Huelga de Guerra de 30 años hambre 12 contra Irak 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 63, No. 6 Feb. 11, 2021 $1 Haiti: Struggle intensifies

By G. Dunkel the members of parliament, mayors and other elected officials expiring, forcing Tens of thousands of Haitians took to them out of office. the streets of Port-au-Prince on Feb. 7 in A general strike called by the Collective numerous very militant and angry demon- of Haitian Unions for the Respect of the strations demanding that President Jovenel Constitution of 1987 (COSHARCO), held Moïse follow the constitution and leave Feb. 1 and 2, was exceptionally effective. office on Feb. 7, when his term expires. The cops estimated that 90% of the eco- Protesters want an end to corruption and nomic activity of Port-au-Prince was shut an accounting of the more than $2 billion down; videos show high school students that Moïse and his cronies stole. playing soccer on the main boulevards of The U.S. State Department made it Haiti’s capital. clear that while it agreed that Moïse has Twitter reports from some of Haiti’s another year in office as president, the other major cities show that the strike was U.S. wants him to organize a few elec- well respected outside the capital. tions. He hasn’t taken the steps needed to Videos on France 24 and Al-Jazeera do so. This led to the terms of almost all show how angry and tenacious the protests have been. In one incident, the Haitian people confront the military. crowd was burning a U.S. flag when a patrol of cops showed other hand explained that he was going Miami and in Quebec. They have pointed up. There was a face-off in which to stay in the streets until Moïse respected out that Moïse is doing what Trump the demonstrators backed away the constitution and revealed where the attempted: trying to stay in power. but didn’t disperse, some hid- money was. Moïse had 23 people arrested on ing in alleys and yards. The In a third incident, protesters caught a Feb. 7, including a police inspector and a cops decided to leave, but first bodyguard for one of Moïse’s ministers, supreme court judge, charging they were directed live fire into the crowd who had been trying to infiltrate a march planning to kill him and carry out a coup. as they piled onto their trucks. and get close to one of the opposition’s The opposition parties take the posi- In another video, a protester local leaders. The bodyguard managed tion—supported​ by the U.N.—​that Haiti with a bloodstained bandage to get away, but the local leader charged can solve its problems through elections. On on one arm and a club in the that the PHTK (Parti haïtien tèt kale), the the other hand, many popular organizations governing party, was running an assassi- in Haiti, like Kolektif Anakawona, Batay nation program. Ouvriye, and MOLEGHAF (Mouvement Bessemer, Ala. The opposition is charging that the de Liberté, d’Égalité des Haïtiens pour la Moïse regime is behind armed gangs Fraternité, led by David Oxygène), have which have attacked whole neighbor- denounced the reliance on elections. hoods that don’t support the government, These groups reject the intervention of burning houses, looting, stealing, kidnap- the U.S. and the NGOs in Haiti. Oxygène ping and killing. characterized the current conflict as a strug- A number of protest demonstrations gle for position, meaning electoral office, supporting the opposition have occurred rather than a class struggle for power. He in the Haitian diaspora, especially around called instead for system change. ☐

A salute to 5 Rosa Parks Harry Haywood Ben Fletcher

Nurses, autoworkers, teachers on the move! 2, 4, 7 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Ala., are in a historic organizing drive for union representation by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Reparations for Store Union. They received significant support at a Feb. 6 rally. Workers World Party comrades (pictured) joined participants ranging from nurses to miners, racist pandemic! 3 traveling from in-state and from Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Tennessee. Union solidarity for the majority Black workforce came from the Capitalist accumulation Boston Teamsters, the Atlanta Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, the Atlanta Labor Council, Communication Workers, Electrical Workers (IBEW) and United and agriculture 3 Auto Workers. The president of the Alabama AFL-CIO addressed the rally. More on page 4. GameStop bubble 8 COVID: comparing ‘Progressive’ prosecutors? economic systems 10 Brutal attack in Alabama Editorial No real change under Biden 6-7 Dangling the carrot 10

Sanctions Kill 8 Yemen: Bait and switch 9 Page 2 Feb. 11, 2021 workers.org Portland nurses demand COVID-19 protection this week ◆ In the U.S. By Lyn Neeley Amazon workers rally ...... 1 Nurses and other health care workers, along with com- Portland nurses demand protection ...... 2 munity members, demonstrated in front of Providence Reparations, health care and the pandemic . . . .3 Portland Medical Center on Feb. 5, demanding COVID-19 Capitalist control over farmland ...... 3 protection and better working conditions. The rally was one day after Providence gave the COVID-19 vaccine—​ Solidarity with Alabama Amazon workers . . . . 4 meant for people most at risk—​to certain large donors On the picket line ...... 4 and board members. Harry Haywood, Black Bolshevik ...... 5 Gabriel Erbs, organizer for the Oregon Nurses Remembering Rosa Parks ...... 5 Association (ONA), told this reporter: “Providence is a multibillion-dollar corporation and one of Oregon’s larg- Ben Fletcher, militant labor leader ...... 5 est employers. If it’s not held accountable for protecting ‘Progressive’ prosecutors put lives at risk . . . . .6 workers, no one will be. ONA nurses are being told to use Alabama attack on incarcerated workers . . . . .6 their own paid time off if they are mandated to quarantine Biden’s ‘prison reform’ ...... 7 and stay home from work. That’s wrong and unsafe for nurses and patients.” White House won’t help prisoners ...... 7 ONA accused Providence of refusing to meet indus- GameStop buying scramble ...... 8 try-standard COVID-19 safety measures to protect nurses ◆ Around the world Haiti: Struggle intensifies ...... 1 WW PHOTO: LYN NEELEY Portland nurses rally Feb. 5, displaying ‘commitment Sanctions Kill ...... 8 cards’ calling for a ‘COVID-19 Bill of Rights.’ Behind Biden’s Yemen announcement ...... 9 Two new books on COVID-19 ...... 10 and other staff, patients and the community. The union had gathered 1,500 commitment cards signed by fellow ◆ Editorial nurses, which were strung together and held by protest- Dangling the carrot ...... 10 ers. Halfway through the rally, a group marched across the facility to deliver the cards to Providence executives. ◆ Noticias en Español ONA is calling for Providence to adopt the COVID-19 Los huelguistas de hambre ...... 12 Bill of Rights which demands protection for state health care workers. The bill is based on the American Nurses Guerra de 30 años contra Irak ...... 12 Association’s “Nursing Code of Ethics” (2015). The Code calls for safe staffing, appropriate PPE, access to timely COVID-19 testing, prompt exposure notification, safety for caregivers, paid time off and compensation for COVID-19 illness and childcare support to continue working through the pandemic. Portland nurses rally, Feb. 5. WW PHOTO: LYN NEELEY ☐

Workers World 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. New York, NY 10011 Join us in the fight Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] for socialism! Web: www.workers.org Vol. 63, No. 6 • Feb. 11, 2021 Workers World Party is a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist and trans people are gunned down by cops and bigots on Closing date: Feb. 10, 2021 party inside the belly of the imperialist beast. We are a mul- a regular basis. tinational, multigenerational and multigendered organiza- The ruthless ruling class today seeks to wipe out Editors: John Catalinotto, Martha Grevatt, Deirdre tion that not only aims to abolish capitalism, but to build a decades of gains and benefits won by hard-fought strug- Griswold, Monica Moorehead, Betsey Piette, Minnie socialist society because it’s the only way forward! gles by people’s movements. The super-rich and their Bruce Pratt Capitalism and imperialism threaten the peoples of the political representatives have intensified their attacks on Web Editors: ABear, Harvey Markowitz, Janet Mayes world and the planet itself in the neverending quest for the multinational, multigender and multigenerational Prisoners Page Editors: Mirinda Crissman, Ted Kelly ever-greater profits. working class. It is time to point the blame at—​and chal- Capitalism means war and austerity, racism and repres- lenge—the​ capitalist system. Production & Design Editors: Gery Armsby, Mirinda sion, attacks on im/migrants, misogyny, LGBTQ2S+ WWP fights for socialism because the working class Crissman, Sasha Mazumder, Scott Williams oppression and mistreatment of people with disabili- produces all wealth in society, and this wealth should Copyediting and Proofreading: Paddy Colligan, ties. It means joblessness, increasing homelessness and remain in their hands, not be stolen in the form of capi- S. Hedgecoke impoverishment and lack of hope for the future. No social talist profits. The wealth workers create should be socially Contributing Editors: LeiLani Dowell, G. Dunkel, problems can be solved under capitalism. owned and its distribution planned to satisfy and guaran- K. Durkin, Sara Flounders, Teresa Gutierrez, Joshua The U.S. is the richest country in the world, yet no one tee basic human needs. Hanks, Makasi Motema, Gloria Rubac has a guaranteed right to shelter, food, water, health care, Since 1959, Workers World Party has been out in the education or anything else—​unless they can pay for it. streets defending the workers and oppressed here and Mundo Obero: Teresa Gutierrez, Carlos Vargas Wages are lower than ever, and youth are saddled with worldwide. If you’re interested in Marxism, socialism Copyright © 2021 Workers World. Verbatim copying seemingly insurmountable student debt, if they even and fighting for a socialist future, please contact a WWP and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium make it to college. Black, Brown and Indigenous youth branch near you. ☐ without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published monthly by WW Publishers, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., If you are interested in joining Workers World Party contact: 212.627.2994 New York, NY 10011. Phone: 212.627.2994. Subscrip- tions: One year: $36; institutions: $50. Letters to the National Office Bay Area Central Gulf Coast Philadelphia 147 W. 24th St., 2nd floor P.O. Box 22947 (Alabama, Florida, Mississippi) P.O. Box 34249 editor may be condensed and edited. Articles can be New York, NY 10011 Oakland, CA 94609 [email protected] Philadelphia, PA 19101 freely reprinted, with credit to Workers World, 147 212.627.2994 510.394.2207 610.931.2615 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10011. Back issues Cleveland [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] and individual articles are available on microfilm and/ [email protected] or photocopy from NA Publishing, Inc, P.O. Box 998, Atlanta Boston Portland, Ore. Durham, N.C. Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0998. PO Box 18123 284 Amory St. [email protected] 804 Old Fayetteville St. A searchable archive is available on the Web at Atlanta, GA 30316 Boston, MA 02130 Durham, NC 27701 Salt Lake City 404.627.0185 617.522.6626 www.workers.org. 919.322.9 970 801.750.0248 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] A headline digest is available via e-mail subscription. Austin Buffalo, N.Y. Subscription information is at workers.org. Houston San Antonio [email protected] 335 Richmond Ave. P.O. Box 3454 [email protected] Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. Buffalo, NY 14222 Houston, TX 77253-3454 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 716.883.2534 West Virginia 713.503.2633 Workers World, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] New York, N.Y. 10011. workers.org Feb. 11, 2021 Page 3

WW Commentary Reparations, health care and the pandemic By Monica Moorehead of Michigan Medicine researchers on health disparities between Black and white patients tied to white suprem- The late John Conyers—​U.S. Representative from acy within class society: “From inadequate access to fresh Michigan and a member of the Congressional Black food and clean water, to screening in early stages of disease Caucus—​introduced bill HR 40 back in 1989, titled or the inability to rent an apartment because of discrim- “Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African inatory housing practices, these long-standing systemic Americans Act.” inequities for some Black Americans can have long-lasting Conyers said, “African slaves were not compensated effects on health.” (healthblog.uofmhealth.org) for their labor. More unclear, however, is what the effects Some of their findings included: Black people have and remnants of this relationship have had on African higher rates of obesity, heart disease and hypertension. Americans and our nation from the time of emancipation Black men have a 2.5 times higher rate of prostate can- through today. I chose the number of the bill, 40, as a cer mortality. The lack of doctors of color means lack symbol of the 40 acres and a mule that the United States of medical visits. Nearly half of all Black, Latinx and initially promised freed slaves.” (Marxism, Reparations Indigenous women had a lapse of insurance cover- and the Black Freedom Struggle,” 2007, p. 20) age between pre-conception and after delivering their Conyers cited a number of objectives of the bill—includ​ - babies, compared to approximately a fourth of white ing setting up a commission that “would then make rec- women. There has been a huge jump in later-stage colon ommendations to Congress on appropriate remedies to cancer among young African Americans due to a lack of redress the harm inflicted on living African Americans.” early testing and diagnosis. Black people are more likely This dormant bill was updated and reintroduced in than white people to develop dementia as they age, due January by Congressional Black Caucus members due to to the impact of high blood pressure on cognition, mem- the upsurge of the Black Lives Matter struggle after the New York City protest, Feb. 3. WW PHOTO: SARA FLOUNDERS ory and executive function. public lynching of George Floyd in May 2020. The National Poll on Healthy Aging indicated food Some concrete remedies through reparations were whites at a rate of 1 in 1,030. (Washington Post, Feb. 1) insecurity disparities—​by age, health status, race, eth- raised in a 2002 class action lawsuit brought by two These two physicians of color have demanded that nicity and education—have​ been potentially worsened Black activist lawyers, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann and the CDC prioritize vaccination of African Americans by by the pandemic. “Access to nutritious food and health Roger Wareham. They sued multimillion-dollar corpo- actively seeking them out by nationality and ethnicity. status are closely linked, yet this poll reveals major dis- rations based in New York and New Jersey that had prof- In other words, use affirmative action methods to guar- parities in that access,” says Preeti Malani, M.D., the ited historically from the heinous slave trade. antee that African Americans have full access to the vac- poll’s director. “Even as we focus on preventing the The lawyers argued that the amount of unpaid wages cine by going to where the people live and work, rather spread of coronavirus, we must also ensure that older stolen from enslaved African workers amounted to over than expecting them to go outside their communities. adults can get food that aligns with any health conditions $1 trillion at that date. The lawsuit demanded that descen- This is especially necessary if mass transportation is lim- they have, so we don’t exacerbate diabetes, hyperten- dants of enslaved Africans should be compensated with a ited—and​ nonexistent in the case of rural communities. sion, digestive disorders and other conditions further.” collective fund to cover the costs of housing, health care In contrast, whites reportedly have more easily traveled (healthagingpoll.org) and education, given the inequalities imposed by institu- to oppressed communities to get the vaccines. The reality is that health care is worsening across tionalized racism since the end of slavery. This outreach could be done with a massive leaflet the board for the entire working class as the pandemic campaign in communities where internet access is lim- exacerbates unemployment, hunger, threats of evictions Racism and the pandemic ited. Vaccines could be made available in community and more. Building solidarity within the working class The need for reparations for equal health care for centers, churches, schools and mobile vaccination units to fight off these assaults—​brought on by a worsening African Americans is being put on full, blatant display organized by authorized organizations and individuals capitalist economic crisis—is​ the way forward. by the raging coronavirus pandemic. It is no secret that trusted by the community. But this can only happen when systemic racism is African Americans, along with other people of color, The vaccines should be prioritized for incarcerated challenged and fought against tooth and nail, and side have been dying in hugely disproportionate numbers workers, who are disproportionately Black, unable to by side with the most oppressed who have been denied compared to white people. The killing discrepancy is social distance and denied masks while being caged in as a community any basic right, such as health care. especially acute in large cities like Detroit, Chicago, New an environment lacking quality health care, food and Racism is a poisonous venom that the ruling class—​ York, Milwaukee and Los Angeles. exercise. driven to hold on to their profits—​uses to weaken and According to Uché Blackstock, an emergency phy- divide the entire working class. The struggle for repa- sician and founder and chief executive of Advancing Genocidal treatment rations is more valid today than ever—​and especially Health Equity, and Oni Blackstock, a primary care and The inequality of death during the pandemic reflects during this pandemic. The right to reparations, includ- HIV physician and founder and executive director of the fact that lack of adequate health care for Black people ing health care, is a worker’s issue! Health Justice, African Americans are dying from the is not an isolated occurrence but has been a generational pandemic at the rate of 1 in 735 people, compared to inequality. On June 3, a study was released by University Tweet the writer at: @mmashcat Capitalists consolidate control over U.S. farmland By Ted Kelly size is actually on the rise. How could this with repercussions for the entire work- be? It’s because of the consolidation of ing class, especially with the implications The amount of farmland in the United ownership into fewer private holdings. It of the capitalist state’s deadly negligence States has been in steady decline for most appears that the billionaires are snatching around the COVID crisis. of the 21st century. While roughly 40% of up farmland as fast as they can. the country’s land area remains devoted to This year, it was revealed that the Need to defeat capitalism agriculture, 14 million acres of farmland largest private owner of farm-assessed Nearly a half million agricultural work- were lost to ecological devastation or devel- property in the U.S. is now Bill Gates. ers have contracted COVID-19, but accord- opment between 2012 and 2017. (American According to the Land Report, Gates owns ing to the National Center for Farmworker IMAGE: MODERNFARMER.COM Farmland Trust) At least 2 million addi- 243,000 acres of farmland in Louisiana, Health, “this figure likely underestimates tional acres have been lost every year since Arkansas, Nebraska and Arizona, as well the number greatly, since it excludes con- Capitalist development and settler then. (U.S. Department of Agriculture) as smaller holdings in 14 other states. tracted and temporary labor. No com- colonialism have always led to ecologi- And farms are closing at an alarming The other biggest private landhold- prehensive national or industry-wide cal destruction. A century ago, the U.S. rate, with 5,800 closures in 2018 alone. ers in the U.S. include the Offutt agri- testing or reporting of positive COVID faced a massive pandemic. A decade later, Black farm owners have been hit the hard- cultural dynasty—​whose patriarch cases among agricultural workers is being it faced one of its worst ongoing natural est. Since 1920, over a million Black fam- Ron Offutt is the richest man in North systematically conducted.” disasters—​the Dust Bowl, which devas- ilies have lost their farms (Guardian Aug. Dakota—​with 190,000 acres; Stewart Despite the fact that 95% of farms are tated parts of six states in the southern 15, 2019), and they now constitute less and Lynda Resnick, billionaire owners of owned by white people, most farmworkers Great Plains. (tinyurl.com/y2x66697) That than 2% of all farm owners. A 2019 Center Fiji water, Halo oranges and POM juices, are Black and Brown, with 75% of farm- period of unnatural dust storms, which for American Progress study found the with 190,000 acres; reactionary Cuban workers born in other countries. Black were caused by the banks forcing farmers USDA “has a long and well-documented sugar plantation barons Alfonso and José farmers have faced long-term discrimi- to practices that damaged the soil, led to history of discrimination against Black Fanjul, with 160,000 acres; and the J.G. nation from the USDA in allocating loans, famine, respiratory illness, a mass exodus farmers. The unequal administration of Boswell Company, with 150,000 acres. disaster payments and assistance. Half west to California and water shortages. government farm support programs, cru- Average farm size, according to the of all farmworkers do not have legal per- This, in combination with the 1929 finan- cial to protecting farmers from an inher- USDA, is 444 acres. These five land- manent residence in the U.S. (National cial crisis, defined the suffering of the Great ently risky enterprise, has had a profound holders own approximately 933,000 Agricultural Worker Study, 2019) Depression. impact on rural communities of color.” acres of U.S. farmland. By comparison, It must be recognized first and foremost Unless the working class rises up to Yet despite the fact that both the num- Manhattan island is less than 15,000 that all land in the American continents defeat capitalism and imperialism once ber of farms and the overall acreage of acres. The consolidation of farmland was stolen from Indigenous people by and for all, a new era of untold devasta- farmland is plummeting, the average farm ownership is an alarming development European colonizers. tion and misery will fall upon us. ☐ Page 4 Feb. 11, 2021 workers.org Solidarity with Alabama Amazon workers! All out for Feb. 20 National Day of Solidarity! By Martha Grevatt Board of Directors to protect its rights. Who pro- our patients. We now get to sit across the table from man- tects the rights of Amazon workers? Amazon orga- agement and bargain for better working conditions. The nization’s goal is to enhance the Company’s success union nurses in Asheville, N.C., stand with you. Vote yes!” Southern workers: We got your in any way possible; whereas, the union only exists From Greg Roddy, President, ATU Local 725, back! Organize the South! to advocate and fight for the workers’ benefits and Birmingham, Ala.: “Although it may seem hard right The Southern Workers Assembly rights. It’s been my work experience that a union now, if you stick together you can win! The bosses may has gotten behind the Amazon contract is better than any promise.” confuse you about the benefits of the union. But once you workers, calling for a National Day From Chris Hollis, Leader in Valley Protein Blue get it, you’ll be very thankful. The major benefit comes of Solidarity Feb. 20. Collar Workers Organizing Committee, UE, at VP in your ability to negotiate over salary, benefits, pension “All eyes are on Bessemer, poultry plant in Fayetteville, N.C.: “We are in a and so much more.” Alabama, and the struggle to win war of the working class. I know sometimes it feels the first U.S. union at Amazon—​one of the largest and like we are out here alone, but we are in this together. In San Francisco Letter Carriers solidarity resolution richest corporations in the world—​that warehouse work- our own campaign, we had folks that dropped off. But we Meanwhile, solidarity is ers are waging,” the SWA posted on its website Feb. 4. are enduring to the end and are gonna win. It is power- growing around the coun- “We are Southern workers, active in building organi- ful to see what you have endured organizing at Amazon; try. This resolution was zation at our jobs and across the South. We salute you you are so close to victory. Education and knowledge is adopted Feb. 3, 2021, by and send our solidarity to the critical fight that you are power, which is key to winning this blue-collar war. Fear unanimous vote of Golden leading, showing the way for all workers.” only comes from those that don’t know their rights and Gate Branch 214, National The statement added quotes from a number of SWA don’t get involved with their rights. If we stay the course Assn. of Letter Carriers, constituents. until the end, we will be victorious, because we are stand- San Francisco, Calif., at From Dominic Harris, Charlotte, N.C., water depart- ing on the right side of history. One day, we will look back their monthly membership ment worker, President Charlotte City Workers Union, and ask ourselves: ‘During this global pandemic, what did meeting. chapter of Electrical Workers (UE) Local 150: “Amazon you do to make a change in the lives of others?’ Continue Whereas, 5,800 workers at an Amazon warehouse in shows their fear because you got them on the ropes. The to press forward!” Bessemer, Ala., are fighting for a union. They will be vot- company wouldn’t be doing everything they are doing From Susan Fischer, Float pool RN, Mission Hospital, ing Feb. 8 to March 29, 2021, on whether to have union right now, if they weren’t scared of the workers having Asheville, N.C., National Nurses United: “I was one of the representation by the Retail, Wholesale and Department power. They are spending more money on the campaign first nurses to start organizing a union at Mission Hospital Store Union [RWDSU-UFCW], in an NLRB-supervised to bust the union than if they just paid the workers. If we in Asheville, N.C. Organizing the union was a challenging election; stick together, through collective action and collective bar- but incredibly rewarding experience. Having a union has Whereas, this important labor struggle pits this gaining, we can make things happen. From Charlotte we given us a collective voice to stand up for ourselves and majority African American work force in Bessemer, Ala., can see you fighting for what you deserve. You have against the anti-union Amazon, second-largest pri- our respect and admiration. Keep going strong.” vate company in the U.S.; and From Jamila Allen, N.C. Raise Up/Fight for $15 Whereas, the Southern Workers Assembly has and a Union: “To our brothers and sisters who are set Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, as a day of solidarity leading the way by unionizing your Amazon ware- with the Amazon workers in Bessemer and their house in Bessemer, Ala.: We stand with you. We see fight for a union; you. You are doing what needs to be done. Thank Therefore be it Resolved, that Golden Gate you! Here in Durham, N.C., fast-food workers and Branch 214 of the National Association of Letter grocery store workers are organizing to build our Carriers, based in San Francisco, Calif., join in sol- power. We know that forming unions will be the idarity with other labor and community organi- game changer for us inside these low-wage jobs. zations in supporting the Amazon workers union Your fight is our fight, and we’re watching you with drive in Alabama by encouraging solidarity actions hope and solidarity. Stay strong!” during the spring of 2021, for example on Feb. 20 at From Leonard Riley, 45-year-member, Amazon facilities or related Whole Foods Markets. International Longshoremen Association Local 1422, Charleston, S.C.: “Becoming a part of a union- For more on solidarity actions: ized workforce is among the best things I’ve done in Communication Workers (CWA) members support Amazon union drive, supportamazonworkers.org/ my entire life. Amazon has its CEO, its attorneys, its Bessemer, Ala., Feb. 6. facebook.com/SupportAmazonWorkers

This was unfortunate but not surprising, given the order to return to the physical classroom. Jordan said, bosses’ utter disregard for their employees. Workers “There is absolutely no reason, other than sheer cru- when we charge that women only get promoted if they enter into elty, to bring members into unsafe buildings Monday.” fight a personal relationship with a supervisor. One worker (Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 5) On the we win! who lost a finger due to faulty machinery was mocked by In Chicago, the situation has developed into a conten- management—while​ he waited for medical assistance. tious battle between the Chicago Teachers Union and When management denied the union recognition, the Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The mayor, who ran as a “pro- picket line workers walked out. The strike began Jan. 21 and ended gressive,” has repeatedly misrepresented the negotia- By Marie Kelly Jan. 30, when workers returned to the job without mak- tions with the union and threatened teachers with harsh ing any concessions. disciplinary action if they don’t return to the classroom. They plan to petition for a union authorization election The standoff escalated when pre-K and special education Ohio auto parts workers with the NLRB. One of three things happens when the teachers were ordered back into schools Jan. 4. Many NLRB receives a request for election petition: 1) there is refused to work in person, and dozens were deemed move to unionize an election; 2) the NLRB dismisses the petition because absent without leave, locked out of their Chicago Public it is not proper; or 3) the union withdraws the petition—​ Schools remote-teaching platforms and denied pay. Workers at the Borger auto parts plant in Norwalk, usually because the union believes it will lose the repre- Before the much larger second wave of kindergarten Ohio, have experienced sexual harassment, racism and sentation election. through eighth grade students was due to start in-person safety problems. Wages and pay increases are “mer- Solidarity with Borger workers and support for their classes Feb. 1, union members formalized the remote- it-based,” which in practice means they are inconsistent ongoing labor struggle will help them win. only tactic as a collective labor action, which meant that and based on favoritism. Pay is lower than other com- if teachers were locked out on a large scale, they would parable businesses in this deindustrialized part of the go on strike. The mayor had to succumb to the union country. Teachers unions defy return members’ solidarity, pushing back the timeline to force Borger is an international company; workers in teachers back in the building. Within the Chicago school Borger’s German plant are unionized. A majority of to unsafe classrooms system, 80% of families are in favor of continuing remote the 170 workers at the plant signed union cards to join learning until it is deemed safe to return to in-person Workers United (part of Service Employees, SEIU) and Teachers unions across the country are mobilizing to learning. demanded management recognize their union. protect their members, as many school districts call for The CTU and CPS reached a tentative agreement Feb. When union representatives collect signed cards from the return to in-class learning. This comes after leaks 7, averting a strike. In a major win for the union, no a majority of a bargaining unit (the grouping of workers from a CDC statement that reports a low risk to contract- teacher will be forced back to an in-person classroom seeking union representation), they can ask management ing COVID in school. The statement doesn’t take into without being offered the COVID vaccine. The city also to voluntarily recognize the union. This is referred to as a account the higher contagion risk of the new COVID vari- conceded on the issue of accommodations for staff who “demand for recognition,” or “card check,” and bypasses ant strains, the crumbling ventilation and infrastructure ask to continue working from home because they live petitioning the National Labor Relations Board to con- of urban schools—or​ the vaccine distribution debacle. with a medically vulnerable household member. duct a secret ballot election. Borger bosses refused to rec- Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry The agreement will next be reviewed by union leader- ognize the union by card check. Jordan is calling for teachers to defy the school district’s ship and then go to a vote by the rank and file. ☐ workers.org Feb. 11, 2021 Page 5 Harry Haywood, Black Bolshevik By Devin Cole Deep South. The Black Belt February 4 was the birthday of Black Communist thesis, presented Harry Haywood, one of the great Marxist-Leninist by Harry Haywood thinkers, leaders and revolutionaries of the 20th cen- to the Soviet Union tury. Although Haywood was born over 100 years ago and the CPSU, was and has been deceased for over 30 years, his contribu- adopted at the Sixth tions to Marxism-Leninism and the struggle for Black Congress of the Liberation and self-determination remain central in the Communist International in 1928, under Joseph Stalin’s fight for revolutionary socialism. leadership. However, it was less than popular in the U.S. Haywood, a leader of the Communist Party (CPUSA) and earned Haywood the contempt of many of his “com- and member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union rades” in the CPUSA, who viewed racism simply as a (CPSU), developed and popularized the theoretical con- Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers and their revolt moral problem and not as a problem of economic and cept known as the Black Belt thesis, which explains that against white supremacy and capitalism-imperialism political oppression. Though Haywood became a leader Black people in the U.S. make up an entire nation that is is heavily documented in Robin D.G. Kelley’s ground- in the CPUSA for some time until his expulsion in the late nationally oppressed by capitalism and U.S. imperialism. breaking book, “Hammer & Hoe: Alabama Communists 1950s, his position on the Black Question was routinely Although enslaved Africans forced into bondage in the During the Great Depression.” criticized for many years while he remained in that party. U.S. were from different places with different cultures, Haywood, viewing Reconstruction as an unfinished Today Harry Haywood’s thesis still resounds with his- Haywood argued that their multicentury experience of bourgeois democratic revolution in the South, saw the tory: that Black people are an oppressed nation within slavery forged them into a distinct people bound together end of Reconstruction through the Compromise of 1877 the U.S. Currently, there are uprisings at prisons all by their economic super-exploitation in the development as a betrayal by the bourgeoisie, which plunged Black across the state of Alabama and disruptions of the pris- of the Deep South—​geographically defined by Haywood workers back into super-exploitation. This led to decades on-industrial complex in surrounding Southern states, as south from Virginia and Washington, D.C., and west of heightened reaction, including the founding of the led by incarcerated Black workers such as those in the to Texas. KKK, the “separate but equal” legal doctrine and Jim Free Alabama Movement and the Alabama Resistance V.I. Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and Crow segregation. Movement. But this struggle is carried out as well the Soviet Union until his death in 1924, recognized Haywood connected this repression to the rise of U.S. by incarcerated and paroled workers in California, African Americans as a distinct, oppressed national- imperialism at the end of the 19th century. He tied it to Pennsylvania and across the country. ity. In 1920, he wrote that there is a “clear distinction the oppression and super-exploitation of landless Black The majority-Black Amazon warehouse workers in between the oppressed, dependent and subject nations workers in the South, who still worked the land they and Bessemer, Ala., are now fighting for a union, which and the oppressing, exploiting and sovereign nations.” their families had worked while enslaved. would be the first ever Amazon union in the U.S. There (Draft Theses on National and Colonial Questions for the is no doubt that if this union drive wins, it would have a Second Congress of the Communist International) A lifelong advocate for Black liberation ripple effect, with Amazon workers unionizing country- The abrupt and violent end to Reconstruction—which​ Haywood, from the 1920s until his death in 1985, wide and worldwide, tearing a hole through the seem- had provided a 12-year period of some relief for Black advocated for the self-determination of all Black peo- ingly impenetrable armor of Amazon. workers following the end of chattel slavery and the Civil ple—​an oppressed nation within the U.S.—​and full Black workers are still fighting for their liberation and War—​resulted in the construction of Jim Crow laws liberation from capitalism-imperialism, up to and self-determination in an era of capitalism at its most tying Black workers to the land again in new forms of including the right to separate from the U.S. Haywood chaotic free fall yet. Harry Haywood’s words—​and the slavery—​prison and agrarian work. The former exists theorized that the struggle for Black Liberation would struggles of Black liberation and self-determination—​ to this day in the prison-industrial complex. The era of come from the “national territory” of Black people—​the truly live on. ☐

On the anniversary of her birth Ben Fletcher, militant labor leader Remembering Rosa Parks By Marie Kelly their demands based upon the ever-present threat of a strike.” By Monica Moorehead One of the greatest labor Fletcher was a gifted pub- leaders of the tumultuous lic speaker. Letters about his When I was three years old period of the early 20th cen- speaking tour in the 1920s in 1955, my parents lived in tury was a Black man from describe that at “several meet- Montgomery, Ala. They attended Philadelphia named Ben ings about 1,500 have listened, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Fletcher. In the forward from spellbound ...”; and Fletcher where they heard the Rev. Dr. the biography by Peter Cole, was the “only one I ever heard Martin Luther King Jr. preach every “Ben Fletcher: The Life and who cut right through to the Sunday. That church would eventu- Times of a Black Wobbly,” bone of capitalist pretensions ally become an historic organizing labor historian Robin D. G. to being an everlasting ruling center for one of the most important Kelley describes Fletcher as class, with a concrete con- struggles of the 20th century when a “radical pragmatist in that structive working-class union Ben Fletcher a tired, but brave African American he paid attention to context, argument.” (Labor Notes, seamstress refused to give up her emphasized solidarity, and Dec. 17, 2020) seat to a white man on a segregated approached the work in an As Fletcher wrote, “While continue organizing with Local bus on Dec. 1, 1955. Rosa Parks at the time of her arrest, improvisatory and flexible I do not countenance against 8. (Labor Notes, Dec. 17, 2020) Under Jim Crow laws, any white 1955. manner—all​ without ever los- the working class striking at Local 8 was one-third person could demand that a Black ing sight of the long-term goal: the ballot box, I am firmly African Americans, one-third person sit in the back of a bus if they the emancipation of the work- convinced that foremost and Irish and Irish Americans were occupying seats in the front. in Montgomery, Parks helped to ing class from capital.” historical mission of labor is and one-third other European The seamstress’s name was Rosa launch a national campaign to bring Born in 1890, Fletcher to organize as a class, indus- immigrants. Fletcher built Parks, who was also a secretary for about attention and justice for the grew up near the Delaware trially.” He advocated for the local in accordance with the local NAACP. Her arrest helped late Recy Taylor, a Black woman River docks where he eventu- a multiracial union move- IWW’s commitment to inter- to ignite a powerful mass movement abducted and sexually assaulted ally worked. Fletcher joined ment, arguing: “No genuine racial unionism, explaining in Montgomery. Dr. King may have by six white men in Henry County, the Industrial Workers of attempt by Organized Labor that bosses benefitted by keep- been the face of this movement but Ala., in 1944. None of these white the World around 1910 and to wrest any worthwhile and ing Black and white workers make no mistake, the organiza- supremacists were ever charged became a leader of the new lasting concessions from the fighting each other. tional backbone of this struggle was with this unspeakable atrocity. IWW Local 8 in 1913, steer- Employing Class can succeed When the bosses hired mainly led by Black women. Rosa Parks was also a trailblazer ing the dockworkers local as long as Organized Labor nonmembers or fired any Black people organized a grass- for the modern-day Black Lives throughout the 1920s. for the most part is indifferent Wobblies, workers quit work- roots boycott against riding segre- Matter movement, when she and The local was born after a and in opposition to the fate of ing. The IWW became a force gated buses that lasted exactly one her spouse, Raymond Parks, joined successful two-week strike by Negro Labor.” (Labor Notes, to be reckoned with on the year. Black people who had cars, the worldwide campaign to free the 4,000 dock workers. Local 8 Dec. 17, 2020) docks, raising wages and like my parents, volunteered to drive Scottsboro Brothers, who were nine was successful in abolishing Fletcher was a target of U.S. improving working conditions carless Black people to work early in Alabama Black youth wrongfully unfair hiring practices and state repression of the IWW and putting an end to segre- the morning and pick them up from accused of raping two white women establishing a union hiring during World War I; the gov- gated work gangs. All union work in the late afternoon/early eve- in 1931. hall. Cole wrote, Local 8 “forced ernment labeled the IWW “a committees and activities were ning. The boycott was successful in For all of her sacrifices to corporations in Philadelphia vicious, treasonable and crim- racially integrated. not only defeating the segregated bus the struggle as a Black woman, to deal with a union in which inal conspiracy” and tried to Unfortunately Fletcher’s ordinance but helping to launch the Rosa Parks rightfully earned the the great majority of members crush it. Many Wobblies were labor activism was cut short decades-long Civil Rights Movement. title “mother of the Civil Rights were African Americans and arrested. Fletcher, the only by a stroke in 1933; he died in Rosa Parks was born Feb. 4, Movement.” European immigrants. And Black defendant, served sev- 1949. Ben Fletcher left behind 1913, and died Oct. 24, 2005. Even they did it without ever signing eral years in prison, after which a powerful legacy of militant, before taking her heroic stance Tweet the writer at: @mmashcat a contract, instead enforcing he returned to Philadelphia to anti-racist unionism. ☐ Page 6 Feb. 11, 2021 workers.org ‘Progressive’ prosecutors put thousands of lives at risk By Ted Kelly Abu-Jamal. he told reporters. “I just want to get out Philadelphia At the same time, the right wing, of here.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 28) including outgoing U.S. Attorney William Kalief Browder was a child when he people for their future crimes. It has The novel coronavirus has claimed an McSwain and the Fraternal Order of was arrested and held for two years in sol- defended this approach with unproven unlikely victim in the United States: the Police, accuses Krasner of not prosecut- itary confinement at Rikers Island, N.Y., appeals to public safety and predictive Sixth Amendment. The right to a “speedy ing enough people nor pushing for harsh without trial. Browder killed himself in accuracy, that in a prior era of bail reform trial” is in critical condition. enough sentences. 2015 at the age of 22, just two years after would have been seen as an intrusion on Philadelphia’s county jail population Now Krasner’s office regularly asks his release. fundamental civil rights.” (The Appeal, has risen to 4,500 and is growing steadily. judges to set bail at $999,999. He’s Malik Neal, executive director of the Jan. 30, 2020) Half of those behind bars have “detain- demanded similar million-dollar bail Philadelphia Bail Fund, wrote: “Courts Especially after last summer’s upris- ers,” meaning they aren’t eligible for bail, amounts for half of all cases that come are supposed to set cash bail only to ensure ings for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, often due to prior convictions. Philly through his office, according to the that people return to court for their hear- Walter Wallace Jr. and all victims of courts have a backlog that has surpassed Defender’s Association. It goes without ings. But in Philadelphia, the poorest big white supremacy, the working class 13,000 cases. saying that oppressed people targeted by city in America, it’s often impossible for understands that this system cannot be Thousands of cases on that backlog are the police in Philadelphia, the poorest big people to pay the 10% of their bail needed reformed. Concessions are no longer scheduled for a hearing in “Room 200” city in the U.S., cannot afford to post even to secure their freedom. They risk losing enough. The workers, on both sides of the of Philly’s “criminal justice” building in 10% of that amount. their jobs, their housing, their custody of prison walls, demand abolition. Center City, a courtroom that does not It saves the district attorney’s office a children and, with the pandemic, their Consider the thousands of workers who exist. Room 200 is used as a technical great deal of resources not to be required lives.” (New York Times, Feb. 4) are currently incarcerated, not on the work-around to “schedule” hearings that to assign lawyers to jury trials to prove a San Francisco District Attorney Chesa basis of guilt or innocence, but for polit- will not take place. defendant’s guilt. And with so few cases Boudin has gone farther than Krasner ical expediency. Shouldn’t these workers By last December, there were already being scheduled during the pandemic, and likely has genuine reform as his goal, be considered political prisoners? more than 800 cases of coronavirus in Krasner is presumably looking for ways rather than careerism. Boudin is the son Free all political prisoners! ☐ Philly jails. This COVID outbreak led to bolster his crime-fighting bona fides of long-term polit- courts to completely suspend all in-per- for his reelection campaign later this ical prisoners; his son hearings indefinitely. year. So after torturing workers in fes- mother served 22 The city’s Defenders Association tering, virus-ridden jails for months and years and his father petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme months on end, Krasner then offers them remains in prison. Court to address this crisis, arguing that plea bargains—whether​ they’re innocent But even Boudin’s “Because nearly all court hearings and or not. bail-reform policy, trials have either stopped or slowed to wrote Colin Doyle, a trickle, each petitioner, and hundreds ‘They kind of broke me’ “reveals how tough- of others like them, have been unable to So far in 2021, Krasner’s office has on-crime norms contest the basis of their confinement.” signed 350 pleas in just 30 days. limit the contempo- Meanwhile, District Attorney Larry Phil Ingram, 31, who has been held rary vision of pro- Krasner is seeking reelection this year. in jail since May 2020, was arrested for gressive prosecution. However, progressives who campaigned allegedly participating in “looting” during Boudin’s office will for him in 2017 have lambasted him for the George Floyd protests. Despite declar- continue the prac- betraying campaign promises for crim- ing his innocence, he’s now seriously con- tice of assessing risk WW PHOTO: JOE PITTE inal justice reform and for his relent- sidering taking a plea deal. to justify incarcerat- Car caravan demands ‘free our people’ on April 10, 2020 in less attempts to block justice for Mumia “At this point, they kind of broke me,” ing legally innocent Philadelphia. Alabama prison attack on incarcerated workers By Devin Cole the back of the head. Then guards beat He was taken away by the CERT squad media that “nothing is wrong except that Occupied Muscogee Creek Land Kinetik and, after he was unconscious, and his whereabouts are still unknown. two guards were stabbed.” No mention of dragged him from his cell by his feet. Kinetik was airlifted to the University four incarcerated people brutally beaten Events in this report happened on the Graphic evidence of this assault was of Alabama-Birmingham trauma unit – two nearly beaten to death, and a third next to last day of a month-long strike captured on video by another incar- where, to add insult to injury, his family still unaccounted for. and “economic black-out” of Alabama cerated person and posted on Youtube was refused entry. Eyewitnesses report Prison abolitionists are putting pres- state prisons, led by incarcerated work- that the trauma unit was sure on ADOC to fire the officers involved ers and called by the Free Alabama heavily guarded by armed as well as the wardens of Donaldson Movement. For more on the strike, see cops. Correctional Facility. They are appealing Workers World, Dec. 4, 2020. A group of students from for support of the following demands for Alabama Students Against justice for the Donaldson 4: On the morning of Jan. 30, Alabama Prisons mobilized outside 1. Return Kinetik to the hospital and correctional officers and sergeants beat of UAB to demand UAB and allow him and Ephan Moore to and critically injured two incarcerated ADOC allow Kinetik’s par- remain there. workers, one of whom was having a men- ents to see him, but to no 2. Inform the public where Wilbert tal health crisis, and injured a third. A avail. Smith is and confirm his status. fourth was beaten by a CERT (Community As of Feb. 1, reports have 3. Meet with the Civil Rights Division Emergency Response Team) squad. confirmed that both Kinetik of DOJ. Alabama Department of Corrections and Ephan Moore are alive, 4. Fire the wardens and all officers (ADOC) is now attempting to cover up the but in critical condition. involved. brutality these four Black men were sub- Kinetik’s skull was cracked jected to and that all incarcerated persons in three different places and 5. Allow victims to meet with attor- in Alabama experience regularly. he has three broken ribs. neys and families, and release pho- Ephan Moore was having a mental In an outrageous move, he tos of injuries. health crisis in his cell in the early morn- has been moved back to an For the petition from the Free Alabama ing hours that day. Eyewitnesses report ADOC infirmary, which will Movement calling for the immediate seeing one officer strike Moore on the not provide proper medical investigation, termination, and charging top of his head with “an ax-like object.” and Facebook. Facebook has repeatedly care. It has been confirmed that Moore of the officers responsible for these brutal (tinyurl.com/39lrlpvj) After Moore was removed the video, which was reposted was struck three times with a meat attacks: tinyurl.com/3bd4d2bv. rendered unconscious by this brute force, several times. cleaver by one of the guards; he has had four or five officers continued beating Guards also beat Derrol Shaw, causing two surgeries since the attack. Devin Cole is a transgender Marxist him. minor injuries. After the attack on Moore ADOC has already gone to work, not by organizer and writer. They are the presi- Robert Earl Council, known as Kinetik and Kinetik occurred, all of Donaldson firing the officers and charging them with dent of Strive (Socialist Trans Initiative), Justice, attempted to intervene and Correctional Facility, as well as every attempted murder, but by sweeping this a transgender advocacy organization pleaded with the officers to stop beat- other prison in Alabama, went on lock- brutality under the rug and outright lying in northwest Florida, and a member ing Moore. As Kinetik walked away from down. The CERT squad was called in, and to the public. A phone zap to Donaldson of the Workers World Party – Central the guards and back to his cell, a guard it was at that point that another incarcer- Correctional Facility revealed that prison Gulf Coast (Alabama, Florida, and sergeant tracked him and struck him in ated person, Wilbert Smith, was beaten. officials are telling the public and the Mississippi) branch. workers.org Feb. 11, 2021 Page 7 Biden’s ‘prison reform’: Smoke and mirrors By Betsey Piette While hailed by some several criminal justice as an important “first reforms beyond ending the In an executive order signed Jan. 26 as step” toward prison use of private prisons. They part of his “racial equity” plan, President reform, the truth is that include eliminating solitary Joe Biden ordered the U.S. Attorney Biden’s order barely confinement, improving General and the Department of Justice begins to scratch the prison conditions, reducing not to renew contracts with privately surface of mass incar- the incarcerated popula- owned and operated-for-profit prisons ceration. A study tion and ending the federal and federal detention facilities. released by the Prison death penalty. What is the impact of Biden’s man- Policy Institute on Biden’s order, which date? Currently there are over 152,000 March 24, 2020, reiter- included his prison-re- incarcerated workers held in federal pris- ated an already estab- form policy, merely paid ons. His order affects roughly 14,000 of lished fact: The U.S. lip service to the victims of those imprisoned in privately run federal locks up more people police murder, including facilities, less than 10% of the total federal than any other coun- George Floyd. And it does prison population. try. Some 698 of every nothing to end the system The president’s order does not suspend 100,000 residents are of corporate profiteering any existing for-profit private prison con- incarcerated; that totals off the backs of incarcer- tracts, which could take years to expire, 2.3 million people. Alabama Students Against Prisons demonstrate against state plans to construct ated workers. nor will it affect contracts private prisons Of those detained in three new private prisons, Dec. 30, 2020, Birmingham, Ala. Like many of Biden’s hold with state or local entities. It does U.S. prisons last March, executive orders, his not reduce the federal prison population, over 1.29 million were “prison reform” policy but simply transfers incarcerated workers locked up in 1,833 state prisons; 631,000 Band-Aid on a cancer amounts to putting a Band-Aid on a can- from private to public penal facilities. were held in 3,134 local jails; and 226,000 Since the 1800s, the U.S. has con- cer. It does not challenge police brutality, Significantly, immigrant detainees were imprisoned in 110 federal facilities. tracted privately run prisons. Today, they repressive criminal justice policies or the are not covered by Biden’s directive. Others were confined in 1,772 juvenile have grown to be a billion-dollar industry, false convictions that have resulted in the Over 80% of detained immigrants are facilities. Immigrants were incarcerated led by CoreCivic and GEO Group, two of mass incarceration of 2.3 million peo- currently held in private for-profit pris- in 218 detention centers. the biggest private prison companies. Yet ple—​a majority of them Black, Latinx, ons—a​ practice begun under the Obama The study found that over 74% of those only 8.1% of incarcerated workers were Indigenous and other people of color. This administration and greatly expanded held in local jails had not even been con- held in private prisons in 2019. presidential directive is essentially nothing under Trump’s presidency. victed of any crime! The Biden-Harris campaign promised but smoke and mirrors. ☐ White House won’t help prisoners By Judy Greenspan President Biden is the man who is set up the disparity in sentencing between This was while she was attorney gen- responsible for the growth of the pris- crack and powder cocaine. This literally eral in California, living in San Francisco, The following are remarks from a on-industrial complex. He authored the filled the prisons. He authored legisla- where you have such a vibrant LGBTQ2S+ Workers World Party webinar on Jan. 21. laws that put hundreds of thousands of tion that poured billions of dollars into community. As attorney general, she even poor Black and Brown people in prison. the building of prisons. refused to release prisoners who were It’s actually been a very painful time Oftentimes when he was authoring these James Baldwin said, “I can’t really say, championed by the Innocence Project. for those of us who are involved in sup- laws, he would write a law that was even because I see what you do.” Because of You have somebody who wrote the porting incarcerated workers. And people the incredible power of Crime Bill, filled the prisons, and then behind the walls are incarcerated work- the Black struggle and you have somebody who was a super ers, and they’re part of our working class. the struggle against prosecutor. So the prison abolitionist They’re part of our fightback. They were police terror and police movement and incarcerated workers are part of our fight against Trump, and they lynchings, the Democrats very worried about what this means in will be part of our fightback against the have had to sort of soft- terms of justice for incarcerated workers. Biden administration and the capitalist pedal this legacy. There’s a parallel between the corpo- system right now. Harris was actually rations that built the prisons and the cor- In California, almost 200 prisoners infamous for not speak- porations that are now managing the ICE have died from COVID behind the walls. ing out against the mur- detention centers. There’s a very serious In some prisons, over half of the incarcer- ders of young Black criminal organization called GEO Group, ated population is infected with COVID. people in California. which owns private prisons around the Joe Biden, unfortunately, is not going Harris is known as a country and halfway houses, which are to be the president who signs an execu- “supercop,” because she semi-lockdown units that have the heavi- tive order ordering states and the federal started out as a prose- est violations of human rights abuses in government to do mass releases. This has cutor. As a prosecutor, California and around the U.S. been the demand from families, but we’re more stringent than what the Republicans she ordered the death penalty. Her office So we have a lot of things we need to not going to get that relief from Biden or would propose. And he was one of the denied transgender prisoners the right to work on, besides the fact that incarcerated Kamala Harris. loudest cheerleaders who demanded to gender-affirming surgery. people have no access to health care. ☐

Philadelphia teachers defy return to classroom order

By Betsey Piette Education later in the afternoon. They Philadelphia were supported by members of AFSCME DC 33 Local 427 (Sanitation), BMWED- Thousands of Philadelphia public IBT Local 3012 (Railroad Workers) and school teachers defied an order from Teamsters Local 623 (UPS workers). school Superintendent William Hite Jr. On Feb. 6, Philadelphia Federation of to return to their classrooms Feb. 8 for Teachers President Jerry Jordan told the first time since schools became fully members to ignore the district’s order to virtual in March 2020, due to the COVID- show up for class on Monday. Later Hite 19 pandemic shutdown. Across the city, rescinded the order and promised no educators demonstrated outside closed teachers would be penalized. public school buildings. (tinyurl.com/ Of primary concern was the lack of ade- y2962287) Despite bitter cold, several quate ventilation in buildings, including teachers set up “classrooms” outside several that had problems with mold individual schools as well as the district prior to March 2020. The district’s “solu- headquarters. tion” was to use window fans to ventilate Around 200 teachers and supporters, classrooms that lack a ventilation system. organized by WE (Working Educators of Many protesters at the rally carried por- WW PHOTO: JOE PIETTE the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers), table window fans to mock this offensive Teachers and supporters rally outside Philadelphia school district building to protest order rallied outside the Philadelphia Board of plan. ☐ to return to unsafe classrooms on Feb. 8. Page 8 Feb. 11, 2021 workers.org

GameStop buying scramble No ‘investor revolution’ By Ben Carroll Robinhood, a free app, makes its money by selling user data—including​ Over the last two weeks, blaring headlines and memes buying activity—​to Citadel Securities, alike have proclaimed the opening of a new front another hedge fund. Robinhood expressing mass outrage at Wall Street—and​ in the most recently installed a glass barrier at the unlikely place: the stock market. entrance to their California headquar- “The war on Wall Street: GameStop sparks revolu- ters, as people driven to financial ruin tion with retail investors” announced Forbes magazine. after trading on the app began show- In 2011 Occupy Wall Street was a real revolt. The mad scramble to buy up “GameStop’s Reddit revolution echoes Occupy Wall ing up to confront the company. GameStop stock was something much less. Street crusade” Bloomberg’s Wealth Report declared. So who really came out on top? Tesla’s Elon Musk, who competes daily with Amazon’s Melvin Capital, one of the targets of the Reddit users’ and 56 new billionaires have joined the elite club. Their Jeff Bezos for the title of richest person in the world, has GameStop buying spree, lost 53% of its value in January. collective wealth sits at around $4 trillion—​a sum that attempted to position himself at the helm of this sup- It would seem that regular people had dealt a major set- is double the combined wealth of the poorest 165 million posed popular revolt. back to the financial elite. However, Melvin was quickly U.S. workers. (NBC, Dec. 30, 2020) To be sure, mass anger at obscene, ever-expanding bailed out by other billionaires and hedge funds—​includ- Congress—​Democrats and Republicans alike—​has wealth and the predatory nature of Wall Street specula- ing Citadel Securities, which came to the rescue to the tune wrung its hands over the most meager assistance for work- tors and multibillion-dollar hedge funds lies at the core of $2 billion. ers and oppressed, which has of recent events on the stock market—and​ the satisfac- For all the hedge funds like If nothing more, the GameStop done little to stop the pain and tion many felt watching them unfold. Melvin that lost money short- suffering so many are experi- But have these events fundamentally impacted the ing GameStop’s stock, many bubble reemphasized what encing. But they’ve been happy wealth and power of the ruling elite? others cashed in on the bubble. has become even more starkly to hand over huge sums of cash Beginning in mid-January, people outside of finance BlackRock—a​ firm that manages to the big corporations, the capital circles began using the popular social media site some $8 trillion in assets, dwarf- apparent during the COVID-19 banks and the Pentagon. Reddit to coordinate buying stock of GameStop, a video ing the economies of most of the pandemic and the resulting The Federal Reserve and game store. GameStop was chosen because it, among world’s countries—​made out, central banks around the world other retail businesses like movie theater company AMC, earning an estimated $2.4 billion. economic and social crises: have flooded the economy with had become the target of Wall Street hedge funds like (Reuters, Jan. 27) Capitalism is an entirely trillions of dollars of cash and Melvin Capital and Citron Capital. Now GameStop’s stock has fallen credit, slashing interest rates to They were “shorting” the stock and stood to make mil- significantly, wiping out billions of irrational system, and the stock stave off a financial crash likely lions from its continued decline. A “short” is essentially a dollars of value and creating huge market has little connection to to be the most disastrous in gamble that the value of a stock will decline. If it does, the losses for people who sunk money capitalism’s history. hedge fund or other entity that shorted the stock rakes in into company stock when it was most people’s economic reality. Because capitalism is a sys- big money, but if it increases in value, they lose money. skyrocketing. tem based on the private own- Many on the Reddit forum cited the pain of job losses, ership of the means of production, these trillions have foreclosures and other hardships they and their families Financial speculation central to capitalist production not been used to create or protect jobs, raise income endured during the 2008 capitalist crisis as motivating If nothing more, the GameStop bubble reemphasized or improve workers’ lives in any meaningful way in the their desire to inflict financial loss on the big firms behind what has become even more starkly apparent during the midst of the pandemic. Instead, it’s been hoarded at the stock market’s rampant speculation. Their intervention COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic and the top, used by the rich to speculate on stocks at cheap did temporarily help push GameStop’s stock up by more social crises: Capitalism is an entirely irrational system, prices and to prop up so-called “zombie” companies—​ than 14,000%—spelling​ multibillion-dollar losses for the and the stock market has little connection to most peo- corporations that earn minimal or zero profit and keep big hedge funds shorting the stock. ple’s economic reality. borrowing money just to stay afloat. In many cases, zom- Since the pandemic began in the U.S. nearly one year bie corporations are unable to pay back the interest on ‘Robinhood’ app protects the rich ago, tens of millions of workers have lost their jobs, been the money they continually borrow; by some estimates As the value of GameStop’s stock rose, the popular evicted from their homes, gone hungry or lost loved ones they constitute about 20% of the economy. investing app “Robinhood” restricted its users’ ability to due to inadequacies in the for-profit health care system. buy GameStop stock. This move earned the ire of many Meanwhile, Wall Street stocks have soared to record Fictitious capital who saw the action for what it was—​the rich protecting highs. The wealth of billionaires in this country has Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels called financial assets the rich. increased by $1 trillion since the start of the pandemic, like stocks and bonds “fictitious capital.” As opposed to real capital—​capital which can be reinvested into the means of production—​fictitious capital is a claim on Petition to the new U.S. administration some portion of the future profits of a corporation, thus “the capital-value of such paper is ... wholly illusory.” The End economic sanctions in the big corporations sell stock to raise funds for investment to more efficiently exploit labor power. A key feature of capitalism is that these companies must continually face of the global pandemic expand or risk being gobbled up by their competitors. (Capital Vol. III, Chapter 29) Sanctions Kill is asking everyone to sign its new shortages of basic necessities, economic dislocation, By nearly every measure, the financial speculation that petition to the Biden administration and Congress. To chaotic hyperinflation, artificial famines, disease and is central to the operation of the capitalist economy and sign, go to sanctionskill.org/petition. poverty, leading to tens of thousands of deaths. It is the detachment of the stock market from the real econ- We write to you because we are deeply concerned always the poorest and the weakest—​infants, chil- omy is reaching a point never seen before. about the impact of U.S. sanctions on many countries dren, the chronically ill and the elderly—​who suffer The Buffet Indicator measures the value of the stock that are suffering the dire consequences of COVID-19. the worst impact of sanctions. market in relation to the GDP. As of Jan. 28, the total The global COVID-19 pandemic and global eco- Sanctions are illegal. They are a violation of interna- value of the stock market was estimated to be around nomic crash challenge all humanity. Scientific and tional law and the United Nations Charter. They are a $47 trillion, while the U.S. GDP sat at around $21 trillion. technological cooperation and global solidarity are crime against humanity used, like military interven- This indicator shows that, historically, the total value of desperate needs. Instead, the Trump Administration tion, to topple popular governments and movements. the stock market is generally 120% of GDP. Currently, escalated economic warfare (“sanctions”) against The United States uses its military and economic that ratio sits around 218%, surpassing the record for many countries around the globe. dominance to pressure governments, institutions and the stock-to-GDP ratio set during the dot-com bubble We ask you to begin a new era in U.S. relations with corporations to end all normal trade relations with tar- and ensuing recession in the late 1990s to early 2000s. the world by lifting all U.S. economic sanctions. geted nations, lest they risk asset seizures and even Other similar indices also demonstrate that the cur- U.S. economic sanctions impact one-third of the military action. rent bubble in stocks compares only to that preceding world’s population in 39 countries. The first step toward change must be an end to the the dot-com bust and the 1929 crash that ushered in the These sanctions block shipments and purchases U.S. policies of economic war. We urge you to end Great Depression. In other words, stock prices today of essential medicines, testing equipment, PPE, vac- these illegal sanctions on all countries immediately are wildly inflated and in no way reflect the value of the cines and even basic food. Sanctions also cause chronic and to reset the U.S. relations with the world. ☐ wealth the working class is actually producing. It’s not a question of if, but when this bubble will bust. The billionaires will look to manage their crisis by further attacking workers and the most oppressed with punish- ing austerity, mass layoffs, wage cuts and social service cutbacks. While the actions by the people who banded together to go after Wall Street hedge funds were certainly righteous, they’re no substitute for building fighting organizations and preparing for class struggle. That is most needed, today and in the immediate future, in the face of the deep- ening and irresolvable crisis of the capitalist system. ☐ workers.org Feb. 11, 2021 Page 9 Behind Biden’s Yemen announcement Bait and switch

By Sara Flounders Bab el-Mandeb and their The war has turned into a domination. disaster for Saudi Arabia and Feb. 7—President​ Joe Biden seemed to announce an Despite six years of the U.S. They are hopelessly end to Washington’s complete support for Saudi Arabia’s relentless bombing, use bogged down in an unwinnable war on Yemen last week, reversing Trump’s and even the of antipersonnel bombs, war and faced with a dilemma. Obama/Biden administration’s public policy. He called U.S. naval blockade, Airstrikes alone are incapa- the war a “humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.” economic sanctions and ble of defeating the Ansarullah In his first presidential foreign policy speech on Feb. 4, drone attacks, the U.S.- armed insurrectionary move- Biden said, “We are ending all [U.S.] support for offen- Saudi alliance has utterly failed to defeat the popularly ment. Sending ground troops into the north Yemeni sive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant based Ansarullah movement, also called the Houthis. As highlands could lead to mutiny and collapse of the Saudi arms sales.” (whitehouse.gov) But he quickly added the Feb. 5 NY Times noted, “about 80% of Yemen’s pop- military. On the other hand, a complete Saudi withdrawal that Washington will continue to help Saudi Arabia to ulation of 30 million people live in areas under Houthi and victory of a radical uprising on the Saudi border “defend its sovereignty and territory,” including selling control.” could be a dangerous humiliation and highly contagious. the Saudis massive new high-tech weapons, for “defen- In September 2019, missiles struck Saudi Arabia’s sive” purposes. The Ansarullah movement eastern oil fields of Abqaiq and Khurais, disrupting On Jan. 25, over 300 antiwar and humanitarian orga- The Ansarullah movement manages to administer a nearly half of Saudi oil production. The resistance move- nizations worldwide called for an end to the Saudi war large area of Yemen, including the capital city, Sana’a and ment openly claimed responsibility. Saudi Arabia and and highlighted the Western countries’ role as enablers most population centers. The movement has grown and Washington refuse to acknowledge Ansarullah’s capac- of Saudi crimes in Yemen. “The war is only possible matured, from a radical uprising that began in northern ity to strike such a devastating blow. Instead, they have because Western countries—​and the United States and Yemen against corruption, through numerous alliances, accused Iran of carrying out the attacks. Britain in particular—continue​ to arm Saudi Arabia and into a national insurrection demanding economic devel- And they blame Iran for supporting the Ansarullah provide military, political and logistical support for the opment and a democratic and nonsectarian government. insurrection, although Yemen is under complete naval war … The Western powers are active participants and In the 1990s, a mass resistance movement for change blockade and has no common border with Iran. have the power to stop the world’s most acute human arose in opposition to Saudi Arabia’s intentionally divi- crisis.” (actionnetwork.org) sive, sectarian influence in the region. Yemen has both Lessons of Syria and Afghanistan What does Biden’s announcement mean for Yemen Sunni and Shia Muslim populations. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Washington and for other countries in the Pentagon’s crosshairs, who Ansarullah was led by a political, religious leader, played a similar role in Syria. In 2011, a small uprising are struggling to survive U.S. economic strangulation via Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s instigated by Washington received immediate support. sanctions? Zaidi Shias, who make up about one-third of the pop- There was great confidence that the Syrian government Biden seems anxious to change the perception of the ulation. Western forces named the movement after this would not survive a month. A complete collapse was pre- U.S. role in the war in Yemen and disguise Washington’s leader, calling it the Houthis. Al-Houthi’s 2004 death did dicted. U.S. imperialist allies and corrupt Gulf monarchies strategy of using the reactionary Saudi monarchy to not lead to the movement’s defeat; his brother, Abdul signed on to an all-out effort to pull the Assad government counter and attack the Iranian government. A look Malik, remains a leader. down. Negotiations involving an appointed government behind this maneuvering should ensure that no section This radical uprising, originally based in the Shia in exile took place for years in London, Geneva, and Paris. of the antiwar movement, despite enthusiastic media Muslim community of Yemen, gained broad sup- The Syrian people rallied to oppose this imperialist and congressional applause, is taken in by Biden’s port from the Sunni Muslim population. People saw takeover. More than 100,000 well-armed and financed announcement. Ansarullah as a popularly based movement against cor- mercenary and reactionary fighters were imported into ruption and feudal reaction. Syria. From 2014, U.S. bombardment and U.S. bases and Washington led the war In 2014, national anger erupted over an International U.S. sanctions have continued the efforts. During the According to the Feb. 5 New York Times, “When Saudi Monetary Fund demand on the Yemeni government entire war, Washington’s politicians and other imperial- F-15 warplanes took off from an air base in southern to implement an austerity plan and remove fuel subsi- ist forces have claimed they are seeking a peace accord. Saudi Arabia for a bombing run over Yemen, it was not dies, which raised the prices of food, water and mass In Afghanistan where U.S. war has ground on for 20 just a plane and bombs that were American. American transit. Mass protests overwhelmed the government in years, at every step the U.S. has promised a withdrawal—​ mechanics serviced the jet and carried out repairs on the September 2014. The ranks of the military refused to act as soon as a stable government is in place or a negotiated ground. American technicians upgraded the targeting against the popular movement. peace agreement. software and other classified technology, which Saudis In January 2015, a shaky coalition government col- Washington’s involvement in negotiations has never were not allowed to touch. The pilot was likely to have lapsed when faced with the popular demand for a new meant an end to war. It is just another form of continu- been trained by the United States Air Force. constitution. A Revolutionary Council was declared. ing the war. “At a flight operations room in the capital, Riyadh, Saudi Then a National Salvation Government was more firmly commanders sat near American military officials who established. Yemen’s Response to Biden provided intelligence and tactical advice, mainly aimed at In this period the two sides of the war in Yemen were “We consider any move that does not end the siege and stopping the Saudis from killing Yemeni civilians.” formed. On one side, the Saudis, the monarchies and aggression against Yemen as just a formality and do not So, in reality the U.S. military directly collaborated in U.S. imperialism backed the unpopular regime headed pay any attention to it,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a mem- the many horrendous massacres Saudi Arabia’s armed by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. In the U.S., British and ber of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council said in a post forces committed during its ongoing war in Yemen. European Union media, this grouping was called the published on his official Twitter page early on Feb. 6. Every bombing run used targeting software, intelligence “internationally recognized government.” The “Republic “The U.S. decision to end its involvement [in the war] and tactical advice, which the Saudis were not even of Yemen Government” had its base in Saudi Arabia. and command of the aggressor states is not enough. ... allowed to “touch.” The ROYG is unable to govern any area of Yemen or Washington’s allies must also commit themselves to com- The attacks included the publicized and universally hold any territory securely. Its rotating cabinet has had pensate victims, enact a package of measures to guarantee condemned bombings of schools, school buses, hospi- numerous splits, changes and assassinations. There have the sovereignty of Yemen, recognize its independence and tals, U.N. Aid Agencies and wedding parties. The bomb- been divisions between northern Yemeni commanders legitimate right to self-defense, and consider any military ing of Yemen’s civilian centers led to a cholera epidemic and the South Yemen Southern Transitional Force, who action either by Arab or foreign states as a criminal act.” and famine. hold the port of Aden and have shifted alliances back Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, another member of Yemen’s Biden’s announcement of U.S. support for the war in and forth. Fighters aligned with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Supreme Political Council, told Al Mayadeen TV news Yemen positions U.S. imperialism for continuing the war Peninsula and Islamic State group, who have often on Feb. 5 that “The war in Yemen ends once all airstrikes with protracted rounds of “negotiations.” Taking part in received U.S. and Saudi support in Syria and Iraq, have stop and foreign forces leave the country. … The United these negotiations would be Washington’s client regime now moved into areas of South Yemen. States may reduce its support for aggressor states with- in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies who backed this In an effort to prop up and give legitimacy to the Hadi out stopping it altogether.” criminal war all along. “government in exile,” multiparty negotiations were held Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution broke a major pillar in Stockholm, Sweden, and Geneva, Switzerland. Saudi Arabia – new U.S. bases of U.S domination of the region, only Saudi Arabia and U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for Central Israel remain to uphold U.S. corporate power. Despite Arrogant miscalculations Command, said U.S. evaluation of a Red Sea port in differences in how to proceed, Biden has no intention On March 25, 2015, Saudi Arabia announced the Saudi Arabia and an additional two airfields began fol- in letting U.S. support for the brutal Saudi regime slip. beginning of military operations in Yemen to restore the lowing the 2019 missile attack against the state-owned overthrown Hadi government. The Saudi-U.S. strategists Saudi Aramco oil processing facilities at Abqaiq, which Yemen – a strategic crossroads expected the operation to win quickly, lasting one month was blamed on Iran. Saudi Arabia’s neighbor Yemen has a strategic location at most. Currently, some 2,500 American soldiers maintain on the Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow strait linking the Red A war coalition of more than 10 countries was hastily fighter jets and Patriot missile batteries at Prince Sultan Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Ships carrying fossil fuels must cobbled together by Saudi Arabia with full U.S. support. Air Base southeast of Riyadh. Saudi Arabia and the U.S. pass this choke point between the Horn of Africa and the It included the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, have continued joint military exercises in a show of force Arabian peninsula to travel between the Persian/Arabian Qatar, Pakistan, Morocco, Egypt, Sudan and Jordan. over the past six weeks. Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal Two years into the quagmire, this reactionary coalition Biden said the purpose of his Feb. 4 remarks was to to the SUMED pipeline. (tinyurl.com/y5zlnutr) of monarchies and military dictatorships completely col- “send a clear message to the world: America is back” Both Washington strategists and the totally corrupt lapsed amid competing interests, infighting, backing dif- and that Washington will continue to help Saudi Arabia Saudi royal family live in fear that a Yemeni government ferent forces in Yemen and suffering humiliating defeats. defend its sovereignty and territory. based on a popular nationalist movement could threaten Country after country withdrew their military forces. This may well mean far greater involvement, not less. ☐ Page 10 Feb. 11, 2021 workers.org

editorial Dangling the carrot

Maybe some thought that President Joe Biden was seri- frame. As of 2020, over half of the members of Congress ous about doubling the minimum wage to $15 an hour were millionaires. Salaries for congress members begin and doing it during the pandemic when workers were at $174,000. most in need. That was never his plan. Living Wage Calculator estimates that one adult work- Republicans introduced an amendment seeking to ing full time (2,080 hours per year) would need to earn prevent increasing the minimum wage under Biden’s at least $12.45 an hour to cover typical living expenses, $1.9 trillion stimulus package Feb. 4. The Senate passed which differ widely by city and state. With a child, one PHOTO: PEOPLESDISPATCH.ORG One of 300 Fight for $15 demonstrations in the U.S. the amendment unanimously, which means Democrats adult would need $25.62 an hour. (tinyurl.com/1n1mjiiw) on May 1, 2019. voted for it. Unemployment during the pandemic has drastically Even Bernie Sanders, chair of the Senate Budget impacted workers’ ability to pay rents or mortgages. The too little, too late. Committee, said, “It was never my intent to increase the stimulus bill signed in late December extended an ear- Limiting relief to the federal checks, without forcing minimum wage to $15 an hour immediately during the lier eviction moratorium only through Jan. 31. Biden’s wages to go up, takes the burden off the corporations pandemic.” Sanders proposes gradual increases over the proposed stimulus plan would extend the federal mora- who continue to underpay their workers. These same next five years. (Business Insider, Feb. 6) torium on evictions and foreclosures through Sept. 30, corporations were the primary beneficiaries of Trump’s Feel the burn. 2021, and allocate $30 billion more for emergency assis- 2017 tax cuts. While keeping workers’ wages below pov- The last increase of the federal minimum wage was tance for households. erty levels for decades, CEOs—​in the top 1%—​have passed in 2007 and signed by George W. Bush. It raised seen their compensation increase by 940% since 1978. Multiple crises unaddressed by bill the minimum from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour by 2009. There During the same period, a typical worker’s income has has been no increase from this pittance since. For tipped None of the federal measures address how workers risen by only 12%. (Economic Policy Institute) workers, disproportionately women of color, it’s even are supposed to pay back rent and mortgages when the Biden’s stimulus plan is intended to keep workers pac- worse, with their federal minimum at $2.13 an hour! moratoriums end. ified while throwing more money into the economy for a Had the 2009 minimum wage been indexed to the Even before COVID-19 hit, minimum-wage workers short-term fix. The promise of doubling the minimum wage consumer price index, it would now be $10.15 an hour. If did not earn enough to pay rents. Average studio apart- is the carrot, dangled out there in hopes that the coronavi- indexed to increases in CEO pay, it should be $23 an hour. ment rent in the U.S. was $534 a month. The current rus pandemic will subside and the economy will improve. (thebalance.com, Aug. 30, 2020) minimum wage leaves a worker with only $377 for hous- This bill does not begin to replace the income of the Over the last few decades, workers’ purchasing power ing. (thebalance.com) By 2026, these numbers will be 22 million workers, a majority women and/or people of has drastically declined. Even before the coronavirus considerably higher. color, who have lost jobs due to the pandemic. pandemic, millions of families in the U.S. were forced to Workers unable to pay for necessities in 2021 need Workers must fight for higher wages and not look to choose between food on the table or a roof overhead. that raise now. Stimulus checks barely make a dent. Biden or the Democratic Party to do it for them. History Meanwhile, average salaries for politicians in federal Biden and the Democrats hope that workers will forget shows that the only time a living wage has been legis- and state legislatures, where minimum wages are deter- about a wage increase and settle for another one-time lated was when struggles in the streets and the work- mined, have dramatically increased over the same time stimulus check of $1,400 per individual. Yet that’s still place forced it. ☐

Two new books on a people’s response to COVID-19 ‘Planète Malade’ and ‘Capitalism on a Ventilator’

By Paddy Colligan and G. Dunkel and death, over a million workers a week have filed for This article lists pages of payouts: to Ivanka Trump’s unemployment [benefits] ever since April. ... [M]illions father-in-law Charles Kushner, to generals, lawyers, bil- COVID-19 is an evolving catastrophe for the world’s of people all over the country have marched and pro- lionaires, and big media outlets, to Catholic archdioceses, working class. You may think you have read all that can be tested racism and systematic abuse of police power.” to businesses owned by Transportation Secretary Elaine said about the virus and can't bear to read one more thing Updating the statistics cited by Flounders, as of Feb. 8 Chao's family and others owned by Paul Pelosi, spouse – even though you follow it closely every day. So it will sur- there have now been 27.6 million cases of COVID-19 and of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and to a host of other prise you to learn that there is significantly more to read. 475,000 deaths in the U.S. (Worldometer) Many epidemi- politicians and wealthy individuals. PPP loans, which Two new books are “Planète Malade” and “Capitalism ologists say even these figures are significant undercounts. were mostly to be forgiven, were just another way for the on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China and Flounders calls out Republican and Democratic politi- obscenely rich to further profit from the COVID crisis. the U.S.” Published in French and English, respectively, cians in the U.S. for scapegoating China, the they include information and analysis that is missing first country to identify COVID-19 among its ‘Planète Malade’ from much of the big business media. They compare how population. Washington’s blaming China for Author Michel Collon, a member of the capitalist and socialist countries have responded to the the pandemic is in line with U.S. imperialism’s Belgian Workers Party, interviewed over 50 pandemic. confrontational economic and diplomatic poli- nurses, doctors, scientists, economists, ecologists While these books come from different political tra- cies toward that country. and reporters from 16 different countries to pro- ditions, what is striking is how frequently they agree. Articles in the “Ventilator” anthology duce two 400-page volumes, published on Sept. “Planète Malade” comes out of the anti-capitalist, socialist emphasize the need to refute widespread anti- 1, 2020, called “Planète Malade.” Volume two movements of Western Europe – France, Germany and China and anti-Asia rhetoric. The writings contains more than 40 interviews. (The two vol- Belgium being most prominent. discuss the political environment surround- umes have not yet been translated into English.) ing the pandemic, and examine how greed, The book begins by asking two key ques- ‘Capitalism on a Ventilator’ hypocrisy, and incompetence fueled by racism have tions: “With another strategy, would we have been able “Capitalism on a Ventilator” is an anthology of writ- infected the woefully inadequate, horrific U.S. response. to save most of Covid's victims, considerably diminish ings by more than 50 authors. They include Vijay Striking articles in the anthology explain how sys- the general agony and quickly relaunch our economies? Prashad (Tricontinental), Max Blumenthal (Greyzone), temic racism in the U.S. intertwines with the pandemic. Why did some countries succeed while ours didn't?” Margaret Kimberley (Black Agenda Report), Margaret Black, Latinx and Indigenous communities have dispro- In an interview with “Le Drapeau Rouge,” the Belgian Flowers (Green Party) and political prisoner Mumia portionately suffered from illness and death. A piece by Workers Party publication, Collon makes this point Abu-Jamal. Its editors are Sara Flounders, director of Abu-Jamal describes this spiraling disaster. sharply. Europe and the United States have a combined the International Action Center, and Lee Siu Hin, direc- Essays explain how China warned the world about the population of around 700 million people and have suf- tor of the China-US Solidarity Network. virus even as Wuhan residents first fell ill. It shared sci- fered about 700,000 deaths. Seven countries in East Flounders’ introduction begins: “The United States is entific data and aided many countries with desperately Asia, including China and Vietnam, with a total of 1.52 reeling from a triple crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic that needed medical supplies. Then Trump and the corpo- billion people, have had around 7,000 deaths. Why has has inflicted over 4.4 million confirmed cases ... the most rate media viciously blamed China for the pandemic. there been such a disparity in outcomes? What is espe- of any country in the world. Beyond this pain, suffering European governments viewed China’s swift, effective cially striking is that this pandemic first spread in China. response with disdain. Collon interviewed Aziz Salmone Fall, an academic Lee Siu Hin’s article, and activist in Montreal. Fall describes a post-colo- entitled “Corporate Theft nial Africa where people in many countries suffer from Capitalism on a Ventilator of COVID $$,” describes endemic health conditions, including malaria, due to The impact of COVID-19 in China & the U.S. the Small Business hunger, bad water and impoverishment. Administration’s COVID- For decades, the imperialist International Monetary A new anthology contrasting the effective Chinese 19 Paycheck Protection Fund and the World Bank, seeking to ensure corporate response to COVID-19 with the disastrous response Program. The loan program profits, ruthlessly forced African economies into austerity. here in the U.S. It pushes back against the racist anti- was allegedly intended to This resulted in hollowed-out public health systems and provide relief to preserve governments unable to offer their people emergency eco- China campaign in the media. small businesses and their nomic support during the pandemic. Fighting COVID will jobs. But the PPP provided burden the future, hampering development and even their Order in print: tinyurl.com/CapVent-print. “a payout for the rich and response to ordinary public health needs. Order ebook: tinyurl.com/CapVent-ebook. connected with only tip Collon interviewed the eminent French mathematician money for a small business.” Continued on page 11 workers.org Feb. 11, 2021 Page 11

Two new books on a people’s response to COVID-19 ‘Planète Malade’ and ‘Capitalism on a Ventilator’

Continued from page 10 control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the measures. The government put the coun- benefit. virus that causes COVID-19, determines try on a war footing to combat the pan- Only weeks after the virus was well-es- Laurent Lafforgue on the mathematics the outcome. Several measures can be demic. Factories ramped up to increase tablished did European countries and of coronavirus replication. His interview implemented immediately to interrupt the supply of needed supplies. Scientific some North American countries reluc- appears early in “Planète Malade,” and transmission: wearing masks, social labs immediately began to study the tantly adopt some of the measures imple- provides a critical tool to explain why the distancing, testing and tracing. But the virus. Emergency facilities were built in mented by China early in the pandemic. responses of most countries were doomed most significant variable is how quickly record time. But for many countries, and certainly for to fail, while a few countries were very suc- governments act to impose controls to The first COVID-19 outbreak had the U.S., it was already too late to get a cessful in holding the pandemic at bay. break the chain of human contact and occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province’s grip on the galloping spread of the virus. Lafforgue says that if one infected transmission. capital and a major transportation hub. The measures they implemented have person infects just two other people in a Once the existence of a dangerous con- Tens of thousands of health care workers been too little, too late, and too intermit- week, by the second week these two peo- tagious disease was known, government aided the people of Wuhan and Hubei tent to have a decisive impact. ple would infect at least two additional officials who failed to act were derelict Province. The Chinese government The result is the terrible toll in death people. By the end of the tenth week, at in doing their jobs. They needed to act imposed a 76-day lockdown on Wuhan, and economic dislocation that has least 1,024 people would be infected from immediately. They should have been able beginning Jan. 23, 2020, that had essen- occurred in Europe and the U.S., which the initial two people. Without quaran- to implement an emergency strategy, tial popular support. This action suc- is by no means over. In the countries tining or some method of interrupting but instead did nothing and looked for cessfully interrupted transmission of the that acted quickly and focused on meet- the chain of transmission, this progres- scapegoats. virus. ing their people’s needs, the ultimate toll sion is inevitable and immutable because The delays meant that the number of There have been 4,636 COVID deaths has been far less. This follows the mathe- this coronavirus is spread through the air. infections and deaths increased exponen- in China since the pandemic began, matical law explained so well in “Planète Lafforgue’s explanation is important to tially. The U.S. and European countries mostly in Hubei Province, which has Malade.” Capitalist countries like New grasp. While it is not news to mathemati- dithered, bickered and pointed fingers. 59 million residents. France, with over Zealand avoided major fatalities by using cians and epidemiologists, it was appar- Weeks passed—and​ the inexorable pan- 65 million people, has so far had nearly a combination of enforced isolation, ently ignored by most political leaders demic described in Lafforgue's model has 79,000 deaths. quarantines, contact tracing and testing, who made, or failed to make, vital policy exacted a terrible human toll. Other countries in Asia, Oceania and lockdowns. decisions in response to COVID. and elsewhere immediately took notice Socialist countries like China, Vietnam China on a ‘war footing’ of China's measures. Vietnam, South and Cuba, whose governments are not Why a rapid response is necessary But this was not the response every- Korea, the state of Kerala in India, Cuba, obligated to preserve and protect cap- This means in practice that the rapid- where. China took dramatic and ulti- Australia and New Zealand moved quickly italists’ profits, had no political obsta- ity with which governments move to mately effective global quarantine and decisively, to their considerable cles and acted rapidly. Beside the public health measures all countries could have adopted, the socialist countries also had significant grassroots organizations Select COVID-19 cases and mortality rates that could mobilize popular support to provide aid to mitigate the pandemic’s # COVID cases # COVID deaths # deaths/million.0 impacts on people’s lives. Belgium 721,432 21,295 1,833.0 How to get the books Both books have printed editions. Britain 3,929,835 112,092 1,646.0 Buying ebooks gets them to readers United States 27,494,757 472,920 1,424.0 immediately. “Planète malade” by Michel Collon. Italy 2,625,098 91,003 1,506.0 Two volumes in one eBook. Available in France 3,317,333 8,794 1,206.0 French only. Tome 1 : L’Enquête (1-431) and Tome 2 : Entretiens (1-395). Each Australia 28,848 909 35.0 volume has footnotes, bibliographic resources and an index. Publisher: South Korea 80,524 1,464 29.0 InvestigAction.net. $10.99 for ebook. Cuba 32,011 233 21.0 See tinyurl.com/1xh61qgg. “Capitalism on a Ventilator: The New Zealand 2,315 25 5.0 Impact of COVID-19 in China and the China 89,681 4,636 3.0 U.S.” Edited by Sara Flounders and Lee Siu Hin. A project of the International Vietnam 1,981 35 0.4 Action Center and the China US Solidarity Network. Order paperback for $16 (plus shipping) at tinyurl.com/CapVent-print * Figures from www.worldometers.info, Feb. 6, 2021 or order ebook from Kobo for $12.99 at tinyurl.com/CapVent-ebook. ☐

Imperio de EE.UU. libra guerra de 30 años contra Irak

Continúa de la página 12 Cambio, entre otros- que obtuvo más funeral de Soleimani. Estado iraquí determinar la logística y el escaños que cualquier otra agrupación Javad Zarif, ministro de Asuntos calendario del intercambio. reciben una excelente remuneración por en las elecciones parlamentarias de 2018. Exteriores de la República Islámica de ello: hasta 22.500 dólares al mes. El 31 de diciembre de 2019, los man- Irán, dijo en una entrevista (publicada en Solidaridad internacional ifestantes iraquíes asaltaron la fortaleza Facebook) que el asesinato criminal de una Un día, la lucha revolucionaria del La influencia de Estados Unidos de la Embajada de Estados Unidos figura tan respetada marcaba un punto de pueblo iraquí por la autodeterminación se enfrenta a nuevos retos en respuesta a los ataques aéreos que inflexión permanente para la presencia nacional expulsará hasta el último sol- En el punto álgido de su fuerza, a medi- destruyeron depósitos de armas perte- militar estadounidense en el país: “Estados dado ocupante de Iraq. La clase obrera ados del siglo XX, el Partido Comunista necientes a grupos de milicianos en Irak. Unidos tiene que despertar al hecho de que estadounidense tiene un papel que Iraquí era el mayor de la región. Pero a La exitosa irrupción de los manifestantes la gente de esta región está enfurecida, que desempeñar en esta lucha librando nues- pesar de ser el partido político que más en la embajada fue una tremenda mues- la gente de esta región quiere que Estados tra propia lucha revolucionaria para hacer tiempo lleva existiendo en el país, el par- tra de coordinación y fuerza popular y Unidos se vaya”. imposible que los capitalistas mantengan tido fue severamente reprimido por el fue una victoria simbólica que demostró La China popular es otro importante este proyecto colonial y para desarmar a régimen baasista de Saddam Hussein. un nuevo espíritu de resistencia contra la aliado del pueblo iraquí a través de su la burguesía y desmantelar su maquinaria Tras la ocupación estadounidense de ocupación. Iniciativa de la Franja y la Ruta. Desde de guerra. 2003, el PCI recibió importantes críticas Días después, la banda de Trump la pandemia del COVID-19, el precio del Sencillamente, la clase obrera por participar en el régimen clientelar ordenó un ataque con drones, matando al petróleo se desplomó y la economía iraquí estadounidense y el pueblo iraquí tienen respaldado por Estados Unidos. En los popular general iraní Qassem Soleimani se contrajo un 12%. La compañía petrol- un enemigo común en el régimen imperi- últimos años, hay indicios de una nueva y a un líder de la milicia iraquí en suelo era estatal iraquí llegó este mes a un acu- alista estadounidense. El mismo sistema oposición, ya que los comunistas iraquíes iraquí. Soleimani fue una figura decisiva erdo de 2.000 millones de dólares para cuya policía asesina a niños negros en han formado una coalición -con partidar- en la derrota de EE.UU. Millones de ira- suministrar petróleo crudo a la compañía las calles de Filadelfia envió a sus tropas ios del clérigo chií Muqtada al-Sadr y el quíes e iraníes marcharon en protesta y petrolera china ZenHua durante cinco a asesinar a niños iraquíes en Faluya, Partido del Movimiento Juvenil por el salieron a la calle para conmemorar el años a un precio superior y permite al Basora, Mosul y Bagdad. ☐ Correspondencia sobre artículos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero pueden ser enviadas a: [email protected]

más información supportamazonworkers.org ¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios! workers.org Vol. 63 Núm. 6 11 de febrero 2021 $1 Manifestantes apoyan a los huelguistas en Batavia, N.Y. Por Arjae Red permanecer en régimen de manifestantes se reunieron frente a la ofi- aislamiento. Aunque algunos cina de campo del ICE en Buffalo, plant- En noviembre de 2020, los inmigrantes presos han decidido poner earon las demandas de los huelguistas encarcelados en la cárcel del condado de fin a la huelga, muchos aún y reprodujeron las voces de los encarce- Bergen, en Nueva Jersey, iniciaron una persisten, ya que el apoyo a lados a través de un altavoz. huelga de hambre para protestar por los presos crece y se extiende El 19 de enero se celebró otra man- las condiciones sucias e inhumanas en por varios estados. ifestación en las instalaciones del ICE las que estaban alojados. A los presos se El traslado de los presos en Batavia (Nueva York). Manifestantes les negaba el acceso al agua, la atención para poner fin a la huelga no de Buffalo, Rochester y alrededores se médica, la calefacción y los suministros sólo perjudica la salud men- reunieron para exigir la liberación de de limpieza. El centro tenía una plaga de tal y social de los presos, sino los huelguistas de hambre, la abolición roedores con la que los presos se veían que también facilita la propa- del ICE y el cierre de los campos de obligados a convivir. Y el personal del gación del COVID-19 de una inmigrantes. centro había bloqueado las ventanas, lim- FOTO WW: ARJAE RED prisión a otra y a las comuni- Kawiye Jumale, activista local de los Manifestantes se reúnen frente a la valla de alambre itando el flujo de aire fresco. dades circundantes. El virus inmigrantes y miembro de la comunidad de púas de la detención del ICE en Batavia, Nueva York, La cárcel del condado de Bergen es uti- el 19 de enero. golpea a los presos de forma bantú somalí -cuyo propio hermano fue lizada por el Servicio de Inmigración y especialmente brutal, debido encerrado en las instalaciones del ICE de Control de Aduanas (ICE) para encarcelar a algunos a otras prisiones. a la falta de equipamiento sanitario, el Batavia- habló sobre las injusticias del a los inmigrantes detenidos. En lugar de detener la huelga de entorno impuro y el hacinamiento. gobierno estadounidense contra los inmi- El apoyo a la huelga de hambre creció hambre, estos traslados hicieron que se En el norte del estado de Nueva York, grantes y los refugiados: “Vinimos aquí en el condado de Bergen y sus alrede- extendiera a las instalaciones del ICE Justice for Migrant Families, Rochester pensando que íbamos a tener una opor- dores, con un llamamiento a la liberación del condado de Essex y del condado de Rapid Response Network y Abolish ICE tunidad para el ‘sueño americano’. . . El de los presos. En represalia por esta sol- Hudson, en Nueva Jersey, y de Batavia, NY-NJ organizaron dos protestas a las ‘sueño americano’ no existe. Vinimos aquí idaridad, las autoridades penitenciarias en Nueva York. Los huelguistas trasla- que asistieron miembros del Workers y estamos en el mismo entorno opresivo. dividieron a los huelguistas y trasladaron dados a Batavia fueron obligados a World Party-Buffalo. El 14 de enero, los Están ganando dinero a costa nuestra”. ☐ Imperio de EE.UU. libra guerra de 30 años contra Irak

Por Ted Kelly el analista militar Manilo Dinucci en la educación. Disolvieron la Guardia Workers World/Mundo Obrero el 21 Republicana iraquí. Eliminaron las Desde la perspectiva de los jóvenes del de enero. “Estados Unidos -que llevaba instituciones que mantenían a los El Centro de Acción mundo, el imperialismo estadounidense tiempo preparando la guerra, observando iraquíes empleados durante los Internacional publicó este ha estado librando una guerra contra Iraq con satélites militares el despliegue de las doce años de sanciones. libro sobre el crimen de las durante toda su vida. Los niños iraquíes fuerzas iraquíes e identificando los objeti- De la noche a la mañana, miles sanciones de Estados Unidos a Irak. nacidos el mismo año del comienzo de la vos a atacar- formó una coalición interna- de trabajadores perdieron su Guerra del Golfo, que deberían estar acer- cional que envió al Golfo un gran ejército única forma de ingresos. Una cándose a sus 31 años, fueron asesinados de 750.000 soldados bajo el mando política conocida como “des- por las sanciones o las bombas impues- del general estadounidense Norman basificación” encarceló a los tas por Estados Unidos. Esta guerra de Schwarzkopf”. miembros del partido Baas o 30 años moldeó la conciencia política de Esta movilización masiva y la devasta- los purgó de las instituciones toda una generación. dora campaña de bombardeos forjaron estatales restantes, incluso a los Las relaciones entre Estados Unidos e un nuevo punto de apoyo para Estados que tenían trabajos no políticos Irak desde 1990 no son las de dos esta- Unidos, colocando bases en Arabia Saudí, que requerían la pertenencia al dos vecinos que se disputan una frontera. y, en palabras del presidente George partido, como los profesores. Es una atrocidad continua que un impe- H.W. Bush, “la crisis del Golfo pasará a Diversas fuerzas de resisten- rio está cometiendo contra una nación la historia como el crisol del nuevo orden cia intentaron hacerse con el oprimida. Es el proyecto de Washington mundial.” control de los recursos del país Estados Unidos destruye Faluya, Irak, en 2004. para dominar Asia Occidental. Durante la siguiente década, las san- y mantener una apariencia de ciones y los bombardeos estadounidenses Estado soberano. Las tropas de ocupación el corazón de Asia Occidental. En 2009, El ‘nuevo orden mundial’, mataron a 1,5 millones de iraquíes, entre estadounidenses las aplastaron con la 16.000 soldados y personal diplomático el mismo colonialismo de siempre ellos 500.000 niños. Cuando se le pre- fuerza bruta, encarcelaron a miles de trabajaban en la embajada de Estados Cuando la Unión Soviética se der- guntó sobre esta política genocida, la trabajadores iraquíes y avivaron las divi- Unidos en Bagdad. rumbó, también lo hizo el contrapeso Secretaria de Estado Madeleine Albright siones entre los trabajadores por motivos En medio de este caos, surgió el lla- que disuadía la invasión imperialista con- dijo: “Creemos que el precio vale la pena”. étnicos y religiosos. mado Estado Islámico (EI). La admin- tra sus vecinos. Los estrategas estadoun- El gobierno de George W. Bush inventó Los escuadrones de la muerte arma- istración del presidente Barack Obama idenses aprovecharon esta oportunidad el pretexto para la siguiente fase de dos por Estados Unidos vagaban por las utilizó al EI como pretexto para reanudar para reconquistar las antiguas colonias reconquista y lanzó una invasión a gran zonas que se resistían a la ocupación. Los los ataques aéreos regulares, al tiempo imperialistas. Su principal objetivo en escala. Washington afirmó falsamente soldados y mercenarios estadounidenses que dirigía tácitamente a los combatientes Irak era controlar los recursos petrolíferos que Saddam Hussein se había coordi- cometieron un número incalculable de del EI hacia Siria en un intento de exacer- y establecer bases permanentes desde las nado con los planificadores de los atenta- atrocidades. Las fuerzas de ocupación bar la guerra civil que había instigado allí. que lanzar campañas militares en toda la dos del 11 de septiembre de 2001 contra utilizaron tanta munición de uranio Pero después de años de derramamiento región. el World Trade Center y el Pentágono y empobrecido radiactivo, especialmente de sangre, un esfuerzo de colaboración Washington sentó primero las bases que, además, estaba almacenando armas en la zona de Basora, que todavía hoy por parte de iraquíes, iraníes, Hezbolá instigando el caos y debilitando a los químicas, las llamadas armas de destruc- nacen niños con defectos de nacimiento y el ejército sirio finalmente venció a los poderes soberanos locales. Para prolon- ción masiva. Ambas afirmaciones eran mortales. Estados Unidos. gar la amarga guerra entre Irán e Irak de falsas. Otro millón de iraquíes murieron Aunque hay muchas menos tropas de 1980 a 1988, que cobró más de un millón Estados Unidos comenzó a bom- en los años posteriores a la invasión de ocupación que en el momento álgido, de vidas, Estados Unidos envió armas y bardear Bagdad el 19 de marzo de 2003, 2003. Los capitalistas occidentales con- Estados Unidos sigue teniendo una fuerza dinero en efectivo a ambos bandos. apuntando a los alrededores del Palacio trolaban los campos petrolíferos de Iraq. de unos 2.500 soldados de combate en Dos años después de que ese conflicto Presidencial. Más de 200.000 soldados Cientos de miles de soldados extranjeros activo en Irak y 4.000 empleados en la terminará en un punto muerto, Estados estadounidenses y británicos arrasaron patrullaban la nueva colonia. fortaleza de la embajada estadounidense. Unidos envió mensajes contradictorios el país, tomaron el Palacio, establecieron Estados Unidos trasladó el cuartel gen- El Departamento de Defensa emplea a a través de sus diplomáticos a Kuwait e una “Zona Verde” de tres millas cuadra- eral de la colonia de la “Zona Verde” a un más de 6.000 “contratistas de seguridad” Irak, aumentando las tensiones al tiempo das en la capital y se prepararon para la complejo de embajadas recién constru- además de los soldados de combate. que animaba al gobierno iraquí a invadir ocupación permanente. ido, el mayor de la historia de la humani- Estos contratistas son conocidos por a su vecino del sur. La ocupación militar estableció un rég- dad. La ocupación estadounidense había cometer crímenes de guerra contra el En cuanto las tropas iraquíes cruzaron imen títere que privatizó las instituciones logrado erigir una enorme fortaleza mil- pueblo de Irak y, como mercenarios, la frontera, “la trampa saltó”, escribió del Estado iraquí, incluidas la sanidad y itar más grande que el Vaticano, justo en Continúa en la página 11