Desegregation fight in Norfolk, Virginia . 5 TH£ Electronic workers continue strike at G.E. . . 9 Estell, Nicaragua: Reporter's notebook . • . 10

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 50/NO. 11 MARCH. 21, 1986 75 CENTS 100,000 in Washington Filipino masses demand abortion rights fight for BY PAT GROGAN WASHINGTON, D.C. - More than democracy 100,000 people turned out here March 9 to . stand up and fight for a woman's right to choose abortion. BY DEB SHNOOKAL The throngs seemed to arrive all at once. AND RUSSELL JOHNSON At 9:00a.m. there didn't seem to be more MANILA, Philippines- "I stood as a than a few thousand people at the staging human barricade February 22-25, 1986" area at the mall. But by 11 :00 tens of adorns the front of a T -shirt being sold by thousands began arriving. Manila street vendors. On the back is em­ At 11:30, when the march stepped off, blazoned, "Victory for People's Power." there were three broad columns filling the These slogans refer to the massive popu­ length of the mall. As the crowds gathered lar mobilizations that brought down the in front of the Capitol for the rally after a nated Marcos dictatorship and installed three-mile march, thousands were still Corazon Aquino as head of a new govern- waiting in the assembly area. It soon became clear that history was Eyewitness report being made . The demonstration was as big as or bigger than the giant July 9, 1978, ment. The "people power" revolutionary march on Washington for the Equal Rights uprising was the culmination of the mass Amendment. When combined with the Los Angeles anti-Marcos movement that emerged in the action on March 16, the "National March streets following the Aug. 21, 1983, assas­ sination of opposition leader Benigno for Women's Lives: East Coast/West Aquino at Manila airport., Coast" is easily the largest women's rights The latest round of mobilizations began action in U.S. history. Students carry lead banner in "National March for Women's Lives" Eleanor Smeal, president ()f the National in response to Marcos' decision late last year to call presidential elections for Feb­ Organization for Women (NOW), the or­ Smeal announced that more than 470 or­ proclaiming, "March for Women's Lives," ganization that called the action to defend ganizations - women's rights groups, and "Keep abortion and birth control safe ruary 7. Facing increasing isolation and pressure in the Philippines and abroad, the safe, legal abortion and birth control, told labor unions, civil rights groups, Black or­ and legal." dictator hoped to strengthen his position to the crowd, "We knew the time had come ganizations, religious groups, and many They were carried by young women and for people to stand up and be counted for continue repressive rule over the Filipino others - had joined together to sponsor the men representing students from more than people. women's lives. Our message is simple. action. "And then just people who have 400 campuses who turned out in huge num­ But the Filipino people saw it diffe­ You cannot play with women's lives any said, 'It's about time we go into the streets bers and swelled the ranks of the demon­ rently. They saw the election as an oppor­ longer." The marchers joined with Smeal again. It's about time to show our num­ stration. in angrily shouting at the top of their lungs, bers.'" tunity to deal a blow to the dictator. They As the march passed the White. House, a mobilized in their millions in support of the "Stop playing with our lives. Stop playing At the head of the march, two banners small group of right-wing antiabortion with our lives!" stretched across Pennsylvania Avenue, candidacy of Corazon Aquino. "Cory" Continued on Page 6 Aquino has become the popular symbol of the antidictatorial struggle since her hus­ band was assassinated. In .the days follow­ ing the election, the mobilizations con­ U.S. rulers debate 'contra' aid tinued around the need to protect the balfot boxes from Marcos' goons. BY MARGARET JA YKO ing over a single population center and "a vision of two, three, many Nicaraguas Faced with this massive groundswell of President Reagan's proposed $100 mil­ holding on to it. -a hemisphere of burning churches, sup­ support for Aquino, Marcos had to resort to lion aid package to the U.S.-organized In fact, since Congress approved $27 pressed newspapers, and a crushed opposi­ the most blatant stealing of the February 7 contras (counterrevolutionaries) who are million in aid to the mercenary bands last tion." election. But this only deepened the popu­ waging war against Nicaragua has run into year, the Nicaraguan army has dealt them In another talk, Shultz called the Nicara­ lar determination to have done with him. trouble. To date, four subcommittees of the severe blows, driving most of them out of guan government "a cancer, right here on This came to a head when Aquino, at a House of Representatives have voted the country and back into their camps in our land mass ." The Nicaraguan govern­ February 16 "victory rally" in Manila of against it, with only one approving it. And neighboring Honduras and Costa Rica. ment has "tried to spread itself around in a more than a million supporters, took up the the bill is being pushed toward a quick vote Today, the contras· are much further fundamentally evil way." There is "incon­ call from the mass organizations backing in both houses of Congress. Leading Dem­ from their goals than they were even a year trovertible proof," Shultz added, "that the her for a campaign of civil disobedience ocrats and Republicans alike predict it will ago. Continued on Page 14 Continued on Page 12 be rejected. The reason for the contras' rout is not Capitol Hill has already begun jockeying their lack of military hardware, as Reagan over various bipartisan "compromises" that claims. It is rather that they are politically would combine aid to the contras with calls isolated. The Nicaraguan people know that Minnesota: 115 arrested in for "negotiati

BY ROSE HENRY Although these workers had High Point, North Carolina, re­ Stuart traveled to Austin, Min­ AND MIKE NICHOLSON never seen the Militant before, ports increased sales there. nesota, February 15 to participate GREENSBORO, N.C.- The they snatched the paper out of the According to team members, . in a rally in solidarity with the Militant's coverage of the strike hands of salespeople as soon as workers in the plant "can relate to strikers. He returned with photo­ by United Food and Commercial they heard about the coverage OQ the struggle by P-9. They see it as graphs and literature, which have clearly linked to their own experi­ made their way around the plant. ences during a recent contract bat­ A number of Stuart's coworkers SELLING OUR PRESS tie against concessions. have also had the chance to read "They see P-9 as important. about the strike in the pages of P- They want more news, want to get 9 's own newspaper, the Unionist. AT THE PLANT GATE at the heart of this struggle," one In addition, supporters of the salesperson said. Socialist Workers campaign have Workers union (UFCW) Local P-9 the Hormel strike. All of them Two or three Militants are regu­ been distributing a statement by against Hormel in Austin, Min­ knew about the struggle of their larly sold at this plant to workers Stuart at the gates that points to the nesota, has sparked a Jot of inter­ sister local in Minnesota and were eager to read the latest news about importance of this strike for all est in the paper among workers eager for news on developments the meatpackers' strike. working people. Many workers on here. there. At Highland Yard Mills, the job have taken time to read North Carolina socialists have On the return visit, several another ACTWU-organized plant through the statement carefully noted an increase in Militant sales workers recognized the paper, and in High Point, sales of the socialist and are discussing the P-9 strike. at area plant gates over the past one woman reached into her pock­ press are also up because of the A number of workers at High­ weeks. et for change as soon as she drove Militant's coverage of the Hormel land Yard Mills, inspired by the A special team was organized to up to the team at the gate. strike. Workers there are learning ideas of the socialist campai-gn, get the paper outto meatpackers. Another team,. which regularly about the struggle of P-9 .both have offered to help out. One of During two sales at Equity Meats, sells the Militant at Fiber Dynam­ through the pages of the Militant Stuart's coworkers contributed to a Reidsville, North Carolina, plant ics, a plant organized by the and from one of their coworkers a fund to send Stuart to Austin. Rich Stuart, Socialist Workers organized by the UFCW, 23 Amalgamated Clothing and Tex­ -the Socialist Workers candidate Others are organizing a fundrais­ candidate for U.S. Senate, copies of the Militant were sold. tile Workers Union (ACTWU) in for _u .s. Senate, Rich Stuart. ing party for the campaign. North Carolina. Concessions forced on Eastern flight attendants

BY NANCY BROWN Robert Callahan, president of the TWU, tacks and seek support from others," an At­ dants their members would honor TWU WASHINGTON, D.C. - Flight atten­ called the agreement covering flight atten­ lanta-based flight attendant told the Mili­ picket lines. dants at Eastern Airlines agreed to a con­ dants "the best possible . . . given the abso­ tant after the settlement was announced. Flight attendants organized by the As­ cession contract 12 hours before a March 1 lute insanity of the last year." "Everyone was prepared and ready to fight. sociation of Flight Attendants (AFA) at deadline. We are in a stronger position now to shut it United, Piedmont, and USAir came to the Many flight attendants did not agree. down ." The Transport Workers Union (TWU) "We should have struck in January," a February 24 meeting to express support To prepare for the strike in D.C., the and volunteer. contract had expired January 20. For more furloughed flight attendant told me. "I Transport Workers Union held a series of than a month, flight attendants were forced might have a job now . This new contract A D.C. flight attendant told the meeting solidarity and strike preparation meetings, that she had 20 years with Eastern . She ad­ to work under exhausting and harsh com­ cuts pay 20 percent and cuts vacation. which were open to lAM and ALPA mem­ pany-imposed work rules . When the con­ There is still a two-tier. It doesn 't promise dressed the younger flight attendants: "Our bers and friends and family of flight atten­ tract expired, Eastern' slashed wages by 20 to call us back. The only good thing about fight is crucial. We cannot continue to dants. Meetings of more than 100 people percent and laid off 1,010 of 7,200 flight it is that we get paid for scheduled time, not work under the conditions we have for the were held on February 24 and 27 to or­ attendants- forcing crews to fly short and the barbaric rule of getting paid for just past six weeks. What we do will determine fly more. One of the harshest changes was flight time." · ganize picket squads for the three area air­ the conditions I work under for the next 20 that flight attendants were only paid for ac­ ports. ALPA and lAM representatives years. But it will determine the conditions tual flight time, not scheduled time. One "It's time to stand up and stop these at- pledged their support and told flight atten- you work under for the next 50." flight attendant told us she was checked in - in uniform - for 10 hours, but only paid for three. TWU officials decided not to strike on Rally celebrates Atlanta bookstore relocation January 20, but to wait until February 26 BY JON BIXBY Collins. "As you have always come in the past, when a cooling-off period expired for the ATLANTA - The impending move of A member of United Auto Workers we know. you will be there," Cater told the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the Militant Labor Bookstore to spacious Local 10, Collins said she was inspired by group. She has spoken at a number of which had also been negotiating a contract new headquarters in the heart of the central the 1967 speech of Martin Luther King, with Eastern. meetings sponsored by the Militant Labor city was celebrated February 22 . Union Jr., in which he spoke out publicly for the Forum. Eastern's board of directors had de­ members, fighters for Black rights, and first time against the war in Vietnam. manded that the three unions - the TWU , other fighters for social progress partici­ "The enemy is not overseas in some Robin Singer, who had . just returned ALP A, and the International Association pated. Third World country," she said, "but here from participating with other North Amer­ of Machinists (lAM), which organizes icans in a volunteer work brigade in Nica­ In its new location the bookstore will be in the United States, where corporations baggage handlers, cleaners, and mechanics demand concession contracts, and where ragua, described what he saw there. "The - give back 20 percent in pay and bene­ renamed Pathfinder Bookstore. It will con­ people of Nicaragua are determined to tinue to offer a range of Pathfinder books profits are valued more than human life ." fits, agree to two-tier contracts with wage Collins denounced U.S. aggression in Nic­ crush the U .S.-organized counterrevohi­ and other socialist publications. The move reductions for new hires, and accept work aragua and the invasion and occupation of tion ," he said. "All over Nicaragua you see is being made because the new location is rule changes that would jeopardize worker Grenada. . signs saying 'Yankee, go home' and 'No accessible to many more working people and passenger safety. Mary Cater, a Black woman whose pasaran!' [They shall not pass] ." ALPA and TWU agreed to concession and youth than the present one. home in a predominantly white neighbor­ Kate Daher, a member of Amalgamated contracts after it was announced on Feb­ The Socialist Workers Party and the hood in nearby Cobb County was hit by Clothing and Textile Workers Union Local ruary 24 that Texas Air had offered to buy Young Socialist Alliance will also be lo- shotgun fire in 1983, said she and her fam­ 365, spoke for the Socialist Workers Party. Eastern. lAM District 100 President cated there. · ily had refused to be chased out by the ra­ She said the new bookstore "will be a cen­ Charles Bryan has said he will not reopen Among those who attended the event, cist attack. Demonstrations are being or­ ter where fighters like Stephanie Collins the JAM contract, which expires at the end which raised $160 toward the cost of re­ ganized against Cobb County police, who and Mary Cater can come and' discuss poli­ of 1987. novating the new location, was Stephanie have refused to investigate the attack. tics. " The Militant tells the truth - Subscribe today! The Militant That's the way you'll get fa cts about Washington's war against working people at home and abroad: from Closing news date: March 12, 1986 South Africa, El Salvador and Nicaragua, to embattled Editor: MALIK MIAH workers and farmers in the United States. Read our pro­ Managing editor: posals on how to stop the U .S. government's support MARGARET JA Y,KO for the apartheid regime in South Africa, its interven­ Business Manager: LEE MARTINDALE tion in Central America and the Caribbean , and the em­ ' Editorial Staff: Rashaad Ali , Susan Apstein, Fred ployers' offensive here. Read our ideas on what it will Feldman, Andrea Gonzalez, Pat Grogan, Arthur take to replace this system of exploitation, racism , and Hughes, Tom Leonard, Harry Ring, Norton Sandler. sexism with a system that's in the interest of working Published weekly except one week in August and the people . last week of December by the Militant (ISSN 0026- At the plant gates, picket lines, and unemployment 3885), 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. Tele­ lines, the Militant is there, reportiog the new s, par­ phone: Editorial Office, (212) 243-6392; Business Of­ ticipating in the struggle. To subscribe today, fill out the fice , (212) 929-3486. attached coupon. Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes of address should be addressed to The Mili­ Enclosed is : o $3 for 12 w eeks o $15 for6 months tant Business Office, 14 Charles Lane, New York, STOP o $24 for 1 year o A contribution N.Y. 10014. Name ______Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. POST­ APa.RllUl MASTER: Send address changes to The Militant, 14 Address ______Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. Subscriptions: U.S . $24.00 a year, outside U.S. $30.00. By first-class ~ City/State/Zip ------­ mail: U.S., Canada, and Mexico: $60.00. Write for air­ Telephone ------­ mail rates to all other countries. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily rep­ Union/Organization ------­ resent the Militant's views. These are expressed in edito­ Send to Militant, 14 Charle s lane, New York , N.Y. 10014 rials.

2 The Militant March 21, 1986 S. Africa: huge meeting protests apartheid BY FRED FELDMAN as "a government that has declared war on On March 7, the apartheid regime ended the people of this country who have no the state of emergency it imposed on 36 vote." districts last July 20. The government is re­ The regime ordered the expulsion of portedly preparing legislation to allow three CBS reporters after the network police in any locality to proclaim a state of broadcast film of this funeral . The order emergency in their area. was cancelled after CBS officials said they The announcement came two days after would abide by censorship regulations. what the Washington Post described as the In announcing the end of the state of biggest funeral protest since the current emergency, the government released 329 wave of protests began in August 1984 . . political prisoners. It said that all but 38 of Tens of thousands in the township of the 8,000 arrested under emergency regu­ Alexandra, near Johannesburg, rallied lations have now been released. Since the against apartheid while mourning 17 of its beginning of 1985, however, more than victims. 3,000 foes of apartheid have been arrested The regime's cops and troops killed 46 under other repressive laws. How many of people in Alexandra in an effort to crush them remain in prison is not known. recent anti-apartheid protests. Along with other forms of repression, Apartheid is a racist system under which the massive killing of anti-apartheid pro­ the white minority rulers systematically testers continues, with new victims re­ repress, segregate, and deny any political ported virtually daily. On March 11 the re­ power to the 80 percent of the population gime reported killing seven Blacks in the that is Black. Lebowa Bantustan. The Bantustans are de­ In the March 6 Washington Post, Allis­ solate, overcrowded reservations where II ter Sparks noted "the unusually high white million Africans are forced to live. Some of tens of thousands of participants at March 5 funeral rally for 17 anti-apart­ attendance" at the funeral. The hundreds of On March 7, Batclays Bank announced whites present included members of the all­ heid fighters who were murdered by South African cops in Black township of it would not join the late February agree­ Alexandra last February. white Sandton Town Council that governs ment by several major bankers to re­ this part of greater Johannesburg. The schedule the apartheid regime's foreign council donated $250 toward the funeral debt. The regime owes $1. 2 billion to costs "as a gesture of sympathy." Dip­ Barclays, which also barred any new loans lomats from seven countries, including the to South Africa. The decision by Barclays, Irish freedom struggle United States, were present. which owns nearly 50 percent of South Af­ "In everything but name," wrote Sparks, rica's biggest commercial bank, was re­ "the funeral was a mass tally of the under­ ported to have shaken the government of ground African National Congress. Three President Pieter Botha. supporter on U.S. tour of its black, green, and yellow banners Black miners, many organized in the were paraded around the sports stadium National Union of Mineworkers, are con­ BY WILL REISSNER 16 at 10:00 a;m. On Monday, March 17, where the main ceremony was held, then tinuing to resist the apartheid regime. On Martin Collins, a British opponent of he will be part of a panel discussion of Ire­ carried through the township's streets to March 11 , ten thousand Black miners were London's rule over Northern Ireland, will land on WBAJ at 10:30 p.m. the cemetery. reported on strike for the fifth day against start a six-city U.S. speaking tour in Al­ On Tuesday, March 18, he will be the "The 17 coffins were draped in ANC the giant Anglo-American Corporation. bany, New York, March 14. Collins is featured speaker at a meeting at The colors. Songs and slogans praised the or­ By law, 97 percent of Black miners are editor of Labor and Ireland and is active in ganization's exiled and imprisoned lead­ Arizona, Arizona Avenue, Long Beach, required to be migrant workers who are the British Labor Party. New York, at 8:00p.m. He will share the ers. The crowd broke into wild cheering as barred from bringing their families with His U; S. tour comes at a time when pro­ platform with Peter King, who is Nassau Winnie Mandela, wife of imprisoned ANC them. Most are forced to live in single-sex British forces in Northern Ireland are on a County comptroller and was the 1984 leader Nelson Mandela, entered the hostels that are virtual prisons on company rampage against the Irish nationalist popu­ stadium beneath a huge green, black, and Grand Marshal of the New York St. Pat­ property. lation. rick's Day Parade. The meeting is spon­ yellow floral cross." In addition to other forms of repression, On March 3, the Protestant Loyalists Frank Chicane, a leader of the United sored by the Committee for Legal Justice in employers in South Africa can fire miners staged a one-day protest, setting up hun­ Northern Ireland. A $5 donation is re­ Democratic Front, a coalition of 600 anti­ for striking. Fired miners can be forced to · dreds of roadblocks to prevent people from apartheid organizations with 2 million quested. Call (516) 432-7394 for further return to their assigned reservation or de­ going to work. PoliCe stood aside as pro­ information. members, described the apartheid regime ported from South Africa. British mobs pulled people from their vehi­ Collins will speak at the Militant Labor cles and set the cars on fire. In Belfast, Forum in New York, Wednesday, March Loyalist mobs set fire to a factory filled 19 at 7:00p.m. at 79 Leonard St., Manhat­ with nationalist workers who had defied tan. The program, preceded by a 6:00p.m. Court rules for coal miners the protest. reception, will also be addressed by The pro-British forces oppose a George Harrison, long-time activist in the against Massey, then stays order November accord between the British and Irish freedom struggle. A $2 donation is re­ Irish governments that gives Dublin a con­ quested. For more information call (212) sultative voice in Northern Ireland affairs BY HENRY SAMS UMW A spokesperson Joe Corcoran 226-8445. while insuring London's continued rule Collins will also be in Philadelphia, CHARLESTON, W.Va. ---:- A federal called Knapp's ruling a "crucial victory for there. judge here ruled in favor of the United March 20- 22; Boston, March 23-25; St. the union in progressing toward the ulti­ Nationalist forces in Northern Ireland Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in its Louis, March 26-28; Birmingham, mate resolution of our differences with the oppose the Anglo-Irish Accord from a dif­ suit against A.T. Massey Coal Company. Alabama, March 29- 30; and will return to A.T. Massey Coal Co." ferent angle. They see the agreement as a U.S. District Judge Dennis Knapp issued But two days later, responding to pro­ New York, March 31- April 2. For infor­ an injunction February 25 that forces the guarantee of British rule and ·an obstacle to mation on his meetings in those cities, con­ tests from Massey's lawyers, the judge is­ Ireland's reunification. Martin Collins company to arbitrate the dispute over tact the telephone numbers ljsted on page sued a 15-day stay of his own order. This shares that view. whether all Massey subsidiaries are bound 16. allows Massey time •to appeal to a higher Ireland was partitioned by the British by the 1984 national coal contract. It also court. government in 1921, when London could orders Massey to abide by certain provi­ Massey and most of its subsidiaries re­ no longer retain its colonial rule over the sions of the contract until the arbitration is fused to sign the 1984 agreement between whole country. A pro-British population Steel union heads resolved. Those provisions include medi­ the UMW A and the Bituminous Coal had been settled in the north in the 17th cal benefits and pension payments. Operators Association. This forced century to control the rebellious native end U.S. can strike UMW A members out on a hard-fought Irish. Detroit socialists open - strike in southern West Virginia and east­ Since partition, the Loyalists have prac­ The United Steelworkers of America em Kentucky. ticed fierce discrimination against the en­ (USW A) container industry conference Pathfinder Bookstore Last December, UMWA President clave's Catholic, nationalist population. · voted to ratify a contract with four major Richard frumka called the 15-month walk­ Collins feels it is vital that U.S. working can companies, Steelworkers vice-presi­ DETROIT - Fifty people attended the out to an end when a National Labor Rela­ people know why the Anglo-Irish Accord dent Leon Lynch announced in Pittsburgh grand opening of Pathfinder Books in tions Board ruling declared Massey and its cannot bring peace to Ireland. The Reagan March 5. Lynch said the vote of local downtown Detroit February 22. 73 subsidiaries a common employer. This administration has hailed the accord and union presidents, which ended a 16-day The opening featured a slide show on had been the central issue in the strike. The pledged substantial economic aid to North­ strike by more than 13,000 workers, was Cuba and Nicaragua. miners' union went to court, contending em Ireland to bolster the pact. 90 to 12. Pathfinder representative Helen Meyers that because two of Massey's subsidiaries Collins will meet with figures in the The three-year agreement covers about spoke at the reception. She explained that signed the 1984 agreement, all of them U.S. labor movement to explain that the 6,000 workers at Continental Can, 4,500 at the bookstore would carry on the tradition were bound by it. pact is not in the interests of British or Irish American Can, 2,500 at National Can, and of the Militant Bookstore - an institution UMW A members were instructed by the workers and will also deliver this message 600 at Crown ·Cork and Seal. in Detroit since the 1940s. · union to go back to work under the com" to public meetings. According to the Associated Press, the It would provide hard-to-find informa­ pany's conditions, and wait for the matter In addition, Collins will exchange views three-year contract calls for a wage freeze. tion on the revolutions in Cuba and Nicara­ to be resolved in court. and information with Irish-American activ­ Instead of increases in the base wage, gua, books on the revolutionary struggle in Not all the miners were called back to ists. workers will receive bonuses of $400, El Salvador, a wide range of titles on South work. Citing "strike related misconduct," In Albany Collins will be the guest at a $300, and $300 in successive years of the Africa, and writings by Malcolm X, Cas­ Massey has fired over 80 miners. This in­ public reception Friday, March 14, from contract. tro, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, and cludes several local officials. Jim Reid, 5:00p.m. to 7:00p.m. at 479 State Street, New hires will get 80 percent of the base others. president of Local 2248, and Bill Davis, I st floor, and will speak at the Militant wage paid current employees for their first Some of those who came to the grand president of Local 1440, were both fired. Labor Forum on "Ireland: Britain's Viet­ two years on the job. After that, the press opening were attending their first socialist Reid told the Williamson Daily News, "I nam" at 8:00p.m. at 352 Central Avenue. reports indicated, they are supposed to activity. The audience included high can't say that this comes as a surprise to A $2 donation is requested. reach parity with other workers. school students, union activists, and partic­ me, but I can say that there's a lot of injus­ Collins will also take part in the Albany The cost of living adjustment was pre­ ipants in the fight against U.S.-govemment tice in it. I know that for sure." St. Patrick's Day Parade, and will be inter­ served and will be added to the base wage support to apartheid and against U.S. inter­ The UMW A has tied winning these min­ viewed on WWCN radio at 3:00p.m. on for the purpose of calculating other bene­ vention in Central America. ers' jobs back with getting a favorable de­ March 14. fits. They purchased nearly $200 worth of cision in court. Judge Knapp's stay means In New York City, he will be inter­ Some 1,800 workers at Continental Can books froi:n the newly opened bookstore. putting this fight off even longer. viewed on WKCR radio, Sunday, March of Canada are still on strike.

March 21, 1986 The Militant 3 115 arrested in Hormel protest

Continued from front page gers, appeared in Mower County District a heart attack after the cops dropped him on Court for a hearing on the criminal syn­ the -pavement. As the cops stood around dicalism charge against him. claiming that Bartholomew was "faking This felony charge stems from a Feb­ it," the crowd yelled "animals" and "cops ruary 6 demonstration at the plant gate. If will sell their soul to the deviL" convicted, Rogers faces up to five years in Bartholomew was finally taken to a hos­ prison and a $5,000 fine . pital where he is currently in intensive care Rogers has characterized the charge as a but in stable condition. witch-hunt and red-scare tactic. The cops threatened a photographer The demonstrators at the corporate of­ from Local P-9's newspaper, The Union­ fices issued a press release condemning ist. this charge against Rogers. The release Maggie McCraw, one of two Militant re­ stated that the strikers and supporters "have porters on the scene, was arrested as she at­ been continuously stripped of every civil tempted to cover the cop attack. right that we as Americans are entitled to. McCraw reports that when she was told Our judicial system is being grossly abused. to leave the area, she showed a cop her for the sake of Hormel Jaw." press passes, including the one issued by Police Chief Don Hoffman. The cop told Rogers' attorneys moved to have the her, "I don't give a damn who you are." charge dropped at the March lO hearing. After she moved to the other side of the They argued that criminal syndicalism is demonstration, two sheriffs grabbed her unconstitutional since it suppresses free­ coat. They refused to let her arms loose to dom of speech and assembly. show her press pass. They shoved her in a Emily Bass, one of Rogers' attorneys, cop car and arrested her. said that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled The protesters were taken to the Austin in 1969 that a similar Jaw was unconstitu­ jail, where they were crowded into cells. tionaL McCraw explained that she and 16 other The Minnesota Civil Liberties Union has women were put into a cell made for six. It filed an amicus brief challenging the con­ was filthy. The women were forced to sit stitutionality of the Jaw . Pretrial hearings in the case will resume Ivan Bartholomew, P-9 striker, had heart attack when cops arrested him at demon­ for nine hours on the concrete floor or on stration in front of Hormel headquarters. bunks without mattresses. on March 31 . In the evening five women were moved to another cell. The remaining 12 were given mattresses, pillows, and tom blan­ kets. They received no sheets and only six St. Louis: Hormel workers win support towels. Since there were only six bunks, half the women had to sleep on the floor. BY HILDE EDLER collect canned goods for the meatpackers. After hearing the meatpackers, the Coa­ Later it was learned that the sheriff's de­ AND BOB MILLER During their visit the UFCW members lition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) partment had obtained a "variance" from ST. LOUIS, Mo. - A delegation of attended a meeting of all the unions that or­ here voted March 2 to support the boycott the department of corrections allowing the striking Minnesota meatpackers and ganize National Steel in Granite City, Il­ of Hormel products. The coalition also de­ overcrowded conditions. locked-out meatpackers from Ottumwa, linois. This was the first time in many cided to send out a press release to the local On Monday afternoon, P-9 President Iowa, won broad support for their struggle years that all five Steelworkers locals and and national media announcing their sup­ Jim Guyette, referring to the protest, told a against Geo. A. Hormel & Co. during their the Chemical Workers local that organizes port for the striking and locked-out work­ news conference, "I approve of people recent visit to this area. the mill workers had met together outside ers. The CBTU chapter encouraged all its banding together to confront an unfair cor­ The strikers, members of United Food of contract negotiation time. members to go back to their local unions to poration." and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local A plant-gate collection before the meet­ get more support. That evening, the student support group, P-9, were joim·d on tour here by members ing netted $2,000, which was sent to P-9's The meatpackers received a warm wel­ called P_-9, The Future Generation, or­ of UFCW Local 431 , who were locked out Adopt A P-9 Family program. One local at come from the American Postal Workers ganized a rally outside the jail in support of of Hormel' s plant in Ottumwa for honoring the mill had voted to send $100 a month for Union. The local voted to go on record in their parents. The students demanded the P-9's picket lines. three months to the program. support of the Hormel boycott. A collec­ immediate release of all protesters. The meatpackers addressed a meeting of A collection at the meeting netted $150 tion at the meeting netted $70 for the Hor­ The next day, Tuesday, those arrested United Auto Workers (UA W) Local 2250 for the Ottumwa workers who are receiving mel workers. · · were arraigned on misdemeanor charges. February 26. The local, which organizes neither union benefits nor unemployment One member of the delegation had an These charges included illegal assembly the 6,000 workers at the General Motors compensation. opportunity to talk personally with the am­ and obstructing legal process. Assembly plant in Wentzville, voted to The Hormel workers toured the steel bassador from Nicaragua, Carlos Tiinner­ Most of the 115 people arrested were re­ contribute $500 to the strike. mill with a representative of the Steelwork­ mann, who was in St. Louis. Tiinnermann leased without bond. People from outside A collection at the union meeting netted ers' union. They were also interviewed by sent a message of support to the Hormel Austin and those with previous strike-re­ an additional $1 ,000 for the strikers and the one of the union newspapers. workers. lated arrests were required to post from locked-out workers. The auto workers' $100 to $300 baiL local is also planning a plant-gate collec­ On Tuesday night hundreds of people tion and other contributions in the future . came to the union hall for the support and Besides addressing the union meeting, Solidarity grows for strike strategy meeting. Shortly after the meeting the eight Hormel workers were given a tour began, the union received two bomb of the plant by the union. Many workers on threats. the assembly line waved and gave the PHILADELPHIA - At its February 23 NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -The Penin­ The hall was quickly evacuated and the thumbs up sign to the fighting meat- meeting, United Auto Workers Local 731 sular AFL-CIO Central Labor Council strikers and supporters marched to the jail packers. • at GM Fisher Guide plant in Trenton, New voted at its March 3 meeting to contribute and courthouse complex for a short rally to One touring member of Local P-9 told Jersey, passed a resolution in support of $100 a month for three months to help the demand a search. the Militant that he was particularly UFCW Local P-9. strike. The cops were called in to check for pleased to see the sign "Protect unionism · The resolution called for a plant-gate The International Association of bombs. But, claiming that union members - boycott Hormel" prominently displayed collection for the strikers as well as a $300 Machinists Lodge 2461 at the Allied Signal would be more aware of "anything out of outside the union office in the plant. All donation to the Adopt A P-9 Family pro­ Bendix Auto Parts plant voted at its Feb­ place," they refused to search the hall. Hormel products have been removed from gram. ruary 18 meeting to send a $50 contribution Union members were organized into plant vending machines at the request of The resolution called for the local to to the strikers, take up a plant-gate collec­ teams for the search. After they combed the union. send a letter to Minnesota Gov. Rudy Per­ tion for the strike, and support the Hormel the hall the meeting began again. The high­ The workers at the Ford Assembly plant pich condemning the use of the National boycott. The lodge also voted to send a let­ light of the meeting was the speeches by in Hazelwood donated $560 for the Hormel Guard as a strikebreaking force. ter to the Minnesota governor condemning members of the "Austin 115," as those ar­ workers during a plant-gate collection Feb­ The local also voted to organize, either the use of the National Guard. rested are called. ruary 28 . The collection was organized by alone or with other unions, art informa­ During the demonstration at Hormel's U AW Local 325. The local also distributed tional picket line at stores that sell Hormel * * * offices, the union's consultant, Ray Ro- a leaflet announcing a two-week drive to products. The resolution called for the re­ OAK RIDGE, Tenn.- Betty Jean Hall, moval of all Hormel products from the director of the Coal Employment Project vending machines in the plant. (CEP- an organization that helps women The local voted to buy, either alone or TOUR NICARAGUA get and keep jobs in the mines), sent the with other unions, an ad in the local press following message to Local P-9: "On be­ explaining the Hormel boycott and the Celebrate May Day in Nicaragua half of women miners throughout the na­ strike. tion's coalfields and the CEP staff, we are April 26- May 10 Finally, the local voted to print the reso­ proud to support your strike against Hor­ Visit Managua, Masaya, Esteli, Matagalpa, and Bluefields (Atlantic Coast) lution in its newspaper. meL Your fight is important to all work­ View the accomplishments of the Nicara· Tour price includes roundtrip airfare from * * * ers." guan revolution and the impact of the Miami to Managua, all transfers and JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The Farm * * * U.S.-sponsored war. Express solidarity ground transportation, three meals daily, Alliance for Rural Missouri (FARM), a co­ AMES, Iowa- The January 31 issue of with the Nicaraguan people. Participants hotels, and translator and guide. A $150 alition of farm organizations, adopted a the North American Farmer, the newspa­ will visit factories and farms, meet with deposit reserves a space, with full payment resolution February 22 in support of Local activists from the unions, farmers', due March 28. Space is limited to 20 per of the North American Farm Alliance, P-9's strike. The farm coalition voted to featured an article headlined "North Amer­ women's, and youth organizations, learn people. Participants must have a passport support the boycott of Hormel products. about economic planning, health care, valid for at least 6 months after the date of ican Farm Alliance endorses P-9 strike and education, and culture. entry into Nicaragua. * * * Hormel boycott." LOS ANGELES -United Auto Work­ The article by George Naylor states that Tour cost: $950 from Miami ers Local148 at McDonnell Douglas voted "the Alliance is urging all farmers to unify Write to: Militant/Perspectiva Mundial tours, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014 at its meeting February 27 to donate $1 , 000 and stand by P-9 workers by not buying Telephone: (212) 929-3486 a month for three months to the Adopt A P- Hormel products, selling hogs to Hormel, . 9 Family program. or 'scabbing' to replace striking workers."

4 The Militant · March 21, 1986 Norfolk: 1,500 rally for desegregation

BY CHRISTINE GAUVREAU Rev. James Harris, chairman of the pro­ NORFOLK, Va. - Fifteen hundred busing Coalition for Quality Public Educa­ people crammed into the First Baptist tion, asked, "When will the school com­ Church March 9 to rally against attempts to mittee be responsive to the voices of the resegregate Norfolk schools. people, not just to the people with power Speakers included Dr. William Gibson, and money?" national board chairman of the NAACP; The school committee and city adminis­ Henry Marsh, a Black community lawyer; tration have been trying to overturn the Joseph Greene, vice-mayor of the city of busing plan since its inception. "It took 17 Norfolk; William Robinson, state delegate; years for Norfolk to implement the 1954 and a broad range of religious and commu- Brown v. Board of Education decision that nity leaders. · declared separate schools are inherently Also speaking was Tara Bragg, presi­ unequal,'' Rev. Harris pointed out. "And dent of the Norfolk Education Association, since 1975 the board has devoted its time who read a strong probusing resolution and the taxpayers' money to circumvent passed by the association. the intent of the court," he said. "The Banners scattered around the spirited Black community/' he continued, "will not crowd read, "It's not the bus, it's us." comply with unjust plans or policies." The Norfolk School Committee will In May 1983, 10,000 people, including vote on March 20 whether to implement a Rev. Jesse Jackson, marched to City Hall "neighborhood school" plan that would to protest the proposed end to busing. In eliminate busing to desegregate the city's addition to the thousands of parents, stu­ elementary schools. The plan under con­ dents, teachers, and others who marched, a sideration would result in 10 of the 35 contingent of the International Longshore­ elementary schools in the city becoming men carried a banner in the demonstration. 98- 100 percent Black in their enrollment. This movement came on the heels of the Norfolk first began crosstown busing to successful drive by the United Steelwork­ desegregate the school system in 1970. ers, in close collaboration with area civil The school committee, under pressure rights leaders, to organize the huge ship­ from Black community opposition, has yard in nearby Newport News several years voted three times since 1983 to delay im­ earlier. plementing the plan. On February 7, how­ Black community leaders are urging ever, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a supporters of desegregated schools to move that put wind in the school commit­ mobilize for the March 20 school commit-­ tee's sails, hailed the resegregation plan as tee meeting and have threatened further Black community and others have mobilized to stop resegregation of schools in Nor­ "a reasonable attempt ... to keep as many public protests if the committee votes to folk, Virginia. Above, 10,000 people marched in 1983. Thousands of parents, stu­ white students in public education as possi­ implement the plan this fall. dents, teachers, and others protested proposed end of busing. ble and so achieve a stably integrated school system." This federal appeals court ruling was greeted with enthusiasm by Assistant U.S. Oakland rally backs Minn. strikers Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds, who testified in the case on be­ BY DEBORAH LIATOS member of the executive board of the coun­ working people across the country. A vic­ half of the school committee. Up to 50 OAKLAND, Calif. -A labor rally in cil and business agent for the Glass, Pot­ tory for P-9 would be a victory for all fight­ other school systems could "comfortably" support of the Minnesota striking meat­ tery, Plastics and Allied Workers Interna­ ers for justice." curtail desegregation plans in light of the packers took place February 28. Over 70 tional Union Local 2, called on all unions Among the other speakers at the meeting ruling, he said. In a press conference he people packed into a meeting room to hear to support the strike. were Malcolm Kelley of the National held on February 18, Reynolds gloated that the strikers, their supporters, and area labor Dan Cassidy, organizer for the Hotel Urban League and Wilson Riles, Jr., a as many as 370 more school systems prob ~ officials. member of the Oakland City Council. ably could qualify to be free from court-or­ Employees and Restaurant Employees The meeting was chaired by Tom union Local 28, also spoke. John George of the Bay Area Free South dered busing based on this ruling. Csekey from the California State Employ­ Africa Movement, who is an Alameda Essentially the court ruled that any · Kay Eisenhower from Local 616 of the ees Association-Service Employees Inter­ SEIU encouraged all those at the meeting County supervisor, pledged the support of school system that had been declared "uni­ national Union (SEIU) Local 100. the anti-apartheid group for the boycott of tary," or desegregated, by the courts could to help build a labor rally for the Hormel Csekey told the audience that the strug­ strikers on March 12 in San Francisco. Hormel products. end busing if their "intent" was not to dis­ The highlight of the evening was a criminate. gle by United Food and Commercial Work­ Louise Goodman spoke on behalf of the ers Local P-9 to win ade cent contract from East Bay Coalition of Labor Union speech by P-9 striker Bud Miller. Black community leaders expressed out­ Hormel "is the central labor struggle today. Women, one of the rally sponsors. Miller explained that the local had ac­ rage at the ruling. Bishop L.E. Willis, one I want to emphasize that it is imperative for cepted concessions for years until finally of the most prominent and influential lead­ the entire labor movement to throw its A message from Berkeley Mayor they were forced out on strike to defend ers in Norfolk's Black community, tes­ weight in this battle. Anything else is Eugene "Gus" Newport was read. After ex­ their union. tified at a school committee meeting on treachery." tending his solidarity to the strike, Newport He called on all . unions to support the February 20. "You're backing us into a Marek Wodyka, the district organizer of condemned Minnesota Gov. Rudy Per­ strike by donating money to the local's comer," he warned. "And there's no place the International Ladies' Garment Work­ pich's decision to send in the National emergency fund and Adopt A P-9 Family to go back there. We've got to come out." ers' Union for Northern California, Guard in the attempt to break the strike. program. Responding to a school committee argu­ explained that "it is time for labor to wake Newport concluded, "Brothers and sisters, Miller also pledged the support of the ment that the plan could be carried out in a up, we need to take a stand, to put away your courage and dedication to your Austin strikers for other labor battles, par­ nondiscriminatory way because there are our differences and Soland side by side with families, to your union, to your cause are a ticularly the strike by cannery workers in currently Black school committee mem­ these courageous fighters ." tremendous example and inspiration for Watsonville, California. bers and administrators, Willis said, "I used to think the school committee was ra­ Although the Alameda County Central cist. I don't think that anymore. I think it's Labor Council had not decided to support a matter of class." Echoing this theme, the tour of these strikers, Norm Heald, a Garment workers strike in Calif. BY SETH GALINSKY Rafael Reynoso, one of the quitters, VERNON, Calif. - The workers at the explained, "We decided to win or to lose. India Ink Co. do not have any medical ben­ Even when the piece rate was lowered," he The Hormel strike at a glance efits. They get only four paid holidays a said, "the company still wanted us to buy year. When they work more than 40 hours the comforters if we made a mistake. In The 1,500 members.of United Food an injunction limiting strike activity at a week, they are not paid time-and-a-half. other departments," he continued, "after and Commercial Workers union the plant. Despite these conditions, which include working here two or three years, the people (UFCW) Local P-9 were forced out on On January 21, Minnesota Gov. Rudy outright violations of labor law, these made $4 an hour. But then the company strike by the Geo. A. Hormel meatpack­ Perpich of the Democratic Farmer-Labor workers - who are overwhelmingly Mex­ would fire them and replace them with new ing company on Aug. 17, 1985. They Party sent in the National Guard to herd ican and Central American - did not com­ ·workers who would make only minimum are workers at the company's Austin, scabs for Hormel. Public outrage forced plain. wage." Minnesota, operation. Perpich to pull the Guard back from the But when the company decided to re­ Last year, India Ink's sales came to $4.8 Several months earlier, Hormel had 'plant on January 29. The strikers were duce wages 34 percent in the quilting de­ million. The company anticipates sales of unilaterally slashed wages from $10.69 then able to close the plant again. partment, the workers couldn't take it any . about $7 million this year. to $8.25 an hour. They were later raised On February 3 Perpich again assigned more. Guadalupe Calderon contacted the When the workers went on strike, the to $9.25. When the union's contract ex­ the Guard to herd strikebreakers. Al­ Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Work­ company got an injunction limiting to 14 pired August 17, the company refused to though there are about 900 scabs in the ers Union (ACTWU) and then won her co­ the number of pickets allowed in front of return wages to their former level. plant, production is only at about 10 per­ workers to support unionization of the the plant. The order also prohibited the Hormel also demanded additional con­ cent of normal. plant. workers from shouting or trying in any way cessions, including gutting the seniority The striking local sent out roving The company responded by firing to stop strikebreakers from entering the and grievance systems and instituting a pickets to other Hormel plants. On Janu­ Calderon for her union activity. Sixty-three plant. Since the strike began, the company two-tier wage system. The company has ary 28 the company fired over 500 work­ of the 80 workers then walked out February has hired 60 scabs. demanded the right to punish workers in­ ers at Hormel plants in Ottumwa, Iowa, 3 demanding that Calderon be rehired and A national boycott of India Ink products jured on the job. The injury rate per year and Fremont, Nebraska, for refusing to the union be recognized. has been called by ACTWU. The workers at the Austin plant is 202 injuries for every cross P-9's picket lines. _ India Ink produces comforters and report that the boycott has been -successful. 100 workers. Hormel is also demanding On February 22, P-9 removed their bedspreads for stores such as Sears, Broad­ They are confident that through the boycott contractual restrictions on workers' dem­ pickets from the Ottumwa plant. The way, May Co., and Montgomery Ward. they will force the company to recognize ocratic and political rights. workers, members of UFCW Local 431, These comforters are very expensive. Gen­ the union and come to the bargaining table. In the course of the strike, Local P-9 an amalgamated local representing 5,000 erally they sell for more than $400 each. The workers at India Ink need support. has had to face attacks by the company, members statewide, then marched en Yet the quilters were paid no more than $8 You can send messages of solidarity and courts, and governor. masse to demand their jobs. The com­ for each comforter. With the reduction of contributions for the strike to ACTWU, At­ On Dec. 24, 1985, the courts issued pany refused, locking out the workers. the piece rate, they made no more than $5 tention: Richard Bensinger, 2501 S. Hill, for each comforter they produced. Los Angeles, Calif. 90007.

March 21, 1986 The Militant 5

'- - 100,000 ·at 'March for Women's Lives'

Continued from front page do we want it? Always!" the marchers ment out of the bedroom," and "Antichoice tion is. Something has got to be done im­ fanatics rushed the head of the march. One yelled out, expressing their determination wants women in chains." mediately." of them held what he claimed was a fetus in to defend their rights for as long as it takes. "Fund contraception, not contras," was "It's my body," a student from State his bare hands and thrust it in the face of "Our bodies, our lives, we will not be one of the chants heard most often through­ University of New York at Albany told me. some of the marchers. terrorized!", "Stop bombing abortion out the length of the march. "I feel that very strongly, and if someone A young woman from Wellesley Col­ clinics!", "A woman's scream is not si­ Feminist folksinger Kristin Lems sang a wants to rule on my body, I think that's il­ lege expressed the rage felt by many when lent," and "A woman's life is a human life" song remembering Rosie Jimenez, the legal. l think that's a crime." young Chicana who was the first woman to she told the Militant, "You know, you see were common signs. Judy Crowell, one of the student speak­ this kind of thing every day at the abortion Many signs showed wire coat hangers die of an illegal abortion after the 1977 ers at the rally, said, "This is an issue of clinics, and it makes you mad. But some­ with the slogan, "Never again!" The wire congressional Hyde Amendment cut off women's rights - the right to reach our how, today, it makes me so much more coat hanger is the symbol of the suffering public funding for abortions, making a fullest potential. To control our fertility, mad. I mean, look at us. We are really the and death faced by thousands of women as safe, legal abortion too expen£ive for her. we must have that right. We must be able majority. Who do these people think they a result of botched, illegal abortions. Opposition to the Hyde Amendment was to take our equal place in society . are? And why do they get away with it? No Other signs said, "No more backstreet a central theme of the demonstration, both "We are the a~tivists of the 1980s," from the speakers' platform and among the more," she said. "No way." butchery," and one campus contingent car­ Crowell said, calling students across the ried a sign identifying itself as "Back alley marchers, many ofwhom carried signs de­ country a "solidarity movement." "We can This determined spirit to fight for busters." manding reinstatement of public funding . make an impact. We did it in the 1960s, women's rights, as well as the spirit of cel­ This was one of the greatest strengths of and we are going to do it again now." ebration everyone felt at coming together Marchers chanted defiantly, "Not the the "March for Women's Lives." It was a For many of the students, it was their for a just cause, was shown in the many church, not the state, women alone must march for the rights of all women. first demonstration. Many others, includ­ banners and chants of the marchers. decide our fate," and "When the pope gets ing some of the organizers, had been active "What do we want? Free choice! When pregnant, he can decide!", "Get govern- Big student turnout in the anti-apartheid movement and in anti­ The student contingents were by far the war actions in solidarity V{ith the people of largest. They came from campuses, big Nicaragua and El Salvador. and sinall, all over the country. Whenever I pointed out that March 8 One of the largest contingents was from was International Women's Day and asked Barnard/Columbia in New York, which the students what significance that had for filled nine buses. They wore red T-shirts them, their thoughts flew to their sisters in identifying themselves as "Prochoicers." South Africa and in Nicaragua. I asked five students from Miami Uni­ "When I watch Winnie Mande1a on TV, versity, a small campus in Oxford, Ohio, witli all her courage, I am proud to be a why they had come to the march. "I grew woman," one student said. up with abortion being a safe and legal way "Women in Nicaragua are dying because to terminate a pregnancy," one young Reagan backs the contras. It's so wrong," a woman answered. "It just seems so unim­ young man pointed out. aginable to have that right taken away. But with the bombings and the president we There were contingents organized by One of most popular slogans at demonstration have, we can see how dramatic the situa- more than 230 chapters of the National Or­ ganization for Women. Two thousand turned out from Florida. A demonstrator from Houston said 500 people made the 1 ,300-mile trip from Texas. And, she Big interest in socialist literature added, some were flying to Los Angeles for the March 16 action. BY HARRY RING "Because the students of today are the goals," she said. The contingents gave evidence of the Up and down the East Coast and as far workers of tomorrow," Novak told the New YSA members present included many battles being fought by NOW chap­ west as the Mississippi, socialists worked gathering. If the strikers don't win, she three high school women from Cincinnati. ters and other supporters of abortion rights energetically to help build NOW's abortion explained, the "future generation" will They've been hassled by school officials in their own states and cities. They range rights demonstration in Washington. And have to work under the worsened condi­ for circulating a petition in support of the from defense of abortion clinics, to fight­ the day of the march, they sold a good tions Hormel is now trying to impose. P-9 strike. ing off attempts to cut off public funding of amount of socialist literature, including The reception also heard remarks by In response, they're hoping to get an Au­ abortion in those few states that still have 1,679 copies of the Militant, and 92 intro­ YSA leaders Jackie Floyd and Mark Cur­ stin high school strike supporter to come it, to protesting attempts by state and local ductory subscriptions . There were 386 tis, and by Clare Fraenzl, a coal miner run­ and speak at their school. officials to pass laws requiring parental copies ofthe Young Socialist sold as well . ning for governor of Pennsylvania on the In talking with some of those who consent for minors seeking abortions. This was a solid kick-off for our spring Socialist Workers ticket. hawked the Militant, one of the things that Feminist organizations, including circulation drive. Officially launched The gathering included an encouraging emerged was that the paper's strongest feminist health centers, battered women's March 8, the aim is to sell a total of 45,000 number of recent recruits and new friends single selling point, in addition to its sup­ shelters, antipornography groups, rape single copies of the Militant and its of the YSA. port for women's rights, was the paper's crisis groups, and women's collectives par­ Spanish-language sister publication, Per­ Among the guests were a Black woman extensive Nicaragua coverage. ticipated in the action. spectiva Mundial. coal miner from Birmingham, Alabama, Salespeople averaged nearly I 0 copies Important so!idarity and antiwar organi­ and a Miami student from the. African apiece. Mark Friedman from Detroit sur­ zations supported March 9, including the A second goal of the drive, which closes country of Botswana. passed his usual impressive results. He Free South Africa Movement, the National May 16, is to sell 2,000 introductory sub­ From Houston, there was a young sold 143 copies of the Militant. Mobilization for Survival, the Nicaragua scriptions to both publications. woman who is the only female in her work­ Leading the field in sales of subscrip­ Task Force, and MADRE, an organization There was also a good sale of books and place. She would always argue for tions was a stellar team from Boston, Jon of solidarity with women in El Salvador pamphlets published and distributed by women's equality, she explained, but Hillson and Don Gurewitz, a striking G.E. and Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan Informa­ Pathfinder Press. In addition to large dis­ never really did anything until she heard worker. tion Committee carried a banner saying, play tables at the formation and rally sites, about the plans for the march and joined Between them, they sold 14 subscrip­ "No contra aid." there were a dozen smaller literature tables. NOW to help build it. In NOW she met tions. The National Abortion Rights Action Among the women's liberation litera­ several YSAers and she says she'll proba­ Added up, the sales figures reflected League (NARAL) made a special effort to ture, the top item was the new Pathfinder bly soon be a member too. "I have the same changing political times. build the action. Many chapters of Planned Press book, Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women, with nearly 50 copies sold at the two main tables alone. South Africa was the second greatest area of interest. There, the best-selling 'IP' documents British WRP debate book was Winnie Mandela's Part of My Soul Went with Him, of which 41 copies The March 24 Intercontinental tiona! and the U.S. Socialist Work­ were sold at the two main tables. Press carries two documents from ers Party. They had charged that As the day's program drew to a close, the Workers Press, a newspaper leaders of the Fourth International some 250 participants gathered at a nearby published in London by a wing of and the SWP are U .S. and Soviet INTERCONTINENTAL hotel for a reception hosted by the Young the Workers Revolutionary Party police agents. This repudiation pro­ Socialist Alliance. These included mem­ (WRP) . The documents, by WRP voked a further split between this PRESS ...... bers and friends, old and new, of the YSA leaders Michael Banda and Bill WRP wing and the U.S. Workers and Socialist Workers Party. Hunter, are part of a public discus­ League. Eyewitness Report From Philippines sion launched by this wing on the The highlight of that jubilant gathering political and organizational degen­ Masses Push for Rights and was remarks by Tammy Novak. A high­ eration of the WRP, as well as the Intercontinental Press is a biweekly of Marcos Officials schooler from Austin, Minnesota, she is a Fourth International's history and that carries more articles, docu­ ::""'\ leader of "P-9, The Future Generation," a place in the international workers' student group building support for the Hor­ ments, and special features on world movement today. politics- from Europe to Oceania mel strike. Before it split in October 1985, and from the Middle East to Central In February the group led a walkout of the WRP was one of the largest 350 students protesting school officials' at­ America - than we have room for groups in Britain claiming adher­ in the Militant. Subscribe now. tack on their democratic right to support ence to Trotskyism. That month, the strike. - the WRP wing that Banda and Enclosed is 0 $7.50 for 3 months. Nicaragua In brief, spirited remarks at the Wash­ Hunter belong to broke organiza­ 0 $15 for 6 months. 0 $30 for 1 Reagan Presses for ington open house; Novak explained that tionally with Gerry Healy, the year. More 'Contra' Aid school authorities sparked the conflict by Borge on Church­ party's longtime cult figure. State Relation• denying students the right to wear prostrike Then in February this WRP wing Name------buttons, while other students were permit­ took a further step in its break with Address ______Reponer's Noleboolc ted to wear "I love Hormel" buttons. Cuban CP Congress Healyite policy by publicly re­ City __ State __ Zip __ On the eve of the walkout, she said, the pudiating the agent-baiting cam­ administration backed off and said the P-9 paign waged by the WRP and its Clip and mail to Intercontinental L-~------~ buttons could be worn. But the walkout in U.S. followers in the Workers Press, 410 West St., New York, NY support of the strike went ahead. League against the Fourth lnterna- 10014. Why do the students support the strike?

6 nre: Militaaf Parenthood participated. There was an impressive turnout by the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. Many women carried small placards iden­ tifying themselves as part ofRCAR and de­ manding their right to freedom of religion and conscience in supporting a woman's · right to choose abortion. RCAR is a coali­ tion of 32 religious denominations that sup­ port abortion rights. A good number were Catholics. A number of signs declared, "Catholics for free choice." Many of those in the RCAR contingent were Black. A good number of young Black women and men marched in the student contin­ "Women's movement is on the move," NOW President Eleanor Smeal (left) told massive abortion rights rally. Other speakers gent, and many of the rally speakers were included Gaye Williams, National Political Congress of Black Women (center), and Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey of the Black. "Vatican 24". Although the presence of Black organi­ zations was modest, it marked a step for­ Reagan when he was governor of Califor­ also try to excommunicate Smeal, who is protesting this harassment. Ferraro and ward in the participation of these groups in nia. Roman Catholic. The administration of Hussey are among three of the "Vatican the fight for abortion rights. She told those who think that Reagan Catholic University banned a recent speech 24" who again put their names to the ad. Dozens of Black organizations endorsed could never be made to change his mind to by Smeal on that campus, a move that pro­ Patricia Hussey described the Catholic the action, including many Black feminist give some thought to what had happened in voked a big student protest. church hierarchy as "eternal fathers want­ groups. the Philippines. "You would think Reagan ing to lord it over obedient, silent, and sub­ Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey, The National Urban League and the Co­ had invented Cory Aquino," she said. missive good daughters." She drew loud two Roman Catholic nuns, received a long alition of Black Trade Unionists cospon­ "You would think he had never, ever sup­ cheers and applause when she said, "You standing ovation for their courage in stand­ sored the march. ported Marcos." Smeal predicted the same in Rome, you in the White House, we will A "women of color" contingent and a fate for the apartheid regime in South Af­ ing up to the Vatican. Ferraro and Hussey are· part of the "Vat­ not be submissive. We will not be silent. contingent of the National Black Lesbian rica as had befallen Marcos. ican 24," a group of nuns threatened with The steps we have taken have been steps and Gay Task Force marched. The Na­ Smeal said that reinforcements were on toward our liberation." expulsion from their religious orders for tional Black Independent Political Party the way to stand up to the terrorists and to signing an ad in the New York Times last carried a banner demanding abortion those who assault and harass women at year advocating the right to choose. International solidarity rights, child care, and equal pay for equal abortion clinics. "The escort services are work. going to get bigger and bigger until we Since that time, the 24 women have been Gaye Williams, a young woman who Participation from the unions was mod­ have sanity back again." hounded and threatened by church offi­ heads the National Political Congress of est, but significant. Smeal also urged the marchers to stay in cials. Some have been yanked from their Black Women, was among ·the best re­ In addition to the CBTU, the most im­ Washington, D.C., to participate in a lob­ teaching jobs. Friends and families have ceived by the marchers. portant official backing for the march came bying effort for passage of the Civil Rights been harassed and threatened. She said that on International Women's from the Coalition of Labor Union Women Restoration Act. The act would make sure Despite this, they have refused to recant. Day, "my sisters round the world, women (CLUW), a coalition of union members that federal funds are not used to discrimi­ Another ad, signed by I ,000 Catholics, ap­ of color, and all of us are celebrating the that is backed by the AFL-CIO and most nate against women, Blacks, Latinos and peared recently in the New York Times, Continued .on Page 9 international unions. others. A Coalition of Labor Union Women Passage of the bill is being held up be­ contingent participated in the march. A cause an antiabortion amendment has been number of unionists from locals of the attached to it. "As we march, we say we United Auto Workers, the American Fed­ will not trade off one right for another," eration of State, County and Municipal Smeal declared. Employees, and the International Union of Pointing to the huge gathering, Smeal Electronic Workers marched in the CLUW brought the crowd to its feet when she said, contingent. A group of women · miners "The women's movement is on the move. from the United Mine Workers of America We are not yesterday, we are tomorrow!" also joined in , as did 20 members of United The Catholic church hierarchy came Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) under heavy fire for its increasingly strong­ Loca1400 who are on strike against intoler­ . armed tactics in opposing abortion rights. able working conditions at Marva) Poultry One of the speakers was Mary Ann Sor­ Co. rentino, an official of Planned Parenthood, CLUW President Joyce Miller addressed whom church officials are trying to excom­ the rally and said the struggle of women to municate. control their own bodies "is particularly Just days before the March 9 action, it Faith Evans of Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights and labor leader Joyce Miller critical to the 48 million women in the became known that church officials will also addressed rally. work force. To lose this right relegates women to the lowest-paying, lowest­ status, dead-end jobs." Miller, who is also a vice-president of Hormel strikers win warm· support at March 9 the AFL-CIO, said, "To those who under­ estimate the power and commitment of BY ANDREA GONZALEZ tion on her campus, she explained, had local into receivership. These staff mem­ women to fight for our right to legal abor­ WASHINGTON, D.C.- Hundreds of played ads for Hormel products. She bers said they shouldn't even be at the tion and birth control, to fight to save our participants at the March for Women's wanted more information so she could fight table. As they were leaving, however, the own lives, I remind you ofthe words of the Lives stopped by the Boycott Hormel ta­ to stop these ads. staff members took Hormel boycott stick­ old labor song, 'We shall not be moved! '" bles at the demonstration's assembly and The members of UFCW Local 400 on ers and put them on their coats. rally sites. strike against Marva] Poultry Co. in Vir­ A high point of the march was the par­ Unionists, students, and other women's ginia also stopped by the table to express As the march began, the strikers and ticipation of I 0 members and supporters of rights activists picked up boycott literature, their support for the fighting meatpackers, supporters joined the labor contingent or­ Local P-9 of the UFCW, which is carrying bought buttons, T-shirts, and hats, or just as did a former member of the Professional ganized by the Coalition of Labor Union on a historic strike against the Hormel stopped by to express their support for the Air Traffic Controllers Organization Women. As they marched along the route, meatpacking company in Austin, Min­ meatpackers fighting Geo. A. Hormel & (PATCO), which was busted by the Fed­ people who were on the street gave them nesota. (See accompanying story.) Co. in Minnesota and Iowa. · eral government in 1981. the thumbs-up sign and called out their The same militant spirit, courage, and A delegation of eight - including strik­ Several members of the UFCW national support. determination of the P-9 strikers that is ers from Austin, their supporters, and a staff also stopped by the table. The top of­ About 35 unionists and NOW activists winning them the admiration and support leader of the Hormel workers' Support ficials of that union have publicly attacked stopped by a reception for the strikers f-ol­ of working people everywhere also won Group in Ottumwa, Iowa - came to the the strike and threatened to put the striking lowing the rally. warm support at the march. abortion rights action to build solidarity for Their slogan, "They say give back, we their struggle. say fightback!", found a responsive chord among the fighters for women's rights at The Austin workers, members of United the march, who have vowed, "We will Food and Commercial Workers Local P-9, never give in." Many marchers were seen have been on strike for over six months. wearing "P-9 proud" and "Boycott Hor­ The Hormel workers in Ottumwa, mem­ mel" buttons. bers of UFCW Local 43 1 , have been Also present at the march were members locked out by the company for honoring P- of the Flight Attendants Association on 9's picket lines. strike against TWA. One college student who came by the When NOW leader Molly Yard, who table took boycott literature to give to her chaired the rally, announced that NOW friends at school. She explained that her was launching a boycott of TWA "until father had been on strike for seven months you treat your flight attendants like human last year and she knew how hard it was. beings," the crowd shouted and cheered its A teacher from Austin, Texas, came by approval. the table to tell the strikers that "the people of Austin support the strikers from Au­ NOW President Eleanor Smeal said the stin." She told them of plans that were fight for justice didn't have to wait for a under way for a tour of the striking meat­ change in the White House. She pointed packers to her city. out that the most liberal abortion law on the Another young student came by to pick A delegation from United Food and Commercial Workers Local P-9 attended abor­ books was signed into law by Ronald up fact sheets on the strike. The radio sta- tion rights action to wiit support for their strike. Two weapons in the fight for Cosmetics, Fashions, and the abortion rights Exploitation of Women "Abortion Is a Woman's Right!" How do the wealthy owners of the These articles taken from the pages of cosmetics industry play on women's the Militant provide an effective handbook insecurities to sell products and rake in for abortion rights fighters. Includes: "The profits? Issue Is Abortion Rights" and "Why the How are the standards of beauty Catholic Church Hierarchy Opposes determined in capitalist society? Women's Right to Abortion." How has the growing participation of These articles provide a clear defense of women in the labor force changed their abortion rights that will help convince view of themselves and their potential? even more people to join the fight to keep These are some of the questions that abortion safe, legal, and available. emerge from this new collection. Based on 48 pp. $.95. a lively 1954 debate over the relation of the marketing of cosmetics and fashions to the "Is Biology Woman's Destiny?" exploitation of women, it raises issues of In this lively pamphlet Evelyn Reed immediate interest to fighters for women's refutes the pseudo-scientific claims that rights today. the social roles of women and men are 144 pp. $4.95. determined by genes. She demolishes prominent theories of women's inferiority The Communist Manifesto Books by EVELYN REED and examines their influence on other by Marx and Engels Women and the Family feminist writers. Woman's Evolution: From by Trotsky 31 pp. $.75. This is Marx and Engels' program for the Matriarchal Clan to Patriarchal 78 pp. $3.95 first international association of workers. Family Women and the Nicaraguan Written in popular language, it is a guide 491 pp. $10.95 Women and the Cuban Revolution for action - for working people in their Revolution by Tomas Borge struggle against oppression and exploitation. As relevant and readable Problems of Women's Liberation Edited by Betsey Stone today as it was when drafted, it discusses, 96 pp. $3.95 This speech by the Nicaraguan Minister This book recounts women's changing of the Interior is of great interest to among other things, women's oppression and its connection with class society. The Sexism and Science role in Cuba since the 1959 revolution: the supporters of women's rights in the measures taken, the gains made, and the United States. It gives a frank description Manifesto outlines a fighting strategy that 190 pp. $6.95 can win. problems that still remain. of women's status in Nicaragua and the Big advances have been made in scope of the challenges ahead. Borge 45 pp. $.95. The Origin of the Family, Private education, health care, and improving the presents the advance of women's rights as quality of life. Legal discrimination on the a central part of the revolutionary process Property, and the State basis of sex has ended and women are which will be pursued as part of defending The Emancipation of Women by Frederick Engels with an playing a more and more important role in the revolution against the U.S.-backed by Lenin Introduction by Evelyn Reed society. Hundreds of thousands have mercenary war. 136 pp. $2.75 191 pp. $4.95 joined the work force, occupying many 30 pp. $.75. jobs previously reserved for men only. 156 pp. $4.95. 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Address ------Address ------City------State------Zip------8,000 G.E. strikers in Mass. press fight BY RUSSELL DAVIS nally shown them we know how to fight." . LYNN, Mass. - The strike of G.E. One worker with many years of service workers continued into its third week, with told me that he had never felt so proud. 8,000 members of International Union of That evening, picket lines went up at the Electronic Workers (IUE) Local 201 still gates. On Friday, March 7, Local 201 out. Production at the G.E. Everett, Med­ members in the River Works power plant ford, and Lynn River Works plants remains walked out, blacking out much of the plant shut down. Picket lines are up at the gates and forcing management personnel to around the clock. scramble in to restore power. The strike began on February 21 in the Though management continues to go to Lynn aircraft engine division after the sus­ work, the River Works appears as though pension of a shop steward and spread to the it's under siege, with up to 100 workers Everett, Medford, and Lynn turbine divi­ picketing each gate. Huge stacks of wood sion last week after negotiations broke are piled outside for fires for the pickets to down. The union termed the strike· one for keep warm. "justice and respect" and is attempting to State and local police were joined by force the company to deal seriously with a federal marshals March 10 after G.E. filed huge backlog of grievances. National Labor Relations Board charges to The union is also attempting to win lan­ have the pickets removed by court order. guage preventing the arbitrary discipline Morale and participation remain high as and harassment of shop stewards. The IUE Local201 continues its "strike for jus­ G.E. aircraft engine workers rally at plant gate. They were later joined by 2,000 company and the union met again on Mon­ tice." workers in Lynn turbine division. day, March 10, but broke off negotiations after the company withdrew its previous offer. The striking Lynn aircraft engine, Med­ 100,000 march for abortion rights ford, and Everett workers were joined by 2,000 workers in the Lynn turbine division on March 5. Over 1,000 striking Local201 Continued from Page 7 states have now been passed that cut public the "bottom line critical issue" for all members rallied at noon at the union head­ collapse of the Marcos and Duvalier dic­ funding for abortion. women. quarters and marched to the plant gate with tatorships. Repeal Hyde Amendment She called on all to join the fight, ''be­ "Today, the name Mandela is whispered cause our sisters, our Black women will signs and banners to await the turbine Three members of Congress addressed workers. At 12:30 p.m. the first workers and shouted and cried on campuses and po­ not have the right to abortion without fund­ litical theaters across America. Today we the rally: Don Edwards, Patricia ing." came out, followed by 1,000 others, to Schroeder, and Bill Green. All three spoke stretch our hands across the water to Africa Faith Evans, a Black man recently rousing cheers and applause in a dramatic about their sponsorship of the Reproduc­ to join with Winnie Mandela and offer our elected president of the Religious Coalition show of force and unity._Qne banner, "Air­ tive Health Equity Act. This act would re­ full support of her people's struggle. Her for Abortion Rights, said the time was now craft and turbine - together again," re­ store full public funding of aborti!)ns under raised fist is a signal that we will all to reach out and win new forces in the flected the fact that the strike is overcom­ Medicaid and to other federal programs triumph, all of us together. _ Black community to the fight for abortion ing divisions in the local that the company that also deny abortion funding to Ameri­ had sown for years. "How does Mr. Reagan have the unmiti­ rights. "The movement is back. It's time to gated nerve to dare ask for $100 million," can Indian women, federal employees and have the NAACP, the Urban League, the After a meeting for turbine workers to their dependents, Peace Corps volunteers, she asked, as the applause and cheers SCLC and everyone who marched against explain the issues in the strike, another and military personnel. began to rise even before she could finish Vietnam, who marched for the 1964 civil rally was held at union heatlquarters, fol­ NOW said that it would work for the re­ her sentence. "One hundred million, not to rights act" come together to ensure that lowed by a secret ballot strike vote. peal of the Hyde Amendment and for the feed starving Black children in this coun­ women have the freedom to choose The company was clearly hoping for a full reinstatement of public funding. "We try, but to send guns to Nicaragua to kill whether or not to bear children. close vote and was dealt a resounding blow are for legal abortion for both the rich and Nicaraguan children. Is this the 'right-to­ Kate Michelman, head of the National when at 7:00 p.m. the president of the the poor," said NOW President Eleanor life' he wants me to support?" she asked, Abortion Rights Action League, an­ union, Kevin Mahar, announced that 80 Smeal. as the crowd answered with a resounding, nounced the determination of her organiza­ percent had voted to extend the strike. Vicki Alexander, a Black physician who With over 4,000 Local 201 members vot­ "No!" tion to continue the fight until all funding is heads the Alliance Against Women's Op­ restored. ing, the strike vote carried in all divisions, Williams sounded a theme that was re­ pression, said, "When you look at what has including by 77 percent in the aircraft en­ peated by many others: it is Black women Gloria Barajas, head of the Mexican happened to our abortion rights over the American Women's National Association, gine division. and other victims of racism who suffer the last 10 years, blow by blow, each blow has The results were greeted with en­ most when abortion is illegal. They are de­ said that for Hispanic women, abortion is affected us women of color most of all, not a single issue. Reproductive freedom thusiasm and comments such as "We've nied their right to choose because the fed­ starting with the Hyde Amendment." She got our union back again" and "We've fi- eral Hyde Amendment and laws in most must also include freedom from forced said the repeal of the Hyde Amendment is sterilization. Hispanic women "must have choices, too. They, too, must have options in their lives." Gloria Steinem, editor of Ms. magazine, Haiti: junta stalls on demand for election and Bella Abzug, Women USA, received noisy, warm welcomes from the predomin­ BY RASHAAD ALI olution. Every one wants changes im- This purge, they said, must extend beyond antly young crowd. This was in recognition The National Council of Government, mediately." individuals to institutions. This was of the role they played as leaders of the the official name of the ruling junta in Gourgue, one of two civilians on the greeted with applause. feminist movement of the 1970s. Haiti, announced February 25 its plans for junta, also opposes the elimination of mili- Workers have taken a number of direct Cecilia Ham, representing the U.S. Stu­ a transition to civilian rule. tary control of the government, arguing, actions to remove Duvalierists from posi­ dents Association, thanked "the activists of The junta will name a 19-member con- "We need the armed forces because they tions of power. At the state-owned Haiti the women's and civil rights movements" sultative council. That council will in tum are the only people who can guarantee se- Electricity and the National Bank of Credit for the rights that were won in the past and pick the members of a constituent assembly curity." This means, he stated, that "we workers have walked off their jobs de­ vowed to continue to fight to defend them. to write a new constitution for Haiti, states have to reorient people, stop the pillaging, manding the removal of corrupt officials. The battle for abortion rights and civil junta member Col. William Regala, the the revenge." · While the junta drags its feet on recover­ rights, she said, "is an ongoing struggle in minister of the interior and national de- This was the aim of the curfew that was ing the wealth that Duvalier stole from which we must all take part." fense. reimposed by the junta - to stop demon- Haiti and bringing him back to face justice, Songs by feminist Kristin Lems captured The March 5- 11 issue of Hai'ti Progres, strations demanding more rights; to end the it is preventing anti-Duvalier political the mood of the marchers, who joined in an exile newspaper published in New street justice, popularly known as "Opera- exiles from returning to their country. The singing, "We will never give in, we will York, in a front-page article argued that . tion Uproot"; and to end the sacking of the junta requires an entry visa for all returning never give up, we will never go back' ~ and any constituent assembly should be elected homes of hated officials and cops from the Haitian exiles. This is used to screen out "Before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my by universal, direct suffrage so that its Duvalier regime. exiles considered "undesirable." grave, and I fight for the right to be free." composition reflects the different classes in In Haiti's northern city of Cap-Haltien, the country, their weight and specific the country's second largest city, represen- forms. tatives from all the towns and It noted that the proposed consultative municipalities in the area gathered Feb- Northwest abortion rights action set council would be an "Assembly of Nota- ruary 21 to form a "Committee of Renewal bles" with no representatation from the of the North." BY CHERYL HIDALGO tiona! Union of Electronic workers Local country's workers and peasants. At its founding meeting, held in the Cap- SEATTLE - The Northwest Coalition 1002, as well as individual labor leaders Gerard Gourgue, the only junta member Haltien City Council building, participants for the March for Women's Lives has been and medical professionals. who was not closely connected to the voiced the complaints of their respective formed and is building a Northwest reg- Duvalier dynasty, recently stated that elec- municipalities. They discussed establish- ional demonstration on March 22. Follow- Featured speakers on the March 22 plat- tions cannot be held for at least 12 to 18 ing structures to allow residents to play a ing the initiatives of national NOW, this form will include Jim Bender, executive months. "That will be the minimum time direct role in administering the city. march is being built to respond to increas- secretary, King County Central Labor we need. There has to be a council that One of the first orders of business was ing attacks on abortion in the Northwest. Council; Mary Terry, president, Washing- chooses a constituent assembly. We have the establishment of structures to organize A central goal of the coalition has also ton State NOW; Lee Minto, chairperson, to write a constitution, organize political the February 25 flag-day celebration in the been building a delegation to the national Taxpayers for Choice; Rev. Samuel parties, write an electoral law," he stated. city. The committee voted to carry out a march in Los Angeles, which will have McKinney, Mt. Zion Baptist Church; Dee Gourgue, the junta's minister of justice, mass cleanup in honor of the ceremony. a send-off news conference on March Anderson, Washington State Rainbow Co- is the only figure providing the regime with The cleanup was largely organized by 14. alition; and Geri Craig, director, Portland credibility among the Haitian masses. Prior the youth, who played a major role in the Initiated by Seattle NOW, the coalition Feminist Women's Health Center, which to Duvalier's fall, he had contacts with protests that brought down Duvalier. has attracted broad forces regionwide from has received a letter bomb. U.S. diplomats and, according to the The committee also voted to demand unions and religious groups, and Black, The Northwest demonstration is ex. March 5 New York Times, Gourgue's con- that the former Cap-Haltien headquarters Chicano, and feminist organizations. pected to draw people from Washington, tacts with the U.S. embassy "have inten- . of the Tontons Macoutes, Duvalier's dis- These include the National Abortion Oregon, and Canada. Marchers will as- sified." _ solved private army, be turned into the Rights Action League, Planned Parent- semble at 11 :00 a.m. at the Federal Court- Noting that the people of Haiti want "Regional Directorate of Education." hood, the Rainbow Coalition, Religious house, 5th and Madison in Seattle, march swift changes, the minister of justice said Speakers called for a thoroughgoing Coalition for Abortion Rights, Whatcum through downtown and rally at 2:00p.m. at that "now everyone believes we had a rev- purge ofDuvalierists in positions of power. County Central Labor Council, Intema- the Seattle Center Flag Pavillion.

- •. ,_, -o: ~ · Mur~Z~:; ·~ Ti.eMillli A reporter's notebook from Estel i. Ni~m North American notes year of progress in northern Nicaraguan t

BY JON HILLSON personal effects of 18 TELCOR employees elected member of her neighborhood block Swedish project will be Central America's ESTELl, Nicaragua - This city has from EstelL committee, has spoken in front of foreign largest and most modem textile plant. It is changed - changed physically, changed The 18 were in a truck, late in 1984, delegations, and can clean, assemble, and planned for construction outside of Esteli in mood. when it was struck by contra bazooka fire . use automatic weapons. and will employ 2,000 workers. The massive cathedral in the center of Survivors of the initial blast were bayon­ This Nicaraguan grandmother points to a town is nearly rebuilt, a matter of pride for eted to death. big, black-and-white oil painting. Her son * * * Esteli's 60,000 inhabitants. They were on their way to pick coffee. Wilfreda looks out over the new living The long sidewalk along the Estell Its twin bell towers were once occupied room. He was killed in the war with River, in the sprawling neighborhood of by Somoza's National Guard snipers dur­ * * * Somoza. The portrait, she says, "was a Rosario on the northern edge of town, is fi­ ing the national liberation war, and it was a The mood in this regional capital, once a Christmas present from one of his friends." nally finished. center of combat in the city. Now, there's center of the war in the north, is more re­ There was no sidewalk during the reign not a trace ,of the bullet holes that pock­ laxed. * * * of Somoza, whose air force destroyed the marked the building. The contras have taken big blows mili­ While many Estilianos have made home first homes there in aerial bombardments in On the right side of the park, the face of tarily, especially since being beaten nearby improvements with low-interest loans - 1979. the Esteli theater is new, and its long-dor­ in the battle around La Trinidad last Au­ Nicaraguan law makes home ownership The neighborhood rebuilt and expanded mant neon sign now shines in the night. In gust. easy, and mortgage payments are no higher with the influx of hundreds of peasanr front of the cinema, kids shoot baskets on a Some 10,000 Estilianos turned out to than 10 percent of monthly income- the families - many displaced by contra at­ newly set up street court, and nearby, in celebrate the victory - four times as many majority of houses- wooden, shack-like tacks. The trek on the road during the rainy front of the firehouse , uniformed firefight­ as usually come out for Esteli's liberation structures- remain unchanged. season was awful, as workers and students ers, members of the Ministry of the Inte­ day celebration on July 16 each year. Carmen Montenegro's house is one of filed home in ankle-deep mud. rior, and local youths play volleyball. Few of Estell's conscripted youths have them. Phone service and a health center came A new group of houses near the hospital been killed in the war. The first contin­ There are more kids in it and fewer men. to the area in 1984, and the sidewalk was --for doctors, war veterans, and working gents, who began to be drafted two years Her son is in the penitentiary, after too finished last year. people - is partially occupied. Its sturdy ago, are now being demobilized. many drunken bouts. It may be good for I walk down the new sidewalk to the concrete structures and tin and tile roofs I see acquaintances with whom I'd him, Carmen tells me, smiling. street where 63-year-old trade unionist occupy the space left vacant by wartime worked in 1984 - regional functionaries Her 22-year-old elder daughter is now a Damaso Picado lives in a house built after destruction in 1979. of government and members of the FSLN, professional soldier. A younger daughter is the victory, which he owns. Nearby is the government municipal the Ministry of Agrarian Reform, and the finishing her third year of study in Cuba. He looks tired. His workweek in a shoe center, newly organized and newly Sandinista Defense Committees. To a per­ The eldest son, Jose, was killed in the lib­ cooperative has been reduced, he says, "to painted, including the mayor's office. son, they look different- more relaxed, eration war, and the neighborhood is three or four hours a day, three or four days And across the street, the old furniture less tense and tight. named for him. a week," because of a shortage of imported store has been turned into a shoe factory, a The Sandinista Defense Committees, There is little furniture and little lighting materials. cooperative employing 50 or so workers. here and elsewhere, are being revived and in the house. Carmen keeps the dirt floor His sister, a cook, is now retired, having On and near the main street, there are reorganized to overcome the impact of the · neat as she helps raise the next generation. contracted diabetes. new shops selling clothes and household war- shortages ofleadership and flagging Christmas, Carmen says, was "very dif­ The house is unchanged: a fire on the items, new restaurants, more stores selling participation partly due to poor administra­ ficult." ground in the back for cooking, an out­ fruits and vegetables, and more comer tion, red tape, and favoritism. Prices, according to the government, house, a dirt floor, more children. A stalls selling meat. The FSLN is growing, with more work­ rose 300 percent last year, salaries around nephew and his father, a captain in the ·Sewing cooperatives, which make chil­ er, farmer, and youth members. 150 percent. army, now live with four other kids and dren's clothes, blouses, and dresses, seem Municipal government is being reor­ It was hard to get money together to buy Damaso' s niece, seven in all, in the two­ to have mu~hroomed. On one block in the ganized. even a chicken, she says. "And we had bedroom house. center of town, there are now five where The number of soldiers present has de­ trouble getting even little presents," she ex- · The two littlest, both of whom were there were none. creased, a reflection of fewer military plains. skinny a couple of years ago, the baby al­ Streets whose concrete blocks were used emergencies. Estell, the city, Carmen says, "is much most having died of flu, are now lively and for barricades seven years ago in the war better. But for me, it was harder this year healthy. against Somoza have finally been recob­ * * * than last year." And 1986? "It will be hard, Damaso became active in the struggle bled, and you can walk down virtually any "This is my palace!" Gloria Castillo tells too," she says. against Somoza in 1944. He has the prized street and see people building, repairing, me, beaming. "What do you think?" Prices go up, salaries go up, then prices · medallion given out by the top leadership and reconstructing. Gloria's old house was made of crum­ again. "Horrible," she says, ·~the of the Sandinista National Liberation Fmnt , There is another new structure, too, next bling mud. Its ceiling leaked on the dirt speculators are thieves." (FSLN) last October, the brooch of the to the TELCOR phone center and post of­ floor. Gloria, her husband Santiago, and Why the gap? Historic Collaborator. fice. It is a memorial display of photos and three teenage girls lived in one bedroom off "That," says Carmen, "is how "I have nothing, you see," he says, a small family room. capitalism works." Matter-of-factly, and spreading out his hands as if to display the Receiving credit from a local bank, the with a smile, she says, "There will be lots surroundings. "But I am content, because Castillo family began to rebuild. of struggle this year." we do not have Somocismo. We have Nic­ Jon Hillson first visited Nicaragua in Now, there's a tile floor, a solid roof, aragua." 1982. In 1983 and 1984, he studied at and brick walls, a new outdoor kitchen, a new * * * worked for Nuevo lnstituto de Cen­ clay, wood-fueled stove, and a flush toilet "Incredible." Again, the subject is prices * * * troamerica, a U.S.-based Spanish study:­ and shower. and salaries. The government has just an­ "We are too generous," Luis, a middle­ solidarity project in EsteU, for about eight Gloria, iUiterate before the revolution, nounced wage hikes averaging between 58 aged worker, says. His wife grins politely, months. Earlier this year, he returned to now reads the paper every day. She used to and 100 percent, along with Operation Iron but rolls her eyes. She knows he has been Esteli and led 31 NICA students and staff walk the Panamerican Highway to Hon­ Fist, which aims to hit speculators ·and drinking and is about to say something she members in coffee-picking. He also duras selling shoes she carried on her back price gougers in retail trade, from food to hopes he won't. traveled to other parts of the country. -shoes her husband made. Now, she is an clothing to restaurants, through the Minis­ "Too generous to the contra. Look, a try of Interior Commerce. couple of weeks ago in Dario, two of them "Good! It's about time," my friend killed a young soldier. It wasn't even a Aleda says, while her two-year-old kid fight. They decapitated him and put his ~s­ wanders around emptying drawers. Her ticles in his mouth," Luis says. This type of husband is in the army. Her two brothers­ brutality was common practice by in-law have evaded service and are in Hon­ Somoza's National Guard in the 1970s, duras. and more than a few young men in Esteli "Let's say a teacher is making 13,000 suspected of having ties to the FSLN ended cordobas a month," she says. "A chicken up like this in front of their homes as an costs 500, a little pair of boots, 10,000. So "example." how many chickens is that, how many "We take them to prisons, we give them pairs of shoes? Do you feed or buy clothes amnesty, we let them back into society, we for your kids. Really, it is too much," she let them go in the first place," Luis says. "l says. "I hope the government hits them think we should eliminate them because all hard." they do is kill us again." Since the amnesty program began in * * * 1983, nearly 3,000 contras have left the Midway between Managua, the capital, mercenary army and returned to their and Estell, is Sebaco, onion capital of Nic­ homes, mostly in rural areas. Few of these aragua and rural agricultural distribution were members of the Guard, who today re­ center. main the backbone of the contras. On the outskirts of the rural town, a mas­ sive new factory, built with Bulgarian * * * cooperation, is going up. It will provide From Jinotega, a three-hour bus ride 3,000 year-round jobs and 5,000 at harvest northwest of Estelf, you hop the once~a­ time, in canning vegetables and other day pickup truck for a slow, bumpy ride foods. into the mountains, another hour. Meanwhile, in Estell, a smaller such Then, from there, it's an hour hike into plant, to employ 250, will be built - a the rain forest, green all year round . On the joint Bulgarian-Swedish project. The side o( a cleared slope, we hail a woman a Farmer kidnapped by contras and forced to work for them who escaped and was granted largest factory in Estell now employs 250 quarter of a mile away, and she meets I)S, - amnesty by Nicaraguan government. Here, he tells his story, urging others to desert con­ people in cigar manufacturing. leading us back through a glade of palm tras. As well, another joint Bulgarian- and banana trees. Barefoot, 63, with a

· 10~'------The Mifttant March 21, 1986 1ragua own

baby on her back, she leads us to her house. We are at Los Potrerillos - The Pas­ tures - the name given to a range of rug­ ged, rolling hills between Jinotega and San Rafael del Norte. ·My traveling companion taught the ·woman who greeted us, Jacinta, and her ihusband, Genaro, to read during the his­ !tcfic literacy campaign launched by the Sandinista government in 1980. This is her first time back since 1983, al­ though there's been correspondence in the intervening 27 months. In that time, there's been almost a revo­ . lution in the revolution that's been chang­ : ing their lives since 1979. The tiny house in which Genaro and Jacinta lived with six sons and daughters Militant photos by Hector and two grandchildren is gone. Nicaraguan farmers, workers, students, and others, as well as internationalist volunteers, brought in coffee harvest this year free from attacks by U.S.-sponsored contras. Above, In its place is a bigger house, while four students from a production brigade who picked coffee in El Crucero, south of Managua. chi1dren have moved out, married, and Right, internationalist volunteers from U.S. Third World Brigade pick coffee in built their own homes on nearby hills. Matagalpa in north. The family farm had 12 manzanas of land (one manzana equals 1. 7 acres). Now, father and sons, along with two brothers~ Nicaraguan· moonshine- cosusa- pro­ brigade of Nicaraguan pickers, and as­ tive, a wiry, middle-aged peasant, explains own together more than 30 manzanas. cured for drinking. Stories about the liter­ sorted children, all huddled under the there are now four members of the party on Each works their own farm, while com­ acy campaign are recalled. Our hosts shake porch roof of a ramshackle dormitory of the farm. Likewise, on the other side of the bining with other local peasants to receive their heads when we tell them about the the Ricardo Ramos production coopera­ cooperative at EI Esparta, there are more cheap credit from the banks and free ser­ plight of U.S. farmers. tive, as a wicked wind whips everybody FSLN members. And the president of the vices from the government in their Credit Three days later, Juan, Genaro's with dust. UNAG-organized cooperative is a veteran and Service Cooperative. brother, guides us on a two-hour walk The farm, La Fraternidad, shares title to party militant. Genaro had a cow and pig a couple of through the mountains to San Rafael. The the cooperative with nearby El Esparta, "When you go back to your country," years ago; now, there are three cows, two paths are a foot wide in places, and even where I picked coffee in the 1984 harvest. Tacho says, as the band gets ready to play, pigs, and a new horse, used in common the rare mount~d passerby has trouble with There've been changes at both farms. "all we ask is that you tell the truth. Our with the others for transportation and haul­ his horse. More families, more members, more message is: Nicaragua wants peace. We ing. Juan pauses on a rocky_incline, staring at work in common, better harvests, better have nothing against your people, but we Genaro and Pio, his brother, guide us up a luggage tag. He reads the zip code and pesticides and fewer Insects, more build­ will give our last drop of blood to keep our and down hills for a day as we visit the new phone number aloud. His teacher in the lit­ ing, a truck, a small health center, initial homeland free and dignified," houses and families, see new babies, and eracy campaign, he remembers, knows he efforts through UNAG and AMNLAE, the There's more applause. Then a young talk. never mastered reading. Now he looks up women's federation, to organize peasant soldier shouts out, "OK!, let's dance!" Crops, we hear, have been very good, at her, ticking off the numbers. "I still re­ women. with the exception of com due to climate member how to count," he says. The area is now "secure," controlled, or * * * problems. In San Rafael, new housing is going up limpia, clean of contras. A pesar de . . . in spite of. It's a Spanish Fertilizer and insecticide have helped a on the outskirts of the city, both concrete Two years ago, a battle, complete with phrase one hears a lot in Nicaragua. lot~ and wooden. mortar exchanges, came within a mile of us In spite of the war, we are building. Prices, established by the government, On the walls in town, there are posters during the harvest, and ambushes were reg­ In spite of the aggression, we are mov­ everyone says, are excellent. that explain to the eontras ·their families ular occurrences. ing forward. All these small peasants are members of need and miss them. Return, they say, and Now, 300 draftees in the Irregular War­ In spite of it all, we will survive. UNAG (National .Union of Farmers and be with them. You can have amnesty. fare Battalions (BLis) surround all the I hear it from Francie, the single mother Ranchers), which was born out of the rev­ Peasant, desert, they say, in big red letters. pickers. There will be no trouble. of six, a member of the FSLN, a graduate ohJtionary process. There have been other changes, too. of the party school, who works in the In one house, the family waits for the * * * The peasants listen to Tacho, their arms Ministry of Interior clinic in Estelf and first visit from a son, now living in Mana­ At exactly 11:06 p.m. on January 12, a folded across their chests, as he addresses whose home is always open at all hours for gua, who recently returned from studying contra sabotage unit successfully brings them and the North American volunteers men and women in uniform shuttling back in the Soviet Union. down an unguarded relay tower. Electrical among them. and forth between Esteli and the mountains In another, Pablo, the best pupil in the power is cut, and with it, pumps in water to protect the coffee pickers. family during the literacy crusade - he stations. "If it were not for this revolution, a peas­ What will the coming year be like? takes dictation from others to write letters Virtually all of Region 1, Las Segovias, ant like myself could not, would not, be Struggle, says Francie. Against the ag­ - says his eldest daughter Blanca is now from La Trinidad to Jalap,fl on the Hondu­ able to speak in front of you," he says. gression, against speculation, to extend six, "a liberation baby," born almost nine ran border - even into Honduran border The lanky Sandinista militant waves a land reform. months to the day of the July 19, 1979, areas where that nation buys power from hand at a peasant singing group - espe­ And for her, to strengthen the FSLN. Sandinista triumph. Nicaragua - are blacked out. cially its two lead vocalists, who are chil­ Daniel Ortega's year-end address, Leopolda, the richest peasant, jokes ir­ Vigilance is immediately stepped up. dren - and a teenage theater ensemble broadcast to the nation from 11:1ral Panca­ reverently about the Sandinistas, but later The attack, the FSLN states in its daily who earlier entertained the crowd with san, pledged to fulfill all these things - to we Jearn the contras stole one of his horses, newspaper Barrieada ; is an attempt to pro­ comic sketches. ensure that not a single peasant would go and UNAG also plays an integral role in vide cover for the re-entry into Nicaragua "With this revolution, we are convinced "without land." helping him and his 300-manzana farm. of contra bands forced to retreat to Hon­ that artists like these will be famous, not That price gougers would be nailed. Jacinta is irritated about rationing, duras after major military defeats last year. only nationally, but internationally," he That major defeats of the contras would which ensures distribution of scarce goods, It will take four days to restore power. says, and the peasants burst into applause. be meted out. but makes it impossible, she says, to buy During the day, the atmosphere is calm, "This revolution gives us land, gives us "Pancasan is a special thing for us," more, even when you have money. relaxed, with everybody pitching in. The the chance to learn to read, to go to Francie says, referring to the site of the The contras, she says, now buy their children of the city seem to be on edge that ·school," Tacho says. "We are poor, and we 1967 massacre of leading FSLN fighters by food from the peasants, just like the San­ night. Bonfires are lighted, several to a recognize we have a shortage of middle Somoza's National Guard. "To make these dinista army. There was a nearby battle a block, to provide some light for vigilance. cadres." These are technically trained, commitments, in front of all our people, at few weeks earlier, with nine contras dead. But there are no incidents. politically developed activists capable of Pancasan is the highest pledge to those who But for the most part, it is tranquil, Jacinta The next day, the rivers around Estelf leadership responsibility in state agencies, have died, to all our martyrs." explains. are full of bathers and women doing laun­ mass organizations, the unions, or the Such a commitment, she says, means The contras, she says, referring to them dry. Bread is in scarce supply. The restau­ army. "But," he continues, "we are con­ continuing "the purifying of the FSLN, as the "others," come from "the people." rants are closed. The beer and soft drinks vinced with this revolution we will have begun last October with the launching of a She still is, it seems, unforgiving about that are available are warm, and soon even new leaders like those here before you, national reorganization of the party to cen­ the arrest and brief incarceration of her they are gone. leaders who will come from the poor and tralize its administration and leadership, husband by the government for selling food Fire trucks dispense drinking water. But barefoot people of Nicaragua." Before he draw in new worker, peasant and youth to the contras. Isolated rural families who by nightfall the supply is exhausted, finishes the sentence, the sound of 200 ranks and deepen the dedication and self­ refuse supplies to the contras or are found It is dark Tuesday night, and clouds clapping hands erupts. sacrifice of its members. to have rifles issued by the army are easy obscure the usually star-bright sky. "All that you have seen," Tacho says, This commitment, she says, will con­ targets for retaliation. Suddenly, every light in Esteli goes on now directly appealing to the North Amer­ tinue, in spite of everything. It is decisive Genaro was exonerated, but his wife still - two days ahead of schedule - and an icans, "this land, this work, these people, to the revolution. considers his arrest an indignity committed instant later there is the sound of children do you think this is bad, this is wrong?" It is late at night in the neighborhood, by the government. cheering. The Sandinista looks out from under his but there's a knock on Francie's door. He seems unbothered. The main thing white cowboy hat. "No!" a U.S. coffee She opens it. A jeep's outside, and four is, he says, good prices, good crops. The * * * picker shouts out, and the Nicaraguans and · teenaged soldiers hop out of it. There's work is hard, but the air clean, the view High above Limay, 18 miles from Es­ North Americans ·packed under the porch three young men and a young woman, all brilliant. telf, Anastasio "Tacho" Cruz, fulltime or­ roof laugh and cheer at once. tired, one guy carrying a bandolier of 60 Each peasant house has a small shrine to ganizer of the local FSLN in this rural zone Tacho has been to the FSLN school out­ millimeter bullets. the Virgin Mary, none have electricity, of 8,000 people, is addressing a group of side Esteli, advancing in literacy and "Hey, compaiiera," a soldier with a ruiming water, or outhouses. peasants, soldiers, Sandinista youth, North studying political theory. smile says to Francie, "it's peaceful in San Chickens are killed in our honor and American volunteer coffee pickers, a Another FSLN fighter on the coopera- Juan. Any coffee?"

March 21, 1986 The Militant 11 Filipinos press fight for democracy

Continued from front page this upheaval of "people power" is a coali­ and a boycott of the businesses of the Mar­ tion between conservative forces as­ cos cronies to protest the election fraud and sociated with the landowning oligarchy · bring down Marcos. The Catholic bishops' and figures connected to the mass anti­ conference also took up this call. Marcos "parliament of the streets." The As pressure mounted, Aquino rejected former group includes many who previ­ all overtures toward a compromise under ously supported the dictatorship - the En: which she would share power with Marcos. rile-Ramos wing of the military, traditional Tensions began to emerge within the mili­ politicians such as those in Vice-president tary hierarchy. Finally, on February 22, Salvador Laurel's UNIDO party, and two top military officers-Defense Minis­ forces linked to the Catholic church hierar­ ter Juan Ponce Enrile and Deputy Chief of chy. Staff Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos- fled to the The latter includes a number of promi­ Camp Crame headquarters of the Philip­ nent human-rights lawyers, such as Joker pine Constabulary with a few hundred sol­ Arroyo and Jose Diokno, who defended diers, after being warned of a plot by Mar­ communists and other victims of the Mar­ cos supporters in the military to murder cos repression. them. Plans were also apparently under Different elements within this coalition Filipinos celebrate fall of U.S.-backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos with marches and way to round up many figures in the anti­ continue to contend for influence over the demonstrations. Marcos opposition, including Aquino, who course of the government behind the mass at that time went into hiding. personal authority of Aquino. ety Movement (KBL), and with Marcos­ ready had land. The first important test of the new re­ appointed judges and local politicians. She also pledged to extend the land re­ Human barricade formed lationship of forces arising from the over­ Subsequently, on March 10, Luis Vil­ form beyond rice and com lands to the At this point, Enrile and Ramos de­ throw of Marcos had centered on the resto­ lasuerte, head of the Presidential Commis­ sugar and coconut lands that had been nounced Marcos' electoral fraud and de­ ration of democratic rights. sion on Government Reorganization, an­ exempt from the 1972 reform. But Marcos' clared that they recognized the presidency During her presidential campaign nounced that the Aquino government, as land reform was a fake. It greatly acceler­ of Aquino. Then the Catholic radio station, Aquino had promised the full restoration of part of a six-month transition to constitu­ ated the concentration of the l.and in the Radio Veritas, called on the people of democratic rights, including the release of tional rule, will formally declare itself a hands of fewer owners, including U.S. Manila to mobilize and form a human bar­ all Marcos' political detainees. Enrile, revolutionary government not beholden to monopolies, displacing tens of thousands ricade around Camp Crame to prevent mil­ Ramos, and other conservative elements in the laws of the Marcos period. Marcos' of peasants. Moreover, the indebtedness of itary units loyal to Marcos from attacking the new government strongly opposed this, parliament and constitution would be "de­ exploited peasants has reached staggering the camp. Thousands upon thousands from above all the release of the central leaders funct." levels under this law. both middle-class suburbs and working­ of the Communist Party of the Philippines In their place, a constitutional commis­ Aquino has also announced her support class barrios immediately responded to this (CPP) and its guerrilla organization the sion would be appointed from various sec­ for scrapping the sugar and coconut call, facing down the tanks Marcos sent to New People's Army (NPA). The CPP and tors and political groups to draft a new con­ monopolies run by Marcos cronies. crush the rebels. NPA leaders were being held by the mili­ stitution, Villasuerte said. The commis­ Leaders of the main section of the Moro As the days passed and more and more tary and were initially excluded from the sion, he said, would also have to address National Liberation Front - the Muslim soldiers came over to the rebellion, tension proposed general amnesty. the questions of land reform and local auto­ group fighting government soldiers on outside the camp began to ease. By Feb­ Aquino addressed this question at a huge nomy. Villasuerte argued that the process Mindanao - have been reported as sup­ ruary 25 as many as 2 million people sur­ open air Mass and rally held in Luneta Park of electing a constitutional convention to porting Aquino and willing to return from rounded Camp Crame. The atmosphere in Manila, March 2, to celebrate the over­ carry out these tasks would only delay the exile to discuss a cease-fire with the gov­ was festive. throw of Marcos. transitional period to an elected govern­ ernment provided real moves are made to­ Other crowds were gathered outside a Speaking to a crowd estimated at be~ ment. ward autonomy. radio station seized by the Enrile-Ramos tween 2 and 3 million, Aquino announced Among the political detainees released As further steps to what the Aquino gov­ forces and at the Mindiola Bridge outside the restoration of the writ of habeas corpus, was founding chairman of the CPP Jose ernment calls its "dismantling" of the Mar­ the Malacanang Palace, where Marcos was including on the island of Mindanao, Maria Sison, held for more than eight years cos dictatorship, a number of Marcos' holed up. Finally, on the evening of Feb­ where the Muslim population has been in a military stockade. aging generals have been ordered to retire. ruary 25, Marcos fled the palace in a U.S. waging an armed struggle for autonomy Shortly before he was freed, Sison told Brig. Gen. Salvador Mison, another of the helicopter. The people's uprising had been alongside the NPA rebel movement. She reporters that he welcomed the Aquino "reformists" within the armed forces, has victorious. reiterated her pledge to release all the polit­ government. However, he said, there were been appointed acting chief of staff. Malacanang, so long the palacial bunker ical prisoners as part of her call for "na­ key questions that the government had to Almost all the Marcos-appointed jus­ of a hated dictator, has now opened its iron tional reconciliation." address before there could be any national tices of the Supreme Court and many lower lace gates to the public, and ordinary Over the next few days, most of the de­ reconciliation: above all, the issue of land courts, as well as officials of the Commis­ Filipinos can wander through the palace tained leaders of the CPP, NPA, and the al­ reform and the removal of the two huge sion on Order and Civil Service, submitted gardens, photograph each other in front of lied National Democratic Front were freed, U.S. military bases in the Philippines. courtesy resignations to President Aquino Marcos' former presidential library, and and all are expected to be released soon. "The moment Mrs. Aquino proposes to by March 7. purchase any amount of "people power" Aquino also urged the crowd to continue · solve the land problem, then that is the paraphernalia available from hundreds of the "people power" that had brought down time for Mrs. Aquino and the NPA to New period in class struggle street vendors. the dictatorship, claiming that resistance to talk," Sison said. "There would have to be With the overthrow of the Marcos dic­ President Aquino's statement that she her government from Marcos supporters a dialogue before a cease-fire." tatorship, a new period has opened in the will not live in the palace has received a continues in some areas. She has come into Sison added that Aquino "had inherited Philippine class struggle. The masses of popular welcome. conflict with the national parliament, the whole military instrument that was used Filipino people are beginning to exercise The government that has emerged from which is controlled by Marcos' New Soci- by Marcos to exploit the people. There are the democratic rights they have conquered still problems to solve." through their struggle, as the conflicts con­ During her election campaign, Aquino tinue within the new government and the had said that Marcos' "land reform," old oligarchy. As the principal leaders of launched in 1972, was not enough. She the left return to public political life after Celebration ll1arks release of called for providing technology and mar­ years of incarceration, an important politi- political prisoners keting assistance to those farmers who al- Continued on Page 13 BY DEB SHNOOKAL explained to IP what it was like in Camp Filipino peasant leader tours U.S. MANILA - Red and yellow confetti, Crame through those four days. flashing cameras, and journalists' tape re­ The main fear, he said, was that of re­ BY DAN FEIN for export crops. As examples, Tadeo corders greeted some of the most famous tribution against the rebels by the Marcos AND TIM MAILHOT pointed to Del Monte, which grows political prisoners of the Marcos regime as loyalist armed forces, who might attempt SEA TILE - For the first time in 50 pineapples and has 60,000 acres of prime they arrived at a ~ception to celebrate their to bomb the camp. But the political prison­ years, a Filipino peasant leader is touring agricultural land, and to Dole, which has freedom. The Sayan-sponsored reception ers were not afraid of Enrile and Ramos, he the United States. The tour, which will also 74,000 acres. "The amount of land culti­ was held on the evening of March 7 at the explained. "At that particular moment we cover Canada, began here in February and vated for domestic food consumption is not house of longtime human-rights campaign­ had kindred feelings with the leaders of the will last six months. adequate to feed our population," he said. er Armando Malay. Spirits were high as rebellion. We hoped for their victory. The condition of the peasants is further guests welcomed the recently released pris­ Their downfall would also have been our Jamie Tadeo, chairman of the Peasant aggravated by their indebtedness. During oners, and ex-detainees warmly greeted death. All our lives had somehow come to­ Movement of the Philippines (KMP), was the 1960s and '70s, the Philippines govern­ one another. gether," Serrano said. scheduled to tour, but was twice denied a ment, backed by U.S. business interests, Among those present were Jose Maria He described what it was like in the visa by Washington because "he has no in­ implemented the "Green Revolution." The Sison and Bernabe Buscayno, the CPP and prison in the days after Marcos fled. "It come." This was in spite of invitations by aim of this program was to modernize NPA leaders; Horacio ("Boy") Morales was like a catharsis. We were relieved and the sponsors of the tour - the Canada-Saia Filipino agricultural techniques and in­ and Fr. Ed de Ia Torre of the National jubilant and very happy for the new gov­ Working Group, Alliance for Philippine crease productivity. Democratic Front; and many other CPP ernment that had assumed power. And we Concerns, and the Philippine Resource Credit was made available by rice trad­ leaders such as Alan Jazmines, Noel were thankful to the people. who were a Center- promising to pay all expenses. ers and bankers to the farmers to buy new Etabag, Jerry Bulatar, and Isagani Serrano. key .factor. Without the people we were a Felicisimo Patayan, KMP vice-chair­ strains of high-yield rice and modem Only a few days before, it had seemed goner," he slri.d. man, and Francisco Lara, executive officer equipment. But as the peso was devalued, that the military was planning to block What did he see as the prospects for the of the Philippine Peasant Institute, filled in the cost of these new techniques quickly President Aquino's stated intention to re­ new spirit of national reconciliation that for Tadeo. outstripped their increased production, lease all political prisoners. But Sison, was evidenced by the mass popular rallying Patayan and Lara described the condi­ leaving peasants in a vicious spiral of deep­ Buscayno, and others were dramatically to defend Camp Crame against Marcos? tions of Philippine peasants at a news con­ er and deeper debt. released on March 5. "I think the people up there in the hills ference. They said 70 percent of the peas­ "We were encouraged to import fertiliz­ Isagani Serrano had been imprisoned will react to certain favorable develop­ ants are landless and even many of those ers, insecticide, fungicide and some farm­ twice- first from 1973 to 1976, and then ments, the most important being the release who do own some land do not own enough ers say suicide," said Patayan.' from 1982 to March 5, 1986. He was one of all political prisoners, especially with to support their families. The highlight of the tour was a meeting of the political prisoners in Camp Crame, Joema [Sison] and Bernal?!! Buscayno Tadeo explained there are two reasons held at the Bush-Asia Center in Seattle's where the military rebels, Defense Minis­ being released," he said. "These releases for the landless conditions of the peasants. Asian community. Seventy-five people, ter Juan Ponce Enrile and Lt. Gen. Fidel are a major act of goodwill on the part of One is the rampant land-grabbing of local the majority Filipinos, attended the spirited Ramos, were holed up against Marcos the president, along the lines of reconcilia­ landlords. The other is the multinational event sponsored by Seattle's Filipino As­ from February 22 to February 25. He tion." From Intercontinental Press agribusinesses that take the land and use it sociation for Community Education.

12 The Militant March 21, 1986 -· BUILDING ANTI-APARTHEID AND ANTIWAR AcriONS---...,....- The unionists were impressed the boycott of Hormel products. Policy Alternatives for the Carib­ Honduras. National Guardsmen Farmer, unionists . with the strength of the unions in The African National Congress bean and Central America. have been used in exercises in report on tours Nicaragua and the gains the work­ (ANC) of South Africa was repre­ A warm greeting was given to Central America for oneyear. ers have made since the 1979 rev­ sented by Fred Dube and David Xavier Gorostiaga, coordinator of The St. Louis Pledge of Resis­ to Nicaragua olution. Ndaba. the Regional Center For Social tance is on a campaign against the "Reality is so different from Georgia Assemblyman Tyrone and Economic Research in Nicara­ use of the National Guard in Hon­ BY IZABELLA LISTOPAD what we hear," said Wathke, "it is Brooks presented Dube with a res­ gua. duras. A demonstration of 125 KANSAS CITY, Mo. important for us to know what is olution passed by the assembly Gorostiaga pointed out that he people was held on December 14. Eighty-five people attended a going on in Nicaragua because calling for the release of jailed did not "see any willingneNs to According to Moore, the cam­ meeting here to get the truth about Nicaragua can be an example for ANC leader Nelson Mandela. negotiate in this country at the of­ paign has "snowballed" since the situation in Nicaragua. Speak­ the rest of Central America." Janet Brammer from the Hous­ ficial level." then. ing at the February event were ton Free South Africa Movement Over 5,ooci National Guards­ A lively discussion took place He explained that 60 percent of area labor and farm leaders who explained that the upcoming June the people live below the poverty men from Arizona, Alabama, have recently returned from Nica­ after the program and some people 14 demonstration in New York Missouri, and North Dakota will expressed interest in going to Nic­ level in Central America. "Change ragua. City called by the New York Anti­ is the meaning of peace in Central be involved in the new road con­ Denise O'Brien, a dairy farmer aragua to see the truth for them­ apartheid Coordinating Council struction project, code-named selves. America. The people are demand­ and vice-chair of Iowa Farm was an unprecedented opportunity ing bread, housing, land, and dig­ "Terencio Sierra '86." Unity, had gone to Nicaragua with to link up students and the labor nity. That is the road to peace." The Missouri National Guard a delegation of 15 people sent by movement. Other speakers at the confer­ will be putting in a 12-rnile stretch the North American Farm Al­ Southern The meeting also endorsed a ence included Adolfo Aguilar between Yoro and Jocon. "They. liance. conference boycott of Coca-Cola called by the Zinser from the National Univer­ build the roads in small pieces," She explained that land reform Georgia Coalition for Divestment sity of Mexico and Charles Cle­ said Moore, "so that · they look m Nicaragua has provided against apartheid m South Africa in protest of ments, author of Witness to War. harmless and their construction thousands of farmers with land, Coke's holdings in South Africa. does not require any congressional and farmers in Nicaragua are BY MARTY BOYERS authorization." guaranteed good prices for their ATLANTA - Students from Protest against "It's ironic," she continued, the products. "Unlike in this country, eight states gathered at Atlanta 200 at conference U.S. government says the "road the number of farmers in Nicara­ University for the Southern Re­ on Central useofNat'IGuard construction project is a goodwill gua is increasing," she said. gional Conference on Apartheid in Central mission to help out the people of She also spoke the night before and Racism. America Honduras. They say peasants will to 20 or so farmers in Cameron, be able to use them to get their The February 28-March I con­ America Missouri, where farmers are fight­ BY SETH GALINSKY goods to market. But I ,200 peas- · ference urged students to intensify ing foreclosures. LOS ANGELES - More than BY MAREA HIMELGRIN ants are being kicked off their land their anti-apartheid activities Other speakers included Jeanne 200 students, professors, and ST. LOUIS - "It's obvious. in San Jose del Potrero with no throughout the South by joining Graham of Bakery, Confectionery sanctuary activists from a dozen All you have to do is look at a reimbursement. The airstrip goes the March 21 local protests against and Tobacco Workers Local 218; area campuses attended a confer­ map. What they're doing is build­ right through the middle of their Sue Smith, executive board mem­ U.S. aid to South African-backed ence called "The United States and ing the infrastructure for a power­ village." ber of United Auto Workers Local terrorists in Angola and the April 4 Central America: A Five-year As­ ful war machine," said Peggy For more information on pro­ 282; and Dave Wathke, business National Divestment Protest Day. sessment." Moore, a leader of the St. Louis testing the use of the Guard con­ manager, National Education As­ The students welcomed John The February 22 meeting was Pledge of Resistance. tact the St. Louis Pledge of Resis­ sociation Region 5. They were all Hegard, a representative of United organized by the Faculty Commit­ Moore was referring to the tance, 438 N. Skinker, St. Louis, part of a unionist tour to Nicaragua Food and · Commercial Workers tee for Human Rights in EI Sal­ roads that the Missouri National Missouri 63130. Telephone (314) last fall. Local P-9, and decided to support vador/Central America and by Guard has been sent to build in 725-2393. Central America, S. Africa focus of Detroit teach-in

BY JOANNE MURPHY direct extension of the South African and South West Africa People's Organization vention." DETROIT - Representatives from lib­ U.S. governments' schemes to ensure that of Namibia, protested U.S. support to the He referred to the television movie eration struggles in Central America and people in the region do not have any UNIT A bandits in Angola. This support is "Under Siege," which invented an Arab southern Africa were featured at a recent breathing space." also aimed at weakening the struggle terrorist group headquartered in the Detroit rally at Wayne State University. The rally Nmonde Ngubo, a member of the Na­ against South African occupation of suburb of Dearborn's Arab-American com­ closed a two-day teach-in sponsored by the tional Union of Mineworkers of South Af­ Namibia, which borders on Angola. munity, as an attempt "to paint Arabs, university's student council. rica, who helps organize the anti-apartheid He hailed the "Cuban internationalist Middle Eastern people, or Arab-Americans On February 5 a news conference was activities of the United Mine Workers of fighters" who enabled Angola to hold off a as a suspect, terrorist community." held to greet the South African and Nami­ America, said, "The apartheid structure 1975 invasion by South African forces. Speaking for the Democratic Revolu­ bian liberation fighters who were to partici­ should be dismantled, not reformed. That Abdeen Jabara, president of the Detroit tionary Front and the Farabundo MartiNa­ pate in the teach-in. Detroit Metro AFL­ is one reason why U.S. companies should chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Dis­ tional Liberation Front of El Salvador, Vic­ CIO President Tom Turner, Detroit leave. There is blood on the money these crimination Committee, also spoke. He de­ tor Rubio paid "special tribute to the people NAACP President Joe Madison, and others multinationals are making." She supported nounced the government's creation of a of both the Philippines and Haiti." spoke. the current boycott of Shell Oil, which pro­ "new bogeyman - the terrorist" as an ef­ He warned against the U.S. campaign to The February 8 rally heard a panel of tests that corporation's investments in fort to whip up the people of the United portray the Salvadoran revolution as" a los­ speakers including Francisco Campbell, apartheid. States to support "more Grenadas, more ing cause" arid described recent gains by representing the Nicaraguan embassy in Hinyangerwa Asheeke, speaking for the downing of; civilian airliners, more inter- the liberation fighters. Washington, D.C. Campbell warned: "The policy of the U.S. administration is leading towardthe involvement of U.S. combat troops in Cen­ Philippines: masses press fight for democracy tral America. When that happens ... inno­ cent Latin Americans, innocent Central ·Continued from Page 12 swept Marcos from power, and the speed leadership role in the massive outpouring Americans, and innocent North Americans cal discussion is developing within the pro­ with which they developed, caught all the of February 22-25. will suffer the consequences." gressive movements over how to assess the left-wing organizations by surprise. . In fact, many individuals and groups Victor Mashabela represented the mis­ Aquino government and the process that What was the "people power revolu­ within the CPP-led mass organizations sion to the United Nations of the African thrust the new president into power. A cen­ tion"? Was it a genuine popular revolution? broke away to participate in the popular National Congress, the liberation group tral question is how to utilize the new situ­ Or was it in essence a military coup , movements around the electoral challenge that has won massive popular support in ation to push forward the struggle of the. scripted in Washington? · to Marcos' rule. These break-aways in­ South Africa. workers and peasants in face of an over­ Should revolutionaries take up Aquino's cluded some chapters of Bayan and even He denounced U.S. assistance to the Na­ whelming economic crisis. call to maintain "people power" to strive to the NPA in some areas like southern tional Union for the Total Independence of advance the organization of the workers Luzon. The depth of the lllobilizations during Angola, a terrorist group backed by the and peasants? Should they seek representa­ Some much smaller revolutionary or­ and after the elections, which eventually South African government. "UNIT A is a tion in the government? Or would this sub­ ganizations participated in the mass cam­ ordinate the working people to a bourgeois paign around Aquino, although they were government? not strong enough to help shape the unfold­ Should revolutionaries fight to widen the ing events to the extent the CPP might New from Pathfinder Press democratic opening and win legalization of have. Apartheid's Great Land Theft: Tbe the left parties? Or is the democratic open­ ing necessarily short-lived and the task of Among the Filipino masses there is a Struggle for tbe Right to Farm in strong sense of relief that they were able to South Africa by Ernest Harsch. the revolutionaries to remain in the under­ ground and in the hills to prepare for the re­ rid the country of Marcos with so little turn of conditions like those under Marcos? bloodshed. They have acquired a new na­ Tells the story of the fight over land, tional pride and consciousness of their which has been at the center of the Should there be "critical collaboration" with or "principled opposition" to the power through their role in ousting the dic­ struggle between South Africa's white tator. rulers and its subjugated Black majority. Aquino government? Questions like these are being hotly de­ This is summed up in the popular slogan bated in the universities and union offices, "Mabuhay ang Pilipino" (Long live the This pamphlet is an important ·tool to Filipino). They are in a stronger position help build the movement to break all among the former political prisoners, and in the countryside. today to wage new struggles to defend and U.S. ties with the apartheid regime. extend the rights they conquered through This discussion has been stimulated by "people power." It is available at the Pathfinder the virtual abstention of the CPP and the Bookstore nearest you (see directory mass organizations it influences from the Russell Johnson is a leader of the Socialist on page 16) or from Pathfinder Press, mass antidictatorial movement that arose Action League, New Zealand section ofth e 410 West St., New York. N.Y. 10014. 56 around the Aquino candidacy through their Fourth International, an international pp., $1.25. Please include $.75 for han­ decision to boycott the election. This effec­ Marxist organization, and Deb Shnookal is dling. tively put the CPP outside the events that a Fourth Internatiolt{Jlist from Austra­ unfolded, preventing it from assuming a lia. From Intercontinental Press

March 21, 1986 The Militant 13 U.S. rulers debate funding for 'contras'

Continued from front page The White House continues to try to Nicaraguan government is involved in drug pretty up the contras. Reagan called them trafficking." "the moral descendants of the men at . . . While none of this "proof' has ever been Valley Forge.". brought to light, there is hard evidence that Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Ab­ the contras deal dope. A recent report by rams responded, in answer to a question two Associated Press reporters showed that from Senator Richard Lugar, "You asked the contras are heavily involved in traffick­ about the allegation that the Nicaragua re­ ing cocaine from Colombia into the United sistance consists of, or is led by, supporters States. of the late dictator Anastasio Somoza. We have reviewed the facts carefully and con­ Nicaragua and the Philippines clude that this charge is incorrect and mis­ A central theme of the Reagan campaign leading." is the comparison of Nicaragua with the This denial was answered by none other Philippines. "We stood for democracy in than . . . Arturo Cni:i, one of several contra the Philippines; we have to stand for de­ leaders that Reagan brought to Washington mocracy in Nicaragua and throughout Cen­ recently to help argue for aid. In an inter­ tral America and in our hemisphere," view in the March 9 Washington Post, claimed Reagan. Cruz admitted that Col. Enrique Ber­ Liberal opponents of the White House mudez, the central military commander of contra aid package here dissected his com- the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the parison. . largest contra outfit, "is a former member "This 'parallel' denigrates the remarka­ of the National Guard, and so are several ble achievement of the Philippine people in others, including the largest number in the their spontaneous uprising against Fer­ inner staff." Militant/Michael Baumann dinand Marcos," pointed out Tom Wicker Contra leader Adolfo Calero, who Funeral of one of the victims of U.S.-backed contra war in Nicaragua in a column in the March 4 New York Reagan wined and dined this month, told Times. In the Philippines, he wrote, "a real the New York Times last August that it is "a United States can then step aside and watch stick" approach to the contra aid fight con­ tyrant, through corruption, brutality, and delicate thing'' to persuade the contras to the Warsaw Pact roll up Central America, sists of unbridled red-baiting of all who murder, brought the population to the boil­ "respect the lives of prisoners and pro-San­ or we send in the marines." criticize the $100 million proposal. ing point; whatever charges may be ma~e dinista civilians without demoralizing the Congresspeople who are opposed to the The crudest piece was a column in the against the Sandinistas, that cannot be said fighters ." So "delicate," apparently, that of them. By massive fraud and violence, $100 million have pointed out that pre­ March 5 Washington Post by Patrick they decided not to even try . cisely the opposite is true: backing the con­ Buchanan: the tyrant ignored and reversed the clear Rep . David Bonoir (D.-Mich.), chair of tras increases the danger of direct U.S. mil­ "Whether Central America follows will of the people expressed in a national the House Democratic task force on Nica­ itary involvement. Southeast Asia, Afghanistan, and Angola election; whatever deficiencies may be laid ragua, pointed to the series of documented to the Nicaraguan election of 1984, nothing Rep. David Obey (D .'-Wis .) said aid to as the next appendage of Soviet Empire is a reports of contra attacks on civilians, say­ the contras might be the start on "a slippery in it remotely approached the outrage per- ing, "With this campaign of terror, is it any question to which the Democratic Party in slope to involvement." Congress now holds the answer," began petrated by Mr. Marcos. . wonder that the contras have not sparked a "I doubt very much ," he said, "that a Buchanan. "Filipinos who rose in their wrath to nd popular, democratic movement inside Nic­ complete overthrow of the Sandinistas is "About the character of the Sandinista their country of the tyrant were not or­ aragua." likely to happen without massive interven­ regime, doubt no longer remains. Even the ganized and financed by the Central Intelli­ Tailoring the slanders to what he thought tion by us, or without much more massive 'useful idiots' of Lenin 's depiction- the gence Agency or 'covert' funds from would appeal to his audience, Reagan told resources than you are talking about pro­ liberated nuns and Marxist Maryknolls, the Washington, as were the Nicaraguan 'con­ the meeting of leaders of Jewish organiza­ tras.' And when Filipinos had had enough, viding to the contras." journalistic camp followers and tenured tions: "What is the official Sandinista pos­ Mel Levine (D. -Calif.), chair of the they swept all before them, disclosing in a ition on the persecution of the Jewish com­ professors anxious to wow the coeds with Democratic Caucus Task Force on Central how they picked coffee beans for the revo­ matter of days the rotten underpinnings of munity? The Jews, they say, have a America, told a March 5 news conference, lution- seem defensive ." the tyrant's regime; but after five years of 'bourgeois mentality' that prevented them "The president's policy leads to increasing Getting warmed up, Buchanan con­ effort and millions of U.S. dollars, the con­ from adjusting to communism. I'll buy that military activity and its logical result will tinued, "Desertion of the democratic resis­ tras have yet to take and hold a single town 'bourgeois mentality' anytime." be direct American military involvement in tance by Congress would lead , as night fol­ in Nicaragua, or to set off the smallest rip­ He followed that up with the warning Nicaragua." lows day , to ·Joss of Central America. A ple of popular uprising anywhere in that that "if the Sandinistas are allowed to con­ House Speaker Thomas O'Neill and Congress that will not send Redeye mis­ unhappy country." solidate thdr hold on Nicaragua, we 'll other leading liberal Democrats have ex- siles to save Nicaragua will not send Amer­ have a permanent staging ground for ter­ pressed similar views. . ican boys to save Guatemala .... As Cuba Latin America opposes aid rorism, a home away from home for Qad­ The threat of Nicaraguan "subversion" The "stick" aspect of what the White is base for reconnaissance bombers patrol- dafi , Arafat, and the Ayatollah, just three House has taken to calling its "carrot and overtaking the hemisphere has been hours by air from the United States bor­ Continued on Page 17 another chord repeatedly struck in the con­ der." tra-aid debate. If the $100 million isn't given to the contras, Shultz warned on U.S. troops Do you know someone who reads Spanish? March 2, the hemisphere might be "taken The contra-aid debate has included a dis­ hostage by totalitarians." . cussion on the possibilities of a direct use And Reagan told a March 5 gathering of of U.S . troops to invade Nicaragua.· 'PM' on victory in Philippines presidents of major Jewish groups that "if Reagan, Shultz, Secretary of Defense After the overthrow of hated we don't want to see the map of Central Caspar Weinberger, and White House Philippine dictator Ferdinand America covered in a sea of red, eventually communications director Pittrick Buchanan Marcos, both Reagan's Republi­ lapping at our own borders, we must act all claim that giving. the contras the $100 now." can administration and Demo­ million will make it less likely that the Pen­ crats in Congress are trying to The amount of punch this particular tagon will invade. charge packs has been undercut by the fact parade thems~lves as the ones re­ "American troops have not been asked sponsible for his downfall. But El pueblo filipino barre that not one government in Latin America for and are not needed," said Reagan. "We this is a lie. The Filipino people con Ia dictadura Marcos is willing to openly call for aid to. the con­ must make sure they are never needed. We owe their victory to no one but • tras. send money and material now so we'll EUA In fact, several Latin American govern­ never have to send our own American themselves. Crece apoyo ments have come out publicly against the boys." The current issue of Perspectiva a huelguistas aid. The most recent was Colombia's Pres­ M undial describes the powerful de Ia Hormel Buchanan, on "CBS Morning News ," ident Belisario Betancur. mobilizations of hundreds of EUA In a March 9 interview with the ·wash­ warned, "If we don't get that assistance to thousands of people in.the streets Reagan pide ington Post, Betancur declared, "All of the contras, they'll be defeated. The com­ of Manila that won the day. The cien milones munists . .. will roll up Nicaragua and then para Ia contra ~- Latin America doesn't like the Reagan pro­ masses fraternized with the I posal." we 'll be left with two options: basically the troops. It was their irrepressible HAITi El aborto: determination to win freedom Pueblo exige derecho vital de that pushed the Catholic hierar­ un profundo cambio social Ia muier hispana chy into open opposition to the re­ McAliskey on Loyalist threat gime. Finally, Washington was unable to pull off any deal that working people and the oppressed scribed the present government in Dublin, Continued from back page could save the despot. in the U.S. a'nd around the world. fairs in Northern Ireland, which the British which signed the pact~ as "a bunch of PM points to the challenges gangsters whose time is up." jSuscribete ahora! do not have to accept. In return the Irish now facing the Filipino people as Subscriptions: $16 for one government accepts continued partition of The Irish government claims the agree­ they continue to press for free­ year; $8 for six months; Intro­ Ireland. ment will give nationalists a voice in the dom, land reform, relief from pov­ "The fact that the Loyalists are so an­ ductory offer, $3.00 for three British colony. erty and unemployment. months. noyed by the agreement," McAliskey This issue also analyzes the explained, "convinced many people that "Times right now are rough for the Reagan administration's cam­ there must be something good in the ac­ nationalist community and they'll get 0 Begin my sub with current cord." rougher," McAliskey warned. ·The grow­ paign for another $100 million to issue. But she disputed this view . "To ing attacks on the nationalist community, fund the mercenary army waging Name ------Loyalists, being British means standing she said, must be answered by heightened war on the Nicaraguan people. over the Irish," she stated, and they oppose unity among supporters of Irish reunifica­ Address ------tion. anything that even hints they may not have Perspectiva M undial is the City/State/Zip ______a free hand to deal with the nationalists as Noting that she is well-known as a Spanish-language socialist maga­ they choose. socialist in Ireland, McAliskey called for zine that every two weeks brings Clip and mail to PM, 408 West St., Noting that Britain's Secretary of State "the broadest unity of nationalist forces you the truth about the struggles of New York, NY 10014. for Northern Ireland says the agreement from left to center to right" against the "copper-fastens partition," McAliskey de- Loyalist attacks, Nicaraguan gov't signs cease-fire with leaders of Miskito groups

BY CINDY JAQUITH needs and problems of the Coast. They will MANAGUA, Nicaragua- A stepped­ carry out projects to develop the region's up drive by Washington to reignite full­ economy and social services and to pro­ scale war on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast is mote the cultures, languages, and tradi­ being rebuffed by Miskito Indian com­ tions of costefios, which were suppressed Nicaraguan government has established cease-tires with most armed Miskito groups munities. under Somoza. inside Nicaragua that had been part of U.S. government's mercenary war. Here, On February 27 in the city of Puerto The strong pressure by Miskitos and Reynaldo Reyes, leader of a MISURA group observing cease-tire, explains that con­ Cabezas, the main population center in other costefios for autonomy and an end to tras• goal is to sabotage project to establish regional government autonomy on Atlan-· Northern Zelaya Province, the Sandinista the U.S.-sponsored war is reflected not tic Coast. National Liberation Front (FSLN) an­ only in the eased military situation but also nounced that it had signed a joint military in a recent decision of the Moravian 100 families, called on the government to dents fled. By early February, troops of the pact with two leaders of the organization Church, which has significant influence help repair roads, build a school, and fix up Sandinista army, Ministry of the Interior, KISAN. KISAN is made up of various among Miskitos. At its Seventh Triennial the local church. It was agreed that the and air force had driven the terrorists out of Miskito groups that have been engaged in Synod, held in February, the Nicaraguan government would send a medical brigade Layasiksa. anned attacks on Nicaragua. Moravian Church came out for autonomy to Sutkapin once a month and that three Responding to slanders in the U.S. big­ Guerrilla and Brigade Commander Fran­ and against the mercenary war. local youth would be sent to Puerto business media that the Sandinistas had in­ cisco Rivera of the FSLN made the an­ The war, said a statement released by the Cabezas for training as teachers. Govern­ discriminately bombed Miskito villages nouncement at a celebration of the sixth an­ synod, "serves only to destroy, not to ment representatives agreed to discuss the searching for Rivera and his U.S. allies, niversary of the founding of the Sandinista build. We demand that all external forces possibility of sending heavy equipment to the Nicaraguan government invited.a fact­ People's Militias. Rivera reported that an immediately cease their support to violence repair the roads in the near future. finding commission to visit Layasiksa and Act for Unity and Distribution of Areas of and use their influence to promote peace." Several speakers, including some MIS­ interview the Miskitos who lived there. Protection had been signed by the FSLN It called on "our people and all Nicara­ URA leaders, pointed out that the lack of The commission included representatives and KISAN leaders Juan Salgado and guan citizens of the Coast to actively par­ resources in Sutkapin was exacerbated by of the Red Cross, various churches, and the Larry Wilson. The accord calls for "uniting ticipate" in the autonomy discussion, in the destruction caused by mercenary at­ government. our forces," said Rivera, to defend North­ order to "achieve a real autonomy in the tacks on the town. Achieving total peace in Many of the residents told the commis­ em Zelaya "from those who do not want spirit of unity of the Nicaraguan nation." the area, it was pointed out, would allow sion they had fled the town out of fear of peace." development projects to proceed and per­ the military conflict they knew was coming Present at the celebration were a battal­ Background to current situation mit Miskitos to complete the autonomy once Rivera entered the village. Most had ion of Sandinista militia members from the Since May 1985, Sandinista authorities project. returned to their homes at the time of the area, a group of young draftees being de­ have established de facto cease-fires with Reynaldo Reyes, leader of a MISURA fact-finding visit. They were receiving mobilized from the Sandinista army, and most of the armed Miskito groups inside group observing the cease-fire, said, "It's medical treatment from the Ministry of the local youth who were entering the army for Nicaragua that had been part of Washing­ the counterrevolutionary bands that want Interior and army, as well as food provi­ the first time. ton's mercenary war. These include many the autonomy process to fail. They're the sions. The joint accord between the FSLN and armed units of both MISURA and MIS­ ones who are attacking us." One member of the commission, Bishop the two KISAN leaders represents further URASATA. "They're the ones we have to struggle Hedley Wilson of the Moravian Church, progress in establishing peace and stability MISURA was originally led by Stead­ against," agreed Martin Hodgson, also said he had expected to find the village on the Atlantic Coast and isolating those man Fagoth, a proven agent of Somoza. It from a group observing the cease-fire . The wiped off the map. "We're pleased to find U.S.-financed and organized mercenary functions under·the command of the Hon­ mercenaries backed by the U.S. govern­ that everything's okay," he told the FSLN groups who continue to carry out military duran-based mercenary army called the ment want to return Miskitos to the past of daily Barricada. attacks on civilians and government per­ Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN). The exploitation, he said. sonnel in the area. FDN is headed by ex-officers of Somoza's Rivera's political line The progress on the military front is ·a National Guard and is the largest CIA-or­ Washington trying to regain initiative The goal of Rivera's ill-fated entry into product of the political advances the revo­ ganized mercenary group. Faced with the disintegration of its war Nicaragua was to provoke a bloody inter­ lution is making on the Coast, particularly MISURASA T A was originally led by on the Coast, Washington is desperately national incident that could be used to bol­ the project to establish regional govern­ Brooklyn Rivera and associated with the trying to blow up the dialogue between ster the CIA slander that the Sandinistas re­ ment autonomy there. Last fall , thousands Costa Rican-based mercenary group called armed Miskito group ~ and the Sandinistas. press Indians. The participation of Means of costdios (residents of the Coast) partici­ the Revolutionary Democratic Alliance The U.S. goal is to engulf the region in and other Indians from North America was pated in assemblies to discuss a proposal headed by Eden Pastora. fighting once again, preventing the con­ aimed at influencing U.S. and Canadian drafted by a national autonomy commis­ Over the past two years, MISURA and solidation of autonomy and the recupera­ public opinion in particular. sion made up of the various racial groups MISURASAT A have both fractured into tion of the region's economy. Ideologically, Rivera is trying to coun­ on the Coast - Miskito, Sumo, and Rama various factions under the pressure of the In early February; Jose Gonzalez, dele­ terpose to the popular autonomy proposal a Indians; Creoles and Garifonas, both de­ growing demands of the majority of Mis­ gate of the Ministry of the Interior in separatist schema that pits Miskitos against scendants of African slaves; and mestizos, kitos for an end ~the fighting on the At­ Northern Zelaya, warned of an escalation all the other working people in Nicaragua who speak Spanish. lantic Coast. The experience of the contra of U.S.-sponsored terror in the region. He and against the Sandinista revolution. The autonomy proposal is aimed at over­ groups destroying schools, clinics, and reported that Washington had sent -several Churning out the political arguments for coming the legacy of racial discrimination, housing, as well as massacring Indians, hundred FDN mercenaries into the prov­ Rivera are the World Council of Indigen­ isolation, and backwardness imposed on combined with the project to establish reg­ ince and armed them heavily. ous Peoples and the Indian Law Resource the Coast by British and U.S. imperialism. ional government autonomy, has increas­ Gonzalez, who has since become coor­ Center, which is based in Washington, and the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. ingly alienated Miskitos from the contra dinator of the FSLN in Northern Zelaya, D.C. According to the Resource Center, It is also designed to deepen the participa­ war and its CIA sponsors. said the mercenaries would try to assassi­ Indians are members of a "Fourth World." tion of costefios in the Sandinista revolu­ Last summer, in a U.S. government ef­ nate Miskito leaders who had deserted the Their struggle for liberation has nothing to tion, cementing a firm alliance between the fort to reunite the area's MISURA and CIA and are involved in peace talks with do with that of other peoples in nations op­ working people of the Atlantic and the MISURASAT A factions and continue the the Sandinistas. Another goal is to block pressed by imperialism or with the class Pacific coasts. war, KISAN was formed in Honduras. the continued return of Miskitos from Hon­ struggle of workers and peasants in gen- The project envisions establishing two Some KISAN groups have continued car­ duras, where many had been forcibly eral. - regional governments - one in Northern rying out terrorist actions, rejecting the moved by the contras. Gonzalez also re­ The purpose of this political line, as Bar­ Zelaya and one in Southern Zelaya - with Nicaraguan government's offer of dialogue ported that mercenaries had recently at­ ricada recently explained, "is to drive In­ representation of the area's six racial and cease-fire. Some MISURA and MIS­ tacked a boat carrying food to the Rio dian groups away from the rural and urban groups. The governments will have special URASA T A units independent of KISAN Coco. The Miskitos used to live along the movements of peoples who identify with powers to implement national policies of have also tried to keep the fighting going. river and are now returning home. progressive ideas. In other words, its Nicaragua's workers' and farmers' govern­ But the majority of armed Miskito groups Those Miskitos who have returned to the ideological axis is to convince Indians that ment in accordance with the historical inside Nicaragua, both in Northern and Rio Coco have been a constant target of the they have nothing in common with other Southern Zelaya, are observing the cease­ mercenaries, who have consistently sectors, such as farm workers, peasants, fire. worked to block the transport of desper­ artisans, or industrial workers ." Speech by Nicaraguan Those Miskitos taking part in the cease­ ately needed food and other supplies to the More and more Miskitos, however, are Commander fire have not laid down their arms, but river communities being rebuilt. The com­ beginning to reject Rivera's line and are many have returned to their communities munities are operating with extremely beginning - within the framework of au­ Tomas Borge on the Coast and begun to participate in so­ primitive living conditions and severe tonomy - to overcome the racism, ex­ ciety. In some cases, they have engaged in shortages. ploitation, and backwardness they have and the combat against the CIA-run mercenary Washington's most publicized war move suffered historically. This, in tum, is push­ Women groups. Some have also begun to partici­ was to help MISURASAT A leader Brook­ ing those Miskitos still in arms toward pate in public meetings held to discuss the lyn Rivera infiltrate Northern Zelaya, cease-fire and reincorporation into Nicara­ Nicaraguan autonomy project. accompanied by 200 other mercenaries, in­ guan society. An example of the process taking place cluding Russell Means , a former figure in In mid-February, two leaders of MIS­ was a "Face the People" meeting held be­ the American Indian Movement of the URA units granted an interview to San­ Revolution tween Sandinista representatives and Mis­ United States, and Canadian Clem Char­ dinista television, which broadcast it na­ 30 pp.' $. 75. kito residents of the Northern Zelaya com­ tier, president of the World Council of In­ tionally. The MISURA leaders announced Order from Pathfinder Press, 410 munity of Sutkapin in early February. Sev­ dian Peoples. that they wanted to be added to Nicara­ West St. , N.Y. , N.Y. 10014. Please eralleaders of Miskito armed groups taking The counterrevolutionaries reached the gua's autonomy commission. Said one, part in the cease-fire participated. Miskito community of Layasiksa, south of "Some people say if we do this we're sur­ include $. 75 postage. The residents of Sutkapin, a village of Puerto Cabezas. Many of the town's resi- rendering. We don't consider it surrender." -THE GREAT SOCIETY-----'------

The answer man - Reagan he departed with. paid "is still being studied." The Nicaraguan contras if the San­ Agency tell the panel when it has had a ready answer for how his PXs are self-supporting and profits dinistas hold free elections, "like been misled by any agency offi­ good buddy Marcos piled up those And a room at the White are supposed to go for GI recre­ in the Philippines." A good deal. cial, including the director." - billions. Marcos, the prez under- House - A crony in Hawaii said ation. Unleash the goons, take a fast News item. Marcos may try to dodge conse­ count of the ballots, and qualify as quences of his crimes in the Souvenir hunter - During a a Free. World Ally. The march of civilization - A Philippines by quickly becoming a 1978 visit to the Big Apple, Im­ patent was issued for an audio de­ U.S. citizen, which is possible for elda Marcos dropped in at Bul­ And small incomes? - Con­ vice that is activated when some­ Filipinos who participated in the gari's jewelry shop in the Hotel tract Freighters of Joplin, Mo., is one monkeys with a door or win­ U.S . war against Japan. Earlier Pierre and picked up $1.43 million looking t~; hire 500 unemployed dow . The sound of a ferocious dog Harry this year, long-suppressed U.S . worth of jeweled trinkets. farmers as truck drivers, figuring barking is activated, in stereo. Army files confirmed Marcos' they are used to heavy equipment Ring much vaunted "war hero" record Just what they need- "I can and irregular hours. Thought for the week - "De­ was a "fraud." see her as governor of Hawaii." ­ mystification of the law is all very Joe Lazo, an Imelda Marcos fan in Funniest story of the week - well, but the power of the law over Traveler's Aid - U.S. au­ Honolulu. "WASHINGTON - Two mem­ the minds of men will surely col­ stands, was already a millionaire thorities permitted the Marcos bers of the Senate Select Commit­ lapse if the. process goes too far, when he took office and may have gang to run up tabs of$39,101.76 Do it right - Paul Lugar, head tee on Intelligence said today that and the public comes to see the increaseq his pile by legitimate in­ at air force PXs in Guam and of the Senate Foreign Relations they would insist that the man law as a purely man-made instru­ vestments. Sure, chief. Like the Hawaii. The State Dept. said the Committee, said Washington nominated to be the new deputy ment." - Patrick Atiyah, a Brit­ 22 crates of freshly minted pesos question of how the bills would be should offer to drop its aid to the director of the Central Intelligence ish legal scholar. -CALENDAR------MINNESOTA sentative of Friends of the Filipino People; rep­ and discussion. Sun., March 16, 7:30 p.m. CALIFORNIA resentative of Socialist Workers Party. Sun., 5412 Jefferson Ave. Donation: $3. Ausp: Mili­ Los Angeles St. Paul March 16, 5 p.m. 2219 E Market St. Donation: tant Labor Forum. For more information call The Fight for Women's Rights Around the Socialist Campaign Rally: Solidarity With $2 . Ausp: Militant Labor Forum . For more in­ (804) 380-0133. World. Film showing of Women in Nicaragua, the Austin Strikers, Stop Farm Foreclosures, formation call (919) 272-5996. the Second Revolution and a presentation by a End U.S. War in Central America! Speaker: Hormel Strikers -Fighting for All Working representative of the African National Congress Geoff Mirelowitz, Socialist Workers Party can­ People. Eyewitness report from Austin, Min­ WASHINGTON, D.C. of South Africa. Translation to Spanish. Sat., didate for governor. Sun., April6. Reception, 4 nesota. Speaker: Rich Stuart, Socialist Workers Rebellion in Haiti. Speaker: Fritz Longchamp, March 22, 7:30p.m. 2546 W Pico Blvd. Ausp: p.m.; rally, 5 p.m. 508 N Snelling Ave . Ausp: candidate for U.S. Senate, member of textile program coordinator, Washington Office on Young Socialist Alliance. For more information Minnesota Socialist Workers Campaign. For workers' union; other speakers to be an­ Haiti. Translation to Spanish and Creole. Sat., call (213) 380-9460. more information call (612) 644-6325 . nounced. Sun., March 23, 5 p.m. 2219 E Mar­ March 15, 7 p.m. 3106 Mt. Pleasant St. NW. Oakland ket St. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For Socialist Campaign Kick-Off Rally. Speaker: Forum. For more information call (919) 272- more information call (202) 797-7699. NEW JERSEY The Roots of Women's Oppression. A panel Miesa Patterson, Socialist Workers Party candi­ Newark 5996. date for U.S. Congress, 8th C.D. Translation to discussion. Translation to Spanish. Sat., March Behind the Rebellion in Haiti. Film showing 22, 7 p.m. 3106 Mt. Pleasant St. NW. Dona­ Spanish. Sun., April6. Dinner, 5 p.m.; rally 7 of Bitter Cane, a documentary on life under OHIO p.m. 3808 E 14th St. Donation: $5. Ausp: tion: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more Duvalier dictatorship. Speaker: representative Cincinnati information call (202) 797-7699. Socialist Workers Campaign. For more infor­ of the Committee Against Repression in Haiti. The Debate on Abortion Rights in Nicara­ mation call (415) 261-3014. Translation to Spanish and French. Fri., March gua. Speaker: Barbara Sack, member Cincin­ 21, 7:30p.m. 141 Halsey St. Donation: $3 . nati National Organization for Women and WEST VIRGINIA MICHIGAN Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ Socialist Workers Party. Sun., March 16, 7:30 Detroit mation call (201) 643-3341. p.m. 4945 Paddock Rd . Donation: $2.50. Charleston Grenada: the Future Coming Towards Us. A Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ The Philippine Freedom Struggle and the film documentary. Speaker: Tim Craine, mation call (513) 242-7161 . Fall of Marcos. Speaker: Jim Gates, Socialist Socialist Workers Party candidate for lieutenant NEW YORK Solidarity with the Hormel Workers. An eye­ Workers Party. Sun., March 16, 7 p.m. 611-A governor of Michigan. Translation to Spanish. Albany witness report. Speaker: Mark Rahn, chairper­ Tennessee Ave. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Sat., March 15, 8 p.m. 2135 Woodward Ave . From Sharpeville, South Africa, to Albany, son, Cincinnati Young Socialist Alliance, just Labor Forum. For more information call (304) Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For USA. A cultural program in commemoration of returned from Austin, Minnesota. Sun., March 345-3040. more information call (313) 961-0395. the Sharpeville massacre. Featuring the Se­ 23, 7:30 p.m. 4945 Paddock Rd . Donation: Morgantown Boycott South Africa, Not Nicaragua! A chaba Singers. Fri., March 21, 7:30 p.in .' $2.50. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more The Fight for Women's Rights Today. A Socialist Workers campaign rally . Speaker: Mount Calvary Baptist Church, 58 Alexander information call (513) 242-7161. panel discussion with members of the National Kate Kaku, Socialist Workers Party candidate St. Ausp: Capital District Coalition Against Organization for Women, Coalition of Labor for governor of Michigan. Translation to Apartheid and Racism. For more information OREGON Union Women, and the Socialist Workers. Spanish. Sat., March 22, 8 p.m. 2135 Wood­ call (518) 436-0562. Portland Party. Sat., March 15, 7:30p.m. 221 Pleasant ward Ave . Donation: $2. Ausp: Michigan Manhattan No U.S. Aid to Nicaragua Contras! Speakers: St. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. Socialist Workers Campaign. For more infor­ The Hope for Peace in Central America. New Markie Wilson, member Amalgamated Cioth­ For more information call (304) 296-0055. mation call (313) 961-0395 . York Area Central America Week, March 15- ing and Textile Workers Union Local 127 and What Socialists Stand For. A class series con­ 24. Ten days of events and activities including: representative of the Socialist Workers Party; ducted by the Young Socialist Alliance. "Central American and Caribbean Women," a Jaime Partridge, member National Association I. "What Is Apartheid?" Wed., March 19,6 series of workshops, speakers, films, and cul­ of Letter Carriers, executive secretary of Port­ p.m. tural events sponsored by Casa Nicaragua and land Labor Committee on Central America and 2. "The Strike by Meatpackers Against Hoc­ AMNLAE Filial "Arlen Siu ." Sat., March 15 , the Caribbean. Slide show and discussion. Sat., mel" Wed. , March 26, 6 p.m. See Nicaragua with 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. New School for Social Rec March 22, 7:30 p.m. Preforum dinner 6 p.m. 221 Pleasant St. Ausp: YSA. For more infor­ delegation of performers, search, 65 5th Ave . 2732 NE Union. Donation: forum, $2; dinner, mation call (304) 296-0055 . artists, writers Demonstration Against U.S. Intervention $3. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more in­ in Central America and Southern Africa. No formation call (503) 287-7416. Join Ventana group as guests of the San­ Aid to 'the Contras, No Aid to UNIT A! Fri. , WISCONSIN dinista Association of Cultural Workers March 21, 4-6:30 p.lil. Federal Building (be­ UTAH Milwaukee in Nicaragua, April 10-20, 1986. Tour tween Worth and Duane streets). For more in­ ;Basta Ya! A slideshow on women in Central includes contact ·with Nicaraguan cul­ formation call (212) 962-1210. Salt Lake City America. Sat., March 15, 7:30p.m. 4707 W tural workers, attendance at perfor­ For more information on week's activities No Aid to the Contras! Demonstration, Sat., Lisbon Ave . Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant mances, and day trips outside of Mana­ call (212) 304-0489 or 870-2162. March 22, 12 noon . Federal Building, 125 S Labor Forum. For more information call (414) gua.. Cost - including airfare from State St. Ausp: Central America Solidarity Co­ 445-2076. Mexico City and back, room and board, alition. For more information call (801) 973- The Socialist Alternative in '86. Speaker: and travel within Nicaragua - approxi­ NORTH CAROLINA 9919 or 364-2274. Margo Storsteen, Socialist Workers Party can­ mately $1,000. Contact Ventana, 250 W Greensboro didate for U.S. Senate. Sat., March 22. Recep­ 54th St., room 800, New York, N.Y. Haiti and Philippines: Masses Topple U.S. VIRGINIA tion, 6:30p.m.; rally, 7:30p.m. 4707 W Lis­ 10019. Telephone (212) 586-3700. Puppets. Speakers: Joan Drake, works with Newport News bon. Ausp: Storsteen for Senate Committee. Haitian refugees and has lived in Haiti; a repre- Women in Nicaragua. Slideshow presentation For more information call (414) 445-2076. -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, . LOOK US UP------Where to find the Socialist Workers Party, GEORGIA: Atlanta: SWP, YSA, 132Cone NEW JERSEY: Newark: SWP, YSA, 141 Dallas: SWP, YSA, 336 W. Jefferson. Zip: Young Socialist Alliance, and Pathfinder St. NW, 2nd Floor. Zip:- 30301. Tel: (404) 577- Halsey. Zip: 07102. Tel: (201) 643-3341. 75208. Tel: (214) 943-5195. Houston: SWP, bookstores. 4065. NEW YORK: Capital District (Albany): YSA, 4806 Almeda. Zip: 77004. Tel: (713) ILLINOIS: Chicago: SWP, YSA, 3455 S SWP, YSA, 352 Central Ave. 2nd floor. Zip: 522-8054. ALABAMA: Birmingham: SWP, YSA, Michigan Ave. Zip: 60616. Tel: (312)326-5853 12206. Tel: (518) 434-3247. New York: SWP, UTAH: Price: SWP, YSA, 23 S. Carbon 205 18th St. S. Zip: 35233. Tel: (205) 323- or 326-5453. YSA, 79LeonardSt. Zip: 10013. Tel:(212)219- Ave. , Suite 19, P.O. Box 758 . Zip: 84501. Tel: 3079. KENTUCKY: Louisville: SWP, YSA, 809 3679 or 925-1668. Socialist Books, 226-8445. (801) 637-6294. Salt Lake City: SWP, YSA, ARIZONA: Phoenix: SWP, YSA, 3750 E. Broadway. Zip: 40204. Tel: (502) 587-8418. NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: SWP, 767 S. State, 3rd floor. Zip: 84111. Tel: (801) West McDowell Road #3. Zip: 85009. Tel: LOUISIANA: New Orleans: SWP, YSA, YSA, 2219 E Market. Zip: 27401. Tel: (919) 355-1124. (602) 272-4026. 3207 Dublin St. Zip: 70118. Tel: (504) 486- 272-5996. VIRGINIA: Tidewater Area (Newport CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: SWP, YSA, 8048. . OHIO: Cincinnati: SWP, YSA, 4945 Pad­ News): SWP, YSA, 5412 Jefferson Ave . Zip 2546 W. Pico Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380- MARYLAND: Baltimore: SWP, YSA, 2913 dock Rd. Zip: 45237. Tel: (513) 242-7161. 23605. Tel: (804) 380-013'3. . 9460. Oakland: SWP, YSA, 3808 E 14th St. Greenmoimt Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (301) 235- Cleveland: SWP, YSA, 2521 Market Ave. Zip: WASHINGTON, D.C.: SWP, YSA, 3106 Zip: 94601. Tel: (415) 261-3014. San Diego: 0013 . 44113 . Tel: (216) 861-6150. Columbus: YSA, Mt. Pleasant St. NW. Zip: 20010. Tel: (202) SWP, YSA, 1053 15th St. Zip: 92101. Tel: MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: SWP, YSA, P.O. Box 02097. Zip: 43202. Toledo: SWP, 797-7699. (619) 234-4630. San Francisco: SWP, YSA, 51Q Commonwealth Ave., 4th Floor. Zip: YSA, 1701 W Bancroft St. Zip: 43606. Tel: WASHINGTON: Seattle: SWP, YSA, 3284 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255. 02215 . Tel: (617)262-4621. (419) 536-0383 . 5517 Rainier Ave. South. Zip: 98118 . Tel: San Jose: SWP, YSA, 46 112 Race St. Zip: MICIDGAN: Detroit: SWP, YSA, 2135 OREGON: Portland: SWP, YSA, 2732 NE (206) 723-5330. 95126. Tel: (408) 998-4007. Woodward Ave. Zip:48201. Tel:(313)961-0395. Union. Zip: 97212 . Tel: (503) 287-7416. WEST VIRGINIA: Charleston: SWP, COLORADO: Denver: SWP, YSA, 25 W MINNESOTA: Twin Cities: SWP, YSA, 508 PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: SWP, YSA, 611A Tennessee. Zip: 25302. Tel: (304) 3rd Ave. Zip: 80223. Tel: (303) 698-2550. N. Snelling Ave., St. Paul. Zip: 55104. Tel: (612) YSA, 2744 Germantown Ave . Zip: 19133. Tel: 345-3040. Morgantown: SWP, YSA, 221 FLORIDA: Miami: SWP, YSA, 137 NE 644-6325. (215) 225-0213. Pittsburgh: SWP, YSA, 402 Pleasant St. Zip: 26505 . Tel: (304) 296- 54th St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 370486. MISSOURI: Kansas City: SWP, YSA, N. Highland Ave . Mailing address: P.O. Box 0055 . Zip: 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Tallahassee: 4725 Troost. Zip: 64110. Tel: (816) 753- 4789. Zip: 15206. Tel: (412) 362-6767. WISCONSIN: Milwaukee: SWP, YSA, YSA, P.O. Box 20715. Zip: 32316. Tel: (904) 0404. St. Louis: SWP, YSA, 4907 Martin Luther TEXAS: Austin: YSA, c/o Mike Rose, 7409 4707 W. Lisbon Ave. Zip: 53208. Tel: (414) 222-4434. King Dr. Zip: 63113. Tel: (314) 361-0250. Berkman Dr. Zip: 78752. Tel. (512) 452-3923. 445-2076.

16 The Militant March 21, 1986 Build on successful abortion rights marches

The following is a guest column by Helen Grieco And it means fighting for the rights of all women. a second antiabortion initiative also failed to win enough and Diana CantU. Grieco is president of the San Fran­ In recent months we have seen the movement to de­ support to get on the ballot. cisco chapter of the National Organization for fend our rights re-forming and gaining strength. We in This initiative was drawn up by antichoice forces who Women (NOW) and a member of Hotel Employees California are part of this, and we have some important thought the "Children's Fund" was too liberal because it and Restaurant Employees International Union Local challenges ahead of us, as well as some important vic­ allowed an exception to the ban on public funding of 2. CantU is a member of San Francisco NOW and the tories to report. abortion in cases of "imminent death" of the woman. In­ Socialist Workers Party. In a big victory for all women and workers, antichoice credibly, this second initiative, which showed a complete forces were unable to collect enough signatures to get disregard for women's lives, was dubbed the "Choose The prochoice movement must build on the tremend­ two antiabortion initiatives on the California ballot. Both Life" initiative by its backers! ous momentum of the "National March for Women's initiatives aimed at cutting off public funding for abor­ The "Choose Life" amendment stated, "No public tion. monies shall be spent for the termination of innocent California is one of only l3 states and the District of human life from the time of fertilization until natural Columbia where Medicaid programs still cover abor­ death." WOMEN IN ·REVOLT tions. Federal funding was cut off by Congress in 1977 The words "innocent human life" and "natural death" with the passage of the Hyde Amendment. These laws were carefully chosen. The "right-to-lifers" wanted to Lives: East Coast/West Coast;' We need to step up our discriminate against working-class and poor women. make sure public funds would still be used to carry out resistance to the attempts to roll back ou.r reproductive They strike hardest at Blacks, Chicanas, and other vic­ executions under the death penalty! rights. tims of racism. The defeat of these two initiatives is a big victory. The antichoice minority won't stop their attacks. They On December 19 antichoice forces announced that By beating back these attempts to deny low-income, won'tbe satisfied until abortion and birth control are il­ they had failed to get enough signatures to put the so­ working-class women their right to choose abortion, the legal. called "Children's Fund" on the ballot. The initiative women's rights movement helps give new meaning to the The offensive against reproductive rights is being called for a constitutional amendment prohibiting the use old slogan, "An injury to one is an injury to all." waged on many fronts: legally by the White House, the · of public funds for abortions except in cases necessary to We should celebrate these two victories and the suc­ Congress, state and local legislatures, and the courts; and save the woman's life. cess of the National March for Women's Lives by deter­ illegally, through terrorist attacks, firebombing, and The funds that would be saved by eliminating payment mining to keep resisting the attacks on abortion rights. arson. for most abortions were to be transferred to care pro­ People who want to fight for women's rights should Low-income women continue to die in the back alleys grams for the "unborn," prematurely born, and handicap­ get involved in NOW and keep organizing on the cam­ because federal and most state funding for safe, legal ped and disabled children. For three years only, that is. puses and in our unions and community organizations. abortions has been cut off. Their cynical strategy backfired. Many disabled It is a woman's fundamental human right to control her Women are struggling to win equality in every aspect people expressed resentment at being used as a political own body and thus, her life. We, and not the govern­ of society. At the very heart of that equality is our right to football by these groups. ment, must be the judges of when and if to have a child. absolute control over our reproductive lives. This means The setback of the antichoice forces made clear that All supporters of women's rights must continue to take that women's rights supporters must fight for safe, legal most Californians continue to support a woman's right to to the streets, as on March 9 and March 16, and to make our loud, militant, prochoice statement: "Keep abortion abortion and for safe, legal birth c~mtrol and against choose abortion. forced sterilization. This again came through.loud and clear recently when safe and legal. Save women's lives!" Ohio farm workers set campaign for Heinz contract.

BY LYNN EDMISTON which is signed by Campbell's and the view the figures by which profits are deter­ would endorse the boycott of campbell's TOLEDO - Following up on its victory newly organized Campbell Tomato Grow­ mined. products. The contract was announced that in winning a landmark agreement with the ers' Association. The settlement also includes payments date. of up to $2,000 compensation for each Campbell's Soup Co., the Farm Labor Or­ Study committees are created under the In addition to Heinz, FLOC is now also ganizing Committee (FLOC) is now setting pact to deal with the problems of pes­ family involved in the 1978 strike. Campbell's has now conceded that the looking to win agreements with the Bea­ its sights on winning a similar agreement ticides, other health and safety issues, and trice Grocery Group (formerly Hunt-Wes­ boycott was beginning to hurt, and they ap­ with the H .J. Heinz Company. . housing and day care. son), Stokely USA, and others. At the time the Campbell's agreement parently feared it was going to hurt more. was s_igned, Heinz indicated it was willing The cucumber agreement, which runs Religious organizations are credited FLOC vice-president Ray Santiago to talk with the union, but so far there has for four years, also includes developing al­ with playing an important role in promot­ urged union supporters to write to Heinz been no motion by the company. ternatives to the sharecropping "indepen­ ing the boycott. Pressure on the company calling on .it to sign an agreement as The Campbell's agreement was de­ dent contractors" .system. This is used by was added when the influential National Campbell's did. Letters should be ad" scribed by union President Baldemar Vel­ the growers to dodge paying a regular Council of Churches announced last dressed to Anthony J.S. O'Reilly, H.J. asquez as historically unique. No other hourly wage and involves so-called profit­ November that if an agreement was not Heinz Co. , 600 Grant St., Pittsburgh, Pa. labor pact has been signed with both the sharing. The workers have no right to re- reached with FLOC by February 21 , it 15219. growers and the processors that contract for t~eir crops. In its drive to organize workers on to­ mato and cucumber farms that supply U.S. rulers debate aid to Nicaraguan 'contras' Campbell's, FLOC has always insisted that an agreement with Campbell's is key since Continued from Page 14 The White House says it is now em­ been killed, raped, and mutilated by the the rate it pays the farmers is an important ling off Norfolk and Charleston, so Nicara­ phasizing the carrot part of its carrot-and­ contras, the appellation 'humanitarian' aid factor in what they pay their workers. gua would soon play host to Bear bombers stick approach. Central to this was appoint­ rings brutally hollow . . .. The initial pact covers about 400 patrolling off San Diego and Seattle." ing diplomat Philip Habib as Washington's "Foreign aid designed to improve the cucumber workers and about 150 tomato Buchanan ended with a bang: "By cut­ envoy to Central America. Habib's most poor military performance of the contras pickers and sorters and 30 truck drivers. In ting arms shipments to Nicaragua's free­ recent assignment was as Reagan's repre­ does not, under any reasonable definition, 1987 an additional 170 planting and hoeing dom fighters . . . the national Democratic sentative in the Philippines. Habib is on a constitute humanitarian assistance." workers will come under the agreement. Party has now become, with Moscow, co­ trip to talk to the governments in the re­ Even those congresspeople who claim to The agreement calls for an agency shop guarantor of the Bfezhnev doctrine in Cen­ gion. with dues checkoff and two paid union rep­ tral America. oppose any aid to the contras agree with the resentatives. Reagan made it quite clear that Habib's administration on two fundamental things Further organization of farm workers "Whose side are you on? .... With the junket was a complement -not an alterna­ - something must be done about the Nic­ will be through representation elections vote on contra aid, the Democratic Party tive - to the contra war. "Ambassador araguan government, and the U.S. govern­ will reveal whether it stands with Ronald held in the fields. Habib's efforts to achieve a diplomatic sol­ ment has the right to do it. Being part ofthe This first FLOC contract comes after Reagan and the resistance - or [Nicara­ ution must be accompanied by an increas­ slander campaign against Nicaragua, and years of dogged effort by the union, which guan President] Daniel Ortega and the ing level of pressure on the Nicaraguan refusing to defend the unconditional right was established in 1967. communists." communists," Reagan said. of the Nicaraguan people to self-determi­ Its efforts have included several organiz­ This followed on the heels of the CIA The Habib trip is linked to the bipartisan nation, weakens the fight against contra ing drives and a 1978 strike marked by making public a report on an alleged "dis­ "compromise" proposals - all of which aid. police violence against the workers. information" campaign by the Sandinistas would give some aid to the contras - The blows being dealt the contras mean This was followed by the initiation of the to influence the congressional vote. which the White House is trying to cook up that the stakes in the battle over contra aid Campbell's boycott. What did this "disinformation" cam- as the chances for its original package fade. have been raised. The war against Nicara­ At the press conference that announced paign consist of? . One possible deal would be to allocate gua continues to grind on, while the U.S. the agreement, Velasquez said, "The real The fact that the Nicaraguan government the money and make its release contingent. rulers continue to thrash around looking for reason we're here today is because there has hired a U.S. public relations firm to on White House efforts to negotiate with the most effective means to get rid of the are enough people who care about farm help answer Washington's lies about Nica­ Nicaragua. Nicaraguan government. workers - including the church people, ragua and convince people in the United But Washington routinely claims that The war has already claimed a huge lay people, and trade unionists who an­ States to oppose aid to the contras. the Sandinistas refuse to negotiate. Mean­ number of lives. swered our call for the Campbell's Sen. David Durenberger (R.-Minn.), while, it's the Nicaraguans who have a According to a February 21 speech by boycott." who supports "humanitarian" aid to the long-standing proposal on the table to President Daniel Ortega, the number of FLOC has always reciprocated in ex­ contras, called the "disinformation" ma­ renew the bilateral talks that Washington war victims from January 1980 to January tending solidarity. Red-shirted FLOC sup­ neuver an "outrageous" attempt "to portray broke off last year. ·1 986 was 12,332. Of these 3,999 were porters have been a common sight for years every senator and congressman who votes By adding the call for negotiations to a killed; 4,542 wounded; and 3,791 cap­ at Toledo area solidarity rallies, including against lethal aid as a stooge of com­ bill giving money to the contras, it allows tured. those for the Greyhound, AP Parts, and munism." Congress to simultaneously escalate the In the total, Ortega reported, were 911 Sun Oil strikers. FLOC has also partici­ Rep. Michael Barnes (D.- Md.) called war and look like it's supporting peace. children and 2, 194 young people. If you the accusation that the administration's op­ include the contras who have been killed, pated in Nicaragua solidarity activities and 'Humanitarian' aid scam in a conference organized by the Nicara­ ponents are "communist dupes" the "moral the total of dead is 13,930. This would be guan farm workers union. equivalent of McCarthyism." Other legislators say they will "only" the equivalent of some 1,100,000 dead in a The new tripartite agreement with One White House official admitted to vote for so-called human.itarian aid. country with the population of the United Campbell's and the tomato growers will the Washington Post that with the red-bait­ Carlos Tiinnermann , Nicaragua's am­ States. run for three years and boost the basic ing campaign, "We managed to shift the bassador to the United States, made a tell­ It's important for antiwar fighters to in­ wage to $4.60 an hour and also provide for focus from the importance of aiding the ing point about this approach in a letter tervene in this debate with the call for an medical and hospital insurance. All sub­ freedom fighters to the rather dubious tac­ which appeared in the January 23 New end to all aid to the contras and an end to contracting is covered by the agreement, tics we were using to convince Congress." York Times: "To Nicaraguans who have U.S. intervention in Central America. March 21, 1986 The Militant 17 -EDITORIALS------'The cause of labor is the cause of Why labor should defend quotas Ireland' On Easter Monday, Aprll 24, 1916, Padraig Pearse and James Connolly led an armed group to occupy the The Reagan administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Je~sey] even knew of a Merck & Co.," noted Gary General Post Office in Dublin, in British-ruled Ireland. Court to deal a massive blow to affirmative action pro­ Mickle, a Black who is a biologist for the corporation. From the steps of the General Post Office they read out a grams that counter job discrimination against Blacks, Local 28 officials are not fighting discrimination proclamation of Ireland's independence. women, and others. In three cases, the Justice Depart­ against whites. They are aiding the employing class that "We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ment wants the court to outlaw numerical hiring goals profits from keeping Black, Puerto Rican, Chicano, ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of and quotas. women, and other oppressed workers at the bottom of the Irish destinies," the proclamation stated. The labor movement has a vital stake in standing with wage scale. It added, "In every generation the Irish people have as- · Blacks, women, and other victims of discrimination The Sheet Metal Workers' bureaucrats count on the s~rted the~r right to national freedom and sovereignty; six against this ·government attack on their basic right to backing of a layer in the union that has maintained a times dunng the past 300 years they have asserted it in equal employment opportunity. The attack on affirmative privileged position through the racist exclusion of Blacks arm.s. ~t~nding o~ that fundamental right and again as­ action is also an attack on the unions' capacity to unite and others from the trade. se~mg It m ~s m the f~ce of the world, we hereby pro­ working people to defend their rights and living standards The racist practices of Local 28 and other white job claim the Insh Republic ~ as a Sovereign Independent against the employers and their government. t~sts harm and divide the union movement. These prac­ One of the three cases involves Local 28 of the Sheet tices should be opposed and outlawed in the AFL-CIO, Metal Workers' International Association (AFL-CIO), Teamsters, and other unions. based in New York. Local officials are challenging a When the AFL-CIO held its founding convention in OUR court order requiring the local to increase the percentage 1955 , the metal trades and building trades craft unions of Black, Puerto Rican, and other nonwhite local mem­ successfully prevented the adoption of a constitutional bers from about 3 percent as of 1974 to 29 .2 percent by clause guaranteeing equal membership rights to Blacks. REVOLUTIONARY 1987. . Segregated locals and other discriminatory practices (The other two cases challenge affirmative action pro­ were allowed to continue. HERITAGE grams in the Cleveland fire department and the Jackson, Nor did the AFL-CIO join the fight against the system MiChigan, school system.) of legally enforced racist segregation in the South. The State." By challenging the quota, Local 28 bureaucrats are ramifications of this system included segregation and dis­ Europe was then in the throes of World War I. Con­ scabbing on Black, Puerto Rican , and other workers who crimination in the union movement- particularly in the nolly and Pearse saw Britain's involvement in the war as are fighting for equal job opportunity and the right to full crafts. an opportunity for Irish nationalists to strike a blow for participation in the union movement. These policies contributed to the failure of the cam­ paign to organize the workers of the South into unions, a freedom. In their fight to preserve the privileges of a racist white About I ,600 members of Connolly's Irish Citizen job trust, Local 28 officials have now won the support of program proclaimed at the founding convention. The massive civil rights movement, which toppled the Army and Pearse's Irish Volunteers took part in the "Eas­ New York Mayor Edward Koch, as well as the Reagan ter Rising." system of legal segregation, began to change that. Af­ administration . The Irish rebels resisted British attacks for a week. In The record of Local 28 officials shows why quotas are firmative action programs in hiring, education, and else­ where were among the historic conquests of this move­ the end, the rising was crushed, with some 1,300 men vitally necessary to overcome racist hiring practices. killed or wounded. As Herbert Hill, a former NAACP official, pointed out ment. This was a gain for all working people. The employers Those leaders captured by the British were executed in the February I8 New York Times, "For 38 years, Local for treason. Padraig Pearse was shot by a British firing 28 .. . has repeatedly defied municipal, state, and Fed­ had to increasingly integrate Blacks, Latinos, and women into industry. The most oppressed sections of the work­ squad almost immediately after his capture. eral orders to cease discriminatory practices that have James Connolly, however, had been gravely wounded been documented many times over." ing class became somewhat less vulnerable to attack as the last hired, first fired. The racist and sexist divisions in the fighting. His leg was shattered by a dum-dum bul­ The Sheet Metal Workers' officials have demonstrated let on April 27, and he developed gangrene. His trial was that without the requirement to accept a minimum quota imposed on the working class began to be undermined. Blacks, Latinos, and women became an increasingly therefore postponed to May 9 and took place in a prison of Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and other oppressed workers, hospital. they will dodge any guideline aimed at ending racist dis­ active part of the union movement and increased its fight­ ing potential. Connolly, too, was sentenced to death. On May 12, crimination. And so will almost all the employers, uni­ 1916, he was taken by stretcher to meet his firing squad. versities, government bodies, and other institutions that This change was reflected in 1979 when a training pro­ gram at a Kaiser Aluminum plant, won by the United Too weak to stand, Connolly was strapped into a chair have acted as enforcers of the institutionalized racism and shot. built into the U.S. capitalist system. Steelworkers of America, was challenged in court by Brian Weber. Weber claimed it discriminated against . James Connolly embodied both the Irish struggle for According to the arguments presented to the U.S. Su­ him by setting aside half the positions for Blacks and mdependence and the struggle of working people for preme Court by the U.S. Justice Department, Local 28 women. socialism. can be required to admit only those Blacks who can prove Th«;!_!\FL-CIO and most major unions joined the Steel­ In 1896 he had founded the Irish Socialist Republican that they were individually refused membership in the workers union in defending the program, which was up-· Party. While living in the United States from 1903 to 1910, Connolly was active in the socialist movement and craft on racial grounds. They claim that requiring the ad­ held in July 1979 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The rul­ the Industrial Workers of the World. mission of a minimum quota of nonwhites, in order to ings sought now by .the Reagan administration would re­ end the pattern of discrimination that made Local 28 a verse the decision in the Weber case. Upon returning to Ireland, Connolly worked with white job trust, would constitute discrimination against One of the goals of the ruling-class offensive against James Larkin to found the Irish Labor Party, and both whites. affirmative action is to weaken the unions by pushing were organizers of the trade union movement. As Herbert Hill pointed out, "Black workers were not back some of the changes that have taken place in the Dublin industrialists organized a lockout of union denied jobs and membership by Local 28 as individuals labor movement. They want to reinforce the racist and members in 1913. Police and employer brutality led the but as a class." · sexist stratification of the working class. union to organize its own defense force, the Irish Citizen The decision sought by the Reagan administration The diehard defense of white privilege by the Sheet Army, whose members later took part in the Easter Ris­ would mean that employers and other institutions could Metal Workers' International Association Local 28 is ing . no longer be required to actively seek out to employ being used by these union-busters to portray racist poli­ Connolly was a prolific writer and popularizer of Blacks, women, and other victims of discrimination. It cies as prounion. working-class and socialist ideas. He spent considerable time explaining the Irish national struggle to those would reverse many of the concrete gains won by affirm­ . Th~ unions should not let them get away with this cyn­ ative action. Ical he. They need to reject the claim that affirmative ac­ socialists in other countries who saw no difference be­ How many Blacks or Puerto Ricans, for instance, tion quotas are racism in reverse and to demand that the tween the nationalism of oppressor countries and the rev­ would spontaneously apply for positions in Local 28, or Supreme Court uphold the affirmative action programs in olutionary nationalism of an oppressed people. jobs in other areas where racis; ~xclusion is long estab­ all three cases before k . . In 1913, Conn~lly wrote that he had "spent a great por­ lished? The union movement should fight to extend affirma­ tiOn. <:>f [my] lif~ alternating between interpreting For example, the pharmaceutical company Merck & tive action and to remove any obstacle- including white Socialism to the Insh, and interpreting the Irish to the Co. was forced to begin recruiting in predominantly male job trust practices - to the full participation of Socialists." He added, "While I am convinced that the "Black areas to meet affirmative action goals set by the Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Chicanos, women, and other op­ former has been attended with a considerable degree of success, the latter has not." government. "Fifteen years ago, no one in Newark [N~w pressed people in the U.S. labor movement. . The ~ollowing ~xcerpt is from "The Irish Flag," pub­ lished m the Apnl 8, 19I6, Workers' Republic, wheh preparations for the rising were almost complete. Protest apartheid, 'contra' aid * * * We are out for Ireland for the Irish. But who are the The AFL-CIO executive council's call for a "Day of ers have responded by killing well over I ,200 people. Irish? No! the rack-renting, slum-owning landlord; not Solidarity with the Victims of Apartheid" March 22 of­ It is in this context that the AFL-CIO call for protests is the sweatmg, profit-grinding capitalist; not the sleek and fers an opportunity for unionists and anti-apartheid fight­ made and why it is so important. oily lawyer; not the prostitute pressman - the hired liars of the enemy. ers to advance the fight to break all U.S. ties with the ra­ These rallies can be used to explain the truth about the cist apartheid regime in South Africa. just and democratic struggle of the Black majority for Not these are the Irish upon whom the future depends. The council has endorsed the nationwide consumer freedom. Not these, but the Irish working class, the only secure boycott of products of Shell Oil Co. as one of the ways The protests are also an occasion to voiCe opposition to foundation upon which a free nation can be reared. The cause of labor is the cause of Ireland, the cause of that U.S. trade unionists can "send a powerful message W_!I.Shington ' ~ support to the South African-backed of encouragement to our South African brothers and sis­ UNITA terrorists in Angola led by Jonas Savimbi. Ireland is the cause of labor. They cannot be dissevered. ters and an equally powerful message of protest to the Savimbi recently received a royal welcome from Presi­ Ireland seeks freedom. Labor seeks that an Ireland free government that oppresses them." dent Reagan in Washington. should be the sole mistress of her own destiny, supreme The purpose of the March 22 rallies, said theAFL-C/0 Working people should also join in the activities of owner of all material things within and upon her soil. News, is "to keep public attention focused on the anti­ Central America Week March I6-24, called by the Inter­ Labor seeks to make the free Irish nation the guardian labor attitudes of the government of Pretoria." Religious Task Force on Central America. It is a timely of the interests of the people oflreland, and to secure that Rallies will be held in Detroit, Houston, St. Louis, opportunity to respond to the U.S.-backed and funded end would vest in that free Irish nation all property rights New York, Washington, San Francisco, and Los wars in Central America and demand: "No to contra as against the claims of the individual, with the end in Angeles. They will mark the 26th anniversary of the aid!" view that the individual may be enriched by the nation, 1960 massacre in Sharpeville, where South African Both the March 22 AFL-CIO anti-apartheid rallies and and not by the spoiling of his fellows. police fired on peaceful demonstrators, killing 89 and March 16- 24 Central America Week activities can also wounding more than 300. be building actions for more anti-apartheid and antiwar Since August of I984 there has been a sustained up­ protests, such as the April 19 antiwar march in San Fran­ surge in South Africa against the apartheid state. The rut- cisco and the June 14 anti-apartheid action in New York.

18 The Militant March 21, 1986 Human toll of crisis in Georgia countryside ·

BY SARA JEAN JOHNSTON Once fanners receive such notices, they have three _The Atlanta Constitution, for example, called for a full ATLANTA - Minutes before 711 acres of his fann days to respond and 30 days to work out what the FmHA investigation into the fann movement by the political were to be auctioned off on the steps of Burke County calls "options." These "options" are "negotiable restruc­ police. A December 28 editorial stated:- "Georgia offi­ courthouse February 4, Georgia fanner Leonard Hill III turing of the debt, voluntary liquidation, or paying all cials are watching closely as right-wing radicals sniff the shot and killed himself. due and unpaid installments within 30 days." air, circle, and wait. The rabid right is stalking the fann - His suicide was a desperate attempt to save his fann. Nationally, tens of thousands of fann families face crisis. It hopes to process the resentment of dispossessed foreclosure at the hands of the FmHA. According to gov­ fanners into Grade A political venom, while the GBI, ernment figures , Georgia fanners head the agency's list, FBI, county sheriffs and others want to prevent that. with a full 53 percent of the state's farmers having "de­ "Thank goodness for their investigation . ..." AS I SEE IT faulted." According to the big-business media and Georgia offi­ The average price of Georgia fannland has dropped 11 cials, the 20 state troopers and GBI agents who evicted Sycamore fanner James Baker and his fam!ly without His widow, Annabell, told the media that Hill had told percent since 1981 . In some areas of the state, the decline her, "I've got 20 minutes to stop the sale." in land value is as high as 50 percent. warning January 24 were his friends. Hill left insurance policies neatly stacked on the night­ This decline in the value of their land has left fann Baker arrived home from work that day to find his be­ stand in his bedroom. He had hoped they would pay off families owing more money to the private and govern­ longings loaded in a moving van. According to Sheriff the $62,000 being demanded by the Federal Land Bank ment banks than their land is worth. The banks can, Lamar Widdon, no warning was given to Baker-to pre­ vent any protest that could stop the eviction. of Central Georgia and the Fanners Production Credit therefore, accelerate Joan payments due to "lack of suffi­ cient collateral." Armed state troopers and cop agents, eviction papers Association, as well as the $100,000 owed to other banks. The current wave of foreclosures, engineered by the in hand, are hardly friends of fanners and other working The auction was postponed. But Hill's creditors are government and the banks, could force land values down people. Neither are the government officials and their further. This, in tum, could kick off yet another wave of media mouthpieces who violence-bait the victims of state standing by like vultures, waiting to see if the insurance violence - fann families. policies will be enough to pay his debt. foreclosures. The only response to this tragedy by the state govern­ To pave the way for the FmHA, the big-business Working fanners in Georgia and across·-the country ment was to create a "crisis hotline" for the thousands of media. and the government seized on the presence of the need real friends and allies to fight fann foreclosures. fann families now facing foreclosure. The hotline pro­ right-wing Heritage Library at an anned protest in Coch­ Those allies are the working class and other oppressed vides job referrals and psychiatric counseling. It is sup­ ran, Georgia, last November to launch a campaign people. posed to show the state's fanners that the government against fanners. The protest was in support of Oscar Lor­ Right-wing outfits like the Heritage Library lead away cares. rick, a 66-year-old Black fanner who faced eviction. from these real allies. They give the ruling class, its cops, With the lifting of a four-year, court-ordered and its press a handle to attack the fann protest move­ moratorium on Fanners Home Administration (FmHA) The big-business media tried to portray fanners as vio­ ment. foreclosures, that agency is gearing up to show Georgia lent, right-wing fanatics who should be watched by the The developing alliance between the fann movement fanners just how much it cares. The FmHA- a govern­ political police - the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of In­ and the striking Hormel meatpackers of Local P-9 of the ment agency that is supposed to help the poorest fanners vestigation (GBI). The campaign was aimed at isolating United Food and Commercial Workers union in Austin, - is planning immediate action on all loans delinquent fanners from other working people. Minnesota, is a powerful example of the way forward. by more than $1 00. In February they mailed out over Headlines such as "Armed demonstrators avert farm­ Fanner-labor solidarity reflects the common interests of 4,600 "notices of intent to take adverse action" to fann er's eviction" and "Extremists are linked to fann pro­ working people who are up against common enemies - families. test" became common in the Atlanta papers. the bosses, bankers, and capitalist politicians.

-LEIIFRS----- YOUR HONON, TillS INJUNCTION Htr!M . .. YES, I SEE . .. IS A PIRt;C T VIOL/IT/ON NO QUCSTICW 118001 IT. . . THIS Reconsider editorial Soul was sentenced to two years' employees in Miami. They were probation and fined $1,000. OF LOCIIL P - 9 S IS Ct.£AKL Y UNCONSr/Tl/TlONIIL . .. all impressed with the coverage The Militant should reconsider An open letter being distributed FIRST A~£N01'1EAIT RIGHTS/ NO CCXIRT IN Til£ LANO and said they would pass the paper its editorial position in the case of by Becker explains the facts be­ WOULO Uf'lfOLl> IT/ around. They also wanted to know Meir Kahane in your February 28 hind the case: WHAT? L£T (t}{. \ what both the paper and I thought editorial "Attack on citizenship "Last Easter Sunday, 35 church St;E CHAT THING.' ( should be done. rights." and union members assembled on / I pointed to the coverage of the You correctly point out that the sidewalk in front of a wealthy United Food and Commercial Kahane is a "racist terrorist" who Pittsburgh church to read the Bible Workers Local P-9 meatpackers' should be imprisoned for his and present a symbolic offering of strike against Hormel and said that crimes. You expose the hypocrisy scrap steel from a closed mill. In­ this was an example of a . union of the government's move against side, Pittsburgh's corporate elite, fighting back. The flight atten­ him and the pretext for similar ac­ the men who control our regional dants agreed and said that Eastern tions against radicals and economy, worshipped. We were was out to break their union and socialists. arrested." would succeed if the union did not Nevertheless you are wrong in They chose to protest because respond to protect its members. calling for a defense of Kahane ­ "Each day the outlook worsens as 171/S SH(J(JLO FIX IT.. . "'I PO BUT I /fJUSf 13£ OFF- AN Edwin Fruit or for "opposing" the govern­ more companies work to bust H&I?£/JY /SSU£ IW INd()NCn0/11 £/'IIII£NT GKOW tF t:NCLISH LM&S Salt Lake City, Utah ment's move against him. unions through concessions and A civil libertarian position can ACAINST 171£ (). S. COIISTIT7JTION HAS R£QVEsrc:f) ttlY ASSISfi/NC£ plant relocations. be positively harmful if it obscures ffJR AOSrJN IINO SVI?A'Ot//fP/1{6 A.f(AS." IN FINDING A L OOf>IIOLE IN Divestment "Rather than stand idly by and I/I£Rel IWOT71£R 8RILL111NT THE P/ITGHII CII/?Tif.r class questions. The possible watch workers' lives and the labor At its meeting of January 28, danger arising from a legal prece­ L£GI/L f>R£C£Pt:NT BY THC / movement destroyed," they _pro­ the New Castle County Council dent is less important that the prin­ IIONORIIBL£ cJOOG£ 5TON£.r tested at the wealthy church "to voted to divest the county pension ciple of. working class solidarity demand accountability from the funds from all corporations or fi­ against the ruling class and its people responsible for the eco­ nancial institutions doing business thugs. nomic disaster we are experienc­ in South Africa. This victory was Maybe Meir Kahane is not a ing." won by a militant and broadly "close ally of the U.S. rulers," but The heavy hand of the govern­ based campaign that grew to in­ he is certainly an enemy of work­ ment has fallen on them with these volve the NAACP, the churches, ing people. The rulers have ac­ harsh sentences to drive home the and the New Castle County AFL­ quiesced to his crimes through the point that "it is a crime to protest CIO. It was a movement that complicity of their cops and [corporate] decisions and the mas­ brought out hundreds of demon­ courts. They sustain him and his sive unemployment they pro­ strators to council meetings, fellow criminals through their duce." people who would not go away automated, and commandable backing for the Zionist regime in Messages of solidarity can be Flight attendants until they won. spacecraft." Palestine. sent to: IUMSWA Local 61, 5015 I was recently fl ying Eastern Three days before the crucial Let us defend Margaret Randall Grand Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. It appears that the reasons for Airlines. During the flight I talked vote, 75 pickets closed down a and demand justice for the killers the U.S. government's decision to 15225. with three flight attendants about bowling alley owned by County of Alex Odeh. We have an interest go ahead with so many manned Mark Weddleton Eastern's policies towards them Executive Rita Justice. After this in defending victims of capitalist flights (15 were planned for 1986) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the new concessions being the three hold-outs on the council injustice. are political rather than based on proposed by the company. finally "saw the light" and the di­ Readers of the Militant look to scientific requirements. vestment bill was passed unani­ you for clear analysis and an un­ The shuttle At least three Star Wars experi­ They told me that things were mously. compromising defense of the in­ In fight of the discussion opened ments were to be conducted on getting worse for them and that Roy /nglee terests of working people. You up after the Challenger shuttle dis­ shuttle flights this year. One of the they thought that Eastern was try­ Wilmington, Delaware should correct your position and aster regarding the U.S. govern­ flights last year was a top-secret ing to force experienced_flight at­ print a retraction. ment's manned space program, I mission and you don't have to be a tendants to quit by making work Correction David Sandor think it would be of interest to genius to figure that it wasa mili­ conditions intolerable. "Strike at a glance" in the Salt Lake City , Utah readers for the Militant to do an ar­ tary mission. March 7 issue of the Militant er­ ticle on this government's explora­ Profit-hungry capitalists are For instance, work rules are being enforced to the hilt. One roneously reported that the locked­ Jobs-protest convictions tion of space. competing with each other to out workers at Hormel's plant in On January 21 two Pittsburgh In the debate going on, many develop innovations through ex­ told me she was in the middle of working 22 straight nights before Ottumwa, Iowa, were picketing activists were sentenced to up to a scientists have addressed the ques­ periments on the shuttles, renting the plant. The Ottumwa workers year in jail for their participation tion of whether or not it is neces­ space on these vehicles to do such getting two days off. Another said that even though she had seven have not set up a picket line. in a jobs protest. sary to risk human lives on these things as manufacture medicines The two - Shipbuilders Local flights. more cheaply. years seniority she had just been 61 President Darrell Becker and In the current issue of Scientific Overall the question is whether placed as a reserve. The letters column is an open defrocked Lutheran pastor Doug American, James Van Allen, a the U.S. government uses scien­ It was their opinion that the forum for all viewpoints on sub­ Roth - were convicted of disor­ pioneer satellite scientist, said, "In tific research for the betterment of machinists and pilots would get a jects of general interest to our­ derly conduct and failure to dis­ the more than 28 years since the mankind or for the subjugation fair settlement while the flight at­ readers. Please keep your letters perse. They are out on bail, pend­ launching of Sputnik I the over­ and exploitation of the peoples of tendants would be sacrificed. brief. Where necessary they will ing appeal. Also convicted was whelming majority of scientific the world. I showed them the copy of the be abridged. Please indicate if actor David Soul, star of the tele­ and utilitarian achievements in Daniela Dixon Militant that had coverage of are- . you prefer that your initials be vision show "Starsky and Hutch." space have come from unmanned, San Francisco, California cent union meeting of Eastern's used rather than your full name. March 21, 1986 The Militant 19 THE MILITANT K. C. rally supports TWA strike Machinists join flight attendants to shut down facility

Striking TWA flight attendants were against the lAM. joined by TWA ground workers for a And the Federal Aviation Administra­ 1 ,000-strong rally at the company's tion is responsible for any TWA planes maintenance base in Kansas City March being in the air. They should all be ground­ 10. This combined union action of the ed since federal safety regulations are not striking Independent Federation of Flight being met without the licensed mechanics Attendants and the International Associa­ and flight attendants working. tion of Machinists, which organizes the ground personnel, completely shut down the airline's main overhaul facility. On March II Federal District Judge The machinists' support to the strike Howard Sachs ordered members of the In­ changes the relationship of forces in the ternational Association of Machinists to walkout in favor of the flight attendants, cross the flight attendants' picket lines. who struck the concession-hungry com­ The judge issued the order even though pany March 7. he said that the no-strike clause in the About 250 flight attendants and their Machinists' contract is "ambiguous." supporters had rallied in Kansas City The lAM said it had no choice but to March 3 to prepare for the strike. Flight at­ abide by the judge's order. tendants' leader Mary Ellen Miller de­ nounced the sexist statements by company This article is based on reports from Jeff Chairman Carl Icahn who said, "These Powers in Kansas City, Vivian Sahner and girls aren't breadwinners and can afford Kim Kleinman in St. Louis, and Stu Singer Left, striking Minnesota meatpackers join flight attendants' picket line in Kansas bigger cuts than other workers." in Miami. City. Right, TWA strikers brought their children to picket lines. In many cities the strikers are wearing buttons reading: "We are breadwinners." The strike against TWA began 12:01 a.m. March 7 when the 6,000 members of MOVE.commission hits Phila. gov't the flight attendants' union set up picket lines at airports throughout the United BY STEPHEN BRIDE "The mayor, managing director, and of human life." Such indifference would States. PHILADELPHIA - Mayor . Wilson police commissioner specifically approved not have existed "if the teen age child of the Flight attendants at Lambert Field, the Goode's handpicked commission to inves­ the use of explosives" to blast through the · chief executive officer of a corporation had main St. Louis airport and TWA's domes­ tigate the May 1985 police bombing of the walls , the report asserts. been in that house." tic hub, explained the key issues to the Mil­ Black group MOVE has turned on him As for the bombing: "The managing di­ While the commission report stops short itant. At the top of the list' is the company with a report that accuses his administra­ rector told the mayor, in a conversation· of calling anyone a liar, it does recommend demand for a 22 percent pay cut. tion of "reckless disregard for life and overheard by two other people, that the further investigation by the district attorney The flight attendants had agreed to the property" in connectiorr with the assault. police would drop the explosives from a and Justice Department "to resolve any is­ same 15 percent cut as the International The report charges that administration helicopter." sues that may arise as to possible perjurious Association of Machinists ground workers decisions to use 10,000 rounds of ammun­ Police officers told the commission they testimony before the commission and be­ and the Air Line Pilots Association. This ition and high explosives and to drop a had not fired on two adult MOVE members fore any grand jury." was part of a give-back package sold to the bomb on the MOVE rowhouse "would not and four children who attempted to flee the unions by lcahn who was bidding against likely have been made had the MOVE resi­ burning house through a backyard. Thir­ The report also urges disciplinary action Texas Air Chairman Frank Lorenw for dence been situated in a white neighbor- teen-year-old Birdie Africa, one of two against six police officers who invoked the control of TWA. Union officials accepted · hood." survivors of the inferno, said they had. His Fifth Amendment rather than testify about Icahn' s concession demands to keep out their role in the attack. It also calls for a grand jury to probe the testimony was corroborated by several fire­ Lorenzo. They feared Lorenzo, who is now deaths of five children in the May 13 police fighters, and the · commission sided with The commission, however, said nothing in the process of buying Eastern Airlines, attack, saying they were the victims of them. about the victimization of Ramona Africa, would destroy the unions as he did at Con­ what "appeared to be unjustified "I do not believe," wrote commission the other survivor of the police assault. Af­ tinental Airlines in 1983. homicide." member Charles Bowser in a separate opin­ rica faces 14 years in prison for her Feb­ Striker Diane Jones, picketing in Miami, ruary 9 conviction on charges of criminal The five were among II MOVE mem­ ion, "the testimony that one or more per­ conspiracy and riot. said she has second thoughts about the deal bers who perished in the May 13 siege. sons . .. ran back into the house for no ap­ with lcahn. "We knew we'd have to fight Soon after that, Goode named the commis­ parent reason." They did it "because there Reaction to the report ranged from ex­ Lorenzo. Now we see we have to fight sion, packing it with allies and campaign was a greater threat to their lives in the treme uneasiness on the part of Goode sup­ Icahn. The concessions only made him contributors in an attempt to quell the con- yard. The threat was bullets from police porters (one city councilman called it "de­ greedier for more." troversy over the incident. . weapons." vastating") to general approval from the lcahn claims TWA cannot compete with But the commission's public hearings on In his 64-page opinion, Bowser, a still homeless residents of Osage A venue. nonunion airlines without more conces­ the matter last fall only fanned the flames former deputy mayor here, went somewhat Summing up community response to the sions. But two weeks ago he agreed to buy - and now its report has fueled them. beyond the commission's findings. events of May 13, Osage Avenue block St. Louis-based Ozark Air Lines for $250 "The plan to bomb the MOVE house "Dropping the bomb," he said, "was dis­ captain Clifford Bond declared, "It was the million, and he claims to have $600 million was reckless, ill-conceived, and hastily ap­ cussed, rehearsed, and planned. Therefore most blatant misuse of power that I've ever in cash available to last out a strike. proved," the report states. It "should have it was an intentional act. A homicide seen in my life." Union members in St. Louis also been rejected out of hand ." The firepower caused by an intentional act cannot be ex­ "So many people could see the negli­ explained to the Militant how kahn's pro­ used against MOVE was "unconsciona­ cused as accidental even if death was not gence throughout the whole system," said posed work-rule changes jeopardize the ble ," especially given the presence of chil­ intended." former resident Robert Ford, that the com­ safety of flight crews and passengers. dren. Letting the fire bum, he continued, mission "had no choice but to place the Icahn wants to be able to work attendants Also ''unconscionable" was the decision showed "extreme indifference to the value blame where the blame had to be laid." up to 80 hours a week. This is an inhuman by then Police Commissioner Gregore work load, and an obvious safety hazard. Sambor and Fire Commissioner William The 1,500 new attendants who have been Richmond to let the fire bum that police ig­ hired recently, plus management, are nited when they dropped a bomb on the McAiiskey warns of threat to being used to break the strike. They are MOVE house. That fire leveled 61 houses working without any flight experience. in the Osage A venue neighborhood and left The strikers have won support from 250 people homeless. nationalists inN. Ireland many newly hired flight attendants. About 600 of them have refused to cross the pick­ The "decision by the police commis-­ BY WILL REISSNER der squad in January 1981, when gunmen et lines. Starting pay for the new employ­ sioner and the fire commissioner to use the These are dangerous times for Irish broke into their home and shot them in the ees is $12,000 a year, less than half what fire as a tactical weapon," the report says, nationalists in British-ruled Northern Ire­ presence of their children. earlier hires make. "cannot be justified under any cir­ land, Bernadette Devlin McAiiskey told a During a March 3 Loyalist protest Unfortunately, TWA pilots are working cumstances." New York audience on March 9. against a November pact signed by the in spite of the strike. In all, the report concludes, administra­ McAliskey, a leader of the struggle for British and Irish governments on Northern The company is also being helped by the tion and police conduct on May 13 was Ireland's reunification, gained interna­ Ireland, the British-run police stood aside government. In St. Louis, two strikers "grossly negligent." tional attention in 1969 when she was and let Loyalist mobs attack nationalists. were handcuffed and jailed for picketing The commission report attempts to make elected to the British Parliament from The Anglo-Irish agreement, she said, is the employee parking lot. A U.S. district sense of the wildly conflicting testimony Northern Ireland at the age of 21 . really aimed at crushing the leading groups court ordered the union to post a $100,000 the panel heard last fall from city officials. "At present our backs are to the wall," fighting for a reunified Ireland, particularly bond before allowing any pickets to be set Goode, for example, testified he had not McAiiskey stated. She warned that pro­ Sinn Fein. up. been told in advance that explosives would British Loyalist forces in Northern Ireland "The Anglo-Irish agreement will do In Kansas City a federal judge denied a be used to breach the walls of the MOVE are likely to carry out violent · attacks nothing for us on the ground" in Northern company motion for a temporary restrain-. house or that a bomb would be dropped on against the Catholic, nationalist population Ireland, McAliskey stated. Under the ing order to force the machinists' union it. Sambor and former city Managing Di­ there. agreement, the Dublin government is al­ members back to work. But the company is rector Leo Brooks said he had. The com­ McAliskey and her husband Michael lowed to make recommendations about af- back in court trying to get an injunction mission believed Sambor and Brooks. were themselves targets of a Loyalist mur- Continued on Page 14

20 The Militant March 21, 1986