workers.org Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! JUNE 30, 2005 VOL. 47, NO. 25 50¢ As Bush ‘hunkers down’

Detrás del levantamiento indígena en Bolivia. 12 Leaked memos show RACISM & PRISONS Iraq War conspiracy Michigan rally for justice 5 Popular resistance wears down ‘coalition of willing’

By Leslie Feinberg Blair’s chief foreign policy adviser, David Manning. According to Manning, Rice didn’t want to talk about Osama bin Laden or Al- The shock-and-awe invasion of Iraq was not a “war of last News on Mumia Qaeda, she wanted to press “regime change” in Iraq. resort.” The “regime change” had nothing to do weapons of mass • Attorneys warned the Blair government that U.S.-British and Herman Wallace destruction [WMD] or “terrorism” or defense of neighboring cases 3 bombing of Iraq almost a year before the imperialist invasion— countries or nuclear capability. designed to provoke the Iraqi government into an action that The cat’s out of the bag now. All that was just a pretext created would justify the invasion—was illegal, a violation of interna- Report shows by U.S. and British imperialism. shocking jobs bias 4 tional law. Many in the anti-war movement who raised their voices to • The “Downing Street memo,” perhaps the most damning of demand “No blood for oil profits!” said it all along. But this time all, contains the transcript of official minutes of a July 23, 2002, MISSISSIPPI VERDICT it’s coming from the same people who had claimed the movement meeting between Blair, his top advisers and Richard Dearlove— was a bunch of conspiracy theorists. head of the British spy agency MI6. At that sit-down—eight Was justice Eight classified memos have now been leaked, mostly to the months prior to the invasion of Iraq—Dearlove explained that served? 10 British media, that show otherwise. Washington officials had made clear at a recent meeting that They come at a time when Britain is also mired in the Penta- “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, jus- gon’s war. The occupation forces can’t even keep a six-mile stretch tified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelli- of road open between Baghdad and the airport. gence and facts were being fixed around the policy.” Popular anger in the U.S. is mounting along with the rise in • British Foreign Office Political Director Peter Ricketts wrote troop casualties. A Gallup poll conducted June 6-8 revealed that to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in a March 22 memo of the REAL 6 out of 10 of those asked wanted a partial or full withdrawal of importance of winning popular and parliamentary support for a GIs from Iraq. Only 41 percent approved of the Bush adminis- war against Iraq. “We have to be convincing that: the threat is so SOLIDARITY? tration’s handling of the Iraq War. A majority said they’d be upset serious/imminent that it is worth sending our troops to die for AFL-CIO on if the president tried to send more troops. ... .” The Blair government then released a pre-war intelligence report claiming that the Iraqi government could launch a chem- Eight smoking guns Venezuela, Iraq 4 ical or biological weapons attack on 45 minutes’ notice. The eight memos released in recent weeks, stamped “secret” These secret papers found their way to British journalist or “confidential,” reveal the following: Michael Smith and have been circulated on the Internet. • Six months after the 9/11 attacks, then-U.S. National Security Although U.S. and British officials have nit-picked some Adviser Condoleezza Rice met with British Prime Minister Tony U.S. SPECIAL Continued on page 5 FORCES Doing what in the Philippines? 8 STONEWALL means SEA OF RED fight Funeral for Portuguese back communist 8

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Pre-Stonewall gay organizing

Impact of early Black In the U.S. Leaked memos show Iraq War conspiracy ...... 1 Pre-Stonewall gay organizing ...... 2 civil rights struggle Crack in Herman Wallace case ...... 3 Mumia supporters protest latest legal setback ...... 3 By Leslie Feinberg sexuals, not by what I do in bed. I believe there is a gay Mumia on: The collapse of compromise...... 3 sensibility. Progressives challenge AFL-CIO on ‘Solidarity Center’ . 4 All five founders of Mattachine had at least some train- “When we tried to explain this to somebody, I would say, Ohio workers protest 'vulture' capitalists ...... 4 ing in Marxism. Harry Hay, as a long-time teacher of the ‘There is a gay culture.’ People would say, ‘Gay culture? Racist hiring practices exposed ...... 4 Marxist analysis of the development of society and the sci- What do you mean? Do you actually think we’re more cul- Rally launches prisoner rights campaign ...... 5 ence of change, had the most theoretical experience. So tured than anybody else?’ I would explain that I was using LGBTQ youth take on NYPD ...... 6 rather than merely organizing to form an activist group, ‘culture’ in the sociological sense, as a body of language, People of color initiate Trans Day of Action ...... 7 historian John D’Emilio points out, “The founders also feelings, thinking, and experiences that we share in com- Win for lesbian co-mothers ...... 7 brought to their planning meetings a concern for ideology mon. As we speak of a Mexican culture. As we speak of an Book review: Women workers on a risky journey . . . 10 that grew out of their leftist politics.” American Indian culture. We had to say that gay culture And, D’Emilio adds, “the worldview of its adherents was an emergent culture.” Around the world rested on an analysis of society that saw injustice as Rowland continued, “The word gay itself is a marvelous In Portugal, the struggle continues ...... 8 rooted in the social structure. Exploitation and oppression example of what I mean by gay culture. You’ll get a lot of Another brutal offensive in Iraq ...... 9 came not from simple prejudice or misinformation, but arguments about this. But I know that gay was being used Bolivarian Revolution is vigilant...... 9 from deeply embedded structural relationships.” back in the thirties, and we didn’t mean ‘merry’ or ‘festive.’ Stop the killing of Philippine activists...... 10 (“Making Trouble”) We meant ‘homosexual.’ This does not constitute Editorials D’Emilio explores the attempts by a language in the sense that English is a language Was justice really served? ...... 10 Mattachine founders to bring ideological and French is a language, but it’s more compara- clarity to the social condition of homosexu- ble to Yiddish culture. A lot of people, Jews and Noticias En Español als in the 1950s United States. “The non-Jews, used Yiddish words like schlep and founders’ lack of an already developed meshuga. These words separate them culturally Michael Jackson ...... 12 analysis of the oppression of homosexuals from my mother, for example, who would never Detrás del levantamiento indígena en Bolivia ...... 12 forced them to generate one by scrutinizing have heard of such words.” the main source of information available to Hay himself tried to clarify what he meant by them—their own lives. Throughout the win- PART 39 “gay culture.” He wrote, “The Homophile com- WW CALENDAR ter of 1951 the five men met frequently to The entire mon psychological make-up manifests itself in a share their personal histories.” Lavender & community of culture so phenomenologically NEW YORK. LOS ANGELES. They talked about their isolation, loneli- Red series, which remarkable that it transcends the mechanical bar- Fri., June 24 Sat., July 16 ness and fear of being the only one in the explores the history riers of formal language by creating an interna- We invite our Trans and Gender Brunch & book signing with Leslie Non-Conforming people of color Feinberg. Feinberg is a managing world with such feelings; how they’d come of the socialist tional behavioral language of its own, in addition communities, and our allies, to editor of WW newspaper and an out as gay men and found others like them. movement and to sharing the pedestrian language of each march with us in the 1st Annual author of Stone Butch Blues, and the struggle for Trans Day of Action for Social and Trans Liberation, among other D’Emilio explained, “Trying to make parental community. To be sure, the communi- Economic Justice in New York City. works. Sponsored by Workers some collective sense out of their individual sexual & gender ties of culture differ in detail from one national Initiated by TransJustice, a project World Party. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. experiences, they posed such questions as: liberation, can of The Audre Lorde Project, The At 5274 W Pico Blvd, Suite 203. community to another. But they are enough alike Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, For info (323) 936-1416. How did one become a homosexual? Were be read online at that no one need be a helpless stranger whatever and Trans People of Color Center homosexuals sick as the medical profession www.workers.org. the port of call.” (“Radically Gay”) for Community Organizing, focus- Sat., July 16 ing on the NYC area. 5:30 p.m. IAC Forum: Lavender & Red, fea- claimed? Was it possible to overcome the gather at Jackson Sq., the inter- turing Leslie Feinberg, lesbian isolation and invisibility of the gay population and organ- An expression of anti-racist solidarity section of 8th Ave., Greenwich transgender author and activist. 2 Ave, and Horatio St. 6:30 p.m. p.m. At the Gay & Lesbian Center, ize homosexuals? Were homosexuals, perhaps, a minor- Today, these attempts by the early Mattachine founders march to Union Square. 7:30 p.m. Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N ity group, or merely a conglomeration of individuals shar- to compare their situation to that of the Dine (Navajo) and rally at Union Square. To endorse McCadden Pl. (one block E of Highland, N of Santa Monica ing nothing but a sexual orientation?” or more info phone (718) 596- Pueblo nations, Mexican culture and language, and the 0342 ext 18. Blvd). For info (323) 936-7266. From these discussions they gleaned their early analy- relationship of Japanese-Americans to Japan and of sis of the oppression of same-sex love. African Americans to Liberia may not seem very sensitive Workers World to those struggling for national liberation. 55 West 17 Street Rowland: ‘What is our theory?’ But in the 1950s these white men were anti-racists and New York, N.Y. 10011 Chuck Rowland, one of the original five founders of anti-imperialists. They dedicated their lives to fighting all Phone: (212) 627-2994 Mattachine, recalled, “We had been saying, ‘We’ll just have forms of oppression. Identifying themselves as a cultural Fax: (212) 675-7869 an organization.’ And I kept saying, ‘What is our theory?’ minority was partly an attempt to express solidarity with E-mail: [email protected] Having been a Communist, you’ve got to work with a the- those battling racism and anti-Semitism, as they stated Web: www.workers.org ory. ‘What is our basic principle that we are building on?’ clearly in their 1951 Missions and Purposes. They called Vol. 47, No. 25 • June 30, 2005 “And Harry said, ‘We are an oppressed cultural minor- African American, Mexican and Jewish people “our fellow Closing date: June 22, 2005 ity.’ And I said, ‘That’s exactly it!’ That was the first time minorities.” Editor: Deirdre Griswold I know of that gays were referred to as an oppressed cul- The written prospectus that the Mattachine movement Technical Editor: Lal Roohk tural minority.” (“Making History”) was built on, penned by Hay in 1948 and amended by him Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Rowland, with broad strokes, painted the outlines of in 1950, began: “With full realization that encroaching Leslie Feinberg, Monica Moorehead, Gary Wilson two different political approaches. “But gay people didn’t [North] American Fascism, like unto previous impacts of West Coast Editor: John Parker want to be an oppressed cultural minority, ‘Why, we’re just International Fascism, seeks to bend unorganized and like everybody else, except what we do in bed.’ They unpopular minorities into isolated fragments of social and Contributing Editors: Greg Butterfield, wanted to be like everybody else. But that isn’t true; we’re emotional instability; ... in order to earn for ourselves any Fred Goldstein, Teresa Gutierrez, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Milt Neidenberg not like everybody else. I don’t think or feel like a hetero- place in the sun, we must with perseverance and self-dis- sexual. My life was not like that of a heterosexual. I had cipline work collectively ... for the first-class citizenship Technical Staff: Shelley Ettinger, Adrian Garcia, emotional experiences that I could not have had as a het- participation of Minorities everywhere, including our- Maggie Vascassenno erosexual. My whole person, my whole being, my whole selves … .” (“Radically Gay”) Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna character, my whole life differed and differs from hetero- Continued on page 6 Lazarus, Carlos Vargas, Teresa Gutierrez Internet: Janet Mayes

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Mumia Abu-Jamal Crack in Herman Wallace case from death row: The State bribery of witness collapse to get review of compromise By Mumia Abu-Jamal A crack has developed in the state’s Herman Wallace, Robert case against Herman Wallace, a Black King Wilkerson and Albert It is sometimes utterly amazing what politicians will sell the American public. Panther Party member who is one of Woodfox, 2002. the longest-confined political prisoners The recent Senate squabble over the so- CREDIT: NATIONAL COALITION called “nuclear option,” which threatened in the United States. TO FREE THE ANGOLA 3 to abolish the old rules governing Senate Wallace, along with Albert (Cinque) filibusters, or the ability of a minority of Woodfox, has been in solitary confine- senators to create roadblocks in the daily ment for 32 years in Louisiana’s maxi- business of the Senate, came to an end Wallace’s trial. Obviously, this omis- mum-security Angola Penitentiary. when a number of senators, Democrats and In 1971, while in Angola, Wallace and sion severely damaged Wallace’s Republicans, agreed to a compromise that Woodfox were founders of the only chance to get a fair trial. takes the “nuclear option” off the table chartered prison chapter of the Black Wallace and Woodcox were (for now), while the Senate proceeds to Panther Party. They were then framed charged along with Robert King conduct up or down votes on President in the death of prison guard Brent Wilkerson, a Black Panther Party Bush’s right-wing judicial nominees. A rejuvenating victory Miller and sentenced to life without the member at the time he was imprisoned. Already, Texas Supreme Court jurist possibility of parole. Now the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals They became known as the Angola 3. Priscilla Owens now wears the robe of a judge of the Court of Appeals—for life. In the early 1970s, Angola was noto- in New Orleans has ordered a lower court After a 30-year struggle, Wilkerson won to hear evidence about the testimony of his freedom in 2001. By the time you read this, it’s quite pos- rious as one of the most brutal prisons sible that California Supreme Court Judge Hezekiah Brown, a prison inmate who Angola’s Herman Wallace said about in the United States. The state created Janice Rogers Brown will have been ele- alleged he saw Wallace and Woodfox his legal victory: “It is time for everyone the prison in the late 19th century from vated to the D.C. Court of Appeals, the thousands of acres of former planta- commit the crime. After the conviction of to rejuvenate their energy ... calling for same bench that Clarence Thomas warmed tions of the Confederate slavocracy. Wallace and Woodfox, the state admitted justice! And I mean bullhorn justice!” for some 13 months before George W. Many of the enslaved people forced to that Brown was promised, and received, This article is based on information Bush’s daddy, the first President Bush, work this land came from the area of rewards for his testimony. from the National Coalition to named Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. Africa named Angola by Portuguese The fact of the bribery was illegally Free the Angola 3, on the web at By the Compromise of 14 (seven colonizers. withheld from defense lawyers during www.angola3.org. Democrats and seven Republicans), the gates are now open for some of the most antidemocratic, arch-conservative, anti- New-Deal jurists in the nation’s history to sit in judgment of other Americans for Mumia supporters protest generations. If this is compromise, what does defeat look like? latest legal setback Many will argue that the compromise was a political necessity to “preserve American By Monica Moorehead traditions” or to “protect American values.” One wonders: What “traditions”? What Philadelphia “values”? The so-called “Great Compromise” of On June 16, an emergency demonstra- 1790 made the United States possible. But tion was held outside Philadelphia’s City it was a compromise that, 75 years later, Hall to protest the latest legal setback in would explode across these states as Civil the struggle to free death-row political War, leaving over half a million people prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. dead. The anti-death-penalty activists For Africans, it was a “not-so-great” passed out leaflets to hundreds of compromise, for it was based on the passersby and motorists that explained North’s quiet acquiescence and then what was behind the May 27 ruling made embrace of slavery. THAT is the great American “tradition” by the Common Pleas Court. and “value” protected by this compromise. This state appeals court outlined its In the words of the Great Liberator, intent not to grant Abu-Jamal an eviden- Harriet Tubman, who knew what she was tiary hearing that would have allowed talking about, slavery was “the next thing suppressed testimony to finally be heard to hell.” That “Great Compromise” kept that could prove he did not kill a white millions in bondage for a century. WW PHOTOS: ANNE PRUDEN policeman on Dec. 9, 1981. The African Taking it to the streets. Speakers That compromise, as well as the compro- American revolutionary journalist has included Monica Moorehead, right mises between North and South after the been languishing on death row since July and Pam Africa, below. Civil War, meant vast betrayals of the very 1982 as a result of a first-degree people, the very men, who fought and died murder conviction reached after a for the Union—if they were Black people. Compromise meant betrayal. sham of a trial. It meant White Supremacy uber alles. Besides the mass leafleting, a It meant treating those who fought rally took place for several hours. against the Union better than those who The speakers included Pam Africa, (if they were Black) fought for it. leader of International Concerned It meant betrayal. Family and Friends of Mumia Abu- Today, it means betrayal of the essence Jamal; Sundiata Sadiq, vice-presi- of opposing the worst, most exclusive jur- dent of the Ossining chapter of the ists that Bush can find, for the form of NAACP; Monica Moorehead and keeping the sacred tradition of filibustering Dustin Langley of the International safe. Action Center; Suzanne Ross and We shall see, perhaps sooner than we think, the costs of such compromise. And Gwen Debrow of the New York Free like the other compromises of the past, it Mumia Abu-Jamal coalition, and may take a century to undo the great and many more. terrible damage they will do. Throughout the day, delegations As before, it took great struggle and sac- of Abu-Jamal supporters visited rifice to bring change. the office of Mayor John Street to Such struggle must begin anew, against demand that he come out publicly the forces of repression, of fear, of closed in support of Abu-Jamal’s right to doors and crushed hopes. a new trial. Abu-Jamal’s attorneys To quote another great freedom-fighter, filed a reconsideration brief on June 16 MUMIA SPEAKS Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes noth- in response to the May 27 ruling. This An interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal from death row ing without demand. It never has, and it never will.” brief raised convincing arguments as to Columns by the Black journalist on prisons, capitalism, politics, revolution If you want change, you MUST act as if why Abu-Jamal should be granted an evi- and solidarity. Additional essays on the prison-industrial complex you do; there is no other true alternative. by Monica Moorehead, Larry Holmes and Teresa Gutierrez. dentiary hearing which should lead to Join an organization that shares your him being granted a new trial. Order from International Action Center 39 West 14 St., #206 NY, NY 10011 $3 ideas. Page 4 June 30, 2005 www.workers.org Progressives challenge AFL-CIO on ‘Solidarity Center’ By Bob McCubbin throughout Latin America and the trained the armed bands that helped to With regard to Iraq, the flier states, Caribbean,” explains the group’s web overthrow Haitian President Jean-Bert- “Solidarity Center resources will be used An important, well-thought-out inter- site, www.lasolidarity.org. rand Aristide. It has also provided finan- in violation of the AFL-CIO’s commitment vention by progressive activists is being The LASC flier points out that the Soli- cial backing for Haitian sweatshop owners. to workers’ self-determination. Projects planned for the upcoming AFL-CIO con- darity Center is presently funded mostly And the Solidarity Center itself, through will be designed to give exclusive support vention in Chicago in late July. by the federal government, not by the its funding of the pro-U.S., pro-business to the union officially sanctioned by occu- A group called the Latin America Soli- AFL-CIO, and the resulting government Confederation of Venezuelan Workers pation and interim governments, while darity Coalition has prepared a flier and a control makes it “an instrument of George (CTV), has attempted to undermine pro- undermining the development of inde- resolution to educate delegates on the reac- W. Bush’s interventionist foreign policy.” gressive organizations, other unions and pendent unions.” tionary character of the labor federation’s The flier also comments on the source the elected Chávez government itself in The flier urges delegates to the AFL-CIO American Center for International Labor of the Solidarity Center’s operating funds. Venezuela. convention to endorse a resolution from Solidarity—known as Solidarity Center. Most of these funds come from the This fact certainly substantiates the the California Labor Federation (CLF) It also hopes to build genuine labor sup- National Endowment for Democracy flier’s assertion that the center acts to sup- called “Building Unity and Trust Among port for the wave of progressive and revo- (NED). This nefarious organization also port the Bush foreign policy agenda in Workers Worldwide.” This resolution, lutionary developments in Latin America, funds the International Republican Insti- Venezuela. Although a coup attempt sup- passed by the CLF, “calls for a clearing of and appeals to convention delegates to tute, the National Democratic Institute, ported by Washington ended in humiliat- the air regarding AFL-CIO activities in support real solidarity with the workers of and the Chamber of Commerce’s Center ing failure, the Bush regime has not Chile, Venezuela and elsewhere. It further Haiti, Venezuela, Iraq and elsewhere. for International Private Enterprise— wavered for a second in its ongoing calls for an end to Solidarity Center depen- “The Latin America Solidarity Coalition ”strange bedfellows,” the flier comments, attempts to derail the Chávez govern- dency on NED and other government (LASC) is an association of national and “for an organization supporting worker ment, whose popular programs to funding in favor of mutual international local U.S.-based grassroots Latin Amer- rights.” improve the lives of Venezuela’s poor and worker solidarity programs funded prima- ican and Caribbean solidarity groups, While the Solidarity Center has, in fact, working class, while widely admired in rily by union dues and with open books, many of which have long histories of aided workers’ struggles in Haiti, the Inter- the rest of Latin America, are bitterly accountable to, and operated by, union working with grassroots organizations national Republican Institute actually opposed by Washington. members.” Ohio workers protest ‘vulture’ capitalists By Minnie Bruce Pratt the difference between Mark Patterson were quickly joined in solidarity on the New York and a vulture? At least the vulture waits picket line by people passing by. A giant until you are dead.” inflatable rubber rat, symbol of labor Thirteen determined aluminum work- Strope has worked 27 years for Ormet. protest in New York, got inflated to its 12- ers, men and women, demonstrated at the She said the workers have been on strike foot height. Truck drivers honked their foot of a Madison Avenue skyscraper on for a fair contract and to protect pensions horns in support. June 17, chanting, “No justice, no peace!” and health insurance since last Nov. 22. Groups of workers from New York The workers are members of Steel Strope, who pours molten aluminum unions suddenly appeared, including Workers Locals 5760 and 5724. They had that other workers will ultimately roll and some in the distinctive green jackets of driven 500 miles from Hannibal, Ohio, to shape, noted that she and her co-workers District Council 37, State, County and protest the impact on their lives of the make products people use every day. Her Municipal Employees, as well as repre- ruthless policies of the MaitlinPatterson aluminum ends up as decorative trim on sentatives of the Mason Tenders District investment firm. cars, light-weight pans for cooking holiday Council of Greater New York and the MaitlinPatterson, a “vulture” investment meals—and even the buttons that activists United Federation of Teachers. firm, has bought up their bankrupt wear to demonstrations. The office of Mark Patterson, co-owner employer, Ormet Corp. Ormet is one of the The Steel Workers members have of the investment firm and a former exec- top four U.S. aluminum producers, with staged militant protests at Ormet plants in utive at Credit Suisse, floated some 43 factories in four states. Indiana, Louisiana and Ohio—and at the floors above the workers on Madison Now MaitlinPatterson is laying off homes of MaitlinPatterson owners in New Avenue. Sharon Strope commented: “He employees, contracting out jobs, cutting York. At one demonstration at Ormet WW PHOTO: BEV HIESTAND likes to stay far away from the dirt. He did- wages, and slashing retiree health insur- headquarters in Wheeling, W.Va., police Connie Gray with ‘the Grinch that stole n’t work for 40 years only to have some- the pensions.’ ance benefits so it can bring Ormet out of arrested worker Norman (Pete) Gray, one come and take it all away.” bankruptcy and re-sell the company for a using the Homeland Security laws as a “Grinch that stole the pensions.” Pete Gray The Ormet takeover is part of a wave of fat profit. (www.uswa.org) pretext. was well known to the arresting police, economic manipulation by big business in In New York Sharon Strope, a casting On the picket line in New York, Connie and clearly not concealing his identity in search of easy profits. The impact on operator from Moundsville, W.Va., Gray said that when her husband was any way. He has refused to plead guilty workers has been devastating. Layoffs in handed out fliers to passersby. The leaflet arrested he was wearing a “Grinch” cos- and is demanding a jury trial. the United States jumped 42 percent bore this question and answer: “What’s tume to dramatize MaitlinPatterson as the As the aluminum workers chanted, they between April and May 2005. Racist hiring practices exposed By David Dixon tical work and educational experience. prison come from oppressed communities States as “the land of the second chance.” New York They sought work as drivers, couriers, of color. On any given day, one in eight But Jeff Manza of Northwestern cleaners, fast-food servers, deli clerks, black males is in prison or jail. African University said Pager’s study on racist dis- Sociology Professor Devah Pager has sales representatives, stockers, busers, American men have a one in three chance crimination in job hiring “demonstrates in been studying the problems ex-convicts waiters, cashiers and telemarketers. Some of going to prison in their lifetimes, com- a new and convincing way the extent to face looking for a job. As a graduate stu- members of the study reported a felony pared to one in 17 for whites. Three- which the ‘second chance’ that Bush talks dent at the University of Wisconsin in the drug conviction and 18 months of served fourths of all those arrested on drug about runs headlong into the realities of 1990s, she made a disturbing discovery: It prison time. charges are people of color, a number race.” (racematters.org) is easier for a white person with a felony The results? According to the June 17 hugely out of proportion to their incidence By 2003 there were more than 123,000 conviction to get a job than for an African- New York Times, “Black men who had never of drug use. (sentencingproject.org) prisoners in local, state and federal for- American person with no criminal record. been in trouble with the law were about In New York City, it is illegal for employ- profit prisons. The profits made from Pager, now at Princeton University, half as likely as whites with similar back- ers to discriminate on the basis of crimi- prison construction and from prison con- recently conducted a study in New York grounds to get a job offer or a callback.” nal record as well as race. Faced with the tracts for food, telephone systems and City along with Professor Bruce Western. Black men who stated they had done study, Patricia L. Gatling, Commissioner other services is in the billions of dollars, The study, titled “Discrimination in Low time in prison on their applications were of the New York City Commission on far exceeding Bush’s paltry sum. Wage Labor Markets,” was funded in part only about one-third as likely to get a pos- Human Rights, had to admit, “The results Indeed, in a for-profit prison system, by the National Science Foundation. itive response as compared to whites who of this landmark study are deeply disturb- repeated and discriminatory arrests equal Pager and Western found strong evi- had been in prison. ing and highlight the need for strong profit. Racist hiring practices become an dence of hiring discrimination by New The study also concluded that those enforcement of the city’s Human Rights additional method to drive people of York employers against male job-seekers with a criminal record had a 30 to 60 per- Law.” (John Jay College) oppressed nationalities into desperation. who were African American or of another cent less chance of getting a positive In his 2004 State of the Union address, The solution is obvious: The racist prison oppressed nationality as compared to response from employers. African Amer- President George W. Bush proposed a system and hiring practices will only white men. icans who had been imprisoned were at a $300-million “prison re-entry initiative” cease to exist when the people overthrow The study used teams of young men double disadvantage because of racism. for people released from prison each year. the capitalist system and replace it with who posed as job applicants, listing iden- Two-thirds of those serving time in He touted this as typical of the United socialism. www.workers.org June 30, 2005 Page 5 Rally launches prisoner rights campaign

By Cheryl LaBash (www.mecawi.org) Moorehead and Larry Holmes. It read in Lansing, Mich. The resulting cuts in social services part: “Under capitalism, big business will mean more oppressed women, men and invest in any sector of the economy to Prison-rights activists, many of them teenagers will be driven to crimes of sur- make profits, including repression of the families and friends of men and women vival, and into prison. masses. behind bars, rallied on the Michigan State Thousands of petition signatures sup- “Prison construction equals profits. Capitol steps in Lansing on June 18. The porting the campaign are already in hand Slave labor in private prisons equals prof- action, sponsored by the March for as prison-rights organizers continue to its. The victims are the disenfranchised Corrections and Judicial Reform Commit- mobilize. The petition demands include: youths, Black, Latino, Native and poor tee (MCJRC) and the National Lifers of • Pardon the falsely convicted, especially whites, who can’t find decent-paying jobs. America, launched a campaign to fight the those who have exhausted court reme- The victims are those who are suffering U.S. prison and judicial system’s profound dies to obtain justice, and battered from mental disabilities and drug addic- injustice and racism. women incarcerated for killing their tion. These sectors of society make up the Kevin Carey, initiator and coordinator abusers. vast majority of the 2-million-plus U.S. of the MCJRC, chaired the rally that prison population. • Parole prisoners serving life sentences brought people from Detroit, Battle Creek, “Instead of spending hundreds of mil- whose record shows their rehabilita- Holland and other cities and towns across lions of dollars a day on the brutal occupa- tion. Michigan. The keynote speaker, though, tion of Iraq, instead of spending half a bil- came all the way from Houston. Njeri • Medically parole chronically ill, termi- lion dollars a day on the institutions of Shakur, from the Texas Death Penalty nally ill and elderly prisoners who repression, we say take that money and Abolition Movement, described how pris- pose no risk to public safety. spend it on good-paying jobs. Take that ons took the place of the dying agricultural • Exempt juveniles from life sentences. money and spend it on schools with small economy in Texas in the same way the • Reinstate funding for the Legislative class sizes, up-to-date equipment, teach- prison “industry” is replacing the closed Corrections Ombudsman’s Office. ers. Take that money and make sure that factories of Michigan. every human being has housing, health • Reduce state spending to any county The state of Michigan pays more than care, heat, lights and water. Our brothers that fails to racially diversify its court $43,000 per year in tax dollars to house and sisters behind bars are a vital part of jury pools. and maintain each prisoner. At the same WW PHOTO: CHERYL LABASH the fight to reclaim our cities and commu- time, Michigan has eliminated education Big-business prisons are the crime. • End mandatory minimum sentences nities. and other rehabilitation programs for with restoration of sentencing discre- “Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, free Leonard prisoners, and has begun charging them while the Bush administration siphons tax tion to judges. Peltier, free the Five Cuban Heroes, free for medical care. Rally speakers pointed dollars to pay for the war on Iraq. • Halt the exploitation, racketeering and the Angola Two and all political prisoners. out that one-fifth of the Michigan budget According to information from the overcharging of the for-profit tele- Tear down the walls.” is spent on the state’s Department of Michigan Emergency Committee Against phone contracts prisoners are forced For more information, contact the Corrections, equal to its funding for pub- War and Injustice: “In 2004, $429 million to use in Michigan prisons. March for Corrections and Judicial Reform lic education. of Detroit’s taxes went for the Iraq war. One militant solidarity statement came Committee, c/o 5920 Second Ave., Detroit, Michigan cities are going bankrupt That’s twice the city’s ‘budget deficit.’” from Workers World Party, from Monica MI 48202. Phone: (313) 831-0750. As Bush ‘hunkers down’ Leaked memos show disarray over Iraq

Continued from page 1 Baghdad going to Bush loyalists instead of Labor Party 95 Parliament seats in the American University in Washington. “The details, they have not challenged their British hands with years of field experi- recent election. Democrats don’t fear him anymore, and authenticity. ence.” (Newsweek, June 27) President George W. Bush told two they’re getting greedy because they think The documents confirm what Marx The British imperialists, who once leaders of the European Union on June 20 they can beat him. The attitude you see explained so clearly and distinctly about boasted that “the sun never set” on their that his strategy of crushing the Iraqi among Republicans in Congress is, my capitalist bosses: If the rate of profit is empire, find themselves in their twilight opposition “is going to work.” lifeboat first.” (New York Times, June 20) great enough, there is no crime they will years, eclipsed by U.S. imperialists who Bush maintained his “stay the course” Congressional Black Caucus members not stoop to commit or pay to have some- treat them like a junior partner. “Blair and position during an East Room media John Conyers and Maxine Waters, more one commit for them. The drive for impe- his team have largely hidden any discon- conference with Jean-Claude Juncker, in tune with mass sentiments, had spoken rialist super-profits makes finance capital tent they may feel,” the two concluded. the prime minister of Luxembourg and out against the Iraq War earlier. They are even more ruthless and adventurist. “Yet, as the Iraqi insurgency intensifies, European Union president, and José suddenly finding wider support from the small cracks are beginning to appear.” Manuel Barroso, the European Com- Democratic and Republican elite. On June Revelations of despair mission president. 16 Rep. Waters announced formation of It wasn’t revolutionaries who leaked Costs of war, occupation Two years ago, the European imperial- the “U.S. Out of Iraq Congressional these documents—as happened with the The massive financial investment in the ists were deeply divided over Iraq and Caucus,” with 41 members. 1916 Sykes-Picot treaty. That secret agree- military invasion and occupation of Iraq is aired those differences. But now the prob- Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the ment made during World War I carved up not paying off for Wall Street or the Lon- lems in the European Union have driven House Judiciary Committee, wrote a let- the Arabian peninsula between England, don Stock Exchange. them to Washington on questions of trade. ter to the White House on May 5 demand- France and Czarist Russia. A year later the After priming the pump with at least $7 ing an explanation about the revelations U.S. intervened and demanded its share. billion in “reconstruction projects,” the oil Trouble on the home front that the Bush administration manufac- But after the Bolsheviks seized state and the profits that come with it are still Bush and the neo-cons are hunkered tured the pretext for invasion of Iraq. power in Russia and established a work- not flowing out of Iraq. “Most of the cash down in the White House, trying to defend More than 100 other members of Con- ers’ state in 1917, they exposed this colo- goes to U.S. contractors who spend much their empire-building strategies to broad gress signed on. John Kerry and Edward nial backroom deal. of it on personal security,” noted Rod groupings in the U.S. ruling class that are Kennedy have also “taken up the issue.” The eight secret memos released in Nordland. (Newsweek, June 13) no longer so confident that these are the Conyers widely circulated petitions recent weeks also document imperialist Widespread popular anger is fueling the right “guys” to get the job done. demanding answers from the White House wheeling and dealing to divvy up the spoils Iraqi resistance. The June 20 New York Times assessed, and got more than 560,000 signatures. of occupation. But they would never have “Rage is rising among Iraqis facing an “Mr. Bush and his administration now The refusal of the Iraqi people to seen the light of day if U.S. and British official employment rate of 18 percent and find themselves with little or no support knuckle under to Pentagon domination, imperialism had hit pay dirt in Iraq. These infrastructure is destroyed,” Nordland from Democrats and with a Republican and the building anger in the U.S. popula- revelations reflect defeat and despair. continued. “Basic services like electricity, Party that has proven reluctant to support tion against the war for empire, have at The memo dated July 21, 2002—which water and sewers still aren’t up to prewar him on a number of fronts.” last created cracks in the political estab- briefed officials for a meeting with Blair— levels. Electricity is especially vital in a Calls for Bush’s impeachment, muttered lishment here. stressed, “In particular we need to be sure country where summer temperatures warnings of war crimes trials, denounce- These disclosures about the ruses for that the outcome of the military action commonly reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit. ment of torture at Abu Ghraib and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, however, will would match our objective ... . A postwar Yet only 15 percent of Iraqis have reliable Guantanamo, demands to set a deadline to go nowhere unless they are used to help occupation of Iraq could lead to a pro- electrical services. In the capital, where it pull troops out of Iraq—these domestic build a broad and powerful anti-war strug- tracted and costly nation-building exer- counts most, it’s only 4 percent.” “leaks” are hissing like steam from politi- gle based in the workers and oppressed cise. As already made clear, the U.S. mili- The revelations expose a falling out cal fissures in both parties of big business. who always suffer the most in a war. tary plans are virtually silent on this point.” among thieves. Their political costs are “Congress is like Wall Street—it oper- They also demonstrate that as U.S. Following the recent exposure of the mounting, too. ates on fear and greed,” explained Allan J. finance capital finds it harder to assert its documents, journalists John Barry and Anti-war anger in Britain cost Blair’s Lichtman, a presidential historian at economic will globally, the danger of its Mark Hosenball wrote: “The Brits held out military adventurism grows. What hope that they would play a larger role in Free the Cuban 5 • Free Mumia Abu-Jamal • Free Leonard Peltier schemes are in the works now against rebuilding Iraq. Instead, they found them- Iran, Korea, Venezuela and Cuba? selves marginalized, with top posts in FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS Page 6 June 30, 2005 www.workers.org

Preparing for Pride activities LGBTQ youth take on NYPD By Ruth Vela kicked by police, while they attacked him take their complaints there, along with a In discussions afterward, the youth New York verbally as well. name, badge number and description of made it clear they were not fooled by the Another concern raised was the ongo- the officer committing the abuse. condescending manner of the police. They FIERCE—an organizing project of ing harassment faced by youth from resi- Past experiences, however, have taught are well aware that the harassment they transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, two dents of the West Village, who also tell youth that the CCRB, like the police, can- have experienced has nothing to do with spirit, queer, and questioning youth of them to move, yell insults and throw not be trusted. According to a survey con- crime and everything to do with racial and color, ages 13 to 24— called a meeting with things from their windows. One youth ducted by FIERCE, 85 percent of victims gender profiling. the NYPD Sixth Precinct on June 21 at the posed the question to police, “Why don’t of police misconduct in New York City are Youth demanded the Sixth Precinct be LGBT Center. It was in response to ongo- you do anything then?” Black or Latin@. Also, those under the age investigated and the attacks stop. One ing harassment by police of TLGBTSQQ “I’m being harassed for three reasons” of 25 represent 39 percent of the victims young woman shouted, “We’re not going youth in the West Village. said one young woman. “Because I am of police misconduct, even though they to take this any more … it’s not healthy, it’s Set to take place three days before the young, because I am a woman, and comprise only 14 percent of the general abusive!” first Annual Trans Day of Action for Social because I am gay.” Unfortunately, her population. A total of 18,474 allegations Immediately after leaving the meeting, and Economic Justice, the meeting was statement rings true for almost all LGBTQ were made against police officers in 2004. FIERCE youth congregated outside to part of a series of events aimed at kicking youth of color in the city who have been Of those, only 8 percent resulted in disci- plan the next step in their ongoing strug- off the PRIDE weekend but also raising denied a place to come together safely, and plinary action. gle against police. political awareness. the right to self-expression and respect. Instances of abuse raised by the youth Historically, the West Village has been Several youth of color spoke out at the In response to the youth, the two police were labeled “differences of opinion,” by a hot spot for police violence and abuses. meeting, giving testimonies of experi- officers present on behalf of the Sixth the police. The officers told the youth that But the LGBT community also has a his- ences they’ve had with police all over the Precinct claimed they were unaware that “being asked to move was not harassment” tory—one deeply rooted in courage, city, not just in the West Village. Some these issues even existed. According to and that residents choosing to hurl insults strength and the tenacity to fight back. had been told to move for no reason them, no reports had ever been filed at the youth were merely exercising their This meeting, like the coming PRIDE when socializing with friends. Many against the Sixth Precinct and they had rights to free speech. weekend and the TransJustice march, described instances that began with never been made aware that there was a The meeting ended unresolved. The serve not only as celebrations of this his- being told to move and quickly escalated problem. youth demand an end to the violence tory but as reminders that this is a com- to violent hate crimes. One young man They repeatedly brought up the Civilian while the police refused to even accept munity that cannot be silenced and will told of being handcuffed and repeatedly Complaint Review Board, urging youth to that it exists. not be defeated. Pre-Stonewall gay organizing Impact of early Black civil rights struggle

Continued from page 2 pride slogans such as “There is nothing mies—the military, armament industries Those white gays and lesbians who later wrong with being gay—the crime is getting and federal government—that homosexu- argued against this early Mattachine con- caught” and “United we stand, divided als were up against during the Cold War. cept of gays as a cultural minority often they catch us one by one.” And Hay must have been inspired to used the most vile racist language because Sarria showed courage in the face of see Roosevelt surrender to the demands they did not want to be identified with police repression. When undercover cops of the March on Washington, which led African American, Mexican and Jewish infiltrated the bar, Sarria would point to the cancellation of the demonstration, people. them out to the crowd by asking for a and the president publicly issuing the round of applause for the individual. And first executive order protecting the rights Many cultures raising Sarria interjected warnings in song lyrics of Black people since the Emancipation their voices if there was a tip-off that police were about Proclamation. The idea that lesbians and gays are one to raid. The “Nightingale of Montgomery Two decades later, Randolph would “culture” or comparable to oppressed Street” also led bar crowds and other turn to Bayard Rustin—a dynamic gay nations obscured the fact that the vast transgender performers to the nearby jail Black activist—to coordinate the 1963 population these movement founders to stand outside and serenade the LGBT March on Washington at which Dr. Martin were trying to organize was made up of prisoners. (www.sfpride.org) Luther King Jr. delivered his now historic many cultures and nationalities. When the state’s vice and alcohol con- “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1950, for example, Merton Bird, a trol agencies tried to shut down the Black Hay and other early gay rights activists Black gay man, and Dorr Legg, a white gay Cat, in part because of the popularity and were influenced by the Black civil rights man, formed the “Knights of the Clock” activism of Sarria, the owners and patrons movement in a broader sense, too. The ris- group in Los Angeles. The organization CREDIT: WWW.QX.NET sued and won a landmark decision. The ing tide of African American organizing Jose Sarria, shown here, led a California Supreme Court ruled that no raised all boats, and the hopes of all whose brought together inter-racial gay and les- successful 1951 battle for LGBT rights. bian couples and their families. This sup- state law allowed a bar to be closed solely dreams had been deferred. port network was necessary to provide a ation. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans on the basis of the clientele it drew. Edward Sagarin published “The Homo- safe space to discuss social problems. artists and writers were among the visible, (www.qx.net) sexual in America” in 1951 under the pseu- The Black gays and lesbians in the central figures who articulated that just Struggles were emerging from many donym Donald Webster Cory. Sagarin, group not only faced the additional bur- demand. cultures, particularly oppressed cultures, who was a white member of the NAACP in den of racism, they were also part of an to demand LGBT rights and freedom. his progressive years, had grasped the ‘The Nightingale of oppressed nationality with its own cul- argument that there was no “race prob- Montgomery Street’ Impact of Black civil rights ture(s). Some of the racism directed at lem”—the problem was racism. struggle them also spilled over as discrimination The formulation of a single culture was That led him to formulate his ground- and violence against their white loved too narrow to fit the boldly ground-break- The momentous organizing for African breaking argument in “The Homosexual ones—something not experienced by ing 1951 San Francisco battle led by Jose American civil rights, long overdue after in America” that there is “no homosexual whites who partnered with whites. Julio Sarria—a transgender Latin@— the overturning of slavery and the crush- problem except that created by the hetero- Altogether, that’s what made the forma- which demonstrated that bar life had its ing of Black Reconstruction, lifted the aspi- sexual society.” He may have been the first tion of the Knights of the Clock necessary. own “cultures.” These included drag cul- rations of all who were discriminated U.S. writer to describe homosexuals as a The underground LGBT bar crowds, ture, which in reality was various cultures against, downtrodden and disenfranchised. persecuted minority. And he urged homo- largely blue-collar, were also made up of based on nationality, region and eco- A. Philip Randolph, president of the sexuals to rise up and demand their rights. different nationalities. While the Matta- nomic class. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, had What set the Mattachine Society found- chine founders were struggling in 1951 to Sarria, child of a Colombian mother and begun organizing a mass mobilization in ers apart from others who were raising find a political identity for homosexuals as a Nicaraguan father, worked as a waiter 1941—the original March on Washington. their voices for gay and lesbian rights, how- a shared culture, Langston Hughes was and greeter at the Black Cat bar on Mont- Randolph, like the Mattachine founders, ever, was that they were revolutionaries. publishing “Montage of a Dream Defer- gomery Street in San Francisco after had been influenced by the struggle for D’Emilio concluded, “As believers in a red,” which included “Café 3 a.m.” That World War II. Sarria drew audiences of socialism in his early years. He said that his theory of social change that stressed action poem, about a police raid on a gay bar, hundreds when ze began singing arias on discovery of socialism as a young man was by masses of people on their own behalf, began “Detectives from the vice the job. Sarria gained local fame for lead- “like finally running into an idea which the founders kept the society focused on squad/with weary sadistic eyes/spotting ing patrons every night in singing “God gives you your whole outlook on life.” mobilizing a large gay constituency and fairies.” Save Us Nelly Queens,” which became a Harry Hay in particular must have been wielding it into a cohesive force capable of Hughes was part of the Harlem defiant gay anthem. aware that the demands of the 1941 March militancy.” (“Sexual Politics”) Renaissance, an exquisite artistic expres- Sarria infused performances with the on Washington challenged discrimination Next: Busted! sion of a culture demanding its own liber- demand for gay rights and coined early gay by some of the same capitalist class ene- www.workers.org June 30, 2005 Page 7 People of color initiate Trans Day of Action march

By LeiLani Dowell pendent Educated Radicals for Commu- fied using medical theories and religious and offers very little safety. New York nity Empowerment; Gay & Lesbian beliefs, and is perpetuated in order to pre- “The anti-immigrant REAL ID act not Dominican Empowerment Organization; serve America’s heterosexist values. only blatantly violates the rights of immi- Trans and gender non-conforming INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence; Gender policing and violence denies our grants, but also has a direct impact in the (TGNC) people of color and their allies will International Gay and Lesbian Human existence and is used to maintain control lives of all TGNC people. This is especially march here on Friday, June 24, in an his- Rights Commission; Jews for Racial and over us and keep our communities relevant for people of color, who since 9/11 toric event to protest the injustices that Economic Justice; San Francisco Pride; divided. have experienced rising levels of policing trans and gender non-conforming people San Romero de las Américas Church, NYC; “The specific issues that TGNC people and scrutiny from state agencies such as face on a daily basis, and demand social Southerners On New Ground; Florida of color face mirror those faced by the the Department of Motor Vehicles and and economic justice for all people. Gender Equality Project; Indigenous broader communities of color in NYC: Social Security. TGNC people are por- People of color are pioneering this Peoples Solidarity Movement, Montreal, police brutality and harassment; racist trayed as frauds and potential so-called effort. In the fighting spirit of Stonewall, Quebec; International Action Center; and xenophobic immigration policies; “terrorists,” then targeted or denied the first annual Trans Day of Action for Network/La Red: Ending abuse in lesbian, lack of access to living wage employment, rights. Social and Economic Justice has been ini- bisexual women’s and transgender com- adequate affordable housing, quality edu- “The police, as agents of the govern- tiated by TransJustice, the first and only munities, Boston; Troops Out Now! cation, and basic healthcare; and the ment, have brutalized and murdered mul- trans and gender non-conforming people Coalition; Workers’ Rights Law Center of impacts of U.S. imperialism and the so- titudes of people in our communities in of color project in New York City, to call New York; Youth Enrichment Services called U.S. “war on terrorism” being the past few years. Many of them are peo- attention to the needs of TGNC and work- of the LGBT Community Center; and waged against people at home and ple of trans experience, who have had no ing people. others. abroad. recourse because the violence perpetrated TransJustice is an outgrowth of the “These issues are compounded against them was, and still is, state-sanc- Audre Lorde Project, the lesbian, gay, Reasons for Day for TGNC people of color by the tioned. bisexual, two-spirit, and trans people of of Action fact that homophobia and “As Trans and Gender Non-Conforming color center for community organizing. Following are excerpts transphobia are so pervasive people of color, we see that our struggle Coincidentally, its march is being held on from the call: in society. As a result, our today is directly linked to many struggles the same day as the second annual Trans “Communities of color community is dispropor- here and around the world. We view the March in San Francisco. Organizers plan have histories that are tionately represented in June 24 Trans Day of Action for Social and to issue a joint solidarity statement link- rich with multiple gen- homeless shelters, in Economic Justice as a day to stand in sol- ing both events. der identities, experi- foster care agencies, in idarity with all peoples and movements The need for such an action is great. The ences, and expressions, Trans Day of Action jails and prisons. fighting against oppression and inequal- National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s but today the two-gen- HISTORIC EVENT “On April 2002, the ity. Transgender Civil Rights Project reports der system is enforced June 24 gather at 5:30pm at Jackson Sq. city of New York passed “We also view this action as following that only six states have anti-discrimina- against us everywhere: a non-discrimination the legacy of our Trans People of Color 8th Ave.-Greenwich Ave.-Horatio St. tion laws that explicitly include the trans in health care, immi- law that included gen- warriors, such as Sylvia Rivera and others community. And the Trans Day of Remem- gration, bathrooms, March to Union Square at 6:30•NYC der identity as a pro- who with extreme determination fought brance website reports that this year alone, clothing, shelters, pris- tected category under not only for the rights of all trans and gen- 10 murders of trans people have been ons, schools, government forms, job appli- the city’s human rights law, yet it took the der-nonconforming people, but also were reported—more than one a month.(www. cations, and identity documents. Bloomberg administration two years to on the front lines for the liberation of all gender.org/remember/day/who.html) “Gender policing has always been part of create and release an inadequate set of oppressed peoples. Yet the organizers of the march are America’s bloody history. State-sanc- guidelines to define what this meant. “In this spirit, we as Trans and Gender quick to note that the issues facing all tioned gender policing targets Trans and Meanwhile, TGNC people continue to Non-Conforming Peoples of Color call on working people are of concern to TGNC Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) people experience high levels of violence and all social justice activists from communi- communities as well, including poverty, first by dehumanizing our identities. It harassment everywhere we go. ties of color, lesbian, gay, bi and trans war and racism. denies our basic right to gender self-deter- “Across the country, people of color movements, immigrant rights organiza- The call for the Trans Day of Action has mination, and considers our bodies to be communities face high levels of unem- tions, youth and student groups, trade garnered widespread support, including property of the state. ployment. For example, it is widely known unions and workers organizations, reli- endorsements from New York City “Gender policing isolates TGNC people that in 2005 the unemployment rate for gious communities and HIV/AIDS and Councilperson Charles Barron; Al-Fatiha, from our communities, many of which Black men in NYC is now at 50 percent. social service agencies to endorse this call NYC Chapter; Asian & Pacific Islander have been socialized with these oppressive We can only deduce that the percentage of to action and to build contingents to Wellness Center, San Francisco; Brazilian definitions of gender. As a result, we all too unemployment for TGNC people of color march in solidarity together on June 24. Rainbow Group, Inc.; Center for Consti- often fall victim to verbal and physical vio- is likely to be much higher, since there is With this march we commemorate the tutional Rights; FIERCE! Fabulous Inde- lence. This transphobic violence is justi- hardly any New York State employment lives of those who came before us, and data for our community. Due to the lack of honor the courage of all communities that employment opportunities, many of us are continue to struggle and fight for libera- forced to accept work that is criminalized tion and self-determination every day.” by the government, stigmatized by society Win for lesbian co-mothers By Minnie Bruce Pratt listed on their child’s birth certificate. Jersey City, N.J. Lawyers for LoCicero and Robinson suc- cessfully argued these lesbian mothers Lesbian couple Jeanne LoCicero and should have similar legal protection. Kimberly Robinson of New Jersey won a The court ruling gives immediate court battle on May 23 to list both of legal and economic benefits to Vivian, their names as parents on the birth cer- including eligibility for health insurance Pat Chin second A memorial celebrating the life of Workers World Party tificate of their new-born daughter, as a dependent of either mother. from left holding leader Pat Chin will be held on Saturday, June 25, from Vivian Ryan. The victory, a first for the Previously in New Jersey, a lesbian co- the banner. 3 to 6 p.m. at the Lang Center, 55 W. 13 St., 2nd floor, in state, continues an expansion of lesbian mother had to petition the court for an Manhattan in New York City. Chin, a lesbian activist of color, and gay rights by New Jersey courts, adoption to gain parental rights. This Join us died on May 16 at the age of 56 after a long bout with including a recent ruling that lesbian process took six months to two years, breast cancer. and gay couples are entitled to the same cost a hefty amount of money, and to celebrate tax exemptions as heterosexual married involved intrusive interviews and even The memorial will honor her exemplary contributions to couples. fingerprinting by state agencies. the life of the revolutionary struggle. Representatives of important LoCicero and Robinson, who are reg- Judge Patricia Talbert conceded the struggles will be in attendance, including from the Haitian istered as domestic partners in New point that the lesbian, gay, bi and trans PAT CHIN movement, as well as members of Pat’s family, her friends, Jersey and were married in Canada, movement has been clearly vocalizing: and political activists she met during her long history in conceived Vivian through artificial that the notion of “family composed of the struggle. insemination (AI). Under state law, the mom, dad and two children applies, in Call (212) 627-2994 for more information about the memorial male partner of a heterosexual couple fact, to only 23.5 percent” of the U.S. and about how to contribute to the Pat Chin Memorial Fund. who use AI has his name automatically population. Page 8 June 30, 2005 www.workers.org

The communist & the general depart In Portugal, the struggle continues By John Catalinotto

It was just a funeral procession. But it proved conclusively that the reports of the death of communism in Europe were false. Hundreds of thousands of workers, farmers and Communist Party activists from all over Portugal marched in Lisbon on June 15. They carried scarlet banners with hammers and sickles, forming a vast sea of humanity as they marched behind the hearse carrying the body of the late communist leader Alvaro Cunhal. An PHOTO: AVANTE observer remarked that, for three miles, Alvaro Cunhal. Below, funeral cortege for from the Avenida da Liberdade to Lisbon’s Cunhal: a sea of red. Morais Soares cemetery, the “streets of Lisbon were dyed red.” Cunhal, who died June 13 at the age of 91, had spent 74 years as a leading mili- tant of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP). He was its secretary general from 1961 to 1992, played a major role in the 1974-75 revolution that freed Portugal from a four-decades-long fascist dictator- ship, and was a towering figure in 20th- century Portugal. To his last days, he helped ensure that the PCP he had done so much to build would remain true to the struggle for socialism. As Cunhal’s body entered the cremato- rium, tens of thousands of party militants, tears in their eyes, held their fists and their red banners in the air as they sang the hymn of the world communist move- ment—the Internationale. And they chanted the slogan made popular by the liberation movements in what were once fascist Portugal’s African colonies: “The struggle continues.” That slogan was also chanted at the WW PHOTO: JOHN CATALINOTTO funeral of another Portuguese revolution- General Vasco Gonçalves ary who had died two days before Cunhal. General Vasco Gonçalves was a leader of the Armed Forces Movement that over- While the PCP was deepening its roots threw the fascist dictatorship on April 25, with the Portuguese city and rural work- 1974. Gonçalves, who was 83 when he ers, especially those in the Alentejo region died, had led the Portuguese soldiers who south of Lisbon, it was also aiding the rev- were refusing to fight against the libera- olutionary struggles for national libera- tion movements in Angola, Mozambique tion in the colonies, building close work- and Guinea-Bissau. ing relations with Agostinho Neto in Under Gonçalves’ turn as Portugal’s Angola, Amilcar Cabral in Guinea-Bissau premier, Portugal recognized the libera- and Samora Machel in Mozambique. tion of the colonies and began within Under the impact of the interaction Portugal the most wide-sweeping land between the liberation struggles, the tur- reform in Europe, relieving the lives of moil in the colonial army and the workers’ millions of Portuguese farmers and rural struggle against fascism, the revolutionary workers. Workers in Portugal refer to situation developed rapidly. It ended with Gonçalves as “my general.” the overthrow of fascism and the libera- Gonçalves was the highest-ranking offi- tion of the colonies. cer and one of the few Marxists to join the This is a historic lesson the Bush admin- “revolt of the captains” against the fascist istration will probably ignore as it pursues regime in the early 1970s. He embraced Cunhal’s life entwined 1937 and again in 1940, each time for a its program for U.S. domination of the the revolutionary process in Portugal, and with the PCP year and each time tortured. At each world. With incidences of “fragging” now even in recent years contributed with his Like many other 20th-century commu- release he immediately rejoined the strug- reported in the U.S. military in occupied writing and speaking to the defense of nist activists and leaders, Alvaro Cunhal gle. Through the early 1940s Cunhal Iraq, all who want to stop U.S. imperial- socialist ideals. drew his political inspiration from the became a senior party organizer, playing ism’s irrational drive for conquest should Gonçalves and Cunhal, the general and world-shaking 1917 Russian Revolution, a role in three major regional general pay close attention to the Portuguese the communist, fought shoulder to shoul- which for the first time in history put an strikes, until he was arrested in 1949. In experience. der during the most progressive phase of oppressed and exploited class in the seat 1950 before a tribunal he turned the tables Alvaro Cunhal had distinguished him- the Portuguese revolution, which went to of state power. Born in 1913, he had on his accusers, attacking the fascist gov- self as a graphic artist and, under the pseu- the brink of a workers’ seizure of power already joined the PCP by 1931. By 1935 he ernment of Antonio Salazar and defend- donym of Manuel Tiago, as an accom- before counter-revolutionary forces inside was elected to lead the party’s youth ing the PCP’s program and actions. plished novelist. But his major life’s work and outside Portugal were able to stop its organization, and was soon underground This time the fascist regime tried to put was the party itself. progress. carrying out the struggle, as so many him away for good. Indeed, he stayed until In the period after 1975, Cunhal was one It was a sign of the influence of Cunhal Portuguese communists had to do. 1960 in the feared Peniche prison, spend- of the few communist leaders in Western and his party that Portugal’s capitalist Clandestine organizing, exile, jail, tor- ing eight of those years in solitary confine- Europe who refused to fall into the trap of government was obliged to declare June ture by the hated fascist political police, a ment. Then he and eight other communist so-called Eurocommunism, which really 15 a day of mourning and that the most role in the Spanish Civil War—that was leaders climbed down from a window on meant turning away from class struggle vicious and obstinate enemies of Cunhal what so many European communist lead- sheets tied together in a dramatic prison and becoming a social-democratic elec- and communism had to acknowledge his ers experienced in the 1930s and 1940s, escape, one that undoubtedly relied on the toral party no longer oriented toward a courage, honesty and devotion to the and Cunhal saw it all. skillful organization of the clandestine struggle for socialism. Even after the cause of the workers. As a youth organizer he was jailed in PCP apparatus they had helped to build. counter-revolution in the USSR had made Soon after this escape, Cunhal was elected a tactical retreat inevitable, he continued the PCP’s general secretary, a post he held to insist that his party fight every inch of until 1992. Truth is Power and leftbooks.com has plenty of it. Continued on facing page www.workers.org June 30, 2005 Page 9 Another brutal offensive in Iraq sees Bush support shrivel

By John Catalinotto during the U.S. war against Vietnam, U.S. New York Times columnist Thomas “Out of Iraq” caucus in Congress, with officers make a rough estimate of the dead Friedman. On June 15, he looked at the members of the Black Congressional On June 20, as President George W. Iraqis and count everyone killed, even disaster for U.S. imperialism occurring in Caucus like Barbara Lee of California and Bush was vowing to “stay the course” in children, as an enemy combatant. To Iraq and suggested that the Pentagon Charles Rangel of New York playing out- Iraq, resistance fighters in Karabila were guess at the real progress of the battle in “double the American boots on the spoken roles. countering “Operation Spear,” the latest Iraq, it is perhaps more helpful to see the ground.” The dissent among politicians lags way offensive by 1,000 U.S. Marines and 100 reaction of the ruling politicians in Doubling the number of boots implies behind attitudes on the ground. puppet Iraqi troops. Others in cities across Washington and their pundits. doubling the number of young people to Recruiting has been down about 25 per- the country were blowing up members of fill those boots. The Times Op-Ed colum- cent each month for the Army and the puppet police force. Cheney speaks of ‘last throes’ nist doesn’t explain how this will be National Guard. And it gets worse each With almost no independent reporting Interviewed on CNN’s “Larry King Live” accomplished when recruiters are having month. But no one dares propose a mili- coming from Iraq, it is nearly impossible on May 25, Vice President Dick Cheney nervous breakdowns trying to meet their tary draft, even though every officer in the to measure the Pentagon’s constant claims claimed that the United States and its Iraqi quotas, which they fail to do. For Pentagon is thinking about it. They’re also of victory regarding its offensives. For forces were winning the war and that the Friedman, nothing could be worse for the thinking and talking about “fragging”— “Operation Spear,” the U.S. military “insurgency was in its last throes.” Cheney U.S. empire’s fortunes than to be driven that is, enlisted GIs killing officers, often claimed to have killed “40 insurgents,” is one of the chief architects of the war on from Iraq by the Iraqi people in arms. by rolling a fragmentation grenade into meaning armed members of the Iraqi Iraq, but this comment sounded to many Despite the enormous problems the their tent. resistance, in a bombing assault. people as if he had remained in the bunker Iraq occupation is causing U.S. imperial- Meanwhile, the Pentagon made it clear However, a report from the Iraqi resist- he fled to on Sept. 11, 2001, and missed the ism, ruling-class opinion agrees with it considers the recent deaths of two offi- ance forces, published in the Free Arab reality of the Iraq occupation. Friedman. Not just Bush and the cers in Iraq a case of “fragging.” It has Voice, said there were “more than 70 civil- Since that May 25 interview, hundreds Republican leadership, either. The charged Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez with ians still buried under rubble after savage of Iraqi puppet troops and police have Democratic Party national leadership has murder in the deaths of Capt. Philip American bombing; 300 families near been killed all over Iraq. Also since then, refused to confront Bush on the war. Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis Allen. death from thirst pinned down by Bush’s support in U.S. polls has dropped Whatever the details of the case, this American snipers,” and added that the significantly. Regarding Iraq, it’s now at 37 First split in ruling-class views sends a shiver up the generals’ spines. resistance was nevertheless holding off the percent in the CBS-New York Times poll. Where the growing mass opposition to While there have always been examples of U.S. offensive. Bush himself has avoided making that Bush’s Iraq policy has broken through has killings not by enemy fire, in Vietnam this Even a U.S. source, the June 17 Los same bold claim. He has confined himself so far been only among those members of reached the level of political protest, Angeles Times, reported: “Dr. Hamid to pledging that the United States will Congress who are most in touch with their which many war resisters saw as a legiti- Alousi, director of the General Hospital in “stay the course” in Iraq, whatever the sac- constituents. This opposition is a sign of mate tactic against brutal or racist officers. nearby Qaim, said half a dozen bodies rifices. “More and more Iraqis are becom- the first real break in ruling-class opinion Between 1969 and 1971, the U.S. Army were stuck under a bombed house in ing battle-hardened and trained to defend regarding the need to retreat from Iraq, reported 600 fragging incidents, which Karabila. ‘We can’t get them out because themselves,” Bush said. but it is still a minority view. killed 82 officers and non-commissioned of the continuous bombing,’ Alousi said.” He meant to apply this comment to the Rep. John Conyers of Michigan held a officers and injured 651. Much like the body-count reporting puppet troops. Most intelligent observers “forum” with 20 House Democrats to dis- The Pentagon knows the high level of will apply it more accurately to the resist- cuss the “Downing Street memo,” which discontent among U.S. troops, and fears ance forces. shows clearly the Bush administration had that fragging will become a more popular Another champion of “staying the decided to invade Iraq from the start. Rep. method of opposing the tour of duty in Portugal course” is the chief flack of globalization, Maxine Waters of California founded an Iraq. Continued from facing page Bolivarian Revolution is vigilant the way and never give up the eventual goal of socialism. The corporate-controlled media in the United States and even in Western Europe New oil finds increase danger gave almost no coverage to the tremen- dous march in Lisbon. Some of the more influential newspapers did run obituaries to Chavez that at least hinted of Cunhal’s real role and influence. But the imperialist ruling By Deirdre Griswold Bloomberg.com is also very concerned behind the purpose of that meeting? class hates to pay respect to a workers’ about Venezuela. Why? Because the Were promises of money and even leader, and they tried to demonize Cunhal It’s not hard to figure out what is hap- National Assembly is discussing requested more lethal support given to those who by using the terms “Stalinist” and a “rigid pening in Venezuela. Under the govern- legislation that would let the government want to supplant Chavez? And with hardliner” to describe him. ment of Hugo Chavez, the resources of take some of the money that Venezuela Chavez so popular among the masses, how As Workers World Party wrote in its this oil-rich country are going to help the has in reserve, because of the current high could the opposition expect to ever get into condolence statement to the PCP, these people for the first time. Oil money is pay- price for its oil, and spend it on develop- power? Unless something happened to attempts at insults simply meant that ing for housing, decent food, education ment projects. That sounds good, right? Chavez and his coalition of progressive Cunhal “was unwilling to give in by one and health care. Not to the financiers. “The legislation forces were overthrown. And that’s exactly centimeter to the capitalist class, and for Chavez has the support of at least 70 would leave the South American country, what happened in Chile in 1973, when that he has kept the loyalty of workers and percent of the people in polls and elec- the world’s fifth-biggest oil exporter, with President Salvador Allende was assassi- communists worldwide.” tions. Another election is coming up in less reserves to defend the value of its cur- nated with the blessings of Secretary of If the media withheld all publicity, it August and he is sure to win. rency and to make foreign debt pay- State Henry Kissinger and the U.S. oil was because the ruling class was con- But a parade celebrating Venezuela’s ments,” says Bloomberg. establishment he really worked for. cerned that this open display of pro-com- independence on June 24 had to be The financial news service quotes The U.S. has specially trained organiza- munist sentiment by hundreds of thou- rerouted to a military base because of Richard Francis, an analyst with Standard tions to do exactly that. It has tried for over sands of workers in a country of 10 million credible threats to Chavez’s life, security & Poor’s in New York. “It’s unorthodox to 40 years to assassinate the revolutionary was not simply a last cry of nostalgia for forces said. just take reserves out of the central bank,” leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro. It kidnapped 20th-century communism. Who would want to kill a popular fig- Francis said. “If you just look at some of the popular president of Haiti, Jean- The funeral march was also the ure associated with so much positive the indicators, Venezuela would tend to be Bertrand Aristide, last year and sent him strongest pro-communist demonstration changes for the majority of the people? rated higher but the political risk and into exile. It made sure Patrice Lumumba, in Western Europe since 1989 and the col- BusinessWeek Online pointed out on unorthodox economic policies keep it at a the leader of the Congo independence lapse of the Soviet Union. June 21 that Venezuela has just reported relatively low rating.” movement in the early 1960s, was assas- Along with the recent defeat for the significant new oil finds in the western So countries that spend their reserves sinated and his jailer, Gen. Mobutu, ele- European Union constitution in France Lake Maracaibo region. It added that on “unorthodox” things like services for vated to head of state. and The Netherlands, it was another sign Venezuela has the world’s greatest oil the people get low bond ratings, which So Venezuelans in charge of the presi- that the capitalist offensive that has been reserves outside the Middle East. means they have to pay a higher interest dent’s security have good reason to be very going full blast since 1989 may run into a When a business magazine makes a rate in world markets. cautious and protect Chavez from what- wall of workers’ resistance. statement like that, its savvy readers perk U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza ever plots may exist against him. They Farewell, comrade Gonçalves, farewell up their ears. They look at everything that Rice recently met with the Venezuelan know these can come not just from some comrade Cunhal. The struggle continues. transpires between that country and the “opposition” to encourage them. Why disgruntled Venezuelans unhappy about Catalinotto, a managing editor of U.S. government in terms of whether or should a top representative of a powerful land reform or their loss of the economic WW, has been the New York correspon- not it enhances the possibility that the country like the U.S. bother with a politi- privilege and prestige, but from the ruth- dent for the PCP newspaper, Avante, immense profits that could be made from cal group that has no chance of getting less professionals working for the world’s for the past nine months. the oil might come their way. elected? What other scenarios were most desperate imperialist ruling class. Page 10 June 30, 2005 www.workers.org Women workers Was justice on a risky journey “Making Changes" by Patricia Hilliard, picture are the lunchtime, break-time, really served? iUniverse Books, $14.95, 2005 stealthy stolen moments from work- time, camaraderie of the workers, the By Rosemary Neidenberg “Mississippi Burning” was one of the era—so many others, like Medgar Evers, confidences about personal problems, most critically acclaimed movies of 1988. Vernon Dahmer, Emmett Till and the Patricia Hilliard’s first book, “One the kidding around, the mosaic of per- It received Academy Award nominations four girls killed in the Birmingham Pledge Unspoken,” transported the reader sonalities to deal with and gossip about for best picture and for Gene Hackman church bombing. Why weren’t their to the 1960s and a reliving of the struggle (particularly the bosses and supervi- as best actor. The movie takes place in a killers brought to justice after these of small-town Midwest high school stu- sors). And there is the occasional deli- small town in Mississippi during the atrocities took place? The federal gov- dents against the Vietnam War. (Does cious event when the workers get over on height of the African American struggle ernment, with all of its sophisticated anyone remember running leaflets on a management. for voting rights during the 1960s. The wiretapping and other COINTELPRO- mimeograph machine?) Ellen Anderson, leader and instigator, screenplay was loosely based on the like tactics, knew every step of the KKK “Making Changes” takes us to a large is happy to get the data-entry job. She will June 21, 1964, real-life murders of three and other white supremacists. The fed- Cleveland insurance company office in the be able to pay her rent and buy film for her civil rights workers—James Chaney, eral government was well aware that the 1980s. The women workers, the camera. Spiritual kin to the high- Andrew Goodman and Michael Southern courts would not prosecute supervisors, the bosses—they’re all BOOK. school anti-war organizer in the Schwerner, all in their early 20s—by the anyone for these crimes. Instead of here, so authentic in every detail. REVIEW . 1960s, she rejoices in an exciting Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia, Miss. intervening in a meaningful way, it used The personal lives of the workers, prospect. She is determined to The movie included powerful scenes “states’ rights” as an excuse to do noth- their problems, interests, life-plans, the organize a union. depicting the racist terror that Black ing but give a slap on the wrist to these way they think and dress and talk are real Hilliard provides a step-by-step, nitty- people faced during this historic lynchers. and recognizable. gritty, hold-your-breath account of how period—scenes rarely seen by a broad Ben Chaney told Workers World in a Particularly familiar and poignant is the the disparate, generous, flawed, gutsy, dis- sector of the U.S. population. At the February 2005 interview that there are woman who collects figurines. She buys regarded, underpaid women office work- same time, the movie was rightfully criti- people in high governmental positions in one every week. Do you know her? I do. ers embark on their risky journey. cized for falsely portraying the FBI as Mississippi today who were involved in The mix of heritages found in every big- Anyone who has been involved in union heroes during their so-called investiga- his brother’s murder and that Killen was city workplace is there—newly arrived, as organizing will recognize and relive the tion into the murders. an attractive and convenient scapegoat well as third-generation descendants— moments of desperation, the moments of This falsification was done to cover up because of his sordid history. To take from Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and triumph, the strategy meetings to counter the FBI’s notorious Counter-Intelligence that point further, individual racists like women many generations out of Africa. each move of the bosses, the feelings of Program (COINTELPRO). Even though Killen may have outlived their useful- Each cog in the American Empire deep disappointment when it looks like the FBI did infiltrate the fascistic, white ness, but the U.S. government still Insurance Co. is a beautifully etched the workers will lose, the exhilaration supremacist group, it also treated the depends on the presence of neo-fascist dimensional portrait. when victory is in sight. Klan with kid gloves. It was a different groups like the Klan and Nazis to whip The drudgery of the data-entry work, Do the workers win? Well, it cannot be story altogether when it came to the up racist, anti-worker hatred to maintain the drabness of the fluorescent-lit rows imagined that Hilliard would write a book leaders of the civil rights and Black liber- capitalist rule. of computer-adorned desks—one shud- where the workers lose. ation movements. COINTELPRO used ders to envision it. But brightening the Available from leftbooks.com. every dirty trick in the book—including demonization, imprisonment and assas- sinations—to target leaders that included Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and ‘Stop the killing of the Black Panthers. Now—exactly 41 years later to the day that Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were brutally beaten and executed—KKK Philippine activists’ member Edgar Ray Killen, 80 years old, was found guilty of manslaughter for the The Bush regime and the U.S. military murders. He is the only KKK member are backing a wholesale terror campaign ever convicted for these deaths, since the against the people of the Philippines. That Mississippi courts did not bother to was the message of an Emergency Con- arrest anyone at the time. In 1967, the ference on Human Rights in the Philip- federal government found seven of the pines held in New York June 16. 19 Klan members guilty of conspiracy to The supposedly democratic administra- commit the murders under a charge of tion of Philippines President Gloria Maca- “violation of the civil rights” of the young pagal Arroyo has carried out more human- organizers. Nine of the Klansmen were rights violations than any previous Philip- acquitted, and the trials of Killen and pine government—including the fascist two others ended in hung juries. dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos— Some, including the family members accordng to Berna Ellorin of BAYAN USA. of the murdered men, view the Killen She had just returned from two months in CREDIT: NYCHRP conviction as an important symbolic ges- the Philippines. Rusty Fabunan, Berna Ellorin and Gary Labad. ture that justice is finally served. This is This year alone, 39 members of the certainly understandable. Others are mass organizations BAYAN and BAYAN- the U.S. is now being created. Hernandez. It was read by Gary Labad of asking why Killen was not found guilty of MUNA have been murdered by military- The conference was organized by the New York Committee for Human first-degree murder? The courts say that backed death squads. Slides showed the BAYAN USA, the youth organization Rights in the Philippines and accompa- the passing of time was an important faces of labor organizers, priests and oth- ANAKBAYAN and the New York Com- nied by a dance interpretation by NYC- factor. Key witnesses have died and evi- ers who have been killed. mittee for Human Rights in the Philip- HRP member Donna Mae Santos. The dence has reportedly disappeared or The Philippine military is armed, pines. The program also included a popu- program closed with the singing of the been destroyed. trained and funded by the Pentagon. U.S. lar poem in Tagalog by Philippine laure- Philippine patriotic song “Bayan Ko.” But a white juror was quoted regard- Special Forces are operating in the coun- ate and labor organizer Amado V. —Bill Cecil ing the feelings of his fellow jurors, “....if try. In the past four years human-rights they could just have better evidence in organizations have documented violations the case that they would have convicted against 198,398 individuals, 18,977 fami- him of murder in a minute. Our consen- lies and 123 communities. The Arroyo SUBSCRIBE TO sus was the state did not produce a regime also holds 238 political prisoners. strong enough case.” (New York Times, Ellorin and other speakers talked about the history of U.S. intervention in the WORKERS WORLD June 22) Ben Chaney, the brother of James Philippines, the Philippine people’s strug- SPECIAL TRIAL SUBSCRIPTION Chaney, stated after the Killen verdict gle and the BAYAN movement. Exposés of corruption and massive electoral fraud $2 FOR EIGHT WEEKS (NEW SUBSCRIPTION) that at least nine other bodies were $25 for one year found on Aug. 4, 1964—the bodies of have now discredited Arroyo’s govern- ment, and BAYAN is leading a campaign Black men buried in the earthen dam Name ______along with the bodies of the civil rights for her resignation with a perspective to oust her if she refuses to step down. workers. He told the press that their Phone number ______killers should also be brought to justice. The meeting ended with an appeal for The trial of Killen cannot be separated international support for BAYAN’s call: Address______from the reopening of cases of other “End undeclared martial law! Stop the City/State/Zip ______murder victims during the civil rights killing of political activists.” A Philippine Solidarity Committee in Workers World Newspaper 55 West 17 St. NY, NY 10011 (212) 627-2994 www.workers.org 30 de Junio 30, 2005 Pagina 11

Detrás del levantamiento indígena en Bolivia Continua de página 12 Mario Cossío, el presidente de la Cámara deliberaciones del Congreso, tratando de ivo pueblo del Alto prometió seguir la burguesía local. de Diputados. debatir la renuncia de Mesa, tuvieron que luchando hasta que sea lograda la Ahora El Alto es 90% indígena. Según ser trasladadas a Sucre, capital constitu- nacionalización. Acciones combinadas forzaron cional al sureste de La Paz, supuestamente El nuevo presidente se reunió con los el Centro de Estudios Laborales y de la renuncia de Mesa Desarrollo Rural en La Paz, un 60% de l@s una ciudad tranquila libre de protestas. líderes de El Alto por horas, hasta que lle- alteños vive por debajo del nivel de Las acciones nacionales combinadas de garon a un acuerdo. Las organizaciones todos los grupos de oposición paralizaron Muerte de un minero otorgaron al nuevo gobierno una tregua pobreza. De ellos, un 50 por ciento sobre- amplía la rebelión vive bajo condiciones indigentes. al país, forzaron la salida de Mesa, e impi- corta pero vigilante. Sólo un 30% de los hogares tiene alcan- dieron la sucesión presidencial constitu- El 9 de junio, Mundo Obrero habló con Abel Mamani anunció la formación de tarillado básico. Los servicios de edu- cional, que hubiera sido el presidente del el escritor y periodista boliviano de medios una comisión conjunta de representantes cación y salud son muy pobres. Senado seguido por el presidente de la alternativos, Alex Contreras, quien se del gobierno y de las organizaciones soci- Fuertes comités bien organizados son la Cámara de Diputados. Esos puestos esta- encontraba en Sucre. Con voz entrecor- ales del Alto para asegurar que la nacional- columna vertebral de la Federación de ban ocupados por los impopulares Vaca tada luego de correr a causa de los gases ización, la Asamblea Constituyente, y la lla- Juntas Vecinales, FEJUVE. Esta es una de Diez y Cossío quienes participaron en el lacrimógenos, dijo “Hoy en Sucre se mada a elecciones generales sean incluidas las dos organizaciones principales de El programa neoliberal implementado por venían a reunir los parlamentarios para en la agenda del Congreso Nacional. Alto que han jugado un papel importante Sánchez de Lozada. El nuevo presidente, tratar la sucesión presidencial, pero a las La rebelión en Bolivia no ha terminado. en las movilizaciones. Eduardo Rodríguez, es el presidente de la dos y media esta tarde se produjeron Sólo hay una tregua temporal. Aún l@s FEJUVE está encabezada por Abel Corte Suprema de Justicia, y como tal, la enfrentamientos donde se ha producido la combativ@s residentes del Alto estaban Mamani, pero las bases son decisivas. única persona que constitucionalmente muerte de un trabajador minero de 52 pidiendo a sus líderes permitir una tregua FEJUVE y la Central Obrera Regional, puede convocar a elecciones tempranas. años. Él era uno de los mineros que venían para reaprovisionar sus escasos sumin- COR, que tiene como secretario ejecutivo Otras fuerzas en la revuelta incluyen al a Sucre para impedir que sea elegido Vaca istros de alimentos y poder así dar de a Edgar Patana, conforman la base de un diputado Aymara Evo Morales y su orga- Diez como presidente, lo que ha ocasion- comer a sus hijos. comité coordinador que moviliza las nización, Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS, ado que todos los sectores populares se Pero ell@s no tienen ninguna ilusión masas. que tiene la segunda representación más radicalicen y están prácticamente que- sobre Rodríguez o los partidos tradicion- Estas organizaciones fueron la fuerza grande en el Congreso después de los par- riendo tomar la plaza de Sucre, la Plaza 25 ales. Ell@s se enfrentan a su burguesía y impulsora de los recientes bloqueos de tidos tradicionales. de Mayo, donde se encuentran reunidos al imperialismo estadounidense. ruta y la toma simbólica de plantas de gas Morales, un cultivador de coca, es muy los parlamentarios.” Mientras tanto, Washington y las com- en El Alto. conocido por la batalla de su organización Contreras describió cómo los manifes- pañías estadounidenses trabajan sin parar En el 2003 iniciaron y se volvieron el contra la erradicación de la coca en la tantes habían entrado por miles desde con sus aliados, internacionalmente y centro de protestas, con gritos de “¡El Alto región del Chapare, especialmente por zonas rurales cuando oyeron la noticia de dentro mismo de Bolivia. en pie, nunca de rodillas!” y “¡Guerra civil parte del Plan de Washington, Plan la muerte del minero: “Había contin- Recientemente fue reportado que los ya!” Colombia. El gobierno de los EEUU se ha gentes de policía y de militares en los Estados Unidos y Bretaña están “perdo- Esta fue la “Guerra del Gas” para opuesto fuertemente a Morales y le han caminos, el aeropuerto y especialmente en nando” la deuda a 18 de los países más defender esa reserva e impedir su venta al acusado falsamente de recibir finan- la Plaza 25 de mayo donde estuvieron pobres del mundo, entre ellos Bolivia. Norte. La rebelión forzó la renuncia en el ciamiento del presidente venezolano cientos si no miles de bolivianos y boli- ¿Creen ellos que esto es suficiente para 2003 del entonces presidente Sánchez de Hugo Chávez. vianas en las calles. Hay un enfrenta- calmar a las masas combativas allá? ¿Se Lozada, un estrecho aliado de los EEUU Los mineros militantes, que formaron miento con la policía . . .” irán las compañías estadounidenses? quien escapó a los EEUU después de desa- la base de la Central Obrera Boliviana, En este punto, con sonidos de balas y ¿Pagarán reparaciones al pueblo? tar una ola de represión con la policía y los COB, son los que encendían las cápsulas estallidos de dinamita en el trasfondo, se ¿O quieren una situación “estable” para militares en el intento de suprimir las de dinamita durante las protestas. Grupos rompió la conexión telefónica. Mundo que las compañías transnacionales protestas. indígenas y de campesin@s de las regiones Obrero pudo comunicarse con Contreras puedan aprovecharse de las ganancias de Esa represión mató 80 personas e hirió amazónicas del este de Bolivia también más tarde y cerciorarse de que no fue los recursos naturales de Bolivia sin a 400, muchas de ellas alteñas. Ese fueron cruciales en la lucha. lesionado. ningún obstáculo? Estos acontecimientos hicieron que el El imperialismo siempre desestima los “Octubre Negro” todavía resuena en la Santa Cruz: tierra de la oligarquía memoria del pueblo. Una de las demandas Congreso aprobara unánimemente la movimientos del pueblo. La cuestión actuales es la de procesar al ex presidente. Esta región oriental de Bolivia es muy renuncia de Mesa. Más importante aún, ahora en Bolivia es cómo pueden llegar al Sánchez de Lozada todavía anda suelto en rica en hidrocarburos. Es también la casa los sucesores a la presidencia, Vaca Diez y poder l@s indígenas, trabajador@s, y el santuario de terroristas que es hoy de la oligarquía, la población minoritaria Cossío, decidieron renunciar a la sucesión. campesin@s. Según Contreras, hay inten- EEUU. de blancos racistas. Cuando Mesa llegó a la presidencia en tos de formar un Comité Unitario de Muchas otras organizaciones en Bolivia Los residentes del departamento de el 2003, debía haber llevado a cabo la Movilizaciones entre todas las organiza- conforman la resistencia junto a FEJUVE Santa Cruz lanzaron un movimiento sece- “Agenda de Octubre”, la nacionalización, ciones. También le informó a Mundo y la COR. Todavía no hay unidad política sionista con la demanda de autonomía, la la cuál de hecho hubiese sido un intento Obrero que la FEJUVE y la COR del Alto general y algunas de sus demandas especí- cuál fue apoyada por la embajada esta- de desarrollar la industria de hidrocar- “han decidido conformar con la Federa- ficas a veces parecen contradictorias. Sin dounidense y las compañías transna- buros para el beneficio del pueblo en vez ción Única de Campesinos de La Paz que embargo, la gran mayoría comparte una cionales de petróleo, y por Vaca Diez, de beneficiar a las compañías transna- está conformada por campesinos Ay- resistencia al neoliberalismo y están listos quien también es de esta región. cionales. Él también debía haber convo- maras, una Asamblea Popular del Pueblo a tomar acción hasta en las circunstancias Las masas rebeldes se opusieron fuerte- cado una asamblea constituyente donde el Indígena y Obrero—y han declarado la más difíciles. mente a la secesión. Vieron esta maniobra pueblo hubiese podido elegir y planear ciudad del Alto como la capital de la Todas estuvieron presionando tres como un intento de oposición a la lucha libremente el futuro de su país. Revolución Boliviana del siglo XXI.” demandas principales: nacionalización de militante por la nacionalización, y para Mesa no cumplió con estas promesas. los hidrocarburos; la Asamblea Constitu- robar los recursos naturales del país. El Vaciló cuando fue confrontado poco yente; y el enjuiciamiento a Sánchez de primero de junio, una manifestación de después de aceptar la presidencia, por el Lozada y luego, que renunciaran Mesa, el indígenas, campesin@s y trabajador@s de Congreso mayoritariamente neoliberal y neoliberal presidente del Senado Hor- la región que expresaban las demandas por la oligarquía racista y pro-esta- mando Vaca nacionales, fue insultada y atacada brutal- dounidense que teme y odia a la misma Diez, y mente por un grupo paramilitar racista, la vez, a la población indígena. Unión Juvenil Cruceñista. En marzo, una débil ley de hidrocar- Después de tres semanas, la protesta buros fue por fin aprobada. Aumentó los que al principio había empezado en El impuestos a las compañías extranjeras Alto se convirtió en una huelga gen- en un 32%, sobre el impuesto previo del eral por todo el país. Paralizó el 18%. Pero no era suficiente para satis- Congreso, el aeropuerto, los servi- facer las demandas del pueblo. cios, el transporte, los pequeños Según los críticos de la ley, beneficiaba mercados—y al final, detuvo total- a las compañías a expensas de las masas mente el país. bolivianas. Ahora la demanda es por la La huelga bloqueó completa- nacionalización total y el desarrollo de mente a La Paz. No permitió que los hidrocarburos para el beneficio de la entraran provisiones de gas o mayoría pobre. petróleo. Así empezó una escasez de alimen- La lucha continúa tos, no sólo en la capital sino también en Después de que fue investido El Alto. Rodríguez como presidente, no todos los En los días finales de la huelga, las bloqueos fueron levantados. El combat- Page 12 June 30, 2005 www.workers.org

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MICHAEL JACKSON: ¿Un veredicto de ‘culpable’ después de su indulto? nocente.’ El representante del jurado repitió esta palabra 14 veces. Y después Michael Jackson ‘I libremente pudo dejar la corte judicial de Santa Bárbara por su puerta principal. La gente en todo el mundo dejó de hacer lo que hacía para escuchar el veredicto. Una vez terminó el juicio con el indulto, la decisión de la corte fue objeto de intensos debates. Aquellos que veían el juicio como un vehículo para promover el racismo y la reacción recibieron el vere- dicto con júbilo. Pero otros, quienes veían esto como un caso de corte Detrás del levantamiento que bregaba con el abuso sexual de niñ@s, están aira- dos y perturbados. ¿Por qué? El jurado—sin ni una persona de raza negra entre indígena en Bolivia ellos—fueron entrevistados por largo tiempo después de finalizar el juicio. Hablaron sinceramente y de man- Por Berta Joubert-Ceci la clase dominante y sus partidos, entre los sectores más era muy seria sobre cuán cuidadosamente laboraron pobres de la sociedad. tratando de ser objetivos y cuán cuidadosamente En la noche del 9 de junio, después de tres semanas de Pero Bolivia también tiene una larga y magnífica his- examinaron la evidencia que el fiscal les presentó. una revuelta masiva, el Presidente Carlos Mesa de Bolivia toria de protesta política masiva. En 1952 una rebelión Después de 14 semanas de escuchar las evidencias y fue forzado a renunciar. Lo reemplazó el presidente de forzó la nacionalización de las minas y el derecho al sufra- deliberaciones explicaron que ell@s no encontraron la Corte Suprema, Eduardo Rodríguez. gio universal. Más recientemente, la militancia de las base alguna para imputarle a Jackson cargos mayores La incontenible fuerza de ira, orgullo y voluntad de la masas impidió que el capital extranjero se apoderase de o menores. población indígena Aymara, Quechua y Guaraní de los recursos de agua. Incluso la prensa capitalista reporta que hay la defender los recursos naturales de Bolivia, llevando a la En abril del 2000 brotó la “Guerra del Agua” en la ciu- creencia de que el fiscal conocido como Tom “Mad capital sus banderas whipalas de liberación, han puesto dad de Cochabamba, al sureste de La Paz –que impidió Dog” Sneddon ha perseguido a Jackson por más de al país en el centro de la efervescencia revolucionaria de que la empresa basada en los Estados Unidos, Bechtel una década como una vendetta. América Latina. Corp. privatizara el agua. ¿No es acaso el mito de la justicia capitalista en los Los pueblos indígenas junto a campesin@s y traba- En enero de este año, residentes indígenas de El Alto, EEUU que una persona es “inocente hasta que se haya jador@s, han estado luchando valientemente en contra ciudad satélite de La Paz, llevaron a cabo protestas mil- comprobado su culpabilidad? de las transnacionales de los Estados Unidos y de otras itantes que obligaron al gobierno del Presidente Mesa a Entonces, ¿porqué los comentaristas tantos de pro- potencias. Por muchas décadas estas fuerzas extranjeras terminar un contrato con la empresa francesa Lyonnaise gramas televisivos como políticos corrieron a sus púl- han estado robando los recursos naturales del país des Eaux Co. Esta firma había estado operando en Bolivia pitos a encontrar “culpable” a Jackson o ridiculizarle y dejando a los pueblos indígenas en la miseria. desde 1997, bajo el nombre de “Aguas de Illimani”. deshumanizarle después de que un jurado, el cual Su lucha es también en contra de su propia clase cap- Administraba el servicio de agua en El Alto, cobrando nadie puede argumentar de que fue un jurado com- italista, la cual ha sido el agente de los monopolios precios exorbitantes a l@s consumidores, negando por puestos de sus iguales—cuidadosamente sopesó y anal- extranjeros para subyugarles. completo este crucial servicio a los vecindarios más izó todas las evidencias encontrándole finalmente Con las dos principales demandas, la nacionalización pobres. inocente? de los hidrocarburos y el llamado a una Asamblea Hay que tener en cuenta que el Banco Mundial y el Es porque Michael Jackson se enfrentó a dos juicios: Constituyente—ell@s incrementaron las movilizaciones Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo liderado ambos por uno en la sala judicial y el otro en las salas noticieras. y huelgas hasta lograr la paralización del país. los EEUU, son socios comerciales de Aguas, y fuerza Jackson fue ridiculizado y deshumanizado en los Bolivia, con una población de 9 millones de personas, motriz de la ola de privatizaciones, no solamente de los medios radiales y televisivos, no sólo en los medios es el país más pobre de Sur América. Sin embargo, tiene servicios de agua, sino de todos los recursos naturales y sensacionalistas. Los titulares que gritaban las afirma- una gran riqueza en gas natural. Bolivia es el segundo servicios de Bolivia. ciones de la fiscalía, enterraban los argumentos de la país con la mayor reserva de gas natural después de El levantamiento comienza en El Alto defensa, sirviendo así para ganarse al “jurado” de Venezuela. opinión pública. De hecho, los medios noticieros ya En manos de compañías extranjeras como la Repsol, La reciente revuelta es un paso adelante en la lucha habían condenado a Jackson aún antes de que el juicio British Petroleum, Total, Enron, Shell, Petrobras y otros, popular. comenzara. esta riqueza natural no ha hecho nada para mejorar la Comenzó a mediados de mayo en la ciudad de El Alto. Una vez que la publicidad sobre los cargos contra calidad de vida de las masas. Luego la resistencia se extendió al resto del país. Jackson explotara, ya quedaba muy poco espacio para La mortalidad infantil es muy alta: por cada 1.000 El Alto está ubicado en el altiplano, a 4.000 metros las noticias sobre la jerarquía de la iglesia católica nacimientos, mueren 56 bebés. La mortalidad materna más alto que el nivel del mar. Es una ciudad de rápido encubriendo los abusos sexuales de niños y niñas y es de 550 por cada 100.000 partos vivos. crecimiento con aproximadamente un millón de habi- hasta de mujeres entre sus filas. O sobre la violación Cerca del 30% de la población sobrevive con menos de tantes, la mayoría Aymaras rurales. El Alto queda arriba sexual de jóvenes por los reclutadores militares del $1 al día. La pobreza y la exclusión social afectan más a de La Paz, a sólo siete millas de distancia. Pentágono. la población indígena, quienes constituyen el 62% de la Esta topografía única presta efectividad a las protes- Ni tampoco la prensa tomó la oportunidad para población. tas de El Alto, dado que rodea al Aeropuerto de La Paz, proveer educación sobre el hecho de que el abuso sex- La pobreza nace de los robos por los imperialistas de y la carretera principal que conecta La Paz con el resto ual de niñ@s es epidémico en los Estados Unidos y la los recursos naturales por medio de las políticas neolib- del país pasa por el centro de El Alto. preponderancia de los abusadores son hombres het- erales del mercado libre que fueron puestas en efecto en El Alto se originó como un vecindario pobre subur- erosexuales. 1985 para “controlar” una súper inflación del 24.000%, bano donde trabajador@s desemplead@s se asentaban Este juicio nunca se trató de darle fin al abuso sexual y por las imposiciones del Fondo Monetario mientras buscaban empleo en la capital. infantil. Fue un foro para racistas de ridiculizar a un Internacional y los requisitos del Banco Mundial. Muchos de ellos eran de los 25.000 mineros bolivianos artista de raza negra quien ha promovido la unidad Durante este tiempo las corporaciones internacionales se que perdieron su trabajo en los años de 1980, cuando se racial. Y fue también una campaña para hacer menos adueñaron del gas natural de Bolivia. cerraron las minas de estaño luego de que cayera precip- humano a una persona prominente que no cabe en los Los tres partidos tradicionales—el Movimiento itadamente el precio mundial del metal. Aymaras, y en moldes de género diseñados por el estado capitalista. Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR), la Acción un grado menor l@s Quechua, llegaron a la comunidad Pero al menos un periódico lo hizo bien: Workers Democrática Nacionalista (ADN) y el Movimiento de después de que se les quitaran sus fincas pequeñas. World/Mundo Obrero. El periódico que está usted Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), por décadas han com- Trajeron consigo sus tradiciones y sus fuertes habili- leyendo toma muy en serio la lucha para forjar una partido el poder poniendo lealmente estas exigencias dades organizativas. Y comparten una experiencia unidad en contra todas las formas de discriminación políticas en acción para el detrimento de la gran mayoría común: Son tod@s victimas de la política neoliberal de capitalista e ideologías que dividen. de la población. Washington, implementada por el FMI con la ayuda de Esto ha creado un gran descontento y desconfianza de Continua a página 11