MUNDO OBRERO La lucha por empleos y los g-20 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Oct. 8, 2009 Vol. 51, No. 40 50¢

Massive int’l solidarity crucial as Hondurans resist right-wing coup

By Teresa gutierrez

Sept. 29—As we go to press, aggression by right-wing forces that can accurately be described as acts of war con- tinues in Honduras. A vicious fascist coup may be in the making as the de facto illegal government of Roberto Micheletti car- ries out a reign of terror against the people and Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected president. The coup plotters—golpistas in Spanish—have denied rights guar- anteed in the Constitution and banned gatherings. These latest assaults took place after President Zelaya quietly returned to his country on Sept. 20 after being deposed in a right-wing coup on June 28. Zelaya took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy on Sept. 21. He is accompanied there by his spouse, First Lady Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, and many supporters, includ- ing members of the Honduran resistance. At stake in Honduras today is the survival of leaders and a movement that orient in the direction of alleviating the problems of the poor and the working class. The dan- ger is that reactionary class forces oriented to Washington and Wall Street at the expense of the poor and the work- ing class could prevail through military might. When it became clear that President Zelaya was orient- ed to goals similar to those of left-leaning leaders in Latin America like Presidents Hugo Chávez and Raúl Castro, the super-rich and pro-U.S. oligarchy of Honduras took WW phOtO: sharON BlaCk action. They kidnapped him in the middle of the night Cindy Sheehan, John Parker and Larry Holmes carry Bail Out the People banner at the front of People’s March of 10,000 and flew him out of the country. in Pittsburgh against G-20 summit, Sept. 25. Read more on pages 6-7. Upon President Zelaya’s return, the illegitimate Micheletti government gave ominous orders to the Honduran police and military: surround the Brazilian As youths protest g-20 summit Embassy where Zelaya was staying. Reports confirm that the coup leaders, described as fascist by the resistance, dropped chemical gas on the embassy on Sept. 25 after cutting off water, electricity Police riot in Pittsburgh and food for several days. The gas is known to cause severe respiratory damage. By Dante Strobino It was also confirmed that the Micheletti fascists used Pittsburgh TAlk, TAlk Vs. reAlITY Long-Range Acoustic Devices on the embassy. LRADs are manufactured in the U.S. and can cause permanent The following article is based on eyewitness reports. G-20 downplay jobs crisis 5 hearing damage. Full reports and more updates, along with a petition A photographer captured the use of LRADs, which supporting the release and amnesty for those arrested, emit an acoustic beam so painful that it can cause seri- can be found at the www.bailoutpeople.org blog. bIG PoWers bAsH IrAN ous damage to hearing. At full capacity, an LRAD emits According to the Sept. 28 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 190 Creating a crisis 9 a 150-decibel sound wave—equivalent to the roar of a jet people were arrested and lawsuits are being threat- plane taking off. ened against city officials and police. This weapon has frequently been used by the U.S. in More than 1,000 young people gathered in Arsenal The marchers were eventually stopped by police, who Continued on page 11 Park in Pittsburgh on Sept. 24 to resist the G-20 meet- confronted them with high-frequency sound blasts and ing taking place in the David L. Lawrence Convention orders to disperse. The protesters then doubled back and Subscribe to Workers World newspaper Center. The effort was coordinated by the Pittsburgh confronted cops again in the middle of a residential com- G-20 Resistance Project. munity. Anarchists grabbed a dumpster on wheels and Eight weeks trial: $4 One year: $25 Protesters began their march through the working- sent it rolling down the hill directly into the police bar- NamE ph ONE class neighborhood of Lawrenceville towards a bridge ricade, not harming anyone. leading to downtown. The unpermitted march took over The police reacted with more violence, attacking the Email the streets with banners that read “No hope in capital- entire neighborhood with several canisters of OC gas addrEss City/s tatE/Zip ism,” “No bailout—no capitalism” and “No borders—no (oleoresin capsicum), a new police weapon meant to Workers World 55 W. 17 st., 5 Fl., Ny, Ny 10011 banks.” 212-627-2994 WWW.WorkerS.org Continued on page 6

GeNerAls WANT More TrooPs Rift over Afghan quagmire 8 CHINA AT 60 EdITorIAL 10 page 2 Oct. 8, 2009 www.workers.org

Sickness & struggle

H In the U.S. Attacks on obama plan Police riot in Pittsburgh ...... 1 Sickness & struggle, part 6 ...... 2 Tenants win against utility giant ...... 3 mirror Clinton health debacle Texas rally demands no executions ...... 3 Remembering Vickie White ...... 3 By David Hoskins not based on caring professionals working for patients.” Stella D’Oro workers take struggle to Wall St ...... 4 Autoworkers rally against plant closing ...... 4 Former President Bill Clinton ran for president in Health care reform, the Democratic déjà vu 1992 with health care reform as a key part of his domes- Despite Obama’s best efforts to avoid a repeat of the On the picket line ...... 4 tic platform. It seemed then that the time was right for Clinton health reform debacle, the similarities between Tent city residents march on Mellon HQ ...... 6 comprehensive reform. the push for health care reform in 1993 and now are Tent City in Pittsburgh ...... 7 The number of uninsured people had already climbed striking. Workers World’s top ten ...... 10 to 40 million. The Democrats were in control of the Bill Clinton rode a wave of economic anxiety and dis- White House and Congress. A large majority of the pub- satisfaction over former President George H.W. Bush’s H Around the world lic rated health care reform as an urgent priority and first term to win the 1992 presidential election. Clinton’s Hondurans resist right-wing coup ...... 1 voiced support for a universal insurance plan. general election victory was solid; he won 370 electoral G-20 powers talk reform as more jobs vanish . . . . . 5 In 1993, shortly after taking office, Clinton set up votes and took states generally outside of the Democrats’ the President’s Task Force on National Health Reform. reach, such as Georgia, Louisiana and Kentucky. General’s report spurs debate over Afghanistan . . . . 8 Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked to head the task force Fast-forward 16 years and the resemblance is glaring. 27 years after Sabra-Shatila massacre ...... 8 and prepare health reform legislation for sub- President Barack Obama rode a wave of eco- Iran and the G-20 ...... 9 mission to Congress within the first 100 days of PArT 6. nomic anxiety and dissatisfaction over the pres- Nkrumah and Ghana’s independence struggle . . . . 10 the administration. This was initially viewed as idency of George W. Bush, son of the defeated Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust and oil ...... 11 the administration’s signal to Congress and the media 1992 incumbent, to win the 2008 presidential election. that health care was a top priority. Obama’s general election victory was stunning in light of H Editorials his status as the first Black president of the United States. Yet when the task force was hastily disbanded on May China ...... 10 31, without having submitted a plan to Congress, this Obama was able to secure 365 electoral votes as he also was an early warning sign that the emerging details of took states generally outside the Democrats’ reach, such H Noticias En Español the reform plan had failed on two fronts. The insurance as Indiana, Virginia and North Carolina. La lucha por empleos y los G-20 ...... 12 industry and right-wing Republicans, who sought to Health care reform was named the top domestic prior- stop any health reform legislation, were not appeased ity both by President Clinton during his first year in 1993 by the plan’s concessions. and by President Obama during his first months in 2009. Union activists, progressive health care advocates and Both administrations had solid Democratic Party majori- editor’s announcement . the uninsured were not energized by a weak plan chock ties in the House and Senate at the time they made their Kris Hamel, a long-time leading member of full of industry giveaways and loopholes. respective efforts to push a reform bill through Congress. the Detroit branch of Workers World Party, Yet both Clinton and Obama backed flawed health has become a managing editor of WW. Managed competition, reform plans that failed to challenge the private insurance —Deirdre Griswold not working-class reform industry, fell short of voter expectations, and ultimately The Clinton administration claimed that its overrid- would leave the lives of millions in the hands of corporate Workers World ing goal was quality universal health coverage. But rath- bureaucrats. The bill in 1993 went down to a stunning 55 West 17 Street er than eliminate the biggest obstacle to real reform—the defeat. There are still signs of life for Obama’s proposal, New York, N.Y. 10011 profit-driven private insurance industry—the adminis- although its final form and outcome are undecided. Phone: (212) 627-2994 tration proposed a market-oriented plan based upon the The 1993 and 2009 Democratic Party’s reform efforts Fax: (212) 675-7869 principles of managed competition. have more in common than just the failure of the Demo- E-mail: [email protected] The plan sought to develop financial incentives for crats to fight for meaningful health reform. Both efforts Web: www.workers.org consumers to choose health care plans based on price were the focus of organized attacks by the health insur- Vol. 51, No. 40 • Oct. 8, 2009 and perceived quality. Regional alliances would be ance industry and an extreme right wing, eager to whip Closing date: Sept. 29, 2009 established to restructure the health insurance market up anti-Obama racism today and sexism against Hillary by serving as the group purchaser for people not receiv- Rodham Clinton earlier. Editor: Deirdre Griswold ing Medicare and would offer local residents—employed President Obama has been the focus of racist attacks, Technical Editor: Lal Roohk and unemployed—their choice of health plans. Large from incendiary comments by conservative radio and Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, companies could act as their own corporate alliance. television talk show commentators to the appearance of Leslie Feinberg, Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead, A 1994 article in the Journal of the American Medical hostile forces at town hall forums, some flagrantly dis- Gary Wilson Association titled “A Better-Quality Alternative: Single- playing guns. Payer National Health System Reform” provided a con- The intentions of the attacks faced by Obama are similar West Coast Editor: John Parker temporary critique of the Clinton plan: to those underlying the sexism targeted at Hillary Rodham Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, Greg “A managed competition strategy, such as that pro- Clinton when she led the Clinton administration’s cam- Butterfield, Jaimeson Champion, G. Dunkel, Fred posed by the Clinton administration and debated in paign. The right wing’s misogynist slanders toward her, Goldstein, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, David Congress, while designed to provide universal access, has which were repeated by the media, were meant to stop Hoskins, Berta Joubert-Ceci, not demonstrated an ability to contain cost and creates a passage of any health care reform legislation. Cheryl LaBash, Milt Neidenberg, Bryan G. Pfeifer, complex structure with separate and unequal multitiered The health care reform experiences of 1993 and Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria Rubac care. Eschewing the easily enforceable budgetary con- 2009 should serve as an important lesson to organized Technical Staff: Sue Davis, Shelley Ettinger, straints of the single-payer approach necessitates reli- labor and other progressive backers of the Democrats. Bob McCubbin, Maggie Vascassenno ance on potentially damaging financial incentives, waste- Democratic Party concessions do not appease the oppo- Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Teresa Gutierrez, ful micromanagement, and complicated budgetary regu- nents of reform, nor do they provide a path to victory for Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna Lazarus, Michael Martínez, lation to minimize spending. … No amount of regulation universal health care. Carlos Vargas and oversight can breathe quality into a system that is Next: 2003 Medicare changes— corporate giveaway in the name of reform. Supporter Program: Sue Davis, coordinator Copyright © 2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium JoIN Us. National office Buffalo, N.Y. Durham, NC rochester, N.Y. without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World Party 55 W. 17 St., 367 Delaware Ave. [email protected] 585-436-6458 Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly New York, NY 10011 Buffalo, NY 14202 Houston [email protected] except the first week of January by WW Publishers, (WWP) fights on all 212-627-2994; 716-883-2534 P.O. Box 595 55 W. 17 St., N.Y., N.Y. 10011. Phone: (212) 627-2994. issues that face the Fax (212) 675-7869 San Diego, Calif. [email protected] Houston, working class and [email protected] P.O. Box 33447 Subscriptions: One year: $25; institutions: $35. Letters Chicago TX 77001-0595 oppressed peoples— Atlanta 27 N. Wacker Dr. #138 San Diego, to the editor may be condensed and edited. 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Box 57300, Fax (617) 983-3836 313-831-0750 Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., 5th Floor, branch nearest you. 610-931-2615 Washington, DC 20037 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] New York, N.Y. 10011. www.workers.org Oct. 8, 2009 page 3 Tenants win against utility giant, absentee landlord By Abayomi Azikiwe Tenants, community resentative never entered the building to eviction. Once they got involved, things editor, Pan-African News Wire organize fightback speak with the tenants. changed real fast. We got hooked up with Detroit The residents of Highland Towers were The Highland Towers apartments had Legal Aid and Defenders’ attorneys, and empowered by the struggle waged against suffered from years of neglect and mis- we took DTE to court.” A major struggle against DTE Energy DTE Energy and the absentee landlords. management. Residents had paid their Lloyd, the mother of two children whose and absentee landlords has reached a con- On Sept. 3, tenants went to DTE Energy monthly rents, yet the funds collected spouse is a graphic designer, continued: clusion in Highland Park, Mich., a munic- headquarters in downtown Detroit to were never used to make repairs or cover “They still kept fighting us! They told the ipality surrounded by the city of Detroit. demand that their power be restored. the cost of utility bills. judge lies about giving us notice, things DTE Energy shut off the electricity at an When tenants and their supporters In a Sept. 25 article published on the like that. We never saw any notice from apartment building on Aug. 31, leaving occupied the lobby of the building, DTE Detroit Blog of Time.com, LaTanya Lloyd, them. Our notice was the power going out. more than 150 residents in the dark. Energy security officials stated that execu- a Highland Towers tenant and co-plaintiff We’re human beings, and we matter. And The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to tives would meet with them shortly. But in the lawsuit, narrated the developments we just weren’t going to let them do that Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility after remaining there for over an hour, surrounding the struggle at Highland to us without a fight. And we didn’t. And Shutoffs took action in support of the they were told the lobby was closed and Towers. Lloyd, who also attended the you know ... We won!” Highland Tower tenants by holding dem- no one was available to discuss the situa- March for Jobs in Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, onstrations and press conferences and tion at their apartment building. said in regard to the Sept. 4 meeting with Broadening the struggle supporting a lawsuit filed by the residents The following day, in the aftermath of DTE Energy, “When we went to talk with to meet growing crisis against DTE Energy and the landlords. an emergency demonstration in front of DTE, it was like DTE just didn’t ... I hate to As a result of the struggle in support This series of actions resulted in the res- DTE Energy headquarters, executives met say it, but it was like they just didn’t give of the residents at Highland Towers, toration of electrical power as well as a with Moratorium NOW! organizers and a shit.” other human services agencies also settlement that provided monetary and tenants from Highland Towers. Lloyd went on to say, “One of the execu- became involved. The United Community material assistance for all the tenants to The executives told the tenants that tives told us that the landlord owed over Housing Coalition, the Detroit Area relocate to better living facilities. under no circumstances would they $150,000 to DTE. He said, ‘No, we’re Agency on Aging, Southwest Solutions, A court order on Sept. 11 forced DTE restore the power. They promised to work not turning the power back on. This is a the Department of Human Services and Energy to turn the power back on at the with human service agencies to provide business, and we’re in business to make others came to the building in order to apartment building. Two other hearings, other assistance to the tenants. They said money.’” assist the residents with relocation. on Sept. 15 and 18, created the conditions that service providers were on the way to Lloyd then stated, “A few days after On Sept. 21, a delegation of tenants for DTE Energy and the landlords to cov- their headquarters to meet with tenants. the power went out, Moratorium NOW! and organizers for the Moratorium NOW! er the costs of moving the tenants to other But no one showed up. A car from the approached us. Moratorium NOW! works Coalition attended the City Council meet- apartments. United Way drove up outside but the rep- with people in the community to stop ing in Highland Park. Mayor Hubert Yopp unfair evictions and foreclosures. And in his report on the situation at Highland A modern-day Fannie Lou Hamer that’s basically what this was, an unfair Continued on page 4 Remembering Texas rally demands Vickie White no executions Austin, Texas, Sept. 26—“As God is my three small daughters but now has been By Monica Moorehead witness, it is hard to believe that we still proven innocent. Delia Perez-Meyer has have modern-day lynchings in this coun- been fighting for her brother, Louis Perez, Revolutionaries sacrifice much of their try. We’re paying state officials to kill our for 11 years. She said, “I have an innocent personal lives to devote their time, energy children. They are dogs, these people. The brother on death row and his case is in and skills to the fight for social justice same cocktail that cannot be used to kill the last stage now. With the Willingham for their communities and humanity as a animals because it is too cruel, they want case on the news every day, all over the whole. One exemplary revolutionary was to use it to kill my son,” cried Anna Terrell, world, we must let people know that we’re Vickie White, who tragically passed away mother of Reginald Blanton, scheduled to not going to stand for the death penalty at the young age of 46 this past July 1 in phOtO: pEOplE's OrgaNiZatiON FOr prOgrEss be executed in Texas on Oct. 27. any more. We’ve got to stop it now!” She New Brunswick, N.J. She died from heart on March 7 this year in New York’s Union As protesters filled the sidewalk in also told the crowd about a letter from failure arising from complications from Square called by the Women’s Fightback front of the Texas Capitol, a militant rally Kenneth Foster, who was hours from exe- deep vein thrombosis. Network. was held in support of Blanton, who has cution in August 2007 when the governor White was well-respected and loved by At a packed memorial service for White always and consistently proclaimed his commuted his sentence to life. “Kenneth all who knew her for being a tireless com- on July 10 in Highland Park, N.J., an innocence. Laura Brady of the Campaign wanted everyone who was out protesting munity and political activist in northern International Action Center statement to End the Death Penalty chaired the rally to know how beautiful they are and that New Jersey. A member of the African- was read by Larry Holmes, one of its co- and opened by saying that it was the people he is with us today from his prison cell.” American-based People’s Organization directors. The following are excerpts from who saved Kenneth Foster from execution A speaker from the Texas Death Penalty for Progress for almost a decade, White that statement: in 2007 and who can save Blanton now. Abolition Movement told the crowd that was appointed chairperson of POP’s “To say that we are heartbroken over Scott Cobb, representing the Texas the Willingham case, the ethics violations Central Jersey branch in 2005. One of Vickie’s untimely death is an understate- Moratorium Network, spoke about trial of Sharon Keller, Texas’ top criminal her first tasks was to organize mass sup- ment. It is still so hard for us to compre- the news of the vindication of Todd judge, and the news of a judge and a D.A. port of Hurricane Katrina survivors’ right hend that she is gone at such a young age. Willingham, who was executed in 2004 having an affair during the capital mur- to return to the Gulf Coast in 2006. She Vickie was a tireless leader whom every for an alleged arson fire that killed his der trial of Charles Hood prove more than organized youth from New Jersey to go activist should know about and emulate. ever that executions must stop now. to New Orleans to assist in rebuilding the “Her leadership role in People’s Organi- But it was Blanton’s mother who then-devastated Ninth Ward. zation for Progress and in the Peace and had the crowd crying as she told In 2007 POP helped bring together Justice Coalition was enormously impor- them how her son’s case had killed more than 120 organizations in the Peace tant and will be sorely missed. She was his father and cheering when she and Justice Coalition. The coalition’s main always a consistent voice for building said: “My son is innocent! Please goals were to build class solidarity among unity with all movements and struggles give us a chance to prove this. The anti-war, community and labor activ- of workers and oppressed peoples in D.A. shuffled the jury pool three ists by linking the struggle against war New Jersey, the U.S. and worldwide. The times so they could pick the people and occupation abroad with the struggle Women’s Fightback Network will remem- they wanted to convict my son. Their against racism and economic injustice at ber Vickie at next year’s International all-white jury didn’t even listen to his home. White played a leading organiz- Women’s Day event. … innocence claims. ... It is time for a ing role in building the largest Black-led “Vickie would want all of us to honor change. It is time to set my son free!” anti-war march and rally in the streets of her memory by continuing to organize The next event for Blanton is Newark, N.J., in August 2007. Some of and unite around all the issues until set for Oct. 10 in San Antonio, his POP’s other campaigns include opposing social justice and equality become a last- hometown. rampant police killings and hospital clos- ing reality for all of humanity. Just like —report and photo ings and demanding reparations. Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. by gloria rubac White was an important ally of the New Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer and countless York-based Troops Out Now Coalition, other strong, courageous Black women a member of the PJC. She spoke on warriors, we will proudly add the name Anna Terrell appeals domestic violence against women at an of Vickie White to this list. Vickie White, for the life of her son, International Working Women’s Day rally ¡presente!” n Reginald Blanton. page 4 Oct. 8, 2009 www.workers.org On the Picket Line stella d’oro workers by Sue Davis take struggle to Wall st. Hotel workers protest By Mike eilenfeldt coast to coast New York Hotel workers have recently flexed their muscles coast to coast by staging Workers at Stella D’Oro Biscuit Co. are rallies and civil disobedience protests. still fighting to keep their plant and jobs Represented by the UNITE HERE in the Bronx, even after a hard-fought, union, members of Local 26 in Boston, 11-month strike ended in victory and a Local 1 in Chicago and Local 2 in San favor able National Labor Relations Board Francisco took to the streets in the ruling. thousands. They were protesting lay- Brynwood Partners, a private equity vul- offs in Boston and demanding decent ture that bought the plant in 2006, has now contracts with full health care benefits sold it to Lance, Inc., which plans to move in Chicago and San Francisco. Local 26 the company to anti-union Ashland, Ohio. demonstrated outside Boston’s Hyatt The workers say this is criminal because Regency on Sept. 18 to protest the fir- it involves moving out machinery that was ing of about 100 housekeepers, all paid for by $9 million in New York City immigrant women of color. Many had tax abatements. worked at three area Hyatts for years, On Sept. 25 a large contingent of fired- making more than $15 an hour plus up Stella D’Oro workers joined hun- WW phOtO: mikE EilENFEldt Workers protest outside offices of Goldman Sachs. benefits. According to the Sept. 26 San dreds of chanting supporters in front of Francisco Chronicle, Hyatt has $1.2 bil- Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street global giant led a militant march up Broadway to City George Kahsaay, a strike captain who lion cash in its coffers, but it replaced in the commercial and investment sector Hall, chanting, “We are Stella” and “Keep never missed a day on the picket line, these women on Aug. 31 with workers that received billions in bailouts and is the Stella in the Bronx! Fight! Fight! Fight!” summed it all up: “It’s not over till it’s making $8 an hour and no benefits. underwriter in the sale of Stella D’Oro. They carried two huge red banners over. We’re going to fight all the way. Though the housekeepers are not Its executives are well rewarded for created in Guatemala in tribute to the Doesn’t matter how big they are. We’re represented by the union, Local 26 sabotaging the rights of workers, their heroic 11-month strike, which began in going to fight them and we’re going to win took up their cause. They also are unions and communities. Lloyd Blank- August 2008 and ended in July of this this war.” being supported verbally by some local fein, Goldman Sachs CEO, is one of Wall year. That’s when the NLRB ruled that Eilenfeldt is a delegate to the New York politicians. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Street’s highest-paid executives. Weil, Brynwood Partners had committed unfair City Central Labor Council and a member Patrick has called for a boycott of the Gotshal and Manges LLP, an internation- labor practices, used scabs and refused to of the Bail Out the People Movement. Hyatt chain and, in a show of solidar- al law firm with expertise in acquisition bargain with the union. During the strike, ity, the National Employment Lawyers finance deals, which has revenues of $1.7 not one worker crossed the picket line. Association canceled a convention billion, has been retained by Brynwood Marchers targeted multi-billionaire there. (New York Times, Sept. 25) Local Partners and Goldman Sachs to close the Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his refus- Tenants win 1 took up the Boston struggle on Sept. deal. Stella D’Oro workers are facing cold- al to enforce tax abatement laws that 24 when hundreds rallied in Chicago hearted class enemies—the bailout robber Brynwood and its cohorts on Wall Street and 200 members were arrested for barons. have trampled on. against utility blocking traffic in front of the Park Mike Filippou, executive committee The phenomenal unity of the Stella Continued from page 3 Hyatt. The 6,500-member local, whose member of Bakery Workers union Local D’Oro family of immigrant workers from Towers never mentioned the struggle that contract at 30 Chicago hotels expired 50 and the main spokesperson for the many nations, with the majority women, took place against DTE Energy and the on Aug. 31, held the solidarity protest workers during their long, hard struggle, gradually won support from the commu- landlords and omitted the fact that it was as part of its ongoing struggle for a spoke to the rally: “We’re here at Goldman nity. Workers in solidarity with the com- the organizing effort that resulted in the fair contract. Also on Sept. 24 about Sachs for a reason. Goldman Sachs gets so munity pushed the City Council, the AFL- power being restored. 1,700 members of Local 2 rallied at two much money from our taxes and from the CIO Central Labor Council, local elected Building residents blasted the city gov- hotels, and 43 activists were arrested stimulus package. And what do they do? officials and even sections of the corporate ernment for not fighting to protect the for trespassing inside the Grand Hyatt They’re moving the jobs out of the Bronx media to support their cause. interests of its citizens. When Sandra and 49 were arrested for blocking the and out from New York to make a profit. Unfortunately, Richard Trumka, newly Hines, an organizer for the Moratorium street in front of the Westin St. Francis. We’re here to make everybody know what elected president of the AFL-CIO, passed NOW! Coalition, rose to go to the podium The contract covering the 9,000 Goldman Sachs does to working people up an opportunity to deliver a message and speak, residents of Highland Towers room cleaners, dishwashers, cooks, like us to make a profit. We’re here to tell of support when he recently visited Wall applauded. Hines stated that it was the bellpersons and other workers at 62 them that we’re not going to allow them Street and the Kingsbridge Armory, which struggle of the people that resulted in San Francisco hotels expired on Aug. to do that.” is only a few blocks from Stella D’Oro in the victory against DTE Energy and the 14. Here, too, the main issue is health After the protest, Stella D’Oro workers the Bronx. landlords. care coverage, with the Starwood chain On Sept. 23, DTE Energy hosted a saying it is “unwilling to continue pay- community outreach program at the ing the full cost of health care benefits State Fairgrounds in Detroit purportedly that escalate 10 percent a year.” (SF Autoworkers rally Chronicle, Sept. 26) This demonstra- designed to assist people who were having problems in paying their utility bills. Over tion followed Local 2’s militant march against plant closing 10,000 people showed up at the event, through downtown on Labor Day. most of whom were not able to receive any By Bryan g. Pfeifer banner with pictures of their members and attention due to the overwhelming turnout. Detroit families. It faced the heavy traffic on Van This outpouring of people clearly One-day strike on Dyke Street, where the protest was held. demonstrates that there is a state of eco- 10 U.C. campuses More than 500 workers at Chrysler/ For three hours passing motorists honked nomic emergency in existence in the state Fiat’s Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, their support. Locally owned restaurants of Michigan. The Moratorium NOW! Thousands of students, faculty mem- along with labor, community and stu- gave discounts to those attending the rally. Coalition has been calling upon Gov. bers and employees at the 10 University dent allies, protested Sept. 25 against the This area has already been hammered Jennifer Granholm for over two years to of California campuses marched and planned shutdown of their workplace. with thousands of layoffs at Sterling exercise her emergency powers by impos- picketed on Sept. 24 to protest bud- Despite receiving $12 billion in bailout Heights and other plants over the years. ing a halt to foreclosures, evictions and get cuts, unpaid faculty furloughs and funds, Chrysler-Fiat is intent on shut- A complete plant shutdown would result utility shutoffs. tuition hikes. The union representing ting down eight plants in the United in even more home foreclosures, business Michigan has an official unemployment 11,000 professional and technical staff States, including Sterling Heights. At this closings and the loss of millions of tax dol- rate of more than 15 percent. The city of members called the one-day strike, plant alone, nearly 1,100 members of the lars for numerous cities. Detroit’s official unemployment rate is which was supported by many of U.C.’s United Auto Workers Local 1700 labor to Participants included labor-communi- nearly 29 percent. Yet the state govern- 19,000 faculty members. According assemble the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge ty-student supporters from the Michigan ment and local officials have consistently to the draconian state budget, tuition Avenger vehicles. Emer gency Committee Against War refused to take action in defense of the will be raised 32 percent by 2010 and UAW members and unionists from and Injus tice; the Moratorium NOW! people. mandatory faculty furloughs will reduce metro politan Detroit and other Midwest Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evic tions The struggle at Highland Towers makes pay by 4 to 10 percent. The problem, locations where plants are slated to close and Utility Shutoffs; the Union of Part- the case even clearer for the imposition of according to U.C. Davis professor joined in solidarity with the Local 1700 Time Faculty-American Federation of an immediate moratorium on evictions Joshua Clover, is that these actions will rally. UAW rank-and-file members and Teachers; Southeastern Michigan Jobs and utility shutoffs. The Moratorium “disproportionately harm those who elected leaders came in cars, vans and bus- With Justice; the Service Employees Inter- NOW! Coalition plans to reach out to can least afford it among both the work- es from St. Louis; Kenosha, Wis.; Kokomo, national Union; Solidarity; Labor Notes; more apartment buildings where tenants ers and the students.” (New York Times, Ind.; Twinsburg, Ohio; and elsewhere. the People’s Summit; UAW retirees; and are facing threats of eviction and utility Sept. 25) n shutoffs. n Local 1700 members unfurled a gigantic the Bail Out the People Movement. n www.workers.org Oct. 8, 2009 page 5 G-20 powers talk reform as more jobs vanish By Fred goldstein percent—and is expected to continue ris- sales and marketing manager in a plastics massive scale. Not one of them will con- ing. It has been held down to even this company. “College educated, Ms. Redican fidently affirm that capitalism is really on The leaders of the big imperialist pow- high number by government stimulus first sought another management job. the road to recovery. ers met in Pittsburgh in September to money, which is due to run out before the More recently, she has tried and failed to The argument that consumer spend- argue over how to protect capital. They year is over. land a cashier’s position at a local grocery ing will pull capitalism out of the fire didn’t put forward one credible proposal Unemployment in Germany has been store, and a barista slot at a Starbucks cof- by lead ing to a surge of investment and to solve the crisis of the hundreds of mil- held at 8.3 percent because of the “cash fee shop.” the rehiring of tens of millions of work- lions of unemployed and underemployed for clunkers” program and because of There are officially about 15 million ers has no basis in reality. Workers aren’t workers around the world. government subsidies to keep corpora- unemployed. Some 5 million of them buying because they are broke. The cre- At the G-20, countries like China, tions from laying off workers, putting have been out of work for more than 26 ation of a regime of low-wage capitalism Brazil, India and South Africa, among them on short hours instead. Similar pro- weeks, a record. Furthermore, there are has deep ened over the last 30 years and is others, fought to increase the influence grams exist in other European countries. close to another 15 million workers who the background to the current downturn. of the underdeveloped world—that is, the As the G-20 leaders were on their are working forced part-time hours or Now workers are continuing to be laid off major ity of the world that has been artifi- way home, the U.S. Labor Department who have dropped out of the labor mar- or are having their wages pushed even cially kept from developing because of the released statistics showing that the offi- ket and are no longer seeking work. This lower as the bosses strive to regain their oppressive influence of colonialism and cial number of job seekers here was six does not count the untold numbers who profitability. neocolonialism. times the number of existing job open- are surviving through small, miscella- Factories, stores and government But for the imperialist core countries, ings—the worst ratio since the govern- neous jobs. agen cies are shutting down or downsiz- represented by the heads of state of the ment began tracking it in 2000. Given the hiring picture, it is clear that ing all over the capitalist world because U.S., Germany, France, Britain, Japan This shows that the crisis of the capi- the capitalist system has nothing but mas- the bosses cannot make a profit selling and Italy, among others, the hot-button talist system is deepening in this period. sive, long-term unemployment in store the products and services created by the issues were such matters as bank capital During the last downturn in 2001, the for the working class—unless and until workers. These products and services requirements, capping executive pay, reg- number of jobless people was slightly the workers mobilize to fight for jobs, as belong to capital, not to the workers who ulating financial markets, derivatives and more than double the number of full-time was seen in embryo in Pittsburgh with the created them. If the bosses cannot dis- so forth. They even pledged to let govern- job openings. By the beginning of this recent March for Jobs. pose of them at a profit, then the work- ments review each other’s policies. year, the number of job seekers had risen ers get laid off. Thus, the capitalists are All these issues pertain to putting lim- to four times the number of jobs. Now it Fundamentals, not irregularities, destroying the market they need to revive its on the degree to which the capitalist is six to one. behind capitalist crisis production. This is a growing contradic- banks and other financial institutions can In a front-page story on Sept. 27, the The very premise of the G-20—that tion that flows from production for profit. defraud each other in the future, the way New York Times commented on the the world crisis was caused by financial It is a contradiction that the bosses can- they did leading up to this past financial unwill ingness of companies to hire even irregularities—is false to the core. The cri- not overcome. It can only be overcome by crisis. Banks, corporations and investors as the business downturn seems to be sis began with a financial collapse, but its getting rid of capitalism altogether. What of all types are still trying to recover from temporarily slowing. “Even after compa- underlying cause is capitalism itself—the can replace it? A system where workers the massive hyperspeculation and fraud- nies regain an inclination to expand, they profit system. are not dependant on some boss making ulent mortgage schemes by which they will probably not hire aggressively any- When the economic experts of the a profit before they can get work; a system swindled each other into a financial crisis. time soon. Experts say that so many busi- bourgeoisie talk among themselves about based on planning production to satisfy All their regulatory agencies were com- nesses have pared back working hours for the so-called “recovery,” they all say they human need, not private greed. That sys- plicit in allowing the speculative bubbles. people on their payrolls, while eliminat- will not be convinced until they see con- tem is socialism. The leaders of finance capital are basi- ing temporary workers, that many can sumer spending start to grow enough to Goldstein is author of the recently pub- cally breathing a sigh of relief that the increase output simply by increasing the lead the bosses to begin investing on a lished book, “Low-Wage Capitalism.” capitalist system has escaped a global workload on existing employees.” depression. The G-20 had met in April The Times quoted Heidi of this year and pledged trillion of dollars Shierholz of the Economic in government subsidies to the rich as a Policy Institute as saying: “They mechanism to deal with their crisis. have tons of room to increase They are now congratulating them- work without hiring a single NatioNal CoNfereNCe selves for having averted the crisis by person. For people who are out injecting massive amounts of money into of work, we do not see signs of New York CitY banks and corporations to hold them up light at the end of the tunnel.” from sinking under the crisis that they Job openings have drastically themselves had created. diminished across the board, Nov. 14-15 But while they have averted their crisis, from manufacturing to con- (Save the Date) Place: TBA the working class and the oppressed have struction, retail, government plunged deeper and deeper into unem- jobs and even education and Workers World Party ployment—with no end in sight. health care. The Times cites the case 1959–2009 Job seekers outnumber jobs of a worker in Chicago, Vicki 50 Years of Struggle six to one Redican, who has been unem- Official unemployment in the European ployed for two years since she Union is at its highest in 10 years—9.5 lost a $75,000-a-year job as a Preparing & Organizing “With the capitalist system demonstrably unfair, irrational, and prone to intermittent crises, it is useful, indeed refreshing, to see a Marxist analysis of globalization and its effects on working people. for the Future Fred Goldstein’s ‘Low-Wage Capitalism’ does exactly that.” Workers World Party’s Howard Zinn, author, A People’s History of the United States Plan and Discuss platform includes: Fighting for Jobs, A Livable Wage & Income A Job Is a Right! > Low-Wage Capitalism Don’t Starve, Fight! > Capitalism, Unemployment & the ‘Jobless Recovery’ Stop Foreclosures & Evictions! > The Obama Administration, the Banks & the Economic Crisis What the new globalized high-tech imperialism Free Quality Healthcare means for the class struggle in the U.S. & Education for All! > Combating All Forms of Racism & National Oppression Full Rights for Undocumented a timely new book by Fred goldstein describes in sweeping detail the drastic Workers! > Stopping the Pentagon’s War Drive Worldwide effect on the working class of new technology and the restructuring of global Reparations NOW for > Why Workers, the Oppressed & Youth Need Socialism capitalism in the post-soviet era. it uses descendants of African slaves, karl marx’s law of wages and other find- Indigenous peoples and and many other topics ings to show that these developments the oppressed worldwide Panels, workshops, discussion groups, socializing. Presentations on theory are not only continuing to drive down Defend Women’s Rights! and practice. Come to listen and share your ideas, engage in discussion, wages but are creating the material Full Rights for Lesbians, Gays, learn and teach. basis for future social upheaval, the Bi & Trans people. Hear about struggles across the country and around the world from end of working-class compromise and Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New Orleans to Palestine; from Los Angeles, Detroit and Boston to Honduras and Africa. retreat and must end up in a profound Leonard Peltier, the Cuban Five & revival of the struggle against capital. All Political Prisoners in the U.S.! Sponsored by Workers World Party: 55 West 17th St • Rm 5C available at www.Leftbooks.com An Injury to One Is an Injury to All! New York, NY 10011  212-627-2994 www.workers.org page 6 Oct. 8, 2009 www.workers.org

Demanding no foreclosures, no evictions Tent City residents march on Mellon HQ

By Brenda Sandburg a banner demanding jobs, housing and Pittsburgh health care for all. Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan joined them. People from across the country who set “Mellon Bank makes life-and-death up a Tent City in Pittsburgh the week of decisions every day and pushes peo- the G-20 summit marched to the head- ple into the streets,” Larry Holmes, an quarters of Mellon Corp. on Sept. 22 to organizer of the Bail Out the People demand a national moratorium on fore- Movement, said at the picket line in front closures and evictions. of the bank. “It’s a crime. Jobs and hous- The dominant institution in Pittsburgh, ing are not just rights for the robber class Mellon Bank received billions in the gov- but for everyone.” ernment’s bailout of financial institu- John Parker, a Bail Out the People tions. In return it was supposed to help organizer in Los Angeles, said the banks people refinance their mortgages so they are like the kudzu vines that grow around could keep their homes. But like all the houses. Their roots deepen and their ten- other banks that made huge profits from tacles “tighten around us,” he said. “But if predatory lending, its sole goal has been we stand on each other’s shoulders we will to boost its profits. be much more daunting than that build- The protest was called by the Bail Out the ing. We will crush it. We will be victorious.” People Movement and the Rev. Thomas Many of the protesters had lost their E. Smith, pastor of the Monumental jobs and homes. At a Sept. 21 press con- Baptist Church, who together organized ference at the Tent City announcing the the March for Jobs in Pittsburgh Sept. 20 Mellon demonstration, Ricardo Adams of and set up the Tent City dedicated to the Rochester, N.Y., said he had been laid off unemployed and homeless. The encamp- in January. “I need a job,” he said. “I can’t ment was located next to the church in the be a good father or a good husband with- historic African-American Hill district. out a job.” Adams came to the Tent City Protesters marched from Freedom with his spouse and two little girls. Corner, where there is a monument to At the press conference a reporter civil rights activists. Chanting, “Housing asked him how he could afford to come is a human right! Tell those banks that to Pittsburgh. He replied, “How could I we’re going to fight!” they walked behind afford not to come here?” n WW phOtO: BrENda saNdBurg ricardo Adams, unemployed worker from rochester, at Sept. 22 Mellon protest. Police riot in Pittsburgh during G-20

Youth march, Sept. 24. Massive police presence, Sept. 24.

Continued from page 1 University of Pittsburgh, students gath- them down commercial streets where and any disruption by the protest was a cause temporary blindness and breathing ered close to the bridge to Schenley Plaza. there were bars and restaurants. They also small fraction. Most protesters were peace- pain. From then on many different groups Heavy-handed police repression began chasing people into the huge dormi- ful. It was the police who started the vio- broke away in different directions, some ensued, including the usual electronic tory towers and attacking students as they lence and ended up finishing the violence. marching together back towards Oakland, dispersal order and teargas, but this only left. Students were hanging out of win- “It felt like a war zone. The police became home of the University of Pittsburgh and attracted more protesters and onlookers. dows, taking pictures in stunned disbelief. more and more violent, taking over more Carnegie Mellon University. Soon the crowd numbered close to 1,000. Forbes Street was blocked off by hun- and more of the street. I couldn’t get to Armed guards with camouflaged Over the next few hours cops were chas- dreds of riot cops. Others moved in on the my house until 3 a.m. on Thursday. I saw Humvees were stationed at every exit of ing students into their dorms, attacking other areas of the campus to corral peo- multiple people that needed to have pepper the beltline around the city, blocking off people who were leaving bars, and arrest- ple. Folks were thrown to the ground and spray washed out of their eyes. The police entry. Most downtown businesses were ing folks who had not earlier participated shot with rubber bullets. Members of the wouldn’t let students cross the street or completely boarded up, following Mayor in the protests. By the end of the night, media were pepper-sprayed and gassed. enter their dorm rooms. I saw violent use Luke Ravenstahl’s suggestions, putting more than 60 had been arrested. An estimated 150 arrests occurred over of police dogs to intimidate.” many out of work for the two days the G-20 the two days. [Later reports raised this Jillian Dowis, a sophomore at Ohio met. All buses and trains into and out of More police repression on Sept. 25 figure to 190.] Protesters and students University, shared the following experi- the city were canceled during the meetings. Near the University of Pittsburgh around alike were being held in the dorm towers, ence of her arrest on Sept. 24 in the same At the universities and museums all 10:00 p.m. the next evening, a huge crowd unable to leave for fear of being arrest- location: “People walking by were thrown monuments were also boarded up or cov- of over 1,000 students, most of whom ed. Other students couldn’t cross Fifth to the ground, maced and arrested. They ered with bags to promote an atmosphere were not political at all and certainly were Avenue to get to their residences without put on handcuffs way too tight. They of fear. not involved in G-20 protests, gathered in being thrown to the ground. searched us, put us in vans and wouldn’t At one point, protesters stopped Schenley Plaza, where a concert was going Several students said they had never tell us what was going on. They wouldn’t police with a stream of projectiles. Police on as part of the G-20 protest events. seen anything like this in their lives. It was read us our rights. They only had snarky responded by launching beanbags, caus- The police began to occupy the park and really interesting to hear people say, “F—k comments to say to us. ing injuries. Protesters defended them- forcefully removed everyone. As students the police!”—people you would never have “We were in transportation vans for selves by blockading the street with a large began to gather around to check it out, expected to hear this from. Even some about three hours. Then we got to the State chain-link fence, obstructing the road. the riot police got more hyped up. There more conservative students were really Correctional Facility, where we were in the At 10 p.m. the group Bash Back! were no chants, no signs, no banners, no angry and confused. van for another five hours, still with plastic organized a protest for LGBTQ libera- folks dressed in black and no provocation, Sean O’Sullivan, a senior at the Univers - handcuffs on. They turned the air condi- tion in the community of Oakland near yet the police threw several teargas and ity of Pittsburgh, told this reporter, “Most tioning down to 55 degrees to make us feel Carnegie Mellon University. At the nearby smoke bombs at the crowd and pushed people have been saying that the violence as uncomfortable as possible. www.workers.org Oct. 8, 2009 page 7 Tent City in Pittsburgh building community-youth- labor solidarity By Betsey Piette Besides providing a safe refuge for G-20 protesters during the week, the While capitalist world leaders attend- Tent City served as a center for a num- ing the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh slept ber of events. On Sept. 21 workshops in luxury hotels, unemployed, poor and took place there on Global Solidarity: working people from across the U.S. gath- Unions, Communities and Movements ered at the Bail Out the Jobless Tent City Working Together; Connecting the next to the Monumental Baptist Church in Issues: Housing Is a Right; and a student the Hill District in the heart of the city’s and youth discussion. Black community for six days and nights Shown later that night was a documen- from Sept. 20-25. tary about political prisoner Mumia Abu- From this historic location, an impor- Jamal called “In Prison My Whole Life.” tant March for Jobs of more than 1,000 Pam Africa from International Concerned on the first day drove home the message Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal that working and unemployed people will updated the audience on his case. make their voices heard during the global The next day a discussion at the Tent economic summit. City focused on fulfilling Dr. Martin Bail Out the People Movement nation- Luther King’s dream of the right to a al labor coordinator Sharon Black noted: job for all amid the global jobless crisis. WW phOtOs: sharON BlaCk “When we first began our organizing effort Following this discussion, BOPM and the Sharon Eolis and Barbara Gaston serve a meal to Tent City residents. in Pittsburgh, a general sense of skepticism Rev. Tom Smith, pastor of Monumental and fear had been spread in the commu- Baptist Church, initiated a demonstra- and the number of camp participants Voices” forum organized by the United nity about outsiders disrupting the neigh- tion targeting the Mellon headquarters exceeded 100 people, mostly youth upset Electrical Workers and Grassroots Global borhood. By the day of the March for Jobs, and demanding a national moratorium and angry about the G-20 policies. Justice. that fear had melted away. on foreclosures and evictions. While Tent City organizers oriented The program included Leo Gerard, “Not only did neighborhood residents Later in the evening, a discussion orga- newcomers to the history of the Tent City international president of the United join the march, but the outpouring of sup- nized by Pennsylvanians for Alternatives and the importance of respect for the Steelworkers union; Joseph Stiglitz, port from workers both on the Hill and in to the Death Penalty was held in the surrounding neighborhood, community Nobel Laureate economist; Emira Woods, greater Pittsburgh was absolutely stun- church on the case of Georgia prisoner support continued to grow. People in cars Institute for Policy Studies; and others. ning. Many workers came straight from Troy Davis. dropped off donations of water and food, The Honduran coup’s closure of air- their jobs to the Tent City with gifts of and residents came on foot to check out ports prevented resistance leader Miriam water and food. The extent to which this Attracting youth, labor what was happening. Miranda from attending. happened proved that when given the By mid-week the Tent City was clearly On Sept. 23 close to 500 people packed Gerard struck a note with the crowd opportunity, workers will rise to the occa- growing. More tents had been pitched the church sanctuary for the “People’s when he proclaimed that the time is now sion and act in solidarity, dispelling the for a movement for jobs. Before speak- capitalist myth that everyone should just ing at the forum, Gerard toured the Tent be out for themselves.” City of unemployed workers and their “When the working class movement supporters. looks back,” Black continued, “it will see Later that day, forum participants were this gathering as an important beginning given a briefing by Rev. Lucius Walker for this period. We learned what worked Jr. from Pastors for Peace on the critical and what didn’t, and we are now poised to situation in Honduras. Tent City residents grow this movement nationally. pledged to oppose any attempt by the “A fighting movement for jobs along coup government to move against ousted with stopping foreclosures, evictions and President Mel Zelaya and his supporters. utility shut-offs and winning health care Tent City residents took part in student and defending working-class rights is and youth protests on Sept. 24, as well as what is needed. Uniting trade unionists the permitted People’s March on G-20 with the community and students is key. the next day that attracted an estimated Making sure that fighting racism is front 10,000, largely young people. The BOPM and center will ensure our victory.” contingent and its banner—“Message to G-20: WE NEED JOBS NOW” with pho- tos of Dr. King—led the second leg of the “There were girls on periods that they march at the request of march organizers. would not let go to the bathroom. There were BOPM national leader Larry Holmes girls in tears because of how bad they had to spoke at the People’s March rally. The pee. You can get urinary tract infection or largely young crowd cheered loudly when toxic shock syndrome. We were there until Holmes, referring to the large unpermit- 6:30 in the morning. Then they searched ted demonstrations during the week, said, us, had us take off all our jewelry—but our Pittsburgh “Whatever our views are about tactics, we hands were swollen from cuffs and they were Hill resi- must stand with the young people who are being real aggressive taking off rings. They dents visit confronting globalism and capitalism, and didn’t answer any questions we had.” Tent City. we must defend them against repression.” The police repression both Thursday and Cheryl LaBash, BOPM organizer Friday night in Oakland was incredible. from Detroit who spent more than three This neighborhood houses the University months in Pittsburgh, summed up her of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon, two experiences in building for Sept. 20-25: universities with mostly white, mostly USW Int’l “Whether it was chopping vegetables in middle-class students. As Larry Holmes, President the kitchen, washing dishes, organizing an anti-G-20 organizer of the tent city that Leo Gerard access to the showers, disposing garbage, dramatized the plight of the unemployed at Tent City, keeping things clean and orderly, or staff- and homeless at G-20, commented, on any Sept. 23. ing the 24-hour greeting and security given normal day the police usually target desk, volunteers stepped up to do what- and harass the Black community. But these ever the community needed. two days not only were Black people under “The warm welcome from Monumental normal occupation, but the police were tar- Baptist Church pastor Rev. Thomas geting young white folks. Smith, the local labor movement and the An emergency protest took place on Sept. Hill District community, combined with 26 at the Allegheny County courthouse the participation of young activists from against the police violence and arrests. across the country, showed the kind of Strobino is a member of the Raleigh, collaboration that really can revive Dr. N.C., branch of the youth group Fight King’s movement for the right to a job or Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST). income for all.” n page 8 Oct. 8, 2009 www.workers.org General’s report spurs debate over Afghan escalation By John Catalinotto ruling class, especially a sharp one over a Adviser Gen. James Jones opposes the tary continuing to occupy Afghanistan. key question of war and peace, opens the escalation. And Bush’s former Secretary Outside ruling-class circles, the latest Gen. Stanley McChrystal has sub- door for honest anti-war forces to reach of State Colin Powell, a retired four-star USA-Today/Gallup poll in late September mitted his report asking for as many as the U.S. public with the truth. What is the general who organized the 1991 war on showed half the people, and 60 percent of 40,000 additional troops for the war on truth about this war? It is that the U.S. has Iraq and lied repeatly to provide a pretext Democrats, oppose sending more troops. Afghanistan, arguing that they are need- no right to be in Afghanistan in the first for the 2003 invasion there, has reported- Ominous news from Afghanistan on ed for a U.S. “victory.” President Barack place and that the war is a horrible plague ly expressed skepticism to Obama regard- Sept. 27 only encourages this opposi- Obama has said he wants time for the on the Afghans, a burden on U.S. youth ing the troop increase. tion. U.S., British and other NATO troops administration to examine its strategy who are sent there, and a millstone on According to the same Times article, are being killed at higher rates this year regarding Afghanistan. working and poor people at home as bil- opinion at the top levels of the administra- than ever. A top Afghan minister was The battle is now on inside U.S. ruling lions of dollars are handed to the military- tion is divided. Secretary of State Hillary nearly blown up. As for the people of circles over choosing between withdrawal industrial complex to be exploded in the Clinton and special “Af-Pak” ambassa- Afghanistan, a United Nations report and a possible Vietnam-like quagmire that mountains of Central Asia. dor Richard Holbrooke, a prime mover stated that civilian deaths associated with could drag on for another decade before of the aggression against Yugoslavia the war reached a record high of 1,500 ending in a debacle for imperialism. Divergences at the top in the 1990s, advocate escalation. Vice already this year—and this is just the tip Within the administration, the Republican Party leaders and the more President Joe Biden—who early in the of the iceberg. Many more are dying from Congress, the Pentagon and the corporate rightist media hacks, with few exceptions, Iraq war pushed for dividing Iraq into hunger and internal displacement, which media, the opposing sides are revealing are pushing for more troops. These are the three parts—now opposes a troop buildup leads to infant and maternal deaths at their serious tactical differences. The key same forces that attack Obama at every in Afghanistan, fearing a “quagmire” and childbirth and many other deadly situa- question is whether they will significantly opportunity. There is no doubt that should considering Pakistan a more important tions. Contradicting NATO’s propaganda, escalate the U.S.-NATO occupation of the president pull back from his original U.S. intervention. the occupation has only brought more suf- Afghanistan. wholehearted backing of the Afghan inter- By earlier presenting Afghanistan as fering to Afghan women. It would be incorrect to think that one vention, they will blame him for the “loss” the “necessary war”—in contrast with The next step for people in the U.S., as in side of this argument represents doves of Afghanistan—in other words, for “los- Iraq—Obama has restricted his room to the other NATO countries, is to demand a and the other hawks, or that one side ing” Afghanistan to the Afghans. maneuver. The bellicose Washington Post withdrawal from Afghanistan. Unlike the has consistently opted for peace and the Joint Chiefs Chair Adm. Mike Mullen jumped on this, chiding Obama in an edi- two sides within Congress and the govern- other for war. Some politicians, no doubt, supports McChrystal’s call for more torial for having “second thoughts” and ment, the workers and unemployed of all are looking for narrow advantages or troops. Apparently this has majority back- quoting heavily from his early statements nationalities and genders here have an are beholden to their local war industry. ing at the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense to push a pro-war position. With a good interest in stopping the bloody war and But as a look at their records will show, Robert Gates—originally a George W. section of the Democratic Party opposed the gush of money being poured into it. there are militarists on both sides within Bush appointee—has yet to speak publicly to escalation, including some of his clos- Demonstrations will take place on Congress and the administration. Both on the general’s request, but has said he is est advisers and most of his popular base, Oct. 5, 7 and 17 opposing the wars in have campaigned for wars in the past, open to escalation and that withdrawal is Obama has postponed a final decision. Afghanistan and Iraq and demanding that and what mainly divides them now is a no option. U.S. troops be brought home. While the tactical evaluation of what the U.S. faces Even among the brass, however, there Mass dissent from war drive ruling class and its politicians debate tac- in Afghanistan. are dissidents. The Sept. 27 New York The workers, poor and oppressed tics, real opposition to U.S. imperialism Any discussion or debate within the Times reported that National Security peoples have no interest in the U.S. mili- will be expressed in the streets. n 27 years after Sabra-Shatila massacre still no justice for Palestinians By Joyce Chediac it rains a lot, water comes through the tery. Now the most important building in Beirut, Lebanon cinderblock walls, bringing mold that the camp, it was used as a mass grave for causes allergic reactions. those killed by shells, snipers and disease It has been 27 years since the massacre We walked through a street market when the camp was encircled, besieged, of at least 2,000 unarmed Palestinians that sells goods of all kinds. Nasser bombed and starved by Amal militias and and poor Lebanese in the Sabra and explained that the camp is so over- Syrian forces from 1986 to 1987 during Shatila refugees camps here in Beirut. crowded that merchants have no place the War of the Camps. The mosque now U.S. imperialism, Israeli Zionism and to store their goods at night, so they bears the names and pictures of those Arab reaction were all in on the mass mur- rent rooms in people’s houses. Nasser interred here. It is used for Al Nakba and ders. The U.S. government left the camps himself rents out one room of his three- other commemorations. disarmed and vulnerable when it ordered room flat to a merchant. The seven peo- “We lost 800 in the War of the Camps,” the removal of Palestine Liberation ple in his family sleep in the remaining Nasser said. “In the 1982 massacre we lost Organization fighters from Lebanon. two rooms. more. Families here still live with the 1982 The slaughter was ordered by Ariel We entered Shatila’s only school. It massacre.” To this day, these Palestinian Sharon. The massacres were committed has three floors. Forty students study losses have not been addressed. The by the neo-Nazi Lebanese Phalange. in each cramped classroom. Scores of victims of these massacres have never What is life like today in these camps? women stood waiting in the school’s been considered entitled to a formal Lebanon’s Palestinian camps are easy common room. The atmosphere was investigation. to spot. It’s not just the Palestinian flags charged. A wealthy Palestinian had Despite the hardships, the Palestinian and pictures of Palestinian heroes. It’s the donated 80 boxes of food, contain- people in Sabra and Shatila hold fast to overcrowding, the sewage seeping into the WW phOtO: JOyCE ChEdiaC ing pasta, rice, sugar and other items. their dignity and their determination to streets. It is the maze of jerry-rigged elec- Conditions for refugees are wretched, as Already more than 80 women were assem- return to their original towns and villages tric wires that run from building to build- this alley in Shatila camp shows. bled. Some would go home empty-handed. in Palestine. ing and snake through the cramped alleys. We did not see many young adult men “With all these problems, we don’t want It is the bullet-pocked walls and collapsed build but up,” Nasser said. Today, there in the camp. Palestinians are not allowed money,” Nasser said. “We want our land. buildings, testimony to decades of attacks are many seven-story buildings with no to work at most jobs in Lebanon so the We are the people who have the right to by Israel and right-wing Lebanese militias. elevators. This reporter climbed the stairs majority of young adults work abroad, Palestine. Israel and the Zionist move- On entering Shatila, this writer could and was shown tiny, impoverished apart- sending money home to support their fam- ment can do what they want. They can see that while the civil war in Lebanon ments in which six or seven people live. ilies. Many people think about emigrating kill us more and destroy our houses and ended in 1990, the war against the Electricity for these apartments aver- to protect their families, Nasser says. our land, but we won’t give up our right Palestinian camps goes on. ages $50 a month, a huge sum, so people Palestinians have always valued edu- to return. Shatila is smaller than three football jerry-rig the power to keep the cost down. cation. However, after years of war the “I know where my village is in Palestine. fields. My guide, Tayes Nasser from the Wires are everywhere. A young man was educational level of Palestinians living in I can walk from Lebanon to my village in Palestinian Youth Center, said 17,500 killed in early September in Shatila after Lebanon has dropped. Because they are Palestine. It’s that close.” Referring to the Palestinians live here. At least 8,000 more accidentally leaning on a live wire. One not citizens, Palestinians must pay more current as well as former prime minis- live in the adjacent Sabra camp, along with or two people are electrocuted in this way to study at Lebanese universities. Stress, ters of Israel, whose families emigrated poor Lebanese and some Syrian workers. each year. war and an uncertain political situation from Europe, Nasser asked, “But does Palestinians are not allowed to live out- “The living conditions here are not san- for Palestinians here have led to a high Netanyahu know where his village is? side the camps. New floors are added to itary,” Nasser said. “The sewage system dropout rate. Does Sharon know where his village is in old buildings to accommodate the grow- is inadequate and one always smells sew- Nasser took me to a mosque in the Palestine? Does Rabin? ing population: “We have nowhere to age. This is stressful.” In the winter, when camp’s center called the Martyrs’ Ceme- Continued on next page www.workers.org Oct. 8, 2009 page 9

Iran and the g-20 meeting Creating a crisis to cover divisions

By Sara Flounders All the media snapped to attention and in the U.S. Another 10 countries without and treaties, Iran cannot trust the U.S. or joined in demonizing Iran. plants have plans to build one. Yet only Europe to consistently provide the nucle- The G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh gath- Iran and North Korea are ever challenged ar energy fuel to run power plants. ered the finance ministers, top bankers Iran in full compliance or threatened. The U.S. provided aid to Iran’s original and political leaders of the world’s larg- In the face of such an onslaught of war Iran has consistently supported the cre- nuclear development during the years of est economies, ostensibly to take up the propaganda, it is important to review the ation of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in brutal dictatorship of Shah Mohammad most serious economic collapse of capi- facts. the Middle East and proposed the concept Reza Pahlavi. At that time Washington talism in three generations. Instead, they Iran is fully in compliance with all inter- in a joint resolution in the U.N. General was more than willing to give Iran nuclear attacked Iran. national agreements, including the Nuclear Assembly. technology. But after the 1979 Iranian Without proposing measures to amelio- Non-Proliferation Treaty and International Revolution overthrew this U.S.-imposed rate the suffering of the hundreds of mil- Atomic Energy Agency guidelines and IAEA and Iran dictatorship and reasserted national con- lions of workers who have lost their jobs, reporting regulations. The IAEA is the Iran has not only agreed to more strin- trol over Iran’s own oil and gas resources, without announcing jobs programs or U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency. gent IAEA inspections than other nations, Washington ended all nuclear coopera- infrastructure construction, U.S., British The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it has also offered to operate the uranium tion. Since then the U.S. has taken every and French imperialism joined together guarantees all nations the right to devel- enrichment facility at Natanz as a multi- possible measure to sabotage, strangle with bombast to threaten Iran on totally op nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. national fuel center with the participation and overthrow the Iranian government. fabricated charges. They have demanded According to IAEA reports, Iran is enrich- of foreign representatives. Iran has fur- The latest U.S. and European discus- that the United Nations Security Council ing uranium to less than 5 percent. At this ther renounced plutonium reprocessing sion of a blockade of refined gasoline to and members of the G-20 collaborate on a level of purity, the uranium is useful for and agreed to immediately fabricate all Iran is just the latest example of efforts to new round of sanctions against Iran. peaceful nuclear-based electricity gen- enriched uranium into reactor fuel rods. stop Iran’s development. Emergency economic proposals were eration but is well below the 90-percent This offer by Iran to open its uranium U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates not even on the agenda. U-235 needed for nuclear weapons. Iran enrichment program to foreign private discussed ways to harm Iran: “There are a In a theatrical press conference on Sept. possesses no facility with that capacity. and public participation follows sugges- variety of options still available, including 25, flanked by French President Nicolas (www.iaea.org) tions of an IAEA expert committee. sanctions on banking, particularly sanc- Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Despite all these agreements, Wash- tions on equipment and technology for Gordon Brown, with German Chancellor Asghar Soltaniyeh, told Press TV on Sept. ington has insisted that Iran must totally their oil and gas industry. … I think there’s Angela Merkel delayed but on her way, 27 that IAEA safeguard agreements call suspend its entire enrichment program. a pretty rich list to pick from.” (bloom- President Barack Obama declared that for nations to inform it of the existence The IAEA released its own statement on berg.com, Sept. 27) Iran was threatening the stability and of a new enrichment plant at least six Sept. 17, saying, “With respect to a recent Washington has used enormous pres- security of the region and the world. months or 180 days before the introduc- media report, the IAEA reiterates that it sure several times to impose economic Refusal to “come clean,” he said, “is going tion of nuclear materials into the facility. has no concrete proof that there is or has sanctions through the U.N. Security to lead to confrontation.” Iran notified the IAEA on Sept. 21, which been a nuclear weapon program in Iran.” Council. These sanctions are a form of Sarkozy and Brown denounced Iran and is 18 months in advance. The September-October issue of the strangulation, an intentionally brutal explicitly demanded harder sanctions. This second, smaller facility outside Bulletin of Atomic Scientists publishes weapon applied to developing countries. They threatened a military strike, say- Qom, Iran, is an empty building. It has no an interview with IAEA Director General Sanctions exacerbate social tensions and ing that “all options are on the table with nuclear material at this time and no equip- Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei. In the course of undercut the support for a targeted gov- regard to Iran.” ment for enrichment has been installed the interview he declared: “We have not ernment by creating economic havoc. This whole scenario shows that these yet. The small-scale site is meant to house seen concrete evidence that Tehran has Wildly spiraling, uncontrolled infla- bankers, finance ministers and politicians no more than 3,000 centrifuges—many an ongoing nuclear weapons program. ... tion, shortages, long lines, shutting off have no solutions for the crisis wracking fewer than the 8,000 machines at Natanz, But somehow, many people are talking imports of basic supplies and closing off the globe. They used the summit to justify Iran’s other enrichment facility. about how Iran’s nuclear program is the export markets impact harshly on the the bailout of the banks and to give vague “It is a very ordinary facility in the begin- greatest threat to the world. ... In many most defenseless sectors in every society. assurances of future economic recovery. ning stages” and 18 months away from ways, I think the threat has been hyped.” Currencies become worthless. Industries The trillions of dollars handed over to operation, President Ahmadinejad said at These authoritative statements and words are forced to shut down. the banks is the greatest redistribution of a Sept. 25 news conference in New York. of caution are totally ignored by the wild Over the last five decades in an effort national treasuries in human history. “It is not a secret facility. If it was, why circus of the imperialist media. to extract concessions, different forms of Unable to reach agreement on regu- did we inform the IAEA ahead of time? … Around the world the imperialist coun- U.S. sanctions have been used against the lating international banking, trade or What we did was completely legal, accord- tries are isolated on this issue. On Sept. poorest countries of the planet. They have any aspect of international finance capi- ing to the law,” the Iranian president said. 16, 2006, in Havana, Cuba, all the 118 targeted nine countries in Africa, six coun- tal, which has spread chaos through the “We have informed the agency, the agency Non-Aligned Movement member coun- tries in Asia, five in the Middle East, three entire world, the imperialists gave the will come and take a look and produce a tries, at the summit level, declared their in Latin America and three in Europe. appearance of unified purpose by making report, and it’s nothing new.” support of Iran’s civilian nuclear program On Oct. 1 a meeting called the “5 + 1” ominous threats against Iran. All the cor- The Iranians also said that the facility in their final written statement. The Non- for the five-member U.N. Security Council porate media loyally fell in line. No jour- was hardly clandestine. Nor is it a sur- Aligned Movement represents a majority plus Germany is scheduled to meet with nalists dared to ask about the havoc aris- prise, as U.S., Britain and France have of the 192 countries in the U.N. Iran on its nuclear energy program. The ing from the capitalist economic system or claimed. These same countries also state Again on July 30, 2008, the Non- threats restated at the G-20 meeting aim what solutions the imperialists proposed. that they have known about it for three Aligned Movement welcomed the con- to coerce Iran to accept extremely intru- years. Both the U.S. and the French have tinuing cooperation of Iran with the IAEA sive controls. “We want America and other countries presented aerial photos of the construc- and reaffirmed Iran’s right to the peaceful Remember that under U.S. pressure in that send military aid to Israel to stop, tion, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary uses of nuclear technology. The move- August 1990, the U.N. Security Council and to stop funding Israeli settlements. Clinton acknowledged that the U.S. knew ment further called for the establishment imposed a total blockade on Iraq. The America always speaks about democracy. of the plant before Iran reported it. of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the blockade resulted in the deaths of more Where is the democracy in the situation Middle East and called for a comprehen- than 1 million children under the age of of the Palestinians? From America we get Is Iran really a threat? sive multilaterally negotiated instrument 5 from the resulting desperate shortages nothing—always empty promises. And The U.S. still has thousands of nuclear which prohibits threats of attacks on and preventable diseases. Meanwhile, a now, because of current U.S policies, we weapons. It is the only country that has nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful uses hunt for supposedly secret weapons of are paying a higher price during the peace ever used a nuclear weapon and the only of nuclear energy. mass destruction dragged on for 13 years. talks than we paid during war. Israel country that has time and again threat- In February 2007, lawmakers from 56 In 2003 the Bush administration doesn’t give us anything for peace—just ened to use nuclear weapons. The U.S. member states of the Organization of the claimed that Iraq had a secret nuclear blood and more blood. refused to abide by the Nuclear Test Ban Islamic Conference, addressing Iran’s weapons program close to completion “We want the next generation to know Treaty and the U.S. Congress has never nuclear program at a meeting in Kuala and posing an imminent nuclear threat. A the roots of the Palestine problem. We ratified it. Lumpur, Malaysia, urged “full respect for media frenzy claimed that Iraq was close believe in a democratic life for all people, Israel clearly has uranium enrichment equal and inalienable rights for all nations to producing nuclear weapons. This fear Jewish or Palestinian, and for all religions. facilities and is estimated to possess 60 to explore modern technologies including of weapons of mass destruction—WMD— For many centuries Jews and Palestinians to 400 thermonuclear weapons. Israel nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.” became the main justification for the U.S. lived together, so we have confidence they refuses to abide by any international invasion and occupation. can work together and live together again. agreements or any inspections. Yet every Sanctions— All reports from the IAEA confirm- We are not against two states, but one U.S. administration has been completely a weapon against development ing that there was no evidence of such a country is better. silent on Israel’s nuclear enrichment and Iranian spokespeople have made it clear program were ignored. No such weapons “We are patient. We will wait for the weapons program. that Iran will develop its own facilities to were ever found. But after six years of U.S. time when we have our rights.” Thirteen countries presently enrich enrich uranium for energy. It has been occupation, a quarter of Iraq’s population This is the first article in a series that uranium. Argentina, Brazil, South Africa subject to the most severe series of sanc- is dead, disabled or dispersed in the form will explore Palestinian conditions in and Australia have also announced plans tions and export restrictions on technol- of dislocated refugees. Lebanon, interview Palestinian leaders, to begin enriching uranium. Twenty-eight ogy for peaceful nuclear technology and Washington’s lies must be exposed. and explain how progressive people can countries have nuclear energy plants, with for all other forms of development. After Iran’s sovereignty and its right to full devel- support Palestinians waiting to return. the largest number of power plants being decades of violated agreements, contracts opment must be defended and supported. page 10 Oct. 8, 2009 www.workers.org Nkrumah and Ghana’s CHINA AT 60 independence struggle This editorial was written on a Lenovo the workers got the same guarantees. PC. Lenovo is today the world’s fourth- This system was known as the “iron rice By Abayomi Azikiwe were prepared to launch a mass struggle largest manufacturer of computers. The bowl.” Iron because nothing—droughts, editor, Pan-African News Wire for the abolition of British colonial rule largest share of this Chinese company is floods, war—could break this basic social over the Gold Coast. During this same owned by the government through the security. None of this could have been According to the history books, 100 period, Nkrumah formed links with other Chinese Academy of Sciences, which has done without socializing the means of years ago on Sept. 21, 1909, Kwame anti-colonial and Pan-African organiza- been in charge of bringing the world’s production. Nkrumah, the founder and leader of the tions that were operating in other colonies most populous country into the modern In 1949, the Soviet Union was China’s African independence movement and of West Africa. When the CPP called for a era. How did China get here? greatest ally. But over time, especially the foremost advocate of Pan-Africanism Positive Action Campaign in early 1950, Sixty years ago, it was a very different after the Korean War when hundreds of during his time, was born in the western leading to massive strikes and rebellion place. When, on Oct. 1, 1949, Communist thousands of U.S. troops were right on Nzima region of the Gold Coast, later throughout the colony, Nkrumah was leader Mao Zedong looked out over a sea China’s doorstep, followed by the Cold known as the independent state of Ghana. imprisoned by the colonial authorities for of faces in Beijing’s Tienanmen Square War, the pressures of imperialism caused Nkrumah was the first head of state of an sedition. and told the world, “China has stood up,” the Soviet leaders to pull back their sup- independent post-colonial nation in Africa The executive members of the CPP he spoke as the leader of an earth-shak- port for China. The Chinese Communist south of the Sahara, after he led Ghana to continued to press for the total indepen- ing revolution. Party was faced with having to go it vir- national liberation under the direction dence of the colony, eventually creating After two decades of civil war and tually alone, and this eventually opened of the Convention Peoples Party in 1957. conditions for a popular election in 1951 anti-imperialist struggle, this great social up a sharp debate within the Party over Educated at the historically Black college that the CPP won overwhelmingly. In movement had succeeded in overcoming what road to take to acquire modern of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, February 1951, Nkrumah was released the resistance not only of the decadent technology. Nkrumah became involved in the Pan- from prison in Ghana and appointed ruling classes of China but also of the This was the context for a shift to the African movement in the United States Leader of Government Business in a imperialists and their collaborators. The right in China under Deng Xiaoping and during the 1930s and 1940s as a lead- transitional arrangement that eventu- People’s Liberation Army had defeated the opening up to the capitalist world ing member of the African Students ally led to the independence of Ghana on the Japanese invaders and then swept market. Many features of China’s social- Association, the Council on African Affairs, March 6, 1957. Chiang Kai-shek and his U.S.-supplied ist development, like the communes and as well as other organizations. forces off the mainland. the social guarantees for workers and After leaving the United States at the Vision of Pan-Africanism, China had been liberated, but it faced peasants, were abandoned. At the same conclusion of World War II in 1945, he socialism enormous challenges and obstacles. time, however, Chinese industry grew played a leading role in convening the At the independence gathering on Half a billion people, many of them half- enormously and so did its once-small historic Fifth Pan-African Congress in March 6, Nkrumah—now prime minister— starving, had first to be fed. The cyclical working class. Sharp class struggles by Manchester, England—a gathering that declared that Ghana’s independence was droughts and floods that killed hundreds the workers against difficult conditions, many credit with laying the founda- meaningless unless it was directly linked of thousands of Chinese every year had to many imposed by capitalist owners, are tion for the mass struggles with the total liberation of the be tamed. A mostly illiterate population now commonplace in China. for independence during the continent. This statement served needed to master China’s complicated Many in the world progressive move- 1940s and 1950s. Part 1. as the cornerstone of Ghanaian written language and then get access for ment see China today as a capitalist During his stay in England from 1945 foreign policy during Nkrumah’s tenure the first time to a formal education. Basic country. However, Workers World begs to 1947, he collaborated with George as leader of the country. health needs had to be addressed. A pre- to differ. The kind of counter-revolution Padmore of Trinidad, a veteran activist in George Padmore became the official dominantly agrarian economy had to be that broke up the workers’ states and the international communist movement advisor on African affairs, and was placed modernized to do all this. set back conditions for the workers in and a journalist who wrote extensively in charge of the Bureau of African Affairs, Years of struggle had already shown Russia, other parts of the former Soviet on African affairs. Nkrumah was offered whose task was to assist other national that only the Communists, whose Union and Eastern Europe has not a position with the United Gold Coast liberation movements on the continent strength came from fighting in the inter- occurred in China. Convention as an organizer in late 1947 in their efforts to win political indepen- ests of the millions of exploited workers The world capitalist economic crisis and made the critical decision to return to dence. In April 1958, the First Conference and peasants, could carry out such a presents a big challenge to China, espe- the Gold Coast to assist in the anti-colo- of Independent African States was con- transformation of Chinese society. cially since much of its economic growth nial struggle that was intensifying in the vened, with eight nation-states as par- Red China was born into a world domi- has been geared to amassing capital aftermath of World War II. ticipants. This gathering broke down the nated by imperialism. Most of the rest of through selling to the capitalist world. After being imprisoned with other colonially imposed divisions between the world’s people were still under the How much of China’s economy can, under leaders of the UGCC for supposedly incit- Africa north and south of the Sahara. yoke of colonial rule, although these fetters the direction of the state, be restructured ing unrest among veterans, workers and In December later that same year, the were being challenged by burgeoning to strengthen its socialist base? This is farmers in the colony, he gained wide- first All-African Peoples Conference was national liberation movements. After undoubtedly one of the big questions spread popularity among the people, who held in Accra, bringing together 62 nation- World War II, the U.S. capitalist class being debated inside China today. responded enthusiastically to his militant al liberation movements from all over the imposed its own form of neocolonialism We cannot analyze in this brief edito- and fiery approach to the burgeoning anti- continent, as well as representation from wherever the exhausted European pow- rial the Chinese economy, which is so imperialist movement. After forming the Africans in the United States. It was at this ers were losing their grip. huge and so complex. What we can do is Committee on Youth Organization, which conference in December 1958 that Patrice Sam Marcy, who later founded celebrate the tremendous gains for the became the best organized segment of the Lumumba of Congo became an interna- Workers World Party in the U.S., wrote Chinese people that were made possible UGCC, Nkrumah was later isolated from tionally recognized leader of the anti-colo- in 1950 that the Chinese Revolution was by its great revolution. And we extend the top leadership of the Convention, who nial struggle in that Belgian colony. much more than an agrarian reform or our solidarity to China in its struggle to objected to his demands for immediate By 1960 the independence move- anti-colonial struggle, although it incor- maintain and develop further the eco- political independence for the Gold Coast. ment had gained tremendous influence porated both these tasks. It came at a nomic structure necessary to establish On June 12, 1949, Nkrumah and the throughout Africa, resulting in the emer- time in history when the bourgeoisie, a higher form of security and richness CYO formed the Convention Peoples gence of many new nation-states on the represented in China by Chiang Kai-shek, of life for the masses—that is, a socialist Party in Accra, Ghana, at a mass gather- continent. That same year, Ghana became was incapable of liberating the peasants society. n ing of tens of thousands of people. They a republic and adopted its own constitu- and was completely entangled with for- tion, making Nkrumah the president of eign imperialism. the government. Thus the task of liberating China fell to However, there arose fissures within the the Communists and the working class— Workers World’s top 10 reasons leadership of the CPP over which direction small at that time, but natural allies of the new state would take in its economic China’s vast peasantry. And this required and social policies. Many of Nkrumah’s that the Chinese Revolution move beyond Why the G-20 says it won’t make colleagues, who had been instrumental in bourgeois property relations. This is what the struggle for independence, were not so frightened the world bourgeoisie. its secret meetings public: committed to his long-term goals of Pan- Under Mao, the rural masses were Africanism and socialism. Consequently, inspired to go from collective farming to 1. Because it’s none of your damn busi- 6. Common people wouldn’t understand many of the programmatic initiatives the establishment of communes—where ness, that’s why. what we were discussing. launched by the CPP government were everyone was insured a basic education, 2. If we made them public, they wouldn’t 7. They’d demand jobs and stuff like that. stifled by the class aspirations of those health and increasingly modern technol- be secret meetings, Einstein. 8. People just don’t understand the state and party officials who were non- ogy as well as food, shelter and clothing 3. Why, what’s not to trust about central dynamics of the system. committal about a total revolutionary in exchange for their labor. transformation of Ghanaian society and bankers? 9. It’s the trickle down theory: If we get The masses performed wonders, the African continent as a whole. 4. Here in the U.S., bankers made the enough profits, some of it trickles building great dams, canals and other Next: Nkrumah’s challenge to neo- most of a stingy $7 trillion bailout. down our pantlegs to you. infra structure largely by hand in huge colonialism, the coup that overthrew brigades. 5. If people knew what we were discuss- 10. That’s capitalism, and we’re capital- his presidency and his legacy to African ing, they might get confused. ists, so get over it. In the cities, the revolutionary govern- —Paul Wilcox liberation. Also see panafricannews. ment began to build up industry, where blogspot.com. www.workers.org Oct. 8, 2009 page 11

Since the G-20 meeting the world has In particular, any references to the The greatest enemy of the Jewish people once again had to witness a saber-rattling Holocaust in the big business press have is the anti-Semitic U.S. ruling class, which Ahmadinejad, attempt to force Iran to abandon its right nothing to do with concern for the suffer- refused to grant entrance to Jewish refu- to develop nuclear power. It is orchestrat- ing of the Jewish people at the hands of gees from Hitler and pushed them toward ed by the great imperialist powers of the the Nazi regime. Nor do they have any- Palestine. After the war, Washington used the Holocaust world in Washington, London, Berlin and thing to do with concern for the present the bourgeois Zionist leadership to estab- Paris, who themselves are armed to the security of the Jewish people. lish a military beachhead in the Middle teeth with thousands of nuclear weapons. Attacks on Ahmadinejad over the ques- East. Thus Washington pushed the Jewish In the course of this campaign these tion of the Holocaust are really about people, under the dominance of the Zionist and oil powers, along with their client state the security of the oil companies, the Israeli state, into a permanent confronta- of Israel, have resumed their attacks Pentagon, the entire U.S. ruling class and tion with hundreds of millions of oppres- on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad its apartheid Zionist client state of Israel. sed Arab and Muslim peoples—all to serve Worker WorLD regarding the Holocaust. They have been trying to overthrow the the interests of imperialism, nothing else. Commmentary Whatever misguided statements Iranian Revolution since it overcame All the hypocritical talk of the Holo- Ahmadinejad may have made about the the CIA-backed shah in 1979, took the caust out of the mouths of U.S. ruling- By Fred goldstein Holocaust in the past, certain important country’s oil back from U.S. and British class politicians and pundits should not things must be borne in mind by progres- oil companies, and ousted the Pentagon divert attention for one minute from the sive-minded people. from a strategic position astride the oil- aggressive aims of Washington. Hands rich Persian Gulf. off Iran! n

Massive int’l solidarity crucial as Hondurans resist right-wing coup Continued from page 1

Iraq and Afghanistan. President Zelaya reports from the Brazilian Embassy that the people there have been subjected to “bombardments with chemical products and ultrasound waves that provoke illness and make peo- ple very nervous.” The aggression by the fraudulent Miche- letti golpistas against the Brazilian Embas- sy is a blatant violation of international law and conventions. The aggression demon- strates that the fascists will stop at nothing to keep the status quo in Honduras. All indications are that the Micheletti regime aims to kill President Zelaya. Anticipating that they might attempt to make his death look like suicide, he has warned, “I am telling the people, Manuel Zelaya will not commit suicide.” The Honduran people continue to resist. They have valiantly earned the title Los Incansables (the tireless ones) with non-stop actions for more than three On Sept. 29, protests all over the world supported months. the Honduran resistance. Here, New York’s Union Square. On Sept. 27, a delegation from the Organ- WW phOtO: mONiCa mOOrEhEad i zation of American States was denied entry into the country. On the same day, Families of the Disappeared was bombed the Facussés of the country. They just they received over the weekend,” Amselem Micheletti issued a decree suspending with tear gas. ... Children and the sick in handed me some bad news for the golpis- said, referring to the incident where five individual liberties and rights guaranteed the hospitals are undernourished since, tas. Micheletti’s daughter was deported OAS representatives were turned away by the Constitution, dropping all pretens- with the curfew, which is a death warrant, by the U.S. back into Honduras. We are from Honduras. es of legality. they do not receive food and are dying of not going to deport the golpistas, we want The U.S. official continued: “Reject the A curfew was strengthened prohibiting hypoglycemia.” them in prison forever. We are with and deterioration in human rights, as evidence mass gatherings. The next day, Micheletti A well-known and beloved youth leader, we collaborate with the Resistance.” of the decree of the de facto regime, and announced he would lift the emergency Wendy Elizabeth Ávila, died after a heavy Bertha Cáceres of COPINH, an Indige - call (for) the respect for diplomatic immu- decree curtailing constitutional rights chemical gas attack. The gas triggered her nous group that is part of the resistance, nity. That should’ve been it, that should’ve such as freedom of expression, travel and asthma and led to her death. stated: “In the name of the Indigenous and been it.”(cnn.com) gathering in public. But not immediate- At her funeral, Juan Barahona, on behalf of the brave Garifunas who are in resis- This followed another remark where ly—only after a “legal review.” of the National Front of Resistance against tance and on behalf of women we solidar- Amselem called President Zelaya’s return Early the next morning, soldiers forced the Coup, told Ávila’s family and friends, ize ourselves with Wendy’s family. We say to his country “irresponsible and foolish” their way into Radio Globo, which reports “Monday, Sept. 28, marks three months of these crimes will not go unpunished. Our and claimed it fueled violence. on the resistance, and destroyed every resistance in the streets. This is our month people must understand that only we can As usual, the representative of U.S. piece of equipment. Journalists from the to defeat the golpistas. We have the capac- determine our destiny. We need to break imperialism turned things on their head, radio station and from Channel 36 were ity to solve this political crisis. The OAS our yoke, so that our natural riches belong making right wrong and wrong right. arrested. Nevertheless, Radio Globo man- has not intervened because they follow to us.” It is the U.S.-backed Micheletti regime aged to get back online very quickly. the orders of the Yankees, who are always The will of the Honduran people is that is responsible for the violence and Repression against the movement is against any people’s liberation struggle clear: Resistance and victory are the only repression in Honduras today. The resis- heavy. People are being rounded up and and that is what is happening here.” option. As Comrade Fidel Castro of Cuba tance has it right: only the people of Hon- beaten, especially youth. A journalist from Another National Front leader, Israel wrote last week, “A revolution is brewing duras can determine their own destiny. El Libertador was captured, beaten and Salinas, said at the funeral, “We should in Honduras.” But solidarity can also be decisive. At this burned with cigarettes. Jessica Sanchez paralyze this country from Tegucigalpa As with the people of Venezuela who moment in history, it is urgent for the of Feminists in Resistance sent an eyewit- to San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, El Progreso, have tasted freedom, imperialism can nev- world movement to come out in support ness account that police are raiding hospi- Tela, Tocoa, etc. We are convinced of our er erase that no matter how hard they try. of the resistance in Honduras. tals every two hours to pick up wounded firm positions. Without Mel, we say no to On Sept. 28, the OAS held a day-long Latin Americans and the progressive demonstrators. (Americas Report) any elections. Restore our constitutional emergency meeting on Honduras. Finally. move ment here remember the events in Juan Almendares of the Honduran Cen- rights—on to the Constitutional National U.S. delegate Lewis Amselem was Chile in 1973. A bloodbath must be prevent- ter for Torture Prevention told Americas Assembly and to a new Constitution.” caught making snarly remarks, unaware ed in Honduras. The people of Honduras Report that Honduras has become “the Referring to the wealthy Honduran microphones were still live. “We are look- must be free to choose their own leaders. largest prison in the world.” He said, “There families, Father Fausto Milla stated: ing increasingly foolish,” he said. “What Right now they are demanding leaders who is a permanent state of siege here. Human “Wendy’s death should become a big is the purpose of this declaration? It will address the social problems. Which rights organizations and medics are not example in our country, but we should should’ve been a simple, short 15-minute way things go will depend on how the even allowed to attend to the tortured and also not forget the 40,000 hungry chil- project. Should’ve been to reject the treat- movement there coalesces, but solidarity is wounded. The office of the Committee for dren who die because of the Handals, ment of the OAS officials, the treatment key in reversing the golpe in Honduras. n MHNDO OBRERO ¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los países, uníos! la lucha por empleos llega a la cumbre de los G-20 Por Brenda Sandburg hablar sobre los desamparados/ Pittsburgh as (sin techo)”, dijo Anthony. Él se encontró con gente en Seattle Más de 1.000 manifestantes marchar- que había establecido un “cam- on por las calles de Pittsburgh el 20 de pamento fabuloso” en los pre- septiembre demandando un verdadero dios de una iglesia. También pro grama de empleos, como el programa pasó tiempo con gente que había público que la administración Roosevelt establecido una comunidad de promulgó durante la Gran Depresión de desamparados/as en una parada los años treinta. de la carretera Ruta 280 al sur Esta fue la primera manifestación rel- de San Francisco. “No se pueden acionada a la cumbre de los G-20, una encontrar mejores vecinos/as”, reunión de oficiales del Tesoro y banque- dijo. “Nadie sufría de hambre. ros centrales de 20 países que tendrá lugar Fue una comunidad socialista esta semana en la ciudad. La meta de los hermosa”. El condado reciente- G-20 es proteger las ganancias de los ban- mente cerró esa comunidad. cos. La meta de la Marcha por Empleos es Un gran contingente de la revivir el llamado del Dr. Martin Luther Local 8751 del sindicato de Cho- King Jr. que exigía el derecho de todos/ feres de Autobuses Escolares as a un empleo. La marcha fue organiza- de Boston, pertenecientes al da por el Movimiento pro Rescate del Sin dicato de Trabajadores del Pueblo/Bail Out the People Movement Acero (USW), incluyendo a Gary (MpRP/BOPM) y el Reverendo Thomas Murchison quien fue presidente E. Smith, pastor de la Iglesia Bautista por tres mandatos, y Frantz Monumental y apoyada por los sindi- Mendes, el actual presidente, lle- catos de los/as trabajadores/as del ace- Marcha por empleos, Pittsburgh, 20 de septiembre. mO FOtO: BrENda saNdBurg garon tres días antes de la mar- ro, United Steelworkers y electricistas, cha para ayudar a organizarla y United Electrical Workers. derecho! ¡Tenemos derecho al trabajo!” AHORA!; Rokhee Devastali, Estudiantes para construir el campamento. La marcha obtuvo mucha cobertura e La marcha terminó en la esquina Freedom Feministas Unidas, de la Universidad de Activistas de Detroit que organizaron interés por parte de los grandes medios Corner, donde en 1963 la gente tomó auto- Carolina del Norte-Chapel Hill; la abo- un campamento muy exitoso en junio, noticieros, tanto nacionales como locales, buses para ir a la histórica marcha por los gada de derechos civiles Lynne Stewart; vinieron en un autobús lleno de gente. incluyendo a Prensa Asociada, Reuters, derechos civiles en Washington, D. C. Larry Hales, del grupo juvenil FIST; “Teníamos que estar aquí”, dijo Sandra Wall Street Journal, la Agencia de Prensa Larry Holmes, un organizador del Larry Adams, Organización Popular para Hines de la Coalición Moratoria Ahora! Fran cesa y otros más. Los/as organiza- MpRP/BOPM dijo que el gobierno anun- el Progreso; Pam África, Familiares y “Tenemos que movilizar y organizar a dores de la marcha atribuyeron el interés cia que hay una recuperación sin empleos Amigos pro de Mumia Abu-Jamal; Víctor todos/as antes de que nos quiten todos de la prensa al hecho de que la marcha en el horizonte. Enfatizó que esto es ina- Toro, inmigrante chileno enfrentando nuestros derechos”. Latonya Lloyd, quien se enfocara en la crisis del desempleo y ceptable diciendo “Una recuperación sin deportación y miembro de la Coalición era parte de la delegación de Detroit, su devastador impacto en la comunidad empleos es como un paciente muerto 1º de Mayo Pro Derechos de los/as recientemente luchó contra los cortes de negra. después de una operación exitosa”. Trabajadores/as e Inmigrantes; Berna utilidades en el edificio de apartamentos A la marcha vinieron personas de Monica Moorehead de la organización Ellorin, Bayan-USA; el padre Luis Barrios, Highland Towers. muchas ciudades del país uniéndose a un Millones por Mumia habló de los más de de Pastores por la Paz; Kali Akuno, Red de Mary Kay Harris llegó con otras 40 gran número de residentes de Pitts burgh. dos millones de personas en prisión que Derechos Humanos de EEUU; y el sena- personas en un autobús desde Rhode Las ciudades representadas incluían no podrán estar en la manifestación. Ella dor del estado de Pensilvania, Jim Ferlo. Island. Miembra de la Acción Directa por a Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, presentó un mensaje grabado del pri- Derechos e Igualdad (DARE por sus siglas Cleveland, Akron, Minneapolis, Balti more, sionero político Mumia Abu-Jamal. ¿Por qué la gente en inglés), Harris dijo que tan pronto supo Miami, Nueva York, Búfalo, Filadelfia, En la concentración final, Fred Red- vino a Pittsburgh? de la Marcha por Empleos, decidieron que Providence, áreas de Carolina del Norte mond, vicepresidente del United Steel- La marcha actuó como un imán atray- tenían que estar aquí. Rhode Island, esta- y Boston. Muchos/as habían perdido sus workers señaló la necesidad de tener endo a la gente; muchas de las cuales do que tiene una de las tasas más altas de empleos o sus hogares. A pesar de la crisis, cuidado de salud universal y educación viajaron desde largas distancias para par- desempleo en el país, tiene un campamen- la gente tenía un gran espíritu de lucha, accesible, así como puestos de trabajo ticipar en el evento. Los huelguistas de to de desamparados/as. “Creemos que la sacando fuerzas de la unidad y de partici- para todos/as. “Basta ya de que nuestros la TRW Automotive, una fábrica de cin- solidaridad es lo más importante”, dijo. par en la formación de un movimiento. hijos vayan a la escuela donde hay más turones de seguridad en México, habían Activistas de Cleveland también vinier- “En honor a Martin Luther King noso- ratas que computadoras”, dijo. “Tenemos ido a Detroit para hablar sobre su lucha on en un autobús repleto de gente, incluy- tros continuamos lo que él comenzó uni- que asegurar que cada niño/a reciba una cuando se enteraron de la protesta en endo un gran contingente de la Campaña endo a la gente en una campaña de la educación que les prepare para el siglo 21”. Pittsburgh y se unieron a la comitiva de por los Derechos Humanos Económicos de gente pobre”, dijo el Reverendo Thomas Otros/as oradores/as en ambas concen- Detroit. Un miembro del grupo TRW, la Gente Pobre. Y un grupo de 18 jóvenes Smith. “Los G-20 están forjando tratos traciones incluyeron a Oscar Hernández, Israel Monroig de la Coalición por la vinieron de Carolina del Norte, incluyendo para proteger a las corporaciones y no a un participante en la huelga de la pana- Justicia en las Maquiladoras, dijo que era a Tracy Gill, miembra del grupo FIST. Ella los/as trabajadores/as. Ya es hora de que dería Stella D’Oro en Nueva York que necesario forjar alianzas a nivel interna- dijo que esta era la primera vez que había los/as trabajadores/as se unan y efectúen ya lleva 11 meses, Clarence Thomas, del cional. “Las empresas que generan miles asistido a una protesta grande. un cambio”. Local 10 del sindicato de estibadores de millones de dólares al año produjo la Miembros/as de la Coalición para el La gente se reunió en la mañana frente a International Longshore and Warehouse crisis en nuestro país”, dijo. “Hay una Rescate del Pueblo vinieron a la marcha la Iglesia Bautista Monumental localizada Union y del Million Worker March Move- falta de puestos de trabajo porque consid- desde Minnesota. Angel Buechner dijo en el histórico distrito africano americano ment; Brenda Stokely y Jennifer Jones, de eran a la clase obrera como robots, como que la organización había luchado por del Hill en Pittsburgh. Un campamento la Coalición de la Ciudad de Nueva York en números. Tenemos que apoderarnos de una ley el año pasado que hubiera provis- dedicado a las personas desempleadas fue Solidaridad con los Sobrevivientes de los los medios de producción y ser los actores to empleos o ingresos y una moratoria en organizado al lado de la iglesia el día ante- huracanes Katrina/Rita; Rob Robinson, de nuestra propia historia”. las ejecuciones hipotecarias y en el límite rior. Muchos/as de los/as manifestantes del grupo Picture the Homeless; Rosemary Un grupo de varias personas llegó en de cinco años de recibir beneficios del permanecerán en el campamento toda la Williams, de la Campaña de los Derechos carro desde Los Ángeles; una de las per- estado. Pero el Gobernador Tim Pawlenty semana y se espera que más personas se Humanos y Económicos para los Pobres; sonas fue Guy Anthony, un trabajador derrotó esa propuesta. A pesar de la der- unan cuando comience la cumbre de los Mick Kelly, de la Coalición para el Rescate que en junio perdió su empleo como orga- rota, Buechner sigue con la lucha. G-20. del Pueblo; Nellie Bailey, del Consejo de nizador en el sindicato de Empleados/ En la concentración final Holmes anun- Antes de que la marcha comenzara a las Inquilinos de Harlem, John Parker, un as de Servicio, SEIU. Ahora vive en su ció, con gran aprobación de los/as asis- 2:30 de la tarde, hubo una concentración organizador del MpRP/BOPM en Los carro y ha viajado alrededor del país, tentes, que el próximo paso será organi- de apertura. La gente marchó llevando Angeles; Sandra Hines, de la Coalición escribiendo un “blog” sobre sus experi- zar una marcha nacional por empleos en cientos de pancartas con la imagen del Dr. en Michigan para Frenar las Ejecuciones encias (thedistantdrummer.com). “No se Washington en abril del año que viene King y gritando la consigna “¡Tenemos el Hipotecarias y los Desahucios ¡Moratoria puede hablar sobre la falta de empleos sin para continuar con el sueño del Dr. King. n