email protected] MICHIGAN lnternationale, Nueva lnternacional .and West St. Paul. Zip: 55118. Tel: (651) 644- Detroit Ny lnternati01iaL 6325. E-mail: [email protected] BRJTAll'l The Fight for Black Rights a_ild the Rise of NEW JERSEY: Newark:.506 Springfield London: 47The CuL Postal code: SE I 8LL. Working-Class Resistance. Speaker: Osborne UNITED STATES Ave. 3rd floor. Zip: 07103. Mailing address: Tel: 020-7928-799j..- Hart, Socialist Workers Party, ·111ember, United ALABAMA: Bh::mi~gham : 3029A Food and Commercial Workers Local 876. Fri. Riverfront Plaza. P.O. Box 200117. Zip: E-man: I 0 [email protected] Bessemer Road.' Zip :- 35208. Tel: (205) 780- 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 643-3341. f eb. 15. 7:30 p.m. 4108 W I emor. 'Tel: (3/3) 0021. E-mail: [email protected] CANADA 554-0504. E-mail:' [email protected] Montreal: 4613 St. Laurent. Postal code: CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4229 S. NEW. YORK: Brooklyn: 372A 53rd St. 1R2. Tel: (514) 284-7369. E-mail: C:entral Ave. Zip: 900 II . Tel: (32-3) 23.)-9372. WIT NEW JE-RSEY (at 4th Ave.) Mailing address: PMB 106.4814 [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Newark 4th Ave. Zip: 11220. Tel: (718) 567-8014: E­ Toronto: 2761 Dundas St. West. Postal End British Rule in Ireland. Commemorate San Francisco: 3926 Miss ion St. Zip: 941 12. mail: [email protected])et Garment Tel: (415) 584-213? .. E-mail :sfswp code: M6~ IY4. Tel: (416) 76~-3705 . 30th A:nniversary of Bloody Sunday. Speaker: .District, 545 8th Ave. Mailing address: P.O. E_-niail: [email protected] hotmail.com Box Zip: I 0018. Tel: (212) 695-7358. jO. Vancouver: #2020-4806 Main St. Postal E-m a i I: s p n y'g d @ at t I o b a J. • net ; COLORADO: Craig: 6 West Victory Way. w g code: V5V 3R8. Tel : (604) 872-8343. E-mail: . Zip: 81625. Mailing addr~s: P.O. Box 1539. Upper Manhattan: 599 W. 187 St. #I A [email protected] -CALfNDAR- Zip: 81626. T~ l: (970) 826-0289.E-mail: Zip: 10033. Tel: (212) 740-4611. E-mai!: [email protected] swpuptown@us!l.net FRANCE ·cALIFORN-tA FLORIDA: ·Miami: 8365 NE 2nd Ave. .OHIO: Cleveland: I ! 018 Lorain Ave. Zip: Paris: Centre MBE 175. 23 rue ·Lecourbe . Los A_ngeles #.206.Zip:J3138. TsJ : (305) 7-51.:J076. E- mail: 44111. Tel: (2·16) 688-1190. !;:-mail: Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 47-26-58-21. E- What Cuba Stands For. Speaker: Fernando [email protected] "ra01pa: P.O. Box I 03253.11 LI @compuserve.com mail: [email protected] · Garcia Bielsa.. First Secretary. Cuban Interests 16002. t Zip: 33687. . -E-inail:· Section: Washington. D.C. SaL, Feb. 16. 7:00 TOC I [email protected] PENNSYLVANIA: PhiJadelphia: 5237 N. ICELAND. 5th St. Zip: 191:20. Tel: (215) 324-7020. E­ p.m. Central American Rescue Center. 1845 W GEORGIA: Atlanta: 2.79 i Lakewood Ave. Reykjavik: Skolavor'dustig 6B. Mailing. 7th Street. Sponsoreil15ji7..os Angeles. Coalition mail: [email protected] Zip: 30315. Mailing address: P.O. Box atldress: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: in Solidarity-with Cuba. Tel: (3/0) 4/9-1983. Pittsburgh: 5907 Penn Ave. Suite 225. Zip. 552 5502. E-mail: [email protected] 162515. Zip ~ 0321. Tel: (404) 763-2900. 15206. Tel: (412) 365-1090. E: mail: [email protected] PENNSYLVANIA E-mail: I 03122. [email protected] N_EW. ZEALAND ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1212 N. Ashland .Auckbnd: Suite 3. 7 Mason Ave .. Otahuhu. Philadelphia TEXA~: Houston: 619 West 8th St. Zip: Suite 101. Zip: 60622. Tel : (773) 342-1780. 770!)7. Tel: .(71'3) 869-6550. E'-ma!l : Postal address: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: (9) 276- . Cuba in Today's World: from the Miami Five E-mail: ChicagoPathfinder@<;ompuserve.com swphouston@ev !.net 8885. - to Camp X-Ray. Speakers: Jose Luis Noa and ' E-mail: [email protected].. Oscar Redondo of the Cuban Interests Section. IOWA: Des Moines: 3720 6th Ave. Zip: WASHINGTON, D.C.: 3437 14th St. NW Christchurch: Glo\.lcester Arcade, 129 Wed .. Feb. 1 ~ . 7:30p.m. Reception at 7:00p.m. 50313. Tel : (515 )' 288-2 97.0. E-mail: Zip: 20010. Tel : (202) 387-1590. E-mail : University of Penns_\ lvania. Houston Hall. 341 7 swpdesinolnes cs:com [email protected] Gloucester .Si. Postal address: P.O. Box 13- 969. Tel : {3) 365-6055. · Spruce Street. Tel: (9 17) 97l-3284. MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 12 WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier E-mail: [email protected]·· Class series on From the Esc:ambray to tht!' Bennington St. Mai li11g address: P.O. Box 702. Avenue South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel : (206) Congo-In the Whirlw{nd ofthe Cuban Revo­ Zip: Q2124. Tel : (617) 569-9169. E-mail: 323-1755. E-mail: [email protected] SWEDEN. lution by Victor Dreke. Sponsored by th~ Young 1()[email protected] Socialists and the Socialist Workers Party. Wed .. Stockholm: Domargrind 16 .(T-bana Feb. 20. 27. March 6, 13. 5237 N. 5th SL Tel: MICHIGAN: Detroit: 4208 W. Vernor St.. AUSTRALIA- V"astertorp) Postal code: S-129 04. Tel: (08) 31 (2 15) 324--7020. Mailing ·address: P.O. Box 44! 580 ·sydney: I st Fir. 31281-287 Beamish St.. 69 33.E-tnaJl: I-00416.2362@compl1SI!Ne.oom 12 The Militant February 18, 2602 -GREAT SOCIEJY------'Where is this Afgbani­ sponded. "I have no idea'' That was Orange Counry Register. sen some patients will g_et. better study found that an achievement •tan?'-The-750 Canadian troops according to the January 19 quality care than others. So there test of I Oth grade Colorddo students Cheap as dorm space-ff >ased inAfghanistan are decked out Vancouver Sun. are amenities, such as roumi-the­ induded questions for pupils in the you"re pondering sending a family n green camouflage. Meanwhile, clock access to the doctor's cellu­ I I th and 12th grades. Others were member to UCLA. here's how to 'Move, you meatheads!'-Tan lar phone number. One Seattle doc found to be more difficult than col­ t:rim housing costs: In neighboring blankets lnot available in varied will take on the fan1ily. The extras lege entry exams. Beverly Hills, there's a "for sale" hues) will be shipped to Afghani­ include heated towel burs. marble stan. reported the same day's home with elbow room. Built in showers. and personally mono­ Help Wanted-The readers who Toronto Globe! & Mail. 1909 as a hunting lodge. its many grammed robes. Your regular cov­ help keep this column going with features include 12 bedrooms. 20 erage plus a .$20.000 annual fee-. the clippings they send in are surely bathrooms. a padded music room. And .that's just averag~"TI1e wunted-espe<;iall:; those from average chief executive officerin. a and a walk-in safe. Asking price. Woosh-Pfizer, the world's big­ other countries. Like the Canadian majorAmerican corporation in 200 I S29 million. gest drug company. mcked up a reader who sent the two Afghani­ made 53 I times as much in pay. The Hypocritical Oath'!-ln profit in th..: last quarter of 200 I of stan clippings this week. You can ~ove mment cheeks arc beet red. bonuses. and stock options as the several cities. doctors are offering. S2. 11 billion. do likewise. Send clippings to: A.skcd why the soldiers were average factory worker. according to special care to patients who pay a Grcal Society c o Pathfinder Books. jrcssed in green for a desert area. ll the .. .lnst.itute for Policy Studies and fee in addition to medical insur­ A-ba! Didn't know thev don't 4229 S. Central Avenue. Los An­ jefense ministry spokesperson re- United for a Fair Economy... : ·- ance. It wouldn't be seemly to as- know-A University of C"alorado geles. CA. 900 II. Mass actions protest vote fraud-in Madagascar BY BRIAN WlLUAMS as. head Of the m iIi tary. In I 996 he was terprises and Partners. said that the strike was saddled with a S4.4 billion debt owed to Massive demonstr;ltions and a general elected president. costing the owners of the compll'lies affili­ bahks in the imperialist c'ent~rs. while per strike have swept across the island of Mada­ "The opposition candidate Marc ated with d\is group. many of them textile capila income is just $250 a year. gascar to protest what is widely perceived Ravalomanana clearly won the bu.llot with manufacturers. more than $850,000 a day. ln the early 1970s the government nation­ as v9te rigging in the recent presidential more than 200.000 votes over -President U.S .• Japanese. and EJ.lropean officials have ali1ed all French-owned financial interests elections. Ratsiraka." reported the BBC news service. held meetings with representatives from the and closed French bases and a U.S. space­ Most shop-s. banks, and transport services. "But the official vote said he secured only opposition to express their concerns about tracking station. including t.he island's main airport, have 46 percent. short of the absolute majority mounting inslability in the country. The regime commenced opening the been closed by the general strike~ now in its needed to avoid a second round of votin·g." The massive street mobilizations and on­ country to foreign investors in the mid- second week. On February 4 hundreds of The nation s High Constitutional Court going strike actions have thrust hundreds of 1990s. It began privatizing state-run indu - ihousa:nds marched t.hrough the streets of certified the government's tally, rul.U!g that thousands C1f workers and peasants in this tries, set up an export-processing zone. with Antananarivo, the nation's capilal, in a show Ravalomanana won 46.2 percent to nation of IS million people into political reduced corporate tax rates for exporting of suppon A week earlier, half a million Ratsirak.a 's 40.8 percent. and scheduled a action. shining a spotlight on the legacy of companies, and eliminated local- ownership people had jammed into the streets to de­ runoff vote for February 24. Ravalomanana. 75 years of French colonial rule and ongo­ and -content requirements for investors from mand the current government led by Presi­ on the other hand, insisted he won 52. 1 per­ ing imperialist exploilation. abroad. dent Didier Ratsiraka step down. cent of the vote and issued a call for an in­ Madagascar. which gained its indepen­ In June 2000 the ll.S. Congress passed The presidential elections held Decem­ definite strike to back his demand to be dence from France in 1960. is one of the poor­ the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. ber 16 pined Marc Ravalomanana, the cur­ named the outright winner of the presiden­ est countries in the world. Some 75 percent which allowed 23 sub-Saharan countries. rent mayor of Antananarivo and a wealray tial vote. He also announced that he would of its population live below the government's including Madagascar. to export textile industrialist, against Ratsiraka. a naval ad­ boycon the scheduled second round vote. official poverty line, 85 percent ~furban chil­ products to the United Slates duty-free. This miral. who has ruled the country for 22 of Bruno de Foucault. president of the em­ dren are undernourished. and 55 percent of move boosted Madagascar's exports to the the past 25 years. 17 of them in his capacity ployers' organization the Group of free En- the population is illiterate. The nation is United States to Sr33 million in the first half of200 I. compared with S63 million the pre­ vious year. However. this has been oflittle benefit to S. Carolina rally condemns Confederate flag those employed in these planL~ . The textile bosses instead have reaped super-profits off to urge visitors not to buy in South Carolina the labor of working people through long or to stage demonstrations or protests." he hours. forced overtime. no benefits, and said. "I will take legal action." abysmal wages. Last year. according to an article in the January 2 Wall Street Journal. Connie Allen is a member of" UNITE Local teliPI:ile workers in Madagascar recei ed an I 50 I in Kannapoll:1· North Carolina. average pay of just 37 cents an hour. -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--­ ·THE MiliTANT THE MILITANT

February 18. 1977 LOU1SV1LLE-Protesting acts of racist February 18, 1952 terror and harassment. two Black Faniilies and a Native American family testified be­ NEW YORK. Feb. 14-Spokesmen for fo re the Jefferson County FiscaJ.Court here the profit bloated steei corporations have Some 1,500 people marched on Martin Luther King Janurary 21. in Col•mbia, Day, January 1.8. consumed an entire week. in hearings be­ South Carolina, demanding removal of Confederate battle flag from state grourtds. They were joined by fifty supporters rep­ fore the Wage Stabilization Board on the resenting the NAACP. American Civil Lib­ steel contract dispute saying ··no" to every BY CONNIE ALLEN tor. described the drive for school vouchers erties Union. National La\\--yers Guild. So­ single demand of the ClO United Steelwork­ COLUMBIA. South Carolina-At press as the newest form of segregation. ··vouch­ cialist Workers Parry. several pro­ ers Union. conferences leading up to rallies to honor ers don't educate, they segregate. They will desegregation groups. and the Kentucky There would be no wage increase With­ Mal)lin Luther King. Jr.. leaders of the destroy public education." .AJliance Against Racist and Political Re­ out a price inc:rease they siid. repeating !he NAACP laid out plans to step up the boy­ The marchers cheered Hope's denuncia­ pression. which organized the delegaoon. same refrain over and over again like 11 bro­ con of tourism in South Carolina (o demand tion of overpopulated prisons and the high The families. who live in predominantly ken record. that the Confederate banle flag be removed rate of incarceration of Black men. He white Louisville suburbs. testified thnt po­ They were unalterably opposed to a pro­ from slatehouse grounds. pointed to increllSing poverty and the AIDS lice. courts. and elected officials were unwill­ ductivity wage increase. they said because The fight to remove the flag was u focus epidemic as continued rdvages of racism. ing I(! defend them aga.inst racist violence. it was " inflationary." The~ -denied the right of a January 21 rally at the statehouse here ln a press conference January 12 Nelson Mike lncasbola. a Native American. com­ of the workers to share cbe benefits of in­ to celebrate King Day. A crowd of I ,500 Rivers Ll NAACP national field director. plained to the court that instead of protect­ creased productivity in the form of higher. marched through the rain, chanted. and sang explained that protests at the border of the ing his family. poUce treat him like the wages but reserved such benefits for tho: to demand the removal of the flag and to slate are -our""way of standing at the Geor­ "troublemaker."lncashola said his family's stockholders and comp311y executives­ reinvigorate the fight for equality. gia and North Carolina ~orders [and .ask­ windows have been shot out. their dog which. presumably wasn't "inflationary." A busload of 35. mostly young people ing] th"at you not stop. not slay in hotels. sr.abbed to death, and their children attacked The demand for the umen shop. they from the Charlotte. North Carolina, NAACP and don't buy gas:· on the way to school. said. was contr.1ry to the most sacred tra­ ditions of the ··ft.ee enterprise system" and youth chapter. came to be part of~e protesL South Carolina bas been the target of eco­ Last April forty people stood in their front Carrying signS reading. "S.C. Suffers from nomic sanctions against tourism since 1999. yard screaming, "Get out of the neighbor­ .they would refuse to recognize any deci­ the 'confederacy of the mind'~ and "It's not Following a rally on King Day twp years hood! Why don't you go live in a tepee!'' A sion by the WSB granting the union shop about herilage." youth were eager to talk ago of more t.han 50,000 here. the ssatdeg­ fire was set in the lncashola back yard on demand. about why t.hey thought it was important to islature moved the Confederate banle flag Chrisonas Eve. A1fis Coleman. a Black resi­ They were opposed. they said. to the be at this rally. Racist backers of the slate's from a10p the statehouse dome and "placed dent of Okolona, a wb_ite aJ"ea where union seniority demands and would resist any altempt to encroach on the ··preroga­ decision to c~ntinue flying the Confederate it in the in the faces of the people:· sa.id antibusing activity bas been certtered. told battle flag on Capitol grounds claim the flag James GaUman. head of the NAACP in the court. "l"m not.just here for my family. tive" of management to use the merit· sys­ repcesents the heritage of people in the stare. South Carolina. The flag is a symbol that I" m here for everybody. If it can happen to tem. Owen Fairweather attorney for the Samantha Smith said she came to "expe­ "'reeks of bate and prejudice and symbol­ my family. it can happen to anyone." steel moguls. contended "'the natiO"nai inter­ est wauld be ·poorly served' if the union rience the march and what Dr. King believed izes domestic terrorism." The so-called com­ The Colemans have had bricks with rac­ won its st:niqrity demands.'' and to stand up for what I believe." Keith promise move of the flag was implemented ist notes attached thrown through !heir win­ They reserve tor themselves t.he sole right Winfield added !hat he joined tbe action to against the. opposition-of the NAACP. dows and have been shot at. Last March ''preserve our heritage and dignity; to bring In a Janaary 28 press conference, South dynamite blew a hole in their driveway. to determine incenti e plans.job·al.location. number andccnnposition ofjobs to be fi1led. that rag down. lilce we brought th~ Confed­ Carolina attorney general Charles Condon Barbara Daugherty and her six chil

Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, by Jack Barn~ is abounhe struggles of-working peoJ:!Ie in the imperialist heartland, the youth who are attracted to them, and the example set by the people of Cuba that revolution is not only necessary-it can be made. Preface by Mary-Alice Waters. In Eltgl&h, SpM&h, _,French.

1 4 The Militant . February 18, 2002 Conquest of power poses need to advance culture Printed below is ap excerpt from Prob­ They have become more compli­ lems ofEverydayUfe-by Leon Trotsky, one cated, more detailed and in a way of Pathfinder's Books of the Month for more prosaic. Yet, in order to jus- . February. The book includes articles oo tify all the past struggle and all social and cultural issues in the struggle the sacrifices, we must learn to to create the foundations for a new soci­ grasp these fragmentary prob­ ety, written for the Soviet press In the lems of culture, and solve each years Immediately following the OCtober of the,n separately. · · 1917 socialist revolution in Russia. Top­ Now, what has the working ,ics covered range fr.om art, religion, sci­ c!Bss actually gained and secured ence, and cinema to the education of fdr itself as a result of the revolu­ youth and the emancipation of women. tion? The item quoted is taken from the chap­ I. The dictatorship of the pro­ ter titled "Not by politics alone," and was letariat (represented by the work­ first published in Pravda on July 10, 1923. ers' and peasants' government Copyright © 1973 by Pathfinder Ptess. under tQe leadership of the Com­ Reprinted by permission. Subheadings munist Party). are by the Militant. 2. The Red Army-a firm sup­ port of the dictatorship ofthe pro­ BY LEON TROTSKY letariat. Not by politics alone. This simple thought 3. The nationalization of the should be thoroughly gpsped and borne in chief means of production, with­ mind by all who speaf< or write for propa­ out which the dictatorship o(the ganda purpos~. thapged times bring proletariat would have becomeJ~. changed tunes. the prerevolutionary history form void or"substance. of our party was a history of revolutionary 4. The m9'nopol~ of foreign politics. Party literature, party organiza­ trade, which is the necessary con­ tions-everything was ruled by politics in dition of socialist state structure in a capitalist environment. These four things, definitely w~m , form 'the steel frame bfall BOOKS OF our work; and every su~ss we achieve in economics or cui- has been a radical modification in our as to miracles and childish quackeries like . ture-provided it is a real achievement and whole outlook on socialism. The ·radical THE MONTH not a sham-becomes ,in this framework a "proletarian culture" or "proletarian military modification is !!tis: fonnerly we placed, doctrine," it is high time to give such things pecessary part of the socialist structure. and had to place, the main emphasis on ~d what is our problem now? What have the political struggle, on revolution, on up. We must see to the development of cul­ the direct and narrow sense of "that word. we ttrkam in the first place? What should winning political power, etc. Now the ture within the framework of the dictator­ The revolutionary crisis has intensified po­ we strive for? We must Jearn to work effi­ emphasis is changing and shifting to ship of the proletariat,' and this alone can litical interests and problems to a still greater ciently:. accurately, punstually, economi­ peaceful, organizational, "cultural" work. assure the socialist content of the revolu­ degree. The party ha·d to win· over the most cally. We need culture in work, culture in I should say that emphasis is shifting to tionary conqu,ests. Whoever fails to see this politically .active elemeqts of the working life, in the conditions of life. After a long educational work, were it not for our in­ will play a reactionary part in the develop­ preliminary period of struggle we have suc­ ternational relations, were it not for the ment of party thought and party work. class. At present the working class is per­ fact that we have to fight for our position fectly aware of the fundamental results bf ceeded in overthrowing the rule of the ex­ When Lenin says that at the present mo­ on a world scale. If we leave that aside, ment our work is less concerned with poli­ the revolution. It is quite unnecessary to go ploiters by armed revolt. No such means however, and confine ourselves to inter­ tics than with culture, we must be quite clear on repeating over and over the story of these exists, however, to create culture all at once. nal economic relations, the emphasis in results. It does not any longer stir the minds The working class must undergo a long pro­ our work is certainly shifting to educa­ about the terms he uses, so as not to misin­ of the workers, and is more likely even to cess of self-education, and so must the peas- tion. ("On Cooperation," in Lenin's Col­ terpret his meaning. In a certain sense poli­ wipe out in the wo~ers' minds the lessons . antry, either along with the workers or fol­ lected Works, Vol. 33 (Progress Publish­ tics always· ranks first. Even the advice of of the past. With the conquest of power and lowing them. Lenin speaks about this shift ers, Moscow, .l966)] .... Lenin to shift our interests from politics to culture is a piece of political advice. When its co nsolidation as a result cifthe civil war, in focus of o.ur aims and efforts in his ar­ 'Teach every soldier to read and write' our chief problems have shifted to the needs ticle on cooperation: the labor party of a country comes to de­ Nothing, therefore, but the problems of cide that at some given· moment ·the eco­ of culture and economic reconstruction. We have to admit (he says] that there our international position keeps us, as Lenin nomic problem and not the political should tells us, from the struggle fpr culture. Now take first place, the decision itself is politi­ these problems, as we shall see presently, cal. It is quite obvious that the word.. ~ 'poli­ ~6rttt:rrrtBOOKS OF THE MONIH are not altogether of a different order. Our tics" is used here in two different mealrlngs: international position largely depends on the firstly, in a wide materialist and dialectical strength of our self-defense-that is to say. sense, as the totality ofall guiding principles, Pathfinder Readers Club SPECIAl.$ on the efficiency of the Red Army_:_and, in methods, systems that determine collective * * * * this vital aspect ·of our existence as a state, activities in all domains of public life; and. , Malcolm X Talks to Young People :zs~ our problem co·nsists almost entirely of work on the other hand. in a restricted sense. for culture: we must raise the level of the Speeches in the .u.s.,. Britain and Africa DIS.CJlUIIT specifying a definite part of public activity, army and teach every single soldier to read directly concerned with the 'struggle for . ul for one will join in with anyone, I don't care what color you and to write. The men must be taught to read power and opposed to econolfik work, to are, as long as you want to c:hange this 1niserable condition books, to use manuals and !llaps; they must. the struggle for culture, etc. Speaking of that exists on this earth" -Malcolm X, Britain, December 1964. acquire habits of tidiness, punctuality, and politics as concentrated economics, Lenin S1 0 .95, special price: SB.OO thrift. It cannot be done all at once by some meant politics in the wider philosophic miraculous means. After the civil war and sense. But when he urged: ''Let us have less Feminism and the Marxist Movement during the transitional period of our work, politics and more economics," he referred MARY-ALICE WATERS attempts were made to save the situation by to politics in the restricted and speciaf sense. a specially invented "proletarian military Since the founding of the modem revolutionary workers move­ Both ways of using the word are sanctioned doctrine," but it was quite lacking in any real by tradition and are justified. ment 150 years ago, Marxists have championed the struggle understanding of our actual problems. The · for women's rights and explained the economic roots in class same thing happened in regard to the ambi­ society of women's oppression. $3.50, special price: S2.50 tious plan for creating an artificial "prole­ 1Trotsky's discussion of disputes over "prole­ tarian culture." 1 All such quests for the phi­ tarian military doctrine" will be found in his Mili­ War .and Crisis in· the Americas, 1984-85 losophers' stone combine despair at our tary Writings (Pathfinder Press. 1971 ). and his FIDEL CASTRO $19.95, special price: $15.00 deficiency in culture with a faith in miracles. discussion of"proletarian culture" will be found We have, however, no reason to despair. and in Literature and Revolwion (Ann Arbor. 1960). Problems of Everyday Life Creating the Foundations for a New Society in -Revolutionary Russia -LETTERS LEON TROTSKY 'War agains~ ~rrorism' crack down on Kashmiri independence Articles from the early Soviet press on social and cultural is­ I've been readi~your articles on the so­ forces based on its soil." sues in the struggle to forge new socialist women and men. called "war against terrorism" wi.th interest Do you have evidence that Pakistan backs S27 .95, special price: S21.00 because at least one gets an objective view independence for Kashmir? Independence from you as compared to what many news­ may well be the proper political attitude to­ Polemics in Marxist Philosophy papers write here at home. Just a day be­ ward Kashmir-but that is not to say that GEORGE NOVACK fore yesterday I also watched with interest Pakistan backs it, or that the Islamic funda­ George Bush labeling iran, lraq. and North mentalists involved in the attacks are inde­ Novack defends scientific socialism-the generalization of the Korea as evil countries, bent on destroy~ pendence supporters. On the contrary, it historic line of march of the working class, first advanced by America and the world as if the world be­ appears that all Indian and Pakistani moves • Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. He answers those in th,e twen­ gins and ends with America. With such an are to retain their portion of Kashmir, or tieth century, who, parading as the true interpreters 6f Marx, arrogant attitude, I see Bush makin!fmany expand it. have provided a •philosophical" veneer for the anti-working­ more enemies for the innocent Americans. ii..D. class political course of Stalinist and social democratic Churchill Mbatha Spnta Clarita, California misleaderships around the world. $20.95, special price: S16.00 Johannesburg, South Africa Un programa de accion M Action Program to Kashmir independence The letters column is an open·forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interes• to Confront th,e Coming Economic Crisis. $5.00, special price: S4.0o Two recent articles in the Militant regard­ ing the India-Pakistan struggle said. "New working people. Delhi seeks to deal a decisive blow to the Please keep your letters brief. Where ..Join the Pathfinder Readers Club for $1 Q Kashmir independence movement" and necessary they will be abridged. Please and receive· discounts all year long "Was~on 's assault lias been to back the indicate if you prefer that your initials Indian· government's demand that Pakistan be nsed rather than your fnll name. February 18,2002 Tbe Militant 15 THE MILITANT Health workers rally against cutbacks

BY MIKE BARKER lies and write MLAs [members VANCOUVER, British Colum­ of the provincial legislature.]" bia- Chanting "Hey. hey, ho ho! D_cnisc Si teman. a l-IEU -c:lre Union bu sting ha s got to go!" - . aide at Holyrood Manor, a long­ 2,000 health-care workers and 1 , · ~,. .. ~ . .. term care facility, pointed out their supporters marched through u,_.,,oN· that besides wanting t'o downtown Vancouver on February ~...... susr,~c "privatize, shut everything 2 to protest Bill 29. the so~ca llcd down, and cut wages," the gov­ .... ~ . Social Services Improvement Act. ernment also aims "to break the "Private Health Can:: Grel!d - un-ions because we arc power­ Before Need'' read one of the ful." Two female care aides in the sig1~s carried by workers at the HEU at Burnaby Hospital, who demonstration. Other rallies took aidn't want their names used, place thai day throughout the sa id they were tiH.:rc to "protest province, including in Richmond, job cuts:_thc government is put­ a suburb to the south of ting u.s out pf-a job. Thcrc,'s a lot ' Vancouver. In rural British Co­ at st'ake here . A lot of us arc lumbia. 2,000 rallied in· Grand single mothers. Do they want us Forks and another 250 in to go on wclfhrc'!" Castlcgar in the West Kootcnays. Members of· other unions such. Passed during a late night ses­ as tht: Canadian Union of Public sion of the provinciallcgislaturc·on Employees, the l-ISA, and the January 27. Bill 29 breaks cxisJ ­ BCNU also came to 'the action ing union contracts in health care with their union banners. Karen and social services. The law ends Stearman, a HSA member at the all protection against contracti1ig Cancer Agency, said ... Tearing up out tor 90 percent of the 46,000 contracts is evil , If you get rid of members of the Hospital Employ­ the unions, you're creating a fc:t'r­ ees Union (l-IEU). Many members ful, hnvc-tJot society. We 'rc act­ of the British Columbia Nurses Jones ing to protect our basic rights." Union (BCNU) and the Health Sci­ Some 2,000 members of the Hospital Employees Union and their supporters marched Febn~ary 2 to protest Darlene Kcnnt:dy, ;{ teacher at ences Association (l-ISA) who arc union-busting legislation and other attacks on wages and working conditions. Three days before workers Mt. Pleasa nt Elementary School, not directly involved in bedside had gone out in a one--day strike across British Columbia and held rallies in II different Cl~mmunitics. sported n "Proud to be a teacher" care arc afTcctcd by the bill, which button. On January 28 45,000 also gives hospitals the unrestricted right to would have brought the wages of more than Employees Union . ·tcnchcrs across the province staged a one­ lay ofT workers without regard to seniority. 13,000 lower-paid workers in group homt:s At the spirited rally held after the Ft:bru­ day walkout to protest a contract imposed According to the Vcmcouver Sun, "Vir­ and other community se rvices closer to ary 2 .march in Vancouver, HEU member by the Liberal government. "We 'rc all in this tually every health-care scrvicc·that doesn't those paid other health-care workers. Brenda Klock, a cook at the Royal together," Kennedy slated "I have friends . directly touch a patient's bed can be con- · On January 29 workers responded to this Columbian Hospital, 1old the Miliwnt, in the health-care system, but cvs:ryone is tractcd out .... That means private compa­ . ttack by waging a one-day strike across "They have no respect tor the working class, aflcctcd. Something needs to be done- look nies could provide hospital laundry, maiil­ British Columbia (B.C:) and holding rallies the poor, and the elderly. All private health at what this government· is doing to seniors." tcnancc, ac_counting and technology ser­ in II different communities. Approximately care ~viii do is give less service to the people vices." 500 worKers attended a Burnaby rally orga­ of B.C. and profit ofT the backs of workers. Anger at attacks on services to elderly Tht: nt:w law also cancels agreements that nized by tht: British Co lumbia Government We nt:cd to fight and sho\v up at all the ral- Many JXOtt:stcrs expn:ssed anger. at the. government attacks on income and scrvkcs provided the elderly. Since ihe beginning of the ycnr, subsidies for prescription dnigs · have bi.:cn severely rcdi1ccd, n monthly in­ Farmers.'in Greece march for debt relief come supplement of$49.50 has been elimi­ BY GEO'RGES MEHRAIJIAN farmers run from 47,000 to 65,000 press has played up the "danger" caused by nated.. and the cost of subsidized bus passes AND MARIA PLESSA drachmas iJ month, about US$121 to $ 168. "inconsidcrarc" farmers blocking the roads. has shot up from $45 a year to $40 a month. ATHENS, Greece- Thousands of work­ "This is not a livable si tuation." he said, Government spokesperson Christos "Taking away bus pa s~ cs from scniors­ ing farmers organized tractorcadt:s across emphasizing that "pensions mu st. be Protopnpas said the roadbl ocks "nrc not re­ thnt's nasty," sa id -a HEU housekeeper at St. Greece on Jm~uary 2R to demand govern­ raised." The 'pension rt:ccivcd by t:1rmcrs sponsible acts and they put fimncr~ in con­ Paul's Hospital. ment action to address the increasingly des­ is about half the minimum amount allot­ flict with the interests of society." In a further rcfkction of the broader con­ perate situation they face. Cotton, tobacco, ted to workers in the city. In a red-baiting attack, he.also called on cerns of working people at' the rally, man y olive, fruit, wine grape, and dairy farmers Makri s said that he expected the the ·communist Party of Greece ( KKE) to participants spiritedly chanted ··six bucks joined together in a united mobilization. tractorcadc to be smaller than planned be­ clarify its position on the roadblocks. Sev­ sucks" when one of the speakers at the rally The range of the farmers' demands rt:­ cause the cotton mill operators had suddenly eral KKE members arc leaders of the limn referred to the Liberal government's intro­ flcotthc depth of the crisis in the country­ given fam1crs only three days in which .to organizations. duction of a so-called "training wage" of side. They arc protesting cuts in subsidies deliver their cotton. "The aim is to force The govcnuncntmobilizcd 2,000 cops for S6 an hour that allows employers to liirc for their products, low prices, and produc­ farmers to take their cotton to the plants, the action. Police helicopters flc\v above the so me new workers bclmv B.C.'s minimum tion ceilings. They arc dcmandii1g aid for thus diverting them from the mobilizations tractorcadcs in a blatant attetnpt to intimi­ wage of $8 an hour. the extensive damage caused by exceptional set for this week," he said. date the fimners . Looking ahead to future actions, Gretchen snowti1ll throughout the country in early Noting the importance of price subsidies Christos l3cnckis, a working fanner from Dulmage, a cook ab the Children 's m1d 'January. Fanners arc also opposing goycrn­ for working farmers, Lambos Zarras, .a the Karditsn region in Thcssaly who .was at Women's Hospifal an

16 The Militant February 18, 2002