Vote Socialist Workers!

AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.00 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Asia-Pacific conference in Sri Lanka builds solidarity with Cuban Revolution — PAGE 9 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE Vol. 76/no. 41 NOVEMbeR 12, 2012 Readers’ Mayoral ticket Vote Socialist Workers! response spurs in LA carries on Join with others to advance a fighting subscription socialist course for workers, in US and abroad goal of 3,500 campaign BY LOUIS MarTIN BY ArlENE RUBINSTEIN Nine hundred thirty-seven sub- LOS ANGELES—“We’re taking scriptions have been sold since the the handoff from the Socialist Workers campaign to win new and renewed presidential ticket of James Harris and subscribers to the Militant was an- Maura DeLuca, and we’re not going nounced in the paper a month ago. to miss a step,” said Norton Sandler in The international goal has been set at announcing his campaign for mayor of 3,500—the biggest effort in two de- this city in the 2013 election. cades! Sandler, a longtime socialist leader The drive is centered around regu- and production worker in an electrical lar door-to-door sales in working- assembly plant, will be joined in the class neighborhoods, with special at- race by Eleanor García, a party leader tention to those where a significant and aerospace worker running for proportion are African-American. Los Angeles Unified School Board, Continued on page 3 District 2. On Nov. 10, just days after the pres- Militant/Eric Simpson Fall ‘Militant’ idential election, supporters of the James Harris and Maura DeLuca, SWP candidates for U.S. president and vice president. campaign will hit the streets to collect subscription campaign double the required 500 signatures to BY JOHN STUDER porting legalization of undocumented James Harris, Socialist Workers workers, joining protests against at- put Sandler and García on the ballot. Oct. 13 - Dec. 16 (week 2) “We’re urging working people Party candidate for U.S. president, tacks on a woman’s right to choose and running mate Maura DeLuca, abortion, and marching against racist Country quota sold % 3,500 and youth from all over the country who supported Harris and DeLuca along with three dozen SWP candi- “stop and frisk” and cop brutality. UNITED STATES to join us in campaigning on the The socialist candidates have been † Longview, WA 8 6 75% streets of Los Angeles to get off to a A CLASS-STRUGGLE COURSE campaigning for a massive govern- Yakima, WA† 10 6 60% strong start,” said Sandler. “That in- —See editorial, p. 11 ment-funded jobs program to provide Greensboro† 5 2 40% cludes winning new subscribers to work building schools, housing, med- MORE CAMPAIGN COVERAGE ical centers and other things workers New Orleans† 5 2 40% the Militant and readers of books and pamphlets on working-class politics. — See pgs. 4-5 need. Prisoners† 5 2 40% “The consequences of the dictator- The deepening contraction in Seattle 210 84 40% ship of capital fall heavy on working dates for federal, state and local of- Continued on page 8 Washington 110 38 35% people,” Sandler said. “All the so- fices across the country, have been Houston 150 49 33% called major contenders for mayor— joining workers’ struggles against the Miami 120 38 32% Democrats, Republicans and other rulers’ moves to divide working peo- Gov’t response to Continued on page 4 ple—walking union picket lines, sup- Twin Cities 175 54 31% hurricane shines Des Moines 180 52 29% Los Angeles 200 55 28% S. Africa: platinum strikers stay out, spotlight on rulers’ Omaha, NE† 80 22 28% Lincoln, NE 35 7 20% gold, chrome miners return for now disdain for workers Philadelphia 150 30 20% BY SARA LOBMAN Redding, CA† 5 1 20% NEW YORK—For the second time San Francisco 225 45 20% in 14 months, working people here Atlanta 185 29 16% were left largely on their own to deal with a major storm. And once again, Claysville, PA† 5 0 0% the class-differentiated hardships † Rio Grande V. TX 25 0 0% were exacerbated by the callous re- Tampa† 15 0 0% sponse of city and state governments. Boston 28 Hurricane Sandy, which tore across Chicago 58 the Caribbean and up the East Coast Continued on page 10 New York 136 Total US 1903 744 39% UNITED KINGDOM Also Inside: Manchester 80 27 34% 937 California march backs London 200 50 25% Reuters immigrant grocery workers 2 UK Total 280 77 28% Should be Platinum miners Oct. 30 place blockade outside Anglo American mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, after rejecting company’s latest demand to return to work without pay raise. CANADA 140 50 36% Socialist Workers Party to BY SETH GalINSKY their fight for higher wages and better raise $100,000 in fund appeal 3 NEW ZEALAND 130 41 32% Thousands of striking platinum min- working and living conditions has been ers in South Africa announced Oct. 29 strengthened . NY forum discusses example, AUSTRALIA 90 25 28% that they are not ending their strike until More than 100,000 gold, platinum, legacy of Grenada Revolution 6 Total 2543 937 27% Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) chrome, iron and coal miners have been “puts something on the table.” At the involved in strikes that swept South New Zealand exhibit wins Should be 3500 778 22% same time, most gold and chrome min- Africa over the last two months. In support for Cuban Five 8 † New to scoreboard ers have returned to work. They say Continued on page 10 Dairy farmers in Calif. rally California march backs immigrant grocery workers against gov’t price squeeze B Y JEFF POWERS cost of transport to major cheese SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. markets. 18—“We have to keep fighting,” Bob “The 4b price is like the minimum Wilson, a dairy farmer from Turlock wage. It is the bottom line that de- and one of the organizers of today’s termines what we are paid,” Wilson “Rally for California Dairy Relief,” said. “Our demand is for Secretary told the Militant. “We need more ral- Ross to raise it to a level comparable lies. We are not going to back down.” with other states.” Some 150 people attended the protest “Up until a few years ago 4b was at the California Statehouse here. 30 or 35 cents below the national With approximately one out of average. We could live with that,” every five dairy cows in the U.S., Wilson continued. “Two dollars low- California has been this country’s er makes it impossible to survive. leading dairy state since 1993. The “Kraft, Hilmar, Leprino and the oth- more than 1,600 dairy farms in this er big cheese processors in California state generate $7.6 billion a year in are the ones that benefit from Karen sales. Ross’ price level,” Wilson said. “The The farms are almost exclusive- consumers do not. They still pay the Militant/Betsey Stone ly family owned. In the past few same cost. OAKLAND, Calif.—Some 200 people rallied outside the Mi Pueblo super- months, an average of one California “We are dairy farmers and we can- market here Oct. 20 against company attacks on undocumented workers. dairy farmer per week has been not strike,” Wilson explained. “We Protesters carried signs calling for a boycott of Mi Pueblo in response to forced into bankruptcy and driven cannot hold our product from the the intimidation and firing of workers fighting for union representation and the out of business. market. The cows have to be milked owner’s participation in E-Verify, a program that screens the immigration status Feed prices have reached record and we cannot store milk for extend- of workers. They also demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement highs because of the recent drought ed periods.” end their immigration audit of the company. and the U.S. government’s 2009 Most of the participants at the rally The call for a boycott of Mi Pueblo’s 21 outlets in the Bay Area, Salinas and ethanol mandate, which drove up the were dairy farmers from California’s the San Joaquin Valley was initiated by the Justice for Mercados Campaign, a price of corn. Central Valley. Hay farmers and coalition of unions, churches and community groups. The demonstration was organized by the Dignity and Resistance Coalition. Dairy farmers say their biggest veterinarians attended and spoke at A press statement released by the coalition on Oct. 8 said, “I-9 audits must problem is California Department the event, expressing their solidarity be suspended when a labor dispute is in progress. Such is the case at Mi Pueblo of Food and Agriculture Secretary with the dairy farmers’ fight. where an ongoing organizing drive is being conducted by United Food and Karen Ross’ decision to set the state “Nine members out of 20 from our Commercial Workers Local 5.” price of Class 4b milk, which in- campus dairy club are here,” Britlee —BETSEY STONE cludes whey used to make cheese, Koetsier, an agricultural student at $2 per hundredweight below the at Fresno State University, told the national average. Class 4b milk is 40 Militant. “We had posters and signs percent of farmers’ sales. up all over the campus. Ross claims she keeps the “I cut class so I could get to Canada plant shut for weeks due to tainted beef California 4b price low because of Sacramento,” Koetsier continued. BY Annette Kouri processing plant in Canada, slaughter- a surplus of milk and a shortage of “It is especially important for me to MONTREAL—Lakeside Packers, ing nearly 40 percent of all domestic plant capacity in the state, and the come.

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