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Leslie Feinberg United Movements • Federación de Mujeres • Psicólogos y tortura 12 Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 57, No. 14 April 9, 2015 $1 April 2 tribunal on police violence Editorial 10 Political prisoner’s health scare ignites mass action By Scott Williams Philadelphia March 31 — At 1 p.m. EDT on March 30, political pris- oner Mumia Abu-Jamal had a medical emergency, and was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at Schuylkill Med- ical Center in Pottsville, Pa. As of this morning, almost no information has been provided by hospital or prison authorities regarding his health and well-being. Free Finally, just before noon today, Mumia’s spouse, Wadiya, and his brother, Keith Cook, were allowed into his hospital room, following a people’s campaign de- manding access for the family. Mumia Mumia Abu-Jamal is the legendary Black journalist and theorist. As a youth, he was a Black Panther orga- nizer in Philadelphia in the 1970s. He spent almost 30 Abu-Jamal! years on Pennsylvania death row after he was convicted of first-degree murder on July 3, 1982, for the 1981 kill- ing of a white police officer in Philadelphia. Mumia has proclaimed his innocence since his arrest on Dec. 9, 1981, which was followed by a sham trial. His state and federal appeals for a new trial to prove his in- nocence have been systematically denied by the courts. While in prison, Abu-Jamal has authored six books and recorded hundreds of political columns thanks to Prison Radio. Many of these transcribed columns have Continued on page 10 Leslie Feinberg united movements WW PHOTO: BRENDA RYAN Some of the participants at memorial for Transgender warrior Leslie Feinberg leading the singing of the Internationale at Black Lives Matter struggle in Ferguson, SEIU building in New York City March 28. See page 5. Milwaukee, Philadelphia 6-7 SUBSCRIBE TO WORKERS WORLD · Detroit foreclosure crisis 3 · Saudi kingdom n 4 weeks trial $4 n 1 year subscription $30 11 Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program bombs Yemenis workers.org/articles/donate/supporters_/ · UAW & equal pay 4 Name _________________________________________ · Billionaire Bosses · Asian Development Bank — Email _______________________ Phone______________ get subsidies 3 Why Wall St. hates it 9 Street _________________________________________ City / State / Zip __________________________________ · Veolia under the Workers World 212-627-2994 magnifying glass 4 · Kenya’s liberation hero 8 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl, NY, NY 10011 workers.org Page 2 April 9, 2015 workers.org Gas explosion leaves two dead, 25 injured By G. Dunkel In the U.S. New York Mumia Abu-Jamal’s health scare ignites mass action.....1 A little more than a year after a gas explosion in East Gas explosion leaves two dead, 25 injured...............2 Harlem left eight people dead, scores injured and two Detroit faces massive tax foreclosure crisis...............3 buildings demolished, a gas explosion on Second Avenue Bosses get $243 billion subsidy for paying low wages ....3 in the East Village, another Manhattan neighborhood a Autoworkers want equal pay for equal work .............4 few miles away from East Harlem, left two dead, 25 in- jured and four buildings collapsed. King County, Wash.: Questions contract with Veolia......4 Four of the injured are still listed as “serious” accord- Leslie Feinberg united all struggles for liberation ........5 ing to a WNYC broadcast on March 30. Big business media criminalizes victims of police killings . 6 While the National Transportation Safety Board has yet to issue a final determination on the East Harlem ex- Killer of Dontre Hamilton stays fired .....................6 plosion, the NTSB’s preliminary findings indicate leaks Philadelphia.: Report reveals extent of police shootings . 7 from gas mains over 120 years old were responsible. Philly 10 resist cops’ racism and vilification...............7 Con Edison has admitted that it found an illegal instal- WW PHOTO: JOHNNIE STEVENS lation of gas lines servicing the renovated apartments at Detroit to Moscow: FIST report on conference ...........8 121 Second Avenue. The company knew that the gas going than when they had buildings on them. Condos in a new Women fight back against racist killer cops ..............9 into that building was only supposed to be enough to sup- building a few blocks away started at $1 million. ply the sushi restaurant on the ground floor. Posts and comments on Facebook talk about the un- What has come out about the latest explosion is a bit capping of an outlet in another Manhattan neighborhood Around the world more complicated than aging gas mains and a careless in order to put in a new light and finding gas still flow- Where is Kenya’s Field Marshal Kimathi buried? ..........8 supplier. ing in the outlet even though the building was converted Why U.S. rulers fear new Asian investment bank .........9 It involves a landlord who kept her tenants supplied from gas light to electricity 80 years ago. Washington’s Saudi ally bombs Yemen .................11 with gas even after Con Edison shut it off; a utility which In 2004, a woman and her dog were electrocuted by relies on private contractors to do critical safety inspec- stray voltage from a utility access cover for which Con tions that Con Ed used to do; a general contractor who is Edison was responsible. In 2006, the utility admitted Editorial facing charges of bribing Department of Building inspec- that it had found 1,214 electrically charged covers in the Why the April 2 People’s Tribunal is timely ..............10 tors; and a city charged with supervising construction to past year. (New York Times, March 4, 2006) Two workers ensure the safety of its residents but which is really more in the East Village were seriously burned by a charged Noticias en Español concerned with increasing real estate values. cover last year. (Facebook comment) People walking their dogs in the East Village avoid utility access covers, even Evento en NY marca 70 años federación Below the surface during warm, dry summer months. mundial de mujeres arriesga trabajadores .............12 Many areas of New York City, especially in lower Man- Parts of Manhattan look glitzy and spiffy. Underneath Asociación psicológica estadounidense hattan, like the East Village (which is conveniently close this look, however, is an old, crumbling infrastructure conspira en tortura.....................................12 to Wall Street), are old, dilapidated and subject to intense that is patched but not truly repaired. gentrification. The building which exploded was reported Deirdre Sinnott, who lives in the East Village, told to be more than 100 years old. The landlord, who reno- Workers World: “This was a very scary incident. If it oc- vated the building’s apartments last summer, seemingly curred later in the day, many more people might have died. wanted to do the job on the cheap. It should be thoroughly investigated, preferably by the fed- Speculation in the coffee shops and buses running in eral government, and neighborhood residents should be the East Village is that the empty lots will be worth more fully involved.” Workers World 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. New York, N.Y. 10011 Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.workers.org Vol. 57, No. 14 • April 9, 2015 Closing date: March 31, 2015 Who we are & what we’re fighting for Editor: Deirdre Griswold Technical Editors: Lal Roohk, Andy Katz Hate capitalism? Workers World Party fights for a degrading people because of their nationality, sexu- Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, socialist society — where the wealth is socially owned al or gender identity or disabilities — all are tools the Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead, Gary Wilson and production is planned to satisfy human need. This ruling class uses to keep us apart. They ruthlessly West Coast Editor: John Parker outmoded capitalist system is dragging down workers’ super-exploit some in order to better exploit us all. Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, living standards while throwing millions out of their WWP builds unity among all workers while support- Greg Butterfield, G. Dunkel, Fred Goldstein, jobs. If you’re young, you know they’re stealing your ing the right of self-determination. Fighting oppres- Martha Grevatt, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, future. And capitalism is threatening the entire planet sion is a working-class issue, which is confirmed by Berta Joubert-Ceci, Cheryl LaBash, with its unplanned, profit-driven stranglehold over the the many labor struggles led today by people of color, Milt Neidenberg, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Betsey Piette, means of production. immigrants and women. Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria Rubac Workers built it all — it belongs to society, not to a WWP has a long history of militant opposition to im- handful of billionaires! But we need a revolution to perialist wars. The billionaire rulers are bent on turning Technical Staff: Sue Davis, Keith Fine, Bob McCubbin make that change. That’s why for 56 years WWP has back the clock to the bad old days before socialist revo- Mundo Obrero: Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez, Teresa been building a revolutionary party of the working lutions and national liberation struggles liberated terri- Gutierrez, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna Lazarus, Carlos Vargas class inside the belly of the beast. tory from their grip. We’ve been in the streets to oppose We fight every kind of oppression. Racism, sexism, every one of imperialism’s wars and aggressions. Supporter Program: Sue Davis, coordinator Copyright © 2014 Workers World. Verbatim copying Contact a Workers World Party branch near you: workers.org/wwp and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly National Office Bay Area Cleveland Houston Pittsburgh except the first week of January by WW Publishers, 1305 Franklin St.
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