Legalize All Immigrants Now!
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· AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · ICELAND KR100 · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · SWEDEN KR10 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE For a democratic, secular Palestine Int’l capitalism in crisis—a death trap for the Jews — PAGE 6 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 70/NO. 34 SEPTEMBER 11, 2006 Survivor of Sago Socialist Workers Party candidates: disaster, others sue bosses for Legalize all immigrants now! miners’ deaths BY CINDY JAQUITH ‘We’re workers, not criminals!’ PITTSBURGH—Randal McCloy, the The following statement was issued sole survivor of the Sago Mine disaster August 30 by Róger Calero and Maura Elvira Arellano gets support to fight deportation in West Virginia, and the families of DeLuca, Socialist Workers Party candi- two miners killed at Sago have each dates for U.S. Senate and governor of filed lawsuits charging the companies New York, respectively. involved with unsafe practices that sent 12 miners to their deaths. Amnesty now! Unconditional, imme- A methane gas explosion ripped diate residency for all undocumented im- through the Sago Mine January 2 from migrants! End the immigration sweeps a portion of the mine that had been and deportations! sealed off with Omega block, made of We urge participation in the Labor lightweight fiber material. One miner Day and other mobilizations for the le- was killed from the impact of the blast. galization of immigrants—especially the The other 11 died from carbon monoxide September 7 march in Washington—to poisoning while waiting for rescue teams, which took 41 hours to reach the trapped workers. STATEMENT BY The suit by McCloy names as defen- SWP CANDIDATES dants the International Coal Group (ICG), the conglomerate that owns Sago; Wolf advance these demands, which the labor Run Mining Co., an ICG subsidiary that movement and all working people need Militant/Rollande Girard Elvira Arellano, a former airplane cleaner at O’Hare airport, was arrested in a 2002 runs the mine; CSE Corp., which makes to champion. the oxygen air packs used at the mine; immigration raid. She is pictured August 20 at Chicago’s Adalberto United Methodist The latest immigrant rights demon- Church, where she recently took sanctuary after defying deportation order (see p. 4). Burrell Mining Products, Inc., which strations build on the unprecedented manufactures Omega blocks; GMS Mine mass mobilizations in the spring, Repair and Maintenance, a contracting when millions said, “We are workers, company that built the Omega block seals not criminals!” The May 1 actions Contingents from 17 states that burst with the explosion; and Raleigh involved 2 million workers, in what Mine and Industrial Supply, Inc., which became the first nationwide general po- expected at Sept. 7 D.C. rally sold the blocks used for the seals. litical strike in the United States. This The other two suits also name ICG working-class movement is setting an BY SETH DELLINGER of people I’ve talked to recently already and other related companies as defen example for all workers: an example WASHINGTON—“The word is knew about it,” he said. dants. “During 2005, the Mine Safety of solidarity, organization, and struggle. spreading,” said Raymundo Núñez, a América Calderón of the NCIC said in Continued on page 9 It is having an impact on many U.S.- construction worker who has been vol- an August 29 phone interview that orga- born working people seeking a way unteering to distribute flyers building nizers now expect participation from 17 Continued on page 9 the September 7 immigrant rights march states on the East Coast. Black lung here organized by the National Capital There is plenty of activity in this area to disease affecting Socialist candidates Immigration Coalition (NCIC). “A lot Continued on page 4 younger miners in Iowa: ‘Drought Political crisis unfolds in Israel BY SALM KOLIS relief, affordable HARLAN, Kentucky—A study re- credit for farmers!’ in aftermath of war on Lebanon leased by the National Institute for Oc- BY BRIAN WILLIAMS down to the last soldier.” cupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) BY KEVIN DWIRE In the aftermath of the war against At the same time, the head of Shin Bet, shows that despite an overall decline DES MOINES, Iowa—“The double Lebanon, a political crisis is unfolding in the Israeli intelligence service, called the in cases of black lung, coal miners are blows of drought and higher fuel prices Israel. An open discussion is taking place war “a fiasco.” According to the August contracting the disease at a younger are hitting farmers throughout the Plains among Israeli military and political lead- 24 Boston Globe, Shin Bet director Yuval age. The report identifies 22 counties region of the Midwest,” said Frank For- ers about steps necessary to transform Diskin said at a closed security forum, in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, restal, the Socialist Workers Party candi- Tel Aviv’s military to prepare for and “There were many failures, and the public and West Virginia as “hot spots.” It date for secretary of agriculture in Iowa. wage the next war more effectively. sees and understands this…. Someone also notes a handful of other such He recently spoke with farmers while Hundreds of reservists marched on has to provide explanations and take counties in Alabama and Colorado. campaigning at the Iowa State Fair and Continued on page 3 In these states miners in their 30s, at the August 25–26 meeting of the Iowa the offices of Israeli prime minister 40s, and early 50s are getting black Farmers Union in Ankeny. Ehud Olmert at the end of August. They lung. That’s about 10 to 30 years sooner “The drought comes at a time when protested what they called the ineffective than in the past. Thirty-five percent production costs are up because of rising use of military force in conducting the month-long war on Lebanon, USA Today Also Inside: of the cases were described as rapidly prices for fuel, fertilizer, seed, pesticides, Democratic candidate in progressive, meaning the scar tissue in and other inputs,” said Forrestal, who reported. The reservists set up a tent city there with signs calling for the resigna- Connecticut: critic on Iraq the lungs was spreading about twice as works on the kill floor at Tyson Foods, a war, belligerent toward Iran 2 fast as normal. pork processor in Perry, Iowa. tion of Olmert and Defense Minister Black lung is contracted by pro- In response to these conditions, the Amir Peretz, both of whom have little military experience, and the military A year after Katrina, evacuees longed breathing of coal dust. There socialist candidates have called for face cutoff of gov’t aid 3 is no cure. But the disease can be pre- “government-funded affordable credit chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz. vented by properly ventilating coal for working farmers and price supports In a public letter sent to the soldiers mines. As far back as 1995, NIOSH to cover their production costs,” For- August 24, Halutz admitted that the Is- Immigration police recommended lowering the coal-dust restal said. “We also demand protection raeli military operations involved “short- arrest 326 in Houston raids 4 limit from two to one milligrams per for working farmers who suffer losses comings in various areas—logistical, cubic meter. The federal government, from drought and floods.” operational, and command…. Questions Cape Verde honors however, has taken no action on the Drought conditions have hit the Great will be answered professionally, and ev- Cuba’s internationalism 7 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 2 eryone will be investigated—from me Communist League launches Iowa socialist campaign mayoral election campaign in Toronto Continued from front page two came in the 1930s and 1950s. Plains the hardest from North Dakota “Some ranchers have been forced to to Nebraska and Texas. Many farmers sell their entire herds, and others are have faced drought conditions for six either moving their cattle to greener years. pastures or buying more already-costly “I’ll be using the highest-price diesel feed. Hundreds of acres of grasslands I’ve ever bought in my life to combine have been blackened by fires sparked the lowest-producing corn I’ve ever by lightning or farm equipment,” ac- produced,” Klint Cork, who grows cording to an Associated Press report. corn and soybeans in western Iowa, Conditions are so bad that farmers in told the Des Moines Register. He said North Dakota are carrying fire extin- in his area it rained less than an inch in guishers while working to cut down May, June, and July. Parts of his farm on grass fires. may produce just 30 bushels an acre “This is not primarily a natural disas- of corn at harvest time. Iowa’s average ter—it’s a capitalist disaster,” Forrestal corn yield this year is expected to be told farmers he spoke with. “The profit 173 bushels an acre. system concentrates wealth in the hands While much-needed rain finally of capitalist farmers and companies, Militant/John Steele came, high fuel costs are eating into while driving small farmers to the brink. TORONTO—The Communist League in Canada launched its election cam- farmers’ bottom line. At the Iowa State And the policies of the twin capitalist paign here August 18. It is standing Joe Young for Toronto mayor (above), Beverly Fair, Bob Beckman, a dairy farmer in parties, the Democrats and Republicans, Bernardo for city council in Ward 14, and Michel Dugré for city council in Ward West Burlington, Iowa, told Forrestal are designed to benefit the rich.” 12. Young is a meat packer and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers.