'If Elected, We Will Stop Raids, Deportations'
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· AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.00 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · SWEDEN KR10 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Cuba, Africa, and the fight against racism, 1959–today —PAGES 8–10 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 72/NO. 9 MARCH 3, 2008 Donate tax Washington ‘If elected, we will stop rebate ‘blood lauds Pakistan money’ to the elections, raids, deportations’ pushes ahead SWP vice presidential candidate protests ‘Militant’! arrest of 150 workers near Los Angeles Dear Reader, on ‘terror’ war The tax rebate many workers will BY CindY JAQUITH receive later this year as part of the February 19—Washington wel- government’s stimulus package is comed the results of yesterday’s parlia- nothing more than “blood money.” mentary elections in Pakistan, hoping It’s a paltry bribe to make it look as if they will lead to a stable capitalist gov- something is being done to avert the ernment with popular backing. Such economic crisis, and a way to try to buy the silence of working people. stabilization could make the escalation We urge readers of this paper to of the imperialist war in northwestern contribute your 2008 tax rebate to the Pakistan and Afghanistan easier. tribune of workers’ struggles—the President Pervez Musharraf was Militant. resoundingly defeated. The Pakistan It has been a long and proud tradi- Peoples Party (PPP) won 80 seats; tion of many readers of the Militant the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to contribute company “production” (PML-N), 66; and Musharraf’s party, and “safety” bonuses to the socialist only 38. Musharraf conceded. Shares movement. When a boss gives out a rose 3 percent on Pakistan’s main stock production bonus in exchange for market. intensifying the speed of labor, or a In the northwestern part of the coun- safety bonus for not reporting acci- try near the Afghanistan border, where dents, these are truly paid for in blood. Taliban and al-Qaeda forces are active, Militant/Mike Ortega The best use of the money, whether it secular, anti-Taliban parties had won Socialist Workers Party vice presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy (left) campaigns at be a company bonus or a tax rebate, is about two-thirds of the vote with half shift change at the American Apparel garment factory in Los Angeles February 18. to turn it over to the fight against the the tally in. The results were an upset BY NAOmi CRAinE The action was a response to a Febru- Continued on page 6 Continued on page 11 And ARLENE RUbinSTEin ary 7 raid at the Micro Solutions Enter- LOS ANGELES—“If my running prises printer cartridge plant in nearby mate Róger Calero and I are elected, we Van Nuys, California. A busload of the Workers rally against raids will enact legislation to immediately end workers from the plant, including some immigration raids and deportations,” who were arrested during the raid, par- Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers ticipated. in California factory, homes Party candidate for vice president, told “What you are doing is very impor- BY ARLENE RUbinSTEin Alma Ledezma. “They put him in the workers at a February 14 protest here. Continued on page 6 LOS ANGELES, February 14—A detention center in this building. But busload of workers from the Micro So- he is back to protest and his family is lutions Enterprises plant in Van Nuys, here to support him. He is wearing the Havana fair features books on California, was greeted by cheers bracelet they put on his foot.” The ma- when they joined a protest against im- jority of workers arrested have been Cuba’s revolutionary battles migration raids at the Federal Build- released pending immigration hear- ing here today. One week before, 100 ings. But many are forced to wear BY MARTÍN KOPPEL ba’s internationalist missions of aid to Bureau of Immigration and Customs electronic tracking devices. HAVANA, February 18—Among anti-imperialist struggles across Latin Enforcement (ICE) agents raided the “They try to intimidate you,” said the dozens of books being introduced at America and Africa. printer supply plant at the afternoon Manuel Ledezma, who worked at Mi- this year’s Havana International Book Three of these titles, presented dur- shift change. cro Solutions. “They told us, ‘If you Fair are several firsthand accounts of ing the opening days of the February “My brother was arrested,” said Continued on page 4 Cuba’s revolutionary battles—from the 14–24 fair, were Pombo: A man of struggle to overthrow the U.S.-backed Che’s guerrilla by Harry Villegas; Con- Batista dictatorship in the 1950s to Cu- trolling the Air: Memoirs of a Combat Pilot, 1943–1988 by Enrique Carreras; and From the Escambray to the Congo: Pentagon seeks In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolu- tion, by Víctor Dreke. military trials Editora Política, the publishing house for six ‘enemy Continued on page 7 combatants’ Also Inside: BY DOUG NELSON N.Y. cop ‘terror’ squads, The Defense Department announced February 11 that it has charged and is dogs to patrol subways 2 seeking the death penalty for six prison- ers held at the prison camp at the U.S. N.Y. picket demands naval base in Guantánamo, Cuba. After Puerto Rican’s release 2 holding the men for five years without charges, the government is pressing to Exxon Mobil wins ruling to try them by military commission. freeze Venezuelan assets 3 The Pentagon-appointed convening Militant/Arlene Rubinstein Minnesota meat packers Workers from Micro Solutions Enterprises and others rally outside the Federal Building in authority for military commissions, Su- Los Angeles February 14 to protest February 7 raids by the immigration police. Some 150 san Crawford, will now decide whether fight harassment 5 workers were arrested in raids at the plant and workers’ homes. Continued on page 6 N.Y. cop ‘terror’ squads, N.Y. picket demands Puerto Rican’s release dogs to patrol subways by Maura DELuca chael Chertoff, and New York gov- NEW YORK—Beginning in March, ernor Elliot Spitzer announced the the New York City subways will be pa- funding at a February 1 news con- trolled by cops with automatic weap- ference where Police Commissioner ons and dogs. The Department of Raymond Kelly announced plans for Homeland Security is giving the New “Operation Torch.” York state transit system $153 million “This is great news for New York,” this year, $30 million of which will go said New York Senator Hillary Clin- directly to the New York City police ton, a leading contender for the Dem- department. ocratic Party nomination for U.S. The heavily armed cops and dogs president, in a February 1 statement. are part of “Operation Torch.” The Dan Fein, Socialist Workers Party cops will board trains and patrol plat- candidate for U.S. Congress in New forms focusing on heavy-traffic sub- York’s 10th Congressional District, way stops like Pennsylvania Station, denounced the plan in a February 8 Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center, speech. “This is a further militariza- and Times Square in Manhattan, and tion of society,” he said. “The ruling Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. class wants us to get used to the pres- Militant/Emily Paul Each team will include a bomb- ence of the armed forces and heavily NEW YORK, February 11—About 25 people picketed at Federal Plaza here sniffing dog and six cops: a dog han- armed cops on the streets and sub- today to protest the arrest of Puerto Rican independence fighter Avelino dler, a sergeant, and four officers from ways. This is an attack on the rights González Claudio by the FBI. The FBI claims that González is a member of the Emergency Service Unit. The po- and political space of the working the proindependence group Popular Boricua Army-Macheteros. He was lice officers will be outfitted in heavy class.” arrested in Puerto Rico February 7 on charges of involvement in a 1983 bullet-proof vests and Kevlar helmets In 2005, the NYC cops began ran- bank robbery. Protesters called for the release of González and all Puerto and will carry either M4 automatic dom searches of subway riders’ back- Rican political prisoners, and for independence for Puerto Rico. rifles or MP5 submachine guns. packs and bags, a practice that contin- —EMILY PAUL Homeland Security secretary Mi- ues to this day. For Further Reading Grand jury hearings against Puerto Rican Workers’ Rights independence fighters postponed indefinitely versus the Secret Police BY Maura Deluca took place in New York and other independence activist groups com- NEW YORK—Federal grand jury by Larry Seigle U.S. cities, and in San Juan, Puerto mit criminal acts in Puerto Rico. How the ruling hearings for Puerto Rican inde- Rico, around that date. Defense law- Many Puerto Rican independence classes have used pendence activists Tania Frontera, yers were granted a postponement supporters say there has been an police spies, Christopher Torres, and Julio Pabón of the grand juries until February ongoing investigation into the PBA- agents, and frame- have been postponed indefinitely. 1, giving them time to challenge the Macheteros by the FBI. A reflection ups against the workers’ movement. The three were issued subpoenas subpoenas. of this is the February 7 arrest of $5.00 last December to testify in front of A few days before February 1, the Avelino González Claudio, an inde- www.PATHFINDErprEss.COM a grand jury on January 11. Protests grand jury hearing was postponed pendence fighter, for his alleged par- again. Still, 100 people demonstrat- ticipation in a 1983 Wells Fargo bank ed in different parts of Puerto Rico robbery in Hartford, Connecticut.